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The man is without a mind; let them truly cease from talking nonsense. 101.36 But, he says, the divinity was sufficient instead of the mind. What then is this to me? For divinity with flesh alone is not a man, nor with soul alone, nor with both without the mind, which is what makes one even more a man. Keep, therefore, the whole man and mix the divinity, that you may perfectly do me good. 101.37 But, he says, two perfect things could not be contained. Neither could they, if you consider it in a bodily sense. For a vessel holding a medimnus will not contain a double medimnus, nor the space of one body two or more bodies; 101.38 but if as intelligible and incorporeal, consider that I myself have contained soul and reason and mind and Holy Spirit, and before me this world, I mean the system of things visible and invisible, contained the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 101.39 For such is the nature of intelligible things, to be mingled incorporeally and indivisibly both with each other and with bodies. Since also many voices are contained in one hearing, and the sights of many things by the same visible objects, and smell by things that can be smelled, neither the senses being straitened or crowded out by one another, nor the objects of sense being diminished by the multitude of the perceptions.

101.40 And where is the mind of man, or even of an angel, 101.40 perfect in comparison with the Godhead, that the one should be crowded out by the presence of the greater? For it is not as a ray of light to the sun, nor a little moisture to a river, so that we must first consume the smaller things, the ray in the house, the moisture in the earth, and thus the greater and more perfect things be contained. 101.41 For how will two perfect things be contained, a house both the ray and the sun, the earth both the moisture and the river, let us consider this; for the matter is indeed worthy of much thought. 101.42 Or do they not know that what is perfect in relation to one thing is imperfect in relation to another, as a hill to a mountain, and a grain of mustard to a bean, or any other of the larger seeds, even if it is said to be greater than those of its own kind; or if you will, an angel in relation to God, and a man in relation to an angel? 101.43 Our mind, then, is perfect and ruling, but of the soul and body, not simply perfect, but a servant of God and subject to Him, not a co-ruler nor of equal honor. 101.44 Since also Moses was a god to Pharaoh, but a servant of God, as it is written; and the stars illumine the night, but are hidden by the sun, so as not even to be known to exist by day; 101.45 and a small torch approaching a great fire is neither destroyed nor is it visible nor is it separated, but it is all fire, the greater having overcome it. 101.46 But, he says, our mind is under condemnation. What about the flesh? Is it not under condemnation? Either reject this also on account of sin, or receive that one also on account of salvation. If the worse has been assumed, that it might be sanctified through the incarnation, shall not the better be assumed, that it might be sanctified through the becoming man? If the clay was leavened and became a "new lump," O wise ones, shall the image not be leavened and mingled with God, having been deified through the divinity? 101.47 And we will add this: if the mind has been utterly spurned as sinful and under condemnation, and for this reason the body has been assumed, but the mind has been left out, pardon is granted to those who sin with respect to the mind. For the testimony of God has clearly shown the impossibility of the cure. 101.48 Shall I say what is greater? You for this reason dishonor, O best of men, my mind, as a worshipper of the flesh, if I am a worshipper of man, in order that you may bind God to flesh, as not being able to be bound otherwise, and for this reason you remove the middle wall. 101.49 But what is my argument, that of the unphilosophical and uneducated? Mind is mingled with mind, as being nearer and more akin, and through this, mediating for the flesh with the divinity and its density.

101.50 Let us see what is their reason for the becoming man, or rather incarnation, as they say. If it was so that God might be contained, being otherwise uncontainable, and that as under a veil He might converse with men in the flesh, elegant is their mask and the drama of the pretense; not to mention that it was possible for him to converse with us in other ways, as formerly in a bush of fire and in a human form.

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ἄνους ὁ ἄνθρωπος, παυσάσθωσαν ὄντως ἀνοηταίνοντες. 101.36 Ἀλλ' ἤρκει, φησίν, ἡ θεότης ἀντὶ τοῦ νοῦ. Τί οὖν πρὸς ἐμὲ τοῦτο; Θεότης γὰρ μετὰ σαρκὸς μόνης οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ψυχῆς μόνης, οὐδὲ ἀμφοτέρων χωρὶς τοῦ νοῦ, ὃ καὶ μᾶλλον ἄνθρωπος. Τήρει οὖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὅλον καὶ μῖξον τὴν θεότητα, ἵνα με τελέως εὐεργετῇς. 101.37 Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐχώρει, φησί, δύο τέλεια. Οὐδὲ γάρ, εἴπερ σωματικῶς σκοπεῖς. Ἀγγεῖον γὰρ μεδιμναῖον οὐ χωρήσει διμέδιμνον, οὐδὲ σώματος ἑνὸς τόπος δύο ἢ πλείω σώματα· 101.38 εἰ δὲ ὡς νοητὰ καὶ ἀσώματα, σκόπει ὅτι καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ λόγον καὶ νοῦν καὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ὁ αὐτὸς ἐχώρησα καὶ πρὸ ἐμοῦ τὸν Πατέρα καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ὁ κόσμος οὗτος, τὸ ἐξ ὁρατῶν λέγω καὶ ἀοράτων σύστημα. 101.39 Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τῶν νοητῶν φύσις, ἀσωμάτως καὶ ἀμερίστως καὶ ἀλλήλοις καὶ σώμασι μίγνυσθαι. Ἐπεὶ καὶ φωναὶ πλείους ἀκοῇ μιᾷ χωρηταί, καὶ ὄψεις πλειόνων τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὁρατοῖς, καὶ ὀσφραντοῖς ὄσφρησις, οὔτε τῶν αἰσθήσεων στενοχωρουμένων ὑπ' ἀλλήλων ἢ ἐκθλιβομένων, οὔτε τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐλαττουμένων τῷ πλήθει τῆς ἀντιλήψεως.

101.40 Ποῦ δὲ καὶ τέλειον νοῦς ἀνθρώπου ἢ καὶ ἀγγέλου 101.40 συγκρίσει θεότητος, ἵνα τὸ ἕτερον ἐκθλιβῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ μείζονος; Οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐγή τις πρὸς ἥλιον, οὐδὲ νοτὶς ὀλίγη πρὸς ποταμόν, ἵνα τὰ μικρὰ προανέλωμεν, οἴκου μὲν αὐγήν, γῆς δὲ νοτίδα, καὶ οὕτω χωρηθῇ τὰ μείζω καὶ τελεώτερα. 101.41 Πῶς γὰρ χωρήσει δύο τέλεια, οἶκος μὲν αὐγὴν καὶ ἥλιον, γῆ δὲ νοτίδα καὶ ποταμόν, τοῦτο διασκεψώμεθα· καὶ γὰρ πολλῆς ὄντως τὸ πρᾶγμα φροντίδος ἄξιον. 101.42 Ἢ ἀγνοοῦσιν ὅτι τὸ πρός τι τέλειον πρὸς ἕτερον ἀτελές, ὡς βουνὸς πρὸς ὄρος καὶ κόκκος νάπυος πρὸς κύαμον, ἤ τι ἄλλο τῶν μειζόνων σπερμάτων, κἂν τῶν ὁμογενῶν μεῖζον λέγηται· εἰ δὲ βούλει, ἄγγελος πρὸς Θεόν, καὶ πρὸς ἄγγελον ἄνθρωπος; 101.43 Τέλειον οὖν ὁ ἡμέτερος νοῦς καὶ ἡγεμονικόν, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος, οὐχ ἁπλῶς τέλειον, Θεοῦ δὲ δοῦ λον καὶ ὑποχείριον, ἀλλ' οὐ συνηγεμονικὸν οὐδὲ ὁμότιμον. 101.44 Ἐπεὶ καὶ Μωϋσῆς Φαραὼ μὲν θεός, Θεοῦ δὲ θεράπων, ὡς ἀναγέγραπται· καὶ ἀστέρες νύκτα μὲν περιλάμπουσιν, ἡλίῳ δὲ κρύπτονται, ὡς μηδ' ὅτι εἰσὶν ἡμέρᾳ γνωρίζεσθαι· 101.45 καὶ λαμπὰς ὀλίγη μεγάλῃ πυρκαϊᾷ προσχωρήσασα οὔτε ἀπόλλυται οὔτε φαίνεται οὔτε χωρίζεται, ἀλλ' ὅλον ἐστὶ πυρκαϊά, τοῦ ὑπερέχοντος ἐκνικήσαντος. 101.46 Ἀλλὰ κατάκριτος, φησίν, ὁ ἡμέτερος νοῦς. Τί δὲ ἡ σάρξ; Οὐ κατάκριτος; Ἢ καὶ ταύτην ἀποσκεύασαι διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἢ κἀκεῖνον πρόσαγε διὰ τὴν σωτηρίαν. Εἰ τὸ χεῖρον προσείληπται, ἵν' ἁγιασθῇ διὰ τῆς σαρκώσεως, τὸ κρεῖττον οὐ προσληφθήσεται, ἵν' ἁγιασθῇ διὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως; Εἰ ὁ πηλὸς ἐζυμώθη καὶ «νέον φύραμα» γέγονεν, ὦ σοφοί, ἡ εἰκὼν οὐ ζυμωθήσεται καὶ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀνακραθήσεται, θεωθεῖσα διὰ τῆς θεότητος; 101.47 Κἀκεῖνο προσθήσομεν· εἰ διέπτυσται πάντως ὁ νοῦς ὡς ἁμαρτητικὸς καὶ κατάκριτος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο σῶμα μὲν προσείληπται, νοῦς δὲ παραλέλειπται, συγγνώμη τοῖς πταίουσι περὶ νοῦν. Μαρτυρία γὰρ Θεοῦ σαφῶς ἔδειξε τὸ τῆς θεραπείας ἀδύνατον. 101.48 Εἴπω τὸ μεῖζον; Σὺ μὲν διὰ τοῦτο ἀτιμάζεις, ὦ βέλτιστε, τὸν ἐμὸν νοῦν, ὡς σαρκολάτρης, εἴπερ ἀνθρωπολάτρης ἐγώ, ἵνα συνδήσῃς Θεὸν πρὸς σάρκα, ὡς οὐκ ἄλλως δεθῆναι δυνάμενον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐξαιρεῖς τὸ μεσότοιχον. 101.49 Ὁ δὲ ἐμὸς λόγος τίς, τοῦ ἀφιλοσόφου καὶ ἀπαιδεύτου; Ὁ νοῦς τῷ νοῒ μίγνυται, ὡς ἐγγυτέρῳ καὶ οἰκειοτέρῳ καὶ διὰ τούτου σαρκὶ μεσιτεύοντος θεότητι καὶ παχύτητι.

101.50 Τίς δὲ καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ἴδωμεν, εἴτ' οὖν σαρκώσεως, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσιν. Εἰ μὲν ἵνα χωρηθῇ Θεός, ἄλλως ἀχώρητος ὤν, καὶ ὡς ὑπὸ παραπε τάσματι τῇ σαρκὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προσομιλήσῃ, κομψὸν τὸ προσωπεῖον αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ δρᾶμα τῆς ὑποκρίσεως· ἵνα μὴ λέγω ὅτι καὶ ἄλλως ὁμιλῆσαι ἡμῖν οἷόν τε ἦν, ὥσπερ ἐν βάτῳ πυρὸς καὶ ἀνθρωπίνῳ εἴδει τὸ πρότερον.