Theodoret of Cyrus, Eranistes

the lawgiver, of whom Moses was a type, hewed for himself the tablets of nature from our earth. For no marriage created his God-receiving flesh, but he himself becomes the quarryman of his own flesh, which was inscribed by the divine finger. For the Holy Spirit came upon the virgin, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. 106 Since this has happened, nature again possessed the unbreakable, having become immortal by the engravings of the finger. From the same, from the discourse Against Eunomius. We say, therefore, that in the discourses before this, when it said that wisdom has built a house for herself, it alludes in the saying to the fashioning of the Lord's flesh. For true wisdom did not dwell in a foreign building, but built for herself the dwelling from the virgin's body. From the same, from the same treatise. The Word was before the ages, but the flesh came into being in the last times, and one could not, reversing it, say either that this [flesh] was pre-eternal, or that the Word came into being in the last times. From the same, from the same treatise. The voice of "he created me" is not from the divine and pure, but as has been said, from that which was assumed according to the economy from our created nature. From the same, from the first discourse on the Beatitudes. "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." What is poorer for God than the form of a servant? what is humbler for the king of beings than to come willingly into communion with our poor nature? "The King of kings, and Lord of lords" voluntarily puts on the form of servitude. Of Saint Flavian, Bishop of Antioch. From the homily on John the Baptist. Therefore, do not think of a bodily union, nor expect a marital intercourse. For your creator is creating his own bodily temple, which is born of you. From the same, from the discourse on, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." 107 Hear him who says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which he has anointed me." You do not know, he says, what you are reading. For I have come to you, the one anointed by the spirit. But it is anointed by the Spirit, not the invisible nature, but that which is of the same nature as us. Of Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium. From the discourse on, "My Father is greater than I." Distinguish, therefore, the natures, both that of God and that of man. For he did not become man from God by a falling away, nor God from man by advancement. For I speak of God and man. But when you attribute the sufferings to the flesh and the miracles to God, you necessarily, even if unwillingly, attribute the humble sayings to the man from Mary, and the lofty and God-befitting ones to the Word who was in the beginning. For this reason I utter in some places lofty sayings, and in others humble ones, so that through the exalted ones I might show the nobility of the indwelling Word, and through the humble ones I might make known the weakness of the humble flesh. Whence in some places I say I am equal to the Father, and in others that the Father is greater, not contradicting myself, but showing that I am both God and man; God from the exalted things, and man from the humble. But if you wish to know how my Father is greater than I, I have spoken from the flesh, and not from the person of the Godhead. From the same, from the discourse on, "The Son can do nothing of himself." But what Adam disobeyed in heaven? What first-formed man was fashioned from a heavenly body besides the first one? But the one from the earth was fashioned from the beginning, the one from the earth disobeyed, the one from the earth was assumed. Therefore, the one from the earth was also saved, so that thus the reason of the economy might appear both true and necessary. Of Saint John, Bishop of Constantinople. 108 From the discourse which he delivered, after the ambassador of the Goths had spoken before him. See what he does from the very beginning. He puts on our nature, the weakened, the defeated, so that through it he might fight and wrestle again; and from the very beginning he tears up by the root the

νομοθέτης, οὗ τύπος ἦν ὁ Μωϋσῆς, ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἡμῶν ἑαυτῷ τὰς τῆς φύσεως πλάκας ἐλάξευσεν. Οὐ γὰρ γάμος αὐτοῦ τὴν θεοδόχον ἐδημιούργησε σάρκα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τῆς ἰδίας σαρκὸς γίνεται λατόμος, τῆς τῷ θείῳ δακτύλῳ καταγραφείσης. Πνεῦμα γὰρ ἅγιον ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν παρθένον, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου ἐπεσκίασε δύναμις. 106 Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτο γέγονε, πάλιν τὸ ἀσύντριπτον ἔσχεν ἡ φύσις, ἀθάνατος γενομένη τοῖς τοῦ δακτύλου χαράγμασιν. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Εὐνομίου λόγου. Φαμὲν τοίνυν, ὅτι ἐν μὲν τοῖς πρὸ τούτου λόγοις εἰπὼν τὴν σοφίαν ᾠκοδομηκέναι ἑαυτῇ οἶκον, τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς τοῦ κυρίου κατασκευὴν τῷ λόγῳ αἰνίσσεται. Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ οἰκοδομήματι ἡ ἀληθινὴ σοφία κατῴκησεν, ἀλλ' ἑαυτῇ τὸ οἰκητήριον ἐκ τοῦ παρθενικοῦ σώματος ἐδομήσατο. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς πραγματείας. Ὁ λόγος πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἦν, ἡ σὰρξ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἐγένετο χρό νων, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀναστρέψας εἴποι, ἢ ταύτην προαιώνιον εἶναι, ἢ ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις γεγενῆσθαι τὸν λόγον. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς πραγματείας. Οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ θείου τε καὶ ἀκηράτου ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ ἔκτισέ με φωνή, ἀλλὰ καθὼς εἴρηται, ἐκ τοῦ ἀναληφθέντος κατ' οἰκονομίαν ἀπὸ τῆς κτι στῆς ἡμῶν φύσεως. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ εἰς τοὺς μακαρισμοὺς λόγου πρώτου. "Ος ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε μορφὴν δούλου λαβών." Τί πτωχότερον ἐπὶ θεοῦ τῆς τοῦ δούλου μορφῆς; τί ταπεινότερον ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν ὄντων ἢ τὸ εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς πτωχῆς ἡμῶν φύσεως ἑκουσίως ἐλθεῖν; "Ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων, καὶ κύριος τῶν κυριευόν των" ἐθελοντὶ τὴν τῆς δουλείας μορφὴν ὑποδύεται. Τοῦ ἁγίου Φλαβιανοῦ ἐπισκόπου Ἀντιοχείας. Ἐκ τῆς εἰς Ἰωάννην τὸν Βαπτιστὴν ὁμιλίας. Μὴ τοίνυν νόει σωματικῶς συνάφειαν, μηδὲ γαμικὴν ὁμιλίαν ἐκδέχου. Ὁ γὰρ σὸς δημιουργὸς τὸν σωματικὸν αὑτοῦ ναὸν παρὰ σοῦ τικτό μενον δημιουργεῖ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰς τό, "Πνεῦμα κυρίου ἐπ' ἐμέ." 107 Ἀκούσατε τοῦ λέγοντος· "Πνεῦμα κυρίου ἐπ' ἐμέ, οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέ με." Οὐκ ἴστε, φησίν, ἃ ἀναγινώσκετε. Ἥκω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὁ χρισθεὶς τῷ πνεύματι. Πνεύματι δὲ χρίεται, οὐχ ἡ ἀθέατος φύσις, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἡμῖν ὁμογενές. Ἀμφιλοχίου ἐπισκόπου Ἰκονίου. Ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰς τό, "Ὁ πατήρ μου μείζων μού ἐστιν." ∆ιάκρινον λοιπὸν τὰς φύσεις, τήν τε τοῦ θεοῦ, τήν τε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Οὔτε γὰρ κατ' ἔκπτωσιν ἐκ θεοῦ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, οὔτε κατὰ προ κοπὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπου θεός. Θεὸν γὰρ καὶ ἄνθρωπον λέγω. Ὅταν δὲ τὰ παθήματα τῇ σαρκὶ καὶ τὰ θαύματα τῷ θεῷ δῷς, ἀνάγκῃ καὶ μὴ θέλων δίδως, τοὺς μὲν ταπεινοὺς λόγους τῷ ἐκ Μαρίας ἀνθρώπῳ, τοὺς δὲ ἀνηγμένους καὶ θεοπρεπεῖς τῷ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντι λόγῳ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ πῆ μὲν ἀνηγμένους, πῆ δὲ ταπεινοὺς φθέγγομαι λόγους, ἵνα διὰ μὲν τῶν ὑψηλῶν τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος λόγου δείξω τὴν εὐγένειαν, διὰ δὲ τῶν ταπεινῶν τῆς ταπεινῆς σαρκὸς γνωρίσω τὴν ἀσθένειαν. Ὅθεν πῆ μὲν ἑαυτὸν ἴσον λέγω τοῦ πατρός, πῆ δὲ μείζονα τὸν πατέρα, οὐ μαχόμενος ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς ὡς θεός εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος· θεὸς μὲν ἐκ τῶν ὑψηλῶν, ἄνθρωπος δὲ ἐκ τῶν ταπεινῶν. Εἰ δὲ θέλετε γνῶναι πῶς ὁ πατήρ μου μείζων μού ἐστιν, ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς εἶπον, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ προσώπου τῆς θεότητος. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰς τό, "Οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν." Ποῖος δὲ παρήκουσεν ἐν οὐρανοῖς Ἀδάμ; Ποῖος δὲ ἐξ οὐρανίου σώματος ἐπλάσθη παρὰ τὴν πρώτην πρωτόπλαστος; Ἀλλ' ἐπλάσθη ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, παρήκουσεν ὁ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, ἀνελήφθη ὁ ἐκ τῆς γῆς. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐσώθη ὁ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, ἵν' οὕτως ἀληθὴς ἅμα καὶ ἀναγκαῖος φανῇ τῆς οἰκονομίας ὁ λόγος. Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου ἐπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. 108 Ἐκ τοῦ λόγου ὃν εἶπε, Γότθου πρέσβεως πρὸ αὐτοῦ εἰρηκότος. Ὅρα ἐκ προοιμίων τί ποιεῖ. Τὴν φύσιν περιβάλλεται τὴν ἡμετέραν, τὴν ἠσθενηκυῖαν, τὴν ἡττηθεῖσαν, ὥστε μαχέσασθαι καὶ ἀναπαλαῖσαι δι' αὐτῆς· καὶ ἐκ τῶν προοιμίων πρόρριζον ἀνασπᾷ τῆς