infinite depths of the divine graciousness toward us. What, after all, was he
SERMON 225
ON EASTER DAY; TO THE INFANTES
Date: 400-405'
Who was Christ before becoming man?
1. The Son of God, bom timelessly of the Father, impresses upon us the infinite depths of the divine graciousness toward us. What, after all, was he before he was in a man? Consider yourselves to have asked the question and answered it. I mean, are we to suppose, brothers and sisters, that Christ existed before he was bom of the virgin Mary, or that he didn't? Just suppose we ask the question, though we are not permitted to have any doubts about the answer. And so the Lord answered such thoughts as these, when they said to him, You are not yet fifty, and you have seen Abraham ?; he answered, you see, and said, Amen, amen, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am (Jn 8:57-58). So he was, but he wasn't yet man. In case someone should say, "He was an angel," the holy gospel told you that he was Christ.2 And you ask what he was? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (Jn 1:1). There you are, that's what he was, In the beginning was the Word; not, "In the beginning the Word was made," but "the Word was."
And what does scripture say about this world? In the beginning God made heaven and earth (Gn 1:1). You ask w'hat means he made it by? In the beginning was the Word, through which heaven and earth were made. The Word wasn't made, it just was. Now it remains to ask what sort of word, because we talk about our words too. Our words, indeed, are conceived by thought, and brought forth by our voices; and yet once thought and uttered, they pass away and are gone. But what about that one? And the Word was with God.
'Tell us where it was, tell us what it was." I've already told you; the holy gospel has told you: In the beginning was the Word.
'Tell us where it was, tell us what it was." And the Word was with God.
"But I asked you what sort of Word." Do you want to hear what it was? And the Word was God. Oh, Word! What sort of Word? Who can explain the word, And the Word was Godl But perhaps