Section CXCIX

With this doctrine of Justin harmonize beautifully those things which Tatian—himself also a Palestinian¹, a disciple of the most blessed martyr², and, as we understand from Rhodo³, his not inglorious successor in directing the Roman school—wrote and confirmed in his Oration against the Greeks before he embraced heresy⁴. For when he disputes concerning created man, he extols the benignity of the Creator in these words⁵—

Before men were created, the Word became the maker of the angels. But each species of his workmanship was created free, τἀγαθοῦ φύσιν μὴ ἔχον, not possessing the nature of the good, for that inheres in God alone; but in men it is perfected by the free inclination of the mind, so that the wicked man may deservedly be punished, having been made wicked δι᾽ αὑτόν, through himself; while the just man may rightly be praised on account of the things rightly done, since, employing free will, he did not transgress the will of God. And thus indeed are constituted those things which concern angels and men.

But man abused the gifts he had received and, imitating those among the angels who had fallen away before him, departed from God⁶; whence he who had been made κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ Θεοῦ, according to the image of God, χωρισθέντος ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ δυνατωτέρου, θνητὸς γίνεται, when the more powerful Spirit departed from him, became mortal. Assuredly he became mortal both by the death of the body, by which it was necessary that he should die, and by the death of the soul—not, however, an ontological but a theological death, consisting in the loss⁷ either of that life which flowed back into man from conjunction with God or of the wings⁸ by which man might strive toward heavenly things. “Πτέρωσις γὰρ ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ τέλειον, ὅπερ ἀπορρίψασα διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἔπτη ὥσπερ νεοσσός, καὶ χαμαιπετὴς ἐγένετο· μεταβᾶσα δὲ τῆς οὐρανίου συνουσίας, τῶν ἐλαττόνων μετουσίαν ἐπεπόθησεν. For the perfect Spirit was the wings of the soul; when through sin it had cast him off, it fluttered like a chick and fell to the ground; and, having fallen away from heavenly fellowship, it desired commerce with inferior things.”

Yet God did not permit human nature, overwhelmed by its own fall, to perish, but extended to it a benign hand and imparted a faculty by which it might regain life and heavenly fellowship. Tatian teaches this⁹, addressing each and every man in these words: “Ἀπόθνῃσκε τῷ—

—κόσμῳ, παραιτούμενος τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ μανίαν· ζῆθι τῷ Θεῷ, διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ¹⁰ καταλήψεως τὴν παλαιὰν γένεσιν παραιτούμενος· οὐκ ἐγενόμεθα πρὸς τὸ ἀποθνῄσκειν, ἀποθνῄσκομεν δὲ δι᾽ ἑαυτούς· ἀπώλεσεν ἡμᾶς τὸ αὐτεξούσιον, δοῦλοι γεγόναμεν οἱ ἐλεύθεροι, διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐπράθημεν· οὐδὲν φαῦλον ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πεποίηται, τὴν πονηρίαν ἡμεῖς ἀνεδείξαμεν· οἱ δὲ ἀναδείξαντες, δυνατοὶ πάλιν παραιτήσασθαι. Die to the world, rejecting the madness which is in it; live to God through the knowledge of him, repudiating the old generation. We were not made in order that we might die, but we die through our own fault. Free will destroyed us; we who were free have been made slaves; we have been sold through sin. Nothing evil was made by God; we ourselves produced wickedness, and those who produced it are able to repudiate it again.

But whence comes so felicitous a power, if men contrived death for themselves? It will be to the point to hear Tatian, who first determines thus¹¹: “Δύο πνευμάτων διαφορὰς ἴσμεν ἡμεῖς, ὧν τὸ μὲν καλεῖται ψυχή· τὸ δέ, μεῖζον μὲν τῆς ψυχῆς, Θεοῦ δὲ εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωσις· ἑκάτερα δὲ παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τοῖς πρώτοις ὑπῆρχεν, ἵνα τὸ μέν τι ὦσιν ὑλικοί, τὸ δὲ ἀνώτεροι τῆς ὕλης. We know two distinctions of spirits, one of which is called the soul, while the other¹², more excellent than the soul, is the image¹³ and likeness of God. Each was present in the first men, so that in part they might consist of matter and in part be superior to matter.”

Moreover, he adds¹⁴, after the gift of the divine likeness had been lost, human affairs would have been utterly despaired of unless the heavenly Spirit had been present to men and had brought them aid, so that whoever desired a perfect knowledge of God, although assailed by demons, might obtain a more perfect testimony on the day of judgment on account of his contests—

—Explaining this doctrine more fully immediately afterward, he continues:

Οὐκ ἔστιν ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχὴ καθ᾽ ἑαυτήν, θνητὴ δέ· ἀλλὰ δύναται ἡ αὐτὴ καὶ μὴ ἀποθνῄσκειν· θνῄσκει μὲν γὰρ καὶ λύεται μετὰ τοῦ σώματος, μὴ γινώσκουσα τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀνίσταται δὲ εἰς ὕστερον ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τοῦ κόσμου σὺν τῷ σώματι, θάνατον διὰ τιμωρίας ἐν ἀθανασίᾳ λαμβάνουσα. Πάλιν τε οὐ θνῄσκει, κἂν πρὸς καιρὸν λυθῇ, τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ πεποιημένη. Καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν γὰρ σκότος ἐστί, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐν αὐτῇ φωτεινόν, καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἄρα τὸ εἰρημένον· ἡ σκοτία τὸ φῶς οὐ καταλαμβάνει. The soul is not immortal¹⁵ through itself, but mortal. Yet it is able not to die. For it dies and is dissolved with the body if it does not know the truth; afterward, however, it rises¹⁶ at the end of the world together with the body, receiving death through punishments in immortality. But, in turn, it does not die, even if it is dissolved for a time, if it has been instructed in the knowledge of God. For through itself it is nothing other than darkness, nor is there anything luminous within it. And this is precisely what is said¹⁷: “The darkness did not comprehend the light.” For the soul did not preserve the Spirit¹⁸, but was preserved by him, and the light comprehended the darkness. Now the Word is divine light¹⁹—

—but the darkness is ἡ ἀνεπιστήμων ψυχή, the ignorant soul. Wherefore, if it dwells alone, it inclines downward toward matter, dying together with the flesh. Συζυγίαν δὲ κεκτημένη τὴν τοῦ θείου πνεύματος, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀβοήθητος. But when conjoined with the divine Spirit, it does not lack aid, but ascends to that place to which it is led by the Spirit. For the Spirit’s seat is in heavenly places, while the soul’s origin is in the lower regions. Γέγονε μὲν οὖν συνδίαιτον²⁰ ἀρχῆθεν τὸ πνεῦμα τῇ ψυχῇ· τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ταύτην ἕπεσθαι μὴ βουλομένην αὐτῷ καταλέλοιπεν. Ἡ δὲ ὥσπερ ἔναυσμα τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ κεκτημένη, καὶ διὰ τὸν χωρισμὸν τὰ τέλεια καθορᾶν μὴ δυναμένη, ζητοῦσα τὸν Θεὸν κατὰ πλάνην πολλοὺς θεοὺς ἀνετύπωσε, τοῖς ἀντισοφιστεύουσι δαίμοσι κατακολουθήσασα. At the beginning, indeed, the Spirit was the companion of the soul; but the Spirit abandoned it when it was unwilling to follow him. The soul, however, retaining as it were certain sparks of his power, but being unable because of the separation to behold more sublime things, fashioned many gods while seeking God in the error of opinion, following the demons who practice deceit. Moreover, the Spirit of God is not in all, but, residing in some who live justly and intertwined with their mind²¹, he announced hidden things to other souls through predictions. Καὶ αἱ μὲν πειθόμεναι σοφίᾳ, σφίσιν αὐταῖς ἐφείλκοντο πνεῦμα συγγενές· αἱ δὲ μὴ πειθόμεναι, καὶ τὸν διάκονον τοῦ πεπονθότος Θεοῦ παραιτούμεναι, θεομάχοι μᾶλλον, ἤπερ θεοσεβεῖς ἀνεφαίνοντο. And those which obeyed wisdom drew to themselves the kindred Spirit; but those which did not obey and rejected the minister²² of the God who suffered were found rather to fight against God than to worship him.

Although, therefore, the calamity inflicted upon the human race by the original transgression was most atrocious; although no evil can be conceived more bitter than that separation by which human nature separated itself from divine light, divine life, and divine immortality—

—and although, if the human race had been deserted and left to itself, nothing but utter destruction would have remained for it; nevertheless the benignity of God opposed so many and such great losses, restored the disordered order, and never failed to make his Spirit available to all, by whom all who willed might recover truth, life, and salvation itself. It therefore remains, Tatian infers²³, that none of us fail himself, but that each have set before himself “to seek now that which we possessed and lost, τοῦτο νῦν ἀναζητεῖν, ζευγνύναι τε τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ, καὶ τὴν κατὰ Θεὸν συζυγίαν πραγματεύεσθαι, to join the soul to the Holy Spirit and to strive after conjunction with God.”

For sinful men differ from the fallen angels²⁴ in this: that by a most wise counsel of justice God granted those angels no pardon and offered them no hope of reparation, while concerning men he decreed with wisdom no less than mercy that, after the loss of immortality, by undergoing death through faith they should overcome death, and through repentance a calling should be granted to them²⁵ according to this saying²⁶: “Because they were made a little less than the angels.” Therefore, δυνατὸν παντὶ τῷ νενικημένῳ, πάλιν νικᾶν, τοῦ θανάτου τὴν σύστασιν παραιτούμενον, it is possible for everyone who has been conquered to conquer again, if he repudiates the cause of death.