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the outcome of the things foretold knows how to create faith, we too shall establish our faith even more through the things that are happening, 0544 finding that the one who spoke is true; and let us confess him as God before men, fearing no death at all; so that he also may confess us before the Father; and may bring us, saved through the good confession, which he himself began as a model for our good works; having witnessed under Pontius Pilate, and having confessed the good confession; which may we be deemed worthy to imitate according to his grace, whenever the time may call; not rashly leaping into the dangers for the sake of the word of piety, but fleeing temptations with all our strength, both out of mercy for our persecutors, and by the examination, according to full knowledge, of the natural weakness that is in us; instructing those who are infants, and awaiting the Logos who calls; who, being invisibly present in those lawfully contending in the struggles on behalf of piety, will run the course of martyrdom; as the only one able to conquer sense and nature; since martyrdom is clearly a victory of sense and of nature, through which an uprising of both mind and reason against the passions is brought about, by which the desire for God is confirmed, paradoxically persuading through death the lovers to pass over to the one who is desired; before whom may we be deemed worthy to stand, radiant in our confessions to him, which may we also carry with us as we depart from here, and pass over to the unending world, by the prayers and intercessions of our all-holy Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and of all the saints. Amen.

SCHOLION

(15B_278> 1. He who uses, he says, for the sole declaration of the difference in

Christ, the expression of the two natures, fights against Apollinarius; and he who speaks again of the expression of the one incarnate nature of God the Word, casts out the division of Nestorius. For he who equally flees the impiety of each of these speaks the two expressions.

LETTER 15. ... CONCERNING THE COMMON AND THE PARTICULAR, THAT IS, SUBSTANCE AND

HYPOSTASIS ... 15. Of the same, concerning the common and the particular, that is, substance and hypostasis, to

Cosmas the most God-loving deacon of Alexandria. To the most God-loving lord Cosmas, deacon, Maximus the humble, greetings. (15B_280> Since much discourse has been stirred up by us concerning the divine incarnation,

touching upon the subtle dogmas of piety themselves, from which taking occasion you have asked my lowliness to say, O man of God, what is the common and universal; and what is the partial and particular; so that from this the whole account of the union might become clear to us; I will say nothing at all of my own; but what I was taught by the Fathers, I say, passing over nothing of their teaching on these matters.

The common and universal, that is, the generic, according to the Fathers, is therefore the substance and the nature; for they say that these are the same as one another. But the particular and the partial is the hypostasis and the person; for according to them, these are the same as one another. And the great Basil, writing these things to Terentius, makes this clear, "But if we must also briefly state what seems right to us, we will say this, that the relation which the common has to the particular, this the substance has to the hypostasis. For each of us both partakes of being by the common definition of substance, and by the properties concerning him is this particular person and that." And again the same, to Amphilochius, concerning such things (15B_282>

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πίστεως οἶδε ποιεῖν ἡ τῶν προῤῥηθέντων ἔκβασις, πλέον διά τῶν γινομένων καί 0544 ἡμεῖς τήν πίστιν ἡμῶν βεβαιώσομεν, ἀληθῆ τόν εἰρηκότα τυγχάνειν εὑρίσκοντες· καί Θεόν αὐτόν ὁμολογήσωμεν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, μηδένα παντελῶς ὑφορώμενοι θάνατον· ἵνα καί αὐτός ἡμᾶς ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Πατρός ὁμολογήσῃ· καί σεσωσμένους διά τῆς καλῆς ὁμολογίας προσαγάγῃ, ἧς αὐτός εἰς τήν τῶν ἡμετέρων καλῶν ὑποτύπωσιν ἀπήρξατο· μαρτυρήσας ἐπί Ποντίου Πιλάτου, καί ὁμολογήσας τήν καλήν ὁμολογίαν· ἥν μιμεῖσθαι κατά τήν αὐτοῦ χάριν ἀξιωθείημεν, ὅτ᾿ ἄν καλέσοι καιρός· μή προπετῶς ἐπιπηδῶντες τοῖς ὑπέρ τοῦ λόγου τῆς εὐσεβείας κινδύνοις, ἀλλά φεύγοντες ὅση δύναμις τούς πειρασμούς, φειδοῖ τε τῶν διωκόντων, καί τῇ κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν δοκιμασίᾳ τῆς ἑνούσης ἡμῖν φυσικῆς ἀσθενείας· τούς νηπιάζοντας παιδαγωγοῦντες, καί τόν καλοῦντα περιμένοντες Λόγον· ὅς ἐν τοῖς νομίμως τούς ὑπέρ εὐσεβείας ὑπερμαχομένοις ἀγῶνας ἀοράτως παραγινόμενος, τόν τῆς μαρτυρίας διέξεισι δρόμον· ὡς μόνος αἴσθησιν καί φύσιν νικῆσαι δυνάμενος· ἐπειδή σαφῶς αἰσθήσεως νίκη καί φύσεώς ἐστι τό μαρτύριον, δι᾿ οὗ πέφυκε νοῦ τε καί λόγου γίγνεσθαι κατά τῶν παθῶν ἐπανάστασις, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ βεβαιοῦται πόθος, παραδόξως διά θανάτου πείθων τούς ἐραστάς διαβῆναι πρός τόν ποθούμενον· ᾧ παραστῆναι καταξιωθείημεν ταῖς εἰς αὐτόν ὁμολογίαις ἀστράπτοντες, ἅς καί συναπενέγκοιμεν ἑαυτοῖς ἐντεῦθεν ἀπιόντες, καί πρός τόν ἀτελεύτητον μεταβαίνοντες κόσμον, εὐχαῖς καί πρεσβείαις τῆς παναγίας ∆εσποίνης ἡμῶν Θεοτόκου καί ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, καί πάντων τῶν ἁγίων. Ἀμήν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΟΝ

(15Β_278> 1. Ὁ χρώμενος, φησί, πρός μόνην δήλωσιν τῆς διαφορᾶς ἐπί

Χριστοῦ, τῇ φωνῇ τῶν δύο φύσεων, Ἀπολιναρίῳ μάχεται· καί ὁ λέγων πάλιν τήν φωνήν τῆς μιᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου φύσεως σεσαρκωμένης, ἐκβάλλει τήν Νεστορίου διαίρεσιν. Τάς δύο γάρ λέγει φωνάς ὁ φεύγων ἐπ' ἴσης τήν ἑκατέρου τούτων δυσσέβειαν.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΙΕ'. ... ΠΕΡΙ ΚΟΙΝΟΥ ΚΑΙ Ι∆ΙΟΥ, ΤΟΥΤΕΣΤΙΝ ΟΥΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ

ΥΠΟΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ ... ΙΕ´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, περί κοινοῦ καί ἰδίου, τουτέστιν οὐσίας καί ὑποστάσεως, πρός

Κοσμᾶν τόν θεοφιλέστατον διάκονον Ἀλεξανδρείας. Τῷ θεοφιλεστάτῳ κυρίῳ Κοσμᾷ διακόνῳ, Μάξιμος ταπεινός χαίρειν. (15Β_280> Ἐπείπερ πολύς ἡμῖν περί τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως κεκίνηται λόγος,

αὐτῶν ἁψάμενος τῶν λεπτῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας δογμάτων, ἐξ ὧν λαβόμενος ἀφορμῆς τήν ἐμήν ἀπῄτησας ταπείνωσιν, εἰπεῖν, ἄνθρωπε τοῦ Θεοῦ, τί τό κοινόν ἐστι καί καθόλου· καί τί τό μερικόν καί ἴδιον· ἵν᾿ ἐντεῦθεν ἡμῖν σαφής ὁ πᾶς τῆς ἑνώσεως γένηται λόγος· ἐμόν μέν οὐδέν ἐρῷ παντελῶς· ὅ δέ παρά τῶν Πατέρων ἐδιδάχθην, φημί, μηδέν παραμείβων τῆς αὐτῶν ἐπί τούτοις διδασκαλίας.

Κοινόν μέν οὖν ἐστι καί καθολικόν, ἤγουν γενικόν, κατά τούς Πατέρας, ἡ οὐσία καί ἡ φύσις· ταυτόν γάρ ἀλλήλαις ταύτας ὑπάρχειν φασίν. Ἴδιον δέ καί μερικόν, ἡ ὑπόστασις καί τό πρόσωπον· ταυτόν γάρ ἀλλήλοις κατ᾿ αὐτούς ταῦτα τυγχάνουσιν. Καί δηλοῖ Τερεντίῳ τάδε γράφων ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος, "Εἰ δέ δεῖ καί ἡμᾶς ἐν βραχεῖ τό ἡμῖν δοκοῦν εἰπεῖν, ἐκεῖνο ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι ὅν ἔχει λόγον τό κοινόν πρός τό ἴδιον, τοῦτον ἔχει ἡ οὐσία πρός τήν ὑπόστασιν. Ἕκαστος γάρ ἡμῶν καί τῷ κοινῷ τῆς οὐσίας λόγῳ τοῦ εἶναι μετέχει, καί τοῖς περί αὐτόν ἰδιώμασιν ὁ δεῖνά ἐστι καί ὁ δεῖνα." Καί πάλιν ὁ αὐτός πρός Ἀμφιλόχιον περί τῶν τοιούτων (15Β_282>