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Epistula ad Maximum

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS ATHANASIUS ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA TO MAXIMUS THE PHILOSOPHER.

To the beloved and truly most longed-for son Maximus the philosopher, Athanasius in the Lord, greetings. Having read what was now written by you, I for my part accepted your piety, but having wondered for a long time at the rashness of those who understand neither what they say, nor about what things they make confident assertions, I truly resolved to keep silent. For to reply to things so manifest and shining more than light, is nothing other than to provide pretexts for shamelessness to those who so transgress. And this we have learned from the Savior. For when Pilate had washed his hands and understood the slander of the Jews of that time, the Lord no longer answered him, but rather gave a divine warning to his wife, so that he who was judged might be believed to be God, not in word, but in power. And by not answering Caiaphas's nonsense, he himself by the promise brought all to knowledge. Therefore, having put it off for a long time and seeing the war of words of the shameless ones, I with difficulty paid respect to your zeal for the truth, and have dictated nothing more than what was written by you, so that the opponent, being at last persuaded by those things which he has contradicted, may cease his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. And may it be that such men no longer reproach, with the Jews who were passing by at that time, him who was hanging on the tree, "If he is the Son of God, he will save him;" but if then they are not even so abashed, but you, remembering the apostolic command, reject a heretical man after a first and second admonition, knowing that such a one is perverted, and sins, being self-condemned. For if those who dare such things are Greeks or of the Judaizers, let them as 26.1088 Jews consider the cross of Christ a stumbling block, and as Greeks foolishness; but if they pretend to be Christians, let them learn that the crucified Christ is the Lord of glory, and the power of God and the wisdom of God. And if they doubt that he is also God, let them revere Thomas who touched the crucified one, and said that he is Lord and God. And let them fear the Lord himself, who after washing the feet of the disciples said: "You call me the Lord and the Teacher, and you say well; for so I am." And in the body in which he happened to wash the feet, in this he bore our sins up to the tree. And he was testified to be the master of creation, when the sun withdrew its rays, and the earth was trembling, and the rocks were being split, and the executioners recognized that the crucified one is truly the Son of God. For the body that was seen was not of some man, but of God, in which, being present even when he was crucified, he raised the dead. Wherefore that bold assertion of theirs is not good, which says that the Word of God came into some holy man (for this happened in each of the prophets and the other saints), so that he might not seem to be born and die again in each one. But it is not so; may it not be! But once at the end of the ages for the putting away of sin the Word himself became flesh, and came forth from Mary the Virgin as a man in our likeness, as he also said to the Jews: "Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth?" Not by partaking of the body of some man, but by receiving the body of the Word himself, are we deified. Indeed I have also marveled at this, how they have dared to conceive at all that he became man by a sequence of nature. For if it were so, the mention of Mary would be superfluous. Nor

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Epistula ad Maximum

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΕΙΑΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΜΑΞΙΜΟΝ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΝ.

Τῷ ἀγαπητῷ καὶ ἀληθῶς ποθεινοτάτῳ υἱῷ Μαξίμῳ φιλοσόφῳ, Ἀθανάσιος ἐν Κυρίῳ χαίρειν. Ἐντυχὼν τοῖς νῦν γραφεῖσι παρὰ σοῦ, τὴν μὲν σὴν εὐλάβειαν ἀπεδεξάμην, τὴν δὲ προπέτειαν τῶν μὴ νοούντων μήτε ἃ λέγουσι, μήτε περὶ τίνων διαβεβαιοῦνται, ἐπὶ πολὺ θαυμάσας, ἐβουλευσάμην ἀληθῶς σιωπῆσαι. Τὸ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὕτω φανεροῖς καὶ πλέον φωτὸς λάμπουσιν ἀποκρίνασθαι, οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἢ προφάσεις ἀναισχυντίας τοῖς οὕτω παρανομοῦσι παρέχειν. Καὶ τοῦτο παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος μεμαθήκαμεν. Νιψαμένῳ γὰρ τῷ Πιλάτῳ καὶ καταλαβομένῳ τὴν συκοφαντίαν τῶν τότε Ἰουδαίων, οὐκ ἔτι ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐχρημάτιζε τῇ τούτου γυναικὶ, ἵνα μὴ ἐν λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ ἐν δυνάμει πιστεύηται ὁ κρινόμενος εἶναι Θεός. Τῷ δὲ Καϊάφᾳ μὴ ἀποκρινόμενος πρὸς τὴν φλυαρίαν, αὐτὸς τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ τοὺς πάντας εἰς γνῶσιν μετήγαγεν. Ἐπὶ πολὺ γοῦν ὑπερτιθέμενος καὶ ὁρῶν τὴν τῶν ἀναιδευομένων λογομαχίαν, μόλις ᾐδέσθην τὸν σὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ζῆλον, καὶ ὑπηγόρευσα οὐδὲν πλέον τῶν παρὰ σοῦ γραφέντων, ἵν' οἷς ἀντείρηκεν ὁ ἐναντίος, τούτοις λοιπὸν πεισθεὶς, παύσῃ τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κακοῦ, καὶ χείλη αὐτοῦ τοῦ μὴ λαλῆσαι δόλον. Καὶ γένοιτο μὲν τοὺς τοιούτους μηκέτι ὀνειδίσαι μετὰ τῶν παροδευόντων τότε Ἰουδαίων τὸν κρεμάμενον ἐπὶ ξύλου, Εἰ Υἱός ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ, σώσει αὐτόν· ἐὰν δὲ ἄρα μηδὲ οὕτως καταδύωνται, ἀλλὰ σὺ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς μνημονεύων παραγγελίας, αἱρετικὸν ἄνθρωπον μετὰ μίαν καὶ δευτέραν νουθεσίαν παραιτοῦ, εἰδὼς, ὅτι ἐξέστραπται ὁ τοιοῦτος, καὶ ἁμαρτάνει ὢν αὐτοκατάκριτος. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ Ἕλληνες ἢ τῶν Ἰουδαϊζόντων εἰσὶν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμῶντες, ὡς μὲν 26.1088 Ἰουδαῖοι σκάνδαλον, ὡς δὲ Ἕλληνες μωρίαν νομιζέτωσαν τὸν σταυρὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ· εἰ δὲ ὑποκρίνονται ὡς Χριστιανοὶ, μαθέτωσαν τὸν σταυρωθέντα Χριστὸν, Κύριον μὲν τῆς δόξης, δύναμιν δὲ Θεοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ σοφίαν αὐτὸν εἶναι. Εἰ δὲ ἀμφιβάλλουσιν, ὅτι καὶ Θεός ἐστιν, αἰδείσθωσαν τὸν Θωμᾶν τὸν ψηλαφήσαντα τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, καὶ λέγοντα Κύριον αὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ Θεόν. Καὶ φοβείσθωσαν αὐτὸν τὸν Κύριον, τὸν μετὰ τὸ νίψαι τοὺς πόδας τῶν μαθητῶν λέγοντα· Ὑμεῖς φωνεῖτέ με ὁ Κύριος καὶ ὁ διδάσκαλος, καὶ καλῶς λέγετε· εἰμὶ γάρ. Ἐν ᾧ δὲ σώματι τυγχάνων ἔνιψε τοὺς πόδας, ἐν τούτῳ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν ἀνήνεγκεν ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον. Ἐμαρτυρεῖτό τε δεσπότης τῆς κτίσεως, συστείλαντος μὲν τοῦ ἡλίου τὰς ἀκτῖνας, καὶ τῆς γῆς τρεμούσης, καὶ τῶν πετρῶν σχιζομένων, καὶ τῶν δημίων ἐπιγνόντων, ὅτι ἀληθῶς Θεοῦ Υἱός ἐστιν ὁ σταυρωθείς. Οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρώπου τινὸς ἦν τὸ βλεπόμενον σῶμα, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ, ἐν ᾧ τυγχάνων καὶ ὅτε ἐσταυροῦτο, ἤγειρε νεκρούς. ∆ιὸ οὐδὲ καλὸν ἐκεῖνο αὐτῶν τόλμημα τὸ λέγον, ὅτι εἰς ἄνθρωπόν τινα ἅγιον ἐγένετο ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος (τοῦτο γὰρ ἐν ἑκάστῳ ἐγένετο τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁγίων), ἵνα μὴ καθ' ἕκαστον γεννώμενος καὶ πάλιν ἀποθνήσκων φαίνηται. Οὐκ ἔστι δὲ οὕτως· μὴ γένοιτο! Ἀλλ' ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων εἰς ἀθέτησιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτὸς ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς Παρθένου προῆλθεν ἄνθρωπος καθ' ὁμοίωσιν ἡμετέραν, ὡς καὶ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους ἔφη· Τί ζητεῖτέ με ἀποκτεῖναι ἄνθρωπον, ὃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα; Οὐκ ἀνθρώπου τέ τινος μετέχοντες σώματος, ἀλλὰ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Λόγου σῶμα λαμβάνοντες, θεοποιούμεθα. Ἀμέλει κἀκεῖνο τεθαύμακα, πῶς ὅλως κἂν ἐννοῆσαι τετολμήκασιν, ὅτι φύσεως ἀκολουθίᾳ γεγένηται ἄνθρωπος. Εἰ γὰρ οὕτως ἦν, περιττὴ τῆς Μαρίας ἡ μνήμη. Οὐδὲ