John Chrysostom, On "My grace is sufficient for you"

In illud: Sufficit tibi gratia mea

On the text, "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness."

59.507

1. When God from the beginning fashioned this all-harmonious world, he wrought wonders upon wonders, not being a slave to the law of nature, but fashioning all things by the authority of his power. For instance: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Do you see the order and sequence? First the roof, and then the ground. For as I said, he was not a slave to the law of nature, nor to the order of art, but to the authority of power. The roof was standing, and the ground did not appear; for the power of the worker held all things together. Ask the heretic: Tell me, how was the roof made, when the ground was not laid beneath it? tell me the reasoning, tell me the manner. But you are silent, and you yield to faith for yourself.

What forgiveness are you worthy of, yielding worldly and earthly things to faith for yourself, but being meddlesome and over-curious about divine and heavenly things? He made the heaven and the earth; he made the earth a ground, and placed waters beneath it. Do you see the foundation of the building? Above, earth, and beneath, waters. And yet builders work otherwise; they drain the waters, and then they lay the foundation. But God placed the foundation upon the waters, so that you might marvel not at the power of the foundation, but at the 59.508 authority of the worker. But as I was saying, pay close attention; for I am touching upon the reasonings of philosophers. When he was making this all-harmonious world, he made all other things from a single substance. And if my argument is unclear, I will make it clearer, if you pay attention. He made all other things from a single substance, things above and things below (for that is a world, and this is a world; these are two worlds); but each of the things that came to be, therefore, is from a single substance. For instance: All things above are incorporeal, all things below are corporeal; things above are intelligible, things below are sensible; things above are invisible, things below are visible. All things below are corporeal: heaven, sun, moon, earth, sea, trees, plants, oxen, sheep, and horses; all are visible, all are sensible, all are corporeal, all are subject to touch and are seen by sight. All things above are invisible, intelligible: angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, powers, the Cherubim, the Seraphim. Neither are those visible, nor these invisible; neither are those corporeal, nor these incorporeal, but rather these are corporeal, and those are incorporeal; all things came to be from a single substance, both things below and things above; and the one from corporeal things, the other 59.509 from incorporeal things; the one corporeal, the other incorporeal. Man alone was made from a double substance, the better and the worse, of both soul and body; for the soul is invisible and intelligible; but the body is sensible and visible. For what reason, then, were these two worlds made from a single substance, with neither bodies above, nor incorporeal things below; while man alone is composed of the incorporeal and the corporeal? Hear the reason, and learn the wisdom of the worker. For since these were two worlds, distinct in substance, the one incorporeal, the other corporeal; the one invisible, the other visible; the one above intelligible, the other below sensible; so that the difference in the works might not introduce different creators, and so that it might not be said that one made the things above, and another the things below, he placed a twofold living being in the world to proclaim the creation of both things above and things below.

In illud: Sufficit tibi gratia mea

Εἰς τὸ, "Ἀρκεῖ σοι ἡ χάρις μου· ἡ γὰρ δύναμίς μου ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται."

59.507

αʹ. Ὅτε τὸν παναρμόνιον τουτονὶ κόσμον ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔπλαττεν ὁ Θεὸς, θαύματα ἐπὶ θαύμασιν εἰργάσατο, οὐ νόμῳ φύσεως δουλεύων, ἀλλ' ἐξουσίᾳ δυνάμεως πάντα τεκταινόμενος. Οἷόν τι λέγω· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Εἶδες τάξιν καὶ ἀκολουθίαν; Πρότερον τὸν ὄροφον, καὶ τότε τὸ ἔδαφος. Ὅπερ γὰρ εἶπον, οὐ νόμῳ φύσεως ἐδούλευεν, οὐδὲ τάξει τέχνης, ἀλλ' ἐξουσίᾳ δυνάμεως. Εἱστήκει ἡ στέγη, καὶ τὸ ἔδαφος οὐκ ἐφαίνετο· ἡ γὰρ δύναμις τοῦ ἐργαζομένου πάντα διεκράτει. Ἐρώτησον τὸν αἱρετικόν· Εἰπέ μοι, πῶς ἡ στέγη ἐγένετο, καὶ τὸ ἔδαφος οὐχ ὑπέκειτο; εἰπέ μοι τὸν λογισμὸν, εἰπέ μοι τὸν τρόπον. Ἀλλὰ σιγᾷς, καὶ πίστει σεαυτῷ παραχωρεῖς.

Ποίας ἄξιος εἶ συγγνώμης, τὰ μὲν κοσμικὰ καὶ ἐπίγεια τῇ πίστει σεαυτῷ παραχωρῶν, τὰ δὲ θεῖα καὶ ἐπουράνια περιεργαζόμενος καὶ πολυπραγμονῶν; Ἐποίησε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν· ἐποίησε τὴν γῆν ἔδαφος, καὶ ὕδατα αὐτῇ ὑπέθηκεν. Εἶδες θεμέλιον τοῦ οἰκοδομήματος; Ἄνωθεν γῆ, καὶ κάτωθεν ὕδατα. Καίτοι γε οἱ οἰκοδόμοι ἑτέρως ἐργάζονται· ἐξαντλοῦσι τὰ ὕδατα, καὶ τότε τὸν θεμέλιον καταβάλλονται. Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἐπάνω τῶν ὑδάτων ἔθηκε τὸν θεμέλιον, ἵνα μὴ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ θεμελίου, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐξ 59.508 ουσίαν τοῦ ἐργαζομένου θαυμάσῃς. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔλεγον, προσέχετε μετὰ ἀκριβείας· φιλοσόφων γὰρ ἅπτομαι λόγων. Ὅτε δὲ τὸν παναρμόνιον τουτονὶ κόσμον εἰργάζετο, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα ἀπὸ μοναδικῆς ἐποίησεν οὐσίας. Κἂν ἀσαφὴς ᾖ ὁ λόγος, ποιήσω αὐτὸν σαφέστερον, ἐὰν προσέχητε· Τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα ἀπὸ μοναδικῆς ἐποίησεν οὐσίας, τὰ ἄνω καὶ τὰ κάτω (καὶ γὰρ κόσμος ἐκεῖνος, καὶ κόσμος οὗτος· δύο οὗτοι κόσμοι)· ἀλλ' ἕκαστος τῶν γενομένων, ἀπὸ μοναδικῆς οὖν οὐσίας. Οἷόν τι λέγω· Τὰ ἄνω πάντα ἀσώματα, τὰ κάτω πάντα σώματα, τὰ ἄνω νοερὰ, τὰ κάτω αἰσθητά· τὰ ἄνω ἀόρατα, τὰ κάτω ὁρατά. Πάντα σώματα τὰ κάτω, καὶ οὐρανὸς, καὶ ἥλιος, καὶ σελήνη, καὶ γῆ, καὶ θάλαττα, καὶ δένδρα, καὶ φυτὰ, καὶ βόες, καὶ πρόβατα, καὶ ἵπποι· πάντα ὁρώμενα, πάντα αἰσθητὰ, πάντα σώματα, πάντα ἁφῇ ὑποβαλλόμενα, καὶ ὄψει ὁρώμενα. Τὰ ἄνω πάντα ἀόρατα, νοερὰ, ἄγγελοι, ἀρχάγγελοι, θρόνοι, κυριότητες, ἀρχαὶ, ἐξουσίαι, δυνάμεις, τὰ Χερουβὶμ, τὰ Σεραφίμ. Οὔτε ἐκεῖνα ὁρατὰ, οὔτε ταῦτα ἀόρατα· οὔτε ἐκεῖνα σώματα, οὔτε ταῦτα ἀσώματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα σώματα, καὶ ἐκεῖνα ἀσώματα· πάντα ἐκ μοναδικῆς ἐγένετο οὐσίας, καὶ τὰ κάτω, καὶ τὰ ἄνω· καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ σωμάτων, τὰ δὲ 59.509 ἐξ ἀσωμάτων, τὰ μὲν σώματα, τὰ δὲ ἀσώματα. Μόνος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ διπλῆς ἐγένετο οὐσίας, τῆς μὲν βελτίονος, τῆς δὲ χείρονος, ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος· ἡ μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἀόρατος καὶ νοερὰ, ἡ ψυχή· τὸ δὲ σῶμα αἰσθητὸν καὶ ὁρατόν. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν οἱ μὲν δύο κόσμοι οὗτοι ἀπὸ μοναδικῆς ἐγένοντο οὐσίας, καὶ οὔτε ἄνω σώματα, οὔτε κάτω ἀσώματα· ἄνθρωπος δὲ μόνος ἀπὸ ἀσωμάτου καὶ σώματος συνέστηκεν; Ἀκούσατε τὴν αἰτίαν, καὶ μάθετε τοῦ ἐργαζομένου τὴν σοφίαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δύο κόσμοι ἦσαν οὗτοι τῇ οὐσίᾳ διεστηκότες, ὁ μὲν ἀσώματος, ὁ δὲ ἐνσώματος· ὁ μὲν ἀόρατος, ὁ δὲ ὁρατός· ὁ μὲν νοερὸς ὁ ἄνω, ὁ δὲ αἰσθητὸς ὁ κάτω· ἵνα μὴ ἡ διαφορὰ τῶν ἔργων διαφόρους δημιουργοὺς εἰσαγάγῃ, καὶ μὴ λέγηται, ὅτι ἄλλος τὰ ἄνω ἐποίησε, καὶ ἄλλος τὰ κάτω, διπλοῦν ζῶον ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἔθηκεν ἀνακηρύττειν καὶ τῶν ἄνω καὶ τῶν κάτω τὴν δημιουργίαν.