A For we needed to be changed with respect to the passions, that these might be converted into impassibility. Let no one, therefore, be faithless concerning the passions, supposing the divinity to be changed, but let him consider the passion as having come upon Him from the carnal and animal motion, and as having come upon Him and having been conquered. For it was for this reason that He came, that it might be conquered; and it has been conquered by Him, that the whole human nature, through kinship, might receive the benefit. For starting from thence, we are all transformed from being subject to passion into being impassible, and are established as living from being dead. Therefore, let no one be troubled into faithlessness if the Lord, being God and at the same time man, says: "Now my soul is troubled." For this happened with the divinity yielding B and the flesh rising up; it was possible for the divinity to hinder the perturbation, but it did not wish to, lest it should dissolve the likeness which It had toward us. Something of the sort must be understood from things around us: when honey is mixed with water, the honey is not changed, but the water abounds. When, therefore, there is some motion of the flesh in the Lord, let us take such a likeness, as of the superabundance of water in a honey-mixture. But when, again, the divine is revealed, and He works miracles, and shows His authority, let us take such a likeness as of honey overcoming the water. For this is possible for the divinity, at one time indeed to yield to the flesh so that it may abound, and at another time to overcome it, destroying the passion and the weakness of the flesh. A proof of this is that for forty whole days He abstained from bodily food and the body did not hunger. For after these, as it is written, He hungered. Here is the superabundance of the flesh; then He hungered after so much time. C The flesh's [need] superabounded for this reason: that temptation might be brought, and the tempter might be put to shame, and man, who from the beginning fell through food, might rise again through the abstinence of food. Moreover, He bears the perturbation of the flesh as death approaches. For how was He going to be obedient, fulfilling our obedience for our sake, unless He also had an adversity, and conquered that adversity? For with us, when some adversity arises from the flesh, if we disobey the commandment, having been conquered by the flesh, in this way sin occurs. Therefore, it was necessary for the adversity from the flesh D to come about in the Lord, but for obedience to conquer. For even if He is God, yet in the flesh and according to the flesh He fulfills the obedience, and overcomes the will of the flesh with the will of the divinity, just as He said: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me," calling the will of the flesh His own will. For the flesh also had become His own; for the divine will of the Son is not separated from the will of God. It was necessary for the will of the flesh to be moved, and to be subjected to the divine will. And thus the disobediences of men are dissolved through this wondrous obedience, which Christ obeyed
A for our sake. Observe, then, when the fleshly movement occurred, what He says: "And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came to this hour. Father, glorify thy name." That which He says, "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour," He uttered according to the movement of the flesh; but that which He says, "For this cause I came to this hour," He declares as the Godhead prevailing, the divine will barely permitting the fleshly will even to appear. For this expression, "What shall I say?" is as it were a word that checks [the movement], so that it might appear to us that He truly had flesh, yet it was flesh that was subjected and unable to pull away, like a horse with a rider, nor even to bend the hand of the one guiding it. And indeed, how does He consider the passion? Not as dishonor, not as shame, but as the glory of Himself and of the Father. And He hastens the passion B rather than averts it. "Father, glorify thy name." There shall not be, He says, any refusal from me; but that which refuses shall yield, and that which does not refuse shall prevail. For the fleshly nature does indeed refuse death, and this was in Christ, since the Word truly became flesh; but the divine will chooses the salvation of the world, which death has wrought. Thereafter, it is seen to be fulfilled: "That I may do the will of Him who sent me." Christ says: "Father, glorify thy name." And the answer came from heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again," so that we might know that there is no distance, nor separation, between the Father and the Son; but rather that we might gain our conjunction with God, which has been brought to pass in Christ. For there is no man who has not at some time or in some respect drawn himself away from the will of God, whether in deed or in time. But in Christ alone was the inseparable will preserved, by following whom we gain the conjunction with God, and the saving union according to the likeness of the divine union, just as He Himself said: "I and the Father are one, that they also may be one in us." C
Of Saint Athanasius on the text: "And having said these things, He breathed His last."
So indeed was the death brought to pass, with the body receiving it according to nature, but the Word accepting it according to His will, and as one having authority, He surrendered His own body to death, that He might both suffer naturally for us, and rise divinely for us. And the whole economy of the generation and of the death is seen to be for our inquiry and recall. D
Perhaps this book still lies hidden somewhere in its entirety, since the Cypriot bishops in the same act a little earlier say that they have a certain copy of it at home, and another one at Constantinople, of very great age. However, it is evident from this fragment that this treatise was written against the Arians, who abused that saying of Christ, "Now is my soul troubled," to overturn the same essence of God the Father and the Son, as may be seen from the fourth oration against the Arians.
There is in the illustrious Archipalatine library a very old manuscript codex containing a Catena of expositions collected by an uncertain author from the Greek Fathers on the Gospel of St. Luke, in which at chapter 23, fol. 216, these words are solidly read:
"Saint Athanasius on that text of the Gospel, 'After He had said these things, He breathed His last': Such was the death of our Savior, which indeed His body underwent according to nature, but the Word accepted according to His will, as one who freely surrendered His body to death, that He might suffer for us according to the condition of His nature, and likewise rise again divinely for us: in which matter the whole hinge of human condition turns, namely, our call to life and our raising from death."
That this fragment is indeed by our Athanasius is evidenced by the fact that the same Codex, on fol. [number], says similarly, citing this of ours from the second oration against the Arians, and on the verso of fol. [number], similarly from the epistle *On the Decrees of the Synod of Nicaea*, as we note in its proper place. These things by Felckmann.