by John the Deacon in the ninth century. He, I presume, is the authority for saying that the sermons
SERMON 229R
FRAGMENT FROM A SERMON PREACHED DURING THE EASTER OCTAVE
Dale: 400-410'
The allegorical meaning of light and firmament
We understand the name "light" to be given allegorically to all the just and the faithful, as the apostle says: You were once upon a time darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph 5:8). But this light has been made. That, however, was the true light, which enlightens every person coming into this world (Jn 1:9), and it was not made, but bom of God. That light was not made, and through the light that was not made the other light was made. It's the same too with the firmament; just as light was made by God who is light, so the firmament was made by God who is firm.2 And we find that the firmament in the Church has to be understood as the authority of the divine scriptures; and that's why light came first, and after it the firmament; because scripture was produced through the work of just men, and unless they had been justified, in order to be made light, scripture could not have been set up and spread out, to make a firmament between waters and waters, in the middle between the lower peoples of mankind and the higher angelic peoples. Why? Because the angels have no need to make progress through the scriptures; that's why they are not under the firmament, under the authority of the scriptures; because they directly contemplate the beauty of the godhead and of wisdom.3 We though are not improperly under the firmament, because the will of God is opened up to us through the authority of the scriptures.4
NOTES
1. This and the following four fragments are taken from a collection of texts on Genesis made by John the Deacon in the ninth century. He, I presume, is the authority for saying that the sermons they come from were preached during the Easter octave. Modem scholars have refined on this; Lambot suggests Easter Monday as the day, Poque says Easter day in the afternoon. In note 4 below