4

they protest that what is the Son's is the Father's. For he who has all things that are the Father's certainly also has the Father's immortality in himself; and immortality, so long as it is what it is called, has no mixture with and no fellowship with death. If, therefore, they say the divinity of the Son is mortal, 3,1.138 they establish that he does not have the Father's immortality in himself. But truly, he who says that he has the whole Father in himself speaks the truth. Therefore, he lies who makes him mortal, in whom the whole eternity of the Father is beheld. Since, therefore, the power of the Father and of the Son is one, according to the doctrine of the pious (for in the Father we see the Son and in the Son the Father), it is clearly shown that that which is passible by nature accepts death, while that which is incapable of passion worked impassibility in that which was passible.

But let us proceed to what follows in the argument. And I will speak again in my own voice, summarizing the thought in brief. For he says that to name Christ an inspired man is contrary to the apostolic teachings, and foreign to the synods; and that Paul and Photinus and Marcellus were the originators of such a perversion. Then, like the cleverest of debaters, as if having grappled with his interlocutor and found the author of the statement, he says this: How will you say that the one testified to have come down from heaven is a man from the earth—the man and son of man who is proclaimed God and son of God? Again in these words, the construction of what has gone before is the beginning of another absurdity; for in order to show that God died, he allows nothing at all of the earthly nature to be seen in him, since the passion of death seems to be altogether akin to the earth. The man who came down from heaven, he says, is not a man from the earth. A man, however, even if he has come down from heaven; for the Lord does not deny such a title in the gospels. How then does he preserve consistency in what he has said? If the man is not from earth, but comes down to us from heaven, 3,1.139 how is he who comes down from heaven called son of man? For he will surely grant that, just as on earth we preconceive the fathers of sons, so also in the case of the man who according to him has come from heaven—since he is called son of man—that he is not idly named from a father, but that there is another man, his father, preconceived in heaven in a human way. For if he relies on this saying that states, "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man," and for this reason he separates him from kinship with the earthly man, calling him a son of man come from heaven; he will surely grant that there is some other such father in heaven of him who descended to us, so that in the heavenly life one might suppose there are nations of men and peoples and tribes and all the things that exist in this life here. If, then, that which came from heaven is son of a man, and that which was born of Mary from the seed of David according to the flesh is also named son of man from above, he is falsely, according to them, called son of God, since neither the heavenly nor the earthly is being appropriated to the divine. But having gathered for himself what has been said into a summary, he concludes his argument with this: "But if he is both son of man from heaven and son of God from a woman, how is he not the same God and man?" But I say that to believe him to be the same man and God belongs to everyone who holds the right doctrine, yet not according to the mind of this writer; for neither is the divine earthly nor is the human heavenly, as he thinks; but from above the power of the Most High through the Holy Spirit overshadowed, that is, was formed in, the human nature, and from the undefiled virgin the portion of flesh was woven together and thus that which was born in her was named son of the Most High; with the divine 3,1.140 power appropriating the kinship to the Most High, and the flesh the human kinship.

4

τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ υἱοῦ εἶναι διαμαρτύ ρονται. ὁ γὰρ πάντα ἔχων τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὴν ἀθανασίαν πάντως τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει· ἡ δὲ ἀθανασία, ἕως ἂν ᾖ τοῦτο ὃ λέγεται, ἀμίκτως τε καὶ ἀκοινωνήτως πρὸς τὸν θάνατον ἔχει. εἰ οὖν θνητὴν λέγουσι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν θεότητα, 3,1.138 τὸ μὴ ἔχειν αὐτὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀθανασίαν κατα σκευάζουσιν. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἀληθεύει ὁ λέγων ὅλον ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν πατέρα. ψεύδεται ἄρα ὁ θνητὸν κατασκευάζων τοῦτον ᾧ πᾶσα ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀϊδιότης ἐγκαθορᾶται. ἐπεὶ οὖν μία πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῶν εὐσεβούντων ἡ δύναμις (ἐν γὰρ τῷ πατρὶ τὸν υἱὸν βλέπομεν καὶ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ τὸν πατέρα), σαφῶς ἀποδείκνυται, ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἐμπαθὲς τῇ φύσει τὸν θάνατον δέχεται, τὸ δὲ ἀπαράδεκτον πάθους ἐν τῷ παθητῷ τὴν ἀπάθειαν ἐνήργησεν.

Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς τοῦ λόγου προέλθωμεν. λέξω δὲ πάλιν τῇ ἐμαυτοῦ φωνῇ συνελὼν ἐν βραχεῖ τὴν διάνοιαν. φησὶ γὰρ τὸ ἄνθρωπον ἔνθεον τὸν Χριστὸν ὀνομά ζειν ἐναντίον μὲν εἶναι ταῖς ἀποστολικαῖς διδασ καλίαις, ἀλλότριον δὲ τῶν συνόδων· Παῦλον δὲ καὶ Φωτεινὸν καὶ Μάρκελλον τῆς τοιαύτης δια στροφῆς κατάρξαι. εἶτα κατὰ τοὺς δεινοὺς τῶν ἀγωνι στῶν ὥσπερ συμπλακεὶς τῷ προσδιαλεγομένῳ καὶ εὑρὼν τὸν αὐθέντην τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦτό φησι· Πῶς ἐρεῖς ἐκ γῆς ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβεβηκέναι μαρτυ ρούμενον ἄνθρωπον καὶ υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου τὸν θεὸν καὶ θεοῦ υἱὸν ἀναγορευόμενον; πάλιν ἐν τούτοις ἡ κατασκευὴ τῶν προλαβόντων ἑτέρας ἀτοπίας ἐστὶν ἀρχή· ἵνα γὰρ δείξῃ θεὸν τεθνηκότα, οὐδὲν ὅλως καταδέχεται τῆς γηΐνης φύσεως περὶ αὐτὸν θεωρεῖσθαι, ἐπειδὴ ὅλως τῇ γῇ συγγενῶς ἔχειν δοκεῖ τὸ κατὰ θάνατον πάθος. Οὐκ ἔστι, φησίν, ἐκ γῆς ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς ἄνθρωπος. ἄνθρωπος μέντοι, καὶ εἰ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβέβηκεν· οὐ γὰρ ἀρνεῖται τὴν τοιαύτην προσηγορίαν ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὁ κύριος. πῶς οὖν ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὸ ἀκόλουθον σῴζει; εἰ μὴ ἐκ γῆς ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ' ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς καταβαίνει, 3,1.139 πῶς ἀνθρώπου υἱὸς ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβαίνων λέγεται; δώσει γὰρ πάντως, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς προεπινοοῦμεν τῶν υἱῶν τοὺς πατέρας, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν οὐρανόθεν ἥκοντος ἀνθρώπου, ἐπειδὴ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου λέγεται, μὴ εἰκῆ πατρόθεν κατονομάζεσθαι, ἀλλ' εἶναι αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἀν θρώπινον ἐν οὐρανῷ προθεωρούμενον πατέρα ἄλλον ἄνθρω πον. εἰ γὰρ στηρίζεται τούτῳ τῷ ῥήματι τῷ εἰρηκότι Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῆς πρὸς τὸν γήϊνον ἄνθρωπον συγγενείας αὐτὸν ἀποσχίζει, ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἥκοντα υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου λέγων· δώσει τινὰ πάντως τοῦ καταβάντος πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἄλλον ἐν οὐρανῷ τοιοῦτον πατέρα, ὥστε καὶ ἐν τῇ οὐρανίῳ ζωῇ ἔθνη ἀνθρώπων καὶ δήμους καὶ πατριὰς καὶ πάντα, ὅσα κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον ἔστιν, ὑπονοεῖσθαι. εἰ οὖν τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἧκον ἀνθρώπου ἐστὶν υἱός, τὸ δὲ ἐκ Μαρίας ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ κατὰ σάρκα γεγεννημένον ἄνωθεν δὲ ἀνθρώπου υἱὸς ὠνόμασται, ψευδῶς κατ' αὐτοὺς υἱὸς θεοῦ λέγεται μήτε τοῦ οὐρανίου μήτε τοῦ γηΐνου πρὸς τὸ θεῖον οἰκειουμένου. ἀλλὰ συναγαγὼν ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τὸ κεφάλαιον τὰ εἰρημένα ἐν τούτῳ συμπεραίνει τὸν λόγον· Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἐκ γυναικὸς υἱὸς θεοῦ, πῶς οὐχ ὁ αὐτὸς θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος; ἐγὼ δὲ τὸ μὲν τὸν αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ θεὸν πιστεύειν εἶναι φημὶ καὶ παντὸς εἶναι τοῦ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον πρεσβεύοντος, οὐ μὴν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ λογογράφου διά νοιαν· οὔτε γὰρ τὸ θεῖον γήϊνον οὔτε ἀνθρώπινον τὸ οὐράνιον, καθὼς ἐκεῖνος οἴεται· ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν μὲν ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου δύ ναμις διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει ἐπεσκιάσθη, τουτέστιν ἐνεμορφώθη, ἐκ δὲ τῆς ἀμιάντου παρθένου ἡ τῆς σαρκὸς μοῖρα συνηφανίσθη καὶ οὕτω τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν υἱὸς ὑψίστου κατωνομάσθη· τῆς μὲν θείας 3,1.140 δυνάμεως τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὕψιστον ἀγχιστείαν, τῆς δὲ σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην οἰκειουμένης συγγένειαν.