Worshiping the Creator in the flesh
Athanasius is answering the Arians' charge that Christians worship a creature, and he now states the Church's true worship of the Word who became flesh.
We do not worship a creature. Never! That is the error of pagans and Arians. We worship the Lord of creation, the Word of God, who became flesh. For even if the flesh in itself is part of created things, it has become God's body. And we do not worship such a body by dividing it from the Word and taking it on its own, nor, when we want to worship the Word, do we push him far away from the flesh. Rather, knowing, as we said before, that "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14), we recognize him as God even when he has come in the flesh. Who, then, is so foolish as to say to the Lord, "Leave your body so that I may worship you"? Or who is so impious as to say to him, along with the foolish Jews, because of the body, "Why do you, being a man, make yourself God?" (John 10:33; cf. John 8:40). But the leper was not like that. He worshiped God who was present in a body, and he knew that he was God, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean" (Matthew 8:2). He did not think the Word of God was a creature because of the flesh, nor did he despise the flesh the Word had put on because the Word is the maker of every creature. Rather, as in a created temple he worshiped the Creator of all, and he was made clean. So too the woman with the flow of blood believed, and merely touching the fringe of his garment, she was healed. The sea, foaming with waves, heard the Word who had become flesh, and the storm ceased. The man blind from birth was healed by the Word through the spittle of the flesh. And what is greater and more astonishing—for perhaps this is what scandalized even the most impious—while the Lord himself hung on the cross (for the body was his, and the Word was in it), the sun was darkened, the earth shook, the rocks were split, the curtain of the temple was torn, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised (Matthew 27:51-52). These things happened, and no one reasoned, as the Arians now dare to do, about whether one should obey the Word who had become flesh. Even seeing a man, they recognized him as their maker. Even hearing a human voice, they did not say, because of his humanity, that the Word is a creature. Rather, they trembled all the more, and they knew no less that he was speaking from a holy temple. How then are the impious not afraid that, just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, they may be handed over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done (Romans 1:28)? For creation does not worship a creature, nor again did it refuse to worship its Lord because of the flesh. It saw its own maker in a body, and at the name of Jesus Christ every knee bent, and will bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess, even if the Arians do not think so, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). For the flesh did not bring dishonor to the Word. Never! Rather, it has been glorified by him. Nor, because the Son who was in the form of God took the form of a servant, was he diminished in his divinity (Philippians 2:6-7). Rather, he himself became the liberator of all flesh and of all creation.
Greek
Οὐ κτίσμα προσκυνοῦμεν· μὴ γένοιτο! Ἐθνικῶν γὰρ καὶ Ἀρειανῶν ἡ τοιαύτη πλάνη· ἀλλὰ τὸν Κύριον τῆς κτίσεως σαρκωθέντα τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον προσκυνοῦμεν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἡ σὰρξ αὐτὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν μέρος ἐστὶ τῶν κτισμάτων, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ γέγονε σῶμα. Καὶ οὔτε τὸ τοιοῦτον σῶμα καθ' ἑαυτὸ διαι ροῦντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Λόγου προσκυνοῦμεν· οὔτε τὸν Λόγον προσκυνῆσαι θέλοντες, μακρύνομεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκός· ἀλλ' εἰδότες, καθὰ προείπομεν, τὸ, Ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, τοῦτον καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ γενόμε νον, ἐπιγινώσκομεν Θεόν. Τίς τοιγαροῦν οὕτως ἄφρων ἐστὶν, ὡς λέγειν τῷ Κυρίῳ· Ἀπόστα ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος, ἵνα σε προσκυνήσω; Ἢ τίς οὕτως ἀσεβής ἐστιν, ὡς μετὰ τῶν ἀφρόνων Ἰουδαίων διὰ τὸ σῶμα λέγειν αὐτῷ· Διὰ τί σὺ, ἄνθρωπος ὢν, ποιεῖς σεαυτὸν Θεόν; Ἀλλ' οὐ τοιοῦτος ὁ λεπρός· προσεκύνει γὰρ τὸν Θεὸν ἐν σώματι ὄντα, καὶ ἐγίνωσκεν, ὅτι Θεὸς ἦν, λέγων· Κύριε, ἐὰν θέλῃς, δύνασαί με καθαρίσαι. Καὶ οὔτε διὰ τὴν σάρκα ἐνόμισε κτίσμα τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον· οὔτε διὰ τὸ εἶναι τὸν Λόγον δημιουργὸν πάσης κτίσεως, ἐξουθένει τὴν σάρκα, ἣν ἐνδεδυμένος ἦν· ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν κτιστῷ ναῷ τὸν κτίστην τοῦ παντὸς προσεκύνει, καὶ ἐκαθαρίζετο. Οὕτως καὶ ἡ αἱμοῤῥοοῦσα γυνὴ, πιστεύσασα καὶ μόνον ἁψαμένη τοῦ κρασπέδου, ἰάθη· καὶ ἡ μὲν θάλαττα ἐπαφρίζουσα τοῖς κύμασιν ἤκουσε τοῦ σαρκωθέντος Λόγου, καὶ πέπαυται τοῦ χειμῶνος· ὁ δὲ ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλὸς, πτύσματι τῆς σαρκὸς τεθεράπευται παρὰ τοῦ Λόγου. Καὶ τό γε μεῖζον καὶ παραδοξότερον (ἴσως γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τοὺς ἀσεβεστάτους ἐσκανδάλισε), καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ σταυροῦ κρεμαμένου τοῦ Κυρίου (αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἦν τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἦν ὁ Λόγος), ὁ μὲν ἥλιος ἐσκοτίσθη, ἡ δὲ γῆ ἐτρόμασεν, αἱ πέτραι ἐσχίσθησαν, καὶ τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ ἐσχίσθη, καὶ πολλὰ σώματα τῶν κεκοιμημένων ἁγίων ἀνέστη. Ταῦτα δὲ γέγονε, καὶ οὐδεὶς, ὥσπερ νῦν οἱ Ἀρειανοὶ τολμῶσι, διελογίσατο, εἰ δεῖ σαρκωθέντι τῷ Λόγῳ πείθεσθαι· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄνθρωπον βλέποντες, ἐπεγίνωσκον αὐτὸν ὄντα δημιουργὸν αὐτῶν· καὶ ἀνθρωπίνης φωνῆς ἀκούοντες, οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἔλεγον, ὅτι ὁ Λόγος κτίσμα ἐστίν· ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον ἔτρεμον, καὶ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐγίνωσκον, ἢ ὅτι ἐκ ναοῦ ἁγίου ἐφθέγγετο. Πῶς τοίνυν οἱ ἀσεβεῖς οὐ φοβοῦνται μὴ, καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν Θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, παραδοθῶσιν εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα; Οὐ γὰρ κτίσματι ἡ κτίσις προσκυνεῖ· οὐδὲ πάλιν διὰ τὴν σάρκα παρῃτεῖτο τὸν Κύ ριον ἑαυτῆς προσκυνεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἑαυτῆς δημιουργὸν ἔβλεπεν ἐν σώματι· καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πᾶν γόνυ ἔκαμπτε, καὶ κάμψει δὲ, ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων, καὶ καταχθονίων, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται, κἂν τοῖς Ἀρειανοῖς μὴ δοκῇ, ὅτι Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. Οὐ γὰρ ἀδοξίαν ἤνεγκεν ἡ σὰρξ τῷ Λόγῳ· μὴ γένοιτο! ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον αὕτη δεδόξασται παρ' αὐτοῦ. Οὐδὲ, ἐπειδὴ δούλου μορφὴν ἀνέλαβεν ὁ ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων Υἱὸς, ἠλαττώθη τῆς θεότητος· ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον αὐτὸς ἐλευθερωτὴς πάσης σαρκὸς καὶ πάσης κτίσεως γέγονε.