Catechetical Lectures 10

Lecture 10. To the Enlightened, delivered extempore at Jerusalem, upon the text:

And a reading from the First [Epistle] to the Corinthians:

'For though there be those called gods, whether in heaven or on earth;'

'yet to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we unto him;'

'and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him,' and what follows.

Those who have been taught to believe in ONE GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY ought also to believe in ONE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON.

For he who denies the Son has not the Father either.

'I am the door,' says Jesus;

'no one comes to the Father except through me.'

[For] if you deny the door, the knowledge of the Father is shut off from you.

'No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him;'

[for] if you deny him who reveals, you remain in ignorance.

There is a sentence in the Gospels which says:

'He who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him;'

for the Father is indignant when the Only-begotten Son is set at nought.

For it is a grievous thing to a king even that a common soldier be dishonoured;

but when one of the more honourable shield-bearers or friends is dishonoured, then the wrath grows greater;

and if anyone insults the king's only-begotten son himself, who will intercede with the father on behalf of the son

when he is indignant for his only-begotten? If, then, anyone wishes to be godly toward God, let him worship the Son, since the Father does not accept the worship otherwise.

The Father cried out from heaven, saying:

'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'

The Father was well pleased in the Son;

unless you too are well pleased in him, you have not life.

Do not be carried along with the Jews who craftily say, 'There is one God only;'

but along with knowing that there is one God, know also that there is an Only-begotten Son of God.

I am not the first to say this, but the psalmist, speaking in the person of the Son, says:

'The Lord said to me, You are my Son.'

Pay no heed, then, to what the Jews say, but to what the prophets say.

Do you marvel that they reject the words of the prophets—they who stoned [and killed] the prophets? Do you believe IN ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.

We say one Lord Jesus Christ, that the Sonship may be only-begotten.

We say one, that you may not suppose another.

We say one, that you may not impiously pour out the many-named character of his working into many sons.

But do not think the appellation 'door' to be a wooden one, but a rational, living door, discerning of those who enter;

not trodden under foot, but leading the way to the Father in heaven;

not an irrational one, but the Lamb that by his own precious blood cleanses the world from sins, that was led before its shearer, and knows when it must be silent.

This Lamb is again called Shepherd, he who says:

'I am the [good] shepherd;'

a sheep by reason of his humanity, a shepherd by reason of the lovingkindness of his deity.

And do you wish to know that there are also rational sheep? [The Saviour] says to the apostles:

'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.'

Not man-devouring, but as it were displaying through the appellation the kingly, steadfast, and confident quality of his being.

And he is called a Lion in opposition to the lion the adversary, who roars and devours those who have been deceived.

For the Saviour came, not having changed the gentleness of his own nature, but as a mighty lion of the tribe of Judah, saving those who believe and trampling down the adversary.

Not lifeless, hewn out by the hands of men, but a chief cornerstone, on which he who believes shall not be put to shame.

Not anointed with human hands, but anointed by the Father from eternity to the high priesthood that is above man.

Not remaining among the dead, as all do in Hades, but alone among the dead free.

Not, as each of us, having had his birth from earth, but coming upon the clouds to judge the living and the dead.

Not in a borrowed sense, as among men, [but as having a natural and eternal lordship].

Jesus is called by a fitting name, having his appellation from the saving healing.

Not put forward by appointment, but begotten by nature.

And the appellations of our Saviour are many.

Therefore, lest the many-named character of the appellation make you think there are many sons;

and because of the errors of the heretics, who say that the Christ is one, Jesus another, the door another, and the rest;

the Faith forearms you well, saying, IN ONE LORD JESUS CHRIST;

for though the appellations are many, yet the subject is one.

And to each one the Saviour becomes in varied ways what is profitable.

For to those who have need of gladness, he becomes a vine;

to those who have need to enter in, he stands as a door;

and to those who have need to offer up their prayers, he stands as a mediating high priest.

Again, to those who have sins, he becomes a sheep, that he may be sacrificed on their behalf;

to all he becomes all things, while remaining himself by nature what he is.

For remaining and possessing the truly unchangeable dignity of his Sonship, like some most excellent physician and sympathetic teacher, he bears with our infirmities;

being Lord according to truth, not having received the lordship by advancement, but having the dignity of lordship by nature.

Not called Lord in a borrowed sense as we are, but being Lord in truth;

since by the Father's nod he holds lordship over his own creatures.

For we have lordship over men who are of equal honour and like passions with us, and often over those who are older;

and often a young master rules over servants who are older.

But in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ the lordship is not so;

rather, he is first Maker, then Lord.

First he made all things by the will of the Father, then he is Lord over the things that came into being by him.

Christ is Lord, who was born in the city of David.

And do you wish to know that, together with the Father and before his incarnation, Christ is Lord?

That you may not only by faith receive what is said, but may also have a proof from the old Scripture: come to the first book, Genesis.

'Let us make man,' not 'after my image,' but 'after our image.'

And after the making of Adam, it says:

'And God made man;'

'after the image of God he made him.'

For he did not confine the dignity of the Godhead to the Father alone, but included also the Son;

that it might be shown that man is the work not only of God, but also of our Lord Jesus Christ, [who is himself also true God].

This Lord, who worked together with the Father, also worked together in the case of Sodom, according to the Scripture which says:

'And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven.'

This Lord again appeared to Moses, so far as he was able to see.

For the Lord is lover of mankind, ever bearing with our infirmities.

And that you may know that this is he who appeared to Moses, receive the testimony of Paul, who says:

'For they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them; [and that rock was Christ].'

'By faith Moses left Egypt.'

'Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.'

This Moses says to him:

You see that the prophets also then beheld Christ, but each according to his capacity.

'Reveal yourself to me, that I may see you knowingly.'

'No one shall see my face and live.'

For this reason, then, since no one living was able to see the face of the Godhead, he took on the face of humanity, that beholding this we might live.

And when he wished to show even this with a little of its worth, when his face shone as the sun, the disciples fell down in fear.

But if the face of the body, when it shone—not as he who wrought it was able, but according as the disciples could bear—frightened them, and yet they could not endure it;

how could anyone gaze upon the dignity of the Godhead? 'You desire a great thing, O Moses,' says the Lord;

'and I accept your insatiable desire, and I will grant you this word;'

'Behold, I set you in the cleft of the rock;'

for, being small, you shall remain in a small compass.

Here, then, secure for me, for the sake of the Jews, what is about to be said.

For our aim is to prove that the Lord Jesus Christ was with the Father.

The Lord, then, says to Moses:

'I will pass before you in my glory, and I will call upon the name of the Lord before you.'

Being Lord, what Lord does he call upon? You see how veiledly he was teaching the godly doctrine concerning the Father and the Son.

And again in what follows it is written word for word:

'And the Lord came down in a cloud, and stood by him there;'

'and he called upon the name of the Lord.'

'And the Lord passed before his face, and called out:'

'The Lord, the Lord, compassionate and merciful, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and true, keeping righteousness and showing mercy unto thousands, taking away iniquities and unrighteousness and sins.'

Then, after this, Moses bowing down and worshipping before the Lord who called upon the Father, says:

'Go now, O Lord, with us.'

You have this first proof;

receive also a second, a clear one.

'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand.'

Lord speaks these things to Lord, not to a servant;

but to one who is Lord of all things, and is his own Son, to whom he has subjected all things.

All things have been subjected to him;

it is plain that this is apart from him who subjected all things to him, [and what follows];

that God may be all in all.

The Only-begotten Son is Lord of all things;

and he is the obedient Son of the Father, not having seized the lordship, but having received it by nature from one who freely gave.

For neither did the Son seize, nor did the Father grudge the imparting.

'All things have been delivered to me by my Father.'

'They have been delivered to me'—not as though I formerly did not possess them;

and I keep them well, not defrauding him who delivered them.

The Son of God, then, is Lord;

Lord, who was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, according to the angel who said to the shepherds:

'I bring you good tidings of great joy, that there is born to you this day in the city of David Christ the Lord.'

Concerning whom one of the apostles says elsewhere:

'The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ.'

And when he says 'of all things,' exempt nothing from his lordship.

For whether angels, or archangels;

or principalities, or powers;

or anything created that is named by the apostles, all are under the lordship of the Son.

He is Lord of angels, as you have in the Gospels;

that 'Then the devil departed from him, and the angels came and ministered to him.'

For it does not say that they helped him, but that they ministered to him;

when he was about to be born of a virgin, Gabriel then served, receiving as his own dignity the office of ministering to him.

When he was about to journey into Egypt, that he might overthrow the handmade idols of Egypt;

again an angel appears in a dream to Joseph.

When he had been crucified and risen, the angel brought the good tidings and says to the women, like a good servant:

'Go, tell his disciples that he is risen, and goes before you into Galilee; behold, I have told you.'

'I have not transgressed the command; I bear witness that I have told you;'

so that, if you neglect it, the blame may not be against me, but against those who neglected it.

This, then, is the one Lord Jesus Christ, concerning whom the present lesson too says:

'For though there be those called gods [many], whether in heaven or on earth,' and so on;

'yet to us there is one God the Father, from whom are all things and we unto him;'

'and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him.'

And Jesus Christ is called by two names;

Jesus because he saves, Christ because he exercises the priesthood.

And knowing this, the divinely inspired Moses among the prophets bestowed these two appellations upon two men, the most approved of all;

renaming his own successor in office, Hoshea, as Jesus (Joshua);

and surnaming his own brother Aaron as Christ (Anointed), that through two approved men he might set forth both the high-priestly and the kingly office of the one Jesus Christ who was to come.

For Christ is a high priest after the order of Aaron;

since he did not glorify himself to become high priest, but he who said to him:

'You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.'

And Jesus the son of Nun bore his type in many respects.

For when he began to rule the people, he began from the Jordan;

from where also Christ, having been baptized, began to preach the gospel.

And the son of Nun appointed twelve to divide the inheritance;

and Jesus sends out the twelve apostles, heralds of the truth, into all the world.

The typical one saved Rahab the harlot when she believed;

'Behold, the tax-collectors and the harlots go before you into the kingdom of God.'

By a shout alone, in the typical one's days, the walls of Jericho fell down;

and because Jesus said, 'There shall not be left here one stone upon another,' the temple over against us Jews has fallen;

not that the declaration was the cause of its falling, but that the sin of the lawless became the cause of its falling.

One is the Lord Jesus Christ, a wondrous name proclaimed beforehand obliquely by the prophets.

For Isaiah the prophet says:

'Behold, your Saviour comes to you, having his own reward.'

And among the Hebrews Jesus is interpreted as 'Saviour.'

For the prophetic grace, foreseeing the Lord-slaying of the Jews, veiled the

appellation, lest, knowing it clearly beforehand, they should readily lay their plots.

And Jesus was so named not by men, but openly by an angel, who came not in his own authority, but was sent by the power of God, who said to Joseph:

'Do not fear to take Mary your wife;'

'for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.'

'And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.'

And giving the reason for the appellation, he straightway says, 'For he shall save his people from their sins.'

He who was not yet born—how does he have a people? Consider, unless he was even before he was born.

And this the prophet says in his person:

'From my mother's womb he has called my name;'

because the angel foretold that he would be called Jesus.

And again concerning the plot of Herod he says:

'And under the shelter of his hand he hid me.'

Jesus, then, according to the Hebrews means 'Saviour,' but according to the Greek tongue, 'the Healer.'

Since he is a physician of [souls] and bodies, and a healer of spirits;

a healer of the bodily blind, and one who leads the understandings to the light;

a physician of the visibly lame, and one who guides sinners' feet into repentance, saying to the paralytic:

and, 'Take up your bed and walk.'

For since because of the soul's sin the body had been paralyzed, he first healed the soul, that he might also bring healing to the body.

If, then, anyone suffers in soul through sins, he has the physician.

And if anyone here is of little faith, let him say to him:

If anyone is also beset with bodily ailments, let him not disbelieve, but draw near (for he heals these also), and let him know that Jesus is the Christ.

For the Jews admit that he is Jesus, but that he is also Christ they no longer admit.

Therefore the Apostle says:

'Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?' And Christ is a high priest, having his priesthood unchangeable;

neither having begun his priesthood from a point in time, nor having another successor of his high priesthood;

as you heard us discussing on the Lord's Day at the Synaxis, upon the text, 'After the order of Melchizedek.'

He received the high priesthood not by succession of bodies, nor was he anointed with manufactured oil, but before the ages by the Father;

and he excels the others in so far as he is a priest with an oath.

For the others are priests without an oath, but he with an oath, through him who says:

'The Lord swore and will not change his mind.'

Now the mere willing of the Father would by itself have been sufficient for assurance;

but the assurance is doubled in manner, in that, together with the will, an oath also accompanied it;

so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement of faith—we who receive Christ Jesus the Son of God.

This Christ, when he came, the Jews denied, but the demons confessed.

But his forefather David was not ignorant of him, saying:

'I have prepared a lamp for my Christ.'

And some have interpreted the lamp to be the splendour of prophecy;

but others, the lamp to be the flesh assumed from the virgin, according to that in the Apostle:

'But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.'

The prophet was not ignorant of him, who says:

'And declaring to men his Christ.'

Moses knew him, Isaiah knew him, and Jeremiah knew him;

none of the prophets was ignorant of him.

The demons also recognized him;

for he rebuked them, and it says:

because they knew him to be the Christ.

The chief priests were ignorant, and the demons confessed.

The chief priests were ignorant, and a Samaritan woman preached, saying:

'Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did;'

'can this be the Christ?' This is Jesus Christ, the high priest of the good things to come who has appeared;

who, through the ungrudging bounty of his deity, has imparted to us all his own appellation.

For human kings have the appellation of their kingship incommunicable to men;

but Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, has deigned that we be called Christians.

New is the name of Christians, and before this it was not in use as a polity, and things newly introduced are often opposed because of their strangeness.

The prophet provided against this beforehand, saying:

'But upon those who serve me a new name shall be called, which shall be blessed upon the earth.'

Let us examine the Jews:

do you serve the Lord or not? Show, then, your new name.

For you were called Jews and Israelites in the days of Moses and the other prophets, and after the return from Babylon, and down to the present time.

Where then is the new name? But we, since we serve the Lord, possess the new name.

new indeed, yet a new name which shall be blessed upon the earth.

This name has laid hold upon the whole inhabited world.

For the Jews reach only to a certain region, but the Christians to the ends of the inhabited world;

for it is the name of the Only-begotten Son of God that is proclaimed.

And do you wish to know that the apostles knew the name of Christ and proclaimed it—nay rather, that they had Christ Himself within them? Paul says to his hearers:

Or do you seek a proof of the Christ who speaks in me? Paul proclaims Christ, saying:

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

Who then is this? He who formerly persecuted Him.

He who formerly persecuted, the very same now proclaims Christ.

Why? Was he perhaps won over by money? But there was no one to persuade him thus.

But was it perhaps that he saw Him present and was put to shame? No, He had already been taken up into heaven.

And after three days the persecutor became a herald in Damascus.

By what power? Now others summon their own kin as witnesses on behalf of their own;

but I have presented to you as witness one who was formerly an enemy.

Do you still doubt? Great indeed is the testimony of Peter and John;

but as for one who was formerly an enemy and afterward died for His sake, who can still doubt the truth? Having reached this point in my discourse, I have truly marveled at the dispensation of the Holy Spirit;

how He confined the letters of the others to a small number, but granted Paul, the former persecutor, to write fourteen epistles.

For it was not because Peter or John was inferior that He restrained the grace;

but in order that the teaching might be beyond doubt, He granted to the former enemy and persecutor to write more, so that we all might thus be assured.

And all were amazed concerning Paul and said:

Is not this the one who formerly persecuted? Did he not come here that he might lead us away bound to Jerusalem? Do not be amazed, says Paul; I know that it is hard for me to kick against the goads.

I know that I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God; yet I did it in ignorance.

For I supposed the preaching concerning Christ to be a destruction of the Law.

But I did not know that He had come to fulfill the Law, and not to destroy it.

But the grace of God abounded exceedingly in me.

Many, beloved, are the true testimonies concerning Christ.

The Father bears witness from heaven concerning the Son.

The Holy Spirit bears witness, descending bodily in the form of a dove.

Gabriel the archangel bears witness, bringing the good tidings to Mary.

The Virgin, the Mother of God, bears witness;

the blessed place of the manger bears witness.

Egypt bears witness, which received the Master while He was yet a babe in body.

Simeon bears witness, who received Him in his arms and said:

Now You let Your servant depart, Master,

according to Your word, in peace;

for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all peoples.

And Anna the prophetess, most devout in self-control and an ascetic, bears witness concerning Him.

John the Baptist bears witness, the greatest among the prophets and the founder of the New Covenant, who in a certain way joined in himself both covenants, the old and the new.

The Jordan bears witness among the rivers.

The Sea of Tiberias bears witness among the seas.

The blind bear witness, the lame bear witness, the dead raised up bear witness.

Demons bear witness, saying:

We know who You are, the Holy One of God.

The winds bear witness, being commanded and silenced.

Five loaves bear witness, multiplied for five thousand.

The holy wood of the cross bears witness, which is seen among us to this day, and which through those who in faith take of it has by now filled almost the whole inhabited world.

The palm tree in the ravine bears witness, which supplied the branches to the children who then acclaimed Him.

Gethsemane bears witness, all but showing Judas even now to those who consider it.

This holy Golgotha, rising high above, bears witness by its very appearance.

The tomb of holiness bears witness, and the stone which lies there to this day.

The sun now shining bears witness, the same that was eclipsed at the time of the saving Passion.

The darkness bears witness, that came to pass then from the sixth until the ninth hour.

The light bears witness, that shone forth from the ninth hour until evening.

The holy Mount of Olives bears witness, from which He ascended to the Father;

and the rain-bearing clouds bear witness, which received the Master.

And the heavenly gates also bear witness, which received the Master, concerning which the psalmist said:

Lift up your gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.

Those who were once enemies bear witness, of whom one is the blessed Paul, who was hostile for a little while but served Him for a long time.

The twelve apostles bear witness, having proclaimed the truth not by words alone, but also by tortures and by their own deaths.

Peter's shadow bears witness, having healed the sick in the name of Christ.

The handkerchiefs and the aprons bear witness;

healing in like manner by the power of Christ, then through Paul.

Persians and Goths and all the Gentiles bear witness, dying for Him whom they did not behold with the eyes of the flesh.

The demons that to this day are driven out through the faithful bear witness.

So many, and so varied, and yet more are the witnesses;

is Christ then, who is so attested, still disbelieved? If then there be anyone who formerly disbelieved, let him now believe;

and if anyone was formerly a believer, let him receive a yet greater increase of faith, believing in our Lord Jesus Christ;

and let him know whose name he bears.

Let not our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be blasphemed because of you;

but rather let your good works shine before men, that those who see them may glorify in Christ Jesus our Lord the Father who is in heaven;

to whom be the glory, both now and ever and unto the ages of the ages.