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nor indeed an eye from seeing; that God has become man and that the eternal one was seen as an infant; and he who nourishes all things is nourished with milk and the uncontainable one is held in arms and the more than divine one is called a man and the abyss of wisdom is baptized and the super-essential one does things befitting God and befitting man and the Lord of glory is crucified and he who gives life to all things is buried and rises again and he who is contained nowhere is taken up in a manner befitting a man. Let him cease forbidding so saving a manifestation of the world in both respects, both supposing the glory of the Lord to be dishonor and insinuating that his voluntary humility is involuntary, and let him cease opposing Basil the Great, whose voice is the voice of God, when he commands somewhere as follows: Let Christ, the judge of the contests, also be inscribed on the tablet. And let the following affirmation be cast out somewhere from the divine choir along with the present decision, as having an equal amount of absurdity. For what does it say? "4But bearing the incorporeal Word intellectually upon your soul, carry him about"5. O the absurdity! For nowhere has a divine mouth called the Word incorporeal after he became flesh. For the holy apostle has said that Christ is no longer flesh, but not that he is incorporeal, in what he says: But from now on we know no one according to the flesh; and even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him no longer. which Gregory the Theologian, interpreting, said, the fleshly passions and ours without sin; as he also says elsewhere, no longer flesh, but not incorporeal. But he who called the Word incorporeal would be fighting not only with these two, but indeed with all the God-bearing fathers. It has been shown, therefore, by the logic of nature that an absurdity has followed an absurdity; and in the overthrow of the falsehood, let the truth be established in opposition. How? Paint Christ where you must, as having him dwelling in your heart, so that being both read in a book and seen in a picture, as he is known by the two senses, he may doubly enlighten your mind, as you learn to see with your eyes that which you were taught through words. And indeed, in being thus heard and seen, it is not in its nature for God not to be glorified and for a pious man not to be moved to compunction; than which what could be more conducive to salvation and more acceptable to God? Thus, therefore, we nobodies understand the truths, even if some of the holy fathers before us have understood the problem that has been refuted differently. At any rate, when this saying has been dealt with, what about that of Epiphanius? "4Your piety will understand whether it is fitting for us to have God depicted in colors"5. Behold, then, the liar; he did not say Christ, in whom the circumscription is shown with the uncircumscribed (for here is the indication of both natures), but for us to have God depicted, stripping the Word of his humanity with a Manichaean mindset and proposing a naked God, so that by the absurdity of the proposition he might shock the hearer. Thus indeed it is also out of place to speak of a visible God, if indeed the sacred oracles say, no one has ever seen God. And yet the only-begotten Son, being God and being seen, has declared this; but it is clear that no one has seen God naked of humanity. But since the only-begotten is not naked after the incarnation, for this reason he is also visible. And the holy apostle has proclaimed: God was manifested in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. Therefore, "in the flesh" must be taken in common with every statement; for the first phrase is a kind of series not only for those that follow, but indeed for all the properties of the incarnation. As, therefore, God was manifested in the flesh and in each of the aforementioned things (for it would not be natural for him to be either seen or taken up without "in the flesh" being understood), so, clearly, he is also nourished with milk in the flesh, and advances in age, and walks on foot, and sweats in agony, and speaks with a tongue, and all other such things of the same series. And if these things are so, since circumscription is also one of all the properties of the body, it is clear that God is also circumscribed in the flesh, whether by means of colors or

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οὔτε μὴν ὀφθαλμὸς ἀπὸ ὁράσεως· ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἄνθρωπος γέγονε καὶ ὅτι ὤφθη βρέφος ὁ αἰώνιος· καὶ γαλακτοτροφεῖται ὁ τρέφων τὰ σύμπαντα καὶ ἀγκαλίζεται ὁ ἀπερίληπτος καὶ χρηματίζει ἀνὴρ ὁ ὑπέρθεος καὶ βαπτίζεται ἡ τῆς σοφίας ἄβυσσος καὶ δρᾷ τὰ θεοπρεπῆ τε καὶ ἀνθρωποπρεπῆ ὁ ὑπερούσιος καὶ σταυροῦται ὁ τῆς δόξης Κύριος καὶ θάπτεται καὶ ἀνίσταται ὁ ζωῶν τὰ σύμπαντα καὶ ἀναλαμβάνεται ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς ὁ μηδαμοῦ χωρούμενος. παυσάσθω ἀπαγορεύειν τὴν οὕτω σωτήριον κόσμου καθ' ἑκάτερα φανέρωσιν, καὶ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου ἀδοξίαν ὑποτιθέμενος καὶ τὴν αὐθαίρετον ταπεινοφροσύνην ἀκούσιον ὑποβαλλόμενος, παυσάσθω δὲ καὶ τῷ Μεγάλῳ Βασιλείῳ ἀντιφερόμενος, οὗ ἡ φωνὴ θεοῦ φωνή, ὧδέ που προστάσσοντι· ἐγγραφέσθω τῷ πίνακι καὶ ὁ τῶν παλαισμάτων ἀγωνοθέτης Χριστός. Ἐρρίφθω δέ που θείου χοροῦ σὺν τῇ παρούσῃ ἀποφάσει καὶ ἡ ἑξῆς κατάφασις, ὡς τὸ ἴσον τῆς ἀτοπίας ἔχουσα. τί γάρ φησιν; "4ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς σου βαστάζων νοητῶς τὸν ἀσώματον λόγον περίφερε"5. ὢ τῆς ἀλογίας· οὔ τί που γὰρ θεῖον στόμα ἀσώματον τὸν λόγον μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν σάρκα λέλεχεν. οὐκέτι μὲν γὰρ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀσώματον ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος εἴρηκεν, ἐν οἷς φησιν· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν οὐδένα οἴδαμεν κατὰ σάρκα· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν. ὅπερ ἑρμηνεύων ὁ Θεολόγος Γρηγόριος τὰ σαρκικά, ἔφη, πάθη καὶ χωρὶς τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡμέτερα· ὡς καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν, οὐκέτι μὲν σάρκα, οὐκ ἀσώματον δέ. ὁ δὲ ἀσώματον τὸν λόγον φήσας οὐ μόνον τοῖς δυσίν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς θεοφόροις μαχόμενος εἶεν. ∆έδεικται τοίνυν φύσεως λόγῳ ἀτόπῳ ἄτοπον ἐπακολουθῆσαν· καὶ τῇ τοῦ ψεύδους ἀνατροπῇ κείσθω ἀντιστρόφως ἡ ἀλήθεια. πῶς; γράφε τὸν Χριστὸν ὅπου δεῖν, ὡς ἔχων αὐτὸν κατοικοῦντα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, ἵνα καὶ ἀναγινωσκόμενος ἐν δέλτῳ καὶ ὁρώμενος ἐν γραφῇ ὡς ταῖς δυσὶν αἰσθήσεσι γνωριζόμενος διττῶς φωτίζῃ σου τὰς φρένας, μαθόντος ὅπερ διὰ λόγου κατηχήθης τοῦτο βλέπειν κατ' ὀφθαλμούς. καί γε ἐν τῷ οὕτως ἀκουτίζεσθαι καὶ ὁρᾶσθαι οὐκ ἔχει φύσιν μὴ οὐχὶ δοξάζεσθαι θεὸν καὶ κατανύττεσθαι ἄνθρωπον εὐσεβῆ· οὗ τί ἂν γένοιτο σωτηριωδέστερον καὶ θεῷ εὐπρόσιτον; οὕτως οὖν οἱ οὐδαμινοὶ νοοῦμεν τἀληθῆ, εἰ καί τινες τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν ἱερῶν πατέρων ἑτέρως ὑπειλήφασι τὸ διελεγχθὲν πρόβλημα. Τῆς γοῦν τοῦδε φωνῆς περαιωθείσης, τίς ἡ τοῦ Ἐπιφανίου; "4νοήσει ἡ σὴ θεοσέβεια, εἰ πρέπον ἐστὶ θεὸν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς ζωγραφητὸν διὰ χρωμάτων"5. ὅρα δὴ τὸν ψευδηγόρον· οὐ Χριστὸν εἶπεν, ἐφ' ᾧ δηλοῦται ἡ περιγραφὴ μετὰ τοῦ ἀπεριγράπτου (ὧδε γὰρ τῶν ἑκατέρων φύσεων ἡ δήλωσις), ἀλλὰ θεὸν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς ζωγραφητόν, ἀπαμφιεννὺς τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος μανιχαϊκῷ φρονήματι καὶ θεὸν γυμνὸν προτείνας, ὡς ἂν τῷ ἀτόπῳ τῆς προτάσεως τὸν ἀκροατὴν ἐκπλήξειεν. οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁρατὸν θεὸν εἰπεῖν ἔκτοπον, εἴπερ φησὶ τὰ ἱερὰ λόγια, θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε. καὶ μὴν ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός, θεὸς ὢν καὶ ὁρώμενος, τοῦτο ἐξηγήσατο· ἀλλ' εὔδηλον ὅτι γυμνὸν θεὸν ἀνθρωπότητος οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ μονογενὴς οὐ γυμνὸς μετὰ τὴν σάρκωσιν, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁρατός. καὶ βεβόηκεν ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος· θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι, ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις, ἐκηρύχθη ἐν ἔθνεσιν, ἐπιστεύθη ἐν κόσμῳ, ἀνελήφθη ἐν δόξῃ. τὸ οὖν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐπὶ πάσῃ ἀποφάνσει ἀπὸ κοινοῦ ληπτέον· εἱρμὸς γάρ τίς ἐστιν ἡ πρώτη φωνὴ οὐ μόνον ταῖς ἐφεξῆς, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ πάσαις ταῖς τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως ἰδιότησιν. ὡς οὖν θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν προειρημένων (οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔχοι φύσιν μὴ προσυπακουομένου τοῦ ἐν σαρκὶ ἢ ὀφθῆναι ἢ ἀναληφθῆναι), οὕτω δηλαδὴ καὶ γαλουχεῖται ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ προκόπτει ἡλικίᾳ καὶ βαδίζει ποδὶ καὶ ἱδροῖ ἀγωνίᾳ καὶ διαλέγεται γλώττῃ καὶ ὅσαπερ ἄλλα τῆς αὐτῆς συστοιχίας. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα οὕτως, ἐπειδὴ ἓν τῶν ἁπάντων ἰδιωμάτων τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἡ περιγραφή, εὔδηλον ὅτι καὶ περιγράφεται θεὸς ἐν σαρκὶ εἴτε χρωματουργικῶς εἴτ'