De sancta trinitate DE SACROSANCTA TRINITATE LIBER

 All beings are either created or uncreated. If, then, they are created, they are also by all means changeable. For those things whose being began from

 is the Divine. And how is that which moves not also circumscribed by place? 77.1125 The Divine alone, therefore, is motionless, moving all things thro

 CHAPTER 5.

 the doctrines and of each heresy the useful part remains, from the Jewish conception, the unity of nature and from Hellenism, only the distinction i

 Whom saying to be before all ages, we show that His generation is without time and without beginning. For the Son of God was not brought from non-bein

 Man, it is clear, begets in a contrary way, being subject to generation and corruption and flux and multiplication, and being clothed in a body, and h

 And this too must be known, that the name of fatherhood and sonship and procession was not transferred from us to the blessed Godhead but on the cont

 but the mode of difference, not at all. At the same time are both the begetting of the Son from the Father, and the procession of the Holy Spirit. The

 likeness, but identity), and the one impulse of the motion. For there is one essence, one goodness, one power, one will, one energy, 77.1144 one autho

 the illumination of the ray is imparted to us, and this is what illuminates us, and is participated in by us. But the Son we call neither of the Spiri

 we accomplish most honorable things by our own hands. By right hand, His aid in favorable circumstances, from the fact that we too use the right han

 This Son and Word of God the Father, through whom the Father created all creation, as through his own wisdom and power (for he is the wisdom and power

 sinning is of the will, or it also comes upon us against our will from inattention. Rather, even inattention itself is a sin, or at least the beginnin

 He slept, He conversed, just as we do, but was in every way without sin. This is beyond us. For who among us could be found entirely blameless in thin

 wills in Christ and willing according to both wills, and working according to both energies, is one and the same God-man not divided into God specif

 Principal will, the willing, which is natural will, as has been shown. Will is also said of the thing willed which in humans is hypostatic, not the s

 CHAPTER 22.

 he was conversant with and, The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works and, Therefore your God has anointed you with the oil of gla

 Of these things said of Christ in a human manner, whether in words or in deeds, there are six modes. For some of them were done and said according to

 of the consummation of the age and such like things. For as God, He is with us. But the things befitting His humanity, as, They took hold of His feet

 identity, and their mutual indwelling. In this sense we can say of Christ: This our God was seen upon the earth, and dwelt among men and, This man is

This Son and Word of God the Father, through whom the Father created all creation, as through his own wisdom and power (for he is the wisdom and power of the Father); this one for our sake, by the good pleasure of the one who begot him, became man, being in the Father, and having become with us (for he is uncircumscribed); and he has assumed flesh, soul, mind, reason, will, energy, all things that belong to man by nature; not even those passions introduced to us after the first sin, which blame does not touch, remaining untempted; but also accepting these through much condescension; that he might refashion all humanity toward the better; and, to speak simply, he became a perfect man, not according to fantasy or appearance, but truly and 77.1152 clearly existing as a man, at once like us and beyond us. Like us, because having been conceived in the womb of a woman, formed in it, carried for as long and as the law of nature allowed, he was born as an infant. Beyond us, because the conception was from the Holy Spirit without intercourse, apart from carnal pleasure, without any passionate thought; the formation of the body was from the all-pure virginal blood, the birth without pains did not destroy the virginity of the one who gave birth. For she remained a virgin even after childbirth, just as she was before childbirth and before conception, she who throughout her whole life is ever-virgin, undefiled and spotless. For it was fitting for the one who bore God to be such. Like us, because he assumed an earthly and corruptible body, composed of the four humors, vivified by a tripartite soul, administered by innate heat and natural powers; subject to hunger, and thirst, and the other blameless infirmities of nature. Beyond us, because he was not a mere man, but at once man and God. For not by being changed from being God to becoming man did he accomplish his own incarnation, but remaining God, which he was, he became man, which he was not; not by changing the human nature, which he assumed, into the divine nature; but, while it remained in its own properties, deifying it through the supreme union. For just as fire, being wholly united to iron, makes it fiery, but does not remove it from its nature as iron (for it remains iron even after being made fiery, and is and is called fiery iron); in such a way, the Son and Word of God and God, being united to mortal nature, deified it, but did not remove it from being mortal nature. For it remains a mortal nature even after the deification, and is and is called a deified mortal nature; a deified flesh with an intelligent, rational, willing, active soul.

CHAP. 15.

Since sin is spurious and contrary to nature (for it enters into us from without when we are not vigilant), for this reason the God Word did not assume it. Again, since he deified the whole assumed nature, the deified nature has rightly remained unassailable and in every way untouched by sin. But neither was there a wavering choice in Christ. For Christ did possess choice as being self-determining and according to his humanity, because he was also rational (for everything rational is self-determining; and everything self-determining possesses choice); but he was in no way in need of deliberation and reflection and judgment and preference as we are; just as, again, neither of vigilance. For he was God in both respects: the one by nature, the other by deification. Therefore, according to this reasoning, he was superior to all sin. For either from precarious

Οὗτος ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, δι' οὗ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν, ὡς δι' οἰκείας σοφίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως, ἐδημιούργησεν ὁ Πατὴρ (αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ Πατρὸς σοφία καὶ δύναμις)· οὗτος δι' ἡμᾶς, εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ γεγεννηκότος αὐτὸν, ἐνηνθρώπισεν, ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ ὢν, καὶ μεθ' ἡμῶν γεγονὼς (ἀπερίγραπτος γάρ)· καὶ σάρκα, ψυχὴν, νοῦν, λόγον, θέλησιν, ἐνέργειαν, πάντα τὰ κατὰ φύσιν ἀνθρώπῳ προσόντα, προσείληφε· μηδ' αὐτῶν τῶν μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἁμαρτίαν ἐπεισαχθέντων ἡμῖν παθῶν, ὧν οὐ καθικνεῖται μῶμος, μείνας ἀπείρατος· ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα διὰ πολλὴν συγκατάβασιν προσηκάμενος· ἵνα μετασκευάσῃ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον πᾶσαν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα· καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, τέλειος γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, οὐ κατὰ φαντασίαν ἢ δόκησιν, ἀλλ' ὄντως καὶ 77.1152 ἐναργῶς ὑπάρξας ἄνθρωπος, καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁμοῦ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς. Καθ' ἡμᾶς, ὅτι συλληφθεὶς ἐν μήτρᾳ γυναικὸς, ζωοπλασθεὶς ἐν αὐτῇ, κυοφορηθεὶς ἐφ' ὅσον καὶ καθὼς ὁ τῆς φύσεως ἐδίδου νόμος, ἐτέχθη βρεφοπρεπῶς. Ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς, ὅτι ἡ σύλληψις ἐξ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἄτερ συνδυασμοῦ, σαρκικῆς ἐκτὸς ἡδονῆς, χωρίς τινος ἐμπαθοῦς ἐννοήματος· ἡ τοῦ σώματος σύμπηξις ἐκ πανάγνων αἱμάτων παρθενικῶν, ὁ τόκος ἄνευ ὠδίνων τὴν τῆς γειναμένης παρθενίαν οὐκ ἐλυμήνατο. Μεμένηκε γὰρ αὕτη παρθένος καὶ μετὰ τόκον, ὥσπερ ἦν καὶ πρὸ τόκου καὶ πρὸ συλλήψεως, ἡ καὶ διὰ βίου παντὸς ἀειπάρθενος ἄχραντός τε καὶ ἀκηλίδωτος. Τοιαύτην γὰρ ἔπρεπεν εἶναι τὴν τεκοῦσαν Θεόν. Καθ' ἡμᾶς, ὅτι σῶμα χοϊκὸν ἀνελάβετο καὶ φθαρτὸν, ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων συντεθειμένον χυμῶν, ψυχῇ τριμερεῖ ζωοποιούμενον, ἐμφύτῳ θερμῷ καὶ δυνάμεσι φυσικαῖς διοικούμενον· πείνῃ, καὶ δίψῃ, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνεγκλήτοις τῆς φύσεως ἀσθενήμασιν ὑποκείμενον. Ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς, ὅτι οὐ ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος ἦν, ἀλλ' ἄνθρωπος ὁμοῦ καὶ Θεός. Οὐ γὰρ τραπεὶς ἐκ τοῦ εἶναι Θεὸς εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπος, τὴν οἰκείαν ἐνανθρώπησιν ἐξετέλεσεν, ἀλλὰ μείνας Θεὸς ὅπερ ἦν, γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· οὐκ εἰς θείαν φύσιν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν μεταβαλὼν, ἣν προσείληφεν· ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις ὅροις μείνασαν θεώσας αὐτὴν διὰ τῆς ἄκρας ἑνώσεως. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τῷ σιδήρῳ τὸ πῦρ ἑνούμενον ὁλικῶς, ἐκπυροῖ μὲν αὐτὸν, τῆς δὲ τοῦ σιδήρου φύσεως οὐκ ἐξίστησι (μένει γὰρ οὗτος καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν σίδηρος, καὶ πεπυρωμένος σίδηρος ἔστι τε καὶ λέγεται)· τοιουτοτρόπως τῇ βροτείᾳ φύσει ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Θεὸς ἑνωθεὶς, ἐθέωσε μὲν αὐτὴν, τοῦ δὲ βροτείαν εἶναι φύσιν αὐτὴν οὐκ ἐξέστησε. Μένει γὰρ αὕτη βροτεία φύσις καὶ μετὰ τὴν θέωσιν, καὶ τεθεωμένη φύσις βροτεία καὶ λέγεται καὶ ἔστι· τεθεωμένη σὰρξ μετὰ ψυχῆς νοερᾶς, λογικῆς, θελητικῆς, ἐνεργητικῆς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΕʹ.

Ἐπεὶ δὲ νόθον ἡ ἁμαρτία καὶ παρὰ φύσιν (ἔξωθεν γὰρ ἡμῖν ὅταν μὴ νήφωμεν ἐπεισέρχεται), ταύτην εἰκότως ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος οὐ προσελάβετο. Πάλιν, ἐπεὶ τὴν προσληφθεῖσαν φύσιν ὅλην ἐθέωσεν, ἀνεπίβατος δικαίως ἡ θεωθεῖσα καὶ ἄψαυστος κατὰ πάντα τρόπον τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ μεμένηκεν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ προαίρεσις ἡ ἀμφιῤῥεπὴς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ. Προαιρετικὸς μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὡς αὐτεξούσιος καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ὁ Χριστὸς, ὅτι καὶ λογικὸς (πᾶν γὰρ λογικὸν, αὐτεξούσιον· πᾶν δ' αὐτεξούσιον, προαιρετικόν)· βουλῆς δὲ καὶ σκέψεως καὶ γνώμης καὶ προαιρέσεως ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς ἔχρῃζεν οὐδαμοῦ· ὥσπερ αὖ οὐδὲ νήψεως. Θεὸς γὰρ ἦν κατ' ἄμφω· τὸ μὲν φύσει, τὸ δὲ θεώσει. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον, πάσης ἁμαρτίας ἀνώτερος ἦν. Ἢ γὰρ ἐξ ἐπισφαλοῦς