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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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39 Pages
Page 24
20. Again, when the Bishops said that the Word must be described as the True Power and Image of the Father, in all things exact [891] and like the Father, and as unalterable, and as always, and as in Him without division (for never was the Word not, but He was always, existing everlastingly with the Father, as the radiance of light), Eusebius and his fellows endured indeed, as not daring to contradict, being put to shame by the arguments which were urged against them; but withal they were caught whispering to each other and winking with their eyes, that 'like,' and 'always,' and 'power,' and 'in Him,' were, as before, common to us and the Son, and that it was no difficulty to agree to these. As to 'like,' they said that it is written of us, 'Man is the image and glory of God [892] :' 'always,' that it was written, 'For we which live are alway [893] :' 'in Him,' 'In Him we live and move and have our being [894] :' 'unalterable,' that it is written, 'Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ [895] :' as to 'power,' that the caterpillar and the locust are called 'power' and 'great power [896] ,' and that it is often said of the people, for instance, 'All the power of the Lord came out of the land of Egypt [897] :' and there are others also, heavenly ones, for Scripture says, 'The Lord of powers is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge [898] .' Indeed Asterius, by title the sophist, had said the like in writing, having learned it from them, and before him Arius [899] having learned it also, as has been said. But the Bishops discerning in this too their dissimulation, and whereas it is written, 'Deceit is in the heart of the irreligious that imagine evil [900] ,' were again compelled on their part to collect the sense of the Scriptures, and to re-say and re-write what they had said before, more distinctly still, namely, that the Son is 'one in essence [901] ' with the Father: by way of signifying, that the Son was from the Father, and not merely like, but the same in likeness [902] , and of shewing that the Son's likeness and unalterableness was different from such copy of the same as is ascribed to us, which we acquire from virtue on the ground of observance of the commandments. For bodies which are like each other may be separated and become at distances from each other, as are human sons relatively to their parents (as it is written concerning Adam and Seth, who was begotten of him that he was like him after his own pattern [903] ); but since the generation of the Son from the Father is not according to the nature of men, and not only like, but also inseparable from the essence of the Father, and He and the Father are one, as He has said Himself, and the Word is ever in the Father and the Father in the Word, as the radiance stands towards the light (for this the phrase itself indicates), therefore the Council, as understanding this, suitably wrote 'one in essence,' that they might both defeat the perverseness of the heretics, and shew that the Word was other than originated things. For, after thus writing, they at once added, 'But they who say that the Son of God is from nothing, or created, or alterable, or a work, or from other essence, these the Holy Catholic Church anathematizes [904] .' And by saying this, they shewed clearly that 'of the essence,' and 'one in essence,' are destructive of those catchwords of irreligion, such as 'created,' and 'work,' and 'originated,' and 'alterable,' and 'He was not before His generation.' And he who holds these, contradicts the Council; but he who does not hold with Arius, must needs hold and intend the decisions of the Council, suitably regarding them to signify the relation of the radiance to the light, and from thence gaining the illustration of the truth.
[891] aparallakton
[892] 1 Cor. xi. 7.
[893] 2 Cor. iv. 11.
[894] Acts xvii. 28.
[895] Rom. viii. 35, who shall separate.
[896] Joel ii. 25.
[897] Ex. xii. 41.
[898] Ps. xlvi. 7.
[899] vid. supr. S:8, note 3.
[900] Prov. xii. 20.
[901] vid. ad Afros. 5, 6. ad Serap. ii. 5. S. Ambrose tells us, that a Letter written by Eusebius of Nicomedia, in which he said, 'If we call Him true Son of the Father and uncreate, then are we granting that He is one in essence, homoousion,' determined the Council on the adoption of the term. de Fid. iii. n. 125. He had disclaimed 'of the essence,' in his Letter to Paulinus. Theod. Hist. i. 4. Arius, however, had disclaimed homoousion already, Epiph. Haer. 69. 7. It was a word of old usage in the Church, as Eusebius of Caesarea confesses in his Letter, infr. Tertullian in Prax. 13 fin. has the translation 'unius substantiae:' (vid. Lucifer de non Parc. p. 218.) as he has 'de substantia Patris,' in Prax. 4. and Origen perhaps used the word, vid. Pamph. Apol. 5. and Theognostus and the two Dionysii, infr. S:25, 26. And before them Clement had spoken of the henosis tes monadikes ousias, 'the union of the single essence,' vid. Le Quien in Damasc. Fid. Orth. i. 8. Novatian too has 'per substantiae communionem,' de Trinit. 31.
[902] The Arians allowed that our Lord was like and the image of the Father, but in the sense in which a picture is like the original, differing from it in substance and in fact. In this sense they even allowed the strong word aparallaktos unvarying [or rather exact] image, vid. beginning of S:20. which had been used by the Catholics (vid. Alexander, ap. Theod. Hist. i. 3. p. 740.) as by the Semiarians afterwards, who even added the words kat' ousian, or 'according to substance.' Even this strong phrase, however, kat' ousian aparallaktos eikon, or aparallaktos homoios, did not appear to the Council an adequate safeguard of the doctrine. Athan. notices de Syn. that 'like' applies to qualities rather than to essence, S:53. Also Basil. Ep. 8. n. 3. 'while in itself,' says the same Father, 'it is frequently used of faint similitudes and falling very far short of the original.' Ep. 9. n. 3. Accordingly, the Council determined on the word homoousion as implying, as the text expresses it, 'the same in likeness,' tauton te homoiosei, that the likeness might not be analogical. vid. the passage about gold and brass, S:23 below, Cyril in Joan. 1. iii. c. v. p. 302. [See below de Syn. 15, note 2.]
[903] Gen. v. 3.
[904] vid. Euseb.'s Letter, supr.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/athanasius/defence-nicene-definition.asp?pg=24
