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to each other. And again after the complete mortification of these to each other, it seeks the life of the will according to virtue, and the life of virtue according to the will. And so it investigates how it is necessary, and in what way, to create the life of these in each other; therefore, to put it in a definition, seeking is a desire for something desirable; while investigation is a method of accomplishing the desire for the desirable thing.

11. He who has mortified, he says, the will to sin, has become one with the likeness of the death of Christ; and he who has resurrected it to righteousness, has become one with His resurrection also.

12. Sin and the will, he says, being mortified to each other, have a double insensibility toward each other; and righteousness and the will, having life in each other, have a double sensibility.

13. Another contemplation on the same things. 14. The mind, he says, moved unknowingly by desire alone for the cause of beings, only seeks; but reason, variously examining the true principles in beings, investigates.

QUESTION 60.

"As of a lamb without blemish and without spot, Christ, who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for us" [you]. Foreknown by whom?

Answer. The word of Scripture has named the mystery of Christ, Christ; and the great Apostle clearly testifies, saying thus, The mystery which has been hidden from the ages, has now been made manifest; that is to say, identifying the mystery concerning Christ with Christ; this is manifestly the ineffable and incomprehensible union of divinity and humanity according to hypostasis; bringing humanity into identity with the divinity in every way, by the principle of the hypostasis; and accomplishing one composite hypostasis of both; introducing no diminution whatsoever of their essential difference according to nature; so that, as I said, their hypostasis became one, and the natural difference remained unaffected; according to which, even after the union, no passion of change or alteration at all ensued for the united [natures], the principle according to the essence of each of the united [natures] remained pure; and of those whose principle of essence remained pure even after the union, their natures have remained inviolate in every way; neither at all denying its own properties because of the union.

For it was fitting for the Creator of all things, who became (621) by nature through the economy what He was not, to preserve Himself unchangeably as what He was by nature, and what He had become by nature through the economy. For change is not naturally observed in God, in whom no motion whatever is conceived; around which exists the changing for those that are moved. This is the great and hidden mystery. This is the blessed end for which all things were established. This is the divine purpose pre-conceived before the beginning of beings, which we define as being a pre-conceived end, for the sake of which all things exist, but it exists for the sake of nothing. Looking to this end, God brought forth the essences of beings. This is properly the limit of providence and of the things provided for; according to which is the recapitulation in God of the things made by Him. This is what circumscribes all the ages, and the supra-infinite and infinitely

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ἀλλήλαις. Καί πάλιν μετά τήν τούτων ἀλλήλαις τελείαν νέκρωσιν, ζητεῖ τήν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τῆς προαιρέσεως, καί τῆς ἀρετῆς τήν κατά προαίρεσιν ζωήν. Καί οὕτως ἐρευνᾷ, πῶς δεῖ, καί ποίῳ τρόπῳ τήν ἐν ἀλλήλαις τούτων δημιουργῆσαι ζωήν· ἔστιν οὖν, ὡς ἐν ὁρισμῷ λαβεῖν, ἡ μέν ζήτησις, ὄρεξις καταθυμίου τινός· ἡ δέ ἐρεύνησις, τρόπος τῆς πρός το καταθύμιον ὀρέξεως ἀνυστικός.

ια΄. Ὁ νεκρώσας φησί τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τήν προαίρεσιν, σύμφυτος γέγονε τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ Χριστοῦ· καί ὁ ταύτην ἀναστήσας τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ, σύμφυτος γέγονε καί τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ.

ιβ΄. Ἡ ἁμαρτία, καί ἡ προαίρεσίς φησιν ἀλλήλαις νεκρούμεναι, διπλῆν ἔχουσι πρός ἀλλήλας τήν ἀναισθησίαν· καί ἡ δικαιοσύνη, καί ἡ προαίρεσις ἐν ἀλλήλαις ἔχουσαι τήν ζωήν, διπλῆν ἔχουσι τήν αἴσθησιν.

ιγ΄. Ἄλλη περί τῶν αὐτῶν θεωρία. ιδ΄. Ὁ μέν νοῦς, φησί, κατά μόνην τήν ἔφεσιν ἀγνώστως τῶν ὄντων αἰτίαν

κινούμενος, ζητεῖ μόνον· ὁ δέ λόγος, τούς ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀληθεῖς ποικίλως ἐφοδεύων ἐρευνᾷ λόγους.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ξ΄ .

" Ὡς ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καί ἀσπίλου Χριστοῦ, προεγνωσμένου μέν πρό καταβολῆς κόσμου· φανερωθέντος δέ ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτων τῶν χρόνων δι᾿ ἡμᾶς" [ὑμᾶς]. Ὑπό τίνος προεγνωσμένον;

Ἀπόκρισις. Τό τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον, Χριστόν ὁ τῆς Γραφῆς ὠνόμασε λόγος· καί μαρτυρεῖ

σαφῶς οὐτωσί φάσκων ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος, Τό μυστήριον τό ἀποκεκρυμμένον ἀπό τῶν γενεῶν, νῦν ἐφανερώθη· ταυτόν λέγων δηλαδή τῷ Χριστῷ, τό κατά Χριστόν μυστήριον· τοῦτο προδήλως ἐστίν ἄῤῥητός τε καί ἀπερινόητος θεότητός τε καί ἀνθρωπότητος καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσις· εἰς ταυτόν ἄγουσα τῇ θεότητι κατά πάντα τρόπον, τῷ τῆς ὑποστάσεως λόγῳ, τήν ἀνθρωπότητα· καί μίαν ἀμφοτέρων ἀποτελοῦσα τήν ὑπόστασιν σύνθετον· τῆς αὐτῶν κατά φύσιν οὐσιώδους διαφορᾶς μηδεμίαν καθοτιοῦν ἐπάγουσα μείωσιν· ὥστε καί μίαν αὐτῶν γενέσθαι, καθ᾿ ὅ ἔφην, τήν ὑπόστασιν, καί τήν φυσικήν διαφοράν ἀπαθῆ διαμένειν· καθ᾿ ἥν καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν οὐδέν τό παράπαν τροπῆς ἤ ἀλλοιώσεως τοῖς ἑνωθεῖσι παρηκολούθησε πάθος, ἀκραιφνής ὁ κατά τήν οὐσίαν ἑκατέρου τῶν ἡνωμένων διαμεμένηκε λόγος· ὧν δέ ἀκραιφνής ὁ τῆς οὐσίας καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν διαμεμένηκε λόγος, τούτων ἀλώβητος κατά πάντα τρόπον μεμενήκασιν αἱ φύσεις· μηδεμιᾶς τό σύνολον ἀρνησαμένης τά ἑαυτῆς διά τήν ἕνωσιν.

Ἔπρεπε γάρ τῷ ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων, καί γενομένῳ (621) φύσει κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν, καί ἑαυτόν ὅπερ ἦν κατά φύσιν, καί ὅπερ γέγονε φύσει κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν, ἄτρεπτον διασώσασθαι. Θεῷ γάρ οὐ πέφυκεν ἐνθεωρεῖσθαι τροπή, ᾧ μηδεμία καθάπαξ κίνησις ἐπινοεῖται· περί ἥν ὑπάρχει τοῖς κινουμένοις τό τρέπεσθαι. Τοῦτό ἐστι τό μέγα καί ἀπόκρυφον μυστήριον. Τοῦτό ἐστι τό μακάριον, δι᾿ ὅ τά πάντα συνέστησαν, τέλος. Τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν ὄντων προεπινοούμενος θεῖος σκοπός, ὅν ὁρίζοντες εἶναί φαμεν, προεπινοούμενον τέλος, οὗ ἕνεκα μέν πάντα, αὐτό δέ οὐδενός ἕνεκα. Πρός τοῦτο τό τέλος ἀφορῶν, τά τῶν ὄντων ὁ Θεός παρήγαγεν οὐσίας. Τοῦτο κυρίως ἐστί τό τῆς προνοίας καί τῶν προνοουμένων, πέρας· καθ᾿ ὅ εἰς τόν Θεόν, ἡ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ πεποιημένων ἐστίν ἀνακεφαλαίωσις. Τοῦτό ἐστι τό πάντας περιγράφον τούς αἰῶνας, καί τήν ὑπεράπειρον καί ἀπειράκις