Catechetical Lectures 5.2–6.8

Here, then, it is required henceforth that each of you be found faithful in conscience. ‘For a faithful man is hard to find,’ it says; not so that you may show your conscience to me (for you are not to be examined by man’s day), but so that you may show the sincerity of your faith to God, who tests the kidneys and hearts and knows the thoughts of people. A faithful man is a great thing, richer than any rich man. For the whole world of riches belongs to the faithful man, in that he disdains and tramples on it. Those who are rich in appearance and possess much are poor in soul; for the more they gather, the more they waste away with desire for what is lacking. But the faithful man, most paradoxically, is rich in poverty; for knowing that one need only have covering and food, and being content with these, he has trampled on wealth.

And not only among us, who bear the name of Christ, is the dignity of faith great; but all that is accomplished in the world, even by those who are strangers to the Church, is accomplished by faith. By faith the laws of marriage join together those who were strangers; and because of the faith in marriage contracts, one who was a stranger becomes partner in a stranger’s body and possessions. By faith farming too is sustained; for one who does not believe that he will receive a harvest does not endure the labors. By faith seafarers, trusting a very thin plank, exchange the most solid element, the earth, for the unstable motion of the waves, committing themselves to uncertain hopes and carrying with them a faith more secure than any anchor. By faith, then, most human affairs hold together; and this is believed not only among us but also among those outside, as has been said. For even if they do not accept the Scriptures but put forward certain teachings of their own, they too receive those by faith. [4] Today’s reading also calls you to the true faith, setting before you the way in which you too must please God; for it says that ‘without faith it is impossible to please him.’ For when will a person resolve to serve God unless he believes that he is a rewarder? When will a girl remain a virgin, or a young man live chastely, unless they believe that there is an unfading crown of purity? Faith is an eye that enlightens every conscience and produces understanding; for the prophet says: ‘And if you do not believe, you will not understand.’ Faith stops the mouths of lions, as with Daniel; for the Scripture says of him: ‘Daniel was brought up out of the den, and no harm was found on him, because he believed in his God.’ Is there anything more terrible than the devil? Yet against him we have no other weapon than faith, an incorporeal shield against an unseen enemy. For he sends various arrows and shoots down, in the moonless dark, those who are not sober; but since the enemy is not seen, we have faith as strong armor, according to the apostle, who says: ‘In all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.’ Often a flaming arrow of desire for shameful pleasure is sent by the devil; but faith, sketching the judgment before the mind, cools the mind and quenches the arrow.

Much could be said about faith, and the whole time of the day would not be enough for us to tell it; but for now let Abraham alone, of the examples from the Old Testament, be enough for us, since we have become his sons through faith. He was justified not by works only, but also by faith. For he did many good deeds; but he was never called the friend of God except when he believed; and every work of his was accomplished by faith. Through faith he left his parents; through faith he left his homeland, his country, and his house. As he was justified, then, be justified too. He was by now dead in body as regards begetting children, for he was old, and he had Sarah his wife now old as well, and no hope of children remained. God promises children to the old man; and Abraham, not weakening in faith, though he considered his own body already as good as dead, looking not to the weakness of his body but to the power of the one who promised, and counting faithful him who had promised, wonderfully obtained the child, as if from bodies as good as dead. And afterwards, when commanded to offer his son (though he had heard, ‘In Isaac shall your seed be called’), he offered his son, the only-begotten, to God, believing that God is able to raise even from the dead; and having bound his son and laid him on the wood, he offered him in purpose, but by the goodness of God received him back alive, God giving him a lamb in place of the child. Being faithful in these things, he was sealed for righteousness, and received circumcision as a seal of the faith he had while uncircumcised, receiving the promise that he would be the father of many nations.

Let us see, then, how Abraham is the father of many nations. Of the Jews he is admittedly the father, by descent according to the flesh. But if we attend to descent according to the flesh, we shall be compelled to call the oracle false. For according to the flesh he is not the father of all of us; but the pattern of his faith makes all of us sons of Abraham. How, and in what way? It is incredible to people that anyone should rise from the dead, just as it is equally incredible that children should be born of old people as good as dead. But when Christ is proclaimed, crucified on the wood, having died and risen, we believe. By the likeness of faith, then, we come to adoption as sons of Abraham. And then, after faith, like him we receive the spiritual seal, being circumcised by the Holy Spirit through the washing, not in the foreskin of the body but in the heart, according to Jeremiah, who says: ‘And circumcise yourselves to God, the foreskin of your heart’; and according to the apostle: ‘in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism,’ and what follows.

If we keep this faith, we shall be blameless and shall be adorned with every form of virtue. For faith is so strong that it even keeps people light as they walk on the sea. Peter was a man like us, composed of blood and flesh, and living on the same food. But when Jesus said, ‘Come,’ he believed and walked on the waters, having on the waters a faith more secure than any foundation; and his heavy body was lifted up by the lightness of faith. As long as he believed, he had safe footing on the water; but when he doubted, then he began to sink; for as his faith slackened little by little, his body too was dragged down with it. And seeing his distress, Jesus, who corrects the distresses of souls, said: ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And strengthened again by him who grasped his right hand, as soon as he believed again, led by the hand by the Master, he resumed the same walk on the waters. For the Gospel mentions this indirectly, saying, ‘And when they had gone up into the boat.’ It does not say that Peter swam across and went up, but gives us to understand that, having returned the same distance he had come to Jesus, he went up again into the boat.

Faith has so much power that not only is the believer saved, but some have been saved through others’ believing. The paralytic in Capernaum was not a believer; but those who carried him and let him down through the tiles believed; for the sick man’s soul was sick together with his body. And do not think that I accuse him without cause; the Gospel itself has said: ‘Jesus, seeing,’ not his faith, but ‘their faith, says to the paralytic: Rise.’ Those who carried him believed, and the paralytic enjoyed the healing.

Do you want to see more surely that some are saved through the faith of others? Lazarus died; one day had passed, and a second, and a third; his sinews were dissolved, and corruption was already feeding on his body. How could a man four days dead believe and call on the Redeemer on his own behalf? But what was lacking to the dead man was supplied through his true sisters. When the Lord came, the sister fell at his feet; and when he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ and she answered, ‘Lord, he already stinks, for he has been dead four days,’ the Lord says: ‘If you believe, you will see the glory of God,’ all but saying, ‘You fill up what is lacking of the dead man’s faith.’ And the sisters’ faith was so strong that it called the dead man back from the gates of Hades. If, then, some, believing on behalf of others, were able to raise the dead, will you not benefit much more if you believe sincerely on your own behalf? But even if you are without faith, or of little faith, the Lord loves humankind and bears with you when you repent; only say on your part, with a right mind: ‘I believe, Lord; help my unbelief.’ And if you think that you are faithful, but do not yet have the perfection of faith, you too need to say with the apostles: ‘Lord, increase our faith.’ For some part you have from yourself, but much you receive from him.

For the word ‘faith’ is one in name, but it is divided in two. There is one kind of faith, the doctrinal, which involves the soul’s assent concerning some matter; and it benefits the soul, as the Lord says: ‘He who hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment’; and again: ‘He who believes in the Son is not judged, but has passed from death to life.’ O the great love of God for humankind! The righteous pleased God over many years; but what they achieved and gained by pleasing him over many years, Jesus now grants you in a single hour. For if you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, and will be transferred into paradise by him who brought the robber into paradise. And do not doubt whether this is possible; for he who saved the robber on this holy Golgotha after a single hour of faith will save you too when you believe.

The second kind of faith is that given by Christ as a gift of grace. ‘For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing.’ This faith, then, given as a grace by the Spirit, is not only doctrinal, but also works things beyond human power. For whoever has this faith will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. For when someone says this in faith, believing that it happens, and does not doubt in his heart, then he receives the grace. And it is of this faith that it is said: ‘If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed.’ For just as the grain of mustard seed is small in size but fiery in its working, and, though sown in a small compass, puts out great branches, and when it has grown can shelter the birds, so also faith in the soul accomplishes the greatest things in the swiftest moment. For it forms images of God, and beholds God as far as is possible, enlightened by faith; it travels round the ends of the world, and before the consummation of this age already sees the judgment and the payment of the promised rewards. Have, then, the faith in him that comes from yourself, so that you may also receive from him the faith that works things beyond human power.

In learning and professing the faith, acquire and keep only that which is now handed on to you by the Church, fortified from all of Scripture. For since not all can read the Scriptures, but some are hindered from knowing them by lack of learning and others by lack of leisure, we comprise the whole teaching of the faith in a few lines, so that the soul may not perish from ignorance. I want you to remember it in its very words, and to rehearse it among yourselves with all diligence, not writing it on paper, but engraving it on your heart by memory, taking care while you rehearse it that no catechumen overhears what has been handed down; and to have it as provision for the journey through the whole time of your life, and to receive no other besides it: neither if we ourselves should change and contradict what we now teach, nor if an opposing angel, transformed into an angel of light, should wish to lead you astray. ‘For even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach to you a gospel contrary to what you have now received, let him be accursed to you.’ For now, hearing it in its very words, remember the Creed; and at the proper time expect the proof from the divine Scriptures of each of its contents. For the articles of the faith were not composed as seemed good to men; but the most important points, collected from all of Scripture, make up the one teaching of the faith. And just as the mustard seed contains many branches in a small grain, so also this faith has enfolded in a few words all the knowledge of godliness in the Old and the New Testament. See, then, brothers, and hold fast the traditions which you now receive, and write them on the breadth of your heart.

Keep them with reverence, lest the enemy despoil any of you who have grown slack, lest some heretic pervert any of what has been handed down to you. For … is like putting the money in the bank, which we have now done; and God requires of you the accounts of the deposit. ‘I charge you,’ as the apostle says, ‘before God, who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who bore witness before Pontius Pilate to the good confession,’ to keep this faith handed down to you without stain until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. A treasure of life has now been entrusted to you, and at his appearing the Master requires the deposit, ‘which in his own times the blessed and only Sovereign will show, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no human has seen or can see.’ To him be glory, honor, and might for ever and ever. Amen. [The edition then prints: The holy and apostolic faith, handed down for profession to those being enlightened. 1. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. 2. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father, true God, before all ages, through whom all things came to be; who came in the flesh and became human [of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit]; … crucified and buried …]

… Father, so that the glorifying of the Father and the Son [with the Holy Spirit] may be rendered undivided. For the Father does not have one glory and the Son another, but one and the same [with the Holy Spirit], since the Son is the only-begotten of the Father; and when the Father is glorified, the Son too shares in the glory, since the glory of the Son comes from the honor of his Father; and again, when the Son is glorified, the Father of so great a good is greatly honored.

The mind understands very swiftly, but the tongue needs words and a long narration of intervening speech. For the eye takes in at once a great choir of stars; but when someone wishes to describe each one, which is the morning star and which the evening star, and what each one is, he needs many words. Likewise again, the mind grasps earth and sea and all the bounds of the world in the swiftest moment; but what it understands in an instant, it describes in many words. Great, then, is the example given; but it is still weak and inadequate. For we say not as much as ought to be said about God (for that is known to him alone), but as much as human nature has taken in and as much as our weakness can bear. For we do not explain what God is; but we confess with candor that we do not know the exact truth about him. For in matters concerning God, it is great knowledge to confess one’s lack of knowledge. ‘Magnify the Lord with me, then, and let us exalt his name together,’ all in common, for one alone is powerless; rather, even if all of us are gathered together, we shall not yet do what is fitting. I do not mean only you who are present; but even if all the nurslings of the whole Church throughout the world, both the present and the future Church, came together, they would not be able to praise their Shepherd worthily.

Abraham was great and honored, but great in comparison with men; when he came before God, then, speaking the truth with candor, he says: ‘I am earth and ashes.’ He did not say ‘earth’ and then fall silent, so as not to call himself by the name of the great element; but he added ‘and ashes,’ to show how easily he is dissolved and how frail he is. Is there anything, he says, smaller or lighter than ashes? Compare ashes with a house, a house with a city, a city with a province, a province with the Roman territory, the Roman territory with the whole earth and all its bounds, and the whole earth with the heaven that enfolds it; the earth bears the same proportion to heaven as the center to the whole circumference of a wheel (for such is the proportion of earth to heaven). And consider that this first heaven which is seen is smaller than the second, and the second than the third (for so far Scripture has named them; not that there are only so many, but because it was useful for us to know only so many). And when in your mind you have seen all the heavens, not even the heavens will be able to praise God as he is, not even if they resound more loudly than thunder. If the vast vaults of the heavens cannot praise God worthily, when will earth and ashes, the smallest and least of things that are, be able to send up a worthy hymn to God, or to speak worthily about God, who holds the circle of the earth and has its inhabitants as grasshoppers?

If anyone undertakes to speak about God, let him first describe the bounds of the earth. You dwell on the earth, and you do not know the limit of the earth, your own dwelling; how then will you be able to form a worthy idea of its maker? You see the stars, but you do not see their maker; count the visible ones, and then explain the invisible one, ‘who counts the multitude of the stars and calls them all by names.’ The drops of the heavy rains that came recently nearly destroyed us; count the drops on this city alone; and I do not say on the city, but count the drops on your own house for one hour, if you can. But it is impossible. Know your own weakness; learn from this the power of God. For the drops of rain are numbered by him, those poured out over the whole world, not only now but at all times. The sun is God’s work, great, yet very small in comparison with the whole heaven; first gaze steadily at the sun, and then pry into its Master. ‘Do not seek what is too deep for you, and do not search out what is too strong for you; what has been commanded you, think about that.’

But someone will say: ‘If the divine substance is incomprehensible, why do you discourse about these things?’ Well, because I cannot drink the whole river, shall I not take in moderation what is useful for me? Because with the structure of my eyes I cannot take in the whole sun, shall I not look at it enough for my own need? Or, because I have entered a great orchard and cannot eat all the fruit there is, would you have me go out completely hungry? I praise and glorify him who made us; for it is a divine command that says: ‘Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.’ I am trying now to glorify the Master, not to explain him; knowing, however, that I shall fall short of glorifying him worthily, yet thinking it a work of piety even to attempt it at all. For the Lord Jesus comforts my weakness, saying: ‘No one has ever seen God.’

What then? someone will say. Is it not written: ‘Their angels, the angels of the little ones, always see the face of my Father who is in heaven’? Yes, the angels see, not as God is, but as far as they themselves can take in. For it is Jesus himself who says: ‘Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.’ The angels, then, see as far as they can take in, and the archangels as far as they are able; thrones and dominions more than the former, but less than his worth; only the Holy Spirit, together with the Son, can see as is fitting. For he searches all things, and knows even the depths of God; just as the only-begotten Son too, together with the Holy Spirit, knows the Father as is fitting (‘For no one knows the Father,’ he says, ‘except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son reveals him’). He sees as is fitting, and reveals God with the Spirit and through the Spirit, as each can take in; since the only-begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit, shares in the Father’s Godhead. He who was begotten impassibly before eternal times knows him who begot him, and he who begot knows him who was begotten. Since, then, angels do not know (for to each according to his own capacity the Only-begotten reveals, with the Spirit and through the Holy Spirit, as we have said), let no human be ashamed to confess his lack of knowledge. I am speaking now, and everyone speaks at times; but how we speak, we cannot say. How then can I describe him who gave the power of speech? I, who have a soul and cannot say what its properties are, how shall I be able to describe the giver of the soul? [7] For our piety it is enough for us only

to know that we have a God: a God who is one, who always is, always like himself; who has no father; than whom none is mightier; whom no successor drives out of his kingdom; many in name, almighty, and uniform in substance. For it is not because he is called good, and just, and almighty, and Sabaoth, that he is different and of varied sort; but being one and the same, he sends forth countless workings of the Godhead; not having more in one part and less in another, but being in all things like himself. He is not great in love for humankind only and small in wisdom, but has wisdom and love for humankind of equal power; not seeing in part and in part deprived of sight, but being wholly eye, wholly hearing, and wholly mind; not, as we do, understanding in part and in part not knowing; for such a saying is blasphemous and unworthy of the divine substance. He foreknows what is, and is holy, and almighty, and better than all, and greater than all, and wiser than all; whose beginning, form, or appearance we shall never be able to describe. ‘For you have never heard his voice, nor seen his form,’ says the divine Scripture. Therefore Moses says to the Israelites: ‘And guard your souls well, for you did not see any likeness.’ For if it is altogether impossible to imagine his likeness, will the mind come near his substance? [8] Many have imagined many things, and all have failed. Some thought that God is fire; others that he is winged like a man, because of the saying, rightly written but wrongly understood, ‘In the shelter of your wings you will shelter me.’ They forgot that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten, says the same about himself to Jerusalem: ‘How often I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!’ For when his protecting power was expressed as wings, these men did not understand, but sank down to human things and supposed the unsearchable one to be like a man. Others dared to say that he has seven eyes, because it is written: ‘The seven eyes of the Lord, looking upon all the earth.’ For if he has only seven eyes set round him in part, then his seeing is partial and not complete, which is blasphemous to say of God; for we must believe that God is perfect in all things, according to the Savior’s word that says: ‘Your heavenly Father is perfect’; perfect in seeing, perfect in power, perfect in greatness, perfect in foreknowledge, perfect in goodness, perfect in justice, perfect in love for humankind; not confined in a place, but the maker of places; being in all things and circumscribed by nothing. Heaven is his throne, but he who sits on it rises above it; and the earth is his footstool, but his power reaches down to the regions beneath the earth. [9] He is one, present everywhere, seeing all things, understanding all things, making all things through Christ. ‘For all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.’ He is the very great and unfailing fountain of every good, a river of benefits, an eternal light flashing unfailingly, an invincible power that bears with our weaknesses; whose very name we cannot bear to hear. ‘Will you find the footprint of the Lord,’ says Job, ‘or have you come to the last things that the Almighty has made?’ If the last of his works are not comprehended, will he who made all things be comprehended? ‘Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and it has not entered the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him.’ If what God has prepared is beyond the grasp of our minds, can we grasp with our bare mind the very one who prepared it? ‘O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!’ says the apostle. If his judgments and ways are incomprehensible, will he himself be comprehended?

God, then, being so great, and greater still (for even if I should turn my whole being into a tongue, I could not speak worthily of him; rather, even if all the angels came together, they would not yet speak worthily), God, then, being so good and so great, man dared to carve a stone and say to the stone: ‘You are my god.’ O great blindness, that has come down from such greatness to such baseness! The wood that God planted and the rain made grow, and that afterwards is burned and becomes ashes through fire, this is proclaimed god, while the true God is despised. The wickedness of idolatry went to further excess: the cat, and the dog, and the wolf were worshiped instead of God; the man-eating lion was worshiped instead of God, the greatest lover of humankind; the snake and the dragon, the image of the one who drove us out of paradise, were worshiped, and he who planted paradise was despised. I am ashamed to say it, yet I say it: even onions have been worshiped among some. Wine was given to gladden the heart of man, and Dionysus was worshiped instead of God. God made wheat by saying, ‘Let the earth bring forth green herbage, sowing seed according to kind and according to likeness,’ so that bread might strengthen man’s heart; why then was Demeter worshiped? Fire comes out from the striking of stones even to this day; how then is Hephaestus the maker of fire?