John of Damascus, Sacred parallels

to the one who formed it, Did you not form me? or the thing made to its maker, You did not make me wisely? Shall the clay say to the potter, What are you doing? Why do you not work, nor do you have hands? and shall not 95.1096 the thing formed answer back to the one who formed it? or who says to his father, 'What have you begotten?' And to his mother, 'What have you brought forth in labor?' To him who has not devised evil against the Lord, a choice grace of faith will be given. Do not justify yourself before the Lord. O man, who are you, indeed, to answer back to God? Shall the thing formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why have you made me like this?' Or does not the potter have authority over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? Let us not test the Lord, as some of them tested him and were destroyed by the serpents. Those who dare to speak against God say: Why in our constitution do we not have sinlessness, so that it is not possible for us to sin even if we wish? Because you too consider your servants well-disposed, not when you hold them in chains, but when you see them willingly fulfilling their duties to you. And what is dear to God is not what is compelled, but what is achieved through virtue. Virtue comes from choice, not from necessity. Therefore, he who blames the maker for not having naturally constituted us sinless does nothing other than prefer the irrational nature to the rational, and the motionless and impulse-less to that which has choice and action. Let no one, I beseech you, correct the Lord, nor let it be said that it is beneficial for this to happen to us, and not that other thing at all. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? for He judges in darkness, according to Job, and a cloud is His hiding place, and He will not be seen. He saw the remedies that urge us on from vice to virtue, and from ignorance to the knowledge of God. Curb your impulse, O man; put a bar and door on your tongue, leap away from such cold, idle talk. Leave it to God in all things both to know and to do whatever is fitting for Him.

Title 6. -Concerning angels; that even angels who have sinned are punished.

By a command he put to death the apostate dragon. God did not spare those who had sinned; but casting them down to hell with chains of darkness, delivered them to be kept for judgment to be punished. Angels who did not keep their own domain, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness for the judg 95.1097 ment of the great day. All angels, just as in their name, so also in their nature, are certainly of the same kind. The substance of the angels being most bright, or rather heavenly, not one definite species or one form is found among them; for they are not hard and resistant natures of bodies. Their legs were straight, and their feet were winged, the great Ezekiel said concerning the angels; which declares the unswervingness of their mind, and the swift motion of that nature toward its thoughts. We honor angels, not because of their nature, but because of their virtue; and we dishonor demons, because of their inherent wickedness. The substances of angels are spiritual; but they are often likened to the forms of men, being transformed according to the needs at hand.

TITLE 7. -Concerning angels; that God has appointed angels as guardians for us.

Behold, I send my angel before your face, to guard you on the way, that he may bring you into the land which I have prepared for you. Pay attention to yourself, and listen to him, and do not disobey him; for he will not withdraw from you. For my name is in him. He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven see the face of my Father who is in heaven. The Apostle, knowing the angels to be appointed as certain tutors or guardians for men, called them to witness. Indeed, guides of light for the saints

πλάσαντι, Οὐ σύ με ἔπλασας; ἢ τὸ ποίημα τῷ ποιήσαντι, Οὐ συνετῶς με ἐποίησας; Μὴ ἐρεῖ ὁ πηλὸς τῷ κεραμεῖ, Τί ποιεῖς; Τί οὐκ ἐργάσεις, οὐδὲ ἔχεις χεῖρας; καὶ μὴ ἀποκριθήσεται 95.1096 τὸ πλάσμα πρὸς τὸν πλάσαντα αὐτόν; ἢ ὁ λέγων τῷ πατρὶ, τί ἐγέννησε; καὶ τῇ μητρὶ, Τί ὠδίνεις; Ὁ μὴ ἐνθυμηθεὶς κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου πονηρὰ, δοθήσεται αὐτῷ τῆς πίστεως χάρις ἐκλεκτή. Μὴ δικαιοῦ ἐναντίον Κυρίου. Ὦ ἄνθρωπε, μενοῦν γε, σὺ τίς εἶ ὁ ἀνταποκρινόμενος τῷ Θεῷ; Μὴ ἐρεῖ τὸ πλάσμα τῷ πλάσαντι· Τί με ἐποίησας οὕτως; ἢ οὐκ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν ὁ κεραμεὺς τοῦ πηλοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ φυράματος ποιῆσαι, ὃ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν σκεῦος, ὃ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν; Μὴ πειράζωμεν τὸν Κύριον, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν ἐπείρασαν, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἀπώλοντο. Οἱ τολμῶντες Θεῷ ἀντιλέγειν, φασίν· ∆ιά τί ἐν τῇ κατασκευῇ τὸ ἀναμάρτητον οὐκ ἔχομεν, ὥστε οὐδὲ βουλομένοις ἡμῖν ὑπάρχειν τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν; Ὅτι καὶ σὺ τοὺς οἰκέτας, οὐχ ὅταν δεσμίους ἔχῃς, εὔνους ὑπολαμβάνεις, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἴδῃς ἑκουσίως ἀποπληροῦντάς σοι τὰ καθήκοντα. Καὶ Θεῷ φίλον, οὐ τὸ ἠναγκασμένον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐξ ἀρετῆς κατορθούμενον. Ἀρετὴ δὲ ἐκ προαιρέσεως, καὶ οὐκ ἀνάγκης γίνεται. Ὁ τοίνυν μεμφόμενος τὸν ποιητὴν, ὡς μὴ φυσικῶς κατασκευάσαντα ἡμᾶς ἀναμαρτήτους, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τὴν ἄλογον φύσιν τῆς λογικῆς προτιμᾷ, καὶ τὴν ἀκίνητον καὶ ἀνόρμητον τῆς προαιρετικῆς καὶ ἐμπράκτου. Μηδεὶς, παρακαλῶ, διορθούσθω τὸν Κύριον, μηδὲ λεγέσθω, ὅτι τοῦτο ἡμῖν ὠφελεῖ συμβῆναι, καὶ οὐκ ἐκεῖνο πάντως. Τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου; ἢ τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο; ἐν γνόφῳ γὰρ κρίνει, κατὰ τὸν Ἰὼβ, καὶ νεφέλη ἀποκρυφὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐχ ὁραθήσεται. Εἶδεν τὰ ἀπὸ κακίας ἐπὶ ἀρετὴν, καὶ ἀπὸ ἀγνωσίας εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν Θεοῦ προτρεπόμενα φάρμακα. Κάθες, ἄνθρωπε, τὴν ὁρμήν· ἐπίθες τῇ γλώττῃ μοχλὸν καὶ θύραν, ἀποπήδησον τῆς οὕτω ψυχρᾶς εἰκαιομυθίας Πάρες ἐπὶ πάντα Θεῷ τὸ καὶ εἰδέναι καὶ δρᾷν ἅπερ ἂν αὐτῷ πρέπει.

Τίτλ. ϛʹ. -Περὶ ἀγγέλων· ὅτι καὶ ἄγγελοι ἁμαρτήσαντες κολάζονται.

Προστάγματι ἐθανάτωσε δράκοντα ἀποστάτην. Ὁ Θεὸς ἁμαρτησάντων οὐκ ἐφείσατο· ἀλλὰ σειραῖς ζόφου ταρταρώσας, παρέδωκεν εἰς κρίσιν κολαζομένους τηρεῖσθαι. Ἀγγέλους τοὺς μὴ τηρήσαντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὴν, ἀλλὰ ἀπολιπόντας τὸ ἴδιον οἰκητήριον, εἰς κρί 95.1097 σιν μεγάλης ἡμέρας δεσμοῖς αἰωνίοις ὑπὸ ζόφον τετήρηκεν. Ἄγγελοι πάντες, ὥσπερ προσηγορίας, οὕτω καὶ φύσεως πάντως τῆς αὐτῆς τυγχάνουσι. Φανοτάτης οὔσης οὐσίας τῶν ἀγγέλων, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐρανίου, οὐκ ἀποτεταγμένον ἓν εἶδος, ἢ μία μορφὴ περὶ αὐτὰ εὑρίσκεται· οὐ γὰρ σκληραὶ καὶ ἀντίτυποι φύσεις σωμάτων εἰσίν. Ἦν τὰ σκέλη αὐτῶν ὀρθὰ, καὶ πτερωτοὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν, ὁ μέγας Ἰεζεκιὴλ περὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἔλεγεν· ὅπερ δηλοῖ τὸ ἀκλινὲς τῆς γνώμης, καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὰ νοήματα τῆς φύσεως ἐκείνης ὀξυκίνητον. Τιμῶμεν ἀγγέλους, οὐ διὰ τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν· καὶ δαίμονας ἀτιμάζομεν, διὰ τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν αὐτῶν κακίαν. Πνευματικαὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων οὐσίαι· εἰκάζονται δὲ πολλάκις ἀνθρώπων ἰδέαις, πρὸς τὰς ὑποκειμένας χρείας μεταμορφούμενοι.

ΤΙΤΛ. Ζʹ. -Περὶ ἀγγέλων· ὅτι ἀγγέλους φύλακας ἡμῖν ἐπέστησεν ὁ Θεός.

Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ἵνα φυλάξῃ σε ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ὅπως εἰσαγάγῃ σε εἰς τὴν γῆν ἣν ἡτοίμασά σοι. Πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ, καὶ εἰσάκουε αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἀπειθήσῃ αὐτῷ· οὐ γὰρ μὴ ὑποστελεῖταί σε. Τὸ γὰρ ὄνομά μού ἐστιν ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἔστησεν ὅρια ἐθνῶν κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων Θεοῦ. Ὁρᾶτε μὴ καταφρονήσητε ἑνὸς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Ὥσπερ παιδαγωγούς τινας ἢ παιδονόμους ἐπιτεταγμένους τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τοὺς ἀγγέλους εἰδὼς ὁ Ἀπόστολος, εἰς μαρτυρίαν ἐκάλεσε. Τοὺς μὲν ἁγίους φωταγωγοὶ