Letter 75

You inquire what the chief cup-bearer of Pharaoh, who loved the chaste Joseph, and the chief baker might signify [Genesis 40]. I hold, then, that by the chief cup-bearer is shown forth the people of the Christians, who offer to God the wine of faith; while by the chief baker is indicated the populace of the Lord-slaying and unbelieving Hebrews, from whom, on account of their great hardness of heart and their folly, the head was taken away. For of the Church Christ is appointed head, but of those who do not believe he is not. He, then, who has not believed the divine proclamation is beheaded and impaled; but the faithful, having become winged in mind and in knowledge, fly up to the undefiled and saving discs [the patens of the Eucharist], and eat the bread that has come down from heaven and bestows on us eternal life [John 6:33, 51]. Not moved of your own accord, but compelled by others, you have written to me: How can the Son be of one substance with the Father and equal in power, when he asks of the Father that he subject all things to him, and after this, as the Apostle writes, is himself subjected to the Father who subjected all creation to him [1 Corinthians 15:28]? What are you saying, O man? Does Christ at all need to be subjected to God, being God? For is he some robber and insolent one, or an adversary of God, that he should ever have need to be subjected? How then has it been said that the Son himself, after the subjection of the enemies, will be subjected to him who subjected all things to him? Just as he who looses my curse heard himself called a curse for my sake, through the economy in the flesh [the Incarnation], and the only sinless and blameless Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world [John 1:29], was called sin [2 Corinthians 5:21], and became a new Adam in place of the old [1 Corinthians 15:45]; so too he makes the unsubjected condition of men his own, as head of the whole. So long, then, as I am unsubjected and seditious, both in the denial of God and in the passions, Christ is said to be unsubjected for my sake; but when all things are subjected to him, then he too fulfills the subjection, presenting me, the one who has been saved, to the Father. But how Christ is of one substance with the Father according to the Godhead, and of equal strength and like to him, I consider it superfluous to write to one who does not accept it.

Πυνθάνῃ τί ἂν σημαίνοιεν ὁ τε ἀρχιοινοχόος τοῦ Φαραὼ τοῦ ἠγαπηκότος τὸν σώφρονα Ἰωσὴφ, καὶ ὁ ἀρχισιτοποιός. Ἡγοῦμαι τοίνυν διὰ τοῦ ἀρχιοινοχόου δηλοῦσθαι τῶν Χριστιανῶν λαὸν, προσφέροντα τῷ Θεῷ τὸν οἶνον τῆς πίστεως · διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἀρχισιτοποιοῦ μηνύεσθαι τὸν δῆμον τῶν Κυριοκτόνων καὶ ἀπίστων Ἑβραίων, οἵτινος διὰ τὴν πολλὴν σκληροκαρδίαν καὶ τὴν ἀνοητίαν ἀφηρέθη ἡ κεφαλή. Τῆς μὲν γὰρ Ἐκκλησίας κεφαλὴ ὁ Χριστὸς χρηματίζει, τῶν δὲ μὴ πιστευόντων οὐκ ἔστι. Ἀποκεφαλίζεται τοίνυν ὁ μὴ πιστεύσας τῷ θείῳ κηρύγματι, καὶ ἀνασκολοπίζεται · οἱ δὲ πιστοὶ, πτερωτοὶ τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ τῇ γνώσει γενόμενοι, ἐφίπτανται τοῖς ἀχράντοις καὶ σωτηρίοις δίσκοις, καὶ τὸν ἄρτον ἐσθίουσι τὸν καταβεβηκότα ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἡμῖν χαριζόμενον. Οὐκ ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ κινούμενο;· ἀλλ᾿ ὀφ᾿ ἑτέρων ἀναγκαζόμενος γεγράφηκάς μοι· Πῶς δύναται ὁ Υἱὸς τῷ Πατρὶ ὁμοούσιός τε καὶ ἰσοδύναμος ὑπάρχειν, δεόμενος τοῦ Πατρός, ὅπως ὑποτάξει αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο, καθὼς ὁ Ἀπόστολος γράφει, ὑποτασσόμενος τῷ Πατρὶ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν; Τί λέγεις, ὦ ἄνθρωπε; Δεῖται γὰρ ὅλως ὁ Χριστὸς; ὑποταγῆναι θεῷ θεὸς ὤν; Μὴ γὰρ λῃστὴς τις καὶ ἀγέρωχος, ἡ ἀντίθεός ἐστιν, ὅπως ἂν καὶ χρήζοι ὑποταγῆναι ποτε; Πῶς οὖν εἴρηται, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Υἱὸς μετὰ τὴν ὑποταγὴν τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα; Ὥσπερ κατάρα ἤκουσε δί᾿ ἐμὲ ὁ τὴν ἐμὴν λύων κατάραν· διὰ τῆς ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας, καὶ ἁμαρτία λέλεκται ὁ μόνος ἀμάρτητος καὶ ἀμώμητος ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ Ἀδὰμ γέγονεν ἀντὶ τοῦ παλαιοῦ νέος· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνυπότακτον, ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖται, ὡς κεφαλὴ τοῦ παντός. Ἕως μὲν οὖν ἀνυπότακτος ἐγὼ καὶ στασιώδης τῇ τε ἀρνήσει τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῖς πάθεσιν, ἀνυπότακτος δι᾿ ἐμὲ ὁ Χριστὸς λέγεται· ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς πληροῖ τὴν ὑποταγὴν προσάγων τῷ Πατρὶ ἐμὲ τὸν σεσῳσμένον. Πῶς δὲ ὁμοούσιος ὁ Χριστὸς τῷ Πατρὶ ὑπάρχει κατὰ τὴν θεότητα, ἰσοθενής τε καὶ ὅμοιος, περιττὸν ἡγοῦμαι γράφειν τῷ μὴ παραδεχομένῳ.