Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church
Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church Andrew Louth - Syriac Christian Church
B C D 1416A DIFFICULTY 71 165 things himself, in his wonderful and good love for all things, through the excess of his loving goodness, is carried outside himself, in his providential care for all that is, so enchanted is he in goodness and love and longing. Removed from his position above all and beyond all, he decends to be in all according to an ecstatic and transcendent power which is yet inseparable from Himself.’ 11 Perhaps, then, as I said, from these passages we may find a way of interpreting ‘The high Word plays’. To use examples from things we are familiar with to explain matters that are above us: it is like parents helping their children, and out of indulgence seeming to take part in their childish games. They play with nuts and dice, or prepare for them many-coloured flowers, and clothes dipped in colours that enchant the senses, and play hide and seek, or are astonished, as if they had nothing else to do than play at children’s games. But after a while they lead their children on further, and begin to share with them more perfect reason and their own concerns. So perhaps in these words the teacher is saying that God who is above all leads us through the historical nature, so to speak, of the appearance of created things to amazement and a kind of ascent through contemplation and knowledge of them, rather in the way in which we care for children, and then introduces the contemplation of the more spiritual meaning [logos] within these things, and finally leads us by way of theology up to the most hidden knowledge of himself, so far as this is possible, in the early stages purifying us from everything that has form or quality or shape or quantity, whether of multitude or size, and from variety or composition, so that we may reach the goal of contemplation—and this is called ‘playing’ by the God-bearing Gregory, and ‘enchanting’ or ‘being carried outside himself’ by the God-bearing Denys. 12 What is present and apparent, compared with that which properly and truly is and will be manifest at the end, seems to be simply play. For just as the order of things present and visible, compared with the truth of properly divine and primordial things, could not at all be thought to be in any way capable of sharing the splendour of the divine beauty, so play, compared with anything true and real, could not be thought to exist at all.
166 TEXTS B C D Another contemplation of the same Perhaps ‘play’ refers to the liability to change of the material things to which we entrust ourselves, which are shifting and changing and possess no stable basis, apart from that of their primary meaning [logos], in accordance with which they are carried along wisely and providentially and could be thought to be ruled by us. But otherwise, rather than being ruled by us, they evade us, and either seem to be ruled by our desires, or frustrate them, and can neither rule nor be ruled, since, possessing no stable definition of their own being, they are in a state of flux and have no stability. Perhaps it is this that was appropriately called God’s play by the teacher, as if through these things he would draw us to that which really is and can never be shaken. Another contemplation of the same What about ourselves? If, in accordance with the prevailing sequence of our nature in the present, now like the rest of living beings on the earth, we first come into being as children, then in the manner of flowers that fade early hasten from youth to shrivelled old age to die, and are transferred to another life, then not implausibly are we said to be ‘God’s play’ by this God-bearing teacher. For in comparison with the archetype that is to come of the divine and true life, our present life is play, and everything that is other than that is lacking in being. This is shown most clearly in the funeral sermon for Caesarius, as he says, ‘Such is our life, brothers, the passing life of living beings: a sort of play upon the earth. As those that have not been, we come into being, and having come into being we are dissolved. We are a dream that does not last, a passing phantom, the flight of a bird that is gone, a ship passing through the sea and leaving no trace, dust, vapour, the morning dew, a flower that blooms for a time and is gone, man, his days are like grass, like the grass of the field, he flourishes (Psa. 102:15), as the divine David says as he reflects on our weakness.’ 13
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166 TEXTS<br />
B<br />
C<br />
D<br />
Another contemplation of the same<br />
Perhaps ‘play’ refers to the liability to change of the material<br />
things to which we entrust ourselves, which are shifting and<br />
changing and possess no stable basis, apart from that of their<br />
primary meaning [logos], in accordance with which they are<br />
carried along wisely and providentially and could be thought<br />
to be ruled by us. But otherwise, rather than being ruled by us,<br />
they evade us, and either seem to be ruled by our desires, or<br />
frustrate them, and can neither rule nor be ruled, since,<br />
possessing no stable definition of their own being, they are in a<br />
state of flux and have no stability. Perhaps it is this that was<br />
appropriately called God’s play by the teacher, as if through<br />
these things he would draw us to that which really is and can<br />
never be shaken.<br />
Another contemplation of the same<br />
What about ourselves? If, in accordance with the prevailing<br />
sequence of our nature in the present, now like the rest of<br />
living beings on the earth, we first come into being as<br />
children, then in the manner of flowers that fade early hasten<br />
from youth to shrivelled old age to die, and are transferred to<br />
another life, then not implausibly are we said to be ‘God’s<br />
play’ by this God-bearing teacher. For in comparison with the<br />
archetype that is to come of the divine and true life, our<br />
present life is play, and everything that is other than that is<br />
lacking in being. This is shown most clearly in the funeral<br />
sermon for Caesarius, as he says, ‘Such is our life, brothers,<br />
the passing life of living beings: a sort of play upon the earth.<br />
As those that have not been, we come into being, and having<br />
come into being we are dissolved. We are a dream that does<br />
not last, a passing phantom, the flight of a bird that is gone, a<br />
ship passing through the sea and leaving no trace, dust, vapour,<br />
the morning dew, a flower that blooms for a time and is gone,<br />
man, his days are like grass, like the grass of the field, he<br />
flourishes (Psa. 102:15), as the divine David says as he reflects<br />
on our weakness.’ 13