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that both exist; so that in truth, in himself and through himself, having joined earthly things to heavenly things, having brought the material nature of men, which had been warred against by sin, to God the Father, saved, befriended, and deified; not by identity of substance, but by the ineffable power of the incarnation; He might make us also, as a first-fruit, partakers of the divine nature, through His holy flesh which is from us. Therefore He is known to be at once both God and man, existing in reality and not by name only; not double in hypostasis, that is, in person; because He is one and the same, both before the flesh and having remained with the flesh; with no addition being made to the Holy Trinity, nor subtraction, from the incarnation of the Logos; the same one having suffered in the flesh for us; but being always the same, impassible and remaining so in divinity; so that our salvation is also in the death of the only-begotten Son of God; O the paradoxical and inexpressible mystery! and the divine glory and identity of His substance with the Father remains perpetually undiminished.
(569) Concerning difference; and how it is pious to confess two natures in Christ after the union.
Since these things have been so wisely declared according to the sound understanding by the holy teachers of the Church, it is altogether pious for us, following them, to confess that there are two natures, dissimilar in substance, which came together for the ineffable union; and to glorify that these have remained unconfused, even after being united; saying that they have remained unconfused does not introduce any division whatsoever; may it never be! but signifies that the difference remains unchanged. For difference and division are not the same thing. For difference is the principle according to which the subjects differ from one another; and it is indicative of how they are; that is, for the flesh to be by nature and substance that which it is; and again, for God the Logos to be by nature and substance that which He is. But division is a cut all the way through, that is, cutting the subjects through and through, and positing them as subsisting on their own, separately, by themselves, and separated from one another. If, therefore, such a principle is preserved even after the union, showing that the Logos has not been changed into flesh, and the flesh has not departed from its natural definition; but confirming that each has remained in substance as it is by nature, even though a union has occurred; how is it not entirely right to confess that the difference of the natures which came together is preserved even after the union? And if this is not doubted, as having truth itself as a faithful witness, it is manifest and very clear to all that the things which came together remain unconfused; neither the divinity being turned into flesh, nor the flesh being changed into the nature of divinity. What argument, then, is left, if we, all men, should wish to be led by the fear of God, and to have everywhere the truth itself of the divine dogmas as a rule, and not our own fallible supposition, that could demonstrate that it is not reasonable to confess the things that are preserved.
Otherwise on the same subjects. In addition to all these things, that the principles of the things that came together are always preserved, the Fathers
teach; and that these very things that came together both contribute to one person of the Son and one hypostasis. And if this is so, how is it not necessary again, according to the Fathers, on the one hand, through knowing that the principles are preserved, to speak of the difference; and after the union
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ὑπάρχειν ἀμφότερα· ὅπως αὐτῇ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἐν ἑαυτῷ καί δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ, συνάψας τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις τά ἐπίγεια, τήν ὑλικήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν, τήν ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας πολεμωθεῖσαν, τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί προσαγαγών σωθεῖσαν, φιλωθεῖσάν τε καί θεωθεῖσαν· οὐκ οὐσίας ταυτότητι, ἀλλά δυνάμει ἀῤῥήτῳ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως· θείας κοινωνούς φύσεως, διά τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν ἁγίας αὐτοῦ σαρκός, ὡς ἀπαρχῆς καί ἡμᾶς ἀπεργάσηται. ∆ιό καί Θεός ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός, πράγματι καί οὐ κλήσει μόνῃ ὑπάρχων γινώσκεται· οὐ διπλοῦν δέ τήν ὑπόστασιν, ἤτοι τό πρόσωπον· διά τό ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν, καί πρό σαρκός εἶναι, καί μετά σαρκός μεμενηκέναι· μηδέ μιᾶς γινομένης προσθήκης τῇ ἁγίᾳ Τριάδι, ἤ ὑφαιρέσεως, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως· τόν αὐτόν παθόντα μέν σαρκί ὑπέρ ἡμῶν· διά παντός δέ τόν αὐτόν θεότητι ὄντα ἀπαθῆ καί διαμένοντα· ὥστε καί τήν σωτηρίαν εἶναι τήν ἡμετέραν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὤ τοῦ παραδόξου καί ἀνεκφράστου μυστηρίου! καί τήν θεϊκήν τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ πρός τόν Πατέρα δόξαν τε καί ταυτότητα, διηνεκῶς μένειν ἀνελάττωτον.
(569) Περί διαφορᾶς· καί πῶς εὐσεβῶς δεῖ δύο φύσεις ὁμολογεῖν ἐπί Χριστοῦ μετά τήν ἕνωσιν.
Τούτων οὕτω σοφῶς κατά τήν ὑγιῆ ἔννοιαν τοῖς ἱεροῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας διδασκάλοις διηγορευμένων, εὐσεβές πάντως ἐστίν, αὐτοῖς καί ἡμᾶς ἑπομένους, ὁμολογεῖν δύο μέν φύσεις ἀνομοίους κατά τήν οὐσίαν εἶναι, τάς συνελθούσας πρός τήν ἄῤῥητον ἕνωσιν· ἀσυγχύτους δέ ταύτας μεμενηκέναι δοξάζειν, καί μετά τό ἑνωθῆναι· τοῦ ἀσυγχύτους αὐτάς μεμενηκέναι λέγειν, οὐ διαίρεσιν τήν οἱανοῦν παρεισάγοντος· μή γένοιτο πώποτε! ἀλλά τήν διαφοράν ἄτρεπτον μένειν σημαίνοντος. Οὕτε γάρ ταὐτόν ἐστι διαφορά καί διαίρεσις. ∆ιαφορά μέν γάρ ἐστι λόγος, καθ᾿ ὅν ἀλλήλων διαφέρει τά ὑποκείμενα· καί τοῦ πῶς εἶναι δηλοτικός· τουτέστι, τό εἶναι τήν σάρκα τῇ φύσει καί τῇ οὐσίᾳ, ὅπερ ἐστί· καί τό εἶναι πάλιν τόν Θεόν Λόγον τῇ φύσει καί τῇ οὐσίᾳ, ὅπερ ἐστίν. ∆ιαίρεσις δέ ἐστί, τομή διάμπαξ, ἤτοι δι᾿ ὅλου τά ὑποκείμενα τέμνουσα, καί ἰδία καί ἀνά μέρος καί καθ᾿ ἑαυτά ὑφεστῶτα, καί ἀλλήλων κεχωρισμένα τιθεῖσα. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ τοιοῦτος λόγος καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν σώζεται, ὁ μή τετράφθαι δεικνύς εἰς σάρκα τόν Λόγον, καί τήν σάρκα τοῦ κατά φύσιν ὅρου μή ἐκστᾶσαν· ἀλλ᾿ ἑκάτερον καθό πέφυκε κατ' οὐσίαν μεμενήκαι πιστούμενος, εἰ καί γέγονεν ἕνωσις· πῶς οὐ δίκαιον πάντως τήν τῶν συνελθουσῶν φύσεων διαφοράν ὁμολογεῖν καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν σώζεσθαι; Εἰ δέ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀμφιβέβληται, ὡς αὐτήν ἔχων μάρτυρα πιστόν τήν ἀλήθειαν, φανερόν ὑπάρχει πᾶσι καί εὔδηλον, ὡς τά συνελθόντα μένει ἀσύγχυτα· μήτε τῆς θεότητος εἰς σάρκα τραπείσης, μήτε τῆς σαρκός εἰς θεότητος φύσιν μεταβληθείσης. Ποῖος οὖν λοιπόν ὑπολέλειπται λόγος, εἰ φόβῳ Θεοῦ ἄγεσθαι πάντες ἄνθρωποι, καί πανταχοῦ τήν ἀλήθειαν αὐτήν τῶν θείων δογμάτων κανόνα, καί οὐχί τήν ἑαυτῶν πταιστήν ὑπόνοιαν ἔχειν βουληθῶμεν, ὁ ἀποδεῖξαι δυνάμενος, ὡς οὐκ εὔλογον ὁμολογεῖν τά σωζόμενα.
Ἑτέρως περί τῶν αὐτῶν. Πρός τούτοις δέ πᾶσι, τούς λόγους τῶν συνελθόντων σωζομένους ἀεί οἱ Πατέρες
διδάσκουσιν· αὐτά δέ ταῦτα τά συνελθόντα, πρός ἕν ἄμφω συντελεῖν πρόσωπον τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί μίαν ὑπόστασιν. Εἰ δέ τοῦτο, πῶς οὐ χρεών πάλιν κατά τούς Πατέρας, διά μέν τοῦ εἰδέναι σωζομένους τούς λόγους, τήν διαφοράν λέγειν· καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν