14 - Book III Chapters 23-29

Section 14 of The Orthodox Faith by John of Damascus. Translated by S. D. F. Salman. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Book 3, Chapter 23, Concerning His Fear The word fear has a double meaning, for fear is natural when the soul is unwilling to be separated from the body on account of the natural sympathy and close relationship planted in it in the beginning by the Creator, which makes it fear and struggle against death and pray for an escape from it. It may be defined thus, Natural fear is the force whereby we cling to being with shrinking. For if all things were brought by the Creator out of nothing into being, they all have by nature a longing after being, and not after non-being. Moreover, the inclination toward those things that support existence is a natural property of them. Hence, God the Word, when He became man, had this longing, manifesting on the one hand in those things that support existence, the inclination of His nature in desiring food and drink and sleep, and having in a natural manner made proof of these things, while on the other hand displaying in those things that bring corruption His natural disinclination, involuntarily shrinking in the hour of His passion before the flee of death. For although what happened did so according to the laws of nature, yet it was not, as in our case, a matter of necessity, for He willingly and spontaneously accepted that which was natural. So that fear itself and terror and agony belong to the natural and innocent passions, and are not under the dominion of sin. Again, there is a fear which arises from treachery of reasoning and want of faith, and ignorance of the hour of death, as when we are at night affected by fear at some chance noise. This is unnatural fear, and may be thus defined, unnatural fear is an unexpected shrinking. This our Lord did not assume. Hence He never felt fear except in the hour of His passion, although He often experienced the feeling of shrinking in accordance with the dispensation, for He was not ignorant of the appointed time. But the Holy Athanasius in his discourse against Apollinarius says that he did actually feel fear. Wherefore the Lord said, Now is my soul troubled. The now, indeed, means just when He willed, but yet points to what actually was, for He did not speak of what was not, as though it were present, as if the things that were said only apparently happened, for all things happened naturally and actually. And again, after some other matters, He says, In no wise does His divinity admit passion apart from a suffering body, nor yet does it manifest trouble and pain apart from a pained and troubled soul, nor does it suffer anguish and offer of prayer apart from a mind that suffered anguish and offered of prayer. For although these occurrences were not due to any overthrow of nature, yet they took place to show forth His real being. The words, These occurrences were not due to any overthrow of His nature, prove that it was not involuntarily that He endured these things. CHAPTER XXIV. CONCERNING OUR LORD'S PRAYING. PRAYER IS AN UPRISING OF THE MIND TO GOD, OR A PETITIONING OF GOD FOR WHAT IS FITTING. HOW THEN DID IT HAPPEN THAT OUR LORD OFFERED UP PRAYER IN THE CASE OF LAZARUS, AND AT THE HOUR OF HIS PASSION? FOR HIS HOLY MIND WAS IN NO NEED EITHER OF ANY UPRISING TOWARDS GOD, SINCE IT HAD BEEN ONCE AND FOR ALL UNITED IN SUBSISTANCE WITH THE GOD-WORD, OR OF ANY PETITIONING OF GOD. FOR CHRIST IS ONE. BUT IT WAS BECAUSE HE APPROPRIATED TO HIMSELF OUR PERSONALITY, AND TOOK OUR IMPRESS ON HIMSELF, AND BECAME AN ENSEMBLE FOR US, AND TAUGHT US TO ASK OF GOD AND STRAIN TOWARDS HIM, AND GUIDED US THROUGH HIS OWN HOLY MIND IN THE WAY THAT LEADS UP TO GOD. FOR JUST AS HE ENDURED THE PASSION, ACHIEVING FOR OUR SAKES A TRIUMPH OVER IT, SO ALSO HE OFFERED UP PRAYER, GUIDING US, AS I SAID, IN THE WAY THAT LEADS UP TO GOD, AND FULFILLING ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS ON OUR BEHALF, AS HE SAID TO JOHN, AND RECONCILING HIS FATHER TO US, AND HONORING HIM AS THE BEGINNING AND CAUSE, AND PROVING THAT HE IS NO ENEMY OF GOD. FOR WHEN HE SAID IN CONNECTION WITH LAZARUS, FATHER, I THANK THEE THAT THOU HAST HEARD ME, AND I KNOW THAT THOU HEAREST ME ALWAYS, BUT BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE WHICH STAND BY I SAID IT, THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE THAT THOU HAST SENT ME. IS IT NOT MOST MANIFEST TO ALL THAT HE SAID THIS IN HONOR OF HIS FATHER, AS THE CAUSE EVEN OF HIMSELF, AND TO SHOW THAT HE WAS NO ENEMY OF GOD? AGAIN, WHEN HE SAID, FATHER, IF IT BE POSSIBLE, LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME, YET NOT AS I WILL, BUT AS THOU WILT. IS IT NOT CLEAR TO ALL THAT HE SAID THIS AS A LESSON TO US, TO ASK HELP IN OUR TRIALS ONLY FROM GOD, AND TO PREFER GOD'S WILL TO OUR OWN, AND AS A PROOF THAT HE DID ACTUALLY APPROPRIATE TO HIMSELF THE ATTRIBUTES OF OUR NATURE, AND THAT HE DID IN TRUTH POSSESS TWO WILLS, NATURAL INDEED, AND CORRESPONDING WITH HIS NATURES, BUT YET IN NO WISE OPPOSED TO ONE ANOTHER? FATHER IMPLIES THAT HE IS OF THE SAME ESSENCE, BUT IF IT BE POSSIBLE, DOES NOT MEAN THAT HE WAS IN IGNORANCE, FOR WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GOD, BUT SERVES TO TEACH US TO PREFER GOD'S WILL TO OUR OWN, FOR THAT ALONE IS IMPOSSIBLE WHICH IS AGAINST GOD'S WILL AND PERMISSION. BUT NOT AS I WILL, BUT AS THOU WILT, FOR INASMUCH AS HE IS GOD, HE IS IDENTICAL WITH THE FATHER, WHILE INASMUCH AS HE IS MAN, HE MANIFESTS THE NATURAL WILL OF MANKIND, FOR IT IS THIS THAT NATURALLY SEEKS ESCAPE FROM DEATH. FURTHER, THESE WORDS, MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME? HE SAID AS MAKING OUR PERSONALITY HIS OWN, FOR NEITHER WOULD GOD BE REGARDED WITH US AS HIS FATHER, UNLESS ONE WERE TO DISCRIMINATE WITH SUBTLE IMAGININGS OF THE MIND BETWEEN THAT WHICH IS SEEN AND THAT WHICH IS THOUGHT. NOR WAS HE EVER FORSAKEN BY HIS DIVINITY. NAY, IT WAS WE WHO WERE FORSAKEN AND DISREGARDED, SO THAT IT WAS AS APPROPRIATING OUR PERSONALITY THAT HE OFFERED THESE PRAYERS. CHAPTER 25. CONCERNING THE APPROPRIATION. IT IS TO BE OBSERVED THAT THERE ARE TWO APPROPRIATIONS, ONE THAT IS NATURAL AND ESSENTIAL, AND ONE THAT IS PERSONAL AND RELATIVE. THE NATURAL AND ESSENTIAL ONE IS THAT BY WHICH OUR LORD, IN HIS LOVE FOR MAN, TOOK ON HIMSELF OUR NATURE AND ALL OUR NATURAL ATTRIBUTES, BECOMING IN NATURE AND TRUTH MAN, AND MAKING TRIAL OF THAT WHICH IS NATURAL. BUT THE PERSONAL AND RELATIVE APPROPRIATION IS WHEN ANYONE ASSUMES THE PERSON OF ANOTHER RELATIVELY, FOR INSTANCE, OUT OF PITY OR LOVE, AND IN HIS PLACE UTTERS WORDS CONCERNING HIM THAT HAVE NO CONNECTION WITH HIMSELF. AND IT WAS IN THIS WAY THAT OUR LORD APPROPRIATED BOTH OUR CURSE AND OUR DESERTION, AND SUCH OTHER THINGS AS ARE NOT NATURAL. NOT THAT HE HIMSELF WAS OR BECAME SUCH, BUT THAT HE TOOK UPON HIMSELF OUR PERSONALITY AND RANKED HIMSELF AS ONE OF US. SUCH IS THE MEANING IN WHICH THIS PHRASE IS TO BE TAKEN, BEING MADE A CURSE FOR OUR SAKES. CHAPTER 26 CONCERNING THE PASSION OF OUR LORD'S BODY AND THE IMPASSABILITY OF HIS DIVINITY THE WORD OF GOD THEN ITSELF ENDURED ALL IN THE FLESH, WHILE HIS DIVINE NATURE WHICH ALONE WAS PASSIONLESS REMAINED VOID OF PASSION. FOR SINCE THE ONE CHRIST WHO IS A COMPOUND OF DIVINITY AND HUMANITY AND EXISTS IN DIVINITY AND HUMANITY TRULY SUFFERED, THAT PART WHICH IS CAPABLE OF PASSION SUFFERED AS IT WAS NATURAL IT SHOULD, BUT THAT PART WHICH WAS VOID OF PASSION DID NOT SHARE IN THE SUFFERING. FOR THE SOUL, INDEED, SINCE IT IS CAPABLE OF PASSION, SHARES IN THE PAIN AND SUFFERING OF A BODILY CUT, THOUGH IT IS NOT CUT ITSELF, BUT ONLY THE BODY. BUT THE DIVINE PART WHICH IS VOID OF PASSION DOES NOT SHARE IN THE SUFFERING OF THE BODY. OBSERVE FURTHER THAT WE SAY THAT GOD SUFFERED IN THE FLESH, BUT NEVER THAT HIS DIVINITY SUFFERED IN THE FLESH, OR THAT GOD SUFFERED THROUGH THE FLESH. FOR IF, WHEN THE SUN IS SHINING UPON A TREE, THE AXE SHOULD CLEAVE THE TREE, AND NEVERTHELESS THE SUN REMAINS UNCLEFT AND VOID OF PASSION, MUCH MORE WILL THE PASSIONLESS DIVINITY OF THE WORD UNITED IN SUBSISTENCE TO THE FLESH REMAIN VOID OF PASSION WHEN THE BODY UNDERGOES PASSION. AND SHOULD ANYONE POUR WATER OVER FLAMING STEEL, IT IS THAT WHICH NATURALLY SUFFERS BY THE WATER, I MEAN THE FIRE, THAT IS QUENCHED, BUT THE STEEL REMAINS UNTOUCHED, FOR IT IS NOT THE NATURE OF STEEL TO BE DESTROYED BY WATER. MUCH MORE THEN, WHEN THE FLESH SUFFERED, DID HIS ONLY PASSIONLESS DIVINITY ESCAPE ALL PASSION, ALTHOUGH ABIDING INSEPARABLY FROM IT. FOR ONE MUST NOT TAKE THE EXAMPLES TOO ABSOLUTELY AND STRICTLY. INDEED, IN THE EXAMPLES, ONE MUST CONSIDER BOTH WHAT IS LIKE AND WHAT IS UNLIKE, OTHERWISE IT WOULD NOT BE AN EXAMPLE. FOR IF THEY WERE LIKE IN ALL RESPECTS, THEY WOULD BE IDENTITIES AND NOT EXAMPLES, AND ALL THE MORE SO IN DEALING WITH DIVINE MATTERS. FOR ONE CANNOT FIND AN EXAMPLE THAT IS LIKE IN ALL RESPECTS, WHETHER WE ARE DEALING WITH THEOLOGY OR THE DISPENSATION. CHAPTER 27 CONCERNING THE FACT THAT THE DIVINITY OF THE WORD REMAINED INSEPARABLE FROM THE SOUL AND BODY EVEN AT OUR LORD'S DEATH, AND THAT HIS SUBSISTANCE CONTINUED ON. SINCE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WAS WITHOUT SIN, FOR HE COMMITTED NO SIN, HE WHO TOOK AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD, NOR WAS THERE ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH. HE WAS NOT SUBJECT TO DEATH SINCE DEATH CAME INTO THE WORLD THROUGH SIN. HE DIES THEREFORE BECAUSE HE TOOK ON HIMSELF DEATH ON OUR BEHALF, AND HE MAKES HIMSELF AN OFFERING TO THE FATHER FOR OUR SAKES. FOR WE HAD SINNED AGAINST HIM, AND IT WAS MEET THAT HE SHOULD RECEIVE THE RANSOM FOR US, AND THAT WE SHOULD THUS BE DELIVERED FROM THE CONDEMNATION. GOD FORBID THAT THE BLOOD OF THE LORD SHOULD HAVE BEEN OFFERED TO THE TYRANT. WHEREFORE DEATH APPROACHES, AND SWALLOWING UP THE BODY AS A BAIT IS TRANSFIXED ON THE HOOK OF DIVINITY, AND AFTER TASTING OF A SINLESS AND LIFE-GIVING BODY, PERISHES, AND BRINGS UP AGAIN ALL WHOM OF OLD HE SWALLOWED UP. FOR JUST AS DARKNESS DISAPPEARS ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LIGHT, SO IS DEATH REPULSED BEFORE THE ASSAULT OF LIFE, AND BRINGS LIFE TO ALL, BUT DEATH TO THE DESTROYER. WHEREFORE, ALTHOUGH HE DIED AS MAN, AND HIS HOLY SPIRIT WAS SEVERED FROM HIS IMMACULATE BODY, YET HIS DIVINITY REMAINED INSEPARABLE FROM BOTH, I MEAN FROM HIS SOUL AND HIS BODY, AND SO EVEN THUS HIS ONE HYPOSTHESIS WAS NOT DIVIDED INTO TWO HYPOSTHESES. FOR BODY AND SOUL RECEIVED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE BEGINNING, THERE BEING IN THE SUBSISTANCE OF THE WORD. AND ALTHOUGH THEY WERE SEVERED FROM ONE ANOTHER BY DEATH, YET THEY CONTINUED, EACH OF THEM, HAVING THE ONE SUBSISTANCE OF THE WORD, SO THAT THE ONE SUBSISTANCE OF THE WORD IS ALIKE THE SUBSISTANCE OF THE WORD AND OF THE SOUL AND BODY. FOR AT NO TIME HAD EITHER SOUL OR BODY A SEPARATE SUBSISTANCE OF THEIR OWN, DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF THE WORD. AND THE SUBSISTANCE OF THE WORD IS FOREVER ONE AND AT NO TIME TWO, SO THAT THE SUBSISTANCE OF CHRIST IS ALWAYS ONE. FOR ALTHOUGH THE SOUL WAS SEPARATED FROM THE BODY TOPICALLY, YET HIPPOSTATICALLY THEY WERE UNITED THROUGH THE WORD. CHAPTER 28 CONCERNING CORRUPTION AND DESTRUCTION THE WORD CORRUPTION HAS TWO MEANINGS, FOR IT SIGNIFIES ALL THE HUMAN SUFFERINGS SUCH AS HUNGER, THIRST, WEARINESS, THE PIERCING WITH NAILS, DEATH, THAT IS THE SEPARATION OF SOUL AND BODY, AND SO FORTH. IN THIS SENSE WE SAY THAT OUR LORD'S BODY WAS SUBJECT TO CORRUPTION, FOR HE VOLUNTARILY ACCEPTED ALL THESE THINGS. BUT CORRUPTION ALSO MEANS THE COMPLETE RESOLUTION OF THE BODY INTO ITS CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS AND ITS UTTER DISAPPEARANCE, WHICH IS SPOKEN OF BY MANY PREFERABLY AS DESTRUCTION. THE BODY OF OUR LORD DID NOT EXPERIENCE THIS FORM OF CORRUPTION, AS THE PROPHET DAVID SAYS, FOR THOU WILT NOT LEAD MY SOUL IN HELL, NEITHER WILT THOU SUFFER THINE HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION. WHEREFORE, TO SAY WITH THAT FOOLISH JULIANUS AND GAIANUS THAT OUR LORD'S BODY WAS INCORRUPTABLE IN THE FIRST SENSE OF THE WORD BEFORE HIS RESURRECTION IS IMPIOUS, FOR IF IT WERE INCORRUPTABLE IT WAS NOT REALLY, BUT ONLY APPARENTLY OF THE SAME ESSENCE AS OURS, AND WHAT THE GOSPEL TELLS US HAPPENED, NAMELY, THE HUNGER, THE THIRST, THE NAILS, THE WOUND IN HIS SIDE, THE DEATH, DID NOT ACTUALLY OCCUR. BUT IF THEY ONLY APPARENTLY HAPPENED, THEN THE MYSTERY OF THE DISPENSATION IS AN IMPOSTURE AND A SHAM, AND HE BECAME MAN ONLY IN APPEARANCE AND NOT IN ACTUAL FACT, AND WE ARE SAVED ONLY IN APPEARANCE AND NOT IN ACTUAL FACT. BUT GOD FORBID, AND MAY THOSE WHO SO SAY HAVE NO PART IN THE SALVATION, BUT WE HAVE OBTAINED AND SHALL OBTAIN THE TRUE SALVATION. BUT IN THE SECOND MEANING OF THE WORD CORRUPTION, WE CONFESS THAT OUR LORD'S BODY IS INCORRUPTABLE, THAT IS, INDESTRUCTIBLE, FOR SUCH IS THE TRADITION OF THE INSPIRED FATHERS. INDEED, AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF OUR SAVIOR FROM THE DEAD, WE SAY THAT OUR LORD'S BODY IS INCORRUPTABLE EVEN IN THE FIRST SENSE OF THE WORD, FOR OUR LORD BY HIS OWN BODY BESTOWED THE GIFTS BOTH OF RESURRECTION AND OF SUBSEQUENT INCORRUPTION EVEN ON OUR OWN BODY, HE HIMSELF HAVING BECOME TO US THE FIRST FRUITS BOTH OF RESURRECTION AND INCORRUPTION, AND OF PASSIONLESSNESS. FOR AS THE DIVINE APOSTLE SAYS, THIS CORRUPTABLE MUST PUT ON INCORRUPTION. CHAPTER 29 CONCERNING THE DESCENT TO HADES. THE SOUL, WHEN IT WAS DEIFIED, DESCENDED INTO HADES, IN ORDER THAT JUST AS THE SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ROSE FOR THOSE UPON THE EARTH, SO LIKEWISE HE MIGHT BRING LIGHT TO THOSE WHO SIT UNDER THE EARTH IN DARKNESS AND SHADOW OF DEATH, IN ORDER THAT JUST AS HE BROUGHT THE MESSAGE OF PEACE TO THOSE UPON THE EARTH, AND OF RELEASE TO THE PRISONERS AND OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, AND BECAME TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE THE AUTHOR OF EVERLASTING SALVATION, AND TO THOSE WHO DID NOT BELIEVE A REPROACH OF THEIR UNBELIEF, SO HE MIGHT BECOME THE SAME TO THOSE IN HADES, THAT EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW TO HIM OF THINGS IN HEAVEN, AND THINGS IN EARTH, AND THINGS UNDER THE EARTH. AND THUS, AFTER HE HAD FREED THOSE WHO HAD BEEN BOUND FOR AGES, STRAIGHTWAY HE ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD, SHOWING US THE WAY OF RESURRECTION.