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calling life itself flesh, they make it mortal by their argument. But they should have understood that on account of the life united to it, it also is life-giving. But if, according to their argument, life is mortal, how could the flesh, which is mortal by nature but becomes life-giving on account of life, remain life-giving? 9. Otherwise. God the Word is immortal by nature, but the flesh is mortal by nature. And it too became immortal after the passion by participation with the Word. How then is it not dreadful to say that the giver of such immortality has partaken of death? 263 10. Otherwise. Let those who assert that God the Word suffered in the flesh be asked the meaning of the saying; and if they should dare to say that while the body was nailed [to the cross] the divine nature endured the pain, let them learn that the divine nature did not fulfill the role of a soul. For God the Word had assumed a soul too, along with the body. But if they should reject this argument as blasphemous, and should say that the flesh suffered by nature, but that God the Word appropriated the passion as of his own flesh, let them not offer enigmatic and obscure arguments, but let them clearly state the meaning of the ill-sounding saying. For of this interpretation they will have in agreement those who choose to follow the divine scripture. 11. Otherwise. The divine Peter in his catholic [epistle] said that Christ suffered in the flesh. But he who hears "Christ" does not think of God the Word as bodiless, but as enfleshed. The name "Christ," therefore, denotes each nature; but "in the flesh" being added with the passion, signifies not that both, but that the one [nature] suffered. For he who hears that Christ suffered in the flesh, again thinks of him as impassible as God, and assigns the passion to the flesh alone. For just as when we hear him saying again, that God swore to David, to raise up the Christ from the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, we do not say that God the Word took his beginning from the seed of David, but the flesh which is of the same stock as David, which God the Word assumed, so it is necessary for one who hears that Christ suffered in the flesh, to know the passion is of the flesh, and to confess the impassibility of the divinity. 12. Otherwise. Being crucified the Lord Christ said: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." And this spirit those of Arius and Eunomius say is the divinity of the only-begotten; for they consider the body to have been assumed as soulless. But the heralds of the truth say the soul was so called, having understood this from the following sayings. For immediately the all-wise evangelist added: "And having said this, he expired." So Luke thus related these things; and the blessed Mark likewise put "he expired"; but the most divine Matthew, that "He yielded up the spirit;" and the wondrous John, that 264 "He gave up the spirit." All, however, they have said according to human custom. For we are accustomed to say "he expired" and "he yielded up" and "he gave up the spirit" of those who are dying. Therefore none of these has an implication of divinity, but they are indicative of the soul. And if someone should accept the Arian meaning of the saying, no less even so it will show the immortality of the divine nature. For he committed it to the Father, he did not consign it to death. If therefore even those who deny the assumption of the soul and say that God the Word is a creature and dogmatize that he was in the body in place of a soul, say that he was not delivered over to death but committed to the Father, what pardon could they obtain who confess one substance of the Trinity, and leave the soul in its proper immortality, but dare to say openly that God the Word, consubstantial with the Father, tasted death? 13. Otherwise. If Christ is both God and man, as the divine scripture also teaches, and the all-praised fathers have continued to preach, then as man he suffered, but as God he remained impassible. 14. Otherwise. If they confess the assumption of the flesh, and say that it is passible

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σάρκα προσαγορεύοντες τὴν ζωὴν αὐτὴν θνητὴν τῷ λόγῳ κατασκευάζουσιν. Ἔδει δὲ αὐτοὺς συνιδεῖν, ὡς διὰ τὴν ἡνωμένην αὐτῇ ζωὴν καὶ αὐτὴ ζωοποιός. Εἰ δέ γε κατὰ τὸν αὐτῶν λόγον ἡ ζωὴ θνητή, πῶς ἂν ἡ σὰρξ ἡ φύσει θνητή, διὰ δὲ τὴν ζωὴν γινομένη ζωοποιός, μείναι ἂν οὖσα ζωοποιός; θʹ. Ἄλλως. Ὁ θεὸς λόγος φύσει ἀθάνατος, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ φύσει θνητή. Γέγονε δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ μετὰ τὸ πάθος τῇ πρὸς τὸν λόγον μετουσίᾳ ἀθά νατος. Πῶς οὖν οὐ σχέτλιον, τὸν τῆς τοιαύτης ἀθανασίας δοτῆρα λέγειν μετειληχέναι θανάτου; 263 ιʹ. Ἄλλως. Οἱ σαρκὶ πεπονθέναι τὸν θεὸν λόγον ἰσχυριζόμενοι ἐρωτάσθωσαν τοῦ ῥητοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν· καὶ εἰ μὲν φάναι τολμήσαιεν, ὡς τοῦ σώματος προσηλωμένου τὴν ὀδύνην ἡ θεία φύσις ὑπέμεινε, μανθανέτωσαν ὡς οὐ ψυχῆς χρείαν ἡ θεία φύσις ἐπλήρου. Καὶ ψυχὴν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς λόγος μετὰ τοῦ σώματος ἀνειλήφει. Εἰ δὲ τόνδε τὸν λόγον ὡς βλάσφημον ἀποστρέφοιντο, φήσαιεν δὲ φύσει πεπονθέναι τὴν σάρκα, τὸν δέ γε θεὸν λόγον ᾠκειῶσθαι τὸ πάθος ὡς ἰδίας σαρκός, μὴ γριφώδεις καὶ ζοφώδεις προσφερέτωσαν λόγους, ἀλλὰ σαφῶς τοῦ κακεμφάτου ῥητοῦ λεγέτωσαν τὴν διάνοιαν. Τῆσδε γὰρ τῆς ἑρμηνείας συμψήφους ἕξουσι τοὺς ἕπεσθαι τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ προαιρουμένους. ιαʹ. Ἄλλως. Ὁ θεῖος Πέτρος ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ τὸν Χριστὸν ἔφη πεπονθέναι σαρκί. Ὁ δὲ τὸν Χριστὸν ἀκούων οὐκ ἀσώματον νοεῖ τὸν θεὸν λόγον, ἀλλὰ σεσαρκωμένον. Τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοίνυν τοὔνομα φύσιν ἑκατέραν δηλοῖ· τὸ δὲ σαρκὶ σὺν τῷ πάθει προστιθέμενον, οὐχ ἑκατέ ραν, ἀλλὰ θατέραν πεπονθυῖαν σημαίνει. Ὁ γὰρ ἀκούων σαρκὶ τὸν Χριστὸν πεπονθέναι, ἀπαθῆ πάλιν νοεῖ αὐτὸν ὡς θεόν, μόνῃ δὲ τῇ σαρκὶ προσνέμει τὸ πάθος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀκούοντες αὐτοῦ πάλιν λέγοντος, ὅτι ὤμοσεν ὁ θεὸς τῷ ∆αβίδ, ἐκ καρποῦ τῆς ὀσφύος αὐτοῦ τὸ κατὰ σάρκα τὸν Χριστὸν ἀναστήσειν, οὐ τὸν θεὸν λόγον ἐκ σπέρ ματος ∆αβὶδ ἀρχὴν εἰληφέναι φαμέν, ἀλλὰ τὴν σάρκα τὴν ὁμογενῆ τῷ ∆αβίδ, ἣν ὁ θεὸς λόγος ἀνέλαβεν, οὕτω χρὴ τὸν ἀκούοντα σαρκὶ τὸν Χριστὸν πεπονθέναι, τῆς μὲν σαρκὸς εἰδέναι τὸ πάθος, τῆς δέ γε θεότητος τὴν ἀπάθειαν ὁμολογεῖν. ιβʹ. Ἄλλως. Σταυρούμενος ὁ δεσπότης εἶπε Χριστός· "Πάτερ, εἰς χεῖράς σου παρατίθημι τὸ πνεῦμά μου." Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα οἱ μὲν Ἀρείου καὶ Εὐνομίου τὴν θεότητα τοῦ μονογενοῦς εἶναί φασιν· ἄψυχον γὰρ ἀνειλῆφθαι τὸ σῶμα νομίζουσιν. Οἱ δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας κήρυκες τὴν ψυχὴν οὕτω κληθῆναί φασιν, ἐκ τῶν ἀκολούθων ῥητῶν τοῦτο νενοηκότες. Εὐθὺς γὰρ ἐπήγαγεν ὁ πάνσοφος εὐαγγελιστής· "Καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἐξέπνευσε." Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ Λουκᾶς οὕτως ἱστόρησε· καὶ ὁ μακάριος δὲ Μάρκος τὸ ἐξέπνευσεν ὁμοίως ἔθηκεν· ὁ δέ γε θειότατος Ματθαῖος, ὅτι " ̓Αφῆκε τὸ πνεῦμα·" ὁ δὲ θεσπέσιος Ἰωάννης, ὅτι 264 "Παρέδωκε τὸ πνεῦμα." Πάντα μέντοι κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον εἰρήκασιν ἔθος. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ ἐξέπνευσεν καὶ τὸ ἀφῆκε καὶ τὸ παρέδωκε τὸ πνεῦμα ἐπὶ τῶν τελευτώντων λέγειν εἰώθαμεν. Τοιγάρτοι τούτων οὐδὲν ἔμφασιν ἔχει θεότητος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπάρχει δηλωτικά. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀρειανικὴν τοῦ ῥητοῦ δέξαιτό τις διάνοιαν, οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ οὕτω δείξει τῆς θείας φύσεως τὸ ἀθάνατον. Τῷ πατρὶ γὰρ παρέθετο ταύτην, οὐ τῷ θανάτῳ ταύτην παρέπεμψεν. Εἰ τοίνυν καὶ οἱ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρνούμενοι τὴν ἀνάληψιν καὶ κτίσμα τὸν θεὸν λόγον εἶναι λέγοντες καὶ ἀντὶ ψυχῆς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι γεγενῆσθαι δογματίζοντες, οὐ θανάτῳ αὐτὸν παραδοθῆναι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πατρὶ παρατεθῆναί φασι, ποίας τύχοιεν συγγνώμης οἱ μίαν μὲν τῆς τριάδος οὐσίαν ὁμολογοῦντες, καὶ τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἀθανασίας ἐῶντες, τὸν δέ γε τῷ πατρὶ ὁμοούσιον θεὸν λόγον γεύσασθαι θανάτου λέγειν ἀνέδην τολμῶντες; ιγʹ. Ἄλλως. Εἰ ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς καὶ ἡ θεία διδάσκει γραφή, καὶ οἱ πανεύφημοι πατέρες κηρύττοντες διετέλεσαν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἄρα πέπονθεν, ὡς δὲ θεὸς διέμεινεν ἀπαθής. ιδʹ. Ἄλλως. Εἰ ὁμολογοῦσι τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνάληψιν, καὶ παθητὴν εἶναί φασιν