1

Epistula ad Adelphium

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS ATHANASIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, LETTER TO ADELPHIUS, BISHOP AND

CONFESSOR, AGAINST THE ARIANS. Having read what was written by your godliness, we have truly accepted your piety towards Christ, and we have first of all glorified God, who has given you such grace, so as to have a right mind, and not to be ignorant, as far as possible, of the wiles of the devil; and we marveled at the malice of the heretics, seeing how they have fallen into such a pit of impiety as to no longer even preserve their senses, but to have their minds corrupted on every side. This undertaking is an instigation of the devil, and an imitation of the lawless Jews. For just as they, being refuted on every side, devised pretexts against themselves, only so that they might deny the Lord, and might draw upon themselves what had been prophesied against them; in the same way these men also, seeing themselves pilloried on every side, and seeing their heresy become an abomination to all, become inventors of evils, so that, not ceasing from their battles against the truth, 26.1073 they may truly remain fighters against Christ. For from where has this evil also sprung up for them? How have they dared at all to utter this new slander against the Savior? but, as it seems, the impious man is wicked, and truly reprobate concerning the faith. For formerly, while denying the divinity of the only-begotten Son of God, they pretended at least to acknowledge his coming in the flesh; but now, gradually descending, they have fallen away even from this conceit of theirs, and have become godless on every side, so as neither to acknowledge him as God, nor to believe that he became man. For if they believed, they would not have uttered such things as your godliness wrote against them. You, therefore, beloved and truly most desired, have done what is fitting to the ecclesiastical tradition and to piety towards the Lord, having refuted, and exhorted and rebuked such men; but since, being provoked by their father the devil, they did not know, nor did they understand, according to what is written, but they walk in darkness; let them learn from your reverence, that such malice of theirs is that of Valentinus and Marcion and Manichaeus; of whom some introduced semblance instead of truth, while others, dividing the indivisible, denied that, The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. Why then, thinking the things of these men, do they not also become heirs of their names? For it is reasonable that whose false opinion they hold, of these they should also have the names, so that henceforth they may be called Valentinians and Marcionites and Manichaeans. Perhaps even so, being ashamed on account of the stench of the names, they may be able to perceive into how great a depth of impiety they have fallen. And it would have been just to no longer answer them, according to the apostolic exhortation: Reject a heretical man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a one is perverted, and sins, being self-condemned; especially since the prophet also says concerning such people: The fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will understand vain things; but since, after the manner of their leader, they themselves also go about, like lions, seeking whom they may devour of the innocent; for this reason it has become necessary for us to write back to your reverence, so that, again learning through your admonition, the brethren may condemn all the more the vain talk of those men. We do not worship a creature; may it not be! For of the Gentiles and Arians is the

1

Epistula ad Adelphium

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ, ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΕΙΑΣ, ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΠΡΟΣ Α∆ΕΛΦΙΟΝ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΝ ΚΑΙ

ΟΜΟΛΟΓΗΤΗΝ, ΚΑΤΑ ΑΡΕΙΑΝΩΝ. Ἐντυχόντες τοῖς παρὰ τῆς σῆς θεοσεβείας γραφεῖσι, τὴν μὲν σὴν εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσέβειαν ἀληθῶς ἀπεδεξάμεθα, καὶ τὸν μὲν Θεὸν προηγουμένως ἐδοξάσαμεν, δεδωκότα σοι τὴν τοιαύτην χάριν, ὥστε καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν ἔχειν ὀρθὴν, καὶ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν τὰς μεθοδείας τοῦ διαβόλου· τὴν δὲ τῶν αἱρετικῶν κακόνοιαν ἐθαυμάσαμεν, θεωροῦντες πῶς τοσοῦτον εἰς ἀσεβείας βάραθρον πεπτώκασιν, ὡς μηκέτι μηδὲ τὰς αἰσθήσεις σώζειν, ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν διεφθαρμένην ἔχειν τὴν διάνοιαν. Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἐπιχείρημα διαβόλου μέν ἐστιν ὑποβολὴ, τῶν δὲ παρανόμων Ἰου δαίων μίμησις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, πανταχόθεν ἐλεγχόμενοι, προφάσεις ἐπενόουν καθ' ἑαυτῶν, ἵνα μόνον τὸν Κύριον ἀρνήσωνται, καὶ τὰ προφητευθέντα καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐπισπάσωνται· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ οὗτοι, θεωροῦντες ἑαυτοὺς πανταχόθεν στηλιτευομένους, καὶ βλέποντες γενομένην βδελυκτὴν παρὰ πᾶσι τὴν αἵρεσιν αὐτῶν, ἐφευρεταὶ γίνονται κακῶν, ἵνα μὴ, παυόμενοι ταῖς πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν μάχαις, 26.1073 ἀληθῶς Χριστομάχοι διαμείνωσι. Πόθεν γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀνέδυ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ κακόν; Πῶς ὅλως τετολμήκασι τὴν καινὴν ταύτην δυσφημίαν φθέγξασθαι κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος; ἀλλ', ὡς ἔοικε, πονηρὸν ὁ ἀσεβὴς, καὶ ἀδό κιμος ὄντως περὶ τὴν πίστιν. Πρότερον γὰρ, ἀρνούμενοι τὴν θεότητα τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑπεκρίνοντο κἂν τὴν ἔνσαρκον αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν ἐπι γινώσκειν· νῦν δὲ, κατ' ὀλίγον ὑποκαταβαίνοντες, ἐξέπεσαν καὶ ταύτης αὐτῶν τῆς οἰήσεως, καὶ παντα χόθεν ἄθεοι γεγόνασιν, ὥστε μήτε Θεὸν αὐτὸν ἐπιγινώσκειν, μήθ' ὅτι ἄνθρωπος γέγονε πιστεύειν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπίστευον, οὐκ ἂν τοιαῦτα ἐφθέγξαντο, οἷα ἔγραψεν ἡ σὴ θεοσέβεια κατ' αὐτῶν. Σὺ μὲν οὖν, ἀγαπητὲ καὶ ἀληθῶς ποθεινό τατε, πρέποντα τῇ ἐκκλησιαστικῇ παραδόσει καὶ τῇ εἰς τὸν Κύριον εὐσεβείᾳ πεποίηκας, ἐλέγξας, καὶ παραινέσας καὶ ἐπιτιμήσας τοῖς τοιούτοις· ἐπειδὴ δὲ, παροξυνόμενοι παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν τοῦ δια βόλου, οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, οὐδὲ συνῆκαν, κατὰ τὸ γε γραμμένον, ἀλλὰ ἐν σκότει διαπορεύονται· μανθανέτωσαν παρὰ τῆς σῆς εὐλαβείας, ὡς ἡ τοιαύτη αὐτῶν κακόνοια Οὐαλεντίνου καὶ Μαρκίωνος καὶ Μανιχαίου ἐστίν· ὧν οἱ μὲν ἀντὶ ἀληθείας δόκησιν εἰσηγήσαντο, οἱ δὲ διαιροῦντες τὰ ἀδιαίρετα ἠρνήσαντο τὸ, Ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνω σεν ἐν ἡμῖν. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν, τὰ τούτων φρονοῦντες, οὐχὶ καὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων αὐτῶν γίνονται κληρονόμοι; Εὔλογον γὰρ ὧν τὴν κακοδοξίαν ἔχουσι, τούτων ἔχειν καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα, ἵνα λοιπὸν Οὐαλεντινιανοὶ καὶ Μαρκιωνισταὶ καὶ Μανιχαῖοι καλῶνται. Τάχα κἂν οὕτως διὰ τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων δυσωδίαν αἰσχυνόμενοι κατανοῆσαι δυνηθῶσιν, εἰς ὅσον βάθος ἀσεβείας πε πτώκασι. Καὶ ἦν μὲν δίκαιον μηκέτι τούτοις ἀποκρί νασθαι, κατὰ τὴν παραίνεσιν τὴν ἀποστολικήν· Αἱρετικὸν ἄνθρωπον μετὰ μίαν καὶ δευτέραν νου θεσίαν παραιτοῦ, εἰδὼς, ὅτι ἐξέστραπται ὁ τοιοῦ τος, καὶ ἁμαρτάνει ὢν αὐτοκατάκριτος· μάλιστα ὅτι καὶ ὁ προφήτης περὶ τῶν τοιούτων φησίν· Ὁ μωρὸς μωρὰ λαλήσει, καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ μάταια νοήσει· ἐπειδὴ δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἡγούμενον αὐ τῶν περιέρχονται καὶ αὐτοὶ, ὡς λέοντες, ζητοῦντες τίνα καταπίωσι τῶν ἀκεραίων· τούτου ἕνεκεν ἀναγκαῖον γέγονεν ἡμῖν τῇ σῇ εὐλαβείᾳ ἀντιγράψαι, ἵνα, πάλιν διὰ τῆς σῆς νουθεσίας μαθόντες οἱ ἀδελφοὶ, καταγινώσκωσιν ἐπὶ πλεῖον τῆς ἐκείνων ματαιολογίας. Οὐ κτίσμα προσκυνοῦμεν· μὴ γένοιτο! Ἐθνι κῶν γὰρ καὶ Ἀρειανῶν ἡ