Excerpts

Selections from the Prophetic Scriptures

I. Those around Sedrach, Misak, and Abednago in the furnace of fire say as they praise God, “Bless, you heavens, the Lord; praise and exalt Him for ever;” then, “Bless, you angels, the Lord;” then, “Bless the Lord, all you waters that are above heaven.” So the Scriptures assign the heavens and the waters to the class of pure powers as is shown in Genesis. Suitably, then, inasmuch as “power” is used with a variety of meaning, Daniel adds, “Let every power bless the Lord;” then, further, “Bless the Lord, sun and moon;” and, “Bless the Lord, you stars of heaven. Bless the Lord, all you that worship Him; praise and confess the God of gods, for His mercy is for ever.” It is written in Daniel, on the occasion of the three children praising in the furnace.

II. “Blessed are You, who looks on the abysses as You sit on the cherubim,” says Daniel, in agreement with Enoch, who said, “And I saw all sorts of matter.” For the abyss, which is in its essence boundless, is bounded by the power of God. These material essences then, from which the separate genera and their species are produced, are called abysses; since you would not call the water alone the abyss, although matter is allegorically called water, the abyss.

III. “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth,” both terrestrial and celestial things. And that this is true, the Lord said to Osee, “Go, take to yourself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication: because the land committing fornication, shall commit fornication, departing from the Lord.” For it is not the element of earth that he speaks of, but those that dwell in the element, those who have an earthly disposition.

IV. And that the Son is the beginning or head, Hosea teaches clearly: “And it shall be, that in the place in which it was said to them, You are not my people, they shall be called the children of the living God: and the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered to the same place, and they shall place over them one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great is the day of Jezreel.” For whom one believes, him He chooses. But one believes the Son, who is the head; wherefore also he said in addition: “But I will have mercy on the sons of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God.” Now the Saviour who saves is the Son of God. He is then the head.

V. The Spirit by Osee says, “I am your Instructor;” “Blow the trumpet upon the hills of the Lord; sound upon the high places.” And is not baptism itself, which is the sign of regeneration, an escape from matter, by the teaching of the Saviour, a great impetuous stream, ever rushing on and bearing us along? The Lord accordingly, leading us out of disorder, illumines us by bringing us into the light, which is shadowless and is material no longer.

VI. This river and sea of matter two prophets cut asunder and divided by the power of the Lord, the matter being bounded, through both divisions of the water. Famous leaders both, by whom the signs were believed, they complied with the will of God, so that the righteous man may proceed from matter, having journeyed through it first. On the one of these commanders also was imposed the name of our Saviour.

VII. Now, regeneration is by water and spirit, as was all creation: “For the Spirit of God moved on the abyss.” And for this reason the Saviour was baptized, though not Himself needing to be so, in order that He might consecrate the whole water for those who were being regenerated. Thus it is not the body only, but the soul, that we cleanse. It is accordingly a sign of the sanctifying of our invisible part, and of the straining off from the new and spiritual creation of the unclean spirits that have got mixed up with the soul.

VIII. “The water above the heaven.” Since baptism is performed by water and the Spirit as a protection against the twofold fire—that which lays hold of what is visible, and that which lays hold of what is invisible; and of necessity, there being an immaterial element of water and a material, is it a protection against the twofold fire. And the earthly water cleanses the body; but the heavenly water, by reason of its being immaterial and invisible, is an emblem of the Holy Spirit, who is the purifier of what is invisible, as the water of the Spirit, as the other of the body.

IX. God, out of goodness, has mingled fear with goodness. For what is beneficial for each one, that He also supplies, as a physician to a sick man, as a father to his insubordinate child: “For he that spares his rod hates his son.” And the Lord and His apostles walked in the midst of fear and labours. When, then, the affliction is sent in the person of a righteous man, it is either from the Lord rebuking him for a sin committed before, or guarding him on account of the future, or not preventing by the exercise of His power an assault from without, — for some good end to him and to those near, for the sake of example.

X. Now those that dwell in a corrupt body, like those who sail in an old ship, do not lie on their back, but are ever praying, stretching their hands to God.

XI. The ancients were exceedingly distressed, unless they had always some suffering in the body. For they were afraid, that if they received not in this world the punishment of the sins which, in numbers through ignorance, accompany those that are in the flesh, they would in the other world suffer the penalty all at once. So that they preferred curative treatment here. What is to be dreaded is, then, not external disease, but sins, for which disease comes, and disease of the soul, not of the body: “For all flesh is grass,” and corporeal and external good things are temporary; “but the things which are unseen are eternal.”

XII. As to knowledge, some elements of it we already possess; others, by what we do possess, we firmly hope to attain. For neither have we attained all, nor do we lack all. But we have received, as it were, an earnest of the eternal blessings, and of the ancestral riches. The provisions for the Lord's way are the Lord's beatitudes. For He said: “Seek,” and anxiously seek, “the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you: for the Father knows what things you have need of.” Thus He limits not only our occupations, but our cares. For He says: “You cannot, by taking thought, add anything to your stature.” For God knows well what it is good for us to have and what to want. He wishes, therefore, that we, emptying ourselves of worldly cares, should be filled with that which is directed towards God. “For we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with that which is incorruptible, before putting off corruption.” For when faith is shed abroad, unbelief is nonplussed. Similarly also with knowledge and righteousness. We must therefore not only empty the soul, but fill it with God. For no longer is there evil in it, since that has been made to cease; nor yet is there good, since it has not yet received good. But what is neither good nor evil is nothing. “For to the swept and empty house return,” if none of the blessings of salvation has been put in, the unclean spirit that dwelt there before, taking with him seven other unclean spirits. Wherefore, after emptying the soul of what is evil, we must fill with the good God that which is His chosen dwelling-place. For when the empty rooms are filled, then follows the seal, that the sanctuary may be guarded for God.

XIII. “By two and three witnesses every word is established.” By Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, by whose witness and help the prescribed commandments ought to be kept.