Sacran.

to. 2. p. 703.

66

66

A. D. 382. the next day to the Basilica Portiana to hear him resolve it. The next day these two officers, slighting their promise, and the Bishop and people who were assembled in the church, got into a chariot and went out of the city to drive. St. Ambrose having stayed a long time for them, could detain the people no longer, but got into the pulpit, and began to discuss Delucaru. the question, as follows': "My brethren, I desire to pay my debt, but I do not find those with whom I contracted it "yesterday; perhaps, however, they think to confound us "by coming upon us by surprise; the true faith, however, is "never confounded. Perhaps, they will come, and in the mean time let us consider those labourers who have just "been represented to us, I mean, Cain and Abel, whose "story hath just been read." From thence he takes occasion to come to the subject, and begins with enumerating the heretics, who erred concerning the Son of God, amongst whom he reckons those who separate the reasonable soul c. 2. § 11. from the mystery of the Incarnation, i. e. the Apollinarians, whom, however, he does not name; and adds, that, perhaps, they pay due honour to the Trinity, but know not how to distinguish the human nature from the Divine. "nature of God," he says, "is simple; man is composed of a "reasonable soul and a body; if you take away either of the "two, you take away the whole nature of man." Afterwards coming to the subject, he proves the eternity and divinity of the Word in opposition to the Arians; then he proceeds to the Apollinarians, and shews the difference between the flesh c.6.§49, &c. of Jesus Christ and His divinity, for they asserted that the Word had been changed into flesh; afterwards he overthrows their error, concerning the reasonable soul, the existence of which they denied in Jesus Christ, as being the source of sin; and with that he concludes his discourse.

c. 3, 4.

c. 7.

"The

In the mean time, the two Chamberlains of the Emperor, as they were proceeding on their journey, fell out of the chariot and were both killed; and their bodies were brought back and buried. But St. Ambrose was so far from insulting

b This may fix the time of the year of this event. The fourth chapter of Genesis is read in the week after the first Sunday in Lent. Vid. Triod.

Græc. Pinell. Sheet A. 1111. and Leo Allatius de Domin. et Hebd. Græc. p. 1475. Compare ch. 42 and 54.

their memory, that he has taken no notice of this event in his A. D. 382. works; not even on committing to writing the Sermon which he made on their account, and of which his treatise upon the Incarnation consists. But the Emperor Gratian, who had not heard this Sermon, proposed to him an objection, upon which the Arians greatly depended, namely, that the Son being begotten could not be of the same nature with the Father who is unbegotten. He therefore added the answer c. 8, 9. § 7o, to this objection, which chiefly consists in shewing that the distinction between begotten and unbegotten relates not to Their nature but to Their personality.

3

&c.

Letters of

Nazianzus

1 Vit. S. 32.

2

ii. p. 882.

896.]

St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote likewise from the place of his XXIV. retirement against the errors of Apollinaris, which disturbed St. Gregory the Church of Nazianzus. On his return into Cappadocia he to Cledoretired to the territory of Arianzus', which had descended to nius. him from his father, and notwithstanding his infirmities, he Greg. p. there led a very penitent life; but quiet and solitude rendered C. [to. i. p. clvii.] it agreeable to him. He even spent the whole season of Lent Carm. 54. without speaking, and composed a poem to give an account for P: 128, 10. ii. p. 296.] his silence; and another at Easter', that he might begin to Carm. 54. speak with the praises of Jesus Christ. In the mean time P. 131. [to. he found that the Church of Nazianzus had been greatly Vide p.891, neglected during his absence, and even infected with the Carm. 56. error of Apollinaris. He at first bore with it, but perceiving p. 131. [p. 96.] that the heretics, not satisfied with spreading their errors, Carm. 6. proceeded even to calumniate him, and pretended that he was [p; 858, et vide p.874. of their opinion, because he still treated them as brethren, he v. 165-200.] felt himself obliged to declare his opinions, and wrote to Orat. 51. Cledonius the Priest to that purpose, to whom he had left (s. 191 to.ii.p.83.] the chief care of his flock in his absence, and who had long led a monastic life. The Apollinarians boasted of their having been received by a Council of the West, upon which p. 738. [p. 84.] St. Gregory says, "If they have been received, let them shew

Viz. the Lent of A. D. 382. St. Gregory was now fifty-three or four. There is something very remarkable in a man so advanced in life, taking such vigorous measures to overcome himself.

d Cledonius once a courtier had become a solitary, Carm. 84. [tom. ii. p. 1002. v. 127. script. A. D. 372], and was one of those who renounced the

6

6

A. D. 382. "it, and we will be satisfied: for that could not have been "done without their conforming to sound doctrine. And this

Domini

cus.]

3 Vid. St.

August. Retract. I. xix. § 8. to. i.

[' ἀναπλασθῇ.]

they cannot shew but by a synodical decree or letters of "communion, for such is the custom of Councils."

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66

Coming to the subject, he says: "Let none deceive "another, or suffer himself to be deceived, by imagining the ['Kupiakds, "Man of the Lord',' as they style him, to be a man without "the reason, let us rather say our Lord' and our God." This [Kupios, St. Gregory says because the Apollinarians3 called Jesus Christ Dominus.] the Man of the Lord. St. Gregory proceeds: "We do not "separate the manhood from the Godhead; we teach that it "is the same Person, Who heretofore was not man, but God "and only Son before all ages, without any mixture of body, or any thing bodily; Who in the end hath assumed humanity "also for our salvation, being passible as to the flesh, but "impassible in respect of the divinity; being bounded in "respect of the body, but without any limits in respect of "the spirit; the same being earthly and heavenly, visible “and intellectual, comprehensible and incomprehensible; to "the intent that the whole man, who had fallen into sin, might be restored by Him, Who is perfect God and perfect man. If any one believe not the Holy Mary to be the "Mother of God', he hath no part with God. If any one "say that He passed through the Virgin, as through a channel, and not that He was formed in her, at once after divine and human manner; divine, inasmuch as man had "no part in it, and human, inasmuch as the laws of child"bearing were observed; he too is still impious. If any one "affirm that the manhood was formed, and that God after"wards entered into it, he is to be condemned. If any one "suppose two Sons, one of God the Father', and the other [' ἐκ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός.] "of the Mother, and do not affirm Him to be one and the Eph. i. 5. "same; let him forfeit the adoption, which is promised to "those who rightly believe. For there are two natures, the "Godhead and manhood, as there are the soul and body, "but there are not two Sons, nor two Gods, any more than "two men; although St. Paul has thus named the inner "and the outer part of man. In a word, the Saviour is "composed of one and another substance, because the "visible and invisible are not the same, neither are that

[* ΘεοτόKOS.]

[* διαπεπλάσθαι.]

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66

a

"which is subject to time, and that which is not, the A. D. 382. "same; but not of one and another person, God forbid, for "the two substances are united: God is become man, or "man is become God, or however we choose to express it. "Now I speak of one and another substance in a way "different from that in which we speak of the Trinity. For

66

66

we say that in the Trinity there is one and another "Person, that we may not confound the hypostases or sub"sistences; but not one and another substance; the Three are one and the same substance in respect of the Divinity. any one say that God hath operated in Jesus Christ "by grace, as in a Prophet, and not that He is substantially "united to Ilim, be he deprived of the divine operation. "If any one adore not Him that was crucified, let him be 'anathema, and ranked amongst the murderers of [God']. If 1PEOKTÓvwv. "any one assert that Jesus Christ was raised to the dignity of "Son after He had been made perfect by works, or after His "Baptism, or after His Resurrection, like those whom the "Pagans place among the gods, let him be anathema. For párous. "that which hath a beginning, or improveth, or groweth up

66

"to perfection, is not God; though we speak thus of Jesus

Christ, inasmuch as He discovered Himself by little and

παρεγ

γράπτους.

"little". If any one say, that He hath now quitted His holy St.Luke ii.

66

flesh, and that the Divinity is divested of the body; and

52.

"that He will not come again with the body, which He hath "assumed and which He retains, let him not behold the glory "of His coming. [For where is the Body now, if it be not with Him Who assumed it? How else could He have been "handled after His Resurrection'? How else shall they who 'St. Luke "pierced Him look upon Him"?] If any one say that the 5 Zech. 12. "flesh of Jesus Christ came down from Heaven, and not that 10. "it was assumed here of us, let him be anathema.”

Afterwards proceeding to the main point of the heresy of Apollinaris, he says: "If any one place his hope in a man

66

24. 39.

"void of the reason, he is himself without reason, and not vovv. 'worthy of perfect' salvation. For God hath not healed, and 7 öxws. "doth not save any thing but what He hath assumed. If indeed "Adam only half fell, then there would be no need of "assuming or redeeming more than half; but if he fell "wholly, let them not then grudge us perfect salvation; and

τάψυχος.

el dè

ψυχος, εἰ

μὲν οὐ νοε

3

ρός.

σκηνή.

p. 740.[88.]

A. D. 382. “let them not invest our Saviour merely with the bones, the 66 nerves and the outward form of a man. If He is a man "without a soul', which is what the Arians affirm, in order "that they may ascribe suffering to the Godhead, as being the "principle of his bodily motion; or, if He have a soul without "the reason, how is He a man? for man is not an animal "void of the reason. This would be the form and habita"tion of a man, with the soul of an horse, an ox, or any "other beast. And then it would be this likewise which "would be saved; and I should err from the truth, in "boasting of the honour which another hath received." He afterwards answers the objections of Apollinaris, and at the conclusion protests that those who do not profit by his warning, but continue to divide the Church, must give an account thereof in the day of judgment. And as Apollinaris imposed upon the multitude by the number of his writings, and the charms of his poetry, St. Gregory likewise promises to write and to compose verses, and it is this which seems to have given occasion to the many poems which he composed after his return from Constantinople.

4 ibid.

ad finem.

♪ Orat. 52. [Epist. 102.

He wrote a second letter to Cledonius, in order to satisfy to.ii.p.93.] those who required assurances of his Faith, as though he had not given sufficient proofs of it. He declares in plain terms that he holds no other Faith than that of Nicæa, only adding thereto what relates to the Holy Ghost, concerning Whom there had been no dispute at that time. He also declares his faith concerning the Incarnation; and speaking of the Apollinarians he adds, that he was very desirous of explaining himself in relation to Vitalis; "to the intent," he says, "that I "may not be accused of rejecting his confession of faith now, "which I formerly received, as he gave it in writing to the "blessed Damasus Bishop of Rome, who had desired it of "him." (These expressions shew that this letter was written some time after Vitalis had delivered his confession of Faith, and after the death of St. Damasus.) St. Gregory proceeding, says, that the Apollinarians imparted their secret to none but their disciples, but that when they found themselves pressed in disputation by the common notions which the Scripture gives us of the Incarnation, they acknowledged that Christ had the reason and the understanding, and that le