5

soul, nor will a body of a soul ever be conceived, and wisdom was perverted by superfluities from understanding to foolishness, being driven by force toward that which they had endeavored to flee. But if one of these receives composition with the other contrary to nature for the completion of another species, it is certainly corrupted, departing from its natural boundary, and becoming that which it is not by nature and changing into that which it was not. What could be more foolish than this? But let us return to the matter at hand.

The generation of the soul, then, as the Teacher emphatically says, does not come from pre-existing matter, as bodies do, but by the will of God through the life-giving inbreathing, ineffably and unknowably, as only its creator knows. The soul, receiving its being at conception together with the body, is brought to the completion of one man, while the body comes from the pre-existing matter of another body, that is, at conception, receiving together with the soul the composition to be one species with it. Which the Teacher, revealing it more clearly elsewhere, says, "According to the twofold power of the inbreathing, both all being inbreathed with breath and the Holy Spirit." Therefore, one must distinguish in thought at conception the life-giving inbreathing and the Holy Spirit to the intellectual substance of the soul, and the incarnation and the breath to the nature of the body, as the Fathers say. And the generation of the forefather Adam was mystically brought forth, the soul having one principle of being and mode of coming-to-be, and the body, of course, another, as the divine 14Ε_026 Scripture magnificently initiated us, not allowing the soul and the body, having come together in one and the same mode of generation, to be confused in their nature and the principle of each one's substance to be unknown, and the mode of their generation.

1325 But if the twofold power of the inbreathing accompanied Adam, concurring in his generation into being, what might one say about the composite humanity of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, I mean of soul and body? which mixture, as far as possible, preserves a great resemblance to the first Adam. For just as, as the Teacher himself says, God, taking the body from matter, that is, a newly pre-existing one, and placing life from himself, which the Word knows as an intellectual soul and image of God, creates man, in the same way, taking the body from the undefiled Virgin as from undefiled earth, and placing life from himself, which the Word knows as an intellectual soul and image of God, he created his own humanity, or made himself man unchangeably by the assumption of flesh intellectually and rationally ensouled, having willingly created it for our sakes as the Almighty.

In this way, then, the Teacher says, I think, that our Lord and God has honored our threefold birth, that is, the universal modes of our generation into being, and well-being, and ever-being: the one from bodies, being one of the composite according to the simultaneous co-existence of the parts with each other, I mean of soul and body, divided into two because of the different mode of generation of each, through which we receive being; the one from baptism, by which we richly receive well-being; and the one from the resurrection, by which we are transformed into ever-being through grace. Therefore one must attend precisely to the words of the Teacher 14Ε_028 on account of the detractors of the well-established texts. For having divided by thought alone the generation from bodies for the reason given, at the same time as conception, no temporal inclination whatsoever being pre-conceived, that the Lord received the life-giving spirit, or inbreathing, according to his humanity, I mean the intellectual soul with

5

ψυχή, οὔτε ψυχῆς σῶμά ποτε νοηθήσεται, καί περιετράπη τοῖς περιττοῖς τήν σύνεσιν εἰς ἠλιθιότητα τό σοφόν, ἐναχθεῖσι βίᾳ πρός ὅπερ φεύγειν ἐσπούδασαν. Εἰ δέ παρά φύσιν τήν πρός ἄλλου συμπλήρωσιν εἴδους θάτερον τούτων τήν πρός τό ἕτερον δέχεται σύνθεσιν, φθείρεται πάντως, τοῦ κατά φύσιν ἐξιστάμενον ὅρου, καί γινόμενον ὅπερ μή πέφυκε καί εἰς ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν μεταπίπτον. Οὗ τί γένοιτ᾿ ἄν ἀσυνετώτερον; Ἀλ᾿ ἐπί τό προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν.

Ψυχῆς μέν οὖν γένεσις, ὥς φησιν ἐμφαντικῶς ὁ διδάσκαλος, ἐξ ὑποκειμένης ὕλης οὐ γίνεται, καθάπερ τά σώματα, ἀλλά τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς ζωτικῆς ἐμπνεύσεως ἀῤῥήτως τε καί ἀγνώστως, ὡς οἶδε μόνος ὁ ταύτης δημιουργός. Ἡ ψυχή τό εἶναι λαμβάνουσα κατά τήν σύλληψιν ἅμα τῷ σώματι πρός ἑνός ἀνθρώπου συμπλήρωσιν ἄγγεται, τό δέ σῶμα ἐκ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ὕλης τοῦ ἑτέρου δηλαδή γίνεται σώματος κατά τήν σύλληψιν, ἅμα τῇ ψυχῇ τήν τοῦ ἕν εἶδος εἶναι σύν αὐτῇ δεχόμενον σύνθεσιν. Ὅπερ ἀλλαχοῦ τρανότερον ἐμφαίνων φησίν ὁ διδάσκαλος, «Κατά τήν διπλῆν τοῦ ἐμφυσήματος δύναμιν, καί πνοήν ἐμφυσώμενοι πάντες καί Πνεῦμα ἅγιον». Μεριστέον οὖν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ κατά τήν σύλληψιν τό μέν ζωτικόν ἐμφύσημα καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον τῇ νοερᾷ τῆς ψυχῆς οὐσίᾳ, τήν δέ σάρκωσιν καί τήν πνοήν τῇ φύσει τοῦ σώματος, καθώς οἱ Πατέρες φασί. Καί ἡ τοῦ προπάτορος Ἀδάμ μυστικῶς παρήχθη γένεσις, ἕτερον τῆς ψυχῆς ἔχουσα τόν τε τοῦ εἶναι λόγον καί τόν τοῦ γενέσθαι τρόπον, καί ἕτερον δηλαδή τοῦ σώματος, ὡς τό θεῖον 14Ε_026 ἡμᾶς μεγαλοφυῶς ἐμυσταγώγησε Γράμμα, μή συγχωροῦν τήν ψυχήν καί τό σῶμα καθ᾿ ἕνα καί τόν αὐτον τρόπον τῆς γενέσεως ἀλλήλοις συμπεσόντα φυρῆναι κατά τήν φύσιν καί τόν ἑκάστου τῆς οὐσίας λόγον ἀγνοηθῆναι, καί τόν τῆς γενέσεως τρόπον.

1325 Εἰ δέ τῷ Ἀδάμ ἐνηκολούθησεν ἡ διπλῆ τοῦ ἐμφυσήματος δύναμις κατά τήν εἰς τό εἶναι γένεσιν σύνδρομος, τί ἄν τις εἴποι περί τοῦ κατά τήν ἀνθρωπότητα συναμφοτέρου τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ψυχῆς λέγω καί σώματος; ὅπερ κρᾶμα κατά τό δυνατόν ἐμφέρειαν σώζει πολλήν πρός τόν πρῶτον Ἀδάμ. Ὥσπερ γάρ, ὡς αὐτός φησιν ὁ διδάσκαλος, παρά τῆς ὕλης τό σῶμα λαβών ὁ Θεός, νεοτελοῦς δηλονότι προϋποστάσης, παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ δέ ζωήν ἐνθείς, ὅ δή νοεράν ψυχήν καί εἰκόνα Θεοῦ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, δημιουργεῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον, τόν αὐτόν τρόπον καί ἐξ ἀχράντου Παρθένου οἱονεί γῆς ἀμιάντου τό σῶμα λαβών, παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ δέ ζωήν ἐνθείς, ὅ δή ψυχήν νοεράν καί εἰκόνα Θεοῦ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, τό ἑαυτοῦ ἀνθρώπινον ἐδημιούργησεν, ἤ ἑαυτόν ἀτρέπτως κατά πρόσληψιν σαρκός νοερῶς τε καί λογικῶς ἐψυχωμένης, δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἑκουσίως ὡς παντοδύναμος δημιουργήσας ἐποίησεν ἄνθρωπον.

Ταύτῃ γοῦν καί τετιμηκέναι, καθάπερ οἶμαι, φησίν ὁ διδάσκαλος τήν Κύριον ἡμῶν καί Θεόν τήν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς τρισσήν γέννησιν, τουτέστι τούς καθόλου τρόπους τῆς ἡμῶν εἰς τό εἶναι καί τό εὖ εἶναι καί ἀεί εἶναι γενέσεως, τήν μέν ἐκ σωμάτων, μίαν οὖσαν τοῦ συναμφοτέρου κατά τήν ἅμα τῶν μερῶν ἀλλήλοις συνύπαρξιν, ψυχῆς λέγω καί σώματος, εἰς δύο διαιρουμένην, διά τόν ἑτεροῖον τῆς ἑκατέρου γενέσεως τρόπον, δι᾿ ἧς τό εἶναι λαμβάνομεν, τήν δέ ἐκ βαπτίσματος, καθ᾿ ἥν τό εὖ εἶναι πλουσίως ὑποδεχόμεθα, τήν δέ ἐξ ἀναστάσεως, καθ᾿ ἥν πρός τό ἀεί εἶναι διά χάριτος μεταποιούμεθα. Ἀκριβῶς τοίνυν δεῖ τοῖς τοῦ διδασκάλου 14Ε_028 λόγοις ἐπισκήπτειν διά τούς ἐπηρεαστάς τῶν καλῶν κειμένων. Τῇ γάρ ἐπινοίᾳ μόνῃ διελών τήν ἐκ σωμάτων γέννησιν διά τήν ἀποδοθεῖσαν αἰτίαν, ἅμα τῇ συλλήψει κατά ταυτόν χρονικῆς οὐ ὅλως ῥοπῆς προεπινοουμένης, εἰληφέναι τόν Κύριον τό ζωτικόν πνεῦμα, ἤτοι ἐμφύσημα κατά τό ἀνθρώπινον αὐτοῦ, λέγω δέ τήν νοεράν ψυχήν μετά