Christ's Divine Superiority Over Angels
For indeed, with him nothing is imperishable and indestructible. Moreover, he adds to these points a clear and most evident demonstration of his natural superiority, quoting Scripture: 'To which of the angels did he ever say, Sit at my right hand?' Are not all spirits ministering, sent forth for service on account of those who are about to inherit salvation? For if one who partakes of the divine nature—even if imagined as surrounded by lordly dignity, even if conceived as son of David having taken a body from the holy virgin—yet those who stand present as God and king of all things, to which of the existing beings is the difference lying between Christ and angels invisible? For the one indeed is Son and God, but the others, holding only the measure of servility, reckon that genuine worth consists in obedience to the highest glory; they consider the true to be found in submission, not in innate honor.
But if anyone should say, And who will persuade us in what way one might think him, having been born in the last times of the age through the holy virgin, to have founded the earth at the beginning and themselves to have raised up the heavens, he will receive back from us as if he had chosen to conceive the power of the true union—not the union understood merely in distinct persons or according to will and good pleasure—he will indeed find, through the economy of God, that the human things have come to pass, and that they are not foreign to the divine purpose.
Greek
ἡγιασμένοι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ." 381 Ὅτι δὲ καίτοι κεχρίσθαι λεγόμενος παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, οὐ πέπαυται τοῦ εἶναι ὃ ἦν τε καὶ ἔστι καὶ ἔσται διαπαντὸς, τουτέστι Θεὸς, αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος ἐνδοιάζειν οὐκ ἐᾷ, κατὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ προσώπου ἐντιθεὶς ἐφεξῆς Καὶ σὺ κατ' ἀρχὰς Κύριε τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου εἰσὶν οἱ οὐρανοί· αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις· καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται, σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν. Εἶτα τούτοις ἐπισυνάπτων εὐθύς Πρὸς τίνα δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἴρηκέ ποτε Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου. καὶ οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι ὑπολάβοι τις σωφρονῶν ἕτερον εἶναι τὸν σύνεδρον τῷ Πατρὶ παρὰ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου κατὰ σάρκα γεγεννημένον. καὶ πρός γε τοῦτο ἡμᾶς αὐτὸς ἐμπεδοῖ λέγων ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ τοῖς Ἰουδαίων καθηγηταῖς "Τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τίνος "υἱός ἐστιν; λέγουσιν αὐτῷ Τοῦ ∆αυείδ·" εἶτα πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ Χριστός "Πῶς οὖν ∆αυεὶδ ἐν πνεύματι καλεῖ αὐτὸν "κύριον λέγων Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τῷ Κυρίῳ μου Κάθου ἐκ "δεξιῶν μου;" σύνες οὖν ὅτι τὸν κεχρισμένον ὡς ἄνθρωπον παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους αὐτοῦ καὶ κύριον ὀνομάζει καὶ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἔφη θεμελιῶσαί τε τὴν γῆν καὶ αὐτοὺς εἰργάσθαι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ὑπάρχειν δὲ καὶ διαπαντός· ἀΐδιος γὰρ κατὰ φύσιν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος καίτοι τῶν δι' αὐτοῦ γεγονότων οὐκ ἐχόντων οὐσιωδῶς τὸ ἄναρχον ἐν χρόνῳ, κέκληνται γὰρ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρὰ Θεοῦ ὃς καὶ μόνος ἔχειν εἴρηται τὴν ἀθανασίαν· ἄφθαρτον γὰρ καὶ ἀνώλεθρον παρ' αὐτὸν οὐδέν. προσεπάγει δὲ τούτοις σαφῆ καὶ ἐναργεστάτην ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ κατὰ φύσιν ὑπεροχῆς Πρὸς τίνα γὰρ εἶπε τῶν ἀγγέλων Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου; οὐχὶ πάντες εἰσὶ λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν; εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν τοῖς τῆς θεότητος ἐνί 382 δρυται θώκοις, τὸ δεσποτικὸν ἀξίωμα περικείμενος κἂν εἰ γέγονεν υἱὸς ∆αυεὶδ σῶμα λαβὼν ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου, οἱ δὲ παρεστήκασιν ὡς Θεῷ τε καὶ βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων, τίνι τῶν ὄντων ἀσυμφανὴς ἡ μεταξὺ κειμένη διαφορὰ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀγγέλων; ὁ μὲν γάρ ἐστιν Υἱὸς καὶ Θεὸς, οἱ δὲ τὸ δουλοπρεπὲς αὐχοῦσι μέτρον καὶ πρὸς εὐκλείας τῆς ἀνωτάτω λελόγισται παρ' αὐτοῖς τὸ γνήσιον εἰς ὑπακοήν. εἰ δὲ δή τις λέγοι Καὶ ποῖος ἡμᾶς ἀναπείσει τρόπος αὐτὸν οἴεσθαι τὸν ἐν ἐσχάτοις τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς διὰ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου γεγεννημένον θεμελιῶσαί τε τὴν γῆν κατ' ἀρχὰς καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐγεῖραι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ἀντακούσεται παρ' ἡμῶν ὡς εἴπερ ἕλοιτο τὴν τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἑνώσεως ἐννοῆσαι δύναμιν, οὐ τὴν ἐν μόνοις προσώποις καὶ κατὰ θέλησιν ἤγουν εὐδοκίαν, ἴδια μὲν εὑρήσει γεγονότα διὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, οὐκ ἀλλότρια δὲ τῆς 9