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Contra Sabellianos

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS, ATHANASIUS

Concerning the eternal existence of the Son and of the Spirit with God, and against those who follow Sabellius.

Judaism is opposed to Hellenism, and neither is pious, but both are outside the truth. Since the Babylonians also have warred against the Egyptians, and many other impious men have been opposed to the impious. Therefore it is not sufficient to oppose impiety, unless the opposition to impiety is for the sake of piety. The Jews have many and great things to say against the idolaters, and they say just things, accusing them of worshipping creation rather than the Creator. But not because they refute impiety will they for this reason be confessed to be pious, denying the Son of God, through whom all things were made, and accusing of polytheism those who through him worship the Father. Wherefore we have come out from the Greeks, and have been separated, so as not to be mixed with unclean idolatries; and we have also come out from the blasphemy of the Jews, having confessed the Son of God, and having fled the destructive denial of our Lord, who says: “But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.” And we confess the Son from the Father, and always with the Father, believing him when he says and promises: “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.” Seeing this example, now also we have been alienated from those who Hellenize in the name of Christianity, who dare both to theologize about and to worship a work of God. And we are separated also from those who Judaize and corrupt Christianity into Judaism; who, denying God from God, say one God similarly to the Jews; not that because he is alone unbegotten and alone the fount of divinity they say he is the only God; but as one barren of a Son and fruitless of a living Word and true wisdom. For they consider the Word of God to be like the word from the heart of a man, and wisdom like that in the soul; and for this reason they say God together with the Word is one person; just as also a man together with his own word is one man, holding no different opinion than the Jews, who did not accept the evangelist who cries out straight from the beginning: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” For if God has the Word in his heart, not truly begotten from him, as God from God, how could the Word be with God? and how could he be God? For the word of man is not a man with a man, since it is neither living nor subsistent, but only a movement of a living and subsistent heart; and it is spoken immediately, and is not, and though often spoken it never endures. But the Word of God the psalmist from of old cried out, saying: “For ever, O Lord, your word endures in heaven;” and in harmony with him the evangelist who confesses the Word to be God, both proclaims him as manifested, and announces his coming, and preaches him as incarnate, not including the Father in the incarnation of the Word; “For,” he says, “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” You see that the Word is the Only-begotten, being manifested in the world, dwelling among men, glory to him

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Contra Sabellianos

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ

Περὶ τῆς ἀϊδίου ὑπάρξεως τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος σὺν Θεῷ, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Σαβελλίζοντας.

Ἰουδαϊσμὸς ἀντίκειται πρὸς Ἑλληνισμὸν, καὶ οὐδέτερος εὐσεβὴς, ἀλλ' ἀμφότεροι τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκτός. Ἐπεὶ καὶ Βαβυλώνιοι πεπολεμήκασιν Αἰγυ 28.97 πτίους, καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἀσεβέσιν ἠναν τιώθησαν. Οὐ τοίνυν ἐξαρκεῖ τὸ πρὸς ἀσέβειαν ἀνθίστασθαι, εἰ μὴ δι' εὐσέβειαν ἡ πρὸς τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἀντίστασις γίγνηται. Πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα κατὰ τῶν εἰδωλολατρούντων ἔχουσι λέγειν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ δίκαια λέγουσι κατηγοροῦντες αὐτῶν τῇ κτίσει λατρευόντων παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὅτι δυσσέβειαν ἐλέγχουσι, διὰ τοῦτο εὐσεβεῖν ὁμολογηθήσον ται, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονεν, ἀρνούμενοι, καὶ τοῖς δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν Πατέρα σεβομέ νοις ἐγκαλοῦντες πολυθεότητα. ∆ιόπερ ἐξεληλύθαμεν ἐξ Ἑλλήνων, καὶ ἀφωρίσμεθα, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ταῖς ἀκα θάρτοις εἰδωλολατρείαις ἀναμίγνυσθαι· ἐξεληλύθα μεν δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων βλασφημίας, τὸν Υἱὸν ὁμολογήσαντες τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ φυγόντες τὴν ὀλέθριον ἄρνησιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, τοῦ λέγοντος· «Ὃς δ' ἂν ἀρνήσηταί με ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀρνήσομαι αὐτὸν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.» Ὁμολογοῦμεν δὲ τὸν Υἱὸν ἐκ Πατρὸς, καὶ ἀεὶ μετὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς, πιστεύοντες αὐτῷ λέγοντι καὶ ἐπαγγελλομένῳ· «Πᾶς ὅστις ὁμολογήσειεν ἐμὲ ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁμολογήσω κἀγὼ αὐτὸν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.» Τοῦτο ὁρῶντες τὸ παράδειγμα, καὶ νῦν ἀπηλλο τριώθημεν τῶν Ἑλληνιζόντων ἐπ' ὀνόματι Χριστιανισμοῦ, τῶν ἔργον Θεοῦ τολμώντων θεολογεῖν τε καὶ προσκυνεῖν. Χωριζόμεθα δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαϊζόντων καὶ τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν ἐν Ἰουδαϊσμῷ παραφθειρόν των· οἳ, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ Θεὸν ἀρνούμενοι, Θεὸν ἕνα παραπλησίως Ἰουδαίοις λέγουσιν· οὐχ ὅτι μόνος ἀγέννητος· καὶ μόνος πηγὴ θεότητος, διὰ τοῦτο φάσκοντες αὐτὸν εἶναι μόνον Θεόν· ἀλλ' ὡς ἄγονον Υἱοῦ καὶ ἄκαρπον ζῶντος Λόγου καὶ σοφίας ἀληθινῆς. Λόγον γὰρ οἷον τὸν ἐκ καρδίας ἀνθρώπου νομίζουσι τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ σοφίαν ὁποίαν τὴν ἐν ψυχῇ· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρόσωπον ἓν τὸν Θεὸν ἅμα τῷ Λόγῳ φασίν· ὥσπερ καὶ τὸν ἄνθρω πον ἅμα τῷ ἑαυτοῦ Λόγῳ ἄνθρωπον ἕνα, οὐδὲν πλέον Ἰουδαίων δοξάζοντες, τῶν οὐκ ἀποδεξαμένων τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν τὸν εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς βοῶντα· «Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.» Εἰ γὰρ ἐν καρδίᾳ Λόγον ὁ Θεὸς ἔχει μὴ γεγεννημένον ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, ὡς Θεὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ, πῶς ἂν εἴη πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὁ Λόγος; καὶ πῶς ἂν εἴη Θεός; Οὐ γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἄνθρωπός ἐστι πρὸς ἄνθρωπον, ἐπεὶ μήτε ζῶν ἐστι, μήτε ὑφεστὼς, ἀλλὰ ζώσης καρδίας καὶ ὑφεστώσης κίνημα μόνον· καὶ λέγεται παραχρῆμα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ πολλάκις λαλούμενος οὐδέποτε δια 28.100 μένει. Τὸν δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον ἄνωθεν ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς ἐκεκράγει λέγων· «Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, Κύριε, ὁ Λόγος σου διαμένει ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ·» καὶ σύμφωνος αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸν εἶναι τὸν Λόγον ὁμολογῶν εὐαγγελιστὴς, φανερωθέντα τε αὐτὸν εὐαγγελίζεται, καὶ παρα γενόμενον μηνύει, καὶ σαρκωθέντα κηρύττει, οὐ συμπεριλαμβάνων τῇ τοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσει τὸν Πατέρα· «Ὁ Λόγος, γάρ φησι, σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς Μονογενοῦς παρὰ Πατρὸς, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας.» Μονογενῆ τὸν Λόγον ὄντα ὁρᾷς ἐν κόσμῳ φανερούμενον, ἐν ἀνθρώποις σκη νοῦντα, δόξαν αὐτῷ