John of Damascus, The Fount of Knowledge III: On the Orthodox Faith

Man, then, was thus snared by the assault of the arch-fiend, and broke his Creator’s command, and was stripped of grace and put off his confidence with God, and covered himself with the asperities of a toilsome life (for this is the meaning of the fig-leaves519 Supr.c. 1; cf. Greg. Naz., Orat. 34. Greg. Naz., Orat. 38, 42; Dionys., De Eccl. Hier., ch. 4. Gen. iii. 7; cf. Greg. Naz., Orat. 38 and 42; Greg. Nyss., Orat. Catech. c. 8.); and was clothed about with death, that is, mortality and the grossness of flesh (for this is what the garment of skins signifies); and was banished from Paradise by God’s just judgment, and condemned to death, and made subject to corruption. Yet, notwithstanding all this, in His pity, God, Who gave him his being, and Who in His graciousness bestowed on him a life of happiness, did not disregard man520 Ps. xiv. 1 (E.V.). Text, παρεῖδεν. Variant, περιεῖδεν.. But He first trained him in many ways and called him back, by groans and trembling, by the deluge of water, and the utter destruction of almost the whole race521 The readings vary between ἀγνωσίας and ἀγνοίας. Gen. vi. 13., by confusion and diversity of tongues522 Greg. Naz., Orat. 34. Ibid. xi. 7., by the rule523 Reading προαίρεσιν; a variant is τροπήν. ἐπιστασία, care, or dominion. of angels524 Athan., Cont. Gent. Gen. xviii. 1 seqq., by the burning of cities525 Various reading, Who. Ibid. xix. 1seqq., by figurative manifestations of God, by wars and victories and defeats, by signs and wonders, by manifold faculties, by the law and the prophets: for by all these means God earnestly strove to emancipate man from the wide-spread and enslaving bonds of sin, which had made life such a mass of iniquity, and to effect man’s return to a life of happiness. For it was sin that brought death like a wild and savage beast into the world526 Greg. Naz., Orat. 34. Wisd. ii. 24. to the ruin of the human life. But it behoved the Redeemer to be without sin, and not made liable through sin to death, and further, that His nature should be strengthened and renewed, and trained by labour and taught the way of virtue which leads away from corruption to the life eternal and, in the end, is revealed the mighty ocean of love to man that is about Him527 The Greek is τῳ αὐτομάτῳ, to the automatic; perhaps = to the accidental, or, to chance. Greg. Naz., Orat. 12 and 38.. For the very Creator and Lord Himself undertakes a struggle528 Or, Whose was the disposing of them in order? Text, πάλην. Variant, πλάσιν, cf. “plasmationem” (Faber). in behalf of the work of His own hands, and learns by toil to become Master. And since the enemy snares man by the hope of Godhead, he himself is snared in turn by the screen of flesh, and so are shown at once the goodness and wisdom, the justice and might of God. God’s goodness is revealed in that He did not disregard529 Or, Whose are the preserving of them, and the keeping of them in accordance with the principles under which they were first placed? Text, παρείδε. Variant, περιεῖδεν. the frailty of His own handiwork, but was moved with compassion for him in his fall, and stretched forth His hand to him: and His justice in that when man was overcome He did not make another victorious over the tyrant, nor did He snatch man by might from death, but in His goodness and justice He made him, who had become through his sins the slave of death, himself once more conqueror and rescued like by like, most difficult though it seemed: and His wisdom is seen in His devising the most fitting solution of the difficulty530 παρα τὸ αὐτόματον; or, quite other than the spontaneous, or,than chance. Greg. Nyss., Orat. Cathec., ch. 20 et seqq.. For by the good pleasure of our God and Father, the Only-begotten Son and Word of God and God, Who is in the bosom of the God and Father531 Athan., De Incarn. Verbi, near the beginning. Greg. Naz., Orat. 34. St. John i. 18., of like essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Who was before the ages, Who is without beginning and was in the beginning, Who is in the presence of the God and Father, and is God and made in the form of God532 Phil. ii. 6., bent the heavens and descended to earth: that is to say, He humbled without humiliation His lofty station which yet could not be humbled, and condescends to His servants533 “Condescends to His servants” is absent in some mss., with a condescension ineffable and incomprehensible: (for that is what the descent signifies). And God being perfect becomes perfect man, and brings to perfection the newest of all new things534 Eccles. i. 10., the only new thing under the Sun, through which the boundless might of God is manifested. For what greater thing is there, than that God should become Man? And the Word became flesh without being changed, of the Holy Spirit, and Mary the holy and ever-virgin one, the mother of God. And He acts as mediator between God and man, He the only lover of man conceived in the Virgin’s chaste womb without will535 Greg. Nyss., Cat. ch. 16. or desire, or any connection with man or pleasurable generation, but through the Holy Spirit and the first offspring of Adam. And He becomes obedient to the Father Who is like unto us, and finds a remedy for our disobedience in what He had assumed from us, and became a pattern of obedience to us without which it is not possible to obtain salvation536 Athan., De salut. adv. Christi..

[Book III] Περὶ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας καὶ περὶ τῆς δι' ἡμᾶς κηδεμονίας καὶ τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας

Ταύτῃ τοίνυν τῇ προσβολῇ τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου δαίμονος δελεασθέντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὴν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ἐντολὴν οὐ φυλάξαντα καὶ γυμνωθέντα τῆς χάριτος καὶ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν παρρησίαν ἀπεκδυσάμενον καὶ σκεπασθέντα τῇ τοῦ μοχθηροῦ βίου τραχύτητι (τοῦτο γὰρ τὰ φύλλα τῆς συκῆς) καὶ περιβληθέντα τὴν νέκρωσιν ἤτοι τὴν θνητότητα καὶ παχύτητα τῆς σαρκός (τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ τῶν νεκρῶν δερμάτων ἀμφίασις) καὶ τοῦ παραδείσου κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοκρισίαν γεγονότα ἐξόριστον καὶ θανάτῳ κατάκριτον καὶ φθορᾷ ὑποχείριον οὐ παρεῖδεν ὁ συμπαθὴς ὁ τὸ εἶναι δοὺς καὶ τὸ εὖ εἶναι χαρισάμενος, ἀλλὰ πολλοῖς πρότερον παιδαγωγήσας καὶ πρὸς ἐπιστροφὴν καλέσας στόνῳ καὶ τρόμῳ, ὕδατος κατακλυσμῷ καὶ παντὸς τοῦ γένους μικροῦ δεῖν πανωλεθρίᾳ, συγχύσει καὶ διαιρέσει γλωσσῶν, ἀγγέλων ἐπιστασίᾳ, πόλεων ἐμπρησμῷ, τυπικαῖς θεοφανείαις, πολέμοις, νίκαις, ἥτταις, σημείοις καὶ τέρασι καὶ ποικίλαις δυνάμεσι, νόμῳ, προφήταις, δι' ὧν τὸ σπουδαζόμενον ἦν ἡ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσις πολυσχεδῶς χεθείσης καὶ καταδουλωσαμένης τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ πᾶν εἶδος κακίας ἐπισωρευσάσης τῷ βίῳ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸ εὖ εἶναι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπάνοδος. Ἐπειδὴ δι' ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν ὥσπερ τι θηρίον ἄγριον καὶ ἀνήμερον τὸν ἀνθρώπινον λυμαινόμενος βίον, ἔδει δὲ τὸν λυτροῦσθαι μέλλοντα ἀναμάρτητον εἶναι καὶ μὴ τῷ θανάτῳ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπεύθυνον, ἔτι δὲ νευρωθῆναι καὶ ἀνακαινισθῆναι τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἔργῳ παιδαγωγηθῆναι καὶ διδαχθῆναι ἀρετῆς ὁδὸν τῆς μὲν φθορᾶς ἀπάγουσαν, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ζωὴν ποδηγοῦσαν τὴν αἰώνιον: τέλος τὸ μέγα περὶ αὐτὸν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἐνδείκνυται πέλαγος: αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ δημιουργός τε καὶ κύριος τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ οἰκείου πλάσματος ἀναδέχεται πάλην καὶ ἔργῳ διδάσκαλος γίνεται: καὶ ἐπειδὴ θεότητος ἐλπίδι ὁ ἐχθρὸς δελεάζει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, σαρκὸς προβλήματι δελεάζεται καὶ δείκνυται ἅμα τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ σοφόν, τὸ δίκαιόν τε καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν τοῦ θεοῦ: τὸ μὲν ἀγαθόν, ὅτι οὐ παρεῖδε τοῦ οἰκείου πλάσματος τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ἀλλ' ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπ' αὐτῷ πεσόντι καὶ χεῖρα ὤρεξε: τὸ δίκαιον, ὅτι ἀνθρώπου ἡττηθέντος οὐχ ἕτερον ποιεῖ νικῆσαι τὸν τύραννον οὐδὲ βίᾳ ἐξαρπάζει τοῦ θανάτου τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ' ὃν πάλαι διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καταδουλοῦται ὁ θάνατος, τοῦτον ὁ ἀγαθὸς καὶ δίκαιος νικητὴν πάλιν πεποίηκε καὶ τῷ ὁμοίῳ τὸν ὅμοιον ἀνεσώσατο, ὅπερ ἄπορον ἦν: τὸ δὲ σοφόν, ὅτι εὗρε τοῦ ἀπόρου λύσιν εὐπρεπεστάτην: εὐδοκίᾳ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς καὶ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός, ὁ ὁμοούσιος τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, ὁ προαιώνιος, ὁ ἄναρχος, ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ πατέρα ὢν καὶ θεὸς ὤν, ὁ ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων κλίνας οὐρανοὺς κατέρχεται, τουτέστιν τὸ ἀταπείνωτον αὐτοῦ ὕψος ἀταπεινώτως ταπεινώσας συγκαταβαίνει τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ δούλοις συγκατάβασιν ἄφραστόν τε καὶ ἀκατάληπτον (τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ ἡ κατάβασις) καὶ θεὸς ὢν τέλειος ἄνθρωπος τέλειος γίνεται καὶ ἐπιτελεῖται τὸ πάντων καινῶν καινότατον, τὸ μόνον καινὸν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον, δι' οὗ ἡ ἄπειρος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐμφανίζεται δύναμις. Τί γὰρ μεῖζον τοῦ γενέσθαι τὸν θεὸν ἄνθρωπον; Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἀτρέπτως ἐγένετο ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς ἁγίας ἀειπαρθένου καὶ θεοτόκου καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων χρηματίζει ὁ μόνος φιλάνθρωπος, οὐκ ἐκ θελήματος ἢ ἐπιθυμίας ἢ συναφείας ἀνδρὸς ἢ γεννήσεως ἐνηδόνου ἐν τῇ ἀχράντῳ μήτρᾳ τῆς παρθένου συλληφθείς, ἀλλ' ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ τῆς πρώτης τοῦ Ἀδὰμ γενέσεως: καὶ γίνεται ὑπήκοος τῷ πατρὶ τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐξ ἡμῶν προσλήμματι τὴν ἡμετέραν παρακοὴν ἰώμενος καὶ ὑπογραμμὸς ἡμῖν ὑπακοῆς γινόμενος, ἧς ἐκτὸς οὐκ ἔστι σωτηρίας τυχεῖν.