Expositio fidei

Of Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria, an exposition of faith. 1.1 We believe in one unbegotten God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible, who has his being from himself. 1.2 and in one only-begotten Word, Wisdom, Son, begotten from the Father without beginning and eternally, a Word not uttered, not conceived in the mind, not an emanation of the perfect, not a division of the impassible nature nor a projection, but a Son perfect in himself, living and active, the true image of the Father, of equal honor and equal glory. 1.3 "For this," he says, "is the will of the Father," "that just as they honor the Father, so they should also honor the Son." True God from true God, as John says in his catholic [epistles]: "and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 1.4 Almighty from almighty; for of all things which the Father rules and has power over, he rules and has power over. Whole from whole. 1.5 being like the Father as the Lord says: "He who has seen me has seen the Father." And he was begotten inexpressibly and incomprehensibly; "For who shall declare his generation?" which means no one. 1.6 who at the consummation of the ages, came down from the bosom of the Father, from the spotless Virgin Mary took up our human nature, Christ Jesus, whom he delivered over to suffer for us by his own choice, as the Lord says: "No one takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again." 1.7 in which human nature, having been crucified and having died for us, he rose from the dead, was taken up into the heavens, having been made for us the beginning of ways while on earth he showed us light from darkness, salvation from error, life from the dead, an entrance into paradise, from which Adam had been cast out, into which he again entered through the thief, as the Lord said: "Today you will be with me in paradise," into which Paul also entered; and an ascent into the heavens, "where the forerunner has entered for us" the Lord's human nature, in which he is to judge the living and the dead. 2.1 We believe likewise in the Holy Spirit, who searches all things, "even the depths of God," anathematizing the doctrines that hold opinions contrary to this. 2.2 For we do not think of a Son-Father, as do the Sabellians who say one substance and not of the same substance and in this abolish the being of the Son. 2.3 nor do we attribute to the Father the passible body which he put on for the salvation of the whole world. 2.4 nor three hypostases divided in themselves, as can be conceived corporeally in the case of men, lest we think of polytheism like the gentiles, but just as a river having come from a spring is not divided although they are two forms and two names. 2.5 For neither is the Father the Son, nor is the Son the Father. For the Father is the Father of the Son and the Son is the Son of the Father. 2.6 For as the spring is not the river, nor is the river the spring; but both are one and the same water which is channeled from the spring into the river, so the Godhead from the Father to the Son is without flux and without division. 2.7 For the Lord says: "I came forth from the Father and have come." But he is always with the Father, being in the bosom of the Father. 2.8 And the bosom of the Father was never emptied of the Godhead of the Son. For he says: "I was with him, ordering things." 2.9 But we do not think that the Creator God of the universe, the Son of God, is a creature or a work or from non-being, but that he is being from being, only from only, as the like glory and power were co-begotten eternally from the Father. For "he who has seen the Son has seen the Father also." 2.10 Clearly all things were created through the Son, but he himself is not a creature, as Paul says concerning the Lord: "for in him all things were created" and "he is before all things." 2.11 But he does not say that he was "created" before all things, but that he is before all things. The

Expositio fidei

Τοῦ Ἀθανασίου, ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας, ἔκθεσις πίστεως. 1.1 Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα ἀγέννητον θεόν, πατέρα παντοκράτορα, πάντων ποιητὴν ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων, τὸν ἔχοντα ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸ εἶναι. 1.2 καὶ εἰς ἕνα μονογενῆ λόγον, σοφίαν, υἱόν, ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀϊδίως γεγεννημένον, λόγον δὲ οὐ προφορικόν, οὐκ ἐνδιάθετον, οὐκ ἀπόρροιαν τοῦ τελείου, οὐ τμῆσιν τῆς ἀπαθοῦς φύσεως οὔτε προβολήν, ἀλλ' υἱὸν αὐτοτελῆ, ζῶντά τε καὶ ἐνεργοῦντα, τὴν ἀληθινὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ πατρὸς ἰσότιμον καὶ ἰσόδοξον. 1.3 "τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι", φησί, "τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός," "ἵνα καθὼς τιμῶσι τὸν πατέρα οὕτω τιμῶσι καὶ τὸν υἱόν." θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, ὥς φησιν Ἰωάννης ἐν καθολικαῖς· "καὶ ἐσμὲν ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ, ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς καὶ ζωὴ αἰώνιος." 1.4 παντοκράτορα ἐκ παντοκράτορος· πάντων γάρ, ὧν ἄρχει ὁ πατὴρ καὶ κρατεῖ, ἄρχει καὶ κρατεῖ. ὅλος ἐξ ὅλου. 1.5 ὅμοιος τῷ πατρὶ ὢν ὥς φησιν ὁ κύριος· "ὁ ἐμὲ ἑωρακὼς ἑώρακε τὸν πατέρα." ἐγεννήθη δὲ ἀνεκφράστως καὶ ἀπερινοήτως· "τὴν γὰρ γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται;" ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐδείς. 1.6 ὃς ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων κατελθὼν ἐκ τῶν κόλπων τοῦ πατρός, ἐκ τῆς ἀχράντου παρθένου Μαρίας τὸν ἡμέτερον ἀνείληφεν ἄνθρωπον, Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν παθεῖν παρέδωκεν ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει, ὥς φησιν ὁ κύριος· "οὐδεὶς αἴρει τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν." 1.7 ἐν ᾧ ἀνθρώπῳ σταυρωθεὶς καὶ ἀποθανὼν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀνελήφθη εἰς οὐρανούς, ἀρχὴ ὁδῶν κτισθεὶς ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ γῇ ὢν ἡμῖν ἔδειξεν ἐκ σκότους φῶς, σωτηρίαν ἐκ πλάνης, ζωὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν, εἴσοδον ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, ἐξ οὗ ἐκβέβλητο Ἀδάμ, εἰς ὃν πάλιν εἰσῆλθε διὰ τοῦ ληστοῦ, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ κύριος· "σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ," εἰς ὃν καὶ ὁ Παῦλος εἰσῄει· ἄνοδόν τε εἰς οὐρανούς, "ὅπου πρόδρομος εἰσῆλθεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν" ὁ κυριακὸς ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ μέλλει κρίνειν ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. 2.1 Πιστεύομεν ὁμοίως εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, τὸ πάντα ἐρευνῶν "καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ," ἀναθεματίζοντες τὰ παρὰ τοῦτο φρονοῦντα δόγματα. 2.2 οὔτε γὰρ υἱοπάτορα φρονοῦμεν ὡς οἱ Σαβέλλιοι λέγοντες μονοούσιον καὶ οὐχ ὁμοούσιον καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἀναιροῦντες τὸ εἶναι υἱόν. 2.3 οὔτε τὸ παθητὸν σῶμα ὃ ἐφόρεσε διὰ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου σωτηρίαν, ἀνατίθεμεν τῷ πατρί. 2.4 οὔτε τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις μεμερισμένας καθ' ἑαυτάς, ὥσπερ σωματοφυῶς ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶ λογίσασθαι, ἵνα μὴ πολυθείαν ὡς τὰ ἔθνη φρονήσωμεν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκ πηγῆς ποταμὸς γεγενημένος οὐ διῃρέτη καίτοι δύο σχήματα καὶ δύο ὀνόματα τυγχάνοντα. 2.5 οὔτε γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ υἱός ἐστιν οὔτε ὁ υἱὸς πατήρ ἐστιν. ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ υἱοῦ πατήρ ἐστι καὶ ὁ υἱὸς πατρὸς υἱός ἐστιν. 2.6 ὡς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ πηγὴ ποταμὸς οὐδὲ ὁ ποταμὸς πηγή· ἀμφότερα δὲ ἓν καὶ ταυτόν ἐστιν ὕδωρ τὸ ἐκ τῆς πηγῆς εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν μετοχετευόμενον, οὕτως ἡ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς τὸν υἱὸν θεότης ἀρρεύστως καὶ ἀδιαιρέτως τυγχάνει. 2.7 φησὶ γὰρ ὁ κύριος· "ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω." παρὰ δὲ τῷ πατρί ἐστιν ἀεὶ ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός. 2.8 οὐδέποτε δὲ ἐκενώθη ὁ κόλπος τοῦ πατρὸς τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ θεότητος. φησὶ γάρ· "ἐγὼ ἤμην παρ' αὐτῷ ἁρμόζουσα." 2.9 οὐ φρονοῦμεν δὲ κτίσμα ἢ ποίημα ἢ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τὸν τοῦ παντὸς κτίστην θεόν, τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ υἱόν, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος ὄντα, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ μόνου μόνον, ὡς συναπεγεννήθη ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀϊδίως ἡ ὁμοία δόξα καὶ δύναμις. "ὁ" γὰρ "ἑωρακὼς τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἑώρακε." 2.10 τὰ πάντα δηλονότι διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐκτίσθησαν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτὸς κτίσμα, ὥς φησιν ὁ Παῦλος περὶ τοῦ κυρίου· "ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα" καὶ "αὐτός ἐστι πρὸ πάντων." 2.11 οὐ λέγει δὲ ὅτι πρὸ πάντων "3ἐκτίσθη"3, ἀλλ' ὅτι πρὸ πάντων ἐστί. τὸ