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| On the Words, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father Very God Before All Ages, by Whom All Things Were Made. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Lecture
XI.
On the Words, the Only-Begotten Son of
God, Begotten of the Father Very God Before All Ages, by Whom All
Things Were Made.
Hebrews i. 1
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days
spoken unto us by His Son.
1. That we have
hope in Jesus Christ has been sufficiently shewn, according to our
ability, in what we delivered to you yesterday. But we must not
simply believe in Christ Jesus nor receive Him as one of the many who
are improperly called Christs1232
1232 Compare x. 11, 15; xvi. 13: xxi. 1. | . For they
were figurative Christs, but He is the true Christ; not having risen by
advancement1233
1233 ἐκ
προκοπῆς. See x.
5. note 8. | from among men to
the Priesthood, but ever having the dignity of the Priesthood from the
Father1234
1234 Compare x. 14, note
9. | . And for this
cause the Faith guarding us beforehand lest we should suppose Him to be
one of the ordinary Christs, adds to the profession of the Faith, that
we believe In One Lord Jesus Christ, the
Only-Begotten Son of God.
2. And again on hearing of a
“Son,” think not of an adopted son but a Son by
nature1235
1235 θετόν. Athanasius (de
Sententiâ Dionysii, § 23), represents Arius as saying
that the Word “is not by nature (κατὰ φύσιν)
and in truth Son of God, but is called Son, He too, by adoption
(κατὰ
θέσιν), as a
creature.” Again (c. Arian. Orat. iii. 19), he says,
“This is the true God and the Life eternal, and we are made sons
through Him by adoption and grace (θέσει καὶ
χάριτι).” Cf. vii.
10, and § 4, below. | , an Only-begotten
Son, having no brother. For this is the reason why He is called
“Only-begotten,” because in the dignity of the Godhead, and
His generation from the Father, He has no brother. But we call
Him the Son of God, not of ourselves, but because the Father Himself
named Christ1236
1236 The mss. all read αὐτὸν
Χριστόν which might mean
“Christ and no other.” But Χριστόν is probably a
gloss introduced from the margin. | His Son1237
1237 Compare the passages
in which Cyril quotes Ps. ii. 7, as Cat. vii. 2; x. 2; xi. 5; xii.
18. | : and a true name is that which is set
by fathers upon their children1238
1238 “It was
one of the especial rights of a father to choose the names for his
children, and to alter them if he pleased” (Dict. Greek and
Roman Antiq. “Nomen. 1 Greek.”) The right to the
name given by the father is the subject of one of the Private Orations
of Demosthenes (Πρὸς
Βοιωτὸν περὶ
τοῦ
ὀνόματος). | .
3. Our Lord Jesus Christ erewhile became
Man, but by the many He was unknown. Wishing, therefore, to teach
that which was not known, He called together His disciples, and asked
them, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am1239 ? —not from vain-glory, but wishing to
shew them the truth, lest dwelling with God, the Only-begotten of
God1240
1240 Compare iv.
7: “God of God begotten;” xiii. 3 and 13:
“God the Son of God.” Here however, the mss. vary, and the reading of Cod. Coisl.
Υἱῷ
Θεοῦ
μονογενεῖ is
approved by the Benedictine Editor, though not adopted. The
confusion of Υἱῷ
and Θεῷ is like that
in John i. 18. | , they should think lightly of Him as if He
were some mere man. And when they answered that some said Elias,
and some Jeremias, He said to them, They may be excused for not
knowing, but ye, My Apostles, who in My name cleanse lepers, and cast
out devils, and raise the dead, ought not to be ignorant of Him,
through whom ye do these wondrous works. And when they all became
silent (for the matter was too high for man to learn), Peter, the
foremost of the Apostles and chief herald1241
1241 ὁ πρωτοστάτης
τῶν
᾽Αποστόλων
καὶ τῆς
᾽Εκκλησίας
κορυφαῖος
κήρυξ. Cf. ii. 19. | of
the Church, neither aided by cunning invention, nor persuaded by human
reasoning, but enlightened in his mind from the Father, says to Him,
Thou art the Christ, not only so, but the Son of the living
God. And there follows a blessing upon his speech (for in
truth it was above man), and as a seal upon what he had said, that it
was the Father who had revealed it to him. For the Saviour says,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it to thee, but My Father which is in heaven1242 . He therefore who acknowledges our
Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, partakes of this blessedness; but he
who denies the Son of God is a poor and miserable man.
4. Again, I say, on hearing of a Son,
understand it not merely in
an improper sense, but as a Son in truth, a Son by nature, without
beginning1243
1243 Athanasius (de Synodis, § 15)
quotes a passage from the Thalia of Arius, in which he
says: “We praise Him as without beginning, because of Him
who has a beginning: and adore Him as eternal, because of Him who
in time has come to be. He who is without beginning made the Son
a beginning of things created.”
It is important, therefore, to notice the sense in which
Cyril here calls the Son ἄναρχος. The word
has two meanings, which should be clearly distinguished, (i)
unoriginate, (ii) without beginning in time. The
former referring to origin, or cause, can properly be applied to the
One true God, or to God the Father only, as it is used by Clement of
Alexandria (Protrept. cap. v. § 65:
τὸν
πάντων
ποιητὴν…ἀγνοοῦντες,
τὸν ἄναρχον
Θεόν. [Strom. IV. cap.
xxv. § 164: ὁ Θεὸς δὲ
ἄναρχος ἀρχὴ
τῶν ὅλων
παντελὴς
ἀρχῆς
ποιητικός].
[Stromat. V. cap. xiv. § 142: ἐξ
ἀρχῆς
ἀνάρχου].
Methodius (ob. 312 a.d. circ.)
in a fragment (On things created, § 8, English Trans.
Clark’s Ante-Nic. Libr.) comments thus on John i. 1–3: “And so after the
peculiar unbeginning beginning, who is the Father, He (the Word) is
the beginning of other things, ‘by whom all things are
made.’”
In this sense Cyril has said (iv. 4) that
God alone is “unbegotten, unoriginate:” and in xi. 20
he explains this more fully,—“Suffer none to speak of a
beginning of the Son in time (χῥονικὴν
ἀρχήν), but as a timeless
beginning acknowledge the Father. For the Father is the beginning
of the Son, timeless, incomprehensible, without beginning.”
From a confusion of the two meanings the word came to be improperly
applied in the sense of “unoriginate” to the Son, and to
the Spirit; and this improper usage is condemned in the 49th
Apostolic Canon, which Hefele regards as amongst the most
ancient Canons, and taken from the Apostolic Constitutions, vi.
11: “If any Bishop or Presbyter shall baptize not according
to our Lord’s ordinance into the Father, and Son, and Spirit, but
into three Unoriginates, or three Sons, or three Paracletes let
him be deposed.” (ii.) Athanasius frequently calls the
Son ἄναρχος in the sense of
‘timeless,’ as being the co-eternal brightness (ἀπαύγασμα) of the
Eternal Light: see de Sent. Dionys. §§ 15, 16,
22; “God is the Eternal Light, which never either began or shall
cease: accordingly the Brightness is ever before Him, and
co-exists with Him, without beginning and ever-begotten (ἄναρχον καὶ
ἀειγενές).” | ; not as having come
out of bondage into a higher state of adoption1244
1244 εἰς
προκοπὴν
υἱοθεσίας.
Cf. § 2, note 4. | ,
but a Son eternally begotten by an inscrutable and incomprehensible
generation. And in like manner on hearing of the
First-born1245
1245 Πρωτότοκον.
The word occurs in Heb. i.
6, which had been read
in the Lesson before this Lecture. The exact dogmatic sense of
the word is carefully explained by Athanasius (c. Arian. Or. ii.
62): “The same cannot be both Only-begotten and Firstborn,
except in different relations;—that is, Only-begotten, because of
His generation from the father, as has been said; and First-born,
because of His condescension to the creation, and His making the many
His brethren.” See Mr. Robertson’s discussion of the
word πρωτότοκος
(Athan. p. 344, in this series), and Bp. Bull (Def.
Fid. Nic. iii. 5–8). | , think not that
this is after the manner of men; for the first-born among men have
other brothers also. And it is somewhere written, Israel is My
son, My first-born1246 . But Israel
is, as Reuben was, a first-born son rejected: for Reuben went up
to his father’s couch; and Israel cast his Father’s Son out
of the vineyard, and crucified Him.
To others also the Scripture says, Ye are the
sons of the Lord your God1247
: and in
another place, I have said, Ye are gods, and ye are all sons of the
Most High1248 . I have
said, not, “I have begotten.” They, when God so
said, received the sonship, which before they had not: but
He was not begotten to be other than He was before; but was begotten
from the beginning Son of the Father, being above all beginning and all
ages, Son of the Father, in all things like1249
1249 ἐν
πᾶσιν
ὅμοιος. See the note on iv.
7. That the phrase was not equivalent to ὁμοούσιος, and did
not adequately express the relation of the Son to the Father is clearly
shewn by Athanasius (de Synodis, cap. iii. § 53). | to
Him who begat Him, eternal of a Father eternal, Life of Life begotten,
and Light of Light, and Truth of Truth, and Wisdom of the Wise, and
King of King, and God of God, and Power of Power1250
1250 The additions which the Benedictine Editor
has here made to the earlier text, as represented by Milles, may be
conveniently shewn in brackets. ἀλλὰ
Υἱὸς [τοῦ
Πατρὸς]*
ἐξ
ἀρχῆς
ἐγεννήθη, [ὑπεράνω
πάσης ἀρχῆς
καὶ αἰώνων
τυγχάνων]*, Υιὸς
τοῦ Πατρὸς
[ἐν
πᾶσιν]†
ὅμοιος τῷ
γεγεννηκότι·
[ἀΐδιος ἐξ
ἀϊδίου
Πατρός,]* ζωὴ
ἐκ ζωῆς
γεγεννημένος.
…καὶ
Θεὸς ἐκ
Θεοῦ, [καὶ
δύναμις ἐκ
δυνάμεως]‡.
* Codd. Coisl. Ottob. Mon. 2. † Coisl.
Ottob. Roe, Casaub. Mon. 1, 2.
‡ Coisl. Ottob. Mon. 1, 2. | .
5. If then thou hear the Gospel saying,
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the
Son of Abraham1251 , understand
“according to the flesh.” For He is the Son of David
at the end of the ages1252 , but the Son of God
Before All Ages, without beginning1253 . The one, which before He had not, He
received; but the other, which He hath, He hath eternally as begotten
of the Father. Two fathers He hath: one, David, according
to the flesh, and one, God, His Father in a Divine manner1254 . As the Son of David, He is subject to
time, and to handling, and to genealogical descent: but as Son
according to the Godhead1255
1255 τὸ μὲν κατὰ
τὸν Δαβίδ.…τὸ
δὲ κατὰ τὴν
Θεότητα. | , He is subject
neither to time nor to place, nor to genealogical descent: for
His generation who shall declare1256 ? God is a Spirit1257 ; He who is a Spirit hath spiritually
begotten, as being incorporeal, an inscrutable and incomprehensible
generation. The Son Himself says of the Father, The Lord said
unto Me, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee1258 . Now this to-day is not recent,
but eternal: a timeless to-day, before all ages. From
the womb, before the morning star, have I begotten Thee1259
1259 Ps. cx. 3. “From the womb of the
morning thou hast the dew of thy youth” (R.V.). There is a remarkable various reading in
Codd. Roe, Casaub. Τό εἶ σύ,
ἄχρονον καὶ
ἀΐδιον· τὸ
δὲ σήμερον
πρόσφατον,
ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ
ἀΐδιον,
οἰκειουμένου
τοῦ Πατρὸς
καὶ τὴν κάτω
γέννησιν.
Καὶ πάλιν
λέγει· ᾽Εκ
γαστρὸς πρὸ
ἑωσφόρου
γεγέννηκά
σε· τοῦτο
μόνον τῆς
Θεότητος·
Πίστευσον,
κ.τ.λ The
words “Thou art My Son,” are thus referred to the
eternal generation, and “This day” to the birth in
time: whereas in the received text, followed in our
translation, σήμερον refers to the
timeless and eternal generation of the Son. The former
interpretation of Ps. ii.
7 is found in many
Fathers, as for example in Tertullian (adv. Prax. vii. xi.), and
Methodius (Conviv. Virg. VIII. cap. ix.): “He says
‘Thou art,’ and not ‘Thou hast become,’ shewing
that He had not recently attained to the position of Son.…But the
expression, ‘This day have I begotten Thee,’ signifies that
He willed that existing already before the ages in heaven He should
also be begotten for the world, that is that He who was before unknown
should be made known.’ The same interpretation was held by
many Fathers, some referring σήμερον to the
Nativity, as Cyprian (adv. Judæos Testim. ii. 8),
others to the Baptism (Justin M. Dialog. cap. lxxxviii.;
Tertullian. adv. Marcion. iv. 22). Athanasius
(c. Arian. iv. § 27), has a long discussion on the question
whether Ps. cx.
3, ἐκ
γαστρὸς πρὸ
ἑωσφόρου
γεγέννηκά
σε, refers to the eternal generation of the Son, or to
His Nativity. | .
6. Believe thou therefore on Jesus Christ, Son of the living
God, and a Son Only-Begotten, according to the Gospel which
says, For God so loved the
world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life1260 . And again,He that believeth on the
Son is not judged, but hath passed out of death into life1261 . But he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him1262 . And John testified concerning Him,
saying, And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten from
the father,—full of grace and truth1263 : at whom the devils trembled and said,
Ah! what have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the living
God1264 .
7. He is then the Son of God by nature and
not by adoption1265
1265 φύσει καὶ οὐ
θέσει. Cf. § 2, note 4. | , begotten of the
Father. And he that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also
that is begotten of Him1266 ; but he that
despiseth Him that is begotten casts back the insult upon Him who
begat. And whenever thou hear of God begetting, sink not down in
thought to bodily things, nor think of a corruptible generation, lest
thou be guilty of impiety. God is a Spirit1267 , His generation is spiritual: for
bodies beget bodies, and for the generation of bodies time needs must
intervene; but time intervenes not in the generation of the Son from
the Father. And in our case what is begotten is begotten
imperfect: but the Son of God was begotten perfect; for what He
is now, that is He also from the beginning1268
1268 γεγεννημένος
ἀνάρχως. Cf. §
5, note 4. | ,
begotten without beginning. We are begotten so as to pass from
infantile ignorance to a state of reason: thy generation, O man,
is imperfect, for thy growth is progressive. But think not that
it is thus in His case, nor impute infirmity to Him who hath
begotten. For if that which He begot was imperfect, and acquired
its perfection in time, thou art imputing infirmity to Him who hath
begotten; if so be, the Father did not bestow from the beginning that
which, as thou sayest, time bestowed afterwards1269
1269 ὃ
χρόνος. Bened. c.
Codd. Roe, Casaub. Coisl. ὃ
χρόνοις Ottob. Mon. 1,
2. A. With the latter reading, the meaning will
be—“if He did not bestow from the beginning, as thou
sayest, what He bestowed in after times.” Cyril does not
here address his auditor, but an imaginary opponent,—“O
man.”
Compare Athan. (de Synodis, §
26). | .
8. Think not therefore that this generation
is human, nor as Abraham begat Isaac. For in begetting Isaac,
Abraham begat not what he would, but what another granted. But in
God the Father’s begetting there is neither ignorance nor
intermediate deliberation1270
1270 The Arians appear to
have made use of a dilemma: If God begat with will and purpose,
these preceded the begetting, and so ἦν
ποτε ὅτε οὐκ
ἦν, there was a time when the Son was
not: if without will and purpose, then He begat in ignorance and
of necessity. The answer is fully given by Athanasius (c.
Arian. iii. 58–67, pp. 425–431 in this
Series). | . For to say
that He knew not what He was begetting is the greatest impiety; and it
is no less impious to say, that after deliberation in time He then
became a Father. For God was not previously without a Son, and
afterwards in time became a Father; but hath the Son eternally, having
begotten Him not as men beget men, but as Himself only knoweth, who
begat Him before all ages Very God.
9. For the Father being Very God begat the
Son like unto Himself, Very God1271
1271 Athanasius (ad
Episcopos Ægypti, § 13), referring to 1 John v. 20,
This is the true (ἁληθινός)
God, writes: “But these men (the Arians), as if in
contradiction to this, allege that Christ is not the true God, but that
He is only called God, as are other creatures, in regard of His
participation in the Divine nature.” Again (c.
Arian. iii. 9), “He gave us to know that of the true Father
He is the true Offspring (ἀληθινὸν
γέννημα). | ; not as
teachers beget disciples, not as Paul says to some, For in Christ
Jesus I begat you through the Gospel1272 . For in this case he who was not a son
by nature became a son by discipleship, but in the former case He was a
Son by nature, a true Son. Not as ye, who are to be illuminated,
are now becoming sons of God: for ye also become sons, but by
adoption of grace, as it is written, But as many as received Him, to
them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that
believe on His name: which were begotten not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God1273 . And we indeed are begotten of water
and of the Spirit, but not thus was Christ begotten of the
Father. For at the time of His Baptism addressing Him, and
saying, This is My Son1274 , He did not say,
“This has now become My Son,” but, This is My Son;
that He might make manifest, that even before the operation of Baptism
He was a Son.
10. The Father begat the Son, not as among
men mind begets word. For the mind is substantially existent in
us; but the word when spoken is dispersed into the air and comes to an
end1275
1275 Compare Athanasius
(de Sententiâ Dionysii, § 23): “the mind
creates the word, being manifested in it, and the word shews the mind,
having originated therein.” Tertullian (adv. Prax.
vii.): “You will say what is a word but a voice and sound
of the mouth, and (as the Grammarians teach) air when struck against,
intelligible to the ear, but for the rest a sort of void, empty, and
incorporeal thing.” Cf. Athan. (de Synodis, §
12): ἀνυπόστατον. | . But we know Christ to have been
begotten not as a word pronounced1276
1276 προφορικόν.
See Cat. iv. 8, note 9. | , but as a Word
substantially existing1277
1277 ἐνυπόστατον. ibid. So the Spirit is described in Cat. xvii. 5
“not uttered or breathed by the mouth and lips of the Father and
the Son, nor dispersed into the air, but personally subsisting
(ἐνυπόστατον).” | and living; not
spoken by the lips, and dispersed, but begotten of the Father eternally
and ineffably, in substance1278 . For, In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God1279 , sitting at
God’s right hand;—the Word understanding the
Father’s will, and creating all things at His bidding: the
Word, which came down and went up; for the word of utterance when
spoken comes not down, nor goes up; the Word speaking and saying,
The things which I have seen with My Father, these I
speak1280 : the Word
possessed of power, and reigning over all things: for the
Father hath committed all things unto the Son1281 .
11. The Father then begat Him not in such
wise as any man could understand, but as Himself only knoweth.
For we profess not to tell in what manner He begat Him, but we insist
that it was not in this manner. And not we only are ignorant of
the generation of the Son from the Father, but so is every created
nature. Speak to the earth, if perchance it may teach
thee1282 : and though
thou inquire of all things which are upon the earth, they shall not be
able to tell thee. For the earth cannot tell the substance of Him
who is its own potter and fashioner. Nor is the earth alone
ignorant, but the sun also1283
1283 In saying that the
earth, the sun, and the heavens know not their Maker, Cyril is simply
using figurative language like that of the passage of Job just
quoted. There is no reason to suppose that he accepted
Origen’s theory (de Principiis, II. cap. 7), that the
heavenly bodies are living and rational beings, capable of sin. | : for the sun
was created on the fourth day, without knowing what had been made in
the three days before him; and he who knows not the things made in the
three days before him, cannot tell forth the Maker Himself.
Heaven will not declare this: for at the Father’s bidding
the heaven also was like smoke established1284 by Christ. Nor shall the heaven of
heavens declare this, nor the waters which are above the
heavens1285 . Why then art
thou cast down, O man, at being ignorant of that which even the heavens
know not? Nay, not only are the heavens ignorant of this
generation, but also every angelic nature. For if any one should
ascend, were it possible, into the first heaven, and perceiving the
ranks of the Angels there should approach and ask them how God begat
His own Son, they would say perhaps, “We have above us beings
greater and higher; ask them.” Go up to the second heaven
and the third; attain, if thou canst, to Thrones, and Dominions, and
Principalities, and Powers: and even if any one should reach
them, which is impossible, they also would decline the explanation, for
they know it not.
12. For my part, I have ever wondered at the
curiosity of the bold men, who by their imagined reverence fall into
impiety. For though they know nothing of Thrones, and Dominions,
and Principalities, and Powers, the workmanship of Christ, they attempt
to scrutinise their Creator Himself. Tell me first, O most daring
man, wherein does Throne differ from Dominion, and then scrutinise what
pertains to Christ. Tell me what is a Principality, and what a
Power, and what a Virtue, and what an Angel: and then search out
their Creator, for all things were made by Him1286 . But thou wilt not, or thou canst not
ask Thrones or Dominions. What else is there that knoweth the
deep things of God1287 , save only the
Holy Ghost, who spake the Divine Scriptures? But not even the
Holy Ghost Himself has spoken in the Scriptures concerning the
generation of the Son from the Father. Why then dost thou busy
thyself about things which not even the Holy Ghost has written in the
Scriptures? Thou that knowest not the things which are written,
busiest thou thyself about the things which are not written?
There are many questions in the Divine Scriptures; what is written we
comprehend not, why do we busy ourselves about what is not
written? It is sufficient for us to know that God hath begotten
One Only Son.
13. Be not ashamed to confess thine
ignorance, since thou sharest ignorance with Angels. Only He who
begat knoweth Him who was begotten, and He who is begotten of Him
knoweth Him who begat. He who begat knoweth what He begat:
and the Scriptures also testify that He who was begotten is
God1288
1288 I have followed
the reading of Codd. Coisl. Roe, Casaub. Mon. A., which is approved
though not adopted by the Benedictine Editor. The common text is
manifestly interpolated: “And the Holy Spirit of God
testifies in the Scriptures, that He who was begotten without beginning
is God. For what man knoweth, &c.” This
insertion of 1 Cor. ii.
11 interrupts the argument,
and is a useless repetition of the allusion to the same passage in
§ 12. | . For as the Father hath life in
Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in
Himself1289 ; and, that all
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father1290 ; and, as the Father quickeneth whom
He will, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will1291 . Neither He who begat suffered any
loss, nor is anything lacking to Him who was begotten (I know that I
have said these things many times, but it is for your safety that they
are said so often): neither has He who begat, a Father, nor He
who was begotten, a brother. Neither was He who begat changed
into the Son1292
1292 See iv. 8, note 8, on
the Sabellian doctrine, and Athanas. (de Synodis, § 16,
note 10 in this series). | , nor did He who was
begotten become the Father1293
1293 The doctrine of
Sabellius might be expressed in two forms, either the Father became the
Son, or the Son became the Father. Both forms are here
denied. The Jerusalem Editor thinks there is an allusion to the
Arian argument mentioned by Athanasius (c. Arian. Or. I. cap.
vi. 22): “If the Son is the Father’s offspring and
Image, and is like in all things to the Father, then it necessarily
holds that as He is begotten so He begets, and He too becomes father of
a son.” But the close connexion of the two clauses is in
favour of the reference to the Sabellian υἱοπατορία. | . Of One Only
Father there is One Only-begotten Son: neither two
Unbegotten1294
1294 ἀγέννητοι.
The context shews that this, not ἀγένητοι, is here the
right form. Athanasius seems to have used ἀγέννητος in
both senses “Un-begotten,” as here, and
“unoriginate.” Thus (c. Arian. Or. i. cap. ix.
§ 30) he says of the Arians: “Their further question
‘whether the Unoriginate be one or two,’ shews how false
are their views.” Compare Bp. Lightfoot’s Excursus on
Ignatius, Ephes. § 7, and Mr. Robertson’s notes on
Athanasius in this Series. | , nor two
Only-begotten; but One Father, Unbegotten (for He is Unbegotten who
hath no father); and One Son, eternally begotten of the Father;
begotten not in time, but before all ages; not increased by
advancement, but begotten that which He now is.
14. We believe then In the
Only-Begotten Son of God, Who Was Begotten of the Father Very
God. For the True God begetteth not a false god, as we
have said, nor did He deliberate and afterwards beget1295
1295 See above, § 8,
note 3. | ; but He begat eternally, and much more
swiftly than our words or thoughts: for we speaking in time,
consume time; but in the case of the Divine Power, the generation is
timeless. And as I have often said, He did not bring forth the
Son from non-existence into being, nor take the non-existent into
sonship1296
1296 Athan. (c.
Arian. I. ix. 31) “speaking against the Lord, ‘He is of
nothing,’ and ‘He was not before His
generation.’” | : but the
Father, being Eternal, eternally and ineffably begat One Only Son, who
has no brother. Nor are there two first principles; but the
Father is the head of the Son1297 ; the beginning
is One. For the Father begot the Son Very
God, called Emmanuel; and Emmanuel being interpreted is, God
with us1298 .
15. And wouldest thou know that He who was
begotten of the Father, and afterwards became man, is God? Hear
the Prophet saying, This is our God, none other shall be accounted
of in comparison with Him. He hath found out every way of knowledge,
and given it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved.
Afterwards He was seen on earth, and conversed among men1299
1299 Baruch iii. 35–37. The last verse was understood by
Cyril, as by many of the Greek and Latin Fathers, to be a prophecy of
the Incarnation: but in reality it refers to
“knowledge” (ἐπιστήμη,
v. 36), and should be translated “she was seen upon
earth.” See notes on the passage in the Speaker’s
Commentary. | . Seest thou herein God become man,
after the giving of the law by Moses? Hear also a second
testimony to Christ’s Deity, that which has just now been read,
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever1300 . For lest, because of His presence
here in the flesh, He should be thought to have been advanced after
this to the Godhead, the Scripture says plainly, Therefore God, even
Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy
fellows1301 . Seest thou
Christ as God anointed by God the Father?
16. Wouldest thou receive yet a third
testimony to Christ’s Godhead? Hear Esaias saying, Egypt
hath laboured, and the merchandise of Ethiopia: and soon
after, In Thee shall they make supplication, because God is in Thee,
and there is no God save Thee. For Thou art God, and we knew it
not, the God of Israel, the Saviour1302 . Thou seest that the Son is God,
having in Himself God the Father: saying almost the very same
which He has said in the Gospels: The Father is in Me, and I
am in the Father1303 . He says not,
I am the Father, but the Father is in Me, and I am in the
Father. And again He said not, I and the Father am1304
1304 Athanasius
(c. Arian. Or. iv. § 9), arguing for the ὁμοούσιον
says: “These are two, because there is Father and Son, that
is the Word; and one, because one God. For if this is not so, He
would have said, I am the Father, or, I and the Father am.” | one, but, I and the Father am one,
that we should neither separate them, nor make a confusion of
Son-Father1305
1305 See iv. 8, notes 7 and
8. | . One they are
because of the dignity pertaining to the Godhead, since God begat
God. One in respect of their kingdom; for the Father reigns not
over these, and the Son over those, lifting Himself up against His
Father like Absalom: but the kingdom of the Father is likewise
the kingdom of the Son. One they are, because there is no discord
nor division between them: for what things the Father willeth,
the Son willeth the same. One, because the creative works of
Christ are no other than the Father’s; for the creation of all
things is one, the Father having made them through the Son:
For He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were
created, saith the Psalmist1306 . For He
who speaks, speaks to one who hears: and He who commands, gives
His commandment to one who is present with Him.
17. The Son then is Very
God, having the Father in Himself, not changed into the Father;
for the Father was not made man, but the Son. For let the truth
be freely spoken1307
1307 We learn from Socrates
(Eccl. Hist. I. 24), that after the Nicene Council “those
who objected to the word ὁμοούσιος
conceived that those who approved it favoured the opinion of
Sabellius.” Marcellus of Ancyra, who was deposed on a
charge of Sabellianism, and who did not in fact make clear the distinct
personality of the Son, had been warmly supported by the friends of
Athanasius. Cyril apparently fears to incur their censure, if he
too strongly condemned the Sabellian view. | . The Father
suffered not for us, but the Father sent Him who suffered.
Neither let us say, There was a time when the Son was not; nor let us
admit a Son who is the Father1308
1308 Cyril here rejects
both the opposite errors, Arianism, “There was a time when the
Son was not,” and Sabellianism, “a Son who is the
Father.” | : but let us
walk in the king’s highway; let us turn aside neither on the left
hand nor on the right. Neither from thinking to honour the Son,
let us call Him the Father; nor from thinking to honour the Father, imagine the Son
to be some one of the creatures. But let One Father be worshipped
through One Son, and let not their worship be separated. Let One
Son be proclaimed, sitting at the right hand of the Father before all
ages: sharing His throne not by advancement in time after His
Passion, but by eternal possession.
18. He who hath seen the Son, hath seen
the Father1309
: for in all
things the Son is like to Him who begat Him1310
1310 See above, § 4,
note 9. | ;
begotten Life of Life and Light of Light, Power of Power, God of God;
and the characteristics of the Godhead are unchangeable1311
1311 ἀπαράλλακτοι.
The word was used by the Orthodox Bishops at Nicæa, who said that
“the Word must be described as the True power and Image of the
Father, in all things like the Father and Himself incapable of
change.” See the notes of Dr. Newman and Mr. Robertson on
Athanasius (de Decretis, § 20). | in the Son; and he who is counted worthy to
behold Godhead in the Son, attains to the fruition of the Father.
This is not my word, but that of the Only-begotten: Have I
been so long time with you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip?
He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father1312 . And to be brief, let us neither
separate them, nor make a confusion1313 : neither
say thou ever that the Son is foreign to the Father, nor admit those
who say that the Father is at one time Father, and at another
Son: for these are strange and impious statements, and not the
doctrines of the Church. But the Father having begotten the Son,
remained the Father and is not changed. He begat Wisdom, yet lost
not wisdom Himself; and begat Power, yet became not weak: He
begat God, but lost not His own Godhead: and neither did He lose
anything Himself by diminution or change; nor has He who was begotten
any thing wanting. Perfect is He who begat, Perfect that which
was begotten: God was He who begat, God He who was begotten; God
of all Himself, yet entitling the Father His own God. For He is
not ashamed to say, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to
My God and your God1314 .
19. But lest thou shouldest think that He is
in a like sense Father of the Son and of the creatures, Christ drew a
distinction in what follows. For He said not, “I ascend to
our Father,” lest the creatures should be made fellows of the
Only-begotten; but He said, My Father and your Father; in one
way Mine, by nature; in another yours, by adoption. And again,
to my God and your God, in one way Mine, as His true and
Only-begotten Son, and in another way yours, as His
workmanship1315
1315 Compare Cat. vii.
7. The Jerusalem Editor observes that the expression “My
God” is understood by the Fathers generally as spoken by Christ
in reference to His human nature, but Cyril applies this, as well as
the other expression “My Father,” to the Divine
nature. So Hilary (de Trinit. iv. 53):
“idcirco Deus ejus est, quia ex eo natus in Deum
est.” Compare Epiphanius (Hær. lxix. 55). | . The Son of
God then is Very God, ineffably begotten
before all ages (for I say the same things often to you, that it may be
graven upon your mind). This also believe, that God has a
Son: but about the manner be not curious, for by searching thou
wilt not find. Exalt not thyself, lest thou fall: think
upon those things only which have been commanded thee1316 . Tell me first what He is who begat,
and then learn that which He begat; but if thou canst not conceive the
nature of Him who hath begotten, search not curiously into the manner
of that which is begotten.
20. For godliness it sufficeth thee to know,
as we have said, that God hath One Only Son, One naturally begotten;
who began not His being when He was born in Bethlehem, but Before All Ages. For hear the Prophet Micah saying,
And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ephrata, art little to be among the
thousands of Judah. Out of thee shall come forth unto Me a Ruler,
who shall feed My people Israel: and His goings forth are from
the beginning, from days of eternity1317
1317 Micah v. 2; on the various readings ὀλγιοστὸς εἶ,
μὴ ὀλ, εἶ οὐκ
ὀλ. εἶ, found in the mss. of Cyril, see the Commentaries on the quotation of
the passage in Matt.
ii. 6. | . Think not then of Him who is now come
forth out of Bethlehem1318
1318 Codd. Roe,
Casaub. have a different reading—“Think not then of His
having now been born in Bethlehem, and (nor) suppose Him as the Son of
Man to be altogether recent, but worship, &c.” This is
rightly regarded by the Benedictine and other Editors as an
interpolation intended to avoid the apparent tendency of Cyril’s
language in the received text to separate the Virgin’s Son from
the Eternal Word. Had Cyril so written after the Nestorian
controversy arose, he would have appeared to favour the Nestorian
formula that “Mary did not give birth to the Deity.”
Compare Swainson (Nicene Creed, Ch. ix. § 7.) What
Cyril really means is that we are not to think of Christ simply as man,
but to worship Him as God. | , but worship Him
who was eternally begotten of the Father. Suffer none to speak of
a beginning of the Son in time, but as a timeless Beginning acknowledge
the Father. For the Father is the Beginning of the Son, timeless,
incomprehensible, without beginning1319
1319 Compare § 4, note
3. | . The
fountain of the river of righteousness, even of the Only-begotten, is
the Father, who begat Him as Himself only knoweth. And wouldest
thou know that our Lord Jesus Christ is King Eternal? Hear Him
again saying, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw
it, and was glad1320 . And then,
when the Jews received this hardly, He says what to them was still
harder, Before Abraham was, I am1321 . And again He saith to the Father,
And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was1322 . He says plainly, “before the
world was, I had the glory which is with Thee.” And again
when He says, For
Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world1323 , He plainly declares, “The glory which
I have with thee is from eternity.”
21. We believe then In One
Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Begotten of His Father
Very God Before All Worlds, by Whom All Things Were Made.
For whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers, all things were made through Him1324
,
and of things created none is exempted from His authority.
Silenced be every heresy which brings in different creators and makers
of the world; silenced the tongue which blasphemes the Christ the Son
of God; let them be silenced who say that the sun is the Christ, for He
is the sun’s Creator, not the sun which we see1325
1325 Compare Cat. vi. 13,
and xv. 3: “Here let converts from the Manichees gain
instruction, and no longer make those lights their gods; nor impiously
think that this sun which shall be darkened is Christ.” | . Silenced be they who say that the
world is the workmanship of Angels1326
1326 The creation of
the world was ascribed to Angels by the Gnostics generally, e.g.
by Simon Magus (Irenæus, adv. Hæres. I.
xxiii. § 2), Menander (ibid. § 5), Saturninus
(ibid. xxiv. 1), Basilides (ibid. § 3), Carpocrates
(ibid. xxv. 1). | , who wish to
steal away the dignity of the Only-begotten. For whether visible
or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or anything that is named,
all things were made by Christ. He reigns over the things which
have been made by Him, not having seized another’s spoils, but
reigning over His own workmanship, even as the Evangelist John has
said, All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made1327 . All things
were made by Him, the Father working by the Son.
22. I wish to give also a certain
illustration of what I am saying, but I know that it is feeble; for of
things visible what can be an exact illustration of the Divine
Power? But nevertheless as feeble be it spoken by the feeble to
the feeble. For just as any king, whose son was a king, if he
wished to form a city, might suggest to his son, his partner in the
kingdom, the form of the city, and he having received the pattern,
brings the design to completion; so, when the Father wished to form all
things, the Son created all things at the Father’s bidding, that
the act of bidding might secure to the Father His absolute
authority1328
1328 On the doctrine
of Creation by the Son as held by Cyril, see the reference to the
Introduction in the Index, Creation. | , and yet the Son in
turn might have authority over His own workmanship, and neither the
Father be separated from the lordship over His own works, nor the Son
rule over things created by others, but by Himself. For, as I
have said, Angels did not create the world, but the Only-begotten Son,
begotten, as I have said, before all ages, By Whom
All Things Were Made, nothing having been excepted from His
creation. And let this suffice to have been spoken by us so far,
by the grace of Christ.
23. But let us now recur to our profession
of the Faith, and so for the present finish our discourse. Christ
made all things, whether thou speak of Angels, or Archangels, of
Dominions, or Thrones. Not that the Father wanted strength to
create the works Himself, but because He willed that the Son should
reign over His own workmanship, God Himself giving Him the design of
the things to be made. For honouring His own Father the
Only-begotten saith, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He
seeth the Father do; for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth
the Son likewise1329 . And again,
My Father worketh hitherto, and I work1330 ,
there being no opposition in those who work. For all Mine are
Thine, and Thine are Mine, saith the Lord in the Gospels1331 . And this we may certainly know from
the Old and New Testaments. For He who said, Let us make man
in our image and after our likeness1332 ,
was certainly speaking to some one present. But clearest of all
are the Psalmist’s words, He spake and they were made; He
commanded, and they were created1333 , as if the
Father commanded and spake, and the Son made all things at the
Father’s bidding. And this Job said mystically, Which
alone spread out the heaven, and walketh upon the sea as on firm
ground1334 ; signifying to
those who understand that He who when present here walked upon the sea
is also He who aforetime made the heavens. And again the Lord
saith, Or didst Thou take earth, and fashion clay into a living
being1335 ? then afterwards,
Are the gates of death opened to Thee through fear, and did the
door-keepers of hell shudder at sight of Thee1336 ? thus signifying that He who through
loving-kindness descended into hell, also in the beginning made man out
of clay.
24. Christ then is the Only-begotten Son of
God, and Maker of the world. For He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him; and He came unto His own, as the
Gospel teaches us1337 . And not only
of the things which are seen, but also of the things which are not
seen, is Christ the Maker at the Father’s bidding. For
in Him, according to the Apostle, were all things created
that are in the heavens, and that are upon the earth, things visible
and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers; all things have been created by Him and for Him; and He is
before all, and in
Him all things consist1338 . Even
if thou speak of the worlds, of these also Jesus Christ is the Maker by
the Father’s bidding. For in these last days God spake
unto us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom also
He made the worlds1339 . To whom be
the glory, honour, might, now and ever, and world without end.
Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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