Quodvultdeus

“The apostle Paul testifies that this passage has both a plain and an allegorical meaning. Discussing it in his letter to the Ephesians, he asserts, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." The great mystery is that Adam hopes after receiving the promise. He sees that the spouse in whom he believed is now united to him. Therefore he symbolically announces to us that through faith the church will be the mother of humankind. It is evident that since Eve had been created from the side of the sleeping Adam, he has foreseen that from the side of Christ hanging on the cross the church, which is in truth the mother of the whole new humankind, must be created. In fact the church is "the woman who is guarded for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent."”

“I will try to explain briefly how wonderful, great and full of mysteries according to the promises of God are the events that occurred in these two twins. Isaac, their father, who had become blind in his physical eyes while his interior light continued to shine, promised Esau, his firstborn son, to give him the blessing, if he would prepare a tasteful dish of game for him. And Esau immediately hurried to carry out what had been ordered. The mother, who had heard the promise of the blessing for the elder brother, since she was divinely inspired, prepared a mystical plot made with prophetical art in order to direct the blessing to Jacob, the younger son. She took the garments of the firstborn son that she had at home, and dressed the younger brother with them, and put skins of young goats on his arms and his naked neck and dressed him in such a way that who he was would not be recognized. And this symbolical action in a sense shows us the Christ: he did not take the sinful flesh but "the likeness of sinful flesh" by receiving also the law of the Old Testament as the garments of the firstborn, since the Lord said that he had come not in order to abolish the law, but in order to accomplish it. In this attire Jacob, the younger son, who had already taken away from his brother the right of primogeniture, also gets hold of the blessing.”

“Joseph was imprisoned. Our Joseph, that is, Christ, as Isaiah says, "was numbered with the transgressors." The innocent man is led among the guilty by the wisdom of God, who "went down with him"—as was written—"into the pit, and did not leave him in bonds." This Joseph of ours, Christ, claims, "I became as a man without help, free among the dead." What followed had to happen, that is, the fact that Joseph found in the commander of the prison the grace of which he was full and that all the keys and the entire surveillance were given to him. This occurred in order that to the one before whom heaven prostrated in the figure of the sun, the moon and the stars, and the earth in that of its crops, also the subterranean creatures of the prison might submit. And therefore before our Joseph, that is, Christ, "every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." I also think that the fact that two eunuchs of Pharaoh were imprisoned together with him is not incompatible with the mystery of the passion. In fact, it was completed in this manner by the number of the three crucified, of whom our Joseph, that is, Christ, by unveiling the mysteries, had to punish one with a deserved chastisement and had to save the other with a free grace. These holy actions were accomplished then under the veil of allegory, so that their full revelation might be reserved to us.”

“Hearing people talk about his brother, Joseph longed for him and said, "I will prove in this manner that you are not spies, if your younger brother comes along with you." And taking Simeon from them he had him bound before him and sent him to prison. If you want to know who is Benjamin, our younger brother, desired by our Joseph, that is, Christ, he is Paul, formerly Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin according to his testimony, who asserts to be the least among the apostles. In Simeon we can recognize Peter bound by the threefold chain of denial, that Peter whom fear has bound and love has untied.”

“Therefore Jacob went down to Egypt together with seventy-five people, and his son Joseph came to meet him. After seeing him Jacob said, "I see you, son, now I can die willingly." When Simeon, that venerable old man, called a father because of his age and not because he could father children, saw Christ because of whom he was still kept in this world as in Egypt, even though he was extremely old, said, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation." David's Psalm 75, which coincides with the number of the people, proclaims, "God is known in Judea, and his name is great in Israel." Since Israel means "he who sees God," it is necessary that every person enlightened by grace, Jew or Greek, is freed from the slavery of Egypt, even though Pharaoh, that is, the devil, oppresses him with a heavy yoke.”

“Having arrived at Jerusalem, Ezra, inflamed with zeal for the Law, decided first of all to purify the people of their vices, since, as the prophet said, ―A wise king is the salvation of his people.‖ Having found the book of Moses, he showed, among other things, that the wrath of God was kindled against the people because they had married foreign wives against God's commandment.  With severity, which was his strength, he convinced them to send back their wives and their children. No longer held back by carnal delights and wanting to propitiate God, they did what was commanded of them without hesitation. In this way they symbolized the Christian people, whom the first among all priests admonishes, ―If anyone leaves house, fields, wife or children because of my name, he will be repaid many times over here and will gain eternal life. (Matt. 19:29)‖[ THE BOOK OF PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD 2.37.83]”

“We believe, therefore, in the immortal and invisible God, not in him whom the infidels have fashioned to be God, who is both an adulterer and a thunderer, but in the true God, Creator and Ruler of all the world.We also hold to Jesus Christ his Son, formerly promised through the prophets, and we know that the promise has been fulfilled. Yet, because we were not present when it was fulfilled, we are also commanded to believe it. The Jews were present then, however, from whose race the Savior himself chose apostles through whom the faith has reached us. As a member of the very race in which and from which he deigned to be born, the prophet Isaiah predicted a long time ago: "Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb and will bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel, which means 'God with us.' "; And elsewhere [we read]: "There will come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will go up from his root." The branch signifies the Virgin Mary, and the flower of the rod represents the Son of the Virgin, the Lord Jesus Christ. Before these things took place, the Jews read about it and did not understand.… Christ was born from a virgin like a flower from a branch, without the involvement of any seed. He was born a small infant and a great king.”

“The promise will be fulfilled when kings, peasants and the poor all gather equally around the one table of Christ (believed and seen by us); according to the prophet Isaiah: "Then the wolf will dine with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the cow, the lion and the lamb will eat straw together, and a small child will feed them."”

“Of the fulfilled promise (both believed and seen) wherein the bodies of the saints rose again at the death of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah said, "The dead will rise again, and all who were in the graves will be raised up, and all who are on the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which is from you is their medicine." Matthew the Evangelist confirms this, saying, "The earth shook and rocks were split and graves were opened and many bodies of the sleeping saints were raised. And going forth from their graves after his resurrection, they came to the holy city and appeared to many."”

“Isaiah wrote, "Behold, I lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; he who believes in it will not be ashamed." The cornerstone is Christ, who, when Nathaniel came to him, explained what Jacob had seen in his dream: "You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." For the Christ who descended "is the same one who ascends above all the heavens that he might fill everything." But he lays a narrow path that leads to life.”

“"This is the will of my Father," he said, "that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life." But notice that he who was sent also came by his own will, as the prophet Isaiah said: "Be encouraged, you who are lowly of soul, and do not fear. Behold, our God will bring judgment. God himself will come and save us."”

“Christ said, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me," and "Whoever sees me, sees the Father." The inclusion of just one syllable, "and," distinguishes the Father from the Son. It also demonstrates that you possess neither the Father nor the Son. Tell me, Arian, do you refer to the Father as God? And how! But what about the Son? Him too I profess to be God. You will do well to acknowledge this also, for when his coming in the flesh was announced beforehand, the prophet said about him, "Be encouraged, you who are lowly of soul, and do not fear. Behold, your God will bring the vengeance of retribution. God himself will come and save us."”

“As the end of the seventy-year period was drawing near, during which Jerusalem would be left desolate, as the Lord had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah, Daniel poured forth his prayer.… The archangel Gabriel came to his aid and told him about the mysteries that would take place. There would be seventy brief weeks among his people and in the holy city so that sin could end and trespasses be sealed up and unrighteousness ended and eternal righteousness brought in. Also the visions of the prophets would end, and the Holy of Holies would be anointed. From the time that this word went out in reply and Jerusalem would be built up would be seven weeks; until Christ, the prince, would come, sixty-two weeks.”

“Joseph is sent by his father to visit his brothers and the sheep. Our Joseph, as well, Christ the Lord, says, "I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." It is said, "The brothers hated Joseph because of his dreams." And our Joseph, too—Christ—cried out concerning his brothers the Jews, "They hated me without reason." Seeing Joseph, the brothers said, "Here comes the dreamer. Come, let us kill him, and see what becomes of his dreams." The godless, as Solomon says, said about our Joseph, "Come, let us kill the righteous one, because he is displeasing to us." And they continue, "He claims to possess knowledge of God and declares himself a son of God. Let's see if his words are true, and let's find out what will happen in the end." He confirms what is in the Gospel, when he says about the son sent to the vineyard workers, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours." After seizing Joseph, the brothers stripped him of his many-colored tunic and threw him in a ditch. Our Joseph, by the mouth of the prophet, says the same of his passion: "They threw me in the outer ditch, in darkness and the shadow of death." By the Gospel's authority we are told how he was stripped of his tunic, which was woven from top to bottom and which the soldiers refused to divide among themselves, thus confirming the unity of the church. Heretics are excluded from this casting of lots, because it was to be that only one would possess it, that is, unity. "Taking," Scripture says, "a kid from the goats, Joseph's brothers dipped the tunic in its blood" and took it to their father, falsely saying that a wild beast had torn him to pieces.”

“The prophet Isaiah says, "Then the wolf and the lamb will pasture together. The leopard will lie down with the kid. The ox, the lion and the lamb will eat hay together. And a little child will guide them." And David says, "See, the kings of the earth have assembled and joined together. They saw and were amazed." And again he says, "Who is like the Lord our God, who lives on high and looks down on earthly things? Who raises the indigent from the earth and lifts the poor from the dust, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people?" And also Solomon says, "He has made the small and the great, and he cares for all alike." And he says further, "Wisdom has built her house, with seven pillars as its foundation. She has sacrificed her victims, prepared her wine in its cup and spread her table. She has sent out her servants, calling out and saying, 'Come, eat my bread and drink the wine that I have prepared for you.' " The Lord confirms this in the Gospel, with the parable of the banquet prepared by the powerful rich man for his son. "He sent his servants to tell those who had been invited to come, and they excused themselves. One said, 'I have bought a field and I am going to see it, please excuse me.' Another said, 'I have bought five pairs of oxen.' And another, 'I have just taken a wife.' " In these three excuses we have "the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes and worldly show," which detained the Jews and kept them from coming to Christ's table, to which they had been invited. "Go," says the father, "into the plazas and the streets and bring to me those whom you find." The pagans were thus brought in. "There is still room," says the servant. The father responds, "Go along the hedgerows and the byways, and force those you find to come in." Among these are the rich, kings and certain heretics who have left the Lord's flock, who are constrained to come by him who says, "No one can come to me if the Father who sent me does not draw him." And to those who come he says, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day." The apostle Paul shows who these are when he says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, nor slave nor free person, nor man nor woman. All of you, in fact, are one person in Christ Jesus." The verses of the Sibyl, which we cited above, confirm this: "I will lower the hills and raise the valleys from their depths. There will no longer be anything sublime or exalted among what is human." Maro, in agreement with the Sibyl, says, "Nor will the herds fear the great lions."”

“Having arrived at Jerusalem, Ezra, inflamed with zeal for the Law, decided first of all to purify the people of their vices, since, as the prophet said, "A wise king is the salvation of his people." Having found the book of Moses, he showed, among other things, that the wrath of God was kindled against the people because they had married foreign wives against God's commandment. With severity, which was his strength, he convinced them to send back their wives and their children. No longer held back by carnal delights and wanting to propitiate God, they did what was commanded of them without hesitation. In this way they symbolized the Christian people, whom the first among all priests admonishes, "If anyone leaves house, fields, wife or children because of my name, he will be repaid many times over here and will gain eternal life."”

“For other heretics [the Arians], Christ, who is the very way by which one goes to the Father, is not equal to the Father according to his divinity. And even if he says, "I and the Father are one," they say, "If he was sent by the Father, he is inferior. The one who sends is greater than the one who is sent." This is a human argument, not a divine testimony. O heretic, the Trinity's way of doing things is different from yours, and you do not understand it, because you understand it carnally. Your heart is not pure, even regarding God. In fact, Christ is called "sent" in that he assumed human existence. As God, he is equal to the Father. Where did the Father send the Son that he himself would not be, together with him? Where did the Son go, that he would not be with the Father, as he says, "I am in the Father and the Father in me," and, "Philip, one who has seen me has seen the Father." He is the one who says through the prophet, "I fill heaven and earth," and of whom Solomon says, "He reaches from one end of the earth to the other with power, governing all things well. By his purity he pervades and penetrates all things." But you, heretic, say that the one who sends is greater and the one who is sent less, because you think in terms of intervals of time. But you err greatly by placing within time the one who made time. If you profess that the Father is God and that the Son is God and believe that the Father and the Son are eternal, do not consider the Son inferior because he made you, just because he made himself inferior to redeem you. But, you reply, he said, "The Father is greater than I." If you mean this phrase regarding the humanity he assumed, you err no longer. He says, "The Father is greater than I" in the same way that the prophet said of him, "You have made him a little less than the angels." Tell me, under what aspect do you consider him to be inferior? Power? "The Father judges no one, only the Son." Works? "Everything was made through the Son." If you believe, regarding time, that because you are older than your son, it is like this with God and his Son—may God keep the faithful from hearing these words! It is unworthy to believe such things of God. If in fact the Son is the Word according to the divinity of God, as John the Evangelist says, "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God," could there have been a time when the Father was without the Word, or was there a beginning before the beginning itself, given that the Son said that he was the beginning? Indeed, when the Jews asked him, "Who are you?" he replied, "The beginning." Thus what is written in Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," refers to the Son, who is the beginning. So, the Father is always God and the Son is always God, because the former has never not been Father and the latter has never not been Son. The Father did not diminish himself in generating the Son but generated from himself another like him, so that he would remain entirely in him. The Holy Spirit is not separated out as though he were a portion of that from which he proceeds; rather he is complete from another who is himself complete. And by proceeding from him, the Spirit does not diminish him, nor by being united to him does the Spirit make him any greater. And these three are one God, of whom the prophet says, "You are the only great God."”

“Joseph is put in prison. Our Joseph, the Christ, as Isaiah says, "was numbered among the wicked." The innocent man is led among the guilty by the wisdom of God, which "descended with him," as it was written, "into the pit and did not abandon him in chains." Our Joseph, Christ, exclaims, "I have become like a man without strength, free among the dead." What follows—that is, that the chief jailer saw how full of grace Joseph was and gave all of the keys and all oversight into his hands13—had to happen in the sense that, to him before whom the heavens bowed down in the figures of the sun, the stars and the moon, and the earth in the figure of the sheaves, would also submit the subterranean creatures of the prison, so that before our Joseph, Christ, "every knee would bow, of heavenly beings, of earthly beings and of those under the earth." Nor do I find it incompatible with the mystery of our Lord's passion that two of Pharaoh's eunuchs were thrown into prison with him, so that in a certain sense the number of the three crucified would be fulfilled. Our Joseph, Christ, revealing the mysteries, had to punish the one with a merited punishment and save the other by a gratuitous grace. These sacred acts were done then under the veil of allegory, so that the full revelation would be reserved to us.”

“God gives to Moses the following instructions for the celebration of the Passover—that is, of that passage that represents all of the action of our faith and the mystery of the passion of the Lord. The Jews were to ask the Egyptians for gold and silver objects and clothing and, carrying them away, to despoil the Egyptians of what they had given them under the devastating shock of the loss of the firstborn. Fearing also for themselves, the Egyptians sent the Jews away with all they had given them, so that "to the just," as the prophet says, would be restored "the reward of their labors." Considering the two cities they built for the Egyptians, the spoils the Jews carried away in no way constitute a theft but only the restitution of what was owed them. In fact, this passage had a mystical sense. According to the divine command, they must slay an unblemished year-old lamb under the tent, bathing the doorposts of the house with its blood. None of its bones are to be broken. It must be eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, with loins girded, in all haste. Nothing must be left for the next day. The authority of the Gospel tells how all of these instructions, which had a symbolic sense, are to be fulfilled. It commands us to eat the flesh of lambs until that day that will have no sunset—that is, until the resurrection—"not with the old yeast but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth." We are to eat after marking with his blood the doorposts of those on whose foreheads his cross will shine, eating "with bitter herbs," it says, that is, with those who pass a bitter life in grief. But these latter are blessed, because they will be consoled.”

“Forgetful of freedom and grace and desiring the Egyptian foods, the people were found guilty of murmuring against God and against Moses. They say, "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish that we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the leeks, the garlic and the onions. Now, however," they add, "our life has dried up, and we see nothing before us but this manna." The sweet things are rejected, the bitter desired. A grave, debilitating illness leads the soul to want to take what is harmful and to despise and reject what is useful and good for salvation. Thus they refused the manna, that is, Christ, saying, "We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one comes from." Christ says in reproof, "If you believed Moses, you would also believe me, because it is of me that he wrote. Indeed, I am the living bread come down from heaven." Did they not reject the holy manna when they said to Pilate, who wanted to release Jesus, "Release not him but Barabbas"? Barabbas was a notorious thief, and by asking for his release they professed to have in a certain sense desired, from among the thief's crimes, the leeks, the onions and the garlic, those unpleasant Egyptian foods that make one cry. To those who murmured, in fact, the divine majesty offered meats that did not restore but instead ruined those who ate them. It says in Scripture, "The natural person does not understand the things of the Spirit: every sluggard lives in concupiscence." It is right that the spiritual person asks that the desires of his flesh be taken from him. All these things show that it is wicked to desire and to ask of God things that are harmful to the soul, and especially to ask for them with murmuring. If a soul desires to enter the promised land, it must guard itself from offending God with such a desire.”

“The place that offered rest to this people, with its twelve springs and seventy palm trees, has had a sacred meaning in our mysteries. In fact, after the baptism of the twelve apostles, who are our springs, spouts of pure doctrine overflow to fill hearts. The sacred psalm thus resounds, "In the churches, bless the Lord God from the springs of Israel." By the seventy palm trees is symbolized the whole number of the thousands of martyrs who, fighting for the truth to death, receive the palm of the heavenly calling. In the Apocalypse the apostle John speaks of them thusly: "I saw an enormous throng whom no one could count, from every tribe, people and tongue. They were clothed in white garments and had palms in their hands," palms that Wisdom, that palm that rises at Kadesh, gave to the victors.”

“In the ninth vision Darius the Mede took the throne. He set up 120 satraps in his kingdom, commanded by three leaders, one of whom was Daniel, who had found favor in the king's sight. Envious men, plotting a trick against the servant of God, convinced the king to command that for thirty days no prayer could be offered to a god or a person but only to the king, with the penalty that if someone transgressed the king's order he would be thrown into the pit as food for the lions. Although he saw the posted decree, the prophet continued to pray to his Lord three times a day, as was his custom. They arrested him as a rebel and took him to the king, who, unable to save him from their envy, entrusted the prophet to his God, confessing that he only could save him from death, which is exactly what happened. In his distress, the king would not eat, taking neither food nor sleep, and at dawn he went in haste to see Daniel. Finding him alive and unhurt and glorifying the true God, he ordered Daniel to be taken from the pit and those who accused him to be thrown in instead, and they were immediately devoured in his presence. In these events also the prophecy was fulfilled: "One who digs a pit for his neighbor will fall into it. And one who lays a snare for his neighbor will perish in it." And our Lord Jesus, in whom all of these figures appeared, says by the mouth of the prophet, "They have dug a pit before me and have fallen in it themselves," and, "The Lord sent his mercy and his truth and has freed my life from the lions."”

“God said to the woman, "Multiplying, I will multiply your groaning and your pain." The prophet David confirms that the children of transgressors are born in this way. "I was conceived," he says, "in iniquity, and in the midst of sins my mother fed me at her breast." Solomon also attests to the same thing. "Heavy," he says, "is the yoke on the children of Adam, from the day they come forth from their mother's womb until the day of their burial in the mother of all." And similarly, "And I, when born, inhaled the common air and fell on the same earth, and like everyone else I emitted my first sound with tears. I was raised in swaddling clothes, with great care. No king, in fact, has begun existence differently, because there is only one entrance into life for all and only one exit." And a little later, "They were an accursed race from the beginning." And Isaiah, "Evil race, wicked children, you have abandoned the Lord." Job also says, "No one is immune from defilement, not even a baby whose life on earth has been but a single day." And again, "No one can make pure what has been conceived of an impure seed, except you alone, who are pure." To expiate the curse of this seed and to purify the impurity of both the woman who has given birth and the child, the Law instituted sacrifices until the kingdom of Christ, who, his body offered in sacrifice, saves the small and the great.”

“The prophet David says, "He sent his word and healed them." And Jeremiah, "He is our God, and there is no other but him, who has searched all the ways of wisdom and given it to Jacob, his beloved. After that he appeared on earth and dwelled among human beings." And the prophet Habakkuk says, "The word will depart and go out into the fields." And the prophet Isaiah, "Their heart is completely weighed down. He is a man, and who will know him?" John the Evangelist confirms this, saying, "The Word became flesh and dwelled among us." Paul also attests this: "He, being by nature equal to God, did not consider it a good to be equal to God but made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant, becoming like human beings and being as a man." And the Sibyl confesses, "Certainly to judge the flesh and the world with his presence."”

“Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who explored the country together with the priests Moses and Aaron, fulfill their pious duty and dissuade the people from the purpose of a despairing will, saying, "Do not fear the people of this region—we will swallow them in one gulp. The favorable time has passed for them. The Lord is with us. Do not fear." All of these things regarding the destruction of idols pertain also to the Christian people, so that no one would be apostate from God, fearing the demons from whom they have been freed by God's grace. And it is precisely their vain procession that Jeremiah describes when he says, "Among other things, when you have entered Jerusalem, you will see there gods of gold and silver carried on their shoulders." These are made by hands and are nothing and can do neither good nor evil, by the fact that they are nothing. "Do not fear them. Sanctify the Lord in your hearts and let him be the object of your fear." Isaiah describes the worshipers of demons as "those giants were there, who are called experts in war. But the Lord did not choose them, nor did he give them the way of knowledge. And they perished for lack of wisdom." And Solomon says, "At the beginning, when the proud giants perished." Against their pride, Christ's humble people rose victorious.”

“Our holy mother church has received you in her womb through the most sacred sign of the cross and with the greatest joy will give birth spiritually as she did also with your brothers. As new and future offspring of such a mother, until she restores to the true Light those born anew through the sacred washing, she feeds in her womb those whom she is carrying with suitable food, and she who is joyful leads those who are joyful to the day of their birth. She does not possess the mind and thought of Eve, who in sadness and in groaning brings forth sons who are themselves without joy but full of lamentation. What that [mother] bound, this [mother] has loosened, so that as [Eve] gave over to death her offspring through her disobedience, this [mother] restores to life through her obedience. All the mysteries that have been done and are being done among you through the ministry of the servants of God—the exorcisms, prayers, spiritual songs, insufflations, the coarse garment, the bowing of the neck, the humility of the feet—all of these things, as I have said, are food that refreshes us in the womb and makes us strong, so that when we have been reborn through baptism, our mother might bring us happy to Christ. And you have received the symbol, the protection of her who desires to bring you to birth against the poison of the serpent. It is written in the Apocalypse of the apostle John that the dragon stood before a woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. We all know that the dragon is the devil and that that woman signifies the Virgin Mary, who remaining intact gave birth to our Head who was complete. She herself presents in herself a figure of the holy church, so that just as she remained a virgin while giving birth to a son, so also [the church] at all times brings forth his members without losing her virginity.”