De incarnatione et contra Arianos

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS ATHANASIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, CONCERNING THE INCARNATE EPIPHANY OF THE WORD OF GOD,

AND AGAINST THE ARIANS. Those who wish to understand the divine Scriptures with evil art, wish to bring forward the human sayings of the poverty of the Son 985 of God in order to establish their own blasphemy. But all the precision of Christianity is found in humble words and deeds. If, then, they were able to hear the blessed Paul writing to the Corinthians: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich; they would never have dared to say the Son is unlike the Father; if indeed they knew what the manner of his poverty was, and what the power of his cross. Whence also elsewhere the same Paul says: That you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. For this reason he speaks boldly in writing about His poverty and sufferings, saying: But God forbid that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world; and again: For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified; and, If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And now these men, if they had known the divine Scriptures, would not have dared to blaspheme the Creator of all things as a creature or a created thing. For they bring forward to us, saying: How can he be like, or of the Father's substance, when it is written: As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself? There is a superiority, he says, of the giver over the receiver; and, Why do you call me good? he says; no one is good except God alone; and again: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and again: But concerning that last day no one knows, not even the Son, but only the Father; and again: He whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world; and again: Whom the Father raised from the dead. How then, they say, can he who is raised from the dead be like or of one substance with him who raised him? These few things out of many we have set forth, so that, these being resolved, the rest also may be easily understood. We must therefore, as far as possible, explain their meaning 988. When, therefore, the blessed Paul says, The Father raised his Son from the dead, John relates to us that Jesus said: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But he was speaking, he says, of the temple of his body. It is clear then to those who pay attention, that, when the body is raised, the Son is said by Paul to have been raised from the dead; for the things of his body are said in his own person. So therefore also when he says, The Father gave life to the Son, the life given to the flesh must be understood. For if he himself is the life, how does life receive life? And if he himself promises, saying: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; and if he himself is the wisdom of God, and if he himself made every age, how is it said: And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature? And if the Father made all things through his own Word and Son, it is clear that he also made the resurrection of his flesh through him. Through him, therefore, he raised him, and through him he gives him life. He is raised indeed according to the flesh as a man, and receives life as a man, being found in fashion as a man. And he himself is the one who raises his own temple, as

De incarnatione et contra Arianos

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΕΙΑΣ, ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΝΣΑΡΚΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΙΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΥ,

ΚΑΙ ΚΑΤΑ ΑΡΕΙΑΝΩΝ. Οἱ κακοτέχνως τὰς θείας Γραφὰς βουλόμενοι νοεῖν, τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ῥήματα τῆς πτωχείας τοῦ Υἱοῦ 985 τοῦ Θεοῦ παράγειν βούλονται πρὸς τὸ συστῆσαι τὴν ἑαυτῶν βλασφημίαν. Πᾶσα δὲ ἀκρίβεια τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ ἐν τοῖς εὐτελέσι ῥήμασι καὶ πράγμασιν εὑρίσκεται. Εἰ οὖν ἠδύναντο ἀκούειν τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου γράφοντος πρὸς Κορινθίους· Γινώσκετε γὰρ τὴν χάριν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι δι' ἡμᾶς ἐπτώχευσε πλούσιος ὢν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς τῇ ἐκείνου πτωχείᾳ πλουτήσωμεν· οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἀνόμοιον τῷ Πατρὶ τὸν Υἱὸν ἐτόλμησαν εἰπεῖν· εἴπερ ἔγνωσαν, τίς ὁ τρόπος τῆς πτωχείας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τίς ἡ δύναμις τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ. Ὅθεν καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει ὁ αὐτὸς Παῦλος· Ἵνα ἐξισχύσητε καταλαβεῖν σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις, τί τὸ πλάτος, καὶ μῆκος, καὶ βάθος, καὶ ὕψος, γνῶναί τε τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀγάπην τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐγγράφως ἐν τῇ πτωχεία αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς παθήμασι παῤῥησιάζεται λέγων· Ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι, εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται, κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ· καὶ πάλιν· Οὐδὲν ἔκρινα εἰδέναι ἐν ὑμῖν, εἰ μὴ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, καὶ τοῦτον ἐσταυρωμένον· καὶ, Εἰ ἔγνωσαν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν. Καὶ νῦν οὗτοι, εἰ ἔγνωσαν τὰς θείας Γραφὰς, οὐκ ἂν τὸν Κτίστην τῶν ἁπάντων κτίσμα ἢ δημιούργημα βλασφημῆσαι ἐτόλμησαν. Παράγουσι γὰρ ἡμῖν, λέγοντες· Πῶς δύναται ὅμοιος, ἢ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐσίας εἶναι, ὁπότε γέγραπται· Ὥσπερ ὁ Πατὴρ ἔχει ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὕτως ἔδωκε καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ; ὑπεροχή ἐστι, φησὶ, τοῦ διδόντος παρὰ τὸν λαμβάνοντα· καὶ, Τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; φησίν· οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς, εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ Θεός· καὶ πάλιν· Θεέ μου, Θεέ μου, ἱνατί με ἐγκατέλιπες; καὶ αὖθις· Περὶ τῆς ἡμέρας τῆς ἐσχάτης οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱὸς, εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατήρ· καὶ πάλιν· Ὃν ὁ Πατὴρ ἡγίασε, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον· καὶ πάλιν· Ὃν ὁ Πατὴρ ἤγειρεν ἐκ νεκρῶν. Πῶς οὖν, φασὶν, ὅμοιος εἶναι δύναται ἢ ὁμοούσιος ὁ ἐγειρόμενος ἐκ νεκρῶν τῷ ἐγείραντι αὐτόν; Ταῦτα δὲ ἀπὸ πολλῶν ὀλίγα παρεθέμεθα, ὅπως, τούτων λυθέντων, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ εὐχερῶς νοηθῇ. Ὀφείλομεν οὖν ἡμεῖς κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν τὴν δύναμιν 988 αὐτῶν ἐξηγήσασθαι. Ὅταν οὖν λέγει ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος, Ὁ Πατὴρ ἤγειρε τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκ νεκρῶν, Ἰωάννης ἡμῖν διηγεῖται, ὅτι ἔλεγεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν. Ἔλεγε δὲ, φησὶ, περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ. ∆ῆλον οὖν ἐστι τοῖς προσέχουσιν, ὅτι, τοῦ σώματος ἐγειρομένου, ὁ Υἱὸς λέγεται παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ ἐγηγέρθαι ἐκ νεκρῶν· τὰ γὰρ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ αὐτοῦ πρόσωπον λέγεται. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ὅταν λέγῃ, Ζωὴν ἔδωκεν ὁ Πατὴρ τῷ Υἱῷ, τῇ σαρκὶ δεδομένην τὴν ζωὴν νοητέον. Εἰ γὰρ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ ζωὴ, πῶς ἡ ζωὴ ζωὴν λαμβάνει; Καὶ εἰ αὐτὸς ἐπαγγέλλεται λέγων· Τὰ πρόβατά μου τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούει, κἀγὼ γινώσκω αὐτὰ, καὶ ἀκολουθοῦσί μοι, κἀγὼ ζωὴν αἰώνιον δίδωμι αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀπόλλωνται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· καὶ εἰ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ εἰ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν, πῶς λέγεται· Προέκοπτε δὲ Ἰησοῦς σοφίᾳ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ; Καὶ εἰ ὁ Πατὴρ διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου Λόγου καὶ Υἱοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐποίησε, δῆλον, ὅτι καὶ τὴν ἔγερσιν τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ δι' αὐτοῦ ἐποίησε. ∆ι' αὐτοῦ οὖν αὐτὸν ἤγειρε, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ αὐτῷ ζωὴν δίδωσιν. Ἐγείρεται μὲν κατὰ σάρκα ὡς ἄνθρωπος, καὶ λαμβάνει ζωὴν ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἐν σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος. Καὶ αὐτὸς δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἐγείρων τὸν ἴδιον ναὸν, ὡς