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of all things is seen concerning the only-begotten, and he is always the same, having himself in the same way, how can anyone compel us to name his manifestation through the flesh a dyad of sons, as if one were the pre-eternal Son, and the other another son born to God through the flesh? For we have both learned and believed from the mystery that human nature was saved, 3,1.126 having been united to the Word; but we have neither learned, nor are we led by any consequence to think of, a fleshly Son of God considered separately by himself. For he did not, having become sin and a curse for us, as the Apostle says, and having taken our weaknesses upon himself, according to the voice of Isaiah, leave sin and the curse and weakness incurable; but what was mortal was swallowed up by life, and he who was crucified in weakness lived by power, and the curse was changed into a blessing, and everything weak and mortal in our nature, having been mingled with the Godhead, became that which the Godhead is. From where, then, could anyone conceive a dyad of sons, as if led by some necessity through the economy in the flesh to such a supposition?

For he who is always in the Father and always has the Father in himself and is united to him, as he was also before, so he also is and will be, and another son besides him neither was, nor has become, nor will be; but the first-fruit of human nature which was assumed, by the all-powerful Godhead (as one might say, using an image) like a drop of vinegar mixed in an infinite sea, is indeed in the Godhead, but not in its own properties. For thus a dyad of sons 3,1.127 would be consequently supposed, if in the ineffable Godhead of the Son some heterogeneous nature were recognized by its own particular signs, so that one would be weak or small or corruptible or temporary, and the other powerful and great and incorruptible and eternal; but since all things observed along with the mortal have been transformed into the properties of the Godhead, the difference is apprehended in nothing (for whatever one might see of the Son, is Godhead, wisdom, power, holiness, impassibility), how could the one be divided into a dual signification, when no difference divides the number? For the Godhead highly exalted what was lowly; to that which was named in a human way it bestowed the name that is above every name; what was subject and servile it made Lord and King, as Peter says that God made him both Lord and Christ (for by Christ we understand King). And because of the precise unity of both the flesh that was assumed and the Godhead that assumed it, the names are interchanged, so that the human is named by the divine and the divine by the human. Wherefore he who was crucified is called the Lord of glory 3,1.128 by Paul, and he who is worshipped by all creation, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, is named Jesus; for by these things the true and indivisible union is interpreted, from the fact that both the ineffable glory of the Godhead is signified by the appellation of Jesus, when every flesh and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that he who received the sufferings of the cross and was pierced with nails and transfixed by the lance is addressed by Paul as Lord of glory. If, then, the human is not shown in the properties of its nature but is Lord of glory, and no one would dare to speak of two Lords of glory, having learned that "There is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things," whence do those men who put forward the accusation against us as a specious pretext for the construction of their own opinions invoke on us a dyad of sons? Such then is our defense; but we seek from your perfection in Christ a greater and more perfect alliance with the truth, so that those who strengthen their own opinions through their censure of us may have no handle for accusation against the church.

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παντὸς περὶ τὸν μονογενῆ καθορᾶται καὶ ὁ αὐτός ἐστιν ἀεὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὡσαύτως ἔχων, πῶς τις ἡμᾶς ἀναγκάζει τὴν διὰ σαρκὸς γενομένην αὐτοῦ ἐπιφάνειαν υἱῶν δυάδα κατονομάζειν, ὡς τοῦ μὲν προαιωνίου ὄντος υἱοῦ, τοῦ δὲ διὰ σαρκὸς τῷ θεῷ γεννηθέντος ἄλλου υἱοῦ; Ἡμεῖς γὰρ σωθῆναι μὲν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ἑνω θεῖσαν τῷ λόγῳ παρὰ τοῦ μυστηρίου καὶ μεμαθήκαμεν καὶ 3,1.126 πεπιστεύκαμεν· υἱὸν δὲ θεοῦ σάρκινον ἰδιαζόντως ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ θεωρούμενον οὔτε ἐμάθομεν οὔτε ἐξ ἀκολουθίας τινὸς νοεῖν ἐναγόμεθα. οὐ γὰρ ἁμαρτία καὶ κατάρα δι' ἡμᾶς, καθὼς ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγει, γενόμενος καὶ τὰς ἡμετέρας ἀναλαβὼν ἀσθενείας, κατὰ τὴν Ἠσαΐου φωνήν, περὶ ἑαυτόν, ἀφῆκεν ἀνίατον τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ τὴν κατάραν καὶ τὴν ἀσθένειαν· ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς κατεπόθη, ὁ δὲ σταυρωθεὶς ἐξ ἀσθενείας ἔζησεν ἐκ δυνάμεως ἥ τε κατάρα εἰς εὐλογίαν μετεποιήθη καὶ πᾶν, ὅσον ἀσθενὲς τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν καὶ ἐπίκηρον ἀνακραθὲν τῇ θεότητι ἐκεῖνο ἐγένετο, ὅπερ ἡ θεότης ἐστίν. πόθεν οὖν ἄν τις τὴν δυάδα τῶν υἱῶν ἐννοήσειεν ὡς ἀνάγκῃ τινὶ διὰ τῆς κατὰ σάρκα οἰκονομίας πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ὑπόληψιν ἐναγόμενος;

Ὁ γὰρ ἀεὶ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ ὢν καὶ ἀεὶ ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἡνωμένος αὐτῷ, ὡς ἦν καὶ πρώην, οὕτω καὶ ἔστι καὶ ἔσται καὶ ἄλλος παρ' ἐκεῖνον υἱὸς οὔτε ἦν οὔτε ἐγένετο οὔτε ἔσται· ἡ δὲ προσληφθεῖσα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἀπαρχή, ὑπὸ τῆς παντοδυνάμου θεότητος (ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις εἰκόνι χρώμενος) οἷόν τις σταγὼν ὄξους ἀπείρῳ πελάγει κατακραθεῖσα, ἔστι μὲν ἐν τῇ θεότητι, οὐ μὴν ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτῆς ἰδιώμασιν. οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἡ τῶν υἱῶν δυὰς 3,1.127 ἀκολούθως ὑπενοεῖτο, εἰ ἐν τῇ ἀφράστῳ τοῦ υἱοῦ θεότητι ἑτερογενής τις φύσις [ἐν] ἰδιάζουσι σημείοις ἐπεγινώσκετο, ὡς εἶναι τὸ μὲν ἀσθενὲς ἢ μικρὸν ἢ φθαρτὸν ἢ πρόσκαιρον, τὸ δὲ δυνατὸν καὶ μέγα καὶ ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἀΐδιον· ἐπειδὴ δὲ πάντων τῶν τῷ θνητῷ συνεπιθεωρουμένων ἐν τοῖς τῆς θεό τητος ἰδιώμασι μεταποιηθέντων, ἐν οὐδενὶ καταλαμβάνεται ἡ διαφορά (ὅπερ γὰρ ἄν τις ἴδῃ τοῦ υἱοῦ, θεότης ἐστί, σοφία, δύναμις, ἁγιασμός, ἀπάθεια), πῶς ἂν διαιροῖτο τὸ ἓν εἰς δυϊκὴν σημασίαν, μηδεμιᾶς διαφορᾶς τὸν ἀριθμὸν μερι ζούσης; Ἡ γὰρ θεότης τὸ ταπεινὸν ὑπερύψωσεν· τῷ κατωνομασμένῳ ἀνθρωπικῶς τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν εἶναι ὄνομα ἐχαρίσατο· τὸ ὑποχείριον καὶ δοῦλον κύριον καὶ βασιλέα ἐποίησεν, καθὼς ὁ Πέτρος φησὶν ὅτι Κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησεν (νοοῦμεν γὰρ διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ βασιλέα). καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀκριβῆ ἑνότητα τῆς τε προσληφθείσης σαρκὸς καὶ τῆς προσλαβομένης θεότητος ἀντιμεθίσταται τὰ ὀνόματα, ὥστε καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τῷ θείῳ καὶ τὸ θεῖον τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ κατονομάζεσθαι. διὸ καὶ ὁ ἐσταυρωμένος κύριος τῆς δόξης 3,1.128 ὑπὸ τοῦ Παύλου καλεῖται καὶ ὁ προσκυνούμενος ὑπὸ πάσης κτίσεως, τῶν τε ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, Ἰησοῦς ὀνομάζεται· διὰ τούτων γὰρ ἡ ἀληθής τε καὶ ἀδιαίρετος ἕνωσις ἑρμηνεύεται, ἐκ τοῦ καὶ τὴν ἄφραστον τῆς θεότητος δόξαν τῇ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ προσηγορίᾳ σημαίνεσθαι, ὅταν πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐξομολογήσηται καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ὅτι κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, καὶ τὸν τὰ πάθη τοῦ σταυροῦ δεξάμενον καὶ περονηθέντα τοῖς ἥλοις καὶ διαπαρέντα τῇ λόγχῃ κύριον δόξης παρὰ τοῦ Παύλου προσαγορεύεσθαι. εἰ οὖν καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον οὐκ ἐν τοῖς τῆς φύσεως ἰδιώμασι δείκνυται ἀλλὰ κύριος τῆς δόξης ἐστίν, οὐκ ἂν δέ τις εἰπεῖν δύο κυρίους δόξης τολμήσειεν, μαθὼν ὅτι Εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, πόθεν ἡμῖν ἐπικαλοῦσι τῶν υἱῶν τὴν δυάδα οἱ τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν κατηγορίαν εὐπρόσωπον ἀφορμὴν εἰς τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν ἰδίων ὑπολήψεων προβαλλόμενοι; Τὰ μὲν οὖν παρ' ἡμῶν εἰς ἀπολογίαν τοιαῦτα· ζητοῦμεν δὲ παρὰ τῆς σῆς ἐν Χριστῷ τελειότητος μείζονα καὶ τελειοτέραν τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν συμμαχίαν, ὡς ἂν μηδεμίαν ἔχοιεν κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰς κατηγορίαν λαβὴν οἱ διὰ τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν μέμψεως τὰς ἰδίας ὑπολήψεις κρατύνοντες.