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the joy of things hoped for; may we all attain these things, as Christ, our great God and Savior, distributes them to each of us as he knows each is worthy; through the intercession of His immaculate and all-holy Mother, the ever-virgin, and of all the saints. Amen.
By the same author, to Julianus Scholasticus of Alexandria, concerning the ecclesiastical dogma of the incarnation of the Lord.
The precious letter of my God-guarded master has filled me, the humble and sinful, and with me, so to speak, the whole holy catholic Church of God, with great joy and spiritual gladness, bringing us the good tidings of the firm and unchangeable conviction, both his and that of my master with him, lord Christopemptus the most wise Scholasticus, concerning the orthodox and pious and saving confession of the faith in Christ our true God; Who for this reason became man, that He might gather the nature of men to Himself, and stop it from being badly disposed toward itself, or rather, being in sedition against and divided from itself, and having no stability, on account of the inconstant movement of each one's opinion. Therefore, most honored ones, all of us giving thanks to God for you, unceasingly make our petitions, even though we be sinners, that you may preserve unshaken (581) and unmoved for all time the saving confession of the faith; believing that the Son and Word of God the Father, from men, for men, as a man without sin, truly became man, was not changed from being God even when He became man; nor indeed was He diminished from being truly man, having remained what He was, and is, and ever will be, by nature God; but being God in essence and nature for His own sake, unchangeably according to the economy for our sakes He truly became man, that is, by the assumption of flesh having an intellectual and rational soul. Therefore He is the same, God by nature and truly, being this and that in truth and without deficiency the same; since, in the mystery of His incarnation, that is, His perfect becoming man, for the hypostatic union of the natures brought together, neither in any way denied itself on account of the union, but each preserved its own essential principle and definition, that is, its natural property, unconfused and unchanged with respect to the other after the union. For the union does not do away with the difference of those things brought together into one hypostasis, but rather it completely thrusts out their division into parts.
Since, therefore, the things of which Christ is composed are preserved undiminished in Christ by nature even after the union; how is it not just to confess the things of which Christ is composed even after the union? unlike some who do not see how precarious and dangerous it is, and causing harm to every soul, to fight against what is plain, and to deny the truth that is manifestly present; and that this is characteristic only of those who do not at all expect a resurrection and judgment. For to whom is the word of truth not manifest and evident, being simple and unadorned, and having nothing at all enigmatic about it? For if Christ is God and man in reality and in truth after the union, and is not said to be God and man by title and name only; it is clear that he who says and thinks that Christ is both God and man together after the union, has truly confessed along with the names the natures of which they are the names; unless upon Christ the mere
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τήν χαράν τῶν ἐλπιζομένων· ὧν τύχοιμεν ἅπαντες, Χριστοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ταῦτα, καθώς οἶδεν, ἡμῖν ὡς ἕκαστος ἄξιός ἐστι διανέμοντος· τῇ πρεσβείᾳ τῆς ἀχράντου καί παναγίας αὐτοῦ Μητρός ἀειπαρθένου, καί πάντων τῶν ἁγίων. Ἀμήν.
Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Ἰουλιανόν Σχολαστικόν Ἀλεξανδρέα, περί τοῦ κατά τήν σάρκωσιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ δόγματος.
Χαρᾶς μεγάλης καί εὐφροσύνης πνευματικῆς ἐνέπλησέ με τόν ταπεινόν καί ἁμαρτωλόν, καί σύν ἐμοί πᾶσαν ὡς εἰπεῖν τήν ἁγίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καθολικήν ἐκκλησίαν, τό τίμιον τοῦ θεοφυλάκτου μου δεσπότου γράμμα, κομίσαν ἡμῖν εὐαγγέλια τῆς στεῤῥᾶς καί ἀμεταθέτου γνώμης, αὐτοῦ τε καί τοῦ σύν αὐτῷ δεσπότου μου κυρίου Χριστοπέμπτου τοῦ σοφωτάτου Σχολαστικοῦ, περί τήν ὀρθήν καί εὐσεβῆ καί σωτήριον ὁμολογία τῆς κατά Χριστόν τόν ἀληθινόν ἡμῶν Θεόν πίστεως· τόν διά τοῦτο γενόμενον ἄνθρωπον, ἵνα τήν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρός ἑαυτόν συναγάγῃ, καί στήσῃ τοῦ φέρεσθαι κακῶς πρός ἑαυτήν, μᾶλλον δέ καθ᾿ ἑαυτῆς στασιάζουσάν τε καί μεμερισμένην, καί μηδεμίαν ἔχουσαν στάσιν, διά τήν περί ἕκαστον τῆς γνώμης ἀστάθμητον κίνησιν. ∆ιό πάντες εὐχαριστοῦντες ἐφ᾿ ὑμῖν τῷ Θεῷ, τιμιώτατοι, δεήσεις ἀπαύστως ποιούμεθα, κἄν ἁμαρτωλοί τυγχάνωμεν, συντηρῆσαι ὑμᾶς ἀκλονήτως τε (581) καί ἀσείστως εἰς τόν ἅπαντα χρόνον τήν σωτήριον τῆς πίστεως ὁμολογίαν· πιστεύοντας ὅτιπερ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός Υἱός καί Λόγος ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, ὑπέρ ἀνθρώπων, κατά ἀνθρώπους χωρίς ἁμαρτίας ἀληθῶς γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἐτράπη τοῦ Θεός εἶναι καί γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος· οὔτε μήν τοῦ ἄνθρωπος ἀληθῶς εἶναι μεμείωται, μεμενηκώς ὅπερ ἦν, καί ἔστι, καί ἀεί ἔσται κατά φύσιν Θεός· ἀλλά Θεός ὑπάρχων κατ᾿ οὐσίαν καί φύσιν δι᾿ ἑαυτόν, ἀτρέπτως κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀληθῶς γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, κατά πρόσληψιν δηλονότι σαρκός, νοεράν τε καί λογικήν ἐχούσης ψυχήν. ∆ιό καί Θεός φύσει καί ἀληθῶς ὁ αὐτός ὡς τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἀνελλιπῶς ὁ αὐτός ὑπάρχων· ἅτε δή τινος τῶν ἐπί τῷ μυστηρίῳ τῆς αὐτοῦ σαρκώσεως, ἤγουν τελείας ἐνανθρωπήσεως πρός ἕνωσιν τήν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν συνενηνεγμένων φύσεων, μηδαμῶς ἑαυτήν ἠρνημένης διά τήν ἕνωσιν, ἀλλά φυλαττούσης τόν ἑαυτῆς οὐσιώδη λόγον τε καί ὅρον, ἤτοι τήν φυσικήν ἰδιότητα πρός τήν ἑτέραν ἀσύγχυτον καί ἀμετάβλητον μετά τήν ἕνωσιν. Οὔτε γάρ ἀναιρεῖ τήν διαφοράν τῶν εἰς μίαν ὑπόστασιν συνενηνεγμένων ἡ ἕνωσις· ἀλλά τήν εἰς ἀναμέρος αὐτῶν παντελῶς ἐξωθεῖται διαίρεσιν.
Σωζομένων οὖν ἀμειώτως ἐν Χριστῷ κατά φύσιν τῶν ἐξ ὁ Χριστός καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν· πῶς οὐκ ἔστι δίκαιον ὁμολογεῖσθαι τά ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστός καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν; κατά τινας μή συνορῶντας ὡς ἐπισφαλές ἐστι καί ἐπικίνδυνον, καί εἰς ψυχήν πᾶσαν ἔχον ζημίαν, τό πρός τά δῆλα μάχεσθαι, καί τήν οὖσαν ἀρνεῖσθαι προδήλως ἀλήθειαν· καί μόνων ἐκείνων ἴδιον εἶναι τῶν ἀνάστασιν καί κρίσιν τό παράπαν μή προσδοκώντων. ἐπεί τίνι καταφανής οὐκ ἔστι καί ἐπίδηλος ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγος, ὡς ἁπλοῦς καί ἀπέριττος, καί μηδέν ἔχων γριφῶδες τό σύνολον; Εἰ γάρ Θεός καί ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός πράγματι καί ἀληθείᾳ μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, καί οὐχί μόνον κλήσει καί προσηγορίᾳ Θεός λέγοιτο εἶναι καί ἄνθρωπος· δῆλον ἐστιν ὡς ὁ λέγων τε καί φρονῶν τόν Χριστόν Θεόν τε ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπον μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, ἀληθῶς εἶναι συνομολόγησε τοῖς ὀνόμασι τάς φύσεις ὧν εἰσί τά ὀνόματα· εἴπερ μή ψιλάς ἐπί Χριστοῦ τάς