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the nature of folly. From the same, from the discourse on the Nativity. For how is it not the height of madness for them—who fashion their own gods into stones and worthless wooden images and, as if in some prison, shut them up, considering it shameful neither to do nor to say anything—to accuse us, saying that God, having fashioned for himself a living temple from the Holy Spirit, through it benefited the world? For if it is shameful for God to dwell in a human body, it is much more so in stone and wood, inasmuch as stone and wood are less honorable than a human being; unless, perhaps, our race seems to them to be more worthless than these inanimate materials. They themselves bring down the substance of God into stones and dogs, and many of the heretics into things even less honorable than these. But we would never endure to hear any of these things. But we say this, that Christ took up pure, holy, and blameless flesh, inaccessible to all sin, from a virgin's womb, and corrected his own vessel. And after a little. But we say this, that God the Word, having fashioned for himself a holy temple, through it introduced the heavenly way of life into our life. From the same, from the discourse that the humble things said and done by Christ were not due to weakness of power, but to different economies. What then are the reasons that both he and the apostles said many humble things about him? The first and greatest reason is that he was clothed in flesh, and wished to assure all, both then and thereafter, that what was seen was not some shadow nor simply a shape, but the reality of a nature. For if, when so many humble and human things were said about him by both him and his apostles, the devil was nevertheless able to persuade some of the wretched and miserable 109 people to deny the reason of the economy, and to dare to say that he did not take on flesh, and to destroy the whole foundation of his love for humanity; if he had said none of these things, how many would not have fallen into this abyss. {ORTH.} I have brought forward for you a few out of very many quotations from the heralds of the truth, so as not to weary your ears with the number. And these are sufficient to show the intent of the mindset of these praiseworthy men. It would now be for you to say what you think of what has been said. {ERAN.} They have all spoken in harmony, and those who planted toward the setting sun are in agreement with those who tilled the earth toward the rising sun; but I have seen much division in their words. {ORTH.} The men became successors of the divine apostles. And some enjoyed their sacred voice and their admirable sight; and most were adorned with the crowns of martyrdom. Does it therefore seem pious to you to move your blasphemous tongue against these men as well? {ERAN.} I am afraid to do this, but I do not accept the great division. {ORTH.} But I shall devise a strange cure for you again. For I shall bring forth one of the teachers of your marvelous heresy, Apollinaris, and I shall show that he understood "The Word became flesh" in a similar way to the holy fathers. Hear, therefore, what he wrote about this in his book chapter by chapter. Of Apollinaris. From the book chapter by chapter. If what one assumes is not changed into that which assumes, and Christ assumed flesh, then he was not changed into flesh. And again immediately adding, he says. For he also graciously gave himself to us in kinship through the body, in order to save. But the savior is far better than the one being saved; therefore he is far 110 better than us even in the incarnation. But he would not have been better if he had been changed into flesh. And after a little he speaks thus. The simple is one, but the composite cannot be one. The one who says he became flesh would be speaking of a change of the one Word. But if the composite is also one, like a human being, he who speaks on account of the union with the flesh speaks of one by composition;

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ἀπονοίας τὴν φύσιν. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ γενεθλιακοῦ λόγου. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἐσχάτης παραπληξίας, αὐτοὺς μὲν εἰς λίθους καὶ ξύλα εὐτελῆ ξόανα τοὺς ἑαυτῶν εἰσάγοντας θεοὺς καὶ καθάπερ ἐν δεσμω τηρίῳ τινὶ κατακλείοντας, μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν ἡγεῖσθαι μήτε ποιεῖν μήτε λέγειν, ἡμῖν δὲ ἐγκαλεῖν λέγουσιν, ὅτι ναὸν ἑαυτῷ κατασκευάσας ὁ θεὸς ζῶντα ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου, δι' αὐτοῦ τὴν οἰκουμένην ὠφέλησεν; Εἰ γὰρ αἰσχρὸν ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ σώματι θεὸν οἰκῆσαι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐν λίθῳ καὶ ξύλῳ, ὅσῳ ὁ λίθος καὶ τὸ ξύλον ἀτιμότερον ἀνθρώπου· εἰ μὴ ἄρα καὶ τῶν ἀναισθήτων τούτων ὑλῶν εὐτελέστερον τὸ γένος ἡμῶν αὐτοῖς εἶναι δοκεῖ. Αὐτοὶ καὶ εἰς λίθους καὶ εἰς κύνας, πολλοὶ δὲ τῶν αἱρετικῶν καὶ εἰς ἕτερα τούτων ἀτιμότερα τοῦ θεοῦ κατάγουσι τὴν οὐσίαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν οὔτ' ἂν ἀκοῦσαί ποτε ἀνασχοί μεθα. Ἐκεῖνο δέ φαμεν, ὅτι καθαρὰν σάρκα καὶ ἁγίαν καὶ ἄμωμον καὶ ἁμαρτίᾳ πάσῃ γενομένην ἄβατον ἐκ παρθενικῆς μήτρας ἀνέλαβεν ὁ Χριστός, καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον διώρθωσε σκεῦος. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα. Ἐκεῖνο δέ φαμεν, ὅτι ναὸν ἅγιον ἑαυτῷ κατασκευάσας ὁ θεὸς λόγος, δι' ἐκείνου τὴν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν πολιτείαν εἰς τὸν βίον εἰσήγαγε τὸν ἡμέτερον. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι τὰ ταπεινῶς εἰρημένα καὶ γεγενη μένα παρὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὐ δι' ἀσθένειαν δυνάμεως, ἀλλὰ δι' οἰκονομίας διαφόρους. Τίνες οὖν εἰσιν αἱ αἰτίαι τοῦ ταπεινὰ πολλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς ἀποστόλους εἰρηκέναι περὶ αὐτοῦ; Πρώτη μὲν αἰτία καὶ μεγίστη, τὸ σάρκα αὐτὸν περιβεβλῆσθαι, καὶ βούλεσθαι καὶ τοὺς τότε καὶ τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα πιστώσασθαι πάντας, ὅτι οὐ σκιά τίς ἐστιν οὐδὲ σχῆμα ἁπλῶς τὸ ὁρώμενον, ἀλλ' ἀλήθεια φύσεως. Εἰ γὰρ τοσαῦτα ταπεινὰ καὶ ἀνθρώπινα, καὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων εἰρηκότων περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὅμως ἴσχυσεν ὁ διάβολος πεῖσαί τινας τῶν ἀθλίων καὶ ταλαιπώρων 109 ἀνθρώπων ἀρνήσασθαι τῆς οἰκονομίας τὸν λόγον, καὶ τολμῆσαι εἰπεῖν ὅτι σάρκα οὐκ ἔλαβε, καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ὑπό θεσιν ἀνελεῖν· εἰ μηδὲν τούτων εἶπε, πόσοι οὐκ ἂν εἰς τὸ βάραθρον τοῦτο κατέπεσον. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὀλίγας μὲν ἐκ παμπόλλων σοι παρήγαγον χρήσεις τῶν κηρύκων τῆς ἀληθείας, ἵνα μὴ τῷ πλήθει τὰς ἀκοὰς ἀποκναίσω. Ἀποχρῶσι δὲ καὶ αὗται δεῖξαι τῶν ἀξιεπαίνων ἀνδρῶν τοῦ φρονή ματος τὸν σκοπόν. Σὸν δ' ἂν εἴη φάναι λοιπόν, ὅπως ἔχειν σοι τὰ εἰρημένα δοκεῖ. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Συνῳδὰ μὲν εἰρήκασιν ἅπαντες, καὶ συμφωνοῦσι τοῖς τὴν πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα ἥλιον γεωργήσασι γῆν οἱ τὴν πρὸς δυόμενον φυτουρ γήσαντες· πολλὴν δὲ εἶδον ἐν τοῖς λόγοις διαίρεσιν. {ΟΡΘ.} ∆ιάδοχοι τῶν θείων ἀποστόλων οἱ ἄνδρες γεγένηνται. Τινὲς δὲ καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς αὐτῶν φωνῆς καὶ τῆς ἀξιαγάστου θέας ἀπή λαυσαν· οἱ δέ γε πλεῖστοι τοῖς τοῦ μαρτυρίου στεφάνοις κατεκοσμή θησαν. Ἢ τοίνυν εὐαγές σοι δοκεῖ καὶ κατὰ τούτων τὴν βλάσφημον κινῆσαι γλῶτταν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τοῦτο μὲν δράσαι δειμαίνω, τὴν δὲ πολλὴν διαίρεσιν οὐ προσίεμαι. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλ' ἐγώ σοι πάλιν παράδοξον μηχανήσομαι θεραπείαν. Ἕνα γὰρ τῶν τῆς θαυμασίας ὑμῶν αἱρέσεως διδασκάλων Ἀπολινάριον εἰς μέσον παράξω, καὶ δείξω τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσι τό, "Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο," παραπλησίως νενοηκότα. Ἄκουσον τοίνυν ἐν τῷ κατὰ κεφάλαιον βιβλίῳ οἷα περὶ τούτου συνέγραψεν. Ἀπολιναρίου. Ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ κεφάλαιον βιβλίου. Εἰ ὃ προσλαμβάνει τις οὐ τρέπεται εἰς τοῦτο, προσέλαβε δὲ σάρκα Χριστός, οὐκ ἄρα ἐτράπη εἰς σάρκα. Καὶ πάλιν εὐθὺς ἐπισυνάπτων φησί. Καὶ γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ἡμῖν εἰς συγγένειαν ἐχαρίσατο διὰ τοῦ σώματος, ἵνα σώσῃ. Μακρῷ δὲ κάλλιον τοῦ σωζομένου τὸ σῶζον· μακρῷ ἄρα 110 καλλίων ἡμῶν καὶ ἐν τῇ σωματώσει. Οὐκ ἂν δὲ ἦν καλλίων εἰς σάρκα τραπείς. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα δὲ οὕτω λέγει. Τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἕν ἐστι, τὸ δὲ σύνθετον οὐ δύναται ἓν εἶναι. Τροπὴν ἂν λέγοι τοῦ ἑνὸς λόγου ὁ φάσκων αὐτὸν σάρκα γεγενῆσθαι. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸ σύνθετον ἕν ἐστιν, ὥσπερ ἄνθρωπος, τὸ κατὰ σύνθεσιν ἓν λέγει ὁ διὰ τὴν πρὸς σάρκα ἕνωσιν λέγων·