What do we receive from grace after the fall of humanity?

First : divine grace grants us an understanding of the word of God . God created humanity so that we could converse with the divine Word face to face. The first humans delighted in the voice of God walking in Paradise (Gen. 3:8). But when humanity turned its back on the source of grace, God did not forsake us but gave us the law to elevate us towards the richness of His grace. The Holy Bible is not just for reading but a living encounter with the divine Word behind the letters. He who receives the grace of knowing the mysteries of the Holy Bible enjoys communion with the divine Word, and his soul enters the fulfilling spiritual paradise.

The scholar Origen says, “It is impossible to partake of any good thing apart from God; and above all, to understand the inspired Holy Scriptures.”⁵⁹² He also says, “Many strive to interpret the Holy Bible … but not all succeed. It is rare to find someone who has this grace from God .”⁵⁹³ “But that the spiritual meaning which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on whom the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in the word of wisdom and knowledge.”⁵⁹⁴

Second: the grace of resurrection and victory over death. Humanity was thoroughly corrupted by death resulting from sin. Then the incarnate Word of God came and said, “I am the resurrection” (John 11:25), giving Himself to us that we may enjoy being in communion with Him; and freeing us from the power of death and the corruption that befalls us. In the spirit of power and victory we sing with Paul the Apostle, “O Death, where is your sting? O

590 He means the commandments and not the symbolic Jewish sacrifices. It is not permissible to return to the sacrifices which were a type once the Anti-Type, the Lord Christ, has come.

591 St. John Cassian, Conferences 21.34 (NPNF II/11:517–518).

592 Origen, Sel. Ps . 1.2.

593 Origen, Sel. Ps . 119:85.

594 Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Preface 8 (ANF 4:241).

Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin … But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55–57). This is the grace of the resurrection.

St. Athanasius the Apostolic says, “For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes into our realm … that as human beings had turned towards corruption he might turn them again to incorruptibility and give them life from death, by making the body his own and by the grace of the resurrection banishing death from them as straw from the fire.”⁵⁹⁵ He also says, “death … is itself truly dead … but all believers in Christ tread on it as nothing, and would rather choose to die than deny their faith in Christ. For they really know that when they die they are not destroyed, but both live and become incorruptible through the resurrection.”⁵⁹⁶

Third: the grace of adoption by God the Father. The divine Word is the Son by nature, begotten of the Father, Light out of Light. In Him we receive adoption by God the Father through divine grace. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “Come for the mystical Seal, that you may be easily recognized by the Master; be numbered among the holy and spiritual flock of Christ, to be set apart on His right hand, and inherit the life prepared for you. For they to whom the rough garment of their sins still clings are found on the left hand, because they did not come to the grace of God which is given through Christ at the new birth of Baptism .”⁵⁹⁷

St. Athanasius the Apostolic says that God bids us to “be baptized, not into the name of Unoriginate and originate, nor into the name of Creator and creature, but into the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19]. For with such an initiation we too, being numbered among works, are made sons .”⁵⁹⁸

Fourth: the grace of partaking of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The Word of God emptied Himself in order to bear our form (Phil. 2:8) and thus granted us the potential to bear boundless inner glory. It is a matter of joy for God that He sees His kingdom established within us; and a matter of joy for the inhabitants of heaven too; who glorify God for the richness of this boundless grace. This glory will be manifest in its most beautiful image on the day we meet our heavenly Bridegroom on the clouds, as we bear His image, and be wed as a heavenly bride, a queen sitting at the right hand of the King of Kings. This is the grace of partaking of the divine nature working in our depths.

St. Clement of Alexandria says, “O mystic wonder! The Lord was laid low, and man rose up … ‘Do you not know,’ says the apostle, ‘that you are the temple of God?’ (1 Cor. 3:16).

595 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation, trans., John Behr (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011) 8: pp. 65–67.

596 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation, trans., John Behr (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011) 27: pp. 107–109.

597 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 1.2 (NPNF II/7:6).

598 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians 1.9.34 (NPNF II/4:326).

The Gnostic [the believer who has attained true spiritual knowledge] is consequently divine, and already holy, God-bearing, and God-borne.”⁵⁹⁹

St. Ambrose says, “One who changes from the darkness of sin into the light of virtue and into grace is properly renewed. Thus, one who earlier was stained with foul defilement may shine with a brightness that is whiter than snow.”⁶⁰⁰

St. Gregory of Nyssa also says, “If, then, the divinely inspired text declares that in some inexpressible way wings are associated with the divine Nature, and if the first account of the creation of humanity attests that our nature came into existence as the creature made ‘after the image and likeness of God’ (Gen. 1:26), it is at any rate determined and settled that the creature that came to be ‘after the image’ was characterized by likeness to its original in every respect. But according to Holy Scripture, the original did indeed have wings. It follows that the human race was constituted with wings, so as to possess likeness to the divine in this regard also.

“It is obvious, to be sure, that the word “wings” must, by some figural understanding, be transposed into a notion that can suitably be applied to the divine, one according to which the word “wings” refers to power and blessedness and incorruption and the like. Since, then, these qualities belonged to humanity also as long as it was in every way like God, but afterwards the downward impulse toward evil robbed us of such wings as these (for once we are removed from the cover of God’s wings, we are stripped of our own wings too), for this reason, I say, the grace of God was manifested and illumined us, so that as we put away ungodliness and worldly desires we shall again, by holiness and justice, grow our wings again.”⁶⁰¹

Fifth: the grace of having the life of Christ, His fragrance and attributes. The most precious thing that God grants us as a divine grace is that He gave us His life. St. Clement of Alexandria says, “Generous, therefore, is He who gives for us the greatest of all gifts, His own life.”⁶⁰²

St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “So it was with the Bride Paul. He imitated the Bridegroom by his virtues and inscribed within himself the unapproachable Beauty by means of their sweetness, and out of the fruits of the Spirit—love and joy and peace and the like—he blended this spikenard. Hence he said that he was ‘the aroma of Christ’ (2 Cor. 2:15), capturing within himself the scent of that transcendent and unapproachable Grace and providing himself for others to have a part in according to their ability, as though he were an incense: others to whom, in accordance with the present disposition of each, the sweet smell became either life-giving or death-dealing. For the same unguent, if it be touched to a

599 St. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 11 (ANF 2:203); The Stromata, or Miscellanies 7.13 (ANF 2:547) amended.

600 St. Ambrose of Milan, The Prayer of Job and David 4.9.35 (FOTC 65:419).

601 Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on The Song of Songs , eds., Brian E. Daley S. J. and John T. Fitzgerald; trans., Richard A. Norris Jr. (Society of Biblical Literature, 2012) Homily 15: p. 475.

602 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.9 (ANF 2:231).

beetle and to a dove, does not have the same effect in each case, but the dove becomes stronger on account of the unguent’s scent, while the beetle perishes. Similarly, if anyone were a dove on the model of Titus or Silvanus or Timothy, the great Paul, that divine incense, shared with him the sweet scent of his perfume by the examples he provided as he advanced in every good thing.”⁶⁰³

Abba Dorotheus of Gaza says, “May God who is so good, grant us the grace of humility which Delivers man from so many evils and delivers him from the greatest temptations.”⁶⁰⁴

Abba Pambo says, “ By the grace of God , since I left the world, I have not said one word of which I repented afterwards.”⁶⁰⁵

The scholar Origen says, “I can hardly convince myself that there could be any work which would demand from God repayment as something due. For even the fact that we are able to do anything at all, to think and to speak, we do through his gift and generosity.”⁶⁰⁶

St. Clement of Alexandria says on grace, “Behold the might of the new song! It has made men out of stones, men out of beasts. Those, moreover, that were as dead, not being partakers of the true life, have come to life again, simply by becoming listeners to this song.”⁶⁰⁷

Sixth: the grace of the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. God our Father created us for the express purpose of enjoying immortal life with Him, that we might have a place in His divine bosom. For this purpose, our Lord Jesus Christ bore the shame of the Cross in our place, that we might be granted the gift of His kingdom forever. And even now, our Messiah in heaven is still concerned with our eternal inheritance.

St. Athanasius the Apostolic says, “Therefore also in the Judgment, when every one shall receive according to his conduct, He says, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (Matt. 25:34). How then, or in whom, was it prepared before we came to be, save in the Lord who ‘before the world’ was founded for this purpose; that we, as built upon Him, might partake, as well-compacted stones, the life and grace which is from Him?”⁶⁰⁸

603 Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on The Song of Songs , eds., Brian E. Daley S. J. and John T. Fitzgerald, trans., Richard A. Norris Jr. (Society of Biblical Literature, 2012) Homily 2: p. 101–103.

604 Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings , trans., Eric P. Wheeler, Cistercian Studies Series: Number 33 (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1977) Discourse 2 On Humility: p. 102.

605 Benedicta Ward, ed., The Desert Christian: The Sayings of the Desert Fathers , trans., Benedicta Ward (MacMillan, 1975) Pambo 5: p. 197.

606 Origen, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans , Books 1–5 4.1.14 (FOTC 103:243). See also 4.5.2: p. 259.

607 St. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 1 (ANF 2:172).

608 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians 2.22.76 (NPNF II/4:389) amended.

St. Mark the Monk says, “The Lord, wishing to show that every commandment is obligatory but that sonship is a gift is a gift bestowed on human beings by means of his own blood, says, ‘When you have done everything that you were ordered to do, say, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done only what we ought to have done”’ (Luke 17:10). Thus, the kingdom of heaven is not a reward for works but is rather a master’s gift prepared for his faithful servants.”⁶⁰⁹ He also says: “Every good work that we do through our own nature causes us to abstain from its opposing evil, but without grace it cannot increase our holiness .”⁶¹⁰

St. Ephrem contemplates on how grace grants joy to those who strive as they soar towards paradise. The paradisical life appears as a towering mountain above all other peaks, yet the labor of the ascent to paradise is joyous, filling us with splendor, and granting the believer the delicious fragrance of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15). This ascension is in truth a continual movement of the soul, day and night, by divine grace . It may seem to some that ascending is difficult, because His commandments seem to be impossible; but they hear His voice: “My yoke is easy [sweet], and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30) and the soul is set free, borne upon eternal arms. Our Christ pours out His glory upon them, perfumes His bride with His delicious fragrance, and the inhabitants of heaven rejoice over her, for she is the icon of the holy Christ. St. Ephrem also says:

“Not that the ascent to Paradise

is arduous because of its height, for those who inherit it experience no toil there. With its beauty it joyfully urges on those who ascend. Amidst glorious rays it lies resplendent, all fragrant with its scents; magnificent clouds fashion the abodes

of those who are worthy of it.”⁶¹¹

St. Cyril the Great says, “Do not be troubled when you remember the greatness of your former sins: but rather know, that still greater is the grace that justifies the sinner, and absolves the wicked. Faith then in Christ is found to be the pledge to us of these great blessings: for it is the way that leads to life: that bids us go to the mansions that are above:

609 St. Mark the Monk, “Concerning Those Who Imagine That They are Justified by Works,” in Mark the Monk, Counsels on the Spiritual Life: Volumes One and Two , trans. Tim Vivian and Augustine Casiday (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2009) pp. 113–140; 2: p. 113.

610 St. Mark the Monk, “Concerning Those Who Imagine That They are Justified by Works,” in Mark the Monk, Counsels on the Spiritual Life: Volumes One and Two , trans. Tim Vivian and Augustine Casiday (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2009) pp. 113–140; 23: p. 116.

611 St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise , trans., Sebastian P. Brock (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990) 1.5: p. 79.

that raises us to the inheritance of the saints: that makes us members of the kingdom of Christ .”⁶¹²

St. John Chrysostom’s discourse on the Sermon on the Mount indicates the purpose of the divine commandment. The Lord Christ begins His sermon with the Beatitudes (Matt. 5) so that the faithful can delight in the kingdom of heaven, manifesting His fatherhood for humanity, and proclaiming the kingdom of God which is prepared for the faithful. When He refers to Hades, He says that it is “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). But for the faithful, the commandment instils Paradise, by divine grace, in the depths the heart of the human being.

Seventh: the grace of delighting in the knowledge of divine truth. God created in human beings a yearning to know the truth; so the Lord Christ offers Himself, who is “the Truth.” Whoever obtains Him delights in the knowledge of the truth as a free divine gift.

St. Athanasius the Apostolic says, “we are made sons through Him by adoption and grace, as partaking of His Spirit (for ‘as many as received Him,’ he says, ‘to them gave He power to become children of God, even to them that believe on His Name’ (John 1:12)), and therefore also He is the Truth (saying, ‘I am the Truth,’ and in His address to His Father, He said, ‘Sanctify them through Your Truth, Your Word is Truth’ (John 14:6; 17:17)); but we by imitation become virtuous and sons.”⁶¹³

He also says, “For He did not, when He became man, cease to be God; nor, whereas He is God does He shrink from what is man’s; perish the thought … For as He asked questions in it [i.e., in the flesh], so also in it did He raise the dead; and He showed to all that He who gives life to the dead and recalls the soul, much more discerns the secret of all. And He knew where Lazarus lay, and yet He asked; for the All-holy Word of God, who endured all things for our sakes, did this, that so carrying our ignorance, He might grant to us the knowledge of His own only and true Father, and of Himself, sent because of us for the salvation of all, than which no grace could be greater.”⁶¹⁴

Eighth: the grace of being steadfast in the Father and the Son. St. Athanasius the Apostle says, “John then thus writes; ‘By this we know that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit’ (1 John 4:13). Therefore because of the grace of the Spirit which has been given to us, we come to be in Him, and He in us … And the Son is in the Father, as His own Word and Radiance; but we, without the Spirit, are strange and distant from God, and by the participation of the Spirit we are knit into the Godhead; so that our being in the Father is not ours, but is the Spirit’s which is in us and abides in us, while by the

612 St. Cyril of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel According to St. Luke: Part I , trans. R. Payne Smith, (Oxford University Press, 1859) Homily 40: p. 161, amended.

613 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians 3.25.19 (NPNF II/4:404) amended.

614 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians 3.27.38 (NPNF II/4:414) amended.

true confession we preserve it in us, as John again says, ‘Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God’ (1 John 4:15).”⁶¹⁵

Ninth: the Grace of contentment and joy. St. Ambrose says, “And so there are tears which are bread and which strengthen the heart of man (cf. Ps. 104:15). The maxim of Ecclesiastes is also appropriate to this discussion, ‘Cast your bread on the face of the water’ (Eccles. 11:1 LXX). For the bread of heaven is there, where the water of grace is ; it is right that those from whose belly rivers of living water flow (cf. John 7:38; 4:10) should receive the support of the Word and a nurture of a mystical [internal] kind.”⁶¹⁶

Tenth: the grace of light. St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “when the soul has been transposed from error to truth, the dark form of her life is transformed into radiant beauty.”⁶¹⁷ He also says, “But when the grace of God was revealed and Wisdom shone forth and the true light transmitted its radiance to ‘those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death’ (cf. Luke 1:79), then, while Israel closed its eyes to the light and banished itself from sharing in the good things, the Ethiopians come. Those of the Gentiles who approach by way of faith [cf. 1 Kings 10:1–13] and who once were far off draw near, having washed off their darkness in the mystical water. Thus Ethiopia extends her hand to God and offers gifts to the King: the spices of piety and the gold of the knowledge of God and the precious gems of the commandments and of the work of the virtues.”⁶¹⁸

St. Jacob of Sarug says, “May your grace come, O Lord the Living Spirit, and may the striking of the strings of the harp bring forth a melody for your teaching.”⁶¹⁹

Eleventh: grace and the enjoyment of richness of virtue. St. Jacob of Sarug says, “Emmanuel condescended to dwell among us. Our God came and took a body from us; and from Him, He made us spiritual by grace , and gave us His life, because He came and became one of us.”⁶²⁰

St. Ambrose says, “Great is the difference between the spirit of the world and the spirit of grace. The former begins at birth and ends with death, but the latter is not bounded by time or by passing of years; neither does death extinguish its flame … whoever acquires the spirit of grace never needs anything, and whoever partakes of the Holy Spirit attains to the pinnacle of virtue.” He also says, “He gave them all things, but there is no power of man exercised in these things, in which the grace of the divine gift operates.”⁶²¹

615 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians 3.25.24 (NPNF II/4:406–407) amended.

616 St. Ambrose of Milan, The Prayer of Job and David 4.2.7 (FOTC 65:395).

617 Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on The Song of Songs , eds., Brian E. Daley S. J. and John T. Fitzgerald; trans., Richard A. Norris Jr. (Society of Biblical Literature, 2012) Homily 2: p. 53.

618 Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on The Song of Songs , eds., Brian E. Daley S. J. and John T. Fitzgerald; trans., Richard A. Norris Jr. (Society of Biblical Literature, 2012) Homily 7: p. 217.

619 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 116.

620 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 116.

621 St. Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Repentance 1.8.35 (NPNF II/10:335).

As St. John Cassian says, “in the case of every virtue in which we feel that we make progress, we say these words of the Apostle: ‘Not I, but the grace of God with me,’ and ‘by the grace of God I am what I am’ (1 Cor. 15:10); and ‘it is God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure’ (Phil. 2:13). As the author of our salvation Himself also says: ‘If a man abide in me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5). And ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wake but in vain’ (Ps. 127:1–2).”⁶²²

Abba Moses says, “For it is no ordinary virtue nor one which can be freely gained by merely human efforts, unless they are aided by the Divine blessing, for we read that this is also reckoned among the noblest gifts of the Spirit by the Apostle: ‘To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit … to another the discerning of spirits’ (1 Cor. 12:8–11) … You see then that the gift of discretion is no earthly thing and no slight matter, but the greatest prize of divine grace. And unless a monk has pursued it with all zeal … he is sure to go wrong, as if in the darkness of night and dense blackness, and not merely to fall down dangerous pits and precipices, but also to make frequent mistakes in matters that are plain and straightforward … they could not obtain judgment and discretion, which passing by excess on either side, teaches a monk always to walk along the royal road, and does not suffer him to be puffed up on the right hand of virtue, i.e., from excess of zeal to transgress the bounds of due moderation in foolish presumption, nor allows him to be enamoured of slackness … For no one can doubt that when the judgment of our heart goes wrong, and is overwhelmed by the night of ignorance, our thoughts and deeds, which are the result of deliberation and discretion, must be involved in the darkness of still greater sins.”⁶²³

St. John Cassian says, “the Apostle Paul, knowing that all the treasures of heavenly riches are found in Christ, rightly writes to the Churches: ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.’”⁶²⁴

St. John Chrysostom says, “Some think that the house in which they live is their kingdom, although they know that death is inescapable and that there will come a day when they are forced to abandon it. Yet in their hearts, they feel as though they will reside there forever … But we do the opposite. We know that we are but sojourners who live temporarily upon the earth. We are aware that the homes we possess are more like an inn upon the road to eternity. We do not seek peace or security from the material walls around us or from the roof above our heads. Rather, we are content to surround our souls with walls of divine grace and we look to heaven above for our roof. And the foundation of our lives is good works, performed through the spirit of love.”

622 St. John Cassian, Institutes 12.9 (NPNF II/11:282) amended.

623 St. John Cassian, Conferences 1.1–2 (NPNF II/11:308–309).

624 St. John Cassian, The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 2.5 (NPNF II/11:561).

Twelfth: enjoyment of the motherhood of grace. St. Jacob of Sarug says, “The grace that builds up the world is a merciful mother. She cares for it like a mother with her child, who cannot abandon him. The woman cannot abandon her new-born, and the child in turn thinks that there is no other woman in the world except her who is feeding him.”⁶²⁵ He also says, “Grace has become the mother of the earth … So, she pleaded to the Lord saying: Enough madness on the earth! Come down and save it from straying. Grace’s request came before the divine power, which sent the compassionate Physician to those who are sick.”⁶²⁶ And also, “Grace — the mother of mercies — built the world and still carries it; but if she abandons it, it will fall. A chicken spreads out its wings over its youngsters, to gather them, preserve their lives, and protect them. She is a symbol of the Divinity who spreads our His mercies over His creatures like wings.”⁶²⁷

Thirteenth: grace is the medicine of sinners. St. Jacob of Sarug says, “God chose King Solomon and bestowed upon him the crown and glory and granted him wisdom … yet, by his own will, he fell under the influence of the people and his heart strayed. The Lord did not prevent him from straying; but when he strayed, the grace that dwelt in him departed from him. Yet, grace preserved his crown when he strayed and fell, and his crown was prevented from falling. He offered sacrifices to the (pagan) gods as he desired, and the Lord did not prevent him from offering them, for he was free. Had He prevented him, his freedom would have been suppressed. If He forced him coercively, he would have been unworthy. God preserves humanity’s glory and takes great care of them according to His mercy, so that they can continue to exist. Had King Solomon been prevented from falling, what benefit would that have been to him, given that prevention was by force? When he fell, he was not deprived of his dominion, his greatness, his wealth, or his leadership. This is how (God) acted on His part; but as for straying or not straying, that was for (Solomon) to choose … The character of Solomon, overawed the wise; and that of Judas frightened the disciples … and the fall of Samson the Nazirite frightened the mighty … for these reasons the elect became capable. And he who fears falling must despise these reasons.”⁶²⁸

St. Ambrose says, “And so a miserable man am I, unless I seek the remedy … We have a physician, let us use the remedy. Our remedy is the grace of Christ , and the body of death is our body … Though we are in the body, let us not follow the things which are of the body … but desire before all the gifts of grace: ‘For to be dissolved and to be with Christ is far better; yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sakes’ (Phil. 1:23-24).”⁶²⁹

St. Athanasius the Apostle says, “This is the grace of the Lord, and these are the Lord’s means of restoration for the children of men. For He suffered to prepare freedom from

625 St. Jacob of Sarug, see Letter 40.

626 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 119–120.

627

628

See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 120.

See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): pp. 135–137.

629 St. Ambrose of Milan, The Two Books of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.40–41 (NPNF II/10:180).

suffering for those who suffer in Him, He descended that He might raise us up, He took on Him the trial of being born, that we might love Him Who is unbegotten [in the normal human manner], He went down to corruption [death], that corruption might put on immortality, He became weak for us, that we might rise with power … Finally, He became man, that we who die as men might live again, and that death should no more reign over us; for the Apostolic word proclaims, ‘Death shall not have the dominion over us’ (Rom. 6:9, 14).”⁶³⁰

Fourteenth: by grace we challenge evil angels. St. Augustine says, “From this power of evil angels nothing can deliver man but the grace of God, whereof the Apostle says, “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love’ (Col. 1:13), of which things that people bore the figure, when they were delivered from the power of the Egyptians, and translated into the kingdom of the land of promise flowing with milk and honey, which signifies the sweetness of grace.”⁶³¹

Fifteenth: grace and enjoyment of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The scene of the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ captivated the heart of St. Cyril the Great . He spoke of the Church as being in Christ, as His body, of which He is the Head. The Holy Spirit is His Spirit and inseparable from Him, being One with Him in essence; yet the Spirit descended upon Christ in baptism so that the Church might delight in Him. He granted us the grace of the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, condemns the enemy of goodness who desires our destruction, and grants us the righteousness of Christ. He offers us the truth; and thus does Christ the Lord renew our nature, lead us in the Way that is Jesus Christ (John 14:6), unite us with the Father in the worthy blood of Christ, and grant us communion with the Lord Christ and with the inhabitants of heaven and with one another.

St. Athanasius the Apostolic says, “we would not have been redeemed and highly exalted, if He who exists in form of God had not taken a servant’s form, so David also shows [in Ps. 44:7–8], that otherwise, we would not have partaken of the Spirit and been sanctified, unless the Giver of the Spirit, the Word Himself, had spoken of Himself as anointed with the Spirit for us … and He being said, as man, to have received for [our flesh’s] sake, we have the consequence of the Spirit which is grace, receiving ‘out of His fulness’ (John 1:16).”⁶³²

As St. Ambrose says, “He shed forth then what He deemed to be sufficient for us, and what was shed forth is not separated nor divided; but He has a unity of fulness wherewith He may enlighten the sight of our hearts according to what our strength is capable of. Lastly, we receive so much as the advancing of our mind acquires, for the fulness of the grace of the Spirit is indivisible, but is shared in by us according to the capacity of our own nature.”⁶³³

St. Augustine says, “When, therefore, you hear it said, ‘Sin shall not reign over you’ (Rom. 6:14); do not have confidence in yourself, that sin cannot reign over you, but in Him,

630 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, The Festal Letters 10.8 (NPNF II/4:530–531).

631 St. Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.28 (NPNF I/8:377) amended. .

632 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians 1.12.50 (NPNF II/4:336) amended. .

633 St. Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 1.8.93 (NPNF II/10:106). .

unto Whom a certain Saint says in prayer, ‘Direct my paths after Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me’ (Ps. 119:133) … immediately, the Apostle saw this, and added, ‘For you are not under the Law, but under Grace’ (Rom 6:14). Therefore, it is Grace that prevents sin from reigning over you … And, when we hear it said, ‘If by the Spirit you shall mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live’ (Rom. 8:13) let us not attribute this great good to our own spirit, as though of itself it can do this. For, in order that we should not entertain that carnal sense, the spirit being dead rather than that which puts others to death, straightway he added, ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God’ (Rom. 8:14).”⁶³⁴

St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, “Blessed is he who sows beside all waters, and upon every soul, tomorrow to be ploughed and watered, which today the ox and the ass tread, while it is dry and without water (Isa. 32:20) and oppressed with unreason … And for the sake of this we must be very careful not to miss the Grace.”⁶³⁵

Sixteenth: grace and enjoying peace. St. Jerome says, “As long as we are in the state of grace, our soul is at peace; but once we begin to play with sin, then our soul is in trouble and is like a boat tossed about by the waves.”⁶³⁶

And St. Mark the Hermit says, “One person is righteous through works and words and thoughts, but many are righteous through faith and grace and repentance.”⁶³⁷

Seventeenth: paradise and the waters of grace. St. Ephrem gazes upon the waters of divine grace which are more knowable in Paradise, where we delight in heavenly thoughts. He is the Almighty, the Loving, who of His own will gathers the waters on earth as seas, rivers, and canals; and gathers water as clouds by His power. How much more does grant us abundant life. And yet, when we confine ourselves to earthly matters, we limit the wonderful work of grace. He also says:

“Indeed, that Will for whom everything is easy constrains these abundant fountains of Paradise, confining them with land, like water channels; He summoned them to issue forth in our direction, just as He bound up the waters (Prov. 30:4) in the bosom of His clouds, ready to be sent forth into the atmosphere at the bidding of His Will.”⁶³⁸

634 St. Augustine of Hippo, On Continence 12 (NPNF I/3:384) amended.

635 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 40: On the Holy Baptism 27 (NPNF II/7:370) amended.

636 St. Jerome, Homily 20 On Psalm 90 (91) (FOTC 48:157). 637

St. Mark the Monk, “Concerning Those Who Imagine That They are Justified by Works,” in Mark the Monk, Counsels on the Spiritual Life: Volumes One and Two , trans. Tim Vivian and Augustine Casiday (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2009) pp. 113–140; 101: p. 124.

638 St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise , trans., Sebastian P. Brock (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990) Hymn 2.9: p. 88.