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Thus they say that quality is, on the one hand, essential, as in man the rational, or in a horse the neighing; and on the other, hypostatic, as of a certain man the hook-nosed, or the snub-nosed; or of a certain horse the dappled or the chestnut. And so it is with all other created essences and hypostases, contemplated in beings commonly and individually, that is, universally and particularly, according to which the difference between species 0249 and individuals in relation to one another is known, distinguishing the truth of things.

But in the case of the unbegotten and monarchical nature, quality would not be spoken of at all or properly. For the Divine is not from some essence and accidents, since it would then certainly be created, as being composed and constituted from these. But improperly, and insofar as one might be able to conjecture things beyond us from things among us; since we are not otherwise, or only with difficulty, able to receive a dim knowledge of them, and to express it in speech, at least to some extent, even if not perfectly; a natural quality is the all-holy, the all-powerful, the all-perfect, the super-perfect, the self-perfect, the self-ruling, the all-seeing and whatever else of this kind is called natural and divine, and befitting God alone as super-essential. And a hypostatic quality, of the Father is the unbegotten, of the Son the begotten, and of the Holy Spirit the proceeding, that is, unbegottenness, and the generation and the procession, which they also call properties, because these belong naturally or hypostatically to Him alone and to no other (when speaking of God). From which both the essential and hypostatic differences are constituted, improperly, as I said, in the case of God, but properly according to nature in the case of all created things. Whence they say that these are the same as each other, I mean quality and property and difference, (15Α_332> and of accidents, but not holding the place of some subject, that is, of an essence. They differ in that quality is more universal, and applies to all things simply, since nothing that exists, except God, is without quality, just as nothing is without relation or formless. But property is particular, in relation to that, and is not spoken of all things, but simply and in a certain way (however much and simply, but in a certain way), and of this essence, and not of another; and difference as constitutive of beings and definitive. Whence they also name it thus, calling it a constitutive difference which distinguishes, as I said, beings according to essence and nature, and according to person and hypostasis, and driving out all alteration and confusion of all things.

This, then, being so, according to the teaching of the Fathers, is the conception and clarification, to speak in summary, concerning quality and property and difference. But it is impossible that any of these should ever be or be conceived without the underlying essence, of which each of these is and is spoken; 0252 for quality and property and difference are spoken of an essence and not of themselves; and he who does not say this has acted irrationally, having irrationally departed from the natural reason. Of which Severus, the mad sophist, alone and contrary to all, as though contemplating for himself and fashioning things that are in no way anywhere, speaks of a difference of qualities without essence in the case of Christ, in order to declare Him non-existent, by the rejection of the natures from which and in which He is constituted, and again by the co-rejection of the qualities themselves. For if the natures were removed, Christ would not be able to subsist in them anymore or at all from these, I mean the qualities, even if the wretch monstrously calls Him composite, and from this makes his denial of Him complete. For what is composite is not God or the nature of God; since then every composite nature would be God by nature. But if every composite nature is God by nature, then according to him the Father, who is uncompounded, is not God; (15Α_334> for if the composite is God by nature, the uncompounded is not God by nature. But if the uncompounded is also God by nature, the atheist and anti-theist would have declared someone a polytheist, being ignorant of the truly existing God who became flesh, but who preserved, even in the composition of the hypostasis, His simplicity and uncompoundedness according to nature with respect to the Father, as God by nature and from God, even though

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Ποιότητα γοῦν εἶναί φασιν, οὐσιώδη μέν ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀνθρώπου τό λογικόν, ἤ ἵππου τό χρεμετιστικόν· ὑποστατικήν δέ τοῦ τινος ἀνθρώπου γρυπόν, ἤ σιμόν· ἤ τοῦ τινος ἵππου τό ψαρόν ἤ ξανθόν. Οὕτω δέ καί ἐπί τῶν ἄλλων ἔχει γενητῶν ἁπάντων οὐσιῶν καί ὑποστάσεων, κοινῶς τε καί ἰδικῶς, ἤγουν καθολικῶς τε καί μερικῶς τοῖς οὖσιν ἐνθεωρουμένην, καθ᾿ ἥν καί πρός ἄλληλα διαφορά τῶν τε εἰδῶν 0249 καί ἀτόμων γνωρίζεται, διευκρινοῦσα τήν τῶν πράγματων ἀλήθειαν.

Ἐπί δέ τῆς ἀγεννήτου καί μοναρχικῆς φύσεως, οὐκ ἄν μέν ὅλως ἤ κυρίως λεχθείη ποιότης. Οὐ γάρ ἐξ οὐσίας τινός καί συμβεβηκότων τό Θεῖον, ἐπεί καί κτιστόν ἔσται πάντως, ὡς ἐκ τούτων σύνθετον καί συγκείμενον. Καταχρηστικῶς δέ, καί ὅσον ἄν τις ἐκ τῶν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς δύναιτ᾿ ἄν τά ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς εἰκάζειν· ἅτε δή μήτ᾿ ἄλλως ἤ οὕτως καί μόγις ἱκανούντων ἡμῶν τήν ἐκείνων ἀμυδρῶς εἰσδέξασθαι γνῶσιν, καί λόγῳ κἄν ποσῶς γοῦν, εἰ καί μή τελείως, διατρανοῦν· φυσική μέν ποιότης ἐστί τό πανάγιον, τό πανσθενές, τό παντέλειον, τό ὑπερτελές, τό αὐτοτελές, τό αὐτοκρατορικόν, τό παντέφορον καί εἴτι τοιοῦτον ἄλλο λέγεται φυσικόν τε καί θεῖον, καί Θεῷ μόνον συμπρέπον ὡς ὑπερούσιον. Ὑποστατική δέ ποιότης, Πατρός μέν τό ἀγέννητον, Υἱοῦ δέ τό γεννητόν, καί Πνεύματος ἁγίου τό ἐκπορευτόν, ἤγουν ἀγεννησία, καί ἡ γέννησις καί ἡ ἐκπόρευσις, ἅπερ καί ἰδιότητας ὀνομάζουσι, διά τῷ μόνον αὐτῷ καί οὐκ ἄλλῳ (περί Θεοῦ λέγεται) προσεῖναι ταῦτα φυσικῶς ἤ ὑποστατικῶς. Ἐξ ὧν αἵ τε οὐσιώδεις καί ὑποστατικαί συνίστανται διαφοραί, καταχρησικῶς μέν, ὡς ἔφην, ἐπί Θεοῦ, κατά φύσιν δέ κυρίως ἐπί τῶν γενητῶν ἁπάντων. Ὅθεν ταὐτόν μέν ἀλλήλοις ὑπάρχειν ταῦτά φασι, ποιότητά φημι καί ἰδιότητα καί διαφοράν, (15Α_332> καί τῶν τε συμβεβηκότων, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑποκειμένου τινός, ἤγουν οὐσίας λόγον ἐπέχειν. ∆ιαφέρειν μέν τῷ τήν ποιότητα καθολικωτέραν εἶναι, καί ἐπί πάντων ἁπλῶς, εἴπερ οὐδέν παρέξ Θεοῦ τῶν ὄντων ἄποιον, ὡς οὐκ ἄσχετον, οὐδέ ἀνείδεον. Τήν ἰδιότητα δέ μερικήν, ὡς πρός ἐκείνην, καί μή ἁπασῶν, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς καί τοιῶσδε (ὁποσοῦν καί ἁπλῶς, ἀλλά τοιῶσδε ) λέγεσθαι, καί ἐπί τῆσδε τῆς οὐσίας, καί οὐκ ἄλλης· τήν δέ διαφοράν ὡς συστατικήν τῶν ὄντων καί ἀφοριστικήν. Ὅθεν καί οὕτω ταύτην κατονομάζουσι, συστατικήν καλοῦντες διαφοράν διευκρίνουσαν, ὡς ἔφην, τά ὄντα κατά τε οὐσίαν καί φύσιν, κατά τε πρόσωπον καί ὑπόστασιν, καί πᾶσαν πασῶν ἐλαύνουσαν τροπήν τε καί σύγχυσιν.

Αὕτη οὖν καί οὕτως ἔχουσα, κατά τήν τῶν Πατέρων διδασκαλίαν, ἡ περί ποιότητος καί ἰδιότητος καί διαφορᾶς, ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ φάναι, διάληψίς τε καί διασάφησις. Ἀμήχανον δέ τι τούτων εἶναί ποτ᾿ ἄν ἤ ἐπινοηθῆναι δύνασθαι χωρίς τῆς ὑποκειμένης οὐσίας, ἧς καί ἔστι καί λέγεται τούτων ἕκαστον· 0252 οὐσίας γάρ ἀλλ' οὐχ ἑαυτῆς ἤ τε ποιότης λέγεται καί ἰδιότης καί διαφορά· καί ὁ μή τοῦτο λέγων, ἠλόγησε, τοῦ κατά φύσιν λόγου παρά λόγον ἐκστάς. Οὗπερ μόνος καί παρά πάντας Σεβῆρος ὁ παράφρων σοφιστής, ὡς τά μηδαμῆ μηδαμῶς περινοῶν ἑαυτῷ καί πλαττόμενος, καί ποιοτήτων ἀνουσίων ἐπί Χριστοῦ λέγων διαφοράν, ἵν᾿ ἀνύπαρκτον αὐτόν ἀποφήνῃ, τῇ τῶν ἐξ ὧν καί ἐν αἷς συνέστηκε φύσεων ἀποσκευῇ, καί αὐτῶν γε πάλιν συναποσκευῇ τῶν ποιοτήτων. Οὐ γάρ δύναιντ᾿ ἄν ἀναιρουμένων τῶν φύσεων,·ὡς μηδέ κἄν ταύταις λοιπόν ἤ ὅλως ἐκ τούτων, λέγω δέ τῶν ποιοτήτων, ὑφιστᾷν δύνασθαι τόν Χριστόν, εἰ καί σύνθετον αὐτόν τερατολογεῖ ὁ δείλαιος, κἀντεῦθεν τελείαν αὐτοῦ ποιούμενος τήν ἐξάρνησιν. Οὐ γάρ Θεός ἤ Θεοῦ φύσις, ἡ σύνθετος· ἐπεί καί πᾶσα σύνθετος φύσις φύσει Θεός. Εἰ δέ πᾶσα σύνθετος φύσις φύσει Θεός, οὐ Θεός κατ᾿ αὐτόν ὁ Πατήρ ὁ ἀσύνθετος· (15Α_334> εἰ γάρ τό σύνθετον φύσει Θεός, οὐ φύσει Θεός τό ἀσύνθετον. Εἰ δέ καί τό ἀσύνθετον φύσει Θεός, πολύθεός τις ἄν ἀπέφηνεν ὁ ἄθεος καί ἀντίθεος, ἀγνοήσας τόν ὄντως ὄντα Θεόν καί σάρκα γενόμενον, ἀλλά φυλάξαντα κἀν τῇ συνθέσει τῆς ὑποστάσεως τό πρός τόν Πατέρα κατά φύσιν ἁπλοῦν καί ἀσύνθετον, ὡς Θεόν φύσει καί ἐκ Θεοῦ, κἄν