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QUESTION 42.

How is it that we are said to have committed sin and to have known it, but the Lord is said to have become sin, but not to have known it? And how is it not more serious to become sin and not know it, than to commit it and know it? "For, it says, 'He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.' "

Answer. Adam's deliberate choice, having first been corrupted from its natural state, nature

corrupted along with itself, having cast off the grace of impassibility, and it became sin; the first, and blameworthy, is the falling away of the deliberate choice from the good toward evil; and the second, on account of the first, is the blameless transformation of nature from incorruption to corruption. For two sins occurred in the forefather through the transgression of the divine commandment: the one, blameworthy; the other, blameless, having the blameworthy one as its cause. And the one is of the deliberate choice voluntarily casting off the good; the other is of nature involuntarily casting off immortality on account of the deliberate choice. Therefore, our Lord and God, in correcting this reciprocal corruption and alteration of nature, having taken the whole of nature, also had in the nature he assumed that which is subject to passion, adorned with incorruptibility according to deliberate choice; and he became sin for us by nature, on account of that which is subject to passion, but not knowing sin of the will, on account of the unchangeableness of his deliberate choice; and having corrected that which is subject to passion in nature through the incorruptibility of his deliberate choice; having made the end of that which is subject to passion in nature, I mean death, the beginning of the transformation according to nature toward incorruptibility; and just as through one man who voluntarily turned his deliberate choice away from the good, the transformation of nature from incorruption to corruption came to all men; so also through one man, Jesus Christ, (408) who did not turn his deliberate choice away from the good, the restoration of nature from corruption to incorruption came to all men.

Therefore, the Lord, not knowing my sin, that is, the turning of my deliberate choice, neither took on my sin, nor became it; but by assuming the sin on my account, that is, the corruption of nature due to the turning of the deliberate choice, he became for us a man subject to passion by nature; through the sin on my account, abolishing my sin. And just as in Adam, the particular evil of his deliberate choice took away the common glory of incorruptibility from nature, as God judged it not good for the man whose deliberate choice had become evil to have an immortal nature; so also in Christ the particular good of his deliberate choice took away the common shame of corruption from the whole of nature, as nature was refashioned into incorruptibility at the resurrection, on account of the unchangeableness of his deliberate choice; as God judged it reasonable for the man whose deliberate choice had not turned to receive back an immortal nature. And by 'man' I mean the incarnate God the Word, on account of the rationally ensouled flesh which he united to himself hypostatically. For if the turning of the deliberate choice in Adam introduced that which is by nature subject to passion, corruptible, and mortal, it is fitting that the unchangeableness of the deliberate choice in Christ brought back through the resurrection that which is by nature impassible, incorruptible, and immortal.

The condemnation, therefore, of Adam's sin of deliberate choice is the transformation of nature toward passion, corruption, and death; which man did not have from God in the beginning, but he made and knew it, having crafted the sin of deliberate choice through disobedience; of which the condemnation through death is clearly the offspring. And this condemnation of my sin of deliberate choice, I mean that which is according to nature

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΜΒ΄ .

Πῶς ἡμεῖς μέν λεγόμεθα ποιῆσαι τήν ἁμαρτίαν καί εἰδέναι, ὁ δέ Κύριος γενέσθαι μέν ἁμαρτία λέγεται, μή γνῶναι δέ αὐτήν; Πῶς δέ καί τοῦ ποιῆσαι καί εἰδέναι αύτήν οὐκ ἔστι βαρύτερον τό γενέσθαι καί μή γνῶναι; "Τόν γάρ μή γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν, φησίν, ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν. "

Ἀπόκρισις. Φθαρεῖσα πρότερον τοῦ κατά φύσιν λόγου τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἡ προαίρεσις, τήν φύσιν

ἑαυτῇ συνέφθειρεν, ἀποθεμένην τῆς ἀπαθείας τήν χάριν, καί γέγονεν ἁμαρτία· πρώτη μέν καί εὐδιάβλητος, ἡ πρός κακίαν ἀπό τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἔκπτωσις· δευτέρα δέ διά τήν πρώτην, ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἐξ ἀφθαρσίας εἰς φθοράν ἀδιάβλητος μεταποίησις. ∆ύο γάρ ἁμαρτίαι γεγόνασιν ἐν τῷ προπάτορι κατά τήν παράβασιν τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς· ἡ μέν, διαβεβλημένη· ἡ δέ, ἀδιάβλητος, αἰτίαν ἔχουσα τήν διαβεβλημένην. Καί ἡ μέν, προαιρέσεως ἑκουσίως ἀποθεμένης τό ἀγαθόν· ἡ δέ, φύσεως ἀκουσίως διά τήν πραίρεσιν ἀποθεμένης τήν ἀθανασίαν. Ταύτην οὖν τήν διάλληλον φθοράν τε καί ἀλλοίωσιν τῆς φύσεως ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καί Θεός διορθούμενος, ὁλόκληρον τήν φύσιν λαβών, εἶχε καί αὐτός ἐν τῇ ληφθείσῃ φύσει τό παθητόν, τῇ κατά προαίρεσιν ἀφθαρσίᾳ κοσμούμενον· καί γέγονε φύσει μέν διά τό παθητόν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτία, μή γνούς δέ τήν γνωμικήν ἁμαρτίαν, διά τήν ἀτρεψίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως· τό δέ παθητόν τῆς φύσεως διά τήν ἀφθαρσίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως διορθώσας· τό τέλος τοῦ παθητοῦ τῆς φύσεως, φημί δέ τόν θάνατον, τῆς κατά φύσιν πρός ἀφθαρσίαν μεταποιήσεως ἀρχήν ποιησάμενος· καί γέγονεν ὥσπερ δι᾿ ἑνός ἀνθρώπου τραπέντος ἑκουσίως ἀπό τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τήν προαίρεσιν εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἐξ ἀφθαρσίας εἰς φθοράν μεταποίησις· οὕτως δι᾿ ἑνός ἀνθρώπου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, (408) μή τραπέντος ἀπό τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τήν προαίρεσιν, εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἐκ φθορᾶς εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἀποκατάστασις.

Τήν ἐμήν οὖν μή γνούς ἁμαρτίαν ὁ Κύριος, τουτέστι τήν τροπήν τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρέσεως, τήν ἐμήν οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἁμαρτίαν, οὔτε γέγονεν· ἀλλά τήν δι᾿ ἐμέ ἁμαρτίαν, τουτέστι τήν διά τήν τροπήν τῆς προαιρέσεως φθοράν τῆς φύσεως ἀναλαβών, ὑπέρ ἡμῶν γέγονε φύσει παθητός ἄνθρωπος· διά τῆς δι᾿ ἐμέ ἁμαρτίας, τήν ἐμήν ἀνελών ἁμαρτίαν. Καί ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Ἀδάμ, τό περί κακίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἴδιον, τό κοινόν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἀφείλατο κλέος τῆς φύσεως, φύσιν ἀθάνατον ἔχειν οὐκ εἶναι καλόν κρίναντος τοῦ Θεοῦ τόν κακισθέντα τήν προαίρεσιν ἄνθρωπον· οὕτως ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ τό περί τό καλόν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἴδιον, τό κοινόν τῆς φθορᾶς αἶσχος τῆς ὅλης ἀφείλατο φύσεως, κατά τήν ἀνάστασαιν μεταπλασθείσης εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν τῆς φύσεως, διά τήν ἀτρεψίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως· εὔλογον κρίναντος τοῦ Θεοῦ πάλιν ἀθάνατον ἀπολαβεῖν τήν φύσιν, τόν μή τραπέντα τήν πραίρεσιν ἄνθρωπον. Ἄνθρωπον δέ λέγω τόν σαρκωθέντα Θεόν Λόγον, δι᾿ ἥν ἑαυτῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἥνωσε λογικῶς ἐψυχωμένην σάρκα. Εἰ γάρ τό κατά φύσιν παθητόν τε καί φθαρτόν καί θνητόν ἐν τῷ Ἀδάμ ἡ τροπή τῆς προαιρέσεως ἐπεισήγαγεν, εἰκότως τό κατά φύσιν ἀπαθές καί ἄφθαρτον καί ἀθάνατον ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ διά τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἡ ἀτρεψία τῆς προαιρέσεως ἐπανήγαγε.

Κατάκρισις οὖν ἐστι τῆς προαιρετικῆς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ἡ τῆς φύσεως πρός πάθος καί φθοράν καί θάνατον μεταποίησις· ἥν οὐ γέγονε μέν ἐκ Θεοῦ καταρχάς ἔχων ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐποίησε δέ καί ἔγνω, τήν προαιρετικήν διά τῆς παρακοῆς ἁμαρτίαν δημιουργήσας· ἧς ὑπάρχει γέννημα σαφῶς, ἡ διά τοῦ θανάτου κατάκρισις. Ταύτην δέ τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρετικῆς ἁμαρτίας τήν κατάκρισιν, λέγω δέ τό κατά φύσιν