Question 81. On the Forty Days and Pentecost

1. Every teaching of wisdom that serves to enlighten men consists in distinguishing between the Creator and the creature, and honoring Him as the Ruler, and recognizing the creation as subordinate. And the Creator is God, from whom all things come, through whom all things are, in whom all things are (cf. Romans 11:34-36); and therefore the Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Creation is partly invisible, like the soul, and partly visible, like the body. The invisible is expressed by the Trinitarian number, since we are commanded to love God in this way, "with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind" (Matt. 22:37); and the visible is a fourfold number, because of its most obvious nature, that is, hot and cold, wet and dry; therefore the whole of creation [is denoted by] the sevenfold number. Therefore, any teaching that discerns and distinguishes between the Creator and the creature is expressed by a decimal number. This doctrine, so long as it is indicated in time by bodily movements, is preserved by faith, and, like milk, feeds children with the example of present and transient deeds, in order to make them fit for the contemplation of that which neither comes nor passes, but always remains. Wherefore whosoever, when he is told of the divine works which have been performed in time for the salvation of men, or which are to be done in the future, if he continues in the faith, and hopes for what is promised, and with untiring love strives to do what the divine authority has ordained, he will duly spend his life in this need and at this time, denoted by the number forty. For the number ten, which expresses the whole doctrine when taken four times, that is, multiplied by the number pertaining to the body, for government is effected by bodily movements, and it is observed by faith, as has been said, is the number forty. In this way he attains a constant and timeless wisdom, signified by the number ten, so that ten is added to forty, since even equal parts of the number forty taken together make fifty. And the equal parts of the forty are as follows: first, forty-one times, then twenty-two, ten four times, eight five times, five eight times, four ten times, two twenty times. So, one, two, four, five, eight, ten, and twenty taken together will make fifty. Therefore, just as the number forty, when its equal parts are added, acquires ten more and becomes the number fifty, so the time of faith in things that are perfect and to be accomplished for our salvation, spent with justice of life, reaches the knowledge of constant wisdom, so that the teaching may be confirmed not only by faith, but also by knowledge.

2. And therefore the present Church, although we are the sons of God, has not yet appeared what we will be, abides in labors and sorrows, and the righteous live in it by faith (cf. Rom. 1:17). For [the prophet] says: "Unless you believe, you will not understand" (Isaiah 7:9). This is the time during which we suffer and are tormented, waiting for the redemption of our body (cf. Romans 8:23); it is designated by the Forty Days. "We only know that when He is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2); [i.e.] when ten is added to forty, that we may be counted worthy not only to believe in things pertaining to faith, but also to know the clear truth. Such a Church, in which there will be no sorrow, no admixture of bad people, no impiety, but joy, peace and rejoicing, is prefigured by the feast of Pentecost. Therefore, after our Lord had risen from the dead, having spent forty days with His disciples, that is, having designated by this number the temporal dispensation pertaining to faith, He ascended into heaven (cf. Acts 1:3-9), and after another ten days He sent the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:1-4), that is, by means of a certain inspiration and the fervor of love, ten were added to the forty for the contemplation of the non-human and temporal, but Divine and eternal. And therefore all this as a whole, that is, the number of fifty days, should be celebrated as a feast of joy.

3. And these two intervals of time, that is, the first of burdens and cares, and the other of joy and serenity, our Lord also designates with the help of nets cast into the sea. After all, before His sufferings, it speaks of nets cast into the sea and catching so many fish that they barely reached the shore dragging the net, and the nets broke through (cf. Luke 5:6-7). For they were not cast on the right side, for at that time there were many bad ones in the Church, and they were not on the left, for there were also good ones, but everywhere to signify a mixture of good and evil. And the fact that the nets were broken means that many heresies arose because of the belittlement of love. And after the resurrection, since the Lord wished to show the Church of the future time, when all would be perfect and holy, He commanded that the nets be cast on the right side, and one hundred and fifty-three great fish were caught, and the disciples were amazed that, although there were so many of them, the nets were not broken (cf. John 21:6-11). Their magnitude signifies the magnitude of wisdom and righteousness, and the number is the doctrine itself, made perfect both by temporal dispensation and by eternal regeneration, and is signified, as we have said, by the number fifty. For since there will then be no need for bodily aids, and the soul will contain faith and wisdom, and the soul is designated, as we have said, by the number three, let us take fifty-three times, and there will be one hundred and fifty. To this number is added the Trinity, since all this perfection is sanctified in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and thus it will be one hundred and fifty-three, that is, the number of fish caught on the right side.

Question 82. Of what is written: "For whom the Lord loves, he smite, but he smites every son whom he receives" (cf. Hebrews 12:6)

1. Many who murmur against the doctrine of God raise the question when they see that the righteous often suffer grievous sufferings during this life, [namely] as if there was no benefit to them in their service to God, since either they suffer indifferently the common hardships, both bodily and from loss, reproach, and everything else that mortals consider evil, or even suffer more than others for the sake of the word of God and righteousness, which cause in those who sin gravely a disturbing indignation, or slander, or hatred for preachers [of the word of God]. To them we answer that if this life were the only one for people, then it would not seem at all stupid that a righteous life is either useless or even harmful. Though there will be no lack of those who so compare the sweetness of righteousness and the inner joy of it with all the bodily difficulties and sufferings endured by the human race as a result of the conditions of their mortality, and with all that is unjustly stirred up against those who live righteously because of their righteousness, that, [even] not taking into account the hope of the future life, they will suffer more willingly and joyfully for the love of truth, than to feast luxuriously from the desire for intoxication.

2. But there are also those who think that God is unjust, when they see the righteous in sorrows and hardships, or at least, if they do not dare to call God unjust, then either they think that He does not care about the affairs of men, or that He once established the necessity of destinies, in spite of which even He Himself does nothing so that it does not turn out, that impermanence violates the order of things established by Him. And some think something different, [namely] that God, who is powerless in regard to anything, is not able to remove these evils from the righteous. And here it must be answered, that there would be no righteousness in men if God did not care for the affairs of men. For all that human righteousness, which the human soul can both hold to by doing right, and be deprived by sinning, would not be imprinted on the soul, if there were not some unchanging righteousness, which in all its fullness is found by the righteous when they turn to it, and in its fullness is left by sinners when they turn away from its light. This unchanging righteousness truly belongs to God, and He would not extend it for the enlightenment of those who turn to Him, if He did not care for the affairs of men. But if He allows the righteous to endure hardships because He does not wish to act contrary to the order of things He has established, then He Himself is not righteous, not because He wishes to observe His ordinance, but because He has established this very order of things in such a way that the righteous are subjected to undeserved punishments. And anyone who thinks that God is powerless in some respect to avert the evil endured by the righteous is mad, for he does not understand that just as it is impermissible to call God unjust, so it is impermissible to deny that He is omnipotent.

3. When, according to the circumstances of the matter raised, all these things are briefly ascertained (for it is in the nature of wholly pernicious wickedness to doubt that there is a God, and that he is just and omnipotent), there is no more probable reason why righteous men in this life should for the most part bear burdens, as that it should be for their benefit. For one righteousness is now proper to men, [serving] for the acquisition of eternal salvation, and the other had to be granted to man in paradise in order to retain and not lose the same eternal salvation. For as the righteousness of God consists in prescribing what is useful and giving punishment to the disobedient, and rewards to the obedient, so the righteousness of man is to obey useful precepts. But since what health is to the body, so is bliss to the soul, just as some remedies are prescribed for the body so as not to lose good health, and others to restore what has been lost, so with regard to the whole condition of man, some commandments were given at first so that he would not lose immortality, and others are now offered in order to regain this immortality. And as for bodily health, if someone does not follow the doctor's prescriptions necessary for the maintenance of good health, he falls into a certain illness and receives other prescriptions so that he can be healed. And these prescriptions are often inadequate when the illness is serious, unless the physician adds some help, for the most part painful and painful, but serving to restore health. Therefore, it turns out that a person, although he is already subject to the doctor, still suffers not only from the disease that has not yet been cured, but also from the help of the doctor. In the same way, a person, having fallen as a result of sin into a painful and miserable mortality of this life, because he did not want to obey the commandment that preserved eternity and kept health, became sick and received new commandments. And if he submits to them, it is not in vain that he is called a righteous living, but the sufferings he has hitherto endured, either because of the illness itself that has not yet been cured, or because of the help of medicine. And to this help applies what has been said: "For whom the Lord loves, he smite, but he smites every son whom he receives." And those who, not fulfilling the highest salvific commandments, live unrighteously, increase their illnesses again and again. Even in this life, either because of their own illnesses, they endure innumerable hardships of misfortune and suffering, or by additional punishments they are compassionately informed of the evil in which they dwell, so that what is not healthy may be struck and suffer, and they, having turned to treatment, may become healthy by the grace of God. And if they neglect all this, that is, the commandments of words and sufferings, then after this life they will gain for themselves a just eternal condemnation. And therefore only he can say that all this is unjust, who, believing that there is only the mortal life that we lead now, does not believe in the future foretold by God. And such a person will suffer the heaviest punishments for stubbornly remaining in sins and his unbelief.

Question 83. About marriage, to what the Lord said: "If a man let go of his wife, except for the guilt of adultery" and so on (cf. Matt. 5:32)