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having whetted them on the whetstone of falsehood, we have assigned them the last place, so that when you have first heard the others, and then compared their words with these, you may marvel at the harmony, and cease from your contentious talking. Hear, then, Flavian, who for a very long time wisely moved the rudders of the church of the Antiochians, and showed the churches he steered to be superior to the Arian surge, as he interprets the evangelical saying. "The Word," he says, "became flesh, and dwelt among us." He has not been changed into flesh, nor did he cease to be God, but the one he was eternally, and the other he became economically, himself having built his own temple, and having dwelt in the passible offspring. {ORTH.} But if you desire to hear also from the ancient Palestinians, lend your ears to the wondrous Gelasius, who carefully cultivated the [church] of the Caesareans. And he says these things in [a sermon] for the festival of the Lord's epiphany: Learn the truth from John the fisherman, saying, "And the Word became flesh," not himself having been changed, but having tabernacled in us. The tabernacle is one thing, and the Word is another; the temple is one thing, and the God dwelling in it is another. {ERAN.} I greatly marvel at the harmony. {ORTH.} And John, the great luminary of the world, who first zealously watered the church of the Antiochians, and then wisely cultivated the ruling [city], do you not think that he has kept the apostolic canon of the faith? 94 {ERAN.} Indeed I have considered this teacher most worthy of admiration. {ORTH.} This most excellent [man], interpreting this evangelical passage, says thus: So when you hear, "The Word became flesh," do not be troubled, nor cast down. For the substance did not change into flesh; for this is of the utmost impiety; but remaining what it is, thus it took the form of a servant. For just as when he says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us," he does not mean that his substance, having departed from its proper glory, was substantiated into a curse (for not even demons would think this, nor those extremely foolish and deprived of their natural minds; so much madness does it have along with impiety); he does not, then, say this, but that having received the curse against us, he does not permit us to be accursed any longer; so also here he says that he became flesh, not by changing his substance into flesh, but by assuming it, while that [substance] remained untouched. {ORTH.} And if it is pleasing to you to hear also Severian, the pastor of the Gabalans, I will also bring you his interpretation, and you yourself provide a hearing. For "The Word became flesh" does not signify a change of nature, but the assumption of our nature. For if you think "became" means a change, if you hear Paul saying, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us," do you take the expression as a change into the nature of a curse? Just as, then, "having become a curse" signifies nothing other than that he took upon himself the curse against us, so also "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" represents nothing else than the assumption of the flesh. {ERAN.} I admire the men for their harmony. For they all 95 have made the same interpretation of the evangelical sayings, as if having come together in the same place and written down what was commonly agreed. {ORTH.} The greatest mountains and seas separated them from one another, but the distance did not mar the harmony; for all were instructed by one spiritual grace. I would have brought you also the interpretations of the victorious champions of piety, Diodore and Theodore, if I did not see that you are hostilely disposed toward the men and have become heirs of the enmity of Apollinaris toward them. And you would have seen that these men too have written harmoniously and have drawn their streams from the divine spring, and have themselves become fountains of the Spirit. But these men

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τοῦ ψεύδους αὐτὰς παραθήξαντες θηγάνῃ, τὴν ἐσχάτην αὐτοῖς ἀπενείμαμεν χώραν, ἵνα τῶν ἄλλων ἐπακούσαντες πρῶτον, εἶτα τοῖς ἐκείνων παραθέντες τὰ τούτων, θαυμάσητε μὲν τὴν συμφωνίαν, παύσησθε δὲ τῆς γλωσσαλγίας. Ἀκούσατε τοίνυν Φλαβιανοῦ, ὃς τῆς Ἀντιοχέων ἐκκλησίας ἐπὶ πλεῖστον σοφῶς ἐκίνησε τὰ πηδάλια, καὶ τοῦ ἀρειανικοῦ κλύδωνος κρείττους ἀπέφηνεν ἃς ἐκυβέρνησεν ἐκκλη σίας, τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν ῥητὸν ἑρμηνεύοντος. "Ὁ λόγος, φησί, σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν." Οὐκ εἰς σάρκα μεταβέβληται, οὐδὲ ἀπέστη τοῦ εἶναι θεός, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο μὲν ἦν ἀϊδίως, τοῦτο δὲ γέγονεν οἰκονομικῶς, αὐτὸς οἰκοδομήσας τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ναόν, καὶ ἐνοικήσας τῷ παθητῷ γεννήματι. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν Παλαιστινῶν ἀκοῦσαι ποθεῖς, ὑπόσχες Γελασίῳ τῷ θαυμασίῳ τὰς ἀκοάς, ὃς τὴν Καισαρέων ἐπι μελῶς ἐγεώργησε, Λέγει δὲ καὶ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν τῆς δεσποτικῆς ἐπι φανείας πανήγυριν· Μάθε τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρὰ Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἁλιέως λέγοντος, "Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο," οὐκ αὐτὸς μεταβληθείς, ἀλλ' ἐν ἡμῖν σκηνώσας. Ἕτερον σκηνή, καὶ ἕτερον ὁ λόγος· ἕτερον ὁ ναός, καὶ ἕτερον ὁ ἐνοικῶν ἐν αὐτῷ θεός. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Θαυμάζω λίαν τὴν συμφωνίαν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἰωάννην δὲ τὸν μέγαν τῆς οἰκουμένης λαμπτῆρα, ὃς πρῶ τον μὲν τὴν Ἀντιοχέων φιλοτίμως ἤρδευσεν ἐκκλησίαν, εἶτα τὴν βασιλεύουσαν σοφῶς ἐγεώργησεν, οὐχ ἡγῇ τὸν ἀποστολικὸν τῆς πίστεως τετηρηκέναι κανόνα; 94 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πάνυγε ἀξιάγαστον τοῦτον ὑπείληφα τὸν διδάσκαλον. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὗτος ὁ πάντα ἄριστος τόδε τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν ἑρμηνεύων χωρίον ὧδέ φησιν· Ὥστε ὅταν ἀκούσῃς, "Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο," μὴ θορυβηθῇς, μηδὲ καταπέσῃς. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ οὐσία μετέπεσεν εἰς σάρκα· τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀσεβείας ἐστίν· ἀλλὰ μένουσα ὅπερ ἐστίν, οὕτω τοῦ δούλου τὴν μορφὴν ἔλαβεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὅταν λέγῃ, "Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα," οὐ τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι ἡ οὐσία αὐτοῦ τῆς οἰκείας ἀποστᾶσα δόξης εἰς κατάραν οὐσιώθη (τοῦτο γὰρ οὐδ' ἂν δαίμονες ἐννοήσαιεν, οὐδ' οἱ σφόδρα ἀνόητοι καὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἀπεστερημένοι φρενῶν· τοσαύτην ἔχει μετὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας καὶ τὴν παράνοιαν)· οὐ τοῦτο οὖν λέγει, ἀλλ' ὅτι τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν κατάραν δεξάμενος οὐκ ἀφίησιν ἡμᾶς ἐπαράτους εἶναι λοιπόν· οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἐνταῦθα σάρκα φησὶν αὐτὸν γεγενῆσθαι, οὐ μεταβαλόντα εἰς σάρκα τὴν οὐσίαν, ἀλλ' ἀναλαβόντα αὐτήν, ἀνεπάφου μενούσης ἐκείνης. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ δέ σοι φίλον καὶ Σευηριανοῦ τοῦ Γαβάλων ἐπακοῦσαι ποιμένος, ἐγὼ καὶ τούτου σοι προσοίσω τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, αὐτὸς δὲ παράσχες τὴν ἀκοήν. Τὸ γάρ, "Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο," οὐ μετάπτωσιν τῆς φύσεως σημαίνει, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ ἐγένετο μεταβολὴν νομίζεις, ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς Παύλου λέγοντος, "Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γενό μενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα," εἰς φύσιν καὶ μετατροπὴν κατάρας ἐκλαμβάνεις τὴν λέξιν; Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ γενόμενος κατάρα οὐδὲν ἕτερον σημαίνει ἢ ὅτι κατάραν τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἔλαβεν, οὕτω καὶ τό, "Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν," οὐδὲν ἄλλο παρίστησιν ἢ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνάληψιν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἄγαμαι τῆς συμφωνίας τοὺς ἄνδρας. Ἅπαντες γὰρ τὴν αὐ 95 τὴν ἑρμηνείαν τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ῥητῶν ἐποιήσαντο, ὥσπερ εἰς ταὐτὸν συνελθόντες καὶ τὸ κοινῇ δόξαν συγγράψαντες. {ΟΡΘ.} Μέγιστα μὲν αὐτοὺς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων καὶ ὄρη καὶ πελάγη διίστη, ἀλλὰ τὴν συμφωνίαν οὐκ ἐπήμανεν ἡ διάστασις· ὑπὸ μιᾶς γὰρ ἅπαντες πνευματικῆς ἐνηχήθησαν χάριτος. Προσήνεγκα ἄν σοι καὶ τῶν νικηφόρων τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγωνιστῶν ∆ιοδώρου καὶ Θεοδώρου τὰς ἑρμηνείας, εἰ μὴ δυσμενῶς ὑμᾶς ἑώρων περὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας διακει μένους καὶ τῆς Ἀπολιναρίου περὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπεχθείας κληρονόμους γεγενημένους. Ἐθεάσω δ' ἂν καὶ τούτους συνῳδὰ γεγραφότας καὶ ἐκ τῆς θείας πηγῆς ἀρυσαμένους τὰ νάματα, καὶ κρουνοὺς καὶ αὐτοὺς γεγενημένους τοῦ πνεύματος. Ἀλλὰ τούτους μὲν