(1) I want to learn how Oriental Orthodox articulate miaphysis in light of this quotation? In my reading it seems that he anticipated Chalcedonian distinction of one person in two natures. Whence did it occur to you, sirs, to say that the Body is of one nature with the Godhead of the Word? ... But the fathers who also assembled at Nicaea say that, not the body, but the Son Himself is consubstantial with the Father, and that while He is of the nature of the Father, the body, as they admitted according to the Scriptures, is of Mary. Either then deny the Synod of Nicaea, 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. For here again you may see how monstrous it is: If the Word is consubstantial with the body which is of earthly nature, while the Word is, by your own confession, consubstantial with the Father, it will follow that even the Father Himself is consubstantial with the body produced from the earth. ... For in saying that the Word is consubstantial with the Body, you distinguish the one from the other, while in saying that He has been changed into flesh, you imagine a change of the Word Himself. And who will tolerate you any longer if you so much as utter these opinions? For you have gone further in impiety than any heresy. St. Athanasius, Letter to Epictetus, Letter 59:4. (2) I also want to learn how Oriental Orthodox articulate dual consubstantiality in light of this passage? It seems to me that he anticipated Pope Leos Tome in assigning distinction to two natures in one person. For what the human Body of the Word suffered, this the Word, dwelling in the body, ascribed to Himself, in order that we might be enabled to be partakers of the Godhead of the Word. And verily it is strange that He it was Who suffered and yet suffered not. Suffered, because His own Body suffered, and He was in it, which thus suffered; suffered not, because the Word, being by Nature God, is impassible. And while He, the incorporeal, was in the passible Body, the Body had in it the impassible Word, which was destroying the infirmities inherent in the Body. St. Athanasius, Letter to Epictetus, Letter 59:6.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:52:53 +0000
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