36

let us be taught by Scripture. {ΕΡΑΝ.} I am persuaded by the divine Scripture. {ΟΡΘ.} When, therefore, you hear the divine John crying out, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" and, "All things were made through him," and all the other such things, do you say that the flesh was in the beginning with God, and was God by nature, and made all things, or God the Word who before the ages was begotten of the Father? {ΕΡΑΝ.} I say that these things belong to God the Word; but I do not separate him from the united flesh. {ΟΡΘ.} We neither separate the flesh from God the Word, nor do we make the union a confusion. {ΕΡΑΝ.} I know one nature after the union. {ΟΡΘ.} When did the evangelists write the gospels? Before the union or a very long time after the union? {ΕΡΑΝ.} It is clear that it was after the union and the birth and the won 135 ders and the passion and the resurrection and the ascension into heaven and the descent of the all-holy Spirit. {ΟΡΘ.} Listen then to John saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made," and so on; and to Matthew: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham," and so on. And Luke also traced his genealogy from Abraham and David. Fit, therefore, these and those things to one nature. But you would not be able; for to be from Abraham is contrary to being in the beginning, and to have had a created ancestor is contrary to having made all things. {ΕΡΑΝ.} In saying these things you divide the only-begotten Son into two persons. {ΟΡΘ.} I both know and worship one Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ; but I was taught the difference of the divinity and the humanity. But you, who say there is one nature after the union, fit to this the prefaces of the gospels. {ΕΡΑΝ.} As it seems, you suppose the proposition to be exceedingly strong and perhaps impossible. {ΟΡΘ.} Let it be easy and simple for you, only solve for us what is sought. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Both belong to the Lord Christ, both to be in the beginning and to have sprung from Abraham and David according to the flesh. {ΟΡΘ.} You laid down the law that one must speak of one nature after the union; therefore do not transgress your own law by mentioning flesh. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Even without mentioning flesh it is easy to solve the proposition; for I apply both to the Savior Christ. {ΟΡΘ.} I too say that these and those things belong to the Lord Christ, but by considering two natures in him, and assigning to each what is fitting. But if Christ is one nature, how is it possible to fit to it contrary things? For to have received his beginning from Abraham and David is contrary to being in the beginning, or rather to have been born many generations after David. And again it is contrary to having made all things 136 to have sprung from things that were made, and contrary to being from God to have had men as fathers. And what is recent is contrary to what is eternal. And let us indeed consider it thus: do we say that God the Word is the creator of all things? {ΕΡΑΝ.} We were taught by the divine Scripture to believe so. {ΟΡΘ.} And on what day have we learned that Adam was formed after the creation of heaven and earth? {ΕΡΑΝ.} On the sixth. {ΟΡΘ.} And how many generations have passed from Adam to Abraham? {ΕΡΑΝ.} I have supposed these to be twenty. {ΟΡΘ.} And from Abraham to our Savior Christ, how many generations does the evangelist Matthew number? {ΕΡΑΝ.} Forty-two. {ΟΡΘ.} If, therefore, the Lord Christ is one nature, how is it possible for him both to be the creator of all things visible and invisible, and after so many generations to have been formed by the all-holy Spirit in a virgin's womb? And how is he both the maker of Adam and the son of Adam's descendants? {ΕΡΑΝ.} I have already said before that both these and those things are fitting for him as God incarnate; for I know one of the

36

διδαχθῶμεν γραφῆς. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἐγὼ πείθομαι τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὅταν τοίνυν ἀκούσῃς Ἰωάννου τοῦ θεσπεσίου βοῶντος· "̓Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος·" καί· "Πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο," καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τοιαῦτα, τὴν σάρκα λέγεις ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν εἶναι, καὶ φύσει θεὸν εἶναι, καὶ πάντα πεποιηκέναι, ἢ τὸν θεὸν λόγον τὸν πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεγεννημένον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τῷ μὲν θεῷ λόγῳ ταῦτα προσήκειν φημί· οὐ χωρίζω δὲ αὐτὸν τῆς ἡνωμένης σαρκός. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὔτε χωρίζομεν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου τὴν σάρκα, οὔτε σύγχυσιν ποιοῦμεν τὴν ἕνωσιν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἐγὼ μίαν οἶδα μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν φύσιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οἱ εὐαγγελισταὶ τὰ εὐαγγέλια πηνίκα συνέγραψαν; πρὸ τῆς ἑνώσεως ἢ μετὰ πλεῖστον τῆς ἑνώσεως χρόνον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ῆλον ὅτι μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν καὶ τὴν γέννησιν καὶ τὰ θαύ 135 ματα καὶ τὸ πάθος καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνάληψιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ παναγίου πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἄκουσον τοίνυν τοῦ μὲν Ἰωάννου λέγοντος· "Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁλόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. Οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. Πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· τοῦ δὲ Ματθαίου· "Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ ∆αβίδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐξ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ∆αβὶδ ἐγενεαλόγησε. Προσάρμοσον τοίνυν ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα φύσει μιᾷ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν δύναιο· ἐναντίον γὰρ τῷ ἐν ἀρχῇ εἶναι, τὸ ἐξ Ἀβραὰμ εἶναι, καὶ τῷ πάντα πεποιηκέναι τὸ κτιστὸν τὸν πρόγονον ἐσχηκέναι. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ταῦτα λέγων εἰς δύο πρόσωπα τὸν μονογενῆ μερίζεις υἱόν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἕνα μὲν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ οἶδα καὶ προσκυνῶ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν· τῆς δὲ θεότητος καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος τὴν διαφορὰν ἐδιδάχθην. Σὺ δέ γε ὁ μίαν λέγων μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν γεγενῆσ θαι φύσιν, προσάρμοσον ταύτῃ τὰ τῶν εὐαγγελίων προοίμια. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὡς ἔοικεν, ἰσχυρὰν ἄγαν καὶ ἴσως ἀμήχανον ὑπολαμβά νεις τὴν πρότασιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἔστω σοι ῥᾳδία καὶ εὐπετής, μόνον ἡμῖν τὸ ζητούμενον λῦσον. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀμφότερα τῷ δεσπότῃ προσήκει Χριστῷ, καὶ τὸ ἐν ἀρχῇ εἶναι καὶ τὸ ἐξ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ∆αβὶδ κατὰ σάρκα βλαστῆσαι. {ΟΡΘ.} Μίαν μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν χρῆναι λέγειν ἐνομοθέτησας φύσιν· τὸν οἰκεῖον τοίνυν μὴ παραβῇς νόμον μεμνημένος σαρκός. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ δίχα τοῦ μνημονεῦσαι σαρκὸς λῦσαι τὴν πρότασιν εὐπετές· ἀμφότερα γὰρ τῷ σωτῆρι προσαρμόττω Χριστῷ. {ΟΡΘ.} Κἀγὼ καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα προσήκειν φημὶ τῷ δεσπότῃ Χριστῷ, ἀλλὰ δύο φύσεις ἐν αὐτῷ θεωρῶν, καὶ ἑκατέρᾳ προσνέμων τὰ πρόσφορα. Εἰ δὲ μία φύσις ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστός, πῶς οἷόν τε αὐτῇ προσαρ μόσαι τὰ ἐναντία; Ἐναντίον γὰρ τῷ ἐν ἀρχῇ εἶναι τὸ ἐξ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ∆αβὶδ τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰληφέναι, μᾶλλον δὲ πολλοστῇ γενεᾷ μετὰ τὸν ∆αβὶδ γεννηθῆναι. Ἐναντίον δὲ πάλιν καὶ τῷ πάντα πεποιηκέναι τὸ 136 ἐκ πεποιημένων βλαστῆσαι, καὶ τῷ ἐκ θεοῦ εἶναι τὸ ἀνθρώπους ἐσχηκέναι πατέρας. Ἐναντίον δὲ καὶ τῷ αἰωνίῳ τὸ πρόσφατον. Καὶ δῆτα σκοπήσωμεν οὑτωσί· τῶν ἁπάντων φαμὲν τὸν θεὸν λόγον δημιουργόν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὕτω πιστεύειν παρὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς ἐδιδάχθημεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Πόστῃ δὲ μεμαθήκαμεν ἡμέρᾳ τὸν Ἀδὰμ διαπλασθῆναι μετὰ τὴν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς δημιουργίαν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἕκτῃ. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ πόσαι διεληλύθασιγενεαί; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Εἴκοσι ταύτας ὑπείληφα. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ μέχρι τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ πόσας ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ματθαῖος ἀριθμεῖ γενεάς; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τεσσαρακονταδύο. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τοίνυν μία φύσις ὁ δεσπότης Χριστός, πῶς οἷόν τε αὐτὸν καὶ πάντων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων ὑπάρχειν δημιουργόν, καὶ μετὰ γενεὰς τοσαύτας ὑπὸ τοῦ παναγίου πνεύματος διαπλασθῆναι ἐν μήτρᾳ παρθενικῇ; πῶς δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ποιητὴς καὶ τῶν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἀπογόνων υἱός; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ ἤδη πρότερον ἔφην ὡς ἁρμόττει αὐτῷ καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα ὡς σεσαρκωμένῳ θεῷ· μίαν γὰρ οἶδα τοῦ