-teias, making the transgression disappear, and by the death that was not owed, abolishing the one that was owed; and as he is God, he both raises up what was dissolved and completely destroys death itself. Therefore, the Son is one, both he who was dissolved and he who raised what was dissolved; for as man, he was dissolved, but as God, he raised it up. Therefore, when you hear contradictory statements about the one Son, distribute what is said appropriately to the natures, attributing anything great and divine to the divine nature, and reckoning anything small and human to the human nature. For in this way you will escape the discord of the statements, with each nature receiving what is proper to it, and you will confess the one Son, both before all ages and recent, according to the divine scriptures. And let no one ask me the manner of the union. For I will not be ashamed to confess my ignorance, but on the contrary I will even rather boast, believing in the ineffable things and being an initiate of those things which both reason and intellect are too weak to comprehend. So let no one hope to learn anything clear about this either from me or from another. But if you wish to know as much as our mind has grasped concerning this, there is no envy towards the children of the church, but having first remarked this much upon what is said, that those who attempt the exposition need help and cooperation from above, I will proceed to the comprehension which is in my power. Some, therefore, having understood the union as that of a soul to a body, have explained it thus; and the example is fitting, if not in all respects, at least in some. For just as man is one, but has in himself two different natures, and according to one he reasons, but according to the other he enacts what has been reasoned (for having reasoned with his rational soul, for instance, about the construction of a ship, he brings what was conceived to completion with his hands), so the Son, being one and having two natures, worked the divine signs according to one, and accepted the humble things according to the other. For insofar as he is from the Father and God, he works the miracles, but insofar as he is from a virgin and man, he willingly endured the cross and the passion and similar things according to his nature. If someone should accept the aspects of the example up to this point, the image holds well; but if he should compare the whole to the whole of the example, the points of difference will appear. For man, although he displays two natures in himself, is not two natures, but from the two; for just as the body is composed of fire and air, and water and earth, you would no longer say the body is fire or air or any of the others (for it is not the same as the things from which it is, since the principle of the composite is different from that of the components), so man, although he is from soul and body, is other than the things from which he is. But you may learn what I am saying more clearly from this. We build a house from different materials; but one would not say that the house is the same as the materials from which it is. For the house is not simply the stones and the wood and the rest; for if this were so, one would rightly ca-

τείας ἀφανίζων τὸ παράπτωμα, διὰ δὲ τοῦ μὴ χρεωστουμένου θανάτου καταργῶν τὸν ὀφειλόμενον· ᾗ δὲ θεός, καὶ τὸ λυ θὲν ἀνιστᾷ καὶ τὸν θάνατον αὐτὸν παντελῶς καταλύει. Eἷς οὖν ἐστιν ὁ υἱός, ὅ τε λυθεὶς ὅ τε τὸ λυθὲν ἀναστήσας· ᾗ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ἐλύθη, ᾗ δὲ θεός, ἀνέστησεν. Ὅταν οὖν ἀκούσῃς περὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς υἱοῦ τὰς ἐναντίας φωνάς, καταλ λήλως μέριζε ταῖς φύσεσιν τὰ λεγόμενα, ἂν μέν τι μέγα καὶ θεῖον, τῇ θείᾳ φύσει προσνέμων, ἂν δέ τι μικρὸν καὶ ἀνθρώ πινον, τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ λογιζόμενος φύσει. Oὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὸ τῶν φωνῶν ἀσύμφωνον διαφεύξῃ, ἑκάστης ἃ πέφυκεν δεχομένης φύσεως, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἕνα καὶ πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων καὶ πρόσφατον κατὰ τὰς θείας γραφὰς ὁμολογήσεις. Καὶ μή με τις ἐρωτάτω τῆς ἑνώσεως τὸν τρόπον. Oὐ γὰρ αἰδεσθήσομαι τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὁμολογῶν, τοὐναντίον δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον καυχήσομαι, τοῖς ἀποῤῥήτοις πιστεύων καὶ μύστης τούτων ὑπάρχων ὧν καὶ λόγος καὶ νοῦς ἀτονεῖ τὴν κατάληψιν. Ὥστε μηδὲν ἐναργὲς περὶ τούτου μήτε παρ' ἐμοῦ μήτε παρ' ἑτέρου μανθάνειν ἐλπίσειεν. Eἰ δ' ὅσον ὁ νοῦς ἡμῶν ἐχώ ρησεν περὶ τούτου βούλει γνῶναι, φθόνος μὲν οὐδεὶς πρὸς παῖδας ἐκκλησίας, τοσοῦτον δὲ τοῖς λεγομένοις ἐπισημηνά μενος, ὡς δεῖ τοῖς ἐγχειροῦσιν τὴν ἔκθεσιν τῆς ἄνωθεν ·οπῆς τε καὶ συνεργίας, ἐπὶ τὴν εἰς δύναμιν κατάληψιν εἶμι. Τινὲς μὲν οὖν τὴν ἕνωσιν ὡς ψυχῆς πρὸς σῶμα νοήσαντες, οὕτως ἐκδεδώκασιν· καὶ ἁρμόδιόν γε τὸ παράδειγμα, εἰ καὶ μὴ κατὰ πάντα, κατὰ τὶ γοῦν. Ὡς γὰρ εἷς μέν ἐστιν ὁ ἄν θρωπος, ἔχει δὲ φύσεις ἐν ἑαυτῷ δύο διαφόρους, καὶ κατ' ἄλλο μὲν λογίζεται, κατ' ἄλλο δὲ τὸ λογισθὲν ἐνεργεῖ (ψυχῇ μὲν γὰρ νοερᾷ λογισάμενος, εἰ τύχοι, τοῦ πλοίου τὴν σύμ πηξιν, χερσὶν τὸ νοηθὲν εἰς πέρας ἄγει), οὕτως ὁ υἱός, εἷς ὢν καὶ δύο φύσεις, κατ' ἄλλην μὲν τὰς θεοσημείας εἰργά ζετο, κατ' ἄλλην δὲ τὰ ταπεινὰ παρεδέχετο. Ἠι μὲν γὰρ ἐκ πατρὸς καὶ θεός, ἐνεργεῖ τὰ θαύματα, ᾗ δὲ ἐκ παρθένου καὶ ἄνθρωπος, τὸν σταυρὸν καὶ τὸ πάθος καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια φυσικῶς ἐθέλων ὑπέμενεν. Eἴ τις ἕως τούτου τὰ τοῦ παραδείγματος δέχοιτο, ἔχει καλῶς ἡ εἰκών· εἰ δὲ ὅλον ὅλῳ τῷ παραδείγματι συγκρίνοι, τὰ τῆς διαφορᾶς ἀναφανήσε ται. Ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, εἰ καὶ διττὰς ἐν ἑαυτῷ δείκνυσιν τὰς φύσεις, οὐ δύο φύσεις ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν δύο· ὡς γὰρ τὸ σῶμα σύγκειται μὲν ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ ἀέρος, ὕδατός τε καὶ γῆς, οὐκέτι δὲ τὸ σῶμα πῦρ εἴποις εἶναι οὐδὲ ἀέρα ἤ τι τῶν ἄλλων (οὐδὲ γὰρ ταὐτὸν τοῖς ἐξ ὧν ἐστίν, ἐπεὶ καὶ διάφορος ὁ λόγος τοῦ τε συγκειμένου τῶν τε συντεθέντων), οὕτως ὁ ἄνθρωπος, εἰ καὶ ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματός ἐστιν, ἕτερος παρὰ τὰ ἐξ ὧν ἐστίν. Ὧδε δὲ μάθοις ὃ λέγω σα φέστερον. Ἐκ διαφόρων ὑλῶν τὸν οἶκον οἰκοδομοῦμεν· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι τὸν οἶκον ταὐτὸν ὑπάρχειν ταῖς ὕλαις ταῖς ἐξ ὧν ἐστίν. Oὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς οἱ λίθοι καὶ τὰ ξύλα καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὁ οἶκός ἐστιν· εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἦν, καὶ πρὸ τῆς οἰκο δομίας διῃρημένας αὐτὰς τὰς ὕλας οἶκον ἄν τις δικαίως κα