But the other deeds of Christ are also glorified in our liturgical books, as the trampling of the devil and the destruction of Adam's sin.

The resurrection of Christ, in addition to proving His Divinity, confirmed to the faithful the general resurrection, and the descent into hell of eternal truth freed the prisoners languishing there. These bright beliefs utterly destroyed the fear of death among the true followers of Jesus. A detailed mystical explanation of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is hardly possible, both because of the very inaccessibility of the question and because of the insufficiency of the data in the monuments of patristic thinking: it is true that the Fathers did not unconditionally evade the solution of this question, but always limited themselves to asserting the indubitable salvific nature of resurrection and death. How this salvation can be understood we have seen above.

VI. Redemption from the power of the devil

Having solved to the best of our ability and within the limits indicated in the works of the Holy Fathers, the question of the liberating power of Christ's coming into the world in relation to man himself, we have by no means exhausted the entire content of the question. The work of man's liberation can be considered both in relation to the one who liberates, i.e. to God, and in relation to the ruler of the world, i.e. the devil, who is defeated in the matter of liberation. It seems to us personally that such a formulation of the question is highly undesirable, both because of its inaccessibility to human thinking and because of its comparative uselessness for piety; Is it not enough for the confessors of Christ's humility that is revealed in the Gospels, and which is not only a dogma of the faith, but also an indubitable fact of history? And how can we reason about the relationship of the Creator to the fallen spirit, when human relations are often completely incomprehensible? Of course, our personal thoughts are of no importance, but there is no doubt about the condition of such reasoning, that they can only be carried on comparatively, i.e., on some conditional ground. It is impossible to present the matter of man's salvation in relation to God and the devil as simply and clearly as it can be done in relation to man.

Yielding to the human weakness of Christians, the authors of patristic theological systems solved this question, but always in a highly conditional way. In the "Great Catechetical Discourse" of St. Gregory of Nyssa, the human race is presented as a captive of the devil, while God is the liberator of this captive. Consequently, the image of comparison is taken from the military sphere of that time. But God's means of liberation are bound up by His attributes, which must also be manifested in this act of His will: "And since it is universally recognized as certain that the Godhead is not only powerful, but also just, and all-wise, and is all that the intellect considers best. From this it follows that in the present economy not one of the attributes proper to God could be revealed in practice, and the other could not" (XX). Therefore, the release of the prisoner must be a combination of power, justice, and wisdom. Justice consisted in the fact that "He did not use any coercive power against our owner, and left no cause for righteous pity for the fact that He had stolen an excess of power. For even those who have taken money for their freedom become the slaves of those who have bought, as those who have sold themselves," etc. (XXII). God did not set man free by force, but ransomed him. In order to ransom a man, it is necessary "to give the owner of the captive such price as he desires to take" (XXIII). St. The father believes that the devil could sell a person "for a very high and great price, in order to feed his passion of pride all the more, exchanging more for less." It is quite understandable that none of the people or created beings in general satisfied the requirements of the evil spirit, while Christ, as the Son of God, seemed to the devil to be a sufficient ransom. Having described in detail all the miracles of the Saviour, the Holy Father continues: "Thus, the enemy, seeing in Him such power, noticed that what was offered for exchange was more important than the prisoner, therefore he wanted Him to become the redemptive price for those kept in custody. But since it was impossible for him to behold the true image of God without seeing on Him a certain part of that flesh which he had already taken captive through sin, so that the Divinity covered itself with the flesh, so that he, looking at the nature familiar and akin to him (according to creation), would not be frightened by the approach of the power of the Highest." In the matter of salvation, the Divine qualities are fully manifested: "What He willed to save is a sign of goodness; that he paid a conditional price for a prisoner shows justice; and that he skillfully made what was inaccessible to the enemy accessible, this contains in himself a proof of the greatest wisdom." In the next chapter (XX), the Holy Father examines the act of liberation he depicted from the point of view of divine power and comes to the conclusion that it is filled with the greatest power, manifested primarily in the supernaturalness of the event. But, having agreed to such a ransom, the devil was deceived in his expectations: "Together with the bait of the flesh was seized by him, like greedy fishes, the rod of the Divinity, and thus, after the indwelling of life in the bosom of death and after the shining of light in the darkness, the opposite state was destroyed by light and life." Though it was possible to suppose that Christ would be held in the captivity of death, yet, having undergone this state, He produced that which is proper to Himself by nature. St. The Father foresees an objection to his interpretation, and declares beforehand that the resemblance to deception does not speak in the least against the interpretation. "For the worthy recompense, that the deceiver is mutually deceived, shows justice, and the end of this action testifies to goodness" (117). But already in deciding the question of the time of redemption, St. Gregory introduces another comparison: humanity is already presented as sick, and the Lord is the Physician. A new comparison, of course, leaves a new imprint on the reasoning itself. In general, with regard to comparative interpretations, it should be noted that their advantage is clarity and ease of representation, but they also have an important drawback, namely, they lead the greatest conventionality and pettiness into a realm that is unconditional and inaccessible to the human mind.

Turning to a brief exposition of the Divine dogmas, Bl. Theodoret, we find in it little reasoning about the method of our salvation. Denouncing the numerous intricacies of heretics, the glorious teacher of the Church says little about what he does not find direct and definite indications in the word of God. Incidentally, he also takes the point of view of the struggle with the devil, beloved by the Fathers, but his fighter is human nature itself: "The Lord willed that the conquered nature itself should enter into battle with its enemy, and gain the victory." Regarding the details of the description of the struggle of Bl. Theodoret is far inferior to St. Gregory of Nyssa. Quickly switching to the Bible, he interprets the words of Ap. Paul to the Romans. "Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed into all men, because in him all sinned. For even before the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law, yet death reigned from Adam to Moses and over those who did not sin, like the transgression of Adam, who is the image of the future. But the gift of grace is not like a crime. For if many were put to death by the transgression of one, how much more is the grace of God and the gift by grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abounding for many. And the gift is not as a judgment for one sinner, for judgment for one transgression leads to condemnation, but a gift of grace for justification from many transgressions. For if by the transgression of one death reigned through one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ alone. Therefore, as by the transgression of one man is condemnation to all men, so by the righteousness of one man is justification unto life. For as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (5:12-19). Presenting an analysis of the apostolic teaching, Bl. Theodoret abandons the likening of deliverance from sin to struggle, which he began, and positively declares: when one sinned, all were condemned, but now, when all have sinned, salvation is offered to all who wish. At the end of his interpretation, Bl. The teacher affirms the truth of salvation in relation to man himself: "After the coming of the Saviour, not everyone receives salvation, but only those who believe in Him and act according to His Divine laws." Thus, in the exposition of the dogma of salvation, Bl. Theodoret, there are almost no conventional comparisons, and there is no attempt to resolve the question of man's deliverance in relation to the one who freed and captivated.

St. John of Damascus repeats the thought of Bl. Theodoret about the need for human nature itself to defeat its enemy: "The incarnation of God the Word took place for the reason that the sinful and fallen and corrupt nature itself would defeat the tyrant who deceived it, and so that it would be freed from corruption, just as the Divine Apostle says: "For by man is death and by man the resurrection of mortals." Just like Bl. Theodorite, St. John does not continue the comparison. But on the other hand, we find in him a wonderful idea of assimilation. There is nothing new in the idea itself, but its unusually strong and penetrating expression vividly clarifies the connection between the Deliverer Christ and the liberated. The words, "O God, my God, hast thou forsaken me?" he said, because he had our face as his own. For neither God the Father would have been placed with us, had it not been by the subtle conceptions of the intellect that the visible had not been separated from that which is perceived by the intellect, nor has He, on the other hand, ever been forsaken by His divinity, but we have been forsaken and neglected, so that He prayed for it, assimilating our face to Himself. You should know that there are two assimilations: one natural and essential, the other personal and relative. The natural and essential, of course, is that according to which the Lord, out of love for mankind, took on both our nature and all that is natural, having become man by nature and in truth, and having experienced that which pertains to our nature; but personal and relative occurs when someone takes upon himself the person of another on account of some relation, i.e. compassion or love, and instead of him utters speeches directed in his defense, which do not concern himself in the least. Accordingly, the Lord appropriated to Himself both our curse and our forsakenness, and the like, which is not a natural assimilation, not being this Himself or not having become this, but taking on our person and placing Himself along with us. This is the meaning of the saying: "Having taken an oath for us." Although in the above words of St. John he is not speaking in relation to man, but rather to Christ Himself, it is not difficult to understand that in these words is set forth the teaching of deliverance from sin through the attraction of Christ's love to mysterious union with Him. However, St. John is trying, as if in passing, to resolve the question of Christ's death, both in relation to the heavenly Father and the enemy of the human race. His expressions are very conditional and are taken from the usual in the works of the Holy Fathers area of the liberation of prisoners of war by ransom. Only the ransom is given not to the devil, but to God the Father, in which St. John seems to contradict St. Gregory, while for the devil Christ was a bait, in which both of these lamps of faith fully agree. Obviously, St. John compared the liberation of a person with the ransom of captives in a somewhat different way, and the picture he presents probably differs significantly from the one that St. Gregory of Nyssa depicted in such detail. But St. John sets forth only the conclusions of his comparison, omitting the images themselves: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, being sinless, because He did not commit iniquity, deceit was found in His mouth, was not subject to death, for death entered through sin. Therefore He dies, suffering death for us, and that we may be freed from condemnation; for the blood of the Lord was not offered to a tyrant. Thus, death comes, and, having swallowed up the bait of the body, it is pierced by the milk of the Divinity, and, having tasted the sinless and life-giving body, it perishes and gives back all those whom it once devoured. For just as darkness is destroyed through the bringing of light, so corruption is driven away through the touch of life, and life arises for all, and death for the destroyer" (3:27). In addition to the idea of ransom, there is a simile in these words taken from the sacrificial cult. But all that can be said about all the comparisons we have analyzed boils down to the fact that by showing by His sufferings the true path of life and attracting with His compassionate love to walk along this path, Christ fulfilled the desires of the eternal truth of God the Father and humiliated the devil.

VII. Russian theologians on the same

A certain vagueness that distinguishes the patristic explanations of man's liberation from sin naturally passed into Russian theology of the sixteenth century. All the comparisons made in the interpretation of this dogma are repeated by the Russian Fathers: Christ, as the liberator of men, is called both a sacrifice to God the Father (Zinovy of Otens, v. 353) and a deception of the devil. Such uncertainty, more than understandable in the works of the Fathers of the Universal Church, is inevitable in the Russian theologies of the sixteenth century. In addition to difficulties of thought, the Russian Fathers reasoned within certain limits and used ready-made images of comparisons.

The most detailed theory of the salvation of the human race through the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to the human race is found in the fourth word "The Enlightener", which could be an adornment of any patristic work of the East, but in Russian theological literature it represents a pearl both in the depth and clarity of the contemplative mind, and in the strength and brightness of feeling: it is a stone that withstands the strongest pressure of enemies, and at the same time, fire that unstoppably burns opponents. The inscription of the word testifies to its polemical purpose: "Homily 4 on the heresy of the Novgorod heretics, saying, "When God could not save Adam and those who are with him, and when he did not have heavenly powers, and the prophets and the righteous, he sent to fulfill his will, but he himself, as not a coveter and a beggar, and became man and suffered, and thereby outwitted the devil. For it is not fitting for God to do this. Here we have a testimony from the Divine Scriptures, that all things are possible to God, but no one can resist His Divine authority; but in the depths of His wisdom and love for mankind, for our salvation, so did He Himself deign to become man, and to suffer, and to descend into hell and rise from the dead, and to deliver Adam from hell and those who are with him, and thus by Divine wisdom to outwit the devil and save the whole world, and to this day He saves." As can be seen from the inscription of the sermon, the Russian heretics, by the images with which the Holy Fathers and hymn-writers most willingly expounded the truth of our salvation, had in mind the very description of salvation and, representing the imperfection of the images, mocked salvation itself. Prep. Joseph defends these images, defends them fervently, with the zeal of a true champion of universal piety; he understands perfectly well that the difficult circumstances of the epoch are least conducive to disputes about dogmatic subtleties. As an ascetic inclined to contemplative insight, he boldly affirms his favorite beginning of theological reflection: "Let the superfluous in the Church of God be silent, let the faithful be glorified." He condemns the sophistic subterfuge and curiosity of the heretics as a lack of reverence: "We do not believe in the benefactor of the forbidden gifts, for the great mercy of the Lord we flee from work - oh, this placeless and evil disposition! Wolves worship, heretics torment as God is in the flesh and in what flesh, whether man is perfect or imperfect to receive." Affirming the incarnation of the Word on the basis of patristic testimony, the Holy Father proceeds to resolve the question of the cause of incarnation, so beloved by heretics.

Why did God Himself appear, and not send any of the angels and saints? The absurdity of such a question is felt by itself. That is why the answer to it is given by St. Josephus is short and clear: "For this reason God was incarnate, since man cannot be saved. And the angel cannot redeem him, for there is no such redemption. Our God cannot suffer, for this reason God Himself was man." Having proved on the basis of the Word of God that nothing is impossible for God, St. The father asserts that many of the works of God, which are narrated in the Bible, have the appearance of a kind of cunning, so that the greatest of Divine works is distinguished by such a character: "Much is the essence in the Divine Scriptures of deception and deceit, which the Lord Himself created. In the same way, according to the Divine command of the holiness of God, men do not think that they are good, but that God is good and pleasing in essence." The last words clearly show the unsuitability of the human point of view for the consideration of divine works and human concepts for their expression. The liberation of man appears to man as a rapprochement, but in reality it is not a rapture, but something else, the like of which man does not know, and therefore cannot name. After all, objects and phenomena unknown to any people are completely incomprehensible to them and do not have corresponding names in their language. How, then, can we define in the language of human conventional concepts the relationship between two beings, one of whom is the self-existent God of the whole world, and the other is the evil principle of life, the fallen but powerful spirit, the demon of evil? Of course, in this case one can speak of cunning and deception only relatively, since it is completely impossible to say more precisely and definitely. St. St. Maximus the Confessor says that the devil is both an enemy of God and an avenger. In general, the works of God should not be an object of idle curiosity. "When God does anything, or commands what you do, receive it rightly, and do not test it boldly; for they have experienced guilt, and tortured them, and sought the image, souls are corrupted and amazed, and there is a work that is sick through unbelief." Having further shown to what sad consequences covetousness leads, St. Joseph in powerful words filled with fervent faith confesses the mystery of salvation through the coming of the Lord Jesus to earth. Then there is a brief discussion of the fall of the law, the creation of man, and his fall. After being expelled from paradise, "the devil took strength upon man. Teach them the devil who has multiplied every way of evil, and forgetting the people of God, enslaved to lust, murder and fornication, sorcery and sorcery." After the Flood, iniquities did not cease, but rather found a new support in the impious cults of idolaters: "Men accept the guilt of their gods, shamelessly defile themselves with all kinds of defilements." The heinous human sacrifices added to the sad picture. The prophets sent by God did not have the power to significantly change the conditions of human life: "For men are all subject to sin and sin for the sake of death." Only a sinless person could be a deliverer. Then follows the arguments that we have already encountered in the "Great Catechetical Discourse" of St. Gregory of Nyssa, namely, that to free a person from the bonds of the devil by force is not in accordance with the Higher Truth of the Godhead. The incarnation of God was accomplished. Having set forth in brief words the Gospel story about the first thirty years of Christ's earthly life, St. Joseph remarks about the arrangement of a new life on earth: "And the disciples chose twenty, commanding man to preach the heavenly dwelling." The devil wanted to destroy Him, as he destroyed the prophets, raised up the malice of the Jewish elders against Christ and through them put Jesus Christ to death, thinking that His soul would be a prisoner of hell. But the descent of God into hell was fatal for hell, and the shameful execution was followed by the glorious resurrection and liberation of the prisoners languishing in hell. Further, the doctrine of man's salvation by faith in Jesus Christ develops. It would be the greatest ignorance to try to find in this teaching any resemblance to the well-known doctrine of the Western reformers of scholasticism, let us once again recall that the thinking of St. Joseph was filled with ascetic ideas and a higher spiritual understanding of questions of faith. He looked upon pious exercises not as an independent way of pleasing God through "merit," but as a means of developing in oneself the spiritual powers that detach man from the earth and elevate him to heaven. The Lord showed the true path of life and gave repentance to sinners, gave spiritual healings that deliver from the very passions. Only those who zealously strive are completely delivered from the passions, but also those who hate the passions and humble themselves and endure from the pangs of conscience will be delivered from eternal torment. "Says the Theologian Gregory: "For this is not torment, this is the kingdom, nor is this kingdom and torment, but it is enough for the lazy to eat and escape torment." The compassionate love of Christ has the power to save obvious sinners, who with humility and tenderness of soul run to Him, "Who died for human sins, Jesus the Lord accepts even the words of repentance, He will not reject the oral confession; For to those who sin against us and to those who repent He pours out the sea of His mercy, increasing the fire of our evils." And then he continues: "For God, Who created us, accepts from those who wish to be saved not only martyrdom and fasting life, but also sorrow over sins, and the pounding of the forehead, and the beating of the forehead, and the bowing of the knee, and the lifting of the hand with sickness of the heart, and the words lamenting for sins, sighing from the depths of the heart, the lamentable weeping of tears, the conscience crying out with sickness, and the fruit of the walls of those who confess the name of the Lord Jesus." Further, St. The father cites an excerpt from an ancient collection in which the devil expresses bewilderment at the salvific path established by Christ: "And the Holy Spirit saith.

And if He came naked by the Divinity, and frightened with terrible miracles and signs, and if they believed, it would be no wonder. But now they have seen nothing of this kind, and have feared and wept, and have been offended by their sins. Truly great is their faith. For this reason I will receive and have mercy on them, and I will vouchsafe them my heavenly kingdom." These touching words show both the salvific nature for man of the deification of Christ's sufferings, and the infinite love of Christ, which, as St. John further argues. Joseph extends beyond the grave as a force unrestrained by the external conditions of law and form. Confessing the salvific nature of Christ's coming for all and noting the success of the spread of the Gospel, St. The father gives a remarkable description of Christian salvation: "Truth and Love Itself is called and leads everyone from impiety to piety, not by arms, not by weapons, not by drowning with water, not by burning with fire, but by meekness, and patience, and humility, and mercy, and love." A clear sign of those who are being saved is humility and simplicity of heart: "What shall we repay against this? Thanksgiving and faith in these deeds with simplicity and humility: for God appears not by labor, but by simplicity and humility." This remarkable exposition of patristic ideas on the question of the salvific action of Christ's coming, a profoundly penetrating and extraordinarily powerful exposition, is the best that we have been able to read on this subject. The images of comparisons are ancient, patristic, but St. Joseph is somehow not limited to them and, in addition to the external theory of redemption, expounds the internal, psychological teaching about salvation through the love of Christ, through the worship of His sufferings, through assimilation to His humility. We boldly venture to say that the Russian Church has not had a better, more exalted, stronger and deeper understanding and exposition of this dogma until now, and the 4th word of the "Enlightener" Joseph of Volotsk could be adorned even by the "Great Catechetical Discourse" of the wisest of the thinkers of the fourth century or the famous work of John of Damascus. Everything that has been written on questions of salvation or redemption since "The Enlightener" is striking in comparison with the 4th word and the pallor of feeling and the conventionality of the description. In addition, the brilliant literary talent of the great Joseph expressed itself in this word with some exceptional force.

In various works of St. Maximus the Greek expounds the same teaching about the salvific life and sufferings of the Lord Jesus, but since Bl. By the way, if St. Maximus had to touch upon this question, we would have searched in vain for such a profound and comprehensive solution to it as St. Joseph gave to the Church. The murderer of Christ, like most of the Fathers, is Bl. Maximus considers the devil (2:391). In the prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos and in the hymn to the Life-Giving Trinity, Bl. Maximus strenuously confesses the salvific nature of Christ's passions, without resorting to any comparisons; these words of his, according to the feeling they express, can serve as a brilliant illustration for the teaching about the saving power of Christ's compassionate love, which naturally evokes tenderness. In the legend on the 18th Psalm, Bl. St. Maximus notes the destruction by the Lord's sufferings of the manifold idolatrous charm and the unity of humanity in Christ. In this legend, special attention should be paid to the fact that the author further speaks about the salvific nature of the Savior's baptism and repeats the thoughts expressed in the prayer at the great blessing of the waters: "Thou hast erased the head of the serpent, Thou hast given it to the people of Ethiopia; The heads of the serpent have spoken in different ways, the deeds of God-hating demons are evil... for this destructive head he broke, and was baptized in the streams of the Jordan" (3:29). Thus, baptism is recognized as a saving act, of course, as a feat of humility. This thought makes it quite impossible to recognize the exclusive salvific nature of Christ's death, which is salvific in the same sense. An even stronger confirmation of the view of Christ's sufferings as an exemplary example is found in the homily on Christmas (3:46). "For it is not righteous to be at all wise about Him, to His all-powerful command they obey in every way, for for they have no other form of healing for Him, but His evil and weak things are manifested wiser than all wisdom and all mighty powers. But although the humble wisdom exhorts us by deed, and the love of God itself is convenient for us to think higher and better, He deigned to eat and suffer on the cross and be buried to all who desire to be good in the future, offering to Himself the image and decree of a perfect life." In the same word, Bl. St. Maximus speaks of the salvific effect of deified suffering and humiliation: "How is it that the formerly abhorred, accursed, and hated, like a mortal instrument, the cross-shaped tree, is now much desired and universally honorable to be worshiped and venerated? For the gift of life and innumerable blessings." In the sermon against "Samuel the Jew" Bl. Maximus briefly remarks about the liberation of righteous souls by Christ who descended into hell; The image is borrowed from the comparative teaching about the ransom and bait of the devil. In the legend of the Sibyls, Bl. St. Maximus speaks of the salvific nature of the feat of the cross. As can be seen from the above brief remarks, Bl. He confessed the teaching characteristic of all the Holy Fathers about deliverance from sin through the love of Christ by participating in His life as much as possible. As far as can be judged, he fully accepts the patristic comparisons of "ransom," but does not seem to introduce anything into this comparative theory that in any way modifies its character.

In the theological system, Bl. Zinovy we do not find such a definite teaching on salvation as in the "Enlightener" of St. Joseph, because the "Testimony of the Truth" pursued narrower, purely polemical aims. Bl. Zinovy very willingly and in detail solves the perplexities of the questioners and rarely goes beyond the limits set by his opponents. He does not have a complete theory of salvation. Christ is called a sacrifice to the Father, "as the Apostle Paul writes in the Hebrew epistole," but without any definite tendency. However, certain thoughts of Bl. Zinovia are completely identical with the ideas of the "Enlightener" and establish the salvation of mankind in the same way as the work of Divine love and the veneration of suffering caused by it. We will not cite his lengthy arguments about the fact that God, without incarnation, could not suffer, etc., since they are completely identical with the corresponding points of the 4th of the word "Enlightener", we will note only those points of his system where the salvation of mankind is spoken of not in a comparative, but in a psychological sense: "By the grace of God the Father, the Son of God came down to seek His image and likeness, and Christ suffered not against His will, passion and the cross, but fulfilling obedience to the Father, he willingly stretched out all things, as a man, for man's sake" (307). From these words it is evident that the need for the podvig of the Lord's sufferings appeared in man; suffering as a man, Christ showed obedience to God, Who established the laws of life, in which suffering exists not only as an inevitable element, but, it seems, as the main content, and gave an image to man seeking salvation from sin. In the consideration of the "cross of Christ," Bl. Zenobius says: "And Christ poured forth His blood on the Cross, by Whom deliver us from the power of darkness, the wrath and torment of the devil, and the terrible and hellish kingdom, and depart us into the Kingdom of the Son of Thy love, which by the Cross is both resurrection and eternal life, the delight of the heavenly kingdom" (547). Here, undoubtedly, the true Christian religion is meant, suffering as opposed to false pagan beliefs of beauty and power.