12

often changing and being altered, but in no way changing its nature along with itself. 1344 Just as is the case with every other thing, whenever God wishes to make something new concerning His creation for the sake of the providence of those for whom He provides, and for the demonstration of the power which extends to all things and through all things. Just as, for instance, performing paradoxes by the majesties of wonders and signs from of old, He has made innovations by reason, for another kind of life beyond that in the flesh which is subject to corruption 14Ε_054 transferring the blessed Enoch and Elijah, not by an alteration of nature, but by a variation of the conduct and administration according to it, making the water manifold for the inundation of the wicked men upon the earth, in the ark with wild beasts showing the first mariner, Noah, to have an unharmed existence, honoring His great servants Abraham and Sarah with a child beyond their age and the established limit and time of nature for childbearing, preparing fire to make its course downwards for the inundation of the ungodly, its natural principle not at all diminished on this account, kindling the fire of the bush unconsumed for the calling of His servant, changing water in Egypt to the quality of blood, its nature not being entirely denied, water remaining according to nature even after becoming red,

And performing the rest of the wonders and signs there, to give to the faithful hope of freedom from the terrible things that held them, but to the unfaithful an awareness of the punishing power, for the laying aside of the hardness of heart concerning the Divine which possessed them, parting the sea with a rod and breaking the continuity of the water, its own nature not departing from it, for a passage for those persecuted for His sake, but a check for those unjustly persecuting the noble and free, making water sweet with wood, and raining down from heaven uncultivated bread, strange and unknown, and suddenly casting up from the sea a multitude of edible birds, without the natural succession from one another, for the consolation of those suffering hardship in the wilderness, showing the rock to be a mother of water, for the confirmation of the faith of those deserting in the struggles, checking a river for the dry crossing of a people 14Ε_056 God-fearing, paradoxically holding back the unimpeded course of the sun and moon, making the ever-moving nature of the firmament stand motionless, for the destruction of an ungodly power ignorantly arrayed against God, and before the power of the things seen should reach an end, and for the possession of the inheritance truly promised from afar.

And all the other things which He is said to have done, both in the land of possession and in the other places to which the old Israel came, having transgressed, concerning the mode of its operation, but not concerning the principle of its existence, God has made it, having innovated the nature of the things innovated. Along with all these things and after them, having accomplished the truly newest mystery of His incarnation for our sake—for which are all things and through which—concerning the mode, but not concerning the principle, the nature 1345 He innovated, by the assumption of flesh through the medium of a rational soul, conceived ineffably without seed, and born truly without corruption a perfect man, having a rational soul with a body from that very ineffable conception.

112. THAT EVERY NATURE ALWAYS HAS ITS END IN ITS OWN PRINCIPLE

That every nature always has its end in its own principle. For every nature, to speak universally, both intelligible and sensible, that is, simple and

composite, in whatever way partially receives the beginning of its generation into being, nor indeed can it subsist from a half portion. But if

12

ἀμειβομένη τε πολλάκις καί ἀλλοιουμένη, τήν δέ φύσιν ἑαυτῇ παντελῶς οὐ συναμείβουσα. 1344 Καθάπερ καί ἐπ᾿ ἄλλου παντός ἔχει πράγματος, ἡνίκα καινίσαι τι περί τήν ἑαυτοῦ κτίσιν ὁ Θεός βουληθῇ προνοίας ἕνεκεν τῶν προνοουμένων, καί ἐνδείξεως τῆς ἐπί πάντα καί διά πάντων διηκούσης δυνάμεως. Ὥσπερ ἀμέλει παραδοξοποιῶν ταῖς ἀνέκαθεν τῶν θαυμάτων τε καί σημείων μεγαλειότησι καινοτομίας λόγῳ πεποίηκε, πρός ἕτερον εἶδος ζωῆς παρά τό ἐν σαρκί τῇ ὑπό φθοράν 14Ε_054 μεταβιβάσας τόν Ἐνώχ τε καί τόν Ἠλίαν τούς μακαρίους, οὐ κατ᾿ ἀλλοίωσιν φύσεως, ἀλλά κατά παραλλαγήν τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἀγωγῆς καί διοικήσεως, ὕδωρ εἰς ἐπίκλυσιν τῶν ἐπί γῆς μοχθηρῶν ἀνθρώπων καθιστῶν τῷ πολλαπλάσιον, ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ μετά θηρίων ἀγρίων ἀποφαίνων τόν πρῶτον πλωτῆρα Νῶε δίαιταν ἔχειν ἀλύμαντον, Ἀβραάμ καί Σάῤῥαν τούς μεγάλους αὐτοῦ θεράποντας παιδί τιμῶν παρ᾿ ἡλικίαν καί τόν νενομισμένον πρός παιδοποιίαν ὅρον τε καί χρόνον τῆς φύσεως, πῦρ τήν ἐπί τά κάτω ποιεῖσθαι φοράν εἰς ἐπίκλυσιν ἀσεβῶν παρασκευάζων, οὐδ᾿ ὅλως τοῦ κατά φύσιν λόγου διά τοῦτο μειούμενον, τῆς βάτου πῦρ ἀκαύστως ἐξάπτων εἰς τήν τοῦ θεράποντος πρόσκλησιν, ὕδωρ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πρός αἵματος μεταβάλλων ποιότητα, τήν φύσιν αὐτοῦ παντελῶς μή ἠρνημένον, ὕδωρ μεῖναν κατά φύσιν καί μετά τήν φοίνιξιν,

Καί τά λοιπά τῶν ἐκεῖσε θαυμάτων τε καί σημείων ἐπιτελῶν, πρός τό δοῦναι τοῖς μέν πιστοῖς τῶν κατεχόντων δεινῶν ἐλευθερίας ἐλπίδα, τοῖς ἀπίστοις δέ συναίσθησιν τῆς κολαζούσης δυνάμεως, πρός ἀπόθεσιν τῆς κατεχούσης αὐτούς περί τό Θεῖον πωρώσεως, θάλασσαν τέμνων ῥάβδῳ καί τό συνεχές διαλύων τοῦ ὕδατος, τῆς οἰκείας μή ἐξισταμένου φύσεως, εἰς δίοδον μέν τῶν δι᾿ αὐτόν διωκομένων, ἐποχήν δέ τῶν ἀναιτίως διωκόντων τό εὐγενές καί ἐλεύθερον, ὕδωρ ξύλῳ γλυκαίνων, καί ἄρτον ἀνήροτον οὐρανόθεν ὕων ξένον καί ἄγνωστον, καί πλῆθος ὀρνέων ἐδωδίμων ἐξαίφνης τῆς θαλάττης ἐκβράζων, χωρίς τῆς κατά φύσιν ἐξ ἀλλήλων διαδοχῆς, πρός παραμυθίαν τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ κακοπαθούντων, ὕδατος μητέρα τήν πέτραν ἀποδεικνύς, εἰς βεβαίωσιν πίστεως τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι λειποτακτούντων, ποταμόν ἀνακόπτων πρός διάβασιν ἄβροχον λαοῦ 14Ε_056 θεοσεβοῦς, ἡλίου τε καί σελήνης δρόμον ἐπέχων ἀκώλυτον παραδόξως, τήν ἀεικίνητον τοῦ περιέχοντος φύσιν στήσας ἀκίνητον, πρός ὄλεθρον ἀσεβοῦς δυναστείας ἀμαθῶς ἀντιπαραταττομένης Θεῷ, καί πρίν λάβῃ πέρας τῶν ὁρομένων ἡ δύναμις, καί εἰς κατάσχεσιν τῆς πόῤῥωθεν ἀψευδῶς ἐπηγγελμένης κληρονομίας.

Καί τά λοιπά ὅσα δή πεποιηκέναι λέγεται, κατά τε τήν γῆν τῆς κατασχέσεως καί τάς λοιπάς εἰς ὅσας ἦλθε παρανομήσας ὁ παλαιός Ἰσραήλ, περί τόν τρόπον τῆς ἐνεργείας, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ περί τόν λόγον τῆς ὑπάρξεως, τήν φύσιν καινοτομήσας τῶν καινοτομηθέντων πεποίηκεν ὁ Θεός. Μεθ᾿ ὧν ἁπάντων καί μεθ᾿ ἅ τό δι᾿ ὅ πάντα καί δι᾿ οὗ καινότατον ὄντως μυστήριον τῆς αὐτοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ἐπιτελέσας περί τόν τρόπον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ περί τόν λόγον τήν φύσιν 1345 ἐκαινοτόμησε, προσλήψει σαρκός διά μέσης ψυχῆς νοερᾶς, ἀῤῥήτως κυηθείς ἄνευ σπορᾶς, καί γεννηθείς ἀληθῶς ἄνευ φθορᾶς ἄνθρωπος τέλειος, ψυχήν νοεράν μετά σώματος ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀφράστου συλλήψεως ἐσχηκώς.

ΡΙΒ (112). ΟΤΙ ΠΑΣΑ ΦΥΣΙΣ ΤΩ ΟΙΚΕΙΩ ΛΟΓΩ ∆ΙΑΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΕΧΕΙ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ

Ὅτι πᾶσα φύσις τῷ οἰκείῳ λόγῳ διαπαντός ἔχει τό τέλος. Πᾶσα γάρ, καθολικῶς εἰπεῖν, φύσις, νοητή τε καί αἰσθητή, ἤγουν ἁπλῆ καί

σύνθετος, καθ᾿ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον ἐκ μέρους τήν πρός τό εἶναι τὴς γενέσεως ἀρχήν, οὐδέποτε δέχεται, οὔτε μήν ἐξ ἡμισείας μοίρας ὑφίστασθαι δύναται. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ μέν