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the power of humanity, paralyzes Satan, and puts Beelzeboul to shame; since let someone who wants come forward and teach you what prevents the authority against unclean spirits from being available to those who wish it. Behold, if this is done by the nature of the flesh; for we are all in the flesh, and the principle of humanity is one for all; but it is neither a work proper to the flesh, 0108 nor indeed of humanity, to overpower spirits, since not all have the power; but rather the achievement is seen to be an operation through the Spirit». Therefore the Father has spoken truly, in so far as he is conceived as flesh and man, that the power against demons was a work of the Spirit, and 15Α_142 not of the flesh, that is, of humanity. For admittedly the body of the Lord is holy, and has all power against every disease; but it was and is holy, not because it is simply conceived as flesh, existing only in its own principles, but in that it is the temple of the God the Word dwelling in it, who sanctifies his own flesh through his own Spirit.
So that, as this divine man says, according to the truth, it is not a natural operation of the flesh, nor a power of humanity that paralyzes Satan; nor does the nature of flesh do this; since all men being in the flesh, and one according to the principle of humanity, if they had chosen to act, would also have had the power against spirits. Having taught these things clearly, at any rate, he has shown, and has become the interpreter of his own words, that by indwelling, which is to be united in one hypostasis, and not by being flesh existing only in its own principles, it is holy and life-giving, having the power against every disease. Let us therefore, according to the teaching of the saints, also preserve the principle of difference unharmed, which preserves the natures themselves and what essentially belongs to them even after the union; and the mode of the economy utterly inseparable, which maintains the extreme connaturality of the united things in a unitive manner; and let us drive out all our division and confusion.
But if we do not in this way piously accept and understand the expressions spoken monadically by the saints, both the "Theandric" and the "One and connatural," according to the principle of the union, but if we should suppose this to be either natural, or again hypostatic, we shall necessarily dogmatize that Christ is one nature; participating in neither of the things from which he is composed at all, because Christ is by nature neither of them. For nature would never share in nature by nature; but it is non-participating, and in every way essentially different from every other; this will be our conclusion, for those who speak of a natural operation 15Α_144; but if, again, a hypostatic one, we shall alienate him from the Father and the Spirit according to the operation. For the Son would never share with the Father and the Spirit in any characteristic 0109 of his own hypostasis.
Let us therefore in no way wish to confess a natural or hypostatic operation in the Word who was made flesh and became perfectly human. For none of the holy Fathers from his divine descent to us until now has handed down the confession of a natural or hypostatic operation in him; nor indeed one explicitly, as far as I know, except only the divine Cyril; which we accept with our whole soul, even though it belongs to him alone, for the sake of the union; how is it not fitting to receive with great joy also the dual expressions of almost all the holy Fathers, and of him again, for the sake of the natural difference; lest by our adherence to and acceptance of his one and only expression, we should cause the rejection and invalidation of the words of this and other saints; as if the pious accuracy of the preaching had been entrusted to none of them other than Cyril alone; and this not in his other words, which indicate the difference, but only in the one and connatural operation.
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ἀνθρωπότητος δύναμις, παραλύει τόν Σατανᾶν, καί καταισχύνει τόν Βεελζεβούλ· ἐπεί διδασκέτω σέ τις παρελθών, εἰ βούλεται, τί τό κωλύον τοῖς ἐθέλουσι προκεῖσθαι τήν ἐξουσίαν τήν κατά πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων. Ἱδού, εἰ τοῦτο ἐνεργεῖ σαρκός φύσει· πάντες γάρ ἐσμέν ἐν σαρκί, καί εἷς πάντων ὁ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος λόγος· ἀλλ᾿ οὔτε σαρκός ἔργον ἰδικῶς, 0108 οὔτε μέν ἀνθρωπότητος, τό κατισχύσαι πνευμάτων, ἐπεί μή πάντες ἰσχύουσιν· ἐνεργείας δέ μᾶλλον ὁρᾶται τό κατόρθωμα διά τοῦ Πνεύματος». Οὐκοῦν ἀληθές εἴρηκεν ὁ Πατήρ, καθό νοεῖται σάρξ καί ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι Πνεύματος ἔργον ἦν, καί 15Α_142 οὐχί τῆς σαρκός, ἤγουν ἀνθρωπότητος, ἡ κατά δαιμόνων ἰσχύς. Ἅγιον μέν γάρ ὁμολογουμένως ἐστί τό σῶμα τοῦ Κυρίου, καί πᾶσαν ἔχον κατά πάσης νόσου τήν δύναμιν· ἀλλ᾿ ἦν τε, καί ἐστιν ἅγιον, οὐκ ἐπείπερ ἁπλῶς νοεῖται σάρξ, ἐν μόνοις οὖσα τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις, ἀλλ᾿ ᾗ ἐστι ναός τοῦ κατοικοῦντος ἐν αὐτῇ Θεοῦ Λόγου, ἁγιάζοντος τήν ἰδίαν σάρκα διά τοῦ ἰδίου Πνεύματος.
Ὥστε, ᾗ φησιν ὁ θεῖος οὗτος ἀνήρ, κατά τό ἀληθές, οὐ σαρκός ἐνέργεια φυσική, καί ἀνθρωπότητος δύναμις παραλύει τόν Σατανᾶν· οὐδέ τοῦτο ἐνεργεῖ σαρκός ἡ φύσις· ἐπεί καί πάντες ἄνθρωποι ἐν σαρκί ὄντες, καί εἷς κατά τόν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος λόγον, ἑλόμενοι ἄν ἐνεργεῖν, καί τήν κατά πνευμάτων εἶχον ἰσχύν. Ταῦτα γοῦν διδάξας σαφῶς παρέστηκε, καί τῶν ἰδίων ἑρμηνευτής γέγονε λόγων, ὡς τῷ ἐνοικεῖν, ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡνῶσθαι καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν μίαν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῷ σάρξ, ὑπάρχειν, ἐν μόνοις οὖσα τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις, ἁγία ἐστί καί ζωοποιός, κατά πάσης νόσου τήν δύναμιν ἔχουσα. Φυλάξωμεν τοιγαροῦν καί ἡμεῖς κατά τήν τῶν ἁγίων ὑφήγησιν, τόν τε τῆς διαφορᾶς λόγον ἀλώβητον, τάς φύσεις αὐτάς, καί τά προσόντα κατ᾿ οὐσίαν αὐταῖς διασώζοντα καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν· καί τόν τῆς οἰκονομίας τρόπον παντελῶς ἀδιάσπαστον, τήν ἄκραν τῶν ἡνωμένων συμφυΐαν ἐνοειδῶς συντηροῦντα· καί τήν πᾶσαν ἡμῶν ἐξελάσωμεν διαίρεσίν τε καί σύγχυσιν.
Εἰ δέ μή οὕτως τάς μοναδικῶς εἰρημένας τοῖς ἁγίοις φωνάς, τήν τε Θεανδρικήν καί τήν Μίαν τε καί συγγενῆ, κατά τόν τῆς ἑνώσεως λόγον εὐσεβῶς ἐκδεξώμεθα καί νοήσωμεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἤ ταύτην ὡς φυσικήν, ἤ πάλιν ὑποστατικήν ὑπολάβωμεν, φύσιν μίαν ἐξ ἀνάγκης τόν Χριστόν δογματίσομεν· μηδετέρας τῶν ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκε τό παράπαν μετέχουσαν, ὅτι μηδεμία κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχει Χριστός. Φύσις γάρ πρός φύσιν οὐκ ἄν κοινωνήσῃ κατά φύσιν ποτ᾿ ἄν· ἀλλ᾿ ἀμέτοχος, πάντη κατ᾿ οὐσίαν πρός πᾶσάν ἐστι διάφορος· τοῦτο μέν ἡμῖν συναχθήσεται, φυσικήν τήν ἐνέργειαν 15Α_144 λέγουσι· εἰ δέ πάλιν ὑποστατικήν, ἀλλοτριώσομεν αὐτόν τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Πνεύματος κατά τήν ἐνέργειαν. Οὐδενί γάρ χαρακτηριστικῷ 0109 τῆς ἰδίας ὑποστάσεως· κοινωνήσοι ποτ᾿ ἄν Πατρί καί Πνεύματι ὁ Υἱός.
Μηδαμῶς τοιγαροῦν βουληθῶμεν φυσικήν ἤ ὑποστατικήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σαρκωθέντος Λόγου, καί τελείως ἐνανθρωπήσαντος ὁμολογεῖν τήν ἐνέργειαν. Οὐδείς γάρ τῶν ἀπό τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ πρός ἡμᾶς καταβάσεως μέχρι νῦν ἁγίων Πατέρων, φυσικήν ἤ ὑποστατικήν ὁμολογεῖν ἐνέργειαν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ παραδέδωκεν· ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ μίαν ῥητῶς, ὡς ἐμέ γινώσκειν, ἤ μόνον Κύριλλος ὁ θεσπέσιος· ἥν ὥσπερ ὁλοψύχως δεχόμεθα, καίπερ αὐτοῦ μόνου τυγχάνουσαν, τῆς ἑνώσεως χάριν· πῶς οὐχί καί τάς τῶν ὅλων σχεδόν ἁγίων Πατέρων, καὐτοῦ δέ πάλιν δέχεσθαι περιχαρῶς προσήκει δυϊκάς φωνάς, τῆς φυσικῆς ἕνεκεν διαφορᾶς· ἵνα μή τῆς περί τήν μίαν καί μόνον αὐτοῦ λέξιν προσκλήσει καί παραδοχῇ, τούτου τε καί ἄλλων ἁγίων τήν ἐκβολήν καί τήν ἀκυρωσίαν τῶν λόγων ποιήσωμεν· ὡς μή ἄλλου τινός αὐτῶν, ἤ μόνου Κυρίλλου τήν εὐσεβῆ τοῦ κηρύγματος πιστευθέντος ἀκρίβειαν· καί ταύτην οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις λόγοις αὐτοῦ, τοῖς τήν διαφοράν δηλοῦσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἤ μόνον ἐν τῇ μίᾳ καί συγγενεῖ ἐνεργείᾳ.