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From the discourse on, "My Father is greater than I." And when you assign the sufferings to the flesh and the miracles to God, you necessarily, even if unwillingly, give the humble words to the man from Mary, but the exalted and God-befitting ones to the Word who was in the beginning. For this reason I utter at times exalted words, and at other times humble ones, so that through the lofty ones I may show the nobility of the indwelling Word, and through the humble ones I may make known the weakness of the humble flesh. Whence at times I say I am equal to the Father, and at other times that the Father is greater, not contradicting myself, but showing that I am God and man: God from the lofty things, and man from the humble ones. But if you wish to know how my Father is greater than I, I said it from the flesh, and not from the person of the Godhead. 243 From the same, from the discourse on, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me." Do not, then, attribute the passions of the flesh to the impassible Word. For I am God and man, O heretic; God as the miracles guarantee, man as the sufferings testify. Since, then, I am God and man, say who it was that suffered. If God suffered, you have spoken blasphemy; but if the flesh suffered, why do you not attribute the passion to him to whom you impute the cowardice? For when one suffers, another does not grow faint, and when a man is crucified, God is not troubled. From the same, from the discourse against the Arians. And that I may not prolong the discourse, I ask you briefly, O heretic: did the one begotten of God before the ages suffer, or Jesus who was born of David in later times? If, then, the Godhead suffered, you have spoken blasphemy; but if the man did, as is the truth, for what reason then do you not attribute the passion to the man? From the same, from the discourse on the Son. For when Peter said that "God has made him both Lord and Christ," he added, "This Jesus, whom you crucified, God raised from the dead." But it was not the Godhead that was put to death, but the man, and the one who raised him is the Word, the power of God, who said in the gospel: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." So that if it is said: "And God made him, who was put to death and rose from the dead, both Lord and Christ," it speaks of the flesh, and not of the Godhead of the Son. From the same, from the discourse on, "The Son can do nothing of himself." For life did not have a nature to be held by corruption, wherefore it was not the Godhead that was dragged down to suffering; for how could it be? But humanity was renewed to incorruption. "For," it says, "this mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption." 244 Do you see the precision? He pointed to "this mortal" demonstratively, so that you might not think it was the resurrection of another flesh. Of Saint Flavian, Bishop of Antioch. On the Lord's Day of Pascha. For this reason the cross is proclaimed by us with boldness, and the death of the Lord is confessed by us, with the Godhead suffering nothing (for the divine is impassible), but the body fulfilling the economy. From the same, on Judas the betrayer. So when you hear that the Lord is betrayed, do not reduce the divine dignity to baseness, nor attribute the bodily passions to the divine power. For the divine is impassible and unchangeable. For even if he took on the form of a servant out of love for humanity, he was not changed in his nature; but being what he was, he allowed the divine body to experience death. Of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria. From a festal volume. For the souls of irrational animals are not taken up and put back again, but are corrupted together with their bodies, and are resolved into dust. But the Savior, having taken his own soul from his own body at the time of the cross, placed it back into it again when he rose from the dead. Confirming this for us, he foretold it through the Psalmist, crying out: "You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption." Of the blessed Gelasius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine.
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λόγου τοῦ εἰς τό, "Ὁ πατήρ μου μείζων μού ἐστιν." Ὅταν δὲ τὰ παθήματα τῇ σαρκὶ καὶ τὰ θαύματα τῷ θεῷ δῷς, ἀνάγκη καὶ μὴ θέλων δίδως, τοὺς μὲν ταπεινοὺς λόγους τῷ ἐκ Μαρίας ἀνθρώ πῳ, τοὺς δὲ ἀνηγμένους καὶ θεοπρεπεῖς τῷ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντι λόγῳ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ πῆ μὲν ἀνηγμένους, πῆ δὲ ταπεινοὺς φθέγγομαι λόγους, ἵνα διὰ μὲν τῶν ὑψηλῶν τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος λόγου δείξω τὴν εὐγένειαν, διὰ δὲ τῶν ταπεινῶν τῆς ταπεινῆς σαρκὸς γνωρίσω τὴν ἀσθένειαν. Ὅθεν πῆ μὲν ἑαυτὸν ἴσον λέγω τοῦ πατρός, πῆ δὲ μείζονα τὸν πατέρα, οὐ μαχόμενος ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς ὡς θεός εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος· θεὸς μὲν ἐκ τῶν ὑψηλῶν, ἄνθρωπος δὲ ἐκ τῶν ταπεινῶν. Εἰ δὲ θέλετε γνῶναι πῶς ὁ πατήρ μου μείζων μού ἐστιν, ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς εἶπον, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ προσώπου τῆς θεότητος. 243 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰς τό, "Εἰ δυνατόν, παρελθέτω ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο." Μὴ τὰ πάθη οὖν τῆς σαρκὸς τῷ ἀπαθεῖ προσρίψῃς λόγῳ. Θεὸς γάρ εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος, αἱρετικέ· θεὸς ὡς ἐγγυᾶται τὰ θαύματα, ἄνθρωπος ὡς μαρτυρεῖ τὰ παθήματα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν θεός εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος, εἰπὲ τίς ὁ παθών· εἰ ὁ θεὸς ἔπαθεν, εἶπας τὸ βλάσφημον· εἰ δὲ ἡ σὰρξ ἔπαθε, τί μὴ τὸ πάθος προσάπτεις ᾧ τὴν δειλίαν ἐπάγεις; Ἄλλου γὰρ πά σχοντος ἄλλος οὐ δειλιᾷ, καὶ ἀνθρώπου σταυρουμένου θεὸς οὐ ταράτ τεται. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Ἀρειανῶν λόγου. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ μακρὸν ἀποτείνω τὸν λόγον, συντόμως ἐρωτῶ σε, αἱρετικέ· ὁ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων γεννηθεὶς ἔπαθεν, ἢ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς τεχθεὶς Ἰησοῦς; Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἡ θεότης ἔπαθεν, εἶπας τὸ βλάσφημον· εἰ δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἔχει ἡ ἀλήθεια, τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν μὴ προσάπτεις τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ πάθος; Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ περὶ υἱοῦ λόγου. Εἰπὼν γὰρ ὁ Πέτρος ὅτι "Καὶ κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν αὐτὸν ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός," ἐπήγαγε, "Τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε, τοῦτον ὁ θεὸς ἤγειρεν ἐκ νεκρῶν." Ἐνεκρώθη δὲ οὐχ ἡ θεότης, ἀλλ' ὁ ἄνθρω πος, καὶ ὁ ἐγείρας αὐτόν ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, ἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ εἰπὼν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ· "Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν." Ὥστε ἐὰν λέγηται· "Καὶ κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν νεκρωθέντα, καὶ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάντα," τὴν σάρκα λέγει, καὶ οὐ τὴν θεότητα τοῦ υἱοῦ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰς τό, "Οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν." Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶχε φύσιν ὑπὸ φθορᾶς κατέχεσθαι τὴν ζωήν, διόπερ οὐχ ἡ θεότης εἰς πάθος κατεσπάσθη· πῶς γάρ; Ἀλλ' ἡ ἀνθρωπότης εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἀνεκαινίσθη. "∆εῖ γάρ, φησί, τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀθανασίαν, καὶ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν." 244 Ὁρᾷς τὴν ἀκρίβειαν; Τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἔδειξε δεικτικῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἄλλης νομίσῃς σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν. Τοῦ ἁγίου Φλαβιανοῦ ἐπισκόπου Ἀντιοχείας. Ἐπὶ τῇ κυριακῇ τοῦ Πάσχα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ σταυρὸς ἡμῖν μετὰ παρρησίας κηρύττεται, καὶ θάνατος παρ' ἡμῶν ὁ δεσποτικὸς ὡμολόγηται, οὐδὲν τῆς θεότητος πασχούσης (ἀπαθὲς γὰρ τὸ θεῖον), ἀλλὰ τοῦ σώματος τὴν οἰκονομίαν πληροῦν τος. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς Ἰούδαν τὸν προδότην. Ὥστε ὅταν ἀκούσῃς τὸν δεσπότην προδιδόμενον, μὴ καταγάγῃς εἰς εὐτέλειαν τὸ θεϊκὸν ἀξίωμα, μηδὲ τὰ σωματικὰ πάθη τῇ θείᾳ δυνάμει προσάψῃς. Ἀπαθὲς γὰρ τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ δούλου μορφὴν ὑπῆλθε διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐτράπη τὴν φύσιν· ἀλλ' ὢν ὅπερ ἦν, συνεχώρησε τὸ θεῖον σῶμα θανάτου πεῖραν λαβεῖν. Θεοφίλου ἐπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας. Ἐξ ἑορταστικοῦ τόμου. Τῶν γὰρ ἀλόγων ζῴων οὐκ αἴρονται καὶ τίθενται πάλιν αἱ ψυχαί, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τῶν σωμάτων συνδιαφθείρονται, καὶ εἰς χοῦν ἀναλύουσιν. Ὁ δὲ σωτήρ, ἄρας αὑτοῦ παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ οἰκείου σώματος, πάλιν αὐτὴν εἰς αὐτὸ τέθεικεν ἀναστήσας ἐκ νεκρῶν. Τοῦτο δὴ πιστούμενος ἡμᾶς, προὔλεγε διὰ τοῦ Ψαλμῳδοῦ βοῶν· "Οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδην, οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν." Τοῦ μακαρίου Γελασίου ἐπισκόπου Καισαρείας τῆς Παλαιστίνης.