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it enslaves me, the thrice-wretched one, and works every form of evil in me, and through itself seasoning a sweet food, gives it to death. 11. What then? He who is by nature compassionate, who gave being, and graciously bestowed well-being on us, did He overlook His own creation, the most precious, the most beloved, so terribly tyrannized? By no means. But, to speak apostolically, in many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his only-begotten and consubstantial Son, whom He sent into the world, that He might lead wandering man back to his ancient blessedness. And, O the great goodness! what happens? The unmixable are mixed; things beyond nature exist; what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, is now seen, and heard, and spoken of, and believed. What is this? The Son of God and God, becomes the Son of man, mediator between God and men; not casting off His being God; immutable; nor feigning to become man. For He is without falsehood, and all guile, and deception is entirely foreign to His straightforward good pleasure; but truly by nature He became man, without any change or confusion, that He might truly grant salvation to nature. 12. Therefore, He is perfect God; for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; perfect man, that He might save the whole man; for what is not assumed is not healed; one and the same, known in two perfect natures, without any division whatsoever; identified in hypostasis with His own flesh, but naturally, with the Father and the Spirit, consubstantial as God; and with us, having become connatural and of the same nature as man, bearing in Himself the whole substance of the first Adam, from which, and in which, and what man is, a mortal body, and a rational and immortal soul, with reason, free will, volition, and energy; for a living being lacking one of all these 96.613 things is not a man; from the holy Virgin, having constituted for Himself flesh animated with a rational and intellectual soul, and having been united to this in hypostasis, and conceived, God incarnate, one Son, and Christ, and Lord, and having made her who bore Him Theotokos. 13. For if He is not one in hypostasis, how did the Word become flesh? the Holy Spirit declaring this, not that the Word was changed into flesh, but rather was united to flesh in hypostasis. Or how did the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, they say, declare him? For the man who appeared, He Himself declared Him; who, if he were not also God, how will he be believed to be in the bosom of the Father? or how, No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven? For He had not yet ascended bodily into heaven, since even after the resurrection He said: For I have not yet ascended to my Father. Or how is He who descended the same one who also ascended? For He descended by His divinity, not locally, but by condescension; but He ascended bodily, being one and the same, God and man. Or how does the speaking and appearing man say: I and the Father are one? For it is not possible for a mere man to utter such words, unless He were also God, consubstantial with the Father. 14. But if He is not known in two natures, how could the same one be at once mortal and immortal, created and 96.616 uncreated, visible and invisible, perfect God and perfect man? For these could not be the properties of one nature. For by nature the created is not the same as the uncreated, nor the mortal as the immortal, nor the visible as the invisible, nor divinity as humanity.

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καταδουλοῦταί με τὸν τρισάθλιον, καὶ πᾶν εἶδος κακίας ἐν ἐμοὶ κατεργάζεται, καὶ δι' ἑαυτῆς ἁλίζουσα ἡδὺ σιτίον, τῷ θανάτῳ δίδωσι. ιαʹ. Τί οὖν; ὁ φύσει συμπαθὴς, ὁ τὸ εἶναι δοὺς, καὶ τὸ εὖ εἶναι ἡμῖν χαρισάμενος, παρεῖδε τὸ οἰκεῖον πλάσμα τὸ τιμιώτατον, τὸ προσφιλέστατον, οὕτω δεινῶς τυραννούμενον; Οὐδαμῶς. Ἀλλ' ἀποστολικῶς εἰπεῖν, πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ Θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ μονογενεῖ καὶ ὁμοουσίῳ αὐτοῦ Υἱῷ, ὃν ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἵνα τὸν πλανώμενον ἄνθρωπον πρὸς τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπανάγῃ μακαριότητα. Καὶ, ὢ τῆς πολλῆς ἀγαθότητος! τί γίνεται; Τὰ ἄμικτα μίγνυται· τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν ὑφίσταται· ἃ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε, καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε, καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ὁρᾶται νῦν, καὶ ἀκούεται, καὶ λαλεῖται, καὶ πιστεύεται. Τί τοῦτο; Ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Θεὸς, Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου γίνεται, μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων· οὐκ ἀποβαλὼν τὸ εἶναι Θεός· ἄτρεπτος· οὐδὲ σχηματισάμενος τὸ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπος. Ἀψευδὴς γὰρ, καὶ δόλος ἅπας, καὶ ἀπάτη παντί που τῆς εὐθείας εὐδοκίας ἀλλοτρία· ἀλλ' ἀληθῶς φύσει γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, δίχα πάσης τροπῆς καὶ συγχύσεως, ἵν' ἀληθῶς τῇ φύσει τὴν σωτηρίαν χαρίζηται. ιβʹ. Τέλειος τοίνυν ἐστὶ Θεός· ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς· τέλειος ἄνθρωπος, ἵν' ὅλον σώσῃ τὸν ἄνθρωπον· τὸ γὰρ ἀπρόσληπτον, ἀθεράπευτον· εἷς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν δυσὶ τελείαις ταῖς φύσεσιν, ἄνευ τῆς οἱασοῦν συνδιαιρέσεως γνωριζόμενος· καθ' ὑπόστασιν μὲν τῇ ἰδίᾳ σαρκὶ ταυτιζόμενος, φυσικῶς δὲ, τῷ μὲν Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι οἷα Θεὸς ὁμοούσιος· καὶ ἡμῖν ὡς ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς συμφυὴς καὶ ὁμόφυλος, πᾶσαν ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ πρώτου Ἀδὰμ φέρων οὐσίαν, ἐξ ὧν, καὶ ἐν οἷς καὶ ἅπερ ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος, σῶμα θνητὸν, καὶ ψυχὴν νοερὰν καὶ ἀθάνατον, λογικὴν, αὐτεξούσιον, θελητικήν τε καὶ ἐνεργητικήν· τὸ γὰρ ἐξ ἑνὸς τού 96.613 των ἁπάντων ἀμοιροῦν ζῶον, οὐκ ἄνθρωπος· ἐξ ἁγίας Παρθένου, σάρκα ἐψυχωμένην ψυχῇ λογικῇ τε καὶ νοερᾷ ἑαυτῷ συστησάμενος, καὶ ταύτῃ καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἑνωθεὶς, καὶ κυηθεὶς Θεὸς σεσαρκωμένος, εἷς Υἱὸς, καὶ Χριστὸς, καὶ Κύριος, καὶ Θεοτόκον τὴν τεκοῦσαν ἀπεργασάμενος. ιγʹ. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ εἷς καθ' ὑπόστασιν, πῶς ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο; τοῦτο δηλοῦντος τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος οὐκ εἰς σάρκα τετράφθαι τὸν Λόγον, ἑνωθῆναι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν σαρκὶ καθ' ὑπόστασιν. Ἢ πῶς ὁ μονογενὴς Υἱὸς, ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ Πατρὸς, φασὶν, ἐξηγήσατο; Ὁ φαινόμενος γὰρ ἄνθρωπος αὐτὸς ἐξηγήσατο· ὃς εἰ μὴ καὶ Θεὸς εἴη, πῶς ἐν τοῖς κόλποις εἶναι τοῦ Πατρὸς πιστευθήσεται; ἢ πῶς, Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ; Οὔπω γὰρ σωματικῶς ἀνεληλύθει εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, ὅπου γε καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἔφησεν· Οὔπω γὰρ ἀναβέβηκα πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα μου. Ἢ πῶς Ὁ καταβὰς αὐτός ἐστιν καὶ ὁ ἀναβάς; Κατέβη μὲν γὰρ θεότητι, οὐ τοπικῶς, ἀλλὰ συγκαταβατικῶς· ἀνέβη δὲ σωματικῶς, εἷς ὢν ὁ αὐτὸς Θεός τε καὶ ἄνθρωπος. Ἢ πῶς ὁ λαλῶν καὶ φαινόμενος ἄνθρωπος φησίν· Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν; Οὐ γὰρ εὐμήχανον ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον φάναι τὰς τοιαύτας φωνὰς, εἰ μὴ καὶ Θεὸς εἴη τῷ Πατρὶ ὁμοούσιος. ιδʹ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ μὴ ἐν δυσὶ γνωρίζοιτο φύσεσι, πῶς θνητὸς ἅμα εἴη ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ ἀθάνατος, κτιστός τε καὶ 96.616 ἄκτιστος, ὁρατὸς καὶ ἀόρατος, τέλειος Θεὸς καὶ τέλειος ἄνθρωπος; Ταῦτα γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴη μιᾶς φύσεως ἰδιώματα. Οὐ γὰρ ταυτὸν κατὰ φύσιν τὸ κτιστὸν τῷ ἀκτίστῳ, οὐδὲ τὸ θνητὸν τῷ ἀθανάτῳ, οὐδὲ τὸ ὁρατὸν τῷ ἀοράτῳ, οὐδὲ θεότης ἀνθρωπότητι.