Works Human And Divine

Ὅθεν τῆς σαρκὸς πασχούσης, οὐκ ἦν ἐκτὸς ταύτης ὁ Λόγος· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ‘αὐτοῦ’ λέγεται καὶ τὸ πάθος· καὶ θεϊκῶς δὲ ποιοῦντος αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Πατρὸς, οὐκ ἦν ἔξωθεν αὐτοῦ ἡ σάρξ· ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ σώματι ταῦτα πάλιν ὁ Κύριος ἐποίει. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος ἔλεγεν, Εἰ οὐ ποιῶ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Πατρός μου, μὴ πιστεύετέ μοι· εἰ δὲ ποιῶ, κἂν ἐμοὶ μὴ πιστεύητε, τοῖς ἔργοις πιστεύετε, ἵνα γινώσκητε ὅτι ἐν ἐμοὶ ὁ Πατὴρ, κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἀμέλει ὅτε χρεία γέγονε τὴν πενθερὰν θερὰν τοῦ Πέτρου πυρέσσουσαν ἐγεῖραι, ἀνθρωπίνως μὲν ἐξέτεινε τὴν χεῖρα, θεϊκῶς δὲ ἦν παύων τὴν νόσον. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ ‘ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλοῦ’ ἀνθρώπινον ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς ἠφίει ‘τὸ πτύσμα,’ θεϊκῶς δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἤνοιγε διὰ τοῦ πηλοῦ· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Λαζάρου φωνὴν μὲν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἀνθρωπίνην ἠφίει· θεϊκῶς δὲ,  ὡς Θεὸς, τὸν Λάζαρον ἤγειρεν ἐκ νεκρῶν. Ταῦτα δὲ οὕτως ἐγίνετο, καὶ ἐδείκνυτο, ὅτι μὴ φαντασίᾳ ἀλλὰ ἀληθῶς ἦν ἔχων σῶμα· ἔπρεπε δὲ τὸν Κύριον, ἐνδιδυσκόμενον ἀνθρωπίνην σάρκα, ταύτην μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων παθῶν αὐτῆς ὅλην ἐνδύσασθαι, ἵνα, ὥσπερ ἴδιον αὐτοῦ’ λέγομεν εἶναι τὸ σῶμα, οὕτω καὶ τὰ τοῦ σώματος πάθη ἴδια μόνον αὐτοῦ λέγηται, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἥπτετο κατὰ τὴν θεότητα αὐτοῦ. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἑτέρου ἦν τὸ σῶμα, ἐκείνου ἂν λέγοιτο καὶ τὰ πάθη· εἰ δὲ τοῦ Λόγου ἡ σὰρξ ὁ γὰρ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς πάθη λέγεσθαι αὐτοῦ, οὖ καὶ ἡ σάρξ ἐστιν. Οὖ δὲ λέγεται τὰ πάθη, οἷά ἐστι μάλιστα τὸ κατακριθῆναι, τὸ μαστιγωθῆναι, τὸ διψᾷν, καὶ ὁ σταυρὸς, καὶ ὁ θάνατος, καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι τοῦ σώματος ἀσθένειαι, τούτου καὶ τὸ κατόρθωμα καὶ ἡ χάρις ἐστί. Διὰ τοῦτο τοίνυν ἀκολούθως καὶ πρεπόντως οὐκ ἄλλου, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Κυρίου λέγεται τὰ τοιαῦτα πάθη· ἵνα καὶ ἡ χάρις παῤ αὐτοῦ ᾖ, καὶ μὴ ἄλλου λάτραι γινώμεθα, ἀλλὰ ἀληθῶς θεοσεβεῖς, ὅτι μηδένα τῶν γενητῶν, μηδὲ κοινόν τινα ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ φύσει καὶ ἀληθινὸν Υἱὸν, τοῦτον καὶ γενόμενον ἄνθρωπον, οὐδὲν ἦττον Κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Θεὸν καὶ Σωτῆρα ἐπικαλούμεθα. Τοῦτο δὲ τίς οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσειεν; ἢ τίς οὐκ ἂν σύνθοιτο θεῖον ἀληθῶς εἶναι τὸ πρᾶγμα; εἰ γὰρ τὰ τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Λόγου ἔργα μὴ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἐγίνετο, οὐκ ἂν ἐθεοποιήθη ἄνθρωπος· καὶ πάλιν, εἰ τὰ ἴδια τῆς σαρκὸς οὐκ ἐλέγετο τοῦ Λόγου, οὐκ ἂν ἠλευθερώθη παντελῶς ἀπὸ τούτων ὁ ἄνθρωπος· ἀλλ' εἰ ἄρα πρὸς ὀλίγον μὲν ἀνεπαύετο, ὡς προεῖπον, πάλιν δὲ ἔμενεν ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ φθορὰ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἀνθρώπων γέγονε, καὶ τοῦτο δείκνυται. Πολλοὶ γοῦν ἅγιοι γεγόνασι καὶ καθαροὶ πάσης ἁμαρτίας· Ἱερεμίας δὲ καὶ ἐκ κοιλίας ἡγιάσθη· καὶ Ἰωάννης ἔτι κυοφορούμενος ‘ἐσκίρτησεν ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει' ἐπὶ τῇ φωνῇ τῆς Θεοτόκου Μαρίας· καὶ ὅμως ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι Μωσέως, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς μὴ ἁμαρτήσαντας, ἐπὶ τῷ ὁμοιώματι τῆς παραβάσεως Ἀδάμ· καὶ οὕτως ἔμενον οὐδὲν ἧττον οἱ ἄνθρωποι θνητοὶ καὶ φθαρτοὶ, δεκτικοὶ τῶν ἰδίων τῆς φύσεως παθῶν. Νῦν δὲ τοῦ Λόγου γενομένου ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ἰδιοποιουμένου τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς, οὐκέτι ταῦτα τοῦ σώματος ἅπτεται διὰ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ γενόμενον Λόγον· ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μὲν ἀνήλωται, λοιπὸν δὲ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὐκέτι κατὰ τὰ ἴδια πάθη μένουσιν ἁμαρτωλοὶ καὶ νεκροὶ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Λόγου δύναμιν ἀναστάντες, ἀθάνατοι καὶ ἄφθαρτοι ἀεὶ διαμένουσιν. Ὅθεν καὶ γεννωμένης τῆς σαρκὸς ἐκ τῆς Θεοτόκου Μαρίας, αὐτὸς λέγεται γεγεννῆσθαι, ὁ τοῖς ἄλλοις γένεσιν εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρέχων· ἵνα τὴν ἡμῶν εἰς ἑαυτὸν μεταθῇ γένεσιν, καὶ μηκέτι ὡς γῇ μόνη ὄντες εἰς γῆν ἀπέλθωμεν, ἀλλ' ὡς τῷ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ Λόγῳ συναφθέντες, εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀναχθῶμεν παῤ αὐτοῦ. Οὐκοῦν οὕτω καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάθη τοῦ σώματος οὐκ ἀπεικότως εἰς ἑαυτὸν μετέθηκεν, ἵνα μηκέτι ὡς ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλ' ὡς ἴδιοι τοῦ Λόγου, τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς μετάσχωμεν. Οὐκέτι γὰρ, κατὰ τὴν  προτέραν γένεσιν, ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἀποθνήσκομεν· ἀλλὰ λοιπὸν τῆς γενέσεως ἡμῶν καὶ πάσης τῆς σαρκικῆς ἀσθενείας μετατεθέντων εἰς τὸν Λόγον, ἐγειρόμεθα ἀπὸ γῆς, λυθείσης τῆς δι' ἁμαρτίαν κατάρας διὰ τὸν ἐν ἡμῖν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γενόμενον κατάραν· καὶ εἰκότως γε. Ὥσπερ γὰρ, ἐκ γῆς ὄντες πάντες, ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἀποθνήσκομεν, οὕτως ἄνωθεν ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος ἀναγεννηθέντες, ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πάντες ζωοποιούμεθα, οὐκέτι ὡς γηΐνης, ἀλλὰ λοιπὸν λογωθείσης τῆς σαρκὸς διὰ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, ὃς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο σάρξ. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος, Κατὰ Ἀρειανῶν, Λόγος Τρίτος Source: Migne PG 26 389-396

Whence it was that the flesh suffering the Word was not apart from it, and therefore the passion is said to be His, and doing divinely His Father's works, the flesh was not apart from Him, but in the body itself the Lord did them. Thus, being made man, He said , 'If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe in me, but if I do, though you do not believe in Me, believe the works, that you may know that the Father is in Me and I in Him.' 1 And thus when there was need to raise Peter's mother in law, who was sick with a fever, humanely He stretched forth His hand, but divinely He stopped the illness. 2 And concerning that man blind from the birth, human was the spittle that He brought from the flesh, but divinely did He open the eyes by clay. 3 And with Lazarus He brought forth a human voice as man, but divinely, as God, He raised Lazarus from the dead. 4 And these things were thus done and made manifest because He had a body, not in appearance, but in truth, and it became the Lord, in putting on human flesh, to put it on complete with the affections belonging to it, so that as we say that the body was His own, so also we may say that the body's affections were proper to Him alone, even though they did not touch Him according to His Godhead, and if then the body were another's, to him too would have been the affections attributed, but if the flesh is the Word's, for, as it is said, the Word became flesh, so it is necessary that the affections also of the flesh are His whose is the flesh. And to whom affections are ascribed, such as to be condemned, to be scourged, to thirst, and the cross, and death, and the other infirmities of the body, His is the triumph and the grace. Because of this then, consistently and fittingly such affections are ascribed not to another but to the Lord, that the grace may be from Him, and that we may become, not worshippers of any other, but truly devout, because we invoke no originated thing, no common man, but the natural and true Son of God, who has become man, yet is not the less Lord and God and Saviour. Who will not marvel at this? Or who will not agree that such a thing is truly Divine? For if the works of the Word's Godhead had not taken place through the body, man would not been deified, and again, had not the things of the flesh been ascribed to the Word, man would not have been completely delivered from them, but though they had ceased for a little while, as I said before, still sin remained in him and corruption, as it was for mankind before Him, and for this reason: many, for instance, have been made holy and clean from all sin, why, Jeremiah was hallowed even from the womb, and John, while yet in the womb, leaped for joy at the voice of Mary, Bearer of God, nevertheless, 'Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression,' 5 and thus men remained mortal and corruptible as before, liable to the affections proper to their nature. But now the Word having become man and having taken up what pertains to the flesh, no longer do these things touch the body, because of the Word who has come into it, but they by Him are destroyed, and after men no longer remain sinners and dead according to their proper affections, but having risen according to the power of the Word, they are ever immortal and incorruptible. Whence also as the flesh is born of Mary, Bearer of God, He Himself is said to have been born, He who gives to others an origin of being, in order that He may take our origin into Himself, and we may no longer, as mere earth, to earth return, but as being joined into the Word from heaven, may be carried to heaven by Him. Therefore not without reason has He transferred the other affections of the body to Himself, but that we, no longer as men, but as proper to the Word, may share in eternal life. For no longer according to our former origin, in Adam, do we die, but henceforth our origin and all infirmity of flesh being transferred to the Word, we are raised from the earth, the curse from sin being removed because of Him who is in us and who for us become a curse. And certainly with reason, for as we are all from earth and die in Adam, so being regenerated from above by water and Spirit, in Christ we are all given life, no longer of the earth, but the flesh is made Word by reason of God's Word who for our sake became flesh. Saint Athanasius, from Against the Arians, Oration III 1 Jn 10.37-38  2 Mt 8.14  3 Jn 9.1-8  4 Jn 11. 43-44  5 Rom 5.14