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Air, receiving light through and through, does not lose its being as air, nor indeed does it corrupt the nature of the light, but with our eyes we see the light, and with our touch we perceive the air—for it approaches us either cold, or hot, or moist, or dry—it is of the utmost folly to call the union of the divinity and the humanity a confusion. For if fellow-servant and co-eternal and created natures, when united, and as it were mixed, remain uncorrupted, and when the light withdraws, the nature of the air remains in itself, it is much more just, surely, to confess that the nature which created all things, having been joined and united to the nature taken from us, has both remained itself unmixed, and has likewise preserved uncorrupted that which it took. For gold also, when it comes into contact with fire, partakes of the fire's color and energy, but it does not lose its own nature, but both remains gold and works the things of fire. So also the Lord's body is a body, but impassible, incorruptible, and immortal, and lordly, and divine, and glorified with divine glory. For it is not separated from the divinity, nor does it belong to anyone else, but to the Only-Begotten Son of God himself. For it does not show us another person, but the Only-Begotten himself clothed in our nature. This teaching we continually proclaim. But those who deny the economy that was for our sake have called us heretics, doing something similar to licentious women. For they too, selling their beauty in public, heap the reproaches of harlots upon the chaste, and apply the names of their own wantonness to those who abhor wantonness. This is what the Egyptian woman also did. For having embraced slavery to shameful desire, and having offered slavish flattery to the chaste man, then having failed to entice him, and not having ensnared him in the traps of pleasure, she called the lover of chastity a robber of another's bed. But these men will give an account to God, both for their contrivances against the faith, and for their plots against us. But I exhort those who have been led astray by the falsehoods that have arisen, to keep one of their ears for the accused, and not to hold both for the accusers. For thus they will fulfill the divine law, which clearly cries out: You shall not accept a false report, and: Judge a just judgment between a man and between his neighbor. For through these words the divine law enjoins not to believe the slanders against those who are absent, but to judge with the accused being present. 147 TO JOHN THE STEWARD. For me, quiet is pleasing and a life free from cares. For this reason I have also walled up the courtyard door of the monastery, and I avoid meetings with acquaintances. But since I have learned that an innovation against the evangelical faith is being stirred up, I do not consider silence to be without danger. For if, when a man destined to be king is insulted by some, danger hangs not only over those who have insulted him, but also over those who were present but in no way defended him against the offenders, what punishment would not they justly suffer who tolerate the blasphemies dared against our God and Savior? This fear has compelled me at the present time to write now and to make known what I have learned is being innovated by some. For many, as some say, are reporting in the city that when some presbyters had prayed and added the customary conclusion to the prayer, and some had said 'to you belongs glory, and to your Christ, and to your Holy Spirit'; and others, 'by the grace and love for mankind of your Christ, with whom glory belongs to you along with your Holy Spirit', the most wise archdeacon enjoined that one ought not to say 'the Christ,' but to glorify 'the Only-Begotten.' But if this is true, no impiety

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ἀὴρ ὅλος δι' ὅλου τὸ φῶς εἰσδεχόμενος οὐκ ἀπόλλυσι τὸ εἶναι ἀήρ, οὔτε μὴν τοῦ φωτὸς διαφθείρει τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρῶμεν τὸ φῶς, τῇ δὲ ἁφῇ τὸν ἀέρα γινώσκομεν-ἢ γὰρ ψυχρὸς ἡμῖν, ἢ θερμός, ἢ ὑγρός, ἢ ξηρὸς προσπελάζει-ἀνοίας ἐσχάτης σύγχυσιν ἀποκαλεῖν τὴν τῆς θεότητος καὶ τῆς ἀνθρω πότητος ἕνωσιν. Εἰ γὰρ αἱ ὁμόδουλοι καὶ ὁμόχρονοι καὶ κτισταὶ φύσεις ἑνούμεναι, καὶ οἱονεὶ κεραννύμεναι ἀκέραιοι διαμέ νουσι, καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς ὑποχωροῦντος μένει καθ' αὑτὴν τοῦ ἀέρος ἡ φύσις, πολλῷ δήπουθεν δικαιότερον, τὴν τὰ πάντα τεκτηνα μένην φύσιν τῇ ἐξ ἡμῶν ληφθείσῃ συναφθεῖσάν τε καὶ ἑνω θεῖσαν φύσει, καὶ αὐτὴν ἀκραιφνῆ μεμενηκέναι ὁμολογεῖν, καὶ ἣν ἔλαβεν ὡσαύτως ἀκεραίαν διαφυλάξαι. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὁ χρυ σὸς τῷ πυρὶ προσομιλῶν μεταλαμβάνει μὲν τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ χρόας καὶ ἐνεργείας, τὴν δὲ οἰκείαν οὐκ ἀπόλλυσι φύσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μένει χρυσός, καὶ ἐνεργεῖ τὰ πυρός. Οὕτω καὶ τὸ ∆εσποτικὸν σῶμα, σῶμα μὲν ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ἀπαθές, ἄφθαρτον, καὶ ἀθάνατον, καὶ ∆εσποτικόν, καὶ θεῖον, καὶ τῇ θείᾳ δόξῃ δεδοξασμένον. Οὐ γὰρ κεχώρισται τῆς θεότητος, οὐδὲ ἄλλου τινός ἐστιν, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἕτερον ἡμῖν ἐπιδείκνυσι πρόσωπον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν τὸν Μονο γενῆ τὴν ἡμετέραν περικείμενον φύσιν. Ταύτην ἡμεῖς τὴν διδασκαλίαν διατελοῦμεν κηρύττοντες. Οἱ δὲ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γεγενημένην οἰκονομίαν ἀρνούμενοι αἱρετικοὺς ἡμᾶς προσηγόρευσαν, προσόμοιόν τι ταῖς γυναιξὶ ταῖς ἀκολάστοις ποιοῦντες. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι δημοσίᾳ πωλοῦσαι τὴν ὥραν, τοῖς ἑταιρικοῖς ὀνείδεσι τὰς σώφρονας περιβάλ λουσι, καὶ τὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἀσελγείας ὀνόματα ταῖς τὴν ἀσέλ γειαν βδελυττομέναις περιτιθέασι. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡ Αἰγυπτία πεποίηκε. Τὴν γὰρ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς ἐπιθυμίας δουλείαν ἀσπα σαμένη, καὶ τὴν ἀνδραποδώδη κολακείαν προσενεγκοῦσα τῷ σώφρονι, εἶτα μὴ δελεάσασα, μηδὲ ταῖς τῆς ἡδυπαθείας περι πείρασα πάγαις, ἀλλοτρίας εὐνῆς ἀπεκάλει λῃστὴν τῆς σωφρο σύνης τὸν ἐραστήν. Ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν δώσουσι τῷ Θεῷ τὰς εὐθύνας, καὶ τῶν κατὰ τῆς πίστεως μηχανημάτων, καὶ τῶν καθ' ἡμῶν σκευωρημάτων. Ἐγὼ δὲ τοὺς ὑπηγμένους ταῖς γεγενημέναις ψευδολογίαις παρακαλῶ, θατέραν ταῖν ἀκοαῖν τῷ κατηγορουμένῳ φυλάττειν, καὶ μὴ τὰς δύο τοῖς κατηγο ροῦσιν ὑπέχειν. Οὕτω γὰρ τὸν θεῖον πληρώσουσι νόμον, ὃς διαρρήδην βοᾷ· Ἀκοὴν ματαίαν οὐ παραδέξῃ, καὶ· Κρί σιν δικαίαν κρίνετε ἀνὰ μέσον ἀνδρὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ . ∆ιὰ γὰρ δὴ τούτων ὁ θεῖος νόμος παρεγγυᾷ μὴ πιστεύειν ταῖς κατὰ τῶν ἀπόντων διαβολαῖς ἀλλὰ παροῦσι τοῖς κατηγορουμένοις δικάζειν. 147 ΙΩΑΝΝΗ ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΩ. Ἐμοὶ μὲν ἡσυχία θυμήρης καὶ βίος φροντίδων ἐλεύθερος. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ τοῦ μοναστηρίου τὴν αὔλειον ἀνῳκοδόμησα θύραν, καὶ τῶν γνωρίμων τὰς συντυχίας ἐκκλίνω. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καινοτομίαν κατὰ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς πίστεως κινεῖσθαι μεμά θηκα, οὐκ ἀκίνδυνον ὑπολαμβάνω τὴν σιωπήν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀνθρώπου βασιλεύειν λαχόντος παρά τινων ὑβρισθέντος, οὐ κατὰ τῶν ὑβρικότων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τῶν παρατετυχηκότων μέν, ἥκιστα δὲ τοὺς πεπαρῳνηκότας ἀμυναμένων κίνδυνος ἐπῃώ ρηται, ποίαν οὐκ ἂν δικαίως κόλασιν ὑποσταῖεν οἱ τὰς κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τολμωμένας βλασφημίας παρο ρᾶν ἀνεχόμενοι; Τοῦτό με τὸ δέος ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἠνάγ κασε γράψαι νῦν καὶ δηλῶσαι ἃ παρά τινων καινοτομεῖσθαι μεμάθηκα. Πολλοὶ γάρ, ὥς τινές φασιν, ἐν τῇ πόλει θρυλοῦσιν ὡς πρεσβυτέρων τινῶν προσευξαμένων, καὶ τὸ σύνηθες τέλος ἐπιτεθεικότων τῇ προσευχῇ, καὶ τῶν μὲν εἰρηκότων ὅτι σοὶ πρέπει δόξα, καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ σου, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ σου Πνεύματι · τῶν δέ· χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Χρισ τοῦ σου, μεθ' οὗ σοὶ πρέπει δόξα σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ σου Πνεύματι , ἐπέσκηψεν ὁ σοφώτατος ἀρχιδιάκονος μὴ χρῆ ναι λέγειν τὸν Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Μονογενῆ δοξάζειν. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀληθές, οὐδεμίαν ἀσεβείας