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For he is in need of nothing; and he could have wrought our salvation by a command alone; but he wished for us also to have some fellowship in the accomplishment, for which reason he took the nature that had sinned, and having justified it by his own labors, he freed it from the bitter tyrants of sin, and the devil, and death, and deemed it worthy of the heavenly thrones, and through that which was assumed he imparted freedom to the whole race; but the most wise one, taking none of these things into his mind, thinks to have the loudest herald of theology, the evangelist John, as a witness of his own folly; "For the Word," he says, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us;" and this, knowing clearly that in many places the divine Scripture names the whole from the part, and sometimes from the soul it calls the entire human being, and at other times from the flesh it denotes the whole living creature; "For all the souls," it says, "that entered with Jacob into Egypt 75.1449 were seventy-five. And it is clear that the sons and descendants of Jacob were not incorporeal, but the historian indicated the whole from the part. And again: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." But no one has ever known a soul to have fallen into sin without a body; and again, "My Spirit shall not abide in these men, because they are flesh." And the prophet elsewhere, "All flesh is dust [ιτα ξοδ., νον χόρτος], and all the glory of man as the flower of grass;" and the blessed David, "He remembered," he says, "that they are flesh, a spirit that passeth away, and cometh not again." It is surely known to everyone that these, of whom he speaks, and to whom he gives law, and whose nature he explains, were not soulless. [The Scripture says this] not only of those who are accused, but also of the chief among those who are praised; and of this the blessed Paul is a witness, saying in the epistle to the Galatians: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, but I went up to those who were apostles before me." And if the term 'flesh' is taken not only for carnal-mindedness and mortality, but also for the entire nature of man, it is clear that "The Word was made flesh" signifies not only the visible part of the living being, but the entire human being; nor does he say that some change of the divine substance into flesh has occurred, but he proclaims the assumption of human nature by God the Word; for just as the phrase, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," does not signify the change of the fount of good things into a curse, but the deliverance from sin, that is, from the curse, which came through him, and the phrase, "For him to be made sin for us, who knew no sin," does not signify the change of righteousness (for the Divine is immutable and unchangeable, as he cries out through the prophet: "I am, and I have not changed,"), but the assumption of our sins; "For behold," he says, "the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world;" so the phrase, "The Word was made flesh," speaks not of an alteration of the Godhead, but of the assumption of human nature; for the evangelist, proclaiming the ineffable love of God for mankind, as he taught that he who was in the beginning, and was God, and was with God, and who never was not, who created all things, who made the things that were not 75.1452 to be, the life, the true light, assumed corruptible nature, and made the passions of men his own, working out the salvation of men. And wishing to show the greatness of his benefaction more grandly, he did not mention the immortal soul, but the passible flesh, the mortal, the corruptible, that made from clay; and from the part he indicated the whole nature, as the following words testify: "For the Word," he says, "was made flesh, and dwelt among us." But the other is

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ἀπροσδεὴς γάρ· ἠδύνατο δὲ καὶ μόνῳ προστάγματι τὴν ἡμετέραν πραγματεύσασθαι σω τηρίαν· ἀλλ' ἠθέλησεν ἔχειν τινὰ καὶ ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸ κατορθούμενον κοινωνίαν, οὗ χάριν λαβὼν φύσιν τὴν ἡμαρτηκυῖαν, πόνοις αὐτὴν οἰκείοις δικαιώσας, τῶν τε πικρῶν τυράννων ἀπήλλαξεν ἁμαρτίας, καὶ διαβό λου, καὶ θανάτου, καὶ τῶν ἐπουρανίων θρόνων ἠξίωσε, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ληφθέντος παντὶ τῷ γένει τῆς ἐλευθερίας μετέδωκεν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων εἰς νοῦν λαβὼν ὁ σοφώτα τος τὸν μεγαλοφωνότατον κήρυκα τῆς θεολογίας, τὸν εὐ αγγελιστὴν Ἰωάννην, μάρτυρα τῆς οἰκείας ἀνοίας ἔχειν ἡγεῖται· «Ὁ Λόγος γὰρ, φησὶ, σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκή νωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν·» καὶ ταῦτα σαφῶς εἰδὼς, ὡς πολλαχοῦ τὸ πᾶν ἀπὸ μέρους ἡ θεία Γραφὴ προσαγορεύει, καὶ πὴ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς πάντα καλεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, πὴ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς ὅλον τὸ ζῶον δηλοῖ· «Πᾶσαι γὰρ αἱ ψυχαὶ, αἱ εἰσελθοῦσαι, φησὶν, ἅμα Ἰακὼβ εἰς Αἴ 75.1449 γυπτον ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε. Εὔδηλον δὲ ὡς οὐκ ἀσώματοι ἦσαν οἱ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ υἱοί τε καὶ ἔκγονοι, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ μέρους τὸ πᾶν ὁ ἱστοριογράφος ἐδήλωσε. Καὶ πάλιν· «Ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὐτὴ ἀποθανεῖ ται.» Οὐδεὶς δὲ ἔγνω πώποτε ψυχὴν ἄνευ σώματος ἁμαρτίᾳ περιπεσοῦσαν· καὶ αὖθις, «Οὐ μὴ κατα μείνῃ τὸ Πνεῦμά μου ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις, διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς σάρκα.» Καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἑτέρωθι, «Πᾶσα σὰρξ χοῦς [ιτα ξοδ., νον χόρτος], καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου·» καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αβὶδ, «Ἐμνήσθη, φησὶν, ὅτι σάρξ εἰσι, πνεῦμα πορευόμε νον, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιστρέφον.» Παντὶ δὲ δήπουθεν γνώρι μον, ὡς οὐκ ἄψυχοι ἦσαν οὗτοι ὧν κατηγορεῖ, καὶ οἷς νομοθετεῖ, καὶ ὧν ἑρμηνεύει τὴν φύσιν. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τοὺς κατηγορουμένους [λέγει ἡ Γρα φὴ], ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐπαινουμένων τοὺς κορυφαίους· καὶ τούτων μάρτυς ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας λέγων· «Ὅτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἀφορίσας με ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, καὶ καλέσας διὰ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ, εὐθέως οὐ προσανεθέμην σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς πρὸ ἐμοῦ ἀποστόλους ἀνῆλθον.» Εἰ δὲ οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τοῦ σαρκικοῦ φρονήματος καὶ τῆς θνητό τητος, τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς φρόνημα λαμβάνεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως, εὔδηλον ὡς τὸ, «Ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο,» οὐ τὸ φαινόμενον τοῦ ζώου μόνον, ἀλλ' ὅλον σημαίνει τὸν ἄνθρωπον· οὐδὲ τρο πήν τινα τῆς θείας οὐσίας εἰς σάρκα φησὶ γεγενῆ σθαι, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ἀνάληψιν τῆς ἀνθρωπείας κηρύττει φύσεως· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ, «Χρι στὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα,» οὐ τὴν εἰς κατάραν μεταβολὴν τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν πηγῆς αἰνίττεται, ἀλλὰ τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ γενομένην τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἤγουν τῆς κατάρας ἀπαλλαγὴν, καὶ τὸ, «Γενέσθαι ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν,» οὐ τὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνης σημαίνει τροπὴν (ἄτρεπτον γὰρ τὸ Θεῖον, καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον, ὡς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου βοᾷ· «Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἠλλοίωμαι,») ἀλλὰ τὴν τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων ἀνάληψιν· «Ἴδε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἴδε ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου·» οὕτω τὸ, «Ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο,» οὐ τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν λέγει τῆς Θεότητος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἀνάληψιν· τὴν ἄφατον γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς κηρύττων, ὡς ἐδίδαξεν ὡς ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν, καὶ Θεὸς ὢν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὢν, καὶ οὐ δέποτε μὴ ὢν, ὁ δημιουργήσας πάντα, ὁ τὰ μὴ ὄντα 75.1452 εἰς τὸ εἶναι ποιήσας, ἡ ζωὴ, τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, τὴν φθαρτὴν ἀνέλαβε φύσιν, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ᾠκειώ σατο πάθη, τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πραγματευόμενος σωτηρίαν. Καὶ μειζόνως αὐτοῦ δεῖξαι τῆς εὐεργεσίας τὸ μέγεθος ἐθελήσας, οὐ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐμνημόνευσε τῆς ἀθανάτου, ἀλλὰ τῆς σαρκὸς τῆς παθητῆς, τῆς θνη τῆς, τῆς φθειρομένης, τῆς ἐκ πηλοῦ γεγενημένης· καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ μέρους τὴν πᾶσαν φύσιν ἐδήλωσεν, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα· «Ὁ Λόγος γὰρ, φησὶν, σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν.» Ἕτερος δὲ ὁ