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one thing is right, but another thing surely ought to be otherwise and was truly better, but rather to assign to the all-wise God the way of His own deliberations, and not to arrogantly rebuke those things that have been approved by Him as being good. For we shall hear Him saying clearly: For my counsels are not as your counsels, nor are my ways as your ways, but as the heaven is distant from the earth, so is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my mind. Then that which they thought to have been wisely discovered will be found to be utterly stale and ignorant. For if someone should choose to strip that divine temple of a rational soul, the union will not be of two incomplete things, far from it. For it is admittedly so, with respect to the whole man, I mean the one of soul and body, that the flesh alone and by itself is as a part. 690 But God the Word would not be understood as a part of anything, nor is He incomplete, O noble sirs. For He is entirely complete in His own nature. Where then will be the coming together from incomplete things into one complete thing, if it is from the complete Word and the incomplete flesh, insofar as it pertains to the account of a complete man who is perfect according to his own nature? And we shall surely not worship two sons, nor shall we speak of two christs, even if we believe that the coming together into unity of Emmanuel was effected from a complete man and from God the Word. For just as, according to what seems good to them, even if it were said to be of the flesh alone and of the Word who has appeared from God the Father, no manner of argument will persuade them—supposing the flesh to be a part and the Only-Begotten in turn to be a part—to confess a dyad of christs, but they will accept Emmanuel as one Lord Jesus Christ—for in this, at least, they have determined to think very rightly—so also if we say that God the Word was ineffably and beyond understanding brought together, as it were, and united to a complete man, that is, one of soul and body, we shall not conceive of a dyad of sons, but one and the same, being by nature God and having appeared from the very essence of God the Father, but in the last times of the age becoming man and having been born through the holy Virgin, and being worshipped both by us and by the holy angels according to the Scriptures. {B} What then, if they should say that our condition needed only the sojourn of the Only-Begotten, and that wishing to be seen by those on earth, and to converse with men, and to show us the way of the evangelical life, He economically clothed Himself in flesh like ours? For the divine, according to its own nature, is not visible. {A} They will be found to be ignorant of the purpose of the incarnation, and to have in no way understood the great mystery of piety. For if the incarnation, or rather the enfleshment, of the Only-Begotten has as its only cause the being seen by those on earth, and added nothing else to human nature, how is it not now somehow better and wiser for us ourselves to agree with the opinion of the Docetists? Who, stripping the Word of flesh and of an earthly body, invent the myth, the wretches, that He appeared on earth as a man, but have clearly confessed that He was an introducer of the most beautiful things. Or will you not say it is better, if the Word from God gives no benefit to 691 human nature even if He has become flesh, to be rid of fleshly impurity, but to seem for once to have used an earthly body, and so to accomplish the proposed purpose? {B} What then would be the reason for the sojourn, or what the manner of the incarnation, and for what purpose was it done, I would wish to learn. {A} Come then, O noble sir, inquire of the sacred Scriptures, and having fixed the eye of your mind very well upon the voices of the holy apostles, consider carefully what is sought. For our wise Paul, having Christ speaking in him, said: For since the children have shared in blood and flesh, he himself likewise partook of the same things,

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μὲν ὀρθῶς, τὸ δεῖνα δὲ αὖ ἑτεροίως ἔχειν χρῆν δήπου καὶ ἦν ἄμεινον ἀληθῶς, ἀπονέμειν δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ πανσόφῳ Θεῷ τῶν ἰδίων διασκέψεων τὴν ὁδόν, καὶ μὴ τοῖς εὖ ἔχειν παρ' αὐτῷ δεδοκιμασμένοις ὑπερφιάλως ἐπιτιμᾶν. Ἀκουσόμεθα γὰρ λέγοντος ἐναργῶς· Οὐ γάρ εἰσιν αἱ βουλαί μου ὥσπερ αἱ βουλαὶ ὑμῶν, οὐδὲ ὥσπερ αἱ ὁδοὶ ὑμῶν αἱ ὁδοί μου, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀπέχει ὁ οὐρανὸς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, οὕτως ἀπέχει ἡ ὁδός μου ἀπὸ τῶν ὁδῶν ὑμῶν, καὶ τὰ διανοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς διανοίας μου. Εἶτα τὸ δοκοῦν αὐτοῖς ηὑρῆσθαι σοφῶς ἕωλον παντελῶς καὶ ἀμαθὲς ὂν ἁλώσεται. Εἰ γὰρ δή τις ἕλοιτο ψυχῆς λογικῆς τὸν θεῖον ἐκεῖνον ἀπογυμνῶσαι ναόν, οὐκ ἐξ ἀτελῶν ἡ σύνοδος ἔσται δύο, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ. Ἔστι μὲν γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως ὡς πρὸς ὅλον ἄνθρωπον, τὸν ἐκ ψυχῆς δὴ λέγω καὶ σώματος, μόνη καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ὡς μέρος ἡ σάρξ. 690 Ἀλλ' ὅ γε Θεὸς Λόγος, οὐχ ὡς μέρος ἂν νοοῖτό τινος, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀτελής, ὦ γενναῖοι. Παντέλειος γὰρ ἐν ἰδίᾳ φύσει. Ποῦ τοίνυν ἐξ ἀτελῶν ἡ πρὸς ἕν τι τέλειον ἔσται συνδρομή, εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἐκ τελείου Λόγου καὶ σαρκὸς ἀτελοῦς, ὅσον ἧκεν εἰς λόγον τὸν ἐπ' ἀνθρώπῳ τελείῳ καὶ ἀρτίως ἔχοντι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν φύσιν; Υἱοὺς δὲ οὔτι που δύο προσκυνήσομεν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ χριστοὺς ἐροῦμεν δύο, κἂν ἐξ ἀνθρώπου τελείου καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγου τὴν εἰς ἑνότητα συνδρομὴν πεπράχθαι πιστεύωμεν τοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ. Ὥσπερ γάρ, κατά γε τὸ ἐκείνοις εὖ ἔχειν δοκοῦν, καὶ εἰ ἐκ μόνης λέγοιτο τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τοῦ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς πεφηνότος Λόγου, οὐδεὶς αὐτοὺς ἀναπείσει τρόπος ἀναμέρος τὴν σάρκα τιθέντας καὶ ἀναμέρος αὖ τὸν Μονογενῆ, δυάδα χριστῶν ὁμολογεῖν, ἀλλ' εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν παραδέξονται τὸν Ἐμμανουήλὀρθὰ γὰρ δὴ λίαν ἔν γε τούτῳ φρονεῖν ἐγνώκασινοὕτω κἂν ἀνθρώπῳ τελείῳ, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τῷ ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος οἱονεὶ συνενηνέχθαι τε καὶ ἡνῶσθαι λέγωμεν ἀπορρήτως τε καὶ ὑπὲρ νοῦν τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγον, οὐχ υἱῶν δυάδα νοήσομεν, ἀλλ' ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν φύσει μὲν ὄντα Θεὸν καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς πεφηνότα τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, ἐν ἐσχάτοις δὲ τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς γενόμενον ἄνθρωπον καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου γεγεννημένον, καὶ πρός τε ἡμῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων προσκυνούμενον κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς. {Β} Τί οὖν, εἰ δὴ φαῖεν ὅτι μόνης μὲν ἐδεῖτο τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐπιδημίας, ἐθελήσας δὲ ὀφθῆναι τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς, καὶ ἀνθρώποις συναναστραφῆναι, παραδεῖξαί τε ἡμῖν τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς πολιτείας τὴν ὁδόν, οἰκονομικῶς ἠμπέσχετο τὴν ὁμοίαν ἡμῖν σάρκα; Τὸ γάρ τοι θεῖον κατὰ φύσιν ἰδίαν οὐχ ὁρατόν. {Α} Ἠγνοηκότες ἁλώσονται τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τὸν σκοπόν, καὶ συνέντες οὐδαμῶς τὸ μέγα τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ μόνην ἔχει τὴν ἀφορμὴν τὸ ὀφθῆναι τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἡ σάρκωσις, εἴτ' οὖν ἐνανθρώπησις, προσετίθει γε μὴν ἕτερον οὐδὲν τῇ ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει, πῶς οὐκ ἄμεινον ἤδη πως καὶ σοφὸν τῇ τῶν δοκητῶν συμφέρεσθαι δόξῃ καὶ ἡμᾶς αὐτούς; Οἳ σαρκός τε ὁμοῦ καὶ γηΐνου σώματος ἀπαμφιεννύντες τὸν Λόγον, ὦφθαι μὲν ἐπὶ γῆς ὡς ἄνθρωπον μυθοπλαστοῦσιν οἱ δείλαιοι, γένοιτο δὲ ὅτι τῶν καλλίστων εἰσηγητὴς διωμολογήκασιν ἐναργῶς. Ἢ οὐκ ἄμεινον ἐρεῖς, εἰ μηδὲν ὀνίνησι τὴν 691 ἀνθρώπου φύσιν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος καὶ εἰ γέγονε σάρξ, ἀπαλλάττεσθαι μὲν ἀκαθαρσίας σαρκικῆς, δόξαι δ' οὖν ἅπαξ τῷ γηΐνῳ προσκεχρῆσθαι σώματι, διαπερᾶναί τε οὕτω τὸν προτεθέντα σκοπόν; {Β} Τίς οὖν ἂν γένοιτο τῆς ἐπιδημίας ὁ λόγος, ἢ τίς ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, πέπρακται δὲ ὅτου χάριν, ἐθέλοιμ' ἂν ἐκμαθεῖν. {Α} Ἴθι δὴ οὖν, ὦ γενναῖε, πύθου τῶν ἱερῶν Γραμμάτων, καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων φωναῖς ἐνερείσας εὖ μάλα τῆς διανοίας τὸν ὀφθαλμόν, ἄθρει καλῶς τὸ ζητούμενον. Ἔφη τοίνυν ὁ σοφὸς ἡμῖν Παῦλος, αὐτὸν ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ λαλοῦντα Χριστόν· Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκεν αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχε τῶν αὐτῶν,