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beginning with the foolish Valentinus who, tearing away a few words of the Apostle, constructed for himself his impious fiction, saying the form of a servant and not that he had assumed the servant himself, and saying that the Lord had come in appearance, but not that the man himself had been assumed by him. These men seem to utter things akin to them; it is fitting to bewail these men who introduce to you newer blasphemies. 261.3 But to say that the Godhead itself undergoes human passions is in no way characteristic of those who preserve consistency in their thoughts, nor of those who know that the passions of the flesh are one thing, and those of ensouled flesh another, and those of a soul using a body another. For it is proper to the flesh to be cut and diminished and dissolved, and again, to ensouled flesh to grow weary and to suffer pain and to hunger and to thirst and to be overcome by sleep, but for a soul using a body, griefs and distresses and cares and all such things. Of these, some are natural and necessary for the living being, while others are introduced from a wicked choice, because of an undisciplined life and one untrained in virtue. Whence the Lord is seen to have accepted the natural passions for the confirmation of the true and not phantasmal incarnation, but the passions from wickedness, all that defile the purity of our life, these he rejected as unworthy of his immaculate divinity. For this reason it is said that he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Therefore he took on our flesh with its natural passions, but he did not commit sin. But just as death in the flesh, transmitted to us through Adam, was swallowed up by the divinity, so also sin was consumed by the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus, so that we in the resurrection might receive back the flesh neither liable to death nor responsible for sin. These, brethren, are the mysteries of the Church, these are the traditions of the Fathers. We testify to every man who fears the Lord and awaits the judgment of God not to be carried away by various teachings. If anyone teaches other doctrines and does not assent to the sound words of the faith, but, pushing aside the oracles of the Spirit, makes his own teaching more esteemed than the evangelical teachings, beware of such a one. And may the Lord grant that we may one day come together, so that whatever has escaped our discourse we may supply through our meeting. For we have written to you a few things out of many, not wishing to go beyond the measure of a letter and at the same time persuaded that for those who fear the Lord even a brief reminder is sufficient.

262. TO URBICIUS THE MONK

262.1 You did well in writing to us; for you showed no small fruit of love, and do this continually. Do not, however, think that you need an apology when you write to us. For we know ourselves and we know that every man has equal honor with all according to nature; but pre-eminences among us are not according to family nor according to abundance of wealth nor according to the constitution of the body, but according to the pre-eminence of fear toward God. Therefore, what prevents you, who fear the Master more, from being greater than us in this very respect? Therefore, write to us continually and let us know how the brotherhood around you is, who of the Church among you are sound, so that we may know to whom we should write and in whom to rest. Since I hear that there are some who counterfeit the orthodox dogma concerning the Incarnation of the Lord with perverse suppositions, I beseech them through your love to abstain from that absurd notion which some are reported to us to hold, as if God himself were turned into flesh and did not assume through Mary the lump of Adam, but that he himself by his own divinity was changed into a material nature.

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τοῦ ματαιόφρονος ἀρξάμενον Οὐαλεντίνου ὃς ὀλίγας τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λέξεις ἀποσπαράξας τὸ δυσσεβὲς ἑαυτῷ κατεσκεύασε πλάσμα μορφὴν λέγων δούλου καὶ οὐχὶ αὐτὸν τὸν δοῦλον ἀνειληφέναι καὶ ἐν σχή ματι λέγων τὸν Κύριον γεγενῆσθαι, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἄνθρωπον παρ' αὐτοῦ προσειλῆφθαι. Τούτοις ἐοίκασι συγ γενῆ φθέγγεσθαι· τούτοις ἀποδύρεσθαι προσήκει τὰς νεωτέ ρας ὑμῖν ἐπεισάγουσι βλασφημίας. 261.3 Τὸ δὲ ἐπ' αὐτὴν λέγειν τὴν θεότητα τὰ ἀνθρώπων διαβαίνειν πάθη οὐδαμῶς σωζόντων ἐστὶ τὸ ἐν διανοίαις ἀκόλουθον οὔτε εἰδότων ὅτι ἄλλα σαρκὸς πάθη καὶ ἄλλα σαρκὸς ἐμψύχου καὶ ἄλλα ψυχῆς σώματι κεχρημένης. Σαρκὸς μὲν οὖν ἴδιον τὸ τέμνεσθαι καὶ μειοῦσθαι καὶ διαλύ εσθαι, καὶ πάλιν σαρκὸς ἐμψύχου τὸ κοποῦσθαι καὶ ὀδυνᾶ σθαι καὶ πεινῆν καὶ διψῆν καὶ ὕπνῳ κρατεῖσθαι, ψυχῆς δὲ σώματι κεχρημένης λύπαι καὶ ἀδημονίαι καὶ φροντίδες καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα. Ὧν τὰ μὲν φυσικὰ καὶ ἀναγκαῖα τῷ ζώῳ, τὰ δὲ ἐκ προαιρέσεως μοχθηρᾶς, διὰ τὸ ἀνάγωγον τοῦ βίου καὶ πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἀγύμναστον ἐπεισαγόμενα. Ὅθεν φαίνεται ὁ Κύριος τὰ μὲν φυσικὰ πάθη παραδεχόμενος εἰς βεβαίωσιν τῆς ἀληθινῆς καὶ οὐ κατὰ φαντασίαν ἐνανθρωπήσεως, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ κακίας πάθη ὅσα τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν ἐπιρ ρυπαίνει, ταῦτα ὡς ἀνάξια τῆς ἀχράντου θεότητος ἀπωσά μενος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο εἴρηται ἐν ὁμοιώματι γεγενῆσθαι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας. Ὥστε σάρκα μὲν τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀνέλαβε μετὰ τῶν φυσικῶν αὐτῆς παθῶν, ἁμαρτίαν δὲ οὐκ ἐποίησεν. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ θάνατος ὁ ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ εἰς ἡμᾶς παραπεμφθεὶς κατεπόθη ὑπὸ τῆς θεότητος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐξαναλώθη ὑπὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ὥστε ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἀπολαβεῖν τὴν σάρκα μήτε ὑπόδικον θανάτῳ μήτε ὑπεύθυνον ἁμαρτίᾳ. Ταῦτά ἐστιν, ἀδελφοί, τὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας μυστήρια, αὗται τῶν Πατέρων αἱ παραδόσεις. ∆ιαμαρτυρόμεθα παντὶ ἀνθρώπῳ φοβουμένῳ τὸν Κύριον καὶ κρίσιν Θεοῦ ἀναμένοντι διδαχαῖς ποικίλαις μὴ παραφέρεσθαι. Εἴ τις ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖ καὶ μὴ προσέρχεται ὑγιαίνουσι λόγοις τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλὰ παρωθού μενος τὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος λόγια τὴν οἰκείαν διδασκαλίαν προτιμοτέραν ποιεῖται τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν διδαγμάτων, φυλάσ σεσθε τὸν τοιοῦτον. Παράσχοι δὲ ὁ Κύριος καὶ εἰς ταὐτὸν ἡμᾶς ἀλλήλοις ἐλθεῖν ποτε, ὥστε ὅσα τὸν λόγον ἡμῶν διέφυγε ταῦτα διὰ τῆς συντυχίας ἀναπληρῶσαι. Καὶ γὰρ ὀλίγα ἐκ πολλῶν ὑμῖν ἐπεστείλαμεν οὐ βουλόμενοι ἔξω γενέσθαι τοῦ μέτρου τῆς ἐπιστολῆς καὶ ἅμα πεπεισμέ νοι ὅτι τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸν Κύριον ἐξαρκεῖ καὶ ἡ δι' ὀλίγων ὑπόμνησις.

262.τ ΟΥΡΒΙΚΙΩ ΜΟΝΑΖΟΝΤΙ

262.1 Καλῶς ἐποίησας ἐπιστείλας ἡμῖν· ἔδειξας γὰρ οὐ μικρὸν τὸν καρπὸν τῆς

ἀγάπης, καὶ συνεχῶς ποίει τοῦτο. Μὴ μέντοι νομίσῃς ἀπολογίας σοι δεῖν, ὅταν ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλ λῃς. Γνωρίζομεν γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι παντὶ ἀνθρώπῳ πρὸς πάντας ὁμοτιμία ἔστι κατὰ τὴν φύσιν· ὑπερ οχαὶ δὲ ἐν ἡμῖν οὐ κατὰ γένος οὐδὲ κατὰ περιουσίαν χρη μάτων οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος κατασκευήν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ φόβου τοῦ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Ὥστε τί κωλύει σε πλεῖον φοβούμενον τὸν ∆εσπότην μείζονα ἡμῶν εἶναι κατ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο; Συνεχῶς οὖν ἡμῖν ἐπίστελλε καὶ γνώριζε πῶς ἡ περὶ σὲ ἀδελφότης, τίνες τῶν τῆς Ἐκκλη σίας τῆς καθ' ὑμᾶς ὑγιαίνουσιν, ἵνα εἰδῶμεν οἷς χρὴ γρά φειν καὶ τίσιν ἐπαναπαύεσθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀκούω τινὰς εἶναι τοὺς τὸ εὐθὲς περὶ τῆς Ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Κυρίου δόγμα ἐν διαστρόφοις ὑπολήψεσι παραχαράσσοντας, παρακαλῶ αὐτοὺς διὰ τῆς σῆς ἀγάπης ἀποσχέσθαι τῆς ἀτόπου ἐκεί νης ἐννοίας ἣν ἔχειν τινὲς ἡμῖν καταγγέλλονται, ὡς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς σάρκα τραπέντος καὶ οὐχὶ προσλαβόντος διὰ τῆς Μαρίας τὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ φύραμα, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τῇ οἰκείᾳ θεότητι εἰς τὴν ὑλικὴν φύσιν μεταβληθέντος.