錨定之書 第 1 章 第 5/12 段

we see the sea in part, from a mountain or a plain, and we speak the truth when we say that we have seen it.

And if someone else says that he has not seen it, he does not lie, but speaks the truth.

For he does not know where its depth is, or where its length; he does not know its bulk, he does not know its full extent.

And through some small opening we behold the sky, but we do not comprehend its full expanse.

And if someone says, "I saw," he did see;

and if another says, "I did not see," he did not see.

For we truly saw as much as we were able to take in, but we did not see it as it is in itself.

So also the prophets, as though through a small opening, through the narrow passage of their own body, were counted worthy to see, and in truth they saw, but not as the boundlessness of that vision truly is.

And thus the divine Scriptures are fulfilled, in harmony with one another—both the prophets' saying, "We saw," for indeed they saw in truth, and the Savior's saying, "No one has ever beheld God";

yet he himself saw the nature invisibly, and he gave to the one unable to see the power of a gracious gift, so that he might see something of the power of that vision.

But do not, playing the sophist again, say:

"The prophets saw, not with their eyes, but with their mind, understanding, so to speak, and not [actually] seeing."

For this very reason Isaiah says precisely, "Woe is me, for I am struck with compunction, because, being a man and having unclean lips, and dwelling among a people who have unclean lips, I have seen the Lord Sabaoth";

and he did not say, "I saw with my mind," but, "with my eyes."

He saw, then, and yet did not see, but as much as he was able; in truth he saw, but he did not see it as the boundlessness of its incomprehensibility truly is.

So too concerning paradise many allegorize, as did Origen, that man smitten of God, who wished to bring into human life a fantasy rather than the truth.

"There is no paradise on earth";

this is supposedly based on the saying of the holy apostle, "I know a man, fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven."

But do not misread it and say that it signifies a third part of the air;

for in saying "to the third heaven," he is not speaking of a third part, but of the number three.

And he says, "I know such a man, caught up into paradise and hearing words which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

Glory be to God the Almighty, who in every way makes all things plain and expounds them with careful precision, so that those who are true may not go astray.

For he did not join heaven and paradise together in a single brief statement, but says, 'I know a man who was caught up to the third heaven,' and again, 'caught up into paradise.'

But the phrase with the article is distinctive of a different referent, and indicative of a transfer to another place.

As if someone had a mountain and a plain, and the plain encircled the mountain, and he wished to arrive at the far side of the mountain, in that same plain; then, whenever he wishes to make his journey through the plain to the place where he wishes to go, beyond the mountain, this will be possible for him;

but if he wishes first to go up onto the mountain, and then from the mountain again to arrive at the place in the plain that is beyond the mountain, this too is possible for him.

Understand in this way also what was said by the apostle:

that he first ascended into heaven, and then descended into paradise, according to what is said, 'My beloved went down into his garden.'

And the Savior says, 'Today you will be with me in paradise.'

But if paradise is not upon the earth, and the things written in Genesis are not true but are allegorized, then nothing in the sequence of the narrative holds true, but everything is turned into allegory.

For it says, 'In the beginning God made heaven and earth;'

there are things that are allegorized, but these are visible.

And 'the firmament,' it says, 'and the sea,' the sprouting plants and trees and vegetation, grass, animals, fish, birds — all things that are seen, having truly come into being; and man too, actually existing, he made.

He placed, then, this one whom he had formed, in paradise, having made this same man according to the image — and according to the image of God.

But do not pry curiously into the gifts of God, which have been given to man by grace.

For we do not deny that all men are according to the image of God.

But we do not pry curiously into the 'how' of being according to the image.

For we do not understand the bodily formation to be according to the image, nor the soul, nor the mind, nor virtue.

For there are many things that prevent me from speaking in this way.

But neither do we say that the body is not according to the image, nor the soul.

For it belongs to the faithful to confess Scripture and not deny it, but it belongs to the unbelieving to set aside grace.

There is, then, in man that which is according to the image, but God himself knows how it is.

For if you say that he made man according to the image and suppose it to be the body, yet God is invisible, incomprehensible, inconceivable — how will that which is visible and comprehensible and falls under touch be an image of the invisible and incomprehensible? And if you say the body is not according to the image, Scripture says, 'he took dust from the earth and formed man.'

And it calls the one made of dust 'man,' and it calls the ensouled being 'man;'

for it says, 'He breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.'

We understand both the soul and the body to be created.

How is it created? For it says, 'he breathed [into him];'

and we say neither that the soul is a part of God, nor that it is alien to that breathing-in.

But how this is to be understood precisely, is known to God alone.

But we, without curious prying and without malice, believe God, who is truthful in all things.

And if you say that the soul is that which is according to the image, hear the apostle say that the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the soul...

If, then, the soul has divisions, but God is without division, how can the soul be that which is according to the image? For the soul does not know the future, but God certainly knows it.

And we see what is in front of the body, while being ignorant of what is behind.

And if you say that it is not the soul, know certainly that Scripture has also called the soul 'man,' and man is both soul and body.

But you might say that the mind is that which is according to the image.

But Scripture says, 'I see another law warring in my members, and taking me captive, in my mind, to the law of sin that is in my members.'

How then, being taken captive, will the mind be according to the image? 'That I will sing psalms with the mind, I will sing psalms with the spirit.'

And if you say that virtue is that which is according to the image, I will say to you:

Tell me concerning Adam, what virtue did he perform before he was formed? For virtue did not exist at the beginning, yet from the beginning he was formed according to the image.

And if you say that it is not virtue, you do not speak well.

For to what is it fitting to belong 'according to the image,' if not to virtue? Yet man was formed according to the image before virtue existed.

For Adam had not yet been one who conducted himself in virtue — clearly because he had not yet even been created.

And if you say that baptism is that which is according to the image, then were the righteous who did not receive baptism not according to the image? For the type began from Moses and the sea, grace was opened from John, and in Christ the gift was perfected.

All, then, have that which is according to the image, but not according to nature.

For men do not have that which is according to the image on equal terms with God.

For God is incomprehensible, inconceivable, being spirit, and spirit beyond all spirit, and light beyond all light.

But what he himself has granted, we do not deprive man of;

having granted it to man according to the image.

And it is possible to understand this from similar things:

for we see that the Savior took into his hands, as it stands in the Gospel, when he reclined at the supper — he took such-and-such, and having given thanks, said, 'This is my such-and-such,' and gave it to his disciples, and said, 'This is my such-and-such.' And we see that it is neither equal nor alike — not to the image in the flesh, not to the invisible Godhead, not to the features of the bodily members.

For the one is roundish and without perception.

But as regards the power it represents, he willed by grace to say, 'This is my such-and-such,' and no one disbelieves the word.

For whoever does not believe that it is true in what he said, falls away from grace and salvation.

But when we hear, let us also believe:

we believe that it is his; but our Lord we know to be wholly sense-perception, wholly capable of perceiving, wholly God, wholly moving, wholly working, wholly light, wholly Word — incomprehensible, yet this has been granted to us with grace.

This Adam, then, was placed in paradise, and ate from the tree.

And paradise, it says, was in Eden, toward the east;

and a spring went up out of Eden — and it did not say 'went down,' so that we should not suppose Eden to be in heaven.

For if it were in heaven, it would have said, 'from above the spring descends.'

But it also says, 'a river goes forth from Eden;'

this is divided into four heads.

The name of the one is Pishon, and we see the Pishon before our own eyes.

And Pishon is the Ganges, so called among the Indians and the Ethiopians, but the Greeks call this the river Indus.

For it encircles the whole land of Havilah, both Lesser and Greater Ethiopia, the regions of the Havilites; and it passes through Greater Ethiopia, and falls toward the south, and empties, within Gadeira, into the great Ocean.

And we see the river as perceptible to the senses, and not as something allegorized;

for this is the river that flows down through Ethiopia and passes through Lesser Ethiopia, Anubitis, Blemmya, and Axomitis, and, flooding the regions of the Thebaid and Egypt, empties into that sea.

But if anyone disbelieves, let him hear Jeremiah saying, 'What have you to do with the land of Egypt, to drink the muddied water of Gihon?' 'The third river,' it says, 'is the Tigris, which flows opposite the Assyrians;'

for it cuts through the regions of the East, and sinks under the earth, and rises again from Armenia, between the Cardyaeans and the Armenians, and springs up once more, and cuts through into the land of the Assyrians.

And also the fourth river, the Euphrates, likewise, in the same way, sinking under the earth, rises up from Armenia, and thus floods Persia.

If, then, there is no perceptible paradise, there is no spring;

if there is no spring, there is no river;

if there is no river, there are no four heads;

If there is no Pishon, there is no Gihon, there is no Tigris;

If there is no Tigris, there is no Euphrates;

If there is no Euphrates, there is no fig tree, there are no leaves, there is no Adam, there is no eating, there is no Eve;

If there is no Eve, she did not eat from the tree;

If she did not eat from the tree, there is no Adam;

If there is no Adam, there are no human beings, but truth then becomes a myth, and everything is turned into allegory.

For we are from him, all of us being his race by succession, and we see him through the multitude in the succession.

For Adam begat Seth according to his own likeness and according to his own image.

For lest anyone should suppose that the one who was fashioned was one thing, and those who were begotten another, for this reason Scripture says, "according to his own likeness and according to his own image."

[He begat] Enoch; Enoch [begat] Methuselah; Methuselah [begat] Lamech; Lamech [begat] Noah; and the flood came to pass — not in allegory, but in truth — and every soul perished, but eight souls of men remained.

Again, if you hear the word "souls," do not suppose that they lack bodily forms.

For from one part the whole man is named.

For Scripture says, "Jacob went down into Egypt with seventy-five souls" — not because the souls followed along without bodies, but together with bodies;

Therefore it has called the whole man "souls."

"And we were in the ship about eighty souls," says Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles.

And custom is accustomed to call slaves "bodies."

"He is master," it is said, "of a hundred bodies";

Since the lordship of men has dominion over bodies but not over souls, for this reason they reasonably called slaves "bodies" together with their souls, in order to show the use made of the bodies.

And Noah came out of the ark, having begotten Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

We, then, are all descended from the aforementioned Adam by succession;

and the order [of succession] has not perished, nor are the things brought about by God turned into allegory.

There is, then, Adam, and there are fig leaves, and a fig tree, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life in the midst of paradise, and a serpent, and disobedience, and obedience, and there are rivers, and there is Eve, and the fashioned creature;

for all things are possible for God — both to change corruptible things into incorruption, and to cause the things on earth to continue in incorruption.

For this he came and demonstrated — taking corruptible flesh, clothing it with the Godhead, and showing it forth incorruptible.

For who shall bring a charge against God? But let us also look at another consideration.

"He cast them out," it says, "outside of paradise, and set the Cherubim and the flaming sword to guard the entrance of the tree of life."

And Adam and those with him, having gone out, dwelt opposite paradise.

Let no one be deceived by empty myths.

For God is able to raise up children from stones, and God is able also to change corruptible things into incorruption, and is able to make on earth the rest of paradise, whenever he willed.

For the earth does not belong to one God and heaven to another, but all things belong to the same [God], and as he wills he grants incorruption to each.

For indeed we know that the body of Adam too was fashioned from the earth, from which also our own bodies [are made], and we have hope of eternal life and of an incorruptible inheritance.

For indeed the body of the Savior too was from Mary, and it has been united spiritually to the incorruption of the Word in heaven.

All these things we have gathered together and set forth here, wishing to cast aside nothing of what has been written, but rather to be carried along in simplicity and to be found faithful before God, in the things which he has written for us in truth and has granted us the way of truth for our salvation;

But it is fitting to concede to him alone the knowledge of the things that are incomprehensible.

And again this Origen — may God pardon him for allegorizing fancies to men — has introduced another mythical theory, asserting that those things which the divine Scripture called "coats of skin," which God made for Adam and his company, are not [actual] coats of skin;

but he says that this "coat of skin" is the fleshly part of the body, or the body itself;

for after the disobedience, he says, and after eating of the tree, [God] clothed the souls with these bodies, that is, with this flesh.

And the whole statement is foolish to say.

For Origen himself, as it were, plays the sophist, and says:

"For was God a tanner, that he should tan hides and fashion coats for Adam and Eve? Such a notion is far more brutish [than fitting]."

[The rod] of Moses, though dry and made of wood, he turned into a living serpent that pursued Moses, from which Moses turned to flee, in order to show that it was no illusion, but that what happened was real.

And how is it that for forty years the people's garments did not wear out, and their hair did not grow long, and their sandals did not grow old? Let those fools who have followed Origen's derangement in this matter tell me;

When the Savior rose from the dead and left the linen cloths in the tomb, as it is written, did he then appear naked to the disciples, having risen from the dead with body and soul? But when he showed to Thomas and his companions his bones and his flesh, his hands and his side, clearly he was not naked.

Who then wove for him the garments [he wore] after the resurrection? But you will surely say to me that they were spiritual garments, which he had made for himself by his own will.

And if he was able to make such garments for himself, was he not able to make those coats of skin for Adam and his company by his own will? Indeed, Origen's allegory truly falls to the ground.

For if the flesh was created for Adam after he had eaten of the tree, then from where did God take the rib, before he had eaten? — since, having awoken from his trance, he says, "This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."

Henceforth, then, let no one give us further trouble. For thus the holy Church of God has believed from ancient times;

for Origen will not stand by us on the day of judgment.

For I truly marvel how some people put up with a man who has blasphemed his own Master.

Let such people read Origen's On First Principles, and let those who suppose themselves to be sons of the catholic Church learn from it, and let them not dare to separate the Son from the Godhead of the Father;

How did Origen not even deign to say that the Son sees the Father, but instead says:

"that the Son cannot see the Father, and the Holy Spirit cannot see the Son, and again the angels cannot see the Holy Spirit, and men cannot see the angels." And he has deceived himself all the more, and those whom he has deluded — but not the man of understanding and faith, who believes the truth and the spiritual teaching.

Cease, then, O Origen, and cease, you disciples of Origen;

for the apostles and the prophets speak the truth rather than you and your teacher;

for the divine Scripture speaks the truth in everything;

but understanding is needed, to know that God speaks the truth, and to believe him and his words, and to know the things graciously given by God — both those already granted and those that shall be — and to know, according to the promise, the resurrection of the dead in its fullness.

For every heresy speaks falsely, not having received the Holy Spirit according to the tradition of the fathers in the holy catholic Church of God.

And concerning all these things we shall again speak once more, according to our own weakness;

but we, the least and the humblest, having been deemed worthy by God to belong to the holy catholic Church of God, set forth, as far as our smallness is able, in part, its firm foundation concerning all things, for those who wish to take care for their own life.

And indeed what has been said concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit would have sufficed adequately;

let us be eager to clarify [this], gathering from every quarter the testimonies of the divine Scripture unto a breadth of feasting and exultation for the faithful who come upon them; again, let us not hesitate to show that our hope in God is secure and firm, because there is no variation whatsoever in Father and Son and Holy Spirit, but the Holy Trinity is of equal rank and consubstantial.

And we do not make this teaching from anywhere else, nor from our own private notions, but from our own life, that is, from the prophets and from the coming of our Savior and his love for mankind;

For he came, our life came, and showed us the light once more, having found us gone astray.

For we were, we were immersed in pride and blasphemies, in likenesses of idols, in the godlessness of spirits, in the commands of every evil.

These things, then, being present in me involuntarily — for I was not doing what I wished, but was driven to do what I hated, sin thus rendering its service to me — the holy Father sent his holy Son, and in his mercy saved me, and delivered me from all my corruptions.

For the grace of our Lord and Savior appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in the present age, awaiting the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;

who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify for himself a people of his own possession, zealous for good works;

having blotted out the handwriting that was against us, which because of its decrees was contrary to us, he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; and having stripped off the principalities and the powers, he made a public example of them boldly, triumphing over them in it.

Having shattered the gates of bronze and broken in pieces the bars of iron, he showed forth once more the light of life, stretching out his hand, making a way, pointing out the foundations of the heavens, deeming us worthy to dwell in paradise once again.

Therefore he has dwelt in us, and, giving us the righteous requirement of the law that is of the Spirit, for knowing him and knowing that the things concerning him are the beginning and end of life, he has become for us a law of righteousness, a law of faith, a law of the Spirit, free from the law of the flesh of sin.

Wherefore I delight in the law of God according to the inward man;

and Christ is within us, if indeed he dwells in us —

for he himself, having died, became the way of life on our behalf, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and was raised on our behalf, the cause of life;

He came, then, into the dispensation of the fullness of the times, even as it was promised to Abraham and the rest of the saints, to recapitulate all things in himself, both the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth;

But there was separation and enmity in the forbearance of God; yet he reconciled us in the body of his flesh, making the two one through himself — for he came as our peace — and having broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of the commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create the two into one new man, and he commanded that the Gentiles should be fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers, and fellow-heirs of the promise, saying: 'Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'

...of death, and he became to me righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

righteousness indeed, in that through faith in him he dissolved sin;

and sanctification, in that through water and spirit, and by his word, he set us free;

and redemption, in that his blood, the ransom of the true lamb, he gave up on my behalf, a propitiatory offering for the purification of the world, for the reconciliation of all things of heaven and earth, the mystery hidden before the ages and the generations, which he fulfills in the appointed times;

he himself will transform the body of our humiliation, that it may become conformed to his glory, according to the working of his power to subject even all things to himself;

for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

for he is both, God and man, mediator of God and men, the true house of God, a holy priesthood, the giver of the Holy Spirit who regenerates and again renews all things unto God;

for the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father;

The rain, uniting itself with trees and plants, produces a substance, each according to the likeness of its fruit; and in the olive it becomes rich oil, taking up from it its essential quality; and in the vine it is colored into sweet wine; and in the fig-tree it is sweetened into a fig; and in each of the seeds it grows into its own proper form —

so, I think, the Word of God became flesh in Mary, and was found man in the seed of Abraham, according to the promise;

for we have found the Messiah, of whom Moses wrote;

wherefore also that which is born of you shall be holy, and shall be called Son of the Most High;

Christ speaks in the angel, and the Master refashions himself in his own creation, having taken the form of a servant; and Mary draws up the Word for conception, as the earth draws up the rain, while the Word of God shows himself forth as a holy fruit,

taking up the nature of a mortal being.

This one was from her who drew him up as the earth draws up rain, and as the fleece, the fruit of the true hope, awaited by the saints in expectation;

even as Elizabeth said: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb' — whom the Word, being impassible, took to himself from humanity, thereby suffering;

this is the living bread, which came down from heaven and gives life;

this is the fruit of the true olive tree, the oil of anointing and of composition, which Moses prefigured;

this is the true vine, which the Father alone tends, having begotten for us the cluster of joy;

this is the living water, which the thirsty man, having received it, will not thirst again, but it is in his belly, welling up unto eternal life;

Receiving from this, the new husbandmen imparted it to the world, but the old husbandmen dried it up and destroyed it through unbelief;

with his own blood he sanctifies the nations, and by his own Spirit he leads up the called into the heavens;

as many, then, as are led by his Spirit, these live unto God;

these are called carnal;

he commands, then, to set aside the works of the flesh, which are the strongholds of sin, and to put to death the members that belong to death, and through his grace to receive the Holy Spirit, which we did not have — the Spirit which gives life to me, who was formerly dead, which if I do not receive, I shall die;

for apart from his Spirit everyone is dead;

if, then, his Spirit is in us, he who raised him from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in us;

but, I think, both dwell in the righteous man — Christ and his Spirit;

But if Christ is believed to be, from the Father, God from God, and the Spirit is believed to be from Christ or from both, as Christ himself says — 'which proceeds from the Father,' and 'this one will take of what is mine' — while Christ is from the Holy Spirit (for concerning that which is in her it is said, 'of the Holy Spirit' — the voice of an angel) — I comprehend the mystery that redeems me, by faith, by hearing alone, by the love toward him who came to me.

for God knows himself, Christ proclaims himself, the Holy Spirit reveals itself to the saints;

but in the holy Scriptures a Trinity is proclaimed to us and is believed, without over-curious inquiry, without contentiousness, from the tokens conveyed by hearing;

and from this faith comes the salvation of grace; from faith comes righteousness apart from works of the law;

for it is written that the Spirit of Christ is given by the hearing of faith to those who are being saved;

and the universal faith is signified by this in the voices of the heralds, as I myself think, being catechized from the Scriptures;

three holy, three co-holy; three existing, three co-existing; three formed, three co-formed; three working, three co-working; three subsisting in hypostasis, three co-subsisting, being together with one another;

this Trinity is called holy — being three, one harmony, one Godhead, of the same essence, of the same Godhead, of the same hypostasis, like from like, working an equality of grace of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But the 'how' of it is left for them alone to teach.

for no one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father, and to whomsoever the Son wills to reveal him;

and he reveals him through the Holy Spirit;

these three, then, being either from him, or beside him, or towards him, are apprehended by each person worthily, according as they reveal themselves — light, fire, spirit — and, I think, by other likenesses drawn from visions, according as the man being ministered to is worthy;

I say, then, that Christ became a minister of the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, to fulfill the promises, and that the Holy Spirit ministers together with him;

for we have received it thus from the divine Scriptures:

Christ is sent from the Father; the Holy Spirit is sent;

Christ speaks among the saints; the Holy Spirit speaks;

Christ heals; the Holy Spirit heals;

Christ sanctifies; the Holy Spirit sanctifies;

Christ baptizes; the Holy Spirit baptizes in his name;

thus say the Scriptures:

'You will send forth your Spirit, and you will renew the face of the earth' — similar to saying, 'You will send forth your word and melt them';

and while they were ministering to the Lord, it says, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said:

'Enter into the city, and there it shall be told you what you must do';

they, then, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia — as Christ might say, 'Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves';