Amphilochius of Iconium, On the Phrase "It Cannot Be"

But he simply commands him to carry the bed; for what he did in the case of the loaves, this he also does here. For just as there he commands the leftovers of the loaves to be carried, so also here, in order to make the miracle plain and to free the healing from Jewish suspicion and to show that he is not some deceiver, but a savior and a common physician of nature, he commands him to carry the bed. The Jews therefore said: It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to take up your pallet. But he answers: The one who made me well, that one said to me: take up your pallet and walk. They said therefore to him: And who is it? But the one who was healed did not know. When therefore they learned that it was Jesus who had made him well, they were persecuting him in order to kill him. What then does Christ do? He brings forward the Father, saying that My Father is working until now, and I am working. For just as, he says, my Father is not subject to limits, does not serve laws nor await commands, but by his own will does whatever he wishes, so I also by authentic authority work all things equally with the Father. But for this reason they sought all the more to kill him, because not only did he break the Sabbath, but also because he was calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God. But while they were raging and mad, what does Christ do? Amen I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing something; for whatever that one does, these things the Son also does likewise. Not because he creates some things, and I by imitation work others; for if this were so, there would have to be two heavens, two suns, two seas, two races of men and a double world, one of the Father, and one of mine. For it would be necessary that just as lines are prescribed for painters and letters for teachers, so the Father's creation would have been prescribed, which I worked in imitation of. If therefore it is not so, Lord, why do you say The Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing something? In order that I might quell the madness of the Jews who think that I legislate against the Father; for since they accuse me concerning the breaking of the Sabbath, I said that My Father is working until now, and I am working, wishing to show from both sides the equality of honor. But those utterly senseless ones, thinking that I was setting works against works and introducing a will against a will, were moved to envy; wherefore, correcting their opinion, I said The Son can do nothing of himself, unless he sees the Father doing something, instead of Why are you, untimely examiners of the Sabbath, angry with me, because I break the Sabbath? But I do not act in opposition to the Father, for it is not that he wishes to establish the Sabbath and I to break it; I do not fight against him, I do not stand in opposition to his will, it is not that he wills something, and I wish other things; what he wills, I will, what he wishes, I wish, what he does, I do. For in this way I do nothing, I will nothing, apart from him, because putting the statement into the form of an impossibility I say: Amen I say the Son can do nothing of himself; for I do not have a will separated and cut off from the Father. For since the nature is one, the will being one, it is necessary that the result be one. Therefore the Son can do nothing of himself, for he cannot do anything without the Father, having the whole of him in himself; for I am in the Father and the Father in me. For if the works of soul and body are indistinguishable on account of their union, although their nature is divided, the one being a mortal body, the other an immortal soul, how can my works and the Father's be distinguished? Where counsel and reason and knowledge and wisdom and nature and divinity are one, therefore the Son can do nothing of himself because he is not separated from the Father, unless he sees the Father doing something, that is, unless he sees the Father willing. For as having a will concurrent with the one and same nature I accomplish the things that come to be; for if I were completing a bodily work, it would be necessary for the construction of what is coming to be to be divided; but since it is a will that is sufficient for the things that are not

ἁπλῶς δὲ αὐτὸν τὴν κλίνην βαστάξαι κελεύει· ὅπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄρτων ἐποίησε, τοῦτο καὶ ὧδε ποιεῖ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖ λείψανα τῶν ἄρτων βασταγῆναι κελεύει, οὕτως καὶ ὧδε πρὸς τὸ τρανῶσαι τὸ θαῦμα καὶ Ἰουδαϊκῆς ὑπονοίας τὴν θεραπείαν ἐλευθερῶσαι καὶ δεῖξαι ὅτι οὐκ ἀπατεών τις ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ σωτὴρ καὶ κοινὸς τῆς φύσεως ἰατρός, κελεύει αὐτῷ βαστάξαι τὴν κλίνην. Εἶπον οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· Σάββατόν ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἆραι τὸν κράββατον. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκρίνεται· Ὁ ποιήσας με ὑγιῆ, ἐκεῖνός μοι εἶπεν· ἆρον τὸν κράββατόν σου καὶ περιπάτει. Εἶπον οὖν αὐτῷ· Καὶ τίς ἐστιν; Ὁ δὲ ἰαθεὶς οὐκ ᾔδει. Ὡς οὖν ἔμαθον ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ ποιήσαςαὐτὸν ὑγιῆ, ἐδίωκον ἵνα ἀποκτείνωσιν αὐτόν. Τί οὖν ὁ Χριστός; Τὸν πατέρα φέρει λέγων ὅτι Ὁ πατήρ μου ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται, κἀγὼ ἐργάζομαι. Ὥσπερ γάρ, φησίν, ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐμὸς οὐχ ὅροις ὑπόκει ται, οὐ νομοθεσίαις δουλεύει οὔτε προστάγματα ἀναμένει, οἰκείᾳ δὲ γνώμῃ ποιεῖ ἅπερ βούλεται, οὕτως κἀγὼ αὐθεντικῇ ἐξουσίᾳ πάντα ἐργάζομαι ἐπίσης τῷ πατρί. Οἱ δὲ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν ἐζήτουν μᾶλλον ἀποκτεῖναι, ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἔλυσε τὸ σάββατον, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ πατέρα ἴδιον ἔλεγε τὸν θεόν, ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ θεῷ. Ἀλλ' ἐκείνων λυττώντων καὶ μαινομένων τί ὁ Χριστός; Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν, ἐὰν μή τι βλέπῃ τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦντα· ἃ γὰρ ἂν ἐκεῖνος ποιῇ, ταῦτα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὁμοίως ποιεῖ. Οὐκ ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς μὲν ἄλλα κτίζει, ἐγὼ δὲ κατὰ μίμησιν ἕτερα ἐργάζο μαι· εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἦν, δύο οὐρανοὺς εἶναι ἐχρῆν, δύο ἡλίους, δύο θαλάσσας, δύο ἀνθρώπων γένη καὶ διπλοῦν κόσμον, τὸν μὲν τοῦ πατρός, τὸν δὲ ἐμόν. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν ζωγράφων αἱ γραμμαὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν διδασκάλων τὰ στοιχεῖα προστάσσονται, οὕτως τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς προστετάχθαι κτίσιν ἧς κατὰ μίμησιν εἰργασάμην ἐγώ. Εἰ οὖν οὐκ ἔχει οὕτως, δέσποτα, διὰ τί λέγεις Οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν, ἐὰν μή τι βλέπῃ τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦντα; Ἵνα τὴν Ἰουδαίων ὑπεκλύσω μανίαν τῶν νομιζόντων με ἀντινομοθετεῖν τῷ πατρί· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐγκαλοῦσί μοι περὶ τῆς λύσεως τοῦ σαββάτου, εἶπον ὅτι Ὁ πατήρ μου ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται, κἀγὼ ἐργάζομαι, ἑκατέρωθεν τὸ ὁμότιμον δεῖξαι θέλων. Ἀλλ' οἱ πάντα ἄφρονες νομίσαντές με ἔργα ἔργοις ἐπιτειχίζειν καὶ γνώμῃ γνώμην ἀντεισάγειν ἐκινοῦντο πρὸς φθόνον· ὅθεν διορθούμενος αὐτῶν τὴν γνώμην ἔλεγον Οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν, ἐὰν μή τι βλέπῃ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦντα ἀντὶ τοῦ Τί μοι οἱ ἄκαιροι τοῦ σαββάτου χολᾶτε ἐξετασταί, ὅτι λύω τὸ σάββατον; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀντιπολιτεύομαι τῷ πατρί, οὐ γὰρ αὐτὸς στῆσαι τὸ σάββατον θέλει κἀγὼ λῦσαι· οὐκ ἀπομάχομαι πρὸς αὐτόν, οὐ στασιάζω πρὸς τὴν γνώμην, οὐκ αὐτὸς θέλει, ἐγὼ δὲ ἕτερα βούλομαι· ἃ θέλει θέλω, ἃ βούλεται βούλομαι, ἃ ποιεῖ ποιῶ. Οὕτως γὰρ οὐδὲν ἐκτὸς αὐτοῦ οὐ ποιῶ, οὐ θέλω, ὅτι εἰς ἀδύνατον καθιστῶν τὸν λόγον λέγω· Ἀμὴν λέγω οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν· οὐ γὰρ ἔχω κεχωρισμένην καὶ ἀποτετμημένην τοῦ πατρὸς γνώμην. Μιᾶς γὰρ οὔσης τῆς φύσεως, ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ θελήματος, ἀνάγκη τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα ἓν ὑπάρχειν. Οὐ δύναται οὖν ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν, οὐ γὰρ δύναται ἄνευ τοῦ πατρὸς ποιῆσαί τι ὅλον αὐτὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχων· ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί. Εἰ γὰρ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἀδιάκριτα ἔργα διὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν, καίτοι διῃρημένης τῆς φύσεως, ἄλλο μὲν σῶμα θνητόν, ἄλλο δὲ ἀθάνατος ψυχή, πῶς δύναται ἐμοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς διακριθῆναι τὰ ἔργα; Ὅπου βουλὴ καὶ λόγος καὶ γνῶσις καὶ σοφία καὶ φύσις καὶ θεότης μία, οὐ δύναται οὖν ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδὲν διὰ τὸ μὴ κεχωρίσθαι τοῦ πατρός, ἐὰν μή τι βλέπῃ τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦντα, τουτέστιν ἐὰν μὴ τὸν πατέρα θέλοντα ἴδῃ. Ὡς μιᾶς γὰρ καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως σύνδρομον ἔχων τὸ θέλημα ἀποτελῶ τὰ γινόμενα· εἰ μὲν γὰρ σωματικὴν ἐξεπλήρουν τὴν ἐργασίαν, ἀνάγκη διανέμεσθαι τοῦ γινομένου τὴν κατασκευήν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ θέλησις ἐστὶν ἀρκοῦσα πρὸς τὴν τῶν μὴ