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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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39 Pages
Page 25
21. Therefore if they, as the others, make an excuse that the terms are strange, let them consider the sense in which the Council so wrote, and anathematize what the Council anathematized; and then if they can, let them find fault with the expressions. But I well know that, if they hold the sense of the Council, they will fully accept the terms in which it is conveyed; whereas if it be the sense which they wish to complain of, all must see that it is idle in them to discuss the wording, when they are but seeking handles for irreligion. This then was the reason of these expressions; but if they still complain that such are not scriptural, that very complaint is a reason why they should be cast out, as talking idly and disordered in mind. And let them blame themselves in this matter, for they set the example, beginning their war against God with words not in Scripture. However, if a person is interested in the question, let him know, that, even if the expressions are not in so many words in the Scriptures, yet, as was said before, they contain the sense of the Scriptures, and expressing it, they convey it to those who have their hearing unimpaired for religious doctrine. Now this circumstance it is for thee to consider, and for those ill-instructed men to give ear to. It has been shewn above, and must be believed as true, that the Word is from the Father, and the only Offspring [905] proper to Him and natural. For whence may one conceive the Son to be, who is the Wisdom and the Word, in whom all things came to be, but from God Himself? However, the Scriptures also teach us this, since the Father says by David, 'My heart uttered a good Word [906] ,' and, 'From the womb before the morning star I begat Thee [907] ;' and the Son signifies to the Jews about Himself, 'If God were your Father, ye would love Me; for I proceeded forth from the Father [908] .' And again; 'Not that anyone has seen the Father, save He which is from God, He hath seen the Father [909] .' And moreover, 'I and My Father are one,' and, 'I in the Father and the Father in Me [910] ,' is equivalent to saying, 'I am from the Father, and inseparable from Him.' And John in saying, 'The Only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him, [911] ' spoke of what He had learned from the Saviour. Besides, what else does 'in the bosom' intimate, but the Son's genuine generation from the Father?
[905] gennema, offspring; this word is of very frequent occurrence in Athan. He speaks of it, Orat. iv. 3. as virtually Scriptural. Yet Basil, contr. Eunom. ii. 6-8. explicitly disavows the word, as an unscriptural invention of Eunomius. 'That the Father begat we are taught in many places: that the Son is an offspring we never heard up to this day, for Scripture says, "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given."' c. 7. He goes on to say that 'it is fearful to give Him names of our own to whom God has given a name which is above every name;' and observes that offspring is not the word which even a human father would apply to his son, as for instance we read, 'Child, (teknon,) go into the vineyard,' and 'Who art thou, my son?' moreover that fruits of the earth are called offspring ('I will not drink of the offspring of this vine'), rarely animated things, except indeed in such instances as, 'O generation (offspring) of vipers.' Nyssen defends his brother, contr. Eunom. Orat. iii. p 105. In the Arian formula 'an offspring, but not as one of the offsprings,' it is synonymous with 'work' or 'creature.' On the other hand Epiphanius uses it, e.g. Haer. 76. n. 8. and Naz. Orat. 29. n. 2. Eusebius, Demonstr. Ev. iv. 2. Pseudo-Basil. adv. Eunom. iv. p. 280. fin.
[906] Ps. xlv. 1.
[907] Ib. cx. 3.
[908] John viii. 42.
[909] Ib. vi. 46.
[910] Ib. x. 30, and xiv. 10.
[911] Ib. i. 18.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/athanasius/defence-nicene-definition.asp?pg=25
