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a man without beginning by will, while remaining recently made by nature, which is impossible, not to say impious. If because of the union the will of the natures has become one, why for the same reason have the natures not become one nature?

21. And at these words, Theodosius the bishop interrupted the flow of the discourse and said:

15Γ_046 THEOD. What then has come to be because of the union, if none of these things has come to be through it?

MAX. It showed without falsehood that he who is by nature the incorporeal God has become incarnate, and it clearly presented the creator of all things as having become man by nature, not by a change of nature or a diminution of any of its properties, but by a true assumption of flesh intellectually ensouled, that is, of a complete humanity, naturally pure of all ancestral fault. And by the principle of exchange, the truly wonderful and astonishing to all, the whole God in human things, the same one remaining completely within his own properties, the whole man in divine things, remaining completely without departing from his own. For a perichoresis of the natures into one another and of their natural properties has occurred because of the union, according to the teaching of our God-bearing Fathers, but not a transference or diminution, which is a characteristic of those who maliciously make the union a confusion, and for this reason are mired in innovations in many ways, and for lack of stability in their own account, persecute the pious.

22. Having heard these things, Theodosius the bishop, along with the rest of those present with him, seemed to accept what was said. And again the same bishop says to Abba Maximus:

THEOD. Please: what is this that you said to us, that no one acts as a 'someone' according to hypostasis, but as a 'something' according to nature? For what was said eludes me as I think on it.

MAX. No one acts as a 'someone' according to hypostasis, but as a 'something' according to nature; for example, Peter and Paul act, but not 'Petrically' and 'Paulically', but humanly; for both are men naturally, according to the common and definitive principle of nature, but not hypostatically, according to their particular quality. Likewise Michael and Gabriel 15Γ_048 act, but not 'Michaelically' and 'Gabrielically', but angelically; for both are angels. And so for every nature, which is predicated of many in number, we behold a common, but not an individual, energy. Therefore, one who speaks of a hypostatic energy introduces the nature itself, being one, as having become infinite in its energies, and as differing from itself according to the multitude of individuals comprised under it; which, if we accept as being correct, we corrupt for every nature the principle of its 'how it is'.

23. And when these things had been said, while they were greeting one another, Theodosius the consul said:

THEOD. Behold, all things have turned out well; will the emperor then agree to issue a summons of conciliation?

MAX. He certainly will, if he wishes to be an imitator of God and to be humbled with him for the common salvation of us all, considering that if God who by nature saves did not save until he was willingly humbled, how will man, who by nature is saved, either be saved or save without being humbled?

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ἄναρχος ἄνθρωπος τῇ θελήσει, μένων τῇ φύσει πρόσφατος, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον, ἵνα μή λέγω δυσσεβές. Εἰ διά τήν ἕνωσιν μίαν τῶν φύσεων γέγονε θέλησις, τί δήποτε διά τήν αὐτήν αἰτίαν μία τῶν φύσεων οὐ γέγονε φύσις;

ΚΑ'. Καί διακόψας ἐπί τούτοις τήν του λόγου φοράν Θεοδόσιος ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, εἶπε·

15Γ_046 ΘΕΟ∆. Τί τοίνυν διά τήν ἕνωσιν γέγονε, εἰ μηδέν τούτων γεγένηται δι' αὐτήν;

ΜΑΞ. Ἔνσαρκον ἔδειξεν ἀψευδῶς γεγονότα τόν ἄσαρκον αὐτόν φύσει Θεόν, καί τόν τῶν ὅλων δημιουργόν, φύσει γενόμενον ἄνθρωπον ἀριδήλως παρέστησεν, οὐ τροπῇ φύσεως ἤ μειώσει τινός τῶν τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλ' ἀληθεῖ προσλήψει νοερῶς ἐψυχωμένης σαρκός, ἤγουν ἀνελλιποῦς ἀνθρωπότητος, παντός προπατορικοῦ καθαρᾶς κατά φύσιν ἐγκλήματος. Καί τῷ κατ' ἐπαλλαγήν λόγῳ, τό θαυμάσιον ὄντως καί πᾶσι κατάπληκτον, ὅλον ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις Θεόν τόν αὐτόν ὁλοκλήρως μένοντα τῶν ἰδίων ἐντός, ὅλον ἐν τοῖς θείοις ἄνθρωπον, ὁλοκλήρως μένοντα τῶν ἰδίων ἀνέκπτωτον. Περιχώρησις γάρ εἰς ἀλλήλας τῶν φύσεων καί τῶν αὐταῖς προσόντων φυσικῶν, κατά τήν τῶν θεηγόρων Πατέρων ἡμῶν διδασκαλίαν, ἀλλ' οὐ μεταχώρησις ἤ μείωσις διά τήν ἕνωσιν γέγονεν, ὅπερ ἴδιόν ἐστι τῶν σύγχυσιν κακούργως ποιούμενων τήν ἕνωσιν, καί διά τοῦτο τοῖς καινισμοῖς πολυτρόπως ἐμφυρομένων, καί δι' ἀπορίαν τοῦ κατ' αὐτούς λόγου σταθηρότητος διωκόντων τούς εὐσεβεῖς.

ΚΒ'. Ὧν ἀκούσας Θεοδόσιος ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, ἔδοξε μετά τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν σύν αὐτῷ

παραγενομένων, τό λεχθέν ἀποδέχεσθαι. Καί πάλιν ὁ αὐτός ἐπίσκοπος πρός τόν ἀββᾶν Μάξιμόν φησιν·

ΘΕΟ∆. Ποίησον ἀγάπην· Τί ἐστιν ὅπερ εἶπας ἡμῖν, ὅτι οὐδείς ὥς τις τήν ὑπόστασιν, ἀλλ' ὥς τι τήν φύσιν ἐνεργεῖ; Προΐεται γάρ μοι νοήσαντι τό λεχθέν.

ΜΑΞ. Οὐδείς ὥς τις τήν ὑπόστασιν ἐνεργεῖ, ἀλλ' ὥς τι τήν φύσιν, οἷον Πέτρος καί Παῦλος ἐνεργοῦσιν ἀλλ' οὐ Πετρικῶς καί Παυλικῶς, ἀλλ' ἀνθρωπικῶς· ἄμφω γάρ ἄνθρωποι φυσικῶς κατά τόν κοινόν καί ὁριστικόν τῆς φύσεως λόγον, ἀλλά οὐχ ὑποστατικῶς κατά τόν ἰδίως ποῖον. Ὡσαύτως Μιχαήλ καί Γαβριήλ 15Γ_048 ένεργουσιν, ἀλλ' οὐχί Μιχαηλικῶς καί Γαβριηλικῶς, ἀλλά ἀγγελικῶς· ἄμφω γάρ ἄγγελοι. Καί οὕτως ἐπί πάσης φύσεως, πολλῶν τῷ ἀριθμῷ κατηγορουμένης, κοινήν ἀλλ' οὐχί μόνην τήν ἐνέργειαν θεωροῦμεν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ λέγων ὑποστατικήν ἐνέργειαν, αὐτήν τήν φύσιν μίαν οὖσαν, ἄπειρον ταῖς ἐνεργείαις εἰσάγει γεγενημένην, καί κατά τό πλήθος τῶν ὑπ' αὐτήν ἀγομένων ἀτόμων ἑαυτῆς διαφέρουσαν, ὅπερ, εἰ δεξόμεθα καλῶς ἔχειν, πάσῃ φύσει τόν ἐπ' αὐτῇ τοῦ πῶς εἶναι λόγον συνδιαφθείρομεν.

ΚΓ'. Καί τούτων εἰρημένων, ἐν τῷ ἀσπάζεσθαι ἀλλήλους, εἶπε Θεοδόσιος ὁ

ὕπατος· ΘΕΟ∆. Ἰδού γέγονε τά πάντα καλῶς· ἆρα καταδέχεται ὁ βασιλεύς

παρακλητικήν ποιῆσαι κέλευσιν; ΜΑΞ. Πάντως ποιεῖ, ἐάν θέλῃ μιμητής εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ καί συνταπεινωθῆναι

αὐτῷ διά τήν κοινήν πάντων ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν, λογιζόμενος ὡς, εἴπερ ὁ φύσει σώζων Θεός οὐκ ἔσωσεν ἕως ἐταπεινώθη θέλων, πῶς ὁ φύσει σωζόμενος ἄνθρωπος ἤ σωθήσεται ἤ σώσει μή ταπεινούμενος;