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we say, by nature and in truth, because of the natural kinship according to the flesh with the one who bore him. For if we do not confess him as two natures, as both God and man together, we will be refuted as saying that he is composed of bare names and not of realities; and not being in truth that which is signified through the names. So that, to speak according to those very ones who choose to blaspheme, nothing else can be supposed to exist, which is worshiped and adored by us, which has surpassed every excess of impiety.
Therefore, taking care not to be brought under the charges of blasphemy 0501, we do not cease to confess Christ as from two natures, that is, from divinity, as has been said, and humanity; and in two natures, that is, in divinity and humanity; and two natures, believing the same one to be both God and man; because not only in these, but also these; nor these only, but also in these, knowing the whole from the parts, and the whole in the parts, and the whole through the parts. For if he himself, having given being to existing things, also bestowed the power for permanence, so that their forms are not confused with one another and do not change into one another, but each remains according to the principle by which it came to be from him; so that from the stability of the natural property of each, the diligent lovers of divine sights are able, as far as is possible, to conceive of the all-wise (15Β_216> and scientific Creator and commander of the universe; much more in himself will he confirm his own infinitely powerful power; remaining what he was, and becoming what he was not; and not denying what he became, while remaining what he was, by existing as both without deficiency and without change.
And we piously speak of one incarnate nature of God the Word, with flesh having an intelligent and rational soul, by adding the word 'incarnate,' introducing the indication of our substance. For it is a periphrasis in the same [person] according to union, showing the two natures through a name and a definition: the name, on the one hand, of the one nature of the Word, which signifies the commonality of the substance along with the particularity of the hypostasis; the definition, on the other hand, of the human, as the teacher himself says: For what is the nature of humanity, except flesh ensouled with intelligence. So that he who says one incarnate nature of God the Word, declares God the Word to be with ensouled flesh, understanding the flesh to be something entirely different in substance from God the Word, that is, the true and unadulterated disciple of piety. And in speaking of the hypostatic union, we both understand and confess that the union has occurred into one of the natures; so that neither exists or is conceived of at all by itself, but with that which is composed and conjoined with it; nor again is it confused in its essential definition with the other, or suffered any diminution of its natural perfection from the union. And again we confess the natural union to mean a true one, just as the holy Cyril himself both spoke and explained these phrases; and not for the abolition of the two natures from which Christ is after the union, or of one of them, as Apollinarius, Eutyches, and Severus, following Simon Magus, Valentinus, and Manes, have handed down, as it is easy for those who wish, from the writings of Severus himself to the aforementioned impious men, (15Β_218> to perceive the identity of their doctrines according to the agreement of their words. 0504 Likewise we speak of the two births of the same and one Christ, the one from God the Father before the ages, and the one for our sake in the last times, born of the holy Virgin; we glorify the miracles and the sufferings of the same one. And we confess the holy all-glorious Virgin to be properly and in truth Theotokos; as not having become the mother of some mere man, even one pre-fashioned, as in the twinkling of an eye, without the union with the Word, and deified from the progress of his works and from the height of his virtue;
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φύσει καί ἀληθείᾳ φαμέν, διά τήν πρός τήν τεκοῦσαν αὐτόν φυσικήν κατά σάρκα συγγένειαν. Εἰ γάρ μή δύο φύσεις αὐτόν, ὡς Θεόν τε ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπον ὁμολογήσομεν, ἐκ ψιλῶν ὀνομάτων καί οὐχί πραγμάτων συντεθεῖσθαι αὐτόν λέγοντες ἐλεγχθησόμεθα· καί οὐκ ὄντα κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν, ὅπερ εἶναι διά τῶν ὀνομάτων σημαίνεται. Ὡς καί μηδέν εἶναι λοιπόν δύνασθαι, κατ᾿ αὐτούς ἐκείνους εἰπεῖν ὑποτίθεσθαι τόν βλασφημεῖν προαιρούμενον, τό ἡμῖν προσκυνούμενόν τε καί λατρευόμενον, ὅπερ πάσης ἀσεβείας ὑπερβολήν ὑπερβέβηκε.
∆ιόπερ μή ὑπαχθῆναι βλασφημίας ἐγκλήμασι 0501 φυλαττόμενοι, οὐ παυόμεθα ὁμολογοῦντες τόν Χριστόν ἐκ δύο φύσεων, ὡς ἐκ θεότητος, καθώς εἴρηται, καί ἀνθρωπότητος· καί ἐν δύο φύσεσιν, ὡς ἐν θεότητι καί ἀνθρωπότητι· καί δύο φύσεις, ὡς Θεόν τε ὁμοῦ τόν αὐτόν ὄντα, καί ἄνθρωπον πιστεύοντες· ὅτι μή ἐν τούτων μόνον, ἀλλά καί ταῦτα· οὐδέ ταῦτα μόνον, ἀλλά καί ἐν τούτοις, ὡς ἐκ μερῶν ὅλον, καί ὅλον ἐν μέρεσι, καί διά τῶν μερῶν ὅλον γινώσκοντες. Εἰ γάρ αὐτός τοῖς οὖσι τό εἶναι δούς, καί τήν πρός διαμονήν ἐχαρίσατο δύναμιν, πρός τό μή φύρεσθαι ἀλλήλοις τά εἴδη καί μεταβάλλειν εἰς ἄλληλα, ἀλλά μένειν ἕκαστα καθ᾿ ὅν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ γεγένηνται λόγον· ὥστε δύνασθαι ἐκ τῆς κατά τήν φυσικήν ἑκάστων ἰδιότητα παγιότητος, τόν πάνσοφον (15Β_216> καί ἐπιστήμονα τοῦ παντός γενεσιουργόν καί ταξιάρχην, τούς τῶν θείων ἐπιμελεῖς φιλοθεάμονας, ὡς ἐφικτόν, ἐννοεῖν· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ τήν ἑαυτοῦ ἀπειροδύναμον πιστώσηται δύναμιν· ὅπερ ἦν διαμένων, καί γενόμενος ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· καί ὅπερ γέγονεν οὐκ ἀρνούμενος μετά τοῦ μένειν ὅπερ ἦν, τῷ ὑπάρχειν ἀνελλιπῶς τε καί ἀτρέπτως ἀμφότερα.
Καί μίαν δέ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου φύσιν σεσαρκωμένην, σαρκί ψυχήν ἐχούσῃ τήν νοεράν τε καί λογικήν λέγομεν εὐσεβῶς, διά τοῦ ἐπάγειν τό Σεσαρκωμένην, τῆς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς οὐσίας τήν δήλωσιν εἰσκομίζοντες. Περίφρασις γάρ ἐστιν ἐν ταυτῷ καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν, δι᾿ ὀνόματος καί ὅρου τάς δύο φύσεις ἐμφαίνουσα· ὀνόματος μέν, τῆς μιᾶς τοῦ λόγου φύσεως, τῆς τό κοινόν τῆς οὐσίας μετά τοῦ ἰδίου τῆς ὐποστάσεως σημαινούσης· ὅρου δέ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης, ὡς αὐτός φησιν ὁ διδάσκαλος Τί γάρ ἐστιν ἀνθρωπότητος φύσις, πλήν ὅτι σάρξ ἐψυχωμένη νοερῶς. Ὥστε ὁ λέγων μίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου φύσιν σεσαρκωμένην, μετά σαρκός ἐμψύχου εἶναι τόν Θεόν Λόγον δηλοῖ, ἕτερόν τι πάντως κατά τήν οὐσίαν παρά τόν Θεόν Λόγον οὖσαν τήν σάρκα νοῶν, ὅ γε ἀληθής τῆς εὐσεβείας μαθητής καί ἀνόθευτος. Καί τήν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν δέ λέγοντες ἕνωσιν, εἰς μίαν τῶν φύσεων γεγενῆσθαι τήν ἕνωσιν νοοῦμέν τε καί ὁμολογοῦμεν· ὡς μηδεμιᾶς καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν τό σύνολον ἤ οὔσης, ἤ νοουμένης, ἀλλά μετά τῆς συγκειμένης καί συμπεφυκυίας· οὐδ᾿ ἄν πάλιν κατά τόν οὐσιώδη λόγον πρός τήν ἄλλην φυρείσης, ἤ καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν τῆς φυσικῆς τελειότητος παθούσης ἐκ τῆς ἑνώσεως μείωσιν. Καί πάλιν τήν φυσικήν ἕνωσιν ἀντί τοῦ ἀληθῆ λέγειν ὁμολογοῦμεν, καθώς ὁ ἅγιος αὐτός Κύριλλος ταύτας τάς φωνάς καί εἶπε καί ἐξηγήσατο· καί οὐ πρός ἀναίρεσιν τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἐστίν ὁ Χριστός δύο φύσεων μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, ἤ μιᾶς αὐτῶν, καθώς Ἀπολινάριος, Εὐτυχής τε καί Σευήρος, Σίμωνι μάγῳ, Οὐαλεντίνῳ τε καί Μάνεντι ἀκολουθήσαντες ἐκδεδώκασιν, ὡς ἔστι τοῖς βουλομένοις εὐχερές, ἐκ τῶν Σευήρου αὐτοῦ συγγραμμάτων πρός τούς ὀνομασθέντας ἀσεβεῖς ἄνδρας, (15Β_218> κατά τήν συμφωνίαν τῶν λόγων, τήν τῶν δογμάτων κατιδεῖν 0504 ταυτότητα. Ὡσαύτως δέ τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἑνός Χριστοῦ τάς δύο γεννήσεις φαμέν, τήν τε ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρός πρό αἰώνων, καί τήν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτων τῶν χρόνων ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου γεγενημένην· τοῦ αὐτοῦ τά τε θαύματα καί τά πάθη δοξάζομεν. Ὁμολογοῦμεν δέ καί τήν ἁγίαν πανένδοξον Παρθένον κυρίως καί κατά ἀλήθειαν Θεοτόκον· ὡς οὐχί τινος ἀνθρώπου ψιλοῦ, κἄν ὡς ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ δίχα τῆς πρός τόν Λόγον ἑνώσεως προδιαπλασθέντος, καί ἐκ προκοπῆς ἔργων καί ἐκ τῆς εἰς ἀρετήν ἀκρότητος θεωθέντος γεγενημένην μητέρα·