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of a virgin? Again, to walk on foot is human, but to walk on water is not human; for what man has done this?
"A certain new": Let no one, turning to foolish talk, say that he calls the Lord Jesus "theandrite"; for he did not say "theandric" forming it from "theandrite," but "theandric" energy, as in an energy interwoven of God and man. Whence also he says God "made man," instead of God having become man. (15∆_420> But now he called only the mixed energy "theandric"; for He acted as God alone, when He healed the centurion's servant while absent; and as man alone, although He was God, in eating and grieving. But He worked the miracles in a mixed way, creating eyes for the blind by anointing, and stopping the flow of the woman with an issue of blood by His touch.
ON EPISTLE 5 "In this it happens": Take for me what is said here to the Father from
the example of the bodily eye. For what the absence of light does, working an inactivity of the optical powers, this also the fixed gaze towards the sun at midday accomplishes.
ON EPISTLE 6 "For it is also possible": It is possible, he says, for someone in many things a manifest falsehood
while refuting, to himself miss the truth, which is one (not); for the truth is one, but hidden on account of the mystery of the doctrines, and requiring much investigation with divine grace; for example, Nestorius, refuting the doctrines of Arius and Apollinarius, or other such men refuting similar others, fell into other absurd heresies. But let no one be misled by these things, to reject the works of the Fathers against the heterodox; for he does not say this, not to refute and overturn the opinions of the impious (since how does he himself in "On the Divine Names" appear to be shaking the doctrines of Elymas?), but that one ought not as a primary (15∆_422> purpose be occupied in this, to speak against others, but to set forth the word of truth didactically and accurately, and to use refutation according to the circumstance of the rebellion of the impious. Otherwise": That one must not slander the opinions of others, but strengthen one's own; nor should one write against an opinion or religion that does not appear good, but for the sake of truth. But how he says this, the next epistle clarifies.
"For the sake of truth": But note why one must write only for the sake of truth, and not against others.
ON EPISTLE 7 § 1. This "saint" Polycarp became bishop of Smyrna in Asia,
having been a hearer of the holy John the Evangelist, as Irenaeus says in the third book of "Against the Falsely Named Gnosis," and he was perfected in martyrdom by fire. The same divine Polycarp also has epistles to the Philippians. And this epistle of the blessed Dionysius contains many wondrous and strange things about the solar eclipse at the time of the cross of Christ.
"He will be refuted": The "will be refuted" is common; for so also is the syntax. "Idol" instead of "imitation."
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παρθένου; Πάλιν τό ποσί βαδίζειν ἀνθρώπου ἐστί, τό δέ ἐπί ὕδατος οὐκ ἀνθρώπου· ποῖος γάρ ἄνθρωπος τοῦτο πεποίηκε;
«Καινήν τινα»: Μηδείς, εἰς μωρολογίαν τραπείς, λεγέτω ὅτι «θεανδρίτην» τόν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν φησιν· οὐ γάρ «θεανδρικήν» εἶπεν ἀπό τοῦ ὁ «θεανδρίτης» σχηματίσας, ἀλλά «θεανδρικήν» ἐνέργειαν, οἷον Θεοῦ καί ἀνδρός συμπεπλεγμένην ἐνέργειαν. Ὅθεν καί «ἀνδρωθέντα» φησί Θεόν ἀντί τοῦ, Θεόν ἄνδρα γενόμενον. (15∆_420> Νῦν δέ τήν μικτήν ἐνέργειαν μόνην «θεανδρικήν» ἐκάλεσεν· ἐνήργησε μέν γάρ ὡς Θεός μόνον, ὅτε ἀπών τόν τοῦ ἑκατοντάρχου παῖδα ἰάσατο· ὡς ἄνθρωπος δέ μόνον, εἰ καί Θεός ἦν, ἐν τῷ ἐσθίειν καί λυπεῖσθαι. Μικτῶς δέ ἐνήργησε τά θαύματα, τυφλοῖς ὀφθαλμούς διά χρίσεως δημιουργῶν, καί τῆς αἱμορροούσης τῇ ἁφῇ συστέλλων τήν ρύσιν.
ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΝ Ε' «Ἐν τούτῳ γίγνεται»: Τό εἰρημένον ἐνταῦθα τῷ Πατρί λαβέ μοι ἀπό
ὑποδείγματος τοῦ κατά τόν σωματικόν ὀφθαλμόν, Ὅπερ γάρ ποιεῖ φωτός ἀπουσία, ἀνενεργησίαν τῶν ὀπτικῶν δυνάμεων ἐργαζομένη, τοῦτο καί ἡ πρός ἥλιον ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ ἀτενῆς ἀπόβλεψις ἀποτελεῖ.
ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΝ S' «∆υνατόν γάρ καί»: ∆ύναται, φησί, τίς ἐν πολλοῖς προφανές ψεῦδος
ἐλέγχων, αὐτός διαμαρτάνειν τοῦ ἀληθοῦς, ὅπερ ἕν (οὐκ) ἔστι· μία γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια, κρύφιον δέ διά τό μυστικόν τῶν δογμάτων, καί πολλῆς ἐρεύνης μετά τῆς θείας δεόμενον χάριτος· οἷον Νεστόριος τά Ἀρείου καί Ἀπολλιναρίου διασείων, ἤ ἕτεροι τοιοῦτοι ὁμοίων ἑτέρων, εἰς ἑτέρας ἀτόπους αἱρέσεις ἐνέπεσον. Μηδείς δέ ἐκ τούτων παρακρουέσθω, ἀποβάλλεσθαι τά κατά τῶν ἑτεροδόξων πονήματα τῶν Πατέρων· οὐ γάρ τοῦτό φησι, τό μή ἐλέγχειν καί ἀνατρέπειν τάς τῶν ἀσεβῶν δόξας (ἐπεί πῶς αὐτός ἐν τῷ «Περί θείων ὀνομάτων» φαίνεται τά τοῦ Ἐλύμα διασαλεύων;), ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐ χρή κατά προηγούμε (15∆_422> λόγον εἰς τοῦτο ἐνασχολεῖσθαι, τὸ καθ' ἑτέρων λέγειν, ἀλλ'ά διδασκαλικῶς τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκτίθεσθαι λόγον ἠκριβωμένως, τῇ ἀντιρρήσει δέ κατὰ περίστασιν τῆς τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἐπαναστάσεως χρῆσθαι. Ἄλλως»· Ὅτι οὐ δεῖ τὰς τῶν ἑτέρων δόξας διαβάλλειν, ἀλλ'ά τὴν ἰδίαν κρατύνειν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ κατὰ δόξης ἢ θρησκείας οὐκ ἀγαθῆς φαινομένης γράφειν, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας. Πῶς δέ τοῦτό φησιν, ἡ ἑξῆς ἐπιστολὴ σαφηνίζει.
«Ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας»: Σημείωσαι δέ διά τί ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας μόνον συγγραπτέον, οὐ μὴν καθ' ἑτέρων.
ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΝ Ζ' § 1. «Ὁ ἅγιος» οὗτος Πολύκαρπος Σμύρνης τῆς ἐν Ἀσίᾳ γέγονεν ἐπίσκοπος,
ἀκροατὴς γενόμενος τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, ὥς φησιν Εἰρηναῖος ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ βιβλίω τῶν «Κατὰ τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως», καὶ μαρτυρίῳ δέ ἐτελειώθη διὰ πυρός. Ἔχει δέ καὶ ἐπιστολὰς ὁ αὐτὸς θεῖος Πολύκαρπος πρὸς Φιλιππησίους. Περιέχει δέ ἡ τὸν μακαρίου ∆ιονυσίου αὕτη ἐπιστολὴ πολλὰ θαυμαστὰ καὶ ξένα ἐπὶ τῇ κατὰ τὸν σταυρὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡλιακῇ ἐκλείψει.
«Ἐξελεγχθήσεται»: Κατὰ κοινοῦ τὸ «ἐξελεχθήσεται»· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἡ σύνταξις. «Εἴδωλον» ἀντὶ τοῦ «μίμημα».