Athanasius of Alexandria, Various Fragments

From the same (Athanasius), against Valentinus, who for the most part is in agreement with the aforementioned heretics.

How can you say that Christ was clothed in a heavenly flesh, and not a human one, although the Apostle says: He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one? For which cause he is not ashamed, he says, to call them brethren, saying: I will declare thy name unto my brethren. Of one, but of whom? Of Adam, clearly, according to the genealogy of Luke; and again: Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. And refuting the notion of heavenly flesh, he continued: For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but of the seed of Abraham; wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren. And many such things. But the Lord, they say, has said in the Gospels: No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven; and the Apostle again: The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man, the Lord, is from heaven, heavenly. For behold, from both sides he is called the heavenly man. To whom we shall say, that since Christ, being double in his natures, is single in his hypostasis, he appropriates the properties of each nature. And just as the Apostle, speaking of the Christ-killers, said: For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, he does not say that the divinity, which is the Lord of glory, suffered, but that which was assumed; so also in these sayings, the Son and God himself is said to have suffered, because of the one hypostasis of the divinity, which also became the hypostasis for the human nature; but to have suffered according to his human nature, and to have come down from heaven, and to be in heaven, according to the hypostasis of the divinity; and to be the Son of man according to the nature assumed later, after the descent from heaven. And again the same Lord because of the one hypostasis; is the second man according to the united humanity, but from heaven according to the divinity; for if we do not understand each appropriately, we shall subject the Apostle to contradictions. For how is he in all things like us who are earthly? And how is he our brother, who is clothed in heavenly flesh? And a myriad other absurdities will follow.

Fragmenta varia

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ (Ἀθανασίου) κατὰ Οὐαλεντίνου, τὰ πολλὰ συμφώνου ὄντος τοῖς προδηλωθεῖσιν αἱρετικοῖς.

Πῶς λέγετε Χριστὸν οὐρανίαν σάρκα περιβεβλῆσθαι, καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνην, καίτοι τοῦ Ἀποστόλου φάσκοντος· Ὁ ἁγιάζων καὶ οἱ ἁγιαζόμενοι ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντες; ∆ι' ἣν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται, φησὶν, ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοὺς καλεῖν, λέγων· Ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου. Ἐξ ἑνὸς δὲ, τίνος; Τοῦ Ἀδὰμ δηλονότι, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Λουκᾶ γενεαλογίαν· καὶ πάλιν· Ἐπεὶ τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκε σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως ἐπέσχε τῶν αὐτῶν. Ἀναιρῶν δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑπόληψιν τῆς οὐρανίου σαρκὸς, ἐπήγαγεν· Οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἀγγέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ· ὅθεν ὤφειλε κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι. Καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα. Ἀλλ' ὁ Κύριος, φασὶν, εἴρηκεν ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις· Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ· καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος πάλιν· Ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός· ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος, ὁ Κύριος, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ οὐράνιος. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀμφοτέρωθεν οὐράνιος ἄνθρωπος ὀνομάζεται. Πρὸς οὓς ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι ἐπεὶ διπλοῦς ὢν ταῖς φύσεσιν ὁ Χριστὸς, μοναδικός ἐστι τὴν ὑπόστασιν, ἰδιοποιεῖται τὰ τῆς ἑκατέρας φύσεως. Καὶ καθάπερ ὁ Ἀπόστολος εἰπὼν περὶ τῶν Χριστοκτόνων ὅτι· Εἰ ἔγνωσαν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν, οὐ τὴν θεότητα πεπονθέναι φησὶν, ἥτις ἐστὶ Κύριος τῆς δόξης, ἀλλὰ τὸ πρόσλημμα· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ῥητῶν τούτων αὐτὸς μὲν ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ Θεὸς πεπονθέναι λέγεται, διὰ τὴν μίαν ὑπόστασιν τῆς θεότητος, ἥτις καὶ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει γέγονεν ὑπόστασις· πεπονθέναι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μὲν καταβεβηκέναι, καὶ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ εἶναι, κατὰ τὴν ὑπόστασιν τῆς θεότητος· Υἱὸν δὲ ἀνθρώπου εἶναι κατὰ τὴν ὕστερον προσληφθεῖσαν φύσιν, μετὰ τὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κάθοδον. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς Κύριος διὰ τὴν μίαν ὑπόστασιν· δεύτερος μὲν ἄνθρωπος κατὰ τὴν ἡνωμένην ἀνθρωπότητα, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὴν θεότητα· εἰ γὰρ μὴ νοήσωμεν ἑκάστην οἰκείως, ἐναντιολογίαις ὑποβαλοῦμεν τὸν Ἀπόστολον. Πῶς γὰρ κατὰ πάντα ὅμοιος ἡμῖν τοῖς γηΐνοις; Πῶς δὲ ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ σάρκα οὐρανίαν περιβεβλημένος; Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ μυρία ἄτοπα ἕψεται.