Athanasius: Letter to Epictetus (Letter 59)
| Latin Title: | Epistula ad Epictetum |
| Reference: | CPG 2095 |
| Incipit: | ’Εγώ μέν ἐνόμιζον πᾶσαν ματαιολογίαν |
| Date: | 370 |
| Text: | PG 26, 1049-1069 G. Ludwig, Epistual ad Epictetum, Iena, 1911 |
| English Translation: | Archibald Robertson, trans., “Ad Epictetum” in NPNF2, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, 1980), pp. 570-574; updated for FCC by AGC |
| Greek | English |
| Τοῦ μακαρίου ̓Αθανασίου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Αλεξανδρείας ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Ἐπίκτητον ἐπίσκοπον Κορίνθου. | To my Lord, beloved brother, and most-longed-for fellow-minister Epictetus, Athanasius sends greetings in the Lord. |
| 1.1 Ἐγὼ μὲν ἐνόμιζον πᾶσαν ματαιολογίαν πάντων, ὅσοι δηποτοῦν εἰσιν αἱρετικοί, πεπαῦσθαι ἐκ τῆς γενομένης ἐν Νικαία συνόδου· ἡ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ παρὰ τῶν πατέρων κατὰ τὰς θείας γραφὰς ὁμολογηθεῖσα πίστις αὐτάρκης ἐστὶ πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν μὲν πάσης ἀσεβείας, πρὸς σύστασιν δὲ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς ἐν Χριστῷ πίστεως. | 1.1 I thought that all vain talk of all heretics, many as they may be, had been stopped by the Synod which was held at Nicæa. For the Faith there confessed by the Fathers according to the divine Scriptures is enough by itself at once to overthrow all impiety, and to establish the religious belief in Christ. |
| 1.2 διὰ τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ νῦν διαφόρων γενομένων συνόδων ἔν τε τῇ Γαλλίᾳ καὶ Σπανίᾳ καὶ τῇ μεγάλη Ῥώμη πάντες οἱ συνελθόντες τοὺς μὲν ἔτι κρυπτομένους καὶ φρονοῦντας τὰ Ἀρείου, Αὐξέντιον δὴ λέγω τὸν ἐν Μεδιολάνῳ, καὶ Οὐρσάκιον, καὶ Οὐάλεντα, καὶ Γάϊον ἀπὸ τῆς Παννονίας , παμψηφεί ὡς ἀφ ̓ ἑνὸς πνεύματος κινούμενοι ἀνεθεμάτισαν ἔγραψαν τε πανταχοῦ , διὰ τὸ τοὺς το τοιούτους ἐπινοεῖν ἑαυτοῖς ὀνόματα συνόδων, μηδεμίαν ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ σύνοδον ὀνομάζεσθαι, εἰ μὴ μόνην τὴν ἐν Νικαίᾳ γενομένην, τρόπαιον οὖσαν πάσης μὲν αἱρέσεως, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τῆς Ἀρειανῆς, δι ̓ ἣν μάλιστα καὶ ἡ σύνοδος τότε συνήχθη . | 1.2 For this reason at the present time, at the assembling of diverse synods, both in Gaul and Spain, and great Rome, all who came together, as though moved by one spirit, unanimously anathematised those who still were secretly holding with Arius, namely Auxentius of Milan, Ursacius, Valens, and Gaius of Pannonia. And they wrote everywhere, that, whereas the above-said were devising the names of synods to cite on their side, no synod should be cited in the Catholic Church save only that which was held at Nicæa, which was a monument of victory over all heresy, but especially the Arian, which was the main reason of the synod assembling when it did. |
| 4. 4. πόθεν ὑμῖν ἐπῆλθεν εἰπεῖν, ὦ οὗτοι, ὁμοούσιον εἶναι τὸ σῶμα τῆς τοῦ λόγου θεότητος; ἀπὸ γὰρ τούτου καλὸν ἄρξασθαι, ἵνα τούτου δεικνυμένου σαθροῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα δειχθῇ. ἀπὸ μὲν οὖν τῶν γραφῶν οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, θεὸν γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ σώματι γεγονέναι λέγουσιν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ οἱ πατέρες οἱ ἐν Νικαία συνελθόντες οὐ τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν υἱὸν εἰρήκασιν ὁμοούσιον τοῦ πατρός· καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός, τὸ δὲ σῶμα ἐκ Μαρίας ὡμολόγησαν εἶναι το πάλιν κατὰ τὰς γραφάς. ἢ τοίνυν ἀρνήσασθε τὴν ἐν Νικαίᾳ σύνοδον, καὶ ὡς αἱρετικοὶ παρεισφέρετε ταῦτα, ἢ εἰ βούλεσθε τέκνα τῶν πατέρων εἶναι, μὴ φρονεῖτε παρ’ ἐκεῖνα, ἅπερ ἔγραψαν αὐτοί. | 4.1 Whence did it occur to you, sirs, to say that the Body is of one Essence with the Godhead of the Word? For it is well to begin at this point, in order that by shewing this opinion to be unsound, all the others too may be proved to be the same. Now from the divine Scriptures we discover nothing of the kind. For they say that God came in a human body. But the fathers who also assembled at Nicæa say that, not the body, but the Son Himself is coessential with the Father, and that while He is of the Essence of the Father, the body, as they admitted according to the Scriptures, is of Mary. Either then deny the Synod of Nicæa, and as heretics bring in your doctrine from the side; or, if you wish to be children of the fathers, do not hold the contrary of what they wrote. |
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