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an adopted son, according to Apollinarius, he is called, and the incomplete man, insofar as he is a man, will clearly also be named a half-adopted son, halving for himself the title of 'adopted'; so that one might more properly say that the former is the complete adopted one, while this one is 3,1.0 lacking a half or a third, according to the will of those who slice up the man with such cuts. But if it is unfitting for God to have an adopted son, the unfittingness is surely the same for both the complete and the incomplete; or rather, the absurdity is even greater in the case of the mutilated one. For if the integrity of the human nature, when seen in connection with the divine, was considered something shameful and outside of a conception worthy of God, much more shameful would it be for the nature to be seen about him as maimed. For it is not because there is no mind that the flesh is akin to the nature of the Father, but from the substance of the Father, likewise ..... both the whole man and the part is separated according to the principle of nature, and neither of the things in us, neither the mind nor the body, is akin to the transcendent nature by the principle of its substance. And even if the myth should fashion some heavenly form of flesh for the divine, the thoughtful person will by no means agree on this account that that flesh is consubstantial with God the Father. But if the flesh is alien to the paternal substance, how could that which is alien be a son? For it is absolutely necessary that what is truly from someone is that very thing in substance which the begetter is. But surely the Father is not flesh; nor would he who is from him be flesh in any case; for what is born of the Spirit is said to be spirit and not flesh. If, therefore, the flesh is not from the Father, it is not a son. What then will it be called? For whatever name they devise for that heavenly flesh mythologized by the story-writer, this we shall consequently apply to the flesh assumed from humans, and whatever they call ours, by the same name will that also be called. 3,1.1 The earthly is not a son, nor is that one either. The earthly is an adopted son, therefore that one is too. A dyad of sons here, and there as well. One son in that one, the flesh and the divinity, so it is here also. For since all creation is equally distant from the divine substance, it is likewise agreed that both the earthly and the heavenly are outside the nature of the Father. It remains, therefore, to think this more reasonably about God, whatever accords with the purpose of his love for humanity, and to invent no special name for it, but for it to be named after that which is greater and prevailing, just as happens with the sea; for if someone should drop a drop of vinegar into the sea, the drop becomes sea, having been transformed together into the quality of the sea, so also the true Son and only-begotten God, the unapproachable light and the life itself and wisdom and sanctification and power and every lofty name and concept—this is he who was manifested to men through the flesh; and the flesh, being flesh by its own nature, but having been transformed into the sea of immortality, as the Apostle says that 'The mortal was swallowed up by life,' all things then appearing according to the flesh were also changed together into the divine and pure nature; not weight, not form, not color, not resistance, not softness, not the circumscription according to quantity, nor anything else of the things then seen remains, since the mingling with the divine assumed the humble nature of the flesh into the divine properties. So there is no danger for us of the doctrine of the Trinity being extended into a tetrad, as Apollinarius says, nor do we enslave the angels to the man, as his myth says against us. For they do not serve a man, those who bow themselves to the Master, nor are they ashamed to worship him who came to the inhabited world through the flesh; For 'When he brings the firstborn,' it says, 'into the inhabited 3,1.2 world, he says: and let all his angels worship him.'

But there is one entrance into the inhabited world, that which is through birth, and it is not possible to come into the life of men otherwise than by using this entrance. Therefore

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θετὸς υἱὸς κατὰ τὸν Ἀπολινάριον λέγεται, καὶ ὁ ἡμιτελὴς ἄνθρωπος, καθ' ὃ ἄν θρωπος, ἡμίθετος δηλονότι υἱὸς καὶ οὗτος ὀνομασθήσεται, ἡμισεύων ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν τοῦ θετοῦ κλῆσιν· ὥστε κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν ἐκεῖνον μὲν τέλειον τὸν θετὸν εἶναι, τοῦτον δὲ 3,1.0 ἥμισυν ἢ τὸ τριτημόριον λείποντα κατὰ τὸ βούλημα τῶν ταῖς τοιαύταις τομαῖς μιστυλλόντων τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἀλλ' εἰ ἀνάρμοστόν ἐστι τῷ θεῷ τὸ θετὸν ἔχειν υἱόν, ὁμοίως πάντως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ τελείου καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀτελοῦς ἐστι τὸ ἀνάρμοστον· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πλέον ἐν τῷ ἠκρωτηριασμένῳ τὸ ἄτοπον. εἰ γὰρ αἰσχρόν τι καὶ ἔξω τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ὑπολήψεως τὸ ἄρτιον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἐνομίσθη περὶ τὸ θεῖον βλεπόμενον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον αἰσχρὸν ἂν εἴη τὸ λελωβημένην περὶ αὐτὸν καθορᾶσθαι τὴν φύσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ νοῦς οὐκ ἔστι, διὰ τοῦτο ἡ σὰρξ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς φύσιν οἰκείως ἔχει, ἀλλὰ τῆς μὲν τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας, ὁμοίως ..... ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὅλος καὶ τὸ μέρος κεχώρισται κατὰ τὸν τῆς φύσεως λόγον, καὶ οὐθέτερον τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν, οὔτε ὁ νοῦς οὔτε τὸ σῶμα, πρὸς τὴν ὑπερκειμένην φύσιν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς οὐσίας ᾠκείωται. κἂν οὐράνιόν τι σαρκὸς εἶδος ἀναπλάσῃ περὶ τὸ θεῖον ὁ μῦθος, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον διὰ τοῦτο ὁμοούσιον εἶναι τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ τὴν σάρκα ἐκείνην ὁ λελογισμένος συνθήσεται. εἰ δὲ ἠλλοτρίωται τῆς πατρικῆς οὐσίας ἡ σάρξ, πῶς ἂν εἴη υἱὸς τὸ ἀλλότριον; ἀνάγκη γὰρ πᾶσα τὸ ἀληθῶς ἔκ τινος ὂν ἐκεῖνο κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν εἶναι ὅπερ ὁ γεννήσας ἐστίν. ἀλλὰ μὴν ὁ πατὴρ σὰρξ οὐκ ἔστιν· οὐδ' ἂν ὁ ἐξ ἐκείνου πάντως σὰρξ εἴη· τὸ γὰρ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμα καὶ οὐχὶ σὰρξ εἶναι λέγεται. εἰ οὖν μὴ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ σάρξ, υἱὸς οὐκ ἔστιν. τί οὖν ὀνομασθήσεται; ὅπερ γὰρ ἂν τῇ οὐρανίᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μυθοποιηθείσῃ παρὰ τοῦ λογογράφου ἐπινοήσωσιν ὄνομα, τοῦτο ἡμεῖς τῇ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀναληφθεί σῃ σαρκὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐπιθήσομεν καί, ὅπερ ἂν τὸ ἡμέτερον ὀνομάσωσιν, τῷ αὐτῷ ὀνόματι κἀκεῖνο κληθήσεται. 3,1.1 οὐκ ἔστιν υἱὸς τὸ γήϊνον, οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνο πάντως. θετὸς υἱὸς τὸ γήϊνον, οὐκοῦν κἀκεῖνο. υἱῶν δυὰς ἐνταῦθα, κἀκεῖ πάντως. εἷς υἱὸς ἐν ἐκείνῳ ἡ σὰρξ καὶ ἡ θεότης, τοῦτο καὶ ὧδε. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁμοίως ἀφέστηκε τῆς θείας οὐσίας ἡ κτίσις πᾶσα, τὸ μὲν ἔξω εἶναι τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς φύσεως τό τε γήϊνον καὶ οὐράνιον ἐπίσης συνωμολόγηται. λείπεται δὲ, ὅπερ ἂν τῷ σκοπῷ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας συμβαίνῃ, τοῦτο εὐλογώτερον περὶ τὸν θεὸν οἴεσθαι, ὄνομα δὲ αὐτῷ ἴδιον ἐφευρίσκειν μηδέν, ἀλλὰ τῷ πλεονάζοντι καὶ ἐπικρατοῦντι συνονομά ζεσθαι, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ πελάγους γίνεται· εἰ γάρ τις στα γόνα ὄξους ἐπιβάλοι θαλάττῃ καὶ ἡ σταγὼν θάλασσα γίνεται συμμεταποιηθεῖσα τῇ θαλασσίᾳ ποιότητι, οὕτως ὁ ἀληθινὸς υἱὸς καὶ μονογενὴς θεός, τὸ ἀπρόσιτον φῶς καὶ ἡ αὐτοζωὴ σοφία τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς καὶ δύναμις καὶ πᾶν ὑψηλὸν ὄνομά τε καὶ νόηματαῦτα ὁ διὰ σαρκὸς φανερωθεὶς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστί· τῆς δὲ σαρκὸς τῇ ἰδίᾳ φύσει σαρκὸς οὔσης, μετα ποιηθείσης δὲ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἀθανασίας πέλαγος, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος ὅτι Κατεπόθη τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς, συμμετεβλήθη καὶ πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν σάρκα τότε φαινόμενα πρὸς τὴν θείαν τε καὶ ἀκήρατον φύσιν· οὐ βάρος, οὐκ εἶδος, οὐ χρῶμα, οὐκ ἀντιτυπία, οὐ μαλακότης, οὐχ ἡ κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν περιγραφή, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν τότε καθορωμένων οὐδὲν παραμένει, τῆς πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἀνακράσεως εἰς τὰ θεϊκὰ ἰδιώματα τὸ ταπεινὸν τῆς σαρκώδους φύσεως ἀναλαβούσης. ὥστε κίνδυνός ἐστιν οὐδεὶς εἰς τετράδα ἡμῖν τὸν τῆς τριάδος λόγον πλατύνεσθαι, καθὼς ὁ Ἀπολινάριος λέγει, οὐδὲ τοὺς ἀγγέλους τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ δουλαγωγοῦ μεν, ὡς ὁ ἐκείνου μῦθος καθ' ἡμῶν λέγει. οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρώπῳ δουλεύουσιν οἱ τῷ δεσπότῃ ἑαυτοὺς ὑποκύπτοντες οὐδὲ ἐπαισ χύνονται προσκυνοῦντες τῷ διὰ σαρκὸς τῇ οἰκουμένῃ ἐπιδημήσαντι· Ὅταν γὰρ εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον, φησίν, εἰς τὴν 3,1.2 οἰκουμένην, λέγει· καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ.

Μία δὲ εἴσοδος ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἡ διὰ τοῦ τόκου ἐστὶ καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἑτέρως ἐντὸς τοῦ βίου τῶν ἀνθρώπων γενέσθαι μὴ ταύτῃ τῇ εἰσόδῳ χρησάμενον. οὐκοῦν