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15. And how could Christ be of one composite nature, when the Father and the Spirit are considered to be of a simple nature? And how will He be of the same nature as the Father and consubstantial with us, unless someone should say that the Father is also consubstantial with us? Which is more absurd than any monstrous notion. And how does He Himself say: 'He who has seen me has seen the Father'? and again: 'Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth?' For he who has seen Him as only a man has not seen God and the Father. 16. But if we should say that His energy is one, where shall we place His bodily walking, the breaking of the loaves, the spoken word, and such things, which are not of the divine nature, but of human energy? For these things happened not in appearance, but in the reality of nature. 17. But if we suppose Him to be devoid of a natural and self-determining will according to His humanity, where shall we place the natural desire for food and the other things, I mean sleep, and drink, and such things? For these things, being moved by the law of nature, lead the irrational soul authoritatively to their fulfillment; whence also the impulse towards the action accompanies the appetite; for nature leads the irrational, which is why they are also not responsible, subject to no form of punishment; but those to whom reason belongs, being moved with free will, rather lead nature, having authority both to follow and to check their appetite. For will is a natural, rational, and self-determining appetite. And I say these things, in the case of those who keep what is according to nature, since those who have been driven to what is contrary to nature through inattention are led rather than lead, with the habit of the passions having acquired a kind of dominion over them. 18. By what will shall we say that He, having entered a house and wishing that no one know it, was not able to remain hidden? For the divine will is certainly clear to everyone, as it is all-powerful, but the human will is surely weak and ineffectual. And how indeed, declining His own will, did He pray for the fulfillment of the Father's will? Of what nature is it proper to pray? Of the created, evidently. Of this nature, therefore, is also the will that declines. Thus one 96.617 is Christ, Son and Lord in two perfect natures, and in their own natural properties, undividedly and at the same time unconfusedly willing and doing the things of each nature with the communion of the other, according to the unconfused perichoresis of the natures in one another, the one of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, who for our sake also became Son of man. 19. For since death came through a man, it was necessary for the resurrection to be granted through a man. Since a rational soul by its self-determining will effected the transgression, it was necessary for a rational soul by its natural and self-determining will to effect obedience to the Creator, and for salvation to return, through the same means by which death had ostracized life, so that death might not think to tyrannize man. 20. What then is the result of this? Having lured man with the hope of divinity, he is lured by the bait of the flesh, and death, having tasted a sinless body, was nauseated, and the wretched one vomited up all the food in its bowels. For God the Word who created us, having taken up all that is ours on our behalf, and having been tempted in our passions in like manner, without sin, having fulfilled the law, and having been manifested alone among men as sinless, and for this reason not liable to death, and having made public the power of the divine essence through His miracles, finally comes voluntarily for our sakes to the passion that is the salvation of the whole world, and gives Himself, a curse for us
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ιεʹ. Πῶς δὲ καὶ συνθέτου μιᾶς φύσεως εἴη ὁ Χριστὸς, τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν ἁπλῇ φύσει θεωρουμένων; Ἔσται δὲ πῶς κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν φύσιν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιος, εἰ μή που καὶ τὸν Πατέρα φήσοι τις ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιον; Ὅπερ ἁπάσης τερατώδους ἐννοίας ἐστὶν ἀτοπώτερον. Πῶς δὲ καὶ ὁ αὐτός φησιν· Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα; καὶ πάλιν· Τί ζητεῖτέ με ἀποκτεῖναι, ἄνθρωπον, ὃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα; Ὁ γὰρ ἑωρακὼς αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον μόνον, οὐ τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν Πατέρα ἑώρακεν. ιϛʹ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ μίαν αὐτοῦ φήσωμεν τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ποῦ θήσομεν τὴν σωματικὴν βάδισιν, τὴν τῶν ἄρτων κλάσιν, τὸν προφορικὸν λόγον, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἃ μὴ θείας φύσεώς εἰσιν, ἀλλ' ἀνθρωπίνης ἐνεργείας; Οὐ γὰρ σχήματι ταῦτα, ἀλλ' ἀληθείᾳ ἐγίγνετο φύσεως. ιζʹ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἄμοιρον φυσικοῦ καὶ αὐτεξουσίου θελήματος κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον αὐτὸν ὑπολάβωμεν, ποῦ τὴν τῆς τροφῆς καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν φυσικὴν θήσομεν ἔφεσιν, ὕπνου φημὶ, καὶ πότου, καὶ τῶν τοιούτων; Ταῦτα γὰρ φύσεως νόμῳ κινούμενα, τὴν μὲν ἄλογον ψυχὴν κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἄγει πρὸς τὴν ἐκπλήρωσιν· ὅθεν καὶ τῇ ὀρέξει συμπαρομαρτεῖ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν πρᾶξιν ὁρμή· ἄγει γὰρ ἡ φύσις τὰ ἄλογα, διὸ καὶ ἀνεύθυνα, μηδενὶ ὑποκείμενα τρόπῳ κολάσεως· οἷς δὲ λόγος πρόσεστιν, αὐτεξουσίως κινούμενα, ἄγει μᾶλλον τὴν φύσιν, κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντα ἕπεσθαί τε καὶ ἐπέχειν τὴν ὄρεξιν. Θέλησις γάρ ἐστι φυσικὴ, λογική τε, καὶ αὐτεξούσιος ὄρεξις. Ταῦτά τέ φημι, ἐπὶ τῶν φυλαττόντων τὸ κατὰ φύσιν, ὡς οἵ γε πρὸς τὸ παρὰ φύσιν ἐξ ἀπροσεξίας ἐληλακότες, ἄγονται μᾶλλον, ἤπερ ἄγουσιν, δεσποτείας οἷα νομὴν κτησαμένων τῶν παθῶν τὴν συνήθειαν. ιηʹ. Ποίᾳ δὲ θελήσει φήσωμεν εἰς οἶκον ἐλθόντα, καὶ μηδένα γνῶναι θελήσαντα, μὴ δυνηθῆναι λαθεῖν; Τὸ γὰρ θεῖον θέλημα παντί που δῆλον, ὡς παντοδύναμον, ἀσθενὲς δὲ δήπου καὶ ἀδρανὲς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Πῶς δὲ δήπου καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον παραιτούμενος θέλημα, τοῦ πατρικοῦ θελήματος ηὔχετο τὴν ἐκπλήρωσιν; Ποίας φύσεως τὸ εὔχεσθαι ἴδιον; Τῆς κτιστῆς δηλαδή. Ταύτης οὖν καὶ τὸ παραιτούμενον θέλημα. Οὕτως εἷς 96.617 ἐστι Χριστὸς, Υἱός τε καὶ Κύριος ἐν δυσὶ τελείαις ταῖς φύσεσι, καὶ τοῖς αὐτῶν φυσικοῖς ἰδιώμασιν ἀδιαιρέτως ἅμα καὶ ἀσυγχύτως θέλων καὶ πράττων τὰ ἑκατέρας φύσεως μετὰ τῆς θατέρου κοινωνίας, κατὰ τὴν ἐν ἀλλήλαις τῶν φύσεων ἀσύγχυτον περιχώρησιν, ὁ εἷς τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ δι' ἡμᾶς Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου γενόμενος. ιθʹ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δι' ἀνθρώπου ὁ θάνατος, ἔδει δι' ἀνθρώπου δωρηθῆναι τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ἐπειδὴ ψυχὴ νοερὰ αὐτεξουσίῳ θελήματι ἐνήργησε τὴν παράβασιν, ἔδει ψυχὴν νοερὰν φυσικῷ καὶ αὐτεξουσίῳ θελήματι τὴν ὑπακοὴν ἐνεργῆσαι τοῦ Κτίσαντος, καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐπανελθεῖν, δι' ὧν ὁ θάνατος τὴν ζωὴν ἐξωστράκισεν, ἵνα μὴ τυραννεῖσθαι νομίσῃ ὁ θάνατος τὸν ἄνθρωπον. κʹ. Τί τοίνυν τὸ ἐντεῦθεν; Θεότητος ἐλπίδι δελεάσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, σαρκὸς προβλήματι δελεάζεται, καὶ ἀναμαρτήτου γευσάμενος ὁ θάνατος σώματος, ἐναυτίασε, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις τροφὴν ὁ ἄθλιος ἐξήμεσε. Πάντα γὰρ τὰ ἡμῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ δημιουργήσας ἡμᾶς Θεὸς Λόγος ἀναδεξάμενος, καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων παθῶν πειρασθεὶς καθ' ὁμοιότητα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας, νόμον πληρώσας, καὶ μόνος ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐκφανθεὶς ἀναμάρτητος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῷ θανάτῳ οὐχ ὑπεύθυνος, καὶ τῆς θείας οὐσίας διὰ τῶν θαυμάτων δημοσιεύσας τὴν δύναμιν, τέλος ἑκουσίως ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἔρχεται τὸ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου σωτήριον, καὶ δίδωσιν ἑαυτὸν, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα