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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 84 Pages
Page 49
2. Considering therefore how it is written in the Book of Ecclesiastes, 'I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me; That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who shall find it out [4645] ?' and what is said in the Psalms, 'The knowledge of Thee is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it [4646] ;' and that Solomon says, 'It is the glory of God to conceal a thing [4647] ;' I frequently designed to stop and to cease writing; believe me, I did. But lest I should be found to disappoint you, or by my silence to lead into impiety those who have made enquiry of you, and are given to disputation, I constrained myself to write briefly, what I have now sent [4648] to your piety. For although a perfect apprehension of the truth is at present far removed from us by reason of the infirmity of the flesh, yet it is possible, as the Preacher himself has said, to perceive the madness of the impious, and having found it, to say that it is 'more bitter than death [4649] .' Wherefore for this reason, as perceiving this and able to find it out, I have written, knowing that to the faithful the detection of impiety is a sufficient information wherein piety consists. For although it be impossible to comprehend what God is, yet it is possible to say what He is not [4650] . And we know that He is not as man; and that it is not lawful to conceive of any originated nature as existing in Him. So also respecting the Son of God, although we are by nature very far from being able to comprehend Him; yet is it possible and easy to condemn the assertions of the heretics concerning Him, and to say, that the Son of God is not such; nor is it lawful even to conceive in our minds such things as they speak, concerning His Godhead; much less to utter them with the lips.
[4645] Eccles. vii. 23, 24.
[4646] Ps. cxxxix. 6.
[4647] Prov. xxv. 2.
[4648] Probably a lost writing.
[4649] Eccles. vii. 26.
[4650] Newman observes in loc. "This negative character of our knowledge, whether of the Father or of the Son, is insisted on by other writers.....'All we can know about the Divine Nature is, that it is not to be known; and whatever positive statements we make concerning God, relate not to His Nature, but to the accompaniments of His Nature.' Damasc. F.O. i. 4; S. Basil c. Eunom. i. 10, 'Totum ab animo rejicite; quidquid occurrerit, negate....dicite non est illud.' August. Enarrat. 2. in Psalm xxvi. 8. Cyril, Catech. xi. 11. Anonym. in Append. Aug. Oper. t. 5. p. 383." [Patr. Lat. xxxix. 2175.]
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/letters-2.asp?pg=49
