In illud Non potest

Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, from the homily On the Saying "The Son Can Do Nothing of Himself"... The saying "The Son can do nothing of Himself"—how do you understand it? For you take the phrase "cannot" in two ways: both according to common usage and according to divine Scripture. For "cannot" is said both of things that are impossible and of things that are not permissible; but being unable is one thing, and its not being permissible is another. Concerning things that are impossible, Paul speaks thus: "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to remove sins"; for the blood of an irrational animal does not cleanse the passions of a rational soul. Concerning things that are not permissible, the apostles say in the Acts: "We cannot," they say, "not speak of what we have seen and heard"; and yet they could have refrained from speaking, but they could not bear to be silent, lest they seem to deny the grace of the wonder-worker. Tell me, then, in this case: the saying "The Son can do nothing of Himself"—in which sense do you take it? Do you thereby condemn him to impotence, or do you abolish the movements of his self-determined will, because he can do whatever he wills? But what do you say? That he does nothing of himself, but, fulfilling a command of God, he performs those things toward which the directive nod of the commander looks? And how is it not the height of folly to say this? For if he does absolutely nothing of himself, then he did not fulfill the whole economy by his own will, nor did he take on our flesh out of compassion for us, nor did he willingly accept death for us out of love, but he endured everything by force, driven by necessity.

If it is rash, blasphemous, and beyond all impiety to say this, tell us in what sense you take the saying "The Son can do nothing of Himself." For it is clear that, even if you do not wish it, you say that He can do what He wills, driven as you are by the truth. But why do I weave superfluous words? For the sequel of the text resolves the question: it did not say "He can do nothing of Himself unless the Father commands something," but "unless He sees the Father doing something"; if He sees Him doing something, the Son likewise does these things. Therefore, He does not do what the Father commands as fulfilling a service, but as like, as equal in power, as being of the same divine nature: whatever He sees the Father doing, the Son likewise does. After this, it says, it was the feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And so that they might not attribute everything to the waters, the waters did not heal before an angel, standing over them, stirred them, so that they might learn that neither do the waters of baptism benefit the soul by themselves before the angel of great counsel, having put on a human body, comes to the baptism. Many sick were lying there, and there was a paralytic man who had been in his sickness for thirty-eight years; seeing him, Jesus asks: "Do you wish to become healthy?" Observe His humility: He did not say "Do you wish me to heal you?" for He did not wish to boast or proclaim Himself before the miracles. The man says: "I wish to, but I have no one"; for where there is no friend, there is no one. For this reason I also ask, not that I may learn—for what sick person does not wish to be healed?

—but to show the cruelty of your good citizens, that they did not even give you a hand to throw you into the spring, which even an enemy, if asked, would have provided. Since, therefore, until now you have had no one to put you into the baptismal font, behold, the one who became man for your sake heals your affliction even without water: "Rise, take up your bed, and go." And he does not simply order him to carry the bed; for what he did with the loaves, he also does here. For just as there he ordered the remnants of the loaves to be carried, so here, to make the miracle clear, to free the healing from Jewish suspicion, and to show that he is not some deceiver but a savior and a common physician of nature, he orders him to carry the bed. So the Jews said: "It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to lift the stretcher." But he answers: "The one who made me healthy, that one told me: 'Take up your stretcher and walk.'" So they said to him: "And who is that?" But the healed man did not know. When they learned that it was Jesus who had made him healthy, they pursued him to kill him. What then does Christ do? He brings forward the Father, saying: "My Father works even until now, and I work." For just as, he says, my Father is not subject to boundaries, does not serve legislation, nor wait for commands, but does by his own will whatever he wishes, so also I work with authoritative power equally with the Father. And they sought to kill him all the more for this, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. But while they raged and raved, what did Christ do?

Amen, I say to you: the Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing something. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does. It is not that the Father creates one set of things, and I, by imitation, produce another. For if that were the case, there would have to be two heavens, two suns, two seas, two races of men, and a double cosmos—one of the Father, and one of mine. For just as in the case of painters the lines, and in the case of teachers the letters, are prescribed, so the Father’s creation would have to be prescribed, which I then worked by imitation. If, then, it is not so, Master, why do you say, “The Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing something”? In order to undermine the madness of the Jews, who think that I am legislating against the Father. For since they accuse me concerning the abolition of the Sabbath, I said, “My Father works even until now, and I work,” wishing to show the equal honor on both sides. But those who are utterly foolish, thinking that I was building works upon works and introducing opinion against opinion, were moved to envy. Hence, correcting their opinion, I said, “The Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing something,” instead of, “Why do you, the untimely examiners of the Sabbath, rage at me because I abolish the Sabbath? But I am not opposing the Father; for it is not that he wants to keep the Sabbath and I to abolish it. I do not fight against him, I do not rebel against his opinion; it is not that he wills one thing and I wish another. What he wills, I will; what he wishes, I wish; what he does, I do.

For thus I do nothing, I will nothing outside of him, because I speak, rendering the Word impossible: Amen, I say to you: the Son can do nothing of himself. For I do not have a will separated and cut off from the Father. For since the nature is one, the will is one, it is necessary that the result be one. Therefore the Son can do nothing of himself, for he cannot do anything without the Father, having him wholly within himself; for I am in the Father and the Father is in me. For if the works of soul and body are indistinguishable because of their union, even though the nature is divided—the body being mortal, the soul immortal—how can the works of me and the Father be distinguished? Where there is one counsel, one word, one knowledge, one wisdom, one nature, one divinity, the Son can do nothing of himself because he is not separated from the Father, unless he sees the Father doing something, that is, unless he sees the Father willing. For, having the will concurrent as of one and the same nature, I accomplish what comes to be. For if I were fulfilling a material work, it would be necessary for the construction of what comes to be to be distributed; but since it is will that suffices for the

of beings, therefore the creation of all things knows the Father and the Son as creator, the Spirit not being excluded. For whatever that one does, the Father, these things the Son likewise does: these things and not such things, for I do not make other things by imitation, but I work the same things that the Father also works. Hence, attributing my words to him, I said: The words that I speak to you I do not speak from myself; the Father who abides in me does the works. I attributed the works and the words to him, not to show that I fulfill a ministry, but to show that I am so united to the Father by nature as to have neither word nor work without him. Hence he added, saying: Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; but if not, at least believe on account of the works. Just as there, while working, I said that the Father who abides in me does the works, so here I say that the works which that one does, these the Son likewise does: these things and not such things. Therefore, does "the Son can do nothing of himself" not imply a removal of my freedom? Understand: for whatever I wish to do, I can also do from myself, but I do not wish; for if the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, how could I escape the notice of the one who does everything through me? He does through me not as through a subordinate; for I do not serve but cooperate, not fulfilling a ministry but working with authority. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, having power concurrent with his will, so I do not raise the dead by fulfilling a ministry, but by power, authority, jurisdiction, will, because I both raise and judge those whom I raise.

The Father judges no one; but he does not judge because of inability, but because he has given all judgment to the Son. For through whom he worked, through him he also judges. And he does everything so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. For he is most aware of honor when he sees the Son from him honored in a manner befitting God. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him, for he does not accept honor at the expense of dishonor to the Son. For he sent me because of the flesh, not that I might be insulted, but that I might be glorified. Hence, since you have behaved ungratefully toward me, for this reason, even through the flesh that was sent, I said to him: Father, glorify your Son. Glorify him whom these men insult, glorify also the flesh which they reject, so that they may learn that you, as Father, will without distinction glorify even the man from Mary because of his communion with your only-begotten Son, now giving to the temple assumed by me the glory which I myself had with you from nature before the ages.