Thursday, December 9, 2021

Notes from Bogdan G. Bucer (Eastern Orthodox), "The Son of Man and the Ancient of Days" (2017)

 The following notes are taken from Bogdan G. Bucer, "The Son of Man and the Ancient of Days: Observations on the Early Christian Reception of Daniel 7," Phronema 32, no. 1 (2017): 1-27

 

The Greek Texts of Daniel 7:13

 

There is a notable difference between two extant Greek versions of Dan 7:13. While Theodotion, faithful to the Aramaic text, speaks of "one like a son of man" being presented to the Ancient of Days (ως υιος ανθρωπου ερχομενος ην και εως του παλαιου των ημερων εφθασεν), the so-called Old Greek (hereafter OG) depicts "one like a son of man" traveling, in godlike fashion, "upon" the clouds of heaven (Ps 103/104:1; Isa 19:1), and approaching "like the Ancient of Days" (ως ανθρωπου ηρχετο και ως παλαιος ημερων παρην). The text is somewhat ambiguous, since it is not immediately clear whether the one approaching is compared to or identified with the Ancient of Days; whether "Son of Man" and "Ancient of Days" should be taken as symbolic characters, as real heavenly entities, or as two symbolic representations of a single heavenly entity. This ambiguity led to debates among exegetes. (p. 2)

 

We know that the language of Rev 1:13-14, where the exalted Jesus is called "son of man" but is depicted in terms that correspond to the Ancient of Days of Dan 7:9 ("white hair"), and was shaped by Dan 7:13 OG, while other allusions—most notably in the Gospels—presuppose the clear distinction between the two characters found in the Aramaic text and Theodotion. . . . But what if ως παλαιος ημερων is not derivative and secondary? Meadowcroft argued that "the reading 'one like the ancient of days' must be allowed to stand in the LXX," because in this instance as well as in general, the OG very likely "provides a literal translation of the material in its Vorlage" (Meadowcroft, Aramaic Daniel and Greek Daniel 223, 230, 26) . . . It is clear that the reference in Rev 1:13-14 to the exalted Jesus as “one like a son of man” and subsequent addition of traits corresponding to Daniel’s Ancient of Days was shaped by Dan 7:13 OG. It is also clear that this apocalyptic image of the white-haired Christ is at the root of the notion of Christ as the Ancient Days (pp. 4, 6, 25)

 

Christ as the Ancient of Days

 

Just as the distinction between Son of Man (Christ) and Ancient of Days (Father) proved useful in polemics against Judaism and various types of "Modalism," so also did the identification of Christ as the Ancient of Days play a role in anti-Arian and anti-Eunomian polemics. One strategy in this respect was to emphasise the adaptive character of all visionary reports, and thereby to foreclose any inferences from visionary imagery to the realty of God in godself. This approach to biblical visionary reports is especially characteristic of John Chrysostom, who distinguishes between God as ουσια, which indeed, "no one has ever seen," and God in his συγκαταβασις, condescension, expressed in the rich and manifold theophanic visions of the prophets. In conclusion, Daniel 7, just like the visions of Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, is an instance of divine συγκαταβασις, "all these were instances of (His) condescension, not the vision of the Essence itself unveiled" (John Chrysostom, Homily 15 on the Gospel of John (PG 59:98)) (p. 9)

 

Sometimes however, Daniel 7 is invoked as part of a positive statement about the divinity of the Son. The argument, as it is expressed by Athanasius and John Chrysostom, is that the Son must be fully divine because Daniel's vision presents him seated on the divine throne, attended by thousands upon thousands of angelic ministers (like Daniel's Ancient of Days). (Athanasius, CA 1.38 (Athanasius Werke I.1, 2:148), in a passage that invokes Daniel 7 alongside Genesis 18 and Exodus 3; John Chrysostom, On the Equality of the Father and the Son 11.). The most significant and numerous instances of Christ being identified as the Ancient of Days occur, however, in liturgical texts. A homily on the Meeting of the Lord ascribed to Cyril of Jerusalem, and another one circulating under the name of Methodius of Olympus (Ps-Cyril of Jerusalem, Homilia in occursum domini (PG 33:1183-1204); Ps-Methodius of Olympus, De Simeone et Anna (PG 18:348-381). Ps-Cyril’s homily was probably written around 450 (Michel Aubineau, Les homélies festales d'Hésychius de Jérusalem [2 vols; Brussels: Societé des Bollandistes, 1978] 1:4n. 2).), delight in the paradoxical identification of the enthroned and omnipotent Ancient of days with the fragile baby in the arms of Symeon. (As a sidenote, the visual counterpart—the festal icon—bears, quite literally, the same message: "This child has created Heaven and Earth" (Dionysius of Fourna, The Painter's Manual of Dionysius of Fourna: An English Translation With Commentary of Cod. gr. 708 in the Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library, Leningrad (Redondo Beach, CA: Oakwood, 1989 [1974]) 32).

 

Although the interpretive framework of the discourse is provided, not surprisingly, by Isaiah 6, Ps-Methodius also invokes the Sinai theophanies (the burning bush and the giving of the Law) and Daniel 7. Thus, the aged Symeon receives in his arms, as an infant, the Ancient of days, τον ηνπιοτητι παλαιον των ημερων, "the preeternal one as an infant," τον εν ηνπιοτητι προαιωνιον, who is none other than the God of Abraham, the Holy One of Israel, the Mystagogue of Moses and Lawgiver (Ps-Methodius of Olympus, De Simeone et Anna 8 (PG 18:365B); 6 (PG 18:360C)). (Ps?) Cyril, very similarly, exhorts his readers to "sing and chant and glorify the infant-and-God, btoh forty-day old and pre-eternal, both a little child and Ancient of Days (παιδιον μικρον και παλαιον των ημερων), both a baby at the breast and the maker of the ages. For this homilist,

 

It is this child who, of old, parted the sea for Israel, and drowned Pharaoh, and gave the Law to the Israelites, and rained down manna, and led the Hebrew nation by a pillar of fire, and rent the rock asunder, and kept the bush unconsumed in a flame of dewy fire.

 

Consequently, he calls on all things to glorify "the God-child, forty days old and eternal, the small child and Ancient of Days, the suckling child and maker of the ages" (Ps-Cyril of Jerusalem, De occursu 12 (PG 33:1200 AB); De occursu 4 (PG 33:1192A).). Another homily, this time one on the Nativity, ascribed erroneously to both Athanasius of Alexandria and John Chrysostom, emphasises the paradox even more:

 

I behold a strange mystery: in place of the sun, the Sun of Righteousness placed in the Virgin in an uncircumscribed manner . . . Today God, He-Who-Is and preexists becomes what he was not; for being God, he becomes a human being without stepping out of his being God . . .The Ancient of Days is born as a child. (PG 28: 960A-961A = PG 56:389) (pp. 9-11)

 

This straightforward christological identification of the Ancient of Days became a standard occurrence in Byzantine hymnography. Consider the following exquisite example of hymnographic theology, drawn from a stanza in Romanos the Melodists's Second Kantakion on Theophany:

 

Let us all raise our eyes to God in heaven, as we cry like Jeremiah: The One who appeared on earth, this is our God, who also willingly lived among men (cf. Bar 3:38), and underwent no change, who showed himself in different shapes to the prophets, whom Ezekiel contemplated like the form of a man on the fiery chariot, and Daniel as a son of man and ancient of days, proclaiming the ancient and the young to be one Lord: The One who appeared and enlightened all things. (Romanos, Second Kontakion on Theophany 15 (SC 110:288))

 

According to Romanos, then, Daniel 7 proclaims one Lord—specifically the one-who-would-be-incarnate, Jesus Christ—simultaneously young and old, son of man and ancient of days: ανθρωπου υιον και παλαιον ημερων, τον αρχαιον και νεον ενα Κυριον. (pp. 11-12)

 

Fuller quote of John Chrysostom, Homily 15 on the Gospel of John referenced above

 

"No man hath seen God at any time." By what connection of thought does the Apostle come to say this? After showing the exceeding greatness of the gifts of Christ, and the infinite difference between them and those ministered by Moses, he would add the reasonable cause of the difference. Moses, as being a servant, was minister of lower things, but Christ being Lord and King, and the King's Son, brought to us things far greater, being ever with the Father, and beholding Him continually; wherefore He saith, "No man hath seen God at any time." What then shall we answer to the most mighty of voice, Esaias, when he says, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up" ( Isa. vi. 1 ); and to John himself testifying of Him, that "he said these things when he had seen His glory"? ( c. xii. 41 .) What also to Ezekiel? for he too beheld Him sitting above the Cherubim. ( Ezek. i. and x .) What to Daniel? for he too saith, "The Ancient of days did sit" ( Dan. vii. 9 .) What to Moses himself, saying, "Show me Thy Glory, that I may see Thee so as to know Thee." ( Ex. xxxiii. 13 , partly from LXX.) And Jacob took his name from this very thing, being called "Israel"; for Israel is "one that sees God."  And others have seen him. How then saith John, "No man hath seen God at any time"? It is to declare, that all these were instances of (His) condescension, not the vision of the Essence itself unveiled. For had they seen the very Nature, they would not have beheld It under different forms, since that is simple, without form, or parts, or bounding lines. It sits not, nor stands, nor walks: these things belong all to bodies. But how He Is, He only knoweth. And this He hath declared by a certain prophet, saying, "I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the hands of the prophets" ( Hos. xii. 10 ), that is, "I have condescended, I have not appeared as I really was." For since His Son was about to appear in very flesh, He prepared them from old time to behold the substance of God, as far as it was possible for them to see It; but what God really is, not only have not the prophets seen, but not even angels nor archangels. If you ask them, you shall not hear them answering anything concerning His Essence, but sending up,  "Glory to God in the Highest, on earth peace, good will towards men." ( Luke ii. 14 .) If you desire to learn something from Cherubim or Seraphim, you shall hear the mystic song of His Holiness, and that "heaven and earth are full of His glory." ( Isa. vi. 3 .) If you enquire of the higher powers, you shall but find that their one work is the praise of God. "Praise ye Him," saith David, "all His hosts." ( Ps. cxlviii. 2 .) But the Son only Beholds Him, and the Holy Ghost. How can any created nature even see the Uncreated? If we are absolutely unable clearly to discern any incorporeal power whatsoever, even though created, as has been often proved in the case of angels, much less can we discern the Essence which is incorporeal and uncreated. Wherefore Paul saith, "Whom no man hath seen, nor can see." ( 1 Tim. vi. 16 .) Does then this special attribute 4 belong to the Father only, not to the Son? Away with the thought. It belongs also to the Son; and to show that it does so, hear Paul declaring this point, and saying, that He "is the Image of the invisible God." ( Col. i. 15 .) Now if He be the Image of the Invisible, He must be invisible Himself, for otherwise He would not be an "image." And wonder not that Paul saith in another place, "God was manifested in the Flesh" ( 1 Tim. iii. 16 ); because the manifestation 5 took place by means of the flesh, not according to (His) Essence. Besides, Paul shows that He is invisible, not only to men, but also to the powers above, for after saying, "was manifested in the Flesh," he adds, "was seen of angels." (NPNF1 14:50-51)

 

Blog Archive