“He by whom all things were made
Augustine, Sermon 187
was made one of all things.
The Son of God by the Father without a mother
became the Son of man by a mother without a father.
The Word Who is God before all time
became flesh at the appointed time.
The maker of the sun
was made under the sun.
He Who fills the world
lay in a manger,
great in the form of God
but tiny in the form of a servant;
this was in such a way that
neither was His greatness diminished by His tininess,
nor was His tininess overcome by His greatness.”
“Nothing was so necessary for raising our hope as to show us how deeply God loved us. And what could afford us a stronger proof of this than that the Son of God should become a partner with us of human nature?”
Augustine
“Man’s maker
– Augustine, Sermons 191.1
was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars,
might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread
might hunger,
the Fountain
thirst,
the Light
sleep,
the Way
be tired on its journey;
that the Truth
might be accused of false witness,
the Teacher
be beaten with whips,
the Foundation
be suspended on wood;
that Strength
might grow weak;
that the Healer
might be wounded;
that Life
might die.”
“Man exalted himself and fell;
Augustine
God humbled himself and raised him up.
Christ’s lowliness, what is it?
od has stretched out a hand to man laid low.
We fell,
he descended;
we lay low,
he stooped.
Let us lay hold and rise,
that we fall not into punishment.
So then his stooping to us is this: ‘Born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary.’ His very nativity too as man – it is lowly and it is lofty. Whence lowly? That as man he was born of men. Whence lofty? That he was born of a virgin.”
Do me a favor? If you know of any more similar Augustine quotes, please email them to me.
(Hat tip to Tadd Winter, Spencer Smith, Jonathan Brown, and Cynthia Petermann for the quotes.)
See also:
“What is this novel mystery?
The judge is judged and is silent;
the invisible is seen and is not confounded;
the incomprehensible is grasped and is not indignant at it;
the immeasurable is contained in a measure and makes no opposition;
the impassible suffers and does not avenge its own injury;
the immortal dies and complains not;
the celestial is buried and bears it with an equal mind.”
– Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy, ANF, vol. 6, VI
“There is only one physician, who is both flesh and spirit, born and unborn, God come in flesh, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first subject to suffering and then beyond it, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 7).
“There is therefore one and the same God, the Father of our Lord, who also promised, through the prophets, that He would send His forerunner; and His salvation—that is, His Word—He caused to be made visible to all flesh, [the Word] Himself being made incarnate, that in all things their King might become manifest.” (Irenæus, Against Heresies, 3.9.1)
I Am Aaron Shafovaloff 