Front matter
POPULAR PATRISTICS SERIES
"cag Gg with an Introduction by C. S. Lewis
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT OF ALEXANDRIA
On the Incarnation
ST VLADIMIR'S SEMINARY PRESS
Popular Patristics Series Number 44b The Popular Patristics Series published by St Vladimir's Seminary Press provides readable and accurate translations of a wide range of early Christian literature to a wide audience—students of Christian history to lay Christians reading for spiritual benefit.
Recognized scholars in their fields provide short but comprehensive and clear introductions to the material. The texts include classics of Christian literature, thematic volumes, collections of homilies, letters on spiritual counsel, and poetical works from a variety of geographical contexts and historical backgrounds. The mission of the series is to mine the riches of the early Church and to make these treasures available to all.
Series Editor
JOHN BEHR
Associate Editor
AUGUSTINE CASIDAY
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
OF ALEXANDRIA
On the Incarnation Preface by C.S. LEwIs Translation and Introduction by
JOHN BEHR
ST VLADIMIR'S SEMINARY PRESS
YONKERS, NEW YORK
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria, d. 373, author.
[De incarnatione. English] On the incarnation : English translation / St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria ; preface by C.S. Lewis ; translation and introduction by John Behr. p. cm. — (Popular patristics series ; no. 44b)
ISBN 978—0-88141—427-1
1. Incarnation—Early works to 1800. I. Behr, John, translator, writer of added commentary. II. Title.
Reprinted by permission.
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For His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Ihotoc odnyos, adAnOwoc didckoKados, yvyotoc plAdAoyosc
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/onincarnationO00O0atha_a2q6
Contents Preface, by C.S. Lewis
INTRODUCTION
St Athanasius the Great of Alexandria
Against the Gentiles
On the Incarnation
The Life of St Antony
Text and translation
Suggested Further Reading
St ATHANASIUS THE GREAT OF ALEXANDRIA
On the Incarnation Prologue (1)
The Divine Dilemma regarding Life and Death (2-10)
The Divine Dilemma regarding Knowledge and Ignorance (11-19)
The Death of Christ and the Resurrection of the Body (20-32)
Refutation of the Jews (33-40)
Refutation of the Gentiles (41-55)
Conclusion (56-57)
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Preface from the First Edition There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about "isms" and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.
This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. Wherever you find a little study circle of Christian laity you can be almost certain that they are studying not St. Luke or St. Paul or St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas or Hooker or Butler, but M. Berdyaev or M.
Maritain or M. Niebuhr or Miss Sayers or even myself.
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
Now this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myselfam a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books.
But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light. Often it cannot be fully understood without the knowledge of a good many other modern books. If you join at eleven oclock a conversation which began at eight you will often not see the real bearing of what is said. Remarks which seem to you very ordinary will produce laughter or irritation and you will not see why—the reason, of course, being that the earlier stages of the conversation have given them a special point. In the same way sentences in a modern book which look quite ordinary may be directed at some other book; in this way you may be led to accept what you would have indignantly rejected if you knew its real significance. The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central
Christianity ("mere Christianity" as Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can be acquired only from the old books. It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.
Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook—even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it. Nothing strikes me more when I read the controversies of past ages than the fact that both sides were usually assuming without question a good deal
Preface I which we should now absolutely deny. They thought that they were as completely opposed as two sides could be, but in fact they were all the time secretly united—united with each other and against earlier and later ages—by a great mass of common assumptions.
We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century—the blindness about which posterity will ask, "But how could they have thought that?"—lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Mr. H.G.
Wells and Karl Barth. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.
Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we.
But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them.
I myself was first led into reading the Christian classics, almost accidentally, as a result of my English studies. Some, such as Hooker,
Herbert, Traherne, Taylor and Bunyan, I read because they are themselves great English writers; others, such as Boethius, St. Augustine,
Thomas Aquinas and Dante, because they were "influences." George Macdonald I had found for myself at the age of sixteen and never wavered in my allegiance, though I tried for a long time to ignore his
Christianity. They are, you will note, a mixed bag, representative of many Churches, climates and ages. And that brings me to yet another
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
reason for reading them. The divisions of Christendom are undeniable and are by some of these writers most fiercely expressed. But if any man is tempted to think—as one might be tempted who read only contemporaries—that "Christianity" is a word of so many meanings that it means nothing at all, he can learn beyond all doubt, by stepping out of his own century, that this is not so. Measured against the ages
"mere Christianity" turns out to be no insipid interdenominational transparency, but something positive, self-consistent, and inexhaustible. I know it, indeed, to my cost. In the days when I still hated
Christianity, I learned to recognise, like some all too familiar smell, that almost unvarying something which met me, now in Puritan
Bunyan, now in Anglican Hooker, now in Thomist Dante. It was there (honeyed and floral) in Francois de Sales; it was there (grave and homely) in Spenser and Walton; it was there (grim but manful) in Pascal and Johnson; there again, with a mild, frightening, Paradisial flavour, in Vaughan and Boehme and Traherne. In the urban sobriety of the eighteenth century one was not safe—Law and Butler were two lions in the path. The supposed "Paganism" of the Elizabethans could not keep it out; it lay in wait where a man might have supposed himself safest, in the very centre of The Faerie Queene and the Arcadia. It was, of course, varied; and yet—after all—so unmistakably the same; recognisable, not to be evaded, the odour which is death to us until we allow it to become life: an air that kills From yon far country blows.
Weare all rightly distressed, and ashamed also, at the divisions of Christendom. But those who have always lived within the Christian fold may be too easily dispirited by them. They are bad, but such people do not know what it looks like from without. Seen from there, what is left intact despite all the divisions, still appears (as it truly is) an immensely formidable unity. I know, for I saw it; and well our enemies know it. That unity any of us can find by going out of his
Preface
own age. It is not enough, but it is more than you had thought till then. Once you are well soaked in it, if you then venture to speak, you will have an amusing experience. You will be thought a Papist when you are actually reproducing Bunyan, a Pantheist when you are quoting Aquinas, and so forth. For you have now got on to the great level viaduct which crosses the ages and which looks so high from the valleys, so low from the mountains, so narrow compared with the swamps, and so broad compared with the sheep-tracks.
The present book is something of an experiment. The translation is intended for the world at large, not only for theological students.
If it succeeds, other translations of other great Christian books will presumably follow. In one sense, of course, it is not the first in the field. Translations of the Theologia Germanica, the Imitation, the Scale of Perfection, and the Revelations of Lady Julian of Norwich, are already on the market, and are very valuable, though some of them are not very scholarly. But it will be noticed that these are all books of devotion rather than of doctrine. Now the layman or amateur needs to be instructed as well as to be exhorted. In this age his need for knowledge is particularly pressing. Nor would I admit any sharp division between the two kinds of book. For my own part I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that "nothing happens" when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.
This is a good translation of a very great book." St. Athanasius has suffered in popular estimation from a certain sentence in the "Athanasian Creed." I will not labour the point that that work is not exactly a creed and was not by St. Athanasius, for I think it is a very fine piece of writing. The words "Which Faith except every one do keep whole
'Lewis refers here to an earlier translation of the work, but the remark may be applied equally to the present version.
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly" are the offence. They are commonly misunderstood. The operative word is keep; not acquire, or even believe, but keep. The author, in fact, is not talking about unbelievers, but about deserters, not about those who have never heard of Christ, nor even those who have misunderstood and refused to accept Him, but of those who having really understood and really believed, then allow themselves, under the sway of sloth or of fashion or any other invited confusion to be drawn away into sub-Christian modes of thought. They are a warning against the curious modern assumption that all changes of belief, however brought about, are necessarily exempt from blame. But this is not my immediate concern. I mention "the creed (commonly called) of St. Athanasius" only to get out of the reader's way what may have been a bogey and to put the true Athanasius in its place. His epitaph is Athanasius contra mundum, "Athanasius against the world" We are proud that our own country has more than once stood against the world. Athanasius did the same. He stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, "whole and undefiled," when it looked as if all the civilised world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius—into one of those
"sensible" synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away.
When I first opened his De Incarnatione I soon discovered by a very simple test that I was reading a masterpiece. I knew very little Christian Greek except that of the New Testament and I had expected difficulties. To my astonishment I found it almost as easy as Xenophon; and only a master mind could, in the fourth century, have written so deeply on such a subject with such classical simplicity. Every page I read confirmed this impression. His approach to the Miracles is badly needed today, for it is the final answer to those who object to them as "arbitrary and meaningless violations of the laws of Nature." They are here shown to be rather the re-telling in capital
Preface
letters of the same message which Nature writes in her crabbed cursive hand; the very operations one would expect of Him who was so full of life that when He wished to die He had to "borrow death from others." The whole book, indeed, is a picture of the Tree of Life—a sappy and golden book, full of buoyancy and confidence. We cannot,
I admit, appropriate all its confidence today. We cannot point to the high virtue of Christian living and the gay, almost mocking courage of Christian martyrdom, as a proof of our doctrines with quite that assurance which Athanasius takes as a matter of course. But whoever may be to blame for that it is not Athanasius.
The translator knows so much more Christian Greek than I that it would be out of place for me to praise her version. But it seems to me to be in the right tradition of English translation. I do not think the reader will find here any of that sawdusty quality which is so common in modern renderings from the ancient languages. That is as much as the English reader will notice; those who compare the version with the original will be able to estimate how much wit and talent is presupposed in such a choice, for example, as "these wiseacres" on the very first page.
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Introduction St Athanasius the Great of Alexandria Already during his own lifetime, St Athanasius had become a legendary figure." He was probably born in the latter half of 299, for soon after he was consecrated as bishop of Alexandria, on 8
June 328, succeeding Alexander, whom he had accompanied as a young deacon to the Council of Nicaea, his election was contested on various grounds, amongst which was that he was too young. By the time of his death, on 2 May 373, Athanasius had been bishop of Alexandria for forty-six years, during which he had been exiled five times, for a total of some seventeen years." These lengthy periods of exile proved felicitous for Athanasius. His time in the West gave him the opportunity to forge strong links with those he encountered there, especially with Julius of Rome and his fellow exile Marcellus of Ancyra. The time he spent in the Egyptian desert provided occasion to develop close relationships with the ascetics living in the desert, a bond which was to be mutually beneficial. Antony himself made an appearance in Alexandria in a show of support for Athanasius, and thereafter the monks of Egypt were amongst the most loyal support- 'Ror a more comprehensive introduction to Athanasius and his theology, see
John Behr, The Nicene Faith (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 2004), 163-259, and the further studies cited therein, from which much of this introduction has been drawn.
For further treatment of his theology, see K. Anatolios, Athanasius: The Coherence of His Thought (New York: Routledge, 1998); for his life and the politics of the empire, see
TD. Barnes, Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian
Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993).
Following Barnes (Athanasius, xi-xii) Athanasius was in exile: 1) 7 November 335 to June 337; 2) 16 April 339 to summer 345, though he returned to Alexandria only on 21 October 346; 3) February 356 to 26 February 362; 4) October 362 to 14 February
364; 5) 5 October 365 to February 366.
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
ers of the bishops of Alexandria. And, in return, through such works as the Life of Antony, Athanasius contributed significantly to ascetic theology, so making his own contribution to the development of monasticism, as well as popularizing its ideals and propagating them far beyond the borders of Egypt. Even more important was the theology that Athanasius expounded during the stormy course of his life, developing the central intuitions of his predecessor, Alexander, into a full exposition of Nicene theology.
These factors and others projected a persona that commanded universal respect. A few years before his death, Athanasius received a series of very flattering letters from St Basil the Great (who was born after Athanasius had become bishop), requesting that he support his plans to reconcile the splintered supporters of Nicaea. But, by this time, Athanasius was no longer engaged in affairs outside Egypt and declined even to respond. Then seven years after his death, on 2 May
380, St Gregory the Theologian delivered a eulogy on "The Great Athanasius,' to demonstrate, with an eye to the Egyptians who had arrived in the capital, his alignment with the renowned bishop of Alexandria. Thus, on the eve of the Council of Constantinople, Athanasius was canonized and an image of him enshrined that portrayed him as a steadfast saint, a model pastor and an unerring theologian, whose very name was synonymous with orthodoxy.
Scholarship over the past century has tended to be more critical of Athanasius' character, highlighting the various charges brought up against him, those for which he was exiled by various councils and regarding which papyrological evidence has newly been brought to light. However, despite all this new work, the older assessment of Harnack, who was not predisposed at all towards Athanasius, remains the most just: "If we measure him by the standard of his time, we can discover nothing ignoble or mean about him."* He certainly displayed courage and tenacity of purpose. In addition he was also capable of being extremely congenial when needed, so that he was able,
*A. von Harnack, History of Dogma, trans. N. Buchanan from the 3rd German ed. (London and Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate, 1894-8), vol. 4, 62.
Introduction
through personal meetings, to win over the emperors Constantine and Constantius. The standards of his time may have tolerated more violence in the exercise of his purpose than we might do, yet there is no indication of vindictiveness, but rather a desire to make peace, so that by the time of his death he had become reconciled with most of his earlier enemies. The shadow side to the legendary figure by no means reduces his significance for Christian history and theology: Nicene
Christianity exists by virtue of his constancy and vision.
Against the Gentiles The work translated here, On the Incarnation, is one of the classic texts of early Christianity. Its influence on all later theology cannot be understated. It could be described as the defining exposition of Nicene theology, certainly as understood by the later Byzantine tradition. And for this reason it requires to be read very carefully and sensitively. In a comprehensive and compelling manner, Athanasius expounds the central mystery of Christian theology, the incarnation, but in a manner that embraces all aspects of God's work, from creation to recreation. The works themselves are almost catechetical pieces. Towards the end of On the Incarnation, Athanasius claims to have provided "an elementary instruction and an outline of the faith in Christ and his divine manifestation to us" (Inc. 56). And, indeed, the work is not a treatise on disputed points of abstract theology, but presents, in simple yet elegant prose, a clear exposition of Athanasius' theological vision, one which is based on key intuitions that he had learnt from the earlier Alexandrian tradition that had been upheld at Nicaea, and which continued thereafter to drive his struggle to give fuller expression to Nicene theology. Here, if anywhere, is the "real" Nicene theology, the "notional' presented, in Newmans terms, in images that are capable of inspiring "Real Assent" in real men and women, so giving flesh, as it were, to the words of doctrine."
4] H. Newman, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, ed. 1.T. Ker (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1985), 63-8 (=89-97).
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
As the opening words of On the Incarnation—"In what preceded we have sufficiently treated .
. "—clearly indicate, it was written as the second part of a double treatise, following on from his work
Against the Gentiles. Both need to be considered together, for the first work sets up the problem that the second resolves. 'The first task of understanding an author, especially an ancient one, whose perspectives and presuppositions may differ even more considerably from our own than a contemporary, is to pay attention to what he himself says about his text. Against the Gentiles opens with Athanasius afhirming that although "the knowledge of religion and of the truth of things" can be learnt without human teachers, since it is revealed every day, shining more brightly than the sun through the teaching of Christ, yet as he has been asked to expound a little of the Christian faith he will do so. Moreover, while it can be discovered from the words of Holy Scripture, "for the sacred and divinely inspired
Scriptures are sufficient for the exposition of the truth,' there are also many treatises of blessed teachers, which "if one happens upon them he will gain some notion of the interpretation of the Scriptures and will be able to attain the knowledge he desires." This setting of the learning of the knowledge of God in the context of the interpretation of the Scriptures is picked up again at the end of On the Incarnation, when Athanasius directs his readers back to Scripture so that they
"can learn from them more completely and more clearly the accuracy of what has been said" (Inc. 56).
Athanasius then continues, in Against the Gentiles, by stating his aim:
But since we do not have the works of these teachers to hand, we must expound for you in writing what we have learnt from them—TI mean the faith in Christ the Savior—that no one may regard the teaching of our doctrine (logos) as worthless, or suppose faith in Christ to be irrational (alogos). Such things the pagans misrepresent and scorn, greatly mocking us, though they have nothing other than the cross
Introduction
of Christ to cite in objection. It is particularly in this respect that one must pity their insensitivity, because in slandering the cross they do not see that its power has filled the whole world, and that through it the effects of the knowledge of God have been revealed to all. For if they had really applied their minds to his divinity they would not have mocked at so great a thing, but would rather have recognized that he was the Savior of the universe and that the cross was not the ruin but the healing of creation. For if, after the cross, all idolatry has been overthrown, and all demonic activity is put to flight by this sign, and Christ alone is worshipped, and through him the Father is known, and opponents are put to shame while he every day invisibly converts their souls—how then, one might reasonably ask them, is this matter still to be considered in human terms, and should one not rather confess that he who ascended the cross is the Word of God and the Savior of the universe? (Gent. 1) On the Incarnation, as we will see, opens with a similar statement.
These works are clearly, first and foremost, understood by their author to be an apology for the cross: they will show that "he who ascended the cross is the Word of God" and that therefore the Christian faith is not "without its word, "irrational" (alogos). The order of identification in this sentence, and elsewhere in Athanasius' works, is vitally important: the starting point is the one who ascended the cross, and the account then is given from this perspective. It is through this that the knowledge of God, and all that this effects, has been revealed.
Of greatest importance here, for Athanasius, is that the demonic activity of idolatry which formerly prevailed everywhere has been vanquished by the cross, so that now Christ alone is worshipped.
Idolatry, especially that of the body, is for Athanasius a kind of barometer, measuring the perversity into which humans have fallen, the degree to which their knowledge of God has been lost, and the
22,
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extent to which the image of God in them obscured, the consequence of which is corruption and death. The bulk of Against the Gentiles describes the prevalence of idolatry prior to the coming of Christ, a situation which demands the drastic solution presented in On the Incarnation. The death of idolatry since the advent of Christ demonstrates the power of Christ and his cross, a power which has filled the whole world, overcoming whatever has separated human beings from God, recreating them and restoring them to communion with God. The Christian faith therefore does indeed have its own Logos, the teaching of which requires the application of the mind, even if the divinity of Christ cannot be perceived when understood in merely human terms.
With this in mind, we are perhaps able to date the works. This has been a matter of some debate. His words, quoted above, that speak of not having the work of his teachers to hand, has been taken as an indication that they were written while in exile, most plausibly his first, in Trier from 335 to 337. As it is only in the following decade that he began to write against the Arians, such a date for these works would also explain the absence of any mention of the Arians in them. However, it is also possible that these words could be a literary affectation, explaining why he is himself now writing a treatise when many other works already exist, and perhaps wishing to correct what may be found in them. The absence of any reference to Arius in Against the Gentiles and On the Incarnation has been taken by others to indicate a date for the works prior to the outbreak of the controversy, though this would mean that they were written at an exceptionally young age. Most likely, as has recently been argued, given what we have seen of their character and intended purpose, these works should be placed in the period after the conversion of Constantine and after the Council of Nicaea, when the various controversies had apparently at least been settled and Athanasius was elevated to the episcopate. Even more specifically, one could see them as a reaction to the praise of the Emperor effusively given by Eusebius of Caesarea, with Athanasius wanting to revise this imperi-
Introduction
alist triumphalism, "by making sure that the triumph of Constantine is strictly attributed to Christ, to the point of not even mentioning the emperor." The occasion for this final triumph may have come about through Constantine, but, Athanasius insists, the victory is
Christ's alone.
In the course of recounting at great length the variety and perversity of pagan idolatry, Against the Gentiles also lays a number of structural elements that are of great importance for understanding
On the Incarnation, the second part of the work, and that need to be discussed in some detail here to prepare for a proper reading for its sequel. Especially important is his treatment, in the opening chapters, of the origin of idolatry, and, towards the end of the work, the relationship between the Creator and creation. Athanasius begins his exposition of the Word of the Cross with the origin of idolatry, emphasizing that idolatry, and evil more generally, is not "from the beginning,' that is, is not a proper characteristic of created existence, but is rather a deviation from the right relationship between God and creation:
Evil has not existed from the beginning, nor even now is it found among the holy ones nor does it exist at all with them.
But it was human beings who later began to conceive of it and imagine it in their own likeness. Hence they fashioned for themselves the notion of idols, reckoning what was not as though it were. For God, the creator of the universe and king of all, who is beyond all being and human thought, since he is good and exceedingly noble, has made the human race according to his own image through his own Word, our
Savior Jesus Christ. He also fashioned the human being to be perceptive and understanding of reality through his similarity to himself, giving him also a conception and knowledge of his own eternity, so that preserving this identity he might
5 Anatolios, Athanasius, 29. Cf. p. 216, n. 19: "Athanasius may be trying to transfer what Eusebius rendered to Caesar back to God."
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
never abandon his concept of God or leave the company of the holy ones, but, retaining the grace of him who bestowed it, having also [God's] own power from the Paternal Word, he might rejoice and converse with the divine, living an idyllic and truly blessed and immortal life. For having no obstacle to the knowledge of the divine, he continuously contemplates by his purity the image of the Father, the God Word, after whose image he was made; he is awestruck when he grasps the providence which, through the Word, extends to the universe, being raised above the sensual and every bodily appearance, cleaving instead, by the power of his mind, to the divine and intelligible realities in heaven. For when the mind of human beings has no intercourse with bodies, nor has mingled with it, from outside, anything of their desires, but is entirely above them, as it was in the beginning, then, transcending the senses and all human things, it is raised up on high, and beholding the Word sees in him also the Father of the Word, taking pleasure in contemplating him and being renewed by its desire for him. Just as the Holy Scriptures say that the first created of human beings, who was called Adam in Hebrew, at the beginning had his mind fixed on God in unembarrassed boldness, and lived with the holy ones in the contemplation of intelligible reality, which he enjoyed in that place which the holy Moses figuratively called paradise; so purity of soul is sufficient to [reflect and] behold, through itself, God [cf. 2 Cor 3.18] as the Lord himself said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" (Gent. 2)
This passage introduces us to a number of important themes and terms at work in both treatises. Most important is the relationship between creation and Jesus Christ. God is transcendent to all creation, "beyond all being and human thought." Yet this transcendence is not such that it makes his presence in creation, nor the creatures knowledge of God, impossible. As God is good, Athanasius affirms,
Introduction
he created all things "by his Word our Savior Jesus Christ; so that through likeness to him knowledge of their Creator might be granted to human beings; had they preserved this grace, receiving also thereby God's "own power from the Paternal Word," they might contemplate the Word and in him behold the Father. Ignorance, evil, and death, are therefore not part of God's creation, but are brought into some kind of phantasmagorical existence when human beings turn from what is truly real to that which is not, that which has no real existence but is conjured up by our own invention.
It is very striking that Athanasius speaks here, and throughout the work, of "our Savior Jesus Christ" as the one by whom God has made the human race, fashioning it into his own image. Athanasius, it must be remembered, is expounding the Word of the Cross, and, as a preliminary aspect of this task, describes the proper character of human existence, as a contrast to the idolatrous state which had predominated prior to the cross. Athanasius characterizes the proper state of human existence from the point of view of what has been revealed by Christ in his work of salvation: human beings were created for communion with God through contemplation of his Word and Image, the Savior Jesus Christ. That is, Athanasius' analysis is more concerned to determine, in the light of Christ, what is the proper characteristic or state of human existence, in contrast to what we have actually seen throughout history, rather than to speculate about primordial beginnings. In fact, it is only after such reflection that Athanasius then brings in "the first created of human beings" as an example of what he has outlined: the case of Adam is brought in to exemplify the theological point being made. Moreover, the place in which Adam enjoyed this contemplation is specifically said to be "figuratively called paradise,' for, as Athanasius makes clear, contemplation of God is not found in any geographical location, either in heaven or on earth, but in and through similarity with the Savior Jesus Christ.
This point also qualifies what it is to be in the image of God. In the passage above, Athanasius describes God as creating human
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beings in his own image through "his own Word (Logos), our Sayior Jesus Christ". To be in the image of God is to be logikos, a term which can only be translated into English, but very unsatisfactorily, as "rational." For while the term "rational" brings to mind notions of rationality, and often gets cast into an opposition between body and mind, the term Jogikos must be understood in terms of its relation to the Logos, in whose image human beings have been created and after whose pattern of life they should live if they wish to live
"rationally.'° Another important term and tension alluded to in the passage above is the contrast between what is "proper, what belongs to something as its "own" (idios), and what is "outside." Christ is the "proper" Son and Word of God, in contrast to those who, from "outside" God, are adopted as sons, who, by participation in his
"own" Word share in the property of being "rational." It is "proper" to human beings, in turn, to be in the image of God—"rational"
—contemplating the Word of God and through him knowing the Father.
It is "proper" to human beings, Athanasius says in the above passage, that their minds should be directed in this way rather than be directed towards things "outside, to the body and its desires. The human condition depends on the orientation of the mind, whether it is pursuing the contemplation of the things which transcend the senses and are "proper" to it or whether it is turned to the body, receiving impressions "from outside." It is very important to note that although Athanasius affirms quite clearly that living, as Adam, in an "unembarrassed boldness," the human mind would have transcended the senses, contemplating the Word, there is, nevertheless, no indication at all that the human being would have been in any kind of disembodied state. In this condition, human beings would not live by or for the body, and their minds would not have been driven by what comes from outside the mind, sensual impressions and bodily desires. That this ascetic thrust is not aimed at the body
°Cf. Origen, Commentary on John, 2.114: "We could say that the saint alone is rational."
Introduction
itself, but at the image of the body which is forced upon the mind from outside itself, is made clear in the following chapter, when
Athanasius considers further what is involved when human beings change their orientation.
This, then, is the condition in which God created the human race, and, in the language of the Gospel of John, it is in this condition that he wished them "to remain" or "to abide?" However, human beings chose otherwise, and so now "remain" caught in corruption and death, until, through the salvific work of Christ, they are enabled
"to remain" in immortality. It is with this point that Athanasius begins the next chapter of Against the Gentiles:
In this way then, as has been said, did the Creator fashion the human race, and such did he wish it to remain. But human beings, contemptuous of the better things and shrinking from their apprehension, sought rather what was closer to themselves—and what was closer to them was the body and its sensations. So they turned their minds away from intelligible reality and began to consider themselves. And by considering themselves and holding to the body and the other senses, and deceived as it were in their own things, they fell into desire for themselves, preferring their own things to the contemplation of divine things. Spending their time in these things, and being unwilling to turn away from things close at hand, they imprisoned in bodily pleasures their souls which had become disordered and mixed up with all kinds of desires, while they wholly forgot the power they received from God in the beginning.
One could also see that this was so from the first created man, as the Holy Scriptures relate of him. For he also, as long as he fixed his mind on God and contemplation of him, kept away from the contemplation of the body. But when, by the counsel of the serpent, he abandoned his thinking of God and began to consider himself, then they fell into
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the desire of the body, and knew that they were naked, and knowing were ashamed. They knew that they were not so much naked of clothing, but that they had become naked of the contemplation of divine things, and that they had turned their minds in the opposite direction. For abandoning the consideration of and desire for the one and the real, I mean
God, from then on they gave themselves up to various and separate desires of the body. (Gent. 3) God wished human beings to remain in the state that he had created them, but they chose otherwise, preferring what is closer to themselves, and this, Athanasius specifies, is their body. Thus far from denigrating the bodily reality of human existence, the body, for Athanasius, is in fact "closer" to human beings, it is their "own" or what is "proper" to them. As we have seen, God intended human beings to transcend their bodies, with their minds set on high, in contemplation of the Word. If Athanasius does not speak of human beings transcending their minds or souls, it is not because these are somehow more divine, but rather that their mind or soul is the faculty whose orientation effects this transcendence. As human beings were to transcend themselves, not being concerned about "their own things," that is, the things of the body and this life, but rather occupying themselves with the Word of God, the body can even be said to be the locus of "the 'selfness' of being human." However, human beings turned their attention towards themselves, to the body and its sense perception, receiving impressions from outside itself, and have consequently ended up being deceived even in "their own things."
In this way, humans fell into the chaos of the fleshly desires of the body, forgetting what they had originally received from God. With their souls directed towards the body, in, by, and for itself, the body is now the very point of human separation from God, not because of its materiality, but because it has become an idol.
7Anatolios, Athanasius, 64.
Introduction
After reflecting in this way on the origin of idolatry in human preference for their own, their body, Athanasius again brings in the Genesis account as an example of the truth that he has expounded in his demonstration of the Word of the Cross. Rather than coming to know, by eating of the tree, that they were already naked, Athanasius plays upon the image of a garment of contemplation, which they lost when they succumbed to their own desire, thus becoming truly naked. Athanasius also heightens the dramatic effect of this, by changing from the singular (he had his mind fixed on God, which he then abandoned) to the plural (they fell into the desire of the body, becoming naked). The plurality into which each human being has descended, given over to a multiplicity of desires, reverberates in the plurality of multiple conflicting voices, each asserting itself.
In the following thirty or so chapters of Against the Gentiles, the bulk of the work, Athanasius describes the history of idolatry and perversity into which the human race has fallen. Despite the prevalence of idolatry, Athanasius suggests that it was still possible for human beings to know God. If the soul were to turn back to God, casting off all desires and every accretion it has acquired from outside, so that it "keeps pure only what is in the image, then when this shines forth, it can truly contemplate as in a mirror the Word, the image of the Father, and in him meditate on the Father, of whom the Savior is the image" (Gent. 34). Yet such "teaching," Athanasius also acknowledges, may not be adequate, "because of the external influences which disturb the mind and prevent it from seeing the better course" (ibid.). Nevertheless, Athanasius continues, following
Paul (quoting Rom 1.20), human beings could still have learnt about God through their sense perception, for "he so ordered creation that although he cannot be seen by nature, yet he can be known from his works" (Gent. 35). The order and harmony of creation demonstrate not only that there was a creator, but that there is one creator. More specifically, as his argument has refuted all idolatry, Athanasius claims that:
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... the pious religion must be ours, and the only true God, he whom we worship and preach, [must be] the Lord of all creation and demiurge of all existence. Who then is he, if not the all-holy Father of Christ, beyond all created being, who, as supreme steersman, through his own Wisdom and his own Word, our Lord and Savior Christ, guides and orders the universe for our salvation, and acts as seems best to him? ..
For if the movement of creation was meaningless (alogos) and the universe was carried about haphazardly, one could well disbelieve our statements. But if it was created with reason
(logos), wisdom, and understanding, and has been arranged with complete order, then he who governs and ordered it can be none other than the Word (Logos) of God. (Gent. 40)
Athanasius again affirms that it is by "his own Word, our Lord and Savior Christ" that the Father acts to govern and order the universe.
The creative and providential work of God cannot be separated from the salvific work of Christ. The Word he refers to is not, therefore, the word that is "involved and innate in every creature, which some are accustomed to call seminal," for such a word has no life of its own, but merely expresses the art of the Creator (Gent. 40). Nor does he mean "such a word as belongs to rational beings, consisting of syllables and expressed in the air" (ibid.). Rather he is speaking of "the living and powerful Word of the good God of the universe, the very Word that is God, who, while other than all created things and all creation, is the Father's own and only Word, who ordered all this universe and illuminates it by his providence" (ibid.).
Athanasius then continues by analyzing the constitution of this creation itself, both in relation to the Word by whom it was brought into being and who now governs and regulates it, and, equally importantly, in relation to the nothingness from which it was created. Athanasius is very clear that creation itself has been brought into being by the will of God. Creation is not derived from some preexisting matter, such that it would have its own independent sub-
Introduction
sistence: "He, the power and wisdom of God, turns the heaven, has suspended the earth, and by his own will has set it resting on nothing" (Gent. 40). Created from nothing, creation rests upon nothing; it depends totally for its existence upon the will of God alone, by which it was called into being. Yet rather than allowing it to relapse into nothingness, God acts to ensure its stability:
And the cause why the Word of God really came to created beings is truly wonderful, and shows that things should not have occurred otherwise than as they are. For the nature of created things, having come into being from nothing, is unstable, and is weak and mortal when considered by itself.
But the God of all is good and excellent by nature; therefore he also loves humankind—for a good being would be envious of no one, so he envies nobody existence but rather wishes everyone to exist, in order to exercise his kindness. So, seeing that all created nature according to its own definition is in a state of flux and dissolution, therefore, lest it suffer this and the universe be dissolved back into non-being, making everything by his own eternal Word and giving substance to creation, he did not abandon it to be carried away and be tempest-tossed through its own nature, lest it run the risk of returning to nothing. But, being good, he governs and establishes the whole world through his Word, who is himself God, in order that creation, illumined by the leadership, providence and the ordering of the Word, may be able to remain firm, since it participates in the Word who is truly from the Father, and is aided by him to exist, and not thus suffer what would otherwise have happened, I mean a relapse into non-existence, were it not protected by the Word, "who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, for through him and in him all things subsist, things visible and invisible, and he is the head of the Church,' as the servants of the truth teach in the holy writings. (Gent. 41; cf. Col 1:15-18)
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The previously sketched pattern of the relationship between God and human beings, with God granting human beings a share in the power of his Word so that they might remain in communion with him, is now used by Athanasius to explain God's creation as a whole. That is, Athanasius reads back into the framework of creation as a whole the pattern established by the Savior Jesus Christ in his work of salvation. Coming into being from nothing, created nature, considered in itself, is inherently unstable, corruptible, tending to dissolve back into non-existence.* However, God, who loves humankind, envied no-one a share in existence, and so did not abandon his creation once it was made by his own Word, but instead governs and establishes this world through his Word, so that, guided and ordered by the Word, it is enabled to remain firm.
This should not be thought of as two separate and sequentially distinct actions. Rather, as everything has been created by God through his Word, the order of the Word is, as it were, imprinted upon everything, so that every aspect of his creation manifests the creative work, the power, of the Word. Bearing the imprint of the Word, and so making the Word present, the cosmos is maintained in existence by the Word, and this creation Athanasius identifies, following Colossians, as the Church.
Finally, having explored the relationship between the Word of God and created reality, Athanasius can insist that the Word of God belongs to the divine realm: Jesus Christ is himself what it is to be
God. Created beings, brought into being from non-existence, are intrinsically "from outside', external to God, though they can come
"In a very different context, S. Pétrement makes the interesting suggestion that it is, in fact, the cross that provides the stimulus for this teaching about creation: "In the Old Testament the world was so narrowly and directly dependent upon God that God himself. .
. was in turn almost tied up with and chained to the world...
. The image of the cross is an image that liberates. . .
. The cross separates God from the world. If it does not separate him absolutely, at least it puts him at a very great distance. It puts him much further away than the distinction between Creator and creature could do... . It is indeed, as Paul sees, something that is profoundly new, 'a scandal to the Jews and folly to the Greeks?" S. Pétrement, A Separate God: The Christian Origins of Gnosticism, trans. C. Harrison (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), 37, emphasis in original.
Introduction
to participate in God. The Son, on the other hand, is God's "own"
Word, and so is divine, not by participation, but in himself:
His holy disciples teach that everything was created through him and for him, and that being a good offspring of a good
Father, and true Son, he is the Power of the Father and his Wisdom and Word; not so by participation, nor do these properties accrue to him from outside in the way of those who participate in him and are given wisdom by him, being strong and rational in him; but he is Wisdom-in-himself,
Word-in-himself, himself the Father's own Power, Light-inhimself, Truth-in-himself, Righteousness-in-himself, Virtue-in-himself, yes, and the Stamp and Effulgence and Image.
In short, he is the supremely perfect fruit of the Father, and is alone Son, the exact image of the Father. (Gent. 46)
All the attributes usually only applied to the one God—wisdom, truth, light, righteousness, virtue—the Son is, not as properties that he has acquired from "outside" himself nor as if he were himself merely an attribute of God, but he is these things in himself: He is what it is to be God, and so is the exact image of the Father, his perfect fruit. This is, in fact, the central affirmation of the Council of Nicaea, that the Son is himself true God of true God by being the Father's own Son. Finally, Athanasius concludes by returning to the main theme of Against the Gentiles, pointing out that "this being so, and nothing being outside him, but both heaven and earth and all that is in them is dependent upon him, nevertheless humans in their folly, setting aside the knowledge of and piety towards him, have honored things that are not instead of things that are" (Gent.
47). Their folly is shown specifically in that they do not recognize God and do not worship "his Word, the Savior of all, our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom the Father orders the universe and contains and provides for all things" (ibid.). Athanasius' account of the constitution of created being, the universe as a whole, has its starting point
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in the salvific work of Christ and is intended to provide a means of understanding who he is, that is, "that he who ascended the cross is the Word of God"
On the Incarnation Athanasius opens his work On the Incarnation, the second part of his double treatise, in very much the same key as he had Against the Gentiles. Noting that he has discussed the origin of idolatry and made a few comments concerning the divinity of the Word and the dependency of all things upon him, he then outlines his project for this work:
Come now, blessed one and true lover of Christ, let us, with the faith of our religion, relate also the things concerning the Incarnation of the Word and expound his divine manifestation to us, which the Jews slander and the Greeks mock, but we ourselves venerate, so that, all the more from his apparent degradation, you may have an even greater and fuller piety towards him, for the more he is mocked by unbelievers by so much he provides a greater witness of his divinity, because what human beings cannot understand as impossible, these he shows to be possible (cf. Matt 19.26), and what human beings mock as unseemly, these he renders fitting by his own goodness, and what human beings through sophistry laugh at as merely human, these by his power he shows to be divine, overturning the illusion of idols by his own apparent degradation through the cross, invisibly persuading those who mock and disbelieve to recognize his divinity and his power. (Inc. 1) This is the first time that Athanasius mentions the "incarnation" of the Word, his divine "manifestation," yet he does so alluding to Paul's
Introduction
words on the folly of preaching Christ crucified (cf. 1 Cor 1.23). In doing this, Athanasius is not replacing the "scandal of the cross" with a "scandal of incarnation" or the "scandal of particularity," but instead uses the word "incarnation" in a broader sense than has since become customary in theology. The "apparent degradation of the Word" is not simply a kenotic or self-deprecating act of a divine person assuming human nature, but is "his apparent degradation through the cross." By connecting the "incarnation" and "manifestation" of the Word to the cross in this way, Athanasius emphasizes, once again, that it is only as "the one who ascended the cross" that we know the Word of God, for the more he is mocked, the more his divinity is made manifest, and the absolute limit of such degradation, the ultimate humiliation, is his death on the cross, which is also, thereby, only an "apparent degradation" for it is in truth the high point of his manifestation to us as the Word of God.
The most renowned statement from this work, "He was incarnate that we might be made god," though a passing comment in a section of the treatise devoted to the refutation of the Gentiles
(Inc. 54), summarizes well theme of the work as a whole. However, because this statement is usually taken in isolation from the larger scope and purpose of this work, its full meaning is often overlooked.
Thus, for instance, one recent commentator asserted that "one of the curious results of this theology of the incarnation is that it almost does away with a doctrine of the atonement. Of course Athanasius believes in the atonement, in Christ's death as saving, but he cannot really explain why Christ should have died." Referring to Athanasius discussion about why Christ should have died on the cross (in Inc. 19-25), which, he claims, presents "a series of puerile reasons unworthy of the rest of the treatise,' he concluded that "the fact is that his doctrine of the incarnation has almost swallowed up any doctrine of the atonement, has rendered it unnecessary.'
°R.PC. Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988), 450.
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Yet, as we have seen, the purpose of Athanasius in these two works is in reality nothing other than presenting an apology for the cross. It is absolutely necessary, as we said earlier, to pay close attention to what an author himself says that he is going to be doing in the work that he writes. Although entitling this work On the Incarnation,
Athanasius does not allot any time to considering the infancy narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and only mentions a few times, and then in passing, the birth from the virgin, or to use his typical expression, the Word's fashioning for himself the body from a virgin as a temple in which to dwell.'® Likewise, he devotes only a few passages to considering the divine works of Christ as recorded in the Gospels. Rather, after examining the "rationality" of Christ's suffering on the cross, Athanasius gives considerably more space to the divine works which Christ now does in those who have "put on the faith of the cross" (Inc. 28), so demonstrating the resurrection of the body which Christ had "put on" (eg. Inc. 44). As we can only speak of what the Word has done in the body—conquering death and bestowing knowledge of the Father—in the light of the Passion, we cannot separate the body that he has taken from the body in which he effects such works in believers in the present. The scope of what Athanasius means by "incarnation" is thus far broader than is often assumed and, moreover, it has a scope not limited to the past.
The body, fashioned from the virgin, in which the Word dwells, as seen in the light of his passion, cannot be separated from the body of Christ, that is, those who by faith in the cross are no longer subject to the corruption of death.
On the Incarnation has been variously subdivided in previous translations. In this present edition, we have only utilized the most obvious transitions indicated by Athanasius himself. The work begins with an introductory chapter, already discussed. Athanasius follows this by two accounts of the "divine dilemma": What should
God have done? The first (Inc. 2-10) pertains to the problem of death. The human beings that God had created for life in commu- "Inc. 8, 18, 20, 335 37.
Introduction
nion with himself in the knowledge of himself, have become subject to death. This, as it were, put God in a predicament: what should he do? Allow death to hold sway, and so seem weak, lacking care and concern? Or should he himself go against the law that he had laid down, that death would follow on from transgression? The resolution of this divine dilemma is that the Word of God takes a human body, as his "instrument," in order to be able to offer it to death and in this way conquer death, rendering his body incorruptible.
The second divine dilemma (Inc. 11-19) treats the same predicament but from the perspective of knowledge. Once human beings had their sights set only on material, bodily things, how else could
God grab our attention, as it were, apart from through a body. Therefore the Word of God takes a human body, again as an "instrument," through which, in this analysis, he makes himself known. Although first seen as a human being, by the works he does in the body, works which are clearly not human but divine, Christ makes himself known not merely as a human being but as the Word of God himself.
That Athanasius undertakes two analyses for the rationale of the incarnation is important. The first analysis, which focuses specifically on the death of Christ, provides what he describes as "the first cause of the incarnation of the Savior" (Inc. 10). Only on this basis does he then go further to examine the way in which Christ made himself known in and through the body. In proceeding in this manner, Athanasius remains true to the narrative of the Synoptic
Gospels, those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in which the disciples continually fail to understand who Christ truly is until after his passion, when through the opening of the scriptures and the breaking of bread they finally recognize who he truly is—the one of whose suffering Moses and all the prophets had spoken—for him only to then disappear from sight (Lk 24)."* In this way, the divine dilemmas
"The one exception to this, in Matt 16, proves the rule, for although Peter confesses that Christ is the Son of the Living God, Christ clarifies that this was not known by flesh and blood but by a revelation from the Father; yet when he then begins to tell
Peter of his impending passion, Peter demonstrates his ignorance and is called "Satan" by Christ, specifically for having tried to separate Christ from the cross.
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expounded by Athanasius must be taken in the sense of expounding the wisdom which God has in fact already accomplished in Christ, rather than as an attempt to take a different starting point and to offer alternatives. Attempting to go behind the cross, to find the "real"
Jesus ignores the manner in which the disciples themselves came to know him as the Son of God and substitutes the first principle of their proclamation for another presupposition. To attempt to find the "Jesus of history" in such a manner would in fact be less historical, for it would act as if the passion had not happened. Finally to separate the "incarnation" from the passion in this way would be to locate the "incarnation" solely as an event in the past, now further removed than ever, rather than as the transforming work of God, as Athanasius sees it, at work in those who are now his body.
The following section (Inc. 20-32) treats more fully the death of Christ—why it was that he died on the cross rather than through some other means and how the whole of creation witnesses to the coming of its Lord in his death—and the resurrection of the body, demonstrated by the manner of life lived by Christians now, no longer fearful of death, but trampling it underfoot as themselves testimonies to the resurrection of his body.
This exposition of the incarnation of the Word, the death and resurrection of Christ, is followed by two "refutations," first of the Jews (Inc. 33-40), from their own scriptures, and second of the Gentiles (Inc. 41-55), from the evident facts of creation and the effects of Christ's work. The two final chapters specify that these works have been intended as "an elementary sketch and paradigm of the faith of Christ" for those who would devote themselves, in diligent study and the life of virtue, to growing in their faith so that they will know not only his coming in lowliness and humility but also his "second glorious and truly divine manifestation to us" when he will "bestow the fruit of his own cross on all" (Inc. 56).
Introduction
The Life of Antony Such is what we find in the double treatise Against the Gentiles—On the Incarnation. The "incarnation" described there by Athanasius is reflected his later work, The Life of Antony, in such a dramatic manner that it deserves a brief mention here, to give, as it were, flesh and bones to his vision. The movement that Athanasius portrays in On the Incarnation, of the Word coming into our world by taking a body as his own, as his own instrument, in order to ensure victory over death for those who are his body, is continued in the Life of Antony, in terms of the appropriation of Christ's victory, making it one's
"own, in the intense struggle with the devil that such appropriation entails. In this Life there is no "flight from the body,' but rather a concrete engagement in the body and for the body. Not only that, but the whole premise of Antony's efforts is based upon the dynamic of the incarnation. Thus, at the very beginning of Antony's ascetic life, his struggle is placed directly in the context of the victory already won by Christ:
All these were things that took place to the enemy's shame.
For he who considered himself to be like God was now made a buffoon by a mere youth, and he who vaunted himself against flesh and blood was turned back by a flesh-bearing man. Working with Antony was the Lord, who bore flesh for us, and gave to the body the victory over the devil, so that each of those who truly struggle can say, It is not I, but the grace of God which is in me. (Ant. 5; cf. 1 Cor 15.10)
Because the Lord has won the victory in and through the body, the victory is given to the body, so that it is indeed the Lord himself who fought with Antony, ensuring that the devil is defeated. This was
Antony's first victory against the devil, or rather, as the Life repeatedly corrects itself, the success of the Savior in Antony.
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That it is Christ who works in Antony is evident throughout the Life, even in one of the most striking trials undergone by Antony, when he felt that Christ had abandoned him. After having moved from his village to some tombs lying at some distance, not to pursue a life of contemplation but to engage more fully in this struggle with the devil, as the devil himself realized (Ant. 8), Antony underwent a particularly fierce battle. Antony was then visited by a certain beam of light descending towards him, which he took to be a luminous manifestation of Christ, for he could not help but ask, "Where were you? Why didn't you appear in the beginning, so that you could stop my distress?" To which the answer was, "I was here, Antony, but I waited to watch your struggle. And now since you persevered and were not defeated, I will be your helper for ever" (Ant. 10).
This exchange should not be taken as implying that Antony's own struggles have merited the reward of thereafter being helped by Christ, for it was, nevertheless, by keeping to his profession of faith in the Lord that he defeated the demons (Ant. 9). The test is not to see what Antony by himself can do, but whether he can keep control of his thoughts, standing firm in his faith in the one who has already worked the victory, in the midst of the demonic cacophony.
The most notable and forceful depiction of Antony occurs when, after having spent twenty years barricaded in a deserted fortress battling with the demons, he is forced to emerge by those who, in their desire to emulate him, broke down the door of the fortress:
Antony came forth as though from some shrine, having been led into divine mysteries and inspired by God. This was the first time he appeared from the fortress for those who came out to him. And when they beheld him, they were amazed to see that his body had maintained its former condition, neither fat from lack of exercise, nor emaciated from fasting and combat with demons, but was just as they had known him prior to his withdrawal. The state of his soul was one of purity, for it was not constricted by grief, nor relaxed by
Introduction
laughter or dejection. Moreover, when he saw the crowd, he was not annoyed any more than he was elated at being embraced by so many people. He maintained utter equilibrium, like one guided by the Word and steadfast in that which accords with nature. (Ant. 14) Athanasius deliberately uses language redolent of the pagan mystery religions, to provide an image by which we can see how the fortress had been for Antony as a sacred shrine, in which he so yielded to God, become perfectly responsive to his will, that he is filled with the power of God. The most arresting characteristic of this description, and the one that is most emphasized, is the stability in detachment of Antony: after his severe asceticism and violent struggle with demons, he is no longer moved by emotions such as pleasure or grief.
Athanasius' ideal Christian is detached, interiorly and exteriorly, from things of this world, no longer subjected to the play of the emotions, but is rather free or delivered.' Thus the ideal of a detachment, preserving the soul in the intended purity of its nature, corresponds to the working of God in the ascetic. Rather than being emaciated,
Antony emerges in a properly natural state, neither emaciated nor fat. The goal has not been to mortify the body itself, but to re-establish the body in its proper subjection to the soul.
But it would be a mistake to stop there. For while Antony's asceticism has resulted in a state "according to nature," the detachment thus achieved then opens out onto a new horizon: in all of this, he is "as one guided by the Word." This phrase is often translated as "according to reason, and this is indeed suggested by its juxtaposiIt is noteworthy that Athanasius does not use the word amdQea. Rather, for Athanasius, the ideal state is characterized by its stability; it is this that distinguished
Antony from all others, even in his physical appearance: "It was not his physical dimensions that distinguished him from the rest, but the stability of character and the purity of soul. His soul being free of confusion, he held his outer senses also undisturbed, so that from the soul's joy his face was cheerful as well, and from the movements of the body it was possible to sense and perceive the stable condition of the soul" (Ant. 67).
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tion with the description of Antony being "according to nature."
However, as we have seen in Against the Gentiles and On the Incarnation, the state of being "according to nature," that is, as intended by God rather than the inherent corruptibility of created beings, is linked with the presence of the Word of God. Moreover, the way in which the passage continues, makes it clear that it is the very Word of God, Christ himself, that is intended. In fact, in the words which follow, the Lord himself is the subject of the verbs describing the actions which Christ did in and through Antony:
Through him the Lord healed many of those present who suffered from bodily ailments; others he purged of demons, and to Antony he gave grace in speech. Thus he consoled many who mourned, and others hostile to each other he reconciled in friendship, urging everyone to prefer nothing in the world above the love of Christ. And when he spoke and urged them to keep in mind the future goods and the affection in which we are held by God, "who did not spare his own
Son, but gave him up for us all" (Rom 8.32), he persuaded many to take up the solitary life. And so, from then on, there were monasteries in the mountains and the desert was made a city by monks, who left their own people and registered themselves for the citizenship in the heavens. (Ant. 14)
Wholly inspired by the Word of God, Antony himself no longer remains in solitude, for this was never an end in itself. It had been pursued for the sake of subjecting himself completely to God and God alone. Now that victory has been achieved, he returns to the world, for the world can no longer harm him, since in him is the one who has overcome the world (cf. 1 Jn 4.4). And Antony now finds himself in the position of helping others and guiding them to God. Rather than being unconcerned for others, Antony has become the archetypal spiritual father. Coming forth from the fortress, as Christ from the tomb, Antony is totally delivered from any subjec-
Introduction
tion to worldly concerns, he has become totally detached, given over instead to the Word, himself "become word" (cf. Arians 3.33).
He is now the instrument of Christ, by which the Lord effects his work: healing the sick, consoling and reconciling others. The messianic prophecies of Isaiah are fulfilled in Antony, or, rather, Christ in Antony. Moreover, with Antony manifesting the presence of Christ and being the instrument of the Word, the desert, the world uninhabited by God and opposed to him, is also now conquered, civilized, populated by monks giving praise to God, so bringing about the original goal of creation. The full content and sense of the equilibrium achieved by asceticism is shown to be the incarnation in Antony of the Lord and Word, Jesus Christ, and the consequent transformation of creation.
Finally, this "eschatological" accomplishment of the original goal of creation is also anticipated in Antony's own body. The descriptions of Antony as he approached death are just as striking as those describing his emergence from the fortress:
He never succumbed, due to old age, to extravagance in food, nor did he change his mode of dress because of frailty of the body, nor even bathe his feet with water, and yet in every way he remained free of injury. For he possessed eyes undimmed and sound, and he saw clearly. He lost none of his teeth — they simply had been worn to the gums because of the old man' great age. He also retained health in his feet and hands, and generally seemed brighter and of more energetic strength than those who make use of baths and a variety of foods and clothing. (Ant. 93) The vitality of Antony in this passage is a sign, anticipation or foretaste, of the resurrectional incorruptibility. The body itself is the focus of Athanasius' "incarnational" theology; it is to the body that the victory is given (cf. Ant. 5), as it is in and through the body, flesh and blood, that the spiritual forces of the devil are conquered. The
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body is not only involved in salvation, but is the locus of salvation, for it is the dwelling place of the Lord.
For Athanasius, the "incarnation, in all its dimensions as has been explored, is clearly the basis, and the basic model, for Christian life and activity, the appropriation of what has been wrought by Christ in his Passion, in and through which we attain to the truly human status as intended for us by God. Christian asceticism is not simply a work of human beings upon themselves, who, by their own efforts, attempt to transcend their human nature to what they consider divine. Rather, as understood by Athanasius, it reflects the possibility, opened by Christ in his Passion, to have communion with God, and embody the Word. This is a possibility which is only actualised by the free and unconstrained grace of God, but also, as we have seen, only through the free application and struggle of human beings; it is, on the one hand, the work of human beings, but, on the other, that which makes it fruitful is solely the work of God. The iconic depiction of Antony, whose very body anticipates its futural state, appropriating the victory already won by Christ, is a vivid portrayal of Athanasius' incarnational theology, a narrative exposition of his theology that contributed significantly to its widespread and enduring acceptance.
Text and Translation The translation presented here is based on the Greek text in the dual-language edition of this volume (Popular Patristics Series 44a), a "working text," following the manuscript widely recognized as preserving the best reading (the twelfth century Codex Seguerianus
[=S], housed in the Bibliotheque nationale, Paris: Coisliniana gr. 45), and which has formed the basis of all printed editions since that of Montfaucon (1698). For a full account of the manuscript traditions and the various readings, recourse must be made to the critical edition of Kannengiesser in the series Sources Chrétiennes (=SC).
Introduction
The relationship between this text and a shorter recension of On the Incarnation, discovered in 1925, has yet to be fully clarified, though it is generally accepted that the short recension is a revision of the longer recension. For further discussion, one may consult the introductions to the editions of Thompson and Kannengiesser.
On the Incarnation has been translated into English a number of times over the past centuries, and this translation has benefitted from many of them. The goal has been to produce a translation more faithful than that previously appearing in this series, and to make it readily available with the Greek text presented in parallel.
Suggested Further Reading The following bibliography only points to a selection of recent editions of On the Incarnation and studies on Athanasius and his place in the fourth century; they will direct the reader towards many further works.
Editions and Translations EL. Cross, ed., Athanasius: De Incarnatione. An Edition of the Greek Text,
Texts for Students, 50 (London: SPCK, 1939). A reproduction of the text of Codex Seguerianus.
R.W. Thomson, ed. and trans., Athanasius: Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione, Oxford Early Christian Studies (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971).
C. Kannengiesser, ed. and French trans., Athanase dAlexandrie: Sur Pincarnation du Verbe, Sources Chrétiennes 199, rev. ed. (Paris: Cerf,
2000).
Secondary Reading Anatolios, K., ""The Body as Instrument': A Reevaluation of Athanasius'
'Logos-sarx' Christology," Coptic Church Review, 18 (1997): 78-84.
, Athanasius: The Coherence of His Thought (New York: Routledge, 1998).
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
, Athanasius, The Early Church Fathers (New York: Routledge, 2004).
Arnold, D.W.H., The Early Episcopal Career of Athanasius of Alexandria (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991).
Barnes, T.D., Constantine and Eusebius (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981).
___.. "Angels of Light or Mystic Initiate: The Problem of the Life of Antony, Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. 37 (1986): 353-68.
, The Career of Athanasius,' Studia Patristica, 21 (Leuven: Peeters, 1989): 390-401.
, Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993).
Behr, J., The Nicene Faith, Formation of Christian Theology, vol. 2 (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 2004).
Brakke, D., Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); reprinted as Athanasius and Asceticism (Baltimore:
John Hopkins University Press, 1998).
Florovsky; G., "The Concept of Creation in St Athanasius," Studia Patristica, 6 (1962): 36-52.
Gemeinhardt, Peter, Athanasius Handbuch (Tibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011).
Hanson, R.P.C., The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988).
Kannengiesser, C. ed., Politique et théologie chez Athanase d'Alexandrie: Actes du Colloque de Chantilly, 23-25 Septembre, 1973 (Paris: Beauchesne,
1974).
, Athanase d'Alexandrie évéque et écrivain: Une lecture des traités Contre les Ariens (Paris: Beauchesne, 1983).
, Arius and Athanasius: Two Alexandrian Theologians (Aldershot:
Variorum Reprints, 1991).
Meijering, E.P., Orthodoxy and Platonism in Athanasius: Synthesis or Antithesis? (Leiden: Brill, 1974).
Pettersen, A., Athanasius and the Human Body (Bristol: The Bristol Press, 1990).
, Athanasius (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 199s).
Stead, G.C., Doctrine and Philosophy in Early Christianity: Arius, Athanasius, Augustine (Aldershot: Ashgate-Variorum, 2000).
Introduction
Slusser, M., "Athanasius Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione: Place and Date of Composition," Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. 37 (1986): 114-17.
Treatise by the same author on the Incarnation of the Word and his Manifestation to us through the Body
In what preceded' we have sufficiently treated a few points from many, regarding the error of the Gentiles concerning idols and their superstition, how their invention was from the beginning, and that out of wickedness human beings devised for themselves the worship of idols. By the grace of God we also noted a few points regarding the divinity of the Word of the Father and his providence and power in all things, that through him the good Father arranges all things, by him all things are moved, and in him are given life (cf. Acts 17.28).
Come now, blessed one and true lover of Christ, let us, with the faith of our religion, relate also the things concerning the Incarnation of the Word and expound his divine manifestation to us, which the Jews slander and the Greeks mock, but we ourselves venerate, so that, all the more from his apparent degradation, you may have an even greater and fuller piety towards him, for the more he is mocked by unbelievers by so much he provides a greater witness of his divinity, because what human beings cannot understand as impossible, these he shows to be possible (cf. Matt 19.26), and what human beings mock as unseemly, these he renders fitting by his own goodness, and what human beings through sophistry laugh at as merely human, these by his power he shows to be divine, overturning the illusion of idols by his own apparent degradation through the cross, invisibly persuading those who mock and disbelieve to recognize his divinity and his power.
'That is, the treatise Against the Gentiles.
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For the account of such things, it is necessary to recall what has previously been said, that you may be able to know the cause of the manifestation in the body of such and so great Paternal Word, and not think that the Savior has worn a body as a consequence of nature, but that, being by nature bodiless and existing as the Word, by the love for humankind and goodness of his own Father he appeared to us in a human body for our salvation. As we give an account of this, it is first necessary to speak about the creation of the universe and its maker, God, so that one may thus worthily reflect that its recreation was accomplished by the Word who created it in the beginning. For it will appear not at all contradictory if the Father works its salvation in the same one by whom he created it.
The Divine Dilemma regarding Life and Death
The making of the world and the creation of all things have been taken differently by many, and each has propounded as each has wished. Some say that all things have come into being spontaneously and as by chance, such as the Epicureans who, according to themselves, fantasize that there is no providence over the universe, speaking in the face of the clear and apparent facts. For if all things came into being spontaneously without providence, as they claim, all things would necessarily have simply come into being and be identical and without difference. Everything would have been as a single body, sun or moon, and regarding human beings, the whole would have been a hand or eye or foot. But, now, this is not the case: we see, here, the sun, there the moon, there the earth; and again regarding human bodies, here a foot, there a hand, and there a head. Such order indicates that they did not come into being spontaneously, but shows that a cause preceded them, from which one can apprehend the God who ordered and created all things.
Others, amongst whom is Plato, that giant among the Greeks, declare that God made the universe from preexistent and uncreated
On the Incarnation
matter, as God is not able to make anything unless matter preexisted, just as a carpenter must already have wood so that it may be used.
They do not realize that saying such things is to impute weakness to God: for if he is not himself the cause of matter, but simply makes things from pre-existent matter, then he is weak, not being able without matter to fashion any of the things that exist, just as the weakness of the carpenter is certainly his inability to make any required thing without wood. According to the argument, unless there were matter, God would not have made anything. How would he then still be called "Maker" and "Creator, if he had his ability to make from something else, | mean from the matter? And if this is so, as they thus have it, according to them God is only a craftsman and not the Creator of being, if he fashions underlying matter but is not himself the cause of matter. He could in no way be called "Creator," if he does not create matter, from which created things come into being.
Others, again, from the heretics fabricate for themselves another creator of all things besides the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, being greatly blinded even in what they say. For the Lord said to the Jews,
"Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and will cleave to his wife, and the two will be one flesh." Then, referring to the Creator, he says,
"What God has put together, let not man put asunder" (Matt 19.4—6). How then do they introduce a creation alien to the Father? For if, according to John, encompassing all things in saying, "all things were made by him and without him was nothing made" (Jn 1.3), how could there be another creator besides the Father of Christ?
These things, then, they fantasize. But the inspired teaching and faith according to Christ casts out their vain talk as godlessness. For it knows that neither spontaneously, as it is not without providence, nor from pre-existent matter, as God is not weak, but from nothing and having absolutely no existence God brought the universe into being through the Word, which it says through Moses, "In the begin-