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by taste with certain flavors, and by touch through resistance. For just as we call the operation of sight 'to see,' so too of things seen, 'to be seen'; and we consider all the rest to happen in the same way. Operation is spoken of in three ways: both the power, according to which we are constituted to operate, and the relation from the one operating to the one being operated upon, and the very thing being accomplished, that is, the work. Operation is, as Gregory of Nyssa says, the natural power and motion of each substance, of which only what is not is deprived; for that which has partaken of some substance will in every way also partake of the operation that reveals it. For the true account knows the unfailing operations of substances to be their definitions; of intellectual beings the operation is intellection; of sensible things, sensation; of things that move, motion; of winged things, flight; of swimming things, swimming; of growing things, growth; of crawling things, crawling; of burning things, burning; of flowing things, flowing; of seeing things, vision; of generating things, generation; and to speak universally, the natural operation of every nature has been established as its signifier and definer, and when it is taken away, the nature is in every way taken away with it and perishes; for when burning is taken away, fire is extinguished; when the motion of the animal is taken away, the animal perishes; when intellection is taken away, the intellectual and rational part of the soul perishes. And for this reason we speak of two wills and operations in Christ, so that we may not speak of a soulless body and an irrational soul in him. For the operation of an ensouled body is to walk and to work; but the operation of a rational soul is its volitional, calculating, and deliberative thought. And it is possible to find natural operations not only in ensouled and moving things, but also in soulless and unmoving things, as scammony and purgatives testify, which possess an evacuating operation, and quicksilver, producing a deadly operation, and hemlock, being similarly destructive. But what is paradoxical is that even some different natures, often deprived of their own natural operations, produce other operations, for instance, a stone, when burned, loses its cold operation, and having become lime, acquires a caustic operation on bodies. Similarly, cedar, when burned, is deprived of its natural, vegetative, and sprouting operation; but it acquires a certain healing and worm-removing operation; later it also gives the cedar-oil for this. Indeed, it is possible for those who know how to prudently consider and examine the names of things to find that most of the names of every existence have names that are operative, not natural, having received these from their own operations and having them and being so called. For 'God' does not represent to us the incomprehensible and nameless substance itself of the creator; but he is called God from his operation of seeing. Similarly, 'angel' does not signify its substance and the existence of their nature, but from their angelic operation and ministry they have the name 'angel'. Just as 'man' is not called man from his own essential quality, but from looking upward with his face, that is, seeing upwards with his eyes. Whence he too is called 'man' from his upward-seeing operation. But others say that he was called 'man' from his upright-walking operation, since all other animals are stooped and walk bent downwards. If, then, the two names of the substances of Christ, I mean 'God' and 'man,' have their names from their natural operations, how are some not ashamed to deny speaking of two operations in him? who, apart from any other scriptural or patristic demonstration, are put to shame by the very names of Christ, from 'God' and 'man.' For as I said, almost every nature has its name from its own essential operation; for instance, what shall I say of 'virgin,' that is, 'slain fire,' in that it kills the fiery passion of the flesh. And again, when we say 'dove,' not the nature itself of the animal, that is of the

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γεύσει τισὶ χυμοῖς, καὶ ἁφῇ διὰ τῆς ἀντιτυπίας. ωσπερ γὰρ ἐνέργειαν λέγομεν τῆς ὁράσεως τὸ ὁρᾷν, ουτω καὶ τῶν ὁρωμένων τὸ ὁρᾶσθαι· καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν θεωροῦμεν γινόμενα τρόπον. τριχῶς δὲ λέγεται ἡ ἐνέργεια· η τε δύναμις, καθ' ην ἐνεργεῖν πεφύκαμεν, καὶ σχέσις ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος πρὸς τὸ ἐνεργούμενον, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἀποτελούμενον ητοι τὸ ἐνέργημα. ̓Ενέργεια ἐστὶν, ὡς φησὶ Γρηγόριος ὁ Νύσσης, ἡ φυσικὴ ἑκάστης οὐσίας δύναμίς τε καὶ κίνησις, ης μόνον ἐστέρηται τὸ μὴ ον· τὸ γάρ τινος οὐσίας μετασχὸν συμμεθέξει πάντως καὶ τῆς δηλούσης αὐτὸ ἐνεργείας. ορους γὰρ τῶν οὐσιῶν τὰς ἀψευδεῖς αὐτῶν ἐνεργείας ὁ ἀληθὴς ἐπίσταται λόγος· νοερῶν ἐνέργειαν τὴν νόησιν· αἰσθητῶν τὴν αισθησιν· κινητῶν τὴν κίνησιν· πτηνῶν τὴν πτῆσιν· νηκτῶν τὴν νῆξιν· βλαστικῶν τὴν βλάστησιν· ἑρπιστικῶν τὴν ερψιν· καυστικῶν τὴν καῦσιν· ῥευστῶν τὴν ῥεῦσιν· θεωρητικῶν τὴν ορασιν· γεννητικῶν τὴν γέννησιν· καὶ καθολικῶς εἰπεῖν τὸ πάσης φύσεως σημαντικὸν καὶ ἀφοριστικὸν ἡ ἐνέργεια αὐτῆς ἡ φυσικὴ κατέστηκεν, ης ἀναιρουμένης συναναιρεῖται πάντως καὶ ἀπόλλυται καὶ ἡ φύσις· ἀναιρουμένης γὰρ τῆς καύσεως σβέννυται τὸ πῦρ· ἀναιepsilon.726 ρουμένης τῆς κινήσεως τοῦ ζώου ἀπόλλυται τὸ ζῶον· ἀναιρουμένης τῆς νοήσεως ἀπόλλυται τὸ νοερὸν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τὸ λογικὸν αὐτῆς. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο λέγομεν ἐν Χριστῷ δύο θελήσεις καὶ ἐνεργείας, ινα μὴ αψυχον σῶμα καὶ αλογον ψυχὴν ἐπ' αὐτῷ ειπωμεν. ἐνέργεια γὰρ ἐμψύχου σώματος τὸ περιπατεῖν καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι· ἐνέργεια δὲ λογικῆς ψυχῆς ἡ θελητικὴ καὶ λογιστικὴ καὶ βουλευτικὴ διάνοια αὐτῆς ἐστίν. οὐ μόνον δὲ ἐπὶ ἐμψύχων καὶ κινητικῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ ἀψύχων καὶ ἀκινήτων εστιν εὑρεῖν φυσικὰς ἐνεργείας, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ ἡ σκαμμωνία καὶ τὰ καθάρσια τῆς κενωτικῆς ἐνεργείας ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ ἡ ὑδράργυρος θανατικὴν ποιοῦσα ἐνέργειαν, καὶ τὸ κώνιον ὁμοίως ἀναιρετικὸν ὑπάρχον. τὸ δὲ παράδοξον, οτι καὶ τινὲς διάφοροι φύσεις στερούμεναι πολλάκις τῶν φυσικῶν ἐνεργειῶν αὐτῆς, ἑτέρας ἐνεργείας τίκτουσιν, οιον ἡ λίθος καιομένη ἀπόλλυσι τὴν ψυχρὰν ἐνέργειαν, καὶ καυστικὴν σωμάτων ἐνέργειαν, ασβεστος γενομένη, κέκτηται. ὁμοίως καὶ ἡ κέδρος καιομένη στερεῖται μὲν τῆς φυσικῆς καὶ αὐξητικῆς καὶ βλαστώδους ἐνεργείας· ἰαματικὴν δέ τινα καὶ ἀφαιρετικὴν σκωλήκων ἐνέργειαν κέκτηται· ἐς υστερον καὶ τὴν κεδραίαν δίδωσι ταύτῃ. ἀμέλει γοῦν τοῖς ἐχεφρόνως τὰς τῶν οντων προσηγορίας διασκοπεῖν καὶ ἀνακρίνειν ἐπισταμένοις εστιν εὑρεῖν, οτι αἱ πλείους πάσης ὑπάρξεως προσηγορίαι ἐνεργητικὰς, ἀλλ' οὐ φυσικὰς τὰς ὀνομασίας εχουσιν, ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων ἐνεργειῶν ταύτας λαβοῦσαι καὶ εχουσαι καὶ λεγόμεναι. θεὸς γὰρ οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν οὐσίαν τὴν ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἀνώνυμον τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ἡμῖν παρίστησιν· ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς θεωρητικῆς αὐτοῦ ἐνεργείας ειρηται θεός. ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ αγγελος οὐ τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν υπαρξιν τῆς αὐτῶν φύσεως δηλοῖ, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς αὐτῶν ἐνεργείας καὶ διακονίας τὴν ἀγγέλου ὀνομασίαν epsilon.727 εχουσιν. ωσπερ δὴ καὶ ὁ ανθρωπος οὐκ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς οὐσιώδους αὐτοῦ ποιότητος λέγεται ανθρωπος, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ανω θρεῖν τὴν ωπα, ηγουν ανω ὁρᾷν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. οθεν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκ τῆς ανω θεωρητικῆς ἐνεργείας λέγεται ανθρωπος. αλλοι δὲ λέγουσιν, οτι ἐκ τῆς ἀνορθοπεριπατητικῆς ἐνεργείας ανθρωπος ἐκλήθη, πάντων τῶν ζώων κατωκλινῶς κεκυφότων καὶ περιπατούντων. εἰ ουν καὶ αἱ δύο προσηγορίαι τῶν οὐσιῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, λέγω δὴ τὸ θεὸς καὶ τὸ ανθρωπος, ἐκ τῶν φυσικῶν αὐτῶν ἐνεργειῶν τὰ ὀνόματα εχουσι, πῶς οὐκ αἰσχύνονται τινὲς ἀπαρνούμενοι τὰς δύο λέγειν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ ἐνεργείας; οιτινες πάσης ἑτέρας γραφικῆς η πατρικῆς παραστάσεως ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ὀνομάτων τοῦ Χριστοῦ αἰσχύνονται ἐκ τοῦ θεὸς καὶ ανθρωπος. καθὰ γὰρ εφην, σχεδὸν πᾶσα φύσις ἐκ τῆς οὐσιώδους αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας εχει τὴν προσηγορίαν· οιον τὶ λέγω παρθένον, ηγουν πῦρ θανὸν, κατὰ τὸ τὴν πύρωσιν θανατοῦν τῆς σαρκός. καὶ πάλιν ὁπηνίκα λέγομεν περιστερὰν, οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν φύσιν τοῦ ζώου ηγουν τῆς