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of piety, so as not to seem to sever the union, 0485 embracing the confusion, they craftily devise not to be caught in an impious opinion.
THAT THE DIFFERENCE IN CHRIST IS OF THINGS, THAT IS, OF SUBSTANCES, BUT NOT OF QUALITIES...
That the difference in Christ is of things, that is, of substances, but not of qualities. And that every difference, of necessity, introduces with itself that of which it is said to be
in every case a quantity; and quantity, its own significant number, whether the quantity is continuous, or whether it is discrete.
For they ought, if this were not truly so, not even the difference 15Β_192
by bare and mere utterance, as applying to nothing, which they ironically propose for the deception of the more simple, nor to refuse to say what and how many the differing things happen to be, of which they confess the difference exists. For if they believe that the things out of which the union is are preserved after the union, they would certainly confess that the things preserved are two. For so many also were the things that came together for the inseparable union, which did not admit of any change or confusion, or diminution, or contraction, or alteration into one another from the union. But as it is, not holding this opinion, as having denied that the natures are preserved after the union, they have made themselves liable to refutations, even if they do not wish it, by saying that the difference is preserved in quality alone, apart from the things; which is a mark of men who are obviously playing games; and of men who consider it an insult not to be laughed at as is fitting, and who clearly empty the Gospel, legislating that qualities can exist without underlying substances, and supposing that a difference can be known apart from quantity. For they were ignorant, as it seems, these wisest of men, that every quality is of an underlying substance in every case, in which it is both contemplated and spoken of, having in no way its being in itself; and every difference, being indicative of the dissimilarity and otherness of some things in relation to others according to the principle of how they exist, is by nature disposed to introduce with itself the quantity of the differing things, whether of substances, or of qualities, or of properties. And simply, to speak concisely, of anything else whatsoever, of all the things they might suppose differ from one another and say a difference exists, they have in every case considered the differing things in quantity, whether they have known the difference by sense-perception or by intellection. For to be able to demonstrate a difference without quantity is impossible. Since things that are not in every way identical to one another in no way admit one and the same principle of being. For of a substance, that is a nature, so to speak, in relation to a substance, or a quality in relation to a quality, or a property in relation to a property, or 15Β_194 if there is anything else of all that is not entirely identical; for of things entirely identical to one another, and not admitting of difference, we are never able to state one and the same principle of how they are. But the fact that one and the same principle cannot be contemplated in all things in the same respect, which creates the difference, reasonably shows that those things cannot be one and identical to one another, of which the principle of being is different, and not the same. And when we say that one thing differs from another, or other things from others, we mean many, or at the least, two and not one; even if in another way, and according to a different mode and principle, we can say they belong to one, and are one (488); as the qualities and properties related to one fire, and, of one Christ, the natures from which and in which He is known to subsist; and of one man, the things from which he was composed and in which he is known to exist. But one in hypostasis, both in the case of Christ, and of the man like us; that is, in the whole composed of these as parts, since both properly admit the most complete and different principles of being of the parts; but not one in nature and in substance, because the parts do not admit the same principle of being as one another, nor can we know the same principle of being in both. For the principle of divinity and of humanity is not the same;
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εὐλαβείας, τοῦ μή τεμεῖν δόξαι τήν ἕνωσιν, 0485 τήν σύγχυσιν ἀσπαζόμενοι, τό μή ἁλῶναι ἐπ᾿ ἀσεβεῖ δόξῃ ὡς πανοῦργοι τεχνάζονται.
ΟΤΙ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΩΝ ΗΓΟΥΝ ΟΥΣΙΩΝ ΕΠΙ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ Η ∆ΙΑΦΟΡΑ, ΑΛΛ' ΟΥ ΠΟΙΟΤΗΤΩΝ...
Ὅτι πραγμάτων ἤγουν οὐσιῶν ἐπί Χριστοῦ ἡ διαφορά, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ ποιοτήτων. Καί ὅτι πᾶσα διαφορά, ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἑαυτῇ συνεισάγει τήν ὧν εἶναι λέγεται
πάντως ποσότητα· ἡ δέ ποσότης, τόν ἑαυτῆς σημαντικόν ἀριθμόν, κἄν τε συνεχής ἐστιν ἡ ποσότης, κἄν τε διῃρημένη.
Ἔδει γάρ αὐτούς, εἴπερ ἀληθῶς τοῦτο μή ἦν, μηδέ τήν διαφοράν 15Β_192
ψιλῇ καί μόνῃ τῇ προφορᾷ, ὡς κατά μηδενός κειμένην, πρός ἐξαπάτην τῶν ἀφελεστέρων εἰρωνευτικῶς προφέρουσι, μή παραιτεῖσθαι λέγειν, τίνα καί πόσα τά διαφέροντα τυγχάνει ὄντα, ὧν εἶναι τήν διαφοράν ὁμολογοῦσιν. Εἰ γάρ σώζεσθαι μετά τήν ἕνωσιν τά ἐξ ὧν ἡ ἕνωσις πιστεύουσιν, δύο πάντως τά σωζομένα ὁμολογήσαιεν ἄν. Τοσαῦτα γάρ καί τά συνελθόντα πρός ἕνωσιν τήν ἀδιάσπαστον, τήν οἱανοῦν τροπήν ἤ σύγχυσιν, ἤ μείωσιν, ἤ συναίρεσιν, ἤ μεταβολήν τήν εἰς ἄλληλα ἐκ τῆς ἑνώσεως οὐ δεξάμενα. Νυνί δέ τοῦτο μή δοξάζοντες, ὡς ἠρνημένοι τάς φύσεις μετά τήν ἕνωσιν σώζεσθαι, ὑπευθύνους ἑαυτούς ἐλέγχοις πεποίηνται, κἄν μή βούλωνται, μόνῃ ποιότητι λέγοντες τήν διαφοράν σώζεσθαι, τῶν πραγμάτων χωρίς· ὅπερ ἀνθρώπων προδήλως παιζόντων ἐστί· καί τό μή γελᾶσθαι ὡς εἰκός ὕβριν λογιζομένων, καί σαφῶς κενούντων τό Εὐαγγέλιον, ἄνευ οὐσιῶν ὑποκειμένων, εἶναι ποιτότητας δύνασθαι νομοθετούντων καί ποσοῦ χωρίς, ἐπιγνωσθῆναι διαφοράν ὑποτιθεμένων. Ἠγνόησαν γάρ ὡς ἔοικεν, οἱ σοφώτατοι, ὅτι πᾶσα ποιότης ὑποκειμένης πάντως οὐσίας ἐστί, περί ἥν καί θεωρεῖται καί λέγεται, τό καθ᾿ αὐτήν εἶναι οὐδαμῶς ἔχουσα· καί πᾶσα διαφορά τῆς ἄλλων πρός ἄλλα κατά τόν τοῦ πῶς εἶναι λόγον ἀνομοιότητός τε καί ἑτερότης οὖσα δηλωτική, τό ποσόν τῶν διφερόντων πραγμάτων συνεισάγειν ἑαυτῇ πέφυκεν, εἴτε οὐσιῶν, εἴτε ποιοτήτων, εἴτε ἰδιοτήτων. Καί ἁπλῶς ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, παντός ἑτέρου τινός, τῶν ὅσα διαφέρειν ἀλλήλων ὑπολαβόντες εἴποιεν εἶνα διαφοράν πάντως ἐν ποσῷ τά διαφέροντα θεωρήσαντες, εἴτε αἰσθήσει εἴτε νοήσει τήν διαφοράν ἐγνώρισαν. Ἄνευ γάρ ποσοῦ δύνασθαι διαβεβαιοῦσθαι δεικνύναι διαφοράν, ἀνένδεκτον. Ἐπειδή τά μή ἀλλήλοις πάντη ταυτά, ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν τοῦ εἶναι οὐδαμῶς ἐπιδέξηται λόγον. Οὐσίας γάρ ἤτοι φύσεως, φέρε εἰπεῖν, πρός οὐσίαν, ἤ ποιόητος πρός ποιότητα, ἤ ἰδιότητος πρός ἰδιότητα, ἤ 15Β_194 καί εἴ τι ἕτερον τῶν ὅσα μή πάντη ταυτόν· τά πάντη γάρ ἀλλήλοις ταυτά, καί διαφορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτα, ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν τοῦ πῶς εἶναι λόγον, οὐδέποτε λέγειν δυνάμεθα. Τό δέ, ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν ἐπί πάντων θεωρεῖσθαι λόγον κατά τό αὐτό μή δύνασθαι, τήν δαφοράν ποιῆσαν, ἕν καί ἀλήλοις ταὐτόν ἐκεῖνα, ὧν ὁ τοῦ εἶναι διάφορος, καί οὐχ ὁ αὐτόν λόγος μή δύνασθαι ὑπάρχειν εἰκότως παρίστησιν. Ἄλλο δέ ἄλλου, ἤ ἄλλων ἄλλα διαφέρειν λέγοντες, πολλά, ἤ τοὐλάχιστον, δύο καί οὐχ ἕν σημαίνομεν· εἰ καί ἄλλως, καί καθ᾿ ἕτερον τρόπον τε καί λόγον, ἑνός εἶναι, καί ἕν δύνασθαι (488) λέγομεν· ὡς ἑνός πυρός, αἱ περί αὐτό ποιότητες καί ἰδιότητες, καί ἑνός Χριστοῦ, αἱ φύσεις ἐξ ὣν καί ἐν αἷς συνεστώς γνωρίζεται· καί ἑνός ἀνθρώπου, τά ἐξ ὦν συνετέθη καί ἐν οἷς ὑπάρχων γινώσκεται. Ἕν δέ τῇ ὑποστάσει, ἐπί τε Χριστοῦ, καί τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀνθρώπου· ἤτοι τῷ ἐκ τούτων ὡς μερῶν ὅλῳ, ὡς πληρεστάτους ἄμφω ἐπιδεχομένῳ κυρίως τούς τοῦ εἶναι τῶν μερῶν διαφόρους λόγους· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῇ φύσει καί τῇ οὐσίᾳ ἕν, ὅτι μηδέ ἀλλήλων τά μέρη τόν τοῦ εἶναι ἐπιδέχεται λόγον, ἤ ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν ἡμεῖς τόν αὐτόν τοῦ εἶναι λόγον εἰδέναι δυνάμεθα. Οὐχ ὁ αὐτός γάρ θεότητος καί ἀνθρωπότητος λόγος·