"There was a man sent from God; his name is John" (John 1:6).

The Evangelist, having first told us about God the Word what was especially necessary, then proceeds sequentially and in order to the preacher of the Word, John, who bears the same name as him. But you, hearing that he was sent from God, do not take his words for human ones. He did not speak from himself, but from Him who sent him. That is why he is also called an angel (messenger), since the work of the messenger is not to say anything of himself. The word "was" here does not mean his origin, but his message, "was sent from God," that is, God sent him. How is it said that the words, "being in the image of God" (Phil. 2:6), do not express the equality of the Son with the Father, because (to the word God) a member is not added? And here[1] there is no penis at all. Meanwhile, is it not about the Father? And what can be said about the words of the prophet: "Behold, I send my angel, and he will prepare the way before me" (Mal. 3:1)? The words, "I send" and "he will prepare" refer to two persons. "He came to bear witness, to bear witness of the Light" (John 1:7). What, someone will say, does the servant bear witness to the Lord? But will you not be even more amazed and perplexed when you see that the Lord not only receives a testimony from a servant, but also comes to him and receives baptism from him together with the Jews? However, one should not be confused or wavered by thought, but be amazed at His ineffable goodness. But if anyone remains perplexed and confused, then the Lord will say to him the same thing as He said to John: "Leave it now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). And whoever is troubled even after this, He will say to him the same thing that He said to the Jews: "I do not receive testimony from man" (John 5:34). But if He has no need of such a testimony, why was John sent from God? Not because he needed his testimony (to say that would be utter blasphemy). And for what? This is explained to us by the Evangelist when he says: "That all may believe through him" (John 1:7). And if Christ Himself says: "I do not receive testimony from man," then let not the foolish think that He contradicts Himself when He says this here, and in another place like this: "There is another who bears witness to Me; and I know that the testimony with which he bears witness of Me is true" (John 5:32). In the latter case, he understood John, and having said: "I do not receive testimony from man," he immediately adds an explanation of his words, namely: "I say this that you may be saved" (5:34). As if he were saying: "I am God and the true Son of God, one (with the Father) immortal and blessed being, and therefore I have no need of any witness. Even though no one wants to bear witness to Me, I am not in the least humbled in my nature. And since the salvation of people is the object of My care, I have condescended to such self-abasement that I leave even man to bear witness to Me." Therefore, just as He clothed Himself with flesh, so that, appearing to people in His divinity without a covering, He would not destroy them all, so He sent a man as a preacher about Himself, so that the hearers of that time, hearing a voice that was dear to Himself, would all the more easily follow Him. And that the Son of God had no need of John's testimony, it would have been enough for Him to prove Himself as He is in His essence, and to strike everyone with terror. But He did not do this, because, as I have said, He would have destroyed everyone in this way, since no one would have been able to bear the admixture of this unapproachable light. For this reason, I say, He also puts on the flesh and entrusts the witness of Himself to one of our fellow servants, arranging everything for the salvation of people, and having in mind not only His own dignity, but also the acceptability and benefit of His hearers. He expressed this Himself when He said, "I say these things that you may be saved." And the Evangelist, repeating the saying of the Lord, after the words: "To bear witness to the Light," adds: "That all may believe through it." As if he were saying: do not think that John the Baptist came to testify in order to give credibility to the teaching of the Lord; No; but that his fellow-countrymen might believe through him. That the Evangelist was in a hurry to prevent such a thought, is evident from the following words, which he adds: "He was not light" (v. 8). And if he had not added this to remove such a thought, then it would have been only an unnecessary extension of words, and would have been an identity rather than an explanation of doctrine. For when he says that John was sent "to bear witness to the Light," why else does he say, "He was not the light"? Not without a purpose and not in vain. With us, the witness is usually greater than the one about whom he testifies, and is often considered more worthy of trust. Therefore, in order that no one should think the same of John, the Evangelist immediately, from the very beginning, destroys this thought and, uprooting it, shows who this witness is, and who is the One of Whom he bears witness, and what difference there is between the two. Having done this, and having shown the incomparable superiority of the latter over the former, the Evangelist passes on without fear to the following story; and if there was anything absurd in the thoughts of foolish people, having carefully eliminated all this, he proceeds without any difficulty and without hindrance to continue the discourse. And so, let us pray that in the revelation of such lofty truths, in the teaching of righteousness, our life may be pure and our conduct irreproachable, since teaching does not profit us when we have no good works. If we had both complete faith and an understanding of the Scriptures, but if we do not have a good direction in life, then nothing will save us from the fire of Gehenna and the flame that cannot be quenched in eternity. Just as people who do good deeds will be resurrected into eternal life, so people who dare to do evil deeds will be resurrected for eternal and endless punishment. Therefore, let us apply all our care so that in evil deeds we do not destroy the fruits of the right faith, but in a good life with boldness contemplate Christ – and there can be nothing higher than this blessedness – which we can achieve, doing everything for the glory of God, to Whom be glory, with the Only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

[1] In the words: there was a man sent from God.

CONVERSATION 7

"There was a true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).

1. We nourish you, beloved children, with the teaching of the Scriptures only in parts, and we do not set forth everything all at once, so that you may more easily preserve what is offered to you. Whoever, in building a house, before the first stones are fastened, lays others on them, builds a wall that is weak and destructible. And whoever waits until some stones are fastened with lime, and then, little by little, adds others to them, builds a building that is solid, of no short duration, indestructible, strong. Such builders will we also imitate, and in like manner we will begin to build up your souls. I am afraid that, while the first foundations are not yet established, the application of further teaching will not harm the beginnings, since reason is not yet strong enough to hold everything. What has been read to us today? "There was a true Light that enlightens every man that cometh into the world." The Evangelist, speaking above of John, remarked that he had come "to bear witness to the Light," and that it was at that time that he was sent to bear witness. And so that, hearing this, someone, in connection with the recent appearance of a witness, does not have a similar suspicion about the person who is being witnessed, the Evangelist raises the thought higher and directs it to a being without beginning, never ending and unceasing. But how, you will say, can He Who is the Son have such a being

And you ask us, how is this possible, when we say that He Who created souls and bodies is without beginning, and infinitely surpasses all creation? Who in his right mind would say this? You've heard that "there was a true Light." Why then do you strive in vain to embrace this endless life with your mind? It's impossible. Why do you investigate the unsearchable? Why do you experience the incomprehensible? Why do you know the unknown? Consider the source of the sun's rays itself. You cannot do this, yet in this case you do not grieve or grieve over your powerlessness. Why are you so bold and rash in matters of much greater importance? The Son of Thunders, John, shouting through the spiritual trumpet, when he heard from the Spirit that "there was light," experienced nothing more. And you, not having his grace, reasoning only according to your weak conclusions, do you try to step even beyond the line of his knowledge? For this you will not be able to attain the measure of his conduct. Such is the cunning of the devil: he takes those who trust him beyond the limits set for us by God, as if we could have much more. And, having deceived us with such hopes and deprived us of the grace of God, he not only tells us nothing more (and how can he, the devil, do this?), but also does not allow us to return to the former boundaries in which we were safe, but everywhere he makes us wander and does not allow us to stop anywhere. In this way, he brought the primordial man to exile from paradise. Endowing him with the hope of greater knowledge and honor, the devil deprived him of that which he had previously quietly used. Man not only did not become equal to God, as the devil promised him, but also fell under the yoke of death; not only did he receive nothing more through eating of the tree, but in the hope of great knowledge he lost much of his former knowledge. He began to be ashamed of his nakedness and to hide it, whereas before the deception he was above such shame. Even the fact that he began to see his nakedness and felt the need to cover himself with clothes - these and other even greater sorrows were the consequences of deception. In order that we may not suffer the same, let us obey God and abide in His commandments, experiencing nothing more; otherwise we will be deprived of the blessings granted to us, just as these (heretics) are punished. As soon as they began to seek the beginning of a life without beginning, they also lost what they could have. Nor did they find what they were looking for; And this is impossible. And yet they fell away from the true faith in the Only-begotten. But we will not transgress the eternal boundaries set by our fathers, but in all things we will follow the laws of the Spirit, and when we hear that "there was the true Light," we will investigate nothing more; and it is impossible for anyone to extend beyond this saying. If God begot like a man, then there would have been some kind of separation between the begetter and the begotten. But since this birth is ineffable and peculiar only to God, then leave aside the usual concepts: before and after. This is the expression of time, and the Son is the creator of all ages.

2. Therefore, say others, God is not a father (to the Son), but a brother. But, tell me, what is the need (of such a conclusion)? If we were to say that the Father and the Son have a being separated in their beginning, then perhaps you would have the right to say so. But we avoid such impiety, and say that the Father is both beginningless and unbegotten, and the Son is beginningless but begotten of the Father. What need is there from such a teaching to draw such an impious conclusion? There is no need. The Son is a reflection. And the reflection is inseparable from the nature of which the reflection is. For this reason Paul also called (the Son) (Heb. 1:3), so that we would not assume any separation between the Father and the Son. This is what is expressed by this name. By this likeness the Apostle corrects the absurd thoughts that come into the mind of senseless people. Hearing of the reflection, says the Apostle, do not think that the Son does not have a hypostasis of His own. Such a thought is impious and characteristic of the madness of the Sabellians and Marcellians. That's not how we teach; but we say that He has His own hypostasis. Therefore, having called Him a reflection, the Apostle adds that He is also "the image of His hypostasis" (the Father) (Hebrews 1:3), in order to express both His own hypostasis and consubstantiality with Him Who is an image. As I have already said, there is no single expression sufficient to convey to people all this teaching about God. It is desirable, at least by combining several expressions, to extract from each of them what is proper. In this way we can render a worthy praise to God – worthy, I say – that is, according to our ability. And if anyone thought that he could speak worthily about the very being of God, and tried to prove that he knows God as God knows himself, he would have no knowledge of God. Knowing this, let us hold fast to what "those who were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word from the beginning" (Luke 1:2) have handed down to us, and let us experience nothing more. Two dangers threaten those who suffer from this disease: one is that they labor in vain in search of what cannot be found; the other, that they provoke God's anger by trying to transgress the limits set by Him. And what anger this arouses in God, there is no need to tell you, because you all know it. Thus, shunning the extravagance of heretics, let us listen with trembling to His words, so that He may always protect us. "On whom shall I look," He says, "on him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and on him who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2)? And so, leaving this pernicious curiosity, let us begin to be better contrite in heart, let us weep over our sins, as Christ commanded us. Let us mourn our crimes, let us carefully renew in our memory all that we have ventured to do in the past, and let us try to make amends for all this. God has opened many paths to this. "Speak thou, that thou mayest be justified" (Isaiah 43:26). And in another place: "I said, 'I confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and Thou hast taken away from me the guilt of my sin" (Psalm 31:5). Thus, the frequent remembrance of sins and the accusation of oneself of them contribute not a little to the lessening of their greatness. There is another way, even more sure, when we do not remember the evil against anyone who has sinned against us, when we forgive everyone who has committed offenses against us. Do you want to know the third way? Listen to what Daniel says: "Atone for your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the poor" (Dan. 4:24). There is another way, besides this: frequent exercise in prayer, constant diligence in prayer to God. Fasting also brings us much consolation and forgiveness of sins, when it is combined with love for one's neighbor; it also quenches the power of God's wrath. "Water will quench the flame of fire, and alms will cleanse sins" (Sir. 3:30). So, let's walk along all these paths. If we always adhere to them and turn our attention to them, then we will not only cleanse the past crimes, but we will also gain a great deal of benefit for ourselves in the future - we will not give the devil the opportunity to attack us, and we ourselves will not fall into the carelessness of life, into this fatal curiosity. The devil, by the way, leads to this, and then to these reckless searches and harmful verbal disputes, as soon as he notices that people give themselves over to idleness and inactivity, not caring at all about a virtuous life. But we will bar this passage for him, let us be vigilant, sober, so that, after a short time of small labors, we may attain to endless ages immortal blessings, through the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom and with Whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

CONVERSATION 8

"There was a true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).

1. Nothing prevents us from touching upon these words again today, because the last exposition of the dogmas did not allow us to follow all that we read. Where are those who say that the Son is not the true God? Here He is called the "True Light," and in another place the "truth" itself and the "life" itself. These last words, however, we shall examine more clearly when we come to them; And now it is necessary to tell your love about light. If he "enlightens every man that cometh into the world," why do so many people remain unenlightened? Because, of course, not everyone has come to know the faith of Christ. How does he "enlighten every man"? It depends on the acceptability of each. If some, having willingly closed the eyes of the mind, do not want to receive the rays of this light, then their darkness comes not from the nature of the light itself, but from the malice of these people, who voluntarily deprive themselves of the gift. Grace is poured out on all; it is not alien to the Jew, nor to the Greek, nor to the barbarian, nor to the Scythian, nor to the free, nor to slave, nor to husband, nor to wife, nor to old man, nor to youth; She is equally close to everyone and calls everyone equally honorably. But those who do not want to make use of this gift must justly ascribe such blindness to themselves. If, then, as the entrance is open to all, and no one blocks it, some remain outside through arbitrary hardening, then they perish not from anything else, but from their own depravity. "He was in the world" (v. 10), but not as contemporary with the world; No. For this reason (the Evangelist) adds: "And the world was made through Him" (v. 10). Through this, he again raises you to the pre-eternal existence of the Only-begotten. Whoever hears that everything is His creation, even if he is completely insensible, even if he is an enemy and opponent of the glory of God, in any case, willingly or unwillingly, will be forced to admit that the Creator exists before the creatures. That is why I am always amazed at the folly of Paul of Samosata, how he dared to contradict such an obvious truth, and voluntarily plunged himself into the abyss. He did not err through ignorance, but, understanding the matter very well, he suffered the same fate as the Jews. Just as the Jews, having in mind the judgment of men, abandoned the sound faith, and although they knew that Jesus was the Only-begotten Son of God, but for the sake of their rulers, they did not confess, so as not to be expelled from the synagogue, so Paul of Samosata, as they say, out of pleasing a certain woman, denied his salvation. Truly, terrible, terrible is the predominance of vanity; it can blind the eyes of wise people if they do not watch. If bribery can do this, so much the greater is the passion of vanity, which is much stronger. That is why Christ said to the Jews: "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the One God" (John 5:44)? "And the world did not know Him." The Evangelist here calls the world a multitude of corrupt people, devoted to earthly affairs, a crowd, a rebellious and senseless people. But the friends of God and all wondrous men knew Christ even before His appearance in the flesh. It was about the forefather that Christ Himself said: "Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and rejoiced" (John 8:56). And of David, in rebuke of the Jews, He said: "How then David, by inspiration, calls Him Lord, when He says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool" (Matt. 22:43,44). Many times, in disputing with them, He also mentions Moses; and about the other prophets, the Apostle. And that all the prophets, beginning with Samuel, knew Christ and foretold His coming long ago, the Apostle Peter says: "And all the prophets, from Samuel and after him, however many they spoke, also foretold these days" (Acts 3:24). To Jacob and his father, as well as to his grandfather, God Himself appeared, conversed with them, promising to grant them many and great blessings, which He did, in fact. How, you will say, did He Himself say: "Many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear" (Luke 10:24)? How did they know Him? Of course they did; and I will try to prove it from the same words from which some conclude that the prophets had no knowledge of Jesus Christ. He says, "Many desired to see what you see"; it means that they knew that He would come to people and do the works that He did. And if they did not know this, they would not want to see, because no one can desire what he does not know at all. Therefore, they knew the Son of God, and they also knew that He would come to people. But what is it that they have not seen or heard? What you see and hear now. The prophets, although they heard His voice and saw Him Himself, were not in the flesh, not in the form in which He dealt with people and openly conversed with them. He Himself clearly points to this, He does not simply say: they wanted to see Me, but how? They wanted to "see what you see"; nor did he say, "They wanted to hear me," but, "What do you hear?" Thus, although they did not see His appearance in the flesh, they knew that it would be, and they desired it. They believed in Christ, although they did not see Him in the flesh. But if the pagans, thinking to reproach us, ask: what did Christ do before, when He did not yet care for the human race? Why did He, having left us for such a long time without care, come in recent times to arrange our salvation? – we will say that even before that time He was in the world, arranging affairs and being led by all who were worthy. And if you say that He was unknown because not everyone knew Him then, but only the chosen and virtuous people, then on this basis you will perhaps admit that even at the present time He has no worship from men, because even now not everyone knows Him. But just as at the present time no one can deny that there are people who know Him, only because there are people who do not know Him, so it cannot be doubted in relation to former times, because many, or rather, all the chosen and wondrous men knew Him.

2. But if anyone were to ask, why then did not all believe in Him, and not all revere Him, but only the righteous? – then I also ask: why do not everyone know Him even at the present time? What can we say about Christ? Why, as before, so now, do not all know His Father? Some say that everything (in the world) is self-moving; others attribute the care of everything to demons; and there are also those who, besides the true God, have invented for themselves some other God; some of them blaspheme, asserting that there is some power contrary to God, and still think that the laws of God belong to some evil spirit. What then? Is it because some reject God, and we will say the same, or will we agree that He is evil, since some also utter this blasphemy? Away with this recklessness and this utter madness! If we were to verify the dogmas with the judgment of these insane people, then nothing would keep us from extreme madness. Of course, no one will say that the sun is harmful to the eyes, because there are those who are sick with the eyes; on the contrary, it is luminous according to the judgment of healthy people. No one will say that honey is bitter either, because it seems so to the taste of patients. Is it not, then, following the example of the sick, that some assert that either there is no God, or that He is evil, that sometimes He provides, and sometimes He does not do it at all? And who will say that they are healthy people? On the contrary, are they not people who are frenzied, insane and extremely insane? "The world did not know Him," it is said; nevertheless, those whom the world was unworthy of have come to know Him. Having spoken of those who did not know Him, the Evangelist briefly sets forth the reason for this ignorance; He does not simply say, "No one has known Him," but, "the world has not known Him," i.e., people who are devoted to the world alone and think only of worldly things. Thus Christ used to call them, as when He said: "Righteous Father! and the world did not know Thee" (John 17:25). But the world, as we have said, has not known not only the Son, but also the Father, because nothing disturbs the intellect so much as attachment to temporal objects. Knowing this, withdraw as much as possible from the world and abstain from the deeds of the flesh; from them comes a loss not in accidental, but in the highest goods. A person who is too busy with the affairs of the present life cannot properly assimilate the heavenly things; but out of necessity, taking care of them, he is deprived of these. "Ye cannot," it is said, "serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13). Following the one, it is necessary to leave the other if necessary. And this is what experience itself says. Those who laugh at the passion for wealth are the ones who love God the most, as they should. On the contrary, those who highly value wealth as the first good have the least love for God. The soul, once captivated by covetousness, can no longer easily and comfortably restrain itself from doing or saying something that angers God, since it already becomes the slave of another master, and moreover, one who commands it to do everything contrary to God.

Arise, therefore, and awake, and when we consider what kind of master we are slaves, let us love only His power; let us weep and weep for the former time in which we worked mammon; let us cast off once and for all its heavy, unbearable yoke, and let us constantly bear the yoke of Christ, light and joyful; Christ does not command anything that inspires mammon. She commands everyone to be enemies; and Christ is the opposite: to have mercy and to love. She, having tied us to dust and dust (such is gold), does not allow us to breathe freely, even at night; and Christ frees us from this superfluous and unreasonable care, commands us to lay up treasures in heaven, not by unrighteousness in relation to others, but by our own righteousness. Mammon, after so many labors and sorrows, cannot even remain with us when we "there" endure punishments and suffer evil for the fulfillment of her suggestions; it will even increase the flame for us; and Christ, even when He commands us to give our neighbor a cup of cold water, will not allow us to lose our reward and retribution for this, but will reward us with great generosity. So, isn't it extremely reckless –

Very many of those who will be punished will suffer punishment precisely because they served money, loved gold, and did not help those in need. In order that we may not suffer the same, let us squander (our treasures), giving them to the poor; to free one's soul both from the evil cares of this world and from the future torments prepared for it. Let us prepare for ourselves justification in heaven; instead of earthly acquisitions, let us gather up inexhaustible treasures, treasures that can accompany us to heaven, can protect us in danger, and then propitiate the Judge. May He be well pleased with us all, now and on that day, and may we enjoy with great boldness the good things that are prepared in heaven for those who love Him, according to the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.