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MAX. Since God hears, no one thus, to use 15Γ_114 your own words, has honored or revered me as you have; but since you have now rejected the Christian dogma, I thought it dreadful to prefer the favor toward me to the truth.

PYR. For what doctrine did we hold, that we have rejected the Christian mind? MAX. By holding one will of the divinity of Christ, and of his humanity

and not only holding, but also, to the ruin of the whole body of the holy Church, having set this forth through a new Exposition.

PYR. Why then, does he who holds one will of Christ, seem to you to have strayed from the Christian teaching?

MAX. Most certainly. For what is more impious than to say, that the same one, by one and the same will, before the incarnation created all things out of nothing; and sustains and provides for them, and governs them for their salvation; and after the incarnation desired food and drink; and moved from place to place, and did all other things, that are beyond all calumny and blame; through which he showed the economy to be pure from all phantasm.

PYR. Is Christ one, or not? MAX. Yes, manifestly one. PYR. 0289 If, therefore, Christ is one, as one he certainly also willed, one certainly

is his will also; and not two. MAX. To say something, and not to distinguish beforehand the meanings of what is said,

is nothing other than to confuse all things and to hasten to leave obscure the subjects of the investigation; which is foreign to an educated man. Tell me this, therefore: Christ, being one, is he God only, or also man?

PYR. Manifestly, both God and man. MAX. Christ, therefore, being by nature God and man, as God and

man did the same one will, or as Christ only? But if Christ willed principally as God and man, 15Γ_116 it is clear that he, being one and the same, willed dually, and not singularly. For if Christ is nothing other than his natures, from which and in which he exists; it is manifest that it is in a manner appropriate to his own natures; that is, as each is by nature, he, being one and the same, both willed and acted; since neither of them is without will or without energy. But if Christ willed and acted in a manner appropriate to his own natures, that is, as each is by nature; and his natures are two; then his natural wills are certainly also two; and their essential energies are equal in number. For just as the number of the natures of the same one Christ, when piously understood and spoken of, does not divide Christ, but presents the difference of the natures as preserved even in the union; so also the number of the wills and energies essentially belonging to his natures, for according to both his natures, as has been said, the same one was willing and acting for our salvation; introduces no division—may it not be! but indicates only their preservation and safeguarding even in the union.

PYR. It is impossible for wills not to imply those who will. MAX. This absurdity is also in your writings; not by reason, but

moved by authority, you have declared, having taken Heraclius as your accomplice in this, because you also consented to his unholy and unlawful union, and ratified it with a blessing. For if it is granted that wills imply those who will, then certainly those who will also imply the wills, by a logical conversion; and it will be found, according to you, of the super-essential and supremely good and

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ΜΑΞ. Ἐπειδή, ὁ Θεός ἀκροᾶται, οὐδείς οὕτως, ἵνα 15Γ_114 ταῖς σαῖς χρήσωμαι λέξεσιν, ἐτίμησεν, ἤ ἐσεβάσθη με, ὡς ὑμεῖς· ἀλλ᾿ ἀθετησάντων ὑμῶν νῦν τό Χριστιανόν δόγμα, φοβερόν ἡγησάμην τῆς ἀληθείας τήν πρός ἐμέ προτιμῆσαι χάριν.

ΠΥΡ. Τί γάρ δοξάσαντες, τό Χριστιανῶν ἠθετήσαμεν φρόνημα; ΜΑΞ.. Ἕν θέλημα τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καί τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος αὐτοῦ

δοξάντες· καί μή μόνον δοξάσαντες, ἀλλά καί ἐπί λύμῃ τοῦ παντός τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας σώματος, διά καινῆς Ἐκθέσεως τοῦτο προτεθεικότες.

ΠΥΡ. Τί οὖν, ὁ ἕν θέλημα τοῦ Χριστοῦ δοξάζων, δοκεῖ σοι παρακεκινῆσθαι τῆς Χριστιανικῆς διδασκαλίας;

ΜΑΞ. Πάνυ μέν οὖν. Τί γάρ ἀνοσιώτερον τοῦ λέγειν, τόν αὐτόν, ἑνί, καί τῷ αὐτῷ θελήματι, πρό μέν τῆς σαρκώσεως τά πάντα ἐκ μή ὄντων συστήσασθαι· συνέχειν τε καί προνοεῖν, καί σωστικῶς διεξάγειν· μετά δέ τήν ἐνανθρώπησιν τροφῆς ἐφιέσθαι καί πότου· τόπους τε ἐκ τόπων ἀμείβειν, καί τά ἄλλα πάντα ποιεῖν, τά διαβολῆς ἁπάσης, καί μομφῆς ἐκτός τυγχάνοντα· δι᾿ ὧν καί πάσης, καθαράν ἔδειξε τήν οἰκονομίαν φαντασίας.

ΠΥΡ. Εἷς ὁ Χριστός, ἤ οὔ; ΜΑΞ. Ναί, εἷς προδήλως. ΠΥΡ. 0289 Εἰ οὖν εἷς ὁ Χριστός, ὡς εἷς πάντως καί ἤθελεν, ἕν πάντως

αὐτοῦ καί τό θέλημα· καί οὐ δύο. ΜΑΞ. Τό λέγειν τι, καί προδιαστέλλεσθαι τοῦ λεγομένου τά σημαινόμενα,

οὐδέ ἕτερόν ἐστιν, εἰ μή πάντα συγχεῖν καί ἀσαφῆ σπεύδειν ἐᾷν τά, περί ὧν ἡ ζήτησις· ὅπερ ἀλλότριον ἀνδρός λογίου καθέστηκε. Τοῦτο οὖν εἰπέ μοι· Ὁ Χριστός εἷς ὤν, Θεός μόνον ἐστίν, ἤ καί ἄνθρωπος;

ΠΥΡ. Προδήλως, Θεός ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπος. ΜΑΞ. Θεός οὖν φύσει καί ἄνθρωπος ὑπάρχων ὁ Χριστός, ὡς Θεός καί

ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός ἤθελεν, ἤ ὡς Χριστός μόνον; Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ μέν προηγουμένως ὡς Θεός καί ἄνθρωπος ἤθελεν ὁ 15Γ_116 Χριστός, δηλονότι δυϊκῶς, καί οὐ μοναδικῶς, εἷς ὤν ὁ αὐτός, ἤθελεν. Εἰ γάρ οὐδέ ἕτερόν ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός παρά τάς αὐτοῦ φύσεις, ἐξ ὧν, καί ἐν αἷς ὑπάρχει· προδήλως, ὡς καταλλήλως ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεσιν· ἤγουν, ὡς ἑκάστῃ πέφυκεν, εἷς ὤν καί αὐτός, ἤθελέ τε καί ἐνήργει· εἴπερ οὐδετέρα αὐτῶν ἀθέλητός ἐστιν, ἤ ἀνενέργητος. Εἰ δέ καταλλήλως ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεσιν ὁ Χριστός, ἤγουν, ὡς ἑκάστη πέφυκεν, ἤθελέν τε καί ἐνήργει· δύο δέ αὐτοῦ αἱ φύσεις· δύο αὐτοῦ πάντως καί τά φυσικά θελήματα· καί αἱ τούτων ἰσάριθμοι, καί οὐσιώδεις ἐνέργειαι. Ὥσπερ γάρ ὁ τῶν τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἑνός Χριστοῦ φύσεων ἀριθμός, εὐσεβῶς νοούμενός τε καί λεγόμενος, οὐ διαιρεῖ τόν Χριστόν, ἀλλά σωζομένην κἀν τῇ ἑνώσει παρίστησι τῶν φύσεων τήν διαφοράν· οὕτω καί ὁ ἀριθμός τῶν οὐσιωδῶς προσόντων ταῖς αὐτοῦ φύσεσι θελημάτων καί ἐνεργειῶν· κατ᾿ ἄμφω γάρ, ὡς εἴρηται, τάς αὐτοῦ φύσεις θελητικός ἦν ὁ αὐτός καί ἐνεργητικός τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας· οὐ διαίρεσιν εἰσάγει· μή γένοιτο· ἀλλά τήν αὐτῶν δηλοῖ καί μόνον, κἀν τῇ ἑνώσει φυλακήν καί σωτηρίαν.

ΠΥΡ. Ἀδύνατον τοῖς θελήμασι, μή συνεισάγεσθαι τούς θέλοντας. ΜΑΞ. Τοῦτο μέν καί ἐν τοῖς ὑμετέροις γράμμασι τό παράλογον· οὐ λόγῳ, ἀλλ᾿

ἐξουσία κινούμενοι, ἀπεφήνασθε, συναιρόμενον ὑμῖν εἰς τοῦτο λαβόντες τόν Ἡράκλειον, διά τό καί ὑμᾶς συνελθεῖν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀθεμίτῳ καί παρανόμῳ μίξει, καί ταύτην δι' εὐλογίας κυρῶσαι. Εἰ γάρ δοθῇ τοῖς θελήμασι συνεισάγεσθαι τούς θέλοντας, πάντως καί τοῖς θέλουσι τά θελήματα κατά τήν εὔλογον ἀντιστροφήν συνεισαχθήσεται· καί εὑρεθήσεται καθ᾿ ὑμᾶς, τῆς ὑπερουσίου καί ὑπεραγάθου καί