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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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39 Pages
Page 4
Now such endeavours [750] are nothing else than an obvious token of their defect of reason [751] , and a copying, as I have said, of Jewish malignity. For the Jews too, when convicted by the Truth, and unable to confront it, used evasions, such as, 'What sign doest Thou, that we may see and believe Thee? What dost Thou work [752] ? though so many signs were given, that they said themselves, 'What do we? for this man doeth many miracles [753] .' In truth, dead men were raised, lame walked, blind saw afresh, lepers were cleansed, and the water became wine, and five loaves satisfied five thousand, and all wondered and worshipped the Lord, confessing that in Him were fulfilled the prophecies, and that He was God the Son of God; all but the Pharisees, who, though the signs shone brighter than the sun, yet complained still, as ignorant men, 'Why dost Thou, being a man, make Thyself God [754] ?' Insensate, and verily blind in understanding! they ought contrariwise to have said, "Why hast Thou, being God, become man?" for His works proved Him God, that they might both worship the goodness of the Father, and admire the Son's Economy for our sakes. However, this they did not say; no, nor liked to witness what He was doing; or they witnessed indeed, for this they could not help, but they changed their ground of complaint again, "Why healest Thou the paralytic, why makest Thou the born-blind to see, on the sabbath day?" But this too was an excuse, and mere murmuring; for on other days as well did the Lord heal 'all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease [755] ,' but they complained still according to their wont, and by calling Him Beelzebub, preferred the suspicion of Atheism [756] , to a recantation of their own wickedness. And though in such sundry times and divers manners the Saviour shewed His Godhead and preached the Father to all men, nevertheless, as kicking against the pricks, they contradicted in the language of folly, and this they did, according to the divine proverb, that by finding occasions, they might separate themselves from the truth [757] .
[750] epicheirema. and so Orat. i. S:44. init. but infra. S:25. epicheiremata means more definitely reasonings or argumentations.
[751] alogias; an allusion frequent in Athanasius, to the judicial consequence of their denying the Word of God. Thus, just below, n. 3. "Denying the Word" or Reason "of God, reason have they none." Also Orat. i. S:35. fin. S:40. init. S:62. Orat. ii. S:7. init. Hence he so often calls the Arians "mad" and "deranged;" e.g. "not aware how 'mad' their 'reason' is." Orat. i. S:37.
[752] John vi. 30.
[753] Ib. xi. 47.
[754] Ib. x. 33.
[755] Matt. iv. 23.
[756] Or ungodliness, atheotetos. Thus Aetius was called ho atheos, the ungodly. de Synod. S:6; and Arius complains that Alexander had expelled him and his from Alexandria, hos anthropous atheous. Theodor. Hist. i. 4. "Atheism" and "Atheist" imply intention, system, and profession, and are so far too strong a rendering of the Greek. Since Christ was God, to deny Him was to deny God. The force of the term, however, seems to be, that, whereas the Son had revealed the "unknown God," and destroyed the reign of idols, the denial of the Son was bringing back idolatry and its attendant spiritual ignorance. Thus contr. Gent. S:29. fin. he speaks of "the Greek idolatry as full of all Atheism" or ungodliness, and contrasts with it the knowledge of "the Guide and Framer of the Universe, the Father's Word," "that through Him 'we may discern His Father,' and the Greeks may know 'how far they have separated themselves from the truth.'" And Orat. ii. 43. he classes Arians with the Greeks, who "though they have the name of God in their mouths, incur the charge of 'Atheism,' because they know not the real and true God, 'the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" (vid. also Basil in Eunom. ii. 22.) Shortly afterwards he gives a further reason for the title, observing that Arianism was worse than previous heresies, such as Manicheism, inasmuch as the latter denied the Incarnation, but Arianism tore from God's substance His connatural Word, and, as far as its words went, infringed upon the perfections and being of the first Cause. And so ad Ep. Aeg. S:17. fin. he says, that it alone, beyond other heresies, "has been bold against the Godhead Itself in a mad way (manikoteron, vid. foregoing note), denying that there is a Word, and that the Father was always Father." Elsewhere he speaks more generally, as if Arianism introduced "an Atheism or rather Judaism 'against the Scriptures,' being next door to Heathenism, so that its disciple cannot be even named Christian; for all such tenets are 'contrary to the Scriptures;'" and he makes this the reason why the Nicene Fathers stopped their ears and condemned it. ad Ep. Aeg. S:13. For the same reason he calls the heathen atheoi, atheistical or ungodly, "who are arraigned of irreligion by Divine Scripture." contr. Gent. S:14. vid. eidolon atheoteta. S:46. init. Moreover, he calls the Arian persecution worse than the pagan 'cruelties,' and therefore "a Babylonian Atheism," Ep. Encycl. S:5. as not allowing the Catholics the use of prayer and baptism, with a reference to Dan. vi. 11, &c. Thus too he calls Constantius atheist, for his treatment of Hosius; oute ton theon phobetheis ho atheos. Hist. Arian. 45. Another reason for the title seems to have lain in the idolatrous character of Arian worship 'on its own shewing,' viz. as worshipping One whom they yet maintained to be a creature. [Prolegg. ch. ii. S:3 (2)a, sub. fin.]
[757] A reference to Prov. xviii. 1. which runs in the LXX. "a man seeketh occasions, when desirous of separating himself from friends."
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/defence-nicene-definition.asp?pg=4
