Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The Incarnation Day


A quote from The Council of Chalcedon defining the two natures (perfect God and perfect man) in one divine Person of Jesus Christ, conceived today.

Today, Annunciation Day, 25th of March, the world became flesh and the hypstatic union was forever forged by God in Christ, some 2015 years ago!



"[F]ollowing the saintly fathers,
 we all with one voice teach the confession
of one and the same Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ:
the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity,
the same truly God and truly man,
of a rational soul and a body;
consubstantial with the Father as regards his divinity,
and the same consubstantial with us as regards his humanity;
like us in all respects except for sin;
begotten before the ages from the Father as regards his divinity,
and in the last days the same for us and for our salvation from Mary, the virgin God-bearer
as regards his humanity;
one and the same Christ,
Son,
Lord,
only-begotten,
acknowledged in two natures
which undergo no confusion,
no change,
no division,
no separation;
at no point was the difference between the natures taken away through the union,
but rather the property of both natures is preserved and comes together into a single person
and a single subsistent being;
he is not parted or divided into two persons,
but is one and the same only-begotten Son,
God,
Word,
Lord Jesus Christ,
just as the prophets taught from the beginning about him,
and as the Lord Jesus Christ himself instructed us,
and as the creed of the fathers handed it down to us."

»Uno y el mismo Cristo,
Señor,
el Hijo Unigénito,
en dos naturalezas
inconfusamente,
inmutablemente,
indivisamente,
inseparablemente,
ha de ser reconocido,
nunca suprimida la diferencia de las naturalezas por la unión,
más bien salvada la propiedad de una y otra naturaleza,
que concurren en una sola persona e hipóstasis,
no partido o dividido en dos personas,
sino uno y el mismo Hijo,
el Verbo de Dios,
el Señor Jesucristo:
como antes los Profetas acerca de Él
y el mismo Jesucristo nos enseñó,
y nos transmitió el Símbolo de los Padres».

Cf. Christoph Schonborn, Die Christus-Ikone (Schaffhausen, 1984), quoted extensively in Joseph Ratzinger in Communion Volume 2 Antropology and Culture, pp 97-98.