John of Damascus, Against Jacobites

is predicated of natures, it indicates not their quantity primarily, but their difference in kind; for when we speak, for example, of two natures, of an ox and a horse, we do not signify their division according to quantity, but their difference according to species. But when we speak of three horses or men, for instance Peter and James and John, we indicate rather their division and that they are not of such a kind, but rather so many. And in the case of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, while proclaiming three hypostases, we confess one substance and nature for them. But in the economy of salvation, when we speak of two natures, we signify their difference in kind, not their separation, just as in the former case we rightly reject the number of substances, even if no hypostasis is without substance, so also here we rightly reject the number of hypostases, even if no nature is without hypostasis. 51 If the dyad in every case introduces division and for this reason you shun the number of natures, why do you not avoid the number of properties? 52 You confess one incarnate nature of God the Word, and this is a common belief for both you and us; for the saying is of the fathers. But if by this you wish to indicate two natures, your war against the truth is in vain. But if you put this forward simply as indicative of one, in contradiction to two, then the word "incarnate" has been thrown in by you for no reason. But if it indicates neither one simply, nor two united, then whatever fraction is taken between the one and the two, this is what "incarnate" will signify for you, whether two-thirds, or a half; and you would be the masters of the quantity, whereas the blessed Athanasius and Cyril here indicated the hypostasis by the name of nature improperly and not in its proper sense, as being the more general term. For the more general are predicated of the particular, and it is not at all the same thing (for hypostasis is not nature, for hypostasis is not a universal), but it accepts both the name and the definition of the universal, but not conversely. For the hypostasis, that is, the individual of the nature, is a nature, but not only a nature, but with properties, whereas the nature is not a hypostasis, that is, an individual. Thus improperly and not in its proper sense did they signify the hypostasis by the name of nature, so that the saying is "one incarnate hypostasis of God the Word"; for the nature of God the Word has not been made flesh, but the hypostasis. And the divine evangelist is a witness, crying aloud somewhere thus: "The Word was made flesh." But the Word is not a nature, as has been shown above, but a hypostasis. And the God-bearing Cyril himself says this elsewhere: "The nature of the Word, that is, the hypostasis, which is the Word Himself." For if the nature of the Word, that is, the divinity, has been made flesh—for the Word had no other nature besides the divinity, and the Word is of the same nature as the Father and the Spirit, and all things of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit are common except for the mode of existence—then the Father and the Spirit have also been made flesh. Therefore, we confess a union of natures according to hypostasis, and the incarnation of the Word and the deification of the flesh; for incarnation is to partake of flesh and of the things of the flesh. The substantial hypostasis of God the Word, that is, God the Word, therefore is made flesh and is made dense and becomes a hypostasis for the flesh, and being God before, He later becomes flesh, that is, man, and one composite hypostasis of the two natures is designated, and in it through the incarnation the two natures of divinity and humanity are united and they permeate one another. But the perichoresis comes from the divinity; for this imparts to the flesh its own glory and brilliance without partaking of the passions of the flesh. Therefore, the nature of the flesh is deified, but it does not make flesh the nature of the Word. But the nature of the Word deifies that which was assumed, but is not made flesh; for the lesser is benefited by the greater. The greater is not harmed by the lesser; for just as the

ἐπιφημισθῇ φύσεσιν, οὐ τὸ ποσὸν αὐτῶν προηγουμένως, τὸ δὲ ἀλλογενὲς παρίστησι· βοὸς γὰρ τυχὸν καὶ ἵππου δύο λέγοντες φύσεις οὐ τὴν κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν αὐτῶν διαίρεσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ κατὰ τὸ εἶδος παρηλλαγμένον σημαίνομεν. Τρεῖς δὲ ἵππους ἢ ἀνθρώπους λέγοντες, Πέτρον τυχὸν καὶ Ἰάκωβον καὶ Ἰωάννην, τὸ διῃρημένον μᾶλλον αὐτῶν καὶ ὡς οὐ τοιοίδε, τόσοι δὲ μᾶλλον δηλοῦμεν. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ὁμοουσίου τριάδος τρεῖς τὰς ὑποστάσεις κηρύττοντες μίαν τούτων οὐσίαν καὶ φύσιν ὁμολογοῦμεν. Ἐπὶ δέ γε τῆς σωτηρίου οἰκονομίας δύο λέγοντες φύσεις τὸ ἑτεροειδὲς αὐτῶν, οὐ τὸ κεχωρισμένον σημαίνομεν ὡς ἐκεῖσε τῶν οὐσιῶν τὸν ἀριθμόν, κἂν μηδεμία ὑπόστασις εἴη ἀνούσιος, οὕτω κἀνταῦθα τῶν ὑποστάσεων, κἂν μηδεμία φύσις ἀνυπόστατος εἴη, δικαίως ἐκβάλλοντες. 51 Εἰ ἡ δυὰς πάντως εἰσάγει διαίρεσιν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν φύσεων φεύγετε, τί τῶν ἰδιοτήτων τὸν ἀριθμὸν οὐκ ἐκκλίνετε; 52 Μίαν φύσιν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένην ὁμολογεῖτε, καὶ κοινὴ ὑμῖν τε καὶ ἡμῖν δόξα· πατέρων γὰρ ὁ λόγος ἐστίν. Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν δύο τὰς φύσεις δηλοῦν διὰ τούτου βούλεσθε, εἰκαῖος ὑμῖν ὁ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν πόλεμος. Εἰ δὲ ὡς μιᾶς ἐμφαντικὸν τοῦτο ἁπλῶς ἀντιφατικῶς κατὰ τῶν δύο προΐσχεσθε, μάτην ὑμῖν τὸ «σεσαρκωμένην» παρέρριπται. Εἰ δὲ μήτε μίαν ἁπλῶς μήτε δύο ἡνωμένας παρίστησι, πάντως, ὅ τί ποτε ἐπιμόριον μεταξὺ τῆς μιᾶς καὶ τῶν δύο παραληφθῇ, τοῦτο ὑμῖν δηλώσει τὸ «σεσαρκωμένην», εἴτε δίμοιρον, εἴτε ἥμισυ· τοῦ δὲ ποσοῦ ὑμεῖς ἂν εἴητε κύριοι, ὅπου γε οἱ μακάριοι Ἀθανάσιός τε καὶ Κύριλλος ἐνταῦθα καταχρηστικῶς καὶ οὐ κυρίως τῷ τῆς φύσεως ὀνόματι τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐδήλωσαν ὡς καθολικωτέρῳ. Κατηγοροῦνται γὰρ τὰ καθολικώτερα τῶν μερικῶν καὶ ταὐτὸν μὲν παντάπασιν οὐκ ἔστιν (οὐ γὰρ ἡ ὑπόστασις φύσις, οὐ γὰρ καθολικὸν ἡ ὑπόστασις), ὅμως δὲ δέχεται τό τε ὄνομα καὶ τὸν ὅρον τοῦ καθολικοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀντιστρέφει. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὑπόστασις ἤτοι τὸ ἄτομον τῆς φύσεως φύσις, ἀλλὰ οὐ μόνον φύσις, ἀλλὰ μετὰ ἰδιωμάτων, ἡ δὲ φύσις οὐχ ὑπόστασις ἤτοι ἄτομον. Οὕτω καταχρηστικῶς καὶ οὐ κυρίως τῷ τῆς φύσεως ὀνόματι τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐσήμαναν, ὡς εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον μίαν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένην· οὐ γὰρ ἡ φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσάρκωται, ἀλλ' ἡ ὑπόστασις. Καὶ μάρτυς ὁ θεῖος εὐαγγελιστὴς ὧδέ πη βοῶν διαπρύσιον· «Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο.» Ὁ δὲ λόγος οὐ φύσις ἐστίν, ὡς ἀνωτέρω δεδήλωται, ἀλλ' ὑπόστασις. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ θεοφόρος Κύριλλος ἑτέρωθι τάδε φησίν· «Ἡ φύσις τοῦ λόγου ἤγουν ἡ ὑπόστασις, ὅ ἐστιν αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος.» Εἰ γὰρ ἡ φύσις, τοῦ λόγου ἤτοι ἡ θεότης σεσάρκωται-ἑτέραν γὰρ φύσιν ὁ λόγος οὐκ εἶχε παρὰ τὴν θεότητα, τῆς αὐτῆς δὲ φύσεως ὁ λόγος τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι καὶ πάντα κοινὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος πλὴν τοῦ τρόπου τῆς ὑπάρξεως-, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα σεσάρκωται. Ἕνωσιν τοιγαροῦν φύσεων καθ' ὑπόστασιν καὶ τοῦ λόγου σάρκωσιν καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς θέωσιν ὁμολογοῦμεν· σάρκωσις γάρ ἐστι τὸ μετασχεῖν σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν τῆς σαρκός. Σαρκοῦται τοίνυν ἡ ἐνούσιος τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου ὑπόστασις ἤτοι ὁ θεὸς λόγος καὶ παχύνεται καὶ ὑπόστασις τῇ σαρκὶ γίνεται, καὶ ὢν πρότερον θεὸς σὰρξ ἤτοι ἄνθρωπος ὕστερον γίνεται καὶ μία τῶν δύο φύσεων χρηματίζει ὑπόστασις σύνθετος, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ διὰ τῆς σαρκώσεως ἑνοῦνται αἱ δύο φύσεις τῆς τε θεότητος καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καὶ περιχωροῦσιν ἐν ἀλλήλαις. Ἡ δὲ περιχώρησις ἐκ τῆς θεότητος γίνεται· αὕτη γὰρ μεταδίδωσι τῇ σαρκὶ τῆς οἰκείας δόξης τε καὶ λαμπρότητος οὐ μεταλαμβάνουσα τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς παθῶν. ∆ιὸ ἡ μὲν φύσις τῆς σαρκὸς θεοῦται, οὐ σαρκοῖ δὲ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ λόγου. Ἡ δὲ φύσις τοῦ λόγου θεοῖ μὲν τὸ πρόσλημμα, οὐ σαρκοῦται δέ· ὠφελεῖται γὰρ τὸ χεῖρον ὑπὸ τοῦ κρείττονος. Οὐ παραβλάπτεται τὸ κρεῖττον ὑπὸ τοῦ χείρονος· ὡς γὰρ ὁ