Saturday, May 16, 2020

Johannes Quasten on Melito of Sardis


Commenting on the (non-creedal Trinitarian) Christology of Melito of Sardis, Johannes Quasten (Catholic) wrote:

The conception of the divinity and preexistence of Christ dominates Melito's entire theology. He calls him: θεος, λογος, πατηρ, υιος, πρωτοτοκος του θεου, δεσποτης, ο βασιλευς Ισραηλ, υμων βασιλευς. The title 'Father' for Christ is unusual. It occurs in an important passage describing the various functions of Christ:

For born as a son, and led forth as a lamb, sacrificed as a sheep, buried as a man, he rose from the dead as God, being y nature God and man. Who is all things: in that he judges, Law, in that he teaches, Word, in that he saves, Grace, in that he begets, Father, in that he is begotten, Son, in that he suffers, the sacrificial sheep, in that he is buried, Man, in that he arises, God. This is Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory to the ages of ages (8-10 Bonner).

The complete identification of Christ with the Godhead itself could be interpreted in favor of the monarchian modalism of a later period. If that were the case it would explain the neglect and eventual loss of Melito's works. Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Volume 1: The Beginnings of Patristic Literature from the Apostles Creed to Irenaeus [Allen, Tex.: Christian Classics], 244)

Such honesty is a contrast to many Trinitarian apologists like James White who abuse Melito of Sardis to support (creedal) Trinitarianism from having an early pedigree. For more, see, for e.g., Was Melito of Sardis a Proto-Trinitarian? (cf. Melito of Sardis, On Pascha 82; A Triad of Early Christians Against the Trinity Being an Apostolic Belief)