Supplemental Slides - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 73
About This Presentation
Title:

Supplemental Slides

Description:

... of God, and this whilst sheltering in the rock, God the Word incarnate for us. ... to himself and equipped him to share with himself in all the honor in which ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:78
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 74
Provided by: donfai
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Supplemental Slides


1
  • Supplemental Slides
  • for HT 802
  • Fall 2008

2
Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387)
  • He was a native of Jerusalem and gave winsome
    descriptions of the great holy sites before the
    mid-fourth-century churches were built on them.
  • He was ordained a priest by Maximus of Jerusalem
    (a great champion of Nicene orthodoxy) in 335.
  • He became bishop of Jerusalem about 350 under
    obscure circumstances. There was later some
    suspicion that he had been consecrated by the
    Arian Acacius of Caesarea in order to bring
    Jerusalem over to the Arian cause.

3
Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387)
  • He was banished three times by Arian leaders,
    first in 357 by Acacius. He spent about 15 years
    in exile over a 22-year period from 357-378.
  • At the Council of Constantinople in 381, he was a
    leader of the homoousian majority, but he was
    still investigated because of suspicions of past
    Arian sympathies.
  • He was found to be orthodox, and it is possible
    that the whole notion of his heterodoxy and
    consecration by an Arian was simply a smear
    campaign.

4
Catechetical Lectures
  • One typical baptismal practice in the 4th
    century
  • -- A long period of instruction (catechesis)
  • -- Baptism on Easter eve
  • Cyril wrote one Protocatechesis and 18 Catecheses
    for delivery during Lent to those who were in
    final preparations for baptism.
  • These date from about the time he became bishop
    of Jerusalem, although they may have been
    modified later to reflect current liturgical
    practice.

5
Mystagogical Catecheses
  • We also possess 5 Mystagogical Catecheses (for
    delivery during Easter week to those who have
    just been baptized.
  • In ancient times, these were sometimes attributed
    to others besides, or in addition to, Cyril.
  • The Reformers, embarrassed by their strongly
    sacramental character, questioned whether Cyril
    wrote them.
  • It is perhaps best to regard them as coming from
    Cyril, but dating to the end of his life, rather
    than the beginning of his episcopacy (so ca.
    385).

6
Cyril on Scripture
  • For where the divine and holy mysteries of the
    Creed are concerned, one must not teach even
    minor points without reference to the sacred
    Scriptures, or be led astray lightly by
    persuasive and elaborate arguments. Do not simply
    take my word when I tell you these things, unless
    you are given proof for my teaching from holy
    Scripture. For this is the guarantee of our
    Creed, not clever argument, but proof based on
    Scripture.
  • Catechesis 4.17

7
Cyril on Scripture
  • Please do not read any of the apocrypha for if
    you dont know the books which are universally
    accepted, why do you waste effort over the
    disputed ones? Read the holy Scriptures, the
    twenty-two books of the Old Testament which were
    translated by the seventy-two translators.
  • Catechesis 4.33

8
Cyril on God
  • We do not explain what God is we admit with a
    good grace that we do not know the exact truth
    about him. For in what concerns God the height of
    knowledge is to admit ones ignorance. Perhaps
    someone will say, If the divine substance is
    incomprehensible, why do you discuss these things
    yourself? But since I cant drink up a whole
    river, does this mean that I cant take as much
    as is good for me?
  • Catechesis 6.2, 5

9
Cyril on God
  • There is one God, who is unique, unbegotten,
    without beginning or change or alteration.
    Though Creator of many beings, he is the eternal
    Father of one alone, his one, Only-begotten Son,
    our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom he made all
    things, both visible and invisible.
  • Catechesis 4.4

10
Cyril on the Son
  • Believe too in Gods one and only Son, our Lord
    Jesus Christ, who is God begotten by God (ô?í dê
    ôï? Èåï? Èå?í ãåííçèÝíôá), Life begotten by Life,
    Light begotten by Light, like in everything to
    the one who begot him (ô?í ?ìïéïí êáôN ðÜíôá ô²
    ãåííÞóáíôé). He did not begin to be in time, but
    was begotten by the Father before all ages,
    eternally and inconceivably. He is Gods Wisdom
    and Power and Justice in substantial form (ôxí
    díõðüóôáôïí). Catechesis 4.7

11
Cyrils Use of Words
  • Four Factions after Nicaea
  • Faction What they said What they meant
  • Old Nicaeans homoousios Son same substance as
    Father
  • New Nicaeans homoiousios Son same substance as
    Father
  • Semi-Arians homoiousios Son is of merely
    similar substance as Father
  • Radical Arians anomoiousios Son is not even
    similar to Father

12
Cyrils Use of Words
  • Latin Greek
  • Words for oneness Innermost ousia
  • substantia, essentia,
  • natura physis
  • ___________________
  • Word for threeness hypostasis
  • persona
  • Outermost prosopon

13
Cyril on the Spirit
  • For there is one God, the Father of Christ and
    one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of
    the only God and one Holy Spirit, who sanctifies
    and deifies all, who has spoken through the law
    and the prophets, the Old Testament and the New.
  • Catechesis 4.16

14
Cyril on the Incarnation
  • You must believe too that this Only-begotten
    Son of God came down from heaven to earth because
    of our sins, assumed a humanity subject to the
    same feelings as ours (ôxí ìïéïðáèy ôáýôçí ½ìsí
    Píáëáâí Píèñùðüôçôá), and was born of the holy
    Virgin and the Holy Spirit. The humanity he
    assumed was not an appearance or an illusion, but
    true. For if the Incarnation was an illusion, so
    too is our salvation. Christ was twofold man
    according to what is visible, God according to
    what is not visible (Tíèñùðïò ìcí ô? öáéíüìåíïí,
    Èå?ò äc ô? ìx öáéíüìåíïí). As man he ate truly as
    we do, for he had the same fleshly feelings as
    ourselves but it was as God that he fed the five
    thousand from five loaves. As man he truly died
    but it was as God that he raised the dead body to
    life after four days. As man he truly slept on
    the boat but it was as God that he walked on the
    waters. Catechesis 4.9

15
Cyril on the Incarnation
  • For while it is not holy to admire a mere man,
    it would be blasphemous not to say that he was
    only God without humanity. For if Christ were God
    as indeed he is but did not assume humanity,
    we would be debarred from salvation. So while we
    adore him as God, let us believe him also to have
    been made man. For just as it does us no good to
    speak of him as man without the godhead, it does
    not help our salvation if we do not couple
    manhood with the godhead. Catechesis
    12.1

16
Cyril on Christs Death
  • It was necessary for the Lord to suffer on
    our behalf (cf. Lk 24.26). Nevertheless the devil
    would not have dared to approach him if he had
    known who he was. For if they had known, they
    would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1
    Cor 2.8). His body thus served as a bait for
    death so that the serpent, instead of swallowing
    it as he hoped, might be forced to disgorge those
    whom he had already swallowed.
  • Catechesis 12.15

17
Cyril on Christs Death
  • For we were Gods enemies through sin, and God
    had decreed that the sinless one should die. For
    one of two things had to happen, either that God
    in his truthfulness would destroy the whole race,
    or that in his loving kindness he would cancel
    their condemnation. But observe Gods wisdom. He
    maintained both the truth of the condemnation and
    the power of his loving-kindness. Christ took
    our sins in his body on the wood, so that
    through his death we might die to sins and live
    to righteousness (1 Pet 2.24).
  • Catechesis 13.33

18
Cyril on Christ and Us
  • Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but he did not
    preach the gospel before his baptism. Jesus
    began his preaching only after the Holy Spirit
    descended on him, in bodily form like a dove (Lk
    3.22) not that Jesus wished to see the Spirit
    first, for he knew the Spirit even before he came
    in bodily form what he wanted was that John, who
    was baptizing him, should see. If your devotion
    is genuine, the Holy Spirit will descend on you
    too, and the Fathers voice will resound over
    you but it will not say, This person is my
    Son, but This person has now become my son.
    Over Jesus is, because in the beginning was
    the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word
    was God (Jn 1.1) over him is, because he has
    always been the Son of God. But over you has now
    become, because you do not possess sonship by
    nature, but receive it by adoption. He is
    eternal you receive the grace as an
    advancement.
  • Catechesis 3.14

19
Cyril on Christ and Us
  • Once more, when I tell you that he is the Son,
    do not take this statement to be a mere figure of
    speech, but understand that he is the Son truly,
    Son by nature, without beginning, not promoted
    from the state of slave to that of son, but
    eternally begotten as Son by an inscrutable and
    incomprehensible birth. Scripture says also with
    regard to other men You are sons of the Lord
    your God. And in another place I said, You
    are all gods and sons of the Most High (Gen
    49.4 Mt 21.39). I said, not I begot. They
    received adoption when God spoke, and did not
    enjoy it before. But Christ did not first exist
    in one form before being begotten in another, but
    he was begotten as Son from the beginning.
  • Catechesis 11.4

20
Cyril on Baptism
  • After this you were led to the holy pool of
    sacred baptism, just a Christ was taken from the
    cross to the tomb which stands before you. Then
    you were each asked if you believed in the name
    of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
    Spirit. You made the saving profession of faith
    and three times you were immersed in the water
    and came up from it again. There in the font you
    symbolically re-enacted Christs three-day
    burial.
  • Mystagogical Catechesis 2.4

21
Cyril on Baptism
  • We did not literally die, we were not literally
    buried, we did not literally rise again after
    being crucified. We experienced these things only
    in symbols and representations but salvation we
    experienced literally. Christ was really
    crucified and really buried and literally rose
    again, and all of this he did for our sake, so
    that by sharing his sufferings in imitation, we
    might gain salvation in truth.
  • Mystagogical Catechesis 2.5

22
Cyril on Faith
  • How great is Gods love for mankind! The
    righteous earned Gods approval over many years
    but what they obtained by earning his approval
    over many years Jesus now bestows on your in a
    single hour. For if you believe that Jesus Christ
    is the Lord and that God raised him from the
    dead, you will be saved and transported to
    Paradise by the one who admitted the thief into
    Paradise. Dont doubt whether it is possible. For
    the one who saved the thief here at holy Golgotha
    for the faith of a single hour will save you too
    if you believe.
  • Catechesis 5.10

23
Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 330-395)
  • He was born to a devout, wealthy family in
    Cappadocia.
  • He pursued a career in oratory.
  • Under Macrinas influence, he returned to the
    Church and retired to his brother Basils
    monastery.
  • He was forced to become bishop of Nyssa.
  • He was deposed by Arians in 376 and reinstated in
    378.
  • He was one of the dominant players in the Council
    of Constantinople in 381.

24
Origen and Origenism
  • Pre-Cosmic Cosmic/Temporal Eternal
  • Creation of Souls Union with God
  • (likeness)
  • Creation of
  • Fall physical world (loss of
    individuality)
  • Union with bodies
  • (image of God)

25
Gregory as Theologian
  • Cosmic/Temporal (but ) Eternal
  • Creation of humanity Return to undif-
  • (undifferentiated) ferentiated hu-
  • manity in union
  • with God
  • (Foreknowledge
  • of fall)
  • Division into
  • male and female

26
Gregory as Theologian
  • God as the highest good
  • Participation in God as sharing in his goodness
  • To say God made humanity in his image is the
    same as to say that He made human nature
    participant in all good (ðáíôò Pãáèï ìÝôïïí)
    for if the Deity is the fulness of good, and this
    is His image, then the image finds its
    resemblance to the Archetype in being filled with
    all good (dí ô² ðëyñåò åqíáé ðáíôò Pãáèï).
  • On the Making of Man 16.10

27
Gregory as Theologian
  • Thus there is in us the principle of all
    excellence, all virtue and wisdom, and every
    higher thing that we conceive but pre-eminent
    among all is the fact that we are free from
    necessity, and not in bondage to any natural
    power.
  • On the Making of Man 16.11

28
Gregory as Theologian
  • But this that which God has prepared is
    nothing else, as I at least understand it, but to
    be in God Himself, for the Good which is above
    hearing and eye and heart must be that Good which
    transcends the universe. But the difference
    between the virtuous and the vicious life led at
    the present time will be illustrated in this way
    viz. in the quicker or more tardy participation
    of each in that promised blessedness.
  • On the Soul and the Resurrection

29
Gregory as Theologian
  • When such the passions, then, have been
    purged from it the soul and utterly removed by
    the healing processes worked out by the Fire,
    then every one of the things which make up our
    conception of the good will come to take their
    place incorruption, that is, and life, and
    honour, and grace, and glory, and everything else
    that we conjecture is to be seen in God, and in
    His Image, that is, human nature (ô åkêüíé
    áôï, ôßò dóôéí ½ Píèñùðßíç öýóéò).
  • On the Soul and the Resurrection

30
Gregory as Theologian
  • Distinctions between individual people will be
    lost.
  • We will say that the Resurrection is the
    reconstitution of our nature in its original form
    (PíÜóôáóßò dóôéí ½ åkò ô Pñásïí ôyò öýóåùò ½ìí
    PðïêáôÜóôáóéò). But in that form of life, of
    which God Himself was the Creator, it is
    reasonable to believe that there was neither age
    nor infancy nor any of the sufferings arising
    from our present various infirmities, nor any
    kind of bodily affliction whatever. It is
    reasonable, I say, to believe that God was the
    Creator of none of these things, but that man was
    a thing divine (èåsüí ôé) before his humanity got
    within reach of the assault of evil.
  • On the Soul and The Resurrection

31
Gregory Summary
  • Following Origen as closely as one can in the
    Post-Nicaea environment
  • Salvation as participation in Gods qualities
  • Original and final states are undifferentiated
  • Virtually no room for a personal understanding of
    salvation
  • Dramatically different from Irenaeus, Athanasius,
    and Cyril of Jerusalem

32
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)
  • The Holy Spirit and Salvation
  • He perfects all other things, and himself lacks
    nothing He gives life to all things, and is
    never depleted. He does not increase by
    additions, but is always complete,
    self-established, and present everywhere. He is
    the source of sanctification, spiritual light,
    who gives illumination to everyone using His
    powers to search for the truth and the
    illumination He gives is Himself.
  • On the Holy Spirit, par. 22

33
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)
  • The Holy Spirit and Salvation
  • His nature is unapproachable only through His
    goodness are we able to draw near it. He fills
    all things with His power, but only those who are
    worthy may share it ìüíïéò äc í ìåèåêôí ôïsò
    Pîßïéò. He distributes His energy in proportion
    to the faith of the recipient êáô Píáëïãßáí ôyò
    ðßóôåùò äéáéñïí ôxí díÝñãåéáí, not confining it
    to a single share. . . . In the same way as the
    light of the sun illumines everything, the
    Spirit is given to each one who receives Him as
    if He were the possession of that person alone,
    yet He sends forth sufficient grace to fill all
    the universe. Everything that partakes of His
    grace is filled with joy according to its
    capacity the capacity of its nature, not of His
    power.
  • On the Holy Spirit, par. 23

34
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)
  • The Holy Spirit and Salvation
  • the Spirit comes to us when we withdraw
    ourselves from evil passions, which have crept
    into the soul through its friendship öéëßáò,
    with the flesh alienating us from a close
    relationship ïkåêéüôçôïò with God. Only when a
    man has been cleansed from the shame of his evil,
    and has returned to his natural beauty ðñò ô
    dê öýóåùò êÜëëïò dðáíåëèüíôá, and the original
    form of the Royal Image has been restored in him,
    is it possible for him to approach the Paraclete.
    . . . Through Him hearts are lifted up, the
    infirm are held by the hand, and those who
    progress are brought to perfection. He shines
    upon those who are cleansed from every spot, and
    makes them spiritual men through fellowship with
    Himself ðñò eáõô êïéíùíßu ðíåõìáôéêïò
    Pðïäåßêíõóé.
  • On the Holy Spirit, par. 23

35
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)
  • The Holy Spirit and Salvation
  • So too Spirit-bearing souls, illumined by Him,
    finally become spiritual themselves, and their
    grace is sent forth to others. From this comes
    knowledge of the future, understanding of
    mysteries, apprehension of hidden things,
    distribution of wonderful gifts, heavenly
    citizenship, a place in the choir of angels,
    endless joy in the presence of God, becoming like
    God, and the highest of all desires, becoming God
    ½ ðñò Èåí ìïßùóéò, ô Pêñüôáôïí ôí ñåêôí,
    èåí ãåíÝóèáé.
  • On the Holy Spirit, par. 23

36
Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 330-390)
  • Apophaticism and Knowledge of God
  • But when I directed my gaze I scarcely saw the
    averted figure of God, and this whilst sheltering
    in the rock, God the Word incarnate for us.
    Peering in I saw not the nature prime, inviolate,
    self-apprehended (by self I mean the Trinity),
    the nature as it all abides within the first veil
    and is hidden by the Cherubim, but as it reaches
    us at its furthest remove from God, being, so far
    as I can understand, the grandeur, or as divine
    David calls it the majesty inherent in the
    created things he has brought forth and governs.
    All these indications of himself atht he has left
    behind him are Gods averted figure.
  • Oration 28.3

37
Gregory of Nazianzus
  • True and False Logic
  • Arians set up logical questions that assume only
    two answers are possible. But in some cases the
    question itself is absurd, and in other cases,
    there is a third answer besides the two that the
    Arians put before us. (See Oration 29.9.)
  • Something does not have to be either true or
    false. It can be true in one sense and false in
    another. (See Oration 30.7.)

38
Gregory of Nazianzus
  • A Fully-orbed Description of the Trinity
  • We have one God because there is a single
    Godhead. Through there are three in whom we
    believe, they derive from the single whole and
    have reference to it. They do not have degrees of
    being God or degrees of priority over against one
    another. They are not sundered in will or divided
    in power. You cannot find there any of the
    properties inherent in things divisible. To
    express it succinctly, the Godhead exists
    undivided in three distinct ones. It is as if
    there wre a single intermingling of light, which
    existed in three mutually connected Suns. When we
    look at the Godhead, the primal cause, the sole
    sovereignty, we have a mental picture of a single
    whole, certainly. But when we look at the three
    in whom the Godhead exists, and at those who
    derive their timeless and equally glorious being
    from the primal cause, we have three that are
    worshiped.
  • Oration 31.14

39
Gregory of Nazianzus
  • Two States of God the Logos
  • He whom presently you scorn was once
    transcendent, over even you. He who is presently
    human was incomposite. He remained what he was
    what he was not, he assumed. No because is
    required for his existence in the beginning, for
    what could account for the existence of God? But
    later he came into being because of something,
    namely, your salvation. He was begottenyet he
    was already begottenof a woman.
  • Oration 29.19

40
From Trinity to Christology
  • The Logical Challenge of Arianism
  • Major Premise (If A, then B) If Jesus Christ
    suffered, then that means that the Word suffered.
  • Minor Premise (If B, then C) If the Word
    suffered, then he must have suffered in his own
    nature.
  • Conclusion (If A, then C) If Jesus Christ
    suffered, then the Word must have suffered in his
    own nature.
  • Implication The Word is passible and therefore
    lower than the Father.

41
From Trinity to Christology
  • The Church clearly rejects the conclusion that
    the Word is limited.
  • But how can the Church refute the logic of the
    Arian challenge?
  • __________________________
  • Battle Plan 1 Refute the minor premise.
  • Battle Plan 2 Refute the major premise.

42
Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 350-428)
  • The two ages
  • It is in this same way that we are also born,
    first in the form of semen through baptism,
    before we are born of the resurrection, and have
    taken shape in the immortal nature into which we
    expect to be changed, but when by faith and hope
    in the future things we have been formed and
    fashioned into the life of Christ and remained
    till the time of the resurrection, then we shall
    receive according to the decree of God, a second
    birth from dust, and assume an immortal and
    incorruptible nature.
  • Catechetical Homilies 14.28

43
Theodore of Mopsuestia
  • Separation of the Logos from suffering
  • In this he shows that ? the Godhead was
    separated from the one who was suffering in the
    trial of death, because it was impossible for him
    to taste the trial of death if (the Godhead) were
    not cautiously remote from him, but also near
    enough to do the needful and necessary things for
    the nature that was assumed by it.
  • Catechetical Homilies 8.9

44
Theodore of Mopsuestia
  • Christ as a graced man
  • It seems evident, we shall say, that the
    indwelling should fittingly be described as
    taking place by good pleasure. And good pleasure
    means that best and noblest will of God, which he
    exercises when he is pleased with those who are
    zealous to be dedicated to him, because of their
    excellent standing in his sight. Therefore,
    whenever he is said to indwell either the
    apostles or just persons generally, he makes his
    indwelling as one who takes pleasure in those who
    are righteous, as one who takes delight in those
    who are duly virtuous.
  • On the Incarnation 7

45
Theodore of Mopsuestia
  • Christ as a graced man
  • But we do not say that Gods indwelling took
    place in Christ in that way, for we could never
    be so insane as that. On the contrary, the
    indwelling took place in him as in a son it was
    in this sense that he took pleasure in him and
    indwelt him. But what does it mean to say as in
    a son? It means that having indwelt him, he
    united the one assumed as a whole to himself and
    equipped him to share with himself in all the
    honor in which he, being Son by nature,
    participates, so as to be counted one person in
    virtue of the union with him and to share with
    him in all his dominion, and in this way to
    accomplish everything in him, so that even the
    examination and judgment of the world shall be
    fulfilled through him and his advent.
  • On the Incarnation 7

46
Nestorius (died ca. 451)
  • A new interpretation of the Creed
  • Observe how they first of all establish, as
    foundations, the titles which are common to the
    deity and the humanityLord and Jesus and
    Christ and Only Begotten and Sonand then
    build on them the teaching about his becoming
    human and his passion and his resurrection, in
    order that, since the titles which signify and
    are common to both natures are set in the
    foreground, the things which pertain to the
    sonship and lordship are not divided and the
    things peculiar to the natures within the unitary
    sonship do not get endangered by the suggestion
    of a confusion.
  • Second Letter to Cyril

47
Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 375 444)
  • The greatest student of Athanasius work
  • Nephew of Bishop Theophilus
  • Became bishop in 412
  • The ardent opponent of Nestorius and leader of
    the Council of Ephesus
  • The Churchs greatest christological doctor

48
Cyril of Alexandria
  • Gross on Cyril
  • Athan., Greg. Nyss., and Cyril are best examples
    of physical redemption.
  • Contact with the Logos through the Eucharist is
    what deifies a believer.
  • Indwelling of HS transforms our nature, and the
    other privileges of deification (conformity to
    Christ, brotherhood with him, and adoptive
    sonship to the Father) flow from this.

49
Cyril of Alexandria
  • Russell on Cyril
  • Cyril is very similar to Irenaeus, and very
    different from Origen.
  • Participation is the major category for
    expressing deification.
  • Salvation occurs through the exaltation of
    Christs humanity and through the
    Church/Eucharist.

50
Cyril of Alexandria
  • An alternative way of viewing Cyril
  • Believers DO participate in Gods qualities.
  • But his dominant emphasis is personal Believers
    participate in the Sons relationship to the
    Father.
  • Cyril develops technical terminology to express
    this personal understanding and to guard against
    mystical absorption.

51
Cyril of Alexandria
  • Cyrils Terminology
  • käéüôçò identity of substance
  • ïkêåéüôçò fellowship/communion between distinct
    persons
  • ïkêåéüôçò öõóéêÞ the fellowship the persons of
    the Trinity share because they are of the same
    nature

52
Cyril of Alexandria
  • A crucial distinction
  • We do NOT share in Gods käéüôçò in any way
    whatsoever. God has only one näéïò õjüò.
  • Believers DO share in ïkêåéüôçò with God, and
    even in Gods ïkêåéüôçò öõóéêÞ.

53
Cyril of Alexandria
  • Shall we then abandon what we are by nature and
    mount up to the divine and unutterable essence,
    and shall we depose (dêâÜëëïíôåò) the Word of God
    from his very sonship and sit in place of him
    with the Father and make the grace of him who
    honours us a pretext for impiety? May it never
    be! Rather, the Son will remain unchangeably in
    that condition in which he is, but we, adopted
    into sonship and gods by grace (èåôïr åkò õjüôçôá
    êár èåïr êáôN Üñéí), shall not be ignorant of
    what we are.
  • Commentary on John 1.9

54
Cyril of Alexandria
  • When he had said that authority was given to
    them from him who is by nature Son to become sons
    of God, and had hereby first introduced that
    which is of adoption and grace, he can afterwards
    add without danger of misunderstanding that
    they were begotten of God, in order that he might
    show the greatness of the grace which was
    conferred on them, gathering as it were into
    natural communion (ïkêåéüôçôá öõóéêÞí) those who
    were alien from God the Father, and raising up
    the slaves to the nobility (åãÝíåéáí) of their
    Lord, on account of his warm love towards them.
  • Commentary on John 1.9

55
Cyril of Alexandria
  • He is not someone who after being empty attained
    fullness instead he humbled himself from his
    divine heights and unspeakable glory. He is not a
    humble man who was exalted in glory, but rather
    he was free and took the form of a slave. He is
    not a slave who made a leap up to the glory of
    freedom he who was in the Fathers form, in
    equality with him, has been made in the likeness
    of men. He is not a man who has come to share the
    riches of Gods likeness.
  • Epistle 55

56
Cyril of Alexandria
  • Do you hear the way the apostle clearly proclaims
    the deity of the crucified one? For he says that
    we are to be shepherds of the church of God,
    which he purchased through his own blood. Not
    that he suffered in the nature of his deity, but
    that the sufferings of his flesh are ascribed to
    him because the flesh is not that of some other
    man, but is the Logos own. Therefore, since the
    blood is said to be Gods blood, then clearly he
    was God, clothed with flesh.
  • Against Those Who Do Not Call Mary Theotokos

57
The Council of Chalcedon (451)
  • Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all
    unite in teaching that we should confess one and
    the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This same
    one is perfect in deity, and the same one is
    perfect in humanity the same one is true God and
    true man, comprising a rational soul and a body.
    He is of the same substance as the Father
    according to his deity, and the same one is of
    the same substance with us according to his
    humanity, like us in all things except sin. He
    was begotten before the ages from the Father
    according to his deity, but in the last days for
    us and our salvation, the same one was born of
    the virgin Mary, the bearer of God, according to
    his humanity. He is one and the same Christ, Son,
    Lord, and Only-begotten, who is made known in two
    natures united unconfusedly, unchangeably,
    indivisibly, inseparably. The distinction between
    the natures is not at all destroyed because of
    the union, but rather the property of each nature
    is preserved and concurs together into one
    prosopon and hypostasis. He is not separated or
    divided into two prosopa, but he is one and the
    same Son, the Only-Begotten, God the Logos, the
    Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way the prophets
    spoke of him from the beginning, and Jesus Christ
    himself instructed us, and the Council of the
    fathers has handed the faith down to us.

58
The Council of Chalcedon (451)
  • Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all
    unite in teaching that we should confess one and
    the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This same
    one is perfect in deity, and the same one is
    perfect in humanity the same one is true God and
    true man, comprising a rational soul and a body.
    He is of the same substance as the Father
    according to his deity, and the same one is of
    the same substance with us according to his
    humanity, like us in all things except sin. He
    was begotten before the ages from the Father
    according to his deity, but in the last days for
    us and our salvation, the same one was born of
    the virgin Mary, the bearer of God, according to
    his humanity. He is one and the same Christ, Son,
    Lord, and Only-begotten, who is made known in two
    natures united unconfusedly, unchangeably,
    indivisibly, inseparably. The distinction between
    the natures is not at all destroyed because of
    the union, but rather the property of each nature
    is preserved and concurs together into one
    prosopon and hypostasis. He is not separated or
    divided into two prosopa, but he is one and the
    same Son, the Only-Begotten, God the Logos, the
    Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way the prophets
    spoke of him from the beginning, and Jesus Christ
    himself instructed us, and the Council of the
    fathers has handed the faith down to us.

59
Maximus the Confessor
  • When we fulfill the Fathers will he renders us
    similar to the angels in their adoration, as we
    imitate them by reflecting the heavenly
    blessedness in the conduct of our life. From
    there he leads us finally in the supreme ascent
    in divine realities to the Father of lights
    wherein he makes us sharers in the divine nature
    by participating in the grace of the Spirit,
    through which we receive the title of Gods
    children and become clothed entirely with the
    complete person who is the author of this grace.
    .
  • Commentary on the Our Father 5

60
Maximus the Confessor
  • In Christ who is God and the Word of the Father
    there dwells in bodily form the complete fullness
    of deity by essence in us the fullness of deity
    dwells by grace whenever we have formed in
    ourselves every virtue and wisdom, lacking in no
    way which is possible to man in the faithful
    reproduction of the archetype.
  • Chapters on Knowledge 2.21

61
John of Damascus on the Trinity
  • If we say that there are several gods, there
    must be some difference to be found among them.
    For if there is no difference at all among them,
    then there is one God rather than several. But,
    if there is some difference, then where is the
    perfection? For, if one should come short of
    perfection in goodness, or power, or wisdom, or
    time, or place, then he would not be God. The
    identity of God in all things shows Him to be one
    and not several.
  • The Orthodox Faith 1.5

62
John of Damascus on the Trinity
  • We believe in one Father, the principle and
    cause of all things, begotten of no one, who
    alone is uncaused and unbegotten, the maker of
    all things and by nature Father of His one and
    only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour,
    Jesus Christ, and emitter of the All-Holy
    Spirit.
  • The Orthodox Faith 1.8

63
John of Damascus on Christ
  • The holy Mother of God engendered a Person who
    is known in two natures and who in His divinity
    was timelessly begotten of the Father, but who in
    the last days became incarnate of her and was
    born in the flesh. He is two natures, for the
    same is both God and man. It is the same way with
    the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension,
    too, because these things do not belong to
    nature, but person.
  • The Orthodox Faith 4.7

64
John of Damascus on Christ
  • Christ, while being two natures, suffered in
    His passible nature and in it was crucified, for
    it was in the flesh that He hung on the cross,
    and not in the divinity. Should they say, while
    inquiring of us Did two natures die? We shall
    reply No, indeed. Therefore, two natures were
    not crucified either, but the Christ was
    begotten, that is to say, the Divine Word was
    incarnate and begotten in the flesh, and He was
    crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh,
    and died in the flesh, while his divinity
    remained unaffected.
  • The Orthodox Faith 4.7

65
John of Damascus on Christ
  • Since He is called both first-born and
    only-begotten, we must maintain both of these as
    applying to Him while he was only-begotten, He
    was also born of a mother. For this very reason,
    that he shared flesh and blood with us and then,
    also, that we were made sons of God through Him
    by being adopted through baptism, He who is by
    nature Son of God has become first-born among us
    who have by adoption and grace become sons of God
    and are accounted as His brethren.
  • The Orthodox Faith 4.8

66
John of Damascus on Salvation
  • It was not profitable for him to attain
    incorruptibility while yet untried and untested,
    lest he fall into pride and the judgment of the
    devil.... And so it was necessary first for man
    to be tested, since one who is untried and
    untested deserves no credit. Then, when trial had
    made him perfect through his keeping of the
    commandment, he should thus win incorruptibility,
    the reward of virtue. For, since he had been
    created half way between God and matter, should
    he be freed from his natural relationship to
    creatures and united to God by keeping the
    commandment, then he was to be permanently united
    to God and immutably rooted in good.
  • The Orthodox Faith 2.30

67
John of Damascus on Salvation
  • The Son of God became man in order that He
    might again grace man as He had when He made
    him. Thus, He put man in communion with Himself
    and through this communion with Himself raised
    him to incorruptibility. But, since by
    transgressing the commandment we obscured and
    canceled out the characteristics of the divine
    image, we were given over to evil and stripped of
    the divine communion. Through Himself and in
    Himself he may restore what was to His image and
    what to His likeness.
  • The Orthodox Faith 4.4

68
John of Damascus on the Atonement
  • For our sake He submits to death and dies and
    offers Himself to the Father as a sacrifice for
    us. For we had offended Him and it was necessary
    for Him to take upon Himself our redemption that
    we might thus be loosed from the condemnationfor
    God forbid that the Lords blood should have been
    offered to the tyrant!
  • The Orthodox Faith 3.27

69
Theodore the Studite on Tradition
  • Many teachings which are not written in so many
    words, but have equal force with the written
    teachings, have been proclaimed by the holy
    fathers. It is not the inspired Scripture but the
    later fathers who made clear that the Son is
    consubstantial with the Father, that the Holy
    Spirit is God, that the Lords mother is
    Theotokos, and other doctrines which are too many
    to list. If these doctrines are not confessed,
    the truth of our worship is denied.
  • Second Refutation of the Iconoclasts 7

70
Theodore the Studite on Christ
  • Christ did not become a mere man, nor is it
    orthodox to say that He assumed a particular man,
    but rather that He assumed man in general, or the
    whole human nature. It must be said, however,
    that this whole human nature was contemplated in
    an individual manner (for otherwise how could He
    be seen?). For this is the novel mystery of the
    dispensation, that the divine and human natures
    came together in the one hypostasis of the Word,
    which maintains the properties of both natures in
    the indivisible union.
  • First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 4

71
Theodore the Studite on Christ
  • For Christ, who remains on His own summit of
    divinity, glorified in His immaterial
    indescribability, it is glory to be materially
    circumscribed in His own body because of His
    sublime condescension toward us. For He who had
    created everything became matter (that is,
    flesh). He did not refuse to become and to be
    called what He had received, and it is
    characteristic of matter to be circumscribed
    materially. As for your argument that He is
    sufficiently represented for mental
    contemplation If merely mental contemplation
    were sufficient, it would have been sufficient
    for Him to come to us in a merely mental way.
    (Continues)
  • First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 7

72
Theodore the Studite on Christ
  • Consequently we would have been cheated by the
    appearance both of His deeds, if He did not come
    in the body, and of His sufferings, which were
    undeniably like ours. As flesh He suffered in
    the flesh, He ate and drank likewise, and did all
    the others things which every man does, except
    for sin. And so what seems dishonor to your way
    of thinking is actually true honor to the greatly
    honored and exceedingly glorious Word.
  • First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 7

73
Theodore the Studite on Christ
  • On the question of whether a cross should be
    venerated more than an icon
  • If by the cross you mean the original cross,
    how could it not have priority in veneration? For
    on it the impassible Word suffered, and it has
    such power that by its mere shadow it burns up
    the demons and drives them far away from those
    who bear its seal.
  • First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 15
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com