Syriac Patrology, Volume 3: The Book of Steps

CHAPTER III

ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE BOOK OF STEPS

I. Doctrina L. G. de Deo uno ac trino Doctrine of the Book of Steps on the One and Triune God. — II. De creatione et creaturis On creation and creatures. — III. De homine On man. — IV. De redemptione On redemption. — V. De Ecclesia et sacramentis On the Church and the sacraments. — VI. De rebus novissimis On the last things. — VII. De officiis iustorum ac perfectorum On the duties of the just and the perfect.

From the brief argument of the Book of Steps, which we proposed in the previous chapter, it is gathered that the aforementioned work does not belong to the category of dogmatic books. On the contrary: the author of the Book, whoever he may have been, proposed to himself an eminently practical end in writing the work: namely, to exhort readers to follow what he calls the "way of perfection" as an ascetic, or rather, an apotactic renunciatory way of life. Although the very reason why, in the Author's mind, that apotactic renunciatory way of living should be embraced is founded upon a certain theological system—and is quite consistently arranged—the Author nowhere professes to expound his theological opinions, and he explains the theoretical postulates of his ascetic doctrine only when occasion arises, here and there and without a manifest system. For the character of the entire work is not so much didactic as it is homiletic; the orator addresses the readers as if from the pulpit, and he very often calls them "brothers" and "sisters." He does not intend to propose a new doctrine, but rather strives to rouse the spirits of his audience with oratorical declamation to renounce the world and secular delights and to embrace the apotactic renunciatory way of life, which he incessantly commends throughout the entire work. The book abounds in idle repetitions, which would perhaps be considered intolerable in a systematic work, while in a collection of homilies of this kind, of which the Book of Steps also consists, they are easily excused and are not so tedious. Despite the rather broad scope of the work, you will clearly perceive the Author's practical doctrine from it; investigating and exploring the theoretical premises of the Book's ascetic doctrine is much more difficult. These are founded upon a singular religious syncretism woven from disparate elements, the origin and mutual relationship of which are not always easy to define.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE BOOK OF STEPS ON THE ONE AND TRIUNE GOD.

1. The nature of God. — 2. Attributes. — 3. Sabellian errors in the Book of Steps; — 4. Its technical Trinitarian terms and their relationship to the doctrine of the Syrian Church.

1. On the nature of God, the Book of Steps discourses nowhere. We can grasp the Author's mind regarding the notion of God from the title Itya The Being/Existing One applied to God twice. In both cases, he opposes God—

who is the Itya The Being and lacks law, and is subject to no one—to man, the creature of God, to whom it is therefore by no means permitted to imitate God in punishing the wicked: Do not, he says, imitate God, because you are not the Itya The Being, and do good to the good and evil to the evil after you have become the Itya The BeingSerm. XXII, 3.. Among the Syrians, Itya The Being designates in an orthodox sense the uncreated divine substance, the "Being" par excellenceoriginal: "Ens κατ' ἐξοχήν"; see marginal note 3 for scholarly context on Aeons and the term Itya.; in a heterodox sense, according to Saint Ephraem, it designates the Aeonsoriginal: "Aeones"..

2. Regarding divine attributes, the Book of Steps teaches these things here and there: God is present everywhere, yet He manifests Himself to be seen only in the heavenly churchSerm. XII, 7.. The Lord is the Itya The Being, God in heaven and on earthSerm. IX, 2.; He disposes of man's life by His providenceSerm. VII, 6, 10.; He is long-suffering; He awaits the repentance of sinnersSerm. VII, 4, 13; XXIV, 1.; He is irreproachable in all His worksSerm. XXII, 7.; His goodness is so great that no one could celebrate it with worthy praisesSerm. XVI, 11.. Thus far, therefore, he thinks correctly about God. However, the work's doctrine concerning the justice of God is singular. In the mind of our Author, after the sin of Adam, enmity arose between God and the human race because of the transgression of AdamSerm. II, 5, 4; IX, 2, VI, 7, 12; XV, 12; XXII, 7., since men had refused to confess GodSerm. IX, 5, 12, 13.; wherefore before the coming of Christ...

¹ Serm. XVI, 7. — ² Serm. XXII, 3.
³ According to Arrian of Nicomedia, Epictetus already subjected the notion of god to the term Aeon (Enchir. II, 5, 13) and, having explained the necessity of death, taught that it is the duty of the philosopher to undergo the danger of death fearlessly and not to accuse God: "For I am not an aeon but a human, a part of the whole as an hour of the day." In the Syriac Theophany of Eusebius, as other parallel places show, Itya The Being = agennetos unbegotten; see e.g., I, 5, where this corresponds to the parallel place in the work On the Praises of Constantine c. 11 with the words: "For He was unbegotten." Aphraates also knows this term, where the phrase occurs: Itya The Being is Being itself. You will find this in the Syriac translation of the Theophany V, 3, where the parallel place of the Demonstrations III, 3, 6 quotes a verse from Porphyry:
"To the Chaldeans alone has wisdom reached, and the Hebrews,
Who purely worship God, the king of all, the Itya Self-begotten/Existing One of their soul."
⁴ St. Ephraem accuses Bardesanes because he introduced many Itya Beings.