Catechesis VII
CA TECHESIS VII
On the Father "For this reason I bend my knees to the Father . .. from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth receives its name."l (1) On the Unity of God we spoke at sufficient length yesterday; I mean sufficient, not according to the dignity of the subject (for that is quite impossible for human nature), but as far as it has been granted to our weakness. I detailed the deviations in the manifold errors of the impious heretics.
Shaking off their filth and their soul-poisoning doctrines, yet remembering what concerns them (not that we may suffer harm, but that we may loathe them all the more), let us now return to ourselves and take up the saving doctrines of the true faith, joining to the dignity of the Unity of God that of the Fatherhood, and believing in One God, Father. For not only should we believe in One God, but also devoutly accept that He is Father of the Only-begotten, our Lord
Jesus Christ.
(2) For thus our thought will rise to a higher plane than that of the Jews, who, while they teach that God is
One (though they have often denied this by idolatry), do not admit that He is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this they run counter to their own prophets, according to the Scriptures: "The Lord said to me, 'You are my son; this day I have begotten you.' "2 Even to this day, they rage and 1 Eph. 3.14, 15.
2 Ps.2.7.
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"conspire together against the Lord and against his anointed,"3 presuming that they can gain the friendship of the Father without devotion to the Son, not knowing that "no one comes to the Father but through the Son,"4 who says: "I am the door,"5 and "I am the way."6 How will he, who rejects the Way that leads to the Father and denies the Door, be deemed worthy of entrance unto God? They contradict, too, the words of the eighty-eighth Psalm: "He shall say of me,
'You are my father, my God, the Rock, my savior.' And I will make him the first-born, highest of the kings of the earth."7 For, if they argue that these words were spoken concerning David or Solomon or any of their successors, let them show how the throne of him they deem to be the object of the prophecy is "as the days of heaven,"B and "like the sun before me; like the moon, which remains forever."9
How is it they are not put to shame by that which is written:
"from the womb before the daystar I have begotten you";10 and: "He shall endure as long as the sun, and like the moon through all generations"?l1 To refer these things to a man is to show a complete and utter lack of sense.
(3) But let the Jews, since they will it thus, suffer their wonted sickness of unbelief in the case of these and similar statements of Scripture. For our part, we receive the devout teaching of the faith, worshiping one God, the Father of Christ. For to rob Him, who grants all the prerogative of parents,12 of like dignity, would be impious. We believe in One God, the Father, in order that even before our fuller discussion of the teachings concerning Christ, the belief in 3 Ps.2.2.
4 John 14.6.
5 John 10.9.
6 John 14.6.
7 Ps. 88.27,28.
8 Ibid. 88.30.
9 Ibid. 88.37, 38.
10 Cf. Ps. 109.3.
11 Cf. Ps. 71.5.
12 Cf. Isa. 66.9.
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the Only-begotten may be fixed in the soul of the hearers, to remain quite intact through the intervening discourses on the Father.
(4) The very mention of the name of the Father suggests the thought of the Son, just as, in turn, the mention of Son implies the thought of the Father. For, if He is a Father,
He is surely Father of a Son. Thus we say: "In One God, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible"; and add: "And in one Lord Jesus
Christ."13 That no one may irreverently suppose that the Only-begotten is second in rank to heaven and earth, before naming these we named God Father, that the thought of Father might suggest the Son; for between Son and Father there is no being whatsoever,14 (5) Though God, improperly speaking, is Father of many things, by nature and in truth He is Father of One only, the Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not attain
Fatherhood in the course of time,15 but He is eternally Father of the Only-begotten. Not that He was Sonless before and afterwards became a Father by a change of purpose, but before all substance and all intelligence, before times and all the ages, God has the prerogative of Father, exalting Himself in this dignity before all others. He did not become a Father by passion, or from union, or in ignorance,16 or by emanation, or diminution or alteration; for "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration."17 A perfect Father, He begot a perfect
Son, delivering all things to Him whom He begot; for He 13 From the Creed.
14 Perhaps aimed at the Gnostics and Valentinians. See Cat. 11.7-8 for a further development of this idea.
15 Cyril is refuting Arius, quoted by Athanasius as saying: non semper deus fuit pater.
16 Men in generating are ignorant of the issue. They beget not whom they will, but whom God grants. To say that God does not know whom He begets is impiety.
17 James 1.17.
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says: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father."18
And the Father is honored by the Only-begotten: "But I honor my Father,"19 says the Son; and again: "As I also have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."2o
Therefore we too say with the Apostle: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort";21 and: "I bend my knees to the Father . . . from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth receives its name,"22 glorifying Him with the Onlybegotten; for he who denies the Father, denies the Son also, and again: "He who confesses the Son, has the Father also,"23 knowing that "the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father."24
(6) Therefore we worship the Father of Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in whose honor the former temple also, opposite us here,25 was built. For we will not endure the heretics who sever the Old Testament from the New,26 but we will heed Christ who says of the temple: "Did you not know, that I must be about my Father's business?"27 and again: "Take these things hence, and do not make the house of my Father a house of business."28 By these words He clearly confessed that the former temple in Jerusalem was the house of His Father.
But if any man, because of unbelief, desires still further proofs that the Father of Christ is one with the Creator of the world, let him hearken to Him saying: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And yet not one of them will fall to the 18 Matt. 11.27.
19 John 8.49.
20 John 15.10.
21 2 Cor. 1.3.
22 Eph. 3.14, 15.
23 Cf. I John 2.22, 23.
24 Phil. 2.11.
25 There were still extensive remains of the ruined temple.
26 He refers especially to Marcion, to the Gnostics, and to the Valentinians.
27 Luke 2.49.
28 John 2.16.
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ground without my Father,"29 who is in heaven; and: "Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them";3o and also:
"My Father works even until now, and I work."31
(7) That no one, out of simplicity or perverseness, may suppose that Christ is equal in honor to just men, because
He says: "I ascend to my Father and to your Father,"32 it may be well to say by way of preface that though the name of Father is one, the power of His operation is manifold. Christ, recognizing this very thing, was careful to say: "I go to my
Father, and your Father"; He did not say: "to our Father," but, making a distinction, He first said what was proper to Himself: "to my Father," that is, by nature; then He added:
"and your Father," that is, by adoption. For though we have been granted the privilege of saying in our prayers: "Our
Father who art in heaven,"33 this proceeds from His lovingkindness. For we do not call Him Father as though we were natural sons of our Father who is in heaven; but, having been translated from servitude to adoption as sons, by the grace of the Father, through Son and Holy Spirit, by His ineffable loving-kindness we are privileged to speak thus.
(8) If any man wishes to learn how we call God Father, let him listen to that excellent tutor Moses: "Is not he your
Father who creates you? Has he not made you and established yoU?"34 And the Prophet Isaia: "Yet, a Lord, you are our father; we are the clay ... we are all the work of your hands."35 For the inspired utterance of the Prophet has made it most clear that it is not according to nature, but by grace and by adoption that we call Him Father.
(9) To perceive more exactly that it is not the natural 29 Matt. 10.29.
30 Matt. 6.26.
31 John 5.17.
32 John 20.17.
33 Matt. 6.9.
34 Deut. 32.6.
35 Isa. 64.7.
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father only that is called father in the Holy Scriptures, listen to the words of Paul: "For although you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, did I beget yoU."36 For it was not because of fleshly procreation, but because of teaching and spiritual generation that Paul was the father of the Corinthians. Listen also to Job: "I was a father to the needy."37 For he called himself father, not for having begotten them, but for caring for them. The Only-begotten Son of God, when He was nailed to the cross in the flesh at the time of His crucifixion, seeing Mary, His own mother according to the flesh, and John, the most beloved disciple, said to him: "Behold thy mother";38 and to Mary: "Behold thy son,"39 teaching her the affection due to him thereafter, and indirectly explaining what is said in Luke: "And his father and mother were marvelling";40 this text the heretics seize upon,41 saying that He was begotten of a man and a woman. Just as Mary is called the mother of John because of her parental affection for him, not because of having begotten him, so Joseph was called the father of Christ, not by reason of begetting Him (for "he did not know her till she brought forth her firstborn son,"42 according to the Gospel), but by reason of the care bestowed on His nurture.
(10) Consider what has been said by way of digression as a reminder. But let me add another testimony that God is called the Father of men in an improper sense. When in Isaia God is addressed: "For you are our father, and Abraham has not known US";43 and: "Sara has not given us birth,"44 must we inquire still further on this point? But if the Psalmist
36 1 Cor. 4.15.
37 Job 29.16.
38 John 19.27.
39 Ibid. 19.26.
40 Luke 2.33.
41 Sc. Carpocrates. Cerinthus. Ebion.
42 Matt. 1.25.
43 Cf. Isa. 63.16.
44 Cf. Isa. 51.2.
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says: "They shall be troubled at his presence, the father of orphans and the defender of widows,"45 is it not manifest that when God is called the father of the orphans who recently lost their own fathers, He is so named, not for having begotten them of Himself, but for caring and shielding them?
He is Father of man, then, in an improper sense. But of Christ only is God Father by nature and not by adoption;46 and He is Father of men in time, but of Christ before all time, as He Himself says: "And now do thou, Father, glorify me with the glory that I had before the world existed."47
(11) We believe, then, in One God, Father, the Unsearchable and Ineffable: whom no man has seen and whom the Only-begotten alone has declared.48 For He "who is from God, he has seen God,"49 whose face the angels in heaven see always;50 but they see each according to the measure of his own rank. The sheer vision of the Father is reserved in its perfection for the Son with the Holy Spirit.
(12) At this point in my discourse I am reminded of the passages mentioned a short time ago, in which God was called the Father of men, and I am greatly amazed at the insensibility of men. For God, with ineffable loving-kindness, deigned to be called Father of men-He in heaven, they upon earth, He the Maker of eternity, they living in time,
He, who holds the earth "in the hollow of his hand,"51 they upon the earth "like grasshoppers."52 Yet man, forsaking his heavenly Father, said to the stock: "You are my father";53 and to the stone: "You gave me birth."54 This is why, I think, the Psalm says to mankind: "Forget your people and your
45 Cf. Ps. 67.5, 6.
46 Referring especially to the Arians, who maintain Christ was created in time and was son by adoption and grace.
47 John 17.5.
48 Cf. John 1.18.
49 John 6.46.
50 Cf. Matt. 18.10.
51 Cf. Isa. 40.12.
52 Ibid. 40.22.
53 J er. 2.27.
54 Ibid.
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father's house,"55 that is, the father you have chosen and drawn to yourself for your own destruction.
(13) Some have chosen for their father not only stocks and stones, but even Satan himself, the destroyer of souls. To them the Lord in reproof said: "You are doing the work of your father";56 since Satan is the father of men not by nature, but by deceit. For just as Paul for his devout teaching was called father of the Corinthians, so too the devil is called father of those who deliberately "keep pace with him."57 For we will not tolerate those who perversely interpret the text:
"In this we know the children of God and the children of the devil,"58 as though there were by nature among men some to be saved and some to be lost. For it is not of necessity but of choice that we come into such holy sonship; nor was it by nature that the traitor Judas was the son of the devil and perdition: otherwise, he would not at first cast out devils in Christ's name; for Satan does not cast out Satan;59 nor again, would Paul have been transformed from a persecutor to a herald of the Gospel. But the adoption is voluntary, as John says: "But to as many as received him, he gave power of becoming sons of God, to those who believe in his name."60
For not before faith, but by faith, they were deemed worthy, of their own choice, to be made sons of God.
(14) Recognizing this, therefore, let us live spiritually, that we may be deemed worthy of God's adoption: "For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."61 For it will profit us nothing to have gained the title of Christians unless the works also follow, else it may be said to us also:
If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.62 For, if we invoke as Father Him who, without 55 Ps.44.11.
56 John 8.41.
57 Ps.49.18.
58 Cf. 1 John 3.10.
59 Cf. Mark 3.23.
60 John 1.12.
61 Rom. 8.14.
62 Cf. John 8.39.
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respect of persons, judges according to each one's work, let us conduct ourselves with fear during our sojourn here,63 loving "not the world or the things that are in the world"; for, "if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."64 Therefore, my beloved children, let us offer glory to our Father in heaven by our works, that men may see our good works, and glorify our Father in heaven.65 Let us cast all our care upon Him, "for our Father knows what we need."66
(15) But while honoring our heavenly Father, let us also honor the "fathers of our flesh,"67 since the Lord in the Law and the Prophets has clearly laid this down, saying: "Honor your mother and your father, that it may be well with you, and that you may have a long life in the land."68 Let those present who have mothers and fathers give heed to this command. "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord."69 For our Lord did not say: "He who loves father or mother is not worthy of me,"70 else what was well written you might interpret falsely out of ignorance, but He added [loves father or mother] "more than me."71
When our fathers on earth are contrary-minded to our Father in heaven, then we must obey His word; but when, though they hinder not our piety, we are carried away by ingratitude and, forgetting their benefits to us, despise them, then that saying will hold true: "whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death."72
(16) Among Christians the first virtue of piety is to honor one's parents, to requite the toils of those who begot us, and with all our power to provide for their comfort (for though
63 Cf. 1 Peter 1.17.
64 1 John 2.15.
65 Cf. Matt. 5.16.
66 Cf. 1 Peter 5.7; Matt. 6.8.
67 Heb. 12.9.
68 Cf. Exod. 20.12; Deut. 5.16.
69 Col. 3.20.
70 Matt. 10.37.
71 Ibid.
72 Exod.21.17.
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we make the greatest possible return, we will never be able to repay them for the gift of life); that enjoying the ease we afford them, they may confirm us in those blessings which Jacob the supplanter prudently seized; and that our heavenly
Father, approving our good purpose, may deem us worthy, with the just, to "shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of our Father,"73 to whom be glory with the Only-begotten, our
Savior Jesus Christ, and with the Holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and for all eternity. Amen.
73 Matt. 13.43.