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For the Lord, hinting at the deceptive manner in the Gospels, proclaimed beforehand, as if securing the faithful, saying: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. And concerning these same men, the holy Evangelist John, in his first catholic epistle, making the pious more sober, says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that the Lord Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is and is now in the world.

Always remembering these words, I ask you, blessed ones, to hold to piety, than which nothing is more proper for men to be reconciled to God, with all attention and care, I wish everyone with all their power to turn away from those who do not accept the pious and saving doctrines of the Church; and especially having learned that it is the teaching of the Antichrist, Not to confess in the flesh our Lord (500) and God Jesus Christ, as the great evangelist John expressly proclaims; which those who now war against the Church of God manifestly declare, denying the nature of the flesh, by not enduring to confess that it is both saved and exists in Christ; and they do not shudder, the more shameful, or rather, the more audacious, thing to say, putting themselves forward as heralds of a doctrine opposed to God. But these, having chosen to be so precariously disposed in the faith, reap the worthy fruit of their folly; to possess the easily detectable proof of their impiety before all.

A brief exposition of the interpretation of the expressions of faith rightly confessed concerning Christ according to the catholic Church.

But we, to speak with God, who feed on the divine and pure grass of ecclesiastical teaching, holding the indestructible glory of piety, we make bold to confess piously all the pious expressions of the Fathers concerning Christ before God and men, interpreting each with pious understanding and fitting reason; as from above, from the beginning through those who became ministers of grace, we were instructed in the saving word of faith. We confess, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ as composed of two natures, that is, of divinity and humanity; and knowing him to be in two natures, that is, in divinity and humanity. For just as by saying "from two natures" we glorify him as being from Divinity and humanity; so also by saying "in two natures" we signify that he rightly subsists in divinity and humanity; as being separated from none of the natures from which he is composed after the union, but in them, from which he also always is, both being and being known. Again we confess him as two natures united hypostatically without division, believing him to be the same, truly God and man, the names being verified by the things themselves. For as we believe him to be and to be called Son of God and God by nature and in truth because of the identity of substance with God the Father; So also we say he is and is called Son of man, and having become man by nature and in truth, because of the natural kinship according to the flesh with her who bore him. For if we do not confess him as two natures, as at once God and man, we will be refuted as saying that he is composed of mere names and not of realities; and not

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τρόπου τό ὑπόκλοπον ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις γάρ ὁ Κύριος αἰνιττόμενος, προαναιφώνησε, τούς πιστούς οἷον ἀσφαλιζόμενος, λέγων· Προσέχετε ἀπό τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν, οἵτινες ἔρχονται πρός ὑμᾶς ἐν ἐνδύμασι προβάτων· ἔσωθεν δέ εἰσι λύκοι ἅρπαγες. Ἀπό τῶν καρπῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιγνώσεσθε αὐτούς. Περί τούτων δέ αὐτῶν καί ὁ ἅγιος Εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ αὐτοῦ καθολικῇ, νηφαλαιοτέρους τούς εὐσεβεῖς ἐργαζόμενος, φησίν, Ἀγαπητοί μή παντί πνεύματι πιστεύητε, ἀλλά δοκιμάζετε τά πνεύματα, εἰ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσιν· ὅτι πολλοί ψευδοπροφῆται ἐξεληλύθασιν εἰς τόν κόσμον. Ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκετε τό Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πᾶν πνεῦμα ὅ ὁμολογεῖ Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ἐν σαρκί ἀληλυθότα, ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστι. Καί πᾶν πνεῦμα ὅ οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ἐν σαρκί ἐληλυθέναι, τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστι· καί τοῦτό ἐστι καί νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστίν.

Τούτων ἀεί μνημονεύοντας τῶν λόγων, αὐτούμενος ὑμᾶς, εὐλογημένοι, τῆς εὐσεβείας, ἧς οὐδέν ἀνθρώποις πρός τό φιλιωθῆναι Θεῷ οἰκειότερον, διά πάσης προσοχῆς καί ἐπιμελείας ἔχεσθαι βούλομαι πάντας πάσῃ δυνάμει ἀποστρεφομένους, τούς μή δεχομένους τά εὐσεβῆ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας καί σωτήρια δόγματα· καί μάλιστα μαθόντας τῆς τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου διδασκαλίας εἶναι, Τό μή ἐν σαρκί ὁμολογεῖν τόν Κύριον (500) ἡμῶν καί Θεόν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ὡς μέγας εὐαγγελιστής διαῤῥήδην βοᾷ Ἰωάννης· ὅπερ οἱ νῦν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ πολεμοῦντες Ἐκκλησίᾳ προφανῶς καταγγέλλουσι, τήν φύσιν τῆς σαρκός ἀπαρνούμενοι, τῷ μή ὁμολογεῖν ἐν Χριστῷ σώζεσθαί τε καί εἶναι αὐτήν ἀνέχεσθαι· καί οὔτε φρίττουσι, τό ἐνεεινότερον, ἤ θρασύτερον, εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον, τῆς Θεῷ ἀντικειμένης δόξης κήρυκας ἑαυτούς προβαλλόμενοι. Ἀλλ᾿ οὗτοι μέν οὕτω διακεῖσθαι ἐπισφαλῶς κατά τήν πίστιν προελόμενοι, ἄξιον τῆς αὐτῶν δρέπονται ἀνοίας καρπόν· τό παρά πᾶσιν εὐφώρατον κεκτῆσθαι τῆς δισσεβείας ἔλεγχον.

Ἔκθεσις σύντομος τῆς ἐκδοχῆς τῶν ὀρθῶς ἐπί Χριστοῦ κατά τήν καθολικήν Ἐκκλησίαν ὁμολογουμένων τῆς πίστεως φωνῶν.

Ἡμεῖς δέ σύν Θεῷ φᾶναι, οἱ τήν θείαν καί καθαράν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς διδασκαλίας πόαν νεμόμενοι, ἀκαθαίρετον ἔχοντες τῆς εὐσεβείας τό κλέον, πάσας εὐσεβῶς τάς εὐσεβεῖς ἐπί Χριστοῦ τόν Πατέρων φωνάς, ὁμολογεῖν ἐνώπιον Θεοῦ καί ἀνθρώπων παῤῥησιαζόμεθα, μετ᾿ εὐσεβοῦς ἐκάστην ἐννοίας καί λογισμοῦ τοῦ πρέποντος ἐκλαμβάνοντες· καθώς ἄνωθεν αἱ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς διά τῶν γενομένων λειτουργῶν τῆς χάριτος, τόν σωτήριον τῆς πίστεως κατηχήθημεν λόγον. Ὁμολογοῦμεν τοίνυν τόν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ἐκ δύο μέν φύσεων, ὡς ἐκ θεότητος καί ἀνθρωπότητος συγκείμενον· ἐν δύο δέ φύσεσιν, ὡς ἐν θεότητι καί ἀνθρωπότητι, ὄντα γινώσκοντες. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἐκ δύο φύσεων λέγοντες, τό ἐκ Θεότητος καί ἀνθρωπότητος αὐτόν εἶναι δοξάζομεν· οὕτω καί ἐν δύο φύσεσι λέγοντες, τό ἐν θεότητι καί ἀνθρωπότητι εἰκότως αὐτόν ὑπάρχειν σημαίνομεν· ὡς μηδεμιᾶς κεχωρισμένον μετά τήν ἕνωσιν τῶν ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκε φύσεων, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν αὐταῖς, ἐξ ὧν καί ἔστιν ἀεί, καί ὄντα καί γνωριζόμενον. ∆ύο φύσεις καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἡνωμένας ἀδιαιρέτως πάλιν αὐτόν ὁμολογοῦμεν, ὡς Θεόν ἀληθῶς τόν αὐτόν ὄντα καί ἄνθρωπον, αὐτοῖς ἐπαληθεύοντα τοῖς πράγμασι τά ὀνόματα πιστεύοντες. Ὡς γάρ Υἱόν Θεοῦ καί Θεόν φύσει αὐτόν καί ἀληθείᾳ καί ὄντα καί λεγόμενον πιστεύομεν διά τήν πρό τόν Θεόν καί Πατέρα τῆς οὐσίας ταυτότητα· Οὕτω καί Υἱόν ἀνθρώπου, καί ἄνθρωπον γενόμενον εἶναί τε καί λέγεσθαι αὐτόν φύσει καί ἀληθείᾳ φαμέν, διά τήν πρός τήν τεκοῦσαν αὐτόν φυσικήν κατά σάρκα συγγένειαν. Εἰ γάρ μή δύο φύσεις αὐτόν, ὡς Θεόν τε ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπον ὁμολογήσομεν, ἐκ ψιλῶν ὀνομάτων καί οὐχί πραγμάτων συντεθεῖσθαι αὐτόν λέγοντες ἐλεγχθησόμεθα· καί οὐκ