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the nature of the Word incarnate. {ORTH.} Nor do we, my good man, say that two natures of God the Word have been incarnated; for we know one nature of God the Word; but we have been taught that the flesh, which he used when he was incarnated, is of another nature. And I think that you too agree with this. Tell me then, do you say that the incarnation happened through some kind of change? {ERAN.} I do not know the manner, but I believe that he was incarnated. {ORTH.} You craftily put forward ignorance, very much like the Pharisees. For they too, seeing the force of the Lord's question, and then suspecting refutation, said, "We do not know." But I proclaim plainly that the divine incarnation is free from change. For if he was incarnated through some alteration and change, the divine names and realities would in no way 137 be fitting for him after the change. {ERAN.} We have often confessed that God the Word is unchangeable. {ORTH.} Therefore, taking flesh, he was incarnated. {ERAN.} True. {ORTH.} Therefore, the nature of God the Word which was incarnated is one thing, and the nature of the flesh, which the divine nature of the Word assumed and was incarnated and became man, is another. {ERAN.} It is confessed. {ORTH.} Therefore, was he changed into flesh? {ERAN.} In no way. {ORTH.} If, therefore, he was incarnated not by being changed but by taking flesh, and both these and those things are fitting for him as incarnate God—for you said this just now—the natures were not confused, but remained unmixed. For by thinking thus we shall also see the harmony of the evangelists. For of the one only-begotten, I mean the Lord Christ, one proclaims the divine things, another the human. And the Lord Christ himself teaches us to think thus; for now he calls himself Son of God, and now Son of man; and sometimes he honors his mother as the one who bore him, and sometimes as Lord he rebukes her; and now he accepts those who call him Son of David, and now he teaches the ignorant that he is not only son, but also Lord of David. And he calls Nazareth and Capernaum his fatherland; but again he cries out, "Before Abraham was, I am." And you will find the divine scripture filled with many such things. And these are indicative not of one nature, but of two. {ERAN.} He who contemplates two natures in Christ divides the one only-begotten into two sons. {ORTH.} Therefore, by saying Paul is of soul and body, you have made the one Paul into two Pauls. {ERAN.} The example is unsuitable. {ORTH.} I know it too. For here the union is natural, of things contemporaneous and 138 created and fellow-servants; but in the case of the Lord Christ the whole is of good pleasure, and love for humanity and grace. Nevertheless, even though the union here is natural, the properties of the natures have remained intact. {ERAN.} If the properties of the natures remained unmixed, how does the soul with the body long for food? {ORTH.} The soul does not long for food; for how could it, being immortal and superior to food? But the body, receiving its life-giving power from the soul, perceives its need, and desires to receive what is lacking; so also it longs for rest after labor, and sleep after waking, and the others likewise. For instance, after its dissolution, not having its life-giving energy, it neither longs for what is lacking, nor by not receiving it does it undergo corruption. {ERAN.} Do you see that it belongs to the soul to be hungry and thirsty, and things like these? {ORTH.} If these belonged to the soul, then even after its departure from the body it would have endured hunger and thirst, and the others likewise. {ERAN.} What then do you say are the properties of the soul? {ORTH.} The rational, the simple, the immortal, the invisible. {ERAN.} And what are those of the body? {ORTH.} The composite, the visible, the mortal. {ERAN.} And do we say that man is composed of these? {ORTH.} So we say. {ERAN.} Do we therefore define man as a rational, mortal animal? {ORTH.} It is confessed. {ERAN.} And do we name him from both these and those things? {ORTH.} True. {ERAN.} Just as, therefore, we do not divide here, but call the same one both rational and mortal; so also in the case of Christ

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λόγου φύσιν σεσαρ κωμένην. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐδέ γε ἡμεῖς, ὦ ἀγαθέ, δύο φύσεις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρ κῶσθαί φαμεν· μίαν γὰρ ἴσμεν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου τὴν φύσιν· ἀλλὰ τὴν σάρκα, ᾗ χρησάμενος ἐσαρκώθη, ἑτέρας εἶναι φύσεως ἐδιδάχθημεν. Οἶμαι δέ γε τοῦτο καί σε συνομολογεῖν. Εἰπὲ τοίνυν, τὴν σάρκωσιν κατὰ τροπήν τινα γεγενῆσθαι λέγεις; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐκ οἶδα τὸν τρόπον, πιστεύω δὲ αὐτὸν σαρκωθῆναι. {ΟΡΘ.} Κακούργως προὐβάλου τὴν ἄγνοιαν καὶ τοῖς Φαρισαίοις παραπλησίως. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, τῆς δεσποτικῆς ἐρωτήσεως τὸ ἰσχυρὸν θεασάμενοι, εἶτα τὸν ἔλεγχον ὑπειδόμενοι, τό, "Οὐκ οἴδα μεν," εἶπον. Ἐγὼ δὲ βοῶ διαρρήδην, ὡς ἡ θεία σάρκωσις ἐλευθέρα τροπῆς. Εἰ γὰρ κατ' ἀλλοίωσίν τινα καὶ τροπὴν ἐσαρκώθη, οὐδαμῶς 137 αὐτῷ μετὰ τὴν τροπὴν ἁρμόττει τὰ θεῖα τῶν ὀνομάτων τε καὶ πραγ μάτων. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὡμολογήσαμεν πολλάκις ἄτρεπτον εἶναι τὸν θεὸν λόγον. {ΟΡΘ.} Τοιγαροῦν σάρκα λαβὼν ἐσαρκώθη. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν ἄλλη μὲν ἡ σαρκωθεῖσα τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου φύσις, ἄλλη δὲ ἡ τῆς σαρκός, ἣν ἀναλαβοῦσα ἡ θεία τοῦ λόγου φύσις ἐσαρκώθη καὶ ἐνηνθρώπησεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὡμολόγηται. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν ἐτράπη εἰς σάρκα; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδαμῶς. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τοίνυν οὐ τραπεὶς ἀλλὰ σάρκα λαβὼν ἐσαρκώθη, ἁρ μόττει δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα ὡς σαρκωθέντι θεῷ· τοῦτο γὰρ εἶπας ἀρτίως· οὐ συνεχύθησαν αἱ φύσεις, ἀλλ' ἔμειναν ἀκραιφνεῖς. Οὕτω γὰρ νοοῦντες καὶ τὴν τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν συμφωνίαν ὀψόμεθα. Τοῦ γὰρ ἑνὸς μονογενοῦς, τοῦ δεσπότου λέγω Χριστοῦ, ὁ μὲν τὰ θεῖα κηρύττει, ὁ δὲ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα. Οὕτω δὲ νοεῖν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ δεσπότης ἡμᾶς διδάσκει Χριστός· νῦν μὲν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν υἱὸν προσαγορεύει θεοῦ, νῦν δὲ υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου· καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ὡς γεγεννηκυῖαν τὴν μητέρα τιμᾷ, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς δεσπότης ἐπιτιμᾷ· καὶ νῦν μὲν τοὺς υἱὸν ∆αβὶδ ὀνομάζον τας ἀποδέχεται, νῦν δὲ διδάσκει τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας ὡς οὐ μόνον υἱός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κύριος τοῦ ∆αβίδ. Καὶ καλεῖ μὲν τὴν Ναζαρὲτ καὶ τὴν Καπερναοὺμ πατρίδα· βοᾷ δὲ πάλιν· "Πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι, ἐγώ εἰμι." Παμπόλλων δὲ τοιούτων εὑρήσεις ἀνάπλεω τὴν θείαν γραφήν. Ταῦτα δὲ οὐ μιᾶς φύσεως, ἀλλὰ δύο δηλωτικά. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὁ δύο φύσεις ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ θεωρῶν εἰς δύο υἱοὺς μερίζει τὸν ἕνα μονογενῆ. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν καὶ τὸν Παῦλον ἐκ ψυχῆς λέγων καὶ σώματος δύο Παύλους τὸν ἕνα Παῦλον ἀπέφηνας. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀπεοικὸς τὸ παράδειγμα. {ΟΡΘ.} Οἶδα κἀγώ. Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ φυσικὴ τῶν ὁμοχρόνων καὶ 138 κτιστῶν καὶ ὁμοδούλων ἡ ἕνωσις· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ δεσπότου Χριστοῦ τὸ ὅλον εὐδοκίας ἐστί, καὶ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ χάριτος. Πλὴν καὶ φυσικῆς ἐνταῦθα τῆς ἑνώσεως οὔσης, ἀκέραια μεμένηκε τὰ τῶν φύσεων ἴδια. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Εἰ διέμεινεν ἀμιγῆ τὰ τῶν φύσεων ἴδια, πῶς μετὰ τοῦ σώματος ὀρέγεται τροφῆς ἡ ψυχή; {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐχ ἡ ψυχὴ τροφῆς ὀριγνᾶται· πῶς γὰρ ἥ γε ἀθάνατος καὶ κρείττων τροφῆς; Ἀλλὰ τὸ σῶμα τὴν ζωτικὴν δύναμιν παρὰ τῆς ψυχῆς κομιζόμενον αἰσθάνεται τῆς ἐνδείας, καὶ προσλαβεῖν τὸ ἐλλεῖ πον ἐφίεται· οὕτω καὶ ἀναπαύλης μετὰ πόνον ἱμείρεται, καὶ μετὰ ἐγρήγορσιν ὕπνου, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὡσαύτως. Αὐτίκα τοίνυν μετὰ τὴν διάλυσιν τὴν ζωτικὴν οὐκ ἔχον ἐνέργειαν οὐδὲ ὀρέγεται τοῦ ἐλλείπον τος, καὶ μὴ προσλάμβανον ὑπομένει φθοράν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὁρᾷς ὅτι τῆς ψυχῆς ἐστι τὸ πεινῆν καὶ διψῆν, καὶ τὰ τούτοις προσόμοια; {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τῆς ψυχῆς ταῦτα ἦν, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν ἂν τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὴν πείναν ὑπέμεινε καὶ τὸ δίψος, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὡσαύτως. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τίνα οὖν φὴς εἶναι ἴδια τῆς ψυχῆς; {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ λογικόν, τὸ ἁπλοῦν, τὸ ἀθάνατον, τὸ ἀόρατον. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τίνα δὲ τοῦ σώματος; {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ σύνθετον, τὸ ὁρατόν, τὸ θνητόν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἐκ δὲ τούτων φαμὲν συγκεῖσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον; {ΟΡΘ.} Οὕτω φαμέν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὁριζόμεθα οὖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ζῷον λογικὸν θνητόν; {ΟΡΘ.} Ὡμολόγηται. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ ἐκ τούτων κἀκείνων αὐτὸν ὀνομάζομεν; {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀληθές. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὥσπερ τοίνυν οὐ διαιροῦμεν ἐνταῦθα, ἀλλὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καλοῦμεν καὶ λογικὸν καὶ θνητόν· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ