YEAR OF OUR LORD 432 PAUL OF EMESA, BISHOP NOTICE
(Oriens Christianus, by the study and labor of Rev. Father Michael Lequien. Paris 1740, vol. II, col. 840.)
When Paul of Emesa came to the Council of Ephesus, he followed John of Antioch and his Orientals against Cyril of Alexandria and the legitimate council. But after a year, being sent to Alexandria by John and his synod, he became the mediator of peace for the Churches. When he had spoken on the faith in the church, he was met with worthy acclamations by the Alexandrian populace.
PAULI EMESENI LIBELLUS Presented to Cyril of Alexandria containing the confession of faith of the Orientals. This is Cyril’s ep. 36 (formerly 33). See above, col. 166.
PAULI EMESENI HOMILIÆ. (Labbe, Concil., vol. III, p. 1095 ff.)
I.
A Homilia Pauli episcopi Emeseni, habita vicesimo nono die mensis Choac, in magna Alexandriæ ecclesia, præsente beato Cyrillo, de nativitate Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi, et quod beata Virgo Maria sit Dei genitrix, et quod non duos, sed unum Filium et Dominum Christum dicamus: et laus archiepiscopi Cyrilli.
Opportunum est hodierno die vestram pietatem hortari, ut sacrum quemdam nobiscum chorum constituatis, unaque cum sanctis angelis exclamemus: « Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax, in hominibus bona voluntas. » Nam hodie puerulus B natus est nobis,
in whom every creature, visible and invisible, obtains firm hope of salvation. Today, a supernatural childbirth is brought forth, and the travail of the Virgin who knew no marriage is loosed. O wondrous thing! The Virgin gives birth, and remains a virgin; she becomes a mother, yet does not undergo all that mothers do. For though she gave birth as is the custom for women, the Virgin remained so in a way not following the law of women in labor. Long ago, the prophet Isaiah, foreseeing this miracle, cried out: « Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and she shall call his name Emmanuel. » A Explaining this, the Evangelist taught that it means the same as « God with us. » Thus, the Theotokos Mary brings forth Emmanuel.
The people shouted: « Behold, this is the faith; it is a gift of God, orthodox Cyril; this is what we were seeking to hear. Let him who does not speak thus be anathema. » Bishop Paul continued:
He who does not so speak, and understand, and think, let him be anathema from the Church. Therefore the Theotokos Mary bore for us Emmanuel: and Emmanuel is God made man. For the Word of God, who was begotten of the Father before the ages in an ineffable and inexpressible manner, is in the last days born of a woman. B For by having taken our nature perfectly, and having joined the human element to himself from the first conception, and having fashioned our body into a temple for himself, he came forth from the Theotokos as perfect God, and the same one as perfect man. For the concurrence of two perfect natures, namely of divinity and humanity, has fashioned for us one Son, one Christ, one Lord.
The people shouted: « Welcome, orthodox bishop; the worthy is joined to the worthy. » The Christians say: « It is a gift of God, orthodox Cyril. » Bishop Paul added:
I also knew, dearly beloved, that I was coming to an orthodox Father. For we do not worship a Quaternity, but a Trinity: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But we anathematize those who speak of two sons, and we cast them out from the sacred precincts of the Church. Therefore, we do not speak of two sons, C nor do we say that Emmanuel, who was born of the Theotokos, is a mere man, nor one merely favored by grace like a prophet or someone just, having attained more than others. « For in him it pleased all the fullness of the Godhead to dwell corporeally, » that is, as in his own body; for he made our body his own. Upon this faith, upon this rock, the foundations of the Church have been laid by the Lord God. When, therefore, the Lord Christ was journeying to Jerusalem, he questioned his disciples, saying: « Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? » The apostles said: « Some indeed... » D
apostles: "Some say Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." And he says: "But you 6—that is, my chosen ones—do you say these false opinions, that some say Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets? But you, who have followed me for three years, and have seen my power and the miracles, and have beheld me walking upon the sea, you who have shared the table with me, whom do you say that I am?" Immediately the chief of the apostles, the mouth of the disciples, Peter, said: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." You are the Christ, of twofold nature, the one who became man. "You are the Christ." And he did not say, "The sons," but "the Son of the living God." For he recognized also the unity of the person. Let us therefore beseech the Father to set before us the accustomed table, and the precious and varied dishes of the Spirit, to crown the chalice of doctrine, and to inebriate us with that drunkenness which is the mother of sobriety. Let us say: "Arise, O Father; arise, my glory; arise, psalter and cithara of the Holy Spirit." To whom be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily of the same, spoken in the great church of the Alexandrians, on the sixth of Tybi; also on the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and a panegyric on Archbishop Cyril.
Recently, C reasoning more strenuously before your affection, we were unable to place an end to the discourse, but because of the multitude of our brethren we were compelled to abandon the place of the contest. But come now, having stripped again, let us attempt the same contest anew. May this noble father D and master of the gymnasium, which he did then, do also now; may he judge of the contests. For even then, with a lively countenance and a gentle smile, did he show that he was delighted by the contest of the child; and stretching forth his right hand like an olive branch, he signified that he was standing by us, and demonstrated that he desired his child to be proclaimed, crowned, and declared a victor.
The people shouted: "This is a gift of God, Cyril; you have made all as yourself. The worthy is joined to the worthy." Your people said: "Save, O Lord, the father of bishops; well have you come, orthodox bishop, teacher of the inhabited world. He who believes thus is loved; the great admirer of a great teacher." Bishop Paul said: "Let us return, therefore, to the Theotokos Mary, and to Emmanuel who was born of her, the God who became man. For the Virgin bore for us Emmanuel, according to the divinity consubst
consubstantial with the Father, as we have said, but according to the humanity consubstantial with us. According to the divinity, He is impassible; but according to the humanity, He is passible. For even B though God the Word appropriates to Himself the sufferings of His own body and refers them to Himself, yet He Himself has remained within the bounds of His own impassibility. And even if you hear Him saying: "I gave my back to the scourges, and my cheeks to the buffetings, and I did not turn away my face from the shame of spitting," do not suppose that He Himself has suffered anything in His own nature, but rather imagine that He appropriated the scourges of His own body; for God the Word has remained impassible. But those who oppose themselves to the divine Scriptures and to right doctrines will say to us: "If God the Word is impassible, and immutable, and unchangeable, how did the Word become flesh?" Listen, beloved. "The Word became flesh," not having been changed into flesh; for neither has God the Word been changed into flesh, nor has the assumed flesh been turned into the nature of the One who assumed it. What then is meant by, "The Word became flesh"? It means that He assumed flesh—and not flesh alone, but flesh joined with a rational and intelligent soul, which two things perfectly complete our human nature. In this way, the Word became flesh. I would wish you also to know the mind of the most high-sounding John, so that you might perceive the force of the proposed statement. John the Theologian, the son of thunder, who C was accounted worthy to recline upon the Lord's breast and from thence drew forth for us the more lofty and divine dogmas, wishing to commend the exceeding philanthropy of God toward us, and having first set forth those more divine things, namely these: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made"—whereby he shows Him to be co-eternal with the Father (since we find nothing older than Him who is said to be in the beginning). For even if you run back in your thought to things prior, "the was" will always precede you, for of "the was" no end is found. When he has said these things, and has shown Him to be co-eternal with the Father and the Creator of all things, then he adds: "The Word became flesh," meaning nothing else than that He who is co-eternal with the Father, and Lord and D Creator of all things, so greatly humbled Himself for our sake
A that He became flesh; in order that by the meaner portion of our nature He might manifest those outstanding compassions of God towards us. The Word, therefore, he says, became flesh. And he did not stop there, but added: "And He dwelt among us." The second statement is an explanation of the first. What is it that "The Word became flesh"? It means, "He dwelt among us," that is, in our nature. Observe also how John proclaims two natures, yet one Son. The tabernacle is one thing, and that which dwells in the tabernacle is another; the temple is one thing, and the God who dwells in the temple is another. Pay attention to what is said. I did not say, "another and another," as if speaking of two persons, or two Christs, or two sons; but "one thing and another thing," as refers to two natures. When, therefore, he said, "He dwelt among us," and proclaimed the two natures, then he added: "And we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-Begotten." He did not say "as of two sons," but "as of the Only-Begotten." Isaiah, therefore, preaches Emmanuel, which means B God made man. But Peter says: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," expressing the duality of nature and the uniqueness of the Person of the Son. The theologian John says: "And He dwelt among us," indicating two natures and the one Person of the Only-Begotten.
But God the Word remained impassible. For I return again to that point; pay attention to what is said. He imparted the diviner qualities to the assumed nature, but He did not take unto Himself anything of those things which belong to human nature. He walked upon the sea, but not C without His own body. He rebuked the winds and the sea, but through His own body. A leper met Him, saying: "Lord, if You will, You can cleanse me." He says: "I will; be cleansed." And the Lordly body touched him, and the disease fled; the leprosy was scraped away. He fed five thousand men with five loaves, but through our body; for having received the bread, He gave thanks to the Father, and having broken it, He gave it to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude; and twelve baskets of fragments were left over. It is for God alone to forgive sins; yet He says: "That you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins." D Again He says: "No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven." Do you see how He imparted the diviner qualities? But when you see Him hungering, and thirsting, and growing weary, and sweating, and being handed over to Pilate, and being led and dragged about by the hands of the executioners, and being in agony, and praying: "Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabachthani? which is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" and again: "If it be possible, Fa-
Father, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will" (Matt. 26:39). A When you see Him crucified, when you see nails in His hands and feet, and His side pierced, then consider that God the Word has remained impassible, but has appropriated to His own body all these things that were done to it. And in order to show that not even during the time of the passion had He departed from His own temple, at the time when the Jews were performing these tragic deeds against the Lord, He, as God, suppressed the sun's rays, spread darkness over the world, rent the veil of the temple, split rocks, and raised the dead. He accomplished all these things so that you might know that He was present with the One who was suffering, and that while He appropriated the passions, He Himself, being impassible, performed all these things.
What is yours, we have laid before you, for this is the teaching of your Father; this is your ancestral treasure; these are the dogmas B of the blessed Athanasius; these are the teachings of the great Theophilus, the pillars of orthodoxy. But since you have patiently endured our stammering, await now the wisdom of the Father: you have heard the pastoral reed, hear now also the very loudly sounding trumpet.
The people said: Let us hear the wisdom of the son of Theophilus and Athanasius, of Cyril... Bishop Paul said:
Which indeed stirs up the minds of us orthodox, while it prostrates the ranks of the enemies of the Church. To God, therefore, let us send up glory now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
III. Homily of Paul, bishop of Emesa, delivered at Alexandria, concerning peace.
C Blessed be God, that I, speaking now for the first time to you by the greeting of peace, have been counted worthy to salute your piety; who have partly given peace, and in return received peace; peace, the cause of all good things; peace, lovable and dear to God; which the Lord Christ has bestowed upon the inhabited world through the Holy Spirit. To Him be glory, together with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, to the ages. Amen.