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But they point out the unseemliness of this so very beautiful and excellent counsel, and as if it were in their power to think better things, they even censure the decrees of wisdom. For they say that we ought not to ascribe birth-pangs and birth from a woman to the Only-Begotten, but rather to suppose that the nature of the Word was transformed into this corruptible and earth-born body, and they imagine a change of Him who knows no change. For the nature of God is established in its own goods, and has an unshakable permanence in what it is. For created nature, brought into existence in time, might suffer alteration, and this state of affairs will not lie outside the proper and true account. For that which has a beginning of being at all, has in a way, as it were, sown within it the necessity of being altered. But God, who is beyond all mind, whose existence is removed from and superior to generation and corruption, will be superior also to change, and just as by the principle of His own nature, He transcends and is exalted above everything, I suppose, that is called into being, and this by incomparable differences, so also in those things that are accustomed to happen to the things that have come to be through Him, He will again transcend, not knowing how to suffer what is by nature corruptible. Therefore, the divine is in unchangeable goods, but the things of creation are in alteration and changes and have corruption near at hand. And knowing this very well, and philosophizing most excellently, the prophet Jeremiah cried out to God that You sit forever, and we are perishing forever. For the divine will sit always as if on its own thrones, reigning and ruling over all things, and being tyrannized by none of the passions. But we, having a nature most prone and entirely susceptible to alteration and change, are perishing forever, that is, in every season and time we are both corruptible and changeable. Therefore, neither could the divine ever be in deviations, thrust out from its own stability by any of the passions, nor could corruptible and alterable nature, that is, created nature, become rich with essential immutability, nor could creation boast in the goods of the divine nature as its own. For it will hear 684 rightly: For what do you have that you did not receive? But that the nature of the Word is completely unchangeable and unalterable, while created nature is completely alterable, one might observe very easily from the blessed David chanting in the Spirit: The heavens will perish, but you remain; and all will grow old like a garment, and like a cloak you will roll them up, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not fail. Where then has the Word from God remained the same, if it is accurate to say that, having abandoned His established and unshaken state, He has descended into that which He was not, and has been remade into the nature of flesh and into that which is by nature corruptible? Is this not then already nonsense and madness? {B} Very much so. {A} For it is time to say, opposing their ignorances even more ignorantly, that it is not unlikely that the flesh from the earth can also at some time ascend to the nature of the divinity, and become of the same substance as the highest of all essences. For if the very nature of the divinity, according to their stupefaction, has passed over into the nature of the flesh, nothing any longer prevents the flesh from flying beyond its lower and proper nature, and being refashioned into divinity and into the highest essence. But we will not grant compliance to their lack of understanding, but will rather adhere to the divine Scriptures, and of the prophet saying: Behold, the Virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, and of the blessed Gabriel sealing the proclamation, and interpreting the decree from above to the Virgin: For fear not, he said, Mary, for behold, you will conceive in your womb, and will bring forth

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Οἱ δὲ τῆς οὕτω παγκάλης καὶ ἀρίστης βουλῆς τὸ ἀπρεπὲς καθορίζουσι, καὶ ὥσπερ ἐνὸν αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀμείνω φρονεῖν, καὶ τοῖς τῆς σοφίας ἐπιτιμῶσι σκέμμασι. Μὴ γὰρ δὴ χρῆναι λέγουσιν ὠδῖνά τε καὶ τόκον τὸν ἐκ γυναικὸς καταγράφειν ἡμᾶς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, οἴεσθαι δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν τοῦ Λόγου φύσιν εἰς τὸ σαθρὸν δὴ τοῦτο καὶ γηγενὲς μετεστοιχειῶσθαι σῶμα, καὶ τροπὴν φαντάζονται τοῦ τροπὴν οὐκ εἰδότος. Ἐρήρεισται γὰρ ἡ Θεοῦ φύσις ἐν ἰδίοις ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ ἀκατάσειστον ἔχει τὴν ἐφ' οἷς ἐστι διαμονήν. Φύσις μὲν γὰρ ἡ γενητὴ καὶ χρόνῳ παρενεχθεῖσα πρὸς ὕπαρξιν πάθοι ἂν τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔξω λόγου τοῦ καθήκοντός τε καὶ ἀληθοῦς τὸ χρῆμα κείσεται. Τὸ γὰρ ἀρχὴν ὅλως τοῦ εἶναι λαχόν, οἱονεί πως ἤδη καὶ συνεσπαρμένον ἔχει τὸ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι δεῖν. Θεὸς δὲ ὁ παντὸς ἐπέκεινα νοῦ, γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχων ἐξῃρημένην τε καὶ ὑπερίσχουσαν, ἀμείνων ἔσται καὶ τροπῆς, καὶ ὥσπερ τῷ τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως λόγῳ, παντὸς οἶμαί που τοῦ κεκλημένου πρὸς γένεσιν ὑπερανέστηκέ τε καὶ ὑπερφέρεται, καὶ τοῦτο ἀσυγκρίτοις διαφοραῖς, οὕτω κἀν τοῖς εἰωθόσι συμβαίνειν τοῖς δι' αὐτοῦ γεγονόσιν, ὑπερανεστήξει πάλιν, παθεῖν οὐκ εἰδὼς τὸ πεφυκὸς ἀδικεῖν. Οὐκοῦν, ἐν ἀγαθοῖς μὲν τὸ θεῖον ἀμεταπτώτοις ἐστί, τὰ δέ γε τῆς κτίσεως ἐν ἀλλοιώσει καὶ τροπαῖς καὶ ἀγχίθυρον ἔχοντα τὴν παραφθοράν. Καὶ τοῦτο γινώσκων εὖ μάλα, καὶ ὡς ἄριστα φιλοσόφων, ὁ προφήτης Ἰερεμίας ἀνεφώνει πρὸς Θεὸν ὅτι Σὺ καθήμενος τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπολλύμενοι τὸν αἰῶνα. Καθεδεῖται γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐν ἰδίοις θώκοις τὸ θεῖον ἀεί, βασιλεῦον καὶ κατακρατοῦν τῶν ὅλων, καὶ ὑπὸ μηδενὸς τῶν παθῶν τυραννούμενον. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν φύσιν εὐτροχωτάτην τε καὶ εὐπαράφορον κομιδῇ πρὸς ἀλλοίωσιν ἔχοντες καὶ τροπήν, ἀπολλύμεθα τὸν αἰῶνα, τουτέστιν ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ καὶ χρόνῳ φθαρτοί τέ ἐσμεν καὶ τρεπτοί. Οὔτ' οὖν τὸ θεῖον ἐν παρατροπαῖς γένοιτ' ἄν ποτε τῆς ἰδίας ἑδραιότητος ἐξωσθὲν ὑπό του τῶν παθῶν, οὔτ' ἂν ἡ φθαρτή τε καὶ ἀλλοιουμένη φύσις, τουτέστιν ἡ γενητή, καταπλουτήσειεν ἂν οὐσιώδη τὴν ἀτρεψίαν, οὐδ' ἂν ἐπαυχήσειε τοῖς τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀγαθοῖς ὡς ἰδίοις ἡ κτίσις. Ἀκούσεται 684 γὰρ εὐλόγως· Τί γὰρ ἔχεις ὃ οὐκ ἔλαβες; Ὅτι δέ ἐστιν ἄτρεπτος μὲν καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος παντελῶς ἡ τοῦ Λόγου φύσις, ἀλλοιωτὴ δὲ παντελῶς ἡ γενητή, καταθρήσαι τις ἂν καὶ λίαν εὐκόλως ἀναμελῳδοῦντος ἐν Πνεύματι τοῦ μακαρίου ∆αυείδ· Οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις, καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται, καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτούς, καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται. Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσι. Ποῦ τοιγαροῦν μεμένηκεν ὁ αὐτὸς ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἀτρεκὲς εἰπεῖν ὅτι μεθεὶς τὸ ἐρηρεισμένως τε καὶ ἀκλονήτως ἔχειν, καταπεφοίτηκε μὲν εἰς ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν, μεταπεποίηται δὲ καὶ εἰς σαρκὸς φύσιν καὶ εἰς τὸ φθείρεσθαι πεφυκός; Ἆρ' οὖν οὐχὶ λῆρός τε ἤδη καὶ μανία ταυτί; {Β} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν. {Α} Ὥρα γὰρ εἰπεῖν ταῖς ἐκείνων ἀμαθίαις ἀντιτείνοντας ἀμαθέστερον, ὡς ἔστιν οὐκ ἀπεικὸς καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ γῆς σάρκα πρὸς τὴν τῆς θεότητος φύσιν ἀναφοιτᾶν δύνασθαί ποτε, καὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω πασῶν οὐσίας γενέσθαι σύστασιν. Εἰ γὰρ αὐτὴ τῆς θεότητος ἡ φύσις, κατά γε τὴν ἐκείνων ἐμβροντησίαν, εἰς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς μετακεχώρηκε φύσιν, οὐδὲν τὸ ἀπεῖργον ἔτι τὴν μὲν κάτω τε καὶ ἰδίαν φύσιν ὑπερπέτασθαι τὴν σάρκα, μεταπλάττεσθαι δὲ πρὸς θεότητα καὶ εἰς οὐσίαν τὴν ἀνωτάτω. Ἀλλ' οὐ ταῖς ἐκείνων ἀσυνεσίαις τὸ εὐπειθὲς χαριούμεθα, προσκεισόμεθα δὲ μᾶλλον ταῖς θείαις Γραφαῖς, καὶ προφήτου μὲν λέγοντος· Ἰδοὺ ἡ Παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἔξει, καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσουσι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ, κατασφραγίζοντος δὲ τὴν προαναφώνησιν τοῦ μακαρίου Γαβριήλ, καὶ τὴν ἄνωθεν ψῆφον τῇ Παρθένῳ διερμηνεύοντος· Μὴ φοβοῦ γάρ, ἔφη, Μαριάμ, ὅτι ἰδοὺ συλλήψῃ ἐν γαστρί, καὶ τέξῃ