Syriac Patrology, Volume 3: The Book of Steps

PREFACE — CHAPTER III. / ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE BOOK OF STEPS — II. ON CREATURES.

Thaumaturgus confesses a "perfect Trinity" original: Τριάδα τέλειαν in his Exposition of Faith¹. Given the multitude of witnesses supporting the use of such theological terms already in the 3rd century², it is manifest that hardly anything can be deduced from this regarding the age of the work.

Nor should it be objected that no trace of such terms is found in the writings of Aphraates, even in the middle of the 4th century. Indeed, the objection lacks probative force because Aphraates lived in the Persian realm, where Christian doctrine experienced a different fate than in the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the doctrine of Aphraates favors Adoptianism³ more than the errors of Sabellius, with which the Author of the Book of Steps seems to be imbued; it is therefore not surprising that the theologumena theological propositions of Aphraates present an entirely different appearance⁴.

II

5. The visible world is an image of the invisible world. — 6. The meaning of this doctrine and its connection to the doctrine of recapitulation original: ἀνακεφαλαιώσεως. — 7. The fall of demons — 8. and their operation.

5. The fundamental idea of the ethical doctrine of the Book of Steps is the assertion that two worlds exist: one invisible, heavenly, and perfect; the other visible, created in the image of the invisible, such that heavenly and invisible things and events correspond to earthly things and deeds. The entire speculation of the Book of Steps is founded on this doctrine. For the original state of the human race is conceived by the Author as a dwelling in the heavenly order, from which the first-formed beings, deceived by the Devil, fell into the order of earthly things; consequently, the reparation of the first man's fall is nothing but a return to the original state, to be effected by means of renunciation.

But it suffices to have hinted at these things, for given the opportunity, these matters will have to be treated more accurately; let us now look at the individual places in the Work that pertain to that question.

Created things, our Author says, are likenesses demute, or types ṭupse, or shadows ṭelalyata of heavenly things, which behave as a perfect exemplar tuqana meshamlaya

to visible things¹. For God created two worlds: one visible and the other invisible, so that the invisible might be made manifest from the visible².

To prove this doctrine, the Author cites certain statements of St. Paul, partly corrupted and partly misunderstood:

a) In XXVIII, 8, he cites Hebrews XI, 3 according to the text still existing in the Peshitta: "Things that are seen, says the Apostle, were made from things that are not seen"³.

b) In XXI, 4, he cites this unknown quotation in the name of the Apostle, which also recurs in Sermon XXII, 8: "Everything that is seen is a shadow of that thing which is not seen."

c) But most often he cites⁵ the words of Ephesians I, 10, in a form likewise corrupted and differing both from the canonical Greek text⁶ and from the Peshitta reading⁷: "Everything has been renewed in Christ from the beginning." All texts of the cited passage read "renewed" ḥdet, not "completed" gmar, as the Peshitta has. The connection of this citation with the theological-ascetic doctrine of the Author is this: Christ is the second Adam, who by His way of life and His entire conversation "renewed" in Himself the life of the first Adam; that is, by living His life in the manner of the first Adam, He showed men how the first-formed beings lived. Therefore, he attributes to the word "renewed" the meaning of "recapitulating" or "repeating"⁸, from which he concludes that the life of Christ is a repetition of the life of the first Adam⁹.

The thesis so familiar to the Author, that visible things are an image of invisible things, must be understood in the broadest sense; for not only are visible things an image of invisible things—such as the Church, the altar, the visible ministry of the Church, the priesthood, etc.¹⁰—but also visible deeds to which invisible events in the intelligible and invisible world correspond, such that one may conclude from certain visible events to their invisible exemplar, to specific invisible deeds that once occurred in the invisible world. That this was the Author's opinion is evident from his own express words. The rebellion, he says, which Satan moved against God in the heavens, was an example of the rebellion which, having seduced the first-formed...

¹ Serm. XXI, 10; XXVIII, 8. — ² Serm. XXVIII, 8.

³ The canonical Greek text differs notably from this text; the Syriac translator seems to have once read "that which is seen [was made] from things not seen."
⁴ Shadow original: ܛܠܢܝܬܐ. The passage is not found in editions of the Syriac Vulgate. — ⁵ Serm. XXI, 3 sq.; XXIII, 1; XXX, 14.
⁶ "Having made known to us the mystery of His will... to recapitulate all things in Christ."
⁷ Peshitta reads: "that everything from the beginning might be renewed."
⁸ G. Molwitz, De ANAKEPHALAIOSEOS in Irenaei theologia potestate, Dresden, 1874, p. 4. — ⁹ Serm. XXI, 3 sq., 11. — ¹⁰ Serm. XII, 1; XXI, 10; XXVIII, 8.