3

appearing by day, and guiding the Magi to the place of the Word's incarnation, in order to show mystically that the word in the law and the prophets conquers sensation, and guides the nations to the greatest light of knowledge. For to the knowledge of the incarnate Word, the legal and prophetic word clearly, like a star piously understood, guides those who according to purpose have been called by the power of grace.

1.11 (ια΄) Since I, man, willingly transgressed the divine commandment, and the devil, having lured the firm part of my nature with the hope of divinity, dragged it down to pleasure, 1184 through which, having introduced death, he reveled, luxuriating in the corruption of nature; for this reason God becomes perfect man, having omitted nothing of nature, except sin; since it was not even of nature; so that having lured with the bait of the flesh, He might provoke the insatiable dragon, gaping to devour the flesh, which would become a poison for him, by the power of the divinity within it completely destroying him; but for the nature of men an antidote, being recalled to its original grace by the power of the divinity within it. For just as he, having poured his venom of wickedness into the tree of knowledge, corrupted the nature that tasted, so also he himself, having willed to consume the flesh of the Master, was destroyed by the power of the divinity within it.

15∆_022 1.12 (ιβ΄) The great mystery of the divine incarnation always remains a mystery; not only because, being manifested in proportion to the capacity of those saved by it, what is not yet seen is greater than what has been manifested, but also because the very thing that has appeared still remains completely hidden, being known by no account as it is. And let what is said not seem paradoxical to you. For God, being supersubstantial and exalted above all supersubstantiality, willing to come into substance, was supersubstantially substantiated. Therefore also for the sake of men, as a lover of mankind, having truly become man from the substance of men, He maintains forever unexpressed the manner of how He became man; for He became man in a manner beyond man.

1.13 (ιγ΄) Let us faithfully consider the mystery of the divine incarnation, and let us only glorify without prying the one who was well-pleased for this to happen for our sake. For who, trusting in the power of logical demonstration, is able to declare, how the conception of the Word of God happens; how the beginning of flesh without seed; how birth without corruption; how a mother, who also after childbirth remained a virgin; how the super-perfect one advanced in age; how the pure one was baptized; how the hungry one fed others; how the weary one bestowed power; how the suffering one gave healings; how the dying one gave life; and, to say the first thing last, how God becomes man; and what is indeed more mysterious, how the Word is substantially in the flesh according to hypostasis, who according to substance is hypostatically whole in the Father? How is the same one both wholly God by nature, and wholly become man by nature, having in no way denied any nature, neither the divine, according to which He is God, nor our own, according to which He became man? Faith alone comprehends these 15∆_024 mysteries, being the substance of things beyond mind and reason.

1185 1.14 (ιδ΄) Adam, having disobeyed, taught that the generation of nature begins from pleasure; The Lord, banishing this from nature, did not accept a conception from seed. The woman, having transgressed the commandment, showed that the birth of nature begins from pain; The Lord, shaking this off from nature, being born, did not permit the one who bore Him to undergo corruption; so that at the same time He might take away from nature both the voluntary pleasure and, because of it, the involuntary pain, of which He was not the creator, becoming their destroyer; and might teach mystically, according to the will, that another life begins,

3

ἡμέρᾳ φαινόμενος, καί τούς μάγους ὁδηγῶν εἰς τόν τόπον τῆς τοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως, ἵνα δείξῃ μυστικῶς νικῶντα τήν αἴσθησιν, τόν ἐν νόμῳ καί προφήταις λόγον, καί ὁδηγοῦντα τά ἔθνη πρός τό μέγιστον φῶς τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως. Πρός γάρ ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ σαρκωθέντος Λόγου σαφῶς ὁ νομικός τε καί προφητικός λόγος, καθάπερ ἀστήρ εὐσεβῶς κατανοούμενος, ὁδηγεῖ τούς κατά πρόθεσιν τῇ δυνάμει κεκλημένους τῆς χάριτος.

1.11 (ια΄) Ἐπειδή θέλων ἐγώ, τήν θείαν ἐντολήν παρέβην ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καί τό στεῤῥόν μου τῆς φύσεως, θεότητος ἐλπίδι δελεάσας πρός ἡδονήν κατέσυρεν ὁ διάβολος, 1184 δι᾿ ἧς ὑποστήσας τόν θάνατον ἡμβρύνετο τρυφῶν τήν φθοράν τῆς φύσεως· διά τοῦτο γίνεται τέλειος ἄνθρωπος ὁ Θεός, μηδέν παραμείψας τῆς φύσεως, πλήν τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ἐπεί μηδέ τῆς φύσεως ἦν· ἵνα σαρκός προβλήματι δελεάσας, ἐρεθίσῃ τόν ἄπληστον δράκοντα περιχανόντα τήν σάρκα καταπιεῖν, γενησομένην αὐτῷ μέν δηλητήριον, τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ θεότητος παντελῶς αὐτόν διαφθείρουσαν· τῇ δέ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀλεξητήριον, πρός τήν ἐξ ἀρχῆς χάριν δυνάμει τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ θεότητος ἀνακαλουμένην. Ὡς γάρ αὐτός τόν ἰόν αὐτοῦ τῆς κακίας τῷ ξύλῳ τῆς γνώσεως ἐγχέας τήν γευσαμένην διέφθειρε φύσιν, οὕτω καί αὐτός ἐμφαγεῖν βουληθείς τῆς σαρκός τοῦ ∆εσπότου, τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ θεότητος διεφθάρη.

15∆_022 1.12 (ιβ΄) Τό μέγα τῆς θείας ἐνανθρωπήσεως μυστήριον, ἀεί μένει μυστήριον· οὐ μόνον ὅτι συμμέτρως τῇ δυνάμει τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ σωζομένων ἐκφαινόμενον, ἔχει μεῖζον τοῦ ἐκφανθέντος τό μήπω ὁρώμενον, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι καί τό αὐτό τό φανέν, ἔτι μένει πάμπαν ἀπόκρυφον, οὐδενί λόγῳ καθώς ἔστι γινωσκόμενον. Καί μή τῷ δόξῃ παράδοξον τό λεγόμενον. Ὁ γάρ Θεός ὑπερούσιος ὤν, καί ὑπερουσιότητος ἁπάσης ὑπερανεστηκώς, εἰς οὐσίαν ἐλθεῖν βουληθείς, ὑπερουσίως οὐσιώθη. ∆ιό καί ὑπέρ ἀνθρώπων, ὡς φιλάνθρωπος, ἐκ τῆς ἀνθρώπων οὐσίας ἀληθῶς ἄνθρωπος γεγονώς, τόν τοῦ πῶς ἄνθρωπος γέγονε τρόπον, μένει διά παντός ἔχων ἀνέκφαντον· ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον γάρ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος.

1.13 (ιγ΄) Σκοπήσωμεν πιστῶς τό μυστήριον τῆς θείας ἐνανθρωπήσεως, καί μόνον δοξάσωμεν ἀπεριέργως τόν τοῦτο γενέσθαι δι᾿ ἡμᾶς εὐδοκήσαντα. Τίς γάρ δυνάμει θαῤῥῶν λογικῆς ἀποδείξεως, ἐξειπεῖν δύναται, πῶς Θεοῦ Λόγου γίνεται σύλληψις· πῶς γένεσις σαρκός ἄνευ σπορᾶς· πῶς γέννησις ἄνευ φθορᾶς· πῶς μήτηρ, ἡ καί μετά τόκον διαμείνασα παρθένος· πῶς ὁ ὑπερτελής, καθ᾿ ἡλικίαν προέκοπτε· πῶς ὁ καθαρός, ἐβαπτίζετο· πῶς διέτρεφεν, ὁ πεινῶν· πῶς ὁ κοπιῶν, ἐχαρίζετο δύναμιν· πῶς ὁ πάσχων, ἐδίδου ἰάματα· πῶς ὁ θνήσκων, ἐζωοποίει· καί ἵνα τό πρῶτον τελευταῖον εἴπω, πῶς Θεός ἄνθρωπος γίνεται· καί τό δή πλέον μυστηριωδέστερον, πῶς οὐσιωδῶς ἐν σαρκί καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ὁ Λόγος, ὁ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ὑποστατικῶς ὅλος ὑπάρχων ἐν τῷ Πατρί; Πῶς ὁ αὐτός, καί ὅλος ἐστί Θεός κατά φύσιν, καί ὅλος γέγονε κατά φύσιν ἄνθρωπος, μηδεμίαν φύσιν ἠρνημένος παντάπασι, μήτε τήν θείαν, καθ᾿ ἥν ὑπάρχει Θεός, μήτε τήν ἡμετέραν, καθ᾿ ἥν γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος; Ταῦτα πίστις μόνη χωρεῖ τά 15∆_024 μυστήρια, τῶν ὑπέρ νοῦν καί λόγου ὑπάρχουσα πραγμάτων ὑπόστασις.

1185 1.14 (ιδ΄) Ὁ Ἀδάμ παρακούσας, ἐξ ἡδονῆς ἄρχεσθαι τήν τῆς φύσεως ἐδίδαξε γένεσιν· Ὁ Κύριος ταύτην ἐξοικίζων τῆς φύσεως, τήν ἐκ σπορᾶς οὐ προσήκατο σύλληψιν. Ἡ γυνή παραβᾶσα τήν ἐντολήν, ἐξ ὀδύνης ἄρχεσθαι τήν τῆς φύσεως κατέδειξε γέννησιν· Ὁ Κύριος ταύτης ἀποτινάσσων τῆς φύσεως, γεννηθείς, φθοράν ὑπομεῖναι τήν τεκοῦσαν οὐ συνεχώρησεν· ἵν᾿ ὁμοῦ τήν τε ἑκούσιον ἡδονήν, καί τήν δι᾿ αὐτήν ἀκούσιον ὀδύνην, ἐξέλῃ τῆς φύσεως, ὧν οὐκ ἦν δημιουργός, ἀναιρέτης γενόμενος· καί διδάξῃ μυστικῶς κατά γνώμην, ἄλλης ἀπάρχεσθαι ζωῆς,