John Chrysostom, On the Letter to the Colossians

is work; for when it precisely glues together and joins those who are by themselves, it makes them firm. And faith again does the same thing, when it does not allow reasonings to enter in. For just as reasonings divide and shake, so faith strengthens and makes firm. For since God has benefited us with things greater than human reasoning, He has rightly introduced faith. For it is not possible for one who demands reasonings to be firm. For behold how all our sacred things are destitute of reasonings, and hold only to faith. God is nowhere, and He is everywhere. What is more irrational than this? Each in itself is full of perplexity. For He is not in a place, nor is there any place in which He is. He did not come into being, He did not make Himself, He did not begin to be. What reasoning will accept these things, if there is no faith? or does it not seem to be ridiculous, and more of an endless riddle? So then, His being without beginning and unbegotten and uncircumscribed and infinite, is thus perplexing; but let us see about the incorporeal, whether we might be able to examine it by reasoning. God is incorporeal. What is incorporeal? Only a bare word; for the concept has received nothing, nor has it impressed anything upon itself; for if it should form an image, it comes into nature, and the things that make up a body. So the mouth speaks, but the mind does not know what it says, except one thing only, that it is not a body; this alone it knows. And what do I say of God? For in the case of the soul, what is the incorporeal, of that which has come into being, which is enclosed, which is circumscribed? say, show me. But you cannot. Is it air? But air is a body, even if not solid, and it is clear from many things that it is a rarefied body. But fire? But fire is a body, but the energy. of the soul is incorporeal. Why? Because it extends everywhere. But if it itself is a body, the incorporeal is in a place; therefore it is also circumscribed; and that which is circumscribed has a shape, and shapes come from lines, and lines from bodies. Again, what concept does the unshaped have? It has no shape, no form, no type. Do you see how the mind reels? Again, that nature is not receptive of evils; but He is also voluntarily good; therefore it is receptive. But one cannot say so; God forbid. Again, was He brought into being willingly, or unwillingly? But one cannot say this either. Again, does He circumscribe the world, or not? For if He does not circumscribe it, He is Himself circumscribed; but if He does circumscribe it, He is infinite by nature. Again, does He circumscribe Himself? But if He circumscribes Himself, then He is not without beginning to Himself, but to us; therefore He is not without beginning by nature. Everywhere one must grant the opposites. Do you see how great the darkness is, and that faith is needed everywhere? This is what is firm. But, if you wish, let us come to lesser things than these. That substance has energy. And what is energy in His case? Is it some kind of motion? Therefore He is not unchanging; for that which is moved is not unchanging; for it is moved from a state of immobility. 62.336 But nevertheless He is moved, and never stands still. But what kind of motion, tell me? for among us there are seven kinds: downward, upward, inward, outward, rightward, leftward, and circular; or if not this, increase, decrease, generation, corruption, alteration. But He is moved by none of these, but by what sort of motion is the mind moved? But not this either; God forbid; for the mind is moved in many and strange ways. Is to will to energize? But He wills all men to be good and to be saved; how does it not happen? But is to will one thing, and to energize another? Therefore to will is not sufficient for energizing; how then does the Scripture say, Whatsoever He willed, He has done? and again the leper says to Christ: If you will, you can make me clean? Do you wish that I should say another thing? how did things that are come from things that are not? how are they resolved into nothing? what is above the heaven? and again what is beyond that? and what beyond that? and what after that? and this to infinity. What is beneath the earth? The sea; and after this what? and again after that what? But to the right, to the left, is not the same perplexity? 4. But these things are invisible. Do you wish that I should bring my argument to things that are seen? to things that have already happened? Tell me, how did the beast have Jonah in its belly,

ἔργον ἐστί· τοὺς γὰρ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ὄντας, ὅταν ἀκριβῶς συγκολλήσῃ καὶ συνάψῃ, στεῤῥοὺς ἐργάζεται. Καὶ ἡ πίστις πάλιν τὸ αὐτὸ ποιεῖ, ὅταν μὴ ἀφῇ λογισμοὺς ἐπεισελθεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ λογισμοὶ διαιροῦσι καὶ σαλεύουσι, οὕτως ἡ πίστις στερεοῖ καὶ παγῆναι ποιεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ μείζονα ἢ κατὰ ἀνθρώπινον λογισμὸν εὐηργέτησεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς, εἰκότως τὴν πίστιν ἐπεισήγαγεν. Οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ εἶναι στεῤῥὸν τὸν λογισμοὺς ἀπαιτοῦντα. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ τὰ σεμνὰ ἡμῶν πάντα πῶς ἔρημα λογισμῶν, καὶ πίστεως ἔχεται μόνης. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδαμοῦ ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ πανταχοῦ ἐστι. Τί τούτου ἀλογώτερον; Ἕκαστον καθ' ἑαυτὸ ἀπορίας γέμει. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἐν τόπῳ ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ τόπος ἐστί τις ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν. Οὐκ ἐγένετο, οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἐποίησεν, οὐκ ἤρξατο τοῦ εἶναι. Ποῖος ταῦτα λογισμὸς καταδέξεται, ἂν μὴ πίστις ᾖ; ἢ οὐχὶ κατάγελως εἶναι δοκεῖ, καὶ αἰνίγματος μᾶλλον οὐκ ἔχει τέλος; Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄναρχον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀγέννητον καὶ ἀπερίγραφον καὶ ἄπειρον, οὕτως ἄπορον· τὸ δὲ ἀσώματον ἴδωμεν, μήποτε λογισμῷ ἐξετάσαι δυνώμεθα. Ἀσώματός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός. Τί ἐστιν ἀσώματος; Ῥῆμα ψιλὸν μόνον· ἡ γὰρ ἔννοια οὐδὲν ἐδέξατο, οὐδὲ ἐνετύπωσεν ἑαυτῇ· κἂν γὰρ ἀνατυπώσῃ, εἰς φύσιν ἔρχεται, καὶ τὰ τοῦ σώματος ποιητικά. Ὥστε λέγει μὲν τὸ στόμα, οὐκ οἶδε δὲ ἡ διάνοια τί λέγει, ἢ ἓν μόνον, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι σῶμα· τοῦτο μόνον οἶδε. Καὶ τί λέγω ἐπὶ Θεοῦ; ἐπὶ γὰρ ψυχῆς τί ἐστι τὸ ἀσώματον, τῆς γενομένης, τῆς ἐγκεκλεισμένης, τῆς περιγραφομένης; εἰπὲ, δεῖξον. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις. Ἀήρ ἐστιν; Ἀλλ' ὁ ἀὴρ σῶμα, εἰ καὶ μὴ ναστὸν, καὶ πολλαχόθεν δῆλον ὅτι σῶμά ἐστι χαῦνον. Πῦρ δέ; Ἀλλὰ τὸ πῦρ σῶμά ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ ἐνέργεια. τῆς ψυχῆς ἀσώματον. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι πανταχοῦ διήκει. Εἰ δὲ αὐτὴ σῶμά ἐστιν, ἐν τόπῳ τὸ ἀσώματον· οὐκοῦν καὶ περιγράφεται· τὸ δὲ περιγραφόμενον, ἐν σχήματί ἐστι, τὰ δὲ σχήματα ἀπὸ γραμμῆς, αἱ δὲ γραμμαὶ σωμάτων. Πάλιν τὸ ἀσχημάτιστον ποίαν ἔννοιαν ἔχει; Οὐ σχῆμα ἔχει, οὐκ εἶδος, οὐ τύπον. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἰλιγγιᾷ ἡ διάνοια; Πάλιν ἄδεκτος ἡ φύσις κακῶν ἐκείνη· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑκών ἐστιν ἀγαθός· οὐκοῦν δεκτική. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν· μὴ γένοιτο. Πάλιν θέλων εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρήχθη, ἢ μὴ θέλων; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Πάλιν περιγράφει τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἢ οὔ; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ μὴ περιγράφει, αὐτὸς περιγράφεται· εἰ δὲ περιγράφει, ἄπειρός ἐστι τῇ φύσει. Πάλιν ἑαυτὸν περιγράφει; Ἀλλ' εἰ περιγράφει ἑαυτὸν, ἄρα οὐκ ἄναρχος ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλ' ἡμῖν· οὐκοῦν οὐ φύσει ἄναρχος. Πανταχοῦ τὰ ἐναντία δεῖ δοῦναι. Ὁρᾷς τὸν ζόφον ὅσος, καὶ ὅτι πανταχοῦ πίστεως δεῖ; Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ στεῤῥά. Ἀλλ', εἰ βούλεσθε, ἐπὶ τὰ τούτων ἐλάττω ἔλθωμεν. Ἔχει ἐνέργειαν ἐκείνη ἡ οὐσία. Καὶ τί ἐστιν ἐνέργεια ἐπ' αὐτοῦ; ἆρα κίνησίς τις; Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἄτρεπτος· τὸ γὰρ κινούμενον οὐκ ἄτρεπτον· ἐξ ἀκινησίας γὰρ κινεῖται. 62.336 Ἀλλ' ὅμως κινεῖται, καὶ οὐδέποτε ἵσταται. Ποίαν δὲ κίνησιν, εἰπέ μοι; παρὰ γὰρ ἡμῖν ἑπτά τινές εἰσιν, ἡ κάτω, ἡ ἄνω, ἡ ἐντὸς, ἡ ἐκτὸς, ἡ δεξιὰ, ἡ ἀριστερὰ, ἡ κυκλοφορικῶς· ἢ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο, αὔξησις, μείωσις, γένεσις, φθορὰ, ἀλλοίωσις. Ἀλλ' οὐδεμίαν τούτων κινεῖται, ἀλλ' οἵαν ὁ νοῦς κίνησιν κινεῖται; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο· μὴ γένοιτο· πολλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀτόπως ὁ νοῦς κινεῖται. Τὸ θέλειν ἐστὶ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν; πάντας δὲ ἀνθρώπους θέλει ἀγαθοὺς εἶναι καὶ σωθῆναι· πῶς οὐ γίνεται; Ἀλλ' ἕτερον τὸ θέλειν, ἄλλο δὲ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν; Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἀρκεῖ πρὸς ἐνέργειαν τὸ θέλειν· πῶς οὖν λέγει ἡ Γραφὴ, Πάντα, ὅσα ἠθέλησεν, ἐποίησε; καὶ πάλιν ὁ λεπρός φησι τῷ Χριστῷ· Ἐὰν θέλῃς, δύνασαί με καθαρίσαι; Βούλεσθε καὶ ἄλλο εἴπω; πῶς ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τὰ ὄντα γέγονε; πῶς εἰς τὸ μηδὲν ἀναλύεται; τί ἀνώτερον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ; κἀκείνου δὲ πάλιν τί; κἀκείνου τί; καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνο τί; καὶ τοῦτο ἐπ' ἄπειρον. Τί κατώτερον τῆς γῆς; θάλαττα· καὶ μετὰ ταύτην τί; καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνο πάλιν τί; Ἀλλ' εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ, εἰς τὰ ἀριστερὰ, οὐχ ἡ αὐτὴ ἀπορία; δʹ. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἀόρατα. Βούλεσθε ἐπὶ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἀγάγω τὸν λόγον; ἐπὶ τῶν ἤδη συμβάντων; Εἰπέ μοι, πῶς τὸ θηρίον τὸν Ἰωνᾶν εἶχε ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ,