Letter 646

To Faustinianus. God was able to extinguish the flame of the Babylonian furnace [Daniel 3], but he did not do so, in order to instill a greater fear in the impious, and to work in them a greater astonishment, and to undo all the obduracy of Nebuchadnezzar. He did something greater and more wondrous than extinguishing the flame: for, allowing it to blaze as much as that man wished, he thus displays his own power, not by dismantling the contrivances of his enemies, but by rendering them, while they stand, of no effect. And lest anyone, seeing the youths come safely through the flame, should suppose the flame to be a phantom, he permitted those who cast them in to be burned, [showing] that what was seen was truly fire; for otherwise it would not have devoured the brushwood and the tow and so many bodies. But nothing is stronger than his command; rather, the nature of all existing things will be subject to him who brings it from non-being into being, which is precisely what was then demonstrated. For the flame, taking hold of corruptible bodies, kept away from them as though from incorruptible ones, and gave back the deposit safe, and with much splendor; for just as kings come forth from royal palaces, so the three children came forth from the furnace, no one any longer bearing to look at the king, but all transferring their eyes from him to the wondrous spectacle. And neither the diadem, nor the purple robe, nor any other part of the royal display turned the crowds toward him, as did the sight of those faithful ones, who had lingered in the fire yet came out from there in such a way as is likely for those who experience this in dreams. For indeed that which is the most easily broken of all the things in us, the nature of the hair, held firm at that time, stronger than adamant.

Ἠδύνατο ὁ Θεὸς ἀβέσαι τὴν φλόγα τῆς Βαβυλω- νίας καμίνου, ἀλλ' οὐ πεποίηκε τοῦτο ὑπὲρ τοῦ μείζονα ἐνθεῖναι φόβον τοῖς ἀσεβέσι, καὶ πλείονα ἐμπoιῆσαι τὴν ἔκπληξιν, καὶ πᾶσαν λῦσαι τοῦ Να- βουχοδονόσορ τὴν πώρωσιν. Μεῖζον δὲ τοῦ ἀβέσαι τὴν φλόγα καὶ παραδοξότερον ἐποίησεν· ἀφεὶς γὰρ αὐτὴν καυθῆναι τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἐκεῖνος ἠθέλησεν, οὕτως τὴν οἰκείαν ἐνδείκνυται δύναμιν, οὐ καταλύων τὰ μηχανήματα τῶν ἐχθρῶν, ἀλλ' ἑστῶτα ποιῶν ἄκυρα. Ἵνα δὲ μήτις αὐτοὺς ἰδὼν περιγεγονότας τῆς φλογός, φαντάσματα εἶναι τὴν φλόγα νομίσῃ, συνεχώρησε καυθῆναι τοὺς ἐμβαλόντας αὐτούς. κνύς, ὅτι πῦρ μὲν ἦν ἀληθῶς τὸ ὁρώμενον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν καὶ κληματίδα, καὶ στυππίου, καὶ τοσαῦτα κατέφαγε σώματα. Τῆς δὲ αὐτοῦ προστάξεως οὐδὲν ἰσχυρότε- ρον, ἀλλ' ἔσται τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἡ φύσις τῷ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὴν παράγοντι, ὅπερ καὶ τότε ἐδείκνυτο. Σώματα γὰρ ἡ φλὸξ ἀπολαδοῦσα φθαρτά, καθάπερ ἀφθάρτων ἀπέσχετο, καὶ σῶαν τὴν παρακαταθήκην ἀπέδωκε, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς λαμπρότητος· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκ βασιλείων τινῶν βασι- λεῖς, οὕτως ἀπὸ τῆς καμίνου οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες προέ- σαν, οὐδενὸς λοιπὸν εἰς τὸν βασιλέα ἀνεχομένου ὁρᾷν, ἀλλὰ πάντων ἀπ' ἐκείνου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς μεταθέντων ἐπὶ τὴν παράδοξον θεωρίαν. Καὶ οὔτε τὸ διάδημα, οὔτε ἡ ἁλουργίς, οὔτε ἄλλο τι τῆς φαντασίας τῆς βασιλικῆς, αὐτῷ τοὺς ὄχλους ἐπ- έστρεφεν, ὡς ἡ θέα τῶν πιστῶν ἐκείνων, ἐγχρονι- σάντων μὲν τῷ πυρί, οὕτως δὲ ἐξελθόντων ἐκεῖθεν, ὡς τοὺς ἐν ὀνείροις τοῦτο παθόντας εἰκὸς ἦν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ πάντων εὐθραυστότερον ἐστι τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἡ τῶν τριχῶν φύσις, τότε ἀδάμαντος ἰσχυρότερον ἐκράτει.