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.

5. First, let us examine why Jesus descended. Do not pay attention to my verbal ingenuity here. For it is sometimes possible to be deceived by wisdom. But if you do not hear the testimony of the prophets on every subject, do not believe the words. If you do not learn about the Virgin, and about the place, and about the time, and about the manner of birth from the Divine Scriptures, do not accept the testimony of men. For one who teaches now can be suspected; but who, having reason, will suspect him who has prophesied a thousand years or more? So, if you are looking for the reason for Christ's coming, turn to the first book of Scripture. God created the world in six days, but the world is for man. The sun shines with radiant rays, yet it was created so that man may shine, and all animals exist to serve us. Herbs and trees were also created for our use. All creatures are good, but not one of them is the image of God, but only man. The sun is formed by one command, but man is formed by the hands of God. Let us make man in our image and after our likeness (Gen. 1:26). The material image of the earthly King is venerated, how much more so is the spiritual image of God? But this most excellent creation, which triumphed in paradise, was driven out of it by the envy of the devil (Wis. 2:24). The enemy rejoiced over the fall of the one whom he envied, and could he wish that his enemy should remain in joy? Not daring to approach her husband because of his strength, he approached his wife as the weakest, who was then still a virgin. For Adam knew Eve his wife (Gen. 4:1) after his expulsion from Paradise.

6. The second tribe of the human race was Cain and Abel, and Cain was the first murderer. Later, because of the increased wickedness of the people, the flood flooded the earth (Gen. 6:13); Fire fell from heaven on the Sodomites because of their iniquities. In the course of time God chose Israel for himself, but this also became corrupt, and the chosen generation received a plague. For Moses stood before God on the mountain, and the people worshipped the calf instead of God. Then, as the Lawgiver, Moses said: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14), a man, having ascended into fornication (Num. 25:8), dared to commit fornication. After Moses, prophets were sent to heal Israel, but these physicians wept, unable to stop their illnesses, so that some of them said: "For I am cruel, for he who is pious from the earth, and there is none that corrects men" (Micah 7:2)! and in another place: "Thou hast deviated from it, and together with it thou hast not strayed: thou shalt not do good, thou shalt not do one" (Psalm 13:3). Also: theft, and fornication, and murder were scattered over the earth (Hos. 4:2). He devoured his sons and daughters with demons (Psalm 105:37); they divined, sorcerered, foretold, and more: they bound their garments with snakes, they made veils, they held fast (Amos 2:8).

7. Весьма велика была язва, покрывавшая человечество. От ног даже до главы не было в нем целости, нельзя было пластыря приложити, ниже елея, ниже обязания (Ис. 1, 6). Посему пророки со слезами и сетованием говорили: кто даст от Сиона спасение (Пс. 13, 7)? и в другом меcте: да будет рука твоя на мужа десницы твоея, и на сына человеческаго, егоже укрепил ecu себе, и не отступим от тебе (Пс. 79, 18, 19). Другой пророк молился сими словами: Господи! преклони небеса и сниди (Пс. 143, 5), раны человечества превышают наше врачевание: пророки Твоя избиша, олтари Твоя раскопаша (3 Цар. 19, 10). Зло, которого мы не в силах исправить, требует Твоего исправления.

8. Господь услышал молитву пророков, Отец не презрел погибающего рода нашего, послал с небес Врача — Сына Своего, Господа нашего. Один пророк и говорит: Господь, Егоже вы ищете, грядет: и внезапу приидет.  Куда же? В Церковь Свою Господь (Мал. 3, 1), в которой вы камением бросали в Него. Потом, услышав об этом, другой пророк говорит ему: и ты, говоря о спасении от Бога, возвещаешь оное тихо! и ты, благовествуя пришествие Бога для спасения, говоришь об этом в тайне? На гору высоку взыди, благовествуяй Сиону; рцы градом Иудиным (Ис. 40, 9). Что же сказать? Се Бог ваш, се Господь с крепостию идет (Ис. 40, 10). Сам Господь также сказал: се Аз гряду, и вселюся посреде тебе, глаголет Господь (Зах. 2, 10). И прибегнут языцы многи ко Господу (Зах. 2, 11). Израильтяне отвергли спасение, совершившееся чрез Меня: Гряду собрати вся племена и языки (Ис. 66, 18). Ибо во своя прииде, и свои Его не прияша (Ин. 1, 11). Ты грядешь, и что даруешь языкам? Гряду собрати вся языки (Ис. 66, 18), и оставлю на них знамение (Ис. 66, 19). Ибо после подвига Моего на Кресте, каждому из Моих воинов Я дам Царскую печать для ношения на челе. Другой пророк сказал: и приклони небеса и сниде, и мрак под ногами Его (Пс. 17, 10). Ибо сошествие Его с небес для человеков было недоведомо.

9. Соломон, слыша сии слова отца своего Давида, когда построил чудесный храм и провидел Идущего в оный, с удивлением говорит: аще истинно поживет Господь с человеки на земли (3 Цар. 8, 27)? Давид, предупреждая сей вопрос, истинно так, говорит в надписанном на Соломона псалме, в котором сказано: снидет яко дождь на руно (Пс. 71, 6). Дождь — сим означается небесное Его происхождение, а на руно — Его человечество. Ибо дождь, падая на волну, падает без шума, так как и волхвы, когда неизвестна была тайна рождения, говорили: где есть рождейся Царь иудейский (Мф. 2, 2)? и Ирод смутившись, выведывал о Родившемся и спрашивал: где Христос раждается (Мф. 2, 4)?

10. Кто же есть Сей сходящий? Давид говорит тут же: и пребудет с солнцем, и прежде луны рода родов (Пс. 71, 3). Другой пророк также говорит: радуйся зело дщи Сионя, проповедуй дщи Иерусалимля: се Царь твой грядет тебе праведен и спасаяй (Зах. 9, 9). Царей много, о каком же Царе ты говоришь, пророк? Покажи нам такой признак, которого не имеют другие Цари. Если ты говоришь о Царе, порфиру носящем, то cиe отличительное украшение уже имеют; если ты говоришь о Царе, сопровождаемом воинами и сидящем на позлащенной колеснице, то и cиe другие уже имеют. Покажи нам особенный признак того Царя, которого пришествие ты возвещаешь. Пророк, ответствуя на cиe, говорит: се Царь твой грядет тебе праведен и спасаяй: той кроток и всед на подъяремника и жребца юна, а не на колесницу. Вот единственный признак приходящего Царя. Из всех Царей один только Иисус, сев на жребя, не бывавшее под ярмом, при хвалебных восклицаниях въехал во Иерусалим, как Царь. Что же делает пришедший оный Царь? И ты в крови завета Твоего испустил ecu узники Твоя от рова, неимуща воды (Зах. 9, 11).

11. Но и на жребя можно было сесть. А ты, пророк, покажи нам лучше тот признак, где остановится входящий оный Царь; и сей признак покажи нам не в отдалении от города, так, чтобы мы его не знали, но покажи нам признак вблизи, очевидный, чтобы и в городе находясь, мы видели то место. Пророк и на cиe отвечает, говоря: и станут нозе его в день он на горе Елеонстей, яже есть прямо Иерусалиму на восток (Зах. 14, 4). Ужели кто, находясь внутри города, не видит сего места?