Catechetical Lectures 9.1–9.10

To see God with eyes of flesh is impossible, for what is incorporeal cannot come under the eyes of flesh; and the only-begotten Son of God himself has testified, saying, “No one has ever seen God.” For if someone should take what is written in Ezekiel to mean that Ezekiel saw him—yet what does the Scripture say? “He saw the likeness of the glory of the Lord”: not the Lord himself, but the likeness of the glory, and not the glory itself as it truly is. And having seen only the likeness of the glory, and not the glory itself, he fell to the ground from fear. Now if the sight of the likeness of the glory brought fear and anguish upon the prophets, anyone who tried to see God himself would surely lose his very life, according to the saying, “No one shall see my face and live.” For this reason God, in his very great love for mankind, stretched out the heaven as a veil before his own Godhead, so that we should not perish. The word is not mine; the prophet said it: “If you open the heavens, trembling will take hold of the mountains at you, and they will melt.” And why do you wonder that Ezekiel fell when he saw the likeness of the glory? When Gabriel, a servant of the Lord, appeared to Daniel, he at once cowered and fell on his face, and the prophet did not dare to answer until the angel transformed himself into the likeness of a son of man. If Gabriel, when he appeared, made the prophets tremble, would not all perish if God himself were seen as he is?

It is impossible, then, to see the divine nature with eyes of flesh; but from the works, which are divine, it is possible to come to some idea of his power, according to Solomon, who says, “For from the greatness and beauty of created things their Maker is correspondingly seen.” He did not say that from the created things the Maker is seen, but added “correspondingly.” For God appears so much the greater to each person as the greater the contemplation of created things he grasps; and when through the greater contemplation he is lifted up in heart, he also receives a greater idea of God. [3] Would you know that it is impossible to comprehend the nature of God? The three children in the furnace of fire, singing hymns to God, say: “Blessed are you who look upon the depths, who sit upon the cherubim.” Tell me what the nature of the cherubim is, and then gaze upon him who sits upon them. And yet Ezekiel the prophet described them as far as he could, saying that there were four faces to each:

one of a man, one of a lion, one of an eagle, one of a calf; and that each had six wings, and that they had eyes all around; and that under each lay a wheel of four parts. Yet though the prophet gives the description, we who read it cannot yet comprehend it. But if we cannot comprehend the throne he described, how shall we be able to comprehend the one who sits on it, the invisible and indescribable God? To inquire curiously into the nature of God is impossible; but to send up praise to him for his works that are seen is possible.

These things are said to you because of the sequence of the Creed, and because we say, “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible”: so that we may remember that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is himself the one who made the heaven and the earth; and so that we may guard ourselves against the perversions of the godless heretics, who have dared to speak evil of the all-wise Artificer of this whole world: men who see with the eyes of the flesh, but have the eyes of the understanding blinded.

For what fault have they to find with God's greatest work? They ought to have been struck with amazement at seeing the vaults of the heavens; they ought to have worshipped him who set up the heaven as a vault, who made out of the fluid nature of the waters the unfalling substance of the heaven. For God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water.” God spoke once, and it stands and does not fall. The heaven is water, and the bodies in it, sun, moon and stars, are fiery; how then do fiery things run their course in the water? If anyone doubts because of the opposite natures of fire and water, let him remember the fire that blazed in the hail in Egypt in the time of Moses, and let him see God's all-wise workmanship. For since there was need of water, as the earth was to be tilled, he made the heaven above of water, so that when the region of the earth needs watering by rains, the heaven might be ready for this by its nature.

But what? Is there not cause for wonder when one looks at the structure of the sun? Though it looks like a small object, it contains great power, shining forth from the east and sending its light as far as the west. Describing its rising at dawn the Psalmist said, “And he, like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber”; for he was describing the brightness and the moderation of its first appearance to men. For when it rides through mid-heaven at noon we often flee from it because of its blaze; but at its rising it is pleasant to all, seen like a bridegroom. And see its ordering (or rather not its own, but his who fixed its course by command): how in summer, rising higher, it makes the days longer, giving men time for their work; but in winter it shortens its course, not so that the time of cold may be longer, but so that the nights, becoming longer, may help men toward rest, and help the earth toward the bearing of its crops. See too how the days give way to one another in good order, lengthening in summer and shortening in winter, while in spring and autumn they grant one another equal spans; and the nights again do the like. So the Psalmist says of them: “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.” For to the heretics, who have no ears, they all but cry aloud, and by their good order they say that there is no other God than the Creator, who set their bounds and ordered the universe.

Let no one put up with those who say that the maker of light is one and the maker of darkness another; let him remember Isaiah, who says, “I am the God who made light and created darkness.” Why are you vexed at it, O man? Why do you resent the time given you for rest? A servant would get no rest from his masters, if the darkness did not of necessity bring a set limit. And how often, after being wearied in the day, we are refreshed in the night; and he who was in toil yesterday is vigorous at dawn because of the night's rest! And what is more useful than the night for wisdom? For in it we often turn our thoughts to God; in it we do our reading and contemplation of the divine oracles. And when is our mind more given to psalmody and prayer? Is it not at night? When have we come to the remembrance of our own sins? Was it not at night? Let us not, then, wrongly accept that another is the maker of darkness; for experience shows that this too is good and most useful. [8] They ought to have been astonished and filled with wonder not only at the construction of sun and moon, but also at the well-ordered dances of the stars, their unhindered courses, and the timely risings of each: how some are signs of summer and others of winter; how some show the time for sowing and others signal the beginning of sailing; and a man sitting in a ship and sailing over boundless waves steers the ship by looking at the stars. For of these things Scripture says well, “And let them be for signs and for seasons and for years”: not for the fables of astrology and of nativities. See too how kindly he has granted us the light of day by degrees: for we do not see the sun rise all at once, but a little light runs ahead, so that the eye, exercised beforehand, may be able to look at the greater rays; and how he has relieved the darkness of the night with the gleams of the moon. [9] “Who is the father of the rain? And who has begotten the drops of dew?” Who thickened the air into clouds and commanded them to carry the waters of the rains, now … and now bringing them into one form, and again changing them into varied circles and other shapes? Who is able “to number the clouds in wisdom”? Of him it is said in Job, “He knows the divisions of the clouds, and he bowed the heaven to the earth”; and, “He who numbers the clouds in wisdom”; and, “The cloud was not rent beneath him.” For so many measures of water lie upon the clouds, and they are not rent, but come down upon the earth in all good order. Who brings the winds out of their treasuries? And who, as we said before, has begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb comes the ice? For its substance is watery, but its effect stony. And at one time the water becomes snow like wool, at another it serves him who scatters the hoarfrost like ashes, and at another it is changed into a stony substance; for he steers the water as he wills. Its nature is of one kind, but its working of many powers. Water becomes wine in vines, gladdening the heart of man; oil in olives, making man's face shine; and it is changed into bread, which strengthens man's heart, and into every kind of fruit. [10] What, then, ought to follow upon these things? That the Creator be blasphemed, or rather worshipped? And I am not yet speaking of the hidden works of his wisdom. Look, I pray, at the spring, and the flowers of every kind, alike and yet distinct: the deep red of the rose, the pure white of the lily. For these come from one rain and one

earth: who distinguishes them? Who fashions them? Look, I pray, at the exactness: from the one substance of the tree, part is for shelter and part for various fruits, and the craftsman is one. Of one vine, part is for burning, part for shoots, part for leaves, part for tendrils, part for the cluster. Be amazed too at the close-set rings of knots that the craftsman put around the reed. From the one earth come forth creeping things, wild beasts, cattle, trees, foods, gold, silver, bronze, iron and stone. The nature of the waters is one, and from it comes the being of swimming creatures and of birds; so that as the one swim in the waters, so the birds fly in the air. [11] … this great and wide sea … [creeping things] without number. Who can describe the beauty of the fishes in it? Who can describe the size of the sea monsters and the nature of the amphibious animals, how they live both on dry land and in the waters? Who can describe the depth and breadth of the sea, or the onset of its immense waves? Yet it stands at its bounds because of him who said, “Thus far you shall come, and you shall not pass beyond; but within you your waves shall be broken.” And showing the word of command laid upon it, when it has run up the shore it leaves a visible line of the waves on the beaches, as if showing those who see it that it has not transgressed the bounds appointed for it. [12] Who can examine the nature of the birds of the air? How some carry music in their tongue, others are decked with every kind of painting on their wings, and others fly up into mid-air and hang there motionless, like the hawk; for by the divine command “the hawk spreads its wings and stands motionless, looking toward the south.” Who among men can see the eagle when it has soared aloft? If you cannot perceive the most irrational of the birds when it has soared aloft, how would you perceive the Maker of all? [13] Who among men knows even the names of all the wild beasts? Or who can examine the nature of each? If we do not even know the mere names of the wild beasts, how shall we comprehend their Maker? One was the command of God, which said, “Let the earth bring forth wild beasts and cattle and creeping things after their kind”; and from one source, by one command, different natures came into being: the gentle sheep and the flesh-eating lion; and the different motions of irrational animals, which imitate the different dispositions of men: the fox, to show the craftiness among men; the snake, friends who shoot venom; the neighing horse, the licentious among the young; the most industrious ant, to rouse the sluggish and slothful. For when someone spends his youth in idleness, he is then taught by irrational animals, being rebuked by the divine Scripture, which says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard, and when you have seen its ways, be zealous, and become wiser than it.” For when you see it storing up its food for itself in good season, imitate it, and store up for yourself the fruits of good works for the ages to come. And again: “Go to the bee, and learn how industrious it is”: how, running over every kind of flower, it makes up honey for your benefit; so that you too, going about the divine Scriptures, may lay hold of your own salvation, and, being filled with them, may say, “How sweet are your words to my throat, more than honey and the comb to my mouth!”

Is not the Craftsman, then, the more worthy to be glorified? For what? If you do not know the nature of all things, are the things that were made therefore useless? Can you know the virtue of all herbs? Or can you learn all the benefit that comes from every animal? Even from venomous vipers antidotes have come for the preservation of men. But you will say to me, “The snake is terrible.” Fear the Lord, and it will not be able to harm you. “The scorpion stings.” Fear the Lord, and it will not sting you. “The lion is bloodthirsty.” Fear the Lord, and it will lie down beside you, as with Daniel. Truly one may also wonder at the working of animals: how some, like the scorpion, have their sharpness in a sting; for others the power is in their teeth; others fight with their claws; and the basilisk's power is its gaze. From the varied workmanship, then, perceive the power of the Creator. [15] But perhaps you do not know these things; you have nothing to do with the animals outside you. Enter, then, into yourself, and from your own nature perceive the Craftsman. What is there to blame in the structure of your body? Be master of yourself, and nothing evil will come from any of your members. In the beginning Adam was naked in paradise with Eve, but he was not cast out because of his members. The members, then, are not the cause of sin, but those who use the members badly; and the Maker of the members is wise. Who prepared the hollows of the womb for the bearing of children? Who gave life to the lifeless thing within it? Who knit us together with sinews and bones, and clothed us with skin and flesh,

and as soon as the infant is born brings forth fountains of milk from the breasts? How does the infant grow into a child, and the child into a youth, then into a man, and the same man in turn change into an old man, while no one perceives exactly the change from day to day? How is part of the food turned into blood, part separated off for excretion, and part changed into flesh? Who moves the heart in ceaseless motion? Who wisely protected the tenderness of the eyes with the covering of the eyelids? For the many-volumed books of the physicians scarcely explain the varied and wonderful structure of the eyes. Who distributes the one breath to the whole body? You see, O man, the Craftsman; you see the wise Creator. [16] These things my discourse has now set out at length, while many others, tens of thousands, have been left aside, especially the incorporeal and invisible things: so that you may hate those who blaspheme the wise and good Craftsman; and so that, from what has been said and read, and from whatever you yourself may be able to find or understand, having seen the Maker correspondingly from the greatness and beauty of created things, you may reverently bend the knee to the Maker of all things (of things sensible and intelligible, I mean, visible and invisible), and with a grateful and reverent tongue, with unceasing lips and heart, may sing hymns to God, saying, “How marvellous are your works, O Lord; in wisdom you have made them all.” For to you belong honour, glory and majesty, now and to the ages of ages. Amen.