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OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS (Vol. II. p. 180) Bishop of Portus, that is, of the harbor of Rome, and martyr of the truth.

From the work against Beron and Helicos the heretics, concerning theology and incarnation, alphabetically arranged, of which the beginning is: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth, the Seraphim with unceasing voice cry out, glorifying God."

17. As for the infinitely powerful will of God, by it all things both came into being and are preserved,

each thing being distinctly maintained according to its own principles, by Him who is by nature the infinitely powerful God and maker of all things; whose divine will, by which He has made and moves all things, remains unmoved, while each thing is governed by its own natural laws. For the infinite in no way or manner admits of motion, not having a where or a whereupon it might be moved. For motion is an alteration of that which is by nature infinite, which is not naturally subject to being moved. Wherefore also the Word of God, having truly become man for our sake without sin, having both acted and suffered in a human way all that belongs to a sinless nature, and having endured for our sake the circumscription of natural flesh, underwent no alteration, nor in any way in that which He is the same as the Father, did He become the same as the flesh through the kenosis; but just as He was without flesh, He has remained outside of all circumscription; and through the flesh He divinely worked those things which are of the Godhead. Showing Himself as both, through which He worked in both ways, I mean divinely and humanly, according to this truly real and natural existence; being and being understood at once as infinite God and circumscribed man; having the substance of each perfectly complete, with its own energy, that is, natural property; from which we know their difference remains always by nature without alteration; but not, as some say, by comparison; lest we should say that the same one is, in respect to himself, greater and lesser than he ought to be. For comparisons are of things of the same nature, not of different natures; but a created thing is not compared to God the maker of all things, nor a finite to an infinite, nor a limit to infinity in any respect, they always differing from each other in all things by nature, not by comparison; even if an ineffable and unbreakable union of both into one hypostasis has occurred, completely escaping all knowledge of every created being. For the Divine, as it was before the incarnation, so also is it after the incarnation by nature infinite, unrelated, impassible, incomparable, unchangeable, unalterable, self-powerful, and to put it simply, an un-substanced substance, the only infinitely powerful Good.

(181) From the same author, from the same work, 2.

18. Therefore, truly, according to the Scriptures, the God of all things became a man without being altered,

without sin; as He alone knows, being the natural craftsman of things beyond conception; at the same time, in the saving incarnation, His own Godhead imparted its energy to the flesh, not being circumscribed by it on account of the kenosis; nor springing forth naturally from it as it does from His Godhead; but being manifested in those things in which, having become incarnate, He worked divinely through it; for the flesh did not become of the nature of the Godhead, having its nature changed, having become by nature the flesh of the Godhead; but it remained what it was, even when united with the Godhead; that is, flesh, weak and passible in its nature and the

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ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΙΠΠΟΛΥΤΟΥ ( Τόμ. Β'. Σελ. 180 ) Ἐπισκόπου Πόρτου, ἤγουν τοῦ λιμένος, Ῥώμης, καί μάρτυρος τῆς ἀληθείας.

Ἐκ τοῦ κατά Βήρωνος καί Ἥλικος τῶν αἱρετικῶν περί θεολογίας καί σαρκώσεως κατά στοιχεῖον, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· "Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος, Κύριος Σαβαώθ ἀσιγήτῳ φωνῇ βοῶντα τά Σεραφίμ τόν Θεόν δοξάζουσιν."

ΙΖ΄. Ἀπειραδυνάμῳ θελήσει τοῦ Θεοῦ καί γέγονε πάντα, καί σώζεται τά γενόμενα,

κατά τούς ἑαυτῶν εὐκρινῶς ἕκαστα συντηρούμενα λόγους, αὐτῷ τῷ κατά φύσιν ἀπειροδυνάμῳ Θεῷ καί ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων· τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ θελήσεως, ᾗ τά παντα πεποίηκέ τε καί κινεῖ, τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστα φυσικοῖς διεξαγόμενα νόμοις, ἀκινήτου συνδιαμενούσης. Τό γάρ ἄπειρον κατ᾿ οὐδένα τρόπον ἤ λόγον ἐπιδέχεται κίνησιν, οὐκ ἔχον ὅποι καί περί ὅ κινηθήσεται. Τροπή γάρ τοῦ κατά φύσιν ἀπείρου, κινεῖσθαι μή πεφυκότος, ἡ κίνησις. ∆ιό καί καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀληθῶς γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος χωρίς ἁμαρτίας ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἐνεργήσας τε καί παθών ἀνθρωπίνως ὅσα τῆς φύσεώς ἐστιν ἀναμάρτητα, καί φυσικῆς σαρκός περιγραφῆς ἀνασχόμενος δι᾿ ἡμᾶς, τροπήν οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν, μηδ᾿ ἑνί παντελῶς ᾧ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ Πατρί, γενόμενος ταὐτόν τῇ σαρκί διά τήν κένωσιν· ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ ἦν δίχα σαρκός, πάσης ἔξω περιγραφῆς μεμένηκε· καί διά σαρκός θεϊκῶς ἐνεργήσας ἅπερ θεότητός ἐστιν. Ἀμφότερα δεικνύς ἑαυτόν, δι᾿ ὧν ἀμφοτέρως, θεϊκῶς δή φημι καί ἀνθρωπίνως, ἐνήργησε κατ᾿ αὐτήν τήν ὄντως ἀληθῆ καί φυσικήν ὕπαρξιν· Θεόν ἄπειρον ὁμοῦ καί περιγραπτόν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα τε καί νοούμενον· τήν οὐσίαν ἑκατέρου τελείως πελείαν ἔχοντα, μετά τῆς αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας, ἤγουν φυσικῆς ἰδιότητος· ἐξ ὧν μένουσαν ἀεί κατά φύσιν δίχα τροπῆς τήν αὐτῶν ἴσμεν διαφοράν· ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὥς τινές φασι, κατά σύγκρισιν· ἵνα μή τόν αὐτόν κατά τό ἑαυτό, αὐτῷ παρ᾿ ὅ δεῖ, μείζονα καί μείονα λέγωμεν. Ὁμοφυῶν γάρ, οὐχ ἑτεροφυῶν, αἱ συγκρίσεις· Θεῷ δέ ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων, ποιητόν· ἀπείρῳ, περατόν· καί ἀπειρίᾳ τέρας κατ᾿ οὐδένα συγκρίνεται λόγον, ἀεί κατά πάντα φυσικῶς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ συγκριτικῶς, ἀλλήλων διαφέροντα· κἄν ἄῤῥητός τις καί ἄῤῥηκτος εἰς μίαν ὑπόστασιν ἀμφοτέρων γέγονεν ἕνωσις, πᾶσαν παντός γεννητοῦ παντελῶς διαφεύγουσα γνῶσιν. Τό γάρ Θεῖον, ὡς ἦν πρό σαρκώσεως, ἔστι καί μετά σάρκωσιν κατά φύσιν ἄπειρον, ἄσχετον, ἀπαθές, ἀσύγκριτον, ἀναλλοἰωτον, ἄτρεπτον, αὐτοσθενές, καί τό πᾶν εἰπεῖν, ὑφεστώς οὐδιῶσες, μόνον ἀπειροσθενές ἀγαθόν.

(181) Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου β΄.

ΙΗ΄ . Γέγονεν οὖν ἀληθῶς, κατά τάς Γραφάς, μή τραπείς ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός, ἄνθρωπος

ἀναμάρτητος· ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός μόνος, ὑπάρχων τεχνίτης φυσικός τῶν ὑπέρ ἔννοιαν· κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἅμα τήν σωτήριον σάρκωσιν, τῆς ἰδίας θεότητος ἐμποιοῦσα τῇ σαρκί τήν ἐνέργειαν, οὐ περιγραφομένην αὐτῇ διά τήν κένωσιν· οὐδ᾿ ὥσπερ τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος, οὕτω καί αὐτῆς φυσικώς ἐκφυομένην· ἀλλ᾿ ἐν οἷς ἄν σαρκωθείς θεϊκῶς ἐνήργησε δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἐκφαινομένην οὐ γάρ γέγονε φύσει θεότητος, μεταβληθεῖσα τήν φύσιν, ἡ σάρξ, γενομένη τῇ φύσει θεότητος σάρξ· ἀλλ᾿ ὅπερ ἦν, καί θεότητι συμφυεῖσα, μεμένηκε· ἤγουν σάρξ, ἀσθενής καί παθητήν τήν φύσιν καί τήν