Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi- Volume 1: Studies in the Old Testament (Bible in the Christian Orthodox Tradition) 9781433114588, 9781453908372, 9781433114601, 9781453908389, 9781433114618, 9781453907900, 1433114585

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Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi

Studies in the New Testament

PETER LANG

Bradley Nassif is Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at North Park University (Chicago). A theologian of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Dr. Nassif is a specialist on patristic exegesis. He is the general editor of New Perspectives on Historical Theology: Essays in Memory of John Meyendorff, co-editor of The Philokalia: A Classic Text of Orthodox Spirituality, and author of Bringing Jesus to the Desert. He has been a consultant for Christianity Today and Time magazines.

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Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi VOLUME 2

@

NASSIF, ed.

This book, the second of three volumes dedicated to Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi, includes contemporary essays on the New Testament. The topics offer a rich array of exegetical studies related to the life and teachings of Jesus and the apostle Paul. Coming from America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, the contributors to Volume 2 of the Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi have gathered to advance the scholarly vision of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi.

B I B L E I N T HE C HRI ST I A N ORT HODOX T RA DI T I ON

Edited by

VOLUME 2

@ Bradley Nassif

Nassif_cpi_cb_NORMAN~1.qxp 11/14/2014 9:17 PM Page 1

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WWW.PETERLANG.COM

Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi

Studies in the New Testament

PETER LANG

Bradley Nassif is Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at North Park University (Chicago). A theologian of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Dr. Nassif is a specialist on patristic exegesis. He is the general editor of New Perspectives on Historical Theology: Essays in Memory of John Meyendorff, co-editor of The Philokalia: A Classic Text of Orthodox Spirituality, and author of Bringing Jesus to the Desert. He has been a consultant for Christianity Today and Time magazines.

@

Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi VOLUME 2

@

NASSIF, ed.

This book, the second of three volumes dedicated to Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi, includes contemporary essays on the New Testament. The topics offer a rich array of exegetical studies related to the life and teachings of Jesus and the apostle Paul. Coming from America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, the contributors to Volume 2 of the Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi have gathered to advance the scholarly vision of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi.

B I B L E I N T HE C HRI ST I A N ORT HODOX T RA DI T I ON

Edited by

VOLUME 2

@ Bradley Nassif

Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi

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BIBLE IN THE CHRISTIAN ORTHODOX TRADITION Vahan S. Hovhanessian General Editor Vol. 4

This book is a volume in a Peter Lang monograph series. Every title is peer reviewed and meets the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG

New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw 

Festschrift in Honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi VOLUME 2 Studies in the New Testament

Edited by

Bradley Nassif

PETER LANG

New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data provided for Volume 1 Festschrift in honor of Professor Paul Nadim Tarazi, Volume 1: Studies in the Old Testament / edited by Nicolae Roddy. p. cm. — (Bible in the Christian Orthodox tradition; v. 3) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible—Theology. I. Tarazi, Paul Nadim. II. Roddy, Nicolae. BS511.3.F47 221.6—dc23 2012035352 Vol. 1: ISBN 978-1-4331-1458-8 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-4539-0837-2 (e-book) Vol. 2: ISBN 978-1-4331-1460-1 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-4539-0838-9 (e-book) Vol. 3: ISBN 978-1-4331-1461-8 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-4539-0790-0 (e-book) ISSN 1947-5977

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council of Library Resources.

© 2015 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006 www.peterlang.com All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................ vii Preface ................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... xi V. Rev. Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi: Brief Biography and Bibliography ................. xiii Abbreviations .....................................................................................................xix

Jesus Authority and Passion: A Concurrent View Christology in the Gospel of Mark, Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis .............................................................. 1 Jesus Christ “The Same Yesterday, Today and Forever” Bishop Athanasius Yevtic ................................................................................................................. 9 The Centurion and the Widow (Luke 7:1-17), Daniel A. Ayuch....................... 37 The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), Rev. Fr. Aaron Warwick........................................................................................................... 45 Epiousios in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Rev. Fr. Ron Poworoznik .......... 61

Paul Revisiting “Baptism for the Dead” in 1 Corinthians 15:29, Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian ................................................................................................... 73 Mysteriology: The Biblical Foundation of Sacramental Theology, Petros Vassiliadis ........................................................................................................ 89 From Volkmar to Tarazi and Beyond: Mark as an Allegorical Presentation of the Pauline Gospel, Tom Dykstra ............................................................... 99 Paul the Pastor: Exploring Metaphors for Ministry in Paul’s Writings, Rev. Dr. William C. Mills ............................................................................... 121 Notes ................................................................................................................. 135 Index ................................................................................................................. 169

Foreword

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his book is the second of a three-volume compendium of scholarly papers dedicated to Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi. The background and occasion for this Festschrift (a bouquet of essays in celebration of a distinguished scholar) has already been noted by my colleague, Dr. Nicholae Roddy, in the Foreword to volume one. To those remarks, I would like to add further insight into the life and legacy of Fr. Paul. I first met Fr. Paul while a student of his at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY. Then, as now, I observed with profound respect a single unifying theme that has governed the entire span of his teaching career and literary output. That theme is the centrality of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Fr. Paul seems never to have artificially imposed that Gospel on the historical-critical methods he has used when studying the Bible – controversial as those methods have been. The integrity of the Bible’s textual history was always respected. At the end of the day—when linguistic and historical complexities have been unraveled -- the church’s central confession of Jesus Christ as Lord, God and Savior is celebrated and proclaimed. As Fr. Paul ceaselessly reminds us, without Scripture, the church empties its Gospel of content and context. Thus, with keen historical insight, Fr. Paul has led us to see how the Scriptures contain the Word of God (as past revelation), are the Word of God (God speaking to us), and become the Word of God (when one personally appropriates its message). For that, we can only respond with a resounding “Axios!” The papers in the present volume address subjects pertaining to the New Testament. The contributors are scholars, lay theologians and clerics of the Orthodox Church. Each brings his own special relationship with Fr. Paul as friend, colleague or student. It is impractical to comment on the particular value of each essay since each has made a different contribution to modern scholarship. I have organized them simply under the rubrics “Jesus” and “Paul.” In presenting this collection, we should not assume that the conclusions reached in every essay are necessarily the right ones. That is left for the readers to decide freely for themselves, which is the way Fr. Paul always assumed.

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It is the intention of all conributors that these essays will honor Fr. Paul by helping readers to better understand significant themes in the literature of the New Testament. On behalf of each writer, we extend our warmest appreciation for the work he has offered to both the academy and the church. Together, this three-volume collection of essays marks a significant milestone in the developing field of biblical exegesis in the Orthodox Church. Though much work remains to be done, it is to the credit of Fr. Paul Tarazi that the field has made such swift and substantive advances over the past 40 years. The editors, contributors and Fr. Paul himself will rejoice greatly if readers find in these articles a meaningful path to the final destination of biblical knowledge, namely, salvation through Jesus Christ, and love for God and neighbor. Bradley Nassif Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies North Park University (Chicago)

Preface

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he Holy Bible, biblical text, exegesis and understanding the biblical message in its original context, without the influence of medieval and later doctrinal and theological precipitations, truly outline the scholarly career of the Very Reverend Dr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, a leading Orthodox theologian in the field of biblical study. The professor of Old Testament at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Professor Tarazi has also lectured extensively in universities and seminaries around the world. He is the author of numerous books and articles in the field of biblical theology and exegesis. Professor Tarazi is the founder of the “Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies” (OCABS) and its online Journal (JOCABS). He is also the founding pillar of the unit “Bible in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Traditions” of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). His forty-year teaching career around the world and his theological research in the field of biblical studies have produced generations of biblical scholars with a unique and critical approach to biblical exegesis and interpretation. It was, therefore, only befitting that leading international scholars who have been students or colleagues of Professor Tarazi come together in Festschrift to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his teaching career by offering a critical appreciation of his contribution to biblical studies, and by exploring the continuing scholarly discussion of issues related to the Biblical text, exegesis and theology. A daylong celebration took place on Saturday October 23, 2010, under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Philip, Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Church of North America. The Festschrift convened at the conference hall of St. George Antiochian Church in Little Falls, New Jersey, was scheduled 9am–4pm, with the participation of over 30 international scholars. This book is one of three volumes covering the proceedings of the Festschrift. Volume one includes the papers exploring the latest scholarly debate in the fields of Old Testament Studies. Volume two will include the articles dealing with the New Testament, and volume three will publish the papers discussing biblical theology in general.

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Heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Bradley Nassif, Ph.D., Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, North Park University (Chicago), for editing the articles this second volume. Special thanks and appreciation to Reverend Fr. Marc Boulos, Pastor of St. Elizabeth Orthodox Mission, in Eagan, Minnesota, for the layout and finalization of this volume. Finally, congratulations to Professor Tarazi–a man “approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). May the Lord grant him many years of fruitful service and witnessing in the vineyard of the Lord. Bishop Vahan J. Hovhanessian, Ph.D. Series Editor

Acknowledgments

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he Very Reverend Fr. Paul N. Tarazi Festschrift Committee would like to acknowledge with deep appreciation the following supporters and benefactors:

The Reverend Fr. Marc and Alla Boulos Edward and Nina Costandi John Josef Costandi Payman and Carla Langroudi The Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies Ralph and Mary Lee Sergi Bassam Tarazi Jalal Tarazi Jamal and Christine Tarazi Nabil and Leila Tarazi and Children Nouhad and Farida Tarazi Kamal Tarazi Paola Tarazi Reem Tarazi and Family

V. Rev. Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi: Brief Biography and Bibliography

F

r. Paul Tarazi has been teaching scripture for well over forty years. His teaching ministry includes full-time professorship at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, as well as adjunct positions at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, and the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology in Balamand, Lebanon. His courses cover the full range of scriptural studies in Old and New Testaments, Biblical Hebrew and Greek, Academic Arabic, and Homiletics. He has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities and institutions in the United States and Canada, as well as Australia, Chile, Estonia, Finland, Israel, Palestine, Romania, and Serbia, and has represented the Antiochian Orthodox Church at various ecumenical gatherings. A prolific writer, Fr. Paul has authored (as of this writing) seventeen books, including detailed commentaries on Galatians and 1 Thessalonians, a seven-volume Introduction to the Old and New Testaments, and six commentaries published in The Chrysostom Bible: A Commentary Series for Teaching and Preaching. His book, Land and Covenant, commissioned by His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP, is a comprehensive scriptural analysis of the issues pertaining to what is popularly known as the Holy Land and to God’s promise regarding it. Many readers of this book consider it to be a thorough introduction to the totality of Scripture in both Old and New Testaments. Fr. Paul has also contributed numerous articles in books and academic journals. Ever in highest demand as a speaker, both nationally and internationally, Fr. Paul is known for his dynamic style and his ability to engage an audience’s interest while explaining complex matters of scriptural interpretation. Fr. Paul has served as theological and editorial consultant for the General Assembly of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of JOCABS, a journal of the Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies (OCABS). A group of Fr. Paul’s former theological students founded OCABS in 1999 to promote the awareness of the centrality of the Gospel in the Christian life, to provide

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resources for those who teach and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the parish level, to conduct seminars in the area of advanced biblical studies, and to develop a foundation to provide material support for those pursuing advanced degrees and special research and publishing projects. Fr. Paul’s work with OCABS includes audio commentaries on all the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Fr Paul serves on the steering committee of the “Bible in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Traditions” unit of the Society of Biblical Literature, which was established in 2007 by an international group of scholars, all of which are his former students. Born in Jaffa, Palestine, Paul Nadim Tarazi moved to Cairo, Egypt and then to Beirut, Lebanon, where he studied at the Christian Brothers French School prior to attending the Jesuit University School of Medicine, in Beirut. He then pursued theological studies at the Orthodox Theological Institute in Bucharest, Romania where he received his Th.D. degree in New Testament. Ordained to the holy priesthood in 1976, Fr. Paul has shepherded parishes in Connecticut and New York and is currently assistant priest at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Danbury, Connecticut.

Bibliography The Chrysostom Bible, OCABS Press Commentary series: Ezekiel: A Commentary (2012) 1 Corinthians: A Commentary (2011) Romans: A Commentary (2010) Colossians and Philemon: A Commentary (2010) Philippians: A Commentary (2009) Genesis: A Commentary (2009) The New Testament Introduction: Volume 1, Paul and Mark (Crestwood: SVS Press, 1999; Beirut: An-Nour, 2001 [Arabic]) Volume 2, Luke and Acts (Crestwood: SVS Press, 2001) Volume 3, Johannine Writings (Crestwood: SVS Press, 2004) Volume 4, Matthew and the Canon (St. Paul: OCABS Press, 2009) The Old Testament Introduction: Volume 1: Historical Traditions. Crestwood: SVS Press, 1991; rev. 2003; Beirut: An-Nour, 1998 (Arabic). Volume 2: The Prophets. Crestwood: SVS Press, 1994; Beirut: An-Nour, 1998 (Arabic).

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Volume 3: Wisdom Literature. Crestwood: SVS Press, 1996; Beirut: AnNour, 1999 Arabic). Land and Covenant. Minneapolis: OCABS Press, 2009. Galatians: A Commentary. Crestwood: SVS Press, 1994. I Thessalonians: A Commentary. Crestwood: SVS Press, 1982; Beirut: An-Nour, 1983 (Arabic). Al-Wa’a‫ܒ‬h. Beirut: An-Nour, 1989 (Arabic). OCABS Audio Commentaries: The New Testament (101 hours) The Old Testament (84 hours)

Selected Articles in Journals and Edited Volumes “Introduction.” Pages 1-7 in Exegesis and Hermeneutics in the Churches of the East. Edited by V. S. Hovhanessian. New York: Peter Lang, 2009. “Chrysostom on Isaiah: A Paradigm for Hearing Scripture.” In Syriac and Antiochian Exegesis and Biblical Theology for the 3rd Millenium. Edited by R. D. Miller. Gorgias Precis Portfolios 3; Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2006. “The Book on Jeremiah and the Pentateuchal Torah.” Pp. 7-36 in Sacred Text and Interpretation, Perspectives in Orthodox Biblical Studies. Edited by Th. Stylianopoulos. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006. “Pursuing the Mind of Christ: Lessons on Vocation from the Old Testament.” Pp. 13-42 in Christ at Work, Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Vocation. Edited by in A. M. Bezzerides. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006. “St. Paul and His Letters.” Ortodoksia 47 (Finland, 1998): 67-77. “Israel and the Nations According to Zechariah 14.” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 38 (1994): 181-92. “The Parish in the New Testament.” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 36 (1992): 87-102. “Continuity and Discontinuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament.” Finnish Exegetical Society (1992). “The Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Middle East.” Pp. 681-88 in Kirchen im Kontext unterschiedlicher Kulturen, Auf dem Weg, in das dritte Jahrtausen. Edited by W. Heller. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1991. “An Exegesis of Psalm 93.” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 35 (1991): 13748. “The Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Middle East.” Lutheran Academy (1990).

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“Biblical Aspects on Justice and Peace, from an Orthodox Perspective.” Faith and Order Commission WCC (1989). “The Addressees and the Purpose of Galatians,” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 33 (1989): 159-79. “Syndesmos and Its Future.” Syndesmos Twelfth General Assembly Report (Syndesmos, 1988). “Jerusalem in Christian Orthodox Perspectives.” Pp. 47-52 in Jerusalem: Key to Peace in the Middle East. Edited by O. Kelly Graham. Triangle Friends of the Middle East, 1987. “Du Baptême,” Contacts 39 (1987): 182-206. “The Antiochian School of Biblical Exegesis.” The Word 30 (1986): 7-9. “‘Thus Saith the Lord’: The Fundamental Aspects of Prophetic Preaching.” Pp. 13-26 in God’s Living Word: Orthodox and Evangelical Essays on Preaching. Edited by Th. Stylianopoulos. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press, 1983. “The Gospel of Christ as God’s Power for Salvation (Rom 1:16).” Pp. 27-41 in God’s Living Word: Orthodox and Evangelical Essays on Preaching. Edited by Th. Stylianopoulos. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press, 1983. “The Living Word: Effective Preaching of God’s Word Today.” Pp. 42-56 in God’s Living Word: Orthodox and Evangelical Essays on Preaching. Edited by Th. Stylianopoulos. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press, 1983. “Covenant, Land and City: Finding God’s Will in Palestine.” The Reformed Journal 29 (1979): 10-16. “Witnessing the Dynamics of Salvation.” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 22 (1978): 179-91. “Bid’at Shuhud Yahwah.” Beirut: Nativity of the Virgin Church (1975). n.p. “Time and the Signs of the End.” St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Education Day Journal (1999): n.p. “Scripture in Theological Education.” St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Education Day Journal (1998): n.p. “What is the Gospel of Christ?” St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Education Day Journal (1997): n.p. “The Bible and Orthodox Christians.” St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Education Day Journal (1994): n.p. “Orthodox Christians and the Understanding of Scripture.” St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Education Day Journal (1991): n.p.

Selected Presentations “Hermeneutical Shifts vis-à-vis Palestine in the 20th Century, Romans 9-11.” Paper presented at the Conference on the Invention of History: A Centu-

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ry of Interplay between Theology and Politics in Palestine. Bethlehem, Palestine, August 23-29, 2009. “Paul, the One Apostle of the One Gospel.” Paper presented at the International Conference on Paul in His Milieu: Land, Religion, Culture. Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem, May 7-14, 2009. “David and the Psalter.” Paper presented at the Conference of the Middle East Chapter of Alliance Biblique. Beirut, Lebanon, January 25-30, 2009. “The Promised Land: The Old Testament Perspective,” Paper presented at the International Theological Conference on the Promised Land, World Council of Churches, Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, Palestine / Israel Ecumenical Forum. Bern, Switzerland, September 10-14, 2008. “Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching.” Paper presented at the International Theological Conference on St. John Chrysostom, Bucharest University. Bucharest, Romania, November 12-14, 2006. “Deuteronomy as a ‘Reprise’ of Genesis 1–2: A Redaction Critical Reading.” Paper presented at the ANZATS/ANZSTS Conference, Queens College Parkville. Melbourne, Australia, July 5–9, 2004. “Reading Scripture.” Paper presented at the Institute for Spiritual Studies. Melbourne, Australia, July 6, 2004. “The Book of Jeremiah and the Pentateuchal Torah.” Paper presented at the Conference of Sacred Text and Interpretation: Perspectives in Orthodox Biblical Studies, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Brookline, MA, October 28–November 1, 2003. “Continuity and Discontinuity Between the Old Testament and the New Testament.” Paper presented at Exegetical Day, Finnish Exegetical Society. Helsinki, Finland, February, 1992. “The Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Middle East.” Paper presented at the Symposium on Churches in the Context of Differing Cultures, Lutheran Academy, Tutzing. Bavaria, Germany, May 1990. “Israel and the Nations, according to Zechariah 14.” Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches and the German Task Force Group on the Middle East. Cyprus, September, 1989. “Biblical Aspects on Justice and Peace from an Orthodox Perspective.” Paper presented at the Meeting of the Justice and Peace Integrity of Creation Programme, Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. Kiev, May, 1989. “The Parish in the New Testament.” Paper presented at the Fourth Meeting of the Orthodox Theological Schools, Syndesmos. Poland, February, 1989. “Syndesmos and Its Future.” Paper presented at the Syndesmos General Assembly. England, 1988. “Du Baptême,” Paper presented at the Triennial Meeting of the Orthodox Youth of Western Europe. Paris, France, 1987.

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“Jerusalem in Christian Orthodox Perspectives.” Paper presented at the Conference on Jerusalem in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Perspectives, Duke University. Durham, NC, November, 1977. “Witnessing the Dynamics of Salvation.” Paper presented at the Second International Conference of the Orthodox Theological Schools. Pendeli, Greece, 1976.

Abbreviations AfOB AJSLL ANET ANF ANZATS ANZSTS AOAT AThR AYB BCBC BDB BSac Bib BZAW CBQ CBQMS COS DJD GOTR HALOT HTR HUCA JANES JBL JHS JJS JOCABS JSOTSup NICOT NTR NESTTR

Archiv für Orientforschung: Beiheft American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Ante-Nicene Fathers Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Schools Australian and New Zealand Society for Theological Studies Alter Orient und Altes Testament Anglican Theological Review Anchor Yale Bible Believers’ Church Bible Commentary Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon Bibliotheca Sacra Biblica Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Catholic Biblical Quarterly Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series Context of Scripture Discoveries in the Judean Desert Greek Orthodox Theological Review Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament Harvard Theological Review Hebrew Union College Annual Journal of the Ancient Near East Society Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Hellenic Studies Journal of Jewish Studies Journal of the Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series New International Commentary on the Old Testament New Theology Review Near East School of Theology Theological Review

xx OCABS OTL SBL SJOT SVSQ TDOT UBS UF UT VT VTSup WBC WMANT ZAW

•PAUL NADIM TARAZI• Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies Old Testament Literature Society for Biblical Literature Scandanavian Journal of the Old Testament St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament United Bible Societies Ugarit-Forschungen Ugaritic Textbook Vetus Testamentum Vetus Testamentum Supplement Series Word Biblical Commentary Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

Jesus

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A R C H B I S H O P

D E M E T R I O S

T R A K A T E L L I S

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Authority and Passion: A Concurrent View Christology in the Gospel of Mark

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ith particular joy and a deep sense of honor I am participating in the publication of this Festchrift dedicated to the good friend and distinguished colleague in the Biblical field, the Very Reverend Dr. Paul N. Tarazi. I have known him for many years and truly appreciated his creativity as a scholar, his impressive exegetical skills, his total dedication to the Church the authentic guardian and interpreter of the Bible, and his zeal in making the treasures of the Scriptures available to the Orthodox people and to the American public in general. I pray that God gives him many healthy years of continuing creative and edifying offerings to the Church and to the Biblical interpretation. My present contribution in honor of Fr. Tarazi is related to the area of Biblical studies, his field par excellence. More specifically, it offers some comments on the Christology of the Gospel of Mark. They derive in essence from one of my books which deal with the subject1, and from which I am amply using verbatim extensive parts, especially from its Chapter Four. Mark the Evangelist offers in the sixteen chapters of his Gospel a Christology which could be characterized as a Christology of Authority and Passion; Authority referring to the divine nature of Jesus Christ, Passion referring to his human nature. The important aspect in Mark is what we could call the concurrent view, which means that Authority and Passion or divine and human in Christ are in a continuous interplay, in a constantly balancing condition, not allowing the absolute predominance of either of the two. The careful reader of the second Gospel will notice that its author sees Jesus Christ in light of both his Authority and his Passion at every major point of the text. As we read it, the text leaves no doubt about this. There is certainly a difference in emphasis, or in the size and clarity of the two opposing images due to

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needs of focusing; but in every case, the two principal concepts stay on the same visual level. Jesus moves, acts, speaks, and heals; he is baptized, transfigured, rejected, betrayed, and crucified. His acts, his activity, sufferings and words continuously convey facts which reveal, describe and portray Jesus’ absolutely divine and perfectly human person in a perpetual alternation. Concurrent view commences with images of Authrority and Passion, but develops into a view of the divine and human natures of Christ. From the first verse of his Gospel to the last, Mark imbeds expression and manifestations of Christ’s two natures one after the other, in mutual dependence and on the same line of vision. Concurrent view does not allow one-sided development or unchecked dominance of either of the two main Christological aspects. Authority does not become an easy triumph nor does Passion degenerate into incurable pessimism. On the other hand, as our text shows, the Evangelist does not busy himself with how the two basic Christological concepts coexist, neither does he attempt to explain how Jesus can at the same time be a divine and a human Being. He simply describes real, powerful manifestations of Christ’s two natures in events, words and actions. The great achievement of Mark and the tradition he preserves is a concurrent view of Christ as authoritative God and suffering man. These two Christological realities coexist intact and unadulterated from the beginning of the Gospel text to its end, and coexist in alternating expressions of life and function as tangible, visible and immediate facts. Let me now proceed by selecting from a vast amount of data only two major examples that show how the Evangelist works with his concurrent view Christology of Authority and Passion. Both examples deal with two fundamental Christological titles: The first example is the way Mark uses the title Son of man for Jesus Christ. Here we encounter four categories: a) To the first belong Mark 2:10 and 2:28. These passages express the direct authority of the Messiah in two very significant areas: remitting sins (the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, 2:10), and overruling the Sabbath rest (2:28: so the Son of man is lord even of the Sabbath). Authority in both cases is divine. The Messiah, as Bearer of this authority, is called Son of man. The appellation is doubtless reminiscent of Jesus’ human side; therefore, in these two instances which reveal the Messiah’s divine power and authority, he is referred to by a title which somehow reminds us of his human nature. We should yet point out that the proclamation of authority in both Mark 2:10 and 2:28 occurs in an atmosphere hostile to Jesus due to the Pharisees and scribes, i.e., it is an atmosphere that generally touches the domain of the Passion. We therefore have a concurrent view of Authority and Passion, and in this context the title Son of man becomes a decisive factor enabling such a concurrent view.

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b) The second group includes Mark 8:31, 9:31, and 10:33-34, the well known predictions of Christ’s sufferings. An examination of these texts and their related material ascertains that they deal with clear cases of suffering, constantly naming Jesus with the term Son of man. The verbs describing the Passion are intense and eloquent: Suffer, be rejected, be killed (8:31); be delivered, will kill him, is killed (9:31); be delivered, will condemn to death, deliver him to the Gentiles, will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, kill him (10:33-34). The one who will undergo all this is the Son of man. Here, the term in its human shade seems to be absolutely appropriate, in full harmony with the pericopes’ Passion contents. It draws a clear and striking picture of the suffering and dying human Jesus. All three Passion predictions, however, it appears they terminate with the resurrection statement (after three days he will rise, 9:31 and 10:34; after three days rise again, 8:31). The image of divine authority clearly emerges: the divine person of Christ again appears concurrently with his human, humiliated person. The Messiah‘s name in his supernatural resurrection remains the same: the Son of man. c) In the third category belong the passages Mark 9:12, 10:45, 14:21, and 14:41. Here the term Son of man is encountered in texts which seem to refer decisively to the Passion: the Son of man goes, the Son of man is betrayed (14:21), the Son of man is betrayed (14:41), it is written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things (9:12), the Son of man also came . . . to give his life (10:45). In these cases, the appellation Son of man, is in special harmony and conceptual homogeneity with the Passion contents of those passages. The image of authority, nonetheless, does not disappear. Consequently, in the four sayings of this group, i.e. Mark 9:12, 10:45, 14:21, and 14:41, the term Son of man functions simultaneously as an indicator of Jesus’ Authority and Passion, and is as harmonized with the basic sense of the passages, i.e. the Passion, as it is with their context, i.e. divine magnificence and power. d) In the fourth category we find one of the most significant and characteristic uses of the term Son of man. It concerns Mark 8:38, 13:26, and 4:62. In Mark 8:38 the disciples are warned that whoever is ashamed of Christ and his words in the present, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. The final image is one of eschatological authority, judgment and glory, underlined by the utmost phrasal brevity. The name used for this glorious, almighty and divine eschatological Being, however, is Son of man, automatically recalling the human nature of this eschatological Judge. Furthermore, Mark 8:38 is the last of a series of statements bound with concepts of suffering. It is obvious that Mark 8:38, together with its broader context (8.34-38), once again offers a concurrent view of

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Authority and Passion in the generation and formation of which the term Son of man plays a leading role. Mark 13:26 belongs to the long eschatological discourse of Jesus of which the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark consists: And then they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. This declaration in its immediate context (13:24-27) is a very strong text of Authority Christology. In a radical transformation of the natural and spiritual worlds, the almighty eschatological Lord will appear. This supreme eschatological Lord, who will close and seal history, is here again called the Son of man. The reader is thus reminded of the human side of this heavenly Lord and the Passion concepts bound with this side. Thus, concurrent Christological view is once more accomplished and the term Son of man is a decisive factor in its creation. Perhaps the most significant text in this group is Mark 14:62. Here Jesus, at the crucial point in his trial, answers the question of the high priest as to whether he is the Christ, saying, I am, adding, and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. The reference is eschatological and the situations described are ones of absolute divine authority and lordship. This very solemn and singular statement, however, comes in a trial which is humiliating for Jesus, one which will end in his death sentence. In the course of proceedings which are utterly humiliating, debasing and death-bent, there is a fresh opening revealing perspectives of absolute power and divine authority in an eschatological fulfillment. The case is a typical concurrent view of Authority and Passion, of divine and human elements in Christ. It cannot be fortuitous that the Christological appellation in this very significant case is Son of man, which exquisitely binds the suffering of a death sentence and the brilliance of eschatological authority, assuring a comfortable coexistence of manifestations of the divine and human natures of Christ. The presence of the term Son of man in the passages we examined, a Presence in absolute harmony with the phenomenon of concurrent view, showed the Christological significance and function this term has for Mark and the tradition from which he drew. The second example is the way Mark uses another important Christological title, namely the title Son of God. Here again we encounter a clear case of concurrent view as a basic Christological presentation of Christ’s divine and human natures, of his Authority as divine and Passion as human. Let us look at some characteristic texts: a) There are two instances in which the title Son of God is used as a frank confession of Jesus’ divine power and lordship: In Mark 3:11 whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’ Also, in Mark 5:6-7 the Gerasene demoniac, when he saw Jesus from afar,

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he ran and worshiped him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?’ In the passages above, acknowledgement of divine authority is perfectly clear; furthermore, it is accompanied and verified by tangible proofs, astonishing healings and exorcisms (3:9-10 and 5:8-13). It is not by accident, however, that recognition of Jesus’ divine authority comes from unclean spirits, i.e. inexorable adverse powers, from implacable enemies, whose work the Messiah has come to destroy. The fact reveals a discernible nuance of humiliation for Jesus, when we remember that the worst accusation against him was that by the prince of demons he casts out the demons (3:22, cf. 3:29-30). Consequently, in Mark 3:11 and 5:7, the mighty Christological title of power and divinity, Son of God, is found in a contiguity and conceptual sequence which safeguards a concurrent view of the other Christological side, humiliation and Passion. b) Likewise, a variation of the basic Christological title under study is used by Christ’s adversaries. In Mark 14:61, the high priest asks, Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed? This very significant Christological title is sanctioned in Jesus’ answer, I am, and in the unique Christological statement of authority and lordship which follows (14:62). The high priest’s tone, however, is clearly hostile and ironic, and Christ’s death sentence immediately afterward serves to project the Passion concept. Thus, the Christological image of Authority drawn in Mark 14:61-62 by the title son of the Blessed with the accompanying answer of Christ, coexists with the Passion image created by the tone of the high priest’s question and the death sentence. c) Also, fundamental significance for our subject is the confession of the Centurion at Golgotha: Truly this man was the Son of God! (15:39). The confession of the Roman officer was equivalent to an admission of Christ’s divine authority. However, the expression this man used in the confession of recognition, is an expression-indicator of the human side of Jesus. Also, the confession of the Centurion comes after the crucified Jesus breathed his last (15:39), i.e., after the Passion had ended in its final irrevocable form, death. Therefore, in Mark 15.39, the title Son of God, an incontestable title of high Christology, is presented during an event which obviously describes the Passion, i.e. it functions as an agent of concurrent view. d) In two other significant events, i.e. Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration, a title related to Son of God is encountered, and is worthy of comment along the same lines as our immediately preceding paragraphs. It concerns the expression my beloved Son, which is stated by God the Father in regard to Jesus, either in second person (Thou are my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased, 1:11) or in the third (This is my beloved Son; listen to him, 9:7). Here before us is a developed picture of Mark’s Authority Christology. The appellation my beloved Son is introduced with the emphatic Thou art or This is, as a direct word from God the Father himself, and is stated within the framework of unparal-

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leled theophanic scenes, namely, the baptism (1:9-11) and the transfiguration (9:2-8). The essential contribution of this title to the consolidation of the concept of Christ’s authority and divine sonship is obvious. The brief pericope of the baptism, however, begins with the information that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan (1:9). This information intimates a humiliating situation for Jesus, a submission to human circumstances. The same is also true of the theophanic transfiguration. The note, And suddenly looking around they (the disciples) no longer saw any one of them. But Jesus only (9:8), is immediately appended to the statement of divine sonship. Abruptly the supernatural light of the transfiguration is gone, Moses and Elijah disappear, and the disciples are again with Jesus as in their everyday relationship. Moreover, the transfiguration comes after a series of strong texts of Passion Christology (8:31-38). Thus, in the transfiguration as well as the baptism, the principal statements of divine sonship and authority are framed by material revealing Christ’s human nature and passion. It is clear that in Mark 1:11 and 9:7, the lofty Christological appellation my beloved Son is mentioned in passages which automatically suggest the double Christological image, i.e. a concurrent view of the Son of God‘s divine and human sides. The general conclusion rendered by the above study of the title Son of God and its variations in Mark are analogous with the one obtained from the study of the title Son of man. The very important title, Son of God, functions decisively in units of fundamental Christological significance, creating or holding the image of the Messiah‘s divine person and authority on the same visual level as the image of his Passion and human side, intimated by other material in the text. It should be repeated that the study of the two representative titles or appellations Son of man and Son of God, has not been done for the sake of the titles in themselves. By reason of their principal significance to Mark, we viewed them as examples revelatory and expressive of what we called concurrent view. This Christological phenomenon is absolutely essential to Mark, being one that ceaselessly sends out a strong, vivid impression-message, persistently stressing in its many variations the need to constantly keep within the same spectrum the image of Jesus, Son of God and God, and the image of Jesus, Son of man and man humiliated and suffering death on the cross. Emphasis on the Christological reality of Jesus’ Authority and Passion, which we verified on every page of Mark’s Gospel, could perhaps be interpreted also as a basic reference to significant issues present in the life of the Church to which the inspired Evangelist addresses himself. The first is the danger of distorting or corrupting the true faith in Jesus Christ. It may very well be that Mark writes his Gospel, presupposing church communities that are confronting serious problems of genuineness and completeness of true Christological faith. For this reason, it is perfectly clear that

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the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1), reveals and preaches one and only one Christological faith, having the Authority and Passion of Christ as basic and irreplaceable components. The second topic is persecution and more generally, situations hostile to Christ and his people. For the church communities to which the Evangelist addresses himself, the Passion of Jesus Christ is a unique and supreme point of reference and orientation in times of persecution and affliction. His authority, on the other hand, is the guarantee of ultimate victory over persecutions of every shape and form.

Conclusion Mark the Evangelist gives us the superb Christological reality of the coexistence and inseparable connection between the two natures of Christ, concurrently preserving their integrity. This has an incalculable effect on purely theoretical topics of Christology, but it also has a direct effect on one’s frame of mind or attitude in regard to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel according to Mark does not allow a triumphant mentality which focuses exclusively on the Christology of Authority while neglecting or diminishing the Passion. On the other hand, the same Gospel does not adopt a frame of mind which puts such an overpowering emphasis on the Christology of Passion and the cross, that the reality of Christ’s Authority is diminished. Concurrent view, simultaneous adherence to the absolutely divine and perfectly human person of Jesus, to the coexistence of Authority and Passion, is the great message of Mark. It is the genuine and decisive criterion of any true Christology.

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Jesus Christ “The Same Yesterday, Today and Forever” “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb. 13:8) “For the whole of the divinely-inspired Scriptures are aimed at the mystery that is Christ… for Christ is the end of the law and the prophets.” Saint Cyril of Alexandria (PG 68,268A)

T

he all-holy and supremely divine Name of God was revealed by God Himself to Moses, when he saw God on the slopes of Mount Horeb in Sinai: “I AM THE ONE WHO IS” (ਥȖȫ ɂᚫɊɇ ੒ ੭Ȟ).1 “And God spoke to Moses: I AM THE EXISTING ONE (thus shall you say to the sons of Israel: the Existing One has sent me to you. And God (Elohim) again said to Moses: thus shall you say to the sons of Israel: the Lord God (YHWH/Elohim) of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you; this is my eternal name and a memorial to generations of generations” (Ex. 3:14-15).2 A little later, God repeated His Most Holy Name to Moses in the following manner: “I am Yahweh and I appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, God Almighty” (Gen. 17,1: El Shadai) . And I did not reveal my name, YAHWEH to them (Ex. 6:2-3). After Moses, the prophets pronounce and write the most holy Name of God itself. To be precise, the prophet Hosea (12:6) says: “But YAHWEH, the God of Sabbaoth, shall be a memorial of Him”. ʡhis name of YAHWEH is also pronounced and written by other God-inspired prophets, down to the Prophets Daniel and Malachi, through the latter of whom God Himself says: “For I am YAHWEH (Lord), and I have not changed” (Mal. 3:6; See also Jer. 16:21; Ps. 67:5; Dan. 9:10; 9:14). After these prophets, the Jews did not pronounce the Most-Holy Name of God any more; wherever the holy tetragram YHWH was written,3 they pronounced it as Adonaï [Lord or, (as Elohim), the powerful, the almighty, God]

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when the name Adonaï was placed alongside YHWH].4 This was because at the time, genuine Prophets were no longer present, which can be seen as early as Psalm 73/74:9 and concerning which ample evidence is provided by the books of the Macabees (1Mac. 4:46; 9:27; 14:4; cf. Dn. 9:24), as well as by Josephus.5 Before answering this question, we should begin by examining the following matters. Who was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai? According to the evidence, inspired by the Holy Spirit, of Saint Stephen the Archdeacon and First Martyr, which was heard before the Jewish Sanhedrin before he was stoned to death, and when he was filled with the Holy Spirit and gazing into the heavens and at the Son of Man, Christ, seated on the right hand of God the Father, “an ANGEL of the Lord appeared to him [Moses] in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the flame of fire of a bush”, and this Angel was none other than the Son of God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Testimony to this is the fact that this Angel who appeared says to Moses immediately afterwards: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Acts 7:30-33; Ex. 3:2-6 and 14-15; 6:2). So the Angel who appeared to Moses was God Himself, the God of Revelation, the God of Divine Revelation- Christ, the Son of God. Indeed, in Moses’ narrative concerning this appearance, as also in Stephen’s narrative and explanation of the event, the successive alteration of the name of Him Who appeared in the bush- at times “the angel of the Lord”, at others “the Lord” or “I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob”- demonstrates that the person in this Theophany was the Son of God Himself, because He is the Divine Person of the Revelation in the Scriptures, which is why He is also called “Angel [Messenger, Emissary] of God”. “Messenger of the Great Counsel of God”,6 – i.e. of the Pre-eternal Counsel of the All-Holy Trinity – a term which cannot refer to God the Father, since He is not revealed directly, as Saint John the Evangelist says: “No-one has ever seen God: the Only-Begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, has made Him known” (Jn 1:18).7 This is also confirmed by the text of the Prophet Malachi: “Behold, I shall send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me (see Is. 48:3) and the Lord, whom you seek, shall come suddenly into his Temple and the messenger of the Testament, whom you want. Behold he comes, says the Lord [YHWH] of hosts (LXX: Almighty)” (Mal. 3:1). It is clear from this last text that it is not the messenger previously referred to who is mystically identified (see Matth. 11:10, where this messenger is John the Baptist), but Adonaï [the Lord] and the Messenger of the Testament (see Ex. 3:2-4 and 23:20). It can be deduced from this that the person concerned is not the Lord of Hosts, but someone else. The Only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is therefore the Person of the Theophany, of the Divine Revelation, since in the Old Testament theophany is on certain occasions manifested through the appearance of an

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angel (as in God’s appearance to Abraham, Jacob, and Moses).8 This is why Christ says to the Jews and His disciples: “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9), and: “The Father is in me and I in Him” (Jn 10:38; 14,1011), and also that: “The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:30).9 Therefore the God-Yahweh Who was revealed to Moses is the pre-eternal Only-begotten Son of God. He became incarnate and was made man through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became JesusChrist. The Only-begotten became the First-born,10 that is the God-Man and the Saviour of the world. This would be restated by Saint John in Revelation (1:8; 21:6; 22:13), as we shall see hereafter.11 The reasons why the Jews at the time of Christ had forgotten and almost lost the true and proper Name of the True and Living God and of His Emissary, Jesus Christ, without Whom and apart from Whom “no-one comes to the Father” (Jn 17:3; 17:6), was interpreted by that zealous Jew and persecutor of Christians, Saul, whom Christ Himself met and changed into Paul, who became His life-long apostle and witness. Saul (Paul) says that this happened because the Jews, who did not accept Christ, did not understand Moses or the Scriptures either, because “indeed, to this day, at the reading of the Old Testament, this same veil remains, not removed, for only in Christ is it set aside. And even today, whenever Moses is read, this veil lies on their hearts. Only if someone turns to the Lord [Christ] is the veil lifted” (2Cor. 3:13-16).12 Because of this “veil” which the Pharisees managed to impose on the majority of Jews,13 they did not- and still do not- recognize in the Scriptures the absolutely clear prophecies of God concerning the Messiah/Christ,14 Who, in the Old Testament appeared simultaneously as an Angel of the Lord [messenger] and as God. This is why the manifestations of God and of the Angel in the Old Testament were, in reality, Messianic manifestions of God- of Christ, promises of the Messiah which were gradually revealed to the patriarchs and their descendants. Indeed, in the Old Testament God Himself, through the Prophets, beginning with Moses and down to Malachi and Daniel, clearly foretold that He would send to Israel, and thereby to the whole world, His Christ – His Messiah (in Hebrew Mashiah, Yahweh), i.e. “the Lord’s anointed”, through Whom and for Whom the great high priests and kings and prophets were anointed and called “the Lord’s Anointed”. Such were Aaron, Samuel and David who were formally anointed, as Saint Cyril of Jerusalem puts it.15 According to this, the Messiah-Christ, as “the Christ appointed to you” (Acts 3:20), will appear to the chosen people of Israel. It was, in any case, for Him that Israel was chosen as the people of God and Israel itself would be referred to sometimes in the Scriptures as God’s anointed. This was because the Messiah-Christ who was promised to the Patriarchs and foretold by the Prophets in Israel –”being from Israel in the flesh” and being, at the same time

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Anointed God, by His divine provenance- “God who is over all, blessed to the ages (Rom. 9:5),16 – is not merely an individual Person, but a collective Person, universal, ecclesiastical, as Saviour of Israel and the whole human race, and Head and Beginning of the New Israel, i.e. the Church, as we shall discuss later. We shall quote here some passages of the Old Testament where there are clear references to the Messiah-Christ [Anointed] (Ex. 30:30; 1Sam. 2:35; 24:711; 2Sam. 19:22; 23:1): “Before my Anointed”, “the anointed of Yahweh”, “the Anointed of the God of Jacob” (LXX), “Before my Anointed”, “the Anointed of the Lord”, “the Anointed of Jacob’s God”. Likewise, the Psalms frequently speak about the Messiah-Christ [the Lord’s Anointed] (Ps. 2:2): “against the Lord and against his Anointed”.17 All these passages demonstrate the strange and wonderful Person of the Messiah-Christ, Who is an intimate of God and Who is also a unique Person, and with an intimate people (see Heb. 2:11-14). Moreover, in Ps. 44/45:3 and 7-8 it says: “You are the most handsome of men, grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you unto the ages… Your throne, God, endures unto the ages of ages, the sceptre of your kingdom, a sceptre of equity; you love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions, (cf. Heb. 1:8-9, where the passage refers to Christ).18 The passage referred to makes it clear that the Messiah is both God and man who has a close relationship and communion with God and people. This dual capacity (“duophysite” as the Holy Fathers would later call it) of the Same and Unique Messiah is the content, the heart of biblical, eccesiological Christology. Saint Cyril of Alexandria interprets this passage in a purely Christological way: “For He has been anointed high priest and apostle of our confession (Heb. 3:1). The Son became a man in order to lead us up to God the Father, redolent with faith in Him. He is anointed with the oil of gladness so that we shall understand grace through the Holy Spirit. Even though this can be said to have been done to Christ, it was the full necessity of dispensation. In human manner He also receives with us the Spirit, when this happened to us, but did not add anything to Himself, as God and Word, but in Himself and first (firstborn: Rom. 8:29) procuring the Spirit of gladness for human nature. For where there is participation in divine nature and the grace of adoption and the promise of life to the depths of the ages and the kingdom of heaven, this is where rejoicing is. Although Christ was anointed beyond his companions: for we have the pledge of the Spirit in us (2Cor. 1:22): as Paul says, in Christ dwells the whole of the fullness of deity in the body (Col. 2:9)… When, then, was Christ anointed? When the Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove (Matth. 3,16). It was then he received the new name, through the voice of the prophet. For it was said ‘and they shall call him a new name, the Lord will name him’ (Is. 62:2; Rev. 3:12). Since the Word was both naked and

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without flesh before the incarnation, it was fitting for Him to be called Light and Life and suchlike. After the incarnation, which brought the dispensation of the power of being anointed--since He had already been anointed by the Father- He received the new name that is Christ (Phil. 2:9). He Who, as God gives sanctification to others, is sanctified with us in human terms: that is grace and the sanctification of the flesh, which is not by nature holy, but becomes so by participation in God. His disciples [Apostles], He called brothers and made them companions (sharers in Himself). For He sanctifies as God Himself, anointing in the Spirit those Who have become participants in Him through faith”.19 What is clear from this interpretation by Saint Cyril is the uniqueness of the Person and the duality of the nature and the mission of the Messiah-Christ, as well as the soteriological, ecclesiological consequences of this event/mystery (of which we will treat in greater detail later). A similar example of such a Messianic-Christological-ecclesiological passage is to be found in Ps. 101/102:14-23: “For you shall arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to do so (…). And the nations shall fear your name, Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory. For the Lord [Yahweh] will build up Zion and will be seen in His glory. (…) Let this be written for another generation and the people created (ɉȽᛂɑ ੒ ɈɒɇɃɟɊɂɋɍɑ) will praise the Lord that he looked down from his holy place on high, that he looked out on the earth (…) so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem, when peoples gather in one place and kings to serve the Lord”. Another example of such a Messianic-Christological-ecclesiological passage is in Ps. 21/22:23.26.28-32; and Zephaniah 2:11, where the expressions “my brothers” and “great assembly” are equated (ਥțțȜȘıȓĮ= congregation/synagogue/ temple), together with “the ends of the earth”, “the kindreds of the nations”, “the islands of the nation”, “the people born” (ɉȽɟɑ ੒ ɒɂɖɅɄɐɟɊɂɋɍɑ), where the last phrase has the sense of the expression “the people created” in Ps. 101/2:19. We would note that some of these passages from the Psalms are found in the New Testament, as referring directly to Christ and to the Church as the “new people of God” (Heb. 1:10-12; Eph. 2:14). According to the Fathers of the Church, especially Saint Athanasios the Great, these two Psalms (21/22 and 101/102) deal with Israel’s salvation by the Lord (at the time of the Babylonian exile and after), but also with the salvation of all the peoples who will come to believe in the Lord and enter Zion [the Church], so that both together, the Jewish people and the other nations, will be reborn in Christ, in the Messianic era, as a new people (Eph. 2:14). ʞˋ˛ˈ Saint Athanasios writes: “The prayer in the psalm, that the promise prophesied to the nations, as if written on a column given to the Jews to keep for the new Israel and the new generation in Christ- and this is precisely the people created which will praise the Lord. ‘For He looked down from His holy place on high’- the cause of the call of the nations is set out to us. For this is

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the epiphany of Christ our Saviour, which He achieved by bending down from heaven. “To declare his name in Zion” also tells us the reason for His descent: that the Church, for it is Zion, might learn to praise His name “when peoples are gathered in one place”. This means that the prophets saw the nations gathered together in the Lord (2Thess. 2:1).20 We shall refer here to another two of the many Messianic passages of the Prophet Isaiah, which refer to Him as “A shoot from the root of Jesse” (Messianic hymn: Is. 11:1-10) on Whom “rests the Spirit of the Lord (Yahweh), the Spirit of wisdom” and so on, which will be repeated after a fashion in Is. 42:17 and 61:1. In the first passage (42:1), Yahweh speaks of His Servant (“Here is my servant; I will help him. Israel is my chosen one, my soul has accepted him, I have placed my spirit on him”),21 while in the second (61:1) the Messiah Himself says: “The Spirit of the Lord-Yahweh is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor”. All of these passages should be linked to the New Testament (Lk. 4:18; Matth. 3:16-17; 12:17-21; Acts. 2:16-18; Jn 1:33--34), where there are direct references to Christ. We would also mention a related Messianic passage in the Prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot (LXX: orient), and the king shall reign and act accordingly and shall execute judgment and righteousness on the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell in trust; and this is the name the Lord (Yahweh) will call him” (Jer. 23:5-6).22 These Christological passages are not the only ones in the Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, and so we shall be returning to them below. For the moment, we would also mention a Christological passage from the Prophet Daniel (Dan. 9:24-26) where the Messianic prophecy states most clearly that: “The Holy One of Holies” will be anointed and from that time to the Messiah (Christ), the Leader is seven weeks and sixty two weeks until the Messiah (Christ) “will be given over to death.23 We would also quote the well-known Christological-ecclesiological passage from the book of Proverbs (8:22-23): “The Lord made me the beginning of his paths in his works, he established me in the beginning, before time was, before he made the earth”.24 It is the Wisdom of God that expresses these words about Itself. The Jewish interpreters, as Rachi testifies (1040-1105),25 claim that the world was created for the Torah and for Israel, since, according to them, the Torah was called “the beginning” of the path of God (Prov. 8:22, where the Torah is identified with Wisdom), and Israel was called “the very beginning”, i.e. “[holy] to the Lord and the beginning of his begettings” (Jer. 2:3). So for the Jewish interpreters, the Torah is the aim of the creation of the world. Nevertheless, the New Testament tells us plainly that the world was created for Christ the Messiah (Col. 1:16-17)26 and that He is the Wisdom of God (1Cor. 1:24-30). We are therefore dealing with the Incarnate Messiah-Christ, which means that the world was created for Christ and the Church, and, to be

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more precise, for Christ with the Church or for Christ as the Church, as the New Israel, as the assembly in Christ, as the New Adam, as Only-Begotten and First-Born, where the whole of the human race and God’s whole creation is recapitulated and delivered to God in unity with Him and between themselves (Eph. 1:10; Jn. 17:3-4; 22-27; 1Cor. 15:24-28). We might therefore say that the vague supposition of the Jewish interpreters- that the Torah is the final aim of the world- was, to some extent, pointing in the right direction, but that their interpretation is devoid of the prospects of divine dispensation, of the prospects of divine, prophetic revelation, of the prospects of eternal, divine, personal [Trinitarian] love (Jer. 31/38:3; 31-40; Jn. 17; Rev. 21:17). Let us see the Church‘s understanding of this Messianic passage (Prov. 8:22-23), through the interpretation of Saint Athanasios the Great: “And if anyone should say of the Word that He was made, he means was born, … this discussion has explicitly clarified this and shown that the Word is not a work but, in essence, the offspring of the Father, while, by dispensation, according to the good pleasure of the Father, He was made man for us and consists as such. For this reason, then, it is said by the Apostle, ‘Who was faithful to Him that made Him’ (Heb. 3:2) and in Proverbs, even the creation is spoken of (Prov. 8:22)… For here the Word does not signify the Essence of His Godhead, nor His own everlasting and genuine generation from the Father, as Solomon talked about, but, again, His manhood and dispensation towards us”.27 Continuing his analysis and interpretation of Proverbs 9:1 (“Wisdom has built itself a house”), Saint Athanasios adds: “Now it is plain that our body is Wisdom’s house, which It took on Itself to become man; this is consistent with what John says: ‘The Word was made flesh’ (Jn. 1:14); and, through Solomon, Wisdom says of Itself with scrupulosity, not ‘I am a creature’, but only ‘The Lord made me a beginning of his paths in his works’… so where it says in Proverbs ‘He created’, we must not conceive of the whole Word as a creature by nature, but that He was clad in the created body and that, as it is written (Heb. 3:2), God created Him for our sakes, preparing for Him our created body, that in Him we might be able to be renewed and deified”.28 The interpretation by Saint Athanasios which has just been quoted develops, in essence, the Biblical and ecclesiastical, Patristic soteriological, ecclesiological and Messianic view that the Only-Begotten became the First-Born (Jn. 1:14-18; 3:16; 1Jn 4:9; Heb. 1:6; Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15-18; Ps. 88/89:27-29), which involves the truth that Christ the Messiah, as God and Man, is, at one and the same time, both a unique and collective Person, which can be seen from the well-known Messianic passage in Isaiah concerning Emmanuel, the shoot of the root of Jesse and, Ebed-Yahweh [Servant of the Lord] (Is. 7:14; 9:5-6; 11:1-10; chaps. 52-53) to which we will briefly refer. Isaiah is the most prophetic Prophet and the most Messianic “Evangelist” of the Old Testament. He is rightly called the “Old Testament Evangelist” be-

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cause his prophecies concerning the Messiah Christ are the clearest Godinspired visions and divine sayings, particularly the second part of the book which bears his name.29 But even in the first part of Isaiah, “the Book of Emmanuel” (chaps. 6-11), which concludes with the thanksgiving psalm in chapter 12, there is an obvious proclamation of the Birth of the Messiah Emmanuel (7,14) and of His divine glory. Christ Immanu-el (God is with us) is, and is proclaimed to be, a unique and collective Person: His nativity, which is prophesied and recorded here (Is. 7:14; cf. Mic. 5:1-3) and the name given to Him in the text, points to the New Testament, since they are directly attributed to Christ Himself, Who, in the Old Testament is regarded as the announced Messiah and in the New as the already present and incarnate Saviour (Is. 7:14, cf. Matth. 1:23). Within the context of this study, it is worth reminding ourselves that the name “Immanuel” [God is with us] in a way represents Yahweh’s words “I shall be with you” (Ex. 3:12). Bearing in mind that the linguistic formulation of the revelation of the name of God to Moses literally means “I shall be Who I shall be”,30 and emphasizes the continuous and dynamic presence of God,31 then it is a foregone conclusion that: Emmanuel is Yahweh and the God-Yahweh Who declared Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai is Emmanuel Himself, i.e. the Christ to come. This same Messiah- Christ, this same Emmanuel, is thereafter characterized in Is. 9:5-6, with attributive adjectives and nouns which are especially Christological, that is Messianic, divine and ecclesiological. “For a child has been born to us, and a son given. And authority rests upon his shoulders; and his name is called [Messenger of the Great Council. LXX] Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Potentate, Prince of Peace, Father of the Future Age [Eternal Father, Masoretic. LXX]. Great is his authority, and there is no limit to his peace on the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it in judgment and righteousness from now and forever more. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this”. All these names and attributives certainly belong to the Messiah as a Divine Person, especially the terms “Messenger of the Great Council”,32 “Mighty God”,33 “Eternal Father” (according to the Masoretic; “Father of the coming age” in LXX), while the other attributives and terms also refer to Christ as a Person

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both individual and collective i.e. universal. These terms and names manifest the fact that the Messiah-Christ is God, was God and shall be God and that, at the same time, He is the Son of Man. As our Church sings on Christmas Day, He is at once a new-born Child and the pre-eternal God! This Messianic, soteriological Christology of Isaiah is even clearer in the divinely-inspired interpretations of these passages by the Fathers of the Church, to which we would refer the reader, though the restricted nature of this article prevents us from quoting them.34 We would add merely the fact that the Prophet Isaiah returns to the subject at a number of points, such as, for example, when he speaks of the Messiah as a shoot of the root of Jesse (hymn to the Messiah: 11:1-10)35, as Cornerstone (28:16; cf. 1Pet. 2:6; Acts, 4:11; Rom. 9:33; Eph. 2:20),36 and particularly as the Servant of the Lord (42:1-7; 49:1-9; 50:4-9 and 52:13-53.12). Four prophetic passages in Isaiah concerning Ebed-Yahweh [the Servant of the Lord] (we have already mentioned 42:1-7,) demonstrate that the Servant of God cannot be identified entirely with Israel, nor is He epitomized by it (although, we repeat, Israel partakes of this Messianic designation, since the Messiah will come from Israel and through Israel His mission will be fulfilled- cf. Jn. 4, 22- and even though Israel is often called, in the context of Isaiah’s texts “the Servant of the Lord and His Chosen One”: Is. 41:8; 44: 1-2.21; 45:4; 49:3). But this identification certainly does not hold in the texts where the prophet speaks of the Suffering Servant of the Lord (49:1-9;37 50:4-9, and particularly 52:13; 53:12). In this last passage, which has been called the “Poem on the Servant of the Lord” (52:13-53.12), Ebed-Yahweh is suffering for the salvation and conversion of Israel and the whole human race. He is presented so vividly that it is as if Isaiah were present on Golgotha during the passion of the Messiah-Christ.38) In brief, Isaiah prophesies that, although the Servant of the Lord will undergo humiliations, abuses and “disfigurements” beyond any other human being, He yet has a human persona, and in Him will the Mighty Right Hand of the Lord-Yahweh be revealed: “Behold, my servant shall understand38 and shall be raised on high and glorified greatly…” (Is. 52:13). “We have announced him before him [Yahweh] as a child,39 as a root in a thirsty land…”40 The Servant of Yahweh, as the Righteous Sufferer (Is. 53: 1-12), has an altered appearance: “…(his form ignoble) inferior to that of all other people; a person wounded and accustomed to bearing illness [pain]. His face is turned away, he

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•PAUL NADIM TARAZI• has been dishonoured and not esteemed [in anything]. [And yet] He bears our sins and is in pain for our sakes. And we accounted him to be in pain and in suffering and in affliction. But he was wounded for our sins,41 and was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace42 was upon him and we were healed through his injury. We have all strayed like sheep, everyone has strayed from his path and the Lord gave him up for our sins. And he [Ebed-Yahweh, Servant of the Lord], through his affliction, did not open his mouth. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a mute lamb before the shearer, thus he does not open his mouth. His judgment came in humiliation,43 and who shall tell of his gene-ration?44 For his life is taken away from the earth,45 he has been brought to death by the iniquities of my people.46 Thus was the innocent and sinless suffering servant of Yahweh given over to death and buried in the grave, although he had done no iniquity and in his mouth there was no guile. And all this was salvation, because the Lord wished to cleanse him of his wound. Since he offered His soul as a sin offering, he shall see his seed [descendents] live long. And the Lord wished to take away the pain from his soul, to show him light47 and to form him with understanding, to justify the just one who works well among many, and he shall bear their sins. Therefore he shall inherit many48 and shall divide the spoil of the mighty, because his soul was delivered to death by them. And he was numbered among the transgressors, for he bore the sins of many and was committed because of their sins”.

Isaiah’s words regarding the Suffering Righteous One [the Servant of the Lord], which has been called the “fifth Gospel“ and which greatly resembles the Messianic Psalm 21/22, in which are interwoven the words of Yahweh and those of the peoples (since they speak in the plural), are quoted extensively in the New Testament (see note 37). Simply reading this text by Isaiah on the suffering Spotless Lamb turned the Ethiopian towards faith in Christ, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles (8:27-37). John the Baptist used this text in addressing the Jewish people to refer directly to Jesus Christ, when he called Him: “The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29-36). As has been rightly noted (TOB, ad loc. 53:10), this is the only point in the Old Testament where reference is made to human sacrifice as a means of atoning for sins, although such sacrifices were strictly forbidden by Mosaic Law. But the notion of a bloody selfsacrifice of the Messiah-Christ for the salvation of all is confirmed by Christ Himself in the course of His passion (Jn 10:17=18; 12:24-33; 15:13) and is developed by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews (9:11-28). Moreover, in Saint Peter we come across: “but by the blood of Christ, being the Lamb without defect or blemish, foreknown from the foundation of the world but

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revealed at the end of the ages for you” (1Peter 1:19-20). Isaiah’s text certainly deserves and demands more profound interpretation, but that would take us into a more specialized study, so we have restricted ourselves to the Holy Fathers’ interpretation of it.49 The prophecies of Isaiah related to the Suffering Ebed-Yahweh are certainly confirmed and clarified in the New Testament with the passion of the Messiah-Christ, which was necessary for soteriological reasons, for the sake of the redemption, the continuous and eternal salvation and perfection, that is the glorification (deification), of both Israel and the whole human race. This makes the Messiah in these passages a Person both unique and, at the same time, universal and ecclesiastical. Because whatever the Messiah is and does, He is and does for us humans, for His people, for His Church, His Body.50 Christ Himself speaks of this in the briefest and clearest way when He says: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His soul as a ransom for many” (Matth. 20:28). As does Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews, when he says, regarding the Messiah-Christ: “For it was fitting that he, for whom all things are and through whom all things are, in bringing many people to glory, should, through sufferings, perfect the Prince [MessiahChrist: Heb. 12:2] of their salvation. For he who sanctifies [Messiah] and those who are sanctified [the saved] are all from one [God the Father]” (Heb. 2:1011). Saint Paul also sets out a similar view of self-emptying suffering and humiliation for the sake of universal salvation and the glorification of the human race and the whole of creation (Phil. 2:5-11). But any more profound investigation of Pauline Christology, which has its foundations deep in the Old Testament (i.e. Biblical and Jewish) tradition, would take us far out of our way here. And yet we might make the following observation, which is linked to our main topic (Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever). In the letter to the Hebrews (2:10), Christ is called the “Prince of their salvation“ [many of the children of God], whereas in Hebrews 12:2, He is called “the Prince and Perfecter” of faith. This means that faith and salvation are identical, as Saint Peter says: “Having received the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1Pet. 1:9 and 1:5: “through faith to salvation”). In Saint Paul, Hebrews 13:7, before the words which form our title (ibid.13:8), there is an exhortation to Christians: “Commemorate your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith”. There immediately follow the words “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and to the ages of ages” (13:8). This means that the content of the preaching of the Word of God, the preaching of the actual life of Christians and the content of the faith is one and the same and unaltered: “Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever”. This, again, means that Jesus Christ is: “He Who is, Who was, and is to come” i.e YAHWEH (Ex. 3:14 = Rev. 1:8; 21:6 = Heb. 13:8). These

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three passages demonstrate the saving dynamism of His divine, and now theanthropic existence, presence and energy. This means the presence and energy of His unique Person, Who is pre-eternally divine and Who has been preeternally foreordained and made real through His becoming flesh and becoming human- His theanthropic Person- for the salvation of the world. This salvation is from the Jews (Jn 4:22), as Christ Himself says to the Samaritan woman. In this way, He does not deny His Jewish identity, but nor does He restrict Himself as Messiah, His universal Person and His energies, to the Israel in this world and to the Jewish Jerusalem on earth (Jn 4:21-24). This is indeed the universal event, the universal mystery of the MessiahChrist, which Saint Paul calls: “the great mystery of our devotion”, “the mystery of Christ” and the “richness of this mystery of God, which is Christ in you” (see 1Tim. 3:16; Eph. 1:9; 3:3.9; 5:32; Col. 1:27). It is only within this context that the Old and New Testament divine revelation can be understood as the completion of the divine dispensation of salvation, as the “dispensation of the mystery”, “the dispensation of grace“, the “dispensation of the fullness of time” (Eph. 1:10; 3:2.9; Col. 1,25), i.e. the pre-eternal divine will- the plan of creation, the recapitulation (in Christ as the Head) and the glorification of all created beings and the whole of creation through the beloved Son of God (Eph. 1,10; 3:2.9). This is also the sense of a rare but very telling expression in the Old Testament: beloved,51 which, in the New is firmly linked to the Messiah, Christ the God-man, the Only-Begotten Beloved Son, Who also became the First-Born among many loving brethren.52 Or, as Saint Cyril of Alexandria puts it very precisely and clearly, God loved and loves us through His beloved Son, “loved from the ages”. And when He became Man, He became the starting-point so that we, too, could become loved by the Father (“possessing the beginning of being loved”).53 Or as God Himself says briefly to the Prophet Jeremiah: “I have loved with eternal love and for this I have drawn you to compassion“ (Jer. 38,3 in the Septuagint; the TM has “for this I have continued my faithfulness to you” (31:3). There are other passages in the Old Testament to which we might refer, but we shall dwell, for the present, on the one quoted above, adding an important observation: the Hebrew word Masijah [Messiah], which was translated precisely into Greek as Christ, means Anointed. The word is a passive verbal epithet,54 and, at the same time, an adjectival noun, especially when accompanied by an article. In this case it denotes the Anointed One- the Messiah-Christ as God’s Anointed.55 So we see that the name of the Messiah-Christ derives from the action of anointing (the verb ɖɏɜɘ and the action ɖɏɜɐɊȽ have exactly the same meaning in both Hebrew and Greek), which was fulfilled in Him, when He became the Messiah-Christ-Anointed One, just as, in the Old Testament, the high priests, prophets and kings became the anointed of God through a similar

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action. Naturally, in the Old Testament, this anointing was a model (a foreshadowing of the future, a copy of things true). Whereas in Christ in the New Testament the action is real, hypostatic and eternal, for the sake of our salvation. In this way, then, the action of anointing in the Old Testament was carried out and operated with the power of the future, New Testament situation and truth, that is with the power of the anointing of Christ, as Saint Paul and the Fathers of the Church point out (Heb. 8:5-7; 9:8-11.23-24; 10:1--9; Col. 2:17).57) We shall be speaking about this act/event which took place when the Son of God became Christ, when the Father “brought into the world” (Heb. 1:6) His Only-Begotten Son as the Firstborn, when the “Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14), when “God made Him Lord and Christ”, when He “anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 2:36; 10:38; cf. Heb. 3:1-2). For the moment, suffice it to say that, according to Saint Paul and the Fathers of the Church, this sacred event, or the work which God works (see Haba. 1:5 = Acts 13:41 (ਥȡȖȠȞ ਥȡȖȐȗȠȝĮɇ), this divine mystery/event is called Christ (Eph. 3:3; Col. 1:27; 4:3) and is, for the Biblical-eccle-siastical tradition, the greatest value and confirmation not only of Israel but of the whole of the race of Adam, i.e. the whole of humanity, and of our history in the world and of our eternality.56 We encounter such a concept concerning the divine calling and existence of the Messiah-Christ in the Holy Apostles in the New Testament; initially in the Evangelists and thereafter in the other Apostles. Thus, in Luke 2:26, it reports that Righteous Simeon, who received Christ in the temple, had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would “not see death until he saw Christ the Lord”, i.e. the Anointed One- the Masijah- YAHWEH (see Luke 9: 20: “the Anointed Christ, the Anointed One of God”). Similarly, Mark the Evangelist tells us that “from Mary was born Jesus, known as Christ”, that is, the Anointed One, as foretold by the Prophets (Acts 3:20-26). As, indeed, Jesus Christ considered Himself to be, and called Himself such, though He was not limited merely to those names since He was above all names, for which reason He was charged by the Jewish priests before Pilate: “saying that he is Christ the king” (Luke 23:2). As we know, Christ did not deny this “charge”, nor did He defend Himself, nor ask forgiveness when the Jewish priests accused Him of calling Himself “the Son of God“ (Jn 5:18; 8:36-40), i.e. the King Anointed by God. Christ, on the other hand, very often used the divine witness of “I am” for Himself (Jn 4:26; 6:35.41.48; 8:12; 11:25; 12:46; 14:6 etc.), in similar fashion to the God of the Old Testament (I am the Lord-YAHWEH)” (Ex. 6:2-8.29; Is. 27:3; 41:13.17; 45:3-8.18-19.21 etc.), or more succinctly: “I am the One Who Is (cf. Is. 7:14; 41:4; 42:8; 43:10.13; 48:12, 52:6). Christ also refers to God His Father as Abba, Father (Aramaic: aba – Mark 14:36; Matth. 11:26-27), thus clearly revealing His divine identity and His divine mission to the world before His Father and mankind.57

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His Messianic and Divine identity is also attested by Saint John the Evangelist when he reports that “the Jews agreed that if anyone confess him as Christ, they should be put out of the synagogue” (Jn 9:22). Being a genuine Jew himself.58 Saint John insisted, linguistically, in his Gospel that the OnlyBegotten, Incarnate Son of God was precisely the Masijah, the Anointed One [Christ], Who had been awaited for so long by Israel. This is why he is the only Evangelist to record the Confession of Saint Andrew the First-Called, who was the first to announce, to his brother Simon Peter (Jn 1:41): „“We have found the Messiah (Massiah which, being interpreted, is Christ).59 The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called here expressed faithfully the Messianic hope and expectation of the deeply religious Jewish nation regarding the coming of the Messiah-Christ [“the Anointed One”], Whom God had promised. This is apparent from the words of the Samaritan woman, whose encounter with Christ is again recorded only in Saint John’s Gospel (4:25): “I know that the Messiah is coming; when he comes, he will proclaim all things to us”. This same Messianic eschatological hope is expressed by the deeply religious, Israelite people who were athirst for God,60 when, after Christ’s resurrection of the dead Lazarus and after His strange entry into Jerusalem “on the foal of an ass”, foretold in the well-known prophecy of Zachariah (9:9), an increasing number began to believe in Jesus as the Christ, while the Pharisees said among themselves: “Do you see? Nothing is to be done. People have gone over to him” (Jn 12:19). Also when the Sanhedrin and the High Priests, the Sadducees and the other Jewish officials “took counsel to put him to death” (Jn 11:47.3; 12:19). This people of Israel, which had long awaited the coming of the Living God was truly moved by the appearance of Christ, by His words, His person, His words and His works, and He Himself shook up their ideas them somewhat, i.e. He made them aware and therefore troubled them. The people said: “we have heard from the law that Christ [Masijah, the Anointed One] will remain unto the ages”. Now He said: the Son of Man must be raised on high; who is this Son of Man?” (Jn 12:34). So it is hardly surprising that Jesus Christ, in both the Old and New Testaments, is called “a stumbling-block and a stone to make them fall” (Is. 8:14; Rom. 9:33; 1Pet. 2:8). He is indeed the “hidden revelation and revealed mystery“, Who gradually uncovers the mystery of His Messianic-Theanthropic Person, of the “ever-new mystery” (St. Gregory the Theologian). And this was revealed only to those who believed in Him according to the “measure of the faith” in their hearts and according to the “measure of the gift” of the Holy Spirit in them.61 But even despite the gradual divine dispensation of the Revelation of Jesus as Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the World, only those Jews who had “circumcision of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter” (Rom. 2:29) saw, in His Person the Prophet of God and the Messiah-Christ, the Son of God and Theanthropic Saviour. In other words, those who were enlightened by God the Father

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recognized Him (Matth. 12:17; Luke 2:26-27; Acts 5:22 etc.), but not through the restriction of the letter [of the law], which could be read again and again by the scribes and pharisees. This is why Christ says to them: “You search the scriptures, for you think that they have eternal life in them, and it is they which testify to me” (Jn 5:39). The people of Israel were already in some agitation by the time Christ came, precisely because of this dead (lifeless) relationship between the scribes and pharisees and the written, divine revelation and the living Word of God, through which God clearly and uniquely showed people that He would send “a Prophet like Moses- listen to him in all things” (Deut. 18:15.18; cf. Jn. 6:14; 7:40; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Acts 3:22),. At the time of His public ministry they became even more agitated, with the imposition of the rabbis, who monopolized knowledge of the scriptures and their interpretation, which was wholly one-sided and was no longer either prophetic or Messianic but had become Rabbinic and Talmudic. There is evidence for this in many examples in the New Testament,62 and elsewhere.63 According to Saint John the Evangelist in his Gospel (which interprets afresh and, in essence, supplements the Synoptic Gospels),64 ˕the mystery of the Person of the Messiah-Christ is revealed through the compound spectrum of the divine Person and by the fulfilment in the Gospels of these prophecies in Jesus Christ. This reveals to us that Christ is truly the Gospel of God to mankind and to the whole world.65 Jesus is sometimes called the Son of God and sometimes the Son of Man. He is the “Baruch haba b’shem Yahweh i.e. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord [the Anointed One, the Messiah-the King of Israel] (Jn 12:13). And again, He Himself says that He will be glorified as the Son of Man and that the Father will glorify Him. He will in fact do so through His death, and, of course, His resurrection, as the “grain of wheat falling into the ground… if it dies it will bear great fruit” (Jn. 12:13.23-24.33; 13,31-32; 17,1-5; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 2:9). Just as He had satisfied the multitude with five loaves in a miraculous fashion, He said in the synagogue in Capernaum66- and again only John notes this- that He brings the bread of life, which is not a copy of the manna of Moses (given to the starving Jews in the wilderness as they were going towards the Promised Land) but is the true bread, given by the Father from heaven, the divine bread, which is Christ Himself: “for the bread of life is that which descends from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn. 12:33; cf. Ps. 77/78:25). It is precisely for this reason that, in his Gospel, Saint John, the beloved disciple of the Beloved (Is. 5:1) writes: “This has been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that, believing, you shall have life in his name” (Jn 20:31). This revelation and the knowledge and experience of the New Testament were given by Christ (the truth) to His beloved disciple John, that ardent initiate of the mysteries of God, and of the greatest of mysteries, love, and thereafter, together with him, to all the Holy Apostles, beginning with Saints Andrew and Nathaniel, and on to Peter, Thomas, Stephen

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and all the other apostles and disciples of Christ (Jn 1:45.49; 20:28; Matth. 14:33; 16:16; Acts 7:55-56). Because this naming and this situation and the name of Christ as the eternally existing God-Yahweh, with the Incarnation in the Church was revealed fully, declared, proclaimed, glorified, “theologized” and, in the same way, communicated with the Church of God, since it was revealed and announced without assistance through this eternally the same and eternally alive Person of Christ, the Incarnate Son and Word of God, Who was made Man. He Who is and was and shall be (Rev. 1:4.8; 22:13). This is what Saint Peter confessed before all the apostles in Caesarea Philippi (Matth. 16:16; as did all the apostles and Martha, the sister of Lazarus: Matth. 14:33; Jn 11:27) and thereafter repeated together with the Eleven on the day of Pentecost: “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God made him the Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:14 and 36).67 After this, Peter explained to those people of Caesarea who had gathered at the house of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, that “God anointed Jesus from Nazareth in the Holy Spirit and with power”, because Jesus Christ “is the Lord of all” (Acts 10:38.36). This same Christology continued to be proclaimed and affirmed by all the Apostles, the Fathers of the Church and the Martyrs: “they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah“ (Acts 5:42). “For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was proclaimed among you by us… was not Yes and No, but in him is Yes. For all the promises of God are Yes in him, and in him we say ‘Amen’ to the glory of God. For it is God who has confirmed us with you in Christ and has anointed us, and has sealed us and given us the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts (2Cor. 1:19-22). This is why we in the Orthodox Church have this anointing of Christ in the Holy Spirit and He teaches us about all things and admits us into the truth concerning Christ, i.e. He teaches us and admits us into the “great mystery of our religion: God was revealed in the flesh”, i.e. God appeared as Christ, as “the great mystery of Christ and of the Church” (1Jn 2:20.27; Jn 14:16-17; 16:13; 1Tim. 3:15-16; Eph. 5:32). This is why Saint John justly says: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God… and whatever is born of God defeats the world. And this is the victory which defeats the world, our faith”, true, authentic and orthodox (1Jn 5:1.4). Belief that Jesus Christ is Yahweh, He Who was, is, and is to come, is the same as the belief that “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today, and to the ages”. So this Christology is soteriological, because it is Biblical, ecclesiastical and universal (and, as such, cannot be restricted to “Jesusology”). According to the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian, Christian, Orthodox, Trinitarian and Christological faith “is not only in words but also in deeds”.68 This “in deeds” of Trinitarian and Christological faith is based, in the first place, on the Holy Trinity,69 and thereafter, in a manner inseparable from the Holy Trinity, in the actuality of the incarnation of One of the Trinity in the

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Son of God, Jesus Christ. We shall not insist further here on the Holy Trinity, but rather focus on Christ. “The dogma of our faith has as its basis and principle our Lord Jesus Christ”, asserts Saint Basil the Great.70 The same saint adds elsewhere: “For the appellation of Christ is a confession of everything; for it denotes God the anointer, the anointed Son and the anointing Spirit, as we have learned from Peter in the Acts, as being Jesus from Nazareth, Whom God anointed in the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38)”.71 Even before Saint Basil, the same had been said by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons: The name Christ involves the anointer, the anointed and the anointing through which He was anointed. On the one hand, the Father anointed, and on the other the Son was anointed in the Spirit, Who is the anointing, as the Word said, through Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me” (Is. 61:1; Luke 4:18), indicating the Father the Anointer, the Anointed Son and the Anointing, Who is the Spirit”.72 We shall refer once again to the same Father of the Church, Saint Gregory, Archbishop of Constantinople, who says precisely how and why Christ is the first and final reality of the faith revealed to us by God, the Alpha and Omega of the Divine Revelation. He is such, asserts Saint Gregory, “not through divinity alone, than which nothing is more perfect, but also through the assumption of humanity anointed by the divinity, which became, I would say, like the Anointer, the same as God”.73 Saint Gregory, as well as other Fathers of the Church, down to John the Damascan, Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Gregory Palamas, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki,74 said that the great mystery of the divine revelation lies in the fact that the Only-Begotten Son of God became the First-Born (Jn 1:14.18; 3:16. 18; 1Jn 4:9; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:6; Col. 1:15; Rev. 1:5). In other words, this means that the unique and unrivalled pre-eternal and uncreated Son of God (Who has no uncreated siblings), became, through His incarnation, the Firstborn among many siblings (Rom. 8:29), amidst created human beings. By following Him and through Him as the Head and Fount, as the first Anointed, others also became anointed of the Lord, through faith in Him and through His own grace and through adoption by God the Father. They were baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity and anointed through the Holy Spirit. They became members of His Theandric Body, the Body of the Only Anointed, made members of Christ and of the Church (1Cor. 15:20; Eph. 1:22; 4:15; Col. 1:18; 2:19; Gal. 3:27-28; Rev. 14:4).75 As such, that is as Christians, they follow Him, the God/Man and New Adam, and commune with Him in all which the Father gave the Son, profoundly and intimately when He said: “This is my beloved son, in whom I am wellpleased” (Matth. 3:17; 17:5). In this way, in this one and the same incarnate Jesus Christ, Who was made Man, the Son of God Who became truly human, while remaining truly the Son of God, “in him the whole fullness of the deity

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dwells bodily and you are fulfilled in him”. (Col. 2:9-10). These words of Paul contain the whole of Orthodox soteriological and ecclesiological Christology. Saint Gregory the Theologian, witnessing in a manner so profound and wise that few others could equal, again talks about the measure and soteriological character of the mystery of the Messiah-Christ and His incarnation. “In order for humankind to be saved and glorified” he says, “a great mystery takes place for us, ‘the great mystery concerning us’. ‘Natures are renewed’ and God becomes Man. He Who sits in the heavens, above the heavens, in the rising of His glory and light is now glorified in the setting of our poverty and nothingness. And the Son of God agrees to become and be called the Son of Man without changing what He was, because He is unalterable (as regards His divinity), taking upon Himself that which He was not, because He loves mankind. This was so that He Who cannot be contained could be contained, united to us in the flesh, as if through a curtain (Heb. 10,20), since His divinity, if seen clearly, would be unbearable to our nature which is subject to birth and corruption. In this way, that which cannot be mingled is mingled. Not only is God mingled with birth; not only is the intellect mingled with the body; not only the timeless with time or the infinite with the finite; but birth is mingled with virginity, and humility with Him Who is above all honour, passion with passionless, the immortal with the mortal… And the New Adam (Christ) has redeemed the Old (1Cor. 15:45) and our conviction in terms of the flesh has been overturned, because, through Christ’s resurrected body, death itself has been put to death… The Father’s Messenger of Great Counsel (Is. 9:6) comes and is made manifest. He who is bodiless assumes a body, the Word is made flesh (Jn 1:14), the invisible becomes visible, the untouchable, touchable, the timeless acquires a beginning (in time), the Son God becomes the Son of Men, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and to the ages (Heb. 13:8). The One Who Is comes into being (Ex. 3:14), the Uncreated becomes created, He who has no locus finds His place by means of an intelligent and spiritual soul which lies between divinity and the corpulence of the flesh. The rich One has been made poor (2Cor. 8:9) and the full One has been emptied, has somewhat diminished his glory so that I can partake and commune in His fullness. (Phil. 2: 6-9; Col. 2:6-10)”.76 With these words, Saint Gregory the Theologian bears witness, in a profound and clear manner, to the Orthodox experience of the very mystery of Christ and of “collective”, [universal, God/human] Christology, that is the theanthropic, soteriological and ecclesiological dimension of the mystery of the Messiah-Christ, of the God-man, of the One anointed “for us people and for our salvation“ as we confess in the Creed. Rather than present the whole of Patristic Christology here77, we shall do no more than refer to some Patristic passages regarding Christ [the Anointed One].

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In his very rich and profound theological and Christological works, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, the great Father and teacher of Orthodox Christology says: “For my part, it is necessary to say that neither the Word of God without humanity, nor the temple born of woman not united to the Word, should be called Jesus Christ. (…) For Christ is conceived as the Word of God ineffably joined to humanity by dispensatory union, though superior to humanity as by nature God and Son, as a man diminishing somewhat that which is proper to God in glory (…). And it is declared by Holy Scripture that at one time He is wholly man, His divinity having been silenced by dispensation and at others He is God, His humanity having been silenced (…). Therefore, as God, He is the Only-Begotten, the Firstborn among us by dispensatory union, and as man He is among many brothers, so that in Him and through Him we, too, can be children of God naturally and by grace. Naturally, as being in Him alone, and by participation and by grace we, too, in the Spirit. Just as that which is OnlyBegotten became the same as humanity in Christ in order to be joined to the Word by dispensatory union, so, too that which is among many brothers and is firstborn becomes the same as the Word in order that the flesh may be saved”. These words of Saint Cyril.78 demonstrate that the mystery of Christ becomes reality in the hypostatic and personal identification of the OnlyBegotten with the First--born. In this mystery/event lies all Biblical, ecclesiological soteriology and the whole of ecclesiology. Along the same lines as Saint Cyril, Saint Maximos the Confessor expresses an important conviction: “We call Christ compound as being one hypostasis from two natures, not as being two natures”.79 This Patristic expression, which comes from Saint Gregory the Theologian80 concerning Christ as being a compound hypostasis, reveals His dual entity: that He is God and human being by nature and that He is a unique Person. This is the mystery/event of the Messiah-Christ and of His dual God/human capacities and energies as the closest combination and union between God and Man, without confusion, reduction or the eradication of God or Man. The mystery of the Person of the MessiahChrist is revealed and manifested in this event/truth: that He Himself is by nature the Son of God, Who in Himself, in His hypostasis/Person, freely and voluntarily assumed the whole of human nature. The Fathers say that He hypostasized it in His own persona, that is through His own Person (hence the term “compound hypostasis”) and in this manner truly and personally became the Son of Man (this means His anointing), and thus made the unique Person the unique God/Man, the intermediary between God and Man (1Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:1-6; 9:15-24; 12:24).81 This agrees with Saint Maximos’s expression concerning Christ’s Compound Hypostasis (from two natures). And this is the dual composition and

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mode of existence and the dual God/human role and mission of the MessiahChrist. We could quote whole pages from these works of Saint Maximos, because he is a particularly Christological theologian and Christ is the key to the whole of his theological thought. And his Christology is obviously closely linked on the one hand to Triadology and, on the other, to soteriology and ecclesiology, as is the case with the other Fathers of the Church.82 It is clear from these Patristic Christology texts that the Messiah-Christ is a Person divine and human, but one and the same Person, and, as such, as Godman, was proclaimed and presented (through human, angelic, divine manifestations) in the Old Testament and appeared personally with His incarnation and human persona in the New. This is why in Him is contained the whole of the mystery of God’s dispensation for salvation through the election and guidance of Israel and the whole of the race of Adam. So Saint Cyril of Alexandria is entirely justified in saying: “the whole aim of the scriptures inspired by God looks towards Christ the mystery… for Christ is the end of the law and the prophets”.83 Saint Maximos the Confessor 84 sets out and justifies, in a particularly profound manner, such a Christological and Christocentric and, simultaneously, soteriological and ecclesiological reading and interpretation of the entire Holy Scriptures. He goes further and deeper and develops the soteriological, cosmoecclesiological dimensions of Biblical, ecclesiological Christology in the Old and New Testaments and speaks of the “making” of Christ as God, of the “new mystery of the making of God by Man”, of the incarnate and perfect humanity of the Word of God.85 For Christ is one and the same, i.e. one by hypostasis [persona] and dual by natures, the divine and human. With the divine He was made Man and with the human made God [He joined and united human nature to God], remaining one and the same, the Son of God and the Son of Man: “Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever” (Heb. 13:8). On the basis of such an approach to the God/human mystery of Christ, our Church, in its hymnography, addresses Christ in strange language: Supremely Divine Jesus or Supremely Divine God/Man, as, for example, in the Canon of the Annunciation (Irmos 4): “He Who sits in glory upon the throne of the Godhead, Jesus, the Supreme Divinity, to His pure palm [i.e. the Mother of God]”. Also, in the 6th exapostilarion of the Resurrection: “Supremely divine God/Man, glory to you”. The expression Supremely Divine was used initially for the Holy Trinity, in the Areopagite, Saint Sofronios of Jerusalem and John the Damascan.86 Thereafter, the same expression was used by them and other Fathers for the mystery of Christ, as well. Thus the Areopagite writes: “since through love towards man, (Christ) has come even to nature, and in truth became substantial, and the Supreme God lived as Man”.87 And Saint Modestos, Patriarch of Jeru-

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salem, says in one of his homilies to the Mother of God: “Hail, All-Holy Mother of God, that the Supreme God of all and our supremely good Master, sharing our mortal nature in all things, without sin, came into the world and has enabled us to become partakers of His divine nature” (2Pet. 1,4).88 In similar vein, Saint John the Damascan says: “pacifying His Holy Church which was built for Him by His beloved Son, Jesus the Supremely Divine with His precious blood”.89 And elsewhere, the same author adds: “the glory in the body (of Christ) is not of outside provenance, but from within, from the Supreme Divinity joined to it by the ineffable Word in hypostasis” (Homily on the Transfiguration 2. PG 96,549). These words, as well as those above from hymns of the Church, show that, in Christology, and in the Scriptures, of course, the divine and human attributes and names of Jesus Christ often change (by switching attributes and names). In this way, this name, of Christ- Supreme God and God/Man- as well as so many other Biblical and ecclesiastical invocations and appellations for Christ (e.g. New Name, Name above all Names: Is 7:14; 62:2; 63: 12; 65:15; Ps. 44/45:27; Rev. 2:17; 3:12; Acts 4:12; Ps. 2:9; Heb. 1:4),90 demonstra-tes that Christ is a unique Person. With the incarnation the two natures came together (united) and henceforth He exists eternally as having two natures and within the two natures. The variety of names reveal the God/Man glorified “with the glory he had before the world was made” (Jn 17:5). And this is, at the same time, the glory of the Church, too, as His body (Eph. 1:20-23), the glory of the whole race of humankind and of the angels, of all created beings. In other words, Christ is glorified personally and collectively [universally-panecclestically]. Thus, once again, the name of Yahweh is manifested and acknowledged, the name announced first to Moses on Sinai, which was and remains an eternal recollection, as is the name Emmanuel [Jesus Christ, God is with us], Who testifies unto Himself: “I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the same yesterday, today and to the ages, He Who was, is, and is to come” (Ex. 3:14; Ps. 44/45:17; Matth. 28:20; Heb. 13:18; Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13). Following Saint Paul, Saint Maximos the Confessor sets out this mystery/event called Christ in a more profound and more detailed manner than the other Fathers, demonstrating that it is the first and last mystery of the initial and pre-eternal divine Will for mankind and the world. In his work Interpretation of the Our Father, he says: “The Will of God the Father- which remains unto the ages (Ps. 32:11; Is. 46:10-11)- is the ineffable self-emptying (Phil. 2:7) of the Only-Begotten Son, for the sake of the deification of our human nature, because the deification of our nature is a work of the divine Will, and the Perpetrator of it [the event] became the Incarnate Word of God… Who becomes the cause of new mysteries, because Jesus Himself, as Son, brought about the incarnation in Himself, and gives to us humans theology [true knowledge of

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God], adoption through grace, equality with the angels, participation in eternal and divine life and in deification”.91 Everything that has been said thus far demonstrates the true and full significance of the God-inspired pronouncements of Yahweh made by the prophets that: “my salvation will be for ever… and my righteousness shall not fail” (Is. 51:6,8). This means that the personal covenant between God and us humans, the theanthropic, new, eternal covenant of love and eternal life, remains for ever- unto all the ages- because of the Incarnate Christ (Jer. 31/38:2.30-32; 32/39:40 = Heb. 8:1-13; 9:11-15,24). Saint Maximos analyzes in particular detail and depth the whole recapitulatory mystery of Christ in his well-known work Responses to Thalassios 60 (which we quote in the note below),92 and in one of his Chapters, concluding with something with which we would like to end this humble attempt to set out Biblical/ecclesiastical Christology: “Hence, the divine Apostle, wisely discerning the mystery says: “Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever” (Heb. 13:8): always seeing the mystery as new and never conceiving it as outmoded.93

On the Name of God hwhy=Yahweh The Name of God revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, which was expressed by God in the phrase: hy