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life could not be conceived of as not subsisting. But 688 he is life by nature, for he will in no way be proven false. Therefore, for the Word who appeared from God not to subsist is a rotten falsehood and the scum of a most foolish mind. {B} Absolutely. For he himself said to Moses: I am who I am. But how could that which truly is, not being preserved in subsistence by itself, ever be conceived? {A} Therefore, shall we not rightly define the extreme ignorance of those who have held this view? {B} Indeed, most certainly. {A} Nor indeed would we praise those others, O Hermias, we who have been well taught to hunt for the truth. {B} Whom? {A} Those who say that the flesh united to the Word is deprived of a rational soul. For by clothing the Word in flesh alone, which has been allotted both vital and sensitive motion, they bring him forth into the world, attributing the activity of mind and soul to the Only-Begotten. For they shudder—I do not know how I should put it—to confess that the Word was united to a complete man, that is, according to the principle of humanity, to one of soul and body, valuing the tradition of the most ancient faith from above of little account whatsoever, but having ignorantly chosen to follow their own will alone and human reasonings, and truly thinking beyond what they ought to think. {B} And what is their reason for such a dogma? {A} I will tell you. We say that the mediator of God and men, according to the Scriptures, is composed of our humanity, complete according to its own principle, and of the Son who appeared from God by nature, that is, the Only-Begotten. And we maintain that a certain coming together and a concurrence beyond reason into union of unequal and dissimilar natures has been accomplished. Nevertheless, we acknowledge one Christ and Lord and Son, who is at the same time both existing and conceived as God and man. And we are accustomed to maintain the union as completely indivisible, believing him to be the same, both only-begotten and firstborn. Only-begotten as the Word from God the Father, and having appeared from his substance, but firstborn insofar as he became man, and among many brethren. For just as there is one God the Father from whom are all things, so also there is one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things. For we acknowledge the Word through whom are all things to be God by nature, even if he became flesh, that is, man. {B} You have spoken most correctly. {A} But their opinions on this subject are not at all in agreement with ours. For they too admittedly 689 accept one Jesus Christ, thinking most excellently in this at least, but they strongly reject as most impious the dividing of Emmanuel into two. Nevertheless, having stripped the flesh of a human and rational soul, they say that the Word from God was united to it. And a certain argument, plausible as they think, has been devised by them for this. For the things, they say, which have come together by composition for the constitution of one complete thing, are wont to be seen as parts and from incomplete things, since that which is complete in itself and as in its own nature has no need of composition from parts. Therefore, they say, one must rightly refuse to grant that the temple united to the Word is a complete man, in order that the composition, which might perchance be conceived in Christ, may preserve its own principle accurate and irreproachable. For if, they say, we compose Emmanuel from a complete man and from the Word who is from the Father, the fear is not small, but rather it will henceforth appear somehow inescapable that one must unwillingly think and speak of two sons, and again two Christs. {B} Then what shall we say in response to these things? {A} First, that it is not right to trouble the tradition of the faith, which is so very ancient and has come down to us from the holy apostles themselves, with excessive subtleties, nor indeed to subject things beyond understanding to extreme investigations, nor to come forward as some sort of definers and rashly saying that such-and-such

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οὐκ ἂν νοοῖτο ζωὴ μὴ ὑφεστηκώς. Ζωὴ δέ 688 ἐστι κατὰ φύσιν, διαψεύσεται γὰρ οὐδαμῶς. Τὸ ἄρα μὴ ὑφεστάναι τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ πεφηνότα Λόγον, ψευδηγόρημα σαθρὸν καὶ φρενὸς ἀπόβρασμα τῆς ἠλιθιωτάτης. {Β} Παντελῶς. Μωϋσεῖ γὰρ ἔφασκεν αὐτός· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν. Τὸ δὲ ὂν ἀληθῶς οὐκ ἐν ὑποστάσει καθ' ἑαυτὸ σωζόμενον πῶς ἂν νοοῖτό ποτε; {Α} Οὐκοῦν τῶν τῇδε διειληφότων καθοριοῦμεν εἰκότως τὸ εἰς ἄκρον ἀμαθές; {Β} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν. {Α} Οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἐκείνους ἐπαινέσαιμεν ἄν, ὦ Ἑρμεία, φιλοθηρεῖν εὖ μάλα δεδιδαγμένοι τὸ ἀληθές. {Β} Τίνας; {Α} Οἳ τητᾶσθαι λέγουσι ψυχῆς λογικῆς τὴν ἑνωθεῖσαν τῷ Λόγῳ σάρκα. Σαρκὶ γάρ που μόνῃ, καὶ τὴν ζωτικήν τε καὶ αἰσθητικὴν λαχούσῃ κίνησιν ἀμφιεννύντες τὸν Λόγον, παραφέρουσιν εἰς κόσμον, τὴν νοῦ καὶ ψυχῆς ἐνέργειαν ἀπονέμοντες τῷ Μονογενεῖ. Καταπεφρίκασι γάρ, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἐρῶ, ἀνθρώπῳ τελείως ἔχοντι, κατά γε τὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος λόγον, τουτέστι τῷ ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἡνῶσθαι τὸν Λόγον ὁμολογεῖν, τῆς μὲν ἄνωθέν τε καὶ ἀρχαιοτάτης πίστεως τὴν παράδοσιν ὀλίγου παντελῶς ἀξιοῦντες λόγου, θελήσει δὲ μόνῃ τῇ κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτούς, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις δεῖν ἕπεσθαι λογισμοῖς ἀμαθῶς ᾑρημένοι, καὶ φρονοῦντες ἀληθῶς παρ' ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν. {Β} Καὶ τίς ὁ λόγος αὐτοῖς τοῦ τοιοῦδε δόγματος; {Α} Ἐγὼ φράσω. Τὸν Θεοῦ μεσίτην καὶ ἀνθρώπων, κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς, συγκεῖσθαί φαμεν ἔκ τε τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀνθρωπότητος, τελείως ἐχούσης κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον λόγον, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πεφηνότος ἐκ Θεοῦ κατὰ φύσιν Υἱοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ Μονογενοῦς. ∆ιϊσχυριζόμεθα δὲ σύνοδον μέν τινα καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ λόγον συνδρομὴν εἰς ἕνωσιν ἀνίσων τε καὶ ἀνομοίων πεπράχθαι φύσεων. Ἕνα δ' οὖν ὅμως Χριστὸν καὶ Κύριον καὶ Υἱὸν ἐπιγινώσκομεν, ἐν ταὐτῷ καὶ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ νοούμενον Θεόν τε καὶ ἄνθρωπον. Ἀδιάσπαστον δὲ παντελῶς τὴν ἕνωσιν διατηρεῖν εἰθίσμεθα, τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι πιστεύοντες καὶ μονογενῆ καὶ πρωτότοκον. Μονογενῆ μὲν ὡς ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγον, καὶ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ πεφηνότα, πρωτότοκον δὲ αὖ καθὸ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ εἷς ἐστι Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, οὕτω καὶ εἷς Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα. Θεὸν γὰρ ὄντα κατὰ φύσιν ἐπιγινώσκομεν τὸν δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα Λόγον καὶ εἰ γέγονε σάρξ, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπος. {Β} Ὀρθότατα ἔφης. {Α} Ἀλλ' οὔτι που σφόδρα ταῖς ἐν ἡμῖν περὶ τούτου δόξαις τὰ ἐκείνων συμφέρεται. Ἕνα μὲν γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως 689 παραδέχονται καὶ αὐτοὶ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἄριστα φρονοῦντες ἔν γε τούτῳ, παρωθοῦνται δὲ λίαν ὡς δυσσεβὲς ὅτι μάλιστα καταδιϊστᾶν εἰς δύο τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ. Ψυχῆς δ' οὖν ὅμως τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καὶ λογικῆς τὴν σάρκα γυμνώσαντες, ἡνῶσθαί φασιν αὐτῇ τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγον. Ἐξεύρηται δέ τις αὐτοῖς πιθανός, ὡς οἴονται, πρὸς τοῦτο λόγος. Τὰ γάρ τοι, φασί, κατὰ σύνθεσιν πρὸς ἑνὸς τελείου σύστασιν συνδεδραμηκότα, μέρη τε καὶ ἐξ ἀτελῶν ὁρᾶσθαι φιλεῖ, τοῦ τελείως ἔχοντος καθ' ἑαυτὸ καὶ ὡς ἐν ἰδίᾳ φύσει τῆς ἐκ μερῶν συνθέσεως οὐ δεδεημένου. Τοιγάρτοι, φασί, παραιτητέον εἰκότως ἄνθρωπον δοῦναι τέλειον τὸν συνενωθέντα τῷ Λόγῳ ναόν, ἵνα καὶ ἡ σύνθεσις, ἥπερ ἂν ἐπὶ Χριστῷ νοοῖτο τυχόν, ἀκριβῆ τε καὶ ἀδιάβλητον τὸν ἑαυτῆς ἀποσώζοι λόγον. Εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ἀνθρώπου τελείου, φασί, καὶ τοῦ ἐκ Πατρὸς ὄντος Λόγου συντίθεμεν τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ, οὐ βραχὺ τὸ δεῖμα, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀδιάφυκτον ἤδη πως ἂν φανεῖται λοιπὸν τὸ καὶ ἀβουλήτως δεῖν δύο μὲν υἱούς, Χριστοὺς δὲ αὖ δύο φρονεῖν τε καὶ λέγειν. {Β} Εἶτα τί τούτοις ἀντεροῦμεν ἡμεῖς; {Α} Πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι τῆς πίστεως τὴν οὕτως ἀρχαιοτάτην καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων διήκουσαν εἰς· ἡμᾶς παράδοσιν οὐ ταῖς ὑπερμέτροις ἀκριβείαις καταλυπεῖν ἄξιον, οὔτε μὴν ταῖς εἰς ἄκρον ἐρεύναις ὑποφέρειν τὰ ὑπὲρ νοῦν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἥκειν εἰς μέσον οἷαπερ τινὰς ὁριστὰς καὶ ῥιψοκινδύνως λέγοντας ὡς τὸ δεῖνα