John of Damascus Search This Resource     in this Authorin this Sectionin all Sections   Book IV. Chapter I. Concerning what followed the Resurrection. After Christ was risen from the dead He laid aside all His passions, I mean His corruption or hunger or thirst or sleep or weariness or such like. For, although He did taste food after the resurrection(1) , yet He did not do so because it was a law of His nature (for He felt no hunger), but in the way of economy, in order that He might convince us of the reality of the resurrection, and that it was one and the same flesh which suffered and rose again(2) . But He laid aside none of the divisions of His nature, neither body nor spirit, but possesses both the body and the soul intelligent and reasonable, volitional and energetic, and in this wise He sits at the right hand of the Father, using His will both as God and as man in behalf of our salvation, energising in His divine capacity to provide for and maintain and govern all things, and remembering in His human capacity the time He spent on earth, while all the time He both sees and knows that He is adored by all rational creation. For His Holy Spirit knows that He is one in substance with God the Word, and shares as Spirit of God and not simply as Spirit the worship accorded to Him. Moreover, His ascent from earth to heaven, and again, His descent from heaven to earth, are manifestations of the energies of His circumscribed body. For He shall so come again to you, saith he, in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven(3) . Chapter II. Concerning the sitting at the right hand of the Father. We hold, moreover, that Christ sits in the body at the right hand of God the Father, but we do not hold that the right hand of the Father is actual place. For how could He that is uncircumscribed have a right hand limited by place? Right hands and left hands belong to what is circumscribed. But we understand the right hand of the Father to be the glory and honour of the Godhead in which the Son of God, who existed as God before the ages, and is of like essence to the Father, and in the end became flesh, has a seat in the body, His flesh sharing in the glory. For He along with His flesh is adored with one adoration by all creation(4) . Chapter III. In reply to those who say(5) "If Christ has two natures, either ye do service to the creature in worshipping created nature, or ye say that there is one nature to be worshipped, and another not to be worshipped." Along with the Father and the Holy Spirit we worship the Son of God, Who was incorporeal before He took on humanity, and now in His own person is incarnate and has become man though still being also God. His flesh, then, in its own nature(6) , if one were to make subtle mental distinctions between what is seen and what is thought, is not deserving of worship since it is created. But as it is united with God the Word, it is worshipped on account of Him and in Him. For just as the king deserves homage alike when un-robed and when robed, and just as the purple robe, considered simply as a purple robe, is trampled upon and tossed about, but after becoming the royal dress receives all honour and glory, and whoever dishonours it is generally condemned to death: and again, just as wood in itself(7) is not of such a nature that it cannot be touched, but becomes so when fire is applied to it, and it becomes charcoal, and yet this is not because of its own nature, but because of the fire united to it, and the nature of the wood is not such as cannot be touched, but rather the charcoal or burning wood: so also the flesh, in its own nature, is not to be worshipped, but is worshipped in the incarnate God Word, not because of itself, but because of its union in subsistence with God the Word. And we do not say that we worship mere flesh, but God's flesh, that is, God incarnate. Chapter IV. Why it was the Son of God, and not the Father or the Spirit, that became man: and what having became man He achieved. The Father is Father(8) and not Son(9) : the Son is Son and not Father: the Holy Spirit is Spirit and not Father or Son. For the individuality(10) is unchangeable. How, indeed, could individuality continue to exist at all if it were ever changing and altering? Wherefore the Son of God became Son of Man in order that His individuality might endure. For since He was the Son of God, He became Son of Man, being made flesh of the holy Virgin and not losing the individuality of Sonship(11) . Further, the Son of God became man, in order that He might again bestow on man that favour for the sake of which He created him. For He created him after His own image, endowed with intellect and free-will, and after His own likeness, that is to say, perfect in all virtue so far as it is possible for man's nature to attain perfection. For the following properties are, so to speak, marks of the divine nature: viz. absence of care and distraction and guile, goodness, wisdom, justice, freedom from all vice. So then, after He had placed man in communion with Himself (for having made him for incorruption(12) , He led him up through communion wills Himself to incorruption), and when moreover, through the transgression of the command we had confused and obliterated the marks of the divine image, and had become evil, we were stripped of our communion with God (for what communion hath light with darkness(13) ?): and having been shut out from life we became subject to the corruption of death: yea, since He gave us to share in the better part, and we did not keep it secure, He shares in the inferior part, I mean our own nature, in order that through Himself and in Himself He might renew that which was made after His image and likeness, and might teach us, too, the conduct of a virtuous life, making through Himself the way thither easy for us, and might by the communication of life deliver us from corruption, becoming Himself the firstfruits of our resurrection, and might renovate the useless and worn vessel calling us to the knowledge of God that He might redeem us from the tyranny of the devil, and might strengthen and teach us how to overthrow the tyrant through patience and humility(14) . The worship of demons then has ceased: creation has been sanctified by the divine blood: altars and temples of idols have been overthrown, the knowledge of God has been implanted in men's minds, the co-essential Trinity, the uncreate divinity, one true God, Creator and Lord of all receives men's service: virtues are cultivated, the hope of resurrection has been granted through the resurrection of Christ, the demons shudder at those men who of old were under their subjection. And the marvel, indeed, is that all this has been successfully brought about through His cross and passion and death. Throughout all the earth the Gospel of the knowledge of God has been preached; no wars or weapons or armies being used to rout the enemy, but only a few, naked, poor, illiterate, persecuted and tormented men, who with their lives in their hands, preached Him Who was crucified in the flesh and died, and who became victors over the wise and powerful. For the omnipotent power of the Cross accompanied them. Death itself, which once was maws chiefest terror, has been overthrown, and now that which was once the object of hate and loathing is preferred to life. These are the achievements of Christ's presence: these are the tokens of His power. For it was not one people that He saved, as when through Moses He divided the sea and delivered Israel out of Egypt and the bondage of Pharaoh(15) ; nay, rather He rescued all mankind from the corruption of death and the bitter tyranny of sin: not leading them by force to virtue, not overwhelming them with earth or burning them with fire, or ordering the sinners to be stoned, but persuading men by gentleness and long-suffering to choose virtue and vie with one another, and find pleasure in the struggle to attain it. For, formerly, it was sinners who were persecuted, and yet they clung all the closer to sin, and sin was looked upon by them as their God: but now for the sake of piety and virtue men choose persecutions and crucifixions and death. Hail! O Christ, the Word and Wisdom and Power of God, and God omnipotent! What can we helpless ones give Thee in return for all these good gifts? For all are Thine, and Thou askest naught from us save our salvation, Thou Who Thyself art the Giver of this, and yet art grateful to those who receive it, through Thy unspeakable goodness. Thanks be to Thee Who gave us life, and granted us the grace of a happy life, and restored us to that, when we had gone astray, through Thy unspeakable condescension. Chapter V. In reply to those who ask if Christ's subsistence is create or uncreate. The subsistence(16) of God the Word before the Incarnation was simple and uncompound, and incorporeal and uncreate: but after it became flesh, it became also the subsistence of the flesh, and became compounded of divinity which it always possessed, and of flesh which it had assumed: and it bears the properties of the two natures, being made known in two natures: so that the one same subsistence is both uncreate in divinity and create in humanity, visible and invisible. For otherwise we are compelled either to divide the one Christ and speak of two subsistences, or to deny the distinction between the natures and thus introduce change and confusion. Chapter VI. Concerning the question, when Christ was called. The mind was not united with God the Word, as some falsely assert(17) , before the Incarnation by the Virgin and from that time called Christ. That is the absurd nonsense of Origen(18) who lays down the doctrine of the priority of the existence of souls. But we hold that the Son and Word of God became Christ after He had dwelt in the womb of His holy ever-virgin Mother, and became flesh without change, and that the flesh was anointed with divinity. For this is the anointing of humanity, as Gregory the Theologian says(19) . And here are the words of the most holy Cyril of Alexandria which he wrote to the Emperor Theodosius(20) : "For I indeed hold that one ought to give the name Jesus Christ neither to the Word that is of God if He is without humanity, nor yet to the temple born of woman if it is not united with the Word. For the Word that is of God is understood to be Christ when united with humanity in ineffable manner in the union of the oeconomy(21) ." And again, he writes to the Empresses thus(22) : "Some hold that the name `Christ' is rightly given to the Word that is begotten of God the Father, to Him alone, and regarded separately by Himself. But we have not been taught so to think and speak. For when the Word became flesh, then it was, we say, that He was called Christ Jesus. For since He was anointed with the oil of gladness, that is the Spirit, by Him Who is God and Father, He is for this reason(23) called Christ. But that the anointing was an act that concerned Him as man could be doubted by no one who is accustomed to think rightly." Moreover, the celebrated Athanasius says this in his discourse "Concerning the Saving Manifestation:" "The God Who was before the sojourn in the flesh was not man, but God in God, being invisible and without passion, but when He became man, He received in addition the name of Christ because of the flesh, since, indeed, passion and death follow in the train of this name." And although the holy Scripture(24) says, Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness(25) , it is to be observed that the holy Scripture often uses the past tense instead of the future, as for example here: Thereafter He was seen upon the earth and dwelt among men(26) . For as yet God was not seen nor did He dwell among men when this was said. And here again: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea wept(27) . For as yet these things had not come to pass. Chapter VII. In answer to those who enquire whether the holy Mother of God bore two natures, and whether two natures hung upon the Cross. agenhton and genhton, written with one `nltsqstrikeibxapvsxapvsuper vawb4.f2648/FONT> and meaning uncreated and created, refer to nature: but a0ge/nnhton and genhta, that is to say, unbegotten and begotten, as the double `n' indicates, refer not to nature but to subsistence. The divine nature then is agenhtov, that is to say, uncreate, but all things that come after the divine nature are genhta, that is, created. In the divine and uncreated nature, therefore, the property of being a0ge/nnhton or unbegotten is contemplated in the Father (for He was not begotten), that of being gennhton or begotten in the Son (for He has been eternally begotten of the Father), and that of procession in the Holy Spirit. Moreover of each species of living creatures, the first members were agennhta but not agenhta: for they were brought into being by their Maker, but were not the offspring of creatures like themselves. For genesiv is creation, while gennesiv or begetting is in the case of God the origin of a co-essential Son arising from the Father alone, and in the case of bodies, the origin of a co-essential subsistence arising from the contact of male and female. And thus we perceive that begetting refers not to nature but to subsistence(29) . For if it did refer to nature, to= ge/nnhton and to agennhton, i.e. the properties of being begotten and unbegotten, could not be contemplated in one and the same nature. Accordingly the holy Mother of God bore a subsistence revealed in two natures; being begotten on the one hand, by reason of its divinity, of the Father timelessly, and, at last, on the other hand, being incarnated of her in time and born in the flesh. But if our interrogators should hint that He Who is begotten of the holy Mother of God is two natures, we reply, "Yea! He is two natures: for He is in His own person God and man. And the same is to be said concerning the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension. For these refer not to nature but to subsistence. Christ then, since He is in two natures, suffered and was crucified in the nature that was subject to passion. For it was in the flesh and not in His divinity that He hung upon the Cross. Otherwise, let them answer us, when we ask if two natures died. No, we shall say. And so two natures Were not crucified but Christ was begotten, that is to say, the divine Word having become man was begotten in the flesh, was crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh, while His divinity continued to be impossible." Chapter VIII. How the Only-begotten Son of God is called first-born. He who is first begotten is called first-born(30) , whether he is only-begotten or the first of a number of brothers. If then the Son of God was called first-born, but was not called Only-begotten, we could imagine that He was the first-born of creatures, as being a creature(31) . But since He is called both first-born and Only-begotten, both senses must be preserved in His case. We say that He is first-born of all creation(32) since both He Himself is of God and creation is of God, but as He Himself is born alone and timelessly of the essence of God the Father, He may with reason be called Only-begotten Son, first-born and not first-created. For the creation was not brought into being out of the essence of the Father, but by His will out of nothing(33) . And He is called First-born among many brethren(34) , for although being Only-begotten, He was also born of a mother. Since, indeed, He participated just as we ourselves do in blood and flesh and became man, while we too through Him became sons of God, being adopted through the baptism, He Who is by nature Son of God became first-born amongst us who were made by adoption and grace sons of God, and stand to Him in the relation of brothers. Wherefore He said, I ascend unto My Father and your Father(35) . He did not say "our Father," but "My Father," clearly in the sense of Father by nature, and "your Father," in the sense of Father by grace. And "My God and your God(36) ." He did not say "our God," but "My God:" and if you distinguish with subtle thought that which is seen from that which is thought, also "your God," as Maker and Lord. Chapter IX. Concerning Faith and Baptism. FOOTNOTES: St. Luke xxiv. 43. Theodor., Dial. 2; Greg. Naz., Orat. 49, Ep. 1 ad Cled. Acts 1. 11. Athan. Jun., p. 45, ad Ant.; Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, ch. 6 Against the Apollinarians, &c. Cf. Greg. Naz., Ep. Ad Cled., 11. Athan., bk. I., cont. Apoll. Epist. Ad Adelph. Epiphan. Ancor.?. 51. A simile much used by the Fathers: cf. Supr., bk. iii., ch. 8. Greg. Naz., Orat. 37; Fulg., De fid.ad Petrum; Thomas Aquinas, III., quaest. 3, Art. 6. Greg. Naz., Orat. 39. h9 i0diothj, Latin, proprietas, the propriety, that which is distinctive of each. Text, kai\ ou\k eksta\j th=j u9i>\kh=j i0dio'thtoj. R. I has, kai\ ou0k e0ce/sth=j oi0kei/aj, and the old trans. is "et non secessit a propria proprietate." Wisd. Ii, 23 2 Cor. Vi. 14. Athan., De Incarn. ; Cyril, In Joan., bk. I. Ex. Xiv. 16. u9po/stasij, hypostasis. See Soophr., Ep.ad Serg.; Origen, IIeri\ a0rxw=n, II. 6; Ruf., Expos.Symb., &c. Origen, IIepi\ a0pxw=/, bk. Ii., ch. 6. Orat. 36, near the end. Edit. Paris, p. 25. kaq' #/Ewsi/ oi0ko/omikh/n, in the union of the Incarnation. Edit. Paris, p. 54. Ps. xiv. 7. Ps. xiv. 7. Some copies omit the last five words. Bar. iii. 38. Ps. cxxxvii. I. Euthym., p. 2, tit. 8. See the Scholiast on Gregory Nyssenus in Cod. Reg. 3451. Vid. Apud Greg, Nyss., bk. iii., contr. Eunom Col 1 15. Athan., Expos. Fidei. Rom. Viii. 29. St. John xx. 17. Ibid.