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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God [He who] was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit." Here he speaks of the Dispensation in our behalf. Tell me not of the bells, nor of the holy of holies, nor of the high priest. The Church is the pillar of the world. Consider this mystery, and thou mayest be struck with awe: for it is indeed "a great mystery," and "a mystery of godliness," and that "without controversy" or question, for it is beyond all doubt. …
Gregory of Nyssa
We hold it necessary to honour, even as the Father is honoured, the God Who was manifested by the Cross, and they [the Eunomians] find the Passion a hindrance to glorifying the Only-begotten God equally with the Father that begat Him.… Eunomius makes the suffering of the Cross to be a sign of divergence in essence, in the sense of inferiority, considering, I know not how, the surpassing act of power, by which He was able to perform this, to be an evidence of weakness; failing to perceive the fact that, while nothing which moves …
Theophylact of Ohrid
The economy of our salvation is a mystery. This mystery is "great," a mystery "of godliness," for it is beyond all doubt. But what kind of mystery is it that everyone knows? Very many know it, but not all. And even if all know it now, not all knew it before. Moreover, all know that God became incarnate, but how He became incarnate—this is hidden, and therefore it is a mystery. Consider, then, how great is God's love toward us, if He has fully revealed His mystery to us. …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
But when the fullness of time was come, she [Wisdom] was sent, not to fill angels, nor to be an angel, except in so far as she announced the counsel of the Father, which was her own also; nor, again, to be with men or in men, for this too took place before, both in the fathers and in the prophets; but that the Word itself should be made flesh, that is, should be made man. …
Leo the Great
And so it was no new counsel, no tardy pity whereby God took thought for men: but from the constitution of the world He ordained one and the same Cause of Salvation for all. For the grace of God, by which the whole body of the saints is ever justified, was augmented, not begun, when Christ was born: and this mystery of God's great love, wherewith the whole world is now filled, was so effectively presignified that those who believed that promise obtained no less than they, who were the actual recipients.
Thomas Aquinas
Then when he says, and evidently great, he commends the truth of the Church: first, Christ, for whose manifestation it appeared; second, its exaltation, at is taken up into glory. But he commends Christ in two ways: first, in regard to his divine nature; second, in regard to the human, at which was manifested in the flesh. He says, therefore, and evidently great is the mystery of godliness, because a mystery, or sacrament, is the same as a secret sign. But nothing is as secret as what we keep in our hearts. …
Translation