My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
WW
Our Holy Fathers Among the Saints
ATHANASIOS AND KYRIL [Part II]
SAINT KYRIL was from Alexandria, born about the year 376 A.D., the nephew of Theophilos, Patriarch of Alexandria, who also instructed the Saint in his youth. Having first spent much time with the monks in Nitria, he later became the successor to his uncle’s throne in 412 A.D. In 429 A.D., when Saint Kyril heard news of the teachings of the new Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorios, he began attempting through private letters to bring Nestorios to renounce his heretical teachings about the INCARNATION; when the heresiarch did not repent, Saint Kyril together with Pope Clestine of Rome, led the Orthodox opposition to his heresy. Saint Kyril presided over the Third Ecumenical Synod of the 200 Holy Fathers in the year 431 A.D., who gathered in the city of Ephesus under Saint Theodosios the Younger. At this Synod, by his most wise words he put to shame and condemned the heretical doctrine of Nestorius, who, although he was in town, refused to appear before Saint Kyril. Saint Kyril, besides overthrowing the heresy of Nestorius, has left to the Holy Church full commentaries on the Holy Gospels of Saints Luke and John. Having shepherded the Holy Church of Christ for 32 years, he reposed in 444 A.D.
WRITINGS AND SAYINGS OF SAINT ATHANASIOS THE GREAT
Saint Gregory the Theologian comments, "Saint Athanasios was the first and only one, or with the concurrence of but a few, to venture to confess in writing, with the entire clearness and distinctness, THE UNITY OF THE DIVINITY AND ESSENCE OF THE THREE HYPOSTASES" (PERSONS OF THE HOLY TRINITY].
Speaking to the heretical Arians in his writings, Saint Athanasios says: "You say that He made for Himself His Son out of nothing, as an instrument, whereby to make the universe. Which then is superior, that which needs or that which supplies the need? Or does each supply the deficiency of the other?" The Saint then tells the Arians that it is a grave error (heresy) to call God’s Logos/Word a work. "God shall bring every work into judgment." He then asks them, "What room is there for judgment, when the Judge is on trial?" Elsewhere he declares, "Arius raves in saying that the Son is from nothing and that once He was not." Comparing the Arians to Jews, he writes, "The Jews said, ‘How, being a man, can He be God?" And the Arians, ‘If He were very God from God, how could He become a man?" These are Ariomaniacs. Let them openly confess themselves scholars of Caiaphas and Herod, instead of cloaking Judaism with the name of Christianity." He then speaks of them as heretics, characterizing heretics for us: "A HERETIC IS A WICKED (EVIL) THING IN TRUTH, AND IN EVERY RESPECT HIS HEART IS DEPRAVED AND IRRELIGIOUS. THEY INVENT FOR THEMSELVES OTHER QUESTIONS JUDAIC AND FOOLISH, AS IF TRUTH WERE THEIR ENEMY, THEREBY TO SHOW RATHER THAT THEY ARE CHRIST’S OPPONENTS (ENEMIES) IN ALL THINGS."
In his letters, the Saint wrote: "How can men be called Christians WHO DENY CHRIST? And how can men be admitted to Church WHO DO EVIL AGAINST THE CHURCHES?" "For whom do Arians spare, who have spared not even their own souls?"
In his Second Discourse, he speaks of the relationship between Father and Son: "The Son is begotten NOT from without but from the Father; and while the Father remains whole, the expression of His subsistence ever exists, and preserves the Father’s LIKENESS AND UNVARYING IMAGE, SO THAT HE WHO SEES HIM, SEES IN HIM THE SUBSISTENCE TOO, OF WHICH HE IS THE EXPRESSION ." He then explains, "I and the Father are one" [John 14:10], by way of showing the identity of the Divinity and THE UNITY OF ESSENCE. For they are ONE, NOT AS ONE THING DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS. But They are two, because the Father is Father and is not also Son, and the Son is Son and not also Father; but THE ESSENCE IS ONE. He and the Father are ONE IN PROPRIETY AND PECULIARITY OF ESSENCE, AND IN THE IDENTITY OF THE ONE DIVINITY. FOR THE RADIANCE IS ALSO LIGHT."
In his Third Discourse, Saint Athanasios then explains the word "firstborn" [Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 12:23] with relation to the Son, saying, "When the Son is called Firstborn, this is done NOT for the sake of ranking Him with the creation, but to prove the framing and adoption of all things through the Son. He then speaks of the Jews: "The Logos/Word of God is Himself THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, BEING THE EFFULGENCE OF THE GLORY AND IMPRESS OF HIS HYPOSTASIS [Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3]. The Jews DID NOT RECEIVE HIM WHO SPOKE TO THEM, THEREBY THEY DID NOT RECEIVE THE LOGOS/WORD, WHO IS THE FORM OF GOD."
"…When we read He became a curse for us [Galatians 3:13], Saint Athanasios explains, "He hath made Him sin for us Who KNEW NO SIN. We do not simply conceive this, that the whole Christ has become curse and sin, but that He HAS TAKEN ON HIM THE CURSE WHICH LAY AGAINST US.’
When we read He received our infirmities [cf. Isaiah 53:3; Hebrews 4:15], "He is said to be infirm Himself, though NOT HIMSELF INFIRM, for He is HE IS THE POWER OF GOD, AND BECAME SIN FOR US AND A CURSE, THOUGH NOT HAVING SINNED HIMSELF, BUT BECAUSE HE HIMSELF BORE OUR SINS AND OUR CURSE."
When Jesus is said to have "kept on advancing in wisdom and stature, and in grace in the presence of God and men" [cf. Luke 2:52], the Saint explains, "To men then belongs advance, but the Son of God, since He COULD NOT ADVANCE, BEING PERFECT IN THE FATHER, HUMBLED HIMSELF FOR US, THAT IN HIS HUMBLING WE ON THE OTHER HAND MIGHT BE ABLE TO INCREASE. Thus, to advance in wisdom is not the advance of Wisdom Itself, but rather the manhood’s advance in it."
When some say that the Christ was terrified at death [cf. Matthew 26:39, 42], the Saint’s counsels, "It is irreligious and unseemly to say that Jesus was terrified at death or Hades, Whom THE KEEPERS OF THE GATES OF HADES SAW AND SHUDDERED. But these affections were not proper to the nature of the Logos/Word, as far as He was Logos/Word, but in the flesh which was thus affected was the Logos/Word…For Christ’s enemies are given to see how He Who did the works IS THE SAME AS HE WHO SHOWED THAT HIS BODY WAS PASSABLE BY HIS PERMITTING IT TO WEEP AND HUNGER, AND TO SHOW OTHER PROPERTIES OF A BODY. For while by means of such He made it known that, THOUGH GOD IS IMPASSIBLE, HE HAD TAKEN A PASSABLE FLESH." And, "He let His own body suffer, for therefore did He come, as I said before, that in the flesh He might suffer, and thenceforth the flesh might be made IMPASSIBLE AND IMMORTAL."
He explains the purpose of the Christ’s becoming Man in this letter: "He put on the creature, that He as Creator might once more CONSECRATE IT, AND BE ABLE TO RECOVER IT. BUT A CREATURE COULD NEVER BE SAVED BY A CREATURE." [Resources: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
Personal Comment: From the sacred writings of Saint Athanasios we are blessed to get a glimpse of the Saint’s divine wisdom, profound and inspired knowledge of the mysteries of God. This, of course, is a God-given and grace-given gift of God to the Saints and Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church. They were the true successors of the Holy Apostles, the Great Defenders of the True Faith who fought against the evil heretics and their heresies that attacked the Church’s Divine Teachings over the centuries. The Great Holy Fathers who comprise the Ecumenical Synods and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit formulated the Dogmas [THEOLOGY] of the Orthodox Church.
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 