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the history of the Acts relates, how Herod killed James the brother of John with a sword, we would least of all think that his soul also died. {ERAN.} For how could we, when we remember the Lord's exhortation, which says, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul?" {ORTH.} Does it not seem to you impious and dreadful, when hearing human names, not always to think of soul and body together, nor when scripture relates about death and burial, to include the soul with the body in your thought, but to think that these things pertain to the body alone, and to know the immortality of the soul, believing the Lord's teaching; but when hearing of the passion of the Son of God, not to do so, but to mention least of all the body, to which the passion belongs, and to declare in word that the divine nature, which is impassible and unchangeable and immortal, is mortal and passible; and this, knowing that if the nature of God the Word were able to suffer, the assumption of the body would have been superfluous? 204 {ERAN.} We have learned from the divine scripture that the Son of God endured the passion. {ORTH.} And indeed the divine apostle interprets the passion, and points out the nature that suffered. {ERAN.} Show me then as quickly as possible, and resolve the dispute. {ORTH.} Do you not know that passage of the epistle written to the Hebrews, where the divine Paul says: "Therefore he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing your praise; and again: Behold, I and the children whom God has given me." {ERAN.} I know these things, but there is nothing in them of what you promised to prove. {ORTH.} These things too hint at what I promised to show. For the name of brotherhood denotes kinship, and the assumed nature produced the kinship; and the assumption openly proclaims the impassibility of the Godhead. But so that I may teach you this more clearly, read what follows. {ERAN.} "Since therefore the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same things, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." {ORTH.} I think these things need no clarification; for it clearly teaches the mystery of the economy. {ERAN.} I have seen nothing in these things of what you promised to show. {ORTH.} And yet the divine apostle taught expressly that the Creator, pitying the nature of men, not only bitterly seized by death, but also enslaved by fear throughout all their life, through a body effected the resurrection for bodies, and through a mortal nature destroyed the dominion of death. For since he himself had an immortal nature, but wished justly to put an end to the power of death, taking a first-fruit from those subject to death, and keeping it blameless and uninitiated in sin, he allowed death to seize this also and to sate its greed; but because of the injustice against this, he also put an end to the unjust 205 tyranny over others. For by raising the first-fruit that had been unjustly swallowed up, he prepared the race to follow it. Compare this interpretation with the apostolic sayings, and you will see the impassibility of the Godhead. {ERAN.} Nothing has been declared in the sayings that were read concerning the divine impassibility. {ORTH.} So then, the divine apostle's saying, that for this reason he shared in flesh and blood with the children, "that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death," does it not clearly show the impassibility of the Godhead and the passibility of the flesh, and that, since the divine nature could not suffer, he took that which could suffer, and through it destroyed the power of the devil? {ERAN.} How through the flesh did he destroy both the power of the devil and the dominion of death? {ORTH.} With what weapons from the beginning, having used...

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τῶν πράξεων ἱστορίας διηγου μένης, ὡς ὁ Ἡρώδης ἀνεῖλεν Ἰάκωβον τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἰωάννου μαχαίρᾳ, ἥκιστα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν νομιοῦμεν τεθνάναι. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πῶς γὰρ οἵ γε τῆς δεσποτικῆς παραινέσεως μεμνημένοι, "Μὴ φοβεῖσθε, λεγούσης, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεννόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι;" {ΟΡΘ.} Οὔ σοι δοκεῖ δυσσεβὲς εἶναι καὶ σχέτλιον, τῶν μὲν ἀνθρω πίνων ὀνομάτων ἀκούοντας μὴ ἀεὶ ψυχὴν ὁμοῦ καὶ σῶμα νοεῖν, μηδὲ θανάτου πέρι καὶ τάφου τῆς γραφῆς διηγουμένης, συμπεριλαμβάνειν τῇ διανοίᾳ τῷ σώματι τὴν ψυχήν, ἀλλὰ τῷ σώματι μόνῳ ταῦτα προσήκειν νομίζειν, τὴν δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀθανασίαν εἰδέναι, τῇ τοῦ κυρίου διδασκαλίᾳ πιστεύοντας· τοῦ δὲ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ πάθος ἀκούοντας, μὴ οὕτω ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν σώματος, ᾧ προσήκει τὸ πάθος, ἥκιστα μνημονεύειν, τὴν δὲ θείαν φύσιν, τὴν ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀθάνατον θνητὴν τῷ λόγῳ καὶ παθητὴν ἀποφαίνειν· καὶ ταῦτα εἰδότας, ὡς εἴπερ οἵα τε παθεῖν ἦν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου φύσις, περιττὴ τοῦ σώματος ἡ πρόσληψις ἦν; 204 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Παρὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς μεμαθήκαμεν, ὡς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ πάθος ὑπέμεινεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ μὴν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος ἑρμηνεύει τὸ πάθος, καὶ τὴν πεπονθυῖαν ἐπιδείκνυσι φύσιν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆εῖξον τοίνυν ὡς τάχιστα, καὶ λύσον τὴν ἀμφισβήτησιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκ οἶσθα τὸ χωρίον ἐκεῖνο τῆς πρὸς Ἑβραίους γραφείσης ἐπιστολῆς, ἔνθα φησὶν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος· "∆ιὸ οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεται ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοὺς καλεῖν, λέγων· Ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελ φοῖς μου· ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε· καὶ πάλιν· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν ὁ θεός." {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οἶδα ταῦτα, ἀλλ' οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν τούτοις ὧν ἀποδείξειν ὑπέσχου. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὑποφαίνει μὲν καὶ ταῦτα ὅπερ δείξειν ἐπηγγειλάμην. Τὸ γὰρ τῆς ἀδελφότητος ὄνομα δηλοῖ συγγένειαν, τὴν δὲ συγγένειαν ἡ προσληφθεῖσα φύσις εἰργάσατο· ἡ δὲ πρόσληψις ἀναφανδὸν κηρύττει τὸ τῆς θεότητος ἀπαθές. Ἵνα δέ σε τοῦτο διδάξω σαφέστερον, ἀνάγ νωθι τὰ ἑξῆς. {ΕΡΑΝ.} "Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκε σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος, παραπλησίως καὶ αὐτὸς μετέσχηκε τῶν αὐτῶν, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ θανάτου καταργήσῃ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ ἀπαλλάξῃ τού τους, ὅσοι φόβῳ θανάτου διὰ παντὸς τοῦ ζῆν ἔνοχοι ἦσαν δουλείας." {ΟΡΘ.} Οἶμαι ταῦτα σαφηνείας μὴ δεῖσθαι· σαφῶς γὰρ διδάσκει τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὧν ἐπηγγείλω δείξειν ἐν τούτοις οὐδὲν ἑώρακα. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ μὴν διαρρήδην ἐδίδαξεν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος, ὡς οἰκτείρας τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν ὁ ποιητής, οὐ μόνον ἁρπαζομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου πικρῶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ζωὴν τῷ δέει δεδουλω μένην, διὰ σώματος τοῖς σώμασιν ἐπραγματεύσατο τὴν ἀνάστασιν, καὶ διὰ φύσεως θνητῆς κατέλυσε τοῦ θανάτου τὴν δυναστείαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀθάνατον εἶχε τὴν φύσιν, ἐβουλήθη δὲ δικαίως παῦσαι τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος, ἐκ τῶν ὑποκειμένων τῷ θανάτῳ λαβὼν ἀπαρχήν, καὶ ταύτην ἄμωμον φυλάξας καὶ ἁμαρτίας ἀμύητον, παρεχώρησε μὲν τῷ θανάτῳ καὶ ταύτην ἁρπάσαι καὶ τὴν ἀπληστίαν ἐμπλῆσαι· διὰ δὲ τὴν κατὰ ταύτης ἀδικίαν, καὶ τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἄλλων 205 ἄδικον ἔπαυσε τυραννίδα. Τὴν γὰρ ἀδίκως καταποθεῖσαν ἀπαρχὴν ἀναστήσας, ἀκολουθῆσαι ταύτῃ παρεσκεύασε τὸ γένος. Ταύτην τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς ῥητοῖς παράθες τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, καὶ ὄψει τὴν τῆς θεότητος ἀπάθειαν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδὲν ἐν τοῖς ἀναγνωσθεῖσι ῥητοῖς περὶ τῆς θείας ἀπα θείας δεδήλωται. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ οὖν φάναι τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον, διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς παιδίοις αὐτὸν κεκοινωνηκέναι σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος, "ἵνα διὰ τοῦ θανάτου καταργήσῃ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου," οὐ σαφῶς δηλοῖ τὸ τῆς θεότητος ἀπαθὲς καὶ τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς παθητόν, καὶ ὡς, παθεῖν τῆς θείας μὴ δυναμένης φύσεως, ἔλαβε τὴν παθεῖν δυναμένην, καὶ διὰ ταύτης ἔλυσε τοῦ διαβόλου τὸ κράτος; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πῶς διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τοῦ διαβόλου τὸ κράτος ἔλυσε καὶ τοῦ θανάτου τὴν δυναστείαν; {ΟΡΘ.} Τίσιν ὅπλοις ἐξ ἀρχῆς χρησάμενος ὁ