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The Lord having taken on what is passible and corruptible and mortal, became sin for my sake, according to what is passible and mortal and corruptible, voluntarily submitting to my condemnation by nature, while being uncondemned in his choice; so that he might condemn my sin and condemnation, both of choice and of nature, at the same time driving sin, and passion, and corruption, and death out of nature; and the economy concerning me, who fell through disobedience, of the one who is above me out of love for mankind, becomes a common mystery, who for the sake of my salvation voluntarily appropriates my condemnation through death, and through it grants me the recall to immortality.

In many ways, I think, it has been shown in summary, how the Lord became sin, yet did not know sin; and how man did not become sin, but committed and knew sin; both that of choice, which (409) he himself initiated; and that of nature, which the Lord accepted on his account, being entirely free of the first. Therefore, to commit and know sin is in no way better than to become sin, according to the rendered meaning of the purpose of the Word, and with the proper distinction, understanding the homonymy regarding sin. For the one brings about a separation from God, since the will voluntarily rejects divine things; but the other becomes the destroyer of much evil, not allowing the evil of the will to proceed to action, because of natural weakness.

SCHOLIA. a. Fr. Read, Nilus, and understand, even if late. b. He says that the sin of nature is death, according to which we give up being even unwillingly;

but the sin of choice is the choice of things contrary to nature, according to which we send away well-being even when we want it.

c. That the Lord, having been incarnate as a man, was corruptible by nature, just as he is said to have become sin; but incorruptible by nature according to choice, as sinless.

d. The death of the Lord, he says, has become the beginning of incorruption for the whole of nature. e. That even as a man he was sinless by nature. f. The sin for our sake is the corruptibility of nature; but our sin is the

mutability of choice. Therefore man became mortal, enduring natural death, according to a just judgment, for the abolition of the death of the will.

g. He calls the sin of choice the first sin, which the Lord did not have, although he truly took on the passibility according to nature, which was the penalty for Adam's changed choice. Therefore he alone is free among the dead, not having the sin on account of which death came to be.

h. To commit and know sin, is clearly according to choice. i. That is, for Adam to become by nature passible as a punishment for the sin of

choice; which sin the Lord, not having known, became sin, having taken on by nature as a man according to the flesh the passibility that was on account of it.

QUESTION 43

If the tree of life is said in Scripture to be wisdom, and the work of wisdom is to discern and (412) to know the knowable of the tree of good and evil, what then is the difference from the tree of life?

Response.

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παθητόν καί φθαρτόν καί θνητόν ὁ Κύριος λαβών, ἁμαρτία γέγονε δι᾿ ἐμέ, κατά τό παθητόν καί θνητόν καί φθαρτόν, τήν ἐμήν ἑκουσίως ὑποδύς φύσει κατάκρισιν, ἀκατάκριτος ὑπάρχων τήν προαίρεσιν· ἵνα τήν ἐμήν προαιρετικήν τε καί φυσικήν ἁμαρτίαν καί κατάκρισιν κατακρίνῃ, κατά ταυτόν ἁμαρτίαν, καί πάθος, καί φθοράν, καί θάνατον ἐξωθήσας τῆς φύσεως· καί γένηται κοινόν μυστήριον, ἡ περί ἐμέ τόν πεσόντα ἐξ ἀπειθείας, τοῦ ὑπέρ ἐμέ ἐκ φιλανθρωπίας οἰκονομία, τῆς ἐμῆς ἕνεκεν σωτηρίας τόν ἐμήν ἑκουσίως οἰκειουμένου διά τοῦ θανάτου κατάκρισιν, καί δι᾿ αὐτῆς χαριζομένου μοι τήν πρός ἀθανασίαν ἀνάκλησιν.

Πολλαχῶς, οἶμαι, δέδεικται κατ᾿ ἐπιτομήν, πῶς τε γέγονεν ἁμαρτία ὁ Κύριος, οὐκ ἔγνω δέ τήν ἁμαρτίαν· καί πῶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐ γέγονε μέν, ἐποίησε δέ καί ἔγνω τήν ἁμαρτίαν· τήν τε προαιρετικήν, ἧς (409) αὐτός ἀπήρξατο· τήν τε φυσικήν, ἥν δι᾿ αὐτόν ὁ Κύριος κατεδέξατο, τῆς πρώτης παντελῶς ὑπάρχων ἐλεύθερος. Οὐδαμῶς οὖν τοῦ γίνεσθαι κρεῖττον ὑπάρχει τό ποιῆσαι καί γνῶναι τήν ἁμαρτίαν, κατά τόν ἀποδοθέντα νοούμενον τοῦ Λόγου σκοπόν, καί μετά τῆς πρεπούσης διαστολῆς, τῆς κατά τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὁμωνυμίας νοουμένης. Τό μέν γάρ, Θεοῦ ποιεῖται χωρισμόν, ἀπωθουμέης ἑκουσίως τά θεῖα τῆς προαιρέσεως· τό δέ, κακίας πολλῆς γίνεται καταλυτικόν, μή συγχωροῦν εἰς ἔργον προβῆναι, διά τήν φυσικήν ἀσθένειαν, τήν κακίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Fr. Ἀνάγνωθι, Νεῖλε, καί φρόνησον κἄν ὀψέ ποτε. β΄. Ἁμαρτίαν φύσεως εἶναί φησι τόν θάνατον, καθ᾿ ὅν τοῦ εἶναι καί μή θέλοντες

ἀπογινόμεθα· ἁμαρτίαν δέ προαιρέσεως, τήν τῶν παρά φύσιν αἵρεσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν τό εὖ εἶναι θέλοντες ἀποπέμπομεν.

γ΄. Ὅτι φθαρτός μέν κατα φύσιν σαρκωθείς ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὑπῆρχεν ὁ Κύριος, καθά καί ἁμαρτία γεγονέναι λέγεταί φησι· ἄφθαρτος δέ φύσει κατά προαίρεσιν, ὡς ἀναμάρτητος.

δ΄. Ὁ τοῦ Κυρίου θάνατος, φησίν, ἀφθαρσίας ἀρχή τῆς ὅλης φύσεως γέγονεν. ε΄. Ὅτι καί ὡς ἄνθρωπος κατά φύσιν ἀναμάρτητος ἦν. στ΄. Ἡ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐστιν ἁμαρτία, τό τῆς φύσεως φθαρτόν· ἡ δέ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτία, τό

τρεπτόν τῆς προαιρέσεως. ∆ιό γέγονε θνητός ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τόν φυσικόν ὑπομείνας θάνατον, κατά δικαίαν κρίσιν, εἰς ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ θανάτου τῆς προαιρέσεως.

ζ΄. Πρώτην ἁμαρτίαν φησί τήν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἥν οὐκ εἶχεν ὁ Κύριος, καίτοι λαβών ἀληθῶς τό κατά φύσιν παθητόν, ἐπιτίμιον ὑπάρχον τῆς τραπείσης τοῦ Ἀδάμ προαιρέσεως. ∆ιό καί μόνος ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθερος, οὐκ ἔχων τήν, δι᾿ ἥν ὁ θάνατος γέγονεν, ἁμαρτίαν.

η΄. Τό ποιῆσαι καί γνῶναι τήν ἁμαρτίαν, κατά προαίρεσιν δῆλον ὅτι. θ΄. Τό γενέσθαι δηλαδή φύσει παθητόν τόν Ἀδάμ εἰς κόλασιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῆς

προαιρέσεως· ἥν μή γνούς ὁ Κύριος γέγονεν ἁμαρτία, τό δι᾿ αὐτήν παθητόν ὡς ἄνθρωπος κατά σάρκα φύσει λαβών.

ΕΡΩΤHΣΙΣ ΜΓ΄

Εἰ τό ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς σοφία λέγεται εἶναι παρά τῇ Γραφῇ, ἔργον δέ σοφίας τό διακρίνειν καί (412) γνῶναι τό γνωστόν τοῦ καλοῦ καί τοῦ πονηροῦ ξύλον, τί διαφέρει λοιπόν τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς;

Ἀπόκρισις.