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when we read, we might find that passage where the Apostle says: “Therefore, lift up the drooping hands and the weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed,” shall we say that the divine Apostle said these things concerning the members of the body? {ΕΡΑΝ.} By no means. {ΟΡΘ.} Shall we say that he is removing the listlessness and cowardice of the soul, and exhorting the disciples to courage? {ΕΡΑΝ.} Certainly. {ΟΡΘ.} But we do not find these things distinguished in the divine scripture. For when it related the blindness of Isaac, it did not mention [blindness] of body, but simply said Isaac was blind; nor, in calling the prophets 'seers' and 'those who see,' did it say that their souls see hidden things and perceive, but it mentioned the persons themselves. {ΕΡΑΝ.} So it is. {ΟΡΘ.} Nor indeed did it show that the body of the paralytic was paralyzed, but it named the man a paralytic. {ΕΡΑΝ.} True. {ΟΡΘ.} Nor did the divine apostle, by name, mention souls, when he wished to strengthen and arouse them. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Indeed he did not. {ΟΡΘ.} But we, by investigating the sense of the words, discern what are the properties of the soul, and what of the body. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Doing so reasonably; for God made us rational. {ΟΡΘ.} Therefore let us use this reason also in the case of the one who made and saved us, and let us discern what of him befits the divinity, and what the humanity. 200 {ΕΡΑΝ.} But by doing this very thing, we shall dissolve that supreme union. {ΟΡΘ.} And yet, in the case of Isaac and the prophets and the paralytic and the others, when we did this, we did not dissolve the natural union of the soul and the body, nor did we separate the souls from their proper bodies, but by reason alone we distinguished what is proper to the soul, and what to the body. How then is it not dreadful, that while we do this in the case of souls and bodies, we refuse to do this in the case of our Savior, but rather confound the natures, even though the difference they have from one another is not as great as that which soul has to body, but as great as the distance between the recent and the eternal, and the created from the creator? {ΕΡΑΝ.} The divine scripture says that the Son of God underwent the passion. {ΟΡΘ.} Neither do we say that any other suffered; but nevertheless we know, having been taught by the divine scripture, that the nature of the divinity is impassible. Therefore, hearing of impassibility and passion, and of the union of humanity and divinity, we say that the passion belongs to the passible body, and we confess that the impassible nature has remained free from passion. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Therefore a body procured our salvation. {ΟΡΘ.} Not the body of a mere man, but of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. But if this seems to you small and of little account, how do you consider its type venerable and saving? And if the type is adorable and august, how can the archetype itself be contemptible and small? {ΕΡΑΝ.} I do not consider the body of little account, but I cannot bear to divide it from the divinity. {ΟΡΘ.} Neither do we, good sir, divide the union, but we contemplate the properties of the natures. And you too, I am sure, will presently agree. {ΕΡΑΝ.} You say these things prophetically. {ΟΡΘ.} Not prophetically, but knowing the power of the truth. But answer me this question as well: when you hear the Lord saying, “I and the Father are one,” and, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” do you say these are properties of the flesh or of the divinity? 201 {ΕΡΑΝ.} And how is it possible for the flesh and the Father to be one in substance? {ΟΡΘ.} Therefore these things are indicative of the divinity. {ΕΡΑΝ.} True. {ΟΡΘ.} And, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God,” and things similar to these? {ΕΡΑΝ.} It is agreed. {ΟΡΘ.} But when the divine scripture says again, “Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well,” to whom should the weariness be attributed? to the divinity or to the body? {ΕΡΑΝ.} Not

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ἀναγινώσκοντες εὕρωμεν ἐκεῖνο τὸ χωρίον, ἔνθα φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος· "Ὥστε τὰς παρειμένας χεῖρας καὶ τὰ παραλελυμένα γόνατα ἀνορθώσατε, καὶ τροχιὰς ὀρθὰς ποιήσατε τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν, ἵνα μὴ τὸ χωλὸν ἐκτραπῇ, ἰαθῇ δὲ μᾶλλον," περὶ τῶν τοῦ σώματος μορίων ἐροῦμεν ταῦτα φάναι τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδαμῶς. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὴν δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς χαυνότητα καὶ δειλίαν ἐξαίρειν αὐτὸν φήσομεν, καὶ εἰς ἀνδρείαν παραθήγειν τοὺς μαθητάς; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πάνυγε. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλ' οὐχ εὑρίσκομεν ταῦτα παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ διῃρημένα γραφῇ. Οὔτε γὰρ τὴν τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ διηγησαμένη τυφλότητα σώματος ἐμνημόνευσεν, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς τὸν Ἰσαὰκ ἔφη τυφλόν· οὔτε βλέποντας καὶ ὁρῶντας ὀνομάσασα τοὺς προφήτας τὰς τούτων ἔφη ψυχὰς ὁρᾶν τὰ κεκρυμμένα καὶ βλέπειν, ἀλλ' αὐτῶν ἐμνημόνευσε τῶν προσώπων. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὕτω τοῦτ' ἔχει. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὔτε μὴν τοῦ παραλυτικοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἔδειξε λελυμένον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὠνόμασε παραλυτικόν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐδέ γε ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος ὀνομαστὶ τῶν ψυχῶν ἐμνημό νευσεν, ἐπιρρῶσαι ταύτας καὶ διεγεῖραι θελήσας. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐ γάρ. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸν νοῦν τῶν λόγων διερευνώμενοι ἐπιγινώσκομεν τίνα μὲν ψυχῆς, τίνα δὲ σώματος ἴδια. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Εἰκότα γε ποιοῦντες· λογικοὺς γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός. {ΟΡΘ.} Τῷδε τοίνυν τῷ λογικῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡμᾶς καὶ σεσωκότος χρησώμεθα, καὶ ἐπιγνῶμεν, τίνα μὲν αὐτοῦ τῇ θεότητι, τίνα δὲ προσήκει τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι. 200 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο δρῶντες τὴν ἄκραν ἐκείνην διαλύσομεν ἕνωσιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ μὴν ἐπί γε τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τοῦ παραλύτου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοῦτο δράσαντες τὴν φυσικὴν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος οὐκ ἐλύσαμεν ἕνωσιν, οὐδέ γε ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων σωμάτων τὰς ψυχὰς ἐχωρίσαμεν, ἀλλὰ τῷ λόγῳ μόνῳ διέγνωμεν, τί μὲν ἴδιον ψυχῆς, τί δὲ σώματος. Πῶς οὖν οὐ σχέτλιον ἐπὶ ψυχῶν τοῦτό γε καὶ σωμάτων οὕτω ποιοῦντας, ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τοῦτο παραιτεῖσθαι ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ συγχεῖν τὰς φύσεις, εἰ καὶ τὸ διάφορον, οὐχ ὅσον ἔχει ψυχὴ πρὸς σῶμα, ἔχουσι πρὸς ἀλλήλας, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον, ὅσον τὸ πρόσφατον τοῦ ἀϊδίου διέστηκε, καὶ τὸ ποιηθὲν τοῦ ποιήσαν τος; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ πάθος ὑπομεμενηκέναι φησί. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς ἄλλον τινὰ πεπονθέναι φαμέν· ἴσμεν δὲ ὅμως παρὰ τῆς θείας διδαχθέντες γραφῆς, ὡς ἀπαθὴς ἡ τῆς θεότητος φύσις. Ἀπάθειαν τοίνυν καὶ πάθος ἀκούοντες καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος καὶ θεότητος ἕνωσιν, τοῦ παθητοῦ σώματος τὸ πάθος εἶναί φαμεν, τὴν ἀπαθῆ δὲ φύσιν ἐλευθέραν μεμενηκέναι τοῦ πάθους ὁμολογοῦμεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Σῶμα τοίνυν ἡμῖν τὴν σωτηρίαν προὐξένησεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκ ἀνθρώπου σῶμα ψιλοῦ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτό σοι νομίζεται μικρόν τε καὶ εὐτελές, πῶς τὸν τούτου γε τύπον σεπτὸν ἡγῇ καὶ σωτήριον; Εἰ δὲ ὁ τύπος προσκυνητὸς καὶ σεβάσμιος, πῶς αὐτὸ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον εὐκαταφρόνητον καὶ σμικρόν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐκ εὐτελὲς ἡγοῦμαι τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλὰ διαιρεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς θεότητος οὐκ ἀνέχομαι. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς, ὦ ἀγαθέ, διαιροῦμεν τὴν ἕνωσιν, ἀλλὰ θεωροῦ μεν τὰ τῶν φύσεων ἴδια. Καὶ σὺ δὲ δήπουθεν συνομολογήσεις αὐτίκα. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Προφητικῶς ταῦτα προσαγορεύεις. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐ προφητικῶς, ἀλλ' εἰδὼς τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν δύναμιν. Ἀλλά μοι ἀπόκριναι καὶ τοῦτο προσερωτῶντι· ὅταν ἀκούσῃς τοῦ κυρίου λέγοντος, "Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν," καί, "Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ, ἑώρακε τὸν πατέρα," τῆς σαρκὸς ταῦτα λέγεις ἢ τῆς θεότητος ἴδια; 201 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ πῶς οἷόν τε κατ' οὐσίαν ἓν εἶναι τὴν σάρκα καὶ τὸν πατέρα; {ΟΡΘ.} Τοιγαροῦν τῆς θεότητος ταῦτα δηλωτικά. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ τό, "Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος," καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὡμολόγηται. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὅταν δὲ πάλιν ἡ θεία λέγῃ γραφή, "Ἰησοῦς δὲ κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐκάθητο οὕτως ἐπὶ τῆς πηγῆς," τίνος ὑποληπτέον τὸν κόπον; τῆς θεότητος ἢ τοῦ σώματος; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐκ