In illud In principio erat verbum

Homily 1. On the text, "In the beginning was the Word." Every utterance of the Gospels is more magnificent than the other teachings of the Spirit, in that in those the Lord spoke to us through the servants, the prophets, while in the Gospels the Master conversed with us in person. Indeed, of the evangelical proclamation itself, the one who spoke with the loudest voice, uttering things greater than any hearing and higher than any understanding, is John, the son of thunder; whose prologue to the evangelical composition we have just heard read: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." I know that many even of those outside the word of truth, who pride themselves on worldly wisdom, have admired these things and dared to mix them into their own compositions. For the devil is a thief, divulging our things to his own prophets. If, then, fleshly wisdom so admired the power of these words, what shall we do, we who are disciples of the Spirit, if we hear them carelessly and consider the power inherent in them to be something small? And who is so afflicted with insensibility as not to be struck with awe at such beauty of thought and such depth of doctrine, so unattainable, and not to desire their true comprehension? But it is not difficult to admire beautiful things; rather, to attain an accurate understanding of what is admired—this is difficult and hard to reach. For even this visible sun, there is no one who does not praise it exceedingly, embracing its magnitude and beauty, the symmetry of its rays, and its gleaming light.

If, however, one more violently contends to draw back the rays of his eyes against the circle, not only will he not see the objects of his desire, but he will also destroy the precision of his vision and depart. Something of this sort I seem to suffer in my mind, which strives to make an exact examination of the words before us. "In the beginning was the Word." Who will worthily conceive the things concerning the beginning? What power of words will be found capable of representing the thought with equal honor? About to deliver to us the theology of the Son of God, he gave no other beginning to the discourse than the beginning of all things. He knew those who would attack the glory of the Only-begotten, the Holy Spirit; he foresaw those who would bring forward to us the sophisms, contrived for the overthrow of those who hear them. That is, "If he was begotten, he was not," and "Before being begotten, he was not," and "He took his subsistence from non-existence." Such things do tongues sharpened by plausibility utter, more than any double-edged sword. Therefore, that no one might be able to say such things, the Holy Spirit, anticipating through the Gospel, says, "In the beginning was the Word." If you hold fast to this utterance, you will suffer nothing terrible from the evil craftsmen. For if that one says, "If he was begotten, he was not," you say, "In the beginning he was." But, he says, "How was he before being begotten?" Do not let go of "He was"; do not abandon "In the beginning." The summit of a beginning is not grasped; the outer limit of a beginning is not found. Let no one deceive you by the multiple meanings of the word. For there are many beginnings of many things in this life; but there is one beginning over all, the one beyond. "A beginning of a good road," said the Proverb.

But the beginning of a road is the first movement, from which we start the journey, and what follows it is possible to find. And, "The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord." There is also something else set before this beginning; for the beginning of the acquisition of arts is elementary instruction. So the element of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; but there is something more ancient than this beginning, the state of the soul of one not yet made wise and who has not taken up the fear of God. Beginnings are also called political powers, the preeminences of offices. But these beginnings are beginnings of certain things, and each is relative to something. For the beginning of a line is the point; and the beginning of a surface is the line; and the beginning of a body is the surface; and the beginning of composite speech is the elements. But that beginning is not of such a kind. For it is attached to nothing; it serves nothing; it is observed with nothing; but it is free, masterless, released from relation to another, unsurpassable by thought, which cannot be exceeded by reasonings, of which it is not possible to find what is beyond. For if you strive with the imagination of the mind to run past the beginning, you will find it running ahead of you and meeting your reasonings beforehand. Let your mind run as far as it wishes and stretch upward; then you will find it wandering endlessly, treading on emptiness many times, and returning again to itself, because it cannot make the beginning lower than itself. For always the beginning is found to be more external and greater than what is thought. So in the beginning was the Word. O the wonder! How all the phrases have been joined together with equal honor! The "was" is equivalent to "in the beginning.

Where is the blasphemer? Where is the Christ-fighting tongue that says, "There was once when he was not"? Hear the Gospel: "In the beginning he was." But if he was in the beginning, when was he not? Shall I lament their impiety or abhor their ignorance? "But before he was begotten, he was not." Do you know when he was begotten, that you might apply the "before" to time? For "before" is a temporal expression, setting one thing before another in antiquity. But how is it reasonable that the maker of time should have his generation subject to temporal designations? Therefore, "In the beginning he was." If you do not depart from the "he was," you will give no entrance to evil blasphemy. For just as those who sail the sea, when they ride at two anchors, despise the storm, so also you will laugh at this evil disturbance, which arises from the spirits of wickedness in the world and shakes the faith of the many, if you have your soul moored in the security of these words. Our mind inquires, who was in the beginning? "The Word," it says. What word? The human word? Or the word of angels?

For the Apostle hinted to us that even the angels have their own tongue, saying, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels." But the word "Logos" also has a double meaning. For there is one that is uttered by the voice, which perishes in the air after being spoken; and there is another, the internal Logos, dwelling in our hearts, the conceptual one. And there is another, the technical Logos. See that the homonymy of the term does not mislead you. For how could human Logos be in the beginning, when man received the beginning of his generation somewhere below? Before man, beasts; before man, cattle, all creeping things; all land animals, and all aquatic ones, birds of the sky, stars, sun, moon, plants, seeds, earth, sea, heaven. Therefore, human Logos was not in the beginning, nor even that of the angels. For all creation is lower than the ages, having received the beginning of its existence from the Creator. And the Logos in the heart is itself younger than each of the things conceived. But listen to the Logos in a manner befitting God. For when speaking to you about the Only-Begotten, he called him Logos. Just as, then, he will shortly say "light" and "life" and "resurrection," and when you hear "light" you do not descend to this perceptible and visible-to-the-eyes light, nor when you hear "life" do you understand this common life by which even irrational animals live, so too when you hear "Logos," beware lest by the weakness of your mind

so that you may not be brought down to lowly and base thoughts. But examine the meaning of the word. Why "Logos"? So that it might be shown that he came forth from the mind. Why "Logos"? Because he was begotten without passion. Why "Logos"? Because he is an image of the begetter, showing the whole begetter in himself, having divided nothing from there, and existing perfect in himself—just as our own word depicts our entire thought. For what we have conceived in our heart, we have brought forth in speech, and the spoken word is an image of the thought in the heart. For the word is uttered from the abundance of the heart. And our heart is like a kind of source, while the uttered word is like a kind of stream flowing from this source. Therefore, what flows out is as much as what is primarily borne up; and as the hidden is, so too is the manifest. So he said "Logos" in order to present to you the passionless generation from the Father, to theologize for you the perfect existence of the Son, and to indicate through these the timeless conjunction of the Son with the Father.

For our own word is an offspring of the mind, begotten without passion: for it is neither cut, nor divided, nor does it flow; but the whole mind, remaining in its own substance, brings forth the whole word complete and perfect; and when the word has come forth, it contains in itself all the power of the mind that generated it. Therefore, take from the term "Logos" as much as is pious for the theology of the Only-begotten; whatever you find appearing incongruous and unsuitable, set that aside and pass over it by every means. "In the beginning was the Logos." But if it had said, "In the beginning was the Son," the term "Son" would have brought in with it the notion of passion. For since among us, those who beget beget in time and beget with passion, for this reason, taking precaution, it said "Logos," correcting in advance the improper conceptions, so that it might preserve your soul unharmed. And the Logos was with God. Again, the "was" is for the sake of those who blaspheme, saying that he was not. Where was the Logos? Not in a place; for things without limits are not contained in a place. But where was he? With God. Neither is the Father in a place, nor is the Son confined in any circumscription or defined boundary; but the Father is infinite, and the Son is infinite. Whatever you might conceive, and wherever you might go in your spirit, you will find it filled with God; you will find the hypostasis of the Son extending everywhere along with him. And the Logos was with God. Marvel at the precision of each phrase: it did not say, "The Logos was in God," but "with God," in order to indicate the distinctness of the hypostasis. It did not say "in God," so as not to give occasion for the confusion of the hypostasis.

That blasphemy is also wicked, of those who attempt to confound everything and say that the underlying substance is one—Father and Son and Holy Spirit—and that different appellations are applied to the one thing. That impiety is wicked and no less to be shunned than that of those who blaspheme that the Son of God is unlike in substance to God and Father. And the Word was with God. Then, having used the term Word to demonstrate impassibility in generation, he quickly also remedied the harm arising from the Word for us. And as if snatching it from the slander of the blasphemers, he says, What then is the Word? The Word was God. Do not quibble about different kinds of words, nor by your malicious artifice attach any blasphemy to the teaching of the Spirit. You have the declaration; submit to the Lord. The Word was God; this one was in the beginning with God. Again he summarizes in few words his entire theology concerning the Only-begotten, which the evangelist handed down to us. Who is this? This one, the Word who is God. For since he has articulated for you the concept concerning him, as if imprinting on your soul through teaching the things unknown, and having established

Hold Christ the Word in your heart, he says. Which one? Do not look outside, scanning with the demonstrative pronoun the one pointed out to you, but enter into the hidden places of your own soul, and the God you were taught, the one who was in the beginning, who came forth as Word, who is with God—recognize him, and be struck with awe, and worship your own Master, the one established in you through teaching, and know that this one was in the beginning; that is, always with God his own Father. Preserve these few utterances for me, as if imprinting a seal upon your memories. These will be an unbreakable wall against the attacks of those who plot against you; these are a saving amulet for souls for those who set them forth. If someone comes to you and says, "He did not exist, then he was born; for if he existed, how was he born?" turn away the blasphemy against the glory of the Only-begotten as the voice of demons. And he himself, returning, came to the words of the Gospels: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God." Say the fourth thing, "He was," and you will nullify their "He was not." Let these foundations of the faith remain unshaken. Upon these we will build, God willing, the rest as well. For it is not possible to discuss everything with you at once, lest by the excess of speech we render useless what has been diligently gathered. For the mind, when it tries to grasp everything together, grows weak, suffering the same as a stomach that, due to excessive fullness, cannot digest what has been sent down.

I pray, therefore, that you may be sweetened by the taste and benefited by the distribution. I myself stand ready for you for the service of what remains, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom are the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.