Chapter IV.—Concerning the manner of the Mutual Communication580    Cf. Athan., De Salut. adv. Christi; Greg. Naz., Orat. 38; Greg. Nyss., Contr. Apoll.; Leont., Contr. Nestor. et Eutych., bk. 1; Thomas Aquinas, III., quæst. 16, art. 4, 5..

Now we have often said already that essence is one thing and subsistence another, and that essence signifies the common and general form581    εἶδος, form, class, species. of subsistences of the same kind, such as God, man, while subsistence marks the individual, that is to say, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, or Peter, Paul. Observe, then, that the names, divinity and humanity, denote essences or natures: while the names, God and man, are applied both in connection with natures, as when we say that God is incomprehensible essence, and that God is one, and with reference to subsistences, that which is more specific having the name of the more general applied to it, as when the Scripture says, Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee582    Ps. xlv. 7., or again, There was a certain man in the land of Uz583    Job i. 1., for it was only to Job that reference was made.

Therefore, in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing that we recognise that He has two natures but only one subsistence compounded of both, when we contemplate His natures we speak of His divinity and His humanity, but when we contemplate the subsistence compounded of the natures we sometimes use terms that have reference to His double nature, as “Christ,” and “at once God and man,” and “God Incarnate;” and sometimes those that imply only one of His natures, as “God” alone, or “Son of God,” and “man” alone, or “Son of Man;” sometimes using names that imply His loftiness and sometimes those that imply His lowliness. For He Who is alike God and man is one, being the former from the Father ever without584    ἀεὶ ἀναιτίως ἐκ Πατρός. cause, but having become the latter afterwards for His love towards man585    Greg. Naz., Orat. 35..

When, then, we speak of His divinity we do not ascribe to it the properties of humanity. For we do not say that His divinity is subject to passion or created. Nor, again, do we predicate of His flesh or of His humanity the properties of divinity: for we do not say that His flesh or His humanity is uncreated. But when we speak of His subsistence, whether we give it a name implying both natures, or one that refers to only one of them, we still attribute to it the properties of both natures. For Christ, which name implies both natures, is spoken of as at once God and man, created and uncreated, subject to suffering and incapable of suffering: and when He is named Son of God and God, in reference to only one of His natures, He still keeps the properties of the co-existing nature, that is, the flesh, being spoken of as God who suffers, and as the Lord of Glory crucified586    1 Cor. ii. 8., not in respect of His being God but in respect of His being at the same time man. Likewise also when He is called Man and Son of Man, He still keeps the properties and glories of the divine nature, a child before the ages, and man who knew no beginning; it is not, however, as child or man but as God that He is before the ages, and became a child in the end. And this is the manner of the mutual communication, either nature giving in exchange to the other its own properties through the identity of the subsistence and the interpenetration of the parts with one another. Accordingly we can say of Christ: This our God was seen upon the earth and lived amongst men587    Baruch iii. 38: these words are absent in many mss., and This man is uncreated and impossible and uncircumscribed.

Περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς ἀντιδόσεως

Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἕτερόν ἐστιν οὐσία καὶ ἕτερον ὑπόστασις, πλειστάκις εἰρήκαμεν, καὶ ὅτι ἡ μὲν οὐσία τὸ κοινὸν καὶ περιεκτικὸν εἶδος τῶν ὁμοειδῶν ὑποστάσεων σημαίνει οἷον θεός, ἄνθρωπος, ἡ δὲ ὑπόστασις ἄτομον δηλοῖ ἤτοι πατέρα, υἱόν, πνεῦμα ἅγιον, Πέτρον, Παῦλον. Ἰστέον τοίνυν, ὅτι τὸ μὲν τῆς θεότητος καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ὄνομα τῶν οὐσιῶν ἤτοι φύσεών ἐστι παραστατικόν, τὸ δὲ θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως τάττεται, ὁπόταν λέγωμεν: Θεός ἐστιν ἀκατάληπτος οὐσία, καὶ ὅτι εἷς ἐστι θεός: λαμβάνεται δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὑποστάσεων ὡς τοῦ μερικωτέρου δεχομένου τὸ τοῦ καθολικωτέρου ὄνομα, ὡς ὅταν φησὶν ἡ γραφή: «Διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεός σου» (ἰδοὺ γὰρ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἐδήλωσε), καὶ ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ: «Ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν ἐν χώρᾳ τῇ Αὐσίτιδι» (τὸν γὰρ Ἰὼβ μόνον ἐδήλωσεν).

Ἐπὶ οὖν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπειδὴ δύο μὲν τὰς φύσεις γινώσκομεν, μίαν δὲ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων σύνθετον, ὅτε μὲν τὰς φύσεις ἀναθεωροῦμεν, θεότητα καὶ ἀνθρωπότητα καλοῦμεν, ὅτε δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῶν φύσεων συντεθεῖσαν ὑπόστασιν, ποτὲ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ συναμφοτέρου Χριστὸν ὀνομάζομεν καὶ θεὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπον κατ' αὐτὸ καὶ θεὸν σεσαρκωμένον, ποτὲ δὲ ἐξ ἑνὸς τῶν μερῶν θεὸν μόνον καὶ υἱὸν θεοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπον μόνον καὶ υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ὑψηλῶν μόνον, ποτὲ δὲ ἐκ τῶν ταπεινῶν μόνον: εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ κἀκεῖνο καὶ τοῦτο ὁμοίως ὑπάρχων, τὸ μὲν ὢν ἀεὶ ἀναιτίως ἐκ πατρός, τὸ δὲ γενόμενος ὕστερον διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν.

Θεότητα μὲν οὖν λέγοντες οὐ κατονομάζομεν αὐτῆς τὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἰδιώματα (οὐ γάρ φαμεν θεότητα παθητὴν ἢ κτιστήν) οὔτε δὲ τῆς σαρκὸς ἤτοι τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος κατηγοροῦμεν τὰ τῆς θεότητος ἰδιώματα (οὐ γάρ φαμεν σάρκα ἤτοι ἀνθρωπότητα ἄκτιστον). Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ὑποστάσεως, κἂν ἐκ τοῦ συναμφοτέρου, κἂν ἐξ ἑνὸς τῶν μερῶν ταύτην ὀνομάσωμεν, ἀμφοτέρων τῶν φύσεων τὰ ἰδιώματα αὐτῇ ἐπιτίθεμεν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Χριστός, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ συναμφότερον, καὶ θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος λέγεται καὶ κτιστὸς καὶ ἄκτιστος καὶ παθητὸς καὶ ἀπαθής. Καὶ ὅταν ἐξ ἑνὸς τῶν μερῶν καὶ υἱὸς θεοῦ καὶ θεὸς ὀνομάζηται, δέχεται τὰ τῆς συνυφεστηκυίας φύσεως ἰδιώματα ἤτοι τῆς σαρκός, θεὸς παθητὸς ὀνομαζόμενος καὶ κύριος τῆς δόξης ἐσταυρωμένος, οὐ καθὸ θεὸς ἀλλὰ καθὸ καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός: καὶ ὅταν ἄνθρωπος καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ὀνομάζηται, δέχεται τὰ τῆς θείας οὐσίας ἰδιώματα καὶ αὐχήματα παιδίον προαιώνιον καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἄναρχος, οὐ καθὸ παιδίον καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ καθὸ θεὸς ὢν προαιώνιος γέγονεν ἐπ' ἐσχάτων παιδίον. Καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἀντιδόσεως ἑκατέρας φύσεως ἀντιδιδούσης τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τὰ ἴδια διὰ τὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως ταυτότητα καὶ τὴν εἰς ἄλληλα αὐτῶν περιχώρησιν. Κατὰ τοῦτο δυνάμεθα εἰπεῖν περὶ Χριστοῦ: «Οὗτος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη», καί: Ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος ἄκτιστός ἐστι καὶ ἀπαθὴς καὶ ἀπερίγραπτος.