On Perfection
ON PERFECTION
D OUR ZEAL TO KNOW HOW ANYONE may become perfect through a life of virtue so that you may achieve a blamelessness in all things is in keeping with your purpose in life. I could have considered it of great importance that patterns for everything that you are striving for be found in my life, so as to furnish you with the instruction you seek through deeds rather than words. In that way, my guidance towards what is good would have been worthy of belief, because my life was in tune with my words. But, although I pray that this may one day be true, I do not yet see myself as one whose life could be offered to you as an example in place of a treatise. Therefore, in order that I may not seem to be completely useless and incapable of making a contribution to your goal, I have decided to set before you an accurate description of the life towards which one must tend, making this the beginning of my discourse.
Our good Master, Jesus Christ, bestowed on us a partnership in His revered name, so that we get our name from no other person connected with us, and if one happens to be rich and well-born or of lowly origin and poor, or if one has some distinction from his business or position, all such conditions are of no avail because the one authoritative name for those believing in Him is that of 'Christian: Now, since this grace was ordained for us from above, it is necessary, first of all, for us to understand the greatness of the gift so that we can worthily thank the God who has given it to us. Then, it is necessary to show through our life that we ourselves are what the power of this great name requires us to be. The greatness of the· gift of which we are deemed worthy through the
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partnership with the Master becomes clear to us if we recognize the true significance of the name of Christ, so that when in our prayers we call upon the Lord of all by this name, we may comprehend the concept that we are taking into our soul.
We must also understand reverently what we believe He is when He is called upon by this name. When we do understand this, we shall, as a consequence, also learn clearly what sort of persons we should be shown to be as a result of our zeal for this way of life and our use of His name as the instructor and the guide for our life. Accordingly, if we make St. Paul our leader in these two undertakings, we shall have the safest guide to the plain truth of what we are seeking. For he, most of all, knew what Christ is, and he indicated by what he did the kind of person named for Him, imitating Him so brilliantly that he revealed his own Master in himself, his own soul being transformed through his accurate imitation of his prototype, so that Paul no longer seemed to be living and speaking, but Christ Himself seemed to be living in him. As this astute perceiver of particular goods says: 'Do you seek a proof of the Christ who speaks in me?'l and: 'It is now no longer I that live but Christ lives in me.'2
This man knew the significance of the name of Christ for us, saying that Christ is 'the power of God and the wisdom of God.'3 And he called Him 'peace,'4 and 'light inaccessible'5 in whom God dwells, and 'sanctification and redemption,'6 and 'great high priest,'7 and 'passover,'8 and 'a propitation'9 of souls, 'the brightness of glory and the image of substance,'lO
1 2 Cor. 13.3.
2 Gal. 2.20.
3 1 Cor. 1.24.
4 Eph.2.14.
5 1 Tim. 6.16.
6 1 Cor. 1.30.
7 Reb. 4.14.
8 1 Cor. 5.7 ..
9 Rom. 3.25.
10 Reb. 1.3.
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and 'maker of the world,'l1 and 'spiritual food'12 and 'spiritual drink and spiritual rock,'13 'water,'14 'foundation'15 of faith, and 'corner stone,'16 and 'image of the invisible God,'17 and 'great God,'18 and 'head of the body of the Church,'19 and 'the firstborn of every creature,'20 and 'first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep,'21 'firstborn from the dead,'22 'firstborn among many brethren,'23 and 'mediator between God and men,'24 and 'only-begotten Son,'25 and 'crowned with glory and honor,'26 and 'lord of glory,'27 and 'beginning'28 of being, speaking thus of Him who is the beginning, 'king of justice and king of peace,'29 and 'ineffable king of all, having the power of the kingdom,'30 and many other such things. that are not easily enumerated. When all of these phrases are put next to each other, each one of the terms makes its own contribution to a revelation of what is signified by being named after Christ and each provides for us a certain emphasis. To the extent that we take these concepts into our souls, they are all indications of the unspeakable greatness of the gift for us. However, since the rank of kingship underlies all worth and power and rule, by this title the royal power of Christ is authoritatively and primarily indicated (for the anointing of kingship, as we learn in the historical books,
11 Heb.1.2.
12 1 Cor. 10.3.
13 1 Cor. 10.4.
14 John 4.13 If.
15 1 Cor. 3.11.
16 Matt. 21.42; Mark 12.10; Luke 20.17.
17 Col. 1.15.
18 Tit. 2.13.
19 Cf. Col. 1.18.
20 Col. 1.15.
21 1 Cor. 15.20.
22 Col. 1.18.
23 Rom. 8.29.
24 1 Tim. 2.5.
25 John 3.17.
26 Heb. 2.7; d. Ps. 8.6.
27 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.8.
28 Col. 1.18.
29 Heb.7.2.
80 Cf. Luke I.38.
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comes first),31 and all the force of the other titles depends on that of royalty. For this reason, the person who knows the separate elements included under it also knows the power encompassing these elements. But it is the kingship itself which declares what the title of Christ means.
Therefore, since, thanks to our good Master, we are sharers of the greatest and the most divine and the first of names, those honored by the name of Christ being called Christians, it is necessary that there be seen in us also all of the connotations of this name, so that the title be not a misnomer in our case, but that our life be a testimony of it. Being something does not result from being called something. The underlying nature, whatever it happens to be, is discovered through the meaning attached to the name. What do I mean? If someone calls man a tree or a rock, will he, on this account, be a plant or stone? Of course not. It is necessary for him, first of all, to be a man, and, then, to be addressed thus in keeping with his nature. For titles based on similarities have no validity, as if one could say that a man is a statue or an imitation horse. If anything is named validly and not falsely, his nature completely reveals the form of address as a true one. Wood disguised in any way at all is still called wood, bronze is called bronze, stone is called stone, or any other such substance upon which art, shaping it contrary to expectation, imposes a form.
It is necessary, then, for those calling themselves after Christ, first of all, to become what the name implies, and, then, to adapt themselves to the title. We distinguish a man himself from what is considered a good likeness of him in a picture by noting characteristic differences. The man we call a logical thinking animal, the picture an inanimate piece of wood which has taken on the form of the man through imitation; so, also, shall we distinguish the true Christian from the one merely seeming to be a Christian through the individual
31 1 Kings 9.16; 10.1 ff.; 12 ff.
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elements in his character. The marks of the true Christian are all those we know in connection with Christ. Those that we have room for we imitate, and those which our nature does not approximate by imitation, we reverence and worship.
Thus, it is necessary for the Christian life to illustrate all the interpretative terms signifying Christ, some through imitation, others through worship, if 'the man of God is to be perfect'32 as the apostle says, and this perfection must never be mutilated by evil.
There are men who fashion mythical creatures in their speeches and writings, constructing bull-headed horses or centaurs or serpent-footed monsters or other such things made up of different species. They do not achieve an imitation in keeping with a natural archetype, and, illogically overstepping nature, they fashion something other than man, fabricating the impossible. We would not say that what they have constructed in this strange synthesis is a man, even if some parts of the figure happen to resemble certain parts of the human body. In the same way, a person cannot accurately be called a Christian if he does not give assent to the faith with his mind, even if he conforms to it in other respects, or if his mind gives assent, but his body is not suited to his way of life, exhibiting the anger of dragons and the bestiality of serpents, or adding to his human character an equine madness for women. In such cases, a man becomes double-natured, a centaur made up of reason and passion. It is possible to see many such people: either they resemble the Minotaur, being bull-headed in their belief in idolatry, although they appear to be leading a good life; or they make themselves centaurs and dragons by combining with a Christian facade a bestial body. Now, since, as in the case of the human body, the Christian should be recognized in his entirety, it is fitting for the characteristics of his life to represent a pledge of all the good qualities connected with Christ. For being in some respects what the name im32 2 Tim. 3.17.
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plies, but in others inclining towards the opposite, is to cut oneself apart into a battleground where there are two factions, one of good and one of evil, and thus one becomes truceless to oneself and inconsistent. For, says the apostle: 'What fellowship has light with darkness?'33
Since there is a distinct and irreconcilable contradiction between light and darkness, the person partaking of both has a share in neither, because of the opposition of the parts drawn up against each other at the same time in his mixed life. His faith provides the lighted part, but his dark habits put out the lamp of reason. Since it is impossible and inconsistent for light and darkness to exist in fellowship, the person containing each of the opposites becomes an enemy to himself, being divided in two ways between virtue and evil, and he sets up an antagonistic battle line within himself.
And just as it is not possible, when there are two enemies, for both to be victors over each other (for the victory of the one causes the death of his adversary), so, also, in this civil war brought about by the confusion in his life, it is not possible for the stronger element to win without the other becoming completely destroyed. For how will the army of reverence be stronger than evil, when the wicked phalanx of the opponents attacks it? If the stronger is going to win, the enemy must be completely slaughtered. And thus, virtue will have the victory over evil only when the entire enemy gives way to it through an alliance of the reasonable elements against the unsound ones. Then will be fulfilled what was spoken from the mouth of God through prophecy: 'It is I who bring both life and death.'s4 For it is not possible for the good to exist in me, unless it is made to live through the death of my enemy. As long as we keep grasping opposites with each of our hands, it is impossible for there to be participation in both elements in the same being. For, if we are holding evil, we lose the power to take hold of virtue.
33 2 Cor. 6.14.
34 Deut. 32.39.
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Therefore, let us take up the original argument, namely, that the one road to the pure and divine life for lovers of virtue is knowing what the name of Christ means, in conformity with which we must shape our lives, attuning it to virtue through the emphasis on the other terms which we gathered together in our introduction from the holy voice of Paul. Placing these before us with the prescribed zeal, we shall make them the safest guide for a life of virtue, imitating some of these traits, as we said in the first part, and revering and worshiping others. Let the marshaling of these be a battIe line for us. Let us begin with the first: 'Christ,' it says, 'is the power of God and the wisdom of God.'35 Through this description of Christ, we derive, first of all, notions befitting the divine which make the name an object of reverence for us. Since all creation, both whatever is known through perception and whatever lies beyond observation, came into being through Him and is united with Him, wisdom is necessarily interwoven with power in connection with the definition of Christ, the maker of all things. We know this through the yoking together of the two words, I mean, power and wisdom, because these great and indescribable wonders of creation would not exist if wisdom had not thought of their coming into being, nor would they exist if power, through which thoughts become deeds, had not accompanied wisdom in bringing the thought to completion.
The meaning of Christ is appropriately divided into this double emphasis on wisdom and power in order that, when we behold the greatness of the composition of being, we may recognize His unspeakable power through what we comprehend, and, in order that, when we calculate how all things that did not exist before came into being (the multiform nature in being having been endowed with substance through the divine nod), we then worship the incomprehensible wisdom of the One who thought of these things. Indeed, it is
35 I Cor. 1.24.
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not useless or without benefit to us to believe in the power and wisdom of Christ in connection with the possession of the good. For, when a person prays, he draws to himself through prayer what he is invoking and looking towards with the eye of his soul. Thus, the person looking towards power (Christ is power) 'is strengthened with power unto the inner man: as the apostle says,a6 and the person calling upon the wisdom which the Lord knows of old becomes wise, as our introduction stated. Indeed, the person synonymous with Christ, who is power and wisdom, having been empowered against sin, will also exhibit wisdom in himself by his wise choice. When wisdom and power are displayed in us, the one choosing what is fair, and the other confirming the choice, a perfection of life interwoven with both of these qualities is achieved.
Recognizing Christ as 'peace:37 we shall exhibit the true title of Christian in ourselves through the peace in our life.
For the One 'has slain enmity: as the apostle says.as Let us not, therefore, bring it to life in ourselves, but rather show through our life that it is dead. Let us not raise up against ourselves through anger and backbiting what has been rightly deadened for our salvation by God. This would destroy our soul and bring about an evil resurrection of what is rightly dead. But, if we have Christ, who is peace, let us also deaden hatred in ourselves in order to achieve in our life what we believe is in Him. For that One 'has broken down the intervening wall of the enclosure:a9 and, out of the two elements in Himself, has created 'one new man:40 and made peace.
Therefore, let us also reconcile, not only those fighting against us on the outside, but also the elements at variance within us, in order that no longer may the 'flesh lust against the spirit
36 Cf. Eph. 3.16.
37 Eph. 2.14.
38 Eph. 2.16.
39 Eph.2.14.
40 Eph. 2.15.
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and the spirit against the flesh.'41 Subjecting the spirit of the flesh to divine law, let us live peacefully, having been dissolved into the new and peaceful man and having become one from two. For the definition of peace is the harmony of dissonant parts. Once the civil war in our nature is expelled, then, we also, being at peace within ourselves, become peace, and reveal our having taken on the name of Christ as true and authentic.
Knowing Christ as the 'true light,'42 'inaccessible'43 to falsehood, we learn this, namely, that it is necessary for our lives also to be illuminated by the rays of the true light. But virtues are the rays of 'the Sun of Justice,'44 streaming forth for our illumination, through which we 'lay aside the works of darkness,'45 so that we 'walk becomingly as in the day,'46 and 'we renounce those things which shame conceals.'47 By doing all things in the light, we become the light itself, so that it 'shines' before others,48 which is the peculiar quality of light. And if we recognize Christ as 'sanctification,'49 in whom every action is steadfast and pure, let us prove by our life that we ourselves stand apart, being ourselves true sharers of His name, coinciding in deed and not in word with the power of his sanctification.
And learning that Christ is 'redemption'50 because He gave Himself as an atonement in our behalf, we are taught this knowledge, that when He furnished us with immortality as our particular possession, as if bestowing a certain honor on each soul, He ransomed us from death with His own life. If, then, we become slaves of the One who redeemed us, we
41 Gal. 5.17; cf. Rom. 8.6,7.
42 John 1.9.
43 1 Tim. 6.16.
44 Mal. 3.20.
45 Rom. 13.12.
46 Rom. 13.13.
47 2 Cor. 4.2.
48 Cf. Matt. 5.15,16.
49 1 Cor. 1.30.
50 1 Cor. 1.30.
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shall look exclusively towards our Master, on the grounds that we no longer live for ourselves, but for the One who possesses us, because He gave His life for us. For we are no longer lords of ourselves, but the possessions of Him who, having bought us, is the Master of His own. Truly, the will of the Master will be the law of our life. And as 'the law of sin'51 governed us when death was prevailing, so now, that we have become the property of life, it is necessary for us to conform to the government in power. Let us, therefore, never turn aside from the will of life and desert through sin to the wicked tyrant of souls of old, I mean to death.
We are assimilated to Christ, also, if we hear from Paul that he is the 'passover' 52 and 'high priest.'53 For Christ was truly sacrificed as the paschal victim in our behalf. But the priest, bringing in the sacrifice to God, is no other than
Christ Himself. For it says: 'He delivered himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice.'54 Through these words we learn this, that the person looking towards that One delivers himself as an offering and sacrifice and passover, and will show himself to God as a living sacrifice, 'holy, pleasing to God,' becoming a reasonable 'service.'55 But the rule of this holy office is: 'Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed in the newness of your mind, that you may discern what is the good and acceptable and the perfect will of God.'56 If the flesh lives and is not sacrificed according to the law of the spirit, it is not possible for the will of God to be displayed in it: 'For the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God and is not subject to the law of God.'57 As long as the flesh lives, which was offered up through the life-giving sacrifice by 'mortifying the members upon the earth'58 from which pas51 Rom. 8.2.
52 1 Cor. 5.7.
53 Heb. 4.14.
54 Eph.5.2.
55 Cf. Rom. 12.1.
56 Rom. 12.2.
57 Rom. 8.7.
58 Cf. Col. 3.5.
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sions spring, It IS not possible for the pleasing and perfect will of God to be achieved expeditiously in the life of the faithful.
So, also, Christ, being known as 'a propitiation by his own blood,'59 teaches each one thinking of this to become himself a propitiation, sanctifying his soul by the deadening of his members. And when Christ is spoken of as 'the brightness of his glory and the image of his substance,'6o we get from these words the idea of His greatness in the act of being worshiped.
For Paul, truly God-inspired and God-taught, examining, 'in the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God,'61 the unclear and hidden aspects of the divine mysteries, revealed through suggestive phrases the illuminations62 that came to him from God concerning the understanding of what is incomprehensible and unsearchable because the tongue is no match for thought. According to the report of those who heard his interpretation of mystery, he spoke, as well as reason can, in the service of thought. For, comprehending as much as human power can concerning the divine nature, he revealed the unapproachable and incomprehensible Logos of substantial being in human terms.
Accordingly, when speaking of the theories concerning the divine nature as peace and power and life and justice and light and truth and such things, he maintained that an account of that nature itself was completely unattainable, saying that God has not been seen and will not be seen. For he says:
'No man has seen or can see' Him.63 Because of this, when he was asking how to give a name to what cannot be grasped in thought and did not discover a word expressing an interpretation of the incomprehensible, he called whatever underlies all good, and is not sufficiently known or spoken of,
'glory' and 'substance: The underlying essence of being, he 59 Rom. 3.25.
60 Heb.1.3.
61 Rom. 11.33.
62 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.4.
63 1 Tim. 6.16.
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dismissed as unnamable. However, interpreting the unity and inseparability of the Son and the Father and the Son's being contemplated indefinably and invisibly with the indefinable and unseen Father, he addressed Him as 'effulgence of glory' and 'image of substance; indicating the unity of their nature by the word 'effulgence' and their equality by the word
'image: For, in connection with an effulgent nature, there is no middle point in a beam of light, nor is there an inferior part of an image in connection with a substance determined by it. The observer of the effulgent nature will know the effulgence in its entirety, and the person comprehending the size of the substance measures it in its entirety with its accompanying image. So he speaks of the Lord as 'the form of God,'64 not belittling the Lord by the idea of form, but showing the bigness of God through the word, in which the immensity of the Father is contemplated as never exceeding its own form or being found outside of its specific character. For there is nothing formless or unadorned in respect to the Father which does not rejoice in the beauty of the onlybegotten Son. Therefore, the Lord says: 'He who sees me, sees also the Father;65 indicating through this that there is no deficiency and no excess. But he also means that He upholds
'all things with the word of His power,'66 and thus dissolves the difficulty of the busy-bodies who seek the undiscoverable when they look for an account of matter and nowhere check their curiosity, asking how the material is experienced by the immaterial, quantity by that without quantity, form by that without form, color by the unseeable and the finite by the infinite, and how, if there is no quality connected with the simple and the uncomposed, matter is interwoven with it. He solves all such inquiries by saying that the Logos 'upholds all things by the word of His power' from non-existence to existence. For all things, as many as exist in connection with 64 Cf. Phil. 2.6.
65 John 14.9.
66 Heb.1.3.
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matter and as many as have received an immaterial nature, have one cause of their substance: the Word of the unspeakable power, From these words, we learn to look to Him as the source of being. If we pass into being from that source and have our existence in Him, there is every necessity to believe that there is nothing outside of the One in whom we exist and from whom we come into being, and back to whom we go. Along with this thought, the blamelessness of our life is likewise established. For what person who believes that he lives 'from Him and through Him and unto Him'67 will dare to make the One who encompasses in Himself the life of each of us, a witness of a life that does not reflect Him?
The divine apostle also, in calling the Lord 'spiritual food and drink,'68 suggests that he knows that human nature is not simple, but that there is an intelligible part mixed with a sensual part and that a particular type of nurture is needed for each of the elements in us, sensible food to strengthen our bodies, and spiritual food for the well-being of our souls. And just as in the case of the body, the firm and the fluid, mingling with each other, preserve our nature through digestion, in the same way, by analogy, Paul distinguishes the nurture of the intelligible part, using the same terms, food and drink, and adapting them properly to the needs of those assimilating them. For to those who are exhausted and fainting, bread comes to strengthen the heart of a man, but to those who are weary because of the wretchedness of their life and thirsty because of this, wine comes as a joy to their heart.69
Now, it is necessary from what has been said to know the power of the Logos by which the soul is nourished according to its need, having received grace from it according to the riddle of the prophet who points out clearly the relief which comes to the weary from the Logos 'in verdant pastures and in restful waters.'70 And if someone in examining this mystery
67 Rom. 11.36.
68 1 Cor. 10.3,4.
69 Cf. Ps. 103.15.
70 Ps.22.2.
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should say that the Lord is rightly called 'spiritual food and drink,' he is not far from the truth. For His 'flesh is food indeed' and His 'blood is drink indeed.'71 But, in connection with the thought just mentioned, there is participation in such nourishment for all, since the Logos who becomes food and drink is received and assimilated without distinction by those seeking Him. However, in connection with another idea, the participation in this food and drink is not careless or indiscriminate, for the apostle limits it thus: 'Let a man prove himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of the cup, for he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself.'72 The evangelist, also, seems to point this out definitely, at the time of the mystical passion when that good councilor took down the body of the Lord and wrapped Him in spotless and pure linen and placed Him in a new and pure sepulcher.13 Thus, the command of the apostle and the observation of the evangelist become a law to all to receive the Holy Body with a pure conscience. If there is somewhere some stain from sin, we must wash it out with the water of our tears.
And when Christ is called 'a rock,'74 this word assists us in the firmness and permanence of our virtuous life, that is, in the steadfastness of our endurance of suffering, and in our soul's opposition and inaccessibility to the assaults of sin.
Through these and such things, we also will be a rock, imitating, as far as is possible in our changing nature, the unchanging and permanent nature of the Master. And if the same One is called 'the wise builder and the foundation'75 of faith and the 'comer stone,'76 neither will this be shown to be without profit for us in leading a virtuous life. For we
71 John 6.56.
72 1 Cor. 11.28.
73 Cf. Luke 23.53.
74 1 Cor. 10.4.
75 1 Cor. 3.10.
76 Eph. 2.20; Luke 20.17.
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learn through this that the beginning and end of all good government and good learning and practice is the Lord.
And 'the hope'77 which we know to be the same as the cornerstone towards which all things tend, if they are zealously pursued in virtue, is that One so named by Paul.
The beginning of this high 'tower'78 of life is our faith in Him, upon which we build, putting down the principles of our life as a kind of foundation, and, through our daily achievements, we erect pure thoughts and actions upon it.
Thus, the cornerstone of all becomes our cornerstone, fitting Himself diagonally to the two walls of our life which are built out of our body and soul with elegance and correctness.
But if one part of the building is deficient, if the external elegance does not correspond to the correctness of the soul, or if the soul's virtue does not balance the outward appearance, Christ, in fitting Himself to a single portion of a double structure, becomes the cornerstone of a half-completed life. For it is not possible for a cornerstone to exist if two walls do not join. The beauty of the chief cornerstone sets off our building when our dualistic existence, straight and true, is harmoniously set up according to the right rule of life by the plumb line of the virtues, having nothing in itself that is bent or crooked.
But when Paul calls Christ 'the image of the invisible God,'79 meaning the God over all and the great God (and with these words he proclaims the glory of the true Master, speaking of 'our great God and Savior 1esus Christ' so and the One 'from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed forever'Sl)-saying these things, then, he teaches us what is the One existing forever. It is that thing which only the existing One knows, and, at all times, it exceeds human comprehension in equal measure, even
77 Col. 1.27.
78 Luke 14.28.
79 Col. 1.15.
80 Tit. 2.13.
81 Rom. 9.5.
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if the person who always 'minds the things which are above'82 comes near to it in his moral progress. Accordingly, this
Person who is beyond knowledge and comprehension, the ineffable and the 'unspeakable'8s and the 'inexpressible,'84 in order that He might again make Himself an 'image of God,' because of His love for man, became Himself an 'image of the invisible God' so that he took on the form which He assumed among you, and again, through Himself, He fashioned a beauty in accord with the character of the Archetype. Therefore, if we also are to become an 'image of the invisible God,' it is fitting that the form of our life be struck according to the 'example'85 of the life set before us. But what is that?
It is living in the flesh, but not 'according to the flesh.'s6 The Prototype, 'the image of the invisible God,' living in His virginity, underwent all temptations because of the similarity of His nature to ours, but He did not share the experience of a single sin: 'Who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.'s1 Therefore, just as when we are learning the art of painting, the teacher puts before us on a panel a beautifully executed model, and it is necessary for each student to imitate in every way the beauty of that model on his own panel, so that the panels of all will be adorned in accordance with the example of the beauty set before them; in the same way, since every person is the painter of his own life, and choice is the craftsman of the work, and the virtues are the paints for executing the image, there is no small danger that the imitation may change the Prototype into a hateful and ugly person instead of reproducing the master form if we sketch in the character of evil with muddy colors. But, since it is possible, one must prepare the pure colors of the virtues, mixing them with each other according to some artistic
82 Col. 3.2.
83 1 Pet. 1.8.
84 Cf. 2 Cor. 9.15.
85 Cf. John 13.15.
86 Rom. 8.12.
87 1 Pet. 2.22.
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formula for the imitation of beauty, so that we become an image of the image, having achieved the beauty of the Prototype through activity as a kind of imitation, as did Paul, who became an 'imitator of Christ,'SS through his life of virtue.
If it is necessary to distinguish the individual colors through which the imitation comes about, one color is meekness, for he says: 'Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.'s9 Another color is patience which appears quantitatively in 'the image of the invisible God: A sword, clubs, chains, whips, slaps in the face, the face spat upon, the back beaten, irreverent judgment, a harsh denial, soldiers mocking, the sullen rejection with jests and sarcasm and insults, blows from a reed, nails and gall and vinegar, and all of these terrible things were applied to Him without cause, nay, rather, in return for innumerable good works! And how were those who did these things repaid? 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'90 Was it not possible for Him to bring the sky down upon them, or to bury these insolent men in a chasm of the earth, or to throw them down from their own mountains into the sea, or to inundate the earth with the depths of ocean, or to send down upon them the Sodomitic rain of fire, or to do any other angry deed in revenge? Instead, He bore all these things in meekness and patience, legislating patience for your life through Himself.
Thus, it is possible to see all the features of the Prototype, the image of God. Looking towards that image and adorning our own form clearly in accordance with that One, each person becomes himself an 'image of the invisible God,' having been portrayed through endurance.
But learning that Christ is the 'head of the Church,'91 let this be considered before all else, that every head is of the same nature and the same essence as the body subordinate to 88 1 Cor. 4.16.
89 Matt. 11.29.
90 Luke 23.34.
91 Eph. 5.23.
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it, and there is a unity of the individual parts with the whole, accomplishing by their common respiration a complete sympathy of all the parts. Therefore, if any part is divorced from the body, it is also altogether alienated from the head. Reason tells us through these words that whatever the head is by natuTt:, this the individual parts become, in order to be in communion with the head. But we are the parts who make up the body of Christ. If, then, anyone removes one of the members of the body of Christ and makes it 'the member of a harlot,'92 hurling unrestrained madness at Him like a sword, through this evil emotion, he alienates the member completely from the head. So, also, all the other instruments of evil become swords through which the members are cut off from the body and separated from the head by the emotions which effected the cutting. In order for the body, therefore, to remain whole in its nature, it is fitting for the separate parts to be in communion with the head; for example, if we assume purity to be logically an essential quality of the head, it is altogether necessary for the members subordinate to the head to be pure. And if we know that the head is incorruptible, then, the members also must be incorruptible. And thus, all other notions one has about the head must necessarily be applied to the members: peace, holiness, truth, and all such things. These similar qualities in the members testify to their union with the head. The apostle says that One is 'the Head,' but 'from Him the whole body (being closely joined and knit together through every joint of the system according to the functioning in due measure of each single part) derives its increase.'93 And it is fitting for this to be taught through the word 'head,' for, just as in the case of animals, the impulse towards action is given to the body from the head. The movement of the feet and the action of the hands control each act through sight and hearing and, if the eye is not directing or the ear not receiving guidance, it is not possible for any
92 Cf. 1 Cor. 6.15 If.
93 Eph. 4.16.
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of the necessary actions to come about. Thus, it is necessary for us, also, to move our bodies in accordance with the true
Head towards every action and undertaking, wherever 'He that formed the eye' or 'He who shaped the ear'94 leads.
Moreover, since the Head looks 'to the things above,' it is entirely necessary for the members being in harmony with Him to follow His lead and to be inclined to the things above.
But, when we hear that He is 'the firstborn of every creature'95 and 'firstborn from the dead,'96 and 'the firstborn among many brethren,'97 let us, first of all, dismiss the heretical assumptions, since the shameful dogmatic implications of these have nothing to do with those phrases. And, after that, let us determine the ethical implication of these words for our life. For when those who are fighting against God say that the 'only-begotten' God, 'the creator of all,' the One 'from whom and through whom and unto whom all things are,'98 is the work and creation and product of God, and, on this account, interpret the phrase 'the firstborn of every creature' as meaning that He is the brother of every creature, taking precedence because of the rights of the eldest in time, as Reuben99 does over his own brothers, and that He is placed first, not because of His nature, but because of the rights of the eldest, this must, first of all, be said to them, that it is not possible for the same person to be believed to be the only-begotten and the firstborn. For the only-begotten is not thought of as having brothers and the firstborn is not thought of apart from his brothers, but, if one is only-begotten, he does not have brothers; and, if he is the firstborn of brothers, it is altogether impossible for him to be or to be spoken of as only-begotten. Therefore, these words do not coincide and have no common application to 94 Ps.93.9.
95 Col. 1.15.
96 Col. 1.18.
97 Rom. 8.29.
98 Rom. 11.36.
99 Cf. Gen. 29.32.
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the same person, since it is not possible for the same person to be called the two things, only-begotten and firstborn. And yet it is said in the Scripture concerning the Logos that He is an 'only-begotten' God and, again, in Paul, that he is 'the firstborn of every creature.' Therefore, it is fitting to distinguish each of these phrases, analyzing them accurately by the criterion of truth. The Logos existing before time is
'only-begotten'; but, since all creation after this came into being in Christ, the Logos made flesh is 'the firstborn' of creation. And whatever thought comes to us when we learn that He is the 'firstborn from the dead' and the 'firstborn among many brethren,' let us understand it as following upon the concept of Him as 'the firstborn of every creature.' Indeed,
'the firstborn of the dead' becomes the One born as 'the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep,'loo in order to provide for the resurrection of all flesh. Through His engendering from above, and through His making us 'children of the day and children of light,'lOl born 'of water and the Spirit,'!02 although we are those 'who were by nature children of wrath,'I03 He Himself acts as our guide in this birth in the water of the Jordan, sprinkling on us the grace of the Spirit in accordance with the first fruits of his nature. Thus, all those brought into life by this spiritual rebirth are called brothers of the One born before them 'through water and the spirit.'
In the same way, also, thinking of Him as the firstborn of every 'new creature in Christ,'!04 we do not go beyond a reverent interpretation. For when the old creature transgressed and became useless through sin, the new creature necessarily took on the role of those who had disappeared, having been formed through the rebirth and 'the resurrection from the dead.'lo5 Because He is considered the leader in 100 1 Cor. 15.20.
101 1 Thess.5.5.
102 John 3.5.
103 Eph. 2.3.
104 2 Cor. 5.17.
105 Cf. Acts 3.15.
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this life, He is and He is called 'the firstborn of every creature:
How necessary it is to have truth as a self-sufficient ally could easily be demonstrated to the attentive by the few words that have been said. But, how these words appear to contribute to a virtuous life, we shall now explain briefly.
Reubenl06 was the firstborn of those born after him, and their resemblance to him bore witness to their relationship to him, so that their brotherhood was not unrecognized, being testified to by the similarity of appearance. Therefore, if, through the same rebirth 'by water and the spirit,' we also have become brothers of the Lord, He having become for us
'the firstborn among the many brethren,' it follows that our nearness to Him will show in the character of our life, because
'the firstborn of every creature' has informed our life. But what have we learned from Scripture that the character of His life is? What we have said many times, that: 'He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth,'107 Therefore, if we are going to act as brothers of the One who gave us birth, the sinlessness of our life will be a pledge of our relationship to Him and no filth will nullify our union with His purity. But the firstborn is also justice and holiness and love and redemption and such things. So if our life is characterized by such qualities, we furnish clear tokens of our noble birth, and anyone, seeing these qualities in our life, will bear witness to our brotherhood with Christ. For He Himself opened the door of the resurrection and, on this account, became 'the firstborn of them that sleep,' He indicated this, that we shall all rise
'in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet,'lOS and He did this for those who were with Him and the rest who are conquered by death.
Nor in the life after this will there be the same resurrection for all who rise from the tomb of earth, for it says: 'They who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life;
106 Cf. Gen. 29.32.
107 Cf. 1 Pet. 2.22.
108 1 Cor. 15.52.
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but they who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment.'109
So that if someone's life tends toward the fearful judgment, that person, even if he happened to be numbered among the brethren of the Lord through the birth from on high, belies the name and denies his nearness to the firstborn because of his evil form. But, 'the Mediator between God and men'110 who through Himself joins the human being to God connects to God only that which is worthy of union with Him.
For just as He in Himself assimilated His own human nature to the power of the Godhead, being a part of the common nature, but not being subject to the inclination to sin which is in that nature (for it says: 'He did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth'), so, also, will He lead each person to union with the Godhead if they do nothing unworthy of union with the Divine. But, if anyone is truly 'the temple of GOd:ill containing no idol or shrine of evil in himself, this person is given a share in the Godhead by the Mediator, having become pure through the reception of His purity.
'Into a soul that plots, evil wisdom enters not:112 as Scripture says, nor does 'the clean of heart'113 see anything else in himself except God, and, cleaving to Him through incorruptibility, he receives the whole of the good kingdom within himself. What has been said becomes clear to us if we take as an adjunct to it the message of the Lord sent to the apostles through Mary (Magdalene); He says: 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and to your God.'114 It is the Mediator between the Father and the disinherited who says this, the One who reconciled the enemies of God to the true and only Godhead.115 For when, according to the prophetic word,116 men were alienated from the life-giving womb
109 John 5.29.
IlO I Tim 2.5.
III I Cor. 3.16; cf. 2 Cor. 6.16.
Il2 Wis. 1.4.
Il3 Matt. 5.S.
Il4 John 20.17.
Il5 Cf. James 4.4.
116 Cf. Ps. 57.4.
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through sin, and went astray from the womb in which they were fashioned, they spoke falsehood instead of truth. Because of this, the Mediator, assuming the first fruit of our common nature, made it holy through His soul and body, unmixed and unreceptive of all evil, preserving it in Himself. He did this in order that, having taken it up to the Father of incorruptibility through His own incorruptibility, the entire group might be drawn along with it because of its related nature, and in order that the Father might admit the disinherited to 'adoption'117 as sons, and the enemies of God to a share in His own Godhead. And just as the first fruit of the dough was assimilated through purity and innocence to. the true Father and God, so we, also, as dough in similar ways will cleave to the Father of incorruptibility by imitating, as far as we can, the innocence and stability of the Mediator.
Thus, we shall be a crown of precious stones for the onlybegotten God, having become an honor and a glory through our life. For Paul says that: 'Having made himself a little lower than the angels because of his having suffered death, he made those whose nature had previously become thorny through sin into a crown for himself, transforming the thorn through suffering into honor and glory.'118 And yet, once He has 'taken away the sins of the world'119 and taken upon His head a crown of thorns, in order to weave a crown of 'honor and glory,' there is no small danger that someone be discovered to be a burr and a thorn, because of his evil life, and then placed in the middle of the Master's crown because of sharing in His body. The just voice speaks directly to this one: 'How didst thou come in here without a weddinggarment?'120 'How were you, a thorn, woven in with those fitted into my crown through honor and glory?' 'What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What part has the 117 Cf. Eph. 1.5.
118 Cf. Heb.2.7-9.
119 John 1.29.
120 Matt. 22.12.
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believer with the unbeliever?'121 'What has light in common with the darkness?' In order that none of these charges be' made against our life, we must take care to avoid every thorny deed and word and thought throughout our entire life, so that having become an honor and glory through a pure and innocent regimen, we ourselves shall crown the Head of all, having become, as it were, a treasure and a possession for the Master. 'The Lord of Glory'122 cannot be and cannot be called the Lord of any dishonored person. Therefore, the person free from unseemliness and shamelessness in the hidden and visible man makes his own master the One who is and is called 'the Lord of Glory' and not the lord of dishonor.
And He is also a 'beginning.'123 But a beginning of anything is no different from what comes after itself. If someone defines the beginning as life, what comes afterwards will also be considered life. And if the beginning is light, what comes after the beginning will also be considered light. But what benefit do we derive from believing that He is the beginning?
We become ourselves what we believe our beginning to be.
For the beginning of darkness is not called the light, nor do we consider death a continuation of what is referred to as the beginning of life. But, unless a person is of the same nature as what produced him, i.e., connected with the beginning through innocence and virtue, the One who is the 'beginning' of being would not be his beginning. 'The ruler of darkness'124 is the beginning of the dark life, the one having power over death is the beginning of death-bringing sin. Truly, it is not possible for the person who is allied with the beginning of darkness because of his wicked life to say that his own beginning is the beginning of all good. And his being called
'the king of justice and peace'125 imparts the same notion for those who accept the words of the divine Master for their
121 2 Cor. 6.15.
122 1 Cor. 2.8.
123 Col. 1.18.
124 Eph. 6.12.
125 Reb. 7.2.
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own good. For, according to the teaching on prayer, the person who prays that the kingdom of God may come to him, once he has learned that the true king is the 'king of justice and peace,' will set up justice and peace completely in his own life, in order that the king of justice and peace may be his king. Every virtue of the king is thought of as part of a military force; for I think it is necessary to think of all virtues in connection with justice and peace. If, then, a person having left his post in God's expedition enlists in the ranks of a different group and becomes a soldier of the inventor of evil, putting off the breastplate of justice and peace and all peaceful armor, how can this one be stationed under the king of peace after having thrown away the shield of truth? For it is clear that the device on one's armor will show who one's king is, and the leader is revealed by the character of one's life, instead of by the emblem sketched on the armor. How blessed is he who is drawn up under the divine generalship and enlisted in the ranks of the thousands and thousands of men armed against evil with virtues which are imprinted with the image of the king.
And why was it necessary to prolong the discourse by bringing in the sequence of phrases by which the name of the Lord is interpreted, those phrases, which can lead the way to a life of virtue, each name, by its particular emphasis, accomplishing something for us in the perfecting of our life? I say that it is good for these things to be remembered and reviewed so that there may be some guidance for us in the scope of the discourse which we proposed in the beginning, when we asked how anyone can achieve perfection in himself. For I think that if a person always keeps this in mind, that he is a participant in the revered name, when he is called a Christian according to the teaching of the apostles,126 he will also necessarily show in himself the power of 126 Acts 11.26.
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the other names by which Christ is thought of, since through his life he is a sharer in each of them.
What do I mean? Three things characterize the life of Christ: action, word, thought. For thought is the beginning of every word; second, after the thinking, is the word which reveals through the voice the thought coined in the soul; and action has the third rank after mind and thought, bringing what is thought to action. So, when the sequence of life brings us to anyone of these, it is good to examine accurately these divine ideas of every word, deed, and thought by which Christ is known and called, lest our deed or word or thought be carried beyond the power of those high terms. As Paul says: 'All that is not from faith is sin,'127 as can be shown clearly from the following. Every word or deed or thought that does not look to Christ looks completely to the adversary of Christ. For it is not possible for what is outside of light or life not to be completely in darkness or in death. If, then, what is not done or spoken or thought in accordance with Christ is akin to the adversary of the good, what is revealed through these words is clear to all, namely, that the person outside of Him rejects Christ by what he thinks, does, or says. Therefore, the voice of the prophet speaks the truth when it says: 'I have accounted all the wicked of the earth as drosS.'128 For, just as one who denies Christ in his pursuits is a sinner against the revered name, so, also, if someone rejects truth or justice or holiness and incorruptibility; or if, in the moment of his fight with his passions, he casts from his life any of the other qualities considered virtues, he is called a sinner by the prophecy, sinning through each of these in his life. What, then, is it necessary to do to be worthy of the name of Christ? What else than to distinguish in one's self the proper thoughts and words and deeds, asking whether they look to Christ or are at odds with Christ. Making the distinction is very easy. For whatever is done or thought or said
127 Rom. 14.23.
128 Cf. Ps. 118.119.
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through passion has no agreement with Christ, but bears the character of the adversary, who smears the pearl of the soul with the mud of the passions and dims the luster of the precious stone. What is free from every passionate inclination looks to the source of passionlessness, who is Christ. Drawing from Him as from a pure and uncorrupted stream, a person will show in his thoughts such a resemblance to his Prototype as exists between the water in the running water or stream and the water taken away from there in a jar. For the purity in Christ and the purity seen in the person who has a share in Him are the same, the One being the stream and the other drawn from it, bringing intellectual beauty to his life, so that there is agreement between the hidden and the visible man, since the graceful bearing of our life coincides with our thoughts which are put into motion in accordance with Christ.
This, therefore, is perfection in the Christian life in my judgment, namely, the participation of one's soul and speech and activities in all of the names by which Christ is signified, so that the perfect holiness, according to the eulogy of Paul, is taken upon oneself in 'the whole body and soul and spirit,'129 continuously safeguarded against being mixed with evil. But what if someone should say that the good is difficult to achieve, since only the Lord of creation is immutable, whereas human nature is unstable and subject to change, and ask how it is possible for the fixed and unchangable to be achieved in the changeable nature? We reply to such an argument that one cannot be worthily crowned 'unless he has competed according to the rules.'130 For how can there be a lawful contest if there is no opponent? If there is no opponent, there is no crown. Victory does not exist by itself, without there being a defeated party. Let us struggle, therefore, against this very unstable element of our nature, engaging in a close contest with our opponent, as it were, not becoming victors by de129 Cf. I Thess. 5.23.
130 Cf. 2 Tim. 2.5.
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stroying our nature, but by not allowing it to fall. For does man make a change only towards evil? Indeed, it would not be possible for him to be on the side of the good if he were by nature inclined only to a single one of the opposites. In fact, the fairest product of change is the increase of goods, the change to the better always changing what is nobly changed into something more divine. Therefore, I do not think it is a fearful thing (I mean that our nature is changeable). The Logos shows that it would be a disadvantage for us not to be able to make a change for the better, as a kind of wing of flight to greater things. Therefore, let no one be grieved if he sees in his nature a penchant for change. Changing in everything for the better, let him exchange 'glory for glory,'131 becoming greater through daily increase, ever perfecting himself, and never arriving too quickly at the limit of perfection. For this is truly perfection: never to stop growing towards what is better and never placing any limit on perfection.
131 2 Cor. 3.18; d. J. Danielou, From Glory to Glory, p. 69.