Franciscan Studies

CHRIST THE EXEMPLAR AND FINAL SCOPE OF ALL CREATION ACCORDING TO ANASTASIOS OF SINAI ANASTASIOS WAS a priest and abbot of Mount Sinai. Often he left his solitude to fight against the Monophysites , the Jews, and the Severians. Since there were a number of writers called Anastasius, it was almost natural that confusion should arise in regard to works attributed to them. Authors are still doubtful about the authenticity of some works ascribed to this Anastasius. However, we have found pertinent matter only in the explanation of his Hexaemeron , which is certainly authentic. The one quotation from Questiones et Responsiones we shall discuss in its place. In general the doctrine of Anastasius is in every way Catholic . In view of the fact that he speaks rather plainly on the Absolute Primacy of Christ, his neglect by authors who treat of this doctrine is surprising. Risi in his rather thorough treatise of all the ancient Christian writers does not give him a special treatment. He merely mentions him once in connection with the exegesis of Col. 1:16. l Petit-Bornand quotes him a number of times for the various theses relative to the Absolute Primacy. M. Jugie gives him a paragraph in his chapter on the motive of the Incarnation according to the Byzantine writers.3 J.M. Bissen also gives him a brief treatment .4 Perhaps this neglect is due to the fact that in his explanation of the Hexaemeron he indulges exclusively in a mysti1 .Francesco M. Risi, Ord. S. Joan, a Deo, SuI motivo primario dell'Incarnazione del Verbo, 4 vol. (Roma: Descle'e, 1898), IV, 46. 2.J.B. du Petit-Bornand, O.F.M. Cap., Präludium de Primatu Domini Nostri Jesu Christi et Causa Motiva Incarnationis; translated by Ambrosius a Saldes, O.F.M. Cap. (Barcinone, apud Subirana Fratres, 1902), pp. 150, 153, 168f, 170, 174, 213, 231, 265, 269, 296, 303, 310, 321. 3.M. Jugie, A.A., Theologia dogmática orientalium Christianorum (Paris, 1926), II, 680. 4.J.M. Bissen, O.F.M., "La tradition sur la predestination absolue de JesuChrist du VIIe au IXe siecle," La France Franciscaine, (1939) 15. 156 DOMINIC J. UNGER, O.F.M. CAP.157 cal interpretation. He does not deny the literal historical sense. In fact, in the fourth book he explicitly admonishes the reader that he explained "the corporal creation" spiritually by way of allegory not as if he were destroying the history of the works of God contained in the letter, nor to overthrow the explanations of the Fathers, but because Paul said that the Old Scripture and the Law is the shadow of the truth of the things of Christ and the Church.5 Nevertheless, even though the Holy Spirit did not intend these references to Christ and the Church in the individual passages of Gen. 1-2 (excepting 2:23), and since therefore Anastasius himself would not claim that he is giving us a strict Scriptural argument for the Absolute Primacy, still he would hardly have thought up all those things. He found them in tradition. And as we shall see, he found them in Col. 1:16 and Ephes. 1:10; 5:32. With that as a basis he accommodates the first chapters of Genesis to these doctrines. So, even though his Scriptural basis, as far as Genesis is concerned, is merely the accommodated sense, sometimes rather far-fetched, still the statements made are his expression of a traditional doctrine with a basis in St. Paul. We can, therefore, rest heavily on Anastasius as a true witness of tradition, agreeing with the great Doctors of the Eastern Church. Christ the Exemplar of all Creation The fundamental principle of Anastasius in explaining the first three chapters of Genesis is that they foreshadow what was realized through Christ and the Church. For example, the light of 1:3, the sun of 1:16; the tree of life of 2:9, are Christ.6 However, from this we cannot conclude immediately that, according to Anastasius, Christ was the first predestined , and so, prior to the fall, because some of these things, according to him, foreshadow points in the redemption. Our argumentation, then, must rest...