On the Peace of Faith
I
Among these reports recently circulated concerning the extremely cruel deeds perpetrated in Constantinople by the King of the Turks - a man ablaze with divine zeal - who had previously visited those lands and now with countless groans implored the Creator of all things to mitigate through His mercy the persecution that, due to divergent religious rites, had grown more savage than customary. It then occurred that after several days, perhaps through his sustained and concentrated meditation, a vision manifested itself to this same fervent man, from which he concluded that a select group of sages, thoroughly versed in all the variations observed among the world's religions, could indeed uncover a definite and achievable harmony, and through it institute within religion a perpetual peace by means both appropriate and authentically established. Therefore, so that this vision might in time reach the awareness of those who govern these supreme matters, he proceeded to transcribe it exactly as his memory presented it, in the following account.
For he was raptured to a certain intellectual height where, as among those who have departed this life, the examination of this matter was conducted in a council of the exalted, presided over by the Almighty. For the King of heaven and earth declared that sorrowful messages from this worldly kingdom had reached Him: the groans of the oppressed; because due to religion many were taking up arms against one another, using their power either to force men to renounce long-observed sects or to inflict death upon them. And there were many bearers of these lamentations from across the whole earth, whom the King commanded to be presented before the full assembly of saints. Yet all of them appeared already known to the celestial beings, for the same King had appointed them from the beginning over each province of the world and every established sect; and they did not appear in human form but as intellectual virtues.
Then a prince, speaking on behalf of all those envoys, declared this sentence: "Lord, King of the universe, what does any creature possess that You have not given it? From the clay of the earth it pleased You to form the human body, animated by the rational spirit which You inspired, so that in it might shine forth the ineffable image of Your virtue. From one was multiplied a numerous people, who now occupy the face of the dry land. And though that intellectual spirit, sown in the earth and absorbed in shadows, does not see the light nor the beginning of its origin, You nevertheless have joined to it all those things through which, awakened by wonder at what it perceives through the senses, it may someday lift the eyes of its mind toward You, Creator of all, and be reunited with You through supreme love, and thus at last return to its origin with fruit."
"But You know, Lord, that a great multitude cannot exist without much diversity, and that nearly all are compelled to lead a laborious life full of hardships and miseries, subjected to the servile bondage of ruling kings. From this it follows that few among all have sufficient leisure to, by exercising their free will, attain self-knowledge. For many are distracted by bodily cares and servitudes; thus they cannot seek You, who are a hidden God. Therefore You have appointed diverse kings and seers - who are called Prophets - for Your people; most of whom, exercising the office of Your legation in Your Name, instituted worship and laws and instructed the uncultivated populace. These laws were accepted as if You Yourself, King of kings, had spoken to them face to face, believing they heard not them but You in them. To different nations, however, You sent different prophets and teachers, some at one time, others at another. But this earthly human condition has this quality: that long custom - which is accepted as having become nature - is defended as truth. Thus arise no small dissensions when any community prefers its own faith to another's."
"Come forth, therefore, You who alone can. For because of You - whom alone they truly venerate in all that they seem to worship - this rivalry exists. For no one desires in all that they appear to desire except the Good, which You are; nor does anyone seek through all intellectual discourse anything other than the Truth, which You are. What does the living seek but to live? What does the existent seek but to be? You, therefore, who are the Giver of life and being, are He who in diverse rites appears to be sought differently and by various names are named, since as You are, You remain unknowable and ineffable to all. For You, who are infinite Virtue, are none of those things You created, nor can any creature comprehend the concept of Your Infinity, since there is no proportion between the finite and the infinite. But You, Omnipotent God, can make Yourself visible - in whatever manner You may be apprehended - to whom You will, while remaining invisible to every mind. Hide Yourself no longer, Lord! Be merciful and show Your Face, and all peoples shall be saved - they who cannot abandon the fountain of life and its sweetness, though scarcely having tasted it. For no one turns away from You except because they know You not."
"If You would deign to act thus, the sword and the rancor of hatred would cease, along with every evil. And all would know that there is but one religion amidst the variety of rites. Should this difference of rites perhaps be impossible or inexpedient to remove, then let diversity become an increase of devotion, when each region devotes more pleasing and watchful attention to its ceremonies - as to You, their King. At the very least, just as You are One, may there be one religion and one worship of latria. Be therefore appeasable, Lord, for Your Wrath is Piety, and Your Justice is Mercy: spare Your weak creature. Thus we, Your commissioners, whom You granted as guardians to Your people and behold here present, with all humility implore Your Majesty with every possible mode of supplication."
II
To this supplication of the archangel, as all celestial citizens bowed unanimously before the Supreme King, He who sat upon the throne spoke concerning man left to his free will - in which freedom He had created him capable of sharing His communion. But because the animal and earthly man is held in ignorance under the prince of darkness, walking according to the conditions of sensible life (which are nothing but those of the world established by the prince of darkness) and not according to the intellectual inner man whose life comes from the region of his origin: therefore He declared that with great care and diligence, through various prophets (who in comparison with others were seers), He had recalled straying man. And finally, when not even all these prophets could adequately overcome the prince of ignorance, He sent His Verbum, through whom He also made the ages. This Verbum clothed Himself with humanity, so that He might at least enlighten docile man of most free will, showing him that he must walk not according to the outer but the inner man, if he ever hoped to return to the sweetness of immortal life.
And because His Verbum put on mortal man and in His blood bore witness to that truth - namely, that man is capable of eternal life (for whose attainment the animal and sensible life must be counted as nothing), and that eternal life itself is nothing but the ultimate desire of the inner man: the Truth which alone is sought and which, being eternal, eternally nourishes the intellect. This Truth that nourishes the intellect is none other than the Verbum Himself, in whom all things are enfolded and through whom all things are unfolded, and who took on human nature so that any man, through the choice of his free will in his human nature, might not doubt that he can attain in that Man (who is also the Verbum) the immortal nourishment of truth. Adding: "And when these things have been accomplished, what is there that could have been done and has not been done?"
III
To this interrogation by the King of kings, the Verbum made flesh, holding all celestial principalities, responded in the name of all: "Father of mercies, although Your works are most perfect and nothing remains to be added for their completion, nevertheless because from the beginning You decreed that man should remain in free will, and since nothing stable persists in the sensible world - as changing opinions and conjectures vary with time, along with languages and interpretations - human nature requires frequent visitation, so that the deceptions which abound concerning Your Verbum may be uprooted and thus truth may shine forth continually. Since this truth is one, and cannot but be received by every free intellect, all religious diversity will be led into one orthodox faith."
It pleased the King. And having summoned the angels who preside over all nations and tongues, He commanded each to bring one most learned man before the Verbum made flesh. And immediately there appeared in the presence of the Verbum the weightiest men of this world, as if rapt in ecstasy, to whom the Verbum of God spoke thus:
"The Lord, King of heaven and earth, has heard the groans of the slain, the chained, and those reduced to servitude, who suffer on account of religious diversity. And since all who either inflict or endure this persecution are moved by no other motive than their belief that this serves their salvation and pleases their Creator, the Lord, having compassion on His people, is content that all religious diversity be reduced - through the common consent of all men - into one more inviolable concord. This burden of ministry He entrusts to you, chosen men, giving you as assistants angelic administrator spirits from His court who shall guard and guide you, appointing for this purpose the most fitting place: Jerusalem."
IV
To this responded one, the eldest among them, who proved to be a Greek. Having first offered a gesture of adoration, he said: "We give praise to our God, whose mercy is over all His works, for He alone is powerful to bring such great diversity of religions into one harmonious peace. As we are His creatures, we cannot disobey His command. Yet we now pray to be instructed in how this unity of religion may be introduced through us. For any nation has defended its own faith - distinct from others - even with blood until now, and our people will with difficulty accept another persuasion through our words."
The Verbum responded: "You will find no other faith but the same and only one presupposed everywhere. You who are present here are called among your associates 'wise men,' or at least 'philosophers' - that is, lovers of wisdom."
"It is so," said the Greek.
[The Verbum continued:] "If you all love wisdom, do you not presuppose that wisdom exists?"
All shouted in unison that no one doubted it.
The Verbum [added]: "There cannot be more than one wisdom. For if there could be several, they would necessarily proceed from one. Because before all plurality stands unity."
The Greek [said]: "None of us doubts that there is but one wisdom, which we all love and for which we are called philosophers. Though many partake of it, wisdom itself remains simple and undivided."
The Verbum [concluded]: "Are you all agreed, then, that there is a most simple wisdom, whose power is ineffable? Each one experiences, when attempting to explain its virtue, that it is infinite and inexpressible. For when sight turns to visible things and recognizes that all contemplated things proceed from the power of wisdom - just as with hearing and each of the senses - it affirms that invisible wisdom governs all things."
The Greek [said]: "Nor do we, who have made philosophy our profession, love the sweetness of wisdom by any other path than through the foretasted admiration of things subject to the senses. For who would not die to attain such wisdom, from which flows all beauty, all sweetness of life, and all that is desirable? How brightly shines the virtue of wisdom in the work of man: in the limbs, the order of limbs, the infused life, the harmony of organs, the movement, and finally in the rational spirit, capable of marvelous arts and which is like the seal of wisdom! In it, above all things, as in a near image, shines eternal wisdom, as truth in close likeness. And most admirable of all: this radiance of wisdom progresses ever further through the vehement conversion of the spirit toward truth, until the very living brightness, continually emerging from the shadow of the image, becomes truer and more conformed to true wisdom - though absolute wisdom is never attainable in another as it is in itself. Thus, the same eternal and inexhaustible wisdom becomes perpetual and inexhaustible intellectual nourishment."
The Verbum [responded]: "You advance rightly toward the purpose we pursue. Therefore, though you are called to diverse religions, you all presuppose one same thing in such diversity: what you call 'wisdom.' But tell me: does a single wisdom encompass all that can be said?"
V
Ytalus responded: "Rather, the Verbum is not outside wisdom. For the Verbum of the Most Wise is within wisdom, and in the Verbum resides wisdom, with nothing existing outside it. For wisdom encompasses all things, even the infinite."
The Verbum [asked]: "If one were to say that all things were created in wisdom, and another that all were created in the Verbum, would they be saying the same or something different?"
Ytalus [responded]: "Though there may seem to be diversity in words, the meaning is the same. For the Verbum of the Creator, in which all was made, can be nothing but His wisdom."
The Verbum [inquired]: "What then do you think: is that wisdom God or a creature?"
Ytalus [argued]: "Since God, creator of all things, creates in wisdom, He Himself is necessarily the wisdom of created wisdom. For before every creature exists wisdom, through which all created things are what they are."
The Verbum [affirmed]: "Then wisdom is eternal, for it exists before all that is created and begun."
Ytalus [agreed]: "None can deny that which is understood as prior to every beginning to be eternal."
The Verbum [concluded]: "Therefore, it is the Principle."
Ytalus [responded]: "It is so."
The Verbum [continued]: "Thus, it is most simple. For all that is composite has a beginning, since its components cannot exist after the composite."
Ytalus [admitted]: "I acknowledge this."
The Verbum [declared]: "Therefore, wisdom is eternity."
Ytalus [assented]: "And it cannot be otherwise."
The Verbum [added]: "Moreover, there cannot be multiple eternities, for before all plurality stands unity."
Ytalus [confirmed]: "None would deny it."
The Verbum [pronounced]: "Consequently, God is wisdom: one, simple, eternal, the Principle of all."
Ytalus [concluded]: "This is necessary."
The Verbum [finalized]: "Behold how you philosophers of diverse sects agree in the religion of one God - whom all presuppose - while professing yourselves lovers of wisdom."
VI
The Arab responded: "Nothing clearer or truer could be said."
The Verbum [asked]: "Just as you profess to be lovers of absolute wisdom, do you believe that men endowed with intellect do not love wisdom?"
The Arab [argued]: "I believe with complete truth that all men naturally desire wisdom, for it is the life of the intellect, which cannot be sustained without nourishment other than truth and the Verbum of life - or the intellectual bread - which is wisdom. Just as every being desires that without which it cannot exist, so intellectual life desires wisdom."
The Verbum [affirmed]: "Therefore, all men profess with you an absolute wisdom they presuppose: one God."
The Arab [agreed]: "It is so, and no learned man can hold otherwise."
The Verbum [continued]: "Thus, there is but one religion and worship for all endowed with intellect, underlying every diversity of rites."
The Arab [reflected]: "You are Wisdom, for You are the Verbum of God. But I ask: how do worshipers of multiple gods agree with philosophers on one God? For philosophers have never been found to think differently: it is impossible for several gods to exist without one supreme God presiding over them. He alone is the Principle from whom the others receive all they possess, far more excellent than the monad in number."
The Verbum [explained]: "All who have worshiped multiple gods presupposed divinity. For they worship that very divinity in all gods as participants of it. Just as without whiteness there are no white things, without divinity there are no gods. The worship of gods, then, confesses divinity. And whoever speaks of 'several gods' implicitly affirms a principle prior to all; just as one who speaks of several saints admits a 'Holy of Holies' by whose participation the others are holy. Never has there been a people so foolish as to believe in several gods, each as a first cause, principle, or creator of the universe."
The Arab [assented]: "So I believe. For it would be contradictory for there to be multiple first principles. The Principle, being unprincipled (since it would be principled by itself and exist before being), is necessarily eternal. And there cannot be multiple eternal beings, because before all plurality stands unity. Thus, there must be one unique Principle and universal cause. For this reason, I have yet to find any people who have strayed from this truth."
The Verbum [concluded]: "If all who venerate multiple gods were to look to what they presuppose - the Deity as cause of all things - and embrace it as manifest religion (as reason itself dictates, just as they already worship it implicitly in their gods), their conflict would be resolved."
The Arab [objected]: "Perhaps this would not be difficult in theory, but abolishing the worship of gods would prove grave. For peoples firmly believe they obtain favors through such worship, and for their salvation, they bow before those numina."
The Verbum [responded]: "If instructed about salvation in the manner already stated, they would seek salvation rather in Him who gave them being and is Himself the Savior and infinite Salvation, than in those who have nothing by themselves save what is granted by Him. They might even turn to the gods - considered holy for their divine lives - as intercessors accepted in their weaknesses or needs, venerating their memory as friends of God whose lives are imitable. Provided they render absolute worship (latria) solely to the one God, they would not contradict the one religion, and thus the people would be easily pacified."