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safe; but let us joyfully embrace both, these and those, with soul and mouth, and confess orthodoxly; and through expressions that in utterance seem somehow contrary, let us wisely put to flight those who in mind are contrary equally to themselves and to one another, and to the truth; and from our court, that is, from the catholic and apostolic Church of God, let us manfully drive them out; and let us not at all provide any passage against the orthodox faith to those who contrive like robbers to move the patristic boundaries, by casting aside any of the pious weapons and dogmas, through which their destruction and refutation naturally come to be.

But it is necessary to know this too, that concerning both natures and natural energies, we find monadic as well as dyadic expressions of the holy Fathers; such as, "the one nature of God the Word incarnate," and, "the theandric energy," and the "connatural and demonstrated through both"; but concerning natural wills, it is not possible to find, as far as I know, any monadic expression at all, 0089 but only dyadic significations in pronouns and number. How then and by what reason, even if we should agree to examine further at all, should one say there is one will or two wills in Christ our God, when the legislation and teaching of the Fathers exhorts us to confess and profess two 15Α_118 natural wills in him, just as also the natures themselves, and their natural energies, even to the point of knowing the difference?

Since these things have now been said by me digressively to your God-honored holiness, I ask you to grant me for them, whether they were spoken unsuitably, or not well understood, both pardon and correction, with the love-of-goodness, affection and imitation of fatherly compassion; and to commend me to Christ our God, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is glorified unto the ages of ages. Amen.

SCHOLIA

1. It is absurd, he says, for the one will to be divided (for natural kinship compels this) and for one half to be given to one nature, and the remainder to the other nature; and thus to alienate Christ from God and from us, as not having a composite will.

2. That the Fathers taught the distinction and the union against confusion, and the division which is its equivalent.

3. Nilus. It is hypostatic, but in us it is irrational, for which reason God became man, in order to save man again; having freed from this all those who through fear of death were subject to bondage all their lives; that is, all those who, fearing pain, pursued pleasure, the mother of pain; the author of corruption; the procuress and pander of death.

COPY OF A LETTER WRITTEN TO THE MOST HOLY BISHOP

LORD NICANDER COPY Of a letter written to the most holy bishop lord

Nicander, from Maximus among the saints, concerning the two energies in Christ. 15Α_120 You yourself, God-honored and all-blessed Father, bearing a name that befits you

with manliness, the most sacred victory over all the enemies who war secretly or openly against the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of God; and the unfading crown on His behalf, ever-flourishing with the gifts and energies of the Spirit, having already received from Him in hope, and having possessed as if in your hands that which is by nature desired, through perfect inclination toward it, the

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ἀσφαλεῖς· ἀλλ᾿ ἄμφω, καί ταύτας κἀκείνας, ψυχῇ τε καί στόματι περιχαρῶς ἀσπασώμεθα, καί ὀρθοδόξως ὁμολογήσωμεν· καί διά τῶν κατά προφοράν δοκούντων πως ἐναντίων φωνῶν, τούς κατά διάνοιαν ἐναντίους ἐπίσης ἑαυτοῖς καί ἀλλήλοις, καί τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, σοφῶς τροπωσώμεθα· καί τῆς ἡμετέρας αὐλῆς, ἤγουν τῆς καθολικῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἀποστολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἀνδρικῶς ἐξελάσωμεν· καί μηθ᾿ ὅλως τήν οἰανοῦν πάροδον κατά τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως, τοῖς λῃστρικῶς ὅρια πατρικά μηχανωμένοις μεταίρειν, παράσχωμεν, τῷ διαῤῥίπτειν τι τῶν εὐσεβῶν ὅπλων τε καί δογμάτων, δι᾿ ὧν γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν ἡ ἐκείνων καταστροφή καί ἀναίρεσις.

Πλήν κἀκεῖνο γινώσκειν χρεῶν, ὡς ἐπί τε φύσεων καί φυσικῶν ἐνεργειῶν, καί μοναδικάς πρός ταῖς δυϊκαῖς φωναῖς τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων εὑρίσκομεν· ὡς, "τήν μίαν φύσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου σεσαρκωμένην», καί, "τήν θεανδρικήν ἐνέργειαν», καί τήν "συγγενῆ καί δι' ἀμφοῖν ἐπιδεδειγμένην»· ἐπί δέ φυσικῶν θελημάτων, οὐδεμίαν μοναδικήν, ὡς ἐμέ γινώσκειν, τό παράπαν ἐκφώνησιν εὑρεῖν δυνατόν, 0089 ἀλλά τάς ἐν ἀντωνυμίαις καί ἀριθμῷ δυϊκάς σημασίας. Πῶς οὖν καί τίνι λόγῳ, κἄν προσεξετάσαι δεχώμεθα παντελῶς, ἕν ἤ δύο θελήματα χρή λέγειν ἐπί Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῆς τῶν Πατέρων νομοθεσίας καί διδασκαλίας δύο 15Α_118 φυσικά θελήματα παρακελευομένης ὁμολογεῖν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ καί πρεσβεύειν, καθά καί φύσεις αὐτάς, καί τάς τούτων φυσικάς ἐνεργείας, μέχρι τοῦ γινώσκειν τήν διαφοράν;

Τούτων μοι παρεκβατικῶς νῦν λελεγμένων πρός τήν σήν θεοτίμητον ἀγιστείαν, παρακαλῶ τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς, ἤ μή προσηκόντως ῥηθεῖσιν, ἤ μή νοηθεῖσι καλῶς, συγγνώμην ὁμοῦ καί διόρθωσίν μοι χαρίσασθαι, φιλαγάθῳ πατρικῆς εὐσπλαχνίας στοργῇ καί μιμήσει· καί Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ με παραθέσθαι, τῷ σύν Πατρί καί Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ δοξαζομένῳ εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ

1. Ἄτοπον, φησί, τό ἕν θέλημα μερίζεσθαι (τοῦτο γάρ ἀναγκάζει ἡ φυσική συγγένεια) καί τό μέν ἥμισυ τῇ μιᾷ, τό δέ λοιπόν τῇ λοιπῇ φύσει δίδοσθαι· καί οὕτως ἀλλοτριοῦν τόν Χριστόν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἡμῶν, ὡς οὐκ ἐχόντων σύνθετον θέλημα.

2. Ὅτι τήν διαφοράν, καί τήν ἕνωσιν οἱ Πατέρες κατά τῆς συγχύσεως, καί τῆς ὁμοτίμου αὐτῆ διαιρέσεως ἐδογμάτισαν.

3. Ὁ Νεῖλος. Ἔστιν ὑποστατική, ἀλλ᾿ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῶν ἡ παράλογος, δι᾿ ἥν ἄνθρωπος ὁ Θεός, ἵν᾿ ἐπανασώσῃ τόν ἄνθρωπον· ἀπαλλάξας ταύτης, ὅσοι φόβῳ θανάτου διά παντός τοῦ ζῇν ἔνοχοι ἦσαν δουλείας· ἤγουν ὅσοι φοβούμενοι τήν ὀδύνην, τήν ἠδονήν περιεποιοῦντο, τήν μητέρα τῆς ὀδύνης· τήν τῆς φθορᾶς ἀρχηγόν· τήν τοῦ θανάτου προαγωγόν καί προμνήστριαν.

ΙΣΟΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΣ ΓΕΝΟΜΕΝΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΩΤΑΤΟΝ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΝ

ΚΥΡΙΟΝ ΝΙΚΑΝ∆ΡΟΝ ΙΣΟΝ Ἐπιστολῆς γενομένης πρός τόν ἁγιώτατον ἐπίσκοπον κύριον

Νίκανδρον, παρά τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Μαξίμου, περί τῶν δύο ἐν Χριστῷ ἐνεργειῶν. 15Α_120 Αὐτός, θεοτίμητε καί παμμακάριε Πάτερ, φερωνύμως ἔχων

μετά τῆς ἀνδρείας, τήν κατά πάντων ἀφανῶς, ἤ φανερῶς τήν ἁγίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καθολικήν καί ἀποστολικήν Ἐκκλησίαν πολεμούντων ἐχθρῶν ἱερωτάτην νίκην· καί τόν ὑπέρ αὐτοῦ ἀειθαλῆ τοῖς χαρίσμασι, καί ταῖς ἐνεργείαις τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀμαράντινον στέφανον, ἤδη κατ᾿ ἐλπίδας λαβών παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ, καί ὡς ἐν χερσί κτησάμενος τοῦ κατά φύσιν ἐφετοῦ, διά τῆς πρός αὐτό τελείας συννεύσεως τήν