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he understood. And having accepted him for his good judgment and right decision, God revealed himself to him, not as he is by nature (for it is impossible for a created nature to see God), but by certain economic theophanies, as he himself knows, and having placed a more perfect knowledge of him in his soul, he glorified 88 him, and made him his own servant, who, also by succession having passed on piety to his descendants, taught them to know the true God. Wherefore also the Lord was pleased for his seed to come into an infinite multitude, and he named them a people for his own possession, and when they were enslaved by the Egyptian nation and a certain tyrant Pharaoh, with dreadful and extraordinary signs and wonders he led them out from there through Moses and Aaron, holy men glorified by the grace of prophecy; through whom he also punished the Egyptians worthily for their wickedness, and the Israelites (for so that people, the descendant of Abraham, was called) he led through the Red Sea on dry land, the waters having been parted and having become a wall on the right and a wall on the left; and when Pharaoh and the Egyptians entered in their tracks, the returning waters utterly destroyed them. Then, having led the people for forty years in the wilderness with the greatest wonders and theophanies and nourishing them with heavenly bread, he gave a law written by God on stone tablets, which he handed to Moses on the mountain, being a type and a foreshadowing of things to come, leading them away from idols and all wicked practices, but teaching them only to worship the truly existing God, and to hold fast to good works; with such wonders, therefore, he led them into a certain good land, which long ago he had promised to that patriarch Abraham to give to his seed. And it would be a long story to recount all the great and wondrous things he showed to them, 90 both glorious and extraordinary, of which there is no number, through all of which this was the earnest purpose: to draw the human race away from all lawless worship and practice, and to bring it back to its ancient state. But still our nature was enslaved to the self-will of error, and death reigned over men, consigning all to the tyranny of the devil and the condemnation of Hades. Therefore, having come into such a calamity and misery, he who formed us and brought us from non-being into being did not overlook us, nor did he allow the work of his hands to be utterly destroyed, but by the good pleasure of God the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, the only-begotten Son and Word of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, who is consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who is pre-eternal, without beginning, who was in the beginning, and was with God the Father, and was God, descends to his own servants in an ineffable and incomprehensible condescension, and, being perfect God, becomes perfect man from the Holy Spirit and Mary the holy Virgin and Theotokos, not from the seed of man, or will, or intercourse, having been conceived in the immaculate womb of the Virgin, but from the Holy Spirit, just as also before the conception one of the archangels was sent, announcing to the Virgin that strange conception and ineffable birth. For without seed the Son of God was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and having fashioned for himself in the womb of the Virgin flesh animated with a rational and intellectual soul, 92 he came forth in one hypostasis, but in two natures, perfect God, and perfect man, having preserved the virginity of the one who bore him incorrupt even after the birth, and having become like us in all things, apart from sin, he took up our infirmities and bore our diseases. For since through sin death entered into the world, it was necessary for the one who was to redeem to be sinless and not liable to death through sin. And having associated with men for thirty years, he was baptized in the

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συνῆκεν. ἀποδεξάμενος δὲ τοῦτον τῆς εὐγνωμοσύνης καὶ ὀρθῆς κρίσεως, ὁ Θεὸς ἐνεφάνισεν ἑαυτὸν αὐτῷ, οὐ καθὼς ἔχει φύσεως (Θεὸν γὰρ ἰδεῖν γεννητῇ φύσει ἀδύνατον), ἀλλ' οἰκονομικαῖς τισι θεοφανείαις, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός, καὶ τελεωτέραν γνῶσιν ἐνθεὶς αὐτοῦ τῇ ψυχῇ, ἐδο 88 ξασε, καὶ οἰκεῖον ἔθετο θεράποντα, ὅς, καὶ κατὰ διαδοχὴν τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ παραπέμψας τὴν εὐσέβειαν, τὸν ἀληθῆ γνωρίζειν ἐδίδαξε Θεόν. διὸ καὶ εἰς πλῆθος ἄπειρον τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐλθεῖν ὁ ∆εσπότης εὐδόκησε, καὶ λαὸν περιούσιον αὑτῷ ὠνόμασε, καὶ δουλωθέντας αὐτοὺς ἔθνει Αἰγυπτίῳ καὶ Φαραῷ τινι τυράννῳ σημείοις καὶ τέρασι φρικτοῖς καὶ ἐξαισίοις ἐξήγαγεν ἐκεῖθεν διὰ Μωσέως καὶ Ἀαρών, ἀνδρῶν ἁγίων καὶ χάριτι προφητείας δοξασθέντων· δι' ὧν καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἐκόλασεν ἀξίως τῆς αὐτῶν πονηρίας, καὶ τοὺς Ἰσραηλίτας (οὕτω γὰρ ὁ λαὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἀπόγονος ἐκέκλητο) διὰ ξηρᾶς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν διήγαγε, διασχισθέντων τῶν ὑδάτων καὶ τεῖχος ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ τεῖχος ἐξ εὐωνύμων γεγενημένων· τοῦ δὲ Φαραὼ καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων κατ' ἴχνος αὐτῶν εἰσελθόντων, ἐπαναστραφέντα τὰ ὕδατα ἄρδην αὐτοὺς ἀπώλεσεν. εἶτα θαύμασι μεγίστοις καὶ θεοφανείαις ἐπὶ χρόνοις τεσσαράκοντα διαγαγὼν τὸν λαὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἄρτῳ οὐρανίῳ διατρέφων, νόμον δέδωκε πλαξὶ λιθίναις θεόθεν γεγραμμένον, ὅνπερ ἐνεχείρισε τῷ Μωσεῖ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους, τύπον ὄντα καὶ σκιαγραφίαν τῶν μελλόντων, τῶν μὲν εἰδώλων καὶ πάντων τῶν πονηρῶν ἀπάγοντα πράξεων, μόνον δὲ διδάσκοντα τὸν ὄντως ὄντα Θεὸν σέβεσθαι, καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ἀντέχεσθαι· τοιαύταις οὖν τερατουργίαις εἰσήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀγαθήν τινα γῆν, ἥνπερ πάλαι τῷ πατριάρχῃ ἐκείνῳ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπηγγείλατο δώσειν αὐτοῦ τῷ σπέρματι. καὶ μακρὸν ἂν εἴη διηγήσασθαι ὅσα εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐνεδείξατο μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστά, 90 ἔνδοξά τε καὶ ἐξαίσια, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός, δι' ὧν πάντων τοῦτο ἦν τὸ σπουδαζόμενον πάσης ἀθέσμου λατρείας καὶ πράξεως τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποσπάσαι γένος, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπαναγαγεῖν κατάστασιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔτι τῇ αὐτονομίᾳ τῆς πλάνης ἐδουλοῦτο ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐβασίλευε τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁ θάνατος, τῇ τυραννίδι τοῦ διαβόλου, καὶ τῇ καταδίκῃ τοῦ ᾅδου πάντας παραπέμπων. Εἰς τοιαύτην οὖν συμφορὰν καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν ἐλθόντας ἡμᾶς οὐ παρεῖδεν ὁ πλάσας καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγών, οὐδὲ ἀφῆκεν εἰς τέλος ἀπολέσθαι τὸ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἔργον, ἀλλ' εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς καὶ συνεργίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὁ μονογενὴς Υἱὸς καὶ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρός, ὁ ὁμοούσιος τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, ὁ προαιώνιος, ὁ ἄναρχος, ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὤν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα ὤν, καὶ Θεὸς ὤν, συγκαταβαίνει τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ δούλοις συγκατάβασιν ἄφραστον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον, καί, Θεὸς ὢν τέλειος, ἄνθρωπος τέλειος γίνεται ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου καὶ Θεοτόκου, οὐκ ἐκ σπέρματος ἀνδρός, ἢ θελήματος, ἢ συναφείας, ἐν τῇ ἀχράντῳ μήτρᾳ τῆς Παρθένου συλληφθείς, ἀλλ' ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, καθὼς καὶ πρὸ τῆς συλλήψεως εἷς τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων ἀπεστάλη μηνύων τῇ Παρθένῳ τὴν ξένην σύλληψιν ἐκείνην καὶ τὸν ἄφραστον τόκον. ἀσπόρως γὰρ συνελήφθη ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, καὶ συμπήξας ἑαυτῷ ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ τῆς Παρθένου σάρκα ἐμψυχουμένην ψυχῇ λογικῇ τε καὶ νοερᾷ, 92 προῆλθεν ἐν μιᾷ τῇ ὑποστάσει, δύο δὲ ταῖς φύσεσι, τέλειος Θεός, καὶ τέλειος ἄνθρωπος, ἄφθορον τὴν παρθενίαν τῆς τεκούσης καὶ μετὰ τὸν τόκον φυλάξας, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν γενόμενος χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας, τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἀνέλαβε καὶ τὰς νόσους ἐβάστασεν. ἐπεὶ γὰρ δι' ἁμαρτίας εἰσῆλθεν ὁ θάνατος εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἔδει τὸν λυτροῦσθαι μέλλοντα ἀναμάρτητον εἶναι καὶ μὴ τῷ θανάτῳ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπεύθυνον. Ἐπὶ τριάκοντα δὲ χρόνοις τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συναναστραφείς, ἐβαπτίσθη ἐν τῷ