In incarnationem domini

A discourse on the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ and on the angels set over each region Truly the grace of Christ has appeared to us, and the power of piety has shone forth with us; truly the sun of justice has risen for us, and the ends of the inhabited world bear witness, having been illuminated. For the master of the heavens appeared and transformed the whole earth into heaven, as he wished, just as has been proclaimed among you. Being heavenly, he makes things heavenly and bestows heavenly things upon the heavenly. From the faithful, faithful things to the faithful; from the holy, holy things to the holy; from the living, living things to the living. For we set these things before you in the sacred and royal courts of the apostles, when we touched upon the prophetic thoughts, when heaven and earth divided the voices of the prophets—earth having John saying, "A voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths," and heaven having the voice of the Father confirmed over the works, that "The voice of the Lord is over the waters.

These things we have set before you. And these suffice both for the zealous as a reminder and for the faithful as confirmation. But it is necessary to know that the repetition of good things renders your souls more steadfast. For just as we see the earth best cultivated when it is worked over by the same plows and the second appearance, overtaking the first, adorns it, so also the soul, when plowed by the divine word—if a reminder of what has been previously said enters and renews the mind—renders the soul more fruitful for the bearing of virtue. It is time for us to meet the debt, a debt which we ourselves have promised and which you carry in your mind. I ask all who love Christ to offer both their ears and their mind, so that the ear may receive what is said without omission, and the mind may examine the thoughts accurately; for the discourse is about Christ. Everything said about Christ is not a simple proclamation, but a mystery of piety. The entire economy of Christ is called a mystery. And the mystery is not apparent in the letter, but is proclaimed in the reality. For this reason, Scripture calls the entire economy of Christ a mystery, as when Paul says: "This mystery is great; and I speak concerning Christ and the Church"; and again: "It is confessedly great, the mystery of piety which was manifested in the flesh"; and again: "The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ when you read"; and elsewhere:

But to me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given: to proclaim to you the unfathomable wealth of Christ, and to illuminate everything—what the economy of the mystery is, which was hidden from the ages and from the generations. Now it has been revealed to his saints, to whom God wished to make known what the wealth of the glory of his mystery is among the nations, which is Christ, the hope of glory. Therefore, the children of heretics err when they subject the mystery of God to human reasonings. For he says: "My mystery is for me and for mine." And who are God's? It is clear: the faithful. When you wish to learn or hear something about Christ, do not question reason, do not consult a wise man, but ask a prophet, ask an apostle, examine an angel. If these are at a loss, run to the Father. If you ask the prophets and say, "Who is this Christ?" the prophetic chorus answers you, saying: "This is our God; no other will be reckoned with him. He devised every path of knowledge and gave it to Jacob, his servant, and to Israel, his beloved. After this, he appeared on earth and lived among men." But if you ask, "Who is this Christ, and how was he born?"—meddling with the divine birth—the prophets check your boldness and begin to say: "What our reason could not contain, do you contain? If you wish to learn, learn that he is God. But if you meddle with how he was born, learn from us: Who will recount his generation?

If you ask an apostle—I mean the apostolic choir—they will tell you: Christ is God, in the beginning God, and with God God, and always God. They will tell you: Radiance of the glory and character of the hypostasis, image of the invisible God, bearing all things by the word of his power. If you ask: How was the one who is born? they will tell you: We have heard that he was, and we have learned that he was; but how the one who is from the one who is came to be, we have received by faith, not by comprehension. Again, if you ask them: If, then, you do not know how he was born, how do you know that he is the Son of God? they will tell you: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only-begotten from a father, full of grace and truth. Again, if you leave the apostles and the prophets and run to the angels and say to them: Who is this Christ who is proclaimed? they will tell you, those who announced the good news to the shepherds: We have learned to glorify, not to pry. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men. We proclaim him thus: We announce to you great joy, which will be for all the people, that a savior was born to you today, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David; and that he is Christ, and that he is savior and Lord, we know. But if you say to them: Tell us, what is his nature, or how was he born, or how is the undivided power with the Father? they will tell you: Have you not heard the prophet saying:

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the highest, praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his powers, his ministers doing his will; we were commanded to do his will, not to meddle with his nature. But is it that the angels are silent, and the prophets do not proclaim, and the apostles keep secret, while the father who begot proclaims how he begot the son? Not even he does so, not from ignorance, but from not revealing. That he begot, he says: "From the womb before the morning star I begot you." He says that he begot, and he does not hide that immortal offspring which blossomed from the eternal root, as the father bears witness concerning him, saying: "This is my beloved son, in whom I took delight." To him he says: "From the womb before the morning star I begot you," to the world he says: "I begot." And he announces the nature, but he does not explain the manner. Since, therefore, a necessary inquiry concerning Christ lies before us, let us not depart from the prophetic and apostolic springs, but from those ever-flowing streams and immortal rivers let us draw the divine waters of inspired teaching. For when one speaks the things of God from the things of God, as from a living spring, one draws living waters, according to what is said: "They have left me, a spring of living water," and again: "Drink waters from the springs of salvation." If, however, leaving the scriptures we serve the desires of human reasonings, understanding those things which reasoning suggests, our waters of teaching are found to be waters of the desert, not of a living river, but of the desert, as the blessed Jeremiah said to Jerusalem:

He broadened her ways upon the waters of the desert. And to interpret what he says, he adds: She was borne along by the desires of her soul, that is, she spoke those things which her soul desired, not what God willed. So also now, he who fulfills the desires of his own thoughts and does not seek the things of God wanders upon the waters of the desert. Nothing so destroys the beauty of the church as confirming the desires of human thoughts. For this reason Paul said concerning the heretics: According to their own desires they heap up teachers for themselves. Let us then come to the debt. We have necessarily engaged your love in advance with these things, so that you may seek the precise examination of all that is said, not from us and our thoughts, but from the divine scriptures. It was our purpose to show how Christ renews the world, how Christ renews the man who had grown old in paradise because of sin through his own economy. And we made this promise in the sacred courts of the apostles, reserving the fulfillment because not all were present.

Let us take a beginning that is agreed upon and fitting for the discourse, the creation. God made the heaven and the earth. For a beginning fitting for what is to be said is the first foundation of the world, the first base of the creation. God made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them, to be brief. And all other things he brought forth by word, having his nod unforced and undergoing neither toil nor sweat, but having the nature of the things that came to be follow upon his speaking. He made the whole creation and at the end the beauty of the creation, the human being. For just as our whole body apart from the face appears dead, so the whole visible creation apart from the construction of the human being is dead. And hear how: The sun is bright, but it cannot interpret itself. The moon is bright, but it did not teach its own phases, but discourse handed them down. The order of the stars is bright, but teaching handed down their rhythms. The sea is great, but human speech handed down the gulfs within it. And there is nothing among the things that came to be in the world that does not need an interpreter from the human voice. This makes what appears absurd be shown as beautiful and what is beautiful be shown as truly beautiful. For sight is often deceived and leads the mind astray; but discourse entering shows the nature, suggests the power, interprets the teaching.

Attend, then. God made the whole creation, and at the end of creation he fashioned man according to his own image and likeness, granting him as image not the form of the body, but the ruling principle, the power of discernment, the capacity to be assimilated to the maker through virtues. Man came to be, then, in the image and likeness of God; but he extended the likeness to excess. And do not think these things are foreign to the problem before us; for what is now being exercised is the root of what will be said. He made man in his own image and likeness. He wished him to run toward likeness of the master’s dignity, but with measure, sequence, and order. I mean something like this: For it is necessary to establish the matter under investigation also from common examples. If one of the masters among us has a slave and sees the slave imitating his self-control, he loves and honors him; if a slave imitates a master’s philanthropy, the master loves his possession; if he sees his slave attending church, being pious, fasting, performing acts of charity, the master loves the slave’s good imitation. If, however, the slave extends the imitation to excess and begins to imitate the master’s authority, giving orders to fellow slaves as a master, squandering property as a master, the imitation is no longer praiseworthy but blameworthy; for the slave must imitate the master’s fairness, self-control, piety, justice, not his authority, not his mastery.

So then, man, taking up the imitation of God’s goodness, extended the measure of imitation into excess and desired to become an emulator of God, not in virtue, but in authority; for this is what the serpent deceived him with, saying: “On whatever day you eat, you will be as gods, knowing good and evil.” God praises imitation when it has measure; but if the measure is exceeded, the imitator is subject to blame. And whence this? He says: “Let us make man according to our image and likeness.” The apostles were made like God, and they were not blamed. The prophets were made like God, and they were not reproached; they became imitators of philanthropy, mercy, justice, piety. Someone was made like God in divine authority, and he was immediately punished. Isaiah says to a certain tyrant in Babylon who raved with god-equality: “You said in your mind: I will ascend to heaven, and I will sit upon the high mountains to the north; I will ascend above the clouds, and I will place my throne above the stars, and I will be like the Most High. But now you will descend into Hades, into the foundations of the earth.” Do you see how he punishes the one exalted by pride?

For what envy was there in becoming like the creator, if he was made in the image and likeness of the one who created him? But his boundless audacity had no measure for the likeness; for he abandoned the likeness in virtue and rushed toward a likeness in masterly authority. So also it is said concerning David: "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart." Behold, a likeness according to the image, because David's mind was turned toward God, full of gentleness, filled with humility, caring for justice and devoted to philanthropy. "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart." And the one who imitated well the heart of God he praised, but another, a tyrant, who imitated the heart of God not according to virtue but according to dominion, he censured, or rather also punished. And God says through Ezekiel: "And you, son of man, said to the ruler of Tyre: 'Because your heart was lifted up, and you said, "I am God" (but you are a man, and not God), and you gave your heart as the heart of God, therefore behold I will bring upon you foreign plagues from nations, and they will empty their swords upon you and upon the beauty of your knowledge.'" And, to be brief, he adds: "And you will die the death of the wounded in the heart of the sea." Will you not then say, "I am God," in the presence of those who are destroying you? Do you see how the measureless imitation comes under punishment?

Thus, man, having been turned aside and having slipped, was found to have fallen into an immoderate likeness and was being stripped of what he had. For every mortal nature that desires things beyond its power contrary to the will of God not only gains nothing, but also loses what it has. And just as the eye, enjoying the moderate ray of the sun, is delighted and illuminated, but if it wishes to gaze directly at the sun's disc, it not only gains no light but also forfeits the light it has, so too the mortal nature that desires things beyond its power contrary to the will of God is darkened in its understanding. Man therefore slipped, and from that slip many wounds followed upon the fall: idolatry, fornication, adultery, greed, and all that is brother and kin to these. So man fell a very great fall and lost the character of the divine likeness through carelessness; for he was compared to the senseless beasts and became like them. And creation was divided: some of it rebelled, while the rest remained in servitude, as I said in the preceding teaching. The lions plotted against the image; the serpents bit; the whole nature of irrational beings raged against the master. For when they saw that he had counterfeited the law of God, the rest of creation also wished to flee from his dominion. The sun wished not to rise for the transgressor; the moon wished to darken its own rays; the stars wished not to shine for the creature; the springs wished to deny their waters; the rivers, their streams; the meadows, their flowers; the gardens, their delight. Everything wished to deny man, since he had denied his own master.

I know that the discourse is deep and obscure, but for the sake of the faithful and those nurtured in the Church, it is necessary to investigate the meanings of divine Scripture. Creation served man, not as one worthy, but because God commanded this, so that the image might not be entirely insulted, even though he transgressed. Thus, when all creation was in revolt, God commanded creation not to rebel, but to provide: the sun its ray, the earth its fruits, the sea its commerce, the stars their brightness. This is the meaning the Apostle lays bare when he says: "For the eager expectation of creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God." For creation was subjected to vanity not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. I mean something like this: When God saw that man had fallen and that creation was recoiling from service to the senseless one, he reined it in even against its will, and commanded the sun to rise, the earth to bear its fruits, and not to deny the transgressor because of his ingratitude, but to display the generous beneficence of the benefactor, promising creation that it would be renewed together with the man who had perished. It was as if God were saying to creation:

Since the image fell and slipped because of the transgression and is corrupted because of the disobedience, bear to serve the corruption of the corrupted one, so that, when I renew him, my image, my man who has been corrupted, together with him I may also renew you, creation, and make you a sharer of his throne of glory. You were dragged down with his misery; rise up with his glory. What is it, brother, that creation flees the dominion of man? For it says: Creation was subjected to vanity. To what vanity? From the moment man is turned away from God, it is called vanity, as David says: "All things together are vanity; every living man is vanity." Every man who abandons God and pursues vain things is vain. Now the angels were set over the whole earth over the nations, as Moses testifies, saying: "When the Most High divided the nations, as he scattered the sons of Adam, he set boundaries of nations according to the number of the angels of God." What I mean is this: God assigned the regions of the inhabited world to each angel. For example, he allotted this province or this region to one angel, another to another, so that they might bridle this inanimate nature of sun and moon and stars and earth and sea for the enjoyment of mortal man. Again, the angels were worn out serving unworthy men and were distressed seeing the lordly dignity betrayed and idols worshipped. The angels were torn apart thinking: The provider is one, and those who give thanks are others. The earth bore the wine, and the altars received the libations.

The earth bore an abundance of fruits, and it was offered to the idols. The angels could not bear the violence, seeing that non-beings were honored instead of the Being. From this, the other question raised in the prophet is also resolved. He came to him, it says, the angel Gabriel and says to him: Daniel, servant of God, from the day you resolved to mortify your soul before the Lord, your prayer was heard, and I was sent to announce these words to you. But the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians opposed me, unless Michael, the ruler of your nation, came to my aid. Who then is the angel who opposed Gabriel, or why did he oppose him? It has been said among you before, brothers, that God assigned to the angels each region for the protection of the whole creation. Therefore, when the holy Gabriel was sent from heaven, the angel who was set over the kingdom of the Persians, that is, Persia, opposed him. But the question is: If he was sent by God, and Gabriel was also sent by God, why then does he oppose him? For if the sent angel were under a different lordship, he would rightly oppose him; but if it is the same God who appointed that one over the nation and sent this one to the prophet, why does he oppose him?

Attend closely. The whole world was filled with idolatry. The angels were indignant and distressed, seeing God rejected and idols worshipped. When the people went captive into Babylon, Daniel appeared proclaiming God, and the three youths appeared hymning God. Then flame was trampled, and impiety was dissolved; then lions were muzzled, and the faithless were silenced. So the angel who is the chief of the Persian kingdom rejoiced and exulted, because in his regions God was proclaimed. The angel saw the Chaldeans, who once worshipped fire and glorified idols, hymning God for the miracle-working, and he rejoiced seeing his own land, once luxuriant in impiety, transformed into piety; the angel saw Nebuchadnezzar the king saying, "Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, the servants of the Most High God," and he exulted. Since, then, the blessed Daniel was entreating God that, the seventy appointed years being fulfilled, the people be recalled from captivity, Gabriel was sent to announce to him that the people were being brought back from captivity and were about to take possession of their own land, that is, Jerusalem. The angel, grieving, resists Gabriel, because his land was again being stripped of piety and filled with impiety; he was grieved because his land was again reverting to its ancient state of idolatry, and he resisted him, not fighting, but pleading his case.

Why are you eager," he says, "for the people to be recalled? What harm did they suffer by being taken captive? When they were in their own land, they worshipped idols; when they came here, they glorify God. They themselves were benefited and they benefited these people. What prevents them from being in their midst? What wrong has the people suffered, and why are you eager to bring back the captivity? Do you see God being worshipped and nations being enlightened, and are you hastening to dissolve such a great benefaction? For what purpose were you sent? 'I was sent,' he says, 'to bring the people back to their homeland.' 'What homeland?' he says. 'The one they defiled with bloodshed when they were in Jerusalem? Does not Jeremiah accuse them, saying, "According to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah, and according to the streets of Jerusalem you sacrificed to Baal"? At that time they received countless good things from God and did not abandon their wickedness; now they suffer countless evils and do not abandon God.' Thus the resistance was not of evil against good; for he did not say, 'He fought,' but, 'He resisted.' There is often resistance of what is just against what is good. Sometimes law resists philanthropy and philanthropy resists law. The law punishes the sinner; the philanthropy of the king shows mercy to the sinner. Here, then, the battle is not of opposite against opposite, but of kindred against kindred; for neither is justice found outside goodness nor goodness outside justice.

But this is by the way; let us return to the matter at hand. Thus, then, creation was disposed and indignant at the transgressor, and angels were burdened by the ingratitude, and the whole world was afflicted because of the lawlessness. For what a tree or other material suffers, the earth suffers according to what has been said: "And God saw the earth, and it was all corrupted, because every flesh had corrupted its way." He saw the earth, and it was corrupted. Thus the prophets announced to the world the coming age that would raise the fallen world and renew the corrupted image. And let no one suppose that there are many cycles of words because the thoughts are carried here and there; for all these are brought to one power. If we do not first show how the world was corrupted, we cannot show how it was renewed. So then, the whole earth was corrupted, the sky was dimmed, and all creation was befouled. Creation was not as God made it from the beginning; the sky was not shining with stars, the earth was not abundant with fruits, the sea was not with commerce. For the transgressor entered and defiled the earth, defiled the sky, the air, the sea, the springs, the rivers. He defiled everything with blasphemies: the sky with blasphemy, the air with shameful sounds, the earth with lawless bloodshed, the sea with pirates and robbers, the springs and rivers with lawless idolatries. For springs and rivers and gardens and trees and all creation were deified. And nothing defiles creation so much as its being deified.

Thus, then, the whole of creation was troubled. The savior of the world enters, or rather is proclaimed by the apostles, that he will come to renew all things. And not only the apostles, but also the prophets foretold that Christ is coming. Why? So that no one might think that God, like a human being, when he fails in his first attempt at help, devises a second, and when he fails at this, proceeds to a third, and missing this, grasps at a fourth. So that no one might suspect this, the prophets foretold the one who was to come, in order to show that God does not find what is beneficial by deliberating, but foresaw everything from the beginning. We human beings deliberate, and if we fail in our first attempt, we proceed to another. But God is not like this; rather, he gave the law, the prophets, and after these the gospel, not learning what is beneficial over time, but knowing from the beginning that it was not possible for creation to come into being and stand firm without Christ appearing. And we human beings, when we see the diseases, then devise the remedies; but God, before the wounds of our formation, foresaw the remedy of salvation.

Many say, "Did God not know beforehand, then, that Adam would sin?" I say this: He not only knew that beforehand, but before the transgression He knew that Christ would raise him up because of the economy. And He did not first see the fall without having first devised the resurrection. Rather, He stored up the remedy of the resurrection beforehand, and only then allowed man to come into the experience of death, so that he might learn what he enjoys through himself and what he obtains through God. And just as in Egypt He first brought the years of plenty, storing up a remedy for the famine in the years of plenty, and only then brought on the years of famine—so that the help of the remedy anticipated the nature of the wound—so before Adam was formed, before the lawless ones from him appeared, before the righteous from him and the prophets from him were born, God foresaw that this image could not stand unless it were renewed by Christ. In Adam, God saw Paul; He saw Peter. He did not see Adam being nourished in paradise and about to be cast out, but He saw in him Paul proclaiming piety and being snatched into paradise, and Peter entrusted with the keys of the heavens. And He saw everything in the first man; for in the root were the fruits.

Allow me a small liberty, as in a homily, to bring in God and to introduce God, as if employing a kind of character portrayal, conversing with his own Son. And let no one think the speech is forced; for just as when making man God used the Only-Begotten as counselor and fellow worker—"Let us make man according to our image and likeness"—it was likely that the Son also spoke to the Father. But wait for the end. Do not say, "This man is divining God's thoughts. Not being present there, how does he know these things?" If the end does not correspond to the meaning, judge me a slanderer. "Let us make man according to our image and likeness." As creator he spoke, as foreknower he answered. If, then, Adam sins (for he does sin), our creation is discredited. Consider these words as spoken either by father to son or son to father; for the counsel is undivided where the substance is undivided. But Adam sins, transgresses, dies; and through him all men perish, and our formation is slandered as having been badly made. Again the counsel. But first of all the remedy must be determined. For you, my Only-Begotten, O Son Word, O radiance of my glory, must—if you care at all for the formation which we wrought together, aiding each other—must clothe yourself in perishing man, must take the apostles, so that, just as the devil used the serpent as servant and weapon for deception, so you also may use your own formation as servant for benefaction and renew the fallen one.

But there will be many inventors of impious doctrines, he says. For the godless error of the Epicureans arises; a heresy arises that says the affairs of life are without providence; another heresy arises that says the body is God. Many become teachers of error. Who then will resolve these wicked things? I said these things in a rhetorical figure, so that at the end I might seal the meaning with the apostolic voice. What then? Is this garment, which the Word of God receives, supposed to run through the ends of the world under heaven and enlighten everyone? No, he says, but you fulfill the divine economy for me. You will have the apostles as heralds of the divine word; you will have Paul preaching; you will have Peter taking hold of Rome; you will have the apostles sharing in our economy. These things were said before Adam was formed. First, the matters concerning the flesh of Christ and the matters concerning the apostles were shaped, and then Adam was formed. Whence this? Listen to Paul saying: The mystery hidden from the ages and the generations, and: Blessed is God who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestining us for adoption. And elsewhere concerning himself and those like him he says: Whom he foreknew as conformed to the image of his Son. Not only was he predestined and chosen, but also the grace that Paul received after many generations he enumerates as having received it before the ages. Whence this? He says to Timothy:

Child Timothy, suffer together with the Gospel according to the power of God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and the grace given to us in Christ Jesus before eternal ages. He chose before the foundation of the world, he predetermined before the ages, he granted to us before the ages. And all these things agree, that before the construction of man the economy of the savior was foreseen and predetermined. But I know that I am conversing among friends of piety, sometimes also among spies, who do not look to the benefit of what is proclaimed, but set one task, how they might catch the speaker; whom truly I do not hate in their manner, but rather pity. Nevertheless, according to the apostle: On account of the intrusive false brothers who enter to spy out our freedom, let us exercise the meaning. For the enemy can go out and say: Great theology. He introduced God deliberating and saying: Since then many become teachers of error, what will happen? And the father saying to the son as though that one were at a loss, but this one teaching these things.

The Scriptures, when they instruct us concerning God, never utter words that are fitting to the divine power, but rather words that are suitable to our weakness. For consider: when God sets up a human court and says, "And now you, man of Judah, and you who dwell in Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard. What did I need to do that I did not do?"—is he speaking with a voice or deliberating? Or again, when he says to Isaiah, "Whom shall I send, or who will go to this people?"—does he speak in doubt or ignorance of the servant? Everything said about God according to ecclesiastical teaching must be measured not by the power of the one proclaiming, but by the weakness of those hearing. Our aim is to show that the things concerning Christ were prefigured before Adam, and that the apostles were pre-chosen, and that the grace of the Gospel was prefigured before eternal times. Pay close attention. A single word overlooked can fill what is said with slander. God not only saw Adam transgressing in paradise, but also saw the Savior, the Lord manifested in flesh, paving the way for virtue and drawing all to obedience. God saw the rib born from Adam and transformed into a woman, and again he foresaw the rib of Christ offering us the mystical gifts, water and blood, of which the one is a symbol of baptism, the other a pledge of the mysteries. And he did not so much lament the wound as, having considered the remedy, he blessed it.

There a woman from a man leads to lawlessness; here a man from a woman leads to salvation. There a rib gives birth to the occasion of death; here a rib bears the pledge of incorruption. There a serpent around the tree; here Christ around the cross. There food provoking death; here food annihilating death. You know the things of the faithful; recognize the mysteries. There they looked up wickedly and saw that they were naked; we now look up piously and see that we are clothed. There an upward glance and nakedness; here illumination and clothing. There leather tunics covering shame; here a tunic of glory covering our weakness, the body of Christ, the garment of the king himself: for all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There "You are earth and to earth you will return"; here renewing the earth he makes man heavenly, promising not earth but a kingdom. There a fiery sword barring Adam; here tongues of fire from heaven illuminating Adam. There being cast out of paradise; here being entrusted with the keys of the heavens.

God foresaw the future before the present. And just as today, before we draw water, an aqueduct is constructed, and before the waters flow, a vessel is called a water-pot—not because water is flowing, but because it is about to flow—so God preordained the things that were to be typified in Christ and knew that in Christ all things are renewed. And he begins from above. He ascends to heaven according to the words, "Lord, incline your heavens and descend." He passed through the heavens, sanctifying them. He cut through the air, to sanctify it, defiled as it was by shameful songs. He treads upon the earth, to sanctify it, polluted as it was by murders. He trod upon the waves of the sea, to sanctify the waters that had been defiled. He is baptized in the Jordan, to sanctify the nature of the rivers. He finds Adam lying in the tomb and goes beneath his image, and Christ becomes both after Adam and the renewal of Adam. And hear how. He takes up the form that he fashioned in paradise and adorns it with all the opposites, giving it the provisions of virtue contrary to the way of life in paradise. In paradise, Adam was deceived through luxury; the flesh of Christ is crowned in fasting. In paradise was the first struggle; in the desert is the second contest against the devil.

The Savior therefore begins, renewing this creation, crowning it with every virtue, and enters as a mediator between God and men. He came to announce to the world that the fallen image is renewed, that it is raised up, that it is saved. He could not have announced these things unless he were a mediator. For just as if a trustworthy person promises something to an inferior, the subordinate does not dare to demand the promise unless he has a mediator. Since God was invisible, and the world was visible, he gives a trustworthy mediator. For the mediator of God and men is the man Jesus Christ. If the mediator has no kinship with the parties between whom he mediates, he cannot be a mediator. Since Christ is the mediator of God and men, it was necessary for him to be shown as kin to God and kin to men, and to appear as a kind of middle economy, connected to God according to his divinity and united to men according to his humanity. And what does he do? Since he first teaches and then renews, he becomes both mediator and guarantor. He answers for the things of God to men and the things of men to God. For since the human race was hostile to God because of the transgression, neither man was trusted by God nor God by man that he would be reconciled with the fallen one. It was as if he said to men: Do not disbelieve that there is a resurrection. I am the guarantor of this. I take flesh from you, I deliver it to death. If I do not raise it up, do not believe me. He guarantees God to men. It was as if he said: You have me, a man. I renew him, I will make him deny the error and recognize the truth.

Accept me as a guarantor on behalf of men, so that they also may accept me as a surety of your power. That Christ is a mediator, then, Scripture has shown; but that he is also a guarantor and a sponsor, where do we find this, so that I may not appear to be speaking my own words in church? If I speak my own words, why do I speak? But if I proclaim the things of God, I interpret the things of the Spirit. Accept the teaching. That Christ is a guarantor, then, Paul says: "But now we have obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant." Behold, he is guaranteeing God to men. He guarantees both man to God and God to men. He said he would raise us up, and he raises us up. He said he would honor us with immortality, and he honors us. When he formed Adam, he gave no guarantees of what was to come, he provided no sureties, and he gave him heaven and earth. He gave him heaven without promising it, earth without undertaking it, paradise, and all the rest. What he did not promise, he gave; what he promised with a guarantee, does he not give?

The Gospel Scripture sometimes calls it the new covenant, sometimes the fresh covenant, sometimes the better covenant, sometimes the second, sometimes the eternal. Since one name cannot represent the whole power, it shows the power of the Gospel through different names. And especially Paul, who has Christ speaking within him, calls the Gospel the new covenant as renewing the old; for the new is an interpretation of a foreign and truly untouched nature. The fresh is in contrast to the aged, the better in contrast to the inferior, the second in contrast to the first, the eternal in contrast to the temporary. It is called the new covenant according to the blessed Jeremiah who says: And in the last days, says the Lord, I will make a new covenant with you. And the Savior, when delivering the mystery, says: This is my body of the new covenant. Behold, the new covenant. And elsewhere he calls it the fresh covenant because of the fresh and vigorous proclamation. And Paul says: We have come to Mount Zion and to myriads of angels and to the church of the firstborn and to the mediator of the fresh covenant, Jesus. In saying new, he has made the first old.

Elsewhere it calls it the better covenant, saying: "But now we have obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as we are mediators of a better covenant." For if the first were blameless, there would be no place for a second. Behold, both first and second. Where is the eternal? Listen to Paul saying: "The God of peace, who brought up from the earth the great shepherd of the sheep in the blood of an eternal covenant." Since the first covenant was temporary, this one is eternal. And elsewhere he says: "I will covenant with you an eternal covenant, the holy things of David, the faithful things." New covenant, fresh, first, second, better, eternal: of these covenants Jesus is the guarantor. Therefore, when man is about to be renewed, the heaven becomes new, not being destroyed, but being renewed with the new creation. A new sun, a new moon, new stars receiving increase and growth; for the prophet says: "There will be a new heaven and a new earth." Behold, creation is renewed, and the one who promised does not lie. As much increase as man receives, so also do the elements. Whence this? Isaiah says: "For the light of the sun will be sevenfold, and the light of the moon as the sun." You see how God did not falsify the promise, but renewed creation? And the originator of the renewal is Christ.

The children of the heretics, having conceived this meaning, brought forward the term "Firstborn of all creation," not understanding that it does not speak of the creation that came into being, but of the creation that is renewed. What is the creation that is renewed? Listen to Paul saying: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." And to show that "Firstborn" is said of the renewed creation, he adds: "Firstborn from the dead," so that he might become preeminent in all things, preeminent among those who are renewed, among those called to incorruption, among those raised from the dead. Preeminent in all things, not according to divinity—for it is an insult to God to be called "first," an insult that is considered an honor. For in the divine and uncreated nature there is no first and second, but all things have a living beginning, a beginning without beginning, an eternal beginning, incomprehensible, ineffable. But among things pertaining to us, if in comparison to Paul, Christ is preeminent; if in comparison to Peter—our hope is empty, our hope is vain, if Christ is preeminent over these in divinity. But he is preeminent in humanity, as one who renewed Adam, as one who gave life to the world. For this reason he says: "Firstborn from the dead," so that he might become preeminent in all things.

And how is he the firstborn from the dead, I ask, let us inquire. For if I pass over the matter without examination, yet the soul, being inquisitive, sets forth its own objections and thinks it has strong ones: How is Christ the firstborn of the dead, it says, when even before his coming Elijah raised the son of the widow, and Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite, and the Savior himself raised Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow? If, then, both in the Old and in the New Testament the dead were raised, how is Christ the firstborn of the dead? What then? Those men, even if they rose before Christ, yet having risen, all died again, having given a taste of the resurrection; but Christ, having risen, does not fall under death. And for this reason he is the leader, as one who rose and no longer dies. And Paul says: For Christ, having risen from the dead, no longer dies; death does not rule over him. Do you see the one who takes precedence in all things? Do you see the one who renews our race through his own economy? This one, at the end, having drawn man up, led him into the heavens and seated him at the right hand of God.

Oh, the wickedness and folly of our heart! Christ came to us, gave us his Spirit from himself, and took up our body, and the exchange was made, and our ingratitude insults the benefaction. He took from us the formed clay and seated it at the right hand of God. We received from him the Spirit, and did we insult it, dragging it down to the rank of creation and servitude? Oh, wretched and miserable one! If Christ should say to you on that day, "I honored your body with immortality, and you dragged my Spirit down into the nature of creation. You saw the mortal raised up, you saw it enthroned with him, you saw it above every beginning and authority and lordship, and are you not ashamed?" God honors what is ours, and we do not honor what is from him? But I know the heretical malice arrayed against the truth. "I know," someone says, "that this body was taken up into the heavens, but not so much to be honored, but so that we might have an advocate above, one who entreats God on our behalf." For this reason, shameless tongues and uneducated souls used to say in the marketplace, parading the sacred things [...] I do not know how; for I do not repeat the word of blasphemy, but I restate the sense. "You," they say, "Christ, plead on our behalf with God and intercede for us." And they take a saying from the apostle, not having learned its meaning. "Did not the apostle say," they claim, "Christ who died—or rather, who also rose—who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes on our behalf? Did we fabricate this? Did we slander divine things? Paul said that Christ intercedes on our behalf.

They did not consider what an "entreaty" is, that there is a great difference between a petition and an entreaty. If entreating and making a request were the same, Paul would not have said: "I want you to make prayers, petitions, entreaties, thanksgivings." A petition is so called when one asks God for something; a prayer is so called when one hymns God. A thanksgiving is so called when one thanks God for benefits received. An entreaty is so called when one appeals to God against those who do wrong, summoning him to vengeance. That entreating is not supplicating, but questioning and receiving an answer, the Old Testament bears witness, saying: "And God said to the prophet Elijah: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'" God questions the prophet; the prophet answers, saying: "I have been filled with zeal for the Lord Almighty, because the sons of Israel have abandoned you; they have overturned your altars and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone have been left, and they seek my life." There was no petition here, no prayer, but a question and an answer, and an entreaty took place. And how, listen to Paul saying: "Or have you not read in the prophet Elijah what the scripture says, how he entreats God against Israel?" Therefore, entreaty is not a petition, but a prophet's forceful declaration to God of the deeds that have been dared.

Since, then, the apostles were in danger among the nations, dragged by rulers and governors, plotted against by Jews, and the apostle prepared them to despise everything—persecution, affliction, and death—as if consoling them, he says: "Even if you say nothing against those who wrong you, there is one who intercedes for you, who took his form from you. Who will bring a charge against the elect of God? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ is the one who died, and moreover also rose, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." If he intercedes, how does he sit? Or does the one who intercede not intercede while standing? Have you seen anyone interceding in a servile manner and sitting at the right hand of the ruler? But for this reason he places the dignity first, saying: "Who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us," as if to say: "You have no need to be anxious about anything that happens. Attend to the proclamation of virtue. Do not distract yourself and say, 'Lord, how much we suffer! We are driven, we are persecuted.' You have the one there who speaks, you have the one who intercedes." And the Son intercedes with the Father, not in a subordinate rank, but as a son speaking to a father about the matters: "Those who believe in us are wronged, persecuted, driven." To make the accusation credible, he introduces the Son interceding. Thus also the Savior says: "Or do you think that I will accuse you? There is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you hoped." Is the Son inferior to you because he intercedes with the Father? If, then, you see God interceding with a man against the unbelievers, what will you do? Listen to the Lord speaking to Jeremiah:

Do you see what the senseless daughter of Judah did to me? She abandoned me and went after gods. Granted, a human being intercedes with God. Why does God intercede with a human being? And elsewhere: And now you, man of Judah, and you who dwell in Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard. What ought I to have done, and did not do? Thus Christ, as long as he was fulfilling the economy in the flesh, was also priest and offered supplications and prayed to the Father according to the incarnate economy; but after he ascended to the heavens, he sits only being glorified, not supplicating, not interceding; but if he does intercede, it is as a son to a father, since God also interceded with a prophet. For this reason Paul says, in order to show that Christ does not stand above as a priest offering on behalf of himself and the people, but sits, he says: For such a high priest was fitting for us, who sat at the right hand of the majesty in the heights, who has no need each day, as the priest does, to offer on behalf of his own sins and those of the people; for this he did once for all, having offered himself.

Why then do they defile piety? If he had no need, do you bring necessity upon the one who is above all necessity? Paul adds again: For Christ did not enter into handmade sanctuaries, copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, to appear before the face of God on our behalf. He did not say, "to appear repeatedly"; for he appeared once, not many times. And again: Nor that he might offer himself hourly, as a priest enters the holy of holies once a year. But now Christ, for the annulment of sin, was manifested once through his sacrifice. And while other priests stand daily ministering and making the same sacrifices, Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down permanently, waiting until his enemies are placed under his feet. Does he not intercede, then? He sits. Why do you insult the benefaction? But I know I have prolonged the discourse. Forgive me for having entered the depth and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, having been able to swim across the sea of the holy scriptures, not as much as is worthy to say, but as much as we were able. But this above all I ask and entreat you, and I will not cease entreating: to search the scriptures, to seek the truth, to learn from Christ about Christ. Do not surrender yourself to heretical wickedness. Today the devil has many serpents, instead of the ancient serpent. He sows the tares of sin, so that he may reap the corruption of impiety. Do not, I beg you. Let us wall off our ears from heretical wickedness.

I have said this word among you before, and I say it now: the founders of every heresy are manifest. From Arius, Arians; from Macedonius, Macedonians; from Eunomius, Eunomians; from Marcion, Marcionists; from Sabellius, Sabellians; from Manes, Manichaeans; from Montanus, Montanists; and the heresies in succession. If the faith of the Church is heretical, let the heretics say who is its founder. Let them say, "From this man your heresy began." Let them say it, if they know. For see also the goodness of God. God did not permit the glory of the apostles to be called by a man's name. We are not called Macedonians; but even if they say "Homoousiasts," they have not spoken a name, but have shown the harmony of the faith. If, then, you ask them, "And who first said 'homoousios'?" they cannot say, "So-and-so and so-and-so," but three hundred and eighteen fathers, having broken forth in a harmonious cry of confession, agreed together in piety. Observe how the confession of virtue itself shines. The homoousion did not begin with one, nor with two, but with the whole council of the East, West, South, and North; for where truth appears, all things agree. Ask a heretic what I am about to say. If you ask an orthodox person, even if he is a layman, even if he is inexperienced, he says this: "I confess Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one kingdom, one power." But say to two or three heretics, "How do you think?" If they come to the same words, they speak the truth. But one says "Uncreated," another "Begotten," another "Immortal," another "Eternal." And if another arises, he says:

I know that the Father made the Son, and the Son made the rest. Then another corrects him, saying: Not so, but the Father made the Son, and through the Son all things were constituted. For where truth is not present, but the garment is rotten, it tears. And just as, brothers, an old garment, wherever it is rent, tears, and even if you draw someone into conversation by some pretense, the rottenness is exposed and it tears from the slightest occasions, so also with the heresies: one confesses thus, another otherwise. Strange heresies, strange names, and these are disgraceful names of hucksters. The heretics suffered this, which the Jews once suffered. The holy lampstand of the law lay in the holy of holies, where the veil is, where the table is, where the law is, where the tablets are. After they fell from the truth, where does the lampstand stand? In the doorways of the hucksters. Where is the horn of the prophets? In the taverns. And they do these things, not out of desire, but out of profit, not to show the lampstand honored, but to invite passersby, to show that the wine is Jewish. Just as there, from the holy places, the holy things held by the unworthy were brought down to such cheapness, so also here, from Paul and Peter, from that summit—I am ashamed to say, I am abashed at the name of the shame, in truth I am both ashamed and compelled to say, after that voice: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, after Paul said—

If you seek proof of the Christ speaking in me—from Paul and Peter, the evangelists, the heralds, the confessors—the Psathyrians and certain others are named. When did they remain in their form? When did the worn-out garment not tear? But, having spoken against them the word of the prophet, I will bring the discourse to a close: They were rent asunder, but they were not pricked in conscience. Here, however, the tunic of the church is woven throughout, seamless. What does "woven" mean, since many things are made from patches? But this tunic was not stitched together from reasonings; rather, it is woven from above, throughout, seamless. Not human reasonings have sewn together our faith, but we have a sound tunic. We have fulfilled the promise, which was extensive, arduous, and subtle in its contemplation. But let the hearer know that simple thoughts employ simple expressions, while profound contemplations require much variety. When you see a shaded discourse, raise your mind; when you see a subtle thought, diversify your understanding. Many of the thoughts of God are concise, such as "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness." However, when it says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," and "After this he appeared on earth and consorted with men," the garment is variegated, according to the saying: "The manifold wisdom of God.

Above all these things, let us glorify the one who appeared, let us worship the one who came, let us hymn the one who renewed, the one who gave life, the one who raised up, the one who fortified, the one who enlightened, the one who granted us the abundance of all good things, Christ Jesus, to whom is glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.