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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 09 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 29.02.19 Orthodox Faith Bk IV Pt 5
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Chapter XXIII.
Against the Jews on the question Sabbath.
The seventh day is called the Sabbath and signifies rest. For in it God rested from all His works389 , as the divine Scripture says: and so the number of the days goes up to seven and then circles back again and begins at the first. This is the precious number with the Jews. God having ordained that it should be held in honour, and that in no chance fashion but with the imposition of most heavy penalties for the transgression390 . And it was not in a simple fashion that He ordained this, but for certain reasons understood mystically by the spiritual and clear-sighted391 .
So far, indeed, as I in my ignorance know, to begin with inferior and more dense things, God, knowing the denseness of the Israelites and their carnal love and propensity towards matter in everything, made this law: first, in order that the servant and the cattle should rest392 as it is written, for the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast393 : next, in order that when they take their ease from the distraction of material things, they may gather together unto God, spending the whole of the seventh day in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and the study of the divine Scriptures and resting in God. For when394 the law did not exist and there was no divinely-inspired Scripture, the Sabbath was not consecrated to God. But when the divinely-inspired Scripture was given by Moses, the Sabbath was consecrated to God in order that on it they, who do not dedicate their whole life to God, and who do not make their desire subservient to the as though to a Father, but are like foolish servants, may on that day talk much concerning the exercise of it, and may abstract a small, truly a most insignificant, portion of their life for the service of God, and this from fear of the chastisements and punishments which threaten transgressors. For the law is not made for a righteous man but for the unrighteous395 . Moses, of a truth, was the first to abide fasting with God for forty days and again for another forty396 , and thus doubtless to afflict himself with hunger on the Sabbaths although the law forbade self-affliction on the Sabbath. But if they should object that this took place before the law, what will they say about Elias the Thesbite who accomplished a journey of forty days on one meal397 ? For he, by thus afflicting himself on the Sabbaths not only with hunger but with the forty days’ journeying, broke the Sabbath: and yet God, Who gave the law, was not wroth with him but shewed Himself to him on Choreb as a reward for his virtue. And what will they say about Daniel? Did he not spend three weeks without food398 ? And again, did not all Israel circumcise the child on the Sabbath, if it happened to be the eighth day after birth399 ? And do they not hold the great fast which the law enjoins if it falls on the Sabbath400 ? And further, do not the priests and the Levites profane the Sabbath in the works of the tabernacle401 and yet are held blameless? Yea, if an ox should fall into a pit on the Sabbath, he who draws it forth is blameless, while he who neglects to do so is condemned402 . And did not all the Israelites compass the walls of Jericho bearing the Ark of God for seven days, in which assuredly the Sabbath was included403 .
As I said404 , therefore, for the purpose of securing leisure to worship God in order that they might, both servant and beast of burden, devote a very small share to Him and be at rest, the observance of the Sabbath was devised for the carnal that were still childish and in the bonds of the elements of the world405 , and unable to conceive of anything beyond the body and the letter. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Only-begotten Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons406 . For to as many of us as received Him, He gave power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on Him407 . So that we are no longer servants but sons408 : no longer under the law but under grace: no longer do we serve God in part from fear, but we are bound to dedicate to Him the whole span of our life, and cause that servant, I mean wrath and desire, to cease from sin and bid it devote itself to the service of God, always directing our whole desire towards God and arming our wrath against the enemies of God: and likewise we hinder that beast of burden, that is the body, from the servitude of sin, and urge it forwards to assist to the uttermost the divine precepts.
These are the things which the spiritual law of Christ enjoins on us and those who observe that become superior to the law of Moses. For when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away409 : and when the covering of the law, that is, the veil, is rent asunder through the crucifixion of the Saviour, and the Spirit shines forth with tongues of fire, the letter shall be done away with, bodily things shall come to an end, the law of servitude shall be fulfilled, and the law of liberty be bestowed on us. Yea410 we shall celebrate the perfect rest of bureau nature, I mean the day after the resurrection, on which the Lord Jesus, the Author of Life and our Saviour, shall lead us into the heritage promised to those who serve God in the spirit, a heritage into which He entered Himself as our forerunner after He rose from the dead, and whereon, the gates of Heaven being opened to Him, He took His seat in bodily form at the right hand of the Father, where those who keep the spiritual law shall also come.
What belongs to us411 , therefore, who walk by the spirit and not by the letter, is the complete abandonment of carnal things, the spiritual service and communion with God. For circumcision is the abandonment of carnal pleasure and of whatever is superfluous and unnecessary. For the foreskin is nothing else than the skin which it superfluous to the organ of lust. And, indeed, every pleasure which does not arise from God nor is in God is superfluous to pleasure: and of that the foreskin is the type. The Sabbath, moreover, is the cessation from sin; so that both things happen to be one, and so both together, when observed by those who are spiritual, do not bring about any breach of the law at all.
Further, observe412 that the number seven denotes all the present time, as the most wise Solomon says, to give a portion to seven and also to eight413 . And David414 , the divine singer when he composed the eighth psalm, sang of the future restoration after the resurrection from the dead. Since the Law, therefore, enjoined that the seventh day should be spent in rest from carnal things and devoted to spiritual things, it was a mystic indication to the true Israelite who had a mind to see God, that he should through all time offer himself to God and rise higher than carnal things.
Chapter XXIV.
Concerning Virginity.
Carnal men abuse virginity415 , and the pleasure-loving bring forward the following verse in proof, Cursed be every one that raiseth not up seed in Israel416 . But we, made confident by God the Word that was made flesh of the Virgin, answer that virginity was implanted in man’s nature from above and in the beginning. For man was formed of virgin soil. From Adam alone was Eve created. In Paradise virginity held sway. Indeed, Divine Scripture tells that both Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed417 . But after their transgression they knew that they were naked, and in their shame they sewed aprons for themselves418 . And when, after the transgression, Adam heard, dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return419 , when death entered into the world by reason of the transgression, then Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare seed420 . So that to prevent the wearing out and destruction of the race by death, marriage was devised that the race of men may be preserved through the procreation of children421 .
But they will perhaps ask, what then is the meaning of “male and female422 ,” and “Be fruitful and multiply?” In answer we shall say that “Be fruitful and multiply423 “ does not altogether refer to the multiplying by the marriage connection. For God had power to multiply the race also in different ways, if they kept the precept unbroken424 to the end425 . But God, Who knoweth all things before they have existence, knowing in His foreknowledge that they would fall into transgression in the future and be condemned to death, anticipated this and made “male and female,” and bade them “be fruitful and multiply.” Let us, then, proceed on our way and see the glories426 of virginity: and this also includes chastity.
Noah when he was commanded to enter the ark and was entrusted with the preservation of the seed of the world received this command, Go in, saith the Lord, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives427 . He separated them from their wives428 in order that with purity they might escape the flood and that shipwreck of the whole world. After the cessation of the flood, however, He said, Go forth of the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives429 . Lo, again, marriage is granted for the sake of the multiplication of the race. Next, Elias, the fire-breathing charioteer and sojourner in heaven did not embrace celibacy, and yet was not his virtue attested by his super-human ascension430 ? Who closed the heavens? Who raised the dead431 ? Who divided Jordan432 ? Was it not the virginal Elias? And did not Elisha, his disciple, after he had given proof of equal virtue, ask and obtain as an inheritance a double portion of the grace of the Spirit433 ? What of the three youths? Did they not by practising virginity become mightier than fire, their bodies through virginity being made proof against the fire434 ? And was it not Daniel’s body that was so hardened by virginity that the wild beasts’ teeth could not fasten in it435 . Did not God, when He wished the Israelites to see Him, bid them purify the body436 ? Did not the priests purify themselves and so approach the temple’s shrine and offer victims? And did not the law call chastity the great vow?
The precept of the law, therefore, is to be taken in a more spiritual sense. For there is spiritual seed which is conceived through the love and fear of God in the spiritual womb, travailing and bringing forth the spirit of salvation. And in this sense must be understood this verse: Blessed is he who hath seed in Zion and posterity in Jerusalem. For does it mean that, although he be a whoremonger and a drunkard and an idolater, he is still blessed if only he hath seed in Sion and posterity in Jerusalem? No one in his senses will say this.
Virginity is the rule of life among the angels, the property of all incorporeal nature. This we say without speaking ill of marriage: God forbid! (for we know that the Lord blessed marriage by His presence437 , and we know him who said, Marriage is and the bed undefiled438 ), but knowing that virginity is better than marriage, however good. For among the virtues, equally as among the vices, there are higher and lower grades. We know that all mortals after the first parents of the race are the offspring of marriage. For the first parents were the work of virginity and not of marriage. But celibacy is, as we said, an imitation of the angels. Wherefore virginity is as much more honourable than marriage, as the angel is higher than man. But why do I say angel? Christ Himself is the glory of virginity, who was not only-begotten of the Father without beginning or emission or connection, but also became man in our image, being made flesh for our sakes of the Virgin without connection, and manifesting in Himself the true and perfect virginity. Wherefore, although He did not enjoin that on us by law (for as He said, all men cannot receive this saying439 ), yet in actual fact He taught us that and gave us strength for it. For it is surely clear to every one that virginity now is flourishing among men.
Good indeed is the procreation of children enjoined by the law, and good is marriage440 on account of fornications, for it does away with these441 , and by lawful intercourse does not permit the madness of desire to he caromed into unlawful acts. Good is marriage for those who have no continence: but that virginity is better which increases the fruitfulness of the soul and offers to God the seasonable fruit of prayer. Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge442 .
Chapter XXV.
Concerning the Circumcision.
The Circumcision443 was given to Abraham before the law, after the blessings, after the promise, as a sign separating him and his offspring and his household from the Gentiles with whom he lived444 . And this is evident445 , for when the Israelites passed forty years alone by themselves in the desert, having no intercourse with any other race, all that were horn in the desert were uncircumcised: but when Joshua446 led them across Jordan, they were circumcised, and a second law of circumcision was instituted. For in Abraham’s time the law of circumcision was given, and for the forty years in the desert it fell into abeyance. And again for the second time God gave the law of Circumcision to Joshua, after the crossing of Jordan, according as it is written in the book of Joshua, the son of Nun: At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee knives of stone from the sharp rock, and assemble and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time447 ; and a little later: For the children of Israel walked forty and two448 years in the wilderness of Battaris449 , till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were uncircumcised, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that He would not shew them the goad land, which the Lord swore unto their fathers that He would give them, a land that floweth with milk and honey. And their children, whom He raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way450 . So that the circumcision was a sign, dividing Israel from the Gentiles with whom they dwelt.
It was, moreover, a figure of baptism451 . For just as the circumcision does not cut off a useful member of the body but only a useless superfluity, so by the holy baptism we are circumcised from sin, and sin clearly is, so to speak, the superfluous part of desire and not useful desire. For it is quite impossible that any one should have no desire at all nor ever experience the taste of pleasure. But the useless part of pleasure, that is to say, useless desire and pleasure, it is this that is sin from which holy baptism circumcises us, giving us as a token the precious cross on the brow, not to divide us from the Gentiles (for all the nations received baptism and were sealed with the sign of the Cross), but to distinguish in each nation the faithful from the Faithless. Wherefore, when the truth is revealed, circumcision is a senseless figure and shade. So circumcision is now superfluous and contrary to holy baptism. For he who is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law452 . Further, the Lord was circumcised that He might fulfil the law: and He fulfilled the whole law and observed the Sabbath that He might fulfil and establish the law453 . Moreover after He was baptized and the Holy Spirit had appeared to men, descending on Him in the form of a dove, from that time the spiritual service and conduct of life and the Kingdom of Heaven was preached.
Chapter XXVI.
Concerning the Antichrist454 .
It should be known that the Antichrist is hound to come. Every one, therefore, who confesses not that the Son of God came in the flesh and is perfect God and became perfect man, after being God, is Antichrist455 . But in a peculiar and special sense he who comes at the consummation of the age is called Antichrist456 . First, then, it is requisite that the Gospel should be preached among all nations, as the Lord said457 , and then he will come to refute the impious Jews. For the Lord said to them: I am come in My Father’s name and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive458 . And the apostle says, Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, for this cause Gad shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness459 . The Jews accordingly did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ who was the Son of God and God, but receive the impostor who calls himself God460 . For that he will assume the name of God, the angel teaches Daniel, saying these words, Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers461 . And the apostle says: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son, of perdition: who opposeth and exalleth himself above all that is called Gad or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God462 , shewing himself that he is God; in the temple of God he said; not our temple, but the old Jewish temple463 . For he will come not to us but to the Jews: not for Christ or the things of Christ: wherefore he is called Antichrist464 .
First, therefore, it is necessary that the Gospel should be preached among all nations465 : And then shall that wicked one be revealed, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders466 , with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, whom the Lord shall consume with the word of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming467 . The devil himself468 , therefore does not become man in the way that the Lord was made man. God forbid! but he becomes man as the offspring of fornication and receiveth all the energy of Satan. For God, foreknowing the strangeness of the choice that he would make, allows the devil to take up his abode in him469 .
He is, therefore, as we said, the offspring of fornication and is nurtured in secret, and on a sudden he rises up and rebels and assumes rule. And in the beginning of his rule, or rather tyranny, he assumes the role of sanctity470 . But when he becomes master he persecutes the Church of God and displays all his wickedness. But he will come with signs and lying wonders471 , fictitious and not real, and he will deceive and lead away from the living God those whose mind rests on an unsound and unstable foundation, so that even the elect shall, if it be possible, be made to stumble472 .
But Enoch and Elias the Thesbite shall be sent and shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children473 , that is, the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and the preaching of the apostles: and they will be destroyed by him. And the Lord shall come out of heaven, just as the holy apostles beheld Him going into heaven perfect God and perfect man, with glory and power, and will destroy the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, with the breath of His mouth474 . Let no one, therefore, look for the Lord to come from earth, but out of Heaven, as He himself has made sure475 .
Footnotes
389 Gen. ii. 2.
390 Ex. xiii. 6 ; Num. xv. 35
391 Greg., Naz., Orat. 44.
392 Deut. v. 14.
393 Prov. xii. 10.
394 Epiph., Exp. Fid., n. 22.
395 1 Tim. i. 9.
396 Ex. xxiv. 18 : Ex. xxxiv. 28.
397 1 Kings xix. 8.
398 Dan. x. 2.
399 Gen. xvii. 12.
400 Lev. xvi. 31.
401 St. Matt. xii. 5.
402 Epiph, Hares. 30, n. 32, et Haer;. N. 82 seqq : Athan, Hom circum, et sabb
403 Josh. iii.
404 Ath iofe.
405 Gal. iv. 3.
406 Ibid. 4, 5.
407 St. John. i. 12.
408 Gal. iv. 7.
409 1 Cor. xiii. 10.
410 Athan., loc. Cit.
411 Ibid.
412 Greg. Naz, Orat. 42
413 Exxl. xi. 2.
414 Ps. xvi.
415 Vide bk. Ii. Ch. 30
416 Deut.
417 Gen. ii. 25
418 Ibid. iv. 7.
419 Ibid. 19.
420 Gen. iv. I.
421 Greg, Naz., De opif., hom. 16
422 Gen i. 27.
423 Ibid. i. 28.
424 Text, aparacapakton old. Trans. "in intrasmutationem."
425 Vid supr., bk. Ii. Ch. 30.
426 Text auqquata == increases. We have read auchmata.
427 Gen. vi. 18
428 Cf. Chrys., Hom. 28 on Genesis.
429 Gen. viii. 16
430 2 Ki ii. 11.
431 Ibid. iv. 34
432 Ibid. ii. 14.
433 Ibid. ii. 9.
434 Dan. iii. 20.
435 Ibid vi. 16.
436 Ex. xix. 15 : Num. vi. 2.
437 St. John ii. I.
438 Heb. xiii. 4.
439 St. Matt. xix. 11.
440 Simeou Thess., De initiat., ch. 33.
441 1 Cor. vii. 2.
442 Heb. xiii. 4.
443 Just. Martyr., Dial cum Tryph., p. 241.
444 Gen. xvii.10.
445 Chrys, Hom. 39 in Gen.
446 Text, Ihsouj.
447 Josh. v. 2.
448 Ibid. 6.
449 Text Battaritiqi as in mss.; The desert in which the Israelites dwelt is called "per antonomasiam" Madbara, from the Hebrew 72712
450 Josh. v. 6, 7.
451 Greg., Naz., Orat. 40. Athan., De Sab. Et circ.
452 Gal. v. 2.
453 St. Matt. v. 17.
454 See the note in Migne.
455 1 St. John ii. 22.
456 Iren., bk. V. ch. 25; Greg. Naz., Orat. 47.
457 St. Matt. xxiv. 14.
458 St. John v. 43.
459 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11, 12.
460 Chrys., Hom. 4 in Epist. 2 Thess.
461 Dan. xi. 37.
462 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.
463 Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. 15
464 Iren., Cyril Hieros., Catech. 15 : Greg. Naz loc.cit.
465 St. Matt. xxv. 14.
466 Text has perasi yeuqouj, instead of the received text, terasi yeuqouj, cf. Infr.
467 2 Thess. ii. 8,9,10.
468 Jerome on Daniel, ch. vii.
469 Chrys., Hom. 3 in 2 Thess.
470 Text, ariosunhn Old trans. "justitiam," but Faber has "bonitatem."
471 2 Thess. ii. 9.
472 St. Matt. xxiv. 24.
473 Mal. iv. 6 ; Apoc. xi. 3.
474 Acts i. 11.
475 2 Thess. ii. 8.