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He who exists before the ages, says the prophecy concerning the Father; but concerning the only-begotten, the Apostle says that Through him the ages were made; and the glory before the ages, seen around the only-begotten God, is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what Christ, who was with the Father before the world was, had, this also belongs to the one united to Christ at the end of the ages. For, it says, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit. So let no one slander our argument, as if we say that the only-begotten God is not always Christ; but Christ is always, both before the economy and after this; but man is neither before this nor after these things, but only in the time of the economy. For neither before the virgin was there the man, nor after the ascent into heaven is the flesh still in its own properties. For even if we once knew, he says, Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him 3,1.223 no longer; for not because God was manifested in the flesh, 3,1.223 did he remain flesh; but since the human is mutable, while the divine is immutable, the divinity is immovable toward change, being changed neither toward the better nor toward the worse (for it does not admit the worse, and it does not have a better); but the human nature in Christ has undergone change toward the better, having been altered from the corruptible to the incorruptible, from the mortal to the immortal, from the short-lived to the eternal, from the bodily and configured to the bodiless and unconfigured.

But since they say we claim that the man suffered, not God, let them hear these things from us, that we confess the divinity to be in the one who suffers, but not that the impassible nature became passible. And that what is said may become clearer, we have this thought, that human nature has its hypostasis from an intelligent soul joined with a body; and the combination of the two is generated when some material principle of its constitution is laid down beforehand. And that matter, having been formed into a living being by divine power, becomes a man, so that if one should grant hypothetically that the creative power of God is not present for the constitution of the one being formed, the matter remains completely idle and motionless, not being made alive through the creative energy. Just as, therefore, in our case a certain life-giving power is perceived in the matter, from which the man constituted of soul and body is formed, so in the case of the virginity, the power of the Most High, through the life-giving Spirit, having been immaterially implanted in the undefiled body and having made the incorruptibility of the virgin the matter of the flesh, received the contribution from the virginal body for what was being formed, and thus was created the truly new man, the first and only one to demonstrate in himself such a manner of hypostasis, 3,1.224 who was created according to God, not according to man, the divine power extending equally through the whole nature of the composite being, so that neither part would be devoid of the divinity, but it would be in both, I mean in soul and body, as is fitting, suitably and appropriately in each. Just as, therefore, when the man was being born, the divinity did not need to be born, being before all ages and remaining forever, but having once come to be in the constitution of the man, it also appears with him at his birth, so also the ever-living one does not need to be raised, but is raised in the one who is brought back to life through the divine power, not being raised itself (for it has not fallen), but raising in itself the one who has fallen. If, therefore, the divine needs neither birth nor resurrection, it is clear that the passion also is not accomplished as if the divinity were suffering, but as it is in the one who suffers and, through the union with the one who has suffered, makes his passion its own.

[ For the divine nature, as has been said, having been suitably implanted in both the soul and the body and having become one with each through the commingling, since unregretted,

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Ὁ ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, φησὶ περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ προφητεία· περὶ δὲ τοῦ μονο γενοῦς ὁ ἀπόστολος ὅτι ∆ι' αὐτοῦ οἱ αἰῶνες ἐγένοντο· καὶ δόξα πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων περὶ τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν θεωρουμένη τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ ἅγιον. ὅπερ οὖν ἦν τῷ Χριστῷ τῷ παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ ὄντι πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι, τοῦτο καὶ τῷ ἑνωθέντι πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν αἰώνων γίνεται. Ἰησοῦν γάρ, φησί, τὸν ἀπὸ Ναζαρέθ, ὃν ἔχρισεν ὁ θεὸς τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ. ὥστε μὴ συκοφαντείτω τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον, ὡς ἡμῶν μὴ ἀεὶ Χριστὸν τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν εἶναι λεγόντων· ἀλλὰ πάντοτε μὲν ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ πρὸ τῆς οἰκονο μίας καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο· ἄνθρωπος δὲ οὔτε πρὸ τούτου οὔτε μετὰ ταῦτα, ἀλλ' ἐν μόνῳ τῷ τῆς οἰκονομίας καιρῷ. οὔτε γὰρ πρὸ τῆς παρθένου ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὔτε μετὰ τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἄνοδον ἔτι ἡ σὰρξ ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτῆς ἰδιώμασιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐγνώκαμέν ποτε, φησί, κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκ 3,1.223 ἔτι γινώσκομεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ ὁ θεὸς ἐν σαρκὶ ἐφανερώθη, 3,1.223 σὰρξ διέμεινεν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τρεπτὸν μὲν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἄτρεπτον δὲ τὸ θεῖον, ἡ μὲν θεότης πρὸς τροπήν ἐστιν ἀκίνη τος, οὔτε πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἀλλοιουμένη οὔτε πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον (τὸ μὲν γὰρ χεῖρον οὐ παραδέχεται, τὸ δὲ κρεῖττον οὐκ ἔχει)· ἡ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις ἐν Χριστῷ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον κέχρηται τῇ τροπῇ, ἀπὸ τοῦ φθαρτοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἄφθαρτον ἀλλοιωθεῖσα, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐπικήρου πρὸς τὸ ἀκήρατον, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀλιγοχρονίου πρὸς τὸ ἀΐδιον, ἀπὸ τοῦ σωματικοῦ καὶ κατεσχηματισμένου πρὸς τὸ ἀσώματόν τε καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον.

Ἐπειδὴ δέ φασιν ἡμᾶς λέγειν πεπονθέναι τὸν ἄν θρωπον, οὐ τὸν θεόν, ταῦτα παρ' ἡμῶν ἀκουσάτωσαν, ὅτι τὴν θεότητα ἐν τῷ πάσχοντι εἶναι ὁμολογοῦμεν, οὐ μὴν τὴν ἀπαθῆ φύσιν ἐμπαθῆ γενέσθαι. ὡς δ' ἂν σαφέστερον γένοιτο τὸ λεγόμενον, ταύτην ἔχομεν τὴν διάνοιαν, ὅτι ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις ἐκ νοερᾶς ψυχῆς σώματι συνδραμούσης τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει· φύεται δὲ τὸ συναμφότερον ἀφορμῆς τινος ὑλικῆς προκαταβαλλομένης αὐτοῦ τῆς συστάσεως. ἡ δὲ ὕλη ἐκείνη θείᾳ δυνάμει ζωοπλαστηθεῖσα ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, ὡς εἴ γε δοίη τις καθ' ὑπόθεσιν μὴ συμπαρεῖναι τὴν δημιουρ γικὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πλασσομένου σύστασιν, ἀργὴ πάντως μένει καὶ ἀκίνητος μὴ ζωογονουμένη διὰ τῆς ποιητικῆς ἐνεργείας ἡ ὕλη. ὥσπερ οὖν ἐφ' ἡμῶν ζωοποιός τις δύναμις ἐνθεωρεῖται τῇ ὕλῃ, ἀφ' ἧς ὁ ἐκ ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος συνεστὼς ἄνθρωπος διαπλάσσεται, οὕτως ἐπὶ τῆς παρθενίας ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου δύναμις, διὰ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦντος πνεύματος ἀΰλως τῷ ἀμιάντῳ σώματι ἐμφυεῖσα καὶ ὕλην τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀφθορίαν τῆς παρθένου ποιησαμένη, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ παρθενικοῦ σώματος πρὸς τὸ πλασσόμενον συνεισφορὰν παρεδέξατο καὶ οὕτως ἐκτίσθη ὁ καινὸς ὡς ἀληθῶς ἄνθρωπος, ὁ πρῶτος καὶ μόνος τὸν τοιοῦτον τρόπον τῆς ὑποστάσεως 3,1.224 ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ καταδείξας, ὁ κατὰ θεὸν κτισθείς, οὐ κατὰ ἄν θρωπον, τῆς θείας δυνάμεως κατὰ τὸ ἴσον διὰ πάσης τῆς τοῦ συγκρίματος φύσεως διηκούσης, ὡς μηθέτερον ἀμοιρεῖν τῆς θεότητος, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀμφοτέροις, ἐν ψυχῇ λέγω καὶ σώματι, κα θὼς εἰκός, ἑκατέρῳ προσφυῶς τε καὶ καταλλήλως εἶναι. ὥσπερ οὖν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τικτομένου ἡ θεότης τοῦ γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἐδέετο πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων οὖσα καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ διαμένουσα, ἀλλ' ἅπαξ ἐγγενομένη κατὰ τὴν σύστασιν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ κατὰ τὴν γέννησιν ἐκείνῳ συναναφαίνεται, οὕτως οὐδὲ τοῦ ἀναστῆναι χρῄζει ἡ ἀεὶ ζῶσα, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ διὰ τῆς θείας δυνά μεως εἰς τὴν ζωὴν ἐπαναγομένῳ ἀνίσταται, οὐκ αὐτὴ ἐγειρο μένη (οὐδὲ γὰρ πέπτωκεν), ἀλλ' ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὸν πεπτωκότα ἐγείρουσα. εἰ οὖν τὸ θεῖον οὔτε γεννήσεως οὔτε ἀναστάσεως δέεται, δηλονότι καὶ τὸ πάθος οὐχ ὡς τῆς θεότητος πα σχούσης ἐπιτελεῖται, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν τῷ πάσχοντι οὔσης καὶ διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸν πεπονθότα ἑνώσεως τὸ ἐκείνου πάθος οἰκειου μένης.

[ Η γὰρ θεία φύσις, καθὼς εἴρηται, τῇ τε ψυχῇ καὶ τῷ σώματι καταλλήλως ἐμφυεῖσα καὶ ἓν πρὸς ἑκάτερον γενομένη διὰ τῆς ἀνακράσεως, ἐπειδὴ ἀμεταμέλητα,