The Voice Above The Firmament

Nam cum fieret vox super firmamentum quod erat super caput eorum, stabant et submittebant alas suas... Firmamentum superius sub intellectu duplici judicavimus exponendum. Possunt enim, sicut dictum est, firmamenti nomine coelestes potestates intelligi. Et potest firmamenti nomine incarnatus Unigenitus, per hoc quod in eum natura nostra ad aeternitatem firmata est, designari. Prius ergo quid sentimus de angelis, et postmodum de Domino angelorum, loquamur. Ecce enim dicitur: Cum fieret vox super firmamentum, stabant, et submittebant alas suas. Quo in loco, hoc primo sciendum est, quia submittere, non ab inferiori ad superiora tendere, sed a superiori ad inferiora alas deponere debet intelligi, propter hoc quod praemissum est: Cum starent demittebantur pennae eorum. Quaerendum itaque nobis est quae sit vox quae super firmamentum fit. Sed eamdem vocem melius intelligimus, si, ab imis ad superiora gradientes, quasi quibusdam passibus ascendamus. Sicut auditus corporis excitatur voce, ita sensus mentis excitatur intellectu, qui de interioribus agitur. Vox ergo est in mente, quasi quidam sonus intelligentiae. Sed sciendum est quia nostris sensibus aliquando vox carnis loquitur, aliquando vox animae, aliquando vox firmamenti, aliquando vox quae super firmamentum est. Ponamus enim ante oculos quod quispiam sit laesus a proximo, qui ex humana ratione cogitat ut vicem laesioni reddat, malum pro malo retribuat, huic vox carnis loquitur in mente, quia cum divina mandata praecipiant bene nos facere his qui nos oderunt, quisquis malefacere se odientibus cogitat, in ejus animo vox carnis sonat. Multa terrena quotidie agimus, post haec ad orationem redimus. Accenditur ad compunctionem animus, sed earum rerum quas egimus imagines versantur in mente, et intentionem compunctionis praepediunt in oratione; et quod volentes foris egimus, hoc interius patimur inviti, ut quaedam cogitationum phantasmata mentem per imagines corporeas dispergant, ne stricte totam in oratione se colligat. Haec quoque vox carnis est. Cum vero et ista subigimus, atque ab oculis mentis cunctas corporeas imagines effugamus, ipsam in nobismetipsis naturam animae quaerentes, qualis sit quae carnem vivificare potest, sed semetipsam stringere in bonis cogitationibus sicut desiderat non potest, invenimus quemdam intellectualem spiritum per creatoris potentiam viventem, corpus quod sustinet vivificantem, sed tamen oblivioni subditum, mutabilitati subjectum, quem saepe timor afficit, laetitia extollit. Ipse itaque intellectus animae vox ejus est, quia sonat quod est, quae tamen adhuc vox sub firmamento est. Sed transcendentes animam, vocem de firmamento quaerimus, cum illa sanctorum angelorum innumera multitudo in omnipotentis Domini conspectu qualis sit investigamus, quae sit in eis sine fine festivitas visionis Domini, quae laetitia sine defectu, qui amoris ardor non crucians, sed delectans; quantum in eis sit desiderium visionis Dei cum satietate, et quanta satietas cum desiderio. In quibus nec desiderium poenam generat, nec satietas fastidium parit. Quomodo inhaerendo beatitudini sint beati, quomodo contemplando semper aeternitatem sint aeterni, quomodo conjuncti vero lumini facti sint lux, quomodo aspicientes semper incommutabilem mutati sint in incommutabilitatem. Sed cum ista de angelis cogitamus, adhuc vox de firmamento est, non super firmamentum. Transeat ergo animus, et ab ipsis transcendat omne quod creatum est. In solo creatoris sui lumine fidei oculos figat, quod unus vivificet omnia qui creavit Deus; quod ubique est et ubique totus est; quod incircumscriptus et incomprehensibilis sentiri potest, et videri non potest; quod nusquam deest, et tamen ab iniquorum cogitationibus longe est; quod nec ibi deest, ubi longe est, quia ubi non est per gratiam, adest per vindictam; quod omnia tangit, nec tamen aequaliter omnia tangit. Quaedam enim tangit ut sint, nec tamen ut vivant et sentiant, sicut sunt cuncta insensibilia. Quaedam tangit ut sint, vivant, et sentiant, nec tamen ut discernant, sicut sunt bruta animalia. Quaedam tangit ut sint, vivant, et sentiant, et discernant, sicut est humana et angelica natura. Et cum ipse nunquam sibimetipsi sit dissimilis, dissimiliter tamen tangit dissimilia. Quod ubique praesens est, et inveniri vix potest; quod stantem sequimur, et apprehendere non valemus. Ponamus ergo ante oculos mentis quae illa natura sit quae tenet omnia, implet omnia, circumplectitur omnia, superexcedit omnia, sustinet omnia. Nec alia ex parte sustinet, atque alia superexcedit; neque alia ex parte implet, atque alia circumplectitur; sed circumplectendo implet, implendo circumplectitur, sustinendo superexcedit, superexcedendo sustinet. Hujus naturae potentiam cum strictus in ea cogitat animus, vox super firmamentum fit, quia ejus intellectum concipit, qui et angelorum sensum sua incomprehensibilitate transcendit. Cum ergo vox super firmamentum fit, stant animalia, et submittunt alas suas, quia sanctorum mentes cum creatoris sui potentiam intenta contemplatione considerant, vilescunt eorum animo virtutes quas habent; et tanto fiunt apud se humiles, quanto eis illud altum est quod super angelos sonat. Fortasse enim doctores sunt; sed cum coeperint tacita mente cogitare quae sit ineffabilis Dei sapientia, quae mentes hominum sine strepitu verborum docet, et quomodo haec eadem sapientia si auditorum mentes non doceat, vox docentium vacue laborat, sua eis doctrina protinus vilescit, quia neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat, sed qui incrementum dat Deus. Fortasse prophetae sunt; sed cum tacita mente considerant quia prophetiae suae oculo simul omnia Divinitatis mysteria penetrare non possunt, quoniam sicut ait Apostolus: Ex parte cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus, in illa immensitate secretorum vident quia parum est omne quod vident, atque ex ipsa immensa altitudine luminis considerant quam minus sit illud quod intento oculo quasi per rimas viderunt. Deponant ergo alas suas, cum vox super firmamentum fit, id est humilientur in eo quod apprehendunt cum superna conspiciunt quae ab eis comprehendi non possunt. Saepe etiam sanctorum cogitationibus ipsa quae habent bona blandiuntur, ut eorum mentes in aliqua sui fiducia elevent; sed protinus ad occulta Dei judicia, recurrunt, quomodo alii ex virtutibus ad infernum per elationem corruunt, alii ex vitiis correcti ad coelum per humilitatem levantur. Unde nos ad humilitatem revocans Propheta terret et admonet, dicens: Venite, et videte opera Domini, quam terribilis in consiliis super filios hominum. Quis enim digne considerare valeat quantus super nos terror sit consiliorum Dei, quando et alter ex virtutibus in finem tendit ad vitia, et alter ex vitiis in virtutibus concludit finem? Quia juxta Salomonis vocem: Sunt justi atque sapientes, et opera eorum in manu Dei. Nec tamen scit homo utrum amore vel odio dignus sit, sed omnia in futuro servantur incerta, Et: Est via quae videtur hominibus recta, et novissimum ejus ducit ad mortem. Haec itaque occulti judicii profunda cogitare, quid est aliud quam alas deponere, id est de nulla jam virtute confidere, sed sub magno timore trepidare? Sive enim omnipotentis Dei naturam considerent, sive ejus judicia perpendant, trepidant, pertimescunt. Eis ergo quasi alas deponere est virtutes quas habent humiliare. Sic Abraham alas deposuit, qui quando loqui cum Deo coepit, pulverem et cinerem se esse cognovit dicens: Loquar ad Dominum meum, cum sim pulvis et cinis? Sic Moyses alas deposuit, qui eruditus omni scientia Aegyptiorum, mox ut verba Domini audivit, verba se non habere deprehendit, dicens: Obsecro, Domine, non sum eloquens ab heri et nudiustertius. Ex quo enim locutus es ad servum tuum, impeditioris et tardioris linguae sum (Exod. IV, 10). Ac si aperte diceret: Postquam a te verba vitae audio, confusum me in verbis prioribus agnosco. Sic Isaias, cujus vita Domino ad praedicandum placuerat, cum, eumdem Dominum contemplatus, carbone de altari in ore tactus est, ait: Vae mihi quia tacui, quia vir pollutus labiis ego sum. Ecce ad superiora sublevatus, sibimetipsi de labiorum pollutione displicuit. Nisi enim coelestis munditiae alta conspiceret, esse se judicabilem non invenisset. Sic loquente Domino Jeremias clamat: A, a, a, Domine Deus, ecce nescio loqui, quia puer ego sum. Juxta enim ea verba quae audiebat verba se non habere cognoverat. Sic Daniel sublimem visionem videns, per plurimos dies elanguit et aegrotavit, quia hi qui in virtutibus fortes sunt, cum altiora Dei conspiciunt, in sua sibimet aestimatione infirmi atque imbecilles fiunt. Sic beatus Job, de quo Dominus amicis illius dixit: Non estis locuti coram me rectum, sicut servus meus, cum verba Dei colloquentis audiret, respondit, dicens: Insipienter locutus sum, et quae ultra modum excederent scientiam meam. Et paulo post: Idcirco ipse me reprehendo, et ago poenitentiam in favilla et cinere. Qui enim quantum ad homines sapienter locutus fuerat, loquentem sibi Deum audiens, insipienter se locutum fuisse reprehendit, quia in contemplatione verae sapientiae sua ei sapientia viluit. Ad vocem ergo desuper venientem animalia alas deponunt, quia virtutem Dei sive in natura sua contemplari requiramus, sive in occultis judiciis investigare cogitemus, pro eo quod ejus alta nobis impenetrabilia sunt, nostra nobis si qua inesse bona credebantur vilescunt. Et qui in quantulacunque scientia volare credebamur, invisibilem super nos naturam, et impenetrabilia ejus judicia perpendentes, submissis alis humiliter stamus. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia VIII Source: Migne PL 76.859b-862c

For when there was a voice above the firmament which was above their heads, they stood and lowered their wings... 1 The firmament above we have judged to be understood in two ways. For we are able, as we have said, to understand by the name of the firmament the heavenly powers, and then it is possible by the name of the firmament to understand the Only Begotten incarnate, through whom, in whom, our nature is made strong to eternity. By the former, then, we speak of angels and by the latter the Lord of the angels. For behold it is said, 'when there was a voice above the firmament, they stood and lowered their wings.' In which passage this first must be known, that to lower is to not to move from the inferior to the the superior, but it should be understood as a placing down from the superior to the inferior, according to which, as it has been said before, when they stopped they lowered their wings. Thus it must be sought by us what this voice above the firmament may be. But the same voice we may better understand if we proceed from the lower to the higher, as if ascending by foot. As by hearing the body is excited by the voice, thus the sense of the mind is moved by understanding, which comes from the interior, and so there is a voice in the mind, as a sort of sound of understanding. But it must be known that in our minds that sometimes the voice of the flesh speaks and sometimes the voice of the soul, sometimes the voice of the firmament and sometimes the voice which is above the firmament. Let us place before our eyes a man who has been wounded by his neighbour, and by use of human reason he thinks to return the hurt, giving evil for evil, now this is the voice of the flesh speaking in the mind, because when the Divine commands us to do good to those who hate us, 2 whoever thinks to do evil in his soul, it is the voice of the flesh that is speaking. We do many worldly things every day and after them we turn to prayer. Compunction comes upon us, but the images of those things we have done revolve in the mind and the intention of compunction is hindered in the soul, and what we have done wilfully outside ourselves we unwillingly suffer within, so that the incorporeal thoughts of the mind are scattered by corporeal images and we cannot truly gather ourselves in prayer. This also is the voice of the flesh. But when this is subdued and we expel from the eye of the mind all corporeal images, seeking in ourselves the nature of the soul, what it might be which is able to enliven the flesh but is not able to bind itself to good thoughts, as it desires, we find a certain intellectual spirit living by the power of the creator which sustains the living body, and yet being given to forgetfulness, subjected to vissitudes, which often afflict us with fear, joy is taken away. This then is the understanding of the voice of the soul, because the sound of it is yet beneath the firmament. But with the soul passing on, we seek the voice from the firmament, when we investigate that innumerable multitude of holy angels in the sight of Almighty God, as it were, what may be the endless joyous vision of God in them, in which with perfect joy, without suffering the passion of love, they delight, and how great in them the desire of the vision of God is satisfied, and how much satisfaction there is in the desire, in which neither the desire generates fault, nor does the satisfaction permit pride. How do the blessed dwell in beatitiude, how in these eternal things are they always in a state of contemplation, how light has been joined to light, how seeing the changeless they are changed into changelessness. But even when we think these things of angels, yet this is the voice of the firmament, not the voice above the firmament. Therefore let the soul pass on, and from them let it pass beyond all things which are created. In the light of the Creator alone let the eyes of faith be fixed, that one God who gives life to everything which He has created, who is everywhere and everywhere entirely, who is uncircumscribed and incompehenisble to thought and not able to be seen, who is absent nowhere and yet is far from sinful thoughts, so that there is no lack of Him where He is far, because where He is not near through grace, He is near by punishment, He who touches all things, but touching He does not touch all things equally. Certainly He touches that they might be, that they live and be sentient, but not that they discern, just like the brute animals. But certain things He touches that they are and live and are sentient and they discern, as with the human and angelic natures. And when He is never unlike Himself, yet He touches differently that which is different. Because He is present everywhere and He is scarcely able to be found, that standing we follow and we cannot understand. Let us then place before the eyes what that nature may be which holds all things, fills all thing, embraces all things, exceeeds all things, sustains all things. It is not that some things hold Him and others He exceeds, nor does He fill some things and embrace others, but embracing He fills, and filling He embraces, sustaining He exceeds, exceeding He sustains. The power of this nature, when the soul thinks strictly concerning it, is the voice above the firmament, since its understanding comprehends, who even incomprehenibsily transcends the understanding of angels. When therefore the voice is above the firmament, the animals stop and lower their wings, since the minds of the holy ones, when they are considering the power of their creator in intent contemplation, so the virtue which they have in their souls becomes vile, and the more they are made humble, so much more that height which is above the angels resounds. Perhaps they are teachers, but when with silent mind they begin to think of the ineffable wisdom of God, which teaches the mind of man without the noise of words, and how this same wisdom, if it does not teach the mind of hearers, then the voice of the teachers vainly labours, and their teaching swiftly becoming vile to them, because neither it is he who plants, nor he who waters, but God who gives the growth. 3 Perhaps they are prophets, but when with the silent mind they consider that with its own eye prophecy is not able to penetrate all the mysteries of God, because as the Apostle says, from a part we know and from a part we give prophecy, 4 that it is but a part of the immensity of the mysteries which they see as a whole, and from that same immensity depth of light they consider how much less is that which with intent eye they perceive through a narrow crack. They put down their wings, then, when the voice above the firmament comes, that is, they are humbled by that which they apprehend, when they look on the heights which they are not able to be comprehened. Often indeed the thoughts of the holy are flattered by the goods that they have, so that their minds are lifted up in confidence, but swiftly turning back to the hidden judgements of God, they see that some by their elation fall from virtues to hell, and some are corrected from their vices and by their humility lifted up to heaven. Whence we recalling that the Prophet warned and admonished, saying, 'Come and see the works of the Lord, how terrible in counsel there are over the sons of men.' 5 Who indeed can truly grasp how greatly above us are the awesome counsels of God, when one who was virtuous comes to the end of his life in vice, and another from vice comes to virtue at the end? Because according to the voice of Solomon: 'They are righteous and wise and their works are in the hand of God. A man however does not know whether he is worthy of love or hate, but everything in the future is fenced with uncertainty.' 6 And 'There is a way which seems right to men and it leads swiftly to death.' 7 Thus to think of these depths of hidden judgements, what is it but to lower the wings, that is, to have no confidence in one's own virtue but to tremble with great fear? For if they consider the nature of the almighty God and ponder His judgements, they tremble and are fearful. With them, then, the lowering of the wings is to be humble in one's virtues. So Abraham put down his wings, when he began to speak to God and thought himself to be dust and ash, saying: 'Shall I speak to my Lord when I am dust and ash? 8 So Moses put down his wings, he who was learned in all the wisdom of Egyptians 9, as soon as he heard the words of the Lord, and those words not grasping, said, 'I beg you, Lord, I am not eloquent, nor was yesterday or the day before. And now you speak to your servant, even more unskilled and slow is my tongue 10 As if he had said, 'Having heard your words of life, I recognise that my previous words were confused in me.' So Isaiah, his life being pleasing to the Lord for his preaching, contemplating the same Lord, when coal from the altar had touched his mouth, said, 'Alas to me that I was silent, because I am a man with polluted lips.' 11 Behold, lifted on high, he displeases himself by the uncleanliness of his lips. For unless he looks on the height with heavenly purity he is not able to have correct judgement. So speaking to the Lord Jeremiah cries out, 'Ah, ah, ah, Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am just a boy. 12 For by the words he has heard he understands that he has no words. So Daniel, having seen a sublime vision, languished through many days and was sick 13 because these who were strong in virtue, looking on the heights of God, by his measure were made weak and foolish. So the blessed Job, concerning whom the Lord said to his friends: 'You have not spoken rightly before me, like my servant.' when he heard the words of God to his interlocuters, answered saying, 'I have spoken unwisely and what is beyond me, exceeding my knowledege. And a little after: 'Therefore He repoves me and I repent in dust and ashes'. 14 He who as much as he spoke wisely among men, hearing the word of God, reproved himself as unwise, because in contemplation of true wisdom he despised his own wisdom. Thus with the voice coming from above, the animals lowered their wings, because the virtue of God eitheir in its own nature we should seek to contemplate, or we should consider the investigation of His hidden judgements, the heights of which to us are impenetrable, which render vile the things thought to be good in us. And by whatever wisdom we think we are able to fly, considering the unseen nature above us and His impenetrable judgements, let us stand humbly with wings lowered. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 8 1 Ezek 1.25 2 Mt 5.44 3 1 Cor 3.7 4 1 Cor 13.9 5 Ps 65.5 6 Eccle 9.1 7 Prov 14.12 8 Gen 18.27 9 Act 7.22 10 Exod 4.10 11 Isai 6.3 12 Jerem 1.6 13 Dan 7.27 14 Job 42.7,3,6