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And elsewhere he says: And his disciples came to him, saying to him: Where do you wish that we go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? If the eating of the Passover is for those under the law; and the Lord, inasmuch as he was man, willing, ate the Passover, he himself also had a will inasmuch as he was man.

And the divine Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews says concerning him: He became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, did he obey willing, or unwilling? But if unwilling, it would reasonably be called tyranny, and not obedience. But if willing; he became obedient not inasmuch as he is God, but inasmuch as he is man; "For inasmuch as he is God, he is neither obedient, according to the Fathers, nor disobedient." "For these things belong to seconds and to those under authority," says the divine Gregory; therefore, also inasmuch as he was man he had a will.

And the blessed David in the thirty-ninth psalm: Sacrifice and offering, he says, you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. Burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require; then I said: Behold, I have come. In the scroll of the book it is written concerning 15Γ_162 me, to do your will; O my God, I have willed it. That indeed, inasmuch as Christ is man, and not inasmuch as he is God, the Father is called his God, just as he is also Father, inasmuch as he is God, and not inasmuch as he is man, I do not think even those of the contrary opinion would doubt. But if inasmuch as he is man, and not inasmuch as he is God, the Father is his God, therefore also inasmuch as he is man, and not inasmuch as he is God, he willed to do the will of the Father and of himself; for the Father's will is also his own, since he too is God by essence. For if this is so, not only inasmuch as he is God and consubstantial with the Father did he have a will, but also inasmuch as he is man and consubstantial with us.

But it is necessary to know that the divine Apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, has applied the now cited words of the psalm to the Lord. And great Moses in the genesis of man introduces God saying: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness. If, therefore, man is an image of the divine nature; and the divine nature is possessed of free will; therefore so is the image; if indeed it preserves the likeness to the archetype, it is by nature possessed of free will. But if this is so, and he who is by nature the archetype became also by nature the image, therefore the same one existed with a natural will according to both his natures. For it has been previously shown from the Fathers, that the will is the natural self-determination.

But it must be known that free will is spoken of 0325 homonymously, just as nature is; and it is understood in one way concerning God, and in another concerning angels, and in another concerning men. Concerning God, super-essentially; concerning angels, as the choice concurs with the state, and admits no interval of time at all; concerning men, as the choice is conceived chronologically from the state. For if Adam obeyed willingly, and contemplated willingly, and 15Γ_164 having willed, ate; therefore will is primary in us. But if will is primary in us, and the incarnate Logos, according to them, did not assume this with the nature; therefore I have not become without sin. But if I have not become without sin, then I have not been saved; since what is not assumed is not healed.

Then, if the self-determining power of the nature is his work and creation, and the incarnate Logos, according to them, did not assume this with the nature in an ineffable union, either, having condemned his own creation as not good, he cast it away from himself; or, envying us its healing, depriving us of complete salvation, and showing himself to be subject to passion, by not willing, or by not being able, to save completely.

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Καί ἀλλαχοῦ φησι· Καί προσῆλθον οἱ μαθηταί αὐτοῦ, λέγοντες αὐτῷ· Ποῦ θέλεις, ἀπελθόντες ἑτοιμάσομέν σοι τό Πάσχα φαγεῖν; Εἰ ἡ βρῶσις τοῦ Πάσχα τῶν ὑπό νόμον ἐστί· γέγονε δέ ὁ Κύριος καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος θέλων ἔφαγε τό Πάσχα, καί θελητικός ἦν ὁ αὐτός καί καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος.

Καί ὁ θεῖος δέ Ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρός Ἑβραίους Ἐπιστολῇ, περί αὐτοῦ φησιν· Ὑπήκοος γενόμενος μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δέ σταυροῦ. Θέλων οὖν ἄρα ὑπήκουσεν, ἤ μή θέλων; Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ μέν μή θέλων, τυραννίς δέ εὐλόγως, καί οὐχ ὑπακοή λεχθείη. Εἰ δέ θέλων· ὑπήκοος δέ οὐ καθ᾿ ὅ Θεός, ἀλλά καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος γέγονε· "Καθ᾿ ὅ γάρ Θεός, οὔτε ὑπήκοος, κατά τούς Πατέρας, οὔτε ἀνήκοος." "Τῶν γάρ δευτέρων, καί τῶν ὑπό χεῖρα ταῦτα," φησίν ὁ θεῖος Γρηγόριος· ἄρα καί καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος θελητικός ἦν.

Καί ὁ μακάριος δέ ∆αβίδ ἐν τῷ τριακοστῷ ἐννάτῳ ψαλμῷ· Θυσίαν καί προσφοράν, φησίν, οὐκ ἠθέλησας, σῶμα δέ κατηρτίσω μοι. Ὁλοκαυτώματα καί περί ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ἐξεζήτησας· τότε εἶπον· Ἰδοῦ ἤκω. Ἐν κεφαλίδι βιβλίου γέγραπται περί 15Γ_162 ἐμοῦ, τοῦ ποιῆσαι τό θέλημα σου· ὁ Θεός μου, ἠβουλήθην. Ὅτι μέν καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστός, καί οὐ καθ᾿ ὅ Θεός, Θεός αὐτοῦ λέγεται ὁ Πατήρ, ὥσπερ καί Πατήρ, καθ᾿ ὅ Θεός, καί οὐ καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος, οὐδέ τούς δι᾿ ἐναντίας οἶμαι διαμφιβάλλειν. Εἰ δέ καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος, καί οὐ καθ᾿ ὅ Θεός, Θεός αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ὁ Πατήρ, ἄρα καί καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος, καί οὐ καθ᾿ ὅ Θεός, ἠβουλήθη τό θέλημα τοῦ Πατρός καί αὐτοῦ ποιῆσαι· αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστι καί τό τοῦ Πατρός θέλημα, Θεοῦ καί αὐτοῦ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ὄντος. Εἰ γάρ τοῦτο, οὐ μόνον καθ᾿ ὅ Θεός καί τῷ Πατρί ὁμοούσιος ἦν θελητικός, ἀλλά καί καθ᾿ ὅ ἄνθρωπος καί ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιος.

Χρή δέ εἰδέναι ὡς τά νῦν παρατεθέντα τοῦ ψαλμοῦ ῥήματα ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, ἐν τῇ πρός Ἑβραίους Ἐπιστολῇ, εἰς τόν Κύριον ἐξείληφεν. Ὁ μέγας δέ Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γενέσει τόν Θεόν εἰσάγει λέγοντα· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ᾿ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καί καθ᾿ ἡμοίωσιν. Εἰ οὖν εἰκών ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς θείας φύσεως· αὐτεξούσιος δέ ἡ θεία φύσις· ἄρα καί ἡ εἰκών· εἴπερ τήν πρός τό ἀρχέτυπον σώζει ὁμοίωσιν, αὐτεξούσιος φύσει τυγχάνει. Εἰ δέ τοῦτο, γέγονε δέ τό φύσει ἀρχέτυπον καί εἰκών φύσει, ἄρα κατ' ἄμφω τάς αὐτοῦ φύσεις θελητικός φύσει ὑπῆρχεν ὁ αὐτός. Προαπείχθη γάρ ἐκ τῶν Πατέρων, τό θέλημα εἶναι τήν κατά φύσιν αὐτεξουσιότητα.

∆εῖ δέ εἰδέναι ὡς ἡ αὐτεξουσιότης ὁμωνύμως 0325 λέγεται μέν, ὥσπερ καί ἡ φύσις· ἄλλως δέ ἐπί Θεοῦ λαμβάνεται, καί ἄλλως ἐπί ἀγγέλων, καί ἄλλως ἐπί ἀνθρώπων. Ἐπί μέν Θεοῦ ὑπερουσίως· ἐπί δέ ἀγγέλων, ὡς συντρεχούσης τῇ ἕξει τῆς προχειρήσεως, καί παρενθήκην ὅλως χρόνου μή παραδεχομένης· ἐπί δέ ἀνθρώπων, ὡς χρονικῶς τῆς ἕξεως ἐπινοουμένης τῆς προχειρήσεως. Εἰ γάρ θέλων ὁ Ἀδάμ ὑπήκουσε, καί θέλων ἐθεώρησε, καί 15Γ_164 θελήσας ἔφαγεν· ἄρα πρωτοπαθής ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ θέλησις. Εἰ δέ πρωτοπαθής ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ θέλησις, ταύτην δέ μετά τῆς φύσεως κατ᾿ αὐτούς οὐ προσείληφεν ὁ Λόγος ἐνανθρωπήσας· οὐκ ἄρα ἐγώ χωρίς ἁμαρτίας γέγονα. Εἰ δέ ἐγώ χωρίς ἁμαρτίας οὐ γέγονα, οὐκ ἄρα ἐσώθην· εἴπερ τό ἀπρόσληπτον, ἀθεράπευτον.

Ἔπειτα δέ, εἰ ἔργον αὐτοῦ καί ποίημα ἡ αὐτεξούσιος τῆς φύσεως ὑπάρχει δύναμις, ταύτην δέ ὁ Λόγος σαρκωθείς, κατ᾿ αὐτούς, μετά τῆς φύσεως καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἄῤῥητον οὐ προσείληφεν, ἤ καταγνούς τῆς οἰκείας δημιουργίας, ὡς οὐ καλῆς, ταύτην ἑαυτοῦ ἀπεπέμψατο· ἤ φθονήσας ἡμῖν τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν θεραπείας, ἡμᾶς μέν τῆς ἐντελοῦς ἀποστερῶν σωτηρίας, καί ἑαυτόν ὑπό πάθος ὄντα δεικνύς, τῷ μή θέλειν, ἤ τῷ μή δύνασθαι τελείως σώζειν.