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Ad Theophilum adversus Apollinaristas

OF GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, TO THEOPHILUS, AGAINST THE APOLLINARIANS

To the brother and fellow-minister Theophilus, Gregory

The great city of the Alexandrians is not only rich in worldly wisdom, but among you the fountains of true [of real] wisdom have also been gushing forth from antiquity. Therefore it seems right to me that assistance for the truth according to the mystery should come from those with whom there is greater power for the good. For somewhere the sublime gospel also says that from him to whom much was given, more will be required. Therefore it would be right for you to set all the power that is yours and your church's from divine grace against the falsely named knowledge of those who are always inventing something new against the truth, by whom the harmony according to God is cut asunder, and the great and venerable name of 3,1.120 Christians is silenced; but the church is divided according to human appellations; and the most terrible thing of all, that men rejoice in being named after those who lead them into error. If, therefore, it were possible for the prophetic prayer to be completely fulfilled and for sinners to vanish from the earth and the lawless, so that they might not exist, such a thing would be preferable to everything. But since the words of the lawless prevail through the energy of the adversary, having power against the truth, it would be desirable at least to lessen the evils and to hinder the further increase of worse things.

What then is it that I am saying? The proponents of the dogmas of Apollinarius attempt to strengthen their own positions by means of censure against us, constructing the Word as fleshly and the creator of the ages as the son of man and the divinity of the Son as mortal. For they allege that some in the catholic church advocate for two sons in their doctrine, the one being so by nature, and the other adopted later by position (I do not know from whom they have heard such a thing, 3,1.121 nor against what person they are contending; for I have never known anyone to have uttered these things) yet since they put forward this hypothesis against us and thereby strengthen their own suppositions, by seeming to grapple with this absurdity, it would be well for your perfection in Christ, as the Holy Spirit may bring it to your mind, to cut off the pretexts of those seeking pretexts against us and to persuade those who slanderously attribute these things to the church of God, that no such doctrine exists among Christians nor will it be preached. For it is not because the maker of the ages was seen on earth in the last days and conversed with men, that two sons are therefore numbered by the church, one the maker of the ages and another who at the end of the ages was manifested through the flesh to human life. For if anyone should take the economical manifestation through flesh of the only-begotten Son of God for the production of another son, this person, having counted [also] all the theophanies that happened to the saints <both> before the manifestation in the 3,1.122 flesh of the only-begotten Son of God and those that happened again after these to the worthy, would establish that there is a multitude of sons according to the number of the divine manifestations, and for him one son will be he who spoke to Abraham, and another he who appeared to Isaac; and another he who wrestled with Jacob; and another he who appeared to Moses in various manifestations, in light, in darkness, in a pillar of cloud, in the face to face sight, in the back parts. Again another son he who to the successor of Moses

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Ad Theophilum adversus Apollinaristas

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΑΠΟΛΙΝΑΡΙΣΤΩΝ

Ἀδελφῷ καὶ συλλειτουργῷ Θεοφίλῳ Γρηγόριος

Οὐ μόνης ἐστὶ τῆς κοσμικῆς σοφίας εὔπορος ἡ μεγάλη τῶν Ἀλεξανδρέων πόλις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀληθινῆς [τῆς ὄντως] σοφίας παρ' ὑμῖν ἐξ ἀρχαίου βρύουσιν αἱ πηγαί. διό μοι δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν, παρ' οἷς πλέων ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθόν ἐστι δύναμις, παρὰ τούτων γίνεσθαι τῆς κατὰ τὸ μυστήριον ἀληθείας τὴν συμμαχίαν. φησὶ γάρ που καὶ τὸ ὑψηλὸν εὐαγγέλιον ὅτι Ὧι πολὺ ἐδόθη, οὗτος τὸ πλέον ἀπαιτηθή σεται. οὐκοῦν δίκαιος ἂν εἴης πᾶσαν τὴν ἐκ τῆς θείας χάριτος προσοῦσαν σοί τε καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ σου δύναμιν ἀντιστῆσαι τῇ ψευδωνύμῳ γνώσει τῶν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀεί τι καινὸν ἐφευρισκόντων, δι' ὧν τέμνεται μὲν ἡ κατὰ θεὸν συμφωνία, σιγᾶται δὲ τὸ μέγα καὶ σεβάσμιον ὄνομα τῶν 3,1.120 Χριστιανῶν· πρὸς δὲ τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας προσηγορίας ἡ ἐκκλησία καταμερίζεται· καὶ τὸ πάντων δεινότατον, ὅτι χαίρουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τοῖς πρὸς τὴν πλάνην καθηγουμένοις ἐπονομαζόμενοι. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἦν δυνατὸν καθόλου τὴν προ φητικὴν εὐχὴν εἰς πέρας ἐλθεῖν καὶ ἐκλείπειν τοὺς ἁμαρτω λοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ τοὺς ἀνόμους, ὥστε μὴ ὑπάρχειν αὐτούς, ἦν ἂν τὸ τοιοῦτον τῷ παντὶ προτιμότερον. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οἱ λόγοι τῶν ἀνόμων ὑπερισχύουσιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἀντικει μένου ἐνεργείᾳ τὴν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἔχοντες δύναμιν, ἀγαπητὸν ἂν εἴη ἐλαττῶσαι γοῦν τὰ κακὰ καὶ κωλῦσαι πρὸς πλέον προϊοῦσαν τὴν τῶν χειρόνων ἐπαύξησιν.

Τί οὖν ἐστιν ὅ φημι; οἱ τῶν Ἀπολιναρίου δογμάτων προιστάμενοι διὰ τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν μέμψεως κρατύνειν ἐπι χειροῦσι τὰ ἴδια, σάρκινον τὸν λόγον καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν αἰώνων τὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου υἱὸν καὶ θνητὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ κατα σκευάζοντες τὴν θεότητα. προφέρουσι γὰρ ὡς τινῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν δύο πρεσβευόντων υἱοὺς ἐν τῷ δόγματι, τὸν μὲν κατὰ φύσιν ὄντα, τὸν δὲ κατὰ θέσιν ὕστερον προσγενόμενον (οὐκ οἶδα παρ' ὅτου τὸ τοιοῦτον 3,1.121 ἀκηκοότες καὶ πρὸς ποῖον διαπληκτιζόμενοι πρόσωπον· οὔπω γὰρ ἔγνων τὸν ταῦτα παραφθεγξάμενον)πλὴν ἐπειδὴ ταύτην προστησάμενοι καθ' ἡμῶν τὴν ὑπόθεσιν διὰ τοῦ δοκεῖν τῇ ἀτοπίᾳ ταύτῃ συμπλέκεσθαι τὰς ἑαυτῶν ὑπολήψεις κρατύνουσιν, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι τὴν σὴν ἐν Χριστῷ τελειότητα, καθὼς ἄν σοι ἐπὶ νοῦν ἀγάγῃ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἐκκόψαι τὰς ἀφορμὰς τῶν ζητούντων τὰς καθ' ἡμῶν ἀφορμὰς καὶ πεῖσαι τοὺς ταῦτα συκοφαντικῶς ἐπικα λοῦντας τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ὅτι οὔτε ἔστι δόγμα τοιοῦτον ἐν Χριστιανοῖς οὔτε κηρυχθήσεται. οὐ γάρ, ἐπειδὴ ὁ τῶν αἰώνων ποιητὴς ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη, διὰ τοῦτο δύο υἱοὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀριθμοῦνται, εἷς ὁ ποιητὴς τῶν αἰώνων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ ἐπὶ τῷ τέλει τῶν αἰώνων διὰ σαρκὸς φανερωθεὶς τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ζωῇ. εἰ γάρ τις τὴν οἰκονομικὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ σαρκὸς ἐπιφάνειαν εἰς ἑτέρου υἱοῦ κα τασκευὴν λαμβάνοι, οὗτος, ἀριθμήσας [καὶ] πάσας τὰς τοῖς ἁγίοις γεγενημένας θεοφανείας <τὰς> πρό τε τῆς κατὰ 3,1.122 σάρκα τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ φανερώσεως καὶ τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν τοῖς ἀξίοις γεγενημένας, κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῆς θεϊκῆς ἐπιφανείας υἱῶν πλῆθος εἶναι κατασκευάσει καὶ ἔσται αὐτῷ εἷς μὲν υἱὸς ὁ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ χρηματίσας, ἕτερος δὲ ὁ ἐπιφανεὶς τῷ Ἰσαάκ· καὶ ὁ τῷ Ἰακὼβ συμμαχήσας ἕτερος· καὶ ἄλλος ὁ τῷ Μωυσῇ φανεὶς ἐν διαφόροις ἐπιφανείαις, ἐν φωτί, ἐν γνόφῳ, ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης, ἐν τῇ κατενώπιον ὄψει, ἐν τοῖς ὀπισθίοις. ἄλλος πάλιν υἱὸς ὁ τῷ διαδόχῳ τοῦ Μωυσέως