Chapter 1

Exposition of the Epistle of St Jude the Apostle

¹ Argument. He writes this Epistle to those who have already believed. The occasion was this: when certain men had crept in, teaching that sin was a matter of indifference and denying Christ, he found it necessary to write and to make the brethren secure. And first he exhorts them to strive and to remain in the faith delivered to them. Then he disowns such men as deceivers, and charges the brethren to have no fellowship with them, knowing that it is not enough merely to be called, unless we also walk worthily of the calling. For indeed the Lord, after bringing the former people out of Egypt, also destroyed those who did not remain in the faith; and He did not spare the angels who failed to keep their own rank. We must therefore withdraw from such people. For even Michael the archangel did not endure to utter blasphemy against the devil. He teaches, then, that the destruction of these men will be like that of Sodom. After this he exhorts them concerning their conduct; and, having prayed that they may receive firmness of faith from the Lord, he brings the Epistle to its close.

² Chapter-headings of this Epistle.
1. Concerning attentiveness to the faith in Christ, because of the uprising of ungodly and licentious men.
2. Concerning their coming punishment, after the likeness of the sinners and wicked men of old.
3. The denunciation of them for their error, their impiety, their licentiousness, their blasphemy, and their feigned hypocrisy—the taking of bribes unto deceit.
4. Concerning the security of the faithful in the faith, and concerning compassion and forbearance toward the neighbor unto salvation in holiness.
5. A prayer on their behalf for sanctification and pure boldness, together with the glorifying of God.

³ The Epistle of the holy Apostle Jude. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are sanctified in God the Father.[1] It was enough for him—for the apostle now before us, I mean—for the conspicuousness of his glory, after naming himself a servant of Christ, also to take dignity from James. For by presenting the brother of James—who was extolled by all for his virtue—he renders this man more readily received by his hearers for the teaching that comes through his words; since one who shares his birth and blood would not be seen to be estranged in character either from the man with whom he shares kinship. And especially, since he too is enrolled under one Master, Christ, bearing the yoke of servitude, he marks himself out as drawing in equal balance with his kinsman.

⁴ And to those called, who are kept by Jesus Christ. Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. When the Lord had said, No one can come to me unless my Father draws him,[2] this blessed man shows that the saying is now proved true. For he says that those who are loved by the Father are kept for Jesus Christ. This is why he calls them “called”: for it is not of themselves, but from the Father, that they have both their being drawn and their being called. And he prays that mercy and peace and love may be multiplied to them: mercy, because it was through the tender compassions of God’s mercy that we were called back and taken up to be His servants; peace, because God Himself, our Father, bestowed this also upon us, reconciling us, who had given offense, to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ; and love, because it was out of love toward us that His only-begotten Son was given up to death for us. He prays, then, that these things may be granted to them above all measure, in harmony with the blessed David, who declares, Extend your mercy to those who know you.[3] For we too, spurred on by these saving examples, with an unfeigned disposition toward our own kind, should live worthily of Him who called us.

⁵ Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you. By these words he discloses the theme of the Epistle: that out of forethought for their salvation—lest through simplicity they be captured by those most abominable heretics—he sets forth the present discourse, as it were branding the heretics and making them plainly evident to those who do not know them, by exposing their licentious manner of life. Of these things Peter too has spoken, but this man now more fully. He calls them “written of beforehand,” since both Peter and Paul had said of them that in the last times such deceivers would come; and before these, Christ Himself had said, Many will come in my name, and will lead many astray. Do not, then, go after them.[4] For naming themselves Christians, they deceive many by that very name. He means the followers of Nicolaus, of Valentinus, and of Simon, those most abominable men. For these, being gluttons and licentious, counterfeited the teaching, so that by their stealing into households they might find little women laden with sins [and take them captive]. For having fabricated certain nocturnal rites, they gave themselves over to beds and to acts of licentiousness. And the phrase “transferring it into licentiousness” stands for “altering, counterfeiting from chastity into licentiousness”; whence it also comes about that they deny our Lord Jesus Christ. For how do they not deny, through the uncleanness of their life, the teacher of all chastity, as it were with a piercing voice making their breach with Him decisive? For what fellowship has light with darkness?[5]

⁶ Exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in, who were of old written of beforehand for this judgment, ungodly men, transferring the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying the only Master, God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. He exhorts those who have once received our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and who have believed in Him, to contend earnestly. For having received the Word who became man, if we should say that the one begotten of the Father before the ages is one being, and the one born of the Mother and in His own subsistence another, how should we not be denying the one Lord and Master? For there is one Lord Jesus, according to the union of the economy. For the Word of God and God, who is before the ages, having the flesh that ascends into the glory of the Godhead—the flesh which He took up from the holy Virgin at the very beginning of the conception—is one and the same, the Master of all.

⁷ But I wish to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who kept not their own rank, but left their own habitation, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Having spoken of the licentiousness of the unclean Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and Marcionites, he adds these words: “that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt,” and so forth—showing at once that He Himself is the God of the Old Covenant and the Author of the New, and not, as these abominable men hold, that one God—vengeful and cruel—is the overseer of the Old, and another—gentle and benevolent—of the New; and showing at the same time that those of the present day will no more go unpunished than did those who came out of Egypt. For although, on account of His surpassing power and the oath sworn to their fathers, God delivered them from the violence of the Egyptians, yet when they transgressed they did not remain unpunished, but paid a fitting penalty; for God’s favor toward their fathers profited them nothing, nor did the marvelous working of wonders through that favor—those who, having passed through the Red Sea on dry ground, afterward fell away from faith and perished. And as for those who obtained the honor of the angelic rank, who out of sloth did not remain in their own dominion but set aside the heavenly mode of life given them in His goodness—these He has stored up for the judgment, that is, for the condemnation of the great day, with punishment (for this is what “he has kept” now means); even as the Lord also says, That which is prepared for the devil and his angels.[6] And indeed the men of Sodom too are set forth as proof of the unending fire that awaits them.

⁸ As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner to these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the penalty of eternal fire. The phrase “having gone after strange flesh,” and “having committed fornication,” means “having turned aside,” which is what fornicating signifies. By “strange flesh” he means the male nature, as not contributing to the intercourse of procreation. For the flesh that serves for procreative intercourse is that of the female, according to the saying of the forefather, Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.[7] But the flesh of males is “strange” to intercourse, I mean. Yet even in the case of the female: the one flesh that is joined to one according to the laws is a man’s own and proper flesh; but the flesh that is poured out and made common is strange and alien, and falls but little short of the male’s in defilement.

⁹ Yet in like manner these dreamers also defile the flesh, and set at nought lordship. Having set forth these examples, which he had already adduced, he left it to the hearer to infer what follows from them. And what is that? To add: “If, then, He so used these as a warning, in no way put to shame by their former good fortune—will He, then, deliver these men who now act licentiously?”—on the ground that the Son of God came into the world for the sake of men, and endured insults on their behalf, and was tested by sufferings? No one could say this. For though He is benevolent, yet He is also just in truth. And for the sake of true justice He did not spare those who had sinned; yet for the sake of His love for mankind He brought harlots and tax collectors into the kingdom. So, though it would have followed for Him to use such severity, He Himself let it pass—both for the reasons we have stated, and as it was foretold by the blessed Peter when he said, For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, and what follows.[8] And concerning these things, so much. As for the phrase “they defile the flesh as dreamers,” the gravity of the wording is worthy of admiration. For he veiled the exceeding shamefulness of the deed by the word “dreaming”; which we shall lay bare a little, and only so far as is fitting, having taken our knowledge from the work composed on these matters by the blessed Epiphanius of Cyprus, which he also entitled the Panarion.[9] For he says that these “Borborites” and abominable men, mingling shamefully with women, do not let the seed fall into the womb, but with abominable rite take it up in their own hands and bring it at once to the mouth, together with the women with whom they were corrupted, and that these unclean people thus depart from one another, supposing they have accomplished some great thing. This unclean deed, because it is unconsummated, he calls a “dream”; for such indeed are dreams. Defiling, therefore, their own flesh by this filthy offering, they rage still further, he says, against the divine nature also, setting at nought its lordship and its dominion over the whole. More fully concerning these matters has the blessed Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, spoken, in the book of his entitled A Refutation of Knowledge Falsely So Called.[10] Otherwise: he bears witness against their licentiousness, declaring that they are both unclean in life and most licentious in knowledge. And he says that they “set at nought lordship”—namely, the celebration of the mystery according to Christ. For they set it at nought, performing their own acts of licentiousness in the guise of angelic mysteries.

¹⁰ And they blaspheme glories. By “glories” we must understand the many opinions of approved men, which the reputable among the Greeks also call “theses,” defining them as paradoxical opinions—not of ordinary men, but of those distinguished in philosophy. Since, then, both Moses—in what was strange to the men who lived as citizens in those times—and the divine apostles introduced into life the things they brought in under God’s inspiration, and these seemed to be a telling of paradoxes because of their novelty to the men of that day, he did not shrink from naming these things “glories,” that is, “opinions.” A proof of this account is the divine Paul, who, when he was brought up by the Athenians to the Areopagus, and there expounded divine things to them, seemed to end in mere babbling. As, then, those teachings were called “babbling” by way of reproach, so too they named the aforesaid things “glories.” Therefore this divine man employed “glories” as something customary and familiar to all, calling them men taught of God. Another interpretation, to the same effect: by “glories” he means the Old and New Covenant, which Paul also calls so: For if that which was being abolished was through glory, much more that which is honored in glory; or else by “glories” he means the ecclesiastical authorities, against whom they spoke evil—as one may learn from the Third Epistle of the beloved John, from his saying that Diotrephes prated against them with evil words. And since he mentioned blasphemy, bringing to soberness not only these men but all people—that they keep their tongues pure from such an evil, and not employ blasphemy even against those who deserve it—he says: “But Michael the archangel,” and what follows. Saying what? That these men readily and without restraint employ blasphemy against everyone; but this ought not to be, seeing that it is not even right to blaspheme those who deserve blasphemy—as is plain from the archangel Michael. For though it was in his power, when contending with the devil concerning the body of Moses, to blaspheme the devil for his shamelessness, he did not do this, but only said, “May God alone rebuke you, devil,” and so dealt with him. Otherwise: For if the archangel acted thus, we should not in justice weave together blasphemy against a man who is a brother and of the same kind.[11] Now the dispute concerning the body of Moses is this: It is said in apocryphal writings that Michael the archangel ministered at the burial of Moses; and that the devil would not allow this, but brought against him the charge of the slaying of the Egyptian, alleging that, since Moses was guilty on this account, he should not be permitted to obtain burial. This the present apostle adduces, not only to instruct men not to be ready for blasphemy, but also through it, wishing to establish that there is a reckoning owed by all men after the soul’s departure from the body; and that He Himself is the God of both the Old and the New Covenant; and that, after our departure from here, the devil with his own wicked demons lies in wait for our souls, wishing to cut off their good journey. And the devil indeed sets himself against them, but the good angels fight on their behalf, as the blessed Anthony beheld. These things He then permitted to take place; yet Michael at that time drove off the devil, but did not rebuke him with authority of his own; rather, he yielded the judgment to the Lord of all, and said, “May God rebuke you, devil.”

¹¹ But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring against him a judgment of blasphemy, but said, May the Lord rebuke you. But these men blaspheme whatever they do not know; and whatever they understand naturally, like the irrational animals, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and have rushed greedily after the error of Balaam for hire, and have perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Michael, he says, in this way did not endure the blasphemies of the devil even against a man, namely Moses; but these men compose blasphemous words concerning doctrines which they do not know; and whatever things they understand by natural impulse, without discernment, like the irrational animals, these they pursue, like lust-maddened stallions. Woe to them! for they went in the way of Cain through fratricide, because they too, teaching such things to the brethren—that is, to men of the same kind—kill them by their wicked teachings; or else, by devouring the seed, they kill in potency brothers whom the ripening of the seed would have brought into life. And they went in the way of Balaam, because they too, like him, do these things for the sake of gain. And in that of Korah, because these men too, like him, being unworthy, snatched at the dignity of teaching.

¹² These are hidden reefs in your love-feasts, feasting together with you. There were still in those days tables held in the churches, as Paul also says in his Epistle to the Corinthians, which they called “love-feasts.” In these, he says, they come together, not for the need that is met in them, but that they may find opportunity to entrap unsteadfast souls, as Peter also says in his Second Epistle. He likens them to reefs, and to waterless clouds, and to autumn trees, and to wandering stars. For what belongs to those by nature, belongs to these by choice. For just as reefs are destructive to those who sail, appearing unexpectedly, so these too breed an unlooked-for evil for their fellow banqueters. And just as waterless clouds, driven by winds, do not refresh with rain in whatever places they are carried to (for they have none), but rather work gloom for them, so these too do not water the souls of those who meet them with a word of salvation, but cast gloom upon them by their most paltry suggestions, driven on by the wicked practices of the demons. But the autumn trees too, which die twice—both in the casting off of their fruit and in the falling of their leaves (for then they seem withered, stripped of their beauty, of the splendor that comes from the fruit and of the flowery comeliness of the leaves)—suffer something corresponding to these men. For these too die twice, casting off their own fruit by their devouring of the seed, and stripping away the good order that comes from a prudent manner of life. Therefore they are uprooted from the paradise of the Lord, the Church, and are cast outside, gathered for the eternal fire. For what rooting will he have who is abominated by all for the shamefulness of his life? And they are called “wandering stars” too—not because they shine conspicuously in the firmament of our faith, having the Sun of righteousness, Christ, passing through them and producing the seasons of the virtues and giving life to the faithful who live according to them; but because, seeming to be transformed into an angel of light, like the wicked demon who leads them, they are borne only contrary to the doctrines of the Lord; by whom they cast gloom on those who draw near them, and procure for themselves the eternal gloom. But they are likened to wild waves also.

¹³ Fearlessly shepherding themselves; waterless clouds carried about by winds; autumn trees, fruitless, twice dead, and uprooted; wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been kept unto an age. Likened to wild waves, they do not disown the resemblance to them. For madly and uncontrollably they too, driven by the spirits of wickedness to blasphemies against God, foam out their own shame, ending in foam together with the ostentation of their blasphemy, out of the unstable and easily-dissolved shamefulness of their life. For such also is the foam of the waves to which they were likened. The phrase “fearlessly shepherding themselves” is to be construed either with “reefs,” so that the meaning is this: “reefs feasting fearlessly,” that is, expecting no fear for their fellow banqueters, suddenly, like reefs, bringing destruction upon their souls; or, construing “fearlessly themselves” with “shepherding,” we shall find this sense: “fearlessly shepherding themselves,” not dreading the judgment that comes from not knowing how to shepherd, blind men leading the blind, and into a pit—as the Lord’s word will say—falling together with those they shepherd.

¹⁴ And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these men, saying: Behold, the Lord came with His holy myriads, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all their ungodly ones of all the works of their ungodliness which they have committed in ungodliness, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own desires; and their mouth speaks swelling words, marveling at men’s persons for the sake of advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how they told you that in the last time there would be mockers, walking after their own ungodly desires. Having spoken of the things prophesied to us, he brings in Enoch also, prophesying the affliction laid up for them by God in the last days—of the Lord’s righteous judgment, that is. Now the ungodly man differs from the sinner: in that the ungodly man has his fault concerning God, while the sinner falls short of the aim of righteousness in the things done in the course of life. After this, leaving aside the comparison with the ungodly of old, he now passes to the indictment of them in their own right, calling them “murmurers” and “complainers.” A murmurer is one who finds fault under his breath and without openness at what displeases him; a complainer is one who makes a practice of carping at everything always. Murmurers, then, and complainers are these abominable men, he says. For they have no boldness to make use of their teaching openly, because of its shamefulness; for it is not without danger to publish abroad their ungodliness, joined as it is with licentiousness and blasphemy. And they are “complainers” in that they slander both the affairs of others and the things of the truth, so that they may set up, as it were, their own evils and acts of licentiousness. As for what he said of Balaam—that these men too, for hire, like him, poured themselves out—he now states more plainly, that “they marvel at men’s persons for the sake of advantage”—by “marveling” meaning their flattering resort to those in office—and by “advantage” he means gain.[12]

¹⁵ These are they who set up divisions, sensual men, not having the Spirit. Behold yet another charge against these most abominable men. For not only do they themselves perish, he says, but they also plunder the nurslings of the Church (for this is what “setting up divisions” means)—that is, putting them outside the ecclesiastical bounds, namely those of the faith, or even of the ecclesiastical dwelling itself. For having made their own gatherings into dens of robbers, they lead men away from the Church, and draw them to themselves. And they do this, being sensual men—that is, living according to the conduct of the world. For we have already said that the divine Scripture is often wont to call “life” too by the word “soul,” as in Job: All that a man has he will give for his soul—that is, for his life.[13] And Paul too says that men who are sensual cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.[14] Being sensual, then, they also employ a sensual teaching, of which it has been said: This is not the wisdom that comes down from the Father of lights, but is earthly, sensual, demonic, not having the divine Spirit that speaks.[15]

¹⁶ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the consummation of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And some, who are wavering, have mercy on; but others save in fear, snatching them out of the fire.[16] The sensual, he says, are as we have set forth. But you, building yourselves up in the Holy Spirit and on your most holy faith—that is, recovering yourselves in the Holy Spirit, namely according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, making your gatherings in your prayers—keep yourselves [in the love of God; that is,] guard yourselves, awaiting the mercy that comes from the Lord, the mercy bestowed on you unto the last day of eternal life. As for those others: if they have separated themselves from you (for this is what “wavering” signifies), reprove them—that is, make their ungodliness manifest to all; but if they look toward healing, do not thrust them away, but receive them with the mercy of your love, saving them out of the fire that has been threatened against them. Receive them, however, together with showing them mercy, and with fear, taking heed lest the receiving of them—if you are careless in your disposition toward them—become a cause of harm to you, when those already made firm are stolen by them into the very same outpouring of their ungodliness; for evil is highly contagious. Let there be, then, a receiving of them, he says, but receive them with fear—that is, with caution; and let hatred attend the mercy shown toward them—hatred toward their abominable works, while you hate and abhor [them], and the garment spotted from their flesh—[as it were, toward their flesh]—by its touch, and bring even these men, who are worthy of mercy, to fear of the punishment to come.

¹⁷ Hating even the garment spotted from the flesh. Now unto Him who is able to keep you without stumbling, and to set you before the presence of His glory unblemished, without blame, in exultation—to the only wise God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and authority, before all the ages, and now and unto all the ages. Amen. The life stained by many transgressions of the passions that arise from the flesh is a spotted garment. For just as from a garment—the manner of one’s conduct in life—each man is wont to be made evident, whether righteous or unrighteous: the one having a clean garment, the virtuous life; the other having gained a life spotted with wicked works. Or rather, “spotted from the flesh” is the garment which is the disposition and habit that shapes the soul, in conformity with conscience, through the memory of the wicked motions and workings that arise from the flesh; which the soul, beholding it continually like a kind of garment about itself, is filled with the foul odor of the passions. For just as, from the Spirit, by the virtues being woven together with one another according to reason, there comes to be for the soul the garment of incorruption, which she puts on and becomes fair and glorious; so too, from the flesh, by the passions being woven together with one another in like proportion, there comes to be a certain garment, unclean and spotted, which of itself reveals the soul plainly, having clothed her with another form and image alien to the divine one. And having said these things, he then sets his seal upon the Epistle.

¹⁸ The end of the Epistle of the holy Apostle Jude: sixty-eight stichoi.[17]