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upon its departure, the air remains then by itself. {ERAN.} These things are true. {ORTH.} Consider then also this: when iron comes into contact with fire, is it made red-hot? {ERAN.} Certainly. {ORTH.} And does the fire pass through its whole substance? {ERAN.} Yes. {ORTH.} How then does the extreme union, and the mixture passing through the whole, not change the nature of the iron? 145 {ERAN.} And yet it changes it completely. For it is no longer considered iron, but fire; and indeed it also has the energy of fire. {ORTH.} Does the smith then no longer call it iron, nor bring it to the anvil, nor bring the hammer down upon it? {ERAN.} These things are agreed. {ORTH.} The contact with the fire did not, then, destroy the nature of the iron. {ERAN.} By no means. {ORTH.} If, then, it is possible to find an unconfused mixture in bodies, it is clear madness then, in the case of the pure and unchangeable nature, to conceive of a confusion and an annihilation of the nature that was assumed, and this, when it was assumed for the benefit of our race. {ERAN.} We do not speak of an annihilation of the assumed nature, but of a change into the substance of the Godhead. {ORTH.} Does it therefore have the human form and its former circumscription? {ERAN.} By no means. {ORTH.} And when did it receive this change? {ERAN.} After the extreme union. {ORTH.} And at what time do you say this occurred? {ERAN.} I have often said, at the conception. {ORTH.} And yet after the conception he was an embryo in the womb, and having been born he both was and was called a babe, and was worshipped by shepherds? and likewise he became a child and was addressed as such by the angel. Do you know these things, or do you suppose that we are inventing myths? {ERAN.} The history of the divine gospels teaches these things, and it is not possible to speak against it. {ORTH.} Let us then consider what follows. Do we not agree that the Lord was circumcised? {ERAN.} We agree. {ORTH.} The circumcision of what, then? of flesh or of Godhead? {ERAN.} Of the flesh. {ORTH.} And to what does growing and increasing in stature and in wisdom belong? {ERAN.} It is clear that none of these things is fitting for the Godhead. 146 {ORTH.} Therefore neither to hunger and to thirst? {ERAN.} By no means. {ORTH.} Nor indeed to walk and to grow weary and to sleep, and all other such things in general? {ERAN.} Certainly not. {ORTH.} If, therefore, the union took place at the conception, and all these things happened after the conception and the birth, then humanity did not lose its own nature after the union. {ERAN.} I did not define it precisely. For after the resurrection from the dead the flesh received the change into the nature of the Godhead. {ORTH.} Nothing then has remained in it after the resurrection of those things which indicate its nature. {ERAN.} If it has remained, then the divine change has not taken place. {ORTH.} How then to the disbelieving disciples did he show both his hands and his feet? {ERAN.} As he entered when the doors were shut. {ORTH.} But he entered when the doors were shut, as he came out of the womb, the bolts of virginity remaining in place, as he walked on the sea. But not yet, according to your argument, had the change of nature taken place. {ERAN.} The Master showed hands to the apostles, as when he wrestled with Jacob. {ORTH.} But the Lord does not permit us to think so. For when the disciples supposed they saw a spirit, the Lord drove out this suspicion, and showed the nature of the flesh. "Why," he says, "are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having." And see the precision of the phrase. For he did not say, being flesh and bones, but having flesh and bones, in order to show, that that which has is one thing by nature, and that which is had is another. For just as that which took is one thing, and that which was taken is another, but Christ is seen as one from both, so that which has in relation to that which is had has the greatest difference, but it does not divide into 147 two persons him who is understood in these. Yet the Lord, when the disciples still doubted,

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ἀναχώρησιν μένει λοιπὸν αὐτὸς καθ' αὑτὸν ὁ ἀήρ. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθῆ ταῦτα. {ΟΡΘ.} Σκόπησον δὴ οὖν καὶ τόδε· ὁ σίδηρος προσομιλῶν τῷ πυρὶ πυρακτοῦται; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πάνυγε. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ δι' ὅλης γε τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ χωρεῖ τὸ πῦρ; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ναί. {ΟΡΘ.} Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἐναλλάττει τοῦ σιδήρου τὴν φύσιν ἡ ἄκρα ἕνωσις, καὶ ἡ δι' ὅλου χωροῦσά γε κρᾶσις; 145 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ μὴν πάμπαν ἐναλλάττει. Οὐκέτι γὰρ σίδηρος, ἀλλὰ πῦρ εἶναι νομίζεται· καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὴν πυρὸς ἐνέργειαν ἔχει. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκέτι τοίνυν αὐτὸν ὁ χαλκεὺς σίδηρον ὀνομάζει, οὐδὲ τῷ ἄκμονι προσφέρει, οὐδέ γε ἐπιφέρει τὴν σφύραν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὡμολόγηται ταῦτα. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκ ἐλυμήνατο ἄρα τοῦ σιδήρου τὴν φύσιν ἡ τοῦ πυρὸς ὁμιλία. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδαμῶς. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τοίνυν ἐν σώμασιν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἀσύγχυτον κρᾶσιν, μανία ἄρα σαφὴς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκηράτου καὶ ἀναλλοιώτου φύσεως σύγχυσιν νοεῖν καὶ τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἀναληφθείσης ἀφανισμόν, καὶ ταῦτα ληφθείσης ἐπ' εὐεργεσίᾳ τοῦ γένους. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐκ ἀφανισμὸν τῆς ληφθείσης λέγομεν φύσεως, ἀλλὰ τὴν εἰς θεότητος οὐσίαν μεταβολήν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν ἔχει τὸ ἀνθρώπινον εἶδος καὶ τὴν προτέραν περι γραφήν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδαμῶς. {ΟΡΘ.} Πότε δὲ ταύτην ἐδέξατο τὴν μεταβολήν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Μετὰ τὴν ἄκραν ἕνωσιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Πηνίκα δὲ ταύτην γεγενῆσθαι λέγεις; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πολλάκις ἔφην, παρὰ τὴν σύλληψιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ μὴν μετὰ τὴν σύλληψιν καὶ ἔμβρυον ἦν ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ, καὶ τεχθεὶς βρέφος καὶ ἦν καὶ ἐκλήθη, καὶ ὑπὸ ποιμένων προσεκυ νήθη; καὶ παιδίον ὡσαύτως καὶ ἐγένετο καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγγέλου προσ ηγορεύθη. Οἶσθα ταῦτα, ἢ πλάττειν ἡμᾶς μύθους ὑπείληφας; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ταῦτα ἡ τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων ἱστορία διδάσκει, καὶ ἀντιλέγειν οὐχ οἷόν τε. {ΟΡΘ.} Σκοπήσωμεν οὖν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Οὐχ ὁμολογοῦμεν περιτμη θῆναι τὸν κύριον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὁμολογοῦμεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Τίνος οὖν ἡ περιτομή; σαρκὸς ἢ θεότητος; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τῆς σαρκός. {ΟΡΘ.} Τίνος δὲ τὸ αὔξεσθαι καὶ προκόπτειν ἡλικίᾳ τε καὶ σοφίᾳ; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ῆλον ὡς οὐδὲν τούτων ἁρμόττει θεότητι. 146 {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τὸ πεινῆν καὶ διψῆν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδαμῶς. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐδέ γε τὸ βαδίζειν καὶ κοπιᾶν καὶ καθεύδειν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἁπαξαπλῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐ δῆτα. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τοίνυν παρὰ τὴν σύλληψιν ἡ ἕνωσις γέγονε, ταῦτα δὲ πάντα μετὰ τὴν σύλληψιν καὶ τὸν τόκον ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἄρα μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν ἡ ἀνθρωπότης ἀπώλεσεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐκ ἀκριβῶς ὡρισάμην. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνά στασιν ἡ σὰρξ ἐδέξατο τὴν εἰς θεότητος φύσιν μεταβολήν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐδὲν οὖν ἐν αὐτῇ μεμένηκε μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῶν ὅσα τὴν φύσιν δηλοῖ. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Εἰ μεμένηκεν, οὐδὲ γέγονεν ἡ θεία μεταβολή. {ΟΡΘ.} Πῶς οὖν ἀπιστοῦσι τοῖς μαθηταῖς καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ὑπέδειξε καὶ τοὺς πόδας; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὡς εἰσῆλθε τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλὰ εἰσῆλθε τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων, ὡς ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς μήτρας, τῶν τῆς παρθενίας κλείθρων ἐπικειμένων, ὡς ἐπὶ θαλάττης ἐβάδισεν. Οὐδέπω δὲ κατὰ τὸν σὸν ἐγεγόνει λόγον τῆς φύσεως ἡ μεταβολή. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἔδειξε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ὁ δεσπότης χεῖρας, ὡς ἐπάλαισε τῷ Ἰακώβ. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐᾷ νοεῖν οὕτως ὁ κύριος. Τῶν γὰρ μαθητῶν πνεῦμα θεωρεῖν τοπασάντων, ἐξήλασε τήνδε τὴν ὑποψίαν ὁ κύριος, καὶ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑπέδειξε φύσιν. "Τί, γάρ φησι, τεταραγμένοι ἐστέ, καὶ διατί διαλογισμοὶ ἀναβαίνουσιν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν; Ἴδετε τὰς χεῖράς μου καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου, ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐγώ εἰμι. Ψηλαφήσατέ με, καὶ ἴδετε, ὅτι πνεῦμα σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα οὐκ ἔχει, καθὼς ἐμὲ θεωρεῖτε ἔχοντα." Καὶ ὅρα τοῦ ῥήματος τὴν ἀκρίβειαν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε, σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα ὄντα, ἀλλὰ σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα ἔχοντα, ἵνα δείξῃ, ἄλλο μὲν τὸ ἔχον κατὰ τὴν φύσιν, ἄλλο δὲ τὸ ἐχόμενον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἄλλο μέν ἐστι τὸ λαβόν, ἄλλο δὲ τὸ ληφθέν, εἷς δὲ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ὁ Χριστὸς θεωρεῖται, οὕτω τὸ ἔχον πρὸς τὸ ἐχόμενον πλείστην μὲν ἔχει διαφοράν, οὐκ εἰς 147 δύο δὲ πρόσωπα μερίζει τὸν ἐν τούτοις νοούμενον. Ὁ μέντοι κύριος ἀμφιβαλλόντων ἔτι τῶν μαθητῶν,