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energy; as the Savior said: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak; according to which, having acted and suffered those things which belonged to sinless flesh, He confirmed the emptying of the Godhead for our sake, being naturally affirmed by miracles and the sufferings of the flesh. For on this account the God of all became man, so that by suffering in passible flesh, He might redeem our entire race that was sold to death; and by working wonders through the flesh with His impassible divinity, He might lead it back to His own incorruptible and blessed life; from which it had fallen by being persuaded by the devil; and might temper for immutability the holy orders of noetic beings in heaven by the mystery of His embodiment; whose work is the recapitulation of all things. Therefore, even when incarnate, God remained by nature supra-infinite, possessing the energy cognate and appropriate to Himself; which springs forth essentially from the Godhead; and is manifested economically in miracles through His all-holy flesh; so that He might be believed to be God, effecting the salvation of the universe through flesh that is by nature weak.

Of the same, from the same discourse 3.

19. For to me also, that I may make clear by an example what has been said concerning the Savior, my natural

reason is cognate and appropriate to a soul that is rational and intellectual; of which the reason is by nature a self-moving energy and a primary, ever-moving power, springing naturally from it; which, having articulated it in words and inscribed it well in letters, I utter organically with the tongue when necessary, and technically with letters, showing it existing through dissimilar things and, through dissimilar things, being heard without being changed. For my natural reason does not belong to the tongue and letters, even though its utterance is made through them; but to me who speaks by nature, and who through both pronounces it as my own; springing naturally and always from my intellectual soul; but uttered organically, as I said, through my bodily tongue when necessary. Just as, therefore, with us—insofar as one can use an image (184) for that which is completely beyond image—the rational power that is natural to the soul is uttered unchangeably through our bodily tongue, so also in the case of the supernatural embodiment of God, through His all-holy flesh, in those things in which He acted divinely, the all-ruling and all-creating energy of the whole Godhead is demonstrated without change, remaining by nature outside of all circumscription, even though it shone through flesh that is by nature finite. For that which is by nature uncreated is not naturally circumscribed by a created nature; even if a mind that circumscribes all things was united with it at the conception; nor for a nature and a natural energy to be ever referred to the same thing with it, as long as each remains within its own natural immutability. For the same-acting motion belongs only to things of the same nature, signifying the substance of which it is the natural power, since it is not possible in any way for it to be or to become the property of a substance of a different nature without change.

Of the same, from the same discourse 4.

20. For the mystery of the divine incarnation, for apostles and prophets and

teachers, has been known to have a twofold and different natural contemplation in all things; existing as of an undiminished divinity, and being indicative of a complete humanity. Until

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ἐνέργειαν· καθώς εἶπεν ὁ Σωτήρ· Τό μέν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δέ σάρξ ἀσθενής· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐνεργήσας τε καί παθών ἅπερ ἦν ἀναμαρτήτου σαρκός, τήν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἐπιστώσατο κένωσιν Θεότητος, θαύμασι καί σαρκός παθήμασι φυσικῶς βεβαιουμένην. ∆ιά γάρ τοῦτο γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός, ἵνα σαρκί μέν παθητῇ πάσχων, ἅπαν ἡμῶν τό τῷ θανάτῳ πραθέν λυτρώσηται γένος· ἀπαθεῖ δέ θεότητι διά σαρκός θαυματουργῶν, πρός τήν ἀκήρατον αὐτοῦ μακαρίαν ἀπαναγάγῃ ζωήν· ἧς ἀπέπεσεν τῷ διαβόλῳ πειθόμενος· καί τά κατ᾿ οὐρανούς ἅγια τάγματα τῶν νοερῶν οὐσιῶν στομώσῃ πρός ἀτρεψίαν τῷ μυστηρίῳ τῆς αὐτοῦ σωματώσεως· ἧς ἔργον ἡ τῶν ὅλων ἀνακεφαλαίωσις. Μεμένηκεν οὖν καί σαρκωθείς κατά τήν φύσιν Θεός ὑπεράπειρος, τήν ἑαυτῷ συγγενῆ καί κατάλληλον ἔχων ἐνέργειαν· τῆς Θεότητος οὐσιωδῶς ἐκφυομένην· διά δέ τῆς αὐτοῦ παναγίας σαρκός ἐν τοῖς θαύμασιν οἰκονομικῶς ἐκφαινομένην· ἵνα πιστευθῇ Θεός εἶναι, δι᾿ ἀσθενοῦς φύσει σαρκός αὐτουργῶν τήν τοῦ παντός σωτηρίαν.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου γ΄.

ΙΘ΄. Κἀμοί γάρ, ἵνα τρανώσω παραδείγματι τό περί Σωτῆρος λεχθέν, ὁ φυσικός μου

λόγος συγγενής ἐστι καί κατάλληλος ὄντι λογικῷ τε καί νοερῷ τήν ψυχήν· ᾗς κατά φύσιν ἐστίν αὐτοκίνητος ἐνέργεια τε καί πρώτη δύναμις ἀεικίνητος, ὁ λόγος, φυσικῶς αὐτῆς πηγαζόμενος· ὅν ῥηματίσας τε καί γραμμαῖς εὖ χαράξας, γλώσσῃ μέν ὀργανικῶς, ὅτε χρή προφέρω, καί γράμμασι τεχνικῶς, διά τῶν ἀνομοίων ὑπάρχοντα, καί διά τῶν ἀνομοίων μή τραπέντα δεικνύς αὐτόν ἐξακουόμενον. Οὐ γάρ γλώσσης καί γραμμάτων ὁ φυσικός μου λόγος ἐστί, κἄν δι᾿ αὐτῶν αὐτοῦ ποιουμένου τήν προφοράν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐμοῦ τοῦ κατά φύσιν λαλοῦντος, καί δι᾿ ἀμφοῖν αὐτόν ὡς ἐμόν ἐκφωνοῦντος· τῆς μέν νοερᾶς μου ψυχῆς φυσικῶς ἀεί παγαζόμενον· διά δέ τῆς σωματικῆς μου γλώσσης ὀργανικῶς, ὡς ἔφην, ὅτε χρή προφερόμενον. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἡμῶν ὅσον εἰκάσαι (184) τόν παντελῶς ἀνείκαστον, διά τῆς σωματικῆς ἡμῶν γλώσσης, ἀτρέπτως ἡ κατά φύσιν τῆς ψυχῆς λογική προφέρεται δύναμις, οὕτω καί ἐπί τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς τοῦ Θεοῦ σωματώσεως, διά τῆς αὐτοῦ παναγίας σαρκός, ἐν οἷς ἄν θεϊκῶς ἐνήργησε, δίχα τροπῆς ἡ παντοκρατορική καί τῶν ὅλων ποιητική τῆς ὄλης θεότητος ἐνέργεια διαδείκνυται, πάσης ἐκτός κατά φύσιν περιγραφῆς διαμένουσα, κἄν διά σαρκός διέλαμψε φύσει πεπερασμένης. Οὐ γάρ πέφυκε περιγράφεσθαι γενητῇ φύσει τό κατά φύσιν ἀγένητον· κἄν συνέφυ αὐτῷ κατά σύλληψιν πάντα περιγράφουσαν νοῦν· οὔτε μέν εἰς τἀυτόν αὐτῷ φέρεσθαι φύσεώς ποτε καί φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας, ἕως ἄν ἑκάτερον τῆς ἰδίας ἐντός μένει φυσικῆς ἀτρεψίας. Ὁμοφυῶν γάρ μόνον ἡ ταὐτουργός ἐστι κίνησις, σημαίνουσα τήν οὐσίαν, ᾗ φυσική καθέστηκε δύναμις, ἑτεροφυοῦς ἰδιότητος οὐσίας εἶναι κατ᾿ οὐδένα λόγον ἤ γενέσθαι δίχα τροπῆς δυναμένης.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου δ΄.

Κ΄. Τό γάρ μυστήριον τῆςθείας σαρκώσεως, ἀποστόλοις τε καί προφήταις καί

διδασκάλοις, διττήν καί διάφορον ἔχον διέγνωσται τήν ἐν πᾶσι φυσικήν θεωρίαν· ἀνελλιποῦς ὑπάρχον θεότητος, καί πλήρους ἐνδεικτικόν ἀνθρωπότητος ὄν. Ἕως ἄν