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multitude, dividing time in two, they distributed it equally; and the one illuminates the day and calls to work, while the other with the stars was allotted the nocturnal torch- 6.77 bearing. Therefore, the Lord of the universe did not deem it just to overlook him for whose sake all these things came to be, being besieged by sin and delivered over to death as if captured by the spear, and for this reason He put on the human form and covered the invisible nature with the visible, and He kept the visible one sinless 6.78 and the hidden one He preserved undefiled; for neither did the latter partake of the passions of the flesh, nor did the flesh share in the stains of sin. For it would have been easy for Him, even without the veil of the flesh, to work out the salvation of men and by His will alone to destroy the dominion of death and to make its mother, sin, utterly vanish, and to drive the all-wicked demon, who brought it to birth, from the earth and consign him to the darkness, to which He threatened to deliver him a little later; but He did not wish His power, 6.79 but to show the justice of His providence. For just as, though able to converse with men from heaven and to frighten those living in indolence, He did not do this, knowing that human nature could not endure it, but He appeared a few times, making His appearances commensurate with those who saw them, but He always continued legislating and exhorting men through men, using the prophets as ministers and servants of His words, So also later, when He wished to offer the saving medicines to all men, He did not use angels as servants, nor archangels, nor did He send forth a most resonant voice from heaven commensurate to all men, but having fixed for Himself the human tabernacle in a virgin's womb, He came forth from there, a man who is seen and a God who is worshipped, begotten of the Father's substance before the ages, and from the virgin having received 6.80 that which is seen, the same one both recent and eternal. For the union did not confuse the natures, nor did it place the maker of the ages under time, nor indeed did it render that which came to be in time pre-eternal, but each nature remained unmixed, the one enduring the passions of its nature, I mean hunger and thirst, sleep and weariness and the cross and death, while the other was performing divine acts and working wonders as was its custom, causing the feet of the body to walk on the sea, and commanding five loaves to suffice for the satisfaction of many thousands, and bestowing at the wedding wine that then first came into being, and healing maimed bodies, and creating with clay eyes for those whom nature had omitted when forming them in the womb, and by a word strengthening paralyzed limbs, and opening tombs and calling forth those lying within and making them run, and doing the other things that the histories of the divine gospels teach. 6.81 But if you marvel at these things and say that they are fitting for God, but call the manner of the economy unfitting, first, it is utterly audacious and mad to declare yourselves wiser than the wisdom that fashioned all things, and not to be content with what is done by it, but to suppose that you find what must be done better than it does. And I know this well, that if He had devised another manner of healing, you would certainly have found fault with that one too; for you are hard to please and know only how to mock the mysteries of the divine eco- 6.82 nomy. Since you are bold enough in your conceptions to overcome the abyss of wisdom, show us then a better device for our salvation. But you would not be able to show one. For He used such an excess of love for mankind, that it is disbelieved by you and those like you, that the only-begotten Son of God, the Word of God before the ages, the creator of all things, took human nature and became man and worked out our 6.83 salvation. And yet you admire those physicians, who do not command others to apply the treatment,

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πλῆθος, διχῇ τὸν χρόνον διελόντες, ἴσως αὐτὸν διενείμαντο· καὶ ὁ μὲν φωτίζει τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ πρὸς ἐργα σίαν καλεῖ, ἡ δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἄστρων τὴν νυκτερινὴν ἔλαχε δᾳδου 6.77 χίαν. Οὐ τοίνυν παριδεῖν ὁ τοῦ παντὸς Κύριος ὑπέλαβε δίκαιον τὸν οὗ χάριν ταῦτα πάντα ἐγένετο ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας πολιορκού μενον καὶ ὡς δορίληπτον τῷ θανάτῳ παραδιδόμενον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ὑπέδυ μορφὴν καὶ τὴν ἀόρατον τῇ ὁρωμένῃ κα τεκάλυψε φύσιν, καὶ τήν τε ὁρωμένην ἀναμάρτητον διεφύλαξε 6.78 καὶ τὴν κεκρυμμένην ἀκήρατον διετήρησεν· οὔτε γὰρ αὕτη τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς μετέλαχε παθημάτων, οὔτε ἡ σὰρξ τῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κηλίδων μετέσχηκεν. Ῥᾷστον μὲν γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ καὶ δίχα τοῦ τῆς σαρκὸς προκαλύμματος πραγματεύσασθαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ βουλήσει μόνῃ καταλῦσαι τοῦ θανάτου τὴν δυνα στείαν καὶ τὴν τούτου μητέρα, τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, φροῦδον παντελῶς ἀποφῆναι καὶ τὸν παμπόνηρον δαίμονα, τὸν ταύτην ὠδίναντα, ἐξελάσαι τῆς γῆς καὶ παραπέμψαι τῷ ζόφῳ, ᾧ γε μικρὸν ὕστερον αὐτὸν παραδώσειν ἠπείλησεν· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐβουλήθη τὴν ἐξουσίαν, 6.79 ἀλλὰ τῆς προνοίας ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸ δίκαιον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐρανόθεν διαλεχθῆναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δυνάμενος καὶ τοὺς ῥᾳστώνῃ ξυ ζῶντας δεδίξασθαι, τοῦτο μὲν οὐ πεποίηκεν, εἰδὼς οὐ χωροῦσαν τοῦτο τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλ' ὀλιγάκις μὲν ἐπεφάνη, ξυμμέτρους τοῖς ὁρῶσι τὰς ἐπιφανείας ποιούμενος, ἀεὶ δὲ δι' ἀνθρώπων ἀνθρώποις καὶ νομοθετῶν καὶ παραινῶν διετέλεσεν, ὑπουργοῖς τῶν λόγων καὶ διακόνοις χρώμενος τοῖς προφήταις, Οὕτω δὴ ὕστερον πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις προσενεγκεῖν ἐθελήσας τὰ σωτήρια φάρμακα, οὐκ ἀγγέλοις ὑπηρέταις οὐδ' ἀρχαγγέλοις ἐχρήσατο οὐδ' οὐρανόθεν γεγωνοτάτην καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ξύμμετρον ἀφῆκε φωνήν, ἀλλ' ἐν μήτρᾳ παρθενικῇ τὴν ἀνθρω πείαν ἑαυτῷ περιπήξας σκηνήν, προῆλθεν ἐκεῖθεν ἄνθρωπος ὁρώμενος καὶ Θεὸς προσκυνούμενος, ἐκ μὲν τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐσίας πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων γεγεννημένος, ἐκ δὲ τῆς παρθένου λαβὼν 6.80 τὸ φαινόμενον, πρόσφατος ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ αἰώνιος. Οὐ γὰρ ξυνέχεε τὰς φύσεις ἡ ἕνωσις οὐδὲ πεποίηκεν ὑπὸ χρόνον τῶν χρόνων τὸν ποιητὴν οὐδέ γε τὸ ἐν χρόνῳ γενόμενον ἀπέφηνε προαιώνιον, ἀλλ' ἑκατέρα φύσις μεμένηκεν ἀκραιφνής, ἡ μὲν τῶν τῆς φύσεως παθημάτων ἀνεχομένη, πείνης λέγω καὶ δίψης, ὕπνου καὶ κόπου καὶ σταυροῦ καὶ θανάτου, ἡ δὲ ἐνεργοῦσα τὰ θεῖα καὶ ξυνήθως θαυματουργοῦσα, βαδίζειν ἐπὶ θαλάττης σώματος πόδας παρα σκευάζουσα καὶ πέντε ἄρτους κόρῳ πολλῶν χιλιάδων ἐξαρκέσαι κελεύουσα καὶ τὸν τότε πρῶτον γενόμενον οἶνον δωρουμένη τῷ γάμῳ καὶ τὰ πεπηρωμένα θεραπεύουσα σώματα, καὶ οὓς μὲν ἡ φύσις ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ διαπλάττουσα παρέλιπεν ὀφθαλμοὺς πηλῷ δημιουργοῦσα, λόγῳ δὲ τὰ παρειμένα μέλη σφίγγουσα καὶ τοὺς τάφους ἀνοίγουσα καὶ τοὺς κειμένους καλοῦσα καὶ τρέχειν παρα σκευάζουσα καὶ τἄλλα ποιοῦσα, ὅσα αἱ τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων ἱστορίαι διδάσκουσιν. 6.81 Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν θαυμάζετε καὶ Θεῷ γε πρόσφορά φατε εἶναι, ἀνάρμοστον δὲ τῆς οἰκονομίας καλεῖτε τὸν τρόπον, πρῶτον μὲν πάντολμόν τε καὶ μανικὸν τὸ τῆς τὰ πάντα τεκτηναμένης σοφίας σοφωτέρους ἑαυτοὺς ἀποφαίνειν καὶ μὴ στέργειν τὰ ὑπ' ἐκείνης γινόμενα, ἀλλ' ὑπολαμβάνειν ἄμεινον ἐκείνης τὸ πρακτέον εὑρίσκειν. Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εὖ οἶδα, ὡς εἰ καὶ ἕτερον ἐμηχανή σατο θεραπείας τρόπον, κἀκείνῳ ἐνεμεσᾶτε ἂν δήπουθεν· δυσά ρεστοι γὰρ ὑμεῖς καὶ σκώπτειν μόνον εἰδότες τὰ τῆς θείας οἰκο 6.82 νομίας μυστήρια. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῆς σοφίας τὴν ἄβυσσον νικᾶν ταῖς ἐπινοίαις νεανιεύεσθε, δείξατε δὴ ὑμεῖς τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας ἀμείνονα μηχανήν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἐπιδεῖξαι δυνήσαισθε. Τοσαύτῃ γὰρ ἐχρήσατο φιλανθρωπίας ὑπερβολῇ, ὡς ἀπιστεῖσθαι παρ' ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων ὑμῖν, ὅτι δὴ ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱός, ὁ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων Θεὸς Λόγος, ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργός, τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν λαβὼν ἐνηνθρώπησε καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν 6.83 ἐπραγματεύσατο σωτηρίαν. Καίτοι καὶ τοὺς ἰατροὺς ἐκείνους θαυμάζετε, οἳ οὐκ ἄλλοις προσφέρειν τὴν θεραπείαν κελεύου σιν,