On First Principles 2.11.1–3.1.5

Let us now see briefly what is to be thought also about the promises. It is certain that no living being can be wholly idle and motionless, but it longs in every way to be moved and to act and always to will something; and that this nature is present in all living beings I think is plain. Much more, then, must a rational living being, that is, the nature of man, always be moving or doing something. And if he is forgetful of himself and does not know what befits him, his whole effort is moved about bodily uses, and in all his movements he is occupied with his pleasures and the lusts of the body; but if he is such as to be eager to care or provide for something for the common good, he exercises himself either in counselling the state, or obeying magistrates, or whatever else certainly seems to be of common benefit. But if someone is such as to understand something better than these things that seem bodily, and to give his effort to wisdom and knowledge, he will undoubtedly turn all his industry to studies of this kind, so that, having investigated the truth, he may come to know the causes and reason of things. Just as, then, in this life one judges bodily pleasure the highest good, another counselling for the common good, another giving effort to studies and understanding, so let us inquire whether in that life which is true, which is said to be hidden with Christ in God, that is, in that eternal life, there will be some such order or state of living for us.

Some, then, refusing in a way the labour of understanding, and following a certain surface of the letter of the law, and indulging rather their own delight and desire, disciples of the letter alone, think that the promises to come are to be expected in bodily pleasure and luxury; and therefore they especially desire to have again after the resurrection such flesh as never lacks the ability to eat and drink and do all that belongs to flesh and blood, not following the apostle Paul's statement about the resurrection of a spiritual body. To these things they consequently add marriage contracts and the begetting of children even after the resurrection, imagining for themselves an earthly city of Jerusalem to be rebuilt, with precious stones laid in its foundations, its walls raised of jasper stone and its battlements of crystal; and that it will have an enclosing wall of choice and varied stones, that is, jasper and sapphire and chalcedony and emerald and sardius and onyx and chrysolite and chrysoprase and jacinth and amethyst. Moreover, they think that foreigners will be given them as servants of their pleasures, whom they will have as ploughmen or builders of walls, by whom their ruined and fallen city may be rebuilt; and they think that they will receive the wealth of the nations to eat and will rule over their riches, so that even the camels of Midian and Kedar will come and bring them gold and incense and precious stones. And they try to confirm these things by prophetic authority, from what is written about the promises to Jerusalem, where it is also said that those who serve the Lord will eat and drink, but sinners will hunger and thirst, and that the righteous will rejoice, but sorrow will possess the impious. From the New Testament too they bring forward the Saviour's saying in which he promises his disciples the gladness of wine, saying, “For I will not drink of this henceforth until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” They add also that the Saviour calls blessed those who now hunger and thirst, promising them that they will be filled; and they bring forward many other examples from the Scriptures, whose force they do not perceive must be understood figuratively. Then, according to the form that exists in this life, and according to the arrangements of this world's dignities or orders or eminences of powers, they think they will be kings and princes, as these earthly ones are, because, namely, of what is said in the Gospel: “You shall have authority over five cities.” And, to put it briefly, they wish all that is expected from the promises to be in every way like the conduct of this life, that is, that what is should be again. So think those who believe in Christ indeed, but, understanding the divine Scriptures in a kind of Jewish sense, have presumed nothing from them worthy of the divine promises.

But those who receive the contemplation of the Scriptures according to the sense of the apostles hope that the saints will indeed eat, but the bread of life, which nourishes the soul with the food of truth and wisdom, and enlightens the mind, and gives it to drink from the cups of divine wisdom, as divine Scripture says: “Wisdom has prepared her table, slain her victims, mixed her wine in the bowl, and cries with a loud voice: Turn aside to me; eat the bread which I have prepared for you, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you.” Nourished by these foods of wisdom, the mind is restored to wholeness and perfection, as man was made in the beginning, to the image and likeness of God; so that even if someone has departed from this life less instructed, but has brought commendable works, he can be instructed in that Jerusalem, the city of the saints, that is, taught and formed and made a living stone, a precious and chosen stone, because he has endured bravely and steadfastly the contests of life and the struggles of piety; and there he will know more truly and clearly what has already been said beforehand here, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And the princes and rulers are to be understood as those who rule those below them, and instruct and teach them and train them for divine things.

But if these things seem to stir too little desire in the minds of those who hope for them, let us go back a little and inquire, since the desire for the thing itself is natural and implanted in the soul, so that we may at last describe, by the sequence of contemplation, as it were the very forms of the bread of life and the quality of its wine and the property of the principalities. Just as, then, in the arts which are carried out by hand, the reason of what is made, or how, or for what uses, resides in the mind, while the effecting of the work is unfolded by the service of the hands, so in the works of God which were made by him we must hold that the reason and understanding of the things we see made by him remain hidden. And just as, when our eye sees things made by a craftsman, if it beholds something especially skilfully made, the mind at once burns to inquire how, or in what way, or for what uses it was made, much more, and beyond all comparison, does the mind burn with ineffable desire to know the reason of the things we perceive to be made by God. This desire, this love, we believe was undoubtedly implanted in us by God; and just as the eye naturally seeks light and sight, and our body by nature desires food and drink, so our mind bears a proper and natural desire to know the truth of God and to learn the causes of things. And we have received this desire from God not so that it should never be, nor could ever be, fulfilled; otherwise the love of truth would seem to have been implanted in our mind by God the Creator in vain, if it is never made master of its desire. Hence, even in this life, those who with the greatest labour have given themselves to pious and religious studies, although they grasp only small things out of the many and immense treasures of divine knowledge, yet by the very fact that they occupy their souls and minds with these things and press forward in this desire, they receive great benefit, from the very fact that they turn their souls to the zeal and love of seeking the truth, and make them better prepared for the capacity of future instruction (just as when someone wishes to paint a picture, if a sketch by a fine stylus first marks out the lines of the future form and prepares marks capable of receiving the features to be laid on, undoubtedly the preliminary form laid down by the sketch is found better prepared for receiving those true colours), provided only that this sketch and outline is written on the tablets of our heart by the stylus of our Lord Jesus Christ. And perhaps for this reason it is said that “to everyone who has it will be given and added.” From this it is established that to those who have in this life a kind of outline of truth and knowledge, the beauty of the perfect image will also be added in the future.

Such, I think, was the desire indicated by him who said, “I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for it is far better”; knowing that when he had returned to Christ he would know more clearly the reasons of all things that are done on earth: about man, or the soul of man, or the mind, or whatever those things are of which man consists: what the ruling spirit is, what the spirit that works, what too is the vital spirit, and what is the grace of the Holy Spirit that is given to the faithful. Then too he will understand what Israel is perceived to be, or what the diversity of the nations, what the twelve tribes of Israel mean, and what the individual peoples in each tribe. Then he will understand also the reason concerning the priests and Levites and the different priestly orders, and whose figure was in Moses, and also what the truth is with God of the jubilees and the weeks of years; he will see also the reasons of the feast days and holidays, and he will behold the causes of all the sacrifices and purifications; he will notice too what is the reason of the cleansing of leprosy, and what are the different leprosies, and what is the purification of those who suffer a flux of seed; and he will know also what and how great and of what kind are the good powers, and also the contrary ones, and what is the affection of the former toward human beings, and the contentious rivalry of the latter. He will behold also what is the reason of souls, and what the diversity of living things, whether of those that live in the waters, or of birds, or of beasts; and why each genus is divided into so many species; what is the Creator's foresight, or what sense of his wisdom is hidden in each of these. He will learn for what reason certain powers are associated with some roots or herbs, and on the contrary are driven off by other herbs or roots; what is the account of the apostate angels, and what is the cause that with those who do not despise them with full faith they can ingratiate themselves in some things, or become the cause of error and deception. He will also learn the judgment of divine providence about each of the things that happen to human beings: that they do not happen by chance or accident, but by a reason so carefully weighed and so lofty that not even the number of the hairs, not only of the saints but perhaps of all human beings, escapes it; a providence whose reason extends even to the two sparrows sold for a penny, whether the sparrows are understood spiritually or according to the letter. For here it is still being sought meanwhile, but there it will then be plainly seen.

From all this it must be thought that no little time passes meanwhile until the reason of only those things that are upon the earth is shown, after their departure from life, to the worthy and well-deserving, so that through the knowledge of all these things and the grace of full knowledge they may enjoy unspeakable gladness. Then, if this air which is between heaven and earth is not empty of living beings, and of rational living beings, as the Apostle also said, “in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience”; and again he says, “We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord,” we must think, then, that the saints remain there until they come to know the reason of the dispensation of the things done in the air in both ways. By “both ways” I mean this: for example, when we were on earth, we saw animals or trees and observed their differences, and also very great diversity among human beings; but seeing these things we did not understand their reason, but this alone was suggested to us by the very diversity we saw, that we should inquire and search out by what reason all these things were created different or are dispensed variously; and if we have conceived on earth a zeal or love for knowledge of this kind, the knowledge and understanding of it will be given us after our departure, if only things go as we wish. When, then, we have fully comprehended its reason, then we shall comprehend in both ways what we saw on earth. Something of the same kind must also be said about the seat in the air. For I think that all the saints departing from this life will remain in some place situated on the earth, which divine Scripture calls paradise, as in a kind of place of instruction and, so to speak, a lecture hall or school of souls, in which they may be taught about all the things they had seen on earth, and may also receive certain indications of what follows and is to come; just as, placed in this life too, they had conceived certain indications of things to come, though through a mirror and in enigmas, yet in some part, which are revealed more clearly and brightly to the saints in their own places and times. If anyone indeed is pure in heart and purer in mind and more practised in perception, advancing more swiftly he will quickly ascend to the place of the air and come to the kingdoms of the heavens through the mansions, so to speak, of the individual places, which the Greeks called spheres, that is, globes, but divine Scripture calls heavens. In each of these he will first see what is done there, and secondly will also know the reason why it is done; and so he will pass through each in order, following him who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who says, “I will that where I am, these too may be with me.” He indicates these diversities of places also when he says, “In my Father's house there are many mansions.” He himself, however, is everywhere and passes through all things. Nor are we any longer to understand him in that smallness in which he became for our sake, that is, not in that circumscription which he had in our body when he was placed on earth among human beings, so as to be thought enclosed as it were in some one place.

When, then, for example, the saints have come to the heavenly places, then they will see through the reason of the stars one by one, and will comprehend whether they are living beings or whatever else they are. And they will understand other reasons of the works of God, which he himself will reveal to them. For already, as to sons, he will show them the causes of things and the power of his creation, teaching them why that star is placed in that place of the sky, and why it is separated from another by so great an intervening space; for example, what would have followed if it had been nearer, and what would happen if it were farther off; or, if that star had been greater than this one, how the universe would not remain the same but all things would be changed into some other form. And so, when they have gone through everything contained in the reckoning of the stars and in those courses that are in heaven, they will come also to the things that are not seen, or to those whose names alone we have now heard, and to the invisible things, which the apostle Paul taught exist, but what they are or what difference they have we cannot even guess by any understanding. And so the rational nature, growing through each stage, not as it grew in this life in flesh or body and soul, but increased in mind and perception, is led on as a mind already perfect to perfect knowledge, no longer hindered at all by these fleshly senses, but increased by intellectual growth, always looking purely and, so to speak, face to face at the causes of things, it attains perfection: first that by which it ascends to it, and secondly that by which it remains in it, having as the food on which it feeds the contemplations and understandings of things and the reasons of causes. For just as in this bodily life of ours we first grow bodily into what we are, the sufficiency of food in our early years supplying growth, but after our height has been completed to its measure we use food no longer in order to grow but in order to live and be preserved in life by nourishment, so I think the mind too, even when it has come to perfection, still feeds on and uses its own fitting food, in such measure that nothing ought to be lacking and nothing in excess. In all things, moreover, this food is to be understood as the contemplation and understanding of God, having measures proper and fitting to this nature which was made and created; and these measures it befits each of those who are beginning “to see God,” that is, to understand through “purity of heart,” to observe.

The two former books On First Principles I translated not only at your urging but under your pressure, during the days of Lent. But since in those days you, my devout brother Macarius, both lived near me and had more leisure, I too worked harder; these two later books I have unfolded more slowly, because you come to us more rarely, as a taskmaster, from the farthest edge of the city. Now if you remember what I warned of in my former little preface, that certain people would be indignant if they did not hear us speak some evil of Origen, you have, I think, at once found it so. But if the demons who stir up men's tongues to speak evil were so inflamed by that work, in which he had not yet fully laid bare their secrets, what do you think will happen in this one, in which he has revealed all their blind and hidden ways, by which they creep into human hearts and deceive weak and frail souls? You will see at once everything thrown into disorder, factions stirred up, outcries spread through the whole city, and the man summoned to condemnation who tried to drive away the devil's darkness of ignorance by the light of the Gospel lamp. But let him think little of these things who desires to be trained in divine learning while keeping the rule of the catholic faith. This, however, I must remind you of: as in the former books, so in these I have observed the rule not to translate what seemed contrary to his other opinions and to our faith, but to pass it over as inserted and corrupted by others. If he seems to have said anything new about rational beings, since the substance of the faith does not lie in this, for the sake of knowledge and exercise, when perhaps we had to answer certain heresies in this order, I have not passed it over either in these books or in the former ones, except where in these later books he wished to repeat what had already been said in the earlier ones; there I thought it useful, for brevity's sake, to cut some of it away. If anyone reads these things from a desire to make progress and not to disparage, he will do better to have them explained to him by more skilled men. For it is absurd that the invented songs of the poets and the laughable stories of comedies should be explained by grammarians, and that anyone should think he can learn without a master and interpreter the things that are said about God, or the heavenly powers, or the whole universe, in which some perverse error either of pagan philosophers or of heretics is refuted; and so it happens that people prefer to condemn difficult and obscure things rashly and ignorantly rather than to learn them by diligence and study.

Such, we believe, are the things to be thought about the divine promises, when we direct our understanding to the contemplation of that eternal age which no end will close, and contemplate its unspeakable joy and blessedness. But since the church's preaching also contains faith in the future just judgment of God, and this belief in judgment calls and persuades people to live well and happily and to flee sin in every way, and since it is without doubt implied by this that it is placed in our power to give ourselves to a praiseworthy or to a blameworthy life, I think it necessary to discuss a few things about the freedom of our choice as well, since this question too is discussed by very many, and not in a mean way. That we may more easily know what freedom of choice is, let us inquire what the very nature of choice and will means.

Of all things that move, some carry the causes of their motion within themselves, while others receive them from outside. Those things are moved only from outside that are without life, such as stones or wood and whatever things of this kind consist only of the state of their matter or of their bodies. That question must certainly be set aside here which also calls it motion when bodies are dissolved by decay, for it does not bear on our present purpose. Others have the cause of motion in themselves, such as animals or trees and all things that exist by natural life or by a soul; among these some have thought that veins of metal should also be counted; and fire too must be thought to have its own motion, and perhaps springs of water also. Of the things that have the cause of their motion within themselves, some are said to be moved out of themselves, others by themselves; and they divide them thus: those are moved out of themselves which live but are not animals; those are moved by themselves which are animals, when a phantasia, that is, a kind of will or incitement, is present in them, which stirs them to be moved or incited toward something. Indeed, in certain animals there is such a phantasia, that is, a will or sense, which by a kind of natural instinct provokes and stirs them to ordered and regular motions: as we see spiders do, which are stirred most regularly to the work of weaving by a phantasia, that is, by a certain will and desire for weaving, a natural motion without doubt prompting the effort for such a work; and yet the animal itself is found to have no other sense than the natural desire for weaving; just as the bee too has the desire for shaping honeycombs and, as they say, for gathering the honey of the air.

A rational animal, although it has these natural motions in itself, yet has beyond the other animals the power of reason as well, by which it can judge and discern among the natural motions, rejecting and casting away some and approving and accepting others, so that by the judgment of this reason the motions of a human being may be directed and governed toward a praiseworthy life. It follows that, since the nature of this reason which is in a human being has in itself the power of discerning good and evil, and, when it has discerned, the faculty also of choosing what it has approved, it is rightly judged praiseworthy in choosing what is good and blameworthy in following what is shameful or evil. We must certainly not overlook that in some dumb animals a more ordered motion is found than in the other animals, as in hunting dogs or war horses, so that to some they seem to be moved by a kind of rational sense. But this must be believed to come about not so much from reason as from a kind of incentive and natural motion granted more abundantly for such uses. But, as we had begun to say, since this is how a rational animal is, things may indeed befall us human beings from outside, or meet us whether through sight or hearing or the other senses, which stir and provoke us to good or contrary motions; and because they befall us from outside, it is not placed in our power that they should not befall or meet us. But to judge and approve how we ought to use the things that befall us is the business and work of nothing else than the reason that is in us, that is, of our judgment; and by the judgment of this reason we use the incitements that befall us from outside for whatever purpose reason itself has approved, governing our natural motions at its nod either toward good things or toward the contrary.

If someone says that the things which befall us from outside and provoke our motions are such that it is not possible to resist them, whether they stir us to good or to evil, let him who thinks this turn his mind for a little to himself and examine his own motions more carefully, and see whether he does not find that, when the enticement of some desire strikes, nothing is done before the mind's assent is given and the mind's will yields to the evil suggestion; so that, as before a judge sitting within the tribunal of our heart, the case seems to be pleaded from both sides with plausible reasons, and, the causes having first been set out, sentence for action is passed by the judgment of reason. To give an example: if a woman should appear to a man who has resolved to live continently and chastely and to keep himself from all contact with women, provoking him and enticing him to do something contrary to his resolve, the woman is not the perfect and absolute cause or necessity of his transgressing, since he can, remembering his resolve, rein in the incitements of lust and check the delights of the provoking enticement with the sterner rebukes of virtue, so that, with every sense of lust put to flight, the firmness and constancy of his resolve may persevere. Indeed, if such incitements come to more learned men, strengthened by divine instruction, at once remembering who they are, recalling to memory what they have long meditated and been taught, and fortifying themselves with the support of holier teaching, they reject and refute every enticement of incitement and drive away contrary desires by the opposition of the reason implanted in them.

Since, then, these things are proved to be so by natural evidence, as it were, how is it not superfluous to turn back the causes of our deeds onto the things that befall us from outside, and to remove the blame from ourselves, in whom the whole cause lies; that is, to say that we are like pieces of wood or stones, which have no motion within themselves but receive the causes of their motion from outside? This is neither truly nor fittingly said, but is invented only so that freedom of choice may be denied; unless perhaps we think that freedom of choice can exist only if nothing befalls us from outside that provokes us to good or to evil. If someone refers the causes of sins to a natural bad temperament of the body, this is shown to be contrary to the reason of all instruction. For just as we see in very many who before had lived without restraint or self-control and had been captives of luxury and lust, if they were perhaps called to better things by the word of teaching and instruction, that so great a change came about that from being luxurious and base they were made sober and most chaste, from fierce and savage most gentle and mild; so again we see in others, quiet and honourable people, that when they have perhaps joined themselves to restless and base people, “good morals are corrupted by evil conversation,” and they become such as those who lack nothing for baseness; and this sometimes happens to men already of mature age, so that they lived more continently in youth than when a more advanced age granted them the means of a freer life. The consequence of reason therefore shows that the things which befall us from outside are not in our power; but to use well or ill the things that befall us, by that reason within us which discerns and judges how they ought to be used, is in our power.