Dialogue III.—The Impassible (part 2 of 3)

Eran.—Why then do we say that the invisible powers too and the souls of men, aye and the very devils, are immortal?

Orth.—We do say so; that God is absolutely immortal. He is immortal not by partaking of substance, but in substance; He does not possess an immortality which He has received of another. It is He Himself who has bestowed their immortality on the angels and on them that thou hast just now mentioned. How, moreover, when the divine Paul styles Him immortal and says that He only hath immortality, can you attribute to Him the passion of death?

Eran.—We say that He tasted death after the incarnation.

Orth.—But over and over again we have confessed Him immutable. If being previously immortal He afterwards underwent death through the flesh, a change having preceded His undergoing death; if His life left Him for three days and three nights, how do such statements fall short of the most extreme impiety? For I think that not even they that are struggling against impiety can venture to let such words fall from their lips without peril.

Eran.—Cease from charging us with impiety. Even we say that not the divine nature suffered but the human; but we do say that the divine shared with the body in suffering.

Orth.—What can you mean by sharing in suffering? Do you mean that when the nails were driven into the body the divine nature felt the sense of pain?

Eran.—I do.

Orth.—Both now and in our former investigations we have shewn that the soul does not share all the faculties of the body but that the body while it receives vital force has the sense of suffering through the soul. And even supposing us to grant that the soul shares in pain with the body we shall none the less find the divine nature to be impassible, for it was not united to the body instead of a soul. Or do you not acknowledge that He assumed a soul?

Eran.—I have often acknowledged it.

Orth.—And that He assumed a reasonable Soul?

Eran.—Yes.

Orth.—If then together with the body He assumed the soul, and we grant that the soul shared in suffering with the body, then the soul, not the Godhead, shared the passion with the body; it shared the passion, receiving pangs by means of the body. But possibly somebody might agree to the soul sharing suffering with the body, but might deny its sharing death, because of its having an immortal nature. On this account the Lord said "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul."¹⁴⁹⁰ If then we deny that the soul of the Saviour shared death with the body, how could any one accept the blasphemy you and your friends presumptuously promulgate when you dare to say that the divine nature participated in death? This is the more inexcusable when the Lord points out at one time that the body¹⁴⁹¹ was being offered, at another that the soul was being troubled.¹⁴⁹²

Eran.—And where doth the Lord shew that the body was being offered? Or are you going to bring me once more that well worn passage "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up"?¹⁴⁹³ Or with your conceited self-sufficiency are you going to quote me the words of the Evangelist? "But He spake of the temple of his body. When therefore He was risen from the dead His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them and they believed the Scripture and the words which He had said."¹⁴⁹⁴

Orth.—If you have such a detestation of the divine words which preach the mystery of the incarnation, why, like Marcion and Valentinus and Manes, do you not destroy texts of this kind? For this is what they have done. But if this seems to you rash and impious, do not turn the Lord's words into ridicule, but rather follow the Apostles in their belief after the resurrection that the Godhead raised again the temple which the Jews had destroyed.

Eran.—If you have any good evidence to adduce, give over gibing and fulfil your promise.

Orth.—Remember specially those words of the gospels in which the Lord made a comparison between manna and the true bread.

Eran.—I remember.

Orth.—In that passage after speaking at some length about the bread of life, he added, "The bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world."¹⁴⁹⁵ In these words may be understood alike the bounty of the Godhead and the boon of the flesh.

Eran.—One quotation is not enough to settle the question.

Orth.—The Ethiopian eunuch had not read much of the Bible, but when he had found one witness from the prophets he was guided by it to salvation. But not all Apostles and prophets and all the preachers of the truth who have lived since then are enough to convince you. Nevertheless I will bring you some further testimony about the Lord's body. You cannot but know that passage in the Gospel history where, after eating the passover with His disciples, our Lord pointed to the death of the typical lamb and taught what body corresponded with that shadow.¹⁴⁹⁶

Eran.—Yes I know it.

Orth.—Remember then what it was which our Lord took and broke, and what He called it when He had taken it.

Eran.—I will answer in mystic language for the sake of the uninitiated. After taking and breaking it and giving it to His disciples He said, "This is my body which was given for you"¹⁴⁹⁷ or according to the apostle "broken"¹⁴⁹⁸ and again, "This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many."¹⁴⁹⁹

Orth.—Then when exhibiting the type of the passion He did not mention the Godhead?

Eran.—No.

Orth.—But He did mention the body and blood.

Eran.—Yes.

Orth.—And the body was nailed to the Cross?

Eran.—Even so.

Orth.—Come, then; look at this. When after the resurrection the doors were shut and the Lord came to the holy disciples and beheld them affrighted, what means did He use to destroy their fear and instead of fear to infuse faith?

Eran.—He said to them "Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have."¹⁵⁰⁰

Orth.—So when they disbelieved He shewed them the body?

Eran.—He did.

Orth.—Therefore the body rose?

Eran.—Clearly.

Orth.—And I suppose what rose was what had died?

Eran.—Even so.

Orth.—And what had died was what was nailed to the cross?

Eran.—Of necessity.

Orth.—Then according to your own argument the body suffered?

Eran.—Your series of arguments forces us to this conclusion.

Orth.—Consider this too. Now I will be questioner, and do you answer as becomes a lover of the truth.

Eran.—I will answer.

Orth.—When the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles, and that wonderful sight and sound collected thousands to the house, what did the chief of the apostles in the speech he then made say concerning the Lord's resurrection?

Eran.—He quoted the divine David, and said that he had received promises from God that the Lord Christ should be born of the fruit of his loins and that in trust in these promises he prophetically foresaw His resurrection, and plainly said that His soul was not left in Hades and that His flesh did not see corruption.¹⁵⁰¹

Orth.—His resurrection therefore is of these.

Eran.—How can any one in his senses say that there is a resurrection of the soul which never died?

Orth.—How comes it that you who attribute the passion, the death and the resurrection to the immutable and uncircumscribed Godhead have suddenly appeared before us in your right mind and now object to connecting the word resurrection with the soul?

Eran.—Because the word resurrection is applicable to what has fallen.

Orth.—But the body does not obtain resurrection apart from a soul, but being renewed by the divine will, and conjoined with its yokefellow, it receives life. Was it not thus that the Lord raised Lazarus?

Eran.—It is plain that not the body alone rises.

Orth.—This is more distinctly taught by the divine Ezekiel,¹⁵⁰² for he points out how the Lord commanded the bones to come together, and how all of them were duly fitted together, and how He made sinews and veins and arteries grow with all the flesh pertaining to them and the skin that clothes them all, and then ordered the souls to come back to their own bodies.

Eran.—This is true.

Orth.—But the Lord's body did not undergo this corruption, but remained unimpaired, and on the third day recovered its own soul.

Eran.—Agreed.

Orth.—Then the death was of what had suffered?

Eran.—Without question.

Orth.—And when the great Peter mentioned the resurrection, and the divine David too, they said that His soul was not left in Hell, but that His body did not undergo corruption?

Eran.—They did.

Orth.—Then it was not the Godhead which underwent death, but the body by severance from the soul?

Eran.—I cannot brook these absurdities.

Orth.—But you are fighting against your own arguments; it is your own words which you are calling absurd.

Eran.—You slander me; not one of these words is mine.

Orth.—Suppose any one to ask what is the animal which is at once reasonable and mortal, and suppose some one else to answer—man; which of the two would you call interpreter of the saying? The questioner or the answerer?

Eran.—The answerer.

Orth.—Then I was quite right in calling the arguments yours? For you, I ween, in your answers, by rejecting some points and accepting others, confirmed them.

Eran.—Then I will not answer any longer; do you answer.

Orth.—I will answer.

Eran.—What do you say to those words of the Apostle "Had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory"?¹⁵⁰³ in this passage he mentions neither body nor soul.

Orth.—Therefore you must not put the words "in the flesh" in it,—for this is your ingenious invention for decrying the Godhead of the Word—but must attribute the passion to the bare Godhead of the Word.

Eran.—No; no. He suffered in the flesh, but His incorporeal nature was not capable of suffering by itself.

Orth.—Ah! but nothing must be added to the Apostle's words.

Eran.—When we know the Apostle's meaning there is nothing absurd in adding what is left out.

Orth.—But to add anything to the divine words is wild and rash. To explain what is written and reveal the hidden meaning is holy and pious.

Eran.—Quite right.

Orth.—We two then shall do nothing unreasonable and unholy in examining the mind of the Scriptures.

Eran.—No.

Orth.—Let us then look together into what seems to be hidden.

Eran.—By all means.

Orth.—Did the great Paul call the divine James the Lord's brother?¹⁵⁰⁴

Eran.—He did.

Orth.—But in what sense are we to regard him as brother? By relationship of His godhead or of His manhood?

Eran.—I will not consent to divide the united natures.

Orth.—But you have often divided them in our previous investigations, and you shall do the same thing now. Tell me; do you say that God the Word was only begotten Son?

Eran.—I do.

Orth.—And only begotten means only Son.

Eran.—Certainly.

Orth.—And the only begotten cannot have a brother?

Eran.—Of course not, for if He had had a brother He would not be called the only begotten.

Orth.—Then they were wrong in calling James the brother of the Lord. For the Lord was only begotten, and the only begotten cannot have a brother.

Eran.—No, but the Lord is not incorporeal and the proclaimers of the truth are referring only to what touches the godhead.

Orth.—How then would you prove the word of the apostle true?

Eran.—By saying that James was of kin with the Lord according to the flesh.

Orth.—See how you have brought in again that division which you object to.

Eran.—It was not possible to explain the kinship in any other way.

Orth.—Then do not find fault with those who cannot explain similar difficulties in any other way.

Eran.—Now you are getting the argument off the track because you want to shirk the question.

Orth.—Not at all, my friend. That will be settled too by the points we have investigated. Now look; when you were reminded of James the brother of the Lord, you said that the relationship referred not to the Godhead but to the flesh.

Eran.—I did.

Orth.—Well, now that you are told of the passion of the cross, refer this too to the flesh.

Eran.—The Apostle called the crucified "Lord of Glory,"¹⁵⁰⁵ and the same Apostle called the Lord "brother of James."

Orth.—And it is the same Lord in both cases. If then you are right in referring the relationship to the flesh you must also refer the passion to the flesh, for it is perfectly ridiculous to regard the relationship without distinction and to refer the passion to Christ without distinction.

Eran.—I follow the Apostle who calls the crucified "Lord of glory."

Orth.—I follow too, and believe that He was "Lord of glory." For the body which was nailed to the wood was not that of any common man but of the Lord of glory. But we must acknowledge that the union makes the names common. Once more: do you say that the flesh of the Lord came down from heaven?

Eran.—Of course not.

Orth.—But was formed in the Virgin's womb?

Eran.—Yes.

Orth.—How, then, does the Lord say "If ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before,"¹⁵⁰⁶ and again "No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven?"¹⁵⁰⁷

Eran.—He is speaking not of the flesh, but of the Godhead.

Orth.—Yes; but the Godhead is of the God and Father. How then does He call him Son of man?

Eran.—The peculiar properties of the natures are shared by the person, for on account of the union the same being is both Son of man and Son of God, everlasting and of time, Son of David and Lord of David, and so on with the rest.

Orth.—Very right. But it is also important to recognise the fact that no confusion of natures results from both having one name. Wherefore we are endeavouring to distinguish how the same being is Son of God and also Son of man, and how He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,"¹⁵⁰⁸ and by the reverent distinction of terms we find that the contradictions are in agreement.

Eran.—You are right.

Orth.—You say that the divine nature came down from heaven and that in consequence of the union it was called the Son of man. Thus it behoves us to say that the flesh was nailed to the tree, but to hold that the divine nature even on the cross and in the tomb was inseparable from this flesh, though from it it derived no sense of suffering, since the divine nature is naturally incapable of undergoing both suffering and death and its substance is immortal and impassible. It is in this sense that the crucified is styled Lord of Glory, by attribution of the title of the impassible nature to the passible, since, as we know, a body is described as belonging to this latter.

Now let us examine the matter thus. The words of the divine Apostle are "Had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory."¹⁵⁰⁹ They crucified the nature which they knew, not that of which they were wholly ignorant: had they known that of which they were ignorant they would not have crucified that which they knew: they crucified the human because they were ignorant of the divine. Have you forgotten their own words. "For a good work we stone thee not but for blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God."¹⁵¹⁰ These words are a plain proof that they recognised the nature they saw, while of the invisible they were wholly ignorant: had they known that nature they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Eran.—That is very probable, but the exposition of the faith laid down by the Fathers in council at Nicæa says that the only begotten Himself, very God, of one substance with the Father, suffered and was crucified.

Orth.—You seem to forget what we have agreed on again and again.

Eran.—What do you mean?

Orth.—I mean that after the union the holy Scripture applies to one person terms both of exaltation and of humiliation. But possibly you are also ignorant that the illustrious Fathers first mentioned His taking flesh and being made man, and then afterwards added that He suffered and was crucified, and thus spoke of the passion after they had set forth the nature capable of passion.

Eran.—The Fathers said that the Son of God, Light of Light, of the substance of the Father, suffered and was crucified.

Orth.—I have observed more than once that both the Divine and the human are ascribed to the one Person. It is in accordance with this position that the thrice blessed Fathers, after teaching how we should believe in the Father, and then passing on to the person of the Son, did not immediately add "and in the Son of God," although it would have very naturally followed that after defining what touches God the Father they should straightway have introduced the name of Son. But their object was to give us at one and the same time instruction on the theology and on the oeconomy,¹⁵¹¹ lest there should be supposed to be any distinction between the Person of the Godhead and the Person of the Manhood. On this account they added to their statement concerning the Father that we must believe also in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now after the incarnation God the Word is called Christ, for this name includes alike all that is proper to the Godhead and to the manhood. We recognise nevertheless that some properties belong to the one nature and some to the others, and this may at once be understood from the actual terms of the Creed. For tell me: to what do you apply the phrase "of the substance of the Father"? to the Godhead, or to the nature that was fashioned of the seed of David?

Eran.—To the Godhead, as is plain.

Orth.—And the clause "Very God of very God"; to which do you hold this belongs, to the Godhead or to the manhood?

Eran.—To the Godhead.

Orth.—Therefore neither the flesh nor the soul is of one substance with the Father, for they are created, but the Godhead which formed all things.

Eran.—True.

Orth.—Very well, then. And when we are told of passion and of the cross we must recognise the nature which submitted to the passion; we must avoid attributing it to the impassible, and must attribute it to that nature which was assumed for the distinct purpose of suffering. The acknowledgment on the part of the most excellent Fathers that the divine nature was impassible; and their attribution of the passion to the flesh is proved by the conclusion of the creed, which runs "But they who state there was a time when He was not, and before He was begotten He was not, and He was made out of the non-existent, or who allege that the Son of God was of another essence or substance mutable or variable, these the holy catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes." See then what penalties are denounced against them that attribute the passion to the divine nature.¹⁵¹²

Eran.—They are speaking in this place of mutation and variation.

Orth.—But what is the passion but mutation and variation? For if, being impassible before His incarnation, He suffered after His incarnation, He assuredly suffered by undergoing mutation; and if being immortal before He became man, He tasted death, as you say, after being made man, He underwent a complete alteration by being made mortal after being immortal. But expressions of this kind, and their authors with them, have all been expelled by the illustrious Fathers from the bounds of the Church, and cut off like rotten limbs from the sound body. We therefore exhort you to fear the punishment and abhor the blasphemy.

Now I will show you that in their own writings the holy Fathers have held the opinions we have expressed. Of the witnesses I shall bring forward some took part in that great Council; some flourished in the Church after their time; some illuminated the world long before. But their harmony is broken neither by difference of periods nor by diversity of language; like the harp their strings are several and separate but like the harp they make one harmonious music.

Eran.—I was anxious for and shall be delighted at such citations. Instruction of this kind cannot be gainsaid, and is most useful.

Orth.—Now; open your ears and receive the streams that flow from the spiritual springs.

Testimony of the holy Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, and martyr.

From his Epistle to the Smyrnæans:—

"They do not admit Eucharists and oblations, because they do not confess the Eucharist to be flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins and which of His goodness the Father raised."¹⁵¹³

Testimony of Irenæus, bishop of Lyons.

From his third book against heresies (Chap. xx.):—

"It is clear then that Paul knew no other Christ save Him that suffered and was buried and rose and was born, whom he calls man, for after saying, If Christ be preached that He rose from the dead,'¹⁵¹⁴ he adds, giving the reason of His incarnation, For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead,'¹⁵¹⁵ and on all occasions in reference to the passion, the manhood and the dissolution of the Lord, he uses the name of Christ as in the text, Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died,'¹⁵¹⁶ and again, But now in Christ ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ,'¹⁵¹⁷ and again, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.'"¹⁵¹⁸

Of the same from the same work. (Chapter xxi.):—

"For as He was Man that He might be tempted, so was He Word that He might be glorified. In His temptation, His crucifixion and His dying, the Word was inoperative; but in His victory, His patience, His goodness, His resurrection and His assumption it was co-operative with the manhood."

Of the same from the fifth book of the same work:—

"When with His own blood the Lord had ransomed us, and given His soul on behalf of our souls, and His flesh instead of our flesh."

The testimony of the holy Hippolytus, bishop and martyr.

From his letter to a certain Queen:—

"So he calls Him The firstfruits of them that slept,'¹⁵¹⁹ and The first born of the dead.'¹⁵²⁰ When He had risen and was wishful to show that what had risen was the same body which died, when the Apostles doubted, He called to Him Thomas and said Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.'"¹⁵²¹

Of the same from the same letter:—

"By calling Him firstfruits He bore witness to what we have said, that the Saviour, after taking the flesh of the same material, raised it, making it firstfruits of the flesh of the just, in order that all we that believe might have expectation of our resurrection through trust in Him that is risen."

Of the same from his discourse on the two thieves:—

"The body of the Lord gave both to the world,—the holy blood and the sacred water."

Of the same from the same discourse:—

"And the body being, humanly speaking, a corpse, has in itself great power of life, for there flowed from it what does not flow from dead bodies—blood and water,—that we might know what vital force lies in the indwelling power in the body, so that it is a corpse evidently unlike others, and is able to pour forth for us causes of life."¹⁵²²

Of the same from the same discourse:—

"Not a bone of the holy Lamb is broken. The type shews that the passion cannot touch the power, for the bones are the power of the body."

Testimony of the holy Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, and confessor.

From his book on the soul:—

"Their impious calumny can be refuted in a few words; they may be right, unless He voluntarily gave up His own body to the destruction of death for the sake of the salvation of men. First of all they attribute to Him extraordinary infirmity in not being able to repel His enemies assault."

Of the same from the same book:—

"Why do they, in the concoction of their earth-born deceits, make much of proving that the Christ assumed a body without a soul? In order that if they could seduce any to lay down that this is the case, then, by attributing to the divine Spirit variations of affection, they might easily persuade them that the mutable is not begotten of the immutable nature."

Of the same from his discourse on "the Lord created me in the beginning of His ways":¹⁵²³—

"The man Who died rose on the third day, and, when Mary was eager to lay hold of His holy limbs, He objected and cried Touch me not.¹⁵²⁴ For I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.'¹⁵²⁵ Now the words I am not yet ascended to my Father,' were not spoken by the Word and God, who came down from heaven, and was in the bosom of the Father, nor by the Wisdom which contains all created things, but were uttered by the man who was compacted of various limbs, who had risen from the dead, who had not yet after His death gone back to the Father, and was reserving for Himself the first fruits of His progress."

Of the same from the same work:—

"As he writes he expressly describes the man who was crucified as Lord of Glory, declaring Him to be Lord and Christ, just as the Apostles with one voice when speaking to Israel in the flesh say Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.'¹⁵²⁶ He so made Jesus Christ who suffered. He did not so make the Wisdom nor yet the Word who has the might of dominion from the beginning, but Him who was lifted up on high and stretched out His hands upon the Cross."

Of the same from the same work:—

"For if He is incorporeal and not subject to manual contact, nor apprehended by eyes of flesh, He undergoes no wound, He is not nailed by nails, He has no part in death, He is not hidden in the ground, He is not shut in a grave, He does not rise from a tomb."

Of the same from the same book:—

"No man taketh it from me....I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.'¹⁵²⁷ If as God He had the double power, He yet yielded to them who were striving of evil counsel to destroy the temple, but by His resurrection He restored it in greater splendour. It is proved by incontrovertible evidence that He of Himself rose and renewed His own house, and the great work of the Son is to be ascribed to the divine Father; for the Son does not work without the Father, as is declared in the unimpeachable utterances of the holy Scriptures. Wherefore at one time the divine Parent is described as having raised the Christ from the dead, at another time the Son promises to raise His own temple. If then from what has previously been laid down the divine spirit of the Christ is proved to be impassible, in vain do the accursed assail the apostolic definitions. If Paul says that the Lord of Glory was crucified, clearly referring to the manhood, we must not on this account refer suffering to the divine. Why then do they put these two things together, saying that the Christ was crucified from infirmity?"

Of the same from the same work:—

"But had it been becoming to attribute to Him any kind of infirmity, any one might have said that it was natural to attach these qualities to the manhood, though not to the fulness of the Godhead, or to the dignity of the highest wisdom, or to Him who according to Paul is described as God over all."¹⁵²⁸

Of the same from the same book:—

"This then is the manner of the infirmity according to which He is described by Paul as coming to death, for the man lives by God's power when plainly associated with God's spirit, since from the preceding statements He who is believed to be in Him is proved to be also the power of the Most High."

Of the same from the same:—

"As by entering the Virgin's womb He did not lessen His power, so neither by the fastening of His body to the wood of the cross is His spirit defiled. For when the body was crucified on high the divine Spirit of wisdom dwelt even within the body, trod in heavenly places, filled all the earth, reigned over the depths, visited and judged the soul of every man, and continued to do all that God continually does, for the wisdom that is on high is not prisoned and contained within bodily matter, just as moist and dry material are contained within their vessels and are contained by but do not contain them. But this wisdom, being a divine and ineffable power, embraces and confirms alike all that is within and all that is without the temple, and thence proceeding beyond comprehends and sways at once all matter."

Of the same from the same work:—

"But if the sun being a visible body, apprehended by the senses, endures everywhere such adverse influences without changing its order, or feeling any blow, be it small or great; can we suppose the incorporeal Wisdom to be defiled and to change its nature because its temple is nailed to the cross or destroyed or wounded or corrupted? The temple suffers, but the substance abides without spot, and preserves its entire dignity without defilement."

Of the same from his work on the titles of the Psalms of Degrees:—

"The Father who is perfect, infinite, incomprehensible, and is incapable alike of adornment or disfigurement, receives no acquired glory; nor yet does His Word, who is God begotten of Him, through whom are angels and heaven and earth's boundless bulk and all the form and matter of created things; but the man Christ raised from the dead is exalted and glorified to the open discomfiture of His foes."

Of the same from the same work:—

"They however who have lifted up hatred against Him, though they be fenced round with the forces of His foes, are scattered abroad, while the God and Word gloriously raised His own temple."

Of the same from his interpretation of the 92nd Psalm:—

"Moreover the prophet Isaiah following the tracks of His sufferings, among other utterances exclaims with a mighty voice And we saw Him and He had no form nor beauty. His form was dishonoured and rejected among the sons of men,'¹⁵²⁹ thus distinctly showing that the marks of indignity and the sufferings must be applied to the human but not to the divine. And immediately afterwards he adds Being a man under stroke, and able to bear infirmity.'¹⁵³⁰ He it is who after suffering outrage was seen to have no form or comeliness, then again was changed and clothed with beauty, for the God dwelling in Him was not led like a lamb to death and slaughtered like a sheep, for His nature is invisible."

Testimony of the Holy Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and confessor.

From his letter to Epictetus:—

"Whoever reached such a pitch of impiety as to think and say that the Godhead itself of one substance with the Father was circumcised, and from perfect became imperfect; and to deny that what was crucified on the tree was the body, asserting it on the contrary to be the very creative substance of wisdom?"

Of the same from the same treatise:—

"The Word associated with Himself and brought upon Himself what the humanity of the Word suffered, that we might be able to share in the Godhead of the Word. And marvellous it was that the sufferer and He who did not suffer were the same; sufferer in that His own body suffered and He was in it while suffering, but not suffering because the Word, being by nature God, was impassible. And He Himself the incorporeal was in the passible body, and the body contained in itself the impassible Word, destroying the infirmities of His body."

Of the same from the same letter:—

"For being God and Lord of Glory, He was in the body ingloriously crucified; but the body suffered when smitten on the tree, and water and blood flowed from its side; but being temple of the Word, it was full of the Godhead. Wherefore when the sun saw its Creator suffering in His outraged body, it drew in its rays, and darkened the earth. And that very body with a mortal nature rose superior to its own nature, on account of the Word within it, and is no longer touched by its natural corruption, but clothed with the superhuman Word, became incorruptible."

Of the same from his greater discourse on the Faith:—

"Was what rose from the dead, man or God? Peter, the Apostle, who knows better than we, interprets and say, and when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre, but God raised Him from the dead.'¹⁵³¹ Now the dead body of Jesus which was taken down from the tree, which had been laid in a sepulchre, and entombed by Joseph of Arimathæa, is the very body which the Word raised, saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'¹⁵³² It is He who quickens all the dead, and quickened the man Christ Jesus, born of Mary, whom He assumed. For if while on the cross¹⁵³³ He raised corpses of the saints that had previously undergone dissolution, much more can God the everliving Word raise the body, which He wore, as says Paul, For the word of God is quick and powerful.'"¹⁵³⁴

Of the same from the same work:—

"Life then does not die, but quickens the dead; for as the light is not injured in a dark place, so life cannot suffer when it has visited a mortal nature, for the Godhead of the Word is immutable and invariable as the Lord says in the prophecy about Himself I am the Lord I change not.'"¹⁵³⁵

Of the same from the same work:—

"Living He cannot die but on the contrary quickens the dead. He is therefore, by the Godhead derived from the Father, a fount of light; but He that died, or rather rose from the dead, our intercessor, who was born of the Virgin Mary, whom the Godhead of the Word assumed for our sake, is man."

Of the same from the same work:—

"It came to pass that Lazarus fell sick and died; but the divine Man did not fall sick nor against His own will did He die, but of His own accord came to the dispensation of death, being strengthened by God the Word who dwelt within Him, and who said No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.'¹⁵³⁶ The Godhead then which lays down and takes the life of man which He wore is of the Son, for in its completeness He assumed the manhood, in order that in its completeness He might quicken it, and, with it, the dead."

Of the same from his discourse against the Arians:—

"When therefore the blessed Paul says the Father raised' the Son from the dead'¹⁵³⁷ John tells us that Jesus said Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up...but He spake' of His own body.'¹⁵³⁸ So it is clear to them that take heed that at the raising of the body the Son is said by Paul to have been raised from the dead, for he refers what concerns the body to the Son's person, and just so when he says the Father gave life to the Son'¹⁵³⁹ it must be understood that the life was given to the Flesh. For if He Himself is life how can the life receive life?"

Of the same from his work on the Incarnation:—

"For when the Word was conscious that in no other way could the ruin of men be undone save by death to the uttermost, and it was impossible that the Word who is immortal and Son of the Father should die, to effect His end He assumes a body capable of death, that this body, being united to the Word, who is over all, might, in the stead of all, become subject to death, and because of the indwelling Word might remain incorruptible, and so by the grace of the resurrection corruption for the future might lose its power over men. Thus offering to death, as a sacrifice and victim free from every spot, the body which He had assumed, by His corresponding offering He straightway destroyed death's power over all His kind; for being the Word of God above and beyond all men, He rightly offered and paid His own temple and bodily instrument, as a ransom for all souls due to death. And thus by means of the like (body) being associated with all men, the incorruptible Son of God rightly clothed all men with incorruption by the promise of the resurrection, for the corruption inherent in death no longer has any place with men, for the sake of the Word who dwelt in them by the means of the one body."

Of the same from the same work:—

"Wherefore, after His divine manifestations in His works, now also on behalf of all He offered sacrifice, yielding to death His own temple instead of all, that He might make all men irresponsible and free from the ancient transgression, and, exhibiting His own body as incorruptible firstfruits of the resurrection of mankind, might shew Himself stronger than death. For the body, as having a common substance—for it was a human body, although by a new miracle its constitution was of the Virgin alone—being mortal, died after the example of its like; but by the descent of the Word into it no longer suffered corruption, according to its own nature, but, on account of God the Word who dwelt within it, was delivered from corruption."

Of the same from the same work:—

"Whence, as I have said, since it was not possible for the Word being immortal to die, He took upon Himself a body capable of death, in order that He might offer this same body for all, and He Himself in His suffering on behalf of all through His descent into this body might destroy Him that hath the power of death.'"¹⁵⁴⁰

Of the same from the same work:¹⁵⁴¹—

"For the body in its passion, as is the nature of bodies, died, but it had the promise of incorruption through the Word that dwelt within it. For when the body died the Word was not injured; but He was Himself impassible, incorruptible, and immortal, as being God's Word, and being associated with the body He kept from it the natural corruption of bodies, as says the Spirit to Him thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.'"¹⁵⁴²

The testimony of the holy Damasus, bishop of Rome:¹⁵⁴³—

"If any one say that, in the passion of the Cross, God the Son of God suffered pain, and not the flesh with the soul, which the form of the servant put on and assumed, as the Scripture saith, Let him be anathema."

Testimony of the holy Ambrosius, bishop of Milan.

From his book on the Catholic faith:—

"There are some men who have reached such a pitch of impiety as to think that the Godhead of the Lord was circumcised, and from perfect was made imperfect; and that the divine substance, Creator of all things, and not the flesh, was on the tree."

Of the same from the same work:—

"The flesh suffered; but the Godhead is free from death. He yielded His body to suffer according to the law of human nature. For how can God die, when the soul cannot die? Fear not,' He says, them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul.'¹⁵⁴⁴ If then the soul cannot be slain how can the Godhead be made subject to death?"

Testimony of the holy Basilius, bishop of Cæsarea:—

"It is perfectly well known to every one who has the least acquaintance with the meaning of the words of the Apostle that he is not delivering to us a mode of theology but is explaining the reasons of the oeconomy,¹⁵⁴⁵ for he says God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.'¹⁵⁴⁶ Thus he is plainly directing his argument to His human and visible nature."

Testimony of the holy Gregorius, bishop of Nazianzus.

From his letter to the blessed Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople:—

"The saddest thing in what has befallen the churches is the boldness of the utterances of Apollinarius and his party. I cannot understand how your Holiness has allowed them to arrogate to themselves the power of assembling on the same terms with us."

And a little further on:—

"I will no longer call this serious; it is indeed saddest of all that the only begotten God Himself, Judge of all who exist, the Prince of Life, the Destroyer of Death, is made by him mortal and alleged to receive suffering in His own Godhead. He represents the Godhead to have shared with the body in the dissolution of that three days death of the body, and so after the death to have been again raised by the Father."

Of the same from his former exposition to Cledonius:—

"It is the contention of the Arians that the manhood was without a soul, that they may refer the passion to the Godhead and represent the same power as both moving the body and suffering."

Of the same from his discourse about the Son:—

"It remained for us to treat of what was commanded Him and of His keeping the commandments and doing all things pleasing to Him; and further of His perfection, exaltation, and learning obedience by all that He suffered,¹⁵⁴⁷ His priesthood, His offering, His betrayal, His entreaty to Him that hath power to save Him from death, His agony, His bloody sweat, His prayer and similar manifestations, were it not clear to all that all these expressions in connexion with His Passion in no way signify the nature which was immutable and above suffering."

Of the same from his Easter Discourse (Or. ii.):—

"Who is this that cometh from Edom?'¹⁵⁴⁸ and from the earth, and how can the garments of the bloodless and bodiless be red as of one that treadeth in the wine-fat? Urge in reply the beauty of the garment of the body which suffered and was made beautiful in suffering, and was made splendid by the Godhead, than which nothing is lovelier nor more fair."

Testimony of Gregory, bishop of Nyssa.

From his catechetical oration:—

"And this is the mystery of the dispensation of God concerning the manhood and of the resurrection from the dead, not to prevent the soul from being separated from the body by death according to the necessary law of human nature, and to bring them together again through the resurrection."

Of the same from the same work:—

"The flesh which received the Godhead, and which through the resurrection was exalted with the Godhead, is not formed of another material, but of ours; so, just as in the case of our own body, the operation of one of the senses moves to general sensation the whole man united to that part, in like manner just as though all nature were one single animal, the resurrection of the part pervades the whole, being conveyed from the part to the whole by what is continuous and united in nature. What then do we find extraordinary in the mystery that the upright stoops to the fallen to raise up him that lies low?"

Of the same from the same work:—

"It would be natural also in this part not to heed the one and neglect the other; but in the immortal to behold the human, and to be curiously exact about the diviner quality in the manhood."

Of the same from his work against Eunomius:—

"'Tis not the human nature which raises Lazarus to life. 'Tis not the impassible power which sheds tears over the dead. The tear belongs to the man; the life comes from the very life. The thousands are not fed by human poverty; omnipotence does not hasten to the fig tree. Who was weary in the way, and who by His word sustains all the world without being weary? What is the brightness of His glory, what was pierced by the nails? What form is smitten in the passion, what is glorified for everlasting? The answer is plain and needs no interpretation."

Of the same from the same treatise:—

"He blames them that refer the passion to the human nature. He wishes himself wholly to subject the Godhead itself to the passion, for the proposition being twofold and doubtful, whether the divinity or the humanity was concerned in the passion, the denial of the one becomes the positive condemnation of the other. While therefore they blame them who see the passion in the humanity, they will bestow unqualified praise on them that maintain the Divinity of the Son of God to be passible. But the point established by these means becomes a confirmation of their own absurdity of doctrine; for if, as they allege, the Godhead of the Son suffers while that of the Father in accordance with its substance is conserved in complete impassibility, it follows that the impassible nature is at variance with the nature which sustains suffering."

The testimony of the holy Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium.

From his discourse on the text "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me hath everlasting life":¹⁵⁴⁹—

"Whose then are the sufferings? Of the flesh. Therefore if you give to the flesh the suffering, give it also the lowly words; and ascribe the exalted words to Him to Whom you assign the miracles. For the God when He is in the act of working wonders naturally speaks in high and lofty language worthy of His works and the man when He is suffering fitly utters lowly words corresponding with His sufferings."

Of the same from his discourse on "My Father is greater than I":¹⁵⁵⁰—

"But when you give the sufferings to the flesh and the miracles to God, you must of necessity, though unwillingly, give the lowly words to the man born of Mary, and the high and lofty words becoming God, to the Word who existed in the beginning. The reason why I utter sometimes lofty words and sometimes lowly is that by the lofty I may show the nobility of the indwelling Word, and by the lowly make known the infirmity of the lowly flesh. So at one time I call myself equal to the Father and at another I call the Father greater; and in this I am not inconsistent with myself, but I shew that I am God and man; God by the lofty and man by the lowly. And if you wish to know in what sense my Father is greater than I, I spoke in the flesh and not in the person of the Godhead."

Of the same from his discourse on "If it be possible let this cup pass from me":¹⁵⁵¹—

"Ascribe not then the sufferings of the flesh to the impassible God, for I, O heretic, am God, and man; God, as the miracles prove; man as is shewn by the sufferings. Since then I am God and man, tell me, who was it who suffered? If God suffered, you have spoken blasphemy; but if the flesh suffered, why do you not attribute the passion to Him to whom you ascribe the dread? For while one is suffering another feels on dread; while man is being crucified God is not troubled."

Of the same from his discourse against the Arians:—

"And not to prolong what I am saying, I will shortly ask you, O heretic, did He who was begotten of God before the ages suffer, or Jesus who was born of David in the last days? If the Godhead suffered, thou hast spoken blasphemy; if, as the truth is, the manhood suffered, for what reason do you hesitate to attribute the passion to man?"

Of the same from his discourse concerning the Son:—

"Peter said, God hath made this Jesus both Lord and Christ'¹⁵⁵² and said too, this Jesus whom ye crucified God hath raised up.'¹⁵⁵³ Now it was the manhood, not the Godhead, which became a corpse, and He who raised it was the Word, the power of God, who said in the Gospel, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.'¹⁵⁵⁴ So when it is said that God hath made Him who became a corpse and rose from the dead both Lord and Christ, what is meant is the flesh, and not the Godhead of the Son."

Of the same from his discourse on "The Son can do nothing of Himself":¹⁵⁵⁵—

"For He had not such a nature as that His life could be held by corruption, since His Godhead was not forcibly reduced to suffering. For how could it? But the manhood was renewed in incorruption. So he says For this mortal must put on immortality and this corruptible must put on incorruption.'¹⁵⁵⁶ You observe the accuracy; he points distinctly to this mortal' that you may not entertain the idea of the resurrection of any other flesh."

Testimony of the holy Flavianus, bishop of Antioch.

On Easter Day:—

"Wherefore also the cross is boldly preached by us, and the Lord's death confessed among us, though in nothing did the Godhead suffer, for the divine is impassible, but the dispensation was fulfilled by the body."

Of the same on Judas the traitor:—

"When therefore you hear of the Lord being betrayed, do not degrade the divine dignity to insignificance, nor attribute to divine power the sufferings of the body. For the divine is impassible and invariable. For if through His love to mankind He took on Him the form of a servant, He underwent no change in nature. But being what He ever was, he yielded the divine¹⁵⁵⁷ body to experience death."

Testimony of Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria.

From his Heortastic Volume:—

"Of unreasoning beings the souls are not taken and replaced: they share in the corruption of the bodies, and are dissolved into dust. But after the Saviour at the time of the cross had taken the soul from His own body, He restored it to the body again when He rose from the dead. To assure us of this He uttered the words of the psalmist, the predictive exclamation, Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.'"¹⁵⁵⁸

Testimony of the blessed Gelasius, bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine:—

"He was bound, He was wounded, He was crucified, He was handled, He was marked with scars, He received a lance's wound, and all these indignities were undergone by the body born of Mary, while that which was begotten from the Father before the ages none was able to harm, for the Word had no such nature. For how can any one constrain Godhead? How wound it? How make red with blood the incorporeal nature? How surround it with grave bands? Grant now what you cannot contravene and, constrained by invincible reason, honour Godhead."

Testimony of the holy John, bishop of Constantinople.

From his discourse on the words "My Father worketh hitherto and I work":¹⁵⁵⁹—

"What sign shewest Thou unto us seeing that Thou doest these things?'¹⁵⁶⁰ What then does He reply Himself? Destroy this temple,' He says, and in three days I will raise it up,'¹⁵⁶¹ speaking of His own body, but they did not understand Him."

And a little further on:—

"Why does not the evangelist pass this by? Why did he add the correction, But He spake of the temple of his body'?¹⁵⁶² for He did not say destroy this body,' but temple' that He might shew the indwelling God. Destroy this temple which is far more excellent than that of the Jews. The Jewish temple contained the Law; this temple contains the Lawgiver; the former the letter that killeth; the latter the spirit that giveth life."¹⁵⁶³

Of the same from the discourse "That what was spoken and done in humility was not so done and spoken on account of infirmity of power but different dispensations":—

"How then does He say If it be possible'?¹⁵⁶⁴ He is pointing out to us the infirmity of the human nature, which did not choose to be torn away from this present life, but stepped back and shrank on account of the love implanted in it by God in the beginning for the present life. If then when the Lord Himself so often spoke in such terms, some have dared to say that He did not take flesh, what would they have said if none of these words had been spoken by Him?"

Of the same from the same work:—

"Observe how they spoke of His former age. Ask the heretic the question Does God dread? Does He draw back? Does He shrink? Does He sorrow? and if he says yes, stand off from him for the future, rank him down below with the devil, aye lower even than the devil, for even the devil will not dare to say this. But, should he say that each of these things is unworthy of God, reply—neither does God pray; for apart from these it will be yet another absurdity should the words be the words of God, for the words indicate not only an agony, but also two wills; one of the Son and another of the Father, opposed to one another. For the words Not as I will, but as Thou wilt,' are the words of one indicating this."

Of the same from the same work:—

"For if this be spoken of the Godhead there arises a certain contradiction, and many absurdities are thereby produced. If on the contrary it be spoken of the flesh, the expressions are reasonable, and no fault can be found with them. For the unwillingness of the flesh to die incurs no condemnation; such is the nature of the flesh and He exhibits all the properties of the flesh except sin, and indeed in full abundance, so as to stop the mouths of the heretics. When therefore He says If it be possible let this cup pass from me' and not as I will but as Thou wilt,' He only shews that He is really clothed with the flesh which fears death, for it is the nature of the flesh to fear death, to draw back and to suffer agony. Now He leaves it abandoned and stripped of its own activity, that by shewing its weakness He may convince us also of its nature. Sometimes however He conceals it, because He was not mere man."

Testimony of Severianus, bishop of Gabala.

From his discourse on the seals:—

"The Jews withstand the apparent, ignorant of the non-apparent; they crucify the flesh; they do not destroy the Godhead. For if my words are not destroyed together with the letter which is the clothing of speech, how could God the Word, the fount of life, die together with the flesh? The passion belongs to the body, but impassibility to the dignity."

See then how they whose husbandry is in the East and in the West, as well as in the South and in the North, have all been shewn by us to condemn your vain heresy, and all openly to proclaim the impassibility of the divine Nature. See how both tongues, I mean both Greek and Latin, make one harmonious confession about the things of God.

Eran.—I am myself astonished at their harmony, but I observe a considerable difference in the terms they use.

Orth.—Do not be angry. The very force of their fight against their adversaries is the cause of their seeming immoderate. The same thing is to be observed in the case of planters; when they see a plant bent one way or another, they are not satisfied with bringing it to a straight line, but bend it still further in the opposite direction, that by its being bent still further from the straight it may attain its upright stature. But that you may know that the very promoters and supporters of this manifold heresy strive to surpass even the heretics of old by the greatness of their blasphemies, listen once more to the writings of Apollinarius which proclaim the impassibility of the divine nature, and confess the passion to be of the body.

Testimony of Apollinarius.

From his summary:—

"John spoke of the temple which was destroyed, namely the body of Him that raised it, and the body is entirely united to Him and He is not another among them. And if the body of the Lord was one with the Lord, the properties of the body were constituted His properties on account of the body."

And again:—

"And the truth is that His conjunction with the body does not take place by circumscription of the Word, so that He has nothing beyond His incorporation. Wherefore even in death immortality abides with Him; for if He transcends this composition, so does He also the dissolution. Now death is dissolution. But He was not comprehended in the composition; had He been so, the universe would have been made void; nor in the dissolution did He, like the soul, suffer the deprivation which succeeds dissolution."

And again:—

"As the Saviour says that the dead bodies go forth from their tombs, though their souls do not go forth thence, just so He says that He Himself will rise from the dead, although it is only His body that rises."

In another similar work he writes:—

"Of man is the rising from the dead; of God is the raising. Now Christ both rose and raised, for He was God and man. Had the Christ been only man He would not have quickened the dead, and if He had been only God, He would not on His own account apart from the Father have quickened any of the dead. But Christ did both; the same being is both God and man. If the Christ had been only man He would not have saved the world; if He had been only God He would not have saved it through suffering, but Christ did both, so He is God and man. If the Christ had been only man or if only God He could not have been a Mediator between men and God."

And a little further on:—

"Now flesh is an instrument of life fitted to the capacity for suffering in accordance with the divine will. Words are not proper to the Flesh, nor are deeds. Being made subject to the capacity for suffering, as is natural to the flesh, it prevails over the suffering because it is the flesh of God."

And again a little further on:—

"The Son took flesh of the Virgin and travelled to the world. This flesh He filled with the Holy Ghost to the sanctification of us all. So He delivered death to death and destroyed death through the resurrection to the raising of us all."

From his tract concerning the faith:—

"Since the passions are concerned with the flesh His power possessed its own impassibility, so to refer the passion to the power is an impious error."

And in his tract about the incarnation he further writes:—

"Here then He shews that it was the same man who rose from the dead and God who reigns over all creation."

You see now that one of the professors of vain heresy plainly preaches the impassibility of the Godhead, calls the body a temple, and persists in maintaining that this body was raised by God the Word.

Eran.—I have heard and I am astonished; and I am really ashamed that our doctrines should appear less tenable than the innovation of Apollinarius.

Orth.—But I will bring you a witness from yet another heretical herd distinctly preaching the impassibility of the Godhead of the only begotten.

Eran.—Whom do you mean?

Orth.—You have probably heard of Eusebius the Phoenician, who was bishop of Emesa by Lebanon.¹⁵⁶⁵