it was, so that he might liberate us also from death and corruption. A His passion, therefore, is God’s; God’s is the resurrection, God’s is the assumption; and God’s is that likeness to us in all things, sin excepted, which he bore. Not in appearance, but in truth, all things occurred in him. To him be glory, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for the ages of ages. Amen.
OF SAINT CYRIL ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD
A I. That the commemoration of the divine incarnation is useful to those who hear.
Sufficient, I think, is the discourse we have completed concerning the holy Trinity, as if in an assembly of the orthodox and of those who believe in the evangelical dogmas. For, in the present instance, our purpose was not to argue against the godless, but to set forth the faith to the disciples of the apostles. But since the magnitude of the divine benefits knows how to kindle all the more the desire of those who love God, and makes them more fervent lovers of God, I proceed of necessity to this discourse as well, linking the economy to the theology, and demonstrating how great and how numerous are the things the Creator has bestowed as benefits upon our race. For the fountains of divine gifts have never ceased to pour forth good things upon men.
B II. A narrative of the benefits conferred by God upon man from the beginning.
From the time that God created this all-harmonious world, he has flooded our nature with manifold benefits. First, indeed, he made it out of what was not, and as he fashioned it, he honored it; and he transformed the dust into the nature of man, as he willed. To the unsightly clay he granted both beauty and a soul at once, C the brightness of the eyes, the cheerfulness of the countenance, the smoothness of the cheeks, the flexibility of the tongue, the streams of blood running to all the members of the body, and providing an adequate irrigation for flesh, nerves, and skin, the hardness of the bones, and
the utility of the marrows and all else that is to be observed A in the human animal. And in addition to these, He gave the mind as leader and governor, imbued with wisdom, capable of all art and knowledge, and He rendered the clay statue rational; and He fashioned the dust-born statue in His own image, bestowing upon the intelligent and immortal soul the ruling, sovereign, and creative power. Then He appointed him king of beasts, and quadrupeds, and reptiles, and swimming creatures, and amphibians, and of the birds that traverse the air. Before these, however, He stretched out the heaven from above like a most pleasant chamber, inserting the delights of the stars, which provide both utility and pleasure; commanding the sun to rise and set, and to make days and nights, and to measure time by its course; [commanding] the moon to wane and wax, and by its frequent revolutions to delight [us] at once and to signify the annual cycle. B Below, He spread out the earth, and gave it varied adornment, distinguishing it into woods and crops and meadows; curving the mountains into heights, and excavating valleys, and showing fields level and prone, and commanding springs to gush forth from the midst, and rivers to flow unceasingly, and everything else that adorns the earth and sea.
III. Why He named man Adam.
Having thus created the first man, and having honored [him] with His image and overwhelmed [him] with a multitude of gifts, He imposed upon him the name proper to his nature; for He called him Adam, which word in the Hebrew tongue signifies dust. And this too was a providence on behalf of man. For because he was to enjoy so many good things and had been proclaimed prince and king of so many creatures, that he might not, by growing wanton from the multitude of gifts and puffed up by the height of his authority, become petulant against the Creator, and suffer the greatest detriment from this quasi-tyranny, after the manner of that first apostate who, like a flash of lightning, fell from heaven for his pride C (Isa. xiv, 12), the wise curator of all things necessarily, checking the swelling of his mind, called him Adam, so that by the name [he might be] reflecting upon his condition, and considering the origins of his nature, and having his parent, dust, before his eyes, he might know himself, and adore Him who granted him such decorum and magnificence. This was the first providence of the Creator toward man after the creation; thus, from the beginning, he acted as a kind of father and physician and teacher, simultaneously adorning and healing and teaching him virtue.
IV. Why He formed woman from the man’s side.
Having thus fashioned him, and thus named him, He immediately created for him a helper and fellow-worker and companion of life. Yet He does not take the materials of [her] formation from the earth only, D as He had in his case,
[...]; but, taking one of the man’s ribs and using this as a kind of base and foundation, he composed the feminine nature. This was not because of a scarcity of material, for His will alone sufficed for the creation of any thing, but A because He wished to implant in nature the bond of concord. He also planted a garden and adorned it with plants of every kind, and granted this as a dwelling to man, offering him an exercise in virtue, a commandment not burdensome nor laden with sweat, but truly very easy for one who is temperate.
V. Why He established a law for him.
For since He had commanded him to partake of all the plants of the garden, He forbade the tasting of one; and He did not do even this without reason, but in order that he might recognize his Maker, and that he might have, as it were, a sort of yoke—the law of Him who created him—so that he might know that, while he rules over things on earth, he is himself ruled by the One who fashioned him; that he both commands and is commanded, rules and is ruled, leads and is led. Otherwise, legislation is also appropriate for rational beings; for it is characteristic of irrational creatures to live without law. The Creator imposed upon him the law concerning food because the enactment of any other law would have been useless at that time. For what was there for him to be forbidden? Was he to be told not to murder? But there was no one upon whom murder could be committed. Was he to be told not to commit adultery? But even if he had wished to, he could not, since there was no other woman. Was he to be told not to steal? But whose goods would he steal? For all things were in his power. That world, therefore, was appropriate for that time, and was suitable not only for those who were alone, but even for children newly born. B
VI. Concerning the exile of Adam.
But since, through the envy of the devil and the simplicity of the woman, he committed the error (for the enemy of our salvation, having deceived her as being the weaker, first through her, as one more persuasive, laid siege to Adam), he was immediately cast out of the garden and sent away to his kindred earth, allotted to sweat, labor, and hardship, and confined as if by some bridle to the labor of tillage and the endurance of other evils of life. For because he had not borne with a grateful heart that life free from all labor and pain, he was thereafter entangled in calamity, so that he might drive out by labors the disease contracted through prosperity. Then the Lawgiver also interrupted the course of sin by death, and turned the punishment itself into an instance of clemency. For since the Lawgiver had decreed death for the transgression, and the man had turned transgressor and fallen under that punishment, He arranged for the punishment to become salvation. For death dissolves this animal, puts a stop to the activity of wickedness, withdraws it from labors, frees it from sweats, snatches it from pains and cares, and puts an end to the passions of the body. With such great philanthropy did the Judge temper the punishment! C
VII. A narrative of the ingratitude of men and the providence of God.
But not even from this did the ungrateful race of men perceive D
benefit; indeed, it remunerated Its benefactor with far worse evils. For immediately the crime of fratricide was dared, A along with envy, deceit, intemperance, and licentiousness, injustices, mutual slayings, the plundering of others’ goods, and all the other evils which sin brought forth. But not even so did the Creator cast off the nature He had formed; rather, He utilized various kinds of wisdom to that end, healing, rebuking, accusing, instructing toward duty, suggesting counsel, threatening, and putting those very threats into action—punishing the wicked, rewarding the good, praising one, removing another from the world, saving yet another in a wooden ark along with his race, thus preserving the spark of nature; inundating the earth with a flood and drowning the practitioners of wickedness in the waters; B multiplying the human race again, making common remedies through particular punishments; burning cities given over to wickedness with heavenly fire; snatching from the punishment the man who dwelt among them, but was in no way a participant in their wickednesses; providing annual yields, bestowing rain at the opportune time, increasing in an arcane manner the seeds sown by men, bidding trees to luxuriate in a bounty of fruit, instructing with famine at times those whom abundance had not helped, sending diseases, and again driving these away, beating down the resources of life with hail, obscuring the sun with swarms of locusts and destroying the crops; favoring them again, and averting troubles, not forsaking religious men, appearing even to them, speaking in a friendly manner, and through them portending the future.
VIII. That the incarnation of God demonstrates the utmost clemency.
But after these and other C countless and scarcely expressible forms of divine providence proved beneficial to very few, while the rest of mankind remained incurable, then at last the great and ineffable mystery of the dispensation was accomplished. For the Word of God Himself, the Creator of all creation, He who is immense, uncircumscribed, immutable, the fountain of life, Light from Light, the living image of the Father, the radiance of His glory, the stamp of His substance, D assumes human nature and restores His own image which had been corrupted by sin, and renews the statue which had been aged by the son of wickedness, and displays it more beautiful than the first, not by forming it from the earth as before, but by Himself taking it into Himself; not by changing the divine nature into the human, but by joining the human to the divine. For remaining what He was, He took what He was not. We are taught this mystery by blessed Paul, crying out: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." Whence it is clear that the form of God, remaining in what He was, took the form of a servant. But He calls it "form" not only in respect to that which appears of man, but the whole nature of man entirely. For just as the form of God,
signifies the essence of God—for the Divine is formless and A shapeless, and no one, unless he were deranged, would say that the incorporeal and simple God has form and distinction of members—so the form of the servant denotes not only this which is visible, but the entire human essence.
IX. Reprehension of heretical depravity.
Some who hold opinions contrary to the true religion, while they strive to attack the dogmas of truth with apostolic sayings, assert that an inanimate man was assumed by God the Word; Arius and Eunomius say this. Apollinaris, indeed, says he was animated but B devoid of mind—I know not what he thinks of the human soul. Marcion and Manes, and the rest of that gang of impiety, deny the whole mystery of the economy. They consider the unspeakable conception and pregnancy of the holy Virgin to be a fable and a pretense, and they declare that the Divinity was covered over by a phantasm of a body, and in this way appeared to men as a man. It is necessary, therefore, to present the clear meaning of the apostolic words to the orthodox: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man." Each of the aforementioned heretics, C drawing these words to his own sense, fabricates the falsehood of his detestable dogmas. Arius and Eunomius and Apollinaris and those like them declare that the form of a servant and the fashion and the likeness of man denote the external appearance of our nature; but those of the more detestable phalanx take the fashion and the likeness to mean some shadow and image and phantasy resembling a body.
X. Interpretation of the words, "Who, being in the form of God."
We shall immediately refute the madness of both factions. For, as we have demonstrated, He calls the essence of the servant the "form of the servant." For if the form of God signifies the essence of God, it is evident that the form of the servant also signifies the essence of the servant. But D the words, "being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man," the Apostle placed not as terms of nature, but of operation. For because the Lord Christ, having our nature, did not accept our malice, but was free from all sin, as the prophet cries out, "who did no iniquity, nor was guile found in His mouth"; and the inhabitant of the desert, John, also confirms this, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"; therefore the blessed Paul necessarily said that He was made in the likeness of man and found in fashion
A ut hominem, prava omni hominum operatione alienum. Propterea alibi quoque aiebat: «Nam quod impossibile erat legi, in quo per carnem infirmabatur, Deus Filium suum mittens in similitudinem carnis peccati, et pro peccato, damnavit in carne peccatum; ut justificatio legis impleretur in nobis, qui non secundum carnem ambulamus, sed secundum spiritum.»
Observe how through these words he resolves their obscurity. "God," he says, "sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin" — he did not simply say, "in the likeness of flesh," so as to dissipate the blasphemy of the impious dogmas; for the grace of the Spirit foresees all things; but, "in the likeness of the flesh of sin," so that we might learn that he placed the term "likeness" because our Savior was devoid of all sin. For having become man by nature, He did not become man according to sin. Therefore, "in the likeness of the flesh of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh," having assumed human nature, B yet not having accepted the yoke of the sin that tyrannizes over men, but rather having cast off all its dominion, and having shown that it is possible in human nature to overcome the darts of sin. Thus He condemned sin in the flesh, proving its weakness, ceasing its tyranny, and thus instructing men to conquer. Therefore the blessed Paul added, "That the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit." Therefore we have been justified, by sin being condemned in the flesh. And He condemned sin in the flesh when our Savior was made in the likeness of the flesh of sin; having assumed human nature, yet not admitting the sin that previously lorded over it. Thus, the divine Paul in a few words defeated the entire troop of heretics, refuting the madness C of Arius and Eunomius at the beginning of the aforementioned words: "For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." For he did not say, "having been made in the form of God," but, "being in the form of God." Nor did he say, "He thought it not robbery to be equal to Himself, or equal to angels, or equal to the creation," but, he said, equal to God the Father, the One who begot, the One without beginning, the unbegotten, the infinite, the Lord of all.
Arius and Eunomius therefore received a powerful refutation of their own impiety from this; and Sabellius, Marcellus, and Photinus, who deny the three D hypostases and confuse the properties of the Godhead, are also proved to be blasphemers from this; for the One who is in the form of God is distinct according to hypostasis, and He in whose form He was is another; and another again is He who...
counted it not A a prize to be equal to God, distinct from Him to whom He is equal, but did not snatch at the equality with Him. Furthermore, that man falsely so called, Paul, who denied the existence of the Saviour before the ages, holding a Judaic sentiment and confessing that He was born only from the Virgin, receives from these very words the ignominy worthy of his impiety. For he is taught from this by the divine Paul both of the Word of God which He took, and the human nature that was assumed, and the pre-existing form of God, and the form of a servant assumed by That One at the end of the ages. Likewise, Apollinaris, with Arius and Eunomius, is taught that the Word of God, which is immutable, was not changed into the nature of flesh, but by assuming our substance, He worked our salvation. We have demonstrated B by what has been said that the form of a servant is named as the nature of man. For if the form of God is the substance of God (for God, who is simple, incomposite, and devoid of every figure, in truth lacks form and any species), it follows that the form of a servant should likewise be understood as the substance of a servant. But the substance of a servant, that is, of man, is not merely this body which appears, but is considered by those of sound mind to be the whole nature of man. Furthermore, those leaders of impiety and first authors of blasphemy against the true faith, who indeed saddled themselves with the names of Christians, but who surpassed the idolatrous error of polytheism—I mean Marcion, and Manes, and the others of that pestilential chair, their associates and disciples—sufficiently recognize their own madness from these very words of the Apostle. For while they do not admit the birth of the Lord according to the flesh nor His becoming man, they hear the most illustrious Paul teaching that the form of God took the form of a servant. But the form of a servant was not some fantasy, nor a shadow, nor an airy C image, nor is it called anything of this sort, but rather the nature of a servant. But if the following words are objected to us: “being made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man,” and also those to the Romans: “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” first let us refute their folly. For if the words “in the likeness of man” and “being found in fashion as a man” denote some human fantasy, while the form of a servant is the nature of man, the Apostle has set forth contradictory things. But since the Apostle’s words do not in the least contradict one another, we surely learn that the form of a servant is the substance of a servant. Furthermore, that He was made D in the likeness of men and found in fashion as a man, we shall understand thus: that our Lord Jesus Christ, having our nature, was not equal to us in all respects. For He too was born of a woman, but not in the same manner as we; for He blossomed from a virginal womb. And indeed, as a man, He was as we are; but He had
did not endure the impulses of sin as we do. Rather, in a body that was being warred upon by sin, He destroyed the tyranny of sin. For this reason, becoming in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross A. And this very name of "humiliation" denotes the assumption of the humble nature. Furthermore, speaking of Him who existed in the form of God, he added: "Being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man," teaching that the incorporeal Word of God appeared as a man, having assumed human nature. Therefore, he also added "as a man," so that we might not think that any change happened to the invisible God, but rather believe that when He assumed flesh that was ensouled and rational, He, being God, came into the likeness of a man and was found in fashion as a man. Thus the great champion of piety, I say the blessed Paul, stopped the varied and diverse mouths of the heretics. But here our discourse has led us on, while refuting the madness of the heretics and declaring the dogmas of the truth to those nurtured in piety. It is time, then, to return to where I left off.
Chapter XI. For what reason the Word of God assumed human nature.
Therefore, the Creator, taking pity on our nature that was being warred upon by the Evil One, wounded by the bitter arrows of sin, and consigned to death, defends His image and vanquishes those who make war upon it. He did not do this by employing the naked power of His divinity, nor by striking down His adversaries with the authority of His kingship; He did not send forth armies of angels, nor did He take the archangels as allies, nor did He arm bolts of lightning or whirlwinds against His enemies, nor did He appear with the Cherubim on earth to judge our adversaries from a tribunal. C Rather, by becoming one of those who were liable and under attack, and by concealing the magnificence of His divinity in the lowliness of humanity, He fortified the visible man for the struggle and crowned him upon his victory. From his youth He trained him in virtue, brought him to the highest peak of righteousness, kept him unconquered and immune to the arrows of sin, yet permitted him to succumb to death, so that He might expose the injustice of sin and overthrow the power of death.
For if death is the penalty for those who have fallen under sin, then he who was altogether free from it was, clearly, worthy to enjoy life and not suffer death. Furthermore, sin, having been defeated, by sentencing the conqueror to death and passing against Him the same verdict it had always executed against its subjects, was caught acting unjustly. For as long as it consigned its subjects to death, it appeared to be acting with justice, D but…
tabal, as if acting by right, was not hindered; but when He subjected the innocent and one who was free from all guilt—nay, rather, one worthy of rewards and the highest praises—to the same punishment, he was necessarily thereafter deposed from his power as being unjust. And teaching this, the blessed Paul said: A “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
What he says means this: The aim of the law was to justify the nature of men; however, it could not do this, not because of its own weakness, but because of the sloth of those who heard it: for being inclined toward the pleasure of the flesh, they fled from the toil of the law’s commandments and clung to the delights of the body. Therefore, he says, God of all, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh—that is, with human nature, yet alien to sin—and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, convicting its injustice, because it had subjected the innocent and one free from sin to the punishment of sinners. He did not do this, however, in order to justify the man whom He had assumed, but, he says, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the benefit provided by our Savior reaches out to the whole nature of men: so that, just as we have partaken in the malediction of our progenitor Adam, and all of us have come under the laws of death just as he did, so we may make the victory of the Savior Christ our own, and partake of His glory, and rejoice together in His kingdom. And of these things the blessed Paul is a witness, mentioning at once both the old things and the new, and demonstrating that the dissolution of the former has been brought about through the righteousness of our Savior.
XII. Just as we have participated in Adam’s death, so also in the life of the Lord.
“For if by the offence of one,” he says, “many are dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” And a little later: “Therefore as by the offence of one, unto all men to condemnation; so also by the justice of one, unto all men to justification of life. For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just.” These things he also teaches more clearly in the Epistle to the Corinthians, saying: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.” From which it is evident that our victory is truly the victory of our Savior. For indeed common was that disaster, the disaster of our progenitor; and it was fitting that, just as we participated in the contamination of our progenitor,
and so we must, just as we have shared in his communion, likewise fully enjoy the good things with him who was taken up from us and crowned for our sake. Wherefore also the divine Apostle said: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he **A** might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified." And elsewhere he says: "If children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." And elsewhere: "If we persevere, we shall also reign with him." Therefore, for the sake of our entire nature, the God Word of God took on our firstfruits, so that by leading it through every virtue, he might provoke the adversary to a contest, and show his athlete to be unconquered, and crown the latter while proclaiming the defeat of the former, and prepare all men to be bold against him. For this reason, in the holy Gospels he said, at one time: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven," and at another: "Unless one enters the house of the strong man and binds the strong man, how can he plunder his goods?" calling human nature the house of the strong man, as it had defected to him and endured doing everything commanded by him, and had drawn upon itself a voluntary slavery. And elsewhere he says: "Take heart, I have overcome the world." And in another place: "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." And proceeding further, he says this more clearly:
XIII. That the incarnation of the Savior was a common benefit toward men.
"Concerning judgment, that the ruler of this world has been judged." And again: "The ruler of this world is coming, and has nothing in me." For being estranged from every fault, he had nothing of the seeds of the devil. Wherefore he also put an end to his tyranny, and cast him out, and subjected him to be trampled by those who had formerly been his slaves, encouraging them and saying: "Behold, I give you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." D And so that we may also observe the very struggle against the devil, let us come to the history of the Gospels. "Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness after the baptism to be tempted by the devil." Yet it was not the God Word that was led up, but the temple taken from the seed of David by the God Word. For the Holy Spirit did not lead the God Word to the struggle against the devil, but rather the temple which he had fashioned for the God Word in the Virgin. He continued fasting for forty days and as many nights; for he did not wish
beyond the measure of those who had fasted in times past, so that the adversary might not flee from battle with him—that is, so that, once he recognized the one who was hidden, he would not refuse to wrestle with the manifestation. For this reason, after the aforementioned number of days, he allowed the suffering of human nature to become manifest, and he permitted hunger to take hold, giving the devil an opportunity through that hunger. For he dared not approach, observing many things regarding him that were worthy of God. For angels had danced when he was born, and a star that had risen had led the magi—those leaders of that same heavenly host—to worship him. He had seen him, even from childhood, given entirely to justice, abhorring wickedness, and detesting malice—things matching the prophecy uttered concerning him: "Before he knows good or evil, he will not trust in malice, so as to choose what is good." And John also cried out: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." The Father bore witness from above: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The grace of the Holy Spirit descended. These things, and others like them, which terrified the devil, did not allow him to approach the athlete of our nature. But when he admitted the onset of hunger, and saw him to be in need of human nourishment and unable to endure any longer than the men of old, then he approached, thinking he had found a great opportunity, and believing that he would easily carry off the victory. B
Chapter XIV. How Christ the Lord overcame the devil.
C And just as in battles, when someone wants to strike a fully armored man with a missile, he scans the whole body with his eyes, looking from afar, searching for a limb that is exposed, so that by directing his arrow there he may wound his opponent; so the devil, seeing Christ armed with all justice, and searching for a suitable place to direct his dart, as soon as he saw hunger appear, approached boldly, as if he had found what he was looking for, since he saw in him the passion of our forefather. For it was by offered food that he had stripped him of the painless life and bound him to sweat, misery, and death. He approaches, therefore, saying: "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." D Certainly, he would not have done this had the Savior not admitted the passion of hunger. Anyone may know this clearly from the things that happened afterwards. For as soon as he was defeated in the struggle, and had learned through experience that this was the one whom all the prophets had proclaimed, he did not even dare to bear the sight of him approaching, but immediately fled, now crying out: "What have we to do with you, O Son of God? Have you come to torment us before the time?" and now: "I know who you are, the Son of God; I adjure you, do not torment me." Thus did he fear him, and confess him as Judge! But at that time, before the experience, he did not use such words, but...
he used those words, but confidently approached [the Savior], saying, "Command that these stones become bread." A For, he says, I heard the voice from above calling you this, but I remain in doubt until I have taken experience as my teacher. Persuade me by your deeds that you truly are what you are called. For if I learn this, I shall flee, and I shall escape, and I shall beg off from any wrestling with you; for I know how great the difference is between you and me. Show, therefore, the miracle and the efficacy of performing such signs; prove to me the author of this miracle: "Command that these stones become bread."
Hearing these things, Christ conceals His divinity and speaks in the manner of human nature: "Man shall not live by bread alone," He says, "but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." B I am able, He says, to be nourished without bread. For not by bread alone is the life of men sustained, but the word of God suffices to nourish the entire nature of man. Thus the Israelite people were fed, gathering manna for forty years and enjoying the bounty of birds which were snared by the will of God; and Elijah had ravens as his providers; and Elisha nourished his companions with wild herbs. And why must I recount ancient history? This John, who recently baptized at the Jordan and passed his whole life in the desert, is nourished by locusts and the fruit of wild bees. It is, therefore, in no way incredible that we also should be fed by an extraordinary food from God, and have no need of bread.
Hearing these things, the devil was grieved that he was beaten, yet he did not despair of victory, having heard that He was a man. Therefore, he brought a second and a third temptation upon Him, now saying, "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from hence"; C and now showing Him the kingdoms of the world, and promising to give these if He would first offer him worship. But when Christ again reminded him of the ancient laws, saying, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve," and taught him that He would not endure to offer the divine prize to any other, and furthermore reminded him of the utterances and teachings of God which forbid tempting God, the Lord of all—[the devil] fled, unable to bear the shame of his defeat, and being afraid and trembling, and expecting to be cast out of his tyranny. D For when he had exhausted all his weapons, and had brought all the struggles of his deceit against Him, he found the athlete invulnerable and invincible. And as he had approached Adam, he did not find what he had expected. But the angels, approaching the victor, who had beforehand watched the struggle from afar, served Him like certain admirers, they danced, they praised the athlete, they crowned Him, they proclaimed Him, they rejoiced at the freedom of their fellow-servants, humanity, and they were glad seeing the defeat of the adversary.
XV. That if He had not assumed a mind, the victory over the devil would be nothing to us. Against Apollinarius.
These things refute the foolish doctrine of Apollinarius, who
who says that the Word of God A dwelt in the assumed flesh in place of a mind. For if the assumed nature had not possessed a human mind, God would surely have contended with the devil, and God would have carried off the victory; but with God as victor, I would have gained nothing from the victory, since I would have contributed nothing to it. And I would also be deprived of the joy resulting from it, as one gloating over trophies that belong to another; the devil, however, would rejoice, boast, show pride, and brag, as if he had wrestled with God and been defeated by God—for even to be defeated by God would be a great thing for him. Because, if God the Word were B there in place of the mind in the One taken up, the devil could use reasonable excuses, and he would rightly say: "I, O Lord and Maker of all things, did not undertake the battle against you; for I know your dignity, I understand your power, I acknowledge your lordship. I confess my servitude, even if I suffer from apostasy. I yield the victory to the angels themselves and to all the heavenly hosts, of which I, wretched one, was once a part. But I undertook the battle against this one, whom you formed from clay and fashioned according to your image, and honored with reason, and appointed as a citizen of paradise, and showed to be master of earth and sea. Him I continue to defeat, wound, and condemn to death to this very day. Now that he has been led into the stadium and forced to wrestle with me, I would like you yourself to be a spectator and the judge of the contests. And if you wish to perform the role of a master, teach him to wrestle, show him the grips of victory, anoint him as you wish, only do not become a partner in his wrestling matches. For I am not so bold, nor so bereft of reason, as to attempt to wrestle with you, the Creator." These things the C devil would justly have said to the Savior Christ, if indeed he had not been a man, but God wrestling in the place of man. For if there was no human mind in him, it was God who, dwelling there in place of the mind, fulfilled the duties of a mind; it was God (that is, pure Deity) who hungered along with the body, God who thirsted, and God who endured toil and all the other human passions. But if God had wrestled and won, I would have been deprived of the victory, and God would have fulfilled all righteousness. For, as the professors of Apollinarian chattering say, since it was impossible for one endowed with a human mind to fulfill the laws of righteousness, for this reason God the Word did not take it on.
XVI. That sinners have a defense if God the Word did not take on a mind, as being weak.
D When they say this, first of all they attach no small impotence to God himself, if, as they say, it was not possible for a human being to be justified if a human mind were present in him. Furthermore, they open a door of defense to all sinners and violators of the divine laws. For they might rightly say to the God of all: "We have committed no sins unworthy of pardon, O Lord, nor deserving of punishment, since we were allotted as a guide a mind that is weak and unable to keep your laws."are the patriarchs and the prophets, and the ranks of those who are dear to God, those before the Law and those after the Law, both the unmarried and the married, the wealthy and the destitute, who, through this A, were unable to fulfill Your commandments, even when aided by Your all-holy Spirit. And what need is there to say many words? You Yourself, O Master, have come in the flesh; You did indeed assume our flesh, but You rejected the mind as an opponent to the acquisition of virtue and as one that easily admits the deceit of sin, and You did not deign to take it. But You became a mind for the flesh, and in this way You achieved righteousness. In this way You have conquered sin. For You are God, doing whatever You wish by Your will, and shaping affairs by Your nod. But we, being endowed with a human mind, B which You did not wish to take to Yourself, necessarily live under sin, being unable to follow in Your footsteps. For what is the human mind in comparison with the power of God, and the wisdom of God, and light, and righteousness, and life, and the other energies of Your essence, which flow forth from Your nature like rays and lamps? These things would be stated credibly by those who chose to serve sin, if God the Word, when truly assuming man, had in this way secured His own sinlessness.
XVII. Arguments to demonstrate that the assumption of the human mind was rightly done.
But let us leave aside the trivialities of those people for the present; let us return to the proposed C subject, and demonstrate that the economy of our Savior was necessarily brought about. For since the whole man had been deceived, and the whole man had fallen under sin, and the mind had admitted the deceit before the body—for the prior consent of the mind sketches out sin, and then subsequently the body gives it form through action—the Lord Christ, wishing to raise up the fallen nature, rightly reaches out His hand to both, and raises up the one lying fallen: I mean the flesh and the mind, which had been made in the image of the Creator. For the mind is invisible, D and cannot be looked upon, is inaccessible and incomprehensible, not even knowing itself, and furthermore it is uncircumscribed; and if we look at the phantasy of its thoughts, it is endowed with leadership and power, adorned with arts and sciences, a certain small and new creator, or, to speak more truly, an imitator of the Creator, queen of the visible creation, or image of the King, collecting tributes from the earth, from the sea, from the air, from the sun and moon and stars, from the heaven and the clouds, from sheep and oxen and the other cattle, or rather reaping all their fruits; for the things that are seen were made for its sake; for God is in no need of these. Therefore He did not despise so precious a part, which was in need of healing; nor did He assume the human nature that is decaying, and is enslaved to disease and old age and death, in such a way that He looked down upon its rational and immortal part, which was made in His image, and that, too, when it was—as they say—in a bad condition; but [He did not ignore] the entire nature [that had become] old—
had, as they say, fared ill: but He renewed the whole decayed nature. For would He have made a part of it new, while allowing that which was inveterate and corrupt to remain without remedy? Especially since this part was most precious, and powerful in immortality, and adorned with the use of reason, and pertained to the order of intellectual beings. For it would have been most absurd for Him to assume and join to Himself a body of clay and dust, involved in passions, and to place it at the right hand of the Majesty, while the mind—invisible, immortal, the ruler of the living creature, fashioned after the divine image, endowed with incorruptibility, acting as the charioteer and governor of the body, and like a harmonious blend, through which human nature is not brutish but abounds in wisdom, arts, and every skill—to be cast down to a lower rank, and not even to participate in equal honor with the body; even though, on its account, the body has become a rational creature; on its account, laws and prophecies were given; through it, struggles, contests, victories, acclaim, and crowns are attained; through it, the body, struggling alongside it, obtains the kingdom of heaven as the prize for its labors; and on its account, the very advent of our Savior occurred, and the mystery of the incarnation was accomplished. For He did not suffer His saving passion for the sake of inanimate or mindless objects, nor for the sake of irrational beasts or stones devoid of soul, but for the sake of men who possess an immortal soul as their indwelling inhabitant. C
XVIII. The contrary arguments of the heretics are refuted.
But Apollinaris, who values trifles more than the truth and prefers his own garrulity to sound and pious dogmas, says that the flesh was indeed assumed by God the Word and used as a sort of veil; but that He did not need a mind, and that He Himself existed for the body in place of a mind. But, my good man, someone might say to him, God the Word did not even need a body, for He is in need of absolutely nothing; He could have effected our salvation by a simple command. Yet He willed that we too should have some communion in the things He rightly accomplished. In order to bring this about, He assumed the nature that had sinned, and having justified it through His own labors, He delivered it from bitter tyrants—from sin, the devil, and death—and bestowed upon it a place in the heavenly seats; and through the humanity He assumed, He communicated freedom to the whole race. D But this most wise man, considering none of these things, judges that he has the most eloquent herald of theology, the evangelist John, as a witness to his own folly. "For the Word," he says, "became flesh, and dwelt among us." And this, although he knew clearly that elsewhere, too, divine Scripture is accustomed to name the whole by a part: which sometimes designates the whole man by the soul, and at other times denotes the whole living creature by the flesh: "For all the souls," it says, "which entered with Jacob into E-
Egypt were seventy-five” (Gen. xlvi, 27). It is clear that the sons and descendants of Jacob were not incorporeal, but the historian signified the whole by a part. And again: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezech. xviii, 4). Yet no one ever knew a soul to have fallen into sin without a body. And again: “My Spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh” (Gen. vi, 3). And the prophet elsewhere: “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass” (Isa. xl, 6). And the blessed David: “He remembered,” he says, “that they are flesh, a spirit that goeth and returneth not” (Psal. lxxvii, 39). It is surely known to everyone that these whom he reproves, or for whom he legislates, and whose nature he describes, were not inanimate.
B Nor does Scripture speak thus only about those who are reproved, but also about those who are praised. A witness to this is the blessed Paul, who says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “But when it pleased him who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood, neither went I to the apostles who were before me” (Gal. i, 15). If, then, the phrase “the sense of the flesh” is understood not only as referring to carnal inclination and mortality, but also to the entire nature of man, it is clear that the phrase, “The Word became flesh,” refers not merely to the visible part of the living creature, but signifies the whole man. Nor does it say that any conversion of the divine substance into flesh took place, but it proclaims the assumption of human nature by God the Word. For just as the expression, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made for us a curse” (Gal. iii, 13), does not at all imply a change of the fountain of good into a curse, but rather the removal of sin or the curse that was brought about through him; and the expression, “Him who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us” (II Cor. v, 21), does not signify a change of righteousness (for the divine is unchangeable and immutable, as he cries through the prophet: “I am, and I am not changed” [Malach. iii, 6]), but the assumption of our sins—for, “Behold,” he says, “the Lamb of God, behold he who taketh away the sin of the world” (Joan. i, 29)—so, the phrase, “The Word became flesh,” does not speak of a change of divinity, but of the assumption of human nature. For the evangelist, wishing to proclaim the ineffable love of God for man, having taught that he who was in the beginning, and was God, and was with God, and who never was not, who had created all things, who [brought] those things which were not
as having drawn it into existence, who was life and the A true light; He, he says, made the passions of men His own, while He was working out the salvation of mankind. And since He wished to demonstrate the magnitude of His benefit even more, He made no mention of the immortal soul, but of the flesh that is susceptible to suffering, mortal, corruptible, and made from clay; and by a part He signified the whole nature, as the succeeding words bear witness: "For the Word," he says, "became flesh, and dwelt among us."
Another was He who dwelt therein according to the principle of nature, and another was the temple. Wherefore He also said to the Jews: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Now the dissolution of the temple is the disjunction of soul and body; for death is the departure of the soul from the body. Therefore, the separation of the soul from the body effects the dissolution of the temple. B If, then, the Jews destroyed the temple by delivering it over to the cross and to death, and the dissolution of the temple is the separation of the things joined together, but God the Word raised up this thing that had been dissolved, it is clear, I think, to those of understanding, that it was not an inanimate or mindless thing, but a perfect man that God the Word assumed. For if God the Word had existed in the assumed body in place of an immortal soul, He would have said to the Jews: "Destroy me, and in three days I will rise again." But now, while teaching both the mortality of that temple at that time, and the power of the indwelling Deity, He says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." C For I, He says, shall not be dissolved by you, but the temple taken by me; and this very thing is indeed dissolved, that it may afterwards enjoy a better resurrection, that it may lay aside its mortal nature, that it may put off corruption and put on incorruption, that it may destroy the power of death, that it may become the first fruits of those who are asleep, that having loosed the pangs of corruption, He may be revealed as the firstborn of the dead, and by His own resurrection may proclaim the resurrection of all mankind.
Chapter XIX. Demonstration that God the Word assumed an intellectual soul.
That these things are so, the prince of the apostles bears witness in the Acts, saying that D His soul was not left in hell, nor did His flesh see corruption. The dissolution of the temple, therefore, is the separation of soul and body; and conversely, resurrection is a return to one’s own flesh. If, then, as the leaders of the heresy say, each person has two souls, the vital, that is, and the rational, and not even flesh can ever be conceived of without a vital soul (for such a thing is called a body, not flesh, he says); and Peter said that not the body of the Lord, but the flesh of the Lord did not see corruption, and His soul was not left in hell; it is evident that the vital soul—which how they prove to exist I do not know—existed in the corrupted flesh, without which it would not even be called flesh, as they say; but the immortal and
rational and entrusted with the governance of the animal, it was not left in Hades, but returned to its own flesh. Consequently, they talk in vain who say that the temple of God the Word was inanimate and devoid of mind. A We, however, will agree with Peter, who proclaims that the flesh did not experience corruption and that the soul was not left in Hades, but returned and was reunited to its own body. We believe also in the Lord Himself when He says: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death" (Matth. XXVI, 38). For the rational part within us receives the sense of sorrow; but if, in place of a mind, God the Word existed and received the passions of the mind, then it was He Himself who was sorrowful, and afraid, and ignorant, and in agony, and strengthened by angelic assistance. If the heirs of Apollinarian folly say this too, let them by all means be ranked with Arius and Eunomius, the enemies of Christ. B For it is just that those whose blasphemy is equal should be considered one sodality. Let us, however, hear the Lord saying: "I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it again; no one takes it from me" (Joan. X, 18). For from these words we shall learn that the one who lays it down is different from that which is laid down; and that it is God who lays it down and takes it up, while it is the soul that is laid down and taken up; and that the power belongs to God, while the soul is placed under that power.
XX. That the prophets proclaim that a perfect nature was assumed.
C To these things Isaiah the prophet also speaks in harmony, crying out: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel," which is interpreted, according to the teaching of the Gospels, "God with us" (Isa. VII, 14; Matth. I, 23). Now, "God with us" signifies God with men. If, therefore, the conception of the Virgin obtained this appellation, it is evident that He was at once God and man; being the former in His pre-existence, and having taken the latter, being perfect in both. For by the word "with us," the perfect man is denoted; for each one of us has the perfect nature of a man. But by the word "God" and the addition of the Greek article, the divinity of the Son is recognized. D And the blessed Paul teaches this matter, saying: "In whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Coloss. II, 9). And the God-inspired evangelist Luke also shows us clearly the human mind of Christ the Savior: "And the child," he says, "grew, and waxed strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him" (Luc. II, 40). And a little later: "And Jesus advanced in age, and in wisdom, and in grace with God and men" (ibid. 52). But to advance in wisdom is not the mark of the wise God, who stands in need of nothing, who is always perfect, and who admits of neither increase nor decrease; but rather it belongs to the human mind, which advances along with the ages, and is in need of instruction, and of art, and of the reception of knowledge.
Chapter XXI. Proof from the Epistle to the Hebrews of the distinction of natures and the union of the Word.
It is clearer, in my opinion, to recognize both the divine and the human nature from the Epistle to the Hebrews: distinct, indeed, in their operations, yet joined in—and demonstrating—the one Person of the Son. The beginning of the Epistle contains this teaching not least of all. For the blessed Paul said: “Who, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3). B And having shown Him to be before all time and ages—for by Him, he says, He made the ages—he added: “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Heb. 1:4). But the word “coming into being” is the opposite of “to be.” For He who is the brightness of the glory and the express image of the substance does not “become” better than the angels, but is not only better than the angels, but is also their Creator and Lord. If, then, it is the opposite for the word “to be” and for the word “to become,” by the former we shall understand Him who exists eternally, but by the latter, Him who was taken from us and became higher than the angels because of His union with the One who assumed it. C Again, after a few words, he says to the Son: “Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions” (Heb. 1:8, 9). But if God—and God designated specifically with the Greek article—holds the throne for ever and ever, how could He be anointed by God? How could He receive a kingdom by election, who possesses a kingdom by natural right? “For your throne, O God,” he says, “is for ever and ever.” Therefore, to be king is the opposite of being anointed as king because one has loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. D For such a kingdom is the reward of labors. Again, therefore, we shall understand God, whose throne is for ever and ever, as the One who is eternally existing; but that One who was anointed later because of His hatred of sin and the love of righteousness held by Him, we shall believe to be taken from us, from David, from Abraham, who also has other companions whom He excels in the anointing, and who received in Himself all the gifts of the most holy Spirit. Yet, in both natures, we shall adore the one Son.
And again, the blessed Paul, calling upon David as a witness, who says: “Lord, what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You visit him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:6, 7); he added: “But him who w—
was made a little lower than the angels, we see Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” This most clearly demonstrates the perfection of the man who was assumed. For he says: “What is man, that You are mindful of him?” But when he says “what is man,” he comprehends the whole nature together. While calling Him Lord, he speaks of the God Word inhabiting it, who was mindful of His own image and who exercised ineffable philanthropy. And he calls “man” that temple taken from us, which He visited with His presence and joined to Himself, and through that union brought about salvation. Interpreting this, he says: “But him who was made a little lower than the angels, we see Jesus, because of the suffering of death.” It was not the immortal God Word who died, but the mortal nature. Therefore, He was made a little lower than the angels, because they are immortal, whereas that nature is mortal. Moreover, the God Word is not below the angels, but is the Lord of the angels. “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16). And after many things, again: “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Heb. 5:7-9).
Who, then, is the one praying, and offering up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears? Who is the one living in godly fear, and for this reason gaining what he asked from Him whom he entreated? Who is the one learning obedience from the things he suffered, and having experience as his teacher, and being ignorant of this thing before the experience? Who is the one who attained perfection step by step? Certainly not the God Word, that perfect Being, who knows all things before they come to be, and not learning by experience; He who possesses all as His worshippers, while He Himself is worshipped by no one; He who wipes away every tear from every face, yet He Himself is not forced to weep by pain; the impassible and immortal, who does not fear death or pray with cries to be delivered from it. It remains, therefore, that these things belong to the humanity that was assumed, which even feared death and persisted in prayer, insofar as the indwelling Divinity allowed a place for fear, so that through the sufferings the nature of the man who was taken might be made known. And again: “For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:16, 17). For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. And after a few words: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.”
in all things like as we are, yet without sin (Heb. iv, 15). Seeing then that Abraham’s seed is a different thing from Him who took it upon Himself, and blessed Paul knew that the seed of Abraham according to the flesh was the Saviour Christ. For he did not say, “And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galat. iii, 16). Consequently, even to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, is not proper to the Word of God, but to the seed that was assumed.
B XXII. That Jesus is called both God the Word and man.
Thus the most glorious Paul, throughout his entire Epistle, proclaims both the properties of the natures and the unity of the Person; and therefore he calls Jesus Christ both man and God. “One,” he says, “is the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things” (1 Cor. viii, 6). And again, writing to Timothy: “One mediator,” he says, “of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. ii, 5). And in the same Epistle to the Hebrews: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Hebr. xiii, 8). And if one wished, he would find many other thousands of testimonies in the divine Scripture which proclaim the perfect man and refute the insanity of the heretics. But we have no leisure at present to collect these. Leaving, therefore, this labor to the studious, let us ourselves pursue the proposed argument.
XXIII. Of the ineffable birth of the Virgin.
Therefore, the Creator, taking pity on His own image that was failing in the war and being delivered unto death, bowed the heavens and descended (II Reg. xxii, 10); not, in truth, changing His place, nor moving elsewhere; for He fills all things, nay rather, He is infinite and uncircumscribed, and, according to the prophet, holds all things in His hand. “For who,” he says, “hath measured the waters with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth with his palm?” (Isa. xl, 12). And again David: “For in his hand are all the ends of the earth” (Ps. xciv, 4). And God Himself says through the prophet: “Heaven is my seat, and the earth is the footstool of my feet” (Isa. lxvi, 1). C Therefore, let us consider the descent a condescension. He bowed the heavens, therefore, and descended, and choosing a virgin womb of a holy maiden nourished in upright religion—the angelic voice having announced beforehand the birth, and explained beforehand the manner of the conception, and by that declaration dissolving the virginal fear—He makes for Himself and prepares a temple; and he forms for Himself a station neither sown nor prepared by any cultivation, just as he who first served sin was without a father, and had only the earth for a mother. “For God,” it says, “took dust from the earth, and formed man” (Gen. ii, 7). Wherefore the blessed Paul also says: “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. xv, 47). On this account the only-begotten Word of God, taking the materials of His formation from the Virgin alone, and in this way creating for Himself a temple not worked by labor, and uniting it to Himself, comes forth from the Virgin, in no way loosening in the conception the
virgin’s belt, not rending it at the birth, but A preserving it unblemished and untouched, and working this great and ineffable wonder. For it is truly a great and inexplicable thing, and one that exceeds the power of speech, to see a grape cluster springing from the earth without vine-branches, corn grown without seeds, a tunic woven without threads and without a weaver’s hand; bread fashioned without a mill, or hands, or fire, but ineffably produced from virginal flour, and filling the universe. Furthermore, to see a Virgin offering her breast to her own infant, and providing fountains of milk, and having become a mother without having admitted the law of marriage, having become a mother not knowing how she becomes a mother, having become a mother who was not previously a matron, but in her virginity showing the swelling of the womb, and carrying the fruit in her hands, and performing B the offices of a mother while her virginity remained intact, and being called a virgin mother, and bringing together contrary names and contrary things at once.
XXIV. Events after Christ’s birth narrated in summary.
Thus born, the Lord Christ—for it is not pious after the birth either to call Him the Word of God alone, or a man stripped of divinity, but He must be called Christ, a name which denotes both natures, the One who assumed and the one assumed—accepts all things of ours except sin. He is swaddled like infants, and fed with milk, and nursed, and carried in hands, and held in arms, and circumcised according to the law, and purified by expiatory sacrifices, C the new and unique sacrifice of the world, the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. He is adored by Simeon, and called both Savior and Lord. He flees Herod with His mother and her guardian, reaches Egypt, returns again, is alarmed, arrives at Nazareth, advances in age and wisdom, is subject to His parents, and accords every honor not only to His mother, but to the one who had formerly been the betrothed of His mother, and subsequently her guardian and protector. He celebrates the legal feasts, frequents the temple, and rebukes the dullness of the Jewish minds; and He does this being only twelve years old after the birth. He is sought by His kinsfolk, and, upon being left behind, is reproached by His mother; He defends His action, and in a way quietly D reveals His divinity: "Knew you not," He says, "that I must be in the things that are My Father's?" signifying that He was not only He who was seen, but that God also was hidden under that aspect, existing before all time and ages, proceeding from the Father. And, to sum up, He comes to John the Baptist, persuades him, though he refuses, to baptize Him, prefigures our baptism in the Jordan,
is shown, led into the desert as if to a suitable place of exercise, and A he fasts, yet not beyond the measure of nature; and though he desires to eat, he nonetheless restrains his appetite, and does not serve his pleasures. And while hunger indeed stirs up the adversary to the struggle, he overcomes him, however, by human philosophy, not by the power of his divinity; he struggles, prevails, conquers, routs, dissolves the tyranny, demonstrates his weakness, and proclaims his defeat: "Take courage," he says, "I have conquered the world" (John xvi, 33). He exhorts all to virtue, establishes the tablets of divine dogmas, delivers the New Testament announced by the mouth of the prophet (Jerem. xxxi, 31), promises the kingdom of heaven, and threatens those who neglect their duty with the fire of Gehenna.
XXV. A Compendious Narrative of the Miracles of the Lord.
B He confirms what has been said by performing a great miracle, providing for the wedding wine not acquired by any cultivation; wine produced from water without vines; wine bestowed upon the wedding guests without grapes; changing the nature of waters into wine without the intervention of a vine, without plundering the moisture of the earth, and thus honoring the marriage not only by his presence, but also by a miracle. For because he himself had proceeded from a virgin womb, and both by his own practice and by his words extolled virginity, and honored celibacy by his deeds and by his sermons, lest anyone should perhaps deem marriage a form of intemperance, and traduce the nuptials as illicit, he honors marriage by his presence, increases the honor by the bounty of his gift, relieves the bridegroom of his anxiety, astonishes the guests with the fragrance of this new thing, and manifests himself openly through this gift. For since
germinating and erupting bread. And, to sum up my words, he checked a flow of blood—the healing being obtained by her not by his leave, but, as it were, by stealth—and he snatched a young maiden who had been snatched away by death and bewailed by her kin, and gave her back to her parents. A Another young man, being carried forth to burial, he brought back to life; he turned the mourning into joy and changed the funeral lament into marriage hymns. Furthermore, a rotting corpse, four days after it had passed away, he brought forth from the tomb, and, binding it in grave-clothes, he commanded it to walk; and when death had truly fled, the dead man ran, free from corruption, having laid aside the stench of putrefaction, and having escaped the gates of death; and thus, no longer hampered in his course by his bonds, and no longer deprived of sight by the funeral veil over his face, he ran without hindrance to the one who called him, recognizing the voice of the Lord.
XXVI. That he voluntarily accepted the saving passions.
By these and other B miracles, having confirmed the magnitude of his promises and having trained the choir of the apostles in virtue, he voluntarily ran to the passions that had been written concerning him; he had often foretold these to his disciples, and even rebuked Peter, who did not readily accept the news of the passions, showing finally that the salvation of the world is accomplished through them. For this reason, he presented himself to those who came, saying: "I am he whom you seek." C And when accused, he did not answer; and although he could have hidden, he would not—even though he had frequently avoided being caught by ambushes at other times. Furthermore, he even weeps for Jerusalem, which was drawing destruction upon itself through its own unbelief, and he pronounces judgment on the long-famed temple of total annihilation. He patiently bears being struck on the head by a man doubly servile; he is buffeted, spat upon, reviled, tormented, scourged, and in the end crucified, and he admits robbers as fellows in his punishment on both sides, D and is numbered with murderers and malefactors, and tastes vinegar and gall from an evil vine, and is crowned with thorns instead of shoots and grape-clusters, and is mocked with purple, and is struck with a reed, and his side is pierced with a lance, and finally he is consigned to a tomb.
XXVII. What was the cause of the Lord's passions.
He suffered these things while laboring for our salvation. For since those who had served sin were liable to the penalties of sin, he himself, being exempt from sin and having completed the course of all righteousness, underwent the punishment of sinners, erasing by his cross the decree of the ancient curse. For Christ, he says (Paul), redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us; for it is written: "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. iii, 13, 14); and by the crown of thorns, he put an end to the punishments of Adam. For after sin...
A sin, that man heard: "Cursed is the ground in thy works; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." By the gall, however, he took upon himself the bitterness and painfulness of the mortal and passible life of men. By the vinegar, he accepted for himself the change of men for the worse, and granted them a return to better things. By the purple, he signified his kingdom; by the reed, he hinted at the weakness and fragility of the power of the devil; by the blow, he made public our freedom, while he himself endured the injuries, corrections, and stripes that were due to us. His side, like that of Adam, was pierced, yet he did not bring forth from it a woman—who by her error gave birth to death—but a fountain of life, which with a B double stream gives life to the world; of which one cleanses us in the laver and clothes us with an immortal garment, while the other nourishes those born in the divine table, just as milk nourishes infants.
XXVIII. That our salvation resulted from the sufferings of Christ.
The sufferings of our Savior are, therefore, our remedies. Teaching this, the prophet cries out: "He beareth our sins, and grieveth for us; but we thought him to be in labor, and in stripe, and in affliction. He was wounded for our sins, and he was bruised for our iniquities: the discipline of our peace was upon him: and by his bruise we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; therefore, as a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer he was dumb" (Isa. liii, 4–7). And just as a shepherd, C seeing his sheep scattered, takes one of the sheep in his hand and leads it to the pasture of his choosing, and by that one attracts the rest to himself, so the Word of God, having seen the race of men wandering, assumed the form of a servant, and having united it to himself, drew through it to himself the whole nature of men, and led to the divine pasture those who were grazing badly and were exposed to the wolves. For this reason our Savior assumed our nature; for this reason Christ the Lord accepted the saving passion, and having been delivered to death and committed to the tomb, he broke that ancient and long-enduring tyranny, and promised incorruptibility to those held fast by corruption. For by restoring and raising up the dissolved temple, he showed the sincere and firm promises to those who were dead and awaiting his resurrection. For inasmuch as, he says, the nature taken from you obtained the resurrection through the indwelling and union of the Deity, and, putting off the corruptible along with the passions, passed over into incorruptibility and immortality, so also shall you be released from the harsh slavery of death, and having cast off corruption along with the passions, be clothed with impassibility. For this reason he also sent the gift of baptism to all men through the apostles: "Going D therefore," he says, "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. xxviii, 19). Baptism is a certain foreshadowing...
for, he says, "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The baptism of the Lord's death is a foreshadowing and a type. For if, says Paul, "we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection," B.
XXIX. Demonstration from the writings of the Apostle concerning the perfect nature of man in Christ.
Thus born was the Lord Christ, thus nourished, thus having worked miracles, and on account of these having suffered, been crucified, having died, and having sent out the holy disciples as heralds to all men, He was taken up into heaven. And these things, in summary, the Apostle taught us when writing to Timothy, saying: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." And here he coupled the manifestation with the flesh, but the justification—against the stupidity of the heretics—he speaks of as being brought about by the cooperation of the Spirit. Does it follow, then, that the Spirit who justifies is greater than the Son who is justified? By no means; for it was rather our nature that was justified, on account of the God who came upon it, who is inseparably conjoined to it, and who taught it supreme virtue, and kept it untouched and undefiled by the arrows of sin, and superior to the devil’s deceit; and having allowed it to taste death for a brief time, He immediately snatched it from the tyranny of that death, and imparted to it His own life, and raised it into the heavens, and seated it at the right hand of the Majesty, and bestowed upon it a name which is above every name, granting to it His own dignity; and taking the appellation of its nature, the pre-eternal Word of God was well pleased to be named the Son of man. "For no one," He says, "hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." But it was not he who was of the seed of David who descended from the heavens, but the Creator of the heavens, the Word of God who is before all time and who exists before the ages. And on account of His union with humanity, He takes the name of the Son of man. And in another place again He addresses Him thus: "If ye see the Son of man ascend up where he was before," C not the form of a servant, but the form of God. And again: "That he is the Son of man, marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." This is not the property of humanity alone, but of the operating divinity, and of the humanity made conspicuous for its conjunction and union with the divinity.
XXX. That the form of a servant is likewise called the Son because of the union.
Thus the Word of God makes the form of a servant His own D
[Beginning of this page's translation] forina vilitatem; and being God, he willed to be called man; and just as he partook of the things of man's lowliness, so in turn he imparted to him his own high things. For the Virgin's infant is called Emmanuel A, namely, he who is wrapped in swaddling clothes, and sucks at the breast, and is nourished with milk; and he is called the Angel of great counsel, and wonderful counsellor, and mighty God, and potentate, and prince of peace, and Father of the age to come, and Son of the Highest, and Savior, and Lord, and Creator of the whole world. "For one," he says, "is Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things 843." And indeed the names Jesus and Christ are significant of the incarnation. But the incarnation did not happen before the creation of things, nor immediately after the creation, but in the latter days. Since therefore the name Christ denotes not only the one who was assumed, but also the Word who assumed along with what was assumed (for it is significant of both God and man), Paul attributes to him who is visible, because of his conjunction with the invisible—he attributes, I say, the creation and disposition of the entire world. Wherefore he elsewhere calls Christ God over all; for he says: "Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all B." Not because the descendant of David is in himself God, and God over all, but because he was the temple of the God who is over all, having the divinity united and joined to himself.
XXXI. That there are two natures, but one person of Christ.
Therefore, "Jesus Christ yesterday and today, the same is also forever 94." For we do not divide the work of the dispensation into two persons, nor do we preach and believe in two sons in place of the Only-Begotten, but we have learned and do teach that there are two natures; for deity is one thing, and humanity is another: one thing is that which exists by itself, and another is that which was made: another is the form of God, and another is the form of man: another is the nature assuming, and another is that which was assumed: another is the temple that was destroyed, and another is the God who raised up this that was destroyed.
XXXII. That it is religious to say not a mixture, but a union in Christ.
We do not therefore confound the natures, nor do we dogmatize a mixture of the maker and the thing made; nay rather, we attribute the meaning of confusion to the word mixture. Furthermore, we know the nature of the Word of God, and we recognize the substance of the form of a servant, yet we worship both natures as one Son D. For by turns, the one is called Christ for the sake of the other. And never has the form of a servant, bereft of divinity, been so termed by the masters of true religion. But those who speak of a mixture, these bring in confusion along with a mixture; and as for confusion, change...
and alteration, A if one does enter in, neither God would remain in His own nature, nor man in his. For it is necessary that each should depart from the boundaries of his own substance, so that neither is God seen as God, nor man as man. But no person of sound mind would admit this even in the structure of man. For we do not say that the soul is mixed into the body, but that it is united, joined, dwells therein, and operates. Nor would anyone say—unless they were utterly deranged—that the soul is mortal or the body immortal; but we distinguish each of the two natures, while acknowledging one living being composed of them, and we designate each nature by separate names, calling the one soul and the other body, while we call the living being formed from both by another name—for we style him man. B Taking this, therefore, as an example for the economy [of Incarnation], let us avoid that blasphemy; and leaving aside any mention of mixture, let us consistently use the terms of union, conjunction, and communion, teaching the distinction of natures while [maintaining] the unity of the person. In this way, we shall refute the blasphemy of Arius and Eunomius, by attributing that which was humbly said and done by the Savior Christ to the form of a servant, while attributing the sublime, God-befitting, and great things to the sublime, great, and all-transcending Godhead.
XXXIII. That the assumption of our nature into heaven has prepared for us the gifts of the Spirit.
Sed jam tempus est revertendi ad propositum. C Accordingly, the Lord Christ, having been taken up into heaven, and presenting Himself to the Father as a kind of guarantee of peace for humanity, sends to men the grace of the Spirit—like a pledge of the promised blessings—as a teacher, a trainer, and a judge of the contest for the pious; a watchful guardian of the faithful, an unquenchable and never-setting light for those approaching the faith; a healer of spiritual wounds, a physician for the blows dealt by sin; a commander teaching us how to fight victoriously against the devil; one making those who formerly crawled upon the earth to become winged; instructing those who are earthly in the conduct of the heavenly life; [teaching them] to despise the flesh, to care for the soul, to spurn present things, to yearn for the future, to keep before their eyes those things which are expected through faith, to consider nothing in the world as splendid, to laugh at vainglory, to despise floods of wealth, D to view bodily beauty as a fading flower, not to grieve when poor, not to be vexed when sick, to rejoice when wronged, to be glad when plundered, to bear hardships stoutly, to pray for those who oppose us, to bless those who curse us, and, to speak once for all, to pursue philosophy.
to bless those who curse them, and to pursue every philosophy simply. These things the grace of the Spirit taught; these things it taught the inhabitants of earth and sea; these things even the barbarians philosophize about after the coming of their Savior; these things the inhabitants of the mainland, the soldiers, and those who dwell at the farthest ends of the inhabited world.
XXXIV. An exhortation to give thanks, and a dehortation from superfluous curiosity.
Let us therefore praise the Giver of innumerable good things, who has recalled us from the ultimate absurdity of conduct to our pristine nature—Him, I say, who for our sake became poor, that we might become rich by His poverty. And let us at the same time praise B His genuine Father, who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son for it, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life; and let us equally praise, with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, in whose name we are baptized, and receive the earnest of the gift; by whom our souls are illuminated, by whom we are taught the economy, by whom we are instructed in theology, by whom we are delivered from irrationality, by whom we have been freed from error and have come to know the truth. And let us cease from curiously prying into the nature of the Unbegotten—whether He Himself is good and just, and whether it is possible for anyone to exist who is neither begotten nor made. Let us cease from scrutinizing the generation of the Only-Begotten and from seeking out its manner; let us not judge between the Unbegotten and the Begotten, nor measure what is immeasurable. Let us cease from the malicious tracking of the procession C of the Spirit, and let us not be eager to learn things which are known only to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us remain within the boundaries which we have received; let us not displace the boundaries which our Fathers set. Let us be content with the doctrine delivered to us by the Spirit. Let us not wish to surpass the knowledge of Paul, who said that he knew in part, and prophesied in part, and saw the truth in a mirror and in an enigma. Let us await the enjoyment of the hoped-for good things. Then we shall learn perfectly, when we shall not be harmed by arrogance, when we shall not fall through pride, since we shall live in impassibility. Therefore, in the present time, let us remain in the doctrines of the Fathers, so that we may not, by seeking greater things, fall from those which are lesser; for those who bring D into the Church [are harmed]. What? Do they not by this practice of theirs utterly undermine the faith, the foundation of all religion, laid beforehand by Christ and the apostles? Do they not forcibly drag unwary followers toward paganism or, rather, toward atheism? Have, therefore, the infinite volumes of Divine Scripture, the infinite volumes of the holy Fathers, and the many apologies for the Christian religion accomplished nothing, but do we return to barbarism and shadows again—in the midst of our age's civilization and light, as those men think? Indeed, we stand firmly upon the divine promises of perpetuity; yet we are anxious about that tranquility and peace of the Church, which could have been continuous, if it were free from the turbulence and importunity of so many books.
that we too may fall, as did our progenitor Adam, who, while desiring to become God, lost also the image of God. B
XXXV. That it is necessary to call the holy Virgin the mother of God and of man.
Therefore, let no one labor under incredulity regarding the theology, and let no one limp regarding the economy; but let him confess Christ who was born of the Virgin to be both God and man at once, in each of these respects. For this reason the holy Virgin is addressed by the teachers of piety as both Theotokos (mother of God) and anthropotokos (mother of man): the former, because she naturally gave birth to Him who was in the likeness of a servant; the latter, because the form of a servant possesses the form of God united to it. And thus let us praise Him who, through theology and the dispensation, has revealed the mystery hidden from us; and by the purity of our life, having fashioned ourselves into temples for God, let us receive Him as an inhabitant. And being illuminated by His rays, let us walk becomingly as in the day, awaiting the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.