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again describing the result of the two natural energies of the same one, that is, the divine sign that comes to others, (men) from the Savior God; for example, the resurrection, or the ascension, or the cleansing, or any of such miracles, they say is one and the same energy, even so their argument is not convenient. For we do not know one, but many and infinite divine signs of the Savior, about which the most theological John says, If they should be written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Then also by things that happen externally, neither concerning any other of the beings, let alone must one speak concerning the very God the Word who is above all beings and was incarnate for us, do we completely recognize the essential existence; but by the natural properties by which He is characterized in Himself; which is the same as to say, by the natural wills and energies. Or else, they might define the carpenter as a woodworking animal, but not rational nor mortal; recognizing his nature from the chair, perhaps, or the pallet-bed, but not from the properties that essentially 0121 constitute it; which is ignorant even to conceive. Hence we do not discern the same one as properly God and man by nature from anything else, except from the innate properties that characterize him at once divinely and humanly; both of the divine will and energy, as 15Α_160 I said, and of the human will and energy of the same one; by which, and through which, He confirms what He was and has become; working miracles for us voluntarily as God; and suffering for us, the same one, voluntarily as man; being known as nothing other than the things from which, and in which, and what He is; like some bastard and intermediate thing, that is, a third result, according to the example of mules; as the mythological fabrication of the vain-talking heretics monstrously asserts, having strayed from the pious kerygma of the holy Fathers; but being truly and properly the very things from which and in which He truly and properly is. For existing from divinity and humanity, and in divinity and humanity by nature; Christ is God by nature and man; and absolutely nothing else.
And how, they say, does Cyril the wise prescribe that we should think of a certain middle rank of expressions concerning Christ, writing thus to Acacius: "For some of the expressions are most especially divine; and others, again, are human-like; and others have a certain middle rank. And what could this ever contribute to their own supposition?" For the teacher does not hand down to us in these words that from a change or a rejection of the extremes, I mean of the divinity and humanity of Christ, or of the divine and human will and energy of the same one, there is another middle thing, that is, an intermediate result, communicating with neither of the natures from which He is; or again, a composite energy, being such or having such according to them; but that these things are properly what they are, the things from which He is; but these things are not named separately; but together, and in the same, each of these, as Christ is one and alone.
And he himself testifies about these things, defending the Eastern bishops, and writing to Acacius thus, "The brothers in Antioch, however, in no 15Α_162 way divide the things that are united; but they maintain that only the expressions concerning the Lord are to be distinguished; and that some are fitting to His divinity, and others again to His humanity. For the same one is God and man; and they say that there are others made common in a certain way, and as it were looking to both; I mean divinity and humanity; for example what I mean, for some of the expressions are most especially divine, and others again are human-like; and others have a certain middle rank, showing the Son of God being God and man at once and in the same.” The teacher has therefore shown to us that there is a middle rank of expressions, not another
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αὖθις περιγραφόμενοι τό ἀποτέλεσμα τῶν δύο τοῦ αὐτοῦ κατά φύσιν ἐνεργειῶν, τουτέστι τήν εἰς ἄλλους, (ἀνθρώπους) τῷ Σωτῆρι Θεῷ γιγνομένην θεοσημείαν· οἷον, τήν ἀνάστασιν, ἤ τήν ἀνάληψιν, ἤ τήν κάθαρσιν, ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων τερατουργημάτων, ἐνέργειαν μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ὑπάρχειν φασίν, οὐδ᾿ οὕτως εὐάφορμος ἐκείνοις ὁ λόγος. Οὐδέ γάρ μίαν ἴσμεν, ἀλλά καί πολλάς καί ἀπείρους τάς τοῦ Σωτῆρος θεοσημείας, περί ὧν φησιν ὁ θεολογικώτατος Ἰωάννης, Ἐάν γράφηται καθ᾿ ἕν, οὐδ᾿ αὐτόν οἶμαι χωρῆσαι τά γραφόμενα βιβλία τόν τῇδε κόσμον.
Ἔπειτα καί τοῖς ἐκτός γινομένοις, οὔτε ἐπ᾿ ἄλλου μέν τινος τῶν ὄντων, μή τί γε δεῖ λέγειν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὑπέρ πάντα τά ὄντα Θεοῦ λόγου δι᾿ ἡμᾶς σαρκωθέντος, τήν οὐσιώδη παντελῶς ἐπιγινώσκομεν ὕπαρξιν· ἀλλ᾿ οἷς αὐτός ἐν αὐτῷ χαρακτηρίζεται φυσικοῖς ἰδιώμασι· ταυτόν δέ φάναι θελήσεσι φυσικαῖς καί ἐνεργείαις· ἤ οὕτω δ᾿ ἄν, καί τόν τέκτονα ζῶον ξυλουργόν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ λογικόν, οὐδέ θνητόν· ὁρίσοιντο ἄν, τήν τούτου φύσιν ἐκ τοῦ θώκου τυχόν, ἤ τοῦ σκίμποδος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῶν οὐσιωδῶς 0121 συνιστώντων αὐτήν ἰδιωμάτων γνωρίζοντες· ὅπερ κἄν ἐννοεῖν, ἀμαθές. Ὅθεν φύσει Θεόν καί ἄνθρωπον τόν αὐτόν κυρίως, οὐχ ἑτέρωθεν ὄντα διαγινώσκομεν, ἤ ἐκ τῶν θεϊκῶς ἅμα καί ἀνθρωπικῶς χαρκτηριζόντων αὐτόν, ἐμφύτων ἰδιωμάτων· τῆς τε θείας, ὡς 15Α_160 ἔφην, θελήσεως καί ἐνεργείας, καί τῆς ἀνθρωπικῆς τοῦ αὐτοῦ θελήσεως καί ἐνεργείας· αἷς, καί δι᾿ ὧν, ὅ ἦν καί γέγονεν ἐπισφραγίζει· θαυματουργῶν μέν ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς ὡς Θεός ἑκουσίως· πάσχων δέ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ὁ αὐτός ἑκουσίως ὡς ἄνθρωπος· ὡς οὐκ ἄλλο τι παρά τῶν ἐξ ὧν, ἐν οἷς τε καί ἅπερ ἐστί γνωριζόμενος, οἷόν τι νόθον καί μεταίχμιον, ἤγουν τρίτον ἀποτέλεσμα, κατά τήν τῶν ἡμιόνων παράδειξιν· ὡς ἡ τῶν κενολόγων αἱρετικῶν μυθοπλαστία τερατολογεῖ, τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς ἀποσφαλεῖσα τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων κηρύγματος ἀλλ᾿ αὐτά κατ' ἀλήθειαν κυρίως ὤν, τά ἐξ ὧν, καί ἐν οἷς κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν κυρίως ἐστίν. Ἐκ θεότητος γάρ καί ἀνθρωπότητος, καί ἐν θεότητι καί ἀνθρωπότητι κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχων· Θεός φύσει καί ἄνθρωπος ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός· καί ἄλλο τό παράπαν οὐδέν.
Καί πῶς, φασί, Κύριλλος ὁ σοφός μέσην τινά τάξιν τῶν ἐπί Χριστοῦ φωνῶν διαγορεύει φρονεῖν, οὑτωσί πρός Ἀκάκιον γράφων· "Αἱ μέν γάρ εἰσι τῶν φωνῶν ὅτι μάλιστα θεοπρεπεῖς· αἱ δέ, οὕτω πάλιν ἀνθρωποπρεπεῖς· αἱ δέ μέσην τινά τάξιν ἔχουσι. Καί τί τοῦτο συμβαλεῖταί ποτ᾿ ἄν ἐκείνοις πρός τήν οἰκείαν ὑπόληψιν;" Οὐ γάρ ἐκ μεταβολῆς, ἤ ἀποβολῆς τῶν ἄκρων, θεότητός φημι τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί ἀνθρωπότητος· ἤ θείας τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἀνθρωπίνης θελήσεως καί ἐνεργείας, ἕτερόν τι μέσον, ἤγουν μεταίχμιον ἀποτέλεσμα, μηδετέρᾳ φύσει τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἐστι κοινωνοῦν· ἤ πάλιν, ἐνέργειάν τινα σύνθετον ὄντα κατ᾿ αὐτούς, ἤ ἔχοντα παραδίδωσιν ἐν τούτοις ἡμῖν ὁ διδάσκαλος, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι ταῦτα μέν κυρίως ἐστί, τά ἐξ ὧν ἐστιν· οὐ διῃρημένως δέ ταῦτα κατονομάζεται· ὁμοῦ δέ, καί ἐν ταυτῷ τούτων ἑκάτερον, ὡς εἷς ὤν καί μόνος ὁ Χριστός.
Καί μαρτυρεῖ περί τούτων αὐτός ὑπαραπολογούμενος τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν ἐπισκόπων, καί γράφων πρός Ἀκάκιον οὕτως, "Οἱ δέ γε κατά τήν Ἀντιόχειαν ἀδελφοί, μερίζουσι μέν κατ' οὐδένα 15Α_162 τρόπον τά ἡνωμένα· διαιρεῖσθαι δέ μόναι διατείνονται τάς ἐπί τοῦ Κυρίου φωνάς· πρέπειν τε τάς μέν τῇ θεότητι αὐτοῦ, τάς δέ τῇ αὐτοῦ πάλιν ἀνθρωπότητι. Θεός γάρ ἐστιν ὁ αὐτός καί ἄνθρωπος· εἶναι δέ φασι καί ἑτέρας κοινοποιηθείσας τρόπον τινά, καί οἷον ἐπ' ἄμφω βλεπούσας· θεότητα καί ἀνθρωπότητα λέγω· οἷον τί φημι, αἱ μέν γάρ εἰσι τῶν φωνῶν ὅτι μάλιστα θεοπρεπεῖς, αἱ δέ οὕτω πάλιν ἀνθρωποπρεπεῖς· αἱ δέ μέσην τινά τάξιν ἔχουσιν, ἐμφανίζουσαι τόν Υἱόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Θεόν ὄντα καί ἄνθρωπον ὁμοῦ τε καί ἐν ταὐτῶ». δέδειχε τοιγαροῦν ἡμῖν ὁ διδάσκαλος, μέσην τάξιν εἶναι φωνῶν, οὐχ ἕτερόν