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they are not sayings, but words. 7 And if the Saracen says to you: How did God descend into a woman's womb? say to him: Let us use your scripture and my scripture; your scripture says that God purified the virgin Mary above all the flesh of women, and the spirit of God and the word came down into her, and my gospel says: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Behold, one voice of both utterances and one meaning. But know this also, that scripture speaks of God's descent and ascent tropologically for our understanding and not literally; for according to philosophers, descent and ascent are literally spoken of bodies, but God contains all things and is not contained by any place. For one of the prophets said: "Who has measured the water of the sea in his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth in a handful?" And in short, all the waters are under the hands of God and all of heaven is a span and all the earth is a handful. How is it possible for him who holds all things in his own hand to descend and ascend? 8 If the Saracen asks you, saying: And if Christ was God, how did he eat and drink and sleep and so on? say to him that the pre-eternal word of God who created all things, as my scripture and your scripture testify, he himself created from the flesh of the holy virgin Mary a perfect man with a soul and a mind; that one ate and drank and slept, but the word of God did not eat nor drink nor sleep nor was crucified nor died, but the holy flesh, which he took from the holy virgin, that was crucified. But know that Christ is said to be double in natures, but one in hypostasis. For the pre-eternal word of God is one also after the assumption of the flesh hypostatically, that is, personally and not naturally; for a fourth person was not added to the trinity after the ineffable union of the flesh. 9 If the Saracen asks you whether she whom you call Theotokos died or is alive? say to him: She did not die, trusting in the scriptural proof. For scripture says concerning this: "The natural death of men came upon her also, not indeed confining or overpowering her as in us—far from it—but, so to speak: The first man slept and his side was taken away." 10 If the Saracen says to you: Behold, I have been struck in some part of my flesh, and the stricken flesh formed a bruise, and in the bruise a worm was generated. Who then formed it? say to him, as we said before, that after the first week of the creation of the world we do not find that God formed or is forming any thing whatsoever, but by the command of God, which he commanded in the first week, the things that come to be come to be. For after the transgression the earth was condemned to bring forth thorns and thistles. And to this day, even though not sown, it brings forth thorns and thistles. Then also our flesh, having been judged, brings forth lice and worms to this day. 11 The Saracen then asks the Christian: Who is greater with you, the one who sanctifies or the one who is sanctified? But the Christian, knowing his armed question, said: What you want to say, I know. The Saracen: And if you know, tell me. The Christian said: If I say to you: The one who sanctifies is greater than the one who is sanctified, you will say to me: Go, worship John the Baptist as the one who baptized and sanctified your Christ. And the Saracen: Thus, he says, I wanted to say to you. The Christian said enigmatically to the Saracen: When you go with your slave to the bath and are washed by him and cleansed, whom do you say is greater, that wretched slave and

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οὔκ εἰσιν λόγια, ἀλλὰ ῥήματα. 7 Καὶ ἐάν σοι εἴπῃ ὁ Σαρακηνός· Πῶς κατῆλθεν ὁ θεὸς εἰς κοιλίαν γυναικός; εἰπὲ αὐτῷ· Χρησώμεθα τῇ γραφῇ σου καὶ τῇ γραφῇ μου· ἡ γραφή σου λέγει, ὅτι προεκάθηρεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν παρθένον Μαρίαν ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν σάρκα γυναικός, καὶ κατέβη τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὁ λόγος εἰς αὐτήν, καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιόν μου λέγει· «Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι.» Ἰδοὺ μία φωνὴ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν λέξεων καὶ ἓν νόημα. Γίνωσκε δὲ καὶ τοῦτο, ὅτι πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἰδιότητα λέγει ἡ γραφὴ κατάβασιν θεοῦ καὶ ἀνάβασιν τροπολογικῶς καὶ οὐ κυριολογικῶς· κυρίως γὰρ κατάβασις καὶ ἀνάβασις ἐπὶ σωμάτων λέγεται κατὰ φιλοσόφους, ὁ δὲ θεὸς τὰ πάντα περιέχει καὶ οὐ περιέχεται ὑπό τινος τόπου. Ἔφη γάρ τις τῶν προφητῶν· «Τίς ἐμέτρησε τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί;» Καὶ ὅλως, πάντα τὰ ὕδατα ὑπὸ χειρῶν εἰσιν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πᾶς ὁ οὐρανὸς σπιθαμὴ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ δράξ. Πῶς ἐνδέχεται αὐτὸς ἐν ἰδίᾳ χειρὶ τῇ κατεχούσῃ τὰ πάντα καταβῆναι καὶ ἀναβῆναι; 8 Ἐὰν ἐρωτήσῃ σε ὁ Σαρακηνὸς λέγων· Καὶ εἰ θεὸς ἦν ὁ Χριστός, πῶς ἔφαγεν καὶ ἔπιεν καὶ ὕπνωσεν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; εἰπὲ αὐτῷ, ὅτι ὁ προαιώνιος λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ κτίσας τὰ σύμπαντα, καθὼς μαρτυρεῖ ἡ γραφή μου καὶ ἡ γραφή σου, αὐτὸς ἔκτισεν ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου Μαρίας ἄνθρωπον τέλειον ἔμψυχον καὶ ἔννουν· ἐκεῖνος ἔφαγεν καὶ ἔπιεν καὶ ὕπνωσεν, ὁ δὲ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔφαγεν οὐδὲ ἔπιεν οὐδὲ ὕπνωσεν οὐδὲ ἐσταυρώθη οὐδὲ ἀπέθανεν, ἀλλ' ἡ ἁγία σάρξ, ἣν ἔλαβεν ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου, ἐκείνη ἐσταυρώθη. Γίνωσκε δέ, ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς διπλοῦς μὲν λέγεται ταῖς φύσεσιν, εἷς δὲ τῇ ὑποστάσει. Εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ προαιώνιος λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μετὰ τὴν πρόσληψιν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑποστατικῶς ἤτοι προσωπικῶς καὶ οὐ φυσικῶς· οὐ γὰρ προσετέθη τῇ τριάδι τέταρτον πρόσωπον μετὰ τὴν ἀπόρρητον ἕνωσιν τῆς σαρκός. 9 Ἐάν σε ἐρωτήσῃ ὁ Σαρακηνός, ὅτι, ἣν λέγετε θεοτόκον, ἀπέθανεν ἢ ζῇ; εἰπὲ αὐτῷ· Οὐκ ἀπέθανεν, θαρρῶν τῇ γραφικῇ ἀποδείξει. Λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ περὶ τούτου· «Ἦλθεν καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὴν ὁ φυσικὸς τῶν ἀνθρώπων θάνατος, οὐ μὴν καθείρξας ἢ χειρωσάμενος ὡς ἐν ἡμῖν-ἄπαγε-, ἀλλ' ὡς φέρε εἰπεῖν· Ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ὕπνωσεν καὶ τὴν πλευρὰν ἀφῃρέθη.» 10 Ἐάν σοι εἴπῃ ὁ Σαρακηνός· Ἰδοὺ πέπληγμαι ἔν τινι τόπῳ τῆς σαρκός μου, καὶ πληγεῖσα ἡ σὰρξ μώλωπα ἀπετέλεσεν, καὶ ἐν τῷ μώλωπι ἐγένετο σκώληξ. Τίς οὖν αὐτὸν ἔπλασεν; εἰπὲ αὐτῷ, ὡς προείπομεν, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἑβδομάδα τῆς κοσμοποιίας οὐχ εὑρίσκομεν οἱονδηποτοῦν πρᾶγμα πλάσαντα τὸν θεὸν ἢ πλάττοντα, ἀλλὰ τῷ προστάγματι τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃ προσέταξεν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ἑβδομάδι, γίνονται τὰ γινόμενα. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν παράβασιν κατεκρίθη ἡ γῆ, ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνατέλλειν. Καὶ μέχρι τὸ δεῦρο καὶ μὴ σπερομένη ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνατέλλει. Τότε δὲ καὶ ἡ σὰρξ ἡμῶν κριθεῖσα μέχρι τῆς σήμερον φθεῖρας καὶ σκώληκας ἀνατελεῖ. 11 Ὁ Σαρακηνὸς ἐρώτα τὸν Χριστιανὸν λοιπόν· Τίς ἐστι παρὰ σοὶ μείζων, ὁ ἁγιάζων ἢ ὁ ἁγιαζόμενος; Γνοὺς δὲ ὁ Χριστιανὸς τὴν ἔνοπλον αὐτοῦ ἐρώτησιν εἶπεν· Ὃ θέλεις εἰπεῖν, γινώσκω. Ὁ Σαρακηνός· Καὶ εἰ οἶδας, ἀνάγγειλόν μοι. Ὁ Χριστιανὸς ἔφη, ὅτι· Ἐάν σοι εἴπω· Ὁ ἁγιάζων μείζων τοῦ ἁγιαζομένου, ἐρεῖς μοι· Ἄπελθε, προσκύνησον τὸν βαπτιστὴν Ἰωάννην ὡς βαπτίσαντα καὶ ἁγιάσαντα τὸν Χριστόν σου. Ὁ δὲ Σαρακηνός· Οὕτως, φησί, σοὶ ἤθελον εἰπεῖν. Αἰνιγματωδῶς ἔφη ὁ Χριστιανὸς πρὸς τὸν Σαρακηνόν· Ἀπερχομένου σου μετὰ τοῦ δούλου σου ἐν τῷ βαλανείῳ καὶ λουόμενος ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ καθαιρόμενος, τίνα ἔχεις εἰπεῖν μείζονα, ἐκεῖνον τὸν οἰκτρὸν δοῦλον καὶ