In late August this site ran the second half of a parish brochure I had prepared as a simple introduction to Orthodox history and doctrine. In it I gave a very brief summary of key elements of the Nicene Creed. One sentence read: “It [the Creed] declares God to be the Father and Creator of all things. It stresses the true ‘incarnation’ of the eternal Son of God, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, died and rose from the dead…”
Shortly after the appearance of the article in this space, an e-mail message arrived from a friend I haven’t seen in years. He found the web-site with the brochure and had the kindness to write and point out a serious problem with my formulation.
The issue in question has to do with the words “conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.” François, my friend, pointed out that this wording is closer to that of the so-called Apostles’ Creed. (This is a Latin formula that took final shape toward the late sixth or seventh century, but which is based on earlier creeds dating from the end of the second century. A creedal statement attributed to Hippolytus (c. 215), for example, reads: “Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was begotten by the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary.”) The Apostles’ Creed reads: “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.” The Nicene formulation, on the other hand, declares that the Son of God was “incarnate of the Holy Spirit AND the Virgin Mary, and became man.”
This is not just some abstruse, insignificant matter that’s of interest only to theologians. The Nicene formulation—and not that of the Latin creeds—is the touchstone of our faith, insofar as it preserves and proclaims that Jesus is truly the “God-Man,” who once and for all time assumed our human nature in all its aspects (except for our sinfulness, understood as a lack or negation), was crucified and died, then was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, bearing our humanity in Himself. Jesus is the very archetype of our humanity, the model or icon of sanctified and perfected human existence. As such, He is the “First Adam” as well as the “Last Adam.” At His incarnation, He assumed the fullness of that humanity from the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:30-35). Mary, the “Theotokos” or “God-bearer,” is not merely a depository or conduit, in or through whom the eternal Son appeared on earth. He assumed human “flesh” from her (John 1:14), such that her role in the incarnation of the eternal Word is crucial, indispensable—as important to our salvation as the corresponding, complementary work of the Holy Spirit. In the words of St Gregory the Theologian, “what is not assumed is not saved.” If Jesus of Nazareth was only the divine Word who was “born of the Virgin” yet did not receive human nature from her, then He never “assumed” our humanity. And we are “dead in our sins.”
Many Orthodox, like François, have found themselves involved in dialogue with Roman Catholic friends and colleagues. In his part of the world, in any case (he’s now in retirement in Brittany, but this holds true for France in general), the Orthodox find themselves back in time, immersed in the christological controversies of the early centuries, obliged to defend against one or another distortion of incarnational theology the conviction that Jesus is “fully God and fully man,” and that through His death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, He remains so for all eternity.
When I wrote the words that appeared in that little brochure, I was thinking of the Annunciation to Mary as it appears in the Gospel of St Luke. There it is affirmed in the clearest way that the incarnation is realized by the power of the Spirit. But it also affirms that Mary’s role is indispensable: not only because of her acceptance of the miracle, her “fiat,” but because, once again, the one to be born of her receives from her His human nature: He, the Son of God, is also her son, born not “in,” “through” or “from” her, but “of her,” of her very being. He assumes human nature from her, in order that He might deify it. And in so doing, He opens the way for each of us to be deified in Him, by means of our incorporation into Him through faith, baptism and works of love.
This is certainly no minor issue. And I’m very grateful that it was pointed out to me. (Merci, François !).
Imbalance, once again, is the bane of Orthodoxy. The perfect balance and harmony between Christ’s humanity and divinity are to each of us gifts of grace upon which rest our deepest hope and longing. If that hope-filled longing will one day be answered by our welcome into the Kingdom of God, it is only because the man Jesus was, is and shall always remain the “God-Man.” This point we need to hold on to, defend and proclaim, for the sake of life itself.