II.-Fragments Apparently of the Same Epistle of the Synod of Antioch
II.-Fragments Apparently of the Same Epistle of the Synod of Antioch
To Wit, of that Part of It Which It is Agreed that Eusebius Left Unnoticed.1
II.-Fragments Apparently of the Same Epistle of the Synod of Antioch
To Wit, of that Part of It Which It is Agreed that Eusebius Left Unnoticed.1
------------
He says, therefore, in the commentaries (they speak of Paul), that he maintains the dignity of wisdom.
And thereafter:
If, however, he had been united2 according to formation and generation, this is what befalls the man. And again: For that wisdom, as we believe, was not congenerate3 with humanity substantially, but qualitatively.4
And thereafter:
In what respect, moreover, does he mean to allege that the formation5 of Christ is different and diverse from ours, when we hold that, in this one thing of prime consequence, His constitution differs from ours, to wit, that what in us is the interior man, is in Him the Word.6
And thereafter:
If he means to allege that Wisdom dwells in Him as in no other, this expresses indeed the same mode of inhabitation, though it makes it excel in respect of measure and multitude; He being supposed to derive a superior knowledge from the Wisdom, say for example, twice as large as others, or any other number of times as large; or, again, it may be less than twice as large a knowledge as others have. This, however, the catholic and ecclesiastical canons disallow, and hold rather that other men indeed received of Wisdom as an inspiration from without, which, though with them, is distinct from them;7 but that Wisdom in verity came of itself substantially into His body by Mary.
And after other matters:
And they hold that there are not two Sons. But if Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and if Wisdom also is the Son of God; and if the Wisdom is one thing and Jesus Christ another, there are two Sons.
And thereafter:
Moreover understand (Paul would say) the union with Wisdom in a different sense, namely as being one according to instruction and participation;8 but not as if it were formed according to the substance in the body.
And after other matters:
Neither was the God who bore the human body and had assumed it, without knowledge9 of human affections10 in the first instance;11 nor was the human body without knowledge, in the first instance, of divine operations in him in whom He (the God) was, and by whom He wrought these operations. He was formed, in the first instance, as man in the womb; and, in the second instance,12 the God also was in the womb, united essentially with the human,13 that is to say, His substance being wedded with the man.
1: koinwnika\ gra/mmata . On this Valesius gives the following note:-The Latins call these litterae communicatoriae , the use of which is of very ancient date in the Church. They called the same also formatae , as Augustine witnesses in Epistle 163. There were, moreover, two kinds of them. For there were some which were given to the clergy and laity when about to travel, that they might be admitted to communion by foreign bishops. And there were others which bishops were in the way of sending to other bishops, and which they in turn received from others, for the purpose of attesting their inter-communion; of which sort the Synod speaks here. These were usually sent by recently-ordained bishops soon after their ordination. Augustine, Epistle 162; Cyprian, in the Epistle to Cornelius, p. 320; and the Synodical Epistle of the Council of Sardica, appear to refer to these, though they may refer also to the formatae. [Vol. i. p. 12, n. 9.]
2: In Leontius of Byzantium, contra Nestor. , book iii., towards the end.
3: Copulatus erat.
4: Congeneratum.
5: Secundum qualitatem.
6: Formationem.
7: We say, that as the exterior and the interior man are one person, so God the Word and humanity have been assumed as one person, a thing which Paul denies.-Can.
8: Alia est apud ipos.
9: Secundum disciplinam et participationem. Paul of Samosata used to say that the humanity was united with the Wisdom as instruction ( disciplina ) is united with the learner by participation.-Can. [See Hooker, book v. cap. 52, sec. 4.]
10: Expers.
11: Passionum , sufferings.
12: Principaliter.
13: Secundario , i.e., kata\ deu/teron lo/gon .-Turrian.