The Threatened Series - 9
Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389), is known in the Orthodox Church as 'the
Theologian', a title he shares with St John, author of the Apocalypse.
He was the son of the Bishop of Nazianzus in Cappadocia (also called
Gregory), and studied at Athens, where he was a contemporary of St
Basil.
Against his will he was ordained priest, and in 372 Bishop of the small
village of Sasima in Cappadocia. He assisted his father in Nazianzus
until his father's death in 374. In 379 he was summoned to
Constantinople, where he preached the Nicene faith to great effect,
helping to being about its triumph at the Council of Constantinople in
381. During the Council he was appointed Bishop of Constantinople, but
resigned the see and retired, first to Nazianzus and then to his own
estate.
The select works presented in vol. 7 of the Second Series of NPNF
include 45 'orations', among which the 'five theological orations' are
of importance.
The first is 'Against the Eunomians' (followers of Eunomius, the
extreme Arian).
The second discusses the nature of God.
The third is 'On the Son.'
The fourth is also 'On the Son.'
The fifth is 'On the Holy Spirit.'
The volume also includes a number of Gregory's letters, including three
on the Apollinarian controversy. I shall in a moment quote a key
passage from his letter to Cledonius the priest. One must understand
that Apollinarius believed that Christ did not have a human soul or
mind, the place of this being taken by the Logos. As we have seen,
this was a common opinion, in the sense that few theologians after
Origen had taken much interest in the human soul of Christ.
Athanasius, for example, rarely mentions the soul of Christ, and does
not seem to have realised its theological importance. But he did not
go so far as to make an outright denial of its existence. This is
exactly what Apollonarius did. The teachings of Apollinarius can be
found in Stevenson, "Creeds, Councils and Controversies," pp. 95-6:
"If God had been conjoined with man, i.e. perfect God with perfect man,
there would be two, one Son of God by nature, the other by adoption."
"The Word himself has become flesh without having assumed a human
mind."
It may be that Apollinarius did the orthodox a favour by forcing them
to think seriously about the necessity of Christ's human soul and mind.
Gregory of Nazianzus did so in the afore-mentioned letter to
Cledonius. It can be found in NPNF, Series 2, vol. 7 p. 439. It is
also reproduced in Stevenson, "Creeds, Councils and Controversies," pp.
97-100:
"If anyone has put his trust in Him as a Man without a human mind, he
is really bereft of mind, and quite unworthy of salvation. For that
which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united
to His Godhead is also saved. If only half Adam fell, then that which
Christ assumes and saves may be half also; but if the whole of his
nature fell, it must be united to the whole nature of Him that was
begotten, and so be saved as a whole."
The phrase, "that which He has not assumed He has not healed," is of
great soteriological significance, and is often quoted. The salvation
of our complete nature requires that God in Christ assumed a complete
human nature, with whatever pertains to humanity: body, mind, soul,
spirit. Everything in fact except sin, which does not pertain to our
human nature, but rather is a perversion of our humanity.
He goes on:
"For if His Manhood is without soul, even the Arians admit this, that
they may attribute his Passion to the godhead, as that which give
motion to the body is also that which suffers."
This may seem a little confusing; perhaps the text or translation is
misleading here. The Arians certainly said that Christ was without a
human soul, and attributed his sufferings to the Logos (rather than to
the Godhead), actually denying the divinity of the Logos in order to
make it capable of suffering.
And in an important Trinitarian statement Gregory says:
" . . . people should know that Apollinarius, while granting the Name
of Godhead to the Holy Ghost, did not preserve the power of the
Godhead. For to make the Trinity consist of Great, Greater and
Greatest, as of Light, Ray, and Sun, the Spirit and the Son and the
Father (as is clearly stated in his writings), is a ladder of Godhead
not leading to Heaven, but down from Heaven.
"But we recognize God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and
these not as bare titles, dividing inequalities of ranks or of power,
but as there is one and the same title, so there is one nature and one
substance in the Godhead."
Oriens.
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