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METHODIUS
[Translated by the Rev. William R. Clark, M.A., Vicar of St. Mary Magdalen,
Taunton.]
FRAGMENTS
ON THE HISTORY OF JONAH.
FROM THE BOOK ON THE RESURRECTION.(1)
I. THE history of Jonah(2) contains a great mystery. For it seems that
the whale signifies Time, which never stands still, but is always going on,
and consumes the things which are made by long and shorter intervals. But
Jonah, who fled from the presence of God, is himself the first man who,
having transgressed the law, fled from being seen naked of immortality,
having lost through sin his confidence in the Deity. And the ship in which
he embarked, and which was tempest-tossed, is this brief and hard life in
the present time; just as though we had turned and removed from that
blessed and secure life, to that which was most tempestuous and unstable,
as from solid land to a ship. For what a ship is to the land, that our
present life is to that which is immortal. And the storm and the tempests
which beat against us are the temptations of this life, which in the world,
as in a tempestuous sea, do not permit us to have a fair voyage free from
pain, in a calm sea, and one which is free from evils. And the casting of
Jonah from the ship into the sea, signifies the fall of the first man from
life to death, who received that sentence because, through having sinned,
he fell from righteousness: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return."(3) And his being swallowed by the whale signifies our inevitable
removal by time. For the belly in which Jonah, when he was swallowed, was
concealed, is the all-receiving earth, which receives all things which are
consumed by time.
II. As, then, Jonah spent three days and as many nights in the whale's
belly, and was delivered up sound again, so shall we all, who have passed
through the three stages of our present life on earth--I mean the
beginning, the middle, and the end, of which all this present time con-
sists--rise again. For there are altogether three intervals of time, the
past, the future, and the present. And for this reason the Lord spent so
many days in the earth symbolically, thereby teaching clearly that when the
fore-mentioned intervals of time have been fulfilled, then shall come oar
resurrection, which is the beginning of the future age, and the end of
this. For in that age(4) there is neither past nor future, but only the
present. Moreover, Jonah having spent three days and three nights in the
belly of the whale, was not destroyed by his flesh being dissolved, as is
the case with that natural decomposition which takes place in the belly, in
the case of those meats which enter into it, on account of the greater heat
in the liquids, that it might be shown that these bodies of ours may remain
undestroyed. For consider that God had images of Himself made as of gold,
that is of a purer spiritual substance, as the angels; and others of clay
or brass, as ourselves. He united the soul which was made in the image of
God to that which was earthy. As, then, we must here honour all the images
of a king, on account of the form which is in them, so also it is
incredible that we who are the images of God should be altogether destroyed
as being without honour. Whence also the Word descended into our world, and
was incarnate of our body, in order that, having fashioned it to a more
divine image, He might raise it incorrupt, although it had been dissolved
by time. And, indeed, when we trace out the dispensation which was
figuratively set forth by the prophet, we shall find the whole discourse
visibly extending to this.
EXTRACTS FROM THE WORK ON THINGS CREATED.(1)
I. This selection is made, by way of compendium or synopsis, from the
work of the holy martyr and bishop Methodius, concerning things created.
The passage, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye
your pearls before swine,"(2) is explained by Origen as signifying that the
pearls are the more mystical teachings of our God-given religion, and the
swine those who roll in impiety and in all kinds of pleasures, as swine do
in mud; for he said that it was taught by these words of Christ not to cast
about the divine teachings, inasmuch as they could not bear them who were
held by impiety and brutal pleasures. The great Methodius says: If we must
understand by pearls the glorious and divine teachings, and by swine those
who are given up to impiety and pleasures, from whom are to be withheld and
hidden the apostle's teachings, which stir men up to piety and faith in
Christ, see how you say that no Christians can be converted from their
impiety by the teachings of the apostles. For they would never cast the
mysteries of Christ to those who, through want: of faith, are like swine.
Either, therefore, these: things were cast before all the Greeks and other
unbelievers, and were preached by the disciples of Christ, and converted
them from impiety to the faith of Christ, as we believers certainly
confess, and then the words, "Cast not your pearls before swine," can no
longer mean what has been said; or meaning this, we must say that faith in
Christ and deliverance from impiety have been accorded to none of the
unbelievers, whom we compare to swine, by the apostolic instructions
enlightening their souls like pearls. But this is blasphemous. Therefore
the pearls in this place are not to be taken to mean the deepest doctrines,
and the swine the impious; nor are we to understand the words, "Cast not
your pearls before swine," as forbidding us to cast before the impious and
unbelieving the deep and sanctifying doctrines of faith in Christ; but we
must take the pearls to mean virtues, with which the soul is adorned as
with precious pearls; and not to cast them before swine, as meaning that
we are not to cast these virtues, such as chastity, temperance,
righteousness, and truth, that we are not to cast these to impure
pleasures, for these are like swine, lest they, fleeing from the virtues,
cause the soul to live a swinish and a vicious life.
II. Origen says that what he calls the Centaur is the universe which is
co-eternal with the only wise and independent God. For he says, since there
is no workman without some work, or maker without something made, so
neither is there an Almighty without an object of His power. For the
workman must be so called from his work, and the maker from what he makes,
and the Almighty Ruler from that which He rules over. And so it must be,
that these things were made by God from the beginning, and that there was
no time in which they did not exist. For if there was a time when the
things that are made did not exist, then, as there were no things which had
been made, so there was no maker; which you see to be an impious
conclusion. And it will result that the unchangeable and unaltered God has
altered and changed. For if He made the universe later, it is clear that He
passed from not making to making. But this is absurd in connection with
what has been said. It is impossible, therefore, to say that the universe
is not unbeginning and co-eternal with God. To whom the saint replies, in
the person of another, asking, "Do you not consider God the beginning and
fountain of wisdom and glory, and in short of all virtue in substance and
not by acquisition?" "Certainly," he says. "And what besides? Is He not by
Himself perfect and independent?" "True; for it is impossible that he who
is independent should have his independence from another. For we must say,
that all which is full by another is also imperfect. For it is the thing
which has its completeness of itself, and in itself alone, which can alone
be considered perfect." "You say most truly. For would you pronounce that
which is neither by itself complete, nor its own completeness, to be
independent?" "By no means For that which is perfect through anything else
must needs be in itself imperfect." "Well, then shall God be considered
perfect by Himself, and not by some other?" "Most rightly." "Then God is
something different from the world, and the world from God? "Quite so."
"We must not then say that God is perfect, and Creator, and Almighty,
through the world?" "No; for He must surely by Himself, and not by the
world, and that changeable, be found perfect by Himself. "Quite so." "But
you will say that the rich man is called rich on account of his riches? And
that the wise man is called wise not as being wisdom itself, but as being a
possessor of substantial wisdom?" "Yes." "Well, then, since God is
something different from the world, shall He be called on account of the
world rich, and beneficent, and Creator? "By no means. Away with such a
thought!" Well, then, He is His own riches, and is by Himself rich and
powerful." "So it seems." "He was then before the world altogether
independent, being Father, and Almighty, and Creator; so that He by
Himself, and not by another, was this." "It must be so." "Yes; for if He
were acknowledged to be Almighty on account of the world, and not of
Himself, being distinct from the world,--may God forgive the words, which
the necessity of the argument requires,--He would by Himself be imperfect
and have need of these things, through which He is marvellously Almighty
and Creator. We must not then admit this pestilent sin of those who say
concerning God, that He is. Almighty and Creator by the things which He
controls and creates, which are changeable, and l that He is not so by
Himself.
III. Now consider it thus: "If, you say, the world was created later,
not existing before, then we must change the passionless and unchangeable
God; for it must needs be, that he who did nothing before, but afterwards,
passes from not doing to doing, changes and is altered." Then I said, "Did
God rest from making the world, or not?" "He rested." "Because otherwise it
would not have been completed." True." "If, then, the act of making, after
not making, makes an alteration in God, does not His ceasing to make after
making the same?" "Of necessity." "But should you say that He is altered
as not doing to-day, from what He was, when He was doing? "By no means.
There is no necessity for His being changed, when He makes the world from
what He was when He was not making it; and neither is there any necessity
for saying that the universe must have co-existed with Him, on account of
our not being forced to say that He has changed, nor that the universe is
co-eternal with Him."
IV. But speak to me thus: "Should you call that a thing created which
had no beginning of its creation?" "Not at all." "But if there is no
beginning of its creation, it is of necessity uncreated. But if it was
created, you will grant that it was created by some cause. For it is
altogether impossible that it should have a beginning without a cause." "It
is impossible." "Shall we say, then, that the world and the things which
are in it, having come into existence and formerly not existing, are from
any other cause than God?" "It is plain that they are from God." "Yes; for
it is impossible that that which is limited by an existence which has a
beginning should be co-existent with the infinite." "It is impossible."
"But again, O Centaur, let us consider it from the beginning. Do you say
that the things which exist were created by Divine knowledge or not?" "Oh,
begone, they will say; not at all." "Well, but was it from the elements, or
from matter, or the firmaments, or however yon choose to name them, for it
makes no difference; these things existing beforehand uncreated and borne
along in a state of chaos; did God separate them and reduce them all to
order, as a good painter who forms one picture out of many colours?" "No,
nor yet this." For they will quite avoid making a concession against
themselves, lest agreeing that there was a beginning of the separation and
transformation of matter, they should be forced in consistency to say, that
in all things God began the ordering and adorning of matter which hitherto
had been without form.
V. But come now, since by the favour of God we have arrived at this
point in our discourse; let us suppose a beautiful statue standing upon
its base; and that those who behold it, admiring its harmonious beauty,
differ among themselves, some trying to make out that it had been made,
others that it had not. I should ask them: For what reason do you say that
it was not made? on account of the artist, because he must be considered as
never resting from his work? or on account of the statue itself? If it is
on account of the artist, how could it, as not being made, be fashioned by
the artist? But if, when it is moulded of brass, it has all that is needed
in order that it may receive whatever impression the artist chooses, how
can that be said not to be made which submits to and receives his labour?
If, again, the statue is declared to be by itself perfect and not made, and
to have no need of art, then we must allow, in accordance with that
pernicious heresy, that it is self-made. If perhaps they are unwilling to
admit this argument, and reply more inconsistently, that they do not say
that the figure was not made, but that it was always made, so that there
was no beginning of its being made, so that artist might be said to have
this subject of his art without any beginning.Well then, my friends, we
will say to them, if no time, nor any age before can be found in the past,
when the statue was not perfect, will you tell us what the artist
contributed to it, or wrought upon it? For if this statue has need of
nothing, and has no beginning of existence, for this reason, according to
you, a maker never made it, nor will any maker be found. And so the
argument seems to come again to the same conclusion, and we must allow that
it is self-made. For if all artificer is said to have moved a statue ever
so slightly, he will submit to a beginning, when he began to move and adorn
that which was before unadorned and unmoved. But the world neither was nor
will be for ever the same. Now we must compare the artificer to God, and
the statue to the world. But how then, O foolish men, can you imagine the
creation to be co-eternaI with its Artificer, and to have no need of an
artificer? For it is of necessity that tim co-eternal should never have had
a beginning of being, and should be equally uncreated and powerful with
Him. But the uncreated appears to be in itself perfect and unchangeable,
and it will have need of nothing, and be free from corruption. And if this
be so, the world can no longer be, as you say it is, capable of change.
VI. He says that the Church(1) is so called from being called out(2)
with respect to pleasures.
VII. The saint says: We said there are two kinds of formative power in
what we have now acknowledged; the one which works by itself what it
chooses, not out of things which already exist, by its bare will, without
delay, as soon as it wills. This is the power of the Father. The other
which adorns and embellishes, by imitation of the former, the things which
already exist. This is the power of the Son, the almighty and powerful hand
of the Father, by which, after creating matter not out of things which were
already in existence, He adorns it.
VIII. The saint says that the Book of Job is by Moses. He says,
concerning the words, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the l
earth,"(3) that one will not err who says that the "Beginning" is Wisdom.
For Wisdom is said by one of the Divine band to speak in this manner
concerning herself: "The Lord created me the beginning of His ways for His
works: of old He laid my formulation."(4) It was fitting and more seemly
that all things which came into existence, should be more recent than
Wisdom, since they existed through her. Now consider whether the saying:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. The same was in the beginning with God;"(5)__ whether these statements
be not in agreement with those. For we must say that the Beginning, out of
which the most upright Word came forth, is the Father and Maker of all
things, in whom it was. And the words, "The same was in the beginning with
God," seem to indicate the position of authority of the Word, which He had
with the Father before the world came into existence; "beginning"
signifying His power. And so, after the peculiar unbeginning beginning, who
is the Father, He is the beginning of other things, by whom all things are
made.
IX. He says that Origen, after having fabled many things concerning the
eternity of the universe, adds this also: Nor yet from Adam, as some say,
did man, previously not existing, first take his existence and come into
the world. Nor again did the world begin to be made six days before the
creation of Adam. But if any one should prefer to differ in these points,
let him first say, whether a period of time be not easily reckoned from the
creation of the world, according to the Book of Moses, to those who so
receive it, the voice of prophecy here proclaiming: "Thou art God from
everlasting, and world without end. . . . For a thousand years in Thy sight
are but as yesterday: seeing that is past as a watch in the night."(6) For
when a thousand years are reckoned as one day in the sight of God, and from
the creation of the world to His rest is six days, so also to our time, six
days are defined, as those say who are clever arithmeticians. Therefore,
they say that an age of six thousand years extends from Adam to our time.
For they say that the judgment will come on the seventh day, that is in the
seventh thousand years. Therefore, all the days from our time to that which
was in the beginning, in which God created the heaven and the earth, are
computed to be thirteen days; before which God, because he had as yet
created nothing according to their folly, is stripped of His name of Father
and Almighty. But if there are thirteen days in the sight of God from the
creation of the world, how can Wisdom say, in the Book of the Son of
Sirach: "Who can number the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the
days of eternity ?"(7) This is what Origen says seriously, and mark how he
trifles.
FROM THE WORKS OF METHODIUS AGAINST PORPHYRY.
I.(1)
This, in truth, must be called most excellent and praiseworthy, which
God Himself considers excellent, even if it be despised and scoffed at by
all. For things are not what men think them to be.
II.(2)
Then repentance effaces every sin, when there is no delay after the
fall of the soul, and the disease is not suffered to go on through a long
interval. For then evil will not have power to leave its mark in us, when
it is drawn up at the moment of its being set down like a plant newly
planted.
III.(3)
In truth, our evil comes out of our want of resemblance to God, and our
ignorance of Him; and, on the other hand, our great good consists in our
resemblance to Him. And, therefore, our conversion and faith in the Being
who is incorruptible and divine, seems to be truly our proper good, and
ignorance and disregard of Him our evil; if, at least, those things which
are produced in us and of us, being the evil effects of sin, are to be
considered ours.
FROM HIS DISCOURSE CONCERNING MARTYRS.(1)
For martyrdom is so admirable and desirable, that the Lord, the Son of
God Himself, honouring it, testified, "He thought it not robbery to be
equal with God," that might honour man to whom He descended with this gift.
THREE FRAGMENTS FROM THE HOMILY ON THE CROSS AND PASSION OF CHRIST.
I. (1)
METHODIUS, Bishop, to those who say: What doth it profit us that the
Son of God was crucified upon earth, and made man? And wherefore did He
endure to suffer in the manner of the cross, and not by some other
punishment? And what was the advantage of the cross?
Christ, the Son of God, by the command of the Father, became conversant
with the visible creature, in order that, by overturning the dominion of
the tyrants, the demons, that is, He might deliver our souls from their
dreadful bondage, by reason of which our whole nature, intoxicated by the
draughts of iniquity, had become full of tumult and disorder, and could by
no means return to the remembrance of good and useful things. Wherefore,
also, it was the more easily carried away to idols, inasmuch as evil had
overwhelmed it entirely, and had spread over all generations, on account of
the change which had come over our fleshy tabernacles in consequence of
disobedience; until Christ, the Lord, by the flesh in which He lived and
appeared, weakened the force of Pleasure's onslaughts, by means of which
the infernal powers that were in arms against us reduced our minds to
slavery, and freed mankind from all their evils. For with this end the Lord
Jesus both wore our flesh, and became man, and by the divine dispensation
was nailed to the cross; in order that by the flesh in which the demons had
proudly and falsely feigned themselves gods, having carried our souls
captive unto death by deceitful wiles, even by this they might be
overturned, and discovered to be no gods. For he prevented their arrogance
from raising itself higher, by becoming man; in order that by the body in
which the race possessed of reason had become estranged from the worship of
the true God, and had suffered injury, even by the same receiving into
itself in an ineffable manner the Word of Wisdom, the enemy might be
discovered to be the destroyers and not the benefactors of our souls. For
it had not been wonderful if Christ, by the terror of His divinity, and the
greatness of His invincible power, had reduced to weakness the adverse
nature of the demons. But since this was to cause them greater grief and
torment, for they would have preferred to be overcome by one stronger than
themselves, therefore it was that by a man He procured the safety of the
race; in order that men, after that very Life and Truth had entered into
them in bodily form, might be able to return to the form and light of the
Word, overcoming the power of the enticements of sin; and that the demons,
being conquered by one weaker than they, and thus brought into contempt,
might desist from their over-bold confidence, their hellish wrath being
repressed. It was for this mainly that the cross was brought in, being
erected as a trophy against iniquity, and a deterrent from it, that
henceforth man might be no longer subject to wrath, after that he had made
up for the defeat which, by his disobedience, be had received, and had
lawfully conquered the infernal powers, and by the gift of God had been set
free from every debt. Since, therefore, the first-born Word of God thus
fortified the manhood in which He tabernacled with the armour of
righteousness, He overcame, as has been said, the powers that enslaved us
by the figure of the cross, and showed forth man, who had been oppressed by
corruption, as by a tyrant power, to be free, with unfettered hands. For
the cross, if you wish to define it, is the confirmation of the victory,
the way by which God to man descended, the trophy against material spirits,
the repulsion of death, the foundation of the ascent to the true day; and
the ladder for those who are hastening to enjoy the light that is there,
the engine by which those who are fitted for the edifice of the Church are
raised up from below, like a stone four square, to be compacted on to the
divine Word. Hence it is that our kings, perceiving that the figure of the
cross is used for the dissipating of every evil, have made vexillas, as
they are called in the Latin language. Hence the sea, yielding to this
figure, makes itself navigable to men. For every creature, so to speak,
has, for the sake of liberty, been marked with this sign; for the birds
which fly aloft, form the figure of the cross by the expansion of their
wings; and man himself, also, with his hands outstretched, represents the
same. Hence, when the Lord had fashioned him in this form, in which He had
from the beginning flamed him, He joined on his body to the Deity, in order
that it might be henceforth an instrument consecrated to God, freed from
all discord and want of harmony. For man cannot, after that he has been
formed for the worship of God, and hath sung, as it were, the incorruptible
song of truth, and by this hath been made capable of holding the Deity,
being fitted to the lyre of life as the chords and strings, he cannot, I
say, return to discord and corruption.
II.(1) THE SAME METHODIUS TO THOSE WHO ARE ASHAMED OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
Some think that God also, whom they measure with the measure of their
own feelings, judges the same thing that wicked and foolish men judge to be
subjects of praise and blame, and that He uses the opinions of men as His
rule and measure, not taking into account the fact that, by reason of the
ignorance that is in them, every creature falls short of the beauty of God.
For He draws all things to life by His Word, from their universal substance
and nature. For whether He would have good, He Himself is the Very Good,
and remains in Himself; or, whether the beautiful is pleasing to Him, since
He Himself is the Only Beautiful, He beholds Himself, holding in no
estimation the things which move the admiration of men. That, verily, is to
be accounted as in reality the most beautiful and praiseworthy, which God
Himself esteems to be beautiful, even though it be contemned and despised
by all else--not that which men fancy to be beautiful. Whence it is, that
although by this figure He hath willed to deliver the soul from corrupt
affections, to the signal putting to shame of the demons, we ought to
receive it, and not to speak evil of it, as being that which was given us
to deliver us, and set us free from the chains which for our disobedience
we incurred. For the Word suffered, being in the flesh affixed to the
cross, that He might bring man, who had been deceived by error, to His
supreme and godlike majesty, restoring him to that divine life from which
he had become alienated. By this figure, in truth, the passions are
blunted; the passion of the passions having taken place by the Passion, and
the death of death by the death of Christ, He not having been subdued by
death, nor overcome by the pains of the Passion. For neither did the
Passion cast Him down from His equanimity, nor did death hurt Him, but He
was in the passible remaining impassible, and in the mortal remaining
immortal, comprehending all that the air, and this middle state, and the
heaven above contained, and attempering the mortal to the immortal
divinity. Death was vanquished entirely; the flesh being crucified to draw
forth its immortality.
III.(2) THE SAME METHODIUS: HOW CHRIST THE SON OF GOD, IN A BRIEF AND
DEFINITE TIME, BEING ENCLOSED BY THE BODY, AND EXISTING IMPASSIBLE, BECAME
OBNOXIOUS TO THE PASSION.
For since this virtue was in Him, now it is of the essence of power to
be contracted in a small space, and to be diminished, and again to be
expanded in a large space, and to be increased. But if it is possible for
Him to be with the larger extended, and to be made equal, and yet not with
the smaller to be contracted and diminished, then power is not in Him. For
if you say that this is possible to power, and that impossible, you deny it
to be power; as being infirm and incapable with regard to the things which
it cannot do. Nor again, further, will it ever contain any excellence of
divinity with respect to those things which suffer change. For both man and
the other animals, with respect to those things which they can effect,
energise; but with respect to those things which they cannot perform, are
weak, and fade away. Wherefore for this cause the Son of God was in the
manhood enclosed, because this was not impossible to Him. For with power He
suffered, remaining impassible; and He died, bestowing the gift of
immortality upon mortals. Since the body, when struck or cut by a body, is
just so far struck or cut as the striker strikes it, or he that cuts it cut
it. For according to the rebound of the thing struck, the blow reflects
upon the striker, since it is necessary that the two must suffer equally,
both the agent and the sufferer. If, in truth, that which is cut, from its
small size, does not correspond to that which cuts it, it will not be able
to cut it at all. For if the subject body does not resist the blow of the
sword, but rather yields to it, the operation will be void of effect, even
as one sees in the thin and subtle bodies of fire and air; for in such
cases the impetus of the more solid bodies is relaxed, and remains without
effect. But if fire, or air, or stone, or iron, or anything which men use
against themselves for the purposes of mutual destruction--if it is not
possible to pierce or divide these, because of the subtle nature which they
possess, why should not rather Wisdom remain invulnerable and impassible,
in nothing injured by anything, even though it were conjoined to the body
which was pierced and transfixed with nails, inasmuch as it is purer and
more excellent than any other nature, if you except only that of God who
begat Him?
SOME OTHER FRAGMENTS OF THE SAME METHODIUS.
I.(1)
BUT, perhaps, since the friends of Job imagined, that they understood
the reason why he suffered such things, that just man, using a long speech
to them, confesses that the wisdom of the divine judgment is
incomprehensible, not only to him, but also to every man, and declares that
this earthly region is not the fitting place for understanding the
knowledge of the divine counsels. One might say, that perfect and absolute
piety--a thing plainly divine, and of God alone given to man, is in this
place called wisdom. But the sense of the words is as follows: God, he
says, hath given great things unto men, sowing, as it were, in their nature
the power of discovery, together with wisdom, and the faculty of art. And
men having received this, dig metals out of the earth, and cultivate it;
but that wisdom which is conjoined with piety, it is not possible in any
place to discover. Man cannot obtain it from his own resources, nor can he
give it unto others. Hence it was that the wise men of the Greeks, who in
their own strength sought to search out piety, and the worship of the
Deity, did not attain their end. For it is a thing, as we have said, which
exceeds human strength, the gift and the grace of God; and therefore from
the beginning, partly by visions, partly by the intervention of angels,
partly by the discourses of the divinely-inspired prophets, God instructed
man in the principles of true religion. Nay, moreover, that contemplative
wisdom by which we are impelled to the arts, and to other pursuits, and
with which we are all in common, just and unjust, alike endued, is the gift
of God: if we have been made rational creatures, we have received this.
Wherefore, also, in a former place it was said, as of a thing that is of
God bestowed, "Is it not the Lord who teacheth understanding and
knowledge?"(2)
II.(3)
Observe that the Lord was not wont from the beginning to speak with
man; but after that the soul was prepared, and exercised in many ways, and
had ascended into the height by contemplation, so far as it is possible for
human nature to ascend, then is it His wont to speak, and to reveal His
Word unto those who have attained unto this elevation. But since the
whirlwind is the producer of the tempests, and Job, in the tempest of his
afflictions, had not made shipwreck of his faith, but his constancy shone
forth the rather; therefore it was that He who gave him an answer answered
him by the whirlwind, to signify the tempest of calamity which had befallen
him; but, because He changed the stormy condition of his affairs into one
of serene tranquillity, He spoke to him not only by the whirlwind, but in
clouds also.
III.(4)
Many have descended into the deep, not so as to walk on it, but so as
to be by its bonds restrained. Jesus alone walked on the deep, where there
are no traces of walkers, as a free man. For He chose death, to which He
was not subject, that He might deliver those who were the bondslaves of
death; saying to the prisoners, "Go forth; and to them that are in
darkness, show yourselves."(5) With which, also, the things which follow
are consistent.
IV.(6)
Seest thou how, at the end of the contest, with a loud proclamation he
declares the praises of the combatant, and discovers that which was in his
afflictions hidden. in the words: "Thinkest thou that I had else answered
thee, but that thou shouldest appear just?"(7) This is the salve of his
wounds, this the reward of his patience. For as to what followed, although
he received double his former possessions, these may seem to have been
given him by divine providence as small indeed, and for trifling causes,
even though to some they may appear great.
FRAGMENT, UNCERTAIN.
Thou contendest with Me, and settest thyself against Me, and opposest
those who combat for Me. But where weft thou when I made the world? What
wert thou then? Hadst thou yet, says He, fallen from thy mother? for there
was darkness, in the beginning of the world's creation, He says, upon the
face of the deep. Now this darkness was no created darkness, but one which
of set purpose had place, by reason of the absence of light.
V.(1)
But Methodius: The Holy Spirit, who of God is given to all men, and of
whom Solomon said, "For Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things,"(2) He
receives for the conscience, which condemns the offending soul.
VI.(3) THE SAME METHODIUS.
I account it a greater good to be reproved than to reprove, inasmuch as
it is more excellent to free oneself from evil than to free another.
VII.(4) THE SAME METHODIUS.
Human nature cannot clearly perceive pure justice in the soul, since,
as to many of its thoughts, it is but dim-sighted.
VIII. THE SAME METHODIUS.
Wickedness never could recognise virtue or its own self.
IX. THE SAME METHODIUS.
Justice, as it seems, is four square, on all sides equal and like.
The just judgment of God is accommodated to our affections; and such as
our estate is, proportionate and similar shall the retribution be which is
allotted us.
TWO FRAGMENTS, UNCERTAIN.
I.
The beginning of every good action has its foundation in our wills, but
the conclusion is of God.
II.
Perhaps these three persons of our ancestors, being in an image the
consubstantial representatives of humanity, are, as also Methodius thinks,
types of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity,(1) the innocent and
unbegotten Adam being the type and resemblance of God the Father Almighty,
who is uncaused, and the cause of all; his begotten son(2) shadowing forth
the image of the begotten Son and Word of God; whilst Eve, that proceedeth
forth from Adam,(3) signifies the person and procession of the Holy
Spirit.(4)
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 6, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.
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