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| The Discourse on the Holy Theophany.
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The Discourse on the
Holy Theophany.
1. Good, yea, very good, are all the works
of our God and Saviour—all of them that eye seeth and mind
perceiveth, all that reason interprets and hand handles, all that
intellect comprehends and human nature understands. For what
richer beauty can there be than that of the circle1782
of heaven? And what form of more
blooming fairness than that of earth’s surface? And what is
there swifter in the course than the chariot of the sun? And what
more graceful car than the lunar orb?1783
| 1783
σεληνιακοῦ
στοιχείου. | And what work more wonderful
than the compact mosaic of the stars?1784
| 1784
πολυπηγήτου
τῶν ἄστρων
μουσίου. | And what more productive of
supplies than the seasonable winds? And what more spotless mirror
than the light of day? And what creature more excellent than
man? Very good, then, are all the works of our God and
Saviour. And what more requisite gift, again, is there than the
element1785
of
water? For with water all things are washed and nourished, and
cleansed and bedewed. Water bears the earth, water produces the
dew, water exhilarates the vine; water matures the corn in the ear, water ripens
the grapecluster, water softens the olive, water sweetens the
palm-date, water reddens the rose and decks the violet, water makes the
lily bloom with its brilliant cups. And why should I speak at
length? Without the element of water, none of the present order
of things can subsist. So necessary is the element of water; for
the other elements1786
took their places beneath the highest
vault of the heavens, but the nature of water obtained a seat also
above the heavens. And to this the prophet himself is a witness,
when he exclaims, “Praise the Lord, ye heavens of heavens, and
the water that is above the heavens.”1787
2. Nor is this the only thing that proves
the dignity1788
of the
water. But there is also that which is more honourable than
all—the fact that Christ, the Maker of all, came down as the
rain,1789
and was known
as a spring,1790
and diffused
Himself as a river,1791
and was baptized in the Jordan.1792
For you have just heard how Jesus
came to John, and was baptized by him in the Jordan. Oh things
strange beyond compare! How should the boundless River1793
that makes
glad the city of God have been dipped in a little water! The
illimitable Spring that bears life to all men, and has no end, was
covered by poor and temporary waters! He who is present
everywhere, and absent nowhere—who is incomprehensible to angels
and invisible to men—comes to the baptism according to His own
good pleasure. When you hear these things, beloved, take them not
as if spoken literally, but accept them as presented in a
figure.1794
Whence
also the Lord was not unnoticed by the watery element in what He did in
secret, in the kindness of His condescension to man. “For
the waters saw Him, and were afraid.”1795
They well-nigh broke from their
place, and burst away from their boundary. Hence the prophet,
having this in his view many generations ago, puts the question,
“What aileth thee, O sea, that thou fleddest; and thou, Jordan,
that thou wast driven back?”1796
And they in reply said, We have
seen the Creator of all things in the “form of a
servant,”1797
and being
ignorant of the mystery of the economy, we were lashed with
fear.
3. But we, who know the economy, adore His
mercy, because He hath come to save and not to judge the world.
Wherefore John, the forerunner of the Lord, who before knew not this
mystery, on learning that He is Lord in truth, cried out, and spake to
those who came to be baptized of him, “O generation of
vipers,”1798
why look
ye so earnestly at me? “I am not the
Christ;”1799
I am the
servant, and not the lord; I am the subject, and not the king; I am the
sheep, and not the shepherd; I am a man, and not God. By my birth
I loosed the barrenness of my mother; I did not make virginity
barren.1800
| 1800
οὐ
παρθενίαν
ἐστείρωσα.
So Gregory Thaumaturgus, Sancta Theophania, p. 106, edit.
Vossii: “Thou, when born of the Virgin Mary,…didst
not loose her virginity; but didst preserve it, and gifted her with the
name of mother.” | I was
brought up from beneath; I did not come down from above. I bound
the tongue of my father;1801
I did not unfold divine grace. I was known by my mother, and I
was not announced by a star.1802
I am worthless, and the least; but
“after me there comes One who is before me”1803
—after me,
indeed, in time, but before me by reason of the inaccessible and
unutterable light of divinity. “There comes One mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”1804
I am subject to authority, but He
has authority in Himself. I am bound by sins, but He is the
Remover of sins. I apply1805
the law, but He bringeth grace to light. I teach as a slave, but
He judgeth as the Master. I have the earth as my couch, but He
possesses heaven. I baptize with the baptism of repentance, but
He confers the gift of adoption: “He shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Why give ye attention to
me? I am not the Christ.
4. As John says these things to the
multitude, and as the people watch in eager expectation of seeing some
strange spectacle with their bodily eyes, and the devil1806
| 1806 It
was a common opinion among the ancient theologians that the devil was
ignorant of the mystery of the economy, founding on such passages as
Matt. iv. 3; 1 Cor. ii.
8. (Fabricius.)
[See Ignatius, vol. i. p. 57, this series.] | is struck with
amazement at such a testimony from John, lo, the Lord appears, plain,
solitary, uncovered,1807
without escort,1808
having on Him the body of man like a
garment, and hiding the dignity of the Divinity, that He may elude the
snares of the dragon. And not only did He approach John as Lord
without royal retinue; but even like a mere man, and one involved in
sin, He bent His head to be baptized by John. Wherefore John, on
seeing so great a humbling of Himself, was struck with astonishment at
the affair, and began to prevent Him, saying, as ye have just heard,
“I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou
to me?”1809
What doest
Thou, O Lord? Thou teachest things not according to
rule.1810
| 1810
ἀκανόνιστα
δογματίζεις. | I have
preached one thing (regarding Thee), and Thou performest another; the
devil has heard one thing, and perceives another. Baptize me with
the fire of Divinity; why waitest Thou for water? Enlighten me
with the Spirit; why dost Thou attend upon a creature? Baptize
me, the Baptist, that Thy pre-eminence may be known. I, O Lord,
baptize with the baptism of repentance, and I cannot baptize those who
come to me unless they first confess fully their sins. Be it so
then that I baptize Thee, what hast Thou to confess? Thou art the
Remover of sins, and wilt Thou be baptized with the baptism of
repentance? Though I should venture to baptize Thee, the Jordan
dares not to come near Thee. “I have need to be baptized of
Thee, and comest Thou to me?”
5. And what saith the Lord to him?
“Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness.”1811
“Suffer it to be so
now,” John; thou art not wiser than I. Thou seest as man; I
foreknow as God. It becomes me to do this first, and thus to
teach. I engage in nothing unbecoming, for I am invested with
honour. Dost thou marvel, O John, that I am not come in my
dignity? The purple robe of kings suits not one in private
station, but military splendour suits a king: am I come to a
prince, and not to a friend? “Suffer it to be so now for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness:” I am the
Fulfiller of the law; I seek to leave nothing wanting to its whole
fulfilment, that so after me Paul may exclaim, “Christ is the
fulfilling of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth.”1812
“Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness.” Baptize me, John, in order that no one may
despise baptism. I am baptized by thee, the servant, that no one
among kings or dignitaries may scorn to be baptized by the hand of a
poor priest. Suffer me to go down into the Jordan, in order that
they may hear my Father’s testimony, and recognise the power of
the Son. “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness.” Then at length John suffers
Him. “And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway
out of the water: and the heavens were opened unto Him; and, lo,
the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and rested upon Him. And
a voice (came) from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.”1813
6. Do you see, beloved, how many and how
great blessings we would have lost, if the Lord had yielded to the
exhortation of John, and declined baptism? For the heavens were
shut before this; the region above was inaccessible. We would in
that case descend to the lower parts, but we would not ascend to the
upper. But was it only that the Lord was baptized? He also
renewed the old man, and committed to him again the sceptre of
adoption. For straightway “the heavens were opened to
Him.” A reconciliation took place of the visible with the
invisible; the celestial orders were filled with joy; the diseases of
earth were healed; secret things were made known; those at enmity were
restored to amity. For you have heard the word of the evangelist,
saying, “The heavens were opened to Him,” on account of
three wonders. For when Christ the Bridegroom was baptized, it
was meet that the bridal-chamber of heaven should open its brilliant
gates. And in like manner also, when the Holy Spirit descended in
the form of a dove, and the Father’s voice spread everywhere, it
was meet that “the gates of heaven should be lifted
up.”1814
“And, lo, the heavens were opened to Him; and a voice was heard,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.”
7. The beloved generates love, and the light
immaterial the light inaccessible.1815
| 1815
φῶς
ἄϋλον γεννᾷ
φῶς
ἀπρόσιτον.
The Son is called “Light of Light” in the Discourse
against Noetus, ch. x. [See p. 227 supra.]
In φῶς
ἀπρόσιτον the
reference is to 1 Tim. vi.
16. | “This is my beloved
Son,” He who, being manifested on earth and yet unseparated from
the Father’s bosom, was manifested, and yet did not
appear.1816
| 1816
ἐπεφάνη οὐκ
ἐφάνη. See Dorner’s
Doctrine of the Person of Christ, div. i. vol. ii. p. 97
(Clark). | For the
appearing is a different thing, since in appearance the baptizer here
is superior to the baptized. For this reason did the Father send
down the Holy Spirit from heaven upon Him who was baptized. For
as in the ark of Noah the love of God toward man is signified by the
dove, so also now the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, bearing
as it were the fruit of the olive, rested on Him to whom the witness
was borne. For what reason? That the faithfulness of the
Father’s voice might be made known, and that the prophetic
utterance of a long time past might be ratified. And what
utterance is this? “The voice of the Lord (is) on the
waters, the God of glory thundered; the Lord (is) upon many
waters.”1817
And
what voice? “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.” This is He who is named the son of Joseph, and
(who is) according to the divine essence my Only-begotten.
“This is my beloved Son”—He who is hungry, and yet
maintains myriads; who is weary, and yet gives rest to the weary; who
has not where to lay
His head,1818
| 1818
Luke ix. 5. [Compare the
Paradoxes, attributed to Bacon, in his Works, vol. xiv.
p. 143; also the Appendix, pp. 139–142.] | and yet bears
up all things in His hand; who suffers, and yet heals sufferings; who
is smitten,1819
| 1819
ῥαπιζόμενος,
referring to the slap in the process of manumitting slaves. | and yet confers
liberty on the world;1820
who is pierced in the side,1821
and yet repairs the side of
Adam.1822
| 1822
That is, the sin introduced by Eve, who was formed by God out of
Adam’s side. (Fabricius.) |
8. But give me now your best attention, I
pray you, for I wish to go back to the fountain of life, and to view
the fountain that gushes with healing. The Father of immortality
sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order
to wash him with water and the Spirit; and He, begetting us again to
incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the breath (spirit) of
life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore,
man has become immortal, he will also be God.1823
And if he is made God by water
and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the laver1824
he is found to
be also joint-heir with Christ1825
after the resurrection from the
dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye
kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism. I
bring good tidings of life to you who tarry in the darkness of
ignorance. Come into liberty from slavery, into a kingdom from
tyranny, into incorruption from corruption. And how, saith one,
shall we come? How? By water and the Holy Ghost. This
is the water in conjunction with the Spirit, by which paradise is
watered, by which the earth is enriched, by which plants grow, by which
animals multiply, and (to sum up the whole in a single word) by which
man is begotten again and endued with life, in which also Christ was
baptized, and in which the Spirit descended in the form of a
dove.
9. This is the Spirit that at the beginning
“moved upon the face of the waters;”1826
by whom the world moves; by whom
creation consists, and all things have life; who also wrought mightily
in the prophets,1827
and
descended in flight upon Christ.1828
This is the Spirit that was
given to the apostles in the form of fiery tongues.1829
This is the Spirit that David
sought when he said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me.”1830
Of this Spirit Gabriel also spoke
to the Virgin, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.”1831
By this Spirit Peter spake that
blessed word, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God.”1832
By this
Spirit the rock of the Church was stablished.1833
This is the Spirit, the
Comforter, that is sent because of thee,1834
that He may show thee to be the
Son1835
of
God.
10. Come then, be begotten again, O man,
into the adoption of God. And how? says one. If thou
practisest adultery no more, and committest not murder, and servest not
idols; if thou art not overmastered by pleasure; if thou dost not
suffer the feeling of pride to rule thee; if thou cleanest off the
filthiness of impurity, and puttest off the burden of sin; if thou
castest off the armour of the devil, and puttest on the breastplate of
faith, even as Isaiah saith, “Wash you, and seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and plead for the
widow. And come and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
Though your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow; and
though they be like crimson, I shall make them white as wool. And
if ye be willing, and hear my voice, ye shall eat the good of the
land.”1836
Do you
see, beloved, how the prophet spake beforetime of the purifying power
of baptism? For he who comes down in faith to the laver of
regeneration, and renounces the devil, and joins himself to Christ; who
denies the enemy, and makes the confession that Christ is God; who puts
off the bondage, and puts on the adoption,—he comes up from the
baptism brilliant as the sun,1837
| 1837
This seems to refer to what the poets sing as to the sun rising
out of the waves of ocean. (Fabricius.) [Note, this is not
said of such as Simon Magus, but of one who puts off the
bondage, i.e., of corruption. Our author’s
perorations are habitually sublime.] | flashing forth the beams of
righteousness, and, which is indeed the chief thing, he returns a son
of God and joint-heir with Christ. To Him be the glory and the
power, together with His most holy, and good, and quickening Spirit,
now and ever, and to all the ages of the ages. Amen.
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