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volitional, just as by hypostasis, so also by will Christ will be separated from the Father and the Spirit.

8. If according to the great Cyril, things that are of the same essence and nature also happen to have the same will, how can things that are not of the same nature be able to have the same will?

9. If not wanting to die, according to the golden-mouthed John, the flesh has naturally; and with all the properties naturally belonging to it the Word united it to Himself unchangeably according to hypostasis, how do those who deny the things naturally belonging to it not also deny the nature along with its natural properties?

10. If they say that with the will a person is also introduced, and for this reason, fearing a fear that is not, they cannot bear to speak of two wills in Christ, so that two persons might not also of necessity be introduced for them, they will be forced, if indeed they wish to show the reasoning of their own dogma to be coherent, either because of the one will of the Godhead, to also speak of one person; since, according to them, a person necessarily follows the will; or because of the three persons, also three wills, thereby introducing both the confusion of Sabellius and the division of Arius.

But since, blessed ones, homonymy often becomes a cause of error, with the hearer turning to another meaning than the one the word indicated, I beseech your understanding in Christ, for the sake of a clear and unconfused declaration of the things signified, to clarify for you before all things, whether will exists at all, and to which significations or rather things such a name is applied; and whether some of the things designated by it are composite, and others simple; and which are the composite ones. And if the composite ones have their parts co-temporal, or not co-temporal; and which are prior to which; and which are subsequent to which. And what is the demonstrative and definitive account of each part, so that we may have it understood, to accept the one will. For the Fathers' discourse is not about words, but about things. Whence we find the Fathers conceding words, but concepts, by no means. And in addition to these, what is choice, and what is will; and what is gnomic will, and what is volitional. For all these things tend to concur for the representation of the wills. And he who does not know these things with precision, and discourses about wills, is a blind man being shortsighted, knowing neither what he says nor about what he is making affirmations.

OF THE SAME,

(276) From the questions put to him by Theodore the monk. Nature is, according to the philosophers, a principle of motion and of rest; but according to the

Fathers, a form predicated of many things and differing in number, in answer to the question 'what is it'. Essence is, according to the philosophers, a self-subsistent thing not needing another for its existence; but according to the Fathers, the natural reality of many things differing in their hypostases. An individual is, according to the philosophers, a collection of properties, whose aggregate cannot be observed in another; but according to the Fathers, such as Peter or Paul, or any other person in himself distinguished from other men by his own personal properties. And hypostasis is, according to the philosophers, essence

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προαιρετικόν, ὥσπερ τῆ ὑποστάσει, οὕτω καί τῇ γνώμῃ χωρισθήσεται Πατρός καί Πνεύματος ὁ Χριστός.

η´. Εἰ κατά τόν μέγαν Κύριλλον, τά τῆς αὐτῆς ὄντα οὐσίας καί φύσεως, καί τοῦ αὐτοῦ τυγχάνουσι θελήματος, πῶς τά τῆς αὐτῆς μή ὄντα φύσεως, τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἶναι θελήματος δύνανται;

θ´. Εἰ τό μή θέλειν ἀποθανεῖν, κατά τό χρυσοῦν στόμα Ἰωάννου, φυσικόν ἔχει ἡ σάρξ· μετά πάντων δέ τῶν φυσικῶς προσόντων αὐτῇ ἰδιωμάτων ὁ Λόγος ἥνωσεν αὐτήν ἑαυτῷ ἀτρέπτως καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, πῶς τά φυσικῶς προσόντα αὐτῇ ἀρνούμενοι, οὐχί καί τήν φύσιν τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἰδιώμασι συναρνοῦνται;

ι´. Εἰ τῷ θελήματι καί πρόσωπον συνεισάγεσθαι λέγουσι, καί διά τοῦτο τόν οὐκ ὄντα φοβούμενοι φόβον, δύο θελήματα ἐπί Χριστοῦ λέγειν οὐκ ἀνέχονται, ἵνα μή καί δύο πρόσωπα ἐξ ἀνάγκης αὐτοῖς συνεισαχθῇ, βιασθήσονται, εἴπερ εὐσυνάρτητον τόν τοῦ οἰκείου δόγματος λόγον δεῖξαι βούλονται, ἤ διά τό ἕν θέλημα τῆς Θεότητος, καί ἕν λέγειν πρόσωπον· ἐπειδή τῷ θελήματι κατ᾿ αὐτούς ἐξ ἀνάγκης καί πρόσωπον ἕπεται· ἤ διά τά τρία πρόσωπα, καί τρία θελήματα, Σαβελλίου τέ τήν συναίρεσιν καί Ἀρείου τήν διαίρεσιν εἰσάγειν.

Ἐπειδή δέ, εὐλογημένοι, ἡ ὁμωνυμία αἴτιον πολλάκις πλάνης γίνεται, τοῦ ἀκροατοῦ πρός ἑτέραν σημασίαν μεταβαίνοντος, παρ᾿ ἥν ὑπέφηνεν ὁ λόγος, παρακαλῶ τήν ὑμετέραν ἐν Χριστῷ σύνεσιν, διά τήν εὐκρινῆ καί ἀσύγχυτον τῶν σημαινομένων πραγμάτων δήλωσιν, σαφηνίσαι ὑμῖν πρό πάντων , εἰ ὅλως ἐστί θέλημα, καί ἐπί ποίων σημαινομένων ἤγουν πραγμάτων φέρεται τό τοιοῦτον ὄνομα· καί εἰ τά μέν τῶν ὑπ'αὐτό προσαγορευομένων πραγμάτων σύνθετά εἰσι, τά δέ ἁπλᾶ· καί ποῖα δέ τά σύνθετα. Καί εἰ ἄρα τά σύνθετα, ὁμόχρονα ἔχουσι τά μέρη, ἤ οὐχ ὁμόχρονα· καί ποῖα ποίων προγενέστερα· ποῖα δέ ποίων μεταγενέστερα. Καί τίς ὁ ἀποδεικτικός ἑκάστου μέρους καί ὁριστικός λόγος, ἵνα ἔχωμεν νοούμενον, τό ἕν θέλημα δέχεσθαι. Οὐ γάρ περί φωνῶν ὁ λόγος τοῖς Πατράσιν, ἀλλά περί πραγμάτων. Ὅθεν φωνάς μέν παραχωροῦντας τούς Πατέρας εὕρομεν· ἐννοίας δέ, οὐδαμῶς. Πρός ἐπί τούτοις δέ, τί προαίρεσις, καί τί γνώμη· τί δέ γνωμικόν θέλημα, καί τί προαιρετικόν. Ταῦτα γάρ πάντα συνδραμεῖν θέλουσι πρός τήν τῶν θελημάτων παράστασιν. Καί ὁ μή ταῦτα γινώσκων μετά ἀκριβείας, καί περί θελημάτων διηγούμενος, τυφλός μυωπάζων, μή γινώσκων μήτε τί λαλεῖ, μήτε περί τίνος διαβεβαιοῦται.

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ,

(276) Ἐκ τῶν ἐρωτηθέντων αὐτῷ παρά Θεοδώρου μοναχοῦ. Φύσις ἐστί, κατά μέν φιλοσόφους, ἀρχή κινήσεως καί ἡρεμίας· κατά δέ τούς

Πατέρας, εἶδος κατά πολλῶν καί δαρερόντων τῷ ἀριθμῷ, ἐν τῷ ὁποῖον τί ἐστι, κατηγορούμενον. Οὐσία ἐστί, κατά μέν φιλοσόφους, αὐθυπόστατον πρᾶγμα μή δεόμενον ἑτέρου πρός σύστασιν· κατά δέ τούς Πατέρας, ἡ κατά πολλῶν καί διαφερόντων ταῖς ὑποστάσεσιν ὀντότης φυσική. Ἄτομόν ἐστι, κατά μέν φιλοσόφους ἰδιωμάτων συναγωγή, ὧν τό ἄθροισμα ἐπ' ἄλλου θεωρεῖσθαι οὐ δύναται· κατά δέ τούς Πατέρας, οἷον Πέτρος ἤ Παῦλος, ἤ τις ἕτερος τῶν καθ᾿ αὑτά ἰδίοις προσωπικοῖς ἰδιώμασι τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἀφοριζόμενος. Ὑπόστασις δέ ἐστιν, κατά μέν φιλοσόφους, οὐσία