An Exact Exposition Of The Orthodox Faith

AN EXACT EXPOSITION
OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH

BOOK I

Chapter 1

Io MAN HATH SEEN GoD at any time: the only-
begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him.'^ The God-head, then, is inef-
fable and incomprehensible. For 'no one knoweth the Father,
but the Son: neither doth any one know the Son, but the
Father.'^ Furthermore, the Holy Spirit knows the things
of God, just as the spirit of man knows what is in man.' After
the first blessed state of nature, no one has ever known God
unless God Himself revealed it to him — not only no man,
but not even any of the supramundane powers: the very
Cherubim and Seraphim, I m.ean.

Nevertheless, God has not gone so far as to leave us in

1 John 1.18.

2 Matt. 11.27.

3 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.U.

165

166 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

complete ignorance, for through nature the knowledge of the
existence of God has been revealed by Him to all men. The
very creation of its harmony and ordering proclaims the
majesty of the divine nature.^ Indeed, He has given us knowl-
edge of Himself in accordance with our capacity, at first
through the Law and the Prophets and then afterwards
through His only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. Accordingly, we accept all those
things that have been handed down by the Law and the
Prophets and the Apostles and the Evangelists, and we
know and revere them, and over and above these things
we seek nothing else. For, since God is good. He is the
author of all good and is not subject to malice or to any
affection. For malice is far removed from the divine nature,
which is the unaffected and only good. Since, therefore. He
knows all things and provides for each in accordance with
his needs. He has revealed to us what it was expedient for
us to know, whereas that which we were unable to bear He
has withheld. With these things let us be content and in them
let us abide and let us not step over the ancient bounds^ or
pass beyond the divine tradition.

Chapter 2

Now, one who would speak or hear about God should
know beyond any doubt that in what concerns theology
and the Dispensation^ not all things are inexpressible and
not all are capable of expression, and neither are all things
unknowable nor are they all knowable. That which can
be known is one thing, whereas that which can be said is

4 Ct. Wisd. 13.5; Rom. 1.20.

5 C£. Prov. 22.28.

1 olKOVOHla. or Dispensation, is the tenn commonly used for the
Incarnation by the Greek Fathers.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 167

another, just as it is one thing to speak and another to know.
Furthermore, many of those things about God which are not
clearly perceived cannot be fittingly described, so that we
are obliged to express in human terms things which transcend
the human order. Thus, for example, in speaking about God
we attribute to Him sleep, anger, indifference, hands and
feet, and the alike.

Now, we both know and confess that God is without
beginning and without end, everlasting and eternal, uncreated,
unchangeable, inalterable, simple, uncompounded, incorpo-
real, invisible, impalpable, uncircumscribed, unlimited, incom-
prehensible, uncontained, unfathomable, good, just, the maker
of all created things, all-powerful, all-ruling, all-seeing, the
provider, the sovereign, and the judge of all. We furthermore
know and confess that God is one, that is to say, one sub-
stance, and that He is both understood to be and is in three
Persons — I mean the Father and the Son and the Holy
Ghost — and that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost
are one in all things save in the being unbegotten, the being
begotten, and the procession. We also know and confess
that for our salvation the Word of God through the bowels
of His mercy, by the good pleasure of the Father and with
the co-operation of the All-Holy Spirit, was conceived with-
out seed and chastely begotten of the holy Virgin and
Mother of God, Mary, by the Holy Ghost and of her became
perfect man; and that He is perfect God and at the same
time perfect man, being of two natures, the divinity and
the humanity, and in two intellectual natures endowed
with wiU and operation and Hberty — or, to put it simply,
perfect in accordance with the definition and principle
befitting each, the divinity, I mean, and the humanity, but
with one compound hypostasis. And we know and confess
that He hungered and thirsted and was weary, and that He
was crucified, and that for three days He suffered death
and the tomb, and that He returned into heaven whence
He had come to us and whence He will come back to us at

168 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

a later time. To all this holy Scripture and all the company
of the saints bear witness.

But what the substance of God is, or how it is in all things,
or how the only-begotten Son, who was God, emptied Him-
self out and became man from a virgin's blood, being formed
by another law that transcended nature, or how He walked
dry-shod upon the waters, we neither understand nor can
say.^ And so it is impossible either to say or fully to under-
stand anything about God beyond what has been divinely
proclaimed to us, whether told or revealed, by the sacred
declarations of the Old and New Testaments.

Chapter 3

Now, the fact that God exists is not doubted by those
who accept the sacred Scriptures — both the Old and New
Testaments, I mean — nor by the majority of the Greeks, for,
as we have said, the knowledge of God's existence has been
revealed to us through nature. However, since the wickedness
of the Evil One has so prevailed over men's nature as even
to drag some of them down to the most unspeakable and
extremely wicked abyss of perdition and to make them say
that there is no God (of whose folly the Prophet David
said: 'The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God'^),
then the Lord's disciples and Apostles, made wise by the
AU-Holy Spirit, did by His power and grace show signs from
God and draw up those people alive in the net of their
miracles from the depths of the ignorance of God to the
light of his knowledge. Similarly, the shepherds and teachers
who succeeded to their grace of the Spirit and by the power
of their miracles and the word of their grace enlightened
those who were in darkness and converted those who were

2 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius. The Divine Names 2.9 (PG 3.648A) .
1 Ps. 13.1.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 169

in error. Now, let us who have not received the gifts of
miracles and teaching, because by our being given to material
pleasures we have made ourselves unworthy, let us invoke
the aid of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
and discuss some few of the things which the expounders
of grace have handed down to us.

All things are either created or uncreated. Now, if they
are created, then they are also definitely changeable, for
things whose being originated with a change are definitely
subject to change, whether it be by corruption or by voluntary
alteration. If, on the other hand, they are uncreated, then
it logically follows that they are definitely unchangeable.
For, of those things whose being is contrary, the manner
of being, which is to say, properties, is also contrary. Who,
then, will not agree that all beings that fall within our
experience, including even the angels, are subject to change
and alteration and to being moved in various ways? The
intellectual beings — ^by which I mean angels and souls and
demons — change by free choice, progressing in good or
receding, exerting themselves or slackening; whereas the
rest change by generation or corruption, increase or decrease,
change in quality or change in position. Consequently, things
which are changeable must definitely be created. Created
beings have certainly been created by something. But the
creator must be uncreated, for, if he has been created, then
he has certainly been created by some one else — and so on
until we arrive at something which has not been created.
Therefore, the creator is an uncreated and entirely unchange-
able being. And what else would that be but God?

What is more, the very harmony of creation, its preserva-
tion and governing, teach us that there is a God who has
put all this together and keeps it together, ever maintaining
it and providing for it. For how could such contrary natures
as fire and water, earth and air, combine with one another
to form one world and remain undissolved, unless there

170 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

were some all-powerful force to bring them together and
always keep them that way?^

What is it that has ordered the things of heaven and
those of earth, the things which move through the air and
those which move in the water — nay, rather, the things
which preceded them: heaven and earth and the natures
of fire and water? What is it that combined and arranged
them? What is it that set them in motion and put them
on their unceasing and unhindered courses? Or is it that
they had no architect to set a principle in them all by which
the whole universe be moved and controlled? But who is the
architect of these things? Or did not he who made them
also bring them into being? We shall certainly not attribute
such power to spontaneity. Even grant that they came into
being spontaneously; then, whence came their arrangement?
Let us grant this, also, if you wish. Then, what maintains
and keeps the principles by which they subsisted in the first
place? It is most certainly some other thing than mere
chance. What else is this, if it is not God?^

Chapter 4

Thus, it is clear that God exists, but what He is in essence
and nature is unknown and beyond all understanding. That
He is without a body is obvious, for how could a body contain
that which is limitless, boundless, formless, impalpable, invisi-
ble, simple, and uncompounded? How could it be immutable,
if it were circumscribed and subject to change? And how
could that which is composed of elements and reducible
to them be not subject to change? Composition is the cause
of conflict, conflict the cause of separation, and separation

2 Cf. Athanasius, Against the Pagans 35-36 {PG 25.69C-73A) .

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 28.16 {PG 36.45D-48B) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 171

the cause of dissolution — but dissolution is altogether foreign
to God.i

And again, how can the principle be maintained that
God permeates and fills all things, as Scripture says: 'Do not
I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord'?^ For it is impossible
for one body to permeate others without dividing and being
divided, without being blended and contrasted, just as when
a number of liquids are mixed together and blended.'

Now, should some people speak of an immaterial body,
the so-called fifth body of the Greek philosophers, which
is impossible, then this will be subject to motion just like
the heavens, which they call a fifth body. But, since every-
thing that is moved is moved by another, then who is it that
moves this? And who is it that moves that? And so we go on
endlessly in this way until such time as we arrive at something
that is immoveable.* For the first mover is unmoved, and
it is just this that is the Divinity. Furthermore, how can
that which is not locally contained be moved? Therefore,
only the Divinity is unmoved, and by His immovabihty He
moves all things. Consequently, one can only answer that
the Divinity is without body.

AU this, however, is by no means indicative of His essence —
no more than is the fact of His being unbegotten, without
beginning, immutable, and incorruptible, or any of those
other things which are aflfirmed of God or about Him. These
do not show what He is, but, rather, what He is not.^ One
who would declare the essence of something must explain
what it is, but not what it is not. However, as regards what
God is, it is impossible to say what He is in His essence, so
it is better to discuss Him by abstraction from all things

1 Cf. ibid. 7 (PG 36.33) .

2 Jer. 23.24.

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 28.8 (PG 36.36A) .

4 Cf. ibid. {PG 36.36AB) .

5 Cf. ibid. {PG 36.36C-37B) .

172 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

whatsoever. For He does not belong to the number of beings,
not because He does not exist, but because He transcends
all beings and being itself. And, if knowledge respects beings,
then that which transcends knowledge wiU certainly transcend
essence, and, conversely, what transcends essence will tran-
scend knowledge.^

The Divinity, then, is limitless and incomprehensible, and
this His limitlessness and incomprehensibility is all that can
be understood about Him. All that we state affirmatively
about God does not show His nature, but only what relates
to His nature. And, if you should ever speak of good, or
justice, or wisdom, or something else of the sort, you wiU
not be describing the nature of God, but only things relating
to His nature. There are, moreover, things that are stated
affirmatively of God, but which have the force of extreme
negation. For example, when we speak of darkness in God
we do not really mean darkness.' What we mean is that
He is not light, because He transcends light. In the same way,
when we speak of light we mean that it is not darkness.

Chapter 5

It has been sufficiently demonstrated that God exists and
that His essence is incomprehensible. Furthermore, those who
believe in sacred Scripture have no doubt that He is one
and not several. For the Lord says at the beginning of His
lawgiving: 'I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out
of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt not have strange gods before
me.'^ And again: 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one
Lord.'^ And through the mouth of the Prophet Isaias: 'I am,'
He says, 'the first God and I am the last and there is no God

6 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius, Mystical Theology 2 {PG 3.10O0AB) .

7 C£. ibid. 1 (PG 3.1000A) .

1 Exod. 20.2,3.

2 Deut. 6.4.

ORTHODOX TAITH : BOOK ONE 173

besides me. Before me there was no God and after me there
shall be none, and beside me there is none." And the Lord
speaks thus to His Father in the holy Gospels : 'This is eternal
life: that they may know thee, the only true God.'* With
those who do not believe in sacred Scripture we shall reason
as follows.

The Divinity is perfect and without deficiency in goodness
or wisdom or power. He is without beginning, without end,
eternal, uncircumscribed; to put it simply, He is perfect in all
things. Now, if we say that there are several gods, there
must be some difference to be found among them. For it there
is no difference at all among them, then there is one God
rather than several. But, if there is some difference, then
where is the perfection? For, if one should come short of per-
fection in goodness, or power, or wisdom, or time, or place,
then he would not be God. The identity of God in all things
shows Him to be one and not several.^

And again, if there are several gods, how can one support
the fact of God's being uncircumscribed? For where there
is one there cannot be another.

And, since there is bound to be conflict among several
governing, how can the world be governed by several gods
without being broken up and utterly destroyed? Now, should
any one say that each one rules over a part, then what was
it that arranged for this and made the distribution among
them? This last being would more likely be God. God, then,
is one, perfect, uncirumscribed, the maker of the universe,
the maintainer of order and governor, preceding and tran-
scending all perfection.

Besides all this, it is naturally necessary that the origi-
nating principle of duality be unity.'

3 Isa. 43.10.

4 John 17.3.

5 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Cathetical Discourse, Prologue {PG 45.12AD) .

6 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius, Divine Names 13.3 (PG 3.980-981) .

174 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 6

Now, this one sole God is not without a Word. And, if He
has a Word, this Word wUl not be non-subsistent (dvuTtooTa-
tov), nor will it have any beginning or end of being. For
there never was a time when God the Word was not. God
always has His Word begotten of Himself — not like our
speech, which is non-subsistent and dissipated in the air,
but distinctly subsistent (evuirooTaxov), living and perfect,
not passing out from Him but always existing within Him.'^
For where will He be if He is outside of God? Because our
nature is mortal and subject to dissolution, for this reason
our speech is non-subsistent. But, since God is existing always
and is perfect, His Word must be always existing, living,
perfect, distinctly subsistent, and having all things that His
Begetter has. Now, our speech in proceeding from our mind
is not entirely distinct from it. For, in so far as it comes from,
the mind, it is something distinct from it; whereas, in so far
as it reveals the mind itself, it is not entirely distinct from
it. Actually, it is identical with it in nature while distinct
from it in its subject. Similarly, the Word of God, in so far
as He subsists in Himself, is distinct from Him from whom
He has His subsistence. But, since He exhibits in Himself
those same things which are dbcerned in God, then in His
nature He is identical with God. For, just as perfection in all
things is to be found in the Father, so is it also to be found
in the Word begotten of Him.

Chapter 7

It is further necessary that the Word have a Spirit. Thus,
even our own speech is not devoid of breath, although in our
case the breath is not of our substance. It is an inhaling and
exhaling of the air which is breathed in and out for the

1 C£. Gregory of Nyssa, op. cit. 2 (FG 45.17BC) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 175

sustainment of the body. It is this which on the occasion
of articulation becomes the vocal expression of speech and
evidences in itself the power of speech.^ Now, in the simple
and uncompounded divine nature the existence of a Spirit
of God is piously to be confessed, for the Word of God is no
more deficient than our own word. It would be impious
to reckon the Spirit as something foreign to God and later
introduced from outside, as is the case with us who are
compounded. On the contrary, it is as when we heard there
was a Word of God and did not conceive of this as not being
distinctly subsistent, or as accruing from learning, or as being
expressed vocally and being diffused in. the air and lost.
Rather, we conceived of Him as substantially subsisting,
endowed with will and operation, and all-powerful. In the
same way, too, having learned that there is a Spirit of God,
we conceive of Him as associated with the Word and making
the operation of the Word manifest. We do not conceive of
Him as an impersonal breath of air, for the majesty of the
divine nature would be reduced to low estate if its Spirit
were likened to our own breath. Rather, we conceive of Him
as a substantial power found in its own individuating per-
sonality, proceeding from the Father, coming to rest in the
Word and declaring Him, not separated from God in essence
or from the Word with whom it is associated, having might,
not dissipated away into non-existence, but distinctly sub-
sistent like the Word — ^living, endowed with will, self-moving,
active, at all times willing good, exercising His power for
the prosecution of every design in accordance with His will,
without beginning and without end. For the Word fell short
of the Father in nothing, and the Spirit did not fall short
of the Word in anything.

Thus, on the one hand, the unity in nature exposes the
polytheistic error of the Greeks; on the other hand, the
doctrine of the Word and the Spirit demolishes the teaching
of the Jews. At the same time, the good in both of these

1 Cf. ibid. 2 (PG 45.17A) .

176 SAINT JOHN OF DAMAS CU S

heresies remain : from the Jewish opinion the unity of nature ;
and from Hellenism the unique distinction according to
persons.^

Should the Jew gainsay the doctrine of the Word and
the Spirit, then let sacred Scripture refute him and reduce
him to silence. Thus the divine David says concerning the
Word : 'For ever, O Lord, thy word standeth firm in heaven.'
And again: 'He sent his word and healed them.' But
a spoken word is not sent and neither does it stand firm
forever. Concerning the Spirit the same David says: 'Thou
shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created.' And
again : 'By the word of the Lord the heavens were established
and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth.' ^ Job
likewise says: 'The spirit of God made me: and the breath
of the Almighty maintaineth me.'* Now a spirit which is sent,
and acts, and strengthens, and maintains is not breath which
is dissipated any more than the mouth of God is a bodily
member. Both in fact are to be understood as appropriately
referring to God.^

Chapter 8

Therefore, we believe in one God: one principle, without
beginning, uncreated, unbegotten, indestructible and immor-
tal, eternal, unlimited, uncircumscribed, unbounded, infinite
in power, simple, uncompounded, incorporeal, unchanging,
unaffected, unchangeable, inalterate, invisible, source of good-
ness and justice, light intellectual and inaccessible; power
which no measure can give any idea of but which is measured
only by His own wiU, for He can do all things whatsoever
He pleases;^ maker of all things both visible and invisible,

2 Cf. ibid. 3 (PG 45.17D-20A) .

3 Ps. 118.89; 106.20; 32.6.

4 Job 33.4.

5 Cf. Basil, The Holy Ghost 18.46 {PG 32.152B) .

1 Ps. 134.6.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 177

holding together all things and conserving them, provider
for all, governing and dominating and ruling over all in
unending and immortal reign; without contradiction, filling
all things, contained by nothing, but Himself containing all
things, being their conserver and first possessor; pervading
all substances without being defiled, removed far beyond
all things and every substance as being supersubstantial and
surpassing all, supereminently divine and good and replete;
appointing all the principalities and orders, set above every
principality and order, above essence and life and speech
and concept; light itself and goodness and being in so far
as having neither being nor anything else that is from any
other; the very source of being for all things that are, of life
to the living, of speech to the articulate, and the cause of all
good things for all; knowing all things before they begin
to be; one substance, one godhead, one virtue, one wUl, one
operation, one principality, one power, one domination, one
kingdom; known in three perfect Persons and adored with
one adoration, believed in and worshiped by every rational
creature, united without confusion and distinct without separa-
tion, which is beyond understanding. We believe in Father
and Son and Holy Ghost in whom we have been baptized.
For it is thus that the Lord enjoined the Apostles : 'Baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost.''

We believe in one Father, the principle and cause of aU.
things, begotten of no one, who alone is uncaused and
unbegotten, the maker of all things and by nature Father
of His one and only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, and Emitter^ of the All-Holy Spirit.
We also believe in one Son of God, the only-begotten, our
Lord Jesus Christ, who was begotten of the Father before
aU the ages, light from light, true God from true God, begot-
ten not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom aU

2 Matt. 28.19.

3 TtpoPoXEuq, Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 29.2 (PG 36.76B) .

178 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

things were made; in regard to whom, when we say that
He is before all ages, we mean that His begetting is outside
of time and without beginning, for the Son of God was not
brought from nothing into being; who is the brightness
of the glory and the figure of the substance of the Father,
His living power and wisdom, the subsistent Word, the sub-
stantial and perfect and living image of the invisible God.''
Actually, He was always with the Father, being begotten
of Him eternally and without beginning. For the Father
never was when the Son was not, but the Father and the Son
begotten of Him exist together simultaneously, because the
Father could not be so called without a Son. Now, if He was
not Father when He did not have the Son, and then later
became Father without having been Father before, then He
was changed from not being Father to being Father, which
is the worst of all blasphemies. For it is impossible to speak
of God as naturally lacking the power of begetting. And the
power of begetting is the power to beget of oneself, that is,
of one's own substance, offspring similar to oneself in nature.
Accordingly, it is impious to say that time intervened
in the begetting of the Son and that the Son came into
existence after the Father.^ For we say that the begetting
of the Son h of the Father, that is to say, of His nature;
and if we do not grant that the Son begotten of the Father
exists together with Him from the beginning, then we are
introducing a change into the substance of the Father:
namely, that He once was not Father, but became Father
later. Now, creation, even if it was made at a later time, was
not of the substance of God, but was brought from nothing
into being by His wiU and power and does not involve any
change in the nature of God. Begetting means producing
of the substance of the begetter an offspring similar in sub-
stance to the begetter. Creation, on the other hand — making —
is the bringing into being, from the outside and not from

4 Heb. 1.3; 1 Cor. 1.24; Col. 1.15.

5 C£. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 20.7 (PG 35.1073B) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 179

the substance of the creator, of something created and made
entirely dissimilar [in substance].

Therefore, neither the act of begetting nor that of creation
has any effect on the one, unaffected, unvarying, unchanging,
and ever-the-same God. For, being simple and uncompounded
and, consequently, by nature unaffected and unchanging.
He is by nature not subject to passion or change, whether
from begetting or from creating, nor does He stand in need
of any co-operation. On the contrary, because the begetting
is an action belonging to His nature and proceeding from
His substance, it is without beginning and eternal, so that
the Begetter undergoes no change and so that He is not
a first God and a later God, but receives no addition. But,
since with God creation is a work of His will, it is not
co-eternal with Him — which is because it is not of the nature
of that which is produced from nothing to be co-etemal with
that which is without beginning and always existing. Indeed,
God and man do not make in the same way.*^ Thus, man
does not bring anything from non-being into being. What
man makes he makes from already existing material, not
by just willing but by thinking it out beforehand and getting
an idea of what he is to make and then working with his
hands, toiling and troubling and oftentimes failing because
the object of his endeavor does not turn out as he wished.
God, on the other hand, has brought aU things from nothing
into being by a mere act of His will. Hence, God and man
do not beget in the same way. For, since God is without
time and without beginning, unaffected, unchanging, incor-
poreal, unique, and without end,' He begets without time
and without beginning, unaffectedly, unchangingly, and with-
out copulation. Neither does His unfathomable begetting
have beginning or end. It is without beginning, because He
is immutable; it is unchanging, because He is unaffected
and incorporeal; it is without copulation, also because He

6 Cf. ibid. (PG 35.1076CD) .

7 Cf. CyrU of Alexandria, Thesaurus, Assert. 5 (PG 75.60CD) .

180 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

is incorporeal and because He is the only one God and with-
out need of any other; it is unending and unceasing, because
He is without time and without end and ever the same — for
that which is without beginning is without end, although
that which is without end by a gift of grace is by no means
without beginning, as is the case with the angels.

Accordingly, the ever-existing God begets without begin-
ning and without end His own Word as a perfect being,
lest God, whose nature and existence are outside of time,
should beget in time. Now, it is obvious that man begets
in quite another manner, since he is subject to birth and
death and flux and increase, and since he is clothed with
a body and has the male and female in his nature — for the
male has need of the female's help. May He be propitious
to us who is beyond all things and surpasses all understanding
and comprehension.

Therefore, the holy Catholic and apostolic Church teaches
that the Father exists simultaneously with His only-begotten
Son, who is begotten of Him without time or change or pas-
sion and in a manner beyond understanding, as only the
God of all knows. They exist simultaneously, as does the
fire with its light — without the fire being first and the light
afterwards, but both simultaneously. And just as the light
is ever being begotten of the fire, is always in it, and is in no
way separated from it, so also is the Son begotten of the
Father without in any way being separated from Him, but
always existing in Him. However, the light, which is insepa-
rably begotten of the fire and always remains in it, does
not have any individual existence apart from the fire, because
it is a natural quality of the fire. On the other hand, the
only-begotten Son of God, who was inseparably and indivisibly
begotten of the Father and abides in Him always, does have
His own individual existence apart from that of the Father.

Now the Word is also called 'Brightness'* because He was
begotten of the Father without copulation, without passion,

8 Heb. 1.3.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 181

without time, without change, and without separatioa. He
is also called 'Son' and 'Figure of the substance of the
Father'* because He is perfect and distinctly subsistent and
in all things Hke the Father except in the Father's being
unbegotten. And He is called 'Only-begotten' because He
alone was begotten alone of the only Father. For neither
is there any other begetting like that of the Son of God, nor
is there any other Son of God. Thus, although the Holy Ghost
does proceed from the Father, this is not by begetting but
by procession. This is another manner of existence and is just
as incomprehensible and unknowable as is the begetting
of the Son. Hence, the Son has all things whatsoever the
Father has, except the Father's being unbegotten, which
does not imply any difference in substance, nor any quality,
but, rather, a manner of existence.^" Thus, in the same way,
Adam is unbegotten, because he was formed by God, while
Seth is begotten, because he is the son of Adam; Eve, too,
was not begotten, because she was produced from the rib
of Adam. Yet, they do not differ in nature, because they
are all human beings ; they only differ in the manner of their
existence. '^'^

Now, one ought to know that dyeviTrov written with
one V means that which has not been created, or, in other
words, that which is unoriginated; while dyevvriTov written
with two v's means that which has not been begotten. There-
fore, the first meaning implies a difference in essence, for
it means that one essence is uncreated, or dyEvr^Toc; with"
one V, while some other is created, or originated. On the
other hand, the second meaning does not imply any difference
in essence, because the first individual substance of every
species of living being is unbegotten but not unoriginated.
For they were created by the Creator, being brought into
existence by His Word. But they were certainly not begotten,

9 Cf. Gregory Nanzianzen, Sermon 30.20 {PG 36.128B-129B) .

10 Cf. Basil, Against Eunomius 4 {PG 29.680D-681A) .

11 Cf. ibid. {PG 29.681B) ; Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 31.11 (PG 36.144D-
145A) .

182 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

because there was no other like substance pre-existing from
which they might have been begotten.

Thus, the first meaning applies to all three of the super-
divine Persons of the sacred Godhead, for they are uncreated
and of the same substance.^' On the other hand, the second
meaning definitely does not apply to all three, because the
Father alone is unbegotten in so far as He does not have
His being from another person. And only the Son is begotten,
for He is begotten of the substance of the Father without
beginning and independently of time. And only the Holy
Ghost proceeds: not begotten, but proceeding from the sub-
stance of the Father. Such is the teaching of sacred Scripture,
but as to the manner of the begetting and the procession,
this is beyond understanding.

This also should be known, that the terms 'paternity,'
'sonship,' and 'procession' as applied to the blessed God-
head did not originate with us, but, on the contrary, were
handed down to us from Scripture, as the divine Apostle
says: 'For this cause I bow my knee to the Father, of whom
all paternity in heaven and earth is named.'^^

And if we say that the Father is the principle of the Son
and greater than the Son, we are not giving to understand
that He comes before the Son either in time or in nature,
for 'by him he made the world,' ^'' nor in any other thing
save causality. That is to say, we mean that the Son is begot-
ten of the Father, and not the Father of the Son, and that
the Father is naturally the cause of the Son. Similarly, we
do not say that the fire comes from the light, but that the
light comes from the fire. So, when we hear that the Father
is the principle of the Son and greater than He, let us under-
stand this as being by reason of His being the cause. And
just as we do not say that the fire is of one substance and
the light of another, neither is it proper to say that the

12 Cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Thesaurus, Assert. 7 (PG 75.24AC) .

13 Eph. 3.14,15.

14 Heb. 1.2.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 183

Father is of one substance and the Son of another; on the
contrary, they are of one and the same substance. What
is more, just as we say that the fire is made visible by the
light coming from it, yet do not make the fire's light a sub-
sidiary organ of the fire but, rather, a natural power; in the
same way, we say that the Father does aU things whatsoever
through His only-begotten Son, not as through a subsidiary
organ, but as through a natural and distinctly subsistent
force. And just as we say that the fire gives light, and, again,
that the fire's light gives light, so: 'What things soever
the Father doth, these the Son also doth in like manner.'^^
But the light was not created an individual substance apart
from the fire, whereas the Son is a perfect individual sub-
stance inseparable from that of the Father, as we have set
forth above. For it is impossible to find Ln creation any
image which exactly portrays the manner of the Holy
Trinity in Itself. For that which is created is also com-
pounded, variable, changeable, circumscribed, having shape,
and corruptible; so, how shall it show with any clarity
the supersubstantial divine essence which is far removed
from all such? It is evident that all creation is subject to
these several conditions and that it is of its own nature
subject to corruption.

We likewise believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and
Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and abides
in the Son; who is adored and glorified together with the
Father and the Son as consubstantial and co-eternal with
Them; who is the true and authoritative Spirit of God
and the source of wisdom and life and sanctification ; who
is God together with the Father and the Son and is so
proclaimed; who is uncreated, complete, creative, almighty,
all-working, all-powerful, infinite in power; who dominates
all creation but is not dominated; who deifies but is not
deified; who fills but is not filled; who is shared in but
does not share; who sanctifies but is not sanctified; who,

15 John 5.19.

184 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

as receiving the intercessions of all, is the Intercessor; who
is like the Father and the Son in all things; who proceeds
from the Father and is communicated through the Son
and is participated in by all creation; who through Himself
creates and gives substance to all things and sanctifies and
preserves them; who is distinctly subsistent and exists in His
own Person indivisible and inseparable from the Father
and the Son; who has all things whatsoever the Father
and the Son have except the being unbegotten and the
being begotten. For the Father is uncaused and unbegot-
ten, because He is not from anything, but has His being
from Himself and does not have from any other anything
whatsover that He has. Rather, He Himself is the principle
and cause by which all things naturally exist as they do.
And the Son is begotten of the Father, while the Holy
Ghost is Himself also of the Father — although not by beget-
ting, but by procession. Now, we have learned that there
is a difTerence between begetting and procession, but what
the manner of this difference is we have not learned at all.
However, the begetting of the Son and the procession of the
Holy Ghost from the Father are simultaneous.

Accordingly, all things whatsoever the Son has from the
Father the Spirit also has, including His very being. And
if the Father does not exist, then neither does the Son
or the Spirit; and if the Father does not have something,
then neither has the Son or the Spirit. Furthermore, because
of the Father, that is, because of the fact that the Father
is, the Son and the Spirit are; and because of the Father, the
Son and the Spirit have everything that they have, that
is to say, because of the fact that the Father has them,
excepting the being unbegotten, the begetting, and the pro-
cession. For it is only in these personal properties that the
three divine Persons differ from one another, being indivis-
ibly divided by the distinctive note of each individual Person.

We say that each of the three has perfect distinct sub-
sistence; not, however, in such a way as to understand

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 1 85

one perfect nature compounded of three imperfect natures,
but one simple essence, eminently and antecedently perfect,
in three Persons.^* For, anything that is made up of imper-
fect things is most definitely compounded, and it is impossible
for there to be a compound of perfect individual substances.
Hence, we do not say that the species is of the Persons,
but in the Persons. Those things which do not retain the
species of the thing made of them we call imperfect. Thus,
stone, wood, and iron are each perfect in themselves accord-
ing to their individual natures; but in relation to a house
built of them they are all imperfect, because no one of them
by itself is a house.

And so we speak of perfect individual substances to avoid
giving any idea of composition in the divine nature. For
composition is the cause of disintegration. And again, we
say that the three Persons are in one another, so as not
to introduce a whole swarm of gods.^^ By the three Persons
we understand that God is uncompounded and without
confusion; by the consubstantiality of the Persons and their
existence in one another and by the indivisibility of the
identity of will, operation, virtue, power, and, so to speak,
motion we understand that God is one. For God and His
Word and His Spirit are really one God.

[On the Distinction of the Three Persons; and on Actuality
and Reason and Thought.]'-^

One should know that it is one thing actually to observe
something and another to see it through reason and thought.
Thus, in all creatures there is an actual distinction to be seen
between the individual substances. Peter is seen to be actually
distinct from Paul. But, that which is held in common,
the connection, and the unity is seen by reason and thought.

16 Cf. Basil, Against the Sabellians, Avians, and Eumomians 4 {PG
31.605BC) .

17 Cf. ibid. (PG 31.605C) : Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 38.8 (PG 36.320B) .

18 This is a marginal addition to the manuscript.

186 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Thus, in our mind we see that Peter and Paul are of the
same nature and have one common nature, for each is
a rational mortal animal and each is a body animated by
a rational and understanding soul. Hence, this common
nature is perceived by the reason. Now, individual persons
do not exist in one another at all, but each one is separate
and by itself, that is to say, is distinct and considered in itself,
since it has a great many things to distinguish it from
the other. For, truly, they are separated in place and they
differ in time, judgment, strength, form — or shape, habit,
temperament, dignity, manner of life, and all the other
distinctive properties^ — but most of all they differ by the
fact that they do not exist in each other but separately.
Hence, we speak of two, or three, or several men.

The aforesaid is true of all creation, but it is quite the
contrary in the case of the holy, supersubstantial, all-tran-
scendent, and incomprehensible Trinity. For, here, that which
is common and one is considered in actuality by reason
of the co-eternity and identity of substance, operation, and
will, and by reason of the agreement in judgment and
the identity of power, virtue, and goodness — I did not say
similarity, but identity — and by reason of the one surge
of motion. For there is one essence, one goodness, one virtue,
one intent, one operation, one power — one and the same,
not three similar one to another, but one and the same
motion of the three Persons. And the oneness of each is not
less with the others than it is with itself, that is to say, the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are one in all
things except the being unbegotten, the being begotten, and
the procession. It is by thought that the distinction is perceived.
For we know one God and Him in the properties of father-
hood, and sonship, and procession only. The difference we
conceive of according to cause and effect and the perfection
of the Person, that is to say, His manner of existing.^* For

19 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, That There Are Not Three Gods (PG 45.-
133BC) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 187

with the uncircumscribed Godhead we cannot speak of any
difference in place, as we do with ourselves, because the
Persons exist in one another, not so as to be confused, but
so as to adhere closely together as expressed in the words
of the Lord when He said: 'I in the Father and the Father
in me.'-° Neither can we speak of a difference in will, or
judgment, or operation, or virtue, or any other whatsoever
of those things which in us give rise to a definite real distinc-
tion. For that reason, we do not call the Father and the
Son and the Holy Ghost three Gods, but one God, the
Holy Trinity, in whom the Son and the Holy Ghost are
related to one Cause without any composition or blending
such as is the coalescence of Sabellius. For they are united,
as we said, so as not to be confused, but to adhere closely
together, and they have their circumincession one in the
other without any blending or mingling and without change
or division in substance such as is the division held by Arius."^
Thus, must one put it concisely, the Godhead is undivided
in things divided, just as in three suns joined together with-
out any intervening interval there is one blending and
the union of the light."" So, when we contemplate the God-
head, and the First Cause, and the Monarchy, and the
unity and identity, so to speak, of the motion and will of the
Godhead, and the identity of substance, virtue, operation,
and dominion, then that which appears to us is One. But,
when we contemplate the things in which the Godhead
exists, or, to put it more accurately, those things which
are the Godhead and which come from the First Cause
independently of time, with equal glory, and inseparably —
that is, the Persons of the Son and the Spirit — then we
adore Three. One Father, the Father without beginning,
that is to say, uncaused, for He is from no one. One Son,

20 John 14.11.

21 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 20.6 (PG 35.1072B) ; Pseudo-Dionysius,
Divme Names 2.4 (PG 3.641 AB).

22 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 31.14 {PG 36.149A) .

188 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

the Son who is not without beginning, that is to say, not
uncaused, for He is from the Father; but, should you take
the beginning as being in time, then He is without beginning,
because He is the maker of the ages and not subject to time.
One Spirit, the Holy Ghost coming forth from the Father,
not by filiation but by procession. And, as the Father does
not cease to be unbegotten because He has begotten, nor
the Son cease to be begotten because He is begotten of the
Unbegotten — for how could He? — so neither does the Spirit
change into the Father or the Son, because He proceeds
and is God. The property is unchangeable, since how would
it otherwise remain a property should it ba changed and
transformed? Thus, if the Son is the Father, then He is not
properly the Father, because there is only one who is pro-
perly the Father; and, if the Father is the Son, He is not
properly the Son, because there is only one who is properly
the Son, and only one who is properly the Holy Ghost.

One should know that we do not say that the Father
is of anyone, but that we do say that He is the Father of the
Son. We do not say that the Son is a cause or a father, but
we do say that He is from the Father and is the Son of the
Father. And we do say that the Holy Ghost is of the Father
and we call Him the Spirit of the Father. Neither do we say
that the Spirit is from the Son, but we call Him the Spirit
of the Son — 'Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,'
says the divine Apostle, 'he is none of his.'^^ We also confess
that He was manifested and communicated to us through
the Son, for 'He breathed,' it says, 'and he said to his disci-
ples: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.'^* It is just like the rays
and brightness coming from the sun, for the sun is the source
of its rays and brightness and the brightness is communicated
to us through the rays, and that it is which lights us and
is enjoyed by us. Neither do we say that the Son is of the
Spirit, nor, most certainly, from the Spirit.

23 Rom. 8.9.

24 John. 20.22.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 189

Chapter 9

The Divinity is simple and uncompounded. But, that which
is composed of several different things is compounded. Con-
sequently, should we say that the increate, unoriginate,
incorporeal, immortal, eternal, good, creative, and the like
are essential differences in God, then, since He is composed
of so many things. He will not be simple but compounded,
which is impious to the last degree. Therefore, one should
not suppose that any one of these things which are affirmed
of God is indicative of what He is in essence. Rather, they
show either what He is not, or some relation to some one
of those things that are contrasted with Him, or some-
thing of those things which are consequential to His nature
or operation.

Now, it seems that of aU the names given to God the
more proper is that of He Who Is^ as when in conversing
with Moses on the mountain He says: 'Say to the children
of Israel: He Who Is hath sent me.'-^ For, like some limitless
and boundless sea of essence. He contains all being in Him-
self.^ But then, as St. Dionysius says. He is 'The Good,' for
in God one may not say that the being comes first and then
the good afterwards.^

A second name is Osoc; which derives from 9&&LV, to run,
because of His running through aU things and having care
for them. Or it is from at9co, that is, to burn, because God
is a fire consuming aU evil.* Or it is from His GsaoGai,^
or seeing aU things, because nothing escapes Him and He
watches over aU, and because He saw aU things before they
came to pass.^ For He conceived of them independently

1 Exod. 3.14.

2 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 38.7 (PG 36.3I7B) .

3 Pseudo-Dionysius, Divine Names 2.1 (FG 3.636-637) .

4 C£. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.18 {PG 36.128A) ; Deut. 4.24.

5 C£. Gregory o£ Nyssa, In Cant. Horn. 5 (PG 44.861B) , and That
There Are Not Three Gods (PG 45.121D) .

6 C£. 2 Mach. 9.5; Dan. 13.42.

190 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

of time and each one comes to pass at the foreordained
time in accordance with the predetermination and image
and exemplar contained in His timeless will and design.

The former name, then, is expressive of His existence and
His essence, while the latter is expressive of His operation.
But the names 'Without beginning,' 'Incorruptible,' 'Unorig-
inate' or 'Uncreated,' 'Incorporeal,' 'Invisible,' and the like
all show that He had no beginning of being, that He is not
corruptible, is not created, is not a body, and is not visible.
The names 'Good,' 'Just,' 'Holy,' and the like are con-
sequential to His nature and are not indicative of the essence
itself. Those of 'Lord,' 'King,' and the like are indicative
of a relation to things that are contrasted with Him. Thus,
of those that are lorded over He is called Lord, of those
that are ruled over He is called King, of those that are
created He is called Creator, and of those that are shep-
herded He is called Shepherd.

Chapter 10

All the aforesaid names are to be taken as applying in
common, in the same manner, simply, indivisibly, and
unitedly to the whole Godhead.'- But the names 'Father'
and 'Son' and 'Spirit,' 'Uncaused' and 'Caused,' 'Unbegot-
ten' and 'Begotten' and 'Proceeding' are to be taken as
applying in a different way, because they declare not the
essence, but the mutual relationship and manner of existence
[of the Persons].

Even when we have perceived these things and have
been guided by them to the Divine Essence, we still do not
grasp the essence itself, but only things relating to it. Just
as, although we may know that the soul is without body,
without quantity, and without shape, even then we have
not grasped its essence. And in the same way, if we happen

1 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius, Divine Names 2.3 (PG 3.640B) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 191

to know that the body is white or black, we have not com-
prehended the essence of the body, but only something related
to it. True reason teaches us that the Divinity is simple and
has one simple operation which is good and which effects
all things, like the rays of the sun which warm aU things
and exercise their force in each in accordance with the
natural capacity of each, having received such power of
operation from God who created them.

On the other hand, everything that pertains to the divine
and benevolent incarnation of the Word of God has a distinct
application. For, in these, neither the being Father nor the
being Spirit is in any way communicated save by good
pleasure and the ineflfable wondrous operation which God
the Word worked, when, while being God unchangeable
and the Son of God, He became a man like us.^

Chapter 11

Since in sacred Scripture we find many things said sym-
bolically of God as if He had a body, one should know that
since we are men clothed in this gross flesh, we are unable
to think or speak of the divine, lofty, and immaterial opera-
tions of the Godhead unless we have recourse to images,
types, and symbols that correspond to our own nature.-"^
Consequently, everything that is said of God as if He had
a body is said symbolically and has a loftier meaning. Thus,
by the eyes and eyelids and sight of God let us understand
His power of penetrating aU things and His unescapable
knowledge, by analogy with our own acquisition of more
complete knowledge and certainty through this particular
sense. By His ears and hearing let us understand His gracious
acceptance of our supplications, for by this sense we, too,

2 Cf. ibid. 2.6 {PG 3.644C) ; Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 34.10 (PG-
36.252A) .

1 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius, op. cit. 1.8 (PG 3.597AB) .

192 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

become well disposed toward them that petition us and
more favorably incline our ear to them. By His mouth and
speech let us understand the expression of His will, by analogy
with our own expression of our innermost thoughts by mouth
and speech. By His food and drink let us understand our
concurrence with His wHl, for by the sense of taste we, too,
satisfy the necessary appetite of our nature. By His smelling
let us understand His acceptance of our good will toward
Him and our thoughts, by analogy with our own perception
of fragrance through this sense. By His face let us under-
stand His being declared and revealed through His works,
inasmuch as we ourselves are discovered by our faces. By His
hands let us understand the prosecution of His operation,
for it is by means of our hands that we successfully perform
necessary and most worthy works. By His right hand let us
understand His aid in advantageous things, by analogy with
our own use of our right hand in the performance of the
more noble and worthy actions and those which require
our full strength. By His touching let us understand His
most accurate discernment and exaction of exceedingly minute
and hidden things, because those whom we feel all over
are unable to conceal anything upon their persons. By His
feet and walking let us understand His coming to the aid
of the needy, or to work vengeance on enemies, or to do
some other thing, by analogy with our accomplishing our
own coming through the use of our feet. By His swearing
let us understand the immutability of His wHl, because
it is by oaths that we make conventions with one another.
By His wrath and indignation let us understand His aversion
to evil and His hatred of it, for we, too, hate things which
are against our wishes and we are angry at them.''^ By His
forgetfulness and His sleep and His drowsiness let us under-
stand His putting off vengeance on His enemies and His
delaying aid for His own. Thus, to put it simply, all these
things which are afRrmed of God as if He had a body con-

1 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 3152 (PG 36.157B) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 193

tain some hidden meaning which, through things corre-
sponding to our nature, teaches us things -which exceed our
nature — except it be something said respecting the presence
of the Word of God in the flesh. For, for our salvation He
took on the whole man, both the intellectual soul and the
body, and the peculiar properties of human nature as well
as the natural but not blameworthy passions.

Chapter 12

In these things, then, have we been instructed by the
sacred sayings, as the divine Dionysius the Areopagite has
said,^ namely, that God is the Cause and Principle of all
things, the Essence of things that are, the Life or the living,
the Reason of the rational, the Understanding of them that
have understanding, the Revival and the raising up of them
that fall away from Him, the Remaking and Reforming
of them that are by nature corruptible, the holy Support
of them that are tossed on an unholy sea, the sure Support
of them that stand, and the Way and the outstretched
guiding Hand to them that are drawn to Him. Moreover,
I shall add that He is the Father of them that have been
made by Him. For our God, who has brought us from nothing
into being, is more properly our Father than they who have
begotten us, but who have received from Him both their
being and their power to beget. He is the Shepherd of them
that follow after Him and are led by Him. He is the Illumina-
tion of the enlightened. He is the Initiation of the initiate. He
is the Godliness of the godly. He is the Reconciliation of them
that are at variance. He is the Simplicity of them that are
become simple. He is the Unity of them that seek unity. As
Principle of Principles He is the transcendent Principle of
every principle. He is the good Communication of His hidden
things, that is, of His knowledge, in so far as is allowable and
meets with the capacity of each individual.

I 1 Pseudo-Dionysius, op. cit. 1.1 (FG 358SB) .

194 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

[More on the Names of God and More PreciselyY

Since the Divinity is incomprehensible, He must remain
absolutely nameless. Accordingly, since we do not know His
essence, let us not look for a name for His essence, for names
are indicative of what things are. However, although God
is good and has brought us from nothing into being to share
His goodness and has given us knowledge, yet, since He did
not communicate His essence to us, so neither did He com-
municate the knowledge of His essence. It is impossible for
a nature to know a nature of a higher order perfectly; but,
if knowledge is of things that are, then how will that which
is superessential be known? So, in His ineffable goodness He
sees fit to be named from things which are on the level of
our nature, that we may not be entirely bereft of knowledge
of Him but may have at least some dim understanding.
Therefore, in so far as He is incomprehensible, He is also
unnameable. But, since He is the cause of all things and
possesses beforehand in Himself the reasons and causes of all,
so He can be named after aU things — even after things which
are opposites, such as light and darkness, water and fire — so
that we may know that He is not these things in essence, but
is superessential and unnameable. Thus, since He is the cause
of all beings, He is named after all things that are caused.

Wherefore, some of the divine names are said by negation
and show His superessentiaUty, as when He is called 'Insub-
stantial,' 'Timeless,' 'Without beginning,' 'Invisible' — not
because He is inferior to anything or lacking in anything, for
all things are His and from Him and by Him were made
and in Him consist,^ but because He is pre-eminently set
apart from all beings. The names that are given by negation
are predicated of Him as being the cause of all things. For,
in so far as He is the cause of aU beings and of every essence,

2 This additional chapter is found only in some of the later codices,
but the Byzantines have always considered it to be genuine

3 Col. 1.17.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 195

He is called 'Being' and 'Essence.' As the cause of all reason
and wisdom, and as that of the reasoning and the wise, He
is called 'Wisdom' and 'Wise.' In the same way, He is called
'Mind' and 'Understanding,' 'Life' and 'Living,' 'Might'
and 'Mighty,' and so on with all the rest. But especially may
He be named after those more noble things which approach
Him more closely. Immaterial things are more noble than
material, the pure more so than the sordid, the sacred more
so than the profane, and they approach Him more closely
because they participate in Him more. Consequently, He may
be called sun and light much more suitably than darkness,
day more suitably than night, life more suitably than death,
and fire, air, and water (since these are life-giving) more
suitably than earth. And, above all. He may be called good-
ness rather than evU, which is the same thing as to say being
rather than non-being, because good is existence and the
cause of existence. These are all negations and affirmations,
but the most satisfactory is the combination of both, as, for
example, the 'superessential Essence,' the 'superdivine God-
head,' the 'Principle beyond all principles,' and so on. There
are also some things which are affirmed of God positively, but
which have the force of extreme negation, as, for example,
darkness — not because God is darkness, but because He is
light and more than light.

And so, God is called 'Mind,' and 'Reason,' and Spirit,'
and 'Wisdom,' because He is the cause of these, and because
He is immaterial, and because He is all-working and all-
powerful.* And these names, both those given by negation
and those given by affirmation, are applied jointly to the
whole Godhead. They also apply in the same way, identically,
and without exception, to each one of the Persons of the
Holy Trinity. Thus, when I think of one of the Persons,
I know that He is perfect God, a perfect substance, but

4 C£. Pseudo-Dionysius, op. cit. 1 (PG 3.865ff.) .

196 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

when I put them together and combine them, I know one
perfect God. For the Godhead is not compounded, but is
one perfect, indivisible, and uncompounded being in three
perfect beings. However, whenever I think of the negation
of the Persons to one another, I know that the Father is
a supersubstantial sun, a well-spring of goodness, an abyss of
essence, reason, wisdom, power, light, and divinity, a beget-
ting and emitting well-spring of the good hidden in Himself.
Thus, He is 'Mind,' 'Abyss of reason,' 'Begetter of the Word,'
and, through the Word, 'Emitter' of the revealing Spirit.
And, not to speak at too great length, the Father has no
reason, wisdom, power, or will other than the Son, who is
the only power of the Father and the primordial force of the
creation of all things. As a perfect hypostasis begotten of
a perfect hypostasis, in a manner which He alone knows,
is He who is the Son and is so called. Then there is the Holy
Ghost, a power of the Father revealing the hidden things
of the Godhead and proceeding from the Father through
the Son, not by begetting, but in a manner which He alone
knows. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is also perfecter of the
creation of all things. Consequently, whatsoever pertains to
the Father as cause, well-spring, and begetter must be attrib-
uted to the Father alone. Whatsoever pertains to the Son.
as caused, begotten son, word, primordial force, -will, and
wisdom must be attributed to the Son alone. And whatsoever
pertains to the caused, proceeding, revealing, and perfecting
power must be attributed to the Holy Ghost. The Father is
well-spring and cause of Son and Holy Ghost— He is Father
of the only Son and Emitter of the Holy Ghost. The Son
is son, word, wisdom, power, image, radiance, and type of
the Father, and He is from the Father. And the Holy Ghost
is not a son of the Father, but He is the Spirit of the Father
as proceeding from the Father. For, without the Spirit, there
is no impulsion. And He is the Spirit of the Son, not as being
from Him, but as proceeding through Him from the Father —
for the Father alone is Cause.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 197

Chapter 13

Place is physical, being the limits of the thing containing
within which the thing contained is contained. The air, for
example, contains and the body is contained, but not aU
of the containing air is the place of the contained body, but
only those limits of the containing air which are adjacent
to the contained body. And this is necessarily so, because the
thing containing is not in the thing contained.

However, there is also an intellectual place where the
intellectual and incorporeal nature is thought of as being
and where it actually is. There it is present and acts; and
it is not physically contained, but spiritually, because it has
no form to permit it to be physically contained. Now, God,
being immaterial and uncircumscribed, is not in a place.
For He, who fills all things and is over aU things and Him-
self encompasses all things, is His own place.'' However, God
is also said to be in a place; and this place where God is said
to be is there where His operation is plainly visible. Now,
He does pervade all things without becoming mixed with
them, and to all things He communicates His operation in
accordance with the fitness and receptivity of each — in accord-
ance with their purity of nature and wUl, I mean to say. For
the immaterial things are purer than the material and the
virtuous more pure than such as are partisan to evil. Thus,
the place where God is said to be is that which experiences
His operation and grace to a greater extent. For this reason,
heaven is His Throne,^ because it is in heaven that the angels
are who do His will and glorify Him unceasingly. For heaven
is His resting place and the earth his footstool, because on
the earth He conversed in the flesh with men.^ And the
sacred flesh of God has been called His foot. The Church,
too, is called the place of God, because we have set it apart

1 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 28.8-10 (PG 36.33-40) .

2 Cf. Isa. 66.1.

S Ibid.; Baruch 3.S8.

198 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

for His glorification as a sort of hallowed spot in which we
also make our intercessions to Him. In the same way, those
places in which His operation is plainly visible to us, whether
it is realized in the flesh or out of the flesh, are called places
of God.

Moreover, one must know that the Divinity is without
parts and that He is wholly everywhere in His entirety, not
being physically distributed part for part, but whoUy in all
things and wholly over the universe.

[On the Place of an Angel and of the Soul, and on the

Uncircumscribedy

Although the angel is not contained physically in a place
so as to assume form and shape, he is said to be in a place
because of his being spiritually present there and acting
according to his nature, and because of his being nowhere
else but remaining spiritually circumscribed there where
he acts. For he cannot act in different places at the same time,
because only God can act everywhere at the same time. For
the angel acts in diflFerent places by virtue of a natural swift-
ness and his ability to pass without delay, that is, swiftly, from
place to place; but the Divinity being everywhere and beyond
all at the same time acts in diflFerent places by one simple
operation.

The soul is united with the body, the entire soul with
the entire body and not part for part. And it is not contained
by the body, but rather contains it, just as heat does iron,
and, although it is in the body, carries on its own proper
activities.

Now, to be circumscribed means to be determined by
place, time, or comprehension, while to be contained by none
of these is to be uncircumscribed. So the Divinity alone Is
uncircumscribed, who is without beginning and without end,
who embraces all things and is grasped by no comprehension

4 This is a marginal addition to the manuscript.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 199

at all. For He alone is incomprehensible, undefinable, and
known by no one; and He alone has a clear vision of Him-
self. The angel, however, is circumscribed by time, because
he had a beginning of being; and by place, even though it
be spiritually, as we have said before; and by comprehension,
because their natures are to some extent known to each
other and because they are completely defined by the Creator.
Bodies also are circumscribed by beginning, end, physical
place, and comprehension.

[A Miscellany on God, and the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Ghost; and on the Word and the Spirit]^

The Divinity, therefore, is absolutely unchangeable and
inalterable. For, all things which are not in our power He
predetermined by His foreknowledge, each one in its own
proper time and place. It is in this sense that it is said:
'Neither does the Father judge any man: but hath given
all judgment to the Son.'^ For, of course, the Father has
judged, and so has the Son of God, and so has the Holy Ghost.
But, as man, the Son Himself will come down in His body
and sit upon the throne of glory — for both the coming down
and the sitting will be of His circumscribed body — and
He will judge the whole world in equity.'''

All things are far from God: not in place, but in nature.
With us, prudence and wisdom and counsel come and go
like habits, but that is certainly not the case with God. With
Him, nothing comes into being or ceases to be, and one
must not speak of accidents, because He is inalterable and
unchangeable. The good is concomitant to His essence. He
sees God who always longs for Him, for aU things that are
are dependent upon Him who is, so that it is impossible for
anything to be, unless it have its being in Him who is. Indeed,

5 Ibid.

6 John 5.22.

7 Acts 17.31.

200 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

in so far as He sustains their nature, God is mixed in with all
things. God the Word, however, was united to His sacred
body hypostatically and was combined with our nature with-
out being mingled with it.

No one sees the Father, except the Son and the Spirit.'

The Son is the counsel, the wisdom, and the power of the
Father. For we must not speak of quality in God, lest we
say that He is composed of substance and quality.

The Son is from the Father, and whatsoever He has He
has from Him. For that reason. He can do nothing of Him-
self.' Thus, He has no operation that it is distinct from the
Father.^"

That God, although invisibUe by nature, becomes visible
through His operations we know from the arrangement of
the world and from its governing. ■'■'■

The Son is image of the Father, and image of the Son is
the Spirit, through whom the Christ dwelling in man gives
it to him to be to the image of God.

The Holy Ghost is God. He is the median of the Unbegot-
ten and the Begotten and He is joined with the Father
through the Son. He is called Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ,
Mind of Christ, Spirit of the Lord, True Lord, Spirit of
adoption, freedom, and wisdom — for He is the cause of all
these.'' ^ He fills all things with His essence and sustains all
things. In His essence He fills the world, but in His power
the world does not contain Him.

God is substance eternal, unchangeable, creative of the
things that are, and to be adored with devout consideration.

The Father is also God. It is He who is ever-unbegotten,
because He was never begotten of anyone, but He has begot-
ten a co-etemal Son. The Son is also God. It is He who is

8 Cf. John 6.46.

9 Cf. John 5.30.

10 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.11 (PG 36.U6C) .

11 Cf. Rom. 1.20.

12 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 31.29 {PG 36.165BC) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK ONE 201

ever with the Father, having been begotten of Him time-
lessly, eternally, without change, without passion, and with-
out cease. The Holy Ghost is also God. He is a sanctifying
force that is subsistent, that proceeds unceasingly from the
Father and abides in the Son, and that is of the same sub-
stance as the Father and the Son.

The Word is He who is ever present with the Father sub-
stantially. In another sense, a word is the natural movement
of the mind, by which the mind moves and thinks and
reasons, as if it were the light and radiance of the mind. And
again, a word is that internal thought which is spoken in
the heart. Still again, there is the spoken word which is
a messenger of the mind. Now, God the Word is both sub-
stantial and subsistent, while the other three kinds of word
are faculties of the soul and are not found to exist in their
own hypostases. The first of these is a product of the mind,
ever springing naturally from the mind. The second is called
internal, and the third called spoken.

The term 'spirit' is understood in several ways. There is
the Holy Spirit. And the powers of this Holy Spirit are also
called spirits. The good angel is likewise a spirit, and so is
the demon and the soul. There are times when even the
mind is called spirit. The wiad is also a spirit, and so is the air.

Chapter 14

The uncreate, the unoriginate, the immortal, the bound-
less, the eternal, the immaterial, the good, the creative, the
just, the enlightening, the unchangeable, the passionless, the
uncircumscribed, the uncontained, the unlimited, the indefi-
nable, the iavisible, the iaconceivable, the wanting nothing,
the having absolute power and authority, the life-giving, the
almighty, the infinitely powerful, the sanctifying and com-
municating, the containing and sustaining all things, and
the providing for all — all these and the like He possesses by
His nature. They £U-e not received from any other source;

202 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

on the contrary, it is His nature that communicates all good
to His own creatures in accordance with the capacity of each.

The abiding and resting of the PersorLS in one another
is not in such a manner that they coalesce or become confused,
but, rather, so that they adhere to one another, for they are
without interval between them and inseparable and their
mutual indwelling is without confusion. For the Son is in
the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Father and
the Son, and the Father is in the Son and the Spirit, and
there is no merging or blending or confusion. And there is
one surge and one movement of the three Persons. It is
impossible for this to be found in any created nature.

Then there is the fact that the divine irradiation and
operation is one, simple, and undivided; and that, while it is
apparently diversely manifested in divisible things, dispensing
to all of them the components of their proper nature, it
remains simple. Indivisibly, it is multiplied in divisible things,
and, gathering them together, it reverts them to its own
simplicity.^ For, toward Him all things tend, and in Him
they have their existence, and to aU things He communicates
their being in accordance with the nature of each. He is the
being of things that are, the life of the living, the reason
of the rational, and the intelligence of intelligent beings. He
surpasses intelligence, reason, life, and essence.

And then again, there is His pervading of all things with-
out Himself being contaminated, whereas nothing pervades
Him. And yet again, there is His knowing of all things by
a simple act of knowing. And there is His distinctly seeing
with His divine, aU-seeing, and immaterial eye all things
at once, both present and past and future, before they come
to pass.^ And there is His sinlessness, His forgiving of sins
and saving. And, finally, there is the fact that all that He
wills He can do, even though He does not will all the things
that He can do — for He can destroy the world, but He does
not will to do so.

1 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius, Divine Names 2 (PG 3.636ff.) .

2 Cf. Dan. 13.42.

BOOK TWO

Chapter 1

j E MADE THE AGES who exists before the ages, of whom
the divine David says: 'From eternity and to eter-
nity thou art;'^ and the divine Apostle: 'By whom
also he made the ages.'^

Now, one should note that the term age has several mean-
ings, because it signifies a great many things. Thus, the span
of life of every man is called an age. Again, a period of one
thousand years is called an age. Still again, this whole present
life is called an age, and so is the age without end to come
after the resurrection.^ And again, that is called an age
which is neither time nor any division of time measured by
the course and motion of the sun — that is to say, made up
of days and nights — ^but which is co-extensive with eternal
things after the fashion of some sort of temporal period and
interval. This kind of age is to eternal things exactly what
time is to temporal things.*

1 Ps. 89.2.

2 Heb. 1.2.

3 Cf. Matt. 12.32.

4 The aevum of the Scholastics. Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 29.3
(PG 36.77AB) .

203

204 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Now, this world is said to have seven ages, that is to say,
from the creation of heaven and earth until the general con-
summation and resurrection of men. For, while there is
a particular consummation, which is the death of each indi-
vidual, there is also a general and final consummation which
will come when the general resurrection of men takes place.
The eighth age is that which is to come.

Before the framing of the world, when there was no sun
to separate day from night, there was no measurable age,
but only an age co-extensive with eternal things after the
fashion of some sort of temporal period and interval. In this
sense, there is one age in respect to which God is said to be
of the ages, and, indeed, before the ages, for He made the
very ages — since He alone is God without beginning and
Himself creator both of the ages and of the things that are.
When I speak of God, however, it is obvious that I mean the
Father and His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
and His All-Holy Spirit — our one God.

We also speak of the ages of ages, inasmuch as the seven
ages of the present world contain many ages, that is to say,
generations of men, whereas there is one age containing all
ages and which is called the age of ages — ^both present and
future. Furthermore, the expressions 'age-enduring life' and
'age-enduring chastisement' show the eternity of the age
to come. For, after the resurrection, time will not be num-
bered by days and nights at all; rather, there will be one
day without evening, with the Sun of Justice shining brightly
upon the just and a deep and endless night reserved for the
sinners. How, then, will the time of Origen's millenium be
measured? God, therefore, is the one maker of the ages — He
who also created all things and who exists before the ages.

ORTHODOX FATTH : BOOK TWO 205

Chapter 2

Now, because the good and transcendentally good God was
not content to contemplate Himself, but by a superabundance
of goodness saw fit that there should be some things to benefit
by and participate in His goodness, He brings all things
from nothing into being and creates them, both visible and
invisible, and man, who is made up of both. By thinking He
creates, and, with the Word fulfilling and the Spirit perfect-
ing, the object of His thought subsists.^

Chapter 3

He is the maker and creator of the angels. He brought
them from nothing into being and made them after His
own image into a bodiless nature, some sort of spirit, as it
were, and immaterial fire — as the divine David says: 'Who
maketh his angels spirits: and his ministers a burning fire.'^
And He determined their lightness, fierines, heat, extreme
acuity, their keenness in their desire for God and His service,
and their being raised up and removed from every material
consideration.

So, an angel is an intellectual substance, ever in motion,
free, incorporeal, ministering to God, with the gift of im-
mortality in its nature. And the form and the definition of
this substance only the Creator understands. Now, compared
with us, the angel is said to be incorporeal and immaterial,
although in comparison with God, who alone is incomparable,
everything proves to be gross and material — for only the
Divinity is truly immaterial and incorporeal.

So, the angel is of a nature which is rational, inteUigent,
free, and variable in judgment, that is, subject to voluntary

1 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 38.9 (J>G 36.520) .

1 Ps. 103.4.

206 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

change. It is only the Uncreated which is unchangeable.
Also, every rational being is free. The angelic nature, then,
in so far as it is rational and intelligent, is free; while, in so
far as it is created, it is changeable and has the power to
persevere and progress in good or to turn to evil.

Although man, by reason of the infirmity of his body, is
capable of repentance, the angel, because of his incorporeality,
is not.

The angel is immortal, not by nature, but by grace; for,
naturally, everything that has beginning has an end, too.
Only God is always existing — rather, transcends always, be-
cause He who made the times is not subject to time but
transcends it.

The angels are secondary spiritual lights, who receive
their brightness from that first Light which is without begin-
ning. They have no need of tongue and hearing; rather,
they communicate their individual thoughts and designs to
one another without having recourse to the spoken word.

Now, all the angels were created by the Word and perfected
by the sanctification of the Holy Ghost, and in accordance
with their dignity and rank they enjoy brightness and grace.^

The angels are circumscribed, because when they are in
heaven they are not on earth, and when they are sent to
earth by God they do not remain in heaven. However, they
are not confined by walls or doors or bars or seals, because
they are unbounded. I say that they are unbounded, because
they do not appear exactly as they are to the just and to them
that God wills them to appear to. On the contrary, they
appear under such a different form as can be seen by those
who behold them. Of course, only the Uncreated is by
nature unbounded, for all creation is bounded by God who
created it.

The angels do not receive their sanctification by the Spirit
as something due their essence. It is by the grace of God
that they prophesy. They have no need of marriage, precisely
because they are not mortal.

2 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, loc. cit.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 207

Since they are intellects, they are in places intellectually
and are not corporeally circumscribed. For by nature they
do not have bodily shape and they are not extended in
three dimensions; rather, they are present and act in space
intellectually in whatsoever place they are commanded to
do so, and they are not able to be present and act in different
places at the same time.

Whether the angels are equal in essence or whether they
differ from one another we do not know. Only God knows,
who made them and knows all things. They do, however, dif-
fer from one another in brightness and station, either having
their station in accordance with their brightness or enjoying
their brightness in accordance with their station. They
illuminate one another by the excellence of their rank or
nature. Moreover, it is evident that the more excellent com-
municate their brightness and their knowledge to them that
are inferior.^

They are vigorous and prompt in the execution of the
divine wiU and by a natural quickness they appear im-
mediately in whatever place the divine pleasure may com-
mand. They watch over the parts of the earth and are set
over nations and places in accordance with their disposition
by the Creator. They direct our affairs and help us. More-
over, they are ever round about God for the very reason
that in accordance with the divine will and command they
are above us.''

They are with diflRculty moved towards evil, but they
can be so moved.^ However, they cannot be moved toward
evil — not because of their nature, but by grace and their
diligent pursuit of the only Gk)od.

They see God to such an extent as is possible for them,
and this is their food.*

Although, because they are incorporeal, they are superior

3 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius. Celestial Hierarchy 3 (PG 3.164ff.) .

4 Cf. ibid. 9 (FG 3.257ff.) .

5 Gregory Nazianzen, op. cit. (PG 36.321A) .

6 Cf. Tobias 12.19 (Vulgate) .

208 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

to US and free of all bodily passion, they are certainly not
passionless, because only the Divinity is passionless.

They take whatever form the Lord may command, and
thus they appear to men and reveal the divine mysteries to
them.

They live in heaven and have as their one work to sing the
praises of God and minister to His sacred will.

As the most holy and sacred Dionysius the Areopagite,
who is very well versed in theology, says,' all theology, that
is to say, sacred Scripture, has given the heavenly substances
as nine in number. The divine initiator divides these into
three orders of three. He says that the first of these is ever
round about God and that to it has it been given to be united
directly and immediately to Him. This is the order of the
six-winged Seraphim and the many-eyed Cherubim and the
most holy Thrones. The second order is that of the Domina-
tions and the Virtues and the Powers. The third is that of
the Principalities and the Archangels and the Angels.

Now, some say that the angels were made before all
creation, as Gregory the Theologian says: 'First He conceived
the angelic and heavenly powers, and His conception was
an accomplished work.'^ But there are others who say that
they were made after the creation of the first heaven. How-
ever, they all agree that it was before the formation of man.
For my part, I agree with the Theologian, because it was
fitting for the spiritual substance to be created first and then
the sensible and then finally man himself from both.

Moreover, if there is anyone who says that there is any
kind of substance whatsoever that the angels can create, he
is the mouthpiece of his father, the Devil. For, since they
are creatures, they are not creators. He who made all things,
provides for aU, and sustains them is God, who alone is un-
created, who is praised and glorified in the Father and the
Son and the Holy Ghost.

7 Pseudo-Dionysius. op. cit. 6.2 (PG 3.200D-2O1A) .

8 Gregory Nazianzen, op. cit. (PG 36.320C) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 209

Chapter 4

One of these angelic powers was chief of the terrestrial
order and had been entrusted by God with the custody of
the earth. Although he was not evil by nature, but good, and
although he had been made for good and had in himself
not the slightest trace of evil from the Creator, he did not
keep the brightness and dignity which the Creator had
bestowed upon him. By his free choice he turned from what
was according to nature to what was against it. Having
become stirred up against the God who created him and
having willed to rebel against Him, he was the first to
abandon good and become evil. For evil is no more than
the privation of good, just as darkness is the absence of
light. And good is spiritual light, while in the same way
evil is spiritual darkness. Now, light was made by the Creator
and it was good, for 'God saw all the things which he had
made, and they were very good,'-' but darkness came by
free will. And together with him a numberless horde of the
angels that he had marshaled were torn away, and followed
after him and fell. Hence, although they were of the same
nature as the angels, they have become bad by freely turn-
ing from good to evil.^

They have no power or strength against anyone, unless
this be permitted them by the dispensation of God, as in
the case of Job and as has been written in the Gospel about
the swine. ^ If God does give them permission, they have
strength and change and transform themselves into whatever
apparent form they may desire.

Neither the angels of God nor the evil spirits know the
future. Nevertheless, they foretell it. The angels do so when
God reveals the future to them and orders them to foretell
it, for which reason whatever they say happens. On the

1 Gen. 1.31.

2 Cf. Questions to Antiochus 7 (JPG 28.604A) .

3 Cf. Job. 1.12, 2.6; Mark 5.13.

210 SAINT JOHN OF DAMAS CU S

Other hand, the evil spirits foretell the future, sometimes by
seeing the things that are to happen far ahead, and some-
times by guessing at them. For this reason one must not
believe them, even though they may often speak the truth
by the manner of which we have spoken. Moreover, they
also know the Scriptures.

And so, all evil and the impure passions have been con-
ceived by them and they have been permitted to visit attacks
upon man. But they are unable to force anyone, for it is in
our power either to accept the visitation or not. Wherefore,
the unquenchable fire and everlasting torment have been
prepared for the Devil and his evil spirits and for them who
foUow him.*

One should note that the fall is to the angels just what
death is to men. For, just as there is no repentance for
men after their death, so is there none for the angels after
their fall.^

Chapter 5

Our God, who is glorified in trinity and unity, Himself
'made heaven and earth, and all things that are in them."-
He brought all things from nothing into being: some, such
as heaven, earth, air, fire, and water, from no pre-existing
matter; and others, such as animals, plants and seeds. He
made from those things which had their existence directly
from Him. For, by the command of the Creator these last
were made from earth, water, air, and fire.

Chapter 6
The heavens are the outer shell which contains both visible

4 Cf. Matt. 25.41.

5 Cf. Nemesius, On the Nature of Man 1 (PG 40.524A) .

1 Ps. 145.6.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 211

and invisible created things. For, enclosed and contained
within them are the spiritual powers, which are the angels,
and all sensible things. Only the Divinity is uncircumscribed,
filling, containing, and surrounding all things, because He
transcends all things and it is He who has created all.

Now, since Scripture speaks of 'heaven,' the 'heaven of
heaven,' and the 'heavens of heavens,' and says that the
blessed Paul was caught up to the 'third heaven,'- we say
that in the creation of the universe we consider as heavens that
which the pagan philosophers, making the teachings of
Moses their own, call a starless sphere. And again, God
called heaven the 'ftrmament,'^ which He ordered to be
made in the midst of the water and so arranged that it was
separated from the midst of the water above the firmament
and from the midst of that which is below the firmament. In-
structed by sacred Scripture, the divine Basil says* that its
substance is subtile — hke smoke, as it were. Others say that
it is watery, because it was made in the midst of the waters.
And others say that it is made from the four elements. Still
others say that it is a fifth body and distinct from the four
elements.^

Furthermore, some have surmised that the heavens sur-
round the universe and have the form of a sphere which
is everywhere the highest point, while the center of the
space enclosed by it is the lowest point; and that the airier
and lighter bodies have been assigned by the Creator to
the higher positions, while the heavy and unbuoyant have
been consigned to the lower, which is the center. Now, the
lightest and the most buoyant of the elements is fire, so
they say that it comes directly below the heavens. They call
it ether. Just below the ether comes the air. Earth and water,
since they are heavier and less buoyant, are said to be hung
in the midmost position, so that by contrast they are below.
The water, however, is lighter than the earth — whence its
greater mobility. Everywhere above this, like a blanket, lies

2 Ps. 113.16, 148.4; 2 Cor. 12.2.

3 Gen. 1.8.

4 a. Isa. 40.22; Basil Homily 1 on the Six Days 8, (PG 29.20C-21A) .

5 CE. Basil, op. cit. 11 (fG 29.25B) .

212 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

the encircling air; everywhere around the air is the ether;
and on the outside encircling them all are the heavens.

Furthermore, they say that the heavens revolve and that
they so bind together the things contained within that
they stay firmly together and do not fall apart.

They say that the heavens have seven spheres, one above
the other. ^ They further say that the substance of the heavens
is very subtile, like smoke, and that in each one of the
spheres is one of the planets. For they have said that there
are seven planets: the Sun, the Moon, Jupiter, Mercury,
Mars, Venus, and Saturn. Venus, they say, is sometimes the
morning star and sometimes the evening star. They called
them planets, or wanderers, because their motion is contra-
riwise to that of the heavens. For, while the heavens and
the rest of the stars move from east to west, these alone
have their motion from west to east. This we may know
from the example of the moon, which moves back a little
every evening.

Now, those who held that the heavens were spherical
say that they are removed from the earth by an equal distance
above, on the sides, and below. By 'below' and 'on the sides'
I mean in so far as is apparent to our senses, because it
logically follows that the heavens occupy the highest position
at aU points and the earth the lowest. They also say that the
heavens surround the earth like a sphere and by their very
rapid movement carry the sun, moon, and stars around
with them. And they say that, when the sun is over the
earth, then it is day here, while when it is under the earth,
it is night; but when the sun goes down under the earth,
then it is night here and day there.

Others, however, have imagined the heavens to have the
form of a hemisphere, because the inspired David says:
'Who stretchest out the heaven like a pavihon,' which means
a tent; and the blessed Isaias: 'He that estabhsheth the

6 Cf. Basil, Homily 3 on the Six Days 3 (PG 29.57B) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 213

heavens like a vault' ;^ and because the sun, the moon, and
the stars, when they set, go round the earth from west to
north and thence return again to the east. However, which-
ever way it may be, all things have been made and established
by the command of God and have their foundation in the
divine will and desire. 'For he spoke, and they were made:
he commanded and they were created. He hath established
them for ever, and for ages of ages: he hath made a decree
and it shall not pass away."

So there is a heaven of heaven, which is the first heaven
and is above the firmament. But now, because God also
called the firmament 'heaven,'' there are two heavens. How-
ever, it is customary for sacred Scripture to call the air
heaven, too, because of its being seen above, as it says: 'O
all ye fowls of the heaven, bless the Lord,'^° meaning the
air, although the air is not heaven but a medium of passage
for the fowls. Here we have the three heavens of which
the divine Apostle spoke .■'^^ Then, if you want to take the
seven spheres as seven heavens, there will still be nothing
contrary to the Word of Truth. It is also customary in the
Hebrew tongue to speak of heaven in the plural as 'heavens.'
So, when Scripture meant to say 'heaven of heaven,' it said
'heavens of heavens,' which would mean precisely 'heaven
of heaven' — that which is over the firmament and the waters
which are above the heavens, whether over the air and the
firmament or over the seven spheres of the firmament, or
over the firmament expressed in the plural as 'heavens' ac-
cording to the Hebraic usage.

Now, all things which have a beginning are subject to
corruption as a logical consequence of their nature, and the
heavens are no exception. It is by the grace of God that they

7 Ps. 103.2; Isa. 40.22 (Septuagint) .

8 Ps. 148.5,6.

9 Gen. 1.8.

10 Dan. 3.80.

11 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.2.

214 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

are held together and sustained/^ Only the Divinity is by
nature without beginning and without end. For this reason
was it said that: 'They shall perish but thou remainest.'
However, the heavens will not entirely disappear: 'For they
shall perish, and they shall be changed as a vesture, and
there will be a new heaven and a new earth.' ^^

In size the heavens are much greater than the earth. Never-
theless, one must not inquire into the substance of the heavens,
because we can know nothing about it.

Furthermore, let no one maintain that the heavens or
the heavenly bodies are animate, for they are inanimate and
without feeling. So, even though sacred Scripture says: 'Let
the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,'^* it is reaUy
calling upon the angels in heaven and the men on earth
to rejoice. Of course. Scripture can personify inanimate things
and talk about them as if they were alive, as for example:
'The sea saw and fled : Jordan was turned back,' and : 'What
ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou didst flee? and thou, O
Jordan, that thou was turned back?' and again: mountains
and hUls are asked the reason for their skipping.^^ In just
the same way it is customary for us to say that 'the city was
gathered together, not intending to mean the houses, but
the occupants of the houses. Still again, 'the heavens shew
forth the glory of God'^^ not by speaking in voice audible
to sensible ears, but by manifesting to us through their own
greatness the power of the Creator, and when we remark
their beauty, we give glory to their Maker as the best of
aU artificers.^'^

12 Cf. Basil, Homily 1 on the Six Days 9 (PG 29.24B)

13 Ps. 10157; Heb. 1.11,12; Apoc. 21.1.

14 Ps. 95.11.

15 Ps. 113.3,5,6.

16 Ps. 18.2.

17 Cf. Basil, Homily 1 on the Six Days 11 (PG 29.28A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 215

Chapter 7

Fire is one of the four elements. It is light and more buoy-
ant than the others, and it both bums and gives light. It was
made by the Creator on the first day, for sacred Scripture
says: 'And God said: Be light made. And light was made.'
According to what some say, fire is the same thing as light.
Others speak of the cosmic fire above the air and they call
it ether. 'In the beginning,' then, which is to say, on the
first day, God made the light to adorn and enhance cdl
visible creation. For, remove the light and everything will
be in darkness and will be indistinguishable and incapable
of displaying its inherent comeliness. 'And God caEed the
light day, and the darkness night.' ^ Darkness, moreover, is
not a substance, but an accident, because it is the absence
of light. For light is no part of the substance of the air.^
Hence, it was just the absence of light in the air that God
called darkness; and darkness is not the substance of the
air but the absence of light — which indicates an accident
rather than a substance. Furthermore, it was not night that
was called first, but day, so that day is first and night last.
Accordingly, the night follows the day, and we have a
period of a day and a night from the beginning of one day
to that of the next — for Scripture says: 'And there was
evening and morning one day.'^

And so, during those three days, day was made by the
alternate diffusion and shutting out of the light at the divine
command. On the fourth day God made the great luminary,
the sun that is, to terminate and control the day. Thus it is
that the day is determined by the sun, for, when the sun
is above the earth it is day; and the duration of the day
is that of the sun's course over the earth from east to west.
He made a lesser luminary, too — that is, the moon — and the

1 Gen. 1.3,13.

2 Cf. BasU, Homily 2 on the Six Days 5 (PG 29.40C) .

3 Gen. 1.5.

216 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Stars to determine and control the night and give it light.
Now, it is night when the sun is below the earth, and the
duration of the night is that of the sun's course underneath
the earth from west to east. Thus, the moon and the stars
have been set to light the night — but this does not mean
that they are always under the earth during the daytime,
for even in the daytime there are stars in the heavens over
the earth. However, when the sun is shining at the same
time as the stars and the moon, it dims them by its brighter
radiance and keeps them from showing.

It was into these luminaries that the Creator put the
primordial light, not that He was in want of any other
light, but that that particular light might not remain idle.
For the luminary is not the light itself, but its container.*

They hold the seven planets to be of the number of these
luminaries and they say that their motion is opposite to that
of the heavens, for which reason they have been called
planets, or wanderers. For it is said that the heavens move
from east to west, whereas the planets move from west to
east. And the heavens bear the seven planets around with
themselves by their own more rapid motion, as it were. The
names of the seven planets are as follows: Moon, Mercury,
Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Furthermore, it is
said that there is one planet for each of the celestial spheres:
In the first, that is to say, the highest, Saturn.
In the second, Jupiter.
In the third. Mars.
In the fourth, the Sun.
In the fifth, Venus.
In the sixth. Mercury.
In the seventh and lowest, the Moon.
They foUow the unceasing course set for them by the
Creator according as He founded them, as the divine David
says: 'The moon and the stars which thou hast founded.'*

4 Cf. Basil. Homily 6 on the Six Days 2-3 (PG 29.120-121)

5 Ps. 8.4.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 217

By saying 'founded' he meant the stability and immutability
of the order and succession given them by God. For He
arranged them 'for signs, and for seasons, and for days and
years.'^ It is by the Sun that the four solstices are determined.
The first of these is the spring solstice, for it was at the
spring solstice that God made all things, which is evident
from the fact that even down to the present time the budding
of the flowers takes place then. It is also called an equinoctial
solstice, because both the day and the night are twelve hours
long. It is determined by the mean rising of the sun. The
spring is mild and promotes the growth of the blood, and
it is warm and wet. It stands midway between winter and
summer, being warmer and drier than winter and cooler
and wetter than summer. This season extends from March
[21] to June 24. Then, as the sun rises farther and farther
to the north, the summer solstice follows. Summer stands
midway between spring and autumn. From spring it has
warmth and from autumn dryness, for it is hot and dry.
It also promotes the growth of the yeUow bUe. The summer
solstice has the longest day, fifteen hours long, while its night
is very short indeed, being nine hours long. Summer extends
from June 24 to September 25. Then, the sun comes back
again to its mean rising, summer is succeeded by autumn,
which has a sort of medium coolness and warmth, dryness
and wetness. It stands midway between summer and winter
and has its dryness from summer and its cold from winter,
for it is by its nature cold and dry. It also promotes the
growth of the black bile. This solstice is also equinoctial,
both its day and its night being twelve hours long. Autumn
extends from September 25 to December 25. Then, as the
sun's course becomes shorter and lower, that is to say,
southerly, the winter solstice follows. Winter is cold and wet.
It stands midway between autumn and spring and has its
cold from autumn and its wetness from spring. The winter
solstice has the shortest day, nine hours long, and the longest

6 Gen. I.I4.

218 SAINT JOHN OF DAMAS CU S

night, fifteen hours long. Moreover, -winter promotes the
growth of the phlegm, and extends from December 25 to
March 21. Thus, the Creator made wise provision against
our contracting serious sicknesses from passing from the ex-
tremes of cold, heat, wetness, or dryness to the opposite
extremes — for reason tells us that sudden changes are dan-
gerous.

In this way, then, the sun produces the seasonal changes
and, through them, the year. It also causes the days and
nights: the former by rising and being over the earth, the
latter by going down underneath the earth. By withdrawing,
it causes the other luminaries to shine; the moon, that is,
and the stars.

Now, they say that there are also twelve signs of the zodiac,
made up of the stars in the heavens and having a motion
contrary to that of the sun, the moon, and the five other
planets, and that the seven pass through these twelve signs.
Thus, the sun completes one month for each sign of the
zodiac and in twelve months passes through the twelve signs.
The following are the names of the twelve signs of the zodiac,
and their months:

The sun enters Aries on March 21, Taurus on April 23,
Gemini on May 24, Cancer on June 24, Leo on July 25,
Virgo on August 25, Libra on September 25, Scorpio on
October 25, Sagittarius on November 25, Capricorn on De-
cember 25, Aquarius on January 25, Pisces on February 24.

The moon passes through the twelve signs of the zodiac
every month, because it is lower and travels through them
more rapidly. For, if you put one orbit within another, the
inside one will be found to be smaller. Thus, because it is
lower, the course of the moon is shorter and more quickly
completed.

Now, the Greeks say that aU our affairs are governed by
the rising, setting, and conjunction of these stars and of the
sun and moon. With such things is astrology concerned. But
we say that, while they do give indications of rain and

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 219

drought, cold and heat, wetness and dryness, winds, and the
like, they give absolutely no indication of our actions.'' For we
have been made free by the Creator and we control our own
actions. But, if everything that we do is governed by the move-
ment of the stars, then whatever we do we do by necessity.*
Now, what is done by necessity is neither virtue nor vice, and,
if we have neither virtue nor vice, we deserve neither reward
nor punishment. Hence, God will prove to be unjust when
He gives good things to some and tribulations to others.
What is more, if all things are driven and moved by
necessity, then God will not be exercising either control
over His creatures or providence for them. Reason also will
be useless to us, for, if we have no control over any of our
actions, then it is useless for us to make our own resolves.
But reason has been given to us so that we may dehberate,
which is why every being that is rational is also free.

We say that the stars do not cause anything to happen,
whether it be the production of things that are made, or
events, or the destruction of things that are destroyed. Rather,
they are signs of rains and atmospheric change. One might
possibly say, however, that, although they do not cause wars
either, they are signs of them; and that the condition of the
atmosphere, which is determined by the sun, moon and
stars, in various ways favors various temperaments, habits,
and dispositions. Nevertheless, habits are something under
our own control, for, in so far as they are subject to the
reason, they may be controlled and cultivated by it.

And there are comets, too, which oftentimes appear as
portents of the death of kings. They are not of the number
of the stars which have existed from the beginning, but by
the divine command they take form at just the right time and
then are dissolved again. And neither was the star that was
seen by the Magi at the time of the Lord's gracious and
saving birth according to the flesh for us one of those that

7 Cf. Basil, op. cit. 5 (PG 29.128-129).

8 Cf. Nemesius, On the Nature of Man 35 {PG 40.741) ,

220 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

were made at the beginning. This is also evident from the
fact that they make their course now from east to west, and
now from north to south, and that they now disappear and
now appear. For this is not in accord with the regularity and
the nature of the stars.^

One should note that the moon is lit by the sun. This is
not because God was unable to give it its own light, but
rather, that harmony and order might be imposed upon
creation, with one ruling and another being ruled, and that
we might be taught to have things in common with others,
to share with them, and to be subject to them — first of all
to the Maker and Creator, God and Lord, and then to them
whom He has appointed to rule. Nor is it for me to inquire
why this particular one rules; rather, I should thankfully
and willingly accept aU things that come from God.

The fact that the sun and moon suffer eclipse utterly
refutes the folly of those who worship the creature rather
than the Creator,^" and it shows that they are subject to
change and variation. Now, anything that is subject to change
is not God, for by its very nature it is subject to corruption
and change.

The sun suffers eclipse when the mass of the moon,
becoming like a sort of partition wall, casts a shadow and does
not permit the light to get through to us. The extent of the
eclipse, then, is proportionate to the amoimt of the mass of
the moon concealing the sun. Now, even though the mass
of the moon be smaller, do not be surprised, because, although
it is maintained by some that the sun is many times larger
than the earth, and by the holy Fathers that it is equal to
the earth in size, it oftentimes is hidden by a small cloud,
or even by a hillock or a wall.

The eclipse of the moon is brought about by the earth's
shadow, when the moon is fifteen days old and directly op-
posite at its highest point, the sun being below the earth

9 Cf. Basil, On the Nativity of Christ (PG 31.1469-1472) .
10 Cf. Rom. 1.25.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 221

and the moon above the earth. For the earth casts a shadow
and the sunUght is unable to light the moon, so that it is
eclipsed.

Moreover, one should know that the Creator made the
moon as full — ^in other words, as it is fifteen days old — for
it was fitting that it should be created in its most perfect
state.^^ However, as we said, the sun was created on the
fourth day. Therefore, the moon was eleven days ahead of
the sun, for from the fourth to the fifteenth there are eleven
days. For this reason, the twelve lunar months have eleven
days less than the twelve solar months every year. For the
twelve solar months have 365 and a quarter days, whence
the quarter accumulating through four years makes one full
day, which is called bissextile — and that year has 366 days.
On the other hand, the lunar years have 354 days, because
from the time of its nascency, or renewal, the moon waxes
until it is fourteen and three quarters days old, and then
it begins to wane and wanes until it is twenty-nine and a half
days old and becomes entirely dark. Then, having again made
contact with the sun, it is reborn, or renewed, thus giving
a reminder of our own resurrection. Consequently, the moon
is eleven days behind the sun every year. Therefore, the
Hebrews have an intercalary month every third year, and
that year has thirteen months by reason of the accumulation
of the eleven days.

Moreover, it is evident that the sun, moon, and stars are
composite, and by their very nature subject to corruption.
However, we do not know their nature. Thus, some say that
when fire is apart from any matter it is invisible, whereas
others say that when it is quenched it is changed into air.

The belt of the zodiac moves obliquely and is divided
into twelve sections which are called signs of the zodiac.
The sign of the zodiac has three decans, which is thirty
degrees. The degree has sixty minutes. Therefore, the heavens

H C£. Severus Gabal., Homily 3 on the Creation of the World 2 (PG
56.449) .

222 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

have 360 degrees, the hemisphere over the earth having 180
and that under the earth 180.

The house of Mars is Aries and Scorpio; that of Venus
is Taurus and Libra; that of Mercury is Gemini and Virgo;
that of the Moon is Cancer; that of the Sun is Leo; that
of Jupiter is Sagittarius and Pisces; and that of Saturn is
Capricorn and Aquarius.

Aries is the ascension of the Sun, Taurus that of the Moon,
Cancer that of Jupiter, Virgo that of Mars, Libra that of
Saturn, Capricorn that of Mercury, and Pisces that of Venus.

The moon is in conjunction when it is in the same degree
as the sun. It is nascent when it is fifteen degrees distant
from the sun. It is twice rising when it is sixty degrees distant
and appears in the form of a crescent. It is twice half full
when it is ninety degrees distant. It is twice near full and
nearly fully lighted when it is 150 degrees distant. It is
full when it is 180 degrees distant. It is twice gibbous when
it is 120 degrees distant. And when we say that the moon
is in a phase twice, we mean once when waxing and once
when waning. It takes the moon two and one half days to
pass through each sign of the zodiac.

Chapter 8

Air is a very subtile element and is both wet and warm.
It is heavier than fire, but lighter than earth and water.
It is the cause of breath and voice. It is colorless, that is to
say it has no color by nature. It is clear and transparent, for
it is receptive of light. It also serves three of our senses, since
by it we see, hear, and smell. It can be heated or cooled,
dried or made wet. AH of its movements are local — ^motion
upward, downward, inward, outward, to the right, to the
left, and in a circle.

It does not have light from itself but gets it from the sun,
the moon, the stars, and fire. This is what Scripture meant

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 223

when it said that 'darkness was upon the face of the deep,"-
intending to show that the air does not have light from
itself, but that the substance of light is something else.

Wind is a movement of the air. Or again, wind is a cur-
rent of air which takes various names after the various
places from which it flows.^

Air has its place, too. For the place of any body is its
containing boundary. And what contains bodies, unless it
be the air? There are, moreover, various places from which
the movement of the air comes and after which the winds
take their names. These are twelve altogether. And they say
that the air is quenched fire, or that it is vapor from hot
water. At any rate, air is of its own nature warm. It is,
however, cooled by proximity to water and the earth, so
that its lower portions are cool, while its upper portions are
warm.^

The wind blows as follows: from the northeast, Caecias,
which is also called Meses; from the east, Apeliotes; from
the southeast, Eurus; from the southwest, Lips; from the
west. Zephyr; from the northwest, Argestes or Olympias,
which is also called Japyx; then Notus, the south wind, and
Aparctias, the north wind, blow in directions opposite to
each other; and midway between Aparctias and Caecias is
Boreas; midway between Eurus and Notus is Phoenix,
which is called Euronotus; midway between Notus and Lips
is Libonotus, which is also called Leuconotus; and midway
between Arpactias and Argestes is Thrascias, or Gercius, as
it is called by the local inhabitants.

(The races that inhabit the extreme confines are: to the
east, the Bactrians; to the southeast, the Indians; to the
south-southeast lie the Red Sea and Ethiopia; to the south-
southwest, the Garamantes, who dwell beyond Syria; to the
southwest, the Ethiopians and the West Moors; to the west

1 Gen. 1.2.

2 Cf. Severus Gabal., Homily 1 on the Creation of the World 5 (PG
56.436) .

3 Cf. Nemesius, op. cit. 5 (PG 40.617B-620A) .

224 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

lie the Pillars of Hercules and the confines of Lybia and
Europe; to the northwest, Iberia, which is now called Spain;
to the north-northwest, the Celts and bordering nations; to
the north, the Scythians, who dwell beyond Thrace; to the
north-northeast, Pontus, Maeotia, and the Sarmatians; to
the northeast, the Caspian Sea and the Sacae.)*

Chapter 9

Water is also one of the four elements and a most admi-
rable creation of God. Water is a wet and cold element
which is heavy and unbouyant and which is fluid. Sacred
Scripture refers to it when it says: 'And darkness was upon
the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved over the
waters,'^ for the deep is nothing else but a great quantity
of water. In the beginning, then, water covered the whole
earth. And first God made the firmament that 'divided the
waters that were above the firmament, from those that were
under the firmament,'^ for in the midst of the abyss of waters
it was made firm by the Lord's command. Thus, God said
for a firmament also to be made, and it was made. Why
did God put water over the firmament? Because of the burn-
ing heat of the sun and the ether. For the ether is spread
immediately under the firmament, and the sun and moon
and stars are in the firmament; if water did not lie over it,
the firmament would be burnt up by the heat.^

Then God ordered the waters to be gathered together
into one place. Now, the fact that Scripture speaks of one
gathering does not mean that they were gathered together
into one place, for notice that after this it says: 'And the

4 This passage is not found in most codices.

1 Gen. 1.2.

2 Gen. 1.7.

3 Cf. Basil. Homily } on the Six Days 7 (PG 29.68ff.) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 225

gathering together of the waters he called seas.'* Actually,
the account meant that the waters were segregated by them-
selves apart from the earth. And so the waters were brought
together into their gathering places and the dry land ap-
peared. Thence came the two seas which surround Egypt,
for Egypt lies between two seas. Various seas are gathered
together, having mountains, islands, capes, and harbors, and
bordering upon various bays, beaches and headlands. The
sandy shore is called a beach, but the rocky and precipitous
shore that extends directly into deep water is called a head-
land. Thence, also, in the same way were gathered together
that sea to the east which is called the Indian, and that to
the north called the Caspian, and the lakes.

Then there is the ocean which encircles the entire earth
like a sort of river and to which it seems to me that Scripture
referred when it said that 'a river went out of the place of
pleasure." It has a sweet potable water and supplies the
seas, but because the water remains stagnant in the seas
for a long time it becomes brackish. The sun and the water-
spouts are constantly drawing up the less dense water and
from this the clouds are formed and the rains come, the
w^ater becoming sweet by filtration.

This ocean is divided into four heads, or four rivers. The
name of the first is Phison; this is the Ganges of India. The
name of the second is Gehon; this is the Nile which comes
down from Ethiopia into Egypt. The name of the third is
Tigris, and of the fourth, Euphrates. There are also a great
many other very large rivers, of which some empty into the
sea, whUe others are absorbed into the earth. This is why
the whole earth is porous and undermined, as if it had some
sort of veins through which it receives water from the sea
and sends it up in springs. The quality of the water of the
springs corresponds with that of the earth, for, although the
sea water is strained and filtered through the earth and thus
is made sweet, yet, if the place from which the spring gushes

4 Gen. 1.9,10.

5 Gen. 2.10.

226 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

happens to be bitter or salty, the water will come up like the
earth. ^ Moreover, the water is oftentimes compressed and
then bursts forth violently and becomes heated. This is the
cause of the natural hot springs.

And so, by the divine command hollow places were made
in the earth. Thus it was that the waters were brought
together into their gathering places, and this is the cause
of the mountains being made. Then God commanded the
first-made water to bring forth life, because it was His inten-
tion to renew man by water and by that Holy Spirit which
was borne over the waters in the beginning, which is what
the divine Basil said.^ And it brought forth living things
both small and great — whales, dragons, fish swimming in
the waters, and winged fowl. Now, it is through the winged
fowl that the water, earth, and air meet, for they were made
from the water, they busy themselves upon the earth, and they
fly in the air.* Water is a most admirable element and has
many uses, and it cleanses from filth, not only the bodily kind
but the spiritual as well, provided the grace of the Spirit
is added to it.

(The Aegean Sea empties into the Hellespont, which ends
at Abydus and Sestus. Then comes the Propontis, which ends
at Chalcedon and Byzantium. There the straits are which
lead into the Black Sea, beyond which is Lake Maeotis. And
again, at the confines of Europe and Lybia there is the Iberian
Sea, which extends from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pyrenees.
Then comes the Ligurian Sea, which extends as far as the
limits of Etruria; then the Sardinian Sea extending from
above Sardinia down toward Libya; and the Tyrrhenian Sea
beginning at the limits of Liguria and ending at Sicily; then
the Sea of Libya, then that of Crete, and that of Sicily,
and the Ionian Sea, and the Adriatic, which flows out of
the Sea of Sicily and which is called the Gulf of Corinth

6 Cf. Basil, Homily 4 on the Six Days 6 {PG 29.92C) .

7 Gen. 1.2; Cf. Basil, Homily 2 on the Six Days 6 (PG 29.44B) .

8 Cf. Basil, Homily 8 on the Six Days 2 [PG 29.168C-169A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 227

or the Alcyonian Sea. That between Sunium and Scyllaeum
is the Saronic Sea. Then comes the Sea of Myrtos, and the
Icarian Sea, in which are the Cyclades; then the Carpathian,
the PamphyHan, and the Egyptian Seas. And beyond the
Icarian Sea the Aegean extends on. The coastline of Europe
from the mouth of the Tanais River' to the Pillars of Hercules
is 69,709 stades long. That of Libya from Tingis^" to the
Canobic mouth of the Nile is 29,252 stades long. And that
of Asia from Canobus to the Tanais River is 40,111 stades
long, including the bays. Altogether the seaboard of our in-
habited world, including the bays, is 139,072 stades long.^^)^^

Chapter 10

Earth is one of the four elements. It is dry and cold,
heavy and inert, and it was brought from nothing into
being by God on the first day. For 'in the beginning,' it
says, 'God created heaven and earth.'-' What its seat and
foundation is no man has been able to teU. Some say that
it was set upon the waters and made fast, because the divine
David says: 'Who established the earth above the waters.'^
Others say upon the air. Still another says: 'He hangeth
the earth upon nothing.'^ And again the prophet David,
speaking* as in the person of the Creator, says: 'I have

9 The Don River.

10 Tangier.

11 The figures given by Lequien and reproduced by Migne are ob-
viously erroneous; they neither add up correctly nor do they cor-
respond at all with the estimates of the early geographers. The
figures here given seem to be those originally intended, for they
both agree with the Greek, allowing for some error in the copying
of the numerical accents, and with the geographical estimates of
the geographers (for which, cf. Strabo) . They also add correctly.

12 This appendix is not found in all manuscripts.

1 Gen. 1.1.

2 Ps. 135.6.

3 Job 26.7.

4 Ps. 74.4, 23.2.

228 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

established the pillars thereof,' calling His sustaining power
pUlars. However, the assertion that 'he hath founded it upon
the seas' makes it plain that the substance of water wa^
poured round the earth on every side. But, whether we
hold the earth to have been set upon itself, or upon air, or
upon water, or upon nothing, we must not depart from
the principles of religion and we must confess that all things
are sustained and held together by the power of the Creator.

In the beginning, then, as sacred Scripture says,^ the earth
was covered by the waters and was empty, that is to say,
unadorned. But at God's command the receptacles for the
waters were made. Then the mountains came into being
and by the divine command the earth assumed its natural
beauty and was adorned with every sort of verdure and
plant. In these last the divine command implanted the power
to grow, to absorb nourishment, and to seed, that is, to re-
produce their kind. Then at the Creator's command there
came forth every sort of animal: creeping things, and wUd
beasts, and cattle. Everything was for the suitable use of
man. Of the animals, some were for food, such as deer, sheep,
gazelles, and the like; some for work, such as camels, oxen,
horses, asses, and the like; stLU others for diversion, such as
monkeys and such birds as magpies, parrots, and the like.
Of the plants and herbs, some were fruit-bearing and some
edible, and some, such as the rose and the like, were fragrant
and flowering and were given us for our enjoyment; and
still others were given us for the curing of diseases. For
there is no animal or plant in which the Creator has not put
some virtue that is of use for the needs of man. He knew
all things before they were made and He saw that man in
his freedom would fall and be given over to corruption; yet
for man's suitable use He made all the things that are in the
sky and on the earth and in the water.

Before the fall, all things were subject to the control of
man, because God had made him ruler over all the things

5 Gen. 12.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 229

on the earth and in the water. And the serpent was on
intimate terms with man, associating with him more than
all the rest and conversing agreeably with him. For that
reason it was through it that the Devil, who is the source
of evil, made that most evil suggestion to our first parents. °
At that time the earth brought forth of itself fruits for the
use of the animals that were subject to man, and there were
neither violent rains upon the earth nor wintry storms. But,
after the fall, 'when he was compared to senseless beasts,
and was- become like to them,''' and when he had caused the
unreasoning desire within himseK to prevail over his rational
intellect and had become disobedient to the commandment
of the Lord, then the creation subject to him rose up against
this ruler appointed by the Creator, and he was ordered to
work in the sweat of his face the earth from which he had
been taken.*

Nevertheless, the usefulness of the wild beasts is not even
now past, because by exciting fear they bring man to re-
cognize the God who made them and to call upon Him for
help. Furthermore, after the fall, thorns grew out of the
earth, as the Lord had declared.' Later, the thorn was joined
to the sweetness of the rose to remind us of that fall on
account of which the earth had been condemned to bring
forth thorns and thistles for us.'^"

Indeed, that such is the case is credible from the fact that
their continuance is being assured down to the present time
by those words spoken by the Lord when He said: 'Increase
and multiply and fill the earth.' ^^

Some say that the earth is spherical in form; others, that
it is conical. It is lower than the heavens, and much smaller,
being hung like a small point at their center. And it will

6 Cf. Gen. 3.1.

7 Ps. 48.13.

8 Cf. Gen. 3.19.

9 Cf. Gen. 3.18.

10 Cf. Basil, Sermon on Paradise 4 (PG 30.65A) .

11 Gen. 1.28.

230 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

pass away and be changed.^^ Blessed is he who inherits
the earth of the meek, for the earth which is to receive the
saints is unending.^^ Who, then, could sufhciently admire the
boundless and incomprehensible wisdom of the Creator? Or
who could adequately thank the Giver of good things?

(There are, furthermore, the known provinces of the earth,
or satrapies, of which Europe has thirty-four, and the great
continent of Asia forty-eight, and twelve canons.^^)^^

Chapter 11

Since God intended to fashion man after His own image
and Hkeness from the visible and invisible creation to be a
sort of king and ruler over the whole earth and the things
in it, He prepared a sort of kingdom for him, in which he
might dwell and lead a blessed and blissful life.''^ And this
divine paradise prepared in Eden by the hands of God was
a treasure house of every joy and pleasure. For 'Eden' is
interpreted as meaning 'delight.' It was situated in the east
and was higher than all the rest of the earth. It was tem-
perate in climate and bright with the softest and purest of
air. It was luxuriant with ever-blooming plants, filled with
fragrance, flooded with Ught, and surpassing all conception
of sensible fairness and beauty. In truth, it was a divine
place and a worthy habitation for God in His image. And
in it no brute beasts dwelt, but only man, the handiwork
of God.2

12 Cf. Apoc. 21.1.

13 Cf. Matt. 5.4.

14 District, a rare use of the word canon. Here it probably refers to
the dioceses of the Roman Empire, the principal function of which
came to be the collection and transmission of the 'canon' or regular
taxes.

15 This paragraph is missing in most codices.

1 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man 2 (FG 44.132-133) .

2 Cf. Basil, Sermon on Paradise 2 {PG 30.64) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 23 I

In its midst God planted a tree of life and a tree of knowl-
edge.^ He planted the tree of knowledge as a sort of trial,
test, and exercise of man's obedience and disobedience. It
is either for this reason that it has been called the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, or because it gave to them that
partook of it the power to know their own nature — which,
while it is good for the perfect, is bad for them that are
less perfect and more given to their desires, as strong meat
is to them that are tender and still in need of milk.'' For
God who created us did not want us to be 'careful and
troubled about many things,'^ nor to be anxious and con-
cerned for our own life — which is just what happened to
Adam. Thus, after he had eaten, he became aware of the
fact that he was naked and put an apron around himself.
For he took fig leaves and girded himself, although before
they had eaten 'they were both naked, to wit, Adam and
Eve, and they were not ashamed.'" God wanted us to be
dispassionate like that, for that is passionlessness to the highest
degree. And He also wanted us to be free from care and to
have but one task, that of the angels, which is unceasingly
and unremittingly to sing the praises of the Creator and to
rejoice in contemplating Him. He also wanted us to cast
our cares upon Him, which is just what He told us through
the Prophet David, saying: 'Cast thy care upon the Lord,
and he shall sustain thee.'^ In the Gospels, too, when teaching
His own disciples. He says : * 'Be not solicitous for your life,
what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shaU put on' ;
and again: 'Seek ye the kingdom of God and his justice,
and all these things shall be added unto you' ; and to Martha :
'Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things: but one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the

3 C£. Gen. 2.9.

4 Heb. 5.12; Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 38.12 (PG 36.324BC) , and
Sermon 45.8 (PG 36.632-633) .

5 Luke 10.41.

6 Gen. 2.25.

7 Ps. 54.23.

8 Matt. 6i5,33; Luke 10.41,42.

232 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

best part, which shall not be taken away from her,' namely,
to sit at His feet and hear His words.

The tree of life was either a tree possessing a life-giving
force or a tree that was to be eaten of only by such as were
worthy of life and not subject to death. Some have imagined
paradise to have been material, while others have imagined it
to have been spiritual. However, it seems to me that, just
as man was created both sensitive and intellectual, so
did this most sacred domain of his have the twofold asf>ect
of being perceptible both to the senses and to the mind. For,
while in his body he dwelt in this most sacred and superbly
beautiful place, as we have related, spiritually he resided in
a loftier and far more beautiful place. There he had the
indwelling God as a dwelling place and wore Him as a
glorious garment. He was wrapped about with His grace,
and, like some one of the angels, he rejoiced in the enjoyment
of that one most sweet fruit which is the contemplation of
God, and by this he was nourished. Now, this is indeed
what is fittingly called the tree of life, for the sweetness of
divine contemplation communicates a life uninterrupted by
death to them that partake of it. It is just this that God
meant by 'every tree' when He said : 'Of every tree of paradise
thou shalt eat." For He is the all, in whom and by whom
the universe endures.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil is the power of
discernment by multiple vision, and this is the complete
knowing of one's own nature. Of itself it manifests the magni-
ficence of the Creator and it is good for them that are full-
grown and have walked in the contemplation of God — for
them that have no fear of changing, because in the course
of time they have acquired a certain habit of such con-
templation. It is not good, however, for such as are still
young and are more greedy in their appetites, who, because
of the uncertainty of their perseverance in the true good
and because of their not yet being solidly established in their

9 Gen. 2.16.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 233

application to the only good, are naturally inclined to be
drawn away and distracted by their solicitude for their own
bodies/"

It is in such a way that I think that the divine paradise
was of a twofold nature, and the inspired Fathers taught
rightly, both those who taught the one aspect and those who
taught the other. Moreover, it is possible to take 'every tree'
as meaning the knowledge of the divine power which comes
from the things that have been created, as the divine Apostle
says: 'For the invisible things of him from the creation of
the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made.'^^ Of all these thoughts and considerations,
the loftiest are those which concern ourselves — which con-
cern our constitution, I mean, as the divine David says:
'Thy knowledge from myself is become wonderful,'^^ that
is to say, 'from my own make-up.' In the newly made Adam,
however, this was dangerous — for the reasons we have stated.
Again, the tree of life may be taken as the greater under-
standing of God that comes from all material things, and
the process of induction leading from these to the productive
and creative cause of them all. And it is just this that is
called 'every tree,' the whole and undivided tree that brings
the only participation in the Good. And by the tree of knowl-
edge of good and evil may be understood that material and
enjoyable food which, while seeming to be sweet, actually
makes the partaker to be a partaker of evU. For God says:^^
'Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat,' meaning, I think:
By means of aU created things be thou drawn up to Me,
their Creator, and from them reap the one fruit which is
Myself, who am the true life; let all things be fruitful life
to thee and make participation in Me to be the substance
of thy own existence; for thus thou shalt be immortal.

10 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, loc. cit.

11 Rom. 1.20.

12 Ps. 138.6 (Septuagint) .

13 Gen. 2.16,17.

234 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

'But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou
shall die the death.' For it is of the nature of material food
to replace that which has been consumed, and it is voided
into the privy and so to corruption. And it is impossible for
him who partakes of material food to remain incorruptible.

Chapter 12

Thus, then, God created the intellectual substance. By that
I mean angels and all the heavenly orders, for these quite
plainly have an intellectual and incorporeal nature. When I
say incorporeal, I mean incorporeal in comparison with the
grossness of matter, for only the Divinity is really immaterial
and incorporeal. Besides this. He also created the material
substance, that is to say, the heavens and the earth and the
things that lie between them. The former of these substances
is akin to Him, for the rational nature which can only be
grasped by the intellect is akin to God; while the latter, in
so far as it is manifestly perceptible to the senses, is very very
far removed from Him. 'But, as a mark of greater wisdom
and of His munificence toward created natures, it was also
necessary that a combination of both substances should be
made,' as the inspired Gregory says, 'as a sort of bond between
the visible and invisible natures.'^ The phrase 'it was neces-
sary,' I say, implies the intention of the Creator, for this in-
tention is a most fit law and ordinance. Thus, no one wiU
ask the molder: 'Why did you make me like this?' — for the
potter has the power to make different vessels from the same
lump of clay^ in accordance with the dictates of his own
wisdom.

Since this was the case, with His own hands He created
man after His own image and likeness from the visible and

1 Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 38.11 (PG 36.321D) .

2 Cf. Rom. 9.21.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 235

invisible natures. From the earth He formed his body and
by His own inbreathing gave him a rational and understand-
ing soul, which last we say is the divine image — for the
'according to His image' means the intellect and free wUl,
while the 'according to His likeness' means such likeness in
virtue as is possible.

Tlie body and the soul were formed at the same time —
not one before and the other afterwards, as the ravings of
Origen would have it.

And so God made man innocent, straightforward, virtuous,
free from pain, free from care, ornamented with every virtue,
and adorned with all good qualities. He made hira a sort of
miniature world within the larger one, another adoring angel,
a compound, an eye-witness of the visible creation, an
initiate of the invisible creation, lord of the things of earth,
lorded over from on high, earthly and heavenly, passing and
immortal, visible and spiritual, halfway between greatness and
lowliness, at once spirit and flesh — spirit by grace and flesh
by pride, the first that he might endure and give glory to his
Benefactor, and the second that he might suffer and by suffer-
ing be reminded and instructed not to glory in his greatness.
He made him a living being to be governed here according
to this present life, and then to be removed elsewhere, that is,
to the world to come, and so to complete the mystery by
becoming divine through reversion to God — this, however,
not by being transformed into the divine substance, but by
participation in the divine illumination.^

He moreover made him sinless and endowed with freedom
of will. By being sinless I do not mean being incapable of
sinning, for only the Divinity is incapable of sinning, but
having the tendency to sin not in his nature but, rather, in his
power of choice — that is to say, having the power to persevere
and progress in good with the help of divine grace, as well as
having the power to turn from virtue and fall into vice, God

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, op. cit. U (PG 36.324A) .

236 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

permitting because of the freedom of the -will. For, that
which is done by force is not an act of virtue.

Now, a soul is a living substance, simple and incorporeal,
of its own nature invisible to bodily eyes, activating an organic
body in which it is able to cause life, growth, sensation, and
reproduction. It does not have the mind as something distinct
from itself, but as its purest part, for, as the eye is to the body,
so is the mind to the soul. It is free, endowed with will and the
power to act, and subject to change, that is, subject to change
of wiU, because it is also created. And this it has received
according to nature, through that grace of the Creator by
which it has also received both its existence and its being
naturally as it is.

[In how many ways a thing may be said to be incor-
poreal.*]

Things that are incorporeal, invisible and without shape
we conceive of in two ways. Some are so by essense and
some by grace; some are so by nature and some by
comparison with the grossness of matter. Thus, God is said
to be incorporeal by nature, but the angels, evil spirits, and
souls are said to be so by grace and by comparison with the
grossness of matter.

A body is three-dimensional, that is, having height, breadth,
and depth or thickness. Every body is composed of the four
elements, but the bodies of living things are composed of
the four humors.

One should note that the four elements are: earth, which
is dry and cold; water, which is cold and wet; air, which
is wet and warm ; and fire, which is warm and dry. Likewise,
there are also four humors corresponding to the four ele-
ments: black bile, which corresponds to the earth, because
it is dry and cold; phlegm, which corresponds to the water,
because it is cold and wet; blood, which corresponds to the
air, because it is wet and warm; yellow bile, which corresponds

4 A marginal addition.

ORTHODOX TAITH : BOOK TWO 237

to fire, because it is warm and dry. Now, while fruits are
made from the elements, the humors are made from the
fruits, and the bodies of living things are made from the
humors and are reducible to the elements, for every com-
pound is reducible to them.

[That man has something in common with the inanimate,
the irrational, and the rational beings.^]

One should note that man has something in common with
inanimate things, that he shares life with the rational living
beings, and that he shares understanding with the rational. In
common with inanimate things, he has his body and its com-
position from the four elements. In common with the plants,
he has these same things plus the power of assimilating nour-
ishment, of growing and of semination of generation. In com-
mon with the brute beasts, he has all these plus appetite — that
is to say, anger and desire — sensation, and spontaneous
movement.

Now, the senses are five; namely, sight, hearing, smell,
taste, and touch. Belonging to spontaneous movement are
the power of moving from place to place, that of moving
the entire body, and that of speech and breathing — for in
us we have the power either to do these things or not to
do them.

Through his power of reason man is akin to the incorporeal
and intellectual natures, reasoning, thinking, judging each
thing, and pursuing the virtues, particularly the acme of
the virtues which is religion. For this reason, man is also
a microcosm.

One should note that section, flux, and change are proper
to the body alone.' Change is that which is in quality, such
as being heated, cooled, and so forth. Flux is an emptying
out, for solids, liquids, and the breath arc voided and then

5 Ibid.

6 C£. Nemesius, On the Nature of Man 1 {PG 40.516C) .

238 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

need to be replaced. Gonsequendy, hunger and thirst are
natural sensations. Section is the separation of the humors
from one another and the division into matter and form.

Proper to the soul are religion and understanding. Although
the virtues are referred to the soul, yet, in so far as the soul
utilizes the body, they are common to both.

One should note that the rational part of the soul governs
the irrational part. Indeed, the faculties of the soul are
divided into those belonging to its rational part and those
belonging to its Lrrational part. There are two groups belong-
ing to the irrational part, of which one is deaf to reason,
that is to say, does not obey the reason, whereas the other
listens to the reason and complies with it. Now, deaf and
disobedient to reason are the vital principle, which is also
called pulsating, the seminal or generative principle, and
the vegetable principle, which is also called nutritive and
to which also belongs the principle of growth that budds
up the body. For these are governed not by reason but by
nature. The group listening to reason and complying with
it is divided into anger and desire. Moreover, the irrational
part of the soul is commonly called emotional and appetitive.
And one should know that the faculty of spontaneous move-
ment is one of those which are obedient to reason.

To those which are not obedient to reason belong the nutri-
tive, the generative, and the pulsating principles. The grow-
ing, nutritive, and generative principles are called vegetable;
the pulsating is called vital.

The nutritive principle has four faculties: the attractive,
which attracts the food; the retentive, which retains the
food and does not permit it to be excreted immediately; the
transformative, which changes the food into the humors;
and the excretive, which separates the superfluity and expels
it through the rectum.''

One should note that some of the faculties in the living
being are animal, some vegetable, and some vital. The

7 Cf. ibid. 23 {PG 40.693A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 239

animal faculties are those which depends upon choice;
namely, spontaneous movement and sense. To spontaneous
movement belong m^oving from place to place, moving the
entire body, speaking, and breathing, for it is in our power
either to do them or not. Vegetable and vital faculties are
those which do not depend upon choice. The nutritive, grow-
ing, and generative faculties are vegetable, while the pulsating
faculty is vital. These all operate regardless of whether we
want them to or not.

Furthermore, one must note that some things are good and
others evil. Now, when a good thing is expected, it gives rise
to desire, but when it is present it causes pleasure. Similarly,
when a bad thing is expected, it gives rise to fear, but when
it is present it causes pain. One must also understand that,
when we say 'good' here, we mean both that which is really
good and that which is apparently so, and similarly, when
we say 'bad.'

Chapter 13

Some pleasures^ are of the soul, while others are of the
body. Of the soul are all those which belong to the soul alone
as distinct from the body, such as those coming from learn-
ing and contemplation. Bodily pleasures are those which
are shared by the soul and the body. For this reason, all
those coming from eating, sexual intercourse, and the like,
are called bodily. However, one would not find any pleasures
belonging to the body alone.

Again, some pleasures are true, whereas others are false.
Some pleasures, also, which come from knowledge and con-
templation, are purely intellectual; others, arising from sensa-
tion, are shared by the body. Of the pleasures shared by the
body, some are both natural and necessary. Without these
it would be impossible to live; such are food eaten to supply
a deficiency, and necessary clothes. Still others are natural

1 Cf. ibid. 18 (PG 40.677ff.) .

240 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

but not necessary, such as natural and legitimate sexual
relations. For, although these last do assure the permanency
of the entire race, it is nevertheless possible to live in virginity
without them. Still others are neither necessary nor natural,
such as intoxicating liquors, lewdness, and surfeits that exceed
our needs. These do nothing for the maintenance of our life
or for perpetuation of the race; on the contrary, they do
harm. Hence, he who lives according to God must seek
those pleasures which are both necessary and natural, while
those which are natural but not necessary he must relegate
to second place and only indulge in them as permitted by the
suitability of time, manner, and moderation. The others,
however, must be absolutely rejected.

Such pleasures may be considered to be good as do not
involve pain, cause remorse, do any damage, exceed the
Umits of moderation, distract us for long from good works,
or enslave us.

Chapter 14

There axe four kinds of pain;^ namely, grief, distress, envy,
and compassion. Grief is a pain which makes one speech-
less; distress is one which oppresses; envy is one arising from
another's good fortune; and compassion is one arising from
another's misfortune.

Chapter 15

Fear^ also has its divisions, which are six; namely, appre-
hension, diffidence, shame, terror, consternation, and anxiety.
Apprehension is fear of something which is going to happen.
Diffidence is a fear due to an expected reproach, and this
is an excellent affection. Shame is a fear due to the perpetra-

1 Cf. ibid. 19 (PG 40.688) .

1 Cf. ibid. 20 (PG 40.688ff.) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 241

tion of a shameful act, nor is this beyond hope of salvation.
Terror is a fear arising from, a strong mental impression.
Consternation is a fear arising from an unaccustomed mental
impression. Anxiety is a fear of failure, that is to say, of mis-
fortune — ^for when we are afraid that our undertaking will
turn out badly, we are anxious.

Chapter 16

Anger''- is a seething of the blood about the heart caused
by the fuming up or thickening of the bile. For this reason,
it is also called bile or spleen. There is also a kind of anger
which is a desire for revenge, for when we are wronged or
think that we have been wronged, we are pained and there
arises in us that combined feeling of desire and anger.

There are three kinds of anger; namely, wrath (which
is called bile and spleen), rancor, and vindictive.ness. When
anger arises and starts to move, it is called wrath, bile, and
spleen. Rancor is an enduring wrath, or bearing malice. It
is called (J^iiviq from its ^isveiv, or remaining, and being
impressed upon the memory. Vindictiveness is wrath on the
watch for an opportunity for revenge. It is called Koxoq from
KsTaGai, or being laid down.

Anger is the spearman of the reason and the avenger of
desire. Thus, when we desire a thing and are thwarted by
someone, our reason decides that for such as would maintain
their own natural position this occurrence is worthy of vexa-
tion, and we get angry at him over our having been wronged.

Chapter 17

The imagination^ is the faculty belonging to the irrational
part of the soul. It acts through the sense organs and is

1 Cf. ibid. 21 {PG 40.692) .

242 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

called a sensation. Moreover, that which comes within the
province of the imagination and the senses is the imagina-
tive and the sensible, just as the visible — ^say, a stone or
something of the sort — comes within the province of sight,
which is the power of vision. An imagination, or fantasy,
is an affection of the irrational part of the soul arising from
some imagineable object. But an imagining, or phantasm,
is an empty affection arising in the irrational parts of the
soul from no imagineable object at all. The organ of the
imagination is the anterior ventricle of the brain.

Chapter 18

Sense is a faculty of the soul by which material things
are perceived, or distinguished. The sense organs are the
organs or members by means of which we perceive. Sensible
tilings are those which come within the province of the
senses. The animal endowed with sense is sensitive. There
are five senses and, likewise, five sense organs.

The first sense is that of sight} The sense organs or media
of sight are the nerves leading from the brain and the eyes.
Fundamentally, it is the visual impression of color that is
received, but along with the color the sight distinguishes the
colored body, also: its size and shape, the place where it is
and the intervening distance, its number, its motion or motion-
lessness, its roughness or smoothness, its evenness or uneven-
ness, sharpness or bluntness, and whether it has the con-
sistency of water or that of earth; in other words, whether it
is liquid or solid.

The second sense is that of hearing.^ This is capable of dis-
cerning voices and sounds, of which it distinguishes the high
or low pitch, the degree of smoothness, and the volume. Its
organs are the soft nerves leading from the brain and the

1 Cf. ibid. 7 (PG 40.637ff.) .

2 Cf. ibid. 10 {PG 40.657) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 243

apparatus of the ears. Moreover, only man and the monkey
do not move their ears.

The third sense is that of smell,^ which originates with
the nose sending the odors up to the brain and is terminated
at the extremities of the anterior ventricles of the brain.
The sense of smeO is capable of discerning and perceiving
odors. The most general division of odors is into sweet-smell-
ing and foul-smelling and that which stands midway between
these and is neither the one nor the other. Thus, a sweet
smeO arises when the juices in bodies have been cooked to
a nicety. When they have been cooked middling well, the
result is middling. But when they have been very poorly
or incompletely cooked, then there is a foul smell.

The fourth sense is that of taste* This sense is capable of
perceiving or discerning flavors. Its organs are the tongue —
especially its tip — and the palate, which some call the roof
[of the mouth]. The nerves leading from the brain have
been broadened out in these and report back to the authori-
tative part of the soul the impression or sensation received.
The so-called taste qualities or flavors are as follows: sweet-
ness, bitterness, acidity, sourness, tartness, pungency, saltiness,
greasiness, and stickiness. For it is these that the sense of taste
can distinguish. Water, however, in so far as these qualities are
concerned, is tasteless, because it has none of them. Sourness
is an intense and excessive tartness.

The fifth sense is that of touch,^ which is common to all
animals. It comes from the nerves leading out from the
brain into the entire body, for which reason both the entire
body and the other sense organs, too, possess the sense of
touch. Subject to touch are heat and cold, softness and hard-
ness, stickiness and friability, and heaviness and lightness,
because these things are recognized only by the sense of
touch. Common to both the sense of touch and that of sight

3 Cf. ibid. 1 1 (PG 40.657-658) .

4 Cf. ibid. 9 (PG 40.656-657) .

5 Cf. ibid. 8 (PG 40.649ff.) .

244 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

are: roughness and smoothness; dryness and wetness; thick-
ness and thinness; up and down; place; size, whenever it
is such as can be determined with one application of the
sense of touch; compactness and looseness, or density; round-
ness, if on a small scale, and various other shapes. Similarly,
with the aid of the memory and the understanding, it can
also perceive the approach of a body, as well as number,
too, up to two or three, provided the objects be small and
easily grasped. Sight, however, ia more perceptive of these
than is touch.

One should note that the Creator constructed each one of
the sense organs in pairs,^ so that, should one be harmed,
the other might fulfill the function. Thus, there are two
eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and two tongues. These last,
however, while they are separate in some animals, such as
snakes, in others, such as man, are joined together. On the
other hand, the sense of touch is in the entire body, with the
exception of the bones, nerves, nails and horns, hair, sinews,
and certain other parts of the same sort.

One should note that sight sees along straight lines, but
that smeU and hearing get their impressions not only along
straight lines, but from aU directions. Touch and taste, how-
ever, get their impressions neither along straight lines nor
along any line, but only when their proper organs are in
contact with their objects.

Chapter 19

To the thinking faculty^ belong judgments, assents, inclina-
tions and disinclinations to act, and avoidances of action.
In particular, concepts of intellectual things, the virtues and
sciences, the principles of the arts, and the deliberative and

6 Cf. ibid. (PG 40.649A) .

1 Cf. ibid. 12 {PG 40.660) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 245

elective powers belong to the thinking faculty. It is also this
faculty which foretells the future to us through dreams,
which the Pythagoreans, following in the steps of the Hebrews,
claim to be the only true divination. The organ of this faculty
is the middle ventricle of the brain and the vital spirit re-
siding therein.

Chapter 20

The faculty of memory^ is both the cause and the reposi-
tory of memory and recollection. Memory is an image which
has been left behind by some sensory or mental impression
that has actually been received. In other words, it is the
retention of sensation and thought. Thus, on the one hand,
the soul apprehends or senses sensible objects through the
organs of sense, and a mental impression is formed; on the
other hand, it apprehends intellectual objects through the
mind and a conjecture is formed. Hence, when it retains the
forms of things of which it has received impressions, or of
things of which it has thought, then it is said to remember.

One must note that the apprehension of intellectual things
comes only through learning, or the natural process of think-
ing. It does not come from sensation, because sensible things
are remembered in themselves, whereas intellectual things
we do remember, provided we have learned something of
them, but of their substance we have no memory.

Recollection is the recovery of memory that has been lost
by forgetting, and forgetting is the loss of memory. When
the imaginative faculty has apprehended material things by
means of the senses, it communicates [the impression] to the
thinking faculty, or reasoning faculty — for both of these are
the same thing. When this faculty has received the impression
and formed a judgment of it, it passes it on to the faculty
of memory. The organ of the faculty of memory is the
pHDSterior ventricle of the brain, which is also called the cere-
bellum, and the vital spirit residing therein.

246 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 21

The speaking (or rational) part of the soul is again divided
into mental and spoken speech} Mental speech is a move-
ment of the soul made in its reasoning faculty without any
vocal expression. Thus, we oftentimes go silently through an
entire discourse in detail, and we converse in our dreams.
In this respect we are aU speaking (or rational) in the most
proper sense. For, certainly, those who have been born dumb
or who have lost their voice through some illness or accident
are by no means less rational. Spoken speech acts through
the voice and language, that is to say, it is the speech which
is spoken by means of the tongue and mouth. For this reason
it is said to be spoken. It is, moreover, the messenger of
thought. In respect to this faculty we are also said to be
talking.

Chapter 22

The term passion is equivocal, because, while it may refer
to the body, as in the case of sickness and sores, it may also
refer to the soul, as with desire or anger. In its common
and general sense, however, it means an animal passion such
as is followed by pleasure or pain. Now, pain does follow
passion, but pain is not the passion itself, because insensible
things, when they suffer, do not feel pain. Thus, then, pain
is not passion but the feeling of passion. This passion, more-
over, must be considerable, that is to say, so intense as to
come within the province of sensation.

The definition of the passions of the soul is as follows:
passion is a movement of the appetitive faculty which is felt
as a result of a sensory impression of good or evil.^ It may also
be defined in another way: passion is an irrational move-

1 C£. ibid. 14 {PG 40.665H.) .

1 C£. ibid. 16 {PG 40.673B) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 247

ment of the soul due to an impression of good or evil. Thus,
the impression of good arouses the desire, whereas that of
evil arouses the anger. Passion in the general or common
sense is defined thus: passion is a movement in one thing
caused by another. But action is an active movement, that
being called active which moves of itself. Hence, when one
is driven violently into action by anger, this anger is, on
the one hand, an action of the irascible part of the soul;
on the other, it is a passion of both parts, and of the entire
body as well. For [in this last case] the movement in one
thing has been caused by another, which is precisely what
is called passion.

In still another way, action is called passion. For, while
action is a movement according to nature, passion is a move-
ment against nature. So, for this reason, action is called
passion when one is not moved according to nature, whether
by himself or by another. Thus, the pulsating movement of
the heart is action, because it is natural; but its palpitating
movement, because it is immoderate and not according to
nature, is passion and not action.

Not every movement of the passible part of the soul is
called a passion, but only the more violent ones which come
within the range of sensation, because the little imperceptible
ones are not passions at all. The passion must also have a
considerable intensity. Consequently, a perceptible movement
comes under the definition of passion, but the little move-
ments which elude sensation do not make for passion.

One should note that our soul possesses two kinds of
faculties: the cognitive and the vital. The cognitive faculties
are mind, thought, opinion, imagination, and sensation. Will
and choice, on the other hand, are vital, or appetitive, fac-
ulties. To make what has just been said more clear, let us
discuss these things in detail. First of all, let us speak about
the cognitive faculties.

Imagination and sensation have already been sufficiently
discussed in what has been said before. Thus, through sensa-

248 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

tion a passion is caused in the soul and this is called imagina-
tion. From imagination there arises an opinion. Then, when
the thinking faculty has examined the opinion as to whether
it is true or false, it decides what is true. For this reason,
this faculty is called thought from its thinking and discerning.
That which has been Judged and set down as true is called
mind.

Or, to put it in another way — one should note that the
first movement of the mind is called intelligence. Intelligence
being excercised about something is called thinking. When
this has continued a while and has impressed the soul with
the thing thought about, it is called consideration. And when
the consideration has continued in the same subject and has
thoroughly examined itself and interrogated the soul in regard
to the thing thought about, then it is called prudence [or
practical wisdom]. Then prudence extends on and produces
reasoning, which is termed mental speech, and which they
define as a most complete movement of the soul arising in
its reasoning part without any vocal expression. It is from
this that they say that the spoken word expressed by the
tongue proceeds. And so, now that we have spoken about
the cognitive faculties, let us speak of the vital, or appetitive
faculties.

One should note that in the soul there is an innate force
appetitive of what is natural to the soul and embracing all
those things which pertain to its nature essentially. This is
called will {Qekr]aiq,). The substance [of the soul] tends to
exist and live, to think and feel; and it desires its own natural
and complete actuality. This is why the natural will is de-
fined as follows: Will is a rational and vital appetite attached
solely to natural things.^ Hence, the will is the same natural,
vital, and rational appetite for everything that goes to make
up the nature; it is a simple faculty. The appetite of brute
animals is not called a will, because it is not rational.
Wishing {^oCiX^oiq,) is a sort of natural willing, that is

2 Cf. Maximus, Opuscula theologica ad Marinum (PG 91.12C) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 249

to say, a natural and rational appetite for some thing. For,
inherent in the human soul, there is a faculty for rationally
desiring. And so, when this rational appetite is moved toward
some thing, it is called volition, for wishing is a rational
appetition and desiring for something.

We speak of wishing both in respect to things which are
in our power and in respect to things which are not; in
other words, in respect to possible and impossible things.
Thus, oftentimes we may wish to fornicate, or to excercise
self-control, or to sleep, or some other such thing. These
things are in our power and are possible. On the other hand,
we may also wish to be a king, and that is not in our power.
Then, possibly, we may wish never to die, and that is an
impossible thing.

Wishing concerns the end, and not the means to the end.
Now, the end is the thing desired, such as to be king or to
enjoy good health, whereas the means to the end is the thing
deliberated, or the way in which we may become healthy
or get to be king.' Immediately after wishing come inquiry
and consideration. Then, after these, provided the thing is
within our power, comes deliberation, or counsel. Delibera-
tion is an inquisitive appetite arising in respect to such things
which are to be done as are in our power. Thus, one del-
iberates as to whether or not he should pursue the object.
Then he decides which is the better course, and this is called
judgment. Then he becomes disposed to the thing decided
as a result of the deliberation and prefers it, and this is
called opinion. For, should one judge and not become dis-
posed to the thing judged, that is to say, not prefer it, then
it is not called opinion. Then, after this disposition, there
comes choice or selection. Choice is the choosing and picking
out of this one rather than the other of two things proposed.
Then one moves to act, and this is called impulse. Then
one enjoys, and this is called use. Then, after the use, the
appetite ceases.

3 Cf. ibid. {PG 91.13C-16A) .

250 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Now, in the case of the brute animals, when an appetite
for something arises it is immediately followed by an impulse
to act. This is because the appetite of brute animals is ir-
rational and because they are led by their natural appetite.
For this reason the appetite of brute animals is said to be
neither a will nor a volition. Will is a rational and free
natural appetite and with men, who are rational, the natural
appetite is led rather than leads. Thus, man is moved freely
with the aid of reason, since in him the cognitive and vital
faculties are joined together. Hence, he freely desires and
freely wills, freely lives and inquires, freely deliberates, freely
judges, freely disposes himself, freely chooses, freely moves
to act, and freely acts in respect to those things which are
in accord with his nature.

One should note that, while we speak of wishing in God,
in the strict sense we do not speak of choice. For God does
not deliberate, because deliberation is due to ignorance. No
one deliberates about what he knows. But, if deliberation
is due to ignorance, then choice, too, is most certainly so.
Hence, since God knows all things absolutely. He does not
deliberate.

Neither do we speak of deliberation or choice in the soul
of the Lord, because He did not suffer from ignorance.*
Even though He did have such a nature as was ignorant
of future events, nevertheless, in so far as this nature was
hypostatically united to God the Word, it did have knowl-
edge of aU things — not by grace, but, as has been said, by
virtue of the hypostatic union. Thus, He was Himself both
God and man, and therefore did not have a will based upon
opinion. He did have a will that was natural and simple and
such as is to be found in all human persons, but His sacred
soul held no opinion, that is to say, willed nothing contrary to
His divine wiU, nor did it have a wiU in opposition to
His divine will. Now, opinion varies with the persons except in
the case of the sacred, simple, uncompoimded, and undivided

4 Cf. Maximus, Disputatio cum Pyrrho {PC 91.308-309) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 25 1

Godhead. For, since the Persons there are by no means di-
vided and set at variance, neither is the object of their wQl di-
vided. And since there is but one nature there, there is, like-
wise, only one natural will. Moreover, since, again, the Persons
are not at variance, there is one thing willed and one move-
ment of the three Persons. But with men, while there is one
nature and, consequently, one natural will, yet, since the
persons are separate and varying from one another in time
and place, in their disposition toward things, and in very
many other ways, for this reason their wills and opinions
differ. Now, since in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ the
natures are diflferent, so also are the natural wills of His
divinity and humanity diflferent, that is to say, the willing
faculties. Since, however, there is but one Person and but
one who wills, then the thing willed, or the will based on
opinion, must also be one — with His human will, of course,
following His divine will and willing those things which the
divine will has willed it to will.

One should note that will is one thing and wishing another,
and that the thing willed is one thing, the principle willing
another, and the one willing still another. Whereas will is
the simple faculty itself, of willing, wishing is the wiU in
regard to something, and the thing willed is the object of
the will, or that which we wUl. For instance, the appetite
tends to food. In this case, the simple acting appetite is a
rational wiU, while the willing principle is that which pos-
sesses the faculty of willing, such as a man, and the one
willing is he who uses the will.

One must bear in mind that when wiU means the will,
or willing faculty, it is said to be a natural will; but that
when it means the thing willed, then it is said to be will
based on opinion.

252 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 23

One should note that all the faculties heretofore discussed
are called acts, whether they be the cognitive, the vital, the
natural, or the technical. Act is the natural force and move-
ment of any substance. Again, natural act is the innate move-
ment of every substance. Whence it is clear that those things
that have the same substance have also the same act, whereas
those that have dififerent natures have different acts. For it
is inconceivable that a substance should be devoid of natural
act.'-

Again, that force which is indicative of any substance is
natural act. Still again, the first ever-moving force of the
intellectual soul, that is to say, the ever-moving reason per-
petually springing naturally from it, is natural act. Still again,
the force and movement of any substance, which only non-
being does not have, is natural act.

Moreover, such actions as talking, walking, eating, drink-
ing, and the like are also called acts. And the natural pas-
sions, too, such as hunger, thirst, and the like are frequently
called acts. And, finally, the actuation of potency is called
act.

There are, moreover, two ways in which a thing is said
to be: in potency and in act. Thus, we say that a suckling
chUd is potentially lettered, because it has the capacity to
become so through instruction. Again, we say that a lettered
person is both potentially and actually so. He is actually so,
because he has the knowledge of letters; but he is potentially
so, if, although he can expound, he actually is not doing so.
Again, we say that he is lettered actually when he is acting,
that is to say, expounding. Consequently, one should note
that this second way of being is common to both potency
and act, but that the second belongs rather to potency,
whereas the first belongs to act.

A first, only, and true natural act is that independent, or

1 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, The Guide (PG 89.65B) ; Maximus, Disputatio
cum Pyrrho (PG 9I.337A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 253

rational, and free life which constitutes our species. When
some people deprive our Lord of this, I do not understand
how they say that He who is God became man.

Act is an active movement of nature. And that is called
active which is moved of itself.

Chapter 24

Since it is in some action that the voluntary consists,^ and
also in some action that the involuntary in the commonly
accepted sense of the term consists, there are many who
put the involuntary in the absolute sense not only under
passion but also under action. However, one must bear in
mind that an action is a rational act. Actions incur praise
or blame. The performance of some is accompanied by
pleasure; of others, by pain. Some of them are desirable to
the doer, whereas others are distasteful. Moreover, some of
those which are desirable are always so, whereas others are
so only at certain times. And it is the same with those which
are distasteful. Then again, some actions are worthy of mercy
and forgiveness, while others are detestable and to be pun-
ished. Therefore, concomitant with the absolutely voluntary
are praise or blame, its performance with pleasure, and the
fact that the actions are desirable to them that perform them,
whether at all times or only at the particular time when
they are performed. On the other hand, concomitant with
the involuntary are the facts of the actions being worthy
of forgiveness or mercy, or their being performed with pain,
and of their not being desirable to the doer, whether because
of his not doing them of his own accord or because of his
being forced.

Now, the involuntary^ is due either to compulsion or to

1 Cf. Nemesius, op. cit. 29 {PG 40.717-718).

2 Cf. ibid. 30 (PG 40.720ff.) .

254 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

ignorance. It is due to compulsion when the eflficient princi-
ple, or cause, is extrinsic — in other words, when we are
compelled by another without our full agreement, without
the concurrence of our own impulse, and without our co-
operating or doing of our own accord the thing that we have
been compelled to do. In defining it we say that that is
involuntary of which the principle is extrinsic and in which
the one compelled does not concur with his own impulse.
By principle we mean the efficient cause. On the other hand,
the involuntary is due to ignorance when we ourselves do not
furnish the cause of the ignorance, and the thing just happens
by chance. Thus, should someone commit murder while
drunk, he would be doing it unwittingly, but certainly not
involuntarily, because he himself has supplied the cause of
the ignorance, that is to say, the drunkenness. If, however,
someone has been shooting arrows in an accustomed place
and has kiUed his father who had chanced by, he is said to
have done this involuntarily through ignorance.'

And so, since there are two kinds of involuntary, that due
to compulsion and that due to ignorance, the voluntary is
opposed to both.* Thus, that is voluntary which is brought
about by neither compulsion nor ignorance. Now, that is
voluntary of which the principle, or cause, is in the doer
himself as thoroughly understanding aU the circumstances
because of which and under which the action was performed.
Circumstances are what the grammarians call 'circumstantial
parts of speech.' For example: we have who, or the person
who acted; whom, or the person acted upon; what, or the
very thing that was done, as, for example, murder; with
what, or the instrument; where, or in what place; when,
or at what time; how, or the manner of action; and because
of what, or for what cause.

It should be borne in mind that there are some things which
come between what is voluntary and what is involuntary

3 Cf. ibid. 31 {PG 40.724-725) .

4 Cf. ibid. 32 {FG 40.728) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 255

and which, although they may be unpleasant and painful,
we permit in order to avoid a greater evil — as, for example,
when we jettison a ship's cargo to avoid shipwreck.^

It should be borne in mind that, while children and brute
beasts act voluntarily, they certainly do not do so through
deliberate choice, and that all that we do in anger without
previous consideration we do voluntarily, but certainly not
through deliberate choice. Likewise, when a friend drops in
on us unexpectedly, we accept his visit voluntarily but cer-
tainly not through deliberate choice. In the same way, one
who has unexpectedly happened upon a treasure has indeed
happened upon it willingly, but certainly not through delib-
erate choice. All these things are indeed voluntary because
of the pleasure connected with them, but certainly not be-
cause of their having been chosen deliberately, since they did
not happen as a result of deliberation. Choice must definitely
be preceded by deliberation, as has been said.

Chapter 25

In treating of free will,^ that is to say, of what depends
upon us, the first consideration is as to whether there is any-
thing that does depend upon us, because there are a number
of people who deny it. A second consideration is as to what
things depend upon us and over what things we do have
control. A third consideration is how to explain the reason
for which the God who made us made us free. And so, let us
take up the first question and at the very outset prove from
things accepted as true by our adversaries that there are
some things that depend upon us. And let us proceed as
follows.

They say that everything that happens is caused either by

5 Cf. ibid. 30 (PG 40.720B) .

1 Cf. ibid. 39 (PG 40.761H.) .

256 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

God, or necessity, or fate, or nature, or chance, or spontaneity.
But essence and providence are the work of God, while the
movement of things which are always the same belongs to
necessity. And to fate belongs the necessary fulfillment of
what it has decreed, for fate also implies necessity. Generation,
growth, corruption, plants, and animals belong to nature.
The unusual and unexpected belong to chance. For chance is
defined as the accidental concurrence of two causes origin-
ating in deliberate choice but resulting in something other
than was intended, as in the case of someone digging a grave
and finding a treasure. In this case, the one who put the
treasure there did not do so in order that it might be found
by another, and neither did the one who found it dig for
the purpose of finding a treasure. On the contrary, the first
put it there in order that he might get it whenever he should
so choose, whereas the second dug in order to make a grave;
but something else resulted, quite different from what was
intended by either. Finally, to spontaneity belongs what
befalls inanimate things or brute beasts without the interven-
tion of nature or art. All this they themselves maintain. Now,
if man is not an effective principle of action, to which of these
causes are we to attribute human actions? It is definitely
wrong ever to ascribe immoral and unjust actions to God;
neither can they be ascribed to necessity, for they are not the
actions of things which are always the same; nor can they
be ascribed to fate, for they declare that the things decreed
by fate are not contingent but necessary; nor to nature, for
the works of nature are animals and plants; nor to chance,
for human actions are not unusual and unexpected; nor yet
to spontaneity, for they say that that is spontaneous which
befalls inanimate things or brute beasts. Indeed, nothing re-
mains but the fact that man himself as acting and doing is
the principle of his own works and is free.

What is more, if man is not a principle of action, then his
power of deliberation is superfluous, for to what use would
he put his deliberation if he were not master of any action

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 257

at all? All deliberation is on account of action, and it would
furthermore be absurd were the most excellent and noble
of the faculties in man to prove useless. Besides, when a man
deliberates, he does so on account of action, because all de-
liberation is on account of and for the sake of action.

Chapter 26

Some things done^ depend upon us, while others do not.
Those things depend upon us which we are free either to do
or not to do, that is to say, everything which we do voluntarily
—for a thing would not be said to be done voluntarily if the
action did not depend upon us. To put it simply : those things
depend upon us which incur blame or praise and in respect
to which one may be urged or bound by law. Properly speak-
ing, all those things depend upon us which pertain to the
soul and about which we deliberate. And it is about contin-
gents that deliberation is exercised. A contingent is that which
we can do itself, and of which we can abo do the opposite.
Our mind makes this choice of itself, and this is the begin-
ning of action. Those things, then, depend upon us which are
contingent — as, for example, to move or not to move, to
start or not to start, to desire things that are not absolutely
necessary or not to desire them, to lie or not to lie, to give
or not to give, to rejoice when one should and, similarly, not
to when one should not, and all such things as imply virtue
or vice — for in these things we are free. The arts also belong
to the number of the contingents, because it is in our power
to cultivate them, if we so wish, or not to cultivate them.
One should note that the choice of things to be done
always rests with us, but that their doing is oftentimes pre-
vented by some disposition of Divine Providence.^

1 Cf. ibid. 40 (PG 40.765ff.) .

2 Cf. ibid. 37 {PG 40.749rf.) .

258 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 27

We maintain, then, that the freedom of the will is directly
connected with the reason.^ We also maintain that transform-
ation and change are inherent in created beings. For every-
thing that is created is also changeable, because whatever has
originated in a change must needs be subject to change. Being
brought from non-being to being is change, and so is being
made into something else from an existing material. Now,
inanimate things and brute beasts are changed by the cor-
poreal alterations which have already been spoken of, whereas
rational beings are changed by deliberate choice. This last is
because of the fact that to the reason belong both the con-
templative and active faculties. The contemplative faculty is
that which examines the state of things, whereas the active
faculty is the power of deliberation which applies right reason
to such things as may be done. The contemplative faculty
is also called mind, and the active faculty reason. Still again,
the contemplative faculty is called wisdom, and the active
faculty prudence. Thus, everyone who deliberates, as having
in himself the power to choose such things as may be done,
deliberates so that he may choose what has been selected
through deliberation, and so that, having chosen it, he may
act. But, if this is so, then freedom of will is necessarily
connected by nature with the reason. Thus, a being may be
irrational or rational ; but, if it is rational, it will be the master
of its actions and free. Whence it follows that the irrational
beings are not free, since, instead of leading nature, they are
led by it. And so it is that they do not deny their natural
appetite, but, just as soon as they feel an appetite for some-
thing, they move to act. Man, however, since he is rational,
leads his nature rather than is led by it. And so, when he
feels an appetite, he has the power to resist it, should he so
wish, or to obey it. This is why irrational beings are neither

1 Cf. ibid. 41 {PG 40.773ff.) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 259

to be praised nor blamed, while man is to be praised or
blamed.

One should note that, since the angels are rational, they are
free, and that, since they are created, they are subject to
change. And a proof of this is the Devil, who, although he
had been created good by the Creator, of his own free will
became the discoverer of evU; and so also are the powers
that rebelled with him, that is to say, the evU spirits, while
the rest of the angelic orders persevered in the good.

Chapter 28

Some of those things which do not depend upon us have
their origin, or cause, in things which do depend upon us.
Such are the recompenses for our deeds, which we receive
both in the present world and in that to come. AH the rest,
however, depend upon the divine wiU. The creation of all
things is due to God, but corruption came in afterwards due
to our own wickedness and as a punishment and a help. 'For
God made not death : neither hath he pleasure in the destruc-
tion of the living';^ rather, it was through man, that is to say,
Adam's transgression, that death came with the other punish-
ments. All the rest, however, are to be attributed to God.
Thus, our creation is due to His creative power, our per-
manence to His providential power, and to His goodness the
eternal enjoyment of the good things reserved for them that
keep the law of nature — ^for which reason we were made.
However, since there are some who deny His providence, let
us go on to say a few things about providence.

1 Wisd. 1.13.

260 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 29

Providence, then, is the solicitude which God has for exist-
ing things. And again, providence is that will of God by
which all existing things receive suitable guidance through to
their end.^ But, if providence is God's will, then, according
to right reason, everything that has come about through
providence has quite necessarily come about in the best
manner and that most befitting God, so that it could not have
happened in a better way. Now, the Maker of existing things
must be the same as their Provider, for it is neither fitting
nor logical that one should be their creator and another their
provider, because in such a case they would both be definitely
wanting- — the one in the matter of creating and the other in
that of providing.^ Hence, God is both Creator and Provider,
and is power of creating, sustaining, and providing is His
good will. For 'whatsoever the Lord pleased he hath done,
in heaven, and in earth,'' and none resisted His will.* He
willed all things to be made and they were made; He wiUs
the world to endure and it does endure; and aU things what-
soever He wiUs are done.

Moreover, that He provides and provides well anyone might
most correctly learn from the following consideration. God
alone is by nature good and wise. Consequently, in so far as
He is good He provides, because one who does not provide
is not good. Even men and brute beasts naturally provide for
their own offspring, and the one that does not will incur
blame. Then, in so far as He is wise He provides for existing
things in the very best way.^

And so, bearing these things in mind we should admire,
praise, and unconditionally accept aU the works of providence.
And should these appear to a number of people to be unjust,

1 Cf. Nemesius, op. cit. 43 {PG 40.792-793) .

2 Cf. ibid. 42 {PG 40.788-789) .

3 Ps. 134.6.

4 Cf. Rom. 9.19.

5 Cf. Nemesius, op. cit. 44 (PG 40.813) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 26 1

it is because of the fact that God's providence is beyond
knowledge and beyond comprehension, and because to Him
alone are our thoughts and actions and the events of the future
known. However, when I say 'all,' I am referring to those
things which do not depend upon us, because those which
do depend upon us do not belong to providence, but to our
own free will.

Some of the things that are due to providence are by ap-
proval, whereas others are by permission. All those that are
undeniably good are by approval, whereas of those that are
by permission [there are many kinds]. ^ Thus, He often
permits even the just man to meet with misfortunes so that
the virtue hidden in him may be made known to others, as
in the case of Job.^ At other times, He permits something ini-
quitous to be done so that through this apparently iniquitous
action some great and excellent thing may be brought about,
as was the salvation of men by the Cross. In still another way,
He permits the devout man to suffer evil either so that he
may not depart from his right conscience or so that he may
not fall into presumption from the strength and grace that
have been given him, as in the case of Paul.*

Someone may be abandoned for a while for the correction
of others so that by observing his state they may be instructed,
as in the case of Lazarus and the rich man.' For we are
naturally humbled when we see the sufferings of others. Some-
one may also be abandoned not because of his own sins or
his parents' but for the glory of another, as was the man
born blind for the glory of the Son of Man.^" Again, someone
may be permitted to suffer as an object of emulation for
others so that because of the greatness of the glory of the
one that suffered they may without hesitation accept suffering
in hope of future glory and with a desire for the good things

6 Supplied from ibid. (PG 40.812A) .

7 C£. Job. 1.12; cf. Nemesius, loc. cit.

8 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.7.

9 Cf. Luke 16.19ff.; Nemesius, loc. cit.
10 Cf. John 9.3; Nemesius, loc. cit.

262 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

to come, as in the case of the martyrs. A person may even be
allowed at times to fall into a immoral action for the correc-
tion of another and worse afiliction. For example, a certain
person is conceited about his virtues and righteousness, and
God permits him to fall into fornication so that by his fall he
may become conscious of his own weakness, be humbled, and,
drawing nigh, confess to the Lord.

One should, moreover, note that, while the choice of
things that may be done rests with us, the accomplishment of
the good ones is due to the co-operation of God, who in
accordance with His foreknowledge justly co-operates with
those who in right conscience choose the good. The accom-
plishment of the bad things, however, is due to abandonment
by God, who, again in accordance with His foreknowledge,
justly abandons us.

Now, there are two kinds of abandonment, for there is one
by dispensation which is for our instruction and there is an-
other which is absolute rejection. That abandonment is by
dispensation and for our instruction which happens for the
correction, salvation, and glory of the one who experiences it,
or which happens either to give others an object for emulation
and imitation, or even for the glory of God. On the other
hand, there is absolute abandonment, when God has done
everything for a man's salvation, yet the man of his own
accord remains obdurate and uncured, or rather, incorrigible,
and is then given over to absolute perdition, like Judas. May
God spare and deliver us from this sort of abandonment.

One should furthermore bear in mind that the ways of
God's providence are many, and that they can neither be
explained in words nor grasped by the mind.

One must note that for those who accept them with thanks-
giving the attacks of adversity redound to salvation and
definitely become instruments of aid.

One should also bear in mind that God antecedently wills
all to be saved and to attain to His kingdom.^^ For He did

u Cf. 1 Tim. 2.4.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 263

not form us to be chastised, but, because He is good, that
■we might share in His goodness. Yet, because He is just, He
does wish to punish sinners. So, the first is called antecedent
will and approved, and it has Him as its cause; the second
is called consequent will and permission, and it has ourselves
as its cause. This last is twofold : that which is by dispensation
and for our instruction and salvation, and that -which is
abandonment to absolute chastisement, as we have said.
These, however, belong to those things which do not depend
upon us.

As to the things which do depend upon us, the good ones
He wlUs antecedently and approves, whereas the evil, which
are essentially bad. He neither wills antecedently nor con-
sequently, but permits them to the free will. Now, that which
is done under compulsion is not rational; neither can it be
a virtuous act. God provides for all creation, and through
all creation He does good and instructs, oftentimes using
even the demons themselves for this purpose, as in the case
of Job- and in that of the swine.''^

Chapter 30

One should note that God foreknows all things but that
He does not predestine them all.^ Thus, He foreknows the
things that depend upon us, but He does not predestine
them — because neither does He will evil to be done nor does
He force virtue. And so, predestination is the result of the
divine command made with foreknowledge. Those things
which do not depend upon us, however. He predestines in
accordance with His foreknowledge.^ For, through His fore-

12 Cf. Job 1.12; Mark 5.13.

1 Cf. John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the Obscurity of the Prophecies
4 {PG 56.171) .

2 Cf. Acts of St. Maximus (PG 90.137) .

264 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

knowledge, He has already decided all things beforehand
in accordance with His goodness and justice.

One should furthermore note that our nature has been
endowed by God with virtue, and that He is the source
and author of all good, without whose co-operation and
assistance we are powerless either to will good or to do
it. Moreover, it depends upon ourselves whether we are to
persevere in virtue and be guided by God who invites us
to practice it; or whether we are to abandon virtue, which
is to become attached to vice and be guided by the Devil,
who, without forcing us, is inviting us to practice vice. For
evil is nothing else but the absence of good, precisely as dark-
ness is the absence of light. Consequently, when we persevere
in what is according to nature, we are in a state of virtue;
but, when we abandon what is according to nature, that
is to say, virtue, we come to what is contrary to nature and
become attached to vice.

Repentance is a return through discipline and toil from
that which is against nature to that which is according to
it, from the Devil to God,

Now, the Creator fashioned this man as a male and im-
parted His own divine grace to him, thus putting him in
communion with Himself. And thus it was that man, like
a prophet and lord, gave names to the animals which had
been given him as slaves. For, since he had been made in the
image of God rational, understanding, and free, it was
reasonable that he should be entrusted by the common
Creator and Lord of all with the government over the things
on earth.

However, since God knew the future and foresaw that
man was to fall and be subject to death. He made from him
a female as a helpmate for him of his own kind to aid him
in the establishment of the race after the fall by succession
through the process of begetting. Now, the first forming is
called 'creation,' not 'begetting.' Creation is the first forming
by God, whereas begetting is the succession of one from

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TWO 265

another made necessary by the sentence of death resulting
from the fall.

This man He set in the paradise "which was both of the mind
and of the senses. Thus, while in his body he lived on earth
in the world of sense, in his spirit he dwelt among the angels,
cultivating thoughts of- God and being nurtured on these.
He was naked because of his innocence and his simplicity
of life, and through creatures he was drawn up to their only
Creator, in whose contemplation he rejoiced and took delight.

Since God had endowed man's nature with a free will.
He made it a law for him not to taste of that tree of knowl-
edge of which we have spoken sufficiently and to the best
of our ability in the chapter on paradise. This command
He gave to man with the promise that should he let reason
prevail, recognizing his Creator and observing his Creator's
ordinance, and thus preserve the dignity of his soul, then
he would become stronger than death and would live forever
in the enjoyment of everlasting bliss. On the other hand,
should he shake oflE the yoke of his Maker and disregard
His divine ordinance, thus subordinating soul to body and
preferring the pleasures of the flesh, 'not understanding his
own honor and compared to senseless beasts,'^ then he would
be subject to death and corruption and would be obliged
to drag out his miserable existence in toil. For it was not
profitable for him to attain incorruptibility while yet untried
and untested, 'lest he fall into pride and the judgment of
the devil.'* For it was by reason of his incorruptibility
that, after his fall by deliberate choice, the Devil became
unrepentingly and immoveably rooted in evil. In the same
way again, after their deliberate election of virtue, the angels
were immutably founded in good by grace.

And so it was necessary first for man to be tested, since
one who is untried and untested deserves no credit.' Then,

3 Ps. 48.13.

4 1 Tim. 3.6.

5 Cf. Eccli. 34.11.

266 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

when trial had made him perfect through his keeping of
the commandment, he should thus win incorruptibility, the
reward of virtue. For, since he had been created half way
between God and matter, should he be freed from his natural
relationship to creatures and united to God by keeping the
commandment, then he was to be permanently united to
God and immutably rooted in good. Should he, on the other
hand through his disobedience turn his mind away from his
Author — I mean God — and tend rather toward matter,
then he' was to be associated with corruption, to become
passible rather than impassible, and mortal rather than im-
mortal. He was to stand in need of carnal copulation and
seminal generation, and because of his attachment to life was
not only to cling to these pleasures as if they were necessary
to sustain this life, but also to hate without limit such as
would think of depriving him of them. And while he was
to transfer his attachment from God to matter, he was also
to transfer his anger from the real enemy of his salvation to
his own kind. And so it was that m^an was overcome by the
envy of the DevU. For that envious and hateful demon,
having himself been brought low by his conceit, would not
suffer us to attain the higher things. So the liar tempted
that wretched man with the very hope of divinity, and,
having raised him up to his own heights of conceit, dragged
him down to the same abyss of ruin.

BOOK THREE

Chapter 1

|ND sOj MAN SUCCUMBED to the assault of the demon,
the author of evil; he failed to keep the Creator's
commandment and was stripped of grace and de-
prived of that familiarity which he had enjoyed with God;
he was clothed with the roughness of his wretched life — for
this is what the fig leaves signify — and put on death, that
is to say, the mortality and grossness of the flesh- — for this
is what the garment of skins signifies;'- he was excluded from
paradise by the just judgment of God; and was condemned
to death and made subject to corruption. Even then the
Compassionate One, who had given him his being and had
fa\'ored him with a blessed existence, did not disregard him.
On the contrary, He first schooled him and exhorted him to
conversion in many ways- — by groaning and trembling, by
a flood of waters and the near destruction of the entire race,
by the confusion and division of tongues, by the tutelage of
angels, by the destruction of cities by fire, by prefigurative
divine appearances, by war, victories and defeats, by signs
and portents, by diverse influences, by the Law and the
Prophets^, all of which were directed to the destruction of
that sin which had abounded under many forms and had
enslaved man and heaped every sort of evil into his life,

1 Cf. Gen. 3.7,21.

2 Cf. Gen. 6.13; 11.7; IS.lff; 19. IH; cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon
38.13 (PG 36.325A).

267

268 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

and to his return to the blessed existence . Since it

was by sin that death had come into the world like some

wild and savage beast to destroy the life of man, it was

necessary for the one who was to effect a redemption to be

sinless and not Uable to the death which is due to sin. And

it was further necessary for human nature to be strengthened

and renewed, to be taught by experience, and to learn the

way of virtue which turns back from destruction and leads

to eternal life. Finally, the great sea of His benevolence

toward man was made manifest, for the Creator and Lord

Himself took up the struggle in behalf of His own creation

and became a teacher in deed. And, since the enemy had

caught man with the bait of the hope of divinity, he himself

was taken with the bait of the barrier of the flesh; and at

the same time the goodness and wisdom and justice and

power of God were made manifest. His goodness, because

He did not despise the weakness of His own handiwork,

but, when he fell, had compassion on him and stretched

out His hand to him. His justice, because, when man had

suffered defeat, He did not have another conquer the tyrant

nor did He snatch man away from death by force, but He,

the Good and Just, made him victor against whom death

had once enslaved through sin; and like He rescued by

like, which was most difficult to do. And His wisdom, because

He found the most fitting solution for this most difficult

problem.* For by the good pleasure of God the Father the

only-begotten Son and Word of God and God, who is in

the bosom of God the Father, consubstantial with the Father

and with the Holy Ghost, existing before the ages, without

beginning, who was in the beginning and was with God the

Father and was God,* He, being in the form of God,^ bowed

down the heavens and descended — ^that is, without lowering

it. He brought down His exalted sublimity and condescended

3 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Discourse 24 (PG 45.65) .

4 Cf. John 1.1,18.

5 Cf. Phil. 2.6.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 269

to His servants with an ineffable and incomprehensible con-
descension, for such is the meaning of the term condescen-
sion. And He, while being perfect God, became perfect man
and accomplished the newest of all new things, the only
new thing under the sun, by which the infinite power of
God was clearly shown. For what is greater than for God
to become man? So, without suffering change, the Word
was made flesh of the Holy Ghost and the holy and ever-
virgin Mary, Mother of God. And He stands as mediator
between God and men. He, the only loving One, was con-
ceived in the immaculate womb of the Virgin not by the
wiU. of man, nor by concupiscence, nor by the intervention
of a husband, nor by pleasurable generation, but of the
Holy Ghost and the first offspring of Adami. And He became
obedient to the Father by healing our disobedience with that
which is like to us and which was taken from us, and by
becoming to us a miodel of that obedience without which
it is impossible to attain salvation.

Chapter 2

Now, an angel of the Lord was sent to the holy Virgin, who
was descended from the tribe of David, 'for it is evident
that our Lord sprung out of Juda: of which tribe no one
attended on the altar,'^ as the divine Apostle said and con-
cerning which we shall speak more fully later on. Bringing
the good tidings to her, he said: 'Hail, full of grace, the
Lord is with thee.' And she was troubled at his saying,
and the angel said to her: 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast
found grace with God, and thou shalt bring forth a son
and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his
people from their sins.' It is for this reason that the name
Jesus is interpreted as meaning saviour. And she W2is troubled
and said: 'How shall this be done to me, because I know

1 Heb. 7.13,14.

270 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

not man?' Again the angel spoke to her: 'The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall
overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall
be born to thee shall be called the Son of God.' Then she
said to him: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done
to me according to thy word.'^

And so, after the holy Virgin had given her assent, the
Holy Ghost came upon her according to the Lord's word,
which the angel had spoken, and purified her and gave her
the power both to receive the divinity of the Word and to
beget.^ Then the subsistent Wisdom and Power of the Most
High, the Son of God, the Consubstantial with the Father,
overshadowed her like a divine seed and from her most chaste
and pure blood compacted for Himself a body animated
by a rational and intellectual soul as first-fruits of our clay.
This was not by seed, but by creation through the Holy
Ghost, with the form not being put together bit by bit, but
being completed all at once with the Word of God Himself
serving as the person to the flesh. For the divine Word was
not united to an already self-subsistent flesh,* but, without
being circumscribed, came in His own person to dwell in
the womb of the holy Virgin and from the chaste blood
of the ever-virgin made flesh subsist animated by a rational
and intellectual soul. Taking to Himself the first-fruits of
the human clay, the very Word became person to the body.
Thus, there was a body which was at once the body of God the
Word and an animate, rational, intellectual body. There-
fore, we do not say that man became God, but that God
became man. For, while He was by nature perfect God,
the same became by nature perfect man. He did not change
His nature and neither did He just appear to become man.
On the contrary, without confusion or alteration or division
He became hypostatically united to the rationally and intel-

2 Luke 1.28-38.

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 38.13 (PG 36.325B) .

4 Cf. Proclus of Constantinople, Epistle 2.5 (PG 65.860-861) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 271

lectually animated flesh which He had from the holy Virgin
and which had its existence in Him. He did not transform
the nature of his divinity into the substance of His flesh, nor
the substance of His flesh into the nature of His divinity,
and neither did He effect one compound nature out of His
divine nature and the human nature which He had assumed.

Chapter 3

The natures were united to each other without change
and without alteration. The divine nature did not give up
its proper simplicity, and the human nature was certainly
not changed into the nature of the divinity, nor did it be-
come non-existent. Neither was there one compound nature
made from the two natures. For the compounded nature can
in no wise be consubstantial with either one of the natures
from which it has been compounded, since from diverse na-
tures it has been made into something else. For example, the
body, which is made up of the four elements, is not said to be
consubstantial with fire, nor is it called fire, nor is it caUed
water or earth or air either, nor is it consubstantial with any
one of these. Accordingly, if Christ had one compound
nature after the union,^ having changed from one simple
nature to a compound one, as the heretics say, then He
is neither consubstantial with His Father, who has a simple
nature, nor with His Mother, because she was not composed
of divinity and humanity. Nor, indeed, will He belong to
divinity or humanity, nor can He be called God or man,
but just Christ alone, and, according to them, 'Christ' will
not be the name of the person but the name of the one
nature. We, however, declare that Christ has a compound
nature, not in the sense of something new made from different
things, as man is made up of body and soul or as the body

1 Cf. Maximus, Epistle 12 {_PG 91.488-489) ; Leontius, Against the
Arguments of Severus (PG 86. 1928 A) .

272 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

is composed of the four elements, but in the sense of being
made up of different things which remain the same. For
•we confess that from divinity and humanity there is the
same perfect God and that He both is and is said to be of
two natures and in two natures. We say that the term
'Christ' is the name of the person and that it is not used in
a restricted sense, but as signifying what is of the two natures.
Thus, He anointed Himself — as God, anointing His body with
His divinity, but as man, being anointed, because He is
both the one and the other. Moreover, the anointing of the
humanity is the divinity. Now, if Christ, who is consubstantial
with the Father, has one compounded nature, then the
Father, too, wUl certainly be compounded and consequently
consubstantial with the flesh, which is absurd and redolent
of every blasphemy.

What is more, how can one nature comprise different
substances that are contradictory? How is it possible for
the same nature to be at once created and uncreated, mortal
and immortal, circumscribed and uncircumscribed?

Now, were they to say that Christ had one nature and
that this was simple, then either they would be confessing
Hirn to be pure God and would be introducing a mere ap-
pearance that would not be incarnation, or they would be
confessing Him to be mere man after the manner of Nes-
torius. Then, where is the perfection in divinity and the
perfection in humanity? How can they ever say that Christ
has two natures, whUe they are asserting that after the
union He has one compound nature? For it is obvious to
anyone that, before the union, Christ had one nature.

However, the reason for the herectics' error is their saying
that nature and hypostasis are the same thing.^ Now, when
we say that men have one nature, it must be understood
that we do not say this with the body and soul in mind,
because it is impossible to say that the soul and the body
as compared to each other have one nature. Nevertheless,

2 Cf. Anastasius Sinaite, The Guide 9 (PG 89.l40ff.) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 273

when we take a number of human hypostases, all of these
are found to admit of the same basis of their nature. All
are made up of a soul and a body, aU share the nature of
the soul and possess the substance of the body, and all have
a common species. Thus, we say that several different persons
have one nature, because each person has two natures and
is complete in these two natures, that is to say, the natures
of the soul and of the body.

In the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, however, it is impos-
sible to have a common species, for there never was, nor is,
nor ever wUl be another Christ of divinity and humanity,
in divinity and humanity, the same being perfect God and
perfect man. Hence, in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ,
one cannot speak, of one nature made up of divinity and
humanity as one can in the case of the individual made up
of soul and body. In this last case we have an individual,
but Christ is not an individual, because He does not have a
predicated species of Christness. It is precisely for this reason
that we say that it was of two perfect natures, the divine
and the human, that the union was made. It was not made
by mixing, or mingling, or blending, or compounding as
was asserted by the fatal Dioscorus, by Eutyches, too, and
Severus, and their accursed associates; neither was it appar-
ent (Ttpooco-itiKri) nor relative, nor by dignity or harmony
of wiU or equahty in honor or identity of name or com-
plaisance as was asserted by that enemy of God, Nestorius, and
by Diodorus, too, and Theodore of Mopsuestia, and their
hellish band. Rather, it was by composition — hypostaticaUy,
that is to say — without change or mingling or alteration or
division or separation. And we confess one Person of the
Son of God incarnate' in two natures that remain perfect,
and we declare that the Person of His divinity and of His
humanity is the same and confess that the two natures are
preserved intact in Him after the union. We do not set each
nature apart by itself, but hold them to be united to each

3 Cf. Maximus, Epistle 12 (PG 91.501BC) .

274 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Other in one composite Person. For we say that the union
is substantial; that is to say, true and not imaginary. We do
not, however, define the substantial union as meaning that
the two natures go to make up one compound nature, but
as meaning that they are truly united to each other into one
composite Person of the Son of God, each with its essential
difference maintained intact. Thus, that which was created
remained created, and that which was uncreated, uncreated;
the mortal remained mortal and the immortal immortal;
the circumscribed remained circumscribed and the uncir-
cumscribed, uncircumscribed ; the visible remained visible
and the invisible, invisible. 'The one glows with miracles,
while the other has succumbed to insults.'*

Moreover, the Word makes human things His own, be-
cause what is proper to His sacred flesh belongs to Him;
and the things which are His own He communicates to
His flesh. This is after the manner of exchange on account
of the mutual immanence of the parts and the hypostatic
union and because He who 'with each form co-operatLng
with the other performed'^ both divine and human acts was
one and the same. Wherefore, the Lord of Glory is even
said to have been crucified,* although His divine nature
did not suffer; and the Son of Man is confessed to have
been in heaven before His passion, as the Lord Himself has
said.^ For one and the same was the Lord of Glory and He
who was naturally and truly Son of Man, that is. He who
became man. And we recognize both the miracles and the
sufferings as His, even though it was in one nature that He
worked miracles and in another that He endured suffering.
For we know that His one Person thus preserves for itself
the essential difference of the natures. How, indeed, would
the difference be preserved, were not those things preserved

4 Leo, Epistle 28.4 (PL 54.768B) .

5 Ibid. (PL 54.772A) .

6 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.8.

7 Cf. John 3.13.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 275

in -which they differ from each other? For diflference is that
by which things that are different differ. Therefore, we say
that Christ is joined to the extremes by the fact of His
natures differing from each other, that is, by the fact of
His essence. On the one hand, He is joined to the Father
and the Spirit by His divinity, while on the other He is
joined by His humanity to His Mother and to all men.
However, because of the fact that His natures are united,
we say that He differs both from the Father and the Spirit
and from His Mother and other men. For His natures are
united in His Person and have one composite Person, and
in this He differs both from the Father and the Spirit and
from His Mother and us.

Chapter 4

We have repeteadly said that substance is one thing and
person another, and that substance means the common
species including the persons that belong to the same species
— ^as, for example, God, man — while person indicates an
individual, as Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Peter, Paul. One
must furthermore know that the terms divinity and humanity
are indicative of the substances or natures, but that the
terms God and man are used in reference to the nature, as
when we say: 'God is an incomprehensible substance' and
'God is one.' But these are also taken as referring to the
persons, with the more particular receiving the name of the
more general, as when Scripture says: 'Therefore God, thy
God, hath anointed thee,'^ for in this case it means the
Father and the Son. And again, when it says: 'There was
a man in the land of Hus,"" for it means Job only.

Since, then, in our Lord Jesus Christ we recognize two
natures and one composite Person for both, when we are
considering the natures, we call them divinity and humanity.

1 Ps. 44.8.

2 Job 1.1.

276 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

But, when we consider the composite Person of the two
natures, we sometimes call Christ both God and Man and
God incarnate, naming Him from both; and sometimes we
name Him from one of the two and call Him just God and
Son of God, or just Man and Son of Man. And ako, we
sometimes name Him from just the sublime attributes and
sometimes from just the more humble ones. For He is one
who is alike both the one and the other — the one existing
uncaused and eternally from the Father; the other come
into being at a later time because of love for men.'

Therefore, when we speak of the divinity, we do not at-
tribute the properties of the humanity to it. Thus, we never
speak of a passible or created divinity. Neither do we pred-
icate the divine properties of the flesh, for we never speak
of uncreated flesh or humanity. In the case of the person,
however, whether we name it from both of the parts or from
one of them, we attribute the properties of both the natures
to it. And thus, Christ — which name covers both together^ — ■
is called both God and man, created and uncreated, passible
and impassible. And whenever He is named Son of God
and God from one of the parts. He receives the properties of
the co-existent nature, of the flesh, that is to say, and can be
called passible God and crucified Lord of Glory"* — not as
being God, but in so far as the same one is also man. When,
again, He is named Man and the Son of Man, He is given
the properties and splendors of the divine nature. He is
called Child before the Ages and Man without beginning,
not as a child or a man, but as God, who is before the ages
and became a child in latter times. Such, then, is the maimer
of this exchange by which each nature communicates its
own properties to the other through the identity of their
person and their mutual immanence. This is how we can
say of Christ: 'This is our God, who was seen upon earth

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 29.19 (PG 36.100A) .

4 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.8.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 277

and conversed with men,'° and: 'This man is uncreated,
impassible, and uncircumscribed.'

Chapter 5

In the Divinity we confess one nature, while we hold
three really existing Persons.''^ And we hold everything be-
longing to the nature and the essence to be simple, while
we recognize the difference of the Persons as residing only
in the three properties of being uncaused and Father, of
being caused and Son, and of being caused and proceeding.
And we understand them to be inseparable and without
interval between them, and united to one another and mu-
tually immanent without confusion. And we understand
them, while being separated without interval, to be united
without confusion, for they are three, even though they are
united. For, although each is subsistent in itself, that is to
say, is a perfect Person and has its own property or distinct
manner of existence, they are united in their essence and
natural properties and by their not being separated or re-
moved from the Person of the Father, and they are one
God and are so called. In the same way, when it comes
to that divine and ineffable Incarnation of one of the Holy
Trinity, God the Word and our Lord Jesus Christ, which
surpasses all understanding and comprehension, while we
confess two natures, a divine and a human, conjoined with
each other and hypostatically united, we also confess one
composite Person made of those natures. We furthermore
hold that, even after the union, the two natures are pre-
served intact in the one composite person, that is to say,
in the one Christ, and that they and their natural properties
have real existence, being nevertheless united without con-

5 Bar. 3.36,38.

1 Cf. Leontius, Against the Arguments of Severus {PG a6.1920-I921) .

278 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

fusion, differing without separation, and numbered. Now,
just as the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are united
without confusion and are distinct without separation and
have number without the number causing division, or separ-
ation, or estrangement, or severance among them — for we
recognize that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost
are one God — so in the same way the natures of Christ,
although united, are united without confusion, and, although
mutually immanent, do not suffer any change or transform-
ation of one into the other. For each one keeps its own dis-
tinctiveness unchanged. Thus, too, they are numbered, yet
the number does not introduce division. For Christ is one
and He is perfect both in divinity and humanity. And
number is not by nature a cause of division or union, but is,
rather, a sign of the quantity of the things numbered, whether
they be united or divided. Thus, as an example of things
that are united, this wall contains fifty stones; or, as an
example of things that are divided, there are fifty stones
lying in this field. Or again, as an example of things that are
united, there are two natures in a coal — ^that of fire, I mean,
and that of wood; or these may be divided, because the
nature of fire is one thing and that of wood another. And
these are not united or divided by their number but in some
other manner. And so, just as it is impossible to say that
the three Persons are one Person, even though they are
united, without bringing about confusion or suppression of
the difference, so it is impossible to say that the two hypo-
statically united natures of Christ are one nature without
our bringing about suppression, confusion, or annihilation
of their difference.

Chapter 6

Things that are common and universal are predicated of
particulars subordinate to them. Now, the substance as a
species is a common thing, while the person is a particular.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 279

A thing is a particular not in that it possesses a part of the
nature, because it does not have such a part, but in that
it is particular in number, as an individual. Thus, persons
are said to differ in number but not in nature. The substance,
moreover, is predicated of the person, because the substance
is complete in each of the persons of the same species. For
that reason, persons do not differ from one another in sub-
stance, but rather in the accidents, which are their character-
istic properties— characteristic, however, of the person and
not of the nature. And this is because the person is defined
as a substance plus accidents. Thus, the person has that
which is common plus that which is individuating, and,
besides this, existence in itself. Substance does not subsist
in itself, but is to be found in persons. Accordingly, when
one of the persons suffers, then, since the whole nature in
which the person has suffered is affected, this whole nature
is said to have suffered in one of its persons. This, however,
does not necessitate all the persons of the same species suffer-
ing together with the one that does suffer.

Thus, then, we confess that the nature of the divinity is
entirely and completely in each one of its Persons — all in
the Father, all in the Son, all in the Holy Ghost. For this
reason, the Father is perfect God, the Son is perfect God,
and the Holy Ghost is perfect God. In the same way, we
say that in the Incarnation of one of the Holy Trinity, the
Word of God, the entire and complete nature of the divinity
was united in one of its Persons to the entire human nature,
and not a part of one to a part of the other. And so the
divine Apostle say that 'in Him dweUeth the fullness of the
Godhead corporeally,'^ that is to say, in His flesh. And his
inspired disciple Dionysius, who was most learned in matters
divine, says that the Divinity in its entirety has community
with us in one of its Persons.^ But, certainly, let us not be
constrained to say that all the Persons of the sacred Godhead,

1 Col. 2.9.

2 C£. Pseudo-Dionysius, Divine Names 2.6 (PG 3.644BD) .

280 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

the Three, that is, were hypostatically united to all the persons
of humanity. For in no wise did the Father and the Holy
Ghost participate in the incarnation of the Word of God
except by Their good pleasure and will. We do say that the
entire substance of the Divinity was united to the entire
human nature, because God the Word lacked none of those
things which He implanted in our nature when He formed
us in the beginning; He assumed them all — a body and a
rational, intellectual soul, together with the properties of
both, for the animal which lacks one of these is not a man.
He in His entirety assumed me in my entirety and was
wholly united to the whole, so that He might bestow the
grace of salvation upon the whole. For that which has not
been assumed cannot be healed.'

And so, the Word of God is united to the flesh by the
intermediary of mind which stands midway between the purity
of God and the grossness of the flesh.* Now, the mind has
authority over both soul and body, but, whereas mind is the
purest part of the soul, God is the purest part of mind. And
when the mind of Christ is permitted by the stronger, then
it displays its own authority. However, it is under the control
of the stronger and follows it, doing those things which the
divine will desires.

Moreover, the mind became the seat of the Divinity which
had been hypostatically united to it, just as, of course, the
flesh did — but not an associate, as the accursed opinion of
the heretics falsely teaches, when, judging immaterial things
in a material way, they say that one measure will not hold
two. But, how shall Christ have been said to be perfect
God and perfect man and consubstantial both with the Father
and with us, if a part of the divine nature is united in Him
to a part of the human nature?

Furthermore, when we say that our nature rose from the

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Epistle 101 (PG 37.181C)

4 Cf. ibid.. Sermon 38.10 (PG 36J21AC) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 281

dead and ascended and sat at the right hand of the Father,
we do not imply that .all human persons arose and sat at
the right hand of the Father, but that our entire nature did
so in the Person of Christ. Certainly, the divine Apostle says:
'He hath raised us up together and hath made us sit together
in Christ.'^

And we also say this: that the union was made of common
substances. For every substance is common to the persons
included under it. And it is not possible to find a partial
and individuating nature of substance, since it would then
be necessary to say that the same persons were of the same
substance and of different substances, and that the Holy
Trinity was in its divinity both of the same substance and of
different substances. Consequently, the same nature is found
in each one of the Persons. And when, following the blessed
Athanasius and Cyril, we say that the nature of the Word
became incarnate, we are declaring that the Divinity was
united to the flesh. For this reason, we may by no means
say: 'The nature of the Word suffered,' because the Divinity
did not suffer in Him. But we do say that human nature
suffered in Christ without any implication that all human
persons did; confessing that Christ suffered in His human
nature. Thus, when we say 'the nature of the Word,' we
mean the Word Himself. And the Word possesses the com-
munity of substance and the individuality of person.

Chapter 7

We say, then, that the divine Person of God the Word
exists before all things timelessly and eternally, simple and
uncompounded, uncreated, incorporeal, invisible, intangible,
and uncircumscribed. And we say that it has all things that
the Father has, since it is consubstantial with Him, and
that it differs from the Person of the Father by the manner

5 Eph. 2.6.

282

SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

of its begetting and by relation, that it is perfect and never
leaves the Person of the Father. But, at the same time,
we say that in latter times, without leaving the bosom of
the Father, the Word came to dwell uncircumscribed in
the womb of the holy Virgin, without seed and without being
contained, but after a manner known to Him, and in the
very same Person as exists before the ages He made flesh
subsist for Himself from the holy Virgin.

Thus, He was in all things and above all things, and at
the same time He was existing in the womb of the holy
Mother of God, but He was there by the operation of the
Incarnation. And so. He was made flesh and took from her
the first-fruits of our clay, a body animated by a rational
and intellectual soul, so that the very Person of God the
Word was accounted to the flesh. And the Person of the
Word which formerly had been simple was made composite.'^
Moreover, it was a composite from two perfect natures,
divinity and humanity. And it had that characteristic and
distinctive property of sonship by which God the Word is
distinct from the Father and the Spirit, and also had those
characteristic and distintive properties of the flesh by which
He is distinct both from His Mother and from the rest of
men. It further had those properties of the divine nature
in which He is one with the Father and the Spirit, and
also had those features of human nature in which He is
one with His Mother and with us. Moreover, He differs from
the Father and the Spirit and from His Mother and us in
yet another way, by His being at once both God and man.
For this we recognize as a most peculiar property of the
Person of Christ.

And so, we confess that even after the Incarnation He is
the one Son of God, and we confess that the same is the

1 auvesTOQ uTTOoTaoLc;, or compound hypostasis, an expression used
by Leontius and meaning that the whole Christ is made up, as It
were, of two parts or natures, is used in opposition to the Mono-
physite expression, 'one compound nature of Christ."

ORTHODOX TAITH : BOOK THREE 283

Son of Man, one Christ, one Lord, the only-begotten Son
and Word of God, Jesus our Lord. And we venerate His
two begettings — one from the Father before the ages and
surpassing cause and reason and time and nature, and one
in latter times for our own sake, after our own manner,
and surpassing us. For our own sake, because it was for the
sake of our salvation; after our own manner, because He
was made man from a woman and with a period of gestation ;
and surpassing us, because, surpassing the law of conception.
He was not from seed but from the Holy Ghost and the
holy Virgin Mary. And we do not proclaim Him God alone,
stripped of our humanity, nor do we despoil Him o£ His
divinity and proclaim Him man alone. Neither do we
proclaim Him one and another; rather, we proclaim Him
to be one and the same, at once both God and man, perfect
God and perfect man, God entire and man entire — the same
being God entire, even with His flesh, and man entire, even
with His most sacred divinity. By saying 'perfect God and
perfect man' we show the fullness and completeness of the
natures, while by saying 'God entire and man entire' we
point out the individuality and the indivisibility o£ the person.
Following the blessed Cyril," we also confess one incarnate
nature of the Word of God and by saying 'incarnate' intend
the substance of the flesh. So, the Word was made flesh
without giving up His own immateriality and He was wholly
made flesh while remaining wholly uncircumscribed. With
respect to His body He becomes small and contracted, while
with respect divinity He is uncircumscribed, for His body is
not co-extensive with His uncircumscribed divinity.

The whole He, then, is perfect God, but not wholly God,
because He is not only God but also man. Likewise, the
whole He is perfect man, but not whoUy man, because He
is not only man but also God. For the 'wholly' is indicative
of nature, while the 'whole' is indicative o£ person, just as
'one thing' is of nature, while 'another one' is of person.

2 Cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Epistle 44 and 46 (PG 77.225B and 241B) .

284 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

One must know, moreover, that, although we say that
the natures of the Lord are mutually immanent, we know
that this immanence comes from the divine nature. For this
last pervades all things and indwells as it wishes, but nothing
pervades it. And it communicates its own splendours to the
body while remaining impassible and having no part in the
affections of the body. For, if the sun communicates its own
operations to us, yet has no part in our own, then how much
more so the Creator of the sun who is the Lord?

Chapter 8

Should anyone inquire regarding the natures of the Lord
as to whether they are reducible to a continuous quantity or
to a divided one, we shall reply that the Lord's natures are
neither one solid, nor one surface, nor one line, nor are they
place or time, so as to be reducible to a continuous quantity
— for these are the things which are accounted to be con-
tinuous.

It must be known, moreover, that number belongs to
things which differ and that it is impossible for things to
be numbered which do not differ at all. It is by that in
which they differ that things are numbered. For example,
in so far as Peter and Paul are one, they are not numbered.
Thus, since they are one by reason of their substance, they
cannot be called two natures. However, since they do differ
in person, they are called two persons. Hence, things which
differ have number, and it is according to the manner in
wiiich they differ that they are numbered.

Now, whereas the Lord's natures are hypostatically united
without confusion, they are divided without separation by
reason and way of their difference. In so far as they are one,
they have no number, for we do not say that Christ has
two natures according to person. They are numbered, how-
ever, by way of their being divided without separation. For

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 285

by reason and way of their difference the natures of Christ
are two. Thus, being hypostatically one and mutually im-
manent, they are united without confusion with each one
preserving its own natural difference. And so, since they are
numbered by way of their difference only, it is in that way
that they will be reducible to a divided quantity.

Christ, then, who is perfect God and perfect man, is one.'-
Him do we adore with the Father and the Spirit together
with His immaculate body in one adoration. And we do not
say that His body is not to be adored, because it is adored
in the one Person of the Word who became Person to it.
Yet we do not worship the creature, because we do not
adore it as a mere body, but as being one with the divinity,
because His two natures belong to the one Person and the
one subsistence of the Word of God. I am afraid to touch
the burning coal because of the fire which is combined with
the wood. I adore the combined natures of Christ because
of the divinity which is united to the body. Thus, I do not
add a fourth person to the Trinity — God forbid! — ^but I do
confess the Person of the Word of God and of His flesh to
be one. For, even after the Incarnation of the Word, the
Trinity remained Trinity.

To those who inquire as to whether the two natures are
reducible to a continuous or divided quantity?

The Lord's natures are neither one solid, nor one surface,
nor one line, nor are they place or time, so as to be reducible
to a continuous quantity — for these are the things which are
accounted to be continuous. Moreover, the Lord's natures
are hypostatically united without confusion and they are
divided without separation by recison and way of their dif-

1 Cf. Cyril o£ Alexandria. Defense of the Anathemas against Theodoret
8 {PG 76.429AB).

2 This is found in most manuscripts after Book 4.9, but it is more
logically placed here by Lequien.

286 . SAINT JOHN or DAMASCUS

ference. In so far as they are one, they have no number. For
we do not say that Christ's natures are two Persons or that
they are two according to Person. They are numbered, how-
ever, by way of their being divided without separation. For
there are two natures by reason and way of their difference.
Thus, being hypostatically one and mutually immanent, they
are united without any confusion or transformation of one
into the other and with each preserving its own natural dif-
ference for itself. For the created remained created and the
uncreated uncreated. And so, since they are numbered by
way of thfeir difference only, it is in that way that they will
be reducible to a divided quantity. For it is impossible for
things to be numbered which do not differ at all. It is by
that in which they differ that things are numbered. For
example, in so far as Peter and Paul are one, they are not
numbered. Thus, since they are one by reason of their sub-
stance, they neither are two natures nor are they so called.
However, since they do differ in person, they are called two
persons. And so their difference is the cause of their number.

Chapter 9

Now, although there is no nature without subsistence
(dvuTroaxaToq) or substance without person, because both
the substance and the nature are only to be found in sub-
sistences and persons, it is unnecessary for natures hyposta-
tically united to each other to be provided each with its
own subsistence. For they can concur in one subsistence
without being non-subsistent, yet not having each its own
individuating subsistence, but both having one and the same.^
Thus, since the same Person of the Word belongs to both
natures, it does not aUow one of them to lack subsistences,
nor is it now the Person of one and now that of the other.
On the contrary, it is always indivisibly and inseparably

1 Cf. Leontius, On Sects 7.2 (PG 86,1241 BC) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 287

Person of both, and is not distributed and divided by the
allotment of one part of itself to the one nature and another
part to the other, but belongs indivisibly and entirely all to one
and all to the other. For the flesh of the Word of God was
not independently subsistent nor was there any other person
besides that of the Word of God. On the contrary, it was
in the Person of the Word that the flesh subsisted, or, rather,
had personality (evuTtoaxaxoc;), and it did not become an
independently subsisting person in itself. For this reason, it
neither lacks personality nor introduces another person into
the Trinity.

Chapter 10

It follows from the preceding that we consider blasphemous
the addition made to the Thrice-Holy Hymn^ by that stupid
Peter the Fuller, because it introduces a fourth person and
makes the Son of God partly the subsistent power of the
Father and partly the crucified One — as if this last were
another than the Strong, or as if the Holy Trinity was held
to be passible and the Father and the Holy Ghost to have
been crucified along with the Son. Away with this blas-
phemous interpolated nonsense! We understand the 'Holy
God' as referring to the Father, and yet we do not restrict
the appellation of divinity to Him alone, but recognize the
Son and the Holy Ghost to be God, also. The 'Holy Strong'
we take as referring to the Son, yet we do not strip the
Father and the Holy Ghost of their strength. And the 'Holy
Immortal' we apply to the Holy Ghost without excluding
the Father and the Son from immortality, but understanding
all the divine attributes as referring to each of the Persons.
In this we are faithfully imitating the Apostle when he says:
'Yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are
all things, and we of him: and one Lord Jesus Christ, by

1 For the Trisagion Hymn see the Introduction and J. Bingham,
Antiquities of the Christian Church (London 1865) 688-689.

288 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

whom are all things, and we by him: and one Holy Ghost,
in whom are all things, and we in him,'" and in the same
way Gregory the Theologian, who somewhere says: 'To us
there is one God the Father, from whom are all things, and
one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and
one Holy Ghost, in whom are all things." And the 'from
whom,' 'through whom,' and 'in whom' do not divide the
natures, for in that case the prepositions and the order of
the names would not be changeable. Rather, they designate
the properties of one unconfused nature. This is also clear
from the fact that they are found brought together into one
again, when one reads with attention that passage from the
same Apostle that runs: 'Of him, and by him, and in him
are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen.'^

Moreover, the divine and holy Athanasius,^ and Basil,
Gregory, and the whole choir of inspired Fathers bear witness
to the fact that the Thrice-Holy Hymn is not addressed to
the Son alone, but to the Holy Trinity, saying that by the
threefold sanctification the holy Seraphim are intimating to
us the three Persons of the supersubstantial Godhead. And
by the one dominion they are making known the one sub-
stance and kingdom of the divinely sovereign Trinity. Cer-
tainly, Gregory the Theologian says: 'Thus, then, the Holy
of Holies, which is veiled by the Seraphim, is glorified with
three sanctifications converging into one dominion and God-
head, which has also been most beautifully and sublimely
discussed by a certain other of our predecessors.' °

Now, those who have compiled the history of the Church'^
relate how once, when Proculus was archbishop, the people
of Constantinople were making public entreaty to avert some
threat of the divine wrath, and it happened that a child was

2 1 Cor. 8.6.

3 Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 39.12 {PG 36.348A) .

4 Rom. 11.36.

5 Cf. Athanasius, On the Text of Matthew 11.27 6 (PG 25.217C-220A) .

6 Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 38.8 (PG 36.320BC) .

7 Cf. Theophanes, Chronography, a.ni. 5930 (PG 108.244ff.) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 289

taken up out of the crowd and by some angelic choirmasters
was taught the Thrice-Holy Hymn after the following
fashion : 'Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy
on us.' When the child came back again and told what he
had been taught, the whole crowd sang the hymn and the
threat was averted. And it is traditional that the Thrice-
Holy Hymn was also sung in this manner at the holy and
great Fourth Ecumenical Council — that which was held in
Chalcedon, I mean — for so it is reported in the acts of this
same holy council.* So it is really a silly and childish thing
for the Thrice-Holy Song, which was taught by the angels,
confirmed by the averting of the disaster, ratified and guar-
anteed by the council of so many holy Fathers, and sung
first of all by the Seraphim to express the Godhead in three
Persons, to have been trampled upon, as it were, and sup-
posedly corrected by the absurd conceit of the Fuller — as if
he were greater than the Seraphim. Oh, what presumption —
not to call it madness! However, though the demons may
burst, we, too, will say in this way: 'Holy God, Holy Strong,
Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.'

Chapter II

The nature may either be taken purely theoretically, since
it is not self-subsistent ; or it may be taken as what is common
to persons of the same species and connects them, in which
case it is said to be a nature taken specifically; or the same,
with accidents added, may be considered wholly in one
person, in which case it is said to be a nature taken individ-
ually, which is the same as that taken specifically. Now, when
God the Word became incarnate. He did not assume His
human nature as taken in a purely theoretical sense — for
that would have been no real incarnation, but a fraudulent
and fictitious one. Nor did He assume it as taken specifically,

8 C£. Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio 6.936C.

290 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

because He did not assume all persons. But He did assume
it as taken individually, which is the same as that taken
specifically. For He assumed the first-fruits of our clay not
as self-subsistent and having been an individual previously
and as such taken on by Him, but as having its subsistence
in His Person. Thus, this Person of the Word of God became
Person to the flesh, and in this way 'the Word was made
flesh,^ and that without any change, and the flesh without
transformation was made Word, and God was made man.
For the Word is God, and man is God by virtue of the
hypostatic union. It is therefore the same thing to say 'the
nature of the Word' as it is to say 'the nature taken individ-
ually,' for it properly and exclusively shows not the individual,
the Person, that is to say, nor that which is common to the
Persons, but the common nature as found and discovered
in one of the Persons.

Now, union is one thing and incarnation another. This
is because union shows the joining, but not that with which
the junction is made. Incarnation, however, is the same
thing as is meant by saying becoming man, and it shows
a joining with the flesh, that is, with man — just as the firing
of the steel implies the union with fire. Thus, in explaining
the expression 'one incarnate nature of the Word of God,'
the blessed Cyril himself in his second letter to Succensus
says as follows: 'If we were to speak of one nature of the
Word but were to keep silent and not add the "incarnate,"
thus setting aside, as it were, the dispensation, then they
perhaps would not be speaking entirely without reason who
might pretend to ask: "If one nature is the whole, then
where is the perfection in humanity?" or: "How did the
substance which is like ours subsist?" However, since by
saying "incarnate" both the perfection in humanity and the
indication of the substance like ours have been introduced,
let them cease to lean on their reedy staff.'^' Here, then, he

1 John 1.14.

2 Cyril of Alexandria, Epistle 46 (PG 77.244A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 291

has used the 'nature' of the Lord in the sense of nature.
This is evident because, if he had taken the nature in the
sense of Person, it would not have been out of place to say it
without the "incarnate," for we are not wrong when we simply
say 'one Person of the Word of God.' What is more, Leon-
tius of Byzance' has likewise understood the expression in
the same way as meaning nature, but not nature in the
sense of person. And the blessed Cyril himself, in his defense
against Thieodoret's attacks on the Second Anathema, speaks
thus: 'The nature of the Word, that is to say, the Person,
which is the Word Himself.'* Consequently, to say 'the
nature of the Word' is not to signify the person alone, nor
what is common to the Persons, but the common nature
as considered wholly in the Person of the Word.

Now although it has been said that the nature of the
Word became incarnate, that is, was united to the flesh, we
have never heard up to now that the nature of the Word
suffered in the flesh. We have, however, been taught that
Christ suffered in the flesh. Consequently, saying 'nature
of the Word' does not signify the Person. So it remains to
say that to have become incarnate means to have been united
to the flesh, and that the Word was made flesh means that
without suffering change the very Person of the Word became
Person of the body. And again, although it has been said
that God was made man and man God — for the Word,
while being God, was made man without suffering change,
yet we have never heard at all that the Godhead was made
man, or was incarnate, or put on human nature. We have,
however, learned that the Godhead was united to humanity
in one of Its Persons. It has also been said that God takes
on another form, or substance — ours, that is to say. For
the name God applies to each one of the Persons, but we
cannot say Godhead in reference to a Person, because we

3 Cf. Leontius, On Sects 8.2 (PC 86.I252D-1253A) .

4 Cyril of Alexandria, Defense of the Anathemas against Theodoret
2 (PG 76.401A).

292 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

have not heard that the Godhead is the Father alone, or
the Son alone, or the Holy Ghost alone. This is because
Godhead indicates the nature, whereas Father indicates the
Person, just as humanity indicates the nature, and Peter the
person. The name God, moreover, also signifies the com-
munity of nature and is applied to each of the Persons like
a surname, just as the word man is. For God is one who
possesses a divine nature, and man is one who possesses a
human one.

Furthermore, in connection with all this one must know
that the Father and the Holy Ghost in no way participate
in the Incarnation of the Word, unless it be in miracles
and by complaisance and wiU.°

Chapter 12

And we proclaim the holy Virgin to be properly and truly
Mother of God (©sotokoc;) .^ For, as He who was born
of her is true God, so is she truly Mother of God who gave
birth to the true God who took His flesh from her. Now,
we do not say that God was born of her in the sense that
the divinity of the Word has its beginning of being from her,
but in the sense that God the Word Himself, who was
timelessly begotten of the Father before the ages and exists
without beginning and eternally with the Father and the
Holy Ghost, did in the last days come for our salvation to
dwell in her womb and of her was, without undergoing
change, made flesh and born. For the holy Virgin did not
give birth to a mere man but to true God, and not to God
simply, but to God made flesh. And He did not bring His
body down from heaven and come through her as through a
channel, but assumed from her a body consubstantial with us

5 Ct. Pseudo-Dionysius, Divine Names 2.6 (PG 3.644BC) .

1 Ct. Gregory Nazianzen, Epistle 101 (PG 37.177-178) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 293

and subsisting in Himself. Now, had the body been brought
down from heaven and not been taken from our nature, was
there any need for His becoming man? God the Word was
made man for this reason : that that very nature which had
sinned, fallen, and become corrupt should conquer the tyrant
who had deceived it. Thus should it be freed from corrup-
tion, as the divine Apostle says: 'For by a man came death:
and by a man the resurrection of the dead.'- If the first was
true, then so is the second.

If, however, he also says: 'The first Adam was, of earth,
earthly: the second Adam, the Lord, from heaven,'^ he is
not saying that the body is from heaven.'' But it is obvious
that He is not a mere man, for notice how he called Him.
both Adam and Lord — thus indicating that He is both to-
gether. For Adam is interpreted as meaning born of earth,
and it is obvious that man's nature is born of earth because
it was formed from dust. On the other hand, the name
Lord is expressive of the divine substance.

And again, the Apostle says: 'God sent his only-begotten
Son, made of a woman.'" He did not say by a woman, but
of a woman. Therefore, the divine Apostle meant that the
one made man of the Virgin was Himself the only-begotten
Son of God and God, and that the Son of God and God
was Himself the one born of the Virgin. And he further
meant that, in so far as He was made man. He was bom
corporeally and did not come to inhabit a previously formed
man, as a prophet, but Himself substantially and truly be-
came man, that is. He made flesh animated by a rational
and intellectual soul subsist in His person and Himself be-
came the Person to it. Now, that is what 'made of a woman'
means, for how would the Word of God Himself have been

2 1 Cor. 15.21.

3 I Cor. 15.47.

4 Cf. Gregory Narianzen, op. cit. (PG 37.18IBC) .

5 Gal. 4.4.

294 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

made under the law, had it not been that He was made a
man of the same substance as ourselves?

Hence, it is rightly and truly that we call holy Mary
the Mother of God, for this name expresses the entire mystery
of the Incarnation. Thus, if she who gave birth is Mother of
God, then He who was born of her is definitely God and also
definitely man. For, had He not become man, how could
God whose existence is before the ages have been born of
a woman? And that the Son of Man is a man is quite
evident. Moreover, if He who was born of a woman is God,
then it is quite evident that the very one who in respect
to His divine and unoriginated nature was begotten of God
the Father, and the one who in the last times was born of
the Virgin in respect to his originated and temporal nature
— His human nature, that is — are one. And this means that
our Lord Jesus Christ has one Person, two natures, and
two begettings.

However, under no circumstances do we call the holy
Virgin Mother of Christ (Xpia-roTOKoq).'' This is because
that vessel of dishonor, that foul and loathsome Jew at heart,
Nestorius, invented this epithet as an insult to do away with
the expression Mother of God and — though he burst with
his father Satan — to bring dishonor upon the Mother of
God, who alone is truly worthy of honor above all creation.
And David is 'Christ,' too, and so is the high priest Aaron,
because the royal and priestly offices are both conferred by
anointing. Furthermore, any God-bearing (08O(f>6poq) man
may be called 'Christ,' yet he is not by nature God, which
is why the accursed Nestorius was so insolent as to call Him
who was born of the Virgin 'God-bearing.' But God forbid
that we should ever speak or think of Him as God-bearing;
rather, let it be as God incarnate.^ For the very Word of
God was conceived of the Virgin and made flesh, but con-
tinued to be God after this assumption of the flesh. And,

6 Cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Epistle 1 {PG 7720li.) .

7 Cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Against Nestorius 2 (PG 76.60A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 295

simultaneously with its coming into being, the flesh was
straightway made divine by Him. Thus three things took
place at the same time: the assuming of the flesh, its coming
into being, and its being made divine by the Word. Hence,
the holy Virgin is understood to be Mother of God, and is
so called not only because of the nature of the Word but
also because of the deification of the humanity simultaneously
with which the conception and the coming into being of
the flesh were wondrously brought about — the conception
of the Word, that is, and the existence of the flesh in the
Word Himself. In this the Mother of God, in a manner
surpassing the course of nature, made it possible for the
Fashioner to be fashioned and for the God and Creator of
the universe to become man and deify the human nature
%vhich He had assumed, while the union preserved the things
united, just as they had been united, that is to say, not
only the divinity of Christ but His humanity, also; that
which surpassed us and that which was like us. Now, it
was not first made like us and then made to surpass us. On
the contrary, it was always both from its first beginning of
being, because from the first instant of conception it had
its existence in the Word Himself. Therefore, while by its
own nature it is human, it is also of God and divine in a
naanner surpassing the course of nature. And what is more,
it possessed the properties of the living flesh, since by reason
of the Incarnation the Word recei\'ed them as truly natural
in the order of natural motion.

Chapter 13

Since we confess our Lord Jesus Christ to be at once both
perfect God and perfect man, we declare that this same
One has all things that the Father has, except the being
unbegotten, and, with the sole exception of sin, all that the
first Adam has; namely, a body and a rational and intel-

296 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

lectual soul. We furthermore declare that corresponding to
His two natures He has the twofold set of natural properties
belonging to the two natures — two natural wills, the divine
and the human; two natural operations, a divine and a
human; two natural freedoms, a divine and a human; and
wisdom and knowledge, both divine and human. For, since
He is consubstantial with God the Father, He freely wills
and acts as God. And, since He is also consubstantial with
us, the same one freely wills and acts as man. Thus, the
miracles are His, and so are the sufferings.

Chapter 14

Since, then, Christ has two natures, we say that He has
two natural wills and two natural operations. On the other
hand, since these two natures have one Person, we say that
He is one and the same who wills and acts naturally according
to both natures, of which and in which is Christ our God,
and which are Christ our God. And we say that He wills
and acts in each, not independently, but in concert. 'For in
each form He wills and acts in communion with the other.'^
For the will and operation of things having the same sub-
stance is the same, and the will and operation of things
having different substances is different.^ Conversely, the sub-
stance of things having the same will and operation is the
same, whereas that of things having a different will and
operation is different.

Thus, in Father and Son and Holy Ghost we discover
the identity of nature from the identity of the operation
and the will. In the divine Incarnation, on the other hand,
we discover the difference of the nature from the difference
of the wills and operations, and knowing the difference

1 Leo, Epistle 28.4 (PG 54.768B) .

2 Cf. Maximus, Disputation with Pyrrhus {PG 91.313D-316A,337B) .

ORTHODOX faith: BOOK THREE 297

of the natures we confess the difference of the wills and
operations. For, just as the number of the natures piously
understood and declared to belong to one and the same
Christ does not divide this one Christ, but shows that
the difference of the natures is maintained even in
the union, neither does the number of the wills and opera-
tions belonging substantially to His natures introduce any
division — God forbid — for in both of His natures He wills
and acts for our salvation. On the contrary, their number
shows the preservation and maintenance of the natures
even in the union, and this alone. We do not call the
wills and operations personal, but natural. I am referring
to that very faculty of willing and acting by force of which
things which will will and things which act act. For,
if we concede these to be personal, then we shall be forced
to say that the three Persons of the Holy Trinity differ in
will and operation.

Now, one must know that willing is not the same thing
as how one wills? This is because willing, like seeing, is of
the nature, since it belongs to all men. How one wills, how-
ever, does not belong to nature but to our judgment, just
as does how one looks at something, whether it be favorably
or unfavorably. All men do not will alike, nor do they see
things alike. And this we shall also concede in the case of the
operations, for how one wills or sees or acts is a mode of the
use of willing or seeing or acting, and this mode belongs
to the user alone and distinguishes him from the others in
accordance with what is commonly called the difference.

Consequently, simple willing is called will, or the volitive
faculty, which is a natural will and rational appetite. But
how one wills, or the subject of the volition, is the object
willed and will based on judgment. And that is volitive
which has it in its nature to wiU. For example, the divine
nature is volitive, and so is the human. And finally, he is
willing who uses the volition, and that is the person; Peter,
for example.

3 Cf. ibid. (PG 91.292C) .

298 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Thus, since Christ is one and has one Person, the divinely
willing in Him and the humanly willing are one and the
same.* Nevertheless, since He has two natures which are
volitive because they are rational, for everything that is
rational is both volitive and free, we shall say that in Him
there are two volitions, or natural wills. For the same one is
volitive in both of His natures, since He assumed the volitive
faculty which is inherent in our nature. Furthermore, since
Christ is one and it is the same who wills in either nature,
we shall say that the thing willed is the same. In saying this,
we do not mean that He willed only what He willed naturally
as God, for it is not of the nature of God to will to eat, drink,
and the like; we mean that He also willed the things which
go to make up human nature, not by any contradiction of
judgment, but in accordance with the pecularity of the na-
tures. For, when His divine will willed and permitted the
flesh to suffer and to do what was peculiar to it, He willed
these things naturally.

Now, that the will naturally belongs to man is evident
from the following consideration.^ Not counting the divine,
there are three kinds of life: the vegetative, the sensitive, and
the intellectual. Proper to the vegetative are the motions of
nutrition, growth, and reproduction; proper to the sensitive
is the motion by impulse; and proper to the rational and
intellectual is the free motion. Therefore, if the nutritive
motion is proper to the vegetative life and the impulsive to
the sensitive, then surely the free motion is proper to the
rational and intellectual. But, freedom of motion is nothing
else but the will. Consequently, since the Word was made
flesh animate, intellectual, and free. He was also made
volitive.

Again, things which are natural are not acquired by learn-
mg, for no one learns to reason or live or hunger or thirst

4 Cf, ihid. {PC. 91.289 AC).

5 Cf. ihid. {PG 91.301) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 299

or sleep. And neither do we learn to will. Hence, it is natural
to will.

And again, if, while nature rules in irrational beings, it
is ruled in man who is freely moved by his will, then man is
by nature volitive.

Still, again, if man has been made after the image of the
blessed and supersubstantial Godhead, then, since the divine
nature is naturally free and volitive, man as its image is
also free and volitive by nature. For the Fathers have defined
free will as volition.

Furthermore, if to will is inherent in all men and not
present in some while absent in others, then, since what is
found to be common to all is a characteristic of a nature
in the individuals possessing that nature, man is by nature
volitive.''

And again, if the nature does not admit of more or less,
and if to will is inherent in all and is not more in some
while less in others, then man is by nature volitive. And so,
if man is by nature volitive, the Lord, too, is by nature
volitive, not only in so far as He is God but also in so far
as He was made man. For, just as He assumed our nature,
so also has He assumed our natural will. And it is in this
sense that the Fathers say that He impressed our will in
Himself.

If the will is not natural, it will either be personal or be
against nature. But, if it is personal, then the Son will have
a different will from that of the Father, because that which
is personal is characteristic of the person alone. And if it is
again.st nature, there will be a defect in the nature, because
what is against nature is destructive of what is according
to nature.

Now, the God and Father of all things either wills as
Father or as God. But, if He wills as Father, His will will
be other than that of the Son, because the Son is not the
Father. If, however. He wills as God, and the Son is God

e Cf. ilJid. (PG 91.301Cn).

300 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

and the Holy Ghost is also God, then the will will belong to
the nature; that is to say, it will be natural.

Furthermore, if, as the Fathers say,'' those things that have
one will have one substance, and if Christ's divinity and
humanity have one will, then the substance of the divinity
and that of the humanity will be one and the same.

And again, if, as the Fathers say, the natural difference
does not appear in the one will, we must either say that there
is one will in Christ and no natural difference, or that there
is a natural difference and more than one will.

And still again, as the holy Gospel relates, the Lord went
'into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon: and entering into a
house, he would that no man should know it. And he could
not be hid." So, if His divine will was all-powerful and yet
He was unable to conceal Himself when He willed to, then
it was when willing as man that He was unable to, and as
man also He was volitive.

And again, it says: 'Coming to the place he said: I thirst.
And they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall. And when
he had tasted, he would not drink.'' Now, if it was as God
that He thirsted and having tasted did not want to drink,
then as God He was subject to passion, for thirst is a passion
and so is taste. If, however, it was not as God, then it was
entirely as man that He thirsted, and as man also He was
volitive.

There is also the blessed Apostle Paul, who says : 'Becoming
obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.' ^^ This
obedience was a submission of what was really His will and
not of what really was not, for we may not call an irrational
being either obedient or disobedient. However, the Lord
became obedient to the Father not in so far as He was God,
but in so far as He was man. For, as God, He is neither

7 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa and others, cited by the Council of Constant. 3
(Oec. 6), Mansi, op. cit. 11.400f£.

8 Mark 7.24.

9 Matt. 27.33-34; cf. Maximus, op. cit. (PG 91.321AB) .
10 Phil. 2.8.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 301

obedient or disobedient, because obedience or disobedience
belong to such as are subject to authority, as the inspired
Gregory has said.-^^ Then, as man also, Christ was volitive.

Moreover, when we speak of the natural will, we mean
that it is not constrained but free — for, if it is rational, it
is also absolutely free. For there is not only the uncreated
divine nature which is not subject to constraint, but there
is also the created intellectual nature which is not so either.
And this is obvious, because, although God is by nature
good and creative and God, He is not these things by nec-
essity — for who was there to impose the necessity?

It is furthermore necessary to know that the term freedom
of will is used equivocally — ^sonaetimes being referred to God,
sometimes to the angels, and sometimes to men." Thus,
with God it is supersubstantial, but with the angels the execu-
tion coincides with the inclination without admitting of any
interval of time at all. For the angel has freedom by nature
and he is unhampered in its exercise because he has neither
the opposition from a body nor has he anyone to interfere
with him. With men, however, it is such that the inclination
precedes the execution in point of time. This is because,
though man is free and has this freedom of will naturally,
he also has the interference of the Devil to contend with
and the motion of the body. Consequently, because of this
interference and the burden of the body, the execution comes
after the inclination.

If, then, Adam willingly gave ear, and willed and ate,
then the will was the first thing to suffer in us. But, if the
will was the first thing to suffer, and if, when the Word
became incarna'te, He did not assume it, then we have not
been made free from sin.

And still further, if the nature's power of free will is His
work, and yet He did not assume it, it was either because He
condemned His own creation as not being good or because

11 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.6 (PG 36.109BC) .

12 Cf. Maximus, op. cit. {PG 91.234D-325A) .

302 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

He begrudged us our being healed in it. And while He
deprived us of perfect healing, He showed Himself subject
to suffering without willing or without being able to save
us perfectly.

It is furthermore impossible to speak of one thing composed
of two wills in the same way that we speak, of a person
composed of its natures. This is because, in the first place,
compounds are made of things that have their own sub-
sistence and are not found to exist by virtue of another
principle than their own; whereas, in the second place, if
we are to speak of a composition of wills and operations,
we shall be forced to admit a composition of the other natural
properties, such as the uncreated and the created, the invisible
and the visible, and so on. And besides, what will the will
that is composed of the wills be called? For it is impossible
for the compound to be given the name of the things of which
it is composed, since in such a case we should call that which
is composed of the natures a nature and not a person. And
further, should we speak of one compound will in Christ,
then we are making Him distinct from the Father in will,
because the will of the Father is not compound. Accordingly,
it remains for us to say that only the Person of Christ is com-
pound, in so far as it is composed of His natures and His
natural properties as well.

And, should we wish to speak literally, it would be im-
possible to speak of opinion (Yvcb|ar|) and choice in the Lord.
For the opinion resulting from the inquiry and deliberation,
or counsel and judgment, in respect to the unknown thing
is a disposition toward the thing judged. After the opinion
comes the choice which selects and chooses one thing rather
than the other. Now, since the Lord was not a mere man,
but was also God and knew all things, He stood in no need
of reflection, inquiry, counsel, or judgment. He also had a
natural affinity for good and antipathy for evil.^^ Thus, it
is in this sense that the Prophet Isaias, too, says: 'Before

13 Cf. Basil, Homily on Psalm 44.8 (PG 29.405B) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 303

the child shall know to refuse the evil, he will choose the
good. For before the child know to refuse the evil, and to
choose the good, he will reject the evil by choosing the good.'^*
The 'before' shows that he made no inquiry or investigation
in a human manner, but that, since He was God and divinely
subsisted in the flesh — that is to say, was hypostatically united
to the flesh — by the fact of His very being and His knowing all
things He naturally possessed the good. Now, the virtues are
natural, and they are also naturally inherent in all men, even
though all of us do not act naturally. For, because of the
fall, we went from what is according to nature to what is
against it. But the Lord brought us back from what is against
nature to what is according to it — for this last is what is
meant by 'according to his image and likeness.'^^ Now,
asceticism and the labors connected with it were not intended
for the acquisition of virtue as of something to be introduced
from the outside, but for the expulsion of evil, which has
been introduced and is against nature — just as the steel's
rust, which is not natural but due to neglect, we remove
with hard toil to bring out the natural brightness of the steel.
Moreover, one must know that the word yvco^r), or
opinion, is used in many ways and with many meanings.
Thus, it sometimes means advice^ as when the divine Apostle
says: 'Now, concerning virgins, I have no commandment
of the Lord: but I give counsel .'^° Sometimes it implies
design, as when the Prophet David says: 'They have taken
a malicious counsel against thy people.'^' Sometimes it means
judgment, as when Daniel says: 'Why so cruel a sentence
had gone forth.'^' And sometimes it is used in the sense
of faith, or notion, or of intent — to put it simply, the word
YVco^T] has twenty-eight different meanings.

14 Cf. Isa. 7.16.

15 Gen. 1.26.

16 1 Cor. 7.25.

17 Ps. 82.4.

18 Dan. 2.15.

304 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 15

Now, we also say that in our Lord Jesus Christ there are
two operations.^ For, in so far as He was God and consub-
stantial with the Father, like the Father He had the divine
operation; in so far as He was made man and consubstantial
with us, He had the operation of the human nature.

However, one must know that operation is one thing, what
is operative another, which is operated another, and still
another the operator. Operation, then, is the efficacious and
substantial motion of the nature. And that which is operative
is the nature from which the operation proceeds. That which
is operated is the effect of the operation. And the operator
is the one who performs the operation; the person, that is.
However, the term operation is also used for the eflfect, and
the term for the effect for the operation, as 'creation' is used
for 'creature.' For in that way we say 'all creation," meaning
'all creatures.'

One must know that the operation is a motion and that
it is operated rather than operating, as Gregory the Theo-
logian says in his sermon on the Holy Ghost: 'But if He is
an operation, then He will obviously be operated and will
not operate. And, as soon as He has been effected. He will
cease. '^

It is further necessary to know that life itself is an opera-
tion, and the primary operation of the animal. So also is
the whole vital process — the motions of nutrition and growth,
or the vegetative;^ the impulsive, or the sensitive; and the
intellectual and free motions. Operation, moreover, is the
perfection of a potentiality. So, if we find all these things in
Christ, then we shall declare that He also has a human
operation.

1 The operation, or energy, is the capacity or power to act inherent
in every nature.

2 Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 31.6 (PG 36.140A) .

3 By a misprint the Migne text has 'natural' for the 'vegetative' of
Lequien's original text.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 305

The first thought (vornua) formed in us is called an
operation. It is a simple unrelated operation by which the
mind of itself secretly puts forth those thoughts of its own
without which it could not rightly be called mind (voGc;).
And again, that is also called an operation which is the ex-
pression and explanation of what has been thought by means
of speech utterance. This, however, is no longer unrelated
and simple. On the contrary, since it is composed of thought
and speech, it is found to be in a relation. And the very
relation which the doer has to the thing done is also an opera-
tion. And the thing itself which is effected is called an opera-
tion. Now, the first of these belongs to the soul alone, the next
to the soul as using the body, the next to the body as endowed
with an intellectual soul, and the last of them is the effect.
Thus, the mind first considers the thing to be done and
then acts accordingly through the body. So, it is to the
soul that the control belongs, since it uses the body as an
instrument which it guides and directs. The operation of the
body as guided and moved by the soul, however, is a dif-
ferent one. And as to the effect, while that of the body is,
as it were, the touching, holding, and clasping of the thing
made, that of the soul is the thing's formation and configura-
tion. It was also the same with our Lord Jesus Christ. While
the power of working miracles was an operation of His divi-
nity, the work of His hands. His willing, and His saying:
'I will. Be thou made clean,'* were operations belonging to
His humanity. And as to the effect, the breaking of the loaves,
the hearing the leper, and the 'I will' belong to His human
nature, whereas to His divine nature belong the multiplica-
tion of the loaves and the cleansing of the leper. Now, by
both, that is, by the operation of the soul and that of the
body. He showed His divine operation to be one and the
same, akin and equal. And just as we know that the natures
are united and mutually immanent and still do not deny
their difference, but even number them, while we know

4 Matt. 8.3.

306 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

them to be indivisible; so also do we know the connection
of the wills and operations, while we recognize their dif-
ference and number them without introducing any division.
For, as the flesh was made divine, yet suffered no change
in its own nature, in the same way the will and operation
were made divine, yet did not exceed their proper limits.
For He is one who is both the one thing and the other and
who wills and acts in both one way and the other, that
is to say, both in a divine and in a human fashion.

Accordingly, because of the duality of His nature, it is
necessary to affirm two operations in Christ. For things having
diverse natures have different operations, and things having
diverse operations have different natures. And conversely,
things having the same nature have the same operation, and
things having one operation have also one substance, as the
inspired Fathers declare. Consequently, we must do one of
two things: either we shall say that there is one operation
in Christ and then say that His substance is one; or, if we
keep to the truth, we shall confess with the Gospels and the
Fathers that there are two substances, and at the same
time we shall be confessing that there are also two operations
corresponding to these. For, since in His divinity He is con-
substantial with God the Father, He will also be equal to
Him in His operation. On the other hand, since in His
humanity He is consubstantial with us. He will also be equal
to us in His operation. Indeed, the blessed Gregory, who
was Bishop of Nyssa, says: 'Things having one operation
very definitely have the same potentiality, also.'^ For every
operation is the perfection of a potentiality. Moreover, it is
impossible for there to be one nature, potentiality, or opera-
tion belonging both to an uncreated nature and to a created
one. And, were we to say that Christ has one nature, we

5 Lequien assigns this to the Oratio de natura et hypostasi of Gregory
of Nyssa, which is really Basil's Epistle 38 {On the Difference
between Substance and Hypostasis) , {PG 32.325-340) , but which
does not contain the present quotation. It probably is from Gregory's
Against Eunomius I (cf. PG 45.373-CD) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 307

should be attributing the passions of the intellectual soul to
the divinity of the Word — fear, I mean, and grief, and
anguish.

However, should they say that in discussing the Blessed
Trinity the holy Fathers said: 'Things having one substance
also have one operation, and things which have different
substances also have different operations,' and that one must
not transfer to the human nature what belongs to the divine,
we shall reply as follows. If this was said by the Fathers in
respect to the divinity only, then the Son does not have the
same operation as the Father and He is not even of the same
substance. And, what is more, to whom shall we attribute
the words: 'My Father worketh until now, and I work';
and 'What things soever he seeth the Father doing, these
things the Son also doth in like manner'; and 'If you do
not beheve me, believe my works'; and 'The works which
I do give testimony of me'; and 'As the Father raiseth up
the dead and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom
He will'?' For all these show that even after the Incarnation
He is not only consubstantial with the Father but also has
the same operation.''

And again, if the providence exercised over creatures
belongs not only to the Father and the Holy Ghost, but
also to the Son even after the Incarnation, and if this is an
operation, then even after the Incarnation He has the same
operation as the Father.

And if from His miracles we perceive Christ to be of the
same substance as the Father, and if miracles are an operation
of God, then even after the Incarnation He has the same
operation as the Father.

And if His divinity and His flesh have one operation, it
will be composite, and either He will have a different opera-
tion from that of the Father, or the Father's operation will

6 John 5.17,19; 10-38; 5.36,21.

7 Cf. Maximus, op. cit {PG 91.348D-349A) .

308 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

be composite, too. But, if the Father's operation is composite,
it is obvious that His nature will be, too.

And, if they were to say that the introduction of the opera-
tion requires that of a person along with it,* we should
reply that, if the introduction of the operation requires that
of a person along with it, then by logical conversion the
introduction of the person will require that of an operation
along with it. In such a case, since there are three Persons,
or hypostases, in the Holy Trinity, theie will also be three
operations; or, since there is one operation, there will also
be one Person and one hypostasis. But the holy Fathers were
all agreed in declaring that things having the same substance
also have the same operation.

What is more, if the introduction of the operation requires
that of a person, then those who decreed that neither one
nor two operations be affirmed in Christ* in doing so ordered
that neither one nor two persons be affirmed in Him.

And then, just as the natures of both the fire and the steel
are preserved intact in the red-hot knife,"-" so also are there
two operations and their effects. For, while the steel has its
cutting power, the fire has its power of burning; and the
cut is the effect of the operation of the steel, while the burn
is that of the operation of the fire. And the distinction between
these is preserved in the burnt cut and the cut bum, even
though the burning of the cut does not take place separately
after the union, and the cut is not made separately from
the burn. Neither do we say that because of the twofold
natural operation there are two red-hot knives, nor do we
destroy their substantial difference because of the singleness
of the red-hot knife. In just the same way there is in Christ
both the divine and all-powerful operation of His divinity,
and that after our own fashion, which is that of His humanity.

8 Cf. ibid. (PC 91.337B) .

9 The Ecthesis, published in 638 \iy Emperor Heraclius, forbade the
use of the expression of one or two operations in Christ, but asserted
one will. This precipitated the Monothelite schism (640-657) .

10 Cf. Maximus, op. cit. (PG 91.337D-340A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE

309

Thus, the child's being taken by the hand and drawn up^'^
was an effect of His human operation, whereas her being
restored to Hfe was an effect of His divine operation. For
the latter is one thing and the former another, even though
they are inseparable in the theandric operation. What is
more, if, because the Person of the Lord is one, His operation
must also be one, then because of the one Person there must
also be one substance.

Again, if we were to affirm one operation in the Lord,
we should be saying that this was either divine or human
or neither.^^ Now, if we say that it is divine, we shaE be
saying that He is only God and devoid of our humanity.
And if we say that it is human, we shall be uttering the
blasphemy that He is mere man. But, if we say that it is
neither divine nor human, we shall be saying that He is
neither consubstantial with the Father nor with us. For the
identity of person came from the union, without in any way
destroying the difference of the natures. And, if the dif-
ference of the natures is kept intact, their operations will
plainly be kept so, also, because there is no nature without
any operation.

If the operation of the Lord Christ is one,-^^ then it will
be either created or uncreated; for, just as there is no inter-
mediate nature between the created and the uncreated,
neither is there any such operation. Therefore, if it is created,
it will show only a created nature; if it is uncreated, it will
indicate an uncreated substance only. This is because the
natural properties must correspond with the natures abso-
lutely, since the existence of a defective nature is impossible.
The natural operation, moreover, does not come from any-
thing outside the nature and it is obvious that the nature can
neither exist nor be known without its natural operation.

11 Cf. Luke 8.54.

12 Maximus, op. cit. {PG 91.340C) .

13 Cf. ibid. {PG 91.341A) .

310 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

For, by remaining invariable in its operations, each thing
gives proof of its own nature.

If Christ's operation is one, then the same operation can
do divine and human things. But, no being acting according
to nature can do things which are contrary. Thus, fire does
not make hot and cold, nor does water make wet and dry.
How, then, did He, who is God by nature and who became
man by nature, both work the miracles and experience the
passions with one operation?

Now, if Christ assumed a human mind, that is to say, a
rational and intellectual soul, He certainly thinks and will
always think. But, thinking is an operation of the mind.
Therefore, Christ acts as a man also and will always so act.
The most wise and great St. John Chrysostom in the
second homily of his commentary on the Acts says this: 'No
one should be wrong in calling His suffering an action. For
by suffering all things He did that great and wonderful work
of destroying death and working all the rest.'^*

If every operation is defined as a substantial motion of
some nature, as those who are well versed in these matters
have clearly laid down, where has anyone seen a nature
without a motion or without any operation at all, or where
has anyone found an operation which is not a motion of
a natural power? And, according to the blessed Cyril,^^ no
one in his right mind would hold the natural operation of
God and of a creature to be one. It is not the human nature
that restores Lazarus to life, nor is it the power of the divinity
that sheds tears. For tears are peculiar to humanity, whereas
life belongs to the Subsistent Life. Nevertheless, by reason
of the identity of the person each one of these actions is
common to both natures. ^^ For Christ is one, and one is
His Person, or hypostasis. Nevertheless, He has two natures:
that of His divinity and that of His humanity. Consequently,

14 Homily 1 on the Acts S {PG 60.18) .

15 Cf. Thesaurus 32.2 {PG 75.453B) .

16 Cf. Leo, Epistle 28.4 {PL 54.772A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 311

the glory which proceeds naturally from the divinity became
common to both by reason of the identity of person, while
the humble things proceeding from the flesh became common
to both. For He is one and the same who is both the one
thing and the other, that is, both God and man; and to
the same one belong both what is proper to the divinity
and what is proper to the humanity. Thus, while the divinity
worked the miracles but not separately from the flesh, the
flesh did the humble things but not apart from the divinity.
Thus, also, while remaining impassible, the divinity was
joined to the suffering flesh and made the sufferings salutary.
And the sacred mind was joined to the acting divinity of the
Word and thought and knew the things which were being
done.

Therefore, the divinity communicates its excellences to the
flesh while remaining with no part of the sufferings of the
flesh. For His flesh did not suffer through the divinity in
the same way that the divinity acted through the flesh,
because the flesh served as an instrument of the divinity. So,
even though from the first instant of conception there was
no divisions whatsoever of either form, but all the actions
of each form at all times belonged to one Person, we never-
theless in no way confuse these things which were done in-
separably. On the contrary, from the nature of the works
we perceive to which form they belong.

And so, Christ acts through each of His natures and in
Him each nature acts in communion with the other. '^'^ The
Word does whatever pertains to the kingdom and the prin-
cipality, which is what belongs to Him by reason of the
authority and the power of His divinity, while the body in
accordance with the intent of the Word united to it does
what has also become proper to it. Now, the body of itself
had no inclination for physical suffering, nor yet did it avoid
and refuse to accept what was painful. Neither was it affected
by external influences; rather, it was moved in accordance

17 Cf. ibid. (PL 54.768B) .

312 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

with the order of its nature, with the Word wisely willing
and permitting it to suffer and do what was proper to it,
so that through its works the truth of its nature might be
guaranteed.

Moreover,^* even as He was conceived of a virgin and
put on substance in a way that transcended substance, so
does He also do human things in a way that transcends
the human — as when He walked with His earthly feet upon
unstable water which had not become earth but by the
supernatural power of His divinity was made firm and did
not yield to the weight of material feet. He did not do
human things in a human way, because He was not only
man, but God, also, which is the reason why His sufferings
were life-giving and saving. Neither did He do divine things
in a divine way, because He was not only God, but man,
also, which is the reason why He worked miracles by touch
and word and other such things.

And should someone say^' that we do not hold one opera-
tion in Christ because we do away with the human opera-
tion, but because the human operation as contrasted with
the divine is called passion, and in this sense we say that
there is one operation in Christ — should they say this: We
shall reply that by this token they who hold one nature do not
dd so in the sense of doing away with the human nature, but
because the human nature as contrasted with the divine is
called passible. God forbid that we should call the human
motion passion just because of its contrast with the divine
operation. For, generally speaking, nothing is known or
defined as having its real existence from contrast or com-
parison. In such a case, things which exist would be found
to be mutually causative of each other. Thus if, because the
divine motion is action, the human is passion, then it will
definitely follow that, because the divine nature is good, the

18 Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius, Divine Names 2.10, Epistle 4 (PG 3.648-619;
1072) .

19 Cf. Maximus, op. cit. (PG 91.349C) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 3 1 3

human will be evil. Conversely, because the human motion
is called passion, the divine is called action; and because
human nature is evil, the divine will be good. What is more,
all creatures will thus be evil, and he will be a liar who
said : 'And God saw all the things that he had made, and they
were very good.'^°

Now we say that the holy Fathers gave the human motion
a variety of names, depending upon the fundamental con-
cept in question." Thus, they called it both power, operation,
difference, movement, property, quality, and passion. And
they did not do this by way of contrast to the divine motion.
On the contrary, they called it power, in so far as it is sus-
taining and unchangeable; operation, as being distinctive
and showing the invariability in all things of the same species;
difference, as being defining; motion, as being indicative;
property, as being component and as belonging to this alone
and not to some other; quality, as being specific; and passion,
as being moved. For all things which are from God and after
Him are subject to being moved, since they are not motion
or force itself. Consequently, it was not so named by contrast,
as has been said, but after the principle that was put in it
at its creation by the cause which framed the universe. For
this reason, it was called operation, even when mentioned
together with the divine motion. For what else did he do,
who said: 'For each form acts in communion with the
other,'^^ than he who said: 'And he had fasted forty days
and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry'^' — for, when
He wished. He permitted His nature to do what was proper
to it? Or what else did he do than those who said that
there was a different operation in Him, or a twofold opera-
tion, or one and another? For by the opposition of terms
these expressions signify two natures, since the number is

20 Gen. 1.31.

21 Cf. Maximus, op. cit. (PG 91.325AE) .

22 See above, note 17.

23 Matt. 4.2.

314 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

oftentimes indicated by the opposition of terms, just as well
as it is by saying 'divine and human.' Thus, the difference
is a difference of things which differ. And how can things
differ which do not exist?

Chapter 16

Since each individual man is made up of two natures —
that of the soul and that of the body — and has these un-
changed in himself, it will be reasonable to say that he has
two natures. For even after the union he retains the natural
property of each. Thus, the body is not immortal but cor-
ruptible, and the soul is not mortal but immortal. Neither
is the body invisible, nor is the soul visible to bodily eyes.
On the contrary, the latter is rational and understanding
and incorporeal, whereas the former is material and visible
and irrational. Moreover, things which are distinct in sub-
stance do not have the same nature; consequently, the soul
and the body are not of the same substance.

And again, if man is a rational mortal animal, and if every
definition designates the natures defined, and if, furthermore,
that which is rational is not the same as that which is mortal
as respects the concept of nature, then by the norm of his
own definition man will not have one nature.

Now, should man at times be said to have one nature,
the term 'nature' is being taken in the sense of 'species.'
Thus, we say that one man does not differ from another
by any difference in nature, because, to the contrary, all
men fall under the same definition, in so far as they all are
composed of body and soul and have the same makeup,
each individual being two constituent natures. And this is
not unreasonable, because the divine Athanasius in his dis-
course against the blasphemers of the Holy Ghost said that
all created things have the same nature, when he wrote to
the effect that the Holy Ghost is over and above creation

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 315

and that it is possible to see clearly that, while in relation
to the nature of created things He is something else, to the
divinity He is proper.^ Everything that is found to be com-
mon to several things without being more in one and less
in another is said to be essence. Therefore, since every man
is made up of a soul and a body, in this sense men are said
to have one nature. As regards the Person of the Lord, how-
ever, we cannot speak of one nature, because even after the
union each nature retains its natural property and it is not
possible to find a species of Christs. For there has been no
other Christ made of divinity and humanity, the same being
both God and man.

And again, the specific unity of man is not the same thing
as the substantial unity of soul and body. For the specific
unity of man shows the invariable element in all men, whereas
the substantial unity of soul and body destroys their very
being and reduces them to absolute non-existence. For either
the one will be transformed into the substance of the other,
or from two different things a third will be made, or they
will remain within their proper limits and be two natures.
For it is not by reason of its substance that the body is
identical with that which is incorporeal. Consequently, when
people speak of one nature in man, not on account of the
identity of the substantial quality of the body with that of
the soul, but on account of the invariability of the individuals
falling under the species, they do not also have to say that
in Christ, in whom there is no species comprising several
persons, there is one nature.

And further, every composite is said to be composed of
those things which have been put together directly. Thus,
we do not say that the house is composed of earth and
water, but of bricks and wood. Otherwise, we should also
have to say that man is made up of five natures at least,
of the four elements, that is, and of a soul. So also, in the

1 Athanasius, Epistle 1 to Serapion 12,17^2 et passim (PG 26.561,569,
581, et al.) .

316 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

case of our Lord Jesus Christ we do not consider the part
or parts, but those which have been put together directly —
the divinity and the humanity.

Further, if by saying that man is two natures we shall be
forced to say that there arc three natures in Christ, then you,
too, by saying that man is of two natures will be teaching
that Christ is of three natures. And it will be the same way
with the operations, because the operation must correspond
with the nature. Witness to the fact that man is said to and
does have two natures is Gregory the Theologian, who says:^
'God and man are two natures, as, indeed, are soul and
body.' Also, in his sermon on baptism he says as follows:
'Since we are twofold, being of soul and body — of the visible
and of the invisible nature — so also is the purification two-
fold: by water and by the Holy Ghost.'

Chapter 17

One should know that it is not by a transformation of
nature or by change or alteration or mingling that the Lord's
flesh is said to have been deified and made identical with
God and God, as Gregory the Theologian says: 'The one of
•whom did deify, while the other was made divine and, I
may confidently say, identical with God. And that which
anointed became man, and that which was anointed became
God."^ This was by no transformation of nature but by the
union through dispensation, the hypostatic union, I mean,
by which the flesh is inseparably united to God, the Word,
and by the mutual indwelling of the natures such as that
we also speak of in the case of the heating of the steel. For,
just as we confess that the Incarnation was brought about
without transformation or change, so also do we hold that

2 Epistle 101 (PG 37.180A) ; Sermon 40.8 (PG 36.368AB) .

1 SeTinon 45.13 {PG 36.640D-641A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 317

the deification of the flesh was brought about. For the Word
neither overstepped the bounds of His own divinity nor the
divine prerogatives belonging to it just because He was made
flesh; and, when the flesh was made divine, it certainly did
not change its own nature or its natural properties. For even
after the union the natures remained unmingled and their
properties unimpaired. Moreover, by reason of its most un-
alloyed union with the Word, that is to say, the hypostatic
union, the Lord's flesh was enriched with the divine opera-
tions but in no way suffered any impairment of its natural
properties. For not by its own operation does the flesh do
divine works, but by the Word united to it, and through it
the Word shows His own operation. Thus, the steel which
has been heated burns, not because it has a naturally acquired
power of burning, but because it has acquired it from its
union with the fire.^

And so the same flesh was mortal in itself and life-giving
by its hypostatic union with the Word. Likewise, we say
that the deification of the will was not by a transformation
of its natural motion, but by its becoming united with His
divine and almighty will and being the will of God made
man.' It was for this reason that, when He wished to be
hid, He could not of Himself,^ because it pleased God the
Word that it be shown that in Himself He had the weakness
of the human will. However, it was by willing that He
worked the cure of the leper,^ and this because of the union
with the divine wiU.

One must furthermore know that the deification of the
nature and the will is very expressive and indicative of the
two natures and the two wills. For, just as heating does not
transform the nature of the thing heated into that of fire,
but, rather, brings out both the thing heated and the thing
heating and shows not one thing but two, so neither does

2 Maximus, op. cit. {PG 91.3S7D-340A) .

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.12 (PG S6.117C-120A) .

4 Cf. Mark 7.24.

5 Cf. Matt. 8.3.

318 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

the deification produce one compound nature, but, rather,
the two natures and their hypostatic union. In fact, Gregory
the Theologian says: 'The one of whom did deify, while
the other was made divine,'^ where by saying 'of whom'
and 'the one' and 'the other' he showed that there were two.

Chapter 18

When we say that Christ is perfect God and perfect man
we are attributing to Him absolutely all the natural properties
which belong to the Father and to His Mother. For He
became man in order that that which had been conquered
might conquer. Now, it was not impossible for Him who
can do all things to deliver man from the tyrant by His
almighty power and might; but, had the tyrant after having
conquered man been prevailed over by God, he would have
had grounds for complaint. For this reason the compassionate
and loving God wished to make the victor him who had
fallen, and so He became man and restored like by like.

Moreover, no one will deny that man is a rational and
intellectual animal. How, then, did He become man if He
assumed a soulless body or a mindless soul? For that sort of
thing is no man. Further, what profit do we have from the
Incarnation if he who was the first to suffer has not been
saved, renewed, or strengthened by being conjoined with
the Godhead? For that which has not been assumed has not
been healed. And so, He assumes the whole man, who had
fallen through weakness, and his most noble part, in order
that He might grace the whole with salvation.-"- What is
more, there never could be a mind without wisdom and
bereft of knowledge, for, were the mind without operation
and motion, it would also be absolutely non-existent.

6 Sermon 45.9 {PG 36.633D) .

1 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Epistle 101, passim (PG 37.176f£) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 319

God the Word, then, wishing to restore that which was in
His image, became man. But what is in His image, if it is
not the mind? Did He, then, disregard what was better and
assume what was worse? For mind stands midway between
God and the flesh as being a companion of the flesh on the
one hand and on the other an image of God. Thus, mind
is associated with Mind and the mind holds the middle
place between purity of God and the grossness of the flesh.
And, had the Lord assumed a mindless soul, He would have
assumed the soul of a brute animal.

Now, although the Evangelist did say that the Word was
made flesh, one must know that in sacred Scripture man is
sometimes called 'soul,' as when it says that 'all the souls of
the house of Jacob, that entered into Egypt, were seventy-
five,'^ and sometimes 'flesh,' as when it says that 'all flesh shall
see the salvation of God.'^ So, the Lord was not made flesh
without soul or mind, but He was made man. In fact, He says:
'Why do you seek to kUI me, a man who have spoken truth
to you?'^ Therefore, He assumed a body animated by a
rational and intellectual soul having dominion over the flesh,
but itself being under the dominion of the divinity of the
Word.

Consequently, while He had naturally the power of willing
both as God and as man, the human will followed after
and was subordinated to His will, not being motivated by
its own opinion, but willing what His divine will willed.
Thus, it was with the permission of the divine will that He
suffered what was naturally proper to Him.^ And when He
begged to be spared death, He did so naturally, with His
divine will willing and permitting, and He was in agony and
afraid. Then, when His divine will willed that His human will
choose death, the passion was freely accepted by it, because it
was not as God alone that He freely delivered Himself over to

2 Gen. 46.27 (Septuagint) .

3 Luke 3.6.

4 John 8.40.

5 Cf. Sophronius, Synodic Letter (PG 87.3173B) .

320 SAINT JOHN or DAMASCUS

death, but as man, also. Whence, He also gave us the grace of
courage in the face of death. Thus, indeed. He says before His
saving passion: 'Father, if it is possible, let this chalice
pass from me.'^ It was manifestly as man that He was to
drink the chalice, for it was not as God. Consequendy, it
is as man that He wishes the chalice to pass, and these are
words arising from a natural fear. 'But yet not my will, but
thine be done,''' that is to say: 'In so far as I am of another
substance than thine, but thine, which is mine and thine
in so far as I am begotten consubstantial with thee.' Again,
these are the words of courage. For, since by His good
pleasure the Lord had truly become man, His soul at first
experienced the weakness of nature and through sense per-
ception felt a natural pain at the thought of its separation
from the body; then it was strengthened by the divine will
and faced death courageously. For, since He was entirely
God with His humanity and entirely man with His divinity,
He as man in Himself and through Himself subjected His
humanity to God the Father and became obedient to the
Father, thus setting for us a most noble example and pattern.
Moreover, He willed freely with His divine and His human
will, for free will is absolutely inherent in every rational
nature. After all, of what good can rationality be to a nature
that does not reason freely? Now, the Creator has implanted
a natural appetite in brute beasts which constrains them to
act for the preservation of their own nature. For, since they
lack reason, they cannot lead; rather, they are led by their
natural appetite. Whence it is that the instinct to act arises
simultaneously with the appetite, for they enjoy neither the
use of reason nor that of counsel or reflection or judgment.
For this reason they are neither praised and deemed good
for practicing virtue nor punished for doing evil. The
rational nature, however, has its natural appetite, which

6 Matt. 26.39.

7 Luke 22.42.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 321

becomes aroused, but is guided and controlled by the reason
in regard to what is for the maintenance of the natural order.
This, namely free will, is an advantage of the power cA
reason and we call it a natural motion in the reasoning
faculty. Wherefore, the rational nature is both praised and
deemed good for practicing virtue and punished for practicing
vice.

And so, the Lord's soul was freely moved to will, but it
freely willed those things which His divine will willed it to
will. For the flesh was not moved by the command of the
Word in the same way that Moses and all the saints were
moved by the divine command. On the contrary, since the
same one was both God and man. He willed according to
His divine and His human will. Wherefore, it was not in
opinion that the Lord's two wills differed from each other, but
in natural power. For His divine will was without beginning
and all-creating and having the corresponding power, and
it was impassible. But his human will had a beginning in
time and was itself subject to natural and irreprehensible
passions. Although by its own nature it was not omnipotent,
it was so in so far as it had been made to belong truly and
naturally to God the Word.

Chapter 19

When the blessed Dionysius said that Christ had used a
certain new theandric operation with us,'^ he was not doing
away with the natural operations and saying that there was
one operation proceeding from the human and divine natures.
For, if such were the case, we might also say that there was
one new nature made from the human and the divine, be-
cause, according to the holy Fathers, things which have one
operation also have one substance. On the contrary, he
wanted to show that the new and ineffable manner of the

1 Cf. Epistle 4 {PG 3.1072C) .

322 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

manifestation of the natural operations in Christ was con-
sonant with the mutual indwelling of Christ's natures in each
other, and that His living as a man was both unusual and
incredible and unknown to the nature of things. He also
wanted to show the manner of the exchange arising from
the ineffable union. Thus, we do not say that the operations
are separated and that the natures act separately, but we
say that they act conjointly, with each nature doing in com-
munion with the other that which it has proper to itself.
He did not perform the human actions in a human way,
because He was not a mere man, nor did He perform the
divine actions in a divine way only, because He was not just
God, but God and man together. And just as we understand
both the union of the natures and their natural difference,
so also do we understand that of the natural wills and
operations.

So that one must know that while we sometimes speak
as of two natures in our Lord Jesus Christ, we sometimes
speak as of one person, and that both the former way of
speaking and the latter refer to the same concept. For the
two natures are one Christ and the one Christ is two natures.
It is therefore the same thing to say that Christ acts according
to each of His natures and to say that each nature in Christ
acts in association with the other. Accordingly, when the flesh
is acting, the divine nature is associated with it because the
flesh is being permitted by the good pleasure of the divine will
to suffer and do what is proper to it and because the operation
of the flesh is absolutely salutary — which last does not belong
to the human operation, but to the divine. And when the
divinity of the Word is acting, the flesh is associated with it,
because the divine operations are being performed by the
flesh as by an instrument and because He who is acting at
once in a divine and human way is one.

One should furthermore know that His sacred mind per-
forms His natural operations, both understanding and know-
ing itself to be the mind of God and adored by all creation,

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 323

but at the same time still mindful of His doings and sufCerings
on earth. It is, moreover, associated with the operation of the
divinity of the Word by which the universe is ordered and
controlled, understanding and knowing and ordering not as
a mere human mind, but as one hypostatically united to
God and reckoned as the mind of God.

Thus, the theandric operation shows this: when God be-
came man, that is to say, was incarnate. His human operation
was divine, that is to say, deified. And it was not excluded
from His divine operation, nor was His divine operation
excluded from His human operation. On the contrary, each
is found in the other. Now, when one expresses two things
with one word, this figure of speech is called circumlocution
(TtepLtlipaaLq).- Thus, while we speak of the cut burn and
the burnt cut of the red-hot knife, we nevertheless hold the
cutting to be one operation and the burning another, the one
belonging to one nature and the other to the other — the burn-
ing to the fire and the cutting to the steel. In the very same
way, when we speak of one theandric operation of Christ,
we understand the two operations of His two natures: the
divine operation of the divinity and the human operation
of the humanity.

Chapter 20

Moreover, we confess that He assumed all the natural and
blameless passions of man. This is because He assumed the
whole man and everything that is his, except sin — for this
last is not natural and it was not implanted in us by the
Creator. On the contrary, it grew up in our will from the
oversowing of the Devil, freely and not prevailing over us
by force. Now, those passions are natural and blameless
which are not under our control and have come into man's
life as a result of the condemnaliion occasioned by his fall.
Such, for example, were hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain,

2 Cf. Maximus, Opuscula (PG 91.100D) .

324 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

the tears, the destruction, the shrinking from death, the fear,
the agony from which came the sweating and drops of
blood, the aid brought by the angels in deference to the
weakness of His nature, and any other such things as are
naturally inherent in all men.

So, He assumed all that He might sanctify all. He was put
to the test and He conquered that He might gain for us the
victory and give to our nature the power to conquer the
Adversary, so that through the very assaults by which the
nature had been conquered of old it might conquer its
former victor.

Now, the Evil One attacked from the outside, just as he
had with Adam, and not through thoughts — for it was not
through thoughts that he attacked Adam, but through the
serpent. The Lord, however, repelled the attack and it van-
ished like smoke, so that by being conquered the passions
which had assailed Him might become easy for us to conquer
and the new Adam thus be restored by the old.

Actually, our natural passions were in Christ according to
nature and over and above nature. Thus, it was according
to nature that they were aroused in Him, when He permitted
the flesh to suffer what was proper to it; whereas it was
over and above nature, because in the Lord the things of
nature did not control the will. For with Him nothing is
found to be done under compulsion; on the contrary, every-
thing was done freely. Thus, it was by willing that He hun-
gered and by willing that He thirsted, by willing that He
was afraid and by willing that He died.

Chapter 21

One should know that He did assume an ignorant and
servile nature, and this is because man's nature is subservient
to God who made it, and it does not have knowledge of

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 325

future events. If, then, like Gregory the Theologian,^ you
distinguish what is seen from what is thought, then the flesh
will be said to be servile and ignorant. However, by reason
of the identity of person and the inseparable union, the Lord's
soul enjoyed the knowledge of future events as well as the
Other signs of divinity. For, just as the flesh of men is not
of its own nature life-giving, whereas that of the Lord, being
hypostatically united to God the Word Himself, became
life-giving by reason of its hypostatic union with the Word
without losing its natural mortality, and we cannot say that
it was not and is not always so; in the same way, while
His human nature did not of its essence have knowledge of
future events, the Lord's soul, by reason of its union with
God the Word Himself and the identity of person, did, as
I have said, enjoy, along with the other signs of divinity,
the knowledge of future events, also.

One must furthermore know that we can by no means
call Him servile, because the terms 'servitude' and 'mastery'
are not indicative of nature, but of relationships, just as
'paternity' and 'filiation' are. These last do not belong to the
essence, but are indicative of relation. Therefore, we say
here, just as we did in the case of ignorance, that if you
distinguish the created from the uncreated by tenuous thought
processes, or subtle imaginings, then the flesh is servile as
long as it is not united to God the Word. But, once it is
hypostatically united, how will it be servile? For, since Christ
is one. He cannot be His own servant and Lord, because
these do not belong to the things predicated absolutely, but
to them that are predicated relatively. So, whose servant wiU
He be? The Father's? But then, if He is the servant of the
Father, the Son does not have 'all things whatsoever the Father
hath.'^ And He certainly is not His own servant. And, if He
is Himself a servant, how is it that in regard to us, who
have been adopted through Him, the Apostle says: 'There-

1 Cf. Sermon 30.15 {PG 36.124B) .

2 John 16.15.

326 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

fore, now thou art not a servant, but a son." Therefore, al-
though He is not a servant, He is commonly so called as
having for our sake taken on the form of a servant, and
together with us He has been called one. For, although He
was impassible, He became subject to passion and was made
minister of our salvation. Now, they who say that He is a
servant divide the one Christ into two, just as Nestorius did.
But we say that He is Lord and Master of all creation, the
one Christ, the same being at once both God and man, and
that He knows all things, 'for in him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowldege.'''

Chapter 22

He is said to have progressed in wisdom and age and
grace, ^ because He did increase in age and by this increase
in age brought more into evidence the wisdom inherent in
Him; further, because by making what is ours altogether
His own He made His own the progress of men in wisdom
and grace, as well as the fulfillment of the Father's wUl,
which is to say, men's knowledge of God and their salvation.^
Now, those who say that He progressed in wisdom and grace
in the sense of receiving an increase in these are saying that
the union was not made from the first instant of the flesh's
existence. Neither are they holding the hypostatic union, but,
misled^ by the empty-headed Nestorius, they are talking
preposterously of a relative union and simple indwelling,
'understanding neither the things they say, nor whereof they
afErm.'* For, if from the first instant of its existence the

3 Gal. 4.7 according to the Greek text.

4 Col. 2.3.

1 Cf. Luke 2.52.

2 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 43.38 (PG 36.548BC) .

3 Through a misprint, the Migne text is incorrect here; cf. Lequien,
Opera 247.

4 1 Tim. 1.7.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 327

flesh was truly united to God the Word — rather, had existence
in Him and identity of person with Him — how did it not
enjoy perfecdy all wisdom and grace? It did not share the
grace and neither did it participate by grace in the things
of the Word; rather, because the human and divine things
had become proper to the one Christ by the hypostatic
union, then, since the same was at once God and man, it
gushed forth with the grace and the wisdom and the fullness
of all good things for the world.

Chapter 23

The word fear has two meanings. Thus, there is natural
fear when the soul is unwilling to be separated from the
body because of the natural feeling of affinity and kinship
implanted in it by the Creator from the beginning. On ac-
count of this it is naturally afraid and distressed and it shrinks
from death. The definition of this kind of fear is: Natural
fear is a force which clings to existence by withdrawal.^
The reason for this is that, if all things have been brought
into existence from non-existence by the Creator, they nat-
urally do not have the desire for non-existence. Furthermore,
a natural property of these things is their instinctive tendency
toward those things by which they are sustained. So, when
God the Word was made man. He, too, had this appetite.
On the one hand, by desiring both food and drink and sleep
and by being naturally acquainted with these He showed
His inclination for the things which sustained His nature;
on the other. He showed His disinclination for things destruc-
tive of His nature, as when He freely withdrew from death
at the time of His passion. For, even though what happened
came about by a law of nature, it was not by compulsion
as with us, because He freely willed to accept what was
natural. Hence, this kind of fear and fright and distress

1 Cf. Maximus, Disputation with Pyrrhus (PG 91.297D) .

328 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

belongs to the passions -which are natural and blameless and
are not subject to sin.

There is still another kind of fear which arises from loss of
reason, from mistrust, and from not knowing the hour of one's
death — as when we are frightened at night by the making
of some noise. This is unnatural, and we define it: Un-
natural fear is an unreasonable withdrawal. This kind the
Lord did not have. Wherefore, except at the time of His
passion. He was never afraid — even though for good reason
He would oftentimes hide himself. For He was not ignorant
of the time.

That He truly experienced fear is affirmed by the divine
Athanasius in his discourse against Apollinaris : ^ 'For this
reason the Lord said: "Now is my soul troubled."^ And the
"now" means this, namely, at the time when He willed; but
all the same it indicates the actuality, because He would
not call actual that which was not, as if the events related
only seemed to happen. For everything happened naturally
and truly.' And further on: Tn no wise does divinity admit
of suffering without a suffering body, nor of affliction and
sorrow without a sorrowing and afflicted soul. Neither does
it become troubled and pray without a mind which is
troubled and prays. However, even though these things did
not result from a defect of nature, they were done to show
reality.' The words 'these things did not result from a defect
of nature,' make it clear that He did not endure them
involuntarily.

Chapter 24

Prayer is an ascent of the mind to God, or the asking
God for things which are fitting. Then, how did the Lord
pray in the matter of Lazarus, and at the time of His passion?
For, since Christ is one and His sacred mind was once and

2 Against Apollinaris 1.16; 2.13 (PG 26.1124A; 1153B).

3 John 12.27. ,

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 329

for all united hypostatically to God the Word, it neither
needed to ascend to God nor to ask of God. It was, rather,
that He appropriated our appearance and impressed what
was ours upon Himself. He became a model for us, He
taught us to ask of God and to lift ourselves up to Him, and
through His sacred mind He opened the way for us to
ascend to God. For, just as He endured the passions and
gave us victory over them,^ so also does He pray and open
up for us, as I said, the way to the ascent to God. And so,
also, does He for our sake fulfill all justice, as He said to
John,^ and reconcile His own Father to us and honor Him
as principle and cause, thus showing Himself to be not
adverse to God. Thus, in the matter of Lazarus, when He
said: 'Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of
the people who stand about have I said it, that they may
believe that thou hast sent me,'^ was it not made quite plain
to all that He had said this to show that He honored His
own Father as His own cause and that He Himself was
not adverse to God?^

When He said: 'Father, if it be possible, let this chalice
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt,'^
is it not clear to everyone^ that He is teaching us to ask
help of God alone in times of trial and to put the divine
will before our own, and that He is showing that He had
truly made His own what is proper to our nature, and that
He actually had two wills that are natural and correspond
to His natures and are not mutually opposed? 'Father,' he
says as being consubstantial, 'if it be possible,' not because
He did not know'' — and what is impossible for God? — ^but
to instruct us to put the divine will before our own. For

1 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.14 (PG 36.121-122)

2 Cf. Matt. 3.15.

3 John 11.41,42.

4 Cf. John Chrysostom, Homily 64 on John 2 (PG 59.355) .

5 Matt. 26.39.

6 Cf. John Chrysostom, Homily 83 on Matthew 1 (PG 58.746-747) .

7 Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.12 (PG 36.1 17C).

330 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

this alone is impossible, namely, that which God does not
wish and does not permit. 'Nevertheless, not as I will but as
thou wilt,' He says as God, since He is of the same will as
the Father, while at the same time He says it as man to
show the natural will of His humanity, for this last naturally
shrinks from death.

Now, the 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?'* He said because He had appropriated our appearance.
For, unless by subtle imaginings a distinction should be
made between what is seen and what is thought, God as
His Father would not be called ours. Nor was He ever
deserted by His divinity — on the contrary, it was ourselves
who were left behind and overlooked. And so He appro-
priated our appearance and prayed these things.

Chapter 25

One should, moreover, know that there are two kinds of
appropriation, the one being natural and substantial and
the other apparent (itpooco-rtLKri) and relative.^ Now, the
natural and substantial is that by which the Lord out of
His love for man assumed both our nature and all that
was natural to it, and in nature and in truth became man
and experienced the things that are natural to man. It is
apparent and relative, however, when one assumes the ap-
pearance (Ttpoaco-riov) of another relatively, as out of pity
or love, and in this other's stead speaks words in his behalf
which in no way concern himself. It was by this last kind
of appropriation that He appropriated our curse and derelic-
tion and such things as are not according to nature, not
because He was or had been such, but because He took on

8 Matt. 27.46.

1 Maximus, Solution of Difficulties of Theodore to Marinus (PG 91.
220BC) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 33 1

oiir appearance and was reckoned as one of us. And such
is the sense of the words, 'being made a curse for us.'^

Chapter 26

God's Word Himself, then, endured all things in His flesh,
while His divine nature, which alone is impassible, remained
unaffected. For, when the one Christ made up of both
divinity and humanity suffered, the passible part of Him
suffered, because it was of its nature to suffer, but the im-
passible did not suffer with it. Thus, since the soul is passible,
it does feel pain and suffer with the body when the body
is hurt, although it itself is not hurt. The divinity, however,
being impassible, does not suffer with the body.

And it should be known that, although we speak of God
having suffered in the flesh, we by no means speak of the
divinity suffering in the flesh or of God suffering through
the flesh. For if, when the sun is shining upon a tree, the
tree should be cut down by an axe, the sun will remain
uncut and unaffected, then how much more will the impas-
sible divinity of the Word hypostatically united with the
flesh remain unaffected when the flesh suffers. And just as
if one should pour water upon a red-hot iron, that which
is naturally disposed to be affected by the water — the fire,
I mean — will be quenched, while the iron remains unharmed,
because it is not of its nature to be destroyed by the water;
how much less did the divinity, which is alone impassible,
endure the suffering of the flesh and still remain inseparable
from it. Now, examples do not have to be absolutely and
unfailingly exact, for, just because it is an example, one must
find in it that which is like and that which is unlike. For
likeness in everything would be identity and not an example,
which is especially true with divine things. So, in the matter

2 Gal. 3.13.

332 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

of theology and the Incarnation, it is impossible to find an
absolutely perfect example.

Chapter 27

Since our Lord Jesus Christ was without sin, 'because he
hath done no iniquity, he who taketh away the sin of the
world, neither was there deceit in his mouth,' ^ He was not
subject to death, even though death had by sin entered into
the world.^ And so for our sake He submits to death and dies
and offers Himself to the Father as a sacrifice for us. For
we had offended Him and it was necessary for Him to take
upon Himself our redemption that we might thus be loosed
from the condemnation — for God forbid that the Lord's
blood should have been offered to the tyrant! Wherefore,
then, death approaches, gulps down the bait of the body,
and is pierced by the hook of the divinity. Then, having
tasted of the sinless and life-giving body, it is destroyed and
gives up all those whom it had swallowed down of old.^
For, just as the darkness entirely disappears when light is let
in, so is destruction driven away at the onset of life, and
life comes to all, while destruction comes to the destroyer.

And so, even though as man He did die and His sacred
soul was separated from His immaculate body, the divinity
remained unseparated from both — the soul, I mean, and
the body. Thus, the one Person was not divided into two
persons. For from the beginning both had existence in the
same way in the Person of the Word, and when they were
separated from each other in death, each one of them re-
mained in the possession of the one Person of the Word.
Hence, the one Person of the Word existed as person both
of the Word and of the soul and of the body, for neither

1 Isa. 53.9; John 1.29.

2 Cf. Rom. 5.12.

3 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Catecheses 24 (PG 45.65A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK THREE 333

the soul nor the body ever had any person of its own other
than that of the Word, and the Person of the Word was
always one and never two. Hence, the Person of Christ was
always one, since, even though the soul was separated from
the body in place, it still was hypostatically united to it
through the Word.

Chapter 28

The word destruction (<pQop&) has two meanings.^ Thus,
it means human sufferings such as hunger, thirst, weariness,
piercing with nails, death — that is separation of the soul
from the body — and the like. In this sense, we say that the
Lord's body was destructible, because He endured aU these
things freely. Destruction, however, also means the complete
dissolution of the body and its reduction to the elements
of which it was composed. By many this is more generally
called corruption (5ia<fi6opd). This the Lord's body did
not experience, as the Prophet David says: 'Because thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy
one to corruption.'^

Therefore, it is impious to say with the insane Julian and
Gaianus that before the resurrection the Lord's body was
indestructible in the first sense. For, if it was thus incor-
ruptible, then it was not consubstantial with us, and the
things such as the hunger, the thirst, the nails, the piercing
of the side, and death which the Gospel says happened
did not really happen, but only seemed to. But, if they only
seemed to happen, then the mystery of the Incarnation is
a hoax and a stage trick; it was in appearance and not in
truth that He was made man and in appearance and not
in truth that we have been saved. But far be it, and let
those who say this have no part of salvation.^ We, however,

1 Cf. Leontius, On Sects 10 (PG 86.1260-1261) .

2 Ps. 15.10.

3 Cf. Anastasius Sin., The Guide 23 <PG 89.300BD^ .

334 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

have gained and shall obtain the true salvation. Moreover,
in the second sense of the word destruction, we confess that
the Lord's body was indestructible, that is to say, incor-
ruptible, even as has been handed down to us by the inspired
Fathers. Nevertheless, we do say that after the Saviour's
resurrection the body of the Lord is indestructible in the first
sense, too. And through His body the Lord has granted the
resurrection and consequent incorruptibility to our body, also.
Himself becoming to us the first fruits of the resurrection
and incorruptibility and impassibility.* 'For this corruptible
must put on incorruption,' says the divine Apostle.'

Chapter 29

The deified soul went down into hell so that, just as the
Sun of Justice rose upon those on earth,* so also might the
light shine upon them under the earth who were sitting in
darkness and the shadow of death ;^ so that, just as He had
brought the good news of peace to those on earth, so also
might He bring that of deliverance to captives and that of
sight to the blind.^ And to them that believed He became a
cause of eternal salvation, while to them that had not He
became a refutation of unbelief, and so also to them in hell,*
'That to him every knee should bow, of those that are in
heaven, on earth, and under the earth.'' And thus, having
loosed them that had been bound for ages. He came back
again from the dead and made the resurrection possible
for us.

4 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.20.

5 Cor. 15.53.

1 Cf. Mai. 4.2.

2 Cf. Isa. 9.2.

3 Cf. Luke 4.19.

4 Cf. 1 Pet. 3.19.

5 Phil. 2.10.

BOOK FOUR

Chapter 1

^i FTER His resurrection from the dead He put aside
^^^ra all His passions, that is to say, ruin, hunger and
thirst, sleep and fatigue, and the like. For, even
though He did taste food after His resurrection,-' it was not
in obedience to any law of nature, because He did not feel
hunger, but by way of dispensation that He might confirm
the truth of the resurrection by showing that the flesh which
had suffered and that which had risen were the same. More-
over, He did not put aside any of the elements of His nature,
neither body nor soul, but kept possession of the body and
the rational, intellectual, willing and acting soul. And thus
He sits at the right hand of the Father and wills our salva-
tion both as God and as man. And, while He acts as God by
working the providence, preservation, and government of all
things. He acts as man in remembering His labors on earth
and in seeing and knowing that He is adored by all rational
creation. For His sacred soul knows that it is hypostatically
united to God the Word and that it is adored not as an
ordinary soul, but as the soul of God. And both the ascent
from earth into heaven and the descending again are actions
of a circumscribed body, for 'he shall so come to you,' it is
said, 'as you have seen him going into heaven.'^

1 Cf. Luke 24.43.

2 Acts 1.11.

335

336 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 2

Now, we say that Christ sat in His body at the right hand
of the Father, yet we do not mean a physical right hand
of the Father. For how would He who is uncircumscribed
have a physical right hand? Right and left hands belong to
those who are circumscribed. What we call the right hand
of the Father is the glory and honor of the Godhead in
which the Son of God existed as God and consubstantial with
the Father before the ages and in which, having in the last
days become incarnate. He sits corporeally with His flesh
glorified together with Him, for He and His flesh are adored
together with one adoration by all creation.^

Chapter 3

Together with the Father and the Holy Ghost we adore
the Son of God, Him who was bodiless before the Incarna-
tion, whereas the same is now become incarnate and has
been made man while at the same time remaining God.
Now, should you by subtle reasonings distinguish what is
seen from what is thought, then according to its own nature
His flesh is not adorable, in so far as it is created.'^ When,
however, it has been united with God the Word, it is adorable
because of Him and in Him. In the same way, a king is
revered whether or not he be robed; and the purple robe,
when it is just a purple robe, is trod upojj and tossed about,
but when it has become a royal vestment it is esteemed and
held in honor, and should anyone treat it with contempt,
he will most likely be condemned to death. And again, it
is not impossible to touch an ordinary piece of wood, but,

1 Cf. Basil, On the Holy Ghost 6.15 (PG 32.89.92) .

1 Cf. Athanasius, Against ApoUinaris 1.6 (PG 26.n06C) ; Epistle to
Adelphius (PG 26.1073D-1076A) ; Epiphanius, Ancoratus 51 (PG
43.105) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 337

after it has been exposed to fire and become a burning coal,
it becomes impossible to touch, not because of itself but
because of the fire combined with it. And it is not the nature
of the wood which is untouchable, but the coal, that is to
say, the burning wood. In the same way, the flesh is not
of its own nature adorable, but in the incarnate Word of
God it is so; not because of itself, but because of the Word
of God hypostatically united to it. Neither do we say that
we adore ordinary flesh, but the flesh of God, that is to say,
God incarnate.

Chapter 4

The Father is Father and not Son.^ The Son is Son and
not Father. The Holy Ghost is Spirit and neither Father
nor Son. This is so because that which is a property is un-
alterable; else, how would it be a property were it to be altered
and changed? For this reason the Son of God becomes Son
of Man, namely, that His peculiar property may remain
unaltered. For, while He was Son of God, He was incarnate
of the holy Virgin and became Son of Man without giving
up His property of filiation.

The Son of God became man in order that He might again
grace man as He had when He made him. For He had made
him to His own image, understanding and free, and to His
own likeness, that is to say, as perfect in virtues as it was
possible for human nature to be, for these virtues are, as it
were, characteristics of the divine nature — freedom from
care and annoyance, integrity, goodness, wisdom, justice,
freedom from all vice. Thus, He put man in communion
with Himself and through this communion with Himself
raised him to incorruptibility, 'for He created man incor-
ruptible.'^ But, since by transgressing the commandment we
obscured and canceled out the characteristics of the divine

1 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 39.12 [PG 36.348B) .

2 Wisd. 2.23.

338 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

image, we were given over to evil and stripped of the divine
communion. 'For what fellowship hath light with darkness?'^
Then, since we had been removed from life, we fell subject
to the destruction of death. But, since He had shared with
us what was better and we had not kept it. He now takes
His share of what is worse, of our nature I mean to say,
that through Himself and in Himself He may restore what
was to His image and what to His likeness, while also teach-
ing us the virtuous way of life which He has made easy of
ascent for us through Him, and that, having become the
first fruits of our resurrection. He may by the communication
of life free us from death and restore the useless and worn-
out vessel, and so that, having called us to the knowledge
of God, He may redeem us from the tyranny of the Devil
and by patience and humility teach us to overthrow the
tyrant.

Indeed, the worship of demons has ceased. Creation has
been sanctified with the divine blood. Altars and temples of
idols have been overthrown. Knowledge of God has been
implanted. The consubstantial Trinity, the uncreated God-
head is worshiped, one true God, Creator and Lord of all.
Virtue is practiced. Hope of the resurrection has been granted
through the resurrection of Christ. The demons tremble at
the men who were formerly in their power. Yes, and most
wonderful of all is that all these things were successfully
brought about through a cross and suffering and death. The
Gospel of the knowledge of God has been preached to the
whole world and has put the adversaries to flight not by
war and arms and camps. Rather, it was a few unarmed,
poor, unlettered, persecuted, tormented, done-to-death men,
who, by preaching One who had died crucified in the flesh,
prevailed over the wise and powerful, because the almighty
power of the Crucified was with them. That death which was
once so terrible has been defeated and He who was once
despised and hated is now preferred before life. These are

3 2 Cor. 6.14.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 339

the successes consequent upon the advent of the Christ; these
are the signs of His power. For it was not as when through
Moses He divided the sea and brought one people safely
through out of Egypt and the bondage of Pharao. Rather,
He delivered all humanity from death's destruction and the
tyrant that was sin. It was not by force that He led sinners
to virtue, not by having them swallowed up by the earth,
nor by having them burnt up by fire, nor by ordering them
stoned to death;* it was with gentleness and forbearance
that He persuaded men to choose virtue and for virtue's
sake to undergo sufferings with rejoicing. Sinners were for-
merly tormented, yet they clung to their sin, and sin was
accounted a god by them; but now, for piety and virtue's
sake, they choose torments, tortures, and death.

Well done, O Christ, O Wisdom and Power and Word
of God, and God almighty! What should we resourceless
people give Thee in return for all things? For all things are
Thine and Thou askest nothing of us but that we be saved.
Even this Thou hast given us, and by Thy ineffable goodness
Thou art grateful to those who accept it. Thanks be to Thee
who hast given being and the grace of well-being and who
by Thy ineffable condescension hast brought back to this
state those who fell from it.

Chapter 5

Before the Incarnation, the Person of God the Word was
simple and uncompounded, bodiless and uncreated. But when
it had assumed flesh, it became person to the flesh also, and
it became compounded of the divinity, which it always had,
and the flesh, which it took on in addition. Being thus found
in two natures, it bears the properties of the two, so that
the same one person is at once uncreated in its divinity and
created in its humanity, both visible and invisible. Other-
wise, we are obliged either to divide the one Christ and

4 r.f Niim lfi.Sl-S3.35: Lev. 20.2.

340 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

say that there are two persons, or to deny the difference of the
natures and thus introduce change and mingling.

Chapter 6

Not as some falsely hold was the mind united to God the
Word before the taking on of flesh from the Virgin and
from that time called Christ. This absurdity results from the
nonsense of Origen's teaching of the pre-existence of souls.'"'
We say that the Son and Word of God became Christ the
instant that He came to dwell in the womb of the holy
Ever- Virgin and was made flesh without undergoing change,
the instant that the flesh was anointed with the divinity.
For, as Gregory the Theologian says, there was such an
anointing.^ Likewise, the most holy Cyril of Alexandria, in
writing to Emperor Theodosius, said as follows: 'I say that
neither the Word of God as distinct from the humanity, nor
the temple born of woman as not united to the Word, may
be called Christ Jesus. The Word which is from God is
considered to be Christ when inefifably brought together with
the humanity in the union of the dispensation.'^ And to the
empresses he writes thus:* 'There are some who say that
the name Christ properly belongs to the Word only as con-
sidered in Himself as existing begotten of God the Father.
But we have not been taught to think or talk in that way,
because it is when the Word was made flesh that we say
that He received the name of Christ Jesus. For, since He
was anointed with the oil of gladness,^ that is to say, anointed
with the Spirit by God the Father, for this reason is He
called Christ, or Anointed. That the anointing was of the
humanity no right minded person would doubt.' And the

1 a. De principiis 2.9.6 (PG 11.230 et al.) .

2 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.21 (PG 36.132B) .

3 Cyril of Alexandria, To Emperor Theodosius 28 (PG 76.1 173C) .

4 Ibid., To the Empresses 13 (PG 76.1220CD) .

5 Cf. Ps. 44.8; Heb. 1.9.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 341

renowned Athanasius says to this effect, somewhere in his
discourse on the saving coming of Christ: 'God (the Word)
as existing before coming to dwell in the flesh was not man
but God with God, being invisible and impassible. But, when
He became man, He took the name Christ, because the
passion and death are consequent upon this name."

Now, even though sacred Scripture does say: 'Therefore
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness,'
one must know that sacred Scripture frequently uses the past
tense for the future, as, for example: 'Afterwards, he was
seen upon earth and conversed with men," for God had
not yet been seen by man nor had conversed with them
when this was said. And again : 'Upon the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat and wept,'* for these things had not yet taken
place.

Chapter 7

'AysvriTOV and ysvriTOV, written with one v, belong to
nature and mean 'uncreated' and 'created.'^ On the other
hand, dysvvriTov and yevvriTOV — that is to say 'unbegotten'
and 'begotten' — being spelled with two v's, belong not to
nature, but to person. Thus, the divine nature is dy£vr)Toq,
that is to say, uncreated, whereas all things except the divine
nature are yevTiTd, that is to say, created. Now, in the
divine and uncreated nature the unbegotten is found in the
Father, for He was not begotten, whereas the begotten is
found in the Son, since He is eternally begotten of the Father,
and the procession is found in the Holy Ghost. Moreover,
the first individuals of every species of Uving beings were
unbegotten but not uncreated, because they were made by

6 Athanasius, Against Apollinaris 2.1-2 (PG 26.1 133B) .

7 Bar. 3.38.

8 Ps. 136.1.

1 Cf. above. Book I, ch. 8.

342 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

the Creator and not begotten of their kind. For, while
ysvriaic; is creation, Y£VVT]aiq with God is the proceeding of
the consubstantial Son from the Father alone, and with human
beings the proceeding of a consubstantial person from the
conjunction of male and female. Thus, we know that to be
begotten belongs not to nature, but to person, for, if it did
belong to nature, we should not find the begotten and the
unbegotten in the same nature. So, the holy Mother of God
engendered a Person who is known in two natures and who
in His divinity was timelessly begotten of the Father, but
who in the last days became incarnate of her and was born
in the flesh.

Now, should they who are inquiring intimate that He who
was begotten of the holy Mother of God is two natures, we
shall say: Certainly He is two natures, for the same is both
God and man. It is the same way with the crucifixion, resur-
rection, and ascension, too, because these things do not belong
to nature, but person. Therefore, Christ, while being two
natures, suffered in His passible nature and in it was crucified,
for it was in the flesh that He hung on the cross, and not
in the divinity. Should they say, while inquiring of us: Did
two natures dies? We shall reply : No, indeed. Therefore, two
natures were not crucified either, but the Christ was begotten,
that is to say, the Divine Word was incarnate and begotten
in the flesh, and He was crucified in the flesh, suffered in the
flesh, and died in the flesh, while His divinity remained
unaffected.

Chapter 8

He who has been born first is first-born, whether he is the
only child or has preceded other brothers. So, if the Son
of God were called 'first-bom' without being called 'only-
begotten,' then we should understand Him to be first-bom
of creatures as being a creature.'^ Since, however. He is called

1 Cf. Gregory o£ Nyssa, Against Eunomius 4.3 (PG 45.636-637) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 343

both first-born and only-begotten, we must maintain both
of these as applying to Him. Thus, we say that He is 'the
first-born of every creature,'^ since He is from God, and
creation is also from God. But, since He alone is begotten
timelessly of the substance of God the Father, He has fittingly
been called the only-begotten and first-born Son, and not
first-created, since creation is not of the substance of the
Father, but has been brought by His will from nothing into
being. ^ He is, moreover, 'first-bom amongst many breth-
ren,'* for, while He was only-begotten. He was also bom of
a mother. For this very reason, that He shared flesh and
blood along with us and then, also, that we were made sons
of God through Him by being adopted through baptism, He
who is by nature Son of God has become first-bom among
us who have by adoption and grace become sons of God and
are accounted as His brethren. This is why He said : 'I ascend
to my Father and to your Father.'^ He did not say 'our
Father', but 'my Father,' that is to say, by nature, and 'your
Father', by grace. And He said 'my God and your God,' and
He did not say 'our God,' but 'my God.' And should you
by subtle reasonings distinguish what is seen from what is
thought, then it is as Creator and Lord that He said
'your God.'

Chapter 9

We confess one baptism unto remission of sins and life
everlasting. For baptism shows the death of the Lord.'^ Indeed,
through baptism we are buried with the Lord, as the divine
Apostle says.^ Therefore, just as the death of the Lord hap-
pened but once, so is it necessary to be baptized but once. It is

2 Col. 1.15.

3 C£. Athanasius, Ecthesis 3 (PG 25.204-205) .

4 Rom. 8.29.

5 John 20.17.

1 C£. Rom. 6.3.

2 Cf. Col. 2.12.

344 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

further necessary, in accordance with the Lord's word,^ to be
baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost and thus to learn to confess Father and
Son and Holy Ghost. Consequently, all those who have been
baptized in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and
have thus been taught the one nature of the Godhead in three
Persons, but who are baptized over again, these crucify the
Christ again, as the divine Apostle says: 'For it is impossible
for those who were once illuminated,' and so forth, 'to be
renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves
the Christ and making him a mockery.''' All those, however,
who have not been baptized in the Holy Trinity must be bap-
tized again. For, even though the divine Apostle says that
'we have been baptized in Christ and in his death,'^' he does
not mean that the baptismal invocation should be made
thus, but that baptism is a figure of Christ's death. Indeed,
by the three immersions baptism signifies the three days of the
Lord's burial. Therefore, being 'baptized in Christ' merely
means believing in Him and being baptized. Besides, it is
impossible to believe in Christ without having been taught
to confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. For
Christ is the Son of the Uving God, whom the Father anointed
with the Holy Ghost,^ as the divine David says: 'Therefore
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows,'^ and Isaias, speaking in the name of the
Lord: 'Ihe spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord
hath anointed me.'* Indeed, it was to teach His own di.sciplc.s
the invocation that He said, 'Baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Gho-st.'" For
God had created us for immortality," but, since we disobeyed

3 Cf. Matt. 28.19.

4 Heb. 6.4-6.

5 Rom. 6.3.

6 Cf. Matt. 16.16; Acts 10.38.

7 Ps. 44.8.

8 Isa. 61.1.

9 Matt. 28.19.

10 Cf. Methodius, On the Resurrection {PG I8.268C) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 345

His saving commandment, He condemned us to the destruc-
tion of death in order that what was evil might not be immor-
tal. But because He is compassionate, He condescended to His
servants and, becoming like us, redeemed us from destruction
by His own suffering. He made a fountain of forgiveness
gush out for us from His sacred and immaculate side,^^ both
water unto regeneration and the washing away of sin and
destruction, and blood as drink productive of life everlasting.
Moreover, He has given us a commandment to be born again
of water and the Spirit,^^ with the Holy Ghost coming upon
the water through prayer and invocation. For, since man
is twofold,^^ being of body and soul, the purification He gave
us is also twofold, through water and the Spirit, with the
Spirit renewing in us what is to His image and likeness and
the water by the grace of the Spirit purifying the body from
sin and delivering it from destruction — the water completing
the figure of the death and the Spirit producing the guar-
antee of life.

For from the beginning 'the spirit of God moved over the
waters',^* and over and again Scripture testifies to the fact
that water is purifying. ^^ It was with water that God washed
away the sin of the world in the time of Noe.-^^ It was with
water that every one who was unclean was purified in accord-
ance with the Law, and even their garments were washed
with water.^'^ By burning up the holocaust with water Elias
showed that the grace of the Spirit was mixed with the
water. ^* And in accordance with the Law almost everything
was purified with water, for the things which are perceptible
to the eye are symbols of those which are perceptible to the
mind. Indeed, it is in the soul that the regeneration is brought

U Cf. John 19.34.

12 Cf. John 3.5.

13 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 40.8 (PG 36.368A) .

14 Gen. 1.2.

15 Cf. Lev. 15.

16 Cf. Gen. 6.17.

17 Cf. Lev. 15.

18 Cf. 3 Kings 18.34,38.

346 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

about. Even though we be creatures, faith is capable of
making us to be adopted through the Spirit and brought
to our former state of blessedness.

By baptism, then, remission of sins is granted to all alike,
but the grace of the Spirit is granted in proportion to the
faith and the previous purification. Now, therefore, we receive
the first fruits of the Holy Ghost through baptism, and this
rebirth becomes the beginning of another life for us, a seal,
a safeguard and an illumination.

It is furthermore necessary for us to make every effort
to keep ourselves pure from filthy works, lest we return like
the dog to his vomit''^ and once more make ourselves slaves
to sin. For faith without works is dead ; so, likewise, are works
without faith, because true faith is proved by works. ^^

What is more, we are baptized in the Holy Trinity because
the things that are baptized have need of the Holy Trinity
for their preservation and permanence, and the three Persons
cannot but be present together with each other, for the Holy
Trinity is indivisible.

A first baptism was that of the flood unto the cutting away
of sin. A second was that by the sea and the cloud, ^^ for the
cloud is a symbol of the Spirit, while the sea is a symbol of
the water. A third is that of the Law, for every unclean person
washed himself with water and also washed his garments
and thus entered into the camp.^^ A fourth is that of John,
which was an introductory baptism leading those thus baptized
to penance,^^ so that they might believe in Christ. T indeed,'
he says, 'baptize you in water: but he that shall come after
me he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.'" Thus,
John purified with water in advance to prepare for the Spirit.
A fifth is the Lord's baptism with which He Himself was bap-

19 C£. 2 Pet. 2.22; Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 39.14 (PG 36.352A) .

20 C£. James 2.22,26.

21 C£. 1 Cor. 10.2; Gregory Nazianzen, op. cit. 17 (PG 36.353C) .

22 C£. Lev. 14.8.

23 C£. Gregory Nazianzen, loc. cit.

24 Matt. 3.H.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 347

tized. He, however, was baptized not that He Himself stood
in any need of purification but that by making my purifica-
tion His own He might 'crush the heads of the dragons in the
waters,'^' wash away the sin and bury all of the old Adam
in the water, sanctify the Baptist, fuUfiU the Law, reveal the
mystery of the Trinity, and become for us a model and
example for the reception of baptism. And we, too, are bap-
tized with the perfect baptism of the Lord, which is by water
and the Spirit. Christ is said to baptize in fire, because He
poured out the grace of the Spirit upon the holy Apostles
in the form of tongues of fire, as the Lord Himself says : 'John
indeed baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost and fire, not many days hence.'^^ Or it is
because of the chastising baptism of the fire to come that
He is said to baptize with fire. A sixth is that which is by
penance and tears and which is truly painful.^'' A seventh
is that which is by blood and martyrdom.^^ Christ Himself
was also baptized with this for our sake.^° It is exceedingly
sublime and blessed in so far as it is not sullied by second
stains. An eighth, which is the last, is not saving, but, while
being destructive of evil, since evil and sin no longer hold
sway, it chastises endlessly.

The Holy Ghost came down in bodily form as a dove
to intimate the first fruits of our baptism and to give honor
to His body, because it, that is to say. His body, was through
its deification God.'" And it was also because, earlier, it once
was a dove that brought the good news of the cessation of the
flood. And the Holy Ghost descended upon the holy Apostles
in the form of fire, because He is God, and 'God is a con-
suming fire.'^^

25 Ps. 73.13.

26 Acts 1.5.

27 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, op. cit. {PC 36.356A) .

28 Cf. Ibid.

29 Cf. Luke 12.50.

30 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, op. cit. 16 {PG 36.353B) .

31 Cf. Deut. 4.24; Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 41.12 (PG 36.445A) .

348 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Oil is used at baptism to show our anointing and to make
us Christs. It is also to proclaim God's mercy upon us through
Holy Ghost, since the dove had also carried an olive branch
to those who had been delivered from the flood.'^

John was baptized when he placed his hand upon the divine
head of the Lord. He was also baptized in his own blood.

When the faith of the candidates has been testified to by
works, baptism should not be deferred.^ ^ Should, however,
a candidate receive baptism fraudulently, he will be con-
demned rather than helped.

Chapter 10

Faith, indeed, is of two kinds. Thus, 'faith cometh by hear-
ing,''^ for, when we hear the sacred Scriptures, we believe
in the teaching of the Holy Ghost. And this faith is made
perfect by all those things which Christ has ordained; it
believes truly, it is devout, and it keeps the commandments
of Him who has renewed us. For he who does not believe
in accordance with the tradition of the Catholic Church
or who through untoward works holds communion with the
Devil is without faith.

Then again, there is a faith 'which is the substance of things
to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.'^
This is an undoubting and unquestioning hope both for the
things promised us by God and for the success of our petitions.
The first kind of faith comes from our faculty of judgment
(Yvcbj^T]), whereas the second is one of the gifts of the Spirit.

Furthermore, one must know that by baptism we are cir-

32 Cf. Gen. 8.11. There is a sort of pun here, inasmuch as the Greek
^vord for 'mercy' very closely resembles that for 'olive tree."

33 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 40.1 1 (PG 36.372) .

1 Rom. 10.17.

2 Heb. 11.1.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 349

cumcised of the entire covering which we have borne from
birth, sin that is, and become spiritual Israelites and a
people of God.

Chapter 11

'The word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is fool-
ishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the
power of God."^ For 'the spiritual man judgeth all things,
but the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are
of the Spirit.'^ For they are foolishness to such as do not
receive them in faith and conclude to the goodness and omni-
potence of God, but by human and natural reasoning inquire
into divine things. For all the things of God are above the
natural order and beyond speech and understanding. And
should one consider how and why God brought all things from
nothing into being and should he try to arrive at this by
natural reasoning, he will not succeed. For such knowledge
is sensual and devilish.^ If, however, one is guided by faith
and concludes to the goodness, omnipotence, truth, wisdom,
and justice of the Godhead, then he will find all things to be
smooth and even and the road straight. Without faith it is
impossible to be saved,* since by faith all things endure,
both human and spiritual. For a farmer does not plow a fur-
row in the earth without faith, nor a merchant entrust his
life to a bit of wood on the raging high seas. Neither are
marriages contracted nor anything else in life done without
faith. By faith we understand that aU things have been
brought from nothing into being by the power of God, and
by faith we prosper in all things, both human and divine.
Faith is, moreover, an assent devoid of all curiosity.

Every action of Christ and all His working of miracles

1 1 Cor. 1.18.

2 1 Cor. 2.13,14.

3 Cf. James 3.15.

4 Of. Heb. 11.6.

350 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

were truly very great and divine and wonderful, but of all
things the most wonderful is His honorable cross. For by
nothing else except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ has
death been brought low, the sin of our first parent destroyed,
hell plundered, resurrection bestowed, the power given us to
despise the things of this world and even death itself, the
road back to the former blessedness made smooth, the gates
of paradise opened, our nature seated at the right hand
of God, and we made children and heirs of God. By the
cross all things have been set aright. 'For all we who are bap-
tized in Christ,' says the Apostle, 'are baptized in his death'
and 'as many of us as have been baptized in Christ have
put on Christ' ; moreover, 'Christ is the power and wisdom
of God."" See how the death of Christ, the cross, that is to say,
has clothed us with the subsistent wisdom and power of God !
And the word of the Cross is the power of God, whether
because by it God's might. His victory over death, that is, was
manifested to us, or because, just as the four arms of the
cross are made solid and bound together by their central part,
so are the height and the depth, the length and the breadth,
that is to say, all creation both visible and invisible, held
together by the power of God.

This we have been given as a sign on our forehead, just
as Israel was given the circumcision, for by it we faithful
are set apart from the infidels and recognized. It is a shield
and armor and a trophy against the Devil. It is a seal that
the Destroyer may not strike us, as Scripture says.' It is
a raising up for those who lie fallen, a support for those who
stand, a staff for the infirm, a crook for the shepherded, a
guide for the wandering, a perfecting of the advanced, salva-
tion for soul and body, an averter of all evils, a cause of all
good things, a destruction of sin, a plant of resurrection, and
a tree of eternal life.

So, then, that honorable and most truly venerable tree

5 Rom. 6.3; Gal. 3.27; 1 Cor. 1.24.

6 Cf. Exod. 12.23.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 35 1

upon which Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for us is itself
to be adored, because it has been sanctified by contact with
the sacred body and blood. So also are the nails, the lance,
the garments, and such sacred resting places of His as the
manger, the cave, saving Golgotha, the life-giving tomb,
Sion the citadel of the churches, and others. Thus, David
the forefather of God says: 'We will go into his tabernacle:
we will adore in the place where his feet stood,' and that
he means the cross is evident from what follows: 'Arise,
O Lord, into thy resting place''' — for the resurrection follows
after the cross. Now, if the house, the bed, and the clothing
of our loved ones are dear to us, then how much more the
things of our God and Saviour by which we also have
been saved!

And we also adore the likeness of the honorable and life-
giving cross, even though it be made of another material, not
that we honor the material — God forbid! — but the likeness
as a symbol of Christ. Thus, when He explained to His
disciples saying: 'Then shall appear the sign of the Son of
man in heaven,'* He meant the cross. For this reason, also,
the angel of the resurrection said to the women: 'You seek
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.'^ Likewise, the Apostle:
'But we preach Christ crucified.'^" Now, there are many
Christs and Jesuses, but only one Crucified, and he did not
say 'pierced by a lance' but 'crucified.' Therefore, the sign.
of Christ is to be adored, for, wherever the sign may be, there
He, too, will be. If, however, the form should happen to be
destroyed, the material of which the likeness of the cross
was composed is not to be adored, even though it be gold
or precious stones. Thus, we adore everything that has refer-
ence to God, although it is to Him that we direct the
worship.

7 Ps. 131.7,8.

8 Matt. 24.30.

9 Mark 16.6.
10 1 Cor. 1.23.

352 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

The tree of life which was planted by God in paradise pre-
figured this honorable Cross, for, since death came by a tree,
it was necessary for life and the resurrection to be bestowed
by a tree. It was Jacob who first prefigured the cross, when
he adored the top of the rod of Joseph." And when he
blessed Joseph's sons with his hands crossed,^^ he most clearly
described the sign of the cross. [Then there were] the rod
of Moses which smote the sea with the form of a cross and
saved Israel while causing Pharao to be swallowed up; his
hands stretched out in the form of a cross and putting Amalec
to flight; the bitter water being made sweet by a tree, and
the rock being struck and gushing forth streams of water ;'^^
the rod of Aaron miraculously confirming the dignity of the
priesthood; a serpent raised in triumph upon a tree, as if
dead, with the tree preserving those who with faith beheld
the dead enemy,^* even as Christ was nailed up in flesh
of sin but which had not known sin; great Moses calling
out: 'You will see your life hanging before your eyes on
a tree';^'' and Isaias: T have spread forth my hands all day
to an unbelieving and contradictory people. '^^ May we who
adore this attain to the portion of Christ the crucified. Amen.

Chapter 12

It is not without any reason or by chance that we wor-
ship toward the east. On the contrary, since we are composed
of a visible and an invisible nature, of an intellectual nature
and a sensitive one, that is, we also offer a twofold worship
to the Creator. It is just as we also sing both with our mind
and with our bodily lips, and as we are baptized both in

11 Cf. Heb. 11.21; Gen. 47.31 (Septuagint) .

12 Cf. Gen. 48.13-15.

13 Cf. Exod. I4.16f£.; IV.lIff.; 15.25; 17.6.

14 Cf. Num. 17.8; 21.9.

15 Deut. 28.66 (Septuagint, except for the phrase 'on a tree') .

16 Isa. 65J2 (Septuagint) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 353

water and in the Spirit, and as we are united to the Lord
in two ways when we receive the sacrament and the grace
of the Spirit.

And so, since God is spiritual light^ and Christ in sacred
Scripture is called 'Sun of Justice' and 'Orient,'^ the East
should be dedicated to His worship. For everything beautiful
should be dedicated to God from whom everything that
is good receives its goodness. AJ50, the divine David says:
'Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: sing ye to the Lord;
who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east.'^
And still again. Scripture says: 'And the Lord had planted
a paradise in Eden to the east; wherein he placed man whom
he had formed,' and whom He cast out, when He had
transgressed, 'and made him to live over against the paradise
of pleasure,'* or in the west. Thus it is that, when we wor-
ship God, we long for our ancient fatherland and gaze toward
it. The tabernacle of Moses had the veil and the propitiatory
to the east; and the tribe of Juda, as being the more honor-
able, pitched their tents on the east; and in the celebrated
temple of Solomon the gate of the Lord was set to the east.^
As a matter of fact, when the Lord was crucified, He looked
toward the west, and so we worship gazing towards Him.
And when he was taken up, He ascended to the east and
thus the Apostles worshiped Him and thus He shall come
in the same way as they had seen Him going into heaven,*
as the Lord Himself said : 'As lightning cometh out of the east
and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be.'' And so, while we are awaiting Him,
we worship toward the east. This is, moreover, the unwritten

44.1-2.

1

C£.

1 John 1.5.

2

Cf.

Mai. 4.2; Zach. 3.8;

; Luke 1.78,

3

Ps.

67.33,34.

4

Gen. 2.8; 3.24

(Septuagint) .

5

Cf.

Lev. 16.14;

Num.

2.3; Ezech.

6

Cf.

Acts 1.11.

7

Matt. 24.27.

354 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

tradition of the Apostles, for they have handed many things
down to us unwritten.*

Chapter 13

Because of the exceedingly great wealth of His goodness,
the good, all-good, and exceedingly good God, who is all
goodness, did not rest content that the Good, or His nature,
should just be and not be shared by anything.^ For this
reason, He first made the spiritual and heavenly powers,
and then the visible and sensible world, and then, finally,
man of the spiritual and the sensible. Hence, all things He
has made participate in His goodness by the fact that they
have being. For He is being to them all, since 'in him are
all things,'^ not only because He has brought them from
nothing into being, but because it is by His operation that
all things He made are kept in existence and held together.
Living things, however, participate more abundantly, because
they participate in the good both by their being and by their
living. But rational beings, while they participate in the good
in the aforementioned ways, do so still more by their very
rationality. For they are in a way more akin to Him, even
though He is, of course, immeasurably superior.

Since man was made both rational and free, he received
the power to be unceasingly united to God by his own choice,
provided, of course, that he persevere in the good, that is to
say, in obedience to his Creator. Then, when man became
disobedient to the commandment of Him who had made
him and thus became subject to death and corruption, the
Maker and Creator of our kind, through the bowels of His
mercy, likened Himself to us and became man in all things

8 Cf. Basil, On the Holy Ghost 27.65 (PG 32.188A) .

1 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon ih.h (PG 36.629A) .

2 Rom. 11.36.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TOUR 355

except sin and was united to our nature. Thus, because we
did not keep what He had imparted to us, His own image
and His own spirit, He now participates in our poor weak
nature so that He may render us pure and incorrupt and
make us once more participators in His divinity.

It was moreover, necessary not only for the first fruits
of our nature, but also for every man who so wished. And
it was necessary that every such man should be born with
a second birth and nourished with a new food fit for the
new birth, and thus attain to the measure of perfection.
Hence, by His own birth, or incarnation, and by His bap-
tism and passion and resurrection. He freed our nature from
the sin of our first parent, from death and corruption. And
He became the first-fruit of the resurrection and set Himself
to be a way, a model, and an example, so that we, too,
might follow in His footsteps and become by adoption, as He
is by nature, sons and heirs of God and joint heirs together
with Him.^ Thus, He gave us, as I have said, a second birth,
so that, as we had been born of Adam and had been likened
to him and had become heir to his curse and corruption,
we might by being born anew of Him be likened to Him
and become heir to His incorruption and blessing and glory.

Now, since this Adam is spiritual, it was necessary that
there be a spiritual birth and also a spiritual food. But, since
we are individuals of a twofold nature and compounded,
it is necessary that the birth also be of a twofold nature and
that the food likewise be compounded. Hence, the birth
was given us by water and the Spirit, by holy baptism,
I mean, while the food was the Bread of Life itself, our Lord
Jesus Christ who had come down from heaven.* For, when
He was about to suffer death freely for our sake, on the night
in which He delivered Himself up. He made a new testament

3 Cf. Rom. 8.17.

4 Cf. John 6.48.

356 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

for His holy disciples and Apostles and, through them, for
all that believe in Him. So, when He had eaten the old
Pasch with His disciples in the upper chamber on holy and
glorious Mount Sion and had fullfilled the old testament.
He washed the feet of His disciples and thus showed a symbol
of holy baptism.^ Then, after He had broken bread, He gave
it to them saying: 'Take ye and eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you unto remission of sins.'* And in like manner
He took also the chalice of wine and water and gave it to
them, saying: 'Drink ye all of this. This is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for you unto remission of sins.
This do in commemoration of me. For as often as you shall
eat this bread and drink this chalice, you shall show the
death of the Son of man and confess his resurrection, until
he come."

If, then, 'the word of the Lord is living and effectual,"
and if 'whatsoever the Lord pleased he hath done' ;' if He
said : 'Be light made, and it was made. Be a firmament made,
and it was made';^" if by the word of the Lord the heavens
were established, and all the power of them by the spirit
of his mouth' ;'^-'- if heaven and earth, water and fire, and
air and the whole universe of these were made perfect by the
word of the Lord, and this much famed living being, too,
which is man; if by His will God the Word Himself became
man and without seed caused the pure and undefiled blood
of the blessed Ever-Virgin to form a body for Himself; — if
all this, then can He not make the bread His body and the
■wine and water His blood? In the beginning He said: 'Let

5 Cf. John 13.1-15.

6 Cf. 1 Cor. 11.24. The 'which is broken for you' is not strictly Scrip-
tural but belongs to the most ancient liturgical tradition and still
survives in most eastern Liturgies.

7 Cf. 1 Cor. 11.25-26. This form, as well as that of the consecration
of the bread just mentioned, is the form of the Liturgy of St. James
which was commonly used in Syria and Palestine.

8 Heb. 4.12.

9 Ps. 134.6.

10 Gen. 1.3.6.

11 Ps. 32.6.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 357

the earth bring forth the green herb,'^^ and even until now,
when the rain falls, the earth brings forth its own shoots
under the influence and power of the divine command. God
said: 'This is my body,' and, 'This is my blood,' and, 'This
do in commemoration of me,' and by His almighty command
it is done, until He shall come, for what He said was 'until
he come.' And through the invocation the overshadowing
power of the Holy Ghost becomes a rainfall for this new
cultivation. For, just as all things whatsoever God made
He made by the operation of the Holy Ghost, so also it is by
the operation of the Spirit that these things are done which
surpass nature and cannot be discerned except by faith alone.
'How shall this be done to me,' asked the blessed Virgin,
because I know not man?' The archangel Gabriel answered,
'The Holy Ghost shaU come upon thee and the power of the
Most High shall overshadow thee."^^ And now you ask how
the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine and
water the blood of Christ. And I tell you that the Holy Ghost
comes down and works these things which are beyond descrip-
tion and understanding.

Now, bread and wine are used'^* because God knows human
weakness and how most things that are not constantly and
habitually used cannot be put up with and are shunned. With
His usual condescension, therefore. He does through the
ordinary things of nature those which surpass the natural
order. And just as in the case of baptism, because it is the
custom of men to wash themselves with water and anoint
themselves with oil He joined the grace of the Spirit to oil
and water and made it a laver of regeneration, so, because
it is men's custom to eat bread and drink water and wine
He joined His divinity to these and made them His body
and blood, so that by the ordinary natural things we might
be raised to those which surpass the order of nature.

12 Gen. 1.11.

13 Luke 1.34,35.

14 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Catechesi 37 (PG 45.93ff.) .

358 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

This is the body which is truly united to the Godhead, the
same which is from the blessed Virgin. This is not because that
body which was taken up to heaven comes down from heaven,
but because the very bread and wine are changed into the
body and blood of God. However, should you inquire as to
the manner in which this is done, let it suffice for you to hear
that it is done through the Holy Ghost, just as it was through
the Holy Ghost that the Lord made flesh subsist for Him-
self and in Himself from the blessed Mother of God. .And
more than this we do not know, except that the word of God
is true and effective and omnipotent, but the manner in
which it is so is impossible to find out. What is more, it is not
amiss to say this, that just as bread by being eaten and
wine and water by being drunk are naturally changed into
the body of the person eating and drinking and yet do not
become another body than that which the person had
before, so in the same way are the bread of the offertory
and the wine and water supernaturally changed into the
body and blood of Christ by the invocation and coming
down of the Holy Ghost, yet they are not two bodies, but
one and the same.

Hence, it is unto remission of sins and eternal life and
unto a safeguard for body and soul and for such as partake
worthily thereof and with faith. But for .such as receive
unworthily and without faith it is unto chastisement and
punishment. It is just as the Lord's death has become lift
and immortality for those who believe, whereas for those who
do not and for those who killed the Lord it is unto chastise-
ment and eternal punishment.

The bread and wine arc not a figure of the body and
blood of Christ — God forbid! — but the actual deified body
of the Lord, because the Lord Himself said: 'This is my
body'; not 'a figure of my body' but 'my body,' and not
'a figure of my blood' but 'my blood.' Even before this He
had said to the Jews: 'except you eat of the flesh of the

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 359

Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life
in you. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink
indeed.' And again: 'He that eateth me, shall live.'^^

Wherefore, in all fear and with a pure conscience and
undoubting faith let us approach, and it will be to us alto-
gether as we believe and do not doubt. And let us honor
it with all purity of body and soul, for it is twofold. Let
us approach it with burning desire, and with our hands
folded in the form of a cross^^ let us receive the body of
the Crucified. With eyes, lips, and faces turned toward it
let us receive the divine burning coal, so that the fire of
the coal may be added to the desire within us to consume
our sins and enlighten our hearts, and so that by this com-
munion of the divine fire we may be set afire and deified.
Isaias saw a live coal,'-' and this coal was not plain wood
but wood joined with fire. Thus also, the bread of com-
munion is not a plain bread, but bread joined with the
Godhead. And the body joined with the Godhead is not one
nature. On the contrary, that of the body is one, whereas
that of the Godhead joined with it is another — so that both
together are not one nature, but two.

It was with bread and wine that Melchisedech, the priest
of the most high God, received Abraham, when he was
returning from the slaughter of the alien tribes.-'* That altar
prefigured this mystical altar, even as that priest was a type
and figure of the true Archpriest who is Christ. For 'thou,'
He says, 'art a priest forever according to the order of Mel-
chidesech."-^ This bread was figured by the loaves of proposi-
tion. This is quite plainly the pure and unbloody sacrifice
which the Lord, through the mouth of the Prophet, said

15 John 6.54-58.

16 Cf. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Discourse 23.21 {PG 33.1124B-
\\25A.) ; Council in Trullo (Quinisext) , Can. 101, Hardouin, Acta
Conciliorum 3 (Paris 1714) , cols. 1696E-1697A.

17 Cf. Isa. 6.6.

18 Cf. Gen. 14.18; Heb. 7.1.

19 Ps. 109.4; Heb. 7.17.

360 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

■was to be offered to Him from the rising of the sun even
to its going down.^"

It is Christ's body and blood entering into the composi-
tion of our soul and body without being consumed, without
being corrupted, without passing into the privy — God forbid !
— but into our substance for our sustenance, a bulwark
against every sort of harm and a purifier from all unclean-
liness — as if He were to take adultered gold and purify it
by the discerning fire, so that in the life to come we shall
not be condemned with the world. For He purifies by dis-
eases and all sort of seizures, even as the divine Apostle
says: 'But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be
judged. But whilst we are judged, we are chastised by the
Lord, that we be not condemned with this world.' And this
is what he says: 'For he that partaketh unworthily of the
Lord eateth and drinketh judgment to himself. '^■'- When we
are purified by it, we become one with the body of the
Lord and with His spirit, and we become the body of Christ.

This bread is the first-fruits of the bread to come, which
is the supersubstantial bread.^^ For super substantial either
means that which is to come, that is, the bread of the world
to come, or it means that which is taken for the sustenance
of our substance. So, whether it be the one or the other,
the term will be suitably applicable to the body of the Lord,
because, since the flesh of the Lord was conceived of the
life-giving Spirit, it is itself life-giving spirit — for 'that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit.'^' I say this not to detract from
the nature of the body, but because I wish to show its life-
giving and divine character.

Moreover, although some may have called the bread and
wine antitypes of the body and blood of the Lord, as did
the inspired Basil,^^ they did not say this as referring to

20 Cf. Mai. i.u.

21 I Cor. 11.31,32,29.

22 Cf. Matt. 6.11; Cyril o£ Jerusalem, op. cit. 15 (PG 33.1120B) .

23 John 3.6.

24 Cf. Liturgy of St. Basil, prayer of the epiclesis CF. E. Brighttnan,
Liturgies Eastern and Western 1 [Oxford 1896] 329) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 361

after the consecration, but to before the consecration, and
it was thus that they called the offertory bread itself.

It is called participation because through it we participate
in the divinity of Jesus. It is also called communion^ and
truly is so, because of our having communion through it
with Christ and partaking both of His flesh and His divin-
ity, and because through it we have communion with and
are united to one another. For, since we partake of one
bread, we all become one body of Christ and one blood and
members of one another and are accounted of the same body
with Christ.

Let us then make every effort to guard against receiving
communion from heretics or giving it to them. 'Give not that
which is holy to dogs,' says the Lord, 'neither cast ye your
pearls before swine,'^^ lest we become sharers in their false
teachings and their condemnation. If there really is such a
union with Christ and with each other, then we really become
united deliberately with all those with whom we commu-
nicate together, for this union comes from deliberate choice
and not without the intervention of our judgment. 'For we
are all one body, because we partake of one bread,' as the
divine Apostle says.^^

They are called antitypes of the things to come, not because
they are not really the body and blood of Christ, but because
it is through them that we participate in the divinity of
Christ now, while then it will be through the intellect and
by vision alone.

Chapter 14

Since in what has gone before we have discussed to some
extent the holy and most celebrated Ever- Virgin and Mother
of God and have shown what is most important of all, how
she is really and truly the Mother of God and is so called,

25 Matt. 7.6.

26 1 Cor. 10.17.

362 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

let US now supply what remains to be said. She was pre-
destined in the eternal foreknowing counsel of God and she
was prefigured by various figures and foretold by the Holy
Ghost through the words of the Prophets. Then, at the pre-
destined time, she sprang from the root of David in fulfill-
ment of the promises which had been made to him. For it
is written: 'Ihe Lord hath sworn truth to David, and he
will not make it void: Of the fruit of thy womb I will set
upon thy throne', and again: 'Once have I sworn by my
holiness: I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure
forever. And his throne as the sun before me, and as the
moon perfect for ever: and a faithful witness in heaven.'^
And Isaias: 'There shall come forth a rod out of the root
of Jesse: and a flower shall rise up out of his root.'"

The most holy Evangelists Matthew and Luke have dis-
tinctly shown how Joseph is descended from the tribe of
David. Matthew, however, traces the descent of Joseph from
David through Solomon, whereas Luke traces it through
Nathan. Yet both have passed over the lineage of the blessed
Vii^in in silence.

One should know, however, that it was not customary for
the Hebrews, nor for sacred Scripture either, to give the
pedigrees of women. But there was a law that one tribe
should not marry into another.' And Joseph, who was de-
scended from the tribe of David and was a just man, for
the holy Gospel testifies to this in his regard,'' would not
have espoused the blessed Virgin illegally, but only if she
were descended from the sanie tribe. Consequently, it was
sufficient to show the descent of Joseph.

One should know this, too, that there was a law that the
brother of a man dying without issue should marry the wife
oi the deceased and raise up seed for his brother.^ Thus, the
offspring belonged by nature to the second, that is to say,

1 Ps. 131.11; 88.36-38.

2 Isa. II. 1.

3 Cf. Num. 36.6.

4 Cf. Matt. 1.19.

5 Cf. Deut. 25.5.

ORTHODOX faith: BOOK FOUR 363

to the one who had begotten it, but by law to the deceased.
Levi was bom from the line of Nathan the son of David
and he begot Melchi and Panther. Panther begot Barpanther,
for such was he called. This Barpanther begot Joachim, and
Joachim begot the holy Mother of God. Mathan, however,
had a wife from the line of Solomon the son of David, and
from her begot Jacob. Then, when Mathan died, Melchi,
who was of the tribe of Nathan and the son of Levi and
brother of Panther, married the wife of Mathan. It was she
who was the mother of Jacob, and from her Melchi begot
Heli. Thus, Jacob and Heli were born of the same mother,
but Jacob was of the tribe of Solomon, while Heli was of
the tribe of Nathan. Heli, however, who was of the tribe
of Nathan, died childless, and his brother Jacob, who was
of the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and raised up seed
for his brother and begot Joseph. So, while Joseph was by
nature a son of Jacob of the descent of Solomon, he was
by law son of Heli, who was of the line of Nathan.

And so Joachim took the noble and praiseworthy Anna
in marriage.^ Then, even as the earlier Anna, although barren,
had through prayer and a vow given birth to Samuel,' so
did this Anna through supplication and a vow receive from
God the Mother of God, so that not even in this should she
be inferior to any of the illustrious mothers. Thus, Grace, for
such is the interpretation of Anna, brings forth the Lady,
for that is the meaning of the name Mary. And Mary really
did become Lady of all created things, since she was ac-
counted Mother of the Creator. And she was bom in the
house of Joachim at the Probatica and was brought to the
Temple. From then on she grew up in the house of God,
nourished by the Spirit, and like a fruitful olive tree' became
and abode of every virtue with her mind removed from
every worldly and carnal desire. And thus, as was fitting for

6 Cf. Protevangelium of James 1-2.

7 Cf. 1 Kings 1.11.

8 Cf. Ps. 51.10.

364 SAINT JOHN or DAMASCUS

her who was to conceive God within herself, she kept her
soul and body virginal, for He is holy and abides in holy
ones. Thus, then, she sought holiness and was shown to be
a holy and wondrous temple worthy of the most high God.
However, since the Enemy of our salvation was keeping
an eye on virgins because of the prophecy of Isaias, who
said: 'Behold a virgin shall be with child and bring forth
a son: and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, God with us,'' the maid was betrothed to
Joseph by the priests as 'the sealed book is delivered to one
that is learned,"^" in order that He 'who catcheth the wise
in their craftiness' ^"^ might ensnare him who ever glories in
wisdom. -^^ And the betrothal was at once a safeguard for
the virgin and a deception for him who was keeping his
eye on virgins. Now, when the fullness of time came, an
angel of the Lord was sent to her with the good news of
her conception of the Lord. And thus she conceived the
Son of God, the subsistent power of the Father, 'not of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man'^' — that is to say,
not of carnal conjunction and seed — but of the good pleasure
of the Father and the co-operation of the Holy Ghost. To
the Creator she gave that He might be created, to the
Fashioner that He might be fashioned, and to the Son of
God and God that He might from her innocent and un-
defield flesh and blood put on flesh and become man. And
thus she paid the debt for the first mother. For, as Eve was
formed from Adam without carnal conjuction, so did this
one bring forth the new Adam in accordance with the law
of gestation but surpassing the nature of generation. Thus,
He who is without a mother begotten of a father was without
a father born of a woman. And because it was of a woman it
was in accordance with the law of gestation; while, because
it was without father, it surpassed the nature of generation.

9 Matt. 1.23; Isa. 7.14.

10 Isa. 29.11.

11 Job 5.13.

12 Cf. Jer. 9.28.

13 John 1.13.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 365

And because it was at the normal time, for having com-
pleted the nine-month period He was born at the beginning
of the tenth, it was in accordance with the law of gestation;
while because it was without pain, it surpassed the established
order of birth — for, where pleasure had not preceded, pain
did not follow, as the Prophet said : 'Before she was in labor,
she brought forth,' and again: 'before her time came to be
delivered she brought forth a man chUd.'^*

And so the Son of God became incarnate and was born
of her. It was not as God-bearing man that He was bom
of her, but as God incarnate; not as a prophet anointed
through the operation of the one anointing, but as one
anointed with the entire presence of the one anointing — so
that the one anointing became man and the one anointed
became God; not by a change in nature, but by the hypo-
static union. For, He was the same who anointed and who
was anointed, as God anointing Himself as man. How, then,
is she not Mother of God who from herself brought forth
God incarnate? Actually, she is really and truly Mother of
God, Lady, and Mistress of all created things, being accounted
both handmaid and mother of the Creator. And just as at
His conception He had kept her who conceived Him a
virgin, so also at His birth did He maintain her virginity
intact, because He alone passed through her and kept her
shut.-^^ While the conception was by hearing, the birth
was by the usual orifice through which children are born,
even though there are some who concoct an idle tale
of His being born from the side of the Mother of God. For
it was not impossible for Him to pass through the gate with-
out breaking its seals.

Hence, the Ever- Virgin remained a virgin even after giving
birth and never had converse with a husband as long as she
lived. For, even though it is written: 'And he knew her not

14 Isa. 66.7.

15 C(. Ezech. 44.2.

366 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

till she brought forth her firstborn son,'^^ one must know
that the first child to be born is the firstborn, even though
it may also be the only-begotten. Firstborn means having
been born first, and does not by any means imply the birth
of others; on the other hand, the 'till' signifies the fulfillment
of the appointed time, without excluding the time after that.
Thus, the Lord says: 'And behold I am with you all days,
even till the consummation of the world,'" without meaning
that He is to be separated after the consummation of the
world. The divine Apostle certainly says: 'And so shall we
be always with the Lord,'^* meaning after the general resur-
rection.

How, indeed, would she have given birth to God and
have known the miracle from the experience of subsequent
events and then have allowed intercourse with a husband?
Far be it ! The thinking of such things is beyond the bounds
of prudent thought, let alone the doing of them.

However, this blessed one, who had been found worthy
of gifts surpassing nature, did at the time of the Passion
suffer the pangs which she had escaped at childbirth. For,
when she saw Him put to the death as a criminal, whom
she knew to be God when she gave birth to Him, her heart
was torn from maternal compassion and she was rent by
her thoughts as by a sword. This is the meaning of 'And
thy own soul a sword shall pierce.'^' But her grief gave way
to the joy of the resurrection, the resurrection which pro-
claimed Him to be God who had died in the flesh.

16 Matt. 1.25.

17 Matt. 28.20.

18 1 Thess. 4.16.

19 Luke 2.35.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 367

Chapter 15

The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and
children and heirs of God, as John the Theologian and
Evangelist says: 'But as many as received himi, he gave them
the power to be made the sons of God.'^ 'Therefore they
are no longer servants, but sons: and if sons, heirs also,
heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ.'^ And again,
in the holy Gospels the Lord says to the Apostles: 'You are
my friends. . . I wUl not now call you servants: for the
servant knoweth not what his lord doth.'^ Furthermore, if
the Creator and Lord of all is called both King of kings
and Lord of lords and God of gods,^ then most certainly
the saints, too, are both gods and lords and kings. God
both is and is said to be their God and Lord and King.
'For I am,' He said to Moses, 'the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,' and God appointed
Moses the God of Pharao.^ However, I say that they are
gods, lords, and kings not by nature, but because they have
ruled over and dominated sufferings, and because they have
kept undebased the likeness of the divine image to which
they were made — for the image of the king is also called
a king, and, finally, because they have freely been united
to God and receiving Him as a dweller within themselves
have through association with Him become by grace what
He is by nature. How, then, should these not be honored
who have been accounted servants, friends, and sons of God?
For the honor shown the more sensible of one's fellow
servants gives proof of one's love for the common Master.

These are become repositories and pure dwelling places
of God, for 'I will dwell in them and walk among them,'

1 John 1.12.

2 Gal. 4.7; Rom. 8.17.

3 John 15.14,15.

4 Apoc. 19.16; Ps. 49.1.

5 Exod. 3.6; 7.1.

368 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

says God, 'and I will be their God.'^ So, indeed, sacred
Scripture says that 'the souls of the just are in the hand
of God: and death shall not touch them.'^ For the death
of the saints is rather sleep than death, since 'they have
labored unto eternity and shall live unto the end,' and
'precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.'^
What then is more precious than to be in the hand of God?
For God is life and light, and they that are in the hand of
God abide in life and light.

Moreover, because through their mind God has also dwelt
in their bodies, the Apostle says: 'Know you not that your
members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you?' ;
'Now the Lord is the Spirit' ; and again : 'If any man violate
the temple of God, him shall God destroy." How, then,
should they not be honored, who are the living temples of
God, the living tabernacles of God. These in life openly
took their stand with God.

In the rehcs of the saints the Lord Christ has provided
us with saving fountains which in many ways pour out
benefactions and gush with fragrant ointment.^" And let no
one disbelieve. For, if by the will of God water poured out
of the precipitous living rock in the desert, and for the thirsty
Sampson from the jawbone of an ass,^^ is it unbelievable that
fragrant ointment should flow from the relics of the martyrs?
Certainly not, at least for such as know the power of God
and the honor which the saints have from Him.

In the Law, anyone who touched a corpse was accounted
unclean.^ ^ But these of whom we speak are not dead. Because
Life itself and the Author of life was reckoned amongst the

6 2 Ccr. 6.16; Lev. 26.12.

7 Wisd. 3.1.

8 Ps. 48.9,10; 115.15.

9 1 Cor. 6.19; 2 Cor. 3.17; 1 Cor. 3.17.

10 The special epithet myroblytus, or 'gushing ointment,' is applied to
certain saints whose relics exude a fragrant oil. The two most famous
myroblytae are St. Demetrius of Salonica and St. Nicholas of Bari.

11 Cf. Exod. 17.6; Judges 15.19.

12 Cf. Num. 19.11.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 369

dead, we do not call these dead who have fallen asleep in
the hope of resurrection and in the faith in Him. For how
can a dead body work miracles? How, then, through them
are demons put to flight, diseases driven out, the sick cured,
the blind restored to sight, lepers cleansed, temptation and
trouble driven away; and how through them does 'every
best gift come down from the Father of lights"-^ to them
who ask with undoubting faith? What would you not do
to find a patron to present you to a mortal king and intercede
with him in your behalf? Are not the patrons of the entire
race to be honored who make petitions to God in our behalf?
Yes, indeed; we must honor them by raising churches to
God in their name, by making fruit-offerings, and by celebrat-
ing their anniversaries and taking spiritual joy in these, such
as will be the very joy of our hosts, but taking care lest in
endeavoring to do them honor we may give them annoyance
instead. For by some things honor is given to God and they
who serve Him rejoice in them, whereas by others He is
offended and so, too, are His shield-bearers. 'In psalms and
hymns and spiritual canticles,'^^ in compunction, and in com-
passion for the needy let us faithful do honor to the saints,
through whom most especially is honor rendered to God.
Let us set up monuments to them, and visible images, and
let us ourselves by the imitation of their virtues become
their living monuments and images. Let us honor the Mother
of God as really and truly God's Mother. Let us honor the
Prophet John as precursor and baptist, apostle and martyr,
for 'there hath not risen among them that are born of women
a greater than John,'^^ as the Lord said, and he was the
first herald of the kingdom. Let us honor the Apostles as
brethren of the Lord, as eye-witnesses and attendants to His
sufferings, whom God the Father 'foreknew and predestinated

13 James 1.17.

14 Eph. 5.19.

15 Matt. 11.11.

370 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

to be made conformable to the image of his Son,'^'' 'first
apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly shepherds and teachers.'^''
And let us honor the holy martyrs of the Lord who have
been picked from every rank and whose corps commander
is Christ's archdeacon, apostle, and protomartyr Stephen;
let us honor them as soldiers of Christ who have drunk of
His chalice and have then been baptized with the baptism
of His life-giving death, and as participants in His sufferings
and His glory. Let us also honor those sainted fathers of ours,
the God-bearing ascetics who have struggled through the
more drawn-out and laborious martyrdom of the conscience,
'who wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in
want, distressed, afflicted: wandering in deserts, in mountains
and in dens and in caves of the earth: of whom the world
was not worthy."^^ Let us honor the Prophets who preceded
the Grace, the patriarchs and just men who announced
beforehand the advent of the Lord. Let us carefully observe
the manner of life of all these and let us emulate their faith,
charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and per-
severance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns
of glory.

Chapter 16

Since there are certain people who find great fault with
us for adoring and honoring both the image of the Saviour
and that of our Lady, as well as those of the rest of the
saints and servants of Christ, let them hear how from the
beginning God made man to His own image. ^ For what
reason, then, do we adore one another, except because we
have been made to the image of God? As the inspired Basil,
who is deeply learned in theology, says : 'the honor paid to the

16 Rom. 8.29.

17 1 Cor. 12.28.

18 Heb. 11.37,38.

1 C£. Gen, 1.26.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 371

image redounds to the original,'^ and the original is the
thing imaged from which the copy is made. For what reason
did the people of Moses adore from round about the
tabernacle which bore an image and pattern of heavenly
things, or rather, of all creation?^ Indeed, God had said to
Moses: 'See that thou make all things according to the
pattern which was shewn thee on the mount.' And the
Cherubim, too, that overshadowed the propitiatory, were they
not the handiwork of men?^ And what was the celebrated
temple in Jerusalem? Was it not built and furnished by
human hands and skill ?^

Now, sacred Scripture condemns those who adore graven
things, and also those who sacrifice to the demons. The Greeks
used to sacrifice and the Jews also used to sacrifice; but the
Greeks sacrifice to the demons, whereas the Jews sacrificed
to God. And the sacrifice of the Greeks was rejected and
condemned, while the sacrifice of the just was acceptable to
God. Thus, Noe sacrificed 'and the Lord smelled a sweet
savor' ° of the good intention and accepted the fragrance of
the gift offered to Him. And thus the statues of the Greeks
happen to be rejected and condemned, because they were
representations of demons.

But, furthermore, who can make a copy of the invisible,
incorporeal, uncircumscribed, and unportrayable God? It is,
then, highly insane and impious to give a form to the God-
head. For this reason it was not the practice in the Old
Testament to use images. However, through the bowels of His
mercy God for our salvation was made man in truth, not in
the appearance of man, as He was seen by Abraham or
the Prophets, but really made man in substance. Then He

2 Basil, On the Holy Ghost 18.45 (PG 32.149C) .

3 Cf. Exod. 33.10.

4 Cf. Heb. 8.5; Exod. 25.40,20.

5 Cf. 3 Kings 6.

6 Gen. 8.21.

372 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

abode on earth, conversed with men,' worked miracles, suf-
fered, was crucified, rose again, and was taken up; and all
these things really happened and were seen by men and,
indeed, written down to remind and instruct us, who were
not present then, so that, although we have not seen, yet
hearing and believing we may attain to the blessedness of
the Lord. Since, however, not all know letters nor do all
have leisure to read, the Fathers deemed it fit that these
events should be depicted as a sort of memorial and terse
reminder, (it certainly happens frequently that at times when
we do not have the Lord's Passion in mind we may see the
image of His crucifixion and, being thus reminded of His
saving Passion, fall down and adore. But it is not the material
which we adore, but that which is represented; just as we
do not adore the material of the Gospel or that of the cross,
but that which they typify^ For what is the difference between
a cross which does not typify the Lord and one which does?
It is the same way with the Mother of God, too, for the
honor paid her is referred to Him who was incarnate of her.
And similarly, also, we are stirred up by the exploits of the
holy men to manliness, zeal, imitation of their virtues, and
the glory of God. For, as we have said, the honor shown
the more sensible of one's fellow servants gives proof of one's
love for the common Master, and the honor paid to the
image redounds to the original. This is the written tradition,
just as is worshiping toward the east, adoring the cross, and
so many other similar things.'

Furthermore, there is a story told' about how, when Abgar
was lord of the city of Edessenes, he sent an artist to make
a portrait of the Lord, and how, when the artist was unable

7 Cf. Bar. S.38.

8 C£. Basil, op. cit. 27.66 (PG 32.188B) .

9 The earliest form of the Syriac legend of Abgar, the first Christian
king of Edessa, is to be found in Eusebius (Eccles. Hist. 1.13) . The
later and more amplified version containing the incident of the
portrait here referred to is to be found in the Syriac document known
as the Doctrine of Addai (translated and published by G. Phillips,
London 1876) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 373

to do this because of the radiance of His face, the Lord
Himself pressed a bit of cloth to His own sacred and life-giving
face and left His own image on the cloth and so sent this to
Abgar who had so earnestly desired it.

And Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, writes that the
Apostles handed down a great many things unwritten : 'There-
fore, brethren, stand fast: and hold the traditions which you
have learned, whether by word or by our epistle'; and to
the Corinthians: 'Now I praise you, brethren, that in all
things you are mindful of me and keep my ordinances as I
have delivered them to you.'"

Chapter 17

The God proclaimed by the Old Testament and the New
is one He who is celebrated and glorified in Trinity, for the
Lord said: 'I am not to come to destroy the law, but to
fulfil.'^ For He worked our salvation, for the sake of which
all Scripture and every mysetry has been revealed. And again:
'Search the scriptures: for these give testimony of me.'^ And
the Apostle too, says: 'God, who, at sundry times and in
diverse manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by prophets,
last of all, in these days, hath spoken to us by his Son.'^
Through the Holy Ghost, then, both the Law and the Pro-
phets, the evangelists, apostles, pastors, and teachers spoke.

Therefore, 'all scripture, inspired of God, is quite profit-
able,"' so that to search the sacred Scripture is very good and
most profitable for the soul. For, 'like a tree which is planted

10 2 Thess. 2.14; 1 Cor. 11.2.

1 Matt. 5.17.

2 John 5.39.

3 Heb. 1.1-2.

4 2 Tim. 3.16.

374 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

near the running waters,'^ so does the soul watered by sacred
Scripture also grow fat and bear fruit in due season, which
is the orthodox faith, and so is it adorned with its ever-
green leaves, with actions pleasing to God, I mean. And
thus we are disposed to virtuous action and untroubled
contemplation by the sacred Scriptures. In them we
find exhortation to every virtue and dissuasion from every
vice. Therefore, if we are eager for knowledge, we shall
also be rich in knowledge, for by diligence, toil, and the
grace of God who grants it all things succeed. 'For he
that asketh receiveth: and he that seeketh findeth: and
to him that knocketh it shall be opened.'^ So let us knock
at the very beautiful paradise of the Scriptures, the fragrant,
most sweet and lovely paradise which fills our ears with the
varied songs of inspired spiritual birds, which touches our
heart, comforting it when grieving, calming it when angry,
and filling it with everlasting joy, and which lifts our mind
onto the back of the sacred dove, gleaming with gold and
most brilliant,' who bears us with his most bright wings to
the only-begotten Son and heir of the Husbandman of the
spiritual vineyard and through Him on to the Father of
lights. Let us not knock casually, but with eagerness and
persistence, and let us not lose heart while knocking, for so
it will be opened to us. Should we read once and then a
second time and still not understand what we are reading,
let us not be discouraged. Rather, let us persist, let us meditate
and inquire, for it is written: 'Ask thy father, and he will
declare to thee: thy elders and they will tell thee.'* For not
all have knowledge.^ From the fountain of paradise let us
draw everflowing and most pure waters springing up into
life everlasting.'^" Let us revel in them, let us revel greedily
in them to satiety, for they contain the grace which cannot

5 Ps. 1.3.

6 Luke 11.10.

7 C£. Ps. 67.14.

8 Deut. 32.7.

9 Cf. 1 Cor. 8.7.
10 Cf. John 4.14.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 375

be exhausted. Should we, however, be able to get some
profit from other sources, this is not forbidden. Let us be
proved bankers and amass the genuine and pure gold, while
we reject the spurious. Let us accept the best sayings, but
let us throw to the dogs the ridiculous gods and unhealthy
fables, for from the former we should be able to draw very
great strength against the latter.

One must know that there are twenty-two books of the
Old Testament, corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet, ■^■'^ for the Hebrews have twenty- two letters, of which
five are doubled so as to make twenty-seven. Thus, kaph,
mem, nun, pe, and sade are double. For this reason the
books, too, are numbered this way and are found to be
twenty-seven, because five of them are doubled. Ruth is
combined with Judges and counted as one book by the
Hebrews. Kings 1 and 2 make one book; 3 and 4r Kings,
one book; 1 and 2 Paralipomenon, one book; and 1 and 2
Esdras, one book. Thus, the books fall into four groups of
five, as follows. There are five books of the Law: Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. This first
group of five is also called the Law. Then, another group
of five books called the Writings, or, by some, the Sacred
Books, which are as follows: Josue, son of Nave; Judges,
together with Ruth; 1 and 2 Kings making one book; 3 and
4 Kings making one book; and the two Paralipomenons
making one book. This is the second group of five books.
A third group of five is made up of the poetical books,
namely: Job, the Psalter, the Proverbs of Solomon, Eccles-
iastes of the same, and the Canticle of Canticles of the same.
A fourth group of five books is the prophetic, which is made
up of the twelve minor Prophets, making one book, Isaias,
Jeremias, Ezechiel, Daniel, and then the two books of Esdras
combined into one, and Esther. The All- Virtuous Wisdom,
however, that is to say, the Wisdom of Solomon — and the
Wisdom of Jesus, which the father of Sirach composed in

11 Epiphanius, On Weights and Measures (PG 43.244A) .

376

SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Hebrew but which was translated into Greek by his grand-
son, Jesus son of Sirach — these are indeed admirable and
full of virtue, but they are not counted, nor were they placed
in the Ark.

In the New Testament there are: four Gospels, those ac-
cording to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of
the holy Apostles by Luke the Evangelist; seven Catholic
Epistles — one of James, two of Peter, three of John, and
one of Jude; fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul; the
Apocalypse of John the Evangelist; and the Canons of the
Holy Apostles by Clement."

Chapter 18

The things that are said about Christ fall into four
general classes, for, while some apply to Him before the
Incarnation, others do in the union, others after the union,
and still others after the resurrection.

Of those applying before the Incarnation, there are six
kinds. Thus, some show the union of nature and consub-
stantiality with the Father, as 'I and the Father are one';
'He that seeth me seeth the Father also'; 'Who being in
the form of God,'^ and the like.

Others show the perfection of the hypostasis, as 'Son of
God'; 'figure of his substance'; 'Angel of great counsel.
Wonderful, Counsellor,'^ and the like.

12 The Apostolic Canons was a collection of eighty-five canons, mostly
disciplinary and mostly taken from local Oriental councils of the
fourth century. This collection was included in Book 8 of the
Apostolic Constitutions, the whole being attributed to St. Clement.
The Council in TruUo (692) , while rejecting the Constitutions,
retained and approved the Canons. The Canons, the Damascene
not withstanding, were never generally considered to belong to the
canon of Scripture.

1 John 10.30; 14.9; Phil. 2.6.

2 John 1.34; Heb. 1.3; Isa. 9.6.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK TOUR

377

Others show the mutual indwelling of the Persons in one
another, as 'I am in the Father and the Father in me,'^ and
their inseparable indwelling, as Word, Wisdom, Power and
Brightness. For the word, meaning the substantial word,
while springing from the mind dwells in it inseparably from
it; and also the wisdom in the mind, the power in the
powerful, and the brightness in the light.

Others show how He is from the Father as from a cause, as
'the Father is greater than I'^ for from Him He had His being
and everything that He has — His being by generation, that
is, not by creation,' as 'I came forth from the Father and
I am come' and 'I live by the Father."' Now, everything
that He has He has not by communication and not by
instruction but as from a cause, as 'the Son cannot do any-
thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing." For,
if there is no Father, then neither is there a Son, for the
Son is from the Father, and in the Father and simultane-
ously with the Father and not after the Father. Similarly
also, what He does He does of Him and with Him, for the
will, operation, and power of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost are identical — not like, but the same.
Others show how things willed by the Father are fulfilled
by Him, not as by an instrument or a servant, but as by
His substantial and subsistent Word, Wisdom, and Power,
because motion in Father and Son are seen to be one, as
'all things were made by him' ; 'he sent his word, and healed
them'; and 'that they may believe that thou hast sent me.'*
Some, finally, are said prophetically. Of these some are
said as future, as, for example, 'he shall come manifestly';

the words of Zacharias : 'Behold thy King will come to thee' ;

and what was said by Micheas: 'For behold the Lord will

3 John 14.10.

4 John 14.28.

5 Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.7 (PG 36.112-113).

6 John 16.28; 6.58.

7 John 5.19.

8 John 1.3; Ps. 106.20; John 11.42.

378 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

come forth out of his place : and he will come down and will
tread upon the high places of the earth.'' Others, however,
refer to future events as past, as 'This is our God. . . .After-
wards, he was seen upon earth and conversed with men' ; 'The
Lord created me a beginning of his ways unto his works';
and 'Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the
oil of gladness above thy fellows,'" and the like.

Now, the things said of Him before the union may also
be said of Him after the union, but those after the union may
by no means be said of Him before the union, unless, indeed,
it be by way of prophecy. Moreover, there are three kinds of
things said of Him in the union. TTius, when we talk from the
point of view of the more excellent, we speak of 'deification
of the flesh,' 'becoming the Word,' 'exaltation,' and the like,
showing the wealth accrued to the flesh by its union and
intimate conjunction with the sublime Divine Word. When,
on the other hand, we talk from the point of view of the
less excellent, we speak of the 'Incarnation' of God the Word,
His 'being made man,' 'emptying Himself out,' 'poverty,'
'abasement,' because these things and their like are at-
tributed to God the Word on account of His being com-
pounded with the humanity. But, when we talk with both
in mind, we speak of 'union,' 'communication,' 'anointing,'
'intimate conjunction,' 'conformation,' and the like. Thus,
by this third kind of things said the first two already men-
tioned are implied, for by the union there is shown what
each one had from the junction and mutual indwelling of
the one co-existing with it.

Because of the hypostatic union the flesh is said to have
been deified, to have become God and of the same divinity
with the Word;" at the same time God the Word is said
to have been made flesh, to have become man, to be declared
a creature and called last.^^ This is not because the two

9 Ps. 49.3; Zach. 9.9; Mich. 1.3.
10 Bar. 3.36,38; Prov. 8.22 (Septuagint) ; Ps. 44.8.
U Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 39.16 (PG 36.353B) .
12 Cf. Isa. 53.3.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR

379

natures were transformed into one compound nature — it is
impossible for contradictory natural qualities to exist together
in one nature — but because they were hypostatically united
and indwell mutually one in the other without confusion
or transformation. The mutual indwelling, however, did not
come from the flesh, but from the divinity, because it is in-
conceivable that the flesh should indwell the divinity — rather,
at once the divine nature indwelt the flesh, it gave the flesh
this same ineffable mutual indwelling, which, indeed, we
call union.

One must furthermore know that in the first and second
kinds of things said in the union the reverse is found. For,
when we talk about the flesh, we speak of 'deification,'
'becoming the Word,' 'exaltation,' and 'anointing,' for, while
these come from the divinity, they are to be found in the
flesh. When, on the other hand, we talk about the Word,
we speak of 'emptying out,' 'incarnation,' 'becoming man,'
'abasement,' and the like, which as we have said, are at-
tributed to God the Word because He endured them willingly.

There are three kinds of things said about Christ after the
union. The first is indicative of the divine nature, as 'I am
in the Father and the Father in me' and 'I and the Father
are one.'" Then, everything that is attributed to Him before
the union may also be attributed to Him after the union, with
the exception of the fact that He has not yet assumed the
flesh and its natural properties.

The second is indicative of the human nature, as 'Why
do you seek to kill me, a man who have spoken the truth
to you,' and 'so must the Son of man be lifted up,'^* and
the like.

Now, there are six kinds of these things which have been
said and written about Christ the Saviour in His human
quality, whether they were of things said or of things done.

13 John 14.10; 10.30.

14 John 7.20; 8.40; 3.14.

380 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Thus, some of them were done and said naturally through
the dispensation. Such, for example, were His birth of the
Virgin ; His growing and advance in age ; His hunger, thirst,
weariness, tears, sleeping, being pierced with the nails, death;
and all such other things as are natural and blameless passions.
He might show that besides being God He was truly man.
For, although there is indeed a mingling of the divinity with
the humanity in all of these things, it is understood that they
truly belong to the body and that the divinity suffered none
of them, but through them worked our salvation.

Others are after the manner of a fiction, as, for example,
His asking 'Where have you laid Lazarus?' His coming to
the fig tree; His retiring, that is to say, withdrawing; His
praying; and when 'he made as though he would go farther.'^^
For, these things and others of the same sort He did not
need to do, either as God or as man; He was merely assum-
ing a human way of acting as required by the advantage
and profit to be gained thereby. For example, He prayed to
show that He was not at variance with God and also to
show that He honored the Father as His own cause. He
asked questions, not because He did not know, but that
He retired, in order that He might teach us not to be reckless
and not to betray ourselves.

Others are by appropriation and said relatively, as 'My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' ; and 'him, who
knew no sin, he hath made sin for us'; and 'being made
a curse for us'; and 'the Son also himself shall be subject
unto him that put jJl things under him.'^^ For neither as
God nor as man was He ever forsaken by the Father ;'^^
neither was He made a sin or a curse, nor did He need to
be subject to the Father. And as God He is equal to the
Father and in no way at variance with Him or subject to
Him, while as man He was never at any time so deaf to

15 John 11.34; Matt. 21.19; 12.15; 26.39; John 11.41; Luke 24.28.

16 Matt. 27.46; 2 Cor. 5.21; Gal. 3.13; 1 Cor. 15.28.

17 Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 30.5 (PG 36.109A) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 381

His Begetter that He should stand in need of subjection.
So it was in appropriating our appearance and classing
Himself with us that He said these things, for it was we
who were subject to sin and curse, because we were dis-
obedient and unhearing and thus forsaken.

Others are by distinction of reason. Thus, if you make a dis-
tinction in your mind between things which are really in-
separable, that is to say, between the flesh and the Word,
then He is said to be a servant and ignorant.'-^ This is so
because He was of a servile and ignorant nature, and unless
the flesh has been united to God the Word it would have
been servile and ignorant. However, because of its hypostatic
union with God the Word, it was not servile and it was not
ignorant. In the same way, also, He called the Father His
God.

Others are for our enlightenment and assurance, as 'Glorify
thou me, O Father, with thyself, with the glory which I
had, before the world was.'" For He had indeed been glorified
and is so, but His glory had not been made plain and certain
to us. And then, that which was said by the Apostle: 'Who
was predestinated the Son of God in power, according to
the spirit of sanctification, by resurrection from the dead,'^*
for by His miracles and resurrection and by the descent of
the Holy Ghost it was made plain and certain to the world
that He was the Son of God.^^ And also: 'He advanced in
■wisdom and grace.' ^^

Others are in accordance with His -appropriation of the
appearance of the Jews and His counting Himself as one
of them, as when He said to the Samaritan woman: 'You

18 Cf. ibid. 29.18 (PG 36.97A) .

19 John 17.5.

20 Rom. 1.4.

21 Cf. John Chrysostom, Homily I on Epistle to the Romans 2 (PG
60.397) .

22 Luke 2.52.

382 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

adore that which you know not: we adore that which we
know. For salvation is of the Jews.'^^

The third kind of things said about Christ after the union
is that which is indicative of the one Person and displays
both natures, as, for example: 'I live by the Father: so he
that eateth me, the same also shall live by me'; and 'I go
to the Father: and you shall see me no longer'; and 'They
would never have crucified the Lord of glory' ; and 'no man
ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven,
the Son of man who is in heaven,'^'' and the like.

And now, finally, some of the things which are said about
Christ after the resurrection pertain to the divinity, as 'bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost,' which is indicative of God the Son;
and 'Behold I am with you all days, even to the consum-
mation of the world,' ^^ and the like, because He is with
us as God. Others, however, pertain to the humanity, as
'they took hold of his feet,' and 'There they shall see me,'^^
and the like.

There are furthermore, several kinds of things said about
Christ after the resurrection which pertain to the humanity.
Some of these, although quite actual, are not according to
nature, but by dispensation, to give assurance that it was
the same identical body that had suffered that rose again.
Such are the wounds, and the eating and drinking after the
resurrection. Others, however, are both actual and according
to nature, as the passing easily from place to place and the
entering through closed doors. Still others are after the man-
ner of a fiction, as 'he made as though he would go farther.'"
Others pertain to both natures, as 'I ascend to my Father
and to your Father, to my God and to your God'; and 'the

23 John 4.22.

24 John 6.58; 16.10; 1 Cor. 2.8; John 3.13.

25 Matt. 28.19,20.

26 Matt. 28.9,10.

27 Luke 24.28.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 383

King of Glory shall enter in'; and 'Who sitteth on the right
hand of the majesty on high.'^* And still others are said as
if He were classing Himself with us by a mere distinction
of reason, as 'my God and your God.'

Therefore, we must attribute the sublime things to the
divine nature, which is naturally superior to passions and
the flesh, whereas we must attribute the lowly ones to the
human nature. ^^ But those which are common to both we
must attribute to the composite, that is to say to the one
Christ who is God and man. And we must understand that
both belong to one and the same, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For, if we know what is proper to each and see that both
are done by one, we shall believe rightly and not be deceived.
From all of these things the distinction between the united
natures is known, as well as the fact that, as the most divine
Cyril says,^" although divinity and humanity are not identical
in their natural quality, there is definitely one Son and
Christ and Lord. And since He is one, then His Person
(Tipoacoiiov) is also one, and no division whatsoever will
be introduced into the hypostatic union by our recognition
of the difference between the natures.

Chapter 19

One should know that it is customary for sacred Scripture
to call God's permission His action, as when the Apostle
says in his Epistle to the Romans: 'Or hath not the potter
power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel
unto honour and another unto dishonour?'^ He does indeed
make both the one and the other, because He is the sole

28 John 20.17; Ps. 23.7; Heb. 1.3.

29 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 29.18 {PG 36.97B) .

30 Cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Epistle 40 (PG 77.183BC) .

1 Rom. 9.21.

384 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

Creator of all things, but it is the own deliberate choice of
each and not He that makes them honorable or dishonorable.^
This is also clear from what the Apostle himself says in his
Second Epistle to Timothy: 'In a great house there are not
only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of
earth: and some indeed unto honour, but some unto dis-
honour. If any man therefore shall cleanse himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and profitable to
the Lord, prepared unto every work.'^ It is clear that this
cleansing is done freely, for he says 'if any man shall cleanse
himself,' the converse of which rejoins that, if he does not
cleanse himself, he will be a vessel unto dishonor, of no use
to Lord, and only fit to be broken. Thus, the foregoing
quotation and that which reads: 'God hath concluded all
in unbelief and 'God hath given them the spirit of insensi-
bility; eyes that they should not see and ears that they should
not hear,'* are none of them to be taken in the sense of
God acting, but in that of God permitting because of free
will and because virtue is not forced.

It is, then, customary for sacred Scripture to speak of His
permission as an action and deed, but even when it goes
so far as to say that God 'creates evil' and that 'there is
not evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done,'° it still
does not show God to be the author of evil. On the contrary,
since the word evil is ambiguous, it has two meanings, for
it sometimes means what is by nature evil, being the opposite
of virtue and against God's will, while at other times it means
what is evil and painful in relation to our sensibility, which
is to say, tribulation and distress. Now, while these last seem
to be evil, because they cause pain, actually they are good,
because to such as understand them they are a source of
conversion and salvation. It is these last that Scripture says

2 Cf. Basil, That God rs Not Author of Evils (PG 31.340BC1

3 2 Tim. 2.20,21. '

4 Rom. 11.32,8.

5 Isa. 45.7; Amos 3.6.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 385

are caused by God. Moreover, one must know that we, too,
cause them, because involuntary evils spring from voluntary
ones.

This also must be known, that it is customary for Scripture
to speak of some things as causes which really are chance
effects, as: 'To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil
before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and
mayst overcome when thou art judged."' Now, he who sinned
did not do so in order that God might overcome, and neither
did God have any need of our sin for Him to appear as
victor over it. For God incomparably bears off the prize of
victory over all, and even over such as do not sin, because
He is Creator, and beyond understanding, and uncreated,
and He has glory which comes from His nature and not
from without. However, because it is not unjust of Him to
inflict His wrath, when we sin, or to forgive, when we
repent, He is proclaimed victor over our evil. And it is not
because of this that we sin, but because the matter turns out
that way. For instance, should one be sitting at work and
a friend drop in, then he will say: 'My friend has come to
visit and so I shall not work today.' The friend did not
come to keep him from working, but just happened to drop
in. So he, being taken up with the entertainment of his
friend, does not work. Such things are called chance effects,
because the matter happens that way. What is more, God
does not want to be the only one that is just, but wishes
that all be like Him in so far as they are able.

Chapter 20

We shall now see that there are not two principles, the
one good and the other evil.^ For good and evil are mutually

6 Ps. 50.6.

1 Cf. Athanasius, Agairtst the Pagans 6 (PG 25.12-13) .

386 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

opposed and mutually destructive and they cannot exist in
or with each other. In this last case, each would be a part
of the whole and, consequently, each would be circumscribed
not only by the whole but by a part of the whole.

Then, who is there to apportion the space to each? For they
will say that they can neither agree nor be reconciled, since
evU would not be evil if it made peace by becoming recon-
ciled with the good, nor would good be good if it were on
friendly terms with evU. If, however, there were to be a
third, who had marked out for each its own sphere, then
he would more likely be God.

Moreover, one of the two alternatives would be necessary.
Either they would have to be in contact with each other
and thus destroy each other, or there would have to be some-
thing between them in which there was neither good nor
evU and which would separate them like a sort of partition.
Then there would no longer be two principles, but three.

And again, one of the following alternatives would be
necessary. Either they would have to be at peace, which
evU cannot do, because, should it be at peace, it would not
be evil. Or they would have to fight, which good cannot
do, because, should if fight, it would not be perfectly good.
Or the evU would have to fight and the good not fight back
and either be destroyed by the evil or always be in a state
of affliction and distress, which is not a characteristic of good.
Consequently, there must be one principle removed from
all evU.

But, they say, if such is the case, where does the evil
come from? For it is inconceivable that evil should originate
from good. Tlien we reply that evil is no more than a nega-
tion of good^ and a lapse from what is natural to what is
unnatural, for there is nothing that is naturally evil. Now,
as they were made, all things that God made were very good.^
So, if they remain as they were created, then they are very

2 Cf. Basil, op. cit. (PG 31.341B).

3 Cf. Gen. 1.31.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 387

good. But, if they freely withdraw from the natural and pass
to the unnatural, then they become evil.

All things, then, by nature serve and obey the Creator.
So, whenever any creature freely rebels and becomes dis-
obedient to Him who made him, he has brought the evU
upon himself. For evil is not some sort of a substance, nor
yet a property of a substance, but an accident, that is to
say, a deviation from the natural into the unnatural, which is
just what sin is.

Then, where does sin come from?^ It is an invention of
the free will of the Devil. Then, is the Devil evU? As he
was made he was not evil, but good, because he was created
a shining and most bright angel by the Creator, and free
because rational. And he freely departed from his natural
virtue, fell into the darkness of evU, and was removed far
from God, the only Good and the only Giver of life and
light. For from Him every good has its goodness, and in
proportion as one is removed from Him in will — not, of
course, in place — one becomes evU.

Chapter 21

God in His goodness brings into being from nothing the
things that are made, and He foreknows what they are
going to be. Now, if they were not going to be, they would
never be evil in the future, nor would they be foreknown.
For the object of knowledge is existing things; and that of
foreknowledge, absolute futures. Also, being comes first and,
afterwards, being good or evU. However, had God kept from
being made those who through His goodness were to have
existence, but who by their own choice were to become evU,
then evil would have prevailed over the goodness of God.
Thus, all things which God makes He makes good, but
each one becomes good or evU by his own choice. So, even

4 Cf. Basil, op. cit. [PC 3I.345D) .

388 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

if the Lord did say: 'It were better for him if that man
had not been born,'^ He did not say so in deprecation of
His own creature, but in deprecation of that creature's choice
and rashness. For it was the rashness of his own will that
made the Creator's benefaction useless to him. It is just as
if someone who had been entrusted with wealth and authority
by a king should tyrannize over his benefactor, and His
benefactor, seeing that he is to persist in his tyranny to the
end, should rightly bring him to hand and punish him.

Chapter 22

Good and more than good is the Divinity, and so also is
His will, for what God wishes, that is good. The command-
ment which teaches us this is a law, so that we may abide
in Him and be in light.-^ And the violation of this command-
ment is sin. Sin results from the Devil's suggestion and our
own unconstrained and free acceptance of it. And this, too,
is called a law.^

The law of God, then, acts upon our mind by drawing
it to Him and spurring on our conscience. And our con-
science is also called the law of our mind. The suggestion
of the Devil, or the law of sin, also acts upon the members
of our flesh and through it attacks us. For, once we suc-
cumbed to the suggestion of the Evil One and freely violated
the law of God, we allowed this suggestion to gain entrance
and sold ourselves to sin. For this reason our body is easily
brought to sin. Hence, the odor and sense of sin which is
inherent in our body, that is to say, the concupiscence and
pleasure of the body, is also called a law in the members
of our flesh.

1 Mark 14.21.

1 C£. 1 John 1.7.

2 Cf. Rom. 7.23.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 389

Accordingly, the law of my mind — my conscience, that
is to say — rejoices in the law of God, or His commandment,
and wills it. On the other hand, the law of sin — that is to
say, the suggestion that comes through the law in our mem-
bers, or the concupiscence and base tendency and movement
of the body and the irrational part of the soul — fights against
the law of my mind, that is to say, my conscience, and
captivates me. It does this by insinuating itself, even though
I do will the law of God and love it and do not will to sin,
and it deceives me and persuades me to become a slave to
sin through the softness of pleasure and the concupiscence
of the body and the irrational part of the soul, as I have
said. However, 'what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh' — ^for, while He assumed flesh, He
by no means took on sin — 'hath condemned sin in the flesh.
That the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the
spirit,' for 'the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity,' and gives
strength to the law of our mind against the law which is
in our members. 'For we know not what we should pray
for as we ought: but the Spirit himself asketh for us with
unspeakable groanings," that is to say, He teaches us what
we should pray for. Hence, it is impossible to observe the
commandments of the Lord except by patience and prayer.

Chapter 23

The seventh day was called the Sabbath and it means
rest, for on it God 'rested from all his work,'^ as sacred
Scripture has it. And it is for this reason that the numbering
of the days goes up as far as seven and then starts over

3 Rom. 8.3,4,26.
1 Gen. 2.2.

390 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

again from one. This number is held in honor by the Jews,
because God prescribed that it be honored — not in any casual
way, but under the most severe sanctions in case of viola-
tion.^ What is more, He did not prescribe this arbitrarily,
but for certain reasons which are perceptible in a mystic
sense to spiritual and discerning men.^

At any rate, to start with the inferior and grosser things,
as my unlearned self understands it, when God saw the
grossness and sensuality of the people of Israel and their
absolute propensity for material things, as well as their in-
discretion, then first of all He prescribed that 'the man-
servant and the ox should rest,'* as it is written. This was
because 'the just regardeth the lives of his beasts, '^ but at
the same time it was in order that they might rest from
the distraction of material things and congregate to God to
spend the entire seventh day 'in psalms, hymns and spiritual
canticles,'^ in the study of sacred Scripture, and in taking
rest in God. For, when there was no law or divinely inspired
Scripture, neither was the Sabbath consecrated to God; but
when the divinely inspired Scripture was given through
Moses, then the Sabbath was consecrated to God, so that on
that day such might have leisure to study it as do not con-
secrate their entire lives to God nor with longing serve the
Lord as Father but like unfeeling servants — the kind who,
if ever they do allot some short and very small part of their
lives to God, do so from fear of the punishment and chastise-
ment attendant upon its violation. For 'the law is not made
for the just man but for the unjust.'' Moses was the first
to wait upon God for forty days fasting, and again for another
forty days,' and, when he did so, he most certainly mortified

2 E.g., Num. 15.32-36.

3 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 41.2 (PG 36.429) .

4 Deut. 5.14.

5 Prov. 12.10.

6 Col. 3.16.

7 1 Tim. 1.9.

8 Cf. Exod. 24.18; 34.28.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 391

himself with fasting on the Sabbaths, although the law
prescribed that they should not mortify themselves on the
Sabbath day. However, should they say that this happened
before the Law, then what will they have to say about Elias
the Thesbite who made a forty-day journey on one meal?*
For this man broke the Sabbath by afflicting himself on the
Sabbaths of those forty days not only with fasting, but with
traveling, and God, who had given the Law, was not angry
with him, but on the contrary appeared to him on Horeb
as a reward for virtue. And what will they say about Daniel?
Did he not go for three weeks without food?^" And what
about all Israel? Do they not circumcise a child On the
Sabbath, if the eighth day happens to fall on it? And also,
do they not keep the great fast, which is ordained by law,
if it comes on the Sabbath? And also, do not the priests
and levites profane the Sabbath in the works of the tabernacle,
yet remain without blame?^^ More than that, should a
beast fall into a pit on the Sabbath, he who pulls it out is
without blame, while he who neglects it is condemned.^*
And what about all Israel? Did they not circle about the
walls of Jericho carrying the ark for seven days, on one of
which the Sabbath most certainly fell?^'

And so, as I said, for the sake of leisure time for God, in
order that they might devote at least a minimum portion to
Him and that their man-servant and beast might rest, the
observance of the Sabbath was imposed upon them while
still 'children and serving under the elements of the world,'^*
carnal and unable to understand anything beyond the
body and the letter. 'But when the fulness of time was come,
God sent His only-begotten Son, made man of a woman,
made under the law; that he might redeem them who are

9 Cf. 3 Kings 19.8.

10 Cf. Dan. 10.2,3-

11 Cf. Matt. 12.5.

12 Cf. Luke 14.5.

13 Cf. Josue 6.4.

14 Gal. 4.3.

392 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

under the law: that we might receive the adoption of sons.'^^
For as many of us as received Him, He gave power to be
made the sons of God, to those that believe in Him." And
so we are no longer servants, but sons." We are no longer
under the Law, but under grace.^^ We no longer give the
Lord just partial service out of fear, but we are bound
to dedicate the whole space of our life to Him and con-
stantly to make the man-servant, by which I mean anger
and desire, desist from sin, while at the same time turning
him to the service of God. And while we constantly raise
up all our desire to God, our anger we arm against His
enemies. And the beast of burden, that is to say, our body,
we release from the servitude of sin, while at the same time
we urge it onto the fullest observance of the divine command-
ments.

These things the spiritual law of Christ enjoins upon us,
and they who keep this law are become superior to the Law
of Moses. For, since 'that which is perfect is come, that
which is in part is done away,' and since the covering of
the Law, the veU, that is to say, was rent because of the
crucifixion of the Saviour and the Spirit was radiant with
tongues of fire,^' the letter is done away, the things of the
body have ceased, the law of servitude has been fulfilled,
and the law of freedom has been given us. And we celebrate
the complete adjustment of human nature, by which I mean
the day of the resurrection upon which the Lord Jesus, the
Author of life and Saviour, admitted us to the portion prom-
ised them that worship God in the spirit, into which He en-
tered as our precursor when He rose from the dead and, with
the gates of heaven opened to Him, sat down corporeally
at the right hand of the Father, where they also shall enter
who keep the law of the Spirit.

15 Gal. 4.4.5.

16 John I.I2.

17 a. Gal. 4.7.

18 C(. Rom. 6.14.

19 1 Cor. 13.10; Matt. 27.51; Acts 2.3.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 393

We, then, who follow the spirit and not the letter must
put aside all things of the flesh and worship in the spirit and
be joined with God. For circumcision is really the putting
aside of bodily pleasure and superfluous unnecessary things,
since the foreskin is nothing more than a piece of skin, a
superfious part of the pleasurable member. Moreover, any
pleasure which is not from God and in God is a pleasure,
the figure of which is the foreskin. The Sabbath, moreover,
is the desisting from sin. Hence, both amount to the same
thing, and when both are observed together in this way by
those who are spiritual, they induce no violation of the law
whatsoever.

One must furthermore know that the number seven signi-
fies all the present time,^" as the most wise Solomon says:
'Give a portion to seven, and also to eight.'^^ Also, when the
inspired David was singing a psalm for the octave, he sang
of the state of things to be after the resurrection from the
dead.^^ Therefore, when the Law prescribed that bodUy
things be refrained from on the seventh day and time devoted
to the spiritual, it intimated to the true Israel, the Israel
which has a mind that sees God, that it should devote itself
to God at all times and rise up above the things of the body.

Chapter 24

Men who are carnal and given to pleasure belittle virginity
and offer by way of testimony the saying, 'Cursed be every
man who raiseth not up seed in Israel.'''' But we, made con-
fident by the fact that God the Word took flesh of a
virgin, declare that virginity is from above and was im-
planted in men's nature from the beginning. Thus, man

20 Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Sermon 45.15 {PG 36.644C) .

21 Eccle. 11.2.

22 Cf. Ps. 6.11.

1 Cf. Deut. 25.5-10.

394 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

was formed from the virgin earth. Eve was created from
Adam alone. Virginity was practiced in paradise. Indeed,
sacred Scripture says that 'they were naked, to wit, Adam
and Eve: and were not ashamed.'^ However, once they
had fallen, they knew that they were naked and being
ashamed they sewed together aprons for themselves.' After
the fall, when Adam heard 'Dust thou art, and unto dust
return,' and death entered into the world through transgres-
sion, then 'Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and
brought forth.'* And so to keep the race from dwindling and
being destroyed by death marriage was devised, so that by
the begetting of children the race of men might be preserved.^

But they may ask: What, then, does 'male and female'
mean, and 'increase and multiply'?^ To which we shall reply
that the 'increase and multiply' does not mean increasing
by the marriage union exclusively, because, if they had kept
the commandment unbroken forever, God could have in-
creased the race by some other means. But, since God, who
knows all things before they come to be, saw by His fore-
knowledge how they were to fall and be condemned to death,
He made provision beforehand by creating them male and
female and commanding them to increase and multiply.
So let us continue along the road and see what the increments
from virginity are, which is nothing else than to talk about
chastity.

When Noe was ordered to enter the ark and was entrusted
with the safeguarding of the seed of the earth, he was given
this command, which reads: 'Go in thou and thy sons, and
thy wife, and the wives of thy sons." He separated them
from their wives, so that with the help of chastity they

2 Gen. 2.25.

3 Cf. Gen. 3.7.

4 Gen. 3.19; cf. Rom. 5.12; Gen. 4.1.

5 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Oji the Making of Man 17 (PG 44.188-189')

6 Gen. 1.27,28. '

7 Gen. 7.1; 6.18.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 395

might escape the deep and that world-wide destruction.
However, after the cessation of the flood, the command
was: 'Go out thou and thy wife, thy sons, and the wives
of thy sons.'^ Here, see how marriage was again permitted
for the sake of increase. And, then, did not Elias, who
rode up to heaven in a fiery chariot,' embrace celibacy
and was not approval of this shown by his being endowed
with a superiority over men? Who closed the heavens?
Who raised the dead? Who divided the Jordan?^" Was
it not Elias the virgin? And did not Eliseus, his disciple,
ask for the grace of his spirit in double, and receive it, when
he displayed equal virtue ?^^ And what about the three chil-
dren? Was it not by practicing virginity that they became
stronger than the fire, because by virginity their bodies had
become impregnable to fire? Was there not a Daniel, whose
body the teeth of wild beasts could not penetrate, because
it had been hardened by virginity?^^ When God was about
to appear to the Israelites, did He not enjoin them to keep
their bodies pure?^' Did not priests purify themselves and
thus enter the sanctuary and offer sacrifices?^^ Did not the
Law proclaim chastity to be a great vow?

Thus, the prescription of the Law must be taken in the
more spiritual sense. For there is a spiritual seed which
through charity and the fear of God is conceived in the
womb of the soul, which in turn travails and brings forth
the spirit of salvation. It is in this sense that the passage is
to be taken which reads: 'Blessed is he who has seed in
Sion and kindred in Jerusalem.' ^^ What, indeed ! Even though
one be a fornicator, a drunkard, or an idolater, will he be

8 Gen. 8.16.

9 C£. 4 Kings 2.11.

10 C£. 3 Kings 17.1; 17.22; 4 Kings 2.8.

11 Cf. 4 Kings 2.9,14.

12 Cf. Dan. 3.50; 6.22.

13 Cf. Exod. 19.15.

14 Cf. Lev. 21.

15 Isa. 31.9 (Septuagint) .

396 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

blessed, provided only that he has seed in Sion and kindred
in Jerusalem? No one in his right mind would say that.

Virginity is the habitual state of the angels, the peculiar
characteristic of every incorporeal nature. We are not saying
all this to decry marriage, God forbid, because we know
that the Lord blessed marriage bv His presence,-^^ and we
know the passage which says: 'marriage honorable and the
bed undefiled."-^ We do, however, know that virginity is
better than good. For with the virtues, as well as with the
vices, there are greater and lesser degrees. We do know that,
with the exception of the first parents of the race, all mortals
are offspring from marriage, for our first parents were the
work of virginity and not of marriage. Celibacy, however, is
an imitation of the angels, as we have said. So, virginity is as
much more honorable than marriage as the angel is superior
to man. But what am I saying — an angel? Christ Himself
is the glory of virgintiy, not only because He was begotten
of the Father without beginning, without change, and with-
out coition, but also because, when He became man like
us, He for our sake took flesh of a virgin without any carnal
union and exhibited in Himself the true and perfect vir-
ginity. But He did not make this a law for us, because 'all
men take not this word,'-'* as He Himself said. He did, how-
ever, instruct us by His example and give us the strength
to keep virginity, for to whom is it not clear that virginity
is being observed among men now?

The begetting of children which results from marriage is
certainly good. Marriage, too, is good, because it does away
with fornication and by licit intercourse prevents the frenzy
of concupiscence from being excited to illicit actions.-^'
Marriage is good for those for whom continence is impossible,
but virginity is better, because it increases the fecundity of

16 Cf. John 2.2.

17 Heb. 13.4.

18 Matt. 19.11.

19 Cf. I Cor. 7.2.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 397

the soul and offers prayer to God as a seasonable fruit. 'Mar-
riage honourable, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and
adulterers God will judge.'^"

Chapter 25

The circumcision was given to Abraham before the Law,
after the blessings and after the promise, as a sign to set
him and those born of him and those of his household apart
from the Gentiles in whose midst he was living.'^ And this
is obvious, because, when Israel spent forty years alone by
themselves in the desert without mixing with any other nation,
all those who were born in the desert were not circumcised.^
However, when Josue brought them across the Jordan, they
were circumcised and a second law of circumcision was made.
For, under Abraham a law of circumcision was given, and
then it was inoperative for forty years in the desert. Then,
after the crossing of the Jordan, God again gave the law
for a second time, as is written in the book of Josue, son of
Nave: 'At that time the Lord said to Josue: make thee
knives of stone from the sharpest rock, and sitting down
circumcise the second time the children of Israel'; and a
little further on: 'for during forty-two years Israel dwelt in
the wilderness of Midbar, and for this reason very many
were uncircumcised of the sons of the fighting men who had
come out of Egypt, who had disobeyed the commandments
of God and to whom he declared that they should not see
the good land which he had sworn to give to their fathers,
the land flowing with milk and honey. The children of these
he made to succeed in their place whom Josue circumcised

20 Heb. 13.4.

1 Ci. Gen. 12; 13; 15; 17.10-14.

2 John Chrysostom, Homily 39 on Genesis 4 (PG 53.366) .

398 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

because of their not having been circumcised in the way.'^
Hence, circumcision was a sign by which Israel was set
apart from the Gentiles among whom they lived.

Now, this was a figure of baptism,* for, just as circum-
cision cuts off from the body a part which is not useful, but
a useless superfluity, so by holy baptism are we circumcised
of sin. It is obvious that sin is a superfluity of concupiscence
and of no use. For it is impossible for anyone not to have
any concupiscence at all or to be entirely without any taste
for pleasure, but the useless part of pleasure, that is to say,
the useless concupiscence and pleasure, this is the sin which
holy baptism circumcises. And holy baptism gives us the
sign of the venerable cross upon our forehead but does not
set us apart from the Gentiles, for all the Gentiles have at-
tained baptbm and have been sealed with the sign of the
cross. It does, however, distinguish the faithful in each nation
from the infidel. Therefore, now that the truth has been
made manifest, its figure and shadow is of no use. And
so, to be circumcised is now superflous and a contradiction
of holy baptism, for 'he who circumciseth himself is a debtor
to the whole law."" The Lord, however, was circumcised
that He might fulfill the Law. He also kept the Law in all
things and observed the Sabbath that He might fulfill the
Law and make it stand. But from the time when He was
baptized and men saw the Holy Ghost coming down upon
Him in the form of a dove, from that time on the spiritual
worship and polity and the kingdom of heaven have been
proclaimed.

Chapter 26

One should know that the Antichrist must come. Antichrist,
to be sure, is everyone who does not confess that the Son of

3 Josue 5.2; 5.6-7 (Septuagint) .

4 a. Athanasius, On Sabbaths and the Circumcision (JPG 28.141BC)

5 Gal. 5.3.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 399

God came in the flesh, is perfect God, and became perfect
man while at the same time He was God."^ In a peculiar and
special sense, however, he who is to come at the consumma-
tion of the world is called Antichrist.^ So, it is first necessary
for the Gospel to have been preached to all the Gentiles,
as the Lord said,' and then he shall come unto conviction
of the impious Jews. For the Lord said to them: 'I am
come in the name of my Father, and you receive me not: if
another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.'*
And the Apostle: 'Because they receive not the love of the
truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send
them the operation of error, to believe lying: that all may
be judged who have not believed the truth but have con-
sented to iniquity.'^ Hence, the Jews did not receive the
Lord Jesus Christ and God, although He was the Son of
God, but the deceiver who says that he is God they will
receive.^ For, that he will call himself God the angel who
taught Daniel thus declares: 'He shall make no account
of the gods of his fathers." And the Apostle: 'Let no man
deceive you by any means; for unless there come a revolt
first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God
or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself as if he were God." 'In the temple of God,'
he says — not, however, in ours, but in the former one, that
of the Jews, for he will not come to us, but to the Jews —
not for the sake of Christ and Christ's, for which reason,
also, he is called Antichrist.'

The Gospel, then, must first be preached in all nations,

1 Cf. 1 John 4.3.

2 Cf. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Discourse 15 12 (PG 33.885AB) .

3 Cf. Matt. 24.14.

4 John 5.43.

6 2 Thess. 2.10,11.

6 C£. John Chrysostom, Homily 4 on 2 Thessalonians 1 (PG 62.487) .

7 Dan. 11.37 (Septuagint) .

8 2 Thess. 2.3,4.

9 C£. Cyril of Jerusalem, op. cit. 11 (PG 33.884-885) .

400 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

'and then that -wicked one shall be revealed: whose coming
is according to the working of Satan, in all power and signs
and lying wonders, in all seduction of iniquity to them that
perish: whom the Lord shall kill with the words of his mouth
and shall destroy with the coming of his brightness.'^" Thus,
the Devil does not himself become man after the manner
of the incarnation of the Lord — God forbid! — but a man
is born of fornication and receives into himself the whole
operation of Satan, for God permits the Devil to inhabit him,
because He foresees the future perversity of his will.-'-'-

So, he is born of fornication, as we said, and is brought
up unnoticed; but of a sudden he rises up, revolts, and
rules. During the first part of his reign — of his tyranny, rather
— he plays more the part of sanctity; but when he gains com-
plete control, he persecutes the Church of God and reveals
all his wickedness. And he shall come 'in signs and l)\ng
wonders' ^^ — sham ones and not real — and he will seduce
those whose intention rests on a rotten and unstable founda-
tion and make them abandon the living God, 'inasmuch as
to scandalize (if possible) even the elect.'"

And Enoch and Elias the Thesbite will be sent and they
shall 'turn the heart of the fathers to the children,'" that
is to say, turn the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and
the preaching of the Apostles. And they will be destroyed
by him. Then the Lord will come from heaven in the same
way that the holy Aposdes saw Him going into heaven, per-
fect God and perfect man, with glory and power; and He
shall destroy the man of iniquity, the son of perdition, with
the spirit of His mouth." So, let no one expect the Lord
to come from the earth, but from heaven, as He Himself
has positively assured us.

10 2 Thess. 2.8-10.

11 Cf. John Chrysostom, Horn. 3 on 2 Thess. 2, (PG 62.482')

12 2 Tness. 2.9.

13 Matt. 24.24.

14 Mai. 4.6.

15 Cf. Acts 1.11; 2 Thess. 2.8.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 401

Chapter 27

Furthermore, we also believe in the resurrection of the
dead, for there really will be one, there will be a resurrection
of the dead. Now, when we say resurrection, we mean a
resurrection of bodies. For resurrection is a raising up again
of one who has fallen. But, since souls are immortal, how
shall they rise again? Well if death is defined as a separation
of soul from body, the resurrection is the perfect rejoining
of soul and body, and the raising up again of the dissolved
and fallen animal.'^ Therefore, the very body which is cor-
rupted and dissolved will itself rise up incorruptible. For He
who formed it in the beginning from the slime of the earth
is not incapable of raising it up again after it has again
been dissolved and returned to the earth whence it was
taken by the decision of its Creator.

Now, if there is no resurrection, let us eat and drink^ and
lead a life of pleasure and enjoyment. If there is no resur-
rection, then how do we differ from brute beasts? If there is
no resurrection, let us call the beasts of the field blessed,
because their life is free from care. If there is no resur-
rection, there is no God and no providence, and all
things are being driven and carried along by mere chance.
For just consider how very many just men we see in need
and sufTering injury, yet getting no recompense in this present
life, whereas we see sinners and wicked men possessing wealth
and every luxury in abundance. Who in his right mind would
understand this to be the work of righteous judgment or
wise providence? Therefore, there will be, there certainly
will be, a resurrection. For God is just and He rewards those
who await Him in patience. Now, if the soul had engaged
alone in the contest for virtue, then it would also be crowned
alone; and if it alone had indulged in pleasures, then it alone

1 Cf. Epiphanius, Ancoratus 88 (PG 43,180) ; Methodius, On the Re-
surrection (PG 18.285) .

2 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.32; Isa. 22.13.

402 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

could be justly punished. However, since the soul followed
neither virtue nor vice without the body, it will be just for
them to receive their recompense together.

Moreover, sacred Scripture, too, testifies to the fact that
there will be a resurrection of the body. Indeed, God says
to Noe after the flood: 'Even as the green herbs have I
delivered them all to you: saving that flesh with blood of
its life you shall not eat. And I will require your blood of
your lives, at the hand of every beast I will require it. And
at the hand of every man I will require the life of his brother.
Whosoever shall shed man's blood, for that blood his blood
shall be shed: for I made man to the image of God.'^ How
can He require the blood of man at the hand of every beast,
unless He raise the bodies of men who die? For beasts will
not die in the place of men.

And again to Moses: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."* God 'is not the God
of the dead,'' of those who have died and will never be
again. Rather, He is the God of the living, whose souls
live in His hand,^ and whose bodies wUl by the resurrection
live again. And David, the ancestor of God, says to God:
'Thou shaft take away their breath, and they shall fail, and
shall return to their dust.' See how it is a question of their
bodies. Then he adds: Thou shaft send forth thy spirit, and
they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the
earth.'^

And Isaias also: 'The dead shall rise and those in their
graves be awakened.'* And it is obvious that it is not the
souls that are put in the tombs but the bodies.

And the blessed Ezechiel also: 'And it came to pass as
I prophesied, and behold a commotion. And the bones came

3 Gen. 9.3-6 (Septuagint) .

4 Exod. 3.6.

5 Matt. 22.32.

6 Cf. Wisd. 3.1.

7 Ps. 103.29,30.

8 Isa. 26.19 (Septuagint) .

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 403

together, bone to bone, each one to its joint. And I saw,
and behold the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and
spread over them, and the skin was stretched out over them."
Then he relates how the spirits were commanded and re-
turned.

And the divine Daniel, also: 'And at that time shall
Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the
children of thy people: and a time of tribulation shall come
such as never was from the time that nations began on the
earth even until that time. And at that time shall thy people
be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach
and everlasting shame. And they that are learned shall shine
as the brightness of the firmament, and from the many just,
as stars for all eternity and still they shall shine.'^" When
he says 'many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake,' it is clear that he means the resurrection of
their bodies, for I do not suppose that anyone would speak
of souls sleeping in the dust of the earth.

There is, moreover, no doubt that the Lord, too, has very
clearly shown in the holy Gospels that there is a resurrection
of the body, for 'they that are in the graves,' He says, 'shall
hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done
good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life:
but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg-
ment."^-"- Now, no person in his right mind would ever say
that it was the souls that were in the graves.

And it was not only in word that He brought out the
resurrection, but also in deed. First of all, He raised Lazarus
who was four days dead and already putrified and stinking.'^^
It was not a soul devoid of a body that He raised, but a

9 Ezech. 37.7,8 (Septuagint)

10 Dan. 12.1-3 (Septuagint) .

11 John 5.28,29.

12 Cf. John II.

404 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

body with its soul — not another body, but the same one
which had putrified. For how would one know or believe
in the resurrection of one who had died, were it not for
the proof oflPered by his characteristic peculiarities? More-
over, He also raised Lazarus, who was to return to death
again, to show His own divinity and to give assurance of
His and our resurrection. And then the Lord Himself became
the first-fruits of the perfect resurrection which will never
be subject to death. That is why the divine Apostle Paul
said : 'If the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again.
And if Christ be not risen again, our faith is vain, for we
are yet in our sins' ; and : 'Because Christ is risen, the first-
fruits of them that sleep' ; and 'firstborn from the dead' ; and
again: 'For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again:
even so them who have slept through Jesus, will God bring
with him.'^^ 'Even so,' he said, 'as the Lord has risen.'

And it is plain that the resurrection of the Lord was the
uniting of a soul with an incorrupted body, for these had
been separated, because He said: 'Destroy this temple; and
in three days I will raise it up."-^ And the holy Gospel is
a trusty witness to the fact that He was here speaking of
His own body. 'Handle me and see,' the Lord said to His
own disciples, who thought that they were seeing a spirit,
'that it is myself, and that I am not different, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as you see me to have.' And when
He had said this. He showed them His hands and His side
and He held them out to Thomas to touch.^^ Now, are not
these things a sufficient guarantee of the resurrection?

Again, the divine Apostle says: 'For this corruptible must
put on incorruption : and this mortal must put on immor-
tality'; and again 'It is sown in corruption: it shall rise in
incorruption. It is sown in weakness: it shall rise in power.
It is sown in dishonour: it shall rise in glory. It is sown a

13 1 Cor. 15.16,17,20; Col. 1.18; 1 Thess. 4.13.

14 John 2.1951.

15 Luke 24.39,40; John 20.27.

ORTHODOX FAITH : BOOK FOUR 405

natural body (which is to say, gross and mortal): it shall
rise a spiritual body.'^° Such was the body of the Lord after
the resurrection, the same which entered through the closed
doors without difficulty and which needed neither food, nor
sleep, nor drink. 'For they shall be,' says the Lord, 'like the
angels of God,'^' and there shall no longer be marriage or
begetting of children. Indeed, the divine Apostle says: 'But
our conversation is in heaven: from whence also we look
for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the
body of our lowness, unto its being made like to the body
of his glory,^^ not meaning a transformation into another
form — far be it! — ^but rather a change from corruption to
incorruption.

'But some man will say: How do the dead rise again?'
Oh, what lack of faith! Oh, what stupidity! He who just
by His will changed dust into a body and ordained that
a little drop of seed should grow up in the womb to make
this complex and multiform organ which is the body, will
He not much more be able to raise up again the body which
has already been made and then wasted away, just by wUling
it? 'Or with what manner of body shall they come?' Senseless
man, if thou art callous enough not to believe the words
of God, then at least believe His works, for 'that which thou
sowest is not quickened, except it die first. And that which
thou sowest, thou sowest not the body which shall be: but
bare grain, as of wheat, or some of the rest. But God giveth
it a body as he will: and to every seed its proper body.'^'
Consider, then, the seeds that are buried in the furrows as
in graves. Who is it that engrafts roots upon them, stem and
leaves and ear and those most delicate tassels. It is not the
Creator of them all? Is this not done by the command of
Him who fashioned all things? Then believe thus: that the

16 1 Cor. 15.53,42-44.

17 Mark 12.25.

18 Phil. 3.20,21.

19 1 Cor. 15.35-38.

406 SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS

resurrection of the dead also will come about by the divine
will and sanction. For He has the power to correspond with
His will.

And so, with our souls again united to our bodies, which
will have become incorrupt and put off corruption, we shall
rise again and stand before the terrible judgment seat of
Christ.^** And the Devil and his demons, and his man, which
is to say, the Antichrist, and the impious and sinners will be
given over to everlasting fire,^^ which will not be a material
fire such as we are accustomed to, but a fire such as God
might know. And those who have done good will shine like
the sun together with the angels unto eternal life with our
Lord Jesus Christ, ever seeing Him and being seen, enjoying
the unending bliss which is from Him, and praising Him
together with the Father and the Holy Ghost unto the endless
ages of ages. Amen.

20 Cf. Rom. 14.10.

21 Cf. Matt. 25.41.