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but according to the true account, God is without flesh. {ERAN.} This is the opinion of the Valentinians and Marcionists and Manichaeans. But we were taught, it is confessed, that God the Word was made flesh. {ORTH.} What do you understand by "was made flesh"? That he took flesh or that he was changed into flesh? {ERAN.} What we have heard from the evangelist, who says: "The Word was made flesh." {ORTH.} And how do you understand this "was made," that having undergone a change into flesh, he was made flesh? 67 {ERAN.} I have already said, as he himself knows; but we know that all things are possible for him. For he changed the water of the Nile into blood, and the day into night, and showed the sea as dry land, and filled the waterless desert with waters. And we also hear the prophet saying: "Whatever the Lord willed, he did in heaven and on earth." {ORTH.} The maker refashions creation as he wills; for it is subject to change, and follows the commands of its creator. But he himself has an unchangeable and unalterable nature. For this reason, concerning creation the prophet says: "He who makes all things and refashions them;" but concerning God the Word the great David says: "But you are the same, and your years will not fail." And again God himself says of himself: "I am, and I have not been changed." {ERAN.} One must not seek the hidden things. {ORTH.} Nor completely ignore the things that have been revealed. {ERAN.} The manner of the incarnation is unknown to me; but I have heard that "The Word was made flesh." {ORTH.} If by being changed he was made flesh, he did not remain what he was before; and this is easy to understand from many examples. For example, this sand, when combined with fire, first becomes fluid, then is transformed into glass, and with the change it changes its name. For it is no longer called sand but glass. {ERAN.} It is so. {ORTH.} And calling the fruit of the vine a grape, when we press it, we call it not a grape but wine. {ERAN.} Quite so. {ORTH.} And the wine itself, having undergone a change, we are accustomed to call no longer wine but vinegar. {ERAN.} True. {ORTH.} Thus, by burning and dissolving stone, we no longer call it stone, but quicklime or lime; and one can find countless such things that, with the change, alter their name. 68 {ERAN.} It is agreed. {ORTH.} If, therefore, you say that God the Word underwent a change into flesh, why do you call him God and not flesh? For a change of name is fitting for the alteration of the nature. For if things that are changed have some kinship with what they were before (for vinegar is in some way related to wine, and wine to the fruit of the vine, and glass to sand), these receive another name after the alteration; where the difference is infinite, and as great as that of a gnat to the whole visible and invisible creation (for so great, and indeed much greater, is the distance between the nature of flesh and divinity), how is it possible after the change for the former name to remain? {ERAN.} I have often said that he was not made flesh by a change, but while remaining what he was, he became what he was not. {ORTH.} But this "he became," unless it is made clear, hints at change and alteration. For if he was not made flesh by taking flesh, he was made flesh by being changed. {ERAN.} This "he took" is your own invention. For the evangelist says, "The Word was made flesh." {ORTH.} It seems you either do not know the divine scripture or, knowing it, you pervert it. But I will either teach you who are ignorant or expose you who are perverting it. Answer then, do you confess the spiritual teaching of the divine Paul? {ERAN.} Quite so. {ORTH.} And do you say that the same spirit was at work through both the evangelists and the apostles? {ERAN.} So I say; for so I was taught by the apostolic voice: "For," he says, "there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit." And again: "But all these are the work of one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as he wills." And again: "Having the same spirit of

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κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον ἄσαρκον εἶναι θεόν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Βαλεντινιανῶν αὕτη καὶ Μαρκιωνιστῶν καὶ Μανιχαίων ἡ δόξα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ὁμολογουμένως ἐδιδάχθημεν σαρκωθῆναι τὸν θεὸν λόγον. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ σαρκωθῆναι τί νοοῦντες; τὸ σάρκα λαβεῖν ἢ τὸ εἰς σάρκα τραπῆναι; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἃ ἡμεῖς ἀκηκόαμεν τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ λέγοντος· "Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο." {ΟΡΘ.} Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἐγένετο πῶς νοεῖτε, ὅτι τὴν εἰς σάρκα τροπὴν ὑπομείνας ἐγένετο σάρξ; 67 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ ἤδη ἔφην, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἴσμεν ὅτι ἅπαντα αὐτῷ δυνατά. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ Νειλῷον ὕδωρ εἰς αἷμα μετέβαλε, καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν εἰς νύκτα, καὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἤπειρον ἔδειξε, καὶ τὴν ἄνυδρον ἔρημον ὑδάτων ἐπλήρωσεν. Ἀκούομεν δὲ καὶ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· "Πάντα ὅσα ἠθέλησεν ὁ κύριος ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐν τῇ γῇ." {ΟΡΘ.} Τὴν κτίσιν ὁ ποιητὴς ὡς ἂν ἐθέλῃ μετασκευάζει· τρεπτὴ γάρ ἐστι, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ δημιουργήσαντος ἀκολουθεῖ νεύμασιν. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἄτρεπτον ἔχει τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον. Τούτου δὴ χάριν περὶ μὲν τῆς κτίσεως ὁ προφήτης φησίν· "Ὁ ποιῶν πάντα καὶ μετα σκευάζων αὐτά·" περὶ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου ὁ μέγας λέγει ∆αβίδ· "Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσι." Καὶ πάλιν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ· "Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι." {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τὰ κεκρυμμένα οὐ δεῖ ζητεῖν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐδὲ τὰ δεδηλωμένα παντελῶς ἀγνοεῖν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἐμὲ λανθάνει ὁ τῆς σαρκώσεως τρόπος· ἤκουσα δὲ ὅτι "̔Ο λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο." {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τραπεὶς ἐγένετο σάρξ, οὐ μεμένηκεν ὅπερ πρότερον ἦν· καὶ τοῦτο ἐκ πολλῶν εἰκόνων καταμαθεῖν εὐπετές. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ τοιάδε ψάμμος προσομιλοῦσα πυρί, πρῶτον μὲν ῥοώδης γίνεται, εἶτα εἰς ὕαλον μεταπήγνυται, καὶ ἅμα τῇ τροπῇ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀμείβει. Οὐκ ἔτι γὰρ ψάμμος ἀλλ' ὕαλος ὀνομάζεται. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὕτως ἔχει. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ τῆς ἀμπέλου τὸν καρπὸν σταφυλὴν ὀνομάζοντες, ὅταν αὐτὸν ἀποθλίψωμεν, οὐ σταφυλὴν ἀλλ' οἶνον προσαγορεύομεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πάνυγε. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν οἶνον, τροπίαν γενόμενον, οὐκέτι οἶνον ἀλλ' ὄξος ὀνομάζειν εἰώθαμεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὕτω τὸν λίθον ἕψοντές τε καὶ διαλύοντες, οὐκέτι λίθον, ἀλλ' ἄσβεστον ἢ τίτανον καλοῦμεν· καὶ μυρία δὲ τοιαῦτα ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, ἃ σὺν τῇ τροπῇ μεταβάλλει τὴν κλῆσιν. 68 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Συνωμολόγηται. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τοίνυν τὴν εἰς σάρκα τροπὴν τὸν θεὸν λόγον ὑπομεμενη κέναι φατέ, τί δήποτε θεὸν αὐτὸν ἀλλὰ μὴ σάρκα προσαγορεύετε; Ἁρμόττει γὰρ τῇ ἀλλοιώσει τῆς φύσεως ἡ τῆς προσηγορίας ἐναλλαγή. Εἰ γὰρ ἔνθα τὰ μεταβαλλόμενα ἔχει τινὰ πρὸς ἃ πρότερον ἦν συγγέ νειαν (πελάζει γάρ πως καὶ τὸ ὄξος τῷ οἴνῳ, καὶ ὁ οἶνος τῷ τῆς ἀμπέλου καρπῷ, καὶ τῇ ψάμμῳ ἡ ὕαλος), ἑτέρας ταῦτα μετὰ τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν μεταλαγχάνει προσηγορίας· ὅπου τὸ διάφορον ἄπειρον, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὅσον ἐμπίδος πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν ἅπασαν τὴν ὁρατὴν καὶ ἀόρατον (τοσοῦτον γάρ, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πολλῷ πλέον, τὸ μέσον φύσεως σαρκὸς καὶ θεότητος), πῶς οἷόν τε μετὰ τὴν τροπὴν τὴν προ τέραν μεῖναι προσηγορίαν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πολλάκις ἔφην ὅτι οὐ κατὰ τροπὴν ἐγένετο σάρξ, ἀλλὰ μένων ὃ ἦν, γέγονεν ὃ οὐκ ἦν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τὸ γέγονεν, εἰ μὴ σαφὲς γένοιτο, τροπὴν αἰνίττεται καὶ ἀλλοίωσιν. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ σάρκα λαβὼν ἐγένετο σάρξ, τραπεὶς ἐγένετο σάρξ. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τοῦτο τὸ ἔλαβεν ὑμέτερόν ἐστιν εὕρεμα. Ὁ γὰρ εὐαγγελι στής, "Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο," λέγει. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἔοικας ἢ τὴν θείαν γραφὴν ἀγνοεῖν ἢ ἐπιστάμενος κακουρ γεῖν. Ἐγὼ δέ σε ἢ ἀγνοοῦντα διδάξω ἢ κακουργοῦντα ἐλέγξω. Ἀπόκριναι τοίνυν, τοῦ θείου Παύλου πνευματικὴν τὴν διδασκαλίαν ὁμολογεῖς; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πάνυγε. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα διά τε τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν διά τε τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐνεργῆσαι λέγεις; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὕτω φημί· οὕτω γὰρ παρὰ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ἐδιδάχθην φωνῆς· "∆ιαιρέσεις, γάρ φησι, χαρισμάτων εἰσί, τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα." Καὶ πάλιν· "Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἐνεργεῖ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα, διαιροῦν ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστῳ καθὼς βούλεται." Καὶ αὖθις· "Ἔχοντες δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα τῆς