The Body of Death and the Nature of Christ

But this silence does not come from the one being silent, but from those who are not succeeding as listeners. For he says in one of the prophets in Amos: 'Many are the fallen in every place, I will cast down silence' (Amos 8:11). If they flee, I cast down silence, so that I may not be honored to bring forth the teaching. And this indeed is one of the aids.

For instance, in Isaiah, he commands the clouds not to pour rain when the vine bears thorns instead of grapes, when, having remained unfruitful of the one watering in order to make righteousness, he makes iniquity. The grape is righteousness, and iniquity is the thorn. And since, being watered, he has not produced suitable fruits, but anxieties and worldly pleasures, he no longer speaks; for most often the wicked rub themselves against the words concerning virtue, learning to despise them. Sometimes, indeed, he endures the rain. And the rain and the voice mean the same thing here; for it reveals the divine teaching. Just as it no longer rains when good fruits are not being borne, so he no longer speaks nor converses when those listening have thoughts concerning other things. And this he speaks to men.

According to the intention of the teacher, the listeners are called disciples, but when he is the shepherd, they are sheep. And since they are no longer sheep nor men, but have become scorpions according to that which was said: 'Son of man, in the midst of scorpions you dwell' (Ezekiel 2:6). 'Many' therefore is 'the fallen in every place, I will cast down silence.' But it is read differently; for the wording is ambiguous. It is possible to take it thus: 'Many is the fallen in every place; I will cast down silence'; in every degree; for here the place signifies the degree, as also in others. Concerning Judas, indeed, it is said that he strayed from the place of the ministry which was entrusted to him. 'Many' therefore is 'the fallen in every place.' In every rank of those owing to be sober and vigilant and to speak of the things of virtue, 'the fallen is many,' except not all. 'I will cast down silence.' And it is possible also to divide the verse thus: 'Many is the fallen. In every place I will cast down silence.'

I do not only keep silent from the mystical things, but also from the ethical things; for in every place in which it was necessary to stand and be established and to be ready for a listening, a fall has occurred, and everywhere I cast down silence. Therefore, the sticking of the tongue to the palate signifies silence.

...the larynx. "If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my tongue cling to my larynx, if I do not remember you" (Psalm 137:1). If I do not remember you (Psalm 102:3), let me take silence. 16 And you have led me into the dust of death. Even if the voice were in the presence of Jesus, even if it were in the presence of the holy men who knew God, having become like the wicked in the place of affliction, having been humbled—"you humbled us in a place of affliction" (Psalm 102:3). For the ones saying this are holy, as the conjunction signifies of the psalm. "Body of death" (Psalm 49:14) is said of that which surrounds us, and it is also said "dust of death" (Psalm 49:14). It is not "dust of death" in essence, but because those being forced from the life outside the body come into this, the body is named death. "Into the dust" therefore "of death you have led me" (Psalm 49:14). If it were life, it would have been led upward; for to be led up is to be brought into life and blessedness and an immortal state. Even if the Savior therefore says this, this: the light "into the dust of death you have led me" (Psalm 49:14). They descended into a body so that I might die on behalf of all, so that "by the grace of God above all" (1 Cor 15:10) I might taste "death."

Differently, therefore, from other men, it is said "dust of death" and "body of death" for the Savior; for if the body becomes death when the one using it sins, and Jesus did not sin, he came into the dust of death being able to undergo death. Therefore, those who stumble, saying that he is either merely a man or a heavenly body having endured nothing, and attributing death to him, are mistaken. It is not so. Divinity, without such a thing, does not undergo death; for it is immortality. And just as for God, being light according to truth and essence, this is not darkness to him, so also in life there is no death. It is impossible for life to receive death. But he took upon himself something capable of undergoing death and division, and this is called death essential to it; for many other things are said of some things as not being essential to them, such as "garment, my footwear." In this way, the body is not essential. If, therefore, he says life receives death, he says receiving according to the outside. And I will say something paradoxical: just as the body receives death, so life vivifies the body. And this common life, the entanglement of the soul with the body, provides the vital movements to the body. How much more then, life itself or the...