Supplemental Slides

1

• Supplemental Slides
• for HT 802
• Fall 2008

2
Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387)

• He was a native of Jerusalem and gave winsome
  descriptions of the great holy sites before the
  mid-fourth-century churches were built on them.
• He was ordained a priest by Maximus of Jerusalem
  (a great champion of Nicene orthodoxy) in 335.
• He became bishop of Jerusalem about 350 under
  obscure circumstances. There was later some
  suspicion that he had been consecrated by the
  Arian Acacius of Caesarea in order to bring
  Jerusalem over to the Arian cause.

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Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387)

• He was banished three times by Arian leaders,
  first in 357 by Acacius. He spent about 15 years
  in exile over a 22-year period from 357-378.
• At the Council of Constantinople in 381, he was a
  leader of the homoousian majority, but he was
  still investigated because of suspicions of past
  Arian sympathies.
• He was found to be orthodox, and it is possible
  that the whole notion of his heterodoxy and
  consecration by an Arian was simply a smear
  campaign.

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Catechetical Lectures

• One typical baptismal practice in the 4th
  century
• -- A long period of instruction (catechesis)
• -- Baptism on Easter eve
• Cyril wrote one Protocatechesis and 18 Catecheses
  for delivery during Lent to those who were in
  final preparations for baptism.
• These date from about the time he became bishop
  of Jerusalem, although they may have been
  modified later to reflect current liturgical
  practice.

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Mystagogical Catecheses

• We also possess 5 Mystagogical Catecheses (for
  delivery during Easter week to those who have
  just been baptized.
• In ancient times, these were sometimes attributed
  to others besides, or in addition to, Cyril.
• The Reformers, embarrassed by their strongly
  sacramental character, questioned whether Cyril
  wrote them.
• It is perhaps best to regard them as coming from
  Cyril, but dating to the end of his life, rather
  than the beginning of his episcopacy (so ca.
  385).

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Cyril on Scripture

• For where the divine and holy mysteries of the
  Creed are concerned, one must not teach even
  minor points without reference to the sacred
  Scriptures, or be led astray lightly by
  persuasive and elaborate arguments. Do not simply
  take my word when I tell you these things, unless
  you are given proof for my teaching from holy
  Scripture. For this is the guarantee of our
  Creed, not clever argument, but proof based on
  Scripture.
• Catechesis 4.17

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Cyril on Scripture

• Please do not read any of the apocrypha for if
  you dont know the books which are universally
  accepted, why do you waste effort over the
  disputed ones? Read the holy Scriptures, the
  twenty-two books of the Old Testament which were
  translated by the seventy-two translators.
• Catechesis 4.33

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Cyril on God

• We do not explain what God is we admit with a
  good grace that we do not know the exact truth
  about him. For in what concerns God the height of
  knowledge is to admit ones ignorance. Perhaps
  someone will say, If the divine substance is
  incomprehensible, why do you discuss these things
  yourself? But since I cant drink up a whole
  river, does this mean that I cant take as much
  as is good for me?
• Catechesis 6.2, 5

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Cyril on God

• There is one God, who is unique, unbegotten,
  without beginning or change or alteration.
  Though Creator of many beings, he is the eternal
  Father of one alone, his one, Only-begotten Son,
  our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom he made all
  things, both visible and invisible.
• Catechesis 4.4

10
Cyril on the Son

• Believe too in Gods one and only Son, our Lord
  Jesus Christ, who is God begotten by God (ô?í dê
  ôï? Èåï? Èå?í ãåííçèÝíôá), Life begotten by Life,
  Light begotten by Light, like in everything to
  the one who begot him (ô?í ?ìïéïí êáôN ðÜíôá ô²
  ãåííÞóáíôé). He did not begin to be in time, but
  was begotten by the Father before all ages,
  eternally and inconceivably. He is Gods Wisdom
  and Power and Justice in substantial form (ôxí
  díõðüóôáôïí). Catechesis 4.7

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Cyrils Use of Words

• Four Factions after Nicaea
• Faction What they said What they meant
• Old Nicaeans homoousios Son same substance as
  Father
• New Nicaeans homoiousios Son same substance as
  Father
• Semi-Arians homoiousios Son is of merely
  similar substance as Father
• Radical Arians anomoiousios Son is not even
  similar to Father

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Cyrils Use of Words

• Latin Greek
• Words for oneness Innermost ousia
• substantia, essentia,
• natura physis
• ___________________
• Word for threeness hypostasis
• persona
• Outermost prosopon

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Cyril on the Spirit

• For there is one God, the Father of Christ and
  one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of
  the only God and one Holy Spirit, who sanctifies
  and deifies all, who has spoken through the law
  and the prophets, the Old Testament and the New.
  
• Catechesis 4.16

14
Cyril on the Incarnation

• You must believe too that this Only-begotten
  Son of God came down from heaven to earth because
  of our sins, assumed a humanity subject to the
  same feelings as ours (ôxí ìïéïðáèy ôáýôçí ½ìsí
  Píáëáâí Píèñùðüôçôá), and was born of the holy
  Virgin and the Holy Spirit. The humanity he
  assumed was not an appearance or an illusion, but
  true. For if the Incarnation was an illusion, so
  too is our salvation. Christ was twofold man
  according to what is visible, God according to
  what is not visible (Tíèñùðïò ìcí ô? öáéíüìåíïí,
  Èå?ò äc ô? ìx öáéíüìåíïí). As man he ate truly as
  we do, for he had the same fleshly feelings as
  ourselves but it was as God that he fed the five
  thousand from five loaves. As man he truly died
  but it was as God that he raised the dead body to
  life after four days. As man he truly slept on
  the boat but it was as God that he walked on the
  waters. Catechesis 4.9

15
Cyril on the Incarnation

• For while it is not holy to admire a mere man,
  it would be blasphemous not to say that he was
  only God without humanity. For if Christ were God
  as indeed he is but did not assume humanity,
  we would be debarred from salvation. So while we
  adore him as God, let us believe him also to have
  been made man. For just as it does us no good to
  speak of him as man without the godhead, it does
  not help our salvation if we do not couple
  manhood with the godhead. Catechesis
  12.1

16
Cyril on Christs Death

• It was necessary for the Lord to suffer on
  our behalf (cf. Lk 24.26). Nevertheless the devil
  would not have dared to approach him if he had
  known who he was. For if they had known, they
  would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1
  Cor 2.8). His body thus served as a bait for
  death so that the serpent, instead of swallowing
  it as he hoped, might be forced to disgorge those
  whom he had already swallowed.
• Catechesis 12.15

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Cyril on Christs Death

• For we were Gods enemies through sin, and God
  had decreed that the sinless one should die. For
  one of two things had to happen, either that God
  in his truthfulness would destroy the whole race,
  or that in his loving kindness he would cancel
  their condemnation. But observe Gods wisdom. He
  maintained both the truth of the condemnation and
  the power of his loving-kindness. Christ took
  our sins in his body on the wood, so that
  through his death we might die to sins and live
  to righteousness (1 Pet 2.24).
• Catechesis 13.33

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Cyril on Christ and Us

• Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but he did not
  preach the gospel before his baptism. Jesus
  began his preaching only after the Holy Spirit
  descended on him, in bodily form like a dove (Lk
  3.22) not that Jesus wished to see the Spirit
  first, for he knew the Spirit even before he came
  in bodily form what he wanted was that John, who
  was baptizing him, should see. If your devotion
  is genuine, the Holy Spirit will descend on you
  too, and the Fathers voice will resound over
  you but it will not say, This person is my
  Son, but This person has now become my son.
  Over Jesus is, because in the beginning was
  the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word
  was God (Jn 1.1) over him is, because he has
  always been the Son of God. But over you has now
  become, because you do not possess sonship by
  nature, but receive it by adoption. He is
  eternal you receive the grace as an
  advancement.
• Catechesis 3.14

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Cyril on Christ and Us

• Once more, when I tell you that he is the Son,
  do not take this statement to be a mere figure of
  speech, but understand that he is the Son truly,
  Son by nature, without beginning, not promoted
  from the state of slave to that of son, but
  eternally begotten as Son by an inscrutable and
  incomprehensible birth. Scripture says also with
  regard to other men You are sons of the Lord
  your God. And in another place I said, You
  are all gods and sons of the Most High (Gen
  49.4 Mt 21.39). I said, not I begot. They
  received adoption when God spoke, and did not
  enjoy it before. But Christ did not first exist
  in one form before being begotten in another, but
  he was begotten as Son from the beginning.
• Catechesis 11.4

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Cyril on Baptism

• After this you were led to the holy pool of
  sacred baptism, just a Christ was taken from the
  cross to the tomb which stands before you. Then
  you were each asked if you believed in the name
  of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
  Spirit. You made the saving profession of faith
  and three times you were immersed in the water
  and came up from it again. There in the font you
  symbolically re-enacted Christs three-day
  burial.
• Mystagogical Catechesis 2.4

21
Cyril on Baptism

• We did not literally die, we were not literally
  buried, we did not literally rise again after
  being crucified. We experienced these things only
  in symbols and representations but salvation we
  experienced literally. Christ was really
  crucified and really buried and literally rose
  again, and all of this he did for our sake, so
  that by sharing his sufferings in imitation, we
  might gain salvation in truth.
• Mystagogical Catechesis 2.5

22
Cyril on Faith

• How great is Gods love for mankind! The
  righteous earned Gods approval over many years
  but what they obtained by earning his approval
  over many years Jesus now bestows on your in a
  single hour. For if you believe that Jesus Christ
  is the Lord and that God raised him from the
  dead, you will be saved and transported to
  Paradise by the one who admitted the thief into
  Paradise. Dont doubt whether it is possible. For
  the one who saved the thief here at holy Golgotha
  for the faith of a single hour will save you too
  if you believe.
• Catechesis 5.10

23
Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 330-395)

• He was born to a devout, wealthy family in
  Cappadocia.
• He pursued a career in oratory.
• Under Macrinas influence, he returned to the
  Church and retired to his brother Basils
  monastery.
• He was forced to become bishop of Nyssa.
• He was deposed by Arians in 376 and reinstated in
  378.
• He was one of the dominant players in the Council
  of Constantinople in 381.

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Origen and Origenism

• Pre-Cosmic Cosmic/Temporal Eternal
• Creation of Souls Union with God
• (likeness)
• Creation of
• Fall physical world (loss of
  individuality)
• Union with bodies
• (image of God)

25
Gregory as Theologian

• Cosmic/Temporal (but ) Eternal
• Creation of humanity Return to undif-
• (undifferentiated) ferentiated hu-
• manity in union
• with God
• (Foreknowledge
• of fall)
• Division into
• male and female

26
Gregory as Theologian

• God as the highest good
• Participation in God as sharing in his goodness
• To say God made humanity in his image is the
  same as to say that He made human nature
  participant in all good (ðáíôò Pãáèï ìÝôïïí)
  for if the Deity is the fulness of good, and this
  is His image, then the image finds its
  resemblance to the Archetype in being filled with
  all good (dí ô² ðëyñåò åqíáé ðáíôò Pãáèï).
• On the Making of Man 16.10

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Gregory as Theologian

• Thus there is in us the principle of all
  excellence, all virtue and wisdom, and every
  higher thing that we conceive but pre-eminent
  among all is the fact that we are free from
  necessity, and not in bondage to any natural
  power.
• On the Making of Man 16.11

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Gregory as Theologian

• But this that which God has prepared is
  nothing else, as I at least understand it, but to
  be in God Himself, for the Good which is above
  hearing and eye and heart must be that Good which
  transcends the universe. But the difference
  between the virtuous and the vicious life led at
  the present time will be illustrated in this way
  viz. in the quicker or more tardy participation
  of each in that promised blessedness.
• On the Soul and the Resurrection

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Gregory as Theologian

• When such the passions, then, have been
  purged from it the soul and utterly removed by
  the healing processes worked out by the Fire,
  then every one of the things which make up our
  conception of the good will come to take their
  place incorruption, that is, and life, and
  honour, and grace, and glory, and everything else
  that we conjecture is to be seen in God, and in
  His Image, that is, human nature (ô åkêüíé
  áôï, ôßò dóôéí ½ Píèñùðßíç öýóéò).
• On the Soul and the Resurrection

30
Gregory as Theologian

• Distinctions between individual people will be
  lost.
• We will say that the Resurrection is the
  reconstitution of our nature in its original form
  (PíÜóôáóßò dóôéí ½ åkò ô Pñásïí ôyò öýóåùò ½ìí
  PðïêáôÜóôáóéò). But in that form of life, of
  which God Himself was the Creator, it is
  reasonable to believe that there was neither age
  nor infancy nor any of the sufferings arising
  from our present various infirmities, nor any
  kind of bodily affliction whatever. It is
  reasonable, I say, to believe that God was the
  Creator of none of these things, but that man was
  a thing divine (èåsüí ôé) before his humanity got
  within reach of the assault of evil.
• On the Soul and The Resurrection

31
Gregory Summary

• Following Origen as closely as one can in the
  Post-Nicaea environment
• Salvation as participation in Gods qualities
• Original and final states are undifferentiated
• Virtually no room for a personal understanding of
  salvation
• Dramatically different from Irenaeus, Athanasius,
  and Cyril of Jerusalem

32
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)

• The Holy Spirit and Salvation
• He perfects all other things, and himself lacks
  nothing He gives life to all things, and is
  never depleted. He does not increase by
  additions, but is always complete,
  self-established, and present everywhere. He is
  the source of sanctification, spiritual light,
  who gives illumination to everyone using His
  powers to search for the truth and the
  illumination He gives is Himself.
• On the Holy Spirit, par. 22

33
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)

• The Holy Spirit and Salvation
• His nature is unapproachable only through His
  goodness are we able to draw near it. He fills
  all things with His power, but only those who are
  worthy may share it ìüíïéò äc í ìåèåêôí ôïsò
  Pîßïéò. He distributes His energy in proportion
  to the faith of the recipient êáô Píáëïãßáí ôyò
  ðßóôåùò äéáéñïí ôxí díÝñãåéáí, not confining it
  to a single share. . . . In the same way as the
  light of the sun illumines everything, the
  Spirit is given to each one who receives Him as
  if He were the possession of that person alone,
  yet He sends forth sufficient grace to fill all
  the universe. Everything that partakes of His
  grace is filled with joy according to its
  capacity the capacity of its nature, not of His
  power.
• On the Holy Spirit, par. 23

34
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)

• The Holy Spirit and Salvation
• the Spirit comes to us when we withdraw
  ourselves from evil passions, which have crept
  into the soul through its friendship öéëßáò,
  with the flesh alienating us from a close
  relationship ïkåêéüôçôïò with God. Only when a
  man has been cleansed from the shame of his evil,
  and has returned to his natural beauty ðñò ô
  dê öýóåùò êÜëëïò dðáíåëèüíôá, and the original
  form of the Royal Image has been restored in him,
  is it possible for him to approach the Paraclete.
  . . . Through Him hearts are lifted up, the
  infirm are held by the hand, and those who
  progress are brought to perfection. He shines
  upon those who are cleansed from every spot, and
  makes them spiritual men through fellowship with
  Himself ðñò eáõô êïéíùíßu ðíåõìáôéêïò
  Pðïäåßêíõóé.
• On the Holy Spirit, par. 23

35
Basil the Great (ca. 330-379)

• The Holy Spirit and Salvation
• So too Spirit-bearing souls, illumined by Him,
  finally become spiritual themselves, and their
  grace is sent forth to others. From this comes
  knowledge of the future, understanding of
  mysteries, apprehension of hidden things,
  distribution of wonderful gifts, heavenly
  citizenship, a place in the choir of angels,
  endless joy in the presence of God, becoming like
  God, and the highest of all desires, becoming God
  ½ ðñò Èåí ìïßùóéò, ô Pêñüôáôïí ôí ñåêôí,
  èåí ãåíÝóèáé.
• On the Holy Spirit, par. 23

36
Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 330-390)

• Apophaticism and Knowledge of God
• But when I directed my gaze I scarcely saw the
  averted figure of God, and this whilst sheltering
  in the rock, God the Word incarnate for us.
  Peering in I saw not the nature prime, inviolate,
  self-apprehended (by self I mean the Trinity),
  the nature as it all abides within the first veil
  and is hidden by the Cherubim, but as it reaches
  us at its furthest remove from God, being, so far
  as I can understand, the grandeur, or as divine
  David calls it the majesty inherent in the
  created things he has brought forth and governs.
  All these indications of himself atht he has left
  behind him are Gods averted figure.
• Oration 28.3

37
Gregory of Nazianzus

• True and False Logic
• Arians set up logical questions that assume only
  two answers are possible. But in some cases the
  question itself is absurd, and in other cases,
  there is a third answer besides the two that the
  Arians put before us. (See Oration 29.9.)
• Something does not have to be either true or
  false. It can be true in one sense and false in
  another. (See Oration 30.7.)

38
Gregory of Nazianzus

• A Fully-orbed Description of the Trinity
• We have one God because there is a single
  Godhead. Through there are three in whom we
  believe, they derive from the single whole and
  have reference to it. They do not have degrees of
  being God or degrees of priority over against one
  another. They are not sundered in will or divided
  in power. You cannot find there any of the
  properties inherent in things divisible. To
  express it succinctly, the Godhead exists
  undivided in three distinct ones. It is as if
  there wre a single intermingling of light, which
  existed in three mutually connected Suns. When we
  look at the Godhead, the primal cause, the sole
  sovereignty, we have a mental picture of a single
  whole, certainly. But when we look at the three
  in whom the Godhead exists, and at those who
  derive their timeless and equally glorious being
  from the primal cause, we have three that are
  worshiped.
• Oration 31.14

39
Gregory of Nazianzus

• Two States of God the Logos
• He whom presently you scorn was once
  transcendent, over even you. He who is presently
  human was incomposite. He remained what he was
  what he was not, he assumed. No because is
  required for his existence in the beginning, for
  what could account for the existence of God? But
  later he came into being because of something,
  namely, your salvation. He was begottenyet he
  was already begottenof a woman.
• Oration 29.19

40
From Trinity to Christology

• The Logical Challenge of Arianism
• Major Premise (If A, then B) If Jesus Christ
  suffered, then that means that the Word suffered.
• Minor Premise (If B, then C) If the Word
  suffered, then he must have suffered in his own
  nature.
• Conclusion (If A, then C) If Jesus Christ
  suffered, then the Word must have suffered in his
  own nature.
• Implication The Word is passible and therefore
  lower than the Father.

41
From Trinity to Christology

• The Church clearly rejects the conclusion that
  the Word is limited.
• But how can the Church refute the logic of the
  Arian challenge?
• __________________________
• Battle Plan 1 Refute the minor premise.
• Battle Plan 2 Refute the major premise.

42
Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 350-428)

• The two ages
• It is in this same way that we are also born,
  first in the form of semen through baptism,
  before we are born of the resurrection, and have
  taken shape in the immortal nature into which we
  expect to be changed, but when by faith and hope
  in the future things we have been formed and
  fashioned into the life of Christ and remained
  till the time of the resurrection, then we shall
  receive according to the decree of God, a second
  birth from dust, and assume an immortal and
  incorruptible nature.
• Catechetical Homilies 14.28

43
Theodore of Mopsuestia

• Separation of the Logos from suffering
• In this he shows that ? the Godhead was
  separated from the one who was suffering in the
  trial of death, because it was impossible for him
  to taste the trial of death if (the Godhead) were
  not cautiously remote from him, but also near
  enough to do the needful and necessary things for
  the nature that was assumed by it.
• Catechetical Homilies 8.9

44
Theodore of Mopsuestia

• Christ as a graced man
• It seems evident, we shall say, that the
  indwelling should fittingly be described as
  taking place by good pleasure. And good pleasure
  means that best and noblest will of God, which he
  exercises when he is pleased with those who are
  zealous to be dedicated to him, because of their
  excellent standing in his sight. Therefore,
  whenever he is said to indwell either the
  apostles or just persons generally, he makes his
  indwelling as one who takes pleasure in those who
  are righteous, as one who takes delight in those
  who are duly virtuous.
• On the Incarnation 7

45
Theodore of Mopsuestia

• Christ as a graced man
• But we do not say that Gods indwelling took
  place in Christ in that way, for we could never
  be so insane as that. On the contrary, the
  indwelling took place in him as in a son it was
  in this sense that he took pleasure in him and
  indwelt him. But what does it mean to say as in
  a son? It means that having indwelt him, he
  united the one assumed as a whole to himself and
  equipped him to share with himself in all the
  honor in which he, being Son by nature,
  participates, so as to be counted one person in
  virtue of the union with him and to share with
  him in all his dominion, and in this way to
  accomplish everything in him, so that even the
  examination and judgment of the world shall be
  fulfilled through him and his advent.
• On the Incarnation 7

46
Nestorius (died ca. 451)

• A new interpretation of the Creed
• Observe how they first of all establish, as
  foundations, the titles which are common to the
  deity and the humanityLord and Jesus and
  Christ and Only Begotten and Sonand then
  build on them the teaching about his becoming
  human and his passion and his resurrection, in
  order that, since the titles which signify and
  are common to both natures are set in the
  foreground, the things which pertain to the
  sonship and lordship are not divided and the
  things peculiar to the natures within the unitary
  sonship do not get endangered by the suggestion
  of a confusion.
• Second Letter to Cyril

47
Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 375 444)

• The greatest student of Athanasius work
• Nephew of Bishop Theophilus
• Became bishop in 412
• The ardent opponent of Nestorius and leader of
  the Council of Ephesus
• The Churchs greatest christological doctor

48
Cyril of Alexandria

• Gross on Cyril
• Athan., Greg. Nyss., and Cyril are best examples
  of physical redemption.
• Contact with the Logos through the Eucharist is
  what deifies a believer.
• Indwelling of HS transforms our nature, and the
  other privileges of deification (conformity to
  Christ, brotherhood with him, and adoptive
  sonship to the Father) flow from this.

49
Cyril of Alexandria

• Russell on Cyril
• Cyril is very similar to Irenaeus, and very
  different from Origen.
• Participation is the major category for
  expressing deification.
• Salvation occurs through the exaltation of
  Christs humanity and through the
  Church/Eucharist.

50
Cyril of Alexandria

• An alternative way of viewing Cyril
• Believers DO participate in Gods qualities.
• But his dominant emphasis is personal Believers
  participate in the Sons relationship to the
  Father.
• Cyril develops technical terminology to express
  this personal understanding and to guard against
  mystical absorption.

51
Cyril of Alexandria

• Cyrils Terminology
• käéüôçò identity of substance
• ïkêåéüôçò fellowship/communion between distinct
  persons
• ïkêåéüôçò öõóéêÞ the fellowship the persons of
  the Trinity share because they are of the same
  nature

52
Cyril of Alexandria

• A crucial distinction
• We do NOT share in Gods käéüôçò in any way
  whatsoever. God has only one näéïò õjüò.
• Believers DO share in ïkêåéüôçò with God, and
  even in Gods ïkêåéüôçò öõóéêÞ.

53
Cyril of Alexandria

• Shall we then abandon what we are by nature and
  mount up to the divine and unutterable essence,
  and shall we depose (dêâÜëëïíôåò) the Word of God
  from his very sonship and sit in place of him
  with the Father and make the grace of him who
  honours us a pretext for impiety? May it never
  be! Rather, the Son will remain unchangeably in
  that condition in which he is, but we, adopted
  into sonship and gods by grace (èåôïr åkò õjüôçôá
  êár èåïr êáôN Üñéí), shall not be ignorant of
  what we are.
• Commentary on John 1.9

54
Cyril of Alexandria

• When he had said that authority was given to
  them from him who is by nature Son to become sons
  of God, and had hereby first introduced that
  which is of adoption and grace, he can afterwards
  add without danger of misunderstanding that
  they were begotten of God, in order that he might
  show the greatness of the grace which was
  conferred on them, gathering as it were into
  natural communion (ïkêåéüôçôá öõóéêÞí) those who
  were alien from God the Father, and raising up
  the slaves to the nobility (åãÝíåéáí) of their
  Lord, on account of his warm love towards them.
• Commentary on John 1.9

55
Cyril of Alexandria

• He is not someone who after being empty attained
  fullness instead he humbled himself from his
  divine heights and unspeakable glory. He is not a
  humble man who was exalted in glory, but rather
  he was free and took the form of a slave. He is
  not a slave who made a leap up to the glory of
  freedom he who was in the Fathers form, in
  equality with him, has been made in the likeness
  of men. He is not a man who has come to share the
  riches of Gods likeness.
• Epistle 55

56
Cyril of Alexandria

• Do you hear the way the apostle clearly proclaims
  the deity of the crucified one? For he says that
  we are to be shepherds of the church of God,
  which he purchased through his own blood. Not
  that he suffered in the nature of his deity, but
  that the sufferings of his flesh are ascribed to
  him because the flesh is not that of some other
  man, but is the Logos own. Therefore, since the
  blood is said to be Gods blood, then clearly he
  was God, clothed with flesh.
• Against Those Who Do Not Call Mary Theotokos

57
The Council of Chalcedon (451)

• Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all
  unite in teaching that we should confess one and
  the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This same
  one is perfect in deity, and the same one is
  perfect in humanity the same one is true God and
  true man, comprising a rational soul and a body.
  He is of the same substance as the Father
  according to his deity, and the same one is of
  the same substance with us according to his
  humanity, like us in all things except sin. He
  was begotten before the ages from the Father
  according to his deity, but in the last days for
  us and our salvation, the same one was born of
  the virgin Mary, the bearer of God, according to
  his humanity. He is one and the same Christ, Son,
  Lord, and Only-begotten, who is made known in two
  natures united unconfusedly, unchangeably,
  indivisibly, inseparably. The distinction between
  the natures is not at all destroyed because of
  the union, but rather the property of each nature
  is preserved and concurs together into one
  prosopon and hypostasis. He is not separated or
  divided into two prosopa, but he is one and the
  same Son, the Only-Begotten, God the Logos, the
  Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way the prophets
  spoke of him from the beginning, and Jesus Christ
  himself instructed us, and the Council of the
  fathers has handed the faith down to us.

58
The Council of Chalcedon (451)

• Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all
  unite in teaching that we should confess one and
  the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This same
  one is perfect in deity, and the same one is
  perfect in humanity the same one is true God and
  true man, comprising a rational soul and a body.
  He is of the same substance as the Father
  according to his deity, and the same one is of
  the same substance with us according to his
  humanity, like us in all things except sin. He
  was begotten before the ages from the Father
  according to his deity, but in the last days for
  us and our salvation, the same one was born of
  the virgin Mary, the bearer of God, according to
  his humanity. He is one and the same Christ, Son,
  Lord, and Only-begotten, who is made known in two
  natures united unconfusedly, unchangeably,
  indivisibly, inseparably. The distinction between
  the natures is not at all destroyed because of
  the union, but rather the property of each nature
  is preserved and concurs together into one
  prosopon and hypostasis. He is not separated or
  divided into two prosopa, but he is one and the
  same Son, the Only-Begotten, God the Logos, the
  Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way the prophets
  spoke of him from the beginning, and Jesus Christ
  himself instructed us, and the Council of the
  fathers has handed the faith down to us.

59
Maximus the Confessor

• When we fulfill the Fathers will he renders us
  similar to the angels in their adoration, as we
  imitate them by reflecting the heavenly
  blessedness in the conduct of our life. From
  there he leads us finally in the supreme ascent
  in divine realities to the Father of lights
  wherein he makes us sharers in the divine nature
  by participating in the grace of the Spirit,
  through which we receive the title of Gods
  children and become clothed entirely with the
  complete person who is the author of this grace.
  .
• Commentary on the Our Father 5

60
Maximus the Confessor

• In Christ who is God and the Word of the Father
  there dwells in bodily form the complete fullness
  of deity by essence in us the fullness of deity
  dwells by grace whenever we have formed in
  ourselves every virtue and wisdom, lacking in no
  way which is possible to man in the faithful
  reproduction of the archetype.
• Chapters on Knowledge 2.21

61
John of Damascus on the Trinity

• If we say that there are several gods, there
  must be some difference to be found among them.
  For if there is no difference at all among them,
  then there is one God rather than several. But,
  if there is some difference, then where is the
  perfection? For, if one should come short of
  perfection in goodness, or power, or wisdom, or
  time, or place, then he would not be God. The
  identity of God in all things shows Him to be one
  and not several.
• The Orthodox Faith 1.5

62
John of Damascus on the Trinity

• We believe in one Father, the principle and
  cause of all things, begotten of no one, who
  alone is uncaused and unbegotten, the maker of
  all things and by nature Father of His one and
  only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour,
  Jesus Christ, and emitter of the All-Holy
  Spirit.
• The Orthodox Faith 1.8

63
John of Damascus on Christ

• The holy Mother of God engendered a Person who
  is known in two natures and who in His divinity
  was timelessly begotten of the Father, but who in
  the last days became incarnate of her and was
  born in the flesh. He is two natures, for the
  same is both God and man. It is the same way with
  the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension,
  too, because these things do not belong to
  nature, but person.
• The Orthodox Faith 4.7

64
John of Damascus on Christ

• Christ, while being two natures, suffered in
  His passible nature and in it was crucified, for
  it was in the flesh that He hung on the cross,
  and not in the divinity. Should they say, while
  inquiring of us Did two natures die? We shall
  reply No, indeed. Therefore, two natures were
  not crucified either, but the Christ was
  begotten, that is to say, the Divine Word was
  incarnate and begotten in the flesh, and He was
  crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh,
  and died in the flesh, while his divinity
  remained unaffected.
• The Orthodox Faith 4.7

65
John of Damascus on Christ

• Since He is called both first-born and
  only-begotten, we must maintain both of these as
  applying to Him while he was only-begotten, He
  was also born of a mother. For this very reason,
  that he shared flesh and blood with us and then,
  also, that we were made sons of God through Him
  by being adopted through baptism, He who is by
  nature Son of God has become first-born among us
  who have by adoption and grace become sons of God
  and are accounted as His brethren.
• The Orthodox Faith 4.8

66
John of Damascus on Salvation

• It was not profitable for him to attain
  incorruptibility while yet untried and untested,
  lest he fall into pride and the judgment of the
  devil.... And so it was necessary first for man
  to be tested, since one who is untried and
  untested deserves no credit. Then, when trial had
  made him perfect through his keeping of the
  commandment, he should thus win incorruptibility,
  the reward of virtue. For, since he had been
  created half way between God and matter, should
  he be freed from his natural relationship to
  creatures and united to God by keeping the
  commandment, then he was to be permanently united
  to God and immutably rooted in good.
• The Orthodox Faith 2.30

67
John of Damascus on Salvation

• The Son of God became man in order that He
  might again grace man as He had when He made
  him. Thus, He put man in communion with Himself
  and through this communion with Himself raised
  him to incorruptibility. But, since by
  transgressing the commandment we obscured and
  canceled out the characteristics of the divine
  image, we were given over to evil and stripped of
  the divine communion. Through Himself and in
  Himself he may restore what was to His image and
  what to His likeness.
• The Orthodox Faith 4.4

68
John of Damascus on the Atonement

• For our sake He submits to death and dies and
  offers Himself to the Father as a sacrifice for
  us. For we had offended Him and it was necessary
  for Him to take upon Himself our redemption that
  we might thus be loosed from the condemnationfor
  God forbid that the Lords blood should have been
  offered to the tyrant!
• The Orthodox Faith 3.27

69
Theodore the Studite on Tradition

• Many teachings which are not written in so many
  words, but have equal force with the written
  teachings, have been proclaimed by the holy
  fathers. It is not the inspired Scripture but the
  later fathers who made clear that the Son is
  consubstantial with the Father, that the Holy
  Spirit is God, that the Lords mother is
  Theotokos, and other doctrines which are too many
  to list. If these doctrines are not confessed,
  the truth of our worship is denied.
• Second Refutation of the Iconoclasts 7

70
Theodore the Studite on Christ

• Christ did not become a mere man, nor is it
  orthodox to say that He assumed a particular man,
  but rather that He assumed man in general, or the
  whole human nature. It must be said, however,
  that this whole human nature was contemplated in
  an individual manner (for otherwise how could He
  be seen?). For this is the novel mystery of the
  dispensation, that the divine and human natures
  came together in the one hypostasis of the Word,
  which maintains the properties of both natures in
  the indivisible union.
• First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 4

71
Theodore the Studite on Christ

• For Christ, who remains on His own summit of
  divinity, glorified in His immaterial
  indescribability, it is glory to be materially
  circumscribed in His own body because of His
  sublime condescension toward us. For He who had
  created everything became matter (that is,
  flesh). He did not refuse to become and to be
  called what He had received, and it is
  characteristic of matter to be circumscribed
  materially. As for your argument that He is
  sufficiently represented for mental
  contemplation If merely mental contemplation
  were sufficient, it would have been sufficient
  for Him to come to us in a merely mental way.
  (Continues)
• First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 7

72
Theodore the Studite on Christ

• Consequently we would have been cheated by the
  appearance both of His deeds, if He did not come
  in the body, and of His sufferings, which were
  undeniably like ours. As flesh He suffered in
  the flesh, He ate and drank likewise, and did all
  the others things which every man does, except
  for sin. And so what seems dishonor to your way
  of thinking is actually true honor to the greatly
  honored and exceedingly glorious Word.
• First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 7

73
Theodore the Studite on Christ

• On the question of whether a cross should be
  venerated more than an icon
• If by the cross you mean the original cross,
  how could it not have priority in veneration? For
  on it the impassible Word suffered, and it has
  such power that by its mere shadow it burns up
  the demons and drives them far away from those
  who bear its seal.
• First Refutation of the Iconoclasts 15