Слово о воплощении Сына Божия и о пришествии Его к нам во плоти. (О причинах воплощения Сына Божия). Святого Афанасия Великого, архиепископа Александрийского

Now let us, in accordance with pious faith, talk about the incarnation of the Word and His divine coming to us, trying to explain in such a way that the visible humiliation of the Word will all the more arouse in us a greater and stronger reverence for Him. God created man and willed him to remain incorruptible. But people, having become negligent and deviating from the aspiration of their minds to God, having stopped in thought on evil and conceiving it for themselves, were subjected to the mortal condemnation with which God had previously threatened them, and no longer remained the same as they were created, but, as they thought, they were corrupted. And death, having reigned, took possession of them, because the crime of the commandment returned them to a natural state, so that, just as they were created from nothing, so in being itself, over time, in all justice, they would suffer corruption. If people became subject to natural decay and lost the grace of God's image, then what else had to happen? or was there a need for anyone else for the return of such grace and for the calling of people, except God - the Word, who created the universe from nothing in the beginning? It belonged to him to bring the corruptible again into incorruption, and to observe what was most just for the Father. since He is the Father's Word and above all: then naturally He alone could recreate everything. He alone was able to suffer for everyone and intercede for everyone before the Father. Therefore, the disembodied, incorruptible, immaterial Word of God comes to our region, from which it was not far before - it comes, condescending with His love for mankind and appearing among us. And, seeing that the verbal human race is perishing, that death reigns over people in decay; noting the indecency of what had happened, for that which It itself was the Creator was destroyed; noticing the evil nature of people that surpasses all measures; Noticing also that all people are guilty of death, she had compassion on our weakness, condescended to our corruption, and did not tolerate the possession of death. So that what has been created does not perish, and what His Father has done for people does not turn out to be in vain, the Word takes upon Himself a body, and a body that is not alien to ours (for it did not just want to be in the body and not appear only: if it had only wanted to appear, it could have accomplished His Theophany through something else, something more perfect): but it takes on our body, and not simply, but from the most pure, uncorrupted, unsophisticated Virgo. Being the Almighty and Creator of the universe, the Word in the Virgin prepares a body for the church of Himself, and appropriates it for Himself as an instrument, allowing Himself to be known in it and dwelling in it: and thus, having borrowed from us a body similar to ours, because we were all guilty of the corruption of death, having put it to death for all, brings it to the Father. The Word knew that corruption could only be stopped in people by inevitable death: but it was impossible for the Word, as the immortal and Son of the Father, to die. For this very reason, It takes upon itself a body that could die, so that, as a participant in the Existing Word over all, it would endure death for all, so that for the sake of the Word dwelling in it it would remain incorruptible, and so that, finally, corruption would cease in all by the grace of the resurrection. Therefore, when He took the body upon Himself to death as a sacrifice and slaughter, free from all defilement, this offering of what was similar in all similar ones immediately destroyed death. And corruption itself in death no longer has power over people, for the sake of the Word, which has taken possession of them through a single body. If a great King enters any great city and takes up residence in one of its houses, then, without a doubt, such a city is awarded high honor, and no enemy or robber will attack and destroy it, but rather they will take all care of it for the sake of the king who has taken up residence in one of its houses. So it was with the King of the universe, when He came to our region and inhabited one of our similar bodies: then, at last, the enemy’s attacks against people ceased, the corruption of death, which from ancient times had prevailed over them, was destroyed: for the human race would have perished if the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God, had not come to put an end to death. And this great deed, truly, was more befitting of God’s goodness. If a king, having built a house or a city, when, due to the negligence of those living in it, robbers attack it, does not leave it completely without charity, but protects and saves it as his own work, looking not at the negligence of the inhabitants, but at what is appropriate for himself: then how much more is the all-good God. The Father’s Word, when the human race created by Him descended into corruption, did not despise it, but erased the death that had surpassed it with the offering of His own body, and corrected the negligence of people with His teaching, filling everything human with His power. Anyone can find confirmation of this in the Scriptures: For the love of Christ will support us who have judged this: for if one died for all, then having died also, we also die for all, so that we live not for anyone else, but for us, who died and rose from the dead to our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:14, 15); and again: and we see Jesus, who was made a little child by the angels, crowned with glory and honor for accepting death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone (Heb. 2:9). Scripture also shows the reason why it was necessary for no one else to become man, but God Himself - the Word, saying: for it is fitting for Him, for whose sake all things are, and for whose sake all things are, that I will bring many sons to glory, the author of their salvation to complete through suffering (Heb. 2:10). These words mean that no one else should have raised people from the corruption that befell them, like God the Word, who created them in the beginning. That the Word Himself took upon Himself a body to offer sacrifice for similar bodies, this is made clear by the Scripture, saying: For the children have now partaken of flesh and blood, and He sincerely partook of the same, that by death he might abolish the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver these, who through the fear of death through all their life have been guilty of work (Heb. 2:14, 15). The Word, by sacrificing His own body, put an end to the law that condemned us, and renewed in us the firstfruits of life, giving us the hope of resurrection. since it depended on man himself that death took possession of people, then for this very incarnation of God the Word the destruction of death and the rebellion of life was again carried out, according to the word of the Christ-bearing man: for for death was by man, and by man the resurrection of the dead: just as in Adam they died, so in Christ they shall live again, and so on (1 Cor. 15:21, 22). For now we die no longer as condemned, but as having to rise, awaiting the general resurrection of all, which in due time will be revealed by God, who accomplished and granted it. This is the first reason for the Savior’s incarnation. But His good coming to us had other important reasons. God, who possesses everything, when He created the human race with His own Word, also seeing the weakness of human nature, namely, that it does not have sufficient strength to know the Creator by itself and generally acquire for itself the concept of God, because God is not born, and creatures came from nothing. God is incorporeal, and people were created somewhere down in the body, and in general, everything created lacks much in understanding and knowledge of the Creator - noticing this and taking pity on the human race, as the Good One, did not leave people deprived of knowledge of Him, so that existence itself would not become useless for them. For what is the use of being created and not knowing your Creator? or how could people be verbal without knowing the Word of the Father by whom they were created? They would be no different from the dumb if they knew nothing but earthly things. Why would God have created them if He had not wanted them to know Him? Therefore, so that people do not remain ignorant of God, as the Good One, He communicates to them His own image - our Lord Jesus Christ, and creates them in His image and likeness, so that with such grace, imagining the Image (I mean the Father's Word), they can acquire the concept of the Father Himself, and, knowing the Creator, live a prosperous and truly blessed life. But foolish people, having also neglected the grace given to them, deviated so much from God and became so darkened in their souls that they not only consigned the concept of God to oblivion, but began to invent one thing instead of the other: for instead of truth they built idols for themselves, they preferred the non-existent to the existing God, serving the creature instead of the Creator - they reached such wickedness that they finally began to worship demons, and, fulfilling their wishes, they named them gods, sacrificed dumb animals to them and tempered people. In general, everything became full of wickedness and lawlessness: only God and His Word were not knowable, although He did not hide Himself from people in obscurity, and did not just give them knowledge of Himself, but revealed it to them in a variety of ways and times. God did not leave human weakness without His providence, giving the law and sending prophets known to people to people, so that if they are lazy to raise their eyes to heaven and know the Creator, they would have teaching near them, because people are closest to learning the best from people. So, looking at the greatness of the sky and considering the harmony of creation, it was possible for people to know the Leader of creation - the Father's Word, Who, through His providence for everything, makes it possible for everyone to know the Father, and for this purpose sets the universe in motion, so that through Him everyone knows God. Or if this was difficult for them, then they could talk with the saints and from them learn the Creator of all God from the Father of Christ - learn that the worship of idols is godlessness and is full of all wickedness. And having learned the law, they could also stop all lawlessness and live a virtuous life. For the law was not given for the Jews alone, and it was not for their sake alone that the Prophets were sent: but although they were sent to the Jews and were persecuted by the Jews, nevertheless, for the whole universe they served as a sacred school of knowledge about God and inner life. Such was the goodness of God, such was his love for mankind! However, people, overcome by momentary pleasures and demonic dreams, did not raise their gaze to the truth, but burdened themselves with an even greater number of evils and sins, so that they no longer seemed to be verbal creatures, but in their morals one could recognize them as dumb. Therefore, when people became so speechless, and demonic delusion everywhere overshadowed and hid the knowledge of the true God, what should God have done? Or what had to happen if not the renewal of what was created in the Image, so that through this Image people could again know God? Could this have happened if the Image of God Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ, had not come? This could not happen through people, because they themselves were created in the image; it could not happen through the Angels, because they are not imaged. Therefore, God’s Word came in person, so that He, as the Father’s Image, could be recreated in the image of created man. On the other hand, again this would not have happened if death and corruption had not been destroyed. Therefore, the Word needed to take upon Himself a mortal body, so that by Him death could finally be destroyed, and people would again be renewed in the image. So, no one else was sufficient for this work except the Father’s Image. since the face painted on the tree became invisible due to external impurities, it was necessary for Him whose face it is to come again, so that the image could be restored on the same substance: for for the sake of the depicted face, the very substance on which it is written is not thrown away, but the face is restored on it. Likewise, the All-Holy Son of the Father, as the Father’s image, came to our countries in order to renew man, created in this Image, and, as it were, to seek the lost by the remission of sins, as He Himself says in the Gospels: He will come to seek and save the lost (Matthew 18:11). Why did He also say to the Jews: unless someone is born (Jn. 3:3), not meaning birth from a woman, as they understood, but denoting rebirth and re-creation in the soul of that which is in the image. Since idolatry and atheism took possession of the universe, and the knowledge of God became hidden, who could teach the universe about the Father? If they say: “to man,” then it was impossible for people to go around all the sunflowers; by their nature they would not be able to complete such a journey, they would not be able to earn the credit for this, they would not have sufficient strength to themselves resist such demonic seduction and dreaming. since everyone was spiritually amazed and confused by demonic delusion and idolatry vanity: then how could people change the faith of the human soul and the human mind when they could not even see them? And what someone doesn’t see, can he transform it? Perhaps they will say that “the creation was sufficient for this." But if the creature had been sufficient, then so many evils would not have happened. There was a creation; nevertheless, people were mired in the same delusion about God. Therefore, in whom was there a need again, if not in God - the Word, Who sees the soul and the mind, sets everything in motion in creatures, and through creatures makes it possible to know the Father? The One who, through His own providence and the order of the universe, teaches about the Father, had to renew this teaching. How would this happen? They will say, perhaps: “This could have been done in the same way, that is, again to show by the works of creation what you need to know about God.” But this was no longer reliable, and not at all reliable, because people had already ignored this, and their eyes were no longer directed towards grief, but down. Therefore, desiring to provide faithful help to people, the Word of God comes as a man, taking upon Himself a body similar to human bodies, and helps those below, that is, His bodily deeds, so that those who did not want to know Him from His providence about the universe and from governing it, although from His bodily deeds, came to know the Word of God in the flesh, and through Him the Father. As a good teacher, caring for his disciples, condescending to those who are not able to use higher knowledge, of course, teaches them lower knowledge: so did the Word of God, as Paul also says: because in the wisdom of God, not understanding, peace through the wisdom of God, God deigned to save those who believe by the violence of preaching (1 Cor. 1:21). since people, having shied away from speculation about God, and, as it were, plunged into the depths, fixing their eyes downward, sought God in things that are born and sensible, imagining mortals and demons as gods: then the man-loving and common Savior of all, God's Word, takes upon Himself a body, as a person lives among people, and turns to Himself the feelings of all people, so that those who imagine God in the bodily (from the fact that the Lord produces through His bodily deeds) they understood the truth, and through Him they came to the thought of the Father, and so that they, like people, having everything human in their thoughts, would see that wherever they turn their feelings, they are everywhere warned by these deeds, and everything teaches them the truth. If they were amazed before the creation, they will see that the creation confesses Christ the Lord; if their thought was biased in favor of people, and they revered them as gods: then from the deeds of the Savior, compared with the deeds of men, it will become clear that the only Savior among people is the Son of God, because those recognized as gods do not have such deeds as were accomplished by the Word of God. And if they were prejudiced in favor of demons, then, seeing how the Lord casts them out, they will know that He alone is God’s Word, and demons are not gods. If their minds were occupied by people who had already died, and therefore they worshiped heroes and those whom they called gods: then, seeing the resurrection of the Savior, they confess that those gods are false, and that there is one true Lord - the Father’s Word, who rules over death. For this reason, the Lord was born, and appeared as a man, and died, and rose again, by His deeds humiliating and darkening the deeds of people who had ever lived, so that from everything that people were prejudiced against, He could distract them and teach them the knowledge of His true Father, as He Himself says: He has come to seek and save the lost. The Word deigned to make Himself visible through the body in order to attract the feelings of people to Himself and by deeds to convince them that He was not only a man, but also God, the Word and Wisdom of the true God. Intending to express this, Paul says: rooted and grounded in love, that you may be able to understand with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height: understand the love of Christ that surpasses understanding, that you may be filled to all the fulfillment of God (Eph. 3:17-19). For the Word, having spread everywhere, both mountain and valley, both in depth and in breadth, mountain in creation, valley in the incarnation, depth in hell, and depth in the world, filled everything with the knowledge of God. To the best of our understanding, we have explained the reasons for the coming of Christ the Lord in the flesh. To transform the corruptible into incorruptibility belonged to none other than the Savior; to recreate the image in people again belonged to none other than the Father’s Image; to resurrect the mortal as immortal - it belonged to none other than the original life - our Lord Jesus Christ: to teach about the Father, abolishing idolatry - belonged to no other than the Only Begotten, the true Son of the Father. since, finally, the debt that fell on everyone had to be paid (for everyone had to die, which was the main reason for the coming of Christ); then, after having proven His Divinity by deeds, Christ also makes a sacrifice for everyone, instead of everyone giving up His church to death, in order to make everyone free from responsibility for an ancient crime, and to prove about Himself (in His incorruptible body the firstfruits of the general resurrection) that He is above death. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he has honor, power, and glory forever and ever. Amen 42. In short. See the works of St. Athanasius the Great, in Russian. translation 2nd edition, 1902, part 1, pp. 191–264; Wed Christ. Read 1837, part IV, pp. 275–289. You might be interested in: