But who, save the most absurd, would deny that of a true and proper son there is a true and proper mother? This too we have shown equally to accord with the judgment of the great Council of Chalcedon, and we promised to assert it in the second place of our division. But it should be intimated that this confession also, by which we call blessed Mary truly and properly the Mother of God, some even who are in communion with the Church think ought not to be received—though they confess that Nestorius deserved to be condemned for the very reason that he denied her to be the Mother of God.
To these, before we answer the Nestorians, I think we must answer, as was already done in the previous question, that it is altogether foolish and shameful both to approve the condemnation of Nestorius and to deny that blessed Mary is truly and properly the Mother of God. For if any question could arise on this point, it was excluded together with Nestorius himself, who denied her to be the Mother of God. For this seemed both difficult to believe and worthy of controversy: whether that virgin gave birth to God; but that she truly and properly gave birth—whatever he is whom she bore—appears to no one worthy of dispute.
Those, then, who grant that the Virgin gave birth to God—a thing incomprehensible, and proper to one mother singularly—why do they deny that she truly and properly gave birth, which is common to all mothers and worthy of no question? And they moreover dare to ascribe this—our saying that blessed Mary is truly and properly the Mother of God—to the Eutychian dogma, understanding neither what they say, as the Apostle says (1 Tim. 1:7), nor whereof they affirm; whereas the holy Council of Chalcedon, by which Eutyches himself was condemned, as we have recalled (in the Allocution to Marcian), says:
'How the virgin was called Mother of God on account of him who deigned even to consecrate her virginity after childbirth, and to seal her womb, as befitted God, with integrity; how she was according to truth called mother on account of the flesh which she ministered from herself to the Lord of all.' Since therefore, as those Fathers taught, she was according to truth called mother for this reason, that she ministered flesh from herself to the Lord of all—which Eutyches denies—how is it thought that this should be ascribed to the Eutychian dogma, to which it is rather found to be contrary? For one cannot call the blessed Virgin truly and properly the Mother of God, but rather nominally and perfunctorily, who does not believe that she ministered flesh from herself to the Lord of all.
This confession, therefore, by which blessed Mary is called truly and properly the Mother of God, destroys not only the Nestorian but also the Eutychian heresy. But if they do not believe us to be of right faith, and suspect that something is hidden in these words, let them inquire of us about this very thing in whatever way they wish, and by their questionings draw out what we hold. But if they do not doubt the rightness of our faith, yet, thinking that this right faith is not pronounced in right words, say that we are indeed perfect in mind but not perfect in expression—whereas the Apostle exhorts us to be perfect in both, saying: 'Be ye perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment' (1 Cor. 1:10):
let them themselves teach in what way that Virgin—whom, as they do not deny, is called Mother of God—is so called: whether truly and properly, or nominally and perfunctorily. But if they say that it does not follow that, if she be not so truly and properly, she be Mother of God nominally and perfunctorily, let them themselves state the manner in which, against us, she ought to be proclaimed Mother of God. For everyone who opposes another's proclamation ought to say something either contrary or different to it. As, when the Arians say that the Son is less than the Father, we say against them that he is equal to him; as, when the Manichees say that the flesh of the same Son of God was phantasmal, that is, false, we say against them that he was made man in true flesh:
and so they too in turn, attacking what is true and catholic, affirm something of their own. Nor does anyone resist another's doctrine otherwise than by saying something against it; and when he has contradicted something, only then is it examined whether that contradiction is acceptable. But of these who forbid us to call Mary truly and properly the Mother of God, and yet do not say in what manner she ought to be called Mother of God, there is no question to be raised whether the contradiction is acceptable. For those who say nothing against us, how can they even seem to say anything? And therefore it is not so laborious for our diligence to resist their absurdity, as it is dangerous for our reputation, lest we seem needlessly to answer those who do not contradict.
But although those who deny this assertion of ours—that Mary is truly and properly the Mother of God—have hitherto affirmed nothing of their own, they must nevertheless be asked whether, as necessarily follows, they dare even to deny what they forbid us to confess, so as, with the negation added, to say that she is not truly and properly the Mother of God. And now—I will not say the ears of Catholics—but let their own brow bear, if it can, this profane and detestable utterance. But if they dare not say, 'She is not truly and properly the Mother of God,' why do they forbid us to confess what they dare not deny?
Let them therefore acknowledge, together with the holy synod whose decrees they profess to accept, that the blessed Virgin was according to truth called Mother of God for this reason, that she ministered flesh from herself to the Lord of all; and let them not say that they oppose the Eutychians by denying Mary to be truly and properly the Mother of God, when they are rather shown unknowingly to favor them, by resisting the judgment of the Council of Chalcedon (in which they were condemned), and by denying what is contrary to the Eutychians' vanity. Let them also beware, having experienced the perfidy of the Nestorians—to whom for this confession too we must now answer—lest, as if for the sake of the distinction of natures, saying that not the man Christ Jesus, but God the Word, is the own and true Son of God;
or that not God the Word, but the man Christ Jesus, is the own and true son of man—lest they too seem not to believe that the same is God the Word who is man, but to suppose one person of God and another of man. For if the same is God who is man, and the same is man who is God, then it is as rightly said that God the Word is the own and true son of man, as it is rightly said that the same mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, is the own and true Son of God; nor is any confusion of natures thereby introduced, but the unity of person is intimated. For neither did the Apostle John introduce a confusion of natures when he said:
'We know that the Son of God is come, and he hath given us understanding, that we may know the true God, and may be in his true Son Jesus Christ' (1 John 5:20); or Paul, when he said: 'If God be for us, who is against us? He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all' (Rom. 8:31). But if John calls Christ—that is, the Anointed—the true Son of God, whom he also testifies to have come; and 'to come' and 'to be anointed,' as far as the distinction of natures is concerned, befit humanity rather than divinity; and if Paul teaches that the Father did not spare him whom he calls God's own Son, but delivered him up for us all, and gave all things to him;
which things likewise, when it is a matter of distinguishing the natures, cannot be attributed to the deity; and neither of these, in proclaiming such things, is believed to have confounded the natures, but rather to have expressed the unity of person: let the Nestorians answer how the same principle of personal unity does not, without any confusion of natures, demand of us that we truly and properly call God the Word the son of man, and the blessed Virgin truly and properly the Mother of God. For that centurion too, who was guarding the body of the Lord of glory who had been crucified, when, as the Creator of the world expired, he saw the elements of the world thrown into confusion, recognized him to be the true Son of God; for he said: 'Indeed this was the Son of God' (Matt. 27:54). The faith of which word blessed Hilary confirms, saying thus (Book
book III on the Trinity): 'They who had affixed him to the cross confess him to be truly the Son of God; the effect agrees with the proclamation. The Lord had said: Glorify thy Son (John 17:1). He attested the Son not only by the name, but also by the property whereby he is called thine. For many of us are sons of God, but not such is this Son. For this one is both the own and the true Son—by origin, not by adoption; by truth, not by appellation; by birth, not by creation. Therefore after his glorification the confession of the truth followed. For the centurion confesses the true Son of God; and who among believers would doubt what one of the persecutors did not deny?'
If, therefore, as Hilary too—that most learned bishop and most steadfast confessor—bears witness in accordance with the apostolic teaching, the very and proper Son of God is He who was crucified, then there is no doubt that God is also truly and properly the Father of the crucified Son.
Since this is so, then just as nothing is to be feared from this—that when God is said to be truly and properly the Father of the crucified Son, it might seem to follow that the humanity assumed and crucified by the Word of God was converted into deity, and that human nature, which is composite, was made consubstantial with the simple nature of the Father—so likewise it does not follow, when we say that Mary is truly and properly the Mother of God, that the deity of the Word should seem to be converted into flesh, or that the divine nature, which is simple, should be made consubstantial with the composite nature of the mother. Otherwise, if it is blasphemous and absurd that blessed Mary is truly and properly called the Mother of God, then without any dispute it is blasphemous and absurd that God the Word is truly and properly called the Son of man.
But if this too seems blasphemous and absurd—that God the Word should be truly and properly called the Son of man—then consequently it will be deemed blasphemous and absurd that the same Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, should be truly and properly called the Son of God. Yet the divine Scripture, which utters nothing blasphemous or absurd, on account of the unity of person calls the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the true and proper Son of God: who gave Himself as a redemption for all, in whom we are sons of the true God, and whom, as His own Son, the Father did not spare, but delivered Him up for us all. Rightly therefore is blessed Mary too, on account of that same unity of person, truly and properly called the Mother of the only-begotten Word of God Himself.
Therefore the most wise and most illustrious teacher of the Churches of Christ, Augustine, in the aforementioned work which he wrote On the Predestination and Perseverance of the Saints (chapter 15), says: «The Teacher of the Gentiles cries out at the head of his Epistles: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh; who was predestined the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection of the dead (Rom. 1:1).»
Jesus, therefore, was predestined so that He who was to be according to the flesh the Son of David might nonetheless be in power the Son of God according to the Spirit of sanctification, because He was born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary. This is that singular assumption of the man, ineffably wrought by the Word God, so that He might be truly and properly called both the Son of God and the son of man at once—son of man on account of the man assumed, and Son of God on account of the only-begotten God who assumed—lest there be believed not a Trinity but a quaternity. So then this learned man taught that the assumed man is truly and properly called the Son of God; and that the assuming God, on account of the assumed man, is truly and properly called the son of man.
Otherwise it would not have been necessary to say what he added—«truly and properly»—except for the sake of commending this great mystery, through which both God was made son of man and man was made Son of God. For who would seek to doubt that man is truly and properly called son of man, and God the Son of God? And so the very same God the Word, who is also the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, according to the teaching of this holy man, is as truly and properly called the son of man as He is truly and properly the Son of God. But if God is truly and properly called the son of man, it is necessary that reciprocally blessed Mary too be called truly and properly the Mother of God.
And when he added, saying, «lest there be believed not a Trinity but a quaternity,» he compelled us absolutely to say that blessed Mary is truly and properly the Mother of God, lest we seem to believe not a Trinity but a quaternity. And therefore let the denial of this religious and necessary word not be thought a light matter, seeing that so great a blasphemy follows upon it. To be sure, no contradiction need be entered against the fact that Augustine declares that God is truly and properly called the son of man, since in a certain sermon On the Epiphany (Sermon 33 on the Season), whose beginning is: «Lately we celebrated the day on which the Lord was born of the Jews; today we celebrate the day on which He was adored by the Gentiles,» he speaks thus: «The star led the Magi to that very place, properly, where the Word God was an infant.»
5:21
» Quod 1 ergoaVerbumDeumdicitinfantem, quomodononveraciteretpropriediceretprædicarifiliumhominisDeum ? Namsiinfansilleveracileretpropriediciturfiliushominis, ipseauteminfansestDeusVerbum, veraciteretpropriediciturfiliushominisDeusVerbum. Rursusinalioejusdemdieisermone (Detemporeserm. 30), cujusestprincipium: iAdpartumVirginisadorandummagiabOrientevenerunt, » sicait: < Jamveroquodeademstellaquaemagosperduxitadlocum, ubieratcummatreVirgineDeusinfans, etc.
Since therefore he calls the Word God an infant, how would he not truly and properly say that God is preached as son of man? For if that infant is truly and properly called son of man, and that infant is Himself the Word God, then the Word God is truly and properly called son of man. Again, in another sermon for the same day (Sermon 30 on the Season), whose beginning is: «The Magi came from the East to adore the birth of the Virgin,» he says thus: «Now indeed, that the same star which led the Magi to the place where God the infant was with His Virgin mother, etc.»
Can he then deny that God is truly and properly called son of man, who, in contradicting the teaching of this most wise man, either denies that the infant is God, or denies that the infant is truly and properly the son of man? Since therefore piety does not allow the former to be denied, nor humanity the latter, it must be believed without hesitation that God is truly and properly the son of man. And this being established, there is no doubt that that Virgin too is in turn called truly and properly the Mother of God.
Likewise, when a certain priest named Leporius in Gaul, corrupted from the true and ancient faith of the Church, presumed to teach the same things which Nestorius afterward taught, and, having been expelled for such error, came into Africa to be instructed: there, being taught—as the Apostle teaches (Gal. 6:1)—in the spirit of meekness by the spiritual Fathers Aurelius of Carthage and the aforesaid Augustine, and by other African bishops, he renounced the most depraved novelty of his doctrine. And the same Leporius wrote a booklet of satisfaction to the Gallic bishops, which the said venerable Fathers Aurelius and Augustine and the rest so approved that, to establish faith in the truth, they even added their own signatures to it.
In which booklet, after much else, he speaks thus: «Therefore properly is born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary the God-man Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and thus the Word and the flesh become mutually one, so that, each substance remaining naturally in its own perfection, without prejudice to itself the divine things are communicated also to the humanity, and the human things are shared with the divinity; nor is one God and another man, but the very same who is God is also man, and in turn He who is man is also God, and is called and truly is Jesus Christ the Son of God.»
And so, when this detestable error—which, while emptying the whole mystery of our salvation, seems to itself cautious and diligent—first appearing in the Church of the Latins, was not augmented by contentions as among the Greeks, but, by the great and solicitous piety of the Fathers busying themselves, was condemned even by its own author as soon as it was detected: it seemed to those same holy Fathers to be abolished in no other way than that the author of the error himself should confess in writing that God was properly born of the Virgin Mary. For he says, as we have recalled: «Therefore properly is God born of the Holy Spirit and Mary ever-Virgin.» And thus God is said by him to be properly born of the Virgin, in such a way that in turn the man Jesus Christ is named, and is said truly to be, the Son of God.
Whence he added also this: «And thus the Word and the flesh become mutually one.» Nor by this did he bring any prejudice to the distinction of the two natures, who confessed that, each substance remaining naturally in its own perfection, without prejudice to itself the divine things are communicated also to the humanity, and the human things are shared with the divinity: not saying that one is God, another man, but confessing that the very same God whom he calls man, and in turn the man whom he calls God, is named, and truly is, Jesus Christ the Son of God. But if God truly is man, and is true man from no other source than by being born of the Virgin, why should not God be said to be truly born of the Virgin?
And if God was properly made man, and was properly made man from no other source than by being born of the Virgin, why should He not be said also to be properly born of the Virgin? It is exceedingly absurd that God, who by being born of the Virgin was truly and properly made man, should not be said to be truly and properly born of her: so that the reality which that nativity wrought should be true, and yet that very nativity, the producer of it, should not be a true nativity. But neither is that less absurd: that one who is not offended at the prophet saying, Of Sion it shall be said, A man, even a man, was made in her, and the Most High Himself founded her (Ps. 86:5), and who meekly and faithfully accepts that the Most High Himself, who founded Sion, was made man in her; and who is not offended at the evangelist saying:
5:28
Verbumcarofactumeat (Joan. i, 14): siaudiatcaquaesunthominisAltissimotribuiquifactusesthomo, eteaquæsuntcarnisVerbotribuiquodfactumcstcaro, scandalumpatiatur, tanquamnonhorumcausamantecrediderit, quandoAltissimumfactumhominemctVerbumcarnemcrediditfactum. PlusestautemdicereAltissimumhominemfactum, quatitribuerequæsunthominisAltissimo; etplusestdicere, Verbumcarofactumest, quamtribuerequæcarnissuntDeoVerbo. CumilaqueSpiritusDei, adcommendandamnobisinhocmysterioadunationemdivinæhumanæquenaturæ, hocquoJestampliusdicerecongruentiusetutiliusjudicavit, quiaAltissimushomofactusest, et, Verbumcarofactumest:
The Word was made flesh (John 1:14)—yet, if he hears that the things which belong to man are attributed to the Most High who was made man, and the things which belong to the flesh are attributed to the Word which was made flesh, suffers a scandal, as though he had not before believed the cause of these things when he believed that the Most High was made man and the Word made flesh. For it is more to say that the Most High was made man than to attribute to the Most High the things which belong to man; and it is more to say, The Word was made flesh, than to attribute to God the Word the things which belong to the flesh. Since therefore the Spirit of God, to commend to us in this mystery the union of the divine and human nature, judged it more fitting and more useful to say what is greater—namely, that the Most High was made man, and, The Word was made flesh—
why should anyone, founded on this authority, fear—without prejudice to either nature—to attribute to the Most High the things which belong to the humanity, and to the Word the things which belong to the flesh, on account of the sacrament and dispensation of His incarnation? Concerning which God the Word, that same John, speaking in his Epistle, does not hesitate to ascribe to Him the things which belong to the flesh, inasmuch as in his Gospel he proclaimed Him made flesh. For just as there he began his discourse, saying: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1), and below: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us;
so also in his Epistle he likewise began thence: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life—and the life was made manifest, and we have seen and bear witness, and declare to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was made manifest to us (1 John 1). Announcing to us therefore concerning the Word of life, which was from the beginning, and not in these things which we have recalled interposing the name of the flesh assumed by Him, he says of the Word Himself that he beheld Him with his eyes and handled Him with his hands, not hesitating to attribute the things which belong to the flesh to the incarnate Word.
Why then do the Nestorians, as though more cautious and more diligent than John the Apostle himself—nay, than God the Word Himself, who spoke thus concerning Himself in John the Apostle—refuse to attribute to God the things which belong to the humanity, and to call blessed Mary truly and properly the Mother of God; whom they do not refuse to call truly and properly the mother of the man? It is only because, not believing the same one to be God whom they hold to be man, they wish to introduce to us two sons—if not in words, yet in reality. But we, knowing that the Apostle said: For I myself could wish to be anathema from Christ for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the worship, and the promises:
theirs are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever (Rom. 9:5)—we do not suppose one to be Christ and another to be God over all; but, believing the same Christ to be God over all, we say that His mother, blessed Mary the Virgin, is truly and properly the Mother of God.