64

of elements and soul. So also in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, we do not consider the parts of the parts, but the things immediately composed, both divinity and humanity. Furthermore, if, when we say man has two natures, we will be forced to say that Christ has three natures, and you, when you say man is of two natures, dogmatize that Christ is of three natures; likewise also concerning energies; for it is necessary for the energy to be conformable to the nature. And that man is said to be and is of two natures, Gregory the Theologian is a witness: saying, “For there are two natures, God and man; since there are also soul and body.” And in his discourse on baptism he says such things: “Since we are twofold, of soul and body, the one of a visible and the other of an invisible nature, the purification is also twofold, by water and spirit.”

61 Concerning the deification of the nature of the Lord's flesh and will One must

know that the flesh of the Lord is said to be deified and to have become of one substance with God and God, not by a change of nature, or conversion, or alteration, or confusion, as Gregory the Theologian says: “Of which the one deified, and the other was deified,” and “I dare to say, of one substance with God,” and “what anointed became man, and what was anointed, God.” For these things are not by a change of nature, but by the economic union, I mean the hypostatic union, by which it is indivisibly united to God the Word, and by the mutual indwelling of the natures, as we also say of the incandescence of iron; for just as we confess the incarnation without change or conversion, so also we glorify the deification of the flesh. For neither because the Word became flesh did He depart from the bounds of His own divinity or from the divine glories belonging to it, nor indeed was the flesh, when deified, converted from its own nature or its natural properties. For even after the union the natures remained unmingled and their properties unimpaired. And the Lord's flesh was enriched with the divine energies through the most pure union with the Word, that is, the hypostatic union, in no way suffering a loss of its own natural properties; for it did not perform divine things by its own energy, but through the Word united to it, the Word displaying His own energy through it. For incandescent iron burns, not possessing the burning energy by natural reason, but having acquired this from its union with fire. The same flesh, therefore, was both mortal through itself and life-giving through its hypostatic union with the Word. Likewise, we speak of the deification of the will not as if its natural movement were changed, but as united to His divine and all-powerful will, and having become the will of God incarnate; whence, wishing to be hidden, He was not able, because God the Word Himself was pleased to show the weakness of the human will truly existing in Him, but when He willed, He worked the cleansing of the leper through the union with the divine will. And it must be known that the deification of the nature and of the will is most expressive and demonstrative of the two natures and the two wills; for just as incandescence does not change the nature of the thing made incandescent into that of fire, but reveals both the thing made incandescent and that which makes it incandescent, and is indicative not of one, but of two, so also deification does not produce one composite nature, but the two and their hypostatic union. For Gregory the Theologian says: “Of which the one deified, and the other was deified;” for by saying “of which” and “the one” and “the other” he showed two. 62 Further concerning wills and free wills, minds and knowledges and wisdoms Saying that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, we will certainly grant all the natural properties of both the Father and the mother; for He became man, that what was conquered might conquer. For He who is able to do all things was not unable both by His almighty authority and power to rescue man from the tyrant, but there was a ground of accusation for the tyrant who had conquered man and

64

στοιχείων καὶ ψυχῆς. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ οὐ τὰ μέρη τῶν μερῶν σκοποῦμεν, ἀλλὰ τὰ προσεχῶς συντεθέντα, θεότητά τε καὶ ἀνθρωπότητα. Ἔτι δὲ εἰ δύο φύσεις τὸν ἄνθρωπον λέγοντες τρεῖς φύσεις ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ λέγειν ἀναγκασθησόμεθα, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐκ δύο φύσεων τὸν ἄνθρωπον λέγοντες ἐκ τριῶν τὸν Χριστὸν δογματίζετε φύσεων· ὁμοίως καὶ περὶ ἐνεργειῶν· κατάλληλον γὰρ ἀνάγκη τῇ φύσει τὴν ἐνέργειαν εἶναι. Ὅτι δὲ δύο φύσεων ὁ ἄνθρωπος λέγεταί τε καὶ ἔστι, μάρτυς ὁ θεολόγος Γρηγόριος· «Φύσεις μὲν γὰρ δύο» φάσκων «θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος· ἐπεὶ καὶ ψυχὴ καὶ σῶμα». Καὶ ἐν τῷ περὶ βαπτίσματος δὲ λόγῳ τοιάδε φησί· «∆ιττῶν δὲ ὄντων ἡμῶν ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος, καὶ τῆς μὲν ὁρατῆς τῆς δὲ ἀοράτου φύσεως, διττὴ καὶ ἡ κάθαρσις δι' ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος».

61 Περὶ τοῦ τεθεῶσθαι τὴν φύσιν τῆς τοῦ κυρίου σαρκὸς καὶ τὸ θέλημα Χρὴ

εἰδέναι, ὡς οὐ κατὰ μεταβολὴν φύσεως ἢ τροπὴν ἢ ἀλλοίωσιν ἢ σύγχυσιν ἡ σὰρξ τοῦ κυρίου τεθεῶσθαι λέγεται καὶ ὁμόθεος καὶ θεὸς γενέσθαι, ὥς φησιν ὁ θεολόγος Γρηγόριος· «Ὧν τὸ μὲν ἐθέωσε, τὸ δὲ ἐθεώθη», καὶ «θαρρῶ λέγειν ὁμόθεον», καὶ «ἄνθρωπον γενέσθαι τὸ χρῖσαν καὶ θεὸν τὸ χριόμενον». Ταῦτα γὰρ οὐ κατὰ μεταβολὴν φύσεως, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομικὴν ἕνωσιν, τὴν καθ' ὑπόστασιν λέγω, καθ' ἣν ἀδιασπάστως τῷ θεῷ λόγῳ ἥνωται, καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀλλήλαις τῶν φύσεων περιχώρησιν, ὥς φαμεν καὶ τὴν τοῦ σιδήρου πύρωσιν· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν χωρὶς μεταβολῆς καὶ τροπῆς ὁμολογοῦμεν, οὕτω καὶ τὴν θέωσιν γενέσθαι τῆς σαρκὸς δοξάζομεν. Οὔτε γὰρ διότι ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, τῶν ὅρων ἐξέστη τῆς οἰκείας θεότητος οὔτε τῶν προσόντων αὐτῇ θεοπρεπῶν αὐχημάτων, οὔτε μὴν ἡ σὰρξ θεωθεῖσα τῆς οἰκείας ἐτράπη φύσεως ἢ τῶν αὐτῆς φυσικῶν ἰδιωμάτων. Μεμενήκασι γὰρ καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν αἱ φύσεις ἀσύμφυρτοι καὶ αἱ τούτων ἰδιότητες ἀλώβητοι. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ κυρίου σὰρξ τὰς θείας ἐνεργείας ἐπλούτησε διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν λόγον ἀκραιφνεστάτην ἕνωσιν ἤτοι τὴν καθ' ὑπόστασιν οὐδαμῶς τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἰδίων ὑποστᾶσα ἔκπτωσιν· οὐ γὰρ κατ' οἰκείαν ἐνέργειαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ἡνωμένον αὐτῇ λόγον τὰ θεῖα ἐνήργει τοῦ λόγου δι' αὐτῆς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐνδεικνυμένου ἐνέργειαν. Καίει μὲν γὰρ ὁ πεπυρακτωμένος σίδηρος, οὐ φυσικῷ δὲ λόγῳ τὴν καυστικὴν κεκτημένος ἐνέργειαν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὸ πῦρ ἑνώσεως τοῦτο κτησάμενος. Ἡ αὐτὴ τοιγαροῦν θνητή τε ἦν δι' ἑαυτὴν καὶ ζωοποιὸς διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν λόγον καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσιν. Ὁμοίως καὶ τὴν τοῦ θελήματος θέωσιν οὐχ ὡς μεταβληθείσης τῆς φυσικῆς κινήσεως λέγομεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἡνωμένης τῷ θείῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ παντοδυνάμῳ θελήματι, καὶ γεγονότος θεοῦ ἐνανθρωπήσαντος θέλημα· ὅθεν θέλων μὲν λαθεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθη δι' ἑαυτοῦ εὐδοκήσαντος τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου δειχθῆναι ἐν αὐτῷ ἀληθῶς ὑπάρχον τὸ ἀσθενὲς τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου θελήματος, θέλων δὲ τὴν τοῦ λεπροῦ ἐνήργησε κάθαρσιν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ θεῖον θέλημα ἕνωσιν. Ἰστέον δέ, ὡς ἡ θέωσις τῆς φύσεως καὶ τοῦ θελήματος ἐμφαντικώτατον καὶ δεικτικώτατόν ἐστι τῶν τε δύο φύσεων καὶ τῶν δύο θελημάτων· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ πύρωσις οὐ μεταβάλλει τὴν τοῦ πυρωθέντος φύσιν εἰς τὴν τοῦ πυρός, ἀλλὰ δηλοῖ τό τε πυρωθὲν καὶ τὸ πυρῶσαν, καὶ οὐχ ἑνός, ἀλλὰ δύο ἐστὶ δηλωτικόν, οὕτω καὶ ἡ θέωσις οὐ μίαν φύσιν ἀποτελεῖ σύνθετον, ἀλλὰ τὰς δύο καὶ τὴν καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσιν. Φησὶ γοῦν ὁ θεολόγος Γρηγόριος· «Ὧν τὸ μὲν ἐθέωσε, τὸ δὲ ἐθεώθη·» «ὧν» γὰρ εἰπὼν καὶ «τὸ μὲν» καὶ «τὸ δὲ» δύο ἔδειξεν. 62 Ἔτι περὶ θελημάτων καὶ αὐτεξουσίων νοῶν τε καὶ γνώσεων καὶ σοφιῶν Θεὸν τέλειον καὶ ἄνθρωπον τέλειον λέγοντες τὸν Χριστὸν πάντως πάντα δώσομεν τά τε τοῦ πατρὸς φυσικὰ τά τε τῆς μητρός· γέγονε γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα τὸ νικηθὲν νικήσῃ. Οὐκ ἀδύνατος γὰρ ἦν ὁ τὰ πάντα δυνάμενος καὶ τῇ παντοδυνάμῳ αὐτοῦ ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ἐξελέσθαι τοῦ τυραννοῦντος τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ' ἦν ἐγκλήματος τῷ τυραννοῦντι ὑπόθεσις ἄνθρωπον νικήσαντι καὶ