Letter to Maximus the Philosopher

1Having read what you have now written, I welcomed your reverence, but I marveled greatly at the rashness of those who understand neither what they say nor what they confidently assert, and I truly resolved to remain silent. For to answer things so obvious and shining more than light is nothing other than to provide excuses for shamelessness to those who break the law in this way. And this we have learned from the Savior. For when Pilate had washed his hands and grasped the slander of the Jews of that time, the Lord no longer answered him, but rather sent a divine warning to his wife, so that the one being judged might be believed to be God, not in word but in power. And by not answering Caiaphas in his foolish talk, he himself by his promise brought all to knowledge. So after long delay and seeing the word-battling of those who act shamelessly, I at last gave way out of respect for your zeal for the truth, and I dictated nothing more than what you wrote, so that you, by the very things the opponent has contradicted, may finally stop his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit (Psalm 33:13-14 LXX; 34:12-13 Hebrew). And may such people no longer taunt, with the Jews who passed by then, the one hanging on the tree, saying, “If he is the Son of God, he will save himself” (Matthew 27:40). But if they do not sink down even so, then you, remembering the apostolic command, reject a heretical man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a person is warped and sins, being self-condemned (Titus 3:10-11). For if those who dare such things are Greeks or Judaizers, let them as Jews consider the cross of Christ a scandal, and as Greeks foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:23); but if they pretend to be Christians, let them learn that the crucified Christ is Lord of glory, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). And if they doubt that he is also God, let them reverence Thomas, who touched the crucified one and said that he is Lord and God. And let them fear the Lord himself, the one saying after washing the disciples’ feet, “You call me the Lord and the teacher, and you speak well, for I am” (John 13:13). And in the body in which he was present when he washed their feet, in that same body he bore our sins upon the tree. And he was witnessed as master of creation, when the sun drew in its rays, and the earth trembled, and the rocks were split, and the executioners recognized that truly the crucified one is the Son of God. For the body that was seen was not some man’s, but God’s, in which he was present even when he was crucified, and he raised the dead. Therefore their bold saying is not good, which says that the Word of God came into some holy man—for this happened in each of the prophets and the other saints—so that he might not appear to be born and dying again in each one. But it is not so; may it never be! But once, at the consummation of the ages, for the nullification of sin, the Word himself became flesh, and from Mary the Virgin he came forth as man in our likeness, as he also said to the Jews, “Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you?” (John 8:40). And it is not by partaking of some man’s body, but by receiving the body of the Word himself, that we are made divine.

2I am also amazed at this in particular: how they have dared even to conceive that he became man by sequence of nature. For if that were so, the remembrance of Mary would be needless. Nature knows no virgin giving birth without a man.

So by the good pleasure of the Father, he who is true God, and by nature the Word of God, and wisdom of the Father, became man in bodily manner for our salvation, so that, having something to offer for us, he might save all of us who through fear of death were held in slavery all our lives (Hebrews 2:15). For no mere man gave himself for us, since every man is liable to death, according to what Scripture said in Adam to all, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), nor did any other created thing, since every creation is open to change. But the Word of God himself offered his own body for us, so that faith and hope may not be in a man, but we may have faith in God, the Word of God.

And even though he became man, we behold his glory, the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). For the things he endured through the body he ennobled as God: he hungered in flesh, yet with God’s power he fed the hungry. And if anyone stumbles at the bodily things, let him trust what God does. For as man he asked where Lazarus lay, yet as God he raised him.

So let no one laugh and name childhood and age, and growth, and eating and drinking, and suffering, lest by denying the proper things of the body he wholly deny his dwelling among us for us. And as he did not become man by sequence of nature, so it was fitting that in taking a body he should show the proper things of it, lest the appearance taught by the Manichaean prevail. And it was fitting in turn that in living in bodily manner he should not hide what shows he is God, lest Paul of Samosata find an excuse to call him a man, as another apart from the Word of God.

Let the unbeliever, then, take note of this and learn that he was a babe on a manger, yet when worshiped by the magi he brought them into submission; and he was a child when he went down to Egypt, yet he abolished the handmade things of idol worship; and though crucified in flesh, he raised the long-rotted dead. And it has been shown to all that he endured everything not for himself but for us, so that we, clothed in freedom from suffering and decay through his sufferings, may remain to eternal life.

These things I have dictated briefly for you from your own writings, as I said before, elaborating nothing further but only recalling the cross of God, so that in the very things at which the careless stumbled they may be taught anew and worship the crucified. But you, in sincerity, persuade the unbelievers; perhaps somehow they may come from ignorance to knowledge and believe rightly. And though what was written by you is itself sufficient, still for the sake of reminder it is good to add these things also against the contentious, so that they may not be shamed as refuted for what they dared, but as reminded may not forget the truth. For let him hold fast the things confessed in Nicaea by the Fathers; for they are right and sufficient to overthrow every most impious heresy, and above all the Arian heresy, which speaks evil against the Word of God and of necessity is impious against his Holy Spirit. Greet all who think rightly. All with us greet you.