53. And, to mention one proof of the divinity of the Savior, which
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
and deeds of virtue, putting them to flight and mocking their prince, the devil, so that, in their youth they are temperate, in temptations they endure, in toils they persevere, when insulted they forbear, and deprivations they disregard, and, what is most wonderful is that they scorn even death and become martyrs for Christ.
53.
And, to mention one proof of the divinity of the Savior, which is indeed exceedingly wonderful: which mere human being or magician or tyrant or king was ever able to take so much upon himself, and to battle against all idolatry and the whole demonical host and all magic and all the wisdom of the Greeks, while they were so strong and still flourishing and captivating all, and at one turn withstand them all, as our Lord, the true Word of God who, invisibly confuting the error of each, alone despoils all of them of all human beings, so that those who worshipped idols now trample upon them, those who were under the spell of magic now burn their books (cf. Acts 19.19), and the wise prefer the interpretation of the Gospels above everything else? Those whom they worshipped, them they abandon, while the crucified one whom they mocked, him they worship as Christ, confessing him to be God. Those called gods by them are driven out by the sign of the cross, while the crucified Savior is proclaimed in all the inhabited world as God and Son of God. The gods worshipped by the Greeks, are reviled by them as shameful, while those who receive the teaching of Christ lead a more sober life than they.
If, then, these and such works are human, let anyone who wishes point out similar things from those before, and persuade us. But if they appear to be, and are, works not of human beings but of God, why are the unbelievers so impious as not to recognize the Master who wrought them? They are afflicted like one who did not know, from the works of creation, God their creator. For if they knew his divinity from his power over the universe, they would have known that Christ's works in the body also are not human but are of the
On the Incarnation
Savior of all, the Word of God. And knowing this, as Paul said, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2.8).
'Therefore, just as if someone wishes to see God, who is invisible by nature and not seen at all, understands and knows him from his works, so let one who does not see Christ with his mind learn of him from the works of his body, and test whether they be human or of God. And if they be human, let him mock; but if they are known to be not human, but of God, let him not laugh at things that should not be mocked, but let him rather marvel that through such a paltry thing things divine have been manifested to us, and that through death incorruptibility has come to all, and through the incarnation of the Word the universal providence, and its giver and creator, the very Word of God, have been made known. For he was incarnate that we might be made god; and he manifested himself through a body that we might receive an idea of the invisible Father; and he endured the insults of human beings, that we might inherit incorruptibility.
He himself was harmed in no way, being impassible and incorruptible and the very Word and God; but he held and preserved in his own impassibility the suffering human beings, on whose account he endured these things. And, in short, the achievements of the Savior, effected by his incarnation, are of such a kind and number that if anyone should wish to expound them he would be like those who gaze at the expanse of the sea and wish to count its waves. For as one cannot take in all the waves with one's eyes, since those coming on elude the perception of one who tries, so also one who would comprehend all the achievements of Christ in the body is unable to take in the whole, even by reckoning them up, for those that elude his thought are more than he thinks he has grasped. Therefore it is better not to seek to speak of the whole, of which one cannot even speak of a part, but rather to recall one thing, and leave the whole for you to marvel at. For all are equally marvelous, and wherever one looks, seeing there the divinity of the Word, one is struck with exceeding awe.
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
After what we have said above, therefore, it is right for you to learn this and to consider it as the principle of what has not been said, and to marvel at greatly, that when the Savior sojourned idolatry no longer increased, but even what there was diminishes and gradually ceases; the wisdom of the Greeks no longer advances, but even what there was now disappears; and the demons no longer deceive with fantasies and oracles and magic, for if they but dare and try they are put to shame by the sign of the cross. To speak concisely, behold how the teaching of the Savior increases everywhere, while all idolatry and everything opposed to the faith of Christ daily diminish and weaken and fall. And, seeing this, worship the Savior and mighty
God Word "who is over all" (Rom 9.5), but condemn those who, by him, are diminished and disappear. For as when the sun is present darkness no longer prevails, but even if it remains somewhere it is put to flight, so also since the coming of the divine manifestation of the God Word the darkness of idols no longer prevails, but all parts of the inhabited world everywhere are illumined by his teaching.
And just as if someone reigns without appearing in any part of the realm, but rather remaining inside his own home, frequently some who are seditious, taking advantage of his withdrawal, proclaim themselves, and each of them assuming the role deceives the simple by pretending to be king; and thus citizens are led astray by the name, hearing that there is a king but not seeing him, especially because they cannot enter into the house. But when the real king emerges and appears, then the seditious imposters are exposed by his presence, while the citizens, seeing the real king, abandon those who previously led them astray. In the same way, demons and human beings were previously deceitful, ascribing to themselves the honor due to God; but when the Word of God appeared in a body and made known to us his own Father, then indeed the deceit of the demons disappears and ceases, while human beings, looking to the true God
Word of the Father, abandon idols and henceforth recognize the true God. This is a proof that Christ is the God Word and Power of God.
For as human things cease and the word of Christ abides, it is clear
On the Incarnation
to all that the things which cease are transient, and he who abides is God and true Son and only-begotten Word of God.
Conclusion
Let these brief remarks, then, O Christ-loving human being, be dedicated to you from us, as an elementary sketch and paradigm of the faith of Christ and his divine manifestation to us. Taking occasion from them, if you take the text of the scriptures and genuinely apply your mind to them, you will know from them more completely and more clearly the accuracy of what has been said. For they were spoken and written by God through theologians'; while we pass on to your love of learning what we have learned from the inspired teachers who were conversant with them, who also became witnesses to the divinity of Christ. You will also know of his second glorious and truly divine manifestation to us, when he comes no longer in lowliness but in his own glory, no longer with humility but in his own magnificence, no longer to suffer but to bestow thenceforth the fruit of his own cross on all—I mean the resurrection and incorruptibility—no longer judged, but judging all according to what each one has done in the body, whether good or evil, whence there is laid up for the good the kingdom of heaven, but for them that have done evil, eternal fire and outer darkness. For thus says the Lord himself,
"I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming upon the clouds of heaven in the glory of the Father" (Mat 26.64). Therefore the saying is salutary which prepares us for that day, saying, "Be ready and watch, for he will come at an hour that you know not" (cf. Mat 24.42, 44). For according to the blessed Paul, "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil" (2 Cor 5.10).
°See footnote 3 on p. 71.
ST ATHANASIUS THE GREAT
But in addition to the study and true knowledge of the scriptures, there is needed a good life and a pure soul and the virtue which is according to Christ, so that the mind, guided by it, may be able to attain and comprehend what it desires, as far as it is possible for human nature to learn about the God Word. Without a pure mind and a life modeled on the saints, no one can comprehend the words of the saints. For just as, if someone would wish to see the light of the sun, he would certainly wipe and clear his eyes, purifying himself to be almost like that which he desires, so that as the eye thus becomes light it may see the light of the sun; or just as if someone would wish to see a city or a country, he would certainly go to that place for the sight; in the same way, one wishing to comprehend the mind of the theologians must first wash and cleanse his soul by his manner of life, and approach the saints themselves by the imitation of their works, so that being with them in the conduct of a common life, he may understand also the things revealed to them, and thenceforth, as joined to them, may escape the peril of the sinners and their fire on the day of judgment, but may receive what has been laid up for the saints in the kingdom of heaven, "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man" (1
Cor 2.9), whatsoever things have been prepared for those who live a virtuous life and love the God and Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom, to the Father with the Son himself in the Holy Spirit, be honor and power and glory to the ages of ages.
Amen.
pA é A Dy or ) all
1a Ie —_
_ oe J a'
~ . a
a q e 2 poy > eo ; . re ext An '
, | at re ape
POPULAR
PATRAS RPGs 3S ERIES
25 On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ St Maximus the Confessor 1 On the Priesthood St John Chrysostom 2. Lectures on the Christian Sacraments St Cyril of Jerusalem
26 Letters from the Desert Barsanuphius and John 4 On the Divine Images St John of Damascus
27 Four Desert Fathers Pambo, Evagrius, Macarius of Egypt, and Macarius of Alexandria 6 On the Holy Icons St Theodore the Studite
28 Saint Macarius the Spiritbearer — Coptic Texts 7 On Marriage and Family Life St John Chrysostom
29 On the Lord' Prayer — Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen 8 On the Divine Liturgy — St Germanus 9 On Wealth and Poverty St John Chrysostom
30 On the Human Condition — St Basil the Great 10 Hymns on Paradise St Ephrem the Syrian
31 The Cult of the Saints — St John Chrysostom 11 On Ascetical Life — St Isaac of Nineveh
32 On the Church: Select Treatises — St Cyprian of Carthage 12 On the Soul and Resurrection — St Gegory of Nyssa 33 On the Church: Select Letters — St Cyprian of Carthage 13 On the Unity of Christ St Cyril of Alexandria
34 The Book of Pastoral Rule St Gregory the Great 14 On the Mystical Life, vol. 1 St Symeon the New Theologian
35 Wider Than Heaven Fighth-century Homilies on the Mother of God 15 On the Mystical Life, vol. 2 St Symeon the New Theologian
16 On the Mystical Life, vol. 3 St Symeon the New Theologian 36 Festal Orations St Gregory of Nazianzus
17 On the Apostolic Preaching — St Irenaeus 37 Counsels on the Spiritual Life Mark the Monk
18 On the Dormition — Early Patristic Homilies 38 On Social Justice — St Basil the Great
39 The Harp of Glory An African Akathist 19 On the Mother of God — Jacob of Serug
20 On Pascha - Melito of Sardis 40 Divine Eros St Symeon the New Theologian 21 On God and Man The Theological Poetry of St Gregory of Nazianzus 41 On the Two Ways Foundational Texts in the Tradition
42 On the Holy Spirit - St Basil the Great 22 On the Apostolic Tradition — Hippolytus 43 Works on the Spirit Athanasius and Didymus
23 On God and Christ St Gregory of Nazianzus 44 On the Incarnation — St Athanasius 24 Three Treatises on the Divine Images St John of Damascus
Treasure-house of Mysteries — Poetry in the Syriac Tradition is al
ST VLADIMIR'S SEMINARY PRESS
1-800-204-2665 * Www.svspress.com
SAINT ATHANASIUS
igh ars +, Vavetehearchevonatae Introduction by C. S. Lewis « translation by John Behr
"When I first opened his De Incarnatione I soon discovered I was reading a masterpiece... for only a master mind could have written so deeply on a subject with such classical simplicity."
—C. §. Lewis, from the Introduction By any standard, this is a classic of Christian theology.
Composed by St Athanasius in the fourth century, it pa olelobaletmauaudaum-joqah ey eles gvameat—mndal-re) ele p(er-Uamiat-)leyammelat-valetel FW dnd aa Oxo) bb atop U-Moy am \\pLor-(-1-Wr-b ako Ml Ove) at-j¢-banebale)o)(-sandal-Nandal-mereyal
Its influence on all Christian theology thereafter, East and West, ensures its place as one of the few "must read" books for all who want to know more
Velo) bh an dal Ol) abal-jet-bauee-badae We are pleased to offer this new translation, with a full introduction. This book is also available from SVS Presg with the original Greek text presented on the facing page.
The V. Rev. Dr John Behr is the Dean of St Vladimir's Orthodo Theological Seminary, Professor of Patristics, the editor of th series, and author of Way to Nicaea and Nicene Faith.