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mystery a difference of flesh and divinity. But if there exists in Christ a difference of flesh and divinity after the union according to nature; for divinity and flesh are never the same in essence; the union of those which came together was by no means for the generation of one nature; but for one hypostasis; in which we find in Christ no difference in any way whatsoever. For the Word is the same as His own flesh according to the hypostasis. For insofar as Christ admits of any difference whatsoever, He cannot be one in every way. But insofar as He admits of no difference at all, in every way the one is piously held and said of Him forever.

Therefore, since every difference, insofar as it is a difference, certainly has an underlying quantity of the things that differ; for without quantity, there could never be a difference; and quantity does not admit of declaration without number; we do well to employ number for the sole purpose of declaring the difference of the natures from which Christ is after the union, signifying that the natures are preserved unchangeable after the union; but not dividing by number the union of those that have run together into one hypostasis; and we declare this understanding by not applying any number whatsoever to the principle of the hypostasis. For where no difference at all is observed, neither is quantity introduced. And that which does not have quantity introduced does not admit the number that declares difference. Therefore, He is composite according to the hypostasis, in which identity and what is in every way monadic is observed; so that we may both preserve the identity and monadic character of the hypostasis, and confess the difference of the natures that ran together toward one hypostasis. This is what the wondrous Zechariah saw flying in the shape of a sickle. For the Word of God reaps out all wickedness and ignorance.

Its length, he says, is twenty cubits; and its breadth, ten cubits. Therefore, as God and Word, Christ is naturally broadened into ten cubits, I mean the practical and divine commandments, in the mode of Providence by way of procession. For the word of God is broadened into a decad of commandments; through which, having legislated both the activity of what is needful and the inactivity of what is not, it encompassed every movement of the self-determined will of those under its providence. But as the same One, having become flesh and having been perfectly made man, He is lengthened to twenty cubits; on account of the composition of the elements with the senses for the generation of the body. For there are five senses, and the elements happen to be four; from the conjunction of which human nature is constituted. And five put together with four clearly makes the number twenty. But Scripture called the mode of the economy length, (652) both because of the height, and because the mystery of the divine Incarnation is beyond all nature.

Flying, both because it has nothing earthly and because it is swift and quick-moving; and, to speak concisely, being a summary of the word, and circumscribing the whole salvation of men in the heart alone of those being saved; being contained by faith alone and a good conscience. For nothing is swifter than to believe; and nothing is easier than to confess with the mouth the grace of what has been believed. For the one declares the animate love of the believer toward the one who made him; the other, the God-loving disposition toward one's neighbor. But love, and a genuine disposition, that is, faith and a good conscience, is manifestly the work of an unseen movement in the heart, in no way needing that which is outside of matter for its generation. For the Lord, he says, will make a concise word upon the earth.

This is the curse which God the Father sent forth upon the face of all the earth; truly the curse of the true. For since the disobedience of Adam became a curse through the transgression, not allowing the commandment to increase for the generation of the fruits of righteousness, so that creation might receive the blessing, in the curse of Adam, the one according to nature

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μυστηρίῳ διαφοράν σαρκός καί θεότητος. Εἰ δέ σαρκός ἐν Χριστῷ καί θεότητος μετά τήν ἕνωσιν ὑπάρχει κατά φύσιν διαφορά· οὐ γάρ ταυτόν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ποτέ θεότης καί σάρξ· πρός φύσεως μιᾶς γένεσιν ἡ τῶν συνελθόντων οὐδαμῶς γέγονεν ἕνωσις· ἀλλά πρός μίαν ὑπόστασιν· καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδεμίαν ἐν Χριστῷ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον εὑρίσκομεν διαφοράν. Ταυτόν γάρ τῇ οἰκείᾳ σαρκί κατά τήν ὑπόστασιν ὁ Λόγος. Καθ᾿ ὅ γάρ ὁ Χριστός τήν οἱανδήποτε ἐπιδέχεται διαφοράν, ἕν εἶναι κατά πάντα τρόπον οὐ δύναται. Καθ᾿ ὅ δέ τήν οἱανοῦν παντελῶς οὐκ ἐπιδέχεται διαφοράν, κατά πάντα τρόπον τό ἕν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ διά παντός εὐσεβῶς ἔχει καί ὅν καί λεγόμενον.

Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδή πᾶσα μέν διαφορά καθ᾿ ὅ διαφορά πάντως ὑποκείμενον ἔχει ποσόν τῶν διαφερόντων· ποσοῦ γάρ χωρίς, οὐκ ἄν εἴη ποτέ διαφορά· τό δέ ποσόν, ἀριθμοῦ χωρίς οὐ δέχεται δήλωσιν· καλῶς ἄν πρός μόνην τήν δήλωσιν τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν ἐξ ὧν ἔστι φύσεων ὁ Χριστός μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, τόν ἀριθμόν παραλαμβάνομεν, σημαίνοντες ἀτρέπτους σώζεσθαι τάς φύσεις μετά τήν ἕνωσιν· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ διαιροῦντες τῷ ἀριθμῷ τῶν εἰς ὑπόστασιν μίαν συνδεδραμηκότων τήν ἕνωσιν· καί δηλοῦμεν τοῦτο φρονοῦντες, τῷ τῆς ὑποστάσεως λόγῳ, καθοτιοῦν ἀριθμόν οὐκ ἐπάγοντες. ᾯ γάρ οὐκ ἐπιθεωρεῖται διαφορά παντελῶς, οὐδέ ποσόν συνεισάγεται. Τό δέ ποσόν οὐκ ἔχον συνεισαγόμενον, οὔτε τόν δηλωτικόν τῆς διαφορᾶς ἀριθμόν ἐπιδέχεται. Σύνθετον οὖν κατά τήν ὑπόστασιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ ταυτότης καί τό πάντη θεωρεῖται μοναδικόν· ἵνα καί τό ταυτόν καί μοναδικόν φυλάξωμεν τῆς ὑποστάσεως, καί τήν διαφοράν τῶν πρός ὑπόστασιν μίαν συνδραμουσῶν ὁμολογήσωμεν φύσεων. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὅν ἴδε σχήματι δρεπάνου πετόμενον ὁ θαυμαστός Ζαχαρίας. Ἐκθεριστικός γάρ πάσης κακίας τε καί ἀγνωσίας ἐστίν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος.

Μῆκος αὐτοῦ, φησί, πήχεων εἴκοσι· καί πλάτος αὐτοῦ, πήχεων δέκα. Ὡς μέν οὖν Θεός καί Λόγος ὁ Χριστός, εἰς δέκα πήχεις, τάς ἐμπράκτους λέγω καί θείας ἐντολάς, τῷ τῆς Προνοίας τρόπῳ κατά πρόοδον πλατύνεσθαι πέφυκεν. Εἰς δεκάδα γάρ ἐντολῶν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ πλατύνεται λόγος· δι᾿ ὧν τήν τε τῶν δεόντων ἐνέργειαν, καί τῶν οὐ δεόντων τήν ἀργίαν νομοθετήσας, πᾶσαν περιέσχεν τῶν προνοουμένων τῆς αὐθαιρέτου γνώμης τήν κίνησιν. Ὡς δέ γενόμενος σάρξ ὁ αὐτός, καί τελείως ἐνανθρωπήσας, εἰς εἴκοσι πήχεις μηκύνεται· διά τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι τῶν στοιχείων πρός γένεσιν σώματος σύνθεσιν. Πέντε γάρ αἰσθήσεις ὑπάρχουσι, καί τέσσαρα τυγχάνει τά στοιχεῖα· ἐξ ὧν κατά σύνοδον ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων συνέστηκε φύσις. Πέντε δέ ἐπί τέσσαρα συντιθέμενα, ποιεῖ τόν εἴκοσι σαφῶς ἀριθμόν. Μῆκος δέ τόν τῆς οἰκονομίας ἡ Γραφή προσηγόρευσε τρόπον, (652) διά τε τό ὕψος, καί τό ὑπέρ πᾶσαν εἶναι φύσιν τό μυστήριον τῆς θείας ἐνανθρωπήσεως.

Πετόμενον δέ, διά τε τό μηδέν ἔχειν ἐπίγειον διά τε τό ταχύ καί ὀξυκίνητον· καί συνελόντα φάναι, συντετμημένον τοῦ λόγου, καί πᾶσαν τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίαν μόνῃ περιγράφον τῇ καρδίᾳ τῶν σωζομένων· κατά μόνην τήν πίστιν καί τήν ἀγαθήν συνείδησιν συνεχομένην. Οὐδέν γάρ τοῦ πιστεύειν ταχύτερον· καί τοῦ, διά στόματος ὁμολογεῖν τοῦ πιστευθέντος τήν χάριν, ἐστίν εὐκολώτερον. Τό μέν γάρ δηλοῖ τήν ἔμψυχον πρός τόν πεποιηκότα τοῦ πεπιστευκότος ἀγάπην· τό δέ, τήν θεοφιλῆ πρός τόν πλησίον διάθεσιν. Ἀγάπη δέ, καί γνησία διάθεσις· ἤγουν πίστις, καί ἀγαθή συνείδησις· ἔργον προδήλως τοῦ κατά καρδίαν ἀφανοῦς ὑπάρχει κινήματος, τῆς ἐκτός ὕλης πρός γένεσιν παντελῶς οὐ δεόμενος. Λόγον γάρ συντετμημένον, φησί, ποιήσει Κύριος ἐπί τῆς γῆς.

Οὗτός ἐστιν ἡ ἀρά, ἥν ἐξέπεμψεν ἐπί πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς ὁ Θεός καί Πατήρ· ἡ ὄντως ἀρά τῆς ἀληθινῆς. Ἐπειδή γάρ γέγονεν ἀρά διά τῆς παραβάσεως, ἡ παρακοή τοῦ Ἀδάμ, μή συγχωρήσασα πρός γένεσιν καρπῶν δικαιοσύνης αὐξηθῆναι τήν ἐντολή, ἵνα λάβῃ τήν εὐλογίαν ἡ κτίσις, ἐν τῇ ἀρᾷ γίνεται τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ἡ κατά φύσιν