Section CLXXVII

But these things had settled so deeply in Basil’s mind that he not only frequently repeats them but also amplifies and adorns them. He repeats and indeed also illustrates them when, after lamenting the ruin of the first parents¹, he adds: “Perhaps the devil laughed when he had defiled the image of God with dishonor… Οἰκτείρας δὲ τὴν ἀπάτην Θεὸς πρὸς διόρθωσιν ἔτρεχεν. But God, having pitied the deception, hastened to raise it up.—”

“—He hastened, not by a change of place, but testifying to his presence by a certain terrible image. Struck with terror by him, displaying themselves as accusers and witnesses of the transgression, they lend support to their own exile. But God, terrifying them with resounding approach, most humanely calls: ‘Adam, Adam, where are you?’ ὦ φιλανθρωπίας δεσπότου· ὡς ἀγνοῶν ζητεῖ, ὃν αὐτὸς ἐφυγάδευσε, καὶ ὡς οὐχ ὁρῶν καλεῖ ὁ τοῖς πᾶσι παρών. Ἀδάμ, Ἀδάμ, ποῦ εἶ; ποῦ μοι τῶν ἐμῶν χειρῶν τὸ πλαστούργημα; ποῦ τῆς ἐμῆς ἀξίας ὁ ἔμψυχος ἀνδριάς; ποῦ τῆς ἐμῆς φυτουργίας ὁ φύλαξ; Ἀδάμ, Ἀδάμ, ποῦ εἶ; θρηνώδης ἐκ φιλοστοργίας ἡ κλῆσις· ποῦ εἶ; … δεῖξον τῷ ἰατρῷ τὸ τῆς παραβάσεως ἕλκος· δεῖξον τὴν πληγὴν τῆς γυμνώσεως· ἔχω γὰρ φάρμακα τοῦ τραύματος ἰσχυρότερα· ἔχω βοηθήματα, δι’ ὧν θεραπεύω τὰ τοῦ ὄφεως δήγματα. O love of the Lord toward men! As though ignorant, he seeks him whom he himself was putting to flight; and, as though not seeing, he who is present to all things calls: ‘Adam, Adam, where are you? Where is the work of my hands? Where is the living image of my dignity? Where is the keeper of my paradise? Adam, Adam, where are you?’ From immense love the call is like a lament: ‘Where are you?’ … Show the ulcer of transgression to the physician; show the wound of nakedness. I have medicines more powerful than the wound; I have aids by which I heal the serpent’s bites.”

He repeats and illustrates them when, after relating the sentence of the judge against Satan and the first parents, he immediately infers²:

The first parents bore this sentence of their condemnation. σὺ δὲ μὴ ῥίψῃς τὰς τῆς σωτηρίας ἐλπίδας· οὐ γὰρ ἔστησεν ὁ Θεὸς ἄχρι τῆς κατάρας τὰ πράγματα· οὐκ ἀφῆκε χρηστῆς ἐλπίδος ὁ Θεὸς τὴν φύσιν χηρεύσασαν. But do not cast away the hope of salvation; for God did not make creation subject to the curse, nor meanwhile deprive nature of good hope. Χριστοῦ γὰρ παρουσία τῆς τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου λαιμαργίας ἰσχυροτέρα· καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ παρανόμου βρώσεως ἀπατηθείσης, τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπαρχὴν ὁ μονογενὴς ἐνεδύσατο· καὶ τὸν δεύτερον Ἀδὰμ περιβάλλεται, φαρμάκοις ἐναντίοις θεραπεύων τὰ τραύματα. For the presence of Christ is far more powerful than the voracity of the first-formed man; and when the race of men had been deceived through unlawful eating, the Only-begotten, healing the wounds by contrary medicines, took from man a body into which he might introduce himself and clothed himself with the second Adam.—

It came about through his innate goodness and the merits of the Redeemer who was to come that God never withdrew the opportunity for penance; indeed, it came about that he provoked men to penance in every way he could. Basil splendidly testifies to this³ when he weighs those things which are narrated in the seventh chapter of Genesis and considers by name these words: “For yet after seven days I will bring the flood.” For he writes⁴:

ἄπληστον γὰρ πρὸς φιλανθρωπίαν τὸ θεῖον καὶ πάσας προφάσεις ἐπινοεῖ σωτηρίας, εἴπου τὸν σώζεσθαι βουλόμενον εὕρῃ, God cannot be satiated with love of men and leaves no occasions of salvation unimagined, if perhaps he may find someone desirous of salvation. “For yet after seven days.” A brief time, he says, suffices me for the salvation of sinners. Only let them incline their mind to penance, and I retract the sentence and cast away the threats if I perceive that they repudiate their former counsels from the heart.

For incredible is the φιλανθρωπίας ὑπερβολή, the excess of benignity⁵, with which God pursues men, and ὁ τῆς χρηστότητος πλοῦτος πλημμυρῶν, the overflowing opulence of goodness⁶, by which⁷, “when he saw Nineveh sick, ὁ φιλάνθρωπος δημιουργὸς πέμπει τὸν Ἰωνᾶν ἰατρὸν τοῦ νοσήματος, the Creator most loving toward men sends Jonah to heal the disease. For although he hated the soul living wickedly, ἀλλ’ ἐλεεῖ νόσῳ ἠλλοιωμένην τὴν φύσιν, καὶ γνωρίζει τῆς οἰκείας χειρὸς τὸ πλαστούργημα, nevertheless he pities nature altered and perverted by disease and recognizes the work of his own hands. Therefore, having entrusted to the prophet the cure of the evil, he commands him to approach the sick before the disease, growing worse, confirms the verdict of death.”

Jonah foresaw this and thus reasoned within himself⁸—

—:

I suspect that the threat will turn out to be the mother of clemency. For why does he foreannounce overthrow if he wills a true punishment? If he wills to punish, why does he admonish concerning the danger? Why does he anticipate the blow with an oracle? ἀλλ’ οἶδα τοῦ φιλανθρώπου τὴν τέχνην, ὀργὴν σχηματίζεται, λῦσαι τὴν τιμωρίαν πρὸ πείρας βουλόμενος, but I know the arts of God, the greatest lover of men: he assumes the appearance of wrath and strives to release them from punishment before they experience it.

Therefore, clothed with flesh⁹, he said concerning himself, “I am the good shepherd.” “Let us therefore look¹⁰ to Christ our shepherd: εἴδωμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν φιλάνθρωπον τέχνην, τῇ πραότητι νικῶσαν τῶν προβάτων τὴν ἡμερότητα, let us behold his arts full of humanity, which by their meekness surpass the gentleness of the sheep themselves. χαίρει τοῖς παροῦσι, καὶ ζητεῖ τὸ πλανώμενον. οὐ παραιτεῖται νάπας περιϊέναι καὶ ὕλας· κρημνοὺς περιέρχεται· καὶ τῷ πλανωμένῳ πλάνην μερίζεται. κἂν εὕρῃ κάμνον, οὐ μισεῖ διὰ τὸν τρόπον, ἀλλ’ οἰκτείρει διὰ τὸ πάθος· καὶ τοὺς ὤμους ὑποβαλών, οἰκείῳ μόχθῳ θεραπεύει τοῦ προβάτου τὸν πόνον. He rejoices in those present and seeks that which wanders. He does not refuse to traverse mountains and forests; he approaches precipices and shares in the wandering of the one who has strayed. Nor is he inflamed with hatred on account of its manner, even if he finds it diseased; but he is moved by compassion for the evil and, placing his shoulders beneath it, by his own labor tends the suffering little sheep.”

What, then, can remain except that it be said to each and every person¹¹: πρὸ τῆς δίκης τὸν δικαστὴν δωροδόκησον. δὸς αὐτῷ φιλανθρωπίας προφάσεις· δὸς αὐτῷ τῆς συγγνώμης τὰς ὕλας· μὴ τὰς ἐναντίας αὐτοῦ φωνὰς ἀναμείνωμεν. “Before judgment, forestall the judge with gifts. Furnish him occasions for exercising benevolence; supply matter for pardoning. Let us not await his hostile words.”

We must strive for this the more diligently, the truer are those things which Basil teaches and confirms on the occasion¹² of Christ’s words, “It is not mine to give to you.” For after he shows by testimonies of the Scriptures¹³ that whatsoever things are done by the Father are similarly done by the Son, he proceeds—

—¹⁴:

Since, therefore, you are one Creator with the Father, sit together with the Father, and govern together with the Father; since you raise from the dead as he does those whom you will and give life to them no otherwise than he, why do you now say, “It is not mine to give”? Why? Because τῆς τοῦ λαμβάνοντος ἀξίας, οὐ τῆς τοῦ διδόντος ἐξουσίας μόνον τὸ δῶρον, the remuneration follows the merit of the receiver, not merely the faculty of the giver. The throne is the reward of labors, οὐ φιλοτιμίας τὸ χάρισμα, not a gratuitous gift of ambition. The throne is procured by things rightly done; οὐκ ἐξ αἰτήσεως ἡ δόσις, the giving does not follow a bare petition. δεῖξόν μοι τὴν σὴν¹⁵ ἀξίαν, καὶ βλέπε τὴν ἐμὴν ἐξουσίαν. Show me your merit, and behold my power. If the sinner is weary of sin, I relieve the sickness and remit the debt; if the harlot weeps, I grant remission; if the publican strikes his breast, I do not impute his errors; if the leper seeks healing, I impart power… ἂν δὲ θρόνον τις αἰτῇ, καὶ βασιλείαν ζητῇ, καὶ τὴν ἐκ δεξιῶν καθέδραν ποθῇ, τότε τὴν ἐξουσίαν περιεργάζομαι. τοὺς περὶ εὐσεβείας ἱδρῶτας ἀναμαρτύρω· τούτων γὰρ ἡ μετ’ ἐμοῦ καθέδρα μισθός· κἂν εὕρω τούτων ἐπάξιον, ἐμὸν ὑπάρχει τὸ δοῦναι. καλεῖ γὰρ τὴν διδόντος ἐξουσίαν, ἡ τοῦ λαμβάνοντος ἀξία. διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Πατρός ἐστι τὸ διδόναι, ἀλλ’ οἷς ἡτοίμασται παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός μου. εὐτρεπίζει δοκιμάζων ὁ Πατήρ, οὐχ ἁπλῶς χαριζόμενος. ἀναμένει τὸν τρόπον, εὐτρεπίζων τὸ δῶρον. οὐκ ἐκχεῖ τὴν χάριν ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ τὴν δωρεὰν ταμιεύεται. οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι. οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦ Πατρός ἐστι τὸ εἰκῇ τοιαῦτα χαρίζεσθαι· διὰ τοῦτο τῷ μαρτυροῦντι τὴν βασιλείαν χαρίζομαι. But if someone asks for a throne, seeks a kingdom, and desires to sit at the right hand, then I carefully consider what I can do; I demand as witnesses the sweat poured forth for piety, for the reward of these things is a seat in my assembly.—

If I find what is condign with these things, then it is mine to give; for the merits of the receiver call forth the power of the giver. Therefore it is not mine to give, but it is the Father’s to give, yet to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father. The Father prepares while proving, not simply bestowing a favor; while preparing the gift he awaits our manners. He does not pour forth grace lightly, but stores up the gift. “It is not mine to give.” Nor indeed is it the Father’s to bestow such things rashly and gratuitously. Therefore I grant the kingdom to one who endures martyrdom.