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By the power of
our Lord Jesus Christ we begin to write the exposition of the faith of the three
hundred and eighteen (Fathers) composed by Mar Theodore the interpreter.
What discourse is worthy of, and
what mind is equal to, the greatness of the subjects placed before us? Or which
is the tongue that is able to teach these mysteries? It is indeed difficult for
our tongues to speak with accuracy even of the created natures, because they
also are created with great wisdom by the Maker. As for those which are higher
than our nature—because such are those of which we intend to speak—how much are
they not higher than all the minds of men? They truly transcend our words! The
blessed Paul bears witness concerning them in saying: "Eye hath not seen nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him."
It is with these wonderful things
that our discourse wishes to deal, and it is to the delight of these mysteries
that we have been invited, because the time of the great festival of the holy
Passover leads us to teach them. If God had wished those heavenly gifts not to
be known to us, it is evident that we should not have been able to discourse on
them, because how could a man have spoken of unknown things? Since, however, He
wished from the first and before the foundations of the world to make manifest
the wisdom that was in Him through the Economy of our Lord Jesus Christ, He
revealed to us these hidden mysteries and the greatness of these gifts, and He
granted their knowledge to men through the Holy Spirit. It is indeed written
that God revealed to us by His Spirit and showed us the sublime and ineffable
mysteries which are performed by the power of the Holy Spirit so that through
them we might proceed in a congruous way, by degrees and by faith, to these
future gifts. This is the reason why we desired to discourse with confidence,
according to the grace of God vouchsafed to us, on these unspeakable things
which are higher than ourselves. It is this time of this festival that has led
us to speak with those who wish [to participate in] these awe-inspiring
mysteries.
Now is the time for me to say:
"Sing unto the Lord a new song for He has done marvellous things." Indeed a new
song is required for new things, as we are dealing with the New Testament which
God established for the human race through the Economy of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when He abolished all old things and showed new things in their place. Every man
who is in Christ is a new creature; old things are passed away and all things
are become new. Death and corruption have ceased, passions and mutability have
passed away, and the life of the new creature has been made manifest, a life
which we hope to reach after our resurrection from the dead. At the resurrection
from the dead He will make us new instead of old, and incorruptible and immortal
instead of corruptible and mortal.
He gave us this new covenant which
is fit for those who are renewed; and because of this covenant we receive the
knowledge of these mysteries so that we should put off the old man and put on
the new man who is renewed after the image of Him who created him, where there
is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. This will
take place in reality in the next world when we shall have become immortal and
incorruptible, when we shall only contemplate Christ of whose Kingdom we shall
partake, when the incident of being Jew or Greek, bond or free, shall be taken
from us, and when all the ways of the image of this world shall have completely
disappeared. Indeed what incidence of being Jew or Greek, bond or free, can
remain with those who are in an immortal and incorruptible nature after the
image of Christ, according to the testimony of the blessed Paul?
Because it was necessary that the
faith in the truth of the future gifts should remain in us so that we should not
throw doubts on them on account of their greatness—since we see them very much
alien to our nature and above it—these awe-inspiring mysteries were confided to
us in order that through them as through symbols we might gradually approach our
future hope, and in order to obtain a faith without doubts in these gifts, while
cultivating a conduct that is in harmony with the new world and arranging our
work in this world as much as possible in conformity with the following
sentences: "Our conversation is in heaven," and: "our building is of God," and
"we have a house in heaven not made with hands."
While still on the earth we have
been inscribed in that awe-inspiring glory of the future world through these
mysteries, but we (ought to) live as much as possible a heavenly life in
spurning visible things and aspiring after future things. Those who are about to
partake now of these awe-inspiring mysteries are inspired to do so by the grace
of God. They do not do this in order to partake of small and ordinary gifts, but
to be transformed completely into new men and to possess different virtues which
they will receive by the gift of the grace of God: being mortal they will become
immortal, being corruptible they will become incorruptible, being passable they
will become impassable, being changeable they will become unchangeable, being
bond they will become free, being enemies they will become friends, being
strangers they will become sons. They will no more be considered a part of Adam
but of Christ; they will call as their head not Adam but Christ, who has renewed
them; they will not cultivate a ground that will bring forth thorns and thistles
to them, but they will dwell in a heaven which is remote and immune from all
sorrow and sighing; nor will death rule over them but they will become
themselves rulers in a new life where they will be not slaves of sin but
warriors of righteousness, not servants of Satan but intimate friends of Christ
for all time.
Adam, the father of mankind,
received the abode of Paradise from which he was driven out through his
disobedience and sin, and we, who became the heirs of his nature and his
punishment, ascend to heaven by faith in Christ through our participation in
these mysteries, as He said: "Except a man he born of water and of the Spirit he
cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." The man, however, who receives this
spiritual birth is immediately inscribed in heaven and becomes the heir and
partaker of those future gifts, as the blessed Paul said, because those who
believed in Christ are in expectation of making their abode in heaven after the
resurrection from the dead. Indeed we hope to go to heaven where the first man,
Christ, went on our behalf. Through these mysteries we are truly inscribed in
that abode.
We are in need of great care and
immense diligence in order not to fall away from this great promise and suffer
the fate of Adam who was driven out of Paradise. This is the reason why we
partake in a wonderful way of these awe-inspiring mysteries with a true faith
which has no doubt, and we ought not to forget this faith but to keep what we
have received with great care. When we have received these heavenly gifts in a
perfect manner so that we may delight in them, and when we have become their
heirs in our actions, it is impossible that we should fall away from them. As
long as we are on the earth, however, because we only receive them by hope
through our participation in these mysteries, it is possible to fall away from
them, as we have a changeable nature. We ought, therefore, to have great care
and anxiety concerning them and to endeavour truly to possess the hope of the
future in our souls.
Now which is the faith and which
are the promises through which we have our part in mysteries in the hope of
these heavenly gifts in which we will delight? These are found in the profession
of faith which we make before Christ our Lord at the time of our baptism. If it
were possible to comprehend their power by hearing only, our words would have
been useless, because their mere recitation would have made them understood by
those who heard them. Since, however, there is much power hidden in them—as our
holy Fathers confided to us from the gift of God an ineffable treasure condensed
in words which are easy to learn and to remember—it is necessary to teach those
who are about to receive these mysteries and to show them the sense and the
meaning that are hidden in them. When they have learnt the greatness of the gift
to which they wish to make their approach, and have understood the meaning of
their religion and their promises for the sake of which they receive such a
great gift, they will keep with diligence in their souls the faith which has
been handed down to them.
The principle of your faith and
promise which is to be carefully kept in these mysteries is: I believe in one
God, Father Almighty, Creator of all things visible and invisible. By the grace
of our Lord we will explain these words one after another, because it is good
that you should know the power of all of them. Let us, therefore, rightly begin
from where you also began in your profession of faith:
I believe in one God, Father
Almighty. This is the foundation of the religion of the fear of God, "for with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation." This is the truth of the true teaching of the faith.
Because the question of religion lies in the belief in things that are invisible
and indescribable, it is in need of faith, which causes mind to see a thing that
is invisible. The things that are visible we see them with our eyes, while the
things that are invisible are only seen by faith, as "faith is the substance of
things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen."
This faith brings in substance to
the mind the things that are not yet existent in reality. We accept by faith as
true the resurrection from the dead to heaven and all the future existence,
which is not yet in existence. Faith causes the soul to see and understand the
things that are invisible and indescribable. We are enabled by faith to be
worthy of seeing the nature of God "who is the sole invisible and incorruptible,
who dwelleth in the bright light which has no equal, and whom no man hath seen
nor can see."
We are able to see the visible
thing with material eyes, if these are sound and able to see, and if there is
nothing to hinder them from seeing properly; but if they are affected by injury,
all things that were visible become invisible, although in reality visible. In
this same way we all see with accuracy the invisible and the indescribable
things, which the question of religion has taught us, if our faith is sound, but
they are not seen by those whose faith is not sound. The question of religion
consists in two things: confession concerning God and concerning all the various
and numerous things that were and will be made by Him, and both of these are in
need of faith as is shown by the blessed Paul: "He that cometh to the religion
of God must believe that He is" and that the "worlds were framed by His Word so
that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
In these he shows first that even
confession concerning God cannot consist in anything but the thought of religion
through faith alone; secondly, that we are unable to understand and confess the
things that were made by Him if we do not receive their knowledge by faith.
Faith perfects those who accept it thoroughly in the truth of religion while
those who become remote from it sink in error completely.
Paul called the Church of God "the
pillar and ground of the truth," because it is sound in faith and well
established in the teaching of religion. As to those who are outside the faith:
pagans, Jews, and heretics, because they are devoid of faith, they greatly stray
from the truth. Indeed because the pagans had no faith they were unable to
understand how God was able to create and to make everything from nothing and
establish it in substance, and in their error they gave fancifully to God a
consort to whom He had given a seat with Him from eternity; and they strayed
from the truth into various other insipid stories. As to Jews they recoiled from
the name of a son, and because of their lack of faith they did not understand
the one who is a true Son.
In this way all the heretics who
are outside the Church and who have ascribed the name of Christ with untruth to
themselves, because they have no faith, have erred and strayed from the truth.
In order not to mention to your hearing all the heresies, it will be sufficient
to refer to Arius and Eunomius and all those who subscribe to their opinion, and
note how they were affected with the disease of the Jews; and because of their
lack of faith they did not understand nor did they accept that the Son is of
Divine nature, and that everything that is said of the nature of the Father is
said also of that of the Son, while the nature of the Father in no way suffers
from the fact that it has a true Son who in His nature is a true mirror of
itself.
These few things have been said out
of many in order to rebuke those who have strayed from the truth, and to show
that they have strayed because of their lack of faith. Indeed, the error of men
who have gone astray because of their lack of faith is great and possesses many
ramifications, and as error increases in proportion to its remoteness from
faith, so also knowledge increases in proportion to its nearness to faith. It is
by faith that we know that God is, that He is the creator of everything and that
He created everything from nothing. It is by it that we understand that those
who have passed away and perished will come back again to life and existence,
when the Creator wishes. It is by faith that we have known that the Father has a
Son born of His nature and God like Himself. It is by faith that we have
accepted that the Holy Spirit is of the same nature as God the Father and that
He is always with the Father and the Son. It is by faith that we have no doubt
nor suspicion concerning the preaching of the Economy of Christ which took place
in the world.
It is, therefore, with justice that
our blessed Fathers placed faith like a foundation in the forefront of our
teaching and of the mystery of our covenant, and it is with right that they
intimated to us to begin from there and say: I believe in one God, Father
Almighty. We must not be astonished that our blessed Fathers included and handed
down to us all the teaching of religion in a few words. They thought that a long
discourse would better fit other times and other persons. As to you who for a
long time have been weaned from the world, and have come nigh unto religion with
a good will, and have made yourselves ready to receive the Divine mysteries with
a clean conscience at a time full of fear, condensed words are more useful, as
their fewness renders them more easy to keep in your memory when you wish to
remember the faith which you professed and the promises which you made on
account of these mysteries It is right, however, that a detailed teaching of
them should be added to you so that you should understand them more accurately,
and beware in your souls of all the words of the enemies of religion when you
stand fast by this Divine teaching which is confided to you. I believe in one
God, Father Almighty. See how our blessed Fathers, with the first word of the
true profession of faith in one God the Father, removed us with care from the
error of polytheism and from the fallacy of Judaism which puts in practice
to-day all the teaching of the Old Testament in its entirety.
The words of the New Testament
concerning Christ were found in the prophets of the Old Testament; they were
indeed found in the prophets as a symbol and a sign whereby the Jews expected
Christ to appear to them as a man, but none of them was aware of the divinity of
the Only Begotten Son—the Word-God. (Our blessed Fathers) gave us a perfect
doctrine which separates from paganism those who become initiated to religion,
and which removes completely from the error of polytheism those who obey its
commandments, while teaching that the natures of the Godhead are not many and
separate, but that God is in one, single and eternal nature which is the cause
of everything; that such a one is God, and outside Him there is no other God;
that God is a being who is eternal and the cause of everything; that a being who
is not like this is not God by nature; that a being who is eternal is the cause
of everything; that a being who is not eternal and the cause of everything, is
not God but the work of God, who alone is capable of creating everything from
nothing.
He said: "The Lord Thy God is one
Lord" in order that we might learn that there is one nature in the Godhead to
which is due the name of Lord and God. He also said: "the gods that have not
made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the
heavens" in order that we might understand that he who is not the cause of
everything is not God. The one who is the cause of everything is God alone. He
said to Moses, "I am the cause of everything," in order that we might learn that
He is truly the one who was from eternity and is always, and that He is God. He
who does not possess this attribute and is not eternal, is not truly existent by
Himself, but is made and has actually been made when he was not existent, at the
time at which the one who is from eternity, that is to say God, wished to make
him.
He also said: "I am the first and
the last God and there was no other god before me and there shall be no other
god after me," in order that we might understand that He is the God who was
first and from eternity and that it is impossible that another God that is
created should exist. Divine nature cannot indeed fall within the notion of
creation.
All these words teach us the
doctrine of religion and expel the error of paganism. Among pagans gods are many
and of different kinds: some of them are young, and some others old; some of
them can do this, and some others that; some of them perish, and some others
will continue their existence; and they are of different natures. That we ought
to reject all these the Old Testament taught us in the prophets, who spoke
through the Holy Spirit to the effect that all the gods of the Gentiles are
false and are not gods because God is one, who is from eternity and is the cause
of everything, as He said: "There shall be no strange god in thee," that is to
say a new god, and, "neither shalt thou worship a strange god" because
everything that is new is not God, and "they are new gods that came newly up."
Divine nature is one and eternal.
It was in no need to be made by another, because it is the cause of everything.
This is the reason why He is God alone, and anything that is made cannot by
nature be God, as it is made by another. All the created things rightly
attribute their existence to their Creator who is God, to whom they owe their
being, and for this they are under an obligation of gratitude to Him who by His
own good will and power vouchsafed to them to be what they are.
Our blessed Fathers succinctly
included all this great teaching in the sentence: I believe in one God. Let us,
therefore, accept the belief in one God according to the preaching of the
prophets and the teaching of our Fathers. Divine nature is truly one, and it
exists from eternity and is the cause of everything; this is not as the pagans
erroneously state that there are many gods of different kinds.
It is necessary that we should
offer you an oral teaching about everything, little by little, in order that you
may be able to remember the things that are spoken to you, as these are
indispensable to those who adhere to what has preceded. By the help of the grace
of God we will keep our promise to you in other days, and now let the words that
have been spoken suffice, and let us glorify the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, now, always and for ever and ever.
Here ends the
first chapter |
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