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| Concerning the energies in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Chapter
XV.—Concerning the energies in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
We hold, further, that there are two
energies2129
| 2129 Cf.
Anast., De operationibus, I.; Joan.
Scyth, Con. Sever. VIII., &c. | in our Lord Jesus
Christ. For He possesses on the one hand, as God and being of
like essence with the Father, the divine energy, and, likewise, since
He became man and of like essence to us, the energy proper to human
nature2130
| 2130 Supr.
bk. ii.: Max., Dial. cum Pyrrh. | .
But observe that energy and capacity for energy, and the
product of energy, and the agent of energy, are all different.
Energy is the efficient (δραστική) and
essential activity of nature: the capacity for energy is the
nature from which proceeds energy: the product of energy is that
which is effected by energy: and the agent of energy is the
person or subsistence which uses the energy. Further, sometimes
energy is used in the sense of the product of energy, and the product
of energy in that of energy, just as the terms creation and creature
are sometimes transposed. For we say “all creation,”
meaning creatures.
Note also that
energy is an activity and is energised rather than energises; as
Gregory the Theologian says in his thesis concerning the Holy
Spirit2131
| 2131 Orat. 37,
near the beginning. | :
“If energy exists, it must manifestly be energised and will not
energise: and as soon as it has been energised, it will
cease.”
Life itself, it should be observed, is energy, yea, the
primal energy of the living creature and so is the whole economy of the
living creature, its functions of nutrition and growth, that is, the
vegetative side of its nature, and the movement stirred by impulse,
that is, the sentient side, and its activity of intellect and
free-will. Energy, moreover, is the perfect realisation of
power. If, then, we contemplate all these in Christ, surely we
must also hold that He possesses human energy.
The first thought2132
| 2132 Anast.
Antioch., De operationibus. | that arises in us is called
energy: and it is simple energy not involving any relationship,
the mind sending forth the thoughts peculiar to it in an independent
and invisible way, for if it did not do so it could not justly be
called mind. Again, the revelation and unfolding of thought by
means of articulate speech is said to be energy. But this is no
longer simple energy that involves no relationship, but it is
considered in relation as being composed of thought and speech.
Further, the very relation which he who does anything bears to that
which is brought about is energy; and the very thing that is effected
is called energy2133
| 2133 καὶ αὐτὸ
τὸ
ἀποτελούμενον; cf. Max., ad Marin. II. | . The
first belongs to the soul alone, the second to the soul making use of
the body, the third to the body animated by mind, and the last is the
effect2134
| 2134 Max. tom.
ii., Dogmat. ad Marin., p. 124. | . For the
mind sees beforehand what is to be and then performs it thus by means
of the body. And so the hegemony belongs to the soul, for it uses
the body as an instrument, leading and restraining it. But the
energy of the body is quite different, for the body is led and moved by
the soul. And with regard to the effect, the touching and
handling and, so to speak, the embrace of what is effected, belong to
the body, while the figuration and formation belong to the soul.
And so in connection with our Lord Jesus Christ, the power of miracles
is the energy of His divinity, while the work of His hands and the
willing and the saying, I will, be thou clean2135
, are the energy of His humanity.
And as to the effect, the breaking of the loaves2136
, and the fact that the leper heard the
“I will,” belong to His humanity, while the multiplication
of the loaves and the purification of the leper belong to His
divinity. For through both, that is through the energy of the
body and the energy of the soul, He displayed one and the same, cognate
and equal divine energy. For just as we saw that His natures were
united and permeate one another, and yet do not deny that they are
different but even enumerate them, although we know they are
inseparable, so also in connection with the wills and the energies we
know their union, and we recognise their difference and enumerate them
without introducing separation. For just as the flesh was deified
without undergoing change in its own nature, in the same way also will
and energy are deified without transgressing their own proper
limits. For whether He is the one or the other, He is one and the
same, and whether He wills and energises in one way or the other, that
is as God or as man, He is one and the same.
We must, then, maintain that Christ has two
energies in virtue of His double nature. For things that have
diverse natures, have also different energies, and things that have
diverse energies, have also different natures. And so conversely,
things that have the same nature have also the same energy, and things
that have one and the same energy have also one and the same
essence2137
| 2137 See
Act. 10 sextæ synodi. | , which is the
view of the Fathers, who declare the divine meaning2138
| 2138 Text, θεηγόρους.
Variant, θεοφόρους. | . One of these alternatives, then,
must be true: either, if we hold that Christ has one energy, we
must also hold that He has but one essence, or, if we are solicitous
about truth, and confess that He has according to the doctrine of the
Gospels and the Fathers two essences, we must also confess that He has
two energies corresponding to and accompanying them. For as He is
of like essence with God and the Father in divinity, He will be His
equal also in energy. And as He likewise is of like essence with
us in humanity He will be our equal also in energy. For the
blessed Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, says2139
| 2139 Orat. de natura et
hyp. Also in Basil. 43. | ,
“Things that have one and the same energy, have also absolutely
the same power.” For all energy is the effect of
power. But it cannot be that uncreated and created nature have
one and the same nature or power or energy. But if we should hold
that Christ has but one energy, we should attribute to the divinity of
the Word the passions of the intelligent spirit, viz. fear and grief
and anguish.
If they should say2140
| 2140 Max.,
Dial. cum Pyrrh. | ,
indeed, that the holy Fathers said in their disputation
concerning the Holy Trinity, “Things that have one and the same
essence have also one and the same energy, and things which have
different essences have also different energies,” and that it is
not right to transfer to the dispensation what has reference to matters
of theology, we shall answer that if it has been said by the Fathers
solely with reference to theology, and if the Son has not even after
the incarnation the same energy as the Father,2141
| 2141 Max.,
Dial. cum Pyrrh. |
assuredly He cannot have the same essence. But to whom shall we
attribute this, My Father worketh hitherto and I work2142
: and this, What things soever
He seeth the Father doing, these also doeth the Son
likewise2143
: and this,
If ye believe not Me, believe My works2144
: and this, The work which I do
bear witness concerning Me2145
: and this,
As the Father raised up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whom He will2146
. For
all these shew not only that He is of like essence to the Father even
after the incarnation, but that He has also the same energy.
And again: if the providence that embraces all
creation is not only of the Father and the Holy Spirit, but also of the
Son even after the incarnation, assuredly since that is energy, He must
have even after the incarnation the same energy as the Father.
But if we have learnt from the miracles that Christ has
the same essence as the Father, and since the miracles happen to be the
energy of God, assuredly He must have even after the incarnation the
same energy as the Father.
But, if there is one energy belonging to both His
divinity and His humanity, it will be compound, and will be either a
different energy from that of the Father, or the Father, too, will have
a compound energy. But if the Father has a compound energy,
manifestly He must also have a compound nature.
But if they should say that together with energy
is also introduced personality2147
, we shall
reply that if personality is introduced along with energy, then the
true converse must hold good that energy is also introduced along with
personality; and there will be also three energies of the Holy Trinity
just as there are three persons or subsistences, or there will be one
person and one subsistence just as there is only one energy.
Indeed, the holy Fathers have maintained with one voice that things
that have the same essence have also the same energy.
But further, if personality is introduced along with
energy, those who divine that neither one nor two energies of Christ
are to be spoken of, do not maintain that either one or two persons of
Christ are to be spoken of.
Take the case of the flaming sword; just as in it
the natures of the fire and the steel are preserved distinct2148
| 2148 Maxim., lib. De
duab. vol. et Dial. cum Pyrrh. | , so also are their two energies and their
effects. For the energy of the steel is its cutting power, and
that of the fire is its burning power, and the cut is the effect of the
energy of the steel, and the burn is the effect of the energy of the
fire: and these are kept quite distinct in the burnt cut, and in
the cut burn, although neither does the burning take place apart from
the cut after the union of the two, nor the cut apart from the
burning: and we do not maintain on account of the twofold natural
energy that there are two flaming swords, nor do we confuse the
essential difference of the energies on account of the unity of the
flaming sword. In like manner also, in the case of Christ, His
divinity possesses an energy that is divine and omnipotent while His
humanity has an energy such as is our own. And the effect of His
human energy was His taking the child by the hand and drawing her to
Himself, while that of His divine energy was the restoring of her to
life2149
. For the one is quite distinct from
the other, although they are inseparable from one another in theandric
energy. But if, because Christ has one subsistence, He must also
have one energy, then, because He has one subsistence, He must also
have one essence.
And again: if we should hold that Christ has
but one energy, this must be either divine or human, or neither.
But if we hold that it is divine2150
we must
maintain that He is God alone, stripped of our humanity. And if
we hold that it is human, we shall be guilty of the impiety of saying
that He is mere man. And if we hold that it is neither divine nor
human, we must also hold that He is neither God nor man, of like
essence neither to the Father nor to us. For it is as a result of
the union that the identity in hypostasis arises, but yet the
difference between the natures is not done away with. But since
the difference between the natures is preserved, manifestly also the
energies of the natures will be preserved. For no nature exists
that is lacking in energy.
If Christ our Master2151
has one energy, it must be either created or uncreated; for
between these there is no
energy, just as there is no nature. If, then, it is created, it
will point to created nature alone, but if it is uncreated, it will
betoken uncreated essence alone. For that which is natural must
completely correspond with its nature: for there cannot exist a
nature that is defective. But the energy2152
| 2152 Text, ἡ δὲ κατὰ
φύσιν
ἐνέργεια.
Variant, εἰ
δέ. |
that harmonises with nature does not belong to that which is
external: and this is manifest because, apart from the energy
that harmonises with nature, no nature can either exist or be
known. For through that in which each thing manifests its energy,
the absence of change confirms its own proper nature.
If Christ has one energy, it must be one and the same
energy that performs both divine and human actions. But there is
no existing thing which abiding in its natural state can act in
opposite ways: for fire does not freeze and boil, nor does water
dry up and make wet. How then could He Who is by nature God, and
Who became by nature man, have both performed miracles, and endured
passions with one and the same energy?
If, then, Christ assumed the human mind, that is to say,
the intelligent and reasonable soul, undoubtedly He has thought, and
will think for ever. But thought is the energy of the mind:
and so Christ, as man, is endowed with energy, and will be so for
ever.
Indeed, the most wise and great and holy John
Chrysostom says in his interpretation of the Acts, in the second
discourse2153
, “One would
not err if he should call even His passion action: for in that He
suffered all things, He accomplished that great and marvellous work,
the overthrow of death, and all His other works.”
If all energy is defined as essential movement of
some nature, as those who are versed in these matters say, where does
one perceive any nature that has no movement, and is completely devoid
of energy, or where does one find energy that is not movement of
natural power? But, as the blessed Cyril says2154
| 2154 Thes.,
xxxii., ch. 2; Act. 10, sextæ Synodi. | , no one in his senses could admit that
there was but one natural energy of God and His creation2155
| 2155 The
Monotheletes made much of the case of the raising of the daughter of
Jairus. See Cyril, In Joan., p. 351; Max.,
Dial. cum Pyrrh., Epist. ad Nicand., Epist. ad
Mon. Sicil.; Scholiast in Collect. cont.
Severum, ch. 20. | . It is not His human nature that
raises up Lazarus from the dead, nor is it His divine power that sheds
tears: for the shedding of tears is peculiar to human nature
while the life is peculiar to the enhypostatic life. But yet they
are common the one to the other, because of the identity in
subsistence. For Christ is one, and one also is His person or
subsistence, but yet He has two natures, one belonging to His humanity,
and another belonging to His divinity. And the glory, indeed,
which proceeded naturally from His divinity became common to both
through the identity in subsistence, and again on account of His flesh
that which was lowly became common to both. For He Who is the one
or the other, that is God or man, is one and the same, and both what is
divine and what is human belong to Himself. For while His
divinity performed the miracles, they were not done apart from the
flesh, and while His flesh performed its lowly offices, they were not
done apart from the divinity. For His divinity was joined to the
suffering flesh, yet remaining without passion, and endured the saving
passions, and the holy mind was joined to the energising divinity of
the Word, perceiving and knowing what was being
accomplished.
And thus His divinity communicates its own glories
to the body while it remains itself without part in the sufferings of
the flesh. For His flesh did not suffer through His divinity in
the same way that His divinity energised through the flesh. For
the flesh acted as the instrument of His divinity. Although,
therefore, from the first conception there was no division at all
between the two forms2156
| 2156 οἰκονομῶ,
in incarnate form. | , but the actions
of either form through all the time became those of one person,
nevertheless we do not in any way confuse those things that took place
without separation, but recognise from the quality of its works what
sort of form anything has.
Christ, then, energises according to both His
natures2157
and either
nature energises in Him in communion with the other, the Word
performing through the authority and power of its divinity all the
actions proper to the Word, i.e. all acts of supremacy and sovereignty,
and the body performing all the actions proper to the body, in
obedience to the will of the Word that is united to it, and of whom it
has become a distinct part. For He was not moved of Himself to
the natural passions2158
| 2158 οὐ γὰρ ἀφ᾽
ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς
τὰ φυσικὰ
πάθη τὴν
ὁρμὴν
ἐποιεῖτο,
οὐδ᾽ αὐτὴν
ἐκ τῶν
λυπη?ῶν
ἁφορμὴν καὶ
παραίτησιν. | , nor again did He
in that way recoil from the things of pain, and pray for release from
them, or suffer what befel from without, but He was moved in conformity
with His nature, the Word willing and allowing Him
œconomically2159
to suffer that,
and to do the things proper
to Him, that the truth might be confirmed by the works of nature.
Moreover, just as2160
| 2160 Dion., ch. 2,
De div. nom. et Epist. 4. |
He received in His birth of a virgin superessential essence, so also He
revealed His human energy in a superhuman way, walking with earthly
feet on unstable water, not by turning the water into earth, but by
causing it in the superabundant power of His divinity not to flow away
nor yield beneath the weight of material feet. For not in a
merely human way did He do human things: for He was not only man,
but also God, and so even His sufferings brought life and
salvation: nor yet did He energise as God, strictly after the
manner of God, for He was not only God, but also man, and so it was by
touch and word and such like that He worked miracles.
But if any one2161
| 2161 Max.,
Dial. cum Pyrrh. | should say,
“We do not say that Christ has but one nature, in order to do
away with His human energy, but we do so because2162
| 2162 See the reply of
Maximus in the Dialogue cum Pyrrh. | human energy, in opposition to divine
energy, is called passion (πάτθος),” we shall answer that, according to this
reasoning, those also who hold that He has but one nature do not
maintain this with a view to doing away with His human nature, but
because human nature in opposition to divine nature is spoken of as
passible (παθητική
). But God forbid that we should call the human
activity passion, when we are distinguishing it from divine
energy. For, to speak generally, of nothing is the existence
recognised or defined by comparison or collation. If it were so,
indeed, existing things would turn out to be mutually the one the cause
of the other. For if the human activity is passion because the
divine activity is energy, assuredly also the human nature must be
wicked because the divine nature is good, and, by conversion and
opposition, if the divine activity is called energy because the human
activity is called passion, then also the divine nature must be good
because the human nature is bad. And so all created things must
be bad, and he must have spoken falsely who said, And God saw every
thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good2163
.
We, therefore, maintain2164
| 2164 Max.,
Opusc. Polem., pp. 31, 32. |
that the holy Fathers gave various names to the human activity
according to the underlying notion. For they called it power, and
energy, and difference, and activity, and property, and quality, and
passion, not in distinction from the divine activity, but power,
because it is a conservative and invariable force; and energy, because
it is a distinguishing mark, and reveals the absolute similarity
between all things of the same class; and difference, because it
distinguishes; and activity, because it makes manifest; and property,
because it is constituent and belongs to that alone, and not to any
other; and quality, because it gives form; and passion, because it is
moved. For all things that are of God and after God suffer in
respect of being moved, forasmuch as they have not in themselves motion
or power. Therefore, as has been said, it is not in order to
distinguish the one from the other that it has been named, but it is in
accordance with the plan implanted in it in a creative manner by the
Cause that framed the universe. Wherefore, also, when they spoke
of it along with the divine nature they called it energy. For he
who said, “For either form energises close communion with the
other2165
,” did something quite different
from him who said, And when He had fasted forty days, He was
afterwards an hungered2166
: (for He
allowed His nature to energise when it so willed, in the way proper to
itself2167
,) or from
those who hold there is a different energy in Him or that He has a
twofold energy, or now one energy and now another2168
| 2168 Chrysost., Hom.
in S. Thom. | . For these statements with the
change in terms2169
signify the two
energies. Indeed, often the number is indicated both by change of
terms and by speaking of them as divine and human2170
| 2170 Cyril, in
Joan., bk. viii. | . For the difference is difference
in differing things, but how do things that do not exist
differ?E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
