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Epistle to Liberius

A copy of what our father among the saints, Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria, wrote to Liberius, archbishop of Rome, that God the Word took upon himself a perfect man for our salvation.

One God, immortal, invisible, intangible; “for God is Spirit,” he is uncontained, not having a place where he is not. His Word is immortal, wisdom incorruptible, invisible, he is called his firstborn son, co-worker, without beginning, intangible, “having neither beginning of days nor expecting an end of life.” “Through him all things were made, and without him was not anything made that was made.” This is the one who formed man; this is the one who showed how the ark should be made; this is the one who gave the promise to Abraham; this is the one who came down to save the people, who gave the law to Moses; this is “the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob,” “the one who spoke in the prophets,” the one who established the old and the new covenant; the one who “in the last days” took mortal flesh from a virgin, though he himself was not mortal, weak though he himself was not weak, subject to death though he himself was not subject, visible though he himself was not visible; it was hung, not he; it was buried, not he; it endured all human sufferings as a man, not he; but he is the power of God, that is, God. The one who loosed the unbreakable bonds of Hades and destroyed the power of the devil ascended to where he had also descended; having raised that which was buried, he offered it to the Father, having freed it from death, which had power over it. in him we understand the Father—for they are one and the same in divinity, in power, in substance, in hypostasis, in glory, in the name of God—and the Son himself in the Father. This one, after taking flesh, was called Jesus, inasmuch as he was also man, that is, he took a man into himself, “in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.” We hold him not to be separated from the Father or from the Holy Spirit, nor do we say that the Father descended and became in a man. Thus one God almighty is believed in by us. And for this reason our faith is in one God, Father almighty, and in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit; and these from the unity of one Godhead, one power, one hypostasis, one substance, one doxology, one lordship, one kingdom, one image of the Trinity, consubstantial, “through whom all things were made.” Thus we also believe in the resurrection of the flesh, that is “of our body” according to the holy scriptures, its corruptible and mortal nature being changed into incorruption and immortality by God. Amen.

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Epistula ad Liberium

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἀθανασίου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας ἀντίγραφον ὃ ἔγραψε Λιβερίῳ ἀρχιεπισκόπῳ Ῥώμης, ὅτι τέλειον ἄνθρωπον ἀνέλαβεν ὁ θεὸς Λόγος ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας.

Εἷς θεὸς ἀθάνατος, ἀόρατος, ἀψηλάφητος· «Πνεῦμα γὰρ ὁ θεός», οὗτος ἀχώρητος μὴ ἔχων τόπον, ὅπου οὐκ ἔστιν. ὁ τούτου Λόγος ἀθάνατος, σοφία ἄφθαρτος, ἀόρατος, τούτου καλεῖται υἱὸς πρωτότοκος, συνεργός, ἄναρχος, ἀψηλάφητος, «μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν ἔχων μήτε τέλος ζωῆς» προσδοκῶν. «διὰ τούτου ἐγένετο τὰ πάντα καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν». οὗτος ὁ πλάσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον· οὗτος ὁ τὴν κιβωτὸν δείξας, πῶς ἵνα γένηται· οὗτος ὁ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν δοὺς τῷ Ἀβραάμ· οὗτος ὁ καταβὰς ἐπὶ τῷ σῶσαι τὸν λαόν, ὁ Μωσεῖ τὸν νόμον δούς· οὗτος «ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ θεὸς Ἰακώβ», «ὁ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις λαλήσας», ὁ διαθέμενος τὴν παλαιὰν καὶ τὴν καινὴν διαθήκην· ὁ «ἐπὶ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν» σάρκα ἐκ παρθένου λαβὼν θνητὴν οὐκ αὐτὸς ὢν θνητός, ἀσθενῆ οὐκ αὐτὸς ἀσθενής, ὀφειλομένην θανάτῳ οὐκ αὐτὸς ὀφειλόμενος, ὁρατὴν οὐκ αὐτὸς ὁρατός· αὕτη ἐκρεμάσθη οὐκ αὐτός, αὕτη ἐτάφη οὐκ αὐτός, αὕτη πάντα τὰ ἀνθρώπινα πάθη ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὑπέμεινεν οὐκ αὐτός· ἐκεῖνος δὲ δύναμις θεοῦ, τουτέστι θεός. ὁ τὰ ἄλυτα τοῦ ἅδου λύσας καὶ τὸ κράτος τοῦ διαβόλου καταργήσας ἀνέβη ὅθεν καὶ κατέβη· ἐγείρας ἐκεῖνο τὸ ταφὲν προσήνεγκε τῷ πατρί, ἐλευθερώσας, οὗ ἐκράτει, τοῦ θανάτου. ἐν τούτῳ τὸν πατέρα νοοῦμεν-ἓν γὰρ καὶ ταὐτὸ τῇ θεότητι, τῇ δυνάμει, τῇ οὐσίᾳ, τῇ ὑποστάσει, τῇ δόξῃ, τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ θεοῦ-καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν υἱὸν ἐν τῷ πατρί. οὗτος ὁ μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν τὴν σάρκα Ἰησοῦς κληθείς, καθότι καὶ ἄνθρωπος, τουτέστιν ἀνέλαβεν ἄνθρωπον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, «ἐν ᾧ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος οἰκεῖ σωματικῶς». τοῦτον ἔχομεν οὐ διακεχωρισμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα λέγοντες καταβεβηκέναι καὶ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ γενέσθαι. οὕτως εἷς θεὸς παντοκράτωρ παρ' ἡμῖν πιστεύεται. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν ἐστὶν εἰς ἕνα θεόν, πατέρα παντοκράτορα, καὶ εἰς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα· ταῦτα δὲ ἐξ ἑνότητος μιᾶς θεότητος, μιᾶς δυνάμεως, μιᾶς ὑποστάσεως, μιᾶς οὐσίας, μιᾶς δοξολογίας, μιᾶς κυριότητος, μιᾶς βασιλείας, μιᾶς εἰκόνος τῆς τριάδος ὁμοούσιον, «δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο». οὕτως καὶ σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν πιστεύομεν τουτέστιν «τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν» κατὰ τὰς ἁγίας γραφάς, τοῦ φθαρτοῦ καὶ θνητοῦ αὐτοῦ μεταβαλλομένου εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ ἀθανασίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀμήν.