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that each of the things which have come together is saved in its natural property; but by confessing that both contribute to one person of the Son and one hypostasis, to know accurately that these are by nature indivisible. That the (472) difference of those which have come together, and these very things which have come together, are preserved after the union, beyond all change and confusion, the most holy luminary of the Church, Cyril, whom those who idly war against the holy Church of God pretend excessively to have added to their side, will suffice as a witness, in the second tome against the blasphemies of Nestorius, writing this: "When the mystery concerning Christ has been brought before us, the principle of the union, on the one hand, is not ignorant of the difference, but on the other hand it sets aside the division; not confounding or mixing the natures; but because the Word of God has partaken of flesh and blood, he is again understood and named one and the same Son." And in the Apology to Andrew who found fault with the third of the chapters, saying thus: "And it would be free from all blame, to know perhaps, that the flesh is one thing and has its own nature, besides the Word begotten from God the Father; and again, the Only-begotten is another, according to the principle of His own nature. But to know these things is not to divide the natures after the union." Behold, "after the union" is also clearly set down by the great Cyril, being both understood and spoken piously by the faithful according to him. For that the principle of being of the united things has in no way been harmed by the union shows also that the one has not been mixed with the other, because it is one in both with respect to the hypostasis; but rather that each is preserved and remains, in that which it is by nature in its essence. For the wise Cyril, knowing this, says explicitly: "Neither are the natures confused with one another, in that they contribute to one hypostasis of the Son; nor are they divided from one another, in that one and the other [that is, according to the essence] both is and remains and is understood after the union;" and each with its natural property and difference; according to which the Word is God by nature, and not flesh; even if he made the flesh his own economically; and the flesh is flesh by nature, not God, even if it became the own of the Word of God through the union.

How then is it not necessary, pious, and fitting, according to the teaching of the Fathers, when we say the difference is preserved after the union, and to glorify the two natures, of which the difference exists, as both being and being preserved in the one Christ, from which he also is, after the union; knowing so many things and that those which came together for the inseparable union did not admit any change or alteration into one another whatsoever? For every difference must somehow be of certain differing things; and wherever it is possible for a difference to be conceived, there must absolutely also exist the differing things. For such things happen to be in a certain way mutually implicative, (473) just like causes and effects, understood in relation to something of the same essence. For if the difference in essence of those things from which he is constituted is the cause of the difference in Christ, as a cause; then certainly the difference is also indicative, as an effect, of the natural otherness of the united things, as its own cause. For, as has been said, such things are by nature mutually implied; and when one is said, it is absolutely necessary to confess the other also; and again, if one is taken away, it is consequent to say that the other is not. Therefore it is necessary to say "two", so that we do not introduce a bare difference; and to use this number for this reason only, for the indication that the difference of the things which came together has remained, as being preserved after the union, and not divided; in addition to it being more easily true, that the difference is shown from the utterance which is more indicative of the realities, than that the realities are believed to be different from the word alone.

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σώζεσθαι ἐν ἰδιότητι τῇ κατά φύσιν τῶν συνελθόντων ἑκάτερον· διά δέ τοῦ ὁμολογεῖν ὡς πρός ἕν ἄμφω συντελοῦσι πρόσωπον τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί μίαν ὑπόστασιν, ἀκριβῶς γινώσκειν ὡς ἀδιαίρετα ταῦτα πεφύκασιν. Ὅτι δέ ἡ τῶν (472) συνελθόντων διαφορά, καί αὐτά δέ ταῦτα τά συνελθόντα σώζεται μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, πάσης τροπῆς ἐκτός καί συγχύσεως, ὀ ἁγιώτατος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας φωστήρ Κύριλλος, ᾧ καί προστεθῆσθαι περισσῶς ὑποκρίνονται οἱ τῇ ἁγίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ διακενῆς πολεμοῦντες Ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἀρκέσει μαρτυρῶν ἐν μέν τῷ δευτέρῳ κατά τῶν Νεστορίου δυσφημιῶν τόμῳ, γράφων τάδε· "Παρενηνεγμένου γε μήν εἰς μέσον ἡμῖν μυστηρίου τοῦ κατά Χριστόν, ὁ τῆς ἑνώσεως λόγος, οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ μέν τήν διαφοράν, ἐξίστησι δέ τήν διαίρεσιν· οὐ συγχέων ἤ ἀνακιρνῶν τάς φύσεις· ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι σαρκός, καί αἵματος μετεσχηκώς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, εἷς δή πάλιν καί ὁ αὐτός Υἱός νοεῖται καί ὀνομάζεται." Ἐν δέ τῇ Πρός Ἀνδρέαν τόν μεμψάμενον τό τρίτον τῶν κεφαλαίων ἀπολογίᾳ, οὕτω λέγων· " Ἀμοιρήσειε δ᾿ ἄν καί μώμου παντός, τό εἰδέναι τυχόν, ὡς ἑτέρα μέν ἐστι καί κατά φύσιν ἰδίαν ἡ σάρξ, παρά γε τόν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρός φύντα Λόγον· ἕτερος δ᾿ αὖ, κατά γε τόν τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως Λόγον ὁ μονογενής. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τό εἰδέναι ταῦτα, μερίζειν ἐστί τάς φύσεις μετά τήν ἕνωσιν." Ἰδού καί τό μετά τήν ἕνωσιν σαφῶς τέθειται τῷ μεγάλῳ Κυρίλλῳ, εὐσεβῶς τοῖς πιστοῖς καί νοούμενον κατ᾿ αὐτόν καί λεγόμενον. Τό γάρ μηδαμῶς τι βεβλάφθαι τόν τοῦ εἶναι τῶν ἑνωθέντων λόγον ἐκ τῆς ἑνώσεως, δηλοῖ, καί τό μή θατέρῳ θάτερον φυρῆναι, διά τό ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν κατά τήν ὑπόστασιν ἕν· σώζεσθαι δέ μᾶλλον καί μένειν, καθ᾿ ὅ ἑκάτερον εἶναι τῇ οὐσίᾳ πέφυκεν. Τοῦτο γάρ καί ὁ σοφός ἐπιστάμενος Κύριλλος, διαῤῥήδην φησί· "Μήτε συγκεχύσθαι ἀλλήλαις τάς φύσεις, τῷ πρός μίαν συντελεῖν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ Υἱοῦ· μήτε διῃρῆσθαι ἀλλήλων, τῷ ἕτερον καί ἕτερον [κατά τήν οὐσίαν δηλονότι] εἶναί τε καί μένειν καί νοεῖσθαι μετά τήν ἕνωσιν·" καί ἑκάστην μετά τῆς φυσικῆς ἰδιότητος καί διαφορᾶς· καθ᾿ ἥν ὅ τε Λόγος Θεός ἐστι κατά φύσιν, καί οὐ σάρξ· εἰ καί οἰκείαν ἐποιήτο τήν σάρκα οἰκονομικῶς· καί ἡ σάρξ σάρξ ἐστι κατά φύσιν, οὐ Θεός, εἰ καί ἰδία γέγονε τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου διά τήν ἕνωσιν.

Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον, εὐσεβές τε καί πρέπον, κατά τήν τῶν Πατέρων διδασκαλίαν, λέγοντες τήν διαφοράν μετά τήν ἕνωσιν σώζεσθαι· καί τάς δύο φύσεις εἶναί τε καί σώζεσθαι ἐν τῷ ἑνί Χριστῷ, ἐξ ὧν καί ἔστι, δοξάζειν μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, ὧν ἡ διαφορά; τοσαῦτα γινώσκοντας καί τά συνελθόντα πρός τήν ἀδιάσπαστον ἕνωσιν, καθοτιοῦν τροπήν εἰς ἄλληλα ἤ μεταβολήν οὐ δεξάμενα; Πᾶσα γάρ πως ἀνάγκη τινῶν διαφερόντων εἶναι πᾶσαν διαφοράν· καί ὅπου νοεῖσθαι εἶναι δαφοράν δυνατόν, ἐκεῖ ὑπάρχειν πάντως καί τά διαφέροντα. Συνεισαγωγικά γάρ ἀλλήλων τρόπον τινά τά τοιαῦτα ὄντα τυγχάνει· (473) ὥσπερ τά αἴτια καί τά αἰτιατά, ὡς πρός τι ἐπί τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας νοούμενα. Εἰ γάρ ποιητικόν ἐστι τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ διαφορᾶς τό ἑτεροούσιον τῶν ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκεν, ὥς αἴτιον· πάντως καί ἡ διαφορά δηλωτική τυγχάνει ὡς αἰτιατόν τῆς τῶν ἑνωθέντων φυσικῆς ἑτερότητος ὡς ἰδίας αἰτίας. Συνεισάγεσθαι γάρ, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀλλήλοις τά τοιαῦτα πέφυκε· καί λεγομένου θατέρου, ἀνάγκη πάντως ὁμολογεῖν καί τό ἕτερον· καί ἀναιρουμένου πάλιν ἑνός, μηδέ τό ἕτερον εἶναι λέγειν ἀκόλουθον. ∆εῖ οὖν καί δύο λέγειν, ἵνα μή ψιλήν τήν διαφοράν εἰσάγωμεν· καί ἐπί τούτῳ καί μόνῳ κεχρῆσθαι τῷ ἀριθμῷ, πρός δήλωσιν τοῦ μεμενηκέναι τῶν συνελθόντων τήν διαφοράν, ὡς σωζομένων μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, καί οὐ διῃρημένων· πρός τῷ καί ῥᾶον εἶναι ἀληθές, ἐκ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων μᾶλλον σημαντικῆς προφορᾶς δείκνυσθαι τήν διαφοράν, ἤ ἐκ μόνης τῆς φωνῆς διάφορα πιστοῦσθαι εἶναι τά πράγματα.