But the holy Athanasius in his discourse against
Apollinarius says that He did actually feel fear.
“Wherefore the Lord said: Now is My soul
troubled St. John xii. 27.. The
‘now’ indeed means just ‘when He willed,’ but
yet points to what actually was. For He did not speak of what was
not, as though it were present, as if the things that were said only
apparently happened. For all things happened naturally and
actually.” And again, after some other matters, he says,
“In nowise does His divinity admit passion apart from a suffering
body, nor yet does it manifest trouble and pain apart from a pained and
troubled soul, nor does it suffer anguish and offer up prayer apart
from a mind that suffered anguish and offered up prayer. For,
although these occurrences were not due to any overthrow of nature, yet
they took place to shew forth His real being S. Athanas.,
De salutari adventu Christi, contra Apollinarem towards the
end..” The words “these
occurrences were not due to any overthrow of His nature,” prove
that it was not involuntarily that He endured these
things.