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of nature? These things those choosing to be enslaved to sin would reasonably say, if indeed the God Logos had truly assumed a human being, having contrived sinlessness in this manner. 17. An argument that the assumption of the human mind is reasonable. But let us for the present leave behind their idle talk; and let us return to the subject at hand, and show that the economy of our Savior necessarily came to be. For since every man was deceived, and every one came under sin, and the mind received the deceit before the body; for the prior consent of the mind sketches out the sin, and then through action the body gives it form, reasonably the Lord Christ, wishing to raise up the fallen nature, extends a hand to all, and raises up the flesh, I say, which was lying prostrate, and the mind, which had been made in the image of the Creator; for it is both invisible and unseen, both intangible and incomprehensible, not even knowing itself, and in addition to these things, also uncircumscribed; if we look to the imagination of its thoughts, honored with leadership and authority, adorned with arts and sciences, some small and new creator, or, to speak more truly, an imitator of the Creator, king of the visible creation, or an image of the king, collecting tributes from earth, from sea, from air, from sun and moon and stars, from heaven and clouds, from sheep and oxen and the other cattle, or rather, reaping all their fruits; for the visible things came to be for its sake; for God has no need of these. Therefore He did not dishonor that which was so honorable, that which was in need of healing; nor did He assume that which is perishing, and enslaved to sickness and old age and death, but overlook that which is rational and immortal and made in His image, and this when it was, as they say, in a bad way; but He made new the entire nature that had grown old. 75.1448 And did He work the new part of it, but leave the part that had grown old and been corrupted as incurable? and this though it was most honorable, and honored with immortality, and adorned with reason, and partaking of the lot of the intelligibles; for it is of the most absurd things for the body, which is of clay, and of dust, and yoked to passions, to be taken up, and to be assumed, and to be enthroned at the right hand of the majesty; but for the mind, the invisible, the immortal, the leader of the living being, which was made in the divine image, honored with incorruptibility, the charioteer and pilot and musician of the body, because of which human nature is not irrational, but full of wisdom and art and knowledge, for this to be cast down below, and not to partake of the honor of the body; for whose sake the body became part of the rational creation; for whose sake are laws and prophecies; for whose sake are contests, and struggles, and victories, and proclamations, and crowns; for whose sake also the body which struggles along with it has as a prize for its labors the kingdom of heaven; for whose sake also the very presence of our Savior has come about, and the mystery of the economy has been worked out; for not for soulless or mindless things did He accept the saving passions, nor for irrational beasts or stones deprived of a soul, but for human beings possessing an immortal soul as an indweller. 18. A refutation of the heretical problems. But Apollinarius, who preferred nonsense to the truth, and placed his own idle talk before the pious doctrines, says that the God Logos assumed the flesh, and used it like some kind of a curtain; and that He had no need of the mind, but that He Himself became a mind to the body. But, most excellent sir, one might say to him, the God Logos did not need the body either,

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φύσεως; Ταῦτ' ἂν εἰκότως εἴποιεν οἱ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ δουλεύειν αἱρούμενοι, εἴπερ ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἀληθῶς ἂν συνανέλαβεν ἄνθρωπον, τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ μηχανησάμενος τὸ ἀναμάρτητον. ΙΖʹ. Κατασκευὴ, ὅτι εὔλογος ἡ τοῦ νοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου ἀνάληψις. Ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν ἀδολεσχίαν ἐκείνων καταλίπωμεν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν προκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν ἐπανέλθωμεν, καὶ δείξωμεν τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆ ρος ἡμῶν οἰκονομίαν ἀναγκαίως γεγενημένην. Ἐπει δὴ γὰρ ἅπας ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἠπατήθη, καὶ ἅπας ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐγένετο, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ σώματος δὲ τὴν ἀπάτην ὁ νοῦς ὑπεδέξατο· ἡ τοῦ νοῦ γὰρ πρότερον συγκατάθε σις τὴν ἁμαρτίαν σκιαγραφεῖ, εἶθ' οὕτως διὰ τῆς ἐνερ γείας τὸ σῶμα ταύτην μορφοῖ, εἰκότως ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν φύσιν ἀναστῆσαι βουλόμε νος, πᾶσι χεῖρα ὀρέγει, καὶ κειμένην ἐγείρει τὴν σάρκα, φημὶ, καὶ τὸν νοῦν, ὃς ἐγεγόνει κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ Κτίσαντος· ἀόρατός τε γάρ ἐστι, καὶ ἀθέατος, ἀνέφ ικτος τε καὶ ἀκατάληπτος, οὐδ' ἑαυτὸν ἐπιστάμενος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ ἀπερίγραφος· εἴπερ εἰς τὴν τῶν λογισμῶν ἀποβλέψαιμεν φαντασίαν, ἡγεμονίᾳ τε καὶ ἐξουσίᾳ τετιμημένος, τέχναις καὶ ἐπιστήμαις κεκο σμημένος, βραχύς τις καὶ νέος δημιουργὸς, ἢ, τό γε ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ μιμητὴς, βασι λεὺς τῆς ὁρωμένης κτίσεως, ἢ βασιλέως εἰκὼν, φόρους συλλέγων ἐκ γῆς, ἐκ θαλάττης, ἐξ ἀέρος, ἐξ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἀστέρων, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ νεφῶν, ἐκ προ βάτων καὶ βοῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων κτηνῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ πάντας αὐτῶν τοὺς καρποὺς δρεπόμενος· δι' αὐτὸν γὰρ ἐγένετο τὰ ὁρώμενα· Θεὸς γὰρ τούτων ἀπροσδεής. Οὔκουν ἠτίμασε τὸν οὕτω τίμιον, τὸν θεραπείας δεόμενον· οὐδὲ τὸ φθειρόμενον, καὶ νόσῳ καὶ γήρᾳ δου λεῦον καὶ θανάτῳ ἀνέλαβε, τὸ δὲ λογικὸν καὶ ἀθάνατον καὶ κατ' εἰκόνα γεγενημένον ὑπερεῖδε, καὶ ταῦτα κακῶς, ὥς φασι, διακείμενον· ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν φύσιν παλαιωθεῖ 75.1448 σαν ἐνεοποίησε. Καὶ τὸ μὲν αὐτῆς καινὸν ἀπειργάσατο, τὸ δὲ πεπαλαιωμένον καὶ διεφθαρμένον ἀνίατον εἴ ασε; καὶ ταῦτα τιμιώτατον ὑπάρχον, καὶ ἀθανασίᾳ τετιμημένον, καὶ λόγῳ κεκοσμημένον, καὶ τῆς τῶν νοητῶν μοίρας τυγχάνον· τῶν ἀτοπωτάτων γὰρ τὸ μὲν σῶμα τὸ πήλινον, καὶ χοϊκὸν, καὶ πάθεσι συνεζευγμέ νον, καὶ προσληφθῆναι, καὶ ἀναληφθῆναι, καὶ ἐκ δε ξιῶν τῆς μεγαλωσύνης καθιδρυνθῆναι· τὸν δὲ νοῦν τὸν ἀόρατον, τὸν ἀθάνατον, τὸν ἡγεμόνα τοῦ ζώου, τὸν κατ' εἰκόνα θείαν γεγενημένον, τὸν ἀφθαρσίᾳ τετι μημένον, τὸν τοῦ σώματος ἡνίοχον καὶ κυβερνήτην καὶ μουσικὸν, δι' ὃν οὐκ ἄλογος ἡ ἀνθρωπεία φύσις, ἀλλὰ σοφίας καὶ τέχνης καὶ ἐπιστήμης ἀνάπλεως, τοῦτον ἀπεῤῥίφθαι κάτω, καὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος μὴ μεταλαγχάνειν τιμῆς· δι' ὃν τὸ σῶμα τῆς λογικῆς ἐγένετο κτίσεως· δι' ὃν νομοθεσίαι, καὶ προφητεῖαι· δι' ὃν ἀγῶνες, καὶ πάλαι, καὶ νίκαι, καὶ ἀναῤῥήσεις, καὶ στέφανοι· δι' ὃν καὶ τὸ σῶμα τὸ συναθλοῦν, ἆθλον τῶν πόνων ἔχει τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν· δι' ὃν καὶ αὐτὴ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἡ παρουσία γεγένηται, καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἐπραγματεύθη μυστήριον· οὐ γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἀψύχων ἢ ἀνοήτων τὰ σωτήρια κατεδέξατο πάθη, οὐδ' ὑπὲρ ἀλόγων κτηνῶν ἢ λίθων ψυχῆς ἐστερημένων, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων ψυχὴν ἀθάνατον ἔνοικον κεκτημένων. ΙΗʹ. Λύσις τῶν αἱρετικῶν προβλημάτων. Ἀλλ' ὁ τὸν ὕθλον προτιμήσας τῆς ἀληθείας Ἀπο λινάριος, καὶ τῶν εὐσεβῶν δογμάτων τὴν οἰκείαν προτάξας ἀδολεσχίαν, τὴν μὲν σάρκα τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον ἀνειληφέναι φησὶ, καὶ ταύτῃ καθάπερ τινὶ παραπε τάσματι χρήσασθαι· τοῦ δὲ νοῦ μὴ δεηθῆναι, αὐτὸν δὲ ἀντὶ νοῦ γενέσθαι τῷ σώματι. Ἀλλ', ὦ βέλτιστε, εἴποι τις ἂν πρὸς αὐτὸν, οὐδὲ τοῦ σώματος ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἔχρῃζεν,