Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Amun

Epistula ad Amun

OF SAINT ATHANASIUS BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, A LETTER TO AMUN THE MONK

1. Concerning a seminal emission.

All things made by God are beautiful and pure; for the Word of God has made nothing useless or impure; for "we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved," according to the apostle. But since the arrows of the devil are varied and manifold, and he causes those of simpler mind to be troubled, and he hinders the brethren from their usual exercise, by sowing in them thoughts of impurity and defilement, come 64 then, let us briefly drive out the deception of the evil one by the grace of our Savior, and let us strengthen the mind of the simpler ones. "For to the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled both their conscience and everything are defiled." I marvel at the sophistry of the devil, that although he is corruption and ruin, he suggests thoughts that seem to be of purity, but what is happening is more an ambush than a test; for, as I said before, in order that he may distract the ascetics from their customary and saving practice and seem to prevail against it, he stirs up certain buzzings of this kind, which bring nothing useful to life, but empty questions and trifles, which one must avoid. For what sin or impurity, tell me, O beloved and most devout one, does any natural excretion have? As if one should wish to make it a crime also for the mucus sent out through the nostrils and the spittle through the mouth; and besides these, we can speak of more, the excretions through the belly, which are necessary for the living being to live. 65 Furthermore, "if we believe that man is the work of God's hands," according to the divine scriptures, how could any defiled work come to be from a pure power? And if "we are the offspring of God," according to the divine Acts of the Apostles, we have nothing impure in ourselves; for only then are we defiled, when we commit the most foul-smelling sin; but when some natural excretion happens involuntarily, then by the necessity of nature, along with the other things, as we said before, we endure this also. But since those who wish only to contradict what is rightly said, or rather what has been made by God, also bring forward a saying from the gospel, to the effect that "it is not what goes in that defiles a person, but what comes out," we must necessarily refute this irrationality of theirs—for we would not call it an inquiry. For first, being unstable, they distort the scriptures according to their own ignorance; 66 but the divine saying is as follows: for when some people, again like these, were in doubt about foods, he himself, resolving their ignorance, or rather, exposing their deception, says "it is not what goes in that defiles a person, but what comes out"; then he adds also from where they come out, "the things from the heart"; for he knows that there are the evil treasures of profane thoughts and other sins. But the apostle, having been taught this himself, says more concisely: "Food will not commend us to God"; and someone might reasonably say now, a natural excretion will not bring us to punishment. Perhaps even the children of physicians, so that they may be shamed even by outsiders, will make a defense for this, that to a living being certain necessary outlets are given for sending out the excess 67 of the nourishment in each of our members; for example, the excesses of the head, hairs, and the watery substances sent from the head, and the discharges of the belly, and so of the

Epistula ad Amun

ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΕΙΑΣ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΠΡΟΣ ΑΜΜΟΥΝ ΜΟΝΑΖΟΝΤΑ

Α Περὶ γονορρυοῦς.

Πάντα μὲν καλὰ καὶ καθαρὰ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ποιήματα· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄχρηστον ἢ ἀκάθαρτον ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ πεποίηκε λόγος· «Χριστοῦ γὰρ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν ἐν τοῖς σῳζομένοις» κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ποικίλα καὶ πολύτροπα τὰ τοῦ διαβόλου βέλη, καὶ τοὺς ἀκεραιοτέρους τῇ γνώμῃ παρασκευάζει ταράττεσθαι, κωλύει τε τῆς συνήθους γυμνασίας τοὺς ἀδελφούς, ὑποσπείρων αὐτοῖς λογι σμοὺς ἀκαθαρσίας καὶ μολυσμοῦ, φέ 64 ρε διὰ βραχέων καὶ τὴν τοῦ πονηροῦ πλάνην ἀπελάσωμεν τῇ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν χάριτι, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἁπλουστέρων γνώμην στηρίξωμεν. «Πάντα μὲν γὰρ καθαρὰ τοῖς κα θαροῖς, τῶν δὲ ἀκαθάρτων καὶ ἡ συνείδησις καὶ τὰ πάντα μεμόλυνται». Ἄγαμαι δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου τὸ σόφισμα, ὅτι περφθορὰ καὶ λύμη ὑπάρχων, λογισμοὺς ὑποβάλλει τῷ δοκεῖν μὲν καθαρότητος, ἔστι δὲ τὸ γινόμενον ἔνεδρα μᾶλλον ἢ δοκιμασία· ἵνα γὰρ, ὡς προεῖπον, ἀπασχολήσῃ τοὺς ἀ σκητὰς τῆς ἐθίμου καὶ σωτηριώδους μελέτης καὶ δόξῃ κρατεῖν κατὰ τοῦ το, τοιαῦτά τινα κινεῖ βομβύκια, ἅτινα φέρει μὲν οὐδὲν τῷ βίῳ χρή σιμον, κενὰς δὲ ζητήσεις καὶ φλυα ρίας, ἃς δεῖ παραιτεῖσθαι. Τί γάρ, εἰπέ μοι ὦ ἀγαπητὲ καὶ εὐλαβέστα τε, ἔχει ἁμάρτημα ἢ ἀκάθαρτον φυσική τις ἔκκρισις; Ὡς εἴ τις ἐθέλοι ποιῆσαι ἔγκλημα καὶ τὰς διὰ ῥινῶν ἐκπεμπομένας μύξας καὶ τὰ διὰ στόματος πτύσματα· ἔτι δὲ καὶ τού των ἔχομεν λέγειν πλείονα, τὰς διὰ γαστέρων ἐκκρίσεις, ἅπερ τῷ ζῴῳ πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἀναγκαῖα καθέστηκε. 65 Ἔτι τε «εἰ τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ χειρῶν ἔργον εἶναι πιστεύομεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον», κατὰ τὰς θείας γραφάς, πῶς ἠδύνατο ἐκ καθαρᾶς δυνάμεως ἔργον τι γενέσθαι μεμολυσμένον; Καὶ εἰ «γένος τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπάρχομεν», κατὰ τὰς θείας τῶν ἀποστόλων Πράξεις, οὐδὲν ἔχομεν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀκάθαρτον· τότε γὰρ μόνον μεμολύσμεθα, ὅτε τὴν δυσωδεστάτην ἁμαρτίαν ἐργα ζόμεθα· ὅτε δὲ φυσική τις ἀβουλήτως ἔκκρισις γίνεται, τότε τῇ τῆς φύσεως ἀνάγκῃ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων, ὡς προείπομεν, καὶ τοῦτο ὑπομένομεν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδή περ οἱ θέλοντες μόνον ἀντιλέγειν τοῖς ὀρθῶς λεγομένοις, μᾶλλον δὲ παρὰ θεοῦ πεποιημένοις, παραφέρουσι καὶ ῥητὸν εὐαγγελικόν, ὡς ὅτι «οὐ τὰ εἰσερχόμενα κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐξερχόμενα», ἀναγκαίως καὶ ταύτην αὐτῶν τὴν ἀλογίαν, οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἴποιμεν ζήτησιν, ἐλέγξωμεν. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τὰς γραφὰς κατὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἀμαθίας, 66 ἀστήρικτοι ὄντες, βιάζονται· ἔχει δὲ τὸ θεῖον οὕτω λόγιον· τινῶν γὰρ πάλιν τούτοις ὁμοίως ἐνδοιαστῶς ἐχόντων περὶ βρωμάτων, αὐτὸς λύων αὐτῶν τὴν ἄγνοιαν, ἤγουν τὴν ἀπά την δημοσιεύων, φησὶ «μὴ τὰ εἰ σερχόμενα κοινοῦν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐξερχόμενα»· εἶτα ἐπάγει καὶ πόθεν ἐξερχόμενα, «τὰ ἀπὸ καρδίας»· ἐκεῖ γὰρ εἶναι τοὺς πονηροὺς θησαυροὺς τῶν βεβήλων λογισμῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁμαρτημά των γινώσκει. Συντομώτερον δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος, αὐτὸ δεδιδαγμένος, φησί· «Βρῶμα ἡμᾶς οὐ παραστήσει τῷ θεῷ»· φαίη δ' ἄν τις καὶ νῦν εὐλόγως, φυσική τις ἔκκρισις ἡμᾶς οὐ παραστήσει πρὸς τιμωρίαν. Τάχα δὲ καὶ παῖδες ἰατρῶν, ἵνα κἂν ἐκ τῶν ἔξωθεν δυσωπηθῶσιν, ὑπὲρ τούτου ἀπολογήσονται, ὅτι τῷ ζῴῳ δέδονταί τινες ἀναγκαῖαι διέξοδοι κατὰ τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ἑκάστῳ μελῶν τρεφομένων τὸ περιττὸν ἀ 67 ποπέμπειν· οἷον, κεφαλῆς περιττώματα, τρίχες, καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ὑδατώδη πεμπόμενα καὶ γαστρὸς διαχωρήματα, καὶ τοίνυν τῶν