Word And Man

Ἀμέλει κἀκεῖνο τεθαύμακα, πῶς ὅλως κἂν ἐννοῆσαι τετολμήκασιν, ὅτι φύσεως ἀκολουθίᾳ γεγένηται ἄνθρωπος. Εἰ γὰρ οὕτως ἦν, περιττὴ τῆς Μαρίας ἡ μνήμη. Οὐδὲ γὰρ οἶδεν ἡ φύσις παρθένον χωρὶς ἀνδρὸς τίκτουσαν. Ὅθεν εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρὸς Θεὸς ὢν ἀληθινὸς, καὶ φύσει Λόγος, καὶ σοφία τοῦ Πατρὸς, γέγονε σωματικῶς ἄνθρωπος, διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν, ἵν', ἔχων ὃ προσενέγκῃ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, σώσῃ πάντας ἡμᾶς, ὅσοι φόβῳ θανάτου διὰ παντὸς τοῦ ζῇν ἔνοχοι ἦσαν δουλείας. Οὐ γὰρ ἄνθρωπός τις ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτὸν δέδωκεν· ἐπεὶ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ὑπεύθυνός ἐστι θανάτῳ, κατὰ τὸ, Γῆ εἶ καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ, ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ εἰρημένον πρὸς πάντας· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἕτερόν τι τῶν κτισμάτων· ἐπεὶ πᾶσα κτίσις ὕποπτός ἐστι τροπῆς. Ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Λόγος τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα προσήνεγκεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἵνα μὴ εἰς ἄνθρωπον ἡ πίστις καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς, ἀλλ' εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον τὴν πίστιν ἔχωμεν. Ἀμέλει καὶ ἀνθρώπου γενομένου αὐτοῦ, θεωροῦμεν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς Μονογενοῦς παρὰ Πατρὸς, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας. Ἃ γὰρ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ὑπέμεινε, ταῦτα ὡς Θεὸς ἐμεγάλυνε· καὶ ἐπείνα μὲν σαρκὶ, θεϊκῶς δὲ τοὺς πεινῶντας ἐχόρταζε. Καὶ εἰ σκανδαλίζεταί τις ἐπὶ τοῖς σωματικοῖς, πιστευέτω ἐφ' οἷς ὁ Θεὸς ἐργάζεται. Πυνθάνεται γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνως, ποῦ Λάζαρος κεῖται, ἐγείρει δὲ τοῦτον θεϊκῶς. Ὅθεν μηδὲ γελάτω τις λέγων παιδίον καὶ ἡλικίαν ὀνομάζων, καὶ αὔξησιν, καὶ φαγεῖν, καὶ πιεῖν, καὶ παθεῖν, ἵνα μὴ, τὰ ἴδια τοῦ σώματος ἀρνούμενος, ἀρνήσηται τέλεον καὶ τὴν δι' ἡμᾶς ἐπιδημίαν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀκολουθίᾳ φύσεως ἄνθρωπος γεγένηται, οὕτως ἀκόλουθον ἦν σῶμα λαβόντα αὐτὸν δεικνύναι τὰ ἴδια τούτου, ἵνα μὴ ἡ φαντασία τοῦ Μανιχαίου κρατήσῃ. Ἀκόλουθον δὲ πάλιν ἦν σωματικῶς αὐτὸν χρηματίζοντα μὴ κρύψαι τὰ τῆς θεότητος, ἵνα μὴ ὁ Σαμοσατεὺς πρόφασιν εὕρῃ, ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν λέγων, ὡς ἄλλον ὄντα παρὰ τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον. Ταῦτα τοίνυν κατανοῶν ὁ ἄπιστος, μαθέτω, ὅτι βρέφος μὲν ἦν ἐπὶ φάτνης, τοὺς δὲ μάγους ὑπέταξε προσκυνούμενος ὑπ' αὐτῶν· καὶ παιδίον μὲν εἰς Αἴγυπτον κατῆλθε, τὰ δὲ χειροποίητα τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας κατήργησε· καὶ ἐσταυρωμένος σαρκὶ, νεκροὺς ἐκ πολλοῦ χρόνου σαπέντας ἤγειρε. Καὶ δέδεικται πᾶσιν, ὅτι οὐ δι' ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς ὑπέμεινε πάντα, ἵν' ἡμεῖς, τοῖς ἐκείνου παθήμασιν ἀπάθειαν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν ἐνδυσάμενοι, διαμείνωμεν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος, Ἐπιστολή Προς Μάξιμος Φιλοσοφον Source: Migne PG 26.1088c-1089c

And certainly I have been surprised how they even dared to think that the Word became man as a consequence of His Nature. For if this were so superfluous would be the remembrance of Mary. For Nature does not know of a Virgin bearing without a man. Whence by the goodness of the Father, being true God and Word and Wisdom of the Father by nature, He became man in the flesh for our salvation, that having something to offer for us He might save us all, 'as many as by fear of death were all through their lives subject to servitude.' 1 For it was not some man that gave himself up for us, since every man is subject to death, according to which, 'earth you are and to earth you shall return.' 2 was said to all in Adam; nor was it any other created thing, since every creature is liable to change, but the Word Himself offered His own body on our behalf that neither our faith nor our hope be in man, but that in God the Word we have our faith. Even having become man we behold His Glory, 'the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' 3 For what He suffered by means of the Body, as God He magnified, and hungering in the flesh, as God He gave food to the hungry. And if anyone is scandalised because of the body, let him believe on account of those things God does. For humanly He asks where Lazarus lays, but raises him up divinely. Let none then laugh, speaking of Him as a child, and citing His youth, His growth, His eating and drinking and suffering, lest while denying what befits the body, he deny utterly also His dwelling among us. And just as He did not become Man in consequence of His nature, likewise it holds that when He had taken a body He should exhibit what befits it, lest the fantasies of the Manichees prevail. Again it follows that when He went about in the body, He should not hide what belonged to the Godhead, lest that fellow of Samosata should have excuse to call Him man, as something else separate from God the Word. Let then the unbeliever grasp this, and let him learn that while an infant in a manger, the Magi were bound by Him to worship, and coming down to Egypt as a child He made an end of hand-made idols, and crucified in the flesh, He raised the dead who had been for a long time corrupted. And it has been made plain to all that not for Himself but for us He endured everything, that we by His sufferings be endowed with freedom from suffering and incorruption, 4 persisting into life eternal.   Saint Athanasius, from The Letter to the Philosopher Maximus 1 Heb 2.15  2 Gen 3.19 3 Jn 1.14 4 1 Cor 15.53