17. Thus the Son is the true God, having the Father in Himself, who has not changed into the Father. For it was not the Father who became man, but the Son. Let us explain the truth more freely. It was not the Father who suffered for us, but the Father who sent the Sufferer for us. Let us not say that He never existed and was not the Son; nor let us admit the Son-Fatherland, but let us follow the Royal path, deviating neither to the left nor to the right. Let us not call the Son Father, thinking to give Him honor by this; nor let us consider the Son to be one of the creatures, thinking thereby to give honor to the Father. It is necessary to worship the One Father through the One Son and not to divide the worship. Let the One Son be preached before the ages, who sits at the right hand of the Father, not in time, after suffering in the measure of perfection, who received this seat, but has it from eternity.

18. He who saw the Son in the form of the Father (John 14:9), for the Son is in all things like Him who begat Him, having been begotten of life from life, light from light, power from power, God from God. The Divine attributes in the Son are not in the least different. Therefore, he who is vouchsafed to behold the Divinity of the Son enjoys the sight of Him Who begat Him. These are not my words, but the words of the Only-begotten Son: How long have I been with you, and have not known Me, Philip? He who saw Me in the form of the Father (John 14:9). In short, we must neither separate them nor make confusions. Do not say that the Son was ever alienated from the Father, and do not listen to those who speak of the Father as if He were the Father at one time and the Son at another. Such a teaching is alien, impious, and is not the teaching of the Church. The Father, who begat the Son, remained the Father and did not change. He begat wisdom, but He Himself was not left without wisdom; He gave birth to strength, but did not faint; He begat God, but He Himself did not lose the Divinity, and did not lose anything, did not diminish Himself, did not change, just as the Born One has no defect. He who begat is perfect, perfectly begotten. God who begat is God and He who is begotten. He is the God of all, yet He honors the Father as His God. For I was not ashamed to say, "I will ascend unto my Father, and unto your father, both unto my God and unto your God" (John 20:17).

19. But lest you think that He is in one sense the Father of the Son and of creatures, Christ has made a separation here. He did not say, "I will ascend to our Father, lest there be fellowship of creatures with the Only-begotten," but said, "To my Father and your Father, some to my Father, the Father by nature, and some to yours, according to adoption; and again, To my God, and to your God, another to mine, inasmuch as I am the true and only-begotten Son, and another to yours, inasmuch as ye are creatures. Thus, the Son of God is the true God, ineffably born before the ages. I tell you the same thing many times in order to impress it on your mind. That God has a Son, believe this, and as He has, do not be curious. For through research you will not comprehend this. Do not exalt yourself excessively, lest you fall. As thou hast been commanded, this one understandeth (Sir. 3:22). Tell me first who is He who begat Him, and then know that He begat Him. If you cannot imagine the nature of Him who begat you, then do not be curious about the qualities of the Born One.

20. It is enough for you to know for piety how I have said that God alone has a Son, the only one who is naturally begotten, who did not begin to exist when he was born in Bethlehem, but before all ages. Listen to the words of Micah the Prophet: "And you, Bethlehem, the house of Euphrates, have little food, if you are in the thousands of Judah? For out of thee shall come forth unto Me the Elder, Who shall shepherd My people of Israel, and proceed Him from the beginning from the days of the ages (Micah 5:2). Do not look upon Him as now born in Bethlehem, but worship Him as He who was born of the Father before eternity. Do not listen if anyone says that the beginning of the Son is temporary, but know that His beginning is timeless, the Father. The beginning of the Son is the timeless, incomprehensible, beginningless Father, the Source of the river of righteousness, the Father of the Only-begotten, Who begat Him as He alone knew. If you want to know that our Lord Jesus Christ is also an eternal King, listen again to His own words: "Abraham your father would rejoice, that he might see My day: and see and rejoice" (John 8:56). Later, when the Jews received these words with sorrow, He said, to their greater grief: "First even Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). In another place, addressing the Father, He says: "And now glorify Me, O Father, with Thy own glory, which I had with Thee, before there was no peace" (John 17:5). He clearly said that before the world was, I had glory with You. Likewise, when He says: "For He loved Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24), He clearly says that I have eternal glory with Thee.

21. Therefore we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, who was born of the Father, the true God before all ages, in Whom all things were; if Thrones, if Dominions, if Principalities, if Powers (Col. 1:16); all things were by Him (John 1:3), and there is nothing created that is taken out of His power. Let every heresy that introduces various creators and peacemakers be silenced. Let the tongue that blasphemes Christ the Son of God be silent. Let those who say that the sun is Christ, for He is the Creator of the sun, and not the visible sun, be silent. Let those be silent who, wishing to steal the dignity of the Only-begotten, say that the world is the creation of angels. For the visible and the invisible, whether they were Thrones, or Lordship (Col. 1:16), or whatever it might be called, were all Christ. He reigns over all that is created from Him, He does not reign over the acquisition of others, but reigns over His own creations, as the Evangelist John said: "All things were by Him, and without Him there was nothing, except for them" (John 1:3). All things were by Him, since the Father created through the Son.

22. I wish I could give you an example of what I have said, but I know that it will be weak. For of the visible things, what can serve as an example for the explanation of the Divine and invisible power? However, let me tell you a weak example from the weak for the weak. As if a king who had a king's son, desiring to build a city, entrusted to his son, his fellow king, the building of the city, and he, having received the plan, brought to an end what was drawn in his mind; thus, when the Father willed to create all things, the Son, by the Father's beckoning, arranged all things, so that by this beckoning the power of the Father is fully preserved, and the Son also has power over His own creatures, and just as the Father is not removed from the dominion over His creatures, so the Son reigns over creatures, not created by anyone else, but by Himself. For it was not the angels, as I have said, who created the world, but the Only-begotten Son, who was born before all ages, as it is said, "By Whom all things were, not excepting one of His creatures." And this which I have said by the grace of Christ is sufficient for the time being.

23. Turning again to the Symbol of Faith, let us now conclude our discourse. Christ created everything, the Angels, the Archangels, the Dominions, and the Thrones, not because the Father could not have created creatures Himself, but because He wanted the Son to reign over the things created from Him, showing Him Himself the model of creation. For the Only-begotten, giving honor to His Father, says: "The Son can do nothing about Himself, except He sees the Father doing." For what He does, the Son also does (John 5:19), likewise: My Father does hitherto, and I do (John 5:17), so that there is nothing contrary in the works that are done. Mine is all Thy essence, and Thine is Mine (John 17:10), says the Lord in the Gospel, which can be seen most clearly from the Old and New Testaments. For He Who said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26), undoubtedly spoke with anyone who was with Him. But the Psalmist said much more clearly: "That was the speech, and it was." That commanded, and He was created (Psalm 148:5). The Father commanded and spoke, and the Son did all things at His beckoning. Of which Job also mysteriously said: "Stretch out the heavens alone, and walk on the sea as on the earth" (Job 9:8), showing through this to those who understand that he who walked on the sea during His sojourn on earth was before that the Creator of the heavens. And in another place the Lord says: "Or hast thou taken clay from the earth, and hast thou planted him on the earth" (Job 38:14)? Then: "Are the gates of death opened to me with fear, but the gates of hell, having seen thee, feared thee" (Job 38:17)? Thus showing that the same One Who descended into hell out of love for mankind, in the beginning created man from mortality.

24. Thus, Christ is the Only-begotten Son of God and the Creator of the world. In the world there was, and the world was there (John 1:10); and: "In His own coming" (John 1:11), as the Gospel teaches us. Christ is the creator not only of the visible, but also of the invisible, by the wave of the Father. For in Him all things were created (Col. 1:16), according to the words of the Apostle, which are in heaven, and which are on earth, visible and invisible: if there are Thrones, if there are Dominions, if there are Principalities, if there are Powers, all things are created by Him, and in Him were created. And He is before all, and all things shall be fulfilled in Him (Col. 1:17). If you were to speak of the ages themselves, then Jesus Christ is the Creator of them also, by the Father's beckoning. For at the end of these days hath spoken unto us in the Son, Whom thou shalt appoint an heir to all, in whom also thou hast made the worlds (Heb. 1:2). May glory, honor, and power be to Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Twelfth Catechetical Instruction

To those who are preparing in Jerusalem for enlightenment, spoken without preparation, on these words: Incarnate and incarnate, also on the words of Isaiah: And the Lord added to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign, etc. (Isaiah 7:10). Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, and so forth. (Isaiah 7:14).

1. Pupils of purity and disciples of chastity, let us praise with lips full of purity the God born of the Virgin. Having been vouchsafed to partake of the flesh (Exodus 12:9) of the spiritual Lamb, let us eat from the head and together with the feet, understanding the Divinity under the head, and accepting mankind under the name of feet. Being hearers of the Holy Gospel, let us believe John the Theologian. He, having said: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word" (John 1:1), added the following words: "And the Word was made flesh." But there is a holy deed, to worship Him as a simple man, nor is it a pious thing to call Him only God, not incarnate. For if Christ is God, as is true, but did not accept humanity, then we are strangers to salvation. Thus, we must worship Him as God, and believe that He also became man. It is useless to say that He is a man without a Divinity; nor is there salvation not to recognize humanity in Him together with the Divinity. Let us confess the coming of the King and the Physician. For the King Jesus, desiring to heal, healed the sick, girded himself with the ribbon of humanity. The perfect Teacher of infants was infancy together with infants, in order to make the foolish wise. The bread of heaven came down to earth to feed the hungry.

2. But the children of the Jews, rejecting him who has come, and expecting him who is to come to perdition, have denied the true Christ, and in their error they receive the false. And in this case the truth of the words of the Saviour is revealed; I have come in the name of My Father, and have not come unto Me: but if he cometh in his own name, him shall he be born (John 5:43). By the way, here he asked the Jews: are the words of the prophet Isaiah true or false, that Immanuel will be born of a Virgin? (Isaiah 7:14). If he is accused of being a liar, this is not in the least surprising. For it is their custom not only to accuse the prophets as liars, but also to stone them. But if the prophet is just, then show Immanuel and say, He who is to come, whom you are waiting for, will he be born of a virgin, or not? If he is not born of a virgin, then you accuse the Prophet of lying, and if you expect this in the future, then why do you reject what has already come to pass?

3. Let the Jews, therefore, err, because they desire it, and let the Church of God be glorified. We recognize the Word as truly incarnate, not from male and female lust, as the heretics say, but, according to the Gospel, incarnate from the Virgin and the Holy Spirit, not in a phantom, but truly. And what was really incarnate from the Virgin, wait until the future conversation, and you will hear the proofs. The errors of the heretics are complex. Some of them say that this Word was not at all born of a Virgin; and others, that although He was born, He was not born of a Virgin, but of a woman who lived with a man; and some assert that Christ incarnate is not God, but some kind of deified man. They dared to say that it was not the eternal Word that became man, but that a certain man, after his success, received a crown.

4. But remember what was said yesterday about His Divinity. Believe that this same Only-begotten Son of God was later born of a Virgin. Believe the words of the Evangelist John: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us" (John 1:14). The eternal word of the Father was born before all ages, and in the end He took flesh for us. But many contradict this and say: what would be such an important reason for God to descend to humanity, and is it really possible for the Nature of God to deal with people? and is it possible for a Virgin to give birth without a husband? With a multitude of reproaches and various kinds of debates, let us resolve each of them with the help of Christ's grace and with the prayer of those present here.