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and she did not say, “I have circumcised my child”; for the angel who was sent was not managing it so that a circumcision would take place, nor did he withdraw because he was afraid of the blood of the circumcision, but for the sake of a reminder of the future child who was to stop the blood of circumcision *, which having heard and understood, he withdrew. And of what child, listen, but of the one about whom the prophet said, “they will wish they had been burned with fire; for a child is born to us, a son is also given to us,” showing the child born in truth, so that he might signify the true incarnation, and the “a son is given to us,” so that he might show the Word of God from above and the Son of God himself given and born in a womb, having become man, having both, God and man, himself God, himself man, himself the son given from above, himself the child born. At whom, then, the blood of circumcision stopped, as it also says in the gospel, when 1.371 some Greeks came up to see him and came to Philip and say to him: Show us Jesus, and Philip to John and John to Jesus said that “some Greeks wish to see you,” and immediately the Lord answers saying, “now has the glory of God arrived,” so that he might show that the circumcision in the flesh was passing away, having served as a type for a time, but the uncircumcision in the flesh having in spirit a greater circumcision, that which beholds Christ and has apprehended him in truth. 28. But if these people want to say: how then was Christ circumcised, we have already then, o you who are deceived, shown you for what reason he was circumcised. For he was circumcised for many reasons. And first, so that he might show that he had taken flesh upon himself in truth, because of Manichaeus and those who say that he appeared in semblance; then, so that he might show that the body was not of the same substance as the divinity, as Apollinarius says, nor that he brought it down from above, as Valentinus says; and so that he might confirm the circumcision which he gave long ago, which justly served until his coming, and so that the Jews would have no excuse. For if he had not been circumcised, they would be able to say, we could not accept a Christ in uncircumcision. And besides, he who had commanded Abraham had to be circumcised, so that Christ, by being circumcised, might confirm this seal, which was given as a visible type of the true and invisible one. For the visible circumcision came about because of the doubt of Abraham, when the holy and just one said as if in doubt, “shall a son be born 1.372 to one who is a hundred years old?” and “shall Sarah, the old woman, bear a son?”, and immediately the Lord said, “Take for me a three-year-old ram and a goat and a heifer” and so forth, and around the setting of the sun, when he saw torches of fire and a furnace and the other things, God said to him by way of rebuke, “Your seed shall be a sojourner in a foreign land and they will enslave it for four hundred years” for the sake of security on account of the doubt for which he said, “shall a son be born to one who is a hundred years old,” so that his seed, having been enslaved by idolatrous and unbelieving Egyptians, should not forget the God of his fathers, he imposed upon him and upon them the circumcision in the flesh, so that seeing it they might be reminded and be put to shame and not deny him. And this lasted until Christ, and for this reason he himself was pleased to be circumcised and became man in truth, God the Word coming from above from the Father, not laying aside his divinity, but having put on flesh in truth; and having a perfect incarnation, he is circumcised, managing all things in truth, so that both the Jews, as I said before, might be without excuse, and the Manichaeans and others might be refuted, and so that, having been circumcised, he might reasonably abolish circumcision and point to another, greater one, not as one who does not have it and is establishing it for himself, but as one who has it, showing that there is no longer need of this one, but of the greater. 29. And that he was God immediately upon being born and not a mere man, the magi will clearly show. For after a period of two years, as they showed Herod the time of the star

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καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν ὅτι «περιέτεμόν μου τὸ παιδίον»· οὐ γὰρ ᾠκονόμει ὁ ἀποσταλεὶς ἄγγελος, ἵνα περιτομὴ γένηται, ἀλλὰ οὐδὲ τὸ αἷμα τῆς περιτομῆς φοβηθεὶς ἀπέστη, ἀλλὰ ὑπομνήσεως χάριν τοῦ μέλλοντος παιδίου τὸ αἷμα τῆς περιτομῆς ἱστᾶν *, ὅπερ ἀκούσας καὶ οἰκονομήσας ἀπέστη. καὶ ποίου παιδίου, ἄκουε, ἀλλ' ἢ περὶ οὗ εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης ὅτι «θελήσουσιν εἰ ἐγένοντο πυρίκαυστοι· ὅτι παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη ἡμῖν», τὸ μὲν γεννηθὲν παιδίον δεικνὺς ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ὅπως σημάνῃ τὴν ἀληθινὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν, τὸ δὲ «υἱὸς ἐδόθη ἡμῖν», ὅπως δείξῃ τὸν ἄνωθεν θεοῦ Λόγον καὶ υἱὸν θεοῦ αὐτὸν δοθέντα καὶ ἐν μήτρᾳ γενόμενον ἐνανθρωπήσαντα, ἔχοντα ἀμφότερα θεὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπον, αὐτὸν θεὸν αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον, αὐτὸν υἱὸν ἄνωθεν δοθέντα αὐτὸν παιδίον γεννηθέντα. ἐφ' οὗ ἔστη λοιπὸν τὸ αἷμα τῆς περιτομῆς, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ λέγει, ὅτε 1.371 ἀνῆλθον Ἕλληνες θεάσασθαι αὐτὸν καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς Φίλιππον καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· δεῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν, καὶ ὁ Φίλιππος τῷ Ἰωάννῃ καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης τῷ Ἰησοῦ ἔφη ὅτι «τινὲς Ἕλληνες βούλονταί σε θεάσασθαι», καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ κύριος ἀποκρίνεται λέγων «νῦν ἔφθασεν ἡ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ», ἵνα δείξῃ περιτομὴν μὲν παρερχομένην τὴν ἔνσαρκον καὶ τύπῳ ὑπηρετήσασαν ἄχρι χρόνου, τὴν δὲ ἐν σαρκὶ ἀκροβυστίαν ἐν πνεύματι ἔχουσαν μείζονα περιτομήν, θεωροῦσαν Χριστὸν καὶ αὐτὸν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ κατειληφυῖαν. 28. Εἰ δὲ βούλονται οὗτοι λέγειν· πῶς οὖν Χριστὸς περιετμήθη, ἤδη μὲν οὖν, ὦ πεπλανημένοι, ἐδείξαμεν ὑμῖν δι' ἣν αἰτίαν περιετμήθη. περιετμήθη γὰρ διὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους. καὶ πρῶτον, ἵνα δείξῃ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ σάρκα ἑαυτὸν ἀνειληφέναι, διὰ Μανιχαῖον καὶ τοὺς λέγοντας ἐν δοκήσει πεφηνέναι· ἔπειτα, ἵνα δείξῃ ὡς οὐκ ἦν ὁμοούσιον τὸ σῶμα τῇ θεότητι, ὥς φησιν Ἀπολλινάριος, ἀλλ' οὔτε ἄνωθεν αὐτὸ κατενήνοχεν, ὡς λέγει Οὐαλεντῖνος· καὶ ἵνα βεβαιώσῃ ἣν πάλαι ἔδωκε περιτομὴν δικαίως ὑπηρετήσασαν ἕως τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἀπολογίαν. εἰ γὰρ μὴ περιετμήθη, εἶχον λέγειν, οὐκ ἠδυνάμεθα Χριστὸν δέξασθαι ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ. ἄλλως τε καὶ ἔδει αὐτὸν ἐντειλάμενον τῷ Ἀβραὰμ περιτμηθῆναι, σφραγῖδος ἕνεκα φαινομένης εἰς τύπον δὲ ἀληθινῆς καὶ ἀοράτου δοθείσης, ταύτην Χριστὸν περιτμηθέντα βεβαιῶσαι. ἐγένετο γὰρ ἡ φαινομένη περιτομὴ ἕνεκεν δισταγμοῦ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, ὅτε εἶπεν ὁ ἅγιος καὶ δίκαιος ὡς ἐν δισταγμῷ «εἰ τῷ ἑκατονταετεῖ υἱὸς γεννη1.372 θήσεται» καὶ «εἰ Σάρρα ἡ πρεσβῦτις γεννήσει υἱόν», καὶ εὐθὺς τοῦ κυρίου λέγοντος «λάβε μοι κριὸν τριετίζοντα καὶ αἶγα καὶ δάμαλιν» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, καὶ περὶ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου δύσιν, ὡς εἶδεν λαμπάδας πυρὸς καὶ κλίβανον καὶ τἄλλα, φήσας αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς κατὰ ἐπιτίμησιν «πάροικον ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐν γῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ καὶ δουλώσουσιν αὐτὸ ἔτη τετρακόσια» ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκα διὰ τὸν δισταγμὸν δι' ὃν εἶπεν «εἰ τῷ ἑκατονταετεῖ υἱὸς γεννηθήσεται», ἵνα μὴ καταδουλωθὲν τὸ σπέρμα ὑπὸ εἰδωλολατρῶν καὶ ἀπίστων Αἰγυπτίων ἐπιλάθηται θεοῦ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ, ἐπέθηκεν αὐτῷ καὶ αὐτοῖς τὴν ἔνσαρκον περιτομήν, ἵνα ὁρῶντες ὑπομιμνῄσκωνται καὶ δυσωπῶνται καὶ μὴ ἀρνῶνται αὐτόν. καὶ διήρκεσεν ἄχρι Χριστοῦ τοῦτο, καὶ τούτου ἕνεκα καὶ αὐτὸς εὐδοκεῖ περιτμηθῆναι καὶ ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἄνωθεν ἐλθὼν ἐκ πατρὸς θεὸς Λόγος καὶ οὐκ ἀποθέμενος τὴν θεότητα, ἀλλὰ σάρκα φορέσας ἐν ἀληθείᾳ· τελείαν δὲ ἐνανθρώπησιν ἔχων περιτέμνεται, τὰ πάντα οἰκονομῶν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἵνα καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι ὡς προεῖπον ἀναπολόγητοι ὦσιν καὶ Μανιχαῖοι καὶ ἄλλοι ἐλεγχθήσονται καὶ ἵνα περιτμηθεὶς εὐλόγως καταλύσῃ τὴν περιτομὴν καὶ ἄλλην μείζονα ὑποδείξῃ, οὐχ ὡς μὴ ἔχων καὶ ἑαυτῷ συνιστάμενος, ἀλλὰ ἔχων μὲν δεικνὺς δὲ ὅτι ταύτης οὐκέτι ἐστὶν χρεία, ἀλλὰ τῆς μείζονος. 29. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν εὐθὺς γεννηθεὶς θεὸς ἦν καὶ οὐ ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος, οἱ μάγοι σαφῶς δείξουσι. μετὰ γὰρ δύο ἐτῶν χρόνον, ὡς ἔδειξαν τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ τὸν χρόνον τοῦ ἀστέρος