Therefore, do not be dismayed; There is nothing strange or unexpected in the fact that madmen laugh at great objects. Such people cannot be convinced by human wisdom; and if you try to persuade them in this way, you will do the opposite; For that which surpasses reason, faith alone is needed. Truly, if we want to explain (to the Gentiles) by means of the judgments of reason how God became man by entering the womb of the Virgin, and do not recognize this as an article of faith, they will only laugh. Those who wish to comprehend this by means of the judgments of reason perish. And what do I say about God? If we do the same in relation to created things, then we will also provoke great laughter. For instance, let a man who wishes to be convinced of all things by the judgments of reason require you to explain to him how we see the light? And you try to explain it to him by means of the judgments of reason. But you couldn't do it. If you were to say that it is enough to open your eyes to see, you would explain the way of seeing, and not the matter itself.

Let us leave this to the power and boundless wisdom of God, and let us be silent. In the same way, if we wish to explain divine objects with the help of external wisdom, then great laughter will follow, not because of the nature of the objects themselves, but because of the foolishness of man. After all, no word can express great things. See, if I say, Christ was crucified, the heathen will object, "Is this in accordance with reason?" He did not deliver Himself when they crucified and tortured Him on the cross: how then did He rise again and deliver others? If he had the power to do so, he had to show it before death (so indeed the Jews said); but if He did not deliver Himself, how could He deliver others? This, he will say, is inconsistent with reason. And for sure, this is beyond reason; In the cross appeared an ineffable power. To be tormented and to be above torment, to be bound and to conquer, is the work of infinite power. How the three youths, being cast into the furnace and trampling down the flame, appeared more wondrous than if they had not been thrown into it; and as Jonah, being swallowed up by a whale and suffering no harm from it, became greater than when he had not been exposed to such danger, so Jesus Christ, having died and abolished death, appeared more glorious than when He had not died. Therefore do not say, Why did He not redeem Himself on the cross? He wanted to fight death. He did not come down from the cross, not because he could not, but because he did not want to. After all, if the power of death could not hold Him, then how could the nails of the cross hold Him?

2. However, this is known to the pam, but not to the infidels. That is why the Apostle said: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent." Hitherto He has said nothing accusatory; and now, bringing before the testimony of the Scriptures and borrowing boldness from it, he begins a diatribe and says: "Has not God turned the wisdom of this world into foolishness? Where is the sage? Where is the scribe? Where is the questioner of this world? For when the world by wisdom did not know God in the wisdom of God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" (vv. 20-21). Having said, "It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," he adds proof of this from works, and says, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?" In fact, which of the philosophers, who is skillful in judgment, or who of those who know Judaism has granted salvation and taught the truth? No one, but everything was done by the fishermen. Having proved this point and put to shame their vanity, saying: "Has not God turned the wisdom of this world into madness?" – he gives also the reason why this was so. "For when," he says, "the world in wisdom did not know God in the wisdom of God," then the cross appeared. What does it mean: "in the wisdom of God"? In the creatures through which He was pleased to reveal Himself. He arranged everything in such a way that man, passing from visible objects to the Creator, would be amazed at Him. Great is the heavens, and boundless is the earth: marvel at their Maker. For this great heaven was not only created by Him, but also easily created, and this boundless earth was produced by Him as nothing. That is why it is said of the former: "The heavens are the work of Thy hands" (Psalm 101:26); and of the earth: "And the earth was created as nothing" (Isaiah 40:23). Since the world did not want to know God by means of this wisdom, He taught preaching, not through judgment, but through faith. Where there is the wisdom of God, there is no need for human wisdom. To say that he who created so beautiful and so great a world is God, who has boundless and ineffable power, was to judge by human wisdom and to comprehend Him by means of them; But now what is needed is not judgment, but faith alone. In order to accept and be convinced that the Crucified and Buried One is resurrected and sitting, this requires not judgment, but faith. The Apostles did not go with wisdom, but with faith, and appeared wiser and higher than external sages, and all the more so than the acceptance of divine things by faith is higher than reasoning, since this surpasses human reason. How did he destroy wisdom? He revealed himself to us through Paul and similar men, and showed that it was useless. Neither wisdom helps the wise in the least to receive the Gospel preaching, nor ignorance in the least hinders the unlearned, and even, surprisingly, it must be said, ignorance can accept it much more quickly and easily than wisdom. The shepherd and the farmer, not carried away by reasoning and surrendering themselves to the Lord, will accept it more quickly. Thus He destroyed this wisdom! Since she herself had previously shamed herself, she then became good for nothing. When she had to show herself and know the Lord by His works, she did not want to; but now, even though she wanted to contribute to this, she cannot, because now this is not the state of affairs – there is a path to the knowledge of God that is much better than her. What is needed now is simple faith; it must be sought everywhere and preferred to outward wisdom: "God has turned it into madness," he says, "wisdom." What does it mean, "turned into madness"? He showed that it is unreasonable to accept the faith. Since people thought highly of her, He directly rebuked her. What kind of wisdom is it if it cannot find the main good? He denounced her folly, because she had exposed herself beforehand. If it has discovered nothing when it could have been investigated by reasoning, what success can be expected from it now? When are there higher subjects, when faith alone is needed, and not the art of judgment? Thus God showed her folly; And He deigned to save by the folly of preaching, which, however, is not real, but apparent. This is especially important because He surpassed it not by some other wisdom that is higher than it, but by seeming ignorance. He deposed Plato, not by some wiser philosopher, but by an unlearned fisherman. Such a defeat is stronger; Such a victory is more brilliant. Expressing the power of the cross, Paul goes on to say: "For the Jews also demand miracles, and the Greeks seek wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

3. Great wisdom in these words. He wants to show how God has conquered by not promising victory, and how preaching is not the work of man. His words mean the following: when we say to the Jews, "Believe," they object: "Raise up the dead, heal those who are possessed, show us signs." What do we say instead? We say that He who we preach was crucified and died. Not only can this not attract those who resist, but it can drive away those who do not resist; however, it does not drive away, but attracts, restrains and subdues. Again, the pagans demand of us eloquence in words and art in judgment, and we preach the cross to them too. To the Jews this seems powerlessness, and to the Gentiles it seems madness. But if we offer them not only not what they demand, but also the contrary to it, and the cross, according to the judgment of reason, appears not only not as a sign, but as something contrary to the sign, not only not as a sign of power, but as a sign of impotence, not only not as an expression of wisdom, but as a proof of foolishness, if those who demand signs and wisdom not only do not receive what is required, but they still hear from us that which is contrary to what is demanded, and yet they are convinced by this contrary, is this not the work of the ineffable power of Him who is preached?

Chrysetos did the same with the blind man: wishing to grant him healing, He destroyed blindness by producing blindness: "He laid down the clay" (John 9:15). As He healed the blind man with clay, so He drew the universe to Himself with the cross, which increased the temptation, and did not destroy it. Thus He did also at creation, arranging the contrary to the opposite; He fenced the sea with sand, bridling the strong with the weak; He hung the earth on the water, establishing the heavy and dense on the liquid and the flowing. Through the prophets, He again caused iron to float out of the water by means of a small tree (2 Kings 6:6). In the same way He restored the universe by means of the cross. As water holds the earth, so the cross holds the universe. Thus, to persuade the contrary is a sign of great power and wisdom. The cross apparently produces temptation, and yet it not only does not seduce, but attracts. Imagining all this and wondering, Paul says: "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25). Speaking of the violence and weakness of the cross, he does not mean that it is really so, but seems to be so: it speaks in relation to the opinion of the opponents. What philosophers could not do by reasoning was done by seeming madness. Who is wiser? Is it the one who convinces the many, or the one who convinces the few, or rather, no one? Is it the one who convinces in the most important matters, or who in the unimportant ones? How much Plato labored with his followers on a line, an angle, and a point, on numbers commensurable and incommensurable, equal and unequal, and having told us about these cobwebs – for all this is more useless for life than even a spider's web – and having brought no benefit either great or small, then he ended his life. How much he tried to prove that the soul is immortal, but without saying anything clear and without convincing any of his listeners, he then died. On the contrary, the cross, through the unlearned, convinced and converted the whole universe, convinced not of unimportant matters, but of the doctrine of God, true piety, the life of the Gospel, and the future judgment; He made everyone a philosopher – farmers, non-scientists. You see how "the foolish things of God are wiser, and the weak things of God are stronger than men." How stronger? By spreading throughout the whole world, it subdued everyone to its power, and while an innumerable multitude of people tried to destroy the name of the Crucified One, it did the opposite. This name was glorified and grew more and more, and they perished and disappeared; the living, rebelling against the One who was put to death, could do nothing. Therefore, if a heathen calls me a fool, he will reveal his own extreme madness, since, being considered mad by him, I turn out to be wiser than the wise; if he calls me impotent, he will reveal his own even greater impotence, since what the publicans and fishermen have done by the grace of God, philosophers, rhetoricians, rulers, and the whole universe, in general, with innumerable efforts, could not even imagine. What did the cross not do? He introduced the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, of the resurrection of bodies, of the contempt for the goods of the present and the striving for the goods of the future; He made men angels; to him everyone and everywhere became wise and capable of every virtue.

4. But among them, you will say, many despised death. Who, then, tell me? Is it the one who drank the poison from the hemlock? But I will present thousands like him in our Church, if you will: if it had been allowed to die in the time of persecution, having taken poison, then all (the persecuted) would have appeared more glorious than he. Moreover, he drank the poison, not having the power to drink or not to drink; whether he wanted it or not, he had to undergo it, and therefore it was not a matter of courage, but of necessity; Both robbers and murderers, according to the sentence of the judges, suffered even greater sufferings. But with us everything is the opposite: the martyrs did not suffer against their will, but of their own free will, and while they had the power not to undergo suffering, they showed courage stronger than any adamant. It is not surprising that he drank poison when he could not help drinking, and moreover, when he reached a very old age. He said that he was already seventy years old when he was ready to despise life, if it could be called contempt for life, which I would not say, and certainly no one else would say. And you point out to me someone who would suffer for his piety, as I can point out to you an innumerable multitude everywhere in the universe. Who bravely endured when his nails were pulled out? Who – when the limbs were torn to pieces? Who – when they tore his body to pieces? Who – when did they pluck the bones out of the head? Who – when they constantly put it on a hot frying pan? Who – when they threw it into boiling water? Show me this! And to die of hemlock poison is almost the same as to fall asleep peacefully; even such a death, they say, is more pleasant than sleep. But if some have really endured torments, they are not worthy of praise for this either, because the cause of their sufferings was shameful: some suffered because they had revealed some secret, others because they had abused their power, some because they had been caught in the most shameful crimes, and some without any reason, vainly and recklessly, took their own lives. But this is absolutely not the case with us. That is why their deeds are forgotten, and ours are glorified and increase every day. Presenting all this, Paul said, "The weakness of God is stronger than all men."

What does he say about them? That when Christ was taken, in spite of His innumerable miracles, some of them fled, and the chief of them who remained denied (Mark 14:50,68). Why did those who, during Christ's lifetime, could not bear the attacks of the Jews, after His death and burial, decide to go against the whole world, if, as you say, He did not rise, did not converse with them, and did not strengthen them? Could they not say to themselves, What is this? He could not save Himself—how can He deliver us? He could not avenge Himself during His lifetime – how can He give us a helping hand after His death? He did not subdue a single nation during His lifetime—how can we convince the whole world by proclaiming His name? Isn't it strange not only to do this, but even to think about it? From this it is clear that if they had not seen Him resurrected and had not received the greatest proofs of His power, they would not have dared to undertake such a dangerous deed. If they had had an innumerable number of friends, would they not have turned them all into enemies, changing the ancient customs and abolishing the laws of the fathers? But everyone was hostile to them, both their own and others. If they were distinguished by all the outward advantages, would they not have aroused universal enmity against themselves by introducing a new way of life? Yet they had nothing, and it was therefore natural that they were hated and despised by all. Who should I point you to? Is it against the Jews? They had an unspeakable hatred for them for their Master. Is it against the Gentiles? And these no less abhorred them, as the pagans themselves know better. Plato, who wished to introduce a new civil government, or rather a part of the government, and not touching the gods, but only changing some customs for others, was in danger of dying an exile in Sicily; although this did not happen, he was nevertheless deprived of his liberty; and if there had not been another foreigner kinder than the ruler of Sicily, this philosopher would certainly have remained forever a slave in a foreign country. Meanwhile, innovations in civil matters are not yet so dangerous as in matters of faith; the latter especially irritate people and confuse them. To say that so-and-so should marry so-and-so, or that the guards should guard in such and such a way, cannot cause much confusion, especially if such ordinances remain in the book, and the legislator does not care much to put them into effect. But to say that the gods worshipped are not gods, but demons, that the true God is the Crucified One, this, you know, is what kindled anger, what kind of revenge it stirred up, what kind of warfare it caused.

5. Protagoras among them (the pagans), who dared to say, "I know no gods," and moreover, not in the ears of the whole universe, through which he walked and preached, but in one city, was exposed to extreme danger. Diagoras of Melia and Theodore (of Cyrene), called the atheist, although they had friends, were famous for their eloquence and amazed with their philosophy, but in nothing did they find salvation for themselves. The great Socrates, who surpassed all of them in his philosophy, drank poison because he was suspected of some innovations regarding the gods. And if the mere suspicion of an innovation exposed the philosophers and sages, who were held in great esteem, to such danger, and they not only failed to carry out their intentions, but themselves lost their lives and their country, how can we not be surprised and amazed to see that the fishermen have done such great deeds in the universe, have done what they have undertaken, and have conquered all, both barbarians and Greeks? But they, you will say, did not introduce new gods, like those (philosophers). It is very strange to say this; they introduced a twofold novelty: they rejected the gods of that time and preached the Crucified One.

It would not have been so surprising if they had decided to wage a sensual war with the universe, as amazing is the deed they have done. According to the rules of war, it would be possible to stand face to face with the enemy, occupy the opposite country and prepare a formation against the enemy, have time to attack and retreat; But this is not the case. They did not form a special formation, but mingled with the enemies themselves, and thus defeated them; being in the midst of their enemies, they repelled their attacks, overcame and won a glorious victory, in which the prophetic word was fulfilled: "And rule among Thy enemies" (Psalm 109:2). It is amazing how the enemies, having them in their hands, throwing them into prisons and bonds, not only did not overcome them, but then they themselves submitted to them, the oppressors to the oppressed, the binders to the bound, the persecutors to the persecuted. All this we can say to the Gentiles, and even more: the treasury of truth is abundant. If you will heed what is offered, then we will teach you how to fight them in every possible way. Let us note for the moment two main circumstances: how did the weak conquer the strong, and how, being so, would they have dared to do such things, if they had not been assisted by divine help?

6. Here is the answer from our side. Meanwhile, we ourselves in our deeds will observe the purity of life and abundantly kindle the fire of virtue, because "you," says (the Apostle), "shine like lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15). Each of us has received from God the opportunity to be more useful than the sun, greater than the sky, the earth and the sea, as great as the spiritual is higher than the sensual. Therefore, looking at the circle of the sun and marveling at the beauty, substance and brilliance of this luminary, let us at the same time imagine that there is a higher and better light in us, just as there can be a thickest darkness if we are not attentive. Deep night covers the entire universe. Let us disperse and destroy it. Night is not only for heretics and pagans, but also for many among us, both in faith and in life. Many do not believe in the resurrection, many tell fortunes at birth, many observe omens, resort to enchantments, sorcery, conventional signs, bandages and whisperings. However, we will speak to them later, when we have finished our speech to the Gentiles. Remember what has been said, and assist me in the struggle against them, converting and attracting them to us with your life. I always say that whoever teaches wisdom must manifest it in his life beforehand and be desired by his hearers.

Let us try to become desirable to the pagans and gain their favor with us. And this will happen when we are ready not only to do good, but also to endure evil. Do we not see how children, being in the arms of their father, beat him on the cheeks, how the father gladly allows the child to satisfy his anger, and when he sees that his anger has passed, he is comforted? Thus will we do: let us speak to the Gentiles as fathers to their children. All pagans are real children; some of them themselves said that they were always children and there was not a single elder among them. Children do not want to think about anything useful; In the same way, the pagans want to be constantly amused and crawl on the earth, giving themselves over to low and earthly things. Children, hearing our conversations about necessary things, often do not understand anything of what is said, but laugh constantly; so it is with the Gentiles: when we speak of the kingdom (of heaven), they laugh. Children often salivate from their mouths and defile food and drink; so also out of the mouth of the Gentiles proceed vain and unclean words; you give them the necessary food, and they insult the givers with backbiting, and you must endure this.

Children are naked, not feeling ashamed and not blushing; so the pagans, mingling with fornicators and harlots, perverting the laws of nature and entering into unlawful relations, remain shameless. You applaud loudly and approve, but in these applause you see that it does not turn out to be said at your expense. I exhort all to be men; After all, if we ourselves are children, then how can we teach others to be husbands? How can we deliver them from childish foolishness? Let us be men, that we may attain "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13) and be vouchsafed good things to come, through grace and love for mankind (our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages, Amen).

CONVERSATION 5

"See, brethren, who are you who are called: not many of you who are wise according to the flesh, not many strong, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolishness of the world to shame the wise" (1 Corinthians 1:26-27).