Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadChurch Fathers: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 09: 29.02.16 Orthodox Faith Bk IV Pt 2
TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 09 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 29.02.16 Orthodox Faith Bk IV Pt 2
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Chapter X
Concerning Faith
Moreover, fiath is twofold. for faith cometh by hearing.89 For by hearing the divine Scriptures we believe in the teaching of the Holy spirit. The same is perfected by all the things enjoined by Christ, believing in work, cultivating piety, and doing the commands of Him Who restored us. For he that believeth not according to the tradition of the Catholic Church, or who hat intercourse with the devil through strange works, is an unbeliever.
But again, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen90 or undoubting and unambiguous hope alike of what God hat promised us and of the good issue of our prayers. The first, therefore, belongs t our will, while the second is of the gifts of the Spirit.
Further, observe that by baptism we cut91 off all the covering which we have worn since birth, that is to say, sin, and become spiritual Israelites and God’s people.
Chapter XI
Concernin the Cross and here further concerning Faith.
The word ‘Cross’ is foolishness to those that perish, but to us who are saved is the power of God.92 For he that is spiritual judgeth all things, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit.93 For it is foolishness to those who do not recieve in faith and who do not consider God’s goodness and omnipotence, but search out divine things with human and natural reasonings. For all the things that are of God aare above nature and reason and conception. For should any one consider how and for what purpose God brought all things out of nothing and into being, and aim at arriving at that by natural reasonings, he fails to comprehend it. For knowledge of this kind belongs to spirits and demons. But if any one, under the guidance of faith, should consider the divine goodness and omnipotence and truth and wisdom and justice, he will find all things smooth and even, and the way straight. But without faith it is impossible to be saved94 . For it is by faith that all things, both human and spiritual, are sustained. For without faith neither does the farmer95 cut his furrow, nor does the merchant commit his life to the raging waves of the sea on a small piece of wood, nor are marriages contracted nor any other step in life taken. By faith we consider that all things were brought out of nothing into being by God’s power. And we direct all things, both divine and human, by faith. Further, faith is assent free from all meddlesome inquisitiveness96 .
Every action, therefore, and performance of miracles by Christ are most great and divine and marvellous: but the most marvellous of all is His precious Cross. For no other thing has subdued death, expiated the sin of the first parent97 , despoiled Hades, bestowed the resurrection, granted the power to us of contemning the present and even death itself, prepared the return to our former blessedness, opened the gates of Paradise98 , given our nature a seat at the right hand of God, and made us the children and heirs of God99 , save the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For by the Cross100 all things have been made right. So many of us, the apostle says, as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into His death101 , and as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ102 . Further Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God103 . Lo! the death of Christ, that is, the Cross, clothed us with the enhypostatic wisdom and power of God. And the power of God is the Word of the Cross, either because God’s might, that is, the victory over death, has been revealed to us by it, or because, just as the four extremities of the Cross are held fast and bound together by the bolt in the middle, so also by God’s power the height and the depth, the length and the breadth, that is, every creature visible and invisible, is maintained104 .
This was given to us as a sign on our forehead, just as the circumcision was given to Israel: for by it we believers are separated and distinguished from unbelievers. This is the shield and weapon against, and trophy over, the devil. This is the seal that the destroyer may not touch you105 , as saith the Scripture. This is the resurrection of those lying in death, the support of the standing, the staff of the weak, the rod of the flock, the safe conduct of the earnest, the perfection of those that press forwards, the salvation of soul and body, the aversion of all things evil, the patron of all things good, the taking away of sin, the plant of resurrection, the tree of eternal life.
So, then, this same truly precious and august tree106 , on which Christ hath offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sakes, is to be worshipped as sanctified by contact with His holy body and blood; likewise the nails, the spear, the clothes, His sacred tabernacles which are the manger, the cave, Golgotha, which bringeth salvation107 , the tomb which giveth life, Sion, the chief stronghold of the churches and the like, are to be worshipped. In the words of David, the father of God108 , We shall go into His tabernacles, we shall worship at the place where His feet stood109 . And that it is the Cross that is meant is made clear by what follows, Arise, O Lord, into Thy Rest110 . For the resurrection comes after the Cross. For if of those things which we love, house and couch and garment, are to be longed after, how much the rather should we long after that which belonged to God, our Saviour111 , by means of which we are in truth saved.
Moreover we worship even the image of the precious and life-giving Cross, although made of another tree, not honouring the tree (God forbid) but the image as a symbol of Christ. For He said to His disciples, admonishing them, Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven112 , meaning the Cross. And so also the angel of the resurrection said to the woman, Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified113 . And the Apostle said, We preach Christ crucified114 . For there are many Christs and many Jesuses, but one crucified. He does not say speared but crucified. It behoves us, then, to worship the sign of Christ115 . For wherever the sign may be, there also will He be. But it does not behove us to worship the material of which the image of the Cross is composed, even though it be gold or precious stones, after it is destroyed, if that should happen. Everything, therefore, that is dedicated to God we worship, conferring the adoration on Him.
The tree of life which was planted by God in Paradise pre-figured this precious Cross.<mindy> For since death was by a tree, it was fitting that life and resurrection should be bestowed by a tree116 . Jacob, when He worshipped the top of Joseph’s staff, was the first to image the Cross, and when he blessed his sons with crossed hands117 he made most clearly the sign of the cross. Likewise118 also did Moses’ rod, when it smote the sea in the figure of the cross and saved Israel, while it overwhelmed Pharaoh in the depths; likewise also the hands stretched out crosswise and routing Amalek; and the bitter water made sweet by a tree, and the rock rent and pouring forth streams of water119 , and the rod that meant for Aaron the dignity of the high priesthood120 : and the serpent lifted in triumph on a tree as though it were dead121 , the tree bringing salvation to those who in faith saw their enemy dead, just as Christ was nailed to the tree in the flesh of sin which yet knew no sin122 . The mighty Moses cried123 , You will see your life hanging on the tree before your eyes, and Isaiah likewise, I have spread out my hands all the day unto a faithless and rebellious people124 . But may we who worship this125 obtain a part in Christ the crucified. Amen.
Chapter XII.
Concerning Worship towards the East.
It is not without reason or by chance that we worship towards the East. But seeing that we are composed of a visible and an invisible nature, that is to say, of a nature partly of spirit and partly of sense, we render also a twofold worship to the Creator; just as we sing both with our spirit and our bodily lips, and are baptized with both water and Spirit, and are united with the Lord in a twofold manner, being sharers in the mysteries and in the grace of the Spirit.
Since, therefore, God126 is spiritual light127 , and Christ is called in the Scriptures Sun of Righteousness128 and Dayspring129 , the East is the direction that must be assigned to His worship. For everything good must be assigned to Him from Whom every good thing arises. Indeed the divine David also says, Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth: O sing praises unto the Lord: to Him that rideth upon the Heavens of heavens towards the East130 . Moreover the Scripture also says, And God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed131 : and when he had transgressed His command He expelled him and made him to dwell over against the delights of Paradises132 , which clearly is the West. So, then, we worship God seeking and striving after our old fatherland. Moreover the tent of Moses133 had its veil and mercy seat134 towards the East. Also the tribe of Judah as the most precious pitched their camp on the East135 . Also in the celebrated temple of Solomon the Gate of the Lord was placed eastward. Moreover Christ, when He hung on the Cross, had His face turned towards the West, and so we worship, striving after Him. And when He was received again into Heaven He was borne towards the East, and thus His apostles worship Him, and thus He will come again in the way in which they beheld Him going towards Heaven136 ; as the Lord Himself said, As the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth137 even unto the West, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be138 .
So, then, in expectation of His coming we worship towards the East. But this tradition of the apostles is unwritten. For much that has been handed down to us by tradition is unwritten139 .
Chapter XIII.
Concerning the holy and immaculate Mysteries of the Lord.
God140 Who is good and altogether good and more than good, Who is goodness throughout, by reason of the exceeding riches of His goodness did not suffer Himself, that is His nature, only to be good, with no other to participate therein, but because of this He made first the spiritual and heavenly powers: next the visible and sensible universe: next man with his spiritual and sentient nature. All things, therefore, which he made, share in His goodness in respect of their existence. For He Himself is existence to all, since all things that are, are in Him141 , not only because it was He that brought them out of nothing into being, but because His energy preserves and maintains all that He made: and in especial the living creatures. For both in that they exist and in that they enjoy life they share in His goodness. But in truth those of them that have reason have a still greater share in that, both because of what has been already said and also because of the very reason which they possess. For they are somehow more dearly akin to Him, even though He is incomparably higher than they.
Man, however, being endowed with reason and free will, received the power of continuous union with God through his own choice, if indeed he should abide in goodness, that is in obedience to his Maker. Since, however, he transgressed the command of his Creator and became liable to death and corruption, the Creator and Maker of our race, because of His bowels of compassion, took on our likeness, becoming man in all things but without sin, and was united to our nature142 . For since He bestowed on us His own image and His own spirit and we did not keep them safe, He took Himself a share in our poor and weak nature, in order that He might cleanse us and make us incorruptible, and establish us once more as partakers of His divinity.
For it was fitting that not only the first-fruits of our nature should partake in the higher good but every man who wished it, and that a second birth should take place and that the nourishment should be new and suitable to the birth and thus the measure of perfection be attained. Through His birth, that is, His incarnation, and baptism and passion and resurrection, He delivered our nature from the sin of our first parent and death and corruption, and became the first-fruits of the resurrection, and made Himself the way and image and pattern, in order that we, too, following in His footsteps, may become by adoption what He is Himself by nature143 , sons and heirs of God and joint heirs with Him144 . He gave us therefore, as I said, a second birth in order that, just as we who are born of Adam are in his image and are the heirs of the curse and corruption, so also being born of Him we may be in His likeness and heirs145 of His incorruption and blessing and glory.
Now seeing that this Adam is spiritual, it was meet that both the birth and likewise the food should be spiritual too, but since we are of a double and compound nature, it is meet that both the birth should be double and likewise the food compound. We were therefore given a birth by water and Spirit: I mean, by the holy baptism146 : and the food is the very bread of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who came down from heaven147 . For when He was about to take on Himself a voluntary death for our sakes, on the night on which He gave Himself up, He laid a new covenant on His holy disciples and apostles, and through them on all who believe on Him. In the upper chamber, then, of holy and illustrious Sion, after He had eaten the ancient Passover with His disciples and had fulfilled the ancient covenant, He washed His disciples’ feet148 in token of the holy baptism. Then having broken bread He gave it to them saying, Take, eat, this is My body broken for you for the remission of sins149 . Likewise also He took the cup of wine and water and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it: for this is My blood, the blood of the New Testament which is shed for you for the remission of sins. This do ye in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the death of the Son of man and confess His resurrection until He come150 .
If then the Word of God is quick and energising151 , and the Lord did all that He willed152 ; if He said, Let there be light and there was light, let there be a firmament and there was a firmament153 ; if the heavens were established by the Word of the Lord and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth154 ; if the heaven and the earth, water and fire and air and the whole glory of these, and, in sooth, this most noble creature, man, were perfected by the Word of the Lord; if God the Word of His own will became man and the pure and undefiled blood of the holy and ever-virginal One made His flesh without the aid of seed155 , can He not then make the bread His body and the wine and water His blood? He said in the beginning, Let the earth bring forth grass156 , and even until this present day, when the rain comes it brings forth its proper fruits, urged on and strengthened by the divine command. God said, This is My body, and This is My blood, and this do ye in remembrance of Me. And so it is at His omnipotent command until He come: for it was in this sense that He said until He come: and the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit becomes through the invocation the rain to this new tillage157 . For just as God made all that He made by the energy of the Holy Spirit, so also now the energy of the Spirit performs those things that are supernatural and which it is not possible to comprehend unless by faith alone. How shall this be, said the holy Virgin, seeing I know not a man? And the archangel Gabriel answered her: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee158 . And now you ask, how the bread became Christ’s body and the wine and water Christ’s blood. And I say unto thee, “The Holy Spirit is present and does those things which surpass reason and thought.”
Further, bread and wine159 are employed: for God knoweth man’s infirmity: for in general man turns away discontentedly from what is not well-worn by custom: and so with His usual indulgence H e performs His supernatural works through familiar objects: and just as, in the case of baptism, since it is man’s custom to wash himself with water and anoint himself with oil, He connected the grace of the Spirit with the oil and the water and made it the water of regeneration, in like manner since it is man’s custom to eat and to drink water and wine160 , He connected His divinity with these and made them His body and blood in order that we may rise to what is supernatural through what is familiar and natural.
The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God’s body and blood161 . But if you enquire how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out162 . But one can put it well thus, that just as in nature the bread by the eating and the wine and the water by the drinking are changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and do not163 become a different body from the former one, so the bread of the table164 and the wine and water are supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are not two but one165 and the same.
Wherefore to those who partake worthily with faith, it is for the remission of sins and for life everlasting and for the safeguarding of soul and body; but to those who partake unworthily without faith, it is for chastisement and punishment, just as also the death of the Lord became to those who believe life and incorruption for the enjoyment of eternal blessedness, while to those who do not believe and to the murderers of the Lord it is for everlasting chastisement and punishment.
The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has said, “This is My body,” not, this is a figure of My body: and “My blood,” not, a figure of My blood. And on a previous occasion He had said to the Jews, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. For My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed. And again, He that eateth Me, shall live166 167 .
Wherefore with all fear and a pure conscience and certain faith let us draw near and it will assuredly be to us as we believe, doubting nothing. Let us pay homage to it in all purity both of soul and body: for it is twofold. Let us draw near to it with an ardent desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross168 let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal, in order that the fire of the longing, that is in us, with the additional heat derived from the coal may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation in the divine fire. Isaiah saw the coal169 . But coal is not plain wood but wood united with fire: in like manner also the bread of the communion170 is not plain bread but bread united with divinity. But a body171 which is united with divinity is not one nature, but has one nature belonging to the body and another belonging to the divinity that is united to it, so that the compound is not one nature but two.
With bread and wine Melchisedek, the priest of the most high God, received Abraham on his return from the slaughter of the Gentiles172 . That table pre-imaged this mystical table, just as that priest was a type and image of Christ, the true high-priest173 . For thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek174 . Of this bread the show-bread was an image175 . This surely is that pure and bloodless sacrifice which the Lord through the prophet said is offered to Him from the rising to the setting of the sun176 .
The body and blood of Christ are making for the support of our soul and body, without being consumed or suffering corruption, not making for the draught (God forbid!) but for our being and preservation, a protection against all kinds of injury, a purging from all uncleanness: should one receive base gold, they purify it by the critical burning lest in the future we be condemned with this world. They purify from diseases and all kinds of calamities; according to the words of the divine Apostles177 , For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. This too is what he says, So that he that partaketh of the body and blood of Christ unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself178 . Being purified by this, we are united to the body of Christ and to His Spirit and become the body of Christ.
This bread is the first-fruits179 of the future bread which is εϕπιουϖσιο", i.e. necessary for existence. For the word εϕπιουϖσιον signifies either the future, that is Him Who is for a future age, or else Him of Whom we partake for the preservation of our essence. Whether then it is in this sense or that, it is fitting to speak so of the Lord’s body. For the Lord’s flesh is life-giving spirit because it was conceived of the life-giving Spirit. For what is born of the Spirit is spirit. But I do not say this to take away the nature of the body, but I wish to make clear its life-giving and divine power180 .
But if some persons called the bread and the wine antitypes181 of the body and blood of the Lord, as did the divinely inspired Basil, they said so not after the consecration but before the consecration, so calling the offering itself.
Participation is spoken of; for through it we partake of the divinity of Jesus. Communion, too, is spoken of, and it is an actual communion, because through it we have communion with Christ and share in His flesh and His divinity: yea, we have communion and are united with one another through it. For since we partake of one bread, we all become one body of Christ and one blood, and members one of another, being of one body with Christ.
With all our strength, therefore, let us beware lest we receive communion from or grant it to heretics; Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, saith the Lord, neither cast ye your pearls before swine182 , lest we become partakers in their dishonour and condemnation. For if trojan is in truth with Christ and with one another, we are assuredly voluntarily united also with all those who partake with us. For this union is effected voluntarily and not against our inclination. For we are all one body because we partake of the one bread, as the divine Apostle says183 .
Further, antitypes of future things are spoken of, not as though they were not in reality Christ’s body and blood, but that now through them we partake of Christ’s divinity, while then we shall partake mentally184 through the vision alone.
Footnotes
89 Basil. in Is. xi.
90 Exod. xii. 23.
91 Cf. Cyril, Contr. Jul., bk. vi.
92 Text, o9 Torgoqa=j, o9 swth/rioj. Variant, o9 stauro/j.
93 o9 qeopa/twr Dabi/d. Cf. Dionysiaster, Ep. 8.
94 Heb. xi. 6.
95 Basil. in Ps. cxv.
96 Basil, cit. loc.
97 Text, propa/toroj a0marti/a. Variant, propar. 'Ada\m a0mart.
98 Text, h0noi/xqhsan. Variant, h0noi/ghsan.
99 Cyril, Hier. catech. i. 14.
100 Text, dia\ staurou=. Variant, di/ au0tou=.
101 Rom. vi. 3.
102 Gal. iii. 27.
103 2 Cor. i. 24.
104 Basil. in Is. xi.
105 Exod. xii. 23.
106 Cf. Cyril, Contr. Jul., bk. vi.
107 Text, o9 Torgoqa=j, o9 swth/rioj. Variant, o9 stauro/j.
108 o9 qeopa/twr Dabi/d. Cf. Dionysiaster, Ep. 8.
109 Ps. cxxxii. 7.
110 Ibid. 8.
111 Text, Swth=roj. Variant, stauro/j.
112 St. Matt. xxiv. 30.
113 St. Mark xvi. 6.
114 1 Cor. i. 23.
115 Text, Xristou=. Variant, staurou=.
116 Gen. ii. and iii.
117 Heb. xi. 21.
118 Auct., Quaest. ad Antioch., 9, 63.
119 Num. xx.
120 Exod. iv.
121 Ibid.
122 Text, ou0k ei0dui/a. Variant, ei0dw/j.
123 Iren., bk. v., c 18.
124 Isai. lxv. 2.
125 Text, tou=to. Variants, tou=ton and tou/tw.
126 Basil, De Spir. Sanct., c. 27; Alcuin, De Trin. ii. 5; Wal. Strabo. De reb. eccles, c. 4; Hon. August., Gemma Animae. c. 950.
127 1 St. John i. 5.
128 Mal. iv. 2.
129 Zach. iii. 8, vi. 12; St. Luke i. 78.
130 Ps. lxviii. 32, 33.
131 Gen. ii. 8.
132 Text, o@n paraba/nra e0cw/risen, a0pe/nanti/ te tou= paradei/sou th=j trufh=j katw/kisen. Variants, o@n paraba/nta, th=j trfh=j e0cwrisen, and o@nn paraba/nta, tou= paradei/sou th=j trufh=j e0cw/risen, a0pe/nanti/ te tou= paradei/sou katwkisen.
133 Levit. xvi. 14.
134 Ibid. 2.
135 Num. ii. 3.
136 Acts i. 11.
137 Text, fai/netai. Variant, fqa/nei. The old translation gives occupat.
138 St. Matt. xxiv. 27.
139 Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, ch. 27.
140 Greg. Naz., Orat. 42: Dion. De div. nom., ch. 3.
141 Rom. xi. 36.
142 Heb. ii. 17.
143 Rom. vii. 17.
144 Variant, fu/sei kai\ klhrono/moi th=j au0tou= genw/meqa xa/ritoj, kai au0iou uioi, kai\ sugklhrono/moi.
145 Text, klhronomn/swmen. Variant, klhronomh/santej.
146 Chrys. in Matt., Hom. 83; St. John iii. 3.
147 St. John vi. 48.
148 Ibid. xiii.
149 St. Matt. xxvi. 26; Liturg. S. Jacobi.
150 St. Matt. xxvi. 27, 28; St. Mark xiv. 22-24; St. Luke xxii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi. 24-26
151 Heb. iv. 12.
152 Ps. cxxxv. 6.
153 Gen. i. 3 and 6.
154 Ps. xxxiii. 6.
155 Text, kai\ ta\ th=j...kaqara\ kai\ a0mw/mhta ai#mata e9mata e9autw=. Variant, kai\ e0k tw=n th=j...kaqarw=n kai/ a0mwmh/twn ai0ma/twn e9autw.
156 Gen. i. 11.
157 Iren., bk. iv., ch. 35; Gulg., Ad Monim., bk. ii., ch. 6; Chrys., De prod. Jedae; Greg. Nyss., Catech., &c.
158 St. Luke i. 34, 35
159 Nyss., Orat., Catech., ch. 37.
160 Clem., Constit., bk. viii.; Justin Martyr., Apol. i.; Iren., v.2.
161 Greg. Nyss., Orat. Catech., c. 37.
162 Simile Nyss. loc. cit.
163 ou0 is absent in some mss.
164 The Greek is o9 th=j proqe/sewj oi\noj, the bread of the prothesis. It is rendered panis propositionis in the old translations. These phrases designate the Shewbread in the LXX. and the Vulgate. The pro/qesij is explained as a smaller table placed on the right side of the altar, on which the priests make ready the bread and the cup for consecration. See the note in Migne.
165 See Niceph., C.P., Aniirr. ii. 3.
166 St. John vi. 51-55.
167 zwh\n ai0w/nion is added in many mss.
168 Cyril Hierosol., Cat. Mystag. 5; Chrys. Hom. 3 in Epist. ad Ephes.; Trull. can. 101
169 Is. vi. 6.
170 See Cyril Alex. on Isiah vi.
171 Vide Basil, ibid.
172 Gen. xiv. 18.
173 Lev. xiv.
174 Ps. cx. 4.
175 Text, ei0ko/nizon. Variant, ei0koni/zousi.
176 Mal. i. 11.
177 1 Cor. xi. 31, 32.
178 Ibid. 29.
179 Cyril, loc. cit.
180 St. John vi. 63.
181 Anastas., Hodegus, ch. 23.
182 St. Matt. vii. 6.
183 1 Cor. x. 17.
184 Text, nohtw= dia\ mo/nhj th=j Qe/aj\ nohtwj is wanting in some Reg. 2928 having dia\ mo/nhj th=j Qei/aj e9nw/sew:.