53

15∆_232 4.58 (58) He who does not speak of a difference of nature, has no way to confirm the confession that the Word became flesh without change; not knowing that what pre-existed and what was assumed is preserved according to nature in the one hypostasis of the one Christ and God the Savior after the union.

1332 4.59 (59) If in Christ after the union there exists a difference of flesh and divinity according to nature; for divinity and flesh are never the same in essence; the union of those that came together was in no way for the generation of one nature, but for one hypostasis, according to which we find no difference in Christ in any way whatsoever. For the Word is the same as His own flesh according to hypostasis. For insofar as Christ might have a difference, He cannot be one in every way; but insofar as He admits absolutely no difference of any kind, in every way the one is always piously held and is and is said of Him.

4.60 (60) Faith through hope establishes perfect love for God; a good conscience brings forth love for neighbor through the keeping of the commandments. For a good conscience has no transgressed commandment as an accuser. But these things are naturally entrusted only to the heart of those who yearn for true salvation.

4.61 (61) Nothing is swifter than believing, and nothing is easier than confessing with the mouth the grace of what has been believed; for the former reveals the animate love of the believer for his maker; the latter, the God-loving disposition towards his neighbor. But love and a genuine disposition, that is, faith and a good conscience, are manifestly the work of an unseen movement in the heart, which is in no need of external matter for its generation.

4.62 (62) He who suffers from complete immobility towards the good, is in every way 15∆_234 mobile towards evil. For it is impossible to be immobile towards both. Hence Scripture knows to call the soul's indolence towards good things "stones," as being insensible to virtues; and "wood," its readiness for evil things. But movement according to sense, when joined to the activity of the intellect, produces virtue with knowledge.

4.63 (63) Scripture has called the natural law of the body, I think, the "middle wall"; and the "fence," the relation to the passions in the law of the flesh, that is, sin. For only the relation to the passions of dishonor, of the law of nature, that is, of the passible part of nature, becomes a fence, walling off the body from the soul, and not permitting the passage of the principle of the virtues to the flesh through the soul in practice; but the Word, having come, and having wrestled down the law of nature, that is, the passible part of nature, 1333 abolished the relation within it of the passions contrary to nature.

4.64 (64) When the evil one by deceitful guile plunders the innate knowledge of God from nature, and usurps it for himself, he is a thief, trying to transfer worship from God to himself; that is, by leading away the soul's contemplation of the intellect from the spiritual principles in created things, and circumscribing the intellectual faculty solely to the outward appearance of sensible things. But when, beginning from natural movements, he sophistically drags down the practical faculty to things contrary to nature, and through things thought to be good plausibly rivets its desire to worse things, he swears falsely in the name of the Lord, leading the persuaded soul to other things contrary to his promise. And so he is a thief, as one who plunders the knowledge of nature for himself; and a perjurer, as one who persuades the practical faculty of the soul to labor in vain on things contrary to nature.

53

15∆_232 4.58 (νη΄) Ὁ μή λέγων φύσεως διαφοράν, οὐκ ἔχει πόθεν πιστώσασθαι τήν ὅτι γέγονε σάρξ ὁ Λόγος δίχα τροπῆς ὁμολογίαν· μή γινώσκων σωζόμενον κατά τήν φύσιν ἐν τῇ μιᾷ τοῦ ἑνός Χριστοῦ καί Θεοῦ Σωτῆρος ὑποστάσει μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, τό προλαβόν καί τό προσειλημμένον.

1332 4.59 (νθ΄) Εἰ σαρκός ἐν Χριστῷ καί θεότητος μετά τήν ἕνωσιν ὑπάρχει διαφορά κατά φύσιν· οὐ γάρ ταὐτόν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ποτέ θεότης καί σάρξ· πρός φύσεως μιᾶς γένεσιν, ἡ τῶν συνελθόντων οὐδαμῶς γέγονεν ἕνωσις, ἀλλά πρός μίαν ὑπόστασιν, καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδεμίαν ἐν Χριστῷ καθ᾿ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον εὑρίσκομεν διαφοράν. Ταὐτόν γάρ τῇ οἰκείᾳ σαρκί κατά τήν ὑπόστασιν ὁ Λόγος. Καθ᾿ ὅ γάρ ἄν ὁ Χριστός ἔχῃ διαφοράν, ἕν εἶναι κατά πάντα τρόπον οὐ δύναται· καθ᾿ ὅ δέ τήν οἱανοῦν παντελῶς οὐκ ἐπιδέχεται διαφοράν, κατά πάντα τρόπον τό ἕν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ διαπαντός εὐσεβῶς ἔχει καί ὄν καί λεγόμενον.

4.60 (ξ΄) Ἡ πίστις διά τῆς ἐλπίδος τήν εἰς Θεόν ἀγάπην τελείαν συνίστησιν· ἡ ἀγαθή συνείδησις, τήν εἰς τόν πλησίον διά τῆς φυλακῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἀγάπην ὑφίστησιν. Ἡ γάρ ἀγαθή συνείδησις παραβαθεῖσαν ἐντολήν οὐκ ἔχει κατήγορον. Ταύτας δέ μόνη καρδία πιστεύεσθαι πέφυκε, τῶν ἐφιεμένων τῆς ἀληθοῦς σωτηρίας.

4.61 (ξα΄) Οὐδέν τοῦ πιστεύειν ταχύτερον, καί τοῦ διά στόματος ὁμολογεῖν τοῦ πιστευθέντος τήν χάριν ἐστίν εὐκολώτερον· τό μέν γάρ, δηλοῖ τήν ἔμψυχον πρός τόν πεποιηκότα τοῦ πεπιστευκότος ἀγάπην· τό δέ, τήν θεοφιλῆ πρός τόν πλησίον διάθεσιν. Ἀγάπη δέ καί γνησία διάθεσις, ἤγουν πίστις καί ἀγαθή συνείδησις, ἔργον προδήλως τοῦ κατά καρδίαν ἀφανοῦς ὑπάρχει κινήματος, τῆς ἐκτός ὕλης πρός γένεσιν παντελῶς οὐ δεόμενον.

4.62 (ξβ΄) Ὁ τήν παντελῆ περί τό καλόν ἀκινησίαν νοσῶν, περί τό 15∆_234 κακόν ὑπάρχει πάντως εὐκίνητος. Κατ᾿ ἄμφω γάρ ἀκίνητον ὑπάρχειν, ἀδύνατον. Ὅθεν καί λίθους καλεῖν οἶδεν ἡ Γραφή, τήν περί τά καλά τῆς ψυχῆς ῥαθυμίαν, ὡς ἀρετῶν ἀναισθητούσης· ξύλα δέ, τήν περί τά κακά προθυμίαν. Ἡ δέ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν κίνησις συναπτομένη τῇ κατά νοῦν ἐνεργείᾳ, ποιεῖ τήν μετά γνώσεως ἀρετήν.

4.63 (ξγ΄) Μεσότοιχον ἡ Γραφή, τόν κατά φύσιν, ὡς οἶμαι, νόμον τοῦ σώματος κέκληκε· φραγμόν δέ, τήν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τῆς σαρκός πρός τά πάθη σχέσιν, ἤγουν τήν ἁμαρτίαν. Μόνη γάρ ἡ πρός τά πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας σχέσις, τοῦ νόμου τῆς φύσεως, τουτέστι, τοῦ παθητοῦ τῆς φύσεως μέρους, φραγμός γίνεται, τῆς ψυχῆς τό σῶμα διατειχίζων, καί τοῦ λόγου τῶν ἀρετῶν τήν πρός σάρκα διά μέσης ψυχῆς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν, μή συγχωρῶν γενέσθαι διάβασιν· ὁ δέ Λόγος παραγενόμενος, καί τόν τῆς φύσεως νόμον, ἤγουν τό τῆς φύσεως παθητόν 1333 καταπαλαίσας, τήν ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν σχέσιν κατήργησεν.

4.64 (ξδ΄) Ἡνίκα μέν δι᾿ ἀπάτης δόλῳ συλῶν τήν περί Θεόν ἔμφυτον γνῶσιν τῆς φύσεως, ταύτην ὁ πονηρός εἰς ἑαυτόν σφετερίζεται, κλέπτης ἐστί, πρός ἑαυτόν ἀπό τοῦ Θεοῦ τό σέβας μεταφέρειν πειρώμενος· ἀπάγων δηλονότι τῶν ἐν τοῖς γεγονόσι πνευματικῶν λόγων, τήν κατά νοῦν τῆς ψυχῆς θεωρίαν, καί μόνῃ περιγράφων τήν νοεράν δύναμιν, τῇ κατά τήν ἐπιφάνειαν προσόψει τῶν αἰσθητῶν. Ὁπηνίκα δέ διά τῶν φυσικῶν ἀπαρχόμενος κινημάτων, πρός τά παρά φύσιν σοφιστικῶς κατασύρῃ τήν πρακτικήν δύναμιν, καί διά τῶν νομιζομένων καλῶν ταῖς χείροσι πιθανῶς προσηλώσῃ ταύτης τήν ἔφεσιν, ἐπί τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου ὀμνύει ψευδῶς, πρός ἄλλα παρ᾿ ὑπόσχεσιν ἄγων τήν πειθομένην ψυχήν. Καί ἔστι κλέπτης μέν, ὡς πρός ἑαυτόν συλῶν τήν γνῶσιν τῆς φύσεως· ἐπίορκος δέ, ὡς τό πρακτικόν τῆς ψυχῆς μάτην διαπονεῖσθαι πείθων τοῖς παρά φύσιν.