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This portion, I mean that from the body of Adam, is traced in genealogy by the apostle Matthew and not the whole body, as the whole was evidently broken off from the portion, just as indeed Adam fell completely from the divine glory.

In what way and why? So that, just as the portion taken from the whole body of Adam was built into a woman, so again the same portion taken from the woman might be rebuilt into a man and become a new Adam, our Lord (123) Jesus Christ, whom the divine Paul called 'according to the election'; and just as from the thing taken, that is, the portion, namely that of the woman, the occasion of the curse passed over to the whole body, that is, the race, so again through the same thing taken, that is, the Lord's body, the blessing might be distributed to all humanity. For it was for this reason that he also descended into Hades, so that his salvation and appearance, having come even upon the saints before his coming, might unite all who have fallen asleep from eternity with the saints who are to be until the consummation; so also he was placed in a tomb, so that through the deadness of his body he might make the bodies that had previously fallen asleep partakers of life and of eternal resurrection. Therefore, Israel, having become God's inheritance and being called his portion, he fittingly called this a vineyard and placed a fence around it, like some other new paradise from which Adam was again cast out, that is, the race of his body, I mean indeed the nations. And the angel was in place of the flaming sword, guarding this vineyard so that the nations might not enter into it, but God was its husbandman.

Just as, therefore, Eve first, that portion of the whole Adamic body, spoke with the serpent and she first revealed to it what had been commanded by God and first received what was sown by the serpent and transgressed the commandment by eating from the tree, when Adam was not present, and later she became a servant to him, giving to him also to eat from the tree, so after these things it happened also in Israel. For he also, like her, rejected the faith and the love of God who had chosen (124) him above all the nations, and apostatizing from the worship of him, he offered sacrifice and libations to idols; and he ate and drank among them. Therefore God, foreseeing this, since he is God and knows all things, again from these very ones took the portion, the inheritance, the very thing taken, that from the side of Adam I mean, from the tribe of Judah, and preserved it for himself. But since all the rest were shut up in unbelief, from these he took the thing taken which he built into a woman, that is, Mary the all-blameless, and from her, the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, the flesh which was assumed, having in itself the seed of faith in God, the all-holy God rebuilt into a holy temple for himself, having become a God-man. But since this assumed flesh from the pure Theotokos herself was not from the woman but was built from Adam into a woman, Christ is said to have worn Adam and it is written that he became and is called the second Adam from the first, being son of God and son not of the woman but of Adam. And where is this written? In the gospel according to Luke it says: and, if you please, search and you will find him genealogized thus. For after saying of him that he was supposed to be the son of Joseph, it continues: "the son of Heli, the son of Matthan" and so on, tracing the genealogy of the thing taken, and having gone through it, it later says: "the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God". Ascending from Joseph in reverse order to Adam, making no mention of the woman at all, and he left this to lie entirely in mystery.

Therefore, taking the thing taken, as having in itself the seed of faith, as has been said, God became man. The whole Adam, that is, his entire race which was cast off from the thing taken and as though cast out of the new paradise and the portion and the vineyard, through the (125) seed of faith again in the faith

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μερίς αὕτη, ἡ ἐκ τοῦ σώματός φημι τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ὑπό τοῦ ἀποστόλου Ματθαίου γενεαλογεῖται καί οὐχ ὅλον τό σῶμα, ὡς ἀπορραγέν δηλονότι τό ὅλον ἀπό τῆς μερίδος, καθά δή καί τῆς θεϊκῆς δόξης ὅλος ἐξέπεσεν ὁ Ἀδάμ.

Τίνα τρόπον καί διά τι; Ἵνα, καθώς ἐκ τοῦ ὅλου σώματος τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἡ μερίς ληφθεῖσα ᾠκοδομήθη εἰς γυναῖκα, οὕτω πάλιν ἐκ τῆς γυναικός ἡ αὐτή ληφθεῖσα μερίς ἀνοικοδομηθῇ εἰς ἄνδρα καί γένηται νέος Ἀδάμ, ὁ Κύριος (123) ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ ὁ Χριστός, ἥν κατ᾿ ἐκλογήν Παῦλος ὁ θεῖος ἐκάλεσε· καί καθάπερ ἐκ τοῦ λήμματος, ἤγουν τῆς μερίδος, αὐτῆς δηλονότι τῆς γυναικός, ἡ ἀφορμή τῆς κατάρας ἐπί τό ὅλον σῶμα, ἤγουν τό γένος, διέβη, οὕτω πάλιν διά τοῦ αὐτοῦ λήμματος, ἤγουν τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ σώματος, ἐπί τήν ἀνθρωπότητα πᾶσαν ἡ εὐλογία διαδοθῇ. ∆ιά γάρ τοῦτο καί ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ κατῆλθεν, ἵνα καί ἐπί τούς ἁγίους τούς πρό τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ ἡ σωτηρία καί ἐπιφάνεια αὐτοῦ γενομένη συνάψῃ πάντας τούς ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος κεκοιμημένους κατά τῶν ἕως τῆς συντελείας μελλόντων γενέσθαι ἁγίων· οὕτω καί ἐν μνημείῳ ἐτέθη, ἵνα καί τά προκεκοιμημένα σώματα διά τῆς νεκρότητος τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ ζωῆς συμμέτοχα καί ἀναστάσεως αἰωνίου ποιήσῃ. Τοιγαροῦν καί κλῆρον γεγονότα Θεοῦ τόν Ἰσραήλ καί μερίδα αὐτοῦ χρηματίσαντα, ἀμπελῶνα τοῦτον εἰκότως ἐκάλεσε καί φραγμόν αὐτῷ περιέθηκεν, οἷον ἄλλῳ τινί νέῳ παραδείσῳ ἀφ᾿ οὗ πάλιν ὁ Ἀδάμ ἐξεβλήθη, ἤγουν τό γένος τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, φημί δή τά ἔθνη. Καί ὁ μέν ἄγγελος ἦν ἀντί τῆς φλογίνης ῥομφαίας φυλάσσων τήν ἄμπελον ταύτην τοῦ μή εἰσελθεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ τά ἔθνη, ὁ δέ γεωργός ἦν αὐτῆς ὁ Θεός.

Καθάπερ οὖν ἡ Εὔα πρώτη, αὐτή ἡ μερίς τοῦ ὅλου ἀδαμιαίου σώματος, τῷ ὄφει ὡμίλησε καί πρώτη τά ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνταλθέντα αὕτη αὐτῷ ἀπεκάλυψε καί πρώτη τά ὑπό τοῦ ὄφεως ἐνσπαρέντα ἐδέξατο καί τήν ἐντολήν παρέβη ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου φαγοῦσα, τοῦ Ἀδάμ μή παρόντος, ὕστερον δέ καί διάκονος αὕτη τούτῳ ἐγένετο, δοῦσα καί αὐτῷ ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου φαγεῖν, οὕτω μετά ταῦτα καί ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ γέγονεν. Ἀθετήσας γάρ και αὐτός, ὥσπερ ἐκείνη, τήν πίστιν καί τήν ἀγάπην τοῦ ἐκλεξαμένου αὐτόν Θεοῦ (124) παρά πάντα τά ἔθνη, τῆς πρός αὐτόν λατρείας ἀποστάς, εἰδώλοις θυσίαν καί σπονδάς προσῆξεν· ἤσθιέ τε καί ἔπινεν ἐν αὐτοῖς. Τοῦτο οὖν προειδώς ὁ Θεός, ἅτε Θεός ὤν καί τά πάντα εἰδώς, πάλιν ἐκ τούτων αὐτῶν τήν μερίδα, τόν κλῆρον, αὐτό τό λῆμμα, τό τῆς πλευρᾶς φημι τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλῆς λαβών ἑαυτῷ συνετήρησεν. Ἐπεί δέ εἰς ἀπιστίαν ἅπαντες οἱ λοιποί συνεκλείσθησαν, ἐκ μέν τούτων τό λῆμμα λαβών ὅ ᾠκοδόμησεν εἰς γυναῖκα, ἤγουν Μαρίαν τήν ὑπεράμωμον, ἐξ αὐτῆς δέ τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου καί ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας τήν προσληφθεῖσαν σάρκα σπέρμα τῆς εἰς Θεόν πίστεως ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχων, ἀνῳκοδόμησεν εἰς ναόν ἑαυτῷ ἅγιον ὁ ὑπεράγιος Θεός, ἀνήρ θεάνθρωπος γεγονώς. Ἀλλά γάρ ἐπεί καί αὐτή ἡ προσληφθεῖσα σάρξ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἁγνῆς Θεοτόκου οὐκ ἐκ τῆς γυναικός ἦν ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδάμ εἰς γυναῖκα οἰκοδομηθεῖσα, τόν Ἀδάμ φορέσαι λέγεται ὁ Χριστός καί δεύτερος Ἀδάμ ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου γεγονέναι καί καλεῖσθαι γέγραπται, υἱός ὤν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί υἱός οὐ τῆς γυναικός ἀλλά τοῦ Ἀδάμ. Τοῦτο δέ ποῦ γέγραπται; Ἐν τῷ κατά Λουκᾶν εὐαγγελίῳ φησί· καί, εἰ δοκεῖ, ἐρεύνησον καί εὑρήσεις γενεαλογούμενον αὐτόν οὕτως. Εἰπών γάρ περί αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἐνομίζετο υἱός Ἰωσήφ, ἐπάγει· "τοῦ Ἠλί, τοῦ Ματθᾶν" καί καθεξῆς γενεαλογῶν τό λῆμμα καί διελθών, ὕστερόν φησι· "τοῦ Ἐνώς, τοῦ Σήθ, τοῦ Ἀδάμ, τοῦ Θεοῦ". Ἀπό τοῦ Ἰωσήφ κατά ἀναποδισμόν εἰς τόν Ἀδάμ ἀνελθών, τῆς γυναικός ὅλως μή μνημονεύσας, καί τοῦτο εἴασεν ὅλως ἐν μυστηρίῳ κεῖσθαι.

Τό λῆμμα οὖν, ὡς ἔχον ἐν ἑαυτῷ τό τῆς πίστεως σπέρμα, λαβών, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ὁ Θεός ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν. Ὅλον τόν Ἀδάμ, ἤτοι τό γένος ἅπαν αὐτοῦ τό ἐκ τοῦ λήμματος ἀποβληθέν καί ὡς ἐκ τοῦ νέου παραδείσου καί τῆς μερίδος καί τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος ἔξω βληθέν, διά τοῦ (125) τῆς πίστεως σπέρματος ἐν πίστει καί αὖθις τῇ