On “Father” · §6 · Amphilochius of Iconium

The sheep and the shepherd: why Christ hides his divinity

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Christ is still speaking in his own defense, explaining to the heretics why he displayed fear and human weakness before his passion.

the plan of salvation of the flesh. For as a sheep to slaughter I was led, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent (Isaiah 53:7). Since the devil lies in wait for me, wanting to seize my flesh as a sheep, but fearing the divinity as a shepherd he withdraws and flees, for this reason I hide my divinity as a shepherd and put forward my flesh as a sheep, so that he may take courage and approach, and approaching may seize it, and seizing my flesh as a sheep he may be destroyed by the two-edged sword of the Spirit. Stop, then, heretic, condemning me for fear and ignorance. For I am afraid so that I may show the assumption of the flesh to be no illusion. I say, 'My soul is troubled,' so that you may learn that I have not assumed a body without a soul, as the error of Apollinaris wants it. Do not, then, attach the passions of the flesh to the impassible Word. For I am God and man, heretic: God, as the miracles guarantee; man, as the sufferings testify. Since therefore I am God and man, tell me who it is who suffered. If God suffered, you have spoken blasphemy. But if the flesh suffered, why do you attach the passion to the one on whom you do not cast the fear? For when one suffers, another does not fear, and when a man is crucified, God is not troubled. And that the flesh suffered while the Word remained impassible, Isaiah is witness, who, seeing me bloodied in the Spirit, asked, 'Why are your garments red?' Your garments, he says, are red, and not you. For the body is wounded, but the Word of the divinity is not harmed. And Jacob the patriarch is witness, who says concerning me, 'He will wash his robe in wine and his wrap in the blood of the grape' (Genesis 49:11). What robe? The body. What blood? That which flowed from the side.

Greek

τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς οἰκονομίαν· Ὡς πρόβατον γὰρ ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθην καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἔναντι τοῦ κείροντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐφεδρεύει μοι ὁ διάβολος, ἁρπάσαι μου τὴν σάρκα ὡς πρόβατον θέλων, δεδιὼς δὲ ὡς ποιμένα τὴν θεότητα ὑπαναχωρεῖ καὶ φεύγει, διὰ τοῦτο κρύπτω μου ὡς ποιμένα τὴν θεότητα, προΐεμαι δὲ τὴν σάρκα ὡς πρόβατον, ἵνα θαρρήσας προσέλθῃ, προσελθὼν δὲ ἁρπάσῃ, ἁρπάσας δέ μου τὴν σάρκα ὡς πρόβατον ἀναιρεθῇ τῇ διστόμῳ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος. Παῦσαι οὖν, αἱρετικέ, δειλίαν μου καὶ ἄγνοιαν καταψηφιζό μενος. ∆ειλιῶ γάρ, ἵνα δείξω ἀφαντασίαστον τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνάληψιν. Λέγω· Ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται, ἵνα μάθητε ὅτι οὐκ ἄψυχον ἀνείληφα σῶμα, ὡς ἡ Ἀπολλιναρίου βούλεται πλάνη. Μὴ τὰ πάθη οὖν τῆς σαρκὸς τῷ ἀπαθεῖ προσρίψῃς λόγῳ· θεὸς γάρ εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος, αἱρετικέ. Θεὸς ὡς ἐγγυᾶται τὰ θαύματα, ἄνθρωπος ὡς μαρτυρεῖ τὰ παθήματα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν θεός εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος, εἰπὲ τίς ἐστιν ὁ παθών; Εἰ ὁ θεὸς ἔπαθεν, εἶπες τὸ βλάσφημον· εἰ δὲ ἡ σὰρξ ἔπαθεν, τί τὸ πάθος προσάπτεις ᾧ τὴν δειλίαν οὐκ ἐπιρίπτεις; ἄλλου γὰρ πάσχοντος ἄλλος οὐ δειλιᾷ καὶ ἀνθρώπου σταυρουμένου θεὸς οὐ ταράττεται. Καὶ ὅτι ἡ σὰρξ ἔπαθεν, ἀπαθοῦς μείναντος τοῦ λόγου, μάρτυς Ἠσαΐας, ὃς ἐν πνεύματί με αἱμαγμένον θεασάμενος ἠρώτα· Ἵνα τί σου ἐρυθρὰ τὰ ἱμάτια; Τὰ ἱμάτιά σου, φησίν, ἐρυθρά, καὶ οὐχὶ σύ. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ σῶμα τιτρώσκεται, ὁ δὲ τῆς θεότητος οὐ παραβλάπτεται λόγος. Μάρτυς δὲ καὶ Ἰακὼβ ὁ πατριάρχης ὁ περὶ ἐμοῦ λέγων· Πλυνεῖ ἐν οἴνῳ τὴν στολὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν αἵματι σταφυλῆς τὴν περιβολὴν αὐτοῦ. Ποίαν στολήν; τὸ σῶμα. Ποίῳ αἵματι; τῷ ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς ῥεύσαντι.

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About this text

A bishop confronts heretics by questioning Jesus' fear of death, using miracles to challenge doubters.

Amphilochius of Iconium (c. 340–c. 395) was the Christian bishop of Iconium in the fourth century. He preached to a Christian congregation and wrote against heretics who called the Son fearful, needy and inferior to the Father.

This work is a homily to that congregation, with the heretics addressed as opponents. It answers their use of Christ's prayer Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me to charge him with fear and inferiority.

Amphilochius opens as a soldier fighting with the help of Stephen the protomartyr, called the general of piety, then gives Christ's own first person answer to the heretics' quoted questions: his fear hides his divinity and shows human weakness to lure the devil and death to attack him as a mere man, so the flesh suffers while the Word remains impassible, meaning unable to suffer, and the Father's refusal to remove the cup of suffering is neither lack of power nor lack of mercy. The reader also meets Moses and Joshua, Peter, Paul, Hosea, Isaiah, Jacob and Job, Adam, the devil as tyrant and deceiver, those raised by Christ such as Lazarus, Jairus's daughter and the widow's son, and the named heretics Eunomius and Arius who rejoice over the prayer and Apollinaris whose error that Christ took a body without a soul is refuted. Here plan of salvation renders God's saving arrangement, flesh is the human body, divinity is the divine nature, Word is the Son, hook and bait describe the trap for the devil, and Bible books follow Septuagint names and Psalm numbering.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 39 (Greek)

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