The Anathematisms
of the Emperor Justinian Against Origen.
319
(Labbe and Cossart,
Concilia
, Tom. v., col.
677.)
I.
Whoever says or thinks that human souls pre-existed,
i.e., that they had previously been spirits and holy powers, but that,
satiated with the vision of God, they had turned to evil, and in this
way the divine love in them had died out (
ἀπψυγείσας
)
and they had therefore become souls (
ψυχάς
) and had been condemned
to punishment in bodies, shall be anathema.
II.
If anyone says or thinks that the soul of the Lord
pre-existed and was united with God the Word before the Incarnation and
Conception of the Virgin, let him be anathema.
III.
If anyone says or thinks that the body of our Lord Jesus
Christ was first formed in the womb of the holy Virgin and that
afterwards there was united with it God the Word and the pre-existing
soul, let him be anathema.
IV.
If anyone says or thinks that the Word of God has become
like to all heavenly orders, so that for the cherubim he was a cherub,
for the seraphim a seraph: in short, like all the superior
powers, let him be anathema.
V.
If anyone says or thinks that, at the resurrection,
human bodies will rise spherical in form and unlike our present form,
let him be anathema.
VI.
If anyone says that the heaven, the sun, the moon, the
stars, and the waters that are above heavens, have souls, and are
reasonable beings, let him be anathema.
VII.
If anyone says or thinks that Christ the Lord in a
future time will be crucified for demons as he was for men, let him be
anathema.
VIII.
If anyone says or thinks that the power of God is
limited, and that he created as much as he was able to compass, let him
be anathema.
IX.
If anyone says or thinks that the punishment of demons
and of impious men is only temporary, and will one day have an end, and
that a restoration (
ἀποκατάστασις
)
will take place of demons and of impious men, let him be anathema.
Anathema to Origen and to that Adamantius, who set forth
these opinions together with his nefarious and execrable and wicked
doctrine
320
and to whomsoever
there is who thinks thus, or defends these opinions, or in any way
hereafter at any time shall presume to protect them.
319
The reader should
carefully study the entire tractate of the Emperor against Origen of
which these anathematisms are the conclusion. It is found in
Labbe and Cossart, and in many other collections.
320
The text is, I think
corrupt, at all events the Latin and Greek do not agree.