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because of the number itself, or even because of its very existence. But if for this reason, they would also destroy the nature of the flesh, which is opposed to the Word because of its existence. For, as is evident to all, the subject is much stronger in opposition than that which is in a subject. But if only because of the number, let them make the natures devoid of it, and not count even one of them? And let them again for the same reason reject it in the case of the three hypostases of the one and unoriginate Godhead, so that it too may not be in conflict with itself, but it is absurd to assign such great power to what is absolutely nothing, not a substance, not a quality, not anything else that exists; and it is more absurd to blame the very existence of the natural will, and from that to construct its abolition. And this, when it is the foremost inborn power among the other natural properties and movements in the (196) nature. For only according to this do we naturally desire to be and to live, and to move, and to think, and to speak, and to perceive, and to partake of nourishment, and of sleep and rest, and not to be in pain, nor to die, and simply to have perfectly the possessions of all things that constitute nature, and to be deprived of those things that destroy it.

And it seems to me that in this too the devout monk acted fittingly, according to his own definition, and added: " And of the things essentially belonging to nature, the power that holds together all properties." For the essential and inborn will in us always holds all things together, and desires to hold them together, and to have the deprivation of nothing; or rather, we do, through it and according to it; and I think that anyone who takes any account of what is, and not of what seems to be, will certainly agree, that as man the incarnate God has a natural and human will; and that he naturally wills each of the enumerated things according to it, for the confirmation of his flesh being endowed with an intelligent and rational soul, if indeed he became a perfect man, lacking in none of our attributes, except sin alone; but having all that we have, without omission, the things that naturally constitute our substance, just as also those of the unoriginate and divine [substance], through which he properly knew himself to be at once both man and God, and that he preserved perfectly after the union his natural kinship to us and to the Father.

For to say that only at the time of the saving passion, when he was truly prefiguring our state in himself, and as man was shrinking from death, he was shown to have two wills, seems to me to be a declaration, not a proof. For how was it only at this time, and not before it, and for what reason? For if he had it then, he also had it from the beginning, from when he became man, but he did not improvise it later; but if he did not have it from the beginning, neither did he have it at the time of the passion, but only feigned the shrinking, and in addition to this, the rest of the things through which we have been saved, such as the tear, the prayer, the sorrow, the agony, the cross, the death, the burial; for if one of the natural things pertaining to us which are saved in him is invalidated, neither will the others stand. For why that one, and not these? And what is the reason? And what sort of opposition is it, to pray and voluntarily to make a display of the weakness of the natural will—that according to the flesh, I mean—through shrinking, and not to resist at all, but to say: If it is possible. And: Not what I will, but what you will; and to join to that shrinking the strong and ready movement against death? For he was truly prefiguring our state in himself, through the natural agony for a little while, (197) in order to free us from this too, and to confirm the nature of his own flesh, and to make the economy clear of phantasy for all; but then he immediately presented again the greatest impulse against death, and the extreme conformity and union of that which is human in him with his own and the Father's will, by approving this and saying: Not mine,

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δι᾿ αὐτόν γε τόν ἀριθμόν, ἤ καί δι᾿ αὐτό τό ὑπάρχειν. Εἰ δέ διά τοῦτο, καί τήν φύσιν ἀνέλωσι τῆς σαρκός, ἀντικειμένην τῷ Λόγῳ διά τήν ὕπαρξιν. Πολλῷ γάρ ἰσχυρότερον, ὡς πᾶσιν εὔδηλον, εἰς ἀντίταξιν, τό ὑποκείμενον τοῦ ἐν ὑποκειμένῳ καθέστηκεν. Εἰ δέ διά μόνον τόν ἀριθμόν, καί τούτου τάς φύσεις ἐρήμους ποιήσωσι, καί μηδέ μίαν αὐτῶν ἀριθμείτωσαν; παραιτείσθωσαν δέ καί πάλιν αὐτόν διά τήν αὐτήν, κἀπί τῶν τῆς μιᾶς καί ἀνάρχου θεότητος τριῶν ὑποστάσεων, ἵνα μή κἀκείνη στασιάζῃ πρός ἑαυτήν, ἀλλ᾿ ἄτοπόν γε τῷ μηδέν ὄντι τό σύνολον, οὐκ οὐσία, οὐ ποιόν, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν ὄντων, ἰσχύν τοσαύτην ἀποκληροῦν· ἀτοπώτερον δέ, καί τήν ὕπαρξιν αὐτήν τοῦ φυσικοῦ θελήματος αἰτιᾶσθαι, κἀντεῦθεν τήν ἀναίρεσιν αὐτοῦ κατασκευάζειν. Καί ταῦτα, τῶν ἄλλων ἐν τῇ (196) φύσει πρωτίστην οὖσαν φυσικῶν ἰδιωμάτων καί κινημάτων ἔμφυτον δύναμιν. Κατά ταύτην γάρ μόνην, τοῦ εἶναι καί ζῇν, καί κινεῖσθαι, καί νοεῖν, καί λαλεῖν, καί αἰσθάνεσθαι, καί μετέχειν τροφῆς, ὕπνου τε καί ἀναπαύσεως, καί μή ἀλγύνεσθαι, μηδέ θνήσκειν, καί ἁπλῶς ἁπάντων τῶν συνιστώντων τήν φύσιν, ἔχειν τελείως τάς ἕξεις, καί τῶν λυμαινομένων τάς στερήσεις, φυσικῶς ἐφιέμεθα.

Καί μοι φαίνεται κἀν τούτῳ προσηκόντως ποιήσας, κατά τόν αὐτοῦ ὁρισμόν ὁ εὐλαβής μοναχός, καί προσθείς τό· " Καί τῶν οὐσιωδῶς τῇ φύσει προσόντων, συνεκτικήν πάντων ἰδιωμάτων." Πάντα γάρ ἀεί συνέχει, καί συνέχειν ἐφίεται , καί οὐδενός ἔχειν τήν στέρησιν, τό οὐσιῶδες ἐν ἡμῖν καί ἔμφυτον θέλημα· μᾶλλον δέ ἡμεῖς, δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τε καί κατ᾿ αὐτό· καί οἶμαι τόν καί ποσῶς τοῦ ὄντος, ἀλλά μή τοῦ δοκοῦντος λόγον ποιούμενον συνθήσεσθαι πάντως δή, καί ὡς ἄνθρωπον τόν σαρκωθέντα Θεόν φυσικόν ἔχειν καί ἀνθρώπινον θέλημα· καί τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων ἕκαστον θέλειν κατ᾿ αὐτό φυσικῶς, πρός πίστωσιν τῆς νοερῶς αὐτοῦ καί λογικῶς ἐψυχωμένης σαρκός, εἴπερ τέλειος ἄνθρωπος γέγονε, μηδενί τῶν ἡμετέρων λειπόμενος, πλήν μόνης τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ἀλλά πάντα ἔχων ὅσα καί ἡμεῖς, ἀπαραλείπτως τό κατά φύσιν συστατικά τῆς ἡμετέρας οὐσίας, ὥσπερ οὖν καί τά τῆς ἀνάρχου καί θείας, δι᾿ ὧν ἄνθρωπον ἑαυτόν ὁμοῦ καί Θεόν ὄντα κυρίως ἐγνώριζε, καί τήν πρός ἡμᾶς, καί τόν Πατέρα τελείως φυσικήν συγγένειαν διασώζοντα μετά τήν ἕνωσιν.

Τό γάρ δή λέγειν, ὡς ἐν τῷ καιρῷ μόνῳ τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους, ἡνίκα τό ἡμέτερον ἐτύπου πραγματικῶς ἐν ἑαυτῷ, καί ὡς ἄνθρωπος παρῃτεῖτο τόν θάνατον, δύο θελήματα ἔχων ἐδείκνυτο, ἀποφαντικόν, οὐκ ἀποδεικτικόν μοι δοκεῖ. Πῶς γάρ ἐν τούτῳ μόνῳ τῷ καιρῷ, καί μή πρό τούτου, καί δι᾿ ἥντινα τήν αἰτίαν. Εἰ μέν γάρ εἶχε τότε, καί ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς εἶχεν ἐξ οὖ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὕστερον ἐσχεδίασεν· εἰ δέ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶχεν, οὐ δέ κατά τόν καιρόν τοῦ πάθους, ἀλλά μόνον ἐφάντασε τήν παραίτησιν, καί πρός ταύτῃ τά λοιπά δι᾿ ὧν σεσώσμεθα, οἷον τό δάκρυον, τήν εὐχήν, τήν λύπην, τήν ἀγωνίαν, τόν σταυρόν, τόν θάνατον, τήν ταφήν· ἑνός γάρ ἀκυρουμένου τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς φυσικῶν σωζομένων, οὐδέ τά ἄλλα στήσεται. Πῶς γάρ οὐκ ἐκεῖνο μέν, ταῦτα δέ; Καί τίς ὁ λόγος; ἐναντίωσις δέ ποῖα τό προσεύχεσθαι, καί φυσικῆς ἐκουσίως; τῆς κατά τήν σάρκα λέγω, πρόσδειξιν ἀσθενείας ποιεῖσθαι διά τῆς συστολῆς, καί μή ἀντιτείνειν ὅλως, ἀλλά λέγειν· Εἰ δυνατόν. Καί· Μή τί ἐγώ θέλω, ἀλλ᾿ εἴ τι σύ· καί συνάπτειν τῇ συστολῇ τήν ἰσχυράν κατά τοῦ θανάτου καί πρόθυμον κίνησιν; Ἐτύπου μέν γάρ πραγματικῶς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τό ἡμέτερον, διά τῆς φυσικῆς πρός μικρόν ἀγωνίας (197) ἵνα καί ταύτης ἡμᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃ, καί τῆς οἰκείας σαρκός τήν φύσιν πιστώσηται, καί πᾶσι καθαράν τήν οἰκονομίαν φαντασίας ἐργάσηται· παρίστη δέ πάλιν εὐθύς τήν κατά τοῦ θανάτου μεγίστην ὁρμήν, καί τήν ἄκραν τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἀνθρωπικοῦ, πρός τό οἰκεῖον αὐτοῦ καί Πατρικόν θέλημα, συμφυίαν καί ἕνωσιν, τῷ ἐπικρῖναι τοῦτο καί φάσκειν· Μή τό ἐμόν,