Section CXCVII

Basil discourses upon this infinite amplitude of redemption and its singular efficacy so clearly and so frequently that his opinion must be regarded as most thoroughly ascertained. For, refuting those¹ who had reached such a point of temerity and impiety that they asserted a heavenly flesh for Christ and transferred human affections to the divinity itself, he establishes before all else that by ravings of this kind and by such monstrosities of opinions the saving dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ is dissolved, while the grace of the great mystery, which indeed was silent² from the ages but declared in its own times, is overthrown—when the Lord, who had already traversed all things pertaining to the healing of the human race³, after all things bestowed his advent upon us. Then, attacking and pressing the authors of the error more closely⁴, he says—

If the advent of the Lord in the flesh did not occur, the Redeemer did not give to death a price on our behalf, nor through himself did he overthrow the kingdom of death. For if that which was subject to the empire of death were one thing and that which was assumed by the Lord another, death would not have ceased to work those things which are its own, nor would the sufferings of the God-bearing flesh have become our gain; he would not have destroyed sin in the flesh. Οὐκ ἐζωοποιήθημεν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ οἱ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἀποθανόντες· οὐκ ἀνεπλάσθη τὸ διαπεπτωκός· οὐκ ἀνωρθώθη τὸ κατερραγμένον· οὐ προσοικειώθη τῷ Θεῷ, τὸ διὰ τῆς ἀπάτης τοῦ ὄφεως ἀλλοτριωθέν. We who were dead in Adam would not have been vivified in Christ; that which had collapsed would not have been repaired; that which had been broken would not have been restored; that which had been alienated by the serpent’s deception would not have been conjoined to God. For all these things are taken away by those who say that the Lord came possessing a heavenly body.

But when he contradicts the Arians, who abused the words⁵, “My Father is greater than I,” in order to establish their heresy, among other things he writes⁶: “What wonder is it if he who is the Word and was made flesh confessed the Father to be greater than himself, since he was also seen as less than the angels⁷ according to glory and less than men according to appearance? … Τούτων δὲ πάντων ἠνέσχετο διὰ τὴν πολλὴν αὐτοῦ περὶ τὸ πλάσμα φιλανθρωπίαν, ἵνα τὸ ἀπολωλὸς πρόβατον ἀνασώσηται, καὶ τὸ σωθὲν καταμίξῃ, καὶ τὸν κατελθόντα ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς Ἱεριχώ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περιπεσόντα λῃσταῖς, εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ὑγιαίνοντα πάλιν ἐπαναγάγῃ πατρίδα. But he sustained all these things on account of his great benignity toward his own work, that he might recover the lost sheep and bring back the one which had been saved, and might restore in health to his own country the man who had descended from Jerusalem to Jericho and on this account had fallen among robbers… Therefore the Son is less than the Father, ὅτι διὰ σὲ γέγονε νεκρός, ἵνα σε τῆς νεκρότητος ἀπαλλάξῃ, καὶ ζωῆς μέτοχον ἐπουρανίου ποιήσῃ. Ὥσπερ—

—ἂν, εἴ τις καὶ τὸν ἰατρὸν αἰτιῷτο, ὅτι συγκύπτων ἐπὶ τὰ πάθη, τῆς δυσωδίας συναπολαύῃ, ἵνα τοὺς πεπονθότας ἰάσηται, because for your sake he became dead, that he might free you from death and make you a participant in heavenly life. It is as if someone were also to accuse the physician because, bending down to diseases, he becomes a participant in their stench in order to heal the sick.

The divine physician always applied prolonged labor to healing them. “For,” says Basil⁸, “since every created nature, both this visible nature and the intelligible, needs the care of God in order that it may subsist, ὁ δημιουργὸς Λόγος, ὁ μονογενὴς Θεός, κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς ἑκάστου χρείας, τὴν βοήθειαν ἐπινέμων, ποικίλας μὲν καὶ παντοδαπὰς διὰ τὸ τῶν εὐεργετουμένων πολυειδές, συμμέτρους γε μὴν ἑκάστῳ, κατὰ τὸ τῆς χρείας ἀναγκαῖον, τὰς χορηγίας ἐπιμετρεῖ· τοὺς ἐν τῷ σκότῳ τῆς ἀγνοίας κατεχομένους φωτίζει· διὰ τοῦτο φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν· κρίνει κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἔργων ἀξίαν, ἀντιμετρῶν τὴν ἀντίδοσιν· διὰ τοῦτο κριτὴς δίκαιος· ὁ γὰρ Πατὴρ κρίνει οὐδένα, ἀλλὰ τὴν κρίσιν πᾶσαν δέδωκε τῷ Υἱῷ· ἀνίστησιν ἐκ τοῦ πτώματος τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕψους τῆς ζωῆς πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν ὑπολισθήσαντας· διὰ τοῦτο ἀνάστασις· πάντα δὲ ποιεῖ τῇ ἐπαφῇ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τῷ βουλήματι ἀγαθότητος ἐνεργῶν· ποιμαίνει, φωτίζει, τρέφει, ὁδηγεῖ, ἰατρεύει, ἀνίστησιν. The creating Word, the Only-begotten God, distributing aid according to the measure of each one’s need, dispenses various aids of every kind on account of the variety of those who are assisted by the benefit, yet aids proportioned to each one according to the measure of necessity. He illuminates those who are held in the darkness of ignorance; for this reason he is called the true light. He judges, measuring out the recompense according to the merit of works; for this reason he is called the just judge. For the Father⁹ judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. He raises from ruin those who have fallen from the height of life into sin; for this reason he is called the resurrection¹⁰. But he does all things by the touch of power and by the will of goodness in operation. He spares, illuminates, nourishes, leads by the hand, heals, raises up.”

Among all these things, while some are assuredly most illustrious, these are signified above all—

—first, a) in accordance with the twofold stage of human life, the former of which is contained in the present mortality and the latter embraces the eternity which follows, a twofold order of providence must be distinguished: one of mercy and merciful kindness, the other of severity and justice; then, b) the order of mercy and merciful kindness pertains to the stage of mortality, but the order of severity and justice to the stage of eternity; moreover, c) the cause of this distinction must be derived from the fact that God, moved by his goodness, most sincerely wills that absolutely all men, so long as they pass this mortal life, should possess the power by which they may attain the supreme end and heavenly beatitude; by this d) will of goodness God selected for the present life the order of mercy and salvation, and sent the Only-begotten, who would raise up what had fallen, bring back what had wandered away, and fashion anew what had been corrupted and depraved; and that he would fashion it anew e) by a manifold operation and various aids of graces, by which individual men, endowed according to need and opportunity, might dispel ignorance, conquer infirmity, recover the lost likeness of God, and be joined anew by a most blessed covenant with the supreme true, the supreme good, and the supreme beautiful.