THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF ABBOT SERENUS.
ON PRINCIPALITIES.
Complete Contents.
Other version available: text. [59K].
Of the hospitality of Abbot Serenus.
WHEN we had finished the duties of the day, and the congregation had
been dismissed from Church we returned to the old man's cell, and
enjoyed a most sumptuous repast. For instead of the sauce which with
a few drops of oil spread over it was usually set on the table for his
daily meal, he mixed a little decoction and poured over it a somewhat
more liberal allowance of oil than usual; for each of them when he is
going to partake of his daily repast, pours those drops of oil on, not
that he may receive any enjoyment from the taste of it (for so limited
is the supply that it is hardly enough I will not say to line the
passage of his throat and jaws, but even to pass down it) but that
using it, he may keep down the pride of his heart (which is certain to
creep in stealthily and surely if his abstinence is any stricter) and
the incitements to vainglory, for as his abstinence is practised with
the greater secrecy, and is carried on without anyone to see it, so
much the more subtly does it never cease to tempt the man who conceals
it. Then he set before us table salt, and three olives each: after
which he produced a basket containing parched vetches which they call
trogalia,[434] from which we each took
five grains, two prunes and a fig apiece. For it is considered wrong
for anyone to exceed that amount in that desert. And when we had
finished this repast and had begun to ask him again for his promised
solution of the question, "Let us hear," said the old man,
"your question, the consideration of which we postponed till the
present time."
Statements on the different kinds of spiritual
wickednesses.
THEN GERMANUS: We want to know what is the origin of the great variety
of hostile powers opposed to men, and the difference between them,
which the blessed Apostle sums up as follows: "We wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual
wickedness in heavenly places:"[435] and again: "Neither angels nor
principalities nor powers nor any other creature, can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."[436] Whence then arises the enmity of
all this malice jealous of us? Are we to believe that those powers
were created by the Lord for this; viz., to fight against men in these
grades and orders?
The answer on the many kinds of food provided in
holy Scripture.
SERENUS: The authority of holy Scripture says on those points on which
it would inform us some things so plainly and clearly even to those
who are utterly void of understanding, that not only are they not
veiled in the obscurity of any hidden meaning, but do not even require
the help of any explanation, but carry their meaning and sense on the
surface of the words and letters: but some things are so concealed and
involved in mysteries as to offer us an immense field for skill and
care in the discussion and explanation of them. And it is clear that
God has so ordered it for many reasons: first for fear lest the holy
mysteries, if they were covered by no veil of spiritual meaning,
should be exposed equally to the knowledge and understanding of
everybody, i.e., the profane as well as the faithful and thus there
might be no difference in the matter of goodness and prudence between
the lazy and the earnest: next that among those who are indeed of the
household of faith, while immense differences of intellectual power
open out before them, there might be the opportunity of reproving the
slothfulness of the idle, and of proving the keenness and diligence of
the earnest. And so holy Scripture is fitly compared to a rich and
fertile field, which, while bearing and producing much which is good
for man's food without being cooked by fire, produces some things
which are found to be unsuitable for man's use or even harmful unless
they have lost all the roughness of their raw condition by being
tempered and softened down by the heat of fire. But some are
naturally fit for use in both states, so that even when uncooked they
are not unpleasant from their raw condition, but still are rendered
more palatable by being cooked and heated by fire. Many more things
too are produced only fit for the food of irrational creatures, and
cattle, and wild animals and birds, but utterly useless as food for
men, which while still in their rough state without being in any way
touched by fire, conduce to the health and life of cattle. And we can
clearly see that the same system holds good in that most fruitful
garden of the Scriptures of the Spirit, in which some things shine
forth clear and bright in their literal sense, in such a way that
while they have no need of any higher interpretation, they furnish
abundant food and nourishment in the simple sound of the words, to the
hearers: as in this passage: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is
one Lord;" and: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength."[437] But there are some which, unless
they are weakened down by an allegorical interpretation, and softened
by the trial of the fire of the spirit cannot become wholesome food
for the inner man without injury and loss to him; and damage rather
than profit will accrue to him from receiving them: as with this
passage: "But let your loins be girded up and your lights
burning;" and: "whosoever has no sword, let him sell his
coat and buy himself a sword;" and: "whosoever taketh not up
his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me;"[438] a passage which some most earnest
monks, having "indeed a zeal for God, but not according to
knowledge"[439] understood
literally, and so made themselves wooden crosses, and carried them
about constantly on their shoulders, and so were the cause not of
edification but of ridicule on the part of all who saw them. But some
are capable of being taken suitable and properly in both ways, i.e.,
the historical and allegorical, so that either explanation furnishes a
healing draught to the soul; as this passage: "If any one shall
smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;" and:
"when they persecute you in one city, flee to another;" and:
"if thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast and give to
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow
Me."[440] It produces indeed
"grass for the cattle" also, (and of this food all the
fields of Scripture are full); viz., plain and simple narratives of
history, by which simple folk, and those who are incapable of perfect
and sound understanding (of whom it is said "Thou, Lord, wilt
save both man and beast")[441]
may be made stronger and more vigorous for their hard work and the
labour of actual life, in accordance with the state and measure of
their capacity.
Of the double sense in which Holy Scripture may be
taken.
WHEREFORE on those passages which are brought forward with a clear
explanation we also can constantly lay down the meaning and boldly
state our own opinions. But those which the Holy Spirit, reserving
for our meditation and exercise, has inserted in holy Scripture with
veiled meaning, wishing some of them to be gathered from various
proofs and conjectures, ought to be step by step and carefully brought
together, so that their assertions and proofs may be arranged by the
discretion of the man who is arguing or supporting them. For
sometimes when a difference of opinion is expressed on one and the
same subject, either view may be considered reasonable and be held
without injury to the faith either firmly, or doubtfully, i.e., in
such a way that neither is full belief nor absolute rejection accorded
to it, and the second view need not interfere with the former, if
neither of them is found to be opposed to the faith: as in this case:
where Elias came in the person of John,[442] and is again to be the precursor of
the Lord's Advent: and in the matter of the "Abomination of
desolation" which "stood in the holy place," by means
of that idol of Jupiter which, as we read, was placed in the temple in
Jerusalem, and which is again to stand in the Church through the
coming of Antichrist,[443] and all
those things which follow in the gospel, which we take as having been
fulfilled before the captivity of Jerusalem and still to be fulfilled
at the end of this world. In which matters neither view is opposed to
the other, nor does the first interpretation interfere with the
second.
Of the fact that the question suggested ought to be
included among those things to be held in a neutral or doubtful
way.
AND therefore since the question raised by us, does not seem to have
been sufficiently or often ventilated among men, and is clear to most
people, and from this fact what we bring forward may perhaps appear to
some to be doubtful, we ought to regulate our own view (since it does
not interfere with faith in the Trinity) so that it may be included
among those things which are to be held doubtfully; although they rest
not on mere opinions such as are usually given to guesses and
conjectures, but on clear Scripture proof.
Of the fact that nothing is created evil by
God.
GOD forbid that we should admit that God has created anything which is
substantially evil, as Scripture says "everything that God had
made was very good."[444] For if
they were created by God such as they are now, or made for this
purpose; viz., to occupy these positions of malice, and ever to be
ready for the deception and ruin of men, we should in opposition to
the view of the above quoted Scripture slander God as the Creator and
author of evil, as having Himself formed utterly evil wills and
natures, creating them for this very purpose; viz., that they might
ever persist in their wickedness and never pass over to the feeling of
a good will. The following reason then of this diversity is what we
received from the tradition of the fathers, being drawn from the fount
of Holy Scripture.
Of the origin of principalities or powers.
NONE of the faithful question the fact that before the formation of
this visible creation God made spiritual and celestial powers, in
order that owing to the very fact that they knew that they had been
formed out of nothing by the goodness of the Creator for such glory
and bliss, they might render to Him continual thanks and ceaselessly
continue to praise Him. For neither should we imagine that God for
the first time began to originate His creation and work with the
formation of this world, as if in those countless ages beforehand He
had taken no thought of Providence and the divine ordering of things,
and as if we could believe that having none towards whom to show the
blessings of His goodness, He had been solitary, and a stranger to all
bountifulness; a thing which is too poor and unsuitable to fancy of
that boundless and eternal and incomprehensible Majesty; as the Lord
Himself says of these powers: "When the stars were made together,
all my angels praised Me with a loud voice."[445] Those then who were present at the
creation of the stars, are most clearly proved to have been created
before that "beginning" in which it is said that heaven and
earth were made, inasmuch as they are said with loud voices and
admiration to have praised the Creator because of all those visible
creatures which, as they saw, proceeded forth from nothing. Before
then that beginning in time which is spoken of by Moses, and which
according to the historic and Jewish interpretation denotes the age of
this world (without prejudice to our interpretation,
according to which we explain that the "beginning," of all
things is Christ, in whom the Father created all things, as it is said
"All things were made by him, and without Him was not anything
made,")[446] before, I say, that
beginning of Genesis in time there is no question that God had already
created all those powers and heavenly virtues; which the Apostle
enumerates in order and thus describes: "For in Christ were
created all things both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be angels or archangels, whether they be thrones or
dominions, whether they be principalities or powers. All things were
made by Him and in Him."[447]
Of the fall of the devil and the angels.
AND so we are clearly shown that out of that number of them some of
the leaders fell, by the lamentations of Ezekiel and Isaiah, in which
we know that the prince of Tyre or that Lucifer who rose in the
morning is lamented with a doleful plaint: and of him the Lord speaks
as follows to Ezekiel: "Son of man, take up a lamentation over
the prince of Tyre, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast
the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. Thou wast
in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone was thy
covering: the sardius, the topaz and the jasper, the chrysolyte and
the onyx and the beryl, the sapphire and the carbuncle and the
emerald: gold the work of thy beauty, and thy pipes were prepared in
the day that thou wast created. Thou wast a cherub stretched out and
protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of God, thou hast
walked in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy
ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy merchandise thy inner parts were filled with
iniquity and thou hast sinned; and I cast thee out from the mountain
of God, and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the midst of the
stones of fire. And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou
hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: I
have set thee before the face of kings, that they might behold thee.
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy iniquities
and by the iniquity of thy traffic."[448] Isaiah also says of another:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in
the morning? how art thou fallen to the ground, that didst wound the
nations? and thou saidst in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the
mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most
High."[449] But Holy Scripture
relates that these fell not alone from that summit of their station in
bliss, as it tells us that the dragon dragged down together with
himself the third part of the stars.[450] One of the Apostles too says still
more plainly: "But the angels who kept not their first estate,
but left their own dwelling, He hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness to the judgment of the great day."[451] This too which is said to us:
"But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the
princes,"[452] what does it imply
but that many princes have fallen? And by these testimonies we can
gather the reason for this diversity; viz., either that they still
retain those differences of rank (which adverse powers are said to
possess, after the manner of holy and heavenly virtues) from the
station of their former rank in which they were severally created, or
else that, though themselves cast down from heavenly places, yet, as a
reward for that wickedness of theirs in which they have graduated in
evil, they claim in perversity these grades and titles of rank among
themselves, by way of copying those virtues which have stood firm
there.
An objection stating that the fall of the devil
took its origin from the deception of Eve.
GERMANUS: Up till now we used to believe that the reason and
commencement of the ruin and fall of the devil, in which he was cast
out from his heavenly estate, was more particularly envy, when in his
spiteful subtlety he deceived Adam and Eve.
The answer about the beginning of the devil's
fall.
SERENUS: The passage in Genesis shows that that was not the beginning
of his fall and ruin, as before their deception it takes the view that
he had already been branded with the ignominy of the name of the
serpent, where it says: "But the serpent was wiser" or as
the Hebrew copies express it, "more subtle than all the beasts of
the earth, which the Lord God had made."[453] You see then that he had fallen
away from his angelic holiness even before he deceived the first man,
so that he not only deserved to be stamped with the ignominy of this
title, but actually excelled all other beasts of the earth in the
subterfuges of wickedness. For Holy Scripture would not have
designated a good angel by such a term, nor would it say of those who
were still continuing in that state of bliss: "But the serpent
was wiser than all the beasts of the earth." For this title
could not possibly be applied I say not to Gabriel or Michael, but it
would not even be suitable to any good man. And so the title of
serpent and the comparison to beasts most clearly suggests not the
dignity of an angel but the infamy of an apostate. Finally the
occasion of the envy and seduction, which led him to deceive man,
arose from the ground of his previous fall, in that he saw that man,
who had but recently been formed out of the dust of the ground, was to
be called to that glory, from which he remembered that he himself,
while still one of the princes, had fallen. And so that first fall of
his, which was due to pride, and which obtained for him the name of
the serpent, was followed by a second owing to envy: and as this one
found him still in the possession of something upright so that he
could enjoy some interchange of conference and counsel with man, by
the Lord's sentence he was very properly cast down to the lowest
depth, that he might no longer walk as before erect, and looking up on
high, but should cleave to the ground and creep along, and be brought
low upon his belly and feed upon the earthly food and works of sins,
and henceforward proclaim his secret hostility, and put between
himself and man an enmity that is to our advantage, and a discord that
is to our profit, so that while men are on their guard against him as
a dangerous enemy, he can no longer injure them by a deceptive show of
friendship.
The punishment of the deceiver and the
deceived.
BUT we ought in this matter, in order that we may shun evil counsels,
to learn a special lesson from the fact that though the author of the
deception was visited with a fitting punishment and condemnation, yet
still the one who was led astray did not go scot free from punishment,
although it was somewhat lighter than that of him who was the author
of the deception. And this we see was very plainly expressed. For
Adam who was deceived, or rather (to use the Apostle's words)
"was not deceived" but, acquiescing in the wishes
of her who was deceived, seems to have come to yield a consent that
was deadly, is only condemned to labour and the sweat of his brow,
which is assigned to him not by means of a curse upon himself, but by
means of a curse upon the ground, and its barrenness. But the woman,
who persuaded him to this, is visited with an increase of anguish, and
pains and sorrow, and also given over to the yoke of perpetual
subjection. But the serpent who was the first to incite them to this
offence, is punished by a lasting curse. Wherefore we should with the
utmost care and circumspection be on our guard against evil counsels,
for as they bring punishment upon their authors, so too they do not
suffer those who are deceived by them to go free from guilt and
punishment.
Of the crowd of the devils, and the disturbance
which they always raise in our atmosphere.
BUT the atmosphere which extends between heaven and earth is ever
filled with a thick crowd of spirits, which do not fly about in it
quietly or idly, so that most fortunately the divine providence has
withdrawn them from human sight. For through fear of their attacks,
or horror at the forms, into which they transform and turn themselves
at will, men would either be driven out of their wits by an
insufferable dread, and faint away, from inability to look on such
things with bodily eyes, or else would daily grow worse and worse, and
be corrupted by their constant example and by imitating them, and thus
there would arise a sort of dangerous familiarity and deadly
intercourse between men and the unclean powers of the air, whereas
those crimes which are now committed among men, are concealed either
by walls and enclosures or by distance and space, or by some shame and
confusion: but if they could always look on them with open face, they
would be stimulated to a greater pitch of insanity, as there would not
be a single moment in which they would see them desist from their
wickedness, since no bodily weariness, or occupation in business or
care for their daily food (as in our case) forces them sometimes even
against their will to desist from the purposes they have begun to
carry out.
Of the fact that opposing powers turn the attack,
which they aim at men, even against each other.
FOR it is quite clear that they aim these attacks, with which they
assault men, even against each other, for in like manner they do not
cease to promote with unwearied strife the discords and struggles
which they have undertaken for some peoples because of a sort of
innate love of wickedness which they have: and this we read of as
being very clearly set forth in the vision of Daniel the prophet,
where the angel Gabriel speaks as follows: "Fear not, Daniel: for
from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, to
afflict thyself in the sight of thy God, thy words have been heard:
and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of the
Persians resisted me one and twenty days: and behold Michael one of
the chief princes came to help me, and I remained there by the king of
the Persians. But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall
thy people in the latter days."[454] And we can not possibly doubt that
this prince of the kingdom of the Persians was a hostile power, which
favoured the nation of the Persians an enemy of God's people; for in
order to hinder the good which it saw would result from the solution
of the question for which the prophet prayed the Lord, by the
archangel, in its jealousy it opposed itself to prevent the saving
comfort of the angel from reaching Daniel too speedily, and from
strengthening the people of God, over which the archangel Gabriel was:
and the latter said that even then, owing to the fierceness of his
assaults, he would not have been able to come to him, had not Michael
the archangel come to help him, and met the prince of the kingdom of
the Persians, and joined battle with him, and intervened, and defended
him from his attack, and so enabled him to come to instruct the
prophet after twenty-one days. And a little later on it says:
"And the angel said: Dost thou know wherefore I am come to thee?
And now I will return to fight against the prince of the Persians.
For when I went forth, there appeared the prince of the Greeks coming.
But I will tell thee what is written down in the Scriptures of truth:
and none is my helper in all these things but Michael your
prince."[455] And again:
"At that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who
standeth for the children of thy people."[456] So then we read that in the same
way another was called the prince of the Greeks, who since he was
patron of that nation which was subject to him seems to have been
opposed to the nation of the Persians as well as to the people of
Israel. From which we clearly see that antagonistic powers raise
against each other those quarrels of nations, and conflicts and
dissensions, which they show among themselves at their instigation,
and that they either exult at their victories or are cast down at
their defeats, and thus cannot live in harmony among themselves, while
each of them is always striving with restless jealousy on behalf of
those whom he presides over, against the patron of some other
nation.
How it is that spiritual wickednesses obtained the
names of powers or principalities.
WE can then see clear reasons, in addition to those ideas which we
expounded above, why they are called principalities or powers; viz.,
because they rule and preside over different nations, and at least
hold sway over inferior spirits and demons, of which the gospels give
us evidence by their own confession that there exist legions. For
they could not be called lords unless they had some over whom to
exercise the sway of lordship; nor could they be called powers or
principalities, unless there were some over whom they could claim
power: and this we find pointed out very clearly in the gospel by the
Pharisees in their blasphemy: "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub
the prince of the devils,"[457]
for we find that they are also called "rulers of
darkness,"[458] and that one of
them is styled "the prince of this world."[459] But the blessed Apostle declares
that hereafter, when all things shall be subdued to Christ, these
orders shall be destroyed, saying: "When He shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God even the Father, when He shall have destroyed
all principalities and powers and dominions."[460] And this certainly can only take
place if they are removed from the sway of those over whom we know
that powers and dominions and principalities take charge in this
world.
Of the fact that it is not without reason that the
names of angels and archangels are given to holy and heavenly
powers.
FOR no one doubts that not without cause or reason are the same titles
of rank assigned to the better sort, and that they are names of office
and of worth or dignity, for it is plain that they are termed angels,
i.e., messengers from their office of bearing messages, and the
appropriateness of the name teaches that they are
"archangels" because the preside over angels,
"dominions" because they hold dominion over certain persons,
and "principalities" because they have some to be princes
over, and "thrones" because they are so near to God and so
privy and close to Him that the Divine Majesty specially rests in them
as in a Divine throne, and in a way reclines surely on them.
Of the subjection of the devils, which they show to
their own princes, as seen in a brother's vision.
BUT that unclean spirits are ruled over by worse powers and are
subject to them we not only find from those passages of Scripture,
recorded in the gospels when the Pharisees maligned the Lord, and He
answered "If I by Beelzebub the prince of the devils cast out
devils,"[461] but we are also
taught this by clear visions and many experiences of the saints, for
when one of our brethren was making a journey in this desert, as day
was now declining he found a cave and stopped there meaning to say his
evening office in it, and there midnight passed while he was still
singing the Psalms. And when after he had finished his office he sat
down a little before refreshing his wearied body, on a sudden he began
to see innumerable troops of demons gathering together on all sides,
who came forward in an immense crowd, and a long line, some preceding
and others following their prince; who at length arrived, being taller
and more dreadful to look at than all the others; and, a throne having
been placed, he sat down as on some lofty tribunal, and began to
investigate by a searching examination the actions of each one of
them; and those who said that they had not yet been able to circumvent
their rivals, he commanded to be driven out of his sight with shame
and ignominy as idle and slothful, rebuking them with angry wrath for
the waste of so much time, and for their labour thrown away: but those
who reported that they had deceived those assigned to them, he
dismissed before all with the highest praise amidst the exultation and
applause of all, as most brave warriors, and most renowned as an
example to all the rest: and when in this number some most evil spirit
had presented himself, in delight at having to relate some magnificent
triumph, he mentioned the name of a very well known monk, and declared
that after having incessantly attacked him for fifteen years, he had
at last got the better of him, so as to destroy him that very same
night by the sin of fornication, for that he had not only impelled him
to commit adultery with some consecrated maid, but had actually
persuaded him to keep her and marry her. And when there arose shouts
of joy at this narrative, he was extolled with the highest praise by
the prince of darkness, and departed crowned with great honours. And
so when at break of day the whole swarm of demons had vanished from
his eyes, the brother being doubtful about the assertion of the
unclean spirit, and rather thinking that he had desired to entice him
by an ancient customary deceit, and to brand an innocent brother with
the crime of incest, being mindful of those words of the gospel; viz.,
that "he abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and
its father,"[462] he made his way
to Pelusium, where he knew that the man lived, whom the evil spirit
declared to be destroyed: for the brother was very well known to him,
and when he had asked him, he found that on the same night on which
that foul demon had announced his downfall to his company and prince,
he had left his former monastery, and sought the town, and had gone
astray by a wretched fall with the girl mentioned.
Of the fact that two angels always cling to every
man.
FOR Holy Scripture bears witness that two angels, a good and a bad
one, cling to each one of us. And of the good ones the Saviour says:
"Do not despise one of these little ones; for I say unto you that
their angels in heaven do always behold the face of thy Father which
is in heaven:"[463] and this
also: "the angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that
fear Him, and deliver them."[464]
Moreover this also which is said in the Acts of the Apostles, of
Peter, that "it is his angel."[465] But of both sorts the book of the
Shepherd teaches us very fully.[466]
But if we consider about him who attacked the blessed Job we shall
clearly learn that it was he who always plotted against him but never
could entice him to sin, and that therefore he asked for power from
the Lord, as he was worsted not by his (Job's) virtue but by the
Lord's protection which ever shielded him. Of Judas also it is said:
"And let the devil stand at his right hand."[467]
Of the degrees of wickedness which exist in hostile
spirits, as shown in the case of two philosophers.
BUT of the difference that there is between demons we have learnt a
great deal by means of those two philosophers who formerly by acts of
magic had oftentimes great experience both of their laziness and of
their courage and savage wickedness. For these looking down on the
blessed Antony as a boor and rustic, and wanting, if they could not
injure him any further, at least to drive him from his cell by
illusions of magic and the devices of demons, despatched against him
most foul spirits, for they were impelled to this attack upon him by
the sting of jealousy because enormous crowds came daily to him as the
servant of God. And when these most savage demons did not even
venture to approach him as he was now signing his breast and forehead
with the sign of the cross, and, now devoting himself to prayer and
supplication, they returned without any result to those who had
directed them; and these again sent against him others more desperate
in wickedness, and when these too had spent their strength in vain,
and returned without having accomplished anything, and others still
more powerful were nevertheless told off against the victorious
soldier of Christ, and could prevail nothing against him, all these
great plots of theirs devised with all the arts of magic were only
useful in proving the great value that there is in the profession of
Christians, so that those fierce and powerful shadows, which they
thought would veil the sun and moon if they were directed towards
them, could not only not injure him, but not even draw him forth from
his monastery for a single instant.
Of the fact that devils cannot prevail at all
against men unless they have first secured possession of their
minds.
AND when in their astonishment at this they came straight to Abbot
Antony and disclosed the extent of their attacks and the reason of
them and their plots, they dissembled their jealousy and asked that
they might forthwith be made Christians. But when he had asked of
them the day when the assault was made, he declared that at that time
he had been afflicted with the most bitter pangs of thought. And by
this experience the blessed Antony proved and established the opinion
which we expressed yesterday in our Conference, that demons cannot
possibly find an entrance into the mind or body of anyone, nor have
they the power of overwhelming the soul of anyone, unless they have
first deprived it of all holy thoughts, and made it empty and free
from spiritual meditation. But you must know that unclean spirits are
obedient to men in two ways. For either they are by divine grace and
power subject to the holiness of the faithful, or they are captivated
by the sacrifices of sinners, and certain charms, and are flattered by
them as their worshippers. And the Pharisees too were led astray by
this notion and fancied that by this device even the Lord the Saviour
gave commands to devils, and said "By Beelzebub the prince of the
devils He casteth out devils," in accordance with that plan by
which they knew that their own magicians and enchanters--by invoking
his name and offering sacrifices, with which they know he is pleased
and delighted--have as his servants power even over the devils who are
subject to him.
A question about the fallen angels who are said in
Genesis to have had intercourse with the daughters of men.
GERMANUS: Since a passage of Genesis was a little while ago by the
providence of God brought forward in our midst, and happily reminded
us that we can now conveniently ask about a point which we have always
longed to learn, we want to know what view we ought to take about
those fallen angels who are said to have had intercourse with the
daughters of men, and whether such a thing can literally take place
with a spiritual nature. And also with regard to this passage of the
gospel which you quoted of the devil a little while back, "for he
is a liar and his father,"[468]
we should like in the same way to hear who is to be understood by
"his father."
The answer to the question raised.
SERENUS: You have propounded two not unimportant questions, to which I
will reply, to the best of my ability, in the order in which you have
raised them. We cannot possibly believe that spiritual existences can
have carnal intercourse with women. But if this could ever have
literally happened how is it that it does not now also sometimes take
place, and that we do not see some in the same way born of women by
the agency of demons without intercourse with men? especially when it
is clear that they delight in the pollution of lust, which they would
certainly prefer to bring about through their own agency rather than
through that of men, if they could possibly manage it, as Ecclesiastes
declares: "What is it that hath been? The same that is. And
what is it that hath been done? The same that is done. And there is
nothing new that can be said under the sun, so that a man can say:
Behold this is new; for it hath already been in the ages which were
before us."[469] But the
question raised may be resolved in this way. After the death of
righteous Abel, in order that the whole human race might not spring
from a wicked fratricide, Seth was born in the place of his brother
who was slain, to take the place of his brother not only as regards
posterity, but also as regards justice and goodness. And his
offspring, following the example of their father's goodness, always
remained separate from intercourse with and the society of their
kindred descended from the wicked Cain, as the difference of the
genealogy very clearly tells us, where it says: "Adam begat Seth,
Seth begat Enos, Enos begat Cainan, but Cainan begat Mahalaleel, but
Mahalaleel begat Jared, Jared begat Enoch, Enoch begat Methuselah,
Methuselah begat Lamech, Lamech begat Noah."[470] And the genealogy of Cain is given
separately as follows: "Cain begat Enoch, Enoch begat Cainan,
Cainan begat Mahalaleel, Mahalaleel begat Methuselah, Methuselah begat
Lamech, Lamech begat Jabal and Jubal."[471] And so the line which sprang from
the seed of righteous Seth always mixed with its own kith and kin, and
continued for a long while in the holiness of its fathers and
ancestors, untouched by the blasphemies and the wickedness of an evil
offspring, which had implanted in it a seed of sin as it were
transmitted by its ancestors. As long then as there continued that
separation of the lines between them, the seed of Seth, as it sprang
from an excellent root, was by reason of its sanctity termed
"angels of God," or as some copies have it "sons of
God;"[472] and on the contrary
the others by reason of their own and their fathers' wickedness and
their earthly deeds were termed "children of men." Though
then there was up to this time that holy and salutary separation
between them, yet after this the sons of Seth who were the sons of God
saw the daughters of those who were born of the line of Cain, and
inflamed with the desire for their beauty took to themselves from them
wives who taught their husbands the wickedness of their fathers, and
at once led them astray from their innate holiness and the
single-mindedness of their forefathers. To whom this saying applies
with sufficient accuracy: "I have said: Ye are Gods, and ye are
all the children of the Most High. But ye shall die like men, and
fall like one of the princes;"[473] who fell away from that true study
of natural philosophy, handed down to them by their ancestors, which
the first man who forthwith traced out the study of all nature, could
clearly attain to, and transmit to his descendants on sure grounds,
inasmuch as he had seen the infancy of this world, while still as it
were tender and throbbing and unorganized; and as there was in him not
only such fulness of wisdom, but also the grace of prophecy given by
the Divine inspiration, so that while he was still an untaught
inhabitant of this world he gave names to all living creatures, and
not only knew about the fury and poison of all kinds of beasts and
serpents, but also distinguished between the virtues of plants and
trees and the natures of stones, and the changes of seasons of which
he had as yet no experience, so that he could well say: "The Lord
hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are, to know the
disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements, the
beginning and the ending and the midst of times, the alterations of
their courses and the changes of their seasons, the revolutions of the
year and the disposition of the stars, the natures of living creatures
and the rage of wild beasts, the force of winds, and the reasonings of
men, the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots, and all such
things as are hid and open I have learnt."[474] This knowledge then of all nature
the seed of Seth received through successive generations, handed down
from the fathers, so long as it remained separate from the wicked
line, and as it had received it in holiness, so it made use of it to
promote the glory of God and the needs of everyday life. But when it
had been mingled with the evil generation, it drew aside at the
suggestion of devils to profane and harmful uses what it had
innocently learnt, and audaciously taught by it the curious arts of
wizards and enchantments and magical superstitions, teaching its
posterity to forsake the holy worship of the Divinity and to honour
and worship either the elements or fire or the demons of the air. How
it was then that this knowledge of curious arts of which we have
spoken, did not perish in the deluge, but became known to the ages
that followed, should, I think, be briefly explained, as the occasion
of this discussion suggests, although the answer to the question
raised scarcely requires it. And so, as ancient traditions tell us,
Ham the son of Noah, who had been taught these superstitions and
wicked and profane arts, as he knew that he could not possibly bring
any handbook on these subjects into the ark, into which he was to
enter with his good father and holy brothers, inscribed these
nefarious arts and profane devices on plates of various metals which
could not be destroyed by the flood of waters, and on hard rocks, and
when the flood was over he hunted for them with the same
inquisitiveness with which he had concealed them, and so transmitted
to his descendants a seed-bed of profanity and perpetual sin. In this
way then that common notion, according to which men believe that
angels delivered to men enchantments and diverse arts, is in truth
fulfilled. From these sons of Seth then and daughters of Cain, as we
have said, there were I born still worse children who became mighty
hunters, violent and most fierce men who were termed giants by reason
of the size of their bodies and their cruelty and wickedness. For
these first began to harass their neighbours and to practise pillaging
among men, getting their living rather by rapine than by being
contented with the sweat and labour of toil, and their wickedness
increased to such a pitch that the world could only be purified by the
flood and deluge. So then when the sons of Seth at the instigation of
their lust had transgressed that command which had been for a long
while kept by a natural instinct from the beginning of the world, it
was needful that it should afterwards be restored by the letter of the
law: "Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son to wife, nor
shalt thou take a wife of his daughters to thy son; for they shall
seduce your hearts to depart from your God, and to follow their gods
and serve them."[475]
An objection, as to how an unlawful intermingling
with the daughters of Cain could be charged against the line of Seth
before the prohibition of the law.
GERMANUS: If that command had been given to them, then the sin of
breaking it might fairly have been brought against them for their
audacity in so marrying. But since the observance of that separation
had not yet been established by any rule, how could that intermingling
of races be counted wrong in them, as it had not been forbidden by any
command? For a law does not ordinarily forbid crimes that are past,
but those that are future.
The answer, that by the law of nature men were from
the beginning liable to judgment and punishment.
SERENUS: God at man's creation implanted in him naturally complete
knowledge of the law, and if this had been kept by man, as at the
beginning, according to the Lord's purposes, there would not have been
any need for another law to be given, which He afterwards proclaimed
in writing: for it were superfluous for an external remedy to be
offered, where an internal one was still implanted and vigorous. But
since this had been, as we have said, utterly corrupted by freedom and
the opportunity of sinning, the severe restrictions of the law of
Moses were added as the executor and vindicator of this (earlier law)
and to use the expressions of Scripture, as its helper, that through
fear of immediate punishment men might be kept from altogether losing
the good of natural knowledge, according to the word of the prophet
who says "He gave the law to help them:"[476] and it is also described by the
Apostle as having been given as a schoolmaster[477] to little children, as it instructs
and guards them to prevent them from departing through sheer
forgetfulness from the teaching in which they had been instructed by
the light of nature: for that the complete knowledge of the law was
implanted in man at his first creation, is clearly proved from this;
viz., that we know that before the law, aye, and even before the
flood, all holy men observed the commands of the law without having
the letter to read. For how could Abel, without the command of the
law, have known that he ought to offer to God a sacrifice of the
firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof,[478] unless he had been taught by the law
which was naturally implanted in him? How could Noah have
distinguished what animals were clean and what were unclean,[479] when the commandment of the law had
not yet made a distinction, unless he had been taught by a natural
knowledge? Whence did Enoch learn how to "walk with
God,"[480] having never acquired
any light of the law from another? Where had Shem and Japheth read
"Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father," so
that they went backwards and covered the shame of their father?[481] How was Abraham taught to abstain
from the spoils of the enemy which were offered to him, that he might
not receive any recompense for his toil, or to pay to the priest
Melchizedec the tithes which are ordered by the law of Moses?[482] How was it too that the same
Abraham and Lot also humbly offered to passers by and strangers
offices of kindness and the washing of their feet, while yet the
Evangelic command had not shone forth?[483] Whence did Job obtain such
earnestness of faith, such purity of chastity, such knowledge of
humility, gentleness, pity and kindness, as we now see shown not even
by those who know the gospels by heart? Which of the saints do we
read of as not having observed some commandment of the la before the
giving of the law? Which of them failed to keep this: "Hear, O
Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord?"[484] Which of them did not fulfil this:
"Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the
likeness of anything which is in heaven or in the earth or under the
earth?" Which of them did not observe this: "Honour thy
father and thy mother," or what follows in the Decalogue:
"Thou shalt do no murder; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou
shalt not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness; Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour's wife,"[485]
and many other things besides, in which they anticipated the commands
not only of the law but even of the gospel?
Of the fact that they were justly punished, who
sinned before the flood.
AND so then we see that from the beginning God created everything
perfect, nor would there have been need for anything to have been
added to His original arrangement--as if it were shortsighted and
imperfect--if everything had continued in that state and condition in
which it had been created by Him. And therefore in the case of those
who sinned before the law and even before the flood we see that God
visited them with a righteous judgment, because they deserved to be
punished without any excuse, for having transgressed the law of
nature; nor should we fall into the blasphemous slanders of those who
are ignorant of this reason, and so depreciate the God of the Old
Testament, and run down our faith, and say with a sneer: Why then did
it please your God to will to promulgate the law after so many
thousand years, while He suffered such long ages to pass without any
law? But if He afterwards discovered something better, then it
appears that at the beginning of the world His wisdom was inferior and
poorer, and that afterwards as if taught by experience He began to
provide for something better, and to amend and improve His original
arrangements. A thing which certainly cannot happen to the infinite
foreknowledge of God, nor can these assertions be made about Him by
the mad folly of heretics without grievous blasphemy, as Ecclesiastes
says: "I have learnt that all the words which God hath made from
the beginning shall continue forever: nothing can be added to them,
and nothing can be taken away from them,"[486] and therefore "the law is not
made for the righteous, but for the unrighteous, and insubordinate,
for the ungodly and sinners, for the wicked and profane."[487] For as they had the sound and
complete system of natural laws implanted in them they had no need of
this external law in addition, and one committed to writing, and what
was given as an aid to that natural law. From which we infer by the
clearest of reasonings that that law committed to writing need not
have been given at the beginning (for it was unnecessary for this to
be done while the natural law still remained, and was not utterly
violated) nor could evangelical perfection have been granted before
the law had been kept. For they could not have listened to this
saying: "If a man strikes thee on the right cheek, turn to him
the other also,"[488] who were
not content to avenge wrongs done to them with the even justice of the
lex talionis, but repaid a very slight touch with deadly
kicks and wounds with weapons, and for a single truth sought to take
the life of those who had struck them. Nor could it be said to them,
"love your enemies,"[489]
among whom it was considered a great thing and most important if they
loved their friends, but avoided their enemies and dissented from them
only in hatred without being eager to oppress and kill them.
How this that is said of the devil in the gospel is
to be understood; viz., that "he is a liar, and his
father."
BUT as for this which disturbed you about the devil, that "he is
a liar and his father,"[490] as
if it seemed that he and his father were pronounced by the Lord to be
liars, it is sufficiently ridiculous to imagine this even cursorily.
For as we said a little while ago spirit does not beget spirit just as
soul cannot procreate soul, though we do not doubt that the compacting
of flesh is formed from man's seed, as the Apostle clearly
distinguishes in the case of both substances; viz., flesh and spirit,
what should be ascribed to whom as its author, and says:
"Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh for instructors, and
we reverenced them: shall we not much more be in subjection to the
Father of spirits and live?"[491]
What could show more clearly than this distinction, that he laid down
that men were the fathers of our flesh, but always taught that God
alone was the Father of souls. Although even in the actual compacting
of this body a ministerial office alone must be attributed to men, but
the chief part of its formation to God the Creator of all, as David
says: "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me:"[492] And the blessed Job: "Hast thou
not milked me as milk, and curdled me as cheese? Thou hast put me
together with bones and sinews;"[493] and the Lord to Jeremiah:
"Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee."[494] But Ecclesiastes very clearly and
accurately gathers the nature of either substance, and its beginning,
by an examination of the rise and commencement, from which each
originated, and by a consideration of the end to which each is
tending, and decides also of the division of this body and soul, and
discourses as follows: "Before the dust returns to the earth as
it was, and the spirit returns unto God who gave it."[495] But what could be said with greater
plainness than that he declares that the matter of the flesh which he
styled dust, because it springs from the seed of man, and seems to be
sown by his ministration, must, as it was taken from the earth, again
return to the earth, while he points out that the spirit which is not
begotten by intercourse between the sexes, but belongs to God alone in
a special way, returns to its creator? And this also is clearly
implied in that breathing by God, through which Adam in the first
instance received his life. And so from these passages we clearly
infer that no one can be called the Father of spirits but God alone,
who makes them out of nothing whenever He pleases, while men can only
be termed the fathers of our flesh. So then the devil also in as much
as he was created a spirit or an angel and good, had no one as his
Father but God his Maker. But when he had become puffed up by pride
and had said in his heart: "I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds, I will be like the Most High,"[496] he became a liar, and "abode
not in the truth;"[497] but
brought forth a lie from his own storehouse of wickedness and so
became not only a liar, but also the father of the actual lie, by
which when he promised Divinity to man and said "Ye shall be as
gods,"[498] he abode not in the
truth, but from the beginning became a murderer, both by bringing Adam
into a state of mortality, and by slaying Abel by the hand of his
brother at his suggestion. But already the approach of dawn is
bringing to a close our discussion, which has occupied nearly two
whole nights, and our brief and simple words have drawn our bark of
this Conference from the deep sea of questions to a safe harbour of
silence, in which deep indeed, as the breath of the Divine Spirit
drives us further in, so is there ever opened out a wider and
boundless space reaching beyond the sight of our eye, and, as Solomon
says, "It will become much further from us than it was, and a
great depth; who shall find it out?"[499] Wherefore let us pray the Lord that
both His fear and His love, which cannot fail, may continue steadfast
in us, and make us wise in all things, and ever shield us unharmed,
from the darts of the devil. For with these guards it is impossible
for anyone to fall into the snares of death. But there is this
difference between the perfect and imperfect, that in the case of the
former love is steadfast, and so to speak riper and lasts more
abidingly and so makes them persevere in holiness more steadfastly and
more easily, while in the case of the latter its position is weaker
and it more easily grows cold, and so quickly and more frequently
allows them to be entangled in the snares of sin. And when we heard
this, the words of this Conference so fired us that when we went away
from the old man's cell we longed with a keener ardour of soul than
when we first came, for the fulfilment of his teaching.
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