But indeed,—(the remark is worth making in passing,)—many of our modern Critics seem to forget that the heretics with whom Athanasius, Basil, the Gregories, &c., were chiefly in conflict, did not by any means deny the Godhead of our Lord. Arians and Apolinarians alike admitted that Christ was God. This, in fact, has been pointed out already. Very differently indeed would the ancient Fathers have expressed themselves, could they have imagined the calamitous use which, at the end of 1500 years, perverse wits would make of their writings,—the astonishing inferences they would propose to extract from their very silence. I may not go further into the subject in this place.
[m] The story about Macedonius. His testimony.
It follows to say a few words concerning Macedonius II., patriarch of Constantinople [a.d. 496-511], of whom it has been absurdly declared that he was the inventor of the reading for which I contend. I pointed out on a former occasion [pg 471] that it would follow from that very circumstance, (as far as it is true,) that Macedonius “is a witness for Θεός—perforce.”[1040]
Instead of either assenting to this, (which is surely a self-evident proposition!),—or else disproving it,—you are at the pains to furbish up afresh, as if it were a novelty, the stale and stupid figment propagated by Liberatus of Carthage, that Macedonius was expelled from his see by the Emperor Anastasius for falsifying 1 Timothy iii. 16. This exploded fable you preface by announcing it as “a remarkable fact,” that “it was the distinct belief of Latin writers as early as the VIth century that the reading of this passage had been corrupted by the Greeks.”[1041] How you get your “remarkable fact,” out of your premiss,—“the distinct belief of Latin writers,” out of the indistinct rumour [“dicitur”] vouched for by a single individual,—I see not. But let that pass.
“The story shows” (you proceed) “that the Latins in the sixth century believed ὅς to be the reading of the older Greek manuscripts, and regarded Θεός as a false reading made out of it.” (p. 69.)—My lord Bishop, I venture to declare that the story shows nothing of the sort. The Latins in the VIth (and every other) century believed that—not ὅς, but—ὅ, was the right reading of the Greek in this place. Their belief on this subject however has nothing whatever to do with the story before us. Liberatus was not the spokesman of “the Latins of the VIth,” (or any other bygone) “century:” but (as Bp. Pearson points out) a singularly ill-informed Archdeacon of Carthage; who, had he taken ever so little pains with the subject, would have become aware that for no such reason as he assigns was Macedonius [a.d. 511] thrust out of his bishopric. If, however, there were at least thus much of truth in the story,—namely, that one of the charges brought against Macedonius [pg 472] was his having corrupted Scripture, and notably his having altered ὅς into Θεός in 1 Tim. iii. 16;—surely, the most obvious of all inferences would be, that Θεός was found in copies of S. Paul's epistles put forth at Constantinople by archiepiscopal authority between a.d. 496 and a.d. 511. To say the least,—Macedonius, by his writings or by his discourses, certainly by his influence, must have shown himself favourable to Θεός (not ὅς) ἐφανερώθη. Else, with what show of reason could the charge have been brought against him? “I suppose” (says our learned Dr. John Mill) “that the fable before us arose out of the fact that Macedonius, on hearing that in several MSS. of the Constantinopolitan Church the text of 1 Tim. iii. 16 (which witnesses expressly to the Godhead of Christ) had been depraved, was careful that those copies should be corrected in conformity with the best exemplars.”[1042]
But, in fact, I suspect you completely misunderstand the whole matter. You speak of “the story.” But pray,—Which “story” do you mean? “The story” which Liberatus told in the VIth century? or the ingenious gloss which Hincmar, Abp. of Rheims, put upon it in the IXth? You mention the first,—you reason from the second. Either will suit me equally well. But—una la volta, per carità!
Hincmar, (whom the critics generally follow,) relates that Macedonius turned ΟΣ into ΘΕΟΣ (i.e. ΘΣ).[1043] If Macedonius did, he preferred Θεός to ὅς.... But the story which Liberatus promulgated is quite different.[1044] Let him be heard:—
“At this time, Macedonius, bp. of CP., is said to have been deposed by the emperor Anastasius on a charge of having falsified the Gospels, and notably that saying of the Apostle, [pg 473] ‘Quia apparuit in carne, justificatus est in spiritu.’ He was charged with having turned the Greek monosyllable ΟΣ (i.e. ‘qui’), by the change of a single letter (Ω for Ο) into ΩΣ: i.e. ‘ut esset Deus apparuit per carnem.’ ”
Now, that this is a very lame story, all must see. In reciting the passage in Latin, Liberatus himself exhibits neither “qui,” nor “quod,” nor “Deus,”—but “quia apparuit in carne.” (The translator of Origen, by the way, does the same thing.[1045]) And yet, Liberatus straightway adds (as the effect of the change) “ut esset Deus apparuit per carnem:” as if that were possible, unless “Deus” stood in the text already! Quite plain in the meantime is it, that, according to Liberatus, ὡς was the word which Macedonius introduced into 1 Tim. iii. 16. And it is worth observing that the scribe who rendered into Greek Pope Martin I.'s fifth Letter (written on the occasion of the Lateran Council a.d. 649),—having to translate the Pope's quotation from the Vulgate (“quod manifestatus est,”)—exhibits ὡς ἐφανερώθη in this place.[1046]
High time it becomes that I should offer it as my opinion that those Critics are right (Cornelius à Lapide [1614] and Cotelerius [1681]) who, reasoning from what Liberatus actually says, shrewdly infer that there must have existed codices in the time of Macedonius which exhibited ΟΣ ΘΕΟΣ in this place; and that this must be the reading to which Liberatus refers.[1047] Such codices exist still. One, is preserved in the library of the Basilian monks at Crypta Ferrata, [pg 474] already spoken of at pp. [446-8]: another, is at Paris. I call them respectively “Apost. 83” and “Paul 282.”[1048] This is new.