Theological analysis of the work of St. Athanasius “A Sermon on the Incarnation of God the Word and His Coming to Us in the Flesh”

Contents 1. The purpose of writing the “Word” 2. The structure of the text, plan and method of presentation of the “Word” 3. About the Creation of the world by God 4. Orthodox and pagan teachings about the world 5. The creation of man. Image of God 6. The First Fall. Incorruptibility and corruption 7. The reasons for the coming of the Savior into the world 8. The doctrine of the union of two natures in Jesus Christ 9. The doctrine of the death and Resurrection of the Savior. The incorruption of His body 10. Apology of the Resurrection 11. The fruits of the death and Resurrection of the Savior 12. Conclusion List of sources and literature 1. The purpose of writing the “Word” St. Athanasius the Great was born between 296–298 in Alexandria, in 319 he was elevated to the rank of deacon, and in 325 he was with bishop in the rank of archdeacon. Alexander at the Council of Nicea, and in 326 he was elected to the See of Alexandria, and throughout his life he fought with the Arians, either deposed by them from the see (up to 5 times), or elevated to it by the Orthodox until his peaceful death in 373 [1, p. 195]. Only two works “The Word on the Gentiles” [2, pp. 55–100] and “The Word on the Incarnation” [2, pp. 101–151] are related in theme and content and are united by the blessed. Jerome under the general name “Two words against the pagans” refers to the early years of St. Athanasius (probably 317–319) [3, pp. 30–31], when as a youth he lived in Alexandria in the house of the archbishop. Alexandra is “like a son with his father” [4, p.7]. Around the same time, the teaching of Arius arose, who was condemned for the first time at the Council (320 or 321) [5, p.49], however, in both Words of St. Athanasius “does not mention the Arians and does not even conduct indirect polemics against their teaching,” this allows us to think that both Words were written before the advent of Arianism [5, p.48]. Before the advent of Arianism, “the most pressing task for Christians of that time was the fight against paganism” [6, p.51]. The “Sermon on the Incarnation” is a continuation of the “Sermon on the Gentiles” about it by St. Athanasius mentions both the “previous word” [7, p. 721] “about the error of the pagans regarding idols”, having analyzed which and contrasting them with the Christian teaching “about the Divinity of the Father’s Word, about His providence and power in the universe”, in the next Word under consideration he continues to speak “about the incarnation of the Word”, which “presents the most convincing testimony of His Divinity” “with His imaginary humiliation by the Cross, casting down the idolatrous dream” [2, p. 101]. First St. Athanasius proves that the world did not come about by chance (as the Epicureans taught) and not from pre-existing matter (as Plato thought), and then expounds the doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God as the Savior of the world he himself created [1, p. 196]. 2. Structure of the text, plan and method of presentation of the “Word” The first part (sections 1–32) provides an explanation [7, p. 721] why He who “by nature is incorporeal and is the Word, however, according to the love of mankind and the goodness of His Father, appeared to us in a human body for our salvation” [2, p. 101]. St. Athanasius says: “let us, in accordance with pious faith, talk about the incarnation of the Word” and the Divine “His coming to us (which the Jews slander, what the Greeks mock, and what we worship)” [2, p. 101]. In the second part (33–57) [7, p. 722] the objections of Jews and pagans are refuted: the unbelief of the Jews is exposed by the Old Testament prophecies, especially in detail by St. Athanasius examines Daniel’s prophecy about the seventy weeks (33–40), against the pagans he shows the groundlessness of their objections to the Incarnation of the Word (41–45) and explains that it is not at all meaningless and “there is no impropriety at all for the Word to be in man” [2, p. 138], and then, based on the miraculous spread of Christianity, he proves that this is “a sign of the Savior’s Divinity” [2, p. 138]. p.147] and the Divine origin of the Christian religion (46–55) [7, p.722]. In conclusion (56–57) St. Athanasius encourages the reader to study Scripture for himself in order to find out the details of what is briefly stated in the “Word” [7, p.722]. According to [8, p. 114] “the main question that Saint Athanasius the Great poses and resolves in his creations is the question of the nature of the Logos and His relationship, on the one hand, to God the Father, and on the other, to the created world.” The solution to this question, in turn, is connected with the problem of the absolute existence of God and his difference from the world, St. Athanasius contrasts the truly existing Deity and the world created from the non-existent, the creature arose from the non-existent and cannot have any resemblance to the self-existent Being [8, p.115]. Proclaiming the doctrinal truth about God’s creation of the world “out of nothing” [9, p.22] St. Athanasius writes that God “created everything out of nothing with His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ” [2, p. 102]. Creation “in comparison with the truly Existing One can be called directly non-existent, and if it exists in a relative sense, it is only thanks to” [10, p. 212] the participation of the truly Existing Word from the Father - the Logos, which is God’s Wisdom and God’s Power, calling everything into being, preserving, consolidating and setting in motion [6, p. 66]. All things, before their real existence, ideally already existed in the Logos, the ideas of the Logos about things that are about to arise become forms for the creation of visible things and parts of nature, not only in man, but in all of nature, in all creatures in general there is an imprint of the Wisdom of God, it introduces its imprint into all parts of nature, and only the communion of the Word saves the universe from destruction and prevents things from striving for insignificance from which they arose [6, p.67]. 4. Orthodox and pagan teachings about the world Contrasting the Orthodox and pagan teachings about the world of St. Athanasius examines the teaching of the Epicureans, who “say that everything happened by itself and by chance” and “that there is no Providence in the universe, asserting this directly contrary to the obvious and visible”, the teaching of Plato who believed “that God created the universe from ready and uncreated matter”, “but those who assert this do not know that they attribute powerlessness to God. If He Himself is not the originator of matter, but, in general, every being creates from ready-made matter; it is clear that He is powerless,” heretical teachings, (here some find an easy polemic against Arianism [7, p. 723]), which “invent for themselves another Creator of the universe other than the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” “introduce a creature alien to the Father,” “even if, according to the words of John, who embraces everything in His Word, everything came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being (John 1:3); then how is another Creator possible other than the Father of Christ? [2, p.102]. Orthodox teaching according to St. Athanasius “recognizes that the universe did not arise by itself, because there is Providence about it, and was not created from a ready-made substance, because God is not powerless; but out of nothing, a universe that did not exist before was brought into existence by God with the Word” [2, p. 102]. Many predecessors of St. Athanasius, for example Origen, saw in the Logos a mediator between God and the world, although superior to creation, but not having perfect Divine properties, the merit of St. Athanasius is to eliminate this ambiguity [10, p.212]. For him, the Logos is “the true God - God’s Word” [2, p. 142] “the disembodied, incorruptible, immaterial Word of God” “being with His Father, He fills the entire universe in all parts of it” [2, p. 107]. 5. The creation of man. Image of God “Speaking of the coming of the Savior to us,” says St. Afanasy – “we need to tell us about the beginning of people” [2, p. 103]. Like the whole world, man, as having come from nothing, is mortal [10, p. 213], but “God not only created us from nothing, but, by the grace of the Word, gave us life according to God.” [2, p.104]. “Having taken pity on the human race, and seeing that, according to the law of His own existence, He did not have sufficient strength to remain always, God gave people something more: He did not create them simply, like all dumb animals on earth, but created them in His image, imparting to them the power of His own Word, so that” “having become verbal, they could remain in bliss, living a true life, and in the true sense, the life of saints in paradise” [2, p.103]. A distinctive feature of man is that he is created verbally [6, p. 69], “having in himself, as it were, certain shades of the Word” and thus he alone is created in the image of God, which lies in the God-like soul of man, and even Angels are “not images” of God [8, p. 137]. Two logical (not chronological) moments are distinguished: the creation of human nature and the imprinting, anointing of it with the image of God - as if “birth” or adoption through the Son in the Spirit - the “breath of life” that God breathed into Adam - the Holy Spirit [3, p.36]. “God created man and willed that He should remain incorruptible” [2, p. 104], but knowing “that human will can bend to one side or the other, He preliminarily protected the grace given to people by law and place; for, having brought them into His paradise, He gave them the law” [2, p. 103]. St. Athanasius discusses in detail the concept of the Image of God: the Logos anoints us with the Holy Spirit, and the “seal” of the Holy Spirit in us is the image of the Logos [11, p.155]. The image of God in man is the image of God the Word, who Himself is the image of the Father and to the contemplation of which man was destined, understanding through the Word of the Father the Providence of everything [7, p.754]. God “so that people do not remain ignorant of God, as the Good One, 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” [2, p. 110]. This understanding of the image of God goes back to St. Paul, who calls Christ the image of God - Who is the image of the invisible God, begotten first of all creation (Col 1:15), the Church Fathers unite “the apostolic teaching about Christ as the image of the invisible God and the Old Testament creation of man in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) and teach that Christ represents the image of God, and man is the image of Christ, in other words, “that man is the image Image" [12]. V.N. Lossky believes that the image of God in a person corresponds to his personality [13, p. 160], as the image of God, man is a personal being [13, p. 162], the personality, renouncing its private nature, is revealed, enriched by what belongs to everyone, becomes the perfect image of God and acquires His likeness [13, p. 161]. St. Athanasius writes that even Angels are “not images” [2, p. 112], and St. agrees with him. Gregory Palamas, who says that man is more “in the image of God than the angels” [13, p. 150], who, despite this, are also personal beings [13, p. 160]. 6. The first fall. Incorruptibility and decay God, giving the law to people, commanded that “if they fall into crime, and having changed they become evil, at the beginning they knew about themselves that in death they would undergo natural corruption, and would no longer live in paradise, but, dying outside of it, they would remain in death and corruption” [2, p. 103] and “people, having become negligent and deviating from the aspiration of their minds to God, and stopping in their thoughts on evil” “were subjected to that mortal condemnation, which God had previously threatened them with” [2, p. 104]. The concept of corruption in St. Athanasius resembles the “leather vestments” of other saints. fathers [14, p. 175], understood as mortality (and not death only), which is “the absence of genuine life, which at all times has been felt by sensitive people as a lack of meaning”, “putting on mortality for a person coincided with putting on an irrational nature, with the introduction to life of a dumb nature and the assimilation of its qualities from that time on” [15]. St. Athanasius also says that people burdened with sins “no longer seemed to be verbal creatures, but by their morals one could recognize them as dumb” [2, p. 111]. St. Athanasius uses “legal” terminology [9, p. 275] and believes that “the transgression of the commandment returned” people “to a natural state, so that, just as they were created from nothing, so in being itself, over time, in all justice, they suffered corruption” [2, p. 104], since “as a result of the previous crime, they once became subject to natural corruption, and lost the grace of God’s image” [2, p. 104]. p.106]. Words of St. Athanasius about the natural sinful state, and that when “the body is clothed in the incorporeal Word of God,” then “it no longer fears death or corruption; because it has life as a garment, and corruption is destroyed in it” [2, p. 141] are reminiscent of the anthropology of the Western church in which the blessed state is perceived as supernatural [9, p. 201] However, in contrast to it, St. Athanasius believes that “the corruption that took place was not outside the body, but began in it itself” [2, p. 140], in accordance with the Orthodox understanding that death is a necessary consequence of the fall of the ancestors “on the one hand, because sin brought into the body their destructive beginnings of illness and exhaustion; on the other hand, because God removed them, after the fall, from the tree of life” [16, p.490]. The concept of original sin is not explicitly expressed in the “Word”, but is close to the Orthodox view that “each of Adam’s descendants, through the free action of his will, associates himself with sin, and makes the sinfulness of nature his personal sin” [17, p. 336] formulated in the message of the Eastern Patriarchs [18, p. 179]. According to St. Athanasius, “man, as created from nothing, is mortal by nature; but, due to the similarity to the Existing One, if he had preserved it by striving towards Him with his mind, he could have slowed down the natural corruption in himself, and would have remained incorruptible,” “but people, having deviated from the eternal, and on the advice of the devil, turning to the corruptible, for themselves became the culprits of corruption in death” [2, p. 104]. The result of the fall of our ancestors was that “people in their sins did not stop at certain limits, but, gradually extending further, finally transgressed every measure. Having been at the beginning the inventors of evil, and having called upon themselves death and corruption, and subsequently having turned into unrighteousness, daring into all lawlessness and not stopping at one bad deed, but constantly inventing new bad deeds, people became insatiable in sin” [2, p. 105]. 7. Reasons for the coming of the Savior into the world Speaking about the Savior St. Athanasius believes that “our guilt was the reason for His coming, and our crime was caused by the philanthropy of the Word, so that the Lord would come to us and appear among people” [2, p. 103] and his reasoning contains legal terminology. On the one hand, God had to “remain faithful to His law regarding death,” because. he could not turn out to be a liar, on the other hand, “it was necessary not to allow people to be swallowed up by corruption, because this would be indecent to God’s goodness and not worthy of it” [2, p. 106]. People could not achieve incorruption through repentance, because... this “would not maintain justice in relation to God” and, moreover, “repentance does not lead out of the natural state, but only stops sins. If only there had been a sin, and not followed by corruption; then repentance would be wonderful” [2, p. 106]. “If the command only did not allow death to reach the body, it would nevertheless, according to the general law of bodies, remain with the mortal and corruptible,” therefore, “God’s Word took upon Himself the body and used human instruments to revive the body” [2, pp. 140–141]. This is the first ontological reason for the coming of the Savior - victory over corruption, and the matter was not limited to man, “The Lord touched all parts of creation” [2, p. 141]. And at the same time, “he freed the universe from all delusion, and exposed it, as Paul says: Having disarmed the principalities and powers, He put them on display, triumphing over them on the cross (Col. 2:15), so that no one could be deceived, but found the true Word of God everywhere” [2, p. 141]. This is the second epistemological reason for the coming of the Savior - the teaching of knowledge about God - He “did not leave people deprived of knowledge about him, so that existence itself would not become useless for them. For what is the use of being created and not knowing your Creator?” [2, p.109]. “The Savior did this so that, just as He, being present everywhere, fills everything, so everything would be filled with the knowledge of Him, as the divine Scripture speaks of: for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord (Is. 11:9). For if anyone wants to look at heaven, let him see its improvement. And if he cannot look at heaven, but only gazes at people, let him see His power in deeds, incomparable with human powers, and recognize this one God among people - the Word” [2, p. 141]. Sees St. Athanasius and the moral reason when speaking about what the Word has done, that “It does this out of love for mankind” [2, p. 107]. But sins multiplied: “the human race was corrupted, the verbal and image-created man disappeared, and the work perfected by God perished” [2, p. 105], despite the fact that “the grace communicated in the image of God was sufficient to lead to the knowledge of God the Word, and through Him to the knowledge of the Father,” and “even if they neglect to know God in themselves” [2, p.110], then “looking at the greatness of the sky and considering the harmony of creation, it was possible for people to recognize the Leader of creation - the Father’s Word” [2, p.111]. And since “it was not right for those who had once become partakers of the image of God to perish,” then “could this have happened if the very image of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, had not come?” “So for this work no one else was sufficient except the Father’s image” [2, p.112]. “The Lord did not come to show Himself, but to heal and teach the suffering” [2, p.138]. 8. The doctrine of the union of two natures in Jesus Christ When considering the humanity and divinity of Christ in St. Athanasius, “there are incomplete and inaccurate expressions: clothed or dwelt, church, monastery, organ. But he sharply distinguishes the appearance of the Word in Christ from His appearance and presence in the saints” [3, p.41], saying that “He is not only a man, but also God, the Word and Wisdom of the true God” [2, p.114]. “The disembodied, incorruptible, immaterial Word of God comes to our region, from which it was not far before; because not a single part of creation remained deprived of It, but, being with His Father, It fills the entire universe in all its parts” [2, p. 107]. Christ “by nature is incorporeal and is the Word, however, by the love of mankind and the goodness of His Father, for our salvation he appeared to us in a human body” [2, p. 101], “dwelling in the body and doing such things, showing such signs that showed in him no longer a person, but God - the Word” [2, p. 114]. Anticipating future disputes about the Ever-Virginity of the Mother of God [18, p.211] and about Her name “Theotokos” [18, p.213], in which the Divinity of Jesus Christ and the reality of the Incarnation were defended, without which salvation is impossible [5, p.237], St. Athanasius writes that the Word “accepts our body, and not simply, but from the most pure, uncorrupted, unartful Virgin, a pure body, in no way inviolable to male communication. Being the Almighty and Creator of the universe, in the Virgin he prepares a body for himself as a church, and assimilates it to himself as an instrument, allowing himself to be known in it and dwelling in it” [2, p.137]. “This is not one of the righteous, but the one Word of God, incorporeal by nature, and for our sake appeared in the body, and suffered for everyone” [2, p. 133]. “If He is a man; then how did one person overcome the power of all their gods” [2, p. 143]. “What kind of person died, and because of this the sun became darkened and the earth shook? People are dying to this day and have died before; Has such a miracle ever happened at anyone’s death?” [2, p.145]. “Christ alone is recognized by people as the true God, from God as God the Word” [2, p. 143]. “God’s Word takes upon itself a body, just as a man lives among people, and draws upon Himself the feelings of all people, so that those who imagine God in the body from what the Lord produces through His bodily deeds understand the truth, and through Him come to the thought of the Father” [2, p. 113]. “What is surprising or what is incongruous when we affirm that the same Word dwelt in man?” “if it is fitting for the Word to dwell in the world and reveal Himself in the universe; then it is fitting for Him to appear in a human body” [2, p. 137]. St. Athanasius also allows theopaschist expressions [9, p. 261]: “When those who theologize about the Word say that It eats, drinks, and was born; Then know that the body, as a body, was born and fed on decent food, while the Word of God itself, which resides in the body, arranged everything well, and by what It did in the body, it showed in itself not a person, but the Word of God. This is said about him because the body that ate food, was born, suffered, was not the body of anyone else, but the Lord. And since the Lord became man; then it was proper to talk about him and this as about a person, so that it would be clear that He really, and not dreamily, has a body” [2, pp. 115–116]. Despite the lack of precise terms of the view of St. Athanasius do not contradict the dogmatic formulas subsequently approved “at three Ecumenical Councils: the Third (Ephesus, against Nestorius), the Fourth (Chalcedon, against Eutyches) and the Sixth (Constantinople, against the Monophilites)” [18, p. 203]. At St. Athanasius, elements of the Orthodox understanding of image worship, which dogmatically took shape during iconoclastic disputes, can also be traced [9, p.381]. People “flock to Christ, they worship Him as God, through Him they come to know the Father, whom they did not know” [2, p. 142]. 9. The doctrine of the death and Resurrection of the Savior. The incorruption of His body In this work, St. Athanasius, elements of the legal theory of the Atonement with the corresponding terminology are visible [9, p. 275], when he, for example, says that “the debt that fell on everyone had to be paid” and Christ, “after proving His Divinity by deeds,” makes “a sacrifice for everyone, instead of all, delivering His church to death, in order to make everyone free from responsibility for the ancient crime” [2, pp. 117–118]. However, the views of St. Athanasius belongs to the so-called “organic theory” [9, pp. 282–283], because in his other works he uses the term “deification” to describe the main meaning of the doctrine of salvation, which is that “God became man, so that man would become god” and “the Son of God became the Son of Man, so that the sons of men would become sons of God” [10, p. 217]. In the “Word” under consideration, St. Athanasius writes about the necessity of the Savior’s death: “Death was necessary, and death had to be accomplished for everyone, in fulfillment of the duty that rests on everyone. Therefore, as stated above, since it was not possible for the Word to die, because It is immortal, It took upon Himself a body that could die” [2, p. 118]. “The Word knew that corruption could only be stopped in people except by inevitable death; 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” [2, pp. 107–108]. About the Resurrection of the Savior’s body: “The Church did not leave His body in this state for long, but, showing it only to the dead from the attack of death on it, He immediately resurrected it on the third day, taking with Him the sign of victory over death, that is, the incorruptibility and innocence of suffering revealed in the body.” “The Son of God himself showed that the body, which was dead for three days, is immortal and incorruptible” [2, p.123]. Thus, “having revealed in His incorruptible body the firstfruits of the general resurrection,” he proved “that He is higher than death” [2, p. 118]. About the meaning of incorruption: after the Resurrection of Christ in an incorruptible body, “it became clear to everyone that the body died not due to the weakness of the nature of the indwelling Word, but for the destruction of death in it by the power of the Savior” [2, p. 123]. “The body, since it had a common essence with all bodies, and was a human body, although, by an extraordinary miracle, it was formed from a single Virgin, however, being mortal, according to the law of similar bodies, it was subject to death; due to the descent of the Word into it, it did not suffer the corruption characteristic of the bodily nature, but on the contrary, for the sake of the Divine Word that dwelt in it, it remained beyond corruption” [2, p. 118], the Logos “as Life and Power, strengthened the body with Himself” [2, p. 119] - here, in essence, it is said about the deification of the body of Christ due to the union with the Logos [10, p. 215], complete sinlessness and abundance of spiritual gifts [10, p.216]. Since “He had a body to accept death, and it was indecent to prohibit death, so as not to hinder the resurrection. And it was also indecent for illness to precede death; otherwise it would have been counted as a weakness to Him who appeared in the body. But wasn't He hungry? Yes, he was hungry according to the nature of his body, but he did not melt away with hunger; because it was the Lord who took on the body. Therefore, although the body died for the redemption of all, it did not see corruption; for he has risen whole; because it was the body not of anyone else, but of Life itself” [2, p.119]. The Savior “was waiting for death in order to destroy it, and he hurried to put an end to the death inflicted for the salvation of everyone” [2, p. 119]. “The Lord’s main goal was the resurrection of the body, which He had to accomplish” and in order to “assure everyone that He had accomplished the destruction of corruption and had already granted incorruption to bodies. And as if as a guarantee of this incorruptibility for all and as a sign of the future resurrection for all, He kept His body incorruptible” [2, p. 120]. St. Athanasius proves in detail the reality of the Resurrection, asserting that “what was accomplished by the Savior is truly divine and for many reasons worthy of His Divinity,” this is not an ordinary death, because “death, which happens to people, comes to them due to the weakness of their nature” [2, p. 119]. First St. Athanasius considers and rejects other options for the behavior and death of the Savior. The Lord “if He had laid down His body somewhere alone and, as is usual for people, on a bed, they would have thought that He too suffered this due to the weakness of nature” [2, p. 119]. “Since He is the Life and the Word of God, death had to be accomplished for all; how Life and Strength strengthened the body with Himself, when death was about to take place, not in itself, but from others, it borrowed the pretext for making the sacrifice; because it was not right for the Lord, who healed the illnesses of others, to endure illness, and it was also not right for the body in which He supported others in their weaknesses to become weak” [2, p. 119]. Just as it was indecent for the Lord “to inflict death on His own body, so it was not characteristic to avoid death inflicted by others, and not to pursue death to the point of destruction” [2, p. 119]. If “He hid the body, and then, suddenly appearing again, said about himself that he had risen from the dead; then everyone would consider it a fable; and His word about the resurrection would not have been believed, all the more so since there would have been no witness at all to His death; resurrection must be preceded by death; because without the preceding death there would be no resurrection” [2, p. 120]. “How would the end of death and the victory over it be shown if not, in the sight of everyone, having called upon death, he exposed it that it was already dead, exhausted by the incorruption of the body?” [2, p.121]. If someone says that “it would be necessary to at least invent a glorious death in order to avoid at least the dishonor of the cross,” then in this case “he would give himself the suspicion that he has power not over any death, but only over the one that he invented for himself” [2, p. 121]. “Our Savior Christ did not invent death to the body from Himself, so as not to appear to be afraid of any other death, but, accepting death from others, and precisely from enemies, which they considered terrible, dishonorable and hateful, He endured this on the cross, so that, having deposed it, He would certify to Himself that He is Life, and to completely abolish the power of death. And a very wonderful and extraordinary thing happened: they thought to inflict a dishonorable death, but it served as a sign of victory over death itself” [2, p. 121]. “In order to show the body dead, the Word suffered in the middle of the day, and on the third day showed everyone the body incorruptible. To show death in the body, he was resurrected on the third day; but so that, having risen after a long stay and complete decay in the tomb, he does not give rise to unbelief, as if he no longer has one body, but another” [2, p. 123]. Then, as evidence of the Resurrection, the humiliation of death is given: “Is this an unimportant testimony to the weakness of death, or is this an unimportant proof of the victory won over it by the Savior, when children in Christ and young virgins put this life at nothing and think about dying?” [2, p.124]. “Christ, for whom people suffer torment, himself prepares and gives everyone victory over death” [2, p. 126]. The continuing actions of Christ, felt by everyone: “If this proof of the resurrection of the Lord is not enough for anyone, then let him be convinced of what is affirmed by what he sees before his eyes” [2, p. 126]. “Those who do not believe in the resurrection utter an important accusation against themselves if Christ, whom they call dead, is not driven out by all the demons and the gods they honor with worship” [2, p. 127]. “The Son of God, as living and active, daily acts and accomplishes the salvation of all, and death daily turns out to be exhausted, idols and demons are exposed for the fact that they are dead” [2, p. 128]. Invisibility of the body: “If they do not believe the resurrection of the Lord’s body, because the body is invisible; then look, unbelievers deny what is in accordance with nature; because it is natural for God to be invisible” [2, p. 128]. He convicts the Jews with Scripture: “The unbelieving Jews have their conviction in the Scriptures that they themselves read” [2, p. 129]. “From ancient times, the prophets foretold about the miracle that took place on the Virgin, and about Her birth” [2, p. 129]. “Even about His death is not kept silent; but on the contrary, it is very clearly depicted in the divine Scriptures. They were not afraid to say about the cause of death, namely, that they would endure it not for themselves, but for immortality and the salvation of all” [2, p.130]. “All Scripture is filled with denunciations of the unbelief of the Jews” [2, p. 131]. “In the Scriptures you will not find anyone other than the common Savior of all, God’s Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. For He came from the Virgin, appeared on earth as a man, and His genealogy according to the flesh is inscrutable” [2, p. 133]. Those who claim that “God the Word has not yet come” “will be convicted not by us, but by the wise Daniel, who, pointing to the present time and the divine coming of the Savior” [2, p. 134], prophesies about seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24–25). St. Athanasius denounces the unbelief of the pagans: “In the reasoning of the pagans, one can even be amazed that they laugh at something they should not laugh at at all” [2, p. 136]. “If they completely deny that there is God’s Word; then they laugh in vain at what they do not know. If they recognize that there is God’s Word, that It is the Ruler of the universe, that by Him the Father created creation, and through His providence everything in the universe is illuminated, enlivened, and has existence, and It reigns over everything, and therefore, from the works of providence this Word is known, and through Him the Father; Then, I ask you to consider, aren’t they laughing at themselves without knowing it?” [2, p.137]. “Everything we affirm is not only based on words, but has evidence of truth in experience itself. For whoever pleases, let him come and examine the clear traits of virtue in Christ’s virgins and youths, who observe chastity in purity, as well as the faith in immortality in the great host of Christ’s martyrs” [2, p. 143]. St. Athanasius appeals to the miraculous spread of Christianity: “with what power is this Christ invested, who with His name and presence has eclipsed and abolished everything everywhere, alone overcomes all, and filled the whole universe with His teaching?” [2, p.143], “if Christ, as they say, is a man, and not God the Word; then why don’t the gods forbid them, so that His honor penetrates into those countries where they are worshiped?” [2, p.145]. He cites the miracles of the Savior: “For which of the people who ever existed formed a body for themselves from a single virgin? Or which of the people has ever healed diseases similar to those from which the Lord, common to us all, healed? Who corrected natural defects and gave sight to a man born blind?” [2, p.144]. “As someone who wants to see God, who by his very nature is invisible and not at all subject to vision, knows and comprehends Him from his deeds; so the one who does not perceive Christ with his mind, let him understand Him from bodily deeds” [2, p. 148]. 11. The fruits of the death and resurrection of the Savior The first result of the death and Resurrection of the Savior is victory over death: “That death has been crushed, that the cross has become a victory over it, that it no longer has power, but is truly dead, this important sign and clear confirmation is that it is neglected by all the disciples of Christ, everyone steps on it and is not afraid of it, but with the sign of the cross and faith in Christ they trample it as dead” [2, p. 123]. Return of incorruption: The Word “having borrowed from us a body similar to ours, because we were all guilty of death from corruption, having put it to death for all, brings it to the Father” [2, p. 107]. “And It does this out of love for mankind in order to, on the one hand, since everyone was dying, put an end to the law of the corruption of people by the fact that its power was fulfilled on the Lord’s body, and no longer has a place in the reasoning of such people; and on the other hand, to return people who have turned into corruption back into incorruption, and to revive them from death, by appropriating the body and the grace of resurrection, destroying death in them like stubble with fire” [2, p. 107]. Fulfillment of what is due: “The Word of God, being above all, and His church, His bodily instrument, offering as a redemptive price for all, by His death completely fulfilled what was due, and thus, through such a body being with everyone, the incorruptible Son of God, as it should be, clothed everyone in incorruption with the promise of resurrection. 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” [2, p. 108]. Renewal of man: “The All-Holy Son of the Father, as the Father’s image, came to our countries to renew man created in this image, and, as it were, to seek the remission of sins for the lost” [2, p. 112]. “In a miraculous way, both happened in one and the same thing: the death of all was fulfilled in the Lord’s body, and death and corruption were destroyed by it for the sake of the Word coexisting in it” [2, p. 118]. Promise of the Resurrection: “Because the Savior common to us all died for us; then it is certain that we, the faithful in Christ, no longer die mortally, as in ancient times, under the threat of the law, because such condemnation has been abolished; but with the cessation and destruction of corruption by the grace of resurrection, due to the mortality of the body, we are resolved only for the time that God has determined for each” [2, p. 118]. “Like seeds thrown into the ground, we do not perish when we are resolved, but like those sown we will be resurrected; because death has been abolished by the grace of the Savior” [2, p. 118]. “In ancient times, before the divine coming of the Savior took place, death was terrible even for the saints, and everyone mourned the dying as if they were dead. Now, since the Savior has resurrected the body, death is no longer terrible, but all who believe in Christ trample on it as insignificant, and rather decide to die than to renounce their faith in Christ. For they undoubtedly know that those who die do not perish, but are alive, and through the resurrection they will become incorruptible” [2, p. 124]. Thus, the Savior “abolished death, and granted incorruption to everyone with the promise of resurrection, resurrecting His own body as the firstfruits of this resurrection, and showing the monument of victory over death and its destructiveness in the sign of the cross” [2, p. 129]. “God’s Word appeared in the flesh and revealed His Father to us” [2, p.149]. St. At the end of the work, Athanasius turns to the reader, inviting him to “read the Scriptures for himself and delve into their real meaning,” as well as to learn about “the second coming, when Christ will come no longer in humiliation, but in His glory, not in humility, but in His inherent greatness,” but warns the reader that for a correct understanding of what is read, “a good life, a pure soul, and Christ-imitating virtue are required” [2, p.150], because “whoever wants to comprehend the thought of theologians must first purify and whiten the soul with life, and by becoming like the saints in deeds, approach them” [2, p.151], because there is a deep connection “between faith and Christian morality, between dogmas and commandments” [19, p. 25], and “heresy is an external expression of damage in the very structure of spiritual life” [20, p. 9]. 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