The power of John's opening words
Basil has just begun his homily on John 1:1 and is addressing his congregation about the opening words of John's Gospel.
Every utterance of the Gospels is more sublime than the rest of the Spirit’s teachings, because in those the Lord spoke to us through his servants the prophets, but in the Gospels he conversed with us in his own person. Yet even within the gospel proclamation itself, the one who spoke with the loudest voice—with words greater than any hearing and higher than any mind—is John, the son of thunder. We have just heard the opening of his gospel writing read aloud: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
I know that many of those outside the word of the truth, who think highly of themselves for their worldly wisdom, have admired these words and even dared to mix them into their own writings. For the devil is a thief, and he steals our stories and retails them to his own spokesmen. If fleshly wisdom marveled so much at the power of these sayings, what will we do—we who are disciples of the Spirit—if we listen carelessly and reckon that the power dwelling in them is something small? Who is so sick with insensibility that he would not be struck with amazement at such beauty of thought and such unattainable depth of doctrine, and long for their true comprehension?
But admiring what is beautiful is not the hard thing. The hard and difficult thing is to arrive at an exact understanding of what one has admired. No one fails to praise this visible sun: everyone embraces its size and beauty, the symmetry of its rays, and the light that flashes from it. Yet if someone stubbornly insists on directing the glances of his eyes against its orb, he will not only fail to see what he longs for, but he will also ruin the sharpness of his sight and go away. I think the mind that insists on making an exact examination of the words before us suffers something like this.
“In the beginning was the Word.” Who can think worthily about the beginning? What power of words can be found that is able to present the thought with equal worth? When John was about to hand down to us the teaching about the divinity of the Son of God, he gave the Word no other beginning than the beginning of all things. The Holy Spirit knew those who would spring up against the glory of the only Son. He foreknew those who would bring forward against us their sophisms, contrived for the ruin of their hearers: “If he was begotten, he was not”; “Before he was begotten, he was not”; “From things that are not he received his subsistence.” Such things are uttered by tongues sharpened through persuasive speech beyond any two-edged sword.
So that no one may be permitted to say such things, the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the Gospel: “In the beginning,” he says, “was the Word.” If you hold fast to this saying, you will suffer no harm from the evil craftsmen. For if he says, “If he was begotten, he was not,” you say, “In the beginning he was.” “But,” he says, “how was he before he was begotten?” Do not let go of the “was.” Do not abandon the “in the beginning.” The summit of the beginning is not grasped; the outside of the beginning is not found.
Greek
ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ι ʹ. Εἰς τὸ, «Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος». Πᾶσα μὲν ἡ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων φωνὴ μεγαλοφυε στέρα τῶν λοιπῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος διδαγμάτων, καθ' ὅτι ἐν ἐκείνοις μὲν διὰ τῶν δούλων ἡμῖν ἐλάλησε τῶν προφητῶν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις αὐτοπροσώπως διελέχθη ἡμῖν ὁ Δεσπότης. Αὐτοῦ γε μὴν τοῦ εὐαγ γελικοῦ κηρύγματος ὁ μεγαλοφωνότατος, καὶ πάσης μὲν ἀκοῆς μείζονα, πάσης δὲ διανοίας ὑψηλότερα φθεγξάμενος, Ἰωάννης ἐστὶν, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς βροντῆς· οὗ τὸ προοίμιον τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς συγγραφῆς ἄρτι ἀναγνωσθὲν ἠκούσαμεν· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Ταῦτα οἶδα πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἔξω τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἀλη θείας μέγα φρονούντων ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ κοσμικῇ καὶ θαυμάσαντας, καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν συντάγμασιν ἐγκατα μίξαι τολμήσαντας. Κλέπτης γὰρ ὁ διάβολος, καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐκφερομυθῶν πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ ὑποφήτας. Εἰ οὖν ἡ σαρκίνη σοφία τοσοῦτον ἐθαύμασε τῶν ῥημάτων τὴν δύναμιν, τί ποιήσωμεν ἡμεῖς οἱ μαθηταὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐὰν παρέργως ἀκούσωμεν καὶ μικράν τινα τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν αὐτοῖς δύναμιν εἶναι λογισώμεθα; Καὶ τίς οὕτως ἀναισθησίαν νοσῶν, ὥστε τοιοῦτον κάλλος ἐννοίας καὶ βάθος δογμά των οὕτως ἀνέφικτον μὴ οὐχὶ καταπλαγῆναι, καὶ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτῶν τῆς ἀληθοῦς καταλήψεως; Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐχὶ τὸ θαυμάσαι τὰ καλὰ δύσκολον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐν ἀκριβεῖ κατανοήσει γενέσθαι τῶν θαυμασθέντων, τοῦτο χαλεπὸν καὶ δυσέφικτον. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον τοῦτον τὸν αἰσθητὸν οὐδεὶς μέν ἐστιν ὃς οὐχ ὑπερ επαινεῖ, τὸ μέγεθος αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ κάλλος, καὶ τῶν ἀκτίνων τὴν συμμετρίαν, καὶ τὸ ἀποστίλβον αὐτοῦ φῶς κατασπαζόμενος· ἐὰν μέντοι βιαιότερον φιλονεικήσῃ τῷ κύκλῳ ἀντεξάγειν ἑαυτοῦ τὰς τῶν ὀμμάτων βολὰς, οὐ μόνον οὐ κατόψεται τὰ περισπού δαστα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τῆς ὄψεως προσ διαφθείρας οἰχήσεται. Τοιοῦτόν τί μοι δοκῶ τὴν διά νοιαν πάσχειν, τὴν φιλονεικοῦσαν ἀκριβῆ ποιεῖσθαι τῶν προκειμένων ῥημάτων τὴν ἐξέτασιν. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Τίς ἐννοήσει ἀξίως τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς; Ποία ῥημάτων δύναμις εὑρεθῇ ὁμοτίμως δυναμένη παραστῆσαι τὸ νοηθέν; Μέλλων παραδιδόναι ἡμῖν τὰ περὶ τῆς θεολογίας τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐδεμίαν ἀρ χὴν ἄλλην τῷ λόγῳ ἢ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν ὅλων ἔδωκεν. Ἤδει τοὺς ἐπιφυομένους τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· προῄδει τοὺς μέλλοντας ἡμῖν προφέρειν τὰ σοφίσματα, τὰ ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων αὐτοῖς μεμηχανημένα. Ὅτι, Εἰ ἐγεννήθη, οὐκ ἦν· καὶ, Πρὸ τοῦ γεννηθῆναι, οὐκ ἦν· καὶ, Ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔλαβε. Τοιαῦτα δὲ φθέγγονται γλῶσσαι ἠκονημέναι διὰ πιθανολογίας ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον. Ἵνα τοίνυν μηδενὶ λέγειν ἐξῇ τὰ τοιαῦτα, προλαβὸν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, Ἐν ἀρχῇ, φησὶν, ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Ἐὰν κρατῇς ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν, οὐδὲν οὐ μὴ πάθῃς δεινὸν παρὰ τῶν κακοτέχνων. Ἐὰν γὰρ λέγῃ ἐκεῖνος, Εἰ ἐγεννήθη, οὐκ ἦν· σὺ εἰπὲ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν. Ἀλλὰ,φησὶ, πρὶν ἢ γεννηθῆναι πῶς ἦν; Σὺ μὴ ἀφῇς τὸ, Ἦν· μὴ καταλίπῃς τὸ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ. Ἀρχῆς ἡκορυφὴ οὐ καταλαμβάνεται· ἀρχῆς τὸ ἐξώτερον οὐχ εὑρίσκεται.