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But he neither added to Adam himself in place of what he took along with the rib, nor again did he increase this in Eve. But it was as if the flesh that was taken in place of the rib received the replenishment, but the soul no longer did. But hear this even more clearly. God took from the Virgin flesh endowed with mind and soul, which He took from Adam and replenished another in its place; and having taken this from that, He has given to it His Holy Spirit and replenished the eternal life which its soul did not have. For the flesh that was replenished in his body in place of Adam's rib, this was the pledge and the guarantee of God's economy, that he might again take a rib from the rib and give in its place not flesh again, for it had been replenished beforehand, but the Spirit who is substantially God, so that, just as from the rib of Adam the woman came to be and all mortal men from her, so also from the flesh of the woman the man Christ, who is God, might come to be, and from him all might be named immortal, and he might replenish what Adam had more than the woman. And what was it that he had? (145) The flesh that was replenished in his body in place of the rib. For Christ, having taken the flesh from the Virgin, to say the same things to you again, had to replenish this again, just as He then replenished Adam's. But since it was not going to be for corruption again, but for incorruption, the replenishment occurred through the Spirit and not through flesh, so that he might both refashion the nature of Adam and those who were to become children of God might receive rebirth through the Holy Spirit, and thus all who believe in him might become his kinsmen in the Spirit of God, and one body.

And just as it was said in the case of the first-formed: "For this reason," he says - For what reason? Clearly, for the woman, I mean, Adam's rib - "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 in the case of Christ our God. For since he assumed flesh from the all-pure blood of the Theotokos and bestowed the Holy Spirit upon it, and was incarnate and became man, for this reason a person shall leave his father and his mother, and moreover also wife and children and brothers and sisters, and shall be joined not to a wife nor carnally, but, as all of us who are born from a woman according to the body, to the man born of a woman without seed, to the bridegroom Christ. And thus, being spiritually united and joined to him, each one of us shall be with him into one spirit and likewise one body, because we corporeally eat his body and drink his blood.

For thus also 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 that speaks thus is in harmony: "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." But I say one not in hypostases, but one in the nature of divinity and of humanity; in the nature of divinity, as we ourselves also become gods by grace, according to what was said by John: "And we know that when he appears," he says, "we shall be like him." In what way? Because "from his fullness," he says, "we have all received"; but in the nature of humanity, as we have been named his kinsmen and brothers, as we have also said elsewhere. For our holy fathers, knowing these things, also openly said: "Give blood and receive Spirit," since the Spirit is not otherwise given to us, except through voluntary crucifixion to the world and mortification together. For God being Spirit, according to the divine voice, wills for us to be united to him in the Holy Spirit and to be joined and to be of the same body and co-heirs with him, as all of holy Scripture testifies. But let us return to the subject at hand.

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δέ οὔτε αὐτῶ προσέθηκε τῷ Ἀδάμ ἀνθ᾿ ἧς ἔλαβε σύν αὐτῇ τῇ πλευρᾷ, οὔτε πάλιν ἐν τῇ Εὔᾳ ταύτην ἐπηύξησεν· ἀλλ᾿ οἷον ἡ μέν σάρξ ἡ ληφθεῖσα ἀντί τῆς πλευρᾶς ἔσχε τήν ἀναπλήρωσιν, ἡ δέ ψυχή οὐκέτι. Ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι τοῦτο σαφέστερον ἄκουε. Ὁ Θεός ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου σάρκα ἔννουν καί ἐψυχωμένην ἔλαβεν, ἥν ἔλαβεν ἀπό τοῦ Ἀδάμ καί ἄλλην ἀντ᾿ αὐτῆς ἀνεπλήρωσε· καί ταύτην ἐξ ἐκείνης λαβών δέδωκεν αὐτῇ τό Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τό Ἅγιον καί ἀνεπλήρωσεν ἥν οὐκ εἶχεν αἰωνίαν ζωήν ἡ ψυχή αὐτῆς. Ἡ ἀναπληρωθεῖσα γάρ ἀντί τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ Ἀδάμ σάρξ ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ, αὕτη ἦν ὁ ἀρραβών καί τῆς οἰκονομίας Θεοῦ τό ἐχέγγυον, ὡς ἄν ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς πάλιν λάβῃ πλευράν καί δώσῃ ἀντ᾿ αὐτῆς οὐ σάρκα πάλιν, προανεπληρώθη γάρ, ἀλλά Πνεῦμα οὐσιωδῶς Θεοῦ, ἵνα, ὥσπερ ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἡ γυνή γέγονε καί πάντες ἄνθρωποι θνητοί ἐξ αὐτῆς, οὕτω καί ἐκ τῆς σαρκός τῆς γυναικός ὁ ἀνήρ Χριστός ὁ Θεός γένηται καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντες ἀθάνατοι χρηματίσωσι καί ἀναπληρώσῃ ὅ εἶχεν ὁ Ἀδάμ πλεῖον τῆς γυναικός. Τί δέ ἦν ὅ εἶχε ἐκεῖνος; (145) Ἡ σάρξ ἡ ἀναπληρωθεῖσα ἀντί τῆς πλευρᾶς ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ. Λαβών γάρ, ἵνα πάλιν σοι τά 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.