Padres Nicenos y Post-Nicenos, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Atanasio: Obras y cartas selectas, texto completo

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Title Page.: Title Page.

p. i

A SELECT LIBRARY

OF THE

NICENE AND

POST-NICENE FATHERS

OF

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

SECOND SERIES

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH WITH PROLEGOMENA AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

VOLUMES I–VII.

UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF

PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D.,

PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK.

AND

HENRY WACE, D.D.,

PRINCIPAL OF KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON.

VOLUME IV

ATHANASIUS:

SELECT WORKS AND LETTERS

T&T CLARK

EDINBURGH

__________________________________________________

WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Editorial Preface.: Editorial Preface.

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Editorial Preface.

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It is with a sense of deep obligation to Mr. Robertson, the special editor, that this volume of the Post-Nicene series of the Fathers is presented to the subscribers and the public. It will furnish, as is believed, a more comprehensive and thorough introduction to the study of Athanasius than is elsewhere accessible, and the labour and devotion bestowed upon it are beyond all acknowledgment. Thanks must also be expressed to the publishers, by whose liberality the ordinary limits of the volumes of this series have been extended, in order that so important a Father as Athanasius might be represented with as much fulness as possible.

Mr. Robertson’s Preface explains the care and respect with which the translation and notes of Cardinal Newman have been treated, in reprinting them for the purpose of this edition. But there appeared in some parts of the translation inaccuracies which could not be reproduced consistently with a faithful representation of the original; and so far, therefore, and so far only, it has been corrected. Where any correction has been made in the Cardinal’s notes, it is of course distinctly specified.

I must add an expression of particular gratitude to my friend, the Rev. J. H. Lupton, Surmaster of St. Paul’s School, for his generous help in reading the translations throughout, and for various valuable suggestions. The assistance of his scholarly learning gives me additional confidence in presenting this volume to the public.

I must take the opportunity of expressing my great regret that there has been so considerable an interruption in the issue of the series. But by the sudden failure, partly from illness, and partly from other unforeseen causes, of two important contributions at the very moment when they were needed, the editor and the publishers were exposed to difficulties which were for the time insuperable. But other volumes of the series are now steadily progressing, and it is believed there will be no further interruptions in the publication.

Henry Wace.

King’s College, London,

21 Nov. 1891.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Second Title Page.: Second Title Page.

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Select Writings and Letters

OF

Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria.

Edited, with Prolegomena, Indices, and Tables,

by

ARchibald Robertson

Principal of Bishop Hatfield’s Hall, Durham, Late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Preface.: Preface.

p. vi Preface.

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In preparing the present volume the Editor has aimed at providing the English reader with the most complete apparatus for the study of Athanasius, his life, and his theological influence, which could be brought within the compass of a single volume of the ‘Nicene and Post-Nicene Library.’ The volume contains all the most important treatises of Athanasius (in as nearly as possible their exact chronological order), with the exception of the ad Serapionem, the contra Apollinarium, the ad Marcellinum, and the exegetical remains. On these and other treatises omitted from the present collection the reader is referred to the Prolegomena, ch. iii.

A great part of the volume, including the bulk of the historical and anti-Arian works, and the Festal Letters, consists of a revision of translations and notes comprised in the Oxford Library of the Fathers. The notes to all, and the translation of most, of the works in question, excepting the Festal Letters, were prepared for that series by Mr. (since Cardinal) Newman. It was at first intended to incorporate his work without any change; but as the volume began to take shape this intention was inevitably to some extent modified; moreover, the limits of space demanded the sacrifice of some of the less important matter. The principles upon which the necessary changes have been made will be found stated on pp. 304, 305, 450. What is there said applies also to the de Decretis and Letter of Eusebius, as well as to the notes to the historical pieces; it may be added that the translation of the ‘Fourth Discourse’ has been very carefully revised, in order to secure the utmost closeness to the somewhat difficult original. In all the new translations, as well as in the revision of earlier work, the aim has been to secure the strictest fidelity compatible with clearness. The easy assumption that distinctions of tenses, constructions, &c., count for little or nothing in patristic Greek has been steadily resisted. Doubtless there are passages where the distinction, for example, of aorist and perfect, seems to fade away; but generally speaking, Athanasius is fully sensitive to this and other points of grammar.

The incorporation in this volume of so much of the ample patristic learning of Cardinal Newman has inevitably involved some sacrifice of uniformity. To provide the new matter with illustrative notes on anything like the same scale, even had it been within the present editor’s power, would have involved the crowding out of many works which the reader will certainly prefer to have before him. Again, many opinions are expressed by Cardinal Newman which the present editor is unable to accept. It may not be invidious to specify as an example the many cases in which the notes enforce views of Church authority, especially of papal authority, or again of the justifiableness of religious persecution, which appear to be at any rate foreign to the mind of Athanasius; or the tacit assumption that the men of the fourth century can be divided by a broad and fast line into orthodox and heretical, and that while everything may be believed to the discredit of the latter, the former were at once uniform in their convictions and consistently right in practice. Such an assumption operates with special injustice against men like Eusebius, whose position does not fall in with so summary a classification. But it has been thought better to leave the notes in nearly all such cases as they stand, only very rarely inserting a reference or observation to call attention to another aspect of the case. And in no instance has the editor forgotten the respect due to the theological learning and personal greatness of Cardinal Newman, or to his peculiar eminence as a religious thinker.

But this has made it inevitable that many matters are regarded in one way in the notes of Newman, and in quite another where the present editor speaks for himself. What the great Cardinal says of his ‘Historical Sketches’ (Preface to vol. ii.) holds good to a large extent of his expositions of Athanasius. ‘Though mainly historical, they are in their form and character polemical, as being directed against certain Protestant ideas and opinions.’ The aim of the p. vii present editor has been throughout exclusively historical. He has regarded any polemical purpose as foreign to the spirit in which this series was undertaken, and moreover as fated in the long run to defeat its own aim. Whatever results may ultimately be reaped from the field of patristic studies, whether practical, dogmatic, or controversial, they must be resolutely postponed or rather ignored, pending the application of strict method to the criticism and interpretation of the texts, and to the reconstruction of the history whether of the life or of the doctrine of the Church. For the latter purpose, ‘lucifera experimenta, non fructifera quærenda.’ To follow this method, without concealing, but without obtruding, his personal convictions, has been the endeavour of the present editor. That he has succeeded, it is not for him to claim: but his work has been in this respect disinterested, and he ventures to hope that readers of all opinions will at least recognise in it ‘un livre de bonne foy.’

The Prolegomena are not intended to be anything approaching to a complete treatise upon the history, writings, or theology of S. Athanasius. They are simply what their title implies, an attempt to furnish in a connected form a preliminary account of the matters comprised in the text of the volume, such as on the one hand to reduce the necessity for a running historical commentary, on the other hand to prepare the reader for the study of the text itself.

Full indices have been added for the same purpose. The general index comprises the leading theological and historical topics, and a complete register of all personal names. This latter seemed requisite in order to escape the arbitrariness of any line which might have been drawn between important and insignificant characters. The nobodies of history may occasionally be important witnesses. The index of Scripture texts has been made with painful attention to detail, and contains no unverified reference. To draw the line in each case between formal citation and mere reminiscence would have involved too great an expenditure of time and space; moreover there are many probable reminiscences of Scripture language which it would have been endless to include. But on the whole the index in question claims to be a complete synopsis of the use made of the Bible in the text of this volume. As such it is hoped that, with whatever occasional errors, it may be of use to the patristic and the biblical student alike.

For the original matter comprised in this volume the editor disclaims any credit of his own. He has aimed simply at consulting and comparing the best authorities, at sifting their conclusions, and at following those which seem best founded. That in doing so the original sources are ready to hand throughout is the peculiar good fortune of those who work at Athanasius. It remains, then, for the editor to express his principal obligations to modern writers. To mention those of earlier date, such as Montfaucon and Tillemont, is merely to say that he has not neglected the indispensable foundations of his task. But Athanasius has also attracted to the study of his works much of the best patristic scholarship of recent times. Among the names mentioned in the first chapter of the Prolegomena, that of Cardinal Newman speaks for itself. No English student will neglect his Arians, however much some of its views may require modification. Pre-eminent for accurate knowledge of the texts and for vivid presentment of the history is Dr. Bright, whose works have been constantly open before the present editor, and have secured him from many an oversight. His occasional divergence from Dr. Bright’s views, especially on points of chronology, has gone along with grateful appreciation of this scholar’s genuine historical interest, large theological grasp, and perhaps unequalled personal sympathy with Athanasius as a man and as a writer. (On the use made in this volume of his Later Treatises of S. Athanasius, the reader is referred to what is said, infr. p. 482.)

Last, but not least, the editor must acknowledge his obligations to Mr. Gwatkin. To say that that writer’s Studies of Arianism have done more than any one work with which he is acquainted to place the intricate story of the period on a secure historical footing is saying a great deal, but by no means too much. To say that whatever historical accuracy has been attained in this volume has been rendered possible by Mr. Gwatkin’s previous labours is to the present writer a matter of mere honest acknowledgment. Especially this is the case in chronological questions. Here Mr. Gwatkin has in no single instance been blindly followed, or without the attempt to interrogate the sources independently. But in nearly all cases Mr. Gwatkin’s results, which, it should be added, are those accepted by the best continental students also, have held their own. It has been the editor’s misfortune to differ from Mr. Gwatkin now and then, for example with regard to the Life of Antony: but even where he has differed as to conclusions, he has received help and instruction from Mr. Gwatkin’s ample command of material, and genuinely scientific method.

p. viii In addition to the above writers, the manifold obligations of the editor are recorded in the introductions and notes: if any have been passed over, it has been due to inadvertence or to the necessity of condensation. For the suggestions and help of personal friends the editor’s gratitude may be here expressed without the mention of names. But he may specially mention the Rev. H. Ellershaw and Miss Payne Smith, to the former of whom he owes the translation of the Life of Antony, while the latter has kindly revised the Oxford translation of the bulk of the Festal Letters. Lastly, the many kindnesses, and uniform consideration, shewn to him by the English editor of this series call for his warmest recognition: that they may prove not wholly thrown away is the utmost that their recipient can venture to hope.

A.R.

The University, Durham,

1891.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Prolegomena.: Section 1

p. xi

Prolegomena.

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Chapter I.

Literature

§1. Editions, &c. (A) Before 1601 only Latin translations. The first, at Vicenza, 1482, completed by Barnabas Celsanus after the death of the translator Omnibonus of Lonigo; dedicated to Paul II. Contained a few works only, viz. the ‘two books c. Gentes,’ the letter to Serapion de Morte Arii, the De Incarn. adv. Arian. and adv. Apollin., ‘the Dispute with Arius at the Council of Nicæa.’ (2) Paris, 1520, pub. by Jean Petit: two books c. Gent. fragment of the ad Marcellin. and some ‘spuria.’ (3) Second edition at Strassburg, 1522. (4) Basel, 1527, by Eramus: Serap. ill. and iv., de Decr., Apol. Fug., Apol. c. Ar. (part of), ‘ad Monach.,’ and some ‘spuria’ (he rejected Serap. i. as unworthy of Athan.!). (5) Lyons, 1532, same contents as numbers (2) and (4), but with renderings by Politian, Reuchlin, Erasmus, &c. (6) Cologne, 1632, similar contents. (7) 1556, Basel (‘apud Frobenium’), by P. Nannius, in 4 volumes; great advance on previous editions. 3 vols. contain the version by Nannius of the ‘genuina,’ the fourth ‘spuria,’ rendered by others. The Nannian version was ably tested, and found wanting, under the direction of the congregation of the Index (Migne xxv. pp. xviii. sqq.). (8) 1564 (or 1584?) Basel (substantially the same). (9) 1570, Paris, Vita Antonii and ‘five dialogues de Trin.,’ version of Beza. (10) 1572, Paris, five volumes, combining Nos. 7 and 9. (II) 1574, Paris, Letter ad Amun, Letter 39 (fragment), Letter ad Rufinianum. (12) 1581, Paris, incorporating the latter with No. 10. (13) Rome, 1623, the spurious de variis quæstionibus.

(B) The first Greek Edition (14) 1601 at Heidelberg by Commelinus, with the Nannian Latin version (2 vols. fo. with a supplement of fragments, letters, &c., communicated by P. Felckmann). This edition was founded upon Felckmann’s collation of numerous mss., of which the chief were (α) that in the Public Library at Basel (sæc. xiv., not ix.–x. as Felck. states; formerly belonged to the Dominican Friary there). (β) The ‘Codex Christophorsoni,’ now at Trin. Coll., Camb., sæc. xvi. ineunt. (γ) A ‘Codex Goblerianus’ dated 1319, formerly τῆς μονῆς τοῦ κυρίζου, and principally used by Nannius. Neither this nor the remaining mss. of Felckmann are as yet, I believe, identified. (Particulars, Migne, P.G. xxv. p. xliii.) (15) 1608, Paris, pub. by C. Chappelet, edited by Fronton le Duc, S.J., Latin only. (17) 1612, Paris, No. 15, with Vit. Ant. in Greek and Latin, from an edition (16) of 1611, Augsburg, by Höschel, 4º. (18) 1627, Paris, Greek text of 1601 with version of Nannius from edition No. 17, both injudiciously revised by Jean le Pescheur, from the critical notes of Felckmann himself, which however are omitted in this edition. (19) ‘Cologne,’ or rather Leipzig, 1686, poor reprint of No. 18 with the Syntagma Doctrinæ which Arnold had published in the previous year (see below, ch. ii. §9). (Montf. wrongly dates this 1681.)

(C) All the above were entirely superseded by the great (20) 1698 Paris Benedictine Edition by Bernard de Montfaucon, aided, for part of vol. 1, by Jacques Loppin, 3 volumes fol. (i.e. vol. 1, parts 1 and 2, ‘genuina,’ vol. 2 ‘dubia et spuria’), with a new Latin Version and ample prolegomena, &c. Montfaucon took over, apparently without revision, the critical data of Felckmann (including his mistake as to the age of the Basel ms. but collated very many fresh mss. (principally Parisian, full particulars in Migne xxvi. pp. 1449, sqq.), and for the first time put the text on a fairly satisfactory footing. The Works of Athanasius were freshly arranged with an attempt at chronological order, and a ‘Monitum’ or short introduction prefixed to each. Critical, and a few explanatory, notes throughout; also an ‘onomasticon’ or glossary. This splendid edition was far more complete than its predecessors, and beautifully printed. After its completion, Montfaucon discovered fresh material, most of which he published in vol. 2 of his ‘Collectio Nova Patrum,’ Paris, 1706, with some further supplementary matter to his Prolegomena, partly in reply to Tillemont upon various critical questions; small additions in his Biblioth. Coisliniana, 1715. (The letters to Lucifer, included in Montfaucon’s edition, had already seen the light in vol. iv. of the Bibliotheca Maxima Patrum (Lyons, 1677, Greek fathers in Latin only), and the two notes to Orsisius were taken from the life of Pachomius in the Acta SS. for May.)

(21) 1746, Rome, the de Titulis Psalmorum, edited from Barberini and Vatican mss. by Cardinal Niccolo Antonelli. (22) 1769, Venice, vol. v. of the ‘Bibliotheca Patrum’ of the Oratorian Andrea Gallandi. Contains the works omitted in No. 20, chiefly from Montf. Coll. Nov., but with a few minor additions, and with the fragments and letters found by Maffei at Verona (see below, pp. 495, 554). (23) 1777, Padua, by Giustiniani, in four volumes, containing firstly Montfaucon’s ‘genuina’ in two volumes, the ‘dubia’ and ‘spuria’ in the third, and the supplementary matter from (21) and (22) in the fourth. The printing of this standard edition is not equal to that of No. 20. (24) ‘1884’ (1857), Paris, vols. xxv.–xxviii. of Migne’s Patrologia Græca, a reprint of No. 23, but in a new order (see vol. xxviii. p. 1650), and with the addition of the Festal Letters from Mai (see below, p. 501). The merits and demerits of this series are well known. Of the latter, the most serious are the misprints, with which every page literally teems.

(D) With Migne’s edition the publication of a complete Athanasius (so far as his works are known to be extant) is attained, although there is still everything to be done towards the revision of the text on a critical basis. Among modern editions of large portions of Athanasius from the Benedictine text may be mentioned (25) Thilo, Athan. Opp. dogm. Selecta, Leipz. 1853. (26) Bright, Orations against the Arians (1873 2nd ed. 1883), and Historical Writings of Athanasius, 1881 (Oxf. Univ. Press), with introductions; both p. xii most convenient; his Lessons from the lives of three great Fathers (Longmans, 1890) gives an interesting popular study of Athan. Editions of separate books will be noticed in the short Introductions prefixed in this volume.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Prolegomena.: Translations

§2. Translations. The principal Latin versions have been referred to in §1. Of those in foreign languages it is not easy to procure adequate information. Fialon, in the work mentioned below, translates Apol. Const. and Apol. Fug.; in German the ‘Bibliothek der Kirchenväter,’ vols. 13–18, Ausgew. Schriften des h. Ath., contains translations of several works by Fisch, Kempten from 1872. The principal English Translations are those in the ‘Library of the Fathers.’ Of these, those edited or translated by Newman are incorporated in this volume. Some letters included in this volume, as well as the work against Apollinarianism, are also comprised in the volume (Lib. Fath. 46, 1881) by Bright, with excellent notes, &c., and with a preface by Dr. Pusey (see below, p. 482). Translations of single books will be noticed in the respective Introductions.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Prolegomena.: Biographies.

§3. Biographies. (a.) Ancient. The writings of Athanasius himself, while seldom furnishing precise chronological data, furnish almost all the primary information as to the facts of his eventful life. The earliest ‘Life’ is the panegyric of Gregory of Nazianzus (Or. 21), delivered at CP. 379 or 380, rich in praises, but less so in historical material. More important in the latter respect is the Historia Acephala (probably earlier than 390) printed in this volume, pp. 496, sqq. (The Edition by Sievers in Ztschr. für Hist. Theol. for 1868 is referred to in this volume as ‘Sievers’ simply.) It is a priceless source of chronological information, especially where it coincides with and confirms the data of the Festal Index (pp. 503, sqq.), a document probably earlier than 400. A secondary place is occupied by the Church historians, especially Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, who draw largely from Athanasius himself, and from Rufinus, also in part from the Hist. Aceph. (especially Sozomen), and from Arian sources, which are mainly used by Philostorgius. More scattered notices in later ecclesiastical writers of the fourth century, especially Epiphanius; also Synesius, Jerome, Basil, &c., in the documents of the Councils, &c., and in the Life of Pachomius and other early documents relating to Egyptian Monasticism (see below, Introd. to Vit. Anton. and Appendix, pp. 188, 487).

(b) Medieval. Under this head we may notice the Lives printed by Montfaucon among his Prolegomena. The first, ‘Incerto Auctore,’ is dependent on the fifth-century historians and of no value. A second, preserved by Photius (c. 840) is in the judgment of that scholar, which Montfaucon endorses ‘unparalleled rubbish.’ That by the Metaphrast †967) is a patchwork from earlier writers made with little skill, and not of use to the historian. An Arabic Life current in the Coptic Church, communicated to Montf. by Renandot, is given by Montf., as he says, that his readers may appreciate the ‘stupendous ignorance and triviality’ of that nation. Montf. mentions Latin ‘Lives’ compiled from Rufinus and from the Hist. Tripartita, ‘of no value whatever.’ Of the Life of Athanasius ‘by Pachomius,’ mentioned by Archd. Farrar (infra), I can obtain no particulars.

(c) Modern. The first was that by Tortelius prefixed to the edition of 1520 (§1 (2)), but compiled in the previous century and dedicated to Pope Eugenius IV. (‘good for its time,’ M.). Montf. mentions a valueless life by Lipomanus and a worse one of unknown origin prefixed to other early editions. In 1671 Hermant made the first attempt at a critical biography (Paris); in 1664 an English work, “History of the Life and Actions of St. Athanasius by N.B. P.C. Catholick,” with the imprimatur of Abp. Sheldon, had been published at London, in 1677 the biography in Cave, Lives of the Fathers, and in 1686–1704 du Pin, Nouvelle Bibliothèque. About the same date appeared the first volume of the Acta SS. for May, which contains a careful life by Paperbroch (1685; ded. to Innocent XI.). But all previous (to say nothing of subsequent) labours were cast into the shade by the appearance of the ‘Vita’ of Montfaucon (Prolegg. to Tom. 1) in 1698, in which the chronology was reduced to order, and every particle of information lucidly digested; and by the ‘Memoires’ of ‘M. Lenain de Tillemont’ (vol. viii. in 1702), which go over the ground with quite equal thoroughness, and on many points traverse the conclusions of Montfaucon, whose work came into Tillemont’s hands only when the latter was on his death-bed (1698). The ground was once more traversed with some fulness and with special attention to the literary and doctrinal work of Athan. by Remy Ceillier, (Aut. Sacrés, vol. v. 1735). After this nothing remained to be done until the revival of interest in patristic studies during the present century. In 1827 appeared the monograph of Möhler ‘Ath. der Grösse’ (Mainz), a dogmatic (R.C.) rather than a historical study: in 1862 Stanley (‘Eastern Church,’ Lect. vii.). Böhringer’s life (in vol. 6 of Kirchengesch. in Biographien, 1860–1879) is praised as ‘thoroughly good and nearly exhaustive.’ Fialon St. Athanase, Paris, 1877, is a most interesting and suggestive, though rather sketchy, treatment from an unusual point of view. P. Barbier Vie de St. A. (Tours, 1888) I have not seen. The best English life is that of Dr. Bright, first in the Introd. to the ‘Orations’ (supra, d. 26), but rewritten for the Dictionary of Christ. Biography. The same writer’s Introd. to the Hist. Writings (supra ib.) is equally good and should also be consulted. A lucid and able sketch by Dr. Reynolds has been published by the Religious Tract Society, 1889, and Archd. Farrar, Lives of the Fathers, 1, pp. 445–571, is eloquent and sympathetic.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Prolegomena.: History of the Period, and of the Arian Controversy.

§4. History of the Period, and of the Arian Controversy. (a) Conflict of the Church with Heathenism. On the later persecutions Aubé, Les Chrétiens dans l’Emp. romain, Paris, 1881, id. ‘L’église et l’état,’ ib. 1886, Uhlhorn Der Kampf des Christentums, &c. (4th ed.), 1886, Bernhardt Gesch. Roms von Valerian bis Dioklet., 1876, Görres, Licinianische Christenverfolgung, 1875. On Diocletian, Mason, Persec. of Diocl., 1876, Monographs by Vogel, 1857, Preuss, 1869. On the general subject of the decline of paganism, Lasaulx Untergang des Hellenismus, 1854, Merivale’s Boyle Lectures, 1864–5, Chastel, Destruction du Paganisme, 1850, Schultze Gesch. des Untergangs des G.-R. Heidentums, 1887 (not praised), Döllinger, Gentile and Jew (E. Tr.), 1862. On the revival of paganism under Julian, Rendall, Julian 1879, Bp. J. Wordsworth in D.C.B., vol. iii., lives of Julian by Neander, 1813, Rode, 1877, Mücke, 1879, Naville, 1877, Strauss, der Romantiker, u.s.w., 1847, Julian’s works, ed. Hertlein, 1875, and Neumann, 1880. Monographs by Auer, 1855, Mangold, 1862, Semisch, 1862, Lübker, 1864; Capes, University Life in Ancient Athens, 1877, Sievers, Leben des Libanius, 1868.

(b) The Christian Empire. Keim, Uebertritt Konstantins, 1862, Brieger, Konst. der G., 1880, Gibbon’s chapters on the subject should be carefully read. Chawner’s Legisl. of Constantine, De Broglie, L’église et L’emp. romain, iii., Ranke, Weltgesch. iv. pp. 1–100 (important), 1884, Schiller, Gesch. der röm. Kaiserzeit (ii), 1887. See also the full bibliography in vol. 1 of this series, p. 445–465.

(c) General History of the Church. It is unnecessary to enumerate the well-known general histories, all p. xiii of which devote special pains to Athanasius and the Arian controversy. This is especially the case with Schaff, Nicene Christ. ii. 616–678, 884–893, with full bibliography. See also supra §3. Bright’s Notes on the Canons (Oxf. 1882), and Hefele, vol. 2 (E. Tra.), are most useful: also Kaye, Council of Nicæa (Works, vol. v. ed. 1888). Card. Hergenröther’s Kirchengeschichte (allowing for the natural bias of the writer) is fair and able, with good bibliographical references in the notes (ed. 1884). By far the best modern historical monograph on the Arian period is that of Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism, 1882, constantly referred to in this volume, and indispensable. His Arian Controversy, 1889, is an abridgement, but with supplementary discussions of importance on one or two points; very useful bibliography prefixed to both. (Cf. also below, Chap. v. §1) Kölling’s Geschichte der Arianischen Häresie (1st vol., 1874, 2nd, 1883) is pretentious and uncritical.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Prolegomena.: History of Doctrine.

§5. History of Doctrine. For ancient sources see articles Heresiology and Person of Christ in D.C.B., vols. iii., iv. The modern classics are the works of Petavius, de Trinitate (in vols. ii. and iii. of his De dogmat. Theol.) of Thomassinus, Dogmata Theologica, and of Bull, Defensio fidei Nicænæ (maintaining against Petav. the fixity of pre-Nicene doctrine). Under this head we include Newman’s Arians of the Fourth Century, an English classic, unrivalled as a dogmatic and religious study of Arianism, although unsatisfactory on its purely historical side. (Obsolete chronology retained in all editions.) The general histories of Doctrine are of course full on the subject of Arianism; for an enumeration of them, see Harnack, §2 of his Prolegomena. In English we have Shedd (N.Y., 1863, Edinb., 1884), Hagenbach (Clark’s Foreign Theol. Lib.), and the great work of Dorner (id.). The most important recent works are those of Harnack, Dogmengeschichte (1886, third vol., 1890), a most able work and (allowing for the prepossessions of the Ritschl school) impartial and philosophical; and Loofs, Leitfaden zur Dogmengeschichte (2 ed., 1890), on similar lines, but studiously temperate and fair. Both works are much used in this volume (quoted commonly as ‘Harnack,’ ‘Loofs,’ simply. Harnack, vol. i., is quoted from the first edition, but the later editions give comparative tables of the pages). For Councils and Creeds, in addition to the works of Hefele and Bright mentioned §4 c., see Heurtley Harmonia Symbolica; Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole; Hort, Two Dissertations (1876), indispensable for history of the Nicene Creed; Swainson, Nicene and Apostles’ Creed, 1875; Caspari, Ungedruckte u.s.w. Quellen zum Taufsymbol u.s.w. (3 vols. in 2, Christiania, 1866–1875), and Alte und Neue Quellen, ib. 1879; one of the most important of modern patristic works.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. IV: Prolegomena.: Patristic Monographs.

§6. Patristic Monographs. (a) Among the very numerous works of this kind, the most useful for our purpose are Zahn, Marcellus von Ancyra, 1867, very important for doctrinal history; Reinkens, Hilarius von Poitiers, 1864; Fialon, St. Basile, 1868; Ullmann, Gregorius von Nazianz (2 ed., 1867, part of earlier ed. trans. by Cox, 1855); Krüger, Lucifer von Calaris (excellent, especially for the Council of 362). Under this head may be mentioned the numerous excellent articles in Dict. Chr. Biog. referred to in their respective connexions.

(b) On the doctrine of Athanasius. In addition to the works of Ceillier and Möhler referred to above, Atzberger, Die Logoslehre des h. Ath. (Munich, 1880); Voigt, Die Lehre des Athan. (Bremen, 1861); Pell, Lehre des h. Ath. von der Sünde und Erlösung (Passau, 1888, a careful and meritorious analysis, candidly in the interest of Roman Catholicism. Difficulties not always faced).

The above list of authorities, &c., does not pretend to completeness, nor to enumerate the sources for general secular or Church history. But in what relates specially to Athanasius it is hoped that an approximation to either requirement has been attained. Works bearing on more special points are referred to in their proper places. In particular, a special Brief Bibliography is prefixed to the Vita Antonii.

Footnotes

Chapter II.

Life of St. Athanasius and Account of Arianism

A. §§1–3. To the Council of Nicæa, 298–325.

§1. Early years, 298–319.

§2. The Arian controversy before Nicæa (319–325).

§3. (1.) The Council of Nicæa (325).

§3. (2.) Situation at the close of the Council (325–328).

a. Novelty of Arianism. Its Antecedents in the history of doctrine.

b. The ‘Ομοούσιον.’

c. Materials for reaction. 1. Persecuted Arians. 2. Eusebius and the Court. 3. Ecclesiastical conservatism. Marcellus and Photinus.

B. §§4–8. The Conflict with Arianism (328–361).

§4. Early years of his Episcopate (328–335), and first troubles.

§5. The Council of Tyre and First Exile (335–337).

§6. Renewed troubles and Second Exile (337–346).

(1) At Alexandria (337–339).

(2) At Rome. Council of Antioch, &c. (339–342).

(3) Constans; Council of Sardica, and its sequel (342–346).

§7. The golden Decade (346–356).

(1) Athanasius as bishop.

(2) Sequel of the death of Constans.

§8. The Third Exile (356–361).

(1) Expulsion of Athanasius.

(2) State of the Arian controversy:—(a) ‘Anomœans’; (b) ‘Homœans’; (c) ‘Semi-Arians.’

(3) Athanasius in his retirement.

C. §§9, 10. Athanasius in Victory (362–373).

§9. Under Julian and his successors; Fourth and Fifth Exiles (362–366).

§10. Last years. Basil, Marcellus, Apollinarius (366–373).

p. xiv Id primum scitu opus est in proposito nobis minime fuisse ut omnia ad Arium Arianos aliosque haereticos illius aetatis itidemque Alexandrum Alexandrinum Hosium Marcellum Serapionem aliosque Athanasii familiares aut synodos spectantia recensere sed solummodo ea quæ uel ad Athanasii Vitam pertinent uel ad eam proxime accedunt.—Montfaucon.

Athanasius was born between 296 and 298 1 . His parents, according to later writers, were of high rank and wealthy. At any rate, their son received a liberal education. In his most youthful work we find him repeatedly quoting Plato, and ready with a definition from the Organon of Aristotle. He is also familiar with the theories of various philosophical schools, and in particular with the developments of Neo-Platonism. In later works, he quotes Homer more than once (Hist. Ar. 68, Orat. iv. 29), he addresses to Constantius a defence bearing unmistakeable traces of a study of Demosthenes de Corona (Fialon, pp. 286 sq. 293). His education was that of a Greek: Egyptian antiquities and religion, the monuments and their history, have no special interest for him: he nowhere betrays any trace of Egyptian national feeling. But from early years another element had taken a first place in his training and in his interest. It was in the Holy Scriptures that his martyr teachers had instructed him, and in the Scriptures his mind and writings are saturated. Ignorant of Hebrew, and only rarely appealing to other Greek versions (to Aquila once in the Ecthesis, to other versions once or twice upon the Psalms), his knowledge of the Old Testament is limited to the Septuagint. But of it, as well as of the New Testament, he has an astonishing command, ᾽Αλεξανδρεὺς τῷ γένει, ἀνὴρ λόγιος, δυνατὸς ὢν ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς. The combination of Scriptural study and of Greek learning was what one expects in a pupil of the famous Alexandrian School; and it was in this School, the School of Clement and Origen, of Dionysius and Theognostus, that young Athanasius learned, possibly at first from the lips of Peter the bishop and martyr of 311 2 . The influence of Origen still coloured the traditions of the theological school of Alexandria. It was from Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria 312–328, himself an Origenist ‘of the right wing,’ that Athanasius received his moulding at the critical period of his later teens.

Of his first introduction to Alexander a famous story is told by Rufinus (Hist. Eccl. I. xiv.). The Bishop, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of his predecessor, Peter, was expecting some clergy to dinner after service in a house by the sea. Out of the window, he saw some boys at play on the shore: as he watched, he saw that they were imitating the sacred rites of the Church. Thinking at last that they were going too far, he sent some of his clergy to bring them in. At first his enquiries of the little fellows produced an alarmed denial. But at length he elicited that one of them had acted the Bishop and had baptized some of the others in the character of catechumens. On ascertaining that all details had been duly observed, he consulted his clergy, and decided that the baptisms should be treated as valid, and that the boy-bishop and his clergy had given such plain proof of their vocation that their parents must be instructed to hand them over to be educated for the sacred profession. Young Athanasius accordingly, after a further course of elementary studies, was handed over to the bishop to be brought up, like Samuel, in the Temple of God. This, adds Sozomen (ii. 17), was the origin of his subsequent attachment to Alexander as deacon and secretary. The story is credited by some writers of weight (most recently, by Archdeacon Farrar), but seems highly improbable. It depends on the single authority of a writer not famed for historical judgment, and on the very first anniversary of Peter’s martyrdom, when Alexander had hardly ascended the episcopal throne, Athanasius was at least fourteen years old. The probability that the anniversary would have been other than the first, and the possibility that Athanasius was even older, coupled with the certainty that his theological study began before Peter’s martyrdom, compel us to mark the story with at least a strong note of interrogation. But it may be allowed to confirm us in the belief that Alexander early singled out the promise of ability and devotion which marked Athanasius for his right-hand man long before the crisis which first proved his unique value.

His years of study and work in the bishop’s household bore rich fruit in the two youthful works already alluded to. These works more than any later writings of Athanasius bear traces of the Alexandrian theology and of the influence of Origenism: but in them already we trace the independent grasp of Christian principles which mark Athanasius as the representative of something more than a school, however noble and many-sided. It was not as a theologian, but as a believing soul in need of a Saviour, that Athanasius approached the mystery of Christ. Throughout the mazes of the Arian controversy his tenacious hold upon this fundamental principle steered his course and balanced his theology. And it is this that above all else characterises the golden treatise on the Incarnation of the Word. There is, however, one p. xv element in the influence of Origen and his successors which already comes out, and which never lost its hold upon Athanasius,—the principle of asceticism. Although the ascetic tendency was present in Christianity from the first, and had already burst forth into extravagance in such men as Tertullian, it was reserved for the school of Origen, influenced by Platonist ideas of the world and life, to give to it the rank of an acknowledged principle of Christian morals—to give the stimulus to monasticism (see below, p. 193). Among the acclamations which accompanied the election of Athanasius to the episcopate that of εἷς τῶν ἀσκηῶν was conspicuous (Apol. Ar. 6). In de Incarn. 51. 1, 48. 2, we seem to recognise the future biographer of Antony 3 .

Footnotes

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