and generation, until he arrived at the very bottom of evils. But the divine Word did not even so turn away from His own creature, nor did He abandon the one whom He made in His image, nor did He cast away the one who was tyrannized by the evil artifice of the devil, but visiting in each generation He did not cease, and calling back symbolically, as in a riddle, through the life-giving cross, the man who had gone astray. For He did not wish, as the good one, that he who was created for incorruption and was an image of His own nature, should proceed to complete destruction because of the devil's wickedness. And when all the earth was corrupted by unnatural unions and was condemned to obliteration, then He saved the righteous Noah with his whole household for the regeneration of the world from the universal shipwreck by means of a very small piece of wood. Likewise Abraham, the great patriarch, through wood received the promises of God with an oath, when he was sent to the high land to sacrifice his beloved son, whose manner of obedience God accepted, and showed him a ram caught by its horns in a plant of Sabek, which is interpreted as remission, clearly prefiguring through this type the future remission of the sins of the whole world, through the nailing of the spiritual Lamb upon the wood. And as tradition has it, the high land is the holy Golgotha. And what does Jacob's worship on the top of his staff mean, but that the patriarch prophetically signified that the life-giving cross must be worshipped by all who believe in Christ? And as many wonders and signs as Moses performed in the land of Egypt, and in the desert for forty years 4025 by the command of God, he performed by means of the rod, the lawgiver signifying here also through a symbol, that all things are possible to him who believes in Christ crucified. And what need to speak of all the prophets, who openly proclaimed the glorious cross and the salvation that would come to the world through it? For what is more manifest than to say: "In cypress and pine and cedar together to glorify my holy place?" For since the holy and consubstantial Trinity in one of its own hypostases administered the salvation of men through the cross, it is fitting that the weapon of salvation was also composed of three woods. For the holy place is the holy catholic Church, in which all the faithful, bearing about the life-giving cross, glorify the immaculate and all-praised Trinity in gladness and exultation. Thus always from Adam to all those being saved, until Christ, righteousness was awarded symbolically through the precious cross. But when the fullness of time came for the glorious coming in the flesh of the divine Word, then indeed He revealed all the wealth of His innate love for mankind towards us, not because of our works, but because of the goodness befitting the benefactor Himself. For He did not wish through the bowels of mercy of His same love for mankind, for man to be tyrannized until the end by the malice of the devil, but by the will of the Father and the good pleasure of the Holy Spirit, He who is always present and nowhere circumscribed, for us and for our salvation bowed the heavens, and came down, not being separated from the heavens, and dwelling in the womb of the holy, glorious, and ever-virgin Mary, she having been pre-purified by the Holy Spirit in her soul and in her members, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us," not changing His own divinity into humanity, for the Word of God is unchangeable and immutable, but uniting to Himself hypostatically from the bowels of the Theotokos flesh, having a rational and intelligent soul, without confusion, without change, without separation, without division. And it is said hypostatically, because the Word of God was not united to a pre-formed man, but the Word Himself, being perfect in His own hypostasis, assumed His perfect humanity, being always one Christ and Son and Lord and king of all. Therefore He is born of the unwedded bride,

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καὶ γενεὰν, ἕως οὗ κατήντησεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν πυθμένα τῶν κακῶν. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος Λόγος οὐδ' οὕτως ἀπεστράφη τοῦ ἰδίου πλάσματος, οὐδὲ ἐγκατέλιπεν, ὃν κατ' εἰκόνα ἐποίησεν, οὐδ' ἀπώσατο τὸν τυραννηθέντα ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου κακοτεχνίας, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν ἐπισκεπτόμενος οὐ διέλιπε, καὶ ἀνακαλούμενος συμβολικῶς, ὡς ἐν αἰνίγματι, διὰ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ τὸν πλανηθέντα ἄνθρωπον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐβούλετο ὡς ἀγαθὸς, τὸν ἐπὶ ἀφθαρσίας κτισθέντα καὶ εἰκόνα ὄντα τῆς ἰδίας ἰδιότητος, διὰ τὴν τοῦ διαβόλου κακουργίαν εἰς παντελῆ ἀπώλειαν χωρῆσαι. Ὅτε δὲ ἐφθάρη πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ταῖς ἀτόποις ἐπιμιξίαις καὶ κατ εδικάσθη εἰς ἐξάλειψιν, τότε τὸν δίκαιον Νῶε πανοικεῖ εἰς παλιγγενεσίαν τοῦ κόσμου ἐκ τοῦ οἰκουμενικοῦ ναυαγίου δι' ἐλαχίστου ξύλου ἔσωσεν. Ἀβραὰμ δὲ ὁμοίως ὁ μέγας πατριάρχης διὰ ξύλου τὰς ἐπαγγελίας τοῦ Θεοῦ μεθ' ὁρκωμοσίας ἐδέξατο, ὁπηνίκα εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ὑψηλὴν ἀπεστάλη ἱερουργῆσαι τὸν ἀγαπητὸν υἱὸν, οὗ ὁ Θεὸς τὸν τρόπον τῆς ὑπακοῆς δεξάμενος, ἐνέδειξεν αὐτῷ κριὸν τοῖς κέρασι κατεχόμενον ἐν φυτῷ Σαβὲκ, ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται ἄφεσις, διὰ τοῦ τύπου τὴν μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι τῶν τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου ἁμαρτιῶν ἄφεσιν, διὰ τῆς τοῦ νοητοῦ Ἀμνοῦ ἐπὶ ξύλου προσηλώσεως, σαφῶς προμηνύων. Καθὼς δὲ ἔχει ἡ παράδοσις, ἡ ὑψηλὴ γῆ ὁ ἅγιός ἐστι Γολγοθᾶς. Τί δὲ βούλεται τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου προσκύνησις, ἢ ὅτι προφητικῶς ἐμήνυσεν ὁ πατριάρχης, ὅτι δεῖ προσκυνηθῆναι τὸν ζωοποιὸν σταυρὸν ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν εἰς Χριστὸν πιστευόντων; Ὅσα δὲ τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα ἐποίει Μωϋσῆς ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη 4025 διὰ προστάγματος Θεοῦ, διὰ τῆς ῥάβδου ἐποίησε, σημαίνοντος κἀνταῦθα τοῦ νομοθέτου διὰ συμβόλου, ὅτι πάντα δυνατὰ τῷ πιστεύοντι εἰς τὸν σταυρωθέντα Χριστόν. Καὶ τί δεῖ λέγειν περὶ πάντων προφητῶν, οἴτινες ἀναφανδὸν τὸ ἔνδοξον σταυρὸν καὶ τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ ἔσεσθαι μέλλουσαν σωτηρίαν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐκήρυξαν; Τί γὰρ ἀναφανδότερον τοῦ εἰπεῖν· «Ἐν κυπαρίσσῳ καὶ πεύκῃ καὶ κέδρῳ ἅμα δοξάσαι τὸν τόπον τὸν ἅγιόν μου;» Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ ἁγία καὶ ὁμοούσιος Τριὰς ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἑαυτῆς ὑποστάσεων τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ σταυροῦ ᾠκονόμησε σωτη ρίαν, εἰκότως καὶ τὸ τῆς σωτηρίας ὅπλον ἐκ τριῶν συνήρμοστο ξύλων. Τόπος γὰρ ὁ ἅγιός ἐστιν ἡ ἁγία καθολικὴ Ἐκκλησία, ἐν ᾗ πάντες οἱ πιστοὶ τὸν ζωοποιὸν σταυρὸν περιφέροντες, τὴν ἄχραντον καὶ πανύμνητον ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀγαλλιάσει δοξολογοῦσι Τριάδα. Οὕτως πάντοτε ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ τοῖς σωζομένοις πᾶσιν, ἕως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, συμβολικῶς διὰ τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἐβραβεύετο. Ὅτε δὲ ἦλθε τὸ πλή ρωμα τοῦ χρόνου τῆς ἐνδόξου διὰ σαρκὸς παρουσίας τοῦ θείου Λόγου, τότε δὴ τότε πάντα τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς ἐμφύτου αὐτοῦ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐξεκάλυψε φιλανθρωπίας, οὐ διὰ τὰ ἔργα ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν αὐτῷ τῷ εὐεργέτῃ πρέπουσαν ἀγαθότητα. Οὐ γὰρ ἐβούλετο διὰ σπλάγ χνα ἐλέους τῆς αὐτῆς φιλανθρωπίας, ἕως τέλους τυραννίζεσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ τῆς διαβόλου κακίας, ἀλλὰ βουλήσει τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὁ ἀεὶ παρὼν καὶ μηδαμοῦ περιγρα φόμενος, δι' ἡμᾶς καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἔκλινε τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ κατέβη, μὴ χωρισθεὶς τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ἐνοικήσας ἐν τῇ νηδύϊ τῆς ἁγίας ἐνδόξου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, προκαθαρθείσης αὐτῆς τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι τὴν ψυχὴν σὺν τοῖς μέλεσιν, «Ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν,» οὐ μεταβαλὼν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θεότητα εἰς ἀνθρωπότητα, ἄτρεπτος γὰρ καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἀλλ' ἑνώσας ἑαυτῷ καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἐκ τῶν σπλάγχνων τῆς Θεοτόκου σάρκα, ψυχὴν ἔχουσαν λογικὴν καὶ νοερὰν, ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀχωρίστως, ἀδιασπάστως. Καθ' ὑπόστασιν δὲ εἴρηται, ὅτι οὐ διαπλασθέντι ἀνθρώπῳ ἡνώθη ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Λόγος τέλειος ὢν ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ὑποστάσει προσελάβετο τελείαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐν ἀνθρώπησιν, εἷς ὢν ἀεὶ Χριστὸς καὶ Υἱὸς καὶ Κύριος καὶ βασιλεὺς τῶν ἁπάντων. Τίκτεται τοιγαροῦν ἐκ τῆς ἀπειρογάμου νύμφης,

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