屬靈講道集 第 1 章 第 29/36 段

Let us hasten, then, to come to him with our whole heart, not despairing of our own salvation—which is itself a cunning trick of evil, which by reminding a person of former sins brings him to despair and to slackness, negligence, and indifference, so that he may not turn and come to the Lord and obtain salvation.

He turned even one man—who had come to such great madness—back to soundness of mind.

How much more, then, will he not turn back a soul that turns to him and seeks mercy from him and asks for his help, and bring it to the soundness of mind of dispassion and the stable condition of virtue and the renewal of the mind, and change it into health and the recovered sight of the understanding and a reasoning of peace, and bring it out of the blindness and deadness of ignorance and unbelief and fearlessness into the sound-mindedness of every virtue and purity of heart? For he who created the body himself also made the soul, and, having come to dwell on earth, he bestowed with lavish kindness upon those who came to him and sought his help and healing whatever each one needed, as a good and the only physician.

If, then, he was so moved with compassion for perishable, dying bodies, and readily and kindly supplied to each what he sought, how much more, for the immortal soul, indissoluble and incorruptible, yet lying in the sickness of ignorance, evil, unbelief, and fearlessness, and reclining in the darkness of wickedness and the remaining passions of sin—when it comes to him and seeks his help, and looks toward his mercy, and desires to receive from him the grace of the Spirit for its redemption and salvation and deliverance from all evil and passion—will he not all the more readily accomplish the redemption of its healing?

How much more will our heavenly Father execute justice for those who cry out to him night and day? And he adds:

"Yes, I say to you, he will execute their justice speedily." And again he exhorts:

"Ask, and it will be given to you;"

"Knock, and it will be opened to you."

"For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."

How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? And again:

"Amen, I say to you, even if he will not give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as much as he needs."

By all these things he exhorted us to ask importunately, without growing weary, and unceasingly, for the assistance of his grace.

For he came for the sake of sinners, that he might turn them to himself and heal those who believe in him.

Let us only, as far as is in our power, lift ourselves away from evil prepossessions, and hate base practices and the deceits of the world, and turn away from the wicked and vain thoughts within us, and always, with whatever power is in us, cling to him by our own choice, and he will readily grant us his help.

For indeed he is one who shows mercy and saves and heals incurable passions and works redemption for those who call upon him, and who receives those who turn to him and, with whatever power they have, depart by will and choice from all worldly love, drawing their understanding away from the earth and suspending it upon the Lord alone in their seeking and longing for him.

Such a soul is counted worthy of his help—the soul that, by will and full choice, seeks him alone, and considers all else superfluous, and rests in nothing of this world, but awaits to rest and to be glorified in the rest of his grace.

Human nature, having come under the sentence of the wrath of God, and having fallen, through the transgression of the first-formed Adam, from that former pure and dispassionate condition, and having become entangled with the evil of the passions, and having been overpowered by them through the deceit of the evil one, is unable to deliver itself from the bitter slavery of darkness.

Therefore there was need for the divine and heavenly power to be united and joined with it, so that through it, having obtained redemption from the passions and help in the virtues, it might be able to attain to the practice of the virtues of the original purity, and thus render to the Lord the perfect fruits of righteousness.

Therefore also the coming of the Lord took place, he having beforehand made provision through the fathers and through the prophets, that he might help the weakness of men, and might work upon the hearts of those who believe through his Spirit, so that they might be able to bring forth the heavenly fruits of grace.

For each of the visible things, unless some other, foreign nature shares in helping its own working, is by itself alone unworked, unfit, and destitute of adornment, being unable by itself alone to accomplish the arrangement of its beauty.

For the ineffable wisdom of God, showing forth mysteries and types through visible creatures, ordained that they should need one another's work for their adornment, each being shown to be incomplete in itself with regard to beauty and workmanship—as a type of human nature, which is unable, of itself alone, to display the arrangement of perfect virtues and the spiritual beauty of loveliness apart from the divine and heavenly power.

Let us receive full assurance of this from examples.

The earth, remaining by itself, is unfit, unless it receives, through the farmers, the careful cultivation of labor, so that they clear away from it all the thorns and thistles and lay in the seed; then thus it may receive the rain from heaven, and thus, through the air and the sun, the fruits in it may grow. For by itself alone it is unable to render its fruits complete.

Or just as, if there is a house and all its structure is made of earth:

it needs the light from heaven and the sun, which is not of its own nature, so that it may, through the illumination of the light, possess beauty and loveliness.

In the same manner, human nature also, having fallen under the sin of the passions and having come into weakness with regard to the virtues, is unable to help itself and to escape from the tyranny of the passions, so as to be able to render perfect fruits of the virtues to the heavenly Master.

Therefore the good and loving God was pleased, in his great goodness, to grant to our souls the wealth of the Spirit, that is, the Spirit of Christ, which is not of our nature — for we are creatures, but it is uncreated — so that, having worked and cultivated the hearts of the faithful by its own knowledge and skill, it might prepare those who have given themselves wholly, with their whole will, to the spiritual husbandman, so that, having received the rain of grace from heaven, they might be able to bear the fruits of the Spirit and render the produce of righteousness complete to the heavenly Master, and then inherit the blessing from heaven.

...of our nature, in the house of the soul darkened by the passions, so that in this way the dread darkness of sin might be driven out from the human substance, and the beauty of the house of the soul might be revealed through the shining forth of the spiritual and heavenly light, and thus it might be able to possess gracefulness and comeliness and all the adornment of the virtues through the divine Spirit, when the sun of righteousness, which is not of our nature, shall shine in us, according to what is said:

that you may become partakers of the divine nature.

For the soul, having fallen under sin and having become, through the terrible working of the passions caused by the spirits of wickedness, hardened and bitter, alienated from that former pure and blessed condition, took on, contrary to its own good nature, the passions of wickedness, which no one is able to remove from it and restore it to the ancient state of purity, except that which is foreign to our nature, which is the power of the divine Spirit.

For having visited the faithful soul, it will dissolve every hardness and every evil and intruded passion, and will restore it to the ancient nobility of the purity of the virtues.

In the season of winter, the bitterness of the harsh winds and the cold of the frosts change and transform the earth from its soft nature into much hardness and roughness.

Likewise it also works the most tender nature of the waters, through freezing, into the nature of stone;

For you see that in the time of the harsh winter even the greatest rivers, especially in the arctic regions, are transformed by the cold into a solidity and likeness of stone, so that even animals walk upon the rivers.

Neither, then, can they be restored to their own natural softness, nor can any of men, even if all should come together, restore these to their own order by their own strength, because a certain other icy nature has entered in and mingled with the waters and changed them into a certain stony condition.

And who is able to restore these to their own nature of softness, except that which is foreign to their nature, namely the sun?

Entering in by its own working of heat, it will dissolve every icy nature of coldness, and will restore each thing to its own condition of softness.

In the very same way man too, having come under sin through the transgression from the beginning, has fallen into the bitter and dread winter of the evil... having received the rain of grace from heaven, they may be able to bear the fruits of the Spirit and render the produce of righteousness complete to the heavenly Master, and then inherit the blessing from heaven.

For he himself was pleased also to make the sun of righteousness shine, which is not of our nature, in the house of the soul darkened by the passions, so that in this way the dread darkness of sin might be driven out from the human substance, and the beauty of the house of the soul might be revealed through the shining forth of the spiritual and heavenly light, and thus it might be able to possess gracefulness and comeliness and all the adornment of the virtues through the divine Spirit, when the sun of righteousness, which is not of our nature, shall shine in us, according to what is said:

that you may become partakers of the divine nature.

For the soul, having fallen under sin and having become, through the terrible working of the passions caused by the spirits of wickedness, hardened and bitter, alienated from that former pure and blessed condition, took on, contrary to its own good nature, the passions of wickedness, which no one is able to remove from it and restore it to the ancient state of purity, except that which is foreign to our nature, which is the power of the divine Spirit.

...to the faithful soul, will dissolve every hardness and every evil and intruded passion, and will restore it to the ancient nobility of the purity of the virtues.

In the season of winter, the bitterness of the harsh winds and the cold of the frosts change and transform the earth from its soft nature into much hardness and roughness.

Likewise it also works the most tender nature of the waters, through freezing, into the nature of stone;

For you see that in the time of the harsh winter even the greatest rivers, especially in the arctic regions, are transformed by the cold into a solidity and likeness of stone, so that even animals walk upon the rivers.

Neither, then, can they be restored to their own natural softness, nor can any of men, even if all should come together, restore these to their own order by their own strength, because a certain other icy nature has entered in and mingled with the waters and changed them into a certain stony condition.

And who is able to restore these to their own nature of softness, except that which is foreign to their nature, namely the sun?

Entering in by its own working of heat, it will dissolve every icy nature of coldness, and will restore each and every thing to its own condition of softness.

In the very same way, man too, having come under sin through the transgression from the beginning, has fallen into the bitter and dread winter of the evil spirits, and all the contrary winds of the wickedness of the passions blow upon the soul, and the coldness of the power of darkness, having entered into it, has changed that sacred and pure condition of the tender heart into an unruly hardness of carnal-mindedness and transgression of the holy commandments, and has transformed the nature of gracefulness present in every virtue into a certain bitter and bound-up condition, and has altogether changed the soul's former sound, most gentle, and lovely state into a stony, confused, and evil quality.

And who is able to restore this soul to that ancient, pure, and most tender condition, and to subject it in truth to the law of God, to act in the blameless observance of all the commandments, except that which is foreign to our nature, the sun of righteousness, Christ, should shine into it with the sweetest rays of his splendor, so that it may thus be able, by the heat of its own heavenly and holy fire, to dissolve all the bitter wickedness of the darkness of the passions, and to restore to its own goodness in the former virtues the faithful soul that has given itself wholly to the Lord? For if one does not present his own will wholly to the Lord, having given himself over in every respect, he will not attain to that redemption and purity.

Blessed, therefore, are the Christians who, through their faith and supplication and much diligence in the virtues, have attained to this ineffable and eternal benefaction, and have become partakers of the heavenly man, and have received knowledge of the heavenly mysteries of the Spirit by experience and perception — these, even if they appear on earth walking in the body, possess their citizenship and the conduct of their mind in the heavens; these are superior and greater and more powerful than all men.

For never has any man, whether rulers or the powerful or the wise or the intelligent or the prudent or the glorious, been able to ascend into heaven and there to work spiritual works, and to behold the beauties of the ineffable lights that are there, and to be deemed worthy to see wondrous and paradoxical mysteries, such as the true Christians are deemed worthy of.

With the full assurance of the mind and of the thoughts, with the whole disposition of the soul, he ascends into heaven, being guided by the Spirit, and there he works works of immortal and ineffable life, and there he dwells, and he beholds through faith, with all assurance, the wondrous things of God that are there and the extraordinary beauties of spiritual realities.

But our citizenship exists in the heavens; and again:

Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him; and he adds:

but to us he has revealed them through his Spirit.

You see how much better and greater and more powerful, and working a true and eternal work, are those worthy of God, than all the men on earth, whether magnates or potentates or the wise or kings.

For what no man is able to do, these alone do, being deemed worthy from now on to grasp spiritual works in the heavens and the mysteries of heavenly realities.

These, therefore, are truly the wise, these the powerful, these the noble, these the glorious, these the rich, who have acquired the heavenly kinship of the Spirit and have been mingled into the heavenly church of the saints and have inwardly put on the heavenly man — though as far as outward appearance goes they are poor, needy,

similar to the rest of men, walking about in the same way, likewise conversing through the fleshly tongue, laboring and hungering and sleeping, because it is not yet the time for the flesh to receive incorruption;

for this is reserved for the resurrection.

Those, therefore, who are able to understand who the true Christians really are within, see how great a difference there is between them and all the men of the world.

For indeed it was thus also with the Lord in that time:

Those who wished to be healed came to him as to a man bearing flesh; but as they drew near, the heavenly Word, God, invisible within to the eyes of the body, performed the paradoxical and wondrous signs, especially for those who came to him with faith.

Whence also the devil was not a little disturbed, being deceived by the flesh of the Lord;

for while the Lord kept still, that one was troubled, seeing outwardly a man like all men, but seeing great wonders being accomplished through him, he was astonished and gripped with fear as to what he should do, because what was seen of him was a man laboring and hungering and sleeping, but what was being done through him was not of a man.

For, being blinded by the human sufferings of the Lord through the ignorance of his own wickedness, and supposing the Lord to be a man like one of the righteous, he attempted, through his subjects, to bring about his destruction.

To whom the Lord, as it were, said:

"O devil, why are you troubled while I am at rest? What is disturbing you?" And he said:

"The things accomplished through you," he says, "disturb me and cause me dreadful confusion."

"For what is seen of you is a man, but what is done through you is not of a man." For having enticed him through the passible and mortal flesh to his own destruction, and through death, the Lord annulled all his tyranny.

For it was because of the flesh that the devil attempted the destruction of the Lord, but his evil spirits, since the Lord was in the body, being burned by the heavenly fire of the Godhead, cried out:

"What have we to do with you, Son of God? ...Have you come here before the time to torment us?" Thus, then, are also those who belong to Christ.

Jesus dwells in them according to their measure; and as servants of Christ, receiving grace from him, they appear outwardly to be like other men, and needy and destitute of worldly things, but inwardly the indwelling power of the Spirit burns even the demons themselves.

For the evil spirits cry out before the servants of God, confessing that they are being burned,

and that in fighting against them and contending with them, they are altogether defeated by the Christians.

Behold what dignity and power these attain to, even though in their bodies they are held in contempt, such that all created things and the devil are defeated by them.

But in order that we may bring proof for this statement, let us recall a few of the men of God recorded in the Scriptures, what sort of men they are.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, when he made that great golden image, a work of astonishment and amazement, and commanded all the nations of the earth to be gathered into that great plain, so that they might worship the golden image of the king — who could have scattered that scheme and counsel, except God alone, who through his ineffable wisdom accomplished a great dispensation through that scheme? He first handed Israel over to Nebuchadnezzar into captivity, so that his people might be disciplined on account of their sins, and the contrivance of wickedness through the image might be dissolved, and he might make manifest what sort of men his own servants are, and so that all the nations gathered for the worship of the image might learn from the valor of the three youths that there is a God in heaven, and might come to know him.

The Lord wished to bring about a certain spectacle, and, so to speak, a certain theater, with all the nations gathered together, and likewise also the powers above in the heavens, so that all might see the exploits and valorous deeds of the servants of God.

Therefore he brought forward the three youths, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, and they were accused before the king, that they do not worship the golden image which he had set up. So the three youths were brought into the midst.

They are questioned by the king:

"Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods, and do not worship the golden image which I set up?" They speak boldly to the king in reply:

"We do not serve your gods, and we do not worship the golden image which you set up."

"Cast us into the furnace of fire."

"For there is a God in heaven who will deliver us from the fire, and he will rescue us from your hands, O king; but even if not, be it known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods." So then, observe here: all the peoples, nations, magnates, and kings were against them; all were opposed to them, and every creature, visible and invisible, of the wicked powers, was against them; and the three youths conquered every creature, visible and invisible.

See how great a power there is in the servants of God.

For when they were cast into the furnace of fire, the flames were split apart, and they were preserved unharmed because of their perfect faith toward their God, and thus they came out of the furnace unhurt, having carried off the victory over all.

Then the whole heavenly church of the angels and the holy powers cried out over them, having beheld them as victors,

and the whole assembly of the nations on earth also applauded them:

for, by a change of heart, both the king himself and those under him worshiped the God of Israel instead of the golden image.

Behold, this theater came about for the testing of the servants of God.

For, says the apostle, "we have become a theater to angels and to men."

You see that, as we have said before, the heavenly beings also come together for the valorous deeds of the saints.

And elsewhere, too, at various times, God brought about, so to speak, a spectacle and a theater for those above and those below, as in the case of Elijah:

One man prevailed against many myriads through the descent of heavenly fire upon the altar, and all those could not defeat one man of God.

Likewise also in the case of Moses.

There too a theater of God's power came to be;

against one man, Moses, all Egypt had no power, and he alone conquered all the might of Pharaoh.

He brought plagues upon them and subdued them in every way, until at last, delivering them over to the sea, He caused them to be drowned, because they had risen up against the people of God.

Likewise the same thing happened in the case of Lot.

He alone was able, by prevailing, to escape the fire and be saved together with his daughters.

For he alone, being saved together with his own, conquered the world.

For while all others went to destruction and utter ruin, he alone was able to escape the wrath of God, because of his perfect pleasing of Him.

We have demonstrated these things, beloved brethren, to establish how great in power the perfect Christians are, so that they conquer all visible things and the whole world.

And the spirits of wickedness, warring against them, are defeated; and the worthy servants of Christ prove superior to all these, because of the power of God dwelling within them.

For all visible things, and the invisible spirits of wickedness, are opposed to them and wage war against them.

Twofold, therefore, is the warfare for Christians, and twofold the struggle: against the things seen by this bodily eye, and against the principalities and powers of the ruler of this world.

For the things seen by these eyes provoke and titillate, inciting the soul to be bound to them, held fast by them, and to delight in them—or rather, wickedness itself binds those subject to it to visible things.

But that I may show that this is so, hear the Lord in the Gospel speaking of the seed that fell on thorny ground, that the thorns grew up and choked it; and the Lord interprets the thorns to be the cares and anxieties of life.

And elsewhere he plainly sets forth those who were invited to the king's wedding feast but were unwilling to go, because of the affairs of daily life.

For the first, he says, said:

'I have bought a field, and I must go and see it; have me excused.'

'I have bought some yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; have me excused.'

'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

It is clear that these are the visible things on account of which they were unable to go to the king's wedding feast.

Twofold, then, as has been said, is the warfare for Christians, and each one who wishes to please the Lord has a twofold contest and combat to fight, and affliction to endure.

For when someone withdraws from parents, from wife, or possessions, or luxury, or homeland, or habits, and, so to speak, overcomes and prevails over these—for these too are warfare—then, having gathered himself together, given himself leisure for the Lord, and turned inward into his own soul, he has yet again a war and a great contest against the opposing powers, against invisible enemies and the workings of darkness; against these he must fight and contend, having taken up heavenly weapons, so that he may be able to conquer the terrible and bitter warfare of wickedness.

But lest we seem to be saying these things on our own authority, hear the Apostle saying:

'No temptation has overtaken us but such as is human' (that is, visible)—so that there is also a temptation and warfare that is not human, but invisible; and again:

'Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.'

'Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.'

'For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness.'

So then, there are principalities and powers and rulers of the world and spiritual hosts of wickedness, against which we must contend and war.

And where are these, and where do they wage war? Within, in the soul, in the reasonings of the mind.

'the breastplate of righteousness'

'above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.'

'and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.'

And he adds how one may find and acquire these: 'with all prayer,' he says, 'and supplication, praying at all times, and to this very end being watchful with all perseverance and supplication.'

He has taught, then, how we must find the spiritual weapons by which we are able to put the invisible enemies to flight.

But the Lord also, alluding to this twofold warfare—that which comes through visible things and that which comes through the evil one—said: