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showing 197 that it is possible. For so, he says, is He true, that it is impossible for falsehood ever to arise in Him. Therefore, the possibility of truth is signified through the impossible. And writing to the blessed Timothy he added this: "The saying is trustworthy: for if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself." Again, therefore, "He cannot," is indicative of infinite power. For even if all men deny him, he says, He is God, and does not depart from His own nature. For His being is indestructible. For this is what "he cannot deny himself" means. Therefore, the impossibility of a change for the worse reveals an abundance of power. {ERAN.} These things are true and in agreement with the divine oracles. {ORTH.} If, therefore, many things are impossible for God, and as many as are contrary to the divine nature, why then, leaving aside all the other things according to His nature—the good, the just, the true, the invisible, the unattainable, the uncircumscribed, the eternal, and all the other things we say belong to God—do you say that immortality and impassibility alone are mutable, and concede the possibility of alteration in them, and grant to God a power indicative of weakness? {ERAN.} We were taught this from the divine scripture. For the divine John exclaims: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son." And the divine Paul: "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." {ORTH.} These things are true, for they are divine oracles. But remember what we have often confessed. {ERAN.} Of what do you speak? {ORTH.} That we agreed that the Son of God, the God Logos, did not appear without a body, but having assumed a perfect human nature. {ERAN.} We have agreed to this. {ORTH.} If, therefore, he took both a human body and soul, for this reason he was also called Son of Man. 198 {ERAN.} True. {ORTH.} Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man; for of these natures, the one He had always, and the other He truly took. {ERAN.} These things are indisputable. {ORTH.} Therefore, as man He endured the passion; but as God He remained superior to passion. {ERAN.} How then does the divine scripture say that the Son of God suffered? {ORTH.} Because the body that suffered happened to be His body. But let us consider it this way. When we hear the divine scripture saying, "It happened after Isaac grew old, that his eyes were dimmed so that he could not see," where is our mind carried, and on what does it rest? On the soul of Isaac, or on the body? {ERAN.} Clearly, on the body. {ORTH.} Do we not then suppose that the soul also shared in the suffering of blindness? {ERAN.} By no means. {ORTH.} But we say only that the body was deprived of the sense of sight. {ERAN.} So we say. {ORTH.} And again, when we hear Amaziah saying to the prophet Amos, "O seer, go to the land of Judah," and indeed of Saul asking, "Where is the house of the seer?" we do not suspect anything physical. {ERAN.} Of course not. {ORTH.} And yet the names are indicative of the health of the organ of sight. {ERAN.} True. {ORTH.} But we know, nevertheless, that the energy of the Spirit, being supplied to the purer souls, sends forth prophetic grace, and this makes them see even hidden things, and the seeing of these things has caused them to be called seers and those who see. {ERAN.} You speak truth. 199 {ORTH.} Therefore, let us examine that as well. {ERAN.} Which one? {ORTH.} When we hear the history of the divine gospels relating that they brought to the Lord a paralytic lying on a bed, do we say that the loosening of the members belongs to the soul or to the body? {ERAN.} Clearly, of the body. {ORTH.} But when the epistle to the Hebrews

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αὐτὸ 197 δεικνὺς δυνατόν. Οὕτω γάρ, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἀληθής, ὡς ἀδύνατον εἶναι ψεῦδος ἐν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι ποτέ. Τὸ δυνατὸν οὖν ἄρα τῆς ἀληθείας διὰ τοῦ ἀδυνάτου σημαίνεται. Τῷ δέ γε μακαρίῳ Τιμοθέῳ γράφων καὶ ταῦτα προστέθεικεν· "Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος· εἰ γὰρ συναπεθάνομεν, καὶ συζήσομεν, εἰ ὑπομένομεν, καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν, εἰ ἀρνούμεθα, κἀκεῖνος ἀρνήσεται ἡμᾶς, εἰ ἀπιστοῦμεν, ἐκεῖνος πιστὸς μένει, ἀρνήσασθαι γὰρ ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται." Πάλιν οὖν τό, "Οὐ δύναται," τῆς ἀπείρου δυνάμεως ὑπάρχει δηλωτικόν. Καὶ γὰρ ἂν πάντες ἄνθρω ποι αὐτὸν ἀρνηθῶσι, φησίν, αὐτὸς θεός ἐστι, καὶ τῆς οἰκείας οὐκ ἐξίσταται φύσεως. Ἀνώλεθρον γὰρ ἔχει τὸ εἶναι. Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τό, "Ἀρνήσασθαι ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται." Οὐκοῦν περιουσίαν ἐμφαίνει δυνάμεως τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον τροπῆς τὸ ἀδύνατον. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθῆ ταῦτα καὶ τοῖς θείοις λογίοις συμβαίνοντα. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τοίνυν πολλὰ τῷ θεῷ ἀδύνατα, καὶ τοσαῦτα ὁπόσα τῆς φύσεως ἐναντία τῆς θείας, τί δήποτε τὰ ἄλλα πάντα κατὰ φύσιν ἐῶντες, τὸ ἀγαθόν, τὸ δίκαιον, τὸ ἀληθές, τὸ ἀόρατον, τὸ ἀνέφικτον, τὸ ἀπερίγραφον, τὸ ἀΐδιον, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τῷ θεῷ προσεῖναί φαμεν, μόνας τὴν ἀθανασίαν καὶ τὴν ἀπάθειαν τρεπτὰς εἶναί φατε, καὶ τὸ δύνατον τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως ἐπ' αὐτῶν συγχωρεῖτε, καὶ δίδοτε τῷ θεῷ δύναμιν ἀσθενείας δηλωτικήν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τοῦτο παρὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς ἐδιδάχθημεν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ θεῖος Ἰωάννης βοᾷ· "Οὕτως ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὅτι τὸν υἱὸν αὑτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ δέδωκε." Καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος· "Εἰ γὰρ ἐχθροὶ ὄντες κατηλλάγημεν τῷ θεῷ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον καταλλαγέντες σωθησόμεθα ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ." {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀληθῆ ταῦτα, θεῖα γάρ ἐστι λόγια. Ἀναμνήσθητι δὲ ὧν πολλάκις ὡμολογήσαμεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ποίων λέγεις; {ΟΡΘ.} Ὅτι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν θεὸν λόγον, οὐκ ἀσώματον ἐπι φανῆναι συνωμολογήσαμεν, ἀλλὰ φύσιν ἀνθρωπείαν τελείαν ἀνειλη φότα. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Συνωμολογήσαμεν ταῦτα. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ τοίνυν καὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἔλαβεν ἀνθρωπείαν, ταύτῃ τοι καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου προσηγορεύθη. 198 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς καὶ θεὸς ἀληθῶς καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἀληθῶς· τῶνδε γὰρ τῶν φύσεων, τὴν μὲν εἶχεν ἀεί, τὴν δὲ ἔλαβεν ἀληθῶς. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀναμφίλεκτα ταῦτα. {ΟΡΘ.} Τοιγάρτοι ὡς ἄνθρωπος τὸ πάθος ὑπέμεινεν· ὡς δὲ θεὸς κρείττων πάθους μεμένηκε. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πῶς οὖν ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ πεπονθέναι φησίν; {ΟΡΘ.} Ὅτι τὸ σῶμα τὸ πεπονθὸς αὐτοῦ ὂν ἐτύγχανε σῶμα. Σκεψώμεθα δὲ ὡδί. Ὅταν ἀκούσωμεν λεγούσης τῆς θείας γραφῆς, " ̓Εγένετο μετὰ τὸ γηρᾶσαι τὸν Ἰσαάκ, ἠμβλύνθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὁρᾶν," ὁ νοῦς ἡμῶν ποῦ φέρεται, καὶ τίνι ἐναπερείδεται; τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ ἢ τῷ σώματι; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ηλονότι τῷ σώματι. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκ οὖν τοπάζομεν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν κεκοινωνηκέναι τοῦ τῆς τυφλότητος πάθους; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδαμῶς. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλὰ μόνον τὸ σῶμα τῆς ὀπτικῆς αἰσθήσεως στερηθῆναί φαμεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὕτω φαμέν. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ αὖ πάλιν ὅταν ἀκούσωμεν τοῦ Ἀμασίου λέγοντος πρὸς τὸν προφήτην Ἀμώς· "Ὁ ὁρῶν, βάδιζε εἰς γῆν Ἰούδα," καὶ μέντοικαὶ τοῦ Σαοὺλ πυνθανομένου· "Ποῦ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ βλέποντος;" οὐδὲν σωματικὸν ὑποπτεύομεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐμενοῦν. {ΟΡΘ.} Καίτοι τὰ ὀνόματα τῆς περὶ τὸ ὀπτικόν ἐστι μόριον ὑγείας δηλωτικά. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλ' ἴσμεν ὅμως, ὅτι ταῖς καθαρωτέραις ψυχαῖς χορηγου μένη τοῦ πνεύματος ἡ ἐνέργεια τὴν προφητικὴν ἐνίησι χάριν, αὕτη δέ γε ὁρᾶν καὶ τὰ κεκρυμμένα ποιεῖ, τὸ δὲ ταῦτα ὁρᾶν ὁρῶντας αὐτοὺς καλεῖσθαι καὶ βλέποντας παρεσκεύασεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθῆ λέγεις. 199 {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν κἀκεῖνο ἐπισκεψώμεθα. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τὸ ποῖον; {ΟΡΘ.} Ὅταν ἀκούσωμεν τῆς τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων ἱστορίας διηγουμένης, ὅτι προσήνεγκαν τῷ κυρίῳ παραλυτικὸν ἐπὶ κλίνης βεβλημένον, τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν λύσιν τῶν μορίων εἶναι λέγομεν ἢ τοῦ σώματος; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ηλονότι τοῦ σώματος. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὅταν δέ γε τὴν πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολὴν