(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all mistakes found.)
Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing intially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.
ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA
[Translated by the Rev. James B. H. Hawkins, M.A.]
EPISTLES(1) ON THE ARIAN HERESY AND THE DEPOSITION OF ARIUS.
I.--TO ALEXANDER, BISHOP OF THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
To the most reverend and like-minded brother, Alexander, Alexander sends
greeting in the Lord;
1. THE ambitious and avaricious will of wicked men is always wont to
lay snares against those churches which seem greater, by various pretexts
attacking the ecclesiastical piety of such. For incited by the devil who
works in them, to the lust of that which is set before them, and throwing
away all religious scruples, they trample under foot the fear of the
judgment of God. Concerning which things, I who suffer, have thought it
necessary to show to your piety, in order that you may be aware of such
men, lest any of them presume to set foot in your dioceses, whether by
themselves or by others; for these sorcerers know how to use hypocrisy to
carry out their fraud; and to employ letters composed and dressed out with
lies, which are able to deceive a man who is intent upon a simple and
sincere faith. Arius, therefore, and Achilles,(2) having lately entered
into a conspiracy, emulating the ambition of Colluthus, have turned out far
worse than he. For Colluthus, indeed, who reprehends these very men, found
some pretext for his evil purpose; but these, beholding his(3) battering of
Christ, endured no longer to be subject to the Church; but building for
themselves dens of thieves, they hold their assemblies in them unceasingly,
night and day directing their calumnies against Christ and against us. For
since they call in question all pious and apostolical doctrine, after the
manner of the Jews, they have constructed a workshop for contending against
Christ, denying the Godhead of our Saviour, and preaching that He is only
the equal of all others. And having collected all the passages which speak
of His plan of salvation and His humiliation for our sakes, they endeavour
from these to collect the preaching of their impiety, ignoring altogether
the passages in which His eternal Godhead and unutterable glory with the
Father is set forth. Since, therefore, they back up the impious opinion
concerning Christ, which is held by the Jews and Greeks, in every possible
way they strive to gain their approval; busying themselves about all those
things which they are wont to deride in us, and daily stirring up against
us seditions and persecutions. And now, indeed, they drag us before the
tribunals of the judges, by intercourse with silly and disorderly women,
whom they have led into error; at another time they cast opprobrium and
infamy upon the Christian religion, their young maidens disgracefully
wandering about every village and street. Nay, even Christ's indivisible
tunic, which His executioners were unwilling to divide, these wretches have
dared to rend.(4)
2. And we, indeed, though we discovered rather late, on account of
their concealment, their manner of life, and their unholy attempts, by the
common suffrage of all have s cast them forth from the congregation of the
Church which adores the Godhead of Christ. But they, running hither and
thither against us, have begun to betake themselves to our colleagues who
are of the same mind with us; in appearance, indeed, pretending to seek for
peace and concord, but in reality seeking to draw over some of them by fair
words to their own diseases, asking long wordy letters from them, in order
that reading these to the men whom they have deceived, they may make them
impenitent in the errors into which they have fallen, and obdurate in
impiety, as if they had bishops thinking the same thing and siding with
them. Moreover, the things which amongst us they have wrongly taught and
done, and on account of which they have been expelled by us, they do not at
all confess to them, but they either pass them over in silence, or throwing
a veil over them, by feigned words and writings they deceive them.
Concealing, therefore, their pestilent doctrine by their specious and
flattering discourse, they circumvent the more simple-minded and such as
are open to fraud, nor do they spare in the meanwhile to traduce our piety
to all. Hence it comes to pass that some, subscribing their letters,
receive them into the Church, although in my opinion the greatest guilt
lies upon those ministers who venture to do this; because not only does the
apostolic rule not allow of it, bat the working of the devil in these men
against Christ is by this means more strongly kindled. Wherefore without
delay, brethren beloved, I have stirred myself up to show you the
faithlessness of these men who say that there was a time when the Son of
God was not; and that He who was not before, came into existence
afterwards, becoming such, when at length He was made, even as every man is
wont to be born. For, they say, God made all things from things which are
not, comprehending even the Son of God in the creation of all things
rational and irrational. To which things they add as a consequence, that He
is of mutable nature, and capable both of virtue and vice. And this
hypothesis being once assumed, that He is "from things which are not,"
they overturn the sacred writings concerning His eternity, which signify
the immutability and the Godhead of Wisdom and the Word, which are Christ.
3. We, therefore, say these wicked men, can also be the sons of God
even as He. For it is written, "I have nourished and brought up
children."(1) But when what follows was objected to them, "and they have
rebelled against me," which indeed is not applicable to the nature of the
Saviour, who is of an immutable nature; they, throwing off all religious
reverence, say that God, since He foreknew and had foreseen that His Son
would not rebel against Him, chose Him from all. For He did not choose Him
as having by nature anything specially beyond His other sons, for no one is
by nature a son of God, as they say; neither as having any peculiar
property of His own; but God chose Him who was of a mutable nature, on
account of the carefulness of His manners and His practice, which in no way
turned to that which is evil; so that, if Paul and Peter had striven for
this, there would have been no difference between their sonship and His.
And to confirm this insane doctrine, playing with Holy Scripture, they
bring forward what is said in the Psalms respecting Christ: "Thou lovest
righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, bath anointed
Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows,"(2)
4. But that the Son of God was not made "from things which are not,"
and that there was no "time when He was not,"(3) the evangelist John
sufficiently shows, when he thus writes concerning Him: "The only-begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father."(4) For since that divine teacher
intended to show that the Father and the Son are two things inseparable the
one from the other, he spoke of Him as being in the bosom of the Father.
Now that also the Word of God is not comprehended in the number of things
that were created "from things which are not," the same John says, "All
things were made by Him." For he set forth His proper personality, saying,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. All things were made by Him; and with out Him was not anything
made that was made."(5) For if all things were made by Him, how comes it
that He who gave to the things which are made their existence, at one time
Himself was not. For the Word which makes is not to be defined as being of
the same nature with the things which are made; since He indeed was in the
beginning, and all things were made by Him, and fashioned "from things
which are not." Moreover, that which is seems to be contrary to and far
removed froth those things which are made "from things which are not." For
that indeed shows that there is no interval between the Father and the
Son, since not even in thought can the mind imagine any distance between
them. But that the world was created "from things which are not,"
indicates a more recent a and later origin of substance, since the universe
receives an essence of this sort from the Father by the Son. When,
therefore, the most pious John contemplated the essence of the divine Word
at a very great distance, and as placed beyond all conception of those
things that are begotten, he thought it not meet to speak of His generation
and creation; not daring to designate the Creator in the same terms as the
things that are made. Not that the Word is unbegotten, for the Father alone
is unbegotten, but because the inexplicable subsistence of the only-
begotten Son transcends the acute comprehension of the evangelists, and
perhaps also of angels.
5. Wherefore I do not think that he is to be reckoned amongst the pious
who presumes to inquire into anything beyond these things, not listening to
this saying: "Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee, neither
search the things that are above thy strength."(1) For if the knowledge of
many other things that are incomparably inferior to this, are hidden from
human comprehension, such as in the apostle Paul, "Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him."(2) As also God said to Abraham, that
"he could not number the stars;"(3) and that passage, "Who can number the
sand of the sea, and the drops of rainy"(4) How shall any one be able to
investigate too curiously the subsistence of the divine Word, unless he be
smitten with frenzy? Concerning which the Spirit of prophecy says, "Who
shall declare his generation?"(5) And our Saviour Himself, who blesses the
pillars of all things in the world, sought to unburden them of the
knowledge of these things, saying that to comprehend this was quite beyond
their nature, and that to the Father alone belonged the knowledge of this
most divine mystery. "For no man," says He, "knoweth the Son, but the
Father: neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son."(6) Of this thing
also I think that the Father spoke, in the words, "My secret is to Me and
Mine."
6. Now that it is an insane thing to think that the Son was made from
things which are not, and was in being in time, the expression, "from
things which are not," itself shows, although these stupid men understand
not the insanity of their own words. For the expression, "was not," ought
either to be reckoned in time, or in some place of an age. But if it be
true that "all things were made by Him," it is established that both every
age and time and all space, and that "when" in which the "was not" is
found, was made by Him. And is it not absurd that He who fashioned the
times and the ages and the seasons, in which that "was not" is mixed up, to
say of Him, that He at some time was not? For it is devoid of sense, and a
mark of great ignorance, to affirm that He who is the cause of everything
is posterior to the origin of that thing. For according to them, the space
of time in which they say that the Son had not yet been made by the Father,
preceded the wisdom of God that fashioned all things, and the Scripture
speaks falsely according to them, which calls Him "the First-born of every
creature." Conformable to which, that which the majestically-speaking Paul
says of Him: "Whom He hath appointed heir of all things. By whom also He
made the worlds. But by Him also were all things created that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created
by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things."(7)
7. Wherefore, since it appears that this hypothesis of a creation from
things which are not is most impious, it is necessary to say that the
Father is always the Father. But He is the Father, since the Son is always
with Him, on account of whom He is called the Father. Wherefore, since the
Son is always with Him, the Father is always perfect, being destitute of
nothing as regards good; who, not in time, nor after an interval, nor from
things which are not, hath begotten His only-begotten Son. How, then, is it
not impious to say, that the wisdom of God once was not which speaks thus
concerning itself: "I was with Him forming all things; I was His
delight;"(8) or that the power of God once did not exist; or that His Word
was at any time mutilated; or that other things were ever wanting from
which the Son is known and the Father expressed? For he who denies that the
brightness of the glory existed, takes away also the primitive light of
which it s the brightness. And if the image of God was not always, it is
clear also that He was not always, of which it is the image. Moreover, in
saying that the character of the subsistence of God was not, He also is
done away with who is perfectly expressed by it. Hence one may see that the
Sonship of our Saviour has nothing at all in common with the sonship of the
rest. For just as it has been shown that His inexplicable subsistence
excels by an incomparable excellence all other things to which He has given
existence, so also His Sonship, which is according to the nature of the
Godhead of the Father, transcends. by an ineffable excellence. the sonship
of those who have been adopted by Him. For He, indeed, is of an immutable
nature, every way perfect, and wanting in nothing; but these since they are
either way subject to change, stand in need of help from Him. For what
progress can the wisdom of God make? What increase can the truth itself and
God the Word receive? In what respect can the life and the true light be
made better? And if this be so, how much more unnatural is it that wisdom
should ever be capable of folly; that the power of God should be con-joined
with infirmity; that reason should be obscured by unreason; or that
darkness should be mixed up with the true light? And the apostle says, on
this place, "What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath
Christ with Belial?"(1) And Solomon says, that it is not possible that it
should come to pass that a man should comprehend with his understanding
"the way of a serpent upon a rock," which is Christ, according to the
opinion of Paul. But men and angels, who are His creatures, have received
His blessing that they might make progress, exercising themselves in
virtues and in the commandments of the law, so as not to sin. Wherefore our
Lord, since He is by nature the Son of the Father, is by all adored. But
these, laying aside the spirit of bondage, when by brave deeds and by
progress they have received the spirit of adoption, being blessed by Him
who is the Son by nature, are made sons by adoption.
8. And His proper and peculiar, natural and excellent Sonship, St. Paul
has declared, who thus speaks of God: "Who spared not His own Son, but for
us," who were not His natural sons, "delivered Him up."(2) For to
distinguish Him from those who are not properly sons, He said that He was
His own Son. And in the Gospel we read: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased."(3) Moreover, in the Psalms the Saviour says: "The Lord
hath said unto Me, Thou art my Son."(4) Where, showing that He is the true
and genuine Son, He signifies that there are no other genuine sons besides
Himself. And what, too, is the meaning of this: "From the womb before the
morning I begat thee"?(5) Does He not plainly indicate the natural sonship
of paternal bringing forth, which he obtained not by the careful framing of
His manners, not by the exercise of and increase in virtue, but by property
of nature? Wherefore, the only-begotten Son of the Father, indeed,
possesses an indefectible Sonship; but the adoption of rational sons
belongs not to them by nature, but is prepared for them by the probity of
their life, and by the free gift of God. And it is mutable as the Scripture
recognises: "For when the sons of God saw the daughters of men, they took
them wives,"(6) etc. And in another place: "I have nourished and brought up
children, but they have rebelled against Me,"(7) as we find God speaking by
the prophet Isaiah.
9. And though I could say much more, brethren beloved, I purposely omit
to do so, as deeming it to be burdensome at great length to call these
things to the remembrance of teachers who are of the same mind with myself.
For ye yourselves are taught of God, nor are ye ignorant that this
doctrine, which hath lately raised its head against the piety of the
Church, is that of Ebion and Artemas; nor is it aught else but an imitation
of Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, who, by the judgment and counsel of
all the bishops, and in every place, was separated from the Church.(8) To
whom Lucian succeeding, remained for many years separate from the communion
of three bishops.(9) And now lately having drained the dregs of their
impiety, there have arisen amongst us those who teach this doctrine of a
creation from things which are not,(10) their hidden sprouts, Arius and
Achilles, and the gathering of those who join in their wickedness. And
three bishops in Syria, having been, in some manner, consecrated on account
of their agreement with them, incite them to worse things. But let the
judgment concerning these be reserved for your trial. For they, retaining
in their memory the words which came to be used with respect to His saving
Passion, and abasement, and examination, and what they call His poverty,
and in short of all those things to which the Saviour submitted for our
sakes, bring them forward to refute His supreme and eternal Godhead. But of
those words which signify His natural glory and nobility, and abiding with
the Father, they have become unmindful. Such as this: "I and My Father are
one,"(11) which indeed the Lord says, not as proclaiming Himself to be the
Father, nor to demonstrate that two persons are one; but that the Son of
the Father most exactly preserves the expressed likeness of the Father,
inasmuch as He has by nature impressed upon Him His similitude in every
respect, and is the image of the Father in no way discrepant, and the
expressed figure of the primitive exemplar. Whence, also, to Philip, who
then was desirous to see Him, the Lord shows this abundantly. For when he
said, "Show us the Father,"(12) He answered: "He that hath seen Me, hath
seen the Father," since the Father was Himself seen through the spotless
and living mirror of the divine image. Similar to which is what the saints
say in the Psalms: "In Thy light shall we see light."(13) Wherefore he that
honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father also;"(13) and with reason, for
every impious word which they dare to speak against the Son, has reference
to the Father.
10. But after these things, brethren beloved, what is there wonderful
in that which I am about to write, if I shall set forth the false calumnies
against me and our most pious laity? For those who have set themselves in
array against the Godhead of Christ, do not scruple to utter their
ungrateful ravings against as. Who will not either that any of the ancients
should be compared with them, or suffer that any of those whom, from our
earliest years, we have used as instructors should be placed on a level
with them. Nay, and they do not think that any of all those who are now our
colleagues, has attained even to a moderate amount of wisdom; boasting
themselves to be the only men who are wise and divested of worldly
possessions, the sole discoverers of dogmas, and that to them alone are
those things revealed which have never before come into the mind of any
other under the sun. Oh, the impious arrogance! Oh, the immeasurable
madness! Oh, the vainglory befitting those that are crazed! Oh, the pride
of Satan which has taken root in their unholy souls. The religious
perspicuity of the ancient Scriptures caused them no shame, nor did the
consentient doctrine of our colleagues concerning Christ keep in check
their audacity against Him. Their impiety not even the demons will bear,
who are ever on the watch for a blasphemous word uttered against the Son.
11. And let these things be now urged according to our power against
those who, with respect to matter which they know nothing of, have, as it
were, rolled in the dust against Christ, and have taken in hand to
calumniate our piety towards Him. For those inventors of stupid fables say,
that we who turn away with aversion from the impious and unscriptural
blasphemy against Christ, of those who speak of His coming from the things
which are not assert, that there are two unbegottens. For they ignorantly
affirm that one of two things must necessarily be said, either that He is
from things which are not, or that there are two unbegottens; nor do those
ignorant men know how great is the difference between the unbegotten
Father, and the things which were by Him created from things which are not,
as well the rational as the irrational. Between which two, as holding the
middle place, the only begotten nature of God, the Word by which the Father
formed all things out of nothing, was begotten of the true Father Himself.
As in a certain place the Lord Himself testified, saying, "Every one that
loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.
12. Concerning whom we thus believe, even as the Apostolic Church
believes. In one Father unbegotten, who has from no one the cause of His
being, who is unchangeable and immutable, who is always the same, and
admits of no increase or diminution; who gave to us the Law, the prophets,
and the Gospels; who is Lord of the patriarchs and apostles, and all the
saints. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; not
begotten of things which are not, but of Him who is the Father; not in a
corporeal manner, by excision or division as Sabellius and Valentinus
thought, but in a certain inexplicable and unspeakable manner, according to
the words of the prophet cited above: "Who shall declare His
generation?"(2) Since that His subsistence no nature which is begotten can
investigate, even as the Father can be investigated by none; because that
the nature of rational beings cannot receive the knowledge of His divine
generation by the Father. But men who are moved by the Spirit of truth,
have no need to learn these things from me, for in our ears are sounding
the words before uttered by Christ on this very thing," No man knoweth the
Father, save the Son; and no man knoweth who the Son is, save the
Father."(3) That He is equally with the Father unchangeable and immutable,
wanting in nothing, and the perfect Son, and like to the Father, we have
learnt; in this alone is He inferior to the Father, that He is not
unbegotten. For He is the very exact image of the Father, and in nothing
differing from Him. For it is clear that He is the image fully containing
all things by which the greatest similitude is declared, as the Lord
Himself hath taught us, when He says, "My Father is greater than I."(4) And
according to this we believe that the Son is of the Father, always
existing. "For He is the brightness of His glory, the express image of His
Father's person."(5) But let no one take that word always so as to raise
suspicion that He is unbegotten, as they imagine who have their senses
blinded. For neither are the words, "He was," or "always," or "before all
worlds," equivalent to unbegotten. But neither can the human mind employ
any other word to signify unbegotten. And thus I think that you understand
it, and I trust to your right purpose in all things, since these words do
not at all signify unbegotten. For these words seem to denote simply a
lengthening out of time, but the Godhead, and as it were the antiquity of
the only-begotten, they cannot worthily signify; but they have been
employed by holy men, whilst each, according to his capacity, seeks to
express this mystery, asking indulgence from the hearers, and pleading a
reasonable excuse, in saying, Thus far have we attained. But if there be
any who are expecting from mortal lips some word which exceeds human
capacity, saying that those things have been done away which are known in
part, it is manifest that the words," He was," and "always," and "before
all ages," come far short of what they hoped. And whatever word shall be
employed is not equivalent to unbegotten. Therefore to the unbegotten
Father, indeed, we ought to preserve His proper dignity, in confessing that
no one is the cause of His being; but to the Son must be allotted His
fitting honour, in assigning to Him, as we have said, a generation from the
Father without beginning, and allotting adoration to Him, so as only
piously and properly to use the words," He was," and "always," and "before
all worlds," with respect to Him; by no means rejecting His Godhead, but
ascribing to Him a similitude which exactly answers in every respect to the
Image and Exemplar of the Father. But we must say that to the Father alone
belongs the property of being unbegotten, for the Saviour Himself said, My
Father is greater than I."(1) And besides the pious opinion concerning the
Father and the Son, we confess to one Holy Spirit, as the divine Scriptures
teach us; who hath inaugurated both the holy men of the Old Testament, and
the divine teachers of that which is called the New. And besides, also, one
only Catholic and Apostolic Church, which can never be destroyed, though
all the world should seek to make war with it; but it is victorious over
every most impious revolt of the heretics who rise up against it. For her
Goodman hath confirmed our minds by saying, "Be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world."(2) After this we know of the resurrection of the dead,
the first-fruits of which was our Lord Jesus Christ, who in very deed, and
not in appearance merely, carried a body, of Mary Mother of God, who in the
end of the world came to the human race to put away sin, was crucified and
died, and yet did He not thus perceive any detriment to His divinity, being
raised from the dead, taken up into heaven, seated at the right hand of
majesty.
13. These things in part have I written in this epistle, thinking it
burdensome to write out each accurately, even as I said before, because
they escape not your religious diligence. Thus do we teach, thus do we
preach. These are the apostolic doctrines of the Church, for which also we
die, esteeming those but little who would compel us to forswear them, even
if they would force us by tortures, and not casting away our hope in them.
To these Arius and Achilles opposing themselves, and those who with them
are the enemies of the truth, have been expelled from the Church, as being
aliens from our holy doctrine, according to the blessed Paul, who says, "If
any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let
him be accursed; even though he feign himself an angel from heaven."(3) And
also, "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to the wholesome words
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing,"(4) and so forth. These,
therefore, who have been anathematized by the brotherhood, let no one of
you receive, nor admit of those things which are either said or written by
them. For these seducers do always lie, nor will they ever speak the truth.
They go about the cities, attempting nothing else but that under the mark
of friendship and the name of peace, by their hypocrisy and blandishments,
they may give and receive letters, to deceive by means of these a few
"silly women, and laden with sins, who have been led captive by them,"(5)
and so forth.
14. These men, therefore, who have dared such things against Christ;
who have partly in public derided the Christian religion; partly seek to
traduce and inform against its professors before the judgment-seats; who in
a time of peace, as far as in them lies, have stirred up a persecution
against us; who have enervated the ineffable mystery of Christ's
generation; from these, I say, beloved and like-minded brethren, turning
away in aversion, give your suffrages with us against their mad daring;
even as our colleagues have done, who being moved with indignation, have
both written to us letters against these men, and have subscribed our
letter. Which also I have sent unto you by my son Apion the deacon, being
some of them from the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid, some from Libya and
Pentapolis. There are others also from Syria, Lycia, Pamphylia, Asia,
Cappadocia, and the other neighbouring provinces. After the example of
which I trust also that I shall receive letters from you. For though I have
prepared many helps towards curing those who have suffered injury, this is
the especial remedy that has been devised for healing the multitudes that
have been deceived by them, that they may comply with the general consent
of our colleagues, and thus hasten to return to repentance. Salute one
another, together with the brethren who are with you. I pray that ye may be
strong in the Lord, beloved, and that I may profit by your love towards
Christ.
II.--EPISTLE CATHOLIC.(6)
To our beloved and most reverend fellow-ministers of the Catholic Church in
every place, Alexander sends greeting in the Lord:
1. Since the body of the Catholic Church is one,(7) and it is commanded
in Holy Scripture that we should keep the bond of unanimity and peace, it
follows that we should write and signify to one another the things which
are done by each of us; that whether one member suffer or rejoice we may
all either suffer or rejoice with one another. In our diocese, then, not so
long ago, there have gone forth lawless men, and adversaries of Christ,
teaching men to apostatize; which thing, with good right, one might suspect
and call the precursor of Antichrist. I indeed wished to cover the matter
up in silence, that so perhaps the evil might spend itself in the leaders
of the heresy alone, and that it might not spread to other places and
defile the ears of any of the more simple-minded. But since Eusebius, the
present bishop of Nicomedia, imagining that with him rest all
ecclesiastical matters,(1) because, having left Berytus and cast his eyes
upon the church of the Nicomedians, and no punishment has been inflicted
upon him, he is set over these apostates, and has undertaken to write
everywhere, commending them, if by any means he may draw aside some who are
ignorant to this most disgraceful and Ant;christian heresy; it became
necessary for me, as knowing what is written in the law, no longer to
remain silent, but to announce to you all, that you may know both those who
have become apostates, and also the wretched words of their heresy; and if
Eusebius write, not to give heed to him.
2. For he, desiring by their assistance to renew that ancient
wickedness of his mind, with respect to which he has for a time been
silent, pretends that he is writing in their behalf, but he proves by his
deed that he is exerting himself to do this on his own account. Now the
apostates from the Church are these: Arius, Achilles,(2) Aithales,
Carpones, the other Arius, Sarmates, who were formerly priests; Euzoius,
Lucius, Julius, Menas, Helladius, and Gains, formerly deacons; and with
them Secundus and Theonas, who were once called bishops. And the words
invented by them, and spoken contrary to the mind of Scripture, are as
follows:--
"God was not always the Father; but there was a time when God was not
the Father. The Word of God was not always, but was made 'from things that
are not;' for He who is God fashioned the non-existing from the non-
existing; wherefore there was a time when He was not. For the Son is a
thing created, and a thing made: nor is He like to the Father in substance;
nor is He the true and natural Word of the Father; nor is He His true
Wisdom; but He is one of the things fashioned and made. And He is called,
by a misapplication of the terms, the Word and Wisdom, since He is Himself
made by the proper Word of God, and by that wisdom which is in God, in
which, as God made all other things, so also did He make Him. Wherefore, I
He is by His very nature changeable and mutable, equally with other
rational beings. The Word, too, is alien and separate from the substance of
God. The father also is ineffable to the Son; for neither does the Word
perfectly and accurately know the Father, neither can He perfectly see Him.
For neither does the Son indeed know His own substance as it is. Since He
for our sakes was made, that by Him as by an instrument God might create
us; nor would He have existed had not God wished to make us. Some one asked
of them whether the Son of God could change even as the devil changed; and
they feared not to answer that He can; for since He was made and created,
He is of mutable nature."
3. Since those about Arius speak these things and shamelessly maintain
them, we, coming together with the Bishops of Egypt and the Libyas, nearly
a hundred in number, have anathematized them, together with their
followers. But those about Eusebius have received them, earnestly
endeavouring to mix up falsehood with truth, impiety with piety. But they
will not prevail; for the truth prevails, and there is no communion betwixt
light and darkness, no concord between Christ and Belial.(3) For who ever
heard such things? or who, now hearing them, is not astonished, and does
not stop his ears that the pollution of these words should not touch them?
Who that hears John saying, "In the beginning was the Word,"(4) does not
condemn those who say there was a time when He was not? Who that hears
these words of the Gospel, "the only-begotten Son;"(5) and, "by Him were
all things made,"(6) will not hate those who declare He is one of the
things made? For how can He be one of the things made by Him? or how shall
He be the only-begotten who, as they say, is reckoned with all the rest, if
indeed He is a thing made and created? And how can He be made of things
which are not, when the Father says, "My heart belched forth a good
Word;"(7) and, "From the womb, before the morning have I begotten Thee?"(8)
Or how is He unlike to the substance of the Father, who is the perfect
image and brightness of the Father, and who says, "He that hath seen Me
hath seen the Father?"(9) And how, if the Son is the Word or Wisdom and
Reason of God, was there a time when He was not? It is all one as if they
said, that there was a time when God was without reason and wisdom. How,
also, can He be changeable and mutable, who says indeed by Himself: "I am
in the Father, and the Father in Me,"(1) and, "I and My Father are one;"(2)
and by the prophet, "I am the Lord, I change not?"(3) For even though one
saying may refer to the Father Himself, yet it would now be more aptly
spoken of the Word, because when He became man, He changed not; but, as
says the apostle, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for
ever."(4) Who hath induced them to say, that for our sakes He was made;
although Paul says, "for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things?"(5)
4. Now concerning their blasphemous assertion who say that the Son does
not perfectly know the Father, we need not wonder: for having once purposed
in their mind to wage war against Christ, they impugn also these words of
His, "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father."(6) Wherefore,
if the Father only in part knoweth the Son, then it is evident that the Son
doth not perfectly know the Father. But if it be wicked thus to speak, and
if the Father perfectly knows the Son, it is plain that, even as the Father
knoweth His own Word, so also the Word knoweth His own Father, of whom He
is the Word.
5. By saying these things, and by unfolding the divine Scriptures, we
have often refuted them. But they, chameleon-like, changing their
sentiments, endeavour to claim for themselves that saying: "When the wicked
cometh, then cometh contempt."(7) Before them, indeed, many heresies
existed, which, having dared more than was right, have fallen into madness.
But these by all their words have attempted to do away with the Godhead of
Christ, have made those seem righteous, since they have come nearer to
Antichrist. Wherefore they have been excommunicated and anathematized by
the Church.(8) And indeed, although we grieve at the destruction of these
men, especially that after having once learned the doctrine of the Church,
they have now gone back; yet we do not wonder at it; for this very thing
Hymenaeus and Philetus suffered,(9) and before them Judas, who, though he
followed the Saviour, afterwards became a traitor and an apostate.
Moreover, concerning these very men, warnings are not wanting to us, for
the Lord foretold: "Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come
in My flame, saying, I am Christ; and the tithe draweth near: go ye not
therefore after them."(10) Paul, too, having learnt these things from the
Saviour, wrote, "In the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils which turn away
from the truth."(11)
6. Since, therefore, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has thus Himself
exhorted us, and by His apostle hath signified such things to us; we, who
have heard their impiety with our own ears, have consistently anathematized
such men, as I have already said, and have declared them to be aliens from
the Catholic Church and faith, and we have made known the thing, beloved
and most honoured fellow-ministers, to your piety, that you should not
receive any of them, should they venture rashly to come unto you, and that
you should not trust Eusebius or any one else who writes concerning them.
For it becomes us as Christians to turn with aversion from all who speak or
think against Christ, as the adversaries of God and the destroyers of
souls, and "not even to wish them Godspeed, lest at any time we become
partakers of their evil deeds,"(12) as the blessed John enjoins. Salute the
brethren who are with you. Those who are with me salute you.
SIGNATORS.
PRESBYTERS OF ALEXANDRIA.
I, Colluthus, presbyter,(13) give my suffrage to the things which are
written, and also for the deposition of Arius, and those who are guilty of
impiety with him.
Alexander, presbyter, in like manner.
Dioscorus, presbyter, in like manner.
Dionysius, presbyter, in like manner.
Eusebius, presbyter, in like manner.
Alexander, presbyter, in like manner.
Nilaras, presbyter, in like manner.
Arpocration, presbyter, in like manner.
Agathus, presbyter, in like manner.
Nemesius, presbyter, in like manner.
Longus, presbyter, in like manner.
Silvanus, presbyter, in like manner.
Perous, presbyter. Apis, presbyter.
Proterius, presbyter, in like manner.
Paulus, presbyter, in like manner.
Cyrus, presbyter, in like manner.
DEACONS.
Ammonius, deacon, in like manner.
Macarius, deacon, in like manner.
Pistus, deacon, in like manner.
Athanasius, deacon.
Eumenes, deacon.
Apollonius, deacon.
Olympius, deacon.
Aphthonius, deacon.
Athanasius, deacon.(14)
Macarius, deacon, in like manner.
Paulus, deacon.
Petrus, deacon.
Ambytianus, deacon.
Gaius, deacon, in like manner.
Alexander, deacon.
Dionysius, deacon.
Agathon, deacon.
Polybius, deacon.
Theonas, deacon.
Marcus, deacon.
Commodus, deacon.
Serapion, deacon.
Nilus, deacon.
Romanus, deacon, in like manner.
PRESBYTERY OF MAREOTIS.
I, Apollonius, presbyter, give my suffrage to the things which are
written, and also for the deposition of Arius, and of those who are guilty
of impiety with him.
Ingenius, presbyter, in like manner.
Ammonius, presbyter.
Tyrannus, presbyter.
Copres, presbyter.
Ammonas, presbyter.
Orion, presbyter.
Serenus, presbyter.
Didymus, presbyter.
Heracles, presbyter.
Dioscorus, presbyter.
Sostras, presbyter.
Theon, presbyter.
Boccon, presbyter.
Agathus, presbyter.
Achilles, presbyter.
Paulus, presbyter.
Thalelaeus, presbyter.
Dionysius, presbyter, in like manner.
DEACONS.
Sarapion, deacon, in like manner.
Justus, deacon, in like manner.
Didymus, deacon.
Demetrius, deacon.
Maurus, deacon.
Alexander, deacon.
Marcus, deacon.
Comon, deacon.
Tryphon, deacon.
Ammonius, deacon.
Didymus, deacon.
Ptollarion, deacon.
Seras, deacon.
Gaius, deacon.
Hierax, deacon.
Marcus, deacon.
Theonas, deacon.
Sarmaton, deacon.
Carpon, deacon.
Zoilus, deacon, in like manner.
III.--EPISTLE.(1)
Alexander, to the priests and deacons, Alexandria and Mareotis, being
present to them present, brethren beloved in the Lord, sends greeting:
Although you have been forward to subscribe the letters that I sent to
those about Arius, urging them to abjure their impiety, and to obey the
wholesome and Catholic faith; and in this manner have shown your orthodox
purpose, and your agreement in the doctrines of the Catholic Church; yet
because I have also sent letters to all our fellow-ministers in every place
with respect to the things which concern Arius and his companions; I have
thought it necessary to call together you the clergy of the city, and to
summon you also of Mareotis; especially since of your number Chares and
Pistus, the priests; Sarapion, Parammon, Zosimus, and Irenaeus, the
deacons, have gone over to the party of Arius, and have preferred to be
deposed with them; that you may know what is now written, and that you
should declare your consent in these matters, and give your suffrage for
the deposition of those about Arius and Pistus. For it is fight that you
should know what I have written, and that yon should each one, as if he had
written it himself retain it in his heart.
IV.--EPISTLE TO AEGLON, BISHOP OF CYNOP0LIS, AGAINST THE ARIANS.(2)_
From a letter of St. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, to Aeglon, bishop of
Cynopolis, against the Arians.
1. Natural will is the free faculty of every intelligent nature as
having nothing involuntary which is in respect of its essence.
2. Natural operation is the innate motion of all substance. Natural
operation is the substantial and notifying reason of every nature. Natural
operation is the notifying virtue of every substance.
V.--ON THE SOUL AND BODY AND THE PASSION OF THE LORD.(3)
1. The Word which is ungrudgingly sent down from heaven, is fitted for
the irrigation of our hearts, if we have been prepared for His power, not
by speaking only, but by listening. For as the rain without the ground does
not produce fruit, so neither does the Word fructify without hearing, nor
hearing without the Word. Moreover, the Word then becomes fruitful when we
pronounce it, and in the same way hearing, when we listen. Therefore since
the Word draws forth its power, do you also ungrudgingly lend your ears,
and when you come to hear, cleanse yourselves from all ill-will and
unbelief. Two very bad things are ill-will and unbelief, both of which are
contrary to righteousness; for ill-will is opposed to charity, and unbelief
to faith; just in the same way as bitterness is opposed to sweetness,
darkness to light, evil to good, death to life, falsehood to truth. Those,
therefore, who abound in these vices that are repugnant to virtue, are in a
manner dead; for the malignant and the unbelieving hate charity and faith,
and they who do this are the enemies of God.
2. Since therefore ye know, brethren beloved, that the malignant and
the unbelieving are the enemies of righteousness, beware of these, embrace
faith and charity, by which all the holy men who have existed from the
beginning of the world to this day have attained unto salvation. And show
forth the fruit of charity, not in words only, but also in deeds, that is,
in all godly patience for God's sake. For, see! the Lord Himself hath shown
His charity towards us, not only in words but also in deeds, since He hath
given Himself up as the price of our salvation. Besides, we were not
created, like the rest of the world, by word alone, but also by deed. For
God made the world to exist by the power of a single word, but us He
produced by the efficacy alike of His word and working. For it was not
enough for God to say, "Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness,"(1) but deed followed word; for, taking the dust from the ground,
He formed man out of it, conformable to His image and similitude, and into
him He breathed the breath of life, so that Adam became a living soul.
3. But when man afterwards by his fall had inclined to death, it was
necessary that that form should be recreated anew to salvation by the same
Artificer. For the form indeed lay rotting in the ground; but that
inspiration which had been as the breath of life, was detained separate
from the body in a dark place, which is called Hades. There was, therefore,
a division of the soul from the body; it was banished ad inferos, whilst
the latter was resolved into dust; and there was a great interval of
separation between them; for the body, by the dissolution of the flesh,
becomes corrupt; the soul being loosened from it, its action ceases. For as
when the king is thrown into chains, the city falls to ruin; or as when the
general is taken captive, the army is scattered abroad; or as when the
helmsman is shaken off, the vessel is submerged; so when the soul is bound
in chains, its body goes to pieces; as the city without its king, so its
members are dissolved; as is the case with an army when its general is
lost, they are drowned in death, even as happens to a vessel when deprived
of its helmsman. The soul, therefore, governed the man, as long as the body
survived; even as the king governs the city, the general the army, the
helmsman the ship. But it was powerless to rule it, from the time when it
was immoveably tied to it, and became immersed in error; therefore it was
that it declined from the straight path, and followed tempters, giving heed
to fornication, idolatry, and shedding of blood; by which evil deeds it has
destroyed the proper manhood. Nay, but itself also being carried at length
to the lower regions, it was there detained by the wicked tempter. Else was
it wont, as the king restores the ruined city, the general collects the
dispersed army, the sailor repairs the broken ship, even so, I say, the
soul used to minister supplies to the body before that the body was
dissolved in the dust, being not as yet itself bound fast with fetters. But
after that the soul became bound, not with material fetters but with sins,
and thus was rendered impotent to act, then it left its body in the ground,
and being cast down to the lower regions, it was made the footstool of
death, and despicable to all.
4. Man went forth from paradise to a region which was the sink of
unrighteousness, fornication, adultery, and cruel murder. And there he
found his destruction; for all things conspired to his death, and worked
the ruin of him who had hardly entered there. Meanwhile man wanted some
consolation and assistance and rest. For when was it well with man? In his
mother's womb? But when he was shut up there, he differed but little from
the dead. When he was nourished with milk from the breast? Not even then,
indeed, did he feel any joy. Was it rather whilst he was coming to
maturity? But then, especially, danger's impended over him from his
youthful lusts. Was it, lastly, when he grew old? Nay, but then does he
begin to groan, being pressed down by the weight of old age, and the
expectation of death. For what else is old age but the expectation of
death? Verily all the inhabitants of earth do die, young men and old,
little children and adults, for no age or bodily stature is exempt from
death. Why, then, is man tormented by this exceeding grief? Doubtless the
very aspect of death begets sadness; for we behold in a dead man the face
changed, the figure dead, the body shrunk up with emaciation, the mouth
silent, the skin cold, the carcase prostrate on the ground, the eyes
sunken, the limbs immoveable, the flesh wasted away, the veins congealed,
the bones whitened, the joints dissolved, all parts of him reduced to dust,
and the man no longer existing. What, then, is man? A flower, I say, that
is but for a little time, which in his mother's womb is not apparent, in
youth flourishes, but which in old age withers and departs in death.
5. But now, after all this bondage to death and corruption of the
manhood, God hath visited His creature, which He formed after His own image
and similitude; and this He hath done that it might not for ever be the
sport of death. Therefore God sent down from heaven His incorporeal Son to
take flesh upon Him in the Virgin's womb; and thus, equally as thou, was He
made man; to save lost man, and collect all His scattered members. For
Christ, when the joined the manhood to His person, united that which death
by the separation of the body had dispersed. Christ suffered that we should
live for ever.
For else why should Christ have died? Had He committed anything worthy
of death? Why did He clothe Himself in flesh who was invested with glory?
And since He was God, why did He become man? And since He reigned in
heaven, why did He come down to earth, and become incarnate in the virgin's
womb? What necessity, I ask, impelled God to come down to earth, to assume
flesh, to be wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger-cradle, to be
nourished with the milk from the breast, to receive baptism from a servant,
to be lifted up upon the cross, to be interred in an earthly sepulchre, to
rise again the third day from the dead?(1) What necessity, I say, impelled
Him to this? It is sufficiently discovered that He suffered shame for man's
sake, to set him free from death; and that He exclaimed, as in the words of
the prophet, "I have endured as a travailing woman."(2) In very deed did He
endure for our sakes sorrow, ignominy, torment, even death itself, and
burial. For thus He says Himself by the prophet: "I went down into the
deep."(3) Who made Him thus to go down? The impious people. Behold, ye sons
of men, behold what recompense Israel made unto Him! She slew her
Benefactor, returning evil for good, affliction for joy, death for life.
They slew by nailing to the tree Him who had brought to life their dead,
had healed their maimed, had made their lepers clean, had given light to
their blind. Behold, ye sons of men! behold, all ye people, these new
wonders! They suspended Him on the tree, who stretches out the earth; they
transfixed Him with nails who laid firm the foundation of the world; they
circumscribed Him who circumscribed the heavens; they bound Him who
absolves sinners; they gave Him vinegar to drink who hath made them to
drink of righteousness; they fed Him with gall who hath offered to them the
Bread of Life; they caused corruption to come upon His hands, and feet who
healed their hands and feet; they violently closed His eyes who restored
sight to them; they gave Him over to the tomb, who raised their dead to
life both in the time before His Passion and also whilst He was hanging on
the tree.
6. For when our Lord was suffering upon the cross, the tombs were burst
open, the infernal region was disclosed, the souls leapt forth, the dead
returned to life, and many of them were seen in Jerusalem, whilst the
mystery of the cross was being perfected; what time our Lord trampled upon
death, dissolved the enmity, bound the strong man, and raised the trophy of
the cross, His body being lifted up upon it, that the body might appear on
high, and death to be depressed under the foot of flesh. Then the heavenly
powers wondered, the angels were astonished, the elements trembled, every
creature was shaken whilst they looked on this new mystery, and the
terrific spectacle which was being enacted in the universe. Yet the entire
people, as unconscious of the mystery, exulted over Christ in derision;
although the earth was rocking, the mountains, the valleys, and the sea
were shaken, and every creature of God was smitten with confusion. The
lights of heaven were afraid, the sun fled away, the moon disappeared, the
stars withdrew their shining, the day came to end;(4) the angel in
astonishment departed from the temple after the rending of the veil, and
darkness covered the earth on which its Lord had closed His eyes. Meanwhile
hell s was with light resplendent, for thither had the star descended. The
Lord, indeed, did not descend into hell in His body but in His Spirit. He
forsooth is working everywhere, for whilst He raised the dead by His body,
by His spirit was He liberating their souls. For when the body of the Lord
was hung upon the cross, the tombs, as we have said, were opened; hell was
nnbarred. the dead received their life, the souls were sent back again into
the world, and that because the Lord had conquered hell, had trodden down
death, had covered the enemy with shame; therefore was it that the souls
came forth from Hades, and the dead appeared upon the earth.
7. Ye see, therefore, how great was the effect of the death of Christ,
for no creature endured His fall with equal mind, nor did the elements His
Passion, neither did the earth retain His body, nor hell His Spirit. All
things were in the Passion of Christ disturbed and convulsed. The Lord
exclaimed, as once before to Lazarus, Come forth, ye dead, from your tombs
and your secret places; for I, the Christ, give unto you resurrection. For
then the earth could not long hold the body of our Lord that in it was
buried; but it exclaimed, O my Lord, pardon mine iniquities, save me from
Thy wrath, absolve me from the curse, for I have received the blood of the
righteous, and yet I have not covered the bodies of men or Thine own body!
What is at length this wonderful mystery? Why, O Lord, didst Thou come down
to earth, unless it was for man's sake, who has been scattered everywhere:
for in every place has Thy, fair image been disseminated? Nay! but if thou
shouldest give but one little word, at the instant all bodies would stand
before Thee. Now, since Thou hast come to earth, and hast sought for the
members of Thy fashioning, undertake for man who is Thine own, receive that
which is committed to Thee, recover Thine image, Thine Adam. Then the Lord,
the third day after His death, rose again, thus bringing man to a knowledge
of the Trinity. Then all the nations of the human race were saved by
Christ. One submitted to the judgment, and many thousands were absolved.
Moreover, He being made like to man whom He had saved, ascended to the
height of heaven, to offer before His Father, not gold or silver, or
precious stones, but the man whom He had formed after His own image and
similitude; and the Father, raising Him to His right hand, hath seated Him
upon a throne on high, and hath made Him to be judge of the peoples, the
leader of the angelic host, the charioteer of the cherubim, the Son of the
true Jerusalem, the Virgin's spouse, and King for ever and ever. Amen.
VI.--THE ADDITION IN THE CODEX, WITH A VARIOUS READING.
God, therefore, wishing to visit His own form which He had fashioned
after His own image and similitude, hath in these last times sent into the
world His incorporeal and only Son, who being in the Virgin's womb
incarnate, was born perfect man to raise erect lost man, re-collecting His
scattered members. For why else should Christ have died? Was He capitally
accused? And since He was God, why was He made man? Why did He who was
reigning in heaven come down to earth? Who compelled God to come down to
earth, to take flesh of the holy Virgin, to be wrapped in swaddling clothes
and laid in a manger, to be nourished with milk, to be baptized in the
Jordan, to be mocked of the people, to be nailed to the tree, to be buried
in the bosom of the earth, and the third day to rise again from the dead;
in the cause of redemption to give life for life, blood for blood, to
undergo death for death? For Christ, by dying, hath discharged the debt of
death to which man was obnoxious. Oh, the new and ineffable mystery! the
Judge was judged. He who absolves from sin was bound; He was mocked who
once framed the world; He was stretched upon the cross who stretched out
the heavens; He was fed with gall who gave the manna to be bread; He died
who gives life. He was given up to the tomb who raises the dead. The powers
were astonished, the angels wondered, the elements trembled, the whole
created universe was shaken, the earth quaked, and its foundations rocked;
the sun fled away, the elements were subverted, the light of day receded;
because they could not bear to look upon their crucified Lord.(1) The
creature, in amazement, said, What is this novel mystery? The judge is
judged and is silent; the invisible is seen and is not confounded; the
incomprehensible is grasped and is not indignant at it; the immeasurable is
contained in a measure and makes no opposition; the impassable suffers and
does not avenge its own injury; the immortal dies and complains not; the
celestial is buried and bears it with an equal mind. What, I say, is this
mystery? The creature surely is transfixed with amazement. But when our
Lord rose from death and trampled it down, when He bound the strong man and
set man free, then every creature wondered at the Judge who for Adam's sake
was judged, at the invisible being seen, at the impassable suffering, at
the immortal dead, at the celestial buried in the earth. For our Lord was
made man; He was condemned that He might impart compassion; He was bound
that He might set free; He was apprehended that He might liberate; He
suffered that He might heal our sufferings; He died to restore life to us;
He was buried to raise us up. For when our Lord suffered, His humanity
suffered, that which He had like unto man; and He dissolves the sufferings
of him who is His like, and by dying He hath destroyed death. It was for
this cause that He came down upon earth, that by pursuing death He might
kill the rebel that slew men. For one underwent the judgment, and myriads
were set free; one was buried, and myriads rose again. He is the Mediator
between God and man; He is the resurrection and the salvation of all; He is
the Guide of the erring, the Shepherd of men who have been set free, the
life of the dead, the charioteer of the cherubim, the standard-bearer of
the angels, and the King of kings, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 6, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.
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