A Summary of the Faith and the Heresies

But now, to refresh our memory of what has been said briefly about the heresies named above and about the catholic faith, let us go over it again more briefly and concisely, so that, repeated, it may be understood more thoroughly, and, pressed home, it may be held more firmly. [a]

Cursed, then, be Photinus, who does not accept the Trinity complete, but claims that Christ is a mere man. Cursed be Apollinaris, who claims that the Godhead of Christ is marred by change, and robs him of what belongs to perfect humanity. Cursed be Nestorius, who denies that God was born of the Virgin, claims two Christs, and, rejecting belief in the Trinity, brings in a Quaternity. [b]

But blessed be the catholic church, which worships one God in the completeness of the Trinity, and at the same time adores the equality of the Trinity in the unity of the Godhead, so that neither does the oneness of substance blur the distinctness of the Persons, nor does the distinction of the Persons in the Trinity divide the unity of the Godhead. Blessed, I say, be the church, which believes that in Christ there are two true and perfect substances but one Person, so that neither does the distinction of natures divide the unity of Person, nor does the unity of Person blur the distinction of substances. Blessed, I say, be the church, which understands that God became man not by a change of nature but by way of a Person, and a Person not pretended and passing, but substantial and permanent. Blessed, I say, be the church, which declares this unity of Person to be so real and so effective that, because of it, in a marvelous and inexpressible mystery, she ascribes divine qualities to man and human qualities to God. Because of it, on the one hand, she does not deny that man, as God, came down from heaven; on the other, she believes that God, as man, was created, suffered and was crucified on earth. Because of it, finally, she confesses man to be the Son of God, and God to be the Son of the Virgin.

Blessed, then, and worthy of reverence, blessed and most sacred, and altogether worthy to be compared with those heavenly praises of the angelic host, be the confession that gives glory to the one Lord God with a threefold cry of holiness. For this reason, moreover, she insists firmly on the oneness of the Person of Christ: so that she may not go beyond the mystery of the Trinity, that is, by making in effect a Quaternity. [c]

So much by way of a digression. Another time, God willing, we will deal with this subject and set it out more fully. Now let us return to the matter in hand. [d]