219

the word of faith is preached, flourishing, making everything under heaven to be within itself; and always bringing and adding what is lacking to what has already been comprehended; and showing that there is one soul and one tongue of all people from the ends of the earth to its ends, in the Spirit, according to the concord and unanimity of the faith; which faith the creator of men, the Word of God—who ineffably, from men, for men, as a man, truly became man by the assumption of flesh having a rational and intelligent soul, and not by a conversion of the Godhead, clearly without sin—taught us men to confess and to embrace, denying absolutely none of His natures after the union, that is, after the incarnation; neither the divine, according to which He is and remains forever God through Himself and consubstantial with the Father; nor the human, according to which the same one truly became man for our sakes, as the lover of mankind, and is consubstantial with us. For He was not converted from what He was and is, and will be forever, God by nature; nor did He change the nature of what He became, man, according to the indivisible union of ensouled flesh, being one and the same, both God and man; not being God and man by calling and title only, but in reality and truth being properly God and man, and truly so named. Having from the union that which is one and unique in hypostasis, but not in nature, as the Fathers teach, saying, "For even if the composite is one, yet it is not one by the nature of the union;" according to which, having deigned economically for our sakes, as the Good One, to become composite, He preserves unharmed, even after the incarnation, that which is simple by nature, according to which He remains of one nature and consubstantial with the Father. For Godhead and manhood are not the same. For even if the Word of God became man, He became man by the assumption of flesh intelligently and indivisibly united to Him in hypostasis. Wherefore the same one is properly both God and man, being the one and having become the other; and being this and that without deficiency; neither being confused by the supreme uniqueness of the hypostasis, according to which the principle of difference is entirely absent; nor being divided by the unmixed otherness of the natures of which He is composed; according to which the principle of difference is in no way annulled because of the union.

Since, therefore, the difference of the natures of which Christ is composed is preserved without confusion even after the union, there is, I think, no argument at all that can show it is just not to confess the quantity of things naturally differing and preserved in Christ according to an indivisible (588) union; because every difference certainly introduces a quantity of some things, differing from one another in some respect. For no one, however clever and resourceful, would ever be able to say that a difference exists without quantity, if he is thinking rightly and has even a little regard for truth; knowing clearly that every difference consists either in the otherness of certain things in essence, or in the dissimilarity of certain things in quality and property; which the quantity of the underlying realities, whether they are in union or apart from it, certainly produces. For in things where the one and the same principle is not observed in every way, there is an indication of quantity, of which difference is a property. If, therefore, in Christ, it follows logically from the union to speak of what is entirely unique in hypostasis, as the Fathers teach; then, due to the difference of the natures of which Christ is composed, which are preserved in Christ after the union without confusion and without division, it is both logical and fitting to speak of quantity; it is clear that, just as he who does not say, because of the hypostatic union, that Christ is one incarnate nature of God the Word, understood rightly according to the interpretation of our most holy Father and teacher Cyril, does not believe that the union has taken place; so too he who does not confess the two natures after the union, from which

219

πίστεως ἀκμάζων κηρύττεται λόγος, πᾶσαν ἐντός ἑαυτοῦ ποιούμενος τήν ὑπ᾿ οὐρανόν· καί τό λεῖπον ἀεί τῷ ἤδη συνειλημμένῳ προσάγων καί προστιθέμενος· καί μίαν ἀπάντων τῶν ἀπό περάτων τῆς γῆς ἕως τῶν περάτων αὐτῆς, καί ψυχήν καί γλῶσσαν εἶναι δεικνύς τῷ πνεύματι κατά τήν ὁμόνοιαν καί ὁμοφωνίαν τῆς πίστεως· ἥν ἀῤῥήτως ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, ὑπέρ ἀνθρώπων, κατ᾿ ἀνθρώπους ἀληθῶς προσλήψει σαρκός ψυχήν ἐχούσης λογικήν τε καί νοεράν, καί οὐ τροπῇ θεότητος ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος, δηλονότι χωρίς ἁμαρτίας, ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων δημιουργός τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἡμᾶς τούς ἀνθρώπους ἐδίδαξεν ὁμολογεῖν καί ἀσπάζεσθαι, μηδεμίαν αὐτοῦ καθάπαξ ἀρνουμένους φύσιν μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, ἤγουν μετά τήν ἐνανθρώπησιν· μήτε τήν θείαν, καθ᾿ ἥν Θεός ἀεί τε δι᾿ ἑαυτόν καί τῷ Πατρί ὁμοούσιος ἔστι τε καί διαμένει· μήτε τήν ἀνθρωπίνην, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ αὐτός ἄνθρωπος ἀληθῶς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς γέγονεν, ὡς φιλάνθρωπος, καί ἡμῖν ἐστιν ὁμοούσιος. Οὔτε γάρ ἐτράπη τοῦ ὅπερ ἦν καί ἔστιν, καί εἰς ἀεί ἔσται κατά φύσιν Θεός· οὔτε μήν τοῦ ὅπερ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἀδιάσπαστον σαρκός ἐψυχωμένης τήν φύσιν μετέβαλεν, εἷς ὤν καί ὁ αὐτός Θεός τε καί ἄνθρωπος· οὐ κλήσει μόνον καί προσηγορίᾳ Θεός ὑπάρχων καί ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλά πράγματι καί ἀληθείᾳ Θεός καί ἄνθρωπος καί ὑπάρχων κυρίως, καί ἀληθῶς ὀνομαζόμενος. Τό ἐκ τῆς ἑνώσεως ἕν τε καί μοναδικόν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά φύσει ἔχων, ὡς οἱ Πατέρες διδάσκουσι, φάσκοντες, "Εἰ γάρ καί τό συναμφότερον ἕν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῇ φύσει τῇ συνόδῳ·" καθ᾿ ἥν οἰκονομικῶς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ὡς ἀγαθός, σύνθετος γενέσθαι καταδεξάμενος, τό κατά φύσιν ἁπλοῦν, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁμοφυής ἐστι τῷ Πατρί καί ὁμοούσιος διαμένει, φυλάττων ἀλώβητον καί μετά τήν σάρκωσιν. Οὐ γάρ ταυτόν θεότητς καί ἀνθρωπότης. Κἄν γάρ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἀλλά κατά πρόσληψιν σαρκός νοερῶς καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἀδιασπάστως ἑνωθείσης αὐτῷ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. ∆ιό καί Θεός ἐστιν ὁ αὐτός κυρίως καί ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἐκεῖνο ὤν καί τοῦτο γενόμενος· καί τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο ὑπάρχων ἀνελλιπῶς· μήτε τῷ ἄκρως μοναδικῷ τῆς ὑποστάσεως συγχεόμενος, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τῆς διαφορᾶς παντελῶς ἄπεστι λόγος· μήτε τῷ ἀκραιφνεῖ τῆς ἑτερότητος τῶν ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκε φύσεων διαιρούμενος· καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τῆς διαφορᾶς διά τήν ἕνωσιν οὐδαμῶς ἀνῄρηται λόγος.

Τῆς οὖν διαφορᾶς τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἐστι φύσεων ὁ Χριστός ἀσυγχύτως σωζομένης καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, οὐκ ἔστιν, ὡς οἶμαι, παντελῶς ὁ δεῖξαι δυνάμενος λόγος, δίκαιον εἶναι τό ποσόν τῶν φυσικῶς διαφερόντων καί ἐν Χριστῷ σωζομένων καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν (588) ἀδιάσπαστον μή ὁμολογεῖσθαι· διότι πᾶσα δαφορά ποσόν ἑαυτῇ συνεισάγει πάντως τινῶν, ἀλλήλων κατά τι διαφερόντων. Οὐ γάρ ποσοῦ χωρίς πώποτέ τις, κἄν εὐμήχανος ᾖ καί ποριμώτατος, διαφοράν εἶναι φάναι δυνήσηται, καλῶς φρονῶν, καί ἀληθείας κἄν μικρόν γοῦν λόγον ποιούμενος· σαφῶς γινώσκων, ἤ τῆς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν τινῶν ἑτερότητος, ἤ τῆς κατά ποιότητα καί ἰδιότητά τινων ἀνομοιότητος πᾶσαν εἶναι διαφοράν· ἥν ἡ ποσότης τῶν ὑποκειμένων πραγμάτων, εἴτε καθ᾿ ἕνωσίν εἰσιν, ἤ καί ταύτης χωρίς πάντως ἐργάζεται. Ἐφ᾿ ὧν γάρ μή κατά πάντα τρόπον ὁ εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός θεωρεῖται λόγος, ποσότητος ἔνεστιν ἔμφασις, ἧς ἐστιν ἴδιον ἡ διαφορά. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐπί Χριστοῦ τῇ μέν ἑνώσει κατά λόγον τό πάντη μοναδικόν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, ὡς οἱ Πατέρες διδάσκουσιν, ἕπεται λέγειν· τῇ δέ τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός φύσεων καί μετά τήν ἕνωσιν ἀσυγχύτως τε καί ἀδιαιρέτως ἐν Χριστῷ σωζομένων διαφορᾷ τό ποσόν λέγειν ἐστί ἀκόλουθόν τε καί πρόσφορον· δῆλον ὅτι, ὥσπερ ὁ μή λέγων τόν Χριστόν διά τήν καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσιν μίαν εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου φύσιν σεσαρκωμένην, κατά τήν ἑρμηνείαν τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου Πατρός ἡμῶν καί διδασκάλου Κυρίλλου νοουμένην ὀρθῶς, οὐ πιστεύει γεγενῆσθαι τήν ἕνωσιν· οὕτω καί ὁ μή τάς δύο μετά τήν ἕνωσιν φύσεις ὁμολογῶν, ἐξ ὧν