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I should say this: since Christ took flesh from the Virgin, it was necessary for this to be replenished again, just as He then replenished that of Adam. But since it was not to be for corruption again, but for incorruption, the replenishment happened through the Spirit and not through the flesh, so that He might both refashion the nature of Adam and that those who were to become children of God through the Holy Spirit might receive regeneration, and thus in the Spirit of God all who believe in Him might become his kinsmen and one body.

And just as was said concerning the first-formed: "For this reason," it says - What reason? That of the woman, clearly, I mean the rib of Adam - "a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife," that is, to the rib of Adam, "and the two shall become one flesh," so also it happens with Christ our God. For since He took flesh from the all-pure blood of the Theotokos and bestowed the Holy Spirit on her, and was incarnate and became man, for this reason a man will leave his father and his mother, and even wife and children and brothers and sisters, and will be joined not to his wife nor carnally, but, as we all are who are born of woman according to the flesh, to the one born of a woman without the seed of a man, to the bridegroom Christ. And thus, being spiritually joined and cleaving to Him, we shall each be with Him one spirit and likewise one body, because we bodily eat His body and drink His blood.

For thus our Lord and God Himself declared: "He who eats My body and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." (146) And with this divine word the saying of the Apostle also accords: "He who is joined to a prostitute is one body with her; but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." And I say "one" not in hypostases, but one in the nature of divinity and humanity: in the nature of divinity, as we ourselves become gods by grace according to what was said by John: "And we know that when He appears," it says, "we shall be like Him." In what way? Because "from His fullness," it says, "we have all received"; and in the nature of humanity, as being called his kinsmen and brothers, as we have also said elsewhere. For our holy fathers, knowing these things, said openly: "Give blood and receive Spirit," as the Spirit is not otherwise given to us, except through voluntary crucifixion and mortification to the world. For God being Spirit according to the divine voice, wishes us to be united to Him in the Holy Spirit and to cleave to Him and to be of the same body and joint-heirs with Him, as all of holy Scripture testifies. But let us return to the subject at hand.

Therefore God the Word took flesh from the pure Theotokos and gave in return for it not flesh, but the essentially Holy Spirit. And first He quickened with this her precious and all-blameless soul, raising it from death; and He did this because Eve first died the psychic death. And being incarnate He became man, possessing in Himself a body endowed with mind and with a soul; for He ineffably assumed this ensouled flesh, both then from Adam and now from the Theotokos, and thus mystically renewed our entire nature. (147) And being born ineffably, as He Himself knows, He entered into the world. For what reason and for what purpose? In order to seek Adam, who was exiled into this world, and finding him, to refashion him. And behold for me from this point, as I make a repetition of what has been said before, the awesome mystery of the economy.

While still in paradise, Adam was called to repentance; for God says to him: "Adam, where are you?" and "Who told you that you are naked, unless you have eaten from the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat?" And yet, having heard these things, he did not wish to repent or to weep and ask for forgiveness. But

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αὐτά εἴπω, ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου τήν σάρκα Χριστός, ἔδει ταύτην καί αὖθις ἀναπληρῶσαι, καθώς καί τότε ἀνεπλήρωσε τοῦ Ἀδάμ. Ἐπεί δέ οὐ πρός φθοράν καί αὖθις, ἀλλά πρός ἀφθαρσίαν ἔμελλε γίνεσθαι, διά Πνεύματος καί οὐ διά σαρκός ἡ ἀναπλήρωσις γέγονεν, ὅπως καί τήν φύσιν τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἀναπλάσῃ καί μέλλοντα γενέσθαι τέκνα Θεοῦ διά Πνεύματος Ἁγίου τήν ἀναγέννησιν λάβωσι καί οὕτως ἐν Πνεύματι Θεοῦ συγγενεῖς αὐτοῦ ἅπαντες οἱ εἰς αὐτόν πιστεύοντες γένωνται καί σῶμα ἕν.

Καί καθάπερ ἐπί τῶν πρωτοπλάστων ἐρρήθη· "Ἕνεκεν, φησί, τούτου" - Ποίου; Τῆς γυναικός δηλονότι, φημί δή τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ Ἀδάμ - "καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τόν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καί τήν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καί προσκολληθήσεται τῇ γυναικί αὐτοῦ" ἤγουν τῇ πλευρᾷ τοῦ Ἀδάμ "καί ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν", οὕτω καί ἐπί Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ γίνεται. Ἐπειδή γάρ ἀνέλαβε σάρκα ἐκ τῶν παναχράντων αἱμάτων τῆς Θεοτόκου καί Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον αὐτῇ ἐχαρίσατο, ἐσαρκώθη τε καί γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, τούτου ἕνεκα καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τόν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καί τήν μητέρα, ἔτι δέ καί γυναῖκα καί τέκνα καί ἀδελφούς καί ἀδελφάς, καί προσκολληθήσεται οὐ τῇ γυναικί οὐδέ σαρκικῶς, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς πάντες ἐκ τῆς γυναικός οἱ κατά σῶμα γεννώμενοι καί ὄντες ἡμεῖς, τῷ ἐκ τῆς γυναικός γεννηθέντι ἄνευ σπορᾶς ἀνδρί, τῷ νυμφίῳ Χριστῷ. Καί οὕτως, πνευματικῶς συναπτόμενοι καί κολλώμενοι αὐτῷ, ἐσόμεθα ἕκαστος μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ εἰς πνεῦμα ἕν καί σῶμα ἕν ὡσαύτως, διά τό σωματικῶς ἐσθίειν τό σῶμα αὐτοῦ καί τό αἷμα αὐτοῦ πίνειν ἡμᾶς.

Οὕτω γάρ καί αὐτός ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καί Θεός ἀπεφθέγξατο· "Ὁ τρώγων μου τό σῶμα καί πίνων μου τό αἷμα ἐν ἐμοί μένει κἀγώ ἐν αὐτῷ". (146) Τούτῳ δέ τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ καί τό οὕτω λέγον τοῦ Ἀποστόλου συνᾴδει ῥῆμα· "Ὁ κολλώμενος τῇ πόρνῃ ἕν σῶμά ἐστι μετ᾿ αὐτῆς· ὁ δέ κολλώμενος τῷ Κυρίῳ ἕν πνεῦμά ἐστι μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ". Ἕν δέ λέγω οὐ ταῖς ὑποστάσεσιν, ἀλλά τῇ φύσει τῆς θεότητος καί τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἕν· τῇ μέν φύσει τῆς θεότητος, ὡς θεοί καί αὐτοί θέσει γινόμενοι κατά τό εἰρημένον ὑπό τοῦ Ἰωάννου· "Καί οἴδαμεν ὅτι φανερωθέντος αὐτοῦ, φησίν, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα". Τίνα τρόπον; Ὅτι "ἀπό τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ, φησίν, ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν"· τῇ δέ φύσει τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, ὡς συγγενεῖς καί ἀδελφοί αὐτοῦ χρηματίσαντες, καθώς καί ἑτέρωθι εἴπομεν. Ταῦτα γάρ καί οἱ ἅγιοι εἰδότες πατέρες ἡμῶν ἀναφανδόν ἔλεγον· "∆ός αἷμα καί λάβε Πνεῦμα", ὡς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἄλλως μή διδομένου ἡμῖν, εἰ μή διά τῆς ἑκουσίου πρός τόν κόσμον σταυρώσεως ὁμοῦ καί νεκρώσεως. Πνεῦμα γάρ ὤν ὁ Θεός κατά τήν θείαν φωνήν, ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ βούλεται ἡμᾶς ἑνοῦσθαι αὐτῷ καί κολλᾶσθαι καί σύσσωμους εἶναι καί συγκληρονόμους αὐτοῦ, ὡς πᾶσα θεία Γραφή μαρτυρεῖ. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπί τό προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν.

Τοιγαροῦν ἔλαβε σάρκα ὁ Θεός Λόγος ἐκ τῆς ἁγνῆς Θεοτόκου καί δέδωκεν ἀντ᾿ αὐτῆς οὐ σάρκα, ἀλλά Πνεῦμα οὐσιωδῶς Ἅγιον. Καί ἐν πρώτοις ἐζωοποίησε τούτῳ τήν τιμίαν καί ὑπεράμωμον ταύτης ψυχήν, ἀναστήσας αὐτήν ἐν τοῦ θανάτου· τοῦτο δέ ἐποίησεν, ἐπειδή ἡ Εὔα πρώτη τῷ ψυχικῷ θανάτῳ ἀπέθανε. Σαρκωθείς δέ ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, σῶμα καί ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔννουν μετά ψυχῆς κεκτημένος· ταύτην γάρ τήν σάρκα καί τότε ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδάμ καί νῦν ἐκ τῆς Θεοτόκου ἐψυχωμένην ἀπορρήτως ἀνέλαβε καί οὕτως πᾶσαν τήν φύσιν ἡμῶν μυστικῶς ἀνεκαίνισε. (147) Γεννηθείς δέ ἀφράστως, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός, εἰς τόν κόσμον εἰσῆλθε. Τίνος χάριν καί διά τι; Ἵνα τόν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ κόσμῳ ἐξορισθέντα Ἀδάμ ζητήσῃ καί εὑρών ἀναπλάσῃ αὐτόν. Καί θέα μοι ἐντεῦθεν, ἐπανάληψιν τῶν προειρημένων ποιουμένῳ, τό φρικτόν τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον.

Ἔτι ὤν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἐκλήθη ὁ Ἀδάμ εἰς μετάνοιαν· φησί γάρ ὁ Θεός πρός αὐτόν· "Ἀδάμ, ποῦ εἶ" καί "Τίς ἀνήγγειλέ σοι ὅτι γυμνός εἶ, εἰ μή ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου οὗ ἐνετειλάμην σοι τούτου μόνου μή φαγεῖν, ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔφαγες;" Καί ὅμως ταῦτα ἀκηκοώς οὐκ ἠβουλήθη μετανοῆσαι ἤ κλαῦσαι καί συγχώρησιν ἐξαιτήσασθαι. Ἀλλά