Webpage Zach-1 Page 22 TO INDEX
1. After the Ecclesiastical
History of Eusebius of Caesarea, both Socrates and Theodore, in the
treatises which they successively composed, reaching down to the thirty-second
year of the reign of Theodosius the Less, wrote for the memory and profit of the
prudent,
2. As best they were able to the
accounts and transactions that occurred in various places, which they diligently
learned from the volumes, the letters, records, and words of living speakers, which they examined.
3.
Accordingly, I also,
insignificant though I be, am beginning to write, as you asked me, for the
instruction of the brethren, and for the gratification of the lovers of
doctrine, and for the confirmation of believers.
4.
Christ our Lord and God
consenting and aiding and giving me the word of power—by your great advice,
diligent brother, and while you pray that I may write the truth with eloquence
without confusion or cause for blame.
5. For when, making a
commencement of this treatise of the second Book, I am relating, as concisely as
possible, without prolonging the discourse or being wearisome to the reader or
tedious to the hearer, what I was able to discover from records and acts or from
letters, the truth that was carefully examined
6. I then shall set down here the
truth of the resurrection, which took place in the days of Theodosius the king,
of the bodies of the seven youths who were in a cave in the district of Ephesus,
and the Syriac records; to keep them in the memory of the saints, and for the
glory of God, Who is able to do all things.
7.
I shall set them down in the
form of chapters, so that the account may not be enlarged of the events of one
period, which we write in detail in the Acts that are found in every place, what
happened during the ten remaining years of the life of Theodosius.
8.
But in this Book I am writing
them so to speak—what happened in Constantinople respecting Eutyches the
archimandrite and Flavian the chief priest, and the Synod of thirty-one bishops
and twenty-two archimandrites who met together and who brought about the
deprivation of Eutyches.
9. And also respecting the second
Synod, which was held in Ephesus concerning Flavian in the days of Dioscorus and
Juvenalis and Domnus, and the one hundred and twenty-eight bishops who were with
them.
Chapter 2
The heresy of Eutyches the presbyter, and his deprivation
1. There was, in the days of king
Theodosius, one Eutyches, a presbyter and archimandrite, a recluse belonging to
those who dwell in Constantinople. This man was visited by many who happened to
be in the city, and especially by the soldiers of the palace, who were lovers of
doctrine.
2.
For at that time Nestorius,
who was ejected, was being justly reviled because of his filthy doctrine. This
Nestorius it was who held and taught base opinions respecting the incarnation of
God the Word; and he imagined that the two natures existed separately in Christ
our God after the union.
3. And he held the precedence of
the infant who was conceived and formed in the virgin, whom he also called Jesus
and Christ; and he thought that God the Word at length descended upon Him. These
views scarcely differ from those of Paul of Samosata, and much the same as the
teaching of the school of Diodorus, which he studied, accepted, and loved.
4. But he lightly and without
compunction refused to call the virgin by the title, even though the true
doctors that were before him, Athanasius and Gregory and Basil and Julius, and
the others, had so called her.
5. Moreover, he also censured
them, as the letter testifies which he wrote from Oasis to the clergy and
citizens. Whereupon, many being disturbed by his doctrine, a Synod, consisting
of one hundred and ninety-three bishops, was assembled at Ephesus.
6. And it carefully examined his
teaching; and called three times upon him, according to the canonical rule of
the Church, to apologize and to censure his own interpretations, and at length
to confess Jesus to be God the Word Who became incarnate, one Person and one
nature, as the doctors of the holy Church taught.
7. But he would not consent, as
also Socrates relates in the short account which he wrote of him, and which is
fully told in the original acts.
8. Consequently his deprivation
took place in the days of Celestine, Cyril, and Juvenalis, before the arrival of
John of Antioch and his attendant bishops, who were delayed.
9.
It was somewhere about this
time that Eutyches, wishing to affirm the one Nature in Christ, rejected the
truth of the body derived from the Virgin, which God the Word took in her and
from her.
10. And in the conversation, which
he held with those who came together to him, this same Eutyches affirmed an
inaccurate dogma, not having been well instructed.
11. But he taught many that as the
atmosphere assumes bodily form and becomes rain or snow under the influence of
the wind, or water by reason of the cold air becomes ice.
12. And when the report of his
vile teaching was published abroad it was investigated by Eusebius of Dorylaeum,
who happened to be in the city; and he informed Flavian, the chief priest
concerning it, and he gave him an indictment.
13. And he was called upon three
times by thirty-one bishops who were there and twenty-two. Archimandrites, to
come forward and apologized for his opinions, and abjure them, and make a
written statement of the true confession.
14. And at first, indeed, he would
not do so, at one time saying that it was his fixed determination to
remain in perpetual seclusion, and again, that he was sick, and had a cough, and
was old, relying upon the aid of the soldiers of the palace, who were his
friends.
15. Now the king heard of these
matters. But at last, when his deprivation was decreed to take place, he was
compelled to appear before the council of bishops; however, he did not recant
his doctrine with whole-hearted sincerity, but kept on saying, "Just as you
teach two Natures in Christ, so do I say."
16. And, behold! All these things
are written expressly, one after another, in lengthened discourse in the Acts of
that Council. However, that we may not make our narrative too long, but may
compress much into small compass, as the wise man says, we refrain from relating
them again in detail and writing them down here.
17.
Then his deprivation took
place. Now in the accusations against him and in the interlocutions, and more especially in
what was said by Eusebius of Dorylaeum when contending with him, the two natures
after the union were expressly taught in conformity with the doctrine of
Nestorius.
18. And the interlocution of
Flavian set forth the same views. And Eutyches, rejecting the party of Flavian
and Eusebius, who deposed him, sent a libel to Rome to Leo, who was the
chief priest there, begging that these matters should be investigated in another
Synod; with regard to which libel he received a reply.
19. And when the party of Flavian
heard it they also wrote, and sent the Acts of the Council concerning Eutyches
to Leo. And the latter wrote to Flavian the letter called the Tome, in which
there are many heads that have been condemned by the dogmatic doctors;
20. Which also were censured at
that time by Dioscorus and his followers, and again by Timothy the Great, who
was with him, and by many treatises of others, which we omit to mention again
here and to write down.
Chapter 3
An account of the second synod.
1. Accordingly a Synod was
convened, the second in Ephesus, about the matter of Flavian and Eutyches; and
it was held in the presence of the legates of Leo, who were sent with his
letter.
2. And the bishops came together
there to the number of one hundred and eighty-eight, the chief rulers among them
being Dioscorus of Alexandria, and Juvenalis of Jerusalem, and Domnus of
Antioch.
3. And the contents of the Acts
of the Constantinopolitan Council concerning Eutyches were examined, and Flavian
and Eusebius were ejected.
4. And an outcry was raised by
the bishops who were there; and they condemned every one who would say, "
There are two natures in Christ after the union."
5. But a question was also raised
again there about what Theodoret of Cyrrhus wrote censuring the twelve Heads
which Cyril drew up against Nestorius, who was previously banished; and about
the letter of Hibo of Edessa which he wrote to Moris of Nisibis in opposition to
Cyril and in favor of Nestorius;
6. And about what he said in his
interpretations concerning Jesus Christ and Mary, as his own deacons, who were
his accusers, testified.
7. And besides these the
partisans of John of Gaios and others were deposed. But Eutyches the
archimandrite was received, because he presented a libel of recantation to the
Synod, which was held there in Ephesus, and confessed the true faith.
8. But the Synod appointed
Anatolius as bishop of Constantinople in the room of Flavian, and then
dispersed.
Chapter 4
The year 764 of the Greek era of alexander
1. With respect to the regular
succession of the chief priests from the first Synod of Ephesus to the death of
Theodosius, it is pertinent to our subject to relate who they were.
2. In Rome, after Celestine, Leo
was bishop for twenty-one years and forty-three days; and in Alexandria, after
Cyril, Dioscorus was bishop for eight years and three months.
3. And in Constantinople, Maximus
for two years and two months; and after him, Proclus for two years and two
months; and after him, Flavian for six years; and after him, Anatolius for eight
years.
4.
In Antioch, Domnus was bishop
after John, and after him Maximus. And in Jerusalem, Juvenalis was bishop for
thirty-six years, who, holding the same position, was present at the three
Synods, because the time of his years was protracted.
Chapter 5
The letter of Proclus.
1. "Beloved, the mystery of
the true faith is true love, and the pure undoubting confession of the Trinity
equal, undivided, and susceptible of no addition; and a mind not varying in its
state, but steadfast in its faith towards God.
2. That is the faith, which we do
not possess on tables of stone, as in the type, but receive on the tables of our
hearts, as in a mystery, tables, which are nailed to the cross, and are
inscribed with the sprinkling of the blood of God.
3. And it is right for us not
only to believe, but also to follow earnestly after virtues and morals worthy of
the faith. For virtue is to be chosen by everyone, especially by those whose
beauty of soul has not been corrupted by a hateful life of lusts.
4. There are indeed many
kinds of virtue. For even the heathen, drowned in error and lost in mind, wrote
memorable things concerning this virtue. But as for this nature, which is
visible and flows on without cessation, they only felt after it in their written
teaching.
5. But either their sight was dim
from length of time, or they were blinded by error, so as to hinder them from
the perception of the truth and from real virtue.
6.
For they say in their teaching
that there are four kinds of virtue, namely, justice, self-restraint, wisdom,
and fortitude, which things, though they are to be highly accounted, yet are
exercised here below and have their sphere upon the earth.
7. They say, indeed, that
fortitude is the contest with fierce nature, and self-restraint the triumph over
the passions, and wisdom the distinguished government of cities, and justice
right division. And thus they ordered and arranged the world, according to that
which is in the law, and they defined wickedness on both sides.
8. Anything superior however, to
and transcending this visible scene, they did not understand, nor were they able
to describe it in writing. But with the blindness of their mind they have
contracted virtue itself, and have shut it up within what is visible alone.
9. The Christians, however, by
whose own faith the eyes of their heart have been enlightened, whose master and
teacher is the blessed Paul, have declared that to be virtue which lifts us up
to God, and which governs in orderly fashion the things that are on earth.
10. This most illustrious Paul,
then, considered that there were many kinds of virtue; but he especially
preached about these three, namely, faith, hope, and love. For faith gives to
men something which transcends human nature, and causes that fleshly nature, as
yet encompassed by many passions, to hold converse with spiritual beings.
11. For the knowledge of that
which angels and spiritual hosts did not know on account of its sublimity, faith
imparts to men, who walk upon the earth and wallow in the dust, and it brings
them near to the Throne of the Kingdom, and it tells them of that Nature which
is without beginning and without end.
12. And by the rays of light,
which it diffuses, it drives away darkness of thought from the soul; and
when it has cleared off all gloom and denseness from the heart, then it causes
that to be clearly seen which is comprehended in its invisibility, and also is
seen in its incomprehensibility.
13. But hope shows things to come
in the present, not as in a dream, one can say, but forcibly; and without a
doubt confirms in the mind that which is future as if it were actually seen; and
forms before a man's eyes, so to speak, what he is expecting.
14. For this hope is superior to
every restraint, and brings near, without delay, the thing expected to him who
is expecting it.
15.
But love is the chief of all
our mysteries, for it persuaded God the Word, though He is always on the earth,
near to all and with all, to become incarnate and come by means of the flesh.
And, being God, He became also man; He retained that which properly belonged to
Himself on His own part, and He became like us on our part.
16. These two then agree together,
for faith is the mirror of love, and love is the completion of faith. We
believe, therefore, that God the Word became incarnate without undergoing any
change; and we rightly so believe, for this is the foundation of our salvation.
17. For His nature receives no
change, nor does it cause any addition to the Trinity. Thus indeed do we also
ourselves believe. Every Christian,
therefore, who is not rich in faith, hope, and love, is not what he is named.
18. But though he seems to have
subdued his flesh and to have delivered himself from the passions of his soul,
he is not meet for the crown of victory, inasmuch as he maintains the outward
appearance of virtue, but he is not united to Him who crowns the conquerors that
have resolutely contended on behalf of virtue in faith and hope and love.
19.
Faith, then, according to what
we have said, is
the chief of all blessings; let it therefore be kept without guile, and let us
not tarnish it by the falsehood of human thoughts, neither let us toss it about
in the midst of confusing voices, nor by the explanations of those who are
reputed to be wise: for faith is not to be explained, faith is a mystery.
20. Let it then remain within the
limits of the Gospel of the apostles; and let no man dare to contend in his
explanation with this faith by which he is saved, and which he confessed in
baptism by the signature of his tongue.
21.
For this lofty height of faith
has repelled every attack and all vaunting and rashness, not of man only, but
also of every spiritual nature. And the blessed Paul testifies, crying out, 'If
we or an angel from heaven should preach anything beside what ye have received,
let him be accursed.
22.
For the angel has been
appointed to minister and not to preach doctrine, and he brings punishment upon
any who does not remain in his allotted station, but seeks after what is too
high for his nature; but even though he displays the exaltation of his nature,
let not the novelty of his preaching be received.
23. Let us then guard what we have
received with sleepless care; and by the bright shining of our faith let the eye
of our soul be always open to what we have received from the Divine Scriptures
that God by His word created the world out of nothing and brought the creation,
which had no previous existence, into being.
24.
And made man in His own image
and likeness, and honored him by the law of nature; and gave him the commandment
when he was in a state of freedom; and showed him how to help himself, that by
choosing the good he should flee from the evil. But the inclination of man being biased towards the evil, by
disobedience it expelled him from Paradise.
25. And again, by the fathers and
patriarchs, and by the Law, the judges, and the prophets, our Creator instructed
our nature, that we should keep far away from sin, and should concern ourselves
about the good and do it.
26. And at last when sin
established its kingdom over us by our own will, because the law of nature had been corrupted on its part, and
the written law had been despised, and the prophets, after the manner of men,
brought deeds to remembrance but did not raise up our fleshly humanity from the
depth of the evils.
27. Then God the Word Himself,
even He who is without beginning and without end, incomprehensible, invisible,
and almighty, came and became incarnate, for He could be whatsoever He willed.
28.
God the Word then, Who is one
of the Trinity, became incarnate; but He became incarnate because He so willed
it. And wishing to show everywhere that He was really man, He was born
from the Virgin.
29. For the evangelist did not say
that He entered into a perfect man, but that He 'became flesh’, meaning
thereby His natural beginning and referring to the origin of His birth.
30.
For just as a man who is
naturally born does not come forth complete in the perfection of active power
all at once, but the seed of the nature at first becomes a body, and afterwards,
little by little, at length attains the strength of the passions and of the
whole active power; so God the Word went to meet the origin and root of the
birth.
31.
God the Word then became
perfect man, and He did not take away anything from His own unchangeable nature
by the miracle, which He wrought—a miracle which did not enter into the heart
of man to conceive, but which we learn by faith and have not comprehended by
investigation.
32. And having become man, He
saved by His flesh the whole human race, and He paid the debt of sin, in that He
died as man for all men; but as God the hater of evil, He destroyed him that had
the evil power of death, that is, Satan.
33.
But He showed the capability
of the Law by fulfilling all righteousness. And He gave to our nature its
pristine beauty; and by becoming man He honored the nature, which was derived
from the earth, and showed Himself to be its Creator.
34. There is therefore one Son,
for we worship the Trinity in unity, and we do not introduce a fourth into this
number; but there is one Son, begotten from the Father, without beginning and
without end, through whom we believe that the worlds were made.
35. He Who was from that root, He
Who without flux sprang from the Father; that same God the Word Who, without
change of place, issues from the Father, yet remaining as He is. For although He
became man and appeared on the earth, yet He did not depart from Him who begat
Him.
36. God the Word therefore wished
to save the being whom He created; and He dwelt in the womb which is the gate of
the universal nature of all, and He revived and blessed the womb, and by issuing
forth from it He sealed it.
37. And by His supernatural birth
He showed that He became incarnate in a manner transcending reason; for there
are none among the beings above and beneath who know how He became incarnate.
38. There is not, then, one who is
Christ and another who is God the Word (away with such a thought!), for the
divine nature does not know two sons; He therefore was begotten the only One
from One; for where there is not copulation of parents, there duality of the
offspring is not possible.
39. In the name of Jesus Christ,'
indeed, 'every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and on earth, and of things
under the earth.
40. For if Christ is another and
not God the Word, then of necessity Christ must be mere man; and how can the
exalted nature of heavenly beings bow the knee and worship His Name, if He be
not God of God? Or how shall we receive the voices of prophets, crying, 'God
appeared upon earth and conversed with men'?
41.
For concerning His Incarnation
it is said, 'He appeared,' and the expression, 'He conversed,' is used
concerning His converse, which He displayed with men in the end of the ages.
42.
For thus He that is exalted in
greatness showed His almighty power, and as the universal Ruler to Whom
everything is easy, He remained what He was on His own part, and became what He
willed for us.
43. But if the swaddling clothes,
and the lying in the manger, and the growth of the body, and the sleeping in the
ship, and the weariness on the journey, and the occasional hunger, and all those
things which happened to Him Who was truly man, be a cause of stumbling to some
persons,
44.
Let them know that if they be
in doubt concerning His sufferings, (that) they deny the dispensation; and when
they deny the dispensation they do not believe in the incarnation, and when they
do not believe in the incarnation they lose their own lives.
45. For if from the foundation of
the world a man was not born who trod a way of birth like this, let these new
Jewish wranglers show it, and then indeed their troublesome contention will be disclosed. But if this
is the universal beginning of nature, and God the Word truly became man, how
then while confessing with us the dispensation, do they deny the sufferings?
46.
Let them therefore choose for
themselves one of two things: either let them by denying the sufferings deny
also the dispensation and be reckoned among the ungodly; or, if they accept the
benefit, which is derived from the dispensation, let them not be ashamed of the
sufferings.
47.
I am amazed indeed at the
blindness of their heart, who by a newly invented way have trodden the path that
leads to error. For I myself know and have rightly learned from the Holy
Scriptures only one Son.
48. And I believe in one nature of
God the Word Who became man, and the same endured the sufferings and wrought the
miracles, Who was begotten from His Father before all things, and became
incarnate in the end of the ages, and was born from Mary.
49. And we confess that He is God
over all, and we introduce no foreign element into the nature of the Deity, for
no addition is possible to the Trinity in Unity; but the same Lord Jesus Christ,
by Whom were all things, also endured our sufferings and carried our
infirmities, as the prophet says; and He, being the same, wrought the miracles
and suffered in our stead.
50.
But perhaps in their
contention these new Jews will strive with us, inventing thoughts weaker than a
spider's web, and say that if indeed the Trinity be one essence then the Trinity
is without suffering; and our Lord Jesus Christ is reckoned in the Trinity, and
He is God the Word, therefore He is without suffering; consequently He Who was
crucified must be another, and not God the Word Who is without suffering.
51. Truly they who speak in this
fashion are weaving the texture of a spider's web, and they who excogitate these
new definitions are writing upon water; and 'thinking themselves to be wise they
have become foolish, and their silly heart is darkened.
52. For the eye, which has been
dazzled by the brilliant light of the sun, cannot see clearly; and the mind that
is sick cannot receive the sublimity of the faith.
53. What then do we say?
That, so far as the Godhead is concerned, the Trinity is one essence, and
is exalted above all sufferings. And when we say that the Son suffered, we do
not mean that He suffered according to Nature, for His Nature is above
sufferings.
54. But in confessing that God the
Word, one of the Trinity, became incarnate, we give a reason for the
understanding of those who in faith ask us why He became incarnate. Because man
who was formed in the image of God.
55. And to whom imperial freedom
was given, erred in this freedom, and was led by the counsel of the deceiver;
and he gave himself up to error, and he became the slave of lustful
passions—passions all of which exercise dominion over a composite
being—passions whose end is death—passions which none among the created
beings is able to destroy.
56.
God the Word willed to destroy
those passions whose end is death. He willed, indeed, to become incarnate and to
be a composite being; that is, a perfect man in all points like us, sin only
excepted; because it was not possible for that Nature, which is incorruptible,
intangible, and invisible, to receive passions, for all passions are struggles
of all composite beings.
57. For with that exalted Nature
of the Godhead, which alone is uplifted high above all things, there is no
composition; passion therefore was unable to enter where composition could not
be. God the Word then willed to destroy the passions which reign over nature
subject to passions whose citadel was death;
58.
And He became flesh from the
Virgin, in a manner that He, God the Word, knew; and He became man perfectly,
being at the same time God over all.
59. For He did not abandon what
properly belonged to Him when He became like us, but being God, He became man,
for such was His will. He emptied Himself, therefore, by His own will by taking
the likeness of a slave, and He became man, and suffered in our stead, by His
own will, though His Godhead was not in any respect limited; and thus He saved
the whole human race.
60. Wherefore Gabriel also, when
announcing the might and dominion of Him that should be born, said to Mary, 'He
shall save His people from their sins.”
61. But the people are not the
people of a man but of God, and a man cannot deliver the world from sins,
because he also entered into the world in a state of corruption. But He is
necessarily the same; He is not divided into two but being one.
62.
By being born from a woman, He
shows that He is truly man; but by becoming man without copulation, and
preserving His mother's virginity, He declared Himself to be God. The Lord Jesus
Christ, therefore, Who came into the world and conversed with men, as the Holy
Scriptures testify, saved the world.
63. Now, if Christ be man, and not
God the Word, how did He create everything in the beginning, when He Himself had
no existence? For if man was later than the (other) created things, it is
evident that this Christ also did not bring into being what had existence before
Him.
64. How then does Paul say, 'There
is one Lord Christ, through Whom were all things'? For if all things were
through Christ, it is evident that Christ is God the Word. The evangelist also
testifies, saying, 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were by
Him.'
65. If, therefore, the evangelist
cries that all things were by the Word, and Paul, interpreting this expression,
says, There is one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom were all things, it is evident
that Christ is God over all.
66. But if the objectors bring
forward to us the voices of the Scriptures, in which He is called man, namely,
that of Peter, who says, 'Jesus of Nazareth, a man'; and of Paul who says, 'By
that man in Whom God has ordained that we should believe'.
67. And of our Lord Himself, Who
says respecting Himself, 'Why do ye seek to kill Me, a man?'
Let them know that either through their dullness they have been hindered
from the understanding of Scripture, or through their wickedness they are
perverting what is well written, according to their own deceitfulness.
68. For also Christ is truly man;
but He became man, not having been so before, but only God; for just as He is
uncreated God, so also He, the same, is man, truly, personally, and certainly,
without change and without any kind of fantasy.
69. And we do not confess that the
body of our Lord is from heaven; indeed we excommunicate everyone who says so;
but we confess that it is by the Holy Ghost and the power of the Highest, which
overshadowed the holy Virgin Mary.
70.
But if the Virgin did not bear
God, then she who remained undefiled is not deserving of admiration. But if the
voices of the prophets foretelling the incomprehensible nature of our mystery,
cried out, 'Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call
His name Immanuel, which is, God with us.'
71. Why do they take away from the
glory of His mother, seeing that He Who was born in lowly fashion is God over
all?
72. But perhaps the objectors will
raise this objection that truly every one who is born is of the same nature as
the mother who bore him; if, then, she who bore him was human, it necessarily
follows that he who was born was human also.
73. Ye say well, O vain babblers!
But then the child is of the same nature as she whom the birth pangs
smote when he who is born comes according to the natural course; however, the
naturally born child is corrupt from the beginning, because copulation precedes
corruption.
74.
But where this reproach did
not even enter the mind, but there was an ineffable miracle, the birth having
been supernatural, there He that was born was God.
75.
We confess Him to be the same
who created the world, and gave the Law, and put the Spirit in the prophets, and
in the end of the times for the sake of the life and salvation of men became
incarnate and was made man; and He inspired the apostles, and sent them forth
for the salvation of people and nations.
76. Let us flee, then, my
brothers, from these troubled streams of error; I mean the doctrines that fight
against God—namely, from the mad folly of Arius, who was dividing the
indivisible Trinity; and from the rashness of Eunomius, who limited beneath his
science the incomprehensible nature
77. And from the frenzy of
Macedonius, who would sever from the Godhead the Spirit proceeding not
departing; along with all the other heretics lost in their error; but especially
from this new doctrine and blasphemy formulated by Nestorius, who far surpasses
the Jews in his blasphemy.
78.
For those former
heretics were despising the everlasting Son, Who is from all eternity with the
Father, and depriving the root of its fruit; but these teachers of our day by
their doctrine are bringing in another in addition to Him Who is from all
eternity. Who became man for our
salvation, so that they make a plurality of sons in that one and incorruptible
Nature, which is from one essence.
79. Let us say, then, with Paul,
that Christ is He Who ' made both one'; for of Jews and heathen through baptism,
He has created one new man, and by His power He made that one, which, through
the exercise of its freedom was divided.
80. Let these impious teachers,
then, dread the sentence of judgment if what was divided has been brought into
unity, but that one Person Who made both one is, after their manner of
reasoning, divided.
81. But now we shall leave the
multitude of words and come to the concise statement of true doctrine. Whoever
desires to know that the alone and only-begotten Son, Who was before the life of
Abraham—that the same became incarnate in the end of the times, let him ask
Paul;
82.
Who thunders with his voice,
declaring rightly that He Who was born from the Jews in the flesh is the
everlasting God; for, while telling and declaring the contempt of the Jews and
the contention of the people with God, and the root which is the Father, and the
seed which is Christ our Lord, he says thus,
83. 'Whose is the adoption'—for
God cried through His prophets, 'Israel is My son; My firstborn and My glory';
and indeed they reaped immeasurable glories from the constant miracles and the
covenants with Abraham.
84.
Which told of the multitude of
the people and the blessings—'and the. giving of the law,'—that of Mount
Sinai, which was written by the finger of God,— 'and the promises,'—both the
land of Palestine and that in the seed of Abraham the nations should be blessed.
85.
Who then is this Christ? He
Who was begotten of the Father before the worlds in a manner which the mind of
created beings cannot comprehend, and in the end of the times took flesh and
became man from the Virgin Mary, He Who was shut up in the womb and in the cave,
in a manner which He Himself knows.
86.
He Who was laid in the manger;
He Who grew in the flesh; He Who came down to the lower parts of the earth, and
by His own will endured all the sufferings of men, that He might be believed to
be man. And to be no other than the One Who came down; but He Who came down and
He Who went up is the same; however, He did not go up first, but came down.
87.
For He did not become God by
addition, but He became man by the dispensation, for the race of men was in need
of this. And you shall not hear this from me or from any other, but from Peter
and from Paul.
88. Peter when he says, 'Thou art
Christ, the Son of the living God', and Paul who learned by revelation from the
Father concerning the Son, says, 'When God Who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son by my means.'
89. This Paul has truly taught you
who Jesus Christ is when he cries and says, 'Of whom is Christ in the flesh, Who
is God over all, blessed for ever.' What occasion of calumny does not the word
of Peter and Paul drive away from those who love calumny!
90. For he called Him 'Christ' to
show that He truly became man; he said of Him, Who is of the Jews in the flesh,
to show that His existence does not date only from the time when He became
incarnate; he said of Him,
91. He is,' to tell us by his
mode of expression that He is without beginning; he said of Him, 'Who is over
all,' to proclaim Him Lord of created things.
He said of Him, 'Who is God,' that we should not be drawn aside by the
outward appearance and sufferings so as to deny his incorruptible Nature.
92. He said of Him, 'blessed,'
that we should worship Him as the Ruler of all, and not regard Him as a
fellow-slave. He said of Him, 'Who is for ever,' to show that it is He Who by
His word created all things, visible and invisible, whereby His Godhead is
glorified.
93. We have, then, Christ Who is
God over all, Whom we shall worship, and we shall say to the heretics, 'In
whomsoever the Spirit of Christ is not, he is none of His.' For we have the mind
of Christ.
94.
Therefore we look for the
revelation of God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall reward the
well-doers with the crown of victory, but the despisers with the recompense of
their rashness.
95. See, then, my brothers, that
no man rob you by impious words, or turn you aside by false science from the
simplicity and unadorned modesty of the pure beauty of the faith. But again, I
repeat to you the word of Paul,
96. Beware lest any man rob you
by vain philosophy of the traditions of men, men who are inventors of vain
things, who have not taught us as the prophets and apostles teach, but have gone
astray by their own wisdom and followed the interpretation of their own mind.
97. Wherefore their teaching is a
stumbling-block to the Church of God, which He purchased with His precious
blood. For other foundation of the true faith can no man lay except that which
is laid, that there is one God, the Father, Ruler of all, and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by Whom were all things.
98. Stand, then, in one spirit and
one mind, and fight for the faith, and be not in anything troubled by the
adversaries, but keep the tradition which you have received from the blessed
Fathers, who out of the whole creation, met together by the operation of the
Holy Spirit, and preached to us the true and undefiled faith, which we have from
one end of the earth to the other."
·
99.
End of the letter which
Proclus, bishop of Constantinople, wrote to Armenia of the Persians, concerning
the true faith.
100.
Theodosius then lived, as the
Chronicle informs us, fifty years; of these he reigned forty-two years, for he
was eight years old when he began to reign. And the acts of thirty-two years of
his reign are related in the ecclesiastical history of Socrates, and those of
the other ten years more are written concisely above in this second Book.
101. He died in the three hundred
and eighth Olympiad; and Marcian succeeded him in the kingdom. And in the year
seven hundred and sixty-four by the reckoning of the Greek era of Alexander, he
gathered to Chalcedon a Synod of five hundred and sixty-seven bishops, whose
acts we shall describe as concisely as possible in a third Book.
102. Which have been taken for the
most part from the history of Zachariah the Rhetorician, which he wrote in Greek
to a man called Eupraxius, who lived in the royal palace and was engaged in the
service of kings.
103. But the body of the holy John
the bishop, who is called Chrysostom, had been brought back from the place of
his banishment, and it was honored with a procession in Constantinople.
104. And Eudocia the queen, the
wife of Theodosius, went to Jerusalem for prayer, and returned, and then died.
105. But Geiseric subdued Carthage
of Africa and reigned over it. And John the general was killed by the servants
of Arbindus, and there were earthquakes in various places. Then Theodosius died.
