And the Light Shone in the Darkness

The light shines in darkness. All humanity, by virtue of original sin, was in darkness – not darkness of the outer eyes that sense the forms and colors of sensible things, but darkness of the inner eyes that discern the kinds and beauties of intelligible things; not the darkness of a gloomy atmosphere, but the darkness of the ignorance of the truth; not the absence of the light that reveals the corporeal world, but the absence of the light that illumines the incorporeal world. Born of a virgin, this light shines in darkness – that is to say, in the hearts of those who know it.

And following this, since it is true that humanity is now, as it were, divided into two parts – into those whose hearts are illumined by the knowledge of the truth and those who still remain in the darkness of unholiness and faithfulness – the Evangelist adds: “And the darkness comprehended it not.”

This is as if he had said: The light shines in the darkness of faithful souls, and shines there more and more, beginning in faith and leading to knowledge; but the hearts of the unholy, through faithlessness and ignorance, have not grasped the Light of the Word glorifying the flesh. “Their foolish hearts were darkened,” as the Apostle says. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Such, at least, is the moral sense of darkness.

But the natural contemplation of these words yields another meaning to the phrase “And the light shone in the darkness.”

For human nature, even if it had not sinned, would have been unable to shine by its own strength; for human nature is not naturally light, but only participates in the light. Although human nature is capable of wisdom, it is not itself wisdom: only participation in wisdom allows it to be wise. Just as the air does not shine by itself – and is for this reason named darkness – and yet is nevertheless able to receive the light of the sun, so too our nature, considered in itself, is a substance of darkness, but is able to receive the light of wisdom. And just as the air, while it participates in the sun’s rays, is not said to shine by itself – but the splendor of the sun is said to appear in it, so that it does not lose its natural obscurity but only receives the supervening light into itself – so the rational part of our nature, while possessing the presence of the Word of God, knows – not through itself but through the engrafting on it of the divine Light – intelligible things and even God Himself. The Word Himself says: “It is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you.”

By means of this one sentence the Word wishes to teach us to understand this universal truth and to have this meaning always and ineffably sounding in the ears of our hearts: It is not you who shine, but the spirit of your Father shines in you. In other words, it is He, the Father, who manifests me, the Word, to shine in you, for I am the light of the intelligible world, that is, of rational and intellectual nature. You, who know me, are not. It is I myself, through my spirit, who know myself in you – for you are not a substantial light, but only participate in the self-subsisting light.

Thus the light shines in the darkness, for the Word of God – the life and light of human beings – does not cease to shine in our nature which, investigated and considered in itself, is found to be without form and dark. Nor, despite its fall, does the Word wish to forsake human nature; nor will He ever forsake it. For He forms it, since He contains it by nature; and He reforms it by deifying grace. And since He Himself is the light incomprehensible to all creatures, the darkness comprehended it not.

For God surpasses all meaning and intelligence, and alone possesses immortality. Whose light is called darkness by virtue of its excellence, since no creature can comprehend either what or how it is.