Palamas and Islam Revisited

1. The humble metropolitan of Thessalonike to all the children and brothers of my humility, beloved in the Spirit, to the bishops, most beloved of God and to the high officials of the Church, and through them, above all, to those who wish to hear news of us, may eternal mercy from God and grace and peace abound in you.

2. That the judgements of God are a great abyss, that is to say, his providence for us, because the height or depth of his wisdom is unsearchable, we have been taught by David, the revealer of God.³⁰ But there are some, who through mental debility, so to speak, are seized with vertigo with regard to these, lose their balance and fall badly, or impiously deny providence, or irrationally condemn the life of those who are suffering misfortune, or sometimes even wretchedly think that virtue and faith themselves are vain and senseless. When someone has the right mental attitude, however, the more he gazes into this abyss and eminence and comes to ponder it, the more he tells of his wonder at the invisible and the visible.

3. What I have understood of divine providence, having been taken prisoner and carried off to Asia, and what I see of Christians and Turks living cheek by jowl together and going about together, leading and being led, I will relate to your charity. For it seems to me that through this dispensation the things of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God over all, are manifested even to these, the most barbarous of all the barbarians, so that they should be without a defence at his most dread tribunal to come, which is already near. Through this dispensation, as can be seen from what has happened, we too have been delivered into their hands, at the same time as a minor punishment for our many sins against God, like those who are now tried by being delivered to a fire which is nevertheless extinguished, whereas those who inflict the abuse, if they do not repent of their unbelief and ferocity, are destined for that fire which is unquenchable…

7. We were then all taken as a body first to Lampsakos.³⁷ And there I and my fellow prisoners immediately experienced together what belongs to slavery: being stripped naked, being deprived of necessities, and being subjected to all kinds of external ill-treatment of the body. In my case there was not only the problem with my inner organs, the interior wasting away of the flesh, and the slight paralysis of the limbs, but the great fuss made over me, supposedly on my behalf, by the Romans living there came to the ears of the barbarians, for they praised, and not in moderate terms, my education and virtue, and expatiated on my struggles on behalf of the Church, which, as they themselves said, surpassed all those being now conducted. They were not wrong, in my opinion, or rather I only know that most of it was correct, but it was not of the least advantage to me. For as a result, the leader of the barbarians conceived the hope of attaining thousands of nomismata from me, and it was the cause of those attached to the doctrines of the barbarians becoming furious with me, so that some of them made their way there and entered into discussion with me and for the most part, as they had no strong argument to make, put forward our captivity as a sign of the insecure basis of the Christian faith.

8. For this impious, and God-hated, and utterly abominable nation boast that they have prevailed over the Romans on account of their love of God. They ignore that this world lies under the power of the Evil one and that the greater part of it is largely in the possession of the wicked, the slaves of the infernal powers, and those who drive out their neighbours by force of arms. That is why for the whole time up to Constantine, who reigned truly in the love of God, idolators ruled almost the whole world, and for a long time afterwards others who differed not at all or only a little from their predecessors. It therefore seems to me that those too who boast of their evil will suffer the same as the Greeks, whom the Apostle said were given up to a debased mind, because although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or worship him. Thus since they too know Christ – for they say that he is the logos and spirit of God, and also that he was born from a virgin, and acted and taught in a divine manner, and was taken up into heaven, and remains immortal, and will come to judge the entire universe – since therefore they know Christ in this fashion, they have not glorified him as Christ, that is, as the Word who is God-Man, but have exchanged the truth for a lie, and have believed in, worshipped, and followed a mere man who was mortal and was buried, this Muhammed, rather than the God-Man Logos who is everlasting and eternal, and who, even though he tasted death in the flesh, it was in order to abolish death and become the author of eternal and unfading life, which the passion, death and resurrection of a mere man could never have been able to provide. That is also why all the resurrected who have lived our mortal life have died again, whereas Christ, having risen from the dead, is no longer dominated by death, but rather it is the future eternal life that is foreshown. For since those of whom I speak knew Christ but did not honour him or worship him as Christ, God gave them up to a debased mind and to passions and degrading acts, with the result that they live in a manner that is shameful, inhuman, and hated by God, and like Esau, who from childhood was hated by God and rejected by his father’s blessing,³⁸ live by the bow, the sword, and debauchery, revelling in acts of enslavement, murder, pillage, abduction, licentiousness, adultery and unnatural lust. And not only do they do such things, but – what madness! – they think they are pleasing God by them. This is what I myself think about them, now that I have come to a more accurate knowledge of their ways.³⁹…

13. Two days having gone by, we left Prousa under escort and two days later arrived at a village on a hill surrounded by distant mountains and adorned with shady trees.⁴³ This village, benefiting from breezes blowing sometimes from one direction and sometimes from another because of the mountain peaks surrounding it, has a spring spouting very cold water and is surrounded by cool air even in the summer. For that reason the supreme ruler among the barbarian princes spends the summer there. While I was being taken there along with the other prisoners, one of his grandsons sent to us and invited me to separate myself from the other prisoners. And he sat down with me on the soft grass, with some of the officials standing around us. And after we sat down fruit was set in front of me but meat in front of him. And at a signal from him, I began to eat the fruit and he the meat. As we were eating, he asked me whether I ever ate meat and why not. When I had replied in a suitable fashion, someone arrived from elsewhere and explained the reason for his absence. ‘I have only just been able to complete the distribution of alms,’ he said, ‘appointed by the great emir on Fridays.’ There then began quite a long discussion of almsgiving.

14. Ismail, for that was the name of the great emir’s grandson,⁴⁴ said to me, ‘Is almsgiving also a practice with you?’ When I said that almsgiving is really a product of love for the true God, and that the more one loves God the more truly disposed one is to give alms, he asked again whether we too accept and love their prophet Muhammad. On my denying that we did, he asked me the reason why. I put forward a defence on this point adequate for my listener, and said, ‘It is not possible for anyone who does not believe the teacher’s words to love the teacher as a teacher.’ ‘You,’ he said, ‘love Isa,’ for that is what he called Christ, ‘even though you say he was crucified.’ I considered this and in a short time resolved the apparent contradiction, setting out the voluntary character, the manner and the glory of the passion and the impassibility of the Godhead. Then he questioned me again, saying, ‘How is it that you venerate the wood and the cross?’ Again I offered him a defence on this point, as God inspired me to do, and added, ‘You yourself doubtless approve of those who honour your own symbol and are extremely annoyed with those who show disrespect for it; well, Christ’s monument and sign is the cross.’

Whereupon wishing still to mock our religion as something disreputable, he said, ‘But you claim that God had a wife, for you say that he begot a son.’

15. I for my part replied to him: ‘The Turks also say that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, whom we glorify as the Theotokos. Therefore if Mary, in giving birth to Christ according to the flesh, had no husband and had no need of a husband, when she gave birth to the word of God in the flesh, all the more reason why God, when begetting his own Word in an incorporeal and divinely befitting manner in keeping with the Word’s incorporeal nature, did not have a wife and did not have need of a wife, as you wrongly suppose.’ Even confronted with this, he did not become furious, despite being, as some who knew him said, foremost among the Christians’ harshest and fiercest opponents…

17. Since the emir was suffering from a liver complaint, the good Taronites was summoned and also came there.⁴⁶ Most God-loving as well as most God-beloved among doctors, he did everything he could for me, since he saw what would be profitable for me both spiritually and physically, and made it his concern to persuade the emir to let me stay in Nicaea. The emir asked him about me, saying: ‘Who is this monk and what sort of man is he?’ Taronites made a reply and the emir said again: ‘I too have wise and learned men, who will debate with him.’ And immediately he sent a summons to the Chionai, people who have studied nothing, and have been taught by Satan nothing other than blasphemy and impudence with regard to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.⁴⁷ Nevertheless when they came, what was said and done was put down in writing by Taronites, who was present as an eyewitness and auditor, and as he has published his record it is possible for those who wish to do so to go through it and learn about it.⁴⁸…

20. The next day I went out to see the gate which is and is called the East Gate, since it was nearer than the others.⁵¹ I had only gone a little way outside the gate – what need is there to speak of the beautiful high buildings and the fortifications? The whole city is full of them, although now they serve no purpose⁵² – I had only gone out a little way when I saw at a level spot a cube formed of blocks of marble as if meant for a function. I then asked those who happened to be near if there was some particular use for the cube, which was outside the city yet in close proximity to it as if set up ready for use. They told me what the cube was used for. And before they had finished speaking, we heard wailing voices coming from the city gate, and turning towards the sound we saw a column of barbarians bearing a corpse and making straight for the cube. We moved away, and following them discreetly, kept at a sufficient distance to see and hear what they did and said.

21. When they reached the cube, they all observed a profound silence. And several of them lifted up the coffin containing the corpse, which was wrapped in white sheets, and set it reverently on the cube. Then as they stood round it they had in their midst one of their tasimanai – that is what they are accustomed to call those who are dedicated to their sanctuaries.⁵³ Raising up his hands, this man made a loud invocation and the others responded in a similarly loud voice. They did this three times. Then those who were to deliver that coffin to the tomb took it in their hands and carried it further away, while each of the others with the tasimanai returned home.

22. Then we too returned and entered on foot by the same gate. On seeing the tasimanes sitting with some others in the shade of the gate to enjoy the freshness of the air at that season – for it was the month of July – and some Christians, as I supposed, sitting on the opposite side, we too sat down. Seated there, I asked whether there was anyone who knew both the languages I needed. When someone came forward, I asked him to say to the Turks on my behalf: ‘I consider it good, the ritual performed by you there outside. For the supplication made by you was on behalf of the dead man and addressed to God – for to whom else could it have been addressed? I should also like to know what was said to God there by you and what it was about.’ The tasimanes, using the same interpreter, said: ‘We asked forgiveness from God for the dead man, for the personal faults of his soul.’

23. ‘Rightly so,’ I said, following up his remark. ‘But at all events it is the judge who has the power of granting forgiveness, and according to you as well it is Christ who will come as the judge of the whole human race. It is therefore to him that you should address your prayers and supplications. Should you too not invoke him as God, like we do, since we know that he is indivisible from the Father as his innate Word? For there was no time when God was irrational or without his innate Word.’ The tasimanes replied: ‘Even Christ is a servant of God.’⁵⁴ And I said to him in turn: ‘But it is necessary to consider this, my good friend, that he judges, as you yourselves say, the living and the dead, resurrected and standing around him while he presides over the dread and impartial tribunal at his future coming. And Abraham, your forefather, as you too have your Scripture – for you like to maintain the authority of the Mosaic books – and it can be seen also to be preserved by the Jews, Abraham, I repeat, said to God: “You who are judging the whole earth, shall you not give judgement?”⁵⁵ So he who is to judge the whole earth is God himself, who according to the prophet Daniel is king of all things and for ever, and is not other than the Father with regard to the Godhead, just as sunshine is not other than the sun with regard to light. The tasimanes seemed annoyed and after being silent for a moment began speaking more expansively, for Christians and Turks had gathered together in some numbers to listen. He began, then, by saying that they loved all the prophets, including Christ, and the four books that had come down from God, one of which was the Gospel of Christ.⁵⁶ And he concluded by throwing the question back to me. ‘But you,’ he said, ‘how is it that you do not accept our prophet or believe in his book, even though this book has also come down from heaven?’

24. I said to him in turn: ‘Among both you and us it has long been the custom confirmed by both time and law not to accept anything and acquiesce to it as true without testimonies. Now testimonies are of two kinds. Either they derive from the deeds and facts themselves or they are supplied by persons worthy of credence. Thus Moses instructed the Egyptians by signs and wonders. He divided the sea with his staff and brought it together again. He made bread rain down from heaven. And what other examples need one give, as Moses is also believed in by you? For God too bears witness to him as his faithful servant but not as his son or word.⁵⁷ Then at God’s command he ascended the mountain and died and joined his ancestors.⁵⁸ Now Christ, along with the many great and extraordinary deeds he performed, is also attested by Moses himself and the other prophets. And alone from all eternity is he said even by you to be the Word of God; and alone from all eternity was he born of a virgin; and alone from all eternity was he taken up into heaven and remains there immortal; and alone from all eternity is he expected to return from there to judge the living and the resurrected dead. I say about him what is also acknowledged by you Turks. It is therefore because of these that we believe in Christ and in his gospel. But we do not find that Muhammad is either attested by the prophets or has worked anything miraculous and worthy of note that leads us to faith. For this reason we do not believe in him or in the book that issues from him.’ The tasimanes, although clearly displeased with these remarks, offered a defence, saying: ‘There used to be references to Muhammad in the gospel and you have excised them. But as you see, coming out of the ends of the east he has proved victorious even as far as the west.’

25. I said to him: ‘Nothing has ever been excised from our gospel by any Christian, nor has there been the least alteration. For heavy and dreadful imprecations are laid on this act, and anyone who dares to excise or alter anything of Christ is rather himself excised. How, then, can any Christian have done this? And how would he still be a Christian, or be in any way acceptable to Christians, if he had erased the text engraved by God and what Christ himself had recorded or proclaimed? Besides, there is the testimony of the many different languages into which the gospel of Christ was rapidly translated from the beginning; it was not written in just one language alone from the outset. How then could it have been falsified or anything altered? How is it that among the different nations the harmony of the sense has been maintained until now? Also, the gospel of Christ exists among many heterodox Christians, whom we call heretics. Among them are some who agree with you on certain points, but can find nothing to prove such a thing in the gospel of Christ. And among those who have contradicted us from the beginning – these too are many – nothing of the kind has been proved. Indeed, it is possible even to find the opposite plainly stated in the gospel. How, then, could it have testified to the contrary? Moreover, there is nothing in the gospel that has not also been said beforehand by the divine prophets. If then there was anything written in it favouring Muhammad, it would also have been found written in the prophets. Instead, what you can find written there and not deleted is that many false Christs and false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. That is why it exhorts us, saying: ‘Do not be led astray and go after them.’⁵⁹

26. Moses and the prophets who lived long before him and after him all returned to the earth through death and lie there awaiting the judge who will come from heaven. If that were the case also with Christ another would have come after him who would have ascended to heaven and imposed the end. For heaven sets the limit to everything here below. Since Christ, as you yourselves acknowledge, ascended into heaven, no one else is expected after him by anyone of sound mind. For Christ not only ascended into heaven but is also expected to come again, which is another doctrine you share with us. Therefore it is he who has come and is coming and is expected to come again, and we are right neither to accept nor to await anyone other than him.

27. He is the one who is expected to come again and judge the human race. Why? Because he himself said that he came and manifested the light to the world, that is, himself and his teaching, yet on account of teaching false doctrines and living a hedonistic life, people loved the darkness rather than the light. So that we should not experience the same, the chief of Christ’s disciples said: ‘There will be false teachers and false prophets, who will bring in destructive heresies and they will exploit you in their greed with deceptive words. For many will follow their licentious ways.’⁶⁰ Someone else says again that ‘if an angel should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!’⁶¹ And the evangelist says: ‘Every spirit that does not confess that the Lord Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God.’⁶² How is it, then, that someone who says that he who maintains that Jesus manifested in the flesh is not Lord is not from God, be a person who transmits a book which says that he who asserts this comes from God? This is not possible. It is not possible.

28. It is true that Muhammad, starting from the east, advanced as a conqueror as far as the west, but he did this by war and the sword, by pillaging, enslaving and slaughtering. None of this can follow from a good God. It follows rather from the will of someone who was from the beginning a murderer.⁶³ But so what? Did not Alexander, starting from the west, subjugate the whole of the east? In any case, others frequently at various times have mounted many expeditions and conquered the whole world. But no nation entrusted their soul to any of these as you have done to Muhammad. And what is more, even by the use of violence combined with the inducement of things that give pleasure, this man has not been able wholly to win over even one part of the world. Christ’s teaching, by contrast, although excluding almost all of life’s pleasures, had encompassed all the ends of the earth and prevails in the midst of those who fight against it. It is not imposed by any violence, but rather triumphs on every occasion over the violence offered against it, in such a way that this teaching is the victory that conquers the world.’⁶⁴

29. At this point the Christians who happened to be present, on seeing that the Turks were already being roused to anger, signalled to me to put an end to my speech. I, for my part, to lighten the atmosphere, smiled at them and added: ‘If we agreed in what we said, we would all hold the same doctrine. But let anyone who can do so understand the force of what I have said.’ One of them said: ‘There will be a time when we shall agree with one another.’ And I concurred and expressed the wish that that time would come soon.⁶⁵ But why should I have said this to those now living in a different manner from those then? I concurred because I remembered the Apostle’s saying, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.⁶⁶ This at all events will happen at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ…

31. While I was with you, ‘labouring in preaching’ in private and in public,⁶⁷ I taught the way leading to salvation, not keeping anything back, even if it seemed hard to some. In the same way, now that I am absent and enduring trials, I write to all of you, as briefly as possible, without keeping anything back, that our wealth is Christ the living and true God, to whom not only God the Father and the prophets sent by God bear witness, but also the deeds and facts themselves. He therefore rightly demands that our faith in him should be living and true, to which God and the teachers sent by God bear witness, and the deeds and facts themselves. And this is what will be if we live in accordance with the commandments of the Gospel. Thus, according to the Apostle, the evangelical spirit of grace ‘bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ’.⁶⁸

32. This is the living faith. ‘For faith without works is dead,’ says another of the heralds of the faith.⁶⁹ And what is dead is not acceptable to the living God, for God is ‘God not of the dead but of the living’.⁷⁰ Someone then, whose faith is dead through not accomplishing good works is himself dead, since he does not live in God and have his being in God, who alone is the provider of true and undefeated life. He is dead until, like the returned prodigal, he becomes cognizant of the privation he has suffered through distancing himself from the works of life, he returns to God through the works of repentance and hears from him, as the returned prodigal did, ‘this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’⁷¹ For thus he will also have true faith. Faith to which the works of salvation do not bear witness is not so much faith as unbelief and not so much profession as denial. And this is what is presented by him who says about such things: ‘They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, unfit for any good work.’⁷² And another of the fellow apostles says: ‘Show me your faith by your works.’⁷³ And who is faithful? Let him show his works by his good life. What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? By no means. You believe that Christ is God with the Father and the Spirit. You do well. But even the demons believe and shudder, saying: ‘We know who you are, the Son of God most high.’⁷⁴ They are demons, however, and enemies of God, through their opposition to God by their works.

33. Take care that you do not come to experience anything similar to these perverse believers – I do not mean with regard to pious belief (theosebeia) but with regard to manner of life (politeia), which these people base on their doctrines. Be on your guard lest like them, who say that he who was born of a virgin, that is, the God-man, is the word of God and his breath and anointed one, and then absurdly shun him and reject him as not being God, you too are found to say that the virtues and the gospel precepts are right and good, yet afterwards reject them through what you do, as if they did not exist, and show that the truly good is not good for you and the truly desirable is to be shunned.

34. Tell me, how can an infidel believe you when you say that you believe in him who was a virgin and was born of a virgin father but in eternity and before all time, and subsequently was born in time from a virgin mother even if in a supernatural manner, yet you practise neither virginity nor chastity but lust incorrigibly after the wives of others and give yourself up to debauchery? How can a drunkard and glutton represent himself as an adopted son through the Spirit to him who fasted for as many as forty days in the desert and throughout his life made abstinence a law? How can anyone who loves injustice stand before him who commanded us to judge and act justly? How can the unmerciful face him who said ‘Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful’?⁷⁵ How can anyone who loves wealth come into the presence of him who castigated those who enrich themselves? How can anyone who shows no compassion for those who fall, no patience, gentleness, forbearance, or humility, stand before him who demonstrated these by his deeds and exhorted us to practise them by his words? ‘Learn from me,’ it says, ‘for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’⁷⁶ And ‘If you do not each of you forgive the trespasses of your brothers from your hearts, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses?’⁷⁷ And even when suspended on the cross, he gave us an example, saying to his Father: ‘Do not attribute this sin to the crucifiers.’⁷⁸

35. But someone will perhaps say: ‘He was God, and by the very fact transcended evil.’ I have much to say on this point but circumstances do not allow it. In any case, what we require from you is not divine virtue but human virtue. Make a beginning and God will provide the accomplishment. Turn away from evil and come to the land of virtue. Lay hold of the work of repentance and by persevering you will receive from God not only the accomplishment of human virtue but you will also acquire in a supernatural manner the divine virtues themselves through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For it is thus that a human being is deified. For he who cleaves to God through the practice of virtue becomes one spirit with God through the grace of the Holy Spirit. May this grace be with you always, now and for ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

30 Cf. Ps 35 (36): 6–7…

37 An ancient city (modern Lapseki) on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, opposite Kallipolis.

38 Cf. Gen 27: 30–40.

39 § 8 (which Philippidis-Braat calls ‘the violent diatribe against Islam’) has all the appearance of a later reflection inserted into the narrative…

43 The name of the village is not known.

44 The name of Ismail’s father is not known. For Ismail to be of sufficiently mature age he must have been the grandson of one of Orhan’s senior wives (i.e. not Theodora).

45 These ambassadors were presumably the envoys sent by John Kantakouzenos to negotiate the return of the fortress of Tzympe in Thrace, which had been seized by Orhan’s son Suleiman in 1352 (Nicol 1996, 126–7).

46 On Taronites, see above, p. 164.

47 On the Chionai, see Philippidis-Braat 1979, 214–18.

48 Translated below, pp. 401–8. Palamas is probably referring to the shorter version, which circulated independently…

51 The gate still stands. It incorporates a Roman triumphal arch, hence the shaded area mentioned in § 22.

52 The impressive buildings dated from the time when Nicaea was the capital of the empire in exile (1204–61). For the condition of the city in the mid-fourteenth century see Pahlitzsch 2015a, 158.

53 Tasimanēs is evidently the Greek rendering of danişmend.

54 Qur’an 19, 30.

55 Gen 18: 25.

56 The ‘four books’, those of David, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, i.e. the Psalms, the Pentateuch, the Gospels, and the Qur’an.

57 Cf. Num 12; 17.

58 Cf. Deut 32; 48–50.

59 Cf. Luke 21: 8.

60 Cf. 2 Pet 2: 1–3.

61 Cf. Gal 1: 8.

62 Cf. 1 John 4: 2–3.

63 Cf. John 8: 44.

64 Cf. 1 John 5: 4.

65 These remarks have nothing to do with modern notions of tolerance or ecumenism, as is sometimes maintained. Each side foresees the conversion of the other.

66 Phil 2: 11. 67 Cf. 1 Tim 5: 17.

68 Rom 8: 16–17.

69 James 2: 17.

70 Matt 22: 32.

71 Luke 15: 24.

72 Titus 1: 16.

73 James 2: 18.

74 Cf. Mark 1: 24.

75 Luke 6: 36.

76 Matt 11: 29.

77 Matt 6: 15.

78 Cf. Luke 23: 34. (Pp., 385-401)

1. The Chionai came, it is said, at the command of the Turkish sovereign to engage in a debate with the metropolitan.⁷⁹ They were afraid to enter into discussion in his presence and at first negotiated with me and the metropolitan, and especially with those who had access to the Turkish sovereign, in an attempt not to speak at all on such matters. As they were unable to achieve this, they entered into further negotiations with a view to not speaking in the presence of their sovereign. In this they succeeded. And the latter appointed not a few dignitaries including one called Palapanos.⁸⁰ And they came together with the Chionai to where the metropolitan was staying. And we all sat down together

2. The Chionai then began to speak very volubly. The substance of their speech was this: ‘We have heard ten words that Moses brought down written on tablets of stone, and we know that the Turks keep them. And we abandoned what we thought previously and came to them and we too became Turks.’

3. Then the dignitaries told the metropolitan to present a defence. And he began thus: ‘It is not fitting that I should present a defence now. First, because in relation to the sublimity and majesty of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of my Christ, who am I to present a defence, since my part in it is minimal and almost nothing? Second, because the dignitaries, who are also sitting as judges, adhere to the side of the opponents and it is not fitting that I should expound on points opposed by them the justifications of true piety, which are the divinely inspired scriptures and especially the books of the prophets. Third, that I have been delivered up into captivity and I know from my Lord and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that after he was delivered up when he was questioned he did not reply.

4. ‘Nevertheless, because the great emir commands this, and I understand that God has given him sovereign knowledge – it belongs to a slave or any ordinary person to know about one system of belief and scarcely even that, whereas a sovereign, and one moreover who has many nationalities under his authority, must necessarily know about every system of belief and know about it with accuracy – for this reason I wish to say about our religion whatever the Word of God might give me to say when I open my mouth.⁸¹ And I shall do this not to make a defence against the Chionai. For these, from what I have heard earlier about them, plainly appear to be Jews rather than Turks. But the speech I am about to make is not addressed to Jews.⁸² The mystery, then, of our faith is as follows.

5. ‘There is only one God, who has always existed and endures for ever, without beginning, without end, immutable, unchangeable, indivisible, without confusion, without limit. Every creature is corruptible and mutable. Its very beginning is a change, for it has come from non-being into being. God himself, then, who alone is without beginning, is not devoid of word. God himself, who alone is without beginning, is not devoid of wisdom. Consequently the Word of God is also the Wisdom of God. For the wisdom is in the word and without the word there is no wisdom. Therefore if there was a time when the Word or the Wisdom of God was not, there was a time when God was devoid of word and wisdom – which is irreligious and impossible. Consequently, the Word of God is also without beginning, and the Wisdom of God was never separable from him.

6. ‘But nor is word found without spirit, as you Turks yourselves acknowledge.⁸³ For in saying that Christ is the Word of God, you also say that he is the Spirit of God, as never separated from the Holy Spirit. Therefore God has both a Word and a Spirit that are with him and remain with him without a beginning and without any separation. For there was no time when God was without spirit or without word. The one is therefore three and the three are one. God has word and spirit. He does not have them as we do, dispersed into the air, but in a way appropriate to him as if by analogy. For example, the sun’s radiance is generated from the sun and the sun’s ray is sent out from it and comes down as far as us and neither the radiance nor the ray is ever separated from the disk, and consequently in calling them “sun” we are not saying there is another sun other than the one sun. Similarly, when we say that the Word of God and the Spirit of God are God, we are not saying that there is another God apart from the one God, who is thought of as existing without beginning and eternally with the eternal Word and Spirit. And this is what we have been taught to believe and confess by Christ himself, the Word of God.

7. ‘It is not only Christ who taught this but also Moses in the Decalogue, whom you Chionai put forward. For this reason he said: “The Lord God is one Lord”,⁸⁴ mentioning the same one three times – for he says “Lord” twice and “God” once – in order to show that the three are one and the one is three. Moreover, Moses wanted to show from the beginning that God has both a Word and a Spirit and that in them and with them he is one God, the creator of every created thing. He therefore said: “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light”.⁸⁵ And he said: ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation’; and it brought forth vegetation”.⁸⁶ And not to go into all the details, as David says: “God spoke everything and they came to be”.⁸⁷ This phrase “God spoke and they came to be” shows that God has a Word – for it is not possible to speak without a word – and that all created things came to be through him. And so the Word of God himself preceded every creature and is uncreated. And since the Word of God is uncreated, how is he not God? For only God is uncreated.

8. ‘Furthermore, Moses also teaches us about the creation of man. “God,” he says, “breathed into his face the breath of life, and the man came into being as a living soul”.⁸⁸ In saying, then, “God breathed into him, and the man came into being”, he showed that God has a spirit, and that this spirit is a creator. Now the creator of souls is God alone. That is also why Job said: “The spirit of the Lord has made me”.’⁸⁹

9. The metropolitan of Thessalonike also wished to string together the other testimonies of the prophets, and especially those through whom it is demonstrated that God also brings about the renewal of both humanity and the world through his Word and his Spirit, as David also says: ‘He sent out his word and healed them from their corruptions’,⁹⁰ and again elsewhere: ‘You send forth your spirit and they are created, and you renew the face of the earth’.⁹¹ But when the metropolitan of Thessalonike had already begun to speak along these lines, his opponents stopped him, and all those standing around said to him at one and the same time: ‘These things that you say are true and it is not possible that they should be otherwise.’ And the metropolitan of Thessalonike said to them again: ‘Surely then God is three, and these three are one God and creator.’ And again, moved to do so either by a divine power or by being unable to contradict what he said, they agreed with him, saying: ‘That is what has been proved, that is what is true, and that is what we adhere to ourselves.’ And the metropolitan of Thessalonike said: ‘Good. Glory to our God who is content that things should be thus.’

10. They: ‘But tell us this. How is it that you call Christ God, when he is a man and was born as a man?’ And he again: ‘God is not only all-sovereign and almighty, but also just, as the prophet David also said: “For our God is just and loves just deeds, and there is no injustice in him.”⁹² There is no work of God that is not accompanied by justice. And just as the sun’s ray has a life-giving power at the same time as it has light and heat, so God’s activity has along with it divine power and justice. Now when God created man for good works and instructed him to live in accordance with his divine commandment, because this man, willingly giving ear to the devil, submitted to him and sinned, and having disobeyed the divine commandment was justly condemned to death, it did not belong to God to deliver man from him by an act of power. For thus he would have been unjust to the devil, by taking man out of his hands by force, when he did not receive him by force. Moreover, he would have abolished man’s free will by liberating him by force and by an act of divine power. It did not belong to God to abolish his own work. It was therefore necessary for a sinless man to have come into being and to have lived without sin and thus to have helped mankind, which had sinned voluntarily. “But no one,” says Scripture, “is without sin, even if his life lasts but a single day.”⁹³ And the prophet David says: “In iniquity was I engendered; in sin did my mother conceive me.”⁹⁴

11. ‘That is why the only sinless Word of God became a son of man and was born of a virgin and a paternal voice from heaven witnessed to him. And he was tempted by the devil and fought against and conquered his tempter. And through deeds and words and great wonders he showed and confirmed the faith and manner of life belonging to salvation. And thus he who lived without guilt and without sin took on himself the sufferings of own guilt to the point of death, so that going down into Hades he might even there save those who have believed.’

12. Again the metropolitan of Thessalonike wanted to speak about the resurrection and ascension of the Lord, and adduce the testimonies of the prophets that demonstrate that Christ is God and testify that it was God himself who became incarnate from the Virgin, suffered for us and was raised from the dead, and all the rest, but the Turks raised a clamour and prevented him from doing so, saying, ‘How do you say that God was born and that a woman’s womb contained him?’ and other similar things. ‘No, God only spoke and Christ also came into being.’⁹⁵ He said to them: ‘God is not a large body, so that he is unable to fit into a small space because of his size. No, being incorporeal, he can be anywhere both beyond everything and within a single thing. Even with the smallest thing one can think of, the whole of him can be in that too.’ Again they rose in uproar and said that ‘God spoke and Christ came into being.’ The metropolitan of Thessalonike responded: ‘You say Christ is the Word of God. How then is he brought into being in his turn by another word? For in that case it would follow that the Word of God is not coeternal with God himself. This was demonstrated at the beginning, and admitted even by you, that God has both word and spirit coeternal with him. That is why you say that Christ is not only word but also spirit of God. God spoke and this stone came into being’ – indicating a stone lying near him – ‘and the vegetation and the creeping things themselves.⁹⁶ If then it is because Christ was brought into being by the Word of God, as you say, that Christ is Word and Spirit of God, then the stone and plants and each of the creeping things are also word of God and his spirit, because in their case too he spoke and they came into being. Do you see how bad it is to say that “God spoke and Christ came into being”? For the eternal Word of God was made human and became flesh without confusion, not in virtue of flesh being spirit and word of God.⁹⁷ For it was later, as we said, that he assumed human nature from us and for our sake, but he was always in God, since he is his coeternal Word, through whom God also created the worlds.’⁹⁸

13. At this point the Chionai interrupted again, and Palapanos, who was presiding, imposed silence and said to the metropolitan of Thessalonike: ‘The sovereign orders you to explain why it is that we accept Christ and love and honour him and say that he is word and breath of God,⁹⁹ and we hold that his mother is near to God,¹⁰⁰ whereas you do not accept our prophet, nor do you love him.’ The metropolitan of Thessalonike said: ‘Someone who does not believe in the words of a teacher cannot love that teacher. That is why we do not love Muhammad. Our Lord and God Jesus Christ said to us that he would come again to judge the whole world and commanded us not to accept anybody else until he comes again to us. He even said to those who did not believe him: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you did not accept me; if another comes in his own name, him you will accept.”¹⁰¹ That is why Christ’s disciple writes to us that “Even if an angel should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.”’¹⁰²

14. The Chionai together with the Turks again said to the metropolitan of Thessalonike: ‘The practice of circumcision was manifestly given by God from the beginning and Christ himself was circumcised. Why do you not practise circumcision?’ The metropolitan of Thessalonike: ‘Because you are referring to the old Law, and what was given then to the Jews was given by God, but the keeping of the Sabbath was also given by God, as was the Jewish Passover and the sacrifices only to be performed by the priests, and the setting of the altar and the curtain within the temple. As these things and others like them were given at that time by God, why do you not adhere to them or do these things?’

15. Since the Chionai and the Turks had no defence to offer on this point, the metropolitan of Thessalonike wanted again to adduce the prophets who had plainly predicted the change in the Law and in the old covenant and that the change was brought about through Christ. And he began by saying: ‘What you yourselves also say is old, and everything old is oriented towards an end.’ And again they interrupted him, saying, ‘Why do you set up many likenesses in your churches and bow down to them, even though God has written and said to Moses: “You shall not make any likeness, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven, or anything that is on earth and in the sea”’?¹⁰³ The metropolitan of Thessalonike said in reply: ‘Friends also bow low to each other, but they do not thereby deify each other. That Moses truly learned this from God in such a form and taught it to the people at that time in such a form is clear to everybody. But on the other hand, Moses himself at that time scarcely let anything pass without making a likeness of it. For he made the area behind the curtain into a likeness and symbol of the things above – and since the cherubim are among the things above, he made images of them and set them up there within the inner sanctuary of the temple – whereas he made the temple’s exterior into a symbol of the things here below. If someone had asked Moses at that time: “How is it that when God forbids images and likeness of the things above and the things below, you have still made these things in this way?” he would have certainly said that images and likenesses were forbidden so that no one should worship them as gods, but ascending to God through them is good. The Hellenes used to address praises to created things, but as gods. We also praise these things, but we ascend through them to the glory of God.’ The Turks, then speaking again, said: ‘And did Moses really do these things at that time?’ Many people replied: ‘Yes, he did all these things.’

16. At this point the Turkish dignitaries arose, reverently bade the metropolitan of Thessalonike farewell, and departed. But one of the Chionai hung back, swore at the great archpriest of God obscenely, and leaping at him, punched him on the jaw. The other Turks who saw this seized hold of him, accused him of serious misconduct, and brought him before the emir. When they returned, the Turks said to him what they wanted to say. What it was precisely that they said we did not hear. We heard personally the things that we have set down, and with God our witness what we have set down is what we saw and heard.

79 On the Chionai, see above, p. 379.

80 Evidently Balabancık, a former Christian slave who became one of Orhan’s trusted lieutenants; see Kafadar 1995, 135. 81 Cf. Eph 6: 19.

82 Nevertheless, most of the texts cited in support of the argument are from the Jewish Scripture.

83 Qur’an 4, 171.

84 Deut 6: 4.

85 Gen 1: 3.

86 Gen 1: 11–12.

87 Ps 33 (32): 9 148; 5.

88 Gen 2: 7.

89 Job 33: 4.

90 Ps 106 (107): 20.

91 Ps 103 (104): 30.

92 Ps 10 (11): 7; 91 (92): 16.

93 Cf. Job 14: 4–5.

94 Ps 50 (51): 7.

95 Cf. Qur’an 3, 52/59.

96 Cf. Gen 1; 11, 24.

97 Cf. John 1; 14.

98 Cf. Heb 1; 2.

99 Qur’an 43, 57.

100 Qur’an 66, 12.

101 John 5: 43.

102 Gal 1: 8.

103 Exod 7: 4; Deut 5: 8. (Pp. 401-408)