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46

the same one might be known in the flesh; and one and the same towards both the Father and us, might be believed to be the mediator of God and men.

ON COMPOSITE HYPOSTASIS

Concerning composite hypostasis. But if, because every composite hypostasis is shown to have its own parts co-temporal with itself and with one another; and we do not deny that Christ is said to be a composite hypostasis, our opponents might say of us too, that we are unable to shake off the blame for this, as having been caught by our own words. We say that it is truly so, if we were to suppose that it is composite as having a species predicated of it. But now, not saying this, we will in no way have any 15Β_200 form, clearly knowing that not every composite hypostasis is composite on its own account, that is, the one that falls under some species; but on account of the nature that contains it, whenever it is composite and the predicated species under which it is naturally subsumed; as the particular, that is the individual, has the whole universal within itself, that is the common and generic, most completely; but the individual imparts none of its whole definition to the generic; which in the case of Christ no one at all of the teachers of the word of piety who have been from the beginning up to us 0492 has proclaimed as thinking; of whom one will be able to find neither genus nor species predicated as of Christ. For the divine-ruling Word did not sojourn among us through the flesh by reason of nature; but in the manner of the economy, having united unfailingly to himself hypostatically, he renewed our nature. So that they gained nothing from their great cleverness, that we may take up the sequence of what was examined a little before, their wisdom having been turned against them into the very quantity which they have fled, since they are unable to say that even the difference in quality exists without quantity. For it is absolutely necessary for there to be many; or at least two, as has been said before, qualities, the difference of which they suppose to exist. For that a single quality, completely unmixed with another, differs with respect to itself, no one with any sense would ever say.

Therefore, either let them cease from this bare difference, having learned that it is indicative of a quantity of certain things that differ; or let them accept with us the confession of the truth, piously receiving the number according to the Fathers by the principle of difference alone, for the knowledge that the things that came together have remained unconfused. Otherwise, let them tell us, if they wish to ask in a friendly manner, if they have a word of wisdom that is not ignoble, how is it that, while saying that two things have come together for union, and not denying that these very things have remained unconfused even after the union; so that neither has departed from its natural definition and 15Β_202 principle; even if both contribute to one person of the Son and one hypostasis; they do not confess the two things preserved even according to them, as they say, if they are telling the truth; and what is their reason for the reduction, and for what cause, and how have both natures become one? Or if the union remained free of reduction, what is the reason for not speaking of the things preserved without reduction; and we obediently accept the privation of the one; and we admire the vigor of their fine education, as if they alone have been revealed to us as capable of the knowledge of ineffable things. But they will never be able to present an argument that proves this.

A BRIEF SOLUTION TO THE DIFFICULTY OF SEVERUS AGAINST THE EXPRESSION, 'IN TWO'

A brief solution to the difficulty of Severus against the expression, 'In two'.

46

σάρκα ὁ αὐτός γνωρίζηται· καί εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός πρός τέ τόν Πατέρα καί ἡμᾶς, ὡς μεσίτης Θεοῦ καί ἀνθρώπων ὑπάρχων πιστεύηται.

ΠΕΡΙ ΥΠΟΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ ΣΥΝΘΕΤΟΥ

Περί ὑποστάσεως συνθέτου. Εἰ δέ ὅτι καί πᾶσα ὑπόστασις σύνθετος ἑαυτῇ τε καί ἀλλήλοις τά ἴδια μέρη

ὁμόχρονα ἔχουσα δείκνυται· ὑπόστασιν δέ σύνθετον εἶναι λέγειν τόν Χριστόν οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα, εἴποιεν καί ἡμᾶς οἱ ἀντιλέγοντες, μή δύνασθαι τήν ἐπί τούτῳ μομφήν ἐκτινάξασθαι, ὡς τοῖς ἰδίοις ἑαλωκότας λόγοις. Φαμέν ἀληθῶς οὕτως ἔχειν, εἴπερ σύνθετον εἶναι ὡς εἶδος αὐτῆς κατηγορούμενον ἔχουσαν ὑπετιθέμεθα. Νυνί δέ τοῦτο μή λέγοντες, οὐδαμῶς τήν οἱανοῦν 15Β_200 ἔξομεν μορφήν, σαφῶς γινώσκοντες μή δι᾿ ἐαυτήν σύνθετον εἶναι πᾶσαν σύνθετον ὑπόστασιν, τήν ὑπό τι τελοῦσαν εἶδος· ἀλλά διά τήν φύσιν τήν περιέχουσαν, ὅτ᾿ ἄν σύνθετος ᾗ καί τό κατηγορούμενον εἶδος ὑφ᾿ ὅ ἀνάγεσθαι πέφυκεν· ὡς τοῦ μερικοῦ, ἤτουν ἰδικοῦ ὅλον ἔχοντος ἐν ἑαυτῷ τό καθόλου, ἤτοι τό κοινόν καί γενικόν, πληρέστατον· τοῦ δέ ἰδίου τό σύνολον λόγου τῷ γενικῷ μεταδιδοῦντος οὐδέν· ὅπερ ἐπί Χριστοῦ οὐδείς οὐδαμῶς τῶν ἀνέκαθεν μέχρις ἡμῶν 0492 γενομένων τοῦ λόγου τῆς εὐσεβείας ὑφηγητῶν φρονῶν ἀνηγόρευται· ἐφ᾿ οὗ οὔτε γένος, οὔτε εἴδος, ὡς Χριστοῦ κατηγορούμενον εὑρεῖν τις δυνήσεται. Οὐ γάρ φύσεως λόγῳ πρός ἡμᾶς διά σαρκός ὁ θεαρχικός ἐπεδήμησε Λόγος· ἀλλά τρόπῳ οἰκονομίας ἀνελλιπῶς ἑαυτῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἑνώσας, τήν ἡμετέραν ἀνεκαίνησε φύσιν. Ὥστε οὐδέν τῆς πολλῆς αὐτῶν περινοίας, ἵνα τῆς μικρῷ πρόσθεν τῶν ἐξητασμένων ἀκολουθίας λαβώμεθα, ἀπώναντο, πάλιν εἰς τό ποσόν ὅπερ πεφεύγασι, περιτραπέντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ σοφοῦ, μή δυναμένοις οὐδ᾿ αὐτήν τήν ἐν τῷ ποιῷ διαφοράν ἄνευ ποσοῦ εἶναι λέγειν. Ἀνάγκη γάρ πᾶσα πολλάς εἶναι· ἤ τό μέτριον δύο, ὡς προείρηται, τάς ποιότητας, ὧν τήν διαφοράν εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνουσι. Μόνην γάρ ποιότητα πρός ἄλλην παντελῶς ἀμιγῶς ἔχουσαν πρός ἑαυτήν διαφέρειν, οὐκ ἄν τις νοῦν ἔχων εἴποι ποτέ.

Λοιπόν οὖν, ἤ καί αὐτής παύσωνται τῆς ψιλῆς διαφορᾶς, ποσοῦ πάντως τινῶν διαφερόντων δηλωτικήν αὐτήν οὖσαν μαθόντες· ἤ σύν ἡμῖν τῆς ἀληθείας τήν ὁμολογίαν καταδεξάσθωσαν, τῷ λόγῳ τῆς διαφορᾶς καί μόνον, πρός γνῶσιν τοῦ ἀσύγχυτα μεμενηκέναι τά συνελθόντα, τόν ἀριθμόν εὐσεβῶς κατά τούς Πατέρας παραλαμβάνουσιν. Ἐπείτοιγε εἰπάτωσαν ἡμῖν ἀγαπητκῶς ἐρέσθαι βουλομένοι, εἴπερ ἔνεστιν αὐτοῖς λόγος σοφίας οὐκ ἐγεννής, πῶς δύο μέν τά συνδεδραμηκότα πρός ἕνωσιν λέγοντες, ταῦτα δέ αὐτά μεμενηκέναι ἀσύγχυτα καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν οὐκ ἀρνούμενοι· ὡς μηδ᾿ ἑτέρου τοῦ κατά φύσιν ὅρου τε καί 15Β_202 λόγου ἐκστάντος· κἄν εἰ πρός ἕν ἄμφω συντελοῦσι πρόσωπον τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί μίαν ὑπόστασιν· δύο τά καί κατ᾿ αὐτούς σωζόμενα, ὥς φασιν , εἴπερ ἀληθεύουσιν, οὐχ ὁμολογοῦσι· καί τίς αὐτοῖς τῆς μειώσεως ὁ λόγος, καί δι᾿ ἥντινα τήν αἰτίαν, καί πῶς ἄμφω αἱ φύσεις μίαν γενόνασιν; Ἤ εἴπερ μειώσεως καθαρά διέμεινεν ἡ ἕνωσις, τίς ὁ τοῦ μή λέγεσθαι τά ἀμειώτως σωζόμενα λόγος· καί στέργομεν εὐπειθῶς τῆς μιᾶς τήν στέρησιν· καί θαυμάζομεν αὐτῶν τῆς εὐπαιδείας τό εὔτονον, ὡς μόνων τῆς τῶν ἀῤῥήτων γνώσεως ἐκφανθέντων ἡμῖν χωρητικῶν. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐ δυνήσονται πώποτε τόν τοῦτο πείθοντα παραστῆσαι λόγον.

ΕΠΙΛΥΣΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΣΕΥΗΡΟΥ ΑΠΟΡΙΑΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΣ, ΕΝ ∆ΥΟ, ΦΩΝΗΣ

Ἐπίλυσις σύντομος τῆς Σευήρου ἀπορίας κατά τῆς, Ἐν δύο, φωνῆς.