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Shall we then thrust out 698 the Word manifested from God the Father from his inherent essential superiority and from his exact likeness to him, seeing him overcome by the glory of angels because of the humbleness of the economy? {Β} Certainly not. For I think it necessary neither to completely separate the Word from God from human things after his union with the flesh, nor to deprive the human of the divine glory if it is thought and spoken of in Christ. But know that some will ask: Who then truly is Jesus the Christ? The man from a woman, or the Word from God? {Α} It is altogether foolish to insist on superfluous things and to respond with nonsensical fables. But I will say that it is dangerous and not without penalty to cut into two and to set up separately man and Word, since the economy does not permit it, and the divinely inspired Scripture proclaims one Christ. For I say that neither the Word from God without humanity, nor the temple born of a woman, not united to the Word, should be called Jesus Christ. For the Word from God, ineffably united with humanity in an economic union, is understood as Christ, being above humanity as by nature God and Son, yet yielding a little of the divine glory as man. Therefore, sometimes he would say: ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father.’ ‘I and the Father are one;’ but at other times again: ‘My Father is greater than I.’ For not being less than the Father according to identity in essence and according to everything that is of equal status, he says he is among lesser things because of his humanity. And he is proclaimed through the holy Scriptures sometimes as being wholly man, his divinity being economically passed over in silence, and at other times again as God, his humanity being passed over in silence. But in no way is injustice done because of the coming together of both into unity. {Β} How do you say? For I do not understand very well. {Α} The Hebrew of Hebrews and of the tribe of Benjamin, the called apostle, writes to those justified by faith who have put to death the members of the flesh, I mean fornication and passion, evil desire, and covetousness: ‘For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’ And he himself said concerning his disciples: ‘Holy Father, keep them in your name 699 which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are. While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me, and I have guarded them, and none of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.’ Do you understand, then, how in these words he seems to be signified to us as from his humanity alone? {Β} You have spoken most correctly. {Α} For we will not suppose at all that he is hidden and absent from the world, although he says clearly: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, that where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst.’ And again: ‘Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ And you might see the most holy Paul himself often being careless about the need to proclaim him as man also. For Paul says, ‘an apostle not from men nor through men, but through Jesus Christ.’ And again on these matters: ‘But I make known to you the Gospel,’ he says, ‘which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ And indeed elsewhere he says: ‘Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer.’ Who then is Jesus the Christ, who flashes upon him such an ineffable, unerring, and divine revelation of his own mysteries? Is it not the Word become flesh, who for our sake did not despise the birth from a woman? {Β} Certainly. For I will remember the blessed Gabriel saying to the holy Virgin:

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Ἆρ' οὖν ἐξώσομεν 698 τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς πεφηνότα Λόγον τῆς αὐτῷ προσούσης οὐσιώδους ὑπεροχῆς καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀκριβοῦς ἐμφερείας, καὶ τῆς ἀγγέλων εὐκλείας ἡττώμενον βλέποντες διὰ τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας σμικροπρεπές; {Β} Οὐμενοῦν. Οἶμαι γὰρ δεῖν οὔτε τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀπαλλάττειν παντελῶς τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγον μετὰ τὴν πρὸς σάρκα σύνοδον, οὔτε μὴν δόξης τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ἀποστερεῖν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον εἰ ἐν Χριστῷ νοοῖτο καὶ λέγοιτο. Πλὴν ἐρομένους ἴσθι τοί τινας· Τίς δὴ ἄρα ἐστὶν ἀληθῶς Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός; Ὁ ἐκ γυναικὸς ἄνθρωπος, ἢ γοῦν ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος; {Α} Ἠλίθιον μὲν κομιδῇ τὸ διατείνεσθαι περιττὰ καὶ φληνάφοις εἰκαιομυθίαις ἀνταναφωνεῖν. Ἐρῶ δ' οὖν ὅτι σφαλερόν τε καὶ οὐκ ἀζήμιον τὸ διατέμνειν εἰς δύο καὶ ἀναμέρος ἱστᾶν ἄνθρωπόν τε καὶ Λόγον, οὐκ ἀνεχομένης τῆς οἰκονομίας, καὶ Χριστὸν ἕνα βοώσης τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς. Χρῆναι γὰρ ἔγωγέ φημι μήτε τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγον ἀνθρωπότητος δίχα, μήτε τὸν ἐκ γυναικὸς ἀποτεχθέντα ναόν, οὐχ ἑνωθέντα τῷ Λόγῳ, Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ὀνομάζεσθαι. Ἀνθρωπότητι γὰρ καθ' ἕνωσιν οἰκονομικὴν ἀπορρήτως συνενηνεγμένος ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος νοεῖται Χριστός, ἀνωτέρω μὲν ἀνθρωπότητος ὡς φύσει Θεὸς καὶ Υἱός, ὑφιζάνων δέ τι βραχὺ τοῦ ἐν δόξῃ θεοπρεποῦς ὡς ἄνθρωπος. Τοιγάρτοι ποτὲ μὲν ἔφασκεν· Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα. Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν, ὁτὲ δὲ αὖ πάλιν· Ὁ Πατήρ μου μείζων μού ἐστιν. Οὐ μείων γὰρ ὢν τοῦ Πατρὸς κατά γε τὸ ἐν οὐσίᾳ ταὐτὸν καὶ κατὰ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τὸ ἰσοστατοῦν, ἐν ἐλάττοσιν εἶναί φησι διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Κηρύττεται δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἱερῶν Γραμμάτων ποτὲ μὲν ὡς ὅλος ὢν ἄνθρωπος, σεσιωπημένης αὐτοῦ τῆς θεότητος οἰκονομικῶς, ποτὲ δὲ αὖ πάλιν ὡς Θεός, σεσιγημένης αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος. Ἀδικεῖται δὲ κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον διὰ τὴν ἀμφοῖν εἰς ἑνότητα σύμβασιν. {Β} Πῶς λέγεις; Συνίημι γὰρ οὐ σφόδρα. {Α} Ὁ Ἑβραῖος ἐξ Ἑβραίων καὶ φυλῆς Βενιαμίν, ὁκλητὸς ἀπόστολος, ἐπιστέλλει τοῖς διὰ πίστεως δεδικαιωμένοις καὶ κατανεκρώσασι τὰ μέλη τῆς σαρκός, πορνείαν δὴ λέγω καὶ πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν· Ἀπεθάνετε γάρ, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ. Αὐτός γε μὴν ἔφη περὶ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μαθητῶν· Πάτερ ἅγιε, τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί 699 σου ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι, ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς. Ὅτε ἤμην μετ' αὐτῶν, ἐγὼ ἐτήρουν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι, καὶ ἐφύλαξα αὐτούς, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπώλετο, εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, ἵνα ἡ Γραφὴ πληρωθῇ. Νῦν δὲ πρὸς σὲ ἔρχομαι, καὶ ταῦτα λαλῶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἵνα ἔχωσι τὴν χαρὰν τὴν ἐμὴν πεπληρωμένην ἐν ἑαυτοῖς. Συνίης οὖν ὅπως ἀπὸ μόνης ὥσπερ ἡμῖν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἔν γε τουτοισὶ κατασημαίνεσθαι δοκεῖ. {Β} Ὀρθότατα ἔφης. {Α} Οἰησόμεθα γὰρ οὔτι που κεκρύφθαι τε καὶ ἀποδημεῖν τοῦ κόσμου, καίτοι λέγοντα σαφῶς· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ὅπου ἐὰν συναχθῶσι δύο ἢ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα, ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος. Ἴδοις δ' ἂν καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἱερώτατον Παῦλον καταρρᾳθυμοῦντα πολλάκις τοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπον δεῖν ἀνακηρύττειν αὐτόν. Παῦλος γάρ φησι, ἀπόστολος οὐκ ἀπ' ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ δι' ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Καὶ αὖ ἐπὶ τούτοις· Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, φησί, τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι οὔκ ἐστι κατὰ ἄνθρωπον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐγὼ παρὰ ἀνθρώπου παρέλαβον αὐτό, οὐδὲ ἐδιδάχθην, ἀλλὰ δι' ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἑτέρωθί φησιν· Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκ ἔτι γινώσκομεν. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, ὁ τὴν οὕτως ἀπόρρητον ἀπλανῆ τε καὶ θείαν ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μυστηρίων ἐναστράπτων αὐτῷ; Ἆρ' οὐχὶ γενόμενος σὰρξ ὁ Λόγος, καὶ τὴν ἐκ γυναικὸς δι' ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἀτιμάσας γέννησιν; {Β} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν. ∆ιαμεμνήσομαι γὰρ τοῦ μακαρίου λέγοντος Γαβριὴλ πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον·