A Plea for the Christians 10
Summary: Christians worship one God, together with his Son, the eternal Word, and the Holy Spirit, distinct in order yet one in power; there are also angels who serve God.
Greek text · Otto 7:44–50
Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄθεοι μὴ εἶναι, ἕνα τὸν ἀγένητον καὶ ἀΐδιον καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἀχώρητον, νῷ μόνῳ καὶ λόγῳ καταλαμβανόμενον, φωτὶ καὶ κάλλει καὶ πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ περιεχόμενον, ὑφʼ οὗ γεγένηται τὸ πᾶν διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου καὶ διακεκόσμηται καὶ συγκρατεῖται, θεὸν ἄγοντες, ἱκανῶς μοι δέδεικται. Νοοῦμεν γὰρ καὶ υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ. Καὶ μή μοι γελοῖόν τις νομίσῃ τὸ υἱὸν εἶναι τῷ θεῷ. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ποιηταὶ μυθοποιοῦσιν, οὐδὲν βελτίους τῶν ἀνθρώπων δεικνῦντες τοὺς θεούς, ἢ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἢ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ πεφρονήκαμεν. Ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν ἰδέᾳ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ· πρὸς αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ πάντα ἐγένετο, ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ. Ὄντος δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐν πατρὶ καὶ πατρὸς ἐν υἱῷ, ἑνότητι καὶ δυνάμει πνεύματος, νοῦς καὶ λόγος τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. Εἰ δὲ διʼ ὑπερβολὴν συνέσεως σκοπεῖν ὑμῖν ἔπεισιν, ὁ παῖς τί βούλεται, ἐρῶ διὰ βραχέων πρῶτον γέννημα εἶναι τῷ πατρί, οὐχ ὡς γενόμενον (ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὁ θεός, νοῦς ἀΐδιος ὤν, εἶχεν αὐτὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν λόγον, ἀϊδίως λογικὸς ὤν), ἀλλʼ ὡς τῶν ὑλικῶν ξυμπάντων, ἀποίου φύσεως καὶ γῆς ἀχρείας ὑποκειμένων δίκην, μεμιγμένων τῶν παχυμερεστέρων πρὸς τὰ κουφότερα ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς, ἰδέα καὶ ἐνέργεια εἶναι προελθών. Συνᾴδει δὲ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα· Κύριος γάρ, φησίν, ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Καίτοι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἐνεργοῦν τοῖς ἐκφωνοῦσι προφητικῶς ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἀπόῤῥοιαν εἶναί φαμεν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀποῤῥέον καὶ ἐπαναφερόμενον ὡς ἀκτῖνα ἡλίου. Τίς οὖν οὐκ ἂν ἀπορήσαι, λέγοντας θεὸν πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν θεὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον, δεικνύντας αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ ἑνώσει δύναμιν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ τάξει διαίρεσιν, ἀκούσας ἀθέους καλουμένους; Καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸ θεολογικὸν ἡμῶν ἵσταται μέρος· ἀλλὰ καὶ πλῆθος ἀγγέλων καὶ λειτουργῶν φαμεν, οὓς ὁ ποιητὴς καὶ δημιουργὸς κόσμου θεὸς διὰ τοῦ παρʼ αὐτοῦ λόγου διένειμε καὶ διέταξε περί τε τὰ στοιχεῖα εἶναι καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν τούτων εὐταξίαν.
English · Claude translation
I have shown sufficiently, then, that we are not atheists, since we acknowledge one God, uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, and infinite, grasped by mind and reason alone, surrounded by light, beauty, spirit, and power beyond description, by whom the universe was made through his Word, and is set in order and held together. For we think also of a Son of God. And let no one think it ridiculous that God should have a Son. For we have not formed our ideas of God the Father or of the Son as the poets make up their myths, in which they show the gods to be no better than human beings. The Son of God is the Word of the Father in idea and in operation; for after his pattern and through him all things were made, the Father and the Son being one. And since the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son, by the unity and power of the Spirit, the Son of God is the mind and Word of the Father. But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to ask what is meant by the Son, I will say briefly that he is the first offspring of the Father: not as having come into being (for from the beginning God, being eternal mind, had the Word in himself, being eternally rational), but as having come forth to be the idea and operation for all material things, which lay like a nature without qualities and an inert earth, the heavier particles mixed with the lighter. The prophetic Spirit also agrees with this account: “The Lord,” it says, “created me as the beginning of his ways, for his works.” And indeed the Holy Spirit himself, who works in those who speak prophetically, we call an effluence of God, flowing from him and returning like a ray of the sun. Who, then, would not be perplexed to hear called atheists those who speak of God the Father and God the Son and the Holy Spirit, and who show both their power in unity and their distinction in order? Nor does our theology stop there: we also speak of a multitude of angels and ministers, whom God, the Maker and Creator of the world, through the Word that comes from him, distributed and appointed to be concerned with the elements, the heavens, the world and what is in it, and their good order.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- This is one of the fullest statements of the Trinity before Irenaeus: “God the Father and God the Son and the Holy Spirit … their power in unity and their distinction in order.”
- “First offspring … not as having come into being”: Athenagoras distinguishes the Word's eternal presence in God from his “coming forth” for creation.
- “After his pattern” renders πρὸς αὐτοῦ, which may also mean simply “by him.”
- Prov 8:22 (“The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways”) is quoted from the Septuagint; the verse was later central to the Arian controversy.
- “Son” here renders παῖς, which can also mean “child” or “servant.”
Cite this passage
Athenagoras, Leg. 10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-legatio/10/).
Plain text
Athenagoras, Leg. 10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-legatio/10/).
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