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according to what is said, "In whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." And note every word of the epistle; for it is against every heresy, both older and newer.

"But we, Jesus": It is not because of Christ's humanity, he says, that we set him apart, that is, that we call him more than human, as if defining this as something foreign, according to the principle of substance, to the common nature, but manifestly according to the principle of divinity. For he added: For he is not man alone, but also God. Even if (15∆_416> he assumed the whole substance of a man, he says, we do not separate him from the divinity, for he adds: For not man alone. Then, having said this, he brings in: Nor only super-essential, inasmuch as he is also man.

"More than men": More than men because he is from a virgin, but according to men, because of the time in the womb, or as according to the laws of gestation. And from the substance of men, because, as the holy father himself said, the holy body of Christ is from the virginal blood.

"He was substantiated beyond substance": And after the incarnation he called the divinity super-essentiality. And the super-essential of this is that which surpasses substance and wisdom and power.

"And more than man": Of man, the being from a woman; but more than man, the being from a virgin. And note that the body of Christ is earthly, and not heavenly, as some have supposed.

"A transcendent power": Behold, here too he spoke transcendently in contradistinction to things taken by way of privation. And immediately through the following words he interprets himself. And what affirmation is, we have said above in "On Mystical Theology," chapter 3. And how, in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, affirmations have the power of a transcendent negation, he explains with respect to human things. For if we affirm Christ, saying he is a man, and from a virgin mother according to our substance, yet it has the hidden and suprarational power of negation. For the hearer will say, not a man, because he is from a virgin, but more than man, even if in other respects he is a man. And he explains this too, saying that to call him a man affirmatively signifies this, that he is not a man negatively, but more than man, clearly because of the signs that were done by him.

(15∆_418> "Not as God did he do divine things": He says Christ did divine things not as God, because it was with flesh and not with divinity bare; nevertheless, they were divine; nor human things as a man; for it was with divine authority, when he wished, that he gave occasion for the flesh to manifest its own properties, but nevertheless they were human. And "having become man" signifies "having been incarnate." And the theandric energy signifies a divine and a human one. For thus having lived among us, that is, for our sake, namely on earth, he did, as aforesaid, the divine and the human things. And note the supernatural and ineffable union of the Lord, that he did not do divine things as God (for he was a man), nor human things as a man (for he was also God). Whence the divine Gregory the Theologian wondrously says, "The natures being mingled, so too are the names, and they pass over into each other by the principle of their co-inherence." And how he did not perform the divine works as God, is shown by his walking bodily with his feet upon the sea; for it is of God to make water solid, but it is not of God to walk with fleshly feet. Nor does divinity have flesh of feet and bones. Again, it is of God to make a virgin conceive, but it is not of divinity to be formed with a face and the other human members. So also the same things from the opposite side; for he did not do human things as a man; for he was a man from the Virgin, but this was not according to man; for what man is from

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κατά τό εἰρημένον «Ἐν ᾧ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τῆς θεότητος τό πλήρωμα σωματικῶς». Πᾶσαν δέ λέξιν τῆς ἐπιστολῆς σημείωσαι· ἔστι γάρ κατά πάσης αἱρέσεως, πρεσβυτέρας τε καί νεωτέρας.

«Ἡμεῖς δέ τόν Ἰησοῦν»: Οὐ διά τό ἀνθρώπινον, φησί, τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτόν ἀφορίζομεν, ἤγουν ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον λέγομεν, ὡς ξένον τοῦτο κατά τόν τῆς οὐσίας λόγον τοῦ κοινοῦ τῆς φύσεως ὁριζόμενοι ἀλλά προδήλως κατά τόν τῆς θεότητος λόγον. Ἐπήγαγε γάρ· Οὐδέ γάρ ἄνθρωπος μόνος, ἀλλά καί Θεός. Εἰ καί (15∆_416> ὅλην οὐσίαν ἀνθρώπου ἀνέλαβε, φησίν, ἀλλ' οὐ διαιροῦμεν αὐτόν ἀπό τῆς θεότητος ἐπάγει γάρ· Οὐ γάρ ἄνθρωπος μόνον. Εἶτα, τοῦτο εἰπών, ἐπιφέρει· Οὐδέ ὑπερούσιος μόνον, καθ' ὅ καί ἄνθρωπος.

«Ὑπέρ ἀνθρώπους»: Ὑπέρ ἀνθρώπους μέν διά τό ἐκ παρθένου, κατ' ἀνθρώπους δέ, διά τόν ἐν μήτρα χρόνον, ἤ ὡς τούς νόμους τῆς κυήσεως. Ἐκ τῆς ἀνθρώπων δέ οὐσίας, ὅτι, ὡς αὐτός ὁ ἅγιος πατήρ ἔφη, ἐκ τῶν παρθενικῶν αἱμάτων τό ἅγιον σῶμα Χριστοῦ.

«Ὑπέρ οὐσίαν οὐσιώθη»: Καί μετά τήν ἐνανθρώπησιν ὑπερουσιότητα ὠνόμασε τήν θεότητα Τό δέ ταύτης ὑπερούσιον τό ὑπερβάλλον τῆς οὐσίας καί σοφίας καί δυνάμεως.

«Καί ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον»: Ἀνθρώπου μέν τό ἐκ γυναικός, ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον δέ τό ἐκ παρθένου. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι γήϊνον τό σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καί οὐχί οὐράνιον, ὡς τίνες ὠήθησαν.

«∆ύναμιν ὑπεροχικῆς»: Ἰδού καί ἐνταῦθα ὑπεροχικῶς εἶπε πρός ἀντιδιαστολήν τῶν κατά στέρησιν λαμβανομένων. Εὐθύς δέ διά τῶν ἐπαγομένων ἑαυτόν ἐφερμηνεύει. Τί δέ ἐστι κατάφασις, εἴπομεν ἄνω ἐν τῷ «Περί μυστικῆς θεολογίας», κεφαλαίῳ γ'. Πῶς δέ ἐπί τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ αἱ καταφάσεις δύναμιν ἔχουσι ὑπερεχούσης ἀποφάσεως, τά κατά ἀνθρώπους ἐξηγεῖται. Εἰ γάρ καταφάσκομεν Χριστοῦ, λέγοντες ἄνθρωπον εἶναι, καί ἐκ παρθένου μητρός κατ' οὐσίαν ἡμῶν, ἀλλά κεκρυμμένην ἔχει καί ὑπέρ νοῦν τήν τῆς ἀποφάσεως δύναμιν. Ἐρεῖ γάρ ὁ ἀκούων, οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ἐπειδή ἐκ παρθένου, ἀλλ' ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον, εἰ καί κατά τά ἀλλά ἄνθρωπος. Ἐξηγεῖται δέ καί τοῦτο, φάσκων, ὅτι τό λέγειν αὐτόν ἄνθρωπον καταφατικῶς, τοῦτο δηλοῖ, οὐκ εἶναι ἄνθρωπον ἀποφατικῶς, ἀλλ' ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον, δηλονότι διά τά σημεῖα τά γενόμενα παρ' αὐτοῦ.

(15∆_418> «Οὐ κατά Θεόν τά θεῖα δράσας»: Οὐ κατά Θεόν μέν δρᾶσαι τά θεῖα λέγει τόν Χριστόν, ὅτι μετά σαρκός καί οὐ γυμνῇ τῇ θεότητι· ὅμως δ' οὖν θεία· οὔτε τά ἀνθρώπινα κατ' ἄνθρωπον· ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ γάρ θεϊκῇ, ὅτε ἐβούλετο, διδούς καιρόν τῇ σαρκί τά ἑαυτῆς ἐναργεῖν ὅμως δ' οὖν ἀνθρώπινα. Τό δέ «ἀνδρωθέντος» δηλοῖ τό «ἐνανθρωπήσαντος». Ἡ δέ θεανδρική ἐνέργεια σημαίνει θείαν καί ἀνθρωπίνην. Οὕτω γάρ ἡμῖν, ἤγουν δι' ἡμᾶς, ἐπί γῆς δηλαδή, πεπολιτευμένος, ἔδρασεν, ὡς πρόκειται, τά θεῖα καί τά ἀνθρώπινα. Σημείωσαι δέ τήν ὑπερφυῆ καί ἄφραστον τοῦ Κυρίου ἕνωσιν, ὅτι οὐ κατά Θεόν τά θεῖα ἔδρασεν (ἦν γάρ ἄνθρωπος), οὔτε κατά ἄνθρωπον τά ἀνθρώπινα (ἦν γάρ καί Θεός). Ὅθεν θαυμαστῶς ὁ θεῖος Γρηγόριος ὁ θεολόγος φησί, Κιρναμένων, ὥσπερ τῶν φύσεων, οὕτω δή καί τῶν κλήσεων καί περιχωρουσῶν εἰς ἀλλήλας τῷ λόγῳ τῆς συμφυΐας. Πῶς δέ οὐ κατά Θεόν τά θεῖα ἔργα πεποίηκε, δηλοῖ τό σωματικῶς ποσίν ἐπί θαλάσσης βαδίσαι· Θεοῦ μέν γάρ τό συμπιλῆσαι ὕδωρ οὐ Θεοῦ δέ τό σαρκικοῖς ποσί περιπατῆσαι. Οὐδέ θεότητος σάρξ ποδῶν καί ὀστᾶ. Θεοῦ πάλιν παρθένον τό κύειν ποιῆσαι, ἀλλ' οὐ θεότητος τό διαμεμορφῶσθαι ὄψει καί τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις μέλεσιν. Οὕτω καί ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου τά αὐτά· οὐ γάρ κατά ἄνθρωπον τά ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησεν· ἄνθρωπος μέν γάρ ἦν ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου, ἀλλ' οὐ κατά ἄνθρωπον τοῦτο· ποῖος γάρ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ