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of existence and of hypostasis, even if they are separated from each other. But it is necessary to know that it is possible for natures to be united to each other in hypostasis, as in the case of man, and it is possible for a nature to be assumed by a hypostasis and to subsist in it, both of which are seen in Christ—for in Him both the natures, the divine and the human, were united, and in the pre-existing hypostasis of God the Word, His ensouled flesh subsisted and had its hypostasis in it, —but for one composite nature to be formed out of two natures, or one hypostasis out of two hypostases, is utterly impossible; because it is impossible for contrary essential differences to co-exist with one another in one nature; for the work of these is to separate from each other the natures in which they exist. And again, it is impossible for things that have once subsisted in themselves to have another principle of subsistence; for hypostasis is existence in itself. But it must be understood that, in the case of the Holy Trinity, hypostasis is the unoriginated mode of each one's eternal existence. But it is necessary to know that, whenever a nature becomes composite, the parts must be co-temporal and something different is formed from different things, not preserving but turning and altering the things from which it was composed, as from the four elements of which the body is composed something different has come into being from different things, and it is neither perfect fire nor any of the other things, nor is it called such, and as from a horse and a donkey, a mule; for it is neither a horse nor a donkey, nor is it called such, but something different from different things, not preserving either of the things from which it was composed unconfused and unchanged.

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ὑπάρξεώς τε καὶ ὑποστάσεως, εἰ καὶ χωρισθῶσιν ἀλλήλων. ∆εῖ δὲ γινώσκειν, ὅτι φύσεις μὲν ἑνωθῆναι ἀλλήλαις καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἐνδέχεται ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ φύσιν προσληφθῆναι ὑπὸ ὑποστάσεως καὶ ἐν αὑτῇ ὑποστῆναι δυνατόν, ἅπερ ἀμφότερα ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεωροῦνται-καὶ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ αἱ φύσεις, ἡ θεία τε καὶ ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη, ἡνώθησαν, καὶ ἐν τῇ προϋπαρχούσῃ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου ὑποστάσει ὑπέστη ἡ ἔμψυχος αὐτοῦ σὰρξ καὶ αὐτὴν ἔσχεν ὑπόστασιν, -ἐκ δύο δὲ φύσεων ἀποτελεσθῆναι μίαν φύσιν σύνθετον ἢ ἐκ δύο ὑποστάσεων μίαν ὑπό στασιν παντελῶς ἀδύνατον· διότι ἀδύνατον τὰς ἐναντίας οὐσιώδεις διαφορὰς ἐν μιᾷ φύσει συνυπάρξαι ἀλλήλαις· τούτων γὰρ ἔργον ἐστὶν ἀποδιιστᾶν ἀλλήλων τὰς φύσεις, ἐν αἷς ὑπάρξουσι. Καὶ πάλιν ἀδύνατον τὰ ἅπαξ καθ' ἑαυτὰ ὑποστάντα ἑτέραν ἀρχὴν ὑποστάσεως σχεῖν· ἡ γὰρ ὑπόστασις ἡ καθ' ἑαυτό ἐστιν ὕπαρξις. Ἰστέον δέ, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος ὑπόστασίς ἐστιν ὁ ἄναρχος τρόπος τῆς ἑκάστου ἀιδίου ὑπάρξεως. Χρὴ δὲ εἰδέναι, ὅτι, ἡνίκα σύνθετος γένηται φύσις, δεῖ ὁμόχρονα τὰ μέρη εἶναι καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρων ἕτερον ἀποτελεῖται μὴ φυλάττον ἀλλὰ τρέπον καὶ ἀλλοιοῦν τὰ ἐξ ὧν συνετέθη, ὡς ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων ἀποτελουμένου τοῦ σώματος ἄλλο ἐξ ἄλλων γέγονε καὶ οὔτε πῦρ τέλειον οὔτε τι τῶν ἄλλων ἐστὶν ἢ λέγεται, καὶ ὡς ἐξ ἵππου καὶ ὄνου ἡμίονος· οὔτε γὰρ ἵππος οὔτε ὄνος ἐστὶν ἢ λέγεται ἀλλ' ἐξ ἑτέρων ἕτερον, μηδ' ὁπότερον τῶν, ἐξ ὧν συνετέθη, φυλάττον ἀσύγχυτόν τε καὶ ἄτρεπτον.