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Fragmenta varia

Athanasius the Great of Alexandria · khazarzar

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machine-draft · no human review 2 passages · 413 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

The Fragmenta varia attributed to Athanasius the Great of Alexandria survive only in later catenae and florilegia, not in a continuous manuscript tradition. Their wording is mediated by excerptors and may reflect secondary adaptation. Attribution rests on internal doctrinal affinity and manuscript ascription, lacking external 4th-century witness. Dating is conjectural, likely post-350 but before 373. The fragments were cited in anti-Arian and anti-Nestorian florilegia (5th–7th centuries) as proof-texts for Nicene orthodoxy, shaping the reception of Athanasius’s corpus. The source edition (khazarzar) provides no critical apparatus or manuscript sigla, preventing verification of textual basis or variant readings.

These fragments are significant as evidence of Athanasius’s theological arguments against Arian and Valentinian Christology, particularly on the unity of Christ’s natures and the term hypostasis. Their use in later florilegia shaped the reception of Athanasius’s corpus and Nicene orthodoxy. However, their fragmentary and mediated transmission requires caution in attributing them directly to Athanasius.

Historical context

The fragments are attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373), a central figure in the Arian controversy and champion of Nicene orthodoxy. They likely originated in the mid-to-late 4th century, after 350 but before Athanasius’s death in 373, in the context of ongoing theological debates with Arian and later Nestorian opponents. The fragments survive only in Greek catenae and florilegia compiled in the 5th–7th centuries, primarily in monastic and scholarly circles in the Eastern Roman Empire. Their transmission is indirect, mediated by excerptors who selected passages for doctrinal utility. The lack of a continuous manuscript tradition and the absence of critical apparatus in the khazarzar edition mean that the text’s fidelity to Athanasius’s original wording is uncertain. The fragments engage with Valentinian and other heterodox views, reflecting Athanasius’s broader polemical concerns.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

12 commentary units 5 scripture2 background2 term1 sense1 structure1 caution 0 derived notes 3 open questions 2 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: other in ancient Greek; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 2 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: khazarzar — Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
khazarzar-athanasius-the-great-of-alexandria-fragmenta-varia:1 · narrativemedium
Source
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; Δι' 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·
English
Of the same (Athanasius) Against Valentinus, who is largely in agreement with the heretics previously mentioned. How can you say that Christ was clothed in heavenly flesh and not human flesh, even though the Apostle declares: "The sanctifier and the sanctified are all from one"? For what reason, he says, is he not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: "I will announce your name to my brothers." And from one, whom? Adam, evidently, according to Luke's genealogy; and again: "Since the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he likewise partook of the same." And refuting also the notion of heavenly flesh, he added: "For he does not, of course, partake of angels, but of the seed of Abraham; hence he was obliged to be made like his brothers in all respects." And many such things. But the Lord, they say, said in the Gospels: "No one has ascended into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven"; and the Apostle again: "The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man, the Lord, is from heaven, heavenly." For behold, from both sides he is called a heavenly man. To them we will say that, since Christ is twofold in his natures but single in his hypostasis, he appropriates the attributes of each nature. And just as the Apostle, speaking of the Christ-killers, said: "If they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," he does not mean that the divinity, which is the Lord of glory, suffered, but the assumption.
khazarzar-athanasius-the-great-of-alexandria-fragmenta-varia:2 · narrativehigh
Source
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.
English
Thus also in these very statements, the Son and God Himself is said to have suffered, on account of the single hypostasis of the divinity, which also became the hypostasis for the human nature; but He suffered according to His human nature, and He both descended from heaven and is in heaven according to the hypostasis of the divinity; and He is Son of Man according to the nature later assumed, after the descent from heaven. And again, the same Lord, on account of the single hypostasis, is second man according to the united humanity, but from heaven according to the divinity; for if we do not understand each in its proper sense, we will subject the Apostle to contradictions. For how is He in all respects like us earthborn? And how is He our brother, if He is clothed in heavenly flesh? And countless other absurdities will follow.
Citation. Tergwame, “Fragmenta varia”, khazarzar-athanasius-the-great-of-alexandria-fragmenta-varia:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/khazarzar-athanasius-the-great-of-alexandria-fragmenta-varia#s1
Colophon. Source: khazarzar · licence: Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0016 · generated 2026-11-15.