ACC ~ Luke 1 v2

EYEWITNESSES AND MINISTERS OF THE INCARNATE WORD

AMBROSE: The ministry of the word is greater than the hearing of it. Not the spoken word but the essential Word is meant—that which was made flesh and dwelt among us [1] —so do not understand it as the common word but as that celestial Word to whom the apostles ministered. For one reads in Exodus that the people saw the voice [2] of the Lord, yet truly a voice is not seen but heard. For what is a voice but a sound, which is not discerned with the eyes but perceived with the ear? Truly, with the highest genius, Moses wished to proclaim that the voice of God is seen, for it is seen with the sight of the inner mind. In the Gospel, not a voice but the Word, which is more excellent than a voice, is seen. LUKE 1:1-4

You see, therefore, that the Word of God was seen and heard by the apostles. They saw the Lord, not only according to the body but also according to the Word. For they with Moses and Elijah saw the glory of the Word. [3] They who saw him in his glory saw Jesus. Others who could see only the body did not see him. Jesus is seen not with the eyes of the body but with the eyes of the spirit. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 1.5. [4]

[1] Jn 1:14.

[2] Ex 20:18.

[3] Mt 17:3.

[4] EHG 9**.

HANDING DOWN THE TRADITIONS

ATHANASIUS: What the apostles received, they passed on without change, so that the doctrine of the mysteries (the sacraments) and Christ would remain correct. The divine Word—the Son of God—wants us to be their disciples. It is appropriate for them to be our teachers, and it is necessary for us to submit to their teaching alone. Only from them and from those who have faithfully taught their doctrine do we get, as Paul writes, “faithful words, worthy of complete acceptance.” [1] With them we are back to ground level, because they did not become disciples as a result of what they heard from others. Rather, they were eyewitnesses and servants of God the Word, and they handed down what they heard directly from him. FESTAL LETTER 2.7. [2]

[1] 1 Tim 1:15.

[2] ARL 65*; NPNF 2 4:512**.

TRADITIONS OF INCARNATION AND ATONEMENT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: They “who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word” did not hand on to us that he was one Son and another, as I said, but one and the same, God and man at the same time, the only-begotten and the firstborn. This came about in order that he might have the first title as God and the second as man, when he “was born among many brothers,” [1] having assumed our likeness. [He had not] joined another man to himself—as it seemed good to some persons to think—but [he] really and truly [became] man and [did] not relinquish being what he was, being God by nature and impassible. For this reason he voluntarily suffered in his own flesh. He has not given the body of someone else for us. Rather, the only-begotten Word of God himself offered himself, after he became man, as an immaculate victim to God the Father. LETTER 67.4. [2]

[1] Rom 8:29.

[2] FC 77:62*.