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he mentioned generations as he adduced concerning the one previously spoken of, saying, "The one by the first and life-giving inbreathing." How, then, the teacher has spoken this in truth, he certainly knows who has become like him in virtue, and is not far removed from his wise knowledge of divine things. As far, then, as I can know, according to the feebleness of my weak mind, I do not think the fourth generation that was introduced is superfluous, but rather complementary to the generation from bodies that was set forth, and explanatory of the divine principles and modes concerning it. For He who, for the sake of the first Adam's coming-into-being, deigned to become man, not disdaining grace, showed through His coming-into-being His condescension to the one who had fallen, and through His birth His voluntary emptying for the one who had been condemned; by His coming-into-being being naturally brought into the same state as man according to the life-giving inbreathing, from which, having received the "according to the image," He remained as a man, having freedom unbought, sinlessness, and being undefiled. But by His birth according to the incarnation, having voluntarily put on the likeness of corruptible man through the form of a servant, He endured to be subject by His will to the same natural passions as we are, yet without sin, the sinless one as if liable. For, having divided these two parts, He was composed from the parts, and became 1317 a completely new Adam, bearing the first Adam undiminished in Himself in both parts.

For having endured, according to the law of condescension, the coming-into-being of Adam before the transgression, at his formation He naturally took on sinlessness through the inbreathing, but He did not take on incorruptibility. And having naturally taken on passibility from the birth of condemnation after the transgression, according to the voluntary emptying, He did not take on sinfulness 14Ε_014, and He becomes a new Adam, receiving the same sinless coming-into-being and enduring the same passible birth. For having completely intertwined both with each other around Himself interchangeably in both parts, He powerfully healed both through each other by the lack of the extreme in each: making the second and dishonorable one salvific and renewing for the first and honorable one, and establishing the first one as constitutive and preserving for the second. And by extremes I mean, for the first and honorable coming-into-being, incorruptibility, as the beginning of sinlessness; and for the birth, being second and dishonorable, sinfulness, as the cause of every passion and corruption. The Savior, having in no way taken these things into Himself at the incarnation, yet having deigned to accept the consequences of them, made the birth salvific for the coming-into-being, paradoxically renewing the incorruptibility of the coming-into-being by the passion associated with birth; and again, He established the coming-into-being as preserving for the birth, sanctifying the passibility of the birth by the sinlessness associated with coming-into-being, in order that He might completely save the coming-into-being, with nature being held fast by its divinely perfect principle, and completely free the nature that had fallen under birth on account of sin, not being held fast by the sordid mode of generation common to the other animals on earth. Therefore, having naturally joined coming-into-being and formation and inbreathing with the incarnation and birth, He distinguished them from each other only in conception, and you will find, according to the great teacher, the fourth generation, which complements the one from bodies, and receives its distinction from it only by conception in the manner described. And I say that coming-into-being, naturally conceived of before the superinduced birth, is the same thing, the distinctive property of which is the first and life-giving inbreathing.

PS (106). A CONTEMPLATION ON THE TEXT, "THE WORD KNOWS FOR US A THREEFOLD BIRTH"

14Ε_016 A contemplation on the text, "The Word knows for us a threefold birth."

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ἐμνημόνευσε γεννήσεων ὡς περί προλεχθείσης ἐπήγαγεν εἰπών, "Τήν μέν τῷ ἐμφυσήματι τῷ πρώτῳ καί ζωτικῷ». Πῶς οὖν τοῦτο κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν εἴρηκεν ὁ διδάσκαλος, οἶδε πάντως ὁ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν αὐτῷ γεγονώς παραπλήσιος, καί μή πόῤῥω τῆς αὐτοῦ περί τά θεῖα σοφῆς ἐπιστήμης διεστηκώς. Ὅσον δ᾿ οὖν ἐμέ γινώσκειν κατά τό ἐμῆς ἀσθενοῦς διανοίας ἀβληχρόν, οὐκ οἶμαι περιττήν εἶναι τήν ἐπαχθεῖσαν τετάρτην γέννησιν, ἀλλά μᾶλλον συμπληρωτικήν τῆς ἐκ σωμάτων προτεθείσης γεννήσεως, καί ἑρμηνευτικήν τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ θείων λόγων τε καί τρόπων. Ὁ γάρ τῆς γενέσεως ἕνεκεν τοῦ πρώτου Ἀδάμ ἄνθρωπος γενέσθαι καταδεξάμενος χάριν οὐκ ἀπαξιώσας, διά μέν τῆς γενέσεως τήν πρός τόν πεσόντα συγκατάβασιν, διά δέ τῆς γεννήσεως τήν πρός τόν καταδεδικασμένον ἑκούσιον κένωσιν ἐπιδείξατο· τῇ μέν γενέσει φυσικῶς εἰς ταὐτόν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ κατά τήν ζωτικήν ἀγόμενος ἔμπνευσιν, ἐξ ἧς τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα λαβών ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἄπρατον διέμεινεν ἔχων τῆς ἐλευθερίας, τῆς ἀναμαρτησίας καί ἄχραντον. τῇ δέ γεννήσει κατα τήν σάρκωσιν τήν πρός τόν ἄνθρωπον τῆς φθορᾶς ὁμοίωσιν ἑκουσίως διά τῆς δουλικῆς μορφῆς ὑποδύς τοῖς αὐτοῖς παραπλησίως ἡμῖν κατά θέλησιν ὑποκεῖσθαι φυσικοῖς παθήμασι χωρίς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ὑπεύθυνος ὁ ἀναμάρτητος, ἠνέσχετο. Κατ᾿ ἄμφω γάρ ταῦτα μέρη τεμών ἐκ μερῶν συνετέθη, καί γένονε 1317 τελείως νέος Ἀδάμ, τόν πρῶτον τοῖς κατ᾿ ἄμφω μέρεσιν Ἀδάμ ἐν ἑαυτῷ φέρων ἀμείωτον.

Τῆς γάρ πρό τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ Ἀδάμ γενέσεως νόμῳ συγκαταβάσεως ἀνασχόμενος κατά τήν πλάσιν τό ἀναμάρτητον φυσικῶς λαβών διά τῆς ἐμπνεύσεως, ἄφθαρτον οὐ προσέλαβε. Τῆς δέ μετά τήν παράβασιν ἐκ καταδίκης γεννήσεως κατά τήν ἑκούσιον κένωσιν τό παθητόν φυσικῶς εἰληφώς τό ἁμαρτητικόν 14Ε_014 οὐ προσείληφε, καί γίνεται νέος Ἀδάμ, γένεσιν λαμβάνων τήν αὐτήν ἀναμάρτητον καί γεννήσεως τῆς αὐτῆς παθητῆς ἀνεχόμενος. Ἄμφω γάρ ἀλλήλαις τελείως περί ἑαυτόν ἐναλλάξ τοῖς κατ᾿ ἄμφω μέρεσιν συμπλέξας ἄμφω δι᾿ ἀλλήλων τῇ ἐλλείψει τοῦ περί ἑκατέραν ἄκρου δυνατῶς ἐξιάσατο, τῆς μέν πρώτης καί τιμίας τήν δευτέραν καί ἄτιμον ποιούμενος σωστικήν τε καί ἀνανεωτικήν, τῆς δέ δευτέρας τήν πρώτην συστατικήν τε καί περιποιητικήν καταστήσας. Ἄκρα δέ φημι τῆς μέν γενέσεως πρώτης καί τιμίας ὑπαρχούσης τό ἄφθαρτον, ὡς ἀναμαρτησίας ἀρχή, τῆς δέ γεννήσεως ὡς δευτέρας οὔσης καί ἀτίμου τό ἁμαρτητικόν, ὡς παντός πάθους αἴτιον καί φθορᾶς. Ἄπερ εἰς ἑαυτόν κατά τήν σάρκωσιν μηδαμῶς εἰληφώς ὁ Σωτήρ καί τά δι᾿ αὐτά καταδεξάμενος τῆς μέν γενέσεως τήν γέννησιν σωστικήν ἐποιήσατο, τῷ καθ᾿ αὐτήν πάθει παραδόξως τήν τῆς γενέσεως ἀφθαρσίαν ἀνανεούμενος, τῆς δ᾿ αὖ πάλιν γεννήσεως τήν γένεσιν περιποιητικήν κατεστήσατο, τῇ κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἀναμαρτησίᾳ τήν τῆς γεννήσεως καθαγιάζων ἐμπάθειαν, ἵνα τήν μέν γένεσιν παντελῶς ἀνασώσηται, τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτήν θεοτελεῖ λόγῳ τήν φύσιν διακρατοῦσαν, τῆς δέ γεννήσεως τήν ὑποπεσοῦσαν αὐτῇ φύσιν διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν παντελῶς ἐλευθερώσῃ, τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἴσως τοῖς λοιποῖς ἐπί γῆς ζώοις ἐπιῤῥύτῳ τῆς σπορᾶς τρόπῳ μή κρατουμένην. Συνάψας οὖν γένεσιν καί πλάσιν καί ἔμπνευσιν φυσικῶς τῇ σαρκώσει καί τῇ γεννήσει, κατά μόνην ἐπίνοιαν ἀλλήλων δίελε, καί εὑρήσεις κατά τόν μέγαν διδάσκαλον τήν τετάρτην γέννησιν, συμπληροῦσαν τήν ἐκ σωμάτων, καί μόνῃ ἐπινοίᾳ τήν ἀπ' αὐτής δεχομένην διάκρισιν κατά τόν ἀποδοθέντα τρόπον. Λέγω δέ ταὐτόν εἶναι τήν γένεσιν προεπινοουμένην φυσικῶς τῆς ἐπεισάκτου γεννήσεως, ἧς ἴδιόν ἐστι τό ἐμφύσημα τό πρῶτον καί ζωτικόν.

ΡS (106). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ, «ΤΡΙΣΣΗΝ ΓΕΝΝΗΣΙΝ ΗΜΙΝ ΟΙ∆ΕΝ Ο ΛΟΓΟΣ»

14Ε_016 Θεωρία εἰς τό, "Τρισσήν γέννησιν ἡμῖν οἶδεν ὁ Λόγος».