(17) But not ashamed of this, the Arians say: "Not as you speak, but as we wish. Since you have rejected our former inventions, we have found a new one, and affirm that in the same sense the Son and the Father are one, the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, in which we also can be in Him. This is written in the Gospel of John, and this is what Christ wanted for us, saying: Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as we also are (17:11), and after a few more words: "I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in their words in Me: that they may all be one, as Thou wilt, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, and they also shall be one in Us: that the world also has faith, for Thou hast sent Me. And I have given them the glory which Thou hast given unto Me, that they may be one, as We are one. I am in them, and Thou art in Me, that they may be made one, and that the world may understand that Thou hast sent Me (vv. 20-23)." Then these cunning ones, as if having found a pretext, add this: "If as we are one in the Father, so He and the Father are one in the Father, so He is also in the Father, then why, according to what He said, I and the Father are one, and I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, call Him properly belonging to and similar to the Father's essence? It is necessary either for us to be properly belonging to the Father's essence, or to be alien to Him, just as we are strangers."

Such is the unreasonable superstition of heretics. And I do not see in such wickedness of theirs anything else but 391 irrational audacity and devilish arrogance, because they, too, like the devil, say: let us ascend to heaven, let us be like the Highest. What is distributed to people by grace, they want to equate with the Divinity of the Giver. Hearing that people are called sons, they think that they themselves are equal to the true Son by nature. And now, again, hearing from the Saviour: "Let them be one, as We also," deceive themselves, boldly dreaming that they too will be in God, as the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son, not noticing that their father, the devil, fell from such conceit.

(18) If, as we have said many times, the Word of God is the same as we are, and does not differ from us in any way except in time, then let it be like us, let it have the same place with the Father as we have, let it not be called the only-begotten, nor the one Word, nor the Father's Wisdom, but let this name be common to Him with all of us, similar to each other. For among those who have one nature, it is just to have a common name, although they differ from each other in time. Adam is a man, and Paul is a man, and the one who is now being born is also a man, and time does not change the nature of the race. Therefore, if the Word differs from us only in time, then we must be the same as the Word. But we are not the Word or Wisdom, and it is not a creature or a work. For why are we all descended from one, and He alone is the Word? But if it is proper for heretics to speak such words, then it is unseemly for us to touch upon their blasphemy even in thought. And although it would not even be necessary to enter into any consideration of these sayings, given their clear and pious meaning and our true faith, nevertheless, in order that the heretics may prove to be wicked in this as well, by this very saying, 392 as we have learned from the Fathers, let us briefly denounce their unorthodoxy.

In the Holy Scriptures, natural objects are often presented to people as an image and an example. And this is so that voluntary movements in people can be seen more clearly from the natural. And in this way, either a bad or a truthful human disposition is shown. Thus, he has bad morals in mind if he commands: "Do not be like a horse and a horse, which have no understanding" (Psalm 31:9), or when, reproaching those who have become such, he says: "A man in honor has no understanding, be joined to senseless cattle and be like them" (48:13); and again, "The horses of womanhood were made" (Jeremiah 5:8). And the Saviour, showing what Herod was, said: "Speak to that fox" (Luke 13:32), and commanded the disciples: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves: for be wise as a serpent, and as a dove as a dove" (Matthew 10:16). He did not say this so that by nature we would become like cattle, become serpents or doves (He did not create us like this, therefore nature does not allow this), but so that we would avoid irrational pursuits; but knowing the wisdom of the serpent, they did not go into his deception and appropriated to themselves the meekness of the dove.

19) In the Divine discourse, presenting images to people again, the Saviour says: "Be merciful, as your Father who is in heaven is merciful" (Luke 6:36), and "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). And he did not say this again in order that we might become like the Father, because it is impossible for us, creatures, brought into existence from nothing, to become like the Father, on the contrary, as He commanded, "Do not be like a horse," not lest we become beasts, but 393 imitate their foolishness. not that we might become like God, but that, looking at His good deeds, when we do good, we should do not for the sake of men, but for His sake, expecting rewards from Him, and not from men. As though one is the Son by nature, true and only-begotten, yet we also are made sons, not like Him, not by nature, nor in reality, but by the grace of Him who called, and being earthly men, we are called gods, not such as God is, and what is His true Word, but as God who gave these things willed, so like God we are made merciful, not coming through this to equality with God, not becoming true benefactors by nature, because to do good is not ours, but God's invention, but insofar as it is done by grace for us by God Himself, we make common to others, not reasoning, but simply extending charity to all. Only in this way, and in no other way, can we also become somewhat imitators of God, because we serve one another with what is given by Him.

But just as we understand this well and correctly, so the passage read in the Gospel of John has the same meaning. For it is not said, "As the Son is in the Father, so let us also be." And is this possible, when He is the Word of God and the Wisdom of God, and we are created from the earth, He is by nature and essence the Word and the true God (thus says John: "We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, that we may know the true God, and that we may be in truth, in His Son Jesus Christ: this is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:19-20), but we, by adoption and grace through Him, are made sons, partaking of His Spirit, 394 for it is said, "Who received Him, gave them the region to be children of God, believing in His name" (John 1:12)? Therefore He is the truth, testifying of Himself: "I am the truth" (14:6), which He confirmed and conversed with His Father: "Sanctify them in Thy truth: Thy Word is truth" (17:17), and we are made virtuous and sons by imitation.

(20) Therefore the Saviour said, "That they may be one, as we also are" (v. 22), not that we might be made like Him, but that as He, being the Word, abides in His Father, so we, looking to Him and borrowing from Him a certain image, may become one with one another in unanimity and unity of Spirit, and not disagree, like the Corinthians, but they reasoned the same way, like the five thousand mentioned in Acts, who were all as one man (4:32). Let us be like sons, and not like the Son, and gods, but not as He Himself, and merciful as the Father, but not as the Father, but as it is said, having become one, as the Father and the Son; not in the sense in which by nature the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, but in what sense it is in accordance with our nature, in which it is possible for us to conform ourselves to this and learn how we must become one, just as we have learned to be merciful, because in union there are like with like, and all flesh enters into union according to kind. The Word is not like us, but like the Father, so that He is by nature and in reality one with His Father, and we, being of the same kind with one another, because all are descended from one, and all men have one nature, become one with one another in disposition, having for ourselves as a model 395 the natural union of the Son with the Father. As He taught meekness by His example, saying, "Learn from Me, that I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29), not that we might be compared to Him (this is impossible), but that, looking to Him, we might always remain meek, so here, desiring that we should have true, firm, and indissoluble goodwill toward one another, He takes His example and says: "That they may be one, even as We are. And our unity is indivisible, wherefore they, too, having come to know in us the indivisible nature, should also preserve mutual agreement with each other." People, as it has been said, are safer to imitate what? it is borrowed from nature, because it remains the same and never changes, while human temper is changeable, and only by looking at what is unchangeable by nature, can it avoid evil and conform itself to the best. And thus it is said, "That they also shall be one in Us." (John 17:21), has the correct meaning.

21) If it were possible for us to become what the Son is in the Father, then we should say: "And they in Thee may be one, as the Son is in the Father." But now He did not say this, but said, "In Us," He showed the distance and the difference, namely, that He is one in the one Father, as one Word and Wisdom, while we are in the Son and through the Son in the Father. But by saying this, he gave no other meaning than the following: "By our unity, let them also become one with one another, just as We are one in nature and in reality, otherwise they will not be made one, unless they learn unity in Us." And that the utterance in Us has this meaning, listen to Paul, who says: "And transfigure Apollos in yourselves, that ye may learn from us no more wisdom than those who are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). 396 Thus, the utterance in Us does not mean in the Father, as the Son in the Father, but is only an example and an image, and is used instead of the words, "Let them learn from Us." As Paul is to the Corinthians, so the unity of the Son and the Father is a model and a lesson for all, from which, looking at the natural unity of the Father and the Son, men can learn how they too must be made one with one another in their way of thinking.

If, however, in the discourse of this utterance we must defend ourselves in another way, then it can also be said that the utterance in Us is equivalent to the words: "By the power of the Father and the Son, let them be one," saying the same thing, because without God it is impossible to become one. And this again can be found in the divine word, for example: In God let us create power (Psalm 59:14), and: "By God I will cross the wall" (17:30), and: "In Thee our enemies will make horns" (43:6). Thus, it is evident that in the name of the Father and the Son we can become one, have a firm union of love. For again spreading the same thought, the Lord says: "And I have given to Me the glory which Thou hast given unto them, that they may be one, as We are one" (John 17:22). Very appropriately here he did not say, "Let them be in you, as I am in you," but says, "As we also." And when he says so, he does not show identity in what has been said, but an image and an example.

22) Посему Слово подлинно и истинно имеет тождество естества с Отцом, а нам, как сказано: возможно только подражать. Ибо немедленно присовокупил: Аз в них, и Ты во Мне, да будут совершени во едино (ст. 23). Здесь Господь просит уже для нас чего-то большого и совершеннейшего. Ибо известно, как Слово стало в нас, Оно облеклось в нашу плоть. Но и Ты во Мне, Отче, потому что Твое Я — Слово. И поелику Ты во Мне, потому что Твое Я — Слово, а Я в них по телу, и чрез Тебя 397 совершилось во Мне спасение людей, то прошу, и тии едино да будут по телу во Мне и по его совершению, да и тии совершени будут, имея единство с телом сим и в нем став едино, да все как понесенные Мною на Себе будут едино тело и един дух и достигнут в мужа совершенна. Ибо все мы, приобщаясь Его тела, делаемся едино тело, имея в себе Единого Господа.

Когда же изречение это имеет такой смысл, еще более обличается неправославие христоборцев. Ибо, снова повторяя, скажу, если бы сказал просто и отрешенно: да будут в Тебе едино, или: да тии и Аз в Тебе едино будем, то богоборцы имели бы хотя непостыдный предлог. Теперь же не просто сказал, но: якоже Ты, Отче во Мне и Аз в Тебе да вси едино будут. И опять говоря: якоже, показывает, что далеко людям быть в Отце, как Он во Отце, и далеко не по месту, но по естеству. Ибо по месту ничто не далеко от Бога, все же далеко от Него по одному естеству. И как заметил я прежде, кто произносит частицу якоже, показывает не тождество и не равенство, но пример сказуемого сравнительно в каком-либо отношении.

23) И сему опять можно научиться у Самого Спасителя, Который говорит: якоже бо бе Иона во чреве китове три дни и три нощи: тако будет и Сын человеческий в сердцы земли (Мф 12:40). Иона был не то, что Спаситель, Иона не сходил в ад, кит был не ад, да и поглощенный Иона не извел с собою поглощенных китом, но исшел один, когда повелено было киту. Поэтому, никакого тождества и равенства не означается этим речением якоже, а напротив того, отличается одно от другого, сходство же Ионы показывается несколько выражением три дни. Так и мы, поелику Господь говорит 398 якоже, не соделываемся тем же, что Сын в Отце и Отец в Сыне, но якоже Отец и Сын, так и мы соделываемся едино по образу мыслей и по согласию Духа. Спаситель, якоже Иона, будет в земле. Но как Спаситель не Иона, и Господь не так сошел в ад, как тот был поглощен, одно же с другим различно; так, если и мы соделаемся едино, как Сын в Отце, не будем посему то же, что Сын, и равны Ему, но совершенно от Него отличны. Потому-то о нас сказано якоже, ибо то, что не в естестве и клонится к чему-то иному, делается как естественное. Посему сам Сын просто и без всякого посредства есть в Отце, потому что свойственно Ему сие по естеству, а мы, не имея сего в естестве своем, имеем нужду в образе и примере, чтобы и о нас сказать Ему: якоже Ты во Мне, и Аз в Тебе.

Когда же, говорит, будут они так совершенны, тогда уразумеет мир, яко Ты Мя послал еси. Если бы не пришел Я и не понес на Себе тела их, то никто из них не стал бы совершенным, но все пребывали бы тленными. Поэтому Ты действуй в них, Отче, и как дал Мне понести сие тело, так дай и им Духа Твоего, да и тии едино будут, и соделаются совершенными во Мне. Ибо совершение их показывает, что было пришествие Слова Твоего, и мир, видя их совершенными и богоносными, без сомнения, уверует, яко Ты Мя послал еси, и Я приходил к ним. Откуда бы им приять совершение, если бы Я, слово Твое, не соделался человеком, прияв на Себя тело их, и не совершил дело, которое дал Мне Ты, Отче? Дело же совершено, потому что люди, искупленные от греха, не остаются более мертвыми, но, обожившись и взирая на Нас, имеют между собою взаимный союз любви. 399

24) Итак, мы, сколь можно было проще рассмотреть выражения этого изречения, предложили сие пространно, блаженный же Иоанн в послании в немногих словах и гораздо совершеннее нашего покажет смысл написанного, обличит разумение нечестивых, научит, как бываем мы в Боге и Бог в нас, а также как мы делаемся в Нем едино и сколько Сын отстоит от нас по естеству, а тем заставит, наконец, ариан не думать о себе, что и они будут такими же, каков Сын, чтобы иначе и им не услышать: ты же человек еси, а не Бог (Иез 28:2), и: не распростирайся убог сый с богатым (Притч 23:4). Итак, Иоанн пишет, говоря следующее: о сем разумеем, яко в Нем пребываем, и Той в нас, яко от Духа Своего дал есть нам (1 Ин 4:13). Итак, по данной нам благодати Духа и мы бываем в Нем, и Он в нас. И поелику Дух, который бывает в нас, есть Божий, то и мы, имея в себе Духа, справедливо почитаемся пребывающими в Боге, а таким образом и Бог бывает в нас. Следовательно, не как Сын в Отце, так и мы бываем в Отце. Сын не делается причастником Духа, чтобы чрез это быть Ему в Отце. Не Он приемлет Духа, а паче Сам подает Его всем, и не Дух сочетавает Сына с Отцом, но паче Дух приемлет от Слова. И Сын в Отце как собственное Его Слово и сияние. А мы без Духа чужды Богу и далеки от Него, причастием же Духа сочетаваемся с Божеством, почему быть нам в Отце есть не наше, но сущего и пребывающего в нас Духа, пока сохраняем Его в себе исповеданием, как опять говорит Иоанн: иже аще исповесть, яко Иисус есть Сын Божий, Бог в нем пребывает, и той в Бозе (1 Ин 4:15). 400