Ancoratus 1 part 9/12

And when he says, "Do you have any loaves with you?", he says this so that the smallness of the loaves might be made known to all, and the greatness of his wonder-working might be marveled at, since so great a crowd was fed by so few loaves.

And when he says, "Whom do you seek?", he shows that those seeking him are deceived, seeking Jesus—whose name is interpreted "physician" and "savior"—so that when they kill him, they might cease from receiving his salvation.

Just as, then, we have shown that the things concerning the dispensation of our Lord, though spoken in human fashion, were not lacking in foreknowledge—for none of those who think rightly would say that he was ignorant of where they had laid Lazarus, since he was near the place, even though he asked in the manner we have mentioned, he who had shortly before been far off in Galilee, yet showed of himself that Lazarus had died—so also concerning the Old Testament we resolve these matters with the same good sense.

God's saying, "Adam, where are you?", was not the word of one who was ignorant, but of one showing from what height to what depth of shame Adam had fallen.

And likewise "Where is Abel your brother?" — showing that he whom you ought always to have carried in your arms and always to have been together with, this one has been thrown down upon the ground by you.

For he shows from what follows that he did not ask for the sake of ignorance, but in order to reprove him, saying, "Cursed is the ground because of your deeds, and cursed are you from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand."

"For behold," he says, "his voice cries out to me."

And as for "Where is Sarah your wife?" — he did not say this out of ignorance.

For how could he have been ignorant, who knew that she was laughing inside the tent? He asked, therefore, not out of ignorance, but so that he might set before her daughters, who profess godliness, an example to learn her manner of life, whenever they endeavor to minister to the saints from their own labors.

For she, engaged in such great service, herself making the unleavened cakes and the hearth-cakes, and furnishing so great a service together with her own household servants, did not even see the face of those whom she was serving, leaving behind for our generations a pattern of gracious modesty.

And these things, then, will suffice as a demonstration against the contradictions of vain men.

And if they say, "Fine indeed is the god of the Law, who defrauded the Egyptians and taught his own people to plunder them when they were going out from the land of Egypt"—these vain men do not know that with God nothing is lost, and that there is righteous judgment, and God is not mocked.

For what did the Egyptians suppose—that they were seeking to make the Jews work without wage, and not for just any number of years, but for two hundred and fifteen years, together with† the two hundred and fifteen years of Joseph? For since a sojourning of four hundred and thirty years had been determined for Abraham and his seed, as it says, "Your seed will be a sojourner in a foreign land," then what had been determined was fulfilled.

In his own compassion, then, God divided the years of their sojourning.

And immediately, for the first two hundred and fifteen years, while they were still in the land of Canaan, he took their part; and the other two hundred and fifteen he apportioned to those who had moved into Egypt.

For the number of these years works out proportionally as follows:

It was then the seventy-fifth year of Abraham.

There are, then, from the seventy-fifth year of Abraham until the birth of Isaac, twenty-five years.

Isaac begets Jacob when he reaches his sixtieth year, and there have been eighty-five years in all.

And Jacob, when he was eighty-nine years old, begets Levi, and there are now one hundred seventy-four years.

Levi, when he was forty-four years old, begets Kohath;

and in the forty-seventh year of Levi, Jacob goes down into Egypt, and there are now two hundred and eleven years.

And after their entry into Egypt, four more years pass, and the two hundred and fifteen years are completed.

From this point, then, I again count the remaining two hundred and fifteen years of the sojourning of the Israelites.

And Kohath, after the descent into Egypt, in his sixty-fifth year, begets Abraham, the father of Moses;

There are, then, from the first Abraham, from his seventy-fifth year, until the birth of the last Abraham, two hundred and eighty years; and from the descent into Egypt, sixty-five years.

And Abraham, when he was seventy years old, begets Moses, and there are, from the first Abraham, three hundred fifty years, and from the descent into Egypt, one hundred thirty-five years.

And Moses, in his thirtieth year, treads the Red Sea, going forth from Egypt together with the Israelites.

And there are, from the great Abraham, three hundred eighty years, and from the descent into Egypt, one hundred sixty-five years.

And they spent the remaining fifty years, after the crossing of the Red Sea, until their arrival in Palestine—not because of the length of the road, but because of fighting and being hindered by the nations found along their way.

There are, therefore, from the seventy-fifth year of the great Abraham, from which this prophecy was given to him by God, until Moses and the arrival of the sons of Israel in Palestine, four hundred thirty years; and from the descent into Egypt until their arrival in Palestine, two hundred fifteen years.

Was it not just, then, that the Jews, who had worked for so many years without wage, should be given their wage in the end, both before God and before men? God, therefore, was not unjust in bringing his own people out from there with spoils.

But if anyone should doubt that the years are to be reckoned in this way, let him hear Moses saying, "And the dwelling of the sons of Israel, in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was four hundred thirty years."

Since, then, the Lord takes care to render the most just wage, what vain objection is still left for those who wish to bring blame against the holy God? For no one could ever truly blame the true God, but those who blame him blame themselves.

...[houses] which they did not build, and olive groves and fig groves and vineyards which they did not plant.

O vain men, if God were as man, the things said or done today would pass away, and nothing would remain for him in remembrance—

but since God is God and not man, he does not forget the things that concern him, avenging them even unto many generations.

For if they are ignorant of this matter, let them learn.

All know that righteous Noah became the remnant of the world after the flood.

As, then, he and his three sons were left as survivors, being righteous and striving to make his own children reverent, so that they might not fall into the same evils as those in the flood, he handed down reverence to them not only by words, but also demanded, by oath, from each one of them, goodwill toward his brother.

And having been established by God as heir of the world, he divides the whole world among his three sons, apportioning it by lots and assigning each portion to each one according to the lot—

and to Shem, the firstborn, fell the lot extending, in length, from Persia and Bactria as far as India; and in breadth, from India as far as the region of Rhinocorura;

and this Rhinocorura lies between Egypt and Palestine, opposite the Red Sea.

And to Ham, the second son, fell the lot from that same Rhinocorura to Gadeira, on the southern side.

And to Japheth, the third son, fell the lot from Media to Gadeira and Rhinocorura, on the northern side.

To Shem, then, there were born children and children's children, twenty-five, until the languages were divided;

and they are scattered among languages and tribes and kingdoms.

And their names are these:

And to Ham, the second son, there were sons and sons' sons, thirty-two, until this same division of the tongues:

Ethiopians, Troglodytae, Angaei, Taieni, Sabini, Ichthyophagi, Hellanici, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Marmaridae, Carians, Psyllitae, Mossynoeci, Phrygians, Macones, Macrones, Syrtitae, Leptimagnitae, Bithynians, Nomads, Lycians, Mariandyni, Pamphylians, †Moschesidii, Pisidians, Augalaei, Cilicians, Maurusii, Cretans, Magardae, Numidians, the Afri also called Byzacenes, Nasamones, Phasgeni, Mazices, Garamantes, Gaetulians, Blemmyes, Axomites:

these occupy the land from Egypt to the Ocean.

Coursula, Lopadusa, Gaulos, Rhide, Melite, Corcyra, Mene, Sardania, Gortyna, Crete, Glaucus, Rhide, Thera, Carianthus, Astypalaea, Chios, Lesbos, Tenedos, Imbros, Iasos, Samos, Cos, Cnidus, Nisyros, Megiste, and Cyprus.

And to Japheth, the third son, there were sons and sons' sons, fifteen, until this same division of the tongues:

Ligurians, Campanians, Celtiberians, Iberians, Gauls, Aquitani, Illyrians, Basantes, Cannii, Cartani, Lusitanians, Vaccaei, Britons, Scots, Spaniards.

and their islands are Britain, Sicily, Euboea, Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, Cythera, Zacynthus, Cephallenia, Ithaca, Corcyra, Cyprus.

And if anywhere the name of a nation or an island is set down twice, in the portion of one and again of another, let no one be surprised or in doubt — whether this is according to common boundaries, or according to colonies established from time to time, or according to the encroachment of Ham, who took more than his share and seized portions belonging to Shem.

These nations, then, having thus come into being from the three sons of Noah, and the world having been divided in three ways among the three sons, as I said before, an oath was demanded of them by their father, that none should encroach upon his brother's portion;

and they declared in the oath that whoever transgressed the ordinance of the oath should be utterly destroyed, together with all his seed.

Since, then, Palestine and all the regions near it fell within the portion of Shem, but Canaan, son of Ham, being covetous, later encroached upon the land of the Palestinians, that is, Judea, and seized it, while God was longsuffering, granting times for repentance, so that those descended from Ham might repent and restore to those of Shem their own inheritance — but they did not repent, but wished to fill up their measure — then God, many generations later, being just, avenged the transgression of the oath;

for thus it was necessary that the measure of the Amorites be fulfilled.

For Shem begets Arphaxad;

and Ham begets Canaan, and Canaan, after his act of covetousness, begets the Amorite and the Girgashite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Arvadite and the Sidonian.

The generations, then, are thus numbered up to the vindication of Shem:

Shem, who was wronged, begets Arphaxad, as we have said;

and Arphaxad begets Cainan, Cainan begets Shelah, Shelah begets Eber, and the building of the tower takes place;

Eber begets Peleg, and the division of the earth and of the tongues takes place;

Peleg begets Reu, Reu begets Serug, Serug begets Nahor, Nahor begets Terah, Terah begets Abraham, Abraham begets Isaac, Isaac begets Jacob who was surnamed Israel, from whom come the Israelites; Jacob begets Judah, Judah begets Perez, Perez begets Hezron, Hezron begets Aram, Aram begets Amminadab, Amminadab begets Nahshon, and Nahshon begets Salmon.

This is the genealogy of those born from Shem.

These, then, who had been wronged by the sons of Ham and deprived of their own place, God vindicates, utterly destroying the sons of Canaan according to their oath, and the seed of Shem receives back its own land.

God, therefore, did no wrong, rendering to each party what was just;

for God is not mocked, as I have said before.

In the Exodus, then, God, betrothing a congregation to himself, says to Moses: 'Loose the sandals from your feet.'

for everyone who is about to approach pure washings first removes his sandals.

Since, then, much time has passed, and each of us wandered in his own way, and this congregation remained in its own evils, God had not yet revealed the washing of regeneration, but for many years he deferred it; later, however, he revealed the all-holy washing to the holy Church:

in Moses, by loosing the sandals; in the prophets, by stripping off the outer tunic, leaving Jeremiah only a loincloth; in John, by changing all the garments of the world, transforming them into a garment of camel's hair; in the Savior himself and his disciples, by stripping off the very form of the world; and from above, out of the heavens, after the cleansing of the waters, he clothed them with a clothing of fire and Spirit.

The Israelites did not recognize the grace of this one, that he is God.

Wherefore also the prophet lamented over them accusingly, because of the dishonor that was to be done by them to the Savior, saying: 'Is this how you repay the Lord, O foolish and senseless people?' For they did not know that this one was in the beginning, he with whom the Father took counsel, saying: 'Let us make man according to our image and likeness';

for the word 'let us make' does not signify a single number;

but rather the Father took counsel with the Son and the Holy Spirit;

for by the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

Nor indeed did they understand him who says expressly in the same book, that the Lord rained down fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

For the Lord who had come to Abraham rained down fire from the Lord out of heaven — that is, from him who had sent him.

Neither did they recognize him as the one who brought them out of Egypt, nor did they understand the prophet who says: 'And you, Bethlehem, are by no means least' — for how could one call least a city that contained him whom heaven and all things have not been able to contain? — 'and out of you shall come forth for me a ruler.'

But if he comes forth from Bethlehem and is a man, how then is he spoken of as God? What troubles them is that he is both God and man.

for in the same place it says: 'his goings-forth are from the beginning, from the foundation of the world';

and this is no longer a mark of a man, but of God.

But they do not remember that 'behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel';

and the word 'they shall call' signifies the manner of the saints and the faithful, the children of the Church.

For when the faithful are examined by the Lord-killing Jews concerning the Savior — 'How is it that you believe in one who was crucified?' — and confess it, those questioners hear from these same faithful: 'Among you he was crucified, but with us he is God.'

The ancient sabbaths, then, have passed away, but the true sabbath is proclaimed among us.

The first circumcision, cutting a single very small member, has ceased to be effective; but the heavenly circumcision, circumcising the whole body, works very effectually.

For the waters and the holy invocation do not act upon a single member of the man, but seal, purify, and circumcise the whole body of the man, delivering him from all evils.

The holy Church, then, has received these mysteries.

But dread enemies have also risen up against her, called 'members of the household,' though not being of the true faith of the apostles of the Lord — for if they had been of them, they would have remained with them;

but being spurious and of mixed stock, they again desire the evil desire of the Egyptians' food of fish and cucumbers, blaspheming the Son of God up and down — the Arian fanatics, whom we have already pilloried in the discourses before this one, and others, the Sabellians.

And the Sabellians utterly deny that the Son and the Holy Spirit exist as such, saying that the Son himself is the Father, and the Father himself is the Son, and the Holy Spirit himself is the Father, so that there is no Son and Holy Spirit — being convicted as second Jews and Lord-killers.

But the Arian fanatics, the most impious of all, who dare to separate the Son from the Father's essence and to alienate him from it, do not deem the Son to be of equal honor with the Father, nor that he was begotten from the essence of the Father.

And others, offspring of these, whom we have already, before this, ranked together with the others previously mentioned —

unknown, dead, and unbelieving.

But that we may not, by means of ink and paper, draw out at great length the testimonies against these, so as not to weary those who read, it will suffice for the Sabellians, together with the other testimonies, to have the testimony of the Jordan, as I have already said —

for the Son truly comes at the Jordan, having become God made man, not having undergone a transformation, but having taken flesh — not through the seed of a man, but having taken up from the holy virgin a body conceived by the Holy Spirit — a perfect body, that is, a perfect man in soul and body.

God, then, became present as God and man before John at the Jordan, being one and the same Son and Christ and Lord;

and the Father cries out from above, bearing witness to the Son who had come to be at the Jordan: 'This is my beloved Son';

and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, upon him who had come down into the waters, so as to show them pure for the sake of those who were to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

And for the Arians, together with the testimonies already stated, it will suffice for the Son to say: 'I am in the Father, and the Father is in me';

for here he demonstrated the equality of the Son with the Father, and his genuineness.

In the furnace of fire, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, praising God, include with themselves the whole creation of God, and say: 'Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord';

and they numbered the heavens and the angels and the moon and the sun and the powers, and the earth and the sea and all things in them, but nowhere did they number the Son and the Holy Spirit among the created things.

But the Seraphim sanctify the Trinity equally, saying 'Holy' not once, nor twice, nor a fourth time, but three times.

And let Peter again refute these, rebuking those associated with Ananias and saying: 'You have tempted the Holy Spirit';

and he says: 'You have not lied to man, but to God.'

And the Apostle knows, as we have also often said, that the Spirit is not alien to God, saying: 'it searches even the depths of God';

and it is impossible for that which is not of the essence of God to search the depths of God.

But we know the Father as Father, the Son as Son, the Holy Spirit as Holy Spirit — a Trinity in unity.

for there is one unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: one essence, one lordship, one will, one Church, one baptism, one faith.

And let those cease who speak against the holy virgin of Christ and pure bride — that is, our mother, the holy Church.

For her children received from the holy fathers, that is, the holy apostles, the charge to guard the faith, and likewise to hand it down and proclaim it to their own children;

of whom you yourselves also are sons, most honored brethren; and do you also hand down this teaching to your own children.

Saying these things thus, and things similar to these, from the divine Scriptures, so as to confirm both yourselves and your hearers — teaching, making straight the way, catechizing — do not cease, you faithful and orthodox, to guard this holy faith of the catholic Church, as the holy and only virgin of God received it from the holy apostles of the Lord,

and thus you ought, for each of the catechumens who are about to come forward to the holy washing, not only to declare † the believing to your own sons in the Lord, but also to teach them explicitly — since she is one and the same mother both of you and of us — to say:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible,

begotten of the Father before all ages, that is, from the essence of the Father, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things came into being, both the things in the heavens and the things on earth;

who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens and was made flesh of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate and suffered and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into the heavens and sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end;

and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is co-worshiped and co-glorified, who spoke through the prophets;

in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church;

we confess one baptism for the remission of sins; we await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.

But as for those who say, "There was a time when he was not," and "Before he was begotten he was not," or who assert that he came into being out of things that are not, or that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or essence, or that he is subject to flux or alteration — these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

And this faith was handed down from the holy apostles, and in the Church, in the holy city, by all the holy bishops who were then gathered together, more than three hundred and ten in number.

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things invisible and visible;

and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the essence of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things came into being, both the things in the heavens and the things on earth, visible and invisible; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, that is, was perfectly begotten of the holy Mary, ever-virgin, through the Holy Spirit, and became man, that is, took a perfect man, soul and body and mind and everything whatsoever a man is, apart from sin;

not from the seed of man, nor having come to be in a man, but having refashioned flesh unto himself into one holy unity;

not as he inspired and spoke and worked in the prophets, but having become man completely;

for the Word became flesh, not undergoing alteration, nor changing his own divinity into humanity, but uniting into one his own holy perfection and divinity;

for the Lord Jesus Christ is one and not two, the same is God, the same is man, who has not produced a confusion, but has blended the two into one;

not passing into non-existence, but having empowered together the earthly body with the divinity, he united them into one power, he brought them together into one divinity;

being one Lord, one Christ, not two Christs nor two gods.

In him is the spiritual — incomprehensible divinity; that which suffered was not corrupted; the impassible is incorruptible; the whole is incorruption;

God the Lord, sitting at the right hand of the Father, has not left aside the flesh, but has united it into one, and the whole together into one divinity, sitting at the right hand of the Father.

This one, therefore — the Only-begotten, the perfect, the uncreated, the unchangeable, the unalterable, the incomprehensible, the invisible, who became man among us and rose again spiritually and no longer dies, no longer is poor, he who for our sake became poor while being rich, he who is wholly spirit, who unites the fleshly and the divine, one Lord, King Christ, the Son of God, seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father above every rule and authority, power, and every name that is named — says in the Gospel, "Go, baptize all the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

And this, standing also in the midst †, did not signify a fusing of the Son with the Father, nor a fusing of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son; rather, he knows the Father as true Father, and showed himself to be a true, hypostatic Word, and his Holy Spirit to be a hypostatic Spirit and Spirit of truth, uncreated, unchangeable, unalterable;

not so that anyone should suspect him of being carried along deceitfully toward the faith, hiding his own footprints, and dealing deceitfully toward the truth — for God tests the hearts and the reins.

Evidently I believe that the Father is Father, and the Son is Son, and the Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit, and I confess three hypostases in one essence;

I do not speak of an essence other than the divinity, nor a divinity other than the essence, but because we speak with such precision we call it one essence, so that we may not say that the form of the divinity of the Trinity is one thing here and another there.

For such a man, concealing himself, as I said, speaks again craftily and deceitfully, saying:

"I believe that the Father is Father, the Son is Son, the Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit;"

but he holds such a hidden notion, having likened the divine to us, saying within himself that as I have body and soul and a human spirit, so too is the divinity —

the Father, so to speak, being the form, the Son being like the soul in a man, and the Spirit being like the breath that breathes through a man.

For some deal deceitfully and think of the divinity in this way.

But we have not learned it thus; rather, behold, the Father in heaven bears witness by a voice; behold, the Son in the Jordan; behold, the Holy Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, took shape;

rather, it took shape in its own right, being in its own right a hypostasis, not other than that of the Father and the Son, but of the same essence — a hypostasis from a hypostasis, of the very same [essence] of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Behold, the Father sits in heaven.

But do not again understand "sits" in a human manner, but hold it as ineffable and incomprehensible.

And it does not say, "the Son went up into the Father," but "he sat down at the right hand of the Father."

And again, speaking concerning the Holy Spirit, the Only-begotten taught: "I go away, and that one will come" — the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth —

"if I do not go away, that one will not come."

But if the Spirit were a mere fusing with the Son himself, he would not have said, "I go away, and that one comes," but rather so as to show —

there is one divinity, one God, one truth.

Of the true faith, which, time and again, through the heresies, has had this same faith and hope and our salvation persecuted, yet has endured in its own truth, while the heresies at each period defile themselves and are alienated from the Church —

just as indeed we hear again recently of some who seem to carry off the first prizes among certain of the ascetics in Egypt and the Thebaid, and other regions elsewhere, who hold opinions similar to the Hieracites, and say that there is a resurrection of our flesh, but not of this flesh, but of some other in its place — such men having turned aside, and having turned the truth of God and our sure hope into myths.

Therefore concerning this also we are compelled to speak again.

For unbelievers deny the resurrection altogether, while the wrongly-believing, confusedly and senselessly, have fallen away from the hope that accords with truth, by thinking in this way about the resurrection.

And the Greeks are those who deny the resurrection altogether, on account of the impiety arising from the multitude of lawless deeds committed among them;

for they hate the resurrection, because of which they are going to undergo shame at the resurrection, having been ignorant of God and his commandments;

nevertheless they will rise, even if they do not wish to.

For creation itself plainly refutes them, displaying every single day the form of the resurrection.

For the day sets, and we hint at the manner of the dead, the night hinting at their repose;

the day rises, waking us from sleep and showing forth the sign of resurrection.

The fruits are reaped, and the standing crop is cut down, the pattern of our departure from this life thereby being marked out.

The earth is sown and sprouts, because the things that have been buried, after the cutting, will rise again.

The locust dies, having buried in the earth the offspring cast off from itself, and after a time the earth gives back the things that were buried;

the seeds of crops are sown, and first they die, then they are brought to fruition;

for unless it dies, it is not brought to life.