Against Apollinarius; the Second Letter to Cledonius. (Ep. Cii. )​

Forasmuch as many persons have come to your Reverence seeking confirmation of their faith, and therefore you have affectionately asked me to put forth a brief definition and rule of my opinion, I therefore write to your Reverence, what indeed you knew before, that I never have and never can honour anything above the Nicene Faith, that of the Holy Fathers who met there to destroy the Arian heresy; but am, and by God’s help ever will be, of that faith; completing in detail that which was incompletely said by them concerning the Holy Ghost; for that question had not then been mooted, namely, that we are to believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are of one Godhead, thus confessing the Spirit also to be God. Receive then to communion those who think and teach thus, as I also do; but those who are otherwise minded refuse, and hold them as strangers to God and the Catholic Church. And since a question has also been mooted concerning the Divine Assumption of humanity, or Incarnation, state this also clearly to all concerning me, that I join in One the Son, who was begotten of the Father, and afterward of the Virgin Mary, and that I do not call Him two Sons, but worship Him as One and the same in undivided Godhead and honour. But if anyone does not assent to this statement, either now or hereafter, he shall give account to God at the day of judgment.

有鉴于许多人前去您阁下的面前，寻求对于信仰的认证，因此，您亲切的要求我简短的根据我的看法，写下信仰的定义与准则。故此，我将您原先已经知晓的事情再写给您，就是我绝对不可能将任何其他的事物置于尼西亚的信仰之上，也就是圣叫父们一同聚集以摧毁亚流派异端；我也是藉这神的帮助而坚守该信仰；以进一步的细节完成该信经关于圣灵不完整的部分；因为那个问题并不是悬而未决的，就是我们相信父、子与圣灵乃是一神格（Godhead），故此承认圣灵也是神。我们也接受并于如此相信并教导的人交通，就像我向来所作的一样；但是那些有别的想法的人否定这个信仰，并把自己当作神并大公教会的外人。因为有一个关于神披上人性，或道成肉身尚未解决的问题，证明这也就是我向来所顾虑的问题，就是我与一位子联合为一，祂是从父而生，之后从童女马里亚所生，所以我不称他为两个儿子，反而敬拜祂为一位，并永远相同的，不可分割的神格，并尊荣祂。但是，若有任和人不坚守这个宣告，不论是现在或是未来，他当在审判之日在神面前为自己负责。

Now, what we object and oppose to their mindless opinion about His Mind is this, to put it shortly; for they are almost alone in the condition which they lay down, as it is through want of mind that they mutilate His mind. But, that they may not accuse us of having once accepted but of now repudiating the faith of their beloved Vitalius  which he handed in in writing at the request of the blessed Bishop Damasus of Rome, I will give a short explanation on this point also. For these men, when they are theologizing among their genuine disciples, and those who are initiated into their secrets, like the Manichæans among those whom they call the “Elect,” expose the full extent of their disease, and scarcely allow flesh at all to the Saviour. But when they are refuted and pressed with the common answers about the Incarnation which the Scripture presents, they confess indeed the orthodox words, but they do violence to the sense; for they acknowledge the Manhood to be neither without soul nor without reason nor without mind, nor imperfect, but they bring in the Godhead to supply the soul and reason and mind, as though It had mingled Itself only with His flesh, and not with the other properties belonging to us men; although His sinlessness was far above us, and was the cleansing of our passions.

简单的说，我们如今反对他们对祂的理性不动大脑的观点；因为他们乃是闭门造车，他们截掉了祂的理性，让祂成为缺乏理性的。但是，他们别定罪我们曾经接受，如今却否认他们所爱的Vitalus的信仰，就是曾经应罗马主教Damasus的要求所交出的文件，我会简要解释这件事。因为那些人，当他们在自己的追随者中创建神学，那些被引荐进入他们的奥秘的人，就好像摩尼教所谓的「被拣选者」一样，完全的暴露在他们的疾病之下，并且根本不让救主获得肉身。而是当他们被驳斥并用圣经中对于道成肉身被普遍承认的答案施压下，他们才承认正统的语言，但是它们确违反了语言的意义；因为他们认为人不可以缺少魂（soul），也不可能缺少理性（reason），也不可能缺少心思（mind），也不可能是不完整的，但是他们接着用神性取代魂与理性与心思的位置，就好像神性已经祂的肉身调合在一起，而不视于属于我们人类的其他属性调合在一起；虽然祂的无罪性远超我们，并也不具有我们的感情（passions）。

Thus, then, they interpret wrongly the words, But we have the Mind of Christ, and very absurdly, when they say that His Godhead is the mind of Christ, and not understanding the passage as we do, namely, that they who have purified their mind by the imitation of the mind which the Saviour took of us, and, as far as may be, have attained conformity with it, are said to have the mind of Christ; just as they might be testified to have the flesh of Christ who have trained their flesh, and in this respect have become of the same body and partakers of Christ; and so he says “As we have borne the image of the earth  we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” And so they declare that the Perfect Man is not He who was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin;  but the mixture of God and Flesh. For what, say they, can be more perfect than this?

故此，他们错误的诠释圣经。但是我们拥有基督的心思（the Mind of Christ），他们非常荒谬的说祂的神格就是基督的心思，并且不像我们那样理解经文，就是他们用救主从我们夺取的那个心思净化了他们的心思，并尽其可能的符合圣经的说法，说那就是用有基督的心思了；就好像他们能够见证拥有那位训练他们肉身之基督的肉身一样，并从这个角度而言成为与基督同样的身体，并基督的有分者；他还说，「就好像我们背负着属地的形象一样，我们也会背负属天的形象。」他们还以一种缓和的方式宣称完整的人并不是那位在凡事上如同我们一样受引诱，但是没有罪的那位；而是神与肉身的混合体。因为他们说，还有什么比这个更为完整呢？

They play the same trick with the word that describes the Incarnation, viz.: He was made Man, explaining it to mean, not, He was in the human nature with which He surrounded Himself, according to the Scripture, He knew what was in man;  but teaching that it means, He consorted and conversed with men, and taking refuge in the expression which says that He was seen on Earth and conversed with Men.  And what can anyone contend further? They who take away the Humanity and the Interior Image cleanse by their newly invented mask only our outside,  and that which is seen; so far in conflict with themselves that at one time, for the sake of the flesh, they explain all the rest in a gross and carnal manner (for it is from hence that they have derived their second Judaism and their silly thousand years delight in paradise, and almost the idea that we shall resume again the same conditions after these same thousand years); and at another time they bring in His flesh as a phantom rather than a reality, as not having been subjected to any of our experiences, not even such as are free from sin; and use for this purpose the apostolic expression, understood and spoken in a sense which is not apostolic, that our Saviour was made in the likeness of Men and found in fashion as a Man,  as though by these words was expressed, not the human form, but some delusive phantom and appearance.

他们用同样的把戏来处理用来描述道成肉身，等等，那样的话。祂被造成为人，就解释了那段话的意义，而不是祂在那个祂用来围绕自己的人性中，根据圣经，祂知道人类里面是什么；但是在教导其意义的时候，祂成为人的同伴并与人交谈，并以祂所说的，就是祂在地上被看见并与人谈话的那种说法为遮盖。谁能够反驳他们呢？他们仅仅从我们外在看得见的表象炮制出一个面具好清洗祂的人性并内在形像；他们在肉身的题目上还是自我矛盾的，他们用粗俗和肉体的方法解释其他的问题（他们从那里开始导出他们的第二版犹太教以及让他们快乐的呆在乐园中的怪异千年，几乎就是抄袭我们在那个一千年后会获得同样景况的观念）；在同时，他们把祂的肉身变成了一种幻象，而不是实体；就好像不是我们能够经历的一样，甚至还没办法免去罪性；在这种非使徒的方式下使用使徒的语言，理解，与话语，就是我们的救主乃是根据人的样式被造，并被塑造位认的样式，虽然他们使用了那些语言，但是表达的意思并不具有人的样式，不过就是某种虚妄的幻影与样子罢了。

Since then these expressions, rightly understood, make for orthodoxy, but wrongly interpreted are heretical, what is there to be surprised at if we received the words of Vitalius in the more orthodox sense; our desire that they should be so meant persuading us, though others are angry at the intention of his writings? This is, I think, the reason why Damasus himself, having been subsequently better informed, and at the same time learning that they hold by their former explanations, excommunicated them and overturned their written confession of faith with an Anathema; as well as because he was vexed at the deceit which he had suffered from them through simplicity.

因着那些话若被正确的理解，就是正统，若被错误的诠释就是异端，而另我们惊讶的是我们所听到的Vitalius的教导还具有某种更为正统的意义；我们希望他们能够说服我们，虽然有些人因为他作品的意图而感到愤怒？着就是说，我认为，Damasus本人更了解这个事件的原委，并在得知他们坚持不改变他们原先的解释后，就开革了他们，并把他们的信仰宣言加上了咒诅文；就像因着他感觉单纯的动机被他们玩弄了。

Since, then, they have been openly convicted of this, let them not be angry, but let them be ashamed of themselves; and let them not slander us, but abase themselves and wipe off from their portals that great and marvellous proclamation and boast of their orthodoxy, meeting all who go in at once with the question and distinction that we must worship, not a God-bearing Man, but a flesh-bearing God. What could be more unreasonable than this, though these new heralds of truth think a great deal of the title? For though it has a certain sophistical grace through the quickness of its antithesis, and a sort of juggling quackery grateful to the uninstructed, yet it is the most absurd of absurdities and the most foolish of follies. For if one were to change the word Man or Flesh into God (the first would please us, the second them), and then were to use this wonderful antithesis, so divinely recognized, what conclusion should we arrive at? That we must worship, not a God-bearing Flesh, but a Man-bearing God. O monstrous absurdity! They proclaim to us to-day a wisdom hidden ever since the time of Christ — a thing worthy of our tears. For if the faith began thirty years ago, when nearly four hundred years had passed since Christ was manifested, vain all that time will have been our Gospel, and vain our faith; in vain will the Martyrs have borne their witness, and in vain have so many and so great Prelates presided over the people; and Grace is a matter of metres and not of the faith.

因着他们已经被公开的认定有这个问题，让他们别生气，反当觉得羞耻；让他们别再毁谤我们，而要谦卑，堵上那个让他们宣扬并吹嘘他们所谓伟大并奇妙异端的嘴巴，并面对诘问他们，并明确区分我们所敬拜的并不是一位背负神的人（a God-bearing Man），而是一个背负肉神的神（a flesh-bearing God）的人。有什么能够比这个更为荒谬的呢，虽然这些真理的先驱人为这个称谓是一件天大的事？因为虽然他们透过拥有某些智慧的恩典想要透过抹去想对的论点并玩弄文字游戏，然而他们乃是最为荒谬，也是最为愚蠢的人。因为，若有人把人或肉身这样的字眼改成神（为了要先讨好我们，再讨好他们自己），难道他们就应当采用这个美妙的反论 ,好让神认可我们的结论？就是我们必须敬拜一位背负人的神，而不是一个背负神的肉身。何等妖异的谬论阿！他们今日向我们宣称从基督以来到今日有一种隐藏的智慧－我们真应当痛哭流涕。因为我们的信仰才开始了三十年，而基督显现到今日则已经四百多年了，我们在这段时期中所传的福音都是虚假的，我们的信仰更是虚空；那些作见证的殉道者也是白搭，而那些带领众人的教会领袖们也都是假的；恩典成了善工，而不是信心的问题。

And who will not marvel at their learning, in that on their own authority they divide the things of Christ, and assign to His Manhood such sayings as He was born, He was tempted, He was hungry, He was thirsty, He was wearied, He was asleep; but reckon to His Divinity such as these: He was glorified by Angels, He overcame the Tempter, He fed the people in the wilderness, and He fed them in such a manner, and He walked upon the sea; and say on the one hand that the “Where have ye laid Lazarus?”  belongs to us, but the loud voice “Lazarus, Come Forth”  and the raising him that had been four days dead, is above our nature; and that while the “He was in an Agony, He was crucified, He was buried,” belongs to the Veil, on the other hand, “He was confident, He rose again, He ascended,” belong to the Inner Treasure; and then they accuse us of introducing two natures, separate or conflicting, and of dividing the supernatural and wondrous Union. They ought, either not to do that of which they accuse us, or not to accuse us of that which they do; so at least if they are resolved to be consistent and not to propound at once their own and their opponents’ principles. Such is their want of reason; it conflicts both with itself and with the truth to such an extent that they are neither conscious nor ashamed of it when they fall out with themselves. Now, if anyone thinks that we write all this willingly and not upon compulsion, and that we are dissuading from unity, and not doing our utmost to promote it, let him know that he is very much mistaken, and has not made at all a good guess at our desires, for nothing is or ever has been more valuable in our eyes than peace, as the facts themselves prove; though their actions and brawlings against us altogether exclude unanimity.

谁会惊叹于他们的学问呢？他们以自己为权威，擅自切割关于基督的事物，并把祂的人性描述的像是祂出生，被试探，饥饿，口渴，疲累，困倦；关于祂的神兴则是被天使荣耀，胜过试探者，在旷野中以特殊的方式喂饱众人，还在海上行走；在一方面说，「你们把拉撒路埋在那里？」乃是属于我们的声音，而在他被埋葬四天后高喊「拉撒路起来」的声音乃是在我们的性质之上（意思是：属于神，不属于人－译者）；当「祂在愁苦中，祂被钉十字架，祂被埋葬」，都只属于那个覆盖祂物的东西，在另一方面，「祂满有信心，祂复活了，祂升天了」，都属于那个内在的宝藏；他们接着就指控我们教导两个本性，分开了、对立了或分割了那个超自然并奇妙的联合。他们应该别做他们所控告我们的事情，也别用他们自己在做的事控告我们；免得他们一直在那里绕圈圈回避，而提不出他们自己并他们的对手的论点。这就证明他们缺乏理性；与真理向互矛盾到一个程度，都没察觉到他们乃是跟自己吵架，也不感到羞愧。如今，若有人任何人认为我们乃是自愿并不被逼迫而写下这些的，让他搞清楚他犯了一个大错误，完全猜错了我们良善的动机，因为在我们的眼中，和平的价值是无可比拟的，就好像他们自己所证明的时是一样；虽然他们的真对我们的行为与争闹完全是言行不一的。