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the body now, if not with Him who assumed it? For it is not, according to the foolishness of the Manichaeans, deposited in the sun, that it might be honored through dishonor; or poured into the air and dissolved, like the nature of a voice, or the flow of a scent, or the course of a lightning flash that does not stand still. And where is the being touched after the resurrection, in which He will one day be seen by those who pierced Him? but the Godhead in itself is invisible. From the same, from the second discourse on the Son. For as Word, He was neither obedient nor disobedient; for these belong to those under authority, and to inferiors; the one to the more well-disposed, the other to those worthy of judgment. But as the form of a servant, He condescends to His fellow servants, and takes the form of what is another's, bearing all of me with what is mine in Himself, so that in Himself He might consume the worse part, as fire does wax, or the sun the vapor of the earth. From the same, from the discourse on the Theophany. Since therefore He came forth from the Virgin with the assumption from two opposites, flesh and spirit. Of which the one was assumed into God, and the other has bestowed the grace of the Godhead. 168 From the same, a little later. He was sent, but as man. For His nature was twofold; indeed for this reason He also toiled, and hungered, and thirsted, and was in agony, and wept, according to the law of a human body. From the same, in the second discourse on the Son. But He might be called God, not of the Word, but of the visible part. For how could He be God of the God who is properly God? Just as also Father, not of the visible part, but of the Word. For He was twofold. So that one term applies properly to both, but the other not properly, but will have the opposite sense to that which it has for us. For of us He is properly God, but not properly Father. And this is what causes error for the heretics, the joining of the names, as these are interchanged because of the union. A sign is that when the natures are distinguished in thought, the names are also divided. Hear Paul saying: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." Of Christ He is God, but of glory He is Father. For even if the composite is one, it is not so by nature, but by conjunction. What could be clearer than these things? Fifthly, let it be said, His receiving life, or judgment, or the inheritance of nations, or authority over all flesh, or glory, or disciples, or as many things as are said. And these things belong to the humanity. From the same, from the same discourse. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." For He still intercedes as man even now for my salvation. For He is with the body that He assumed, until He makes me God, by the power of the incarnation, even if He is no longer known according to the flesh, I mean the passions of the flesh, and apart from our sin. 169 From the same, from the same discourse. Is it not clear to all that He knows as God, but is ignorant, it says, as man, if one separates the visible from the intelligible? For the name of Son being absolute and unrelated, without the addition of "of someone" to the Son, gives rise to this suspicion. So that one may understand the ignorance more piously, attributing it to the human, not to the divine. From Saint Gregory, bishop of Nyssa. From the Catechetical Oration. And who says this, that by the circumscription of the flesh, as in some vessel, the infinity of the Godhead was contained? From the same, from the same discourse. But if the soul of a man, mixed with the body by the necessity of its nature, is everywhere by its own power, what necessity is there to say that the Godhead is confined by the nature of the flesh? From the same, from the same discourse. What prevents us, who have known a certain union and approach of the divine nature to the human, from preserving a God-befitting concept even in this approach, believing the divine to be outside all circumscription, even if it is among men? From the same, from the discourse against Eunomius. But if the one from Mary speaks to brothers, but the only-begotten has no brothers; for how could the only-begotten state be preserved among brothers? And He who said, "God is Spirit," the same says to the disciples,
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τὸ σῶμα νῦν, εἰ μὴ μετὰ τοῦ προσλαβόντος; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ κατὰ τοὺς Μανιχαίων λήρους τῷ ἡλίῳ ἐναποτίθεται, ἵνα τιμηθῇ διὰ τῆς ἀτιμίας· ἢ εἰς τὸν ἀέρα ἐχέθη καὶ διελύθη, ὡς φωνῆς φύσις, καὶ ὀδμῆς ῥύσις, καὶ ἀστραπῆς δρόμος οὐχ ἱσταμένης. Ποῦ δὲ καὶ τὸ ψηλαφηθῆναι μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ἐν ᾗ ὀφθήσεταί ποτε ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκεντησάντων; θεότης δὲ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἀόρατος. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ περὶ υἱοῦ λόγου βʹ. Ὡς μὲν γὰρ λόγος, οὔτε ὑπήκοος ἦν, οὔτ' ἀνήκοος· τῶν γὰρ ὑπὸ χεῖρα ταῦτα, καὶ τῶν δευτέρων· τὸ μὲν τῶν εὐγνωμονεστέρων, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀξίων κρίσεως. Ὡς δὲ δούλου μορφή, συγκαταβαίνει τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις, καὶ μορφοῦται τὸ ἀλλότριον, ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ φέρων ἐμὲ μετὰ τῶν ἐμῶν, ἵνα ἐν ἑαυτῷ δαπανήσῃ τὸ χεῖρον, ὡς κηρὸν πῦρ, ἢ ὡς ἀτμίδα γῆς ἥλιος. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰς τὰ θεοφάνια. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν προῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς παρθένου μετὰ τῆς προσλήψεως ἐκ δύο τῶν ἑαυτοῖς ἐναντίων σαρκὸς καὶ πνεύματος. Ὧν τὸ μὲν αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν θεὸν προσειλῆφθαι, τὸ δὲ τὴν χάριν παρέσχηκε τῆς θεότητος. 168 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ μετ' ὀλίγα. Ἀπεστάλη μέν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἄνθρωπος. ∆ιπλῆ γὰρ ἦν ἡ φύσις αὐτοῦ, ἀμέλει τοι ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐκοπίασε, καὶ ἐπείνησε, καὶ ἐδίψησε, καὶ ἠγω νίασε, καὶ ἐδάκρυσεν, ἀνθρωπίνου σώματος νόμῳ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ βʹ λόγῳ τῷ περὶ υἱοῦ. Θεὸς δὲ λέγοιτο ἄν, οὐ τοῦ λόγου, τοῦ ὁρωμένου δέ. Πῶς γὰρ ἂν εἴη τοῦ κυρίως θεοῦ θεός; Ὥσπερ καὶ πατήρ, οὐ τοῦ ὁρωμένου, τοῦ λόγου δέ. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν διπλοῦς. Ὥστε τὸ μὲν κυρίως ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν, τὸ δὲ οὐ κυρίως, ἀλλ' ἐναντίως ἢ ἐφ' ἡμῶν ἕξει. Ἡμῶν γὰρ κυρίως μὲν θεός, οὐ κυρίως δὲ πατήρ. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ ποιεῖ τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς τὴν πλάνην, ἡ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐπίζευξις, ἐπαλλαττομένων τούτων διὰ τὴν σύγκρασιν. Σημεῖον δέ, ἡνίκα αἱ φύσεις διίστανται ταῖς ἐπινοίαις, συνδιαιρεῖται καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα. Παύλου λέγοντος ἄκουσον· "Ἵνα ὁ θεὸς τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης." Χριστοῦ μὲν θεός, τῆς δὲ δόξης πατήρ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὸ συναμφότερον ἕν, ἀλλ' οὐ τῇ φύσει, τῇ δὲ συνόδῳ. Τούτων τί ἂν γένοιτο γνωριμώτερον; Πέμπτον λεγέσθω, τὸ λαμβάνειν αὐτὸν ζωήν, ἢ κρίσιν, ἢ κληρονομίαν ἐθνῶν, ἢ ἐξουσίαν πάσης σαρκός, ἢ δόξαν, ἢ μαθητάς, ἢ ὅσα λέγεται. Καὶ ταῦτα τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. "Εἷς γὰρ θεός, εἷς καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς." Πρεσβεύει γὰρ ἔτι ὡς ἄνθρωπος καὶ νῦν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας. Ὅτι μετὰ τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὃ προσέλαβεν, ἕως ἂν ἐμὲ ποιήσῃ θεόν, τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, κἂν μηκέτι κατὰ σάρκα γινώσκηται, τὰ σαρκικὰ λέγω πάθη, καὶ χωρὶς τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῆς ἡμετέρας. 169 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. Ἦ πᾶσιν εὔδηλον, ὅτι γινώσκει μὲν ὡς θεός, ἀγνοεῖ δέ, φησίν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἐάν τις τὸ φαινόμενον χωρίσῃ τοῦ νοουμένου. Τὸ γὰρ ἀπόλυτον εἶναι τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίαν καὶ ἄσχετον, οὐ προσκει μένου τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ τινος, ταύτην δίδωσι τὴν ὑπόνοιαν. Ὥστε τὴν ἄγνοιαν ὑπολαμβάνειν ἐπὶ τὸ εὐσεβέστερον, τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ, μὴ τῷ θείῳ ταύτην λογιζόμενος. Τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου ἐπισκόπου Νύσσης. Ἐκ τοῦ κατηχητικοῦ λόγου. Καὶ τίς τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι τῇ περιγραφῇ τῆς σαρκός, καθάπερ ἀγγείῳ τινί, τὸ ἄπειρον τῆς θεότητος περιελήφθη; Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. Εἰ δὲ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴ κατὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἀνάγκην συγκεκραμένη τῷ σώματι πανταχοῦ κατ' ἐξουσίαν γίνεται, τίς ἀνάγκη τῇ φύσει τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν θεότητα λέγειν ἐμπεριείργεσθαι; Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. Τί κωλύει θείας φύσεως ἕνωσίν τινα καὶ προσεγγισμὸν γνωρίσαντας πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, τὴν θεοπρεπῆ διάνοιαν καὶ ἐν τῷ προσεγγισμῷ διασώσασθαι, πάσης περιγραφῆς ἐκτὸς εἶναι τὸ θεῖον πιστεύοντας, κἂν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ᾖ; Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Εὐνομίου λόγου. Εἰ δὲ ὁ μὲν ἐκ τῆς Μαρίας ἀδελφοῖς διαλέγεται, ὁ δὲ μονογενὴς ἀδελφοὺς οὐκ ἔχει· πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἐν ἀδελφοῖς τὸ μονογενὲς διασώζοιτο; Καὶ ὁ εἰπών, "Πνεῦμα ὁ θεός," φησὶ πρὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς ὁ αὐτός,