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to discern beforehand by reasoning who will be a profitable father for him and from whom it would be better for his nature to be constituted; for it has been said that such an offspring chooses its parents by its own authority. Since, therefore, beings are divided in two, into the created and the uncreated, and since the uncreated nature possesses in itself the unchangeable and immutable, while creation is altered toward change, whose child will one who chooses what is profitable according to reason prefer to become: of that which is seen in change, or of the nature which is unalterable and firm and always possesses itself in the same way in the good? Since, then, in the Gospel the three persons and names are handed down through which birth comes to believers, and he who is born in the Trinity is born equally from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; for thus the Gospel says concerning the Spirit that, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and Paul begets in Christ, and "The Father of all is Father"; here let the mind of my hearer be sober, lest it make itself an offspring of the unstable nature, when it is possible to make the unchangeable and unalterable the author of its own life. For according to the disposition of the heart of him who approaches the economy, the resulting event also has its power, so that he who confesses the Holy Trinity as uncreated enters into the unchangeable and unalterable life, while he who sees a created nature in the Trinity through a deceived assumption, and then is baptized in it, is born again into a changeable and alterable life; for that which is born is by necessity of the same nature as those who beget it. What then would be more profitable, to enter into the unchangeable life or again to be tossed about in the unstable and altering life? Since, then, it is clear to everyone who partakes of intellect in any way, that the stable is far more honorable than the unstable, and the perfect than the deficient, and that which needs nothing than that which is in need, and that which has nowhere to advance, but abides ever in the perfection of the good, than that which ascends through progress, it would be absolutely necessary for one who has sense to choose one of the two: either to believe the Holy Trinity is of the uncreated nature and thus to make it the author of his own life through the spiritual birth, or, if he should suppose the Son or the Holy Spirit to be outside the nature of the first and true and good God—I mean, of the Father—not to include faith in these at the time of birth, lest he should unawares graft himself onto the deficient nature that is in need of the one who makes good, and in a way lead himself again into what is of the same nature, having separated his faith from the transcendent nature. For he who has yoked himself to one of the created things has unawares put his hope of salvation in it and not in the divine. For all creation is akin to itself in that it equally has come from non-being into being; and just as in the construction of bodies all the members are connatural with each other, even though some happen to be lower and others higher, so the created nature is united to itself according to the principle of creation, and the difference among us in what is superior and deficient in no way separates it from its connaturality with itself; for of those things whose non-existence is equally pre-conceived, even if there is difference in other respects, we find no variation in this part of their nature. If therefore man is created, and he should suppose that the Spirit and the only-begotten God are also created, he would be vain in his hope of transference to what is better, resolving himself into himself. For what happens is similar to the suppositions of Nicodemus, who, having learned from the Lord about the need to be born from above, because he could not yet comprehend the word of the mystery, was dragged down by his reasonings to his mother's womb. So that if he leads himself not to the uncreated nature, but to the kindred and fellow-servant creation, his is the birth from below, not from above. But the Gospel says that the birth of those who are being saved is from above.

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ὁρμῶντα προδιαγνῶναι τῷ λογισμῷ, τίς αὐτῷ λυσιτελήσει πατὴρ καὶ ἐκ τίνος ἄμεινον αὐτῷ συστῆναι τὴν φύσιν· εἴρηται γὰρ ὅτι κατ' ἐξουσίαν τοὺς γεννήτορας ὁ τοιοῦτος αἱρεῖται τόκος. διχῆ τοίνυν τῶν ὄντων μεμερισμένων εἰς τὸ κτιστὸν καὶ τὸ ἄκτιστον, καὶ τῆς μὲν ἀκτίστου φύσεως τὸ ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀμετάθετον ἐν ἑαυτῇ κεκτημένης, τῆς δὲ κτίσεως πρὸς τροπὴν ἀλλοιουμένης, ὁ κατὰ λογισμὸν τὸ λυσιτελοῦν προαιρούμενος τίνος αἱρήσεται μᾶλλον γενέσθαι τέκνον, τῆς ἐν τροπῇ θεωρουμένης ἢ τῆς ἀμετάστατόν τε καὶ παγίαν καὶ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ κεκτημένης τὴν φύσιν; ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τὰ τρία παραδέ δοται πρόσωπά τε καὶ ὀνόματα δι' ὧν ἡ γέννησις τοῖς πιστεύουσι γίνεται, γεννᾶται δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ὁ ἐν τῇ τριάδι γεννώμενος παρὰ πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου· οὕτω γάρ φησι περὶ τοῦ πνεύματος τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὅτι Τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστι, καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἐν Χριστῷ γεννᾷ, καὶ Ὁ πατὴρ πάντων ἐστὶ πατήρ· ἐνταῦθά μοι νηφέτω τοῦ ἀκροατοῦ ἡ διάνοια, μὴ τῆς ἀστατούσης φύσεως ἑαυτὴν ἔκγονον ποιήσῃ, ἐξὸν τὴν ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον ἀρχηγὸν ποιήσασθαι τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆς. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν διάθεσιν τῆς καρδίας τοῦ προσιόντος τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ καὶ τὸ γινόμενον τὴν δύναμιν ἔχει, ὥστε τὸν μὲν ἄκτιστον ὁμολογοῦντα τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα εἰς τὴν ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον εἰσελθεῖν ζωήν, τὸν δὲ τὴν κτιστὴν φύσιν ἐν τῇ τριάδι διὰ τῆς ἠπατημένης ὑπολήψεως βλέποντα, ἔπειτα ἐν αὐτῇ βαπτιζόμενον, πάλιν τῷ τρεπτῷ τε καὶ ἀλλοιουμένῳ ἐγγεννηθῆναι βίῳ· τῇ γὰρ τῶν γεννώντων φύσει κατ' ἀνάγκην ὁμογενές ἐστι καὶ τὸ τικτόμενον. τί οὖν ἂν εἴη λυσιτελέστερον, εἰς τὴν ἄτρε πτον ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν ἢ πάλιν τῷ ἀστατοῦντι καὶ ἀλλοιου μένῳ ἐγκυματοῦσθαι βίῳ; ἐπεὶ οὖν παντὶ δῆλόν ἐστι τῷ καὶ ὁπωσοῦν διανοίας μετέχοντι, ὅτι τὸ ἑστὼς τοῦ μὴ ἑστῶτος παρὰ πολὺ τιμιώτερον, καὶ τοῦ ἐλλιποῦς τὸ τέλειον, καὶ τοῦ δεομένου τὸ μὴ δεόμενον, καὶ τοῦ διὰ προκοπῆς ἀνιόντος τὸ μὴ ἔχον εἰς ὅ τι προέλθῃ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῆς τελειότητος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μένον ἀεί, ἐπάναγκες ἂν εἴη ἓν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων αἱρεῖσθαι πάντως τόν γε νοῦν ἔχοντα, ἢ τῆς ἀκτίστου φύσεως εἶναι πιστεύειν τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα καὶ οὕτως ἀρχηγὸν διὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς γεννήσεως ποιεῖσθαι τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆς, ἤ, εἰ ἔξω τῆς τοῦ πρώτου καὶ ἀληθινοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ φύσεως, τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς λέγω, νομίζοι εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, μὴ συμπαραλαμβάνειν τὴν εἰς ταῦτα πίστιν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς γεννήσεως, μήποτε λάθῃ τῇ ἐλλιπεῖ φύσει καὶ δεομένῃ τοῦ ἀγαθύνοντος ἑαυτὸν εἰσποιῶν καὶ τρόπον τινὰ πάλιν εἰς τὸ ὁμογενὲς ἑαυτὸν εἰσαγάγῃ, τῆς ὑπερεχούσης φύσεως ἀποστήσας τὴν πίστιν. ὁ γάρ τινι τῶν κτιστῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑποζεύξας λέληθεν εἰς αὐτὸ καὶ οὐκ εἰς τὸ θεῖον τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας ἔχων. πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ κτίσις τῷ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι προήκειν οἰκείως πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἔχει· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων κατασκευῆς πάντα τὰ μέλη πρὸς ἑαυτὰ συμφυῶς ἔχει, κἂν τὰ μὲν ὑποβεβηκότα, τὰ δὲ ὑπερανεστῶτα τύχῃ, οὕτως ἡ κτιστὴ φύσις ἥνωται πρὸς ἑαυτὴν κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς κτίσεως καὶ οὐδὲν ἡ κατὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον καὶ ἐνδέον ἐν ἡμῖν διαφορὰ διίστησιν αὐτὴν τῆς πρὸς ἑαυτὴν συμφυίας· ὧν γὰρ ἐπ' ἴσης προεπινοεῖται ἡ ἀνυπαρξία, κἂν ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις τὸ διάφορον ᾖ, οὐδεμίαν κατὰ τὸ μέρος τοῦτο τῆς φύσεως παραλλαγὴν ἐξευρίσκομεν. εἰ οὖν κτιστὸς μὲν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, κτιστὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν εἶναι νομίζοι, μάταιος ἂν εἴη ἐν ἐλπίδι τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταστάσεως, πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλύων. ὅμοιον γὰρ ταῖς τοῦ Νικοδήμου ὑπολήψεσίν ἐστι τὸ γινόμενον, ὃς περὶ τοῦ δεῖν ἄνωθεν γεννηθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου μαθὼν διὰ τὸ μήπω χωρῆσαι τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὸν μητρῷον κόλπον τοῖς λογισμοῖς κατεσύρετο. ὥστε εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἄκτιστον φύσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν συγγενῆ καὶ ὁμό δουλον κτίσιν ἑαυτὸν ἀπάγοι, τῆς κάτωθεν, οὐ τῆς ἄνωθέν ἐστι γεννήσεως. φησὶ δὲ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἄνωθεν εἶναι τῶν σωζομένων τὴν γέννησιν.