Sermo major de fide

Of the same holy Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria and Confessor, from the greater discourse on faith. Was the one raised from the dead a man or a god? Peter our apostle interprets, knowing better, and says: after taking him down from the wood they placed him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead. So the dead body of Jesus taken down from the wood and placed in a tomb and buried by Joseph of Arimathea, that body the Word raised, saying: loosen this temple and in three days I will raise it. He who gives life to all the dead also gave life to the man from Mary, Christ Jesus, whom he assumed. 2 Of the same, from the same discourse. Life cannot die; rather, it gives life to the dead. Therefore he is also a source of life by his divinity from the Father, but the one who died is a man, or rather also raised from the dead, who also intercedes for us, the one from the Virgin Mary, whom the divinity of the Word assumed for our sake. So the phrase "in the beginning was the Word" clearly indicates the divinity, while "the Word became flesh" shows the humanity of the Lord. 3 Of the same, from the same discourse. So the divinity of Jesus is what places and receives the soul of the man he wore. For he assumed the whole man, so that he might give life to him whole and, together with him, to the dead. 4 And again. The Lord's man did not die from weakness or unwillingly, but came of his own accord to the economy of death, being strengthened by the God Word dwelling in him, who said: no one takes my soul from me; I place it myself.

I have authority to place it and again authority to take it. — From the same discourse: For being powerful and creator of all, he constructs for himself in the virgin a temple, the body, and appropriates this as an instrument, being known and dwelling in it. — Of the same, from the same discourse: For this reason he takes to himself a body capable of dying, so that this, partaking of the Word of God, might become sufficient for death on behalf of all, and through the Word dwelling in it might remain incorruptible. — And after a little: For being above all, the Word of God fittingly, having offered his own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute life for all, fulfilled the debt in death. And as the incorruptible Son of God, being present through the similar to all, fittingly clothed all in incorruption in the promise of resurrection. For the corruption in death itself no longer has place among men because of the Word dwelling in them through the one body. And just as when a great king enters a great city and dwells in one of the houses in it, that city is deemed worthy of much honor and no enemy or robber attacking it destroys it, but rather it is deemed worthy of all care because of the king dwelling in one of its houses, so also has it happened with our Savior.

For when he came into our region and dwelt in one of the bodies like ours, then every plot against men ceased. — And again after a little: For he was not shut up in the body, nor was he in the body and not elsewhere, nor did he move that while others were deprived of his providence, but, most paradoxically, being Word, he was not contained by anything, but rather himself contained all things. — And after a little: And by the descent of the Word into it, the body was no longer corrupted according to its own nature, but because of the indwelling Word of God it became free from corruption. — From the same discourse: For the body suffered according to the nature of bodies, but it had the nature of incorruption from the Word that dwelt with it. — From the same discourse: The Son of God himself, in a three-day interval, showed the body, which had become dead, to be immortal and incorruptible. And it was shown to all that the body had not died from weakness of the nature of the indwelling Word, but in order that death might be annihilated in it by the power of the Savior. — Of the same, from the same: What end was necessary for the body, when the Word had entered it? It could not but die, since it was mortal and offered up for all to death, for which purpose the Savior also constructed it; but to remain dead was not possible, because it had become a temple of life.

Hence he died as a mortal, but revived through the life in him. — 13 From the same discourse: What incredible thing is said by us, if, when humanity was wandering, the Word sat upon it and appeared as man, in order to save it, storm-tossed, through governance and goodness? And after a little: It is the work of the soul to contemplate the interior of its own body with its reasonings, but not also to act upon things outside its own body or to move things far away by its presence. For never does a man, while thinking about distant things, already move and transport them; nor, if someone sits in his own house and contemplates things in heaven, does he already move the sun and turn the heaven around; but he sees them moving and happening, yet he is not capable of also working them. The Word of God in the man is not like this; for he was not bound to the body, but rather he himself controlled it, so that he was both in it and was in all things, and was outside of all things, and was in the Father alone. — 15 From the same discourse: Consider, I ask, whether they do not, by stirring up mockery against themselves, show ignorance. The wise men of the Greeks say that the cosmos is a great body, and they speak truly in saying so. For we see it and its part, that it falls under the senses.

If, then, the Word of God is in the world, which is a body, and has come upon all things both in whole and in each of its parts, what is wonderful or what is out of place, if we say that he has also sojourned in a human being? — 16 And again: But if, creation being generated, it is not out of place for the Word to be in it, then neither is it out of place for him to be in a human being. — 17 And a little later: Therefore it is not at all unbecoming for the Word to be in a human being and for all things to be illuminated and moved by him and in him. — 18 Of the same: On the birth of Christ in the flesh: From the apology on behalf of Dionysius, Archbishop of Alexandria: For when he took—such are the expressions: — 19 Of the same: From the discourse on faith, the greater one: For seeing Adam, deceived by the devil, transgress the commandment of his creator and come under the curse and possession of death, the Word of God, the creator of all, having fashioned for himself from the descendant of Adam, the virgin Mary, a body capable of containing him, undefiled, gave himself up willingly to all the fullness of divinity in a bodily manner and to human passions, on behalf of the whole world, so that he might put to death the devil, who once ruled over death, by the death of his own body. — 20 From the same discourse: On the garment: Blood does not come forth from the spirit of the Word’s divinity, but from the human being whom he wore. — 21 From the same: The “I am the vine” and “my Father is greater than I” and “he created me” and “I am a worm and not a man” and all the humble things he said about himself in the Gospels and in the prophets, referring to what he wore.

body for our sake, it has been said: – 22 From the same: Neither do we attribute to the Father the passible body which he wore for the salvation of the whole. For all things were created by the Father through the Son, but the Son alone was begotten by the Father. For this reason the Word of God is firstborn of all creation; for he is changeless from the Changeless. Therefore the body which he wore for our sake is a creature. – 23 From the same discourse: For having put on Adam together with the passions, in all things without sin, the one called Jesus, so that through him he might bring the lost sheep to the Father, he was led as a sheep to slaughter and as a lamb voiceless before its shearer, concerning whom Paul writes: the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom in our stead. And in another place he says: through man came death, and through man comes life. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. – 24 From the same discourse: For through the Word himself all things came to be and were created, but he himself did not come to be; rather, the man whom he wore for our sake, having become and been created, the scriptures make clear. – 25 From the same discourse: For the Lord says: every branch remaining in me bears fruit. And in the man he wore, who was from the earth-born Adam, he gave life to that which was from the race of Adam. – 26 From the same discourse: Observe that until now no one has seen the Son of God as he is, until he revealed himself to us; but the son of man whom he wore for our sake we have seen, whom Paul spoke of.

Consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus, who was faithful to the one who made him, whom Stephen also speaks of: "I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." He did not say that he had seen the Word or the Wisdom of the Father, but the Son of Man, the Lordly body from Mary. – 27 From the same, from the same discourse, On the fact that Jesus advanced in age and wisdom and grace. The man understood in reference to the Savior is said to be the same, at one time being an infant, and at another time advancing in age and wisdom and grace, and beginning at about thirty years of age, as the evangelist Luke says. The body that admits of growth and age is itself a creation and a product. – 28 From the same discourse: Jesus Christ, the man understood in reference to the Savior, is the one who admits of growth in age, at one time being an infant, at another time a man beginning at about thirty years of age, as Luke says. – 29 From the same: Therefore, the man who changes with age, Christ Jesus, who became a faithful apostle and high priest to the one who made him, is the one who undergoes growth. – 30 From the same, On the baptism of the Lord Christ, from the discourse against the Arians: And let no one think—into his humanity. – 31 From the same, On the struggles of the Lord Christ against the devil, from the discourse on the division of the garments: Thus also the Lord, with human weakness—against the enemy. – 32 From the same, On the glorification of the Lord Christ, from the discourse on faith: Stephen says.

I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the power of God. He did not say that he had seen the Word or the Wisdom of the Father, but the Son of Man, the Lordly body from Mary, which Paul says sits at the right hand of God. Concerning which body David speaks prophetically in the person of the Father: "Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a footstool under your feet," since he foreknew that the devil and his cooperating opposing powers would be enemies, which were hostile to the Lordly man, knowing that through his death they would be abolished, along with the devil who holds power over death. — 33 From the same discourse: For those who diminish the divinity of the Word, thinking that the Lord was not able by himself to repel the enemies, suppose that the Father said to the Son, "Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a footstool under your feet." Therefore, let the uneducated know that this was written concerning the man understood according to the flesh. For in the same David it is written concerning the Lordly man:

the enemy will not prevail in you. – 34 From the same discourse: The body, then, is that of which he says, “Sit at my right hand,” the body against which the devil, together with the evil powers, the Jews, and the Greeks, has become an enemy. – 35 From the same, from the discourse against the Arians: And when Peter speaks concerning the humanity: – 36 And a little later: For the Word – Lord and God: – 37 From the same discourse: For the apostle, educated from the ancient writings and being learned in the law, and having diligently studied the proverbs of Solomon. From the same: You see that until now no one has seen the Son of God as he is, until he reveals himself to us; but the Son of Man which he wore for us, we have seen, which Paul spoke of: consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus Christ, who is faithful to the one who made him. – 39 And a little later: What I have said many times, I will say now: Jesus, the man of the Savior, who is faithful to the one who made him, whom he told us to consider. – 40 And a little later: The ignorant do not distinguish which person of the prophetic spirit cries out concerning the body of the Lord and which teaches his eternal generation from the Father, but they indicate one and the same, the impassible Word and the passible man of Jesus. – 41 From the same: When, therefore, all creation meets Jesus in the clouds and submits to him, then the Son himself will submit to the Father on behalf of all creation, having become the faithful apostle and high priest, so that God may be all in all, that is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one lordship, divinity, and kingdom.

If anyone says that he did not say Jesus is the one being subordinated, but the Son, let him hear that Jesus was named and is Son of God because of the divine Word hidden in him. – 42 From the same discourse: Manifestly, the Jesus born from the seed of David was defined as Son of God according to the spirit of holiness from the resurrection of the dead, whom Paul said would be subordinated to God as Son. – 43 From the same discourse: Therefore the Son himself will be subordinated to the Father on behalf of the whole creation, just as he who was born from the immaculate virgin for our sake, who does not know the day of judgment, gave himself up to suffer on behalf of all. – 44 From the same discourse: For even if he did not say "the Son of Man," but simply "the Son," it is shown that he is not indicating the divine Word as ignorant, but the man. – 45 From the same discourse: Therefore the one who does not know the day of judgment is the Son born from Mary.

For the Word of God, who is from the heart of the Father, knows nothing, for he knows all things before their generation. – 46 And after a little: For the truth descended with Jesus, who died for us, into the heart of the earth, so that, being truth, it might free those deceived by falsehood. – 47 From the same discourse: But if Paul, the vessel of election, said that there are some ineffable words which neither he nor another was able to utter, undoubtedly the Word of God, who revealed the ineffable words to him in Christ Jesus, has an ineffable generation from the Father. – 48 And after a little: from the small discourse on faith. Of the same: He who at the consummation of the ages came down from the bosom of the Father, from the immaculate virgin Mary, took up our man Jesus Christ, whom he delivered to suffer for us by his own choice. – 49 From the same discourse: The salvation planted in us, new and not old, for us and not before us, is Jesus, the man understood according to the Savior. – 50 Of the same holy Athanasius, from the letter to Maximus the philosopher: For what through the body— – finds a pretext. – 51 Of the same, from the apology on behalf of Dionysius: The things concerning the divinity— – from the Word himself. – 52 From the same letter: The Savior said— – the vine, which is the Lord’s body. – 53 From the same apology: For it is necessary of the vine— – is of God. – 54 Of the same holy Athanasius, from the greater discourse on faith: The blessed Paul, having said that everything was created in him, said that he alone is before all.

For being trained from ancient writings, a student of the law, and having studied the proverbs of Solomon, and having found two forms concerning the Lord—one concerning the man whom he was about to assume from Mary, and the other concerning the Word eternally begotten from the Father before all ages—he writes to Timothy concerning the one from Mary: "Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, from the seed of David according to the flesh." And concerning the Word of God always with the Father, he said that he is before all things. Let those, therefore, who say that the Word of God was created as a beginning of works be refuted by all the saints. And let them hear from David that he is not a work, but a maker of works, as he says: "The heavens are the works of your hands; they will perish, but you endure." – 55 From the same discourse: Jesus Christ yesterday and today is the same and for the ages. The man understood according to the Savior is said to be the same, once being an infant and once advancing in age and wisdom and grace, beginning when he was about thirty years old, as the evangelist Luke says. The body that admits of growth and age is itself a creature and a product. – 56 From the same discourse: Being refuted, therefore, by the saints, let those who say that the Word from the Father is a creature either cease from their impious blasphemy or be denounced by all as Christ-fighters. For in what they are defeated, they trust, in the Proverbs, in the one saying, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works," they slip.

For Solomon, prophesying about the man of the Lord who was to be created from Mary for the benefit of the whole world, said in his person: "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works." And a little later from the same discourse: "Surely, then, let every house of Israel know that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." So the apostles, pointing with their finger to the crucified man of the Lord, said: "This Jesus God made Christ and Lord." This man of the Lord, manifestly, and the beginning of ways, was created for the benefit of the aforementioned, the ruler of all the saints and of the ways that are so named, and Lord Jesus Christ, who was made and crucified, concerning whom Jeremiah also said, according to the edition of the Seventy interpreters: "The Lord created me as a salvation for a new planting, in which salvation men will go about," but according to Aquila, concerning the same saying, he says: "The Lord created a new thing in the female." And what he calls a new salvation, created for us and not before us, and what he calls a new thing created in the female, understand as the man Jesus according to the Savior.

For “Jesus” is interpreted partly as “savior,” partly as “salvation” (just as from the savior comes salvation, in the same way as from light comes illumination), which man Jesus he called salvation, created for us as something new in the female, that is, in Mary, or rather from Mary. – 58 And a little later: Whom, then, Solomon said was created as the beginning of ways, and whom Jeremiah says was created as a new salvation and something new in the female, the one whom for our sake and for us Wisdom built for herself a house, Christ Jesus, having shown from the scriptures, let us proceed to what follows, concerning which some, either through ignorance or having been prejudiced and persisting in error, neither wish to teach correctly nor to be taught. – 59 From the same discourse: If all were able to receive the divine oracles spiritually, he would not have refused to impart to them the spiritual gift, nor would he have given them milk, if all were able to partake of solid food. But for those who are still infants with respect to the discourse of the knowledge of God, like nursing infants, he permits them to receive the discourse of catechesis, not yet able to feed on the bread of angels, the divine Word hidden in a human body. – 60 From the same discourse: It is necessary, therefore, for us, as knowledgeable stewards of divine mysteries, to impart the discourse according to what each is able to receive. For the old wineskins burst, not containing the new wine of the true vine, that is, the discourse of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since, then, some—indeed, many—who have not yet become disciples have from rashness come to teach, not knowing either what they say or about what they make assertions, blinding the eyes of their understanding, having neither a mind that sees God as Jacob did nor a pure heart that will see God, and they attach to the divinity of the Word the written sayings and humble deeds and lowly utterances that are on account of the man which the Savior wore for our sake, and they go astray and lead astray the ignorant and the unsteady, we have had necessity, as Jude writes, to set forth through this letter which sayings belong to the divinity of the Word and which to the man taken up for our sake. For just as in one purse gold and silver coins are stored, both bearing the image and inscription of the name of one king, but the money-changer who guards them knows the superiority of the gold over the inferior value of the silver, so also, even if in one scripture both concerning the divinity of the Son and concerning the body which He wore from Mary for our sake are written, yet we shall recognize each of them as intelligent disciples of the one and true teacher. Therefore, all lowly expressions and deeds, understand as written concerning the body of Jesus; but all glorious writings, as concerning the divinity of the Word. When He hungers after fasting, that is a defect of the body; but when He feeds the five thousand from five loaves, apart from children and women, and twelve baskets of fragments remain over, that is a work of the divinity of the Word. When He sleeps on a cushion in the boat, that is a work of bodily rest.

When he walks upon the sea and threatens the waves and the winds, saying, "Be silent, be still," he immediately hears from those in the boat, who swear and confess, "Truly you are the Son of God." When he stands at the tomb of Lazarus and weeps, and when he was about to suffer, he says, "My soul is sorrowful unto death," and is distressed, and says that the spirit of the divinity is ready for every economy, but the flesh is weak—the weakness of the body is to be grieved and distressed. When he commands, "Lazarus, come out," and the dead man who had been buried for four days and already decomposed rises alive—which had not happened since the beginning of creation—this is a sign of the divinity. When, weary from the journey on our behalf, he sits by the spring, the body is what wearies. When he says, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest," it is the work of the divinity to heal from bodily diseases and labors and from the dangers of the soul. When he is baptized by John, who committed no sin and in whose mouth no deceit was found, this is the body's expiation on our behalf. When he commands the apostles to baptize all the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of

of the Holy Spirit, by his divine power. When he bends his knees and prays as a man, it is the body’s confession on our behalf. When on the mountain, as he is transfigured, Peter and James and John, unable to bear the glory, bow their faces and knees to the ground, it is the strength of the glory of the divinity of the Word. When he strengthens the apostles, saying, “Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul,” it is the invisible and powerful consolation of the divinity. When he declines to die, it is the body’s cowardice. For before Adam’s transgression, there was neither grief nor cowardice, nor toil, nor hunger, nor death. — 61 From the same discourse: “I am,” he says, “the way of those who are saved, and the life of the dead, and the truth of those who flee falsehood,” saying to those in darkness, “Uncover yourselves; I am the light of the world.” For having put on Adam together with the passions without sin, the one called Jesus, through him he brought the lost sheep to the Father, led as a sheep to slaughter and as a lamb voiceless before its shearer, concerning whom Paul writes: “The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for us and for our sins.” And in another place the apostle says: “Through man comes death, and through man comes life.” For just as in Adam we all die, so also in Christ we shall all be given life. And again in another place he writes: “The first man is from earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.

Thus the first Adam signifies the first-formed man of the world, and the second Adam signifies the man understood according to the Savior, who is called son of man, sheep, vine, bread, tree, grain of wheat, and things similar to these; and he is also called Adam, even if the difference of the second from the first is great. For the one came from earth, but the other, being the Word of the Father, became flesh, not being emptied of being Word because he bore flesh, just as gold is not emptied of its glory when it happens to be inside a foreign chest. — From the same discourse: If then the apostle says the saying that says, "He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead also raises us with Jesus," do not be ashamed to say, "The Lord was not able to raise his own body unless the Father raised it." Those who insult the Lord say this. Understand the man raised from the dead, whom our apostle Peter, knowing better, interprets and says, "Having taken him down from the wood, they placed him in a tomb, and God raised him from the dead." So the dead body of Jesus taken down from the wood and placed in a tomb and buried by Joseph of Arimathea—this body the Word raised, saying, "Loose this temple, and in three days I will raise it." He who gives life to all the dead also gave life to the man from Mary, Christ Jesus, whom the Word of God himself assumed. For if, while on the cross, he raised the already disintegrated dead bodies of the saints, much more was he able to raise the body he wore, which the ever-living God Word bore, as Paul says.

For the Word of God is living and active. — 63 Of the same holy Athanasius, from the same discourse: When our teacher asserts in another place, "Consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus, who is faithful to the one who made him," do not suppose that the Word, who is from the beginning with God the Father, is a creation. For he does not mean to consider the invisible divinity, but the Lordly man, whom Paul called the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom in our behalf. He meant to consider Jesus, who is faithful to the one who made him, just as the Lord says, "Consider the ravens, how they do not sow," and so forth, and again, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." So he means to consider visible things, not angels or other invisible creations. For even if the prophet Habakkuk says, "I considered your works and was amazed," he says "I considered works," not the maker of the works. And the apostle means to consider the visible body of the Lord, not the invisible divinity of the Word. For no one has ever seen God, nor can see him, even though the Word was and is God, as the theologian John says. Therefore, when we hear "consider," we understand the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom in our behalf, whom he calls apostle and high priest, faithful, he means to consider the creation. For all things were created, but the Word of God, who is the Son, is not a creation, but a generation according to nature.

For the Father created all things through the Word, as Paul says, in whom all things were created, and as John says, all things came to be through him and without him not one thing came to be, but he does not create the Word himself, but begets him. For through the Word himself all things came to be and were created, but he himself did not come to be, but rather the one whom he wore for us, having become and been created a man, the scriptures make clear. — 64 From the same discourse: For the Lord says, every branch that remains in me bears fruit. And in the man he wore from the earthly Adam, he will give life to the race from Adam, having been put to death in flesh, but given life in spirit, as Peter writes that he says he was put to death in flesh for us and not in the immortal life-giving divinity. For the Lord says, I am the life; life, at any rate, does not die, but rather gives life to the dead. For just as light is not harmed in a dark place, nor can life suffer anything when it visits the mortal nature. For the divinity of the Word is unchangeable and immutable. — 65 From the same discourse: For who, he says, has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become his counselor, who will instruct him? The Son alone is the counselor of the Father and has known his mind, as the one who says, no one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the Son except the Father and to whomever the Son reveals him. So John also says concerning the Lord: when he is revealed, we shall be like him and see him as he is. See that until now no one has seen the Son of God as he is, until he reveals himself to us; but the man he wore for us, we have seen, whom Paul spoke of.

Consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus, who was faithful to the one who made him, whom Stephen also speaks of: I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the power of God. He did not say that he had seen the Word or the Wisdom of the Father, but the Son of Man, the Lordly body from Mary, which Paul also speaks of: who sat down at the right hand of God. Concerning which body David says prophetically in the person of the Father: Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a footstool under your feet, whom he foreknew would be enemies: the devil and the opposing energies that work with him, which were hostile to the Lordly man, knowing that through his death they themselves and the one holding the power of death, the devil, and the Jews who were hostile to him would be abolished. In them the scripture is fulfilled: They hated me for nothing, for which, though taught things for their benefit, they dared to scourge and crucify him, calling him a Samaritan, a demoniac, and a sinful man, even though through him sin was condemned. Concerning him it is written: They will look upon the one whom they pierced, whom in the judgment they see judging the living and the dead, as John says about the Lord, just as he gave him the power to judge, because he is the Son of Man.

Repenting, tribe by tribe, they will say: This is the one we once held up to ridicule, saying to him, "You saved others, but you cannot save yourself." Therefore, it is to the Lord's body that what was written through David applies: "Sit at my right hand, until I set your enemies as a footstool for your feet." For before this prophecy through David, the Word was in the bosom of the Father; he had no enemies in heaven. For no one was with the Father before creation except the Son and the Holy Spirit; for the Father, through the Son, made the infinite ages, the beginnings, the powers, and all creation. Therefore, how could the Word, who had no common possession or property with anyone, but was Lord of all, being God the Word, whom no one can resist, have enemies? For those who diminish the divinity of the Word, thinking that the Lord was unable to repel his enemies by himself, suppose that the Father said to the Son, "Sit at my right hand, until I set your enemies as a footstool for your feet." But let the uneducated now know that this was written concerning the human nature understood in relation to the Savior. For in the same David it is written concerning the Lord's human nature: "An enemy will not prevail against you," and again, "A scourge will not approach your tabernacle." – 66 Of the same author, from the same discourse: "The Lord," it says, "in heaven prepared his throne." It is one thing for heaven to be my throne, and another for a throne to be prepared in heaven as in some place. The discourse about these matters is extensive for the present exposition, but the thrones previously mentioned signify the subordination of all creation.

We have set forth these things concerning the "Sit at my right hand," that it is spoken of the Lord's human nature. For if I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord, as Jeremiah says, and God contains all things but is contained by nothing, on what throne does he sit? Therefore, it is the body to which he says, "Sit at my right hand," the body against which the devil with his evil powers, and the Jews and the Greeks, became enemies. Through this body he became and was named high priest and apostle; through it he delivered to us the mystery, saying, "This is my body, which is for you, and the blood of the new covenant, not of the old, which is poured out for you." But divinity has neither body nor blood; rather, the man he bore from Mary became the cause of these things, concerning whom the apostles said, "Jesus from Nazareth, a man designated by God for us." He speaks of Nazareth as an earthly city, not a heavenly one, and they call him a man, not a god, addressing the Jews and those who think in a fleshly manner like them, both then and now, and the apostles. And the Lord himself answered concerning himself in a human way, saying, "Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you?" He did not say, "You seek to kill me, who am a god"; for God, being impassible and immortal, abolishes death and gives life to the dead, saying, "I am the life." And to Philip, when he heard and believed, he teaches, along with the rest of the apostles and those able to comprehend spiritually in like manner, saying, "He who has seen me has seen the Father.

I and the Father are one, and I am in the Father and the Father is in me." – 67 From the same discourse: You have, then, from this very demonstration of the Scriptures, the man of the Savior, whom we are taught to contemplate, to be a creation; for it is not the invisible divinity of the Word, hidden in the paternal bosoms, which no one has beheld up to this time. And Paul knows this better than we, saying: A sufficient light flashed around me, and I fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." And I said: "Who are you, Lord?" And the Lord says to me: "I am Jesus, whom you persecute." And he confesses that he was blinded by the glory of the Lord's light, and after three days, by revelation and command of him, he regained his sight. But if Paul, the vessel of election, was blinded, unable to see the glory of the Lord, how does he teach us to contemplate the divinity of the Word himself? But what I have often said, I will say now also: he told us to contemplate Jesus, the man of the Savior, who is faithful to his maker. – 68 From the same discourse: "Become my imitators," he says, "just as I am of Christ." It is clear that he speaks of the man who lies as the foundation. For of the divinity of the Word, neither Paul nor anyone else can become an imitator, except in the passions and meekness of Christ, concerning which Peter says we follow in his footsteps, just as Paul said we fill up the deficiencies of the sufferings of Christ in our own flesh.

Without contradiction, then, the one who was established before the age in the hidden places of the paternal mind was in foreknowledge, whom he was about to create as the Lordly man from Mary. – 69 Of the same holy one, from the same discourse: But concerning the Lordly body, it was clearly prophesied to Judah: "From you will come forth for me a leader, and his beginning is from the beginning from the days of eternity," although at the consummation of the ages the Word of God took up the man from the tribe of Judah. – 70 From the same discourse: "When," he says, "all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him." Let us therefore inquire who it is that is not subjected to God unless first all things are subjected to him. For what did the Word from the Father not have subjected before the economy of the man whom he wore for our sake? For all creatures are subjected to their creator. But to the man who was taken up, not all things are yet subjected; for Paul says: "We do not yet see all things subjected to him." For to the Jews he is a scandal, to the Gentiles foolishness, but to us who believe in him, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. When, therefore, the whole creation meets the Son in the clouds and is subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the Father, becoming a faithful apostle and high priest on behalf of the whole creation, so that God may be all things in all, that is, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, the one lordship and divinity and kingdom.

If someone says that it was not Jesus who was spoken of as subordinate, but the Son, let him hear that Jesus is the Son of God, who was named and is so because of the Word hidden in him. – 71 From the same discourse: As Luke, when giving the genealogy, said that Jesus was about thirty years old, being considered the son of Joseph, and after going through those in the genealogy in succession up to Adam, he said "of Adam, of God," in order to show both the body which he bore from Adam and the divinity from the Father. – 72 Of the same holy Athanasius from the same discourse: One of the things which the Father works and shows in the Son is that he knows the day and hour of judgment, and he has handed over the entire judgment to him, so that just as they honor the Father, they also honor the Son. If he has handed over the entire judgment to him to conduct, it is clear that he has also handed over the knowledge of when and how it occurs. Therefore, the one who does not know the day of judgment is Jesus born from Mary; for the God Word from the heart of the Father, who knows all things before their generation, is ignorant of nothing. – 73 From the same discourse: If, then, Jesus says, "My Father is greater than I," but also declares himself equal to God, let us learn why he calls the Father both greater than himself and equal. The Father is greater than the Son because of the body which he bore, which is passible, but he is equal in that the Father eternally generated the Son as whole and perfect. – 74 From the same discourse: As also Ezra prophesies from the person of Zerubbabel, speaking about the Son of God: "Truth lives and conquers and

It is strengthened and remains for ever and ever, indicating the body which he was about to bear for us and that he was to die for us, and not the truth hidden in him, that is, the Word of the Father. The truth descended with Jesus, who died for us, into the heart of the earth, so that he, being truth, might free those deceived by falsehood. As when a king enters a prison to visit the prisoners held there, he is not harmed at all, but benefits those who are in custody, so the Word of God, being not at all harmed through the mortal body he bore for us, benefited those in the prison of Hades in the spirit of his divinity. – 75 From the same discourse: And Jacob, blessing Judah, from whom the Lord was to take up the human body, says: He will wash his garment in wine and his cloak in the blood of the grape. And this he did not do according to history; for he did not wash his own garment in wine. And why, after saying he will wash his garment in wine, does he also say in the blood of the grape? Is wine one thing and the blood of the grape another? Rather, Isaiah knows for us, saying his garment is as from the treading of a winepress, full of trodden grapes. Therefore, the garment which is prophesied to be washed in wine and in the blood of the grape is not a tunic which a craftsman washes; for it is irrational and disorderly to wash a garment in wine, which not even any foolish man is shown to have done.

Since he foreknew from the Holy Spirit that the Son of God was about to bear a body for us from the Jewish people, who are called vine and vineyard, for this reason he said: "You ascended from a shoot, my son Judas," and the washing of the garment in blood signifies the washing of the body of his covering in his own blood, through which body and blood, having washed away the sins of men, he clothed them all in his own body. – 76 And again: From this, then, let those who separate the Son from the Father, as the vine from the farmer, be put to shame, being fully assured from the Scriptures that the parable was spoken concerning the body of the Lord and not concerning his divinity. For when he was celebrating the holy mystery, having blessed, he said: "Drink from it, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you." And yet the wine is not the blood of the Lord, but of the vine, because of which the Lord said concerning his own body: "I am the vine." But blood does not proceed from the spirit of the divinity of the Word, but from the man whom he bore. – 77 And after a little: God says through the prophet Ezekiel: "O shepherds, shepherds, do the shepherds feed themselves, and not the sheep? But you did not turn back the straying, you did not seek the lost, you did not strengthen the weak, you did not bind up the lame, but you even wore down the strong with toil. Therefore I will raise up for myself a faithful shepherd, my servant David, and he will be shepherd and ruler forever.

When Ezekiel prophesied these things in Babylon, it was fourteen generations after David had fallen asleep, and he prophesied the Lord's man rising from the seed of David, about whom Paul writes to Timothy: Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead from the seed of David according to the flesh. – 78 From the same discourse: The flesh-minded, not wishing to be instructed by the spiritual who are fully informed in the knowledge of the scriptures, but also thinking to teach the more innocent, drag them into a pit (whereby is fulfilled what is written: a blind man leading a blind man, both will fall into a pit, that is into Hades; but a blind man cannot lead a blind man according to the history, but being blind concerning the knowledge of the divine mysteries), saying to each of the ignorant: Did he not himself say through Solomon, The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works? And through himself the Son says: The Father who sent me is greater than I, and again he said: I speak nothing from myself, the Father commanded me what to say and what to speak, and: I did not come to do my own will, but that of the Father who sent me; the Father has a different will and the Son a different will, as they themselves think. For if they have a divided will, how does he say, Let us make man, and so forth? But they do not distinguish which sayings pertain to the divinity and which to the man he wore. – 79 Of the same holy Athanasius from the homily on Golgotha, whose beginning is:

The passage read is from the Gospel; the Apostolic word proclaims—blessed by the superior. From the same word: And again, from the person of the father, David, having said to the son, "You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you nations as your inheritance and your possession the ends of the earth." Through the name of the generation, the father reveals the theology of the Word from himself; through the asking and receiving the ends of the earth, which the Word himself made, he shows the man he assumed. From the same holy Athanasius, from the small discourse on the incarnation, whose beginning is: "We confess the Son of God, the one before the ages." If anyone says that the flesh of our Lord is from above and not from the Virgin Mary, or that the divinity was changed into flesh, or confused, or altered, or that the Lord's divinity is passible, or that the flesh of our Lord is not worshipful as that of a common man like us and not worshipful as that of the Lord, the holy church anathematizes him. From the discourse on faith, whose beginning is: "Having sufficiently treated a few from many in the preceding." And just as a great king—the one formerly prevailing against them. From the same holy Athanasius, from the same discourse: For he was not enclosed—he was not invisible. From the same discourse: When, therefore, eating—he knew the Word of God. From the same discourse: For this reason, after the matters concerning divinity—showing the incorruptible.

For the body, as it also has a common nature—since the death of all was fulfilled in the Lord's man—offers itself. From the same word: For this reason, therefore, not by disease because it is unseemly, not by private means because it is implausible, not by a death he himself devised because of the suspicions of unbelievers, but the body accepted the death from the plot of enemies, and was crucified in a lofty and elevated manner, so that when the death was made manifest to all, the resurrection of this one might also be proclaimed and believed by all. For the body, suffering according to the nature of bodies, was dying, but it had the assurance of incorruptibility from the Word dwelling with it. For when the body died, the Word was not also deadened, but he himself was impassible and incorruptible and immortal, as indeed being the Word of God, and by being with the body he rather prevented from it the natural corruption of bodies, to which the Spirit also says to him: You will not let your holy one see decay. The body, then, since it is a human body, as I said, was deadened by the separation of the Word, but he himself, being the power of God and the wisdom of God and the Word, and the life of all things, did not even then leave himself invisible, nor on the cross, but on the contrary made creation bear witness to the presence of its own creator, and did not allow his own temple, the body, to remain long, but having only shown it dead by the engagement of death with him, on the third day he immediately rose, setting up trophies and victories over death.

bearing the incorruption and impassibility that occurred in the tabernacle. – 87 From the same word: For he was able, by the power of the Savior. – 88 From the same word: The discourse concerning the resurrection seems to be a sign of the works. – 89 From the same word: For this reason he fittingly put on the mortal and gave life to it. – 90 From the same word: When is it to be condemned from the dead? – 91 Of the same holy Athanasius, from the letter to Germanus, whose beginning is: Having read what has now been written, he inquires humanly, so that the Manichaean may be restrained. – 92 Of the holy Athanasius, from the homily on the seed, whose beginning is: On the Sabbath day we assembled, not suffering from Judaism. They reproached, it says, the Savior, saying, gathering the flock. – 93 Of the same, from the homily on the Song of Songs, whose beginning is this: The words are both lovely and lead to the heavens. This one who was hung—was the body of the Lord then lying in the north? Yes; for we were in that place where the Lord was crucified, and it was north of Jerusalem. For this reason David said with careful observation: The mountains of Zion, the sides of the north, the city of the great king. For this reason also, when we were in that place where Christ was crucified, and we were standing in the east and praying, and the place where the Lord was crucified was northern; therefore, let the disciples hiding in the cell say: Arise, north, and come, south. Arise, then, north, that is, the body lying in the north; and come, south, come, Word, into the north, that is, from the south into the body.

For this is also written in the prophets, that God will come from Theman. And when the body has lain in the north for three days, the Savior comes from the south and takes the body lying in the north. – 94 From the same holy Athanasius, from the discourse "Every lawlessness and impiety will be forgiven to men," whose beginning is: "Concerning which you indicated in writing an evangelical saying, forgive, beloved, having a good conscience. For again for the sake of security—it was necessary to do these things." – 95 From the same discourse: "If then you observe—into the resurrection of eternal life." – 96 From the same holy Athanasius, from the third discourse against the Arians, whose beginning is: "I indeed thought the hypocrites of the madness of Arius." "For Moses, being by nature a man, became faithful—in the thing constructed by him." – 97 From the same discourse: "Wisdom built for herself a house; and it is clear that the house of wisdom is our body which the Lord assumed." – 98 From the same discourse: "For since the first—that is, through his flesh." – 99 From the same, from the fourth discourse against the Arians, whose beginning is: "The Ariomaniacs, as it seems, having judged." "Corporeally, as the apostle says—for it was the body of God." – 100 From the same discourse: "And in order that the impassible—and destroying them." – 101 From the same discourse: "These things we necessarily examined beforehand—to count themselves among." – 102 From the same discourse: "And just as when he spat—let us reason, but to the humanity." – 103 From the same discourse: "And hearing 'he wept' and the like—and the saying 'Why have you forsaken me?'