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this provides the appropriate comprehension; and as much as is sufficient for the seizing of the mind, and the grasping of the Holy Spirit. For to this point, and for this reason, has been established the philanthropic condescension of Him who is beyond man through manifestation; deifying by grace those who ascend with Him in will; and who, in the emptying of the Word, receive His own fullness, in the fulfillment of the working of the commandments; by which, you yourself having been led up to the perfection of prudence and courage, you both temperately restrain what is visible, and justly enrich what is hidden; so that in the one you may show forth the mortification of Jesus, which utterly destroys all sin; and in the other you may display life, which supernaturally puts forth every virtue; 15Α_076 from which, having achieved a sacred practice and contemplation, you received the sacred goal of salvation; which, in order to impart to others also, and to make it known, in imitation of God, you chose to use precious words towards me, who am unworthy, humble and unknown; and first, to make wise and give understanding by your word; and also to sanctify through the grace that is united to you, which is distributed to all everywhere; for it is uncircumscribed, as having for its cause the uncaused Word.

Then also to bring to sufficient knowledge the new mystery of the divine formation in human likeness of the Word of God, who for our sake was incarnate and perfectly became man; by wishing through a question, not to learn what you already lead in; for you exist as a summary of all good things; but to advance to a more perfect initiation the one who has not yet received the lesser. And having marveled at your pious manner, I present my argument according to my ability; stating that the humanity of the Savior is not by 0060 nature one thing, and ours another; but is identical in essence and unvaried, since it was taken from our own, according to the ineffable assumption from the virginal and immaculate blood of the all-pure Theotokos; to which the Word, being united like a seed, became flesh, without ceasing to be God in essence; and was revealed as a perfect man like us, except for sin alone; on account of which we often rebel and wrestle against God in our will, as having an inclination toward either side; but He, being by nature free from all sin, as not a mere man, but God become man, had nothing contrary in Him; but preserved our nature immaculate and in every way truly undefiled; as He also said: Now the ruler of the world is coming and he will find nothing in me; that is, of those things by which we, debasing our nature, display contrariety of will; for which reason Christ is also said to be unsubmissive to that which is 15Α_078 in us, until He should release us from it by the power of His incarnation; confirming the truth of which, He became all things for our sake, and voluntarily did all things on our behalf, having in no way falsified either our essence or any of its blameless and natural properties; even though He deified it with all those things, like iron set on fire, making it all divinely operative, as having completely and perfectly interpenetrated it through the union; and having become one with it without confusion, and the same one and single hypostasis.

Whence His humanity varies from ours not because of the principle of nature, but because of the novel mode of His generation; being the same in essence, but not the same in its seedless conception, since it was not of a mere man, but truly of Him who for our sakes became man. Thus, His will is properly natural according to us, but divinely formed beyond us. For it is clear that being without seed and with seed do not divide nature; but they are divided within the same nature, just as are unbegottenness and begottenness.

For if perchance the Word as man had a difference with respect to our nature on account of His poverty; He will certainly also have one with respect to the Father's essence, on account of His

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τήν ἐνδεχομένην τοῦτο παρέχει κατάληψιν· καί ὅση πρός ἁρπαγήν διανοίας αὐτάρκης, καί Πνεύματος ἁγίου περίδραξιν. Ἕως γάρ τούτου, καί διά τοῦτο καθέστηκεν, ἡ φιλάνθρωπος τοῦ ὑπέρ ἀνθρώπου δι᾿ ἐκφάνσεως συγκατάβασις· χάριτι θεουργούσα τούς γνώμη συναναβαίνοντας· καί τῇ κενώσει τοῦ Λόγου τό κατ᾿ αὐτό πλήρωμα δεχομένους, ἐν τῷ ἀπαρτισμῷ τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργασίας· καθ᾿ ἥν προς ἐντέλειαν φρονήσεως καί ἀνδρείας αὐτός ἀναχθείς, τό τε φαινόμενον σωφρόνως πιέζεις, καί τό κρυπτόμενον, δικαίως πιαίνεις· ἵν᾿ ἐκείνῳ μέν τήν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ παραδείξῃς, πᾶσαν ὁλικῶς ἁμαρτίαν ἐξαφανίζουσαν· ἐν τούτῳ δέ τήν ζωήν ἐπιδείξῃς, ἀρετήν πᾶσαν ὑπερκοσμίως προβαλλομένην· 15Α_076 ἐξ ὧν πρᾶξιν ἱεράν κατορθώσας καί θεωρίαν, τέλος ἱερόν ἐκομίσω τήν σωτηρίαν· ἥν ὥστε μεταδοῦναι καί ἄλλοις, καί ταύτην γνωρίσαι, τό θεομίμητον, εἵλου πρός ἐμέ τόν ἀνάξιον, ταπεινόν τε καί ἀγνώτην ὑπάρχοντα, τιμίαις προσχρήσασθαι συλλαβαῖς· καί πρῶτα μέν, σοφίσαι λόγῳ καί συνετίσαι· πρός δέ καί ἁγιάσαι διά τῆς ἑνούσης σοι χάριτος, πᾶσι πανταχοῦ διαδιδομένης· ἀπερίγραφον γάρ, ὡς αἰτίαν τόν ἀναίτιον ἔχουσα Λόγον.

Εἶτα καί πρός ἐπιστήμην ἱκανῶς ἀγαγεῖν τοῦ καινοῦ μυστηρίου τῆς κατ᾿ ἄνθρωπον θεοπλαστίας τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς σαρκωθέντος Θεοῦ Λόγου καί τελείως ἐνανθρωπήσαντος· τῷ δι᾿ ἐρωτήσεως ἐθέλειν, οὐ τό ἡγούμενον μαθεῖν· ἐν περιλήψει γάρ τῶν καλῶν ὑπάρχεις ἁπάντων· ἀλλ᾿ εἰς μύησιν προβιβάσαι τελεωτέραν, τό οὔπω δεδεγμένον τήν ἥττονα. Καί σοῦ τόν εὐσεβῆ τρόπον ἀποθαυμάσας, τόν λόγον προΐσχομαι κατά δύναμιν· φάσκων, ὡς οὐκ ἄλλο τι κατά 0060 φύσιν ὑπάρχει τό κατά τόν Σωτῆρα ἀνθρώπινον, καί ἄλλο τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς· ἀλλά ταυτόν τῇ οὐσίᾳ καί ἀπαράλλακτον, εἴπερ ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας ἐλήφθη, κατά τήν ἐκ τῶν παρθενικῶν τῆς πανάγνου καί Θεομήτορος ἀχράντων αἱμάτων ἄῤῥητον πρόσληψιν· οἷς δίκην σπορᾶς ἑνωθεῖς ὁ Λόγος, γέγονε σάρξ, μή ἐκστάς τοῦ εἶναι κατ' οὐσίαν Θεός· καί τέλειος καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐχρημάτισεν ἄνθρωπος, πλήν μόνης τῆς ἁμαρτίας· δι᾿ ἥν ἡμεῖς μέν πολλάκις στασιάζομεν, καί ἀντιπαλαίομεν τῷ Θεῷ κατά τήν θέλησιν, ὡς ἐφ᾿ ἑκατέρα τήν ταύτης κεκτημένοι ῤοπήν· αὐτός δέ πάσης κατά φύσιν ἐλεύθερος ὤν ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ἄνθρωπος οὐ ψιλός, ἀλλ᾿ ἐνανθρωπήσας Θεός, οὐδέν ἐναντίον εἶχεν· ἀλλ᾿ ἄχραντον, καί πάντη κυρίως ἀμόλυντον τήν ἡμετέραν φύσιν διέσωζε· καθό καί ἔλεγε· Νῦν ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου ἔρχεται καί ἐν ἐμοί εὑρίσκειν οὐδέν· τῶν οἷς ἡμεῖς δηλαδή τήν φύσιν παραχαράττοντες, τήν ἐναντίωσιν τοῦ θελήματος ἐπιδείκνυμεν· δι᾿ ἥν τῷ καθ᾿ 15Α_078 ἡμᾶς ἀνυπότακτος λέγεται καί Χριστός, ἕως ἄν ταύτης καί ἡμᾶς ἀπολύσῃ τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως· ἧς ἐπικυρῶν τήν ἀλήθειαν, πάντα γέγονε δι᾿ ἡμᾶς, καί δέδρακεν ἑκουσίως ὑπέρ ἡμῶν, μήτε τήν ἡμετέραν οὐσίαν, μήτε τι τῶν αὐτῆς ἀδιαβλήτων καί φυσικῶν τό παράπαν ψευσάμενος· εἰ καί ταύτην μετ᾿ ἐκείνων ἁπάντων ἐθέωσε, πυρακτωθέντος δίκην σιδήρου, πᾶσαν θεουργόν ἀποφήνας, ὡς διόλου κατ᾿ ἄκρον αὐτῇ περιχωρήσας διά τήν ἕνωσιν· καί ἕν μετ᾿ αὐτῆς ἀσυγχύτως καί τήν αὐτήν καί μίαν ὑπόστασιν γεγονώς.

Ὄθεν τό κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἀνθρώπινον, οὐ διά τόν λόγον τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλά διά τόν καινοπρεπῆ τῆς γενέσεως τρόπον, πρός τό ἡμέτερον παραλλάττει· ταυτόν μέν ὑπάρχον κατά τήν οὐσίαν· οὐ ταυτόν δέ κατά τήν ἀσπορίαν ἐπεί μή ψιλή, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτοῦ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐνανθρωπήσαντος ἦν. Ὥσπερ οὖν καί τό θέλειν αὐτοῦ κυρίως μέν ὄν φυσικόν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, τυπούμενον δέ θεϊκῶς ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς. ∆ῆλον γάρ ὡς ἀσπορία καί σπορά, φύσιν οὐ τέμνει· περί δέ τήν αὐτήν τέμνεται φύσιν, ὥσπερ οὖν καί ἀγεννησία καί γέννησις.

Ἐπεί τυχόν εἰ διαφοράν πρός τήν ἡμετέραν φύσιν ὡς ἄνθρωπος εἶχεν ὁ Λόγος διά τήν ἀπορίαν· ἕξει γε πάντως, καί πρός τήν τοῦ Πατρός οὐσίαν, διά τήν