GREGORY NAZIANZEN.  

ORATION I. On Easter and His Reluctance, 

  I. It is the Day of the Resurrection, and my Beginning has good auspices. 
Let us then keep the Festival with splendour,(a) and let us 
embrace one another. Let us say Brethren, even to those who hate us; much more 
to those who have done or suffered aught out of love for us. Let us forgive 
all offences for the Resurrection's sake: let us give one another pardon, I 
for the noble tyranny, which I have suffered (for I can now call it noble); 
and you who exercised it, if you had cause to blame my tardiness; for perhaps 
this tardiness may be more precious in God's sight than the haste of others. 
For it is a good thing even to hold back from God for a little while, as did 
the great Moses of old,(b) and Jeremiah(g) later 
on; and then to run readily to Him when He calls, as did 
Aaron(d) and Isaiah,(e) so only both be done in 
a dutiful spirit;--the former because of his own want of strength; the latter 
because of the Might of Him That calleth. 

  II. A Mystery(z) anointed me; I withdrew a little while at a 
Mystery, as much as was needful to examine myself; now I come in with a 
Mystery, bringing with me the Day as a good defender of my cowardice and 
weakness; that He Who to-day rose again from the dead may renew me also by His 
Spirit; and, clothing me with the new Man, may give me to His New Creation, to 
those who are begotten after God, as a good modeller and teacher for Christ, 
willingly both dying with Him and rising again with Him. 

  III. Yesterday the Lamb was slain and the door-posts were 
anointed,(h) and Egypt bewailed her Firstborn, and the 
Destroyer passed us over, and the Seal was dreadful and reverend, and we were 
walled in with the Precious Blood. To-day we have clean escaped from Egypt and 
from Pharaoh; and there is none to hinder us from keeping a Feast to the Lord 
our God--the Feast of our Departure; or from celebrating that Feast, not in 
the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of 
sincerity and truth,(a) carrying with us nothing of ungodly and 
Egyptian leaven. 

  IV. Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him; 
yesterday I died with Him; to-day I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was 
buried with Him; to-day I rise with Him. But let us offer to Him Who suffered 
and rose again for us--you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or 
silver, or woven work or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing 
material of earth, that remains here below, and is for the most part always 
possessed by bad men, slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world. Let 
us offer ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let 
us give back to the Image what is made after the Image. Let us recognize our 
Dignity; let us honour our Archetype; let us know the power of the Mystery, 
and for what Christ died. 

  V. Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become 
God's for His sake, since He for ours became Man. He assumed the worse that He 
might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be 
rich;(b) He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might 
receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was 
tempted that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He 
died that He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who 
were lying low in the Fall of sin. Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave 
Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us. But one can give nothing like 
oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He 
became for ours.

  VI. As you see, He offers you a Shepherd; for this is what your Good 
Shepherd,(a) who lays down his life for his sheep, is hoping 
and praying for, and he asks from you his subjects; and he gives you himself 
double instead of single, and makes the staff of his old age a staff for your 
spirit. And he adds to the inanimate temple a living one; to that exceedingly 
beautiful and heavenly shrine, this poor and small one,(b) yet 
to him of great value, and built too with much sweat and many labours. Would 
that I could say it is worthy of his labours. And he places at your disposal 
all that belongs to him (O great generosity!--or it would be truer to say, O 
fatherly love!) his hoar hairs, his youth, the temple, the high priest, the 
testator, the heir, the discourses which you were longing for; and of these 
not such as are vain and poured out into the air, and which reach no further 
than the outward ear; but those which the Spirit writes and engraves on tables 
of stone, or of flesh, not merely superficially graven, nor easily to be 
rubbed off, but marked very deep, not with ink, but with grace. 

  VII. These are the gifts given you by this august Abraham, this honourable 
and reverend Head, this Patriarch, this Restingplace of all good, this 
Standard of virtue, this Perfection of the Priesthood, who to-day is bringing 
to the Lord his willing Sacrifice, his only Son,(g) him of the 
promise. Do you on your side offer to God and to us obedience to your Pastors, 
dwelling in a place of herbage, and being fed by water of 
refreshment;(d) knowing your Shepherd well, and being known by 
him;(e) and following when he calls you as a Shepherd frankly 
through the door; but not following a stranger climbing up into the fold like 
a robber and a traitor; nor listening to a strange voice when such would take 
you away by stealth and scatter you from the truth on 
mountains,(z) and in deserts, and pitfalls, and places which 
the Lord does not visit; and would lead you away from the sound Faith in the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the One Power and Godhead, Whose Voice my 
sheep always heard (and may they always hear it), but with deceitful and 
corrupt words would tear them from their true Shepherd. From which may we all 
be kept, Shepherd and flock, as from a poisoned and deadly pasture; guiding 
and being guided far away from it, that we may all be one in Christ Jesus our 
Lord, now and unto the heavenly rest. To Whom be the glory and the might for 
ever and ever. Amen. 

ORATION II. IN DEFENCE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, AND HIS RETURN, AFTER HIS ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD, WITH AN EXPOSITION OF THE CHARACTER OF THE PRIESTLY OFFICE. 

  I. I have been defeated, and own my defeat. I subjected myself to the Lord, 
and prayed unto Him.(a) Let the most blessed David supply my 
exordium, or rather let Him Who spoke in David, and even now yet speaks 
through him. For indeed the very best order of beginning every speech and 
action, is to begin from God,(b) and to end in God. As to the 
cause, either of my original revolt and cowardice, in which I got me away far 
off, and remained(g) away from you for a time, which perhaps 
seemed long to those who missed me; or of the present gentleness and change of 
mind, in which I have given myself up again to you, men may think and speak in 
different ways, according to the hatred or love they bear me, on the one side 
refusing to acquit me of the charges alleged, on the other giving me a hearty 
welcome. For nothing is so pleasant to men as talking of other people's 
business, especially under the influence of affection or hatred, which often 
almost entirely blinds us to the truth. I will, however, myself, unabashed, 
set forth the truth, and arbitrate with justice between the two parties, which 
accuse or gallantly defend us, by, on the one side, accusing myself, on the 
other, undertaking my own defence. 

  2. Accordingly, that my speech may proceed in due order, I apply myself to 
the question which arose first, that of cowardice. For I cannot endure that 
any of those who watch with interest the success, or the contrary, of my 
efforts, should be put to confusion on my account, since it has pleased God 
that our affairs should be of some consequence to Christians, so I will by my 
defence relieve, if there be any such, those who have already suffered; for it 
is well, as far us possible, and as reason allows, to shrink from causing, 
through our sin or suspicion, any offence or stumbling-block to the community: 
inasmuch as we know how inevitably even those who offend one of the little 
ones(d) will incur the severest punishment at the hands of Him 
who cannot lie. 

  3. For my present position is due, my good people, not to inexperience and 
ignorance, nay indeed, that I may boast myself a little,(e) 
neither is it due to contempt for the divine laws and ordinances. Now, just as 
in the body there is(z) one member(h) which 
rules and, so to say, presides, while another is ruled over and subject; so 
too in the churches, God has ordained, according either to a law of equality, 
which admits of an order of merit, or to one of providence, by which He has 
knit all together, that those for whom such treatment is beneficial, should be 
subject to pastoral care and rule, and be guided by word and deed in the path 
of duty; while others should be pastors and teachers,(a) for 
the perfecting of the church, those, I mean, who surpass the majority in 
virtue and nearness to God, performing the functions of the soul in the body, 
and of the intellect in the soul; in order that both may be so united and 
compacted together, that, although one is lacking and another is pre-eminent, 
they may, like the members of our bodies, be so combined and knit together by 
the harmony of the Spirit, as to form one perfect body.(b) 
really worthy of Christ Himself, our Head.(g) 

  4. I am aware then that anarchy(d) and disorder cannot be 
more advantageous than order and rule, either to other creatures or to men; 
nay, this is true of men in the highest possible degree, because the interests 
at stake in their case are greater; since it is a great 
thing(e) for them, even if they fail of their highest 
purpose--to be free from sin--to attain at least to that which is second best, 
restoration from sin. Since this seems right and just, it is, I take it, 
equally wrong and disorderly that all should wish to rule, and that no one 
should accept(z) it. For if all men were to shirk this office, 
whether it must be called a ministry or a leadership, the fair 
fulness(h) of the Church would be halting in the highest 
degree, and in fact cease to be fair. And further, where, and by whom would 
God be worshipped among us in those mystic and elevating rites which are our 
greatest and most precious privilege, if there were neither king, nor 
governor, nor priesthood, nor sacrifice,(q) nor all those 
highest offices to the loss of which, for their great sins, men were of old 
condemned in consequence of their disobedience? 

  5. Nor indeed is it strange or inconsistent for the majority of those who 
are devoted to the study of divine things, to ascend to rule from being ruled, 
nor does it overstep the limits laid down by philosophy,(i) or 
involve disgrace; any more than for an excellent sailor to become a lookout-man, and for a 
lookout-man, who has successfully kept watch over the winds, to be entrusted 
with the helm; or, if you will, for a brave soldier to be made a captain, and 
a good captain to become a general, and have committed to him the conduct of 
the whole campaign. Nor again, as perhaps some of those absurd and tiresome 
people may suppose, who judge of others' feelings by their own, was I ashamed 
of the rank of this grade from my desire for a higher. I was not so ignorant 
either of its divine greatness or human low estate, as to think it no great 
thing for a created nature, to approach in however slight degree to God, Who 
alone is most glorious and illustrious, and surpasses in purity every nature, 
material and immaterial alike. 

  6. What then were my feelings, and what was the reason of my disobedience? 
For to most men I did not at the time seem consistent with myself, or to be 
such as they had known me, but to have undergone some deterioration, and to 
exhibit greater resistance and self-will than was right. And the causes of 
this you have long been desirous to hear. First, and most important, I was 
astounded at the unexpectedness of what had occurred, as people are terrified 
by sudden noises; and, losing the control of my reasoning faculties, my 
self-respect, which had hitherto controlled me, gave way. In the next place, 
there came over me an eager longing(a) for the blessings of 
calm and retirement, of which I had from the first been enamoured to a higher 
degree, I imagine, than any other student of letters, and which amidst the 
greatest and most threatening dangers I had promised to God, and of which I 
had also had so much experience, that I was then upon its threshold, my 
longing having in consequence been greatly kindled, so that I could not submit 
to be thrust into the midst of a life of turmoil by an arbitrary act of 
oppression, and to be torn away by force from the holy sanctuary of such a 
life as this. 

  7. For nothing seemed to me so desirable as to close the doors of my senses, 
and, escaping from the flesh and the world, collected within myself, having no 
further connection than was absolutely necessary with human affairs, and 
speaking to myself and to God(b) to live superior to visible 
things, ever preserving in myself the divine impressions pure and unmixed with 
the erring tokens of this lower world, and both being, and constantly growing 
more and more to be, a real unspotted mirror of God and divine things, as 
light is added to light, and what was still dark grew clearer, enjoying 
already by hope the blessings of the world to come, roaming about with the 
angels, even now being above the earth by having forsaken it, and stationed on 
high by the Spirit. If any of you has been possessed by this longing, he knows 
what I mean and will sympathise with my feelings at that time. For, perhaps, I 
ought not to expect to persuade most people by what I say, since they are 
unhappily disposed to laugh at such things, either from their own 
thoughtlessness, or from the influence of men unworthy of the promise, who 
have bestowed upon that which is good an evil name, calling philosophy 
nonsense, aided by envy and the evil tendencies of the mob, who are ever 
inclined to grow worse: so that they are constantly occupied with one of two 
sins, either the commission of evil, or the discrediting of good. 

  8. I was influenced besides by another feeling, whether base or noble I do 
not know, but I will speak out to you all my secrets. I was ashamed of all 
those others, who, without being better than ordinary people, nay, it is a 
great thing if they be not worse, with unwashen hands,(a) as 
the saying rims, and uninitiated souls, intrude into the most sacred offices; 
and, before becoming worthy to approach the temples, they lay claim to the 
sanctuary,(b) and they push and thrust around the holy table, 
as if they thought this order to be a means of livelihood, instead of a 
pattern of virtue, or an absolute authority, instead of a ministry of which we 
must give account. In fact they are almost more in number than those whom they 
govern; pitiable as regards piety,(g) and unfortunate in their 
dignity; so that, it seems to me, they will not, as time and this evil alike 
progress, have any one left to rule, when all are teachers, instead of, as the 
promise says, taught of God,(d) and all 
prophesy,(e) so that even "Saul is among the 
prophets,"(z) according to the ancient history and proverb. For 
at no time, either now or in former days, amid the rise and fall of various 
developments, has there ever been such an abundance, as now exists among Christians, of disgrace and abuses of this 
kind. And, if to stay this current is beyond our powers, at any rate it is not 
the least important duty of religion to testify the hatred and shame we feel 
for it. 

  9. Lastly, there is a matter more serious than any which I have mentioned, 
for I am now coming to the finale(a) of the question: and I 
will not deceive you; for that would not be lawful in regard to topics of such 
moment. I did not, nor do I now, think myself qualified to rule a flock or 
herd, or to have authority over the souls of men. For in their case it is 
sufficient to render the herd or flock as stout and fat as possible; and with 
this object the neatherd and shepherd will look for well watered and rich 
pastures, and will drive his charge from pasture to pasture, and allow them to 
rest, or arouse, or recall them, sometimes with his staff, most often with his 
pipe; and with the exception of occasional struggles with wolves, or attention 
to the sickly, most of his time will be devoted to the oak and the shade and 
his pipes, while he reclines on the beautiful grass, and beside the cool 
water, and shakes down his couch in a breezy spot, and ever and anon sings a 
love ditty, with his cup by his side, and talks to his bullocks or his flock, 
the fattest of which supply his banquets or his pay. But no one ever has 
thought of the virtue of flocks or herds; for indeed of what virtue are they 
capable? Or who has regarded their advantage as more important than his own 
pleasure? 

  10. But in the case of man, hard as it is for him to learn how to submit to 
rule, it seems far harder to know how to rule over men, and hardest of all, 
with this rifle of ours, which leads them by the divine law, and to God, for 
its risk is, in the eyes of a thoughtful man, proportionate to its height and 
dignity. For, first of all, he must, like silver or gold, though in general 
circulation in all kinds of seasons and affairs, never ring false or alloyed, 
or give token of any inferior matter, needing further refinement in the 
fire;(b) or else, the wider his rule, the greater evil he will 
be. Since the injury which extends to many is greater than that which is 
confined to a single individual. 

  II. For it is not so easy to dye deeply a piece of cloth, or to impregnate 
with odours, foul or the reverse, whatever comes near to them; nor is it so 
easy for the fatal vapour, which is rightly called a pestilence, to infect the 
air, and through the air to gain access to living being, as it is for the vice 
of a superior to take most speedy possession of his subjects, and that with 
far greater facility than virtue its opposite. For it is in this that 
wickedness especially has the advantage over goodness, and most distressing it 
is to me to perceive it, that vice is something attractive and ready at hand, 
and that nothing is so easy as to become evil, even without any one to lead us 
on to it; while the attainment of virtue is rare and difficult, even where 
there is much to attract and encourage us. And it is this, I think, which the 
most blessed Haggai had before his eyes, in his wonderful and most true 
figure:(a)--"Ask the priests concerning the law, saying: If 
holy flesh borne in a garment touch meat or drink or vessel, will it sanctify 
what is in contact with it? And when they said No; ask again if any of these 
things touch what is unclean, does it not at once partake of the pollution? 
For they will surely tell you that it does partake of it, and does not 
continue clean in spite of the contact." 

  12. What does he mean by this? As I take it, that goodness can with 
difficulty gain a hold upon human nature, like fire upon green wood; while 
most men are ready and disposed to join in evil, like 
stubble,(b) I mean, ready for a spark and a wind, which is 
easily kindled and consumed from its dryness. For more quickly would any one 
take part in evil with slight inducement to its full extent, than in good 
which is fully set before him to a slight degree. For indeed a little wormwood 
most quickly imparts its bitterness to honey; while not even double the 
quantity of honey can impart its sweetness to wormwood: and the withdrawal of 
a small pebble would draw headlong a whole river, though it would be difficult 
for the strongest dam to restrain or stay its course. 

  13. This then is the first point in what we have said, which it is right for 
us to guard against, viz.: being found to be bad painters(g) of 
the charms of virtue, and still more, if not, perhaps, models for poor 
painters, poor models for the people, or barely escaping the proverb, that we 
undertake to heal others(d) while ourselves are full of sores. 

  14. In the second place, although a man has kept himself pure from sin, even 
in a very high degree; I do not know that even this is sufficient for one who 
is to instruct others in virtue. For he who has received this charge, not only 
needs to be free from evil, for evil is, in the eyes of most of those under his care, most disgraceful, but also to be 
eminent in good, according to the command, "Depart from evil and do 
good."(a) And he must not only wipe out the traces of vice from 
his soul, but also inscribe better ones, so as to outstrip men further in 
virtue than he is superior to them in dignity. He should know no limits in 
goodness or spiritual progress, and should dwell upon the loss of what is 
still beyond him, rather than the gain of what he has attained, and consider 
that which is beneath his feet a step to that which comes next: and not think 
it a great gain to excel ordinary people, but a loss to fall short of what we 
ought to be: and to measure his success by the commandment and not by his 
neighbours, whether they be evil, or to some extent proficient in virtue: and 
to weigh virtue in no small scales, inasmuch as it is due to the Most High, 
"from Whom are all things, and to Whom are all things."(b) 

  15. Nor must he suppose that the same things are suitable to all, just as 
all have not the same stature, nor are the features of the face, nor the 
nature of animals, nor the qualities of soil, nor the beauty and size of the 
stars, in all cases the same: but he must consider base conduct a fault in a 
private individual, and deserving of chastisement under the hard rule of the 
law; while in the case of a ruler or leader it is a fault not to attain to the 
highest possible excellence, and always make progress in goodness, if indeed 
he is, by his high degree of virtue, to draw his people to an ordinary degree, 
not by the force of authority, but by the influence of persuasion. For what is 
involuntary apart from its being the result of oppression, is neither 
meritorious nor durable. For what is forced, like a plant(g) 
violently drawn aside by our hands, when set free, returns to what it was 
before, but that which is the result of choice is both most legitimate and 
enduring, for it is preserved by the bond of good will. And so our law and our 
lawgiver enjoin upon us most strictly that we should "tend the flock not by 
constraint but willingly."(d) 

  16. But granted that a man is free from vice, and has reached the greatest 
heights of virtue: I do not see what knowledge or power would justify him in 
venturing upon this office. For the guiding of man, the most variable and 
manifold of creatures, seems to me in very deed to be the art of 
arts(e) and science of sciences. Any one may recognize this, by 
comparing the work of the physician of souls with the treatment of the body; 
and noticing that, laborious as the latter is, ours is more laborious, and of 
more consequence, from the nature of its subject matter, the power of its 
science, and the object of its exercise. The one labours about bodies, and 
perishable failing matter, which absolutely must be dissolved and undergo its 
fate,(a) even if upon this occasion by the aid of art it can 
surmount the disturbance within itself, being dissolved by disease or time in 
submission to the law of nature, since it cannot rise above its own 
limitations. 

  17. The other is concerned with the soul, which comes from God and is 
divine, and partakes of the heavenly nobility, and presses on to it, even if 
it be bound to an inferior nature. Perhaps indeed there are other reasons also 
for this, which only God, Who bound them together, and those who are 
instructed by God in such mysteries, can know, but as far as I, and men like 
myself can perceive, there are two: one, that it may inherit the glory above 
by means of a struggle and wrestling(b) with things below, 
being tried as gold in the fire(g) by things here, and gain the 
objects of our hope as a prize of virtue, and not merely as the gift of God. 
This, indeed, was the will of Supreme Goodness, to make the good even our own, 
not only because sown in our nature, but because cultivated by our own choice, 
and by the motions of our will,(d) free to act in either 
direction. The second reason is, that it may draw to itself and raise to 
heaven the lower nature, by gradually freeing it from its grossness, in order 
that the soul may be to the body what God is to the soul, itself leading on 
the matter which ministers to it, and uniting it, as its fellow-servant, to 
God. 

  18. Place and time and age and season and the like are the subjects of a 
physician's scrutiny; he will prescribe medicines and diet, and guard against 
things injurious, that the desires of the sick may not be a hindrance to his 
art. Sometimes, and in certain cases, he will make use of the cautery or the 
knife or the severer remedies; but none of these, laborious and hard as they 
may seem, is so difficult as the diagnosis and cure of our habits, passions, 
lives, wills, and whatever else is within us, by banishing from our compound 
nature everything brutal and fierce, and introducing and establishing in their 
stead what is gentle and dear to God, and arbitrating fairly between soul and body; not allowing the 
superior to be overpowered by the inferior, which would be the greatest 
injustice; but subjecting to the ruling and leading power that which naturally 
takes the second place: as indeed the divine law enjoins, which is most 
excellently imposed on His whole creation, whether visible or beyond our ken. 

  19. This further point does not escape me, that the nature of all these 
objects of the watch-fulness of the physician remains the same, and does not 
evolve out of itself any crafty opposition, or contrivance hostile to the 
appliances of his art, nay, it is rather the treatment which modifies its 
subject matter,(a) except where some slight insubordination 
occurs on the part of the patient, which it is not difficult to prevent or 
restrain. But in our case, human prudence and selfishness, and the want of 
training and inclination to yield ready submission are a very great obstacle 
to advance in virtue, amounting almost to an armed resistance to those who are 
wishful to help us. And the very eagerness with which we should lay bare our 
sickness to oar spiritual physicians, we employ in avoiding this 
treatment,(b) and shew our bravery by struggling against what 
is for our own interest, our skill in shunning what is for our health. 

  20. For we either hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our 
soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping the notice 
of men we could escape the mighty eye of God and justice. Or else we allege 
excuses in our sins,(g) by devising pleas in defence of our 
falls, or tightly closing our ears, like the deaf adder that stoppeth her 
ears, we are obstinate in refusing to hear the voice of the charmer, and be 
treated with the medicines of wisdom? by which spiritual sickness is healed. 
Or, lastly, those of us who are most daring and self-willed shamelessly brazen 
out our sin before those who would heal it, marching with bared head, as the 
saying is, into all kinds of transgression. O what madness, if there be no 
term more fitting for this state of mind! Those whom we ought to love as our 
benefactors we keep off, as if they were our enemies, hating those who reprove 
in the gates, and abhorring the righteous word;(d) and we think 
that we shall succeed in the war that we are waging against those who are well 
disposed to us by doing ourselves all the harm we can, like men who imagine 
they are consuming the flesh of others when they are really fastening upon 
their own. 

  21. For these reasons I allege that our office as physicians far exceeds in 
toilsomeness, and consequently in worth, that which is confined to the body; 
and further, because the latter is mainly concerned with the surface, and only 
in a slight degree investigates the causes which are deeply hidden. But the 
whole of our treatment and exertion is concerned with the hidden man of the 
heart,(a) and our warfare is directed against that adversary 
and foe within us, who uses ourselves as his weapons against ourselves, and, 
most fearful of all, hands us over to the death of sin. In opposition then, to 
these foes we are in need of great and perfect faith, and of still greater 
co-operation on the part of God, and, as I am persuaded, of no slight 
countermanoeuvring on our own part, which mast manifest itself both in word 
and deed, if ourselves, the most precious possession we have, are to be duly 
tended and cleansed and made as deserving as possible. 

  22. To turn however to the ends in view in each of these forms of healing, 
for this point is still left to be considered, the one preserves, if it 
already exists, the health and good habit of the flesh, or if absent, recalls 
it; though it is not yet clear whether or not these will be for the advantage 
of those who possess them, since their opposites very often confer a greater 
benefit on those who have them, just as poverty and wealth, renown or 
disgrace, a low or brilliant position, and all other circumstances, which are 
naturally indifferent, and do not incline in one direction more than in 
another, produce a good or bad effect according to the will of, and the manner 
in which they are used by the persons who experience them. But the scope of 
our art is to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and 
give it to God, and to watch over that which is in His 
image,(b) if it abides, to take it by the hand, if it is in 
danger, or restore it, if ruined, to make Christ to dwell in the 
heart(g) by the Spirit: and, in short, to deify, and bestow 
heavenly bliss upon, one who belongs to the heavenly host. 

  23. This is the wish of our schoolmaster(d) the law, of the 
prophets who intervened between Christ and the law, of Christ who is the 
fulfiller and end(e) of the spiritual law; of the emptied 
Godhead,(z) of the assumed flesh,(h) of the 
novel union between God and man, one consisting(q) of two, and 
both in one. This is why God was united(a) to the flesh by means of the 
soul,(b) and natures so separate were knit together by the 
affinity to each of the element which mediated between them: so all became one 
for the sake of all, and for the sake of one, our progenitor, the soul because 
of the soul which was disobedient, the flesh because of the flesh which 
co-operated with it and shared in its condemnation, Christ, Who was superior 
to, and beyond the reach of, sin, because of Adam, who became subject to sin. 

  24. This is why the new was substituted for the old,(g) why 
He Who suffered was for suffering recalled to life, why each property of His, 
Who was above us, was interchanged with each of ours, why the new mystery took 
place of the dispensation, due to loving kindness which deals with him who 
fell through disobedience. This is the reason for the generation and the 
virgin, for the manger and Bethlehem; the generation on behalf of the 
creation,(d) the virgin on behalf of the 
woman,(e) Bethlehem(z) because of Eden, the 
manger because of the garden, small and visible things on behalf of great and 
hidden things. This is why the angels(h) glorified first the 
heavenly, then the earthly,(q) why the shepherds saw the glory 
over the Lamb and the Shepherd, why the star led the Magi to worship and offer 
gifts,(i) in order that idolatry might be destroyed. This is 
why Jesus was baptized,(k) and received testimony from above, 
and fasted,(l) and was tempted, and overcame him who had 
overcome. This is why devils were cast out,(m) and diseases 
healed, and the mighty preaching was entrusted to, and successfully proclaimed 
by men of low estate. 

  25. This is why the heathen rage and the peoples imagine vain 
things;(n) why tree(x) is set over against 
tree,(o) hands against hand, the one stretched out in self 
indulgence,(p) the others in generosity; the one unrestrained, 
the others fixed by nails,(r) the one expelling Adam, the other 
reconciling the ends of the earth. This is the reason of the lifting up to 
atone for the fall, and of the gall for the tasting, and of the thorny crown 
for the dominion of evil, and of death for death, and of darkness for the sake 
of light, and of burial for the return to the ground, and of resurrection for 
the sake of resurrection.(a) All these are a training from God 
for us, and a healing for our weakness, restoring the old Adam to the place 
whence he fell, and conducting us to the tree of life,(b) from 
which the tree of knowledge estranged us, when partaken of unseasonably, and 
improperly. 

  26. Of this healing we, who are set over others, are the ministers and 
fellow-labourers;(g) for whom it is a great thing to recognise 
and heal their own passions and sicknesses: or rather, not really a great 
thing, only the viciousness of most of those who belong to this order has made 
me say so: but a much greater thing is the power to heal and skilfully cleanse 
those of others, to the advantage both of those who are in want of healing and 
of those whose charge it is to heal. 

  27. Again, the healers of our bodies will have their labours and vigils and 
cares, of which we are aware; and will reap a harvest of pain for themselves 
from the distresses of others, as one of their wise men(d) 
said; and will provide for the use of those who need them, both the results of 
their own labours and investigations, and what they have been able to borrow 
from others: and they consider none, even of the minutest details, which they 
discover, or which elude their search, as having other than an important 
influence upon health or danger. And what is the object of all this? That a 
man may live some days longer on the earth, though he is possibly not a good 
man, but one of the most depraved, for whom it had perhaps been better, 
because of his badness, to have died long ago, in order to be set free from 
vice, the most serious of sicknesses. But, suppose he is a good man, how long 
will he be able to live? Forever? Or what will he gain from life here, from 
which it is the greatest of blessings, if a man be sane and sensible, to seek 
to be set free? 

  28. But we, upon whose efforts is staked the salvation of a soul, a being 
blessed and immortal, and destined for undying chastisement or praise, for its 
vice or virtue,--what a struggle ought ours to be, and how great skill do we 
require to treat, or get men treated properly, and to change their life, and 
give up the clay to the spirit. For men and women, young 
and old, rich and poor, the sanguine and despondent, the sick and whole, 
rulers and ruled, the wise and ignorant, the cowardly and courageous, the 
wrathful and meek, the successful and failing, do not require the same 
instruction and encouragement. 

  29. And if you examine more closely, how great is the distinction between 
the married and the unmarried, and among the latter between hermits and those 
who(a) live together in community, between those who are 
proficient and advanced in contemplation and those who barely hold on the 
straight course, between townsfolk again and rustics, between the simple and 
the designing, between men of business and men of leisure, between those who 
have met with reverses and those who are prosperous and ignorant of 
misfortune. For these classes differ sometimes more widely from each other in 
their desires and passion than in their physical characteristics; or, if you 
will, in the mixtures and blendings of the elements of which we are composed, 
and, therefore, to regulate them is no easy task. 

  30. As then the same medicine and the same food are not in every case 
administered to men's bodies, but a difference is made according to their 
degree of health or infirmity; so also are souls treated with varying 
instruction and guidance. To this treatment witness is borne by those who have 
had experience of it. Some are led by doctrine, others trained by example; 
some need the spur, others the curb; some are sluggish and hard to rouse to 
the good, and must be stirred up by being smitten with the word; others are 
immoderately fervent in spirit, with impulses difficult to restrain, like 
thoroughbred colts, who run wide of the turning post, and to improve them the 
word must have a restraining and checking influence. 

  31. Some are benefited by praise, others by blame, both being applied in 
season; while if out of season, or unreasonable, they are injurious; some are 
set right by encouragement, others by rebuke; some, when taken to task in 
public, others, when privately corrected. For some are wont to despise private 
admonitions, but are recalled to their senses by the condemnation of a number 
of people, while others, who would grow reckless under reproof openly given, 
accept rebuke because it is in secret, and yield obedience in return for 
sympathy. 

  32. Upon some it is needful to keep a close watch, even in the minutest 
details, because if they think they are unperceived (as they would contrive to 
be), they are puffed up with the idea of their own wisdom: Of others it is 
better to take no notice, but seeing not to see, and hearing not to hear them, 
according to the proverb, that we may not drive them to despair, under the 
depressing influence of repeated reproofs, and at last to utter recklessness, 
when they have lost the sense of self-respect, the source of 
persuasiveness.(a) In some cases we must even be angry, without 
feeling angry, or treat them with a disdain we do not feel, or manifest 
despair, though we do not really despair of them, according to the needs of 
their nature. Others again we must treat with condescension(b) 
and lowliness, aiding them readily to conceive a hope of better things. Some 
it is often more advantageous to conquer--by others to be overcome, and to 
praise or deprecate, in one case wealth and power, in another poverty and 
failure. 

  33. For our treatment does not correspond with virtue and vice, one of which 
is most excellent and beneficial at all times and in all cases, and the other 
most evil and harmful; and, instead of one and the same of our medicines 
invariably proving either most wholesome or most dangerous in the same 
cases--be it severity or gentleness, or any of the others which we have 
enumerated--in some cases it proves good and useful, in others again it has 
the contrary effect, according, I suppose, as time and circumstance and the 
disposition of the patient admit. Now to set before you the distinction 
between all these things, and give you a perfectly exact view of them, so that 
you may in brief comprehend the medical art, is quite impossible, even for one 
in the highest degree qualified by care and skill: but actual experience and 
practice are requisite to form(g) a medical system and a 
medical man. 

  34. This, however, I take to be generally admitted--that just as it is not 
safe for those who walk on a lofty tight rope to lean to either side, for even 
though the inclination seems slight, it has no slight consequences, but their safety depends upon their perfect balance: so in be case of one of us, 
if he leans to either side, whether from vice or ignorance, no slight danger 
of a fail into sin is incurred, both for himself and those who are led by him. 
But we must really walk in the King's highway,(a) and take care 
not to turn aside from it either to the right hand or to the 
left,(b) as the Proverbs say. For such is the case with our 
passions, and such in this matter is the task of the good shepherd, if he is 
to know properly the souls of his flock, and to guide them according to the 
methods of a pastoral care which is fight and just, and worthy of our true 
Shepherd. 

  35. In regard to the distribution of the word, to mention last the first of 
our duties, of that divine and exalted word, which everyone now is ready to 
discourse upon; if anyone else boldly undertakes it and supposes it within the 
power of every man's intellect, I am amazed at his intelligence, not to say 
his folly. To me indeed it seems no slight task, and one requiring no little 
spiritual power, to give in due season(g) to each his portion 
of the word, and to regulate with judgment the truth of our opinions, which 
are concerned with such subjects as the world or worlds,(d) 
matter, soul, mind, intelligent natures, better or worse, providence which 
holds together and guides the universe, and seems in our experience of it to 
be governed according to some principle, but one which is at variance with 
those of earth and of men. 

  36. Again, they are concerned with our original constitution, and final 
restoration, the types of the truth, the covenants, the first and second 
coming of Christ, His incarnation, sufferings and 
dissolution,(e) with the resurrection, the last day, the 
judgment and recompense, whether sad or glorious; I, to crown all, with what 
we are to think of the original(z) and blessed Trinity. Now 
this involves a very great risk to those who are charged with the 
illumination(h) of others, if they are to avoid 
contracting(q) their doctrine to a single Person, from fear of 
polytheism, and so leave us empty terms, if we suppose the Father and the Son 
and the Holy Spirit to be one and the same Person only: or, on the other hand, 
severing It into three, either foreign and diverse, or disordered and 
unprincipled, and, so to say, opposed divinities, thus falling from the 
opposite side into an equally dangerous error: like some distorted plant if 
bent far back in the opposite direction. 

  37. For, amid the three infirmities in regard to theology, atheism, Judaism, 
and polytheism, one of which is patronised by Sabellius the Libyan, another by 
Arius of Alexandria, and the third by some of the ultra-orthodox among us, 
what is my position, can I avoid whatever in these three is noxious, and 
remain within the limits of piety; neither being led astray by the new 
analysis and synthesis into the atheism(a) of Sabellius, to 
assert not so much that all are one as that each is nothing, for things which 
are transferred and pass into each other cease to be that which each one of 
them is, of that we have an unnaturally compound deity, like those mythical 
creatures, the subject of a picturesque imagination: nor again, by alleging a 
plurality of severed natures, according to the well named 
madness(b) of Arius, becoming involved in a Jewish poverty, and 
introducing envy into the divine nature, by 

limiting the Godhead to the Unbegotten One alone, as if afraid that our God 
would perish, if He were the Father of a real God of equal nature: nor again, 
by arraying three principles in opposition to, or in alliance with, each 
other, introducing the Gentile plurality of principles from which we have 
escaped? 

  38. It is necessary neither to be so devoted to the Father, as to rob Him of 
His Fatherhood, for whose Father would He be, if the Son were separated and 
estranged from Him, by being ranked with the creation, (for an alien being, or 
one which is combined and confounded with his father, and, for the sense is 
the same, throws him into confusion, is not a son); nor to be so devoted to 
Christ, as to neglect to preserve both His Sonship, (for whose son would He 
be, if His origin were not referred to the Father?) and the rank of the Father 
as origin, inasmuch as He is the Father and Generator; for He would be the 
origin of petty and Unworthy beings, or rather the term would be used in a 
petty and unworthy sense, if He were not the origin of Godhead and goodness, 
which are contemplated in the Son and the Spirit: the former being the Son and 
the Word, the latter the proceeding and indissoluble Spirit. For both the 
Unity of the Godhead must be preserved, and the Trinity 
of Persons confessed, each with His own property. 

  39. A suitable and worthy comprehension and exposition of this subject 
demands a discussion of greater length than the present occasion, or even our 
life, as I suppose, allows, and, what is more, both now and at all times, the 
aid of the Spirit, by Whom alone we are able to perceive, to expound, or to 
embrace, the truth in regard to God. For the pure alone can grasp. Him Who is 
pure and of the same disposition as himself; and I have now briefly dwelt upon 
the subject, to show how difficult it is to discuss such important questions, 
especially before a large audience, composed of every age and condition, and 
needing like an instrument of many strings, to be played upon in various ways; 
or to find any form of words able to edify them all, and illuminate them with 
the light of knowledge. For it is not only that there are three sources from 
which danger springs, understanding, speech, and hearing, so that failure in 
one, if not in all, is infallibly certain; for either the mind is not 
illuminated, or the language is feeble, or the hearing, not having been 
cleansed, fails to comprehend, and accordingly, in one or all respects, the 
truth must be maimed: but further, what makes the instruction of those who 
profess to teach any other subject so easy and acceptable--viz. the 
piety(a) of the audience--on this subject involves difficulty 
and danger. 

  40. For having undertaken to contend on behalf of God, the Supreme Being, 
and of salvation, and of the primary hope(b) of us all, the 
more fervent they are in the faith, the more hostile are they to what is said, 
supposing that a submissive spirit indicates, not piety, but treason to the 
truth, and therefore they would sacrifice anything rather than their private 
convictions, and the accustomed doctrines in which they have been educated. I 
am now referring to those who are moderate and not utterly depraved in 
disposition, who, if they have erred in regard to the truth, have erred from 
piety, who have zeal, though not according to knowledge,(g) who 
will possibly be of the number of those not excessively condemned, and not 
beaten with many stripes,(a) because it is not through vice or 
depravity that they have failed to do the will of their Lord; and these 
perchance would be persuaded and forsake the pious opinion which is the cause 
of their hostility, if some reason either from their own minds, or from 
others, were to take hold of them, and at a critical moment, like iron from 
flint, strike fire from a mind which is pregnant and worthy of the light, for 
thus a little spark would quickly kindle the torch of truth within it. 

  41. But what is to be said of those who, from vain glory or arrogance, speak 
unrighteousness against the most High,(b) arming themselves 
with the insolence of Jannes and Jambres,(g) not against Moses, 
but against the truth, and rising in opposition to sound doctrine? Or of the 
third class, who through ignorance and, its consequence, temerity, rush 
headlong against every form of doctrine in swinish fashion, and trample under 
foot the fair pearls(d) of the truth? 

  42. What again of those who come with no private idea, or form of words, 
better or worse, in regard to God, but listen to all kinds of doctrines and 
teachers, with the intention of selecting from all what is best and safest, in 
reliance upon no better judges of the truth than themselves? They are, in 
consequence, borne and turned about hither and thither by one plausible idea 
after another, and, after being deluged and trodden down by all kinds of 
doctrine,(e) and having rung the changes on a long succession 
of teachers and formul, which they throw to the winds as readily as dust, 
their ears and minds at last are wearied out, and, O what folly! they become 
equally disgusted with all forms of doctrine, and assume the wretched 
character of deriding and despising our faith as unstable and unsound; passing 
in their ignorance from the teachers to the doctrine: as if anyone whose eyes 
were diseased, or whose ears had been injured, were to complain of the sun for 
being dim and not shining, or of sounds for being inharmonious and feeble. 

  43. Accordingly, to impress the truth upon a soul when it is still fresh, 
like wax not yet subjected to the seal, is an easier task than inscribing 
pious doctrine on the top of inscriptions--I mean wrong doctrines and 
dogmas(z)--with the result that the former are confused and 
thrown into disorder by the latter. It is better indeed to tread a road which 
is smooth and well trodden than one which is untrodden and rough, or to plough 
land which has often been cleft and broken up by the plough: but a soul to be written upon should be 
free from the inscription of harmful doctrines, or the deeply cut marks of 
vice: otherwise the pious inscriber would have a twofold task, the erasure of 
the former impressions and the substitution of others which are more 
excellent, and more worthy to abide. So numerous are they whose wickedness is 
shown, not only by yielding to their passions, but even by their utterances, 
and so numerous the forms and characters of wickedness, and so considerable 
the task of one who has been intrusted with this office of educating and 
taking charge of souls. Indeed I have omitted the majority of the details, 
lest my speech should be unnecessarily burdensome. 

  44. If anyone were to undertake to tame and train an animal of many forms 
and shapes, compounded of many animals of various sizes and degrees of 
tameness and wildness, his principal task, involving a considerable struggle, 
would be the government of so extraordinary and heterogeneous a nature, since 
each of the animals of which it is compounded would, according to its nature 
or habit, be differently affected with joy, pleasure or dislike, by the same 
words, or food, or stroking with the hand, or whistling, or other modes of 
treatment. And what must the master of such an animal do, but show himself 
manifold and various in his knowledge, and apply to each a treatment suitable 
for it, so as successfully to lead and preserve the beast? And since the 
common body of the church is composed of many different characters and minds, 
like a single animal compounded of discordant parts, it is absolutely 
necessary that its ruler should be at once simple in his uprightness in all 
respects, and as far as possible manifold and varied in his treatment of 
individuals, and in dealing with all in an appropriate and suitable manner. 

  45. For some need to be fed with the milk(a) of the most 
simple and elementary doctrines, viz., those who are in habit babes and, so to 
say, new-made, and unable to bear the manly food of the word: nay, if it were 
presented to them beyond their strength, they would probably be overwhelmed 
and oppressed, owing to the inability of their mind, as is the case with our 
material bodies,(b) to digest and appropriate what is offered 
to it, and so would lose even their original power. Others require the wisdom 
which is spoken among the perfect,(a) and the higher and more 
solid food, since their senses have been sufficiently exercised to 
discern(b) truth and falsehood, and if they were made to drink 
milk, and fed on the vegetable diet of invalids,(g) they would 
be annoyed. And with good reason, for they would not be 
strengthened(d) according to Christ, nor make that laudable 
increase, which the Word produces in one who is rightly feel, by making him a 
perfect man, and bringing him to the measure of spiritual 
stature.(e) 

  46. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as the many, able 
to corrupt(z) the word of truth, and mix the 
wine,(h) which maketh glad the heart of man,(q) 
with water, mix, that is, our doctrine with what is common and cheap, and 
debased, and stale, and tasteless, in order to turn the adulteration to our 
profit, and accommodate ourselves to those who meet us, and curry favor with 
everyone, becoming ventriloquists(i) and chatterers, who serve 
their own pleasures by words uttered from the earth, and sinking into the 
earth, and, to gain the special good will of the multitude, injuring in the 
highest degree, nay, ruining ourselves, and shedding the innocent blood of 
simpler souls, which will be required at our hands.(k) 

  47. Besides, we are aware that it is better to offer our own reins to others 
more skilful than ourselves, than, while inexperienced, to guide the course of 
others, and rather to give a kindly hearing than stir an untrained tongue; and 
after a discussion of these points with advisers who are, I fancy, of no mean 
worth, and, at any rate, wish us well, we preferred to learn those canons of 
speech and action which we did not know, rather than undertake to teach them 
in our ignorance. For it is delightful to have the reasoning(l) 
of the aged come to one even until the depth of old age, able, as it is, to 
aid a soul new to piety. Accordingly, to undertake the training of others 
before being sufficiently trained oneself, and to learn, as men say, the 
potter's art on a wine-jar, that is, to practise ourselves in piety at the 
expense of others' souls seems to me to be excessive folly or excessive 
rashness--folly, if we are not even aware of our own ignorance; rashness, if 
in spite of this knowledge we venture on the task. 

  48. Nay, the wiser of the Hebrews tell us that there was of old among the 
Hebrews a most excellent and praiseworthy law,(m) that every age was not entrusted with the whole of Scripture, inasmuch as this would not 
be the more profitable course, since the whole of it is not at once 
intelligible to everyone, and its more recondite parts would, by their 
apparent meaning, do a very great injury to most people. Some portions 
therefore, whose exterior(a) is unexceptionable, are from the 
first permitted and common to all; while others are only en-trusted to those 
who have attained their twenty-fifth year, viz., such as hide their mystical 
beauty under a mean-looking cloak, to be the reward of diligence and an 
illustrious life; flashing forth and presenting itself only to those whose 
mind has been purified, on the ground that this age alone(b) 
can be superior to the body, and properly rise from the letter to the spirit. 

  49. Among us, however, there is no boundary line between giving and 
receiving instruction, like the stones of old between the tribes within and 
beyond the Jordan: nor is a certain part entrusted to some, another to others; 
nor any rule for degrees(g) of experience; but the matter has 
been so disturbed and thrown into confusion, that most of us, not to say all, 
almost before we have lost our childish curls and lisp, before we have entered 
the house of God, before we know even the names of the Sacred Books, before we 
have learnt the character and authors of the Old and New Testaments: (for my 
present point is not our want of cleansing from the mire and marks of 
spiritual shame which our viciousness has contracted) if, I say, we have 
furnished ourselves with two or three expressions of pious authors, and that 
by hearsay, not by study; if we have had a brief experience of David, or clad 
ourselves properly in a cloak-let, or are wearing at least a philosopher's 
girdle, or have girt about us some form and appearance of piety--phew! how we 
take the chair and show our spirit! Samuel was holy even in his 
swaddling-clothes:(d) we are at once wise teachers, of high 
estimation in Divine things, the first of scribes and lawyers; we ordain 
ourselves men of heaven and seek to be called Rabbi by men;(e) 
the letter is nowhere, everything is to be understood spiritually, and our 
dreams are utter drivel, and we should be annoyed if we were not lauded to 
excess. This is the case with the better and more simple of us: what of those 
who are more spiritual and noble?(a) After frequently 
condemning us, as men of no account, they have forsaken us, and abhor 
fellowship with impious people such as we are. 

  50. Now, if we were to speak gently to one of them, advancing, as follows, 
step by step in argument: "Tell me, my good sir, do you call dancing anything, 
and flute-playing?" "Certainly," they would say. "What then of wisdom and 
being wise, which we venture to define as a knowledge of things divine and 
human?" This also they will admit. "Are then these accomplishments better than 
and superior to wisdom, or wisdom by far better than these?" "Better even than 
all things," I know well that they will say. Up to this point they are 
judicious. "Well, dancing and flute-playing require to be taught and learnt, a 
process which takes time, and much toil in the sweat of the brow, and 
sometimes the payment of fees, and entreaties for initiation, and long absence 
from home, and all else which must be done and borne for the acquisition of 
experience: but as for wisdom, which is chief of all things, and holds in her 
embrace everything which is good, so that even God himself prefers this title 
to all the names which He is called; are we to suppose that it is a matter of 
such slight consequence, and so accessible, that we need but wish, and we 
would be wise?" "It would be utter folly to do so." If we, or any learned and 
prudent man, were to say this to them, and try by degrees to cleanse them from 
their error, it would be sowing upon rocks,(b) and speaking to 
ears of men who will not hear:(g) so far are they from being 
even wise enough to perceive their own ignorance. And we may rightly, in my 
opinion, apply to them the saying of Solomon: There is an evil which I have 
seen under the sun,(d) a man wise in his own 
conceit;(e) and a still greater evil is to charge with the 
instruction of others a man who is not even aware of his own ignorance. 

  51. This is a state of mind which demands, in special degree, our tears and 
groans, and has often stirred my pity, from the conviction that imagination 
robs us in great measure of reality, and that vain glory is a great hindrance 
to men's attainment of virtue. To heal and stay this disease needs a Peter or 
Paul, those great disciples of Christ, who in addition to guidance in word and 
deed, received their grace,(z) and became all things to all men, that they might gain all.(a) But 
for other men like ourselves, it is a great thing to be rightly guided and led 
by those who have been charged with the correction and setting right of things 
such as these. 

  52. Since, however, I have mentioned Paul, and men like him, I will, with 
your permission, pass by all others who have been foremost as lawgivers, 
prophets, or leaders, or in any similar office--for instance, Moses, Aaron, 
Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, the Judges, Samuel, David, the company of Prophets, 
John, the Twelve Apostles, and their successors, who with many toils and 
labors exercised their authority, each in his own time; all these I pass by, 
to set forth Paul as the witness to my assertions, and for us to consider by 
his example how important a matter is the care of souls, and whether it 
requires slight attention and little judgment. But that we may recognize and 
perceive this, let us hear what Paul himself says of Paul. 

  53. I say nothing of his labours, his watchings, his sufferings in hunger 
and thirst, in cold and nakedness, his assailants from without, his 
adversaries within.(b) I pass over the persecutions, councils, 
prisons, bonds, accusers, tribunals, the daily and hourly deaths, the basket, 
the stonings, beatings with rods, the travelling about, the perils by land and 
sea, the deep, the shipwrecks, the perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils 
from his countrymen, perils among false brethren, the living by his own hands, 
the gospel without charge,(g) the being a spectacle to both 
angels and men,(d) set in the midst between God and men to 
champion His cause,(e) and to unite them to Him, and make them 
His own peculiar people,(z) beside those things that are 
without.(h) For who could worthily detail these matters, the 
daily pressure, the individual solicitude, the care of all the churches, 
the universal sympathy, and brotherly love? Did anyone stumble, Paul also was 
weak; did another suffer scandal, it was Paul who was on fire. 

  54. What of the laboriousness of his teaching? The manifold character of his 
ministry? His loving kindness? And on the other hand his strictness? And the 
combination and blending of the two; in such wise that his gentleness should 
not enervate, nor his severity exasperate? He gives laws for slaves and 
masters,(i) rulers and ruled,(k) husbands and 
wives,(l) parents and children,(a) marriage and 
celibacy,(b) self-discipline and indulgence,(g) 
wisdom and ignorance,(d) circumcision and 
uncircumcision,(e) Christ and the world, the flesh and the 
spirit.(z) On behalf of some he gives thanks, others he 
upbraids. Some he names his joy and crown,(h) others he charges 
with folly.(q) Some who hold a straight course he accompanies, 
sharing in their zeal; others he checks, who are going wrong. At one time he 
excommunicates,(i) at another he confirms his 
love;(k) at one time he grieves, at another rejoices; at one 
time he feeds with milk, at another he handles mysteries;(l) at 
one time he condescends, at another he raises to his own level; at one time he 
threatens a rod,(m) at another he offers the spirit of 
meekness; at one time he is haughty toward the lofty, at another lowly toward 
the lowly. Now he is least of the apostles,(n) now he offers a 
proof of Christ speaking in him;(x) now he longs for departure 
and is being poured forth as a libation,(o) now he thinks it 
more necessary for their sakes to abide in the flesh. For he seeks not his own 
interests, but those of his children,(p) whom he has begotten 
in Christ by the gospel.(r) This is the aim of all his 
spiritual authority, in everything to neglect his own in comparison with the 
advantage of others. 

  55. He glories in his infirmities and distresses. He takes pleasure in the 
dying of Jesus,(s) as if it were a kind of ornament. He is 
lofty in carnal things,(t) he rejoices in things spiritual; he 
is not rude in knowledge,(u) and claims to see in a mirror, 
darkly.(F) He is bold in spirit, and buffets his 
body,(c) throwing it as an antagonist. What is the lesson and 
instruction he would thus impress upon us? Not to be proud of earthly things, 
or puffed up by knowledge, or excite the flesh against the spirit. He fights 
for all, prays for all, is jealous for all, is kindled on behalf of all, 
whether without law, or under the law; a preacher of the 
Gentiles,(y) a patron of the Jews. He even was exceedingly bold 
on behalf of his brethren according to the flesh,(w) if I may 
myself be bold enough to say so, in his loving prayer that they might in his 
stead be brought to Christ. What magnanimity! what fervor of spirit! He 
imitates Christ, who became a curse for us,(aa) who took our 
infirmities and bore our sicknesses;(bb) or, to use more 
measured terms, he is ready, next to Christ, to suffer anything, even as one of the ungodly, for 
them, if only they be saved. 

  56. Why should I enter into detail? He lived not to himself, but to Christ 
and his preaching. He crucified the world to himself,(a) and 
being crucified to the world and the things which are seen, he thought all 
things little,(b) and too small to be desired; even though from 
Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum(g) he had fully 
preached the Gospel, even though he had been prematurely caught up to the 
third heaven, and had a vision of Paradise, and had heard unspeakable 
words.(d) Such was Paul, and everyone of like spirit with him. 
But we fear that, in comparison with them, we may be foolish princes of 
Zoan,(e) or extortioners, who exact the fruits of the ground, 
or falsely bless the people:(z) and further make themselves 
happy, and confuse the way of your feet,(h) or mockers ruling 
over you, or children in authority,(q) immature in mind, not 
even having bread and clothing enough to be rulers over any;(i) 
or prophets teaching lies,(k) or rebellious 
princes,(l) deserving to share the reproach of their elders for 
the straitness of the famine,(m) or priests very far from 
speaking comfortably(n) to Jerusalem, according to the 
reproaches and protests urged by Isaiah, who was purged by the Seraphim with a 
live coal.(x) 

  57. Is the undertaking then so serious and laborious to a sensitive and sad 
heart--a very rottenness to the bones o of a sensible man: while the danger is 
slight, and a fall not worth consideration? Nay the blessed Hosea inspires me 
with serious alarm, where he says that to us priests and rulers pertaineth the 
judgment,(o) because we have been a snare to the watchtower; 
and as a net spread upon Tabor, which has been firmly fixed by the hunters of 
men's souls, and he threatens to cut off the wicked 
prophets,(p) and devour their judges with fire, and to cease 
for a while from anointing a king and princes,(r) because they 
ruled for themselves, and not by Him.(s) 

  58. Hence again the divine Micah, unable to brook the building of Zion with 
blood, however you interpret the phrase, and of Jerusalem with iniquity, while 
the heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests teach for hire, and the 
prophets divine for money--what does he say will be the result of this? Zion 
shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem be as a lodge in a garden, and the 
mountain of the house be reckoned as a glade in a thicket.(a) 
He bewails also the scarcity of the upright, there being scarcely a stalk or a 
gleaning grape left, since both the prince asketh, and the judge curries 
favour,(b) so that his language is almost the same as the 
mighty David's: Save me, O Lord, for the godly man ceaseth:(g) 
and says that therefore their blessings shall fail them, as if wasted by the 
moth. 

  59. Joel again summons us to wailing, and will have the ministers of the 
altar lament under the presence of famine: so far is he from allowing us to 
revel in the misfortunes of others: and, after sanctifying a fast, calling a 
solemn assembly, and gathering the old men, the children, and those of tender 
age,(d) we ourselves must further haunt the temple in sackcloth 
and ashes,(e) prostrated right humbly on the ground, because 
the field is wasted, and the meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut off 
from the house of the Lord, till we draw down mercy by our humiliation. 

  60. What of Habakkuk? He utters more heated words, and is impatient with God 
Himself, and cries down, as it were our good Lord, because of the injustice of 
the judges. O Lord, how long shall I cry and Thou wilt not hear? Shall I cry 
out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save? Why dost Thou show me toil 
and labour, causing me to look upon perverseness and impiety? Judgment has 
been given against me, and the judge is a spoiler. Therefore the law is 
slacked, and judgment doth never go forth. Then comes the denunciation, and 
what follows upon it. Behold, ye despisers, and regard, and wonder 
marvellously, and vanish away, for I work a work.(z) But why 
need I quote the whole of the denunciation? A little further on, however, for 
I think it best to add this to what has been said, after upbraiding and 
lamenting many of those who are in some respect unjust or depraved, he 
upbraids the leaders and teachers of wickedness, stigmatising vice as a foul 
disorder, and an intoxication and aberration of mind; charging them with 
giving their neighbours drink in order to look upon the darkness of their 
soul,(h) and the dens of creeping things and wild beasts, viz.: 
the dwelling places of wicked thoughts. Such indeed they are, and such 
teachings do they discuss with us. 

  61. How can it be right to pass by Malachi, who at one time brings bitter 
charges against the priests, and reproaches them with despising the name of the Lord,(a) and explains wherein they did this, by 
offering polluted bread upon the altar, and meat which is not firstfruits, 
which they would not have offered to one of their governors, or, if they had 
offered it, they would have been dishonoured; yet offering these in fulfilment 
of a vow to the King of the universe, to wit, the lame and the sick, and the 
deformed, which are utterly profane and loathsome.(b) Again he 
reminds them of the covenant of God, a covenant of life and peace, with the 
sons of Levi, and that they should serve Him in fear, and stand in awe of the 
manifestation of His Name. The law of truth, he says, was in his mouth, and 
unrighteousness was not found in his lips; he walked with me uprightly in 
peace, and turned away many from iniquity: for the priest's lips shall keep 
knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth. And how honourable and at 
the same time how fearful is the cause! for he is the messenger of the Lord 
Almighty.(g) Although I pass over the following imprecations, 
as strongly worded,(d) yet I am afraid of their truth. This 
however may be cited without offence, to our profit. Is it right, he says, to 
regard your sacrifice, and receive it with good will at your 
hands,(e) as if he were most highly incensed, and rejecting 
their ministrations owing to their wickedness. 

  62. Whenever I remember Zechariah, I shudder at the 
reaping-hook,(z) and likewise at his testimony against the 
priests, his hints in reference to the celebrated Joshua, the high priest, 
whom he represents as stripped of filthy and unbecoming garments and then 
clothed in rich priestly apparel.(h) As for the words and 
charges to Joshua which he puts into the angel's mouth, let them be treated 
with silent respect, as referring perhaps to a greater(q) and 
higher object than those who are many priests:(i) but even at 
his right hand stood the devil, to resist him. A fact, in my eyes, of no 
slight significance, and demanding no slight fear and watchfulness. 

  63. Who is so bold and adamantine of soul as not to tremble and be abashed 
at the charges and reproaches deliberately urged against the rest of the 
shepherds. A voice, he says, of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory 
is spoiled. A voice of the roaring of lions,(k) for this hath 
befallen them. Does he not all but hear the wailing as if close at hand, and 
himself wail with the afflicted. A little further is a more striking and 
impassioned strain. Feed, he says, the flock of slaughter, whose possessors 
slay them without repentance, and they that sell them say, "Blessed be the 
Lord, for we are rich:" and their own shepherds are without feeling for them. 
Therefore, I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord 
Almighty.(a) And again: Awake, O sword, against the shepherds, 
and smite the shepherds, and scatter the sheep, and I will turn My Hand upon 
the shepherds;(b) and, Mine anger is kindled against the 
shepherds, and I will visit the lambs:(g) adding to the threat 
those who rule over the people. So industriously does he apply himself to his 
task that he cannot easily free himself from denunciations, and I am afraid 
that, did I refer to the whole series, I should exhaust your patience. This 
must then suffice for Zechariah. 

  64. Passing by the elders in the book of Daniel;(d) for it is 
better to pass them by, together with the Lord's righteous sentence and 
declaration concerning them, that wickedness came from Babylon from ancient 
judges, who seemed to govern the people; how are we affected by Ezekiel, the 
beholder and expositor of the mighty mysteries and visions? By his injunction 
to the watchmen(e) not to keep silence concerning vice and the 
sword impending over it, a course which would profit neither themselves nor 
the sinners; but rather to keep watch and forewarn, and thus benefit, at any 
rate those who gave warning, if not both those who spoke and those who heard? 

  65. What of his further invective against the shepherds, Woe shall come upon 
woe, and rumour upon rumour, then shall they seek a vision of the prophet, but 
the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the 
ancients,(z) and again, in these terms, Son of man, say unto 
her, thou art a land that is not watered, nor hath rain come upon thee in the 
day of indignation: whose princes in the midst of her are like roaring lions, 
ravening the prey, devouring souls in their might.(h) And a 
little further on: Her priests have violated My laws and profaned My holy 
things, they have put no difference between the holy and profane, but all 
things were alike to them, and they hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I was 
profaned among them.(q) He threatens that He will consume both 
the wall and them that daubed it,(i) that is, those who sin and 
those who throw a cloak over them; as the evil rulers and priests have done, who caused the house of Israel to err according 
to their own hearts which are estranged in their lusts.(a) 

  66. I also refrain from entering into his discussion of those who feed 
themselves, devour the milk, clothe themselves with the wool, kill them that 
are fat, but feed not the flock, strengthen not the diseased, nor bind up that 
which is broken, nor bring again that which is driven away, nor seek that 
which is lost, nor keep watch over that which is strong, but oppress them with 
rigour, and destroy them with their pressure;(b) so that, 
because there was no shepherd, the sheep were scattered over every plain and 
mountain, and became meat for all the fowls and beasts,(g) 
because there was no one to seek for them and bring them back. What is the 
consequence? As I live, saith the Lord, because these things are so, and My 
flock became a prey,(d) behold I am against the shepherds, and 
I will require My flock at their hands, and will gather them and make them My 
own: but the shepherds shall suffer such and such things, as bad shepherds 
ought. 

  67. However, to avoid unreasonably prolonging my discourse, by an 
enumeration of all the prophets, and of the words of them all, I will mention 
but one more, who was known before he was formed, and sanctified from the 
womb,(e) Jeremiah: and will pass over the rest. He longs for 
water over his head, and a fountain of tears for his eyes, that he may 
adequately weep for Israel;(z) and no less does he bewail the 
depravity of its rulers. 

  68. God speaks to him in reproof of the priests: The priests said not, Where 
is the Lord, and they that handled the law knew Me not; the pastors also 
transgressed against Me.(h) Again He says to him: The pastors 
are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord, and therefore all their 
flock did not understand, and was scattered.(q) Again, Many 
pastors have destroyed My vineyard, and have polluted My pleasant portion, 
till it was reduced to a track less wilderness.(i) He further 
inveighs against the pastors again: Woe be to the pastors that destroy and 
scatter the sheep of My pasture! Therefore thus saith the Lord against them 
that feed My people: Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and 
have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you the evil of your 
doings.(k) Moreover he bids the shepherds to howl, and the rams 
of the flock to lament, because the days of their slaughter are 
accomplished.(l) 

  69. Why need I speak of the things of ancient days? Who can test himself by 
the rules and standards which Paul laid down for bishops and presbyters, that 
they are to be temperate, soberminded, not given to wine, no strikers, apt to 
teach, blameless in all things, and beyond the reach of the 
wicked,(a) without finding considerable deflection from the 
straight line of the rules? What of the regulations of Jesus for his 
disciples, when He sends them to preach?(b) The main object of 
these is--not to enter into particulars--that they should be of such virtue, 
so simple and modest, and in a word, so heavenly, that the gospel should make 
its way, no less by their character than by their preaching. 

  70. I am alarmed by the reproaches of the Pharisees, the conviction of the 
Scribes. For it is disgraceful for us, who ought greatly surpass them, as we 
are bidden, if we desire the kingdom of heaven, to be found more deeply sunk 
in vice: so that we deserve to be called serpents, a generation of vipers, and 
blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, or sepulchres foul 
within, in spite of our external comeliness, or platters outwardly clean, and 
everything else, which they are, or which is laid to their 
charge.(g) 

  71. With these thoughts I am occupied night and day: they waste my marrow, 
and feed upon my flesh, and will not allow me to be confident or to look up. 
They depress my soul, and abase my mind, and fetter my tongue, and make me 
consider, not the position of a prelate, or the guidance and direction of 
others, which is far beyond my powers; but how I myself am to escape the wrath 
to come, and to scrape off from myself somewhat of the rust of vice. A man 
must himself be cleansed, before cleansing others: himself become wise, that 
he may make others wise; become light, and then give light: draw near to God, 
and so bring others near; be hallowed, then hallow them; be possessed of hands 
to lead others by the hand, of wisdom to give advice. 

  72. When will this be, say they who are swift but not sure in every thing, 
readily building up, readily throwing down. When will the lamp be upon its 
stand,(d) and where is the talent?(e) For so 
they call the grace.(z) Those who speak thus are more fervent 
in friendship than in reverence. You ask me, you men of exceeding courage, 
when these things shall be, and what account I give of them? Not even extreme 
old age would be too long a limit to assign. For hoary hairs combined with pruence are better than inexperienced 
youth, well-reasoned hesitation than inconsiderate haste, and a brief reign 
than a long tyranny: just as a small portion honourably won is better than 
considerable possessions which are dishonourable and uncertain, a little gold 
than a great weight of lead, a little light than much darkness. 

  73. But this speed, in its untrustworthiness and excessive haste, is in 
danger of being like the seeds which fell upon the rock,(a) 
and, because they had no depth of earth,(b) sprang up at once, 
but could not bear even the first heat of the sun; or like the foundation laid 
upon the sand,(g) which could not even make a slight resistance 
to the rain and the winds. Woe to thee, O city, whose king is a 
child,(d) says Solomon. Be not hasty of 
speech,(e) says Solomon again, asserting that hastiness of 
speech is less serious than heated action. And who, in spite of all this, 
demands haste rather than security and utility? Who can mould, as clay-figures 
are modelled in a single day, the defender of the truth, who is to take his 
stand with Angels, and give glory with Archangels, and cause the sacrifice to 
ascend to the altar on high, and share the priesthood of Christ, and renew the 
creature, and set forth the image, and create inhabitants for the world above, 
aye and, greatest of all, be God, and make others to be God? 

  74. I know Whose ministers we are, and where we are placed, and whither we 
are guides. I know the height of God, and the weakness of man, and, on the 
contrary, his power. Heaven is high, and the earth deep;(z) and 
who of those who have been cast down by sin shall ascend?(h) 
Who that is as yet surrounded by the gloom here below, and by the grossness of 
the flesh can purely gaze with his whole mind upon that whole mind, and amid 
unstable and visible things hold intercourse with the stable and invisible? 
For hardly may one of those who have been most specially purged, behold here 
even an image of the Good, as men see the sun in the water. Who hath measured 
the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth in a 
measure? Who hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a 
balance?(q) What is the place of his rest?(i) 
and to whom shall he be likened?(k) 

  75. Who is it, Who made all things by His Word,(l) and formed 
man by His Wisdom, and gathered into one things scattered abroad, and mingled 
dust with spirit, and compounded an animal visible and invisible, temporal and 
immortal, earthly and heavenly, able to attain to God but not to comprehend 
Him, drawing near and yet afar off. I said, I will be wise, says Solomon, but 
she (i.e. Wisdom) was far from me beyond what is:(a) and, 
Verily, he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.(b) For 
the joy of what we have discovered is no greater than the pain of what escapes 
us; a pain, I imagine, like that felt by those who are dragged, while yet 
thirsty, from the water, or are unable to retain what they think they hold, or 
are suddenly left in the dark by a flash of lightning. 

  76. This depressed and kept me humble, and persuaded me that it was better 
to hear the voice of praise(g) than to be an expounder of 
truths beyond my power; the majesty, and the height, and the dignity, and the 
pure natures scarce able to contain the brightness of God, Whom the deep 
covers, Whose secret place is darkness,(d) since He is the 
purest light,(e) which most men cannot approach unto; Who is in 
all this universe, and again is beyond the universe; Who is all 
goodness,(z) and beyond all goodness; Who enlightens the mind, 
and escapes the quickness and height of the mind, ever retiring as much as He 
is apprehended, and by His flight and stealing away when grasped, withdrawing 
to the things above one who is enamoured of Him. 

  77. Such and so great is the object of our longing zeal, and such a man 
should he be, who prepares and conducts souls to their espousals. For myself, 
I feared to be cast, bound hand and foot,(h) from the 
bride-chamber, for not having on a wedding-garment, and for having rashly 
intruded among those who there sit at meat. And yet I had been invited from my 
youth, if I may speak of what most men know not, and had been cast upon Him 
from the womb,(q) and presented by the promise of my mother, 
afterwards confirmed in the hour of danger: and my longing grew up with it, 
and my reason agreed to it, and I gave as an offering my all to Him Who had 
won me and saved me, my property, my fame, my health, my very words, from 
which I only gained the advantage of being able to despise them, and of having 
something in comparison of which I preferred Christ. And the words of God were 
made sweet as honeycombs(i) to me, and I cried after knowledge 
and lifted up my voice for wisdom.(k) There was moreover the 
moderation of anger, the curbing of the tongue, the restraint of the eyes, the discipline of the belly, and the trampling under foot 
of the glory which clings to the earth. I speak foolishly,(a) 
but it shall be said, in these pursuits I was perhaps not inferior to many. 

  78. One branch of philosophy is, however, too high for me, the commission to 
guide and govern souls--and before I have rightly learned to submit to a 
shepherd, or have had my soul duly cleansed, the charge of caring for a flock: 
especially in times like these, when a man, seeing everyone else rushing 
hither and thither in confusion, is content to flee from the m@l&e and escape, 
in sheltered retirement, from the storm and gloom of the wicked one: when the 
members are at war with one another, and the slight remains of love, which 
once existed, have departed, and priest is a mere empty name, since, as it is 
said, contempt(b) has been poured upon 
princes.(g) 

  79. Would that it were merely empty! And now may their blasphemy fall upon 
the head of the ungodly! All fear has been banished from souls, shamelessness 
has taken its place, and knowledge(d) and the deep things of 
the Spirit(e) are at the disposal of anyone who will; and we 
all become pious by simply condemning the impiety of others; and we claim the 
services of ungodly judges,(z) and fling that which is holy to 
the dogs, and cast pearls before swine,(h) by publishing divine 
things in the hearing of profane souls, and, wretches that we are, carefully 
fulfil the prayers of our enemies, and are not ashamed to go a whoring with 
our own inventions.(q) Moabites and Ammonites, who were not 
permitted even to enter the Church of the Lord,(i) frequent our 
most holy rites. We have opened to all not the gates of 
righteousness,(k) but, doors of railing and partizan arrogance; 
and the first place among us is given, not to one who in the fear of God 
refrains from even an idle word, but to him who can revile his neighbour most 
fluently, whether explicitly, or by covert allusion; who rolls beneath his 
tongue mischief and iniquity, or to speak more accurately, the poison of 
asps.(l) 

  80. We observe each other's sins, not to bewail them, but to make them 
subjects of reproach, not to heal them, but to aggravate them, and excuse our 
own evil deeds by the wounds of our neighbours. Bad and good men are 
distinguished not according to personal character, but by their disagreement 
or friendship with ourselves. We praise one day what we revile the next, 
denunciation at the hands of others is a passport to our admiration; so 
magnanimous are we in our viciousness, that everything is frankly forgiven to 
impiety. 

  81. Everything has reverted to the original state of 
things(a) before the world, with its present fair order and 
form, came into being. The general confusion and irregularity cry for some 
organising hand and power. Or, if you will, it is like a battle at night by 
the faint light of the moon, when none can discern the faces of friends or 
foes; or like a sea fight on the surge, with the driving winds, and boiling 
foam, and dashing waves, and crashing vessels, with the thrusts of poles, the 
pipes of boatswains, the groans of the fallen, while we make our voices heard 
above the din, and not knowing what to do, and having, alas! no opportunity 
for showing our valour, assail one another, and fall by one another's hands. 

  82. Nor indeed is there any distinction between the state of the people and 
that of the priesthood: but it seems to me to be a simple fulfilment of the 
ancient curse, "As with the people so with the priest."(b) Nor 
again are the great and eminent men affected otherwise than the majority; nay, 
they are openly at war with the priests, and their piety is an aid to their 
powers of persuasion. And indeed, provided that it be on behalf of the faith, 
and of the highest and most important questions, let them be thus disposed, 
and I blame them not; nay, to say the truth, I go so far as to praise and 
congratulate them. Yea! would that I were one of those who contend and incur 
hatred for the truth's sake: or rather, I can boast of being one of them. For 
better is a laudable war than a peace which severs a man from God: and 
therefore it is that the Spirit arms the gentle warrior, as one who is able to 
wage war in a good cause. 

  83. But at the present time there are some who go to war even about small 
matters and to no purpose, and, with great ignorance and audacity, accept, as 
an associate in their ill-doing, anyone whoever he may be. Then everyone makes 
the faith his pretext, and this venerable name is dragged into their private 
quarrels. Consequently, as was probable, we are hated, even among the 
Gentiles, and, what is harder still, we cannot say that this is without just 
cause. Nay, even the best of our own people are scandalized, while this result 
is not surprising in the case of the multitude, who are ill-disposed to accept anything that is good. 

  84. Sinners are planning upon our backs;(a) and what we 
devise against each other, they turn against us all: and we have become a new 
spectacle, not to angels and men,(b) as says Paul, that bravest 
of athletes, in his contest with principalities and powers,(g) 
but to almost all wicked men, and at every time and place, in the public 
squares, at carousals, at festivities, and times of sorrow. Nay, we have 
already--I can scarcely speak of it without tears--been represented on the 
stage, amid the laughter of the most licentious, and the most popular of all 
dialogues and scenes is the caricature of a Christian. 

  85. These are the results of our intestine warfare, and our extreme 
readiness to strive about goodness and gentleness, and our inexpedient excess 
of love for God. Wrestling, or any other athletic contest, is only permitted 
according to fixed laws, and the man will be shouted down and disgraced, and 
lose the victory, who breaks the laws of wrestling, or acts unfairly in any 
other contest, contrary to the rules laid down for the contest, however able 
and skilful he may be; and shall anyone contend for Christ in an unchristlike 
manner, and yet be pleasing to peace for having fought unlawfully in her name. 

  86. Yea, even now, when Christ is invoked, the devils 
tremble,(d) and not even by our ill-doing has the power of this 
Name been extinguished, while we are not ashamed to insult a cause and name so 
venerable; shouting it, and having it shouted in return, almost in public, and 
every day; for My Name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of 
you.(e) 

  87. Of external warfare I am not afraid, nor of that wild beast, and fulness 
of evil, who has now arisen against the churches, though he may threaten fire, 
sword, wild beasts, precipices, chasms; though he may show himself more 
inhuman than all previous madmen, and discover fresh tortures of greater 
severity. I have one remedy for them all, one road to victory; I will glory in 
Christ(z) namely, death for Christ's sake. 

  88. For my own warfare, however, I am at a loss what course to pursue, what 
alliance, what word of wisdom, what grace to devise, with what panoply to arm 
myself, against the wiles of the wicked one.(h) What Moses is 
to conquer him by stretching out his hands upon the mount,(q) 
in order that the cross, thus typified and prefigured, may prevail? What 
Joshua, as his successor, arrayed alongside the Captain of the Lord's 
hosts?(a) What David, either by harping, or fighting with his 
sling,(b) and girded by God with strength unto the 
battle,(g) and with his fingers trained to 
war?(d) What Samuel, praying(e) and sacrificing 
for the people, and anointing as king one who can gain the victory? What 
Jeremiah, by writing lamentations for Israel, is fitly to lament these things? 

  89. Who will cry aloud, Spare Thy People, O Lord, and give not Thine 
heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over 
them?(z) What Noah, and Job,(h) and Daniel, who 
are reckoned together as men of prayer, will pray for us, that we may have a 
slight respite from warfare, and recover ourselves, and recognize one another 
for a while, and no longer, instead of united Israel, be 
Judah(q) and Israel, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Jerusalem and 
Samaria, in turn delivered up because of our sins, and in turn lamented. 

  90. For I own that I am too weak for this warfare, and therefore turned my 
back, hiding my face in the rout, and sat solitary,(i) because 
I was filled with bitterness(k) and sought to be silent, 
understanding that it is an evil time,(l) that the beloved had 
kicked,(m) that we were become backsliding 
children,(n) who are the luxuriant vine,(x) the 
true vine, all fruitful, all beautiful,(o) springing up 
splendidly with showers from on high.(p) For the diadem of 
beauty,(r) the signet of glory,(s) the crown of 
magnificence(t) has been changed for me into shame; and if 
anyone, in face of these things, is daring and courageous, he has my blessing 
on his daring and courage. 

  91. I have said nothing yet of the internal warfare within ourselves, and in 
our passions, in which we are engaged night and day against the body of our 
humiliation,(s) either secretly or openly, and against the tide 
which tosses and whirls us hither and thither, by the aid of our senses and 
other sources of the pleasures of this life; and against the miry 
clay(F) in which we have been fixed; and against the law of 
sin,(c) which wars against the law of the spirit, and strives 
to destroy the royal image in us, and all the divine emanation which has been 
bestowed upon us; so that it is difficult for anyone, either by a long course 
of philosophic training, and gradual separation of the noble and enlightened part of the soul 
from that which is debased and yoked with darkness, or by the mercy of God, or 
by both together, and by a constant practice of looking upward, to overcome 
the depressing power of matter. And before a man has, as far as possible, 
gained this superiority, and sufficiently purified his mind, and far surpassed 
his fellows in nearness to God, I do not think it safe for him to be entrusted 
with the rule over souls, or the office of mediator (for such, I take it, a 
priest is) between God and man. 

  92. What is it that has induced this fear in me, that, instead of supposing 
me to be needlessly afraid, you may highly commend my foresight? I hear from 
Moses himself, when God spake to him, that, although many were bidden to come 
to the mount, one of whom was even Aaron, with his two sons who were priests, 
and seventy elders of the senate, the rest were ordered to worship afar off, 
and Moses alone to draw near, and the people were not to go up with 
him.(a) For it is not everyone who may draw near to God, but 
only one who, like Moses, can bear the glory of God. Moreover, before this, 
when the law was first given, the trumpet-blasts, and lightnings, and 
thunders, and darkness, and the smoke of the whole mountain,(b) 
and the terrible threats that if even a beast touched the mountain it should 
be stoned,(g) and other like alarms, kept back the rest of the 
people, for whom it was a great privilege, after careful purification, merely 
to hear the voice of God. But Moses actually went up and entered into the 
cloud,(d) and was charged with the law, and received the 
tables, which belong, for the multitude, to the letter, but, for those who are 
above the multitude, to the spirit.(e) 

  93. I hear again that Nadab and Abihu, for having merely offered incense 
with strange fire, were with strange fire destroyed,(z) the 
instrument of their impiety being used for their punishment, and their 
destruction following at the very time and place of their sacrilege; and not 
even their father Aaron, who was next to Moses in the favor of God, could save 
them. I know also of Eli the priest, and a little later of Uzzah, the former 
made to pay the penalty for his sons' transgression, in daring to violate the 
sacrifices by an untimely exaction of the first fruits of the cauldrons, 
although he did not condone their impiety, but frequently rebuked 
them;(h) the other, because he only touched the ark, which was 
being thrown off the cart by the ox,(a) and though he saved it, 
was himself destroyed, in God's jealousy for the reverence due to the ark. 

  94. I know also that not even bodily blemishes in either 
priests(b) or victims(g) passed without notice, 
but that it was required by the law that perfect sacrifices must be offered by 
perfect men--a symbol, I take it, of integrity of soul. It was not lawful for 
everyone to touch the priestly vesture, or any of the holy vessels; nor might 
the sacrifices themselves be consumed except by the proper persons, and at the 
proper time and place;(d) nor might the anointing oil nor the 
compounded incense(e) be imitated; nor might anyone enter the 
temple who was not in the most minute particular pure in both soul and body; 
so far was the Holy of holies removed from presumptuous access, that it might 
be entered by one man only once a year;(z) so far were the 
veil, and the mercy-seat, and the ark, and the Cherubim, from the general gaze 
and touch. 

  95. Since then I knew these things, and that no one is worthy of the 
mightiness of God, and the sacrifice, and priesthood, who has not first 
presented himself to God, a living, holy sacrifice, and set forth the 
reasonable, well-pleasing service,(h) and sacrificed to God the 
sacrifice of praise and the contrite spirit,(q) which is the 
only sacrifice required of us by the Giver of all; how could I dare to offer 
to Him the external sacrifice, the antitype of the great 
mysteries,(i) or clothe myself with the garb and name of 
priest, before my hands had been consecrated by holy works; before my eyes had 
been accustomed to gaze safely upon created things, with wonder only for the 
Creator, and without injury to the creature; before my ear had been 
sufficiently opened to the instruction of the Lord, and He had opened mine ear 
to hear(k) without heaviness, and had set a golden earring with 
precious sardius, that is, a wise man's word in an obedient 
ear;(l) before my mouth had been opened to draw in the 
Spirit,(m) and opened wide to be filled(n) with 
the spirit of speaking mysteries and doctrines;(x) and my lips 
bound,(o) to use the words of wisdom, by divine knowledge, and, 
as I would add, loosed in due season: before my tongue had been filled with 
exultation, and become an instrument of Divine melody, awaking with glory, awaking right early,(a) and laboring till it cleave 
to my jaws:(b) before my feet had been set upon the 
rock,(g) made like hart's feet, and my footsteps directed in a 
godly fashion so that they should not well-night slip,(d) nor 
slip at all; before all my members had become instruments of 
righteousness,(e) and all mortality had been put off, and 
swallowed up of life,(z) and had yielded to the Spirit? 

  96. Who is the man, whose heart has never been made to 
burn,(h) as the Scriptures have been opened to him, with the 
pure words of God which have been tried in a furnace;(q) who 
has not, by a triple(i) inscription(k) of them 
upon the breadth of his heart, attained the mind of Christ;(l) 
nor been admitted to the treasures which to most men remain hidden, secret, 
and dark, to gaze upon the riches therein? and become able to enrich others, 
comparing spiritual things with spiritual.(m) 

  97. Who is the man who has never beheld, as our duty is to behold it, the 
fair beauty of the Lord, nor has visited His temple,(n) or 
rather, become the temple of God,(x) and the habitation of 
Christ in the Spirit?(o) Who is the man who has never 
recognized the correlation and distinction between figures and the truth, so 
that by withdrawing from the former and cleaving to the latter, and by thus 
escaping from the oldness of the letter and serving the newness of the 
spirit,(p) he may clean pass over to grace from the law, which 
finds its spiritual fulfilment in the dissolution of the 
body.(r) 

  98. Who is the man who has never, by experience and contemplation, traversed 
the entire series of the titles(s) and powers of Christ, both 
those more lofty ones which originally were His, and those more lowly ones 
which He later assumed for our sake--viz.: God, the Son, the Image, the Word, 
the Wisdom, the Truth, the Light, the Life, the Power, the Vapour, the 
Emanation, the Effulgence, the Maker, the King, the Head, the Law, the Way, 
the Door, the Foundation, the Rock, the Pearl, the Peace, the Righteousness, 
the Sanctification, the Redemption, the Man, the Servant, the Shepherd, the 
Lamb, the High Priest, the Victim, the Firstborn before creation, the 
Firstborn from the dead, the Resurrection: who is the man who hearkens, but 
pays no heed, to these names so pregnant with reality, and has never yet held 
communion with, nor been made partaker of, the Word, in any of the real 
relations signified by each of these names which He bears? 

  99. Who, in fine, is the man who, although he has never applied himself to, 
nor learnt to speak, the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery,(a) 
although he is still a babe, still fed with milk,(b) still of 
those who are not numbered in Israel,(g) nor enrolled in the 
army of God, although he is not yet able to take up the Cross of Christ like a 
man, although he is possibly not yet one of the more honorable members, yet 
will joyfully and eagerly accept his appointment as head of the fulness of 
Christ?(d) No one, if he will listen to my judgment and accept 
my advice! This is of all things most to be feared, this is the extremest of 
dangers in the eyes of everyone who understands the magnitude of success, the 
utter ruin of failure. 

  100. Let others sail for merchandise, I used to say, and cross the wide 
oceans, and constantly contend with winds and waves, to gain great wealth, if 
so it should chance, and run great risks in their eagerness for sailing and 
merchandise; but, for my part, I greatly prefer to stay ashore and plough a 
short but pleasant furrow, saluting at a respectful distance the sea and its 
gains, to live as best I can upon a poor and scanty store of barley-bread, and 
drag my life along in safety and calm, rather than expose myself to so long 
and great a risk for the sake of great gains. 

  101. For one in high estate, if he fail to make further progress and to 
disseminate virtue still more widely, and contents himself with slight 
results, incurs punishment, as having spent a great light upon the 
illumination of a little house, or girt round the limbs of a boy the full 
armor of a man. On the contrary, a man of low estate may with safety assume a 
light burden, and escape the risk of the ridicule and increased danger which 
would attend him if he attempted a task beyond his powers. For, as we have 
heard, it is not seemly for a man to build a tower, unless he has sufficient 
to finish it.(e) 

  102. Such is the defence which I have been able to make, perhaps at 
immoderate length, for my flight. Such are the reasons which, to my pain and 
possibly to yours, carried me away from you, my friends and brothers; yet, as 
it seemed to me at the time, with irresistible force. My longing after you, 
and the sense of your longing for me, have, more than anything else, led to my return, for nothing inclines us so strongly to love as 
mutual affection. 

  103. In the next place there was my care, my duty, the hoar hairs and 
weakness of my holy parents, who were more greatly distressed on my account 
than by their advanced age--of this Patriarch Abraham whose person is honored 
by me, and numbered among the angels, and of Sarah, who travailed in my 
spiritual birth by instructing me in the truth. Now, I had specially pledged 
myself to become the stay of their old age and the support of their weakness, 
a pledge which, to the best of my power, I have fulfilled, even at the expense 
of philosophy itself, the most precious of possessions and titles to me; or, 
to speak more truly, although I made it the first object of my philosophy to 
appear to be no philosopher, I could not bear that my labor in consequence of 
a single purpose should be wasted, nor yet that blessing should be lost, which 
one of the saints of old is said to have stolen from his father, whom he 
deceived by the food which he offered to him, and the hairy appearance he 
assumed, thus attaining a good object by disgraceful 
trickery.(a) These are the two causes of my submission and 
tractability. Nor is it, perchance, unreasonable that my arguments should 
yield and submit to them both, for there is a time to be conquered, as I also 
think there is for every purpose,(b) and it is better to be 
honorably overcome than to win a dangerous and lawless victory. 

  104. There is a third reason of the highest importance which I will further 
mention, and then dismiss the rest. I remembered the days of 
old,(g) and, recurring to one of the ancient histories, drew 
counsel for myself therefrom as to my present conduct; for let us not suppose 
these events to have been recorded without a purpose, nor that they are a mere 
assemblage of words and deeds gathered together for the pastime of those who 
listen to them, as a kind of bait for the ears, for the sole purpose of giving 
pleasure. Let us leave such jesting to the legends and the Greeks, who think 
but little of the truth, and enchant ear and mind by the charm of their 
fictions and the daintiness of their style. 

  105. We however, who extend the accuracy of the Spirit to the merest stroke 
and tittle,(d) will never admit the impious assertion that even 
the smallest matters were dealt with haphazard by those who have recorded 
them, and have thus been borne in mind down to the present day: on the 
contrary, their purpose has been to supply memorials and instructions for our 
consideration under similar circumstances, should such befall us, and that the 
examples of the past might serve as rules and models, for our warning and 
imitation. 

  106. What then is the story, and wherein lies its application? For, perhaps, 
it would not be amiss to relate it, for the general security. Jonah also was 
fleeing from the face of God,(a) or rather, thought that he was 
fleeing: but he was overtaken by the sea, and the storm, and the lot, and the 
whale's belly, and the three days' entombment, the type of a greater mystery. 
He fled from having to announce the dread and awful message to the Ninevites, 
and from being subsequently, if the city was saved by repentance, convicted of 
falsehood: not that he was displeased at the salvation of the wicked, but he 
was ashamed of being made an instrument of falsehood, and exceedingly zealous 
for the credit of prophecy, which was in danger of being destroyed in his 
person, since most men are unable to penetrate the depth of the Divine 
dispensation in such cases. 

  107. But, as I have learned from a man(b) skilled in these 
subjects, and able to grasp the depth of the prophet, by means of a reasonable 
explanation of what seems unreasonable in the history, it was not this which 
caused Jonah to flee, and carried him to Joppa and again from Joppa to 
Tarshish, when he entrusted his stolen self to the sea:(g) for 
it was not likely that such a prophet should be ignorant of the design of God, 
viz., to bring about, by means of the threat, the escape of the Ninerites from 
the threatened doom, according to His great wisdom, and unsearchable 
judgments, and according to His ways which are beyond our tracing and finding 
out;(d) nor that, if he knew this he would refuse to co-operate 
with God in the use of the means which He designed for their salvation. 
Besides, to imagine that Jonah hoped to hide himself at sea, and escape by his 
flight the great eye of God, is surely utterly absurd and stupid, and unworthy 
of credit, not only in the case of a prophet, but even in the case of any sensible man, who has only a slight perception of God, 
Whose power is over all. 

  108. On the contrary, as my instructor said, and as I am myself convinced, 
Jonah knew better than any one the purpose of his message to the Ninevites, 
and that, in planning his flight, although he changed his place, he did not 
escape from God. Nor is this possible for any one else, either by concealing 
himself in the bosom of the earth, or in the depths of the sea, or by soaring 
on wings, if there be any means of doing so, and rising into the air, or by 
abiding in the lowest depths of hell,(a) or by enveloping 
himself in a thick cloud, or by any other of the many devices for ensuring 
escape. For God alone of all things cannot be escaped from or contended with; 
if He wills to seize and bring them under His hand, He outstrips the swift, He 
outwits the wise, He overthrows the strong, He abases the lofty, He subdues 
rashness, He represses power. 

  109. Jonah then was not ignorant of the mighty hand of God, with which he 
threatened other men, nor did he imagine that he could utterly escape the 
Divine power; this we are not to believe: but when he saw the falling away of 
Israel, and perceived the passing over of the grace of prophecy to the 
Gentiles--this was the cause of his retirement from preaching and of his delay 
in fulfilling the command; accordingly he left the watchtower of joy, for this 
is the meaning of Joppa in Hebrew, I mean his former dignity and reputation, 
and flung himself into the deep of sorrow: and hence he is tempest-tossed, and 
falls asleep, and is wrecked, and aroused from sleep, and taken by lot, and 
confesses his flight, and is cast into sea, and swallowed, but not destroyed, 
by the whale; but there he calls upon God, and, marvellous as it is, on the 
third day he, like Christ, is delivered: but my treatment of this topic must 
stand over, and shall shortly, if God permit, be more deliberately worked 
out.(b) 

  110. Now however, to return to my original point, the thought and question 
occurred to me, that although he might possibly meet with some indulgence, if 
reluctant to prophesy, for the cause which I mentioned--yet, in my own case, 
what could be said, what defence could be made, if I longer remained restive, 
and rejected the yoke of ministry, which, though I know not whether to call it 
light or heavy, had at any rate been laid upon me. 

  111. For if it be granted, and this alone can be strongly asserted in such 
matters, that we are far too low to perform the priest's office before God, 
and that we can only be worthy of the sanctuary after we have become worthy of 
the Church,(a) and worthy of the post of president, after being 
worthy of the sanctuary, yet some one else may perhaps refuse to acquit us on 
the charge of disobedience. Now terrible are the threatenings against 
disobedience, and terrible are the penalties which ensue upon it; as indeed 
are those on the other side, if, instead of being reluctant, and shrinking 
back, and concealing ourselves as Saul did among his father's 
stuff(b)--although called to rule but for a short time--if, I 
say, we come forward readily, as though to a slight and most easy task, 
whereas it is not safe even to resign it, nor to amend by second thoughts our 
first. 

  112. On this account I had much toilsome consideration to discover my duty, 
being set in the midst betwixt two fears, of which the one held me back, the 
other urged me on. For a long while I was at a loss between them, and after 
wavering from side to side, and, like a current driven by inconstant winds, 
inclining first in this direction, then in that, I at last yielded to the 
stronger, and the fear of disobedience overcame me, and has carried me off. 
Pray, mark how accurately and justly I hold the balance between the fears, 
neither desiring an office not given to me, nor rejecting it when given. The 
one course marks the rash, the other the disobedient, both the undisciplined. 
My position lies between those who are too bold, or too timid; more timid than 
those who rush at every position, more bold than those who avoid them all. 
This is my judgment on the matter. 

  113. Moreover, to distinguish still more clearly between them, we have, 
against the fear of office, a possible help in the law of obedience, inasmuch 
as God in His goodness rewards our faith, and makes a perfect ruler of the man 
who has confidence in Him, and places all his hopes in Him; but against the 
danger of disobedience I know of nothing which can help us, and of no ground 
to encourage our confidence. For it is to be feared that we shall have to hear 
these words concerning those who have been entrusted to us: I will require 
their souls at your hands;(g) and, Because ye have rejected me, and not been leaders and rulers of my 
people, I also will reject you, that I should not be king over 
you;(a) and, As ye refused to hearken to My voice, and turned a 
stubborn back, and were disobedient, so shall it be when ye call upon Me, and 
I will not regard nor give ear to your prayer.(b) God forbid 
that these words should come to us from the just Judge, for when we sing of 
His mercy we must also by all means sing of His judgment.(g) 

  114. I resort once again to history, and on considering the men of best 
repute in ancient days, who were ever preferred by grace to the office of 
ruler or prophet, I discover that some readily complied with the call, others 
deprecated the gift, and that neither those who drew back were blamed for 
timidity, nor those who came forward for eagerness. The former stood in awe of 
the greatness of the ministry, the latter trustfully obeyed Him Who called 
them. Aaron was eager, but Moses resisted,(d) Isaiah readily 
submitted, but Jeremiah was afraid of his youth,(e) and did not 
venture to prophesy until he had received from God a promise and power beyond 
his years.(z) 

  115. By these arguments I charmed myself, and by degrees my soul relaxed and 
became ductile, like iron, and time came to the aid of my arguments, and the 
testimonies of God, to which I had entrusted my whole life, were my 
counsellors.(h) Therefore I was not rebellious, neither turned 
away back,(q) saith my Lord, when, instead of being called to 
rule, He was led, as a sheep to the slaughter;(i) but I fell 
down and humbled myself under the mighty hand of God,(k) and 
asked pardon for my former idleness and disobedience, if this is at all laid 
to my charge. I held my peace,(l) but I will not hold my peace 
for ever: I withdrew for a little while,(m) till I had 
considered myself and consoled my grief: but now I am commissioned to exalt 
Him in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the 
elders.(n) If my former conduct deserved blame, my present 
action merits pardon. 

  116. What further need is there of words. Here am I, my pastors and 
fellow-pastors, here am I, thou holy flock, worthy of Christ, the Chief 
Shepherd,(x) here am I, my father, utterly vanquished, and your 
subject according to the laws of Christ rather than according to those of the 
land:(o) here is my obedience, reward it with your blessing. 
Lead me with your prayers, guide me with your words, establish me with your 
spirit. The blessing of the father establisheth the houses of 
children,(a) and would that both I and this spiritual house may 
be established, the house which I have longed for, which I pray may be my rest 
for ever,(b) when I have been passed on from the church here to 
the church yonder, the general assembly of the firstborn, who are written in 
heaven.(g) 

  117. Such is my defence: its reasonableness I have set forth: and may the 
God of peace,(d) Who made both one,(e) and has 
restored us to each other, Who setteth kings upon thrones, and raiseth up the 
poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the 
dunghill,(z) Who chose David His servant and took him away from 
the sheepfolds,(h) though he was the least and youngest of the 
sons of Jesse,(q) Who gave the word(i) to those 
who preach the gospel with great power for the perfection of the gospel,may He Himself hold me by my right hand, and guide me with His counsel, and 
receive me with glory,(k) Who is a Shepherd(l) 
to shepherds and a Guide to guides: that we may feed His flock with 
knowledge,(m) not with the instruments of a foolish 
shepherd,(n) according to the blessing, and not according to 
the curse pronounced against the men of former days: may He give strength and 
power unto his people,(x) and Himself present to 
Himself(a) His flock resplendent and spotless and worthy of the 
fold on high, in the habitation of them that rejoice,(p) in the 
splendour of the saints,(r) so that in His temple everyone, 
both flock and shepherds together may say, Glory,(s) in Christ 
Jesus our Lord, to Whom be all glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

ORATION III.  TO THOSE WHO HAD INVITED HIM, AND NOT COME TO RECEIVE HIM. 



(About Easter A.D. 362.) 



  I. How slow you are, my friends and brethren, to come to listen to my words, 
though you were so swift in tyrannizing over me, and tearing me from my 
Citadel Solitude, which I had embraced in preference to everything else, and as coadjutress and mother of the divine ascent, and as deifying 
man,(a) I had especially admired, and had set before me as the 
guide of my whole life.(b) How is it that, now you have got it, 
you thus despise what you so greatly desired to obtain, and seem to be better 
able to desire the absent than to enjoy the present; as though you preferred 
to possess my teaching rather than to profit by it? Yes, I may even say this 
to you: "I became a surfeit unto you before you tasted of me, or gave me a 
trial"(g)--which is most strange. 

  II. And neither did you entertain me as a guest, nor, if I may make a remark 
of a more compassionate kind, did you allow yourselves to be entertained by 
me, reverencing this command if nothing else; nor did you take me by the hand, 
as beginning a new task; nor encourage me in my timidity, nor console me for 
the violence I had suffered; but--I shrink from saying it, though say it I 
must--you made my festival no festival, and received me with no happy 
introduction; and you mingled the solemn festival with sorrow, because it 
lacked that which most of all would have contributed to its happiness, the 
presence of you my conquerors, for it would not be true to call you people who 
love me. So easily is anything despised which is easily conquered, and the 
proud receives attention, while he who is humble before God is slighted. 

  III. What will ye? Shall I be judged by you, or shall I be your judge? Shall 
I pass a verdict, or receive one, for I hope to be acquitted if I be judged, 
and if I give sentence, to give it against you justly? The charge against you 
is that you do not answer my love with equal measure, nor do you repay my 
obedience with honour, nor do you pledge the future to me by your present 
alacrity--though even if you had, I could hardly have believed it. But each of 
you has something which he prefers to both the old and the new Pastor, neither 
reverencing the grey hairs of the one, nor calling out the youthful spirit of 
the other. 

  IV. There is a Banquet in the Gospels,(d) and a hospitable 
Host and friends; and the Banquet is most pleasant, for it is the marriage of 
His Son. He calleth them, but they come not: He is angry, and--I pass over the 
interval for fear of bad omen--but, to speak gently, He filleth the Banquet 
with others. God forbid that this should be your case; but yet you have 
treated me (how shall I put it gently?) with as much haughtiness or boldness 
as they who after being called to a feast rise up against it, and insult their 
host; for you, though you are not of the number of those who are without, or 
are invited to the marriage, but are yourselves those who invited me, and 
bound me to the Holy Table, and shewed me the glory of the Bridal Chamber, 
then deserted me (this is the most splendid thing about you)--one to his 
field, another to his newly bought yoke of oxen, another to his just-married 
wife, another to some other trifling matter; you were all scattered and 
dispersed, caring little for the Bridechamber and the 
Bridegroom.(a) 

  V. On this account I was filled with despondency and perplexity--for I will 
not keep silence about what I have suffered--and I was very near withholding 
the discourse which I was minded to bestow as a Marriage-gift, the most 
beautiful and precious of all I had; and I very nearly let it loose upon you, 
whom, now that the violence had once been done to me, I greatly longed for: 
for I thought I could get from this a splendid theme, and because my love 
sharpened my tongue--love which is very hot and ready for accusation when it 
is stirred to jealousy by grief which it conceives from some unexpected 
neglect. If any of you has been pierced with love's sting, and has felt 
himself neglected, he knows the feeling, and will pardon one who so suffers, 
because he himself has been near the same frenzy. 

  VI. But it is not permitted to me at the present time to say to you anything 
upbraiding; and God forbid I ever should. And even now perhaps I have 
reproached you more than in due measure, the Sacred Flock, the praise-worthy 
nurselings of Christ, the Divine inheritance; by which, O God, Thou art rich, 
even wert Thou poor in all other respects. To Thee, I think, are fitting those 
words, "The lot is fallen unto Thee in a fair ground: yea Thou hast the 
goodliest heritage."(b) Nor will I allow that the most populous 
cities or the broadest flocks have any advantage over us, the little ones of 
the smallest of all the tribes of Israel, of the least of the thousands of 
Judah,(g) of the little Bethlehem among 
cities,(d) where Christ was born and is from the beginning 
well-known and worshipped; amongst those whom the Father is exalted, and the Son is held to be 
equal to Him, and the Holy Ghost is glorified with Them: we who are of one 
soul, who mind the same thing, who in nothing injure the Trinity, neither by 
preferring One Person above another, nor by cutting off any: as those bad 
umpires and measurers of the Godhead do, who by magnifying One Person more 
than is fit, diminish and insult the whole. 

  VII. But do ye also, if you bear me any good will--ye who are my husbandry, 
my vineyard, my own bowels, or rather His Who is our common Father, for in 
Christ he hath begotten you through the Gospels(a)--shew to us 
also some respect. It is only fair, since we have honoured you above all else: 
ye are my witnesses, ye, and they who have placed in our hands this--shall I 
say Authority, or Service? And if to him that loveth most is due, how shall I 
measure the love, for which I have made you my debtors by my own love? Rather, 
shew respect for yourselves, and the Image committed to your 
care,(b) and Him Who committed it, and the Sufferings of 
Christ, and your hopes therefrom, holding fast the faith which ye have 
received, and in which ye were brought up, by which also ye are being saved, 
and trust to save others (for not many, be well assured, can boast of what you 
can), and reckoning piety to consist, not in often speaking about God, but in 
silence for the most part, for the tongue is a dangerous thing to men, if it 
be not governed by reason. Believe that listening is always less dangerous 
than talking, just as learning about God is more pleasant than teaching. Leave 
the more accurate search into these questions to those who are the Stewards of 
the Word; and for yourselves, worship a little in words, but more by your 
actions, and rather by keeping the Law than by admiring the Lawgiver; shew 
your love for Him by fleeing from wickedness, pursuing after virtue, living in 
the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, drawing your knowledge from Him, building 
upon the foundation of the faith, not wood or hay or 
stubble,(g) weak materials and easily spent when the fire shall 
try our works or destroy them; but gold, silver, precious stones, which remain 
and stand. 

  VIII. So may ye act, and so may ye honour us, whether present or absent, 
whether taking your part in our sermons, or preferring to do something else: 
and may ye be the children of God, pure and unblamable, in the midst of a 
crooked and perverse generation:(a) and may ye never be 
entangled in the snares of the wicked that go round about, or bound with the 
chain of your sins. May the Word in you never be smothered with cares of this 
life and so ye become unfruitful: but may ye walk in the King's Highway, 
turning aside neither to the right hand nor to the left,(b) but 
led by the Spirit through the strait gate. Then all our affairs shall prosper, 
both now and at the inquest There, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be the 
glory for ever. Amen. 

ORATION VII. -- PANEGYRIC ON HIS BROTHER S. CAESARIUS. 



  The date of this Oration is probably the spring of A.D. 369. It is placed by 
S. Jerome first among S. Gregory's Orations. Caesarius, the Saint's younger 
brother, was born probably about A.D. 330. Educated in his early years at 
home, he studied later in the schools of Alexandria, where he attained great 
proficiency in mathematics, astronomy, and, especially, in medicine. On his 
return from Alexandria, he was offered by the Emperor Constantius, in response 
to a public petition, an honourable and lucrative post at Byzantium, but was 
prevailed upon by Gregory to return with him to Nazianzus. After a while he 
went hack to Byzantium, and, on the accession of Julian, was pressed to retain 
his appointment at court, and did so, in spite of Gregory's reproaches, until 
Julian, who had long been trying to win him from Christianity, at last invited 
him to a public discussion. Caesarius, in spite of the specious arguments of 
the Emperor, gained the day, but, having now distinctly declared himself a 
Christian, could no longer remain at court. On the death of Julian, he was 
esteemed and promoted by successive Emperors, until he received from Valens 
the office of treasurer of Bithynia. The exact character of this office and 
its rank are still undecided by historical writers, some of whom attribute to 
him other offices not mentioned by S. Gregory, which most probably were filled 
by a namesake. On the 11th of October A.D. 368 the city of Nicaea was almost 
entirely destroyed by an earthquake and Caesarius miraculously escaped with 
his life. Impressed by his escape, he received Holy Baptism, and formed plans 
for retiring from office and (as it seems) devoting himself to a life of ascetic discipline, which were 
dissipated by his early and sudden death. 

  1. It may be, my friends, my brethren, my fathers (ye who are dear to me in 
reality as well as in name) that you think that I, who am about to pay the sad 
tribute of lamentation to him who has departed, am eager to undertake the 
task, and shall, as most men delight to do, speak at great length and in 
eloquent style. And so some of you, who have had like sorrows to bear, are 
prepared to join in my mourning and lamentation, in order to bewail your own 
griefs in mine, and learn to feel pain at the afflictions of a friend, while 
others are looking to feast their ears in the enjoyment of my words. For they 
suppose that I must needs make my misfortune an occasion for display--as was 
once my wont, when possessed of a superabundance of earthly things, and 
ambitious, above all, of oratorical renown--before I looked up to Him Who is 
the true and highest Word, and gave all up to God, from Whom all things come, 
and took God for all in all. Now pray do not think this of me, if you wish to 
think of me aright. For I am neither going to lament for him who is gone more 
than is good as I should not approve of such conduct even in others nor am I 
going to praise him beyond due measure. Albeit that language is a dear and 
especially proper tribute to one gifted with it, and eulogy to one who was 
exceedingly fond of my words--aye, not only a tribute, but a debt, the most 
just of all debts. But even in my tears and admiration I must respect the law 
which regards such matters: nor is this alien to our philosophy; for he says 
The memory of the just is accompanied with eulogies,(a) and 
also, Let tears fall down over the dead, and begin to lament, as if thou hadst 
suffered great harm thyself:(b) removing us equally from 
insensibility and immoderation. I shall proceed then, not only to exhibit the 
weakness of human nature, but also to put you in mind of the dignity of the 
soul, and, giving such consolation as is due to those who are in sor-sow, 
transfer our grief, from that which concerns the flesh and temporal things, to 
those things which are spiritual and eternal. 

  2. The parents of Caesarius, to take first the point which best becomes me, 
are known to you all. Their excellence you are eager to notice, and hear of 
with admiration, and share in the task of setting it forth to any, if there be 
such, who know it not: for no single man is able to do so entirely, and the 
task is one beyond the powers of a single tongue, however laborious, however 
zealous. Among the many and great points for which they are to be celebrated 
(I trust I may not seem extravagant in praising my own family) the greatest of 
all, which more than any other stamps their character, is piety. By their hoar 
hairs they lay claim to reverence, but they are no less venerable for their 
virtue than for their age; for while their bodies are bent beneath the burden 
of their years, their souls renew their youth in God. 

  3. His father(a) was well grafted out of the wild olive tree 
into the good one, and so far partook of its fatness as to be entrusted with 
the engrafting of others, and charged with the culture of souls, presiding in 
a manner becoming his high office over this people, like a second Aaron or 
Moses, bidden himself to draw near to God,(b) and to convey the 
Divine Voice to the others who stand afar off;(g) gentle, meek, 
calm in mien,(d) fervent in spirit, a fine man in external 
appearance, but richer still in that which is out of sight. But why should I 
describe him whom you know? For I could not even by speaking at great length 
say as much as he deserves, or as much as each of you knows and expects to be 
said of him. It is then better to leave your own fancy to picture him, than 
mutilate by my words the object of your admiration. 

  4. His mother(e) was consecrated to God by virtue of her 
descent from a saintly family, and was possessed of piety as a necessary 
inheritance, not only for herself, but also for her children being indeed a 
holy lump from a holy firstfruits.(z) And this she so far 
increased and amplified that some,(bold though the statement be, I will utter 
it,) have both believed and said that even her husband's perfection has been 
the work of none other than herself; and, oh how wonderful! she herself, as 
the reward of her piety, has received a greater and more perfect piety. Lovers 
of their children and of Christ as they both were, what is most extraordinary, 
they were far greater lovers of Christ than of their children: yea, even their 
one enjoyment of their children was that they should be acknowledged and named 
by Christ, and their one measure of their blessedness in their children was 
their virtue and close association with the Chief Good.(a) 
Compassionate, sympathetic, snatching many a treasure from moths and 
robbers,(b) and from the prince of this 
world,(g) to transfer it from their sojourn here to the [true] 
habitation, laying up in store(d) for their children the 
heavenly splendour as their greatest inheritance. Thus have they reached a 
fair old age, equally reverend both for virtue and for years, and full of 
days, alike of those which abide and those which pass away; each one failing 
to secure the first prize here below only so far as equalled by the other; 
yea, they have fulfilled the measure of every happiness with the exception of 
this last trial, or discipline, whichever anyone may think we ought to call 
it; I mean their having to send before them the child who was, owing to his 
age, in greater danger of falling, and so to close their life in safety, and 
be translated with all their family to the realms above. 

  5. I have entered into these details, not from a desire to eulogize them, 
for this, I know well, it would be difficult worthily to do, if I made their 
praise the subject of my whole oration, but to set forth the excellence 
inherited from his parents by Caesarius, and so prevent you from being 
surprised or incredulous, that one sprung from such progenitors, should have 
deserved such praises himself; nay, strange indeed would it have been, had he 
looked to others and disregarded the examples of his kinsfolk at home. His 
early life was such as becomes those really well born and destined for a good 
life. I say little of his qualities evident to all, his beauty, his stature, 
his manifold gracefulness, and harmonious disposition, as shown in the tones 
of his voice--for it is not my office to laud qualities of this kind, however 
important they may seem to others--and proceed with what I have to say of the 
points which, even if I wished, I could with difficulty pass by. 

  6. Bred and reared under such influences, we were fully trained in the 
education afforded here,(e) in which none could say how far he 
excelled most of us from the quickness and extent of his abilities--and how 
can I recall those days without my tears showing that, contrary to my 
promises, my feelings have overcome my philosophic restraint? The time came 
when it was decided that we should leave home, and then for the first time we 
were separated, for I studied rhetoric in the then flourishing schools of 
Palestine; he went to Alexandria, esteemed both then and now the home of every 
branch of learning. Which of his qualities shall I place first and foremost, 
or which can I omit with least injury to my description? Who was more faithful 
to his teacher than he? Who more kindly to his classmates? Who more carefully 
avoided the society and companionship of the depraved? Who attached himself 
more closely to that of the most excellent, and among others, of the most 
esteemed and illustrious of his countrymen? For he knew that we are strongly 
influenced to virtue or vice by our companions. And in consequence of all 
this, who was more honoured by the authorities than he, and whom did the whole 
city (though(a) all individuals are concealed in it, because of 
its size), esteem more highly for his discretion, or deem more illustrious for 
his intelligence? 

  7. What branch of learning did he not master, or rather, in what branch of 
study did he not surpass those who had made it their sole study? Whom did he 
allow even to approach him, not only of his own time and age, but even of his 
elders, who had devoted many more years to study? All subjects he studied as 
one, and each as thoroughly as if he knew no other. The brilliant in 
intellect, he surpassed in industry, the devoted students in quickness of 
perception; nay, rather he outstripped in rapidity those who were rapid, in 
application those who were laborious, and in both respects those who were 
distinguished in both. From geometry and astronomy, that science so 
dangerous(b) to anyone else, he gathered all that was helpful 
(I mean that he was led by the harmony and order of the heavenly bodies to 
reverence their Maker), and avoided what is injurious; not attributing all 
things that are or happen to the influence of the stars, like those who raise 
their own fellow-servant, the creation, in rebellion against the Creator, but 
referring, as is reasonable, the motion of these bodies, and all other things 
besides, to God. In arithmetic and mathematics, and in the wonderful art of 
medicine, in so far as it treats of physiology and temperament, and the causes 
of disease, in order to remove the roots and so destroy their offspring with 
them, who is there so ignorant or contentious as to think him inferior to 
himself, and not to be glad to be reckoned next to him, and carry off the 
second prize? This indeed is no unsupported assertion, but East and 
West(g) alike, and every place which he afterward visited, are as pillars inscribed with the record of his learning. 

  8. But when, after gathering into his single soul every kind of excellence 
and knowledge, as a mighty merchantman gathers every sort of ware, he was 
voyaging to his own city, in order to communicate to others the fair cargo of 
his culture, there befell a wondrous thing, which I must, as its mention is 
most cheering to me and may delight you, briefly set forth. Our 
mother,(a) in her motherly love for her children, had offered 
up a prayer that, as she had sent us forth together, she might see us together 
return home. For we seemed, to our mother at least, if not to others, to form 
a pair worthy of her prayers and glances, if seen together, though now, alas, 
our connection has been severed. And God, Who hears a righteous prayer, and 
honours the love of parents for well-disposed children, so ordered that, 
without any design or agreement on our part, the one from Alexandria, the 
other from Greece, the one by sea, the other by land, we arrived at the same 
city at the same time. This city was Byzantium, which now presides over 
Europe, in which Caesarius, after the lapse of a short time, gained such a 
repute, that public honours, an alliance with an illustrious family, and a 
seat in the council of state were offered him; and a mission was despatched to 
the Emperor by public decision, to beg that the first of cities be adorned and 
honoured by the first of scholars (if he cared at all for its being indeed the 
first, and worthy of its name); and that to all its other titles to 
distinction this further one be added, that it was embellished by having 
Caesarius as its physician and its inhabitant, although its brilliancy was 
already assured by its throngs of great men both in philosophy and other 
branches of learning. But enough of this. At this time there happened what 
seemed to others a chance without reason or cause, such as frequently occurs 
of its own accord in our day, but was more than sufficiently manifest to 
devout minds as the result of the prayers to god-fearing parents, which were 
answered by the united arrival of their sons by land and sea. 

  9. Well, among the noble traits of Caesarius' character, we must not fail to 
note one, which perhaps is in others' eyes slight and unworthy of mention, but 
seemed to me, both at the time and since, of the highest import, if indeed 
brotherly love be a praiseworthy quality; nor shall I ever cease to place it 
in the first rank, in relating the story of his life. Although the metropolis 
strove to retain him by the honours I have mentioned, and declared that it 
would under no circumstances let him go, my influence, which he valued most 
highly on all occasions, prevailed upon him to listen to the prayer of his 
parents, to supply his country's need, and to grant me my own desire. And when 
he thus returned home in my company, he preferred me not only to cities and 
peoples, not only to honours and revenues, which had in part already flowed to 
him in abundance from many sources and in part were within his reach, but even 
to the Emperor himself and his imperial commands. From this time, then, having 
shaken off all ambition, as a hard master and a painful disorder, I resolved 
to practise philosophy and adapt myself to the higher life: or rather the 
desire was earlier born, the life came later. But my brother, who had 
dedicated to his country the firstfruits of his learning, and gained an 
admiration worthy of his efforts, was afterwards led by the desire of fame, 
and, as he persuaded me, of being the guardian of the city, to betake himself 
to court, not indeed according to my own wishes or judgment; for I will 
confess to you that I think it a better and grander thing to be in the lowest 
rank with God than to win the first place with an earthly king. Nevertheless I 
cannot blame him, for inasmuch as philosophy is the greatest, so is it the 
most difficult, of professions, which can be taken in hand by but few, and 
only by those who have been called forth by the Divine magnanimity, which 
gives its hand to those who are honoured by its preference. Yet it is no small 
thing if one, who has chosen the lower form of life, follows after goodness, 
and sets greater store on God and his own salvation than on earthly lustre; 
using it as a stage, or a manifold ephemeral mask while playing in the drama 
of this world, but himself living unto God with that image which he knows that 
he has received from Him, and must render to Him Who gave it. That this was 
certainly the purpose of Caesarius, we know full well. 

  10. Among physicians he gained the foremost place with no great trouble, by 
merely exhibiting his capacity, or rather some slight specimen of his 
capacity, and was forthwith numbered among the friends of the Emperor, and 
enjoyed the highest honours. But he placed the humane functions of his art at 
the disposal of the authorities free of cost, knowing that nothing leads to 
further advancement than virtue and renown for honourable deeds; so that he 
far surpassed in fame those to whom he was inferior in rank. By his modesty he 
so won the love of all that they entrusted their precious charges to his care, without requiring him to be sworn by 
Hippocrates, since the simplicity of Crates was nothing to his own: winning in 
general a respect beyond his rank; for besides the present repute he was ever 
thought to have justly won, a still greater one was anticipated for him, both 
by the Emperors(a) themselves and by all who occupied the 
nearest positions to them. But, most important, neither by his fame, nor by 
the luxury which surrounded him, was his nobility of soul corrupted; for 
amidst his many claims to honour, he himself cared most for being, and being 
known to be, a Christian, and, compared with this, all other things were to 
him but trifling toys. For they belong to the part we play before others on a 
stage which is very quickly set up and taken down again--perhaps indeed more 
quickly destroyed than put together, as we may see from the manifold changes 
of life, and fluctuations of prosperity; while the only real and securely 
abiding good thing is godliness. 

  11. Such was the philosophy of Caesarius, even at court: these were the 
ideas amidst which he lived and died, discovering and presenting to God, in 
the hidden man, a still deeper godliness than was publicly visible. And if I 
must pass by all else, his protection of his kinsmen in distress, his contempt 
for arrogance, his freedom from assumption towards friends, his boldness 
towards men in power, the numerous contests and arguments in which he engaged 
with many on behalf of the truth, not merely for the sake of argument, but 
with deep piety and fervour, I must speak of one point at least as especially 
worthy of note. The Emperor(b) of unhappy memory was raging 
against us, whose madness in rejecting Christ, after making himself its first 
victim, had now rendered him intolerable to others; though he did not, like 
other fighters against Christ, grandly enlist himself on the side of impiety, 
but veiled his persecution under the form of equity; and, ruled by the crooked 
serpent which possessed his soul, dragged down into his own pit his wretched 
victims by manifold devices. His first artifice and contrivance was, to 
deprive us of the honour of our conflicts (for, noble man as he was, he 
grudged this to Christians), by causing us, who suffered for being Christians, 
to be punished as evil doers: the second was, to call this process persuasion, 
and not tyranny, so that the disgrace of those who chose to side with impiety 
might be greater than their danger. Some he won over by money, some by 
dignities, some by promises, some by various honours, which he bestowed, not 
royally but in right servile style, in the sight of all, while everyone was 
influenced by the witchery of his words, and his own example. At last he 
assailed Caesarius. How utter was the derangement and folly which could hope 
to take for his prey a man like Caesarius, my brother, the son of parents like 
ours! 

  12. However, that I may dwell awhile upon this point, and luxuriate in my 
story as men do who are eyewitnesses in some marvellous 
event,(a) that noble man, fortified with the sign of Christ, 
and defending himself with His Mighty Word, entered the lists against an 
adversary experienced in arms and strong in his skill in argument. In no wise 
abashed at the sight, nor shrinking at all from his high purpose through 
flattery, he was an athlete ready, both in word and deed, to meet a rival of 
equal power. Such then was the arena, and so equipped the champion of 
godliness. The judge on one side was Christ, arming the athlete with His own 
sufferings: and on the other a dreadful tyrant,(b) persuasive 
by his skill in argument, and overawing him by the weight of his authority; 
and as spectators, on either hand, both those who were still left on the side 
of godliness and those who had been snatched away by him, watching whether 
victory inclined to their own side or to the other, and more anxious as to 
which would gain the day than the combatants themselves. 

  13. Didst thou not fear for Caesarius, lest aught unworthy of his zeal 
should befall him? Nay, be ye of good courage. For the victory is with Christ, 
Who overcame the world.(g) Now for my part, be well assured, I 
should be highly interested in setting forth the details of the arguments and 
allegations used on that occasion, for indeed the discussion contains certain 
feats and elegances, which I dwell on with no slight pleasure; but this would 
be quite foreign to an occasion and discourse like the present. And when, 
after having torn to shreds all his opponent's sophistries, and thrust aside 
as mere child's play every assault, veiled or open, Caesarius in a loud clear 
voice declared that he was and remained a Christian not even thus was he 
finally dismissed. For indeed, the Emperor was possessed by an eager desire to 
enjoy and be distinguished by his culture, and then uttered in the hearing of all his famous saying O happy father, O unhappy sons! thus deigning to honour me, whose culture and 
godliness(a) he had known at Athens, with a share in the 
dishonour of Caesarius, who was remanded for a further 
trial.(b) (since Justice was fitly arming the Emperor against 
the Persians),(g) and welcomed by us after his happy escape and 
bloodless victory, as more illustrious for his dishonour than for his 
celebrity. 

  14. This victory I esteem far more sublime and honourable than the Emperor's 
mighty power and splendid purple and costly diadem. I am more elated in 
describing it than if he had won from him the half of his Empire. During the 
evil days he lived in retirement, obedient herein to our Christian 
law,(d) which bids us, when occasion offers, to make ventures 
on behalf of the truth, and not be traitors to our religion from cowardice; 
yet refrain, as long as may be, from rushing into danger, either in fear for 
our own souls, or to spare those who bring the danger upon us. But when the 
gloom had been dispersed, and the righteous sentence had been pronounced in a 
foreign land, and the glittering sword had struck down the ungodly, and power 
had returned to the hands of Christians, what boots it to say with what glory 
and honour, with how many and great testimonies, as if bestowing rather than 
receiving a favour, he was welcomed again at the Court; his new honour 
succeeding to that of former days; while tithe changed its Emperors, the 
repute and commanding influence of Caesarius with them was undisturbed, nay, 
they vied with each other in striving to attach him most closely to 
themselves, and be known as his special friends and acquaintances. Such was 
the godliness of Caesarius, such its results. Let all men, young and old, give 
ear, and press on through the same virtue to the same distinction, for 
glorious is the fruit of good labours,(e) if they suppose this 
to be worth striving after, and a part of true happiness. 

  15. Again another wonder concerning him is a strong argument for his 
parents' piety and his own. He was living in Bithynia, holding an office of no 
small importance from the Emperor, viz., the stewardship of his revenue, and 
care of the exchequer: for this had been assigned to him by the Emperor as a 
prelude to the highest offices. And when, a short time ago, the 
earthquake(a) in Nicaea occurred, which is said to have been 
the most serious within the memory of man, overwhelming in a common 
destruction almost all the inhabitants and the beauty of the city, he alone, 
or with very few of the men of rank, survived the danger, being shielded by 
the very falling ruins in his incredible escape, and bearing slight traces of 
the peril; yet he allowed fear to lead him to a more important salvation, for 
he dedicated himself entirely to the Supreme Providence; he renounced the 
service of transitory things, and attached himself to another court. This he 
both purposed himself, and made the object of the united earnest prayers to 
which he invited me by letter, when I seized this opportunity to give him 
warning,(b) as I never ceased to do when pained that his great 
nature should be occupied in affairs beneath it, and that a soul so fitted for 
philosophy should, like the sun behind a cloud, be obscured amid the whirl of 
public life. Unscathed though he had been by the earthquake, he was not proof 
against disease, since he was but human. His escape was peculiar to himself; 
his death common to all mankind; the one the token of his piety, the other the 
result of his nature. The former, for our consolation, preceded his fate, so 
that, though shaken by his death, we might exult in the extraordinary 
character of his preservation. And now our illustrious Caesarius has been 
restored to us, when his honoured dust and celebrated coarse, after being 
escorted home amidst a succession of hymns and public orations, has been 
honoured by the holy hands of his parents; while his mother, substituting the 
festal garments of religion for the trappings of woe, has overcome her tears 
by her philosophy, and lulled to sleep lamentations by psalmody, as her son 
enjoys honours worthy of his newly regenerate soul, which has been, through 
water, transformed by the Spirit. 

  16. This, Caesarius, is my funeral offering to thee, this the firstfruits of 
my words, which thou hast often blamed me for withholding, yet wouldst have 
stripped off, had they been bestowed on thee; with this ornament I adorn thee, 
an ornament, I know well, far dearer to thee than all others, though it be not 
of the soft flowing tissues of silk, in which while living, with virtue for 
thy sole adorning, thou didst not, like the many, rejoice; nor texture of 
transparent linen, nor outpouring of costly unguents, which thou hadst long resigned to the boudoirs 
of the fair, with their sweet savours lasting but a single day; nor any other 
small thing valued by small minds, which would have all been hidden to-day 
with thy fair form by this bitter stone. Far hence be games and stories of the 
Greeks, the honours of ill-fated youths, with their petty prizes for petty 
contests; and all the libations and firstfruits or garlands and newly plucked 
flowers, wherewith men honour the departed, in obedience to ancient custom and 
unreasoning grief, rather than reason. My gift is an oration, which perhaps 
succeeding time will receive at my hand and ever keep in motion, that it may 
not suffer him who has left us to be utterly lost to earth, but may ever keep 
him whom we honour in men's ears and minds, as it sets before them, more 
clearly than a portrait, the image of him for whom we mourn. 

  17. Such is my offering; if it be slight and inferior to his merit, God 
loveth that which is according to our power.(a) Part of our 
gift is now complete, the remainder we will now pay by offering (those of us 
who still survive) every year our honours and memorials. And now for thee, 
sacred and holy soul, we pray for an entrance into heaven; mayest thou enjoy 
such repose as the bosom of Abraham affords, mayest thou behold the choir of 
Angels, and the glories and splendours of sainted men; aye, mayest thou be 
united to that choir and share in their joy, looking down from on high on all 
things here, on what men call wealth, and despicable dignities, and deceitful 
honours, and the errors of our senses, and the tangle of this life, and its 
confusion and ignorance, as if we were fighting in the dark; whilst thou art 
in attendance upon the Great King and filled with the light which streams 
forth from Him: and may it be ours hereafter, receiving therefrom no such 
slender rivulet, as is the object of our fancy in this day of mirrors and 
enigmas, to attain to the fount of good itself, gazing with pure mind upon the 
truth in its purity, and finding a reward for our eager toil here below on 
behalf of the good, in our more perfect possession and vision of the good on 
high: the end to which our sacred books and teachers foretell that our course 
of divine mysteries shall lead us. 

  18. What; now remains? To bring the healing of the Word to those in sorrow. 
And a powerful remedy for mourners is sympathy, for sufferers are best 
consoled by those who have to bear a like suffering. To such, then, I 
specially address myself, of whom I should be ashamed, if, with all other 
virtues, they do not show the elements of patience. For even if they surpass 
all others in love of their children, let them equally surpass them in love of 
wisdom and love of Christ, and in the special practice of meditation on our 
departure hence, impressing it likewise on their children, making even their 
whole life a preparation for death. But if your misfortune still clouds your 
reason and, like the moisture which dims our eyes, hides from you the clear 
view of your duty, come, ye elders, receive the consolation of a young man, ye 
fathers, that of a child, who ought to be admonished by men as old as you, who 
have admonished many and gathered experience from your many years. Yet wonder 
not, if in my youth I admonish the aged; and if in aught I can see better than 
the hoary, I offer it to you. How much longer have we to live, ye men of 
honoured held, so near to God? How long are we to suffer here? Not even man's 
whole life is long, compared with the Eternity of the Divine Nature, still 
less the remains of life, and what I may call the parting of our human breath, 
the close of our frail existence. How much has Caesarius outstripped us? How 
long shall we be left to mourn his departure? Are we not hastening to the same 
abode? Shall we not soon be covered by the same stone? Shall we not shortly be 
reduced to the same dust? And what in these short days will be our gain, save 
that after it has been ours to see, or suffer, or perchance even to do, more 
ill, we must discharge the common and inexorable tribute to the law of nature, 
by following some, preceding others, to the tomb, mourning these, being 
lamented by those, and receiving from some that meed of tears which we 
ourselves had paid to others? 

  19. Such, my brethren, is our existence, who live this transient life, such 
our pastime upon earth: we come into existence out of non-existence, and after 
existing are dissolved. We are unsubstantial dreams, impalpable 
visions,(a) like the flight of a passing bird, like a ship 
leaving no track upon the sea,(b) a speck of dust, a vapour, an 
early dew, a flower that quickly blooms, and quickly fades. As for man his 
days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he 
flourisheth.(g) Well hath inspired David discoursed of our 
frailty, and again in these words, "Let me know the shortness of my days;" and he defines the days of man as "of a span 
long."(a) And what wouldst thou say to Jeremiah, who complains 
of his mother in sorrow for his birth,(b) and that on account 
of others' faults? I have seen all things,(g) says the 
preacher, I have reviewed in thought all human things, wealth, pleasure, 
power, unstable glory, wisdom which evades us rather than is won; then 
pleasure again, wisdom again, often revolving the same objects, the pleasures 
of appetite, orchards, numbers of slaves, store of wealth, serving men and 
serving maids, singing men and singing women, arms, spearmen, subject nations, 
collected tributes, the pride of kings, all the necessaries and superfluities 
of life, in which I surpassed all the kings that were before me. And what does 
he say after all these things? Vanity of vanities,(d) all is 
vanity and vexation of spirit, possibly meaning some unreasoning longing of 
the soul, and distraction of man condemned to this from the original fall: but 
hear, he says, the conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God.(e) 
This is his stay in his perplexity, and this is thy only gain from life here 
below, to be guided through the disorder of the things which are 
seen(z) and shaken, to the things which stand firm and are not 
moved. (h) 

  20. Let us not then mourn Caesarius but ourselves, knowing what evils he has 
escaped to which we are left behind, and what treasure we shall lay up, 
unless, earnestly cleaving unto God and outstripping transitory things, we 
press towards the life above, deserting the earth while we are still upon the 
earth, and earnestly following the spirit which bears us upward. Painful as 
this is to the faint-hearted, it is as nothing to men of brave mind. And let 
us consider it thus. Caesarius will not reign, but rather will he be reigned 
over by others. He will strike terror into no one, but he will be free from 
fear of any harsh master, often himself unworthy even of a subject's position. 
He will not amass wealth, but neither will he be liable to envy, or be pained 
at lack of success, or be ever seeking to add to his gains as much again. For 
such is the disease of wealth, which knows no limit to its desire of more, and 
continues to make drinking the medicine for thirst. He will make no display of 
his power of speaking, yet for his speaking will he be admired. He will not 
discourse upon the dicta of Hippocrates and Galen, and their adversaries, but 
neither will he be troubled by diseases, and suffer pain at the misfortunes of 
others. He will not set forth the principles of Eucleides, Ptolemaeus, and 
Heron, but neither will he be pained by the tumid vaunts of uncultured men. He 
will make no display of the doctrines of Plato, and Aristotle, and Pyrrho, and 
the names of any Democritus, and Heracleitus, Anaxagoras, Cleanthes and 
Epicurus, and all the members of the venerable Porch and Academy: but neither 
will he trouble himself with the solution of their cunning syllogisms. What 
need of further details? Yet here are some which all men honour or desire. Nor 
wife nor child will he have beside him, but he will escape mourning for, or 
being mourned by them, or leaving them to others, or being left behind himself 
as a memorial of misfortune. He will inherit no property: but he will have 
such heirs(a) as are of the greatest service, such as he 
himself wished, so that he departed hence a rich man, bearing with him all 
that was his. What an ambition! What a new consolation! What magnanimity in 
his executors! A proclamation has been heard, worthy of the ears of all, and a 
mother's grief has been made void by a fair and holy promise, to give entirely 
to her son his wealth as a funeral offering on his behalf, leaving nothing to 
those who expected it. 

  21. Is this inadequate for our consolation? I will add a more potent remedy. 
I believe the words of the wise, that every fair and God-be-loved soul, when, 
set free from the bonds of the body, it departs hence, at once enjoys a sense 
and perception of the blessings which await it, inasmuch as that which 
darkened it has been purged away, or laid aside I know not how else to term 
it and feels a wondrous pleasure and exultation, and goes rejoicing to meet 
its Lord, having escaped as it were from the grievous poison of life here, and 
shaken off the fetters which bound it and held down the wings of the mind, and 
so enters on the enjoyment of the bliss laid up for it, of which it has even 
now some conception. Then, a little later, it receives its kindred flesh, 
which once shared in its pursuits of things above, from the earth which both 
gave and had been entrusted with it, and in some way known to God, who knit 
them together and dissolved them, enters with it upon the inheritance of the 
glory there. And, as it shared, through their close union, in its hardships, 
so also it bestows upon it a portion of its joys, gathering it up entirely into itself, 
and becoming with it one in spirit and in mind and in God, the mortal and 
mutable being swallowed up of life. Hear at least how the inspired Ezekiel 
discourses of the knitting together of bones and sinews,(a) how 
after him Saint Paul speaks of the earthly tabernacle, and the house not made 
with hands, the one to be dissolved, the other laid up in heaven, alleging 
absence from the body to be presence with the Lord,(b) and 
bewailing his life in it as an exile, and therefore longing for and hastening 
to his release. Why am I faint-hearted in my hopes? Why behave like a mere 
creature of a day? I await the voice of the Archangel,(g) the 
last trumpet,(d) the transformation of the heavens, the 
transfiguration of the earth, the liberation of the elements, the renovation 
of the universe.(e) Then shall I see Caesarius himself, no 
longer in exile, no longer laid upon a bier, no longer the object of mourning 
and pity, but brilliant, glorious, heavenly, such as in my dreams I have often 
beheld thee, dearest and most loving of brothers, pictured thus by my desire, 
if not by the very truth. 

  22. But now, laying aside lamentation, I will look at myself, and examine my 
feelings, that I may not unconsciously have in myself anything to be lamented. 
O ye sons of men, for the words apply to you, how long will ye be hard-hearted 
and gross in mind? Why do ye love vanity and seek after 
leasing,(z) supposing life here to be a great thing and these 
few days many, and shrinking from this separation, welcome and pleasant as it 
is, as if it were really grievous and awful? Are we not to know ourselves? Are 
we not to cast away visible things? Are we not to look to the things unseen? 
Are we not, even if we are somewhat grieved, to be on the contrary distressed 
at our lengthened sojourn,(h) like holy David, who calls things 
here the tents of darkness, and the place of affliction, and the deep 
mire,(q) and the shadow of death;(i) because we 
linger in the tombs we bear about with us, because, though we are gods, we die 
like men(k) the death of sin? This is my fear, this day and 
night accompanies me, and will not let me breathe, on one side the glory, on 
the other the place of correction: the former I long for till I can say, "My 
soul fainteth for Thy salvation;"(l) from the latter I shrink 
back shuddering; yet I am not afraid that this body of mine should utterly 
perish in dissolution and corruption; but that the glorious creature of God 
(for glorious it is if upright, just as it is dishonourable if sinful) in 
which is reason, morality, and hope, should be condemned to the same dishonour 
as the brutes, and be no better after death; a fate to be desired for the 
wicked, who are worthy of the fire yonder. 

  23. Would that I might mortify my members that are upon the 
earth,(a) would that I might spend my all upon the spirit, 
walking in the way that is narrow and trodden by few, not that which is broad 
and easy.(b) For glorious and great are its consequences, and 
our hope is greater than our desert. What is man, that Thou art mindful of 
him?(g) What is this new mystery which concerns me? I am small 
and great, lowly and exalted, mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly. I share one condition with the lower world, the other with God; one with the 
flesh, the other with the spirit. I must be buried with Christ, arise with 
Christ, be joint heir with Christ, become the son of God, yea, God Himself. 
See whither our argument has carried us in its progress. I almost own myself 
indebted to the disaster which has inspired me with such thoughts, and made me 
more enamoured of my departure hence. This is the purpose of the great mystery 
for us. This is the purpose for us of God, Who for us was made man and became 
poor,(d) to raise our flest,(e) and recover His 
image,(z) and remodel man,(h) that we might all 
be made one in Christ,(q) who was perfectly made in all of us 
all that He Himself is,(i) that we might no longer be male and 
female, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free(k) (which are badges of the flesh), but might bear in ourselves only the stamp of God, by Whom and for Whom we were made,(l) and have so far received our form and model from Him, that we are recognized by it alone. 

  24. Yea, would that what we hope for might be, according to the great kindness of our bountiful God, Who asks for little and bestows great things, 
both in the present and in the future, upon those who truly love Him;(m) bearing all things, enduring all 
things(n) for their love and hope of Him, giving thanks for all things(x) favourable and unfavourable alike: I mean pleasant and painful, for reason knows that even these are often instruments of salvation; commending to Him our own souls(o) and the souls of those fellow wayfarers who, being more ready, have gained their 
rest before us. 
And, now that we have done this, let us cease from our discourse, and yon too from your tears, hastening, as yon now are, to your tomb, which as a sad abiding gift you have given to Caesarius, seasonably prepared as it was for his parents in their old age, and now unexpectedly bestowed on their son in his youth, though not without reason in His eyes Who disposes our affairs. 
O Lord and Maker of all things, and specially of this our frame! 
O God and Father and Pilot of men who are Thine! 
O Lord of life and death! 
O Judge and Benefactor of our souls! 
O Maker and Transformer in due time of all things(a) by Thy designing Word,
(b) according to the knowledge of the depth of Thy wisdom and providence! do Thou now receive Caesarius, the firstfruits of our pilgrimage; and if he who was last is first, we bow before Thy Word, by which the universe is ruled; yet do Thou receive us also afterwards, in a time when Thou mayest be found,
(g) having ordered us in the flesh as long as is for our profit; yea, receive us, prepared and not troubled(d) by Thy fear, not departing from Thee in our last day, nor violently borne away from things here, like souls fond of the world and the flesh, but filled with eagerness for that blessed and enduring life which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to whom be glory, world without end. Amen. 

ORATION VIII. ON HIS SISTER GORGONIA. 

  The exact date of this Oration is uncertain. It is certainly (23) later than the death of Caesarius, A.D. 369, and previous to the death of their father, A.D. 374. So much we gather from the Oration itself, and the references made by some authors to a poem of S. 
Gregory do not add anything certain to our knowledge (Poem. Hist. I. 1. v.v. 108, 227). The place in which it was delivered is, almost without doubt, the city in which her married life had been spent. The public details of that life are familiar to the audience. Gorgonia's parents, and the speaker himself, although known to them, are not spoken of in terms implying intimacy such as we find in Orations known to have been delivered at Nazianzus. The spiritual father and confidant of Gorgonia is present, certainly in a position of authority, probably seated in the Episcopal throne. The husband of Gorgonia (Epitaph. 24) was named Alypius. His home, as Clemencet and Benoit agree, on the authority of Elias, was at Iconium, of which city, at the time, Faustinus was bishop. The names of Gorgonia's two sons are unknown. Elias states that they both became bishops. S. Gregory mentions her three daughters, Alypiana, Eugenia, and Nonna, in his will. The oration is marked by an eloquence, piety, and tender feeling which make it a worthy companion of that on Caesarius. 

FUNERAL ORATION ON HIS SISTER GORGONIA. 

  1. In praising my sister, I shall pay honour to one of my own family; yet my praise will not be false, because it is given to a relation, but, because it is true, will be worthy of commendation, and its truth is based not only upon its justice, but upon well-known facts. For, even if I wished, I should not be permitted to be partial; since everyone who hears me stands, like a skilful critic, between my oration and the truth, to discountenance exaggeration, yet, if he be a man of justice, demanding what is really due. So that my fear is not of outrunning the truth, but, on the contrary, of falling short of it, and lessening her just repute by the extreme inadequacy of my panegyric; for it is a hard task to match her excellences with suitable action and words. Let us not then be so unjust as to praise every characteristic of other folk, and disparage really valuable qualities because they are our own, so as to make some men gain by their absence of kindred with us, while others suffer for their relationship. For justice would be violated alike by the praise of the one and the neglect of the other, whereas if we make the truth our standard and rule, and look to her alone, disregarding all the objects of the vulgar and the mean, we shall praise or pass over everything according to its merits.   2. Yet it would be most unreasonable of all, if, while we refuse to regard it as a righteous thing to defraud, insult, accuse, or treat unjustly in any way, great or small, those who are our kindred, and consider wrong done to those nearest to us the worst of all; we were yet to imagine that it would be an act of justice to deprive them of such an oration as is due most of all to the good, and spend more words upon those who are evil, and beg for indulgent treatment, than on those who are excellent and merely claim their due. For if we are not prevented, as would be far more just, from praising men 
who have lived outside our own circle, because we do not know and cannot personally testify to their merits, shall we be prevented from praising those whom we do know, because of our friendship, or the envy of the multitude, and especially those who have departed hence, whom it is too late to ingratiate ourselves with, since they have escaped, amongst all other things, from the reach of praise or blame. 

  3. Having now made a sufficient defence on these points, and shown how necessary it is for me to be the speaker, come, let me proceed with my eulogy, rejecting all daintiness and elegance of style (for she whom we are praising was unadorned and the absence of ornament was to her, beauty), and yet performing, as a most indispensable debt, all those funeral rites which are her due, and further instructing everyone in a zealous imitation of the same virtue, since it is my object in every word and action to promote the perfection of those committed to my charge. The task of praising the country and family of our departed one I leave to another, more scrupulous in adhering to the rules of eulogy; nor will he lack many fair topics, if he wish to deck her with external ornaments, as men deck a splendid and beautiful form with gold and precious stones, and the artistic devices of the craftsman; which, while they accentuate ugliness by their contrast, can add no attractiveness to the beauty which surpasses them. For my part, I will only conform to such rules so far as to allude to our common parents, for it would not be reverent to pass unnoticed the great blessing of having such parents and teachers, and then speedily direct my attention to herself, without further taxing the patience of those who are eager to learn what manner of woman she was.   4. Who is there who knows not the Abraham and Sarah of these our latter days, Gregory and Nonna his wife? For it is not well to omit the incitement to virtue of mentioning their names. He has been justified by faith, she has dwelt with him who is faithful; he beyond all hope has been the father of many nations,(a) she has spiritually travailed in their birth; he escaped from the bondage of his father's gods,(b) she is the daughter as well as the mother of the free; he went out from kindred and home for the sake of the land of promise,(a) she was the occasion of his exile; for on this head alone I venture to claim for her an honour higher than that of Sarah; he set forth on so noble a pilgrimage, she readily shared with him in its toils; he gave himself to the Lord, she both called her husband lord and regarded him as such, and in part was thereby justified; whose was the promise, from whom, as far as in them lay, was born Isaac, and whose was the gift.   5. This good shepherd was the result of his wife's prayers and guidance, and it was from her that he learned his ideal of a good shepherd's life. He generously fled from his idols, and afterwards even put demons to flight; he never consented to eat salt with idolators: united together with a bond of one honour, of one mind, of one soul, concerned as much with virtue and fellowship with God as with the flesh; equal in length of life and hoary hairs, equal in prudence and brilliancy, rivals of each other, soaring beyond all the rest, possessed in few respects by the flesh, and translated in spirit, even before dissolution: possessing not the world, and yet possessing it, by at once despising and rightly valuing it: forsaking riches and yet being rich through their noble pursuits; rejecting things here, and purchasing instead the things yonder: possessed of a scanty remnant of this life, left over from their piety, but of an abundant and long life for which they have laboured. I will say but one word more about them: they have been rightly and fairly assigned, each to either sex; he is the ornament of men, she of women, and not only the ornament but the pattern of virtue.   6. From them Gorgonia derived both her existence and her reputation; they sowed in her the seeds of piety, they were the source of her fair life, and of her happy departure with better hopes. Fair privileges these, and such as are not easily attained by many of those who plume themselves highly upon their noble birth, and are proud of their ancestry. But, if I must treat of her case in a more philosophic and lofty strain, Gorgonia's native land was Jerusalem above,(b) the object, not of sight but of contemplation, wherein is our commonwealth, and whereto we are pressing on: whose citizen Christ is, and whose fellow-citizens are the assembly and church of the first born who are written in heaven, and feast around its great Founder in contemplation of His glory, and take part in the endless festival; her nobility consisted in the preservation of the Image, and the perfect likeness to the Archetype, which is produced by reason and virtue and pure desire, ever more and more conforming, in things pertaining to God, to those truly initiated into the heavenly mysteries; and in knowing whence, and of what character, and for what end we came into being.   7. This is what I know upon these points: and therefore it is that I both am aware and assert that her soul was more noble than those of the East,(a) according to a better than the ordinary rule of noble or ignoble birth, whose distinctions depend not on blood but on character; nor does it classify those whom it praises or blames according to their families, but as individuals. But speaking as I do of her excellences among those who know her, let each one join in contributing some particular and aid me in my speech: for it is impossible for one man to take in every point, however gifted with observation and intelligence.   8. In modesty she so greatly excelled, and so far surpassed, those of her own day, to say nothing of those of old time who have been illustrious for modesty, that, in regard to the two divisions of the life of all, that is, the married and the unmarried state, the latter being higher and more divine, though more difficult and dangerous, while the former is more humble and more safe, she was able to avoid the disadvantages of each, and to select and combine all that is best in both, namely, the elevation of the one and the security of the other, thus becoming modest without pride, blending the excellence of the married with that of the unmarried state, and proving that neither of them absolutely binds us to, or separates us from, God or the world (so that the one from its own nature must be uttely avoided, and the other altogether praised): but that it is mind which nobly presides over wedlock and maidenhood, and arranges and works upon them as the raw material of virtue under the master-hand of reason. For though she had entered upon a carnal union, she was not therefore separated from the spirit, nor, because her husband was her head, did she ignore her first Head: but, performing those few ministrations due to the world and nature, according to the will of the law of the flesh, or rather of Him who gave to the flesh these laws, she consecrated herself entirely to God. But what is most excellent and honourable, she also won over her husband to her side, and made of him a good fellow-servant, instead of an unreasonable master. And not only so, but she further made the fruit of her body, her children and her children's children, to be the fruit of her spirit, dedicating to God not her single soul, but the whole family and household, and making wedlock illustrious through her own acceptability in wedlock, and the fair harvest she had reaped thereby; presenting herself, as long as she lived, as an example to her offspring of all that was good, and when summoned hence, leaving her will behind her, as a silent exhortation to her house.   9. The divine Solomon, in his instructive wisdom, I mean his Proverbs, praises the woman(a) who looks to her household and loves her husband, contrasting her with one who roams abroad, and is uncontrolled and dishonourable, and hunts for precious souls with wanton words and ways, while she manages well at home and bravely sets about her woman's duties, as her hands hold the distaff, and she prepares two coats for her husband, buying a field in due season, and makes good provision for the food of her servants, and welcomes her friends at a liberal table; with all the other details in which he sings the praises of the modest and industrious woman. Now, to praise my sister in these points would be to praise a statue for its shadow, or a lion for its claws, without allusion to its greatest perfections. Who was more deserving of renown, and yet who avoided it so much and made herself inaccessible to the eyes of man? Who knew better the due proportions of sobriety and cheerfulness, so that her sobriety should not seem inhuman, nor her tenderness immodest, but prudent in one, gentle in the other, her discretion was marked by a combination of sympathy and dignity? Listen, ye women addicted to ease and display, who despise the veil of shamefastness. Who ever so kept her eyes under control? Who so derided laughter, that the ripple of a smile seemed a great thing to her? Who more steadfastly closed her ears? And who opened them more to the Divine words, or rather, who installed the mind as ruler of the tongue in uttering the judgments of God? Who, as she, regulated her lips?   10. Here, if you will, is another point of her excellence: one of which neither she nor any truly modest and decorous woman thinks anything: but which we have been made to think much of, by those who are too fond of ornament and display, and refuse to listen to instruction on such matters. She was never adorned with gold wrought into artistic forms of surpassing beauty, nor flaxen tresses, fully or partially displayed, nor spiral curls, nor dishonouring designs of men who construct erections on the honourable head, nor costly folds of flowing and transparent robes, nor graces of brilliant stones, which color the neighbouring air, and cast a glow upon the form; nor the arts and witcheries of the painter, nor that cheap beauty of the infernal creator who works against the Divine, hiding with his treacherous pigments the creation of God, and putting it to shame with his honour, and setting before eager eyes the imitation of an harlot instead of the form of God, so that this bastard beauty may steal away that image which should be kept for God and for the world to come. But though she was aware of the many and various external ornaments of women, yet none of them was more precious to her than her own character, and the brilliancy stored up within. One red tint was dear to her, the blush of modesty; one white one, the sign of temperance: but pigments and pencillings, and living pictures, and flowing lines of beauty, she left to women of the stage and of the streets, and to all who think it a shame and a reproach to be ashamed.   11. Enough of such topics. Of her prudence and piety no adequate account can be given, nor many examples found besides those of her natural and spiritual parents, who were her only models, and of whose virtue she in no wise fell short, with this single exception most readily admitted, that they, as she both knew and acknowledged, were the source of her goodness, and the root of her own illumination. What could be keener than the intellect of her who was recognized as a common adviser not only by those of her family, those of the same people and of the one fold, but even by all men round about, who treated her counsels and advice as a law not to be broken? What more sagacious than her words? What more prudent than her silence? Having mentioned silence, I will proceed to that which was most characteristic of her, most becoming to women, and most serviceable to these times. Who had a fuller knowledge of the things of God, both from the Divine oracles, and from her own understanding? But who was less ready to speak, confining herself within the due limits of women? Moreover, as was the bounden duty of a woman who has learned true piety, and that which is the only honourable object of insatiate desire, who, as she, adorned temples with offerings, both others and this one, which will hardly, now she is gone, be so adorned again? Or rather, who so presented herself to God as a living temple? Who again paid such honor to Priests, especially to him who was her fellow soldier and teacher of piety, whose are the good seeds, and the pair of children consecrated to God.   12. Who opened her house to those who live according to God with a more graceful and bountiful welcome? And, which is greater than this, who bade them welcome with such modesty and godly greetings? Further, who showed a mind more unmoved in sufferings? Whose soul was more sympathetic to those in trouble? Whose hand more liberal to those in want? I should not hesitate to honour her with the words of Job: Her door was opened to all comers; the stranger did not lodge in the street. She was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, a mother to the orphan.(a) Why should I say more of her compassion to widows, than that its fruit which she obtained was, never to be called a widow herself? Her house was a common abode to all the needy of her family; and her goods no less common to all in need than their own belonged to each. She hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor,(b) and according to the infallible truth of the Gospel, she laid up much store in the wine-presses above, and oftentimes entertained Christ in the person of those whose benefactress she was. And, best of all, there was in her no unreal profession, but in secret she cultivated piety before Him who seeth secret things. Everything she rescued from the ruler of this world, everything she transferred to the safe garners. Nothing did she leave behind to earth, save her body. She bartered everything for the hopes above: the sole wealth she left to her children was the imitation of her example, and emulation of her merits.   
13. But amid these tokens of incredible magnanimity, she did not surrender her body to luxury, and unrestrained pleasures of the appetite, that raging and tearing dog, as though presuming upon her acts of benevolence, as most men do, who redeem their luxury by compassion to the poor, and instead of healing evil with good, receive evil as a recompense for their good deeds. Nor did she, while subduing her dust(a) by fasting, leave to another the medicine of hard lying; nor, while she found this of spiritual service, was she less restrained in sleep than anyone else; nor, while regulating her life on this point as if freed from the body, did she lie upon the ground, when others were passing the night erect, as the most mortified men struggle to do. Nay in this respect she was seen to surpass not only women, but the most devoted of men, by her intelligent chanting of the psalter, her converse with, and unfolding and apposite recollection of, the Divine oracles, her bending of her knees which had grown hard and almost taken root in the ground, her tears to cleanse her stains with contrite heart and spirit of lowliness, her prayer rising heavenward, her mind freed from wandering in rapture; in all these, or in any one of them, is there man or woman who can boast of having surpassed her? Besides, it is a great thing to say, but it is true, that while she was zealous in her endeavour after some points of excellence, of others she was the paragon: of some she was the discoverer, in others she excelled. And if in some single particular she was rivalled, her superiority consists in her complete grasp of all. Such was her success in all points, as none else attained even in a moderate degree in one: to such perfection did she attain in each particular, that any one might of itself have supplied the place of all.   14. O untended body, and squalid garments, whose only flower is virtue! O soul, clinging to the body, when reduced almost to an immaterial state through lack of food; or rather, when the body had been mortified by force, even before dissolution, that the soul might attain to freedom, and escape the entanglements of the senses! O nights of vigil, and psalmody, and standing which lasts from one day to another! O David, whose strains never seem tedious to faithful souls! O tender limbs, flung upon the earth and, contrary to nature, growing hard! O fountains of tears, sowing in affliction that they might reap in joy.(b) O cry in the night, piercing the clouds and reaching unto Him that dwelleth in the heavens! O fervour of spirit, waxing bold in prayerful longings against the dogs of night, and frosts and rain, and thunders, and hail, and darkness! O nature of woman overcoming that of man in the common struggle for salvation, and demonstrating that the distinction between male and female is one of body not of soul! O Baptismal purity, O soul, in the pure chamber of thy body, the bride of Christ! O bitter eating! O Eve mother of our race and of our sin! O subtle serpent, and death, overcome by her self-discipline! O self-emptying of Christ, and form of a servant, and sufferings, honoured by her mortification!   15. Oh! how am I to count up all her traits, or pass over most of them without injury to those who know them not? Here however it is right to subjoin the rewards of her piety, for indeed I take it that you, who knew her life well, have long been eager and desirous to find in my speech not only things present, or her joys yonder, beyond the conception and hearing and sight of man, but also those which the righteous Rewarder bestowed upon her here: a matter which often tends to the edification of unbelievers, who from small things attain to faith in those which are great, and from things which are seen to those which are not seen. I will mention then some facts which are generally notorious, others which have been from most men kept secret; and that because her Christian principle made a point of not making a display of her [Divine] favours. You know how her maddened mules ran away with her carriage, and unfortunately overturned it, how horribly she Was dragged along, and seriously injured, to the scandal of unbelievers at the permission of such accidents to the righteous, and how quickly their unbelief was corrected: for, all crushed and bruised as she was, in bones and limbs, alike in those exposed and in those out of sight, she would have none of any physician, except Him Who had permitted it; both because she shrunk from the inspection and the hands of men, preserving, even in suffering, her modesty, and also awaiting her justification from Him Who allowed this to happen, so that she owed her preservation to none other than to Him: with the result that men were no less struck by her unhoped-for recovery than by her misfortune, and concluded that the tragedy had happened for her glorification through sufferings, the suffering being human, the recovery superhuman, and giving a lesson to those who come after, exhibiting in a high degree faith in the midst of suffering, and patience under calamity, but in a still higher degree the kindness of God to them that are such as she. For to the beautiful promise to the righteous "though he fall, he shall not be utterly broken,"(a) has been added one more recent, "though he be utterly broken, he shall speedily be raised up and glorified."(b) For if 243 her misfortune was unreasonable, her recovery was extraordinary, so that health soon stole away the injury, and the cure became more celebrated than the blow. 

  16. O remarkable and wonderful disaster! O injury more noble than security! 
O prophecy, "He hath smitten, and He will bind us up, and revive us, and after 
three days He will raise us up,"(a) portending indeed, as it did, a greater and more sublime event, yet no less applicable to Gorgonia's 
sufferings! This then, notorious to all, even to those afar off, for the 
wonder spread to all, and the lesson was stored up in the tongues and ears of all, with the other wonderful works and powers of God. But the following 
incident, hitherto unknown and concealed from moot men by the Christian principle I spoke of, and her pious shrinking from vanity and display, dost 
thou bid me tell, O best(b) and most perfect of shepherds, pastor of this holy sheep, and dost thou further give thy assent to it, since 
to us alone has this secret been entrusted, and we were mutual witnesses of the marvel, or are we still to keep our faith to her who is gone? Yet I do 
think, that as that was the time to be silent, this is the time to manifest it, not only for the glory of God, but also for the consolation of those in 
affliction. 

  17. She was sick in body, and dangerously ill of an extraordinary and 
malignant disease, her whole frame was incessantly fevered, her blood at one 
time agitated and boiling, then curdling with coma, incredible pallor, and 
paralysis of mind and limbs: and this not at long intervals, but sometimes 
very frequently. Its virulence seemed beyond human aid; the skill of 
physicians, who carefully examined the case, both singly and in consultation, 
was of no avail; nor the tears of her parents, which often have great power, 
nor public supplications and intercessions, in which all the people joined as 
earnestly as if for their own preservation: for her safety was the safety of 
all, as, on the contrary, her suffering and sickness was a common misfortune. 

  18. What then did this great soul, worthy offspring of the greatest, and 
what was the medicine for her disorder, for we have now come to the great 
secret? Despairing of all other aid, she betook herself to the Physician of 
all, and awaiting the silent hours of night, during a slight intermission of 
the disease, she approached the altar with faith, and, calling upon Him Who is 
honoured thereon, with a mighty cry, and every kind of invocation, calling to 
mind all His former works of power, and well she knew those both of ancient 
and of later days, at last she ventured on an act of pious and splendid 
effrontery: she imitated the woman whose fountain of blood was dried up by the 
hem of Christ's garment.(a) What did she do? Resting her head 
with another cry upon the altar, and with a wealth of tears, as she who once 
bedewed the feet of Christ,(b) and declaring that she would not 
loose her hold until she was made whole, she then applied her medicine to her 
whole body, viz., such a portion of the antitypes(g) of the 
Precious Body and Blood as she treasured in her hand, mingling therewith her 
tears, and, O the wonder, she went away feeling at once that she was saved, 
and with the lightness of health in body, soul, and mind, having received, as 
the reward of her hope, that which she hoped for, and having gained bodily by 
means of spiritual strength. Great though these things be, they are not 
untrue. Believe them all of you, whether sick or sound, that ye may either 
keep or regain your health. And that my story is no mere boastfulness is plain 
from the silence in which she kept, while alive, what I have revealed. Nor 
should I now have published it, be well assured, had I not feared that so 
great a marvel would have been utterly hidden from the faithful and 
unbelieving of these and later days. 

  19. Such was her life. Most of its details I have left untold, lest my 
speech should grow to undue proportions, and lest I should seem to be too 
greedy for her fair fame: but perhaps we should be wronging her holy and 
illustrious death, did we not mention some of its excellences; especially as 
she so longed for and desired it. I will do so therefore, as concisely as I 
can. She longed for her dissolution, for indeed she had great boldness towards 
Him who called her, and preferred to be with Christ, beyond all things on 
earth.(d) And there is none of the most amorous and 
unrestrained, who has such love for his body, as she had to fling away these 
fetters, and escape from the mire in which we spend our lives, and to 
associate in purity with Him Who is Fair, and entirely to hold her Beloved, 
Who is I will even say it, her Lover, by Whose rays, feeble though they now 
are, we are enlightened, and Whom, though separated from Him, we are able to 
know. Nor did she fail even of this desire, divine and sublime though it was, and, what is still greater, she had a foretaste of His Beauty 
through her forecast and constant watching. Her only sleep transferred her to 
exceeding joys, and her one vision embraced her departure at the foreappointed 
time, having been made aware of this day, so that according to the decision of 
God she might be prepared and yet not disturbed. 

  20. She had recently obtained the blessing of cleansing and perfection, 
which we have all received from God as a common gift and foundation of our 
new(a) life. Or rather all her life was a cleansing and 
perfecting: and while she received regeneration from the Holy Spirit, its 
security was hers by virtue of her former life. And in her case almost alone, 
I will venture to say, the mystery was a seal rather than a gift of grace. And 
when her husband's perfection was her one remaining desire (and if you wish me 
briefly to describe the man, I do not know what more to say of him than that 
he was her husband) in order that she might be consecrated to God in her whole 
body, and not depart half-perfected, or leave behind her imperfect anything 
that was hers; she did not even fail of this petition, from Him Who fulfils 
the desire of them that fear Him,(b) and accomplishes their 
requests. 

  21. And now when she had all things to her mind, and nothing was lacking of 
her desires, and the appointed time drew nigh, being thus prepared for death 
and departure, she fulfilled the law which prevails in such matters, and took 
to her bed. After many injunctions to her husband, her children, and her 
friends, as was to be expected from one who was full of conjugal, maternal, 
and brotherly love, and after making her last day a day of solemn festival 
with brilliant discourse upon the things above, she fell asleep, full not of 
the days of man, for which she had no desire, knowing them to be evil for her, 
and mainly occupied with our dust and wanderings, but more exceedingly full of 
the days of God, than I imagine any one even of those who have departed in a 
wealth of hoary hairs, and have numbered many terms of years. Thus she was set 
free, or, it is better to say, taken to God, or flew away, or changed her 
abode, or anticipated by a little the departure of her body. 

  22. Yet what was I on the point of omitting? But perhaps thou, who art her 
spiritual father, wouldst not have allowed me, and hast carefully concealed 
the wonder, and made it known to me. It is a great point for her distinction, 
and in our memory of her virtue, and regret for her departure. But trembling 
and tears have seized upon me, at the recollection of the wonder. She was just 
passing away, and at her last breath, surrounded by a group of relatives and 
friends performing the last offices of kindness, while her aged mother bent 
over her, with her soul convulsed with envy of her departure, anguish and 
affection being blended in the minds of all. Some longed to hear some burning 
word to be branded in their recollection; others were eager to speak, yet no 
one dared; for tears were mute and the pangs of grief unconsoled, since it 
seemed sacrilegious, to think that mourning could be an honour to one who was 
thus passing away. So there was solemn silence, as if her death had been a 
religious ceremony. There she lay, to all appearance, breathless, motionless, 
speechless; the stillness of her body seemed paralysis, as though the organs 
of speech were dead, after that which could move them was gone. But as her 
pastor, who in this wonderful scene, was carefully watching her, perceived 
that her lips were gently moving, and placed his ear to them, which his 
disposition and sympathy emboldened him to do,--but do you expound the meaning 
of this mysterious calm, for no one can disbelieve it on your word! Under her 
breath she was repeating a psalm--the last words of a psalm--to say the truth, 
a testimony to the boldness with which she was departing, and blessed is he 
who can fall asleep with these words, "I will lay me down in peace, and take 
my rest."(a) Thus wert thou singing, fairest of women, and thus 
it fell out unto thee; and the song became a reality, and attended on thy 
departure as a memorial of thee, who hast entered upon sweet peace after 
suffering, and received (over and above the rest which comes to all), that 
sleep which is due to the beloved,(b) as befitted one who lived 
and died amid the words of piety. 

  23. Better, I know well, and far more precious than eye can see, is thy 
present lot, the song of them that keep holy-day,(g) the throng 
of angels, the heavenly host, the vision of glory, and that splendour, pure 
and perfect beyond all other, of the Trinity Most High, no longer beyond the 
ken of the captive mind, dissipated by the senses, but entirely contemplated 
and possessed by the undivided mind, and flashing upon our souls with the 
whole light of Godhead: Mayest thou enjoy to the full all those things whose crumbs thou didst, while still upon earth, possess 
through the reality of thine inclination towards them. And if thou takest any 
account of our affairs, and holy souls receive from God this privilege, do 
thou accept these words of mine, in place of, and in preference to many 
panegyrics, which I have bestowed upon Caesarius before thee, and upon thee 
after him--since I have been preserved to pronounce panegyrics upon my 
brethren. If any one will, after you, pay me the like honour, I cannot say. 
Yet may my only honour be that which is in God, and may my pilgrimage and my 
home be in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, 
be glory for ever. Amen. 

ORATION XII. 



TO HIS FATHER, WHEN HE HAD ENTRUSTED TO HIM THE CARE OF THE CHURCH OF 
NAZIANZUS. 



  THIS Oration was delivered A.D. 372. Two years earlier Valens had divided 
Cappadocia into two provinces. Anthimus, Bishop of Tyana, asserting that the 
ecclesiastical provinces were regulated by those of the empire, claimed 
metropolitical rights over the churches of Cappadocia Secunda, in opposition 
to S. Basil, who had hitherto been metropolitan of the undivided province. S. 
Basil, with the intention of vindicating the permanence of his former rights, 
created a new see at Sasima, on the borders of the two provinces, and with 
great difficulty prevailed upon S. Gregory to receive consecration as its 
first Bishop. S. Gregory, who had "bent his neck, but not his 
will,"(a) was for a long time reluctant to enter upon his 
Episcopal duties, and at last was prevailed upon by S. Gregory of Nyssa, S. 
Basil's brother, to make an attempt to do so. When, however, he found that 
Anthimus was prepared to bar his entrance by force of arms, he returned home, 
definitely resigned his see, and once more betook himself to the life of 
solitude which he so dearly loved. Recalled hence, he 
consented,(b) at his father's earnest entreaty, to undertake 
provisionally the duties of Bishop-coadjutor of Nazianzus: and pronounced this 
short discourse on the occasion of his installation. 

  1. I opened my mouth, and drew in the Spirit,(g) and I give 
myself and my all to the Spirit, my action and speech, my inaction and 
silence, only let Him hold me and guide me, and move both hand and mind and 
tongue whither it is right, and He wills: and restrain them as it is right and 
expedient. I am an instrument of God, a rational instrument, an instrument 
tuned and struck by that skilful artist, the Spirit. Yesterday His work in me 
was silence. I mused on abstinence from speech. Does He strike upon my mind 
today? My speech shall be heard, and I will muse on utterance. I am neither so 
talkative, as to desire to speak, when He is bent on silence; nor so reserved 
and ignorant as to set a watch before my lips(a) when it is the 
time to speak: but I open and close my door at the will of that Mind and Word 
and Spirit, Who is One kindred Deity. 

  2. I will speak then, since I am so bidden. And I will speak both to the 
good shepherd here, and to you, his holy flock, as I think is best both for me 
to speak, and for you to hear to-day. Why is it that you have begged for one 
to share your shepherd's toil? For my speech shall begin with you, O dear and 
honoured head, worthy of that of Aaron, down which runs that spiritual and 
priestly ointment upon his beard and clothing.(b) Why is it 
that, while yet able to stablish and guide many, and actually guiding them in 
the power of the Spirit, you support yourself with a staff and prop in your 
spiritual works? Is it because you have heard and know that even with the 
illustrious Aaron were anointed Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of 
Aaron?(g) For I pass over Nadab and Abihu,(d) 
test the allusion be ill-omened: and Moses during his lifetime appoints Joshua 
in his stead, as lawgiver and general over those who were pressing on to the 
land of promise? The office of Aaron and Hur, supporting the hands of Moses on 
the mount where Amalek was warred down(e) by the 
Cross,(z) prefigured and typified long before, I feel willing 
to pass by, as not very suitable or applicable to us: for Moses did not choose 
them to share his work as lawgiver, but as helpers in his prayer and supports 
for the weariness of his hands. 

  3. What is it then that ails you? What is your weakness? Is it physical? I 
am ready to sustain you, yea I have sustained, and been sustained, like Jacob 
of old, by your fatherly blessings.(h) Is it spiritual? Who is 
stronger, and more fervent, especially now, when the 



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powers of the flesh are ebbing and fading, like so many barriers which 
interfere with, and dim the brilliancy of a light? For these powers are wont, 
for the most part, to wage war upon and oppose one another, while the body's 
health is purchased by the sickness of the soul, and the soul flourishes and 
looks upward when pleasures are stilled and fade away along with the body. 
But, wonderful as your simplicity and nobility have seemed to me before, how 
is it that you have no fear, especially in times like these, that your spirit 
will be considered a pretext, and that most men will suppose, in spite of our 
spiritual professions, that we are undertaking this from carnal motives. For 
most men have made(a) the office to be looked upon as great and 
princely, and accompanied with considerable enjoyment, even though a man have 
the charge and rule over a more slender flock than this, and one which affords 
more troubles than pleasures. Thus far of your simplicity, or parental 
preference, if it be so, which makes you neither admit yourself, nor readily 
suspect in others anything disgraceful; for a mind hardly roused to evil, is 
slow to suspect evil. My second duty is briefly to address this people of 
yours, or now even of mine. 

  4. I have been overpowered, my friends and brethren, for I will now, though 
I did not at the time, ask for your aid. I have been overpowered by the old 
age of my father, and, to use moderate terms, the kindliness of my friend. So, 
help me, each of you who can, and stretch out a hand to me who am pressed down 
and torn asunder by regret and enthusiasm. The one suggests flights, mountains 
and deserts, and calm of soul and body, and that the mind should retire into 
itself, and recall its powers from sensible things, in order to hold pure 
communion with God, and be clearly illumined by the flashing rays of the 
Spirit, with no admixture or disturbance of the divine light by anything 
earthly or clouded, Until we come to the source of the effulgence which we 
enjoy here, and regret and desire are alike stayed, when our 
mirrors(b) pass away in the light of truth. The other wills 
that I should come forward, and bear fruit for the common good, and be helped 
by helping others; and publish the Divine light, and bring to God a people for 
His own possession, a holy nation, a royal priesthood,(g) and 
His image cleansed in many souls. And this, because, as a park is better than 
and preferable to a tree, the whole heaven with its ornaments to a single 
star, and the body to a limb, so also, in the sight of God, is the reformation 
of a whole church preferable to the progress of a single soul: and therefore, 
I ought not to look only on my own interest, but also on that of 
others.(a) For Christ also likewise, when it was possible for 
him to abide in His own honour and deity, not only so far emptied Himself as 
to take the form of a slave,(b) but also endured the cross, 
despising the shame,(g) that he might by His own sufferings 
destroy sin, and by death slay death.(d) The former are the 
imaginings of desire, the latter the teachings of the Spirit. And I, standing 
midway between the desire and the Spirit, and not knowing to which of the two 
I should rather yield, will impart to you what seems to me the best and safest 
course, that you may test it with me and take part in my design. 

  5. It seemed to me to be best and least dangerous to take a middle course 
between desire and fear, and to yield in part to desire, in part to the 
Spirit: and that this would be the case, if I neither altogether evaded the 
office, and so refused the grace, which would be dangerous, nor yet assumed a 
burden beyond my powers, for it is a heavy one. The former indeed is suited to 
the person of another, the latter to another's power, or rather to undertake 
both would be madness. But piety and safety would alike advise me to 
proportion the office to my power, and as is the case with food, to accept 
that which is within my power and refuse what is beyond it for health is 
gained for the body, and tranquillity for the soul, by such a course of 
moderation. Therefore I now consent to share in the cares of my excellent 
father, like an eaglet, not quite vainly flying close to a mighty and high 
soaring eagle. But hereafter I will offer my wing to the Spirit to be borne 
whither, and as, He wills: no one shall force or drag me in any direction, 
contrary to His counsel. For sweet it is to inherit a father's toils, and this 
flock is more familiar than a strange and foreign one; I would even add, more 
precious in the sight of God, unless the spell of affection deceives me, and 
the force of habit robs me of perception: nor is there any more useful or 
safer course than that willing rulers should rule willing subjects: since it 
is our practice not to lead by force, or by compulsion, but by good will. For 
this would not hold together even another form of government, since that which 
is held in by force is wont, when opportunity offers, to strike for freedom: 
but freedom of will more than 



247 



anything else it is, which holds together our--I will not call it rule, 
but--tutorship. For the mystery of godliness(a) belongs to 
those who are willing, not to those who are overpowered. 

  6. This is my speech to you, my good men, uttered in simplicity and with all 
good will, and this is the secret of my mind. And may the victory rest with 
that which will be for the profit of both you and me, under the Spirit's 
guidance of our affairs, (for our discourse comes back again to the same 
point,)(b) to Whom we have given ourselves, and the head 
anointed with the oil of perfection, in the Almighty Father, and the 
Only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit, Who is God. For how long shall we 
hide(g) the lamp under the bushel,(d) and 
withhold from others the full knowledge of the Godhead, when it ought to be 
now put upon the lampstand and give light to all churches and souls and to the 
whole fulness of the world, no longer by means of metaphors, or intellectual 
sketches, but by distinct declaration? And this indeed is a most perfect 
setting forth of Theology to those Who have been deemed worthy of this grace 
in Christ Jesus Himself, our Lord, to Whom be glory, honour, and power for 
ever. Amen. 


INTRODUCTION TO ORATION XVI. 



ON HIS FATHER'S SILENCE, BECAUSE OF THE 

PLAGUE OF HAIL. 



  THIS Oration belongs to the year A.D. 373. A series of disasters had 
befallen the people of Nazianzus. A deadly cattle plague, which had devastated 
their herds, had been followed by a prolonged drought, and now their just 
ripened crops had been ruined by a storm of rain and hail. The people flocked 
to the church, and finding S. Gregory the elder so overwhelmed by his sense of 
these terrible misfortunes that he was unable to address them, implored his 
coadjutor to enter the pulpit. The occasion gave no time for preparation, so 
S. Gregory poured out his feelings in a discourse which was in the fullest 
sense of the words ex tempore. its present form, however, as Benoit suggests, 
may be due to a later polishing of notes taken down at the time of delivery. 

  1. Why do you infringe upon the approved order of things? Why would you do 
violence to a tongue which is under obligation to the law? Why do you 
challenge a speech which is in subjection to the Spirit? Why, when you have 
excused the head, have you hastened to the feet? Why do you pass by 
Aaron(a) and urge forward Eleazar? I cannot allow the fountain 
to be dammed up, while the rivulet runs its course; the sun to be hidden, 
while the star shines forth; hoar hairs to be in retirement, while youth lays 
down the law; wisdom to be silent, while inexperience speaks with assurance. A 
heavy rain is not always more useful than a gentle shower. Nay, indeed, if it 
be too violent, it sweeps away the earth, and increases the proportion of the 
farmer's loss: while a gentle fall, which sinks deep, enriches the soil, 
benefits the tiller and makes the corn grow to a fine crop. So the fluent 
Speech is not more profitable than the wise. For the one, though it perhaps 
gave a slight pleasure, passes away, and is dispersed as soon, and with as 
little effect, as the air on which it struck, though it charms with its 
eloquence the greedy ear. But the other sinks into the mind, and opening wide 
its mouth, fills it(b) with the Spirit, and, showing itself 
nobler than its origin, produces a rich harvest by a few syllables. 

  2. I have not yet alluded to the true and first wisdom, for which our 
wonderful husbandman and shepherd is conspicuous. The first wisdom is a life 
worthy of praise, and kept pure for God, or being purified for Him Who is 
all-pure and all-luminous, Who demands of us, us His only sacrifice, 
purification--that is, a contrite heart and the sacrifice of 
praise,(g) and a new creation in Christ,(d) and 
the new man,(e) and the like, as the Scripture loves to call 
it. The first wisdom is to despise that wisdom which consists of language and 
figures of speech, and spurious and unnecessary embellishments. Be it mine to 
speak five words with my understanding in the church, rather than ten thousand 
words in a tongue,(z) and with the unmeaning voice of a 
trumpet,(h) which does not rouse my soldier to the spiritual 
combat. This is the wisdom which I praise, which I welcome. By this the 
ignoble have won renown, and the despised have attained the highest honours. 
By this a crew of fishermen have taken the whole world in the meshes of the 
Gospel-net, 



248 



and overcome by a word finished and cut short(a) the wisdom 
that comes to naught.(b) I count not wise the man who is clever 
in words, nor him who is of a ready tongue, but unstable and undisciplined in 
soul, like the tombs which, fair and beautiful as they are outwardly, are 
fetid with corpses within,(g) and full of manifold ill-savours; 
but him who speaks but little of virtue, yet gives many examples of it in his 
practice, and proves the trustworthiness of his language by his life. 

  3. Fairer in my eyes, is the beauty which we can gaze upon than that which 
is painted in words: of more value the wealth which our hands can hold, than 
that which is imagined in our dreams; and more real the wisdom of which we are 
convinced by deeds, than that which is set forth in splendid language. For "a 
good understanding," he saith, "have all they that do 
thereafter,"(d) not they who proclaim it. Time iS the best 
touchstone of this wisdom, and "the hoary head is a crown of 
glory."(e) For if, as it seems to me as well as tO Solomon, we 
must "judge none blessed before his death,"(z) and it is 
uncertain" what a day may bring forth,"(h) since our life here 
below has many turnings, and the body of our humiliation(q) is 
ever rising, falling and changing; surely he, who without fault has almost 
drained the cup of life, and nearly reached the haven of the common sea of 
existence is more secure, and therefore more enviable, than one who has yet a 
long voyage before him. 

  4. Do not thou, therefore, restrain a tongue whose noble utterances and 
fruits have been many, which has begotten many children of righteousness--yea, 
lift up thine eyes round about and see,(i) how many are its 
sons, and what are its treasures; even this whole people, whom thou hast 
begotten in Christ through the Gospel.(k) Grudge not to us 
those words which are excellent rather than many, and do not yet give us a 
foretaste of our impending loss.(l) Speak in words which, if 
few, are dear and most sweet to me, which, if scarcely audible, are perceived 
from their spiritual cry, as God heard the silence of Moses, and said to him 
when interceding mentally, "Why criest thou unto Me?"(m) 
Comfort this people, I pray thee, I, who was thy nursling, and have since been 
made Pastor, and now even Chief Pastor. Give a lesson, to me in the Pastor's 
art, to this people of obedience. Discourse awhile on our present heavy blow, 
about the just judgments of God, whether we grasp their meaning, or are 
ignorant of their great deep.(a) How again "mercy is put in the 
balance,"(b) as holy Isaiah declares, for goodness is not 
without discernment, as the first labourers in the vineyard(g) 
fancied, because they could not perceive any distinction between those who 
were paid alike: and how anger, which is called "the cup in the hand of the 
Lord,"(d) and "the cup of falling which is 
drained,"(e) is in proportion to transgressions, even though He 
abates to all somewhat of what is their due, and dilutes with compassion the 
unmixed draught of His wrath. For He inclines from severity to indulgence 
towards those who accept chastisement with fear, and who after a slight 
affliction conceive and are in pain with conversion, and bring 
forth(z) the perfect spirit of salvation; but nevertheless he 
reserves the dregs,(h) the last drop of His anger, that He may 
pour it out entire upon those who, instead of being healed by His kindness, 
grow obdurate, like the hard-hearted Pharaoh,(q) that bitter 
taskmaster, who is set forth as an example of the power(i) of 
God over the ungodly. 

  5. Tell us whence come such blows and scourges, and what account we can give 
of them. Is it some disordered and irregular motion or some unguided current, 
some unreason of the universe, as though there were no Ruler of the world, 
which is therefore borne along by chance, as is the doctrine of the foolishly 
wise, who are themselves borne along at random by the disorderly spirit of 
darkness? Or are the disturbances and changes of the universe, (which was 
originally constituted, blended, bound together, and set in motion in a 
harmony known only to Him Who gave it motion,) directed by reason and order 
under the guidance of the reins of Providence? Whence come famines and 
tornadoes and hailstorms, our present warning blow? Whence pestilences, 
diseases, earthquakes, tidal waves, and fearful things in the heavens? And how 
is the creation, once ordered for the enjoyment of men, their common and equal 
delight, changed for the punishment of the ungodly, in order that we may be 
chastised through that for which, when honoured with it, we did not give 
thanks, and recognise in 



249 



our sufferings that power which we did not recognise in our benefits? How is 
it that some receive at the Lord's hand double for their 
sins,(a) and the measure of their wickedness is doubly filled 
up, as in the correction of Israel, while the sins of others are done away by 
a sevenfold recompense into their bosom?(b) What is the measure 
of the Amorites that is not yet full?(g) And how is the sinner 
either let go, or chastised again, let go perhaps, because reserved for the 
other world, chastised, because healed thereby in this? Under what 
circumstances again is the righteous, when unfortunate, possibly being put to 
the test, or, when prosperous, being observed, to see if he be poor in mind or 
not very far superior to visible things, as indeed conscience, our interior 
and unerring tribunal, tells us. What is our calamity, and what its cause? Is 
it a test of virtue, or a touchstone of wickedness? And is it better to bow 
beneath it as a chastisement, even though it be not so, and humble ourselves 
under the mighty hand of God,(d) or, considering it as a trial, 
to rise superior to it? On these points give us instruction and warning, lest 
we be too much discouraged by our present calamity, or fall into the gulf of 
evil and despise it; for some such feeling is very general; but rather that we 
may bear our admonition quietly, and not provoke one more severe by our 
insensibility to this. 

  6. Terrible is an unfruitful season, and the loss of the crops. It could not 
be otherwise, when men are already rejoicing in their hopes, and counting on 
their all but harvested stores. Terrible again is an unseasonable harvest, 
when the farmers labour with heavy hearts, sitting as it were beside the grave 
of their crops, which the gentle rain nourished, but the wild storm has rooted 
up, whereof the mower filleth not his hand, neither he that bindeth up the 
sheaves his bosom,(e) nor have they obtained the blessing which 
passers-by bestow upon the farmers. Wretched indeed is the sight of the ground 
devastated, cleared, and shorn of its ornaments, over which the blessed Joel 
wails in his most tragic picture of the desolation of the land, and the 
scourge of famine;(z) while another(h) prophet 
wails, as he contrasts with its former beauty its final disorder, and thus 
discourses on the anger of the Lord when He smites the land: before him is the 
garden of Eden, behind Him a desolate wilderness.(a) Terrible 
indeed these things are, and more than terrible, when we are grieved only at 
what is present, and are not yet distressed by the feeling of a severer blow: 
since, as in sickness, the suffering which pains us from time to time is more 
distressing than that which is not present. But more terrible still are those 
which the treasures(b) of God's wrath contain, of which God 
forbid that you should make trial; nor will you, if you fly for refuge to the 
mercies of God, and win over by your tears Him Who will have 
mercy,(g) and avert by your conversion what remains of His 
wrath. As yet, this is gentleness and loving-kindness and gentle reproof, and 
the first elements of a scourge to train our tender years: as yet, the 
smoke(d) of His anger, the prelude of His torments; not yet has 
fallen the flaming fire,(e) the climax of His being moved; not 
yet the kindled coals,(z) the final scourge, part of which He 
threatened, when He lifted up the other over us, part He held back by force, 
when He brought the other upon us; using the threat and the blow alike for our 
instruction, and making a way for His indignation, in the excess of His 
goodness; beginning with what is slight, so that the more severe may not be 
needed; but ready to instruct us by what is greater, if He be forced so to do. 

  7. I know the glittering sword,(h) and the blade made drunk 
in heaven, bidden to slay, to bring to naught, to make childless, and to spare 
neither flesh, nor marrow, nor bones. I know Him, Who, though free from 
passion, meets us like a bear robbed of her whelps, like a leopard in the way 
of the Assyrians,(q) not only those of that day, but if anyone 
now is an Assyrian in wickedness: nor is it possible to escape the might and 
speed of His wrath when He watches over our impieties, and His 
jealousy,(i) which knoweth to devour His adversaries, pursues 
His enemies to the death.(k) I know the emptying, the making 
void, the making waste, the melting of the heart, and knocking of the knees 
together,(l) such are the punishments of the ungodly. I do not 
dwell on the judgments to come, to which indulgence in this world delivers us, 
as it is better to be punished and cleansed now than to be transmitted to the 
torment to come, when it is the time of chastisement, not of cleansing. For as 
he who remembers God here is conqueror of death (as David(m) 
has most excellently 



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sung) so the departed have not in the grave confession and restoration; for 
God has confined life and action to this world, and to the future the scrutiny 
of what has been done. 

  8. What shall we do in the day of visitation,(a) with which 
one of the Prophets terrifies me, whether that of the righteous sentence of 
God against us, or that upon the mountains and hills, of which we have heard, 
or whatever and whenever it may be, when He will reason with us, and oppose 
us, and set before us(b) those bitter accusers, our sins, 
comparing our wrongdoings with our benefits, and striking thought with 
thought, and scrutinising action with action, and calling us to account for 
the image(g) which has been blurred and spoilt by wickedness, 
till at last He leads us away self-convicted and self-condemned, no longer 
able to say that we are being unjustly treated--a thought which is able even 
here sometimes to console in their condemnation those who are suffering. 

  9. But then what advocate shall we have? What pretext? What false excuse? 
What plausible artifice? What device contrary to the truth will impose upon 
the court, and rob it of its right judgment, which places in the balance for 
us all, our entire life, action, word, and thought, and weighs against the 
evil that which is better, until that which preponderates wins the day, and 
the decision is given in favour of the main tendency; after which there is no 
appeal, no higher court, no defence on the ground of subsequent conduct, no 
oil obtained from the wise virgins, or from them that sell, for the lamps 
going out,(d) no repentance of the rich man wasting away in the 
flame,(e) and begging for repentance for his friends, no 
statute of limitations; but only that final and fearful judgment-seat, more 
just even than fearful; or rather more fearful because it is also just; when 
the thrones are set and the Ancient of days takes His seat,(z) 
and the books are opened, and the fiery stream comes forth, and the light 
before Him, and the darkness prepared; and they that have done good shall go 
into the resurrection of life,(h) now hid in 
Christ(q) and to be manifested hereafter with Him, and they 
that have done evil, into the resurrection of judgment,(i) to 
which they who have not believed have been condemned already by the word which 
judges them.(k) Some will be welcomed by the unspeakable light 
and the vision of the holy and royal Trinity, Which now shines upon them with 
greater brilliancy and purity and unites Itself wholly to the whole soul, in 
which solely and beyond all else I take it that the kingdom of heaven 
consists. The others among other torments, but above and before them all must 
endure the being outcast from God, and the shame of conscience which has no 
limit. But of these anon. 

  10. What are we to do now, my brethren, when crushed, cast down, and drunken 
but not with strong drink nor with wine,(a) which excites and 
obfuscates but for a while, but with the blow which the Lord has inflicted 
upon us, Who says, And thou, O heart, be stirred and shaken,(b) 
and gives to the despisers the spirit of sorrow and deep sleep to 
drink:(g) to whom He also says, See, ye despisers, behold, and 
wonder and perish?(d) How shall we bear His convictions; or 
what reply shall we make, when He reproaches us not only with the multitude of 
the benefits for which we have continued ungrateful, but also with His 
chastisements, and reckons up the remedies with which we have refused to be 
healed? Calling us His children(e) indeed, but unworthy 
children, and His sons, but strange sons(z) who have stumbled 
from lameness out of their paths, in the trackless and rough ground. How and 
by what means could I have instructed you, and I have not done so? By gentler 
measures? I have applied them. I passed by the blood drunk in Egypt from the 
wells and rivers and all reservoirs of water(h) in the first 
plague: I passed over the next scourges, the frogs, lice, and flies. I began 
with the flocks and the cattle and the sheep, the fifth plague, and, sparing 
as yet the rational creatures, I struck the animals. You made light of the 
stroke, and treated me with less reason and attention than the beasts who were 
struck. I withheld from you the rain; one piece was rained upon, and the piece 
whereupon it rained not withered,(q) and ye said "We will brave 
it." I brought the hail upon you, chastising you with the opposite kind of 
blow, I uprooted your vineyards and shrubberies, and crops, but I failed to 
shatter your wickedness. 

  11. Perchance He will say to me, who am not reformed even by blows, I know 
that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew,(k) the 
heedless is heedless and the lawless man acts lawlessly,(l) 
naught is the heavenly correction, naught the scourges. The bellows are 



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burnt, the lead is consumed,(a) as I once reproached you by the 
mouth of Jeremiah, the founder melted the silver in vain, your wickednesses 
are not melted away. Can ye abide my wrath, saith the Lord. Has not My hand 
the power to inflict upon you other plagues also? There are still at My 
command the blains breaking forth from the ashes of the 
furnace,(b) by sprinkling which toward heaven, Moses, or any 
other minister of God's action, may chastise Egypt with disease. There remain 
also the locusts, the darkness that may be felt, and the plague which, last in 
order, was first in suffering and power, the destruction and death of the 
firstborn, and, to escape this, and to turn aside the destroyer, it were 
better to sprinkle the doorposts of our mind, contemplation and action, with 
the great and saving token, with the blood of the new covenant, by being 
crucified and dying with Christ, that we may both rise and be glorified and 
reign with Him both now and at His final appearing, and not be broken and 
crushed, and made to lament, when the grievous destroyer smites us all too 
late in this life of darkness, and destroys our firstborn, the offspring and 
results of our life which we had dedicated to God. 

  12. Far be it from me that I should ever, among other chastisements, be thus 
reproached by Him Who is good, but walks contrary to me in 
fury(g) because of my own contrariness: I have smitten you with 
blasting and mildew, and blight;(d) without result. The sword 
from without(e) made you childless, yet have ye not returned 
unto Me, saith the Lord. May I not become the vine of the beloved, which after 
being planted and entrenched, and made sure with a fence and tower and every 
means which was possible, when it ran wild and bore thorns, was consequently 
despised, and had its tower broken down and its fence taken away, and was not 
pruned nor digged, but was devoured and laid waste and trodden down by 
all!(z) This is what I feel I must say as to my fears, thus 
have I been pained by this blow, and this, I will further tell you, is my 
prayer. We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt 
wickedly,(h) for we have forgotten Thy commandments and walked 
after our own evil thought,(q) for we have behaved ourselves 
un-worthily of the calling and gospel of Thy Christ, and of His holy 
sufferings and humiliation for us; we have become a reproach to Thy beloved, 
priest and people, we have erred together, we have all gone out of the way, we 
have together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth judgment and 
justice, no not one.(a) We have cut short Thy mercies and 
kindness and the bowels and compassion of our God, by our wickedness and the 
perversity of our doings, in which we have turned away. Thou art good, but we 
have done amiss; Thou art long-suffering, but we are worthy of stripes; we 
acknowledge Thy goodness, though we are without understanding, we have been 
scourged for but few of our faults; Thou art terrible, and who will resist 
Thee?(b) the mountains will tremble before Thee; and who will 
strive against the might of Thine arm? If Thou shut the heaven, who will open 
it? And if Thou let loose Thy torrents, who will restrain them? It is a light 
thing in Thine eyes to make poor and to make rich, to make alive and to kill, 
to strike and to heal, and Thy will is perfect action. Thou art angry, and we 
have sinned,(g) says one of old, making confession; and it is 
now time for me to say the opposite, "We have sinned, and Thou art angry:" 
therefore have we become a reproach to our neighbours.(d) Thou 
didst turn Thy face from us, and we were filled with dishonour. But stay, 
Lord, cease, Lord, forgive, Lord, deliver us not up for ever because of our 
iniquities, and let not our chastisements be a warning for others, when we 
might learn wisdom from the trials of others. Of whom? Of the nations which 
know Thee not, and kingdoms which have not been subject to Thy power. But we 
are Thy people,(e) O Lord, the rod of Thine inheritance; 
therefore correct us, but in goodness and not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring 
us to nothingness(z) and contempt among all that dwell on the 
earth. 

  13. With these words I invoke mercy: and if it were possible to propitiate 
His wrath with whole burnt offerings or sacrifices, I would not even have 
spared these. Do you also yourselves imitate your trembling priest, you, my 
beloved children, sharers with me alike of the Divine correction and 
loving-kindness. Possess your souls in tears, and stay His wrath by amending 
your way of life. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly,(h) 
as blessed Joel with us charges you: gather the elders, and the babes that 
suck the breasts, whose tender age wins our pity, and is specially worthy of 
the loving-kindness of God. I know also what he enjoins both upon me, the 



252 



minister of God, and upon you, who have been thought worthy of the same 
honour, that we should enter His house in sackcloth and lament night and day 
between the porch and the altar, in piteous array, and with more piteous 
voices, crying aloud without ceasing on behalf of ourselves and the people, 
sparing nothing, either toil or word, which may propitiate God: saying "Spare, 
O Lord, Thy people, and give not Thine heritage to 
reproach,"(a) and the rest of the prayer; surpassing the people 
in our sense of the affliction as much as in our rank, instructing them in our 
own persons in compunction and correction of wickedness, and in the consequent 
long-suffering of God, and cessation of the scourge. 

  14. Come then, all of you, my brethren, let us worship and fall down, and 
weep before the Lord our Maker;(b) let us appoint a public 
mourning, in our various ages and families, let us raise the voice of 
supplication; and let this, instead of the cry which He hates, enter into the 
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Let us anticipate His anger by 
confession;(g) let us desire to see Him appeased, after He was 
wroth. Who knoweth, he says, if He will turn and repent, and leave a blessing 
behind Him?(d) This I know certainly, I the sponsor of the 
loving-kindness of God. And when He has laid aside that which is unnatural to 
Him, His anger, He will betake Himself to that which is natural, His mercy. To 
the one He is forced by us, to the other He is inclined. And if He is forced 
to strike, surely He will refrain, according to His Nature. Only let us have 
mercy on ourselves, and open a road for our Father's righteous affections. Let 
us sow in tears, that we may reap in joy,(e) let us show 
ourselves men of Nineveh, not of Sodom.(z) Let us amend our 
wickedness, lest we be consumed with it; let us listen to the preaching of 
Jonah, lest we be overwhelmed by fire and brimstone, and if we have departed 
from Sodom let us escape to the mountain, let us flee to Zoar, let us enter it 
as the sun rises; let us not stay in all the plain, let us not look around us, 
lest we be frozen into a pillar of salt, a really immortal pillar, to accuse 
the soul which returns to wickedness. 

  15. Let us be assured that to do no wrong(h) is really 
superhuman, and belongs to God alone. I say nothing about the Angels, that we 
may give no room for wrong feelings, nor opportunity for harmful altercations. 
Our unhealed condition arises from our evil and unsubdued nature, and from the 
exercise of its powers. Our repentance when we sin, is a human action, but an 
action which bespeaks a good man, belonging to that portion which is in the 
way of salvation. For if even our dust contracts somewhat of wickedness, and 
the earthly tabernacle presseth down the upward flight of the 
soul,(a) which at least was created to fly upward, yet let the 
image be Cleansed from filth, and raise aloft the flesh, its yoke-fellow, 
lifting it on the wings of reason; and, what is better, let us neither need 
this cleansing, nor have to be cleansed, by preserving our original dignity, 
to which we are hastening through our training here, and let us not by the 
bitter taste of sin be banished from the tree of life: though it is better to 
turn again when we err, than to be free from correction when we stumble. For 
whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,(b) and a rebuke is a 
fatherly action; while every soul which is un-chastised, is unhealed. Is not 
then freedom from chastisement a hard thing? But to fail to be corrected by 
the chastisement is still harder. One of the prophets, speaking of Israel, 
whose heart was hard and uncircumcised, says, Lord, Thou hast stricken them, 
but they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them but they have refused to 
receive correction;(g) and again, The people turned not to Him 
that smiteth them;(d) and Why is my people slid-den back by a 
perpetual backsliding,(e) because of which it will be utterly 
crushed and destroyed? 

  16. It is a fearful thing, my brethren, to fall into the hands of a living 
God,(z) and fearful is the face of the Lord against them that 
do evil,(h) and abolishing wickedness with utter destruction. 
Fearful is the ear of God, listening even to the voice of Abel speaking 
through his silent blood. Fearful His feet, which overtake evildoing. Fearful 
also His filling of the universe, so that it is impossible anywhere to escape 
the action of God,(q) not even by flying up to heaven, or 
entering Hades, or by escaping to the far East, or concealing ourselves in the 
depths and ends of the sea.(i) Nahum the Elkoshite was afraid 
before me, when he proclaimed the burden of Nineveh, God is jealous, and the 
Lord takes vengeance in wrath upon His adversaries,(k) and uses 
such abundance of severity that no room is left for further vengeance upon the 
wicked. For whenever I hear Isaiah threaten the people of Sodom and rulers of 
Gomorrah,(l) and say Why will 



253 



ye be smitten any more, adding sin to sin?(a) I am almost 
filled with horror, and melted to tears. It is impossible, he says, to find 
any blow to add to those which are past, because of your newly added sins; so 
completely have you run through the whole, and exhausted every form of 
chastisement, ever calling upon yourselves some new one by your wickedness. 
There is not a wound, nor bruise, nor putrefying sore;(b) the 
plague affects the whole body and is incurable: for it is impossible to apply 
a plaster, or ointment or bandages. I pass over the rest of the threatenings, 
that I may not press upon you more heavily than your present plague. 

  17. Only let us recognise the purpose of the evil. Why have the crops 
withered, our storehouses been emptied, the pastures of our flocks failed, the 
fruits of the earth been withheld, and the plains been filled with shame 
instead of with fatness: why have valleys lamented and not abounded in corn, 
the mountains not dropped sweetness, as they shall do hereafter to the 
righteous, but been stript and dishonoured, and received on the contrary the 
curse of Gilboa?(g) The whole earth has become as it was in the 
beginning, before it was adorned with its beauties. Thou visitedst the earth, 
and madest it to drink(d)--but the visitation has been for 
evil, and the draught destructive. Alas! what a spectacle! Our prolific crops 
reduced to stubble, the seed we sowed is recognised by scanty remains, and our 
harvest, the approach of which we reckon from the number of the months, 
instead of from the ripening corn, scarcely bears the firstfruits for the 
Lord. Such is the wealth of the ungodly, such the harvest of the careless 
sower; as the ancient curse runs, to look for much, and bring in 
little,(e) to sow and not reap, to plant and not 
press,(z) ten acres of vineyard to yield one 
hath:(h) and to hear of fertile harvests in other lands, and be 
ourselves pressed by famine. Why is this, and what is the cause of the breach? 
Let us not wait to be convicted by others, let us be our own examiners. An 
important medicine for evil is confession, and care to avoid stumbling. I will 
be first to do so, as I have made my report to my people from on high, and 
performed the duty of a watcher.(q) For I did not conceal the 
coming of the sword that I might save my own soul(i) and those 
of my hearers. So will I now announce the disobedience of my people, making 
what is theirs my own, if I may perchance thus obtain some tenderness and 
relief. 

  18. One of us has oppressed the poor, and wrested from him his portion of 
land, and wrongly encroached upon his landmark by fraud or violence, and 
joined house to house, and field to field, to rob his neighbour of something, 
and been eager to have no neighbour, so as to dwell alone on the 
earth.(a) Another has defiled the land with usury and interest, 
both gathering where he had not sowed and reaping where he had not 
strawed,(b) farming, not the land, but the necessity of the 
needy. Another has robbed God,(g) the giver of all, of the 
firstfruits of the barnfloor and winepress, showing himself at once thankless 
and senseless, in neither giving thanks for what he has had, nor prudently 
providing, at least, for the future. Another has had no pity on the widow and 
orphan, and not imparted his bread and meagre nourishment to the needy, or 
rather to Christ, Who is nourished in the persons of those who are nourished 
even in a slight degree; a man perhaps of much property unexpectedly gained, 
for this is the most unjust of all, who finds his many barns too narrow for 
him, filling some and emptying others, to build greater(d) ones 
for future crops, not knowing that he is being snatched away with hopes 
unrealised, to give an account of his riches and fancies, and proved to have 
been a bad steward of another's goods. Another has turned aside the way of the 
meek,(e) and turned aside the just among the unjust; another 
has hated him that reproveth in the gates,(z) and abhorred him 
that speaketh uprightly;(h) another has sacrificed to his net 
which catches much,(q) and keeping the spoil of the poor in his 
house,(i) has either remembered not God, or remembered Him 
ill--by saying "Blessed be the Lord, for we are rich,"(k) and 
wickedly supposed that he received these things from Him by Whom he will be 
punished. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the 
children of disobedience.(l) Because of these things the heaven 
is shut, or opened for our punishment; and much more, if we do not repent, 
even when smitten, and draw near to Him, Who approaches us through the powers 
of nature. 

  19. What shall be said to this by those of us who are buyers and sellers of 
corn, and watch the hardships of the seasons, in order to grow prosperous, and 
luxuriate in the misfor- 



254 



tunes of others, and acquire, not, like Joseph, the property of the 
Egyptians,(a) as a part of a wide policy, (for he could both 
collect and supply corn duly, as he also could foresee the famine, and provide 
against it afar off,) but the property of their fellow countrymen in an 
illegal manner, for they say, "When will the new moon be gone, that we may 
sell, and the sabbaths, that we may open our stores?"(b) And 
they corrupt justice with divers measures and balances,(g) and 
draw upon themselves the ephah of lead.(d) What shall we say to 
these things who know no limit to our getting, who worship gold and silver, as 
those of old worshipped Baal, and Astarte and the abomination 
Chemosh?(e) Who give heed to the brilliance of costly stones, 
and soft flowing garments, the prey of moths, and the plunder of robbers and 
tyrants and thieves; who are proud of their multitude of slaves and animals, 
and spread themselves over plains and mountains, with their possessions and 
gains and schemes, like Solomon's horseleach(z) which cannot be 
satisfied, any more than the grave, and the earth, and fire, and water; who 
seek for another world for their possession, and find fault with the bounds of 
God, as too small for their insatiable cupidity? What of those who sit on 
lofty thrones and raise the stage of government, with a brow loftier than that 
of the theatre, taking no account of the God over all, and the height of the 
true kingdom that none can approach unto, so as to rule their subjects as 
fellow-servants, as needing themselves no less loving-kindness? Look also, I 
pray you, at those who stretch themselves upon beds of ivory, whom the divine 
Amos filly upbraids, who anoint themselves with the chief ointments, and chant 
to the sound of instruments of music, and attach themselves to transitory 
things as though they were stable, but have not grieved nor had compassion for 
the affliction of Joseph;(h) though they ought to have been 
kind to those who had met with disaster before them, and by mercy have 
obtained mercy; as the fir-tree should howl, because the cedar had 
fallen,(q) and be instructed by their neighbours' chastisement, 
and be led by others' ills to regulate their own lives, having the advantage 
of being saved by their predecessors' fate, instead of being themselves a 
warning to others. 

  20. Join with us, thou divine and sacred person, in considering these 
questions, with the store of experience, that source of wisdom, which thou 
hast gathered in thy long life. Herewith instruct thy people. Teach them to 
break their bread to the hungry, to gather together the poor that have no 
shelter, to cover their nakedness and not neglect those of the same 
blood,(a) and now especially that we may gain a benefit from 
our need instead of from abundance, a result which pleases God more than 
plentiful offerings and large gifts. After this, nay before it, show thyself, 
I pray, a Moses,(b) or Phinehas(g) to day. Stand 
on our behalf and make atonement, and let the plague be stayed, either by the 
spiritual sacrifice,(d) or by prayer and reasonable 
intercession.(e) Restrain the anger of the Lord by thy 
mediation: avert any succeeding blows of the scourge. He knoweth to respect 
the hoar hairs of a father interceding for his children. Intreat for our past 
wickedness: be our surety for the future. Present a people purified by 
suffering and fear. Beg for bodily sustenance, but beg rather for the angels' 
food that cometh down from heaven. So doing, thou wilt make God to be our God, 
wilt conciliate heaven, wilt restore the former and latter 
rain:(z) the Lord shall show loving-kindness(h) 
and our land shall yield her fruit;(q) our earthly land its 
fruit which lasts for the day, and our frame, which is but dust, the fruit 
which is eternal, which we shall store up in the heavenly winepresses by thy 
hands, who presentest both us and ours in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be 
glory for evermore. Amen. 

INTRODUCTION TO ORATION XVIII. 



ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 



  THIS Oration was delivered A.D. 374. S. Gregory the eider died early in 
that year, according to the Greek Menaea on the 1st of January, though 
Clemencet and some others place his death a few months later. His wife, S. 
Nonna, survived him, and was present to hear the Oration, as was also S. 
Basil, who desired to honour one who had consecrated him to the Episcopate. 
The aged Saint, who died in his hundredth year, had originally belonged to a 
sect called Hypsistarii. Our knowledge of the existence and tenets of this 
sect is due to this Oration(i) and to a few sentences in that 
of S. Greg. Nyssen. (c. Eunom. I. ed. 1615, p. 12), by whom they are called 
Hypsistians. He was converted by the prayers, influence and example of his 
wife, S. Nonna, 
and, soon after his baptism, consecrated Bishop of Nazianzus. He was eminent 
as an able administrator, a devout Christian, an orthodox teacher, a steadfast 
Confessor of the faith, a sympathetic Pastor, an affectionate father. In his 
life and work he was seconded by his wife, and followed by his three children, 
Gregory, Gorgonia, and Caesarius, whose names are all to be found upon the 
roll of the Saints. 

FUNERAL ORATION ON HIS FATHER, IN THE PRESENCE OF S. BASIL. 



  1. O man of God,(a) and faithful servant,(b) 
and steward of the mysteries of God,(g) and man of 
desires(d) of the Spirit:(e) for thus Scripture 
speaks of men advanced and lofty, superior to visible things. I will call you 
also a God to Pharaoh(z) and all the Egyptian and hostile 
power, and pillar and ground of the Church(h) and will of 
God(q) and light in the world, holding forth the word of 
life,(i) and prop of the faith and resting place of the Spirit. 
But why should I enumerate all the titles which your virtue, in its varied 
forms, has won for and applied to you as your own? 

  2. Tell me, however, whence do you come, what is your business, and what 
favour do you bring us? Since I know that you are entirely moved with and by 
God, and for the benefit of those who receive you. Are you come to inspect us, 
or to seek for the pastor, or to take the oversight of the flock? You find us 
no longer in existence, but for the most part having passed away with him, 
unable to bear with the place of our affliction, especially now that we have 
lost our skilful steersman, our light of life, to whom we looked to direct our 
course as the blazing beacon of salvation above us: he has departed with all 
his excellence, and all the power of pastoral organization, which he had 
gathered in a long time, full of days and wisdom, and crowned, to use the 
words of Solomon, with the hoary head of glory.(k) His flock is 
desolate and downcast, filled, as you see, with despondency and dejection, no 
longer reposing in the green pasture,(l) and reared up by the 
water of comfort, but seeking precipices, deserts and pits, in which it will 
be scattered and perish;(m) in despair of ever obtaining 
another wise pastor, absolutely persuaded that it cannot find such an one as 
he, content if it be one who will not be far inferior. 

  3. There are, as I said, three causes to necessitate your presence, all of 
equal weight, ourselves, the pastor, and the flock: come then, and according 
to the spirit of ministry which is in you, assign to each its due, and guide 
your words in judgment, so that we may more than ever marvel at your wisdom. 
And how will you guide them? First by bestowing seemly praise upon his virtue, 
not only as a pure sepulchral tribute of speech to him who was pure, but also 
to set forth to others his conduct and example as a mark of true piety. Then 
bestow upon us some brief counsels concerning life and death, and the union 
and severance of body and soul, and the two worlds, the one present but 
transitory, the other spiritually perceived and abiding; and persuade us to 
despise that which is deceitful and disordered and uneven, carrying us and 
being carried, like the waves, now up, now down; but to cling to that which is 
firm and stable and divine and constant, free from all disturbance and 
confusion. For this would lessen our pain because of friends departed before 
us, nay we should rejoice if your words should carry us hence and set us on 
high, and hide distress of the present in the future, and persuade us that we 
also are pressing on to a good Master, and that our home is better than our 
pilgrimage; and that translation and removal thither is to us who are 
tempest-tost here like a calm haven to men at sea; or as ease and relief from 
toil come to men who, at the close of a long journey, escape the troubles of 
the wayfarer, so to those who attain to the hostel yonder comes a better and 
more tolerable existence than that of those who still tread the crooked and 
precipitous path of this life. 

  4. Thus might you console us; but what of the flock? Would you first promise 
the oversight and leadership of yourself, a man under whose wings we all would 
gladly repose, and for whose words we thirst more eagerly than men suffering 
from thirst for the purest fountain? Secondly, persuade us that the good 
shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep(a) has not even 
now left us; but is present, and tends and guides, and knows his own, and is 
known of his own, and, though bodily invisible, is spiritually recognized, and 
defends his flock against the wolves, and allows no one to climb over into the 
fold as a robber and traitor; to pervert and steal away, 



256 



by the voice of strangers, souls under the fair guidance of the truth. Aye, I 
am well assured that his intercession is of more avail now than was his 
instruction in former days, since he is closer to God, now that he has shaken 
off his bodily fetters, and freed his mind from the clay which obscured it, 
and holds intercourse naked with the nakedness of the prime and purest Mind; 
being promoted, if it be not rash to say so, to the rank and confidence of an 
angel. This, with your power of speech and spirit, you will set forth and 
discuss better than I can sketch it. But in order that, through ignorance of 
his excellences, your language may not fall very far short of his deserts, I 
will, from my own knowledge of the departed, briefly draw an outline, and 
preliminary plan of an eulogy to be handed to you, the illustrious artist of 
such subjects, for the details of the beauty of his virtue to be filled in and 
transmitted to the ears and minds of all. 

  5. Leaving to the laws of panegyric the description of his country, his 
family, his nobility of figure, his external magnificence, and the other 
subjects of human pride, I begin with what is of most consequence and comes 
closest to ourselves. He sprang from a stock unrenowned, and not well suited 
for piety, for I am not ashamed of his origin, in my confidence in the close 
of his life, one that was not planted in the house of God,(a) 
but far removed and estranged, the combined product of two of the greatest 
opposites--Greek error and legal imposture, some parts of each of which it 
escaped, of others it was compounded. For, on the one side, they reject idols 
and sacrifices, but reverence fire and lights; on the other, they observe the 
Sabbath and petty regulations as to certain meats, but despise circumcision. 
These lowly men call themselves Hypsistarii, and the Almighty is, so they say, 
the only object of their worship. What was the result of this double tendency 
to impiety? I know not whether to praise more highly the grace which called 
him, or his own purpose. However, he so purged the eye of his mind from the 
humours(b) which obscured it, and ran towards the truth with 
such speed that he endured the loss of his mother and his property for a 
while, for the sake of his heavenly Father and the true inheritance: and 
submitted more readily to this dishonour, than others to the greatest honours, 
and, most wonderful as this is, I wonder at it but little. Why? Because this 
glory is common to him with many others, and all must come into the great net 
of God, and be caught by the words of the fishers, although some are earlier, 
some later, enclosed by the Gospel. But what does especially in his life move 
my wonder, it is needful for me to mention. 

  6. Even before he was of our fold, he was ours. His character made him one 
of us. For, as many of our own are not with us, whose life alienates them from 
the common body, so, many of those without are on our side, whose character 
anticipates their faith, and need only the name of that which indeed they 
possess. My father was one of these, an alien shoot, but inclined by his life 
towards us. He was so far advanced in self control, that he became at once 
most beloved and most modest, two qualities difficult to combine. What greater 
and more splendid testimony can there be to his justice than his exercise of a 
position second to none in the state, without enriching himself by a single 
farthing, although he saw everyone else casting the hands of Briareus upon the 
public funds, and swollen with ill-gotten gain? For thus do I term unrighteous 
wealth. Of his prudence this also is no slight proof, but in the course of my 
speech further details will be given. It was as a reward(a) for 
such conduct, I think, that he attained to the faith. How this came about, a 
matter too important to be passed over, I would now set forth. 

  7. I have heard the Scripture say: Who can find a valiant 
woman?(b) and declare that she is a divine gift, and that a 
good marriage is brought about by the Lord. Even those without are of the same 
mind; if they say that a man can win no fairer prize than a good wife, nor a 
worse one than her opposite.(g) But we can mention none who has 
been in this respect more fortunate than he. For I think that, had anyone from 
the ends of the earth and from every race of men attempted to bring about the 
best of marriages, he could not have found a better or more harmonious one 
than this. For the most excellent of men and of women were so united that 
their marriage was a union of virtue rather than of bodies: since, while they 
excelled all others, they could not excel each other, because in virtue they 
were quite equally matched. 

  8. She indeed who was given to Adam as a help meet for him, because it was 
not good for man to be alone,(d) instead of an assistant 



257 



became an enemy, and instead of a yoke-fellow, an opponent, and beguiling the 
man by means of pleasure, estranged him through the tree of knowledge from the 
tree of life. But she who was given by God to my father became not only, as is 
less wonderful, his assistant, but even his leader, drawing him on by her 
influence in deed and word to the highest excellence; judging it best in all 
other respects to be overruled by her husband according to the law of 
marriage, but not being ashamed, in regard of piety, even to offer herself as 
his teacher. Admirable indeed as was this conduct of hers, it was still more 
admirable that he should readily acquiesce in it. She is a woman who while 
others have been honoured and extolled for natural and artificial beauty, has 
acknowledged but one kind of beauty, that of the soul, and the preservation, 
or the restoration as far as possible, of the Divine image. Pigments and 
devices for adornment she has rejected as worthy of women on the stage. The 
only genuine form of noble birth she recognized is piety, and the knowledge of 
whence we are sprung and whither we are tending. The only safe and inviolable 
form of wealth is, she considered, to strip oneself of wealth for God and the 
poor, and especially for those of our own kin who are unfortunate; and such 
help only as is necessary, she held to be rather a reminder, than a relief of 
their distress, while a more liberal beneficence brings stable honour and most 
perfect consolation. Some women have excelled in thrifty management, others in 
piety, while she, difficult as it is to unite the two virtues, has surpassed 
all in both of them, both by her eminence in each, and by the fact that she 
alone has combined them together. To as great a degree has she, by her care 
and skill, secured the prosperity of her household, according to the 
injunctions and laws of Solomon as to the valiant woman, as if she had had no 
knowledge of piety; and she applied herself to God and Divine things as 
closely as if absolutely released from household cares, allowing neither 
branch of her duty to interfere with the other, but rather making each of them 
support the other. 

  9. What time or place for prayer ever escaped her? To this she was drawn 
before all other things in the day; or rather, who had such hope of receiving 
an immediate answer to her requests? Who paid such reverence to the hand and 
countenance of the priests? Or honoured all kinds of philosophy? Who reduced 
the flesh by more constant fast and vigil? Or stood like a pillar at the night 
long and daily psalmody? Who had a greater love for virginity, though patient 
of the marriage bond herself? Who was a better patron of the orphan and the 
widow? Who aided as much in the alleviation of the misfortunes of the mourner? 
These things, small as they are, and perhaps contemptible in the eyes of some, 
because not easily attainable by most people (for that which is unattainable 
comes, through envy, to be thought not even credible), are in my eyes most 
honourable, since they were the discoveries of her faith and the undertakings 
of her spiritual fervour. So also in the holy assemblies, or places, her voice 
was never to be heard except(a) in the necessary responses of 
the service. 

  10. And if it was a great thing for the altar never to have had an iron tool 
lifted upon it,(b) and that no chisel should be seen or heard, 
with greater reason, since everything dedicated to God ought to be natural and 
free from artificiality, it was also surely a great thing that she reverenced 
the sanctuary by her silence; that she never turned her back to the venerable 
table, nor spat upon the divine pavement; that she never grasped the hand or 
kissed the lips of any heathen woman, however honourable in other respects, or 
closely related she might be; nor would she ever share the salt, I say not 
willingly but even under compulsion, of those who came from the profane and 
unholy table; nor could she bear, against the law of conscience, to pass by or 
look upon a polluted house; nor to have her ears or tongue, which had received 
and uttered divine things, defiled by Grecian tales or theatrical songs, on 
the ground that what is unholy is unbecoming to holy things; and what is still 
more wonderful, she never so far yielded to the external signs of grief, 
although greatly moved even by the misfortunes of strangers, as to allow a 
sound of woe to burst forth before the Eucharist, or a tear to fall from the 
eye mystically sealed, or any trace of mourning to be left on the occasion of 
a festival, however frequent her own sorrows might be; inasmuch as the 
God-loving soul should subject every human experience to the things of God. 

  11. I pass by in silence what is still more ineffable, of which God is 
witness, and those of the faithful handmaidens to whom she has confided such 
things. That which concerns myself is perhaps undeserving of mention, since I 
have proved unworthy of the hope 



258 



cherished in regard to me: yet it was on her part a great undertaking to 
promise me to God before my birth, with no fear of the future, and to dedicate 
me immediately after I was born. Through God's goodness has it been that she 
has not utterly failed in her prayer, and that the auspicious sacrifice was 
not rejected. Some of these things were already in existence, others were in 
the future, growing up by means of gradual additions. And as the sun which 
most pleasantly casts its morning rays, becomes at midday hotter and more 
brilliant, so also did she, who from the first gave no slight evidence of 
piety, shine forth at last with fuller light. Then indeed he, who had 
established her in his house, had at home no slight spur to piety, possessed, 
by her origin and descent, of the love of God and Christ, and having received 
virtue as her patrimony; not, as he had been, cut out of the wild olive and 
grafted into the good olive, yet unable to bear, in the excess of her faith, 
to be unequally yoked; for, though surpassing all others in endurance and 
fortitude, she could not brook this, the being but half united to God, because 
of the estrangement of him who was a part of herself, and the failure to add 
to the bodily union, a close connexion in the spirit: on this account, she 
fell before God night and day, entreating for the salvation of her head with 
many fastings and tears, and assiduously devoting herself to her husband, and 
influencing him in many ways, by means of reproaches, admonitions, attentions, 
estrangements, and above all by her own character with its fervour for piety, 
by which the soul is specially prevailed upon and softened, and willingly 
submits to virtuous pressure. The drop(a) of water constantly 
striking the rock was destined to hollow it, and at length attain its longing, 
as the sequel shows. 

  12. These were the objects of her prayers and hopes, in the fervour of faith 
rather than of youth. Indeed, none was as confident of things present as she 
of things hoped for, from her experience of the generosity of God. For the 
salvation of my father there was a concurrence of the gradual 
conviction(b) of his reason, and the vision of dreams which God 
often bestows upon a soul worthy of salvation. What was the vision? This is to 
me the most pleasing part of the story. He thought that he was singing, as he 
had never done before, though his wife was frequent in her supplications and 
prayers, this verse from the psalms of holy David: I was glad when they said 
unto me, we will go into the house of the Lord.(a) The psalm 
was a strange one to him, and along with its words the desire came to him. As 
soon as she heard it, having thus obtained her prayer, she seized the 
opportunity, replying that the vision would bring the greatest pleasure, if 
accompanied by its fulfilment, and, manifesting by her joy the greatness of 
the benefit, she urged forward his salvation, before anything could intervene 
to hinder the call, and dissipate the object of her longing. At that very time 
it happened that a number of Bishops were hastening to Nicaea, to oppose the 
madness of Arius, since the wickedness of dividing the Godhead had just 
arisen; so my father yielded himself to God and to the heralds of the truth, 
and confessed his desire, and requested from them the common salvation, one of 
them being the celebrated Leontius, at that time our own metropolitan. It 
would be a great wrong to grace, were I to pass by in silence the wonder which 
then was bestowed upon him by grace. The witnesses of the 
wonder(b) are not few. The teachers of accuracy were 
spiritually at fault, and the grace was a forecast of the future, and the 
formula of the priesthood was mingled with the admission of the catechumen. O 
involuntary initiation! bending his knee, he received the form of admission to 
the state of a catechumen in such wise, that many, not only of the highest, 
but even of the lowest, intellect, prophesied the future, being assured by no 
indistinct signs of what was to be. 

  13. After a short interval, wonder succeeded wonder. I will commend the 
account of it to the ears of the faithful, for to profane minds nothing that 
is good is trustworthy. He was approaching that regeneration by water and the 
Spirit, by which we confess to God the formation and completion of the 
Christlike man, and the transformation and reformation from the earthy to the 
Spirit. He was approaching the layer with warm desire and bright hope, after 
all the purgation possible, and a far greater purification of sold and body 
than that of the men who were to receive the tables from Moses. Their 
purification extended only to their dress, and a slight restriction of the 
belly, and a temporary continence.(g) The whole of his past 
life had been a preparation for the enlightenment, and 



259 



a preliminary purification making sure the gift, in order that perfection 
might be entrusted to purity, and that the blessing might incur no risk in a 
soul which was confident in its possession of the grace. And as he was 
ascending out of the water, there flashed around him a light and a glory 
worthy of the disposition with which he approached the girt of 
faith;(a) this was manifest even to some others, who for the 
time concealed the wonder, from fear of speaking of a sight which each one 
thought had been only his own, but shortly afterwards communicated it to one 
another. To the baptiser(b) and initiator, however, it was so 
clear and visible, that he could not even hold back the mystery, but publicly 
cried out that he was anointing with the Spirit his own successor. 

  14. Nor indeed would anyone disbelieve this who has heard and knows that 
Moses, when little in the eyes of men, and not yet of any account, was called 
from the bush which burned but was not consumed, or rather by Him who appeared 
in the bush,(g) and was encouraged by that first wonder: Moses, 
I say, for whom the sea was divided,(d) and manna rained 
down,(e) and the rock poured out a fountain,(z) 
and the pillar of fire and cloud led the way in turn. and the stretching out 
of his hands gained a victory, and the representation of the cross overcame 
tens of thousands. Isaiah, again, who beheld the glory of the 
Seraphim,(h) and after him Jeremiah, who was entrusted with 
great power against nations and kings;(q) the one heard the 
divine voice and was cleansed by a live coal for his prophetic office, and the 
other was known before his formation and sanctified before his birth. Paul, 
also, while yet a persecutor, who became the great herald of the truth and 
teacher of the Gentiles in faith,(i) was surrounded by a 
light(k) and acknowledged Him whom he was persecuting, and was 
entrusted with his great ministry, and filled every ear and mind with the 
gospel. 

  15. Why need I count up all those who have been called to Himself by God and 
associated with such wonders as confirmed him in his piety? Nor was it the 
case that after such and so incredible and startling beginnings, any of the 
former things was put to shame by his subsequent conduct, as happens with 
those who very soon acquire a distaste for what is good, and so neglect all 
further progress, if they do not utterly relapse into vice. This cannot be 
said of him, for he was most consistent with himself and his early days, and 
kept in harmony his life before the priesthood with its excellence, and his 
life after it with what had gone before, since it would have been unbecoming 
to begin in one way and end in another, or to advance to a different end from 
that which he had in view at first. He was next entrusted with the priesthood, 
not with the facility and disorder of the present day, but after a brief 
interval, in order to add to his own cleansing the skill and power to cleanse 
others; for this is the law of spiritual sequence. And when he had been 
entrusted with it, the grace was the more glorified, being really the grace of 
God, and not of men, and not, as the preacher(a) says, an 
independent impulse and purpose(b) of spirit. 

  16. He received a woodland and rustic church, the pastoral care and 
oversight of which had not been bestowed from a distance, but it had been 
cared for by one of his predecessors of admirable and angelic disposition, and 
a more simple man than our present rulers of the people; but, after he had 
been speedily taken to God, it had, in consequence of the loss of its leader, 
for the most part grown careless and run wild; accordingly, he at first strove 
without harshness to soften the habits of the people, both by words of 
pastoral knowledge, and by setting himself before them as an example, like a 
spiritual statue, polished into the beauty of all excellent conduct. He next, 
by constant meditation on the divine words, though a late student of such 
matters, gathered together so much wisdom within a short time that he was in 
no wise excelled by those who had spent the greatest toil upon them, and 
received this special grace from God, that he became the father and teacher of 
orthodoxy--not, like our modern wise men, yielding to the spirit of the age, 
nor defending our faith by indefinite and sophistical language, as if they bad 
no fixity of faith, or were adulterating the truth; but, he was more pious 
than those who possessed rhetorical power, more skilled in rhetoric than those 
who were upright in mind; or rather, while he took the second place as an 
orator, he surpassed all in piety. He acknowledged One God worshipped in 
Trinity, and Three, Who are united in One Godhead; neither 
Sabellianising(g) as to the 



260 



One, nor Arianising as to the Three; either by contracting and so 
atheistically annihilating the Godhead, or by tearing It asunder by 
distinctions of unequal greatness or nature. For, seeing that Its every 
quality is incomprehensible and beyond the power of our intellect, how can we 
either perceive or express by definition on such a subject, that which is 
beyond our ken? How can the immeasurable be measured, and the Godhead be 
reduced to the condition of finite things, and measured by 
degrees(a) of greater or less? 

  17. What else must we say of this great man of God, the true Divine, under 
the influence, in regard to these subjects, of the Holy Ghost, but that 
through his perception of these points, he, like the great Noah, the father of 
this second world, made this church to be called the new Jerusalem, and a 
second ark borne up upon the waters; since it both surmounted the deluge of 
souls, and the insults of the heretics, and excelled all others in reputation 
rio less than it fell behind them in numbers; and has had the same fortune as 
the sacred Bethlehem, which can without contradiction be at once said to be a 
little city and the metropolis of the world, since it is the nurse and mother 
of Christ, Who both made and overcame the world. 

  18. To give a proof of what I say. When a tumult of the over-zealous part of 
the Church was raised against us, and we had been decoyed by a 
document(b) and artful terms into association with evil, he 
alone was believed to have an unwounded mind, and a soul unstained by ink, 
even when he had been imposed upon in his simplicity, and failed from his 
guilelessness of soul to be on his guard against guile. He it was alone, or 
rather first of all, who by his zeal for piety reconciled to himself and the 
rest of the church the faction opposed to us, which was the last to leave us, 
the first to return, owing to both their reverence for the man and the purity 
of his doctrine, so that the serious storm in the churches was allayed, and 
the hurricane reduced to a breeze under the influence of his prayers and 
admonitions; while, if I may make a boastful remark, I was his 
partner(g) in piety and activity, aiding him in every effort on 
behalf of what is good, accompanying and running beside him, and being 
permitted on this occasion to contribute a very great share of the toil. Here 
my account of these matters, which is a little premature, must come to an end. 

  19. Who could enumerate the full tale of his excellences, or, if he wished 
to pass by most of them, discover without difficulty what can be omitted? For 
each trait, as it occurs to the mind, seems superior to what has gone before; 
it takes possession of me, and I feel more at a loss to know what I ought to 
pass by, than other panegyrists are as to what they ought to say. So that the 
abundance of material is to some extent a hindrance to me, and my mind is 
itself put to the test in its efforts to test his qualities, and its 
inability, where all are equal, to find one which surpasses the rest. So that, 
just as when we see a pebble failing into still water, it becomes the centre 
and starting-point of circle after circle, each by its continuous agitation 
breaking up that which lies outside of it; this is exactly the case with 
myself. For as soon as one thing enters my mind, another follows and displaces 
it; and I am wearied out in making a choice, as what I have already grasped is 
ever retiring in favour of that which follows in its train. 

  20. Who was more anxious than he for the common weal? Who more wise in 
domestic affairs, since God, who orders all things in due variation, assigned 
to him a house and suitable fortune? Who was more sympathetic in mind, more 
bounteous in hand, towards the poor, that most dishonoured portion of the 
nature to which equal honour is due? For he actually treated his own property 
as if it were another's, of which he was but the steward, relieving poverty as 
far as he could, and expending not only his superfluities but his 
necessities--a manifest proof of love for the poor, giving a portion, not only 
to seven, according to the injunction of Solomon,(a) but if an 
eighth came forward, not even in his case being niggardly, but more pleased to 
dispose of his wealth than we know others are to acquire it; taking away the 
yoke and election (which means, as I think, all meanness in testing as to 
whether the recipient is worthy or not) and word of 
murmuring(b) in benevolence. This is what most men do: they 
give indeed, but without that readiness, which is a greater and more perfect 
thing than the mere offering. For he thought it much better(g) 
to be generous even to the undeserving for the sake of the deserving, than 
from fear of the undeserving 



261 



to deprive those who were deserving. And this seems to be the duty of casting 
our bread upon the waters,(a) since it will not be swept away 
or perish in the eyes of the just Investigator, but will arrive yonder where 
all that is ours is laid up, and will meet with us in due time, even though we 
think it not. 

  21. But what is best and greatest of all, his magnanimity was accompanied by 
freedom from ambition. Its extent and character I will proceed to show. In 
considering their wealth to be common to all, and in liberality in bestowing 
it, he and his consort rivalled each other in their struggles after 
excellence; but he intrusted the greater part of this bounty to her hand, as 
being a most excellent and trusty steward of such matters. What a woman she 
is? Not even the Atlantic Ocean, or if there be a greater one, could meet her 
drafts upon it. So great and so boundless is her love of liberality. In the 
contrary sense she has rivalled the horse-leech(b) of Solomon, 
by her insatiable longing for progress, overcoming the tendency to 
backsliding, and unable to satisfy her zeal for benevolence. She not only 
considered all the property which they originally possessed, and what accrued 
to them later, as unable to suffice her own longing, but she would, as I have 
often heard her say, have gladly sold herself and her children into slavery, 
had there been any means of doing so, to expend the proceeds upon the poor. 
Thus entirely did she give the rein to her generosity. This is, I imagine, far 
more convincing than any instance of it could be. Magnanimity in regard to 
money may be found without difficulty in the case of others, whether it be 
dissipated in the public rivalries of the state, or lent to God through the 
poor, the only mode of treasuring it up for those who spend it: but it is not 
easy to discover a man who has renounced the consequent reputation. For it is 
desire for reputation which supplies to most men their readiness to spend. And 
where the bounty must be secret, there the disposition to it is less keen. 

  22. So bounteous was his hand--further details I leave to those who knew 
him, so that if anything of the kind is borne witness to in regard to myself, 
it proceeds from that fountain, and is a portion of that stream. Who was more 
trader the Divine guidance in admitting men to the 
sanctuary,(g) or in resenting dishonour done to it, or in 
cleansing the holy table with awe from the unholy? Who with such unbiassed 
judgment, and with the scales of justice, either decided a suit, or hated 
vice, or honoured virtue, or promoted the most excellent? Who was so 
compassionate for the sinner, or sympathetic towards those who were running 
well? Who better knew the right time for using the rod and the 
staff,(a) yet relied most upon the staff? Whose eyes were more 
upon the faithful in the land,(b) especially upon those who, in 
the monastic and unwedded life, have despised the earth and the things of 
earth? 

  23. Who did more to rebuke pride and foster lowliness? And that in no 
assumed or external way, as most of those who now make profession of virtue, 
and are in appearance as elegant as the most mindless women, who, for lack of 
beauty of their own, take refuge in pigments, and are, if I may say so, 
splendidly made up, uncomely in their comeliness, and more ugly than they 
originally were. For his lowliness was no matter of dress, but of spiritual 
disposition: nor was it expressed by a bent neck, or lowered voice, or 
downcast look, or length of beard, or close-shaven head, or measured gait, 
which can be adopted for a while, but are very quickly exposed, for nothing 
which is affected can be permanent. No! he was ever most lofty in life, most 
lowly in mind; inaccessible in virtue, most accessible in intercourse. His 
dress had in it nothing remarkable, avoiding equally magnificence and 
sordidness, while his internal brilliancy was supereminent. The disease and 
insatiability of the belly, he, if anyone, held in check, but without 
ostentation; so that he might be kept down without being puffed up, from 
having encouraged a new vice by his pursuit of reputation. For he held that 
doing and saying everything by which fame among externs might be won, is the 
characteristic of the politician, whose chief happiness is found in the 
present life: but that the spiritual and Christian man should look to one 
object alone, his salvation, and think much of what may contribute to this, 
but detest as of no value what does not; and accordingly despise what is 
visible, but be occupied with interior perfection alone, and estimate most 
highly whatever promotes his own improvement, and attracts others through 
himself to that which is supremely good. 

  24. But what was most excellent and most characteristic, though least 
generally recognized, was his simplicity, and freedom from guile and 
resentment. For among men of ancient and modern days, each is supposed to have 
had some special success, as 

to have received from God some particular virtue: Job unconquered patience in 
misfortune,(a) Moses(b) and 
David(g) meekness, Samuel prophecy, seeing into the 
future,(d) Phineas zeal,(e) for which he has a 
name, Peter and Paul eagerness in preaching,(z) the sons of 
Zebedee magniloquence, whence also they were entitled Sons of 
thunder.(h) But why should I enumerate them all, speaking as I 
do among those who know this? Now the specially distinguishing mark of Stephen 
and of my father was the absence of malice. For not even when in peril did 
Stephen hate his assailants, but was stoned while praying for those who were 
stoning him(q) as a disciple of Christ, on Whose behalf he was 
allowed to suffer, and so, in his long-suffering, bearing for God a nobler 
fruit than his death: my father, in allowing no interval between assault and 
forgiveness, so that he was almost robbed of pain itself by the speed of 
pardon. 

  25. We both believe in and hear of the dregs(i) of the anger 
of God, the residuum of His dealings with those who deserve it: For the Lord 
is a God of vengeance.(k) For although He is disposed by His 
kindness to gentleness rather than severity, yet He does not absolutely pardon 
sinners, lest they should be made worse by His goodness. Yet my father kept no 
grudge against those who provoked him, indeed he was absolutely uninfluenced 
by anger, although in spiritual things exceedingly overcome by zeal: except 
when he had been prepared and armed and set in hostile array against that 
which was advancing to injure him. So that this sweet disposition of his would 
not, as the saying goes, have been stirred by tens of thousands. For the wrath 
which he had was not like that of the serpent,(l) smouldering 
within, ready to defend itself, eager to burst forth, and longing to strike 
back at once on being disturbed; but like the sting of the bee, which does not 
bring death with its stroke; while his kindness was superhuman. The wheel and 
scourge were often threatened, and those who could apply them stood near; and 
the danger ended in being pinched on the ear, patted on the face, or buffeted 
on the temple: thus he mitigated the threat. His dress and sandals were 
dragged off, and the scoundrel was felled to the ground: then his anger was 
directed not against his assailant, but against his eager succourer, as a 
minister of evil. How could anyone be more conclusively proved to be good, and 
worthy to offer the gifts to God? For often, instead of being himself roused, 
he made excuses for the man who assailed him, blushing for his faults as if 
they had been his own. 

  26. The dew would more easily resist the morning rays of the sun, than any 
remains of anger continue in him; but as soon as he had spoken, his 
indignation departed with his words, leaving behind only his love for what is 
good, and never outlasting the sun; nor did he cherish anger which destroys 
even the prudent, or show any bodily trace of vice within, nay, even when 
roused, he preserved calmness. The result of this was most unusual, not that 
he was the only one to give rebuke, but the only one to be both loved and 
admired by those whom he reproved, from the victory which his goodness gained 
over warmth of feeling; and it was felt to be more serviceable to be punished 
by a just man than besmeared by a bad one, for in one case the severity 
becomes pleasant for its utility, in the other the kindliness is suspected 
because of the evil of the man's character. But though his soul and character 
were so simple and divine, his piety nevertheless inspired the insolent with 
awe: or rather, the cause of their respect was the simplicity which they 
despised. For it was impossible to him to utter either prayer or curse without 
the immediate bestowal of permanent blessing or transient pain. The one 
proceeded from his inmost soul, the other merely rested upon his lips as a 
paternal reproof. Many indeed of those who had injured him incurred neither 
lingering requital nor, as the poet(a) says, "vengeance which 
dogs men's steps;" but at the very moment of their passion they were struck 
and converted, came forward, knelt before him, and were pardoned, going away 
gloriously vanquished, and amended both by the chastisement and the 
forgiveness. Indeed, a forgiving spirit often has great saving power, checking 
the wrongdoer by the sense of shame, and bringing him back from fear to love, 
a far more secure state of mind. In chastisement some were tossed by oxen 
oppressed by the yoke, which suddenly attacked them, though they had never 
done anything of the kind before; others were thrown and trampled upon by most 
obedient and quiet horses; others seized by intolerable fevers, and 
apparitions of their daring deeds; others being punished in different ways, 
and learning obedience from the things which they suffered. 

  27. Such and so remarkable being his gentleness, did he yield the palm to 
others in 



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industry and practical virtue? By no means. Gentle as he was, he possessed, if 
any one did, an energy corresponding to his gentleness. For although, for the 
most part, the two virtues of benevolence and severity are at variance and 
opposed to each other, the one being gentle but without practical qualities, 
the other practical but unsympathetic, in his case there was a wonderful 
combination of the two, his action being as energetic as that of a severe man, 
but combined with gentleness; while his readiness to yield seemed unpractical 
but was accompanied with energy, in his patronage, his freedom of speech, and 
every kind of official duty. He united the wisdom of the serpent, in regard to 
evil, with the harmlessness of the dove, in regard to good, neither allowing 
the wisdom to degenerate into knavery, nor the simplicity into silliness, but 
as far as in him lay, he combined the two in one perfect form of virtue. Such 
being his birth, such his exercise of the priestly office, such the reputation 
which he won at the hands of all, what wonder if he was thought worthy of the 
miracles by which God establishes true religion? 

  28. One of the wonders which concern him was that he suffered from sickness 
and bodily pain. But what wonder is it for even holy men to be distressed, 
either for the cleansing of their clay, slight though it may be, or a 
touchstone of virtue and test of philosophy, or for the education of the 
weaker, who learn from their example to be patient instead of giving way under 
their misfortunes? Well, he was sick, the time was the holy and illustrious 
Easter, the queen of days, the brilliant night which dissipates the darkness 
of sin, upon which with abundant light we keep the feast of our salvation, 
putting ourselves to death along with the Light once put to death for us, and 
rising again with Him who rose. This was the time of his sufferings. Of what 
kind they were, I will briefly explain. His whole frame was on fire with an 
excessive, burning fever, his strength had failed, he was unable to take food, 
his sleep had departed from him, he was in the greatest distress, and agitated 
by palpitations. Within his mouth, the palate and the whole of the upper 
surface was so completely and painfully ulcerated, that it was difficult and 
dangerous to swallow even water. The skill of physicians, the prayers, most 
earnest though they were, of his friends, and every possible attention were 
alike of no avail. He himself in this desperate condition, while his breath 
came short and fast, had no perception of present things, but was entirely 
absent, immersed in the objects he had long desired, now made ready for him. 
We were in the temple, mingling supplications with the sacred rites, for, in 
despair, of all others, we had betaken ourselves to the Great Physician, to 
the power of that night, and to the last succour, with the intention, shall I 
say, of keeping a feast, or of mourning; of holding festival, or paying 
funeral honours to one no longer here? O those tears! which were shed at that 
time by all the people. O voices, and cries, and hymns blended with the 
psalmody! From the temple they sought the priest, from the sacred rite the 
celebrant, from God their worthy ruler, with my Miriam(a) to 
lead them and strike the timbrel(b) not of triumph, but of 
supplication; learning then for the first time to be put to shame by 
misfortune, and calling at once upon the people and upon God; upon the former 
to sympathize with her distress, and to be lavish of their tears, upon the 
latter, to listen to her petitions, as, with the inventive genius of 
suffering, she rehearsed before Him all His wonders of old time. 

  29. What then was the response of Him who was the God of that night and of 
the sick man? A shudder comes over me as I proceed with my story. And though 
you, my hearers, may shudder, do not disbelieve: for that would be impious, 
when I am the speaker, and in reference to him. The time of the mystery was 
come, and the reverend station and order, when silence is kept for the solemn 
rites; and then he was raised up by Him who quickeneth the dead, and by the 
holy night. At first he moved slightly, then more decidedly; then in a feeble 
and indistinct voice he called by name one of the servants who was in 
attendance upon him, and bade him come, and bring his clothes, and support him 
with his hand. He came in alarm, and gladly waited upon him, while he, leaning 
upon his hand as upon a staff, imitates Moses upon the mount, arranges his 
feeble hands in prayer, and in union with, or on behalf of,(g) 
his people eagerly celebrates the mysteries, in such few words as his strength 
allowed, but, as it seems to me, with a most perfect intention. What a 
miracle! In the sanctuary without a sanctuary, sacrificing without an altar, a 
priest far from the sacred rites: yet all these were present to him in the 
power of the spirit, recognised by him, though unseen by those who were there. 
Then, after adding the customary 



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words of thanksgiving, and after blessing the people, he retired again to his 
bed, and after taking a little food, and enjoying a sleep, he recalled his 
spirit, and, his health being gradually recovered, on the new 
day(a) of the feast, as we call the first Sunday after the 
festival of the Resurrection, he entered the temple and inaugurated his life 
which had been preserved, with the full complement of clergy, and offered the 
sacrifice of thanksgiving. To me this seems no less remarkable than the 
miracle in the case of Hezekiah,(b) who was glorified by God in 
his sickness and prayers with an extension of life, and this was signified by 
the return of the shadow of the degrees,(g) according to the 
request of the king who was restored, whom God honoured at once by the favour 
and the sign, assuring him of the extension of his days by the extension of 
the day. 

  30. The same miracle occurred in the case of my mother not long afterwards. 
I do not think it would be proper to pass by this either: for we shall both 
pay the meed of honour which is due to her, if to anyone at all, and gratify 
him, by her being associated with him in our recital. She, who had always been 
strong and vigorous and free from disease all her life, was herself attacked 
by sickness. In consequence of much distress, not to prolong my story, caused 
above all by inability to eat, her life was for many days in danger, and no 
remedy for the disease could be found. How did God sustain her? Not by raining 
down manna, as for Israel of old(d) or opening the rock, in 
order to give drink to His thirsting people,(e) or feasting her 
by means of ravens, as Elijah,(z) or feeding her by a prophet 
carried through the air, as He did to Daniel when a-hungered in the 
den.(h) But how? She thought she saw me, who was her favourite, 
for not even in her dreams did she prefer any other of us, coming up to her 
suddenly at night, with a basket of pure white loaves, which I blessed and 
crossed as I was wont to do, and then fed and strengthened her, and she became 
stronger. The nocturnal vision was a real action. For, in consequence, she 
became more herself and of better hope, as is manifest by a clear and evident 
token. Next morning, when I paid her an early visit, I saw at once that she 
was brighter, and when I asked, as usual, what kind of a night she had passed, 
and if she wished for anything, she replied, "My child, you most readily and 
kindly fed me, and then you ask how I am. I am very well and at ease." Her 
maids too made signs to me to offer no resistance, and to accept her answer at 
once, lest she should be thrown back into despondency, if the truth were laid 
bare. I will add one more instance common to them both. 

  31. I was on a voyage from Alexandria to Greece over the Parthenian Sea. The 
voyage was quite unseasonable, undertaken in an Aeginetan vessel, under the 
impulse of eager desire; for what specially induced me was that I had fallen 
in with a crew who were well known to me. After making some way on the voyage, 
a terrible storm came upon us, and such an one as my shipmates said they had 
but seldom seen before. While we were all in fear of a common death, spiritual 
death was what I was most afraid of; for I was in danger of departing in 
misery, being unbaptised, and I longed for the spiritual water among the 
waters of death. On this account I cried and begged and besought a slight 
respite. My shipmates, even in their common danger, joined in my cries, as not 
even my own relatives would have done, kindly souls as they were, having 
learned sympathy from their dangers. In this my condition, my parents felt for 
me, my danger having been communicated to them by a nightly vision, and they 
aided me from the land, soothing the waves by prayer, as I afterwards learned 
by calculating the time, after I had landed. This was also shown me in a 
wholesome sleep, of which I had experience during a slight lull of the 
tempest. I seemed to be holding a Fury, of fearful aspect, boding danger; for 
the night presented her clearly to my eyes. Another of my shipmates, a boy 
most kindly disposed and dear to me, and exceedingly anxious on my behalf, in 
my then present condition, thought he saw my mother walk upon the sea, and 
seize and drag the ship to land with no great exertion. We had confidence in 
the vision, for the sea began to grow calm, and we soon reached Rhodes after 
the intervention of no great discomfort. We ourselves became an offering in 
consequence of that peril; for we promised ourselves if we were saved, to God, 
and, when we had been saved, gave ourselves to Him. 

  32. Such were their common experiences. But I imagine that some of those who 
have had an accurate knowledge of his life must have been for a long while 
wondering why we have dwelt upon these points, as if we thought 



265 



them his only title to renown, and postponed the mention of the difficulties 
of his times, against which he conspicuously arrayed himself, as though we 
were either ignorant of them, or thought them to be of no great consequence. 
Come, then, we will proceed to speak upon this topic. The first, and I think 
the last, evil of our day, was the Emperor who apostatised from God and from 
reason, and thought it a small matter to conquer the Persians, but a great one 
to subject to himself the Christians; and so, together with the demons who led 
and prevailed upon him, he failed in no form of impiety, but by means of 
persuasions, threats, and sophistries, strove to draw men to him, and even 
added to his various artifices the use of force. His design, however, was 
exposed, whether he strove to conceal persecution under sophistical devices, 
or manifestly made use of his authority--namely by one means or the 
other--either by cozening or by violence, to get us into his power. Who can be 
found who more utterly despised or defeated him? One sign, among many others, 
of his contempt, is the mission to our sacred buildings of the police and 
their commissary, with the intention of taking either voluntary or forcible 
possession of them: he had attacked many others, and came hither with like 
intent, demanding the surrender of the temple according to the Imperial 
decree, but was so far from succeeding in any of his wishes that, had he not 
speedily given way before my father, either from his own good sense or 
according to some advice given to him, he would have had to retire with his 
feet mangled, with such wrath and zeal did the priest boil against him in 
defence of his shrine. And who had a manifestly greater share in bringing 
about his end, both in public, by the prayers and united supplications which 
he directed against the accursed one, without regard to the [dangers of] the 
time; and in private, arraying against him his nightly armoury, of sleeping on 
the ground, by which he wore away his aged and tender frame, and of tears, 
with whose fountains he watered the ground for almost a whole year, directing 
these practices to the Searcher of hearts alone, while he tried to escape our 
notice, in his retiring piety of which I have spoken. And he would have been 
utterly unobserved, had I not once suddenly rushed into his room, and noticing 
the tokens of his lying upon the ground, inquired of his attendants what they 
meant, and so learned the mystery of the night. 

  33. A further story of the same period and the same courage. The city of 
Caesarea was in an uproar about the election of a bishop; for 
one(a) had just departed, and another must be found, amidst 
heated partisanship not easily to be soothed. For the city was naturally 
exposed to party spirit, owing to the fervour of its faith, and the rivalry 
was increased by the illustrious position of the see. Such was the state of 
affairs; several Bishops had arrived to consecrate the Bishop; the populace 
was divided into several parties, each with its own candidate, as is usual in 
such cases, owing to the influences of private friendship or devotion to God; 
but at last the whole people came to an agreement, and, with the aid of a band 
of soldiers at that time quartered there, seized one of(b) 
their leading citizens, a man of excellent life, but not yet sealed with the 
divine baptism, brought him against his will to the sanctuary, and setting him 
before the Bishops, begged, with entreaties mingled with violence, that he 
might be consecrated and proclaimed, not in the best of order, but with all 
sincerity and ar-dour. Nor is it possible to say whom time pointed out as more 
illustrious and religious than he was. What then took place, as the result of 
the uproar? Their(g) resistance was overcome, they purified 
him, they proclaimed him, they enthroned him, by external action, rather than 
by spiritual judgment and disposition, as the sequel shows. They were glad to 
retire and regain freedom of judgment, and agreed upon a plan--I do not know 
that it was inspired by the Spirit--to hold nothing which had been done to be 
valid, and the institution to have been void, pleading violence on the part of 
him who had had no less violence done to himself, and laying hold of certain 
words which had been uttered on the occasion with greater vigour than wisdom. 
But the great high-priest and just examiner of actions was not carried away by 
this plan of theirs, and did not approve of their judgment, but remained as 
uninfluenced and unmoved as if no pressure at all had been put upon him. For 
he saw that, the violence having been common, if they brought any charge 
against him, they were themselves liable to a counter-charge, or, if they 
acquitted him, they themselves might be acquitted, or rather with still more 
justice, they were unable to secure their own acquittal, even by acquitting 
him: for if they were deserving of excuse, so assuredly was he, and if he was 
not, much less were they: for it would have been far better to have at the 
time run the risk 



266 



of resistance to the last extremity, than afterwards to enter into designs 
against him, especially at such a juncture, when it was better to put an end 
to existing enmities than to devise new ones. For the state of affairs was as 
follows. 

  34. The Emperor(a) had come, raging against the Christians; 
he was angry at the election and threatened the elect, and the city stood in 
imminent peril(b) as to whether, after that day it should cease 
to exist, or escape and be treated with some degree of mercy. The innovation 
in regard to the election was a new ground of exasperation, in addition to the 
destruction of the temple of Fortune in a time of prosperity, and was looked 
upon as an invasion of his rights. The governor of the province also was eager 
to turn the opportunity to his own account, and was ill disposed to the new 
bishop, with whom he had never had friendly relations, in consequence of their 
different political views. Accordingly he sent letters to summon the 
consecrators to invalidate the election, and in no gentle terms, for they were 
threatened as if by command of the Emperor. Hereupon, when the letter reached 
him, without fear or delay, he replied--consider the courage and spirit of his 
answer--"Most excellent governor, we have one Censor of all our actions, and 
one Emperor, against whom his enemies are in arms. He will review the present 
consecration, which we have legitimately performed according to His will. In 
regard to any other matter, you may, if you will, use violence with the 
greatest ease against us. But no one can prevent us from vindicating the 
legitimacy and justice of our action in this case; unless you should make a 
law on this point, you, who have no right to interfere in our affairs." This 
letter excited the admiration of its recipient, although he was for a while 
annoyed at it, as we have been told by many who know the facts well. It also 
stayed the action of the Emperor, and delivered the city from peril, and 
ourselves, it is not amiss to add, from disgrace. This was the work of the 
occupant of an unimportant and suffragan see. Is not a presidency of this kind 
far preferable to a title derived from a superior see, and a power which is 
based upon action rather than upon a name. 

  35. Who is so distant from this world of ours, as to be ignorant of what is 
last in order, but the first and greatest proof of his power? The same city 
was again in an uproar for the same reason, in consequence of the sudden 
removal of the Bishop chosen with such honourable violence, who had now 
departed to God, on Whose behalf he had nobly and bravely contended in the 
persecutions. The heat of the disturbance was in proportion to its 
unreasonableness. The man of eminence was not unknown, but was more 
conspicuous than the sun amidst the stars, in the eyes not only of all others, 
but especially of that select and most pure portion of the people, whose 
business is in the sanctuary, and the Nazarites(a) amongst us, 
to whom such appointments should, if not entirely, as much as possible belong, 
and so the church would be free from harm, instead of to the most opulent and 
powerful, or the violent and unreasonable portion of the people, and 
especially the most corrupt of them. Indeed, I am almost inclined to believe 
that the civil government is more orderly than ours, to which divine grace is 
attributed, and that such matters are better regulated by fear than by reason. 
For what man in his senses could ever have approached another, to the neglect 
of your divine(b) and sacred person, who have been beautified 
by the hands of the Lord, the unwedded the destitute of property and almosT of 
flesh and blood, who in your words come next to the Word Himself, who are wise 
among philosophers, superior to the world among worldlings, my companion and 
workfellow, and to speak more daringly, the sharer with me of a common soul, 
the partaker of my life and education. Would that I could speak at liberty and 
describe you before others without being obliged by your presence, in dwelling 
upon such topics, to pass over the greater part of them, lest I should incur 
the suspicion of flattery. But, as I began by saying, the Spirit must needs 
have known him as His own; yet he was the mark of envy, at the hands of those 
whom I am ashamed to mention, and would that it were not possible to hear 
their names from others who studiously ridicule our affairs. Let us pass this 
by like a rock in the midstream of a river, and treat with respectful silence 
a subject which ought to be forgotten, as we pass on to the remainder of our 
subject. 

  36. The things of the Spirit were exactly known to the man of the Spirit, 
and he felt that he must take up no submissive position, nor side with 
factions and prejudices which depend upon favour rather than upon God, but 
must make the advantage of the Church and the common salvation his sole ob- 



267 



ject. Accordingly he wrote, gave advice, strove to unite the people and the 
clergy, whether ministering in the sanctuary or not, gave his testimony, his 
decision and his vote, even in his absence, and assumed, in virtue of his gray 
hairs, the exercise of authority among strangers no less than among his own 
flock. At last, since it was necessary that the consecration should be 
canomical, and there was(a) lacking one of the proper number of 
Bishops for the proclamation, he tore himself from his couch, exhausted as he 
was by age and disease, and manfully went to the city, or rather was borne, 
with his boy dead though just breathing, persuaded that, if anything were to 
happen to him, this devotion would be a noble winding-sheet. Hereupon once 
more there was a prodigy, not unworthy of credit. He received strength from 
his toil, new life from his zeal, presided at the function, took his place in 
the conflict, enthroned the Bishop, and was conducted home, no longer borne 
upon a bier, but in a divine ark. His long-suffering, over whose praises I 
have already lingered, was in this case further exhibited. For his colleagues 
were annoyed at the shame Of being overcome, and at the public influence of 
the old man, and allowed their annoyance to show itself in abuse of him; but 
such was the strength of his endurance that he was superior even to this, 
finding in modesty a most powerful ally, and refusing to bandy abuse with 
them. For he felt that it would be a terrible thing, after really gaining the 
victory, to be vanquished by the tongue. In consequence, he so won upon them 
by his long-suffering, that, when time had lent its aid to his judgment, they 
exchanged their annoyance for admiration, and knelt before him to ask his 
pardon, in shame for their previous conduct, and flinging away their hatred, 
submitted to him as their patriarch, lawgiver, and judge. 

  37. From the same zeal proceeded his opposition to the heretics, when, with 
the aid of the Emperor's impiety, they made their expedition, in the hope of 
overpowering us also, and adding us to the number of the others whom they had, 
in almost all cases, succeeded in enslaving. For in this he afforded us no 
slight assistance, both in himself, and by hounding us on like well-bred dogs 
against these most savage beasts, through his training in piety. On one point 
I blame you both, and pray do not take amiss my plainspeaking. if I should 
annoy you by expressing the cause of my pain. When I was disgusted at the 
evils of life, and longing, if anyone of our day has longed, for solitude, and 
eager, as speedily as possible, to escape to some haven of safety, from the 
surge and dust of public life, it was you who, somehow or other seized and 
gave me up by the noble title of the priesthood to this base and treacherous 
mart of souls. In consequence, evils have already befallen me, and others are 
yet to be anticipated. For past experience renders a man somewhat distrustful 
of the future, in spite of the better suggestions of reason to the contrary. 

  38. Another of his excellences I must not leave unnoticed. In general, he 
was a man of great endurance, and superior to his robe of flesh: but during 
the pain of his last sickness, a serious addition to the risks and burdens of 
old age, his weakness was common to him and all other men; but this fitting 
sequel to the other marvels, so far from being common, was peculiarly his own. 
He was at no time free from the anguish of pain, but often in the day, 
sometimes in the hour, his only relief was the liturgy, to which the pain 
yielded, as if to an edict of banishment. At last, after a life of almost a 
hundred years, exceeding David's limit of our age,(a) 
forty-five of these, the average life of man, having been spent in the 
priesthood, he brought it to a close in a good old ageAnd in what manner? With 
the words and forms of prayer, leaving behind no trace of vice, and many 
recollections of virtue. The reverence felt for him was thus greater than 
falls to the lot of man, both on the lips and in the hearts of all. Nor is it 
easy to find anyone who recollects him, and does not, as the Scripture says, 
lay his hand upon his mouth(b) and salute his memory. Such was 
his life, and such its completion and perfection. 

  39. And since some living memorial of his munificence ought to be left 
behind, what other is required than this temple, which he reared for God and 
for us, with very little contribution from the people in addition to the 
expenditure of his private fortune? An exploit which should not be buried in 
silence, since in size it is superior to most others, in beauty absolutely to 
all. It surrounds itself with eight regular equilaterals, and is raised aloft 
by the beauty of two stories of pillars and porticos, while the statues placed 
upon them are true to the life; its vault flashes down upon us from above, and 
it dazzles our eyes with abundant sources of light on every side, being indeed 
the dwelling-place of light. It 



268 



is surrounded by excrescent equiangular ambulatories of most splendid 
material, with a wide area in the midst, while its doors and vestibules shed 
around it the lustre of their gracefulness, and offer from a distance their 
welcome to those who are drawing nigh. I have not yet mentioned the external 
ornament, the beauty and size of the squared and dove-tailed stonework, 
whether it be of marble in the bases and capitals, which divide the angles, or 
from our own quarries, which are in no wise inferior to those abroad; nor of 
the belts of many shapes and colours, projecting or inlaid from the foundation 
to the roof-tree, which robs the spectator by limiting his view. How could 
anyone with due brevity describe a work which cost so much time and toil and 
skill: or will it suffice to say that amid all the works, private and public, 
which adorn other cities, this has of itself been able to secure us celebrity 
among the majority of mankind? When for such a temple a priest was needed, he 
also at his own expense provided one, whether worthy of the temple or no, it 
is not for me to say. And when sacrifices were required, he supplied them 
also, in the misfortunes of his son, and his patience under trials, that God 
might receive at his hands a reasonable whole burnt offering and spiritual 
priesthood, to be honourably consumed, instead of the sacrifice of the Law. 

  40. What sayest thou, my father? Is this sufficient, and dost thou find an 
ample recompense for all thy toils, which thou didst undergo for my learning, 
in this eulogy of farewell or of entombment? And dost thou, as of old, impose 
silence on my tongue, and bid me stop in due time, and so avoid excess? Or 
dost thou require some addition? I know thou bidst me cease, for I have said 
enough. Yet stiffer me to add this. Make known to us where thou art in glory, 
and the light which encircles thee, and receive into the same abode thy 
partner soon to follow thee, and the children whom thou hadst laid to rest 
before thee, and me also, after no further, or but a slight addition to the 
ills of this life: and before reaching that abode receive me in this sweet 
stone,(a) which thou didst erect for both of us, to the honour 
even here of thy consecrated namesake, and excuse me from the care both of the 
people which I have already resigned,(b) and of that which for 
thy sake I have since accepted: and mayest thou guide and free from peril, as 
I earnestly entreat, the whole flock and all the clergy, whose father thou art 
said to be, but especially him who was overpowered by thy paternal and 
spiritual coercion, so that he may not entirely consider that act of tyranny 
obnoxious to blame. 

  41. And what do you think of us, O judge of my words and motions? If we have 
spoken adequately, and to the satisfaction of your desire, confirm it by your 
decision, and we accept it: for your decision is entirely the decision of God. 
But if it falls far short of his glory and of your hope, my ally is not far to 
seek. Let fall thy voice, which is awaited by his merits like a seasonable 
shower. And indeed he has upon you the highest claims, those of a pastor upon 
a pastor and of a father upon his son in grace. What wonder if he, who 
has(a) through your voice thundered throughout the world, 
should himself have some enjoyment of it? What more is needed? Only to unite 
with our spiritual Sarah, the consort and fellow-traveller through life of our 
great father Abraham, in the last Christian offices. 

  42. The nature of God, my mother, is not the same as that of men; indeed, to 
speak generally, the nature of divine things is not the same as that of 
earthly things. They possess unchangeableness and immortality, and absolute 
being with its consequences, for sure are the properties of things sure. But 
how is it with what is ours? It is in a state of flux and corruption, 
constantly undergoing some fresh change. Life and death, as they are called, 
apparently so different, are in a sense resolved into, and successive to, each 
other. For the one takes its rise from the corruption which is our mother, 
runs its course through the corruption which is the displacement of all that 
is present, and comes to an end in the corruption which is the dissolution of 
this life; while the other, which is able to set us free from the ills of this 
life, and oftentimes translates us to the life above, is not in my opinion 
accurately called death, and is more dreadful in name than in reality; so that 
we are in danger of irrationally being afraid of what is not fearful, and 
courting as preferable what we really ought to fear. There is one life, to 
look to life. There is one death, sin, for it is the destruction of the soul. 
But all else, of which some are proud, is a dream-vision, making sport of 
realities, and a series of phantasms which lead the soul astray. If this be 
our condition, mother, we Shall neither be proud of life, nor greatly hurt, by 
death. What grievance can we find in being transferred hence to the true 



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life? In being freed from the vicissitudes, the agitation, the disgust, and 
all the vile tribute we must pay to this life, to find ourselves, amid stable 
things, which know no flux, while as lesser lights, we circle round the great 
light?(a) 

  43. Does the sense of separation cause you pain? Let hope cheer you. Is 
widowhood grievous to you? Yet it is not so to him. And what is the good of 
love, if it gives itself easy things, and assigns the more difficult to its 
neighbour? And why should it be grievous at all, to one who is soon to pass 
away? The appointed day is at hand, the pain will not last long. Let us not, 
by ignoble reasonings, make a burden of things which are really light. We have 
endured a great loss--because the privilege we enjoyed was great. Loss is 
common to all, such a privilege to few. Let us rise superior to the one 
thought by the consolation of the other. For it is more reasonable, that that 
which is better should win the day. You have borne, in a most brave, Christian 
spirit, the loss of children, who were still in their prime and qualified for 
life; bear also the laying aside of his aged body by one who was weary of 
life, although his vigor of mind preserved for him his senses unimpaired. Do 
you want some one to care for you? Where is your Isaac, whom he left behind 
for you, to take his place in all respects? Ask of him small things, the 
support of his hand and service, and requite him with greater things, a 
mother's blessing and prayers, and the consequent freedom. Are you vexed at 
being admonished? I praise you for it. For you have admonished many whom your 
long life has brought under your notice. What I have said can have no 
application to you, who are so truly wise; but let it be a general medicine of 
consolation for mourners, so that they may know that they are mortals 
following mortals to the grave. 

INTRODUCTION TO ORATION XXI. 



ON THE GREAT ATHANASIUS, BISHOP OF 

ALEXANDRIA. 



  The reference in 22 to "the Council which sat first at Seleucia ... and 
afterwards at this mighty city," leaves no room for doubting that the Oration 
was delivered at Constantinople. Further local colour is found in the 
allusions of 5. We are assured by the panegyric on S. Cyprian (Orat. xxiv. I) 
that it was already the custom of the Church of Constantinople to observe 
annual festivals in honour of the Saints: and at present two days are kept by 
the Eastern Church, viz., Jan. 18th, as the day of the actual death of S. 
Athanasius, and May ad, in memory of the translation of his remains to the 
church of S. Sophia at Constantinople. Probably, therefore, this Oration was 
delivered on the former day, on which Assemani holds that S. Athanasius died. 
Papebroke and (with some hesitation) Dr. Bright pronounce in favour of May 2d. 
Tillemont supposes that A.D. 379 iS the year of its delivery; in which case it 
must have been very shortly after S. Gregory's arrival in the city. Since, 
however, no allusion is made to this, it seems, on the whole, more likely that 
it should be assigned to A.D. 380. The sermon takes high rank, even among S. 
Gregory's discourses, as the model of an ecclesiastical panegyric. It lacks, 
however, the charm of personal affection and intimate acquaintance with the 
inner life, which is characteristic of the orations concerned with his own 
relatives and friends. 



ORATION. 



  1. In praising Athanasius, I shall be praising virtue. To speak of him and 
to praise virtue are identical, because he had, or, to speak more truly, has 
embraced virtue in its entirety. For all who have lived according to God still 
live unto God, though they have departed hence. For this reason, God is called 
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, since He is the God, not of the dead, but 
of the living.(a) Again, in praising virtue, I shall be 
praising God, who gives virtue to men and lifts them up, or lifts them up 
again, to Himself by the enlightenment which is akin to 
Himself.(b) For many and great as are our blessings--none can 
say how many and how great--which we have and shall have from God, this is the 
greatest and kindliest of all, our inclination and relationship to Him. For 
God is to intelligible things what the sun is to the things of sense. The one 
lightens the visible, the other the invisible, world. The one makes our bodily 
eyes to see the sun, the other makes our intellectual natures to see God. And, 
as that, which bestows on the things which see and are seen the power of 
seeing and being seen, is itself the most beautiful of visible things; so God, 
who creates, for those who think, and that which is thought of, the power of 
thinking and being thought of, is Himself the highest of the objects of 
thought, in Whom every desire finds its bourne, beyond 



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Whom it can no further go. For not even the most philosophic, the most 
piercing, the most curious intellect has, or can ever have, a more exalted 
object. For this is the utmost of things desirable, and they who arrive at it 
find an entire rest from speculation. 

  2. Whoever has been permitted to escape by reason and contemplation from 
matter and this fleshly cloud or veil (whichever it should be called) and to 
hold communion with God, and be associated, as far as man's nature can attain, 
with the purest Light, blessed is he, both from his ascent from hence, and for 
his deification there, which is conferred by true philosophy, and by rising 
superior to the dualism of matter, through the unity which is perceived in the 
Trinity. And whosoever has been depraved by being knit to the flesh, and so 
far oppressed by the clay that he cannot look at the rays of truth, nor rise 
above things below, though he is born from above, and called to things above, 
I hold him to be miserable in his blindness, even though he may abound in 
things of this world; and all the more, because he is the sport of his 
abundance, and is persuaded by it that something else is beautiful instead of 
that which is really beautiful, reaping, as the poor fruit of his poor 
opinion, the sentence of darkness, or the seeing Him to be fire, Whom he did 
not recognize as light. 

  3. Such has been the philosophy of few, both nowadays and of old--for few 
are the men of God, though all are His handiwork,--among lawgivers, generals, 
priests, Prophets, Evangelists, Apostles, shepherds, teachers, and all the 
spiritual host and band--and, among them all, of him whom now we praise. And 
whom do I mean by these? Men like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 
twelve Patriarchs, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, to some 
extent Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, the Prophets before the captivity, those after 
the captivity, and, though last in order, first in truth, those who were 
concerned with Christ's Incarnation or taking of our nature, the 
lamp(a) before the Light, the voice before the Word, the 
mediator before the Mediator, the mediator between the old covenant and the 
new, the famous John, the disciples of Christ, those after Christ, who were 
set over the people, or illustrious in word, or conspicuous for miracles, or 
made perfect through their blood. 

  4. With some of these Athanasius vied, by some he was slightly excelled, and 
others, if it is not bold to say so, he surpassed: some he made his models in 
mental power, others in activity, others in meekness, others in zeal, others 
in dangers, others in most respects, others in all, gathering from one and 
another various forms of beauty (like men who paint figures of ideal 
excellence), and combining them in his single soul, he made one perfect form 
of virtue out of all, excelling in action men of intellectual capacity, in 
intellect men of action; or, if you will, surpassing in intellect men renowned 
for intellect, in action those of the greatest active power; outstripping 
those who had moderate reputation in both respects, by his eminence in either, 
and those who stood highest in one or other, by his powers in both; and, if it 
is a great thing for those who have received an example, so to use it as to 
attach themselves to virtue, he has no inferior title to fame, who for our 
advantage has set an example to those who come after him. 

  5. To speak of and admire him fully, would perhaps be too long a task for 
the present purpose of my discourse, and would take the form of a history 
rather than of a panegyric: a history which it has been the object of my 
desires to commit to writing for the pleasure and instruction of posterity, as 
he himself wrote the life of the divine Antony,(a) and set 
forth, in the form of a narrative, the laws of the monastic life. Accordingly, 
after entering into a few of the many details of his history, such as memory 
suggests at the moment as most noteworthy, in order both to satisfy my own 
longing and fulfil the duty which befits the festival, we will leave the many 
others to those who know them. For indeed, it is neither pious nor safe, while 
the lives of the ungodly are honoured by recollection, to pass by in silence 
those who have lived piously, especially in a city which could hardly be saved 
by many examples of virtue, making sport, as it does, of Divine things, no 
less than of the horse-race and the theatre. 

  6. He was brought up, from the first, in religious habits and practices, 
after a brief study of literature and philosophy, so that he might not be 
utterly unskilled in such subjects, or ignorant of matters which he had 
determined to despise. For his generous and eager soul could not brook being 
occupied in vanities, like unskilled athletes, who beat the air instead of 
their antagonists and lose the prize. From meditating on every book of the Old 
and New Testament, with a depth such as none else has applied even to one of 
them, he grew 



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rich in contemplation, rich in splendour of life, combining them in wondrous 
sort by that golden bond which few can weave; using life as the guide of 
contemplation, contemplation as the seal of life. For the fear of the Lord is 
the beginning of wisdom, and, so to say, its first swathing band; but, when 
wisdom has burst the bonds of fear and risen up to love, it makes us friends 
of God, and sons instead of bondsmen. 

  7. Thus brought up and trained, as even now those should be who are to 
preside over the people, and take the direction of the mighty body of 
Christ,(a) according to the will and foreknowledge of God, 
which lays long before the foundations of great deeds, he was invested with 
this important ministry, and made one of those who draw near to the God Who 
draws near tO us, and deemed worthy of the holy office and rank, and, after 
passing through the entire series of orders, he was (to make my story short) 
entrusted with the chief rule over the people, in other words, the charge of 
the whole world: nor can I say whether he received the priesthood as the 
reward of virtue, or to be the fountain and life of the Church. For she, like 
Ishmael,(b) fainting from her thirst for the truth, needed to 
be given to drink, or, like Elijah,(g) to be refreshed from the 
brook, when the land was parched by drought; and, when but faintly breathing, 
to be restored to life and left as a seed to Israel,(d) that we 
might not become like Sodom and Gomorrah,(e) whose destruction 
by the rain of fire and brimstone is only more notorious than their 
wickedness. Therefore, when we were cast down, a horn of salvation was raised 
up for us,(z) and a chief corner stone,(h) 
knitting us to itself and to one another, was laid in due season, or a 
fire(q) to purify our base and evil matter,(i) 
or a farmer's fan(k) to winnow the light from the weighty in 
doctrine, or a sword to cut out the roots of wickedness; and so the Word finds 
him as his own ally, and the Spirit takes possession of one who will breathe 
on His behalf. 

  8. Thus, and for these reasons, by the vote of the whole people, not in the 
evil fashion which has since prevailed, nor by means of bloodshed and 
oppression, but in an apostolic and spiritual manner, he is led up to the 
throne(l) of Saint Mark, to succeed him in piety, no less than 
in office; in the latter indeed at a great distance from him, in the former, 
which is the genuine right of succession, following him closely. For unity in 
doctrine deserves unity in office; and a rival teacher sets up a rival throne; 
the one is a successor in reality, the other but in name. For it is not the 
intruder, but he whose rights are intruded upon, who is the successor, not the 
lawbreaker, but the lawfully appointed, not the man of contrary opinions, but 
the man of the same faith; if this is not what we mean by successor, he 
succeeds in the same sense as disease to health, darkness to light, storm to 
calm, and frenzy to sound sense. 

  9. The duties of his office he discharged in the same spirit as that in 
which he had been preferred to it. For he did not at once, after taking 
possession of his throne, like men who have unexpectedly seized upon some 
sovereignty or inheritance, grow insolent from intoxication. This is the 
conduct of illegitimate and intrusive priests, who are unworthy of their 
vocation; whose preparation for the priesthood has cost them nothing, who have 
endured no inconvenience for the sake of virtue, who only begin to study 
religion when appointed to teach it, and undertake the cleansing of others 
before being cleansed themselves; yesterday sacrilegious, to-day sacerdotal; 
yesterday excluded from the sanctuary,(a) to-day its 
officiants; proficient in vice, novices in piety; the product of the favour of 
man, not of the grace of the Spirit; who, having run through the whole gamut 
of violence, at last tyrannize over even piety; who, instead of gaining credit 
for their office by their character, need for their character the credit of 
their office, thus subverting the due relation between them; who ought to 
offer more sacrifices(b) for themselves than for the ignorances 
of the people;(g) who inevitably fall into one of two errors, 
either, from their own need of indulgence, being excessively indulgent, and so 
even teaching, instead of checking, vice, or cloaking their own sins under the 
harshness of their rule. Both these extremes he avoided; he was sublime in 
action, lowly in mind; inaccessible in virtue, most accessible in intercourse; 
gentle, free from anger, sympathetic, sweet in words, sweeter in disposition; 
angelic in appearance, more angelic in mind; calm in rebuke, persuasive in 
praise, without spoiling the good effect of either by excess, but rebuking 
with the tenderness of a father, praising with the dignity of a 



272 



ruler, his tenderness was not dissipated, nor his severity sour; for the one 
was reasonable, the other prudent, and both truly wise; his disposition 
sufficed for the training of his spiritual children, with very little need of 
words; his words with very little need of the rod,(a) and his 
moderate use of the rod with still less for the knife. 

  10. But why should I paint for you the portrait of the man? St. 
Paul(b) has sketched him by anticipation. This he does, when he 
sings the praises of the great High-priest, who hath passed through the 
heavens(g) (for I will venture to say even this, since 
Scripture(d) can call those who live according to Christ by the 
name of Christs):(e) and again when by the rules in his letter 
to Timothy,(z) he gives a model for future Bishops: for if you 
will apply the law as a test to him who deserves these praises, you will 
clearly perceive his perfect exactness. Come then to aid me in my panegyric; 
for I am labouring heavily in my speech, and though I desire to pass by point 
after point, they seize upon me one after another, and I can find no 
surpassing excellence in a form which is in all respects well proportioned and 
beautiful; for each as it occurs to me seems fairer than the rest and so takes 
by storm my speech. Come then I pray, you who have been his admirers and 
witnesses, divide among yourselves his excellences, contend bravely with one 
another, men and women alike, young men and maidens, old men and children, 
priests and people, solitaries and cenobites,(h) men of simple 
or of exact life, contemplatives or practically minded. Let one praise him in 
his fastings and prayers as if he had been disembodied and immaterial, another 
his unweariedness and zeal for vigils and psalmody, another his patronage of 
the needy, another his dauntlessness towards the powerful, or his 
condescension to the lowly. Let the virgins celebrate the friend of the 
Bridegroom;(q) those under the yoke(i) their 
restrainer, hermits him who lent wings to their course, cenobites their 
lawgiver, simple folk their guide, contemplatives the divine, the joyous their 
bridle, the unfortunate their consolation, the hoary-headed their staff, 
youths their instructor, the poor their resource, the wealthy their steward. 
Even the widows will, methinks, praise their protector, even the orphans their 
father, even the poor their benefactor, strangers their entertainer, brethren 
the man of brotherly love, the sick their physician, in whatever sickness or 
treatment you will, the healthy the guard of health, yea all men him who made 
himself all things to all men that he might gain almost, if not quite, all. 

  11. On these grounds, as I have said, I leave others, who have leisure to 
admire the minor details of his character, to admire and extol him. I call 
them minor details only in comparing him and his character with his own 
standard, for that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious, 
even though it be exceeding splendid by reason of the glory that 
surpasseth,(a) as we are told; for indeed the minor points of 
his excellence would suffice to win celebrity for others. But since it would 
be intolerable for me to leave the word and serve(b) less 
important details, I must turn to that which is his chief characteristic; and 
God alone, on Whose behalf I am speaking, can enable me to say anything worthy 
of a soul so noble and so mighty in the word. 

  12. In the palmy days of the Church, when all was well, the present 
elaborate, far-fetched and artificial treatment of Theology had not made its 
way into the schools of divinity, but playing with pebbles which deceive the 
eye by the quickness of their changes, or dancing before an audience with 
varied and effeminate contortions, were looked upon as all one with speaking 
or hearing of God in a way unusual or frivolous. But since the 
Sextuses(g) and Pyrrhos, and the antithetic style, like a dire 
and malignant disease, have infected our churches, and babbling is reputed 
culture, and, as the book of the Acts(d) says of the Athenians, 
we spend our time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new 
thing. O what Jeremiah(e) will bewail our confusion and blind 
madness; he alone could utter lamentations befitting our misfortunes. 

  13. The beginning of this madness was Arius (whose name is derived from 
frenzy(z)), who paid the penalty of his unbridled tongue by his 
death in a profane spot,(h) brought about by prayer not by 
disease, when he like Judas(q) burst asunder(i) 
for his similar treachery 



273 



to the Word. Then others, catching the infection, organized an art of impiety, 
and, confining Deity to the Unbegotten, expelled from Deity not only the 
Begotten, but also the Proceeding one, and honoured the Trinity with communion 
in name(a) alone, or even refused to retain this for it. Not so 
that blessed one, Who was indeed a man of God and a mighty trumpet of truth: 
but being aware that to contract(b) the Three Persons to a 
numerical Unity is heretical, and the innovation of Sabellius, who first 
devised a contraction of Deity; and that to sever the Three Persons by a 
distinction of nature, is an unnatural mutilation of Deity; he both happily 
preserved the Unity, which belongs to the Godhead, and religiously taught the 
Trinity, which refers(g) to Personality, neither confounding 
the Three Persons in the Unity, nor dividing the Substance among the Three 
Persons, but abiding within the bounds of piety, by avoiding excessive 
inclination or opposition to either side. 

  14. And therefore, first in the holy Synod of Nicaea,(d) the 
gathering of the three hundred and eighteen chosen men, united by the Holy 
Ghost, as far as in him lay, he stayed the disease. Though not yet ranked 
among the BiShops, he held the first rank among the members of the Council, 
for preference was given to virtue just as much as to office. Afterwards, when 
the flame had been fanned by the blasts of the evil one, and had spread very 
widely (hence came the tragedies of which almost the whole earth and sea are 
full), the fight raged fiercely around him who was the noble champion of the 
Word. For the assault is hottest upon the point of resistance, while various 
dangers surround it on every side: for impiety is skilful in designing evils, 
and excessively daring in taking them in hand: and how would they spare men, 
who had not spared the Godhead? Yet one of the assaults was the most dangerous 
of all: and I myself contribute somewhat to this scene; yea, let me plead for 
the innocence of my dear fatherland, for the wickedness was not due to the 
land that bore them, but to the men who undertook it. For holy indeed is that 
land, and everywhere noted for its piety, but these men are unworthy of the 
Church which bore them, and ye have heard of a briar growing in a 
vine;(a) and the traitor(b) was Judas, one of 
the disciples. 

  15. There are some who do not excuse even my namesake(g) from 
blame; who, living at Alexandria at the time for the sake of culture, although 
he had been most kindly treated by him, as if the dearest of his children, and 
received his special confidence, yet joined in the revolutionary plot against 
his father and patron: for, though others took the active part in it, the hand 
of Absalom(d) was with them, as the saying goes. If any of you 
had heard of the hand which was produced by fraud against the Saint, and the 
corpse(e) of the living man, and the unjust banishment, he 
knows what I mean. But this I will gladly forget. For on doubtful points, I am 
disposed to think we ought to incline to the charitable side, and acquit 
rather than condemn the accused. For a bad man would speedily condemn even a 
good man, while a good man would not be ready to condemn even a bad one. For 
one who is not ready to do ill, is not inclined even to suspect it. I come now 
to what is matter of fact, not of report, what is vouched for as truth instead 
of unverified suspicion. 

  16. There was a monster(z) from Cappadocia, born on our 
farthest confines, of low birth, and lower mind, whose blood was not perfectly 
free, but mongrel, as we know that of mules to be; at first, dependent on the 
table of others, whose price was a barley cake, who had learnt to say and do 
everything with an eye to his stomach, and, at last, after sneaking into 
public life, and filling its lowest offices, such as that of contractor for 
swine's flesh, the soldiers' rations, and then having proved himself a 
scoundrel for the sake of greed in this public trust, and been stripped to the 
skin, contrived to escape, and after passing, as exiles do, from country to 
country and city to city, last of all, in an evil hour for the Christian 
community, like one of the plagues of Egypt, he reached Alexandria. There, his 
wanderings being stayed, he began his villany. Good for nothing in all other 
respects, without culture, without fluency in conversation, without even the 
form and pretence of reverence, his 



274 



skill in working villany and confusion was un-equalled. 

  17. His acts of insolence towards the saint you all know in full detail. 
Often were the righteous given into the hands of the wicked,(a) 
not that the latter might be honoured, but that the former might be tested: 
and though the wicked come, as it is written, to an awful 
death,(b) nevertheless for the present the godly are a laughing 
stock, while the goodness of God and the great treasuries of what is in store 
for each of them hereafter are concealed. Then indeed word and deed and 
thought will be weighed in the just balances of God, as He arises to judge the 
earth,(g) gathering together counsel and works, and revealing 
what He had kept sealed up.(d) Of this let the words and 
sufferings of Job convince thee, who was a truthful, blameless, just, 
godfearing man, with all those other qualities which are testified of him, and 
yet was smitten with such a succession of remarkable visitations, at the hands 
of him who begged for power over him, that, although many have often suffered 
in the whole course of time, and some even have, as is probable, been 
grievously afflicted, yet none can be compared with him in misfortunes. For he 
not only suffered, without being allowed space to mourn for his losses in 
their rapid succession, the loss of his money, his possessions, his large and 
fair family, blessings for which all men care; but was at last smitten with an 
incurable disease horrible to look upon, and, to crown his misfortunes, had a 
wife whose only comfort was evil counsel. For his surpassing troubles were 
those of his soul added to those of the body.(e) He had also 
among his friends truly miserable comforters,(z) as he calls 
them, who could not help him. For when they saw his suffering, in ignorance of 
its hidden meaning, they supposed his disaster to be the punishment of vice 
and not the touchstone of virtue. And they not only thought this, but were not 
even ashamed to reproach him with his lot,(h) at a time when, 
even if he had been suffering for vice, they ought to have treated his grief 
with words of consolation. 

  18. Such was the lot of Job: such at first sight his history. In reality it 
was a contest between virtue and envy:(q) the one straining 
every nerve to overcome the good, the other enduring everything, that it might 
abide unsubdued; the one striving to smooth the way for vice, by means of the 
chastisement of the upright, the other to retain its hold upon the good, even 
if they do exceed others in misfortunes. What then of Him who answered Job out 
of the whirlwind and cloud,(a) Who is slow to chastise and 
swift to help, Who suffers not utterly the rod of the wicked to come into the 
lot of the righteous, lest the righteous should learn 
iniquity?(b) At the end of the contests He declares the victory 
of the athlete in a splendid proclamation and lays bare the secret of his 
calamities, saying: "Thinkest thou that I have dealt with thee for any other 
purpose than the manifestation of thy righteousness?"(g) This 
is the balm for his wounds, this is the crown of the contest, this the reward 
for his patience. For perhaps his subsequent prosperity was small, great as it 
may seem to some, and ordained for the sake of small minds, even though he 
received again twice as much as he had lost. 

  19. In this case then it is not wonderful, if George had the advantage of 
Athanasius; nay it would be more wonderful, if the righteous were not tried in 
the fire of contumely; nor is this very wonderful, as it would have been had 
the flames availed for more than this. Then he was in retirement, and arranged 
his exile most excellently, for he betook himself to the holy and divine 
homes(d) of contemplation in Egypt, where, secluding themselves 
from the world, and welcoming the desert, men live to God more than all who 
exist in the body. Some struggle on in an utterly monastic and solitary life, 
speaking to themselves alone and to God,(e) and all the world 
they know is what meets their eyes in the desert. Others, cherishing the law 
of love in community, are at once Solitaries and Coenobites, dead to all other 
men and to the eddies of public affairs which whirl us and are whirled about 
themselves and make sport of us in their sudden changes, being the world to 
one another and whetting the edge of their love in emulation. During his 
intercourse with them, the great Athanasius, who was always the mediator and 
reconciler of all other men, like Him Who made peace through His 
blood(z) between things which were at variance, reconciled the 
solitary with the community life: by showing that the Priesthood is capable of 
contemplation, and that contemplation is in need of a spiritual guide. 

  20. Thus he combined the two, and so 



275 



united the partisans of both calm action and of active calm, as to convince 
them that the monastic life is characterised by steadfastness of disposition 
rather than by bodily retirement. Accordingly the great David was a man of at 
once the most active and most solitary life, if any one thinks the verse, I am 
in solitude, till I pass away,(a) of value and authority in the 
exposition of this subject. Therefore, though they surpass all others in 
virtue, they fell further short of his mind than others fell short of their 
own, and while contributing little to the perfection of his priesthood, they 
gained in return greater assistance in contemplation. Whatever he thought, was 
a law for them, whatever on the contrary he disapproved, they abjured: his 
decisions were to them the tables of Moses,(b) and they paid 
him more reverence than is due from men to the Saints. Aye, and when men came 
to hunt the Saint like a wild beast, and, after searching for him everywhere, 
failed to find him, they vouchsafed these emissaries not a single word, and 
offered their necks to the sword, as risking their lives for Christ's sake, 
and considering the most cruel sufferings on behalf of Athanasius to be an 
important step to contemplation, and far more divine and sublime than the long 
fasts and hard lying and mortifications in which they constantly revel. 

  21. Such were his surrounding when he approved the wise counsel of Solomon 
that their is a time to every purpose:(U) so he hid himself for 
a while, escaping during the time of war, to show himself when the time of 
peace came, as it did soon afterwards. Meanwhile George, there being 
absolutely no one to resist him, overran Egypt, and desolated Syria, in the 
might of ungodliness. He seized upon the East also as far as he could, ever 
attracting the weak, as torrents roll down objects in their course, and 
assailing the unstable or faint-hearted. He won over also the simplicity of 
the Emperor, for thus I must term his instability, though I respect his pious 
motives. For, to say the truth, he had zeal, but not according to 
knowledge.(d) He purchased those in authority who were lovers 
of money rather than lovers of Christ--for he was well supplied with the funds 
for the poor, which he embezzled--especially the effeminate and unmanly 
men,(e) of doubtful sex, but of manifest impiety; to whom, I 
know not how or why, Emperors of the Romans entrusted authority over men, 
though their proper function was the charge of women. In this lay the power of 
that servant(a) of the wicked one, that sower of tares, that 
forerunner of Antichrist; foremost in speech of the orators of his time among 
the Bishops; if any one likes to call him an orator who was not so much an 
impious, as he was a hostile and contentious reasoner,--his name I will gladly 
pass by: he was the hand of his party, perverting the truth by the gold 
subscribed for pious uses, which the wicked made an instrument of their 
impiety. 

  22. The crowning feat of this faction was the council which sat first at 
Seleucia, the city of the holy and illustrious virgin Thekla, and afterwards 
at this mighty city, thus connecting their names, no longer with noble 
associations, but with these of deepest disgrace; whether we must call that 
council, which subverted and disturbed everything, a tower of 
Chalane,(b) which deservedly confounded the tongues--would that 
theirs had been confounded for their harmony in evil !--or a Sanhedrim of 
Caiaphas(g) where Christ was condemned, or some other like 
name. The ancient and pious doctrine which defended the Trinity was abolished, 
by setting up a(d) palisade and battering down the 
Consubstantial: opening the door to impiety by means of what is written, using 
as their pretext, their reverence for Scripture and for the use of approved 
terms, but really introducing unscriptural Arianism. For the phrase "like, 
according to the Scriptures," was a bait to the simple, concealing the hook of 
impiety, a figure seeming to look in the direction of all who passed by, a 
boot fitting either foot, a winnowing with every wind,(e) 
gaining authority from the newly written villany and device against the truth. 
For they were wise to do evil, but to do good they had no 
knowledge.(z) 

  23. Hence came their pretended condemnation(h) of the 
heretics, whom they renounced in words, in order to gain plausibility for 
their efforts, but in reality furthered; charging them not with unbounded 
impiety, but with exaggerated language. Hence came the profane judges of the 
Saints, and the new combination, and public view and discussion of mysterious 
questions, and the illegal enquiry into the actions of life, and the hired 
informers, and the pur- 



276 



chased sentences. Some were unjustly deposed(a) from their 
sees, others intruded, and among other necessary qualifications, made to sign 
the bonds of iniquity: the ink was ready, the informer at hand. This the 
majority even of us, who were not overcome, had to endure, not falling in 
mind, though prevailed upon to sign,(b) and so uniting with men 
who were in both respects wicked, and involving ourselves in the 
smoke,(g) if not in the flame. Over this I have often wept, 
when contemplating the con-fission of impiety at that time, and the 
persecution of the orthodox teaching which now arose at the hands of the 
patrons of the Word. 

  24. For in reality, as the Scripture says, the shepherds became 
brutish,(d) and many shepherds destroyed My vineyard, and 
defiled my pleasant portion,(e) I mean the Church of God, which 
has been gathered together by the sweat and blood of many toilers and victims 
both before and after Christ, aye, even the great sufferings of God for us. 
For with very few exceptions, and these either men who from their 
insignificance were disregarded, or from their virtue manfully resisted, being 
left unto Israel,(z) as was ordained, for a seed and 
root,(h) to blossom and come to life again amid the streams of 
the Spirit, everyone(q) yielded to the influences of the time, 
distinguished only by the fact that some did so earlier, some later, that some 
became the champions and leaders of impiety, while such others were assigned a 
lower rank, as had been shaken by fear, enslaved by need, fascinated by 
flattery, or beguiled in ignorance; the last being the least guilty, if indeed 
we can allow even this to be a valid excuse for men entrusted with the 
leadership of the people. For just as the force of lions and other animals, or 
of men and of women, or of old and of young men is not the same, but there is 
a considerable difference due to age or species--so it is also with rulers and 
their subjects. For while we might pardon laymen in such a case, and often 
they escape, because not put to the test, yet how can we excuse a teacher, 
whose duty it is, unless he is falsely so-called, to correct the ignorance of 
others. For is it not absurd, while no one, however great his boorishness and 
want of education, is allowed to be ignorant of the Roman law, and while there 
is no law in favour of sins of ignorance, that the teachers of the mysteries 
of salvation should be ignorant of the first principles of salvation, however 
simple and shallow their minds may be in regard to other subjects. But, even 
granting indulgence to them who erred in ignorance, what can be said for the 
rest, who lay claim to subtlety of intellect, and yet yielded to the 
court-party for the reasons I have mentioned, and after playing the part of 
piety for a long while, failed in the hour of trial. 

  25. "Yet once more,"(a) I hear the Scripture say that the 
heaven and the earth shall be shaken, inasmuch as this has befallen them 
before, signifying, as I suppose, a manifest renovation of all things. And we 
must believe S. Paul when he says(b) that this last shaking is 
none other than the second coming of Christ, and the transformation and 
changing of the universe to a condition of stability which cannot be shaken. 
And I imagine that this present shaking, in which(g) the 
contemplatives and lovers of God, who before the time exercise their heavenly 
citizenship, are shaken from us, is of no less consequence than any of former 
days. For, however peaceful and moderate in other respects these men are, yet 
they cannot bear to carry their reasonableness so far as to be traitors to the 
cause of God for quietness' sake: nay on this point they are excessively 
warlike and sturdy in fight; such is the heat of their zeal, that they would 
sooner proceed to excess in disturbance, than fail to notice anything that is 
amiss. And no small portion of the people is breaking away with them, flying 
away, as a flock of birds does, with those who lead the flight, and even now 
does not cease to fly with them. 

  26. Such was Athanasius to us, when present, the pillar of the Church; and 
such, even when he retired before the insults of the wicked. For those who 
have plotted the capture of some strong fort, when they see no other easy 
means of approaching or taking it, betake themselves to arts, and then, after 
seducing the commander by money or guile, without any effort possess 
themselves of the stronghold, or, if you will, as those who plotted against 
Samson first cut off his hair,(d) in which his strength lay, 
and then seized upon the judge, and made sport of him at will, to requite him 
for his former power: so did our foreign foes, after getting rid of our source 
of strength, and shearing off the glory of the Church, revel in like manner in 
utterances and deeds of impiety. Then the sup- 



277 



porter(a) and patron of the hostile shepherd(b) 
died, crowning(g) his reign, which had not been evil, with an 
evil close, and unprofitably repenting, as they say, with his last breath, 
when each man, in view of the higher judge-merit seat, is a prudent judge of 
his own conduct. For of these three evils, which were unworthy of his reign, 
he said that he was conscious, the murder of his kinsmen, the proclamation of 
the Apostate, and the innovation upon the faith; and with these words he is 
said to have departed. Thus there was once more authority to teach the word of 
truth, and those who had suffered violence had now undisturbed freedom of 
speech, while jealousy was whetting the weapons of its wrath. Thus it was with 
the people of Alexandria, who, with their usual impatience of the insolent, 
could not brook the excesses of the man, and therefore marked his wickedness 
by an unusual death, and his death by an unusual ignominy. For you know that 
camel,(d) and its strange burden, and the new form of 
elevation, and the first and, I think, the only procession, with which to this 
day the insolent are threatened. 

  27. But when from this hurricane of unrighteousness, this corrupter of 
godliness, this precursor of the wicked one, such satisfaction had been 
exacted, in a way I cannot praise, for we must consider not what he ought to 
have suffered, but what we ought(e) to do: exacted however it 
was, as the result of the public anger and excitement: and thereupon, our 
champion was restored from his illustrious banishment, for so I term his exile 
on behalf of, and under the blessing of, the Trinity, amid such delight of the 
people of the city and of almost all Egypt, that they ran together from every 
side, from the furthest limits of the country, simply to hear the voice of 
Athanasius, or feast their eyes upon the sight of him, nay even, as we are 
told of the Apostles, that they might be hallowed by the 
shadows(z) and unsubstantial image of his body: so that, many 
as are the honours, and welcomes bestowed on frequent occasions in the course 
of time upon various individuals, not only upon public rulers and bishops, but 
also upon the most illustrious of private citizens, not one has been recorded 
more numerously attended or more brilliant than this. And only one honour can 
be compared with it by Athanasius himself, which had been conferred upon him 
on his former entrance into the city, when returning from the same exile for 
the same reasons. 

  28. With reference to this honour there was also current some such report as 
the following; for I will take leave to mention it, even though it be 
superfluous, as a kind of flavouring to my speech, or a flower scattered in 
honour of his entry. After that entry, a certain officer, who had been twice 
Consul, was riding into the city; he was one of us, among the most noted of 
Cappadocians. I am sure that yon know that I mean Philagrius, who won upon our 
affections far beyond any one else, and was honoured as much as he was loved, 
if I may thus briefly set forth all his distinctions: who had been for a 
second time entrusted with the government of the city, at the request of the 
citizens, by the decision of the Emperor. Then one of the common people 
present, thinking the crowd enormous, like an ocean whose bound no eye can 
see, is reported to have said to one of his comrades and friends--as often 
happens in such a case"Tell me, my good fellow, have you ever before seen the 
people pour out in such numbers and so enthusiastically to do honour to any 
one man?" "No!" said the young man, "and I fancy that not even Constantius 
himself would be so treated;" indicating, by the mention of the Emperor, the 
climax of possible honour. "Do you speak of that," said the other with a sweet 
and merry laugh, "as something wonderfully great? I can scarcely believe that 
even the great Athanasius would be welcomed like this," adding at the same 
time one of our native oaths in confirmation of his words. Now the point of 
what he said, as I suppose you also plainly see, is this, that he set the 
subject of our eulogy before the Emperor himself. 

  29. So great was the reverence of all for the man, and so amazing even now 
seems the reception which I have described. For if divided according to birth, 
age and profession,(and the city is most usually arranged in this way, when a 
public honour is bestowed on anyone) how can I set forth in words that mighty 
spectacle? They formed one river, and it were indeed a poet's task to describe 
that Nile, of really golden stream and rich in crops, flowing back again from 
the city to the Chaereum, a day's journey, I take it, and more. Permit me to 
revel a while longer in 



278 



my description : for I am going there, and it is not easy to bring back even 
my words from that ceremony. He rode upon a colt, almost, blame me not for 
folly, as my Jesus did upon that other colt,(a) whether it were 
the people of the Gentiles, whom He mounts in kindness, by setting it free 
from the bonds of ignorance, or something else, which the Scripture sets 
forth. He was welcomed with branches of trees, and garments with many Bowers 
and of varied hue were torn off and strewn before him and under his feet: 
there alone was all that was glorious and costly and peerless treated with 
dishonour. Like, once more, to the entry of Christ were those that went before 
with shouts and followed with dances; only the crowd which sung his praises 
was not of children only, but every tongue was harmonious, as men contended 
only to outdo one another. I pass by the universal cheers, and the pouring 
forth of unguents, and the nightlong festivities, and the whole city gleaming 
with light, and the feasting in public and at home, and all the means of 
testifying to a city's joy, which were then in lavish and incredible profusion 
bestowed upon him. Thus did this marvellous man, with such a concourse, regain 
his own city. 

  30. He lived then as becomes the rulers of such a people, but did he fail to 
teach as he lived? Were his contests out of harmony with his teaching? Were 
his dangers less than those of men who have contended for any truth? Were his 
honours inferior to the objects for which he contended? Did he after his 
reception in any way disgrace that reception? By no means. Everything was 
harmonious, as an air upon a single lyre, and in the same key; his life, his 
teaching, his struggles, his dangers, his return, and his conduct after his 
return. For immediately on his restoration to his Church, he was not like 
those who are blinded by unrestrained passion, who, under the dominion of 
their anger, thrust away or strike at once whatever comes in their way, even 
though it might well be spared. But, thinking this to be a special time for 
him to consult his reputation, since one who is ill-treated is usually 
restrained, and one who has the power to requite a wrong is ungoverned, he 
treated so mildly and gently those who had injured him, that even they 
themselves, if I may say so, did not find his restoration distasteful. 

  31. He cleansed the temple of those who made merchandise of God, and 
trafficked in the things of Christ, imitating Christ(b) in this 
also; only it was with persuasive words, not with a twisted scourge that this 
was wrought. He reconciled also those who were at variance, both with one 
another and with him, without the aid of any coadjutor. Those who had been 
wronged he set free from oppression, making no distinction as to whether they 
were of his own or of the opposite party. He restored too the teaching which 
had been overthrown: the Trinity was once more boldly spoken of, and set upon 
the lampstand, flashing with the brilliant light of the One Godhead into the 
souls of all. He legislated again for the whole world, and brought all minds 
trader his influence, by letters to some, by invitations to others, 
instructing some, who visited him uninvited, and proposing as the single law 
to all--Good will.(a) For this alone was able to conduct them 
to the true issue. In brief, he exemplified the virtues of two celebrated 
stones--for to those who assailed him he was adamant, and to those at variance 
a magnet, which by some secret natural power draws iron to itself, and 
influences the hardest of substances. 

  32. But yet it was not likely that envy could brook all this, or see the 
Church restored again to the same glory and health as in former days, by the 
speedy healing over, as in the body, of the wounds of separation. Therefore it 
was, that he raised up against Athanasius the Emperor, a rebel like 
himself,(b) and his peer in villany, inferior to him only from 
lack of time, the first of Christian Emperors to rage against Christ, bringing 
forth all at once the basilisk of impiety with which he had long been in 
labour, when he obtained an opportunity, and shewing himself, at the time when 
he was proclaimed Emperor, to be a traitor to the Emperor who had entrusted 
him with the empire, and a traitor double dyed to the God who had saved him. 
He devised the most inhuman of all the persecutions by blending speciousness 
with cruelty, in his envy of the honour won by the martyrs in their struggles; 
and so he called in question their repute for courage, by making verbal twists 
and quibbles a part of his character, or to speak the real truth, devoting 
himself to them with an eagerness born of his natural disposition, and 
imitating in varied craft the Evil one who dwelt within him. The subjugation 
of the whole race of Christians he thought a simple task; but found it a great 
one to overcome Atha- 



279 



nasius and the power of his teaching over us. For he saw that no success could 
he gained in the plot against us, because of this man's resistance and 
opposition; the places of the Christians cut down being at once filled up, 
surprising though it seems, by the accession of Gentiles and the prudence of 
Athanasius. In full view therefore of this, the crafty perverter and 
persecutor, clinging no longer to his cloak of illiberal sophistry, laid bare 
his wickedness and openly banished the Bishop from the city. For tile 
illustrious warrior must needs conquer in three struggles(a) 
and thus make good his perfect title to fame. 

  33. Brief was the interval before Justice pronounced sentence, and handed 
over the offender(b) to the Persians: sending him forth an 
ambitious monarch--and bringing him back a corpse for which no one even felt 
pity; which, as I have heard, was not allowed to rest in the grave, but was 
shaken out and thrown up by the earth which he had shaken: a prelude--I take 
it --to his future chastisement. Then another king(g) 
arose,(d) not shameless in countenance like the former, nor an 
oppressor of Israel with cruel tasks and taskmasters, but most pious and 
gentle. In order to lay the best of foundations for his empire, and begin, as 
is right, by an act of justice, he recalled from exile all the Bishops, but in 
the first place him who stood first in virtue and had conspicuously championed 
the cause of piety. Further, he inquired into the truth of our faith which had 
been turn asunder, confused, and parcelled out into various opinions and 
portions by many; with the intention, if it were possible, of reducing the 
whole world to harmony and union by the co-operation of the Spirit: and, 
should he fail in this, of attaching himself to the best party, so as to aid 
and be aided by it, thus giving token of the exceeding loftiness and 
magnificence of his ideas on questions of the greatest moment. Here too was 
shown in a very high degree the simple-mindedness of Athanasius, and the 
steadfastness of his faith in Christ. For, when all the rest who sympathised 
with us were divided into three parties, and many were faltering in their 
conception of the Son, and still more in that of the Holy Ghost, (a point on 
which to be only slightly in error was to be orthodox) and few indeed were 
sound upon both points, he was the first and only one, or with the concurrence 
of but a few, to venture to confess in writing, with entire clearness and 
distinctness, the Unity of Godhead and Essence of the Three Persons, and thus 
to attain in later days, under tile influence of inspiration, to the same 
faith in regard to the Holy Ghost, as had been bestowed at an earlier time on 
most of the Fathers ia regard to the Son. This confession. a truly royal and 
magnificent gift, he presented to the Emperor, opposing to the unwritten 
innovation, a written account(e) the orthodox faith, so that an 
emperor might be overcome by an emperor, reason by reason, treatise by 
treatise. 

  34. This confession was, it seems, greeted with respect by all, both in West 
and East, who were capable of life; some cherishing piety within their own 
bosoms, if we may credit what they say, but advancing no further, like a 
still-born child which dies within its mother's womb; others kindling to some 
extent, as it were, sparks, so far as to escape the difficulties of the time, 
arising either from the more fervent of the orthodox, or the devotion of the 
people; while others spoke the truth with boldness, on whose side I would be, 
for I dare make no further boast; no longer consulting my own fearfulness--in 
other words, the views of men more unsound than myself (for this we have done 
enough and to spare, without either gaining anything from others, or guarding 
from injury that which was our own, just as bad stewards do) but bringing 
forth to light my offspring, nourishing it with eagerness, and exposing it, in 
its constant growth, to the eyes of all. 

  35. This, however, is less admirable than his conduct. What wonder that he, 
who had already made actual ventures on behalf of the truth, should confess it 
in writing? Yet this point I will add to what has been said, as it seems to me 
especially wonderful and cannot with impunity be passed over in a time so 
fertile in disagreements as this. For his action, if we take note of him, will 
afford instruction even to the men of this clay. For as, in the case of one 
and the same quantity of water, there is separated from it, not only the 
residue which is left behind by the hanoi when drawing it, but also those 
drops, once contained in the hand, which trickle out through the fingers; so 
also there is a separation between us anti, not only those who hold aloof in 
their impiety, but also those who are most pious, and that. both in regard to 
such doctrines as are of small consequence (a matter of less moment) and also 
in regard to expressions intended to bear the same meaning. We use in an 
orthodox sense the terms one Essence and three Hypostases, the one to denote 
the nature of the Godhead, the other the properties(a) of the 
Three; the Italians(b) mean the same, but, owing to the 
scantiness of their vocabulary, and its poverty of terms, they are unable to 
distinguish between Essence and Hypostases, and therefore introduce the term 
Persons, to avoid being understood to assert three Essences. The result, were 
it not piteous, would be laughable. This slight difference of sound was taken 
to indicate a difference of faith. Then, Sabellianism was suspected in the 
doctrine of Three Persons, Arianism in that of Three Hypostases, both being 
the offspring of a contentious spirit. And then, from the gradual but constant 
growth of irritation (the unfailing result of contentionsness) there was a 
danger of tile whole world being torn asunder in the strife about syllables. 
Seeing and hearing this, our blessed one, true man of God and great steward of 
souls as he was, felt it inconsistent with his duty to overlook so absurd and 
unreasonable a rending of the word, and applied his medicine to the disease. 
In what manner? He conferred in his gentle and sympathetic way with both 
parties, anti after be had carefully weighed the meaning of their expressions, 
and found that they had the same sense, and were in nowise different in 
doctrine, by permit-ring each party to use its own terms, he bound 
them(g) together in unity of action. 

  36. This in itself was more profitable than the long course of labours and 
teaching on which all writers enlarge, for in it somewhat of ambition mingled, 
and consequently, perhaps, somewhat of novelty in expressions. This again was 
of more value than his many vigils and acts of discipline,(d) 
the advantage of which is limited to those who perform them. This Was worthy 
of our hero's famous banishments and flights; for the object, in view of which 
he chose to endure such sufferings, he still pursued when the sufferings 



280 



were past. Nor did he cease to cherish the same ar-dour in others, praising 
some, gently rebuking others; rousing the sluggishness of these, restraining 
the passion of those; in some cases eager to prevent a fall, in others 
devising means of recovery after a fall; simple in disposition, manifold in 
the arts of government; clever in argument, more clever still in mind; 
condescending to the more lowly, outsoaring the more lofty; 
hospitable,(a) protector of suppliants, averted of evils, 
really combining in himself alone the whole of the attributes parcelled out by 
the sons of Greece among their deities. Further he was the patron of the 
wedded and virgin state alike, both peaceable and a peacemaker, and attendant 
upon those who are passing from hence. Oh, how many a title does his virtue 
afford me, if I would detail its many-sided excellence. 

  37. After such a course, as taught and teacher, that his life and habits 
form the ideal of an Episcopate, and his teaching the law of orthodoxy, what 
reward does he win for his piety? It is not indeed right to pass this by. In a 
good old age he closed his life,(b) and was gathered to his 
fathers, the Patriarchs, and Prophets, and Apostles, and Martyrs, who 
contended for the truth. To be brief in my epitaph, the honours at his 
departure surpassed even those of his return from exile; the object of many 
tears, his glory, stored up in the minds of all, outshines all its visible 
tokens. Yet, O thou dear and holy one, who didst thyself, with all thy fair 
renown, so especially illustrate the due proportions of speech and of silence, 
do thou stay here my words, falling short as they do of thy true meed of 
praise, though they have claimed the full exercise of all my powers. And 
mayest thou cast upon us from above a propitious glance, and conduct this 
people in its perfect worship of the perfect Trinity, which, as Father, Son, 
Holy Ghost, we contemplate and adore. And mayest thou, if my lot be peaceful, 
possess and aid me in my pastoral charge, or if it pass through struggles, 
uphold me, or take me to thee, and set me with thyself and those like thee 
(though I have asked a great thing) in Christ Himself, our Lord, to whom be 
all glory, honour, and power for evermore. Amen. 

XXVII. THE FIRST THEOLOGICAL ORATION. 



A PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE AGAINST THE 

EUNOMIANS. 



  I. I am to speak against persons who pride themselves on their eloquence; 
so, to begin with a text of Scripture, "Behold, I am against thee, O thou 
proud one,"(a) not only in 



285 



thy system of teaching, but also in thy hearing, and in thy tone of mind. For 
there are certain persons who have not only their ears and their tongues, but 
even, as I now perceive, their hands too, itching for our words; who delight 
in profane babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so 
called,(b) and strifes about words, which tend to no profit; 
for so Paul, the Preacher and Establisher of the "Word cut 
short,"(g) the disciple and teacher of the 
Fishermen,(d) calls all that is excessive or superfluous in 
discourse. But as to those to whom we refer, would that they, whose tongue is 
so voluble and clever in applying itself to noble and approved language, would 
likewise pay some attention to actions. For then perhaps in a little while 
they would become less sophistical, and less absurd and strange acrobats of 
words, if I may use a ridiculous expression about a ridiculous subject. 

  II. But since they neglect every path of righteousness, and look only to 
this one point, namely, which of the propositions submitted to them they shall 
bind or loose, (like those persons who in the theatres perform wrestling 
matches in public, but not that kind of wrestling in which the victory is won 
according to the rules of the sport, but a kind to deceive the eyes of those 
who are ignorant in such matters, and to catch applause), and every 
marketplace must buzz with their talking; and every dinner party be worried to 
death with silly talk and boredom; and every festival be made unfestive and 
full of dejection, and every occasion of mourning be consoled by a greater 
calamity(e--their questions--and all the women's apartments 
accustomed to simplicity be thrown into confusion and be robbed of its flower 
of modesty by the torrent of their words ... since, I say this is so, the evil 
is intolerable and not to be borne, and our Great Mystery is in danger of 
being made a thing of little moment. Well then, let these 
spies(z) bear with us, moved as we are with fatherly 
compassion, and as holy Jeremiah says, torn in our hearts;(h) 
let them bear with us so far as not to give a savage reception to our 
discourse upon this subject; and let them, if indeed they can, restrain their 
tongues for a short while and lend us their ears. However that may be, you 
shall at any rate suffer no loss. For either we shall have spoken in the ears 
of them that will hear,(a) and our words will bear some fruit, 
namely an advantage to you (since the Sower soweth the Word(b) 
upon every kind of mind; and the good and fertile bears fruit), or else you 
will depart despising this discourse of ours as you have despised others, and 
having drawn from it further material for gainsaying and railing at us, upon 
which to feast yourselves yet more. 

  And you must not be astonished if I speak a language which is strange to you 
and contrary to your custom, who profess to know everything and to teach 
everything in a too impetuous and generous manner ...not to pain you by saying 
ignorant and rash. 

  III. Not to every one, my friends, does it belong to philosophize about God; 
not to every one; the Subject is not so cheap and low; and I will add, not 
before every audience, nor at all times, nor on all points; but on certain 
occasions, and before certain persons, and within certain limits. 

  Not to all men, because it is permitted only to those who have been 
examined, and are passed masters in meditation, and who have been previously 
purified in soul and body, or at the very least are being purified. For the 
impure to touch the pure is, we may safely say, not safe, just as it is unsafe 
to fix weak eyes upon the sun's rays. And what is the permitted occasion? It 
is when we are free from all external defilement or disturbance, and when that 
which rules within us is not confused with vexatious or erring images; like 
persons mixing up good writing with bad, or filth with the sweet odours of 
unguents. For it is necessary to be truly at leisure to know God; and when we 
can get a convenient season, to discern the straight road of the things 
divine. And who are the permitted persons? They to whom the subject is of real 
concern, and not they who make it a matter of pleasant gossip, like any other 
thing, after the races, or the theatre, or a concert, or a dinner, or still 
lower employments. To such men as these, idle jests and pretty contradictions 
about these subjects are a part of their amusement. 

  IV. Next, on what subjects and to what extent may we philosophize? On 
matters within our reach, and to such an extent as the mental power and grasp 
of our audience may extend. No further, lest, as excessively loud sounds 
injure the hearing, or excess of food the body, or, if you will, as excessive 
burdens beyond 



286 



the strength injure those who bear them, or excessive rains the earth; so 
these too, being pressed down and overweighted by the stiffness, if I may use 
the expression, of the arguments should suffer loss even in respect of the 
strength they originally possessed.(a) 

  V. Now, I am not saying that it is not needful to remember God at all times; 
... I must not be misunderstood, or I shall be having these nimble and quick 
people down upon me again. For we ought to think of God even more often than 
we draw our breath; and if the expression is permissible, we ought to do 
nothing else. Yea, I am one of those who entirely approve that Word which bids 
us meditate day and night,(b) and tell at eventide and morning 
and noon day,(g) and praise the Lord at every 
tithe;(d) or, to use Moses' words, whether a man lie down, or 
rise up, or walk by the way, or whatever else he be 
doing(e)--and by this recollection we are to be moulded to 
purity. So that it is not the continual remembrance of God that I would 
hinder, but only the talking about God; nor even that as in itself wrong, but 
only when unseasonable; nor all teaching, but only want of moderation. As of 
even honey repletion and satiety, though it be of honey, produce 
vomiting;(z) and, as Solomon says and I think, there is a time 
for every thing,(h) and that which is good ceases to be good if 
it be not done in a good way; just as a flower is quite out of season in 
winter, and just as a man's dress does not become a woman, nor a woman's a 
man; and as geometry is out of place in mourning, or tears at a carousal; 
shall we in this instance alone disregard the proper time, in a matter in 
which most of all due season should be respected? Surely not, my friends and 
brethren (for I will still call you Brethren, though you do not behave like 
brothers). Let us not think so nor yet, like hot tempered and hard mouthed 
horses, throwing off our rider Reason, and casting away Reverence, that keeps 
us within due limits, run far away from the turning point? but let us 
philosophize within our proper bounds, and not be carried away into Egypt, nor 
be swept down into Assyria,nor sing the Lord's song in a strange land, by 
which I mean before any kind of audience, strangers or kindred, hostile or 
friendly, kindly or the reverse, who watch what we do with over great care, 
and would like the spark of what is wrong in us to become a flame, and 
secretly kindle and fan it and raise it to heaven with their breath and make 
it higher than the Babylonian flame which burnt up every thing around it. For 
since their strength lies not in their own dogmas, they hunt for it in our 
weak points. And therefore they apply themselves to our--shall I say 
"misfortunes" or "failings"?--like flies to wounds. But let us at least be no 
longer ignorant of ourselves, or pay too little attention to the due order in 
these matters. And if it be impossible to put an end to the existing 
hostility, let us at least agree upon this, that we will utter Mysteries under 
our breath, and holy things in a holy manner, and we will not cast to ears 
profane that which may not be uttered, nor give evidence that we possess less 
gravity than those who worship demons, and serve shameful fables and deeds; 
for they would sooner give their blood to the uninitiated than certain words. 
But let us recognize that as in dress and diet and laughter and demeanour 
there is a certain decorum, so there is also in speech and silence; since 
among so many titles and powers of God, we pay the highest honour to The Word. 
Let even our disputings then be kept within bounds. 

  VI. Why should a man who is a hostile listener to such words be allowed to 
hear about the Generation of God, or his creation, or how God was made out of 
things which had no existence, or of section and analysis and 
division?(b) Why do we make our accusers judges? Why do we put 
swords into the hands of oar enemies? How, thinkest thou, or with what temper, 
will the arguments about such subjects be received by one who approves of 
adulteries, and corruption of children, and who worships the passions and 
cannot conceive of aught higher than the body ... who till very lately set up 
gods for himself, and gods too who were noted for the vilest deeds? Will it 
not first be from a material standpoint, shamefully and ignorantly, and in the 
sense to which he has been accustomed? Will he not make thy Theology a defence 
for his own gods and pas- 



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sions? For if we ourselves wantonly misuse these words,(a) it 
will be a long time before we shall persuade them to accept our philosophy. 
And if they are in their own persons inventors of evil things, how should they 
refrain from grasping at such things when offered to them? Such results come 
to us from mutual contest. Such results follow to those who fight for the Word 
beyond what the Word approves; they are behaving like mad people, who set 
their own house on fire, or tear their own children, or disavow their own 
parents, taking them for strangers. 

  VII. But when we have put away from the conversation those who are strangers 
to it, and sent the great legion(b) on its way to the abyss 
into the herd of swine, the next thing is to look to ourselves, and polish our 
theological self to beauty like a statue. The first point to be considered 
is--What is this great rivalry of speech and endless talking? What is this new 
disease of insatiability? Why have we tied our hands and armed our tongues? We 
do not praise either hospitality, or brotherly love, or conjugal affection, or 
virginity; nor do we admire liberality to the poor, or the chanting of Psalms, 
or nightlong vigils,() or tears. We do not keep under the body by 
fasting, or go forth to God by prayer; nor do we subject the worse to the 
better--I mean the dust to the spirit--as they would do who form a just 
judgment of our composite nature; we do not make our life a preparation for 
death; nor do we make ourselves masters of our passions, mindful of our 
heavenly nobility; nor tame our anger when it swells and rages, nor our pride 
that bringeth to a fall, nor unreasonable grief, nor unchastened pleasure, nor 
meretricious laughter, nor undisciplined eyes, nor insatiable ears, nor 
excessive talk, nor absurd thoughts, nor aught of the occasions which the Evil 
One gets against us from sources within ourselves; bringing upon us the death 
that comes through the windows,(d) as Holy Scripture saith; 
that is, through the senses. Nay we do the very opposite, and have given 
liberty to the passions of others, as kings give releases from service in 
honour of a victory, only on condition that they incline to our side, and make 
their assault upon God more boldly, or more impiously. And we give them an 
evil reward for a thing which is not good, license of tongue for their 
impiety. 

  VIII. And yet, O talkative Dialectician, I will ask thee one small 
question,(a) and answer thou me, as He saith to Job, Who 
through whirlwind and cloud giveth Divine admonitions.(b) Are 
there many mansions in God's House, as thou hast heard, or only one? Of course 
you will admit that there are many, and not only one. Now, are they all to be 
filled, or only some, and others not; so that some will be left empty, and 
will have been prepared to no purpose? Of course all will be filled, for 
nothing can be in vain which has been done by God. And can you tell me what 
you will consider this Mansion to be? Is it the rest and glory which is in 
store There for the Blessed, or something else?--No, not anything else. Since 
then we are agreed upon this point, let us further examine another also. Is 
there any thing that procures these Mansions, as I think there is; or is there 
nothing?--Certainly there is--What is it? Is it not that there are various 
modes of conduct, and various purposes, one leading one way, another way, 
according to the proportion of faith, and these we call Ways? Must we, then, 
travel all, or some of these Ways ... the same individual along them all, if 
that be possible; or, if not, along as many as may be; or else along some of 
them? And even if this may not be, it would still be a great thing, at least 
as it appears to me, to travel excellently along even one.--"You are right in 
your conception."--What then when you hear there is but One way, and that a 
narrow one,(g) does the word seem to you to shew? That there is 
but one on account of its excellence. For it is but one, even though it be 
split into many parts. And narrow because of its difficulties, and because it 
is trodden by few in comparison with the multi-trade of the adversaries, and 
of those who travel along the road of wickedness. "So I think too." Well, 
then, my good friend, since this is so, why do you, as though condemning our 
doctrine for a certain poverty, rush headlong down that one which leads 
through what you call arguments and speculations, but I frivolities and 
quackeries? Let Paul reprove you with those bitter reproaches, in which, after 
his list of the Gifts of Grace, he says, Are all Apostles? Are all Prophets? 
etc.(d) 

  IX. But, be it so. Lofty thou art, even beyond the lofty, even above the 
clouds, if thou wilt, a spectator of things invisible, a hearer 



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of things unspeakable; one who hast ascended after Elias, and who after Moses 
hast been deemed worthy of the Vision of God, and after Paul hast been taken 
up into heaven why dost thou mould the rest of thy fellows in one day into 
Saints, and ordain them Theologians, and as it were breathe into them 
instruction, and make them many councils of ignorant oracles? Why dost thou 
entangle those who are weaker in thy spider's web, 

if it were something great and wise? Why dost thou stir up wasps' nests 
against the Faith? Why dost thou suddenly spring a flood of dialectics upon 
us, as the fables of old did the Giants? Why hast thou collected all that is 
frivolous and unmanly among men, like a rabble, into one torrent, and having 
made them more effeminate by flattery, fashioned a new workshop, cleverly 
making a harvest for thyself out of their want of understanding? Dost thou 
deny that this is so, and are the other matters of no account to thee? Must 
thy tongue rule at any cost, and canst thou not restrain the birthpang of thy 
speech? Thou mayest find many other honourable subjects for discussion. To 
these turn this disease of thine with some advantage. Attack the silence of 
Pythagoras,(a) and the Orphic beans, and the novel brag about 
"The Master said." Attack the ideas of Plato,(b) and the 
transmigrations and courses of our souls, and the reminiscences, and the 
unlovely loves of the soul for lovely bodies. Attack the atheism of 
Epicurus,(g) and his atoms, and his unphilosophic pleasure; or 
Aristotle's petty Providence, and his artificial system, and his discourses 
about the mortality of the soul, and the humanitarianism of his doctrine. 
Attack the superciliousness of the Stoa,(d) or the greed and 
vulgarity of the Cynic.(e) Attack the "Void and Full" (what 
nonsense), and all the details about the gods and the sacrifices and the idols 
and demons, whether beneficent or malignant, and all the tricks that people 
play with divination, evoking of gods, or of souls, and the power of the 
stars. And if these things seem to thee unworthy of discussion as petty and 
already often confuted, and thou wilt keep to thy line, and seek the 
satisfaction of thy ambition in it; then here too I will provide thee with 
broad paths. Philosophize about the world or worlds; about matter; about soul; 
about natures endowed with reason, good or bad; about resurrection, about 
judgment, about reward, or the Sufferings of Christ. For in these subjects to 
hit the mark is not useless, and to miss it is not dangerous. But with God we 
shall have converse, in this life only in a small degree; but a little later, 
it may be, more perfectly, in the Same, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be 
glory for ever. Amen. 


ORATION XXVIII. THE SECOND THEOLOGICAL ORATION. 



  I. In the former Discourse we laid down clearly with respect to the 
Theologian, both what sort of character he ought to bear, and on what kind of 
subject he may philosophize, and when, and to what extent. We saw that he 
ought to be, as far as may be, pure, in order that light may be apprehended by 
light; and that he ought to consort with serious men, in order that his word 
be not fruitless through failing on an unfruitful soil; and that the suitable 
season is when we have a calm within from the whirl of outward things; so as 
not like madmen(a) to lose our breath; and that the extent to 
which we may go is that to which we have ourselves advanced, or to which we 
are advancing. Since then these things are so, and we have broken up for 
ourselves the fallows of Divinity? so as not to sow upon 
thorns,(b) and have made plain the face of the 
ground,(g) being moulded and moulding others by Holy Scripture 
... let us now enter upon Theological questions, setting at the head thereof 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of Whom we are to treat; that the 
Father may be well pleased, and the Son may help us, and the Holy Ghost may 
inspire us; or rather that one illumination may come upon us from the One God, 
One in diversity, diverse in Unity, wherein is a marvel. 



289 



  II. Now when I go up eagerly into the Mount(a)--or, to use a 
truer expression, when I both eagerly long, and at the same time am afraid 
(the one through my hope and the other through my weakness) to enter within 
the Cloud, and hold converse with God, for so God commands; if any be an 
Aaron, let him go up with me, and let him stand near, being ready, if it must 
be so, to remain outside the Cloud. But if any be a Nadad or an Abihu, or of 
the Order of the Elders, let him go up indeed, but let him stand afar off, 
according to the value of his purification. But if any be of the multitude, 
who are unworthy of this height of contemplation, if he be altogether impure 
let him not approach at all,(b) for it would be dangerous to 
him; but if he be at least temporarily purified, let him remain below and 
listen to the Voice alone, and the trumpet,(g) the bare words 
of piety, and let him see the Mountain smoking and lightening, a terror at 
once and a marvel to those who cannot get up. But if any is an evil and savage 
beast, and altogether incapable of taking in the subject matter of 
Contemplation and Theology, let him not hurtfully and malignantly lurk in his 
den among the woods, to catch hold of some dogma or saying by a sudden spring, 
and to tear sound doctrine to pieces by his misrepresentations, but let him 
stand yet afar off and withdraw from the Mount, or he shall be stoned and 
crushed, and shall perish miserably in his wickedness. For to those who are 
like wild beasts true and sound discourses are stones. If he be a leopard let 
him die with his spots.(d) If a ravening and roaring lion, 
seeking what he may devour(h) of our souls or of our words; or 
a wild boar, trampling under foot the precious and translucent pearls of the 
Truth;(z) or an Arabian(h) and alien wolf, or 
one keener even than these in tricks of argument; or a fox, that is a 
treacherous and faithless soul, changing its shape according to circumstances 
or necessities, feeding on dead or putrid bodies, or on little 
vineyards(q) when the large ones have escaped them; or any 
other carnivorous beast, rejected by the Law as unclean for food or enjoyment; 
our discourse must withdraw from such and be engraved on solid tables of 
stone, and that on both sides because the Law is partly visible, and partly 
hidden; the one part belonging to the mass who remain below, the other to the 
few who press upward into the Mount. 

  III. What is this that has happened to me, O friends, and initiates, and 
fellow-lovers of the truth? I was running to lay hold on God, and thus I went 
up into the Mount, and drew aside the curtain of the Cloud, and entered away 
from matter and material things, and as far as I could I withdrew within 
myself. And then when I looked up, I scarce saw the back parts of 
God;(a) although I was sheltered by the Rock, the Word that was 
made flesh for us. And when I looked a little closer, I saw, not the First and 
unmingled Nature, known to Itself--to the Trinity, I mean; not That which 
abideth within the first(b) veil, and is hidden by the 
Cherubim; but only that Nature, which at last even reaches to us. And that is, 
as far as I can learn, the Majesty, or as holy David calls it, the 
Glory(g) which is manifested among the creatures, which It has 
produced and governs. For these are the Back Parts of God, which He leaves 
behind Him, as tokens of Himself(d) like the shadows and 
reflection of the sun in the water, which shew the sun to our weak eyes, 
because we cannot look at the sun himself, for by his unmixed light he is too 
strong for our power of perception. In this way then shalt thou discourse of 
God; even wert thou a Moses and a god to Pharaoh;(e) even wert 
thou caught up like Paul to the Third Heaven,(z) and hadst 
heard unspeakable words; even wert thou raised above them both, and exalted to 
Angelic or Archangelic place and dignity. For though a thing be all heavenly, 
or above heaven, and far higher in nature and nearer to God than we, yet it is 
farther distant from God, and from the complete comprehension of His Nature, 
than it is lifted above our complex and lowly and earthward sinking 
composition. IV. Therefore we must begin again thus. It is difficult to 
conceive God but to define Him in words is an impossibility, as one of the 
Greek teachers of Divinity(h) taught, not unskilfully, as it 
appears to me; with the intention that he might be thought to have apprehended 
Him; in that he says it is a hard thing to do; and yet may escape being 
convicted of ignorance because of the impossibility of giving expression to 
the apprehension, But in my opinion it is impossible to express Him, and 



290 



yet more impossible to conceive Him. For that which may be conceived may 
perhaps be made clear by language, if not fairly well, at any rate 
imperfectly, to any one who is not quite deprived of his hearing, or slothful 
of understanding. But to comprehend the whole of so great a Subject as this is 
quite impossible and impracticable, not merely to the utterly careless and 
ignorant, but even to those who are highly exalted, and who love God, and in 
like manner to every created nature; seeing that the darkness of this world 
and the thick covering of the flesh is an obstacle to the full understanding 
of the truth. I do not know whether it is the same with the higher natures and 
purer Intelligences(a) which because of their nearness to God, 
and because they are illumined with all His Light, may possibly see, if not 
the whole, at any rate more perfectly and distinctly than we do; some perhaps 
more, some less than others, in proportion to their rank. 

  V. But enough has been said on this point. As to what concerns us, it is not 
only the Peace of God(b) which passeth all understanding and 
knowledge, nor only the things which God hath stored up in promise for the 
righteous, which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind 
conceived"(g) except in a very small degree, nor the accurate 
knowledge of the Creation. For even of this I would have you know that you 
have only a shadow when you hear the words, "I will consider the heavens, the 
work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars,"(d) and the 
settled order therein; not as if he were considering them now, but as destined 
to do so hereafter. But far before them is That nature Which is above them, 
and Out of which they spring, the Incomprehensible and Illimitable--not, I 
mean, as to the fact of His being, but as to Its nature. For our preaching is 
not empty, nor our Faith vain,(e) nor is this the doctrine we 
proclaim; for we would not have you take our candid statement as a starting 
point for a quibbling denial of God, or of arrogance on account of our 
confession of ignorance. For it is one thing to be persuaded of the existence 
of a thing, and quite another to know what it is. 

  VI. Now our very eyes and the Law of Nature teach us that God exists and 
that He is the Efficient and Maintaining Cause of all things: our eyes, 
because they fall on visible objects, and see them in beautiful stability and 
progress, immovably moving and revolving if I may so say; natural Law, because 
through these visible things and their order, it reasons back to their Author. 
For how could this Universe have come into being or been put together, unless 
God had called it into existence, and held it together? For every one who sees 
a beautifully made lute, and considers the skill with which it has been fitted 
together and arranged, or who hears its melody, would think of none but the 
lutemaker, or the luteplayer, and would recur to him in mind, though he might 
not know him by sight. And thus to us also is manifested That which made and 
moves and preserves all created things, even though He be not comprehended by 
the mind. And very wanting in sense is he who will not willingly go thus far 
in following natural proofs; but not even this which we have fancied or 
formed, or which reason has sketched for us, proves the existence of a God. 
But if any one has got even to some extent a comprehension of this, how is 
God's Being to bedemonstrated? Who ever reached this extremity of wisdom? Who 
was ever deemed worthy of so great a gift? Who has opened the mouth of his 
mind and drawn in the Spirit,(a) so as by Him that searcheth 
all things, yea the deep thing of God,(b) to take in God, and 
no longer to need progress, since he already possesses the Extreme Object of 
desire, and That to which all the social life and all the intelligence of the 
best men press forward? 

  VII. For what will you conceive the Deity to be, if you rely upon all the 
approximations of reason? Or to what will reason carry you, O most philosophic 
of men and best of Theologians, who boast of your familiarity with the 
Unlimited? Is He a body? How then is He the Infinite and Limitless, and 
formless, and intangible, and invisible? or are these attributes of a body? 
What arrogance for such is not the nature of a body! Or will you say that He 
has a body, but not these attributes? O stupidity, that a Deity should possess 
nothing more than we do. For how is He an object of worship if He be 
circumscribed? Or how shall He escape being made of elements, and therefore 
subject to be resolved into them again, or even altogether dissolved? For 
every compound is a starting point of strife, and strife of separation, and 



291 



separation of dissolution. But dissolution is altogether foreign to God and to 
the First Nature. Therefore there can be no separation, that there may be no 
dissolution, and no strife that there may be no separation, and no composition 
that there may be no strife. Thus also them must be no body, that there may be 
no composition, and so the argument is established by going back from last to 
first. 

  VIII. And how shall we preserve the truth that God pervades all things and 
fills all, as it is written "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the 
Lord,"(a) and "The Spirit of the Lord filleth the 
world,"(b) if God partly contains and partly is contained? For 
either He will occupy an empty Universe, and so all things will have vanished 
for us, with this result, that we shall have insulted God by making Him a 
body, and by robbing Him of all things which He has made; or else He will be a 
body contained in other bodies, which is impossible; or He will be enfolded in 
them, or contrasted with them, as liquids are mixed, and one divides and is 
divided by another;--a view which is more absurd and anile than even the atoms 
of Epicurus(g) and so this argument Concerning the body will 
fall through, and have no body and no solid basis at all. But if we are to 
assert that He is immaterial (as for example that Fifth Element which 
some(d) have imagined), and that He is carried round in the 
circular movement ... let us assume that He is immaterial, and that He is the 
Fifth Element; and, if they please, let Him be also bodiless in accordance 
with the independent drift and arrangement of their argument; for I will not 
at present differ with them on this point; in what respect then will He be one 
of those things which are in movement and agitation, to say nothing of the 
insult involved in making the Creator subject to the same move-merit as the 
creatures, and Him That carries all (if they will allow even this) one with 
those whom He carries. Again, what is the force that moves your Fifth Element, 
and what is it that moves all things, and what moves that, and what is the 
force that moves that? And so on ad infinitum. And how can He help being 
altogether contained in space if He be subject to motion? But if they assert 
that He is something other than this Fifth Element; suppose it is an angelic 
nature that they attribute to Him, how will they shew that Angels are 
corporeal, or what sort of bodies they have? And how far in that case could 
God, to Whom the Angels minister, be superior to the Angels? And if He is 
above them, there is again brought in an irrational swarm of bodies, and a 
depth of nonsense, that has no possible basis to stand upon. 

  IX. And thus we see that God is not a body. For no inspired teacher has yet 
asserted or admitted such a notion, nor has the sentence of our own Court 
allowed it. Nothing then remains but to conceive of Him as incorporeal. But 
this term Incorporeal, though granted, does not yet set before us--or contain 
within itself His Essence, any more than Unbegotten, or Unoriginate, or 
Unchanging, or Incorruptible, or any other predicate which is used concerning 
God or in reference to Him. For what effect is produced upon His Being or 
Substance(a) by His having no beginning, and being incapable of 
change or limitation? Nay, the whole question of His Being is still left for 
the further consideration and exposition of him who truly has the mind of God 
and is advanced in contemplation. For just as to say "It is a body," or "It 
was begotten," is not sufficient to present clearly to the mind the various 
objects of which these predicates are used, but you must also express the 
subject of which you use them, if you would present the object of your thought 
clearly and adequately (for every one of these predicates, corporeal, 
begotten, mortal, may be used of a man, or a cow, or a horse). Just so he who 
is eagerly pursuing the nature of the Self-existent will not stop at saying 
what He is not, but must go on beyond what He is not, and say what He is; 
inasmuch as it is easier to take in some single point than to go on disowning 
point after point in endless detail, in order, both by the elimination of 
negatives and the assertion of positives to arrive at a comprehension of this 
subject. 

  But a man who states what God is not without going on to say what He is, 
acts much in the same way as one would who when asked how many twice five 
make, should answer, "Not two, nor three, nor four, nor five, nor twenty, nor 
thirty, nor in short any number below ten, nor any multiple of ten;" but would 
not answer "ten," nor settle the mind of his questioner upon the firm ground 
of the answer. For it is much easier, and more concise to shew what a thing is 
not from what it 



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is, than to demonstrate what it is by stripping it of what it is not.And this 
surely is evident to every one. 

  X. Now since we have ascertained that God is incorporeal, let us proceed a 
little further with our examination. Is He Nowhere or Somewhere. For if He is 
Nowhere,(a) then some person of a very inquiring turn of mind 
might ask, How is it then that He can even exist? For if the non-existent is 
nowhere, then that which is nowhere is also perhaps non-existent. But if He is 
Somewhere, He must be either in the Universe, or above the Universe. And if He 
is in the Universe, then He must be either in some part or in the whole. If in 
some part, then He will be circumscribed by that part which is less than 
Himself; but if everywhere, then by one which is further and greater--I mean 
the Universal, which contains the Particular; if the Universe is to be 
contained by the Universe, and no place is to be free from circumscription. 
This follows if He is contained in the Universe. And besides, where was He 
before the Universe was created, for this is a point of no little difficulty. 
But if He is above the Universe, is there nothing to distinguish this from the 
Universe, and where is this above situated? And how could this Transcendence 
and that which is transcended be distinguished in thought, if there is not a 
limit to divide and define them? Is it not necessary that there shall be some 
mean to mark off the Universe from that which is above the Universe? And what 
could this be but Place, which we have already rejected? For I have not yet 
brought forward the point that God would be altogether circumscript, if He 
were even comprehensible in thought: for comprehension is one form of 
circumscription. 

  XI. Now, why have I gone into all this, perhaps too minutely for most people 
to listen to, and in accordance with the present manner of discourse, which 
despises noble simplicity, and has introduced a crooked and 
intricate(b) style? That the tree may be known by its 
fruits;(g) I mean, that the darkness which is at work in such 
teaching may be known by the obscurity of the arguments. For my purpose in 
doing so was, not to get credit for myself for astonishing utterances, or 
excessive wisdom, through tying knots and solving difficulties (this was the 
great miraculous gift of Daniel),(a) but to make clear the 
point at which my argument has aimed from the first. And what was this? That 
the Divine Nature cannot be apprehended by human reason, and that we cannot 
even represent to ourselves all its greatness. And this not out of envy, for 
envy is far from the Divine Nature, which is passionless, and only good and 
Lord of all;(b) especially envy of that which is the most 
honourable(g) of all His creatures. For what does the Word 
prefer to the rational and speaking creatures? Why, even their very existence 
is a proof of His supreme goodness. Nor yet is this incomprehensibility for 
the sake of His own glory and honour, Who is full,(d) as if His 
possession of His glory and majesty depended upon the impossibility of 
approaching Him. For it is utterly sophistical and foreign to the character, I 
will not say of God, but of any moderately good man, who has any right ideas 
about himself, to seek his own supremacy by throwing a hindrance in the way of 
another. 

  XII. But whether there be other causes for it also, let them see who are 
nearer God, and are eye witnesses and spectators of His unsearchable 
judgments;(e) if there are any who are so eminent in virtue, 
and who walk in the paths of the Infinite, as the saying is. As far, however, 
as we have attained, who measure with our little measure things hard to be 
understood, perhaps one reason is to prevent us from too readily throwing away 
the possession because it was so easily come by. For people cling tightly to 
that which they acquire with labour; but that which they acquire easily they 
quickly throw away, because it can be easily recovered. And so it is turned 
into a blessing, at least to all men who are sensible, that this blessing is 
not too easy. Or perhaps it is in order that we may not share the fate of 
Lucifer, who fell, and in consequence of receiving the full light make our 
necks stiff against the Lord Almighty, and suffer a fall, of all things most 
pitiable, from the height we had attained. Or perhaps it may be to give a 
greater reward hereafter for their labour and glorious life to those who have 
here been purified, and have exercised long patience in respect of that which 
they desired. 

  Therefore this darkness of the body has been placed between us and God, like 
the cloud of old between the Egyptians and the Hebrews;(z) and 
this is perhaps what is meant by "He 



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made darkness His secret place," (a) namely our dulness, 
through which few can see even a little. But as to this point, let those 
discuss it whose business it is; and let them ascend as far as possible in the 
examination. To us who are (as Jeremiah saith), "prisoners of the 
earth,"(b) and covered with the denseness of carnal nature, 
this at all events is known, that as it is impossible for a man to step over 
his own shadow, however fast he may move (for the shadow will always move on 
as fast as it is being overtaken) or, as it is impossible for the eye to draw 
near to visible objects apart from the intervening air and light, or for a 
fish to glide about outside of the waters; so it is quite impracticable for 
those who are in the body to be conversant with objects of pure thought apart 
altogether from bodily objects. For something in our own environment is ever 
creeping in, even when the mind has most fully detached itself from the 
visible, and collected itself, and is attempting to apply itself to those 
invisible things which are akin to itself. 

  XIII. This will be made clear to you as follows:--Are not Spirit, and Fire, 
and Light, Love, and Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Mind and Reason, and the 
like, the names of the First Nature? What then? Can yon conceive of Spirit 
apart from motion and diffusion; or of Fire without its fuel and its upward 
motion, and its proper colour and form? Or of Light unmingled with air, and 
loosed from that which is as it were its father and source? And how do you 
conceive of a mind? Is it not that which is inherent in some person not 
itself, and are not its movements thoughts, silent or uttered? And Reason ... 
what else can you think it than that which is either silent within ourselves, 
or else outpoured (for I shrink from saying loosed)? And if you conceive of 
Wisdom, what is it but the habit of mind which you know as such, and which is 
concerned with contemplations either divine or human? And Justice and Love, 
are they not praiseworthy dispositions, the one opposed to injustice, the 
other to hate, and at one time intensifying themselves, at another relaxed, 
now taking possession of us, now leaving us alone, and in a word, making Its 
what we are, and changing us as colours do bodies? Or are we rather to leave 
all these things, and to look at the Deity absolutely, as best we can, 
collecting a fragmentary perception of It from Its images? What then is this 
subtile thing, which is of these, and yet is not these, or how can that Unity 
which is in its Nature uncomposite and incomparable, still be all of these, 
and each one of them perfectly? Thus our mind faints to transcend corporeal 
things, and to consort with the Incorporeal, stripped of all clothing of 
corporeal ideas, as long as it has to look with its inherent weakness at 
things above its strength. For every rational nature longs for God and for the 
First Cause, but is unable to grasp Him, for the reasons I have mentioned. 
Faint therefore with the desire, and as it were restive and impatient of the 
disability, it tries a second course, either to look at visible things, and 
out of some of them to make a god ... (a poor contrivance, for in what respect 
and to what extent can that which is seen be higher and more godlike than that 
which sees, that this should worship that?) or else through the beauty and 
order of visible things to attain to that which is above sight; but not to 
suffer the loss of God through the magnificence of visible things. 

  XIV. From this cause some have made a god of the Sun, others of the Moon, 
others of the host of Stars, others of heaven itself with all its hosts, to 
which they have attributed the guiding of the Universe, according to the 
quality or quantity of their movement. Others again of the Elements, earth, 
air, water, fire, because of their useful nature, since without them human 
life cannot possibly exist. Others again have worshipped any chance visible 
objects, setting up the most beautiful of what they saw as their gods. And 
there are those who worship pictures and images, at first indeed of their own 
ancestors--at least, this is the case with the more affectionate and 
sensual--and honour the departed with memorials; and afterwards even those of 
strangers are worshipped by men of a later generation separated froth them by 
a long interval; through ignorance of the First Nature, and following the 
traditional honour as lawful and necessary; for usage when confirmed by time 
was held to be Law. And I think that some who were courtiers of arbitrary 
power and extolled bodily strength and admired beauty, made a god in time out 
of him whom they honoured, perhaps getting hold of some fable to help on their 
imposture. 

  XV. And those of them who were most subject to passion deified their 
passions, or honoured them among their gods; Anger and Blood-thirstiness, Lust 
and Drunkenness, and every similar wickedness; and made out of this an ignoble 
and unjust excuse for their own sins. And some they left on earth, and some 
they 



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hid beneath the earth (this being the only sign of wisdom about them), and 
some they raised to heaven.(a) O ridiculous distribution of 
inheritance! Then they gave to each of these concepts the name of some god or 
demon, by the authority and private judgment of their error, and set up 
statues whose costliness is a snare, and thought to honour them with blood and 
the steam of sacrifices, and sometimes even by most shameful actions, frenzies 
and manslaughter. For such honours were the fitting due of such gods. And 
before now men have insulted themselves by worshipping monsters, and 
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things? and of the very vilest and most 
absurd, and have made an offering to them of the glory of God; so that it is 
not easy to decide whether we ought most to despise the worshippers or the 
objects of their worship. Probably the worshippers are far the most 
contemptible, for though they are of a rational nature, and have received 
grace from God, they have set up the worse as the better. And this was the 
trick of the Evil One, who abused good to an evil purpose, as in most of his 
evil deeds. For he laid hold of their desire in its wandering in search of 
God, in order to distort to himself(g) the power, and steal the 
desire, leading it by the hand, like a blind man asking a road; and he hurled 
down and scattered some in one direction and some in another, into one pit of 
death and destruction. 

  XVI. This was their course. But reason receiving us in our desire for God, 
and in our sense of the impossibility of being without a leader and guide, and 
then making us apply ourselves to things visible and meeting with the things 
which have been since the beginning, doth not stay its course even here. For 
it was not the part of Wisdom to grant the sovereignty to things which are, as 
observation tells us, of equal rank. By these then it leads to that which is 
above these, and by which being is given to these. For what is it which 
ordered things in heaven and things in earth, and those which pass through 
air, and those which live in water; or rather the things which were before 
these, heaven and earth, air and water? Who mingled these, and who distributed 
them? What is it that each has in common with the other, and their mutual 
dependence and agreement? For I commend the man, though he was a heathen, who 
said, What gave movement to these, and drives their ceaseless and unhindered 
motion? Is it not the Artificer of them Who implanted reason in them all, in 
accordance with which the Universe is moved and controlled? Is it not He who 
made them and brought them into being? For we cannot attribute such a power to 
the Accidental. For, suppose that its existence is accidental, to what will 
you let us ascribe its order? And if you like we will grant you this: to what 
then will you ascribe its preservation and protection in accordance with the 
terms of its first creation. Do these belong to the Accidental, or to 
something else? Surely not to the Accidental. And what can this Something Else 
be but God? Thus reason that proceeds from God, that is implanted in all from 
the beginning and is the first law in us, and is bound up in all, leads us up 
to God through visible things. Let us begin again, and reason this out. 

  XVII. What God is in nature and essence, no man ever yet has discovered or 
can discover. Whether it will ever be discovered is a question which he who 
will may examine and decide. In my opinion it will be discovered when that 
within us which is godlike and divine, I mean our mind and reason, shall have 
mingled with its Like, and the image shall have ascended to the Archetype, of 
which it has now the desire. And this I think is the solution of that vexed 
problem as to "We shall know even as we are known."(s201>) But in our present 
life all that comes to us is but a little effluence, and as it were a small 
effulgence from a great Light. So that if anyone has known God, or has had the 
testimony of Scripture to his knowledge of God, we are to understand such an 
one to have possessed a degree of knowledge which gave him the appearance of 
being more fully enlightened than another who did not enjoy the same degree of 
illumination; and this relative superiority is spoken of as if it were 
absolute knowledge, not because it is really such, but by comparison with the 
power of that other. 

  XVIII. Thus Enos "hoped to call upon the Name of the 
Lord."(b) Hope was that for which he is commended; and that, 
not that he should know God, but that he should call upon him. And Enoch was 
translated,(g) but it is not yet clear whether it was because 
he already comprehended the Divine Nature, or in order that he might 
comprehend it. And 



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Noah's "glory was that he was pleasing to God; he who was entrusted with the 
saving of the whole world from the waters, or rather of the Seeds of the 
world, escaped the Deluge in a small Ark. And Abraham, great Patriarch though 
he was, was justified by faith,(b) and offered a strange 
victim,(g) the type of the Great Sacrifice. Yet he saw not God 
as God, but gave Him food as a man.(d) He was approved because 
he worshipped as far as he comprehended. (e) And Jacob dreamed 
of a lofty ladder and stair of Angels, and in a mystery anointed a pillar 
(z)--perhaps to signify the Rock that was anointed for our 
sake--and gave to a place the name of The House of God(h) in 
honour of Him whom he saw; and wrestled with God in human form; whatever this 
wrestling of God with man may mean ... possibly it refers to the comparison of 
man's virtue with God's; and he bore on his body the marks of the wrestling, 
setting forth the defeat of the created nature; and for a reward of his 
reverence he received a change of his name; being named, instead of Jacob, 
Israel--that great and honourable name. Yet neither he nor any one on his 
behalf, unto this day, of all the Twelve Tribes who where his children, could 
boast that he comprehended the whole nature or the pure sight of God. 

  XIX. To Elias neither the strong wind, nor the fire, nor the earthquake, as 
you learn from the story,(q) but a light breeze adumbrated the 
Presence of God, and not even this His Nature. And who was this Elias? The man 
whom a chariot of fire took up to heaven, signifying the superhuman excellency 
of the righteous man. And are you not amazed at Manoah the Judge of yore, and 
at Peter the disciple in later days; the one being unable to endure the sight 
even of one in whom was a representation of God; and saying, "We are undone, O 
wife, we have seen God;" (k) speaking as though even a vision 
of God could not be grasped by human beings, let alone the Nature of God; and 
the other unable to endure the Presence of Christ in his boat and therefore 
bidding Him depart; (l) and this though Peter was more zealous 
than the others for the knowledge of Christ, and received a blessing for 
this,' and was entrusted with the greatest gifts. What would you say of Isaiah 
or Ezekiel, who was an eyewitness of very great mysteries, and of the other 
Prophets; for one of these saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting on the Throne of 
glory, (b) and encircled and praised and hidden by the 
sixwinged Seraphim, and was himself purged by the live coal, and equipped for 
his prophetic office. And the other describes the Cherubic Chariot 
(g) of God, and the Throne upon them, and the Firmament over 
it, and Him that shewed Himself in the Firmament, and Voices, and Forces, and 
Deeds.(d) And whether this was an appearance by day, only 
visible to Saints, or an unerring vision of the night, or an impression on the 
mind holding converse with the future as if it were the present; or some other 
ineffable form of prophecy, I cannot say; the God of the Prophets knoweth, and 
they know who are thus inspired. But neither these of whom I am speaking, nor 
any of their fellows ever stood before the Council and Essence of God, as it 
is written, or saw, or proclaimed the Nature of God. 

  XX. If it had been permitted to Paul to utter what the Third Heaven 
(z) contained, and his own advance, or ascension, or assumption 
thither, perhaps we should know something more about God's Nature, if this was 
the mystery of the rapture. But since it was ineffable, we too will honour it 
by silence. Thus much we will hear Paul say about it, that we know in part and 
we prophesy in part.(h) This and the like to this are the 
confessions of one who is not rude in knowledge,q) who 
threatens to give proof of Christ speaking in him, the great doctor and 
champion of the truth. Wherefore he estimates all knowledge on earth only as 
through a glass darkly,(k) as taking its stand upon little 
images of the truth. Now, unless I appear to anyone too careful, and over 
anxious about the examination of this matter, perhaps it was of this and 
nothing else that the Word Himself intimated 



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that there were things which could not now be borne, but which should be borne 
and cleared up hereafter,' and which John the Forerunner of the Word and great 
Voice of the Truth declared even the whole world could not 
contain.(b) 

  XXI. The truth then, and the whole Word is full of difficulty and obscurity 
; and as it were with a small instrument we are undertaking a great work, when 
with merely human wisdom we pursue the knowledge of the Self-existent, and in 
company with, or not apart from, the senses, by which we are borne hither and 
thither, and led into error, we apply ourselves to the search after things 
which are only to be grasped by the mind, and we are unable by meeting bare 
realities with bare intellect to approximate somewhat more closely to the 
truth, and to mould the mind by its concepts. 

  Now the subject of God is more hard to come at,(g) in 
proportion as it is more perfect than any other, and is open to more 
objections, and the solutions of them are more laborious. For every objection, 
however small, stops and hinders the course of our argument, and cuts off its 
further advance, just like men who suddenly check with the rein the horses in 
full career, and turn them right round by the unexpected shock. Thus Solomon, 
who was the wisest of all men,(d) whether before him or in his 
own time, to whom God gave breadth of heart, and a flood of contemplation, 
more abundant than the sand, even he, the more he entered into the depth, the 
more dizzy he became, and declared the furthest point of wisdom to be the 
discovery of how very far off she was from him.(e) Paul also 
tries to arrive at, I will not say the nature of God, for this he knew was 
utterly impossible, but only the judgments of God; and since he finds no way 
out, and no halting place in the ascent, and moreover, since the earnest 
searching of his mind after knowledge does not end in any definite conclusion, 
because some fresh unattained point is being continually disclosed to him (O 
marvel, that I have a like experience), he closes his discourse with 
astonishment, and calls this the riches of God, and the depth, and 
confesses the unsearchableness of the judgments of God, in almost the very 
words of David, who at one time calls God's judgments the great deep whose 
foundations cannot be reached by measure or sense;(h) and at 
another says that His knowledge of him and of his own constitution was 
marvellous,(q) and had attained greater strength than was in 
his own power or grasp. 

  XXII. For if, he says, I leave everything else alone, and consider myself 
and the whole nature and constitution of man, and how we are mingled, and what 
is our movement, and how the mortal was compounded with the immortal, and how 
it is that I flow downwards, and yet am borne upwards, and how the soul is 
circumscribed;(a) and how it gives life and shares in feelings; 
and how the mind is at once circumscribed and unlimited,(b) 
abiding in us and yet travelling over the Universe in swift motion and flow; 
how it is both received and imparted by word, and passes through air, and 
enters with all things; how it shares in sense, and enshrouds itself away from 
sense. And even before these questions--what was our first moulding and 
composition in the workshop of nature, and what is our last formation and 
completion? What is the desire for and imparting of nourishment, and who 
brought us spontaneously to those first springs and sources of life? How is 
the body nourished by food, and the soul by reason? What is the drawing of 
nature, and the mutual relation between parents and children, that it should 
be held together by a spell of love? How is it that species are permanent, and 
are different in their characteristics, although there are so many that their 
individual marks cannot be described? How is it that the same animal is both 
mortal and immortal the one by decease, the other by coming into being? For 
one departs, and another takes its place, just like the flow of a river, which 
is never still, yet ever constant. And you might discuss many more points 
concerning men's members and parts, and their mutual adaptation both for use 
and beauty, and how some are connected and others disjoined, some are more 
excellent and others less comely, some are united and others divided, some 
contain and others are contained, according to the law and reason of Nature. 
Much too might be said about voices and ears. How is it that the voice is 
carried by the vocal organs, and received by the ears, and both are joined by 
the smiting and resounding of the medium of the air? Much too of the eyes, 
which have an indescribable communion with visible objects, and which are 
moved by the will alone, and that together, and are affected exactly as is the 
mind. For with equal speed the mind is joined to 



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the objects of thought, the eye to those of sight. Much too concerning the 
other senses, not objects of the research of reason. And much concerning our 
rest in sleep, and the figments of dreams, and of memory and remembrance; of 
calculation, and anger, and desire; and in a word, all by which this little 
world called Man is swayed. 

  XXIII. Shall I reckon up for you the differences of the other animals, both 
from us and from each other,--differences of nature, and of production, and of 
nourishment, and of region, and of temper, and as it were of social life? How 
is it that some are gregarious and others solitary, some herbivorous and 
others carnivorous, some fierce and others tame, some fond of man and 
domesticated, others untamable and free? And some we might call bordering on 
reason and power of learning, while others are altogether destitute of reason, 
and incapable of being taught. Some with fuller senses, others with less; some 
immovable, and some with the power of walking, and some very swift, and some 
very slow; some surpassing in size or beauty, or in one or other of these 
respects; others very small or very ugly, or both; some strong, others weak, 
some apt at self-defence, others timid and crafty(a) and others 
again are unguarded. Some are laborious and thrifty, others altogether idle 
and improvident. And before we come to such points as these, how is it that 
some are crawling things, and others upright; some attached to one spot, some 
amphibious; some delight in beauty and others are unadorned; some are married 
and some single; some temperate and others intemperate; some have numerous 
offspring and others not; some are long-lived and others have but short lives? 
It would be a weary discourse to go through all the details. 

  XXIV. Look also at the fishy tribe gliding through the waters, and as it 
were flying through the liquid element, and breathing its own air, but in 
danger when in contact with ours, as we are in the waters; and mark their 
habits and dispositions, their intercourse and their births, their size and 
their beauty, and their affection for places, and their wanderings, and their 
assemblings and departings, and their properties which so nearly resemble 
those of the animals that dwell on land ; in some cases community, in others 
contrast of properties, both in name and shape. And consider the tribes of 
birds, and their varieties of form and colour, both of those which are 
voiceless and of songbirds. What is the reason of their melody, and from whom 
came it? Who gave to the grasshopper the lute in his breast, and the songs and 
chirruping on the branches, when they are moved by the sun to make their 
midday music, and sing among the groves, and escort the wayfarer with their 
voices? Who wove the song for the swan when he spreads his wings to the 
breezes, and makes melody of their rustling? For I will not speak of the 
forced voices, and all the rest that art contrives against the truth. Whence 
does the peacock, that boastful bird of Media, get his love of beauty and of 
praise (for he is fully conscious of his own beauty), so that when he sees any 
one approaching, or when, as they say, he would make a show before his hens, 
raising his neck and spreading his tail in circle around him, glittering like 
gold and studded with stars, he makes a spectacle of his beauty to his lovers 
with pompous strides? Now Holy Scripture admires the cleverness in weaving 
even of women, saying, Who gave to woman skill in weaving and cleverness in 
the art of embroidery?(a) This belongeth to a living creature 
that hath reason, and exceedeth in wisdom and maketh way even as far as the 
things of heaven. 

  XXV. But I would have you marvel at the natural knowledge even of irrational 
creatures, and if you can, explain its cause. How is it that birds have for 
nests rocks and trees and roofs, and adapt them both for safety and beauty, 
and suitably for the comfort of their nurslings? Whence do bees and spiders 
get their love of work and art, by which the former plan their honeycombs, and 
join them together by hexagonal and co-ordinate tubes, and construct the 
foundation by means of a partition and an alternation of the angles with 
straight lines; and this, as is the case, in such dusky hives and dark combs; 
and the latter weave their intricate webs by such light and almost airy 
threads stretched in divers ways, and this from almost invisible beginnings, 
to be at once a precious dwelling, and a trap for weaker creatures with a view 
to enjoyment of food? What Euclid ever imitated these, while pursuing 
philosophical enquiries with lines that have no real existence, and wearying 
himself with demonstrations? From what Palamedes came the tactics, and, as the 
saying is, the movements and configurations of cranes, and the systems of 
their movement in ranks and their complicated flight? Who were their Phidiae 
and Zeuxides, and who were the Parrhasii and Aglaophons who knew how to draw 
and mould excessively beautiful things? What 



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harmonious Gnossian chorus of Daedalus, wrought for a girl(a) 
to the highest pitch of beauty? What Cretan Labyrinth, hard to get through, 
hard to unravel, as the poem say, and continually crossing itself through the 
tricks of its construction? I will not speak of the ants' storehouses and 
storekeepers, and of their treasurings of wood in quantities corresponding to 
the time for which it is wanted, and all the other details which we know are 
told of their marches and leaders and their good order in their works. 

  XXVI. If this knowledge has come within your reach and you are familiar with 
these branches of science, look at the differences of plants also, up to the 
artistic fashion of the leaves, which is adapted both to give the utmost 
pleasure to the eye, and to be of the greatest advantage to the fruit. Look 
too at the variety and lavish abundance of fruits, and most of all at the 
wondrous beauty of such as are most necessary. And consider the power of 
roots, and juices, and flowers, and odours, not only so very sweet, but also 
serviceable as medicines; and the graces and qualities of colours; and again 
the costly value, and the brilliant transparency of precious stones. Since 
nature has set before you all things as in an abundant banquet free to all, 
both the necessaries and the luxuries of life, in order that, if nothing else, 
you may at any rate know God by His benefits, and by your own sense of want be 
made wiser than you were. Next, I pray you, traverse the length and breadth of 
earth, the common mother of all, and the gulfs of the sea bound together with 
one another and with the land, and the beautiful forests, and the rivers and 
springs abundant and perennial, not only of waters cold and fit for drinking, 
and on the surface of the earth; but also such as running beneath the earth, 
and flowing under caverns, are then forced out by a violent blast, and 
repelled, and then filled with heat by this violence of strife and repulsion, 
burst out by little and little wherever they get a chance, and hence supply 
our need of hot baths in many parts of the earth, and in conjunction with the 
cold give us a healing which is without cost and spontaneous. Tell me how and 
whence are these things ? What is this great web unwrought by art? These 
things are no less worthy of admiration, in respect of their mutual relations 
than when considered separately. 

  How is it that the earth stands solid and unswerving? On what is it 
supported? What is it that props it up, and on what does that rest? For indeed 
even reason has nothing to lean upon, but only the Will of God. And how is it 
that part of it is drawn up into mountain summits, and part laid down in 
plains, and this in various and differing ways? And because the variations are 
individually small, it both supplies our needs more liberally, and is more 
beautiful by its variety; part being distributed into habitations, and part 
left uninhabited, namely all the great height of Mountains, and the various 
clefts of its coast line cut off from it. Is not this the clearest proof of 
the majestic working of God? 

  XXVII. And with respect to the Sea even if I did not marvel at its 
greatness, yet I should have marvelled at its gentleness, in that although 
loose it stands within its boundaries; and if not at its gentleness, yet 
surely at its greatness; but since I marvel at both, I will praise the Power 
that is in both. What collected it? What bounded it? How is it raised and 
lulled to rest, as though respecting its neighbour earth? How, moreover, does 
it receive all the rivers, and yet remain the same, through the very 
superabundance of its immensity, if that term be permissible? How is the 
boundary of it, though it be an element of such magnitude, only sand? Have 
your natural philosophers with their knowledge of useless details anything to 
tell us, those men I mean who are really endeavouring to measure the sea with 
a wineglass, and such mighty works by their own conceptions? Or shall I give 
the really scientific explanation of it from Scripture concisely, and yet more 
satisfactorily and truly than by the longest arguments? "He hath fenced the 
face of the water with His command."(a) This is the chain of 
fluid nature. And how doth He bring upon it the Nautilus that inhabits the dry 
land (i.e., man) in a little vessel, and with a little breeze (dost thou not 
marvel at the sight of this,--is not thy mind astonished?), that earth and sea 
may be bound together by needs and commerce, and that things so widely 
separated by nature should be thus brought together into one for man? What are 
the first fountains of springs? Seek, O man, if you can trace out or find any 
of these things. And who was it who cleft the plains and the mountains for the 
rivers, and gave them an unhindered course? And how comes the marvel on the 
other side, that the Sea never overflows, nor the Rivers cease to flow? And 
what is the nourishing power 



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of water, and what the difference therein; for some things are irrigated from 
above, and others drink from their roots, if I may luxuriate a little in my 
language when speaking of the luxuriant gifts of God. 

  XXVIII. And now, leaving the earth and the things of earth, soar into the 
air on the wings of thought, that our argument may advance in due path; and 
thence I will take you up to heavenly things, and to heaven itself, and things 
which are above heaven; for to that which is beyond my discourse hesitates to 
ascend, but still it shall ascend as far as may be. Who poured forth the air, 
that great and abundant wealth, not measured to men by their rank or fortunes; 
not restrained by boundaries; not divided out according to people's ages; but 
like the distribution of the Manna,(a) received in sufficiency, 
and valued for its equality of distribution; the chariot of the winged 
creation; the seat of the winds; the moderator of the seasons; the quickener 
of living things, or rather the preserver of natural life in the body; in 
which bodies have their being, and by which we speak; in which is the light 
and all that it shines upon, and the sight' which flows through it? And mark, 
if you please, what follows. I cannot give to the air the whole empire of all 
that is thought to belong to the air. What are the storehouses of the 
winds?(b) What are the treasuries of the snow? Who, as 
Scripture hath said, hath begotten the drops of dew? Out of Whose womb came 
the ice? arid Who bindeth the waters in the clouds, and, fixing part in the 
clouds (O marvel!) held by His Word though its nature is to flow, poureth out 
the rest upon the face of the whole earth, and scattereth it abroad in due 
season, and in just proportions, and neither suffereth the whole substance of 
moisture to go out free and uncontrolled (for sufficient was the cleansing in 
the days of Noah; and He who cannot lie is not forgetful of His own covenant); 
... nor yet restraineth it entirely that we should not again stand in need of 
an Elias(g) to bring the drought to an end. If He shall shut up 
heaven, it saith, who shall open it? If He open the floodgates, who shall shut 
them up?(d) Who can bring an excess or withhold a sufficiency 
of rain, unless he govern the Universe by his own measures and balances? What 
scientific laws, pray, can you lay down concerning thunder and lightning, O 
you who thunder from the earth, and cannot shine with even little sparks of 
truth? To what vapours from earth will you attribute the creation of cloud, or 
is it due to some thickening of the air, or pressure or crash of clouds of 
excessive rarity, so as to make you think the pressure the cause of the 
lightning, and the crash that which makes the thunder? Or what compression of 
wind having no outlet will account to you for the lightning by its 
compression, and for the thunder by its bursting out? 

  Now if you have in your thought passed through the air and all the things of 
air, reach with me to heaven and the things of heaven. And let faith lead us 
rather than reason, if at least you have learnt the feebleness of the latter 
in matters nearer to you, and have known reason by knowing the things that are 
beyond reason, so as not to be altogether on the earth or of the earth, 
because you are ignorant even of your ignorance. 

  XXIX. Who spread the sky around us, and set the stars in order? Or rather, 
first, can you tell me, of your own knowledge of the things in heaven, what 
are the sky and the stars; you who know not what lies at your very feet, and 
cannot even take the measure of yourself, and yet must busy yourself about 
what is above your nature, and gape at the illimitable? For, granted that you 
understand orbits and periods, and waxings and wanings, and settings and 
risings, and some degrees and minutes, and all the other things which make you 
so proud of your wonderful knowledge; you have not arrived at comprehension of 
the realities themselves, but only at an observation of some movement, which, 
when confirmed by longer practice, and drawing the observations of many 
individuals into one generalization, and thence deducing a law, has acquired 
the name of Science (just as the lunar phenomena have become generally known 
to our sight), being the basis of this knowledge. But if you are very 
scientific on this subject, and have a just claim to admiration, tell me what 
is the cause of this order and this movement. How came the sun to be a 
beacon-fire to the whole world, and to all eyes like the leader of some 
chorus, concealing all the rest of the stars by his brightness, more 
completely than some of them conceal others. The proof of this is that they 
shine against him, but he outshines them and does not even allow it to be 
perceived that they rose simultaneously with him, fair as a bridegroom, swift 
and great as a giant(a) for I will not let his praises be sung 
from any other source than my own 



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Scriptures--so mighty in strength that from one end to the other of the world 
he embraces all things in his heat, and there is nothing hid from the feeling 
thereof, but it fills both every eye with light, and every embodied creature 
with heat; warming, yet not burning, by the gentleness of its temper, and the 
order of its movement, present to all, and equally embracing all. 

  XXX. Have you considered the importance of the fact that a heathen writer" 
speaks of the sun as holding the same position among material objects as God 
does among objects of thought? For the one gives light to the eyes, as the 
Other does to the mind; and is the most beautiful of the objects of sight, as 
God is of those of thought. But who gave him motion at first? And what is it 
which ever moves him in his circuit, though in his nature stable and 
immovable, truly unwearied, and the giver and sustainer of life, and all the 
rest of the titles which the poets justly sing of him, and never resting in 
his course or his benefits? How comes he to be the creator of day when above 
the earth, and of night when below it? or whatever may be the right expression 
when one contemplates the sun? What are the mutual aggressions and concessions 
of day and night, and their regular irregularities--to use a somewhat strange 
expression? How comes he to be the maker and divider of the seasons, that come 
and depart in regular order, and as in a dance interweave with each other, or 
stand apart by a law of love on the one hand, and of order on the other, and 
mingle little by little, and steal on their neighbour, just as nights and days 
do, so as not to give us pain by their suddenness. This will be enough about 
the sun. 

  Do you know the nature and phenomena of the Moon, and the measures and 
courses of light, and how it is that the sun bears rule over the day, and the 
moon presides over the night; and while She gives confidence to wild beasts, 
He stirs Man up to work, raising or lowering himself as may be most 
serviceable? Know you the bond of Pleiades, or the fence of 
Orion(b) as He who counteth the number of the stars and calleth 
them all by their names?(g) Know you the differences of the 
glory(d) of each, and the order of their movement, that I 
should trust you, when by them you weave the web of human concerns, and arm 
the creature against the Creator? 

  XXXI. What say you? Shall we pause here, after discussing nothing further 
than matter and visible things, or, since the Word knows the Tabernacle of 
Moses to be a figure of the whole creation--I mean the entire system of things 
visible and invisible--shall we pass the first veil, and stepping beyond the 
realm of sense, shall we look into the Holy Place, the Intellectual and 
Celestial creation? But not even this can we see in an incorporeal way, though 
it is incorporeal, since it is called--or is--Fire and Spirit. For He is said 
to make His Angels spirits, and His Ministers a flame of 
fire(a) ... though perhaps this "making" means preserving by 
that Word by which they Came into existence. The Angel then is called spirit 
and fire; Spirit, as being a creature of the intellectual sphere; Fire, as 
being of a purifying nature; for I know that the same names belong to the 
First Nature. But, relatively to us at least, we must reckon the Angelic 
Nature incorporeal, or at any rate as nearly so as possible. Do you see how we 
get dizzy over this subject, and cannot advance to any point, unless it be as 
far as this, that we know there are Angels and Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, 
Princedoms, Powers, Splendours, Ascents, Intelligent Powers or Intelligencies, 
pure natures and unalloyed, immovable to evil, or scarcely movable; ever 
circling in chorus round the First Cause (or how should we sing their 
praises?) illuminated thence with the purest Illumination, or one in one 
degree and one in another, proportionally to their nature and rank ... so 
conformed to beauty and moulded that they become secondary Lights, and can 
enlighten others by the overflowings and largesses of the First Light? 
Ministrants of God's Will, strong with both inborn and imparted strength, 
traversing all space, readily present to all at any place through their zeal 
for ministry and the agility of their nature ... different individuals of them 
embracing different parts of the world, or appointed over different districts 
of the Universe, as He knoweth who ordered and distributed it all. Combining 
all things in one, solely with a view to the consent of the Creator of all 
things; Hymners of the Majesty of the Godhead, eternally contemplating the 
Eternal Glory, not that God may thereby gain an increase of glory, for nothing 
can be added to that which is full--to Him, who supplies good to all outside 
Himself but that there may never be a cessation of blessings to these first 
natures after God. If we have told these things as they deserve, it is by the 
grace of the Trinity, and of the one Godhead in Three Persons; but if less 
perfectly than we have desired, yet even so our discourse has gained its 
purpose. For 



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this is what we were labouring to shew, that even the secondary natures 
surpass the power of our intellect; much more then the First and (for I fear 
to say merely That which is above all), the only Nature. 

XXIX. THE THIRD THEOLOGICAL ORATION. 



On the Son. 



  I. This then is what might be said to cut short our opponents' readiness to 
argue and their hastiness with its consequent insecurity in all matters, but 
above all in those discussions which relate to God. But since to rebuke others 
is a matter of no difficulty whatever, but a very easy thing, which any one 
who likes can do; whereas to substitute one's own belief for theirs is the 
part of a pious and intelligent man; let us, relying on the Holy Ghost, Who 
among them is dishonoured, but among us is adored, bring forth to the light 
our own conceptions about the Godhead, whatever these may be, like some noble 
and timely birth. Not that I have at other times been silent; for on this 
subject alone I am full of youthful strength and daring; but the fact is that 
under present circumstances I am even more bold to declare the truth, that I 
may not (to use the words of Scripture) by drawing back fall into the 
condemnation of being displeasing to God.(a) And since every 
discourse is of a twofold nature, the one part establishing one's own, and the 
other overthrowing one's opponents' position; let us first of all state our 
own position, and then try to controvert that of our opponents ;--and both as 
briefly as possible, so that our arguments may be taken in at a glance (like 
those of the elementary treatises which they have devised to deceive simple or 
foolish persons), and that our thoughts may not be scattered by reason of the 
length of the discourse, like water which is not contained in a channel, but 
flows to waste over the open land. 

  II. The three most ancient opinions concerning God are Anarchia, Polyarchia, 
and Monarchia. The first two are the sport of the children of Hellas, and may 
they continue to be so. For Anarchy is a thing without order; and the Rule of 
Many is factious, and thus anarchical, and thus disorderly. For both these 
tend to the same thing, namely disorder; and this to dissolution, for disorder 
is the first step to dissolution. 

  But Monarchy is that which we hold in honour. It is, however, a Monarchy 
that is not limited to one Person, for it is possible for Unity if at variance 
with itself to come into a condition of plurality;(a) but one 
which is made of an equality of Nature and a Union of mind. and an identity of 
motion, and a convergence of its elements to unity--a thing which is 
impossible to the created nature--so that though numerically distinct there is 
no severance of Essence. Therefore Unity(b) having from all 
eternity arrived by motion at Duality, found its rest in Trinity. This is what 
we mean by Father and Son and Holy Ghost. The Father is the Begetter and the 
Emitter;(g) without passion of course, and without reference to 
time, and not in a corporeal manner. The Son is the Begotten, and the Holy 
Ghost the Emission; for I know not how this could be expressed in terms 
altogether excluding visible things. For we shall not venture to speak of "an 
overflow of goodness," as one of the Greek Philosophers dared to say, as if it 
were a bowl overflowing, and this in plain words in his Discourse on the First 
and Second Causes.(d) Let us not ever look on this Generation 
as involuntary, like some natural overflow, hard to be retained, and by no 
means befitting our conception of Deity. Therefore let us confine ourselves 
within our limits, and speak of the Unbegotten and the Begotten and That which 
proceeds from the Father, as somewhere God the Word Himself saith. 

  III. When did these come into being? They are above all "When." But, if I am 
to speak with something more of boldness,--when the Father did. And when did 
the Father come into being. There never was a time when He was not. And the 
same thing is true of the Son and the Holy Ghost. Ask me again, and again I 
will answer you, When was the Son 



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begotten? When the Father was not begotten. And when did the Holy Ghost 
proceed? When the Son was, not proceeding but, begotten--beyond the sphere of 
time, and above the grasp of reason; although we cannot set forth that which 
is above time, if we avoid as we desire any expression which conveys the idea 
of time. For such expressions as "when" and "before" and "after" and "from the 
beginning" are not timeless, however much we may force them; unless indeed we 
were to take the Aeon, that interval which is coextensive with the eternal 
things, and is not divided or measured by any motion, or by the revolution of 
the sun, as time is measured. 

  How then are They not alike unoriginate, i f They are coeternal? Because 
They are from Him, though not after Him. For that which is unoriginate is 
eternal, but that which is eternal is not necessarily unoriginate, so long as 
it may be referred to the Father as its origin. Therefore in respect of Cause 
They are not unoriginate; but it is evident that the Cause is not necessarily 
prior to its effects, for the sun is not prior to its light. And yet They are 
in some sense unoriginate, in respect of time, even though you would scare 
simple minds with your quibbles, for the Sources of Time are not subject to 
time. 

  IV. But how can this generation be passionless? In that it is incorporeal. 
For if corporeal generation involves passion, incorporeal generation excludes 
it. And I will ask of you in turn, How is He God if He is created? For that 
which is created is not God. I refrain from reminding you that here too is 
passion if we take the creation in a bodily sense, as time, desire, 
imagination, thought, hope, pain, risk, failure, success, all of which and 
more than all find a place in the creature, as is evident to every one. Nay, I 
marvel that you do not venture so far as to conceive of marriages and times of 
pregnancy, and dangers of miscarriage, as if the Father could not have 
begotten at all if He had not begotten thus; or again, that you did not count 
up the modes of generation of birds and beasts and fishes, and bring under 
some one of them the Divine and Ineffable Generation, or even eliminate the 
Son out of your new hypothesis. And you cannot even see this, that as His 
Generation according to the flesh differs from all others (for where among men 
do you know of a Virgin Mother?), so does He differ also in His spiritual 
Generation; or rather He, Whose Existence is not the same as ours, differs 
from us also in His Generation. 

V. Who then is that Father Who had no beginning? One Whose very Existence had 
no beginning; for one whose existence had a beginning must also have begun to 
be a Father. He did not then become a Father after He began to be, for His 
being had no beginning. And He is Father in the absolute sense, for He is not 
also Son; just as the Son is Son in the absolute sense, because He is not also 
Father. These names do not belong to us in the absolute sense, because we are 
both, and not one more than the other; and we are of both, and not of one 
only; and so we are divided, and by degrees become men, and perhaps not even 
men, and such as we did not desire, leaving and being left, so that only the 
relations remain, without the underlying facts.(a) 

  But, the objector says, the very form of the expression "He begat" and "He 
was begotten," brings in the idea of a beginning of generation. But what if 
you do not use this expression, but say, "He had been begotten from the 
beginning" so as readily to evade your far-fetched and time-loving objections? 
Will you bring Scripture against us, as if we were forging something contrary 
to Scripture and to the truth? Why, every one knows that in practice we very 
often find tenses interchanged when time is spoken of; and especially is this 
the custom of Holy Scripture, not only in respect of the past tense, and of 
the present; but even of the future, as for instance "Why did the heathen 
rage?"(b) when they had not yet raged and "they shall cross 
over the river on foot,"(g) where the meaning is they did cross 
over. It would be a long task to reckon up all the expressions of this kind 
which students have noticed. 

  VI. So much for this point. What is their next objection, how full of 
contentiousness and impudence? He, they say, either voluntarily begat the Son, 
or else involuntarily. Next, as they think, they bind us on both sides with 
cords; these however are not strong, but very weak. For, they say, if it was 
involuntarily He was under the sway of some one, and who exercised this sway? 
And how is He, over whom it is exercised, God? But if voluntarily, the Son is 
a Son of Will; how then is He of the Father?--and they thus invent a new sort 
of Mother for him,--the Will,--in place of the Father. There is one good point 
which they may allege about this argument of theirs; namely, that they desert 
Passion, and take refuge in Will. For Will is not Passion. 



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  Secondly, let us look at the strength of their argument. And it were best to 
wrestle with them at first at close quarters. You yourself, who so recklessly 
assert whatever takes your fancy; were you begotten voluntarily or 
involuntarily by your father? If involuntarily, then he was under some 
tyrant's sway (O terrible violence!) and who was the tyrant? You will hardly 
say it was nature,--for nature is tolerant of chastity. If it was voluntarily, 
then by a few syllables your father is done away with, for you are shewn to be 
the son of Will, and not of your father. But I pass to the relation between 
God and the creature, and I put your own question to your own wisdom. Did God 
create all things voluntarily or under compulsion? If under compulsion, here 
also is the tyranny, and one who played the tyrant; if voluntarily, the 
creatures also are deprived of their God, and you before the rest, who invent 
such arguments and tricks of logic. For a partition is set up between the 
Creator and the creatures in the shape of Will. And yet I think that the 
Person who wills is distinct from the Act of willing; He who begets from the 
Act of begetting; the Speaker from the speech, or else we are all very stupid. 
On the one side we have the mover, and on the other that which is, so to 
speak, the motion. Thus the thing willed is not the child of will, for it does 
not always result therefrom; nor is that which is begotten the child of 
generation, nor that which is heard the child of speech, but of the Person who 
willed, or begat, or spoke. But the things of God are beyond all this, for 
with Him perhaps the Will to beget is generation, and there is no intermediate 
action (if we may accept this altogether, and not rather consider generation 
superior to will). 

  VII. Will you then let me play a little upon this word Father, for your 
example encourages me to be so bold? The Father is God either willingly or 
unwillingly; and how will you escape from your own excessive acuteness? If 
willingly, when did He begin to will? It could not have been before He began 
to be, for there was nothing prior to Him. Or is one part of Him Will and 
another the object of Will? If so, He is divisible. So the question arises, as 
the result of your argument, whether He Himself is not the Child of Will. And 
if unwillingly, what compelled Him to exist, and how is He God if He was 
compelled--and that to nothing less than to be God? How then was He begotten, 
says my opponent. How was He created, if as you say, He was created? For this 
is a part of the same difficulty. Perhaps you would say, By Will and Word. You 
have not yet solved the whole difficulty; for it yet remains for you to shew 
how Will and Word gained the power of action. For man was not created in this 
way. 

  VIII. How then was He begotten? This Generation would have been no great 
thing, if you could have comprehended it who have no real knowledge even of 
your own generation, or at least who comprehend very little of it, and of that 
little you are ashamed to speak; and then do you think you know the whole? You 
will have to undergo much labour before you discover the laws of composition, 
formation, manifestation, and the bond whereby soul is united to body,--mind 
to soul, and reason to mind; and movement, increase, assimilation of food, 
sense, memory, recollection, and all the rest of the parts of which you are 
compounded; and which of them belongs to the soul and body together, and which 
to each independently of the other, and which is received from each other. For 
those parts whose maturity comes later, yet received their laws at the time of 
conception. Tell me what these laws are? And do not even then venture to 
speculate on the Generation of God; for that would be unsafe. For even if you 
knew all about your own, yet you do not by any means know about God's. And if 
you do not understand your own, how can you know about God's? For in 
proportion as God is harder to trace out than man, so is the heavenly 
Generation harder to comprehend than your own. But if you assert that because 
you cannot comprehend it, therefore He cannot have been begotten, it will be 
time for you to strike out many existing things which you cannot comprehend; 
and first of all God Himself. For you cannot say what He is, even if you are 
very reckless, and excessively proud of your intelligence. First, cast away 
your notions of flow and divisions and sections, and your conceptions of 
immaterial as if it were material birth, and then you may perhaps worthily 
conceive of the Divine Generation. How was He begotten?--I repeat the question 
in indignation. The Begetting of God must be honoured by silence. It is a 
great thing for you to learn that He was begotten. But the manner of His 
generation we will not admit that even Angels can conceive, much less you. 
Shall I tell you how it was? It was in a manner known to the Father Who begat, 
and to the Son Who was begotten. Anything more than this is hidden by a cloud, 
and escapes your dim sight. 

  IX. Well, but the Father begat a Son who 



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either was or was not in existence.(a) What utter nonsense! 
This is a question which applies to you or me, who on the one hand were in 
existence, as for instance Levi in the loins of Abraham;(b) and 
on the other hand came into existence; and so in some sense we are partly of 
what existed, and partly of what was nonexistent; whereas the contrary is the 
case with the original matter, which was certainly created out of what was 
non-existent, notwithstanding that some pretend that it is unbegotten. But in 
this case "to be begotten," even from the beginning, is concurrent with "to 
be." On what then will you base this captious question? For what is older than 
that which is from the beginning, if we may place there the previous existence 
or non-existence of the Son? In either case we destroy its claim to be the 
Beginning. Or perhaps you will say, if we were to ask you whether the Father 
was of existent or non-existent substance, that he is twofold, partly 
pre-existing, partly existing; or that His case is the same with that of the 
Son; that is, that He was created out of non-existing matter, because of your 
ridiculous questions and your houses of sand, which cannot stand against the 
merest ripple. 

  I do not admit either solution, and I declare that your question contains an 
absurdity, and not a difficulty to answer. If however you think, in accordance 
with your dialectic assumptions, that one or other of these alternatives must 
necessarily be true in every case, let me ask you one little question: Is time 
in time, or is it not in time? If it is contained in time, then in what time, 
and what is it but that time, and how does it contain it? But if it is not 
contained in time, what is that surpassing wisdom which can conceive of a time 
which is timeless? Now, in regard to this expression, "I am now telling a 
lie," admit one of these alternatives, either that it is true, or that it is a 
falsehood, without qualification (for we cannot admit that it is both). But 
this cannot be. For necessarily he either is lying, and so is telling the 
truth, or else he is telling the truth, and so is lying. What wonder is it 
then that, as in this case contraries are true, so in that case they should 
both be untrue, and so your clever puzzle prove mere foolishness? Solve me one 
more riddle. Were you present at your own generation, and are you now present 
to yourself, or is neither the case? If you were and are present, who were 
you, and with whom are you present? And how did your single self become thus 
both subject and object? But if neither of the above is the case, how did you 
get separated from yourself, and what is the cause of this disjoining? But, 
you will say, it is stupid to make a fuss about the question whether or no a 
single individual is present to himself; for the expression is not used of 
oneself but of others. Well, you may be certain that it is even more stupid to 
discuss the question whether That which was begotten from the beginning 
existed before its generation or not. For such a question arises only as to 
matter divisible by time. 

  X. But they say, The Unbegotten and the Begotten are not the same; and if 
this is so, neither is the Son the same as the Father. It is clear, without 
saying so, that this line of argument manifestly excludes either the Son or 
the Father from the Godhead. For if to be Unbegotten is the Essence of God, to 
be begotten is not that Essence; if the opposite is the case, the Unbegotten 
is excluded. What argument can contradict this? Choose then whichever 
blasphemy you prefer, my good inventor of a new theology, if indeed you are 
anxious at all costs to embrace a blasphemy. In the next place, in what sense 
do you assert that the Unbegotten and the Begotten are not the same? If you 
mean that the Uncreated and the created are not the same, I agree with you; 
for certainly the Unoriginate and the created are not of the same nature. But 
if you say that He That begat and That which is begotten are not the same, the 
statement is inaccurate. For it is in fact a necessary truth that they are the 
same. For the nature of the relation of Father to Child is this, that the 
offspring is of the same nature with the parent. Or we may argue thus again. 
What do you mean by Unbegotten and Begotten, for if you mean the simple fact 
of being unbegotten or begotten, these are not the same; but if you mean Those 
to Whom these terms apply, how are They not the same? For example, Wisdom and 
Unwisdom are not the same in themselves, but yet both are attributes of man, 
who is the same; and they mark not a difference of essence, but one external 
to the essence.  Are immortality and innocence and immutability also the 
essence of God? If so God has many essences and not one; or Deity is a 
compound of these. For He cannot be all these without composition, if they be 
essences. 

  XI. They do not however assert this, for these qualities are common also to 
other beings. 



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But God's Essence is that which belongs to God alone, and is proper to Him. 
But they, who consider matter and form to be unbegotten, would not allow that 
to be unbegotten is the property of God alone (for we must cast away even 
further the darkness of the Manichaeans.(a) But suppose that it 
is the property of God alone. What of Adam? Was he not alone the direct 
creature of God? Yes, you will say. Was he then the only human being? By no 
means. And why, but because humanity does not consist in direct creation? For 
that which is begotten is also human. Just so neither is He Who is Unbegotten 
alone God, though He alone is Father. But grant that He Who is Begotten is 
God; for He is of God, as you must allow, even though you cling to your 
Unbegotten. Then how do you describe the Essence of God? Not by declaring what 
it is, but by rejecting what it is not. For your word signifies that He is not 
begotten; it does not present to you what is the real nature or condition of 
that which has no generation. What then is the Essence of God? It is for your 
infatuation to define this, since you are so anxious about His Generation too; 
but to us it will be a very great thing, if ever, even in the future, we learn 
this, when this darkness and dulness is done away for us, as He has promised 
Who cannot lie. This then may be the thought and hope of those who are 
purifying themselves with a view to this. Thus much we for our part will be 
bold to say, that if it is a great thing for the Father to be Unoriginate, it 
is no less a thing for the Son to have been Begotten of such a Father. For not 
only would He share the glory of the Unoriginate, since he is of the 
Unoriginate, but he has the added glory of His Generation, a thing so great 
and august in the eyes of all those who are not altogether grovelling and 
material in mind. 

  XII. But, they say, if the Son is the Same as the Father in respect of 
Essence, then if the Father is unbegotten, the Son must be so likewise. Quite 
so--if the Essence of God consists in being unbegotten; and so He would be a 
strange mixture, begottenly unbegotten. If, however, the difference is outside 
the Essence, how can you be so certain in speaking of this? Are you also your 
father's father, so as in no respect to fall short of your father, since you 
are the same with him in essence? Is it not evident that our enquiry into the 
Nature of the Essence of God, if we make it, will leave Personality absolutely 
unaffected? But that Unbegotten is not a synonym of God is proved thus. If it 
were so, it would be necessary that since God is a relative term, Unbegotten 
should be so likewise; or that since Unbegotten is an absolute term, so must 
God be. ... God of no one. For words which are absolutely identical are 
similarly applied. But the word Unbegotten is not used relatively. For to what 
is it relative? And of what things is God the God? Why, of all things. How 
then can God and Unbegotten be identical terms? And again, since Begotten and 
Unbegotten are contradictories, like possession and deprivation, it would 
follow that contradictory essences would co-exist, which is 
impossible.(a) Or again, since possessions are prior to 
deprivations, and the latter are destructive of the former, not only must the 
Essence of the Son be prior to that of the Father, but it must be destroyed by 
the Father, on your hypothesis. 

  XIII. What now remains of their invincible arguments? Perhaps the last they 
will take refuge in is this. If God has never ceased to beget, the Generation 
is imperfect; and when will He cease? But if He has ceased, then He must have 
begun. Thus again these carnal minds bring forward carnal arguments. Whether 
He is eternally begotten or not, I do not yet say, until I have looked into 
the statement, "Before all the hills He begetteth Me,"(b) more 
accurately. But I cannot see the necessity of their conclusion. For if, as 
they say, everything that is to come to an end had also a beginning, then 
surely that which has no end had no beginning. What then will they decide 
concerning the soul, or the Angelic nature? If it had a beginning, it will 
also have an end; and if it has no end, it is evident that according to them 
it had no beginning. But the truth is that it had a beginning, and will never 
have an end. Their assertion, then, that which will have an end had also a 
beginning, is untrue. Our position, however, is, that as in the case of a 
horse, or an ox, or a man, the same definition applies to all the individuals 
of the same species, and whatever shares the definition has also a right to 
the Name; so In the very same way there is One Essence of God, and One Nature, 
and One Name; although in accordance with a distinction in our thoughts we use 
distinct Names and that whatever is properly called by this Name really is 
God; and what He is in Nature, That He is truly called--if at 



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least we are to hold that Truth is a matter not of names but of realities. But 
our opponents, as if they were afraid of leaving any stone unturned to subvert 
the Truth, acknowledge indeed that the Son is God when they are compelled to 
do so by arguments(a) and evidences; but they only mean that He 
is God in an ambiguous sense, and that He only shares the Name. 

  XIV. And when we advance this objection against them, "What do you mean to 
say then? That the Son is not properly God, just as a picture of an animal is 
not properly an animal? And if not properly God, in what sense is He God at 
all?" They reply, Why should not these terms be ambiguous, and in both cases 
be used in a proper sense? And they will give us such instances as the 
land-dog and the dogfish; where the word Dog is ambiguous, and yet in both 
cases is properly used, for there is such a species among the ambiguously 
named, or any other case in which the same appellative is used for two things 
of different nature, But, my good friend, in this case, when you include two 
natures under the same name, you do not assert that either is better than the 
other, or that the one is prior and the other posterior, or that one is in a 
greater degree and the other in a lesser that which is predicated of them 
both, for there is no connecting link which forces this necessity upon them. 
One is not a dog more than the other, and one less so; either the dogfish more 
than the land-dog, or the land-dog than the dogfish. Why should they be, or on 
what principle? But the community of name is here between things of equal 
value, though of different nature. But in the case of which we are speaking, 
you couple the Name of God with adorable Majesty, and make It surpass every 
essence and nature (an attribute of God alone), and then you ascribe this Name 
to the Father, while you deprive the Son of it, and make Him subject to the 
Father, and give Him only a secondary honour and worship; and even if in words 
you bestow on Him one which is Equal, yet in practice you cut off His Deity, 
and pass malignantly from a use of the same Name implying an exact equality, 
to one which connects things which are not equal. And so the pictured and the 
living man are in your mouth an apter illustration of the relations of Deity 
than the dogs which I instanced. Or else you must concede to both an equal 
dignity of nature as well as a common name--even though you introduced these 
natures into your argument as different; and thus you destroy the analogy of 
your dogs, which you invented as an instance of inequality. For what is the 
force of your instance of ambiguity, if those whom you distinguish are not 
equal in honour? For it was not to prove an equality but an inequality that 
you took refuge in your dogs. How could anybody be more clearly convicted of 
fighting both against his own arguments, and against the Deity? 

  XV. And if, when we admit that in respect of being the Cause the Father is 
greater than the Son, they should assume the premiss that He is the Cause by 
Nature, and then deduce the conclusion that He is greater by Nature also, it 
is difficult to say whether they mislead most themselves or those with whom 
they are arguing. For it does not absolutely follow that all that is 
predicated of a class can also be predicated of all the individuals composing 
it; for the different particulars may belong to different individuals. For 
what hinders me, if I assume the same premiss, namely, that the Father is 
greater by Nature, and then add this other, Yet not by nature in every respect 
greater nor yet Father--from concluding, Therefore the Greater is not in every 
respect greater, nor the Father in every respect Father? Or, if you prefer it, 
let us put it in this way: God is an Essence: But an Essence is not in every 
case God; and draw the conclusion for yourself--Therefore God is not in every 
case God. I think the fallacy here is the arguing from a conditioned to an 
unconditioned use of a term,(a) to use the technical expression 
of the logicians. For while we assign this word Greater to His Nature viewed 
as a Cause, they infer it of His Nature viewed in itself. It is just as if 
when we said that such a one was a dead man they were to infer simply that he 
was a Man. 

  XVI. How shall we pass over the following point, which is no less amazing 
than the rest? Father, they say, is a name either of an essence or of an 
Action, thinking to bind us down on both sides. If we say that it is a name of 
an essence, they will say that we agree with them that the Son is of another 
Essence, since there is but one Essence of God, and this, according to them, 
is preoccupied by the Father. On the other hand, if we say that it is the name 
of an Action, we shall be 



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supposed to acknowledge plainly that the Son is created and not begotten. For 
where there is an Agent there must also be an Effect. And they will say they 
wonder how that which is made can be identical with That which made it. I 
should myself have been frightened with your distinction, if it had been 
necessary to accept one or other of the alternatives, and not rather put both 
aside, and state a third and truer one, namely, that Father is not a name 
either of an essence or of an action, most clever sirs. But it is the name of 
the Relation in which the Father stands to the Son, and the Son to the Father. 
For as with us these names make known a genuine and intimate relation, so, in 
the case before us too, they denote an identity of nature between Him That is 
begotten and Him That begets. But let us concede to you that Father is a name 
of essence, it will still bring in the idea of Son, and will not make it of a 
different nature, according to common ideas and the force of these names. Let 
it be, if it so please you, the name of an action; you will not defeat us in 
this way either. The Homoousion would be indeed the result of this action, or 
otherwise the conception of an action in this matter would be absurd. You see 
then how, even though you try to fight unfairly, we avoid your sophistries. 
But now, since we have ascertained how invincible you are in your arguments 
and sophistries, let us look at your strength in the Oracles of God, if 
perchance you may choose to persuade us out of them. 

  XVII. For we have learnt to believe in and to teach the Deity of the Son 
from their great and lofty utterances. And what utterances are these? These: 
God--The Word--He That Was In The Beginning and With The Beginning, and The 
Beginning. "In the Beginning was The Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God,"(a) and "With Thee is the 
Beginning,"(b) and "He who calleth her The Beginning from 
generations."(g) Then the Son is Only-begotten: The only 
"begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, it says, He hath declared 
Him."(d) The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Light. "I am the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life;" and "I am the Light of the 
World."(e) Wisdom and Power, "Christ, the Wisdom of God, and 
the Power of God."(z) The Effulgence, the Impress, the Image, 
the Seal; "Who being the Effulgence of His glory and the Impress of His 
Essence,"(a) and "the Image of His Goodness,"(b) 
and "Him hath God the Father sealed."(g) Lord, King, He That 
Is, The Almighty. "The Lord rained down fire from the Lord; 
"(d) and "A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy 
Kingdom;"(e) and "Which is and was and is to come, the 
Almighty"(z)--all which are clearly spoken of the Son, with all 
the other passages of the same force, none of which is an afterthought, or 
added later to the Son or the Spirit, any more than to the Father Himself. For 
Their Perfection is not affected by additions. There never was a time when He 
was without the Word, or when He was not the Father, or when He was not true, 
or not wise, or not powerful, or devoid of life, or of splendour, or of 
goodness. 

  But in opposition to all these, do you reckon up for me the expressions 
which make for your ignorant arrogance, such as "My God and your 
God,"(h) or greater, or created, or made, or 
sanctified;(q) Add, if you like, Servant(k) and 
Obedient(l) and Gave(m) and 
Learnt,(n) and was commanded,(x) was 
sent,(o) can do nothing of Himself, either say, or judge, or 
give, or will.(p) And further these,--His 
ignorance,(r) subjection,(s) 
prayer,(t) asking,(u) 
increase,(F) being made perfect.(c) And if you 
like even more humble than these; such as speak of His 
sleeping,(y) hungering,(w) being in an 
agony,(aa) and fearing;(bb) or perhaps you would 
make even His Cross and Death a matter of reproach to Him. His Resurrection 
and Ascension I fancy you will leave to me, for in these is found something to 
support our position. A good many other things too you might pick up, if you 
desire to put together that equivocal and intruded god of yours, Who to us is 
True God, and equal to the Father. For every one of these points, taken 
separately, may very easily, if we go through them one by one, be explained to 
you in the most reverent sense, and the stumbling-block of the letter be 
cleaned away--that is, if your stumbling at it be honest, and not wilfully 
malicious. To give you the explanation in one sentence. What is lofty you are 
to apply to the Godhead, and to that Nature in Him which is superior to 
sufferings and incorporeal; but all that is lowly to the composite 
condition(gg) of Him who for your 



308 



sakes made Himself of no reputation and was Incarnate-yes, for it is no worse 
thing to say, was made Man, and afterwards was also exalted. The result will 
be that you will abandon these carnal and grovelling doctrines, and learn to 
be more sublime, and to ascend with His Godhead, and you will not remain 
permanently among the things of sight, but will rise up with Him into the 
world of thought, and come to know which passages refer to His Nature, and 
which to His assumption of Human Nature.(a) 

  XIX. For He Whom you now treat with contempt was once above you. He Who is 
now Man was once the Uncompounded. What He was He continued to be; what He was 
not He took to Himself.(b) In the beginning He was, uncaused; 
for what is the Cause of God? But afterwards for a cause He was born. And that 
came was that you might be saved, who insult Him and despise His Godhead, 
because of this, that He took upon Him your denser nature, having converse 
with Flesh by means of Mind.(g) While His inferior Nature, the 
Humanity, became God, because it was united to God, and became One 
Person(d) because the Higher Nature prevailed in order that I 
too might be made Goal so far as He is made Man.(e) He was 
born--but He had been begotten: He was born of a woman--but she was a Virgin. 
The first is human the second Divine. In His Human nature He had no Father, 
but also in His Divine Nature no Mother.(a) Both 
these(b) belong to Godhead. He dwelt in the womb--but He was 
recognized by the Prophet,(g) himself still in the womb, 
leaping before the Word, for Whose sake He came into being. He was wrapped in 
swaddling clothes(d)--but He took off the swathing bands of the 
grave by His rising again. He was laid in a manger--but He was glorified by 
Angels, and proclaimed by a star, and worshipped by the Magi. Why are you 
offended by that which is presented to your sight, because you will not look 
at that which is presented to your mind? He was driven into exile into 
Egypt--but He drove away the Egyptian idols.(e) He had no form 
nor comeliness in the eyes of the Jews(z)--but to David He is 
fairer than the children of men.(p) And on the Mountain He was 
bright as the lightning, and became more luminous than the 
sun,(q) initiating us into the mystery of the future. 

  XX. He was baptized as Man--but He remitted sins as 
God(i)--not because He needed purificatory rites Himself, but 
that He might sanctify the element of water. He was tempted as Man, but He 
conquered as God; yea, He bids us be of good cheer, for He has overcome the 
world.(k) He hungered--but He fed thousands;(l) 
yea, He is the Bread that giveth life, and That is of heaven. He thirsted--but 
He cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.(m) 
Yea, He promised that foun- 



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tains should flow from them that believe. He was wearied, but He is the Rest 
of them that are weary and heavy laden.(a) He was heavy with 
sleep, but He walked lightly over the sea.(b) He rebuked the 
winds, He made Peter light as he began to sink.(g) He pays 
tribute, but it is out of a fish; (d) yea, He is the King of 
those who demanded it.(e) He is called a Samaritan and a 
demoniac;(z)--but He saves him that came down from Jerusalem 
and fell among thieves;(h) the demons acknowledge Him, and He 
drives out demons and sinks in the sea legions of foul 
spirits,(q) and sees the Prince of the demons falling like 
lightning.(i) He is stoned, but is not taken. He prays, but He 
hears prayer. He weeps, but He causes tears to cease. He asks where Lazarus 
was laid, for He was Man; but He raises Lazarus, for He was 
God.(k) He is sold, and very cheap, for it is only for thirty 
pieces of silver;(l) but He redeems the world, and that at a 
great price, for the Price was His own blood.(m) As a sheep He 
is led to the slaughter,(n) but He is the Shepherd of Israel, 
and now of the whole world also. As a Lamb He is silent, yet He is the Word, 
and is proclaimed by the Voice of one crying in the 
wilderness.(x) He is bruised and wounded, but He healeth every 
disease and every infirmity.(o) He is lifted up and nailed to 
the Tree, but by the Tree of Life He restoreth us; yea, He saveth even the 
Robber crucified with Him;(p) yea, He wrapped the visible world 
in darkness. He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall. Who? He who 
turned the water into wine? who is the destroyer of the bitter taste, who is 
Sweetness and altogether desire.(r) He lays down His life, but 
He has power to take it again;(s) and the veil is rent, for the 
mysterious doors of Heaven are opened; the rocks are cleft, the dead 
arise.(t) He dies, but He gives life, and by His death destroys 
death. He is buried, but He rises again; He goes down into Hell, but He brings 
up the souls; He ascends to Heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick 
and the dead, and to put to the test such words as yours. If the one give you 
a starting point for your error, let the others put an end to it. 

  XXI. This, then, is our reply to those who would puzzle us; not given 
willingly indeed (for light talk and contradictions of words are not agreeable 
to the faith fill, and one Adversary is enough for us), but of necessity, for 
the sake of our assailants (for medicines exist because of diseases), that 
they may be led to see that they are not all-wise nor invincible in those 
superfluous arguments which make void the Gospel. For when we leave off 
believing, and protect ourselves by mere strength of argument, and destroy the 
claim which the Spirit has upon our faith by questionings, and then our 
argument is not strong enough for the importance of the subject (and this must 
necessarily be the case, since it is put in motion by an organ of so little 
power as is our mind), what is the result? The weakness of the argument 
appears to belong to the mystery, and thus elegance of language makes void the 
Cross, as Paul also thought.(a) For faith is that which 
completes our argument. But may He who proclaimeth unions and looseth those 
that are bound, and who putteth into our minds to solve the knots of their 
unnatural dogmas, if it may be, change these men and make them faithful 
instead of rhetoricians, Christians instead of that which they now are called. 
This indeed we entreat and beg for Christ's sake. Be ye reconciled to 
God,(b) and quench not the Spirit;(g) or rather, 
may Christ be reconciled to you, and may the Spirit enlighten you, though so 
late. But if you are too fond of your quarrel, we at any rate will hold fast 
to the Trinity, and by the Trinity may we be saved, remaining pure and without 
offence, until the more perfect shewing forth of that which we desire, in Him, 
Christ our Lord, to Whom be the glory for ever. Amen. 


THE FOURTH THEOLOGICAL ORATION, WHICH IS THE SECOND CONCERNING THE SON. 



  I. Since I have by the power of the Spirit sufficiently overthrown the 
subtleties and intricacies of the arguments, and already solved in the mass 
the objections and oppositions drawn from Holy Scripture, with which these 
sacrilegious robbers of the Bible and thieves of the sense of its contents 
draw over the multitude to their side, and confuse the way of truth; and that 
not without clearness, as I believe all candid persons will say; attributing 
to the Deity the higher and diviner expressions, and the lower and more human 
to Him Who for us men was the Second Adam, and was God made capable of 
suffering to strive against sin; 



310 



yet we have not yet gone through the passages in detail, because of the haste 
of our argument. But since you demand of us a brief explanation of each of 
them, that you may not be carried away by the plausibilities of their 
arguments, we will therefore state the explanations summarily, dividing them 
into numbers for the sake of carrying them more easily in mind. 

  II. In their eyes the following is only too ready to hand "The LORD created 
me at the beginning of His ways with a view to His works."(a) 
How shall we meet this? Shall we bring an accusation against Solomon, or 
reject his former words because of his fall in after-life? Shall we say that 
the words are those of Wisdom herself, as it were of Knowledge and the 
Creator-word, in accordance with which all things were made? For Scripture 
often personifies many even lifeless objects; as for instance, "The Sea 
said"(b) so and so; and, "The Depth saith, It is not in 
me;"(g) and "The Heavens declare the glory of God 
;"(d) and again a command is given to the 
Sword;(e) and the Mountains and Hills are asked the reason of 
their skipping.(z) We do not allege any of these, though some 
of our predecessors used them as powerful arguments. But let us grant that the 
expression is used of our Saviour Himself, the true Wisdom. Let us consider 
one small point together. What among all things that exist is unoriginate? The 
Godhead. For no one can tell the origin of God, that otherwise would be older 
than God. But what is the cause of the Manhood, which for our sake God 
assumed? It was surely our Salvation. What else could it be? Since then we 
find here clearly both the Created and the Begetteth Me, the argument is 
simple. Whatever we find joined with a cause we are to refer to the Manhood, 
but all that is absolute and unoriginate we are to reckon to the account of 
His Godhead. Well, then, is not this "Created" said in connection with a 
cause? He created Me, it so says, as the beginning of His ways, with a view to 
his works. Now, the Works of His Hands are verity and 
judgment;(a) for whose sake He was anointed with 
Godhead;;(b) for this anointing is of the Manhood; but the "He 
begetteth Me" is not connected with a cause; or it is for you to shew the 
adjunct. What argument then will disprove that Wisdom is called a creature, in 
connection with the lower generation, but Begotten in respect of the first and 
more incomprehensible? 

  III. Next is the fact of His being called Servant(g) and 
serving many well, and that it is a great thing for Him to be called the Child 
of God. For in truth He was in servitude to flesh and to birth and to the 
conditions of our life with a view to our liberation, and to that of all those 
whom He has saved, who were in bondage under sin. What greater destiny can 
befall man's humility than that he should be intermingled with God, and by 
this intermingling should be deified,(d) and that we should be 
so visited by the Dayspring from on high,(e) that even that 
Holy Thing that should be born should be called the Son of the 
Highest,(z) and that there should be bestowed upon Him a Name 
which is above every name? And what else can this be than God?--and that every 
knee should bow to Him That was made of no reputation for us, and That mingled 
the Form of God with the form of a servant, and that all the House of Israel 
should know that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ?(p) For 
all this was done by the action of the Begotten, and by the good pleasure of 
Him That begat Him. 

  IV. Well, what is the second of their great irresistible passages? "He must 
reign,"(q) till such and such a time ... and "be received by 
heaven until the time of restitution,"(i) and "have the seat at 
the Right Hand until the overthrow of His enemies."(k) But 
after this? Must He cease to be King, or be removed from Heaven? Why, who 
shall make Him cease, or for what cause? What a bold and very anarchical 
interpreter you are; and yet you have heard that Of His Kingdom there shall be 
no end.(l) Your mistake arises from not understanding that 
Until is not always exclusive of that which comes after, but asserts up to 
that time, without denying what comes 



311 



after it. To take a single instance--how else would you understand, "Lo, I am 
with you always, even unto the end of the world?"(a) Does it 
mean that He will no longer be so afterwards. And for what reason? But this is 
not the only cause of your error; you also fail to distinguish between the 
things that are signified. He is said to reign in one sense as the Almighty 
King, both of the willing and the unwilling; but in another as producing in us 
submission, and placing us under His Kingship as willingly acknowledging His 
Sovereignty. Of His Kingdom, considered in the former sense, there shall be no 
end. But in the second sense, what end will there be? His taking us as His 
servants, on our entrance into a state of salvation. For what need is there to 
Work Submission in us when we have already submitted? After which He arises to 
judge the earth, and to separate the saved from the lost. After that He is to 
stand as God in the midst of gods,(b) that is, of the saved, 
distinguishing and deciding of what honour and of what mansion each is worthy. 

  V. Take, in the next place, the subjection by which you subject the Son to 
the Father. What, you say, is He not now subject, or must He, if He is God, be 
subject to God?(g) You are fashioning your argument as if it 
concerned some robber, or some hostile deity. But look at it in this manner: 
that as for my sake He was called a curse,(d) Who destroyed my 
curse; and sin,(e) who taketh away the sin of the world; and 
became a new Adam(z) to take the place of the old, just so He 
makes my disobedience His own as Head of the whole body. As long then as I am 
disobedient and rebellious, both by denial of God and by my passions, so long 
Christ also is called disobedient on my account. But when all things shall be 
subdued unto Him on the one hand by acknowledgment of Him, and on the other by 
a reformation, then He Himself also will have fulfilled His submission, 
bringing me whom He has saved to God. For this, according to my view, is the 
subjection of Christ; namely, the fulfilling of the Father's Will. But as the 
Son subjects all to the Father, so does the Father to the Son; the One by His 
Work, the Other by His good pleasure, as we have already said. And thus He Who 
subjects presents to God that which he has subjected, making our condition His 
own. Of the same kind, it appears to me, is the expression, "My God, My God, 
why hast Thou forsaken Me?"(a) It was not He who was forsaken 
either by the Father, or by His own Godhead, as some have thought, as if It 
were afraid of the Passion, and therefore withdrew Itself from Him in His 
Sufferings (for who compelled Him either to be born on earth at all, or to be 
lifted up on the Cross?) But as I said, He was in His own Person representing 
us. For we were the forsaken and despised before, but now by the Sufferings of 
Him Who could not suffer, we were taken up and saved. Similarly, He makes His 
own our folly and our transgressions; and says what follows in the Psalm, for 
it is very evident that the Twenty-first(b) Psalm refers to 
Christ. 

  VI. The same consideration applies to another passage, "He learnt obedience 
by the things which He suffered,"(g) and to His "strong crying 
and tears," and His "Entreaties," and His "being heard," and His" Reverence," 
all of which He wonderfully wrought out, like a drama whose plot was devised 
on our behalf. For in His character of the Word He was neither obedient nor 
disobedient. For such expressions belong to servants, and inferiors, and the 
one applies to the better sort of them, while the other belongs to those who 
deserve punishment. But, in the character of the Form of a Servant, He 
condescends to His fellow servants, nay, to His servants, and takes upon Him a 
strange form, bearing all me and mine in Himself, that in Himself He may 
exhaust the bad, as fire does wax, or as the sun does the mists of earth; and 
that I may partake of His nature by the blending. Thus He honours obedience by 
His action, and proves it experimentally by His Passion. For to possess the 
disposition is not enough, just as it would not be enough for us, unless we 
also proved it by our acts; for action is the proof of disposition. 

  And perhaps it would not be wrong to assume this also, that by the 
art(d) of His love for man He gauges our obedience, and 
measures all by comparison with His own Sufferings, so that He may know our 
condition by His own, and how much is demanded of us, and how much we yield, 
taking into the account, along with our environment, our weakness also. For if 
the Light shining through the veil(e) upon the darkness, that 
is upon this life, was persecuted by the other darkness (I mean, the Evil 



312 



One and the Tempter), how much more will the darkness be persecuted, as being 
weaker than it? And what marvel is it, that though He entirely escaped, we 
have been, at any rate in part, overtaken? For it is a more wonderful thing 
that He should have been chased than that we should have been captured;--at 
least to the minds of all who reason aright on the subject. I will add yet 
another passage to those I have mentioned, because I think that it clearly 
tends to the same sense. I mean "In that He hath suffered being tempted, He is 
able to succour them that are tempted."(a) But God will be all 
in all in the time of restitution; not in the sense that the Father alone will 
Be; and the Son be wholly resolved into Him, like a torch into a great pyre, 
from which it was reft away for a little space, and then put back (for I would 
not have even the Sabellians injured(b) by such an expression); 
but the entire Godheadwhen we shall be no longer divided (as we now are by 
movements and passions), and containing nothing at all of God, or very little, 
but shall be entirely like. 

  VII. As your third point you count the Word Greater;(g) and 
as your fourth, To My God and your God.(d) And indeed, if He 
had been called greater, and the word equal had not occurred, this might 
perhaps have been a point in their favour. But if we find both words clearly 
used what will these gentlemen have to say? How will it strengthen their 
argument? How will they reconcile the irreconcilable? For that the same thing 
should be at once greater than and equal to the same thing is an 
impossibility; and the evident solution is that the Greater refers to 
origination, while the Equal belongs to the Nature; and this we acknowledge 
with much good will. But perhaps some one else will back up our attack on your 
argument, and assert, that That which is from such a Cause is not inferior to 
that which has no Cause; for it would share the glory of the Unoriginate, 
because it is from the Unoriginate. And there is, besides, the Generation, 
which is to all men a matter so marvellous and of such Majesty. For to say 
that he is greater than the Son considered as man, is true indeed, but is no 
great thing. For what marvel is it if God is greater than man? Surely that is 
enough to say in answer to their talk about Greater. 

  VIII. As to the other passages, My God would be used in respect, not of the 
Word, but of the Visible Word. For how could there be a God of Him Who is 
properly God? In the same way He is Father, not of the Visible, but of the 
Word; for our Lord was of two Natures; so that one expression is used 
properly, the other improperly in each of the two cases; but exactly the 
opposite way to their use in respect of us. For with respect to us God is 
properly our God, but not properly our Father. And this is the cause of the 
error of the Heretics, namely the joining of these two Names, which are 
interchanged because of the Union of the Natures. And an indication of this is 
found in the fact that wherever the Natures are distinguished in our thoughts 
from one another, the Names are also distinguished; as you hear in Paul's 
words, "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of 
Glory."(a) The God of Christ, but the Father of glory. For 
although these two terms express but one Person, yet this is not by a Unity of 
Nature, but by a Union of the two. What could be clearer? 

  IX. Fifthly, let it be alleged that it is said of Him that He receives 
life,(b) judgment,(g) inheritance of the 
Gentiles,(d) or power over all flesh,(e) or 
glory,(z) or disciples, or whatever else is mentioned. This 
also belongs to the Manhood; and yet if you were to ascribe it to the Godhead, 
it would be no absurdity. For you would not so ascribe it as if it were newly 
acquired, but as belonging to Him from the beginning by reason of nature, and 
not as an act of favour. 

  X. Sixthly, let it be asserted that it is written, The Son can do nothing of 
Himself, but what He seeth the Father do.(h) The solution of 
this is as follows:--Can and Cannot are not words with only one meaning, but 
have many meanings. On the one hand they are used sometimes in respect of 
deficiency of strength, sometimes in respect of time, and sometimes relatively 
to a certain object; as for instance, A Child cannot be an Athlete, or, A 
Puppy cannot see, or fight with so and so. Perhaps some day the child will be 
an athlete, the puppy will see, will fight with that other, though it may 
still be unable to fight with Any other. Or again, they may be used of that 
which is Generally true. For instance,--A city that is set on a hill cannot be 
hid;(q) while yet it might possibly be hidden by another higher 
hill being in a line with it. Or in another sense they are used of a thing 
which is not reasonable; as, Can the Children of the Bridechamber fast while 
the 



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Bridegroom is with them;(a) whether He be considered as visible 
in bodily form (for the time of His sojourning among us was not one of 
mourning, but of gladness), or, as the Word. For why should they keep a bodily 
fast who are cleansed by the Word?(b) Or, again, they are used 
of that which is contrary to the will; as in, He could do no mighty works 
there because of their unbelief,(g)--i.e. of those who should 
receive them. For since in order to healing there is need of both faith in the 
patient and power in the Healer,(d) when one of the two failed 
the other was impossible. But probably this sense also is to be referred to 
the head of the unreasonable. For healing is not reasonable in the case of 
those who would afterwards be injured by unbelief. The sentence The world 
cannot hate you,(e) comes under the same head, as does also How 
can ye, being evil, speak good things?(z) For in what sense is 
either impossible, except that it is contrary to the will? There is a somewhat 
similar meaning in the expressions which imply that a thing impossible by 
nature is possible to God if He so wills;(h) as that a man 
cannot be born a second time,(q) or that a needle will not let 
a camel through it.(k) For what could prevent either of these 
things happening, if God so willed? 

  XI. And besides all this, there is the absolutely impossible and 
inadmissible, as that which we are now examining. For as we assert that it is 
impossible for God to be evil, or not to exist--for this would be indicative 
of weakness in God rather than of strength--or for the non-existent to exist, 
or for two and two to make both four and ten,(l) so it is 
impossible and inconceivable that the Son should do anything that the Father 
doeth not.(m) For all things that the Father hath are the 
Son's;(n) and on the other hand, all that belongs to the Son is 
the Father's. Nothing then is peculiar, because all things are in common. For 
Their Being itself is common and equal, even though the Son receive it from 
the Father. It is in respect of this that it is said I live by the 
Father;(x) not as though His Life and Being were kept together 
by the Father, but because He has His Being from Him beyond all time, and 
beyond all cause. But how does He see the Father doing, and do likewise? Is it 
like those who copy pictures and letters, because they cannot attain the truth 
unless by looking at the original, and being led by the hand by it? But how 
shall Wisdom stand in need of a teacher, or be incapable of acting unless 
taught? And in what sense does the Father "Do" in the present or in the past? 
Did He make another world before this one, or is He going to make a world to 
come? And did the Son look at that and make this? Or will He look at the 
other, and make one like it? According to this argument there must be Four 
worlds, two made by the Father, and two by the Son. What an absurdity! He 
cleanses lepers, and delivers men from evil spirits, and diseases, and 
quickens the dead, and walks upon the sea, and does all His other works; but 
in what case, or when did the Father do these acts before Him? Is it not clear 
that the Father impressed the ideas of these same actions, and the Word brings 
them to pass, yet not in slavish or unskilful fashion, but with full knowledge 
and in a masterly way, or, to speak more properly, like the Father? For in 
this sense I understand the words that whatsoever is done by the Father, these 
things doeth the Son likewise; not, that is, because of the likeness of the 
things done, but in respect of the Authority. This might well also be the 
meaning of the passage which says that the Father worketh hitherto and the Son 
also;(a) and not only so but it refers also to the government 
and preservation of the things which He has made; as is shewn by the passage 
which says that He maketh His Angels Spirits,(b) and that the 
earth is founded upon its steadfastness (though once for all these things were 
fixed and made) and that the thunder is made firm and the wind 
created.(g) Of all these things the Word was given once, but 
the Action is continuous even now. 

  XII. Let them quote in the seventh place that The Son came down from Heaven, 
not to do His own Will, but the Will of Him That sent Him.(d) 
Well, if this had not been said by Himself Who came down, we should say that 
the phrase was modelled as issuing from the Human Nature, not from Him who is 
conceived of in His character as the Saviour, for His Human Will cannot be 
opposed to God, seeing it is altogether taken into God; but conceived of 
simply as in our nature, inasmuch as the human will does not completely follow 
the Divine, but for the most part struggles against and resists it. For we 
understand in the same way the words, Father, if 



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it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; Nevertheless let not what I will 
but Thy Will prevail.(a) For it is not likely that He did not 
know whether it was possible or not, or that He would oppose will to will. But 
since, as this is the language of Him Who assumed our Nature (for He it was 
Who came down), and not of the Nature which He assumed, we must meet the 
objection in this way, that the passage does not mean that the Son has a 
special will of His own, besides that of the Father, but that He has not; so 
that the meaning would be, "not to do Mine own Will, for there is none of Mine 
apart from, but that which is common to, Me and Thee; for as We have one 
Godhead, so We have one Will."(b) For many such expressions are 
used in relation to this Community, and are expressed not positively but 
negatively; as, e.g., God giveth not the Spirit by measure,(g) 
for as a matter of fact He does not give the Spirit to the Son, nor does He 
measure It, for God is not measured by God; or again, Not my transgression nor 
my sin.(d) The words are not used because He has these things, 
but because He has them not. And again, Not for our righteousness which we 
have done,(e) for we have not done any. And this meaning is 
evident also in the clauses which follow. For what, says He, is the Will of My 
Father? That everyone that believeth on the Son should be 
saved,(z) and obtain the final Resurrection.(h) 
Now is this the Will of the Father, but not of the Son? Or does He preach the 
Gospel, and receive men's faith against His will? Who could believe that? 
Moreover, that passage, too, which says that the Word which is heard is not 
the Son's(q) but the Father's has the same force. For I cannot 
see how that which is common to two can be said to belong to one alone, 
however much I consider it, and I do not think any one else can. If then you 
hold this opinion concerning the Will, you will be right and reverent in your 
opinion, as I think, and as every right-minded person thinks. 

  XIII. The eighth passage is, That they may know Thee, the only true God, and 
Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent;(k) and There is none good 
save one, that is, God.(l) The solution of this appears to me 
very easy. For if you attribute this only to the Father, where will you place 
the Very Truth? For if you conceive in this manner of the meaning of To the 
only wise God,(a) or Who only hath Immortality, Dwelling in the 
light which no man can approach unto,(b) or of to the king of 
the Ages, immortal, invisible, and only wise God,(g) then the 
Son has vanished under sentence of death, or of darkness, or at any rate 
condemned to be neither wise nor king, nor invisible, nor God at all, which 
sums up all these points. And how will you prevent His Goodness, which 
especially belongs to God alone, from perishing with the rest? I, however, 
think that the passage That they may know Thee the only true God, was said to 
overthrow those gods which are falsely so called, for He would not have added 
and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent, if The Only True God were contrasted 
with Him, and the sentence did not proceed upon the basis of a common Godhead. 
The "None is Good" meets the tempting Lawyer, who was testifying to His 
Goodness viewed as Man. For perfect goodness, He says, is God's alone, even if 
a man is called perfectly good. As for instance, A good man out of the good 
treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things.(d) And, I 
will give the kingdom to one who is good above Thee.(e) ... 
Words of God, speaking to Saul about David. Or again, Do good, O Lord, unto 
the good(z) ... and all other like expressions concerning those 
of us who are praised, upon whom it is a kind of effluence from the Supreme 
Good, and has come to them in a secondary degree. It will be best of all if we 
can persuade you of this. But if not, what will you say to the suggestion on 
the other side, that on your hypothesis the Son has been called the only God. 
In what passage? Why, in this:--This is your God; no other shall be accounted 
of in comparison with Him, and a little further on, after this did He shew 
Himself upon earth, and conversed with men.(h) This addition 
proves clearly that the words are not used of the Father, but of the Son; for 
it was He Who in bodily form companied with us, and was in this lower world. 
Now, if we should determine to take these words as said in contrast with the 
Father, and not with the imaginary gods, we lose the Father by the very terms 
which we were pressing against the Son. And what could be more disastrous than 
such a victory? 

XIV. Ninthly, they allege, seeing He ever 



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liveth to make intercession for us.(a) O, how beautiful and 
mystical and kind. For to intercede does not imply to seek for vengeance, as 
is most men's way (for in that there would be something of humiliation), but 
it is to plead for us by reason of His Mediatorship, just as the Spirit also 
is said to make intercession for us.(b) For there is One God, 
and One Mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus.(g) 
For He still pleads even now as Man for my salvation; for He continues to wear 
the Body which He assumed, until He make me God by the power of His 
Incarnation; although He is no longer known after the 
flesh(d)--I mean, the passions of the flesh, the same, except 
sin, as ours. Thus too, we have an Advocate,(e) Jesus Christ, 
not indeed prostrating Himself for us before the Father, and falling down 
before Him in slavish fashion ... Away with a suspicion so truly slavish and 
unworthy of the Spirit! For neither is it seemly for the Father to require 
this, nor for the Son to submit to it; nor is it just to think it of God. But 
by what He suffered as Man, He as the Word and the Counsellor persuades Him to 
be patient. I think this is the meaning of His Advocacy. 

  XV. Their tenth objection is the ignorance, and the statement that Of the 
last day and hour knoweth no man, not even the Son Himself, but the 
Father.(z) And yet how can Wisdom be ignorant of anything--that 
is, Wisdom Who made the worlds, Who perfects them, Who remodels them, Who is 
the Limit of all things that were made, Who knoweth the things of God as the 
spirit of a man knows the things that are in him?(h) For what 
can be more perfect than this knowledge? How then can you say that all things 
before that hour He knows accurately, and all things that are to happen about 
the time of the end, but of the hour itself He is ignorant? For such a thing 
would be like a riddle; as if one were to say that he knew accurately all that 
was in front of the wall, but did not know the wall itself; or that, knowing 
the end of the day, he did not know the beginning of the night--where 
knowledge of the one necessarily brings in the other. Thus everyone must see 
that He knows as God, and knows not as Man;--if one may separate the visible 
from that which is discerned by thought alone. For the absolute and 
unconditioned use of the Name "The Son" in this passage, without the addition 
of whose Son, gives us this thought, that we are to understand the ignorance 
in the most reverent sense, by attributing it to the Manhood, and not to the 
Godhead. 

  XVI. If then this argument is sufficient, let us stop here, and not enquire 
further. But if not, our second argument is as follows:--Just as we do in all 
other instances, so let us refer His knowledge of the greatest events, in 
honour of the Father, to The Cause. And I think that anyone, even if he did 
not read it in the way that one of our own Students(a) did, 
would soon perceive that not even the Son knows the day or hour otherwise than 
as the Father does. For what do we conclude from this? That since the Father 
knows, therefore also does the Son, as it is evident that this cannot be known 
or comprehended by any but the First Nature. There remains for us to interpret 
the passage about His receiving commandment,(b) and having kept 
His Commandments, and done always those things that please Him; and further 
concerning His being made perfect,(g) and His 
exaltation,(d) and His learning obedience by the things which 
He suffered; and also His High Priesthood, and His Oblation, and His Betrayal, 
and His prayer to Him That was able to save Him from death, and His Agony and 
Bloody Sweat and Prayer,(e) and such like things; if it were 
not evident to every one that such words are concerned, not with That Nature 
Which is unchangeable and above all capacity of suffering, but with the 
passible Humanity. This, then, is the argument concerning these objections, so 
far as to be a sort of foundation and memorandum for the use of those who are 
better able to conduct the enquiry to a more complete working out. It may, 
however, be worth while, and will be consistent with what has been already 
said, instead of passing over without remark the actual Titles of the Son 
(there are many of them, and they are concerned with many of His Attributes), 
to set before you the meaning of each of them, and to point out the mystical 
meaning of the names. 

  XVII. We will begin thus. The Deity cannot be expressed in words. And this 
is proved to us, not only by argument, but by the wisest and most ancient of 
the Hebrews, so far as they have given us reason for conjecture. For they 
appropriated certain characters to the honour of the Deity, and would not even 
allow the name of anything inferior to God to be written with the same letters 
as that of 



316 



God, because to their minds it was improper that the Deity should even to that 
extent admit any of His creatures to a share with Himself. How then could they 
have admitted that the invisible and separate Nature can be explained by 
divisible words? For neither has any one yet breathed the whole air, nor has 
any mind entirely comprehended, or speech exhaustively contained the Being of 
God. But we sketch Him by His Attributes, and so obtain a certain faint and 
feeble and partial idea concerning Him, and our best Theologian is he who has, 
not indeed discovered the whole, for our present chain does not allow of our 
seeing the whole, but conceived of Him to a greater extent than another, and 
gathered in himself more of the Likeness or adumbration of the Truth, or 
whatever we may call it. 

  XVIII. As far then as we can reach, He Who Is, and God, are the special 
names of His Essence; and of these especially He Who Is, not only because when 
He spake to Moses in the mount, and Moses asked what His Name was, this was 
what He called Himself, bidding him say to the people "I Am hath sent 
me,"(a) but also because we find that this Name is the more 
strictly appropriate. For the Name Qeos (God), even if, as 
those who are skilful in these matters say, it were derived from 
Qeein(b) (to run) or from Aiqein 
(to blaze), from continual motion, and because He consumes evil conditions of 
things (from which fact He is also called A Consuming Fire),(g) 
would still be one of the Relative Names, and not an Absolute one; as again is 
the case with Lord,(d) which also is called a name of God. I am 
the Lord Thy God, He says, that is My name;(e) and, The Lord is 
His name.(z) But we are enquiring into a Nature Whose Being is 
absolute and not into Being bound up with something else. But Being is in its 
proper sense peculiar to God, and belongs to Him entirely, and is not limited 
or cut short by any Before or After, for indeed in him there is no past or 
future. 

  XIX. Of the other titles, some are evidently names of His Authority, others 
of His Government of the world, and of this viewed under a twofold aspect, the 
one before the other in the Incarnation. For instance the Almighty, the King 
of Glory, or of The Ages, or of The Powers, or of The Beloved, or of Kings. Or 
again the Lord of Sabaoth, that is of Hosts, or of Powers, or of Lords; these 
are clearly titles belonging to His Authority. But the God either of Salvation 
or of Vengeance, or of Peace, or of Righteousness; or of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, and of all the spiritual Israel that seeth God,--these belong to His 
Government. For since we are governed by these three things, the fear of 
punishment, the hope of salvation and of glory besides, and the practice of 
the virtues by which these are attained, the Name of the God of Vengeance 
governs fear, and that of the God of Salvation our hope, and that of the God 
of Virtues our practice; that whoever attains to any of these may, as carrying 
God in himself, press on yet more unto perfection, and to that affinity which 
arises out of virtues. Now these are Names common to the Godhead, but the 
Proper Name of the Unoriginate is Father, and that of the unoriginately 
Begotten is Son, and that of the unbegottenly Proceeding or going forth is The 
Holy Ghost. Let us proceed then to the Names of the Son, which were our 
starting point in this part of our argument. 

  XX. In my opinion He is called Son because He is identical with the Father 
in Essence; and not only for this reason, but also because He is Of Him. And 
He is called Only-Begotten, not because He is the only Son and of the Father 
alone, and only a Son; but also because the manner of His Sonship is peculiar 
to Himself and not shared by bodies. And He is called the Word, because He is 
related to the Father as Word to Mind; not only on account of His passionless 
Generation, but also because of the Union, and of His declaratory function. 
Perhaps too this relation might be compared to that between the Definition and 
the Thing defined(a) since this also is called 
Logos.(b) For, it says, he that hath mental 
perception of the Son (for this is the meaning of Hath Seen) hath also 
perceived the Father;(g) and the Son is a concise demonstration 
and easy setting forth of the Father's Nature. For every thing that is 
begotten is a silent word of him that begat it. And if any one should say that 
this Name was given Him because 



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He exists in all things that are, he would not be wrong. For what is there 
that consists but by the word? He is also called Wisdom, as the Knowledge of 
things divine and human. For how is it possible that He Who made all things 
should be ignorant of the reasons of what He has made? And Power, as the 
Sustainer of all created things, and the Furnisher to them of power to keep 
themselves together. And Truth, as being in nature One and not many (for truth 
is one and falsehood is manifold), and as the pure Seal of the Father and His 
most unerring Impress. And the Image as of one substance with Him, and because 
He is of the Father, and not the Father of Him. For this is of the Nature of 
an Image, to be the reproduction of its Archetype, and of that whose name it 
bears; only that there is more here. For in ordinary language an image is a 
motionless representation of that which has motion; but in this case it is the 
living reproduction of the Living One, and is more exactly like than was Seth 
to Adam,(a) or any son to his father. For such is the nature of 
simple Existences, that it is not correct to say of them that they are Like in 
one particular and Unlike in another; but they are a complete resemblance, and 
should rather be called Identical than Like. Moreover he is called Light as 
being the Brightness of souls cleansed by word and life. For if ignorance and 
sin be darkness, knowledge and a godly life will be Light. ... And He is 
called Life, because He is Light, and is the constituting and creating Power 
of every reasonable soul. For in Him we live and move and have our 
being,(b) according to the double power of that Breathing into 
us; for we were all inspired by Him with breath,(g) and as many 
of us as were capable of it, and in so far as we open the mouth of our mind, 
with God the Holy Ghost. He is Righteousness, because He distributes according 
to that which we deserve, and is a righteous Arbiter both for those who are 
under the Law and for those who are under Grace, for soul and body, so that 
the former should rule, and the latter obey, and the higher have supremacy 
over the lower; that the worse may not rise in rebellion against the better. 
He is Sanctification, as being Purity, that the Pure may be contained by 
Purity. And Redemption, because He sets us free, who were held captive under 
sin, giving Himself a Ransom for us, the Sacrifice to make expiation for the 
world. And Resurrection, because He raises up from hence, and brings to life 
again us, who were slain by sin. 

  XXI. These names however are still common to Him Who is above us, and to Him 
Who came for our sake. But others are peculiarly our own, and belong to that 
nature which He assumed. So He is called Man, not only that through His Body 
He may be apprehended by embodied creatures, whereas otherwise this would be 
impossible because of His incomprehensible nature; but also that by Himself He 
may sanctify humanity, and be as it were a leaven to the whole lump; and by 
uniting to Himself that which was condemned may release it from all 
condemnation, becoming for all men all things that we are, except sin;--body, 
soul, mind and all through which death reaches--and thus He became Man, who is 
the combination of all these; God in visible form, because He retained that 
which is perceived by mind alone. He is Son of Man, both on account of Adam, 
and of the Virgin from Whom He came; from the one as a forefather, from the 
other as His Mother, both in accordance with the law of generation, and apart 
from it. He is Christ, because of His Godhead. For this is the Anointing of 
His Manhood, and does not, as is the case with all other Anointed Ones, 
sanctify by its action, but by the Presence in His Fulness of the Anointing 
One; the effect of which is that That which anoints is called Man, and makes 
that which is anointed God. He is The Way, because He leads us through 
Himself; The Door, as letting us in; the Shepherd, as making us dwell in a 
place of green pastures,(a) and bringing us up by waters of 
rest, and leading us there, and protecting us from wild beasts, converting the 
erring, bringing back that which was lost, binding up that which was broken, 
guarding the strong, and bringing them together in the Fold beyond, with words 
of pastoral knowledge. The Sheep, as the Victim: The Lamb, as being perfect: 
the Highpriest, as the Offerer; Melchisedec, as without Mother in that Nature 
which is above us, and without Fathen in ours; and without genealogy above 
(for who, it says, shall declare His generation?) and moreover, as King of 
Salem, which means Peace, and King of Righteousness, and as receiving tithes 
from Patriarchs, when they prevail over powers of evil. They are the titles of 
the Son. Walk through them, those that are lofty in a godlike manner; those 
that belong to the body in a manner suitable to them; or rather, altogether in 
a godlike manner, that thou mayest become a god, ascending from 



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below, for His sake Who came down from on high for ours. In all and above all 
keep to this, and thou shalt never err, either in the loftier or the lowlier 
names; Jesus Christ is the Same yesterday and to-day in the Incarnation, and 
in the Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. 


THE FIFTH THEOLOGICAL ORATION. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



  I. SUCH then is the account of the Son, and in this manner He has escaped 
those who would stone Him, passing through the midst of 
them.(a) For the Word is not stoned, but cats stones when He 
pleases; and uses a sling against wild beasts--that is, words--approaching the 
Mount(b) in an unholy way. But, they go on, what have you to 
say about the Holy Ghost? From whence are you bringing in upon us this strange 
God, of Whom Scripture is silent? And even they who keep within bounds as to 
the Son speak thus. And just as we find in the case of roads and rivers, that 
they split off from one another and join again, so it happens also in this 
case, through the superabundance of impiety, that people who differ in all 
other respects have here some points of agreement, so that you never can tell 
for certain either where they are of one mind, or where they are in conflict. 

  II. Now the subject of the Holy Spirit presents a special difficulty, not 
only because when these men have become weary in their disputations concerning 
the Son, they struggle with greater heat against the Spirit (for it seems to 
be absolutely necessary for them to have some object on which to give 
expression to their impiety, or life would appear to them no longer worth 
living), but further because we ourselves also, being worn out by the 
multitude of their questions, are in something of the same condition with men 
who have lost their appetite; who having taken a dislike to some particular 
kind of food, shrink from all food; so we in like manner have an aversion from 
all discussions. Yet may the Spirit grant it to us, and then the discourse 
will proceed, and God will be glorified. Well then, we will leave to 
others(g) who have worked upon this subject for us as well as 
for themselves, as we have worked upon it for them, the task of examining 
carefully and distinguishing in how many senses the word Spirit or the word 
Holy is used and understood in Holy Scripture, with the evidence suitable to 
such an enquiry; and of shewing how besides these the combination of the two 
words--I mean, Holy Spirit--is used in a peculiar sense; but we will apply 
ourselves to the remainder of the subject. 

  III. They then who are angry with us on the ground that we are bringing in a 
strange or interpolated God, viz.:--the Holy Ghost, and who fight so very hard 
for the letter, should know that they are afraid where no fear 
is;(a) and I would have them clearly understand that their love 
for the letter is but a cloak for their impiety, as shall be shewn later on, 
when we refute their objections to the utmost of our power. But we have so 
much confidence in the Deity of the Spirit Whom we adore,(b) 
that we will begin our teaching concerning His Godhead by fitting to Him the 
Names which belong to the Trinity, even though some persons may think us too 
bold. The Father was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the 
world. The Son was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the 
world. The Other Comforter was the True Light which lighteneth every man 
coming into the world,(g) Was and Was and Was, but Was One 
Thing. Light thrice repeated; but One Light and One God. This was what David 
represented to himself long before when he said. In Thy Light shall we see 
Light.(d) And now we have both seen and proclaim concisely and 
simply the doctrine(e) of God the Trinity, comprehending out of 
Light (the Father), Light (the Son), in Light (the Holy Ghost). He that 
rejects it, let him reject it;(z) and he that doeth iniquity, 
let him do iniquity; we proclaim that which we have understood. We will get us 
up into a high mountain,(h) and will shout, if we be not heard, 
below; we will exalt the Spirit; we will not be afraid; or if we are afraid, 
it shall be of keeping silence, not of proclaiming. 

  IV. If ever there was a time when the Father was not, then there was a time 
when the Son was not. If ever there was a time when the Son was not, then 
there was a time when the Spirit was not. If the One was from the beginning, 
then the Three were so too. If you 



319 



throw down the One, I am bold to assert that you do not set up the other Two. 
For what profit is there in an imperfect Godhead? Or rather, what Godhead can 
there be if It is not perfect? And how can that be perfect which lacks 
something of perfection? And surely there is something lacking if it hath not 
the Holy, and how would it have this if it were without the Spirit? For either 
holiness is something different from Him, and if so let some one tell me what 
it is conceived to be; or if it is the same, how is it not from the beginning, 
as if it were better for God to be at one time imperfect and apart from the 
Spirit? If He is not from the beginning, He is in the same rank with myself, 
even though a little before me; for we are both parted from Godhead by time. 
If He is in the same rank with myself, how can He make me God, or join me with 
Godhead? 

  V. Or rather, let me reason with you about Him from a somewhat earlier 
point, for we have already discussed the Trinity. The Sadducees altogether 
denied the existence of the Holy Spirit, just as they did that of Angels and 
the Resurrection; rejecting, I know not upon what ground, the important 
testimonies concerning Him in the Old Testament. And of the Greeks those who 
are more inclined to speak of God, and who approach nearest to us, have formed 
some conception of Him, as it seems to me, though they have differed as to His 
Name, and have addressed Him as the Mind of the World, or the External Mind, 
and the like. But of the wise men amongst ourselves, some have conceived of 
him as an Activity, some as a Creature, some as God; and some have been 
uncertain which to call Him, out of reverence for Scripture, they say, as 
though it did not make the matter clear either way. And therefore they neither 
worship Him nor treat Him with dishonour, but take up a neutral position, or 
rather a very miserable one, with respect to Him. And of those who consider 
Him to be God, some are orthodox in mind only, while others venture to be so 
with the lips also. And I have heard of some who are even more clever, and 
measure Deity; and these agree with us that there are Three Conceptions; but 
they have separated these from one another so completely as to make one of 
them infinite both in essence and power, and the second in power but not in 
essence, and the third circumscribed in both; thus imitating in another way 
those who call them the Creator, the Co-operator, and the Minister, and 
consider that the same order and dignity which belongs to these names is also 
a sequence in the facts. 

  VI. But we cannot enter into any discussion with those who do not even 
believe in His existence, nor with the Greek babblers (for we would not be 
enriched in our argument with the oil of sinners).(a) With the 
others, however, we will argue thus. The Holy Ghost must certainly be 
conceived of either as in the category of the Self-existent, or as in that of 
the things which are contemplated in another; of which classes those who are 
skilled in such matters call the one Substance and the other Accident. Now if 
He were an Accident, He would be an Activity of God, for what else, or of whom 
else, could He be, for surely this is what most avoids composition? And if He 
is an Activity, He will be effected, but will not effect and will cease to 
exist as soon as He has been effected, for this is the nature of an Activity. 
How is it then that He acts and says such and such things, and defines, and is 
grieved, and is angered, and has all the qualities which belong clearly to one 
that moves, and not to movement? But if He is a Substance and not an attribute 
of Substance, He will be conceived of either as a Creature of God, or as God. 
For anything between these two, whether having nothing in common with either, 
or a compound of both, not even they who invented the goat-stag could imagine. 
Now, if He is a creature, how do we believe in Him, how are we made perfect in 
Him? For it is not the same thing to believe IN a thing and to believe ABOUT 
it. The one belongs to Deity, the other to--any thing. But if He is God, then 
He is neither a creature, nor a thing made, nor a fellow servant, nor any of 
these lowly appellations. 

  VII. There--the word is with you. Let the slings be let go; let the 
syllogism be woven. Either He is altogether Unbegotten, or else He is 
Begotten. If He is Unbegotten, there are two Unoriginates. If he is Begotten, 
you must make a further subdivision. He is so either by the Father or by the 
Son. And if by the Father, there are two Sons, and they are Brothers. And you 
may make them twins if you like, or the one older and the other younger, since 
you are so very fond of the bodily conceptions. But if by the Son, then such a 
one will say, we get a glimpse of a Grandson God, than which nothing could be 
more absurd. For my part however, if I saw the necessity of the distinction, I 
should 



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have acknowledged the facts without fear of the names. For it does not follow 
that because the Son is the Son in some higher relation (inasmuch as we could 
not in any other way than this point out that He is of God and 
Consubstantial), it would also be necessary to think that all the names of 
this lower world and of our kindred should be transferred to the Godhead. Or 
may be you would consider our God to be a male, according to the same 
arguments, because he is called God and Father, and that Deity is feminine, 
from the gender of the word, and Spirit neuter, because It has nothing to do 
with generation; But if you would be silly enough to say, with the old myths 
and fables, that God begat the Son by a marriage with His own Will, we should 
be introduced(a) to the Hermaphrodite god of Marcion and 
Valentinus(b) who imagined these newfangled Aeons. 

  VIII. But since we do not admit your first division, which declares that 
there is no mean between Begotten and Unbegotten, at once, along with your 
magnificent division, away go your Brothers and your Grandsons, as when the 
first link of an intricate chain is broken they are broken with it, and 
disappear from your system of divinity. For, tell me, what position will you 
assign to that which Proceeds, which has started up between the two terms of 
your division, and is introduced by a better Theologian than you, our Saviour 
Himself? Or perhaps you have taken that word out of your Gospels for the sake 
of your Third Testament, The Holy Ghost, which proceedeth from the 
Father;(g) Who, inasmuch as He proceedeth from That Source, is 
no Creature; and inasmuch as He is not Begotten is no Son; and inasmuch as He 
is between the Unbegotten and the Begotten is God. And thus escaping the toils 
of your syllogisms, He has manifested himself as God, stronger than your 
divisions. What then is Procession? Do you tell me what is the Unbegottenness 
of the Father, and I will explain to you the physiology of the Generation of 
the Son and the Procession of the Spirit, and we shall both of us be 
frenzy-stricken for prying into the mystery of God.(a) And who 
are we to do these things, we who cannot even see what lies at our feet, or 
number the sand of the sea, or the drops of rain, or the days of Eternity, 
much less enter into the Depths of God, and supply an account of that Nature 
which is so unspeakable and transcending all words? 

  IX. What then, say they, is there lacking to the Spirit which prevents His 
being a Son, for if there were not something lacking He would be a Son? We 
assert that there is nothing lacking--for God has no deficiency. But the 
difference of manifestation, if I may so express myself, or rather of their 
mutual relations one to another, has caused the difference of their Names. For 
indeed it is not some deficiency in the Son which prevents His being Father 
(for Sonship is not a deficiency), and yet He is not Father. According to this 
line of argument there must be some deficiency in the Father, in respect of 
His not being Son. For the Father is not Son, and yet this is not due to 
either deficiency or subjection of Essence; but the very fact of being 
Unbegotten or Begotten, or Proceeding has given the name of Father to the 
First, of the Son to the Second, and of the Third, Him of Whom we are 
speaking, of the Holy Ghost that the distinction of the Three Persons may be 
preserved in the one nature and dignity of the Godhead. For neither is the Son 
Father, for the Father is One, but He is what the Father is; nor is the Spirit 
Son because He is of God, for the Only-begotten is One, but He is what the Son 
is. The Three are One in Godhead, and the One Three in properties; so that 
neither is the Unity a Sabellian one,(b) nor 



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does the Trinity countenance the present evil distinction. 

  X. What then? Is the Spirit God? Most certainly. Well then, is He 
Consubstantial? Yes, if He is God. Grant me, says my opponent, that there 
spring from the same Source One who is a Son, and One who is not a Son, and 
these of One Substance with the Source, and I admit a God and a God. Nay, if 
you will grant me that there is another God and another nature of God I will 
give you the same Trinity with the same name and facts. But since God is One 
and the Supreme Nature is One, how can I present to you the Likeness? Or will 
you seek it again in lower regions and in your own surroundings? It is very 
shameful, and not only shameful, but very foolish, to take from things below a 
guess at things above, and from a fluctuating nature at the things that are 
unchanging, and as Isaiah says, to seek the Living among the 
dead.(a) But yet I will try, for your sake, to give you some 
assistance for your argument, even from that source. I think I will pass over 
other points, though I might bring forward many from animal history, some 
generally known, others only known to a few, of what nature has contrived with 
wonderful art in connection with the generation of animals. For not only are 
likes said to beget likes, and things diverse to beget things diverse, but 
also likes to be begotten by things diverse, and things diverse by likes. And 
if we may believe the story, there is yet another mode of generation, when an 
animal is self-consumed and self-begotten.(b) There are also 
creatures which depart in some sort from their true natures, and undergo 
change and transformation from one creature into another, by a magnificence of 
nature. And indeed sometimes in the same species part may be generated and 
part not; and yet all of one substance; which is more like our present 
subject. I will just mention one fact of our own nature which every one knows, 
and then I will pass on to another part of the subject. 

  XI. What was Adam? A creature of God. What then was Eve? A fragment of the 
creature. And what was Seth? The begotten of both. Does it then seem to you 
that Creature and Fragment and Begotten are the same thing? Of course it does 
not. But were not these persons consubstantial? Of course they were. Well 
then, here it is an acknowledged fact that different persons may have the same 
substance. I say this, not that I would attribute creation or fraction or any 
property of body to the Godhead (let none of your contenders for a word be 
down upon me again), but that I may contemplate in these, as on a stage, 
things which are objects of thought alone. For it is not possible to trace out 
any image exactly to the whole extent of the truth. But, they say, what is the 
meaning of all this? For is not the one an offspring, and the other a 
something else of the One? Did not both Eve and Seth come from the one Adam? 
And were they both begotten by him? No; but the one was a fragment of him, and 
the other was begotten by him. And yet the two were one and the same thing; 
both were human beings; no one will deny that. Will you then give up your 
contention against the Spirit, that He must be either altogether begotten, or 
else cannot be consubstantial, or be God; and admit from human examples the 
possibility of our position? I think it will be well for you, unless you are 
determined to be very quarrelsome, and to fight against what is proved to 
demonstration. 

  XII. But, he says, who in ancient or modern times ever worshipped the 
Spirit? Who ever prayed to Him? Where is it written that we ought to worship 
Him, or to pray to Him, and whence have you derived this tenet of yours? We 
will give the more perfect reason hereafter, when we discuss the question of 
the unwritten; for the present it will suffice to say that it is the Spirit in 
Whom we worship, and in Whom we pray. For Scripture says, God is a Spirit, and 
they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in 
truth.(a) And again,--We know not what we should pray for as we 
ought; but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
cannot be uttered;(b) and I will pray with the Spirit and I 
will pray with the understanding also;(g)--that is, in the mind 
and in the Spirit. Therefore to adore or to pray to the Spirit seems to me to 
be simply Himself offering prayer or adoration to Himself. And what godly or 
learned man would disapprove of this, because in fact the adoration of One is 
the adoration of the Three, because of the equality of honour and Deity. 
between the Three? So I will not be frightened by the argument that all things 
are said to have been made by the Son;(d) as if the Holy Spirit 
also were one of these things. For it says all things that were 



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made, and not simply all things. For the Father was not, nor were any of the 
things that were not made. Prove that He was made, and then give Him to the 
Son, and number Him among the creatures; but until you can prove this you will 
gain nothing for your impiety from this comprehensive phrase. For if He was 
made, it was certainly through Christ; I myself would not deny that. But if He 
was not made, how can He be either one of the All, or through Christ? Cease 
then to dishonour the Father in your opposition to the Only-begotten (for it 
is no real honour, by presenting to Him a creature to rob Him of what is more 
valuable, a Son), and to dishonour the Son in your opposition to the Spirit. 
For He is not the Maker of a Fellow servant, but He is glorified with One of 
co-equal honour. Rank no part of the Trinity with thyself, lest thou fall away 
from the Trinity; cut not off from Either the One and equally august Nature; 
because if thou overthrow any of the Three thou wilt have overthrown the 
whole. Better to take a meagre view of the Unity than to venture on a complete 
impiety. 

  XIII. Our argument has now come to its principal point; and I am grieved 
that a problem that was long dead, and that had given way to faith, is now 
stirred up afresh; yet it is necessary to stand against these praters, and not 
to let judgment go by default, when we have the Word on our side, and are 
pleading the cause of the Spirit. If, say they, there is God and God and God, 
how is it that there are not Three Gods, or how is it that what is glorified 
is not a plurality of Principles? Who is it who say this? Those who have 
reached a more complete ungodliness, or even those who have taken the 
secondary part; I mean who are moderate in a sense in respect of the Son. For 
my argument is partly against both in common, partly against these latter in 
particular. What I have to say in answer to these is as follows:--What right 
have you who worship the Son, even though you have revolted from the Spirit, 
to call us Tritheists? Are not you Ditheists? For if you deny also the worship 
of the Only Begotten, you have clearly ranged yourself among our adversaries. 
And why should we deal kindly with you as not quite dead? But if you do 
worship Him, and are so far in the way of salvation, we will ask you what 
reasons you have to give for your ditheism, if you are charged with it? If 
there is in you a word of wisdom answer, and open to us also a way to an 
answer. For the very same reason with which you will repel a charge of 
Ditheism will prove sufficient for us against one of Tritheism. And thus we 
shall win the day by making use of you our accusers as our Advocates, than 
which nothing can be more generous. 

  XIV. What is our quarrel and dispute with both? To us there is One God, for 
the Godhead is One, and all that proceedeth from Him is referred to One, 
though we believe in Three Persons. For one is not more and another less God; 
nor is One before and another after; nor are They divided in will or parted in 
power; nor can you find here any of the qualities of divisible things; but the 
Godhead is, to speak concisely, undivided in separate Persons; and there is 
one mingling of Light, as it were of three suns joined to each other. When 
then we look at the Godhead, or the First Cause, or the Monarchia, that which 
we conceive is One; but when we look at the Persons in Whom the Godhead 
dwells, and at Those Who timelessly and with equal glory have their Being from 
the First Cause--there are Three Whom we worship. 

  XV. What of that, they will say perhaps; do not the Greeks also believe in 
one Godhead, as their more advanced philosophers declare? And with us Humanity 
is one, namely the entire race; but yet they have many gods, not One, just as 
there are many men. But in this case the common nature has a unity which is 
only conceivable in thought; and the individuals are parted from one another 
very far indeed, both by time and by dispositions and by power. For we are not 
only compound beings, but also contrasted beings, both with one another and 
with ourselves; nor do we remain entirely the same for a single day, to say 
nothing of a whole lifetime, but both in body and in soul are in a perpetual 
state of flow and change. And perhaps the same may be said of the 
Angels(a) and the whole of that superior nature which is second 
to the Trinity alone; although they are simple in some measure and more fixed 
in good, owing to their nearness to the highest Good. 

  XVI. Nor do those whom the Greeks worship as gods, and (to use their own 
expression) daemons, need us in any respect for their accusers, but are 
convicted upon the testimony of their own theologians, some as subject to 
passion, some as given to faction, and full of innumerable evils and changes, 
and in a state of opposition, not only to one another, but even to their first 
causes, whom they call Oceani 



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and Tethyes and Phanetes, and by several other names; and last of all a 
certain god who hated his children through his lust of rule, and swallowed up 
all the rest through his greediness that he might become the father of all men 
and gods whom he miserably devoured, and then vomited forth again. And if 
these are but myths and fables, as they say in order to escape the 
shamefulness of the story, what will they say in reference to the dictum that 
all things are divided into three parts,(a) and that each god 
presides over a different part of the Universe, having a distinct province as 
well as a distinct rank? But our faith is not like this, nor is this the 
portion of Jacob, says my Theologian.(b) But each of these 
Persons possesses Unity, not less with that which is United to it than with 
itself, by reason of the identity of Essence and Power.(g) And 
this is the account of the Unity, so far as we have apprehended it. If then 
this account is the true one, let us thank God for the glimpse He has granted 
us; if it is not let us seek for a better. 

  XVII. As for the arguments with which you would overthrow the Union which we 
support, I know not whether we should say you are jesting or in earnest. For 
what is this argument? "Things of one essence, you say, are counted together," 
and by this "counted together," you mean that they are collected into one 
number.(d) But things which are not of one essence are not thus 
counted ...so that you cannot avoid speaking of three gods, according to this 
account, while we do not run any risk at all of it, inasmuch as we assert that 
they are not consubstantial. And so by a single word you have freed yourselves 
from trouble, and have gained a pernicious victory, for in fact you have done 
something like what men do when they hang themselves for fear of death. For to 
save yourselves trouble in your championship of the Monarchia you have denied 
the Godhead, and abandoned the question to your opponents. But for my part, 
even if labor should be necessary, I will not abandon the Object of my 
adoration. And yet on this point I cannot see where the difficulty is. 

  XVIII. You say, Things of one essence are counted together, but those which 
are not con-substantial are reckoned one by one. Where did you get this from? 
From what teachers of dogma or mythology? Do you not know that every number 
expresses the quantity of what is included under it, and not the nature of the 
things? But I am so old fashioned, or perhaps I should say so unlearned, as to 
use the word Three of that number of things, even if they are of a different 
nature, and to use One and One and One in a different way of so many units, 
even if they are united in essence, looking not so much at the things 
themselves as at the quantity of the things in respect of which the 
enumeration is made. But since you hold so very close to the letter (although 
you are contending against the letter), pray take your demonstrations from 
this source. There are in the Book of Proverbs three things which go well, a 
lion, a goat, and a cock; and to these is added a fourth;--a King making a 
speech before the people,(a) to pass over the other sets of 
four which are there counted up, although things of various natures. And I 
find in Moses two Cherubim() counted singly. But now, in your technology, 
could either the former things be called three, when they differ so greatly in 
their nature, or the latter be treated as units when they are so closely 
connected and of one nature? For if I were to speak of God and Mammon, as two 
masters, reckoned under one head, when they are so very different from each 
other, I should probably be still more laughed at for such a connumeration. 

  XIX. But to my mind, he says, those things are said to be connumerated and 
of the same essence of which the names also correspond, as Three Men, or Three 
gods, but not Three this and that. What does this concession amount to? It is 
suitable to one laying down the law as to names, not to one who is asserting 
the truth. For I also will assert that Peter and James and John are not three 
or consubstantial, so long as I cannot say Three Peters, or Three Jameses, or 
Three Johns; for what you have reserved for common names we demand also for 
proper names, in accordance with your arrangement; or else you will be unfair 
in not conceding to others what you assume for yourself. What about John then, 
when in his Catholic Epistle he says that there are Three that bear 
witness,(g) the Spirit 



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and the Water and the Blood? Do you think he is talking nonsense? First, 
because he has ventured to reckon under one numeral things which are not 
consubstantial, though you say this ought to be done only in the case of 
things which are consubstantial. For who would assert that these are 
consubstantial? Secondly, because he has not been consistent in the way he has 
happened upon his terms; for after using Three in the masculine gender he adds 
three words which are neuter, contrary to the definitions and laws which you 
and your grammarians have laid down. For what is the difference between 
putting a masculine Three first, and then adding One and One and One in the 
neuter, or after a masculine One and One and One to use the Three not in the 
masculine but in the neuter, which you yourself disclaim in the case of Deity? 
What have you to say about the Crab, which may mean either an animal, or an 
instrument, or a constellation? And what about the Dog, now terrestrial, now 
aquatic, now celestial? Do you not see that three crabs or dogs are spoken of? 
Why of course it is so. Well then, are they therefore of one substance? None 
but a fool would say that. So you see how completely your argument from 
con-numeration has broken down, and is refuted by all these instances. For if 
things that are of one substance are not always counted under one numeral, and 
things not of one substance are thus counted, and the pronunciation of the 
name(a) once for all is used in both cases, what advantage do 
you gain towards your doctrine? 

  XX. I will look also at this further point, which is not without its bearing 
on the subject. One and One added together make Two; and Two resolved again 
becomes One and One, as is perfectly evident. If, however, elements which are 
added together must, as your theory requires, be consubstantial, and those 
which are separate be heterogeneous, then it will follow that the same things 
must be both consubstantial and heterogeneous. No: I laugh at your Counting 
Before and your Counting After, of which you are so proud, as if the facts 
themselves depended upon the order of their names. If this were so, according 
to the same law, since the same things are in consequence of the equality of 
their nature counted in Holy Scripture, sometimes in an earlier, sometimes in 
a later place, what prevents them from being at once more honourable and less 
honourable than themselves? I say the same of the names God and Lord, and of 
the prepositions Of Whom, and By Whom, and In Whom, by which you describe the 
Deity according to the rules of art for us, attributing the first to the 
Father, the second to the Son, and the third to the Holy Ghost. For what would 
you have done, if each of these expressions were constantly allotted to Each 
Person, when, the fact being that they are used of all the Persons, as is 
evident to those who have studied the question, you even so make them the 
ground of such inequality both of nature and dignity. This is sufficient for 
all who are not altogether wanting in sense. But since it is a matter of 
difficulty for you after you have once made an assault upon the Spirit, to 
check your rush, and not rather like a furious boar to push your quarrel to 
the bitter end, and to thrust yourself upon the knife until you have received 
the whole wound in your own breast; let us go on to see what further argument 
remains to you. 

  XXI. Over and over again you turn upon us the silence of Scripture. But that 
it is not a strange doctrine, nor an afterthought, but acknowledged and 
plainly set forth both by the ancients and many of our own day, is already 
demonstrated by many persons who have treated of this subject, and who have 
handled the Holy Scriptures, not with indifference or as a mere pastime, but 
have gone beneath the letter and looked into the inner meaning, and have been 
deemed worthy to see the hidden beauty, and have been irradiated by the light 
of knowledge. We, however in our turn will briefly prove it as far as may be, 
in order not to seem to be over-curious or improperly ambitious, building on 
another's foundation. But since the fact, that Scripture does not very clearly 
or very often write Him God in express words (as it does first the Father and 
afterwards the Son), becomes to you an occasion of blasphemy and of this 
excessive wordiness and impiety, we will release you from this inconvenience 
by a short discussion of things and names, and especially of their use in Holy 
Scripture. 

  XXII. Some things have no existence, but are spoken of; others which do 
exist are not spoken of; some neither exist nor are spoken of, and some both 
exist and are spoken of. Do you ask me for proof of this? I am ready to give 
it. According to Scripture God sleeps and is awake, is angry, walks, has the 
Cherubim for His Throne. And yet when did He become liable to passion, and 
have you ever 



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heard that God has a body? This then is, though not really fact, a figure of 
speech. For we have given names according to our own comprehension from our 
own attributes to those of God. His remaining silent apart from us, and as it 
were not caring for us, for reasons known to Himself, is what we call His 
sleeping; for our own sleep is such a state of inactivity. And again, His 
sudden turning to do us good is the waking up; for waking is the dissolution 
of sleep, as visitation is of turning away. And when He punishes, we say He is 
angry; for so it is with us, punishment is the result of anger. And His 
working, now here now there, we call walking; for walking is change from one 
place to another. His resting among the Holy Hosts, and as it were loving to 
dwell among them, is His sitting and being enthroned; this, too, from 
ourselves, for God resteth nowhere as He doth upon the Saints. His swiftness 
of moving is called flying, and His watchful care is called His Face, and his 
giving and bestowing(a) is His hand; and, in a word, every 
other of the powers or activities of God has depicted for us some other 
corporeal one. 

  XXIII. Again, where do you get your Un-begotten and Unoriginate, those two 
citadels of your position, or we our Immortal? Show me these in so many words, 
or we shall either set them aside, or erase them as not contained in 
Scripture; and you are slain by your own principle, the names you rely on 
being overthrown, and therewith the wall of refuge in which you trusted. Is it 
not evident that they are due to passages which imply them, though the words 
do not actually occur? What are these passages?--I am the first, and I am the 
last,(b) and before Me there was no God, neither shall there be 
after Me.(g) For all that depends on that Am makes for my side, 
for it has neither beginning nor ending. When you accept this, that nothing is 
before Him, and that He has not an older Cause, you have implicitly given Him 
the titles Unbegotten and Unoriginate. And to say that He has no end of Being 
is to call Him Immortal and Indestructible. The first pairs, then, that I 
referred to are accounted for thus. But what are the things which neither 
exist in fact nor are said? That God is evil; that a sphere is square; that 
the past is present; that man is not a compound being. Have you ever known a 
man of such stupidity as to venture either to think or to assert any such 
thing? It remains to shew what are the things which exist, both in fact and in 
language. God, Man, Angel, Judgment, Vanity (viz., such arguments as yours), 
and the subversion of faith and emptying of the mystery. 

  XXIV. Since, then, there is so much difference in terms and things, why are 
you such a slave to the letter, and a partisan of the Jewish wisdom, and a 
follower of syllables at the expense of facts? But if, when you said twice 
five or twice seven, I concluded from your words that you meant Ten or 
Fourteen; or if, when you spoke of a rational and mortal animal, that you 
meant Man, should you think me to be talking nonsense? Surely not, because I 
should be merely repeating your own meaning; for words do not belong more to 
the speaker of them than to him who called them forth. As, then, in this case, 
I should have been looking, not so much at the terms used, as at the thoughts 
they were meant to convey; so neither, if I found something else either not at 
all or not clearly expressed in the Words of Scripture to be included in the 
meaning, should I avoid giving it utterance, out of fear of your sophistical 
trick about terms. In this way, then, we shall hold our own against the 
semi-orthodox --among whom I may not count you. For since you deny the Titles 
of the Son, which are so many and so clear, it is quite evident that even if 
you learnt a great many more and clearer ones you would not be moved to 
reverence. But now I will take up the argument again a little way further 
back, and shew you, though you are so clever, the reason for this entire 
system of secresy. 

  XXV. There have been in the whole period of the duration of the world two 
conspicuous changes of men's lives, which are also called two 
Testaments,(a) or, on account of the wide fame of the matter, 
two Earthquakes; the one from idols to the Law, the other from the Law to the 
Gospel. And we are taught in the Gospel of a third earthquake, namely, from 
this Earth to that which cannot be shaken or moved.(b) Now the 
two Testaments are alike in this respect, that the change was not made on a 
sudden, nor at the first movement of the endeavour. Why not (for this is a 
point on which we must have information)? That no violence might be done to 
us, but that we might be moved by persuasion. For nothing that is involuntary 
is durable; like streams or trees which are kept back by force. But that which 
is voluntary is more durable and safe. 



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The former is due to one who uses force, the latter is ours; the one is due to 
the gentleness of God, the other to a tyrannical authority. Wherefore God did 
not think it behoved Him to benefit the unwilling, but to do good to the 
willing. And therefore like a Tutor or Physician He partly removes and partly 
condones ancestral habits, conceding some little of what tended to pleasure, 
just as medical men do with their patients, that their medicine may be taken, 
being artfully blended with what is nice. For it is no very easy matter to 
change from those habits which custom and use have made honourable. For 
instance, the first cut off the idol, but left the sacrifices; the second, 
while it destroyed the sacrifices did not forbid 
circumcision.(a) Then, when once men had submitted to the 
curtailment, they also yielded that which had been conceded to 
them;(b) in the first instance the sacrifices, in the second 
circumcision; and became instead of Gentiles, Jews, and instead of Jews, 
Christians, being beguiled into the Gospel by gradual changes. Paul is a proof 
of this; for having at one time administered circumcision, and submitted to 
legal purification, he advanced till he could say, and I, brethren, if I yet 
preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?(g) His 
former conduct belonged to the temporary dispensation, his latter to maturity. 

  XXVI. To this I may compare the case of Theology(d) except 
that it proceeds the reverse way. For in the case by which I have illustrated 
it the change is made by successive subtractions; whereas here perfection is 
reached by additions. For the matter stands thus. The Old Testament proclaimed 
the Father openly, and the Son more obscurely. The New manifested the Son, and 
suggested the Deity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit Himself dwells among us, and 
supplies us with a clearer demonstration of Himself. For it was not safe, when 
the Godhead of the Father was not yet acknowledged, plainly to proclaim the 
Son; nor when that of the Son was not yet received to burden us further (if I 
may use so bold an expression) with the Holy Ghost; lest perhaps people might, 
like men loaded with food beyond their strength, and presenting eyes as yet 
too weak to bear it to the sun's light, risk the loss even of that which was 
within the reach of their powers; but that by gradual additions, and, as David 
says, Goings up, and advances and progress from glory to 
glory,(a) the Light of the Trinity might shine upon the more 
illuminated. For this reason it was, I think, that He gradually came to dwell 
in the Disciples, measuring Himself out to them according to their capacity to 
receive Him, at the beginning of the Gospel, after the Passion, after the 
Ascension, making perfect their powers, being breathed upon them, and 
appearing in fiery tongues. And indeed it is by little and little that He is 
declared by Jesus, as you will learn for yourself if you will read more 
carefully. I will ask the Father, He says, and He will send you another 
Comforter, even the spirit of Truth.(b) This He said that He 
might not seem to be a rival God, or to make His discourses to them by another 
authority. Again, He shall send Him, but it is in My Name. He leaves out the I 
will ask, but He keeps the Shall send,(g) then again, I will 
send,--His own dignity. Then shall come,(d) the authority of 
the Spirit. 

  XXVII. You see lights breaking upon us, gradually; and the order of 
Theology, which it is better for us to keep, neither proclaiming things too 
suddenly, nor yet keeping them hidden to the end. For the former course would 
be unscientific, the latter atheistical; and the former would be calculated to 
startle outsiders, the latter to alienate our own people. I will add another 
point to what I have said; one which may readily have come into the mind of 
some others, but which I think a fruit of my own thought. Our Saviour had some 
things which, He said, could not be borne at that time by His 
disciples(e) (though they were filled with many teachings), 
perhaps for the reasons I have mentioned; and therefore they were hidden. And 
again He said that all things should be taught us by the Spirit when He should 
come to dwell amongst us.(z) Of these things one, I take it, 
was the Deity of the Spirit Himself, made clear later on when such knowledge 
should be seasonable and capable of being received after our Saviour's 
restoration, when it would no longer be received with incredulity because of 
its marvellous character. For what greater thing than this did either He 
promise, or the Spirit teach. If indeed anything is to be considered great and 
worthy of the Majesty of God, which was either promised or taught. 

  XXVIII. This, then, is my position with regard to these things, and I hope 
it may be always my position, and that of whosoever is dear 



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to me; to worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, Three 
Persons, One Godhead, undivided in honour and glory and substance and kingdom, 
as one of our own inspired philosophers(a) not long departed 
shewed. Let him not see the rising of the Morning Star, as Scripture 
saith,(b) nor the glory of its brightness, who is otherwise 
minded, or who follows the temper of the times, at one time being of one mind 
and of another at another time, and thinking unsoundly in the highest matters. 
For if He is not to be worshipped, how can He deify me by Baptism? but if He 
is to be worshipped, surely He is an Object of adoration, and if an Object of 
adoration He must be God; the one is linked to the other, a truly golden and 
saving chain. And indeed from the Spirit comes our New Birth, and from the New 
Birth our new creation, and from the new creation our deeper knowledge of the 
dignity of Him from Whom it is derived. 

  XXIX. This, then, is what may be said by one who admits the silence of 
Scripture. But now the swarm of testimonies shall burst upon you from which 
the Deity of the Holy Ghost(g) shall be shewn to all who are 
not excessively stupid, or else altogether enemies to the Spirit, to be most 
clearly recognized in Scripture. Look at these facts:--Christ is born; the 
Spirit is His Forerunner. He is baptized; the Spirit bears witness. He is 
tempted; the Spirit leads Him up.(d) He works miracles; the 
Spirit accompanies them. He ascends; the Spirit takes His place. What great 
things are there in the idea of God which are not in His 
power?(e) What titles which belong to God are not applied to 
Him, except only Unbegotten and Begotten? For it was needful that the 
distinctive properties of the Father and the Son should remain peculiar to 
Them, lest there should be confusion in the Godhead Which brings all things, 
even disorder(z) itself, into due arrangement and good order. 
Indeed I tremble when I think of the abundance of the titles, and how many 
Names they outrage who fall foul of the Spirit. He is called the Spirit of 
God, the Spirit of Christ, the Mind of Christ, the Spirit of The Lord, and 
Himself The Lord, the Spirit of Adoption, of Truth, of Liberty; the Spirit of 
Wisdom, of Understanding, of Counsel, of Might, of Knowledge, of Godliness, of 
the Fear of God. For He is the Maker of all these, filling all with His 
Essence, containing all things, filling the world in His Essence, yet 
incapable of being comprehended in His power by the world; good, upright, 
princely, by nature not by adoption; sanctifying, not sanctified; measuring, 
not measured; shared, not sharing; filling, not filled; containing, not 
contained; inherited, glorified, reckoned with the Father and the Son; held 
out as a threat;(a) the Finger of God; fire like God; to 
manifest, as I take it, His consubstantiality); the Creator-Spirit, Who by 
Baptism and by Resurrection creates anew; the Spirit That knoweth all things, 
That teacheth, That bloweth where and to what extent He listeth; That guideth, 
talketh, sendeth forth, separateth, is angry or tempted; That revealeth, 
illumineth, quickeneth, or rather is the very Light and Life; That maketh 
Temples; That deifieth; That perfecteth so as even to anticipate 
Baptism,(b) yet after Baptism to be sought as a separate 
gift;(g) That doeth all things that God doeth; divided into 
fiery tongues; dividing gifts; making Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, 
Pastors, and Teachers; understanding manifold, clear, piercing, undefiled, 
unhindered, which is the same thing as Most wise and varied in His actions; 
and making all things clear and plain; and of independent power, unchangeable, 
Almighty, all-seeing, penetrating all spirits that are intelligent, pure, most 
subtle (the Angel Hosts I think); and also all prophetic spirits and apostolic 
in the same manner and not in the same places; for they lived in different 
places; thus showing that He is uncircumscript. 

  XXX. They who say and teach these things, and moreover call Him another 
Paraclete in the sense of another God, who know that blasphemy against Him 
alone cannot be forgiven,(d) and who branded with such fearful 
infamy Ananias and Sapphira for having lied to the Holy Ghost, what do you 
think of these men?(e) Do they proclaim the Spirit God, or 
something else? Now really, you must be extraordinarily dull and far from the 
Spirit if you have any doubt about this and need some one to teach you. So 
important then, and so vivid are His Names. Why is it necessary to lay before 
you the testimony contained in the very 



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words? And whatever in this case also(a) is said in more lowly 
fashion, as that He is Given, Sent, Divided; that He is the Gift, the Bounty, 
the Inspiration, the Promise, the Intercession for us, and, not to go into any 
further detail, any other expressions of the sort, is to be referred to the 
First Cause, that it may be shewn from Whom He is, and that men may not in 
heathen fashion admit Three Principles. For it is equally impious to confuse 
the Persons with the Sabellians, or to divide the Natures with the Arians. 

  XXXI. I have very carefully considered this matter in my own mind, and have 
looked at it in every point of view, in order to find some illustration of 
this most important subject, but I have been unable to discover any thing on 
earth with which to compare the nature of the Godhead. For even if I did 
happen upon some tiny likeness it escaped me for the most part, and left me 
down below with my example. I picture to myself an eye,(b) a 
fountain, a river, as others have done before, to see if the first might be 
analogous to the Father, the second to the Son, and the third to the Holy 
Ghost. For in these there is no distinction in time, nor are they torn away 
from their connexion with each other, though they seem to be parted by three 
personalities. But I was afraid in the first place that I should present a 
flow in the Godhead, incapable of standing still; and secondly that by this 
figure a numerical unity would be introduced. For the eye and the spring and 
the river are numerically one, though in different forms. 

  XXXII. Again I thought of the sun and a ray and light. But here again there 
was a fear lest people should get an idea of composition in the Uncompounded 
Nature, such as there is in the Sun and the things that are in the Sun. And in 
the second place lest we should give Essence to the Father but deny 
Personality to the Others, and make Them only Powers of God, existing in Him 
and not Personal. For neither the ray nor the light is another sun, but they 
are only effulgences from the Sun, and qualities of His essence. And lest we 
should thus, as far as the illustration goes, attribute both Being and 
Not-being to God, which is even more monstrous. I have also heard that some 
one has suggested an illustration of the following kind. A ray of the Sun 
flashing upon a wall and trembling with the movement of the moisture which the 
beam has taken up in mid air, and then, being checked by the hard body, has 
set up a strange quivering. For it quivers with many rapid movements, and is 
not one rather than it is many, nor yet many rather than one; because by the 
swiftness of its union and separating it escapes before the eye can see it. 

  XXXIII. But it is not possible for me to make use of even this; because it 
is very evident what gives the ray its motion; but there is nothing prior to 
God which could set Him in motion; for He is Himself the Cause of all things, 
and He has no prior Cause. And secondly because in this case also there is a 
suggestion of such things as composition, diffusion, and an unsettled and 
unstable nature ... none of which we can suppose in the Godhead. In a word, 
there is nothing which presents a standing point to my mind in these 
illustrations from which to consider the Object which I am trying to represent 
to myself, unless one may indulgently accept one point of the image while 
rejecting the rest. Finally, then, it seems best to me to let the images and 
the shadows go, as being deceitful and very far short of the truth; and 
clinging myself to the more reverent conception, and resting upon few words, 
using the guidance of the Holy Ghost, keeping to the end as my genuine comrade 
and companion the enlightenment which I have received from Him, and passing 
through this world to persuade all others also to the best of my power to 
worship Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the One Godhead and Power. To Him belongs 
all glory and honour and might for ever and ever. Amen. 


ORATION XXXIII. -- AGAINST THEARIANS, AND CONCERNING HIMSELF. 



Delivered at Constantinople about the middle of the 

year 380. 



  I. WHERE are they who reproach us with our poverty, and boast themselves of 
their own riches; who define the Church by numbers,(a) and 
scorn the little flock; and who measure Godhead,(b) and weigh 
the people in the balance, who honour the sand, and despise the luminaries of 
heaven; who treasure pebbles and overlook pearls; for they know not that sand 
is not in a greater degree more abundant than stars, and pebbles than lustrous 
stones-- 



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that the former are purer and more precious than the latter? Are you again 
indignant? Do you again arm yourselves? Do you again insult 
us?(a) Is this a new faith? Restrain your threats a little 
while that I may speak. We will not insult you, but we will convict you; we 
will not threaten, but we will reproach you; we will not strike, but we will 
heal. This too appears an insult! What pride! Do you here also regard your 
equal as your slave? If not, permit me to speak openly; for even a brother 
chides his brother if he has been defrauded by him. 

  II. Would you like me to utter to you the words of God to Israel, 
stiff-necked and hardened? "O my people what have I done unto thee, or wherein 
have I injured thee, or wherein have I wearied thee?"(b) This 
language indeed is fitter from me to you who insult me. It is a sad thing that 
we watch for opportunities against each other, and having destroyed our 
fellowship of spirit by diversities of opinion have become almost more inhuman 
and savage to one another than even the barbarians who are now engaged in war 
against us, banded together against us by the Trinity whom we have separated; 
with this difference that we are not foreigners making forays and raids upon 
foreigners, nor nations of different language, which is some little 
consolation in the calamity, but are making war upon one another, and almost 
upon those of the same household; or if you will, we the members of the same 
body are consuming and being consumed by one another. Nor is this, bad though 
it be, the extent of our calamity, for we even regard our diminution as a 
gain. But since we are in such a condition, and regulate our faith by the 
times, let us compare the times with one another; you your 
Emperor,(g) and I my Sovereigns;(d) you Ahab and 
I Josias. Tell me of your moderation, and I will proclaim my violence. But 
indeed yours is proclaimed by many books and tongues, which I think future 
ages will accept as an immortal pillory for your actions and I will declare my 
own. 

  III. What tumultuous mob have I led against you? What soldiers have I armed? 
What general boiling with rage, and more savage than his employers, and not 
even a Christian, but one who offers his impiety against us as his private 
worship to his own gods?(e) Whom have I besieged while engaged 
in prayer and lifting up their hands to God? When have I put a stop to 
psalmody with trumpets? or mingled the Sacramental Blood with blood of 
massacre? What spiritual sighs have I put an end to by cries of death, or 
tears of penitence by tears of tragedy? What House of prayer have I made a 
burialplace? What liturgical vessels which the multitude may not touch have I 
given over to the hands of the wicked, of a Nebuzaradan,(a) 
chief of the cooks, or of a Belshazzar, who wickedly used the sacred vessels 
for his revels,(b) and then paid a worthy penalty for his 
madness? "Altars beloved" as Holy Scripture saith, but ''now 
defiled."(g) And what licentious youth has insulted you for our 
sake with shameful writhings and contortions? O precious Throne, seat and rest 
of precious men, which hast been occupied by a succession of pious Priests, 
who from ancient times have taught the divine Mysteries, what heathen popular 
speaker and evil tongue hath mounted thee to inveigh against the Christian's 
faith? O modesty and majesty of Virgins, that cannot endure the looks of even 
virtuous men, which of us hath shamed thee, and outraged thee by the exposure 
of what may not be seen, and showed to the eyes of the impious a pitiable 
sight, worthy of the fires of Sodom? I say nothing of deaths, which were more 
endurable than this shame. 

  IV. What wild beasts have we let loose upon the bodies of Saints,--like some 
who have prostituted human nature,--on one single accusation, that of not 
consenting to their impiety; or defiled ourselves by communion with them, 
which we avoid like the poison of a snake, not because it injures the body, 
but because it blackens the depths of the soul? Against whom have we made it a 
matter of criminal accusation that they buried the dead, whom the very beasts 
reverenced? And what a charge, worthy of another theatre and of other beasts! 
What Bishop's aged flesh have we carded with hooks in the presence of their 
disciples, impotent to help them save by tears, hung up with Christ, 
conquering by suffering, and sprinkling the people with their 



330 



precious blood, and at last carried away to death, to be both crucified and 
buried and glorified with Christ; with Christ Who conquered the world by such 
victims and sacrifices? What priests have those contrary elements fire and 
water divided, raising a strange beacon over the sea, and set on fire together 
with the ship in which they put to sea?(a) Who (to cover the 
more numerous part of our woes with a veil of silence) have been accused of 
inhumanity by the very magistrates who conferred such favour on them? For even 
if they did obey the lusts of those men, yet at any rate they hated the 
cruelty of their purpose. The one was opportunism, the other calculation; the 
one came of the lawlessness of the Emperor, the other of a consciousness of 
the laws by which they had to judge. 

  V. And to speak of older things, for they too belong to the same fraternity; 
whose hands living or dead have I cut off--to bring a lying accusation against 
Saints,(b) and to triumph over the faith by bluster? Whose 
exiles have I numbered as benefits, and failed to reverence even the sacred 
colleges of sacred philosophers, whence I sought their suppliants? Nay the 
very contrary is the case; I have reckoned as Martyrs those who incurred anger 
for the truth. Upon whom have I, whom you accuse of licentiousness of 
language, brought harlots when they were almost fleshless and bloodless? Which 
of the faithful have I exiled from their country and given over to the hands 
of lawless men, that they might be kept like wild beasts in rooms without 
light, and (for this is the saddest part of the tragedy) left separated from 
each other to endure the hardships of hunger and thirst, with food measured 
out to them, which they had to receive through narrow openings, so that they 
might not be permitted even to see their companions in misery. And what were 
they who suffered thus? Men of whom the world was not 
worthy.(g) Is it thus that you honour faith? Is this your kind 
treatment of it? Ye know not the greater part of these things, and that 
reasonably, because of the number of these facts and the pleasure of the 
action. But he who suffers has a better memory. There have been even some more 
cruel than the times themselves, like wild boars hurled against a fence. I 
demand your victim of yesterday(a) the old man, the 
Abraham-like Father, whom on his return from exile you greeted with stones in 
the middle of the day and in the middle of the city. But we, if it is not 
invidious to say so, begged off even our murderers from their danger. God says 
somewhere in Scripture, How shall I pardon thee for this?(b) 
Which of these things shall I praise; or rather for which shall I bind a 
wreath upon you? 

  VI. Now since your antecedents are such, I should be glad if you too will 
tell me of my crimes, that I may either amend my life or be put to shame. My 
greatest wish is that I may be found free from wrong altogether; but if this 
may not be, at least to be converted from my crime; for this is the second 
best portion of the prudent. For if like the just man I do not become my own 
accuser in the first instance,(g) yet at any rate I gladly 
receive healing from another. "Your City, you say to me, is a little one, or 
rather is no city at all, but only a village, arid, without beauty, and with 
few inhabitants." But, my good friend, this is my misfortune, rather than my 
fault;--if indeed it be a misfortune; and if it is against my will, I am to be 
pitied for my bad luck, if I may put it so; but if it be willingly, I am a 
philosopher. Which of these is a crime? Would anyone abuse a dolphin for not 
being a land animal, or an ox because it is not aquatic, or a lamprey because 
it is amphibious? But we, you go on, have walls and theatres and racecourses 
and palaces, and beautiful great Porticoes, and that marvellous work the 
underground and overhead river,(d) and the splendid and admired 
column,(e) and the crowded marketplace and a restless people, 
and a famous senate of highborn men. 

  VII. Why do you not also mention the convenience of the site, and what I may 
call the contest between land and sea as to which owns the City, and which 
adorns our Royal City with all their good things? This then is our crime, that 
while you are great and splendid, we are small and come from a small place? 
Many others do you this wrong, indeed all those whom you excel; and must we 
die be- 



331 



cause we have not reared a city, nor built walls around it, nor can boast of 
our racecourse, or our stadia, and pack of hounds, and all the follies that 
are connected with these things; nor have to boast of the beauty and splendour 
of our baths, and the costliness of their marbles and pictures and golden 
embroideries of all sorts of species, almost rivalling nature? Nor have we yet 
rounded off the sea for ourselves, or mingled the seasons, as of course you, 
the new Creators, have done, that we may live in what is at once the 
pleasantest and the safest way. Add if you like other charges, you who say, 
The silver is mine and the gold is mine,(a) those words of God. 
We neither think much of riches, on which, if they increase, our Law forbids 
us to set our hearts, nor do we count up yearly and daily revenues; nor do we 
rival one another in loading our tables with enchantments for our senseless 
belly. For neither do we highly esteem those things which after we have 
swallowed them are all of the same worth, or rather I should say 
worthlessness, and are rejected. But we live so simply and from hand to mouth, 
as to differ but little from beasts whose sustenance is without apparatus and 
inartificial. 

  VIII. Do you also find fault with the raggedness of my dress, and the want 
of elegance in the disposition of my face? for these are the points upon which 
I see that some persons who are very insignificant pride themselves. Will you 
leave my head alone, and not jeer at it, as the children did at Elissaeus? 
What followed I will not mention. And will you leave out of your allegations 
my want of education, and what seems to you the roughness and rusticity of my 
elocution? And where will you put the fact that I am not full of small talk, 
nor a jester popular with company, nor great hunter of the marketplace, nor 
given to chatter and gossip with any chance people upon all sorts of subjects, 
so as to make even conversation grievous; nor a frequenter of Zeuxippus, that 
new Jerusalem;(b) nor one who strolls from house to house 
flattering and stuffing himself; but for the most part staying at home, of low 
spirits and with a melancholy cast of countenance, quietly associating with 
myself, the genuine critic of my actions; and perhaps worthy of imprisonment 
for my uselessness? How is it that you pardon me for all this, and do not 
blame me for it? How sweet and kind you are. 

  IX. But I am so old fashioned and such a philosopher as to believe that one 
heaven is common to all; and that so is the revolution of the sun and the 
moon, and the order and arrangement of the stars; and that all have in Common 
an equal share and profit in day and night, and also change of seasons, rains, 
fruits, and quickening power of the air; and that the flowing rivers are a 
common and abundant wealth to all; and that one and the same is the Earth, the 
mother and the tomb, from which we were taken, and to which we shall return, 
none having a greater share than another. And further, above this, we have in 
common reason, the Law, the Prophets, the very Sufferings of Christ, by which 
we were all without exception created anew, who partake of the same Adam, and 
were led astray by the serpent and slain by sin, and are saved by the heavenly 
Adam and brought back by the tree of shame to the tree of life from whence we 
had fallen. 

  X. I was deceived too by the Ramah of Samuel, that little fatherland of the 
great man; which was no dishonour to the Prophet, for it drew its honour not 
so much from itself as from him; nor was he hindered on its account from being 
given to God before his birth, or from uttering oracles, and foreseeing the 
future; nor only so, but also anointing Kings and Priests, and judging the men 
of illustrious cities. I heard also of Saul, how while seeking his father's 
asses he found a kingdom. And even David himself was taken from the sheepfolds 
to be the shepherd of Israel. What of Amos? Was he not, while a goatherd and 
scraper of sycamore fruit entrusted with the gifts of prophecy? How is it that 
I have passed over Joseph, who was both a slave and the giver of corn to 
Egypt, and the father of many myriads who were promised before to Abraham? Aye 
and I was deceived by the Carmel of Elias, who received the car of fire; and 
by the sheepskin of Elissaeus that had more power than a silken web or than 
gold forced into garments. I was deceived by the desert of John, which held 
the greatest among them that are born of women, with that clothing, that food, 
that girdle, which we know. And I ventured even beyond these, and found God 
Himself the Patron of my rusticity. I will range myself with Bethlehem, and 
will share the ignominy of the Manger; for since you refuse on this account 
honour to God, it is no wonder that on the same account you despise His herald 
also. And I will bring up to you the Fishermen, and the poor to whom the 
Gospel is preached, as preferred before many rich. Will you ever leave off 
priding yourselves upon your cities? 



332 



Will you ever revere that wilderness which you abominate and despise? I do not 
yet say that gold has its birthplace in sand; nor that translucent stones are 
the product and gifts of rocks; for if to these I should oppose all that is 
dishonourable in cities perhaps it would be to no good end that I should use 
my freedom of speech. 

  XI. But perhaps some one who is very circumscribed and carnally minded will 
say, "But our herald is a stranger and a foreigner." What of the Apostles? 
Were not they strangers to the many nations and cities among whom they were 
divided, that the Gospel might have free course everywhere, that nothing might 
miss the illumination of the Threefold Light, or be unenlightened by the 
Truth; but that the night of ignorance might be dissolved for those who sat in 
darkness and the shadow of death? You have heard the words of Paul, "that we 
might go the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcision."(a) Be it 
that Judaea is Peter's home; what has Paul in common with the Gentiles, Luke 
with Achaia, Andrew with Epirus, John with Ephesus, Thomas with India, Marc 
with Italy, or the rest, not to go into particulars, with those to whom they 
went? So that you must either blame them or excuse me, or else prove that you, 
the ambassadors of the true Gospel, are being insulted by trifling. But since 
I have argued with you in a petty way about these matters, I will now proceed 
to take a larger and more philosophic view of them. 

  XII. My friend, every one that is of high mind has one Country, the Heavenly 
Jerusalem, in which we store up our Citizenship. All have one family--if you 
look at what is here below the dust--or if you look higher, that In-breathing 
of which we are partakers, and which we were bidden to keep, and with which I 
must stand before my Judge to give an account of my heavenly nobility, and of 
the Divine Image. Everyone then is noble who has guarded this through virtue 
and consent to his Archetype. On the other hand, everyone is ignoble who has 
mingled with evil, and put upon himself another form, that of the serpent. And 
these earthly countries and families are the playthings of this our temporary 
life and scene. For our country is whatever each may have first occupied, 
either as tyrant, or in misfortune; and in this we are all alike strangers and 
pilgrims, however much we may play with names. And the family is accounted 
noble which is either rich from old days, or is recently raised; and of 
ignoble birth that which is of poor parents, either owing to misfortune or to 
want of ambition. For how can a nobility be given from above which is at one 
time beginning and at another coming to an end; and which is not given to 
some, but is bestowed on others by letters patent? Such is my mind on this 
matter. Therefore I leave it to you to pride yourself on tombs or in myths, 
and I endeavour as far as I can, to purify myself from deceits, that I may 
keep if possible my nobility, or else may recover it. 

  XIII. It is thus then and for these reasons that I, who am small and of a 
country without repute, have come upon you, and that not of my own accord, nor 
self-sent, like many of those who now seize upon the chief places; but because 
I was invited, and compelled, and have followed the scruples of my conscience 
and the Call of the Spirit. If it be otherwise, may I continue to fight here 
to no purpose, and deliver no one from his error, but may they obtain their 
desire who seek the barrenness of my soul, if I lie. But since I am come, and 
perchance with no contemptible power (if I may boast myself a little of my 
folly), which of those who are insatiable have I copied, what have I emulated 
of opportunism, although I have such examples, even apart from which it is 
hard and rare not to be bad? Concerning what churches or property have I 
disputed with you; though you have more than enough of both, and the others 
too little? What imperial edict have we rejected and emulated? What rulers 
have we fawned upon against you? Whose boldness have we denounced? And what 
has been done on the other side against me? "Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge," even then I said, for I remembered in season the words of 
Stephen,(a) and so I pray now. Being reviled, we bless: being 
blasphemed we retreat.(b) 

  XIV. And if I am doing wrong in this, that when tyrannized over I endure it, 
forgive me this wrong; I have borne to be tyrannized over by others too; and I 
am thankful that my moderation has brought upon me the charge of folly. For I 
reckon thus, using considerations altogether higher than any of yours; what a 
mere fraction are these trials of the spittings and blows which Christ, for 
Whom and by Whose aid we encounter these dangers, endured. I do not count 
them, taken altogether, worth the one crown of thorns which robbed our 
conqueror of his crown, for whose sake also I learn that I am crowned for the 



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hardness of life. I do not reckon them worth the one reed by which the rotten 
empire was destroyed; of the gall alone, the vinegar alone, by which we were 
cured of the bitter taste; of the gentleness alone which He shewed in His 
Passion. Was He betrayed with a kiss? He reproves with a kiss, but smites not. 
Is he suddenly arrested? He reproaches indeed, but follows; and if through 
zeal thou cuttest off the ear of Malchus with the sword, He will be angry, and 
will restore it. And if one flee in a linen sheet,(a) he will 
defend him. And if you ask for the fire of Sodom upon his captors, he will not 
pour it forth; and if he take a thief hanging upon the cross for his crime he 
will bring him into Paradise through His Goodness. Let all the acts of one 
that loves men be loving, as were all the sufferings of Christ, to which we 
could add nothing greater than, when God even died for us, to refuse on our 
part to forgive even the smallest wrongs of our fellowmen. 

  XV. Moreover this also I reckoned and still reckon with myself; and do you 
see if it is not quite correct. I have often discussed it with you before. 
These men have the houses, but we the Dweller in the house; they the Temples, 
we the God; and besides it is ours to be living temples of the Living God, 
lively sacrifices, reasonable burnt-offerings, perfect sacrifices, yea, gods 
through the adoration of the Trinity. They have the people, we the Angels; 
they rash boldness, we faith; they threatenings, we prayer; they smiting, we 
endurance; they gold and silver, we the pure word. "Thou hast built for 
thyself a wide house and large chambers (recognize the words of Scripture), a 
house celled and pierced with windows."(b) But not yet is this 
loftier than my faith, and than the heavens to which I am being borne onwards. 
Is mine a little flock? But it is not being carried over a precipice. Is mine 
a narrow fold? But it is unapproachable by wolves; it cannot be entered by a 
robber, nor climbed by thieves and strangers. I shall yet see it, I know well, 
wider. And many of those who are now wolves, I must reckon among my sheep, and 
perhaps even amongst the shepherds. This is the glad tidings brought me by the 
Good Shepherd, for Whose sake I lay down my life for the sheep. I fear not for 
the little flock; for it is seen at a glance. I know my sheep and am known of 
mine. Such are they that know God and are known of God. My sheep hear my 
voice, which I have heard from the oracles of God, which I have been taught by 
the Holy Fathers, which I have taught alike on all occasions, not conforming 
myself to the fortune, and which I will never cease to teach; in which I was 
born, and in which I will depart. 

  XVI. These I call by name (for they are not nameless like the stars which 
are numbered and have names),(a) and they follow me, for I rear 
them up beside the waters of rest; and they follow every such shepherd, whose 
voice they love to hear, as you see; but a stranger they will not follow, but 
will flee from him, because they have a habit of distinguishing the voice of 
their own from that of strangers. They will flee from 
Valentinus(b) with his division of one into two, refusing to 
believe that the Creator is other than the Good. They will flee from Depth and 
Silence, and the mythical Aeons, that are verily worthy of Depth and Silence. 
They will flee from Marcion's(g) god, compounded of elements 
and numbers; from Montanus'(d) evil and feminine spirit; from 
the matter and darkness of Manes;(e) from 
Novatus'(z) boasting and wordy assumption of purity; from the 
analysis and confusion of Sabellius,(h) and if I may use the 
expression, 



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his absorption, contracting the Three into One, instead of defining the One in 
Three Personalities; from the difference of natures taught by 
Arius(a) and his followers, and their new Judaism, confining 
the Godhead to the Unbegotten; from Photinus(b) earthly Christ, 
who took his beginning from Mary. But they worship the Father and the Son and 
the Holy Ghost, One Godhead; God the Father, God the Son and (do not be angry) 
God the Holy Ghost, One Nature in Three Personalities, intellectual, perfect, 
Self-existent, numerically separate, but not separate in Godhead. 

  XVII. These words let everyone who threatens me to-day concede to me; the 
rest let whoever will claim. The Father will not endure to be deprived of the 
Son, nor the Son of the Holy Ghost. Yet that must happen if They are confined 
to time, and are created Beings ... for that which is created is not God. 
Neither will I bear to be deprived of my consecration; One Lord, One Faith, 
One Baptism. If this be cancelled, from whom shall I get a second? What say 
you, you who destroy Baptism or repeat it? Can a man be spiritual without the 
Spirit? Has he a share in the Spirit who does not honour the Spirit? Can he 
honour Him who is baptized into a creature and a fellow-servant? It is not so; 
it is not so; for all your talk. I will not play Thee false, O Unoriginate 
Father, or Thee O Only-begotten Word, or Thee O Holy Ghost. I know Whom I have 
confessed, and whom I have renounced, and to Whom I have joined myself. I will 
not allow myself, after having been taught the words of the faithful, to learn 
also those of the unfaithful; to confess the truth, and then range myself with 
falsehood; to come down for consecration and to go back even less hallowed; 
having been baptised that I might live, to be killed by the water, like 
infants who die in the very birthpangs, and receive death simultaneously with 
birth. Why make me at once blessed and wretched, newly enlightened and 
unenlightened, Divine and godless, that I may make shipwreck even of the hope 
of regeneration? A few words will suffice. Remember your confession. Into what 
were you baptised? The Father? Good but Jewish still. The Son? ... good ... 
but not yet perfect. The Holy Ghost? ... Very good ... this is perfect. Now 
was it into these simply, or some common name of Them? The latter. And what 
was the common Name? Why, God. In this common Name believe, and ride on 
prosperously and reign,(a) and pass on from hence into the 
Bliss of Heaven. And that is, as I think, the more distinct apprehension of 
These; to which may we all come, in the same Christ our God, to Whom be the 
glory and the might, with the Unoriginate Father, and the Lifegiving Spirit, 
now and for ever and to ages of ages. Amen. 


ORATION XXXIV. -- ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE EGYPTIANS. 



THIS Oration was preached at Constantinople in 380, under the following 
circumstances: 

  Peter, Patriarch of Alexandria, had sent a mission of five of his Suffragans 
to consecrate the impostor Maximus to the Throne occupied by Gregory. This had 
led to much trouble, but in the end the intruder had been expelled and 
banished. Shortly afterwards an Egyptian fleet, probably the regular corn 
ships, had arrived at Constantinople, apparently on the day before a Festival. 
The crews of the ships, landing next day to go to Church, passed by the 
numerous Churches held by the Arians, and betook themselves to the little 
Anastasia. S. Gregory felt himself moved to congratulate them specially on 
such an act, after what had recently passed, and accordingly pronounced the 
following discourse. 

  I. I WILL address myself as is right to those who have come from Egypt; for 
they have come here eagerly, having overcome illwill by zeal, from that Egypt 
which is enriched by the River, raining out of the earth, and like the sea in 
its season,--if I too may follow in my small measure those who have so 
eloquently spoken of these matters; and which is also enriched by Christ my 
Lord, Who once was a fugitive into Egypt, and now is supplied by Egypt; the 
first, when He fled from Herod's massacre of the children;(b) 
and now by the love of the fathers for their children, by Christ the new Food 
of those who hunger after good;(g) the greatest alms of corn of 
which history speaks and men believe; the Bread which came down from heaven 
and giveth life to the world, that life which is indestructible and 
indissoluble, concerning Whom I now seem to hear the Father saying, Out of 
Egypt have I called My Son.(d) 

  II. For from you hath sounded forth the Word to all men; healthfully 
believed and preached; and you are the best bringers of fruit of all men, 
specially of those who now hold the 



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right faith, as far as I know, who am not only a lover of such food, but also 
its distributor, and not at home only but also abroad. For you indeed supply 
bodily food to peoples and cities so far as your lovingkindness reaches; and 
you supply spiritual food also, not to a particular people, nor to this or 
that city, circumscribed by narrow boundaries, though its people may think it 
very illustrious, but to almost the whole world. And you bring the remedy not 
for famine of bread or thirst of water,(a) which is no very 
terrible famine--and to avoid it is easy; but to a famine of hearing the Word 
of the Lord, which it is most miserable to suffer, and a most laborious matter 
to cure at the present time, because iniquity hath abounded,(b) 
and scarce anywhere do I find its genuine healers. 

  III. Such was Joseph your Superintendent of corn measures, whom I may call 
ours also; who by his surpassing wisdom was able both to foresee the famine 
and to cure it by decrees of government, healing the ill-favoured and starving 
kine by means of the fair and fat.(g) And indeed you may 
understand by Joseph which you will, either the great lover and creator and 
namesake of immortality or his successor in throne and word and hoary hair, 
our new Peter,(d) not inferior in virtue or fame to him by whom 
the middle course was destroyed and crushed, though it still wriggles a little 
weakly, like the tail of a snake after it is cut off; the one of whom, after 
having departed this life in a good old age after many conflicts and 
wrestlings, looks upon us from above, I well know, and reaches a hand to those 
who are labouring for the right: and this the more, in proportion as he is 
freed from his bonds; and the other is hastening to the same end or 
dissolution of life, and is already drawing near the dwellers in heaven, but 
is still so far in the flesh as is needed to give the last aids to the Word, 
and to take his journey with richer provision. 

  IV. Of these great men and doctors and soldiers of the truth and victors, 
you are the nurslings and offspring; of these neither times nor tyrants, 
reason nor envy, nor fear, nor accuser, nor slanderer, whether waging open war 
against them, or plotting secretly; nor any who appeared to be of our side, 
nor any stranger, nor gold--that hidden tyrant, through which now almost 
everything is turned upside down and made to depend on the hazard of a die; 
nor flatteries nor threats, nor long and distant exiles (for they only could 
not be affected by confiscation, because of their great riches, which were--to 
possess nothing) nor anything else, whether absent or present or expected, 
could induce to take the worse part, and to be anywise traitor to the Trinity, 
or to suffer loss of the Godhead. On the contrary indeed, they grew strong by 
dangers, and became more zealous for true religion. For to suffer thus for 
Christ adds to one's love, and is as it were an earnest to high-souled men of 
further conflicts. These, O Egypt, are thy present tales and wonders. 

  V. Once thou didst praise me thy Mendesian Goats, and thy Memphite Apis, a 
fatted and fleshy calf, and the rites of Isis, and the mutilations of Osiris, 
and thy venerable Serapis, a log that was honoured by myths and ages and the 
madness of its worshippers, as some unknown and heavenly matter, however it 
may have been aided by falsehood; and things yet more shameful than these, 
multiform images of monstrous beasts and creeping things, all of which Christ 
and the heralds of Christ have conquered, both the others who have been 
illustrious in their own times, and also the Fathers whom I have named just 
now; by whom, O admirable country, thou art more famous today than all others 
put together, whether in ancient or modern history. 

  VI. Wherefore I embrace and salute thee, O noblest of peoples and most 
Christian, and of warmest piety, and worthy of thy leaders; for I can find 
nothing greater to say of thee than this, nor anything by which better to 
welcome thee. And I greet thee, to a small extent with my tongue, but very 
heartily with the movements of my affections.(a) O my people, 
for I call you mine, as of one mind and one faith, instructed by the same 
Fathers, and adoring the same Trinity. My people, for mine thou art, though it 
seem not so to those who envy me. And that they who are in this case may be 
the deeper wounded, see, I give the right hand of fellowship before so many 
witnesses, seen and unseen. And I put away the old calumny by this new act of 
kindness. O my people, for mine thou art, though in saying so I, who am least 
of all men, am claiming for myself that which is greatest. For such is the 
grace of the Spirit that it makes of equal honour those who are of one mind. O 
my people, for mine thou art, though it be afar, because we are divinely 
joined together,(b) and in a manner wholly different to the 
unions of carnal people; for bodies are united in place, but souls are fitted 
together by the Spirit. O my people, who didst formerly study how to suffer 
for Christ, but now 



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if thou wilt hearken unto me, wilt study not to do aught, but to consider the 
power of doing to be a sufficient gain, and to deem that thou art offering a 
sacrifice to Christ, as in those days of thy endurance so in these of 
meekness. O people to whom the Lord hath prepared Himself to do good, as to do 
evil to thine enemies.(a) O people, whom the Lord hath chosen 
to Himself out of all peoples; O people who art graven upon the hands of the 
Lord, to whom saith the Lord, Thou art My Will; and, Thy gates are carved 
work, and all the rest that is said to them that are being saved. O 
people;--nay, marvel not at my insatiability that I repeat your name so often; 
for I delight in this continual naming of you, like those who can never have 
enough of their enjoyment of certain spectacles or sounds. 

  VII. But, O people of God and mine, beautiful also was your yesterday's 
assembly, which you held upon the sea, and pleasant, if any sight ever was, to 
the eyes, when I saw the sea like a forest, and hidden by a cloud made with 
hands, and the beauty and speed of your ships, as though ordered for a 
procession, and the slight breeze astern, as though purposely escorting you, 
and wafting to the City your city of the Sea. Yet the present assembly which 
we now behold is more beautiful and more magnificent. For you have not 
hastened to mingle with the larger number, nor have you reckoned religion by 
numbers, nor endured to be a mere unorganized rabble, rather than a people 
purified by the Word of God; but having, as is right, rendered to Caesar the 
things that are Caesar's, ye have offered besides to God the things that are 
God's; to the former Custom, to the latter Fear; and after feeding the people 
with your cargoes, you yourselves have come to be fed by us. For we also 
distribute corn, and our distribution is perhaps not worth less than yours. 
Come eat of my Bread and drink of the Wine which I have mingled for 
you.(b) I join with Wisdom in bidding you to my table. For I 
commend your good feeling, and I hasten to meet your ready mind, because ye 
came to us as to your own harbour, running to your like; and ye valued the 
kindred Faith, and thought it monstrous that, while they who insult higher 
things are in harmony with each other and think alike, and think to make good 
each man's individual falsehood by their common conspiracy, like ropes which 
get strength from being twisted together; yet you should not meet nor combine 
with those who are of the same mind, with whom it is more reasonable that you 
should associate, for we gather in the Godhead also. And that you may see that 
not in vain have you come to us, and that you have not brought up in a port 
among strangers and foreigners, but amongst your own people, and have been 
well guided by the Holy Ghost; we will discourse to you briefly concerning 
God; and do you recognize your own, like those who distinguish their kindred 
by the ensigns of their arms. 

  VIII. I find two highest differences in things that exist, viz.:--Rule, and 
Service; not such as among us either tyranny has cut or poverty has severed, 
but which nature has distinguished, if any like to use this word. For That 
which is First is also above nature. Of these the former is creative, and 
originating, and unchangeable; but the other is created, and subject and 
changing; or to speak yet more plainly, the one is above time, and the other 
subject to time. The Former is called God, and subsists in Three Greatest, 
namely, the Cause, the Creator, and the Perfecter; I mean the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, who are neither so separated from one another as to be 
divided in nature, nor so contracted as to be circumscribed by a single 
person; the one alternative being that of the Arian madness, the other that of 
the Sabellian heresy; but they are on the one hand more single than what is 
altogether divided, and on the other more abundant than what is altogether 
singular. The other division is with us, and is called Creation, though one 
may be exalted above another according to the proportion of their nearness to 
God. 

  IX. This being so, if any be on the Lord's side let him come with 
us,(a) and let us adore the One Godhead in the Three; not 
ascribing any name of humiliation to the unapproachable Glory, but having the 
exaltations of the Triune God continually in our mouth.(b) For 
since we cannot properly describe even the greatness of Its Nature, on account 
of Its infinity and undefinableness, how can we assert of It humiliation? But 
if any one be estranged from God, and therefore divideth the One Supreme 
Substance into an inequality of Natures, it were marvellous if such an one 
were not Cut in sunder by the sword, and his portion appointed with the 
unbelievers,(g) reaping any evil fruit of his evil thought both 
now and hereafter. 

  X. What must we say of the Father, Whom by common consent all who have been 
preoccupied with natural conceptions share, although 



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He hath endured the beginnings of dishonour, having been first divided by 
ancient innovation into the Good and the Creator. And of the Son and of the 
Holy Ghost, see how simply and concisely we shall discourse. If any one could 
say of Either that He was mutable or subject to change; or that either in 
time, or place, or power, or energy He could be measured; or that He was not 
naturally good, or not Self-moved, or not a free agent, or a Minister, or a 
Hymnsinger; or that He feared, or was a recipient of freedom, or was not 
counted with God; let him prove this and we will acquiesce, and will be 
glorified by the Majesty of our Fellow Servants, though we lose our God. But 
if all that the Father has belongs likewise to the Son, except Causality; and 
all that is the Son's belongs also to the Spirit, except His Sonship, and 
whatsoever is spoken of Him as to Incarnation for me a man, and for my 
salvation, that, taking of mine, He may impart His own by this new 
commingling; then cease your babbling, though so late, O ye sophists of vain 
talk that falls at once to the ground; for why will ye die O House of 
Israel?(a)--if I may mourn for you in the words of Scripture. 

  XI. For my part I revere also the Titles of the Word, which are so many, and 
so high and great, which even the demons respect. And I revere also the Equal 
Rank of the Holy Ghost; and I fear the threat pronounced against those who 
blaspheme Him. And blasphemy is not the reckoning Him God, but the severing 
Him from the Godhead. And here you must remark that That which is blasphemed 
is Lord, and That which is avenged is the Holy Ghost, evidently as Lord. I 
cannot bear to be unenlightened after my Enlightenment, by marking with a 
different stamp any of the Three into Whom I was baptized; and thus to be 
indeed buried in the water, and initiated not into Regeneration, but into 
death. 

  XII. I dare to utter something, O Trinity; and may pardon be granted to my 
folly, for the risk is to my soul. I too am an Image of God, of the Heavenly 
Glory, though I be placed on earth. I cannot believe that I am saved by one 
who is my equal. If the Holy Ghost is not God, let Him first be made God, and 
then let Him deify me His equal. But now what deceit this is on the part of 
grace, or rather of the givers of grace, to believe in God and to come away 
godless; by one set of questions and confessions leading to another set of 
conclusions. Alas for this fair fame, if after the Layer I am blackened, if I 
am to see those who are not yet cleansed brighter than myself; if I am cheated 
by the heresy of my Baptizer; if I seek for the stronger Spirit and find Him 
not. Give me a second Font before you think evil of the first. Why do you 
grudge me a complete regeneration? Why do you make me, who am the Temple of 
the Holy Ghost as of God, the habitation of a creature? Why do you honour part 
of what belongs to me, and dishonour part, judging falsely of the Godhead, to 
cut me off from the Gift, or rather to cut me in two by the gift? Either 
honour the Whole, or dishonour the Whole, O new Theologian, that, if you are 
wicked, you may at any rate be consistent with yourself, and not judge 
unequally of an equal nature. 

  XIII. To sum up my discourse:--Glorify Him with the Cherubim, who unite the 
Three Holies into One Lord,(a) and so far indicate the Primal 
Substance as their wings open to the diligent. With David be enlightened, who 
said to the Light, In Thy Light shall we see Light,(b) that is, 
in the Spirit we shall see the Son; and what can be of further reaching ray? 
With John thunder, sounding forth nothing that is low or earthly concerning 
God, but what is high and heavenly, Who is in the beginning, and is with God, 
and is God the Word,(g) and true God of the true Father, and 
not a good fellow-servant honoured only with the title of Son; and the Other 
Comforter (other, that is, from the Speaker, Who was the Word of God). And 
when you read, I and the Father are One,(d) keep before your 
eyes the Unity of Substance; but when you see, "We will come to him, and make 
Our abode with him,"(e) remember the distinction of Persons; 
and when you see the Names, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, think of the Three 
Personalities. 

  XIV. With Luke be inspired as you study the Acts of the Apostles. Why do you 
range yourself with Ananias and Sapphira, those vain embezzlers (if indeed the 
theft of one's own property be a vain thing) and that by appropriating, not 
silver nor any other cheap and worthless thing, like a wedge of 
gold,(z) or a didrachma, as did of old a rapacious soldier; but 
stealing the Godhead Itself, and lying, not to men but to God, as you have 
heard. What? Will you not reverence even the authority of the Spirit Who 
breathes upon whom, and when, and as He wills? He comes upon Cornelius and his 
companions before Baptism, to others after Baptism, by the hands of the 
Apostles; so that from both 



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sides, both from the fact that He comes in the guise of a Master and not of a 
Servant, and from the fact of His being sought to make perfect, the Godhead of 
the Spirit is testified. 

  XV. Speak of God with Paul, who was caught up to the third 
Heaven,(a) and who sometimes counts up the Three Persons, and 
that in varied order, not keeping the same order, but reckoning one and the 
same Person now first, now second, now third; and for what purpose? Why, to 
shew the equality of the Nature. And sometimes he mentions Three, sometimes 
Two or One, became That which is not mentioned is included. And sometimes he 
attributes the operation of God to the Spirit, as in no respect different from 
Him, and sometimes instead of the Spirit he brings in Christ; and at times he 
separates the Persons saying, "One God, of whom are all things, and we in Him; 
and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by 
Him;"(b) at other times he brings together the one Godhead, 
"For of Him and through Him and in Him are all things;"(g) that 
is, through the Holy Ghost, as is shown by many places in Scripture. To Him be 
glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

ORATION XXXVII. -- ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, "WHEN JESUS HAD FINISHED THESE SAYINGS," ETC.--S. MATT. XIX. I. 

  1. Jesus Who Chose The Fishermen, Himself also useth a net, and changeth 
place for place. Why? Not only that He may gain more of those who love God by 
His visitation; but also, as it seems to me, that He may hallow more places. 
To the Jews He becomes as a Jew that He may gain the Jews; to them that are 
under the Law as under the Law, that He may redeem them that are under the 
Law; to the weak as weak, that He may save the weak. He is made all things to 
all men that He may gain all. Why do I say, All things to all men? For even 
that which Paul could not endure to say of himself I find that the Saviour 
suffered. For He is made not only a Jew, and not only doth He take to Himself 
all monstrous and vile names, but even that which is most monstrous of all, 
even very sin and very curse; not that He it such, but He is called so. For 
how can He be sin, Who setteth us free from sin; and how can He be a curse, 
Who redeemeth us from the curse of the Law?(d) But it is in 
order that He may carry His display of humility even to this extent, and form 
us to that humility which is the producer of exaltation. As I said then, He is 
made a Fisherman; He condescendeth to all; He casteth the net; He endureth all 
things, that He may draw up the fish from the depths, that is, Man who is 
swimming in the unsettled and bitter waves of life. 

  II. Therefore now also, when He had finished these sayings He departed from 
Galilee and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan; He dwelleth well in 
Galilee, in order that the people which sat in darkness may see great 
Light.(a) He removeth to Judea in order that He may persuade 
people to rise up from the Letter and to follow the Spirit. He teacheth, now 
on a mountain; now He discourseth on a plain; now He passeth over into a ship; 
now He rebuketh the surges. And perhaps He goes to sleep, in order that He may 
bless sleep also; perhaps He is tired that He may hallow weariness also; 
perhaps He weeps that He may make tears blessed. He removeth from place to 
place, Who is not contained in any place; the timeless, the bodiless, the 
uncircumscript, the same Who was and is; Who was both above time, and came 
under time, and was invisible and is seen. He was in the beginning and was 
with God, and was God.(b) The word Was occurs the third time to 
be confirmed by number. What He was He laid aside; what He was not He assumed; 
not that He became two, but He deigned to be One made out of the two. For both 
are God, that which assumed, and that which was assumed; two Natures meeting 
in One, not two Sons (let us not give a false account of the blending). He who 
is such and so great--but what has befallen me? I have fallen into human 
language. For how can So Great be said of the Absolute, and how can That which 
is without quantity be called Such? But pardon the word, for I am speaking of 
the greatest things with a limited instrument. And That great and 
long-suffering and formless and bodiless Nature will endure this, namely, my 
words as if of a body, and weaker than the truth. For if He condescended to 
Flesh, He will also endure such language. 

  III. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there, where the 
multitude was greater. If He had abode upon His own eminence, if He had not 
condescended to infirmity, if He had remained what He was, keeping Himself 
unapproachable and incomprehensible, a few perhaps would have followed 
Him--perhaps not even a few, possibly 



339 



only Moses--and He only so far as to see with difficulty the Back Parts of 
God.(a) For He penetrated the cloud, either being placed 
outside the weight of the body or being withdrawn from his senses; for how 
could he have gazed upon the subtlety, or the in-corporeity, or I know not how 
one should call it, of God, being incorporate and using material eyes? But 
inasmuch as He strips Himself for us, inasmuch as He comes down (and 

speak of an exinanition, as it were, a laying aside and a diminution of His 
glory), He becomes by this comprehensible, 

  IV. And pardon me meanwhile that I again suffer a human affection. I am 
filled with indignation and grief for my Christ (and would that you might 
sympathize with me) when I see my Christ dishonoured on this account on which 
He most merited honour. He on this account to be dishonoured, tell me, that 
for you He was humble? Is He therefore a Creature, because He careth for the 
creature? Is He therefore subject to time, because He watches over those who 
are subject to time Nay, He beareth all things, He endureth all 
things.(b) And what marvel? He put up with blows, He bore 
spittings, He tasted gall for my taste. And even now He bears to be stoned, 
not only by those who deal despite-fully with Him, but also by ourselves who 
seem to reverence Him. For to use corporeal names when discoursing of the 
incorporeal is perhaps the part of those who deal despitefully and stone Him; 
but pardon, I say again to our infirmity, for I do not willingly stone Him; 
but having no other words to use, we use what we have. Thou art called the 
Word, and Thou art above Word; Thou art above Light, yet art named Light; Thou 
art called Fire not as perceptible to sense, but because Thou purgest light 
and worthless matter; a Sword, because Thou severest the worse from the 
better; a Fan, because Thou purgest the threshing-floor, and blowest away all 
that is light and windy, and layest up in the garner above all that is weighty 
and full; an Axe, because Thou cuttest down the worthless fig-tree, after long 
patience, because Thou cuttest away the roots of wickedness; the Door, because 
Thou bringest in; the Way, because we go straight; the Sheep, because Thou art 
the Sacrifice; the High Priest, because Thou offerest the Body the Son, 
because Thou art of the Father. Again I stir men's tongues; again some men 
rave against Christ, or rather against me, who have been deemed worthy to be a 
herald of the Word. I am like John, The Voice of one crying in the 
wilderness(a)--a wilderness that once was dry, but now is only 
too populous. 

  V. But, as I was saying, to return to my argument; for this reason great 
multitudes followed Him, because He condescended to our infirmities. What 
next? The Pharisees also, it says, came unto Him, tempting Him, and saying 
unto Him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Again 
the Pharisees tempt Him; again they who read the Law do not know the Law; 
again they who are expounders of the Law need others to teach them. It was not 
enough that Sadducees should tempt Him concerning the Resurrection, and 
Lawyers question Him about perfection, and the Herodians about the poll-tax, 
and others about authority; but some one must also ask about Marriage at Him 
who cannot be tempted, the Creator of wedlock, Him who from the First Cause 
made this whole race of mankind. And He answered and said unto them, Have ye 
not read that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female? 
He knoweth how to solve some of their questions and to bridle others. When He 
is asked, By what authority doest thou these things? He Himself, because of 
the utter ignorance of those who asked Him, replies with another question; The 
baptism of John, was it from Heaven or of men? He on both sides entangles His 
questioners, so that we also are able, following the example of Christ, 
sometimes to check those who argue with us over-officiously, and with still 
more absurd questions to solve the absurdity of their questions. For we too 
are wise in vanity at times, if I may boast of the things of folly. But when 
He sees a question that calls for reasoning, then He does not deem His 
questioners unworthy of prudent answers. 

  VI. The question which you have put seems to me to do honour to chastity, 
and to demand a kind reply. Chastity, in respect of which I see that the 
majority of men are ill-disposed, and that their laws are unequal and 
irregular. For what was the reason why they restrained the woman, but indulged 
the man, and that a woman who practises evil against her husband's bed is an 
adulteress, and the penalties of the law for this are very severe; but if the 
husband commits fornication against his wife, he has no account to give? I do 
not accept this legislation; I do not approve this custom. They who made the 
Law were men, 



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and therefore their legislation is hard on women, since they have placed 
children also under the authority of their fathers, while leaving the weaker 
sex uncared for. God doth not so; but saith Honour thy father and thy mother, 
which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee; 
and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. Similarly He 
gave honour to good and punishment to evil. And, The blessing of a father 
strengtheneth the houses of children, but the curse of a mother uprooteth the 
foundations.(a) See the equality of the legislation. There is 
one Maker of man and woman; one debt is owed by children to both their 
parents. 

  VII. How then dost thou demand Chastity, while thou dost not thyself observe 
it? How dost thou demand that which thou dost not give? How, though thou art 
equally a body, dost thou legislate unequally? If thou enquire into the 
worse--The Woman Sinned, and so did Adam.(b) The serpent 
deceived them both; and one was not found to be the stronger and the other the 
weaker. But dost thou consider the better? Christ saves both by His Passion. 
Was He made flesh for the Man? So He was also for the woman. Did He die for 
the Man? The Woman also is saved by His death. He is called of the seed of 
David;(g) and so perhaps you think the Man is honoured; but He 
is born of a Virgin, and this is on the Woman's side. They two, He says, shall 
be one Flesh; so let the one flesh have equal honour." And Paul legislates for 
chastity by His example. How, and in what way? This Sacrament is great, he 
says, But I speak concerning Christ and the Church.(d) It is 
well for the wife to reverence Christ through her husband: and it is well for 
the husband not to dishonor the Church through his wife. Let the wife, he 
says, see that she reverence her husband, for so she does Christ; but also he 
bids the husband cherish his wife, for so Christ does the 
Church.(e) Let us, then, give further consideration to this 
saying. 

  VIII. Churn milk and it will be butter;(z) examine this and 
perhaps you may find something more nourishing in it. For I think that the 
Word here seems to deprecate second marriage. For, if there were two Christs, 
there may be two husbands or two wives; but if Christ is One, one Head of the 
Church, let there be also one flesh, and let a second be rejected; and if it 
hinder the second what is to be said for a third? The first is law, the second 
is indulgence, the third is transgression, and anything beyond this is 
swinish, such as has not even many examples of its wickedness. Now the Law 
grants divorce for every cause; but Christ not for every cause; but He allows 
only separation from the whore; and in all other things He commands patience. 
He allows to put away the fornicatress, because she corrupts the offspring; 
but in all other matters let us be patient and endure; or rather be 
ye(a) enduring and patient, as many as have received the yoke 
of matrimony. If you see lines or marks upon her, take away her ornaments; if 
a hasty tongue, restrain it; if a meretricious laugh, make it modest; if 
immoderate expenditure or drink, reduce it; if unseasonable going out, shackle 
it; if a lofty eye, chastise it. It is uncertain which is in danger, the 
separator or the separated. Let thy fountain of water, it says, be only thine 
own, and let no stranger share it with thee;(b) and, let the 
colt of thy favours and the stag of thy love company with thee; do thou then 
take care not to be a strange river, nor to please others better than thine 
own wife. But if thou be carried elsewhere, then thou makest a law of lewdness 
for thy partner also. Thus saith the Saviour. 

  IX. But what of the Pharisees? To them this word seems harsh. Yes, for they 
are also displeased at other noble words--both the older Pharisees, and the 
Pharisees of the present day. For it is not only race, but disposition also 
that makes a Pharisee. Thus also I reckon as an Assyrian or an Egyptian him 
who is ranged among these by his character. What then say the Pharisees? If 
the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. Is it only 
now, O Pharisee, that thou understandest this, It is not good to 
marry?(g) Didst thou not know it before when thou sawest 
widowhoods, and orphanhoods, and untimely deaths, and mourning succeeding to 
shouting, and funerals coming upon weddings, and childlessness, and all the 
comedy or tragedy that is connected with this? Either is most appropriate 
language. It is good to marry; I too admit it, for marriage is honourable in 
all, and the bed undefiled.(d) It is good for the temperate, 
not for those who are insatiable, and who desire to give more than due honour 
to the flesh. When marriage is only marriage and conjunction and the desire 
for a succession of children, marriage is honourable, for it brings into the 
world more to please God. But 



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when it kindles matter, and surrounds us with thorns, and as it were discovers 
the way of vice, then I too say, It is not good to marry. 

  X. Marriage is honourable; but I cannot say that it is more lofty than 
virginity; for virginity were no great thing if it were not better than a good 
thing. Do not however be angry, ye women that are subject to the yoke. We must 
obey God rather than man. But be ye bound together, both virgins and wives, 
and be one in the Lord, and each others' adornment. There would be no celibate 
if there were no marriage. For whence would the virgin have passed into this 
life? Marriage would not have been venerable unless it had borne virgin fruit 
to God and to life. Honour thou also thy mother, of whom thou wast born. 
Honour thou also her who is of a mother and is a mother.(a) A 
mother she is not, but a Bride of Christ she is. The visible beauty is not 
hidden, but that which is unseen is visible to God. All the glory of the 
King's Daughter is within,(b) clothed with golden fringes, 
embroidered whether by actions or by contemplation. And she who is under the 
yoke, let her also in some degree be Christ's; and the virgin altogether 
Christ's. Let the one be not entirely chained to the world,(g) 
and let the other not belong to the world at all. For that which is a part to 
the yoked, is to the virgin all in all. Hast thou chosen the life of Angels? 
Art thou ranked among the unyoked? Sink not down to the flesh; sink not down 
to matter; be not wedded to matter, while otherwise thou remainest unwedded. A 
lascivious eye guardeth not virginity; a meretricious tongue mingles with the 
Evil One; feet that walk disorderly accuse of disease or danger. Let the mind 
also be virgin; let it not rove about; let it not wander; let it not carry in 
itself forms of evil things (for the form is a part of harlotry); let it not 
make idols in its soul of hateful things. 

  XI. But He said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to 
whom it is given. Do you see the sublimity of the matter? It is found to be 
nearly incomprehensible. For surely it is more than carnal that that which is 
born of flesh should not beget to the flesh. Surely it is Angelic that she who 
is bound to flesh should live not according to flesh, but be loftier than her 
nature. The flesh bound her to the world, but reason led her up to God. The 
flesh weighed her down, but reason gave her wings; the flesh bound her, but 
desire loosed her. With thy whole soul, O Virgin, be intent upon God (I give 
this same injunction to men and to women); and do not take the same view in 
other respects of what is honourable as the mass of men do; of family, of 
wealth, of throne, of dynasty, of that beauty which shews itself in complexion 
and composition of members, the plaything of time and disease. If thou hast 
poured out upon God the whole of thy love; if thou hast not two objects of 
desire, both the passing and the abiding, both the visible and the invisible, 
then thou hast been so pierced by the arrow of election, and hast so learned 
the beauty of the Bridegroom, that thou too canst say with the bridal drama 
and song, thou art sweetness and altogether loveliness. 

  XII. You see how streams confined in lead pipes, through being much 
compressed and carried to one point, often so far depart from the nature of 
water that that which is pushed from behind will often flow constantly 
upwards. So if thou confine thy desire, and be wholly joined to God, thou wilt 
not fall downward; thou wilt not be dissipated; thou wilt remain entirely 
Christ's, until thou see Christ thy Bridegroom. Keep thyself unapproachable, 
both in word and work and life, and thought and action. From all sides the 
Evil One interferes with thee; he spies thee everywhere, where he may strike, 
where wound thee; let him not find anything bared and ready to his stroke. The 
purer he sees thee, the more he strives to stain thee, for the stains on a 
shining garment are more conspicuous. Let not eye draw eye, nor laughter, nor 
familiarity night, lest night bring destruction. For that which is gradually 
drawn away and stolen, works a mischief which is unperceived at the time, but 
yet attains to the consummation of wickedness. 

  XIII. All men, He saith, cannot receive this saying, but they to whom it is 
given. When you hear this, It is given, do not understand it in a heretical 
fashion, and bring in differences of nature, the earthly and the spiritual and 
the mixed. For there are people so evilly disposed as to think that some men 
are of an utterly ruined nature, and some of a nature which is saved, and that 
others are of such a disposition as their will may lead them to, either to the 
better, or to the worse. For that men may have a certain aptitude, one more, 
another less, I too admit; but not that this aptitude alone suffices for 
perfection, but that it is reason which calls this out, that 



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nature may proceed to action, just as fire is produced when a flint is struck 
with iron. When you hear To whom it is given, add, And it is given to those 
who are called and to those who incline that way. For when you hear, Not of 
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth 
mercy,(a) I counsel you to think the same. For since there are 
some who are so proud of their successes that they attribute all to themselves 
and nothing to Him that made them and gave them wisdom and supplied them with 
good; such are taught by this word that even to wish well needs help from God; 
or rather that even to choose what is right is divine and a gift of the mercy 
of God. For it is necessary both that we should be our own masters and also 
that our salvation should be of God. This is why He saith not of him that 
willeth; that is, not of him that willeth only, nor of him that runneth only, 
but also of God. That sheweth mercy. Next; since to will also is from God, he 
has attributed the whole to God with reason. However much you may run, however 
much you may wrestle, yet you need one to give the crown. Except the Lord 
build the house, they laboured in vain that built it: Except the Lord keep the 
city, in vain they watched that keep it.(b) I know, He says, 
that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the 
strong,(g) nor the victory to the fighters, nor the harbours to 
the good sailors; but to God it belongs both to work victory, and to bring the 
barque safe to port. 

  XIV. In another place it is also said and understood, and perhaps it is 
necessary that I should add it as follows to what has already been said, in 
order that I may impart to you also my wealth. The Mother of the Sons of 
Zebedee, in an impulse of parental affection, asked a thing in ignorance of 
the measure of what she was asking,() but pardonably, through the excess of 
her love and of the kindness due to her children. For there is nothing more 
affectionate than a Mother,--and I speak of this that I may lay down a law for 
honouring Mothers. Their mother, then, asked Jesus that they might sit, the 
one on His right hand, the other on his left. But what saith the Saviour? He 
first asks if they can drink the Cup Which He Himself was about to drink; and 
when this was professed, and the Saviour accepted the profession (for He knew 
that they were being perfected by the same, or rather that they would be 
perfected thereby); what saith He? "They shall drink the cup; but to sit on My 
right hand and on My left--it is not Mine, He saith, to give this, but to whom 
it hath been given." Is then the ruling mind nothing? Nothing the labour? 
Nothing the reasoning? Nothing the philosophy? Nothing the fasting? Nothing 
the vigils, the sleeping on the ground, the shedding floods of tears? Is it 
for nothing of these, but in accordance with some election by lot, that a 
Jeremias is sanctified, and others are estranged from the womb? 

  XV. I fear lest some monstrous reasoning may come in, as of the soul having 
lived elsewhere, and then having been bound to this body, and that it is from 
that other life that some receive the gift of prophecy, and others are 
condemned, namely, those who lived badly. But since such a conception is too 
absurd, and contrary to the traditions of the Church (others if they like may 
play with such doctrines, but it is unsafe for us to play with them); we must 
in this place too add to the words "To whom it hath been given," this, "who 
are worthy;" who have not only received this character from the Father, but 
have given it to themselves. 

  XVI. For there are eunuchs which were made eunuchs from their mother's womb, 
etc. I should very much like to be able to say something bold about eunuchs. 
Be not proud, ye who are eunuchs by nature. For, in point of self-restraint, 
this is perhaps unwilling. For it has not come to the test, nor has your 
self-restraint been proved by trial. For the good which is by nature is not a 
subject of merit; that which is the result of purpose is laudable. What merit 
has fire for burning, for it is its nature to burn? What merit has water for 
falling, a property given to it by its Maker? What thanks does the snow get 
for its coldness, or the sun for its shining?--It shines even if it does not 
wish. Claim merit if you please by willing the better things. You will claim 
it if, being carnal, you make yourself spiritual; if, while drawn down by the 
leaden flesh, you receive wings from reason; if though lowly born, you are 
found to be heavenly; if while chained down to the flesh, you shew yourself 
superior to the flesh. 

  XVII. Since then, natural chastity is not meritorious, I demand something 
else from the eunuchs. Do not go a whoring in respect of the Godhead. Having 
been wedded to Christ, do not dishonour Christ. Being perfected by the spirit, 
do not make the Spirit your own equal. If I yet pleased men, says 



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Paul, I should not be the servant of Christ.(a) If I worshipped 
a creature, I should not be called a Christian. For why is Christianity 
precious? Is it not that Christ is God, unless my mingling with Him in love is 
a mere human passion? And yet I honour Peter, but I am not called a Petrine; 
and Paul, but have never been called a Pauline. I cannot allow myself to be 
named after a man, who am born of God. So then, if it is because you believe 
Him to be God that you are called a Christian, may you ever be so called, and 
may you remain in both the name and the thing; but if you are called from 
Christ only because you have an affection for Him, you attribute no more to 
him than other names which are given from some practice or fact. 

  XVIII. Consider those men who are devoted to horse racing. They are named 
after the colours and the sides on which they have placed themselves. You know 
the names without my mentioning them. If it is thus that you have got the name 
of Christian, the mere title is a very small thing even though you pride 
yourself upon it. But if it is because you believe Him to be God, shew your 
faith by your works. If the Son is a creature, even now also you are 
worshipping the creature instead of the Creator. If the Holy Ghost is a 
creature, you are baptized in vain, and are only sound on two sides, or rather 
not even on them; but on one you are altogether in danger. Imagine the Trinity 
to be a single pearl, alike on all sides and equally glistening. If any part 
of the pearl be injured; the whole beauty of the stone is gone. So when you 
dishonour the Son in order to hon-our the Father, He does not accept your 
hon-our. The Father doth not glory in the dishonour of the Son. If a wise Son 
maketh a glad Father,(b) how much more doth the hon-our of the 
Son become that of the Father! And if you also accept this saying, My Son, 
glory not in the dishonour of thy Father,(g) similarly the 
Father doth not glory in the Son's dishonour. If you dishonour the Holy Ghost, 
the Son receiveth not your honour. For though He be not of the Father in the 
same way as the Son, yet He is of the same Father. Either honour the whole or 
dishonour the whole, so as to have a consistent mind. I cannot accept your 
half piety. I would have you altogether pious, but in the way that I desire. 
Pardon my affection: I am grieved even for those who hate me. You were one of 
my members, even though you are now cut off: perhaps you will again become a 
member; and therefore I speak kindly. Thus much for the sake of the Eunuchs, 
that they may be chaste in respect of the Godhead. 

  XIX. For it is not only bodily sin which is called fornication and adultery, 
but any sin you have committed, and especially transgression against that 
which is divine. Perhaps you ask how we can prove this :--They went a whoring, 
it says, with their own inventions.(a) Do you see an impudent 
act of fornication? And again, They committed adultery in the 
wood.(b) See you a kind of adulterous religion? Do not then 
commit spiritual adultery, while keeping your bodies chaste. Do not shew that 
it is unwillingly you are chaste in body, by not being chaste where you can 
commit fornication. Why have you done your impiety? Why are you hurried to 
vice, so that it is all one to call a man a Eunuch or a villain? Place 
yourselves on the side of men, and, even though so late, have some manly 
thoughts. Avoid the women's apartments; do not let the disgrace of 
proclamation be added to the disgrace of the name. Would you have us persevere 
a little longer in this discourse, or are you tired with what we have said? 
Nay, by what follows let even the eunuchs be honoured. For the word is one of 
praise. 

  XX. There are, He says, some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's 
womb; and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men; and there be 
eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. 
He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. I think that the discourse 
would sever itself from the body, and represent higher things by bodily 
figures; for to stop the meaning at bodily eunuchs would be small and very 
weak, and unworthy of the Word; and we must understand in addition something 
worthy of the Spirit. Some, then, seem by nature to incline to good. And when 
I speak of nature, I am not slighting free will, but supposing both--an 
aptitude for good, and that which brings the natural aptitude to effect. And 
there are others whom reason cleanses, by cutting them off from the passions. 
These I imagine to be meant by those whom men have made Eunuchs, when the word 
of teaching distinguishing the better from the worse and rejecting the one and 
commanding the other (like the verse, Depart from evil and do 
good),(g) works spiritual chastity. This sort of making eunuchs 
I ap- 



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prove; and I highly praise both teachers and taught, that the one have nobly 
effected, and the other still more nobly endured, the cutting off. 

  XXI. And there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom 
of Heaven's sake. Others, too, who have not met with teachers, have been 
laudable teachers to themselves. No father nor mother, no Priest or Bishop, 
nor any of those commissioned to teach, taught you your duty; but by moving 
reason in yourself and by kindling the spark of good by your free will, you 
made yourself a eunuch, and acquired such a habit of virtue that impulse to 
vice became almost an impossibility to you. Therefore I praise this kind of 
Eunuch-making also, and perhaps even above the others. He that is able to 
receive it let him receive it. Choose which part you will; either follow the 
Teacher or be your own teacher. One thing alone is shameful--that the passions 
be not extirpated. It matters not how they are extirpated. The teacher is 
God's creature; and you also have the same origin; and whether the teacher 
grasp this grace, or the good be your own--it is equally good. 

  XXII. Only let us cut ourselves off from passion, test any root of 
bitterness springing up trouble us;(a) only let us follow the 
image; only let us reverence our Archetype. Cut off the bodily passions; cut 
off also the spiritual. For by how much the soul is more precious than the 
body, by so much more precious is it to cleanse the soul than the body. And if 
cleansing of the body be a praiseworthy act, see, I pray you, how much greater 
and higher is that of the soul. Cut away the Arian impiety; cut away the false 
opinion of Sabellius; do not join more than is right, or wrongly sever; do not 
either confuse the Three Persons into One, or make Three diversities of 
Nature. The One is praiseworthy if rightly understood; and the Three when 
rightly divided, when the division is of Persons, not of Godhead. 

  XXIII. I enact this for Laymen too, and I enjoin it also upon all Priests, 
and upon those commissioned to rule. Come to the aid of the Word, all of you 
to whom God has given power to aid. It is a great thing to check murder, to 
punish adultery, to chastise theft; much more to establish piety by law, and 
to bestow sound doctrine. My word will not be able to do as much in fighting 
for the Holy Trinity as your Edict, if you will bridle the ill disposed, if 
you will help the persecuted, if you will check the slayers, and prevent 
people from being slain. I am speaking not merely of bodily but of spiritual 
slaughter. For all sin is the death of the soul. Here let my discourse end. 

  XXIV. But it remains that I speak a prayer for those who are assembled. 
Husbands alike and wives, rulers and ruled, old men, and young men, and 
maidens, every sort of age, bear ye every loss whether of money or of body, 
but one thing alone do not endure--to lose the Godhead. I adore the Father, I 
adore the Son, I adore the Holy Ghost; or rather We adore them; I, who am 
speaking, before all and after all and with all, in the same Christ our Lord, 
to whom be the glory and the might for ever. Amen. 


ORATION XXXVIII -- ON THE THEOPHANY, OR BIRTHDAY OF CHRIST. 



  I. CHRIST IS BORN, glorify ye Him. Christ from heaven, go ye out to meet 
Him. Christ on earth; be ye exalted. Sing unto the Lord all the whole 
earth;(a) and that I may join both in one word, Let the heavens 
rejoice, and let the earth be glad, for Him Who is of heaven and then of 
earth. Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling and with joy; with 
trembling because of your sins, with joy because of your hope. Christ of a 
Virgin; O ye Matrons live as Virgins, that ye may be Mothers of Christ. Who 
doth not worship Him That is from the beginning?Who doth not glorify Him That 
is the Last? 

  II. Again the darkness is past; again Light is made; again Egypt is punished 
with darkness; again Israel is enlightened by a pillar.(a) The 
people that sat in the darkness of ignorance, let it see the Great Light of 
full knowledge.(b) Old things are passed away, behold all 
things are become new.(g) The letter gives way, the Spirit 
comes to the front. The shadows flee away, the Truth comes in upon them. 
Melchisedec is concluded.(d) He that was without Mother becomes 
without Father (without Mother of His former state, without Father of His 
second). The laws of nature are upset; the world above must be filled. Christ 
commands it, let us not set ourselves against Him. O clap your hands together 
all ye people,(e) because unto us a Child is born, and a Son 
given unto us, Whose Government is upon His shoulder (for with the Cross it is 
raised up), and His Name is called The Angel of the Great Counsel of the 
Father.(z) Let John cry, Prepare ye the way of the 
Lord:(h) I too will cry the power of this Day. He Who is not 
carnal is Incarnate; the Son of God becomes the Son of Man, Jesus Christ the 
Same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.(q) Let the Jews be 
offended, let the Greeks deride;(k) let heretics talk till 
their tongues ache. Then shall they believe, when they see Him ascending up 
into heaven; and if not then, yet when they see Him coming out of heaven and 
sitting as Judge. 

  III. Of these on a future occasion; for the present the Festival is the 
Theophany or Birth-day, for it is called both, two titles being given to the 
one thing. For God was manifested to man by birth. On the one hand Being, and 
eternally Being, of the Eternal Being, above cause and word, for there was no 
word before The Word; and on the other hand for our sakes also Becoming, that 
He Who gives us our being might also give us our Well-being, or rather might 
restore us by His Incarnation, when we had by wickedness fallen from 
wellbeing. The name Theophany is given to it in reference to the 
Manifestation, and that of Birthday in respect of His Birth. 

  IV. This is our present Festival; it is this which we are celebrating 
to-day, the Coming of God to Man, that we might go forth,(l) or 



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rather (for this is the more proper expression) that we might go back to 
God--that putting off the old man, we might put on the New; and that as we 
died in Adam, so we might live in Christ,(a) being born with 
Christ and crucified with Him and buried with Him and rising with 
Him.(b) For I must undergo the beautiful conversion, and as the 
painful succeeded the more blissful, so must the more blissful come out of the 
painful. For where sin abounded Grace did much more abound;(g) 
and if a taste condemned us, how much more doth the Passion of Christ justify 
us? Therefore let us keep the Feast, not after the manner of a heathen 
festival, but after a godly sort; not after the way of the world, but in a 
fashion above the world; not as our own but as belonging to Him Who is ours, 
or rather as our Master's; not as of weakness, but as of healing; not as of 
creation, but of re-creation. 

  V. And how shall this be? Let us not adorn our porches, nor arrange dances, 
nor decorate the streets; let us not feast the eye, nor enchant the ear with 
music, nor enervate the nostrils with perfume, nor prostitute the taste, nor 
indulge the touch, those roads that are so prone to evil and entrances for 
sin; let us not be effeminate in clothing soft and flowing, whose beauty 
consists in its uselessness, nor with the glittering of gems or the sheen of 
gold(d) or the tricks of colour, belying the beauty of nature, 
and invented to do despite unto the image of God; Not in rioting and 
drunkenness, with which are mingled, I know well, chambering and wantonness, 
since the lessons which evil teachers give are evil; or rather the harvests of 
worthless seeds are worthless. Let us not set up high beds of leaves, making 
tabernacles for the belly of what belongs to debauchery. Let us not appraise 
the bouquet of wines, the kickshaws of cooks, the great expense of unguents. 
Let not sea and land bring us as a gift their precious dung, for it is thus 
that I have learnt to estimate luxury; and let us not strive to outdo each 
other in intemperance (for to my mind every superfluity is intemperance, and 
all which is beyond absolute need),--and this while others are hungry and in 
want, who are made of the same clay and in the same manner. 

  VI. Let us leave all these to the Greeks and to the pomps and festivals of 
the Greeks, who call by the name of gods beings who rejoice in the reek of 
sacrifices, and who consistently worship with their belly; evil inventors and 
worshippers of evil demons. But we, the Object of whose adoration is the Word, 
if we must in some way have luxury, let us seek it in word, and in the Divine 
Law, and in histories; especially such as are the origin of this Feast; that 
our luxury may be akin to and not far removed from Him Who hath called us 
together. Or do you desire (for to-day I am your entertainer) that I should 
set before you, my good Guests, the story of these things as abundantly and as 
nobly as I can, that ye may know how a foreigner can feed(a) 
the natives of the land, and a rustic the people of the town, and one who 
cares not for luxury those who delight in it, and one who is poor and homeless 
those who are eminent for wealth? 

  We will begin from this point; and let me ask of you who delight in such 
matters to cleanse you mind and your ears and your thoughts, since our 
discourse is to be of God and Divine; that when you depart, you may have had 
the enjoyment of delights that really fade not away. And this same discourse 
shall be at once both very full and very concise, that you may neither be 
displeased at its deficiencies, nor find it unpleasant through satiety. 

  VII. God always was,(b) and always is, and always will be. Or 
rather, God always Is. For Was and Will be are fragments of our time, and of 
changeable nature, but He is Eternal Being. And this is the Name that He gives 
to Himself when giving the Oracle to Moses in the Mount. For in Himself He 
sums up and contains all Being, having neither beginning in the past nor end 
in the future; like some great Sea of Being, limitless and unbounded, 
transcending all conception of time and nature, only adumbrated by the mind, 
and that very dimly and scantily ... not by His Essentials, but by His 
Environment; one image being got from one source and another from another, and 
combined into some sort of presentation of the truth, which escapes us before 
we have caught it, and takes to flight before we have conceived it, blazing 
forth upon our Master-part, even when that is cleansed, as the lightning flash 
which will not stay its course, does upon our sight 

  ... in order as I conceive by that part of it which we can comprehend to 
draw us to itself (for that which is altogether incom- 



347 



prehensible is outside the bounds of hope, and not within the compass of 
endeavour), and by that part of It which we cannot comprehend to move our 
wonder, and as an object of wonder to become more an object of desire, and 
being desired to purify, and by purifying to make us like 
God;(a) so that when we have thus become like Himself, God may, 
to use a bold expression, hold converse with us as Gods, being united to us, 
and that perhaps to the same extent as He already knows those who are known to 
Him. The Divine Nature then is boundless and hard to understand; and all that 
we can comprehend of Him is His boundlessness; even though one may conceive 
that because He is of a simple nature He is therefore either wholly 
incomprehensible, or perfectly comprehensible. For let us further enquire what 
is implied by "is of a simple nature." For it is quite certain that this 
simplicity is not itself its nature, just as composition is not by itself the 
essence of compound beings. 

  VIII. And when Infinity is considered from two points of view, beginning and 
end (for that which is beyond these and not limited by them is Infinity), when 
the mind looks to the depth above, not having where to stand, and leans upon 
phenomena to form an idea of God, it calls the Infinite and Unapproachable 
which it finds there by the name of Unoriginate. And when it looks into the 
depths below, and at the future, it calls Him Undying and Imperishable. And 
when it draws a conclusion from the whole it calls Him 
Eternal(aiwnios). For Eternity (aiwn is neither 
time nor part of time; for it cannot be measured. But what time, measured by 
the course of the sun, is to us, that Eternity is to the Everlasting, namely, 
a sort of time-like movement and interval co-extensive with their existence. 
This, however, is all I must now say about God; for the present is not a 
suitable time, as my present subject is not the doctrine of God, but that of 
the Incarnation. But when I say God, I mean Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For 
Godhead is neither diffused beyond these, so as to bring in a mob of gods; nor 
yet is it bounded by a smaller compass than these, so as to condemn us for a 
poverty-stricken conception of Deity; either Judaizing to save the Monarchia, 
or failing into heathenism by the multitude of our gods. For the evil on 
either side is the same, though found in contrary directions. This then is the 
Holy of Holies,(b) which is hidden even from the Seraphim, and 
is glorified with a thrice repeated Holy,(a) meeting in one 
ascription of the Title Lord and God, as one of our predecessors has most 
beautifully and loftily pointed out. 

  IX. But since this movement of self-contemplation alone could not satisfy 
Goodness, but Good must be poured out and go forth beyond Itself to multiply 
the objects of Its beneficence, for this was essential to the highest 
Goodness, He first conceived the Heavenly and Angelic Powers. And this 
conception was a work fulfilled by His Word, and perfected by His Spirit. And 
so the secondary Splendours came into being, as the Ministers of the Primary 
Splendour; whether we are to conceive of them as intelligent Spirits, or as 
Fire of an immaterial and incorruptible kind, or as some other nature 
approaching this as near as may be. I should like to say that they were 
incapable of movement in the direction of evil, and susceptible only of the 
movement of good, as being about God, and illumined with the first rays from 
God--for earthly beings have but the second illumination; but I am obliged to 
stop short of saying that, and to conceive and speak of them only as difficult 
to move because of him,(b) who for his splendour was called 
Lucifer, but became and is called Darkness through his pride; and the apostate 
hosts who are subject to him, creators of evil(g) by their 
revolt against good and our inciters. 

  X. Thus, then, and for these reasons, He gave being to the world of thought, 
as far as I can reason upon these matters, and estimate great things in my own 
poor language. Then when His first creation was in good order, He conceives a 
second world, material and visible; and this a system and compound of earth 
and sky, and all that is in the midst of them--an admirable creation indeed, 
when we look at the fair form of every part, but yet more worthy of admiration 
when we consider the harmony and the unison of the whole, and how each 



348 



part fits in with every other, in fair order, and all with the whole, tending 
to the perfect completion of the world as a Unit. This was to shew that He 
could call into being, not only a Nature akin to Himself, but also one 
altogether alien to Himself. For akin to Deity are those natures which are 
intellectual, and only to be comprehended by mind; but all of which sense can 
take cognisance are utterly alien to It; and of these the furthest removed are 
all those which are entirely destitute of soul and of power of motion. But 
perhaps some one of those who are too festive and impetuous may say, What has 
all this to do with us? Spur your horse to the goal. Talk to us about the 
Festival, and the reasons for our being here to-day. Yes, this is what I am 
about to do, although I have begun at a somewhat previous point, being 
compelled to do so by love, and by the needs of my argument. 

  XI. Mind, then, and sense, thus distinguished from each other, had remained 
within their own boundaries, and bore in themselves the magnificence of the 
Creator-Word, silent praisers(a) and thrilling heralds of His 
mighty work. Not yet was there any mingling of both, nor any mixtures of these 
opposites, tokens of a greater Wisdom and Generosity in the creation of 
natures; nor as yet were the whole riches of Goodness made known. Now the 
Creator-Word, determining to exhibit this, and to produce a single living 
being out of both--the visible and the invisible creations, I mean--fashions 
Man; and taking a body from already existing matter, and placing in it a 
Breath taken from Himself(b) which the Word knew to be an 
intelligent soul and the Image of God, as a sort of second world. He placed 
him, great in littleness(g) on the earth; a new Angel, a 
mingled worshipper, fully initiated into the visible creation, but only 
partially into the intellectual; King of all upon earth, but subject to the 
King above; earthly and heavenly; temporal and yet immortal; visible and yet 
intellectual; half-way between greatness and lowliness; in one person 
combining spirit and flesh; spirit, because of the favour bestowed on him; 
flesh, because of the height to which he had been raised; the one that he 
might continue to live and praise his Benefactor, the other that he might 
suffer, and by suffering be put in remembrance, and corrected if he became 
proud of his greatness. A living creature trained here, and then moved 
elsewhere; and, to complete the mystery, deified by its inclination to God. 
For to this, I think, tends that Light of Truth which we here possess but in 
measure, that we should both see and experience the Splendour of God, which is 
worthy of Him Who made us, and will remake us again after a loftier fashion. 

  XII. This being He placed in Paradise, whatever the Paradise may have been, 
having honoured him with the gift of Free Will (in order that God might belong 
to him as the resuit of his choice, no less than to Him who had implanted the 
seeds of it), to till the immortal plants, by which is meant perhaps the 
Divine Conceptions, both the simpler and the more perfect; naked in his 
simplicity and in-artificial life, and without any covering or screen; for it 
was fitting that he who was from the beginning should be such. Also He gave 
him a Law, as a material for his Free Will to act upon. This Law was a 
Commandment as to what plants he might partake of, and which one he might not 
touch. This latter was the Tree of Knowledge; not, however, because it was 
evil from the beginning when planted; nor was it forbidden because God grudged 
it to us ... Let not the enemies of God wag their tongues in that direction, 
or imitate the Serpent ... But it would have been good if partaken of at the 
proper time, for the tree was, according to my theory, Contemplation, upon 
which it is only safe for those who have reached maturity of habit to enter; 
but which is not good for those who are still somewhat simple and greedy in 
their habit; just as solid food is not good for those who are yet tender, and 
have need of milk.(a) But when through the Devil's malice and 
the woman's caprice, to which she succumbed as the more tender, and which she 
brought to bear upon the man, as she was the more apt to persuade, alas for my 
weakness! (for that of my first father was mine), he forgot the Commandment 
which had been given to him;(b) he yielded to the baleful 
fruit; and for his sin he was banished, at once from the Tree of Life, and 
from Paradise, and from God; and put on the coats of skins ... that is, 
perhaps, the coarser flesh, both mortal and contradictory. This was the first 
thing that he learnt--his own shame;(g) and he hid himself from 
God. Yet here too he makes a gain, namely death, and the cutting off of sin, 
in order that evil may not be immortal. Thus his punishment is changed into a 
mercy; for it is in mercy, I am persuaded, that God inflicts punishment. 

   XIII. And having been first chastened by 



349 



many means (because his sins were many, whose root of evil sprang up through 
divers causes and at sundry tithes), by word, by law, by prophets, by 
benefits, by threats, by plagues, by waters, by fires, by wars, by victories, 
by defeats, by signs in heaven and signs in the air and in the earth and in 
the sea, by unexpected changes of men, of cities, of nations (the object of 
which was the destruction of wickedness), at last he needed a stronger remedy, 
for his diseases were growing worse; mutual slaughters, adulteries, perjuries, 
unnatural crimes, and that first and last of all evils, idolatry and the 
transfer of worship from the Creator to the Creatures. As these required a 
greater aid, so also they obtained a greater. And that was that the Word of 
God Himself--Who is before all worlds, the Invisible, the Incomprehensible, 
the Bodiless, Beginning of Beginning,(a) the Light of Light, 
the Source of Life and Immortality, the Image of the Archetypal Beauty, the 
immovable Seal, the unchangeable Image, the Father's 
Definition(b) and Word, came to His own Image, and took on Him 
flesh for the sake of our flesh, and mingled Himself with an intelligent soul 
for my soul's sake, purifying like by like; and in all points except sin was 
made man. Conceived by the Virgin,(g) who first in body and 
soul was purified by the Holy Ghost(d) (for it was needful both 
that Childbearing should be honoured, and that Virginity should receive a 
higher honour), He came forth then as God with that which He had assumed, One 
Person in two Natures, Flesh and Spirit, of which the latter deified the 
former.(e) O new commingling; O strange conjunction; the 
Self-Existent comes into being, the Uncreate is created, That which cannot be 
contained is contained, by the intervention of an intellectual soul, mediating 
between the Deity and the corporeity of the flesh. And He Who gives riches 
becomes poor, for He assumes the poverty of my flesh, that I may assume the 
richness of His Godhead. He that is full empties Himself, for He empties 
Himself of His glory for a short while, that I may have a share in His 
Fulness. What is the riches of His Goodness? What is this mystery that is 
around me? I had a share in the image; I did not keep it; He partakes of my 
flesh that He may both save the image and make the flesh immortal. He 
communicates a second Communion far more marvellous than the first, inasmuch 
as then He imparted the better Nature, whereas now Himself partakes of the 
worse. This is more godlike than the former action, this is loftier in the 
eyes of all men of understanding. 

  XIV. To this what have those cavillers to say, those bitter reasoners about 
Godhead, those detractors of all that is praiseworthy, those darkeners of 
light, uncultured in respect of wisdom, for whom Christ died in vain, those 
unthankful creatures, the work of the Evil One? Do you turn this benefit into 
a reproach to God? Wilt thou deem Him little on this account, that He humbled 
Himself for thee; because the Good Shepherd,(a) He who lays 
down His life for His sheep, came to seek for that which had strayed upon the 
mountains and the hills, on which thou wast then sacrificing, and found the 
wanderer; and having found it,(b) took it upon His 
shoulders--on which He also took the Wood of the Cross; and having taken it, 
brought it back to the higher life; and having carried it back, numbered it 
amongst those who had never strayed. Because He lighted a candle--His own 
Flesh--and swept the house, cleansing the world from sin; and sought the piece 
of money, the Royal Image that was covered up by passions. And He calls 
together His Angel friends on the finding of the coin, and makes them sharers 
in His joy,(g) whom He had made to share also the secret of the 
Incarnation? Because on the candle of the Forerunner there follows the light 
that exceeds in brightness; and to the Voice the Word succeeds; and to the 
Bridegroom's friend the Bridegroom; to him that prepared for the Lord a 
peculiar people, cleansing them by water in preparation for the Spirit? Dost 
thou reproach God with all this? Dost thou on this account deem Him lessened, 
because He girds Himself with a towel and washes His disciples' feet, and 
shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation? Because for the soul 
that was bent to the ground He humbles Himself, that He may raise up with 
Himself the soul that was tottering to a fall under a weight of sin? Why dost 
thou not also charge upon Him as a 



350 



crime the fact that He eats with Publicans and at Publicans' 
tables,(a) and that He makes disciples of Publicans, that He 
too may gain somewhat ... and what? ... the salvation of sinners. If so, we 
must blame the physician for stooping over sufferings, and enduring evil 
odours that he may give health to the sick; or one who as the Law commands 
bent down into a ditch to save a beast that had fallen into 
it.(b) XV. He was sent, but as man, for He was of a twofold 
Nature; for He was wearied, and hungered, and was thirsty, and was in an 
agony, and shed tears, according to the nature of a corporeal being. And if 
the expression be also used of Him as God, the meaning is that the Father's 
good pleasure is to be considered a Mission, for to this He refers all that 
concerns Himself; both that He may honour the Eternal Principle, and because 
He will not be taken to be an antagonistic God. And whereas it is written both 
that He was betrayed, and also that He gave Himself up(g) and 
that He was raised up by the Father, and taken up into heaven; and on the 
other hand, that He raised Himself and went up; the former statement of each 
pair refers to the good pleasure of the Father, the latter to His own Power. 
Are you then to be allowed to dwell upon all that humiliates Him, while 
passing over all that exalts Him, and to count on your side the fact that He 
suffered, but to leave out of the account the fact that it was of His own 
will? See what even now the Word has to suffer. By one set He is honoured as 
God, but is confused with the Father,(d) by another He is 
dishonoured as mere flesh(a) and severed from the Godhead. With 
which of them will He be most angry, or rather, which shall He forgive, those 
who injuriously confound Him or those who divide Him? For the former ought to 
have distinguished, and the latter to have united Him; the one in number, the 
other in Godhead. Stumblest Thou at His flesh? So did the Jews. Or dost thou 
call Him a Samaritan, and ... I will not say the rest. Dost thou disbelieve in 
His Godhead? This did not even the demons, O thou who art less believing than 
demons and more stupid than Jews. Those did perceive that the name of Son 
implies equality of rank; these did know that He who drove them out was God, 
for they were convinced of it by their own experience. But you will admit 
neither the equality nor the Godhead. It would have been better for you to 
have been either a Jew or a demoniac (if I may utter an absurdity), than in 
uncircumcision and m sound health to be so wicked and ungodly in your attitude 
of mind. 

  XVI. A little later on you will see Jesus submitting to be purified in the 
River Jordan for my Purification, or rather, sanctifying the waters by His 
Purification (for indeed He had no need of purification Who taketh away the 
sin of the world) and the heavens cleft 



351 



asunder, and witness borne to him by the Spirit That is of one nature with 
Him;(a) you shall see Him tempted and conquering and served by 
Angels,(b) and healing every sickness(g) and 
every disease,(d) and giving life to the dead (O that He would 
give life to you who are dead because of your heresy), and driving out 
demons,(e) sometimes Himself, sometimes by his disciples; and 
feeding vast multitudes with a few loaves;(z) and walking 
dryshod upon seas;(h) and being betrayed and crucified, and 
crucifying with Himself my sin; offered as a Lamb, and offering as a Priest; 
as a Man buried in the grave, and as God rising again; and then ascending, and 
to come again in His own glory. Why what a multitude of high festivals there 
are in each of the mysteries of the Christ; all of which have one completion, 
namely, my perfection and return to the first condition of Adam. 

  XVII. Now then I pray you accept His Conception, and leap before Him; if not 
like John from the womb,(q) yet like David, because of the 
resting of the Ark.(i) Revere the enrolment on account of which 
thou wast written in heaven, and adore the Birth by which thou wast loosed 
from the chains of thy birth,(k) and honour little Bethlehem, 
which hath led thee back to Paradise; and worship the manger through which 
thou, being without sense, wast fed by the Word. Know as Isaiah bids thee, 
thine Owner, like the ox, and like the ass thy Master's 
crib;(l) if thou be one of those who are pure and lawful food, 
and who chew the cud of the word and are fit for sacrifice. Or if thou art one 
of those who are as yet unclean and uneatable and unfit for sacrifice, and of 
the gentile portion, run with the Star, and bear thy Gifts with the Magi, gold 
and frankincense and myrrh,(m) as to a King, and to God, and to 
One Who is dead for thee. With Shepherds glorify Him;(n) with 
Angels join in chorus; with Archangels sing hymns. Let this Festival be common 
to the powers in heaven and to the powers upon earth.(x) For I 
am persuaded that the Heavenly Hosts join in our exultation and keep high 
Festival with us to-day(o) ... because they love men, and they 
love God just like 

those whom David introduces after the Passion ascending with 
Christ(p) and coming to meet Him, and bidding one another to 
lift up the gates. 

    XVIII. One thing connected with the Birth of Christ I would have you hate 
... the murder of the infants by Herod.(a) Or rather you must 
venerate this too, the Sacrifice of the same age as Christ, slain before the 
Offering of the New Victim. If He flees into Egypt,(b) joyfully 
become a companion of His exile. It is a grand thing to share the exile of the 
persecuted Christ. If He tarry long in Egypt, call Him out of Egypt by a 
reverent worship of Him there. Travel without fault through every stage and 
faculty of the Life of Christ. Be purified; be circumcised; strip off the veil 
which has covered thee from thy birth. After this teach in the Temple, and 
drive out the sacrilegious traders.(g) Submit to be stoned if 
need be, for well I wot thou shalt be hidden from those who cast the stones; 
thou shalt escape even through the midst of them, like God.(d) 
If thou be brought before Herod, answer not for the most 
part.(e) He will respect thy silence more than most people's 
long speeches. If thou be scourged,(z) ask for what they leave 
out. Taste gall for the taste's sake;(h) drink 
vinegar;(q) seek for spittings; accept blows, be crowned with 
thorns,(i) that is, with the hardness of the godly life; put on 
the purple robe, take the reed in hand, and receive mock worship from those 
who mock at the truth; lastly, be crucified with Him, and share His Death and 
Burial gladly, that thou mayest rise with Him, and be glorified with Him and 
reign with Him. Look at and be looked at by the Great God, Who in Trinity is 
worshipped and glorified, and Whom we declare to be now set forth as clearly 
before you as the chains of our flesh allow, in Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom 
be the glory for ever. 

Amen. 

ORATION XXXIX. 



ORATION ON THE HOLY LIGHTS. 



  I. Again My Jesus, and again a mystery; not deceitful nor disorderly, nor 
belonging to Greek error or drunkenness (for so I call their solemnities, and 
so I think will every man of sound sense); but a mystery lofty and divine, and 
allied to the Glory above. For the Holy Day of the Lights, to which we have 
come, and which we are celebrating today, has for its origin the Baptism of 
my Christ, the True Light That lighteneth every man that cometh into the 
world,(a) and effecteth my purification, and assists that light 
which we received from the beginning from Him from above, but which we 
darkened and confused by sin. 

  II. Therefore listen to the Voice of God, which sounds so exceeding clearly 
to me, who am both disciple and master of these mysteries, as would to God it 
may sound to you; I Am The Light Of The World.(b) Therefore 
approach ye to Him and be enlightened, and let not your faces be 
ashamed,(g) being signed with the true Light. It is a season of 
new birth,(d) let us be born again. It is a time of 
reformation, let us receive again the first Adam.(e) Let us not 
remain what we are, but let us become what we once were. The Light Shineth In 
Darkness,(z) in this life and in the flesh, and is chased by 
the darkness, but is not overtaken by it:--I mean the adverse power leaping up 
in its shamelessness against the visible Adam, but encountering God and being 
defeated;--in order that we, putting away the darkness, may draw near to the 
Light, and may then become perfect Light, the children of perfect Light. See 
the grace of this Day; see the power of this mystery. Are you not lifted up 
from the earth? Are you not clearly placed on high, being exalted by our voice 
and meditation? and you will be placed much higher when the Word shall have 
prospered the course of my words. 

  III. Is there any such among the shadowy purifications of the Law, aiding as 
it did with temporary sprinklings, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the 
unclean;(h) or do the gentiles celebrate any such thing in 
their mysteries, every ceremony and mystery of which to me is nonsense, and a 
dark invention of demons, and a figment of an unhappy mind, aided by time, and 
hidden by fable? For what they worship as true, they veil as mythical. But if 
these things are true, they ought not to be called myths, but to be proved not 
to be shameful;(q) and if they are false, they ought not to be 
objects of wonder; nor ought people so inconsiderately to hold the most 
contrary opinions about the same thing, as if they were playing in the 
market-place with boys or really ill-disposed men, not engaged 



353 



in discussion with men of sense, and worshippers of the Word, though despisers 
of this artificial plausibility. 

  IV. We are not concerned in these mysteries with birth of Zeus and thefts of 
the Cretan Tyrant(a) (though the Greeks may be displeased at 
such a title for him), nor with the name of Curetes, and the armed dances, 
which were to hide the wailings of a weeping god, that he might escape from 
his father's hate. For indeed it would be a strange thing that he who was 
swallowed as a stone should be made to weep as a child.(b) Nor 
are we concerned with Phrygian mutilations and flutes and 
Corybantes,(g) and all the ravings of men concerning Rhea, 
consecrating people to the mother of the gods, and being initiated into such 
ceremonies as befit the mother of such gods as these. Nor have we any carrying 
away of the Maiden,(d) nor wandering of Demeter, nor her 
intimacy with Celei and Triptolemi and Dragons; nor her doings and sufferings 
... for I am ashamed to bring into daylight that ceremony of the night, and to 
make a sacred mystery of obscenity. Eleusis knows these things, and so do 
those who are eyewitnesses of what is there guarded by silence, and well 
worthy of it. Nor is our commemoration one of Dionysus, and the thigh that 
travailed with an incomplete birth, as before a head had travailed with 
another;(e) nor of the hermaphrodite god, nor a chorus of the 
drunken and enervated host; nor of the folly of the Thebans which honours him; 
nor the thunderbolt of Semele which they adore. Nor is it the harlot mysteries 
of Aphrodite, who, as they themselves admit, was basely born and basely 
honoured; nor have we here Phalli and Ithyphalli,(z) shameful 
both in form and action; nor Taurian massacres of strangers;(a) 
nor blood of Laconian youths shed upon the altars, as they scourged themselves 
with the whips;(b) and in this case alone use their courage 
badly, who honour a goddess, and her a virgin. For these same people both 
honour effeminacy, and worship boldness. 

  V. And where will you place the butchery of Pelops,(g) which 
feasted hungry gods, that bitter and inhuman hospitality? Where the horrible 
and dark spectres of Hecate, and the underground puerilities and sorceries of 
Trophonius, or the babblings of the Dodonaean Oak, or the trickeries of the 
Delphian tripod, or the prophetic draught of Castalia, which could prophesy 
anything, except their own being brought to silence?(d) Nor is 
it the sacrificial art of Magi, and their entrail forebodings, nor the 
Chaldaean astronomy and horoscopes, comparing our lives with the movements of 
the heavenly bodies, which cannot know even what they are themselves, or shall 
be. Nor are these Thracian orgies, from which the word Worship 
(qrhskeia) is said to be derived; nor rites and mysteries of 
Orpheus, whom the Greeks admired so much for his wisdom that they devised for 
him a lyre which draws all things by its music. Nor the tortures of 
Mithras(e) which it is just that those who can endure to be 
initiated into such things should suffer; nor the manglings of 
Osiris,(z) another calamity honoured by the Egyptians; nor the 
ill-fortunes of Isis(h) and the goats more venerable than the 
Mendesians, and the stall of Apis,(q) the calf that luxuriated 
in the folly of the Memphites, nor all those honours with which they outrage 
the Nile, while themselves proclaiming it in song to be the Giver of fruits 
and corn, and the measurer of happiness by its cubits.(i) 

  VI. I pass over the honours they pay to rep- 



354 



tiles, and their worship of vile things, each of which has its peculiar cultus 
and festival, and all share in a common devilishness; so that, if they were 
absolutely bound to be ungodly, and to fall away from honouring God, and to be 
led astray to idols and works of art and things made with hands, men of sense 
could not imprecate anything worse upon themselves than that they might 
worship just such things, and honour them in just such a way; that, as Paul 
says, they might receive in themselves that recompense of their error which 
was meet,(a) in the very objects of their worship; not so much 
honouring them as suffering dishonour by them; abominable because of their 
error, and yet more abominable from the vileness of the objects of their 
adoration and worship; so that they should be even more without understanding 
than the objects of their worship; being as excessively foolish as the latter 
are vile. 

  VII. Well, let these things be the amusement of the children of the Greeks 
and of the demons to whom their folly is due, who turn aside the honour of God 
to themselves, and divide men in various ways in pursuit of shameful thoughts 
and fancies, ever since they drove us away from the Tree of Life, by means of 
the Tree of Knowledge unseasonably(b) and improperly imparted 
to us, and then assailed us as now weaker than before; carrying clean away the 
mind, which is the ruling power in us, and opening a door to the passions. 
For, being of a nature envious and man-hating, or rather having become so by 
their own wickedness, they could neither endure that we who were below should 
attain to that which is above, having themselves fallen from above upon the 
earth; nor that such a change in their glory and their first natures should 
have taken place. This is the meaning of their persecution of the creature. 
For this God's Image was outraged; and as we did not like to keep the 
Commandments,(g) we were given over to the independence of our 
error. And as we erred we were disgraced by the objects of our worship. For 
there was not only this calamity, that we who were made for good 
works(d) to the glory and praise of our Maker, and to imitate 
God as far as might be, were turned into a den of all sorts of passions, which 
cruelly devour and consume the inner man; but there was this further evil, 
that man actually made gods the advocates of his passions, so that sin might 
be reckoned not only irresponsible, but even divine, taking refuge in the 
objects of his worship as his apology. 

  VIII. But since to us grace has been given to flee from superstitious error 
and to be joined to the truth and to serve the living and true God, and to 
rise above creation, passing by all that is subject to time and to first 
motion; let us look at and reason upon God and things divine in a manner 
corresponding to this Grace given us. But let us begin our discussion of them 
from the most fitting point. And the most fitting is, as Solomon laid down for 
us; us; The beginning of wisdom, he says, is to get wisdom.(a) 
And what this is he tells us; the beginning of wisdom is 
fear.(b) For we must not begin with contemplation and leave off 
with fear (for an unbridled contemplation would perhaps push us over a 
precipice), but we must be grounded and purified and so to say made light by 
fear, and thus be raised to the height. For where fear is there is keeping of 
commandments; and where there is keeping of commandments there is purifying of 
the flesh, that cloud which covers the soul and suffers it not to see the 
Divine Ray. And where them is purifying there is Illumination; and 
Illumination is the satisfying of desire to those who long for the greatest 
things, or the Greatest Thing, or That Which surpasses all greatness. 

  IX. Wherefore we must purify ourselves first, and then approach this 
converse with the Pure; unless we would have the same experience as 
Israel,(g) who could not endure the glory of the face of Moses, 
and therefore asked for a veil;(d) or else would feel and say 
with Manoah "We are undone O wife, we have seen God,"(e) 
although it was God only in his fancy; or like Peter would send Jesus out of 
the boat,(z) as being ourselves unworthy of such a visit; and 
when I say Peter, I am speaking of the man who walked upon the 
waves;(h) or like Paul would be stricken in 
eyes,(q) as he was before he was cleansed from the guilt of his 
persecution, when he conversed with Him Whom he was persecuting--or rather 
with a short flash of That great Light; or like the 
Centurion(i) would seek for healing, but would not, through a 
praiseworthy fear, receive the Healer into his house. Let each one of us also 
speak so, as 



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long as he is still uncleansed, and is a Centurion still, commanding many in 
wickedness, and serving in the army of Caesar, the World-ruler of those who 
are being dragged down; "I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my 
roof." But when he shall have looked upon Jesus, though he be little of 
stature like Zaccheus(a) of old, and climb up on the top of the 
sycamore tree by mortifying his members which are upon the 
earth,(b) and having risen above the body of humiliation, then 
he shall receive the Word, and it shall be said to him, This day is salvation 
come to this house.(g) Then let him lay hold on the salvation, 
and bring forth fruit more perfectly, scattering and pouring forth rightly 
that which as a publican he wrongly gathered. 

  X. For the same Word is on the one hand terrible through its nature to those 
who are unworthy, and on the other through its loving kindness can be received 
by those who are thus prepared, who have driven out the unclean and worldly 
spirit from their souls, and have swept and adorned their own souls by 
self-examination, and have not left them idle or without employment, so as 
again to be occupied with greater armament by the seven spirits of wickedness 
... the same number as are reckoned of virtue (for that which is hardest to 
fight against calls for the sternest efforts) ... but besides fleeing from 
evil, practise virtue, making Christ entirely, or at any rate to the greatest 
extent possible, to dwell within them, so that the power of evil cannot meet 
with any empty place to fill it again with himself, and make the last state of 
that man worse than the first, by the greater energy of his assault, and the 
greater strength and impregnability of the fortress. But when, having guarded 
our soul with every care, and having appointed goings up in our 
heart,(d) and broken up our fallow ground,(e) 
and sown unto righteousness,(z) as David and Solomon and 
Jeremiah bid us, let us enlighten ourselves with the light of knowledge, and 
then let us speak of the Wisdom of God that hath been hid in a 
mystery,(h) and enlighten others. Meanwhile let us purify 
ourselves, and receive the elementary initiation of the Word, that we may do 
ourselves the utmost good, making ourselves godlike, and receiving the Word at 
His coming; and not only so, but holding Him fast and shewing Him to others. 

  XI. And now, having purified the theatre by what has been said, let us 
discourse a little about the Festival, and join in celebrating this Feast with 
festal and pious souls. And, since the chief point of the Festival is the 
remembrance of God, let us call God to mind. For I think that the sound of 
those who keep Festival There, where is the dwelling of all the Blissful, is 
nothing else than this, the hymns and praises of God, sung by all who are 
counted worthy of that City. Let none be astonished if what I have to say 
contains some things that I have said before; for not only will I utter the 
same words, but I shall speak of the same subjects, trembling both in tongue 
and mind and thought when I speak of God for you too, that you may share this 
laudable and blessed feeling. And when I speak of God you must be illumined at 
once by one flash of light and by three. Three in Individualities or 
Hypostases, if any prefer so to call them, or persons,(a) for 
we will not quarrel about names so long as the syllables amount to the same 
meaning; but One in respect of the Substance--that is, the Godhead. For they 
are divided without division, if I may so say; and they are united in 
division. For the Godhead is one in three, and the 



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three are one, in whom the Godhead is, or to speak more accurately, Who are 
the Godhead. Excesses and defects we will omit, neither making the Unity a 
confusion, nor the division a separation. We would keep equally far from the 
confusion of Sabellius and from the division of Arius, which are evils 
diametrically opposed, yet equal in their wickedness. For what need is there 
heretically to fuse God together, or to cut Him up into inequality? 

  XII. For to us there is but One God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and 
One Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things; and One Holy Ghost, in Whom are 
all things;(a) yet these words, of, by, in, whom, do not denote 
a difference of nature (for if this were the case, the three prepositions, or 
the order of the three names would never be altered), but they characterize 
the personalities of a nature which is one and unconfused. And this is proved 
by the fact that They are again collected into one, if you will read--not 
carelessly--this other passage of the same Apostle, "Of Him and through Him 
and to Him are all things; to Him be glory forever, Amen."(b) 
The Father is Father, and is Unoriginate, for He is of no one; the Son is Son, 
and is not unoriginate, for He is of the Father. But if you take the word 
Origin in a temporal sense, He too is Unoriginate, for He is the Maker of 
Time, and is not subject to Time. The Holy Ghost is truly Spirit, coming forth 
from the Father indeed, but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by 
Generation but by Procession (since I must coin a word for the sake of 
clearness(g)); for neither did the Father cease to be 
Unbegotten because of His begetting something, nor the Son to be begotten 
because He is of the Unbegotten (how could that be?), nor is the Spirit 
changed into Father or Son because He proceeds, or because He is God--though 
the ungodly do not believe it. For Personality is unchangeable; else how could 
Personality remain, if it were changeable, and could be removed from one to 
another? But they who make "Unbegotten" and "Begotten" natures of equivocal 
gods would perhaps make Adam and Seth differ in nature, since the former was 
not born of flesh (for he was created), but the latter was born of Adam and 
Eve. There is then One God in Three, and These Three are One, as we have said. 

  XIII. Since then these things are so, or rather since This is so; and His 
Adoration ought not to be rendered only by Beings above, but there ought to be 
also worshippers on earth, that all things may be filled with the glory of God 
(forasmuch as they are filled with God Himself); therefore man was created and 
honored with the hand(a) and Image of God. But to despise man, 
when by the envy of the Devil and the bitter taste of sin he was pitiably 
severed from God his Maker--this was not in the Nature of God. What then was 
done, and what is the great Mystery that concerns us? An innovation is made 
upon nature, and God is made Man. "He that rideth upon the Heaven of Heavens 
in the East"(b) of His own glory and Majesty, is glorified in 
the West of our meanness and lowliness. And the Son of God deigns to become 
and to be called Son of Man; not changing what He was (for It is 
unchangeable); but assuming what He was not (for He is full of love to man), 
that the Incomprehensible(g) might be comprehended, conversing 
with us through the mediation of the Flesh as through a veil; since it was not 
possible for that nature which is subject to birth and decay to endure His 
unveiled Godhead. Therefore the Unmingled is mingled; and not only is God 
mingled with birth and Spirit(d) with flesh, and the Eternal 
with time, and the Uncircumscribed with measure; 



357 



but also Generation with Virginity, and dishonour with Him who is higher than 
all honour; He who is impassible with Suffering,(a) and the 
Immortal with the corruptible. For since that Deceiver thought that he was 
unconquerable in his malice, after he had cheated us with the hope of becoming 
gods, he was himself cheated by God's assumption of our nature; so that in 
attacking Adam as he thought, he should really meet with God, and thus the new 
Adam should save the old, and the condemnation of the flesh should be 
abolished, death being slain by flesh. 

  XIV. At His birth we duly kept Festival, both I, the leader of the Feast, 
and you, and all that is in the world and above the world. With the Star we 
ran, and with the Magi we worshipped, and with the Shepherds we were 
illuminated, and with the Angels we glorified Him, and with Simeon we took Him 
up in our arms, and with Anna the aged and chaste we made our responsive 
confession. And thanks be to Him who came to His own in the guise of a 
stranger, because He glorified the stranger.(b) Now, we come to 
another action of Christ, and another mystery. I cannot restrain my pleasure; 
I am rapt into God. Almost like John I proclaim good tidings; for though I be 
not a Forerunner, yet am I from the desert.(g) Christ is 
illumined, let us shine forth with Him. Christ is baptized, let us descend 
with Him that we may also ascend with Him. Jesus is baptized; but we must 
attentively consider not only this but also some other points. Who is He, and 
by whom is He baptized, and at what time? He is the All-pure; and He is 
baptized by John; and the time is the beginning of His miracles. What are we 
to learn and to be taught by this? To purify ourselves first; to be lowly 
minded; and to preach only in maturity both of spiritual and bodily stature. 
The first(d) has a word especially for those who rush to 
Baptism off hand, and without due preparation, or providing for the stability 
of the Baptismal Grace by the disposition of their minds to good. For since 
Grace contains remission of the past (for it is a grace), it is on that 
account more worthy of reverence, that we return not to the same vomit again. 
The second speaks to those who rebel against the Stewards of this Mystery, if 
they are their superiors in rank. The third is for those who are confident in 
their youth, and think that any time is the right one to teach or to preside. 
Jesus is purified, and dost thou despise purification? ... and by John, and 
dost thou rise up against thy herald? ... and at thirty years of age, and dost 
thou before thy beard has grown presume to teach the aged, or believe that 
thou teachest them, though thou be not reverend on account of thine age, or 
even perhaps for thy character? But here it may be said, Daniel, and this or 
that other, were judges in their youth, and examples are on your tongues; for 
every wrongdoer is prepared to defend himself. But I reply that that which is 
rare is not the law of the Church. For one swallow does not make a summer, nor 
one line a geometrician, nor one voyage a sailor. 

   XV. But John baptizes, Jesus comes to Him(a) ... perhaps to 
sanctify the Baptist himself, but certainly to bury the whole of the old Adam 
in the water; and before this and for the sake of this, to sanctify Jordan; 
for as He is Spirit and Flesh, so He consecrates us by Spirit and 
water.(b) John will not receive Him; Jesus contends. "I have 
need to be baptized of Thee"(g) says the Voice to the Word, the 
Friend to the Bridegroom;(d) he that is above all among them 
that are born of women,(e) to Him Who is the Firstborn of every 
creature;(z) he that leaped in the womb,(h) to 
Him Who was adored in the womb; he who was and is to be the 
Forerunner(q) to Him Who was and is to be manifested. "I have 
need to be baptized of Thee;" add to this "and for Thee;" for he knew that he 
would be baptized by Martyrdom, or, like Peter, that he would be cleansed not 
only as to his feet.(i) "And comest Thou to me?" This also was 
prophetic; for he knew that after Herod would come the madness of Pilate, and 
so that when he had gone before Christ would follow him. But what saith Jesus? 
"Suffer it to be so now," for this is the time of His Incarnation; for He knew 
that yet a little while and He should baptize the Baptist. And what is the 
"Fan?" The Purification. And what is the "Fire?" The consuming of the chaff, 
and the heat 



358 



of the Spirit. And what the "Axe?" The excision of the soul which is incurable 
even after the dung.(a) And what the Sword? The cutting of the 
Word, which separates the worse from the better,(b) and makes a 
division between the faithful and the unbeliever;(g) and stirs 
up the son and the daughter and the bride against the father and the mother 
and the mother in law,(d) the young and fresh against the old 
and shadowy. And what is the Latchet of the shoe, which thou John who 
baptizest Jesus mayest not loose?(e) thou who art of the 
desert, and hast no food, the new Elias,(z) the more than 
Prophet, inasmuch as thou sawest Him of Whom thou didst prophesy, thou 
Mediator of the Old and New Testaments. What is this? Perhaps the Message of 
the Advent, and the Incarnation, of which not the least point may be loosed, I 
say not by those(h) who are yet carnal and babes in Christ, but 
not even by those who are like John in spirit. 

  XVI. But further--Jesus goeth up out of the water ... for with Himself He 
car ties up the world ... and sees the heaven opened which Adam had shut 
against himself and all his posterity,(q) as the gates of 
Paradise by the flaming sword. And the Spirit bears witness to His Godhead, 
for he descends upon One that is like Him, as does the Voice from Heaven (for 
He to Whom the witness is borne came from thence), and like a Dove, for He 
honours the Body (for this also was God, through its union with God) by being 
seen in a bodily form; and moreover, the Dove has from distant ages been wont 
to proclaim the end of the Deluge.(i) But if you are to judge 
of Godhead by bulk and weight, and the Spirit seems to you a small thing 
because He came in the form of a Dove, O man of contemptible littleness of 
thought concerning the greatest of things, you must also to be consistent 
despise the Kingdom of Heaven, because it is compared to a grain of mustard 
seed;(k) and you must exalt the adversary above the Majesty of 
Jesus, because he is called a great Mountain,(l) and 
Leviathan(m) and King of that which lives in the water, whereas 
Christ is called the Lamb,(n) and the Pearl,(x) 
and the Drop(o) and similar names. 

  XVII. Now, since our Festival is of Baptism, and we must endure a little 
hardness with Him Who for our sake took form, and was baptized, and was 
crucified; let us speak about the different kinds of Baptism, that we may come 
out thence purified. Moses baptized(a) but it was in water, and 
before that in the cloud and in the sea.(b) This was typical as 
Paul saith; the Sea of the water, and the Cloud of the Spirit; the Manna, of 
the Bread of Life; the Drink, of the Divine Drink. John also baptized; but 
this was not like the baptism of the Jews, for it was not only in water, but 
also "unto repentance." Still it was not wholly spiritual, for he does not add 
"And in the Spirit." Jesus also baptized, but in the Spirit. This is the 
perfect Baptism. And how is He not God, if I may digress a little, by whom you 
too are made God? I know also a Fourth Baptism--that by Martyrdom and blood, 
which also Christ himself underwent:--and this one is far more august than all 
the others, inasmuch as it cannot be defiled by after-stains. Yes, and I know 
of a Fifth also, which is that of tears, and is much more laborious, received 
by him who washes his bed every night and his couch with 
tears;(g) whose bruises stink through his 
wickedness;(d) and who goeth mourning and of a sad countenance; 
who imitates the repentance of Manasseh(e) and the humiliation 
of the Ninerites(z) upon which God had mercy; who utters the 
words of the Publican in the Temple, and is justified rather than the 
stiff-necked Pharisee;(h) who like the Canaanite woman bends 
down and asks for mercy and crumbs, the food of a dog that is very 
hungry.(q) 

  XVIII. I, however, for I confess myself to be a man,--that is to say, an 
animal shifty and of a changeable nature,--both eagerly receive this Baptism, 
and worship Him Who has given it me, and impart it to others; and by shewing 
mercy make provision for mercy. For I know that I too am compassed with 
infirmity,(i) and that with what measure I mete it shall be 
measured to me again.(k) But what sayest thou, O new Pharisee 
pure(l) in title but not in intention, who dischargest upon us 
the sentiments of Novatus,(m) though thou sharest the 



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same infirmities? Wilt thou not give any place to weeping? Wilt thou shed no 
tear? Mayest thou not meet with a Judge like thyself? Art thou not ashamed by 
the mercy of Jesus, Who took our infirmities and bare our 
sicknesses;(a) Who came not to call the righteous but sinners 
to repentance;(b) Who will have mercy rather than sacrifice; 
who forgiveth sins till seventy times seven.(g) How blessed 
would your exaltation be if it really were purity, not pride, making laws 
above the reach of men, and destroying improvement by despair. For both are 
alike evil, indulgence not regulated by prudence, and condemnation that will 
never forgive; the one because it relaxes all reins, the other because it 
strangles by its severity. Shew me your purity, and I will approve your 
boldness. But as it is, I fear that being full of sores you will render them 
incurable. Will you not admit even David's repentance, to whom his penitence 
preserved even the gift of prophecy? nor the great Peter himself, who fell 
into human weakness at the Passion of our Saviour? Yet Jesus received him, and 
by the threefold question and confession healed the threefold 
denial.(d) Or will you even refuse to admit that he was made 
perfect by blood (for your folly goes even as far as that)? Or the 
transgressor at Corinth? But Paul confirmed love towards him when he saw his 
amendment, and gives the reason, "that such an one be not swallowed up by 
overmuch sorrow,"(e) being overwhelmed by the excess of the 
punishment.(z) And will you refuse to grant liberty of marriage 
to young widows on account of the liability of their age to fall? Paul 
ventured to do so; but of course you can teach him; for you have been caught 
up to the Fourth heaven, and to another Paradise, and have heard words more 
unspeakable, and comprehend a larger circle in your Gospel. 

  XIX. But these sins were not after Baptism, you will say. Where is your 
proof? Either prove it--or refrain from condemning; and if there be any doubt, 
let charity prevail. But Novatus, you say, would not receive those who lapsed 
in the persecution. What do you mean by this? If they were unrepentant he was 
right; I too would refuse to receive those who either would not stoop at all 
or not sufficiently, and who would refuse to make their amendment 
counterbalance their sin; and when I do receive them, I will assign them their 
proper place;(a) but if he refused those who wore themselves 
away with weeping, I will not imitate him. And why should Novatus's want of 
charity be a rule for me? He never punished covetousness, which is a second 
idolatry; but he condemned fornication as though he himself were not flesh and 
body. What say you? Are we convincing you by these words? Come and stand here 
on our side, that is, on the side of humanity. Let us magnify the Lord 
together. Let none of you, even though he has much confidence in himself, dare 
to say, Touch me not for I am pure, and who is so pure as I? Give us too a 
share in your brightness. But perhaps we are not convincing you? Then we will 
weep for you. Let these men then if they will, follow our way, which is 
Christ's way; but if they will not, let them go their own. Perhaps in it they 
will be baptized with Fire, in that last Baptism which is more painful and 
longer, which devours wood like grass,(b) and consumes the 
stubble of every evil. 

  XX. But let us venerate today the Baptism of Christ; and let us keep the 
feast well, not in pampering the belly, but rejoicing in spirit. And how shall 
we luxuriate? "Wash you, make you clean."(g) If ye be scarlet 
with sin and less bloody, be made white as snow; if ye be red, and men bathed 
in blood, yet be ye brought to the whiteness of wool. Anyhow be purified, and 
you shall be clean (for God rejoices in nothing so much as in the amendment 
and salvation of man, on whose behalf is every discourse and every Sacrament), 
that you may be like lights in the world, a quickening force to all other men; 
that you may stand as perfect lights beside That great Light, and may learn 
the mystery of the illumination of Heaven, enlightened by the Trinity more 
purely and clearly, of Which even now you are receiving in a measure the One 
Ray from the One Godhead in Christ Jesus our Lord; to Whom be the glory and 
the might for ever and ever. Amen. 

ORATION XL. -- THE ORATION ON HOLY BAPTISM. 



Preached at Constantinople Jan. 6, 381, being the day following the delivery 
of that on the Holy Lights. 

  I. YESTERDAY we kept high Festival on the illustrious Day of the Holy 
Lights; for it was fitting that rejoicings should be kept for our Salvation, 
and that far more than for weddings and birthdays, and namedays, and 
house-warmings, and registrations of children, and anniversaries, and all the 
other festivities that men observe for their earthly friends. And now to-day 
let us discourse briefly con-concerning Baptism, and the benefits which accrue 
to us therefrom, even though our discourse yesterday spoke of it cursorily; 
partly because the time pressed us hard, and partly because the sermon had to 
avoid tediousness. For too great length in a sermon is as much an enemy to 
people's ears, as too much food is to their bodies.It will be worth your while 
to apply your minds to what we say, and to receive our discourse on so 
important a subject not perfunctorily, but with ready mind, since to know the 
power of this Sacrament is itself Enlightenment.(a) 

  II. The Word recognizes three Births for us; namely, the natural birth, that 
of Baptism, and that of the Resurrection. Of these the first is by night, and 
is servile, and involves passion; but the second is by day, and is destructive 
of passion, cutting off all the veil(b) that is derived from 
birth, and leading on to the higher life; and the third is more terrible and 
shorter, bringing together in a moment all mankind,(g) to stand 
before its Creator, and to give an account of its service and conversation 
here; whether it has followed the flesh, or whether it has mounted up with the 
spirit, and worshipped the grace of its new creation  My Lord Jesus Christ has 
showed that He honoured all these births in His own Person; the first, by that 
first and quickening Inbreathing;(d) the second by His 
Incarnation and the Baptism wherewith He Himself was baptized; and the third 
by the Resurrection of which He was the Firstfruits; condescending, as He 
became the Firstborn(a) among many brethren, so also to become 
the Firstborn from the dead.(b) 

  III. Concerning two of these births, the first and the last, we have not to 
speak on the present occasion. Let us discourse upon the second, which is now 
necessary for us, and which gives its name to the Feast of the Lights. 
Illumination is the splendour of souls, the conversion of the life, the 
question put to the Godward conscience.(g) It is the aid to our 
weakness, the renunciation of the flesh, the following of the Spirit, the 
fellowship of the Word, the improvement of the creature, the overwhelming of 
sin, the participation of light, the dissolution of darkness. It is the 
carriage to God, the dying with Christ, the perfecting of the mind, the 
bulwark of Faith, the key of the Kingdom of heaven, the change of life, the 
removal of slavery, the loosing of chains, the remodelling of the whole man. 
Why should I go into further detail? Illumination is the greatest and most 
magnificent of the Gifts of God. For just as we speak of the Holy of Holies, 
and the Song of Songs, as more comprehensive and more excellent than others, 
so is this called Illumination, as being more holy than any other illumination 
which we possess. 

  IV. And as Christ the Giver of it is called by many various names, so too is 
this Gift, whether it is from the exceeding gladness of its nature (as those 
who are very fond of a thing take pleasure in using its name), or that the 
great variety of its benefits has reacted for us upon its names. We call it, 
the Gift, the Grace, Baptism, Unction, Illumination, the Clothing of 
Immortality, the Laver of Regeneration, the Seal, and everything that is 
honourable. We call it the Gift, because it is given to us in return for 
nothing on our part; Grace, because it is conferred even on debtors; Baptism, 
because sin is buried with it in the water; Unction, as Priestly and Royal, 
for such were they who were anointed; Illumination, because of its splendour; 
Clothing, because it hides our shame; the Laver, because it washes us; the 
Seal because it preserves us, and is moreover the indication of Dominion. In 
it the heavens rejoice; it is glorified by Angels, because of its kindred 
splendour. It is the image of the heavenly bliss. We long 



361 



indeed to sing out its praises, but we cannot worthily do so. 

  V. God is Light:(a) the highest, the unapproachable, the 
ineffable, That can neither be conceived in the mind nor uttered with the 
lips,(b) That giveth life to every reasoning 
creature.(g) He is in the world of thought, what the sun is in 
the world of sense; presenting Himself to our minds in proportion as we are 
cleansed; and loved in proportion as He is presented to our mind; and again, 
conceived in proportion as we love Him; Himself contemplating and 
comprehending Himself, and pouring Himself out upon what is external to Him. 
That Light, I mean, which is contemplated in the Father and the Son and the 
Holy Ghost, Whose riches is Their unity of nature, and the one outleaping of 
Their brightness. A second Light is the Angel, a kind of outflow or 
communication of that first Light, drawing its illumination from its 
inclination and obedience thereto; anti I know not whether its illumination is 
distributed according to the order of its state, or whether its order is due 
to the respective measures of its illumination.(d) A third 
Light is man; a light which is visible to external objects. For they call man 
light, because of the faculty of speech in us. And the name is applied again 
to those of us who are more like God, and who approach God more nearly than 
others. I also acknowledge another Light, by which the primeval darkness was 
driven away or pierced. It was the first of all the visible creation to be 
called into existence; and it irradiates the whole universe, the circling 
orbit of the stars, and all the heavenly beacon fires. 

  VI. Light was also the firstborn commandment given to the firstborn man (for 
the commandment of the Law is a lamp and a light;(e) and again, 
Because Thy judgments are a light upon the earth);(z) although 
the envious darkness crept in and wrought wickedness. And a Light typical and 
proportionate to those who were its subjects was the written law, adumbrating 
the truth and the sacrament of the great Light, for Moses' face was made 
glorious by it.(h) And, to mention more Lights--it was Light 
that appeared out of Fire to Moses, when it burned the bush indeed, but did 
not consume it.(q) to shew its nature and to declare the power 
that was in it. And it was Light that was in the pillar of fire that led 
Israel and tamed the wilderness.(a) It was Light that carried 
up Elias in the car of fire,(b) and yet did not burn him as it 
carried him. It was Light that shone round the Shepherds(g) 
when the Eternal Light was mingled with the temporal. It was Light that was 
the beauty of the Star that went before to Bethlehem to guide the Wise Men's 
way,(d) and to be the escort of the Light That is above us, 
when He came amongst us. Light was That Godhead Which was shewn upon the Mount 
to the disciples--and a little too strong for their eyes.(e) 
Light was That Vision which blazed out upon Paul,(z) and by 
wounding his eyes healed the darkness of his soul. Light is also the 
brilliancy of heaven to those who have been purified here, when the righteous 
shall shine forth as the Sun,(h) and God shall stand in the 
midst of them,(q) gods and kings, deciding and distinguishing 
the ranks of the Blessedness of heaven. Light beside these in a special sense 
is the illumination of Baptism of which we are now speaking; for it contains a 
great and marvellous sacrament of our salvation. 

  VII. For since to be utterly sinless belongs to God, and to the first and 
uncompounded nature (for simplicity is peaceful, and not subject to 
dissension), and I venture to say also that it belongs to the Angelic nature 
too; or at least, I would affirm that nature to be very nearly sinless, 
because of its nearness to God; but to sin is human and belongs to the 
Compound on earth (for composition is the beginning of separation); therefore 
the master did not think it right to leave His creature unaided, or to neglect 
its danger of separation from Himself; but on the contrary, just as He gave 
existence to that which did not exist, so He gave new creation to that which 
did exist, a diviner creation and a loftier than the first, which is to those 
who are beginning life a Seal, and to those who are more mature in age both a 
gift and a restoration of the image which had fallen through sin, that we may 
not, by becoming worse through despair, and ever being borne downward to that 
which is more evil, fall altogether from good and from virtue, through 
despondency; and having fallen into a depth of evil (as it is said) despise 
Him;(i) but that like those who in the course of a long journey 
make a brief rest from labour at an inn, we should be enabled to accomplish 
the rest of the road fresh and full of courage. Such is the grace and power of 
baptism; not an overwhelming of the world as of old, but a 



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purification of the sins of each individual, and a complete cleansing from all 
the bruises and stains of sin. 

  VIII. And since we are double-made, I mean of body and soul, and the one 
part is visible, the other invisible, so the cleansing also is twofold, by 
water and the spirit; the one received visibly in the body, the other 
concurring with it invisibly and apart from the body; the one typical, the 
other real and cleansing the depths. And this which comes to the aid of our 
first birth, makes us new instead of old, and like God instead of what we now 
are; recasting us without fire, and creating us anew without breaking us up, 
For, to say it all in one word, the virtue of Baptism is to be understood as a 
covenant with God for a second life and a purer conversation. And indeed all 
need to fear this very much, and to watch our own souls, each one of us, with 
all care, that we do not become liars in respect of this profession. For if 
God is called upon as a Mediator to ratify human professions, how great is the 
danger if we be found transgressors of the covenant which we have made with 
God Himself; and if we be found guilty before the Truth Himself of that lie, 
besides our other transgressions ... and that when there is no second 
regeneration, or recreation, or restoration to our former state, even though 
we seek it with all our might, and with many sighs and tears, by which it is 
cicatrized over (with great difficulty in my opinion, though we all believe 
that it may be cicatrized). Yet if we might wipe away even the scars I should 
be glad, since I too have need of mercy. But it is better not to stand in need 
of a second cleansing, but to stop at the first, which is, I know, common to 
all, and involves no labour, and is of equal price to slaves, to masters, to 
poor, to rich, to humble, to exalted, to gentle, to simple, to debtors, to 
those who are free from debt; like the breathing of the air, and the pouring 
forth of the light, and the changes of the seasons, and the sight of creation, 
that great delight which we all share alike, and the equal distribution of the 
faith. 

  IX. For it is a strange thing to substitute for a painless remedy one which 
is more painful; to cast away the grace of mercy, and owe a debt of 
punishment; and to measure our amendment against sin. For how many tears must 
we contribute before they can equal the fount of baptism; and who will be 
surety for us that death shall wait for our cure, and that the judgment seat 
shall not summon us while still debtors, and needing the fire of the other 
world? You perhaps, as a good and pitiful husbandman, will entreat the Master 
still to spare the figtree,(a) and not yet to cut it down, 
though accused of unfruitfulness; but to allow you to put dung about it in the 
shape of tears, sighs, invocations, sleepings on the ground, vigils, 
mortifications of soul and body, and correction by confession and a life of 
humiliation. But it is uncertain if the Master will spare it, inasmuch as it 
cumbers the ground of another asking for mercy, and becoming deteriorated by 
the longsuffering shewn to this one. Let us then be buried with Christ by 
Baptism? that we may also rise with Him; let us descend with Him, that we may 
also be exalted with Him; let us ascend with Him, that we may also be 
glorified together. 

  X. If after baptism the persecutor and tempter of the light assail you (for 
he assailed even the Word my God through the veil,(b) the 
hidden Light through that which was manifested), you have the means to conquer 
him. Fear not the conflict; defend yourself with the Water; defend yourself 
with the Spirit, by Which all the fiery darts of the wicked shall be 
quenched.(d) It is Spirit, but That Spirit which rent the 
Mountains.(e) It is Water, but that which quenches fire. If he 
assail you by your want (as he dared to assail Christ), and asks that stones 
should be made bread, do not be ignorant of his devices.(z) 
Teach him what he has not learnt. Defend yourself with the Word of life, Who 
is the Bread sent down from heaven, and giving life to the 
world.(h) If he plot against you with vain glory (as he did 
against Christ when he led Him up to the pinnacle of the temple and said to 
Him, Cast Thyself down(q) as a proof of Thy Godhead), be not 
overborne by elation. If you be taken by this he will not stop here. For he is 
insatiable, he grasps at every thing. He fawns upon you with fair pretences, 
but he ends in evil; this is the manner of his fighting. Yes, and the robber 
is skilled in Scripture. On the one side was that It is written about the 
Bread, and on the other that it Is written about the Angels. It is written, 
quoth he, He shall give His Angels charge concerning thee, and they shall bear 
thee in their hands.(i) O vile sophist! how was it that thou 
didst suppress the words that follow, for I know it well, even if thou passest 
it by in silence? I will make thee to go upon the asp and basilisk, and I will 
tread upon serpents and scorpions, being fenced by the Trinity. 



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If he wrestle against thee to a fall through avarice, shewing thee all the 
Kingdoms at one instant and in the twinkling of an eye, as belonging to 
himself, and demand thy worship, despise him as a beggar. Say to him relying 
on the Seal, "I am myself the Image of God; I have not yet been east down from 
the heavenly Glory, as thou wast through thy pride; I have put on Christ; I 
have been transformed into Christ by Baptism; worship thou me." Well do I know 
that he will depart, defeated and put to shame by this; as he did from Christ 
the first Light, so he will from those who are illumined by Christ. Such 
blessings does the layer bestow on those who apprehend it; such is the rich 
feast which it provides for those who hunger aright. 

  XI. Let us then be baptized that we may win the victory; let us partake of 
the cleansing waters, more purifying than hyssop, purer than the legal blood, 
more sacred than the ashes of the heifer sprinkling the 
unclean,(a) and providing a temporary cleansing of the body, 
but not a complete taking away of sin; for if once purged, why should they 
need further purification? Let us be baptized today, that we suffer not 
violence(b) to-morrow; and let us not put off the blessing as 
if it were an injury, nor wait till we get more wicked that more may be 
forgiven us; and let us not become sellers and traffickers of Christ, lest we 
become more heavily burdened than we are able to bear, that we be not sunk 
with all hands(g) and make shipwreck of the Gift, and lose all 
because we expected too much. While thou art still master of thy thoughts run 
to the Gift. While thou art not yet sick in body or in mind, nor seemest so to 
those who are with thee (though thou art really of sound mind); while thy good 
is not yet in the power of others, but thou thyself art still master of it; 
while thy tongue is not stammering or parched, or (to say no more) deprived of 
the power of pronouncing the sacramental words; while thou canst still be made 
one of the faithful, not conjecturally but confessedly; and canst still 
receive not pity but congratulation; while the Gift is still clear to thee, 
and there is no doubt about it; while the grace can reach the depth of thy 
soul, and it is not merely thy body that is washed for burial; and before 
tears surround thee announcing thy decease--and even these restrained perhaps 
for thy sake--and thy wife and children would delay thy departure, and are 
listening for thy dying words; before the physician is powerless to help thee, 
and is giving thee but hours to live--hours which are not his to give--and is 
balancing thy salvation with the nod of his head, and discoursing learnedly on 
thy disease after thou art dead, or making his charges heavier by withdrawals, 
or hinting at despair; before there is a struggle between the man who would 
baptize thee and the man who seeks thy money, the one striving that thou 
mayest receive thy Viaticum, the other that he may be inscribed in thy Will as 
heir--and there is no time for both. 

  XII. Why wait for a fever to bring you this blessing, and refuse it from 
God? Why will you have it through lapse of time, and not through reason? Why 
will you owe it to a plotting friend, and not to a saving desire? Why will you 
receive it of force and not of free will; of necessity rather than of liberty? 
Why must you hear of your death from another, rather than think of it as even 
now present? Why do you seek for drugs which will do no good, or the sweat of 
the crisis, when the sweat of death is perhaps upon you? Heal yourself before 
your extremity; have pity upon yourself the only true healer of your disease; 
apply to yourself the really saving medicine; while you are still sailing with 
a favouring breeze fear shipwreck, and you will be in less danger of it, if 
you make use of your terror as a helper. Give yourself occasion to celebrate 
the Gift with feasting, not with mourning; let the talent be cultivated, not 
buried in the ground; let some time intervene between the grace and death, 
that not only may the account of sins be wiped out, but something better may 
be written in its place; that you may have not only the Gift, but also the 
Reward; that you may not only escape the fire, but may also inherit the glory, 
which is bestowed by cultivation of the Gift. For to men of little soul it is 
a great thing to escape torment; but men of great soul aim also at attaining 
reward. 

  XIII. I know of three classes among the saved; the slaves, the hired 
servants, the sons. 



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If you are a slave, be afraid of the whip; if you are a hired servant, look 
only to receive your hire; if you are more than this, a son, revere Him as a 
Father, and work that which is good, because it is good to obey a Father; and 
even though no reward should come of it for you, this is itself a reward, that 
you please your Father. Let us then take care not to despise these things. How 
absurd it would be to grasp at money and throw away health; and to be lavish 
of the cleansing of the body, but economical over the cleansing of the soul; 
and to seek for freedom from earthly slavery, but not to care about heavenly 
freedom; and to make every effort to be splendidly housed and dressed, but to 
have never a thought how you yourself may become really very precious; and to 
be zealous to do good to others, without any desire to do good to yourself. 
And if good could be bought, you would spare no money; but if mercy is freely 
at your feet, you despise it for its cheapness. Every time is suitable for 
your ablution, since any time may be your death. With Paul I shout to you with 
that loud voice, "Behold now is the accepted time; behold Now is the day of 
salvation;"(a) and that Now does not point to any one time, but 
is every present moment. And again "Awake, thou that sleepest, and Christ 
shall give thee light,"(b) dispelling the darkness of sin. For 
as Isaiah says,(g) In the night hope is evil, and it is more 
profitable to be received in the morning. 

  XIV. Sow in good season, and gather together, and open thy barns when it is 
the time to do so; and plant in season, and let the clusters be cut when they 
are ripe, and launch boldly in spring, and draw thy ship on shore again at the 
beginning of winter, when the sea begins to rage. And let there be to thee 
also a time for war and a time for peace; a time to marry, and a time to 
abstain from marrying; a time for friendship, and a time for discord, if this 
be needed; and in short a time for everything, if you will follow Solomon's 
advice.(d) And it is best to do so, for the advice is 
profitable. But the work of your salvation is one upon which you should be 
engaged at all times; and let every time be to you the definite one for 
Baptism. If you are always passing over to-day and waiting for to-morrow, by 
your little procrastinations you will be cheated without knowing it by the 
Evil One, as his manner is. Give to me, he says, the present, and to God the 
future; to me your youth, and to God old age; to me your pleasures, and to Him 
your uselessness. How great is the danger that surrounds you. How many the 
unexpected mischances. War has expended you; or an earthquake overwhelmed you; 
or the sea swallowed you up; or a wild beast carried you off; or a sickness 
killed you; or a crumb going the wrong way (a most insignificant thing, but 
what is easier than for a man to die, though you are so proud of the divine 
image); or a too freely indulged drinking bout;(a) or a wind 
knocked you down; or a horse ran away with you; or a drug maliciously scheming 
against you, or perhaps found to be deleterious when meant to be wholesome; or 
an inhuman judge; or an inexorable executioner; or any of the things which 
make the change swiftest and beyond the power of human aid. 

  XV. But if you would fortify yourself beforehand with the Seal, and secure 
yourself for the future with the best and strongest of all aids, being signed 
both in body and in soul with the unction, as Israel was of old with that 
blood and unction of the firstborn at night that guarded 
him,(b) what then can happen to you, and what has been wrought 
out for you? Listen to the Proverbs. "If thou sittest, he says, thou shalt be 
without fear; and if thou sleepest, thy sleep shall be 
sweet."(g) And listen to David giving thee the good news, "Thou 
shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, for mischance or noonday 
demon."(d) This, even while you live, will greatly contribute 
to your sense of safety (for a sheep that is sealed is not easily snared, but 
that which is unmarked is an easy prey to thieves), and at your death a 
fortunate shroud, more precious than gold, more magnificent than a sepulchre, 
more reverent than fruitless libations,(e) more seasonable than 
ripe firstfruits, which the dead bestow on the dead, making a law out of 
custom. Nay, if all things forsake thee,(z) or be taken 
violently away from thee; money, possessions, thrones, distinctions, and 
everything that belongs to this early turmoil, yet you will be able to lay 
down your life in safety, having suffered no loss of the helps which God gave 
you unto salvation. 

  XVI. But are you afraid lest you should destroy the Gift, and do you 
therefore put off your cleansing, because you cannot have it a second time? 
What? Would you not be afraid of danger in time of persecution, and of losing 



365 



the most precious Thing you have--Christ? Would you then on this account avoid 
becoming a Christian? Perish the thought. Such a fear is not for a sane man; 
such an argument argues insanity. O incautious caution, if I may so. O trick 
of the Evil One! Truly he is darkness and pretends to be light; and when he 
can no longer prevail in open war, he lays snares in secret, and gives advice, 
apparently good, really evil, if by some trick at least he may prevail, and we 
find no escape from his plotting. And this is clearly what he is aiming at in 
this instance. For, being unable to persuade you to despise Baptism, he 
inflicts loss upon you through a fictitious security; that in consequence of 
your fear you may suffer unconsciously the very thing you are afraid of; and 
because you fear to destroy the Gift, you may for this very reason fail of the 
Gift altogether. This is his character; and he will never cease his duplicity 
as long as he sees us pressing onwards towards heaven from which he has 
fallen. Wherefore, O man of God, do thou recognize the plots of thine 
adversary; for the battle is against him that hath, and it is concerned with 
the most important interests. Take not thine enemy to be thy counsellor; 
despise not to be and to be called Faithful. As long as you are a Catechumen 
you are but in the porch of Religion; you must come inside, and cross the 
court, and observe the Holy Things, and look into the Holy of Holies, and be 
in company with the Trinity. Great are the interests for which you are 
fighting, great too the stability which you need. Protect yourself with the 
shield of faith. He fears you, if you fight armed with this weapon, and 
therefore he would strip you of the Gift, that he may the more easily overcome 
you unarmed and defenceless. He assails every age, and every form of life; he 
must be repelled by all. 

  XVII. Art thou young? stand against thy passions; be numbered with the 
alliance in the army of God:(a) do valiantly against 
Goliath.(b) Take your thousands or your 
myriads;(g) thus enjoy your manhood; but do not allow your 
youth to be withered, being killed by the imperfection of your faith. Are you 
old and near the predestined necessity? Aid your few remaining days. Entrust 
the purification to your old age. Why do you fear youthful passion in deep old 
age and at your last breath? Or will you wait to be washed till you are dead, 
and not so much the object of pity as of dislike? Are you regretting the dregs 
of pleasure, being yourself in the dregs of life? It is a shameful thing to be 
past indeed the flower of your age, but not past your wickedness; but either 
to be involved in it still, or at least to seem so by delaying your 
purification. Have you an infant child? Do not let sin get any opportunity, 
but let him be sanctified from his childhood; from his very tenderest age let 
him be consecrated by the Spirit. Fearest thou the Seal on account of the 
weakness of nature? O what a small-souled mother, and of how little faith! 
Why, Anna even before Samuel was born(a) promised him to God, 
and after his birth consecrated him at once, and brought him up in the 
priestly habit, not fearing anything in human nature, but trusting in God. You 
have no need of amulets or incantations, with which the Devil also comes in, 
stealing worship from God for himself in the minds of vainer men. Give your 
child the Trinity, that great and noble Guard. 

  XVIII. What more? Are you living in Virginity? Be sealed by this 
purification; make this the sharer and companion of your life. Let this direct 
your life, your words, every member, every movement, every sense. Honour it, 
that it may honour you; that it may give to your head a crown of graces, and 
with a crown of delights may shield you.(b) Art thou bound by 
wedlock? Be bound also by the Seal; make it dwell with you as a guardian of 
your continence, safer than any number of eunuchs or of doorkeepers. Art thou 
not yet wedded to flesh? Fear not this consecration; thou art pure even after 
marriage. I will take the risk of that. I will join you in wedlock. I will 
dress the bride. We do not dishonour marriage because we give a higher honour 
to virginity. I will imitate Christ, the pure Grooms-man and Bridegroom, as He 
both wrought a miracle at a wedding, and honours wedlock with His 
Presence.(g) Only let marriage be pure and unmingled with 
filthy lusts. This only I ask; receive safety from the Gift, and give to the 
Gift the oblation of chastity in its due season, when the fixed time of prayer 
comes round, and that which is more precious than business. And do this by 
common consent and approval. For we do not command, we exhort; and we would 
receive something of you for your own profit, and the common security of you 
both. And in one word, 



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there is no state of life and no occupation to which Baptism is not 
profitable. You who are a free man,(a) be curbed by it; you who 
are in slavery, be made of equal rank; you who are in grief, receive comfort; 
let the gladsome be disciplined; the poor receive riches that cannot be taken 
away; the rich be made capable of being good stewards of their possessions. Do 
not play tricks or lay plots against your own salvation. For even if we can 
delude others we cannot delude ourselves. And so to play against oneself is 
very dangerous and foolish. 

  XIX. But you have to live in the midst of public affairs, and are stained by 
them; and it would be a terrible thing to waste this mercy. The answer is 
simple. Flee, if you can, even from the forum, along with the good company, 
making yourself the wings of an eagle, or, to speak more suitably, of a dove 
... for what have you to do with Caesar or the things of Caesar? ... until you 
can rest where there is no sin, and no blackening, and no biting snake in the 
way to hinder your godly steps. Snatch your soul away from the world; flee 
from Sodom; flee from the burning; travel on without turning back, lest you 
should be fixed as a pillar of salt.(b) Escape to the Mountain 
lest you be destroyed with the plain. But if you are already bound and 
constrained by the chain of necessity, reason thus with yourself; or rather 
let me reason thus with you. It is better both to attain the good and to keep 
the purification. But if it be impossible to do both it is surely better to be 
a little stained with your public affairs than to fall altogether short of 
grace; just as I think it better to undergo a slight punishment from father or 
master than to be put out of doors; and to be a little beamed upon than to be 
left in total darkness. And it is the part of wise men to choose, as in good 
things the greater and more perfect, so in evils the lesser and lighter. 
Wherefore do not overmuch dread the purification. For our success is always 
judged by comparison with our place in life by our just and merciful Judge; 
and often one who is in public life and has had small success has had a 
greater reward than one who in the enjoyment of liberty has not completely 
succeeded; as I think it more marvellous for a man to advance a little in 
fetters, than for one to run who is not carrying any weight; or to be only a 
little spattered in walking through mud, than to be perfectly clean when the 
road is clean. To give you a proof of what I have said:-- Rahab the harlot was 
justified by one thing alone, her hospitality,(a) though she 
receives no praise for the rest of her conduct; and the Publican was exalted 
by one thing, his humility,(b) though he received no testimony 
for anything else; so that you may learn not easily to despair concerning 
yourself. 

  XX. But some will say, What shall I gain, if, when I am preoccupied by 
baptism, and have cut off myself by my haste from the pleasures of life, when 
it was in my power to give the reins to pleasure, and then to obtain grace? 
For the labourers in the vineyard who had worked the longest time gained 
nothing thereby, for equal wages were given to the very 
last.(g) You have delivered me from some trouble, whoever you 
are who say this, because you have at last with much difficulty told the 
secret of your delay; and though I cannot applaud your shiftiness, I do 
applaud your confession. But come hither and listen to the interpretation of 
the parable, that you may not be injured by Scripture for want of information. 
First of all, there is no question here of baptism, but of those who believe 
at different times and enter the good vineyard of the Church. For from the day 
and hour at which each believed, from that day and hour he is required to 
work. And then, although they who entered first contributed more to the 
measure of the labour yet they did not contribute more to the measure of the 
purpose; nay perhaps even more was due to the last in respect of this, though 
the statement may seem paradoxical. For the cause of their later entrance was 
their later call to the work of the vineyard. In all other respects let us see 
how different they are. The first did not believe or enter till they had 
agreed on their hire; but the others came forward to do the work without an 
agreement, which is a proof of greater faith. And the first were found to be 
of an envious and murmuring nature, but no such charge is brought against the 
others. And to the first, that which was given was wages, though they were 
worthless fellows; to the last it was the free gift. So that the first were 
convicted of folly, and with reason deprived of the greater reward. Let us see 
what would have happened to them if they had been late. Why, the equal pay, 
evidently. How then can they blame the employer as unjust because of their 
equality? For all these things take away the merit of their labour froth the 
first, although they were at work first; and therefore it turns out that the 
distribution of 



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equal pay was just, if you measure the good will against the labour. 

  XXI. But supposing that the Parable does sketch the power of the font 
according to your interpretation, what would prevent you, if you entered 
first, and bore the heat, from avoiding envy of the last, that by this very 
lovingkindness you might obtain more, and receive the reward, not as of grace 
but as of debt? And next, the workmen who receive the wages are those who have 
entered, not those who have missed, the vineyard; which last is like to be 
your case. So that if it were certain that you would obtain the Gift, though 
you are of such a mind, and maliciously keep back some of the labour, you 
might be forgiven for taking refuge in such arguments, and desiring to make 
unlawful gain out of the kindness of the master; though I might assure you 
that the very fact of being able to labour is a greater reward to any who is 
not altogether of a huckstering mind. But since there is a risk of your being 
altogether shut out of the vineyard through your bargaining, and losing the 
capital through stopping to pick up little gains, do let yourselves be 
persuaded by my words to forsake the false interpretations and contradictions, 
and to come forward without arguing to receive the Gift, lest you should be 
snatched away before you realize your hopes, and should find out that it was 
to your own loss that you devised these sophistries. 

  XXII. But then, you say, is not God merciful, and since He knows our 
thoughts and searches out our desires, will He not take the desire of Baptism 
instead of Baptism? You are speaking in riddles, if what you mean is that 
because of God's mercy the unenlightened is enlightened in His sight; and he 
is within the kingdom of heaven who merely desires to attain to it, but 
refrains from doing that which pertains to the kingdom. I will, however, speak 
out boldly my opinion on these matters; and I think that all other sensible 
men will range themselves on my side. Of those who have received the gift, 
some were altogether alien from God and from salvation, both addicted to all 
manner of sin, and desirous to be bad; others were semivicious, and in a kind 
of mean state between good and bad; others again, while they did that which 
was evil, yet did not approve their own action, just as men in a fever are not 
pleased with their own sickness. And others even before they were illuminated 
were worthy of praise; partly by nature, and partly by the care with which 
they prepared themselves for Baptism. These after their initiation became 
evidently better, and less liable to fall; in the one case with a view to 
procuring good, and in the other in order to preserve it. And amongst these, 
those who gave in to same evil are better than those who were altogether bad; 
and better still than those who yielded a little, are those who were more 
zealous, and broke up their fallow ground before Baptism; they have the 
advantage over the others of having already laboured; for the font does not do 
away with good deeds as it does with sins. But better even than these are they 
who are also cultivating the Gift, and are polishing themselves to the utmost 
possible beauty. 

  XXIII. And so also in those who fail to receive the Gift, some are 
altogether animal or bestial, according as they are either foolish or wicked; 
and this, I think, has to be added to their other sins, that they have no 
reverence at all for this Gift, but look upon it as a mere gift--to be 
acquiesced in if given them, and if not given them, then to be neglected. 
Others know and honour the Gift, but put it off; some through laziness, some 
through greediness. Others are not in a position to receive it, perhaps on 
account of infancy,(a) or some perfectly involuntary 
circumstance through which they are prevented from receiving it, even if they 
wish. As then in the former case we found much difference, so too in this. 
They who altogether despise it are worse than they who neglect it through 
greed or carelessness. These are worse than they who have lost the Gift 
through ignorance or tyranny, for tyranny is nothing but an involuntary 
error.(b) And I think that the first will have to suffer 
punishment, as for all their sins, so for their contempt of baptism; and that 
the second will also have to suffer, but less, because it was not so much 
through wickedness as through folly that they wrought their failure; and that 
the third will be neither glorified nor punished by the righteous Judge, as 
unsealed and yet not wicked, but persons who have suffered rather than done 
wrong. For not every one who is not bad enough to be punished is good enough 
to be honoured; just as not every one who is not good enough to be honoured is 
bad enough to be punished. And I look upon it as well from another point of 
view. If you judge the murderously disposed man by his will alone, apart from 
the 



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act of murder, then you may reckon as baptized him who desired baptism apart 
from the reception of baptism. But if you cannot do the one how can you do the 
other? I cannot see it. Or, if you like, we will put it thus If desire in your 
opinion has equal power with actual baptism, then judge in the same way in 
regard to glory, and you may be content with longing for it, as if that were 
itself glory. And what harm is done you by your not attaining the actual 
glory, as long as you have the desire for it? 

  XXIV. Therefore since you have heard these words, come forward to it, and be 
enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed(a) through 
missing the Grace. Receive then the Enlightenment in due season, that darkness 
pursue you not, and catch you, and sever you from the Illumining. The night 
cometh when no man can work(b) after our departure hence. The 
one is the voice of David, the other of the True Light which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world.(g) And consider how Solomon 
reproves you who are too idle or lethargic, saying, How long wilt thou sleep, 
O sluggard,(d) and when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? You 
rely upon this or that, and "pretend pretences in sins;"(e) I 
am waiting for Epiphany; I prefer Easter; I will wait for 
Pentecost.(z) It is better to be baptized with Christ, to rise 
with Christ on the Day of His Resurrection,(h) to honour the 
Manifestation of the Spirit. And what then? The end will come suddenly in a 
day for which thou lookest not, and in an hour that thou art not aware of; and 
then you will have for a companion lack of grace; and you will be famished in 
the midst of all those riches of goodness, though you ought to reap the 
opposite fruit from the opposite course, a harvest by diligence, and 
refreshment from the font, like the thirsty hart(q) that runs 
in haste to the spring, and quenches the labour of his race by water; and not 
to be in Ishmael's case, dried up for want of water,(a) or as 
the fable has it, punished by thirst in the midst of a 
spring.(b) It is a sad thing to let the market day go by and 
then to seek for work. It is a sad thing to let the Manna pass and then to 
long for food. It is a sad thing to take a counsel too late, and to become 
sensible of the loss only when it is impossible to repair it; that is, after 
our departure hence, and the bitter closing of the acts of each man's life, 
and the punishment of sinners, and the glory of the purified. Therefore do not 
delay in coming to grace, but hasten, lest the robber outstrip you, lest the 
adulterer pass you by, lest the insatiate be satisfied before you, lest the 
murderer seize the blessing first, or the publican or the fornicator, or any 
of these violent ones who take the Kingdom of heaven by 
force.(g) For it suffers violence willingly, and is tyrannized 
over through goodness. 

  XXV. Take my advice, my friend, and be slow to do evil, but swift to your 
salvation; for readiness to evil and tardiness to good are equally bad. If you 
are invited to a revel, be not swift to go; if to apostasy, leap away; if a 
company of evildoers say to you, "Come with us, share our bloodguiltiness, let 
us hide in the earth a righteous man unjustly,"(d) do not lend 
them even your ears. Thus you will make two very great gains; you will make 
known to the other his sin, and you will deliver yourself from evil company. 
But if David the Great say unto you, Come and let us rejoice in the 
Lord;(e) or another Prophet, Come and let us ascend into the 
Mountain of the Lord;(z) or our Saviour Himself, Come unto me 
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest;(h) or, Arise, let us go hence, shining brightly, 
glittering above snow, whiter than milk,(q) shining above the 
sapphire stone; let us not resist or delay. Let us be like Peter and John, and 
let us hasten;(k) as they did to the Sepulchre and the 
Resurrection, so we to the Font; running together, racing against each other, 
striving to be first to obtain this Blessing. And say not, "Go away, and come 
again, and tomorrow I will be baptized,''(l) when you may have 
the blessing today. "I 



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will have with me father, mother, brothers, wife, children, friends, and all 
whom I value, and then I will be saved; but it is not yet the fitting time for 
me to be made bright;" for if you say so, there is reason to fear lest you 
should have as sharers of your sorrow those whom you hoped to have as sharers 
of your joy. If they will be with you, well;--but do not wait for them. For it 
is base to say, "But where is my offering for my baptism, and where is my 
baptismal robe, in which I shall be made bright, and where is what is wanted 
for the entertainment of my baptizers, that in these too I may become worthy 
of notice? For, as you see, all these things are necessary, and on account of 
this the Grace will be lessened." Do not thus trifle with great things, or 
allow yourself to think so basely. The Sacrament is greater than the visible 
environment. Offer yourself; clothe yourself with Christ, feast me with your 
conduct; I rejoice to be thus affectionately treated, and God Who gives these 
great gifts rejoices thus. Nothing is great in the sight of God, but what the 
poor may give, so that the poor may not here also be outrun, for they cannot 
contend with the rich. In other matters there is a distinction between poor 
and rich, but here the more willing is the richer. 

  XXVI. Let nothing hinder you from going on, nor draw you away from your 
readiness. While your desire is still vehement, seize upon that which you 
desire. While the iron is hot, let it be tempered by the cold water, lest 
anything should happen in the interval, and put an end to your desire. I am 
Philip; do you be Candace's Eunuch.(a) Do you also say, "See, 
here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Seize the opportunity; 
rejoice greatly in the blessing; and having spoken be baptized; and having 
been baptized be saved; and though you be an Ethiopian body, be made white in 
soul. Do not say, "A Bishop shall baptize me,--and he a Metropolitan,--and he 
of Jerusalem (for the Grace does not come of a place, but of the Spirit),--and 
he of noble birth, for it would be a sad thing for my nobility to be insulted 
by being baptized by a man of no family." Do not say, "I do not mind a mere 
Priest, if he is a celibate, and a religious, and of angelic life; for it 
would be a sad thing for me to be defiled even in the moment of my cleansing." 
Do not ask for credentials of the preacher or the baptizer. For another is his 
judge,(a) and the examiner of what thou canst not see. For man 
looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. But to 
thee let every one be trustworthy for purification, so only he is one of those 
who have been approved, not of those who are openly condemned, and not a 
stranger to the Church. Do not judge your judges, you who need healing; and do 
not make nice distinctions about the rank of those who shall cleanse you, or 
be critical about your spiritual fathers. One may be higher or lower than 
another, but all are higher than you. Look at it this way. One may be golden, 
another iron, but both are rings and have engraved on them the same royal 
image; and thus when they impress the wax, what difference is there between 
the seal of the one and that of the other? None. Detect the material in the 
wax, if you are so very clever. Tell me which is the impression of the iron 
ring, and which of the golden. And how do they come to be one? The difference 
is in the material and not in the seal. And so anyone can be your baptizer; 
for though one may excel another in his life, yet the grace of baptism is the 
same, and any one may be your consecrator who is formed in the same faith. 

  XXVII. Do not disdain to be baptized with a poor man, if you are rich; or if 
you are noble, with one who is lowborn; or if you are a master, with one who 
is up to the present time your slave. Not even so will you be humbling 
yourself as Christ, unto Whom you are baptized today, Who for your sake took 
upon Himself even the form of a slave. From the day of your new birth all the 
old marks were effaced, and Christ was put upon all in one form. Do not 
disdain to confess your sins, knowing how John baptized, that by present shame 
you may escape from future shame (for this too is a part of the future 
punishment); and prove that you really hate sin by making a shew of it openly, 
and triumphing over it as worthy of contempt. Do not reject the medicine of 
exorcism, nor refuse it because of its length. This too is a touchstone of 
your right disposition for grace. What labour have you to do compared with 
that of the Queen of Ethiopia,(b) who arose and came from the 
utmost part of the earth to see the wisdom of Solomon? And behold a Greater 
than Solomon is here(g) in the judgment of those who reason 
maturely. Do not hesitate either at length of journey, or distance by sea; or 
fire, if this too lies before 



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you; or of any other, small or great, of the hindrances that you may attain to 
the gift. But if without any labour and trouble at all you may obtain that 
which you desire, what folly it is to put off the gift: "Ho, every one that 
thirsteth, come ye to the waters,"(a) Esaias invites you, "and 
he that hath no money, come buy wine and milk, without money and without 
price." O swiftness of His mercy: O easiness of the Covenant: This blessing 
may be bought by you merely for willing it; He accepts the very desire as a 
great price; He thirsts to be thirsted for; He gives to drink to all who 
desire to drink; He takes it as a kindness to be asked for the kindness; He is 
ready and liberal; He gives with more pleasure than others 
receive.(b) Only let us not be condemned for frivolity by 
asking for little, and for what is unworthy of the Giver. Blessed is he from 
whom Jesus asks drink, as He did from that Samaritan woman, and gives a well 
of water springing up unto eternal life.(g) Blessed is he that 
soweth beside all waters, and upon every soul, tomorrow to be ploughed and 
watered, which today the ox and the ass tread, while it is dry and without 
water,(d) and oppressed with unreason. And blessed is he who, 
though he be a "valley of rushes,"(e) is watered out of the 
House of the Lord; for he is made fruitbearing instead of rushbearing, and 
produces that which is for the food of man, not that which is rough and 
unprofitable. And for the sake of this we must be very careful not to miss the 
Grace. 

  XXVIII. Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for Baptism; 
what have you to say about those who are still children, and conscious neither 
of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any 
danger presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified 
than that they should depart unsealed and uninitiated. 

  A proof of this is found in the Circumcision on the eighth day, which was a 
sort of typical seal, and was conferred on children before they had the use of 
reason. And so is the anointing of the doorposts,(z) which 
preserved the firstborn, though applied to things which had no consciousness. 
But in respect of others(h) I give my advice to wait till the 
end of the third year, or a little more or less, when they may be able to 
listen and to answer something about the Sacrament; that, even though they do 
not perfectly understand it, yet at any rate they may know the outlines; and 
then to sanctify them in soul and body with the great sacrament of our 
consecration. For this is how the matter stands; at that time they begin to be 
responsible for their lives, when reason is matured, and they learn the 
mystery of life (for of sins of ignorance owing to their tender years they 
have no account to give), and it is far more profitable on all accounts to be 
fortified by the Font, because of the sudden assaults of danger that befall 
us, stronger than our helpers. 

  XXIX. But, one says, Christ was thirty years old when He was 
baptized,(a) and that although He was God; and do you bid us 
hurry our Baptism?--You have solved the difficulty when you say He was God. 
For He was absolute cleansing; He had no need of cleansing; but it was for you 
that He was purified, just as it was for you that, though He had not flesh, 
yet He is clothed with flesh. Nor was there any danger to Him from putting off 
Baptism, for He had the ordering of His own Passion as of His own Birth. But 
in your case the danger is to no small interests, if you were to depart after 
a birth to corruption alone, and without being clothed with incorruption. And 
there is this further point for me to consider, that that particular time of 
baptism was a necessity for Him, but your case is not the same. He manifested 
Himself in the thirtieth year after His birth and not before; first, in order 
that He might not appear ostentatious, which is a condition belonging to 
vulgar minds; and next, because that age tests virtue thoroughly, and is the 
right time to teach. And since it was needful for Him to undergo the passion 
which saves the world, it was needful also that all things which belong to the 
passion should fit into the passion; the Manifestation, the Baptism, the 
Witness from Heaven, the Proclamation, the concourse of the multitude, the 
Miracles; and that they should be as it were one body, not torn asunder, nor 
broken apart by intervals. For out of the Baptism and Proclamation arose that 
earthquake of people coming together,(b) for so Scripture calls 
that time;(g) and out of the multitude arose the shewing of the 
signs and the miracles that lead up to the Gospel. And out of these came the 
jealousy, and from this the hatred, and out of the hatred the circumstance of 
the plot against Him, and the betrayal; and out of these the Cross, and the 
other events by which our Salvation has been effected. Such are the 



371 



reasons in the case of Christ(a) so far as we can attain to 
them. And perhaps another more secret reason might be found. 

  XXX. But for you, what necessity is there that by following the examples 
which are far above you, you should do a thing so ill-advised for yourself? 
For there are many other details of the Gospel History which are quite 
different to what happens nowadays, and the seasons of which do not 
correspond. For instance Christ fasted a little before His temptation, we 
before Easter. As far as the fasting days are concerned it is the 
same,(b) but the difference in the seasons is no little one. He 
armed Himself with them against temptation; but to us this fast is symbolical 
of dying with Christ, and it is a purification in preparation for the 
festival. And He fasted absolutely for forty days, for He was God; but we 
measure our fasting by our power, even though some are led by zeal to rush 
beyond their strength. Again, He gave the Sacrament of the Passover to His 
Disciples in an upper chamber, and after supper, and one day before He 
suffered; but we celebrate it in Houses of Prayer, and before 
food,(g) and after His resurrection. He rose again the third 
day; our resurrection is not till after a long time. But matters which have to 
do with Him are neither abruptly separated from us, nor yet yoked together 
with those which concern us in point of time; but they were handed down to us 
just so far as to be patterns of what we should do, and then they carefully 
avoided an entire and exact resemblance. 

  XXXI. If then you will listen to me, you will bid a long farewell to all 
such arguments, and you will jump at this Blessing, and begin to struggle in a 
twofold conflict; first, to prepare yourself for baptism by purifying 
yourself; and next, to preserve the baptismal gift; for it is a matter of 
equal difficulty to obtain a blessing which we have not, and to keep it when 
we have gained it. For often what zeal has acquired sloth has destroyed; and 
what hesitation has lost diligence has regained. A great assistance to the 
attainment of what you desire are vigils, fasts, sleeping on the ground, 
prayers, tears, pity of and almsgiving to those who are in need. And let these 
be your thanksgiving for what you have received, and at the same time your 
safeguard of them. You have the benefit to remind you of many commandments; so 
do not transgress them. Does a poor man approach you? Remember how poor you 
once were, and how rich you were made. One in want of bread or of drink, 
perhaps another Lazarus,(a) is cast at your gate; respect the 
Sacramental Table to which you have approached, the Bread of Which you have 
partaken, the Cup in Which you have communicated,(b) being 
consecrated by the Sufferings of Christ. If a stranger fall at your feet, 
homeless and a foreigner, welcome in him Him who for your sake was a stranger, 
and that among His own,(g) and who came to dwell in you by His 
grace, and who drew you towards the heavenly dwelling place. Be a 
Zaccheus,(d) who yesterday was a Publican, and is to-day of 
liberal soul; offer all to the coming in of Christ, that though small in 
bodily stature you may show yourself great, nobly contemplating Christ. A sick 
or a wounded man lies before you; respect your own health, and the wounds from 
which Christ delivered you. If you see one naked clothe him, in honour of your 
own garment of incorruption, which is Christ, for as many as were baptized 
into Christ have put on Christ.(e) If you find a debtor falling 
at your feet,(z) tear up every document, whether just or 
unjust. Remember the ten thousand talents which Christ forgave you, and be not 
a harsh exactor of a smaller debt--and that from whom? From your fellow 
servant, you who were forgiven so much more by the Master. Otherwise you will 
have to give satisfaction to His mercy, which you would not imitate and take 
as your copy. 

  XXXII. Let the layer be not for your body only, but also for the image of 
God in you; not merely a washing away of sins in you, but also a correction of 
your temper; let it not only wash away the old filth, but let it purify the 
fountainhead. Let it not only move you to honourable acquisition, but let it 
teach you also honourably to lose possession; or, which is more easy, to make 
restitution of what you have wrongfully acquired. For what profit is it that 
your sin should have been forgiven you, but the loss which you have inflicted 
should not be repaired to him whom you have injured? Two sins are on your 
conscience, the one that you made a dishonest gain, the 



372 



other that you retained the gains; you received forgiveness for the one, but 
in respect of the other you are still in sin, for you have still possession of 
what belongs to another; and your sin has not been put to an end, but only 
divided by the time which has elapsed. Part of it was perpetrated before your 
Baptism, but part remains after your Baptism; for Baptism carries forgiveness 
of Past, not of Present sins; and its purification must not be played with, 
but be genuinely impressed upon you; you must be made perfectly bright, and 
not be merely coloured; you must receive the gift, not of a mere covering of 
your sins, but of a taking them clean away. Blessed are they whose iniquities 
are forgiven(a) ... this is done by the complete cleansing ... 
and whose sins are hidden ... this belongs to those who are not yet healed in 
their deepest soul. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. . 
. . This is a third class of sinners, whose actions are not praiseworthy, but 
who are innocent of intention. 

  XXXIII. What say I then, and what is my argument? Yesterday you were a 
Canaanite soul bent together(b) by sin; today you have been 
made straight by the Word. Do not be bent gain, and condemned to the earth, as 
if weighed down by the Devil with a wooden collar, nor get an incurable 
curvature. Yesterday you were being dried up(g) by an abundant 
haemorrhage, for you were pouring out crimson sin; today stanched and 
flourishing again, for you have touched the hem of Christ and your issue has 
been stayed. Guard, I pray you, the cleansing lest you should again have a 
haemorrhage, and not be able to lay hold of Christ to steal salvation; for 
Christ does not like to be stolen from often, though He is very merciful. 
Yesterday you were flung upon a bed, exhausted and paralyzed, and you had no 
one when the water should be troubled to put you into the 
pool.(d) Today you have Him Who is in one Person Man and God, 
or rather God and Man. You were raised up from your bed, or rather you took up 
your bed, and publicly acknowledged the benefit. Do not again be thrown upon 
your bed by sinning, in the evil rest of a body paralyzed by its pleasures. 
But as you now are, so walk, mindful of the command,(e) Behold 
thou art made whole; sin no more lest a worse thing happen unto thee if thou 
prove thyself bad after the blessing thou hast received. You have heard the 
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth,(a) as you lay in the tomb; 
not, however, after four days, but after many days; and you were loosed from 
the bonds of your graveclothes. Do not again become dead, nor live with those 
who dwell in the tombs;(b) nor bind yourself with the bonds of 
your own sins;(g) for it is uncertain whether you will rise 
again from the tomb till the last and universal resurrection, which will bring 
every work into judgment,(d) not to be healed, but to be 
judged, and to give account of all which for good or evil it has treasured up. 

  XXXIV. If you were full of leprosy, that shapeless evil, yet you scraped off 
the evil matter, and received again the Image whole. Shew your cleansing to me 
your Priest, that I may recognize how much more precious it is than the legal 
one. Do not range yourself with the nine unthankful men, but imitate the 
tenth.(e) For although he was a Samaritan, yet he was Of better 
mind than the others. Make certain that you will not break out again with evil 
ulcers, and find the indisposition of your body hard to heal. Yesterday 
meanness and avarice were withering your hand; to-day let liberality and 
kindness stretch it out.(z) It is a noble cure for a weak hand 
to disperse abroad, to give to the poor,(h) to pour out the 
things which we possess abundantly, till we reach the very bottom; and perhaps 
this will gush forth food for you, as for the woman of 
Sarepta,(q) and especially if you happen to be feeding an 
Elias, to recognize that it is a good abundance to be needy for the sake of 
Christ, Who for our sakes became poor. If you were deaf and dumb, let the Word 
sound(k) in your ears, or rather keep there Him Who hath 
sounded. Do not shut your ears to the Instruction of the Lord, and to His 
Counsel, like the adder to charms.(l) If you are blind and 
unenlightened, lighten your eyes that you sleep not in 
death.(m) In God's Light see light,(n) and in 
the Spirit of God be enlightened by the Son, That Threefold and Undivided 
Light. If you receive all the Word, you will bring therewith upon your own 
soul all the healing powers of Christ, with which separately these individuals 
were healed. Only be not ignorant of the measure of grace; only let not the 
enemy, while you sleep, maliciously sow tares.(x) Only take 
care that as by your cleansing you have become an object of enmity to the Evil 
One, you do not again make yourself 



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an object of pity by sin. Only be careful lest, while rejoicing and lifted up 
above measure by the blessing, you fall again through pride. Only be diligent 
as to your cleansing, "setting ascensions in your heart,"(201>) and keep with 
all diligence the remission which you have received as a gift, in order that, 
while the remission comes from God, the preservation of it may come from 
yourself also. 

   XXXV. How shall this be? Remember always the parable,(b) and 
so will you best and most perfectly help yourself. The unclean and malignant 
spirit is gone out of you, being chased by baptism. He will not submit to the 
expulsion, he will not resign himself to be houseless and homeless: He goes 
through waterless places, dry of the Divine Stream, and there he desires to 
abide. He wanders, seeking rest; he finds none. He lights on baptized souls, 
whose sins the font has washed away. He fears the water; he is choked with the 
cleansing, as the Legion were in the sea.(g) Again he returns 
to the house whence he came out. He is shameless, he is contentious, he makes 
a fresh assault upon it, he makes a new attempt. If he finds that Christ has 
taken up His abode there, and has filled the place which he had vacated, he is 
driven back again, and goes off without success and is become an object of 
pity in his wandering state. But if he finds in you a place, swept and 
garnished indeed, but empty and idle, equally ready to take in this or that 
which shall first occupy it, he makes a leap into it, he takes up his abode 
there with a larger train; and the last state is worse than the first, 
inasmuch as then there was a hope of amendment and safety, but now the evil is 
rampant, and drags in sin by its flight from good, and therefore the 
possession is more secure to him who dwells there. 

   XXXVI. I will remind you again about Illuminations, and that often, and 
will reckon them up from Holy Scripture. For I myself shall be happier for 
remembering them (for what is sweeter than light to those who have tasted 
light?) and I will dazzle you with my words. There is sprung up a light for 
the righteous, and its partner joyful gladness.(d) And, The 
light of the righteous is everlasting;(e) and Thou art shining 
wondrously from the everlasting mountains, is said to God, I think of the 
Angelic powers which aid our efforts after good. And you have heard David's 
words; The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, whom then shall I 
fear?(a) And now he asks that the Light and the Truth may be 
sent forth for him,(b) now giving thanks that he has a share in 
it, in that the Light of God is marked upon him;(g) that is, 
that the signs of the illumination given are impressed upon him and 
recognized. One light alone let us shun--that which is the offspring of the 
baleful fire; let us not walk in the light of our fire,(d) and 
in the flame which we have kindled. For I know a cleansing fire which Christ 
came to send upon the earth,(e) and He Himself is 
anagogically(z) called a Fire. This Fire takes away whatsoever 
is material and of evil habit; and this He desires to kindle with all speed, 
for He longs for speed in doing us good, since He gives us even coals of fire 
to help us.(h) I know also a fire which is not cleansing, but 
avenging; either that fire of Sodom(q) which He pours down on 
all sinners,(k) mingled with brimstone and storms, or that 
which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels(l) or that which 
proceeds from the face of the Lord, and shall burn up his enemies round 
about;(m) and one even more fearful still than these, the 
unquenchable fire(n) which is ranged with the worm that dieth 
not but is eternal for the wicked. For all these belong to the destroying 
power; though some may prefer even in this place to take a more merciful 
view(x) of this fire, worthily of Him That chastises. 

  XXXVII. And as I know of two kinds of fire, so also do I of light. The one 
is the light of our ruling power directing our steps according to the will of 
God; the other is a deceitful and meddling one, quite contrary to the true 
light, though pretending to be that light, that it may cheat us by its 
appearance. This really is darkness, yet has the appearance of noonday, the 
high perfection of light. And so I read that passage of those who continually 
flee in darkness at noonday;(o) for this is really night, and 
yet is thought to be bright light by those who have been ruined by luxury. For 
what saith David? "Night was around me and I knew it not, for I thought that 
my 



374 



luxury was enlightenment."(a) But such are they, and in this 
condition; but let us kindle for ourselves the light of 
knowledge.(b) This will be done by sowing unto righteousness, 
and reaping the fruit of life, for action is the patron of contemplation, that 
amongst other things we may learn also what is the true light, and what the 
false, and be saved from falling unawares into evil wearing the guise of good. 
Let us be made light, as it was said to the disciples by the Great Light, ye 
are the light of the world.(g) Let us be made lights in the 
world, holding forth the Word of Life;(d) that is, let us be 
made a quickening power to others. Let us lay hold of the Godhead; let us lay 
hold of the First and Brightest Light. Let us walk towards Him shining, before 
our feet stumble upon dark and hostile mountains.(e) While it 
is day let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not 
in chambering and wantonness,(h) which are the dishonesties of 
the night. 

  XXXVIII. Let us cleanse every member, Brethren, let us purify every sense; 
let nothing in us be imperfect or of our first birth; let us leave nothing 
unilluminated. Let us enlighten our eyes,(h) that we may look 
straight on, and not bear in ourselves any harlot idol through curious and 
busy sight; for even though we might not worship lust, yet our soul would be 
defiled. If there be beam or mote,(q) let us purge it away, 
that we may be able to see those of others also. Let us be enlightened in our 
ears; let us be enlightened in our tongue, that we may hearken what the Lord 
God will speak,(k) and that He may cause(l) us 
to hear His lovingkindness in the morning, and that we may be made to hear of 
joy and gladness,(m) spoken into godly ears, that we may not be 
a sharpsword, nor a whetted razor,(n) nor turn under our tongue 
labour and toil,(x) but that we may speak the Wisdom of God in 
a mystery, even the hidden Wisdom,(o) reverencing the fiery 
tongues.(p) Let us be healed also in the smell, that we be not 
effeminate; and be sprinkled with dust instead of sweet 
perfumes,(r) but may smell the Ointment that was poured out for 
us,(s) spiritually receiving it; and so formed and transformed 
by it, that from us too a sweet odour may be smelled. Let us cleanse our 
touch, our taste, our throat, not touching them over gently, nor delighting in 
smooth things, but handling them as is worthy of Him, the Word That was made 
flesh for us; and so far following the example of Thomas,(a) 
not pampering them with dainties and sauces, those brethren of a more baleful 
pampering,(b) but tasting and learning that the Lord is 
good,(g) with the better and abiding taste; and not for a short 
while refreshing that baneful and thankless dust, which lets pass and does not 
hold that which is given to it; but delighting it with the words which are 
sweeter than honey.(d) 

  XXXIX. And in addition to what has been said, it is good with our head 
cleansed, as the head which is the workshop of the senses is cleansed, to hold 
fast the Head of Christ,(e) from which the whole body is fitly 
joined together and compacted; and to cast down our sin that exalted itself, 
when it would exalt us above our better part. It is good also for the shoulder 
to be sanctified and purified that it may be able to take up the Cross of 
Christ, which not everyone can easily do. It is good for the hands to be 
consecrated, and the feet; the one that they may in every place be lifted up 
holy;(z) and that they may lay hold of the 
discipline(h) of Christ, lest the Lord at any time be angered; 
and that the Word may gain credence by action, as was the case with that which 
was given in the hand of a prophet;(q) the other, that they be 
not swift to shed blood, nor to run to evil,(k) but that they 
be prompt to run to the Gospel and the Prize(l) of the high 
Calling, and to receive Christ Who washes and cleanses them. And if there be 
also a cleansing of that belly which receiveth and digesteth the food of the 
Word, it were good also; not to make it a god by luxury and the meat that 
perisheth,(m) but rather to give it all possible cleansing, and 
to make it more spare, that it may receive the Word of God at the very heart, 
and grieve honourably over the sins of Israel.(n) I find also 
the heart and inward parts deemed worthy of honour. David convinces me of 
this, when he prays that a clean heart may be created in him, and a right 
spirit renewed in his inward parts;(x) meaning, I think, the 
mind and its movements or thoughts. 

  XL. And what of the loins, or reins, for we must not pass these over? Let 
the purification take hold of these also. Let our loins be girded about and 
kept in check by conti- 



375 



nence, as the Law bade Israel of old when partaking of the 
Passover.(a) For none comes out of Egypt purely, or escapes the 
Destroyer, except he who has disciplined these. And let the reins be changed 
by that good conversion by which they transfer all the affections to God, so 
that they can say, Lord, all my desire is before Thee,(b) and 
the day of man have I not desired;(g) for you must be a man of 
desires,(d) but they must be those of the spirit. For thus you 
would destroy the dragon that carries the greater part of his strength upon 
his navel and his loins,(e) by slaying the power that comes to 
him from these. Do not be surprised at my giving a more abundant honour to our 
uncomely parts,(z) mortifying them and making them chaste by my 
speech, and standing up against the flesh. Let us give to God all our members 
which are upon the earth;(h) let us consecrate them all; not 
the lobe of the liver(q) or the kidneys with the fat, nor some 
part of our bodies now this now that (why should we despise the rest?); but 
let us bring ourselves entire, let us be reasonable 
holocausts,(k) perfect sacrifices; and let us not make only the 
shoulder or the breast a portion for the Priest to take 
away,(l) for that would be a small thing, but let us give 
ourselves entire, that we may receive back ourselves entire; for this is to 
receive entirely, when we give ourselves to God and offer as a sacrifice our 
own salvation. 

  XLI. Besides all this and before all, keep I pray you the good deposit, by 
which I live and work, and which I desire to have as the companion of my 
departure; with which I endure all that is so distressful, and despise all 
delights; the confession of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. This I 
commit unto you to-day; with this I will baptize you and make you grow. This I 
give you to share, and to defend all your life, the One Godhead and Power, 
found in the Three in Unity, and comprising the Three separately, not unequal, 
in substances or natures, neither increased nor diminished by superiorities or 
inferiorities; in every respect equal, in every respect the same; just as the 
beauty and the greatness of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of 
Three Infinite Ones, Each God when considered in Himself; as the Father so the 
Son, as the Son so the Holy Ghost; the Three One God when contemplated 
together; Each God because Consubstantial; One God because of the Monarchia. 
No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the Splendour of the 
Three; no sooner do I distinguish Them than I am carried back to the One. When 
I think of any One of the Three I think of Him as the Whole, and my eyes are 
filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking of escapes 
me.(a) I cannot grasp the greatness of That One so as to 
attribute a greater greatness to the Rest. When I contemplate the Three 
together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the Undivided 
Light. 

  XLII. Do you fear to speak of Generation lest you should attribute aught of 
passion to the impassible God? I on the other hand fear to speak of Creation, 
lest I should destroy God by the insult and the untrue division, either 
cutting the Son away from the Father, or from the Son the Substance of the 
Spirit. For this paradox is involved, that not only is a created Life foisted 
into the Godhead by those who measure Godhead badly; but even this created 
life is divided against itself. For as these low earthly minds make the Son 
subject to the Father, so again is the rank of the Spirit made inferior to 
that of the Son, until both God and created life are insulted by the new 
Theology. No, my friends, there is nothing servile in the Trinity, nothing 
created, nothing accidental, as I have heard one of the wise(b) 
say. If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ, says the 
Apostle;(g) and if I yet worshipped a creature, or were 
baptized into a creature, I should not be made divine, nor have changed my 
first birth. What shall I say to those who worship Astarte or Chemosh, the 
abomination of the Sidonians, or the likeness of a star,(d) a 
god a little above them to these idolaters, but yet a creature and a piece of 
workmanship, when I myself either do not worship Two of Those into Whose 
united Name I am baptized, or else worship my fellow-servants, for they are 
fellow-servants, even if a little higher in the scale; for differences must 
exist among fellow-servants. 

XLIII. I should like to call the Father the 



376 



greater, because from him flows both the Equality and the Being of the Equals 
(this will be granted on all hands), but I am afraid to use the word Origin, 
lest I should make Him the Origin of Inferiors, and thus insult Him by 
precedencies of honour. For the lowering of those Who are from Him is no glory 
to the Source. Moreover, I look with suspicion at your insatiate desire, for 
fear you should take hold of this word Greater, and divide the Nature, using 
the word Greater in all senses, whereas it does not apply to the Nature, but 
only to Origination. For in the Consubstantial Persons there is nothing 
greater or less in point of Substance. I would honour the Son as Son before 
the Spirit, but Baptism consecrating me through the Spirit does not allow of 
this. But are you afraid of being reproached with Tritheism? Do you take 
possession of this good thing, the Unity in the Three, and leave me to fight 
the battle. Let me be the shipbuilder, and do you use the ship; or if another 
is the builder of the ship, take me for the architect of the house, and do you 
live in it with safety, though you spent no labour upon it. You shall not have 
a less prosperous voyage, or a less safe habitation than I who built them, 
because you have not laboured upon them. See how great is my indulgence; see 
the goodness of the Spirit; the war shall be mine, yours the achievement; I 
will be under fire, and you shall live in peace; but join with your defender 
in prayer, and give me your hand by the Faith. I have three stones which I 
will sling at the Philistine;(a) I have three inspirations 
against the son of the Sareptan,(b) with which I will quicken 
the slain; I have three floods against the faggots with which I will 
consecrate the Sacrifice with water, raising the most unexpected 
fire;(g) and I will throw down the prophets of shame by the 
power of the Sacrament. 

  XLIV. What need have I any more of speech? It is the time for teaching, not 
for controversy. I protest before God and the elect Angels,(d) 
be thou baptized in this faith. If thy heart is written upon in some other way 
than as my teaching demands, come and have the writing changed; I am no 
unskilled caligrapher of these truths. I write that which is written upon my 
own heart; and I teach that which I have been taught, and have kept from the 
beginning up to these hoar hairs.(e) Mine is the risk; be mine 
also the reward of being the Director of your soul, and consecrating you by 
Baptism. But if you are already rightly disposed, and marked with the good 
inscription, see that you keep what is written, and remain unchanged in a 
changing time concerning an unchanging Thing. Follow Pilate's example in the 
better sense; you who are rightly written on, imitate him who wrote 
wrongfully. Say to those who would persuade you differently, what I have 
written, I have written.(a) For indeed I should be ashamed if, 
while that which was wrong remained inflexible, that which is right should be 
so easily bent aside; whereas we ought to be easily bent to that which is 
better from that which is worse, but immovable from the better to the worse. 
If it be thus, and according to this teaching that you come to Baptism, lo I 
will not refrain my lips,(b) lo I lend my hands to the Spirit; 
let us hasten your salvation. The Spirit is eager, the Consecrator is ready, 
the Gift is prepared. But if you still halt and will not receive the 
perfectness of the Godhead, go and look for someone else to baptize--or rather 
to drown you: I have no time to cut the Godhead, and to make you dead in the 
moment of your regeneration, that you should have neither the Gift nor the 
Hope of Grace, but should in so short a time make shipwreck of your salvation. 
For whatever you may subtract from the Deity of the Three, you will have 
overthrown the whole, and destroyed your own being made perfect. 

  XLV. But not yet perhaps is there formed upon your soul any writing good or 
bad; and you want to be written upon today, and formed by us unto perfection. 
Let us go within the cloud. Give me the tables of your heart; I will be your 
Moses, though this be a bold thing to say; I will write on them with the 
finger of God a new Decalogue.(g) I will write on them a 
shorter method of salvation. And if there be any heretical or unreasoning 
beast, let him remain below, or he will run the risk of being stoned by the 
Word of truth. I will baptize you and make you a disciple in the Name of the 
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost;(d) and These Three 
have One common name, the Godhead. And you shall know, both by 
appearances(e) and by words that you reject all ungodliness, 
and are united to all the Godhead. Believe that all that is in the world, both 
all that is seen and all that 



377 



is unseen, was made out of nothing by God, and is governed by the Providence 
of its Creator, and will receive a change to a better state. Believe that evil 
has no substance or kingdom, either unoriginate or self-existent or created by 
God; but that it is our work, and the evil one's, and came upon us through our 
heedlessness, but not from our Creator. Believe that the Son of God, the 
Eternal Word, Who was begotten of the Father before all time and without body, 
was in these latter days for your sake made also Son of Man, born of the 
Virgin Mary ineffably and stainlessly (for nothing can be stained where God 
is, and by which salvation comes), in His own Person at once entire Man and 
perfect God, for the sake of the entire sufferer, that He may bestow salvation 
on your whole being, having destroyed the whole condemnation of your sins: 
impassible in His Godhead, passible in that which He assumed; as much Man for 
your sake as you are made God for His. Believe that for us sinners He was led 
to death; was crucified and buried, so far as to taste of death; and that He 
rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven, that He might take you 
with Him who were lying low; and that He will come again with His glorious 
Presence to judge the quick and the dead; no longer flesh, nor yet without a 
body, according to the laws which He alone knows of a more godlike body, that 
He may be seen by those who pierced Him,(a) and on the other 
hand may remain as God without carnality. Receive besides this the 
Resurrection, the Judgment and the Reward according to the righteous scales of 
God; and believe that this will be Light to those whose mind is purified (that 
is, God--seen and known) proportionate to their degree of purity, which we 
call the Kingdom of heaven; but to those who suffer from blindness of their 
ruling faculty, darkness, that is estrangement from God, proportionate to 
their blindness here. Then, in the tenth place, work that which is good upon 
this foundation of dogma; for faith without works is dead,(b) 
even as are works apart from faith. This is all that may be divulged of the 
Sacrament, and that is not forbidden to the ear of the many. The rest yon 
shall learn within the Church by the grace of the Holy Trinity; and those 
matters you shall conceal within yourself, sealed and secure. 

  XLVI. But one thing more I preach unto you. The Station in which you shall 
presently stand after your Baptism before the Great 
Sanctuary(a) is a foretype of the future glory. The Psalmody 
with which you will be received is a prelude to the Psalmody of Heaven; the 
lamps which you will kindle are a Sacrament of the illumination there with 
which we shall meet the Bridegroom, shining and virgin souls, with the lamps 
of our faith shining, not sleeping through our carelessness, that we may not 
miss Him that we look for if He come unexpectedly; nor yet unfed, and without 
oil, and destitute of good works, that we be not cast out of the Bridechamber. 
For I see how pitiable is such a case. He will come when the cry demands the 
meeting, and they who are prudent shall meet Him, with their light shining and 
its food abundant, but the others seeking for oil too late from those who 
possess it. And He will come with speed, and the former shall go in with Him, 
but the latter shall be shut out, having wasted in preparations the time of 
entrance; and they shall weep sore when all too late they learn the penalty of 
their slothfulness, when the Bride-chamber can no longer be entered by them 
for all their entreaties, for they have shut it against themselves by their 
sin, following in another fashion the example of those who missed the Wedding 
feast(b) with which the good Father feasts the good Bridegroom; 
one on account of a newly wedded wife; another of a newly purchased field; 
another of a yoke of oxen; which he and they acquired to their misfortune, 
since for the sake of the little they lose the great. For none are there of 
the disdain fill, nor of the slothful, nor of those who are clothed in filthy 
rags and not in the Wedding garment even though here they may have thought 
themselves worthy of wearing the bright robe there, and secretly intruded 
themselves, deceiving themselves with vain hopes. And then, What? When we have 
entered, then the Bridegroom knows what He will teach us, and how He will 
converse with the souls that have come in with Him. He will converse with 
them, I think in teaching things more perfect and more pure. Of which may we 
all, both Teachers and Taught, have share, in the Same Christ our Lord, to 
Whom be tim Glory and the Empire, for ever and ever. Amen. 



378 


ORATION XLI. -- On Pentecost. 



  I. Let us reason a little about the Festival, that we may keep it 
spiritually. For different persons have different ways of keeping Festival; 
but to the worshipper of the Word a discourse seems best; and of discourses, 
that which is best adapted to the occasion. And of all beautiful things none 
gives so much joy to the lover of the beautiful, as that the lover of 
festivals should keep them spiritually. Let us look into the matter thus. The 
Jew keeps festival as well as we, but only in the letter. For while following 
after the bodily Law, he has not attained to the spiritual Law. The Greek too 
keeps festival, but only in the body, and in honour of his own gods and 
demons, some of whom are creators of passion by their own admission, and 
others were honoured out of passion. Therefore even their manner of keeping 
festival is passionate, as though their very sin were an honour to God, in 
Whom their passion takes refuge as a thing to be proud of.(a) 
We too keep festival, but we keep it as is pleasing to the Spirit. And it is 
pleasing to Him that we should keep it by discharging some duty, either of 
action or speech. This then is our manner of keeping festival, to treasure up 
in our soul some of those things which are permanent and will cleave 'to it, 
not of those which will forsake us and be destroyed, and which only tickle our 
senses for a little while; whereas they are for the most part, m my judgment 
at least, harmful and ruinous. For sufficient unto the body is the evil 
thereof. What need has that fire of further fuel, or that beast of more 
plentiful food, to make it more uncontrollable, and too violent for reason? 

  II. Wherefore we must keep the feast spiritually. And this is the beginning 
of our discourse; for we must speak, even if our speech do seem a little too 
discursive; and we must be diligent for the sake of those who love 
learning, that we may as it were mix up some seasoning with our solemn 
festival. The children of the Hebrews do honour to the number Seven, according 
to the legislation of Moses (as did the Pythagoreans in later days to the 
number Four, by which indeed they were in the habit of 
swearing(a) as the Simonians and Marcionites(b) 
do by the number Eight and the number Thirty, inasmuch as they have given 
names to and reverence a system of Aeons of these numbers); I cannot say by 
what rules of analogy, or in consequence of what power of this number; anyhow 
they do honour to it. One thing indeed is evident, that God, having in six 
days created matter, and given it form, and having arranged it in all kinds of 
shapes and mixtures, and having made this present visible world, on the 
seventh day rested from all His works, as is shewn by the very name of the 
Sabbath, which in Hebrew means Rest. If there be, however, any more lofty 
reason than this, let others discuss it. But this honour which they pay to it 
is not confined to days alone, but also extends to years. That belonging to 
days the Sabbath proves, because it is continually observed among them; and in 
accordance with this the removal of leaven is for that number of 
days.(g) And that belonging to years is shewn by the seventh 
year, the year of Release;(d) and it consists not only of 
Hebdomads, but of Hebdomads of Hebdomads, alike in days and years. The 
Hebdomads of days give birth to Pentecost, a day called holy among them; and 
those of years to what they call the Jubilee, which also has a release of 
land, and a manumission of slaves, and a release of possessions bought. For 
this nation consecrates to God, not only the firstfruits of offspring, or of 
firstborn, but also those of days and years. Thus the veneration paid to the 
number Seven gave rise also to the veneration of Pentecost. For seven being 
multiplied by seven generates fifty all but one day, which we borrow from the 
world to come, at once the Eighth and the first, or rather one and 
indestructible. For the present sabbatism of our souls can find its cessation 
there, that a portion may be given to seven and also to 
eight(a) (so some of our predecessors have interpreted this 
passage of Solomon). 

  III. As to the honour paid to Seven there are many testimonies, but we will 
be content with a few out of the many. For instance, seven precious spirits 
are named; for I think Isaiah(b) loves to call the activities 
of the Spirit spirits; and the Oracles of the Lord are purified seven times 
according to David,(g) and the just is delivered from six 
troubles and in the seventh is not smitten.(d) But the sinner 
is pardoned not seven times, but seventy times seven.(e) And we 
may see it by the contrary also (for the punishment of wickedness is to be 
praised), Cain being avenged seven times, that is, punishment being exacted 
from him for his fratricide, and Lamech seventy times seven,(z) 
because he was a murderer after the law and the 
condemnation.(h) And wicked neighbours 



380 



receive sevenfold into their bosom;(a) and the House of Wisdom 
rests on seven pillars(b) and the Stone of Zerubbabel is 
adorned with seven eyes;(g) and God is praised seven times a 
day.(d) And again the barren beareth seven,(e) 
the perfect number, she who is contrasted with her who is imperfect in her 
children."(z) 

  IV. And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that 
Enoch,(h) the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by 
translation. I perceive also that the twenty-first, Abraham,(q) 
was given the glory of the Patriarchate, by the addition of a greater mystery. 
For the Hebdomad thrice repeated brings out this number. And one who is very 
bold might venture even to come to the New Adam, my God and Lord Jesus Christ, 
Who is counted the Seventy-seventh from the old Adam who fell under sin, in 
the backward genealogy according to Luke.(k) And I think of the 
seven trumpets of Jesus, the son of Nave, and the same number of circuits and 
days and priests, by which the walls of Jericho were shaken down. And so too 
the seven compassings of the City; in the same way as there is a mystery in 
the threefold breathings of Elias, the Prophet, by which he breathed life into 
the son of the Sareptan widow,(l) and the same number of his 
floodings of the wood,(n) when he consumed the sacrifice with 
fire sent from God, and condemned the prophets of shame who could not do the 
like at his challenge. And the sevenfold looking for the cloud imposed upon 
the young servant; and Elissaaeus stretching himself that number of times upon 
the child of the Shunammite, by which stretching the breath of life was 
restored.(x) To the same doctrine belongs, I think (if I may 
omit the seven-stemmed and seven-lamped candlestick of the 
Temple(a)) that the ceremony of the Priests' consecration 
lasted seven days;(b) and seven that of the purifying of a 
leper,(g) and that of the Dedication of the Temples the same 
number, and that in the seventieth year the people returned from the 
Captivity;(e) that whatever is in Units may appear also in 
Decads, and the mystery of the Hebdomad be reverenced in a more perfect 
number. But why do I speak of the distant past? Jesus Himself who is pure 
perfection, could in the desert and with five loaves feed five thousand, and 
again with seven loaves four thousand. And the leavings after they were 
satisfied were in the first case twelve baskets full, and in the other seven 
baskets;(z) neither, I imagine, without a reason or unworthy of 
the Spirit. And if you read for yourself you may take note of many numbers 
which contain a meaning deeper than appears on the surface. But to come to an 
instance which is most useful to us on the present occasion, not that for 
these reasons or others very similar or yet more divine, the Hebrews honour 
the Day of Pentecost, m@d we also honour it; just as there are other rites of 
the Hebrews which we observe ... they were typically observed by them, and by 
us they are sacramentally reinstated. And now having said so much by way of 
preface about the Day, let us proceed to what we have to say further. 

  V. We are keeping the feast of Pentecost and of the Coming of the Spirit, 
and the appointed time of the Promise, and the fulfilment of our hope. And how 
great, how august, is the Mystery. The dispensations of the Body of Christ are 
ended; or rather, what belongs to His Bodily Advent (for I hesitate to say the 
Dispensation of His Body, as long as no discourse persuades me that it is 
better to have put off the body(h)), and that of the Spirit is 
beginning. And what were the things pertaining to the Christ? The Virgin, the 
Birth, the Manger, the Swaddling, the Angels glorifying Him, the Shepherds 
running to Him, the course of the Star, the Magi worshipping Him and bringing 
Gifts, Herod's 



381 



murder of the children, the Flight of Jesus into Egypt, the Return from Egypt, 
the Circumcision, the Baptism, the Witness from Heaven, the Temptation, the 
Stoning for our sake (because He had to be given as an Example to us of 
enduring affliction for the Word), the Betrayal, the Nailing, the Burial, the 
Resurrection, the Ascension; and of these even now He suffers many dishonours 
at the hands of the enemies of Christ; and He bears them, for He is 
longsuffering. But from those who love Him He receives all that is honourable. 
And He defers, as in the former case His wrath, so in ours His kindness; in 
their case perhaps to give them the grace of repentance, and in ours to test 
our love; whether we do not faint in our tribulations(a) and 
conflicts for the true Religion, as was from of old the order of His Divine 
Economy, and of his unsearchable judgments, with which He orders wisely all 
that concerns us. Such are the mysteries of Christ. And what follows we shall 
see to be more glorious; and may we too be seen. As to the things of the 
Spirit, may the Spirit be with me, and grant me speech as much as I desire; or 
if not that, yet as is in due proportion to the season. Anyhow He will be with 
me as my Lord; not in servile guise, nor awaiting a command, a.s some 
think.(b) For He bloweth where He wills and on whom He wills, 
and to what extent He wills.(g) Thus we are inspired both to 
think and to speak of the Spirit. 

  VI. They who reduce the Holy Spirit to the rank of a creature are 
blasphemers and wicked servants, and worst of the wicked. For it is the part 
of wicked servants to despise Lordship, and to rebel against dominion, and to 
make That which is free their fellow-servant. But they who deem Him God are 
inspired by God(d) and are illustrious in their mind; and they 
who go further and call Him so, if to well disposed hearers are exalted; if to 
the low, are not reserved enough, for they commit pearls to clay, and the 
noise of thunder to weak ears, and the sun to feeble eyes, and solid food to 
those who are still using milk;(a) whereas they ought to lead 
them little by little up to what lies beyond them, and to bring them up to the 
higher truth; adding light to light, and supplying truth upon truth. Therefore 
we will leave the more mature discourse, for which the time has not yet come, 
and will speak with them as follows. 

  VII. If, my friends, you will not acknowledge the Holy Spirit to be 
uncreated, nor yet eternal; clearly such a state of mind is due to the 
contrary spirit--forgive me, if in my zeal I speak somewhat over boldly. If, 
however, you are sound enough to escape this evident impiety, and to place 
outside of slavery Him Who gives freedom to yourselves, then see for 
yourselves with the help of the Holy Ghost and of us what follows. For I am 
persuaded that you are to some extent partakers of Him, so that I will go into 
the question with you as kindred souls. Either shew me some mean between 
lordship and servitude, that I may there place the rank of the Spirit; or, if 
you shrink from imputing servitude to Him, there is no doubt of the rank in 
which you must place the object of your search. But you are dissatisfied with 
the syllables, and you stumble at the word, and it is to you a stone of 
stumbling and a rock of offence;(b) for so is Christ to some 
minds. It is only human after all. Let us meet one another in a spiritual 
manner; let us be full rather of brotherly than of self love. Grant us the 
Power of the Godhead, and we will give up to you the use of the Name. Confess 
the Nature in other words for which you have greater reverence, and we will 
heal you as infirm people, filching from you some matters in which you 
delight. For it is shameful, yes, shameful and utterly illogical, when you are 
sound in soul, to draw petty distinctions about the sound, and to hide the 
Treasure, as if you envied it to others, or were afraid lest you should 
sanctify your own tongue too. But it is even more shameful for us to be in the 
state of which we accuse you, and, while condemning your petty distinctions of 
words to make petty distinctions of letters. 

  VIII. Confess, my friends, the Trinity to be of One Godhead; or if you will, 
of One Nature; and we will pray the Spirit to give you this word God. He will 
give it to you, I well know, inasmuch as He has already granted you the first 
portion and the second;(g) and especially 



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if that about which we are contending is some spiritual cowardice, and not the 
devil's objection. Yet more clearly and concisely, let me say, do not you call 
us to account for our loftier word (for envy has nothing to do with this 
ascent), and we will not find fault with what you have been able to attain, 
until by another road you are brought up to the same resting place. For we are 
not seeking victory, but to gain brethren, by whose separation from us we are 
torn. This we concede to you in whom we do find something of vital truth, who 
are sound as to the Son. We admire your life, but we do not altogether approve 
your doctrine. Ye who have the things of the Spirit, receive Himself in 
addition, that ye may not only strive, but strive lawfully,(a) 
which is the condition of your crown. May this reward of your conversation be 
granted you, that you may confess the Spirit perfectly and proclaim with us, 
aye and before us, all that is His due. Yes, and I will venture even more on 
your behalf; I will even utter the Apostle's wish. So much do I cling to you, 
and so much do I revere your array, and the colour of your continence, and 
those sacred assemblies, and the august Virginity, and purification, and the 
Psalmody that lasts all night(b) and your love of the poor, and 
of the brethren, and of strangers, that I could consent to be Anathema from 
Christ, and even to suffer something as one condemned, if only you might stand 
beside us, and we might glorify the Trinity together. For of the others why 
should I speak, seeing they are clearly dead (and it is the part of Christ 
alone to raise them, Who quickeneth the dead by His own Power), and are 
unhappily separated in place as they are bound together by their doctrine; and 
who quarrel among themselves as much as a pair of squinting eyes in looking at 
the same object, and differ with one another, not in sight but in position--if 
indeed we may charge them only with squinting, and not with utter blindness. 
And now that I have to some extent laid down your position, come, let us 
return again to the subject of the Spirit, and I think you will follow me now. 

  IX. The Holy Ghost, then, always existed, and exists, and always will exist. 
He neither had a beginning, nor will He have an end; but He was everlastingly 
ranged with and numbered with the Father and the Son. For it was not ever 
fitting that either the Son should be wanting to the Father, or the Spirit to 
the Son. For then Deity would be shorn of Its Glory in its greatest respect, 
for It would seem to have arrived at the consummation of perfection as if by 
an afterthought. Therefore He was ever being partaken, but not partaking; 
perfecting, not being perfected; sanctifying, not being sanctified; deifying, 
not being deified; Himself ever the same with Himself, and with Those with 
Whom He is ranged; invisible, eternal, incomprehensible, unchangeable, without 
quality, without quantity, without form, impalpable, self-moving, eternally 
moving, with free-will, self-powerful, All-powerful (even though all that is 
of the Spirit is referable to the First Cause, just as is all that is of the 
Only-begotten); Life and Lifegiver; Light and Lightgiver; absolute Good, and 
Spring of Goodness; the Right, the Princely Spirit; the Lord, the Sender, the 
Separator; Builder of His own Temple; leading, working as He wills; 
distributing His own Gifts; the Spirit of Adoption, of Truth, of Wisdom, of 
Understanding, of Knowledge, of Godliness, of Counsel, of Fear (which are 
ascribed to Him(a)) by Whom the Father is known and the Son is 
glorified; and by Whom alone He is known; one class, one service, worship, 
power, perfection, sanctification. Why make a long discourse of it? All that 
the Father hath the Son hath also, except the being Unbegotten; and all that 
the Son hath the Spirit hath also, except the Generation. And these two 
matters do not divide the Substance, as I understand it, but rather are 
divisions within the Substance.(b) 

  X. Are you labouring to bring forth objections? Well, so am I to get on with 
my discourse. Honour the Day of the Spirit; restrain your tongue if you can a 
little. It is the time to speak of other tongues--reverence them or fear them, 
when you see that they are of fire. To-day let us teach dogmatically; 
to-morrow we may discuss. To-day let us keep the feast; to-morrow will be time 
enough to behave ourselves unseemly--the first mystically, the second 
theatrically; the one in the Churches, the other in the marketplace; the one 
among the sober, the other among the drunken; the one as befits those who 
vehemently desire, the other, as among those who 



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make a joke of the Spirit. Having then put an end to the element that is 
foreign to us, let us now thoroughly furnish our own friends. 

  XI. He wrought first in the heavenly and angelic powers, and such as are 
first after God and around God. For from no other source flows their 
perfection and their brightness, and the difficulty or impossibility of moving 
them to sin, but from the Holy Ghost. And next, in the Patriarchs and 
Prophets, of whom the former saw Visions of God, or knew Him, and the latter 
also foreknew the future, having their master part moulded by the Spirit, and 
being associated with events that were yet future as if present, for such is 
the power of the Spirit. And next in the Disciples of Christ (for I omit to 
mention Christ Himself, in Whom He dwelt, not as energizing, but as 
accompanying His Equal), and that in three ways, as they were able to receive 
Him, and on three occasions; before Christ was glorified by the Passion, and 
after He was glorified by the Resurrection; and after His Ascension, or 
Restoration, or whatever we ought to call it, to Heaven. Now the first of 
these manifests Him--the healing of the sick and casting out of evil spirits, 
which could not be apart from the Spirit; and so does that breathing upon them 
after the Resurrection, which was clearly a divine inspiration; and so too the 
present distribution of the fiery tongues, which we are now commemorating. But 
the first manifested Him indistinctly, the second more expressly, this present 
one more perfectly, since He is no longer present only in energy, but as we 
may say, substantially, associating with us, and dwelling in us. For it was 
fitting that as the Son had lived with us in bodily form--so the Spirit too 
should appear in bodily form; and that after Christ had returned to His own 
place, He should have come down to us--Coming because He is the Lord; Sent, 
because He is not a rival God. For such words no less manifest the Unanimity 
than they mark the separate Individuality. 

  XII. And therefore He came after Christ, that a Comforter should not be 
lacking unto us; but Another Comforter, that you might acknowledge His 
co-equality. For this word Another marks an Alter Ego, a name of equal 
Lordship, not of inequality. For Another is not said, I know, of different 
kinds, but of things consubstantial. And He came in the form of Tongues 
because of His close relation to the Word. And they were of Fire, perhaps 
because of His purifying Power (for our Scripture knows of a purifying fire, 
as any one who wishes can find out), or else because of His Substance. For our 
God is a consuming Fire, and a Fire(a) burning up the 
ungodly;(b) though you may again pick a quarrel over these 
words, being brought into difficulty by the Consubstantiality. And the tongues 
were cloven, because of the diversity of Gifts; and they sat to signify His 
Royalty and Rest among the Saints, and because the Cherubim are the Throne of 
God. And it took place in an Upper Chamber (I hope I am not seeming to any one 
over tedious), because those who should receive it were to ascend and be 
raised above the earth; for also certain upper chambers(g) are 
covered with Divine Waters,(d) by which the praise of God are 
sung. And Jesus Himself in an Upper Chamber gave the Communion of the 
Sacrament to those who were being initiated into the higher Mysteries, that 
thereby might be shewn on the one hand that God must come down to us, as I 
know He did of old to Moses; and on the other that we must go up to Him, and 
that so there should come to pass a Communion of God with men, by a coalescing 
of the dignity. For as long as either remains on its own footing, the One in 
His Glory(e) the other in his lowliness, so long the Goodness 
of God cannot mingle with us, and His lovingkindness is incommunicable, and 
there is a great gulf between, which cannot be crossed; and which separates 
not only the Rich Man from Lazarus and Abraham's Bosom which he longs for, but 
also the created and changing natures from that which is eternal and 
immutable. 

  XIII. This was proclaimed by the Prophets in such passages as the 
following:--The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;(z) and, There 
shall rest upon Him Seven Spirits; and The Spirit of the Lord descended and 
led them;(h) and The spirit of Knowledge filling 
Bezaleel,(q) the Master-builder of the Tabernacle; and, The 
Spirit provoking to anger;(k) and the Spirit carrying away 
Elias in a chariot,(l) and sought in double measure by 
Elissaeus; and David led and strengthened by the Good and Princely 
Spirit.(m) And He was promised by the mouth of Joel first, who 
said, And it shall be in the last days that I will pour out of My Spirit upon 
all flesh (that is, upon all that believe), and upon your sons and upon your 
daughters,(n) and 



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the rest; and then afterwards by Jesus, being glorified by Him, and giving 
back glory to Him, as He was glorified by and glorified the 
Father.(a) And how abundant was this Promise. He shall abide 
for ever, and shall remain with you, whether now with those who in the sphere 
of time are worthy, or hereafter with those who are counted worthy of that 
world, when we have kept Him altogether by our life here, and not rejected Him 
in so far as we sin. 

  XIV. This Spirit shares with the Son in working both the Creation and the 
Resurrection, as you may be shewn by this Scripture; By the Word of the Lord 
were the heavens made, and all the power of them by the breath of His 
Mouth;(b) and this, The Spirit of God that made me, and the 
Breath of the Almighty that teacheth me;(g) and again, Thou 
shalt send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew 
the face of the earth.(d) And He is the Author of spiritual 
regeneration. Here is your proof:--None can see or enter into the Kingdom, 
except he be born again of the Spirit,(e) and be cleansed from 
the first birth, which is a mystery of the night, by a remoulding of the day 
and of the Light, by which every one singly is created anew. This Spirit, for 
He is most wise and most loving,(z) if He takes possession of a 
shepherd makes him a Psalmist, subduing evil spirits by his 
song,(h) and proclaims him King; if he possess a goatherd and 
scraper(q) of sycamore fruit,(k) He makes him a 
Prophet. Call to mind David and Amos. If He possess a goodly youth, He makes 
him a Judge of Elders,(l) even beyond his years, as Daniel 
testifies, who conquered the lions in their den.(m) If He takes 
possession of Fishermen, He makes them catch the whole world in the nets of 
Christ, taking them up in the meshes of the Word. Look at Peter and Andrew and 
the Sons of Thunder, thundering the things of the Spirit. If of Publicans, He 
makes gain of them for discipleship, and makes them merchants of souls; 
witness Matthew, yesterday a Publican, today an Evangelist. If of zealous 
persecutors, He changes the current of their zeal, and makes them Pauls 
instead of Sauls, and as full of piety as He found them of wickedness. And He 
is the Spirit of Meekness, and yet is provoked by those who sin. Let us 
therefore make proof of Him as gentle, not as wrathful, by confessing His 
Dignity; and let us not desire to see Him implacably wrathful. He too it is 
who has made me today a bold herald to you;--if without rest to myself, God be 
thanked; but if with risk, thanks to Him nevertheless; in the one case, that 
He may spare those that hate us; in the other, that He may consecrate us, in 
receiving this reward of our preaching of the Gospel, to be made perfect by 
blood. 

  XV. They spoke with strange tongues, and not those of their native land; and 
the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learnt it. And 
the sign is to them that believe not,(a) and not to them that 
believe, that it may be an accusation of the unbelievers, as it is written, 
With other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and not even 
so will they listen to Me(b) saith the Lord. But they heard. 
Here stop a little and raise a question, how you are to divide the words. For 
the expression has an ambiguity, which is to be determined by the punctuation. 
Did they each hear in their own dialect(g) so that if I may so 
say, one sound was uttered, but many were heard; the air being thus beaten 
and, so to speak, sounds being produced more clear than the original sound; or 
are we to put the stop after "they Heard," and then to add "them speaking in 
their own languages" to what follows, so that it would be speaking in 
languages their own to the hearers, which would be foreign to the speakers? I 
prefer to put it this latter way; for on the other plan the miracle would be 
rather of the hearers than of the speakers; whereas in this it would be on the 
speakers' side; and it was they who were reproached for drunkenness, evidently 
because they by the Spirit wrought a miracle in the matter of the tongues. 

  XVI. But as the old Confusion of tongues was laudable, when men who were of 
one language in wickedness and impiety, even as some now venture to be, were 
building the Tower;(d) for by the confusion of their language 
the unity of their intention was broken up, and their undertaking destroyed; 
so much more worthy of praise is the present miraculous one. For being poured 
from One Spirit upon many men, it brings them again into harmony. And there is 
a diversity of Gifts, which stands in need of yet another Gift to 



385 



discern which is the best, where all are praiseworthy. And that division also 
might be called noble of which David says, Drown O Lord and divide their 
tongues.(a) Why? Because they loved all words of drowning, the 
deceitful tongue.(b) Where he all but expressly arraigns the 
tongues of the present day(g) which sever the Godhead. Thus 
much upon this point. 

  XVII. Next, since it was to inhabitants of Jerusalem, most devout Jews, 
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, Egyptians, and Libyans, Cretans too, and 
Arabians, and Mesopotamians, and my own Cappadocians, that the tongues spake, 
and to Jews (if any one prefer so to understand it), out of every nation under 
heaven thither collected; it is worth while to see who these were and of what 
captivity. For the captivity in Egypt and Babylon was circumscribed, and 
moreover had long since been brought to an end by the Return; and that under 
the Romans, which was exacted for their audacity against our Saviour, was not 
yet come to pass, though it was in the near future. It remains then to 
understand it of the captivity under Antiochus, which happened not so very 
long before this time. But if any does not accept this explanation, as being 
too elaborate, seeing that this captivity was neither ancient nor widespread 
over the world, and is looking for a more reliable--perhaps the best way to 
take it would be as follows. The nation was removed many times, as Esdras 
related; and some of the Tribes were recovered, and some were left behind; of 
whom probably (dispersed as they were among the nations) some would have been 
present and shared the miracle. 

  XVIII. These questions have been examined before by the studious, and 
perhaps not without occasion; and whatever else any one may contribute at the 
present day, he will be joined with us. But now it is our duty to dissolve 
this Assembly, for enough has been said. But the Festival is never to be put 
an end to; but kept now indeed with our bodies; but a little later on 
altogether spiritually there, where we shall see the reasons of these things 
more purely and clearly, in the Word Himself, and God, and our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the True Festival and Rejoicing of the Saved--to Whom be the glory and 
the worship, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, now and for ever. Amen. 


ORATION XLII. -- "THE LAST FAREWELL." 



THIS Oration was delivered during the Second Ecumenical Council, held at 
Constantinople A.D. 381. Historical as well as personal motives render the 
occasion of the deepest interest. The audience consisted of the one hundred 
and fifty Bishops of the Eastern Church who took part in the Council, and of 
the speaker's own flock, the orthodox Christians of Constantinople. He had by 
his own exertions gathered that flock together, after it had been ravaged by 
heretical teachers. He had won the admiration and affection of its members, by 
his courageous championship of the Faith, his lucid teaching, and his fatherly 
care for their spiritual needs. He had been, against his will, enthroned with 
acclamation in the highest ecclesiastical position in the Eastern Church, and 
called to preside over the Synod of its assembled Bishops. Finding himself 
unable to guide the deliberations of the Council in regard to a question of 
the highest importance, and perceiving that he himself and his position were 
made by some of the Bishops a fresh cause of dissension, he felt bound to 
resign his high office, and endeavour by this personal sacrifice to restore 
peace to the Church. His language is worthy of the occasion. Obliged to deal 
with the topics which had caused dissension, he handles them with gentle and 
discriminating tact; he speaks with great self-restraint in his own defence; 
he sets forth with tenderest feeling the common experiences of himself and his 
flock: he gives with dignity and clearness his last public exposition of the 
Faith; and finally, in language of exquisite beauty, spoken with the quivering 
tones of an aged man, he bids a tender farewell to his flock, his cathedral, 
and his throne, with all their affecting associations. It was an occasion 
whose pathos is unsurpassed in history. Orator and audience were alike deeply 
moved, and the emotion has been renewed in all those who have read his words, 
and realised the scene of their delivery. 



THE LAST FAREWELL" IN THE PRESENCE OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY BISHOPS. 



  1. What think ye of our affairs, dear shepherds and fellow-shepherds: whose 
feet are beautiful, for you bring glad tidings of peace 



386 



and of the good things(a) with which ye have come; beautiful 
again in our eyes, to whom ye have come in season, not to convert a wandering 
sheep,(b) but to converse with a pilgrim shepherd? What .think 
ye of this our pilgrimage? And of its fruit, or rather of that of the 
Spirit(g) within us,(d) by Whom we are ever 
moved,(e) and specially have now been moved, desiring to have, 
and perhaps having, nothing of our own? Do you of yourselves understand and 
perceive--and are you kindly critics of our actions? Or must we, like those 
from whom a reckoning is demanded as to their military command, or civil 
government, or administration of the exchequer, publicly and in person submit 
to you the accounts of our administration? Not indeed that we are ashamed of 
being judged, for we are ourselves judges in turn, and both with the same 
charity. But the law is an ancient one: for even Paul communicated to the 
Apostles his Gospel:(z) not for the sake of ostentation, for 
the Spirit is far removed from all ostentation, but in order to establish his 
success and correct his failure, if indeed there were any such in his words or 
actions, as he declares when writing of himself. Since even the Spirits of the 
Prophets are subject to the prophets,(h) according to the order 
of the Spirit who regulates and divides all things well. And do not wonder 
that, while he rendered his account privately and to some, I do so publicly, 
and to all. For my need is greater than his, of being aided by the freedom of 
my censors, if I am proved to have failed in my duty, lest I should run, or 
have run, in vain.(q) And the only possible mode of 
self-defence is speech in the presence of men who know the facts. 

  2. What then is my defence?(i) If it be false, you must 
convict me, but if true, you on behalf of whom(k) and in whose 
presence I speak, must bear witness to it. For you are my defence, my 
witnesses, and my crown of rejoicing,(l) if I also may venture 
to boast myself a little in the Apostle's language. This flock was, when it 
was small and poor, as far as appearances went, nay, not even a flock, but a 
slight trace and relic of a flock, without order, or shepherd, or bounds, with 
neither right to pasturage, nor the defence of a fold, wandering upon the 
mountains and in caves and dens of the earth,(m) scattered and 
dispersed hither and thither as each one could find shelter or pasture, or 
could gratefully secure its own safety; like that flock which was harassed by 
lions, dispersed by tempest, or scattered in darkness, the lamentation of 
prophets who compared it to the misfortunes of Israel,(a) given 
up to the Gentiles; over which we also lamented, so long as our lot was worthy 
of lamentation. For in very deed we also were thrust out and cast off, and 
scattered upon every mountain and hill, from the need of a 
shepherd:(b) and a dreadful storm fell upon the Church, and 
fearful beasts assailed her, who do not even now, after the calm, spare us, 
but without being ashamed of themselves, wield a greater power than the time 
should allow; while a gloomy darkness, far more oppressive than the ninth 
plague of Egypt, the darkness which might be felt,(g) enveloped 
and concealed everything, so that we could scarcely even see one another. 

  3. To speak in a more feeling strain, trusting in Him Who then forsook me, 
as in a Father, "Abraham has been ignorant of us, Israel has acknowledged us 
not, but Thou art our Father, and unto Thee do we look;(d) 
beside Thee we know none else, we make mention of Thy name."(e) 
Therefore, says Jeremiah, I will plead with Thee, I will reason the cause with 
Thee.(z) We are become as at the beginning, when Thou barest 
not rule(h) over us, and Thou hast forgotten Thy holy covenant, 
and shut up Thy mercies from us. Therefore we, the worshippers of the Trinity, 
the perfect suppliants of the perfect Deity, became a reproach to Thy Beloved, 
neither daring to bring down to our own level any of the things above us, nor 
in such wise to rise up against the godless tongues which fought against God, 
as to make His Majesty a fellow servant with ourselves; but, as is plain, we 
were delivered up on account of our other sins, and because our conduct had 
been unworthy of Thy commandments, and we had walked after our own evil mind. 
For what other reason can there be for our being delivered up to the most 
unrighteous and wicked men of all the dwellers upon the earth? First 
Nebuchadnezzar(q) afflicted us,(i) possessed 
during the Christian era with an anti-Christian rage, hating Christ just 
because he had through Him gained salvation, and having bartered the sacred 
books for sacrifices to those who are no gods. He devoured me, he tore me in 
pieces, a slight darkness enveloped me,(k) if I may even in my 
lamentation 



387 



keep to the language of Scripture. If the Lord had not helped 
me,(a) and righteously delivered him to the hands of the 
lawless, by casting him off (such are the judgments of God) to the Persians, 
by whom his blood was righteously shed for his unholy sheddings of blood, 
since in this case alone justice could not afford even to be longsuffering, my 
soul had shortly dwelt in the grave.(b) The 
second(g) no more kindly, if he were not even more grievous 
still, for while he bore the name of Christ, he was a false Christ, and at 
once a burden and a reproach to the Christians, for, while to obey him was 
ungodly, to suffer at his hands was inglorious, since they did not even seem 
to be wronged, nor to gain by their sufferings the glorious title of martyr, 
inasmuch as the truth was in this case perverted, for while they suffered as 
Christians, they were supposed to be punished as heretics. Alas! how rich we 
were in misfortunes, for the fire consumed the beauties of the 
world.(d) That which the palmerworm left did the locust eat, 
and that which the locust left did the caterpillar eat: then came the 
cankerworm,(e) then, what next I know not, one evil springing 
up after another. But for what purpose should I give a tragic description of 
the evils of the time, and of the penalty exacted from us, or, if I must 
rather call it so, the testing and refining we endured? At any rate, we went 
through fire and water,(z) and have attained a place of 
refreshment by the good pleasure of God our Saviour. 

  4. To return to my original startingpoint. This was my field, when it was 
small and poor, unworthy not only of God, Who has been, and is cultivating the 
whole world with the fair seeds and doctrines of piety, but, apparently, even 
of any poor and needy man of slender means. Nay it did not deserve to be 
called a field, requiring neither barn nor threshing-floor, and not even 
worthy of the sickle; with neither heap nor sheaves, or small and untimely 
sheaves, like those on the housetop, which do not fill the hand of the reaper, 
nor call forth a blessing from them which go by.(h) Such was my 
field, such my harvest; great and well-eared and fat in the eyes of Him Who 
beholdeth hidden things, and becoming such a husbandman, its abundance 
springing from the valleys of souls well tilled with the Word: unrecognized 
however in public, and not collected together, but gathered in fragments, as 
an ear gleaned in the stubble,(q) as gleaning-grapes in the 
vintage, where there is no cluster left. I think I may add, only too 
appropriately, I found Israel like a figtree in the 
wilderness,(a) and like one or two ripe grapes in an unripe 
cluster, preserved as a blessing from the Lord,(b) and a 
consecrated firstfruit, though small as yet and scanty, and not filling the 
mouth of the eater: and as an ensign on a hill,(g) and as a 
beacon on a mountain, or any other solitary thing visible only to few. Such 
was its former poverty and dejection. 

  5. But since God, Who maketh poor and maketh rich, Who killeth and maketh 
alive;(d) Who maketh and transformeth all things; Who turneth 
night into day,(e) winter into spring, storm into calm, drought 
into abundance of rain; and often for the sake of the 
prayers(z) of one righteous man(h) sorely 
persecuted; Who lifteth up the meek on high, and bringeth the ungodly down to 
the ground;(q) since God said to Himself, I have surely seen 
the affliction of Israel;(i) and they shall no longer be 
further vexed with clay and brick-making; and when He spake He visited, and in 
His visitation He saved, and led forth His people with a mighty hand and 
outstretched arm,(k) by the hand of Moses and 
Aaron,(l) His chosen--what is the result, and what wonders have 
been wrought? Those which books and monuments contain. For besides all the 
wonders by the way, and that mighty roar, to speak most concisely, Joseph came 
into Egypt alone(m and soon after six hundred thousand depart 
from Egypt.(n) What more marvellous than this? What greater 
proof of the generosity of God, when from men without means He wills to supply 
the means for public affairs? And the land of promise is distributed through 
one who was hated, and he who was sold(x) dispossesses nations, 
and is himself made a great nation, and that small offshoot becomes a 
luxuriant vine,(o) so great that it reaches to the river, and 
is stretched out to the sea,(p) and spreads from border to 
border, and hides the mountains with the height of its glory and is exalted 
above the cedars, even the cedars of God, whatever we are to take these 
mountains and cedars to be. 

  6. Such then was once this flock, and such it is now, so healthy and well 
grown, and if it be not yet in perfection, it is advancing towards it by 
constant increase, and I pro- 



388 



phesy that it will advance. This is foretold me by the Holy Spirit, if I have 
any prophetic instinct and insight into the future. And from what has preceded 
I am able to be confident, and recognize this by reasoning, being the nursling 
of reason. For it was much more improbable that, from that condition, it 
should reach its present development, than that, as it now is, it should 
attain to the height of renown. For ever since it began to be gathered 
together, by Him Who quickeneth the dead,(a) bone to its bone, 
joint to joint, and the Spirit of life and regeneration was given to it in 
their dryness,(b) its entire resurrection has been, I know 
well, sure to be fulfilled: so that the rebellious should not exalt 
themselves,(g) and that those who grasp at a shadow, or at a 
dream when one awaketh,(d) or at the dispersing breezes, or at 
the traces of a ship in the water,(e) should not think that 
they have anything. Howl, firtree, for the cedar is fallen!(z) 
Let them be instructed by the misfortunes of others, and learn that the poor 
shall not alway be forgotten,(h) and that the Deity will not 
refrain, as Habakkuk says, from striking through the heads of the mighty 
ones(q) in His fury--the Deity, Who has been struck through and 
impiously divided into Ruler and Ruled, in order to insult the Deity in the 
highest degree by degrading It, and oppress a creature by equality with Deity. 

  7. I seem indeed tO hear that voice, from Him Who gathers together those who 
are broken, and welcomes the oppressed: Enlarge thy cords, break forth on the 
right hand and on the left, drive in thy stakes, spare not thy 
curtains.(i) I have given thee up, and I will help thee. In a 
little wrath I smote thee, but with everlasting mercy I will glorify 
thee.(k) The measure of His kindness exceeds the measure of His 
discipline. The former things were owing to our wickedness, the present things 
to the adorable Trinity: the former for our cleansing, the present for My 
glory, Who will glorify them that glorify Me,(l) and I will 
move to jealousy them that move Me to jealousy. Behold this is sealed up with 
Me,(m) and this is the indissoluble law of recompense. But thou 
didst surround thyself with walls and tablets and richly set stones, and long 
porticos and galleries, and didst shine and sparkle with gold, which thou 
didst, in part pour forth like water, in part treasure up like sand; not 
knowing that better is faith, with no other roof but the sky to cover it, than 
impiety rolling in wealth, and that three gathered together in the Name of the 
Lord(a) count for more with God than tens of thousands of those 
who deny the Godhead. Would you prefer the whole of the Canaanites to Abraham 
alone?(b) or the men of Sodom to Lot?(g) or the 
Midianites to Moses,(d) when each of these was a pilgrim and a 
stranger? How do the three hundred men with Gideon, who bravely 
lapped,(e) compare with the thousands who were put to flight? 
Or the servants of Abraham, who scarcely exceeded them in number, with the 
many kings and the army of tens of thousands whom, few as they were, they 
overtook and defeated?(z) Or how do you understand the passage 
that though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a 
remnant shall be saved?(h) And again, I have left me seven 
thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal?(q) This is 
not the case; it is not? God has not taken pleasure in numbers. 

  8. Thou countest tens of thousands, God counts those who are in a state of 
salvation; thou countest the dust which is without number, I the vessels of 
election. For nothing is so magnificent in God's sight as pure doctrine, and a 
soul perfect in all the dogmas of the truth.--For there is nothing worthy of 
Him Who made all things, of Him by Whom are all things, and for Whom are all 
things,(i) so that it can be given or offered to God: not 
merely the handiwork or means of any individual, but even if we wished to 
honour Him, by uniting together all the property and handiwork of all mankind. 
Do not I fill heaven and earth?(k) saith the Lord! and what 
house will ye build Me? or what is the place of My rest?(l) 
But, since man must needs fall short of what is worthy, I ask of you, as 
approaching it most nearly, piety, the wealth which is common to all and equal 
in My eyes, wherein the poorest may, if he be nobleminded, surpass the most 
illustrious. For this kind of glory depends upon purpose, not upon affluence. 
These things be well assured, I will accept at your hands.(m) 
To tread(n) My courts ye shall not proceed, but the feet of the 
meek(x) shall tread them, who have duly and sincerely 
acknowledged Me, and My only-begotten Word, and the Holy Spirit. How long will 
ye inherit My holy Mountain?(o) How long 



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shall My ark be among the heathen?(a) Now for a little longer 
ye indulge yourselves in that which belongs to others, and gratify your 
desires. For as ye have devised to reject Me, so will I also reject 
you,(b) saith the Lord Almighty. 

  9. This I seemed to hear Him say, and to see Him do, and besides, to hear 
Him shouting to His people, which once were few and scattered and miserable, 
and have now become many, and compact enough and enviable, Go 
through(g) My gates(d) and be ye enlarged. Must 
you always be in trouble and dwell in tents, while those who vex you rejoice 
exceedingly? And to. the presiding Angels, for I believe, as John teaches me 
in his Revelation, that each Church has its guardian,(e) 
Prepare ye the way of My people, and cast away the stones from the 
way,(z) that there may be no stumblingblock or hindrance for 
the people(h) in the divine road and entrance, now, to the 
temples made with hands,(q) but soon after, to Jerusalem 
above,(i) and the Holy of holies there,(k) which 
will, I know, be the end of suffering and struggle to those who here bravely 
travel on the way. Among whom are ye also called to be 
Saints,(l) a people of possession, a royal 
priesthood,(m) the most excellent portion of the Lord, a whole 
river from a drop, a heavenly lamp from a spark, a tree from a grain of 
mustard seed,(n) on which the birds come and lodge. 

  10. These we present to you, dear shepherds, these we offer to you, with 
these we welcome our friends, and guests, and fellow pilgrims. We have nothing 
fairer or more splendid to offer to you, for we have selected the greatest of 
all our possessions, that you may see that, strangers as we are, we are not in 
want, but though poor are making many rich.(x) If these things 
are small and unworthy of notice, I would fain learn what is greater and of 
more account. For, if it be no great thing to have established and 
strengthened with wholesome doctrines a city which is the eye of the universe, 
in its exceeding strength by sea and land, which is, as it were, the link 
between the Eastern and Western shores, in which the extremities of the world 
from every side meet together, and from which, as the common mart of the 
faith, they take their rise, a city borne hither and thither on the eddying 
currents of so many tongues, it will be long ere anything be considered great 
or worthy of esteem. But if it be indeed a subject for praise, allow to us 
some glory on this account, since we have contributed in some portion to these 
results which ye see. 

  11. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see,(a) thou critic 
of my words! See the crown which has been platted in return for the hirelings 
of Ephraim(b) and the crown of insolence; see the assembly of 
the presbyters, honoured for years and wisdom, the fair order of the deacons, 
who are not far from the same Spirit, the good conduct of the readers, the 
people's eagerness for teaching, both of men and women, who are equally 
renowned for virtue: the men, whether philosophers or simple folk, being alike 
wise in divine things, whether rulers or ruled, being all in this respect duly 
under rule; whether soldiers or nobles, students or men of letters, being all 
soldiers(g) of God, though in all other respects meek, ready to 
fight for the Spirit, all reverencing the assembly above, to which we obtain 
an entrance, not by the mere letter, but by the quickening Spirit, all in very 
deed being men of reason, and worshippers of Him Who is in truth the Word: the 
women, if married, being united by a Divine rather than by a carnal bond; if 
unwedded and free, being entirely dedicated to God; whether young or old, some 
honourably advancing towards old age, others eagerly striving to remain 
immortal, being renewed by the best of hopes. 

  12. To those who platted this crown--that which I speak, I speak it not 
after the Lord,(d) nevertheless I will say it--I also have 
given assistance. Some of them are the result of my words, not of those which 
we have uttered at random, but of those which we have loved--nor again of 
those which are meretricious, though the language and manners of the harlot 
have been slanderously attributed to me, but of those which are most grave. 
Some of them are the offspring and fruit of my Spirit, as the Spirit can beget 
those who rise superior to the body. To this I have no doubt that those who 
are kindly among you, nay all of you, will testify, since I have been the 
husbandman of all: and my sole reward is your confession. For we neither have, 
nor have had, any other object. For virtue, that it may remain virtue, is 
without reward, its eyes fixed alone on that which is good. 

  13. Would you have me say something still more venturesome? Do you see the 
tongues of the enemy made gentle, and those 



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who made war upon the Godhead against me tranquillised? This also is the 
result of our Spirit, of our husbandry. For we are not undisciplined in our 
exercise of discipline, nor do we hurl insults, as many do, who assail not the 
argument but the speaker, and sometimes strive by their invective to hide the 
weakness of their reasoning; as the cuttlefish are said to cast forth ink 
before them, in order to escape from their pursuers, or themselves to hunt 
others when unperceived. But we show that our warfare is in behalf of Christ 
by fighting as Christ, the peaceable and meek,(a) Who has borne 
our infirmities, fought.(b) Though peaceable, we do not injure. 
the word of truth, by yielding a jot, to gain a reputation for reasonableness; 
for we do not pursue that which is good by means of ill: and we are peaceable 
by the legitimate character of our warfare, confined as it is to our own 
limits, and the rules of the Spirit. Upon these points, this is my decision, 
and I lay down the law for all stewards of souls and dispensers of the Word: 
neither to exasperate others by their harshness, nor to render them arrogant 
by submissiveness: but to be of good words in treating of the Word, and in 
neither direction to overstep the mean. 

  14. But you are perhaps longing for me to give an exposition of the faith, 
in so far as I am able. For I shall myself be sanctified by the effort of 
memory, and the people also will be benefited, by its special delight in such 
discussions, and you will fully acknowledge it--unless we are the objects of 
groundless envy, as the rivals, in the manifestation of the truth, of those 
whom we do not excel. For as, of deep waters, some in the depths are utterly 
hidden, some foam against any obstruction, and hesitate a while before 
breaking (as they promise to our ears), some do actually break; so also, of 
those who are professors of the Divine philosophy--setting aside the utterly 
misguided--some keep their piety entirely secret and hidden within themselves, 
some are not far from the birth pangs, avoiding impiety, yet not speaking out 
their piety, either from cautious reserve in their teaching, or under pressure 
of fear, being themselves sound, as they say, in mind, but not making sound 
their people, as if they had been en-trusted with the government of their own 
souls, but not of those of others; while there are some who make public their 
treasure, unable to restrain themselves from giving birth to their piety, and 
not considering that to be salvation which saves themselves alone, without 
bestowing upon others the overflow of their blessings. Among these would I 
range myself, and all who by my side have nobly dared to confess the truth. 

  15. One concise proclamation of our teaching, an inscription intelligible to 
all, is this people, which so sincerely worships the Trinity, that it would 
sooner sever anyone from this life, than sever one of the three from the 
Godhead: of one mind, of equal zeal, and united to one another, to us and to 
the Trinity by unity of doctrine. Briefly to run over its details: That which 
is without beginning, and is the beginning, and is with the begining, is one 
God. For the nature of that which is without beginning does not consist in 
being without beginning or being unbegotten, for the nature of anything lies, 
not in what it is not but in what it is. It is the assertion of what is, not 
the denial of what is not. And the Beginning is not, because it is a 
beginning, separated from that which has no beginning. For its beginning is 
not its nature, any more than the being without beginning is the nature of the 
other. For these are the accompaniments of the nature, not the nature itself. 
That again which is with that which has no beginning, and with the beginning, 
is not anything else than what they are. Now, the name of that which has no 
beginning is the Father, and of the Beginning the Son, and of that which is 
with the Beginning, the Holy Ghost, and the three have one Nature--God. And 
the union is the Father from Whom and to Whom the order of Persons runs its 
course, not so as to be confounded, but so as to be possessed, without 
distinction of time, of will, or of power. For these things in our case 
produce a plurality of individuals, since each of them is separate both from 
every other quality, and from every other individual possession of the same 
quality. But to Those who have a simple nature, and whose essence is the same, 
the term One belongs in its highest sense. 

  16. Let us then bid farewell to all contentious shiftings and balancings of 
the truth on either side, neither, like the Sabellians, assailing the Trinity 
in the interest of the Unity, and so destroying the distinction by a wicked 
confusion; nor, like the Arians, assailing the Unity in the interest of the 
Trinity, and by an impious distinction overthrowing the Oneness. For our 
object is not to exchange one evil for another, but to ensure our attainment 
of that which is good. These are the playthings of the Wicked One, 



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who is ever swaying our fortunes towards the evil. But we, walking along the 
royal road which lies between the two extremes, which is the seat of the 
virtues, as the authorities say, believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy 
Ghost, of one Substance and glory; in Whom also baptism has its perfection, 
both nominally and really (thou knowest who hast been initiated!); being a 
denial of atheism and a confession of Godhead; and thus we are regenerated, 
acknowledging the Unity in the Essence and in the undivided worship, and the 
Trinity in the Hypostases or Persons (which term some prefer.) And let not 
those who are contentious on these points utter their scandalous taunts, as if 
our faith depended on terms and not on realities. For what do you mean who 
assert the three Hypostases? Do you imply three Essences by the term? I am 
assured that you would loudly shout against those who do so. For you teach 
that the Essence of the Three is One and the same. What do you mean, who 
assert the Three Persons? Do you imagine a single compound sort of being, with 
three faces,(a) or of an entirely human form? Perish the 
thought! You too will loudly reply that he who thinks thus, will never see the 
face of God, whatever it may be. What is the meaning of the Hypostases of the 
one party, of the Persons of the other, to ask this further question? That 
They are three, Who are distinguished not by natures, but by 
properties.(b) Excellent. How could men agree and harmonize 
better than you do, even if there be a difference between the syllables you 
use? You see what a reconciler I am, bringing you back from the letter to the 
sense, as we do with the Old and New Testaments. 

  17. But, to resume: let us speak of the Unbegotten, the Begotten, and the 
Proceeding, if anyone likes to create names: for we shall have no fear of 
bodily conceptions attaching to Those who are not embodied, as the 
calumniators of the Godhead think. For the creature must be called God's, and 
this is for us a great thing, but God never. Otherwise I shall admit that God 
is a creature, if I become God, in the strict sense of the term. For this is 
the truth. If God, He is not a creature; for the creature ranks with us who 
are not Gods. And if a creature, he is not God, for he had a beginning in 
time. And there was a time when he who had a beginning was not. And that of 
which non-existence was its prior condition, has not being in the strict sense 
of the term. And how can that, which strictly has not being, be God? Not one 
single one, then, of the Three is a creature, nor, what is worse, came into 
being for my sake; for in that case he would be not only a creature, but 
inferior in honour to us. For, if I am for the glory of God, and he is for my 
sake, as the tongs for the waggon, the saw for the door, I am his superior in 
causality. For in whatever degree God is superior to creatures, in the same 
degree is he, who came into being for my sake, inferior to me who exist for 
God's sake. 

  18. Moreover, the Moabites and Ammonites must not even be allowed to 
enter(a) into the Church of God, I mean those sophistical, 
mischievous arguments which enquire curiously into the generation and 
inexpressible procession of God, and rashly set themselves in array against 
the Godhead: as if it were necessary that those things which it is beyond the 
power of language to set forth, must either be accessible to them alone, or 
else have no existence because they have not comprehended them. We however, 
following the Divine Scriptures, and removing out of the way of the blind the 
stumbling blocks contained in them, will cling to salvation, daring any and 
every thing rather than arrogance against God. As for the evidences, we leave 
them to others, since they have been set forth by many, and by ourselves also 
with no little care. And indeed, it would be a very shameful thing for me at 
this time to be gathering together proofs for what has all along been 
believed. For it is not the best order of things, first to teach and then to 
learn, even in matters which are small and of no consequence, and much more in 
those which are Divine and of such great importance. Nor, again, is it proper 
to the present occasion to explain and disentangle the difficulties of 
Scripture, a task requiring fuller and more careful consideration than our 
present purpose will allow. Such then, to sum up, is our teaching. I have 
entered into these details, with no intention of contending against the 
adversaries: for I have already often, even if it be imperfectly, fought out 
the question with them: but in order that I might exhibit to you the character 
of my teaching, that you might see whether I have not a share in the defence 
of your own, and do not take my stand on the same side, and opposed to the 
same enemies as yourselves. 



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  19. You have now, my friends, heard the defence of my presence here: if it 
be deserving of praise, thanks are due for it to God, and to you who called 
me; if it has fallen below your expectation, I give thanks even on this 
behalf. For I am assured that it has not been altogether deserving of censure, 
and am confident that you also admit this. Have we at all made a 
gain(a) of this people? Have we consulted at all our own 
interests, as I see is most often the case? Have we caused any vexation to the 
Church? To others possibly, with whose idea that they had gained judgment 
against us by default, we have joined issue in our argument; but in no wise, 
as far as I am aware, to you. I have taken no ox of yours,(b) 
says the great Samuel, in his contention against Israel on the subject of the 
king, nor any propitiation for your souls, the Lord is witness among you, nor 
this, nor that, proceeding at greater length, that I may not count up every 
particular; but I have kept the priesthood pure and unalloyed. And if I have 
loved power, or the height of a throne, or to tread Kings' courts, may I never 
possess any distinction, or if I gain it, may I be hurled from it. 

  20. What then do I mean? I am no proficient in virtue without reward, having 
not attained to so high a degree of virtue. Give me the reward of my labours. 
What reward? Not that which some, prone to any suspicion would suppose, but 
that which it is safe for me to seek. Give me a respite from my long labours; 
give honour to my foreign service; elect another in my place, the one who is 
being eagerly sought on your behalf, someone who is clean of hands, someone 
who is not unskilled in voice, someone who is able to gratify you on all 
points, and share with you the ecclesiastical cares; for this is especially 
the time for such. But behold, I pray you, the condition of this body, so 
drained by time, by disease, by toil. What need have you of a timid and 
unmanly old man, who is, so to speak, dying day by day, not only in body, but 
even in powers of mind, who finds it difficult to enter into these details 
before you? Disobey not the voice of your teacher: for indeed you have never 
yet disobeyed it. I am weary of being charged with my gentleness. I am weary 
of being assailed in words and in envy by enemies, and by our own. Some aim at 
my breast, and are less successful in their effort, for an open enemy can be 
guarded against. Others lie in wait for my back, and give greater pain, for 
the unsuspected blow is the more fatal. If again I have been a pilot, I have 
been one of the most skilful; the sea has been boisterous around us, boiling 
about the ship, and there has been considerable uproar among the passengers, 
who have always been fighting about something or another, and roaring against 
one another and the waves. What a struggle I have had, seated at the helm, 
contending alike with the sea and the passengers, to bring the vessel safe to 
land through this double storm? Had they in every way supported me, safety 
would have been hardly won, and when they were opposed to me, how has it been 
possible to avoid making shipwreck? 

  21. What more need be said? But how can I bear this holy war? For there has 
been said to be a holy, as well as a Persian, war.(a) How shall 
I unite and join together the hostile occupants of sees, and hostile pastors, 
and the people broken up along with, and opposed to them, as if by some chasms 
caused by earthquakes between neighbouring and adjoining places; or as, in 
pestilential diseases, befalls servants and members of the family, when the 
sickness readily attacks in succession one after another; and besides the very 
quarters of the globe are affected by the spirit of faction, so that East and 
West are arrayed on opposite sides, and bid fair to be severed in opinion no 
less than in position. How long are parties to be mine and yours, the old and 
the new, the more rational and the more spiritual, the more noble and the more 
ignoble, the more and the less numerous? I am ashamed of my old age, when, 
after being saved by Christ, I am called by the name of others. 

  22.(b) I cannot bear your horse races and theatres, and this 
rage for rivalry in expense and party spirit. We unharness, and harness 
ourselves on the other side, we neigh against each other, we almost beat the 
air, as they do, and fling the dust towards heaven, like those which are 
excited; and under other masks satisfy our own rivalry, and become evil 
arbiters of emulation, and senseless judges of affairs. To-day sharing the 
same thrones and opinions, if our leaders thus carry us along; to-morrow 
hostile alike in position and opinion, if the wind blows in the contrary 
direction. Amid the variations of friendship and hatred, our names also vary: 
and what is most 



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terrible, we are not ashamed to set forth contrary doctrines to the same 
audience; nor are we constant to the same objects, being rendered different at 
different times by our contentiousness. They are like the ebb and flow of some 
narrow strait.(a) For as when the children are at play in the 
midst of the market place, it would be most disgraceful and unbecoming for us 
to leave our household business, and join them; for children's toys are not 
becoming for old age: so, when others are contending, even if I am better 
informed than the majority, I could not allow myself to be one of them, rather 
than, as I now do, enjoy the freedom of obscurity. For, besides all this, my 
feeling is that I do not, on most points, agree with the majority, and cannot 
bear to walk in the same way. Rash and stupid though it may be, such is my 
feeling. That which is pleasant to others causes pain to me, and I am pleased 
with what is painful to others. So that I should not be surprised if I were 
even imprisoned as a disagreeable man, and thought by most men to be out of my 
senses, as is said to have been the case with one of the Greek philosophers, 
whose moderation exposed him to the charge of madness, because he laughed at 
everything, since he saw that the objects of the eager pursuit of the majority 
were ridiculous; or even be thought full of new wine as were in later days the 
disciples of Christ, because they spoke with tongues,(b) since 
men knew not that it was the power of the Spirit, and not a distraction of 
mind. 

  23. Now, consider the charges laid against us. You have been ruler of the 
church, it is said, for so long, and favoured by the course of time, and the 
influence of the sovereign, a most important matter. What change have we been 
able to notice? How many men have in days gone by used us outrageously? What 
sufferings have we failed to undergo? Ill-usage? Threats? Banishment? Plunder? 
Confiscation? The burning(g) of priests at sea? The desecration 
of temples by the blood of the saints, till, instead of temples, they became 
charnel-houses? The public slaughter of aged Bishops, to speak more 
accurately, of Patriarchs? The denial of access to every place in the case of 
the godly alone? In fact any kind of suffering which could be mentioned? And 
for which of these have we requited the wrongdoers? For the wheel of fortune 
gave us the power of rightly treating those who so treated us, and our 
persecutors ought to have received a lesson. Apart from all other things, 
speaking only of our experiences, not to mention your own, have we not been 
persecuted, maltreated, driven from churches, houses, and, most terrible of 
all, even from the deserts? Have we not had to endure an enraged people, 
insolent governors, the disregard of Emperors and their decrees? What was the 
result? We became stronger, and our persecutors took to flight. That was 
actually the case. The power to requite them seemed to me a sufficient 
vengeance on those who had wronged us. These men thought otherwise; for they 
are exceedingly exact and just in requiting: and accordingly they 
demand(a) what the state of things permits. What governor, they 
say, has been fined? What populace chastised? What ringleaders of the 
populace? What fear of ourselves have we been able to inspire for the future? 

  24. Perhaps(b) we may be reproached, as we have been before, 
with the exquisite character of our table, the splendour of our apparel, the 
officers who precede us, our haughtiness to those who meet us. I was not aware 
that we ought to rival the consuls, the governors, the most illustrious 
generals, who have no opportunity of lavishing their incomes; or that our 
belly ought to hunger for the enjoyment of the goods of the poor, and to 
expend their necessaries on superfluities, and belch forth over the altars. I 
did not know that we ought to ride on splendid horses, and drive in 
magnificent carriages, and be preceded by a procession and surrounded by 
applause, and have everyone make way for us, as if we were wild beasts, and 
open out a passage so that our approach might be seen afar. If these 
sufferings have been endured, they have now passed away: Forgive me this 
wrong.(g) Elect another who will please the majority: and give 
me my desert, my country life, and my God, Whom alone I may have to please, 
and shall please by my simple life. It is a painful thing to be deprived of 
speeches and conferences, and public gatherings, and applause like that which 
now lends wings to my thoughts, and relatives, and friends and honours, and 
the beauty and grandeur of the city, and its brilliancy which dazzles those 
who look at the surface without investigating the inner nature of things; but 
yet not so painful as being clamoured against and besmirched amid public 
disturbances and agitations, which trim their sails to the popular breeze. For 
they seek not for priests, but for orators, not 



394 



for stewards of souls, but for treasurers of money, not for pure offerers of 
the sacrifice, but for powerful patrons. I will say a word in their defence: 
we have thus trained them, by becoming all things to all 
men,(a) whether to save or destroy all, I know not. 

  25. What say you? Are you persuaded, have you been overcome by my words? Or 
must I use stronger terms in order to persuade you? Yea by the Trinity Itself, 
Whom you and I alike worship, by our common hope, and for the sake of the 
unity of this people, grant me this favour; dismiss me with your prayers; let 
this be the proclamation of my contest; give me my certificate of retirement, 
as sovereigns do to their soldiers; and, if you will, with a favourable 
testimony, that I may enjoy the honour of it; if not, just as you please; this 
will make no difference to me, until God sees what my case really is. What 
successor then shall we elect? God will provide Himself(b) a 
shepherd for the office, as He once provided a lamb for a burnt-offering. I 
only make this further request,--let him be one who is the object of envy, not 
the object of pity; not one who yields everything to all, but one who can on 
some points offer resistance for the sake of what is best: for though the one 
is most pleasant, the other is most profitable. So do you prepare for me your 
addresses of dismissal: I will now bid you farewell. 

  26. Farewell my Anastasia,(g) whose name is redolent of 
piety: for thou hast raised up for us the doctrine which was in contempt: 
farewell, scene of our common victory, modern Shiloh,(d) where 
the tabernacle was first fixed, after being carried about in its wanderings 
for forty years in the wilderness. Farewell likewise, grand and renowned 
temple, our new inheritance, whose greatness is now due to the Word, which 
once wast a Jebus,(e) and hast now been made by us a Jerusalem. 
Farewell, all ye others, inferior only to this in beauty, scattered through 
the various parts of the city, like so many links, uniting together each your 
own neighbourhood, which have been filled with worshippers of whose existence 
we had despaired, not by me, in my weakness, but by the grace which was with 
me.(z) Farewell, ye Apostles,(h) noble settlers 
here, my masters in the strife; if I have not often kept festival with you, it 
has been possibly due to the Satan(a) which I, like S. 
Paul,(b) who was one of you, carry about in my body for my own 
profit, and which is the cause of my now leaving you. Farewell, my throne, 
envied and perilous height; farewell assembly of high priests, honoured by the 
dignity and age of its priests, and all ye others ministers of God round the 
holy table, drawing nigh to the God Who draws nigh to you.(g) 
Farewell, choirs of Nazarites, harmonies of the Psalter, night-long stations, 
venerable virgins, decorous matrons, gatherings of widows and orphans, and ye 
eyes of the poor, turned towards God and towards me. Farewell, hospitable and 
Christ-loved dwellings, helpers of my infirmity. Farewell, ye lovers of my 
discourses, in your eagerness and concourse, ye pencils seen and unseen, and 
thou balustrade, pressed upon by those who thrust themselves forward to hear 
the word. Farewell, Emperors, and palace, and ministers and household of the 
Emperor, whether faithful or not to him, I know not, but for the most part, 
unfaithful to God. Clap your hands, shout aloud, extol your orator to the 
skies. This pestilent and garrulous tongue has ceased to speak to you. Though 
it will not utterly cease to speak: for it will fight with hand and ink: but 
for the present we have ceased to speak. 

  27. Farewell, mighty Christ-loving city. I will testify to the truth, though 
thy zeal be not according to knowledge.(d) Our separation 
renders us more kindly. Approach the truth: be converted at this late hour. 
Honour God more than you have been wont to do. It is no disgrace to change, 
while it is fatal to cling to evil. Farewell, East and West, for whom and 
against whom I have had to fight; He is witness, Who will give you peace, if 
but a few would imitate my retirement. For those who resign their thrones will 
not also lose God, but will have the seat on high, which is far more exalted 
and secure. Last of all, and most of all, I will cry,--farewell ye Angels, 
guardians of this church, and of my presence and pilgrimage, since our affairs 
are in the hands of God. Farewell, O Trinity, my meditation, and my glory. 
Mayest Thou be preserved by those who are here, and preserve them, my people: 
for they are mine, even if I have my place assigned elsewhere; and may I learn 
that Thou art ever extolled and glorified in word and conduct. 



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My children, keep, I pray you, that which is committed to your 
trust.(a) Remember my stonings.(b) The grace of 
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. 

ORATION XLIII. THE PANEGYRIC ON S. BASIL. 

  S. BASIL died January 1, A.D. 379. A serious illness, in addition to other 
causes, prevented S. Gregory from being present at his funeral (Epist. 79). 
Benoit holds that an expression (Epitaph, cxix. 38) in which S. Gregory says 
that  his "lips are fettered" proves that he was still in retirement at 
Seleucia. This is an unwarranted deduction. In this Oration, 2, the Saint, 
alluding to his illness in disparaging terms, alleges his labours at 
Constantinople as a more pressing reason for his absence: and says that he 
undertook the task according to the judgment of S. Basil. This implies that S. 
Gregory went to Constantinople before the death of S. Basil, or that he had 
then been influenced by his friend's advice and was on the point of setting 
out--more probably the former, as we may be sure that, if S. Gregory had been 
still at Seleucia, no reason but physical incapacity would have kept him from 
his friend's side. His pressing duties at Constantinople and the difficulties 
of the long journey were the "other causes" of his letter to S. Gregory of 
Nyssa: and we know that he suffered from serious illness at Constantinople 
(Carm. xi. 887. Orat. xxiii. 1). S. Gregory left Constantinople in June, A.D. 
381, and Tillemont places the date of this Oration soon after his return to 
Nazianzus. Benoit thinks that it was probably delivered on the anniversary of 
S. Basil's death. The Oration, as all critics are agreed, is one of great 
power and beauty. Its length (62 pages folio), the physical weakness of the 
speaker, and the limits of the endurance of even an interested audience, 
incline us to suppose that it was not spoken in its present form. We cannot 
well set aside expressions which clearly point to actual delivery, but it may 
have been amplified later. 



FUNERAL ORATION ON THE GREAT S. BASIL, BISHOP OF CAeSAREA IN CAPPADOCIA. 



  1. It has then been ordained that the great Basil, who used so constantly to 
furnish me with subjects for my discourses, of which he was quite as proud as 
any other man of his own, should himself now furnish me with the grandest 
subject which has ever fallen to the lot of an orator. For I think that if 
anyone desired, in making trial of his powers of eloquence, to test them by 
the standard of that one of all his subjects which he preferred (as painters 
do with epoch-making pictures), he would choose that which stood first of all 
others, but would set aside this as beyond the powers of human eloquence. So 
great a task is the praise of such a man, not only to me, who have long ago 
laid aside all thought of emulation, but even to those who live for eloquence, 
and whose sole object is the gaining of glory by subjects like this. Such is 
my opinion, and, as I persuade myself, with perfect justice. But I know not 
what subject I can treat with eloquence, if not this; or what greater favour I 
can do to myself, to the admirers of virtue, or to eloquence itself, than 
express our admiration for this man. To me it is the discharge of a most 
sacred debt. And our speech is a debt beyond all others due to those who have 
been gifted, in particular, with powers of speech. To the admirers of virtue a 
discourse is at once a pleasure and an incentive to virtue. For 
when(a) I have learned the praises of men, I have a distinct 
idea of their progress: now, there is none of us all, within whose power it is 
not to attain to any point whatsoever in that progress. As for eloquence 
itself, in either case, all must go well with it. For, if the discourse be 
almost worthy of its subject--eloquence will have given an exhibition of its 
power: if it fall far short of it, as must be the case when the praises of 
Basil are being set forth, by an actual demonstration of its incapacity, it 
will have declared the superiority of the excellences of its subject to all 
expression in words. 

  2. These are the reasons which have urged me to speak, and to address myself 
to this contest. And at my late appearance, long after his praises have been 
set forth by so many, who have publicly and privately done him honour, let no 
one be surprised. Yea, may i be pardoned by that divine soul, the object of my 
constant reverence! And as, when he was amongst us, he constantly corrected me 
in many points, according to the rights of a friend and the still higher law; 
for I am not ashamed to say this, for he was a standard of virtue to us all; 
so now, looking down upon me from above, he will treat me with indul- 



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gence. I ask pardon too of any here who are among his warmest admirers, if 
indeed anyone can be warmer than another, and we are not all abreast in our 
zeal for his good fame. For it is not contempt which has caused me to fall 
short of what might have been expected of me: nor have I been so regardless of 
the claims of virtue or of friendship; nor have I thought that to praise him 
befitted any other more than me. No! any first reason was, that I shrunk from 
this task, for I will say the truth, as priests(a) do, who 
approach their sacred duties before being cleansed both in voice and mind. In 
the second place, I remind you, though you know it well, of the 
task(b) in which I was engaged on behalf of the true doctrine, 
which had been properly forced upon me, and had carried me from home, 
according, as I suppose, to the will of God, and certainly according to the 
judgment of our noble champion of the truth, the breath of whose life was 
pious doctrine alone, such as promotes the salvation of the whole world. As 
for my bodily health, I ought not, perhaps, to dare to mention it, when my 
subject is a man so doughty in his conquest of the body, even before his 
removal hence, and who maintained that no powers of the soul should suffer 
hindrance from this our fetter.(g) So much for my defence. I do 
not think I need labour it further, in speaking of him to you who know so 
clearly my affairs. I must now proceed with my eulogy, commending myself to 
his God, in order that my commendations may not prove an insult to the man, 
and that I may not lag far behind all others; even though we all equally fall 
as far short of his due, as those who look upon the heavens or the rays of the 
Sun. 

  3. Had I seen him to be proud of his birth, and the rights of birth, or any 
of those infinitely little objects of those whose eyes are on the ground, we 
should have had to inspect a new catalogue of the Heroes. What details as to 
his ancestors might I not have laid under contribution! Nor would even history 
have had any advantage over me, since I claim this advantage, that his 
celebrity depends, not upon fiction or legend, but upon actual facts attested 
by many witnesses. On his father's side Pontus offers to me many details, in 
no wise inferior to its wonders of old time, of which all history and poesy 
are full;(d) there are many others concerned with this my 
native land, of illustrious men of Cappadocia, renowned for its youthful 
progeny,(a) no less than for its horses. Accordingly we match 
with his father's family that of his mother. What family owns more numerous, 
or more illustrious generals and governors, or court officials, or again, men 
of wealth, and lofty thrones, and public honours, and oratorical renown? If it 
were permitted me to wish to mention them, I would make nothing of the 
Pelopidae and Cecropidae, the Alcmaeonids, the Aeacidae, and Heracleidae, and 
other most noble families: inasmuch as they, in default of public merit in 
their house, betake themselves to the region of uncertainty, claiming demigods 
and divinities, merely mythical personages, as the glory of their ancestors, 
whose most vaunted details are incredible, and those which we can believe are 
an infamy. 

  4. But since our subject is a man who has maintained that each man's 
nobility is to be judged of according to his own worth, and that, as forms and 
colours, and likewise our most celebrated and most infamous horses, are tested 
by their own properties, so we too ought not to be depicted in borrowed 
plumes; after mentioning one or two traits, which, though inherited from his 
ancestors, he made his own by his life, and which are specially likely to give 
pleasure to my hearers, I will then proceed to deal with the man himself. 
Different families and individuals have different points of distinction and 
interest, great or small, which, like a patrimony of longer or shorter 
descent, come down to posterity: the distinction of his family on either side 
was piety, which I now proceed to display. 

  5. There was a persecution, the most frightful and severe of all; I mean, as 
you know, the persecution of Maximinus, which, following closely upon those 
which immediately preceded it, made them all seem gentle, by its excessive 
audacity, and by its eagerness to win the crown of violence in impiety. It was 
overcome by many of our champions, who wrestled with it to the death, or 
well-nigh to the death, with only life enough left in them to survive their 
victory, and not pass away in the midst of the struggle; remaining to be 
trainers(b) in virtue, living witnesses, breathing trophies, 
silent exhortations, among whose numerous ranks were found Basil's paternal 
ancestors, upon whom, 



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in their practice of every form of piety, that period bestowed many a fair 
garland. So prepared and determined were they to bear readily all those things 
on account of which Christ crowns those who have imitated His struggle on our 
behalf. 

  6. But since their strife must needs be lawful, and the law of martyrdom 
alike forbids us voluntarily to go to meet it (in consideration for the 
persecutors, and for the weak) or to shrink from it if it comes upon us; for 
the former shows foolhardiness, the latter cowardice; in this respect they 
paid due honour to the Lawgiver; but what was their device, or rather, to what 
were they led by the Providence which guided them in all things? They betook 
themselves to a thicket on the mountains of Pontus, of which there are many 
deep ones of considerable extent, with very few comrades of their flight, or 
attendants upon their needs. Let others marvel at the length of time, for 
their flight was exceedingly prolonged, to about seven years, or a little 
more, and their mode of life, delicately nurtured as they were, was straitened 
and unusual, as may be imagined, with the discomfort of its exposure to frost 
and heat and rain: and the wilderness allowed no fellowship or converse with 
friends: a great trial to men accustomed to the attendance and honour of a 
numerous retinue. But I will proceed to speak of what is still greater and 
more extraordinary: nor will anyone fail to credit it, save those who, in 
their .feeble and dangerous judgment, think little of persecutions and dangers 
for Christ's sake. 

  7. These noble men, suffering from the lapse of time, and feeling a distaste 
for ordinary food, felt a longing for something more appetising. They did not 
indeed speak as Israel did,(a) for they were not 
murmurers(b) like them, in their afflictions in the desert, 
after the escape from Egypt--that Egypt would have been better for them than 
the wilderness, in the bountiful supply of its flesh-pots, and other dainties 
which they had left behind them there, for the brickmaking and the clay seemed 
nothing to them then in their folly--but in a more pious and faithful manner. 
For why, said they, is it incredible that the God of wonders, who bountifully 
fed(g) in the wilderness his homeless and fugitive people, 
raining bread upon them, and abounding in quails, nourishing them not only 
with necessaries, but even with luxuries: that He, Who divided the 
sea,(d) and stayed the sun,(e) and parted the 
river, with all the other things that He has done; for under such 
circumstances the mind is wont to recur to history, and sing the praises of 
God's many wonders: that He, they went on, should feed us champions of piety 
with dainties to-day? Many animals which have escaped the tables of the rich, 
have their lairs in these mountains, and many eatable birds fly over our 
longing heads, any of which can surely be caught at the mere fiat of Thy will! 
At these words, their quarry lay before them, with food come of its own 
accord, a complete banquet prepared without effort, stags appearing all at 
once from some place in the hills. How splendid they were! how fat! how ready 
for the slaughter! It might almost be imagined that they were annoyed at not 
having been summoned earlier. Some of them made signs to draw others after 
them, the rest followed their lead. Who pursued and drove them? No one. What 
riders? What kind of dogs, what barking, or cry, or young men who had occupied 
the exits according to the rules of the chase? They were the prisoners of 
prayer and righteous petition. Who has known such a hunt among men of this, or 
any day? 

  8. O what a wonder! They were themselves stewards of the chase; what they 
would, was caught by the mere will to do so; what was left, they sent away to 
the thickets, for another meal. The cooks were extemporised, the dinner 
exquisite, the guests were grateful for this wonderful foretaste of their 
hopes. And hence they grew more earnest in their struggle, in return for which 
they had received this blessing. Such is my history. And do thou, my 
persecutor, in thy admiration for legends, tell of thy 
huntresses,(a) and Orions, and Actaeons, those ill-fated 
hunters, and the hind substituted for the maiden,(b) if any 
such thing rouses thee to emulation, and if we grant that this story is no 
legend. The sequel of the tale is too disgraceful. For what is the benefit of 
the exchange, if a maiden is saved to be taught to murder her guests, and 
learn to requite humanity with inhumanity? Let this one instance, such as it 
is, chosen out of many, represent the rest, as far as I am concerned. I have 
not related it to contribute to his reputation: for neither does the sea stand 
in need of the rivers which flow into it, many and great though they be, nor 
does the present subject of my praises need any contributions to his fair 
fame. No! my object is to exhibit 



398 



the character of his ancestors, and the example before his eyes, which he so 
far excelled. For if other men find it a great additional advantage to receive 
somewhat of their honour from their forefathers, it is a greater thing for him 
to have made such an addition to the original stock that the stream seems to 
have run uphill. 

  9. The union of his parents, cemented as it was by a community of virtue, no 
less than by cohabitation, was notable for many reasons, especially for 
generosity to the poor, for hospitality, for purity of soul as the result of 
self-discipline, for the dedication to God of a portion of their property, a 
matter not as yet so much cared for by most men, as it now has grown to be, in 
consequence of such previous examples, as have given distinction to it, and 
for all those other points, which have been published throughout Pontus and 
Cappadocia, to the satisfaction of many: in my opinion, however, their 
greatest claim to distinction is the excellence of their children. Legend 
indeed has its instances of men whose children were many and beautiful, but it 
is practical experience which has presented to us these parents, whose own 
character, apart from that of their children, was sufficient for their fair 
fame, while the character of their children would have made them, even without 
their 

own eminence in virtue, to surpass all men by the excellence of their 
children. For the attainment of distinction by one or two of their offspring 
might be ascribed to their nature; but when all are eminent, the honour is 
clearly due to those who brought them up. This is proved by the blessed roll 
of priests and virgins, and of those who, when married, have allowed nothing 
in their union to hinder them from attaining an equal repute, and so have made 
the distinction between them to consist in the condition, rather than in the 
mode of their life. 

  10. Who has not known Basil, our archbishop's father, a great name to 
everyone, who attained a father's prayer, if anyone, I will not say as no one, 
ever did? For he surpassed all in virtue, and was only prevented by his son 
from gaining the first prize. Who has not known Emmelia, whose name was a 
forecast of what she became, or else whose life was an exemplification of her 
name? For she had a right to the name which implies gracefulness, and 
occupied, to speak concisely, the same place among women, as her husband among 
men. So that, when it was decided that he, in whose honour we are met, should 
be given to men to submit to the bondage of nature, as anyone of old has been 
given by God for the common advantage, it was neither fitting that he should 
be born of other parents, nor that they should possess another son: and so the 
two things suitably concurred. I have now, in obedience to the Divine law 
which bids us to pay all honour to parents, bestowed the firstfruits of my 
praises upon those whom I have commemorated, and proceed to treat of Basil 
himself, premising this, which I think will seem true to all who knew him, 
that we only need his own voice to pronounce his eulogium. For he is at once a 
brilliant subject for praise, and the only one whose powers of speech make him 
worthy of treating it. Beauty indeed and strength and size, in which I see 
that most men rejoice, I concede to anyone who will --not that even in these 
points he was inferior to any of those men of small minds who busy themselves 
about the body, while he was still young, and had not yet reduced the flesh by 
austerity--but that I may avoid the fate of unskilful athletes, who waste 
their strength in vain efforts after minor objects, and so are worsted in the 
crucial struggle, whose results are victory and the distinction of the crown. 
The praise, then, which I shall claim for him is based upon grounds which no 
one, I think, will consider superfluous, or beyond the scope of my oration. 

  11. I take it as admitted by men of sense, that the first of our advantages 
is education; and not only this our more noble form of it, which disregards 
rhetorical ornaments and glory, and holds to salvation, and beauty in the 
objects of our contemplation: but even that external culture which many 
Christians ill-judgingly abhor, as treacherous and dangerous, and keeping us 
afar from God. For as we ought not to neglect the heavens, and earth, and air, 
and all such things, because some have wrongly seized upon them, and honour 
God's works instead of God: but to reap what advantage we can from them for 
our life and enjoyment, while we avoid their dangers; not raising creation, as 
foolish men do, in revolt against the Creator, but from the works of nature 
apprehending the Worker,(a) and, as the divine apostle says, 
bringing into captivity every thought to Christ:(b) and again, 
as we know that neither fire, nor food, nor iron, nor any other of the 
elements, is of itself most useful, or most harmful, except according to the 
will of those who use it; and as we have compounded healthful drugs from 
certain of the reptiles; so from secular literature we 



399 



have received principles of enquiry and speculation, while we have rejected 
their idolatry, terror, and pit of destruction. Nay, even these have aided us 
in our religion, by our perception of the contrast between what is worse and 
what is better, and by gaining strength for our doctrine from the weakness of 
theirs. We must not then dishonour education, because some men are pleased to 
do so, but rather suppose such men to be boorish and uneducated, desiring all 
men to be as they themselves are, in order to hide themselves in the general, 
and escape the detection of their want of culture. But come now, and, after 
this sketch of our subject and these admissions, let us contemplate the life 
of Basil. 

  12. In his earliest years he was swathed and fashioned, in that best and 
purest fashioning which the Divine David speaks of as proceeding day by 
day,(a) in contrast with that of the night, under his great 
father, acknowledged in those days by Pontus, as its common teacher of virtue. 
Under him then, as life and reason grew and rose together, our illustrious 
friend was educated: not boasting of a Thessalian mountain cave, as the 
workshop of his virtue, nor of some braggart Centaur,(b) the 
tutor of the heroes of his day: nor was he taught under such tuition to shoot 
hares, and run down fawns, or hunt stags, or excel in war, or in breaking 
colts, using the same person as teacher and horse at once; nor nourished on 
the fabulous marrows of stags and lions, but he was trained in general 
education, and practised in the worship of God, and, to speak concisely, led 
on by elementary instructions to his future perfection. For those who are 
successful in life or in letters only, while deficient in the other, seem to 
me to differ in nothing from one-eyed men, whose loss is great, but their 
deformity greater, both in their own eyes, and in those of others. While those 
who attain eminence in both alike, and are ambidextrous, both possess 
perfection, and pass their life with the blessedness of heaven. This is what 
befell him, who had at home a model of virtue in well-doing, the very sight of 
which made him excellent from the first. As we see foals and calves skipping 
beside their mothers from their birth, so he too, running close beside his 
father in foal-like wantonness, without being left far behind in his lofty 
impulses toward virtue, or, if you will, sketching out and showing traces of 
the future beauty of his virtue, and drawing the outlines of perfection before 
the time of perfection arrived. 

  13. When sufficiently trained at home, as he ought to fall short in no form 
of excellence, and not be surpassed by the busy bee, which gathers what is 
most useful from every flower, he set out for the city of 
Caesarea,(a) to take his place in the schools there, I mean 
this illustrious city of ours, for it was the guide and mistress of my 
studies, the metropolis of letters, no less than of the cities which she 
excels and reigns over: and if any one were to deprive her of her literary 
power, he would rob her of her fairest and special distinction. Other cities 
take pride in other ornaments, of ancient or of recent date, that they may 
have something to be described or to be seen. Letters form our distinction 
here, and are our badge, as if upon the field of arms or on the stage. His 
subsequent life let those detail who trained him, or enjoyed his training, as 
to what he was to his masters, what he was to his classmates, equalling the 
former, surpassing the latter in every form of culture, what renown he won in 
a short time from all, both of the common people, and of the leaders of the 
state; by showing both a culture beyond his years, and a steadfastness of 
character beyond his culture. An orator among orators, even before the chair 
of the rhetoricians,(b) a philosopher among philosophers, even 
before the doctrines of philosophers: highest of all a priest among Christians 
even before the priesthood. So much deference was paid to him in every respect 
by all. Eloquence was his by-work, from which he culled enough to make it an 
assistance to him in Christian philosophy, since power of this kind is needed 
to set forth the objects of our contemplation. For a mind which cannot express 
itself is like the motion of a man in a lethargy. His pursuit was philosophy, 
and breaking from the world, and fellowship with God, by concerning himself, 
amid things below, with things above, and winning, where all is unstable and 
fluctuating, the things which are stable and remain. 

  14. Thence to Byzantium, the imperial city of the East, for it was 
distinguished by the eminence of its rhetorical and philosophic teachers, 
whose most valuable lessons he soon assimilated by the quickness and force of 
his powers: thence he was sent by God, and by his generous craving for 
culture, to Athens the home of letters. Athens, which has been to me, if to 



400 



any one, a city truly of gold, and the patroness of all that is good. For it 
brought me to know Basil more perfectly, though he had not been unknown to me 
before; and in my pursuit of letters, I attained to happiness; and in another 
fashion had the same experience as Saul,(a) who, seeking his 
father's asses, found a kingdom, and gained incidentally what was of more 
importance than the object which he had in view. Hitherto my course has been 
clear, leading me in my encomiums along a level and easy, in fact, a king's 
highway: henceforth I know not how to speak or whither to turn: for my task is 
becoming arduous. For here I am anxious, and seize this opportunity to add 
from my own experience somewhat to my speech, and to dwell a little upon the 
recital of the causes and circumstances which originated our friendship, or to 
speak more strictly, our unity of life and nature. For as our eyes are not 
ready to turn from attractive objects, and, if we violently tear them away, 
are wont to return to them again; so do we linger in our description of what 
is most sweet to us. I am afraid of the difficulty of the undertaking. I will 
try, however, to use all possible moderation. And if I am at all overpowered 
by my regret, pardon this most righteous of all feelings, the absence of which 
would be a great loss, in the eyes of men of feeling. 

  15. We were contained by Athens, like two branches of some river-stream, for 
after leaving the common fountain of our fatherland, we had been separated in 
our varying pursuit of culture, and were now again united by the impulsion of 
God no less than by our own agreement. I preceded him by a little, but he soon 
followed me, to be welcomed with great and brilliant hope. For he was versed 
in many languages, before his arrival, and it was a great thing for either of 
us to outstrip the other in the attainment of some object of our study. And I 
may well add, as a seasoning to any speech, a short narrative, which will be a 
reminder to those who know it, a source of information to those who do not. 
Most of the young men at Athens in their folly are mad after rhetorical 
skill-- not only those who are ignobly born and unknown, but even the noble 
and illustrious, in the general mass of young men difficult to keep under 
control. They are just like men devoted to horses and exhibitions, as we see, 
at the horse-races; they leap,(b) they shout, raise clouds of 
dust, they drive in their seats, they beat the air, (instead of the horses) 
with their fingers as whips, they yoke and unyoke the horses, though they are 
none of theirs: they readily exchange with one another drivers, horses, 
positions, leaders: and who are they who do this? Often poor and needy 
fellows, without the means of support for a single day. This is just how the 
students feel in regard to their own tutors, and their rivals, in their 
eagerness to increase their own numbers and thereby enrich them. The matter is 
absolutely absurd and silly. Cities, roads, harbours, mountain tops, 
coastlines, are seized upon--in short, every part of Attica, or of the rest of 
Greece, with most of the inhabitants; for even these they have divided between 
the rival parties. 

  16. Whenever any newcomer arrives, and falls into the hands of those who 
seize upon him, either by force or willingly, they observe this Attic law, of 
combined jest and earnest. He is first conducted to the house of one of those 
who were the first to receive him, or of his friends, or kinsmen, or 
countrymen, or of those who are eminent in debating power, and purveyors of 
arguments, and therefore especially honoured among them; and their reward 
consists in the gain of adherents. He is next subjected to the raillery of any 
one who will, with the intention I suppose, of checking the conceit of the 
newcomers, and reducing them to subjection at once. The raillery is of a more 
insolent or argumentative kind, according to the boorishness or refinement of 
the railer: and the performance, which seems very fearful and brutal to those 
who do not know it, is to those who have experienced it very pleasant and 
humane: for its threats are feigned rather than real. Next, he is conducted in 
procession through the market place to the bath. The procession is formed by 
those who are charged with it in the young man's honour, who arrange 
themselves in two ranks separated by an interval, and precede him to the bath. 
But when they have approached it, they shout and leap wildly, as if possessed, 
shouting that they must not advance, but stay, since the bath will not admit 
them; and at the same time frighten the youth by furiously knocking at the 
doors: then allowing him to enter, they now present him with his freedom, and 
receive him after the bath as an equal, and one of themselves. This they 
consider the most pleasant part of the ceremony, as being a speedy exchange 
and relief from annoyances. On this occasion I not only refused to put to 
shame my friend the great Basil, out of respect for the gravity of 



401 



his character, and the ripeness of his reasoning powers, but also persuaded 
all the rest of the students to treat him likewise, who happened not to know 
him. For he was from the first respected by most of them, his reputation 
having preceded him. The result was that he was the only one to escape the 
general rule, and be accorded a greater honour than belongs to a freshman's 
position. 

  17. This was the prelude of our friendship. This was the kindling spark of 
our union: thus we felt the wound of mutual love. Then something of this kind 
happened, for I think it right not to omit even this. I find the Armenians to 
be not a simple race, but very crafty and cunning. At this time some of his 
special comrades and friends, who had been intimate with him even in the early 
days of his father's instruction, for they were members of his school, came up 
to him under the guise of friendship, but with envious, and not kindly intent, 
and put to him questions of a disputations rather than rational kind, trying 
to overwhelm him at the first onset, having known his original natural 
endowments, and unable to brook the honour he had then received. For they 
thought it a strange thing that they who had put on their gowns, and been 
exercised in shouting, should not get the better of one who was a stranger and 
a novice. I also, in my vain love for Athens, and trusting to their 
professions without perceiving their envy, when they were giving way, and 
turning their backs, since I was indignant that in their persons the 
reputation of Athens should be destroyed, and so speedily put to shame, 
supported the young men, and restored the argument; and by the aid of my 
additional weight, for in such cases a small addition makes all the 
difference, and, as the poet says, "made equal their heads in the 
fray."(a) But, when I perceived the secret motive of the 
dispute, which could no longer be kept under, and was at last clearly exposed, 
I at once drew back, and retired from their ranks, to range myself on his 
side, and made the victory decisive. He was at once delighted at what had 
happened, for his sagacity was remarkable, and being filled with zeal, to 
describe him fully in Homer's language, he pursued in 
confusion(b) with argument those valiant youths, and, smiting 
them with syllogisms, only ceased when they were utterly routed, and he had 
distinctly won the hon-ours due to his power. Thus was kindled again, no 
longer a spark, but a manifest and conspicuous blaze of friendship. 

  18. Their efforts having thus proved fruitless, while they severely blamed 
their own rashness, they cherished such annoyance against me that it broke out 
into open hostility, and a charge of treachery, not only to them, but to 
Athens herself: inasmuch as they had been confuted and put to shame at the 
first onset, by a single student, who had not even had time to gain 
confidence. He moreover, according to that human feeling, which makes us, when 
we have all at once attained to the high hopes which we have cherished, look 
upon their results as inferior to our expectation, he, I say, was displeased 
and annoyed, and could take no delight in his arrival. He was seeking for what 
he had expected, and called Athens an empty happiness. I however tried to 
remove his annoyance, both by argumentative encounter, and by the enchantments 
of reasoning; alleging, as is true, that the disposition of a man cannot at 
once be detected, without a long time and more constant association, and that 
culture likewise is not made known to those who make trial of her, after a few 
efforts and in a short time. In this way I restored his cheerfulness, and by 
this mutual experience, he was the more closely united to me. 

  19. And when, as time went on, we acknowledged our mutual affection, and 
that philosophy(a) was our aim, we were all in all to one 
another, housemates, messmates, intimates, with one object in life, or an 
affection for each other ever growing warmer and stronger. Love for bodily 
attractions, since its objects are fleeting, is as fleeting as the flowers of 
spring. For the flame cannot survive, when the fuel is exhausted, and departs 
along with that which kindles it, nor does desire abide, when its incentive 
wastes away. But love which is godly and under restraint, since its object is 
stable, not only is more lasting, but, the fuller its vision of beauty grows, 
the more closely does it bind to itself and to one another the hearts of those 
whose love has one and the same object. This is the law of our superhuman 
love. I feel that I am being unduly borne away, and I know not how to enter 
upon this point, yet I cannot restrain myself from describing it. For if I 
have omitted anything, it seems, immediately afterwards, of pressing 
importance, and of more consequence than what I had preferred to mention. And 
if any one would carry me tyrannically forward, I become like the polyps, 
which when they are being dragged from their holes, cling with their suckers 
to the rocks, 



402 



and cannot be detached, until the last of these has had exerted upon it its 
necessary share of force. If then you give me leave, I have my request, if not 
I must take it from myself. 

  20. Such were our feelings for each other, when we had thus supported, us 
Pindar(a) has it, our "well-built chamber with pillars of 
gold," as we advanced under the united influences of God's grace and our own 
affection. Oh! how can I mention these things without tears. 

  We were impelled by equal hopes, in a pursuit especially obnoxious to envy, 
that of letters. Yet envy we knew not, and emulation was of service to us. We 
struggled, not each to gain the first place for himself, but to yield it to 
the other; for we made each other's reputation to be our own. We seemed to 
have one soul, inhabiting two bodies. And if we must not believe those whose 
doctrine is "All things(b) are in all;" yet in our case it was 
worthy of belief, so did we live in and with each other. The sole business of 
both of us was virtue, and living for the hopes to come, having retired from 
this world, before our actual departure hence. With a view to this, were 
directed all our life and actions, under the guidance of the commandment, as 
we sharpened upon each other our weapons of virtue; and if this is not a great 
thing for me to say, being a rule and standard to each other, for the 
distinction between what was right and what was not. Our associates were not 
the most dissolute, but the most sober of our comrades; not the most 
pugnacious, but the most peaceable, whose intimacy was most profitable: 
knowing that it is more easy to be tainted with vice, than to impart virtue; 
just as we can more readily be infected with a disease, than bestow health. 
Our most cherished studies were not the most pleasant, but the most excellent; 
this being one means of forming young minds in a virtuous or vicious mould. 

  21. Two ways were known to us, the first of greater value, the second of 
smaller consequence: the one leading to our sacred buildings and the teachers 
there, the other to secular instructors. All others we left to those who would 
pursue them--to feasts, theatres, meetings, banquets. For nothing is in my 
opinion of value, save that which leads to virtue and to the improvement of 
its devotees. Different men have different names, derived from their fathers, 
their families, their pursuits, their exploits: we had but one great business 
and name--to be and to be called Christians of which we thought more than 
Gyges(a) of the turning of his ring, if this is not a legend, 
on which depended his Lydian sovereignty: or than Midas(b) did 
of the gold through which he perished, in answer to his prayer that all he had 
might turn to gold--another Phrygian legend. For why should I speak of the 
arrow of the Hyperborean Abaris,(g) or of the Argive 
Pegasas,(d) to whom flight through the air was not of such 
consequence as was to us our rising to God, through the help of, and with each 
other? Hurtful as Athens was to others in spiritual things, and this is of no 
slight consequence to the pious, for the city is richer in those evil 
riches--idols--than the rest of Greece, and it is hard to avoid being carried 
along with their devotees and adherents, yet we, our minds being closed up and 
fortified against this, suffered no injury. On the contrary, strange as it may 
seem, we were thus the more confirmed in the faith, from our perception of 
their trickery and unreality, which led us to despise these divinities in the 
very home of their worship. And if there is, or is believed to be, a 
river(e) flowing with fresh water through the sea, or an 
animal(z) which can dance in fire, the consumer of all things, 
such were we among all our comrades. 

  22. And, best of all, we were surrounded by a far from ignoble band, under 
his instruction and guidance, and delighting in the same objects, as we ran on 
foot beside that Lydian car,(h) his own course and disposition: 
and so we became famous, not only among our own teachers and comrades, but 
even throughout Greece, and especially in the eyes of its most distinguished 
men. We even passed beyond its boundaries, as was made clear by the evidence 
of many. For our instructors were known to all who knew Athens, and all who 
knew them, knew us, as the subject of conversation, being actually looked 
upon, or heard of by report, as an illustrious pair. Orestes and 
Pylades(q) were in their eyes nothing to 



403 



us, or the sons of Molione,(a) the wonders of the Homeric 
scroll, celebrated for their union in misfortune, and their splendid driving, 
as they shared in reins and whip alike. But I have been unawares betrayed into 
praising myself, in a manner I would not have allowed in another. And it is no 
wonder that I gained here in some advantage from his friendship, and that, as 
in life he aided me in virtue, so since his departure he has contributed to my 
renown. But I must return to my proper course. 

  23. Who possessed such a degree of the prudence of old age, even before his 
hair was gray? Since it is by this that Solomon defines old 
age.(b) Who was so respectful to both old and young, not only 
of our contempotaries, but even of those who long preceded him? Who, owing to 
his character, was less in need of education? Yet who, even with his 
character, was so imbued with learning? What branch of learning did he not 
traverse; and that with unexampled success, passing through all, as no one 
else passed through any one of them: and attaining such eminence in each, as 
if it had been his sole study? The two great sources of power in the arts and 
sciences, ability and application, were in him equally combined. For, because 
of the pains he took, he had but little need of natural quickness, and his 
natural quickness made it unnecessary for him to take pains; and such was the 
cooperation and unity of both, that it was hard to see for which of the two he 
was more remarkable. Who had such power in Rhetoric, which 
breathes(g) with the might of fire, different as his 
disposition was from that of rhetoricians? Who in Grammar, which perfects our 
tongues in Greek and compiles history, and presides over metres and legislates 
for poems? Who in Philosophy, that really lofty and high reaching science, 
whether practical and speculative, or in that part of it whose oppositions and 
struggles are concerned with logical demonstrations; which is called 
Dialectic, and in which it was more difficult to elude his verbal toils, if 
need required, than to escape from the Labyrinths?(d) Of 
Astronomy, Geometry, and numerical proportion he had such a grasp, that he 
could not be baffled by those who are clever in such sciences: excessive 
application to them he despised, as useless to those whose desire is 
godliness: so that it is possible to admire what he chose more than what he 
neglected, or what he neglected more than what he chose. Medicine, the result 
of philosophy and laboriousness, was rendered necessary for him by his 
physical delicacy, and his care of the sick. From these beginnings he attained 
to a mastery of the art, not only in its empirical and practical branches, but 
also in its theory and principles. But what are these, illustrious though they 
be, compared with the moral discipline of the man? To those who have had 
experience of him, Minos and Rhadamanthus(a) were mere trifles, 
whom the Greeks thought worthy of the meadows of Asphodel and the Elysian 
plains, which are their representations of our Paradise, derived from those 
books of Moses which are also ours, for though their terms are different, this 
is what they refer to under other names. 

  24. Such was the case, and his galleon was laden with all the learning 
attainable by the nature of man; for beyond Cadiz(b) there is 
no passage. There was left no other need but that of rising to a more perfect 
life, and grasping those hopes upon which we were agreed. The day of our 
departure was at hand, with its attendant speeches of farewell, and of escort, 
its invitations to return, its lamentations, embraces and tears. For there is 
nothing so painful to any one, as is separation from Athens and one another, 
to those who have been comrades there. On that occasion was seen a piteous 
spectacle, worthy of record. Around us were grouped our fellow students and 
classmates and some of our teachers, protesting amid entreaties, violence, and 
persuasion, that, whatever happened, they would not let us go; saying and 
doing everything that men in distress could do. And here I will bring an 
accusation against myself, and also, daring though it be, against that divine 
and irreproachable soul. For he, by detailing the reasons of his anxiety to 
return home, was able to prevail over their desire to retain him, and they 
were compelled, though with reluctance, to agree to his departure. But I was 
left behind at Athens, partly, to say the truth, because I had been prevailed 
on--partly because he had betrayed me, having been persuaded to forsake and 
hand over to his captors one who refused to forsake him. A thing incredible, 
before it happened. For 



404 



it was like cutting one body into two, to the destruction of either part, or 
the severance of two bullocks who have shared the same manger and the same 
yoke, amid pitiable bellowings after one another in protest against the 
separation. However, my loss was not of long duration, for I could not long 
bear to be seen in piteous plight, nor to have to account to every one for our 
separation: so, after a brief stay at Athens, my longing desire made me, like 
the horse in Homer, to burst the bonds of those who restrained me, and 
prancing o'er the plains, rush to my mate. 

  25. Upon our return, after a slight indulgence to the world and the stage, 
sufficient to gratify the general desire, not from any inclination to 
theatrical display, we soon became independent, and, after being promoted from 
the rank of beardless boys to that of men, made bold advances along the road 
of philosophy, for though no longer together, since envy would not allow this, 
we were united by our eager desire. The city of Caesarea took possession of 
him, as a second founder and patron, but in course of time he was occasionally 
absent, as a matter of necessity due to our separation, and with a view to our 
determined course of philosophy. Dutiful attendance on my aged parents, and a 
succession of misfortunes kept me apart from him, perhaps without right or 
justice, but so it was. And to this cause I am inclined to ascribe all the 
inconsistency and difficulty which have befallen my life, and the hindrances 
in the way of philosophy, which have been unworthy of my desire and purpose. 
But as for my fate, let it lead whither God pleases, only may its course be 
the better for his intercessions. As regards himself, the manifold love of God 
toward man,(a) and His providential care for our race did, 
after shewing forth his merits under many intervening circumstances with ever 
greater brilliancy, set him up as a conspicuous and celebrated light for the 
Church, by advancing him to the holy thrones of the priesthood, to blaze 
forth, through the single city of Caesarea, to the whole world. And in what 
manner? Not by precipitate advancement, nor by at once cleansing and making 
him wise, as is the wont of many present candidates for preferment: but 
bestowing upon him the honour in the due order of spiritual advancement. 

  26. For I do not praise the disorder and irregularity which sometimes exist 
among us, even in those who preside over the sanctuary. I do not venture, nor 
is it just, to accuse them all. I approve the nautical custom, which first 
gives the oar to the future steersman, and afterward leads him to the stern, 
and entrusts him with the command, and seats him at the helm, only after a 
long course of striking the sea and observing the winds. As is the case again 
in military affairs: private, captain, general. This order is the best and 
most advantageous for their subordinates. And if it were so in our case, it 
would be of great service. But, as it is, there is a danger of the holiest of 
all offices being the most ridiculous among us. For promotion depends not upon 
virtue, but upon villany; and the sacred thrones fall not to the most Worthy, 
but to the most powerful. Samuel, the seer into futurity, is among the 
prophets: but Saul, the rejected one, is also there. Rehoboam, the son of 
Solomon, is among the kings, but so also is Jeroboam, the slave and apostate. 
And there is not a physician, or a painter who has not first studied the 
nature of diseases, or mixed many colours, or practised drawing: but a prelate 
is easily found, without laborious training, with a reputation of recent date, 
being sown and springing up in a moment, as the legend(a) of 
the giants goes. We manufacture those who are holy in a day, and bid those to 
be wise, who have had no instruction, and have contributed nothing before to 
their dignity, except the will. So one man is content with an inferior 
position, and abides in his low estate, who is worthy of a lofty one, and has 
meditated much on the inspired words, and has reduced the flesh by many laws 
into subjection to the spirit: while the other haughtily takes precedence, and 
raises his eyebrow over his betters, and does not tremble at his position, nor 
is he appalled at the sight, seeing the disciplined man beneath him; and 
wrongly supposes himself to be his superior in wisdom as well as in rank, 
having lost his senses under the influence of his position. 

  27. Not so our great and illustrious Basil. In this grace, as in all others, 
he was a public example. For he first read to the people the sacred books, 
while already able to expound them, nor did he deem himself worthy of this 
rank(b) in the sanctuary, and thus proceeded to praise the Lord 
in the seat of the Presbyters,(g) and next in that of the 
Bishops, attaining the office neither by stealth nor by violence, instead of 
seeking for the honour, being sought 



405 



for by it, and receiving it not as a human favour, but as from God and divine. 
The account of his bishopric must be deferred: over his subordinate ministry 
let us linger a while, for indeed it had almost escaped me, in the midst of my 
discourse. 

  28. There arose a disagreement between him and his 
predecessor(a) in the rule over this Church: its source and 
character it is best to pass over in silence, yet it arose. He was a man in 
other respects far from ignoble, and admirable for his piety, as was proved by 
the persecution of that time, and the opposition to him, yet his feeling 
against Basil was one to which men are liable. For Momus seizes not only upon 
the common herd, but on the best of men, so that it belongs to God alone to be 
utterly uninfluenced by and proof against such feelings. All the more eminent 
and wise portion of the Church was roused against him, if those are wiser than 
the majority who have separated themselves from the world and consecrated 
their life to God. I mean the Nazarites(b) of our day, and 
those who devote themselves to such pursuits. They were annoyed that their 
chief(g) should be neglected, insulted, and rejected, and they 
ventured upon a most dangerous proceeding. They determined to revolt and break 
off from the body of the Church, which admits of no faction, severing along 
with themselves no small fraction of the people, both of the lower ranks, and 
of those of position. This was most easy, owing to three very strong reasons. 
In the first place, the man was held in repute, beyond any other, I think, of 
the philosophers of our time, and able, if he wished, to inspire with courage 
the conspirators. Next, his opponent(d) was suspected by the 
city, in consequence of the tumult which accompanied his institution, of 
having obtained his preferment in an arbitrary manner, not according to the 
laws and canons. Also there were present some of the bishops(e) 
of the West, drawing to themselves all the orthodox members of the Church. 

  29. What then did our noble friend, the disciple of the Peaceable One? It 
was not his habit to resist his traducers or partisans, nor was it his part to 
fight, or rend the body of the Church, which was from other reasons the 
subject of attack, and hardly bestead, from the great power of the heretics. 
With my advice and earnest encouragement on the point, he set out from the 
place with me into Pontus, and presided over the abodes of contemplation 
there. He himself too founded one(a) worthy of mention, as he 
welcomed the desert together with Elijah and John,(b) those 
professors of austerity; thinking this to be more profitable for him than to 
form any design in reference to the present juncture unworthy of his 
philosophy, and to ruin in a time of storm the straight course which he was 
making, where the surges of disputation were lulled to a calm. Yet wonderfully 
philosophic though his retirement was, we shall find his return still more 
wonderful. For thus it was. 

  30. While we were thus engaged, there suddenly arose a cloud full of hail, 
with destructive roar, overwhelming every Church upon which it burst and 
seized: an Emperor,(g) most fond of gold and most hostile to 
Christ, infected with these two most serious diseases, insatiate avarice and 
blasphemy; a persecutor in succession to the persecutor, and, in succession to 
the apostate, not indeed an apostate, though no better to Christians, or 
rather, to the more devout and pure party of Christians, who worship the 
Trinity, which I call the only true devotion and saving doctrine. For we do 
not measure out the Godhead into portions, nor banish from Itself by unnatural 
estrangements the one and unapproachable Nature; nor cure one evil by another, 
destroying the godless confusion of Sabellius by a more impious severance and 
division; which was the error of Arius, whose name declares his 
madness,(d) the disturber and destroyer of a great part of the 
Church. For he did not honour the Father, by dishonouring His offspring with 
his unequal degrees Of Godhead. But we recognize one glory(e) 
of the Father, the equality of the Only-begotten; and one glory of the Son, 
that of the Spirit. And we hold that, to subordinate any of the Three, is to 
destroy the whole. For we worship and acknowledge Them as Three in their 
properties,(z) but One in their Godhead. He however had no such 
idea, being unable to look 



406 



up, but being debased by those who led him, he dared to debase along with 
himself even the Nature of the Godhead, and became a wicked creature reducing 
Majesty to bondage, and aligning with creation the uncreated and timeless 
Nature. 

  31. Such was his mind, and with such impiety he took the field against us. 
For we must consider it to be nothing else than a barbaric inroad which, 
instead of destroying walls, cities and houses, and other things of little 
worth, made with hands and capable of restoration, spent its ravages upon 
men's souls. A worthy army joined in his assault, the evil rulers of the 
Churches, the bitter governors of his world-wide Empire. Some of the Churches 
they now held, some they were assaulting, others they' hoped to gain by the 
already exercised influence of the Emperor, and the violence which he 
threatened. But in their purpose of perverting our own, their confidence was 
specially based on the smallness of mind of those whom I have mentioned, the 
inexperience of our prelate, and the infirmities which prevailed among us. The 
struggle would be fierce: the zeal of numerous troops was far from ignoble, 
but their array was weak, from the want of a leader and strategist to contend 
for them with the might of the Word and of the Spirit. What then did this 
noble and magnanimous and truly Christ-loving soul? No need of many words to 
urge his presence and aid. At once when he saw me on my mission, for the 
struggle on behalf of the faith was common to us both, he yielded to my 
entreaty; and decided by a most excellent distinction, based on spiritual 
reasons, that the time for punctiliousness (if indeed we may give way to such 
feelings at all) is a time of security, but that forbearance is required in 
the hour of necessity. He immediately returned with me from Pontus, and as a 
zealous volunteer took his place in the fight for the endangered truth, and 
devoted himself to the service of his mother, the Church. 

  32. Did then his actual efforts fall short of his preliminary zeal? Were 
they directed by courage, but not by prudence, or by skill, while he shrank 
from danger? Or, in spite of their unexampled perfection on all these points, 
was there left in him some trace of irritation? Far from it. He was at once 
completely reconciled, and took part in every plan and effort. He removed all 
the thorns and stumbling blocks which were in our way, upon which the enemy 
relied in their attack upon us. He took hold of one, grasped another, thrust 
away a third. He became to some a stout wall and rampart,(a) to 
others an axe breaking the rock in pieces,(b) or a fire among 
the thorns,(g) as the divine Scripture says, easily destroying 
those fagots who were insulting the Godhead. And if his Barnabas, who speaks 
and records these things, was of service to Paul in the struggle, it is to 
Paul that thanks are due, for choosing and making him his comrade in the 
strife. 

  33. Thus the enemy failed, and, base men as they were, for the first time 
were then basely put to shame and worsted, learning not to be ready to despise 
the Cappadocians, of all men in the world, whose special qualities are 
firmness in the faith, and loyal devotion to the Trinity; to Whom is due their 
unity and strength, and from Whom they receive an even greater and stronger 
assistance than they are able to give. Basil's next business and purpose was 
to conciliate the prelate, to allay suspicion, to persuade all men that the 
irritation which had been felt was due to the temptation and effort of the 
Evil one, in his envy of virtuous concord: carefully complying with the laws 
of obedience and spiritual order. Accordingly he visited him, with instruction 
and advice. While obedient to his wishes, he was everything to him, a good 
counsellor, a skilful assistant, an expounder of the Divine Will, a guide of 
conduct, a staff for his old age, a support of the faith, most trusty of those 
within, most practical of those without, in a word, as much inclined to 
goodwill, as he had been thought to hostility. And so the power of the Church 
came into his hands almost, if not quite, to an equal degree with the occupant 
of the see. For in return for his good-will, he was requited with authority. 
And their harmony and combination of power was wonderful. The one was the 
leader of the people, the other of their leader, like a lion-keeper, skilfully 
soothing the possessor of power. For, having been recently installed in the 
see, and still somewhat under the influence of the world, and not yet 
furnished with the things of the Spirit, in the midst of the eddying tide of 
enemies assaulting the Church, he was in need of some one to take him by the 
hand and support him. Accordingly he accepted the alliance, and imagined 
himself the conqueror of one who had conquered him. 

  34. Of his care for and protection of the Church, there are many other 
tokens; his boldness towards the governors and other 



407 



most powerful men in the city: the decisions of disputes, accepted without 
hesitation, and made effective by his simple word, his inclination being held 
to be decisive: his support of the needy, most of them in spiritual, not a few 
also in physical distress: for this also often influences the soul and reduces 
it to subjection by its kindness; the support of the poor, the entertainment 
of strangers, the care of maidens; legislation(a) written and 
unwritten for the monastic life: arrangements of prayers,(b) 
adornments of the sanctuary, and other ways in which the true man of God, 
working for God, would benefit the people: one being especially important and 
noteworthy. There was a famine, the most severe one ever recorded. The city 
was in distress, and there was no source of assistance, or relief for the 
calamity. For maritime cities are able to bear such times of need without 
difficulty, by an exchange of their own products for what is imported: but an 
inland city like ours can neither turn its superfluity to profit, nor supply 
its need, by either disposing of what we have, or importing what we have not: 
but the hardest part of all such distress is, the insensibility and 
insatiability of those who possess supplies. For they watch their 
opportunities, and turn the distress to profit, and thrive upon misfortune: 
heeding not that he who shows mercy to the poor, lendeth to the 
Lord,(g) nor that he that withholdeth corn, the people shall 
curse him:(d) nor any other of the promises to the 
philanthropic, and threats against the inhuman. But they are too insatiate, in 
their ill-judged policy; for while they shut up their bowels against their 
fellows, they shut up those of God against themselves, forgetting that their 
need of Him is greater than others' need of them. Such are the buyers and 
sellers of corn, who neither respect their fellows, nor are thankful to God, 
from Whom comes what they have, while others are straitened. 

  35. He indeed could neither rain bread from heaven by 
prayer,(e) to nourish an escaped people in the 
wilderness,(z) nor supply fountains of food without cost from 
the depth of vessels which are filled by being emptied,(h) and 
so, by an amazing return for her hospitality, support one who supported him; 
nor feed thousands of men with five loaves whose very fragments were a further 
supply for many tables.(a) These were the works of Moses and 
Elijah, and my God, from Whom they too derived their power. Perhaps also they 
were characteristic of their time and its circumstances: since signs are for 
unbelievers not for those who believe.(b) But he did devise and 
execute with the same faith things which correspond to them, and tend in the 
same direction. For by his word and advice he opened the stores of those who 
possessed them, and so, according to the Scripture dealt food to the 
hungry,(g) and satisfied the poor with bread,(d) 
and fed them in the time of dearth,(e) and filled the hungry 
souls with good things.(z) And in what way? for this is no 
slight addition to his praise. He gathered together the victims of the famine 
with some who were but slightly recovering from it, men and women, infants, 
old men, every age which was in distress, and obtaining contributions of all 
sorts of food which can relieve famine, set before them basins of soup and 
such meat as was found preserved among us, on which the poor live. Then, 
imitating the ministry of Christ, Who, girded with a towel, did not disdain to 
wash the disciples' feet, using for this purpose the aid of his own servants, 
and also of his fellow servants, he attended to the bodies and souls of those 
who needed it, combining personal respect with the supply of their necessity, 
and so giving them a double relief. 

  36. Such was our young furnisher of corn, and second Joseph: though of him 
we can say somewhat more. For the one made a gain from the famine, and bought 
up Egypt(h) in his philanthropy, by managing the time of plenty 
with a view to the time of famine, turning to account the dreams of others for 
that purpose. But the other's services were gratuitous, and his succour of the 
famine gained no profit, having only one object, to win kindly feelings by 
kindly treatment, and to gain by his rations of corn the heavenly blessings. 
Further he provided the nourishment of the Word, and that more perfect bounty 
and distribution, which is really heavenly and from on high--if the word be 
that bread of angels,(q) wherewith souls are fed and given to 
drink, who are a hungered for God,(i) and seek for a food which 
does not pass away or fail, but abides forever. This food he, who was the 
poorest and most needy man whom I have known, supplied in rich abundance to 
the relief not of a famine of bread, 



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nor of a thirst for water, but a longing for that Word(a) which 
is really lifegiving and nourishing, and causes to grow to spiritual manhood 
him who is duly fed thereon. 

  37. After these and similar actions--why need I stay to mention them 
all?--when the prelate whose name(b) betokened his godliness 
had passed away, having sweetly breathed his last in Basil's arms, he was 
raised to the lofty throne of a Bishop, not without difficulty or without the 
envious struggles of the prelates of his native land, on whose side were found 
the greatest scoundrels of the city. But the Holy Spirit must needs win the 
day--and indeed the victory was decisive. For He brought from a distance, to 
anoint him, men(g) illustrious and zealous for godliness, and 
with them the new Abraham, our Patriarch, I mean my father, in regard to whom 
an extraordinary thing happened. For, failing as he was from the number of his 
years, and worn away almost to his last breath by disease, he ventured on the 
journey to give assistance by his vote, relying on the aid of the Spirit. In 
brief, he was placed in his litter, as a corpse is laid in its tomb, to return 
in the freshness and strength of youth, with head erect, having been 
strengthened by the imposition of hands and unction, and, it is not too much 
to say by the head of him who was anointed. This must be added to the 
instances of old time, which prove that labour bestows health, zealous purpose 
raises the dead, and old age leaps up when anointed by the Spirit. 

  38. Having thus been deemed worthy of the office of prelate, as it is seemly 
that men should who have lived such a life, and won such favour and 
consideration, he did not disgrace, by his subsequent conduct, either his own 
philosophy, or the hopes of those who had trusted him. But he ever so far 
surpassed himself as he has been shown hitherto to have surpassed others, his 
ideas on this point being most excellent and philosophic. For he held that, 
while it is virtuous in a private individual to avoid vice, and be to some 
extent good, it is a vice in a chief and ruler, especially in such an office, 
to fail to surpass by far the majority of men, and by constant progress to 
make his virtue correspond to his dignity and throne: for it is difficult for 
one in high position to attain the mean, and by his eminence in virtue raise 
up his people to the golden mean. Or rather to treat this question more 
satisfactorily, I think that the result is the same as I see in the case of 
our Saviour, and of every specially wise man, I fancy, when He was with us in 
that form which surpassed us and yet is ours. For He also, the gospel says, 
increased in wisdom and favour, as well as in stature,(a) not 
that these qualities in Him were capable of growth: for how could that which 
was perfect from the first become more perfect, but that they were gradually 
disclosed and displayed? So I think that the virtue of Basil, without being 
itself increased, obtained at this time a wider exercise, since his power 
provided him with more abundant material. 

  39. He first of all made it plain that his office had been bestowed upon 
him, not by human favour, but by the gift of God. This will also be shown by 
my conduct. For in what philosophic research did he not, about that time, join 
with me? So every one thought that I should run to meet him after what had 
happened, and show my delight at it (as would, perhaps, have been the case 
with any one else) and claim a share in his authority, rather than rule beside 
him, according to the inferences they drew from our friendship. But, in my 
exceeding anxiety to avoid the annoyance and jealousy of the time, and 
specially since his position was still a painful and troubled one, I remained 
at home, and forcibly restrained my eager desire, while, though he blamed me, 
Basil accepted my excuse. And when, on my subsequent arrival, I refused, for 
the same reason the honour of this chair, and a dignified 
position(b) among the Presbyters, he kindly refrained from 
blaming, nay he praised me, preferring to be charged with pride by a small 
clique, in their ignorance of our policy, rather than do anything contrary to 
reason and his own resolutions. And indeed, how could a man have better shown 
his soul to be superior to all fawning and flattery, and his single object to 
be the law of right, than by thus treating me, whom he acknowledged as among 
the first of his friends and associates? 

  40. His next task was to appease, and allay by magnanimous treatment, the 
opposition to himself: and that without any trace of flattery or servility, 
but in a most chivalrous and magnanimous way; with a view, not merely to 
present exigencies, but also to the fostering of future obedience. For, seeing 
that, while tenderness leads to laxity and slackness, severity gives rise to 
stubbornness and self-will, he was able to avoid the dangers of each course 



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by a combination of both, blending his correction with consideration, and 
gentleness with firmness, influencing men in most cases principally by his 
conduct rather than by argument: not enslaving them by art, but winning them 
by good nature, and attracting them by the sparing use, rather than by the 
constant exercise, of his power. And, most important of all, they were brought 
to recognize the superiority of his intellect and the inaccessibility of his 
virtue, to consider their only safety to consist in being on his side and 
under his command, their sole danger to be in opposition to him, and to think 
that to differ from him involved estrangement from God. Thus they willingly 
yielded and surrendered, submitting themselves, as if in a thunder-clap, and 
hastening to anticipate each other with their excuses, and exchange the 
intensity of their hostility for an equal intensity of goodwill, and advance 
in virtue, which they found to be the one really effective defence. The few 
exceptions to this conduct were passed by and neglected, because their 
ill-nature was incurable, and they expended their powers in wearing out 
themselves, as rust consumes itself together with the iron on which it feeds. 

  41. Affairs at home being now settled to his mind, in a way that faithless 
men who did not know him would have thought impossible, his designs became 
greater and took a loftier range. For, while all others had their eyes on the 
ground before them, and directed attention to their own immediate concerns, 
and, if these were safe, troubled themselves no further, being incapable of 
any great and chivalrous design or undertaking; he, moderate as he was in all 
other respects, could not be moderate in this, but with head erect, casting 
his mental eye about him, took in the whole world over which the word of 
salvation has made its way. And when he saw the great heritage of God, 
purchased by His own words and laws and sufferings, the holy nation, the royal 
priesthood,(a) in such evil plight that it was torn asunder 
into ten thousand opinions and errors: and the vine brought out of Egypt and 
transplanted,(b) the Egypt of impious and dark ignorance, which 
had grown to such beauty and boundless size that the whole earth was covered 
with the shadow of it, while it overtopped mountains and cedars, now being 
ravaged by that wicked wild boar, the devil, he could not content himself with 
quietly lamenting the misfortune, and merely lifting up his hands to God, and 
seeking from Him the dispersion of the pressing misfortunes, while he himself 
was asleep, but felt bound to come to her aid at some expense to himself. 

  42. For what could be more distressing than this calamity, or call more 
loudly on one whose eyes were raised aloft for exertions on behalf of the 
common weal? The good or ill success of an individual is of no consequence to 
the community, but that of the community involves of necessity the like 
condition of the individual. With this idea and purpose, he who was the 
guardian and patron of the community (and, as Solomon says with truth, a 
perceptive heart is a moth to the bones,(a) unsensitiveness is 
cheerily confident, while a sympathetic disposition is a source of pain, and 
constant consideration wastes away the heart), he, I say, was consequently in 
agony and distress from many wounds; like Jonah and David, he wished in 
himself to die(b) and gave not sleep to his eyes, nor slumber 
to his eyelids,(g) he expended what was left of his flesh upon 
his reflections, until he discovered a remedy for the evil: and sought for aid 
from God and man, to stay the general conflagration, and dissipate the gloom 
which was lowering over us. 

  43. One of his devices was of the greatest service. After a period of such 
recollection as was possible, and private spiritual conference. in which, 
after considering all human arguments, and penetrating into all the deep 
things of the Scriptures, he drew up a sketch of pious doctrine, and by 
wrestling with and attacking their opposition he beat off the daring assaults 
of the heretics: overthrowing in hand to hand struggles by word of mouth those 
who came to close quarters, and striking those at a distance by arrows winged 
with ink, which is in no wise inferior to inscriptions on tablets; not giving 
directions for one small nation only like that of the Jews, concerning meats 
and drinks, temporary sacrifices, and purifications of the 
flesh;(d) but for every nation and part of the world, 
concerning the Word of truth, the source of our salvation. Again, since 
unreasoning action and unpractical reasoning are alike ineffectual, he added 
to his reasoning the succour which comes from action; he paid visits, sent 
messages, gave interviews, instructed, reproved, rebuked,(e) 
threatened, reproached, undertook the defence of nations, cities and 
individuals, devising every kind of succour, and procuring from every source 
specifics for disease: a second Bezaleel, an 



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architect of the Divine tabernacle,(a) applying every material 
and art to the work, and combining all in a harmonious and surpassing beauty. 

  44. Why need I enter into further detail? We were assailed again by the 
Anti-Christian Emperor,(b) that tyrant of the faith, with more 
abundant impiety and a hotter onset, inasmuch as the dispute must be with a 
stronger antagonist, like that unclean and evil spirit, who when sent forth 
upon his wanderings from man, returns to take up his abode in him again with a 
greater number of spirits, as we have heard in the Gospels.(g) 
This spirit he imitated, both in renewing the contest in which he had formerly 
been worsted, and in adding to his original efforts. He thought that it was a 
strange and insufferable thing that he, who ruled over so many nations and had 
won so much renown, and reduced under the power of impiety all those round 
about him, and overcome every adversary, should be publicly worsted by a 
single man, and a single city, and so incur the ridicule not only of those 
patrons of ungodliness by whom he was led, but also, as he supposed, of all 
men. 

  45. It is said that the King(d) of Persia, on his expedition 
into Greece, was not only urged to immoderate threats, by elation at the 
numbers of every race of men which in his wrath and pride he was leading 
against them: but thought to terrify them the more, by making them afraid of 
him, in consequence of his novel treatment of the elements. A strange land and 
sea were heard of, the work of the new creator; and an army which sailed over 
the dry land, and marched over the ocean, while islands were carried off, and 
the sea was scourged, and all the other mad proceedings of that army and 
expedition, which, though they struck terror into the ignoble, were ridiculous 
in the eyes of men of brave and steadfast hearts. There was no need of 
anything of this kind in the expedition against us, but what was still worse 
and more harmful, this was what the Emperor was reported to say and do. He 
stretched forth his mouth unto heaven, speaking blasphemy against the most 
High, and his tongue went through the world.(e) Excellently did 
the inspired David before our days thus describe him who made heaven to stoop 
to earth, and reckoned with the creation that supermundane nature, which the 
creation cannot even contain, even though in kindness to man it did to some 
extent come among us, in order to draw to itself us who were lying upon the 
ground. 

  46. Furious indeed were his first acts of wantonness, more furious still his 
final efforts against us. What shall I speak of first? Exiles, banishments, 
confiscations, open and secret plots, persuasion, where time allowed, 
violence, where persuasion was impossible. Those who clung to the orthodox 
faith, as we did, were extruded from their churches; others were intruded, who 
agreed with the Imperial soul-destroying doctrines, and begged for 
testimonials of impiety, and subscribed to statements still harder than these. 
Burnings(a) of Presbyters at sea, impious generals, not those 
who conquered the Persians, or subdued the Scythians, or reduced any other 
barbaric nation, but those who assailed churches, and danced in triumph upon 
altars, and defiled the unbloody sacrifices with the blood of man and victims, 
and offered insult to the modesty of virgins. With what object? The extrusion 
of the Patriarch Jacob,(b) and the intrusion in his place of 
Esau, who was hated,(g) even before his birth. This is the 
description of his first acts of wantonness, the mere recollection and mention 
of which even now, rouses the tears of most of us. 

  47. Accordingly, when, after passing through all quarters, he made his 
attack in order to enslave this impregnable and formidable mother of the 
Churches, the only still remaining un-quenched spark of the truth, he 
discovered that he had been for the first time ill advised. For he was driven 
back like a missile which strikes upon some stronger body, and recoiled like a 
broken hawser. Such was the prelate of the Church that he met with, such was 
the bulwark by which his efforts were broken and dissipated. Other particulars 
may be heard from those who tell and recount them, from their own 
experience--and none of those who recount them is destitute of this full 
experience. But all must be filled with admiration who are aware of the 
struggles of that time, the assaults, the promises, the threats, the 
commissioners sent before him to try to prevail upon us, men of judicial and 
military rank, men from the harem, who are men among women, women among men, 
whose only manliness consisted in their impiety, and being incapable of 
natural licentiousness, commit fornication in the only way they can, with 
their tongues; the chief cook 



411 



Nebuzaradan,(a) who threatened us with the weapons of his art, 
and was despatched by his own fire. But what especially excites my wonder, and 
what I could not, even if I would, pass by, I will describe as concisely as 
possible. 

  48. Who has not heard of the prefect(b) of those days, who, 
for his own part, treated us with such excessive arrogance, having himself 
been admitted, or perhaps committed, to baptism by the other party; and strove 
by exceeding the letter of his instructions, and gratifying his master in 
every particular, to guarantee and preserve his own possession of power. 
Though he raged against the Church, and assumed a lion-like aspect, and roared 
like a lion till most men dared not approach him, yet our noble prelate was 
brought into or rather entered his court, as if bidden to a feast, instead of 
to a trial. How can I filly describe, either the arrogance of the prefect or 
the prudence with which it was met by the Saint. "What is the meaning, Sir 
Basil," he said, addressing him by name, and not as yet deigning to term him 
Bishop, "of your daring, as no other dares, to resist and oppose so great a 
potentate?" "In what respect?" said our noble champion, "and in what does my 
rashness consist? For this I have yet to learn." "In refusing to respect the 
religion of your Sovereign, when all others have yielded and submitted 
themselves?" "Because," said he, "this is not the will of my real Sovereign; 
nor can I, who am the creature of God, and bidden myself to be God, submit to 
worship any creature." "And what do we," said the prefect, "seem to you to be? 
Are we, who give you this injunction, nothing at all? What do you say to this? 
Is it not a great thing to be ranged with us as your associates?" "You are, I 
will not deny it," said he, "a prefect, and an illustrious one, yet not of 
more honour than God. And to be associated with you is a great thing, 
certainly; for you are yourself the creature of God; but so it is to be 
associated with any other of my subjects. For faith, and not personal 
importance, is the distinctive mark of Christianity." 

  49. Then indeed the prefect became excited, and rose from his seat, boiling 
with rage, and making use of harsher language. "What?" said he, "have you no 
fear of my authority? "Fear of what?" said Basil, "How could it affect me? "Of 
what? Of any one of the resources of my power." "What are these? "said Basil, 
"pray, inform me." "Confiscation, banishment, torture, death." "Have you no 
other threat?" said he, "for none of these can reach me." "How indeed is 
that?" said the prefect. "Because," he replied, "a man who has nothing, is 
beyond the reach of confiscation; unless you demand my tattered rags, and the 
few books, which are my only possessions. Banishment is impossible for me, who 
am confined by no limit of place, counting my own neither the land where I now 
dwell, nor all of that into which I may be hurled; or, rather, counting it all 
God's, whose guest and dependent I am. As for tortures, what hold can they 
have upon one whose body has ceased to be? Unless you mean the first stroke, 
for this alone is in your power. Death is my benefactor, for it will send me 
the sooner to God, for Whom I live, and exist, and have all but died, and to 
Whom I have long been hastening." 

  50. Amazed at this language, the prefect said, "No one has ever yet spoken 
thus, and with such boldness, to Modestus." "Why, perhaps," said Basil, "you 
have not met with a Bishop, or in his defence of such interests he would have 
used precisely the same language. For we are modest in general, and submissive 
to every one, according to the precept of our law. We may not treat with 
haughtiness even any ordinary person, to say nothing of so great a potentate. 
But where the interests of God are at stake, we care for nothing else, and 
make these our sole object. Fire and sword and wild beasts, and rakes which 
tear the flesh, we revel in, and fear them not. You may further insult and 
threaten us, and do whatever you will, to the full extent of your power. The 
Emperor himself may hear this--that neither by violence nor persuasion will 
you bring us to make common cause with impiety, not even though your threats 
become still more terrible." 

  51. At the close of this colloquy, the prefect, having been convinced by the 
attitude of Basil, that he was absolutely impervious to threats and influence, 
dismissed him from the court, his former threatening manner being replaced by 
somewhat of respect and deference. He himself with all speed obtained an 
audience of the Emperor, and said: "We have been worsted, Sire, by the prelate 
of this Church. He is superior to threats, invincible in argument, 
uninfluenced by persuasion. We must make trial of some more feeble character; 
and in this case resort to open violence, 



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or submit to the disregard of our threatenings." Hereupon the Emperor, forced 
by the praises of Basil to condemn his own conduct (for even an enemy can 
admire a man's excellence), would not allow violence to be used against him: 
and, like iron, which is softened by fire, yet still remains iron, though 
turned from threatening to admiration, would not enter into communion with 
him, being prevented by shame from changing his course, but sought to justify 
his conduct by the most plausible excuse he could, as the sequel will show. 

  52. For he entered the Church attended by the whole of his train; it was the 
festival of the Epiphany, and the Church was crowded, and, by taking his place 
among the people, he made a profession of unity. The occurrence is not to be 
lightly passed over. Upon his entrance he was struck by the thundering roll of 
the Psalms, by the sea of heads of the congregation, and by the angelic rather 
than human order which pervaded the sanctuary and its precincts: while Basil 
presided over his people, standing erect, as the Scripture says of 
Samuel,(a) with body and eyes and mind undisturbed, as if 
nothing new had happened, but fixed upon God and the sanctuary, as if, so to 
say, he had been a statue, while his ministers stood around him in fear and 
reverence. At this sight, and it was indeed a sight unparalleled, overcome by 
human weakness, his eyes were affected with dimness and giddiness, his mind 
with dread. This was as yet unnoticed by most people. But when he had to offer 
the gifts at the Table of God, which he must needs do himself, since no one 
would, as usual, assist him, because it was uncertain whether Basil would 
admit him, his feelings were revealed. For he was staggering, and had not some 
one in the sanctuary reached out a hand to steady his tottering steps, he 
would have sunk to the ground in a lamentable fall. So much for this. 

  53. As for the wisdom of his conference with the Emperor, who, in his 
quasi-communion with us entered within the veil to see and speak to him, as he 
had long desired to do, what else can I say but that they were inspired words, 
which were heard by the courtiers and by us who had entered with them? This 
was the beginning and first establishment of the Emperor's kindly feeling 
towards us; the impression produced by this reception put an end to the 
greater part of the persecution which assailed us like a river. 

  54. Another incident is not of less importance than those I have mentioned. 
The wicked were victorious, and the decree for his banishment was signed, to 
the full satisfaction of those who furthered it. The night had come, the 
chariot was ready, our haters were exultant, the pious in despair, we 
surrounded the zealous traveller, to whose honourable disgrace nothing was 
wanting. What next? It was undone by God. For He Who smote the first-born of 
Egypt,(a) for its harshness towards Israel, also struck the son 
of the Emperor with disease. How great was the speed! There was the sentence 
of banishment, here the decree of sickness: the hand of the wicked scribe was 
restrained, and the saint was preserved, and the man of piety presented to us, 
by the fever which brought to reason the arrogance of the Emperor. What could 
be more just or more speedy than this? This was the series of events: the 
Emperor's child was sick and in bodily pain. The father was pained for it, for 
what can the father do? On all sides he sought for aid in his distress, he 
summoned the best physicians, he betook himself to intercessions with the 
greatest fervour, and flung himself upon the ground. Affliction humbles even 
emperors, and no wonder, for the like sufferings of David in the case of his 
child are recorded for us.(b) But as no cure for the evil could 
anywhere be found, he applied to the faith of Basil, not personally summoning 
him, in shame for his recent ill treatment, but entrusting the mission to 
others of his nearest and dearest friends. On his arrival, without the delay 
or reluctance which any one else might have shown, at once the disease 
relaxed, and the father cherished better hopes; and had he not blended salt 
water with the fresh, by trusting to the heterodox at the same time that he 
summoned Basil, the child would have recovered his health and been preserved 
for his father's arms. This indeed was the conviction of those who were 
present at the time, and shared in the distress. 

  55. The same mischance is said to have befallen the prefect. He also was 
obliged by sickness to bow beneath the hands of the Saint, and, in reality, to 
men of sense a visitation brings instruction, and affliction is often better 
than prosperity. He fell sick, was in tears, and in pain, he sent for Basil, 
and en-treated him, crying out, "I own that you were in the right; only save 
me!" His request was granted, as he himself acknowledged, and convinced many 
who had known 



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nothing of it; for he never ceased to wonder at and describe the powers of the 
prelate. Such was his conduct in these cases, such its result. Did he then 
treat others in a different way, and engage in petty disputes about trifles, 
or fail to rise to the heights of philosophy in a course of action which 
merits no praise and is best passed over in silence? By no means. He who once 
stirred up the wicked Hadad against Israel,(a) stirred up 
against him the prefect(b) of the province of Pontus; 
nominally, from annoyance connected with some poor creature of a woman, but in 
reality as a part of the struggle of impiety against the truth. I pass by all 
his other insults against Basil, or, for it is the same thing, against God; 
for it is against Him and on His behalf that the contest was waged. One 
instance of it, however, which brought special disgrace upon the assailant, 
and exalted his adversary, if philosophy and eminence for it be a great and 
lofty thing, I will describe at length. 

  56. The assessor of a judge was attempting to force into a distasteful 
marriage a lady of high birth whose husband was but recently dead. At a loss 
to escape from this high-handed treatment, she resorted to a device no less 
prudent than daring. She fled to the holy table, and placed herself under the 
protection of God against outrage. What, in the Name of the Trinity Itself, if 
I may introduce into my panegyric somewhat of the forensic style, ought to 
have been done, I do not say, by the great Basil, who laid down the law for us 
all in such matters, but by any one who, though far inferior to him, was a 
priest? Ought he not to have allowed her claim, to have taken charge of, and 
cared for, her; to have raised his hand in defence of the kindness of God and 
the law which gives honour to the altar? Ought he not to have been willing to 
do and suffer anything, rather than take part in any inhuman design against 
her, and outrage at once the holy table, and the faith in which she had taken 
sanctuary? No! said the baffled judge, all ought to yield to my authority, and 
Christians should betray their own laws. The suppliant whom he demanded, was 
at all hazards retained. Accordingly, in his rage, he at last sent some of the 
magistrates to search the saint's bedchamber, with the purpose of dishonouring 
him, rather than from any necessity. What! Search the house of a man so free 
from passion, whom the angels revere, at whom women do not venture even to 
look? And, not content with this, he summoned him, and put him on his defence; 
and that, in no gentle or kindly manner, but as if he were a convict. Upon 
Basil's appearance, standing, like my Jesus, before the judgment seat of 
Pilate, he presided at the trial, full of wrath and pride. Yet the 
thunderbolts did not fall, and the sword of God still glittered, and waited, 
while His bow, though bent, was restrained. Such indeed is the custom of God. 

  57. Consider another struggle between our champion and his persecutor. His 
ragged pallium having been ordered to be torn away, "I will also, if you wish 
it, strip off my coat," said he. His fleshless form was threatened with blows, 
and he offered to submit to be torn with combs, and he said, "By such 
laceration you will cure my liver, which, as you see, is wearing me away." 
Such was their argument. But when the city perceived the outrage and the 
common danger of all--for each one considered this insolence a danger to 
himself, it became all on fire with rage; and, like a hive roused by smoke, 
one after another was stirred and arose, every race' and every age, but 
especially the men from the-small-arms factory and from the imperial 
weaving-sheds. For men at work in these trades are specially hot-tempered and 
daring, because of the liberty allowed them. Each man was armed with the tool 
he was using, or with whatever else came to hand at the moment. Torch in hand, 
amid showers of stones, with cudgel's ready, all ran and shouted together in 
their united zeal. Anger makes a terrible soldier or general. Nor were the 
women weaponless, when roused by such an occasion. Their pins were their 
spears, and no longer remaining women, they were by the strength of their 
eagerness endowed with masculine courage. It is a short story. They thought 
that they would share among themselves the piety of destroying him, and held 
him to be most pious who first laid hands on one who had dared such deeds. 
What then was the conduct of this haughty and daring judge? He begged for 
mercy in a pitiable state of distress, cringing before them to an unparalleled 
extent, until the arrival of the martyr without bloodshed, who had won his 
crown without blows, and now restrained the people by the force of his 
personal influence, and delivered the man who had insulted him and now sought 
his protection. This was the doing of the God of Saints, Who worketh and 
changeth all things for the best, who resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to 



414 



the humble.(a) And why should not He, Who divided the sea and 
stayed the river, and ruled the elements, and by stretching out set up a 
trophy, to save His exiled people, why should not He have also rescued this 
man from his perils? 

  58. This was the end and fortunate dose, in the Providence of God, of the 
war with the world, a close worthy of his faith. But here at once is the 
beginning of the war with the Bishops, and their allies, which involved great 
disgrace, and still greater injury to their subjects. For who could persuade 
others to be temperate, when such was the conduct of their prelates? For a 
long time they had been unkindly disposed towards him, on three grounds. They 
neither agreed with him in the matter of the faith, except in so far as they 
were absolutely obliged to yield to the majority of the faithful. Nor had they 
altogether laid aside the grudge they owed him for his election. And, what was 
most grievous of all to them, though they would have been most ashamed to own 
it--he so far outshone them in reputation. There was also a further cause of 
dissension which stirred up again the others. When our country had been 
divided into two provinces and metro-political sees, and a great part of the 
former was being added to the new one, this again roused their factious 
spirit. The one(b) thought it right that the ecclesiastical 
boundaries should be settled by the civil ones: and therefore claimed those 
newly added, as belonging to him, and severed from their former metropolitan. 
The other(g) clung to the ancient custom, and to the division 
which had come down from our fathers. Many painful results either actually 
followed, or were struggling in the womb of the future. Synods were wrongfully 
gathered by the new metropolitan, and revenues seized upon. Some of the 
presbyters of the churches refused obedience, others were won over. In 
consequence the affairs of the churches fell into a sad state of dissension 
and division. Novelty indeed has a certain charm for men, and they readily 
turn events to their own advantage, and it is easier to overthrow something 
which is already established, than to restore it when overthrown. What however 
enraged him most was, that the revenues(d) of the Taurus, which 
passed along before his eyes, accrued to his rival, as also the offerings at 
Saint Orestes',(a) of which he was greatly desirous to reap the 
fruits. He even went so far as, on one occasion when Basil was riding along 
his own road, to seize his mules by the bridle and bar the passage with a 
robber band. And with how specious a pretext, the care of his spiritual 
children and of the souls entrusted to him, and the defence of the 
faith--pretexts which veiled that most common vice, insatiable avarice--and 
further, the wrongfulness of paying dues to heretics, a heretic being any one 
who had displeased him. 

  59. The holy man of God however, metropolitan as he was of the true 
Jerusalem above, was neither carried away with the failure of those who fell, 
nor allowed himself to overlook this conduct, nor did he desire any inadequate 
remedy for the evil. Let us see how great and wonderful it was, or, I would 
say, how worthy of his soul. He made of the dissension a cause of increase to 
the Church, and the disaster, under his most able management, resulted in the 
multiplication of the Bishops of the country. From this ensued three most 
desirable consequences; a greater care for souls, the management by each city 
of its own affairs, and the cessation of the war in this quarter. I am afraid 
that I myself was treated as an appendage to this scheme. By no other term can 
I readily describe the position. Greatly as I admire his whole conduct, to an 
extent indeed beyond my powers of expression, of this single particular I find 
it impossible to approve, for I will acknowledge my feelings in regard to it, 
though these are from other sources not unknown to most of you. I mean the 
change and faithlessness of his treatment of myself, a cause of pain which 
even time has not obliterated. For this is the source of all the inconsistency 
and tangle of my life; it has robbed me of the practice, or at least the 
reputation, of philosophy; of small moment though the latter be. The defence, 
which you will perhaps allow me to make for him, is this; his ideas were 
superhuman, and having, before his death, become superior to worldly 
influences, his only interests were those of the Spirit: while his regard for 
friendship was in no wise lessened by his readiness then, and then only, to 
disregard its claims, when they were in conflict with his paramount duty to 
God, and when the end he had in view was of greater importance than the 
interests he was compelled to set aside. 

  60. I am afraid that, in avoiding the imputation of indifference at the 
hands of those 



415 



who desire to know all that can be said about him, I shall incur a charge of 
prolixity from those whose ideal is the golden mean. For the latter Basil 
himself had the greatest respect, being specially devoted to the adage "In all 
things the mean(a) is the best," and acting upon it throughout 
his life. Nevertheless, disregarding alike those who desire undue conciseness 
or excessive prolixity, I proceed thus with my speech. Different men attain 
success in different ways, some applying themselves to one alone of the many 
forms of excellence, but no one, of those hitherto known to me, arriving at 
the highest eminence in all respects; he being in my opinion the best, who has 
won his laurels on the widest field, or gained the highest possible renown in 
some single particular. Such however was the height of Basil's fame, that he 
became the pride of human kind. Let us consider the matter thus. Is any one 
devoted to poverty and a life devoid of property, and free from superfluity? 
What did he possess besides his body, and the necessary coverings of the 
flesh? His wealth was the having nothing, and he thought the cross, with which 
he lived, more precious than great riches. For no one, however much he may 
wish, can obtain possession of all things, hut any one can learn to despise, 
and so prove himself superior to, all things. Such being his mind, and such 
his life, he had no need of an altar and of vainglory, nor of such a public 
announcement as "Crates(b) sets Crates the Theban free." For 
his aim was ever to be, not to seem, most excellent. Nor did he dwell in a 
tub,(g) and in the midst of the market-place, and so by 
luxuriating in publicity turn his poverty into riches: but was poor and 
unkempt, yet without ostentation: and taking cheerfully the casting overboard 
of all that he ever had, sailed lightly across the sea of life. 

  61. A wondrous thing is temperance, and fewness of wants, and freedom from 
the dominion of pleasures, and from the bondage of that cruel and degrading 
mistress, the belly. Who was so independent of food, and, without 
exaggeration, more free from the flesh? For he flung away all satiety and 
surfeit to creatures destitute of reason, whose life is slavish and debasing. 
He paid little attention to such things as, next to the appetite, are of equal 
rank, but, as far as possible, lived on the merest necessaries, his only 
luxury being to prove himself not luxurious, and not, in consequence, to have 
greater needs: but he looked to the lilies and the birds,(a) 
whose beauty is artless, and their food casual, according to the important 
advice of my Christ, who made Himself poor(b) in the flesh for 
our sakes, that we might enjoy the riches of His Godhead. Hence came his 
single coat and well worn cloak, and his bed on the bare ground, his vigils, 
his unwashedness (such were his decorations) and his most sweet food and 
relish, bread, and salt, his new dainty, and the sober and plentiful drink, 
with which fountains supply those who are free from trouble. The result, or 
the accompaniment, of these things were the attendance on the sick and 
practice of medicine, our common intellectual pursuit. For, though inferior to 
him in all other respects, I must needs be his equal in distress. 

  62. A great thing is virginity, and celibacy, and being ranked with the 
angels, and with the single nature; for I shrink from calling it Christ's, 
Who, though He willed to be born for our sakes who are born, by being born of 
a Virgin, enacted(g) the law of virginity, to lead us away from 
this life, and cut short the power of the world, or rather, to transmit one 
world to another, the present to the future. Who then paid more honour to 
virginity, or had more control of the flesh, not only by his personal example, 
but in those under his care? Whose are the convents, and the written 
regulations, by which he subdued every sense, and regulated every member, and 
won to the real practice of virginity, turning inward the view of beauty, from 
the visible to the invisible; and by wasting away the external, and 
withdrawing fuel from the flame, and revealing the secrets of the heart to 
God, Who is the only bridegroom of pure souls, and takes in with himself the 
watchful souls, if they go to meet him with lamps burning and a plentiful 
supply of oil?(d) Moreover he reconciled most excellently and 
united the solitary and the community life. These had been in many respects at 
variance and dissension, while neither of them was in absolute and unalloyed 
possession of good or evil: the one being more calm and settled, tending to 
union with God, yet not free from pride, inasmuch as its virtue lies beyond 
the means of testing or comparison; the other, which is of more practical 
service, being not free from the tendency to turbulence. He founded 
cells(e) for ascetics 



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and hermits, but at no great distance from his cenobitic communities, and, 
instead of distinguishing and separating the one from the other, as if by some 
intervening wall, he brought them together and united them, in order that the 
contemplative spirit might not be cut off from society, nor the active life be 
uninfluenced by the contemplative, but that, like sea and land, by an 
interchange of their several gifts, they might unite in promoting the one 
object, the glory of God. 

  63. What more? A noble thing is philanthropy, and the support of the poor, 
and the assistance of human weakness. Go forth a little way from the city, and 
behold the new city,(a) the storehouse of piety, the common 
treasury of the wealthy, in which the superfluities of their wealth, aye, and 
even their necessaries, are stored, in consequence of his exhortations, freed 
from the power of the moth,(b) no longer gladdening the eyes of 
the thief, and escaping both the emulation of envy, and the corruption of 
time: where disease is regarded in a religious light, and disaster is thought 
a blessing, and sympathy is put to the test. Why should I compare with this 
work Thebes(g) of the seen portals, and the Egyptian Thebes, 
and the walls of Babylon, and the Carian tomb of Mausolus, and the Pyramids, 
and the bronze without weight of the Colossus, or the size and beauty of 
shrines that are no more, and all the other objects of men's wonder, and 
historic record, from which their founders gained no advantage, except a 
slight meed of fame. My subject is the most wonderful of all, the short road 
to salvation, the easiest ascent to heaven. There is no longer before our eyes 
that terrible and piteous spectacle of men who are living corpses, the greater 
part of whose limbs have mortified, driven away from their cities and homes 
and public places and fountains, aye, and from their own dearest ones, 
recognizable by their names rather than by their features: they are no longer 
brought before us at our gatherings and meetings, in our common intercourse 
and union, no longer the objects of hatred, instead of pity on account of 
their disease; composers of piteous songs, if any of them have their voice 
still left to them. Why should I try to express in tragic style all our 
experiences, when no language can be adequate to their hard lot? He however it 
was, who took the lead in pressing upon those who were men, that they ought 
not to despise their fellowmen, nor to dishonour Christ, the one Head of all, 
by their inhuman treatment of them; but to use the misfortunes of others as an 
opportunity of firmly establishing their own lot, and to lend to God that 
mercy of which they stand in need at His hands. He did not therefore disdain 
to honour with his lips this disease, noble and of noble ancestry and 
brilliant reputation though he was, but saluted them as brethren, not, as some 
might suppose, from vainglory, (for who was so far removed from this feeling?) 
but taking the lead in approaching to tend them, as a consequence of his 
philosophy, and so giving not only a speaking, but also a silent, instruction. 
The effect produced is to be seen not only in the city, but in the country and 
beyond, and even the leaders of society have vied with one another in their 
philanthropy and magnanimity towards them. Others have had their cooks, and 
splendid tables, and the devices and dainties of confectioners, and exquisite 
carriages, and soft, flowing robes; Basil's care was for the sick, and the 
relief of their wounds, and the imitation of Christ, by cleansing leprosy, not 
by a word, but in deed. 

  64. As to all this, what will be said by those who charge him with pride and 
haughtiness? Severe critics they are of such conduct, applying to him, whose 
life was a standard, those who were not standards at all. Is it possible that 
he who kissed the lepers, and humiliated himself to such a degree, could treat 
haughtily those who were in health: and, while wasting his flesh by 
abstinence, puff out his soul with empty arrogance? Is it possible to condemn 
the Pharisee, and expound the debasing effect of haughtiness, to know Christ, 
Who condescended to the form of a slave, and ate with publicans, and washed 
the disciples' feet, and did not disdain the cross, in order to nail my sin to 
it: and, more incredible still, to see God crucified, aye, along with robbers 
also, and derided by the passers by, impassible, and beyond the reach of 
suffering as He is; and yet, as his slanderers imagine, soar himself above the 
clouds, and think that nothing can be on an equality with him. Nay, what they 
term pride is, I fancy, the firmness and steadfastness and stability of his 
character. Such persons would readily, it seems to me, call bravery rashness, 
and the circumspect a coward, and the temperate misanthropic, and the just 
illiberal. For indeed this philosophic axiom is excellent, which says that the 
vices(a) are settled close to the 



417 



virtues, and are, in some sense, their next-door neighbours: and it is most 
easy, for those whose training in such subjects has been defective, to mistake 
a man for what he is not. For who honoured virtue and castigated vice more 
than he, or showed himself more kind to the upright, more severe to the wrong 
doers? His very smile often amounted to praise, his silence to rebuke, racking 
the evil in the secret conscience. And if a man have not been a chatterer, and 
jester, and gossip, nor a general favourite, because of having pleased others 
by becoming all things to all men,(a) what of that? Is he not 
in the eyes of sensible men worthy of praise rather than of blame? Unless it 
is a fault in the lion that he is terrible and royal, and does not look like 
an ape, and that his spring is noble, and is valued for its wonderfulness: 
while stage-players ought to win our admiration for their pleasant and 
philanthropic characters, because they please the vulgar, and raise a laugh by 
their sounding slaps in the face. And if this indeed be our object, who was so 
pleasant when you met him, as I know, who have had the longest experience? Who 
was more kindly in his stories, more refined in his wit, more tender in his 
rebukes? His reproofs gave rise to no arrogance, his relaxation to no 
dissipation, but avoiding excess in either, he made use of both in reason and 
season, according to the rules of Solomon, who assigns to every business a 
season.(b) 

  65. But what are these to his renown for eloquence, and his powers of 
instruction, which have won the favour of the ends of the world? As yet we 
have been compassing the foot of the mountain, to the neglect of its summit, 
as yet we have been crossing a strait, paying no heed to the mighty and deep 
ocean. For I think that if any one ever has become, or can become, a trumpet, 
in his far sounding resonance, or a voice of God, embracing the universe, or 
an earthquake of the world, by some unheard of miracle, it is his voice and 
intellect which deserve these titles, for surpassing and excelling all men as 
much as we surpass the irrational creatures. Who, more than he, cleansed 
himself by the Spirit, and made himself worthy to set forth divine things? Who 
was more enlightened by the light of knowledge, and had a closer insight into 
the depths of the Spirit, and by the aid of God beheld the things of God? 
Whose language could better express intellectual truth, without, as most men 
do, limping on one foot, by either failing to express his ideas, or allowing 
his eloquence to outstrip his reasoning powers? In both respects he won a like 
distinction, and showed himself to be his own equal, and absolutely perfect. 
To search all things, yea, the deep things of God(a) is, 
according to the testimony of S. Paul, the office of the Spirit, not because 
He is ignorant of them, but because He takes delight in their contemplation. 
Now all the things of the Spirit Basil had fully investigated, and hence he 
drew his instructions for every kind of character, his lessons in the sublime, 
and his exhortations to quit things present, and adapt ourselves to things to 
come. 

  66. The sun is extolled by David for its beauty, its greatness, its swift 
course, and its power, splendid as a bridegroom, majestic as a 
giant;(b) while, from the extent of its circuit, it has such 
power that it equally sheds its light from one end of heaven to the other, and 
the heat thereof is in no wise lessened by distance. Basil's beauty was 
virtue, his greatness theology, his course the perpetual motion reaching even 
to God by its ascents, and his power the sowing and distribution of the Word. 
So that I will not hesitate to say even this, his utterance went out into all 
lands,(g) and the power of his words to the ends of the world: 
as S. Paul says of the Apostles,(d) borrowing the words from 
David. What other charm is there in any gathering to-day? What pleasure in 
banquets, in the courts, in the churches? What delight in those in authority, 
and those beneath them? What in the hermits, or the cenobites? What in the 
leisured classes, or those busied in affairs? What in profane schools of 
philosophy or in our own? There is one, which runs through all, and is the 
greatest--his writings and labours. Nor do writers require any supply of 
matter besides his teaching or writings. All the laborious studies of old days 
in the Divine oracles are silent, while the new ones are in everybody's mouth, 
and he is the best teacher among us who has the deepest acquaintance with his 
works, and speaks of them and explains them in our ears. For he alone more 
than supplies the place of all others to those who are specially eager for 
instruction. 

  67. I will only say this of him. Whenever I handle his Hexaemeron, and take 
its words on my lips, I am brought into the presence of the Creator, and 
understand the words of creation, and admire the Creator more than before, 
using my teacher as my only means of 



418 



sight. Whenever I take up his polemical works, I see the fire of 
Sodom,(a) by which the wicked and rebellious tongues are 
reduced to ashes, or the tower of Chalane,(b) impiously 
built,(g) and righteously destroyed. Whenever. I read his 
writings on the Spirit, I find the God Whom I possess, and grow bold in my 
utterance of the truth, from the support of his theology and contemplation. 
His other treatises, in which he gives explanations for those who are 
shortsighted, by a threefold inscription on the solid tablets of his heart, 
lead me on from a mere literal or symbolical interpretation to a still wider 
view, as I proceed from one depth to another, calling upon 
deep(d) after deep, and finding light after light, until I 
attain the highest pinnacle. When I study his panegyrics on our athletes, I 
despise the body, and enjoy the society of those whom he is praising, and 
rouse myself to the struggle. His moral and practical discourses purify soul 
and body, making me a temple fit for God, and an instrument struck by the 
Spirit, to celebrate by its strains the glory and power of God. In fact, he 
reduces me to harmony and order, and changes me by a Divine transformation. 

  68. Since I have mentioned theology, and his most sublime treatises in this 
science, I will make this addition to what I have already said. For it is of 
great service to the community, to save them from being injured by an 
unjustifiably low opinion of him. My remarks are directed against those evil 
disposed persons who shelter their own vices under cover of their calumnies 
against others. In his defence of orthodox teaching, and of the union and 
coequal divinity of the Holy Trinity, to use terms which are, I think, as 
exact and clear as possible, he would have eagerly welcomed as a gain, and not 
a danger, not only expulsion from his see, in which he had originally no 
desire to be enthroned, but even exile, and death, and its preliminary 
tortures. This is manifest from his actual conduct and sufferings. For when he 
had been sentenced to banishment on behalf of the truth, the only notice which 
he took of it was, to bid one of his servants to take his writing tablet and 
follow him. He held it necessary, according to the divine David's advice, to 
guide his words with discretion,(e) and to endure for a while 
the time of war, and the ascendency of the heretics, until it should be 
succeeded by a time of freedom and calm, which would admit of freedom of 
speech. The enemy were on the watch for the unqualified statement "the Spirit 
is God;" which, although it is true, they and the wicked patron of their 
impiety imagined to be impious; so that they might banish him and his power of 
theological instruction from the city, and themselves be able to seize upon 
the church, and make it the starting point and citadel, from which they could 
overrun with their evil doctrine the rest of the world. Accordingly, by the 
use of other terms, and by statements which unmistakably had the same meaning, 
and by arguments necessarily leading to this conclusion, he so overpowered his 
antagonists, that they were left without reply, and involved in their own 
admissions,--the greatest proof possible of dialectical power and skill. His 
treatise on this subject makes it further manifest, being evidently written by 
a pen borrowed from the Spirit's store. He postponed for the time the use of 
the exact term, begging as a favour from the Spirit Himself and his earnest 
champions, that they would not be annoyed at his economy,(a) 
nor, by clinging to a single expression, ruin the whole cause, from an 
uncompromising temper, at a crisis when religion was in peril. He assured them 
that they would stiffer no injury from a slight change in their expressions, 
and from teaching the same truth in other terms. For our salvation is not so 
much a matter of words as of actions; for we would not reject the Jews, if 
they desired to unite with us, and yet for a while sought to use the term 
"Anointed" instead of "Christ:" while the community would suffer a very 
serious injury, if the church were seized upon by the heretics. 

  69. That he, no less than any other, acknowledged that the Spirit is God, is 
plain from his often having publicly preached this truth, whenever opportunity 
offered, and eagerly confessed it when questioned in private. But he made it 
more clear in his conversations with me, from whom he concealed nothing during 
our conferences upon this subject. Not content with simply asserting it, he 
proceeded, as he had but very seldom done before, to imprecate upon himself 
that most terrible fate of separation from the Spirit, if he did not adore the 
Spirit as consubstantial and coequal with the Father and the Son. And if any 
one would accept me as having been his fellow labourer in this cause, I will 
set forth one point hitherto unknown to most men. Under the pressure of the 
difficulties 



419 



of the period, he himself undertook the economy, while allowing freedom of 
speech to me, whom no one was likely to drag from obscurity to trial or 
banishment, in order that by our united efforts our Gospel might be firmly 
established. I mention this, not to defend his reputation, for the man is 
stronger than his assailants, if there are any such; but to prevent men from 
thinking that the terms found in his writings are the utmost limit of the 
truth, and so have their faith weakened, and consider that their own error is 
supported by his theology, which was the joint result of the influences of the 
time and of the Spirit, instead of considering the sense of his writings, and 
the object with which they were written, so as to be brought closer to the 
truth, and enabled to silence the partisans of impiety. At any rate let his 
theology be mine, and that of all dear to me! And so confident am I of his 
spotlessness in this respect, that I take him for my partner in this, as in 
all else: and may what is mine be attributed to him, what is his to me, both 
at the hands of God, and of the wisest of men! For we would not say that the 
Evangelists are at variance with one another, because some are more occupied 
with the human side of the Christ, and others pay attention to His Divinity; 
some having commenced their history with what is within our own experience, 
others with what is above us; and by thus sharing the substance of their 
message, they have procured the advantage of those who receive it, and 
followed the impressions of the Spirit Who was within them. 

  70. Come then, there have been many men of old days illustrious for piety, 
as lawgivers, generals, prophets, teachers, and men brave to the shedding of 
blood, Let us compare our prelate with them, and thus recognize his merit. 
Adam was honoured by the hand of God, (a) and the delights of 
Paradise, (b) and the first legislation: (g) 
but, unless I slander the reputation of our first parent, he kept not the 
command, Now Basil both received and observed it, and received no injury from 
the tree of knowledge, and escaped the flaming sword, and, as I am well 
assured, has attained to Paradise. Enos first ventured to call upon the Lord. 
(d) Basil both called upon Him himself, and, what is far more 
excellent, preached Him to others. Enoch was translated, (e) 
attaining to his translation as the reward of a little piety (for the faith 
was still in shadow) and escaped the peril of the remainder of life, but 
Basil's whole life was a translation, and he was completely tested in a 
complete life. Noah was entrusted with the ark, (a) and the 
seeds of a new world committed to a small house of wood, in their preservation 
from the waters. Basil escaped the deluge of impiety and made of his own city 
an ark of safety, which sailed lightly over the heretics, and afterwards 
recovered the whole world. 

  71. Abraham was a great man, a patriarch, the offerer of the new sacrifice, 
(b) by presenting to Him who had given it the promised seed, as 
a ready offering, eager for slaughter. But Basil's offering was no slight one, 
when he offered himself to God, without any equivalent being given in his 
stead, (for how could that have been possible?) so that his sacrifice was 
consummated. Isaac was promised even before his birth, (g) 
Basil promised himself, and took for his spouse Rebekah, I mean the Church, 
not fetched from a distance by the mission of a servant, (d) 
but bestowed upon and entrusted to him by God close at home: nor was he 
outwitted in the preference of his children, but bestowed upon each what was 
due to him, without any deception, according to the judgment of the Spirit. I 
extol the ladder of Jacob, (e) and the pillar which he anointed 
to God, and his wrestling with Him, whatever it was; and, in my opinion, it 
was the contrast and opposition of the human stature to the height of God, 
resulting in the tokens of the defeat (z) of his race. I extol 
also his clever devices and success in cattle-breeding, and his children, the 
twelve Patriarchs, and the distribution of his blessings, with their glorious 
prophecy of the future. But I still more extol Basil for the ladder which he 
did not merely see, but which he ascended by successive steps towards 
excellence, and the pillar which he did not anoint, but which he erected to 
God, by pillorying the teaching of the ungodly; and the wrestling with which 
he wrestled, not with God, but, on behalf of God, to the overthrow of the 
heretics; and his pastoral care, whereby he grew rich, through gaining for 
himself a number of marked sheep greater than that of the unmarked, and his 
illustrious fruitfulness in spiritual children, and the blessing with which he 
established many. 

  72. Joseph was a provider of corn, (a) he was both 
tempted, and overcame, and at the close of his struggles gained splendid 
honour, having been shaken by none of his many assailants, and having gained a 
decisive victory over the efforts of the tempter, and put to silence the 
unreason of his friends, who knew not the mysterious character of his 
affliction. "Moses and Aaron among His priests." (b) Truly was 
Moses great, who inflicted the plagues upon Egypt, (g) and 
delivered the people among many signs and wonders, and entered within the 
cloud, and sanctioned the double law, outward in the letter, and inward in the 
Spirit. Aaron was Moses' brother, (d) both naturally and 
spiritually, and offered sacrifices and prayers for the people, as the 
hierophant of the great and holy tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not 
man.(e) Of both of them Basil was a rival, for he tortured, not 
with bodily but with spiritual and mental plagues, the Egyptian race of 
heretics, and led to the land of promise (z) the people of 
possession, zealous of good works; (h) he inscribed laws, which 
are no longer obscure, but entirely spiritual, on tables (q 
which are not broken but are preserved; he entered the Holy of holies, 
(i) not once a year, but often, I may say every day, and thence 
he revealed to us the Holy Trinity; and cleansed the people, not with 
temporary sprinklings, but with eternal purifications: What is the special 
excellence of Joshua? (k) His generalship, and the distribution 
of the inheritance, and the taking possession of the Holy Land. And was not 
Basil an Exarch? (l) Was he not a general of those who are 
saved by faith? (m) Did he not assign the different 
inheritances and abodes, according to the will of God, among his followers? So 
that he too could use the words, "The lot is fallen unto me in pleasant 
places; (n) and "my fortunes are in Thy hands," 
(x) fortunes more precious than those which come to us on 
earth, and can be snatched away. 

  73. Further, to run over the Judges, or the most illustrious of the Judges, 
there is "Samuel among those that call upon His Name," (o) who 
was given to God before his birth, (p) and sanctified 
immediately after his birth, and the anointer with his horn of kings and 
priests. (r) But was not Basil as an infant consecrated to God 
from the womb, and offered with a coat (a) at the altar, and 
was he not a seer of heavenly things, and anointed of the Lord, and the 
anointer of those who are perfected by the Spirit? Among the kings, David is 
celebrated, whose victories and trophies (b) gained from the 
enemy are on record, but his most characteristic trait was his gentleness, 
(g) and, before his kingly office, his power with the harp, 
able to soothe even the evil spirit. Solomon asked of God and obtained breadth 
of heart, (d) making the furthest possible progress in wisdom 
and contemplation, so that he became the most famous man of his time. Basil, 
in my opinion, was in no wise, or but little inferior, to the one in 
gentleness, to the other in wisdom, so that he soothed the arrogance of 
infuriated sovereigns; and did not merely bring the queen of the south from 
the ends of the earth, or any other individual, to visit him because of his 
renown for wisdom, but made his wisdom known in all the ends of the world. I 
pass over the rest of Solomon's life. Even if we spare it, it is evident to 
all. 

  74. Do you praise the courage of Elijah (e) in the presence 
of tyrants, and his fiery translation? (z) Or the fair 
inheritance of Elisha, the sheepskin mantle, accompanied by the spirit of 
Elijah? (h) You must also praise the life of Basil, spent in 
the fire. I mean in the multitude of temptations, and his escape through fire, 
which burnt, but did not consume, the mystery of "the bush," 
(q) and the fair cloak of skin from on high, his indifference 
to the flesh. I pass by the rest, the three young men bedewed in the fire, 
(i) the fugitive prophet praying in the whale's belly, 
(k) and coming forth from the creature, as from a chamber; the 
just man in the den, restraining the lions' rage, (l) and the 
struggle of the seven Maccabees, (m) who were perfected with 
their father and mother in blood, and in all kinds of tortures. Their 
endurance he rivalled, and won their glory. 

  75. I now turn to the New Testament, and comparing his life with those who 
are here illustrious, I shall find in the teachers a source of honour for 
their disciple. Who was the forerunner of Jesus? (n) John, the 
voice of the Word, (x) the lamp of the Light, 
(o) before Whom he even leaped in the womb, (p) 
and Whom he preceded to Hades, whither he was despatched by the rage of Herod, 
(r) to herald even there 



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Him who was coming. And, if my language seems audacious to anyone, let me 
assure him beforehand, that in making this comparison, I neither prefer Basil, 
nor imply that he is equal to him who surpasses all who are born of women, 
(a) but only show that he was stirred to emulation, and 
possessed to some extent his striking features. For it is no slight thing for 
the earnest to imitate the greatest of men, even in a slight degree. Is it not 
indeed manifest that Basil was a copy of John's asceticism? He also lived in 
the wilderness, and wore in nightly watchings a ragged garb, during his 
shrinking retirement; he also loved a similar food, purifying himself for God 
by abstinence; he also was thought worthy to be a herald, if not a forerunner, 
of Christ, and there went out to him not only all the region round about, 
(b) but also that which was beyond its borders; he also stood 
between the two covenants, abolishing the letter of the one by administering 
the spirit of the other, and bringing about the fulfilment of the hidden law 
through the dissolution of that which was apparent. 

  76. He emulated the zeal of Peter, (g) the intensity of Paul, 
the faith of both these then of name and of surname, the lofty utterance of 
the sons of Zebedee, the frugality and simplicity of all the disciples. 
Therefore he was also entrusted with the keys of the heavens, 
(d) and not only from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, 
(e) but he embraces a wider circle in the Gospel; he is not 
named, but becomes, a Son of thunder; and lying upon the breast of Jesus, he 
draws thence the power of his word, and the depth of his thoughts. He was 
prevented from becoming a Stephen, (z) eager though he was, 
since reverence stayed the hands of those who would have stoned him. I am able 
to sum up still more concisely, to avoid treating in detail on these points of 
each individual. In some respects he discovered, in some he emulated, in 
others he surpassed the good. In his many-sided virtues he excelled all men of 
this day. I have but one thing left to say, and in few words. 

  77. So great was his virtue, and the eminence of his fame, that many of his 
minor characteristics, nay, even his physical defects, have been assumed by 
others with a view to notoriety. For instance his paleness, his beard, his 
gait, his thoughtful, and generally meditative, hesitation in speaking, which, 
in the ill-judged, inconsiderate imitation of many, took the form of 
melancholy. And besides, the style of his dress, the shape of his bed, and his 
manner of eating, none of which was to him a matter of consequence, but simply 
the result of accident and chance. So you might see many Basils in outward 
semblance, among these statues in outline, for it would be too much to call 
them his distant echo. For an echo, though it is the dying away of a sound, at 
any rate represents it with great clearness, while these men fall too far 
short of him to satisfy even their desire to approach him. Nor was it a slight 
thing, but a matter with good reason held in the highest estimation, to chance 
to have met him or done him some service, or to carry away the souvenir of 
something which he had said or done in jest or in earnest: as I know that I 
have myself often taken pride in doing; for his improvisations were much more 
precious and brilliant than the laboured efforts of other men. 

  78. But when, after he had finished his course, and kept the faith, 
(a) he longed to depart, and the time for his crown was 
approaching, (b) he did not hear the summons: "Get thee up into 
the mountain and die," (g) hut "Die and come up to us." And 
here again he wrought a wonder in no wise inferior to those mentioned before. 
For when he was almost dead, and breathless, and had lost the greater part of 
his powers; he grew stronger in his last words, so as to depart with the 
utterances of religion, and, by ordaining the most excellent of his 
attendants, bestowed upon them both his hand and the Spirit: so that his 
disciples, who had aided him in his priestly office, might not be defrauded of 
the priesthood. The remainder of my task I approach, but with reluctance, as 
it would fall more filly from the mouths of others than from my own. For 
cannot philosophise over my misfortune, even if greatly longed to do so, when 
I recollect that the loss is common to us all, and that the misfortune has 
befallen the whole world. 

  79. He lay, drawing his last breath, and awaited by the choir on high, 
towards which he had long directed his gaze. Around him poured the whole city, 
unable to bear his loss, inveighing against his departure, as if it had been 
an oppression, and clinging to his soul, as though it had been capable of 
restraint or compulsion at their bands or their prayers. Their suffering had 
driven them distracted, all were eager, were it possible, to add to his life a 
portion of their own. And when they failed, for it must needs be proved that 
he was a man, and, with his last words "Into thy Hands I commend my spirit," 
(d) he had joyfully resigned his soul to the care of the angels 
who carried him away; not without having some religious instructions and 
injunctions for the benefit of those who were present--then occurred a wonder 
more remarkable than any which had happened before. 

  80. The saint was being carried out, lifted high by the hands of holy men, 
and everyone was eager, some to seize the hem of his garment, 
(e) others only just to touch the shadow, (z) or 
the bier which bore his holy remains (for what could be more holy or pure than 
that body), others to draw near to those who were carrying 



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it, others only to enjoy the sight, as if even this were beneficial. Market 
places, porticos, houses of two or three stories were filled with people 
escorting, preceding, following, accompanying him, and trampling upon each 
other; tens of thousands of every race and age, beyond all previous 
experience. The psalmody was overborne by the lamentations, philosophic 
resignation sank beneath the misfortune. Our own people vied with strangers, 
Jews, Greeks, and foreigners, and they with us, for a greater share in the 
benefit, by means of a more abundant lamentation. To close my story, the 
calamity ended in danger; many souls departed along with him, from the 
violence of the pushing and confusion, who have been thought happy in their 
end, departing together with him, "funeral victims," perhaps some fervid 
orator might call them. The body having at last escaped froth those who would 
seize it, and made its way through those who went before it, was consigned to 
the tomb of his fathers, the high priest being added to the priests, the 
mighty voice which rings in my ears to the heralds, the martyr to the martyrs. 
And now he is in heaven, where, if I mistake not, he is offering sacrifices 
for us, and praying for the people, for though, he has left us, he bus not 
entirely left us. While I, Gregory, who am half dead, and, cleft in twain, 
torn away from our great union, and dragging along a life of pain which runs 
not easily, as may be supposed, after separation from him, know not what is to 
be my end now that I have lost my guidance. And even now I am admonished and 
instructed in nightly visions, if ever I fall short of my duty. And my present 
object is not so much to mingle lamentations with my praises, or to portray 
the public life of the man, or publish a picture of virtue common to all time, 
and an example salutary to all churches, and to all souls, which we may keep 
in view, as a living law, and so rightly direct our lives as to counsel you, 
who have been completely initiated into his doctrine, to fix your eyes upon 
him, as one who sees you and is seen by you, and thus to be perfected by the 
Spirit. 

  81. Come hither then, and surround me, all ye members of his choir, both of 
the clergy and the laity, both of our own country and from abroad; aid me in 
my eulogy, by each supplying or demanding the account of some of his 
excellences. Regard, ye occupants of the bench, the lawgiver; ye politicians, 
the statesman; ye men of the people, his orderliness; ye men of letters, the 
instructor; ye virgins, the leader of the bride; ye who are yoked in marriage, 
the restrainer; ye hermits, him who gave you wings; ye cenobites, the judge; 
ye simple men, the guide; ye contemplatives, the divine; ye cheerful ones, the 
bridle; ye unfortunate men, the consoler, the staff of boar hairs, the guide 
of youth, the relief of poverty, the steward of abundance. Widows also will, I 
imagine, praise their protector, orphans their father poor men their friend, 
strangers their entertainer, brothers the man of brotherly love, the sick 
their physician, whatever be their sickness and the healing they need, the 
healthy the preserver of health, and all men him who made himself all things 
to all that he might gain the majority, if not all. 

  82. This is my offering to thee, Basil, uttered by the tongue which once was 
the sweetest of all to thee, of him who was thy fellow in age and rank. If it 
have approached thy deserts, thanks are due to thee, for it was from 
confidence in thee that I undertook to speak of thee. But if it fall far short 
of thy expectations, what must be our feelings, who are worn out with age and 
disease and regret for thee? Yet God is pleased, when we do what we can. Yet 
mayest thou gaze upon us from above, thou divine and sacred person; either 
stay by thy entreaties our thorn in the flesh, (a) given to us 
by God for oar discipline, or prevail upon us to bear it boldly, and guide all 
our life towards that which is most for our profit. And if we be translated, 
do thou receive us there also in thine own tabernacle. that, as we dwell 
together, and gaze together more clearly and more perfectly upon the holy and 
blessed Trinity, of Which we have now in some degree received the image, our 
longing may at last be satisfied, by gaining this recompense for all the 
battles we have fought and the assaults we have endured. Such are our words on 
thy behalf: who will there be to praise us, since we leave this life after 
thee, even if we offer any topic worthy of words or praise in Christ Jesus our 
Lord, to Whom be glory forever? Amen. 


ORATION XLV. 



THE SECOND ORATION ON EASTER. 



  I. I will stand upon my watch, (b) saith the venerable 
Habakkuk; and I will take my post beside him today on the authority and 
observation which was given me of the Spirit; and I will look forth, and will 
observe what shall be said to me. Well, I have taken my stand, and looked 
forth; and behold a man riding on the clouds and he is very high, and his 
countenance is as the countenance of Angel, (g) and his vesture 
as the brightness of piercing lightning; and he lifts his hand toward the 
East, and cries with a loud voice. His voice is like the voice of a trumpet; 
and round about Him is as it were a multitude of the Heavenly Host; and he 
saith, Today is salvation come unto the world, to that which 



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is visible, and to that which is invisible. Christ is risen from the dead, 
rise ye with Him. Christ is returned again to Himself, return ye. Christ is 
freed from the tomb, be ye freed from the bond of sin. The gates of hell are 
opened, and death is destroyed, and the old Adam is put aside, and the New is 
fulfilled; if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; (a) be 
ye renewed. Thus he speaks; and the rest sing out, as they did before when 
Christ was manifested to us by His birth on earth, their glory to God in the 
highest, on earth, peace, goodwill among men. (b) And with them 
I also utter the same words among you. And would that I might receive a voice 
that should rank with the Angel's, and should sound through all the ends of 
the earth. 

  II. The Lord's Passover, the Passover, and again I say the Passover to the 
honour of the Trinity. This is to us a Feast of feasts and a Solemnity of 
solemnities (g) as far exalted above all others (not only those 
which are merely human and creep on the ground, but even those which are of 
Christ Himself, and are celebrated in His honour) as the Sun is above the 
stars. Beautiful indeed yesterday was our splendid array, and our 
illumination, in which both in public and private we associated ourselves, 
every kind of men, and almost every rank, illuminating the night with our 
crowded fires, formed after the fashion of that great light, both that with 
which the heaven above us lights its beacon fires, and that which is above the 
heavens, amid the angels (the first luminous nature, next to the first nature 
of all, because springing directly from it), and that which is in the Trinity, 
from which all light derives its being, parted from the undivided light and 
honoured. But today's is more beautiful and more illustrious; inasmuch as 
yesterday's light was a forerunner of the rising of the Great Light, and as it 
were a kind of rejoicing in preparation for the Festival; but today we are 
celebrating the Resurrection itself, no longer as an object of expectation, 
but as having already come to pass, and gathering the whole world unto itself. 
Let then different persons bring forth different fruits and offer different 
offerings at this season, smaller or greater .. such spiritual offerings as 
are dear to God .. as each may have power. For scarcely Angels themselves 
could offer gifts worthy of its rank, those first and intellectual and pure 
beings, who are also eye-witnesses of the Glory That is on high; if even these 
can attain the full strain of praise. We will for our part offer a discourse, 
the best and most precious thing we have-- especially as we are praising the 
Word for the blessing which He hath bestowed on the reasoning creation. I will 
begin from this point. For I cannot endure, when I am engaged in offering the 
sacrifice of the lips concerning the Great Sacrifice and the greatest of days, 
to fail to recur to God, and to take my beginning from Him. Therefore I pray 
you, cleanse your mind and ears and thoughts, all you who delight in such 
subjects, since the discourse will be concerning God, and will be divine; that 
you may depart filled with delights of a sort that do not pass away into 
nothingness. And it shall be at once very full and very concise, so as neither 
to distress you by its deficiencies, nor to displease you by satiety. 

  III. God (a) always was and always is, and always will be; or 
rather, God always Is (b) For Was and Will Be are fragments of 
our time, and of changeable nature. But He is Eternal Being; and this is the 
Name He gives Himself when giving the Oracles to Moses in the Mount. For in 
Himself He sums up and contains all Being, having neither beginning in the 
past nor end in the future .. like some great Sea of Being, limitless and 
unbounded, transcending all conception of time and nature, only adumbrated by 
the mind, and that very dimly and scantily .. not by His Essentials but by His 
Environment, (g) one image being got from one source and 
another from another, and combined into some sort of presentation of the 
truth, which escapes us before we have caught it, and which takes to flight 
before we have conceived it, blazing forth upon our master-part, even when 
that is cleansed, as the lightning flash which will not stay its 
course does upon our sight .. in order, as I conceive, by that part of it 
which we can comprehend to draw us to itself (for that which is altogether 
incomprehensible is outside the bounds of hope, and not within the compass of 
endeavour); and by that part of It which we cannot comprehend to move our 
wonder; and as an object of wonder to become more an object of desire; and 
being desired, to purify; and purifying to make us like God; so that, when we 
have become like Himself, God may, to use a bold expression, hold converse 
with us as God; being trailed to us, and known by us; and that perhaps to the 
same extent as He already knows those who are known to Him. (a) 
The Divine Nature, then, is boundless and hard to understand, and all that we 
can comprehend of Him is His boundlessness; even though one may conceive that 
because He is of a simple Nature He is therefore either wholly 
incomprehensible or perfectly comprehensible. For let us farther enquire what 
is implied by "is of a simple Nature?" For it is quite certain that this 
simplicity is not itself its nature, just as composition is not by itself the 
essence of compound beings. 

  IV. And when Infinity is considered from two points of view, beginning and 
end (for that which is beyond these and not limited by them is Infinity), when 
the mind looks into the depths above, not having where to stand, and leans 
upon phaenomena to form an idea of God it calls the Infinite and 
Unapproachable which it finds there by the name of Unoriginate. And when it 
looks into the depth below and at the future, it calls Him Undying and 
Imperishable. And when it draws a conclusion from the whole, it calls Him 
Eternal. For Eternity is neither time nor part of time; for it cannot be 
measured. But what time measured by the course of the sun is to as, that 
Eternity is to the Everlasting; namely a sort of timelike movement and 
interval, coextensive with Their Existence. This however is all that I must 
now say of God; for the present is not a suitable time, as my present subject 
is not the doctrine of God, but that of the Incarnation. And when I say God, I 
mean Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; for Godhead is neither diffused beyond 
These, so as to introduce a mob of gods, nor yet bounded by a smaller compass 
than These, so as to condemn us for a poverty stricken conception of Deity, 
either Judaizing to save the Monarchia, or falling into heathenism by the 
multitude of our gods. For the evil on either side is the same, though found 
in contrary directions. Thus then is the Holy of Holies, Which is hidden even 
from the Seraphim, and is glorified with a thrice-repeated Holy meeting in one 
ascription of the title Lord and God, as one of our predecessors has most 
beautifully and loftily reasoned out. 

  V. But since this movement of Self-contemplation alone could not satisfy 
Goodness, but Good must be poured out and go forth beyond Itself, to multiply 
the objects of Its beneficence (for this was essential to the highest 
Goodness), He first conceived the Angelic and Heavenly Powers. And this 
conception was a work fulfilled by His Word and perfected by His Spirit. And 
so the Secondary Splendours came into being, as the ministers of the Primary 
Splendour (whether we are to conceive of them as intelligent Spirits, or as 
Fire of an immaterial and incorporeal kind, or as some other nature 
approaching this as near as may be). I should like to say that they are 
incapable of movement in the direction of evil, and susceptible only of the 
movement of good, as being about God and illuminated with the first Rays from 
God (for earthly beings have but the second illumination), but I am obliged to 
stop short of saying that they are immovable, and to conceive and speak of 
them as only difficult to move, because of him who for His Splendour was 
called Lucifer, but became and is called Darkness through his pride; and the 
Apostate Hosts who are subject to him, creators of evil by their revolt 
against good, and our inciters. 

  VI. Thus then and for these reasons, He gave being to the world of thought, 
as far as I can reason on these matters, and estimate great things in my own 
poor language. Then, when His first Creation was in good order, He conceives a 
second world, material and visible; and this a system of earth and sky and all 
that is in the midst of them; an admirable creation indeed when we look at the 
fair form of every part, but yet more worthy of admiration when we consider 
the harmony and unison of the whole, and how each part fits in with every 
other in fair order, and all with the whole, tending to the perfect completion 
of the world as a Unit. This was to shew that He could call into being not 
only a nature akin to Himself, but also one altogether alien to Him. For akin 
to Deity are those natures which are intellectual, and only to be comprehended 
by mind; but all of which sense can take cognizance are utterly alien to It; 



425 



and of these the furthest removed from it are all those which are entirely 
destitute of soul and power of motion. 

  VII. Mind then and sense, thus distinguished from each other, had remained 
within their own boundaries, and bore in themselves the magnificence of the 
Creator-Word, silent praisers and thrilling heralds of His mighty work. Not 
yet was there any mingling of both, nor any mixture of these opposites, tokens 
of a greater wisdom and generosity in the creation of natures; nor as yet were 
the whole riches of goodness made known. Now the Creator-Word, determining to 
exhibit this, and to produce a single living being out of both (the invisible 
and the visible creation, I mean) fashions Man; and taking a body from already 
existing matter, and placing in it a Breath taken from Himself (which the Word 
knew to be an intelligent soul, and the image of God), as a sort of second 
world, great in littleness, He placed him on the earth, a new Angel, a mingled 
worshipper, fully initiated into the visible creation, but only partially into 
the intellectual; king of all upon earth, but subject to the King above; 
earthly and heavenly; temporal and yet immortal; visible and yet intellectual; 
halfway between greatness and lowliness; in one person combining spirit and 
flesh; spirit because of the favour bestowed on him, flesh on account of the 
height to which he bad been raised; the one that he might continue to live and 
glorify his benefactor, the other that he might suffer, and by suffering be 
put in remembrance, and be corrected if he became proud in his greatness; a 
living creature, trained here and then moved elsewhere; and to complete the 
mystery, deified by its inclination to Godfor to this, I think, tends that 
light of Truth which here we possess but in measure; that we should both see 
and experience the Splendour of God, which is worthy of Him Who made us, and 
will dissolve us, and remake us after a loftier fashion. 

  VIII. This being He placed in paradise--whatever that paradise may have been 
(having honoured him with the gift of free will, in order that good might 
belong to him as the result of his choice, no less than to Him Who had 
implanted the seeds of it)--to till the immortal plants, by which is perhaps 
meant the Divine conceptions, both the simpler and the more perfect; naked in 
his simplicity and inartificial life; and without any covering or screen; for 
it was fitting that he who was from the beginning should be such. And He gave 
Him a Law, as material for his free will to act upon. This Law was a 
commandment as to what plants he might partake of, and which one he might not 
touch. This latter was the Tree of Knowledge; not, however, because it was 
evil from the beginning when planted; nor was it forbidden because God grudged 
it to men--let not the enemies of God wag their tongues in that direction, or 
imitate the serpent. But it would have been good if partaken of at the proper 
time; for the Tree was, according to my theory, Contemplation, which it is 
only safe for those who have reached maturity of habit to enter upon; but 
which is not good for those who are still somewhat simple and greedy; just as 
neither is solid food good for those who are yet tender and have need of milk. 
But when through the devil's malice and the woman's caprice,(a) 
to which she succumbed as the more tender, and which she brought to bear upon 
the man, as she was the more apt to persuade--alas for my weakness, for that 
of my first father was mine; he forgot the commandment which had been given 
him, and yielded to the baleful fruit; and for his sin was banished at once 
from the tree of life, and from paradise, and from God; and put on the coats 
of skins, that is, perhaps, the coarser flesh, both mortal and contradictory. 
And this was the first thing which he learnt--his own shame--and he hid 
himself from God. Yet here too he makes a gain, namely death and the cutting 
off of sin, in order that evil may not be immortal. Thus, his punishment is 
changed into a mercy, for it is in mercy, I am persuaded, that God inflicts 
punishment. 

  IX. And having first been chastened by many means because his sins were 
many, whose root of evil sprang up through divers causes and sundry times, by 
word, by law, by prophets, by benefits, by threats, by plagues, by waters, by 
fires, by wars, by victories, by defeats, by signs in heaven, and signs in the 
air, and in the earth, and in the sea; by unexpected changes of men, of 
cities, of nations (the object of which was the destruction of wickedness) at 
last he needed a stronger remedy, for his diseases were growing worse; mutual 
slaughters, adulteries, perjuries, unnatural crimes, and that first and last 
of all evils, idolatry, and the transfer of worship from the Creator to the 
creatures. As these required a greater aid, so they also obtained a greater. 
And that was that the Word of God Himself, Who is before all worlds, the 
Invisible, the Incomprehensible, the Bodiless, the Begin- 



426 



ning of beginning, the Light of Light, the Source of Life and Immortality, the 
Image of the Archetype, the Immovable Seal, the Unchangeable Image, the 
Father's Definition and Word, came to His own Image, and took on Him Flesh for 
the sake of our flesh, and mingled Himself with an intelligent soul for my 
soul's sake, purifying like by like; and in all points except sin was made 
Man; conceived by the Virgin, who first in body and soul was purified by the 
Holy Ghost, for it was needful both That Child-bearing should be honoured and 
that Virginity should receive a higher honour. He came forth then, as God, 
with That which He had assumed; one Person in two natures, flesh and Spirit, 
of which the latter deified the former. O new commingling; O strange 
conjunction! the Self-existent comes into Being, the Uncreated is created, 
That which cannot be contained is contained by the intervention of an 
intellectual soul mediating between the Deity and the corporeity of the flesh. 
And He who gives riches becomes poor; for He assumes the poverty of my flesh, 
that I may assume the riches of His Godhead. He that is full empties Himself; 
for He empties Himself of His Glory for a short while, that I may have a share 
in His Fulness. What is the riches of His Goodness? What is this mystery that 
is around me? I had a share in the Image and I did not keep it; He partakes of 
my flesh that He may both save the Image and make the flesh immortal. He 
communicates a Second Communion, far more marvellous than the first, inasmuch 
as then He imparted the better nature, but now He Himself assumes the worse. 
This is more godlike than the former action; this is loftier in the eyes of 
all men of understanding. 

  X. But perhaps some one of those who are too impetuous and festive may say, 
"What has all this to do with us? Spur on your horse to the goal; talk to us 
about the Festival and the reasons for our being here to-day." Yes, this is 
what I am about to do, although I have begun at a somewhat previous point, 
being compelled to do so by the needs of my argument. There will be no harm in 
the eyes of scholars and lovers of the beautiful if we say a few words about 
the word Pascha itself, for such an addition will not be useless in their 
ears. This great and venerable Pascha is called Phaska by the Hebrews in their 
own language; and the word means Passing Over. Historically, from their flight 
and migration from Egypt into the Land of Canaan; spiritually, from the 
progress and ascent from things below to things above and to the Land of 
Promise. And we observe that a thing which we often find to have happened in 
Scripture, the change of certain nouns from an uncertain to a clearer sense, 
or from a coarser to a more refined, has taken place in this instance. For 
some people, supposing this to be a name of the Sacred Passion, and in 
consequence Grecizing the word by changing Phi and Kappa into Pi and Chi, 
called the Day Pascha.(a) And custom took it up and confirmed 
the word, with the help of the ears of most people, to whom it had a more 
pious sound. 

  XI. But before our time the Holy Apostle declared that the Law was but a 
shadow of things to come,(b) which are conceived by thought. 
And God too, who in still older times gave oracles to Moses, said when giving 
laws concerning these things, See thou make all things according to the 
pattern shewed thee in the Mount,(g) when He shewed him the 
visible things as an adumbration of and design for the things that are 
invisible. And I am persuaded that none of these things has been ordered in 
vain, none without a reason, none in a grovelling manner or unworthy of the 
legislation of God and the ministry of Moses, even though it be difficult in 
each type to find a theory descending to the most delicate details, to every 
point about the Tabernacle itself, and its measures and materials, and the 
Levites and Priests who carried them, and all the particulars which were 
enacted about the Sacrifices and the purifications and the 
Offerings;(d) and though these are only to be understood by 
those who rank with Moses in virtue, or have made the nearest approach to his 
learning. For in that Mount itself God is seen by men; on the one hand through 
His own descent from His lofty abode, on the other through His drawing us up 
from our abasement on earth, that the Incomprehensible may be in some degree, 
and as far as is safe, comprehended by a mortal nature. For in no other way is 
it possible for the denseness of a material body and an 



427 



imprisoned mind to come into consciousness of God, except by His assistance. 
Then therefore all men do not seem to have been deemed worthy of the same rank 
and position; but one of one place and one of another, each, I think, 
according to the measure of his own purification. Some have even been 
altogether driven away, and only permitted to hear the Voice from on high, 
namely those whose dispositions are altogether like wild beasts, and who are 
unworthy of divine mysteries. 

  XII. But we, standing midway between those whose minds are utterly dense on 
the one side, and on the other those who are very contemplative and exalted, 
that we may neither remain quite idle and immovable, nor yet be more busy than 
we ought, and fall short of and be estranged from our purpose--for the former 
course is Jewish and very low, and the latter is only fit for the 
dream-sooth-sayer, and both alike are to be condemned--let us say our say upon 
these matters, so far as is within our reach, and not very absurd, or exposed 
to the ridicule of the multitude. Our belief is that since it was needful that 
we, who had fallen in consequence of the original sin, and had been led away 
by pleasure, even as far as idolatry and unlawful bloodshed, should be 
recalled and raised up again to our original position through the tender mercy 
of God our Father, Who could not endure that such a noble work of His own 
hands as Man should be lost to Him; the method of our new creation, and of 
what should be done, was this:--that all violent remedies were disapproved, as 
not likely to persuade us, and as quite possibly tending to add to the plague, 
through our chronic pride; but that God disposed things to our restoration by 
a gentle and kindly method of cure. For a crooked sapling will not bear a 
sudden bending the other way, or violence from the hand that would straighten 
it, but will be more quickly broken than straightened; and a horse of a hot 
temper and above a certain age will not endure the tyranny of the bit without 
some coaxing and encouragement. Therefore the Law is given to us as an 
assistance, like a boundary wall between God and idols, drawing us away from 
one and to the Other. And it concedes a little at first, that it may receive 
that which is greater. It concedes the Sacrifices for a time, that it may 
establish God in us, and then when the fitting time shall come may abolish the 
Sacrifices also; thus wisely changing our minds by gradual removals, and 
bringing us over to the Gospel when we have already been trained to a prompt 
obedience. 

  XIII. Thus then and for this cause the written Law came in, gathering us 
into Christ; and this is the account of the Sacrifices as I account for them. 
And that you may not be ignorant of the depth of His Wisdom and the riches of 
His unsearchable judgments,(a) He did not leave even these 
unhallowed altogether, or useless, or with nothing in them but mere 
blood.(b) But that great, and if I may say so, in Its first 
nature unsacrificeable Victim, was intermingled with the Sacrifices of the 
Law, and was a purification, not for a part of the world, nor for a short 
time, but for the whole world and for all time. For this reason a Lamb was 
chosen for its innocence, and its clothing of the original nakedness. For such 
is the Victim, That was offered for us, Who is both in Name and fact the 
Garment of incorruption. And He was a perfect Victim not only on account of 
His Godhead, than which nothing is more perfect; but also on account of that 
which He assumed having been anointed with Deity, and having become one with 
That which anointed It, and I am bold to say, made equal with God. A Male, 
because offered for Adam; or rather the Stronger for the strong, when the 
first Man had fallen under sin; and chiefly because there is in Him nothing 
feminine, nothing unmanly; but He burst from the bonds of thee Virgin-Mother's 
womb with much power, and a Male was brought forth by the 
Prophetess,(g) as Isaiah declares the good tidings. And of a 
year old, because He is the Sun of Righteousness(d) setting out 
from heaven, and circumscribed by His visible Nature, and returning unto 
Himself.(e) And "The blessed crown of Goodness,"--being on 
every side equal to Himself and alike; and not only this, but also as giving 
life to all the circle of the virtues, gently commingled and intermixed with 
each other, according to the Law of Love and Order.(z) And 
Immaculate and 



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guileless, as being the Healer of faults, and of the defects and taints that 
come from sin. For though He both took on Him our sins and bare our 
diseases,(a) yet He did not Himself suffer aught that needed 
healing. For He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without 
sin(b) For he that persecuted the Light that shineth in 
darkness could not overtake Him. 

  XIV. What more? The First Month is introduced, or rather the beginning of 
months, whether it was so among the Hebrews from the beginning, or was made so 
later on this account, and became the first in consequence of the Mystery; and 
the tenth of the Month, for this is the most complete number, of units the 
first perfect unit, and the parent of perfection. And it is kept until the 
fifth day, perhaps because the Victim, of Whom I am speaking, purifies the 
five senses, from which comes falling into sin, and around which the war 
rages, inasmuch as they are open to the incitements to sin. And it was chosen, 
not only out of the lambs, but also out of the inferior species, which are 
placed on the left hand(g)--the kids; because He is sacrificed 
not only for the righteous, but also for sinners; and perhaps even more for 
these, inasmuch as we have greater need of His mercy. And we need not be 
surprised that a lamb for a house should be required as the best course, but 
if that could not be, then one might be obtained by contributions (owing to 
poverty) for the houses of a family; because it is clearly best that each 
individual should suffice for his own perfecting, and should offer his own 
living sacrifice holy unto God Who called him, being consecrated at all times 
and in every respect. But if that cannot be, then that those who are akin in 
virtue and of like disposition should be made use of as helpers. For I think 
this provision means that we should communicate of the Sacrifice to those who 
are nearest, if there be need. 

  XV. Then comes the Sacred Night, the Anniversary of the confused darkness of 
the present life, into which the primaeval darkness is dissolved, and all 
things come into life and rank and form, and that which was chaos is reduced 
to order. Then we flee from Egypt, that is from sullen persecuting sin; and 
from Pharaoh the unseen tyrant, and the bitter taskmasters, changing our 
quarters to the world above; and are delivered from the clay and the 
brickmaking, and from the husks and dangers of this fleshly condition, which 
for most men is only not overpowered by mere husklike calculations. Then the 
Lamb is slain, and act and word are sealed with the Precious Blood; that is, 
habit and action, the sideposts of our doors; I mean, of course, of the 
movements of mind and opinion, which are rightly opened and closed by 
contemplation, since there is a limit even to thoughts. Then the last and 
gravest plague upon the persecutors, truly worthy of the night; and Egypt 
mourns the first-born of her own reasonings and actions which are also called 
in the Scripture the Seed of the Chaldeans(a) removed, and the 
children of Babylon dashed against the rocks and destroyed;(b) 
and the whole air is full of the cry and clamour of the Egyptians; and then 
the Destroyer of them shall withdraw from us in reverence of the Unction. Then 
the removal of leaven; that is, of the old and sour wickedness, not of that 
which is quickening and makes bread; for seven days, a number which is of all 
the most mystical,(g) and is co-ordinate with this present 
world, that we may not lay in provision of any Egyptian dough, or relic of 
Pharisaic or ungodly teaching. 

  XVI. Well, let them lament; we will feed on the Lamb toward evening --for 
Christ's Passion was in the completion of the ages; because too He 
communicated His Disciples in the evening with His Sacrament, destroying the 
darkness of sin; and not sodden, but roast--that our word may have in it 
nothing that is unconsidered or watery, or easily made away with.; but may be 
entirely consistent and solid, and free from all that is impure and from all 
vanity. And let us be aided by the good coals,(d) kindling and 
purifying our minds from Him 



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That cometh to send fire on the earth,(a) that shall destroy 
all evil habits, and to hasten its kindling. Whatsoever then there be, of 
solid and nourishing in the Word, shall be eaten with the inward parts and 
hidden things of the mind, and shall be consumed and given up to spiritual 
digestion; aye, from head to foot, that is, from the first contemplations of 
Godhead to the very last thoughts about the Incarnation. Neither let us carry 
aught of it abroad, nor leave it till the morning; because most of our 
Mysteries may not be carried out to them that are outside, nor is there beyond 
this night any further purification; and procrastination is not creditable to 
those who have a share in the Word. For just as it is good and well-pleasing 
to God not to let anger last through the day,(b) but to get rid 
of it before sunset, whether you take this of time or in a mystical sense, for 
it is not safe for us that the Sun of Righteousness should go down upon our 
wrath; so too we ought not to let such Food remain all night, nor to put it 
off till to-morrow. But whatever is of bony nature and not fit for food and 
hard for us even to understand, this must not be broken; that is, badly 
divined and misconceived (I need not say that in the history not a bone of 
Jesus was broken, even though His death was hastened by His crucifiers on 
account of the Sabbath);(g) nor must it be stripped off and 
thrown away, lest that which is holy should be given to the 
dogs,(d) that is, to the evil hearers of the Word; just as the 
glorious pearl of the Word is not to be cast before swine; but it shall be 
consumed with the fire with which the burnt offerings also are consumed, being 
refined and preserved by the Spirit That searcheth and knoweth all things, not 
destroyed in the waters, nor scattered abroad as the calf's head which was 
hastily made by Israel was by Moses,(e) for a reproach for 
their hardness of heart. 

  XVII. Nor would it be right for us to pass over the manner of this eating 
either, for the Law does not do so, but carries its mystical labour even to 
this point in the literal enactment. Let us consume the Victim in haste, 
eating It with unleavened bread, with bitter herbs, and with our loins girded, 
and our shoes on our feet, and leaning on staves like old men; with haste, 
that we fall not into that fault which was forbidden to Lot(z) 
by the commandment, that we look not around, nor stay in all that 
neighbourhood, but that we escape to the mountain, that we be not overtaken by 
the strange fire of Sodom, nor be congealed into a pillar of salt in 
consequence of our turning back to wickedness; for this is the result of 
delay. With bitter herbs, for a life according to the Will of God is bitter 
and arduous, especially to beginners, and higher than pleasures. For although 
the new yoke is easy and the burden light,(a) as you are told, 
yet this is on account of the hope and the reward, which is far more abundant 
than the hardships of this life. If it were not so, who would not say that the 
Gospel is more full of toil and trouble than the enactments of the Law? For, 
while the Law prohibits only the completed acts of sin, we are condemned for 
the causes also, almost as if they were acts. The Law says, Thou shalt not 
commit adultery; but you may not even desire, kindling passion by curious and 
earnest looks. Thou shalt not kill, says the Law; but you are not even to 
return a blow, but on the contrary are to offer yourself to the smiter. How 
much more ascetic is the Gospel than the Law! Thou shall not forswear thyself 
is the Law; but you are not to swear at all, either a greater or a lesser 
oath, for an oath is the parent of perjury. Thou shalt not join house to 
house, nor field to field, oppressing the poor;(b) but you are 
to set aside willingly even your just possessions, and to be stripped for the 
poor, that without encumbrance you may take up the Cross(g) and 
be enriched with the unseen riches. 

  XVIII. And let the loins of the unreasoning animals be unbound and loose, 
for they have not the gift of reason which can overcome pleasure (it is not 
needful to say that even they know the limit of natural movement). But let 
that part of your being which is the seat of passion, and which 
neighs,(d) as Holy Scripture calls it, when sweeping away this 
shameful passion, be restrained by a girdle of continence, so that you may eat 
the Passover purely, having mortified your members which are upon the 
earth,(e) and copying the girdle(z) of John, the 
Hermit and Forerunner and great Herald of the Truth. Another girdle I know, 
the soldierly and manly one, I mean, from which the Euzoni of Syria and 
certain Monozoni(h) take their name. And it is in respect of 
this too that God saith in an oracle to Job, "Nay, but gird up thy loins like 
a 



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man, and give a manly answer."(a) With this also holy David 
boasts that he is girded with strength from God,(b) and speaks 
of God Himself as clothed with strength(g) and girded about 
with power--against the ungodly of course--though perhaps some may prefer to 
see in this a declaration of the abundance of His power, and, as it were, its 
restraint, just as also He clothes Himself with Light as with a garment. 
(d) For who shall endure His unrestrained power and light? Do I 
enquire what there is common to the loins and to truth? What then is the 
meaning to S. Paul of the expression, "Stand, therefore, having your loins 
girt about with truth?"(e) Is it perhaps that contemplation is 
to restrain concupiscence, and not to allow it to be carried in another 
direction? For that which is disposed to love in a particular direction will 
not have the same power towards other pleasures. 

  XIX. And as to shoes, let him who is about to touch the Holy Land which the 
feet of God have trodden, put them off, as Moses did upon the 
Mount,(z) that he may bring there nothing dead; nothing to come 
between Man and God. So too if any disciple is sent to preach the Gospel, let 
him go in a spirit of philosophy and without excess, inasmuch as he must, 
besides being without money and without staff and with but one coat, also be 
barefooted,(q) But he who would flee 
from Egypt and the things of Egypt must put on shoes for safety's sake, 
especially in regard to the scorpions and snakes in which Egypt so abounds, so 
as not to be injured by those which watch the heel (k) which 
also we are bidden to tread under foot.(l) And concerning tire 
staff and the signification of it, my belief is as follows. There is one I 
know to lean upon, and another which belongs to Pastors and Teachers, and 
which corrects human sheep. Now the Law prescribes to you the staff to lean 
upon, that you may not break down in your mind when you hear of God's Blood, 
and His Passion, and His death; and that you may not be carried away to heresy 
in your defence of God; but without shame and without doubt may eat the Flesh 
and drink the Blood, if you are desirous of true life, neither disbelieving 
His words about His Flesh, nor offended at those about His Passion. Lean upon 
this, and stand firm and strong, in nothing shaken by the adversaries nor 
carried away by the plausibility of their arguments. Stand upon thy High 
Place; in the Courts of Jerusalem(a) place thy feet; lean upon 
the Rock, that thy steps in God be not shaken. 

  XX. What sayest thou? Thus it hath pleased Him that thou shouldest come 
forth(b) out of Egypt, the iron furnace; that thou shouldest 
leave behind the idolatry of that country, and be led by Moses and his 
lawgiving and martial rule. I give thee a piece of advice which is not my own, 
or rather which is very much my own, if thou consider the matter spiritually. 
Borrow from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver;(g) with 
these take thy journey; supply thyself for the road with the goods of 
strangers, or rather with thine own. There is money owing to thee, the wages 
of thy bondage and of thy brickmaking; be clever on thy side too in asking 
retribution; be an honest robber. Thou didst suffer wrong there whilst thou 
wast fighting with the clay (that is, this troublesome and filthy body) and 
wast building cities foreign and unsafe, whose memorial perishes with a 
cry.(d) What then? Dost thou come out for nothing and without 
wages? But why wilt thou leave to the Egyptians and to the powers of thine 
adversaries that which they have gained by wickedness, and will spend with yet 
greater wickedness? It does not belong to them: they have ravished it, and 
have sacrilegiously taken it as plunder from Him who saith, The silver is Mine 
and the gold is Mine,(e) and I give it to whom I will. 
Yesterday it was theirs, for it was permitted to be so; to-day the Master 
takes it and gives it to thee,(z) that thou mayest make a good 
and saving use of it. Let us make to ourselves friends of the Mammon of 
unrighteousness,(h) that when we fail, they may receive us in 
the time of judgment. 

  XXI. If you are a Rachel or a Leah, a patriarchal and great soul, steal 
whatever idols of your father you can find;(q) not, however, 
that you may keep them, but that you may destroy them; and if you are a wise 
Israelite remove them to the Land of the Promise, and let the persecutor 
grieve over the loss of them, and learn through being outwitted that it was 
vain for him to tyrannize over and keep in bondage better men than himself. If 
thou doest this, and comest out of Egypt thus, I know well that thou shalt be 
guided by the pillar of fire and cloud by night and day.(k) The 
wilderness shall be tamed for thee, and the Sea divided;(l) 



431 



Pharaoh shall be drowned;(a) bread shall be rained 
down:(b) the rock shall become a fountain;(g) 
Amalek shall be conquered, not with arms alone, but with the hostile hand of 
the righteous forming both prayers and the invincible trophy of the 
Cross;(d) the River shall be cut off; the sun shall stand 
still; and the moon be restrained;(e) walls shall be overthrown 
even without engines;(z) swarms of hornets shall go before thee 
to make a way for Israel, and to hold the Gentiles in check;(h) 
and all the other events which are told in the history after these and with 
these (not to make a long story) shall be given thee of God. Such is the feast 
thou art keeping to-day; and in this manner I would have thee celebrate both 
the Birthday and the Burial of Him Who was born for thee and suffered for 
thee. Such is the Mystery of the Passover; such are the mysteries sketched by 
the Law and fulfilled by Christ, the Abolisher of the letter, the Perfecter of 
the Spirit, who by His Passion taught us how to suffer, and by His 
glorification grants us to be glorified with Him. 

  XXII.(q) Now we are to examine another fact and dogma, 
neglected by most people, but in my judgment well worth enquiring into. To 
Whom was that Blood offered that was shed for us, and why was It shed? I mean 
the precious and famous Blood of our God and High priest and Sacrifice. We 
were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and receiving 
pleasure in exchange for wickedness. Now, since a ransom belongs only to him 
who holds in bondage, I ask to whom was this offered, and for what cause? If 
to the Evil One, fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives ransom, not only 
from God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself, and has such an 
illustrious payment for his tyranny, a payment for whose sake it would have 
been right for him to have left us alone altogether. But if to the Father, I 
ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we were being oppressed; and next, 
On what principle did the Blood of His Only begotten Son delight the Father, 
Who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being offered by his Father, but 
changed the sacrifice, putting a ram in the place of the human 
victim?(k) Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but 
neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the Incarnation, and 
because Humanity must be sanctified by the Humanity of God,(l) 
that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant, and draw us to 
Himself by the mediation of His Son, Who also arranged this to the honour of 
the Father, Whom it is manifest that He obeys in all things? So much we have 
said of Christ; the greater part of what we might say shall be reverenced with 
silence. But that brazen serpent(a) was hung up as a remedy for 
the biting serpents, not as a type of Him that suffered for us, but as a 
contrast; and it saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it 
to live, but because it was killed, and killed with it the powers that were 
subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph 
for it from us? "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy 
victory?"(b) Thou art overthrown by the Cross; thou art slain 
by Him who is the Giver of life; thou art without breath, dead, without 
motion, even though thou keepest the form of a serpent lifted up on high on a 
pole. 

  XXIII. Now we will partake of a Passover which is still typical; though it 
is plainer than the old one. For that is ever new which is now becoming known. 
It is ours to learn what is that drinking and that enjoyment, and His to teach 
and communicate the Word to His disciples. For teaching is food, even to the 
Giver of food. Come hither then, and let us partake of the Law, but in a 
Gospel manner, not a literal one; perfectly, not imperfectly; eternally, not 
temporarily. Let us make our Head, not the earthly Jerusalem, but the heavenly 
City;(g) not that which is now trodden under foot by 
armies,(d) but that which is glorified by Angels. Let us 
sacrifice not young calves, nor lambs that put forth horns and 
hoofs,(e) in which many parts are destitute of life and 
feeling; but let us sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise upon the heavenly 
Altar, with the heavenly dances; let us hold aside the first veil; let us 
approach the second, and look into the Holy of Holies.(z) Shall 
I say that which is a greater thing yet? Let us sacrifice ourselves to God; or 
rather let us go on sacrificing throughout every day and at every moment. Let 
us accept anything for the Word's sake. By sufferings let us imitate His 
Passion: by our blood let us reverence His Blood: let us gladly mount upon the 
Cross. Sweet are the nails, though they be very painful. For to suffer with 
Christ and for Christ is better than a life of ease with others. 

XXIV. If you are a Simon of Cyrene,(h) take 



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up the Cross and follow. If you are crucified with Him as a 
robber,(a) acknowledge God as a penitent robber. If even He was 
numbered among the transgressors(b) for you and your sin, do 
you become law-abiding for His sake. Worship Him Who was hanged for you, even 
if you yourself are hanging; make some gain even from your wickedness; 
purchase salvation by your death; enter with Jesus into 
Paradise,(g) so that you may learn from what you have 
fallen.(d) Contemplate the glories that are there; let the 
murderer die outside with his blasphemies; and if you be a Joseph of 
Arimathaea,(e) beg the Body from him that crucified Him, make 
thine own that which cleanses the world.(z) If you be a 
Nicodemus, the worshipper of God by night, bury Him with 
spices.(h) If you be a Mary, or another Mary, or a Salome, or a 
Joanna, weep in the early morning. Be first to see the stone taken 
away,(q) and perhaps you will see the Angels and Jesus Himself. 
Say something; hear His Voice. If He say to you, Touch Me 
not,(k) stand afar off; reverence the Word, but grieve not; for 
He knoweth those to whom He appeareth first. Keep the feast of the 
Resurrection; come to the aid of Eve who was first to fall, of Her who first 
embraced the Christ, and made Him known to the disciples. Be a Peter or a 
John; hasten to the Sepulchre, running together, running against one another, 
vying in the noble race.(l) And even if you be beaten in speed, 
win the victory of zeal; not Looking into the tomb, but Going in. And if, like 
a Thomas, you were left out when the disciples were assembled to whom Christ 
shews Himself, when you do see Him be not faithless;(m) and if 
you do not believe, then believe those who tell you; and if you cannot believe 
them either, then have confidence in the print of the nails. If He descend 
into Hell,(n) descend with Him. Learn to know the mysteries of 
Christ there also, what is the providential purpose of the twofold descent, to 
save all men absolutely by His manifestation, or there too only them that 
believe. 

  XXV. And if He ascend up into Heaven,(x) ascend with Him. Be 
one of those angels who escort Him, or one of those who receive Him. Bid the 
gates be lifted up,(o) or be made higher, that they may receive 
Him, exalted after His Passion. Answer to those who are in doubt because He 
bears up with Him His body and the tokens of His Passion, which He had not 
when He came down, and who therefore inquire, "Who is this King of Glory?" 
that it is the Lord strong and mighty, as in all things that He hath done from 
time to time and does, so now in His battle and triumph for the sake of 
Mankind. And give to the doubting of the question the twofold answer  And if 
they marvel and say as in Isaiah's drama Who is this that cometh from Edom and 
from the things of earth? Or How are the garments red of Him that is without 
blood or body, as of one that treads in the full wine-press?(a) 
Set forth the beauty of the array of the Body that suffered, adorned by the 
Passion, and made splendid by the Godhead, than which nothing can be more 
lovely or more beautiful. 

   XXVI.(b) To this what will those cavillers say, those bitter 
reasoners about Godhead, those detractors of all things that are praiseworthy, 
those darkeners of Light, uncultured in respect of Wisdom, for whom Christ 
died in vain, unthankful creatures, the work of the Evil One. Do you turn this 
benefit into a reproach to God? Will you deem Him little on this account, that 
He humbled Himself for your sake, and because to seek for that which had 
wandered the Good Shepherd, He who layeth down His life for the 
sheep,(g) came upon the mountains and hills upon which you used 
to sacrifice,(d) and found the wandering one; and having formal 
it, took it upon His shoulders,(e) on which He also bore the 
wood; and having borne it, brought it back to the life above; and having 
brought it back, numbered it among those who have never strayed. That He lit a 
candle,(z) His own flesh, and swept the house, by cleansing 
away the sin of the world, and sought for the coin, the Royal Image that was 
all covered up with passions, and calls together His friends, the Angelic 
Powers, at the finding of the coin, and makes them sharers of His joy, as He 
had before made them sharers of the secret of His Incarnation? That the Light 
that is exceeding bright should follow the 
Candle--Forerunner,(h) and the Word, the Voice, and the 
Bridegroom, the Bridegroom's friend,(q) that prepared for the 
Lord a peculiar people(k) and cleansed them by the 
water(l) in preparation for the Spirit? Do you Reproach God 
with this? Do you conceive of Him as less because He girds Himself with a 
towel and washes His disciples,(m) and shows that humiliation 
is the best road to exaltation;(n) because He humbles Himself 
for the sake of the soul that 



433 



is bent down to the ground,(a) that He may even exalt with 
Himself that which is bent double under a weight of sin? How comes it that you 
do not also charge it upon Him as a crime that He eateth with 
Publicans(b) and at Publicans' tables, and makes disciples of 
Publicans() that He too may make some gain. And what gain? The salvation of 
sinners. If so, one must blame the physician for stooping over suffering and 
putting up with evil smells in order to give health to the sick; and him also 
who leans over the ditch, that he may, according to the Law, save the beast 
that has fallen into it. 

  XXVII. He was sent, but sent according to His Manhood (for He was of two 
Natures), since He was hungry and thirsty and weary, and was distressed and 
wept, according to the Laws of human nature. But even if He were sent also as 
God, what of that? Consider the Mission to be the good pleasure of the Father, 
to which He refers all that concerns Himself, both that He may honour the 
Eternal Principle, and that He may avoid the appearance of being a rival God. 
For He is said on the one hand to have been betrayed, and on the other it is 
written that He gave Himself up; and so too that He was raised and taken up by 
the Father, and also that of His own power He rose and ascended. The former 
belongs to the Good Pleasure, the latter to His own Authority; but you dwell 
upon all that diminishes Him, while you ignore all that exalts Him. For 
instance, you score that He suffered, but you do not add "of His own Will." 
Ah, what things has the Word even now to suffer! By some He is honoured as God 
but confused with the Father; by others He is dishonoured as Flesh, and is 
severed from God. With whom shall He be most angry--or rather which shall He 
forgive--those who falsely contract Him, or those who divide Him? For the 
former ought to have made a distinction, and the latter to have made a Union, 
the one in number, the other in Godhead. Do you stumble at His Flesh? So did 
the Jews. Do you call Him a Samaritan,(g) and the rest which I 
will not utter? This did not even the demons, O man more unbelieving than 
demons, and more stupid than Jews. The Jews recognized the title Son as 
expressing equal rank; and the demons knew that He who drove them out was God, 
for they were persuaded by their own experience. But you will not either admit 
the equality or confess the Godhead. It would have been better for you to have 
been circumcised and a demoniac--to reduce the matter to an absurdity--than in 
uncircumcision and robust health to be thus ill and ungodly disposed. But for 
our war with such men, let it be brought to an end by their returning, however 
late, to a sound mind, if they will; or else if they will not, let it be 
postponed to another occasion, if they continue as they are. Anyhow, we will 
have no fear when contending for the Trinity with the help of the Trinity. 

  XXVIII. It is now needful for us to sum up our discourse as follows: We were 
created that we might be made happy. We were made happy when we were created. 
We were entrusted with Paradise that we might enjoy life. We received a 
Commandment that we might obtain a good repute by keeping it; not that God did 
not know what would take place, but because He had laid down the law of Free 
Will. We were deceived because we were the objects of envy. We were cast out 
because we transgressed. We fasted because we refused to fast, being 
overpowered by the Tree of Knowledge. For the Commandment was ancient, coeval 
with ourselves, and was a kind of education of our souls and curb of luxury, 
to which we were reasonably made subject, in order that we might recover by 
keeping it that which we had lost by not keeping it. We needed an Incarnate 
God, a God put to death, that we might live. We were put to death together 
with Him, that we might be cleansed; we rose again with Him because we were 
put to death with Him; we were glorified with Him, because we rose again with 
Him. 

  XXIX. Many indeed are the miracles of that time: God crucified; the sun 
darkened and again rekindled; for it was fitting that the creatures should 
suffer with their Creator; the veil rent; the Blood and Water shed from His 
Side; the one as from a man, the other as above man; the rocks rent for the 
Rock's sake; the dead raised for a pledge of the final Resurrection of all 
men; the Signs at the Sepulchre and after the Sepulchre, which none can 
worthily celebrate; and yet none of these equal to the Miracle of my 
salvation. A few drops of Blood recreate the whole world, and become to all 
men what rennet is to milk, drawing us together and compressing us into unity. 

  XXX. But, O Pascha, great and holy and purifier of all the world--for I will 
speak to thee as to a living person--O Word of God and Light and Life and 
Wisdom and Might--for I rejoice in all Thy names--O Offspring and Expression 
and Signet of the Great Mind; O Word conceived and Man contemplated, Who 
bearest all things, binding them by the Word of Thy power; receive this 
discourse, 



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not now as firstfruits, but perhaps as the completion of my offerings, a 
thanksgiving, and at the same time a supplication, that we may suffer no evil 
beyond those necessary and sacred cares in which our life has been passed; and 
stay the tyranny of the body over us; (Thou seest, O Lord, how great it is and 
how it bows me down) or Thine own sentence, if we are to be condemned by Thee. 
But if we are to be released, in accordance with our desire, and be received 
into the Heavenly Tabernacle, there too it may be we shall offer Thee 
acceptable Sacrifices upon Thine Altar, to Father and Word and Holy Ghost; for 
to Thee belongeth all glory and honour and might, world without end. Amen.