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HOMILY IV RECENTLyl PROVED TO YOU that God is incomprehensible to men2 and even to the Cherubim and Seraphim.3 I should be satisfied now to put the question aside without bringing forward further arguments on this subject. But the chief purpose of my efforts and desire was not only to stitch shut the mouths of my Anomoean opponents but also to provide more and more instruction to your loving assembly.4 So it is that again I take up the same question and advance my argument still further. (2) The time I spend on these arguments will both increase your knowledge about the Anomoeans and will make my prize of victory over those heretics a brighter one, if my discussion clears away any remnant of their error which may still remain. In a pasture we must do more than cut down useless and harmful weeds at the level of the ground, for they grow again if their roots still lie below the earth. We must pull them up from the very womb and belly of the soil and set them naked in the heat of the sun so that they may readily wither away." (3) Come then, and let my discourse again lead you up to heaven.6 I do not do this to play the busybody by making idle 1 The meaning of pr6en, which I have translated as "recently" is not always precise. It can mean "lately," 'just now," or (usually in combination with khthes, "yesterday") it can be more definite and mean "the day before yesterday." In any event, the interval between Homilies III and IV could not have been too long, although the lengthy recapitulation of Hom.III with which Hom.lV opens could indicate that the third discourse Against Judaizing Christians interrupted the present series at this point. See Introduction 54 and note 69. 2 In Homilies I and II. 3 In Hom.III, esp. 6-7; 9-17; 29-30. 4 Chrysostom here states clearly the apologetic purpose of these homilies (to refute the Anomoeans) and his objective of instructing his congregation on this heresy. 5 Cf. above Hom.III.2-3. 6 Cf. above Hom.III.30-31. 115 116 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM investigations. I do it because I am anxious to root out the untimely contentiousness of those who have no understanding of themselves and who refuse to admit the limits of their human nature. This was the reason for my lengthy proof that not only the appearance of God but even of his angels was too much for that just man, Daniel, to endure. I did that when I recounted for you his whole story and showed you a Daniel who blanched, trembled, and was in a condition no better than men on their deathbeds. Why? Because his soul was striving to burst the bonds of his flesh.7 (4) When a dove spends its time in a cage, it grows tame and manageable. When it sees something to frighten it, it grows terrified, flies to the top of the cage, and looks for a way out through the windows in its desire to escape from its distress. In the same way, the soul of the blessed Daniel at that moment strove to fly out of his body. It rushed from one side to the other trying to escape. Had his soul succeeded, it would have deserted his body and flown away. But the angel quickly laid hold of it, freed it from its distress, and led it back again to its own lodging.8 (5) I told that story to the Anomoeans at that time so that they might learn the vast difference between a man and an angel. I was hoping that, when they realized how inferior they were to angels, they might return to their senses and rid themselves of the meddlesome curiosity which they display against their Master. Thejust man, Daniel, could not endure to look upon an angel for all the confidence he had in God. But these Anomoeans, who are so far below Daniel's virtue, have the curiosity to investigate not an angel but the very Master of the angels.9 (6) Daniel overcame the fury of lions;1O we cannot even prevail over faxes. II He made a dragon burst" asunder and conquered the nature of the wild beast because of his con7 Cf. above Hom.II1.l8-22, esp. 20. 8 Cf. Dn 10.10. 9 Cf. above Homilies 1.34...

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