Athanasius to the Bishop of the Persians

Steven Avery

Administrator
Epistula ad episcopum Persarum (350-550 AD)

• [Forster] Now the following passage is his [Athanasius] definition of the doctrine of the Trinity, addressed to the heathen Persians: and drawn up, he tells them, “according to Scripture” (κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον).
(Forster, A New Plea for the Authenticity of the Text of the Three Heavenly Witness, 1867, p. 89)

HIT:
[Letter to the Bishop of the Persians] Therefore, to us there is one God, from whom are all things; A perfect Trinity [Three persons], consubstantial, of equal power, of equal glory; The Father [who is the source] of all good things, from whom the Son has been begotten, from whom the Holy Spirit is proceeding according to scriptures [that which has been written]; One Godhead making himself known in three hypostasis.
(Athanasius, Letter to the Bishop of the Persians; Translated by Pavlos D. Vasileiadis.)

○ Greek: Εἷς γὰρ Θεὸς ἡμῖν, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα· Τριὰς τελεία, ὁμοούσιος, ἰσοδύναμος, ἰσοκλεής· Πατὴρ ἡ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν πηγὴ, ἐξ οὗ ὁ Υἱὸς ἐγεννήθη, ἐξ οὗ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκπορεύεται κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· Μία θεότης ἐν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσι γνωριζομένη.
(Athanasius, Epistula ad episcopum Persarum; Migne Graeca, PG 28.1568B)

Comment:
• [Forster] By his own words,”according to the Scripture”(κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον), St. Athanasius here tells us that he is copying Scripture. And the Scripture copied from, in his concluding words, is, self-evidently, 1 John v. 7, where alone the three-one doctrine is so stated.

(Forster, A New Plea for the Authenticity of the Text of the Three Heavenly Witness, 1867, p. 89)
http://books.google.com/books?id=yXIsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA89
 
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