The Unity of the Divine Nature

Regarding the passage: 'When he shall have subjected all things' (formerly under the author John Chrysostom). When he subjects all things to himself, then the Son also shall be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him. And regarding 'I do nothing of myself.' And regarding the Trinity, and how three patriarchs, three priests, three kings, and three virtues are remembered for the honor of the Trinity.

Yesterday, brothers, the discourse concerning the unending kingdom of Christ occurred. Although our discourse reached its summit in hearing and provided the listeners with proof—and I say provided proof not according to the worth of what is being proclaimed, but according to the power of the one proclaiming—for there is nothing such, neither on earth nor in heaven, which is able to worthily hymn the value of the Only-begotten. For much was prophesied to the prophets concerning the manifestation of the Lord, much was established by the Law, much was proclaimed to the apostles, and much was narrated to the evangelists, yet no one is able to reach the worth.

If even these many rivers of the Holy Spirit, having eternal and pure channels, emptied the human power but did not touch the divine power, where will the very brief fragments of a word of such worth be revealed? A mortal tongue cannot worthily hymn an immortal nature, nor can the word of men contain the Creator to worthily hymn the Word of God. What then? We proclaim as much as we are able, since we do not suffice for as much as we owe.

In other contests, those winning are brought the crowns, but in the labors concerning theology, those confessing defeat are brought the crowns of gratitude; let us therefore be defeated by saying so, and let us not be condemned by remaining silent. But since, for the unending kingdom is shown, he says, that he delivers the kingdom to God and...

Regarding the world—that is, the inhabited earth—which was once ruled by sin and is now ruled by grace: when the Son himself shall be made subject to the one who made all things subject to him, it is necessary to speak the most powerful things, lest our silence should prepare a stumbling block for the unthankful. You must all know, brothers, that we did not pass by willfully; rather, having handed over the word as it was commanded and having examined it, we judged it to be clear from the testimony of those who preceded us, including what remains.

For there is one aim and one word, both explaining what came before and clarifying what lies ahead, according to the divine economy, that these things were spoken to the apostle. Just as it was not appropriate there to hand over the kingdom to God and Father for the sake of the power of the proclamation, but the expression is introduced leniently because of the weakness of those who had repeated the error of many gods—for I fed you with milk, not solid food—so also now, with the same word, this is said. Everywhere the apostle's aim is to show a divine nature that is nowhere dividing itself from itself, and a Son who does not oppose the Father according to the impious notion of the Jews, for they said, 'This one is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.'

Therefore, he introduces one nature without division, one harmony, one word, one will, one authority, and one God in all, in order to cut off the shoots of the many-god error. For we have demonstrated, as the lovers of the listeners remember, that the same word which attested the value of the Father with the very same words and syllables, proclaims the value of Christ; just as it said, 'That God might be all in all,' so also it says concerning the Only-Begotten: but Christ is all in all.

What, then, does 'He shall be subject' intend? It prepares a medicine for the Greek disease; it does not introduce an ecclesiastical dogma, but rather casts out a Greek subtext. And if it is necessary to use free language, the subjection...