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He is not in the form of God; for man is not in the nature of God. For the entire chorus of the saints knows nature as form. And a servant does not empty himself by taking the form of a servant. For how does he take what he is? And how is a man likened to men, or by becoming obedient to God does he humble himself? For a man is rather exalted by becoming obedient to God, and by becoming equal to God, he considers it a prize to be grasped. So these things were said about the Son of God and God by nature, when he became man. For he was not first a man who was later called God—for so he would have considered it a prize to be grasped—but being God from the beginning, he later became man. And as being God by nature he humbles himself by becoming man; but as having become man he is highly exalted by the name "above every name" of the Son of God. For the same was and is Son of God and God by nature, and he became Son of man and man by nature; for so the divine apostle declared. For he did not say, "Being a man, he became God," but "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped"; for the most high is not exalted, but he humbles himself by willingly becoming man. Therefore he did not speak of the humbling about one and the exaltation about another, but about the same one. For he is one who received both this and that, the one because being God he became man, the other because having become man he appropriated the things of nature, and thus is said to be highly exalted. 11 The Lord says to the Father: "Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world existed." If only God, how is he glorified? But if only man, how did he have glory before the ages? 12 "There shall be no new god in you." How then, according to you, is a man deified by a relative conjunction with the Word and shown to be a sharer with the Father in glory and worth? But we do not say that a man was recently deified, but that the pre-eternal Son of God and God was incarnated unchangeably; for he remained no less God even when he became man. 13 The blessed Paul says: "For although there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we from him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him." He says, one "Christ, through whom are all things." Which one do you say this is? But if it is the one from the virgin, you must say he is the same as the pre-eternal one from God, the one "through whom are all things." But if the one from God is different from the one from the virgin, then according to you the one from the virgin is not Christ; for he said there is one Christ, "through whom are all things." But if the one from the virgin is different from the one from God, you will either say there are two creators of the universe or the one from God will be neither Christ nor creator. 14 The scripture says that, "whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." It did not say a son of God, but "the Son of God," the only, the one. 15 Do you say Christ has two natures, or one? Two, they say. Which ones? Divinity, surely, and humanity. How then is he not God by nature and man by nature, if he has two natures? If you say the union of the God Logos and the flesh is relative, where is the emptying, where is the incarnation, where is the becoming human? For if you were to understand these things in terms of a relative union, you will introduce very many incarnations and humanifications of God, even if partial; for God was relatively united to many God-bearing men, righteous ones, patriarchs, and prophets. Therefore, according to you, he has undergone incarnation and humanification in the case of each one. 16 Micah the prophet says this concerning the one born of a virgin in Bethlehem: "And his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity." How are his goings forth from the beginning, from the days of eternity, unless the same one were also pre-eternal God?

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οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ· οὐκ ἐν φύσει θεοῦ γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος. Φύσιν γὰρ τὴν μορφὴν οἶδεν ὁ σύμπας τῶν ἁγίων χορός. Καὶ δοῦλος οὐ κενοῖ ἑαυτὸν μορφὴν δούλου λαμβάνων. Πῶς γὰρ λαμβάνει, ὅπερ ἐστί; Καὶ πῶς ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώποις ὁμοιοῦται ἢ ὑπήκοος τῷ θεῷ γενόμενος ταπεινοῖ ἑαυτόν; Ἄνθρωπος γὰρ μᾶλλον ὑψοῦται ὑπήκοος τῷ θεῷ γινόμενος καὶ ἴσος τῷ θεῷ καθιστάμενος ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγεῖται. Ὥστε περὶ τοῦ φύσει υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεοῦ ταῦτα εἴρηται, ὅτε γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. Οὐ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ὢν πρότερον ὕστερον θεὸς ἐχρημάτισεν-οὕτω γὰρ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο-, ἀλλὰ θεὸς ὢν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ὕστερον γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. Καὶ ὡς μὲν θεὸς ὢν κατὰ φύσιν ταπεινοῖ ἑαυτὸν γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος· ὡς δὲ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ὑπερυψοῦται τῷ «ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα» ὀνόματι τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ὁ αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἔστιν υἱὸς θεοῦ καὶ θεὸς κατὰ φύσιν καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐγένετο καὶ ἄνθρωπος κατὰ φύσιν· οὕτω γὰρ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος ἀπεφήνατο. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν· Ἄνθρωπος ὢν ἐγένετο θεός, ἀλλ' «ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ»· οὐχ ὑψοῦται γὰρ ὁ ὕψιστος, ἀλλὰ ταπεινοῖ ἑαυτὸν ἑκουσίως ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος. Οὐ περὶ ἄλλου τοίνυν τὴν ταπείνωσιν ἔφη καὶ περὶ ἄλλου τὴν ὕψωσιν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο δεξάμενος, τὸ μὲν καθὸ θεὸς ὢν γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, τὸ δὲ καθὸ ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς ᾠκειώσατο τὰ τῆς φύσεως, καὶ οὕτως ὑπερυψῶσθαι λέγεται. 11 Φησὶν ὁ κύριος πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· «Πάτερ, δόξασόν με τῇ δόξῃ, ᾗ εἶχον πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι παρὰ σοί.» Εἰ θεὸς μόνον, πῶς δοξάζεται; Εἰ δὲ μόνον ἄνθρωπος, πῶς πρὸ αἰώνων εἶχε τὴν δόξαν; 12 «Οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος.» Πῶς οὖν θεοποιεῖται καθ' ὑμᾶς ἄνθρωπος τῇ πρὸς τὸν λόγον σχετικῇ συναφείᾳ καὶ κοινωνὸς τῷ πατρὶ τῆς δόξης καὶ τῆς ἀξίας δείκνυται; Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἄνθρωπον προσφάτως θεοποιεῖσθαι φάσκομεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν προαιωνίως ὄντα υἱὸν θεοῦ καὶ θεόν, σαρκοῦσθαι ἀτρέπτως· μεμένηκεν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔλαττον θεὸς καὶ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος. 13 Ὁ μακάριος Παῦλός φησιν· «Εἰ γάρ εἰσι θεοὶ πολλοὶ καὶ κύριοι πολλοί, ἀλλ' ἡμῖν εἷς θεὸς ὁ πατήρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς δι' αὐτοῦ.» Ἕνα «Χριστόν, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα», φησί. Ποῖόν φατε τοῦτον; Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν τὸν ἐκ παρθένου, ἀνάγκη ὑμᾶς τὸν αὐτὸν λέγειν τὸν ἐκ θεοῦ τὸν προαιώνιον, τὸν «δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα». Εἰ δὲ τὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἄλλον ὄντα παρὰ τὸν ἐκ παρθένου, οὐ Χριστὸς καθ' ὑμᾶς ὁ ἐκ παρθένου· ἕνα γὰρ Χριστὸν ἔφησεν τὸν «δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα». Εἰ δὲ τὸν ἐκ παρθένου ἄλλον ὄντα παρὰ τὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, ἢ δύο δημιουργοὺς φήσετε τοῦ παντὸς ἢ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἐκ θεοῦ Χριστὸς οὐδὲ δημιουργός. 14 Φησὶν ἡ γραφή, ὅτι, «ὃς ὁμολογήσει, ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ θεὸς ἐν αὐτῷ μένει καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ θεῷ.» Οὐκ εἶπεν υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' «ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ», ὁ μόνος, ὁ εἷς. 15 ∆ύο φύσεις φατὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἢ μίαν; ∆ύο, φασί. Ποίας ταύτας; Θεότητα πάντως καὶ ἀνθρωπότητα. Πῶς οὖν οὐ θεὸς φύσει καὶ ἄνθρωπος φύσει, εἰ δύο φύσεις ἔχει; Εἰ σχετικήν φατε τὴν ἕνωσιν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς σαρκός, ποῦ ἡ κένωσις, ποῦ ἡ σάρκωσις, ποῦ ἡ ἐνανθρώπησις; Εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ σχετικῆς ἑνώσεως ταῦτα ἐκλάβοιτε, πλείστας θεοῦ σαρκώσεις καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσεις, εἰ καὶ μερικάς, εἰσάξετε· πολλοῖς γὰρ θεοφόροις ἀνδράσι, δικαίοις, πατριάρχαις καὶ προφήταις σχετικῶς ἡνώθη θεός. Ἐφ' ἑκάστου οὖν καθ' ὑμᾶς σάρκωσιν καὶ ἐνανθρώπησιν ὑπομεμένηκε. 16 Μιχαίας ὁ προφήτης περὶ τοῦ ἐκ παρθένου τεχθέντος ἐν Βηθλεὲμ ὧδέ φησι· «Καὶ αἱ ἔξοδοι αὐτοῦ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἀφ' ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος.» Πῶς τούτου αἱ ἔξοδοι ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἀφ' ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος, εἰ μὴ καὶ θεὸς εἴη ὁ αὐτὸς προαιώνιος;