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in truth God and man, and truly being, and truly named. Having the one and singular [nature] from the union according to hypostasis, but not by nature, as the Fathers teach, saying, "For even if the composite is one, yet not by the nature of the coming together;" by which, economically for our sake, as good, having deigned to become composite, He remains simple by nature, according to which He is of the same nature with the Father and consubstantial, preserving it unharmed even after the incarnation. For divinity and humanity are not the same. For even if the Word of God became man, yet it was by the assumption of flesh, endued with intellect, inseparably united to Him hypostatically, that He became man. Wherefore the same is truly both God and man, as being the one and having become the other; and existing as this and that without defect; neither being confused by the utterly singular character of the hypostasis, in which the principle of difference is entirely absent; nor being divided by the pure otherness of the natures of which He is composed; in which the principle of difference is in no way annulled because of the union.

Since, therefore, the difference of the natures of which Christ is composed is preserved unconfusedly even after the union, there is not, I think, any argument at all able to show that it is just that the number of things differing by nature and preserved in Christ according to an (15B_346> 0588 indivisible union should not be confessed; because every difference certainly introduces with itself a number of some things, differing from one another in some respect. For no one, even if he be ingenious and most resourceful, will ever be able to say that there is a difference without number, if he is thinking rightly and taking even the slightest account of the truth; knowing clearly that every difference is either the otherness of certain things in essence, or the dissimilarity of certain things in quality and property; which the number of the underlying realities, whether they are in union, or even without it, certainly effects. For in those things in which the one and the same principle is not observed in every way, there is an indication of number, of which difference is a property. If therefore in Christ, on the one hand, it follows logically to speak of the entirely singular according to hypostasis in relation to the union, as the Fathers teach; and on the other hand, it is both consequent and fitting to speak of number in relation to the difference of the natures of which Christ is composed, which are preserved in Christ unconfusedly and indivisibly even after the union; it is clear that, just as he who does not say that Christ, because of the hypostatic union, is one incarnate nature of God the Word, understood correctly according to the interpretation of our most holy Father and teacher Cyril, does not believe the union to have taken place; so too he who does not confess the two natures after the union, of which Christ is composed, cannot say that the difference is preserved. For the difference after the union consists of a natural otherness of those things of which Christ is composed, and not only of a dissimilarity in quality, without the natures that underlie the qualities; without which it is impossible for a quality to exist by itself; so that we may not introduce a bare, or rather to speak more properly, a false and non-existent difference.

Being persuaded that we hold this confession of faith precisely according to the Fathers, I did not hesitate at any time to write to all everywhere, to patriarchs and bishops and rulers, and to our most pious and all-clement emperors themselves, for the thanksgiving (15B_348> of God, making manifest to all your genuine conversion and faith in Christ. And I never thought, as I said, that you would so quickly be removed from your saving calling. But since on account of my sins, the evil one who from the beginning through deceit has been dragging the race of men to ruin and destruction, was strong enough to persuade you also, to prefer falsehood to the truth; and more than God, and the good things laid up for the saints, for the sake of an evil habit, to grant a deception to men who have been taught only to entice to death; and has been able to make you return to your own vomit, to speak prophetically, like dogs, I exhort you, if indeed you are so incurably disposed, and to the end

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ἀληθείᾳ Θεός καί ἄνθρωπος καί ὑπάρχων κυρίως, καί ἀληθῶς ὀνομαζόμενος. Τό ἐκ τῆς ἑνώσεως ἕν τε καί μοναδικόν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά φύσει ἔχων, ὡς οἱ Πατέρες διδάσκουσι, φάσκοντες, "Εἰ γάρ καί τό συναμφότερον ἕν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῇ φύσει τῇ συνόδῳ·" καθ᾿ ἥν οἰκονομικῶς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ὡς ἀγαθός, σύνθετος γενέσθαι καταδεξάμενος, τό κατά φύσιν ἁπλοῦν, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁμοφυής ἐστι τῷ Πατρί καί ὁμοούσιος διαμένει, φυλάττων ἀλώβητον καί μετά τήν σάρκωσιν. Οὐ γάρ ταυτόν θεότης καί ἀνθρωπότης. Κἄν γάρ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἀλλά κατά πρόσληψιν σαρκός νοερῶς καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἀδιασπάστως ἑνωθείσης αὐτῷ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. ∆ιό καί Θεός ἐστιν ὁ αὐτός κυρίως καί ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἐκεῖνο ὤν καί τοῦτο γενόμενος· καί τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο ὑπάρχων ἀνελλιπῶς· μήτε τῷ ἄκρως μοναδικῷ τῆς ὑποστάσεως συγχεόμενος, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τῆς διαφορᾶς παντελῶς ἄπεστι λόγος· μήτε τῷ ἀκραιφνεῖ τῆς ἑτερότητος τῶν ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκε φύσεων διαιρούμενος· καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τῆς διαφορᾶς διά τήν ἕνωσιν οὐδαμῶς ἀνῄρηται λόγος.

Τῆς οὖν διαφορᾶς τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἐστι φύσεων ὁ Χριστός ἀσυγχύτως σωζομένης καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, οὐκ ἔστιν, ὡς οἶμαι, παντελῶς ὁ δεῖξαι δυνάμενος λόγος, δίκαιον εἶναι τό ποσόν τῶν φυσικῶς διαφερόντων καί ἐν Χριστῷ σωζομένων καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν (15Β_346> 0588 ἀδιάσπαστον μή ὁμολογεῖσθαι· διότι πᾶσα δαφορά ποσόν ἑαυτῇ συνεισάγει πάντως τινῶν, ἀλλήλων κατά τι διαφερόντων. Οὐ γάρ ποσοῦ χωρίς πώποτέ τις, κἄν εὐμήχανος ᾖ καί ποριμώτατος, διαφοράν εἶναι φάναι δυνήσηται, καλῶς φρονῶν, καί ἀληθείας κἄν μικρόν γοῦν λόγον ποιούμενος· σαφῶς γινώσκων, ἤ τῆς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν τινῶν ἑτερότητος, ἤ τῆς κατά ποιότητα καί ἰδιότητά τινων ἀνομοιότητος πᾶσαν εἶναι διαφοράν· ἥν ἡ ποσότης τῶν ὑποκειμένων πραγμάτων, εἴτε καθ᾿ ἕνωσίν εἰσιν, ἤ καί ταύτης χωρίς πάντως ἐργάζεται. Ἐφ᾿ ὧν γάρ μή κατά πάντα τρόπον ὁ εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός θεωρεῖται λόγος, ποσότητος ἔνεστιν ἔμφασις, ἧς ἐστιν ἴδιον ἡ διαφορά. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐπί Χριστοῦ τῇ μέν ἑνώσει κατά λόγον τό πάντη μοναδικόν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, ὡς οἱ Πατέρες διδάσκουσιν, ἕπεται λέγειν· τῇ δέ τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός φύσεων καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν ἀσυγχύτως τε καί ἀδιαιρέτως ἐν Χριστῷ σωζομένων διαφορᾷ τό ποσόν λέγειν ἐστί ἀκόλουθόν τε καί πρόσφορον· δῆλον ὅτι, ὥσπερ ὁ μή λέγων τόν Χριστόν διά τήν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσιν μίαν εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου φύσιν σεσαρκωμένην, κατά τήν ἑρμηνείαν τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου Πατρός ἡμῶν καί διδασκάλου Κυρίλλου νοουμένην ὀρθῶς, οὐ πιστεύει γεγενῆσθαι τήν ἕνωσιν· οὕτω καί ὁ μή τάς δύο μετά τήν ἕνωσιν φύσεις ὁμολογῶν, ἐξ ὧν ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, τήν διαφοράν σώζεσθαι λέγειν οὐ δύναται. Φυσικῆς γάρ τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός ἑτερότητός ἐστι μετά τήν ἕνωσιν ἡ διαφορά, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῆς κατά ποιότητα μόνην ἀνομοιότητος, χωρίς τῶν ὑποκειμένων ταῖς ποιότησι φύσεων· ὧν ἄνευ ποιότητα καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν εἶναι τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἐστίν· ἵνα μή ψιλήν, μᾶλλον δέ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, ψευδῆ τήν διαφοράν εἰσάγωμεν καί ἀνύπαρκτον.

Ταύτην ἀκριβῶς κατέχειν ἡμᾶς κατά τούς Πατέρας τῆς πίστεως τήν ὁμολογίαν πεπεισμένος, πᾶσι πανταχοῦ ποτε γράφειν οὐκ ὤκνουν πατριάρχαις καί ἐπισκόποις καί ἄρχουσι, καί αὐτοῖς τοῖς εὐσεβεστάτοις καί πανημέροις ἡμῶν βασιλεῦσιν, ὑπέρ εὐχαριστίας (15Β_348> Θεοῦ, κατάδηλον πᾶσι ποιῶν τήν ὑμῶν εἰς Χριστόν γνησίαν μετάθεσίν τε καί πίστιν. Καί οὐκ ᾤμην ποτέ, καθάπερ ἔφην, ὑμᾶς οὕτω ταχέως μετατίθεσθαι τῆς σωτηρίου κλήσεως ὑμῶν. Ἐπειδή δέ διά τάς ἐμάς ἁμαρτίας, ὁ ἐξ ἀρχῆς δι᾿ ἀπάτης εἰς ὄλεθρον καί ἀπώλειαν τό γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑποσυρόμενος πονηρός, καί ὑμᾶς ἴσχυσε παραπεῖσαι, τῆς ἀληθείας προτιμῆσαι τό ψεῦδος· καί πλέον Θεοῦ, καί τῶν ἀποκειμένων ἀγαθῶν τοῖς ἁγίοις, συνηθείας ἕνεκεν πονηρᾶς, ἀπαταίωσιν ἀνθρώποις χαρίσασθαι πρός θάνατον δελεάζειν μόνον δεδιδαγμένοις· καί πρός τόν ἴδιον ἔμετον ὑμᾶς καθάπερ κύνας προφητικῶς εἰπεῖν ἐπιστρέψαι δεδύνηται, παρεγγυῶ, εἴπερ οὕτως ἀνιάτως ἔχετε, καί εἰς τέλος