Letter CCLXI.1431

To the Sozopolitans.1432

I have received the letter which you, right honourable brethren, have sent me concerning the circumstances in which you are placed.  I thank the Lord that you have let me share in the anxiety you feel as to your attention to things needful and deserving of serious heed.  But I was distressed to hear that over and above the disturbance brought on the Churches by the Arians, and the confusion caused by them in the definition of the faith, there has appeared among you yet another innovation, throwing the brotherhood into great dejection, because, as you have informed me, certain persons are uttering, in the hearing of the faithful, novel and unfamiliar doctrines which they allege to be deduced from the teaching of Scripture.  You write that there are men among you who are trying to destroy the saving incarnation1433 of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, so far as they can, are overthrowing the grace of the great mystery unrevealed from everlasting, but manifested in His own times, when the Lord, when He had gone through1434 all things pertaining to the cure of the human race, bestowed on all of us the boon of His own sojourn among us.  For He helped His own creation, first through the patriarchs, whose lives were set forth as examples and rules to all willing to follow the footsteps of the saints, and with zeal like theirs to reach the perfection of good works.  Next for succour He gave the Law, ordaining it by angels in the hand of Moses;1435 then the prophets, foretelling the salvation to come; judges, kings, and righteous men, doing great works, with a mighty1436 hand.  After all these in the last days He was Himself manifested ill the flesh, “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”1437

2.  If, then, the sojourn of the Lord in flesh has never taken place, the Redeemer1438 paid not the fine to death on our behalf, nor through Himself destroyed death’s reign.  For if what was reigned over by death was not that which was assumed by the Lord, death would not have ceased working his own ends, nor would the sufferings of the God-bearing flesh have been made our gain; He would not have killed sin in the flesh:  we who had died in Adam should not have been made alive in Christ; the fallen to pieces would not have been framed again; the shattered would not have been set up again; that which by the serpent’s trick had been estranged from God would never have been made once more His own.  All these boons are undone by those that assert that it was with a heavenly body that the Lord came among us.  And if the God-bearing flesh was not ordained to be assumed of the lump of Adam, what need was there of the Holy Virgin?  But who has the hardihood now once again to renew by the help of sophistical arguments and, of course, by scriptural evidence, that old dogma1439 of Valentinus, now long ago silenced?  For this impious doctrine of the seeming1440 is no novelty.  It was started long ago by the feeble-minded Valentinus, who, after tearing off a few of the Apostle’s statements, constructed for himself this impious fabrication, asserting that the Lord assumed the “form of a servant,”1441 and not the servant himself, and that He was made in the “likeness,” but that actual manhood was not assumed by Him.  Similar sentiments are expressed by these men who can only be pitied for bringing new troubles upon you.1442

3.  As to the statement that human feelings are transmitted to the actual Godhead, it is one made by men who preserve no order in their thoughts, and are ignorant that there is a distinction between the feelings of flesh, of flesh endowed with soul, and of soul using a body.1443  It is the property of flesh to undergo division, diminution, dissolution; of flesh endowed with soul to feel weariness, pain, hunger, thirst, and to be overcome by sleep; of soul using body to feel grief, heaviness, anxiety, and such like.  Of these some are natural and necessary to every living creature; others come of evil will, and are superinduced because of life’s lacking proper discipline and training for virtue.  Hence it is evident that our Lord assumed the natural affections to establish His real incarnation, and not by way of semblance of incantation, and that all the affections derived from evil that besmirch the purity of our life, He rejected as unworthy of His unsullied Godhead.  It is on this account that He is said to have been “made in the likeness of flesh of sin;”1444 not, as these men hold, in likeness of flesh, but of flesh of sin.  It follows that He took our flesh with its natural afflictions, but “did no sin.”1445  Just as the death which is in the flesh, transmitted to us through Adam, was swallowed up by the Godhead, so was the sin taken away by the righteousness which is in Christ Jesus,1446 so that in the resurrection we receive back the flesh neither liable to death nor subject to sin.

These, brethren, are the mysteries of the Church; these are the traditions of the Fathers.  Every man who fears the Lord, and is awaiting God’s judgment, I charge not to be carried away by various doctrines.  If any one teaches a different doctrine, and refuses to accede to the sound words of the faith, rejecting the oracles of the Spirit, and making his own teaching of more authority than the lessons of the Gospels, of such an one beware.  May the Lord grant that one day we may meet, so that all that my argument has let slip I may supply when we stand face to face!  I have written little when there was much to say, for I did not like to go beyond my letter’s bounds.  At the same time I do not doubt that to all that fear the Lord a brief reminder is enough.

ΤΟΙΣ ΕΝ ΣΩΖΟΠΟΛΕΙ

[1] Ἐνέτυχον τοῖς γράμμασιν ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοὶ τιμιώτατοι, ἃ περὶ τῶν καθ' ὑμᾶς πραγμάτων ἐπεστείλατε. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν ἡμᾶς κοινωνοὺς φροντίδων παρελάβετε εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων ὑμῖν καὶ σπουδῆς ἀξίων ἐπιμέλειαν, ηὐχαριστήσαμεν τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ἐστενάξαμεν δὲ ἀκούσαντες ὅτι, πρὸς τῇ παρὰ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν ἐπαγομένῃ ταραχῇ ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις καὶ τῇ συγχύσει ἣν ἐκεῖνοι περὶ τὸν τῆς πίστεως λόγον πεποίηνται, ἔτι καὶ ἄλλη τις ὑμῖν ἀνεφάνη κενοφωνία εἰς πολλὴν ἀδημονίαν ἐμβάλλουσα τὴν ἀδελφότητα, ὡς ἐπεστείλατε ἡμῖν, ἀνθρώπων καινὰ καὶ ἀσυνήθη ταῖς ἀκοαῖς τῶν πιστῶν ὡς ἐκ τῆς τῶν Γραφῶν διδασκαλίας δῆθεν παρεισαγόντων. Ἐγράφετε δὲ εἶναί τινας παρ' ὑμῖν τοὺς λύοντας τὴν σωτήριον οἰκονομίαν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅσον τὸ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, ἀθετοῦντας τοῦ μεγάλου μυστηρίου τὴν χάριν, τοῦ σεσιγημένου μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων, φανερωθέντος δὲ καιροῖς ἰδίοις, ὅτε ὁ Κύριος πάντα διεξελθὼν τὰ εἰς ἐπιμέλειαν ἥκοντα τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ πᾶσι τὴν οἰκείαν ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν ἐπιδημίαν. Ὠφέλησε γὰρ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ πλάσμα πρῶτον μὲν διὰ πατριαρχῶν ὧν οἱ βίοι ὑποδείγματα καὶ κανόνες προετέθησαν τοῖς βουλομένοις ἀκολουθεῖν τοῖς ἴχνεσι τῶν ἁγίων καὶ κατὰ τὸν ὅμοιον ἐκείνοις ζῆλον φθάσαι πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων τελείωσιν. Εἶτα νόμον ἔδωκεν εἰς βοήθειαν, δι' ἀγγέλων αὐτὸν διαταξάμενος ἐν χειρὶ Μωσέως: εἶτα προφήτας προκαταγγέλλοντας τὴν μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι σωτηρίαν, κριτάς, βασιλεῖς, δικαίους, ποιοῦντας δυνάμεις ἐν χειρὶ κρυφαίᾳ. Μετὰ πάντας τούτους ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν αὐτὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, »Γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικός, γενόμενος ὑπὸ νόμον, ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον ἐξαγοράσῃ, ἵνα τὴν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολάβωμεν«.

[2] Εἰ τοίνυν μὴ γέγονε τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ ἐν σαρκὶ ἐπιδημία, οὐκ ἔδωκε μὲν ὁ λυτρωτὴς τὸ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τίμημα τῷ θανάτῳ, οὐ διέκοψε δὲ τοῦ θανάτου τὴν βασιλείαν δι' ἑαυτοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ ἄλλο μὲν ἦν τὸ βασιλευόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου, ἄλλο δὲ τὸ παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου προσληφθέν, οὐκ ἂν μὲν ἐπαύσατο τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἐνεργῶν ὁ θάνατος, οὐκ ἂν δὲ ἡμέτερον κέρδος ἐγένετο τῆς θεοφόρου σαρκὸς τὰ πάθη, οὐκ ἀπέκτεινε δὲ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκί, οὐκ ἐζωοποιήθημεν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ οἱ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἀποθανόντες, οὐκ ἀνεπλάσθη τὸ διαπεπτωκός, οὐκ ἀνωρθώθη τὸ κατερραγμένον, οὐ προσῳκειώθη τῷ Θεῷ τὸ διὰ τῆς ἀπάτης τοῦ ὄφεως ἀλλοτριωθέν. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἀναιρεῖται παρὰ τῶν οὐράνιον σῶμα λεγόντων ἔχοντα τὸν Κύριον παραγεγενῆσθαι. Τίς δὲ χρεία τῆς Ἁγίας Παρθένου, εἰ μὴ ἐκ τοῦ φυράματος τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἔμελλεν ἡ χριστοφόρος σὰρξ προσλαμβάνεσθαι; Ἀλλὰ τίς οὕτω τολμηρὸς ὥστε τὸ πάλαι σιωπηθὲν Οὐαλεντίνου δόγμα νῦν πάλιν διὰ σοφιστικῶν ῥημάτων καὶ τῆς ἐκ τῶν Γραφῶν δῆθεν μαρτυρίας ἀνανεοῦσθαι; Οὐ γὰρ νεώτερον τοῦτο τῆς δοκήσεως τὸ ἀσέβημα, ἀλλὰ πάλαι ἀπὸ τοῦ ματαιόφρονος ἀρξάμενον Οὐαλεντίνου ὃς ὀλίγας τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λέξεις ἀποσπαράξας τὸ δυσσεβὲς ἑαυτῷ κατεσκεύασε πλάσμα μορφὴν λέγων δούλου καὶ οὐχὶ αὐτὸν τὸν δοῦλον ἀνειληφέναι καὶ ἐν σχήματι λέγων τὸν Κύριον γεγενῆσθαι, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἄνθρωπον παρ' αὐτοῦ προσειλῆφθαι. Τούτοις ἐοίκασι συγγενῆ φθέγγεσθαι: τούτοις ἀποδύρεσθαι προσήκει τὰς νεωτέρας ὑμῖν ἐπεισάγουσι βλασφημίας.

[3] Τὸ δὲ ἐπ' αὐτὴν λέγειν τὴν θεότητα τὰ ἀνθρώπων διαβαίνειν πάθη οὐδαμῶς σωζόντων ἐστὶ τὸ ἐν διανοίαις ἀκόλουθον οὔτε εἰδότων ὅτι ἄλλα σαρκὸς πάθη καὶ ἄλλα σαρκὸς ἐμψύχου καὶ ἄλλα ψυχῆς σώματι κεχρημένης. Σαρκὸς μὲν οὖν ἴδιον τὸ τέμνεσθαι καὶ μειοῦσθαι καὶ διαλύεσθαι, καὶ πάλιν σαρκὸς ἐμψύχου τὸ κοποῦσθαι καὶ ὀδυνᾶσθαι καὶ πεινῆν καὶ διψῆν καὶ ὕπνῳ κρατεῖσθαι, ψυχῆς δὲ σώματι κεχρημένης λύπαι καὶ ἀδημονίαι καὶ φροντίδες καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα. Ὧν τὰ μὲν φυσικὰ καὶ ἀναγκαῖα τῷ ζώῳ, τὰ δὲ ἐκ προαιρέσεως μοχθηρᾶς, διὰ τὸ ἀνάγωγον τοῦ βίου καὶ πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἀγύμναστον ἐπεισαγόμενα. Ὅθεν φαίνεται ὁ Κύριος τὰ μὲν φυσικὰ πάθη παραδεχόμενος εἰς βεβαίωσιν τῆς ἀληθινῆς καὶ οὐ κατὰ φαντασίαν ἐνανθρωπήσεως, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ κακίας πάθη ὅσα τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν ἐπιρρυπαίνει, ταῦτα ὡς ἀνάξια τῆς ἀχράντου θεότητος ἀπωσάμενος. Διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηται ἐν ὁμοιώματι γεγενῆσθαι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας. Ὥστε σάρκα μὲν τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀνέλαβε μετὰ τῶν φυσικῶν αὐτῆς παθῶν, ἁμαρτίαν δὲ οὐκ ἐποίησεν. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ θάνατος ὁ ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ εἰς ἡμᾶς παραπεμφθεὶς κατεπόθη ὑπὸ τῆς θεότητος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐξαναλώθη ὑπὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ὥστε ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἀπολαβεῖν τὴν σάρκα μήτε ὑπόδικον θανάτῳ μήτε ὑπεύθυνον ἁμαρτίᾳ. Ταῦτά ἐστιν, ἀδελφοί, τὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας μυστήρια, αὗται τῶν Πατέρων αἱ παραδόσεις. Διαμαρτυρόμεθα παντὶ ἀνθρώπῳ φοβουμένῳ τὸν Κύριον καὶ κρίσιν Θεοῦ ἀναμένοντι διδαχαῖς ποικίλαις μὴ παραφέρεσθαι. Εἴ τις ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖ καὶ μὴ προσέρχεται ὑγιαίνουσι λόγοις τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλὰ παρωθούμενος τὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος λόγια τὴν οἰκείαν διδασκαλίαν προτιμοτέραν ποιεῖται τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν διδαγμάτων, φυλάσσεσθε τὸν τοιοῦτον. Παράσχοι δὲ ὁ Κύριος καὶ εἰς ταὐτὸν ἡμᾶς ἀλλήλοις ἐλθεῖν ποτε, ὥστε ὅσα τὸν λόγον ἡμῶν διέφυγε ταῦτα διὰ τῆς συντυχίας ἀναπληρῶσαι. Καὶ γὰρ ὀλίγα ἐκ πολλῶν ὑμῖν ἐπεστείλαμεν οὐ βουλόμενοι ἔξω γενέσθαι τοῦ μέτρου τῆς ἐπιστολῆς καὶ ἅμα πεπεισμένοι ὅτι τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸν Κύριον ἐξαρκεῖ καὶ ἡ δι' ὀλίγων ὑπόμνησις.