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understand with their heart and turn, and I will heal them. These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory, and he testified concerning him.” 7.1.18 Unquestionably, therefore, the evangelist referred the theophany in Isaiah to Christ and to the people of the Jews, who had not accepted the Lord seen by the prophet according to the prophecy concerning him. At any rate, the oracle says to the prophet who had seen "the Lord of Sabaoth" to speak to the nation of the Jews, that they too will someday see the same one, but they will not understand who he is, and they will hear him speaking among them and teaching, but they will not understand, because their heart has been hardened. 7.1.19 Isaiah, therefore, having prophesied these things through the words we have cited, describes in historical narrative an attack of enemies against Ahaz, who then held the kingship of the Jewish people, and signifies that the destruction of the perceptible enemies will happen immediately and not after a long time; but of those which were symbols of intelligible and invisible enemies, of certain demons and unseen powers, about which we have spoken at the beginning of this entire treatise, which had cast down not only the Jewish nation but also the entire human race into every form of wickedness and even into godless idolatry itself, he declares that their defeat will not happen otherwise than through the prophesied sojourn of the Word of God among men alone, who would assume a human vessel from a virgin who had not known man. But what need he had of this, it would be the right time to discuss. 7.1. Since by man death "entered into the world," says the apostle, it was necessary, surely, for the victory against death to be awarded through the same man, and for the body of death to be revealed as a body of life, and for the reign of sin, which was formerly at work in the mortal body, to be destroyed, with sin no longer having dominion over it, but righteousness. 7.1.21 And since long ago the fall happened to all men through the sins of the flesh, fittingly again trophies against the enemies were raised through one who was sinless and unstained by any wickedness. 7.1.22 And of what enemies, if not those who long ago through the pleasures of the flesh wrestled down the human race? And in another way it was necessary for the Word of God, who was about to converse with men and to deliver the teachings of piety to fleshly ears, and to present with wonders and miracles the clear power of God to men's eyes, to do this in no other way than through the instrument familiar to us, because it was not possible for human eyes to see anything more than bodies nor for the ear to hear anything more than the sound brought forth by the tongue. 7.1.23 In order, therefore, that through the senses of the body also we might grasp the concept of intelligible and bodiless things, the Word of God himself took up a man, one akin and familiar to us, and through him he set forth all things pertaining to salvation to those who heard and saw for themselves his divine words and works. 7.1.24 And he did these things, in no way being bound like us by the necessities of the body, nor suffering anything worse or greater than his own divinity, nor being fettered to the body in such a way as a human soul, so as to be unable to perform divine acts or to be present everywhere, being the Word of God and filling all things and extending through all things; but also not bearing any filth or corruption or defilement from the flesh which he had assumed, because, being bodiless in nature and immaterial and without flesh, as the Word of God, he undertook the whole economy by divine power and by means ineffable to us, imparting his own properties but not taking on those of another. 7.1.25 Therefore one should not fear at all the incarnate economy, since the unpolluted was not polluted, nor was the undefiled defiled by the flesh, nor was the impassible Word of God corrupted along with the proper nature of the body, since not even the rays of the sun would suffer anything when they touch dead and all sorts of bodies. But by the divine Word, on the contrary, the corruptible was transformed, and was rendered both holy and immortal, just as was his will, yes, and indeed by the divine [powers] of the spirit

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νοήσωσι τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσιν, καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς. ταῦτα εἶπεν Ἡσαΐας ὅτε εἶδεν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐμαρτύρησεν περὶ αὐτοῦ». 7.1.18 ἀναμφιλόγως οὖν ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ἀνήνεγκεν τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ θεοφάνειαν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰουδαίων λαόν, οὐ παραδεδεγμένον τὸν ἑωραμένον τῷ προφήτῃ κύριον κατὰ τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ πρόρρησιν. τῷ γοῦν προφήτῃ ἑωρακότι «τὸν κύριον Σαβαώθ» φησιν ὁ χρησμὸς εἰπεῖν τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει, ὅτι δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ ὄψονταί ποτε τὸν αὐτόν, ἀλλ' οὐ συνήσουσιν ὅστις εἴη, καὶ ἀκούσονται αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ διδάσκοντος, ἀλλ' οὐ νοήσουσιν, διὰ τὸ πεπωρῶσθαι αὐτῶν τὴν καρδίαν. 7.1.19 ταῦτ' οὖν ὁ Ἡσαΐας δι' ὧν παρεθέμεθα λέξεων θεσπίσας, ἐν ἱστορίας ἀφηγήσει πολεμίων ἔφοδον κατὰ τοῦ Ἄχαζ, ὃς ἐπεῖχεν τότε τὰ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Ἰουδαίων λαοῦ, ὑπογράφει, καὶ τὴν τῶν μὲν αἰσθητῶν πολεμίων καθαίρεσιν αὐτίκα καὶ οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν γενήσεσθαι σημαίνει· ὧν δὲ σύμβολα ἔφερεν νοητῶν καὶ ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν, δαιμόνων τινῶν καὶ ἀφανῶν δυνάμεων περὶ ὧν ἀρχόμενοι τῆς ὅλης πραγματείας διεληλύθαμεν, ὡς οὐ μόνον τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἀνθρώπειον γένος ἐπὶ πᾶν εἶδος κακίας καὶ ἐπ' αὐτήν γε τὴν ἄθεον εἰδωλολατρίαν καταβεβληκότων, οὐκ ἄλλως τὴν ἧτταν ἔσεσθαι δηλοῖ ἢ διὰ μόνης τῆς θεσπιζομένης εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιδημίας τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου, ἐξ ἀπειρογάμου παρθένου σκεῦος ἀνθρώπειον ἀναληψομένου. τίς δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ τούτου χρεία ἦν, καιρὸς ἂν εἴη διαλαβεῖν. 7.1. Ἐπειδὴ δι' ἀνθρώπου θάνατος «εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον», φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, χρῆν δήπου διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου βραβευθῆναι νίκην, καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ θανάτου σῶμα ζωῆς ἀναδειχθῆναι, καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν βασιλείαν ἐν τῷ θνητῷ σώματι τὸ πρὶν ἐνεργοῦσαν καταλυθῆναι, μηκέτι ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ δικαιοσύνης κρατούσης. 7.1.21 καὶ ἐπειδὴ διὰ τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ἁμαρτημάτων πάλαι πρότερον ἡ πτῶσις ἐγίνετο πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, εἰκότως πάλιν δι' ἀναμαρτήτου καὶ πάσης ἀχράντου κακίας τὰ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀνηγείρετο τρόπαια. 7.1.22 τίνων δὲ ἐχθρῶν ἢ τῶν πάλαι διὰ τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ἡδονῶν καταπαλαιόντων τὸ ἀνθρώπειον γένος; καὶ ἄλλως δὲ ἐχρῆν ἀνθρώποις θεοῦ λόγον ὁμιλεῖν μέλλοντα καὶ σαρκὸς ἀκοαῖς τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας μαθήματα παραδώσοντα, τεραστείας τε καὶ παραδοξοποιίας ἀνθρώπων ὀφθαλμοῖς θεοῦ τε δύναμιν ἐναργῆ παραστήσοντα, μὴ ἄλλως ἢ διὰ τοῦ συνήθους ἡμῖν ὀργάνου τοῦτο πρᾶξαι, ὅτι οὐδὲ πλέον οὐδὲν σωμάτων ὁρᾶν ἀνθρώπων δυνατὸν ἦν ὀφθαλ μοῖς οὐδ' ἀκούειν ἀκοὴν πλέον τι τοῦ διὰ γλώττης προφερομένου ἤχου. 7.1.23 ἵν' οὖν καὶ διὰ σωμάτων αἰσθήσεως τῆς τῶν νοητῶν καὶ ἀσωμάτων ἐννοίας ἐπιλαβώμεθα, τὸν ἡμῖν συγγενῆ καὶ γνώριμον αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς λόγος ἄνθρωπον ἀνελάμβανε, καὶ πάντα γε δι' αὐτοῦ τὰ σωτήρια τοῖς αὐτηκόοις καὶ αὐτόπταις τῶν ἐνθέων αὐτοῦ λόγων τε καὶ ἔργων προεβάλλετο. 7.1.24 καὶ ταῦτ' ἔπραττεν, ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ἀνάγκαις ὁμοίως ἡμῖν οὐδαμῶς καταδεσμούμενος, οὐδέ τι χεῖρον ἢ μεῖζον αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ τῆς θεότητος ὑπομένων, οὐδ' οὕτως οἷα ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴ τῷ σώματι πεδούμενος, ὡς μὴ ἐνεργεῖν δύνασθαι τὰ θεῖα μηδὲ πανταχῆ παρεῖναι, θεοῦ λόγον ὄντα καὶ τὰ πάντα πληροῦντα καὶ διὰ πάντων ἥκοντα· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ῥύπον ἢ φθορὰν ἢ μίασμα ἐξ ἧς ἀνείληφεν σαρκὸς ἐπενηνεγμένος, ὅτι δὴ ἀσώματος ὢν τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἄυλος καὶ ἄσαρκος, οἷα θεοῦ λόγος, ἐνθέῳ δυνάμει καὶ λόγοις ἡμῖν ἀρρήτοις πᾶσαν ὑπῄει τὴν οἰκονομίαν, τῶν οἰκείων μεταδιδοὺς ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀντεπαγόμενος τῶν ἀλλοτρίων. 7.1.25 οὔκουν τι φοβεῖσθαι χρὴ τὴν ἔνσαρκον οἰκονομίαν, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐμολύνετο ὁ ἀμόλυντος μηδὲ ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς ὁ ἀμίαντος ἐμιαίνετο μηδὲ συνεφθείρετο τῇ τοῦ σώματος οἰκείᾳ φύσει ὁ ἀπαθὴς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ἡλίου πάθοιεν ἄν τι ἀκτῖνες, νεκρῶν καὶ παντοίων σωμάτων ἐπαφώμεναι. τῷ δὲ θείῳ λόγῳ τοὔμπαλιν τὸ φθαρτὸν μετεσκευάζετο, καὶ ἅγιόν τε καὶ ἀθάνατον, ἅτε καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ βουλητόν, ἀπετελεῖτο, ναὶ μὴν καὶ ταῖς ἐνθέοις τοῦ πνεύματος