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Natural energy is the essential and constitutive quality of every essence; that which is deprived of it, is also deprived of all essence.

Natural energy is an essential power, not permitting any alteration of one into another according to essence.

Natural energy is the power which preserves unmixed the essential distinction of all things from all things.

From Saint Alexander, from the epistle to Aeglon, bishop of Cynopolis, against the Arians.

Natural energy is the innate movement of every nature. Natural energy is the essential and cognitive principle of every nature. Natural energy is the manifesting power of every essence.

Of Gregory of Nyssa. The energy of a rational soul is the movement and (281) thought of the mind. Energy is a movement

essential, characteristic of the nature to which it properly belongs, by which it is known to differ essentially from others. Energy is an active movement. And that which moves of itself is called active. For we say that energy is the natural power and movement of each essence, without which a nature neither is nor is known. For of intelligible beings, it is intellection; of sensible beings, sensation, by which they both naturally apprehend external things and are subject to external things. Of winged creatures, flight; of swimming creatures, swimming; of crawling creatures, crawling; of walking creatures, walking; of plants, growth. And to speak comprehensively, we call the signifying property of each nature, natural energy. Of which only that which is not is deprived. For that which is, partaking of some essence, will certainly also partake of the power that naturally manifests it. For the true account knows the natural energies of essences to be their boundaries. The energy of a rational soul is the proper thought and movement of the mind. The energy of a rational soul is its life according to nature.

Of Chrysostom. An essential energy of God is to be nowhere; not by not being, but by being beyond

place and time and nature; with which beginning and end and generation are naturally conceived; who is sustainer and maker by willing alone. For without natural energy, the nature of nothing is manifest. For as a distinguishing characteristic for each nature, the Creator essentially implanted the movement that distinguishes it from others.

Of Saint Cyril. A God-befitting energy and power is to be everywhere, and to fill ineffably

heaven; and again to fill the earth, and to be contained in all things, but to be contained by none. For He is not comprehensible, or limited by interval; nor within any circumscription. For He who is without quantity and size and incorporeal does not admit of suffering such a thing.

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Ἐνέργεια φυσική ἐστιν, ἡ οὐσιώδης καί συστατική πάσης οὐσίας ποιότης· ἧς τό ἐστερημένον, καί πάσης οὐσίας ἐστέρηται.

Ἐνέργεια φυσική ἐστι, δύναμις οὐσιώδης μή δέ μίαν ἑτέρου πρός ἕτερον ἐπιδέχεσθαι συγχωροῦσα κατά τήν οὐσίαν ἀλλοίωσιν.

Ἐνέργεια φυσική ἐστιν ἡ ἀμιγῆ τήν οὐσιώδη πάντων πρός ἅπαντα διάκρισιν σώζουσα δύναμις.

Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀλεξάνδρου, ἐκ τῆς πρός Αἴγλωνα ἐπίσκοπον Κυνοπόλεως κατά Ἀρειανῶν ἐπιστολῆς.

Ἐνέργεια φυσική ἐστιν, ἡ πάσης φύσεως ἔμφυτος κίνησις. Ἐνέργεια ἐστι φυσική, ὁ πάσης φύσεως οὐσιώδης καί γνωστικός λόγος. Ἐνέργειά ἐστι φυσική, ἡ δηλωτική ἡ πάσης οὐσίας δύναμις.

Γρηγορίου Νύσσης. Ἐνέργεια λογικῆς ψυχῆς, ἐστί νοῦ κίνησις καί (281) διάνοια. Ἐνέργειά ἐστι κίνησις

οὐσιώδης χαρακτηριστική τῆς φύσεως, ἧς ἰδία καθέστηκε, δι᾿ ἧς γινώσκεται τῶν ἄλλων οὐσιωδῶς διαφέρουσα. Ἐνέργειά ἐστι κίνησις δραστική. ∆ραστικόν δέ λέγεται, τό ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ κινούμενον. Ἐνέργειαν γάρ ἡμεῖς εἶναι φαμεν, τήν φυσικήν ἑκάστης οὐσίας δύναμίν τε καί κίνησιν, ἧς χωρίς οὔτε ἔστιν, οὔτε γινώσκεται φύσις. Νοερῶν γάρ ἐστι, νόησις· αἰσθητικῶν, αἴσθησις, καθ᾿ ἥν, αὗταί τε καί τῶν ἐκτός ἐφάπτονται φυσικῶς, καί τοῖς ἐκτός ὑποπίπτουσι. Πτηνῶν, πτῆσις· νηκτῶν, νῆξις· ἑρπηστικῶν, ἕρψις· βαδιστικῶν, βάδισις· βλαστῶν, βλάστησις. Καί περιληπτικῶς εἰπεῖν, τό σημαντικόν ἑκάστης ἰδίωμα φύσεως, ἐνέργειαν λέγομεν φυσικήν. Ἧς μόνον ἐστέρηται, τό μή ὄν. Τό γάρ ὄν, οὐσίας τινός μετέχον, καί τῆς δηλούσης αὐτήν φυσικῶς μεθέξει πάντως δυνάμεως. Ὅρους γάρ τῶν οὐσιῶν, τάς φυσικάς αὐτῶν ἐνεργείας ὁ ἀληθής ἐπίσταται λόγος. Ἐνέργειά ἐστι ψυχῆς λογικῆς, οἰκεία τοῦ νοῦ διάνοιά τε καί κίνησις. Ἐνέργειά ἐστι ψυχῆς λογικῆς, ἡ κατά φύσιν αὐτῆς ζωή.

Τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου. Οὐσιώδυς ἐνέργειά ἐστι Θεοῦ, τό μηδαμοῦ εἶναι· οὐ τῷ μή εἶναι, ἀλλά τῷ ὑπερεῖναι

τόπου καί χρόνου καί φύσεως· οἷς φυσικῶς ἀρχή συνεπινοεῖται καί πέρας καί γένεσις· ὅς ἐστι συνοχεύς καί ποιητής μόνῳ τῷ βούλεσθαι. Ἄνευ γάρ φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας, οὐδενός φύσις ἐπίδηλος. Οἷον γάρ ἑκάστῃ φύσει χαρακτῆρα γνωριστικόν ὁ ∆ημιουργός, τήν διακρίνουσαν αὐτήν τῶν ἄλλων, οὐσιωδῶς ἐναπέθετο κίνησιν.

Τοῦ ἁγίου Κυρίλλου. Ἐνέργεια θεοπρεπής καί δύναμίς ἐστι, τό εἶναι πανταχῆ, καί πληροῦν μέν ἀῤῥήτως

τόν οὐρανόν· πληροῦν δέ αὖ πάλιν τήν γῆν, καί χωρεῖν μέν ἐν πᾶσι, χωρεῖσθαι δέ ἐπ᾿ οὐδενός. Οὐ γάρ περιληπτός, ἤ διαστήματι περιωρισμένος· ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ περιγραφῆς τινος εἴσω. Παθεῖν γάρ τι τοιοῦτον ὁ ἄποσός τε καί ἐμεγέθης καί ἀσώματος οὐκ ἀνέχεται.