43

was rationally ensouled, and possessed the natural will. For everything rational by nature is also by nature certainly volitional. And if he had a natural will as man, he certainly willed in substance those things which he himself as God, having created them for the constitution of nature, naturally implanted. For he did not come to corrupt the nature, which he himself as God and Word had made; but he came to deify entirely the nature, which he himself, willing, by the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Spirit, united to himself in one and the same hypostasis, with all things naturally belonging to it, and without sin.

Therefore, as God by nature he willed the divine and Paternal things according to nature. For he was a co-willer with his own (80) Begetter; and as man by nature, again the same, he willed the human things according to nature; keeping the economy pure from all fantasy, in no way opposing the will of the Father. For none of the natural things, just as not nature itself at all, would ever oppose the cause of nature; but neither does choice and whatever belongs to choice, whenever it assents to the reason of nature. For if someone should happen to say that something according to nature opposes God, the accusation belongs to him rather than to nature; for naturally implanting war in created things, for their rebellion and battle against him and one another.

For that nothing natural is opposed to God is clear from the fact that these things were created by him according to generation, and that he has no blame for their substantial constitution in us; but quite the contrary, that he clearly sustains the accusations for their perversion. For according to this, we become of all gnomic evil according to the author of evil, the serpent; but according to that, we are a creation of God and an honorable creature according to nature. For this reason, according to the divine Fathers, we work no diminution at all either of natural wills, or indeed of energies, just as not of the natures themselves, in the same and one God the Word incarnate; believing orthodoxly the same to be perfect in all things, God and man at once, from his perfectly having both divine and human things, and naturally willing and energizing; and properly having at once a divine and a human substance and will and energy; lest by a lack concerning either of the natural properties, we should dogmatize, contrary to what is fitting, a diminution, or rather a perfect existence, of each of the natures from which and in which he exists.

For that he had a human will according to nature, just as also a divine one according to substance, the Word himself manifestly shows, through the refusal of death, which was made by him for our sake in a manner fitting for a man and according to the economy, according to which he said: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me," in order to show the weakness of his own flesh; and that the flesh was not known by fantasy to those who saw, deceiving their perception; but in truth he was properly man, this natural will testifying, whose was the refusal according to the economy.

But that again it was entirely deified, assenting to the divine will itself, being always moved and formed by it and according to it, is clear from his making the decision of the Paternal will alone perfect, according to which as man he said: "Not my will, but yours be done," giving himself to us as a type and example in this too, for the setting aside of our own will, for the perfect fulfillment of the divine, even if we should see death hanging over us because of this. For if not as having become man by nature, (81) and possessing a natural, that is, a human will, and subordinating this according to the economy, and bringing it together to union with the paternal will, he said to the Father himself: "Not my will be done, but yours," it is clear that as God by nature he said this; and from

43

ἐψύχωτο λογικῶς, καί θέλημα ἐκέκτητο τό φυσικόν. Πᾶν γάρ φύσει λογικόν, καί φύσει θελητικόν πάντως ἐστί. Καί εἰ θέλημα φυσικόν εἶχεν ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἐκεῖνα πάντως ἤθελε κατ᾿ οὐσίαν, ἅπερ αὐτός ὡς Θεός τῇ φύσει πρός σύστασιν δημιουργήσας ἐνέθετο φυσικῶς. Οὐ γάρ ἦλθε παραχαράξαι τήν φύσιν, ἥν αὐτός ὡς Θεός καί Λόγος πεποίηκεν· ἀλλ' ἦλθε διόλου θεῶσαι τήν φύσιν, ἥν αὐτός ἑαυτῷ θέλων, εὐδοκίᾳ Πατρός καί συνεργείᾳ Πνεύματος, κατά τήν αὐτήν καί μίαν ὑπόστασιν ἥνωσε, μετά πάντων τῶν προσόντων αὐτῇ φυσικῶς, καί δίχα τῆς ἁμαρτίας.

Οὐκοῦν ὡς φύσει Θεός ἤθελε τά κατά φύσιν θεῖα καί Πατρικά. Συνθελητής γάρ ὑπῦρχε τοῦ ἰδίου (80) Γεννήτορος· καί ὡς ἄνθρωπος φύσει πάλιν ὁ αὐτός, ἤθελε τά κατά φύσιν ἀνθρώπινα· πάσης καθαράν φυλάττων φαντασίας τήν οἰκονομίαν, μηδαμῶς ἀντιπίπτοντα τῶ θελήματι τοῦ Πατρός. Οὐδέν γάρ τῶν φυσικῶν, ὥσπερ οὐδ᾿ αὐτή καθάπαξ ἡ φύσις, τῷ αἰτίῳ ποτ᾿ ἄν ἀντιπίπτει τῆς φύσεως· ἀλλ᾿οὐδέ γνώμη καί ὅσα γνώμης ἐστίν, ὁπηνίκα μέντοι τῷ λόγῳ συννεύει τῆς φύσεως. Καί γάρ εἰ τυχόν φαίη τις, ὡς ἀντιπίπτει Θεῷ τι τῶν κατά φύσιν, αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον ἤ τῆς φύσεως ὑπάρχει τό ἔγκλημα· πόλεμον φυσικῶς ἐνθεμένου τοῖς οὖσι, πρός τήν κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ καί ἀλλήλων στάσιν καί μάχην.

Ὅτι γάρ οὐδέν ἀντίκειται Θεῷ φυσικόν, δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ ταῦτα κατά γέννησιν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ δημιουργηθῆναι, καί μηδεμίαν ὑπέρ τῆς οὐσιώδους ἐν ἡμῖν τούτων συστάσεως αἰτίασιν ἔχειν· πᾶν μέν οὖν τοὐναντίον, διά τήν τούτων παρεκτροπήν τάς ἐγκλήσεις σαφῶς ὑπομένειν. Κατά ταύτην μέν γάρ, πάσης τε γνωμικῶς κακίας γινόμεθα κατά τόν ἀρχαίκακον ὄφιν· κατ᾿ ἐκείνην δέ, πλάσμα Θεοῦ καί τίμιον κτίσμα κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχομεν. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο κατά τούς θείους Πατέρας, οὔτε θελημάτων φυσικῶν, οὔτε μήν ἐνεργειῶν, ὥσπερ οὐδ᾿ αὐτῶν φύσεων μείωσιν ἐργαζόμεθα τό παράπαν, ἐπί τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἑνός Θεοῦ Λόγου σεσαρκωμένου· τέλειον τόν αὐτόν κατά πάντα Θεόν ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπον ὀρθοδόξως πιστεύοντες, ἐκ τοῦ τελείως τά τε θεῖα καί ἀνθρωπικά, καί ἔχειν φυσικῶς, καί θέλειν καί ἐνεργεῖν· καί θείαν ὁμοῦ καί ἀνθρωπίνην ἔχειν κυρίως οὐσίαν καί θέλησιν καί ἐνέργειαν· ἵνα μή τῇ περί ἑκάτερον τῶν φυσικῶν ἰδιωμάτων ἐλλείψει, τήν ἑκατέρας τῶν ἐξ ὧν καί ἐν αἷς ὑπάρχει φύσεων, μείωσιν, μᾶλλον δέ τελείαν ὑπαρξίαν, παρά τό εἰκός δογματίσωμεν.

Ὅτι γάρ θέλημα κατά φύσιν εἶχεν ἀνθρώπινον, ὡσπεροῦν καί κατ᾿ οὐσίαν θεῖον, αὐτός ἐπιδείκνυται προδήλως ὁ Λόγος, διά τῆς ἀνθρωποπρεποῦς ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς γενομένης οἰκονομικῆς τοῦ θανάτου παραιτήσεως, καθ᾿ ἥν ἔλεγε· Πάτερ, εἰ δυνατόν, παρελθέτω ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τό ποτήριον· ἵνα δείξῃ τῆς οἰκείας σαρκός τήν ἀσθένειαν· καί ὡς οὐ φαντασίᾳ σάρξ ἐγνωρίζετο τοῖς ὁρῶσι, τήν αἴσθησιν παρακλέπτων· ἀλλ᾿ ἀληθείᾳ κυρίως ἄνθρωπος ἦν, τῆς φυσικῆς τοῦτο μαρνυρούσης θελήσεως, ἧς ἡ κατά οἰκονομίαν ὑπῆρχε παραίτησις.

Ὅτι δέ πάλιν διόλου τεθέωτο, πρός αὐτό τό θεῖον θέλημα συννεύων, ἐξ αὐτοῦ καί κατ᾿ αὐτό κινούμενον ἀεί καί τυπούμενον, δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ μόνην τήν τοῦ Πατρικοῦ θελήματος ἐπίκρισιν τελείως ποιήσασθαι, καθ᾿ ἥν ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἔφασκε· Μή τό ἐμόν, ἀλλά τό σόν γινέσθω θέλημα· τύπον ἡμῖν ἑαυτόν καί παράδειγμα κἀν τούτῳ διδούς, πρός ἀθέτησιν τοῦ ἡμετέρου θελήματος, διά τήν τοῦ θείου τελείαν ἐκπλήρωσιν, εἰ καί θάνατον ἐπηρτημένον διά τοῦτο κατίδοιμεν. Εἰ γάρ μή ὡς ἄνθρωπος φύσει γενόμενος, (81) καί φυσικόν ἤγουν ἀνθρώπινον θέλημα κεκτημένος, τοῦτό τε κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν ὑποκλίνων, καί πρός ἕνωσιν τοῦ πατρικοῦ συνελαύνων θελήματος, ἔλεγεν αὐτῷ τῷ Πατρί· Μή τό ἐμόν θέλημα γινέσθω, ἀλλά τό σόν· δῆλον ὡς φύσει Θεός τοῦτο ἔλεγε· κἀκ