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of victory, as having contributed nothing to it; but I am also stripped of the gladness from it, as one glorying in another's trophies; while the devil boasts, and brags, and is high-minded, and prides himself, as having wrestled with God, and been defeated by God; for to him it is a great thing even to be defeated by God; for if God the Word was in the place of a mind in that which was assumed, the devil would use reasonable justifications, and would say with good reason: I, O Master and creator of all, did not undertake the battle against you; for I know your worth, I understand your power, I recognize your lordship. I confess my servitude, even if I suffer from apostasy; and I yield the victory to the angels, and to all the heavenly hosts, of whom I, wretched one, was once a member; but I undertook the battle against this one, whom you formed from clay, and made in your image, and honored with reason, and established as a citizen of paradise, and declared lord of land and sea; this one I have continued to conquer until this very day, and to cast down, and to send to death; having brought this one into the stadium, and commanded him to wrestle with me, you yourself be a spectator and the judge of the contests; but if you also wish to do the part of a trainer, teach him to wrestle, show him the holds for victory, anoint him as you wish, only do not fight alongside him as he wrestles. For I am not so rash, and out of my mind, as to attempt to wrestle with you, the Creator. These things the devil would have said with justice to Christ the Savior, if he were not a man, but God, wrestling in the place of a man. For if a human mind was not in him, God being in the place of a mind performed the actions proper to the mind; it was God who hungered with the body, and God who thirsted, and grew weary, and endured all the other human sufferings. But if it was God who wrestled and conquered, then I have been deprived of the victory, and it was God who achieved all righteousness. If indeed, as the confessors of the Apollinarian nonsense say, since it was impossible even in a human [mind] to fulfill the laws of righteousness, God the Word did not assume this. 16. That sinners have an excuse, if God the Word did not assume the mind because it was weak. But in saying this, first they attribute no small weakness to God himself, if indeed, as they say, it was not possible to justify man while the human mind was present. Then they also open a door of excuse for all who sin and transgress the divine laws. For they might say with reason to the God of all: We have not sinned unpardonably, Master, nor in a manner worthy of punishment, having received a weak mind as a guide, unable to keep your 75.1445 laws. And the patriarchs bear witness, and the prophets, and the orders of God-loving men, both those before the law and those after the law, those in celibacy, those in marriage, those in wealth, those in poverty, who were unable to fulfill your commandments because of this; and this, though they were helped by your all-holy Spirit. And why say more? You yourself, O Master, have come in the flesh, and you assumed our flesh, but the mind, as hindering the acquisition of virtue and readily receiving the deceit of sin, you cast away and did not deign to take; and you became in the place of a mind for the flesh, and in this way you achieved righteousness. In this way you have conquered sin. For you are God, doing what seems good by your will, transforming things by your nod. But we, having the human mind, which you were unwilling to assume, are necessarily under sin, being unable to follow in your footsteps. For what is a human mind compared to the power of God and the wisdom of God, and light, and righteousness, and life, and the other energies of your essence, which like rays and splendors arise from yours

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νίκης, ὡς οὐδὲν εἰς ταύτην εἰσενεγκών· ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν εὐφροσύνης γεγύμνωμαι, ὡς ἐπὶ τροπαίοις γαυριῶν ἀλλοτρίοις· ὁ δὲ διάβολος αὐχεῖ, καὶ κομ πάζει, καὶ μέγα φρονεῖ, καὶ σεμνύνεται, ὡς Θεῷ παλαίσας, καὶ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ ἡττηθείς· μέγα γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ ἡττηθῆναι ὑπὸ Θεοῦ· ὅτι εἰ ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἦν ἀντὶ νοῦ ἐν τῷ ληφθέντι, καὶ ὁ διάβολος δικαιολογίαις χρήσαιτο ἂν εὐλόγοις, καὶ εἴποι ἂν εἰκότως· Ἐγὼ, ∆έσποτα καὶ ποιητὰ τῶν ὅλων, οὐ πρὸς σὲ τὴν μάχην ἀνεδεξάμην· οἶδα γάρ σου τὴν ἀξίαν, ἐπίσταμαι τὴν ἐξουσίαν, γινώσκω τὴν δεσποτείαν. Ὁμολογῶ τὴν δουλείαν, εἰ καὶ ἀποστασίαν νοσῶ· παραχωρῶ δὲ καὶ ἀγγέλοις τῆς νίκης, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς οὐρανίοις δήμοις, ὧν ποτε καὶ ὁ ταλαίπωρος εἷς ὑπῆρχον ἐγώ· τὴν δὲ μάχην πρὸς τοῦτον ἀνεδεξάμην, ὃν ἀπὸ πηλοῦ μὲν διέπλασας, κατ' εἰκόνα δὲ σὴν ἐποίησας, καὶ ἐτίμησας τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ παραδείσου πολίτην κατέστησας, καὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης δεσπότην ἀπέφηνας· τοῦτον μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας νικῶν, καὶ βάλλων, καὶ τῷ θα νάτῳ παραπέμπων διατελῶ· τοῦτον εἰς τὸ στάδιον ἀγαγὼν, καὶ παλαίειν ἐμοὶ κελεύσας, γενοῦ θεατὴς αὐτὸς καὶ τῶν παλαισμάτων ἀγωνοθέτης· εἰ δὲ βούλει καὶ τὰ παιδοτρίβου ποιεῖν, δίδαξον παλαίειν, ὑπόδει ξον αὐτῷ τὰς τῆς νίκης λαβὰς, ἄλειψον ὡς θέλεις, μόνον μὴ συμμαχήσῃς παλαίοντι. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτω θρα σὺς ἐγὼ, καὶ τοῦ φρονεῖν ἐξεστηκὼς, ὡς σοὶ τῷ Ποιητῇ παλαίειν ἐπιχειρῆσαι. Ταῦτα ἂν εἶπεν ὁ διά βολος δικαίως πρὸς τὸν Σωτῆρα Χριστὸν, εἴπερ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος ἦν, ἀλλὰ Θεὸς, ὁ ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου παλαίων. Εἰ γὰρ νοῦς ἀνθρώπινος οὐκ ἦν ἐν αὐτῷ, Θεὸς ἀντὶ νοῦ ὑπάρχων τὰ τῷ νῷ ἐνήργει προσήκοντα· Θεὸς μὲν ἦν ὁ τῷ σώματι συμπεινάσας, Θεὸς δὲ ὁ διψήσας, καὶ κοπιάσας, καὶ ἄλλα πάντα τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ὑπομεί νας παθήματα. Εἰ δὲ Θεὸς ὁ παλαίσας, καὶ νικήσας, κἀγὼ τοῦ νίκους ἐστέρημαι, Θεὸς δὲ ὁ τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἅπασαν κατορθώσας. Εἴπερ, ὥς φασιν οἱ τῆς Ἀπο λιναρίου τερθρείας ὁμολογηταὶ, ἐπειδὴ ἀδύνατον ἦν καὶ ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ [νοῒ] πληρῶσαι τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοὺς νόμους, οὐκ ἀνελάβετο τοῦτον ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος. Ιςʹ. Ὅτι οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες ἀπολογίαν ἔχουσιν, εἰ ὡς ἀσθενῆ τὸν νοῦν οὐκ ἀνέλαβεν ὁ Θεὸς Λό γος. Τοῦτο δὲ λέγοντες, πρῶτον μὲν ἀδυναμίαν προσ άπτουσιν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν αὐτῷ τῷ Θεῷ, εἴπερ, ὥς φασιν, οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν τοῦ νοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου συν όντος δικαιῶσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι, καὶ τοὺς θείους νόμους παραβαίνου σιν, ἀπολογίας ὑπανοίγουσι θύραν. Εἴποιεν γὰρ εἰκό τως πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεόν· Οὐκ ἀσύγνωστα, ∆έ σποτα, πεπλημμελήκαμεν, οὐδὲ τιμωρίας ἄξια, νοῦν ἡγεμόνα λαβόντες ἀσθενῆ, καὶ φυλάττειν τοὺς σοὺς 75.1445 οὐ δυνάμενον νόμους. Καὶ μαρτυροῦσι πατριάρχαι, καὶ προφῆται, καὶ τῶν θεοφιλῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ τά γματα, τῶν τε πρὸ τοῦ νόμου, καὶ τῶν μετὰ τὸν νό μον, οἱ ἐν ἀζυγίᾳ, οἱ ἐν ζυγῷ, οἱ ἐν πλούτῳ, οἱ ἐν ἀκτησίᾳ πληρῶσαί σου τὰς ἐντολὰς μὴ δυνηθέντες διὰ τοῦτον· καὶ ταῦτα τῷ παναγίῳ σου Πνεύματι βοηθούμενοι. Καὶ τί δεῖ τὰ πολλὰ λέγειν; Αὐτὸς, ὦ ∆έσποτα, ἐν σαρκὶ παραγέγονας, καὶ σάρκα μὲν ἡμετέραν ἀνέλαβες, τὸν δὲ νοῦν ὡς κωλύοντα τῆς ἀρετῆς τὴν κτῆσιν, καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν ἀπάτην ῥᾳδίως ὑποδεχόμενον ἀπέῤῥιψας, καὶ οὐκ ἠνέσχου λαβεῖν· γέγονας δὲ ἀντὶ νοῦ τῇ σαρκὶ, καὶ τῷ τρόπῳ τούτῳ τὴν δικαιοσύνην κατώρθωσας. Τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν νενίκηκας. Θεὸς γὰρ ὑπάρ χεις, βουλῇ ποιῶν τὸ δοκοῦν, νεύματι μετασκευάζων τὰ πράγματα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ νοῦν ἔχοντες τὸν ἀνθρώπινον, ὃν ἀναλαβεῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, ἀναγκαίως ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τυγχάνομεν, τοῖς σοῖς ἀκολουθῆσαι ἴχνεσιν οὐκ ἰσχύσαντες. Τί γὰρ νοῦς ἀνθρώπινος πρὸς Θεοῦ δυνάμιν καὶ Θεοῦ σοφίαν, καὶ φῶς, καὶ δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ζωὴν, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἐνεργείας τῆς σῆς οὐσίας, αἳ καθάπερ ἀκτῖνες καὶ λαμπηδόνες ἐκ τῆς σῆς ἀν ίσχουσι