Athanasius of Alexandria Quotes

For the Word, realizing that in no other way would the corruption of human beings be undone except, simply, by dying, yet being immortal and the Son of the Father of the Word was not able to die, for this reason he takes to himself a body capable of death, in order that it, participating in the Word who is above all, might be sufficient for death on behalf of all, and through the indwelling Word would remain incorruptible, and so corruption might henceforth cease from all by the grace of the resurrection.

So purity of soul is sufficient of itself to reflect God, as the Lord also says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

He was made man in order that we might be made gods.[Christ] manifested himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality.

For who that saw Him give back what was deficient to men born lacking, and open the eyes of the man blind from his birth, would have failed to perceive that the nature of men was subject to Him, and that He was its Artificer and Maker?

Forse ti meravigli, perché avendo noi stabilito di parlare dell'Incarnazione del Logos, ora trattiamo dell'inizio degli uomini; ma ciò non è estraneo alla nostra trattazione. Infatti è necessario che noi parlando della manifestazione del Salvatore tra noi, parliamo anche dell'inizio del'umanità affinché tu conosca che la nostra colpa fu a Lui motivo della Sua venuta e che la nostra trasgressione provocò la filantropia del Logos.

For the Lord touched all parts of creation, and freed and undeceived them all from every deceit.

Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet.

But as to Gentile wisdom, and the sounding pretensions of the philosophers, I think none can need our argument, since the wonder is before the eyes of all, that while the wise among the Greeks had written so much, and were unable to persuade even a few from their own neighbourhood, concerning immortality and a virtuous life, Christ alone, by ordinary language, and by men not clever with the tongue, has throughout all the world persuaded whole churches full of men to despise death, and to mind the things of immortality;

will any one still hold his mind in doubt whether a Resurrection has been accomplished by the Saviour, and whether Christ is alive, or rather is Himself the Life?

Divine Scripture is sufficient above all things.

when transgression had once gained a start, men became involved in that corruption which was their nature, and were deprived of the grace which they had, being in the image of God,

Thus He would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.

The Word understood that corruption could not be eliminated except through death. However, being the immortal Word and the Son of the Father, He could not die. For this reason, He took on a body capable of death so that, by belonging to the Word above all, it could become a sufficient exchange for everyone in death.

The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity (“mere Christianity” as Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective.

He gives them a share in His own Image, our Lord Jesus Christ, and makes them after His own Image and after His likeness: so that by such grace perceiving the Image, that is, the Word of the Father, they may be able through Him to get an idea of the Father, and knowing their Maker, live the happy and truly blessed life.