(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.
GREGORY THAUMATURGOS
TWELVE TOPICS ON THE FAITH.
(Dubious or spurious)
[Translated by the Rev. S.D.F. Salmond, M.A.]
WHEREIN IS GIVEN ALSO THE FORMULA OF EXCOMMUNICATION, AND AN EXPLICATION IS
SUBJOINED TO EACH.(1)
TOPIC I.
IF any one says that the body of Christ is uncreated, and refuses to
acknowledge that He, being the uncreated Word (God) of God, took the flesh
of created humanity and appeared incarnate, even as it is written, let him
be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could the body be said to be uncreated? For the uncreated is the
passionless, invulnerable, intangible. But Christ, on rising from the dead,
showed His disciples the print of the nails and the wound made by the
spear, and a body that could be handled, although He also had entered among
them when the doors were shut, with the view of showing them at once the
energy of the divinity and the reality of the body.
Yet, while being God, He was recognised as man in a natural manner; and
while subsisting truly as man, He was also manifested as God by His
works.(2)
TOPIC II.
If any one affirms that the flesh of Christ is consubstantial with the
divinity, and refuses to acknowledge that He, subsisting Himself in the
form of God as God before all ages, emptied Himself and took the form of a
servant, even as it is written, let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could the flesh, which is conditioned by time, be said to be
consubstantial(3) with the timeless divinity? For that is designated
consubstantial which is the same in nature and in eternal duration without
variableness.
TOPIC III.
If any one affirms that Christ, just like one of the prophets, assumed
the perfect man, and refuses to acknowledge that, being begotten in the
flesh of the Virgin,(4) He became man and was born in Bethlehem, and was
brought up in Nazareth, and advanced in age, and on completing the set
number of years (appeared in public and) was baptized in the Jordan, and
received this testimony from the Father, "This is my beloved Son,"(5) even
as it is written, let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could it be said that Christ (the Lord) assumed the perfect man
just like one of the prophets, when He, being the Lord Himself, became man
by the incarnation effected through the Virgin? Wherefore it is written,
that "the first man was of the earth, earthy."(6) But whereas he that was
formed of the earth returned to the earth, He that became the second man
returned to heaven. And so we read of the "first Adam and the last
Adam."(7) And as it is admitted that the second came by the first according
to the flesh, for which reason also Christ is called man and the Son of
man; so is the witness given that the second is the Savior of the first,
for whose sake He came down from heaven. And as the Word came down from
heaven, and was made man, and ascended again to heaven, He is on that
account said to be the second Adam from heaven.
TOPIC IV.
If any one affirms that Christ was born of the seed of man by the
Virgin, in the same manner as all men are born, and refuses to acknowledge
that He was made flesh by the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin Mary, mad
became man of the seed of David, even as it is written, let him be
anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could one say that Christ was born of the seed of man by the
Virgin, when the holy Gospel and the angel, in proclaiming the good
tidings, testify of Mary the Virgin that she said, "How shall this be,
seeing I know not a man?"(1) Wherefore he says, "The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
the Highest."(2) And to Joseph he says, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she
shall bring forth a soil, and they shall call His name Jesus: for He shall
save His people from their sins."(3)
TOPIC V.
If any one affirms that the Son of God who is before the ages is one,
and He who has appeared in these last times is another, and refuses to
acknowledge that He who is before the ages is the same with Him who
appeared in these last times, even as it is written, let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could it be said that the Son of God who is before the ages, and He
who has appeared in these last times, are different, when the Lord Himself
says, "Before Abraham was, I am;"(4) and, "I came forth from God, and I
come, and again I go to my Father?"(5)
TOPIC VI.
If any one affirms that He who suffered is one, and that He who
suffered not is another, and refuses to acknowledge that the Word, who is
Himself the impassibie and unchangeable God, suffered in the flesh which He
had assumed really, yet without mutation, even as it is written,
EXPLICATION.
How could it be said that He who suffered is one, and He who suffered
not another, when the Lord Himself says, "The Son of man must suffer many
things, and be killed, and be raised again the third day from the dead;"(6)
and again, "When ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the
Father;"(7) and again, "When the Son of man cometh in the glory of His
Father?"(8)
TOPIC VII.
If any one affirms that Christ is saved, and refuses to acknowledge
that He is the Saviour of the world, and the Light of the world, even as it
is written,(9) let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could one say that Christ is saved, when the Lord Himself says, "I
am the life;"(10) and, "I am come that they might have life;"(11) and, "He
that believeth on me shall not see death, but he shall behold the life
eternal?"(12)
TOPIC VIII.
If any one affirms that Christ is perfect man and also God the Word in
the way of separation,(13) and refuses to acknowledge the one Lord Jesus
Christ, even as it is written, let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could one say that Christ is perfect man and also God the Word in
the way of separation, when the Lord Himself says, "Why seek ye to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God?"(14) For God
the Word did not give a man for us, but He gave Himself for us, having been
made man for our sake. Wherefore He says: "Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up. But He spake of the temple of His body."(15)
TOPIC IX.
If any one says that Christ suffers change or alteration, and refuses
to acknowledge that He is unchangeable in the Spirit, though
corruptible(16) in the flesh,(17) let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could one say that Christ suffers change or alteration, when the
Lord Himself says, "I am and change not;(18) again, His soul shall not be
left in Hades, neither shall His flesh see corruption?"(19)
TOPIC X.
If any one affirms that Christ assumed the man only in part, and
refuses to acknowledge that He was made in all things like us, apart from
sin, let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could one say that Christ assumed the man only in part, when the
Lord Himself says, "I lay down my life, that I might take it again, for the
sheep;"(1) and, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed;"(2)
and, "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life?"(3)
TOPIC XI.
If any one affirms that the body of Christ is void of soul and
understanding,(4) and refuses to acknowledge that He is perfect man, one
and the same in all things (with us), let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could one say that the body of the Lord (Christ) is void of soul
and understanding? For perturbation, and grief, and distress, are not the
properties either of a flesh void of soul, or of a soul void of
understanding; nor are they the sign of the immutable Divinity, nor the
index of a mere phantasm, nor do they mark the defect of human weakness;
but the Word exhibited in Himself the exercise of the affections and
susceptibilities proper to us, having endued Himself with our passibility,
even as it is written, that "He hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows."(5) For perturbation, and grief, and distress, are disorders of
soul; and toil, and sleep, and the body's liability to wounding, are
infirmities of the flesh.
TOPIC XII.
If any one says that Christ was manifested in the world only in
semblance, and refuses to acknowledge that He came actually in the flesh,
let him be anathema.
EXPLICATION.
How could one say that Christ was manifested only in semblance in the
world, born as He was in Bethlehem, and made to submit to the circumcising
of the flesh, and lifted up by Simeon, and brought up on to His twelfth
year (at home), and made subject to His parents, and baptized in Jordan,
and nailed to the cross, and raised again from the dead?
Wherefore, when it is said that He was "troubled in spirit,"(6) that
"He was sorrowful in soul,"(7) that "He was wounded in body,"(8) He places
before us designations of susceptibilities proper to our constitution, in
order to show that He was made man in the world, and had His conversation
with men,(9) yet without sin. For He was born in Bethlehem according to the
flesh, in a manner meet for Deity, the angels of heaven recognising Him as
their Lord, and hymning as their God Him who was then wrapped in swaddling-
clothes in a manger, and exclaiming, "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good-will among men."(10) He was brought tip in Nazareth; but
in divine fashion He sat among the doctors, and astonished them by a wisdom
beyond His years, in respect of the capacities of His bodily life, as is
recorded in the Gospel narrative. He was baptized in Jordan, not as
receiving any sanctification for Himself, but as gifting a participation in
sanctification to others. He was tempted in the wilderness, not as giving
way, however, to temptation, but as putting our temptations before Himself
on the challenge of the tempter, in order to show the powerlessness of the
tempter.
Wherefore He says, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."(11)
And this He said, not as holding before us any contest proper only to a
God, but as showing our own flesh in its capacity to overcome suffering,
and death, and corruption, in order that, as sin entered into the world by
flesh, and death came to reign by sin over all men, the sin in the flesh
might also be condemned through the selfsame flesh in the likeness
thereof;(12) and that that overseer of sin, the tempter, might be overcome,
and death be cast down from its sovereignty, and the corruption in the
burying of the body be done away, and the first-fruits of the resurrection
be shown, and the principle of righteousness begin its course in the world
through faith, and the kingdom of heaven be preached to men, and fellowship
be established between God and men.
In behalf of this grace let us glorify the Father, who has given His
only begotten Son for the life of the world. Let us glorify the Holy Spirit
that worketh in us, and quickeneth us, and furnisheth the gifts meet for
the fellowship of God; and let us not intermeddle with the word of the
Gospel by lifeless disputations, scattering about endless questionings and
logomachies, and making a hard thing of the gentle and simple word of
faith; but rather let us work the work of faith, let us love peace, let us
exhibit concord, let us preserve unity, let us cultivate love, with which
God is well pleased.
As it is not for us to know the times or the seasons which the Father
hath put in His own power,(13) but only to believe that there will come an
end to time, and that there will be a manifestation of a future world, and
a revelation of judgment, and an advent of the Son of God, and a recompense
of works, and an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, so it is not for us
to know how the Son of God became man; for this is a great mystery, as it
is written, "Who shall declare His generation? for His life is taken from
the earth."(1) But it is for us to believe that the Son of God became man,
according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen on the earth, and had His
conversation with men, according to the Scriptures, in their likeness, yet
without sin; and that He died for us, and rose again from the dead, as it
is written; and that He was taken up to heaven, and sat down at the right
hand of the Father, whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead,
as it is written; lest, while we war against each other with words, any
should be led to blaspheme the word of faith, and that should come to pass
which is written, "By reason of you is my name(2) continually blasphemed
among the nations."(3)
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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