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John Chrysostom, Encomium on the Four Bodiless Living Creatures 11:
(Enoch:) I rejoice today since God transformed me and gave me the penholder of salvation and the tomes which were in the hand of the angel Mefriel, scribe of old. I copied them in six days and six nights according to the aeons of light. After that the Lord issued a command to a cherub, one of the four creatures. After he had taken me to the land of my relatives, I gave orders to my children and my relatives and was taken up to heaven again. God established me before the throne of the cherub, namely the human-faced one. Because of this I rejoice today.
John Chrysostom, Encomium on the Four Bodiless Living Creatures 25-27:
(Christ:) Because of this my Father has assigned Enoch, the scribe of righteousness, to the creature with the human face. Whenever a human being sins … , one of the creatures, the human-faced one, cries out and urges Enoch the scribe of righteousness, “Do not hurry to write down the sins of the children of humankind, but be patient a little and I will call the archangel Michael and he will implore the Father of mercy together with me. Restrain yourself a little and I will call Gabriel and he will implore the Father of all good people together with me. … O Enoch, because of this I have been established near you, since my likeness and yours are one, so that I might remind you. For I am bodiless, but you are of flesh and earth. Indeed, God who loves humankind, has made plans in this way. After he removed Mefriel the angel, who was scribe from the beginning, because he is bodiless, he established you in his place, having given you the spiritual penholder so that you might take into account the weakness of people of flesh and blood.
Sources (list of abbreviations)
John Chrysostom, Encomium on the Four Bodiless Living Creatures 11
John Chrysostom, Encomium on the Four Bodiless Living Creatures 25-27
Bibliography
| Pearson 2004, 147-148 | Pearson, Birger A. Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt. Studies in Antiquity and Christianity. New York, London: T & T Clark 2004. |
Amar Annus
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