History and Use
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J. N. D. Kelly History and Use pp. 35-51 The Athanasian Creed Staff and students of Cambridge Theological Federation are reminded that copyright subsists in this extract and the work from which it was taken. This Digital Copy has been made under the terms of a CLA licence which allows you to: • access and download a copy; • print out a copy; Please note that this material is for use ONLY by students registered on the course of study as stated in the section below. All other staff and students are only entitled to browse the material and should not download and/or print out a copy. This Digital Copy and any digital or printed copy supplied to or made by you under the terms of this Licence are for use in connection with this Course of Study. You may retain such copies after the end of the course, but strictly for your own personal use. 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Black By the same Author EARLY CHRJSI'lAN CREEDS THE RUfINUS: A COMMENTARY ON THE APOSTLES' CRE.f.D ATHANASIAN CREED EARLY CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES A COMMENTARY ON The Paddock Lectures for 1962- 3 THB PASTORAL EPISTLES BY J. N. D. KELLY, D.D. PRINCIPAL OP ST ED.MUND HALL, OXFORD UNIVERSITY LECTUlUl.R IN PATRISTIC STUDms ADAM & CHARLES BLACK LONDON 34 TEXT, TRANSLATION AND PARALLELS patre divinitatem et plenum ex matre hominem profirerur ... neque enim ignorare debemus ipsum in saeculo secundum car nem creatum ex homine, qui sine initio secundum divinitatem ... est gencratus (C. Ar. resp. ad ob. 3). J!. 33 De nostro enim illi est minor patre humanitas, de patre illi est aequalis cum patre divinitas (Ep. 14, I8). CHAPTER III Ji;. 35 £ Verbwn enim habitans in homine non est mutatum in hom.inem (Ad Tras. 1, 18). In uno eodemque ... Christo Icsu HISTORY AND USE divinae humanaeque substantiae indivisa et inconfusa perfectio non negetur (Ib. r, 20). I. First Appearance JI. 37 Deus mirabili virtutis opere ex duabus naturis, hoc est anima rationali et carne, unam naturam hominis composuic et , Y..NTIL !h.e thirti~s o( the pr~~~t;J,L~s;ntitry sc~olars were obliged in anima ct carne unam personam hominis manere praecepit (De i11cam. 22). to date the first trustworthy reference to the Athanasian Creed 40 ... rationem reddiruri sunt dco et pro to the 7th century, an<l to ToolC t.2_ ilie 8th tor 1ts rust certain Jlr. f. Homines ... suorum qualitate actuum recipient aut poenam aut gloriam appearance. As we have rem~arked, they had detected parallels et procedcnt qui bona fecerw1t in resurrectionem vitae, qui to it in documents much earlier than this, and had sometimes vero mala egerum in resurrectionem iudicii (De fide 40). clai~ed that these were bo ~ rowings from it, or at least echoes _9f it._But it was always theoretically possiblethatthe relation ship was the other way about, the creed itself being dependent on the documents in question; and in any case there could be nothing approaching certainty in such guesses. It can now, ' however, be taken as established that the earliest witness to the uicun ue is Caesarius, the outstanding preacher and pastor ?\ who was primate _o.-~~=-=:::.:::::::....,~ thirty-two) to 542. The credit for this belongs to G. Morin,1 who in 1931 dis covered, or rather rediscovered, at Stuttgart an important MS ~ of c. uoo (Theel. Philos. fol. 201-formerly Zwiefalten 49) containing a selection of Caesarius's sermons. Although the scribe of this particular MS,_o.r_p..o,s_sibl:y one of his £.~decessors, haL_nµ de a number_oLarhit:ra.qu>.m.issions and interpolations, itis dear from the.table.ofailimtents.-or.capJe!.la, ~the beginning that the archety.E_e must have included thir!J'-three sermons. This Zwiefa1ten collection, as we may calCit:' is cIOSelf'related to the so-called homiliary of St Corbinian, z which comprised 1 RB xliv, 1932, 207-19. 2 Cf. G. Morin, S. Caesarii Arelat. mmones I, lx.ii-lxx (CCL 103). 35 36 HISTORY AND USE FIRST APPEARANCE 37 sixty-eight or possibly seventy-two pieces, and may be regarded Q uicunque. On the basis of linguistic parallels 1 between it and as a firs t draft of a Caesarian homiliary covering the liturgical his writings, and also because of its frequent appearance in year. As we know1 that Caesarius made collections of his ser canonical collections emanating from Ades, scholars had often mons 'appropriate to particular festivals and places', it is initially suspected.. .. .C.iesaii..us an.<!. the some ~ COl!!J:~:i:cion Q~twee,11 c r:e~d; probable that he was himself responsible for compiling both had. that -yvas .J.ts hazarded _the auth.or ~ The - zWie: ~.v.en.. .gJ.!ess he these homiliaries. And this probability becomes virtual certainty falten codex provides proof positive not only of his Tami.liaritj when we observe that both are introduced by variants of the with it, but of the determined efforts he made to ensure its same preface written in his unmistakable style and breathing his ci.cculaiioJJ.JUllOng clergy and laity. This inciClentallY settles die characteristic spirit. question of the authenticity, generally disputed hitherto, of his 2 ~ The immense significance of this conclusion comes to light tenth sermon, which contains unmistakable excerpts from the when we notice two further facts about the Zwiefalten codex. Quicunque. There now seems no sound reason for denying it In the first place, its version of the preface contains the striking to him, since his knowledge of, and regard for, the creed have sentence, ' And because it is necessary, and incumbent on them, been demonstrated. T he new evidence also has an important I that all clergymen, and laymen too, should be familiar with the bearing on the authorship of the creed itself and on its original ( \ (' Catholic faith, we have first of all written out in this collection title; but the discussion of these issues must be postponed to T\" (\/ the Catholic faith itself as the holy fathers defined it (in libellis later chapters. A further significant point which comes to light istis secu11d~1m quod sancti patres ipsam fidem catholicam definierunt is that, in the eyes of Caesarius and his conte~poraries, the imprimis scribsimus), for we ought both oursdves frequently to c.reed Vl!S n9~pRare!J.~y a li~gj~iece,Jmt a concise sum- )(1 1 A_ read it and toJus.truet otliers m it ':-The preface then concludes mary of orthodox teaching to be studied and mastered by the with an apology for the inefficiency otGaesariliS's scribes, who - farthfUl. J are, llc_r_emark~ 'mere novices':-Theni;;in-the_sec.Q!!.d £lace, th..e.re_f9llows immediately.,. as the second item in the misceuaiiy 2 . The 6th and 7th Centuries ~ l (t~reface itself is marked in red as the first), the Ath~sian ~ irsel( In.._the list ofcapitula ·itnaabeen announced as Although further evidence for the existence, and use made, \ 1 ;SAN.CJ'I it is placed und.er the heading of the Quicunque in the 6th century is often thought to be q:: A~Asif:tari.a~liere --f!DEs CAmou CA"SAN"'"CTi'ATBA.NAsILEPISCOPI. Not unexpectedly, entirely lacking-,a:nechO-o~ can possibly be overheard in the writings of A¥jtus of Vienn~~ho during his episcopate (c. j ! it ~trea t ed ~ as a homily,_ its ope~g sc~:_i::: having the preacheis ~ 'B_!others' (fratres) inserted J:!ito 1t, indma 49~. 519) waStlie-:ehan.!Eion..ef orthodoxy against Arian.ism : i aodi:~. ~.E~dy, and much more probably in the confession of \1 number of J>laces the wording has. heen altered slightly so as to faith ~ed.Jcing of tneVisigo..)hs.__ in_ilie l'nru~ whiCh I make the s~le more sermon-like. To all intents and purposes, 2 in his of however, the text remains substantially identical with that includ~d aUocuoOiil:o~~~-c?uncil To led~):} .w.h,if.~_h etormal!)r renouncea.AriWism. printed in Chapter II. a~ _ G. Morin's discovery was epoch-making for the study of the Only._a couple or so sentencesor-Avitus are relevant. 1 Cf. list on pp. 31 f. above. 1 Cf. Cyprian of Toulou, Vita Caesarii 1 , SS (G. Morin, S. Caesarii opera 2 CCL 103, 50-3: Serm. 244 in the Appendix to Augustine's sermons omnia ii, 319). 2 See Appendix A. (PL 39, 2194-6). A.C.-4 38 HISTORY AND USE THE 6T H AN D 7TH CENTURIES 39 Referring to the Holy Spirit, he rcmarks, 1 'whom we read of made of it. The first comes from Spain, being provided by the as neither made, nor begotten, nor created' (quem nee factum fourth council of Toledo summoned in 633 by the usurper legimus, nee genitum, nee creatum) ; and again,2 'We declare the Sisenand and presided over by Isidore of Seville._ l~bjects Holy Spirit to proceed from the Son and the Father' (a filio et a wer:e....p_olitical-as-well-3s..r~ligious, and the_kg~n~na cted 1 patre procedere).