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before the resurrection, but they proclaim the nature of the divinity to be impassible, why then, leaving aside the passible nature, do they attribute the passion to the impassible nature? 15. In another way. If the Savior and Lord nailed the bond against us to the cross, according to the divine apostle, then he nailed the body. For in the body every man, like certain letters, fastens the stains of sins. For this reason indeed, on behalf of those who have sinned, he delivered up the body that was free from all sin. 10. In another way. When we say that the body or the flesh or the humanity suffered, we do not separate the divine nature. For just as it was united to [the flesh] when it was hungry and thirsty and weary, and indeed also sleeping, and agonizing over the passion, undergoing none of these things, but allowing it to receive the passions of its nature, so also it was joined to it when it was being crucified, and allowed the passion to be accomplished, in order that by the passion he might destroy 265 death, receiving no pain from the passion, but making the passion its own, as being of its own temple, and of united flesh, through which also those who have believed are called members of Christ, and he himself has been named head of those who have believed. 266 Unchanging, unconfused, impassible remains The Word, co-eternal with God the Father, Even if he took flesh in the last times; Just as Theodoret here writes Having received a God-given grace from on high. As with a three-edged, sharpened sword, therefore, you impious ones, by these three arguments Be struck, and be slaughtered, and fall for me, All you who change, confusion, and also passion, Are not afraid to wrongly attribute to the Word, And a cord, as Solomon somewhere writes, Let the triad of these wise arguments be for us An unbreakable threefold one against a noose.

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πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως, τῆς δὲ θεότητος τὴν φύσιν κηρύττουσιν ἀπαθῆ, τί δήποτε τὴν παθητὴν φύσιν ἐῶντες, τῇ ἀπαθεῖ τὸ πάθος προσάπτουσιν; ιεʹ. Ἄλλως. Εἰ τὸ χειρόγραφον ἡμῶν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος προσήλωσε τῷ σταυρῷ, κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον, τὸ σῶμα ἄρα προσήλωσεν. Ἐν γὰρ τῷ σώματι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, οἷόν τινα γράμματα, πήγνυσι τὰς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων κηλῖδας. Τούτου δὴ χάριν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων τὸ πάσης ἁμαρτίας ἐλεύθερον παρέδωκε σῶμα. ιʹ. Ἄλλως. Ὅταν τὸ σῶμα ἢ τὴν σάρκα ἢ τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα πεπονθέναι λέγωμεν, τὴν θείαν οὐ χωρίζομεν φύσιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἥνωτο πεινώσῃ καὶ διψώσῃ καὶ κοπιώσῃ, καὶ μέντοι καὶ καθευδούσῃ, καὶ ἀγωνιώσῃ τὸ πάθος, οὐδὲν μὲν τούτων ὑφισταμένη, συγχωροῦσα δὲ ταύτῃ δέχεσθαι τὰ τῆς φύσεως πάθη, οὕτω συνῆπτο καὶ σταυρου-μένῃ, καὶ συνεχώρει τελεσιουργηθῆναι τὸ πάθος, ἵνα λύσῃ τῷ πάθει 265 τὸν θάνατον, ὀδύνην μὲν ἐκ τοῦ πάθους οὐ δεχομένη, τὸ δὲ πάθος οἰκειωσαμένη, ὡς ναοῦ γε ἰδίου, καὶ σαρκὸς ἡνωμένης, δι' ἣν καὶ μέλη Χριστοῦ χρηματίζουσιν οἱ πιστεύσαντες, καὶ τῶν πεπιστευκότων αὐτὸς ὠνόμασται κεφαλή. 266 Ἄτρεπτος, ἀσύγχυτος, ἀπαθὴς μένει Ὁ συνάναρχος τοῦ θεοῦ πατρὸς λόγος, Κἂν σάρκα λάβοι τῶν χρόνων ἐπ' ἐσχάτων· Ὥσπερ Θεοδώριτος ἐνταῦθα γράφει Λαβὼν θεοδώρητον ἐξ ὕψους χάριν. Ὡς τριστόμῳ γοῦν ἠκονημένῳ ξίφει, Οἱ δυσσεβοῦντες, τοῖς τρισὶ τούτοις λόγοις Βάλλοισθε, καὶ σφάζοισθε, καὶ πίπτοιτέ μοι, Ὅσοι τροπήν, σύγχυσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάθος, Κακῶς προσάπτειν οὐ πτοεῖσθε τῷ λόγῳ, Καὶ σπαρτίον δέ, Σολομὼν ὥς που γράφει, Ἀρραγὲς ὡς ἔντριτον ἡμῖν ἀγχόνης Ἡ τριὰς ἔστω τῶν σοφῶν τούτων λόγων.