Catechetical Lectures 7

Lecture VII, of the Catechetical Lectures TO THE ENLIGHTENED, delivered extempore at Jerusalem, ON THE FATHER.

And a reading from the Epistle to the Ephesians:

"For this cause I bow my knees to the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named," and what follows.

Concerning the monarchy of God, sufficient was said to you by us yesterday.

But I say "sufficient" not as being according to His worthiness;

(for to attain to that is altogether impossible for mortal nature), but as far as concerned our weakness.

And I went through the aberrations of the many-branched error of the godless heretics.

Having shaken off their miriness and the soul-poisoning venom of them, and having recounted the things concerning them—not that we might be harmed, but that we might hate them the more greatly—let us now return to ourselves;

and let us receive the saving doctrines of the true Faith, joining the fatherly to the dignity of the monarchy, and believing IN ONE GOD THE FATHER.

For we must not only believe IN ONE GOD;

but let us also with godliness receive that He is the FATHER of the only-begotten, even of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For by this we should think more highly than the Jews, who indeed receive in their teachings that there is ONE GOD;

(for what of it, even if through idolatry they often denied even this?) but that He is also the FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ, this they do not admit;

holding views contrary to their own prophets, who say in the divine Scriptures:

"The Lord said to me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You."

And to this day, raging and gathering together against the Lord, and against His Christ;

thinking that it is possible to be befriended by the Father apart from godliness toward the Son.

—not knowing that no one comes to the Father except through the Son, who says, 'I am the door.'

He, then, who refuses the way that leads to the Father, and who denies the door, how shall he be counted worthy of entrance to God? They contradict also what is written in the eighty-eighth Psalm: 'He shall call upon me, You are my Father, my God, and the helper of my salvation.'

'And I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.'

For if they should insist that these things were spoken concerning David or Solomon, or any of those who came after, let them show how the throne of him who is here prophesied is 'as the days of heaven, and as the sun before God, and as the moon established forever.'

And how are they not abashed at what is written: 'From the womb before the morning star I begot you'? And at the words: 'He shall continue with the sun, and before the moon, throughout all generations'? To refer these to a mere man is full and replete with all senselessness.

But let the Jews, since they wish it, be diseased in these passages and the like with their wonted unbelief.

But we take up the godliness of the Faith, worshipping one God the Father of Christ;

[for to deprive of such a dignity Him who bestows on all the power of begetting were impious]; and we believe IN ONE GOD THE FATHER, that even before the doctrinal discourses to be moved by us concerning Christ, the faith concerning the Only-begotten may be implanted in the souls of the hearers,

not severed in any way from the words spoken concerning the Father.

For the name of the Father, together with the very utterance of the title, gives us to conceive of the Son also;

just as, in like manner, one who names the Son has at once conceived of the Father also.

For if a father, then assuredly the father of a son;

and if a son, then assuredly the son of a father.

Lest anyone should unholily suppose that the Only-begotten ranks second after heaven and earth,

for this reason, before naming those, we named God as Father, that at the same time as we think of the Father we may also think of the Son;

for between son and father there is nothing of existing things.

God then is, of many indeed the father by a loose use of the term;

but of one only, by nature and in truth, the Father of the Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ;

not having acquired the being Father in time, but being ever the Father of the Only-begotten.

For He did not, being childless before this, become a father, having changed His purpose afterwards;

but before every subsistence and before every perception, before times and before all the ages, God has the paternal dignity;

being honoured by this more than by the rest of His dignities.

And He became a Father not by passion, not from intercourse, not in ignorance, not by emanation, not by diminution, not by alteration;

(for every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;)

A perfect Father, He begot a perfect Son;

delivering all things to the Begotten;

'for all things,' He says, 'were delivered to me by my Father.'

And He is honoured by the Only-begotten;

'For I honour my Father,' says the Son;

'Even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love.'

We say therefore, we too, in like manner with the Apostle:

'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort;'

and, 'We bow the knee to the Father, of whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named;'

glorifying Him together with the Only-begotten;

for he that denies the Father, denies the Son also;

and he that confesses the Son, has the Father also;

knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is unto the glory of God the Father.

We worship therefore the Father of Christ, the maker of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;

in whose honour the former temple also was built here, right over against us.

For we will not endure the heretics who sever the Old Testament from the New;

but we will believe Christ, who says concerning the temple:

'Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?' And again:

'Take these things hence, and make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.'

By which words He most clearly confessed that the former temple in Jerusalem was His own Father's house.

But if anyone out of unbelief wishes to receive yet more proofs concerning this, that the Father of Christ is the same as the maker of the world,

let him hear Him again saying:

'Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father which is in heaven.'

And the saying, 'Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns;'

'and your heavenly Father feeds them.'

And the saying, 'My Father works hitherto, and I work.'

But lest anyone, out of simplicity or perversity, should suppose that Christ is equal in honour with righteous men, from His saying, 'I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;'

it is well to draw this distinction beforehand, that the name of the father is one, but the power of His working is manifold.

And knowing this very thing, He spoke safely:

'I go unto my Father, and your Father.'

He did not say, 'unto our Father;'

but, making a distinction, He said first what was His own, 'unto my Father,' which was by nature;

then He added, 'and your Father,' which was by adoption.

For even though we have been counted worthy to say especially in our prayers,

'Our Father which art in heaven,' yet the gift is according to His loving-kindness.

For not having been begotten by nature from the Father in heaven, do we call Him Father;

but having been transferred from bondage to sonship by the Father's grace, through the Son and the Holy Spirit, by unspeakable loving-kindness we are counted worthy to say this.

And if anyone wishes to learn how we call God Father, let him hear the good schoolmaster Moses saying:

'Is not He your Father that bought you, and made you, and created you?' And Isaiah the prophet:

'And now, O Lord, You are our Father;'

'and we are clay, all of us the work of Your hands.'

For the prophetic grace declared most clearly that not by nature, but by God's grace and by adoption, do we call Him Father.

And that you may know more exactly, that in the divine Scriptures the father by nature is not always alone called father, hear Paul saying:

'For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers;'

'for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.'

For not by begetting after the flesh, but by teaching and regenerating after the spirit, was Paul a father of the Corinthians.

And hear also Job saying:

For he named himself a father, not by having begotten all, but by caring for them.

And the Only-begotten Son of God Himself, with His flesh nailed to the tree at the season of the cross, seeing Mary His mother after the flesh, and John the most beloved of His disciples, says to him, 'Behold your mother;'

and to Mary, 'Behold your son;'

teaching the affection that was due;

and indirectly explaining the saying recorded in Luke, 'And his father and his mother marvelled;'

which the children of the heretics seize upon, saying that He was begotten of a man and a woman.

For just as Mary was the mother of John because of her affection, not because she bore him;

so also Joseph was called the father of Christ, not because he begot Him;

(for he knew her not, according to the Gospel, until she had brought forth her firstborn son;) but because of the care taken in bringing Him up.

Now let this have been said to you in passing, as by way of a reminder.

But let us add yet another testimony to prove that God is called father of men by a loose use of the term.

For when it is said in Isaiah to God:

'For You are our Father, though Abraham knew us not, and Sarah travailed not with us;'

is there yet need to inquire concerning this? And when the Psalmist says:

'Let them be troubled at His presence, the father of the fatherless and judge of the widows;'

is it not plain to all, that God being called the father of orphans, who have lately lost their own fathers, is so named not because of begetting them out of Himself, but because of caring for and protecting them? But of men, as has been said, He is father by a loose use of the term;

but of Christ alone is God the Father by nature, not by adoption;

and of men in time, but of Christ before times, as He Himself says, 'And now, O Father, glorify me with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was.'

We believe therefore IN ONE GOD THE FATHER, the unsearchable and unspeakable,

whom no man among men has seen, but the Only-begotten alone has declared.

For He who is from God, He has seen God.

Whose face the angels do always behold in heaven;

but they behold, each according to the measure of his own rank;

but the unmixed and pure contemplation of the Father is reserved purely for the Son together with the Holy Spirit.

Having come at this point in the discourse, and being reminded of what was said a little before, in which God was proclaimed father of men,

I am greatly amazed at the senselessness of men.

For God in His unspeakable loving-kindness has been pleased to be called the father of men;

He who is in heaven, of those on earth;

and the maker of the ages, of those who are in time;

and He who holds the earth in His hand, of those upon the earth who are as grasshoppers.

But man, forsaking his heavenly Father, said to the wood, 'You are my father;'

and to the stone, 'You have begotten me.'

For this reason the Psalm says to humanity:

'And forget your people and your father's house, whom you have chosen as a father, whom you have drawn to yourself unto destruction.'

And not only wood and stones, but some have already even chosen Satan himself as a father, the destroyer of souls.

To whom the Lord said reprovingly:

'You do the deeds of your father;'

[the devil] being the father of men, not by nature, but by deceit.

For just as, through godly teaching, Paul was called the father of the Corinthians, so also the devil is called the father of those who of their own choice run together with him.

For we will not endure those who misinterpret that saying, 'In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil;'

as though some among men were by nature, both those who are saved and those who perish.

For not by necessity, but of our own choice do we come to such a holy adoption.

Nor was Judas the traitor by nature a son of the devil and of perdition;

for otherwise he would not at all have at first driven out demons in the name of Christ, for Satan does not cast out Satan;

nor again would Paul have passed from persecuting to preaching.

But the adoption is of our own free will, as John says:

'But as many as received Him, to them gave He authority to become children of God, to them that believe on His name.'

For not before believing, but as a result of believing, were they counted worthy of their own free will to become children of God.

Knowing this then, let us walk spiritually, that we may be counted worthy of the adoption of God.

'For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.'

For it is no profit to us to have acquired the name of Christians, if the works do not follow also;

lest at some time even to us be said, 'If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.'

For if we call upon a Father, who judges without respect of persons according to each man's work, let us pass the time of our sojourning in fear;

not loving the world, neither the things that are in the world.

'For if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.'

So that, beloved children, let us offer glory to our Father in heaven through our works;

that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven.

Let us cast all our care upon Him;

for our Father knows the things of which we have need.

And while honouring our heavenly Father, let us honour also the fathers of our flesh;

since the Lord Himself plainly ordained in the Law and the prophets, saying:

'Honour your father and your mother, that it may be well with you, and that you may live long upon the earth.'

And of this precept let those present hear most of all, who have fathers and mothers.

'Children, obey your parents in all things;'

for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.

'He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me'—do not, out of ignorance, yourself take that which is well written in a wrong sense;

but He added the words, 'more than me.'

For when fathers on earth are minded contrary to the Father in heaven, then one must follow the word.

But when they put no hindrance to us in the way of godliness, and we, carried away by senselessness, and unmindful of their kindnesses to us, despise them;

then there will be place for the oracle which says:

'He that curses father or mother, let him die the death.'

The first virtuous godliness of Christians is to honour their parents, to repay the labours of those who begot them, and with all their might to bring to them the things that are for their rest;

for even though we should repay them with most things, yet we can never beget them in return.

That they also, having enjoyed the rest provided by us, may stay us up with blessings, such as the supplanter Jacob prudently snatched;

and may our Father in heaven, accepting our good purpose, count us worthy to shine forth as the sun with the righteous in the kingdom of our Father;

to whom be the glory, with the Only-begotten and Saviour Jesus Christ, with the Holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.