Against the Severians

FRAGMENTS

In the manuscript of Saint Hilary, at the end of the dissertation of our John of Damascus concerning the two wills, which is the last of the works of this holy Doctor contained therein, there is an excerpt which follows here, and which like the rest is attributed to the same author. However, there appears to be some transposition in the title due to an error on the part of the scribes, and I think it should be read in this way: "If man is [composed of] two natures, it is necessary that in Christ, who is at once God and man, we say there are three natures and three operations, as Severus argued." Indeed, in book III of *De fide orthodoxa*, ch. 16, a similar title is read: "Against those who say: If man consists of two natures and operations, it is necessary that we speak of three natures and three operations in Christ." For when the Fathers of the Church, in explaining the faith regarding the union of a twofold nature in Christ, used the example of man, who is composed of body and soul, as if of two natures, Severus and his Monophysites took this as an occasion to raise an objection, [arguing] that it follows from this doctrine that three natures must be declared in Christ, namely body, soul, and deity. The author refutes this in that fragment, which was previously published by Combefis in volume II of the *Auctarium Bibliothecae Patrum Graecorum* after the dissertation *De duabus voluntatibus*.

ANSWER

For that miserable Severus, when he had invaded the See of Antioch, strove to avenge the heresy of Manes, Apollinaris, and Eutyches, disturbing the peace of the Churches as much as he could. Being driven from Antioch as guilty of sedition, he fell upon Alexandria like a storm. Where, as another tempest was rising against the people, a certain man named Julian, bishop of Halicarnassus in Asia, a most bitter defender of the Eutychian heresy, threw everything into confusion and turmoil. For while Severus professed one nature, he nevertheless admitted a difference in Christ, but Julian, while also saying there was one nature as Severus did, wished to have all difference removed; both of those impious men became the authors of every disturbance and tempest, "not understanding," as the Scripture says, "either what they say, or concerning what they affirm,"^B taking as an example of the divine union man, who consists of soul and body, and saying: "Therefore you admit three natures." But let those unlearned and ignorant men know that we speak of two natures, not of God and flesh, nor of God and soul, but of God and man. For the nature of a part is not strictly the nature of man. For the parts of man are indeed soul and body: but the parts of the parts are the divisions and subdivisions which exist in them. And the parts of Christ remain unconfused, namely Deity and humanity. But soul and body are not parts of Christ, but parts of a part. For the parts of the parts are [those] of man; in the soul, for instance, which is a rational substance and an incorporeal quality, endowed in itself with mind, and sense, and reason. From which other things of reason ^C

^A have dominion, one being irascible, and another concupiscible. And of these, one is the faculty of conceiving and thinking, another the power of memory and counsel, another of appetite and attraction, and yet another of necessary defense. Most others, in turn, are divided from these. But let us not inquire here whether these exist in the soul as parts or as powers. Furthermore, in the body, there is a division into similar and dissimilar parts; and of these, again, into head, hands, and feet; and these themselves are divided into bones, flesh, and sinews; ^B and these into the four elements; and these, finally, into matter and form. Moreover, physicians discourse on many other things regarding the natural faculties, of which they name one the power of attracting, another of retaining, another of altering, and another of excreting. There is also much on sense and imagination, and on the vital and organic spirit by which the body is preserved and held together, which is said to be something entirely different from that which is rational. As, therefore, it is sufficient, in order to set forth all these things, to speak of the flesh and body of man, so it should suffice to speak of man and the nature of man, so that we may signify and set forth all [the elements] of which he consists ^C and in which he is recognized. But those [heretics] do not bring these things forward to show man to be perfect, but to calumniate the Lord and to make Him alien to human nature, so that either He did not take up from the beginning that which was ours, or He did not keep intact that which He had from us. The book of the holy and blessed John Mansur of Damascus, which is called the *Pandects*, is brought to an end.

Of John, monk and presbyter of Damascus, surnamed Mansur, on Theology: By what reason man bears the image of God.

That man is the image and likeness of God is manifest from the fact that there are three properties of his soul, which is endowed with intellect and reason: namely, mind, word (or reason), and spirit; ^D just as in the divine nature there are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For just as the Father is Father and not Son; and the Son is Son and not Father; and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit and not the Son or the Father; in the same way, the mind is mind and not the word; the word is word and not the spirit; and the spirit is spirit and not the word or the mind. Therefore, they are neither confounded by unity nor divided by number. For the three are one, and the one is distinguished into three, which are of the same nature and substance, and exist together always.

The Same. We are taught the doctrine of the Trinity not so much from divine Scripture as from the order and series of nature.

The Same, on theology. When there is speech about God, one God is celebrated and worshipped in three hypostases; and there is one Deity, one nature, one power and potency, one will; and three persons, and three hypostases, each