# On the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, against Apollinaris (two books) - Author: [Athanasius of Alexandria](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/athanasius/) - Latin title: *De incarnatione Domini nostri Iesu Christi contra Apollinarium* - Date: ca. 372 (if authentic) (disputed) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca 26 (Paris: Migne, 1857), cols. 1093-1165 (reprinting the Benedictine edition of B. de Montfaucon, Paris, 1698) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: Hans-Georg Opitz et al., eds., Athanasius Werke (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1935-) (does not include this work) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/ - Passages: 40 ## Against Apollinaris 1.1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-1 - Source: PG 26:1093–1096 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author explains that he writes, at his correspondent’s request, to refute teachers who claim exact knowledge of Christ but ignore the prophets, apostles, and Fathers. ### Greek text Ὁ μὲν τρόπος τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς ὁ ἄκοπος, τὸ σιωπῇ σέβειν τὸ πᾶν, ἀγαπητὲ, καὶ εὐχαρίστοις βοαῖς ἀνυμνεῖν τὸν εὐεργέτην Θεὸν, κατὰ τὴν ῥῆσιν τῆς Γραφῆς τὴν λέγουσαν · Καθήσεται κατὰ μόνας, καὶ σιωπήσεται, καὶ ἡσυχάσει, καὶ πράξει τὰ ἴδια· τὸ δὲ, κατὰ μόνας, καὶ, τὰ ἴδια, τουτέστι τὴν ἰδίαν ἀναστροφὴν ἐν κρίσει τίθεσθαι, καὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν φροντίδι. ᾿Αλλ' ἐπειδή, κόπωσιν βαρυτάτην συνειδὼς ἐν τοῖς τὰ αὐτὰ λέγειν δοκοῦσιν, ἠρώτησας περὶ τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν πίστεως, καὶ τίς ἡ αἰτίασις τῶν ὀρθῶς φρονεῖν νομιζόντων, οἵτινες ἀμετρίᾳ πολλῇ τὰ ἄθεσμα φθεγγόμενοι οὐ δεδοίκασιν οἷς ἀπαχθέντες οἱ ἀστήρικτοι τῇ πίστει, πλανώμενοι οὐ συνιᾶσιν · εἰ γὰρ ἐστηριγμένοι ἐν τῇ πίστει ἐτύγχανον, οὐκ ἂν τοιούτοις ῥήμασι συνεπείσθησαν. Σχολαζούσης δὲ αὐτῶν τῆς διανοίας, δεκτικοὶ γεγόνασι τῶν τοιούτων παραδόσεων· ἐξ ὧν ἀναβλαστάνει ἀμετρίας τῦφος, καὶ κακίας πλῆθος. ᾿Αβλεπτοῦντες δὲ ἐκ τοῦ μίσους, παροδεύουσι τῶν προφητῶν τὰ μηνύματα, καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων τὰ διδάγματα, καὶ τῶν Πατέρων τὰ παραγγέλματα, καὶ αὐτὰς δὴ τὰς ἐναποδείκτους τοῦ Δεσπότου φωνάς. Οἷς ἐπάγειν κατὰ δύναμιν τὸν ἔλεγχον ἐπάναγκες · ἵνα, ἤ τινες αὐτῶν ἀνανήψαντες διαβλέψωσιν, ἢ ἄλλους ἀπατᾷν μὴ δύνωνται, κατάληψιν εὐκρινεστάτην περὶ Χριστοῦ ὑπισχνούμενοι, μὴ νοοῦντες, μήτε ἃ λέγουσι, μήτε περὶ τίνων διαβεβαιοῦνται. ### English translation (Claude) The way of piety that costs no toil, beloved, is to reverence the whole in silence and to praise God our benefactor with thankful cries, according to the saying of Scripture: “He will sit alone, and keep silent, and be quiet, and do his own things.” “Alone” and “his own things” mean placing one’s own conduct under judgment and keeping God’s commandment in one’s care. But you, knowing the very heavy weariness caused by those who seem to say the same things as we do, have asked about our faith and what the charge is against those who suppose that they think rightly: men who, uttering lawless things without any measure, are not afraid; and those who are unsteady in the faith, led away by them, wander and do not understand. For if they had been established in the faith, they would not have been persuaded by such words. But because their mind was idle, they became receptive of such traditions, from which spring the conceit of excess and a multitude of wickedness. Blinded by hatred, they pass by the messages of the prophets, the teachings of the apostles, the precepts of the Fathers, and the very words of the Master, which need no proof. It is necessary to bring the refutation against them as far as we are able, so that either some of them may come to their senses and see clearly, or they may be unable to deceive others by promising a most distinct comprehension concerning Christ, “understanding neither what they say nor the things about which they make confident assertions.” ### Scripture references - Lam 3:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Thess 4:11: allusion, high confidence - 1 Tim 1:7: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The opening quotation combines Lam 3:28 (LXX) with 1 Thess 4:11; the closing words quote 1 Tim 1:7. The running head of Migne’s page (“Discourse on the becoming man, and against Apollinaris”) had been printed into the middle of the word ἄλλους and is removed. The attribution of this work to Athanasius is disputed. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.1 (PG 26:1093–1096; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1). ## Against Apollinaris 1.2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-2 - Source: PG 26:1095–1096 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author contrasts the Fathers’ confession of the consubstantial and unchangeable Son with his opponents’ claims that Christ’s flesh is heavenly and that a divine mind replaced the human mind in him. ### Greek text Οἱ μὲν γὰρ Πατέρες εἰρήκασιν, ὁμοούσιον τὸν Υἱὸν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, καὶ τέλειον ἐκ τελείου· ἔπειτα κατελθόντα διὰ σαντα, εἶθ' οὕτως παθόντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα. Ἵνα δὲ μή τις, πάθος καὶ ἀνάστασιν ἀκούων,· ἡλλοιῶσθαι τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον ἐννοοῖτο, τὸ ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον τοῦ Υἱοῦ μετὰ κρίματος διορίζονται. Οὗτοι δὲ ἤ ἀλλοίωσιν τοῦ Λόγου φαντάζονται, ἢ δόκησιν τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πάθους ὑπολαμβάνουσι· ποτὲ μὲν ἄκτιστον καὶ ἐπουράνιον λέγοντες τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ σάρκα, ποτὲ δὲ ὁμοούσιον τῆς θεότητος. Εἶτα, φασὶν, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἔσωθεν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνθρώπου νοῦς ἐπουράνιος ἐν Χριστῷ. Ὡς γὰρ ὀργανικῷ κέχρηται σχήματι τῷ περιέχοντι· οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν τέλειον ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν γενέσθαι. Ὅπου γὰρ τέλειος ἄνθρωπος, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἁμαρτία· καὶ ὅτι δύο τέλεια ἓν γενέσθαι οὐ δύναται· ἐπεὶ ἔσται καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἡ ἐν ἡμῖν μάχη τῆς ἁμαρτίας · καὶ ἔσται αὐτῷ χρεία τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς καθαρισμοῦ, εἰ τὸ φρονοῦν καὶ τὸ ἄγον ἐν ἡμῖν τὴν σάρκα Χριστὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐπιδέδεικται γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος. Ἀλλὰ ἔλαβε, φασὶ, τὸ ἀνόητον, ἵν᾿ αὐτὸς ᾗ νοῦς ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἄγευστος ᾗ πάντη τῆς ἁμαρτίας, κατά γε τὸ θεϊκὸν καὶ τὸ ἀνόητον τῆς σαρκός. Οὔτε γὰρ ἁμάρτοι ἂν ἡ σὰρξ τοῦ ἄγοντος θέντος τὴν πρᾶξιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ ἐνεργήσαντος διὰ τοῦ σώματος εἰς ἐκπλήρωσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ὅθεν σαρκὸς μὲν καινότητα Χριστὸς ἐπιδέδεικται καθ' ὁμοίωσιν· τοῦ δὲ φρονοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν τὴν καινότητα διὰ μιμήσεως, καὶ ὁμοιώσεως, καὶ ἀποχῆς τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἕκαστος ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐπιδείκνυται. Καὶ οὕτως νοείται Χριστὸς χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ### English translation (Claude) For the Fathers said that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, true God from true God, and perfect from perfect; then that he came down for … [and became] man, and so suffered and rose. And so that no one, hearing of suffering and resurrection, should think that God the Word had been altered, they defined with judgment the unchangeableness and unalterableness of the Son. But these people either imagine an alteration of the Word or take the dispensation of the passion to be a mere appearance, saying at one time that Christ’s flesh is uncreated and heavenly, at another that it is consubstantial with the Godhead. Then, they say, in Christ a heavenly mind takes the place of the inner man that is in us. For he used the form that enclosed it as an instrument, since it was not possible for him to become a perfect man. “For where there is a perfect man, there is also sin”; and “two perfect things cannot become one”; otherwise the battle against sin that is in us will be in Christ too, and he will need the cleansing that we need, if, on becoming man, he displayed in himself the part that thinks and leads the flesh in us. “But,” they say, “he took what is without mind, so that he himself might be the mind in it, and be entirely untouched by sin, in respect of the divine element and the mindless element of the flesh. For the flesh would not sin of itself: it is the leader that decides on the act of sin and works through the body to accomplish the sin. Hence Christ displayed newness of flesh by likeness, while each person displays in himself the newness of the part that thinks in us through imitation, likeness, and abstaining from sin. And thus Christ is understood to be without sin …” ### Scripture references - Rom 7:23: echo, low confidence - Rom 8:3: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The positions in quotation marks are the opponents’ (Apollinarian) arguments as the author reports them, translated as written. After “came down for” the scan OCR lost a line (the surviving ending -σαντα suggests a participle such as “became man”); the section also ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost. “It is the leader that decides on the act” renders a genitive absolute (τοῦ ἄγοντος θέντος τὴν πρᾶξιν) by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.2 (PG 26:1095–1096; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-2). ## Against Apollinaris 1.3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-3 - Source: PG 26:1095–1098 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Against the claim that Christ’s flesh is uncreated, the author argues that only the Trinity is uncreated and that an uncreated yet passible flesh leads either to blasphemy against the Godhead or to a Manichaean illusion. ### Greek text Ταῦτά ἐστιν αὐτῶν τὰ σοφίσματα, καὶ τῆς παρατροπῆς τὰ νοήματα· καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἷς ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν · πολλαὶ γὰρ τῆς ἀπιστίας αἱ παρατροπαὶ, τοίνυν τούτοις τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐδοκίας τὴν θέλησεται), καὶ τῆς ἀληθεστάτης οἰκονομίας τὴν συμπλήρωσιν, καὶ τῆς τελειοτάτης εὐεργεσίας τὴν χάριν · ἀντερωτήσαντες τούτων τὰ νοήματα, εἰ τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς διδάγμασιν ἀκολουθοῦσιν · εἰ τοῖς τῶν Πατέρων παραγγέλμασι στοιχοῦσιν · εἰ τὰς ἐναποδείκτους τοῦ Δεσπότου φωνὰς οὐκ ἀθετοῦσιν· ἵν' ἐκ τῶν προφητικῶν μηνυμάτων, καὶ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν διδαγμάτων, καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου πληρωθέντων πραγμάτων γίγνηται τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ ὁμολογία, καὶ τῆς πλάνης ἡ ἔλεγξις. Εἴπατε τοίνυν οἱ ἐφευρεταὶ τοῦ καινοῦ καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς Εὐαγγελίου, ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, πόθεν ὑμῖν κατηγγέλθη σάρκα ἄκτιστον λέγειν, ὥστε ἢ τὴν θεότητα τοῦ Λόγου εἰς μετάπτωσιν σαρκὸς φαντάζεσθαι, ἢ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πάθους καὶ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως, ὡς δόκησιν νομίζειν. ῎Ακτιστος μὲν γὰρ πέφηνε μόνη ἡ ἁγία Τριὰς τῆς θεότητος, ἀἰδιός τε καὶ ἄτρεπτος, καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος. Χριστοῦ δὲ κατὰ σάρκα ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀνισταμένου ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν, ὡς γέγραπται, καὶ παθητοῦ καὶ πρωτοτόκου ἐξ πῶς τὸ ἄκτιστον παθητὸν λέγετε; ἢ πῶς τὸ παθητὸν ἄκτιστον ὀνομάζετε ; Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν ἄκτιστον οὐσίαν τοῦ Λόγου παθητὴν λέγοντες, εἰς τὴν θεότητα βλασφημεῖτε· καὶ τὴν παθητὴν σάρκα, ὀστέοις τε καὶ αἵματι, καὶ ψυχῇ, καὶ ὅλου τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς σώματος ἁρμοσθεῖσαν, ψηλαφητήν τε καὶ όρατὴν γενομένην, ἄκτιστον λέγοντες, δυσὶ περιπίπτετε πτώμασιν · ἢ φαντασίαν τὴν δεῖξιν καὶ τὴν ἀνοχὴν τοῦ πάθους ὑπολαμβάνοντες, κατὰ τὴν τῶν Μανιχαίων ἀσέβειαν· ἢ τοιαύτην ὑποτίθεσθε τῆς ἀκτίστου θεότητος τὴν οὐσίαν. Καὶ τί ἔτι μέμφεσθε τοῖς ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ μορφῇ τῇ κατὰ σάρκα τὸν Θεὸν φανταζομένοις ### English translation (Claude) These are their sophistries and the notions of their deviation; and their account is not one, for the deviations of unbelief are many. [We] therefore [set] against them the will of God’s good pleasure, the completion of the most true dispensation, and the grace of the most perfect benefaction, questioning their notions in turn: whether they follow the apostolic teachings, whether they keep in line with the precepts of the Fathers, whether they do not set aside the words of the Master that need no proof; so that from the prophetic messages, the apostolic teachings, and the things fulfilled by the Lord may come the confession of the truth and the refutation of error. Tell us, then, you inventors of the new gospel of your own, “which is not another”: from where was it proclaimed to you to call the flesh uncreated, so as either to imagine the Godhead of the Word changing into flesh, or to regard the dispensation of the passion, the death, and the resurrection as an appearance? For only the holy Trinity of the Godhead has been shown to be uncreated, eternal, unchangeable, and unalterable. But since Christ according to the flesh is raised up from among men, “from our brothers,” as it is written, and is passible and firstborn from … [the dead], how do you call the uncreated passible, or how do you name the passible uncreated? For in calling the uncreated essence of the Word passible you blaspheme against the Godhead; and in calling uncreated the passible flesh, fitted together with bones and blood and soul and the whole of a body like ours, made touchable and visible, you fall into two falls: either you take the display and endurance of the passion to be an illusion, after the impiety of the Manichaeans, or you suppose the essence of the uncreated Godhead to be of such a kind. And why do you still blame those who imagine God in human form according to the flesh … ### Scripture references - Gal 1:6: allusion, high confidence - Gal 1:7: quotation, high confidence - Deut 18:15: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 26:23: allusion, medium confidence - Col 1:18: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 24:39: echo, low confidence - 1 John 1:1: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The opening of the second sentence is garbled in the scan OCR (θέλησεται)); the verb is supplied by sense in brackets. After “firstborn from” words are lost (probably “the dead,” Col 1:18); the section ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost. “Which is not another” quotes Gal 1:7; “from our brothers” recalls Deut 18:15 (Acts 3:22). ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.3 (PG 26:1095–1098; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-3). ## Against Apollinaris 1.4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-4 - Source: PG 26:1097–1100 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that Christ’s flesh, united to the Word from the womb and growing like ours, cannot be uncreated without cutting humanity off from Christ. ### Greek text Ἀλλὰ λέγετε, ὅτι ἄκτιστος γέγονε τῇ ἑνώσει τῇ πρὸς τὸν ἄκτιστον. Ἑντεῦθεν δὲ ὑμῶν ἡ πλάνη δειχθήσεται αὐτέλεγκτος· ἡ γὰρ τῆς σαρκὸς ἕνωσις πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Λόγου θεότητα ἐκ μήτρας γέγονεν· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἀνεστήσατο ὁ Λόγος, ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἐπιδημήσας· οὐ προϋπάρξασαν τῆς τοῦ Λόγου ἐπιδημίας, ἢ τῆς Θεοτόκου Μαρίας, μόνης ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καταγομένης, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ᾿Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Δαβὶδ γενεαλογουμένης, σὺν τῷ Ἰωσὴφ τῷ μεμνηστευμένῳ αὐτὴν, ὄντων ἑκατέρων εἰς σάρκα μίαν, καθὼς γέγραπται, οὐ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους συναφείᾳ, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐξ ἑνὸς ὑπάρξει· ὅτι γὰρ ἀθιγεῖς διέμειναν, μεμαρτύρηται. Γεννᾶται οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, τὸν Ἰωσὴφ πατέρα καλῶν, ταυτὸν τῇ Μαρίᾳ τυγχάνοντα τοῦ Δαβίδ ἐν σπαργάνοις ἀνακλιθεὶς, καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Συμεῶνος ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βασταχθεὶς, καὶ περιτομὴν σαρκὸς προσαγόμενος κατὰ τὸν νόμον, καὶ αὔξησιν ἡλικίας ποιούμενος. Εἰ τοίνυν ἄκτιστος τῇ ἑνώσει γέγονε, πῶς οὐκ αὐτοτελὴς ὤφθη, ἀλλὰ, θελήσαντος τοῦ Λόγου, ἡ τοῦ σώματος αὔξησις ἐγίνετο; Ἀκτίστῳ δὲ προσάγειν αὔξησιν ἀσεβές ἐστι. Τὸ γὰρ ἄκτιστον τῇ φύσει ἄκτιστον λέγεται, μήτε αὔξησιν, μήτε ἐλάττωσιν ἐπιδεχόμενον. Τὸ δὲ τῷ ἀκτίστῳ κοινωνῆσαν ἢ ἑνωθὲν, ἴδιον μὲν τοῦ ἀκτίστου λέγεται, οὐ μὲν αὐτὸ ἄκτιστον, ἵνα μὴ ἐπιλησθῇ τῆς ἑνώσεως ἡ εὐεργεσία, καὶ καταργηθῇ τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἡ ὀφειλή, καὶ εἰς ἀνελπιστίαν καταπέσῃ ἡ ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ ἔτι μὴ ἔχειν πρὸς Θεὸν οἰκειότητα, καὶ ἀμαυρωθῇ ἡ χάρις. Τίς γὰρ, ἄκτιστον ἀκούων τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου σῶμα, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ποιηθέντα καὶ κτισθέντα εἰδὼς, οὐκ ἐννοηθήσεται ψευδεῖς μὲν εἶναι τὰς ἁγίας Γραφὰς, ἑαυτὸν δὲ μὴ ἔχειν πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν κοινωνίαν; Εἰ ὁ ἄκτιστος ἄκτιστον σῶμα ἀνελάβετο, κατήργηται τοίνυν ἡ πρώτη πλάσις, ἀπόλωλεν ὁ ἀρχέτυπος Ἀδὰμ, οὗ ἡμεῖς μέχρι σήμερον ἀπόγονοι τυγχάνομεν κατὰ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς διαδοχήν. Πῶς οὖν Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς μετόχους ἑαυτοῦ κατεστήσατο ; πῶς δὲ καὶ ὁ ᾿Απόστολος λέγει, "Ο τε γὰρ ἁγιάζων καὶ οἱ ἁγιαζόμενοι ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντες; ### English translation (Claude) But you say that it became uncreated by its union with the uncreated. From this your error will be shown to refute itself. For the union of the flesh with the Godhead of the Word took place from the womb; from there the Word, coming from heaven, raised it up. It did not exist before the coming of the Word, nor before Mary the Theotokos, who alone descends from Adam and is traced in genealogy from Abraham and from David, together with Joseph, who was betrothed to her, both being “into one flesh,” as it is written, not by union with each other but by existing from one origin; for it is attested that they remained untouched. So Christ is born in Bethlehem of Judea, calling Joseph father, who was of David just as Mary was … laid in swaddling clothes, carried by Simeon in the temple, brought for the circumcision of the flesh according to the law, and growing in stature. If, then, he became uncreated by the union, how was it that he was not seen complete in himself, but the growth of the body took place as the Word willed? Yet it is impious to attribute growth to the uncreated. For what is uncreated is called uncreated by nature, admitting neither growth nor diminution. But what has shared in the uncreated or been united to it is called the uncreated’s own, not itself uncreated; otherwise the benefit of the union would be forgotten, the debt owed for the benefit cancelled, the nature that is in weakness would fall into hopelessness, thinking it has no kinship with God, and grace would be darkened. For who, hearing that the Lord’s body is uncreated, and knowing that he himself was made and created, will not think that the holy Scriptures are false and that he himself has no communion with Christ? If the uncreated took up an uncreated body, then the first formation has been annulled and the archetypal Adam has perished, whose descendants we are to this day by the succession of the flesh. How then did Christ make us sharers in himself? And how does the Apostle say, “For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one”? ### Scripture references - Gen 2:24: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 1:18: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 2:1: allusion, high confidence - Luke 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Luke 2:28: allusion, high confidence - Luke 2:21: allusion, high confidence - Luke 2:52: allusion, high confidence - Heb 3:14: echo, low confidence - Heb 2:11: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Into one flesh” applies Gen 2:24 to Joseph and Mary as sharing one descent, not a marital union, as the next words explain. After “who was of David just as Mary was” the scan OCR has lost words (ταυτὸν … τοῦ Δαβίδ ἐν σπαργάνοις). The clause about “the nature that is in weakness” is garbled in the OCR (ἡ ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ ἔτι μὴ ἔχειν) and is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.4 (PG 26:1097–1100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-4). ## Against Apollinaris 1.5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-5 - Source: PG 26:1099–1102 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author insists that only the Godhead is uncreated and that the Word made a real human nature his own in order to undo sin, the curse, corruption, and death in every place. ### Greek text Μή τις δὲ τολμάτω περὶ τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐννοῆσαι, ὅτι, ὥσπερ αὐτὸ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς, καθάπερ οἱ ἀσεβέστατοι ᾿Αρειανοὶ λέγειν τολμῶσιν · ἢ πάντως κατὰ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπίδειξιν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν μορφὴν τοῦ δούλου, τουτέστι τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου Ἀδὰμ, ἣν ἔλαβεν ὁ ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων Θεός. "Όλως μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασι τὸ λεγόμενον ἄκτιστον, τὸ μηδέπω ὑπάρξαν λέγεται, ὅτι μὴ γέγονε. Μή τι οὖν ἄρα, μήθ' ὅλως γεγο νέναι ἐν τῷ Λόγῳ σάρκα ὑπολαμβάνοντες, εὐφήμῳ λέξει ποιεῖσθαι καὶ τὴν ἄρνησιν εὐθὺς ἐννοεῖτε, ἵνα μηδὲν ἐν τῷ ἀκτίστῳ ὁμολογήσητε. "Ακτιστος γὰρ ὕπαρξις μόνη ἡ τῆς θεότητος νοεῖται · ὥστε καὶ τὴν ἄκτιστον παθητὴν λέγειν ἀσεβὲς, καὶ τὴν παθητὴν ἄκτιστον ὀνομάζειν. Τὴν γὰρ ποιηθεῖσαν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος φύσιν, μὴ τῇ ἑνώσει τοῦ Λόγου εἶναι ἰδίαν, ἀλλὰ συναΐδιον, καὶ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ φύσει ἐξα Σαρκὸς γὰρ καὶ αἵματος καὶ ὀστέων ἐπίδειξιν ἐποιήσατο Κύριος, καὶ ψυχῆς λυπουμένης, καὶ ταραττομένης, καὶ ἀδημονούσης. Ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι φύσιν εἶναι θεότητος · ἴδια δὲ Θεοῦ κατὰ φύσιν γέγονεν, εὐδοκήσαντος τοῦ Λόγου ἀνασχέσθαι γεννήσεως ἀνθρωπίνης, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ποίησιν τὴν ἐν ἁμαρτίᾳ καὶ φθορᾷ καὶ θανάτῳ διαχυθεῖσαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ συστήσασθαι ἐν εἰκόνι καινότητος. Διὸ τῆς μὲν ἁμαρτίας τὴν κατάκρισιν ἐπὶ γῆς ἐποιήσατο· τῆς δὲ κατάρας τὴν καθαίρεσιν ἐπὶ ξύλου· τῆς τε φθορᾶς τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν ἐν τῷ τάφῳ· καὶ τοῦ θανάτου τὴν κατάλυσιν ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ· παντὶ ἐπιβὰς τόπῳ, ἵνα τοῦ σύμπαντος ἀνθρώπου τὴν σωτηρίαν κατεργάσηται, μορφὴν τῆς ἡμετέρας εἰκόνος ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐπιδεικνύμενος Ἐπεὶ τίς ἦν χρεία Θεῷ γεννήσεως τῆς ἐκ γυναικὸς ἀνασχέσθαι; αὐξήσεώς τε ἡλικίας, καὶ ἐτῶν ἀριθμήσεως τῷ ποιητῇ τῶν αἰώνων; ἢ πάλιν σταυροῦ, ἢ τάφου, ἢ ἄδου, οἷς ἡμεῖς ὑποπεπτώκαμεν, εἰ μὴ ἡμᾶς ἐζήτει, διὰ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς μορφῆς ζωοποιῶν ἡμᾶς καὶ εἰς ὁμοίωσιν καὶ μίμησιν τελείας εἰκόνος προσκαλούμενος ; Μίμησις δὲ πῶς ἂν γένοιτο πρὸς τελειότητα, μὴ προϋπαρξάσης τῆς ἀνενδεοῦς τελειότητος ; κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα ᾿Απόστολον· ᾿Απεκδυσάμενοι τὸν παλαιόν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι τὸν νέον τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα, ἐν ὀσιότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ τῆς ἀληθείας. ### English translation (Claude) Let no one dare to think concerning the Godhead of the Son that, as it is from God, so are we, as the most impious Arians dare to say; or rather, [we are like him] only in respect of the display of the flesh and the form of the servant, that is, of the first-formed Adam, which God, existing in the form of God, took. Generally, among things made, “uncreated” is said of what has not yet come to exist, because it has not come to be. Do you, then, supposing that no flesh at all came to be in the Word, intend at once a denial dressed in a fair-sounding word, so that you may confess nothing [created] in the uncreated? For the existence of the Godhead alone is understood as uncreated; so it is impious both to call the uncreated passible and to name the passible uncreated. For [to say] that the made nature of humanity is not the Word’s own by union but coeternal with him, and … to the nature of God … For the Lord gave proof of flesh and blood and bones, and of a soul grieving, troubled, and distressed. No one would say these are the nature of the Godhead; but they became God’s own by nature, since the Word was pleased to endure human birth and to restore in himself, in the image of newness, his own creation that had been dissolved in sin, corruption, and death. Therefore he made the condemnation of sin on earth, the removal of the curse on the tree, the redemption from corruption in the tomb, and the destruction of death in Hades, setting foot in every place in order to accomplish the salvation of the whole man, displaying in himself the form of our image. Otherwise what need had God to endure birth from a woman, and growth in stature and the counting of years, he the maker of the ages; or again a cross, a tomb, Hades, to which we have become subject, if he were not seeking us, giving us life through a form like ours, and calling us to the likeness and imitation of a perfect image? And how could imitation lead to perfection, unless the perfection that lacks nothing existed first? As the Apostle says: “Having put off the old man and put on the new, created according to God in holiness and righteousness of the truth.” ### Scripture references - Phil 2:6: allusion, high confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Luke 24:39: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 26:37: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 26:38: allusion, medium confidence - John 12:27: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 8:3: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 3:13: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 4:4: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 19:10: echo, low confidence - Col 3:9: quotation, high confidence - Col 3:10: quotation, high confidence - Eph 4:24: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The sentence beginning “For [to say] that the made nature” breaks off where the scan OCR lost a line (ἐξα…). The closing quotation conflates Col 3:9–10 and Eph 4:22–24. The reference to the Arians is the author’s polemic, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.5 (PG 26:1099–1102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-5). ## Against Apollinaris 1.6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-6 - Source: PG 26:1101–1104 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that an uncreated body could neither die nor be touched, and that Christ’s body, made from the Virgin, is worshipped because it is the body of the uncreated Word. ### Greek text Πόθεν οὖν διδαχθέντες, λέγετε ἄκτιστον ; Εἰ τοίνυν φύσις ἐκ μεταποιήσεως ἄκτιστος γίνεται, ἄρα καὶ ἀόρατος καὶ ἀθάνατος οὐκ ἐκ θανάτου, ἀλλ' ἀνεπίδεκτος θανάτου. Πῶς οὖν ἀπέθανεν ὁ Κύριος, εἰ ὁ ἄκτιστος ἀκτίστως ἐπεδήμησεν ἐπὶ γῆς; ἢ πῶς ὁρατὸς καὶ ψηλαφητὸς γέγονεν; ὡς γέγραπται· "Ο ἑωράκαμεν, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν. Πῶς οὖν λέγετε, ἃ μὴ γέγραπται, μήτε θέμις ἐννοεῖν; Δώσετε γὰρ πᾶσιν αἱρετικοῖς κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ποτὲ λεγομένου Ῥητορίου ἔννοιαν ἀσεβεστάτην, οὗ καὶ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐξειπεῖν φοβερόν. Η τοίνυν ἀρνήσασθε τὰς θείας Γραφὰς, ἢ ταύτας όμολογοῦντες, μὴ ἕτερα παρὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα ἐπινοεῖτε λαλεῖν ῥήματα ἀπάτης ἀνιάτου. Ἀλλὰ πάλιν λέγετε, ὅτι Ἡμεῖς κτίσματι οὐ προσκυνοῦμεν. Ὦ ἀνόητοι διὰ τί οὐ λογίζεσθε, ὅτι καὶ ποιηθὲν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Κυρίου οὐ κτιστὴν ἀποφέρεται τὴν προσκύνησιν; Τοῦ γὰρ ἀκτίστου Λόγου γέγονε σῶμα · οὗ γὰρ σῶμα γέγονε, τούτῳ προσάγετε καὶ τὴν προσκύνησιν ῎Αρ' οὖν καὶ προσκυνεῖται ὀφειλομένως, καὶ θεϊκῶς προσκυνεῖται · Θεὸς γὰρ ὁ Λόγος ἐστὶν, οὗ τὸ σῶμα ἴδιον τυγχάνει · ἐπεὶ καὶ ὅτε προσῄεσαν αἱ γυναῖκες τῷ Κυρίῳ, διακωλύων ἔλεγε, Μή μου ἅπτου· οὔπω γὰρ ἀναβέβηκα πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα μου, σημαίνων, ὅτι χρεία ἀναβάσεως, καὶ ὅτι μία ἔσται ἡ αὐτοῦ τοὺς πόδας, καὶ προσεκύνησαν. Πόδας ἐκράτησαν, Θεὸν προσεκύνησαν. Πόδας ὀστέων καὶ σαρκὸς ἔχοντας ψηλάφησιν, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ ὄντας, προσεκύνησαν Θεόν. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ ὁ Κύριος ἔλεγε, Ψηλαφήσατέ με καὶ γνῶτε, ὅτι πνεῦμα σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα οὐκ ἔχει, καθὼς ἐμὲ θεωρεῖτε ἔχοντα, καίτοι πνεῦμα ὢν αὐτὸς · Πνεῦμα γὰρ ὁ Θεός Καὶ λέγων ἔχειν, καὶ ἐπίδειξιν ποιούμενος, πῶς ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Πνεῦμα σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα οὐκ ἔχει καθὼς ἐμὲ, φησὶν, οὐχὶ ὄντα, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχοντα θεωρεῖτε, ἢ τοῦτο διδάσκων, ὅτι ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος φύσις ἄῤῥητός ἐστιν αὕτη δὲ ἡ ψηλάφησις σώματος τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐστιν, ὅπερ ἑαυτῷ περιεποιήσατο ἐκ Παρθένου, οὐκ ἐνεργείας τόπῳ, ἀλλὰ φυσικῇ γεννήσει· ἵνα καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἢ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἀδιαίρετον ᾖ πάλιν κατὰ φύσιν τῆς τοῦ Λόγου θεότητος. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ θάνατος γέγονε · τοῦ μὲν σώματος κατὰ φύσιν δεχομένου, τοῦ δὲ Λόγου κατὰ θέλησιν ἀνεχομένου καὶ ἐξουσιαστικῶς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα εἰς θάνατον προϊεμένου · ἵνα καὶ πάθῃ φυσικῶς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, καὶ ἀναστῇ θεϊκῶς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Καὶ ὅλη τῆς γεννήσεως καὶ τοῦ θανάτου ἡ πραγματεία εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν ζήτησιν καὶ ἀνάκτησιν θεωρεῖται. ### English translation (Claude) From where, then, were you taught to say “uncreated”? If a nature becomes uncreated by transformation, then it is also invisible, and immortal not as risen from death but as incapable of receiving death. How then did the Lord die, if the uncreated came to dwell on earth in an uncreated way? Or how did he become visible and touchable? As it is written: “What we have seen, and our hands have touched.” How then do you say what is not written and what it is not lawful even to think? For you will hand [license] to all heretics, after the most impious notion of the Rhetorius who was once spoken of, whose impiety it is frightful even to tell. Either, then, deny the divine Scriptures, or, if you confess them, do not devise to speak, beyond what is written, words of incurable deceit. But again you say: “We do not worship a creature.” Senseless people, why do you not reckon that the Lord’s body, though made, does not receive the worship given to a creature? For it became the body of the uncreated Word; and you bring the worship to him whose body it became. So it is worshipped as is due, and worshipped as divine; for the Word, whose own the body is, is God. For when the women came to the Lord, he said, forbidding them, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father,” signifying that the ascent was needed and that there will be one … his feet, and worshipped. They took hold of feet; they worshipped God. Feet of bones and flesh, that could be touched, yet God’s feet, they took hold of; God they worshipped. And elsewhere the Lord said, “Touch me and know that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have,” though he himself is spirit, for “God is spirit.” And while saying that he has them and giving proof of it, why did he say, “A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me”—not “being,” he says, but “having”—unless to teach this: that the nature of spirit is ineffable, whereas what is touched here belongs to a body like ours, which he acquired for himself from the Virgin, not by way of an operation but by natural birth, so that the body might be natural and again inseparable by nature from the Godhead of the Word. For so too the death took place: the body receiving it according to nature, and the Word enduring it by will and with authority giving up his own body to death, so that he might both suffer naturally for us and rise divinely for us. And the whole work of the birth and of the death is seen to be directed to seeking and recovering us. ### Scripture references - 1 John 1:1: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 4:6: echo, low confidence - John 20:17: quotation, high confidence - Matt 28:9: quotation, medium confidence - Luke 24:39: quotation, high confidence - John 4:24: quotation, high confidence - John 10:18: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Rhetorius is the Egyptian teacher said by Philaster (Haer. 91) and Augustine (Haer. 72) to have held that all heretics teach rightly. After “there will be one” the scan OCR has lost a line; the surviving words “his feet, and worshipped” recall Matt 28:9. The opponents’ objection “we do not worship a creature” is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.6 (PG 26:1101–1104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-6). ## Against Apollinaris 1.7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-7 - Source: PG 26:1103–1106 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that a body from heaven would bring no benefit, since Christ took Adam’s fallen flesh to raise it sinless, conquer death, and receive the name above every name. ### Greek text Τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων, καὶ ὁμολογουμένων ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθολικῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, πῶς ὑμεῖς πάλιν λέγετε ἐξ οὐρανοῦ τὸ σῶμα; καὶ διὰ τί τοῦτο πεποίηκεν ὁ Χριστός; Εἴπατε, ἵνα ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἐπὶ ποιήσῃ, καὶ τὸ ἀνύβριστον ὕβρεως δεκτικόν, καὶ τὸ ἀπαθὲς καὶ ἀθάνατον θνητὸν καὶ παθητὸν ; Καὶ τίς ἦν ἐν τούτοις εὐεργεσία, ὦ μάταιοι, εἰ ταῦτα ἐν Χριστῷ γεγονέναι λέγετε, ἃ γέγονεν ἐν τῷ πρωτοπλάστῳ Ἀδάμ; Εἰ μὴ τὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ σύμπτωμα εἰς ἀσύγκριτον ἀνάστημα Χριστὸς ἀνεστήσατο ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας ὀφθεὶς, καὶ κατακρίνας τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκί· ὥστε καὶ σαρκὶ ἐπὶ γῆς πολιτεύσασθαι, καὶ ἀνεπίδεκτον ἁμαρτίας δεῖξαι τὴν σάρκα, ἣν ἐκ τῆς πρώτης πλάσεως ὁ ᾿Ἀδὰμ ἀναμάρτητον ἐσχηκὼς, ἐκ παραβάσεως δεκτικὴν ἁμαρτίας πεποίηκε καὶ εἰς διαφθορὰν καὶ θάνατον καταπέπτωκε. Ταύτην ἀνίστησι κατὰ φύσιν ἀναμάρτητον, ἵνα δείξῃ τὸν Δημιουργὸν ἀναίτιον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, κατεστήσατο · ἵνα αὐτὸς ᾗ τῆς ἀναμαρτησίας ἡ ἐπίδειξις. Μάτην οὖν φαντάζονται οἱ ἀλώμενοι, καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ λέγοντες τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου σῶμα. Καίτοι ὁ ᾿Ἀδὰμ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν κατενήνοχε, Χριστὸς ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνενήνοχε· καὶ ὅπερ φθορὰν καὶ καταδίκην θανάτου κατενήνοχε, Χριστὸς τοῦτο ἄφθαρτον καὶ λυτήριον θανάτου ἀνέδειξεν ὥστε ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας, ἐκ δὲ τάφου τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι, καὶ ἐν ἐπιβάσει ᾄδου λύειν θάνατον, καὶ εὐαγγελίσασθαι πᾶσι τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ὅτι ἔκτισεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ εἰκόνα τῆς ἰδίας ἀϊδιότητος ἐποίησεν αὐτόν. Φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον· βασιλευόμενον δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς διαφθορὰν οὐχ ὑπερεῖδεν αὐτὸς γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, οὐ τραπεὶς εἰς ἀνθρώπου μορφὴν, οὐδὲ παριδὼν τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὕπαρξιν, σκιώδη τὴν δεῖξιν ἐποιεῖτο · ἀλλ᾽ ὁ ὢν φύσει Θεὸς γεννᾶται ἄνθρωπος, ἵν᾿ εἷς ᾗ τὰ ἑκάτερα, τέλειος κατὰ πάντα, φυσικὴν καὶ ἀληθεστάτην τὴν γέννηαὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, βασιλεύειν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν κρίσιν ποιεῖν. ### English translation (Claude) Since these things are so, and are confessed in God’s catholic Church, how do you say again that the body is from heaven? And why did Christ do this? Tell us: was it so that from heaven … he might make … and the one beyond insult capable of receiving insult, and the impassible and immortal mortal and passible? And what benefit was there in this, you vain people, if you say that the things which happened in the first-formed Adam happened in Christ? Unless Christ raised up the fall of Adam to an incomparable rising, appearing “in the likeness of sinful flesh” and “condemning sin in the flesh,” so as both to live his life on earth in the flesh and to show the flesh incapable of sin—the flesh which Adam had sinless from the first formation but through transgression made capable of sin, and so fell into corruption and death. This flesh he raises up sinless by nature, to show that the Creator is not responsible for sin, … he established, so that he himself might be the demonstration of sinlessness. In vain, then, do those who wander imagine things, saying that the Lord’s body is from heaven. Yet Adam brought it down from heaven to the earth, while Christ brought it up from the earth to the heavens; and what Adam brought down to corruption and the condemnation of death, Christ showed to be incorruptible and a release from death, so as to have “authority on earth to forgive sins,” to show incorruption from the tomb, to undo death by setting foot in Hades, and to proclaim the resurrection to all. For “God created man for incorruption and made him an image of his own eternity; but through the envy of the devil death entered the world.” Man, then, ruled by death to corruption, he did not overlook, himself becoming man—not changed into the form of a man, nor disregarding man’s existence and making a shadowy show; but he who is God by nature is born man, so that the one might be both, perfect in all respects, [having] a natural and most true birth … “the name that is above every name,” to reign over the heavens, and to have “authority to execute judgment.” ### Scripture references - Rom 8:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 9:6: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:9: quotation, high confidence - John 5:27: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:47: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 2:23-24 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Several lines of the scan OCR are lost or displaced here: after “that from heaven” and after “the Creator is not responsible for sin”; and between “birth” and “the name that is above every name” a line is lost. Fragments of Migne’s variant readings printed into the text (σιν τῆς τοῦ Λόγου …; Καὶ τίς ἦν ἐν τούτ. …) are removed. “Adam brought it down from heaven to the earth” is translated as printed; its sense is uncertain. The quotation “God created man for incorruption …” is Wis 2:23–24. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.7 (PG 26:1103–1106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-7). ## Against Apollinaris 1.8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-8 - Source: PG 26:1105–1108 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues from the titles “second Adam” and “son of man” and from the Gospel genealogies that Christ’s body came from Adam, not from heaven. ### Greek text Ὁ γὰρ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς Λόγος ὤφθη υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, οὐχ ἕτερός τις γενόμενος, ἀλλὰ δεύτερος ᾿Αδάμ· ἵνα καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ὀνόματος γινώσκωμεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Καὶ προγενέστερον δείκνυσι τὸν πρωτόπλαστον ὁ ᾿Απόστολος, πρῶτον τὸ ψυχικὸν δεικνύς, ἔπειτα τὸ πνευματικόν. Ψυχικὸν δὲ καὶ πνευματικὸν λέγων, οὐχ ἕτερον καὶ ἕτερον δείκνυσι σῶμα, ἀλλὰ τὸ αὐτὸ σῶμα · τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ φύσει ψυχῆς, διὸ ψυχικόν · τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ φύσει Πνεύματος, διὸ πνευματικόν· Πνεῦμα γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν εἰρημένον ἔστι συνιδεῖν, ἐν τῷ λέγειν Ὁ δὲ πνευματικός ἀνακρίνει τὰ πάντα· ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Καίτοι ἑνὸς ὄντος ἑκατέρων τοῦ σώματος, τὸ μὲν τοῦ Πνεύματος μέτοχον νοεῖσθαι πνευματικὸν δείκνυσι, τὸν δὲ τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς μόνῃ ἐμμείναντα δείκνυσθαι ψυχικόν. Διὰ τί δὲ ὅλως, εἰ καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἐστιν, οὐχὶ ἄνθρωπος μόνον λέγεται ὁ Χριστὸς ὡς καινός τις ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἐπιδημήσας, ἀλλὰ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου γέγονεν ; Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ γῆς γέγονεν υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, καίτοι οὐκ ἐκ σπέρματος ἀνδρὸς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου γεννηθεὶς, ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου Ἀδὰμ υἱὸς πος ἐν οὐρανῷ ὑπάρξας παρὰ τὸν ἐκ γῆς ᾿Ἀδὰμ ἵνα καὶ ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἔχῃ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ᾗ παρὰ τὸν ᾿Αδάμ. Διὸ ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖος υἱὸν ᾿Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Δαβὶδ ἀναγράφει τὸ κατὰ σάρκα· ὁ δὲ Λουκᾶς υἱὸν αὐτὸν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ γενεαλογεῖ. Εἰ τοίνυν μαθηταί ἐστε τῶν Εὐαγγελίων, μὴ λαλεῖτε κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀδικίαν · ἀλλὰ στοιχεῖτε τοῖς γεγραμμένοις καὶ γενομένοις Εἰ δὲ ἕτερα παρὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα λαλεῖν βούλεσθε, τί πρὸς ἡμᾶς διαμάχεσθε, τοὺς μήτε ἀκούειν μήτε λέγειν παρὰ τὰ γεγραμμένα πειθομένους; λέγοντος τοῦ Κυρίου, ὅτι Ἐὰν ὑμεῖς μείνητε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ, ὄντως ἐλεύθεροι ἔσεσθε. ### English translation (Claude) For the Word, the Creator of all things, appeared as son of man, not becoming someone else but a second Adam, so that from the name too we may know the truth. And the Apostle shows that the first-formed came earlier, showing first what is natural, then what is spiritual. In saying “natural” and “spiritual” he shows not one body and another, but the same body: the first in the power and nature of soul, hence “natural”; the second in the power and nature of Spirit, hence “spiritual”—for God the Word is Spirit. So too one can understand what is said of us, when he says, “The spiritual man judges all things; but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit.” Yet although the body is one in each case, he shows that the one who shares in the Spirit is to be considered spiritual, and the one who has remained in the power of the soul alone is shown to be natural. And why, if it is as you say, is Christ not called simply “a man,” as someone new who came from heaven, but became “son of man”? If he became son of man on earth, though not born from a man’s seed but from the Holy Spirit, since the first-formed Adam is one, [whose] son … existing in heaven apart from the Adam from the earth, so that he might both have his body from heaven and be son of man apart from Adam. That is why Matthew records him according to the flesh as son of Abraham and of David, while Luke traces his genealogy as son of Adam and of God. If then you are disciples of the Gospels, “do not speak unrighteousness against God,” but keep in line with what is written and what took place. But if you wish to speak other things beyond what is written, why do you fight with us, who are persuaded neither to hear nor to speak beyond what is written? For the Lord says, “If you abide in my word, you will truly be free.” ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 15:45: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:46: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:15: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:14: quotation, high confidence - Matt 1:1: allusion, high confidence - Luke 3:38: allusion, high confidence - Ps 75:5 (74:6 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - John 8:31: quotation, medium confidence - John 8:36: quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - In the argument about “son of man” the scan OCR has lost a line after “whose son”; the sentence is incomplete and its sense uncertain. A displaced marginal fragment (Καίτοι Χριστὸς ἀπὸ γῆς …) is removed. “Do not speak unrighteousness against God” echoes Ps 75:5 (LXX 74:6). The last quotation combines John 8:31–32 and 8:36. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.8 (PG 26:1105–1108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-8). ## Against Apollinaris 1.9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-9 - Source: PG 26:1107–1110 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that calling Christ’s flesh consubstantial with the Godhead either denies the flesh descended from David or adds a fourth member to the Trinity. ### Greek text Πῶς οὖν ἔτι πιστοὶ ἡ Χριστιανοὶ νομισθείητε, τες μήτε τοῖς γενομένοις πειθόμενοι, ἀλλὰ τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν ὁρίζειν τολμῶντες; Ἡ μικρὸν ὑμῖν ἀνθρώποις παρέχειν ἀγῶνα, καὶ πῶς παρέχετε ἀγῶνα Κυρίῳ; Εἰ γὰρ οἱ προφήταις ἀπιστήσαντες κατεκρίθησαν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον οἱ μὴ πειθόμενοι αὐτῷ τῷ Δεσπότῃ; Ἃ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἠθέλησε καὶ εὐδόκησεν εἰς ἀθέτησιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου, πῶς ὑμεῖς ἕτερα ἀνθ᾽ ἑτέρων λέγειν ἢ φρονεῖν τολμᾶτε; Εἰ ὁμολογοῦμεν, κἀκεῖνος ὁμολογήσει ἡμᾶς· εἰ ἀρνούμεθα, κἀκεῖνος ἀρνήσεται ἡμᾶς · εἰ ἀπιστοῦμεν, ἐκεῖνος πιστὸς μένει· ἀρνήσασθαι γὰρ ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται. Τίς οὖν ὑμῶν ἡ τοσαύτη ἀπόνοια τῆς ἀμετρίας, λαλεῖν τὰ μὴ γεγραμμένα, καὶ φρονεῖν ἀλλότρια τῆς εὐσεβείας; Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὁμοούσιον τὴν σάρκα τῆς θεότητος λέγειν ἐπιχειρεῖτε, οὐ συνορῶντες διπλῆν ὑμῖν γενομένην τὴν ἀπάντησιν τῆς ἀσεβείας. Ταῦτα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐπινενόηται λέγειν, ἵνα ἢ τὴν σάρκα ἀρνήσησθε, ἢ τὴν θεότητα βλασφημήσητε, λέγοντες, φησίν· Ἡμεῖς τὸν ἐκ Μαρίας λέγομεν ὁμοούσιον τοῦ Πατρός. Αὕτη δὲ ὑμῶν ἡ νομιζομένη εὐφημία δειχθήσεται ἢ περίεργος ἢ ἀνόητος. Ἐπεὶ' τίς τῶν πιστῶν οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσειεν, ὅτι ὁ ἐπιδημήσας Θεὸς Λόγος, καὶ ἐκ Παρθένου τῆς ἁγίας Μαρίας προελθὼν ἄνθρωπος, ὁμοούσιος ὢν τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἐκ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, οὗ καὶ υἱὸς ἀναγέγραπται, καὶ ὅτι ὁ ὁμοούσιος τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος γέγονε κατὰ σάρκα υἱὸς τοῦ Δαβίδ; Διὸ καὶ ἐκ σπέρματος τοῦ Δαβὶδ προφῆται καὶ ἀπόστολοι σάρκα. Πῶς οὖν ταῦτα λέγοντες οὐκ ἐρυθριᾶτε, τὴν σάρκα, τὴν ἐκ σπέρματος Δαβὶδ γενεαλογουμένην, ὁμοούσιον τοῦ Λόγου ἀποφαινόμενοι; Ἢ πάλιν, ὡς τοῖς γεγραμμένοις πειθόμενοι, μήτε τοῖς γενομένοις ἔφαμεν, ἀνοήτως ταῦτα λέγετε, οὐ νοοῦντες, ὅτι τὸ ὁμοούσιον τὴν μὲν ταυτότητα τῆς φύσεως ἔχει τὴν δὲ ἰδίαν τελειότητα ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐπιδείκνυται. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ Υἱὸς, ὁμοούσιος πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα καθὰ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· ὁμοούσιος γὰρ ἡ Τριάς. Δώσετε οὖν καὶ τῇ ὁμοουσίῳ σαρκὶ τὴν τελειότητα πρὸς τῇ τοῦ Λόγου τελειότητι· ἔσται δὲ καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς τετρὰς ἀντὶ Τριάδος καταγγελλομένη. Καὶ τίς; ἡ τοσαύτη ἐπίνοια τῆς ἀσεβείας; ### English translation (Claude) How then could you still be thought faithful or Christians, … neither persuaded by what took place but daring to define things beyond nature? “Is it a small thing for you to give men trouble? And how do you give the Lord trouble?” For if those who disbelieved the prophets were condemned, how much more those who do not obey the Master himself? What he himself willed and was pleased to do for the abolition of sin and death, how do you dare to say or think other things in place of it? “If we confess, he too will confess us; if we deny, he too will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” What, then, is this great madness of your excess, to speak what is not written and to think what is foreign to piety? For you even attempt to call the flesh consubstantial with the Godhead, not seeing that the outcome of your impiety is double. For you have devised these words so that either you deny the flesh or you blaspheme the Godhead, saying—so it is reported—“We say that the one from Mary is consubstantial with the Father.” But this supposed reverence of yours will be shown to be either meddlesome or senseless. For which of the faithful would not confess that the God Word who came to dwell among us, and who came forth as man from the holy Virgin Mary, being consubstantial with the Father, became man from the seed of Abraham, whose son he is recorded to be, and that the Word consubstantial with God became son of David according to the flesh? That is why prophets and apostles [proclaim his] flesh from the seed of David. How then are you not ashamed to say these things, declaring the flesh, whose genealogy is traced from the seed of David, consubstantial with the Word? Or again, persuaded, as we said, neither by what is written nor by what took place, you say these things senselessly, not understanding that “consubstantial” holds identity of nature, while each displays its own perfection in itself. For as the Son is consubstantial with the Father, so also is the Holy Spirit; for the Trinity is consubstantial. You will then also give the consubstantial flesh its own perfection in addition to the perfection of the Word; and by your account a tetrad will be proclaimed instead of a Trinity. And what is this great invention of impiety? ### Scripture references - Isa 7:13: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 2:12: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 2:13: quotation, high confidence - Heb 2:16: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 1:1: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 1:3: allusion, high confidence - 2 Tim 2:8: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The opening quotation is Isa 7:13 (LXX); the second is 2 Tim 2:12–13. A word or line is lost after “Christians” in the scan OCR. “We say that the one from Mary is consubstantial with the Father” is the opponents’ formula as reported, translated as written. The sentence “That is why prophets and apostles … flesh from the seed of David” lacks its verb in the OCR; “proclaim his” is supplied by sense. The sentence beginning “Or again” is garbled (μήτε τοῖς γενομένοις ἔφαμεν) and is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.9 (PG 26:1107–1110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-9). ## Against Apollinaris 1.10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-10 - Source: PG 26:1109–1112 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues from John 1:14 that the Word became flesh, not the flesh Word, and from Scripture’s twofold language that the one Christ is both God and man. ### Greek text ᾿Αλλὰ λέγετε· Ὁμοούσιος γέγονε τοῦ Λόγου ἡ σάρξ. Πῶς γέγονεν ὁμοούσιος; Εἴπατε. Λόγος γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Πνεῦμα γέγονεν. Εἰ δὲ ὅλως γίνεται θεότης ἐκ μεταποιήσεως ἡ μὴ φύσει οὖσα θεότης, τί τοίνυν μέμφεσθε Αρειανοῖς, ταύτην περὶ τοῦ Λόγου προβαλλομένοις τὴν ἔννοιαν; Καίτοι τῆς Γραφῆς λεγούσης Ὁ Λόγος σάρξ γέγονεν, οὐχὶ Ἡ σὰρξ Λόγος γέγονεν, Ὁ Λόγος δὲ σάρξ γέγονεν, εἴρηται ὅτι τοῦ Λόγου γέγονεν ἡ σὰρξ, καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώπου τινός · τουτέστιν ὁ Θεὸς ἄνθρωπος γέγονε · καὶ λέγεται, Σὰρξ γέγονεν, ἵνα μὴ παραδράμητε τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ ὄνομα. Εἰ τοίνυν μὴ ἀρκεῖσθε τῇ ἀσυγχύτῳ φυσικῇ ἑνώσει τοῦ Λόγου πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτοῦ γενομένην σάρκα· καὶ ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἄνθρωπος γέγονε· νῦν οὔτε ἀκούετε, οὔτε πιστεύειν βούλεσθε, οὐκ ἀρκούμενοι ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἐπίνοιαν εὐφημίας σῶμα Θεοῦ ἀκούοντες, κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα· Ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸ σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ· ἥτις ἐστὶ σημασία τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, καὶ ἔτι λέγεται σῶμα τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὁ Κύριος δὲ λέγει· Ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου γενόμενον λέγει κριτήν τε ὄντα ζώντων καὶ νεκρῶν, καὶ βασιλέα καὶ Δεσπότην, καὶ Θεὸν ἀληθινόν. Ἀλλὰ ἀναιρεῖν βούλεσθε τὸ τοῦ σώματος ὄνομα, ἢ τὸ ἔτι λέγεσθαι ἄνθρωπον τὸν Χριστόν. Πῶς ἔτι τὰς θείας Γραφὰς ἀναγινώσκειν δύνασθε; τοῦ μὲν Ματθαίου γράφοντος· Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ Δαβίδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ· τοῦ δὲ Ἰωάννου· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Λό1 ἀδιαίρετον. σιν βούλεσθε θεωρεῖν, δύο καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἂν λέγοιντο εἰ δὲ πιστεύοιτε, διδασκόμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν, ὅτι Θεὸς ὧν ὁ Λόγος υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου γέγονε, γνώσεσθε, ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ Θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός · ἵνα τὸ διπλοῦν κήρυγμα τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπιδημίας εὐαπόδεικτον ἔχῃ τὴν πεισμονὴν τοῦ τε πάθους καὶ τῆς ἀπαθείας. Ὡς ὅταν λέγει ὁ ᾿Απόστολος· Ανθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς, ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων μοθέῳ δὲ γράφων ἔλεγε· Μνημόνευε Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐγηγερμένον ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐκ σπέρματος Δαβίδ· καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ πάλιν Τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ καταγγέλλομεν, ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθῃ. ### English translation (Claude) But you say: “The flesh became consubstantial with the Word.” How did it become consubstantial? Tell us. Did it become Word, and also become Spirit? If a Godhead comes to be at all by transformation, one that is not Godhead by nature, why then do you blame the Arians, who put forward this notion about the Word? Yet when Scripture says, “The Word became flesh”—not “The flesh became Word,” but “The Word became flesh”—it is said that the flesh became the Word’s, and not some man’s; that is, God became man. And it says “became flesh” so that you may not pass over the name of the flesh. If, then, you are not content with the unconfused natural union of the Word with the flesh that became his own, and that God became man, now you neither hear nor are willing to believe, not content to hear of the body of God, which is beyond every conception of reverence, as the one says: “Who will transform the body of our humiliation, so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory”—which signifies the age to come, and still it is called the body of his glory. And the Lord says, “When the Son of Man comes”: he calls the Son of God, who became son of man, judge of the living and the dead, King and Master, and true God. But you want to abolish the name of the body, or that Christ should still be called man. How can you still read the divine Scriptures? Matthew writes, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham”; and John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” … If you wish to see … by your account they would be called two; but if you believe, taught by the divine Scriptures, that the Word, being God, became son of man, you will know that Christ is one, the same both God and man, so that the twofold proclamation of his coming may have a well-demonstrated persuasion of both suffering and impassibility. As when the Apostle says, “The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for us,” “who is over all …”; and writing to Timothy he said, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, of the seed of David”; and again the same, “We proclaim his death until he comes.” ### Scripture references - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence - Phil 3:21: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:31: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 4:1: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 1:1: quotation, high confidence - John 1:1: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:6: quotation, high confidence - Rom 9:5: quotation, medium confidence - 2 Tim 2:8: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 11:26: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The opponents’ statement “The flesh became consubstantial with the Word” is translated as written. Lines are lost in the scan OCR after the quotation of John 1:1 (Λό1 ἀδιαίρετον …) and after “who is over all” (Rom 9:5); the surrounding sense is incomplete. “We proclaim his death until he comes” paraphrases 1 Cor 11:26. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.10 (PG 26:1109–1112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-10). ## Against Apollinaris 1.11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-11 - Source: PG 26:1111–1114 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that denying Christ’s flesh would make the Godhead of Father and Spirit subject to death, and confesses that the one Christ suffered in the flesh while remaining impassible as God. ### Greek text Εἰ οὖν ἐκ τῆς ὁμολογίας τοῦ ὁμοουσίου ἀναιρεῖτε τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ ὄνομα, καὶ τὸ ἄνθρωπον λέγεσθαι τὸν Χριστόν· ἢ οὐκέτι τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ καταγγέλλετε, ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθῃ, ἀναιροῦντες τὰς Γραφάς· ἢ τὸν θάνατον καταγγέλλοντες καθ' ὑμᾶς τοῦ ὁμοουσίου τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες σαρκὶ πεπονθέναι τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ αὐτὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς τὴν θεότητα καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐρεῖτε δεκτικὴν εἶναι θανάτου · καὶ γεγόνατε ἀσεβέστεροι πάντων τῶν αἱρετικῶν. Ὁ γὰρ θάνατος τῆς σαρκὸς, γέγονε τοῦ ὁμοουσίου Λόγου. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Πατήρ σάρκα ἐφόρεσεν, οὐδὲ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ὡς οἱ κατὰ Οὐαλεντῖνον ἀσεβοῦντες φαντάζονται· ἀλλ᾽ ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο. Διὸ ἡμεῖς, ὁμολογοῦντες Θεὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπον τὸν Χριστὸν, οὐ διαιρέσεως ἕνεκεν ταῦτα λέγομεν, μὴ γένοιτο! ἀλλὰ πάλιν κατὰ τὰς Γραφὰς, ἵνα πάθους καὶ θανάτου γενομένου καὶ καταγγελλομένου, ἄχρις οὗ ἔλθῃ ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς σαρκὸς τοῦ Λόγου τὸ πάθος καὶ τὸν θάνατον ὁμολογῶμεν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Λόγον, ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον πιστεύωμεν. Διὸ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ παθὼν καὶ μὴ παθών· τῇ μὲν θεϊκῇ φύσει ἀπαθὴς καὶ ἄτρεπτος καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος ὢν, τῇ δὲ σαρκὶ παθὼν, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος, καὶ θανάτου γεύσασθαι θελήσας ὅτι γέγονε μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστός, ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· τρος· Χριστοῦ οὖν παθόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σαρκὶ, καὶ ὅτι γέγονε μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων. Ὁ καὶ πάλιν· "Ὅτι γέγονε μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων. Ὁ δὲ μεσίτης ἑνὸς οὐκ ἔστιν· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς εἷς ἐστιν. ### English translation (Claude) If, then, by confessing the “consubstantial” you abolish the name of the flesh and Christ’s being called man, either you no longer proclaim his death until he comes, abolishing the Scriptures; or, proclaiming the death, by your account, of the one consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and not confessing that Christ suffered in the flesh, you will say that the very Godhead of the Father and of the Holy Spirit is capable of receiving death; and you have become more impious than all the heretics. For the death of the flesh became the death of the consubstantial Word. Neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit wore flesh, as the impious followers of Valentinus imagine; but the Word became flesh. That is why we, confessing Christ as God and man, do not say this for the sake of division—far from it!—but again according to the Scriptures, so that, since suffering and death took place and are proclaimed until he comes, we may confess the suffering and the death in respect of the flesh of the Word, but believe the Word himself to be unchangeable and unalterable. So he is the one who suffered and did not suffer: impassible, unchangeable, and unalterable in the divine nature, but having suffered in the flesh, as Peter said, and having willed to taste death, because he became mediator of God and men, the man Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for us. … [as Pe]ter [said]: “Christ therefore having suffered for us in the flesh”; and that he became mediator of God and men. And again: “that he became mediator of God and men.” “But a mediator is not of one; but God is one.” ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 11:26: allusion, high confidence - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 4:1: quotation, high confidence - Heb 2:9: allusion, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:6: quotation, high confidence - Gal 3:20: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The end of this section is disordered in the scan OCR: displaced lines repeat “he became mediator of God and men” (1 Tim 2:5) and place the end of “Peter” (τρος) before the quotation of 1 Pet 4:1; it is translated as printed. The remark on the Valentinians is the author’s polemic. The last sentence quotes Gal 3:20. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.11 (PG 26:1111–1114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-11). ## Against Apollinaris 1.12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-12 - Source: PG 26:1113–1116 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author teaches that the one impassible Word himself took flesh as his own, not coeternal or consubstantial with his Godhead, and likens the opponents’ view to the Arians, Marcion, and Mani. ### Greek text Διὸ πλανῶνται καὶ οἱ λέγοντες, ὅτι ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ παθὼν Υἱὸς, καὶ ἄλλος ὁ μὴ παθών. Οὐ γὰρ ἔτερός ἐστι παρὰ τὸν Λόγον ὁ τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὸ πάθος ἀναδεδεγμένος· ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ὁ ἀπαθὴς καὶ ἀσώματος Λόγος, γενέσεως σαρκὸς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀνασχόμενος, τὰ πάντα πεπλήρωκεν, ἵνα ἔχῃ τι, ὅ προσενέγκῃ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Καὶ λέγεται κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων οὐκ αὐτὸς ὁ ποιητὴς τῶν ἀγγέλων Λόγος κρείττων γέγονεν, ὡς ἥττων ὧν ποτε, ἀλλὰ ἡ μορφὴ τοῦ δούλου, ἣν αὐτὸς ὁ Λόγος ἰδιοποιήσατο φυσικῇ γεννήσει, κρείττων ἀνατείλασα ἐκ τῆς τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου γενέσεως, καὶ ἡμᾶς προσοικειοῦται, ὡς εἴρηται, συμπολίτας τῶν ἁγίων καὶ οἰκείους Θεοῦ γενομένους · καὶ κατὰ φύσιν Θεοῦ γέγονεν, ἰδία οὐχ ὁμοούσιος οὖσα ἡ σὰρξ τῆς τοῦ Λόγου θεότητος, ὡς συναΐδιος· ἀλλὰ ἰδία κατὰ φύσιν γενομένη, καὶ ἀδιαίρετος κατὰ ἕνωσιν, ἐκ σπέρματος Δαβίδ, καὶ τοῦ ᾿Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ τοῦ ᾿Ἀδὰμ ἐξ οὗ καὶ ἡμεῖς γεγεννήμεθα. Εἰ δὲ ὁμοούσιος τοῦ Λόγου ἡ σάρξ καὶ συναΐδιος, ἐκ τούτου ἐρεῖτε καὶ τὰ πάντα κτίσματα συναΐδια τῷ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι Θεῷ. Καὶ πῶς ἔτι Χριστιανοὶ, οἱ τοιαύταις συμπλεκόμενοι στραγγαλιαῖς; Τὸ γὰρ ὁμοούσιον καὶ ἀπαθὲς καὶ ἀνεπίδεκτον θανάτου, πρὸς τὸ ὁμοούσιον ἕνωσιν καθ᾽ ὑπόστασιν οὐκ ἐπιδεχόμενόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ φύσιν· καθ' ὑπόστασιν δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν τελειότητα ἐκδεικνύμενον "Ὥστε τῇ νομιζομένῃ ὑμῶν εὐφήμῳ ἐφευρέσει, ἢ τὴν ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου τῆς Θεοτόκου σάρκα ἀρνεῖσθε, ἢ τὴν θεότητα βλασφημεῖτε. Εἰ δὲ οὕτω καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν ὁμολογεῖτε ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὡς τὴν σάρκα τὴν παθοῦσαν καὶ τί ἔτι ἡμᾶς μέμφεσθε, ὡς τετράδα ἀντὶ Τριάδος λέγοντας, αὐτοὶ τετράδα ἀντὶ Τριάδος καὶ ἄκοντες ὁμολογοῦντες, λέγοντες ὁμοουσίαν εἶναι τῇ Τριάδι τὴν σάρκα; Τοίνυν ματαία ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἐστιν· ἴσα γὰρ φρονεῖτε τῶν ἀσεβῶν ᾿Αρειανῶν, κακῶς ἐκλαμβάνοντες τὸ, Ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο Ὁ Λόγος δὲ σάρξ ἐγένετο, οὐχ ἵνα ὁ Λόγος μηκέτι ᾗ Λόγος· ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα ἐν σαρκὶ ἡ ὁ Λόγος, σάρξ ἐγένετο, ἵνα καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἀεὶ ᾗ Λόγος, καὶ σάρκα ἔχῃ ὁ Λόγος, ἐν ᾗ τὸ πάθος καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀνεδέξατο ἐν μορφῇ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ, μέχρι τάφου καὶ ἄδου ἐπιβὰς, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν πεποίηται, σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος καὶ ψυχῆς τὴν ἐπίδει σαρκὸς, ὡς γέγραπται, ἐκ σπέρματος Δαβίδ. Τί γὰρ ἕτερον παρ' ὑμᾶς εἴρηκε Μαρκίων; Οὐχὶ οὐρανοφανὲς τὸ σῶμα ἐν ὁμοιώσει ἀνθρωπίνῃ καὶ οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ; Τί δὲ ἄλλο εἴρηκε Μανιχαῖος; Οὐ θεοειδὲς, οὐ τὸ σῶμα ἐν ὁμοιώσει τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς μόνῃ, ἀλλότριον δὲ σαρκὸς ἀνθρωπίνης, ἧς τὴν φύσιν ἁμαρτίαν λέγει ἀσεβῶν, καὶ οὐ τὴν πρᾶξιν; Τοιαύτη τουτων ἡ ἀσέβεια. ### English translation (Claude) That is why those also err who say that the Son who suffered is one and the Son who did not suffer is another. For it is not someone else than the Word who received death and suffering; but the impassible and incorporeal Word himself, enduring the birth of human flesh, fulfilled all things, so that he might have something to offer for us. And when he is said to have become “better than the angels,” it is not the Word himself, the maker of the angels, who became better, as though he had once been less; but the form of the servant, which the Word himself made his own by natural birth, rose up better than the origin of the first-formed, and makes us his own, who have become, as it is said, “fellow citizens of the saints and members of God’s household.” And it became God’s own by nature: the flesh is his own, not consubstantial with the Godhead of the Word as though coeternal with it, but become his own by nature and inseparable by union, from the seed of David, of Abraham, and of Adam, from whom we too have been born. But if the flesh is consubstantial with the Word and coeternal, you will say from this that all created things too are coeternal with God who created all things. And how are they still Christians who are entangled in such twisted knots? For what is consubstantial, impassible, and incapable of death does not admit union with what is consubstantial with it by hypostasis, but by nature; by hypostasis it displays its own perfection. So by your supposedly reverent invention you either deny the flesh from the Virgin Theotokos or you blaspheme the Godhead. But if you confess the Son consubstantial with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, in the same way as the flesh that suffered … and why do you still blame us as saying a tetrad instead of a Trinity, when you yourselves, even against your will, confess a tetrad instead of a Trinity in saying that the flesh is consubstantial with the Trinity? Then your faith is vain; for you think the same as the impious Arians, wrongly taking “The Word became flesh.” The Word became flesh not so that the Word should no longer be Word, but so that the Word might be in flesh; he became flesh so that the Word might always be Word and the Word might have flesh, in which he received suffering and death in human form, setting foot as far as the tomb and Hades, and in which he also accomplished the resurrection from the dead, giving proof of flesh and blood and soul … flesh, as it is written, “from the seed of David.” For what else than you did Marcion say? Was it not that the body appeared from heaven, in human likeness and not in truth? And what else did the Manichaean say? Was it not that the body was godlike, in likeness only to ours, but foreign to human flesh, whose nature, not its action, he impiously calls sin? Such is the impiety of these men. ### Scripture references - Heb 8:3: allusion, high confidence - Heb 1:4: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Eph 2:19: quotation, high confidence - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence - Rom 1:3: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Fragments of Migne’s variant readings printed into the text after “giving proof” (καὶ οἰκεῖοι … ἐν, του) are removed; a line of the main text is lost there. Another line is lost after “the flesh that suffered.” The sentence on union “by hypostasis … by nature” is obscure in the Greek and is translated literally. The descriptions of Marcion and Mani are the author’s polemic. The work’s attribution to Athanasius is disputed. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.12 (PG 26:1113–1116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-12). ## Against Apollinaris 1.13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-1/#p-1-13 - Source: PG 26:1115–1118 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that the one Christ is both God and man, that the “inner man” is the human soul, and that Christ’s soul went to Hades while his body lay in the tomb. ### Greek text Διὸ οὐ δεῖ τὸν εὐσεβοῦντα τοιαύταις χρῆσθαι ἐπινοίαις· ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ὁ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων ὁμοούσιος ὧν λέγεται ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ Θεὸς λέγεται ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ κου. Παρθένου τὴν τοῦ ᾿Αδὰμ πλάσιν καὶ ποίησιν καινὴν ἀνεστήσατο, ἰδιοποιησάμενος καθ' ἕνωσιν· καὶ οὕτως ὤφθη ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστὸς, ὁ πρὸ αἰώνων Θεός. Καί ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς μέλη Χριστοῦ, ὡς γέγραπται, ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ. Τις οὖν ἡ τοσαύτη ὑμῶν φιλονεικία τῶν ἐφευρέσεων, ὥστε ἀνθρωπίνῃ φρονήσει ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην νόησιν ὁρίζεσθαι, λέγοντες· Ἀντὶ τοῦ ἔσωθεν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνθρώπου νοῦς ἐπουράνιος ἐν Χριστῷ; Ὢ τῆς ἀθέσμου γνώμης, καὶ τῶν ἀσθενῶν καὶ ἀπρεπῶν ῥημάτων, τῶν μὴ νοούντων πρῶτον τοῦτο, ὅτι Χριστὸς μονοτρόπως οὐ λέγεται, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ὀνόματι ἑνὶ ὄντι ἑκατέρων τῶν πραγμάτων δείκνυται σημασία, θεότητός τε καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος. Διὸ καὶ ἄνθρωπος Θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός. Μάταιον οὖν ὑμῶν τὸ σόφισμα ἐπιχειρούντων ἕτερόν τι παρὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐν αὐτῷ θεωρεῖν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ καταχρηστικῶς λεγόμενοι Χριστοὶ, ἴσως καθ' ὑμᾶς ἂν θεωροῖντο· ὁ δὲ κατὰ φύσιν μόνος ἀληθινὸς Χριστὸς οὐχ ὑπὸ ἀνθρωπίνου λογισμοῦ διαγραφήσεται, ὥσπερ ὑμεῖς τολμᾶτε καὶ αὐθάδεις γεγόνατε. Οὐδὲ γὰρ προφήτης, οὐδὲ ἀπόστολος, οὔτε τις τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν ταῦτα ἐφθέγξατο, ἃ ὑμεῖς λαλεῖν ἐπιχειρεῖτε, ἀναιδεῖς τὴν ψυχὴν γεγονότες. Εἰ γὰρ ἕτερός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς παρὰ τὸν ἐπουράνιον νοῦν τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ γενόμενον, τέλειος δὲ καὶ ὁ νοῦς, δύο ἄρα καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς· καὶ ὅπερ Νοῦν δὲ ἐπουράνιον καὶ οἱ προφῆται ἐσχήκασιν, οἱ τες. Διατί δὲ ὅλως ταῦτα λέγειν ἐπινοεῖτε, ὡς τοῦ ἔσωθεν ἡμῶν ἀνθρώπου οὐχ ὁμολογουμένου ἐν Χριστῷ; Τί οὖν περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐρεῖτε, ὅτι καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ ὁ ἔξωθέν ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἂν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα. Μox είποι τις, τὸ αἷμα καὶ τὴν σάρκα; ᾿Αλλ' ὥσπερ τὸ σῶμὰ καὶ τὸ αἷμα οὐ διαφεύγουσι τὴν ψηλάφησιν καὶ τὴν τρῶσιν ὁρατὰ ὄντα, δείξατε ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μὴ διαφεύγουσαν ταῦτα, καὶ ὁρατὴν οὖσαν. Ἢ, εἰ μὴ δύνασθε δείξαι, φανερός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, ὅτι οὔτε ὁρᾶται ψυχὴ, οὔτε ἀποκτείνεται ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου ὥσπερ τὸ σῶμα, καθὼς εἴρηκεν ὁ Κύριος. Πείσθητε οὖν, ὅτι ὁ ἔσωθεν ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή· τοῦτο καὶ τῆς πρώτης πλάσεως δεικνυούσης, καὶ τῆς δευτέρας διαλύσεως δηλούσης· οὐ μόνον ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν τούτων δεικνυμένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ θανάτῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐδείκνυτο· τὸ μέν τοι, μέχρι τάφου φθάσαν· ἡ δὲ, μέχρι ᾄδου διαβᾶσα. Διαιρετῶν δὲ ὄντων τῶν τόπων πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ, καὶ τοῦ μὲν τάφου σωματικὴν ἐπιδεχομένου τὴν ἐπίβασιν, ἐκεῖσε παρῆν τὸ σῶμα, τοῦ δὲ ᾅδου ἀσώματον. ### English translation (Claude) Therefore the pious man must not use such inventions, but [must confess] that Christ is said to be the one who is consubstantial before the ages, and Christ is called God, and … from the Virgin he raised up the formation of Adam as a new making, making it his own by union; and thus Christ, God before the ages, appeared as man. And we are members of Christ, as it is written, “of his flesh and of his bones.” What, then, is this great contentiousness of your inventions, that by human wisdom you define things beyond human understanding, saying, “In Christ a heavenly mind takes the place of the inner man that is in us”? What a lawless opinion, what weak and unseemly words, from men who do not understand this first: that Christ is not spoken of in one way only, but in the very name, which is one, the meaning of both realities is shown, of Godhead and of humanity. That is why Christ is God and man, and Christ is one. Vain, then, is your sophism, when you attempt to see in him something other than Christ. Those who are called “christs” loosely might perhaps be seen your way; but the only true Christ by nature will not be sketched by human reasoning, as you dare to do, and have become self-willed. For neither prophet nor apostle nor any of the evangelists uttered the things you attempt to say, having become shameless in soul. For if Christ is other than the heavenly mind that came to be in him, and the mind too is perfect, then by your account there are two. And what … but the prophets too had a heavenly mind, … Why do you devise saying these things at all, as though the inner man of ours were not confessed in Christ? What then will you say about the soul? That both the body and the soul are the outer man …, as one might say, the blood and the flesh? But as the body and the blood, being visible, do not escape touching and wounding, show us that the soul too does not escape these and is visible. Or if you cannot show it, the account is plain: the soul is neither seen nor killed by man, as the body is, as the Lord said. Be persuaded, then, that the inner man of ours is the soul. The first formation shows this and the second, the dissolution, makes it plain: this is shown not only in us but was shown also in the very death of Christ: the one, the body, reached as far as the tomb; the other, the soul, passed over as far as Hades. The places being separated by a great distance, and the tomb admitting a bodily entrance, the body was present there; but Hades [admitted] an incorporeal [entrance]. ### Scripture references - Eph 5:30: quotation, high confidence - Rom 7:22: echo, low confidence - Matt 10:28: allusion, high confidence - Acts 2:31: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Several lines of the scan OCR are lost or garbled: after “Christ is called God, and” (κου.), after “And what” (ὅπερ), and around “the outer man … the blood and the flesh” (ὡς ἂν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα. Μox …), which is translated by sense. A displaced marginal line (λέγεται ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ Θεός …) is removed. “Of his flesh and of his bones” is Eph 5:30 (in the longer reading of the verse). The opponents’ formula is quoted as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.13 (PG 26:1115–1118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-13). ## Against Apollinaris 1.14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-14 - Source: PG 26:1117–1120 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that God’s twofold sentence on Adam sent body to the tomb and soul to Hades, and that Christ freed the whole man by entering both with a complete human nature. ### Greek text Πῶς ἐκεῖ παρὼν ὁ Κύριος ἀσωμάτως, ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἐνομίσθη ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου; ἵνα ψυχαῖς ταῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς κατεχομέναις, μορφὴν ἰδίας ψυχῆς ἀνεπίδεκτον ὡς δεκτικὴν τῶν δεσμῶν τοῦ θανάτου δεσμὰ ψυχῶν τῶν ἐν ᾅδῃ κατεχομένων, τὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως διαπηξάμενος ὅρον· ἵνα ὁ πλάστης καὶ ποιητὴς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ καταδίκῃ τοῦτον ὑποβαλὼν, αὐτὸς παρὼν, ἐλευθερώσῃ δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ἐξ ὁλοκλήρου τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐν μορφῇ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ. Οὔτε γὰρ θάνατος ὑπερισχύσας ὑπηγάγετο ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην τοῦ Λόγου ψυχὴν εἰς δεσμῶν κατοχήν· οὔτε πάλιν ἡ φθορὰ τυραννικῶς διαρπάσασα τὸ σῶμα ἐνεργεῖ εἰς διαφθοράν, ὡς ἀπρονοήτων ὄντων τῶν πραγμάτων. Οὕτως γὰρ ἐννοεῖν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀσεβές· ἀλλ᾽ ὁ τὴν ἐξέτασιν τῆς παρακοῆς ποιησάμενος καὶ κρίσιν ἐπαγαγὼν διπλῆν τῆς τιμωρίας τὴν ἀπόφασιν δέδωκε· τῷ μὲν γηΐνῳ εἰρηκώς· Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ· καὶ οὕτως ὑποδέχεται φθορὰ τὸ ἀποθανῇ· καὶ οὕτως διχῆ διαιρεῖται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ἐν δυσὶ τόποις οἴχεσθαι καταδικάζεται Διὰ τοῦτο χρεία γέγονε τοῦ ἀποφηναμένου, ἵνα αὐτὸς δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ λύσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀπόφασιν, ἐν μορφῇ τοῦ ὀφθείς· ἵνα καὶ ἡ καταλλαγὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον γένηται, καὶ ἡ ἐλευθερία τοῦ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου δι' ἀνθρώπου ὑπάρξῃ, ἐν τῇ καινότητι αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ. τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. ρίου ἡμῶν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἕτερον τόπον καταδίκης δεῖξαι δύνασθε, εἰκότως ἂν λέγοιτε τριχῆ διαιρεῖσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· καὶ ἐκ μὲν τῶν δύο τόπων τὴν ἀνάκλησιν γεγονέναι, ἐν δὲ τῷ τρίτῳ μένειν ἐν δεσμοῖς τὸ δεδεμένον. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἔχετε δεῖξαι ἕτερον τόπον παρὰ τὸν τάφον καὶ τὸν ἄδην, ἐξ ὧν ἠλευθέρωται τελείως ὁ ἄνθρωπος, Χριστοῦ ἐλευθερώσαντος ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς μορφῇ τελείᾳ καὶ ἀληθεστάτῃ· πῶς ἔτι ταῦτα λέγετε, ὡς οὐδέπω καταλλαγέντος τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι τοῦ Θεοῦ; Πῶς οὖν ἐπεδήμησεν ὁ Σωτήρ; ἢ ὡς ἀδύνατος τὸν σύμπαντα λῦσαι ἄνθρωπον ; ἢ ὡς βδελυξάμενος τὸν ἅπαξ ἁμαρτήσαντα νοῦν; ἢ ὡς δεδοικὼς μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς μέτοχος - γένηται τῆς ἁμαρτίας, εἰ τέλειος γένηται ἄνθρωπος, Θεὸς ὧν; ᾿Αλλ' ἀσεβείας ἔμπλεοι οἱ ταῦτα οὕτως ἐν νοοῦντες. Τί γὰρ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁριζόμενοι ταῦτα λαλεῖτε, φυσικὴν εἶναι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν λέγοντες, κατὰ τὸν ἀσεβέστατον Μανιχαῖον; ### English translation (Claude) How, when the Lord was present there incorporeally, was he reckoned by death as a man? So that to the souls held in bonds he might [show] the form of his own soul, which could not receive the bonds, as though capable of the bonds of death, [and loose] the bonds of the souls held in Hades, fixing the boundary of the resurrection; so that the one who formed and made man, and subjected him to condemnation, being present himself, might free man wholly through himself in his own form. For death did not prevail and lead the human soul of the Word into bonds; nor again did corruption, seizing the body like a tyrant, work it into corruption, as though things were without providence. To think such a thing is impious. But he who made inquiry into the disobedience and brought judgment gave a twofold sentence of punishment, saying to the earthly part, “Earth you are, and to earth you will depart”; and so corruption receives … “you will die”; and so man is divided in two and is condemned to go to two places. For this reason there was need of the one who pronounced the sentence, that he himself through himself might loose his own sentence, appearing in the form of [man]; so that both the reconciliation of God with man might take place, and the freedom of the whole man might come about through a man, in the newness of Jesus himself … our [Lord]. If you could show another place of condemnation, you might reasonably say that man is divided in three, that the recall took place from two places, and that what was bound remains in bonds in the third. But if you cannot show another place than the tomb and Hades, from which man has been completely freed, Christ having freed us in his own form, like ours, perfect and most true, how can you still say these things, as if God had not yet been reconciled to humanity? How then did the Saviour come among us? As unable to loose the whole man? Or as loathing the mind that had once sinned? Or as fearing that he too might become a sharer in sin if he became a perfect man, being God? Those who think these things in this way are full of impiety. For why, when you define things about sin, do you say these things, calling sin natural, after the most impious Manichaean? ### Scripture references - 1 Pet 3:19: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 3:19: quotation, high confidence - Gen 2:17: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Cor 5:19: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Lines are lost or garbled in the scan OCR: in the first sentence (verbs supplied in brackets by sense), after “corruption receives” (τὸ ἀποθανῇ, perhaps from Gen 2:17), after “in the form of,” and in the phrase about “the newness of Jesus himself … our Lord” (Ἰησοῦ. τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. ρίου ἡμῶν), where variant readings seem to have been printed into the text. The descent to Hades recalls 1 Pet 3:19. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.14 (PG 26:1117–1120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14). ## Against Apollinaris 1.15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-15 - Source: PG 26:1119–1122 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that sin is not natural but entered through disobedience, and that Christ’s grief and trouble prove he took a rational human soul, against both Arians and Apollinarians. ### Greek text Ταῦτα οὕτως φρονεῖτε κατήγοροι γινόμενος τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῆς φύσεως Ὅτε τὸν ᾿Ἀδὰμ ἀρχῆθεν ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς, μήτιγε σύμφυτον αὐτῷ δέδωκε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν; Τίς οὖν ἔτι χρεία ἦν τῆς ἐντολῆς; πῶς δὲ αὐτὸν κατεδίκασεν ἁμαρτήσαντα ; πῶς δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς παρακοῆς οὐκ ἐγίνωσκε καλὸν καὶ πονηρὸν ὁ ᾿Αδάμ; Ὃν ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ εἰκόνι τῆς ἰδίας ἀϊδιότητος, ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν φύσιν ἀναμάρτητον, καὶ θέλησιν αὐτεξούσιον· Φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἐκ παρακοῆς ἐντολῆς Θεοῦ γέγονεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος δεκτικὸς τῆς ἐπισπορᾶς τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. Καὶ ἐνήργει λοιπὸν ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῇ φύσει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πρὸς πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν· οὐ φύσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἐργασαμένου τοῦ διαβόλου, μὴ γένοιτο! οὐδὲ γὰρ φύσεως ἂν εἴη δημιουργὸς ὁ διάβολος, κατὰ τὴν τῶν Μανιχαίων ἀσέβειαν· ἀλλὰ φύσεως παρατροπὴν ἐκ παραβάσεως εἰργάσατο· καὶ οὕτως ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θάνατος πάντων ἀνθρώπων. Διὰ τοῦτο οὖν, φησὶν, ἦλθεν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα λύσῃ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου Ποῖα ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου ἔλυσεν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ; ὅτι φύσιν, ἣν ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀναμάρτητον, παρέτρεψεν ὁ διάβολος εἰς παράβασιν ἐντολῆς Θεοῦ, καὶ εὔρεσιν ἁμαρτίας θανάτου, ταύτην ἑαυτῷ ἀνεστήσατο ὁ Θεὸς καὶ εὐρέσεως ἁμαρτίας Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν ὁ Κύριος· Ερχεται ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ εὑρίσκει οὐδέν. Εἰ δὲ ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου οὐδὲν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πραγμάτων ηὕρισκεν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὁ Χριστὸς οὐδὲν τῆς ἰδίας ποιήσεως προσκατέλιπε τῷ ἄρχοντι τοῦ κόσμου τούτου. Η καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲν ηὕρισκεν ἐν αὐτῷ τελείαν τὴν καινότητα ἐπιδειξαμένου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα τελείαν τὴν σωτηρίαν κατεργάσηται ὅλου τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ψυχῆς λογικῆς καὶ σώματος, ἵνα τελεία ᾗ καὶ ἀνάστασις. Μάτην οὖν ᾿Αρειανοὶ σοφίζονται, σάρκα μόνην ὑποτιθέμενοι ἀνειληφέναι τὸν Σωτῆρα, τὴν δὲ τοῦ πάθους νόησιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπαθῆ θεότητα ἀναφέροντες ἀσεβῶς. Μάτην δὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς καθ' ἑτέραν ἐπίνοιαν τὰ ἴσα τούτοις φρονοῦντες, λέγετε τῷ περιέχοντι σχήματι, τουτέστι τῷ ὀργανικῷ προσκεχρῆσθαι· ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ἔσωθεν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνθρώπου, νοῦς ἐπουράνιος ἐν Χριστῷ. Καὶ πῶς ἦν λυπούμενος καὶ ἀδημονῶν, καὶ προσευχόμενος; Καὶ, Ἐταράχθη δὲ τῷ πνεύματι ὁ Ἰησοῦς, γέγραπται. Ταῦτα δὲ οὔτε σαρκὸς ἀνοήτου ἂν εἴη, οὔτε θεότητος ἀτρέπτου, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς νόησιν ἐχούσης, λυπουμένης καὶ ταραττομένης, καὶ ἀδημονούσης, καὶ νοητῶς ἐπαισθα ### English translation (Claude) Do you think these things so, becoming accusers of the creator of nature? When God formed Adam at the beginning, did he give him sin as part of his nature? What need, then, was there any longer of the commandment? How did he condemn him when he sinned? And how did Adam not know good and evil before the disobedience? The one whom God formed for incorruption and as an image of his own eternity, he made sinless in nature and self-determining in will. “But through the envy of the devil death entered the world,” and from disobedience to God’s commandment man became receptive of the enemy’s sowing. And thereafter sin worked in the nature of man toward every desire—not that the devil made a nature in him, far from it! For the devil could not be the creator of a nature, as the Manichaeans impiously hold; but he worked a perversion of nature through transgression; and so death reigned over all men. “For this reason,” it says, “the Son of God came, to undo the works of the devil.” What works of the devil did the Son of God undo? The nature that God made sinless the devil turned aside to the transgression of God’s commandment and the invention of sin [and] death; this God raised up for himself, [free from death] and from the invention of sin. And for this reason the Lord said, “The ruler of this world is coming, and finds nothing in me.” If the ruler of this world found none of his own things in Christ, much more did Christ leave nothing of his own making behind for the ruler of this world. Or rather, he found nothing in him for this reason: Christ had displayed the newness perfectly, so as to accomplish the perfect salvation of the whole man, rational soul and body, so that the resurrection too might be perfect. In vain, then, do the Arians play the sophist, supposing that the Saviour took up flesh only, and impiously referring the perception of suffering to the impassible Godhead. In vain too do you, thinking the same as they by another notion, say that he made use of the enclosing form, that is, the instrument, and that in Christ a heavenly mind takes the place of the inner man that is in us. And how was he grieving, distressed, and praying? And it is written, “Jesus was troubled in spirit.” These things could belong neither to flesh without mind nor to the unchangeable Godhead, but to a soul that has understanding, grieving, troubled, distressed, and perceiving with the mind … ### Scripture references - Gen 2:17: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 5:14: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 5:17: allusion, medium confidence - 1 John 3:8: quotation, high confidence - John 14:30: quotation, high confidence - Matt 26:37: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:38: allusion, high confidence - Luke 22:44: allusion, medium confidence - John 13:21: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 2:23-24 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - A block of Migne’s marginal summaries or variant readings printed into the text (γονέναι … δεδοικότος μὴ καὶ αὐτ.) is removed. The clause “this God raised up for himself … from the invention of sin” is garbled in the scan OCR and is translated by sense. The section ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost. The quotation “through the envy of the devil” is Wis 2:24 (2:23 is echoed in the sentence before). The claim that the Arians held the Saviour took flesh without a soul is the author’s, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.15 (PG 26:1119–1122; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-15). ## Against Apollinaris 1.16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-16 - Source: PG 26:1121–1124 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that Christ’s troubled soul was really his own, so that the one Christ is perfect God and perfect man without change, division, or moral progress. ### Greek text Εἰ δὲ τοίνυν ταῦτα οὕτω νοεῖν οὐ βούλεσθε, βλασφημίας καὶ ἀληθείας, ποίαν ἕλοισθε ἄν; Τῷ γὰρ ὑπονοεῖν δοκήσει εἰρῆσθαι τὰ εἰρημένα, φαντασία ἂν νομισθείη καὶ τὰ γενόμενα. Εἰ δὲ ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας εἴρηται, ἀλλοτρία δὲ καθόλου ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ ρίου ἐγεγόνει τῆς ἰδίας νοήσεως, Θεὸν τὸν Λόγον ἔχουσα νοῦν, τετράφθαι τὸ ἄτρεπτον εἰς λύπην, καὶ ἀδημονίαν, καὶ ταραχὴν τὸ ἐννοεῖν ἀσεβές ἐστι· κἂν λέγῃ τὰ Εὐαγγέλια, ὅτι Ἐταράχθη Ἰησοῦς τῷ πνεύματι· ἀλλὰ δείκνυσι τὸν νοῦν ὁ Κύριος ἰδίας νόησιν ὁ Κύριος ἐπιδείκνυται, εἰς συμπάθειαν τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς, ἵνα οὕτω καὶ αὐτοῦ νοήσωμεν εἶναι τὸ πάθος, καὶ αὐτὸν ἀπαθῆ ὁμολογῶμεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τῷ αἵματι τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ ἐλυτρώσατο ἡμᾶς, οὕτω καὶ τῇ νοήσει τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ τὴν νίκην ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐπιδείκνυται, λέγων· Ἐγὼ νενίκηκα νίκος. ᾿Αλλ' ὥσπερ τὸ αἷμα οὐκ ἂν κοινὸν τοῖς εὐσεβέσι νοηθείη, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἀπίστοις, ἀλλὰ σωτήριον· οὕτως καὶ ἡ νόησις λεγομένη, οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ἀσθενείᾳ περικειμένη ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ φύσιν ἐπιδεικνυμένη. Καὶ οὕτως ἂν λέγοιτο τέλειος Θεὸς καὶ τέλειος ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστός· οὐχ ὡς τῆς θεϊκῆς τελειότητος εἰς ἀνθρωπίνην τελειότητα μεταποιηθείσης, ὅ ἐστιν ἀσεβές· οὔτε μὴν ὡς δύο τελειοτήτων κατὰ διαίρεσιν ὁμολογουμένων, ὅ ἐστιν ἀλλότριον εὐσεβείας· οὔτε δὲ κατὰ προκοπὴν ἀρετῆς, καὶ πρόσληψιν δικαιοσύνης, μὴ γένοιτο! ἀλλὰ καθ᾽ ὕπαρξιν ἀνελλιπῆ· ἵνα εἷς ᾗ τὰ ἑκάτερα, τέλειος κατὰ πάντα, Θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἔλεγε· Νῦν ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται, καὶ κατώδυνός ἐστι. Τὸ δὲ νῦν, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, ὅτε τὸ μὴ ὂν ὡς παρὸν ὠνόμαζεν, ὡς δοκήσει λεγομένων τῶν γινομένων· φύσει γὰρ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο. ### English translation (Claude) If, then, you are unwilling to understand these things so, which would you choose, blasphemy or truth? For if one supposes that what is said was said in appearance, what took place would also be thought an illusion. But if it was said in truth, while the soul of the Lord had become wholly foreign to its own understanding, having God the Word as its mind, then [it follows that] the unchangeable was changed into grief, distress, and trouble—which is impious to think—even though the Gospels say, “Jesus was troubled in spirit.” Rather, the Lord displays the understanding as his own, in fellow-feeling with our soul, so that in this way we may understand the suffering to be his and yet confess him impassible. For as by the blood of his flesh he redeemed us, so by the understanding of his soul he displays the victory on our behalf, saying, “I have won the victory.” But as the blood would not be thought common by the pious, as it is by unbelievers, but saving, so too the understanding spoken of is not clothed in human weakness but displays the nature of God. And so Christ would be called perfect God and perfect man: not as though the divine perfection had been transformed into human perfection, which is impious; nor as though two perfections were confessed in division, which is foreign to piety; nor by progress in virtue and the addition of righteousness, far from it! but by an existence lacking nothing, so that the one is both, perfect in all respects, the same God and man. For this is why the Lord said, “Now my soul is troubled and in anguish.” The “now” shows that he was not naming as present what was not, as though what took place were spoken in appearance; for all things took place by nature and in truth. ### Scripture references - John 13:21: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 1:19: echo, low confidence - John 16:33: allusion, low confidence - Heb 10:29: allusion, medium confidence - John 12:27: quotation, high confidence - Matt 26:38: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Fragments of Migne’s marginal text and variant readings printed in the middle of the word τελειότητος (ἑαυτῷ. λογικῆς … γεγόνασιν,) are removed; “of the Lord” restores a word whose first letters were lost (τοῦ …ρίου). “I have won the victory” loosely recalls John 16:33. The quoted saying combines John 12:27 with the language of Matt 26:38. The explanation of “now” is compressed in the Greek and is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.16 (PG 26:1121–1124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-16). ## Against Apollinaris 1.17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-17 - Source: PG 26:1123–1126 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that the sinless Word took a full human nature, giving body for body and soul for soul, so that his body lay in the tomb and his soul entered Hades to free the whole man. ### Greek text Φύσει οὖν καὶ οὐ θέσει τοῦ Κυρίου ἀνθρώπου γενομένου, οὔτε κατὰ φύσιν, οὔτε κατὰ πρᾶξιν ἀνθυποφθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσηται ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ τὸ φέρειν ὑμᾶς δυνατόν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῷ Δημιουργῷ. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ φύσει καὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως ἡ μάχη ἔτι γίνεται, καὶ τῆς ἐπισπορᾶς ἡ προσχώρησις διὰ τὸ ἡμῶν ἀσθενές· ἡ δὲ τοῦ Λόγου σάρκωσις κατὰ φύσιν Θεοῦ γενομένη, ἀνεπίδεκτος γέγονε τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς παλαιότητος ἔτι πολιτευομένων πραγμάτων· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο διδασκόμεθα ἀπεκδύσασθαι τὸν παλαιὸν καὶ ἐπενδύσασθαι τὸν νέον. Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὸ θαυμαστὸν, ὅτι καὶ ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας· ὅτι καινότης ὅλη γέγονεν, ἵνα ἐνδείξηται τὸ δυνατὸν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὅσα μὲν αὐτὸς συνέταξε θελήσας τῇ φύσει, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνεδέξατο, ὅσα ἠθέλησε, τουτέστι γεννήσεως τῆς ἐκ γυναικὸς, αὐξήσεώς τε ἡλικίας, ἐτῶν ἀριθμήσεως, κόπου, καὶ πείνης, καὶ δίψης, καὶ ὕπνου, καὶ λύπης, καὶ θανάτου, καὶ ἀναστάσεως. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὅπου διεφθάρη τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου σῶμα, ἐκεῖ προΐεται Ἰησοῦς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα· καὶ ὅπου κεκράτητο ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη ἐν θανάτῳ, ἐκεῖ ἐπιδείκνυται ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχὴν ἰδίαν οὖσαν, ἵνα καὶ παρῇ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀκράτητος ἐν θανάτῳ, καὶ λύσῃ τὴν κράτησιν τοῦ θανάτου, ὡς Θεός ἵνα ὅπου ἐσπάρη ἡ φθορά, ἐκεῖ ἀνατείλῃ ἡ ἀφθαρσία· καὶ ὅπου ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θάνατος ἐν μορφῇ ψυχῆς ἀνθρωπίνης, παρὼν ὁ ἀθάνατος ἐπιδείξηται τὴν ἀθανασίαν· καὶ οὕτως ἡμᾶς μετόχους καταστήσῃ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀφθαρσίας καὶ ἀθανασίας ἐν ἐλπίδι ἀναστάσεως τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν· ὅπως ἂν καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσηται ἀθανασίαν, ὡς γέγραπται· ἵν᾽, ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθε, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος, οὕτως καὶ δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ χάρις βασιλεύσῃ διὰ δικαιοσύνης εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καθὼς γέγραπται. Πῶς οὖν λέγετε, ᾿Αντὶ τοῦ ἔσωθεν ἀνθρώπου τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν, νοῦς ἐπουράνιος ἐν Χριστῷ; Μήτιγε, διχῆ μερίσας τὸ ἔξωθεν καὶ τὸ ἔσωθεν καὶ ἐν τάφῳ ἐπεδείκνυτο καὶ ἐν ᾅδῃ; ᾿Αλλ' οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν ἕτερον ἀνθ᾽ ἑτέρου ἀντιδοῦναι λύτρον· ἀλλὰ σῶμα ἀντὶ σώματος, καὶ ψυχὴν ἀντὶ ψυχῆς δέδωκε, καὶ τελείαν ὕπαρξιν ὑπὲρ ὅλου ἀνθρώπου· τοῦτ' ἔστι τὸ ἀντάλλαγμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅ ὠνείδισαν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ οἱ ἐχθροὶ τῆς ζωῆς Ἰουδαῖοι παραπορευόμενοι, καὶ κινοῦντες τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν. Οὔτε γὰρ ὁ ἄδης ἤνεγκεν ἀπαρακαλύπτου θεότητος ἐπίβασιν· τοῦτο καὶ προφῆται καὶ ἀπόστολοι μαρτυροῦσιν. ### English translation (Claude) Since, then, the Lord became man by nature and not by adoption, neither by nature nor by action … [so that this corruptible] may put on incorruption, and … sin in the Creator. For in our nature the battle against the invention [of sin] still goes on, and the yielding to the enemy’s sowing, because of our weakness; but the incarnation of the Word, which took place according to the nature of God, became incapable of receiving the things that still hold sway in us from the old state; and that is why we are taught to put off the old man and put on the new. And in this lies the wonder: that the Lord both became man and was without sin, because it was wholly a newness, so that he might display his power. And whatever he himself, by his will, ordained for nature, he took upon himself as he willed: birth from a woman, growth in stature, the counting of years, toil, hunger, thirst, sleep, grief, death, and resurrection. That is why, where the body of man had been corrupted, there Jesus gives up his own body; and where the human soul had been held fast in death, there Christ displays the human soul as his own, so that he who cannot be held fast might be present in death as man, and loose the hold of death as God; so that where corruption was sown, there incorruption might spring up; and where death reigned in the form of a human soul, the immortal one, being present, might display immortality; and so he might make us sharers in his own incorruption and immortality in the hope of the resurrection from the dead, so that “this mortal may put on immortality,” as it is written; so that, as “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin,” so also through one man, Jesus Christ, “grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life,” as it is written. How then do you say, “In Christ a heavenly mind takes the place of the inner man that is in us”? Did he not, dividing the outer and the inner, display himself both in the tomb and in Hades? It was not possible to give one thing in exchange for another as a ransom; but he gave body for body, soul for soul, and a complete existence for the whole man. This is Christ’s exchange, which the Jews, enemies of the life, reproached at the cross as they passed by and shook their heads. For Hades could not bear the entry of an unveiled Godhead: this both prophets and apostles testify. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 15:53: quotation, high confidence - Col 3:9: allusion, high confidence - Col 3:10: allusion, high confidence - Heb 4:15: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 4:4: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 2:52: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 2:24: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 15:42: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 5:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:21: quotation, high confidence - Matt 20:28: echo, low confidence - Matt 16:26: echo, low confidence - Matt 27:39: allusion, high confidence - Ps 22:7 (21:8 LXX): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The first sentence is broken by lost lines in the scan OCR (ἀνθυποφθαρτὸν … ἐν τῷ Δημιουργῷ); only fragments can be translated, the bracketed words from 1 Cor 15:53. The reproach of the passers-by is from Matt 27:39 (Ps 22:7); “enemies of the life” is the author’s polemic, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.17 (PG 26:1123–1126; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-17). ## Against Apollinaris 1.18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-18 - Source: PG 26:1125–1126 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues from the blood and water and from Christ’s giving up his spirit at the cross that a human soul withdrew from his body at death, so that he died our death. ### Greek text Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ σταυροῦ οἰκονομίας συνιδεῖν τὸ λεγόμενον· ὅπως ὁ Κύριος τῇ μὲν προβολῇ τοῦ αἵματος τὴν βεβαιότητα τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπεδείκνυτο· τῇ δὲ προσθήκῃ τοῦ ὕδατος τὴν ἄχραντον καθαρότητα ἐδήλου, καὶ ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ σῶμα· κράξας δὲ καὶ κλίνας τὴν κεφαλὴν, καὶ παραδοὺς τὸ πνεῦμα, τὸ ἔσωθεν τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος, τουτέστι τὴν ψυχὴν ἐσήμανε· περὶ ἧς καὶ εἴρηκεν, ὅτι Τίθημι ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων τῶν ἐμῶν. "Ωστε τὴν ἔκπνευσιν οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι θεότητος μετάστασιν, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς ἀποχώρησιν. Εἰ γὰρ κατὰ μετάστασιν θεότητος ὁ θάνατος γέγονε καὶ ἡ τοῦ σώματος νέκρωσις, ἴδιον ἄρα θάνατον ἀπέθανε, καὶ οὐ τὸν ἡμέτερον. Καὶ πῶς εἰς ᾅδου κατῆλθεν ἀπαρακαλύπτῳ τῇ θεότητι; Ποῦ οὖν ἡ ψυχὴ, ἣν ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ Κύριος τιθέναι ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, περὶ ἧς καὶ προφῆται προμηνύουσιν; εἰ δὲ ψυχῆς ἀποχώρησις γέγονε, διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηται, ὅτι τὸν ἡμέτερον ἀνεδέξατο θάνατον, τουτέστι τῆς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς διαλύσεως ἀνασχόμενος, ὥσπερ καὶ γεννήσεως ### English translation (Claude) One can also see what is said in the dispensation of the cross: how the Lord by the outpouring of blood displayed the reality of the flesh, and by the addition of water showed its spotless purity and that the body was God’s; and having cried out and bowed his head and handed over the spirit, he signified the inner part of his own body, that is, the soul, of which he also said, “I lay [it] down for my sheep.” So no one could say that the breathing out was a departure of the Godhead, but rather the withdrawal of the soul. For if the death and the deadening of the body took place by a departure of the Godhead, then he died a death of his own and not ours. And how did he go down to Hades with the Godhead unveiled? Where then is the soul which the Lord promised to lay down for the sheep, of which the prophets too foretell? But if a withdrawal of the soul took place, it is for this reason said that he accepted our death, that is, enduring the dissolution that is ours, just as also the birth … ### Scripture references - John 19:34: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:50: allusion, high confidence - John 19:30: allusion, high confidence - John 10:15: quotation, high confidence - Ps 16:10 (15:10 LXX): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The section ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost in the scan OCR. The prophecy meant is probably Ps 16:10 (LXX 15:10), “you will not abandon my soul to Hades.” ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.18 (PG 26:1125–1126; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-18). ## Against Apollinaris 1.19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-19 - Source: PG 26:1125–1128 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that Christ’s death and ransom required a human soul, since it was the sinning soul that death ruled, and that God condemned the creature’s act, not his own work. ### Greek text Μάταιον οὖν ὑμῶν τὸ σόφισμα· ἐπεὶ πῶς ἂν ὁ θάνατος ἐγεγόνει, εἰ μὴ καὶ τὸν ἔσωθεν καὶ τὸν ἔξωθεν συνεστήσατο ἑαυτῷ ὁ Λόγος τουτέστι σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν; Πῶς δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ παντὸς ἀντέδωκεν ἀντίλυτρον; ἢ πῶς ἡ κράτησις τοῦ θανάτου τελείαν ἐλάμβανε τὴν λύσιν, εἰ τὸ κατὰ φρόνησιν οὐ συνεστήσατο ἐν ἑαυτῷ; Ἕτι οὖν βασιλεύει ὁ θάνατος τοῦ ἔσωθεν ἀνθρώπου· τίνος γὰρ ἄλλου καὶ ἐβασίλευσέ ποτε, οὐχὶ ψυχῆς τῆς ἐν φρονήσει ἁμαρτησάσης; καθὼς εἴρηται· Ψυχή ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὕτη καὶ ἀποθανεῖται· ὑπὲρ ἧς τὴν ἰδίαν ψυχὴν τέθεικεν ὁ Χριστὸς λύτρον ἀντιδιδούς. Τί οὖν καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς βασιλεύει ὁ θάνατος. Τίνος δὲ καὶ ἀρχῆθεν κατέγνω ὁ Θεός; τῆς πλάσεως τοῦ πλάσαντος, ἢ τῆς πράξεως τοῦ πλάσματος; Εἰ τῆς πλάσεως τοῦ πλάσαντος κατέγνω Θεὸς, ἑαυτοῦ τοῦτο περὶ Θεοῦ ἐννοεῖν, κατέγνω δὲ τῆς πράξεως τοῦ πλάσματος, περιαιρεῖ τοίνυν τὴν πρᾶξιν καὶ καινοποιεῖ τὴν πλάσιν· αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα, κτισθέντες ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς. ### English translation (Claude) Your sophism, then, is vain. For how would the death have taken place, unless the Word had joined to himself both the inner and the outer man, that is, body and soul? How did he give a ransom in exchange for all? Or how did the hold of death receive its complete release, if he did not join to himself the thinking part? Then death still reigns over the inner man; for over what else did it ever reign, if not over the soul that sinned in its thinking? As it is said, “The soul that sins, it shall die”; for which Christ laid down his own soul, giving a ransom in exchange. Why then, by your account, does death [still] reign? And whom did God condemn from the beginning: the formation of the one who formed, or the action of what was formed? If God condemned the formation of the one who formed, [he condemned] himself, [and it is impious] to think this about God; [but if] he condemned the action of what was formed, then he removes the action and renews the formation: “for we are his workmanship, created for good works.” ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 2:6: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 5:17: allusion, medium confidence - Ezek 18:4: quotation, high confidence - John 10:15: allusion, medium confidence - Eph 2:10: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - A Latin word (anima) printed inside ἁμαρτάνουσα and a line of Migne’s marginal text (τὸ ἔσωθεν. τὸν ἔξωθεν, καὶ ἐν τάφῳ,) are removed. Words lost in the sentence about condemning “the formation of the one who formed” are supplied in brackets by sense. The quotations are Ezek 18:4 and Eph 2:10. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.19 (PG 26:1125–1128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-19). ## Against Apollinaris 1.20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-20 - Source: PG 26:1127–1130 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author likens his opponents’ confession of “God from Mary” to Marcion and Paul of Samosata, and sets out the Church’s faith in the eternal Word born as man of the Virgin. ### Greek text Ἀλλὰ πάλιν λέγετε· Ἡμεῖς Θεὸν λέγομεν τὸν ἐκ Μαρίας. Πῶς τοίνυν λέγετε, ὡς Μαρκίων Θεὸν ἐπιδημήσαντα, καὶ Θεὸν ἀθιγῶς προσεληλυθότα, φύσιν ἔχοντα ἀνεπίδεκτον σαρκὸς ἀνθρωπίνης; Η πῶς λέγετε Θεὸν, ὡς Παῦλος ὁ Σαμοσατεύς; τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς ἐκείνου ἀσεβείας τὸ πρόσχημα Θεὸν ὁμολογεῖν τὸν ἐκ Μαρίας, πρὸ αἰώνων μὲν προορισθέντα, ἐκ δὲ Μαρίας τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὑπάρξεως ἐσχηκότα. Λόγον δὲ ἐνεργῆ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ σοφίαν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁμολογεῖ, πλεῖον παρ' ὑμᾶς χαριζόμενος κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀσέβειαν· ὥσπερ ὑμεῖς λέγετε νοῦν ἐπουράνιον ἐν σώματι ἐμψύχῳ. Οὔτε δὲ σῶμα ἔμψυχον ἤδη ἄνθρωπος τέλειος οὔτε νοῦς ἐπουράνιος ἤδη Θεός. Σῶμα γὰρ ἔμψυχον λέγεται, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ ἐνυποστάτως τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς φέρεται ὄνομα. Σῶμα δὲ ἀνθρώπου σῶμα λέγεται, καὶ οὐ ψυχή· καὶ ψυχὴ ἀνθρώπου λέγεται, καὶ οὐ σῶμα, ἕτερον πρὸς ἕτερον ὂν, τουτέστι πνεῦμα πρὸς σῶμα. Τίς δὲ, φησὶν, ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου; Νοῦς Κυρίου οὔπω Κύριος, ἀλλὰ Κυρίου θέλησις, ἢ βουλὴ, ἢ ἐνέργεια πρός τι. Πῶς οὖν ταῦτα λαλεῖν ἐπινοεῖτε, πλαστοῖς λόγοις καπηλεύοντες τὸν Λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ἀλλ᾿ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία οὔτε οὕτω παρείληφεν, οὔτε οὕτω παρέδωκεν ἀλλὰ, καθὼς γέγραπται, τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Λόγον, τὸν ὄντα πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν πρὸ αἰώνων, ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων ἐπιδημήσαντα, καὶ ἐξ ἀγίας Παρθένου, καὶ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου γεννηθέντα Υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου, ὡς γέγραπται· Ἕως οὗ ἔτεκε τὸν αὐτῆς τὸν πρωτότοκον· ἵνα γένηται πρωτότοκος ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, αὐτὸς ὢν Θεὸς ἀληθινός· ἵνα καὶ πάθῃ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, καὶ λυτρώσηται ἡμᾶς ἐκ πάθους καὶ θανάτου, ὡς Θεός. Μάτην ὖν φαντάζεσθε, τοῦ φρονοῦντος καὶ ἄγοντος τὴν σάρκα.ἐν ἑαυτοῖς δύνασθαι τὴν καινότητα κατεργάζεσθαι, οἰόμενοι διὰ μιμήσεως· οὐ νοοῦντες, ὅτι Εἰ γὰρ τοῦ ἄγοντος τὴν σάρκα δυνατὸν φρονοῦντος καὶ ἄγοντος τὴν σάρκα ἐν ἑαυτοῖς δύνασθαι, τοῦ φρονοῦντος καὶ ἄγοντος τὴν σάρκα, Χριστῷ, σαρκὸς μόνης καινότητα όμολογοῦντες. Εἰ ἦν ἀνθρώποις τὴν καινότητα κατεργάσασθαι ἑαυτοῖς χωρὶς Χριστοῦ, ἔπεται δὲ τῷ ἄγοντι τὸ ἀγόμενον· τις ἦν χρεία τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίας; ### English translation (Claude) But again you say, “We call the one from Mary God.” How then do you say this: like Marcion, of a God who came to dwell, a God who came near without being touched, having a nature incapable of receiving human flesh? Or how do you call him God: like Paul of Samosata? For this was the pretext of that man’s impiety: to confess as God the one from Mary, foreordained before the ages but having had the beginning of his existence from Mary. And he confesses an active Word from heaven and Wisdom in him, granting more than you do, according to his own impiety, just as you speak of a heavenly mind in an ensouled body. But neither is an ensouled body already a perfect man, nor is a heavenly mind already God. For a body is called ensouled when the name of soul is borne in it as having real existence. And a man’s body is called body and not soul, and a man’s soul is called soul and not body, the one being other than the other, that is, spirit in relation to body. “Who,” it says, “has known the mind of the Lord?” The mind of the Lord is not yet the Lord, but the Lord’s will, or counsel, or activity toward something. How then do you devise to speak these things, peddling the Word of God with fabricated words? But the Church of God neither received nor handed down thus; but, as it is written, [it confesses] God the Word, who was with God before the ages, coming at the consummation of the ages and born of the holy Virgin and of the Holy Spirit, Son of Man, as it is written, “until she bore her firstborn son,” so that he might become “firstborn among many brothers,” being himself true God; so that he might both suffer for us as man and redeem us from suffering and death as God. In vain, then, you imagine—confessing in Christ a newness of flesh only—that you can work in yourselves, by imitation, the newness of the part that thinks and leads the flesh. For if it were possible for men to work in themselves, without Christ, the newness of the part that thinks and leads the flesh—and what is led follows the leader—what need was there of Christ’s coming? ### Scripture references - Rom 11:34: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:16: quotation, medium confidence - 2 Pet 2:3: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Cor 2:17: allusion, high confidence - John 1:1: allusion, high confidence - Heb 9:26: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 1:20: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 1:25: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:29: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The opponents’ formula and the descriptions of Marcion and Paul of Samosata are the author’s, translated as written. A Migne column number (749) is removed. The last part of the section is disordered in the scan OCR, with displaced repeated lines (θρώπου λέγεται … μεῖτε; τοῦ φρονοῦντος καὶ ἄγοντος τὴν σάρκα repeated); one displaced line is removed and the rest translated by sense in the order the argument requires. The quotations are Rom 11:34 (1 Cor 2:16), Matt 1:25, and Rom 8:29. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.20 (PG 26:1127–1130; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-20). ## Against Apollinaris 1.21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-21 - Source: PG 26:1129–1130 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author rejects the idea that the Word merely indwelt a prophet, and compares his opponents’ shifting attacks on Christ’s soul and flesh, and their charge of “two Sons,” to Arius, Sabellius, and Mani. ### Greek text Μάταιοι δὲ καὶ οἱ λέγοντες, ὡς ἐπὶ ἕνα τῶν προφητῶν ἐπιδεδημηκέναι τὸν Λόγον Τίς γὰρ τῶν προφητῶν, Θεὸς ὢν, ἄνθρωπος γέγονε; Διὰ τί δὲ ὁ νόμος οὐδὲν ἐτελείωσε; διὰ τί δὲ καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θάνατος καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς μὴ ἁμαρτήσαντας ἐν τῷ ὁμοιώματι τῶν πρωτοπλάστων ; διὰ τί δὲ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἔλεγεν· Ἐὰν ὑμᾶς ὁ Υἱὸς ἐλευθερώση, ὄντως ἐλεύθεροι ἔσεσθε; Οὐχὶ κατὰ τὴν καινότητα, τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὴν τελειότητα, δι' ἧς καὶ οἱ πιστεύσαντες ἀνακαινιζόμεθα, κατὰ μίμησιν καὶ μετοχὴν τῆς τελείας καινότητος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾿Αλλά ὑμῖν πάντα ἐπινενόηται, ἵνα μίαν τῆς ἀρνήσεως κατασκευάσητε γνώμην. Καὶ τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν κατὰ μετάφρασιν, ποτὲ μὲν νοῦν παράφρονα ὀνομάζοντες, ποτὲ δὲ ἁμαρτίαν ἐνυπόστατον, ποτὲ δὲ, ὡς ἐργάτιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐξωθεῖτε· καὶ τὴν σάρκα ποτὲ μὲν ἄκτιστον, ποτὲ δὲ ἐπουράνιον, ποτὲ δὲ ὁμοούσιον τῷ Λόγῳ ἵνα τελείαν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ἄρνησιν βεβαιώσητε. "Ωσπερ δὲ ῎Αρειος, ἀπολισθήσας ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως, τῆς ἐν τῇ ἀῤῥήτῳ καὶ ἀληθεστάτῃ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐκ Πατρὸς γεννήσει, πάθος καὶ τομὴν καὶ ῥεῦσιν προεξεύρεν· ἵνα διὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ῥημάτων καταβάλῃ τοὺς ἀστηρίκτους εἰς τὸν τῆς παρανομίας βόθρον· Βόθρος γὰρ βαθὺς στόμα παρανόμου· οὕτω δ᾽ αὖ πάλιν Σαβέλλιος, ἀνυπόστατον τὸν Υἱὸν ἐννοήσας, καὶ ἀνύπαρκτον τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, διαίρεσιν θεότητος, καὶ ἀρχῶν, καὶ θεῶν γνώμῃ· οὕτω δὴ Μανιχαῖος, ἀπιστήσας τῇ σαρκώσει καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσει τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀσεβὴς κατὰ πάντα γέγονε, λέγων δυσὶν ὑποκεῖσθαι Δημιουργοῖς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, πονηρῷ τε καὶ ἀγαθῷ· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὑμεῖς συκοφαντοῦντες λέγετε ἡμᾶς δύο λέγειν Υἱοὺς, καὶ ἀνθρωπολάτρας ἡμᾶς ὀνομάζετε, ἢ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνθυποφέρετε, οὐχ ἵνα εὐσεβήσητε, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα τὴν πλάνην ὑμῶν ταῖς κακαῖς τοὺς ἀστηρίκτους ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν ὑμῶν ῥήμασιν. Ὁ μέντοι στερεὸς θεμέλιος τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγετε, ἢ ἀνθρωπίνην τὴν λατρείαν ὀνομάζετε, καὶ ### English translation (Claude) Vain too are those who say that the Word came to dwell upon one of the prophets. For which of the prophets, being God, became man? And why did the law perfect nothing? And why did death reign even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the first-formed? And why did the Lord say, “If the Son sets you free, you will be truly free”? Is it not by the newness that is in him, and the perfection through which we who believe are renewed, by imitation of and participation in the perfect newness of Christ? But you have devised everything in order to build up one opinion of denial. The soul you thrust out by changing its name, calling it at one time a deranged mind, at another sin with real existence, at another the worker of sin; and the flesh you call at one time uncreated, at another heavenly, at another consubstantial with the Word, so as to make your denial complete for yourselves. As Arius, slipping from the faith in the ineffable and most true begetting of the Son from the Father, first invented passion, cutting, and flowing, so that by his impious words he might throw the unsteady into the pit of lawlessness—“for the mouth of the lawless is a deep pit”; and so again Sabellius, thinking the Son without hypostasis and the Holy Spirit without existence, [charged] a division of the Godhead and an opinion of [several] principles and gods; and so Mani, disbelieving the incarnation and becoming man of the Lord, became impious in everything, saying that man is subject to two Creators, an evil one and a good one; in the same way you too, slandering us, say that we speak of two Sons, and you call us man-worshippers, or you bring up sin against us, not in order to be pious, but in order [to spread] your error … the unsteady from the faith by your impious words. “Yet the firm foundation of God” … you say, or you call the worship human, and … ### Scripture references - Heb 7:19: allusion, high confidence - Rom 5:14: allusion, high confidence - John 8:36: quotation, high confidence - Prov 22:14: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 2:19: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The descriptions of Arius, Sabellius, and Mani, and the opponents’ charge that the orthodox teach “two Sons” and are “man-worshippers,” are translated as written. The clause on Sabellius is incomplete in the scan OCR and the verb is supplied by sense. The end of the section is disordered and breaks off mid-sentence (the last line(s) of the column were lost). The quotations are John 8:36, Prov 22:14 (LXX), and 2 Tim 2:19. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.21 (PG 26:1129–1130; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-21). ## Against Apollinaris 1.22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-1-22 - Source: PG 26:1131–1132 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author closes the first book, saying that the gospel tradition is sufficient and that the faithful should confess what Scripture records and worship Christ. ### Greek text Ταῦτα ἔγραψα, ἀγαπητέ κἂν ὅτι μάλιστα οὐδὲν πλέον ἔδει γράφειν · αὐτάρκης γὰρ ἡ εὐαγγελικὴ παράδοσις· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ ἠρώτησας περὶ τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν πίστεως, καὶ ἕνεκά γε τῶν ἐρεσχελεῖν βουλομένων ταῖς ἐφευρέσεσι, καὶ οὐ λογιζομένων, ὅτι ὁ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων λαλῶν τὸ ψεῦδος λαλεῖ. Οὔτε γὰρ κάλλος, οὔτε δόξαν σώματος Χριστοῦ ἐφικτὸν διανοίᾳ ἀνθρώπου ἐξειπεῖν· ἀλλά γε καὶ τὰ γενόμενα, ὡς γέγραπται, ὁμολογεῖν, καὶ τὸν ὄντα Θεὸν προσκυνεῖν εἰς δόξαν καὶ ἐξομολόγησιν τῆς αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίας, καὶ ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, ἐν Χριστῷ ### English translation (Claude) I have written these things, beloved, although there was no need at all to write more, for the gospel tradition is sufficient; but because you asked about our faith, and on account of those who wish to trifle with their inventions and do not reckon that “whoever speaks from his own speaks the lie.” For it is not possible for the human mind to tell the beauty or the glory of Christ’s body; but we must confess what took place, as it is written, and worship the one who is God, to the glory and praise of his love for mankind and the hope of our salvation, in Christ … ### Scripture references - John 8:44: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The section ends mid-sentence because the last line of the Greek column was lost in the scan OCR. The quotation adapts John 8:44. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 1.22 (PG 26:1131–1132; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-22). ## Against Apollinaris 2.1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-2-1 - Source: PG 26:1131–1134 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Opening the second book, the author argues from Phil 2 and John 1:14 that the Word took a complete human nature, body and intellectual soul, without being changed. ### Greek text Οἱ τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν μὴ ἐκ Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπου ἕνα ὁμολογοῦντες, ὡς γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ, Τοῦ Ἀδὰμ, τοῦ Θεοῦ, λεγέτωσαν, πῶς τὸν ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχοντα Θεὸν καὶ λαβόντα τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ὑπειλήφασιν, ἢ τὸ, Ο Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, νενοήκασιν. Ὁ γὰρ εἰρηκὼς, ὅτι ῾Ο Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, εἴρηκεν, ὅτι αὐτὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἔδωκεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Ἆρα ὡς τοῦ Λόγου τροπὴν ὑπομείναντος εἰς σαρκὸς μεταποίησιν, ἢ ψυχῆς ὁμοίωσιν· ἢ ὡς φανταστικὴν τὴν δεῖξιν ποιησαμένου τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης μορφῆς, ὥσπερ οἱ ἄλλοι τῶν αἱρετικῶν πλανώμενοι λέγουσιν; Αλλ' οὐ συγχωρεῖ ὁ ᾿Απόστολος, σαφῶς εἰρηκὼς, ὅτι Τίς ὢν, τί ἔλαβεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ μορφὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς τοῦ Λόγου θεότητος νοεῖται · οὕτως καὶ ἡ μορφὴ τοῦ δούλου, ἡ νοερὰ τῆς ἀνθρώπων συστάσεως φύσις σὺν τῇ ὀργανικῇ καταστάσει ὁμολογεῖται· ἵνα τὸ μὲν, ἦν, ὁ Λόγος νοῆται, τὸ δὲ, ἐγένετο, ἡ σάρξ ὁμολογῆται σὺν τῇ ψυχῇ· ἥτις λέγεται μορφὴ δούλου, νοερά τις σύστασις νοουμένη Διὰ τοῦτο νεκρωθεὶς ἄνθρωπος ἄμορφος λέγεται, καὶ λύεται ὅλος, τῆς ψυχῆς, τῆς ἄλυτον ἐχούσης τὴν φύσιν, ἀποχωρησάσης ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος. Ὅθεν ὁ μὲν Παῦλος τῆς νοερᾶς φύσεως τὴν μαρτυρίαν ποιεῖται, ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης τῆς ὀργανικῆς τοῦ σώματος ἐπιδείξεως, ἵνα ἑκάτεροι τὸ πᾶν τῆς ὅτι ὁ προϋπάρχων Θεὸς Λόγος πρὸ τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ ἐπιδημίας οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ Θεὸς ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, ἀόρατος καὶ ἀπαθὴς ὧν ### English translation (Claude) Those who do not confess our Lord Jesus Christ as one from God and man—as it is written in the Gospel, “son of Adam, son of God”—let them say how they have understood the God who existed in the form of God and took the form of the servant, or how they have understood “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” For the one who said “The Word became flesh” has also said that he gave his own soul for us. Was it then as though the Word underwent a change, being transformed into flesh, or into the likeness of a soul? Or as though he made an illusory display of the human form, as the other heretics in their error say? But the Apostle does not allow it, having said plainly who he was and what he took. For as the form of God is understood as the fullness of the Godhead of the Word, so also the form of the servant is confessed as the intellectual nature of the human constitution together with its instrumental state; so that by “was” the Word is understood, and by “became” the flesh is confessed together with the soul; and this is called the form of the servant, understood as an intellectual constitution. That is why a man, when he has died, is said to be formless and is wholly dissolved, the soul, whose nature cannot be dissolved, having withdrawn from the body. Hence Paul bears witness to the intellectual nature, and John to the instrumental display of the body, so that each of them … the whole … that God the Word, who existed before, was not a man before his coming in the flesh, but was God with God, being invisible and impassible … ### Scripture references - Luke 3:38: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:6: allusion, high confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence - John 10:11: allusion, medium confidence - 1 John 3:16: allusion, medium confidence - John 1:1: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - A line is lost in the scan OCR after “so that each of them,” and the section ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost. “Son of Adam, son of God” is from Luke 3:38; “he gave his own soul for us” recalls John 10:11 and 1 John 3:16. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.1 (PG 26:1131–1134; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-1). ## Against Apollinaris 2.2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-2-2 - Source: PG 26:1133–1136 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that the name “Christ” belongs to the Word as incarnate, so that the one Christ is truly both passible as man and impassible as God. ### Greek text Οὔτε οὖν τὸ, Χριστὸς, ὄνομα δίχα τῆς σαρκὸς προσάγεται· ἐπειδὴ ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ ὀνόματι τὸ πάθος καὶ ὁ θάνατος τοῦ μὲν Παύλου γράφοντος· Εἰ παθητὸς ὁ Χριστὸς, εἰ πρῶτος ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν · καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγοντος Τὸ Πάσχα ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστός· καὶ ὅτι Ἄνθρωπος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Οὐχ ὅτι οὐ Θεὸς, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστός. Διὸ, μένον ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἐκ σπέρματος Δαβίδ κατὰ Ε σάρκα. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἡ Γραφὴ ἑκατέρων τῶν ὀνομάτων ποιεῖται τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐν ἐπιδείξει ὑπάρξεως· ἀοράτως μὲν Θεοῦ νοουμένου καὶ ὄντος ἀληθῶς, ὁρατῶς δὲ ἀνθρώπου ψηλαφωμένου καὶ ὑπάρχοντος ἀληθῶς· οὐκ ἐν διαιρέσει προσώπων ἢ ὀνομάτων ἀλλὰ φυσικῇ γεννήσει καὶ ἀλύτῳ ἑνώσει· ἵνα, ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ πάθους ὁμολογουμένου ἀληθῶς, ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ παθητὸς καὶ ἀπαθὴς εἶναι συνομολογῆται ἀληθινῶς. Πῶς οὖν γέγονε Χριστὸς ὁ Λόγος, Θεὸς ὢν, πρὶν γένηται ἄνθρωπος; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ θεότητος ἴδιον τὸ, Χριστὸς, ὄνομα, δίχα σαρκὸς, προσακτέον ἄρα καὶ τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι· ἔσται δὲ καὶ τὸ πάθος κοινὸν, ὥς τινες πεπλανημένοι λέγουσιν. Ἢ καὶ σαρκώσεως καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσεως ἐρεῖτε δεκτικὸν εἶναι πάθους καὶ θανάτου ; Καὶ πῶς ὁ τῷ Πατρὶ ὁμοούσιος Υἱὸς, καὶ ἀδιαίρετος κατὰ τὴν θείαν φύσιν, παθητὸς ἂν λέγοιτο, ἄτρεπτος ὢν καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος, εἰ μὴ, λαβὼν ἐκ μήτρας Παρθένου τὸ σύμπαν τῆς ἀνθρώπου συστάσεως εἶδος ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος ἵνα καὶ ἄνθρωπος ᾗ ἐν τῷ πάθει, καὶ ἄτρεπτος ᾗ Θεὸς ὧν ### English translation (Claude) Nor, then, is the name “Christ” applied apart from the flesh, since suffering and death follow upon the name; for Paul writes, “that the Christ was to suffer, that he was the first from the resurrection of the dead”; and elsewhere he says, “Christ our Passover was sacrificed”; and, “the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for us.” Not that Christ is not God, but that he is also man. Therefore [“Remember Jesus Christ, raised] from the dead, from the seed of David according to the flesh.” And for this reason Scripture applies both names in showing his existence: God understood invisibly and truly being, man touched visibly and truly existing; not in a division of persons or names, but by natural birth and indissoluble union; so that, the suffering being truly confessed in him, the same may also be truly confessed to be both passible and impassible. How then did the Word, being God, become Christ before he became man? For if the name “Christ” belongs to the Godhead apart from the flesh, then it must be applied to the Father too, and to the Holy Spirit; and the suffering too will be common, as some in their error say. Or will you also say that [the Godhead] before the incarnation and becoming man is capable of suffering and death? And how could the Son, consubstantial with the Father and undivided in the divine nature, be called passible, being unchangeable and unalterable, unless, taking from the womb of the Virgin the whole form of the human constitution, he became man in himself, so that he might be man in the suffering and remain unchangeable, being God … ### Scripture references - Acts 26:23: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 5:7: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:6: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 2:8: quotation, medium confidence - Rom 1:3: quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - A block of Migne’s marginal text or variant readings (θὴς ὤν. Ὅτε δὲ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος … Εἰ γὰρ θεότητος..) printed into the text is removed; a line of the main text is lost there, and the bracketed words are supplied by sense. “Raised from the dead, from the seed of David” recalls 2 Tim 2:8 with Rom 1:3; only the end of the quotation survives in the OCR. The section ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.2 (PG 26:1133–1136; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-2). ## Against Apollinaris 2.3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-2-3 - Source: PG 26:1135–1138 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that the Word became Christ by anointing his own flesh, and surveys the errors of Paul of Samosata, Marcion and Mani, Valentinus, Arius, and Sabellius, asking which of them his opponents follow. ### Greek text Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἡ χρίσις ἐγένετο, οὐχ ὡς Θεοῦ χρίσεως δεομένου, οὐδ᾽ αὖ πάλιν τῆς χρίσεως δίχα Θεοῦ γενομένης, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ μὲν τὴν χρίσιν προσαγομένου, ἐν δὲ τῷ δεκτικῷ τῆς χρίσεως σώματι δεχομένου. Πρόδηλον οὖν, ὅτι οὐ δίχα σαρκὸς ἀνθρωπίνης ὁ Λόγος Χριστὸς γέγονεν ἑαυτὸν καταμερίσας εἰς σαρκὸς ἐπίδειξιν, ἢ ψυχῆς ὁμοίωσιν· ἀλλὰ μένων ὃ ἦν, ἔλαβε τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν, οὐ λειπομένην ὑπάρξεως τῆς ἐν ἐπιδείξει φανερουμένης διά τε πάθους καὶ ἀναστάσεως καὶ πάσης τῆς οἰκονομίας, ὡς γέγραπται καὶ δεδήλωται. Εἴπατε τοίνυν, πῶς Θεὸν ἐν Ναζαρέτ γεγενῆσθαι ὑπειλήφατε; ἐπειδὴ καὶ πάντες αἱρετικοὶ τοῦτο λέγειν εἰώθασιν, ὡς Παῦλος ὁ Σαμοσατεὺς Θεὸν ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου ὁμολογεῖ, Θεὸν ἐκ Ναζαρέτ ὀφθέντα, καὶ ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ὑπάρξεως τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκότα, καὶ ἀρχὴν βασιλείας παρειληφότα · Λόγον δὲ ἐνεργὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ σοφίαν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁμολογεῖ · τῷ μὲν προορισμῷ πρὸ αἰώνων ὄντα, τῇ δὲ ὑπάρξει ἐκ Ναζαρέτ ἀναδειχθέντα ἵνα εἷς εἴη φησὶν, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντα Θεὸς ὁ Πατήρ. Τοιαύτη τούτου ἡ ἀσέβεια. Μαρκίων δὲ καὶ Μανιχαῖος, Θεὸν ἐπιδημήσαντα ἐν Παρθένῳ, καὶ ἀθιγῶς νῆσαι φύσει ἀνθρωπίνῃ, τῇ ὑποπεπτωκυίᾳ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ καὶ ὑποκειμένῃ τῷ ἄρχοντι τῆς κακίας. Εἰ γὰρ ταύτην προσηγάγετο, καὶ τῷ ἄρχοντι τῆς κακίας ὑποκείσεται, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ὁ Χριστός· ἀλλ᾿ ἰδίαν σάρκα ἐπιδεδείχθαι ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν, ὡς ἠθέλησεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ὀφθεῖσαν, καὶ εἰς οὐρανοὺς χωρήσασαν, καὶ θεότητα ὅλην οὖσαν. Οὐαλεντίνος δὲ πάλιν κοινὸν τῆς Τριάδος τὸ πάθος λέγει, τῆς θεότητος μέρος τὴν σάρκα φανταζόμενος. ῎Αρειος δὲ σάρκα μόνην πρὸς ἀποκρυφὴν τῆς θεότηγει γεγονέναι, τὴν τοῦ πάθους νόησιν, καὶ τὴν ἐξᾅδου ἀνάστασιν τῇ θεότητι προσάγειν τολμῶν. Σαβέλλιος δὲ τοῦ Σαμοσατέως Παύλου καὶ τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτὸν ἐπιδέδεικται τὴν γνώμην· δεδοικὼς γὰρ τὴν ἐξ ᾿Αρείου διαίρεσιν, τῇ ἀναιρετικῇ καταπέπτωκε πλάνῃ. Ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνι πρόσκεισθε, ἢ τίνι βοηθεῖν βούλεσθε; Ἢ, τὸ λεγόμενον, πάμφυλοι γεγόνατε; Πᾶσι γὰρ τοῖς τῇ ἑνώσει · καὶ ἀντιλέγοντες τῇ πληρώσει, εἰς ἀναίζόμενοι. "Ωσπερ δὲ οἱ διαιροῦντες μεμήνασι, καὶ οἱ ### English translation (Claude) For this is why the anointing took place: not as though God needed anointing, nor again as though the anointing took place apart from God, but God applying the anointing, and the body capable of anointing receiving it. It is plain, then, that the Word did not become Christ apart from human flesh, dividing himself into a display of flesh or a likeness of soul; but, remaining what he was, he took the form of the servant, which did not lack the existence made manifest in display through suffering, resurrection, and the whole dispensation, as it is written and has been made plain. Tell us, then, how have you supposed that God was born in Nazareth? For all heretics are accustomed to say this. So Paul of Samosata confesses God from the Virgin, God seen from Nazareth, who had the beginning of his existence from there and received a beginning of kingship; and he confesses an active Word from heaven and Wisdom in him: [Christ] existing by predestination before the ages but shown forth in existence from Nazareth, so that, he says, the God over all, the Father, may be one. Such is his impiety. Marcion and Mani [say] that God came to dwell in the Virgin and … untouched … to human nature, which had fallen under sin and is subject to the ruler of wickedness. For, they say, if he had taken this to himself, he would be subject to the ruler of wickedness, and Christ would not be without sin; but [they say] he displayed his own flesh from himself in likeness, as he willed, seen coming from heaven, departing into the heavens, and being wholly Godhead. Valentinus again says that the suffering is common to the Trinity, imagining the flesh to be a part of the Godhead. Arius [confesses] that flesh alone came to be for the concealment of the Godhead, and dares to attribute the perception of suffering and the resurrection from Hades to the Godhead. Sabellius has displayed the opinion of Paul of Samosata and his followers; for, fearing the division that comes from Arius, he fell into the destructive error. And you—to whom do you attach yourselves, or whom do you wish to help? Or, as the saying goes, have you become men of every tribe? For with all those who … the union, and contradicting the fulfilment, … As those who divide are mad, so too those who … ### Scripture references - Acts 10:38: echo, low confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Eph 4:6: echo, low confidence - John 14:30: echo, low confidence - Heb 4:15: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The descriptions of the heretics are the author’s, translated as written; that Sabellius feared Arius’s division is chronologically odd but stands in the text. Lines are lost in the scan OCR in the sentence on Marcion and Mani (ἀθιγῶς νῆσαι) and at the end of the section, which is garbled (εἰς ἀναίζόμενοι) and breaks off mid-sentence. Marginal fragments printed inside the word θεότητος in the sentence on Arius are removed and the verb supplied by sense. “Men of every tribe” (πάμφυλοι) is proverbial for a mixed rabble. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.3 (PG 26:1135–1138; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-3). ## Against Apollinaris 2.4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-2-4 - Source: PG 26:1137–1138 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author charges his opponents with hiding the view that Christ only appeared as a man, and lists Scripture’s titles of Christ to show that no mere deified man could bear them. ### Greek text Τί τοίνυν προφασιζόμενοι σοφίζεσθε; τί ὑποκρινόμενοι ὑποκαλύπτετε καὶ οὐ φανερῶς λέγετε, ὅτι οὐχὶ λαβὼν δούλου μορφὴν γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι ὤφθη ὡς ἄνθρωπος; ταύτην παρέχει τὴν πεῦσιν ὑμῶν ὁ λόγος, προφάσει λεγόντων ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ ὁ αὐτός. Διὰ τοῦτο καταλέγειν τῆς ἀληθοῦς ῎Ανθρωπον λέγουσι τὸν Χριστὸν θεοποιηθέντα. Καὶ ποῦ τὸ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος; καὶ ὅτι Λαβών μορφὴν δούλου ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος; ἢ ἄνθρωπόν φησι μετὰ Θεοῦ ὄντα, ἢ ἄνθρωπόν φησι θεῷ συμπλακέντα, ἢ ἄνθρωπον ὑπὲρ κόσμου ἀποθανόντα, καὶ μέρος τοῦ κόσμου ὄντα, ἢ ἄνθρωπον τῆς ἁμαρτίας οὐ χωρισθέντα, ἢ ἄνθρωπον ἀγγέλων δεσπόζοντα, ἢ ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ τῆς κτίσεως προσκυνούμενον, ἢ ἄνθρωπον Κύριον ὄντα, τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λέγοντος· Παῦλος δοῦλος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἢ ἄνθρωπον σταυρωθέντα, καὶ Κύριον τῆς δόξης ὄντα, ἢ ἄνθρωπον ἀκούοντα· Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου· ἢ ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον κρίσιν κρῖναι. Αὕτη ἐστὶν ὑμῶν ἡ θολερὰ ἀνατροπή, ἣν ποτίζετε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ μεθύσκετε. Έρωτήσατε τοίνυν Ἰουδαίους, ἵνα, ταῦτα παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἀκούσαντες τὰ ῥήματα κατὰ Χριστοῦ λεγόμενα, καὶ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότων, ἐρυθριάσητε· μάθετε δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων αἱρετικῶν, τὰ αὐτὰ λαλούντων καὶ φρονούντων. Προκείσθω τοίνυν τῶν αἱρετικῶν τὰ δόγματα καὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας φρονήσεως ἡ γνώμη, καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας πίστεως ὁ λόγος, καὶ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου ὁ ὅρος, καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸ κήρυγμα, καὶ τῶν προφητῶν ἡ μαρτυρία, καὶ τῆς πληρωθείσης οἰκονομίας ἡ κατανόησις. ### English translation (Claude) Why, then, do you play the sophist with pretexts? Why do you hide under pretence and not say openly that he did not become man by taking the form of a servant, but that he appeared as a man? Your account raises this question, since you say, as a pretext, “the same and the same.” That is why, [in place] of the true [confession], they call Christ a man deified. And where then is “In the beginning was the Word,” and that “taking the form of a servant he became man”? Does [Scripture] speak of a man who was with God, or a man entwined with God, or a man who died for the world while being part of the world, or a man not separated from sin, or a man ruling over angels, or a man worshipped by creation, or a man who is Lord, when the Apostle says, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ”; or a man crucified who is the Lord of glory, or a man who hears, “Sit at my right hand,” or a man coming to execute judgment? This is your muddy overthrow, with which you give men drink and make them drunk. Ask the Jews, then, so that, hearing from them these words spoken against Christ and those who have believed in him, you may blush; and learn also from the other heretics, who speak and think the same things. Let there be set out, then, the doctrines of the heretics and the opinion of your thinking, and the account of our faith, the rule of the Gospel, the preaching of the apostles, the testimony of the prophets, and the understanding of the dispensation that has been fulfilled. ### Scripture references - John 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:7: quotation, high confidence - Heb 1:6: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 1:1: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:8: allusion, high confidence - Ps 110:1 (109:1 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Acts 17:31: allusion, medium confidence - Hab 2:15: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The sentence beginning “That is why” is garbled in the scan OCR (καταλέγειν τῆς ἀληθοῦς) and is translated by sense; it reports the charge that the opponents make Christ a deified man. The phrase “muddy overthrow … give drink” takes up Hab 2:15 (LXX). The reference to the Jews is the author’s polemic, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.4 (PG 26:1137–1138; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-4). ## Against Apollinaris 2.5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-2-5 - Source: PG 26:1137–1140 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author contrasts his opponents’ “God born from the Virgin” with the Gospel rule of one who is both God and man, born of Mary and united indissolubly to human nature for our salvation. ### Greek text Εἴπατε τοίνυν, πῶς λέγετε Θεὸν ἐκ Ναζαρέτ γεγενῆσθαι, τῆς θεότητος ὡς ἀρχὴν γενέσεως ἀπαγγέλλοντες κατὰ Παῦλον τὸν Σαμοσατέα, ἢ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν γέννησιν ἀρνούμενοι κατὰ Μαρκίωνα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αἱρετικοὺς, οὐ τῷ εὐαγγελικῷ στοιχοῦντες ὄρῳ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων λαλεῖν θέλοντες; Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ λέγετε Θεὸν γεγεννῆσθαι ἐκ Παρθένου, καὶ οὐχὶ Θεὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν ὄρον· ἵνα μήποτε, γέννησιν σαρκὸς ὁμολογήσαντες, φυσικὴν αὐτὴν εἴπητε, ἐπαληθεύοντες τῷ λόγῳ · ἀλλὰ Θεὸν γεννηθέντα, ἰδίαν δὲ σάρκα δείξαντα ὡς ἐν δοκήσει. Οὐ γὰρ ἀρχὴν γεννήσεως ἐκ Ναζαρέτ ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιδείκνυται· ἀλλ᾽ ὁ ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων Λόγος Θεὸς ἐκ Ναζαρέτ ἄνθρωπος ὤφθη, γεννηθεὶς ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς Παρθένου καὶ Πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἐκ σπέρματος Δαβὶδ καὶ ᾿Αβραὰμ, καὶ τοῦ ᾿Ἀδὰμ, ὡς γέγραπται· πάντα λαβὼν ἀνθρώπου ἔπλασε καὶ ἐποίησε χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας· ὡς καὶ ὁ ᾿Απόστολος λέγει· Καθ' ὁμοιότητα κατὰ πάντα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας, οὐ τῆς θεότητος μεταποίησιν ἐπιδειξάμενος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καινοποίησιν ἐργασάμενος, κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ θέλημα · ὥστε εἶναι τὰ ἔθνη σύσσωμα, καὶ συμμέτοχα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς καὶ ὁ ᾿Απόστολος γράφει· ἵνα καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ᾗ Θεὸς ἀληθῶς, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἢ ἄνθρωπος ἀληθῶς, ἵνα ἢ καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἀληθῶς καὶ Θεὸς ἀληθῶς· οὐχὶ ἀνθρώπου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὄντος, ὡς ὑμεῖς συκοφαντοῦντες λέγετε, διασύροντες τὸ τῶν Χριστιανῶν μυστήριον· ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ τοῦ μονογενοῦς εὐδοκήσαντος τῷ πληρώματι τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ τὴν τοῦ ἀρχετύπου πλάσιν ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ποίησιν καινὴν, ἐκ μήτρας ἀλύτῳ ἑνώσει ἵνα τὴν ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων σωτήριον πραγματείαν ποιήσηται, ἐν πάθει καὶ θανάτῳ καὶ ἀναστάσει τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατεργαζόμενος. ### English translation (Claude) Tell us, then, how do you say that God was born from Nazareth—announcing, like Paul of Samosata, a beginning of generation for the Godhead, or, like Marcion and the other heretics, denying the birth of the flesh—not keeping in line with the rule of the Gospel but wishing to speak from your own? This is why you say that God was born from the Virgin, and not God and man, according to the rule of the Gospel: so that you may never, by confessing a birth of flesh, call it natural and so tell the truth; but [you say that] God was born and displayed his own flesh as in appearance. For God does not display a beginning of birth from Nazareth; but the Word, who is God before the ages, appeared as man from Nazareth, born of Mary the Virgin and of the Holy Spirit in Bethlehem of Judea, of the seed of David and Abraham and Adam, as it is written; taking all that belongs to man, which he himself formed and made, without sin, as the Apostle also says: “in likeness in all respects, without sin”—not displaying a transformation of the Godhead, but working a renewal of humanity according to his will, so that the Gentiles might be “of the same body and sharers” in Christ, as the Apostle also writes; so that the man might be truly God and God truly man, so that he might be both truly man and truly God; not a man being with God, as you say in slander, tearing apart the mystery of the Christians; but the only-begotten God being pleased [to unite] to the fullness of his Godhead the formation of the archetypal man, and a new making, from the womb, in indissoluble union, so that he might carry out the saving work for men, accomplishing the salvation of men in suffering, death, and resurrection. ### Scripture references - Matt 2:1: allusion, high confidence - Matt 1:20: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 1:1: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 3:38: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 4:15: quotation, high confidence - Eph 3:6: quotation, high confidence - Col 2:9: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - A block of Migne’s marginal text printed inside the word σαρκός (including the name of a later scholiast, ὁ δοξαπάτρης) is removed. The clause “taking all that belongs to man … without sin” is compressed in the Greek and the verb “to unite” in the last sentence is supplied by sense. The quotations are Heb 4:15 and Eph 3:6. The opponents’ charge that the orthodox make Christ “a man with God” is reported as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.5 (PG 26:1137–1140; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-5). ## Against Apollinaris 2.6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/1-14/#p-2-6 - Source: PG 26:1139–1142 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Answering the objection that human thoughts are necessarily sinful, the author argues that sin entered human nature by the devil’s sowing, not by creation, and that Christ took that nature to free it from sin. ### Greek text ᾿Αλλὰ λέγετε, ὅτι, εἰ πάντα ἔλαβε, πάντως δήπου καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρωπίνους λογισμοὺς εἶχεν· ἀδύνατον δὲ ἐστιν ἐν λογισμοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις ἁμαρτίαν μὴ εἶναι· καὶ πῶς ἔσται χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ὁ Χριστός; Εἴπατε τοίνυν· Εἰ τῶν ἁμαρτητικῶν λογισμῶν δημιουργὸς ὁ Θεὸς, προσακτέον τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ἰδίαν δημιουργίαν · ἦλθε γὰρ προσάγεσθαι τὴν ἰδίαν ποίησιν. ᾿Αλλὰ ἄδικος ἔσται πάλιν ἡ κρίσις καταδικάζουσα σμοὺς ἐδημιούργησεν ὁ Θεὸς, πῶς καταδικάζει τὸν κρίσιν γενέσθαι; Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ ᾿Αδὰμ ὑπέκειτο τοῖς ἁμαρτήσαντα; καὶ πῶς οἷόν τε παρὰ Θεοῦ τοιαύτην τοιούτοις λογισμοῖς, πρὶν ἢ παρακούσῃ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντολῆς, καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἐγίνωσκε καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν; λογικὸς μὲν ὢν τὴν φύσιν, ἐλεύθερος δὲ τὸν λογισμὸν, πεῖραν κακοῦ οὐκ εἰδὼς, μόνον δὲ τὸ καλὸν γινώσκων, καὶ ὥσπερ τις μονότροπος ὧν· παρακούσας δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑποπέπτωκε τοῖς ἁμαρτητικοῖς λογισμοῖς οὐ τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργήσαντος τοὺς αἰχμαλωτίζοντας λογισμοὺς, ἀλλὰ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐξ ἀπάτης ἐπισπείραντος τῇ λογικῇ φύσει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐν παραβάσει γενομένῃ, καὶ ἀπωσθείσῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὥστε τὸν διάβολον καὶ νόμον ἁμαρτίας καταστήσασθαι ἐν τῇ φύσει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ θάνατον βασιλεύοντα διὰ τοῦ ἔργου τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Διὰ τοῦτο οὖν ἦλθεν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα λύσῃ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔστιν αὕτη λύσις τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνῳ ἀρχῆθεν εἰργάσατο ὁ διάβολος τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα, ἐλθόντος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν κόσμον, καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτήσαντος, λυθῇ ἡ ἁμαρτία· ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῇ λογικῇ καὶ νοερᾷ φύσει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπισπείρας εἰργάσατο διάβολος τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Διὰ τοῦτο ἀδύνατον γέγονε τῇ φύσει, λογικῇ οὔσῃ καὶ ἑκουσίως ἁμαρτησάσῃ, καὶ ὑπὸ καταδίκην θανάτου γενομένῃ, ἑαυτὴν ἀνακαλέσασθαι εἰς ἐλευθερίαν, ὥς φησιν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος · Τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκός. Διὰ τοῦτο δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ἦλθεν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ταύτην ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ φύσει καταστήσασθαι ἐκ νέας ἀρχῆς καὶ γενέσεως θαυμαστῆς· οὐ τὴν ἀρχῆθεν σύστασιν καταμερίσας, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐπισπαρεῖσαν ἀθέτησιν ἀθετήσας, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ ὁ προφήτης, λέγων· Πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτησάσῃ φύσει ἡ ἀναμαρτησία ὤφθη, πῶς κατεκρίθη ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ, μήτε τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ πρακτικὸν ἐχούσης, μήτε τῆς θεότητος ἁμαρτίαν γινωσκούσης; Πῶς δὲ ὁ ᾿Απόστολος λέγει· "Ὅπου ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν ἡ χάρις; οὐ τόπον διαγράφων, ἀλλὰ φύσιν ὑποτιθέμενος· Ἵνα, ὥσπερ, φησὶ, δι' ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος, οὕτω καὶ δι'᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ χάρις βασιλεύσῃ διὰ δικαιοσύνης εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον· ἵνα δι' ἧς φύσεως ἡ προχώρησις τῆς ἁμαρτίας γέγονε, δι' αὐτῆς καὶ ἡ ἐπίδειξις τῆς δικαιοσύνης γένηται καὶ οὕτω λυθῇ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου, ἐλευθερωθείσης τῆς ἀνθρώπων φύσεως ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ δοξασθῇ ὁ Θεός. ### English translation (Claude) But you say: “If he took everything, then surely he also had human thoughts; and it is impossible that there be no sin in human thoughts; how then will Christ be without sin?” Tell us, then: if God is the creator of sinful thoughts, his own creation must be attributed to God; for he came to take to himself his own making. But then the judgment will again be unjust in condemning; [for if] God created [sinful] thoughts, how does he condemn the one who sinned? And how could such a judgment come from God? And if Adam too was subject to such thoughts before he disobeyed God’s commandment, how did he not know good and evil? Being rational in nature and free in thought, he had no experience of evil, knew only the good, and was, as it were, of a single disposition; but having disobeyed God’s commandment he fell under sinful thoughts—not that God created the thoughts that take captive, but that the devil by deceit sowed them in the rational nature of man, which had come into transgression and been driven away from God; so that the devil established a law of sin in the nature of man, and death reigning through the work of sin. “For this reason, then, the Son of God came, to undo the works of the [devil].” … “But this is not the undoing of sin.” For it was not in him that the devil from the beginning worked sin, so that by his coming into the world and not sinning the sin should be undone; but it was in the rational and intellectual nature of man that the devil, by sowing, worked sin. That is why it became impossible for the nature, being rational, having sinned willingly, and having come under the condemnation of death, to call itself back into freedom, as the Apostle says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” That is why the Son of God came through himself to establish this nature in his own, from a new beginning and a wonderful birth—not dividing the original constitution, but setting aside the setting aside that had been sown in it, as the prophet testifies, saying, “Before the child knows good or evil, he refuses wickedness, to choose the good.” But if sinlessness was not seen in the nature that had sinned, how was sin condemned in the flesh, when the flesh has no power of action of its own and the Godhead does not know sin? And how does the Apostle say, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more”—not marking out a place, but positing a nature? “So that,” he says, “as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, so also through one man, Jesus Christ, grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life”; so that through the very nature through which sin advanced, the display of righteousness might also come about, and so the works of the devil might be undone, the nature of men being freed from sin, and God be glorified. ### Scripture references - Gen 2:17: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 3:5: allusion, low confidence - 2 Cor 10:5: echo, low confidence - Rom 7:23: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 5:17: allusion, medium confidence - 1 John 3:8: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:3: quotation, high confidence - Isa 7:16: quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:20: quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:21: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The scan OCR interleaves lines of the main text with marginal notes in the second and third sentences; one marginal line (πος ᾗ Θεὸς ἀληθῶς … Μox Ἀλλὰ λέγετε,) is removed and the rest translated in the order the argument requires. After “to undo the works of the” a line is lost; the following “But this is not the undoing of sin” seems to be the opponents’ reply. The quotations are 1 John 3:8, Rom 8:3, Isa 7:16 (LXX), Rom 5:20, and Rom 5:12, 21. The opponents’ objection is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.6 (PG 26:1139–1142; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-6). ## Against Apollinaris 2.7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-7 - Source: PG 26:1143–1144 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Against the objection that a man, as part of the world, cannot save it, the author argues that grace abounded in the very nature that sinned, since the Word became man to have something to offer for us. ### Greek text ᾿Αλλὰ πάλιν λέγετε· Εἰ ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστὸς, μέρος ἔσται τοῦ κόσμου· μέρος δὲ κόσμου κόσμον σῶσαι οὐ δύναται. Ὦ ἐπίνοια ἀπάτης, καὶ ἀπόνοια βλασφημίας! Λεγέτωσαν γὰρ ποίας Γραφῆς οὗτος ὁ ὅρος, ἢ τοῦ διαβόλου σόφισμα· καίτοι τοῦ προφήτου ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτὴν δ' Υψιστος. Πῶς οὖν Χριστὸς οὐ σώζει κόσμον, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος; ὁπότε δὴ πρόδηλον, ὅτι ἐν ᾗ φύσει ἐπράχθη ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἐν αὐτῇ γέγονεν ἡ περισσεία τῆς χάριτος. Τίς δὲ περισσεία τῆς χάριτος; ὅτι ὁ Λόγος πος γενόμενος, Θεὸς πιστευθῇ· ὡς καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὢν ὁ Χριστὸς, Θεός ἐστιν, ὅτι Θεὸς ὧν γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ σώζει τοὺς πιστεύοντας ἐν ἀνθρώπου μορφῇ. Ἐὰν γὰρ ὁμολογήσῃς Κύριον Ἰησοῦν ἐν τῷ στόματί σου, καὶ πιστεύσῃς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἤγειρεν αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν, σωθήσῃ. Νέκρωσιν δὲ Θεὸς οὐκ ἐπιδέχεται, οὔτε ἀναστάσεως δέεται, ἀλλὰ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνίστησιν. Ὅθεν χρεία γέγονεν ἔχειν τι τὸν Θεὸν, ὃ προσενέγκῃ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, εἴτε ἐν θανάτῳ εἴτε ἐν ζωῇ · ὥστε τούτῳ μᾶλλον σώζει ὁ Λόγος, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν. ### English translation (Claude) But again you say: “If Christ is man, he will be a part of the world; and a part of the world cannot save the world.” What a device of deceit, what madness of blasphemy! Let them say of which Scripture this is the rule, or whether it is a sophism of the devil; although the prophet [says, “… a man was born] in her, and the Most High himself founded her.” How then does Christ not save the world by becoming man? For it is plain that in the very nature in which sin was committed, the abundance of grace came about. And what is the abundance of grace? That the Word, having become man, is believed to be God; that Christ, while being man, is God, because being God he became man and saves those who believe in the form of a man. For “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” But God does not admit of deadening, nor does he need resurrection; rather he raises from the dead. Hence it became necessary for God to have something to offer for us, whether in death or in life; so that the Word saves all the more because he became man. ### Scripture references - Ps 87:5 (86:5 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:20: allusion, high confidence - Rom 10:9: quotation, high confidence - Heb 8:3: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The opponents’ objection is translated as written. A line is lost in the scan OCR in the quotation of Ps 87:5 (LXX 86:5), “a man was born in her, and the Most High himself founded her”; only its end survives. The other quotations are Rom 10:9 and the language of Rom 5:20 and Heb 8:3. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.7 (PG 26:1143–1144; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7). ## Against Apollinaris 2.8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-8 - Source: PG 26:1143–1146 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author answers the claim that inherited human nature cannot be sinless by likening it to Mani’s teaching, rejecting a “fleshly soul,” and arguing from God’s oath to David and Heb 2:14 that Christ shared our nature. ### Greek text Ἀλλὰ πάλιν λέγετε· Καὶ πῶς δύναται ἡ ἐν συνηθείᾳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας γενομένη φύσις, καὶ τὴν διαδοχὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας διαδεξαμένη χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας εἶναι; ὅ ἐστιν ἀδύνατον· ἔσται δὲ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς, ὡς σε· ταύτην καὶ Μανιχαῖος εἰσηγήσατο τὴν γνώμην, τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν σάρκα καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν γέννησιν ὑπὸ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς κακίας τάσσων, καὶ Ἐξουσιαστὴν τοῦτον ἐπιγραφόμενος· ἐπειδὴ ᾧ τις ἥττηται, τούτῳ καὶ δεδούλωται Τούτων καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀνανεοῦσθε τὴν γνώμην, καθ' ἕτερον τρόπον τὴν νοερὰν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσιν, ἥτις νοεῖται ψυχή, προσεπιδιδόντες, καὶ ἄφευκτον ταύτην τῆς ἁμαρτίας διοριζόμενοι· κἂν ὅτι μάλιστα καὶ ψυχὴν σαρκικὴν γεγράφατε, πόθεν μαθόντες οὐ συνεπίσταμαι · οὔτε γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων Γραφῶν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τοῦτο, οὔτε ἐν τῷ κοινῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων λογισμῷ, τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος · Μὴ φοβηθῆτε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεινόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι. Καὶ πῶς, εἰ σαρκική ἡ ψυχὴ καθ' ὑμᾶς, οὐ συνθνήσκει τῷ σώματι, καὶ συμφθείρεται; πῶς δὲ καὶ ὁ Πέτρος, τὰς ἐν δή ἔλεγεν· Ἐπορεύθη τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ κατακεκλεισμένοις πνεύμασιν εὐαγγελίσασθαι τὴν ἀνάστασιν; ᾿Αλλὰ ὑμεῖς πάντα παρὰ φύσιν λέγετε καὶ όνομάζετε, ἵνα μή ποτε κατὰ φύσιν διηγούμενοι τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἐπαληθεύσητε τῷ Λόγῳ, ὅτι καὶ ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν ἀληθῶς ὁ Λόγος. Εἰρήκατε γὰρ, ὅτι φωνὴ Θεοῦ ἐστιν ἡ λέγουσα, ὅτι Ἔγκειται ἡ διάνοια τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ ἐπιμελῶς ἐκ νεότητος· οὐ νοοῦντες, ὅτι, ἐκ νεότητος, εἰρηκὼς, τὸ ἐξ ἐπισπορᾶς καὶ ἐπίκηρον ἐδήλωσε. Διὰ τοῦτο ὤμοσε Κύριος τῷ Δαβὶδ ἀλήθειαν, ἐκ καρποῦ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ἀναστῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν τὸ κατὰ σάρκα· οὐχὶ ἄνδρα ἐκ μεταποιήσεως θεότητος ὀφθησόμενον (ἐπεὶ τίς ἦν χρεία τοῦ ὀμόσαι τῷ Δαβὶδ τὸν Κύριον;)· ἀλλὰ λαβόντα τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ἐν ἀνοχῇ τῆς γεννήσεως τῆς ἐκ γυναικὸς καὶ αὐξήσεως ἡλικίας τῆς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκεν αἴματος καὶ σαρκὸς, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχε τῶν αὐτῶν· παραπλησίως μὲν ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ σπέρματος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ Πνεύματος· τῶν δὲ αὐτῶν, ὅτι οὐχ ἑτέρωθεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ σπέρματος τοῦ Δαβὶδ καὶ τοῦ ᾿Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ τοῦ ᾿Ἀδὰμ, ὡς γέγραπται. ### English translation (Claude) But again you say: “And how can the nature that has become accustomed to sin and has received sin by inheritance be without sin? That is impossible; and Christ too will be, as …” Mani also introduced this opinion, placing the flesh of man and birth itself under the ruler of wickedness and calling him the “Authority”; since “whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” You renew their opinion in another way, handing over besides the intellectual nature of man, which is understood to be the soul, and defining it as unable to escape sin; although you have even written of a “fleshly soul,” and from where you learned it I do not know. For this is not to be found in the holy Scriptures nor in the common reasoning of men, since the Lord says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” And how, if the soul is fleshly by your account, does it not die with the body and perish with it? And how did Peter … say, “He went to preach the resurrection to the spirits shut up in prison”? But you say and name everything against nature, so that you may never, by recounting the dispensation according to nature, confirm the truth of the Word, that the Word truly became man. For you have said that it is the voice of God which says, “The mind of man is intently set on evil from his youth,” not understanding that by saying “from his youth” he showed what comes from sowing and is perishable. That is why the Lord swore truth to David, to raise up the Christ according to the flesh from the fruit of his body—not a man to be seen by a transformation of the Godhead (for then what need was there for the Lord to swear to David?), but one who took the form of the servant in enduring birth from a woman and growth in stature like ours, as the Apostle says, “Since therefore the children share in blood and flesh, he himself likewise partook of the same things”: “likewise,” because not from seed but from the Spirit; “the same things,” because not from elsewhere but from the seed of David and of Abraham and of Adam, as it is written. ### Scripture references - 2 Pet 2:19: quotation, high confidence - Matt 10:28: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 3:19: quotation, medium confidence - Gen 8:21: quotation, high confidence - Ps 132:11 (131:11 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Acts 2:30: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 1:3: allusion, medium confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Gal 4:4: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 2:52: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 2:14: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The opponents’ objection is reported as written; it breaks off where a line is lost in the scan OCR (ὡς σε). A displaced marginal line (στὸς οὐ σώζει …) in the sentence on Peter is removed, and words are lost there. The descent “to the spirits in prison” paraphrases 1 Pet 3:19. The other quotations are 2 Pet 2:19, Matt 10:28, Gen 8:21 (LXX), Ps 132:11 (LXX 131:11), and Heb 2:14. “Authority” renders Ἐξουσιαστής as printed. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.8 (PG 26:1143–1146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-8). ## Against Apollinaris 2.9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-9 - Source: PG 26:1145–1148 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author answers the objections that the Word was joined to a man and that a sinless nature would be forced, arguing that sinlessness is natural and that the Word won the victory through the very nature the devil had defeated. ### Greek text Πῶς οὖν, παρελθόντες τὰς ἁγίας Γραφὰς, καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν φανέρωσιν, λέγετε, ὅτι εἰ μὴ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ἀνὴρ ὤφθη, ἀλλὰ λαβὼν ἀνθρωπίνην ὕπαρξιν, ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος · πρὸς ἄνδρα ἄρα συνήφθη· ἔσται δὲ καὶ ὁ σταυρωθεὶς Κύριος τῆς δόξης ἄνθρωπος; Ἐὰν οὖν ἀκούσητε τοῦ Πέτρου λέγοντος · Τοῦτον καὶ Χριστὸν καὶ Κύριον ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε, ἐπὶ τίνος τὴν ποίησιν λαμβάνετε; εἰ μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ Λόγου θεότητος τί ἔτι ᾿Αρειανοῖς μέμφεσθε, τὰ ἴσα ἐκείνοις φρονοῦντες; εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ Λόγῳ τοῦ δούλου μορφῆς, τί ἔτι ἑαυτοῖς μάχεσθε; ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ οὕτως ὑμεῖς πεπιστεύκατε· πάλιν γὰρ λέγετε· Εἰ ἡ ἁμαρτήσασα φύσις ἐν Θεῷ γέγονεν ἁμαρτίαν μὴ ποιήσασα, ἀνάγκῃ τοίνυν κατέχεται· τὸ δὲ ἀνάγκῃ κατεχόμενον βίαιόν ἐστιν. Εἴπατε τοίνυν· Εἰ τὸ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν κατὰ ἀνάγκην γίνεται, τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν κατὰ φύσιν ἔσται · δώσετε οὖν τὸν τῆς φύσεως δημιουργὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἶναι ἐνεργόν. Εἰ δὲ βλασφημία ἐστὶ τὸ τοιοῦτον, κατὰ ἀνάγκην δὲ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν συμβέβηκε · πρόδηλον, ὅτι τὸ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν κατὰ φύσιν γέγονε. Διὰ τοῦτο, ἐν οὐκ ἀνάγκῃ ὑποκειμένη, ἀλλὰ φύσει καὶ δυνάμει, τὴν ἀναμαρτησίαν ἐπιδείκνυται, διαλύσασα τὸν τῆς ἀνάγκης ὅρον, καὶ τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας νόμον, καὶ τὸν φησιν ὁ προφήτης· ᾿Ανέβης εἰς ὕψος, ἠχμαλώτευσας αἰχμαλωσίαν. Τὴν γὰρ μορφὴν τοῦ δούλου κατὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ προβαλλόμενος ὁ Λόγος, τὴν νίκην πεποίηται διὰ τοῦ ποτὲ ἡττηθέντος. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ πάντα τὸν πειρασμὸν συνετέλεσεν. ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ὅτι πάντα ἔλαβε τὰ πειρασμοῦ πεῖραν ἐσχηκότα, δι' ὧν τὴν ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων νίκην πεποίηται λέγων· Θαρσεῖτε, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον. Οὐ γὰρ πρὸς θεότητα ἤρατο τὸν πόλεμον ὁ διάβολος, ἣν ἡγνόησεν, πλανῆσαι ἴσχυσε, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐξέτεινε τῆς κακίας αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐνέργειαν. Τῆς δὲ τοῦ ᾿Ἀδὰμ ψυχῆς ἐν καταδίκῃ θανάτου κατεχομένης, καὶ βοώσης πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτῆς δεσπότην διαπαντὸς καὶ τῶν εὐαρεστησάντων τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ δικαιωθέντων ἐν τῷ φυσικῷ νόμῳ, συγκατεχομένων τῷ Ἀδὰμ, συμπενθούντων τε καὶ συμβοώντων ἐλεήσας ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὃν ἐποίησεν, σωτηρίαν κατεργάσασθαι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ καθαίρεσιν μὲν ποιήσασθαι τοῦ διὰ φθόνον ἀπατήσαντος ἐχθροῦ, ὕψωσιν δὲ ἀσυλλόγιστον ἀναδεῖξαι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῇ πρὸς τὸν Ὕψιστον ἑνώσει καὶ ### English translation (Claude) How then, passing over the holy Scriptures and the manifestation of the truth, do you say: “If he did not appear as a man from himself but became man by taking a human existence, then he was joined to a man; and the crucified Lord of glory will be a man”? If, then, you hear Peter saying, “God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified,” to what do you refer the “making”? If to the Godhead of the Word, why do you still blame the Arians, when you think the same as they? But if to the form of the servant in the Word, why do you still fight against yourselves? But you have not believed so; for again you say: “If the nature that sinned came to be in God without committing sin, then it is held by necessity; and what is held by necessity is forced.” Tell us, then: if not sinning happens by necessity, sinning will be by nature; you will grant, then, that the creator of nature is the worker of sin. But if such a thing is blasphemy, and sinning has come about by necessity, it is plain that not sinning is by nature. That is why, in … [the nature], subject not to necessity but by nature and power, displays sinlessness, having dissolved the bound of necessity, the law of sin, and the … as the prophet says, “You ascended on high, you led captivity captive.” For the Word, putting forward the form of the servant against the enemy, won the victory through the one who had once been defeated. That is why Jesus completed every temptation, because he took all that had experienced temptation, through which he won the victory on behalf of men, saying, “Take courage, I have conquered the world.” For the devil did not raise war against the Godhead, of which he was ignorant, [but against man, whom] he was able to deceive, and from him extended the working of his wickedness to all men. But since the soul of Adam was held under the condemnation of death and cried out continually to its Master, and those who had pleased God and been justified under the natural law were held with Adam, mourning and crying out with him, God, having mercy on the man whom he had made, [willed] to accomplish salvation for the race of men, to bring down the enemy who had deceived out of envy, and to show forth an incomparable exaltation of man by union with the Most High, and … ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 2:8: allusion, high confidence - Acts 2:36: quotation, high confidence - Rom 7:23: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 68:18 (67:19 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Eph 4:8: quotation, medium confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 4:13: quotation, high confidence - Heb 4:15: allusion, medium confidence - John 16:33: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:14: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The opponents’ objections are reported as written. Marginal text printed into the sentence beginning “That is why, in” (θῶς ὁ Λόγος. ἀληθῶς ὁ Χριστός. …) is removed; lines are lost there and before “as the prophet says,” and after “of which he was ignorant”; bracketed words are supplied by sense. The section ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost. The quotations are Acts 2:36, Ps 68:18 (LXX 67:19; Eph 4:8), Luke 4:13, and John 16:33. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.9 (PG 26:1145–1148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-9). ## Against Apollinaris 2.10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-10 - Source: PG 26:1147–1150 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author explains that the Word came as the second Adam, with soul and body but without sinful wills, so that the devil found nothing of his own in him and sin was destroyed. ### Greek text Διὰ τοῦτο ἦλθεν ὁ Λόγος Θεὸς ὢν, καὶ τοῦ εἰς ζωοποίησιν μὲν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καθαίρεσιν δὲ τοῦ ἀδίκου ἐχθροῦ· καὶ ἐγεννήθη ἐκ γυναικὸς, ἐκ τῆς πρώτης πλάσεως τὴν ἀνθρώπου μορφὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἀναστησάμενος, ἐν ἐπιδείξει σαρκὸς δίχα σαρκικῶν θελημάτων καὶ λογισμῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, ἐν εἰκόνι καινότητος. Ἡ γὰρ θέλησις θεότητος μόνης · ἐπειδὴ καὶ φύσις ὅλη τοῦ Λόγου, ἐν ἐπιδείξει μορφῆς τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καὶ σαρκὸς τῆς ὁρωμένης τοῦ δευτέρου ᾿Ἀδὰμ, οὐκ ἐν διαιρέσει προσώπων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ὑπάρξει θεότητος καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ προσῄει ὁ διάβολος τῷ Ἰησοῦ, ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ, μὴ εὑρίσκων δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς παπρὸς τὸ παρὸν ἐπιχειρήσεως προχώρησιν, ἡττᾶτο οὗτος ὁ παραγενόμενος ἐξ Ἐδὼμ, τουτέστιν, ἐκ γῆς ἀνθρώπων διαβαίνων βίᾳ μετὰ ἰσχύος; Διὸ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἔλεγεν· Ἔρχεται ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ εὑρίσκει οὐδέν. Καίτοι καὶ ψυχὴν, καὶ σῶμα, καὶ ὅλον τὸν πρῶτον μεμαθήκαμεν ἔχειν τὸν δεύτερον Ἀδάμ Εἰ γὰρ περὶ ὑπάρξεως ἀνθρώπου ἦν τὸ, οὐδὲν, πῶς τὸ σῶμα εὗρε τὸ ὀρώμενον εἰρηκότος οὐδέν; ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐχ εὖρεν ἐν αὐτῷ, ὧν αὐτὸς εἰργάσατο ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Ἀδάμ· καὶ οὕτως κατελύθη ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν Χριστῷ· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ Γραφὴ μαρτυρεῖ· Ὃς ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ. ### English translation (Claude) That is why the Word came, being God, … for the giving of life to man and the overthrow of the unjust enemy; and he was born of a woman, raising up in himself the form of man from the first formation, in the display of flesh without fleshly wills and human thoughts, in the image of newness. For the will is of the Godhead alone, since the whole nature is the Word’s, in the display of the human form and the visible flesh of the second Adam—not in a division of persons, but in an existence of Godhead and humanity. For this is why the devil approached Jesus as a man; but finding in him no advance for his present attempt …, he was defeated. [Who is] this one coming from Edom—that is, from the earth of men—passing over by force with strength? That is why the Lord said, “The ruler of this world is coming, and finds nothing in me.” And yet we have learned that the second Adam has soul and body and the whole of the first. For if the “nothing” were about the existence of a man, how did he find the body that was seen, when he had said “nothing”? But he did not find in him the things which he himself had worked in the first Adam; and so sin was destroyed in Christ. That is why Scripture also testifies, “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.” ### Scripture references - Gal 4:4: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:3: echo, low confidence - 1 Cor 15:45: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 4:3: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 63:1: quotation, medium confidence - John 14:30: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 2:22: quotation, high confidence - Isa 53:9: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The opening clause is garbled in the scan OCR (καὶ τοῦ εἰς ζωοποίησιν), and a line is lost in the sentence on the devil’s approach (τῆς πα…πρὸς τὸ παρόν). “For the will is of the Godhead alone” is the author’s statement, translated as written. “Who is this one coming from Edom … by force with strength” adapts Isa 63:1 (LXX), with Edom read as “earth” (Hebrew ʾĕdôm / ʾădāmâ). The closing quotation is 1 Pet 2:22 (Isa 53:9). ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.10 (PG 26:1147–1150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-10). ## Against Apollinaris 2.11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-11 - Source: PG 26:1149–1152 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that captive human nature could be freed only by Christ’s real sharing in it as firstborn and firstfruits, and rejects the formula “God who suffered through flesh” as Arian in tendency. ### Greek text Πῶς οὖν λέγετε, ὅτι ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ἀναιχμαλώτιστον γενέσθαι τὸν ἅπαξ αἰχμαλωτισθέντα ἄνθρωπον; ἵνα τὸ μὲν ἀδύνατον τῷ Θεῷ προσάγητε τὸ δὲ δυνατὸν τῷ διαβόλῳ, ἀκατάλυτον αὐτοῦ λέγοντες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὡς καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι αἱρετικοί· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐληλυθέναι τὴν θεότητα, τὴν μὴ αἰχμαλωτιζομένην, ἐν ὁμοιώσει σαρκὸς καὶ ψυχῆς, ἵνα αὐτὴ ἀναιχμαλώτιστος μείνῃ καὶ οὕτως ὀφθῇ καθαρὰ δικαιοσύνη. Πότε γοῦν οὐκ ἦν τῆς θεότητος καθαρὰ ἡ δικαιοσύνη; Τίς δὲ ἐν τούτοις ἀνθρώπων εὐεργεσία, εἰ μὴ ταυτότητι ὑπάρξεως καὶ φύσεως καινότητι ὤφθη ὁ Κύριος, ὥς φησιν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος· "ἣν ἐνεκαίνισεν ἡμῖν ὁδὸν καὶ ἡ ζωὴ, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια; ᾿Αλλὰ λέγετε, τῇ ὁμοιώσει καὶ τῇ μιμήσει σώζεσθαι τοὺς πιστεύοντας, καὶ οὐ τῇ ἀνακαινίσει καὶ τῇ ἀπαρχῇ. Καὶ πῶς πρωτότοκος γέγονεν ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, καὶ ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων Χριστὸς, ὅς ἐστι κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας; Οὔτε γὰρ πίστις κατὰ δήλου φαινομένη πίστις ἂν λέγὸιτο· ἀλλ᾿ ἔστι πίστις ἡ τὸ ἀδύνατον ἐν δυνάμει πιστεύουσα, καὶ τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἐν ἰσχύϊ, καὶ τὸ παθητὸν ἐν ἀπαθείᾳ, καὶ τὸ φθαρτὸν ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ, καὶ τὸ θνητὸν ἐν ἀθανασίᾳ. Τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστὶν, ὥς φησιν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος · ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω, εἰς Χριστὸν, καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἦλθεν ἡ θεότης ἑαυτὴν δικαιῶσαι, οὔτε γὰρ ἥμαρτεν, ᾿Αλλ' ἐπτώχευσε δι' ἡμᾶς πλούσιος ὢν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς τῇ ἐκείνου πτωχείᾳ πλουτήσωμεν. Πῶς δὲ ἐπτώχευσεν ὁ Θεός ὅτι τὴν πτωχεύσασαν φύσιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἀνελάβετο, ἐν ἀνθρώπων πάσχουσαν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπους οὖσαν, καὶ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων φανερωθεῖσαν, καὶ Θεοῦ ὅλην γενομένην. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ πρωτότοκος ἐγεγόνει ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, πῶς ἂν πρωτότοκος ὤφθη ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν; Πῶς οὖν λέγετε, ὁ Θεὸς ὁ διὰ σαρκὸς παθὼν καὶ ἀναστάς; Φεῦ τῆς ἀτοπίας καὶ τῆς βλασφημίας! ᾿Αρειανῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμήματα. Ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ τὴν τοιαύτην βλασφημίαν προβάλλονται ἀδεῶς, προσποιητῶς ὀνομάζειν Θεὸν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ μεμαθηκότες · καίτοι τῆς Γραφῆς διδασκούσης, ὅτι διὰ Θεοῦ ἐν σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ πάθος γέγονε, καὶ οὐχὶ Θεὸς διὰ σαρκὸς ἔπαθεν. ### English translation (Claude) How then do you say that it is impossible for man, once taken captive, to become free of captivity? So that you attribute impossibility to God and possibility to the devil, saying that his sin in the nature of men cannot be undone, as the other heretics also do; and that this is why the Godhead, which cannot be taken captive, came in the likeness of flesh and soul, so that it might itself remain uncaptured and so be seen as pure righteousness. When, then, was the righteousness of the Godhead not pure? And what benefit to men is there in this, unless the Lord appeared in identity of existence and newness of nature, as the Apostle says, “the way which he opened for us,” and “the life and the truth”? But you say that those who believe are saved by likeness and imitation, and not by renewal and the firstfruits. And how then did Christ become “firstborn among many brothers,” and “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” he who is “the head of the body, the Church”? For faith that rests on what is plainly visible would not be called faith; but faith is that which believes the impossible in power, the weak in strength, the passible in impassibility, the corruptible in incorruption, and the mortal in immortality. “This mystery is great,” as the Apostle says, “but I speak with reference to Christ and the Church.” For the Godhead did not come to justify itself, for it had not sinned; but “he became poor for our sake, though he was rich, so that we by his poverty might become rich.” How did God become poor? In that he took up into himself the nature that had become poor, suffering among men, being for men, made manifest from men, and become wholly God’s. For if he had not become firstborn among many brothers, how would he have appeared as firstborn from the dead? How then do you say, “God who suffered and rose through flesh”? Alas for the absurdity and the blasphemy! Such daring belongs to the Arians. For they put forward such blasphemy fearlessly, having learned to name the Son of God “God” in pretence; and yet Scripture teaches that it is through God that the suffering took place in his flesh, and not that God suffered through flesh. ### Scripture references - Rom 8:3: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 10:20: quotation, medium confidence - John 14:6: quotation, medium confidence - Rom 8:29: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:20: quotation, high confidence - Col 1:18: quotation, high confidence - Heb 11:1: echo, low confidence - Eph 5:32: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 8:9: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The opponents’ positions and the formula “God who suffered and rose through flesh” are reported as written; the comparison with the Arians is the author’s polemic. A repeated marginal line (μεν. Πῶς δὲ ἐπτώχευσεν ὁ Λόγος.) is removed. “The way which he opened for us” is Heb 10:20, joined loosely to John 14:6. The other quotations are Rom 8:29, 1 Cor 15:20, Col 1:18, Eph 5:32, and 2 Cor 8:9. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.11 (PG 26:1149–1152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-11). ## Against Apollinaris 2.12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-12 - Source: PG 26:1151–1152 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that those who confess the consubstantial Word yet attribute suffering to his Godhead fall either into Valentinian and Arian error or into Marcion’s docetism, against all Scripture’s witness to his humanity. ### Greek text Οἱ τοίνυν τῆς ὁμοουσιότητος τὴν ὁμολογίαν προϋπισχνούμενοι πῶς εἰς πάθος καθέλκετε τὸ ἀδιαίρετον ὄνομα ; τὴν ἀμέριστον φύσιν, τὴν ἄφραστον θεότητα, τὴν ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον ὁμοουσιότητα εἰς πάθος καθέλκοντες, καὶ ἐξ ἀναστάσεως όμολογοῦντες; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ μεταποιήσας σάρκα ὁ Λόγος μέχρι πάθους κεχώρηκε, μηδὲν παθητικὸν ἢ ἀνάστασιν ἐπιδεχόμενον ἐν ἑαυτῷ προσλαβόμενος, αὐτὸς ἂν εἴη ὁ παθὼν καὶ ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν· ἔσται δὲ κοινὸν τῆς Τριάδος τὸ πάθος κατὰ Οὐαλεντίνον, ἀδιαιρέτου ἐκ Πατρὸς τοῦ Λόγου τυγχάνοντος κατὰ τὴν θείαν φύσιν. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα οὕτω νοεῖν βούλεσθε, τίς ἡ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἐπαγγελία, ἢ τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν ἡ γενεαλογία, ἢ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἡ μαρτυρία, ἢ τῆς μητρὸς Μαρίας ἡ παράστασις, ἢ τῆς ἡλικίας ἡ αὔξησις, ἢ τῆς βρώσεως ἡ ἐπίδειξις, ἢ τῆς κατὰ πάντα συμπαθείας ἡ ἔνδειξις, ἢ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἡ προσαγωγή, ἢ ὅτι ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου γέγονεν, ἢ ὅτι ἄνθρωπος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν; ἢ ὅτι δεῖ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πολλὰ παθεῖν καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῆναι; Εἰ δὲ μὴ πιστεύετε, ὅτι παθητὸς ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐπειδὴ ἄνθρωπος · ἀπαθὴς δὲ, ἐπειδὴ Θεός· ἀλλὰ στενοχωρούμενοι λογίζεσθε, ὅτι, ἐὰν ὁμολογήσητε Θεὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπον τὸν Χριστὸν, οὐκ ἔτι ἕνα, ἀλλὰ δύο λέγετε· ἀνάγκη ὑμᾶς ἢ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πάθους καὶ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως δόκησιν λέγειν, κατὰ Μαρκίωνα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αἱρετικοὺς, ἢ τὴν θεότητα τοῦ Λόγου παθητὴν ὀνομάζειν, κατὰ ῎Ἄρειον καὶ τοὺς κατ' ### English translation (Claude) You, then, who profess beforehand to confess consubstantiality—how do you drag the indivisible name down into suffering? Dragging into suffering the undivided nature, the inexpressible Godhead, the unchangeable and unalterable consubstantiality, and confessing it [raised] by resurrection? For if the Word, transforming flesh out of himself, went as far as suffering, taking to himself nothing capable of suffering or resurrection, he himself would be the one who suffered and rose from the dead; and the suffering will be common to the Trinity, as Valentinus holds, since the Word is undivided from the Father in the divine nature. But if you wish to understand these things so, what is the promise through the prophets, or the genealogy of the evangelists, or the testimony of the apostles, or the presence of his mother Mary, or the growth in stature, or the proof given by eating, or the showing of fellow-feeling in all things, or the application of the name, or that the Son of God became son of man, or that “the man Jesus Christ gave himself as a ransom for us,” or that “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be killed, and on the third day rise from the dead”? But if you do not believe that Christ is passible because he is man and impassible because he is God, but in your perplexity reckon that if you confess Christ as God and man you no longer speak of one but of two, then you must either call the dispensation of the suffering, death, and resurrection an appearance, like Marcion and the other heretics, or call the Godhead of the Word passible, like Arius and his followers … ### Scripture references - Matt 1:1: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 3:23: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 2:52: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 24:43: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 4:15: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:6: quotation, high confidence - Luke 9:22: quotation, high confidence - Mark 8:31: quotation, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Latin from Migne’s facing column (apostolo-) printed inside the phrase “the growth in stature” is removed. The clause “confessing it [raised] by resurrection” is compressed in the Greek and translated by sense. The section ends mid-sentence because the rest of the column was lost in the scan OCR. The quotations are 1 Tim 2:5–6 and Luke 9:22 (Mark 8:31). ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.12 (PG 26:1151–1152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-12). ## Against Apollinaris 2.13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-13 - Source: PG 26:1153–1154 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that Scripture always names Christ as man before attributing suffering to him, and that the formula “God who suffered through flesh” would make Father and Spirit passible too. ### Greek text Εἰ γὰρ, ἀναγινώσκοντες τὰς θείας Γραφὰς, κατενοήσατε ὅπως ἐν νόμῳ καὶ προφήταις, Εὐαγγελίοις τε καὶ ἀποστόλοις πανταχοῦ πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον προσαγορεύουσι τὸν Κύριον, καὶ τότε τὸ πάθος προσάγουσιν ἵνα μήποτε κατὰ τῆς θεότητος βλάσφημον πρόωνται ῥῆμα “διὸ οὔτε γέννησιν τῆς τοῦ Λόγου θεότητος εἰρήκασιν, ἀλλὰ Πατέρα ὁμολογοῦσι, καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν κηρύττουσιν· ἐκ δὲ Μαρίας υἱὸν Δαβὶδ καὶ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ γενεαλογοῦσι τὸν Χριστὸν τὸ κατὰ σάρκα τῇ προσλήψει τῆς τοῦ δούλου μορφῆς, ἵνα τὸ ἀνθρώπινον αὐτοῦ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων πιστευθῇ, καὶ ἐκ Πατρὸς Θεοῦ Θεὸς Λόγος ὁμολογηθῇ, φέρων τὰ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων πάθη, τῷ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων παθητικῷ μορφώματι ἐν τῷ πάσχοντι σώματι τὴν ἀπάθειαν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, καὶ ἐν τῷ θνήσκοντι τὴν ἀθανασίαν, καὶ ἐν τῷ θαπτομένῳ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ ἐν τῷ πειρασθέντι τὴν νίκην, καὶ ἐν τῷ παλαιωθέντι τὴν καινότητας· ὅτι ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος συνεσταυρώθη· αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ χάρις οὐδαμοῦ δὲ θεότης πάθος προσίεται δίχα πάσχοντος σώματος· οὔτε ταραχὴν καὶ λύπην ἐπιδείκνυται δίχα ψυχῆς λυπουμένης καὶ ταραττομένης. οὔτε ἀδημονεῖ καὶ προσεύχεται δίχα νοήσεως άδημονούσης καὶ προσευχομένης· ἀλλὰ γὰρ κἂν μὴ ἡττήματι φύσεως συνέβαινε τὰ λεγόμενα, ἀλλ' ἐπιδείξει ὑπάρξεως ἐπράττετο τὰ γινόμενα· πῶς οὖν γεγράφατε, ὅτι Θεὸς ὁ διὰ σαρκὸς παθὼν καὶ ἀναστάς; εἰ γὰρ Θεὸς ὁ διὰ σαρκὸς παθὼν καὶ ἀναστὰς, παθητὸν ἐρεῖτε καὶ τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ τὸν Παράκλητον, ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ ὀνόματος, καὶ μιᾶς τῆς θείας φύσεως. ### English translation (Claude) For if, in reading the divine Scriptures, you had observed how in the law and the prophets, the Gospels and the apostles, they everywhere first call the Lord man and then attach the suffering, so as never to let fall a blasphemous word against the Godhead—that is why they have not spoken of a birth of the Godhead of the Word [in time], but confess the Father and proclaim the Son; while from Mary they trace the genealogy of Christ according to the flesh as son of David and of Joseph, by the taking of the form of the servant, so that his humanity may be believed to be from men, and he may be confessed as God the Word from God the Father, bearing the sufferings on behalf of men in the passible form taken from men, displaying impassibility in the suffering body, immortality in the dying one, incorruption in the buried one, victory in the tempted one, and newness in the one grown old; for “our old man was crucified with him”; this is the grace. Nowhere does the Godhead admit suffering apart from a suffering body; nor does it show trouble and grief apart from a soul that grieves and is troubled; nor is it distressed and does it pray apart from an understanding that is distressed and prays. For even if what is said did not come about through a defeat of nature, what took place was done as a display of real existence. How then have you written, “God who suffered and rose through flesh”? For if it is God who suffered and rose through flesh, you will call the Father too passible, and the Paraclete, since the name is one and the divine nature is one. ### Scripture references - Matt 1:1: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 3:23: allusion, medium confidence - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Rom 6:6: quotation, high confidence - Matt 26:37: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:38: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:39: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The opponents’ formula “God who suffered and rose through flesh” is quoted as written. “Our old man was crucified with him” is Rom 6:6. The grief, distress, and prayer recall Gethsemane (Matt 26:37–39). ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.13 (PG 26:1153–1154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-13). ## Against Apollinaris 2.14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-14 - Source: PG 26:1153–1156 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues from Moses, Isaiah, Paul, and the Gospels that Scripture attributes suffering to Christ’s humanity and power to his Godhead, so that the Godhead remained with both body and soul in death. ### Greek text Ἐκ δὲ τῆς ῥήσεως ταύτης ἔστι συνιδεῖν ὑμῶν τὴν διάνοιαν, οἴαν ὡς μὴ φοβουμένων τὸν Θεόν, μήτε πειθομένων ταῖς θείαις Γραφαῖς· τοῦ μὲν Μωσέως περὶ Θεοῦ γράφοντος, ὅτι ῾Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταναλίσκον· περὶ δὲ τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιδημίας, προφήτην ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν λέγει ἀναστησόμενον τὸν Κύριον, καὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἐπὶ ξύλου κρεμαμένην ὡσανεὶ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Κυρίου, εἰς ζωὴν ἡμῖν γινομένου καὶ Ἡσαΐας δὲ βοᾷ περὶ μὲν Θεοῦ λέγων· Θεὸς ὁ μέγας, ὁ αἰώνιος, ὁ κατασκευάσας τὰ ἄκρα τῆς γῆς, οὐ πεινάσει οὐδὲ κοπιάσειπληγῇ ῶν, καὶ εἰδὼς φέρειν μαλακίαν. Τί δὲ ἐστι τὸ, Εἰδὼς φέρειν μαλακίαν; ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πεπονθότος τὸ παθητικὸν ἐπεδείκνυτο. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ, Γράψον, φησί, γραφίδι ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῷ καινῷ τόμῳ καὶ οὐ σαρκὸς ἀμόρφου. Καὶ ὁ ᾿Απόστολος δὲ λέγει· Ἄνθρωπος, Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς, ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· διὸ καὶ τῷ ἐκ σπέρματος Δαβιδ προσάγει τὴν ἀνάστασιν, τὸ κατὰ σάρκα λέγων περὶ δὲ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ · Ζῶν γὰρ ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐνεργὴς, καὶ τομώτερος ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον. Καὶ ὁ Κύριος δὲ τὸ πάθος ἐπὶ Υἱοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἴστησι, δεικνὺς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα περὶ δὲ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ · Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατήρ ἓν ἐσμεν· καὶ, Οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν Υἱὸν τις δίχα σαρκὸς παραδεδώκασιν αἱ Γραφαὶ, ἢ Θεὸν διὰ σαρκὸς παθόντα καὶ ἀναστάντα. ᾿Αρειανῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμήματα, ἐπειδὴ μήτε Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁμολογοῦσιν. Αἱ δὲ ἅγιαι Γραφαὶ ἐν σαρκὶ Θεοῦ καὶ σαρκὸς Θεοῦ ἀνθρώπου γενομένου, αἷμα, καὶ πάθος, καὶ ἀνάστασιν κηρύττουσι σώματος Θεοῦ, ἀνάστασιν ἐκ νεκρῶν γενομένην Ὑμεῖς δὲ, τὸ ἔμπαλιν λέγετε, ὡς σοφώτεροι τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ μυστικώτεροι τῶν προφητῶν, καὶ ἐξουσιαστικώτεροι τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν, ἢ καὶ αὐθεντικώτεροι τοῦ Κυ μὲν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, κατὰ δὲ τῆς θεότητος φθεγγόμενοι, τῆς οἰκονομίας σαφῶς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ δεικνυμένης, ἐν μὲν προβολῇ αἵματος σαρκὸς βεβαιουμένης νης· φωνῆς δὲ γενομένης καὶ ψυχῆς σημαινομένης οὐ χωρισμὸν θεότητος δηλούσης, ἀλλὰ νέκρωσιν σώματος σημαινούσης, μήτε τῆς θεότητος τοῦ σώματος ἐν τῷ τάφῳ ἀπολιμπανομένης μήτε τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ χωριζομένης. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν· Οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ἄδην, οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν. Διὸ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἔλεγεν· Οὐδεὶς αἴρει αὐτὴν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ· ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ τίθημι αὐτήν · τουτέστι, παρὼν ἐπιδείκνυμι. ### English translation (Claude) From this saying one can see what your mind is, as of men who do not fear God and do not obey the divine Scriptures. For Moses writes of God, “Our God is a consuming fire”; but of his coming in the flesh he says that the Lord will raise up a prophet “from your brothers,” and that “the life” will be “hanging on a tree,” referring to the body of the Lord, which became life for us. And Isaiah cries out, saying of God, “God the great, the eternal, who made the ends of the earth, will not hunger nor grow weary”; [but of the man]: “being in affliction and knowing how to bear sickness.” What does “knowing how to bear sickness” mean? That the capacity for suffering was shown from the one who suffered. That is why it says, “Write with a man’s pen in the new volume,” and not “of formless flesh.” And the Apostle says, “The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us”; that is why he attaches the resurrection to the one from the seed of David, speaking according to the flesh; but of his Godhead: “For the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” And the Lord places the suffering upon the Son of Man, showing what is according to the flesh; but of his Godhead: “I and the Father are one,” and, “No one knows the Son …” … [Nowhere] have the Scriptures handed down [a suffering of the Godhead] apart from flesh, or God suffering and rising through flesh. Such daring belongs to the Arians, since they do not confess the Son of God to be true God. But the holy Scriptures, God having become man in flesh and the flesh being God’s, proclaim the blood, the suffering, and the resurrection of the body of God, a resurrection from the dead. You say the opposite, as though wiser than the apostles, more versed in mysteries than the prophets, more authoritative than the evangelists, or even more authoritative than the Lord …, uttering things against the truth and against the Godhead, though the dispensation was plainly shown even on the cross: the flesh confirmed by the outpouring of blood, and the cry uttered, signifying the soul, showing not a separation of the Godhead but signifying the deadening of the body; the Godhead neither leaving the body in the tomb nor being separated from the soul in Hades. For this is what was spoken through the prophets: “You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your holy one see corruption.” That is why the Lord said, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself,” that is, “being present, I display it.” ### Scripture references - Deut 4:24: quotation, high confidence - Deut 18:15: quotation, high confidence - Deut 28:66: quotation, high confidence - Isa 40:28: quotation, high confidence - Isa 53:3: quotation, high confidence - Isa 8:1: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:6: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 2:8: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 1:3: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 4:12: quotation, high confidence - John 10:30: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:27: quotation, high confidence - John 19:34: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 27:50: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 16:10 (15:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Acts 2:27: quotation, medium confidence - John 10:18: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Migne’s marginal text printed into the quotation of Isaiah ((5), εἰ γὰρ Θεὸς … καὶ Ἡσαΐας δὲ) is removed; the words joining Isa 40:28 to Isa 53:3 are lost and are supplied in brackets. Lines are also lost after “No one knows the Son” (Matt 11:27) and after “more authoritative than the Lord.” A Latin fragment (confir-) inside δεικνυμένης is removed. Other quotations: Deut 4:24; Deut 18:15; Deut 28:66 (“your life hanging”), read of the cross; Isa 8:1 (LXX); 1 Tim 2:5–6; Heb 4:12; John 10:30; Ps 16:10 (LXX 15:10); John 10:18. The comparison with the Arians is the author’s polemic. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.14 (PG 26:1153–1156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-14). ## Against Apollinaris 2.15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-15 - Source: PG 26:1155–1158 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that at Christ’s death the soul, not the Godhead, left the body, and that the session at God’s right hand and Christ’s glory belong to the one Word who exalted the form of the servant. ### Greek text Διὰ τοῦτο ἐν μὲν ψυχῇ Θεοῦ ἡ κράτησις τοῦ θανάτου ἐλύετο, καὶ ἡ ἐξ ἄδου ἀνάστασις ἐγίνετο, καὶ ἀνάστασιν ἐκ νεκρῶν ταῖς ψυχαῖς εὐηγγελίζετο· ἐν δὲ σώματι Χριστοῦ ἡ φθορὰ κατηργεῖτο, καὶ ἡ ἀφθαρσία ἐκ τάφου ἐδείκνυτο. Ὥστε οὐκ ἄνθρωπος Θεοῦ ἐχωρίζετο, οὔτε Θεὸς πρὸς ἄνθρωπον ἐγκατάλειψιν διηγεῖτο, οὔτε ἡ νέκρωσις καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀποχώρησις Θεοῦ ἀπὸ σώματος ἦν μετάστασις, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς ἀπὸ σώματος χωρισμός· ὁ γὰρ ἡμέτερος ἐκεῖ διεγράφετο θάνατος. Εἰ δὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἐχωρίσθη τοῦ σώματος, καὶ οὗτως ἡ νέκρωσις ἐδείκνυτο, πῶς τὸ σῶμα, χωρισθὲν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου Θεοῦ, τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἐπεδείκνυτο; πῶς δὲ καὶ ὁ Λόγος τὴν εἰς ᾅδου ἐπίβασιν ἐποιήσατο; ἢ πῶς τὴν ἐξ ἄδου ἀνάστασιν ἐπεδείκνυτο; μήτιγε αὐτὸς ἀντὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς ἀνίστατο ἵνα τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀναστάσεως τὴν εἰκόνα ἁρμόσηται; Καὶ πῶς οἷόν τε περὶ Θεοῦ ταῦτα ἐννοεῖν; Ασύμφωνος τοίνυν ταῖς ἁγίαις Γραφαῖς ὁ ὅρος ὑμῶν, καὶ ἀνάρμοστος τῆς πληρωθείσης οἰκονομίας ἡ γνώμη ὑμῶν. Καὶ τὸ, Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, οὐκ ἀνθρώπου μὲν τὸ ἀξίωμα, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπειδὴ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀξίωμα ἀνθρώπου ἀξίωμα γέγονεν, ἵνα τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀξίωμα Θεοῦ ἀξίωμα πιστευθῇ εἴρηται· Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, καὶ, Δόξασόν με, Πάτερ, τῇ ἀϊδίῳ δόξῃ. Οὐ χωρισθεὶς τῆς δόξης τοῦτο λέγει, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἀδόξῳ σώματι γεγονὼς, ἵνα δείξῃ οὐ χωριζομένην τῆς θεϊκῆς δόξης τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν, ἀλλὰ ταύτην ἐπιδεικνυμένην. Διὸ λέγει· Καὶ ἐδόξασα, καὶ πάλιν δοξάσω, μίαν τὴν πρὸ σώματος καὶ ἐν σώματι δόξαν δεικνὺς, ὥς φησιν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος · Τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων, ὅσον διαφορώτερον παρ' αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα. Τίνι γὰρ εἶπέ ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων· Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου; Οὐ πάντως ὁ ποιητής τῶν ἀγγέλων Λόγος κρείττων γέγονεν, ὡς ἥττων ὧν ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ ἀνατείλασαν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν κρείττονα τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἢ καὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως ἐπιδειξάμενος· ἐπειδήπερ, εἰκὼν ὢν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, καὶ πρωτότοκος πάσης τῆς κτίσεως γέγονεν, ὡς γέγραπται καὶ ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις· Ἕως οὗ ἔτεκε τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτῆς τὸν πρωτότοκον. Διὸ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ πάθος γέγονε, καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ ἐλευθερωτὴς τοῦ πάθους καὶ τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα γέγονε, καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ὅς ἐστι πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἵνα γένηται, φησὶν, ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων. ### English translation (Claude) That is why in the soul of God the hold of death was loosed and the resurrection from Hades took place, and the resurrection from the dead was proclaimed to the souls; while in the body of Christ corruption was abolished and incorruption was shown from the tomb. So the man was not separated from God, nor did God describe an abandonment of the man, nor were the deadening and the departure of the spirit a removal of God from the body, but a separation of the soul from the body; for there our death was portrayed. But if God was separated from the body, and so the deadening was shown, how did the body, separated from the incorruptible God, display incorruption? How did the Word make his entry into Hades? Or how did he display the resurrection from Hades? Did he himself rise in place of our soul, so as to fit the image of our resurrection? And how can one think such things of God? Your rule, then, is out of harmony with the holy Scriptures, and your opinion does not fit the dispensation that has been fulfilled. And “Sit at my right hand” is not the rank of a man but of God. But since the rank of God became the rank of a man, so that the rank of the man might be believed to be the rank of God, it is said, “Sit at my right hand,” and, “Glorify me, Father, with the eternal glory.” He does not say this as one separated from the glory, but as one who had come to be in an inglorious body, to show that the form of the servant is not separated from the divine glory but displays it. That is why he says, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again,” showing one glory before the body and in the body, as the Apostle says: “Having become as much better than the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did he ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand’?” It is not at all that the Word, the maker of the angels, became better, as though he were less; but he displayed the form of the servant that rose up in him as better than the angels and indeed than all creation; since, being “the image of the invisible God,” he also became “the firstborn of all creation,” as it is written also in the Gospels, “until she bore her firstborn son.” Therefore “in him all things were created,” and in him the suffering took place, and he is the deliverer from suffering and death, and “through him all things came to be,” and he is “the head of the body, the Church,” who is “the firstborn from the dead,” so that, it says, “he himself might be pre-eminent in all things.” ### Scripture references - Acts 2:24: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Pet 3:19: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 27:46: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 110:1 (109:1 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 17:5: quotation, high confidence - John 12:28: quotation, high confidence - Heb 1:4: quotation, high confidence - Heb 1:13: quotation, high confidence - Col 1:15: quotation, high confidence - Matt 1:25: quotation, high confidence - Col 1:16: quotation, high confidence - John 1:3: quotation, high confidence - Col 1:18: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - A displaced fragment (νης ἐκ νεκρῶν.) is removed. The quotations are Ps 110:1 (LXX 109:1), John 17:5 (adapted), John 12:28, Heb 1:4, 13, Col 1:15–18, Matt 1:25, and John 1:3. “Nor did God describe an abandonment” alludes to the cry of Matt 27:46. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.15 (PG 26:1155–1158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-15). ## Against Apollinaris 2.16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-16 - Source: PG 26:1157–1160 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that at the crucifixion the Jews destroyed the temple of Christ’s body, his soul departing, and that if the Word himself had left the body, death and resurrection would not be ours and the Godhead would have suffered. ### Greek text Πῶς οὖν τὸν δημιουργὸν τῶν λογικῶν φύσεων Λόγον λέγετε, σάρκα ἑαυτῷ συγκεράσαντα, λογικὸν ἄνθρωπον γεγονέναι; καὶ πῶς ἄτρεπτος καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος, καὶ οὐχὶ λογικὴν τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν συστησάμενος γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἄτρεπτος ᾗ μένων ὃ ἦν, καὶ λογικὸς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ γῆς ὀραθῇ Θεὸς ὧν; Ἐπουράνιος γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ὁ Κύριος, οὐχὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ τὴν σάρκα ἐπιδειξάμενος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐκ γῆς ἐπουράνιον συστησάμενος. Διὸ καὶ οἷος ἐπουράνιος, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ἐπουράνιοι κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ μετοχὴν τῆς ἁγιότητος. Διὸ καὶ ᾠκείωται ριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὸν Λόγον ἐσταύρωσαν καθ' ὑμᾶς Μὴ γένοιτο ἀλλὰ τὸν Λόγον ἠθέτησαν, τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Λόγου σταυρῷ προσηλώσαντες. Θεὸς γὰρ ὁ ἀθετηθείς· σαρκὸς δὲ Θεοῦ καὶ ψυχῆς τὸ πάθος, καὶ ὁ θάνατος, καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις γέγονε. Διὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὁ Κύριος· Λύσατε θάνατον ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ αὐτὸς ὁ Λόγος. Καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης δὲ λέγει· Αὐτὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἔθηκεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Πῶς οὖν ἴσχυσαν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι λῦσαι ναὸν Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν ἄλυτον σύγκρασιν τῆς σαρκὸς πρὸς τὸν Λόγον γενομένην χωρίσαι, εἴγε καθ' ὑμᾶς ἔσχε τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἡ τοῦ σώματος νέκρωσις. Οὔτε γὰρ ἂν ἐνεκρώθη τὸ σῶμα, εἰ μή τινος ἐχωρίσθη. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ λύσις γέγονεν, οὔτε θάνατος εἰ δὲ θάνατος οὐ γέγονεν, οὔτε ἀνάστασις γέγονε. Δότε οὖν τὴν λύσιν καὶ τὸν χωρισμὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος γενόμενον, ὡς γέγραπται ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις, ὅτι Ἐξέπνευσε, καὶ ὅτι Κλίνας τὴν κεφαλὴν · παρέδωκε τὸ πνεῦμα, ἵνα ἴδωμεν ποῖον πνεῦμα ὑπειλήφατε ἀποκεχωρηκέναι τοῦ σώματος, καὶ τὴν νέκρωσιν γεγονέναι. Εἰρήκατε γὰρ, ὅτι Σάρκα τὴν ἀνυπόστατον συγκεράσας ἑαυτῷ ὁ Λόγος, ἔδειξε τὸν ὄντως λογικὸν καὶ τέλειον ἄνθρωπον. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ Λόγος ἀπεχώρησε τοῦ σώματος, καὶ οὕτως ἡ νέκρωσις γέγονε, κατὰ Θεοῦ ἴσχυσαν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, λύσαντες τὴν ἄλυτον σύγκρασιν. Οὔτε οὖν ὁ ἡμέτερος ἐκεῖ γέγονε θάνατος, εἰ Θεοῦ χωρισθέντος ἡ νέκρωσις τοῦ σώματος γέγονε. Πῶς δὲ καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἀφθάρτου Θεοῦ χωρισθὲν ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ διέμεινεν; Ἔσται δὲ ἡ μὲν τρῶσις τοῦ σώματος, τὸ δὲ πάθος τοῦ Λόγου. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ Θεὸν παθόντα λέγετε, ἀκολούθως ἑαυτοῖς φθεγγόμενοι, μᾶλλον δὲ συμφώνως τοῖς ᾿Αρειανοῖς · τοῦτο γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι δογματίζουσιν. Ἔσται δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀναστάσεως ἐγειρόμενος ὁ Λόγος καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς. ᾿Ανάγκη γάρ τινα ἐξ ἄδου τὴν ἀρχὴν τὴς ἀναστάσεως εἰληφέναι, ἵνα τελεία ἢ ἡ ἀνάστασις, καὶ τοῦ θανάτου ἡ λύσις, καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖσε πνευμάτων ἡ ἀπόλυσις. ### English translation (Claude) How then do you say that the Word, the creator of rational natures, by blending flesh with himself became a rational man? And how did he become man unchangeable and unalterable, and not by forming for himself a rational form of the servant, so that the Word might be unchangeable, remaining what he was, and the rational man be seen on earth, being God? For the Lord is a heavenly man, not by displaying flesh from heaven, but by making the flesh from the earth heavenly. Therefore “as is the heavenly one, so also are those who are heavenly,” by their share in his holiness. Therefore he has made his own [the things of the body] … they crucified the Lord of glory; but they did not crucify the Word, as you would have it—far from it!—but they rejected the Word by nailing the body of the Word to the cross. For it was God who was rejected; but the suffering, the death, and the resurrection belonged to God’s flesh and soul. That is why the Lord said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” … [it was] his soul [that underwent] death, and not the Word himself. And John says, “He laid down his soul for us.” How then were the Jews able to destroy a temple of God and to separate the indissoluble blending of the flesh with the Word, if the deadening of the body happened in the way you say? For the body would not have been deadened unless it had been separated from something. For if there was no dissolution, there was no death; and if there was no death, there was no resurrection. Grant, then, that the dissolution and the separation from the body took place, as it is written in the Gospels, “He breathed his last,” and, “Bowing his head, he handed over the spirit,” so that we may see what spirit you suppose to have departed from the body, and the deadening to have taken place. For you have said, “The Word, blending with himself flesh that lacked subsistence, displayed the truly rational and perfect man.” If, then, the Word departed from the body and so the deadening took place, the Jews prevailed against God by dissolving the indissoluble blending. Then it was not our death that took place there, if the deadening of the body took place by the separation of God. And how did the body, separated from the incorruptible God, remain in incorruption? The wound will be the body’s, but the suffering the Word’s. That is why you speak of God having suffered, speaking consistently with yourselves, or rather in agreement with the Arians, for this is what they teach. And by your account the Word too will be raised by resurrection. For it is necessary that someone took the beginning of the resurrection from Hades, so that the resurrection might be complete, and the loosing of death, and the release of the spirits there. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 15:47: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:48: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:8: allusion, high confidence - John 2:19: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 3:16: quotation, high confidence - Mark 15:37: quotation, high confidence - John 19:30: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 3:19: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Lines are displaced and lost in the scan OCR in this section: a displaced line containing the words of John 2:19 (τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐ-) had been printed inside the word ἀναλλοίωτος and another (τὴν αὐτοῦ. Διὸ καὶ ὠκείῳται τὰ τοῦ σώματος,) inside ἀνάγκη; both are removed from those places, the quotation of John 2:19 is given in full where the text calls for it, and words lost after “he has made his own” and after the quotation are marked “…”. The opponents’ statement about “flesh that lacked subsistence” is quoted as written. The references to the Jews and the Arians are the author’s polemic. Other quotations: 1 Cor 15:48, 1 Cor 2:8, 1 John 3:16, Mark 15:37, John 19:30. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.16 (PG 26:1157–1160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-16). ## Against Apollinaris 2.17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-17 - Source: PG 26:1161–1162 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author argues that the Word remained unchanged in death, while his human spirit or soul departed to Hades and his body lay in the tomb, so that he destroyed death and corruption in our nature. ### Greek text Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Λόγος πέπονθε, καὶ ποῦ τὸ ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον τοῦ Λόγου; Πῶς δὲ καὶ ἀπαρακαλύπτως ὀφθεὶς ὁ Λόγος ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ ἐνομίσθη ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ ὡς ἄνθρωπος; Πῶς δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἔλεγεν ὁ Κύριος· Ἐγὼ ἐγερῶ αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐχὶ, Ἐγὼ ἐξ ἄδου ἀνίσταμαι ; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Λόγος, ἐν θανάτῳ γεγονώς, χρείαν εἶχε τοῦ ἐγείροντος αὐτὸν ἐκ θανάτου, οὐκ αὐτοῦ ἔσται ἡ νίκη, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἐγείροντος αὐτόν. Πῶς δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν προεσημαίνετο περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ; Πῶς παρὼν ὁ Κύριος ἔλεγε πληρῶν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν · Τὴν ψυχήν μου τίθημι ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων τῶν ἐμῶν; ἤντινα ψυχὴν πνεῦμα οὖσαν σαφῶς αἱ ἅγιαι Γραφαὶ διδάσκουσι· καὶ ὁ Κύριος δὲ εἰρηκώς· Τὸ μὲν σῶμα ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων ἀποκτεινόμενον, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι, ἅτε δὴ πνεῦμα οὖσαν. Τούτῳ τῷ Πνεύματι ἐταράχθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς· τούτου τοῦ Πνεύματος ἡ ἀποχώρησις γέγονεν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ. Καὶ οὕτως ἐνεκροῦτο τὸ σῶμα, καὶ αὐτοῦ γέγονεν ἡ λύσις, Θεοῦ τοῦ Λόγου ἀμεταθέτως ἔχοντος πρός τε τὸ σῶμα, πρός τε τὴν ψυχὴν, πρός τε ἑαυτὸν ὄντα εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐν ἐπιδείξει ἀτρεπτότητος. Ἐν δὲ τῇ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γενομένῃ ἐν αὐτῷ μορφῇ τὸν ἡμέτερον ἐκεῖ διέγραφε θάνατον· ἵνα ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁρμόσηται ἀνάστασιν, ἐξ ᾄδου μὲν τὴν ψυχὴν, ἐκ τάφου δὲ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιδεικνύμενος· ὅπως ἐν θανάτῳ καταλύσῃ τὸν θάνατον ἐν ἐπιδείξει ψυχῆς, ἐν δὲ τῷ τάφῳ καταργήσῃ τὴν φθορὰν ἐν ταφῇ σώματος· ἐξ ἄδου καὶ ἐκ τάφου τὴν ἀθανασίαν καὶ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, ἐν μορφῇ τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς τὴν ἡμετέραν ὁδεύσας ὁδὸν, καὶ τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμῶν γενομένην κατοχὴν λύσας. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ, σάρκα μόνην προσομολογοῦντες οὔτε τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν κατάκρισιν δεῖξαι δύνασθε, οὔτε τοῦ θανάτου τὴν κατάλυσιν, οὔτε τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὴν τελείωσιν, οὔτε τοῦ Λόγου τὴν ἀτρεπτότητα· ἐπειδὴ ἔξω τῶν ἁγίων Γραφῶν βεβήκατε, λαλοῦντες Αρειανοὶ σοφίζονται, φανεροῦ ὄντος τοῦ περὶ ψυχῆς λόγου ἐν Γραφαῖς ἁγίαις, καὶ πληρωθείσης τῆς νομίας ἐν ἐπιδείξει πάσης πληρώσεώς τε καὶ τελειώσεως ### English translation (Claude) But if the Word suffered these things, where is the Word’s unchangeableness and unalterableness? And how was the Word, seen unveiled in Hades, reckoned in death as a man? And how did the Lord say to the Jews, “I will raise it up,” and not, “I rise from Hades”? For if the Word, having come to be in death, needed someone to raise him from death, the victory will not be his but that of the one who raises him. And how was it foretold through the prophets about his soul? How did the Lord, being present, say, fulfilling the promise, “I lay down my soul for my sheep”? The holy Scriptures teach clearly that this soul is spirit; and the Lord said that the body is killed by men, “but they cannot kill the soul,” since it is spirit. In this spirit Jesus was troubled; this spirit departed from the body on the cross. And so the body was deadened, and its dissolution took place, while God the Word held unchangeably to the body, to the soul, and to himself, being in the bosom of the Father, in a display of unchangeableness. But in the form like ours that came to be in him, he portrayed our death there, so that in it he might also fit together the resurrection on our behalf, displaying the soul from Hades and the body from the tomb; so that in death he might destroy death by the display of the soul, and in the tomb abolish corruption by the burial of the body, displaying immortality and incorruption from Hades and from the tomb, having travelled our road in a form like ours and loosed the hold that was upon us. And so, confessing flesh only, you can show neither the condemnation of sin, nor the destruction of death, nor the completion of the resurrection, nor the unchangeableness of the Word; since you have gone outside the holy Scriptures, saying … [as] the Arians play the sophist, although the account of the soul is plain in the holy Scriptures, and the dispensation has been fulfilled in a display of all fulfilment and completion … ### Scripture references - John 2:19: quotation, high confidence - Ps 16:10 (15:10 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - John 10:15: quotation, high confidence - Matt 10:28: quotation, high confidence - John 13:21: allusion, high confidence - John 1:18: allusion, high confidence - Heb 2:14: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 8:3: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - A line is lost in the scan OCR after “saying,” and the section ends mid-sentence because the last line(s) of the column were lost. The quotations are John 2:19, John 10:15, and Matt 10:28; “in the bosom of the Father” is John 1:18; “Jesus was troubled in spirit” is John 13:21. The comparison with the Arians is the author’s polemic. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.17 (PG 26:1161–1162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-17). ## Against Apollinaris 2.18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-7/#p-2-18 - Source: PG 26:1161–1164 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The author exposes the trick questions “God or man?” used by heretics and answers that Scripture proclaims the one Christ as both, God in his eternity and works, man in his birth, weakness, suffering, and death. ### Greek text Ἀλλ᾿ οι μὲν των αιρετικων, τὸν ὁραθέντα ὁμολογοῦντες, ἀπιστοῦσιν αὐτοῦ τῇ θεότητι· οἱ δὲ ὁμολογοῦντες Θεὸν, ἀρνοῦνται αὐτοῦ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν γέννησιν · οἱ δὲ σάρκα προσομολογοῦντες ἀρνοῦνται αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἐπίδειξιν· καὶ γεγόνασι κατὰ τοὺς μανικοὺς παῖδας τῶν ᾿Αρειανῶν, τῶν συμπλεκόντων τὰς στραγγαλιώδεις καὶ σκολιὰς προτάσεις, ἵνα ταύταις ἐπαποροῦντες, εὑρίσκωσι τοὺς ἀκεραίους, αὐτοὶ ἄποροι ὄντες τῆς πίστεως. Ομοίως καὶ αὐτοὶ λέγειν μεμαθήκασι· Τί ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ Μαρίας; Θεὸς, ἢ ἄνθρω πος; Εἶτα ἐὰν μὲν εἴπῃ ῎Ανθρωπος, ἀπιστήσει αὐτοῦ τῇ θεότητι, σύμφωνος γινόμενος τοῖς ταύτῃ ἀπιστήσασιν αἱρετικοῖς· ἐὰν δὲ εἴπῃ Θεὸς, ἀρνήσεται αὐτοῦ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν γέννησιν, καὶ συναχθήσεται τοῖς ταύτην ἀπαρνουμένοις αἱρετικοῖς. Εἶτα δ᾽ αὖ πάλιν · Τίς ὁ παθών; τίς ὁ σταυρωθείς; Θεὸς, ἢ ἄνθρωπος; ἵνα, ἐὰν μὲν εἴπῃ Θεὸς, βλάσφημον πρόηται ῥῆμα κατὰ τοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας Αρειανούς· ἐὰν δὲ εἴπῃ, ῎Ανθρωπος, Ἰουδαϊκῇ πάλιν φθέγξηται ὑπολήψει. Διὰ τοῦτο αἱ ἅγιαι Γραφαὶ Θεὸν ἀφράστως ἐκ Πατρὸς κηρύττουσι τὸν Λόγον, καὶ τοῦτον ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτων ἐκ Παρθένου ἄνθρωπον γεννηθέντα · ἵνα μήτε Θεὸς ἀπιστηθῇ, μήτε σαρκὸς γέννησις ἀρνηθῇ. Ὅπου δὲ σαρκὸς τὸ ὄνομα, ἐκεῖ πάσης τῆς συστάσεως ἡ ἁρμονία χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ πάθος ἱστῶσι, καὶ οὐχ ὑπερβαίνουσιν, ὡς γέγραπται ἐν ταῖς ἁγίαις Γραφαῖς · περὶ δὲ τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Λόγου τὴν ἀτρεπτότητα καὶ τὴν ἀφραστότητα ὁμολογοῦσι· διὰ τοῦτο θεολογεῖται μὲν ὁ Λόγος, γενεαλογεῖται δὲ ἄνθρω πος ἵνα πρὸς ἑκάτερα ἢ ὁ αὐτὸς φυσικῶς καὶ ἀληθινῶς · Θεὸς μὲν πρὸς τῇ ἀἴδιότητι τῆς θεότητος καὶ τῇ δημιουργίᾳ τῆς κτίσεως · ἄνθρωπος δὲ πρὸς τῇ γεννήσει τῇ ἐκ γυναικὸς, καὶ τῇ αὐξήσει τῆς ἡλικίας. Καὶ Θεὸς μὲν πρὸς ταῖς ζωτικαῖς εὐεργεσίαις, καὶ δυνατὸς ταῖς θαυματουργίαις · ἄνθρωπος δὲ πρὸς ταῖς ὁμοιοτρόποις συμπαθείαις, καὶ ταῖς καθ' ὑμᾶς ἀσθενείαις. Καὶ Θεὸς μὲν Λόγος ἐν ἐπιδείξει τῆς ἀθανασίας, καὶ ἀφθαρσίας, καὶ ἀτρεπτότητος · ἄνθρωπος δὲ τῇ προσηλώσει τοῦ σταυροῦ, καὶ αἵματος ῥύσει, καὶ ταφῇ σώματος, καὶ καταβάσει εἰς ἄδου, καὶ ἀναστάσει τῇ ἐκ νεκρῶν. Οὕτως ὁ Χριστὸς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγήγερται, καὶ Θεὸς ὧν ἐγείρει τοὺς νεκρούς. ### English translation (Claude) But some of the heretics, confessing the one who was seen, disbelieve his Godhead; others, confessing God, deny the birth of his flesh; others, confessing the flesh besides, deny the display of his soul; and they have become like the frenzied children of the Arians, who weave together tangled and crooked propositions so that, raising difficulties with them, they may catch the simple, though they themselves are at a loss for the faith. In the same way these too have learned to say: “What is the one born of Mary? God or man?” Then, if someone says “Man,” he will disbelieve his Godhead and agree with the heretics who disbelieved it; but if he says “God,” he will deny the birth of his flesh and be counted with the heretics who deny it. Then again: “Who suffered? Who was crucified? God or man?” So that, if he says “God,” he lets fall a blasphemous word like the impious Arians; but if he says “Man,” he again speaks with a Jewish supposition. That is why the holy Scriptures proclaim the Word as God, ineffably from the Father, and the same born as man in the last times from the Virgin; so that neither God be disbelieved nor the birth of the flesh denied. And where the name of flesh is used, there is the harmony of the whole constitution, without sin. And they place the suffering upon the name of man and do not go beyond it, as it is written in the holy Scriptures; but concerning the Godhead of the Word they confess his unchangeableness and ineffability. That is why the Word is spoken of as God and his genealogy traced as man, so that in respect of both he may be the same, naturally and truly: God in respect of the eternity of the Godhead and the creation of the world; man in respect of birth from a woman and growth in stature. God in respect of life-giving benefits and mighty in works of wonder; man in respect of fellow-feeling of the same kind as ours and weaknesses like ours. God the Word in the display of immortality, incorruption, and unchangeableness; man in the nailing to the cross, the flowing of blood, the burial of the body, the descent into Hades, and the resurrection from the dead. Thus Christ has been raised from the dead, and, being God, he raises the dead. ### Scripture references - John 1:1: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 1:2: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 4:4: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 2:52: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 4:15: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 15:20: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The dilemmas posed to the simple and the phrase “a Jewish supposition” are the author’s report and polemic, translated as written. “Weaknesses like ours” renders καθ’ ὑμᾶς (“like yours”), probably an error for καθ’ ἡμᾶς. This is the end of the work. ### Citation (SBL) Athanasius, C. Apoll. 2.18 (PG 26:1161–1164; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/athanasius-contra-apollinarium/2-18).