17 - Book IV Chapters 14-17

Section 17 of The Orthodox Faith by John of Damascus. Translated by S. D. F. Salmond. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Book Four, Chapter Fourteen, Concerning Our Lord's Genealogy, and Concerning the Holy Mother of God. Concerning the holy and much lauded Ever-Virgin One, Mary, the Mother of God, we have said something in the preceding chapters, bringing forward what was most opportune, namely, that strictly and truly, she is and is called the Mother of God. Now, let us fill up the blanks. For she being preordained by the eternal prescient counsel of God, and imaged forth and proclaimed in diverse images and discourses of the prophets through the Holy Spirit, sprang at the predetermined time from the root of David, according to the promises that were made to him. For the Lord hath sworn, he saith in truth to David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. And again, once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. And Isaiah says, and there shall come out a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. But that Joseph is descended from the tribe of David is expressly demonstrated by Matthew and Luke, the most holy evangelists. But Matthew derives Joseph from David through Solomon, while Luke does so through Nathan, while over the Holy Virgin's origin both pass in silence. One ought to remember that it was not the custom of the Hebrews, nor of the divine scripture to give genealogies of women. And the law was to prevent one tribe seeking wives from another. And so, since Joseph was descended from the tribe of David and was a just man, for this the divine gospel testifies, he would not have espoused the Holy Virgin contrary to the law. He would not have taken her unless she had been of the same tribe. It was sufficient, therefore, to demonstrate the descent of Joseph. One ought also to observe this, that the law was that when a man died without seed, this man's brother should take to the wife of the dead man and raise up seed to his brother. The offspring, therefore, belonged by nature to the second, that is to him that begat it, but by law to the dead. Born then of the line of Nathan, the son of David, Levi begat Malki and Panther. Panther begat Bar-Panther, so called. This Bar-Panther begat Joachim. Joachim begat the Holy Mother of God. And of the line of Solomon, the son of David, Mathan had a wife of whom he begat Jacob. Now, on the death of Mathan, Malki of the tribe of Nathan, the son of Levi and the brother of Panther, married the wife of Mathan, Jacob's mother, of whom he begat Heli. Therefore Jacob and Heli became brothers on the mother's side, Jacob being of the tribe of Solomon and Heli of the tribe of Nathan. Then Heli of the tribe of Nathan died childless, and Jacob, his brother of the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and raised up seed to his brother and begat Joseph. Joseph, therefore, is by nature the son of Jacob of the line of Solomon, but by law he is the son of Heli of the line of Nathan. Joachim then took to wife that revered and praised worthy woman, Anna. But just as the earlier Anna, who was barren, bore Samuel by prayer and by promise, so also this Anna, by supplication and promise from God, bear the mother of God, in order that she might not even in this be behind the matrons of fame. Accordingly, it was grace, for this is the interpretation of Anna, that bore the lady, for she became truly the lady of all created things in becoming the mother of the creator. Further, Joachim was born in the house of the Probotica and was brought up to the temple. Then, planted in the house of God and increased by the spirit like a fruitful olive tree, she became the home of every virtue, turning her mind away from every secular and carnal desire and thus keeping her soul as well as her body virginal, as was meet for her who was to receive God into her bosom. For as he is holy, he finds rest among the holy. Thus, therefore, she strove after holiness and was declared a holy and wonderful temple fit for the Most High God. Moreover, since the enemy of our salvation was keeping a watchful eye on virgins, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, who said, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us, in order that he who taketh the wise in their own craftiness may deceive him who always glorieth in his wisdom. The maiden is given in marriage to Joseph by the priests. A new book to him who is versed in letters. But the marriage was both the protection of the virgin and the delusion of him who was keeping a watchful eye on virgins. For when the fullness of time was come, the messenger of the Lord was sent to her with the good news of our Lord's conception. And thus she conceived the Son of God, the hypostatic power of the Father, not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, that is to say by connection and seed, but by the good pleasure of the Father and cooperation of the Holy Spirit. She ministered to the creator in that he was created, to the fashioner in that he was fashioned, and to the Son of God and God in that he was made flesh and became man from her pure and immaculate flesh and blood, satisfying the debt of the first mother. For just as the latter was formed from Adam without connection, so also did the former bring forth the new Adam, who was brought forth in accordance with the laws of parturition and above the nature of generation. For he who was of the father yet without mother was born of woman without a father's cooperation. And so far as he was born of woman, his birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition, while so far as he had no father, his birth was above the nature of generation. And in that it was at the usual time, for he was born on the completion of the ninth month when the tenth was just beginning, his birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition, while in that it was painless, it was above the laws of generation. For as pleasure did not precede it, pain did not follow it, according to the prophet who says, Before she travailed, she brought forth. And again, before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. The son of God incarnate, therefore, was born of her, not a divinely inspired man, but God incarnate, not a prophet anointed with energy, but by the presence of the anointing one in his completeness, so that the anointer became man and the anointed God, not by a change of nature, but by union in subsistence. For the anointer and the anointed were one and the same, anointing in the capacity of God himself as man. Must there not therefore be a mother of God who bore God incarnate? Assuredly, she who played the part of the creator's servant and mother is in all strictness and truth, in reality, God's mother and lady and queen over all created things. But just as he who was conceived kept her who conceived still virgin, in like manner also he who was born preserved her virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her closed. The conception indeed was through the sense of hearing, but the birth through the usual path by which children come, although some tell tales of his birth through the side of the mother of God. For it was not impossible for him to have come by this gate without injuring her seal in any way. The ever virgin one thus remains even after the birth still virgin, having never at any time up till death consorted with a man. For although it is written, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, yet note that he who is first begotten is firstborn even if he is only begotten. For the word firstborn means that he was born first, but does not at all suggest the birth of others. And the word till signifies the limit of the appointed time, but does not exclude the time thereafter. For the Lord says, and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world, not meaning thereby that he will be separated from us after the completion of the age. The divine apostle indeed says, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, meaning after the general resurrection. For could it be possible that she who had borne God, and from experience of subsequent events had come to know the miracle, should receive the embrace of man? God forbid. It is not the part of a chaste mind to think such thoughts, far less to commit such acts. But this blessed woman, who was deemed worthy of gifts that are supernatural, suffered those pains which she escaped at the birth in the hour of the passion, enduring from motherly sympathy the rending of the bowels. And when she beheld him whom she knew to be God by the manner of his generation, killed as a malefactor, her thoughts pierced her as a sword. And this is the meaning of this verse, yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul also. But the joy of the resurrection transforms the pain, proclaiming him who died in the flesh to be God. Chapter 15 Concerning the Honor Due to the Saints and Their Remains To the saints honor must be paid as friends of Christ, as sons and heirs of God, in the words of John the theologian and evangelist. As many as received him, to them gave he the power to become sons of God, so that they are no longer servants but sons, and if sons also heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. And the Lord in his holy gospels says to his apostles, Ye are my friends, henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. And further, if the Creator and Lord of all things is called also King of kings and Lord of lords, and God of gods, surely also the saints are gods and lords and kings. For of these God is and is called God and Lord and King. For I am the God of Abraham, he says to Moses, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And God made Moses a god to Pharaoh. Now I mean gods and kings and lords, not in nature, but as rulers and masters of their passions, as preserving a truthful likeness to the divine image according to which they were made, for the image of a king is also called king. And as being united to God of their own free will, and receiving him as an indweller, and becoming by grace through participation with him what he is himself by nature. Surely then the worshipers and friends and sons of God are to be held in honor, for the honor shown to the most thoughtful of fellow servants is a proof of good feelings towards the common master. These are made treasuries and pure habitations of God. For I will dwell in them, said God, and walk in them, and will be their God. The divine scripture likewise saith that the souls of the just are in God's hand, and death cannot lay hold of them, for death is rather the sleep of the saints than their death. For they travailed in this life and shall to the end, and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. What then is more precious than to be in the hand of God? For God is life and light, and those who are in God's hands are in life and light. Further, that God dwelt even in their bodies in spiritual wise, the apostle tells us, saying, Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you? And the Lord is that spirit. And if anyone destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy. Surely then we must ascribe honor to the living temples of God, the living tabernacles of God. These, while they lived, stood with confidence before God. The Master Christ made the remains of the saints to be foundations of salvation to us, pouring forth manifold blessings, and abounding in oil of sweet fragrance. And let no one disbelieve this. For if water bursts in the desert from the steep and solid rock at God's will, and from the jawbone of an ass to quench Samson's thirst, is it incredible that fragrant oil should burst forth from the martyr's remains? By no means, at least to those who know the power of God and the honor which he accords his saints. In the law, everyone who toucheth a dead body was considered impure. But these are not dead. For from the time when he that is himself life and author of life was reckoned among the dead, we do not call those dead who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and in faith of him. For how could a dead body work miracles? How, therefore, are demons driven off by them, diseases dispelled, sick persons made well, the blind restored to sight, lepers purified, temptations and troubles overcome? And how does every good gift from the Father of Lights come down through them to those who pray with sure faith? How much labor would you not undergo to find a patron to introduce you to a mortal king and speak to him on your behalf? Are not those, then, worthy of honor, who are the patrons of the whole race and make intercession to God for us? Yea, verily, we ought to give honor to them by raising temples to God in their name, bringing them fruit offerings, honoring their memories, and taking spiritual delight in them, in order that the joy of those who call on us may be ours, that in our attempts at worship we may not, on the contrary, cause them offense. For those who worship God will take pleasure in those things whereby God is worshipped, while his shield-bearers will be wroth at those things wherewith God is wroth. In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, in contrition and in pity for the needy, let us believers worship the saints, as God also is most worshipped in such ways. Let us raise monuments to them and visible images, and let us ourselves become, through imitation of their virtues, living monuments and images of them. Let us give honor to her who bore God as being strictly and truly the mother of God. Let us honor also the prophet John as forerunner and Baptist, as apostle and martyr. For among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, as saith the Lord, and he became the first to proclaim the kingdom. Let us honor the apostles as the Lord's brothers, who saw him face to face and ministered to his passion. For whom God the Father did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. First, apostles, second, prophets, third, pastors and teachers. Let us also honor the martyrs of the Lord chosen out of every class as soldiers of Christ who have drunk his cup and were then baptized with the baptism of his life-bringing death to be partakers of his passion and glory, of whom the leader is Stephen, first deacon of Christ and apostle and first martyr. Let us also honor our holy fathers, the God-possessed ascetics, whose struggle was the longer and more toilsome one of the conscience, who wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, of whom the world was not worthy. Let us honor those who were prophets before grace, the patriarchs and just men who foretold the Lord's coming. Let us carefully review the life of these men and let us emulate their faith and love and hope and zeal and way of life and endurance of sufferings and patience even to blood. In order that we may be sharers with them in their crowns of glory. Chapter 16 Concerning Images But since some find fault with us for worshiping and honoring the image of our Savior and that of our Lady, and those too of the rest of the saints and servants of Christ, let them remember that in the beginning God created man after his own image. On what grounds, then, do we show reverence to each other unless because we are made after God's image? For as Basel, that much-versed expounder of divine things, says, the honor given to the image passes over to the prototype. Now a prototype is that which is imaged, from which the derivative is obtained. Why was it that the Mosaic people honored on all hands the tabernacle which bore an image and type of heavenly things, or rather of the whole creation? God indeed said to Moses, Look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount. The cherub too which overshadowed the mercy seat, are they not the work of men's hands? What further is the celebrated temple at Jerusalem? Is it not handmade and fashioned by the skill of men? Moreover, the divine scripture blames those who worship graven images, but also those who sacrifice to demons. The Greeks sacrificed, and the Jews also sacrificed, but the Greeks to demons, and the Jews to God. And the sacrifice of the Greeks was rejected and condemned, but the sacrifice of the just was very acceptable to God. For Noah sacrificed, and God smelled a sweet savor, receiving the fragrance of the right choice and goodwill towards him. And so the graven images of the Greeks, since they were images of deities, were rejected and forbidden. But besides this, who can make an imitation of the invisible, incorporeal, uncircumscribed, formless God? Therefore, to give form to the deity is the height of folly and impiety, and hence it is that in the Old Testament the use of images was not common. But after God in his bowels of pity became in truth man for our salvation, not as he was seen by Abraham in the semblance of man, nor as he was seen by the prophets, but in being truly man, and after he lived upon the earth and dwelt among men, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, rose again, and was taken back to heaven, since all these things actually took place and were seen by men, they were written for the remembrance and instruction of us who were not alive at that time, in order that, though we saw not, we may still, hearing and believing, obtain the blessing of the Lord. But seeing that not everyone has a knowledge of letters, nor time for reading, the fathers gave their sanction to depicting these events on images as being acts of great heroism, in order that they should form a concise memorial of them. Often, doubtless, when we have not the Lord's passion in mind and see the image of Christ's crucifixion, his saving passion is brought back to remembrance, and we fall down and worship not the material, but that which is imaged, just as we do not worship the material of which the Gospels are made, nor the material of the cross, but that which these typify. For wherein does the cross that typifies the Lord differ from a cross that does not do so? It is just the same, also, in the case of the mother of the Lord. For the honor which we give to her is referred to him who was made of her incarnate. And similarly, also, the brave acts of holy men stir us up to be brave and to emulate and imitate their valor and to glorify God. For as we said, the honor that is given to the best of fellow servants is a proof of goodwill towards our common lady, and the honor rendered to the image passes over to the prototype. But this is an unwritten tradition, just as is also the worshiping towards the East and the worship of the cross, and very many other similar things. A certain tale, too, is told, how that when Agaris, the king over the city of the Edessenes, was sent a portrait painter to paint a likeness of the Lord, and when the painter could not paint because of the brightness that shone from his countenance, the Lord himself put a garment over his own divine and life-giving face and pressed on it an image of himself and sent this to Agaris to satisfy thus his desire. Moreover, that the apostles handed down much that was unwritten, Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, tells us in these words, Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught of us, whether by word or by epistle. And to the Corinthians he writes, Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I have delivered them to you. CHAPTER XVII CONCERNING SCRIPTURE It is one and the same God whom both the Old and the New Testaments proclaim, who is praised and glorified in the Trinity. I am come, saith the Lord, not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. For he himself worked out our salvation for which all scripture and all mystery exists. And again, search the scriptures, for they are they that testify of me. And the apostle says, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. Through the Holy Spirit, therefore, both the law and the prophets, the evangelists and apostles and pastors and teachers, spake. All scripture, then, is given by inspiration of God, and is also assuredly profitable. Wherefore, to search the scriptures is a work most fair and most profitable for souls. For just as the tree planted by the channels of water, so also the soul watered by the divine scriptures is enriched and gives fruit in its season, namely, orthodox belief, and is adorned with evergreen leafage, I mean, actions pleasing to God. For through the holy scriptures we are trained to action that is pleasing to God, and untroubled contemplation, for in these we find both exhortation to every virtue and dissuasion from every vice. If, therefore, we are lovers of learning, we shall also be learned in many things. For by care and toil and the grace of God the giver, all things are accomplished. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Wherefore, let us knock at that very fair garden of the scriptures, so fragrant and sweet and blooming, with its varied sounds of spiritual and divinely inspired birds, ringing all round our ears, laying hold of our hearts, comforting the mourner, pacifying the angry, and filling him with joy everlasting, which sets our mind on the gold gleaming, brilliant back of the divine dove, whose bright pinions bear up to the only begotten son and heir of the husbandman of that spiritual vineyard, and brings us through him to the father of lights. But let us not knock carelessly, but rather zealously and constantly, lest knocking we grow weary, for thus it will be opened to us. If we read once or twice and do not understand what we read, let us not grow weary, but let us persist, let us talk much, let us inquire. For, ask thy father, he saith, and he will show thee, thy elders, and they will tell thee, for there is not in every man that knowledge. Let us draw of the fountain of the garden, perennial and purest waters, springing into life eternal. Let us luxuriate, let us revel in satiate, for the scriptures possess inexhaustible grace. But if we are able to pluck anything profitable from outside sources, there is nothing to forbid that. Let us become tried money dealers, heaping up the true and pure gold, and discarding the spurious. Let us keep the fairest sayings, but let us throw to the dogs absurd gods and strange myths, for we might prevail most mightily against them through themselves. Observe further that there are two and twenty books of the Old Testament, one for each letter of the Hebrew tongue. For there are twenty-two letters of which five are double, and so they come to be twenty-seven. For the letters kaf, mem, nun, pey, tzadah are double, and thus the number of the books in this way is twenty-two, but is found to be twenty-seven because of the double character of five. For Ruth is joined to Judges, and the Hebrews count them one book. The first and second book of Kings are counted one, and so are the third and fourth book of Kings, and also the first and second of Paralapomena, and the first and second of Ezra. In this way, then, the books are collected together in four Pentateuchs, and two others remaining over, to form thus the canonical books. Five of them are of the law, namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. This which is the code of the law constitutes the first Pentateuch. Then comes another Pentateuch, the so-called Grafeia, or, as they are called by some, the Hagiographa, which are the following. Jesus, the son of Neb, Judges, along with Ruth, first and second Kings, which are one book, third and fourth Kings, which are one book, and the two books of the Paralapomena, which are one book. This is the second Pentateuch. The third Pentateuch is the books in verse, namely Job, Psalms, Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes of Solomon, and the Song of Songs of Solomon. The fourth Pentateuch is the prophetical books, namely the twelve prophets constituting one book, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Then come the two books of Ezra, made into one, and Esther. There are also the Poneretus, that is, the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus, which was published in Hebrew by the father of Sirai, and afterwards translated into Greek by his grandson, Jesus, the son of Sirach. These are virtuous and noble, but are not counted, nor were they placed in the Ark. The New Testament contains four Gospels, that according to Matthew, that according to Mark, that according to Luke, that according to John. The Acts of the Holy Apostles by Luke the Evangelist, Seven Catholic Epistles, namely one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude. Fourteen Letters of the Apostle Paul. The Revelation of John the Evangelist. The Canons of the Holy Apostles by Clement.