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we have kept silent, not adding the word "incarnate," but as it were setting the economy aside, their argument was perhaps not implausible for those pretending to ask: "If the whole is one nature, where is the perfection in humanity? Or how has our substance subsisted?" But since both the perfection in humanity and the indication of our substance have been introduced by saying "incarnate," let them cease having set up for themselves a staff of straw." Here, then, he took the nature of the Word to mean the nature. For if he had taken nature instead of hypostasis, it would not have been strange to say this even without "incarnate"; for in speaking of one hypostasis of God the Word absolutely, we do not err. And similarly Leontius of Byzantium understood the saying to mean the nature, not instead of the hypostasis. But in his response to Theodoret's criticisms of the second anathema, the blessed Cyril says thus: "The nature of the Word, that is, the hypostasis, which is the Word himself." So to say "nature of the Word" signifies neither the hypostasis alone nor the commonality of the hypostases, but the common nature contemplated as a whole in the hypostasis of the Word. That therefore the nature of the Word was incarnate, that is, was united to flesh, has been said. But "the nature of the Word suffered in the flesh" we have not yet heard even now, but we have been taught that "Christ suffered in the flesh"; so that to say "nature of the Word" does not indicate the hypostasis. It remains therefore to say, that to be incarnate is to be united to flesh, but for the Word to become flesh is for the very hypostasis of the Word unchangeably to become the hypostasis of the flesh. And that indeed God became man and man God, has been said. For the Word is God, and He immutably became man. But that the Godhead became man, or was incarnate, or was made man, we have by no means heard. But that the Godhead was united to humanity in one of its hypostases, we have learned. And that God takes the form, that is, assumes the substance, of that which is other, that is, of what is ours, has been said. For the name God is predicated of each of the hypostases, but we cannot predicate Godhead of a hypostasis. For we have not heard "Godhead" to mean the Father alone, or the Son alone, or the Holy Spirit alone; for Godhead indeed indicates the nature, but "Father" the hypostasis, just as humanity indicates the nature, but "Peter" the hypostasis. But "God" both signifies the commonality of the nature and is predicated paronymously of each of the hypostases, just as also "man"; for God is He who has a divine nature, and man he who has a human one. In addition to all these things, it must be known that the Father and the Holy Spirit have in no way shared in the incarnation of the Word, except with respect to the divine signs and by good pleasure and will. 56 That the Holy Virgin is Theotokos We proclaim the holy virgin as properly and truly Theotokos; for as He who was born of her is true God, so she who gave birth to the true God made incarnate from her is a true Theotokos. For we say that God was born from her, not as if the Godhead of the Word took the beginning of its being from her, but as if God the Word himself, who was begotten of the Father before the ages without time, and who exists without beginning and eternally with the Father and the Spirit, in the last days for our salvation dwelt in her womb and from her was immutably incarnated and born. For the holy virgin did not give birth to a mere man, but to true God, not naked but incarnate, not one who brought his body down from heaven and passed through her as through a channel, but one who took from her flesh consubstantial with us and gave it subsistence in himself. For if the body was brought from heaven and was not taken from our nature, what need was there of the incarnation? For the incarnation of God the Word happened for this reason, so that the very nature which had sinned and fallen and been corrupted might conquer the deceiving tyrant and thus be freed from corruption, as the divine apostle says: "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead"; if the first is true, so also is the second. And if he also says: "The first Adam was of the earth, earthy, the

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σεσιγήκαμεν, οὐκ ἐπενεγκόντες τὸ «σεσαρκωμένην», ἀλλ' οἷον ἔξω τιθέντες τὴν οἰκονομίαν, ἦν αὐτοῖς τάχα που καὶ οὐκ ἀπίθανος ὁ λόγος προσποιουμένοις ἐρωτᾶν· Εἰ μία φύσις τὸ ὅλον, ποῦ τὸ τέλειον ἐν ἀνθρωπότητι; Ἢ πῶς ὑφέστηκεν ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὐσία; Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐν ἀνθρωπότητι τελειότης καὶ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οὐσίας ἡ δήλωσις εἰσκεκόμισται διὰ τοῦ λέγειν «σεσαρκωμένην», παυσάσθωσαν καλαμίνην ῥάβδον ἑαυτοῖς ὑποστήσαντες». Ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν τὴν φύσιν τοῦ λόγου ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως ἔταξεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀντὶ ὑποστάσεως τὴν φύσιν παρείληφεν, οὐκ ἄτοπον ἦν, καὶ δίχα τοῦ «σεσαρκωμένην» τοῦτο εἰπεῖν· μίαν γὰρ ὑπόστασιν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου ἀπολύτως λέγοντες οὐ σφαλλόμεθα. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Λεόντιος ὁ Βυζάντιος ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως τὸ ῥητὸν ἐνόησεν, οὐκ ἀντὶ τῆς ὑποστάσεως. Ἐν δὲ τῇ πρὸς τὰς Θεοδωρήτου μέμψεις τοῦ δευτέρου ἀναθεματισμοῦ οὕτω φησὶν ὁ μακάριος Κύριλλος· «Ἡ φύσις τοῦ λόγου ἤγουν ἡ ὑπόστασις, ὅ ἐστιν αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος». Ὥστε τὸ εἰπεῖν «φύσιν τοῦ λόγου» οὔτε τὴν ὑπόστασιν μόνην σημαίνει οὔτε τὸ κοινὸν τῶν ὑποστάσεων, ἀλλὰ τὴν κοινὴν φύσιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ λόγου ὑποστάσει ὁλικῶς θεωρουμένην. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἡ φύσις τοῦ λόγου ἐσαρκώθη ἤτοι ἡνώθη σαρκί, εἴρηται. Φύσιν δὲ τοῦ λόγου παθοῦσαν σαρκὶ οὐδέπω καὶ νῦν ἀκηκόαμεν, Χριστὸν δὲ παθόντα σαρκὶ ἐδιδάχθημεν· ὥστε οὐ τὴν ὑπόστασιν δηλοῖ τὸ εἰπεῖν «φύσιν τοῦ λόγου». Λείπεται τοίνυν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὸ σεσαρκῶσθαι μὲν ἡνῶσθαί ἐστι σαρκί, τὸ δὲ σάρκα γενέσθαι τὸν λόγον αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ λόγου ὑπόστασιν ἀτρέπτως γενέσθαι τῆς σαρκὸς ὑπόστασιν. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν ὁ θεὸς ἄνθρωπος γέγονε καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος θεός, εἴρηται. Θεὸς γὰρ ὁ λόγος, γέγονεν δὲ ἀμεταβλήτως ἄνθρωπος. Ὅτι δὲ ἡ θεότης ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν ἢ ἐσαρκώθη ἢ ἐνηνθρώπησεν, οὐδαμῶς ἀκηκόαμεν. Ὅτι δὲ ἡ θεότης ἡνώθη τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι ἐν μιᾷ τῶν αὐτῆς ὑποστάσεων, μεμαθήκαμεν. Καὶ ὅτι ὁ θεὸς μορφοῦται ἤτοι οὐσιοῦται τὸ ἀλλότριον ἤτοι τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς, εἴρηται. Ἐφ' ἑκάστης γὰρ τῶν ὑποστάσεων τὸ θεὸς ὄνομα τάττεται, θεότητα δὲ ἐπὶ ὑποστάσεως εἰπεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα. Θεότητα γὰρ τὸν πατέρα μόνον ἢ τὸν υἱὸν μόνον ἢ μόνον τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον οὐκ ἀκηκόαμεν· θεότης μὲν γὰρ τὴν φύσιν δηλοῖ, τὸ δὲ πατὴρ τὴν ὑπόστασιν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἀνθρωπότης τὴν φύσιν, Πέτρος δὲ τὴν ὑπόστασιν. Θεὸς δὲ καὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς φύσεως σημαίνει καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστῃ τῶν ὑποστάσεων τάττεται παρωνύμως ὥσπερ καὶ ἄνθρωπος· θεὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θείαν ἔχων φύσιν, καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀνθρωπίνην. Ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις ἰστέον, ὡς ὁ πατὴρ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον κατ' οὐδένα λόγον τῇ σαρκώσει τοῦ λόγου κεκοινώνηκεν εἰ μὴ κατὰ τὰς θεοσημίας καὶ κατ' εὐδοκίαν καὶ βούλησιν. 56 Ὅτι θεοτόκος ἡ ἁγία παρθένοσ Θεοτόκον δὲ κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς τὴν ἁγίαν παρθένον κηρύττομεν· ὡς γὰρ θεὸς ἀληθὴς ὁ ἐξ αὐτῆς γεννηθείς, ἀληθὴς θεοτόκος ἡ τὸν ἀληθινὸν θεὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς σεσαρκωμένον γεννήσασα. Θεὸν γάρ φαμεν ἐξ αὐτῆς γεγεννῆσθαι, οὐχ ὡς τῆς θεότητος τοῦ λόγου ἀρχὴν τοῦ εἶναι λαβούσης ἐξ αὐτῆς, ἀλλ' ὡς αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου τοῦ πρὸ αἰώνων ἀχρόνως ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεννηθέντος καὶ ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀιδίως ὑπάρχοντος σὺν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ αὐτῆς ἐνοικήσαντος καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀμεταβλήτως σαρκωθέντος καὶ γεννηθέντος. Οὐ γὰρ ἄνθρωπον ψιλὸν ἐγέννησεν ἡ ἁγία παρθένος, ἀλλὰ θεὸν ἀληθινόν, οὐ γυμνὸν ἀλλὰ σεσαρκωμένον, οὐκ οὐρανόθεν τὸ σῶμα καταγαγόντα καὶ ὡς διὰ σωλῆνος δι' αὐτῆς παρελθόντα, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῆς ὁμοούσιον ἡμῖν σάρκα ἀναλαβόντα καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὑποστήσαντα. Εἰ γὰρ οὐρανόθεν τὸ σῶμα κεκόμισται καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς φύσεως εἴληπται, τίς χρεία τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως; Ἡ γὰρ ἐνανθρώπησις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου διὰ τοῦτο γέγονεν, ἵνα αὐτὴ ἡ ἁμαρτήσασα καὶ πεσοῦσα καὶ φθαρεῖσα φύσις νικήσῃ τὸν ἀπατήσαντα τύραννον καὶ οὕτω τῆς φθορᾶς ἐλευθερωθῇ, καθώς φησιν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος· «Ἐπειδὴ δι' ἀνθρώπου ὁ θάνατος, καὶ δι' ἀνθρώπου ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν»· εἰ τὸ πρῶτον ἀληθῶς, καὶ τὸ δεύτερον. Εἰ δὲ καὶ λέγει· «Ὁ πρῶτος Ἀδὰμ ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός, ὁ