Chapter XXIII.

What, then, was it likely that the master of the slave would choose to receive in his stead? It is possible in the way of inference to make a guess as to his wishes in the matter, if, that is, the manifest indications of what we are seeking for should come into our hands. He then, who, as we before stated in the beginning of this treatise, shut his eyes to the good in his envy of man in his happy condition, he who generated in himself the murky cloud of wickedness, he who suffered from the disease of the love of rule, that primary and fundamental cause of propension to the bad and the mother, so to speak, of all the wickedness that follows,—what would he accept in exchange for the thing which he held, but something, to be sure, higher and better, in the way of ransom, that thus, by receiving a gain in the exchange, he might foster the more his own special passion of pride? Now unquestionably in not one of those who had lived in history from the beginning of the world had he been conscious of any such circumstance as he observed to surround Him Who then manifested Himself, i.e. conception without carnal connection, birth without impurity, motherhood with virginity, voices of the unseen testifying from above to a transcendent worth, the healing of natural disease, without the use of means and of an extraordinary character, proceeding from Him by the mere utterance of a word and exercise of His will, the restoration of the dead to life, the absolution of the damned64    the absolution of the damned. These words, wanting in all others, Krabinger has restored from the Codex B. Morell translates “damnatorum absolutio.” The Greek is τὴν τῶν καταδίκων ἀνά& 207·ῥυσιν. “Hæc Origenem sapiunt, qui damnatorum pœnis finem statuit:” Krabinger. But here at all events it is not necessary to accuse Gregory of this, since he is clearly speaking only of Christ’s forgiveness of sins during His earthly ministry., the fear with which He inspired devils, His power over tempests, His walking through the sea, not by the waters separating on either side, and, as in the case of Moses’ miraculous power, making bare its depths for those who passed through, but by the surface of the water presenting solid ground for His feet, and by a firm and hard resistance supporting His steps; then, His disregard for food as long as it pleased Him to abstain, His abundant banquets in the wilderness wherewith many thousands were fully fed (though neither did the heavens pour down manna on them, nor was their need supplied by the earth producing corn for them in its natural way, but that instance of munificence65    φιλοτιμία came out of the ineffable store-houses of His Divine power), the bread ready in the hands of those who distributed it, as if they were actually reaping it, and becoming more, the more the eaters were filled; and then, the banquet on the fish; not that the sea supplied their need, but He Who had stocked the sea with its fish. But how is it possible to narrate in succession each one of the Gospel miracles? The Enemy, therefore, beholding in Him such power, saw also in Him an opportunity for an advance, in the exchange, upon the value of what he held. For this reason he chooses Him as a ransom66    he chooses Him as a ransom. This peculiar teaching of Gregory of Nyssa, that it was to the Devil, not God the Father, that the ransom, i.e. Christ’s blood, was paid, is shared by Origen, Ambrose, and Augustine. The latter says, “Sanguine Christi diabolus non ditatus est, sed ligatus,” i.e. bound by compact. On the other hand Gregory Naz. (tom. I. Orat. 42) and John Damascene (De Fid. Orthod. iii. c. 27) give the ransom to the Father. for those who were shut up in the prison of death. But it was out of his power to look on the unclouded aspect of God; he must see in Him some portion of that fleshly nature which through sin he had so long held in bondage. Therefore it was that the Deity was invested with the flesh, in order, that is, to secure that he, by looking upon something congenial and kindred to himself, might have no fears in approaching that supereminent power; and might yet by perceiving that power, showing as it did, yet only gradually, more and more splendour in the miracles, deem what was seen an object of desire rather than of fear. Thus, you see how goodness was conjoined with justice, and how wisdom was not divorced from them. For to have devised that the Divine power should have been containable in the envelopment of a body, to the end that the Dispensation in our behalf might not be thwarted through any fear inspired by the Deity actually appearing, affords a demonstration of all these qualities at once—goodness, wisdom, justice. His choosing to save man is a testimony of his goodness; His making the redemption of the captive a matter of exchange exhibits His justice, while the invention whereby He enabled the Enemy to apprehend that of which he was before incapable, is a manifestation of supreme wisdom.

[23] Τί τοίνυν εἰκὸς ἦν μᾶλλον τὸν κρατοῦντα λαβεῖν ἑλέσθαι; δυνατόν ἐστι δι' ἀκολούθου στοχασμόν τινα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν, εἰ τὰ πρόδηλα γένοιτο ἡμῖν τῶν ζητουμένων τεκμήρια. ὁ τοίνυν κατὰ τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ συγγράμματος προαποδοθέντα λόγον τῷ πρὸς τὸν εὐημεροῦντα φθόνῳ πρὸς μὲν τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπιμύσας, τὸν δὲ τῆς κακίας ζόφον ἐν ἑαυτῷ γεννήσας, ἀρχὴν δὲ τῆς πρὸς τὰ χείρω ῥοπῆς καὶ ὑπόθεσιν καὶ οἱονεὶ μητέρα τῆς λοιπῆς κακίας τὴν φιλαρχίαν νοσήσας, τίνος ἂν ἀντηλλάξατο τὸν κατεχόμενον, εἰ μὴ δηλαδὴ τοῦ ὑψηλοτέρου καὶ μείζονος ἀνταλλάγματος, ὡς ἂν μᾶλλον ἑαυτοῦ τὸ κατὰ τὸν τῦφον θρέψειεν πάθος, τὰ μείζω τῶν ἐλαττόνων διαμειβόμενος; ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀπ' αἰῶνος ἱστορουμένοις, ἐν οὐδενὶ συνεγνώκει τοιοῦτον οὐδέν, οἷα καθεώρα περὶ τὸν τότε φαινόμενον, κυοφορίαν ἀσυνδύαστον, καὶ γέννησιν ἄφθορον, καὶ θήλην ἐκ παρθενίας, καὶ ἄνωθεν ἐπιμαρτυρούσας τῷ ὑπερφυεῖ τῆς ἀξίας ἐκ τῶν ἀοράτων φωνάς, καὶ τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἀρρωστημάτων διόρθωσιν ἀπραγμάτευτόν τινα καὶ ψιλήν, ἐν ῥήματι μόνῳ καὶ ὁρμῇ τοῦ θελήματος παρ' αὐτοῦ γινομένην, τήν τε τῶν τεθνηκότων ἐπὶ τὸν βίον ἀνάλυσιν, καὶ τὴν τῶν καταδίκων ἀνάρρυσιν, καὶ τὸν κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων φόβον, καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν ἀέρα παθῶν τὴν ἐξουσίαν, καὶ τὴν διὰ θαλάσσης πορείαν, οὐ διαχωροῦντος ἐφ' ἑκάτερα τοῦ πελάγους, καὶ τὸν πυθμένα γυμνοῦντος τοῖς παροδεύουσι κατὰ τὴν ἐπὶ Μωσέως θαυματουργίαν, ἀλλ' ἄνω τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ ὕδατος ὑποχερσουμένης τῇ βάσει, καὶ διά τινος ἀσφαλοῦς ἀντιτυπίας ὑπερειδούσης τὸ ἴχνος, τήν τε τῆς τροφῆς ὑπεροψίαν ἐφ' ὅσον βούλοιτο, καὶ τὰς ἐν ἐρημίᾳ δαψιλεῖς ἑστιάσεις τῶν ἐν πολλαῖς χιλιάσιν εὐωχουμένων, οἷς οὔτε οὐρανὸς ἐπέρρει τὸ μάννα, οὔτε ἡ γῆ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτῆς φύσιν σιτοποιοῦσα τὴν χρείαν ἐπλήρου, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν ἀρρήτων ταμείων τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἡ φιλοτιμία προῄει, ἕτοιμος ἄρτος ταῖς χερσὶ τῶν διακονούντων ἐγγεωργούμενος καὶ διὰ τοῦ κόρου τῶν ἐσθιόντων πλείων γιγνόμενος, ἥ τε διὰ τῶν ἰχθύων ὀψοφαγία, οὐ θαλάσσης αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὴν χρείαν συνεισφερούσης, ἀλλὰ τοῦ καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ τὸ γένος τῶν ἰχθύων ἐγκατασπείραντος. καὶ πῶς ἄν τις τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν διεξίοι θαυμάτων; ταύτην τοίνυν τὴν δύναμιν καθορῶν, ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἐν ἐκείνῳ πλεῖον τοῦ κατεχομένου τὸ προκείμενον εἶδεν ἐν τῷ συναλλάγματι. τούτου χάριν αὐτὸν αἱρεῖται λύτρον τῶν ἐν τῇ τοῦ θανάτου φρουρᾷ καθειργμένων γενέσθαι. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἀμήχανον ἦν αὐτὸν γυμνῇ προσβλέψαι τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ φαντασίᾳ, μὴ σαρκός τινα μοῖραν ἐν αὐτῷ θεωρήσαντα, ἣν ἤδη διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας κεχείρωτο. διὰ τοῦτο περικαλύπτεται τῇ σαρκὶ ἡ θεότης, ὡς ἄν, πρὸς τὸ σύντροφόν τε καὶ συγγενὲς αὐτῷ βλέπων, μὴ πτοηθείη τὸν προσεγγισμὸν τῆς ὑπερεχούσης δυνάμεως: καὶ τὴν ἠρέμα διὰ τῶν θαυμάτων ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον διαλάμπουσαν δύναμιν κατανοήσας, ἐπιθυμητὸν μᾶλλον ἢ φοβερὸν τὸ φανὲν εἶναι νομίσῃ. ὁρᾷς ὅπως τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῷ δικαίῳ συνέζευκται καὶ τὸ σοφὸν τούτων οὐκ ἀποκέκριται. τὸ γὰρ διὰ τῆς τοῦ σώματος περιβολῆς χωρητὴν τὴν θείαν δύναμιν ἐπινοῆσαι γενέσθαι, ὡς ἂν ἡ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν οἰκονομία μὴ παραποδισθείη τῷ φόβῳ τῆς θεικῆς ἐπιφανείας, πάντων κατὰ ταὐτὸν τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει, τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, τοῦ σοφοῦ, τοῦ δικαίου. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἑλέσθαι σῶσαι τῆς ἀγαθότητός ἐστι μαρτυρία: τὸ δὲ συναλλαγματικὴν ποιήσασθαι τὴν τοῦ κρατουμένου λύτρωσιν τὸ δίκαιον δείκνυσι: τὸ δὲ χωρητὸν δι' ἐπινοίας ποιῆσαι τῷ ἐχθρῷ τὸ ἀχώρητον τῆς ἀνωτάτω σοφίας τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει.