LETTER LIX.—TO EPICTETUS.

To my Lord, beloved brother, and most-longed-for fellow-minister Epictetus, Athanasius greeting in the Lord. I thought that all vain talk of all heretics, many as they may be, had been stopped by the Synod which was held at Nicæa. For the Faith there confessed by the Fathers according to the divine Scriptures is enough by itself at once to overthrow all impiety, and to establish the religious belief in Christ. For this reason at the present time, at the assembling of diverse synods, both in Gaul and Spain, and great Rome, all who came together, as though moved by one spirit, unanimously anathematised those who still were secretly holding with Arius, namely Auxentius of Milan, Ursacius, Valens, and Gaius of Pannonia. And they wrote everywhere, that, whereas the above-said were devising the names of synods to cite on their side, no synod should be cited in the Catholic Church save only that which was held at Nicæa, which was a monument of victory over all heresy, but especially the Arian, which was the main reason of the synod assembling when it did. How then, after all this, are some attempting to raise doubts or questions? If they belong to the Arians, this is not to be wondered at, that they find fault with what was drawn up against themselves, just as the Gentiles when they hear that ‘the idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands,’ think the doctrine of the divine Cross folly. But if those who desire to reopen everything by raising questions belong to those who think they believe aright, and love what the fathers have declared, they are simply doing what the prophet describes, giving their neighbour turbid confusion to drink, and fighting about words to no good purpose, save to the subversion of the simple.

致我的主，亲爱的弟兄，最为我所思念并一同服侍的职事爱比克泰德，亚他那修在主里问候您。我认为异端的空谈虽然多如海沙，都已经被在尼西亚举办的大会所阻挡。因为父老们根据神圣的经文所做出的信仰宣告本身就足以推翻一切都不敬虔，并建立在基督里敬虔的信仰。因着这个缘故，如今在高卢和西班牙，并伟大的罗马所举办的各种教会会议，所有的主教聚集在一起，虽然他们被同一位（圣）灵所驱动，异口同声地咒逐那些仍然偷偷的支持亚流的人，就是米兰来的奥先求（Auxentius），乌萨丘（Ursacius），瓦朗（Valens）和潘诺尼亚（Pannonia）的盖乌斯（Giaus）。他们写信给各处，有鉴于前面提及的那些人用不同的城市的名称作为他们的教会会议的名称，但是，出了在尼西亚举行的大会外，没有其他的教会会议当被大公教会所引用。尼西亚大会是一件战胜所有异端的历史性事件，特别是针对亚流派，他们是那个大会举办的主要原因。在所有的这一切之上，有些人怎么还能够产生提出怀疑或问题？若他们属于亚流派，他们对那些制定来针对他们的（信仰规范）吹毛求疵，就不会让人觉得惊讶，就好像当外邦人听见『异教徒的偶像是金的，银的，是人手所造的，』的时候一样，认为神圣十字架的教义是愚蠢的。若那些认为他们所相信的才是正确的并热爱父老们所宣告的教义的人士们想要利用提出问题而重新兴起波澜，他们不过就是在做先知们所描述的，给邻舍酒喝、又加上毒物，不是基于良善的理由咬文嚼字，不过就是覆灭那些单纯的人罢了。

2. I write this after reading the memoranda submitted by your piety, which I could wish had not been written at all, so that not even any record of these things should go down to posterity. For who ever yet heard the like? Who ever taught or learned it? For ‘from Sion shall come forth the law of God, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;’ but whence came forth this? What lower region has vomited the statement that the Body born of Mary is coessential with the Godhead of the Word? or that the Word has been changed into flesh, bones, hair, and the whole body, and altered from its own nature? Or who ever heard in a Church, or even from Christians, that the Lord wore a body putatively, not in nature; or who ever went so far in impiety as to say and hold, that this Godhead, which is coessential with the Father, was circumcised and became imperfect instead of perfect; and that what hung upon the tree was not the body, but the very creative Essence and Wisdom? Or who that hears that the Word transformed for Himself a passible body, not of Mary, but of His own Essence, could call him who said this a Christian? Or who devised this abominable impiety, for it to enter even his imagination, and for him to say that to pronounce the Lord’s Body to be of Mary is to hold a Tetrad instead of a Triad in the Godhead? Those who think thus, saying that the Body of the Saviour which He put on from Mary, is of the Essence of the Triad. Or whence again have certain vomited an impiety as great as those already mentioned; saying namely, that the body is not newer than the Godhead of the Word, but was coeternal with it always, since it was compounded of the Essence of Wisdom. Or how did men called Christians venture even to doubt whether the Lord, Who proceeded from Mary, while Son of God by Essence and Nature, is of the seed of David according to the flesh, and of the flesh of the Holy Mary? Or who have been so venturesome as to say that Christ Who suffered in the flesh and was crucified is not Lord, Saviour, God, and Son of the Father? Or how can they wish to be called Christians who say that the Word has descended upon a holy man as upon one of the prophets, and has not Himself become man, taking the body from Mary; but that Christ is one person, while the Word of God, Who before Mary and before the ages was Son of the Father, is another? Or how can they be Christians who say that the Son is one, and the Word of God another?

我在阅读敬虔的您交给我的记录后写下了这封我本不希望写下的信，面对关于那些事的任何记录被流传给后代。因为，谁曾经听过类似的事？谁有曾经教导或学习过那样的事？因为『因为训诲必出于锡安；耶和华的言语必出于耶路撒冷；』但是这个东西是从那里来的？是那个低贱的地区突出从玛利亚所生的身体与道的神格同质（coessential）的说法？或道被改变成为肉身、骨头、头发和整个身体，而与祂本身的性质不同？谁曾经在任何一个教会，或甚至从基督徒口中听见，主以一种被推测的方式，而不是在性质中披上了一个身体；或谁曾经不敬虔而荒谬的说并坚称，祂在祂与父同质的神格中受了割礼，从完全的变成不完全的；并那个被挂在木头上的不是身体，而是那创造万有的素质并智慧？若听见道亲自改变成为一个不是属于玛利亚的，能够受苦的身体，而是一个属于祂自己素质的身体的，还能够称这样说的人是一个基督徒吗？那进入自己的想象力中，宣称主属于玛利亚的身体就是坚称一种在神格中的一个四一体（Tetrad），而不是一个三一体（Triad），岂不是炮制出这种令人厌恶的不敬虔想法吗？那些这样想的人，说救主从玛利亚披上的身体是属于三一体的素质。或，他们的某些人又呕吐出一种与前面提到同样伟大的不敬虔；就是说，身体并不会比道的神格新，而是总是与道的神格同永恒（coeternal），因为它是由智慧的素质所组成的。怎么有称为基督徒的人档案怀疑那位从玛利亚而有的主，祂同时因其素质（essence）和性质（nature）是神的儿子，根据其肉身也是戴维的后裔，而那个肉身是神圣的玛利亚的？或者，那些胆大妄为的人说在肉身中受苦并被钉在十字架上的不是主、救主、神和父的儿子？或者，那些想要被称作基督徒的人，说道临及一个神圣的人就好像临及先知们一样，祂自己并没有成为人，也没有从玛利亚取得一个身体；基督是一个位格，同时在玛利亚之前，并在万世之前就已经存在的那位神的道，就是父的儿子，是另一个位格？那些是基督徒的人怎么能够说子是一位，而神的道是另一位呢？

3. Such were the contents of the memoranda; diverse statements, but one in their sense and in their meaning; tending to impiety. It was for these things that men who make their boast in the confession of the fathers drawn up at Nicæa were disputing and quarrelling with one another. But I marvel that your piety suffered it, and that you did not stop those who said such things, and propound to them the right faith, so that upon hearing it they might hold their peace, or if they opposed it might be counted as heretics. For the statements are not fit for Christians to make or to hear, on the contrary they are in every way alien from the Apostolic teaching. For this reason, as I said above, I have caused what they say to be baldly inserted in my letter, so that one who merely hears may perceive the shame and impiety therein contained. And although it would be right to denounce and expose in full the folly of those who have had such ideas, yet it would be a good thing to close my letter here and write no more. For what is so manifestly shewn to be evil, it is not necessary to waste time in exposing further, lest contentious persons think the matter doubtful. it is enough merely to answer such things as follows: we are content with the fact that this is not the teaching of the Catholic Church, nor did the fathers hold this. But lest the ‘inventors of evil things’ make entire silence on our part a pretext for shamelessness, it will be well to mention a few points from Holy Scripture, in case they may even thus be put to shame, and cease from these foul devices.

那些就是那个记录里面的内容；各种不同的选，但是都只有一个意义；倾向不敬虔。人们因着那些事，用父老们在尼西亚制定的信仰宣告自吹自擂，彼此辩论并拌嘴。但是，我惊奇于敬虔的您竟然能够忍受这一切，不阻止说那样的事物的人，告诉他们正确的信仰，以至于他们听见它的时候仍然能够坚持他们的平安，或者，若他们反对正确的信仰就可以被视为异端分子。因为那些不当被基督徒拟定或听见的宣告，在各方面都背离了使徒的教训。因着这个缘故，就像我前面说过的，我已经将他们的说法坦率的放在我的信中，好叫仅仅听见那些说法的人能够察觉到那些说法中所含有的羞辱和不敬虔。虽然全面性的公开指责并曝露那些有那样的想法的人的愚蠢是当作的事，但是，将我的信停在这里也是一件好事。因为，那些明显看起来就是邪恶的事物，根本不需要浪费时间进一步的曝露，免得那些爱争论的人认为那件事是可以被怀疑的。仅仅用下面的方式回答即可：我们坚信，事实上这不是大公教会的教导，父老们也不相信这个。但是，为了避免『捏造恶事的人』把完全对于我们部分静默不语当作毫不知羞耻的借口，我还剩要根据圣经提出几个点，好叫羞辱他们，别再使用那些愚蠢的手段。

4. Whence did it occur to you, sirs, to say that the Body is of one Essence with the Godhead of the Word? For it is well to begin at this point, in order that by shewing this opinion to be unsound, all the others too may be proved to be the same. Now from the divine Scriptures we discover nothing of the kind. For they say that God came in a human body. But the fathers who also assembled at Nicæa say that, not the body, but the Son Himself is coessential with the Father, and that while He is of the Essence of the Father, the body, as they admitted according to the Scriptures, is of Mary. Either then deny the Synod of Nicæa, and as heretics bring in your doctrine from the side; or, if you wish to be children of the fathers, do not hold the contrary of what they wrote. For here again you may see how monstrous it is: If the Word is coessential with the body which is of earthly nature, while the Word is, by your own confession, coessential with the Father, it will follow that even the Father Himself is coessential with the body produced from the earth. And why any longer blame the Arians for calling the Son a creature, when you go off to another form of impiety, saying that the Word was changed into flesh and bones and hair and muscles and all the body, and was altered from its own nature? For it is time for you to say openly that He was born of earth; for from earth is the nature of the bones and of all the body. What then is this great folly of yours, that you fight even with one another? For in saying that the Word is coessential with the Body, you distinguish the one from the other, while in saying that He has been changed into flesh, you imagine a change of the Word Himself. And who will tolerate you any longer if you so much as utter these opinions? For you have gone further in impiety than any heresy. For if the Word is coessential with the Body, the commemoration and the work of Mary are superfluous, inasmuch as the body could have existed before Mary, just as the Word also is eternal: if, that is, it is as you say coessential with the Body. Or what need was there even of the Word coming among us, to put on what was coessential with Himself, or to change His own nature and become a body? For the Deity does not take hold of itself, so as to put on what is of its own Essence, any more than the Word sinned, in that it ransoms the sins of others, in order that changing into a body it should offer itself a sacrifice for itself, and ransom itself.

先生们，你们根据什么说（基督的）身体与道的神格属于同一个素质？因为，从这点开始是合适的，为要证明这点是站不住脚的，所有其它的论点也是一样。我们现在无法从神圣的经文中发现类似的说法。因为他们说神进入一个人类的身体。但是，那些也在尼西亚聚集的父老们说，不是身体，而是子本身与父同质，当祂是父的素质的同时，那个身体，就像他们根据圣经所承认的，是玛利亚的。那么，他们就不要否定尼西亚大会，又如同异端分子一样从外界引入你们的教义；或者，如果你们想要成为父老们的儿女，就不要相信与他们写下的相反的事物。因为你们在此或许能够再次看见它是多么丑恶：如果道与那个属于属地性质的身体同质，在同时，根据你们自己所承认的，道又与父同质，这就会造成父自己也与那个从地产生的身体同质。那么，为什么还要责怪亚流派称子为一个被造之物，在同时你们发展出另一种的不敬虔，说道变成肉身、骨头、头发、肌肉和整个身体，并改变了自己的性质呢？现在应当是你公开讲说祂乃是从地（from earth）而生的时刻了；因从地是所有的骨头和肉的性质。那么，你们是多么愚蠢，甚至彼此相争？因为说道与身体同质，你将一个与另一个区分出来，在同时，说祂改变成为肉身，你为道想象出一种改变。谁还能够忍受你们，如果你们胆敢将此那些看法呢？因为，你们的不敬虔比任何异端更严重。若道与身体同质，纪念玛利亚的仪式就是多余的，正如身体能够存在于玛利亚之前，好像道也是永恒的意义：若是那样，就是你们所谓的与（道的）身体同质（co-essential with the Body）。道为什么还需要，披上一件与自己同质的事物，或改变自己的性质并成为一个身体？因为神格并不会夺取自己，好像还需要披上属于自己素质的事物，过于犯罪的道一样，让神能在其中为他人犯的罪付出赎价，为的是改变成为一个身体，才能更为自己献上一个祭物，为自己付上赎价。

5. But this is not so, far be the thought. For he ‘takes hold of the seed of Abraham,’ as the apostle said; whence it behoved Him to be made like His brethren in all things, and to take a Body like us. This is why Mary is truly presupposed, in order that He may take it from her, and offer it for us as His own. And this Isaiah pointed to in his prophecy, in the words: ‘Behold the Virgin,’ while Gabriel is sent to her—not simply to a virgin, but ‘to a virgin betrothed to a man,’ in order that by means of the betrothed man he might shew that Mary was really a human being. And for this reason Scripture also mentions her bringing forth, and tells of her wrapping Him in swaddling clothes; and therefore, too, the paps which He sucked were called blessed. And He was offered as a sacrifice, in that He Who was born had opened the womb. Now all these things are proofs that the Virgin brought forth. And Gabriel preached the Gospel to her without uncertainty, saying not merely ‘what is born in thee,’ lest the body should be thought to be extraneously induced upon her, but ‘of thee,’ that what was born might be believed to be naturally from her, inasmuch as Nature clearly shews that it is impossible for a virgin to produce milk unless she has brought forth, and impossible for a body to be nourished with milk and wrapped in swaddling clothes unless it has previously been naturally brought forth. This is the meaning of His being circumcised on the eighth day: of Symeon taking Him in his arms, of His becoming a young child, and growing when He was twelve years old, and of His coming to His thirtieth year. For it was not, as some suppose, the very Essence of the Word that was changed, and was circumcised, because it is incapable of alteration or change. For the Saviour Himself says, ‘Behold, behold, it is I, and I change not,’ while Paul writes: ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.’ But in the Body which was circumcised, and carried, and ate and drank, and was weary, and was nailed on the tree and suffered, there was the impassible and incorporeal Word of God. This Body it was that was laid in a grave, when the Word had left it, yet was not parted from it, to preach, as Peter says, also to the spirits in prison.

事实无恶不是这样，并远超你们的想象。因为祂就像使徒说的，『救拔亚伯拉罕的后裔』；因此祂理应在所有的方面被造，像祂的弟兄们一样，并取得一个与我们相似的身体。这就是为什么玛利亚确实预先被选定，好让祂能够从她得到身体，并将那个身体当作自己的，为我们献上。以赛亚在他的预言中指出这点，说：『看哪！童女，』加百列同时被差给她——不仅仅是一位童女，而是『一位已经与一个男人订婚的童女，』为的是借着与男人订婚，以表明玛利亚确实是一个人。圣经因着这个缘故也提到她生产，并论到她用襁褓包裹祂；故此，祂所吸允的乳房被称作有福的。祂被献上为祭物，以至于被生出来的祂是头生的。那一切如今都是证明童女生产的证据。加百列以明确无误的方式向她传福音，不仅仅说『由妳而生，』面对那个身体被认为是从外部强加给她的，而是『妳的，』以至于那位被生的能够被相信具有她的兴致，就好像大自然明确的表明，除非童女生产，她就不可能分泌乳汁一样，若一个身体不是先根据其性质被生出，就不可能以母乳喂养，或以襁褓包裹一样。这也是祂在第八天受割礼的意义：西缅用他的手臂抱着祂，因为祂成为一位孩童，当祂长成到十二岁，将近十三岁那么大的时候。因着这并不像有些人所认为的，道的素质被改变，受了割礼，因为它不能被改变。因为救主自己说，『因我─耶和华是不改变的，』 保罗在同时写到：『耶稣基督昨日、今日、一直到永远，是一样的。』那都是因为不可受苦并非物质的神的道在身体中受了割礼，被携带，又吃又喝，感到疲倦，又被钉在木头上受苦。这个就是被放在坟墓里的身体，当道离开它的时候，然而道却为与它分离，也就是说，就像彼得说的，他去找那些在监狱中的诸灵（spirits）。

6. And this above all shews the foolishness of those who say that the Word was changed into bones and flesh. For if this had been so, there were no need of a tomb. For the Body would have gone by itself to preach to the spirits in Hades. But as it was, He Himself went to preach, while the Body Joseph wrapped in a linen cloth, and laid it away at Golgotha. And so it is shewn to all that the Body was not the Word, but Body of the Word. And it was this that Thomas handled when it had risen from the dead, and saw in it the print of the nails, which the Word Himself had undergone, seeing them fixed in His own Body, and though able to prevent it, did not do so. On the contrary, the incorporeal Word made His own the properties of the Body, as being His own Body. Why, when the Body was struck by the attendant, as suffering Himself He asked, ‘Why smitest thou Me?’ And being by nature intangible, the Word yet said, ‘I gave My back to the stripes, and My cheeks to blows, and hid not My face from shame and spitting.’ For what the human Body of the Word suffered, this the Word, dwelling in the body, ascribed to Himself, in order that we might be enabled to be partakers of the Godhead of the Word. And verily it is strange that He it was Who suffered and yet suffered not. Suffered, because His own Body suffered, and He was in it, which thus suffered; suffered not, because the Word, being by Nature God, is impassible. And while He, the incorporeal, was in the passible Body, the Body had in it the impassible Word, which was destroying the infirmities inherent in the Body. But this He did, and so it was, in order that Himself taking what was ours and offering it as a sacrifice, He might do away with it, and conversely might invest us with what was His, and cause the Apostle to say: ‘This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality.’

以上这一切都表明那些说道改变成为血肉之人的愚蠢。因为若是如此，就不需要坟墓。因为身体就会自己去想在阴间中的诸灵传福音了。然而事实上，祂亲自去传福音，约瑟在同时用裹尸布包裹了那个身体，并放在各个他。这就表明身体不是道，身体是道的。当身体从死复活后，这就是多马抓住过的身体，并看见其上的钉痕，道亲自被钉，看见钉子被钉入祂的身体中，虽然祂能够避免这件事，但是祂没有。相反的，非物质的道让身体的属性成为自己的属性，就如同是祂自己的身体一样。为什么，当身体被行刑者击打的时候，在受苦中的祂问，『你为什么要鞭打我？』作为本质为不可理解的道却说，『我让我的背被鞭打，让我的连被掌掴，不让我的脸回避羞辱和被吐痰。』（根据英文重译）因道的人类肉身所受的苦的这个缘故，道住在身体中，将身体归于自己，为的是我们能够成为道的神格的有份者。祂若同时是受苦由没有受苦的那位，真是一件奇怪的事。祂因着祂自己的身体受苦而受苦，祂在那个身体里面，因此受苦；祂没有受苦，因为道的本质是神的本质，是不能受苦的。当那位是非物质的祂在可受苦的身体里面的时候，身体里面就有了不可受苦的道，这就摧毁了身体所继承的软弱。但是，祂如此行乃是为了亲自取得我们所拥有的，将其献上为祭，祂就能够出去那个软弱，能够用相反地方式将祂所有的授予我们，这使得使徒说：『这必朽坏的总要穿上不朽坏的，这必死的总要穿上不死的。』

7. Now this did not come to pass putatively, as some have supposed: far be the thought: but the Saviour having in very truth become Man, the salvation of the whole man was brought about. For if the Word were in the Body putatively, as they say, and by putative is meant imaginary, it follows that both the salvation and the resurrection of man is apparent only, as the most impious Manichæus held. But truly our salvation is not merely apparent, nor does it extend to the body only, but the whole man, body and soul alike, has truly obtained salvation in the Word Himself. That then which was born of Mary was according to the divine Scriptures human by nature, and the Body of the Lord was a true one; but it was this, because it was the same as our body, for Mary was our sister inasmuch as we all are from Adam. And no one can doubt of this when he remembers what Luke wrote. For after He had risen from the dead, when some thought that they did not see the Lord in the body derived from Mary, but were beholding a spirit instead, He said, ‘See My hands and My feet, and the prints of the nails, that it is I Myself: handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me to have. And when He had said thus, He shewed them His hands and His feet.’ Whence they can be refuted who have ventured to say that the Lord was transformed into flesh and bones. For He did not say, ‘As ye see Me to be flesh and bone,’ but ‘as ye see Me to have,’ in order that it might not be thought that the Word Himself was changed into these things, but that He might be believed to have them after His resurrection as well as before His death.

但这不是一种推论，就好像有些人所认为的一样：远离那样的想法：救主确实真正的成为人，带来全人的救赎。因为若道以推论的方式在身体里面，就像他们所说的一样，而推论的意思就是想象，这就会造成人的救赎和复活成为不过是表象而已，正如同最为不敬虔的摩尼所相信的。但是，我们的救赎确实不是一个表象，它也不仅仅扩展到身体而已，而是扩展到全人，身体和魂都一样，在道本身中得到了真正的救赎。那么，那位从玛利亚所生的根据神圣的经文，其本性确实是神，主的身体也是真实的身体；因为那个身体与我们的身体一样，因为玛利亚就是我们的姐妹，就如同我们是亚当的兄弟一样。当人们记得路加所写下的，就不会怀疑。因为祂在从死人中复活后，当某人认为他们在从玛利亚得到的身体中看不见主的时候，反而之际看见一个灵，祂说，『你们看我的手，我的脚，就知道实在是我了。摸我看看！魂无骨无肉，你们看，我是有的。』这就是那些胆敢说主已经被改变成为血肉之人能够被驳斥的原因。因为祂并不是说，『就像你们看见我是血肉，』而是说，『就像你们看我有，』为的是别让人认为道自己已经改变成为那些东西，而是祂也能被相信在复活后并在祂的死亡前都拥有那一切。

8. These things being thus demonstrated, it is superfluous to touch upon the other points, or to enter upon any discussion relating to them, since the body in which the Word was is not coessential with the Godhead, but was truly born of Mary, while the Word Himself was not, changed into bones and flesh, but came in the flesh. For what John said, ‘The Word was made flesh,’ has this meaning, as we may see by a similar passage; for it is written in Paul: ‘Christ has become a curse for us.’ And just as He has not Himself become a curse, but is said to have done so because He took upon Him the curse on our behalf, so also He has become flesh not by being changed into flesh, but because He assumed on our behalf living flesh, and has become Man. For to say ‘the Word became flesh,’ is equivalent to saying ‘the Word has become man;’ according to what is said in Joel: ‘I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh;’ for the promise did not extend to the irrational animals, but is for men, on whose account the Lord is become Man. As then this is the sense of the above text, they all will reasonably condemn themselves who have thought that the flesh derived from Mary existed before her, and that the Word, prior to her, had a human soul, and existed in it always even before His coming. And they too will cease who have said that the Flesh was not accessible to death, but belonged to the immortal Nature. For if it did not die, how could Paul deliver to the Corinthians ‘that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures,’ or how did He rise at all if He did not also die? Again, they will blush deeply who have even entertained the possibility of a Tetrad instead of a Triad resulting, if it were said that the Body was derived from Mary. For if (they argue) we say the Body is of one Essence with the Word, the Triad remains a Triad; for then the Word imports no foreign element into it; but if we admit that the Body derived from Mary is human, it follows, since the Body is foreign in Essence, and the Word is in it, that the addition of the Body causes a Tetrad instead of a Triad.

因此那些事物被证明，触及那些点，或进入任何与其有关的讨论都是多余的，因为道在其中的身体并不是与神格同质，而是真从玛利亚所生，在同时，道本并没有被改变为血肉，而是进入肉身中。因为约翰说，『道成肉身，』就具有这样的意义，正如同我们从一个类似的段落中看见的一样；因为保罗写到，『基督为我们成为咒诅。』就像祂并没有亲自成为咒诅一样，而是被称作如此，因为祂为自己取得了咒诅，以至于祂成为肉身并不是因着改变成为肉身，而是因为祂因着我们的缘故取得了活生生的肉身，并成为人。因为说『道成为肉身，』就是等于说『道已经成为人；』根据约珥所说的，『我要将我的灵浇灌凡有血气的；』因为应许并不会被延伸到无理性的动物身上，而是为了人，主因着他们的缘故成为人。这就是前面的经文的意义，它们都会合理的定罪那些认为从玛利亚取得的肉身存在于玛利亚之前，并存在于她之前的道拥有一个人类的魂，而这个存在在道里面的魂总是存在于祂临及世界之前的那些人。他们也就不再会说肉身不会死，而属于那个不死的性质。因为如果它不会死，保罗如何能够告诉哥林多人说，『基督照圣经所说，为我们的罪死了，』或如果祂没死过，又如何复活呢？再者，那些能够四一体的可能性，而不接受三一体所产生的结果的人士深深的感到羞惭，如果圣经说身体是从玛利亚而来的。因为如同（他们辩称）我们说身体与道是同一个素质，三一体仍然是三一体；因为道并没有把任何陌生的元素引入三一体；但是，如果我们承认从玛利亚来的身体是人类的身体，这就造成，因为身体与神的元素不同，而道在其中，加入身体就产生了一个不是三一体的四一体。

9. When they argue thus, they fail to perceive the contradiction in which they involve themselves. For even though they say that the Body is not from Mary, but is coessential with the Word, yet none the less (the very point they dissemble, to avoid being credited with their real opinion) this on their own premises can be proved to involve a Tetrad. For as the Son, according to the Fathers, is coessential with the Father, but is not the Father Himself, but is called coessential, as Son with Father, so the Body, which they call coessential with the Word, is not the Word Himself, but a distinct entity. But if so, on their own shewing, their Triad will be a Tetrad. For the true, really perfect and indivisible Triad is not accessible to addition as is the Triad imagined by these persons. And how do these remain Christians who imagine another God in addition to the true one? For, once again, in their other fallacy one can see how great is their folly. For if they think because it is contained and stated in the Scriptures, that the Body of the Saviour is human and derived from Mary, that a Tetrad is substituted for a Triad, as though the Body created an addition, they go very far wrong, so much so as to make the creature equal to the Creator, and suppose that the Godhead can receive an addition. And they have failed to perceive that the Word is become Flesh, not by reason of an addition to the Godhead, but in order that the flesh may rise again. Nor did the Word proceed from Mary that He might be bettered, but that He might ransom the human race. How then can they think that the Body, ransomed and quickened by the Word, made an addition in respect of Godhead to the Word that had quickened it? For on the contrary, a great addition has accrued to the human Body itself from the fellowship and union of the Word with it. For instead of mortal it is become immortal; and, though an animal body, it is become spiritual, and though made from earth it entered the heavenly gates. The Triad, then, although the Word took a body from Mary, is a Triad, being inaccessible to addition or diminution; but it is always perfect, and in the Triad one Godhead is recognised, and so in the Church one God is preached, the Father of the Word.

当他们这样辩称的时候，他们就没有察觉他们自己的矛盾。因为虽然他们说身体不是从玛利亚来的，而是与道同质，然而（他们掩饰自己的论点，以避免因他们真实的观点臭名远扬）这个由他们提出的看法仍然能够被证明会产生一个四一体。因为根据父老们，作为子就是与父同质，但是不是父自己，而被称作同质，就好像子与父的关系一样，身体也是如此，他们称身体与道同质，却又不是道自己，而是一个不同的个体。如果是这样，他们自己表明他们的三一体是一个四一体。因为，真实的，真正完全和不可分割的三一体不可能想那些人所想象的，能够被加入任何事物。那些在真神之外想象出另一位神的，怎么可能还是基督徒呢？爱宠，因为人们可以在他们其它的谬误中看见他们的愚蠢。因为他们如果因为圣经包括并宣称救主的身体是人类的并从玛利亚而来，以至于四一体是由一个三一体所构成，如同虽然身体被造成为一个而外的（元素），他们就大错特错了，这就好像将被造之物等同于造物主，认为神给可以领受而外的（事物）一样。他们也不了解，道成肉身并不是在神格中加添任何事物，而是为的让肉身能够复活。道从玛利亚而来，并不是为了祂能够被提升，而是让祂能够成为人类的赎价。那么，他们怎么能够认为那个被道赎回并点活的身体会成为点活它之道的神格新加入的事物呢？相反地，人类的身体透过道与它的交通和联合而得到了一件伟大的事物。因为必死的成为不死的，虽然它是一个动物的身体，却成为属灵的身体，它虽然从地被造，却进入了属天的大门。虽然道从玛利亚取得了一个身体，三一体仍然是三一体，不会增加或减少；但祂总是完整的，在三一体中只有一个神格，在教会中也只宣扬一位神，就是道的父。

10. For this reason they also will henceforth keep silence, who once said that He who proceeded from Mary is not very Christ, or Lord, or God. For if He were not God in the Body, how came He, upon proceeding from Mary, straightway to be called ‘Emmanuel, which is being interpreted God with us?’ Why again, if the Word was not in the flesh, did Paul write to the Romans ‘of whom is Christ after the flesh, Who is above all God blessed for ever. Amen?’ Let them therefore confess, even they who previously denied that the Crucified was God, that they have erred; for the divine Scriptures bid them, and especially Thomas, who, after seeing upon Him the print of the nails, cried out ‘My Lord and my God!’ For the Son, being God, and Lord of glory, was in the Body which was ingloriously nailed and dishonoured; but the Body, while it suffered, being pierced on the tree, and water and blood flowed from its side, yet because it was a temple of the Word was filled full of the Godhead. For this reason it was that the sun, seeing its creator suffering in His outraged body, withdrew its rays and darkened the earth. But the body itself being of mortal nature, beyond its own nature rose again by reason of the Word which was in it; and it has ceased from natural corruption, and, having put on the Word which is above man, has become incorruptible.

从今以后，他们因着这个原因而静默不语，他们曾经说从玛利亚所生的那位并不是基督，或主，或神。因为如果祂在身体里不是神，祂怎么可能从玛利亚生出来后，当直接被称作『以马内利，当被诠释为神与我们同在』呢？在此，若道不在肉身中，为什么保罗在罗马书中写，『按肉体说，基督也是从他们出来的，他是在万有之上，永远可称颂的神。阿们』呢？有鉴于此，让他们公开承认，即便他们原先否认那位被钉十字架的是神，他们犯了错；因为神圣的经文驳斥了他们，特别是多马，在看见祂身上的钉痕后，大叫『我的主，我的神！』因为子，作为神，和荣耀的主，就在那个以不荣耀的方式被钉在那个身体里面，并被羞辱；但是，那个受苦的身体，在树上被刺，水和血从它的肋旁流出，但它仍是那位被神格所充满之道的殿。因着这个理由，拿看见创造主在引起愤怒的身体中受苦的太阳，收起了它的光芒，使得地球变暗。那本具有必死性质的身体，因着在其中的道超越其自身的性质的缘故复活；不再具有天然的败坏，披上了超越万人的道，而成为不朽坏的。

11. But with regard to the imagination of some, who say that the Word came upon one particular man, the Son of Mary, just as it came upon each of the Prophets, it is superfluous to discuss it, since their madness carries its own condemnation manifestly with it. For if He came thus, why was that man born of a virgin, and not like others of a man and woman? For in this way each of the saints also was begotten. Or why, if the Word came thus, is not the death of each one said to have taken place on our behalf, but only this man’s death? Or why, if the Word sojourned among us in the case of each one of the prophets, is it said only in the case of Him born of Mary that He sojourned here ‘once at the consummation of the ages?’ Or why, if He came as He had come in the saints of former times, did the Son of Mary alone, while all the rest had died without rising as yet, rise again on the third day? Or why, if the Word had come in like manner as He had done in the other cases, is the Son of Mary alone called Emmanuel, as though a Body filled full of the Godhead were born of her? For Emmanuel is interpreted ‘God with us.’ Or why, if He came thus, is it not said that when each of the saints ate, drank, laboured, and died, that He (the Word) ate, drank, laboured, and died, but only in the case of the Son of Mary. For what that Body suffered is said to have been suffered by the Word. And while we are merely told of the others that they were born, and begotten, it is said in the case of the Son of Mary alone that ‘The Word was made Flesh.’

但是，对于某些人的想象力而已，他们说道临及某一个特定的人，玛利亚的儿子，就好像临及那些先知一样，那根本不必加以讨论，因为他们的疯狂为自己带来显而易见的定罪。如果祂临及我们，为什么那个人还需要从童女而生，不像其他的男女一样？因为所有的圣徒都是这样被生的。或者，为什么道临及我们，并不是像我们每一个人一样因着各自的行为而死，而是成为这个人而死呢？或者，为什么若道透过每一位先知身上住在我们中间，而在祂透过玛利亚出生这件事上，经上仅仅说到『在所有世代完成（根据英文重译）的时候』呢？或者，为什么祂在过去的世代中临及圣徒，而所有其他的人死了就没有再复活，而唯有玛利亚的儿子在第三天复活呢？或者，为什么道以祂曾经使用的方式临及我们，而只有玛利亚的儿子被称作以马内利，就好像那个被神给充满的身体从她而生呢？因为以马内利可以被解释为『神与我们同在。』或者，为什么，如果祂临及我们，并不像其他的圣徒一样吃、喝、工作和死亡，祂也（道）吃、和、工作和死亡，但是仅仅是作为玛利亚的儿子而已。因为身体所忍受的也被称作道所忍受的。当我们仅仅被其他的人告知，他们出生、并被生，圣经只称玛利亚的儿子为『道成肉身。』

12. This proves that while to all the others the Word came, in order that they might prophesy, from Mary the Word Himself took flesh, and proceeded forth as man; being by nature and essence the Word of God, but after the flesh man of the seed of David, and made of the flesh of Mary, as Paul said. Him the Father pointed out both in Jordan and on the Mount, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ Him the Arians denied, but we recognising worship, not dividing the Son and the Word, but knowing that the Son is the Word Himself, by Whom all things are made, and by Whom we were redeemed. And for this reason we wonder how any contention at all has arisen among you about things so clear. But thanks to the Lord, much as we were grieved at reading your memoranda, we were equally glad at their conclusion. For they departed with concord, and peacefully agreed in the confession of the pious and orthodox faith. This fact has induced me, after much previous consideration, to write these few words; for I am anxious lest by my silence this matter should cause pain rather than joy to those whose concord occasions joy to ourselves. I therefore ask your piety in the first place, and secondly those who hear, to take my letter in good part, and if anything is lacking in it in respect of piety, to set that right, and inform me. But if it is written, as from one unpractised in speech, below the subject and imperfectly, let all allow for my feebleness in speaking. Greet all the brethren with you. All those with us greet you; may you live in good health in the Lord, beloved and truly longed for.

这就证明当道临及其他的人的时候，只是为了他们能够作先知说话，道亲自从玛利亚取得肉身，并作为一个人宣道；祂的性质和素质就是神的道，但根据肉身是戴维的后裔，一个人，并从玛利亚被造为肉身，正如保罗所说的一样。祂和父在约旦河和变化山上都指出，说，『这是我的爱子，是我所喜悦的。』亚流派的人否认祂，但我们却认为敬拜祂不意味着分割子和道，反而是承认子就是道的本身，万有藉祂被造，我们也借着祂被赎回。我们因着这个理由纳闷你们中间为什么会产生关于那些那么明白无误之事物的争论。但是，感谢主，就当我们因着阅读你们的记录而哀伤的时候，我们也因着那些记录的结论感到高兴。因为它们和谐一致的脱离纷争，并以和平的方式认可了敬虔和正统的信仰。这个事实促使我，在前述的顾虑后，写下那些字；因为我担心，希望我对这件事静默不语不会造成痛苦，反而会让那些和游戏一致的人把欢乐带个我们。故此，我先请求敬虔的您，再请求那些听见这些话的人能够善待我们的心，若这封信缺少任何敬虔的方面，为了改进的缘故，请告诉我，。但是，若所写下的若因为讲的不清楚，文不对题并写的不完美，请您们容忍我的言不及义。问候所有与您在一起的弟兄们。那些与我们同在的弟兄们也问候您；祝您在主里身体健康，您是我们挚爱并期望碰面的。