Letter III.—To Eustathia, Ambrosia, and Basilissa16    This Letter was published, Paris 1606, by R. Stephens (not the great lexicographer), who also translated On Pilgrimages into French for Du Moulin (see p. 382): and this edition was reprinted a year after at Hanover, with notes by Isaac Casaubon, “viro docto, sed quod dolendum, in castris Calvinianis militanti” (Gretser). Heyns places it in 382, and Rupp also.. To the most discreet and devout Sisters, Eustathia and Ambrosia, and to the most discreet and noble Daughter, Basilissa, Gregory sends greeting in the Lord.

The meeting with the good and the beloved, and the memorials of the immense love of the Lord for us men, which are shown in your localities, have been the source to me of the most intense joy and gladness. Doubly indeed have these shone upon divinely festal days; both in beholding the saving tokens17    σωτήρια σύμβολα. Casaubon remarks “hoc est τοῦ σωτῆρος, Salvatoris, non autem σωτηρίας ποιητικὰ.” This is itself doubtful; and he also makes the astounding statement that both Jerome, Augustine, and the whole primitive Church felt that visits to the Sacred Places contributed nothing to the alteration of character. But see especially Jerome, De Peregrinat., and Epistle to Marcella. Fronto Ducæus adds, “At, velis nolis, σωτήρια sunt illa loca: tum quia aspectu sui corda ad pœnitentiam et salutares lacrymas non raro commovent, ut patet de Mariâ Ægyptiacâ; tum quia…” of the God who gave us life, and in meeting with souls in whom the tokens of the Lord’s grace are to be discerned spiritually in such clearness, that one can believe that Bethlehem and Golgotha, and Olivet, and the scene of the Resurrection are really in the God-containing heart. For when through a good conscience Christ has been formed in any, when any has by dint of godly fear nailed down the promptings of the flesh and become crucified to Christ, when any has rolled away from himself the heavy stone of this world’s illusions, and coming forth from the grave of the body has begun to walk as it were in a newness of life, abandoning this low-lying valley of human life, and mounting with a soaring desire to that heavenly country18    ἐπουράνιον πολίτειαν. Even Casaubon (against Du Moulin here) allows this to mean the ascetic or monastic Life; “sublimius propositum.” Cf. Macarius. Hom. v. p. 85. ἐνάρετος πολιτεία: Isidore of Pelusium, lib. 1, c. xiv, πνευματικὴ πολιτεία. with all its elevated thoughts, where Christ is, no longer feeling the body’s burden, but lifting it by chastity, so that the flesh with cloud-like lightness accompanies the ascending soul—such an one, in my opinion, is to be counted in the number of those famous ones in whom the memorials of the Lord’s love for us men are to be seen. When, then, I not only saw with the sense of sight those Sacred Places, but I saw the tokens of places like them, plain in yourselves as well, I was filled with joy so great that the description of its blessing is beyond the power of utterance. But because it is a difficult, not to say an impossible thing for a human being to enjoy unmixed with evil any blessing, therefore something of bitterness was mingled with the sweets I tasted: and by this, after the enjoyment of those blessings, I was saddened in my journey back to my native land, estimating now the truth of the Lord’s words, that “the whole world lieth in wickedness19    1 S. John v. 19.,” so that no single part of the inhabited earth is without its share of degeneracy. For if the spot itself that has received the footprints of the very Life is not clear of the wicked thorns, what are we to think of other places where communion with the Blessing has been inculcated by hearing and preaching alone20    ψιλῆς: this word expresses the absence of something, without implying any contempt: cf. ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος, ψιλὸς λόγος (prose).. With what view I say this, need not be explained more fully in words; facts themselves proclaim more loudly than any speech, however intelligible, the melancholy truth.

The Lawgiver of our life has enjoined upon us one single hatred. I mean, that of the Serpent: for no other purpose has He bidden us exercise this faculty of hatred, but as a resource against wickedness. “I will put enmity,” He says, “between thee and him.” Since wickedness is a complicated and multifarious thing, the Word allegorizes it by the Serpent, the dense array of whose scales is symbolic of this multiformity of evil. And we by working the will of our Adversary make an alliance with this serpent, and so turn this hatred against one another21    κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων., and perhaps not against ourselves alone, but against Him Who gave the commandment; for He says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy,” commanding us to hold the foe to our humanity as our only enemy, and declaring that all who share that humanity are the neighbours of each one of us. But this gross-hearted age has disunited us from our neighbour, and has made us welcome the serpent, and revel in his spotted scales22    τοῖς τῶν φολίδων στίγμασιν. For στίγμα with this meaning and connexion, see Hesiod, Scutum. 166.. I affirm, then, that it is a lawful thing to hate God’s enemies, and that this kind of hatred is pleasing to our Lord: and by God’s enemies I mean those who deny the glory of our Lord, be they Jews, or downright idolaters, or those who through Arius’ teaching idolize the creature, and so adopt the error of the Jews. Now when the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are with orthodox devotion being glorified and adored by those who believe that in a distinct and unconfused Trinity there is One Substance, Glory, Kingship, Power, and Universal Rule, in such a case as this what good excuse for fighting can there be? At the time, certainly, when the heretical views prevailed, to try issues with the authorities, by whom the adversaries’ cause was seen to be strengthened, was well; there was fear then lest our saving Doctrine should be over-ruled by human rulers. But now, when over the whole world from one end of heaven to the other the orthodox Faith is being preached, the man who fights with them who preach it, fights not with them, but with Him Who is thus preached. What other aim, indeed, ought that man’s to be, who has the zeal for God, than in every possible way to announce the glory of God? As long, then, as the Only-begotten is adored with all the heart and soul and mind, believed to be in everything that which the Father is, and in like manner the Holy Ghost is glorified with an equal amount of adoration, what plausible excuse for fighting is left these over-refined disputants, who are rending the seamless robe, and parting the Lord’s name between Paul and Cephas, and undisguisedly abhorring contact with those who worship Christ, all but exclaiming in so many words, “Away from me, I am holy”?

Granting that the knowledge which they believe themselves to have acquired is somewhat greater than that of others: yet can they possess more than the belief that the Son of the Very God is Very God, seeing that in that article of the Very God every idea that is orthodox, every idea that is our salvation, is included? It includes the idea of His Goodness, His Justice, His Omnipotence: that He admits of no variableness nor alteration, but is always the same; incapable of changing to worse or changing to better, because the first is not His nature, the second He does not admit of; for what can be higher than the Highest, what can be better than the Best? In fact, He is thus associated with all perfection, and, as to every form of alteration, is unalterable; He did not on occasions display this attribute, but was always so, both before the Dispensation that made Him man, and during it, and after it; and in all His activities in our behalf He never lowered any part of that changeless and unvarying character to that which was out of keeping with it. What is essentially imperishable and changeless is always such; it does not follow the variation of a lower order of things, when it comes by dispensation to be there; just as the sun, for example, when he plunges his beam into the gloom, does not dim the brightness of that beam; but instead, the dark is changed by the beam into light; thus also the True Light, shining in our gloom, was not itself overshadowed with that shade, but enlightened it by means of itself. Well, seeing that our humanity was in darkness, as it is written, “They know not, neither will they understand, they walk on in darkness23    Ps. lxxxii. 5.,” the Illuminator of this darkened world darted the beam of His Divinity through the whole compound of our nature, through soul, I say, and body too, and so appropriated humanity entire by means of His own light, and took it up and made it just that thing which He is Himself. And as this Divinity was not made perishable, though it inhabited a perishable body, so neither did it alter in the direction of any change, though it healed the changeful in our soul: in medicine, too, the physician of the body, when he takes hold of his patient, so far from himself contracting the disease, thereby perfects the cure of the suffering part. Let no one, either, putting a wrong interpretation on the words of the Gospel, suppose that our human nature in Christ was transformed to something more divine by any gradations and advance: for the increasing in stature and in wisdom and in favour, is recorded in Holy Writ only to prove that Christ really was present in the human compound, and so to leave no room for their surmise, who propound that a phantom, or form in human outline, and not a real Divine Manifestation, was there. It is for this reason that Holy Writ records unabashed with regard to Him all the accidents of our nature, even eating, drinking, sleeping, weariness, nurture, increase in bodily stature, growing up—everything that marks humanity, except the tendency to sin. Sin, indeed, is a miscarriage, not a quality of human nature: just as disease and deformity are not congenital to it in the first instance, but are its unnatural accretions, so activity in the direction of sin is to be thought of as a mere mutilation of the goodness innate in us; it is not found to be itself a real thing, but we see it only in the absence of that goodness. Therefore He Who transformed the elements of our nature into His divine abilities, rendered it secure from mutilation and disease, because He admitted not in Himself the deformity which sin works in the will. “He did no sin,” it says, “neither was guile found in his mouth24    1 Pet. ii. 22..” And this in Him is not to be regarded in connection with any interval of time: for at once the man in Mary (where Wisdom built her house), though naturally part of our sensuous compound, along with the coming upon her of the Holy Ghost, and her overshadowing with the power of the Highest, became that which that overshadowing power in essence was: for, without controversy, it is the Less that is blest by the Greater. Seeing, then, that the power of the Godhead is an immense and immeasurable thing, while man is a weak atom, at the moment when the Holy Ghost came upon the Virgin, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her, the tabernacle formed by such an impulse was not clothed with anything of human corruption; but, just as it was first constituted, so it remained, even though it was man, Spirit nevertheless, and Grace, and Power; and the special attributes of our humanity derived lustre from this abundance of Divine Power25    Compare Gregory against Apollinaris (Ad Theophil. iii. 265): “The first-fruits of humanity assumed by omnipotent Deity were, like a drop of vinegar merged in a boundless ocean, found still in that Deity, but not in their own distinctive properties: otherwise we should be obliged to think of a duality of Sons.” In Orat. Cat. c. 10, he says that the Divine nature is to be conceived as having been so united with the human, as flame is with its fuel, the former extending beyond the latter, as our souls also overstep the limits of our bodies. The first of these passages appeared to Hooker (V. liii. 2) to be “so plain and direct for Eutyches,” that he doubted whether the words were Gregory’s. But at the Council of Ephesus, S. Cyril (of Alexandria), in his contest with the Nestorians, had showed that these expressions were capable of a Catholic interpretation, and pardonable in discussing the difficult and mysterious question of the union of the Two Natures..

There are indeed two limits of human life: the one we start from, and the one we end in: and so it was necessary that the Physician of our being should enfold us at both these extremities, and grasp not only the end, but the beginning too, in order to secure in both the raising of the sufferer. That, then, which we find to have happened on the side of the finish we conclude also as to the beginning. As at the end He caused by virtue of the Incarnation that, though the body was disunited from the soul, yet the indivisible Godhead which had been blended once for all with the subject (who possessed them) was not stripped from that body any more than it was from that soul, but while it was in Paradise along with the soul, and paved an entrance there in the person of the Thief for all humanity, it remained by means of the body in the heart of the earth, and therein destroyed him that had the power of Death (wherefore His body too is called “the Lord26    S. Matt. xxviii. 6. “Come see the place where the Lord lay.” Cf. S. John xx. 2, 13.” on account of that inherent Godhead)—so also, at the beginning, we conclude that the power of the Highest, coalescing with our entire nature by that coming upon (the Virgin) of the Holy Ghost, both resides in our soul, so far as reason sees it possible that it should reside there, and is blended with our body, so that our salvation throughout every element may be perfect, that heavenly passionlessness which is peculiar to the Deity being nevertheless preserved both in the beginning and in the end of this life as Man27    “Here is the true vicariousness of the Atonement, which consisted not in the substitution of His punishment for ours, but in His offering the sacrifice which man had neither the purity nor the power to offer. From out of the very heart or centre of human nature…there is raised the sinless sacrifice of perfect humanity by the God Man.…It is a representative sacrifice, for it consists of no unheard-of experience, of no merely symbolic ceremony, but of just those universal incidents of suffering, which, though he must have felt them with a bitterness unknown to us, are intensely human.” Lux Mundi, p. 218.. Thus the beginning was not as our beginning, nor the end as our end. Both in the one and in the other He evinced His Divine independence; the beginning had no stain of pleasure upon it, the end was not the end in dissolution.

Now if we loudly preach all this, and testify to all this, namely that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, always changeless, always imperishable, though He comes in the changeable and the perishable; never stained Himself, but making clean that which is stained; what is the crime that we commit, and wherefore are we hated? And what means this opposing array28    ἀντεξαγωγὴ of new Altars? Do we announce another Jesus? Do we hint at another? Do we produce other scriptures? Have any of ourselves dared to say “Mother of Man” of the Holy Virgin, the Mother of God29    As early as 250, Dionysius of Alexandria, in his letter to Paul of Samosata, frequently speaks of ἡ θεοτόκος Μαρία. Later, in the Council of Ephesus (430), it was decreed that “the immaculate and ever-Virgin mother of our Lord should be called properly (κυρίως) and really θεοτόκος,” against the Nestorian title χριστοτόκος. Cf. Theodoret. Anath. I. tom. iv. p. 709, “We call Mary not Mother of Man, but Mother of God;” and Greg. Naz. Or. li. p. 738. “If any one call not Mary Mother of God he is outside ‘divinity.’”: which is what we hear that some of them say without restraint? Do we romance about three Resurrections30    μὴ τρεῖς ἀναστάσεις μυθοποιοῦμεν; For the first Resurrection (of the Soul in Baptism) and the second (of the Body), see Rev. xx. 5, with Bishop Wordsworth’s note.? Do we promise the gluttony of the Millennium? Do we declare that the Jewish animal-sacrifices shall be restored? Do we lower men’s hopes again to the Jerusalem below, imagining its rebuilding with stones of a more brilliant material? What charge like these can be brought against us, that our company should be reckoned a thing to be avoided, and that in some places another altar should be erected in opposition to us, as if we should defile their sanctuaries? My heart was in a state of burning indignation about this: and now that I have set foot in the City31    i.e.Cæsarea in Cappadocia. again, I am eager to unburden my soul of its bitterness, by appealing, in a letter, to your love. Do ye, whithersoever the Holy Spirit shall lead you, there remain; walk with God before you; confer not with flesh and blood; lend no occasion to any of them for glorying, that they may not glory in you, enlarging their ambition by anything in your lives. Remember the Holy Fathers, into whose hands ye were commended by your Father now in bliss32    Basil, probably: who after Cyril’s exile had been called in to heal the heresy of Apollinaris, which was spreading in the convents at Jerusalem. The factious purism, however, which Gregory deplores here, and which led to rival altars, seems to have evinced itself amongst the orthodox themselves, “quo majorem apud omnes opinionem de suâ præstantiâ belli isti cathari excitarent” (Casaubon). Cyril, it is true, had returned this year, 382; and spent the last years of his life in his see; but with more than twenty years interval of Arian rule (Herennius, Heraclius, and Hilarius, according to Sozomen) the communities of the Catholics must have suffered from want of a constant control: and unity was always difficult to maintain in a city frequented by all the ecclesiastics of the world. Gregory must have “succeeded” to this charge in his visit to Jerusalem after the Council of Antioch in 379, to which he refers in his letter On Pilgrimages: but it is possible that he had paid even an earlier visit: see Letter XIV. p. 539, note 5., and to whom we by God’s grace were deemed worthy to succeed and remove not the boundaries which our Fathers have laid down, nor put aside in any way the plainness of our simpler proclamation in favour of their subtler school. Walk by the primitive rule of the Faith: and the God of peace shall be with you, and ye shall be strong in mind and body. May God keep you uncorrupted, is our prayer.

[3] Ταῖς κοσμιωτάταις ἀληθῶς καὶ εὐλαβεστάταις ἀδελφαῖς Εὐσταθίᾳ καὶ Ἀμβροσίᾳ καὶ τῇ κοσμιωτάτῃ καὶ σεμνοτάτῃ θυγατρὶ Βασιλίσσῃ Γρηγόριος ἐν κυρίῳ χαίρειν. Ἡ μὲν τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ καταθυμίων μοι συντυχία καὶ τὰ γνωρίσματα τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ δεσπότου ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν φιλανθρωπίας τὰ ἐν τοῖς τόποις δεικνύμενα τῆς μεγίστης ἐγένετό μοι χαρᾶς τε καὶ εὐφροσύνης ὑπόθεσις: δι' ἀμφοτέρων γὰρ ἐδηλώθη μοι ἡ κατὰ θεὸν ἑορτή, διά τε τοῦ ἰδεῖν τὰ σωτήρια σύμβολα τοῦ ζωοποιήσαντος ἡμᾶς θεοῦ καὶ διὰ τοῦ ψυχαῖς συντυχεῖν ἐν αἷς τὰ τοιαῦτα τῆς τοῦ κυρίου χάριτος σημεῖα πνευματικῶς θεωρεῖται, ὥστε πιστεύειν ὅτι ἀληθῶς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐστὶ τοῦ τὸν θεὸν ἔχοντος ἡ Βηθλεὲμ ὁ Γολγοθᾶς ὁ Ἐλαιὼν ἡ Ἀνάστασις. ᾧ τε γὰρ διὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς συνειδήσεως ὁ Χριστὸς ἐμμορφωθῇ, καὶ ὁ καθηλώσας τῷ θείῳ φόβῳ τὰς σάρκας αὑτοῦ καὶ συσταυρωθεὶς τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ ἀποκυλίσας ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν βαρὺν τῆς βιωτικῆς ἀπάτης λίθον καὶ ἐξελθὼν τοῦ σωματικοῦ μνημείου ὡς ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσῃ, καὶ ὁ καταλιπὼν τὴν ὑλικὴν καὶ χαμαίζηλον τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωήν, ἀναβὰς δὲ διὰ τῆς ὑψηλῆς ἐπιθυμίας εἰς τὴν ἐπουράνιον πολιτείαν καὶ τὰ ἄνω φρονῶν, οὗ ὁ Χριστός, καὶ μὴ βαρούμενος τῷ ἄχθει τοῦ σώματος ἀλλ' ἐξελαφρύνας διὰ τῆς καθαρωτέρας ζωῆς, ὥστε αὐτῷ νεφέλης δίκην συμμετεωροπορεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω τὴν σάρκα, οὗτος κατά γε τὴν ἐμὴν κρίσιν ἐκείνων ἐστὶν τῶν κατωνομασμένων, ἐν οἷς τὰ ὑπομνήματα τῆς τοῦ δεσπότου ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν φιλανθρωπίας ὁρᾶται.
Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν εἶδον μὲν καὶ αἰσθητῶς τοὺς ἁγίους τόπους, εἶδον δὲ καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν τῶν τοιούτων τόπων ἐναργῆ τὰ σημεῖα, τοσαύτης ἐπληρώθην χαρᾶς, ὥστε ὑπὲρ λόγον εἶναι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τὴν διήγησιν. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἔοικεν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα δύσκολον εἶναι, ἵνα μὴ εἴπω ὅτι ἀδύνατον, ἀμιγὲς τοῦ κακοῦ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καρποῦσθαι, διὰ τοῦτό μοι τῇ γεύσει τῶν γλυκέων συγκατεμίχθη τι καὶ τῶν πικραινόντων τὴν αἴσθησιν. ἐφ' οἷς, μετὰ τὴν ἀγαθὴν τῶν εὐφραινόντων ἀπόλαυσιν, πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν πατρίδα σκυθρωπάζων ἐπορευόμην, λογιζόμενος ὅτι ἀληθὴς ὁ τοῦ κυρίου λόγος ὁ εἰπὼν ὅλον τὸν κόσμον ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖσθαι, ὡς μηδὲν τῆς οἰκουμένης μέρος ἐλεύθερον εἶναι τῆς μοίρας τοῦ χείρονος: εἰ γὰρ ὁ τὸ ἅγιον τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς ἴχνος ὑποδεξάμενος τόπος τῆς πονηρᾶς ἀκάνθης οὐ καθαρεύει, τί χρὴ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐννοεῖν τόπων, οἷς ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μετουσία κατεσπάρη διὰ ψιλῆς ἀκοῆς καὶ κηρύγματος; ταῦτα δὲ πρὸς ὅ τι βλέπων φημί, πάντως οὐδὲν χρὴ γυμνότερον διὰ τῶν λόγων ἐκτίθεσθαι, αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων πάσης φωνῆς γνωρίμου γεγωνότερον διαβοώντων τὰ λυπηρά. μίαν ἔχθραν ἐνομοθέτησεν ἡμῖν ὁ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν νομοθέτης, τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὄφιν λέγω, πρὸς οὐδὲν ἄλλο τὴν τοῦ μισεῖν δύναμιν ἐνεργεῖσθαι προστάξας εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀποστροφὴν τῆς κακίας: Ἔχθραν γὰρ θήσω, φησίν, ἀνὰ μέσον σου καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον ἐκείνου. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ποικίλη τις καὶ πολυειδής ἐστιν ἡ κακία, διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως ὁ λόγος ταύτην αἰνίσσεται, τῇ πυκνῇ τῶν φολίδων θέσει τὸ πολύτροπον τῆς κακίας χαρακτηρίζων. ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸς μὲν τὸν ὄφιν ἔνσπονδοι διὰ τοῦ τὰ θελήματα τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ποιεῖν ἐγενόμεθα, τὸ δὲ μῖσος κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐτρέψαμεν, τάχα δὲ οὐδὲ καθ' ἡμῶν ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοῦ τὴν ἐντολὴν δεδωκότος: ὁ μὲν γάρ φησιν Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου καὶ μισήσεις τὸν ἐχθρόν σου, τὸν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν πολέμιον μόνον ἐχθρὸν ἡγεῖσθαι προστάξας, πάντα δὲ τὸν κοινωνοῦντα τῆς φύσεως πλησίον ἑκάστου εἶναι εἰπών: ἡ δὲ βαρυκάρδιος ἡμῶν γενεὰ τοῦ πλησίον ἡμᾶς διαστήσασα θάλπειν τὸν ὄφιν ἐποίησε καὶ τοῖς τῶν φολίδων αὐτοῦ στίγμασιν ἐπιτέρπεσθαι. ἐγὼ γὰρ τὸ μὲν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τοῦ θεοῦ μισεῖν ἔννομον εἶναί φημι καὶ ἀρέσκειν τῷ δεσπότῃ τὸ τοιοῦτον μῖσος, ἐχθροὺς δὲ λέγω τοὺς κατὰ πάντα τρόπον τὴν τοῦ δεσπότου δόξαν ἀπαρνουμένους, εἴτε τοὺς Ἰουδαίους εἴτε τοὺς φανερῶς εἰδωλολατροῦντας εἴτε τοὺς διὰ τῶν Ἀρείου δογμάτων εἰδωλοποιοῦντας τὴν κτίσιν καὶ τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν πλάνην ἀναλαμβάνοντας. εἰ δὲ πατὴρ καὶ υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα εὐσεβῶς δοξάζοιτο καὶ προσκυνοῖτο παρὰ τῶν πεπιστευκότων ἐν ἀσυγχύτῳ καὶ διακεκριμένῃ τῇ ἁγίᾳ τριάδι μίαν εἶναι καὶ φύσιν καὶ δόξαν καὶ βασιλείαν καὶ δύναμιν καὶ τὴν εὐσεβῆ λατρείαν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ πάντων ἐξουσίαν, ἐνταῦθα ὁ πόλεμος τίνα εὔλογον αἰτίαν ἔχει; ὅτε ἐπεκράτει τὰ τῆς αἱρέσεως δόγματα, καὶ τὸ παρακινδυνεῦσαι πρὸς τὰς ἐξουσίας, δι' ὧν ἐδόκει τὸ τῶν ἀντικειμένων δόγμα κρατύνεσθαι, καλῶς εἶχεν, ὡς ἂν μὴ καταδυναστεύοιτο ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις δυναστείαις ὁ σωτήριος λόγος: νυνὶ δὲ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην Ἀπ' ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἕως ἄκρου τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἴσως κηρυσσομένης ἐν φανερῷ τῆς εὐσεβείας ὁ τοῖς κηρύσσουσι τὴν εὐσέβειαν πολεμῶν οὐκ ἐκείνοις μάχεται ἀλλὰ τῷ παρ' αὐτῶν εὐσεβῶς κηρυσσομένῳ: τίς γὰρ εἶναι σκοπὸς ἄλλος ὀφείλει τῷ τὸν θεῖον ἔχοντι ζῆλον, εἰ μὴ τὸ παντὶ τρόπῳ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ καταγγέλλεσθαι; ἕως ἂν οὖν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας τε καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ διανοίας προσκυνῆται ὁ μονογενὴς θεός, ἐκεῖνο εἶναι πεπιστευμένος ἐν πᾶσιν ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ πατήρ, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐν ὁμοτίμῳ τῇ προσκυνήσει δοξάζηται, οἱ τὰ περισσὰ σοφιζόμενοι ποίαν τοῦ πολεμεῖν εὐπρόσωπον ἔχουσιν ἀφορμήν, σχίζοντες τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν ἄρρηκτον καὶ πρὸς Παῦλον καὶ Κηφᾶν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου καταμερίζοντες καὶ τὸν προσεγγισμὸν τῶν τὸν Χριστὸν προσκυνούντων βδελυκτὸν ἀποφαίνοντες, μόνον οὐ φανερῶς ἐκεῖνο βοῶντες τοῖς ῥήμασι, Πόρρω ἀπ' ἐμοῦ: μὴ ἐγγίσῃς μοι, ὅτι καθαρός εἰμι; δεδόσθω δὲ καὶ πλέον τι αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὴν γνῶσιν, ὑπὲρ ὧν οἴονται κατειληφέναι, προσεῖναι: μὴ πλέον τοῦ πιστεύειν ἀληθινὸν εἶναι θεὸν τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀληθινὸν υἱὸν ἔχουσι; τῇ δὲ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ ὁμολογίᾳ πάντα συμπεριλαμβάνεται τὰ εὐσεβῆ καὶ σῴζοντα ἡμᾶς νοήματα, ὅτι ἀγαθός, ὅτι δίκαιος, ὅτι δυνατός, ὅτι ἄτρεπτός τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος καὶ ἀεὶ ὁ αὐτός, οὔτε πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον οὔτε πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον τραπῆναι δυνάμενος: τὸ μὲν γὰρ οὐ πέφυκεν, τὸ δὲ οὐκ ἔχει: τί γὰρ [τοῦ] ὑψίστου ὑψηλότερον; τί τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀγαθώτερον; ὥστε ὁ ἐν πάσῃ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τελειότητι θεωρούμενος κατὰ πᾶν εἶδος τροπῆς τὸ ἀναλλοίωτον ἔχει, οὐ κατὰ καιρούς τινας τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐν ἑαυτῷ δεικνύς, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχων καὶ πρὸ τῆς κατὰ ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομίας καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῳ καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο, οὐδὲν τῆς ἀτρέπτου καὶ ἀναλλοιώτου φύσεως ἐν ταῖς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐνεργείαις πρὸς τὸ ἀπεμφαῖνον μεθαρμοζομένης. τὸ γὰρ φύσει ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον ἀεὶ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, οὐ συναλλοιούμενον τῇ ταπεινῇ φύσει ὅταν ἐν ἐκείνῃ κατ' οἰκονομίαν γένηται, κατὰ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου ὑπόδειγμα, ὃς ὑποβαλὼν τὴν ἀκτῖνα τῷ ζόφῳ οὐ τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἠμαύρωσεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ σκότος διὰ τῆς ἀκτῖνος εἰς φῶς μετεποίησεν: οὕτως καὶ τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἡμῶν λάμψαν οὐκ αὐτὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ σκότους κατεσκιάσθη, ἀλλὰ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ζόφον ἐφώτισεν. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἐν σκότῳ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἦν, καθὼς γέγραπται ὅτι Οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οὐδὲ συνῆκαν, ἐν σκότει διαπορεύονται, ὁ ἐλλάμψας τῇ ἐσκοτισμένῃ φύσει, διὰ παντὸς τοῦ συγκρίματος ἡμῶν τῆς θεότητος τὴν ἀκτῖνα διαγαγών, διὰ ψυχῆς λέγω καὶ σώματος, ὅλον τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τῷ ἰδίῳ φωτὶ προσῳκείωσε, τῇ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀνακράσει ὅπερ ἐστὶν αὐτός, κἀκεῖνο ἀπεργασάμενος: καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἐφθάρη ἡ θεότης ἐν τῷ φθαρτῷ σώματι γενομένη, οὕτως οὐδὲ εἰς τροπὴν ἠλλοιώθη τὸ τρεπτὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν ἰασαμένη: καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἰατρικῆς τέχνης ὁ θεραπεύων τὰ σώματα, ἐπειδὰν ἅψηται τοῦ πεπονθότος, οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐμπαθὴς γίνεται ἀλλὰ τὸ νοσοῦν ἐξιάσατο: μηδεὶς δὲ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου μὴ δεόντως ἐκλαμβάνων ἡγείσθω κατὰ προκοπήν τινα καὶ ἀκολουθίαν κατ' ὀλίγον πρὸς τὸ θειότερον μεταποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ: τὸ γὰρ Προκόπτειν ἡλικίᾳ καὶ σοφίᾳ καὶ χάριτι εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ ἀληθῶς ἐν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ φυράματι γεγενῆσθαι τὸν κύριον παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς ἱστόρηται, ὡς ἂν μή τινα χώραν ἔχοι [τὸ] τῶν ἀντὶ τῆς ἀληθοῦς θεοφανείας δόκησίν τινα γεγενῆσθαι δογματιζόντων ἐν σωματικῇ μορφῇ κατεσχηματισμένην. διὰ τοῦτο ὅσα τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἴδια, ἀνεπαισχύντως καὶ περὶ αὐτὸν ἱστορεῖ ἡ γραφή, τὴν βρῶσιν τὴν πόσιν τὸν ὕπνον τὸν κόπον τὴν τροφὴν τὴν προκοπὴν τῆς σωματικῆς ἡλικίας τὴν αὔξησιν, πάντα δι' ὧν ἡ ἡμετέρα χαρακτηρίζεται φύσις, πλὴν τῆς κατὰ ἁμαρτίαν ὁρμῆς: ἡ γὰρ ἁμαρτία ἀπότευγμα φύσεώς ἐστιν, οὐκ ἰδίωμα, ὡς καὶ ἡ νόσος καὶ ἡ πήρωσις οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν συμπέφυκεν, ἀλλὰ παρὰ φύσιν συμβαίνει: οὕτως καὶ ἡ κατὰ κακίαν ἐνέργεια καθάπερ τις πήρωσις τοῦ ἐμπεφυκότος ἡμῖν ἀγαθοῦ νοεῖται, οὐκ ἐν τῷ αὐτὴν ὑφεστάναι καταλαμβανομένη, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀπουσίᾳ θεωρουμένη. ὁ οὖν τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν πρὸς τὴν θείαν δύναμιν μεταστοιχειώσας ἄπηρον αὐτὴν καὶ ἄνοσον ἐν ἑαυτῷ διεσώσατο, τὴν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας γινομένην τῇ προαιρέσει πήρωσιν οὐ προσδεξάμενος: Ἁμαρτίαν γάρ, φησίν, οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ μετά τι χρονικὸν διάστημα περὶ αὐτὸν θεωροῦμεν, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ὁ ἐν Μαρίᾳ ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἡ σοφία τὸν ἴδιον οἶκον, τῇ μὲν ἑαυτοῦ φύσει ἐκ τοῦ ἐμπαθοῦς φυράματος ἦν, ὁμοῦ δὲ τῇ ἐπελεύσει τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος καὶ τῇ ἐπισκηνώσει τῆς τοῦ ὑψίστου δυνάμεως, ὅπερ τὸ ἐπισκηνῶσαν ἦν φύσει τῇ ἰδίᾳ, εὐθὺς ἐκεῖνο ἐγένετο: Χωρὶς γὰρ πάσης ἀντιλογίας τὸ ἔλαττον ὑπὸ τοῦ κρείττονος εὐλογεῖται. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἄπειρόν τί ἐστι καὶ ἀμέτρητον ἡ τῆς θεότητος δύναμις, βραχὺ δὲ καὶ οὐτιδανὸν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἅμα τε ἐπῆλθε τὸ πνεῦμα τῇ παρθένῳ καὶ ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου ἐπεσκίασε δύναμις, τὸ διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀφορμῆς πηγνύμενον σκήνωμα οὐδὲν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σαπρίας συνεπεσπάσατο: ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἦν ἐν τῷ συστήματι, εἰ καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ἦν, πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πνεῦμα καὶ χάρις καὶ δύναμις ἦν, ἐν τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως τῆς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν ἰδιότητος ἐκλαμπούσης. καὶ ἐπειδὴ δύο πέρατα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐστὶ ζωῆς, ὅθεν ἀρχόμεθα καὶ εἰς ὃ καταλήγομεν, ἀναγκαίως ὁ πᾶσαν ἡμῶν τὴν ζωὴν θεραπεύων διὰ τῶν δύο ἄκρων ἡμᾶς περιπτύσσεται, καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἡμῶν καὶ τοῦ τέλους περιδρασσόμενος, ἵνα ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ὑψώσῃ τὸν κείμενον. ὅπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ τέλος μέρους καταλαμβάνομεν, τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς λογιζόμεθα. ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ μὲν σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς διαζευχθῆναι κατ' οἰκονομίαν ἐποίησεν, ἡ δὲ ἀμέριστος θεότης, ἅπαξ ἀνακραθεῖσα τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ, οὔτε τοῦ σώματος οὔτε τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπεσπάσθη, ἀλλὰ διὰ μὲν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ γίνεται ὁδοποιοῦσα διὰ τοῦ λῃστοῦ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὴν εἴσοδον, διὰ δὲ τοῦ σώματος ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς ἀναιροῦσα τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ σῶμα κύριος λέγεται, διὰ τὴν ἐγκειμένην θεότητα: οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς λογιζόμεθα ὅτι ὅλῃ τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου δύναμις διὰ τῆς ἐπελεύσεως τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐγκραθεῖσα, καὶ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἡμῶν γίνεται, καθὸ εἰκὸς ἐν ψυχῇ γενέσθαι, καὶ τῷ σώματι καταμίγνυται, ὡς ἂν διὰ πάντων ὁλοτελὴς ἡμῖν ἡ σωτηρία γένηται, φυλασσομένης τῇ θεότητι καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς καὶ ἐν τῷ τέλει τῆς θεοπρεποῦς τε καὶ ὑψηλῆς ἀπαθείας. οὔτε γὰρ ἡ ἀρχὴ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀρχὴν οὔτε τὸ τέλος κατὰ τὸ ἡμέτερον τέλος, ἀλλ' ἔδειξε κἀκεῖ καὶ ὧδε τὴν θεϊκὴν ἐξουσίαν, μήτε τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐν ἡδονῇ μολυνθείσης μήτε τοῦ τέλους εἰς φθορὰν καταλήξαντος.
Εἰ οὖν ταῦτα βοῶμεν καὶ διαμαρτυρόμεθα, ὅτι Χριστὸς θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία, ἀεὶ ἄτρεπτος ἀεὶ ἄφθαρτος, κἂν ἐν τῷ τρεπτῷ καὶ φθαρτῷ γένηται, οὐκ αὐτὸς μολυνόμενος ἀλλὰ τὸ μολυνθὲν καθαρίζων, τί ἀδικοῦμεν καὶ ὑπὲρ τίνος μισούμεθα; καὶ τί βούλεται ἡ τῶν καινῶν θυσιαστηρίων ἀντεξαγωγή; μὴ ἄλλον Ἰησοῦν καταγγέλλομεν; μὴ ἕτερον ὑποδεικνύομεν; μὴ ἄλλας γραφὰς ἐκτιθέμεθα; μὴ τὴν ἁγίαν παρθένον τὴν θεοτόκον ἐτόλμησέ τις ἡμῶν καὶ ἀνθρωποτόκον εἰπεῖν, ὅπερ ἀκούομέν τινας ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀφειδῶς λέγειν; μὴ τρεῖς ἀναστάσεις μυθοποιοῦμεν; μὴ χιλίων ἐτῶν γαστριμαργίας ἐπαγγελλόμεθα; μὴ τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν ζῳοθυσίαν πάλιν ἐπαναληφθήσεσθαι λέγομεν; μὴ περὶ τὴν κάτω Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὰς ἐλπίδας τῶν ἀνθρώπων κλίνομεν, ἀνοικισμὸν αὐτῆς διὰ τῆς εὐφανεστέρας τῶν λίθων ὕλης ἀναπλάσσοντες; τί τοιοῦτον ἔχοντες ἐγκαλεῖσθαι φευκτοὶ ἐνομίσθημεν, καὶ ἄλλο παρά τινων ἀντεγείρεται ἡμῖν θυσιαστήριον ὡς ἡμῶν βεβηλούντων τὰ ἅγια;
Ὑπὲρ τούτων ἐν φλεγμονῇ καὶ λύπῃ τὴν καρδίαν ἔχων, ὁμοῦ τῷ ἐπιβῆναι τῆς μητροπόλεως ἀποκενῶσαι τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν πικρίαν διὰ τοῦ γράψαι πρὸς τὴν ἀγάπην ὑμῶν προεθυμήθην. ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐφ' ὅπερ ἂν ὑμᾶς χειραγωγήσῃ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἐν ἐκείνῳ ἴτε, ὀπίσω τοῦ θεοῦ πορευόμεναι, σαρκὶ δὲ καὶ αἵματι μὴ προσανέχουσαι μηδὲ ἀφορμὴν παρασκευάζουσαί τισι καυχήματος, ἵνα μὴ ἐν ὑμῖν καυχήσωνται διὰ τοῦ ὑμετέρου βίου τῆς φιλοδοξίας αὐτῶν ἐπαυξανομένης. ἀλλὰ ἀναμνήσθητε τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων, οἷς παρὰ τοῦ μακαρίου πατρὸς ὑμῶν ἐνεχειρίσθητε, ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς κατὰ θεοῦ χάριν τὴν διαδοχὴν ἔχειν κατηξιώθημεν: καὶ μὴ μεταίρετε [τὰ] ὅρια, ἃ ἔθεντο οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, μηδὲ ἀτιμάζετε τὸν ἰδιωτισμὸν τοῦ ἁπλουστέρου κηρύγματος, μηδὲ ταῖς ποικίλαις διδαχαῖς τὸ πλέον νέμετε: ἀλλὰ στοιχεῖτε τῷ ἀρχαίῳ κανόνι τῆς πίστεως, καὶ ὁ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης ἔσται μεθ' ὑμῶν. ἐρρωμένας ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι ὁ κύριος φυλάσσοι ὑμᾶς ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ, καθὼς εὐχόμεθα.