A Discourse for the Monday of the Twenty-Ninth Week: On Miracles and Signs (Part 2)

Such is the meaning and purpose of the miracles performed by the Lord and His Apostles. The Lord proclaimed this; the Apostles proclaimed this. Once, into the house where the Lord was, a great crowd gathered. The house was filled, and at the doors a crowd was pressing; it was impossible to enter the house. At that time they brought a paralyzed man who had not left his bed. Those who brought him, seeing the crowd and the congestion, brought the sick man onto the roof; having made an opening in the ceiling, they lowered him on his mat before the Lord. Seeing the deed of faith, the merciful Lord said to the paralyzed man: “Child, your sins are forgiven”. Then some of the scribes were sitting there. As those knowing the law by the letter and as infected with envy and hatred toward the God-Man, the thought immediately came to them that blasphemy was spoken. “Who” – they were thinking – “can forgive sins but God alone?” The heart-knowing Lord, seeing their thoughts, said to them: “Why do you think such things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?” To say without proof “your sins are forgiven” can a hypocrite or deceiver also say. “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – He said to the paralyzed man – “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home”. The paralyzed man was instantly healed and strengthened, took his mat and went out before all (Mk 2:2–12). The miracle is executed by Divine wisdom and goodness. First, the Lord gives to the suffering one an essential spiritual gift, invisible to bodily eyes: forgiveness of sins. The giving of the gift awakened in the learned Jews involuntary confession that such a gift can be given only by God. The Lord, by His answer to their heart’s thought, gives them new proof of Himself, that He is God. Finally, the spiritual gift and spiritual proof are sealed by a gift and proof material: the instant and complete healing of the sick man. The holy Evangelist Mark, concluding his Gospel, says that the Apostles after the Ascension of the Lord, “went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it” (Mk 16:20). This same thought was also expressed by all the Apostles in the prayer by which they resorted to God after the threats of the Sanhedrin, forbidding them to teach and to do things in the name of Jesus: “Grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29–30). God’s signs were given in aid to God’s word. The signs testified to the power and significance of the word (Lk 4:36). The essential agent is the word. Signs are not necessary where the word is accepted because of the understood dignity belonging to the word. Signs are a condescension to human weakness.

The word and signs act differently. The word acts immediately on the mind and heart; signs act on the mind and heart through bodily senses. The consequences of the word that has acted are stronger, more definite than the consequences of the action of signs. When both the word and signs act together, then the action of the sign remains as if unnoticed, because of the abundant action of the word. This is clearly seen from the accounts of the Gospel. Nicodemus was acted upon by signs, and he recognized in the Lord only a “teacher sent from God” (Jn 3:2). The Apostle Peter was acted upon by the word, and he confessed the Lord as Christ, the Son of God. “You have the words of eternal life” – he said to the God-Man – “and we have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:68–69). Saint Peter was a witness to many miracles of the Lord; the multiplication of five loaves and the feeding of them of a numerous assembly of people had just been accomplished, but in his confession the Apostle is silent about the miracles, speaks only of the power and action of the word. The same occurred with the two disciples who conversed with the Lord without recognizing Him on the way to Emmaus, and recognized Him upon arriving in that village, already in the house, at the breaking of bread. Scarcely had they recognized Him when the Lord became invisible. They said nothing about the striking miracle; they directed all their attention to the action of the word. “Were not our hearts burning within us” – they said to one another – “while he was talking to us on the road and opening the scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32).

The God-man blessed those who had not seen signs but believed (Jn 20:29). He expressed compassion for those who, not content with His word, needed miracles. “If you do not see signs and wonders, you will not believe” (Jn 4:48), He said to the nobleman from Capernaum. Indeed! those who abandon the word and seek conviction from miracles are worthy of pity. This need reveals a particular predominance of carnal reasoning, gross ignorance, a way of life devoted to corruption and sin, the absence of exercise in studying God’s Law and in virtues pleasing to God, the soul’s inability to respond to the Holy Spirit, to sense His presence and action in the word. Signs were chiefly intended to convince and bring to faith those of sensual disposition, occupied with the cares of the world. Immersed in earthly concerns, their souls constantly riveted to earth and its affairs, such people were little able to appreciate the dignity of the word; the merciful Word drew them to the salvation granted through the word by means of visible signs, which, constituting material conviction that acted through the senses, brought the weak soul to the almighty, saving Word. Those who believed because of signs constituted the lower rank of believers in Christ. When they were presented with spiritual, loftier, most holy teaching, many of them interpreted it according to their own concepts (Jn 6:60), refused to seek explanation of God’s word from God, condemned the word that was “Spirit and life” (Jn 6:63), revealed thereby their superficial faith, their superficial pledge of heart, and “many of His disciples”, who had seen many signs, “went back, and no longer walked with Him” (Jn 6:66). Neither the word nor the miracles of the God-man had a beneficial effect on the Jewish chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, although, with the exception of the latter, they knew God’s Law precisely according to the letter. They were not merely estranged from God, hostile to God because of the sinful infection common to all humanity, but became such, established and sealed themselves in such a disposition because of their own will, because of conceit, because of the desire to live that life and to advance in that life which the Gospel forbade. They could not hear the Son of God speaking to them; they did not listen as they ought to His words, did not attend to Him; they only caught those words that seemed to them amenable to distortion and to accusations against the Lord. Thus hatred for the words of the hated is ordinarily cultivated. “Why do you not understand My speech?” the Saviour said to His enemies, who stubbornly and with hardness rejected the salvation offered to them. Why do you not comprehend My teaching? Why do you not receive My healing word? Because “you cannot even hear My word” (Jn 8:43) it is unbearable for you. Being children of the lie and workers in its direction, “you do not believe Me, because I speak the truth” (Jn 8:45). “He who is from God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear, because you are not from God” (Jn 8:47). “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, even if you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (Jn 10:37-38). Vain were the words which, as God’s truth, contained in themselves complete assurance (Jn 8:14); vain were the miracles, which also contained complete assurance, which were so tangible and evident that the enemies of the God-man, despite all their desire and effort to reject them, could not fail to acknowledge them (Jn 9:24). The means that worked upon those who did not know God’s Law or knew it very little, who lived in earthly occupations and vanities, yet did not reject God’s Law by their will – this means had no effect whatsoever on those who knew God’s Law thoroughly according to the letter, who rejected it by their life and will (Jn 5:46-47, 7:19). All that could be done for the salvation of men was done by God’s unutterable mercy. “If I had not come and spoken to them”, the Saviour declares, “they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. If I had not done among them the works that no one else has done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father” (Jn 15:22-25). Christianity has been taught with such clarity that there is no excuse for those who do not know it. The cause of ignorance is solely the will. As the sun shines from heaven, so shines Christianity. Let he who voluntarily closes his eyes attribute his blindness and ignorance to his own will, not to the absence of light. The cause of the God-man’s rejection by men lies in men themselves, just as in men also lies the cause of the acceptance of the antichrist. “I came in My Father’s name”, the Lord testified to the Jews, “and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (Jn 5:43). They are named together both as those who reject Christ and as those who accept the antichrist, though the antichrist is mentioned as one who is to come. In rejecting Christ according to the disposition of their spirit, they likewise accepted the antichrist according to the same disposition of spirit; they numbered themselves among those who received the antichrist, though they ended their earthly pilgrimage many centuries before his coming. They accomplished his greatest deed: the killing of God. For the time of his manifestation, for him himself, no such wickedness was left undone. As their spirit stood in hostile relation to Christ, so it stood in communion with the antichrist, separated from him by an immense span of time, which now approaches the end of the second millennium. “Every spirit”, the Theologian says, “that does not confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whom you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world” in spirit (1 Jn 4:3). Those who are led by the spirit of the antichrist reject Christ, have accepted the antichrist in their spirit, have entered into communion with him, submitted and bowed to him in spirit, recognizing him as their god. “For this reason God will send them a deluding influence, so that they will believe what is false”: “so that all who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness will be condemned” (2 Thes 2:11-12). In His permission, God is righteous. His permission will be both satisfaction, exposure, and judgment for the human spirit. The antichrist will come in his appointed time. His coming will be preceded by a general apostasy of the majority of men from the Christian faith. By apostasy from Christ, mankind will prepare itself to receive the antichrist, will accept him in its spirit. In the very disposition of the human spirit there will arise a demand, an invitation to the antichrist, sympathy for him, as in a state of grave illness there arises a thirst for the poisonous drink. The invitation is pronounced! A summons rings out in human society, expressing the urgent need for a genius among geniuses, one who would raise material development and progress to the highest degree, who would establish on earth that prosperity at which paradise and heaven become superfluous for man. The antichrist will be the logical, just, natural consequence of the general moral and spiritual direction of mankind.

The miracles of the God-man who became incarnate constituted the greatest material benefits that mankind can imagine. What greater benefit could there be than the restoration of life to the dead? What more precious benefit could there be than the healing of incurable disease, which was taking life while the person was still alive, making life more like a prolonged death than genuine life? Yet, despite the beneficence, holiness, and spiritual significance of Christ’s miracles, these miracles were only temporal gifts. In the strict sense, they were signs. They were signs of the eternal salvation that the word grants. Those resurrected by the God-man died again in due time: they were granted only an extension of earthly life, not its eternal restoration. Those healed by the God-man became ill again and also died: health was restored to them only for a season, not forever. Temporal and material benefits were poured forth as signs of eternal and spiritual benefits. Visible gifts were distributed to men enslaved by sensuality so that they might believe in the existence of invisible gifts and receive them. The signs extracted men from the abyss of ignorance and sensuality, brought them to faith: faith imparted knowledge of eternal goods and inspired the desire to acquire them. With the assistance of marvelous signs, the Apostles quickly spread Christianity throughout the world: the signs were clear and powerful proof of Christianity for both educated peoples and those sunk in ignorance and barbarism. When faith had been planted everywhere, when the word had been established, then the signs were withdrawn as having completed their service. They ceased to act on a broad scale and everywhere; the chosen saints of God performed them rarely. John Chrysostom, a father and writer of the fourth and fifth centuries, says that in his time the gift of signs had already ceased to operate, though there were still in places, especially among monks, men endowed with signs. As time went on, such sign-bearing men constantly diminished. Concerning the last times, the holy Fathers predicted that then there would be no men bearing signs. “Why,” some say, “are there no signs now? Listen to my answer with particular attention, because I hear this question from many people frequently and always. Why then did all who received Baptism begin to speak in foreign tongues, but now this does not happen?… Why has the grace of miracles been taken and withdrawn from men now? God does this, not subjecting us to dishonor, but actually granting us greater honor. In what way? I will explain. The men of those times were of limited understanding, having just been separated from idols; their minds were dull and obtuse, they were immersed in and devoted to material things, they could not imagine the existence of non-material gifts, nor did they know the significance of spiritual grace, that everything is received by faith alone: for this reason there were signs. Of spiritual gifts, some are invisible and received only by faith, while others are connected with some sign, subject to the senses, for the awakening of faith in unbelievers. For example: the forgiveness of sins is a spiritual and invisible gift; we cannot see with our bodily eyes how our sins are cleansed. The soul is cleansed, but the soul is invisible to bodily eyes. Thus, the cleansing of sins is a spiritual gift, unable to be revealed to bodily eyes; but the ability to speak in foreign tongues, though it belongs to the spiritual actions of the Spirit, also serves as a sign subject to the senses, and so can easily be seen by unbelievers; the invisible action accomplished within the soul is made manifest and shown through the outward tongue, which is heard. For this reason Paul also says: ‘To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good’ (1 Cor 12:7). Therefore, I have no need of signs. Why is this? Because I have learned to believe in God’s grace even without signs. The unbeliever needs proof; but I, a believer, do not need either proof or a sign; although I do not speak in foreign tongues, but I know that I am cleansed from sin. The former did not believe until they received signs. Signs were given to them as proof of the faith which they were accepting. And so signs were given not to believers, but to unbelievers, that they might become believers; and Paul also says: ‘Signs are not for believers but for unbelievers’ (1 Cor 14:22).

If signs were absolutely necessary, they would have remained. The word has remained, to whose establishment the signs contributed. It has spread, taken dominion, embraced the universe. It has been explained with complete satisfaction by the Fathers of the Church; access to it and its assimilation have become especially convenient. It is essentially necessary; it is indispensable; it accomplishes the salvation of men; it imparts eternal goods; it grants the kingdom of heaven; in it are hidden the most sublime spiritual signs of God (Ps 118:18). “The word of the Lord remains forever: and this is the word that has been preached to you” (1 Pet 1:25). In the word is life, and He is life (Jn 1:4). It gives life eternal to dead men, bestowing upon them from itself its most holy life: the hearers and doers of the word become “born again, not from perishable seed, but from imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Pet 1:23). To know the significance of the word, one must fulfill it. The Gospel commandments, when fulfilled, immediately begin to transform, transfigure, vivify man, transform his way of thinking, his heart’s feelings, even his body: “for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). God’s word contains within itself its own testimony. It, like curative signs, acts within man himself and by this action testifies to itself. It is the highest sign. It is a spiritual sign which, when given to man, satisfies all the needs of his salvation, making the aid of material signs unnecessary. A Christian who is unaware of such a property of the word convicts himself of coldness toward the word, of ignorance of God’s word, or of dead knowledge according to the letter alone.

Part Two

The yearning encountered in contemporary Christian society to see miracles and even to perform miracles should not be overlooked. This yearning requires careful consideration. The desire to perform miracles is greatly censured by the holy Fathers: such a yearning reveals the self-deception living in and taking possession of the soul, founded on conceit and vainglory. The great teacher of monks, the holy Isaac the Syrian, thus reasons about this matter: “The Lord is at all times the near protector of His saints; but unless there is need, He does not display His power through some obvious deed or sensible sign, lest His protection become as it were customary for us, lest we lose the reverence owed to Him, and it should become for us a cause of harm. Thus He acts, caring for the saints: He allows them in every circumstance to display a struggle corresponding to their strength, and to labor in prayer; meanwhile He shows them that never for even an hour does His secret care for them cease. But if the circumstance by its difficulty exceeds the measure of their understanding, if they become exhausted and are unable to act according to their natural weakness, then He Himself accomplishes what is necessary for their aid, according to the greatness of His power, as it should be and as He knows. He strengthens them, as far as possible, secretly, instilling in them the power to overcome their sorrow. He unravels the tangled sorrow by the wisdom which He grants from Himself, and by understanding of His Providence He stirs them to praise, profitable in all respects. But when the circumstance requires obvious aid, then, of necessity, He does this. His means and ways of help are the wisest. They aid in times of scarcity, in case of need, and do not act foolishly. He who dares and prays to God for the accomplishment of something extraordinary, not being compelled to it by necessity, desiring that miracles and signs be accomplished by his hands, is tempted in his mind by the devil who mocks him, proves himself vain and infirm in conscience. It is proper to ask God’s help in affliction; to tempt God without need is calamitous. Truly unrighteous is he who desires this. We find examples in the lives of the saints that the Lord, expressing His disapproval, fulfilled such desires of theirs. He who willingly and willingly desires this, not being compelled to it, falls from the state of self-preservation and inclines toward a slip from the truth of reason. If the one asking for this is heard, then the evil one finds in him a place as one walking before God without reverence, with boldness, and casts him into greater falls. True righteous ones not only do not desire to be wonder-workers, but even when given the gift of working wonders, they refuse it. They not only do not want this before the eyes of men, but within themselves, in the secret of their hearts. A certain one of the holy Fathers, because of his purity, received from God’s grace the gift of foreseeing those who came to him; but he asked God, entreating and asking his friends to pray for the same, that this gift be taken from him. If some of the saints accepted the gift, they accepted it either by necessity’s requirement or because of their simplicity; others accepted it by the direction of the Divine Spirit acting in them, and not by chance, without cause…. True righteous ones constantly reflect that they are unworthy of God. By the fact that they acknowledge themselves wretched, undeserving of God’s care, their truth is testified to.” From this holy reflection flows the conclusion that those who desire to perform signs desire it from carnal excitement, from attraction by passions not understood by them, though perhaps it seems to them that they are guided by zeal for God’s work. In the same state of self-deception and excitement are those who desire to see signs. To tempt God, to violate reverence to Him is forbidden in all cases; it is permitted to ask for God’s help in extreme need, when one has no means of one’s own to get out of it; but the choice of means for aid should be entrusted to God, surrendering oneself to His will and mercy. The Lord always sends down a means of aid that is beneficial to the soul: it provides us with the help we need, and in this very help teaches us the holy taste of humility. Help is not accompanied by outward splendor, as carnal reasoning would wish, lest the soul be harmed by the satisfaction of its vanity. And in God’s work, in the very service of the Church, one must constantly invoke God’s blessing and God’s help, must believe that only divine, spiritual ways can be profitable for faith and piety, and never the ways proposed by carnal reasoning.”