§ 115. Содержание 4-го слова. Общий характер слов против ариан. Другие догматические сочинения.

In the fourth word of St. Athanasius speaks about the hypostatic existence of the Word and about His relationship to the Father. “There is one principle of deity, not two; hence, in fact, the unity of command... In this beginning was the Word, John teaches: and the Word was with God, since God is the beginning... But the Word, having existence from a single beginning, is not something passing, or just a sound meaning something, but is an essential word and essential wisdom... Otherwise, if the Son were not truly existing, but simply wisdom, the Word and the Son in the Father: then the Father Himself would be composed of wisdom and words. ... The word Son in God is not that quality. for God would then be composed of essence and quality.” Then he refutes the Eusebians, who saw in the Son of God an eternal, but imaginary thought that began to act during the creation of the world; St. Athanasius calls this way of thinking about the Son weak and at the same time humiliating to God. He also speaks of those who, like Valentine, represented the Trinity as the revelation of the Unity; finally denounces the teachings of Paul of Samosat. This is the content of the four words against the Arians! A detailed examination of the four words of St. Athanasius shows that, a) St. Athanasius tries most of all to contrast the dialectical subtleties of the Arian ones with the same logical refinement of conclusions. On the one hand, he strikes his enemies with the very weapon that they wielded with such harm to themselves, to others and to the truth itself; on the other hand, it imparts precision to the language for denoting frank thoughts; his dialectic is not concerned with playing with words; it combines simplicity with subtlety, abundance and importance of thoughts. b) Surrounded by a crowd of objections, many of which differed from each other only in the subtlety of turns of word, and not in thought, St. the teacher was often forced to repeat himself - and a strict systematic order was not always maintained in his presentation of thoughts. But for this he pursued Arianism in all its paths. c) In the words against the Arians, the fiery soul of Athanasius is clearly visible. Insulted by the insolence of the heretics, he, with the fervor of holy jealousy, pursues the as cunning as the shameless Arian dialectic, which produced devastation in the Holy Church. In his words one can clearly see the firmness and determination of inner conviction, precise knowledge of dogma, and a lively presentation of thoughts that is quite appropriate to the nature of the matter. d) Let us remember after this that the four words of Athanasius constitute the first experience of a full and detailed consideration of the foundations on which the Arians built their new teaching about the Son of God, and the high dignity of the work of the Saint will be fully revealed to us. After the words against the Arians, more than other denunciations of the Arians 180, there is a remarkably extensive presentation of the faith known to Theodoret. Here the sayings of Scripture relating to the humanity and divinity of Christ Jesus are calmly explained. It says here: “By body He is and is called High Priest and Apostle, and He conveyed to us the sacrament (μυστήριον), when He said: This is My body, broken for you, and the blood of the new testament, and not the Old, shed for you.... Performing the holy sacrament (μυστήριον), He blessed and said: drink from it, this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you.” Interesting news is reported here about how the ancient Christians spent Wednesday and Friday throughout the year, with the exception of Pentecost, and the days before Easter 181. In 4 letters to Serapion, the deity of the Holy Spirit is proven. Here we read: “if they were right to reason about the Word, then they would also rightly reason about the Holy Spirit: He proceeds from the Father and, being the Son’s own, is taught by Him to the disciples and to all believers.... The Holy Spirit, according to Scripture, comes from the Father, and shines, is sent, given from the Son” 182. The book about the Trinity and the Holy Spirit speaks about the same thing 183. Two words against the pagans, one of which is called the word about the incarnation 184, written in an early time of life, both in syllable and in content, attract special attention of modern times. In the first word of St. Athanasius shows the origin and inconsistencies of idolatry, exposes the path to the true knowledge of God - the path of considering our soul and the path of considering visible nature. In the second word of St. the teacher depicts the need for the incarnation of God the Word and the saving actions of the Death on the Cross. “The Son of God, having taken upon Himself the body, lifted it up as a completely pure sacrifice and, by putting it to death, delivered all such from death by offering it for others” 185 . In the letter to Bishop Epictetus, which attracted the special attention of the ancients, 186 it is proved that in the person of Jesus Christ neither deity changed into humanity, nor humanity into divinity, that His flesh was human flesh, accepted in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and the Word, having accepted human nature into its personal unity, did not replace the rational soul 187. The same subject, i.e. The incarnation of the Son of God is explained at length in two books against Apollinaris, which were known to St. Proclus and other ancients 188. From the three books of St. Athanasius against the Novatians, who called themselves, like our schismatics, pure, only extracts have been preserved. St. Athanasius teaches here: “just as one who is baptized by a priest is enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, so one who confesses in repentance receives through the priest the forgiveness of the grace of Christ” 189 . Against the Arians it is written: word for word: all things have been handed over to Me by My Father; a letter to Adelphius, where he proves that the Word of God in the person of Christ Jesus must be given divine worship; about the Incarnation and against the Arians, where he denounces the Anomeans; statement of faith, with an explanation of the sacrament of the Most Holy. Trinity; message on the definitions of the Council of Nicaea. Wu Min in Patr. T. 26. 1283. 1290. Wu Min in Patr. T. 26. 533. 580. It was preserved only in the Latin translation of Basil of Thapsius. Wu Ming 26, 1189–1246. Wu Min T. 25, 3–196. The second word is in the Syriac translation of the year 563. Assemani V.O.T. 3. R. 1. R. 22. Maii Collect, vet. auct. V, 39. This letter was published by Epiphanius Haer. 77. Passages from it in Theodorit (Dialog. 1. 30. 39. 40. Dial. 2. p. 159. 460), in Cyril (Er. 38. r. 140. Er. 134. r. 109), in P. Leo (Er. 134 ad Leonem imper. p. 107), in 1 Acts of the Council of Ephesus and Act 1 of the Council of Chalcedon. You might be interested in: