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deaf, blind, naked and senseless, differing in nothing from the irrational animals, or rather, to speak more truly, being worse than they, inasmuch as they comprised in themselves the passions of each one of them and drew these into themselves.

For those born of this dust, being dust, were brought down to such ignorance of God and of His divine commandments that they rendered to this visible creation the honor which they ought to have rendered to God; and not only to heaven and earth and sun, moon and stars and fire and water and the rest, but even deifying the shameful passions themselves, which God forbade them even to think of, much less to do, they set them up—O, the insensibility!—as gods and worshipped them. What are these? Fornication, adultery, sodomy, murder, and whatever is similar to these, which not God—far be the blasphemy!—but the devil (359) both commands and suggests and accepts, by which he has enslaved and is enslaving the whole human race, and has made and is making them subject to him and his slaves. Whence, even if someone was found in old times, out of those countless myriads and thousands, who had not yielded to his shameful commands and these wills, yet since he too, because he was descended from the seed of those who had sinned, was a slave of the tyrant death and was delivered over to its corruption and was sent without compassion to Hades, there being, that is, no one able to save and redeem him, for this very reason God the Word, who made us, took pity and came down, as He knows how, and became man, not from intercourse or emission, but from the Holy Spirit and Mary the ever-virgin. For taking from her all-pure blood flesh endowed with a soul, He became man, being named and having become wholly flesh Himself, that is, the Son and Word of God, without change, without alteration, as it is written: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This is the miracle, incomprehensible to all and unintelligible to all, that He both remained unchanged in His divinity and became perfect man.

For just as God formed Adam from the earth and bestowed on him the breath of life, and he became a perfect man, a living soul, without intercourse and emission, so He who created him becomes man without intercourse and emission; and just as it is written there in the Old Testament that God cast a trance upon Adam and he slept, and taking one of his ribs He built it up and made the woman, so also here He has done. How and in what way? Pay attention. The rib of Adam is the woman. From this rib of Adam, then, that is, from the woman herself, (360) God the Word took flesh endowed with a soul and built it into a perfect man, that He might become in truth a son of Adam; and having been named and having become a man like us in all things except sin, He immediately became a kinsman of all men according to the flesh. For another one of those before us also said this, speaking thus: “Having put on the flesh, He also put on brotherhood.” But He Himself is at once God and man, and His flesh and His soul were and are holy and all-holy; holy God, as He was, He is the same and will be; for the Virgin was blameless, spotless and undefiled; and such also was the rib taken from Adam. But the rest of men, even if they were brothers and kinsmen of His according to the flesh, yet being of dust, they remained such and did not immediately become holy and sons of God. But pay close attention to the Spirit who says these things: God became man, and was called the kinsman and brother of all men. He alone, therefore, being the Son of God and God and man, He alone was and is holy, as He will be for ever, alone just, alone true, alone immortal, alone the lover of mankind, alone merciful and compassionate, alone the sovereign, alone the light of the world and being the unapproachable light.

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κωφοί, τυφλοί, γυμνοί καί ἀναίσθητοι, μηδέν τῶν ἀλόγων διαφέροντες ζῴων, ἤ χείρονες μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν καί αὐτῶν ἐκείνων ὑπάρξαντες, ὡς τά καθ᾿ ἕκαστον πάθη συμπεριλαβόντες ἐκείνων καί ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ταῦτα ἐπισπασάμενοι.

Εἰς τοσαύτην γάρ ἄγνοιαν Θεοῦ καί τῶν θείων αὐτοῦ ἐντολῶν κατηνέχθησαν οἱ ἐκ τοῦ χοϊκοῦ τούτου χοϊκοί γεννηθέντες, ὥστε ἥν ὤφειλον ἀπονεῖμαι Θεῷ τήν τιμήν τῇ ὁρωμένῃ ταύτῃ κτίσει ἀπένειμον, καί οὐ μόνον οὐρανῷ καί γῇ καί ἡλίῳ, σελήνῃ τε καί ἄστροις καί πυρί καί ὕδατι καί λοιποῖς, ἀλλά γάρ καί αὐτά τά αἰσχρά θεοποιήσαντες πάθη ἅ μηδέ ἐννοεῖν, μή ὅτι γε πράττειν, αὐτούς ὁ Θεός ἀπηγορεύσεν, ὡς θεούς ὤ τῆς ἀναισθησίας - στήσαντες προσεκύνησαν. Τίνα ταῦτα; Πορνείαν, μοιχείαν, ἀνδρομανίαν, ἀλληλοφονίαν, καί εἴ τι τούτοις παρόμοιον, ἅτινα οὐχ ὁ Θεός ἄπαγε τῆς βλασφημίας ἀλλ᾿ ὁ διάβολος (359) καί προστάττει καί ὑποβάλλει καί ἀποδέχεται, δι᾿ ὧν κατεδουλώσατο καί καταδουλοῦται ἅπαν τό τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος καί ὑποχειρίους αὐτοῦ καί δούλους πεποίηκε καί ποιεῖ. Ὅθεν, κἄν εὑρέθη τις πάλαι ἐκ τῶν ἀπείρων ἐκείνων μυριάδων καί χιλιάδων μή ὑποκύψας αὐτοῦ τοῖς αἰσχροῖς προστάγμασι καί θελήμασι τούτοις, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί καί αὐτός διά τό κατάγεσθαι ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος τῶν ἁμαρτησάντων δοῦλος ἦν τοῦ τυράννου θανάτου καί τῇ φθορᾷ τούτου παρεδίδοτο καί τῷ ᾅδῃ ἀσυμπαθῶς παρεπέμπετο, μηδενός ὄντος δηλαδή τοῦ δυναμένου σῶσαι καί αὐτόν ἐκλυτρώσασθαι, διά δή τοῦτο οἰκτειρήσας ὁ ποιήσας ἡμᾶς Θεός Λόγος κατῆλθεν, ὡς οἶδε, καί ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἐκ συνουσίας ἤ ῥεύσεως , ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου καί Μαρίας τῆς ἀειπαρθένου. Ἀναλαβών γάρ ἐκ τῶν πανάγνων αὐτῆς αἱμάτων σάρκα ἐψυχωμένην, ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, σάρξ ὅλος αὐτός χρηματίσας καί γεγονώς, ὁ Υἱός καί Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ δηλονότι, ἀτρέπτως, ἀναλλοιώτως, καθώς γέγραπται· «Καί ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο καί ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν». Τοῦτο τό πᾶσιν ἀκατάληπτον καί πᾶσιν ἀκατανόητον θαῦμα, ὅτι ὁ αὐτός καί ἄτρεπτος ἔμεινε τῇ θεότητι καί ἄνθρωπος γέγονε τέλειος.

Καθάπερ γάρ τόν Ἀδάμ ἀπό τῆς γῆς ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεός καί πνεῦμα ζωῆς αὐτῷ ἐχαρίσατο, καί ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος τέλειος εἰς ψυχήν ζῶσαν ἄνευ συνουσίας καί ῥεύσεως, οὕτως ὁ ἐκεῖνον δημιουργήσας ἄνευ συνουσίας καί ῥεύσεως ἄνθρωπος γίνεται· καί ὥσπερ ἐκεῖ γέγραπται ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ ὅτι ἔβαλεν ὁ Θεός ἔκστασιν ἐπί τόν Ἀδάμ καί ὕπνωσε καί λαβών μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀνῳκοδόμησε καί ἐποίησε τήν γυναῖκα, οὕτω καί ἐνταῦθα πεποίηκε. Πῶς καί τίνα τρόπον; Πρόσεχε. Ἡ πλευρά τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἐστιν ἡ γυνή. Ἐξ αὐτῆς οὖν τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ἤγουν ἀπό τῆς γυναικός αὐτῆς, (360) ἔλαβεν ὁ Θεός Λόγος σάρκα ἐψυχωμένην καί ᾠκοδόμησεν αὐτήν εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, ἵνα γένηται υἱός ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας τοῦ Ἀδάμ· ἄνθρωπος δέ χρηματίσας καί γεγονώς ὅμοιος ἡμῖν κατά πάντα πλήν ἁμαρτίας, πάντων εὐθύς ἀνθρώπων συγγενής τό κατά σάρκα ἐγένετο.Τοῦτο γάρ καί ἕτερός τις τῶν πρό ἡμῶν ἔφη οὕτως εἰπών· «Τήν σάρκα ἐνδυσάμενος, ἐνεδύσατο καί τήν ἀδελφότητα». Ἀλλ᾿ αὐτός Θεός ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπος, καί ἡ σάρξ αὐτοῦ καί ἡ ψυχή αὐτοῦ ἁγία καί ὑπεραγία ἦν καί ἔστι· Θεός ἅγιος, ὥσπερ ἦν, ὁ αὐτός καί ἔστι καί ἔσται· ἄμωμος καί γάρ ἦν ἡ Παρθένος, ἄσπιλος καί ἀμίαντος· τοιαύτη δέ ἦν καί ἡ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἀφαιρεθεῖσα πλευρά. Οἱ δέ γε λοιποί τῶν ἀνθρώπων, εἰ καί ἀδελφοί καί συγγενεῖς αὐτοῦ τό κατά σάρκα ὑπῆρξαν, ἀλλά χοϊκοί ὄντες τοιοῦτοι ἔμειναν καί οὐχί εὐθύς ἐγένοντο ἅγιοι καί υἱοί Θεοῦ. Αλλά προσέχετε ἀκριβῶς τῷ ταῦτα λέγοντι Πνεύματι· ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος ὁ Θεός, ἁπάντων δέ ἀνθρώπων συγγενής καί ἀδελφός ἐχρημάτισε. Μόνος οὖν Υἱός Θεοῦ καί Θεός καί ἄνθρωπος ὤν, μόνος ἦν καί ἔστιν ἅγιος, ὡς ἔσται εἰς τούς αἰῶνας, μόνος δίκαιος, μόνος ἀληθινός, μόνος ἀθάνατος, μόνος φιλάνθρωπος, μόνος ἐλεήμων καί εὔσπλαγχνος, μόνος δυνάστης, μόνος φῶς τοῦ κόσμου καί φῶς ὤν τό ἀπρόσιτον.