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have become properties of the flesh. But we, following the holy Fathers, as in all things, so also in this, say that the very God of all, having become man without change, not only willed as the same God in a manner appropriate to His divinity, but also as the same man in a manner appropriate to His humanity. For if beings, having come into existence from non-beings, have a power that holds on to being, not to non-being; and if the natural property of this power is an impulse towards what is constitutive and an aversion from what is corruptive; then the superessential Logos, having been humanly substantiated, also had the power that holds on to the being of His humanity; whose impulse and aversion He willed to show through activity: the impulse, by making such use of the natural and blameless things that He was not even thought to be God by the unbelievers; the aversion, by voluntarily making the recoil from death at the time of the passion. What absurdity, then, has the Church of God committed by confessing without fail, along with His human and created nature, the principles creatively implanted in it by Him, without which it is impossible for the nature to exist?

PYRRHUS. If cowardice is naturally present in us, and this is among the blameworthy things, then according to you the blameworthy things, that is, sin, are naturally inherent in us.

MAXIMUS. Again you deceive yourself, not the truth, by means of homonymy. For there is cowardice according to nature and contrary to nature; and cowardice according to nature is a power that holds on to being by means of recoil; but contrary to nature, it is an irrational recoil. Therefore, the Lord did not at all admit the one that is contrary to nature, since it comes from a betrayal by the thoughts; but the one according to nature, as indicative of the power inherent in the nature which lays claim to being, He willingly accepted for our sake, as He is good. For in the Lord the natural things do not lead the will, as they do in us; but just as He truly hungered and thirsted, He did not hunger and thirst in our manner, but in a manner beyond us; for it was voluntary; so also, truly fearing, He feared not in our manner, but beyond us. And to speak generally, everything natural (300) in Christ has joined to its own principle also the supranatural mode, so that both the nature might be confirmed by the principle, and the economy by the mode.

PYRRHUS. Therefore, so that we may escape this subtle and for most people hard to grasp technical terminology, let us confess the same one as perfect God and perfect man, avoiding all the rest, as the perfect one implies the natural things in Himself.

MAXIMUS. If speaking of the natures without the property belonging to each, or of Christ as perfect God and perfect man without the characteristics of perfection, is, according to you, perfected piety, then let the councils be anathematized, and before them, the Fathers, who legislated for us to confess not only the natures, but also the property of each nature; and not only the same one as perfect God and perfect man, but also the characteristics of perfection, that is, speaking of the same one and one as visible and invisible, mortal and immortal, corruptible and incorruptible, tangible and intangible, created and uncreated; and according to this same pious notion, they also piously decreed two wills of the same and one, not only through the definite number of two, but also through the pronouns 'one' and 'another'; and by analogy, by saying 'divine' and 'human'. For the nature of number is not limited to one mode.

PYRRHUS. If it is not possible for these expressions to be spoken because of the spite of the heretics, let us be content at least with only those things spoken by the synods; and let us say neither one, nor two wills.

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σαρκικῶν ἴδιωμάτων γεγόνασιν. Ἡμεῖς δέ τοῖς ἁγίοις Πατράσιν, ὡς ἐν ἅπασι, κἀν τούτῳ ἑπόμενοι, φαμέν, ὅτιπερ αὐτός ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός, ἀτρέπτως γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, οὐ μόνον ὡς Θεός ὁ αὐτός καταλλήλως τῇ αὐτοῦ θεότητι ἤθελεν, ἀλλά καί ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός καταλλήλως τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀνθρωπότητι. Εἰ γάρ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τά ὄντα γενόμενα, καί τοῦ ὄντος, οὐ τοῦ μή ὄντος ἔχουσι ἀνθεκτικήν δύναμιν· ταύτης δέ κατά φύσιν ἴδιον ἡ πρός τα συστατικά ὁρμή, καί πρός τά φθαρτικά ἀφορμή· ἄρα καί ὁ ὑπερούσιος Λόγος, ἀνθρωπικῶς οὐσιωθείς, ἔσχε καί τοῦ ὄντος τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀνθρωπότητος τήν ἀνθεκτικήν δύναμιν· ἧς τήν ὁρμήν καί ἀφορμήν θέλων δι᾿ ἐνεργείας ἔδειξε· τήν μέν ὁρμήν ἐν τῷ τοῖς φυσικοῖς καί ἀδιαβλήτοις τοσοῦτον χρήσασσθαι, ὡς καί μή Θεόν τοῖς ἀπίστοις νομίζεσθαι· τήν δέ ἀφορμήν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ πάθους, ἑκουσίως τήν πρός τόν θάνατον συστολήν ποιήσασθαι. Τί οὖν τῶν ἀτόπων ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πέπραχεν Ἐκκλησία, μετά τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης αὐτοῦ καί κτιστῆς φύσεως, καί τούς δημιουργικῶς αὐτῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐντεθέντας ἐν αὐτῷ ἀνελλιπῶς ὁμολογοῦσα λόγους, , ὧν καί ἄνευ εἶναι τήν φύσιν ἀδύνατον;

ΠΥΡ. Εἰ φυσικῶς ἡμῖν πρόσεστιν ἡ δειλία, τῶν διαβεβλημένων δέ αὕτη, ἄρα καθ᾿ ὑμᾶς φυσικῶς ἡμῖν ἔγκειται τά διαβεβλημένα, ἤγουν ἡ ἁμαρτία.

ΜΑΞ. Πάλιν ἐκ τῆς ὁμωνυμίας ἑαυτόν, οὐ τήν ἀλήθειαν παραλογίζῃ. Ἔστι γάρ καί κατά φύσιν καί παρά φύσιν δειλία· καί κατά φύσιν μέν δειλία ἐστί, δύναμις κατά συστολήν τοῦ ὄντος ἀνθεκτική· παρά φύσιν δέ, παράλογος συστολή. Τήν οὖν παρά φύσιν ὁ Κύριος, ἅτε δι᾿ ἐκ προδοσίας οὖσαν λογισμῶν, ὅλως οὐ προσήκατο· τήν δέ κατά φύσιν, ὡς τῆς ἐνυπαρούσης τῇ φύσει ἀντιποιητικῆς τοῦ εἶναι δυνάμεως ἐνδεικτικήν, θέλων δι' ἡμᾶς, ὡς ἀγαθός, ἐδέξατο. Οὐ γάρ προσηγεῖται ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ καθάπερ ἐν ἡμῖν, τῆς θελήσεως τά φυσικά· ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ πεινάσας ἀληθῶς, καί διψήσας, οὐ τρόπῳ τῷ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐπείνασεν καί ἐδίψησεν, ἀλλά τῷ ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς· ἑκουσίως γάρ· οὕτω καί δειλιάσας ἀληθῶς, οὐ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς ἐδειλίασε. Καί καθόλου φάναι, πᾶν φυσικόν (300) ἐπί Χριστοῦ, συνημμένον ἔχει τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτό λόγῳ καί τόν ὑπέρ φύσιν τρόπον ἵνα καί ἡ φύσις διά τοῦ λόγου πιστωθῇ, καί ἡ οἰκονομία διά τοῦ τρόπου.

ΠΥΡ. Οὐκοῦν ἵνα τήν λεπτήν ταύτην, καί τοῖς πολλοῖς δύσληπτον τεχνολογίαν ἐκφύγωμεν, Θεόν τέλειον τόν αὐτόν, καί ἄνθρωπον τέλειον ὁμολογήσωμεν, τά λοιπά πάντα ἐκκλίνοντες, ὡς τοῦ τελείου τά φυσικά παρ᾿ ἑαυτῷ συνεμφαίνοντος.

ΜΑΞ. Εἰ τό λέγειν τάς φύσεις ἄνευ τῆς ἑκάστῃ προσούσης ἰδιότητος, ἤ Θεόν τέλειον καί ἄνθρωπον τέλειον τόν Χριστόν, ἄνευ τῶν τῆς τελειότητος γνωρισμάτων, ἀπηρτισμένης κατά σέ εὐσεβείας ἐστί, ἀναθεματιζέσθωσαν αἱ σύνοδοι, καί πρό τούτων, οἱ Πατέρες· οὐ μόνον τάς φύσεις, ἀλλά καί τήν ἑκάστης φύσεως ἰδιότητα, ὁμολογεῖν ἡμῖν νομοθετήσαντες· καί οὐ μόνον Θεόν τέλειον καί ἄνθρωπον τέλειον τόν αὐτόν, ἀλλά καί τῆς τελειότητος τά γνωρίσματα, τουτέστιν, ὁρατόν καί ἀόρατον τόν αὐτόν καί ἕνα λέγοντες, θνητόν καί ἀθάνατον, φθαρτόν καί ἄφθαρτον, ἁπτόν καί ἀναφῆ, κτιστόν καί ἄκτιστον· καί κατ᾿ αὐτήν τήν εὐσεβῆ ἔννοιαν, καί δύο εὐσεβῶς θελήματα τοῦ αὐτοῦ καί ἑνός ἐδογμάτισαν, οὐ μόνον διά τοῦ ὡρισμένου ἀριθμοῦ τῶν δύο, ἀλλά καί δι᾿ ἀντωνυμίας τοῦ ἄλλο καί ἄλλο· καί δι᾿ ἀναλογίας τοῦ θεῖον εἰπεῖν καί ἀνθρώπινον. Οὐ γάρ ἑνί τρόπῳ ἡ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ περιορίζεται φύσις.

ΠΥΡ. Εἰ οὐ δυνατόν ἐστι τάς φωνάς ταύτας λέγεσθαι διά τήν τῶν αἱρετιζόντων ἐπήρειαν, ἀρκεσθῶμεν κἀν μόνοις τοῖς συνοδικῶς εἰρημένοις· καί μήτε ἕν, μήτε δύο εἴπωμεν τά θελήματα.