On Authority and Power (and on the Incomprehensibility of God)

-St. Basil the Great

The lower must always be governed by the higher, for the folly of the people has often entrusted rule to the very worst. Therefore, the one who, by the testimony of all, surpasses others in understanding, constancy of spirit, and purity of life must be set as ruler over the rest, so that his virtue may serve as an example and benefit to others. This is all the more necessary because subordinates strive above all to conform their own character to that of their superior. Thus, as the leader is, so necessarily will those he leads be; and as the character of the ruler is, so ordinarily are the characters of those under him.

Just as when many painters depict the features of one man, all their portraits resemble one another because they copy the same original, so too, when many characters imitate one model, the image of a virtuous life will shine forth equally in all. True and perfect obedience of subordinates to their superior is shown precisely when they are restrained by his counsel not only from unlawful deeds, but even refrain from doing praiseworthy acts without his consent. Fasting and every mortification of the flesh bring no small benefit, yet if someone follows his own impulse, does what pleases himself, and does not submit to the counsel of his superior, that sin outweighs the good deed itself. For “whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed” (Rom 13:2), and the reward for obedience will be greater than the reward for the virtue of self-denial.

Whoever can heal an evil but voluntarily postpones doing so must justly be considered a murderer. A ruler must not grow proud because of his honour, lest he forfeit the blessedness of humility. Shall a servant of an earthly king boast because he has been placed in this or that rank of service, and yet one who has been deemed worthy to serve God invent grounds for self-praise, as though service to the Lord did not surpass every earthly glory and distinction? Truly, it is honour enough for us that we are called servants of so glorious a Master. Just as no one ought to render honour to anyone except God, so likewise no one ought to place hope in anyone except God and the Lord. Whoever hopes in man, or exalts himself because of power, wealth, or anything else that people count great, cannot say: “Lord my God, in You do I put my trust.” For God’s commandment forbids hoping in princes, and “cursed is the man who trusts in man.” Blessed is he who takes delight in nothing lofty in this life, but has God as his glory and can say with the Apostle: “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). If someone boasts that he is a servant of an earthly king and enjoys great honour from him, how much more ought the heart to rejoice in one who is a servant of the great King and has been called by Him to the most intimate communion!

A true ruler is not recognised by outward appearance—purple robes, mantles, or crowns—but by possessing the virtue worthy of a ruler. Whoever is subject to passions and governed by his own desires is a slave of sin and unworthy of authority. To subdue the disobedient is truly the work of a courageous leader, but to show leniency and gentleness toward offenders marks a man who surpasses all others in lofty prudence and magnanimity. Consider also that many who formerly held power over those who wronged them have left no memory among posterity, whereas those who, surpassing many in wisdom, set aside their anger have their immortal memory preserved forever. For we punish wrongdoers not because of the evils already committed (how could what has been done become undone?), but so that either they themselves may become better in future or may serve as an example for the correction of others.

Often the wisdom of God is revealed even in the smallest things. He who stretched out the heavens and filled the immeasurable depths of the seas is the same who fashioned the tiny sting of the bee like a little tube so that venom might flow through it. This God cannot be seen with bodily eyes, for the incorporeal is not subject to corporeal sight. Of this the only-begotten Son Himself testified, saying: “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18). Ezekiel, according to Scripture, saw Him—yet what does Scripture say? He saw “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord,” not the Lord Himself, nor even the glory itself as it truly is. And having seen only the likeness of the glory, not the glory itself, he fell to the ground in fear. If the mere likeness of God’s glory fills men with fear and trembling, then anyone who saw God Himself would surely perish, according to the word: “No man shall see God and live” (Exod 33:20). Therefore, out of His love for mankind, God has stretched out this heaven like a veil over His Godhead, so that we might not perish. I do not say this of myself; the prophet confirms the same: “When You open the heavens,” he says, “the mountains tremble before You and melt away at once.” Nor is this surprising, when Ezekiel was cast to the ground by a single likeness of God’s glory. Daniel, seeing only a servant of the Lord, trembled and fell to the ground, and as long as he forced himself to gaze upon the likeness of the Son of God, he could not speak (Dan 10:9). If the vision of Gabriel fills prophets—the men of God—with trembling, what would happen to us all at the appearance of God Himself in His own form? No one can doubt that we would perish.

If you wish clearly to understand the incomprehensibility of God’s nature, listen to what the three youths sang in the fiery furnace while praising God: “Blessed are You who behold the abyss and sit upon the cherubim” (Dan 3:54, Song of the Three Youths). Tell me first what the nature of the cherubim is, and then reason about Him who sits upon them. Though the prophet Ezekiel described them as best he could—each having four faces: one of a cherub, one of a man, one of a lion, and one of an eagle; each having six wings and being full of eyes; each having beneath it a four-sided wheel—yet even after the prophet’s description, when we read it we cannot comprehend it. If we cannot comprehend even the throne that is merely described to us, how shall we grasp with the mind Him who sits upon it? It is indisputable that, according to God’s promise, the worthy shall see God face to face and perfectly know the incomprehensible divine majesty in the age to come. But now, even if another Paul or Peter were to arise, he sees truly, is not deceived even by imagination, yet he sees “as in a mirror, dimly” (1 Cor 13:12). Now he receives a small portion with thanksgiving; in the age to come he will receive the perfect with joy. What now seems perfect in knowledge is so small and imperfect that it is farther removed from the knowledge of the age to come than that future knowledge is from seeing face to face. So infinite is the knowledge of God, and so far is human nature in this life removed from understanding the mysteries of God—though with each person’s progress something greater is always added—yet no one attains perfect knowledge until he comes into perfection, when all that is imperfect will vanish.

Whoever claims to comprehend the inner constitution of things in the natural world has surely reached the investigation of essences by some path and through observable effects, and has learned by experience, beginning with the simplest and smallest things, to grasp what lies beyond all comprehension. Let the one who boasts of having attained knowledge of things first explain to us the nature of the smallest creature visible to the eye—let him explain the nature of the ant. Is its life sustained by spirit and breath? Is its body supported by bones? Are its joints bound by sinews and ligaments? Are the sensitive nerves preserved by layers of muscles and glands? Does brain matter extend along its spine from neck to tail? Do woven membranes impart swift motion to its movable limbs? Does it have a liver, and in the liver a vessel containing gall? Does it have entrails and a heart? Are there respiratory passages and other veins, membranes, and coverings? Is it hairless or hairy? Does it have cloven hooves or feet divided into many toes? How long is its lifespan, and by what means is it born from another? How long is the embryo carried in the womb? Why are not all ants either wingless walkers or winged fliers, but some walk on the earth while others fly through the air?

Therefore, let the one who boasts of knowledge of things first explain the nature of the ant; only afterward let him inquire into the nature of the power that surpasses every intellect. But when you cannot comprehend even the nature of the tiniest ant with your knowledge, why do you boast that the incomprehensible power of God has been investigated by your mind?

To imagine that one has fathomed the very essence of God who is above all things is a sign of excessive pride and arrogance. Such presumptuous speech almost surpasses even the pride of him who said: “I will set my throne above the stars” (Isa 14:13). Did not the great David, to whom God revealed the hidden and secret things of His wisdom, openly confess that the knowledge of God is unattainable when he said: “Your knowledge has become too wonderful for me” (Ps 139:6)? Isaiah, who beheld the glory of God, what did he tell us about the essence of God? Prophesying of Christ he declared: “Who shall declare His generation?” What teaching about the essence of God did the chosen vessel Paul leave us—he who had Christ speaking within him, who was caught up to the third heaven and heard ineffable words that no man may utter? Having penetrated the reasons of particular divine dispensations as though in ecstasy, because of the unsearchable vision he cried out: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!” (Rom 11:33). If this is incomprehensible even to those who have attained the measure of Paul’s knowledge, how arrogant are those who claim to know the essence of God!

I would gladly ask such people about the very earth on which they stand and from which they were made—what will they tell us its essence is? Only when they can expound without contradiction on earthly things lying beneath their feet would we believe them when they discourse on things that surpass all understanding. And what further way of knowing God remains? Let those who despise everything beneath their feet and pierce the heavens with their mind tell us: if the expanse of heaven exceeds the measure of human understanding, what intellect can investigate the nature of the eternal beings? When this sun—subject to corruption, yet so beautiful, so vast, so swift in its course, so constant and unwavering in its circuit, so perfectly proportioned to the whole world in size that it neither exceeds nor falls short of harmony with the entire earthly sphere, and by its beauty adorns all creation like a radiant eye of nature—when, I say, we cannot be sated with gazing upon this sun, how surpassing in beauty must be the Sun of Righteousness! If to be unable to see this sun is no small loss for the blind, how great will be the loss for a sinner deprived of the true Light! If temporal things are such, what must eternal things be? If visible things are so beautiful, what must we think of the invisible things that God has prepared for those who love Him?

May it be granted to us all to obtain these things by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory for ever and ever. Amen.