[1] St. Philogonius, 21st Bishop of Antioch, defender of the Orthodox faith against the heretic Arius, d. in 323 or 324 A.D. His memory is celebrated on December 20.

AGAINST ANOMEE

SEVENTH WORD.

The full title of this word is as follows: about those who did not come to the assembly, and proofs that the Son is of one essence with the Father, and that all that He said and did was humiliated, was done and said not because of the weakness of His power, nor for His humiliation, but for the various purposes of the economy; and about the incomprehensible, and so on.

AGAIN horse races, and again our meeting became smaller. However, when you are present, it cannot be less. As a farmer, seeing blossoming and ripe bread, cares little about the falling leaves; In the same way, now that we have fruit, I am not very sad when I look at the torn leaves. Although I grieve for their carelessness, this grief for them is relieved by the zeal of your love. They, if they sometimes come, are not present even then, but their body stands here, and the soul wanders outside; but you, if you are sometimes absent, are present even then; for your body is outside, and your soul is here. I wanted to make a long speech against them, but in order that I might not find myself fighting with a shadow by rebuking those who are absent and not listening, I will postpone this speech until their arrival, and now, with the help of God, I will try to lead you, beloved, to an ordinary meadow and a sea of divine Scriptures. Take heed and watch.

Let us watch, let us be attentive; our voyage has in mind the most important subjects; we sail not for gold, silver, and other perishing things, but for the life to come and the treasures of heaven; and there are many more ways here than on the sea and on land, so that if anyone does not know how to find them correctly, he will be subjected to the most cruel shipwreck. Therefore, all of you who sail with us, show not the carelessness of those who sit on the ship, but the vigilance and care of the helmsmen.

If, however, they constantly maintain such vigor of soul as they sail after earthly things on the sea of matter, how much more should we be in such a mood, because there is more danger for the careless and more security for those who are awake. Our boat is not built of boards, but is composed of divine Scriptures; it is not the stars from above that guide it, but the Sun of righteousness directs our voyage; and we sit at the helm, waiting not for the wind to blow, but for the gentle breeze of the Spirit.

2. Let us watch, then, and carefully observe our ways; we will again speak of the glory of the Only-begotten. I have previously proved that the knowledge of the essence of God is far superior to the wisdom of men, angels, archangels, and all creatures in general, and that it is accessible and clear only to the Only-begotten and Holy Spirit; And now my speech passes on to another part of the contest. I ask, is the Son and the Father the same power, the same authority, the same being? However, I do not ask about this, because by the grace of Christ we already know and firmly hold it; but now I intend to prove the same thing to those who shamelessly argue about it. I am ashamed and blushing when I begin to speak on such a subject. Who will not laugh at us when we try to prove and explain such a clear thing? Who will not condemn those who ask whether the Son is of one essence with the Father? Such a question is contrary not only to the Scriptures, but also to the general understanding of all men and to the very nature of things; for everyone can see the consubstantiality of the begotten with the begat not only on men, but also on all animals and trees. Is it not absurd, therefore, to regard this law as immutable in relation to plants, men, and animals, and to change and pervert it only in relation to God? However, lest it should seem that I confirm this only by subjects close to us, I will now prove it from the Scriptures, and thus I will conduct my discourse. Then it is not we who are sure (of this truth) who will be subjected to ridicule, but they who are unbelievers, who contradict what is so manifest and resist the truth. What, they will say, is obvious? If He is of one essence with the Father because He is called the Son, then we too can be of one essence with the Father, since we also are called His sons: "I said," says the prophet, "you are gods, and the sons of the Most High are all of you" (Psalm 81:6). Oh, shamelessness! Oh, utter madness! How they show their recklessness in everything! When we spoke of the incomprehensible, they tried to appropriate to themselves that which belongs to the Only-begotten alone, that is, such exact knowledge of God as He has of Himself; and now, when we speak of the glory of the Only-begotten, they try to reduce Him to their humiliated state, asserting that we also are called sons. But this name does not at all make us consubstantial with God. You are only called a son, and He is so; Here is the name, and there is the case. You are called a son, but you are not called the "Only-begotten" like Him, you are not in the "bosom" of the Father, you are not "the radiance of glory," not "the image of hypostasis," not a reflection of God (Hebrews 1:3). Therefore, if you are not convinced by what has been said before, then let this and many other things be convinced by this, which testify to His high origin. Thus, when He wants to show the identity of His essence with the Parent, He says: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9); and of the sameness of His power He says: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30); and about the equality of authority: "As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will" (John 5:21); and about the identity of veneration: "that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father" (John 5:23); and of the power to change the laws He says: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). The heretics, on the other hand, are silent about all this, and, taking the name "Son" not in the proper sense, on the grounds that they themselves are honored by the name of sons, they reduce the Son to the same humiliated state with themselves, repeating: "I said, You are gods, and the sons of the Most High are all of you" (Psalm 81:6). If you say that the Son of God, being called a son, has no advantage over you, and therefore is not His true Son, then from the name "God" given to you, you will perhaps conclude that the Father has no advantage over you; For thou art called not only the Son, but also God. But when you call yourself God, you do not dare to say that this name when applied to the Father is one name, but confess that the Father is the true God; so also in relation to the Son, do not dare to point to yourself and say: I am also called the Son, and as I am not of one and the same being with the Father; for all that is quoted from the Scriptures shows that He is the true Son and of one and the same being with the Parent. Thus, when it is said that He is an identical image and an identical "image," what else is expressed by this, if not the sameness of being? For God has neither image nor face. But, it will be said, if you speak of this, then also say of that which contradicts it. What exactly? For example, that He prays to the Father; if He has the same power and the same being, and does everything by His authority, why does He pray?

3. And I will not only say this, but I will also accurately set forth all the other things that have been said about Him who have been despised, noting beforehand that I can give many good reasons for the humiliated expressions about Him, but you cannot point to any other reason for the expressions about His loftiness and majesty, except that by them He Himself wanted to show us His high origin. Otherwise, if it were not so, there would be disagreement and contradiction in the Scriptures. When the Son of God says: "As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will" (John 5:21), and many other things that I have said, and yet prays when it was necessary to do this, there seems to be a contradiction here; but if I give the reasons for this, then all contradiction will disappear. What are the reasons why both He Himself and the Apostles said much despised things about Him? The first and most important reason is that He was clothed with flesh and wanted to convince both His contemporaries and all descendants that He was not some kind of shadow, and His appearance was not only a phantom, but a real truth.

The devil tried hard to destroy this faith among people, knowing that if he destroyed faith in the economy, then a large part of the work of our salvation would perish. Then there is another reason - the weakness of the listeners and the impossibility for them, who saw Him then for the first time and heard Him for the first time, to assimilate the higher dogmatic teaching for themselves. And that what has been said is not a conjecture, I will try to show and explain to you from the Scriptures themselves. Now, when He has said anything great, lofty, and worthy of His glory, what do I say, great, lofty, and worthy of His glory? - when He said something higher than human nature, they were confused and offended; and when He said anything despised and human, they ran to Him and accepted the teaching. Where, it will be said, can this be seen? Especially in John; when Christ said, "Abraham your father was glad to see my day; and I saw and rejoiced", then they say: "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham" (John 8:56-57)? Do you see that they treated Him as a mere man? What is He? "Before Abraham was," He says, "I am." And they "then took stones to throw at Him" (John 8:58-59). And when He, in a long discourse on the sacraments, said, "The bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world," they said, "What strange words! Who can listen to this? From that time many of his disciples departed from him, and walked no more with him" (John 6:51,60,66). What, tell me, was He to do? Should we constantly use higher expressions in order to drive away those who are caught and turn everyone away from the teaching? But this would not be in accordance with God's love for mankind. And then, when he said, "He that keepeth my word shall never taste death," they said, "The Jews said unto him, Now we know that the devil is in thee. Abraham died, and the prophets, and Thou sayest, Whosoever keepeth My word shall never taste death" (John 8:51-52)? And is it surprising that the people treated Him in this way, when the rulers themselves had the same notions? Thus, Nicodemus, who was a ruler, who came to Christ with great favor and said: "We know that you are a teacher who came from God," could not assimilate the teaching about baptism, which was much higher than his weakness. When Christ said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," he gave himself up to human judgment and said, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter into his mother's womb another time and be born"? What about Christ? "If I have told you about earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you about heavenly things" (John 3:2,4-5,12)? - He said this, as if justifying himself and explaining why He did not constantly talk to them about the higher birth. Also just before His crucifixion, after innumerable signs, after many proofs of His power, He said: "From henceforth ye shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64); but the high priest, not being able to bear these words, tore his garments. How was it necessary to speak to those who could not stand anything lofty? It is not surprising that He did not say anything great and lofty about Himself to people who crawled on the earth and were so weak.

4. What has been said would suffice to prove that this was indeed the cause, and this was the occasion for the use of derogatory expressions; But I will try to explain it from another point of view. You saw that they were offended, troubled, turned away, blasphemed, and fled when Christ said something great and lofty; now I will try to show you that they ran and accepted the teaching, when He said something humble and despised. Those who fled from Him, the same at other times, when He said: "I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father taught Me, so I say" (John 8:28), immediately ran to Him. And the Evangelist, wishing to show us that they believed because of the humility of these words, said in explanation: "While He was saying these things, many believed in Him" (John 8:30). And in other places you can often find such cases. For this reason He spoke much and often in a human way, though not quite humanly, but decently and worthy of His lofty origin, on the one hand condescending to the weakness of His listeners, and on the other hand, observing the fidelity of dogmas. In order that constant condescension should not inspire posterity with a wrong opinion of His worthiness, He did not neglect this last aspect; although He foresaw that He would not be listened to, and would even be blasphemed and fled from Him, yet He also spoke lofty things about Himself, arranging exactly what I have indicated, and making clear the reason why He also used derogatory expressions. And the reason was that the listeners could not yet assimilate the lofty sayings. If He did not want to arrange this, then it would be superfluous to teach high dogmas to people who did not listen and did not heed; and now it has not brought any benefit to these people, but has taught and prepared us for a proper understanding of Him, and has convinced us that it was precisely because of their inability to assimilate lofty sayings that He used derogatory expressions in His speech. Therefore, when you hear that He speaks in a humiliating manner, know that this is condescension, not because of His humiliated nature, but because of the weakness of the understanding of His hearers. Do you want me to give you a third reason? He did and spoke many humble things, not only because He was clothed with flesh, and because His hearers were weak, but also because He wanted to teach them humility; This is the third reason. Teaching humility, He teaches this not only in words, but also in deeds, showing humility both in word and deed. "Learn of me," He says, "for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29); and in another place: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve" (Matt. 20:28). Thus, teaching to be humble and never to aspire to primacy, but always to be content with a humiliated state, and instilling this in words and deeds, Christ had many reasons to speak humbly. We can also point to a fourth reason, no less than the above. What is it like? That because of the great and ineffable closeness of the persons in the Godhead, we should somehow come to an opinion about one person in Him, as some have already fallen into this impiety, although He rarely said anything of the kind. Thus, His words: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30), and "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9), revealing the closeness of His Parent, were turned by Sabellius of Libya into a pretext for impiety and for the teaching about one person and one Hypostasis (in the Godhead). In addition to these reasons, there was also that no one should revere Him as the first and unborn being, and should not consider Him greater than the Parent. In the same way, Paul seems to have feared lest someone should come to such an impious and unjust opinion. Having said, "For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet," and further, "he has subjected all things under his feet," he added, "To him who subjected all things to him" (1 Cor. 15:25,27-28); and this he would not have added if he had not feared that such a diabolical opinion might appear. Sometimes Christ degraded the loftiness of His utterances in order to tame the hatred of the Jews, and often spoke in accordance with the understanding of those who conversed with Him, as, for example, in the words: "If I bear witness of myself, my testimony is not true" (John 5:31). He said this, adapting himself to the understanding of the Jews; Of course, He did not want to express that He was not true, but to say, "As you think and suspect, not wanting to listen to Me speaking of Myself."

5. You can find many other reasons for this. Thus we can point out many reasons why Christ uses derogatory expressions about Himself; and thou shalt point out at least one reason for His lofty utterances, besides that of which I have spoken, namely, His desire to show us His lofty origin; but you cannot give any other reason. A great man can say something small about himself, and for this he cannot be reproached, because it comes from humility; but a small one, when he says something great about himself, will not escape condemnation; because it comes from pride. For this reason we all praise the great when he speaks of himself humbly; but no one will praise a low person when he begins to say something great about himself. If, therefore, the Son were much inferior to the Father, as you assert, he ought not to have spoken the words by which he expressed his equality with the parent; for that would be pride; and if an equal with the Parent says anything humble and humiliating about Himself, this is not subject to any condemnation and does not constitute guilt, because it serves to praise Him and is worthy of the greatest wonder. And in order that what has been said may be clearer, and that we may all be convinced that I do not contradict the divine Scriptures, I will now return to the first of these causes, and cite those passages where Christ, as clothed with flesh, clearly uses expressions inferior to His own being; and, if you will, I will present the very prayer with which He prayed to the Father. But listen to me attentively; I want to explain everything to you, starting a little above. The Supper was on the sacred night on which Christ was betrayed; I call it sacred because from it originated the innumerable blessings that are given to the universe. Then the betrayer also reclined with the eleven disciples, and when they were eating, Christ says: "One of you will betray Me" (Matt. 26:21). Remember these words, so that later, when we come to prayer, we will see why He prays in this way. Pay attention also to the providence of the Lord; He did not say, "Judas will betray Me," lest the clarity of his rebuke make him more shameless; but when He, remorseful, said, "Is it not I, Rabbi?" then He said to Him, "You have spoken" (Matt. 26:25); even then he did not want to rebuke him, but made him a denouncer of himself; but even then Judas did not become better, but took a piece of bread and went out. When he went out, Jesus, addressing the disciples, said: "All of you will be offended in me"; but Peter answered and said; "Though all men be offended in thee, I shall never be offended." Jesus says again, "Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the crows, thou shalt deny Me three times." When he again began to object, Christ left him (Matt. 26:31, 33-34). You are not convinced by words, but contradict - as if the Lord says so; - you will be convinced by your very deeds that you should not contradict the Lord. And remember these words too; because remembering them will be useful to us when discussing prayer. He pointed out the traitor, predicted the flight of all and His death: "I will smite the shepherd," He said, "and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered" (Matt. 26:31); He predicted who would deny Him, when and how many times, and he predicted all this with accuracy. After all this, having given sufficient proof of His foreknowledge of future events, He came to a certain place and began to pray. The heretics say that this prayer refers to His Divinity, and we say that it refers to His economy; Judge for yourselves, and for the glory of the Only-begotten, pronounce an impartial decision. Though I appeal to the judgment of my friends, yet I urge and ask that an impartial judgment be carried out, without pleasing me and without enmity towards them. That this prayer does not belong to his Divinity is already evident from the fact that God does not pray; It is God's nature to accept worship; It is God's nature to accept prayer, not to offer prayer. But since the heretics shamelessly persist, I will try to explain to you from the very words of the prayer that all this is a matter of Christ's economy and His weakness according to the flesh. When Christ says something humble, He says it in a humble and humiliated way in such a way that the excessiveness of the humility of His words could convince even the most distrustful people that these words are very alien to the incomprehensible and inexplicable Being. Let us proceed to the very words of the prayer. "My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39). Here I will ask the heretics: does he not know whether it is possible or not, Who recently said at the Supper: "One of you will betray Me", Who shortly afterwards said: "It is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered", and again: "All of you will be offended in Me"; And He said to Peter, Thou shalt deny Me, thrice Thou shalt deny Me; Tell me, does he not know it now? Who among the most stubborn can assert this? If this unknown were unknown to any of the prophets, angels, or archangels, then perhaps the lovers of disputes would have had some reason for contradiction; but if this unknown thing was so known and obvious to all, that even men knew it with certainty, what excuse and what forgiveness can there be for those who assert that Christ said this in ignorance? As is well known, the slaves also knew with certainty the subject of which I speak; they knew both that He would die and that He had to endure death on the cross; many years before David, pointing to both, said in the name of Christ: "They have pierced my hands and my feet" (Psalm 21:17); He spoke of the future as if it had already been accomplished, thus expressing that just as it is impossible for the past not to be, so it is impossible for his words not to come true. And Isaiah, foretelling the same thing, said: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before his shearer he was silent" (Isa. 53:7). And when John saw this lamb, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29); This is the lamb, he says, of whom it is prophesied. And notice, it's not just said; "Lamb," but it is added, "God's." Since there was another lamb – the Jewish one, then, wishing to show that this lamb was God's, John said so. That lamb was offered only for one people, but this one was offered for the whole world; the blood of that one delivered only the Jews from corporal punishment, and the blood of that one became the general purification of the whole universe. Moreover, the blood of the Jewish lamb could do what it did, not according to its own nature, but had such power because it was a type of this blood.

6. Where are those who say that Christ is also called the Son and we are called sons, and, based on the similarity of the name, try to reduce Him to our humiliated state? "Lamb" and "lamb" are the same name, but there is an infinite difference between the two. Therefore, just as here you do not think of equality when you hear the same name, so there, too, when you hear the names of "son" and "son," do not reduce the Only-begotten to your own insignificance. However, why talk about the obvious? If His prayer had been related to His Divinity, then He would have turned out to be refuting Himself, contradicting and disagreeing with Himself. Here He says, "My Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," and wavers and avoids suffering (Matt. 26:39); yet in another place, having said that the Son of man must be faithful and suffer, and hearing the words of Peter: "Be merciful to yourself, O Lord! let it not be with Thee," rebuked him so much that He said, "Depart from Me, Satan! you are a stumbling block to Me! for thou thinkest not the things of God, but the things of men" (Matt. 16:22-23). Though not long before He had praised Peter and called him blessed, yet now He called him Satan, not in order to grieve the Apostle, but to show by this reproach that what Peter said was not in accordance with His will, but so contrary to it, that He did not hesitate to call him Satan, although it was Peter himself. Likewise, in another place He says: "I longed very much to eat this Passover with you" (Luke 22:15). Why does He say, "This Passover," when He had celebrated this feast with them before? Why? Because it was followed by a cross. And again: "Father! glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee" (John 17:1); and in many other places we see that He foretold His sufferings, and willed that they should be fulfilled, and that for them He came. Why then does He say here, "if it is possible"? He shows us the weakness of human nature, which does not easily decide to part with the present life, but evades and wavers because of the love for the present life implanted in it from the beginning by God. If, after all these words of Him, some dared to say that He did not take flesh, what would they not have said if nothing of the kind had been said? There, as God, He foretells His sufferings and desires them to be, but here, as a man, He avoids them and evades them. That He voluntarily went to suffering is evident from His words: "I have power to give it, and I have power to take it up again: no man takes it away from me, but I myself give it up" (John 10:18). How then does He say, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt"? But is it surprising that before His crucifixion on the cross He so carefully assured of the reality of His flesh, if even after His resurrection, when He saw the unbelieving disciple, He did not refuse to show him His wounds and the wounds of the nails, and allowed Him to touch these wounds with His hand, and said: "Touch Me and see; for the spirit hath not flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39)? Wherefore in the beginning He did not take on human flesh in manhood, but was pleased to be conceived, and to be born, and to be nourished by milk, and to dwell so long on earth, that by the length of time and all the rest He might assure men of the same thing.

That is why He was swaddled in swaddling clothes; therefore, prophecies from ancient times predicted that He would not only be a man, but would also be conceived, and born, and brought up, as is characteristic of children. About this Isaiah cries out thus: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. He shall feed on milk and honey" (Isa. 7:14-15); and again: "Unto us a child is born, a Son is given unto us" (Isaiah 9:6). Do you see that the prophets also foretold about His infancy? Ask the heretic: Does God really fear, deviate, waver, and grieve? If he says: yes, then depart from him and consider him equal to the devil, or better, lower than the devil himself; for even he will not dare to say this. But if he answers that all these things are unworthy of God, then say, "Consequently, God does not pray; and then all the rest would be out of place if the words (prayers) belonged to God. These words express not only sorrow, but also two wills, opposite to each other, one Son's, and the other Father's; for to say, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39), is to express just that. And even the heretics never admitted this, but when we constantly asserted that the words, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30), refer to power, they referred them to the will, asserting that the Father and the Son have one will. But if the Father and the Son have one will, how does He say here, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt"? Thus, if these words referred to His Divinity, there would be some contradiction and many incongruous things would arise from this; but if they refer to the flesh, they are spoken thoroughly and irreproachably. The unwillingness of the flesh to die does not serve to condemn it; because it is natural; but Christ fully manifested in Himself all that is proper to human nature, except sin, so that He stopped the mouths of heretics. Now, when He says, "My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; but not as I will, but as Thou wilt," he expresses nothing else than that He was clothed with true flesh, which fears death because it is natural for it to fear death, to shrink from it, and to give itself up to sorrow. He sometimes left His flesh alone without His own (divine) help, in order to show its weakness in order to inspire confidence in its (human) nature, and sometimes He covered it so that you would know that He was not an ordinary man. This might have been thought then, if He had constantly shown the actions of men; just as if He were constantly doing what is proper to the Godhead, they would not believe the doctrine of economy. For this reason He diversified and mixed both words and deeds, so as not to give rise to illness and madness either on Paul of Samosata, or on Marcion and Manichaeus; wherefore here also He foretells the future, as God, and avoids suffering, as a man.