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to live a human life, to bear a cross, let him say that light is equal to the light20, 3.3.33 Who then is the one ashamed of the cross? The one who even after the passion worships the Son as equal to the Father or the one who even before the passion insults him not only by making him of equal honor with creation, but also by fabricating that he is of a passible nature, that he would not have come to the experience of sufferings unless he had a nature receptive of such things? 3.3.34 For we say that even the body in which he received the passion, being mingled with the divine nature, we say has been made through this mingling that very thing which the assuming nature is; so far are we from thinking anything small concerning the only-begotten God, that if anything of the lower nature was assumed through the philanthropic economy, we believe that even this has been transformed into that which is divine and pure; but he has made the passion concerning the cross a sign of an essential alteration toward what is humbler, I do not know how, making the exceeding energy of power, by which he was able even to do this, a proof of weakness, not understanding this, that nothing moving according to its own nature is marveled at as something paradoxical, but whatever transgresses the boundaries of nature, these things especially of all are a source of wonder, and to these things every ear is turned, and every mind is strained, 3.3.35 marveling at the paradox. Therefore also all who proclaim the word in this declare the wonder of the mystery, that God was manifested in the flesh, that the Word became flesh, that the light shone in the darkness, that life tasted death, and the preachers proclaim all such things, through which the wonder is increased of him who manifested his superabundant power 3.3.36 through things outside of nature. But even if it seems to them to be an insult because of these things and they separate the Son from equal honor with the Father because of the economy concerning the cross, we, as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered to us through the holy scriptures have believed that the God who was in the beginning After these things, as Baruch says, he was seen on earth and dwelt among men, and becoming an exchange for our death he loosed the bonds of death through his own resurrection and made a way for the resurrection for all flesh through himself, being of the same throne and same glory with his own Father, according to the worth of their lives on the day of judgment he will render 3.3.37 the verdict to those being judged. These things we have believed concerning the crucified one and for this reason, supremely exalting him according to the measure of our ability, we do not cease, because he who is contained by none on account of his ineffable and unapproachable majesty, except by himself and the Father and the Holy Spirit, this one was able also to descend 3.3.38 to a fellowship of our weakness. But they make this a proof of the Son’s otherness in nature from the Father, the Lord's being manifested through flesh and the cross, as if the nature of the Father remained purely in impassibility and was in no way able to accept fellowship with suffering, while the Son, because his nature was altered toward what is humbler, was not unable to come to the experience of flesh and death, as if the change were not great, but in a certain way moved from like to what is kindred and of the same nature by supposing the human nature to be created, and the nature of the only-begotten 3.3.39 also to be created. Who then is rightly accused of being ashamed of the cross, the one who says humble things about him or the one who contends for higher things? I do not know if the accuser has heard Paul’s mighty voice, he who so belittles the God made known on the cross, what and how many things he expounds about the cross with his lofty mouth. For he who was able to make himself known through so many and such wonders, "May it not be," he says, "that I boast in anything else except in the cross of Christ," and to the Corinthians he says that the word of the cross is the power of God to those who are being saved. 3.3.40 And to the Ephesians, the power that both governs and holds together all things by the shape of the

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ἀνθρωπίνοις πολιτεύσα σθαι, σταυρὸν ἐνεγκεῖν, ἴσον λεγέτω τῷ φωτὶ τὸ φῶς20, 3.3.33 τίς οὖν ὁ ἐπαισχυνόμενος τῷ σταυρῷ; ὁ καὶ μετὰ τὸ πάθος προσκυνῶν ἴσα πατρὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἢ ὁ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ πάθους ὑβρίζων οὐ μόνον τῇ πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν ὁμοτιμίᾳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ κατα σκευάζειν τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς αὐτὸν εἶναι φύσεως, μὴ ἂν ἐλθόντα πρὸς τὴν τῶν παθημάτων πεῖραν, εἰ μὴ δεκτικὴν εἶχε τῶν 3.3.34 τοιούτων τὴν φύσιν; ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ καὶ τὸ σῶμα, ᾧ τὸ πάθος ἐδέξατο, τῇ θείᾳ φύσει κατακραθὲν ἐκεῖνο πεποιῆ σθαί φαμεν διὰ τῆς ἀνακράσεως, ὅπερ ἡ ἀναλαβοῦσα φύσις ἐστί· τοσοῦτον ἀπέχομεν τοῦ μικρόν τι περὶ τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἐννοεῖν, ὡς εἴ τι καὶ τῆς κάτω φύσεως διὰ τὴν φιλάν θρωπον προσελήφθη οἰκονομίαν, καὶ τοῦτο πιστεύειν μετα πεποιῆσθαι πρὸς τὸ θεῖόν τε καὶ ἀκήρατον· ὁ δὲ σημεῖον τῆς πρὸς τὸ ταπεινότερον κατ' οὐσίαν παραλλαγῆς τὸ περὶ τὸν σταυρὸν πάθος πεποίηται, οὐκ οἶδα ὅπως τὴν ὑπερ βάλλουσαν τῆς δυνάμεως ἐνέργειαν, καθ' ἣν καὶ τοῦτο ἠδυνήθη, τεκμήριον ἀσθενείας ποιούμενος, οὐδὲ τοῦτο συνείς, ὅτι οὐδὲν κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν κινούμενον ὡς ἐπὶ παρα δόξῳ θαυμάζεται, ἀλλ' ὅσα τοὺς ὅρους ἐκβαίνει τῆς φύ σεως, ταῦτα μάλιστα πάντων ἐν θαύματι γίνεται καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα πᾶσα μὲν ἐπιστρέφεται ἀκοή, πᾶσα δὲ διάνοια τείνε 3.3.35 τὸ παράδοξον θαυμάζουσα. διὸ καὶ πάντες οἱ τὸν λόγον κηρύσσοντες ἐν τούτῳ τὸ θαῦμα τοῦ μυστηρίου καταμη νύουσιν ὅτι θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ὅτι ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, ὅτι τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἔλαμψεν, ὅτι ἡ ζωὴ θα νάτου ἐγεύσατο, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα βοῶσιν οἱ κήρυκες, δι' ὧν πλεονάζεται τὸ θαῦμα τοῦ διὰ τῶν ἔξω τῆς φύσεως 3.3.36 τὸ περιὸν τῆς δυνάμεως ἑαυτοῦ φανερώσαντος. ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐκείνοις ὑβρίζειν διὰ ταῦτα δοκῇ καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὁμοτιμίας διὰ τὴν περὶ τὸν σταυρὸν οἰκονομίαν τὸν υἱὸν ἀποσχοινίζωσιν, ἡμεῖς καθὼς παρέδωκαν ἡμῖν οἱ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται τοῦ λόγου γενόμενοι διὰ τῶν ἁγίων γραφῶν πεπιστεύκαμεν ὅτι ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν θεὸς Μετὰ ταῦτα, καθώς φησιν ὁ Βαρούχ, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη καὶ τοῖς ἀν θρώποις συνανεστράφη, ἀντάλλαγμά τε τοῦ ἡμετέρου θανά του γενόμενος ἔλυσε διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀναστάσεως τὰ δεσμὰ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ ὡδοποίησε πάσῃ σαρκὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ὁμόθρονός τε καὶ ὁμόδοξος ὢν τῷ ἰδίῳ πατρὶ κατ' ἀξίαν τῶν βεβιωμένων ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως ἐποίσει 3.3.37 τὴν ψῆφον τοῖς κρινομένοις. ταῦτα περὶ τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον ἡμεῖς πεπιστεύκαμεν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὑπερυψοῦντες κατὰ τὸ ἡμέτερον τῆς δυνάμεως μέτρον οὐκ ἀπολήγομεν, ὅτι ὁ μη δενὶ χωρητὸς διὰ τὴν ἄφραστον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπρόσιτον μεγα λειότητα πλὴν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ, οὗτος καὶ πρὸς κοινωνίαν τῆς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν κατ 3.3.38 ελθεῖν ἠδυνήθη· οἱ δὲ ταύτην ἀπόδειξιν τῆς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἀλλοτριότητος τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦνται, τὸ διὰ σαρκὸς καὶ σταυροῦ φανερωθῆναι τὸν κύριον, ὡς τῆς μὲν φύσεως τοῦ πατρὸς καθαρῶς ἐν ἀπαθείᾳ δια μενούσης καὶ μηδενὶ τρόπῳ τὴν πρὸς τὸ πάθος κοινωνίαν ἀναδέξασθαι δυναμένης, τοῦ δὲ υἱοῦ διὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸ ταπει νότερον παρηλλάχθαι τὴν φύσιν, πρὸς σαρκός τε καὶ θα νάτου πεῖραν οὐκ ἀδυνατοῦντος ἐλθεῖν, ὡς οὐ πολλῆς γινο μένης τῆς μεταστάσεως, ἀλλὰ τρόπον τινὰ πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς καὶ ὁμόφυλον ἐκ τοῦ ὁμοίου μεταχωρούσης διὰ τοῦ κτιστὴν μὲν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην, κτιστὴν δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς 3.3.39 ὑποτίθεσθαι φύσιν. τίς τοίνυν εἰκότως ἐπαισχύνεσθαι τῷ σταυρῷ κατηγορεῖται, ὁ τὰ ταπεινὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγων ἢ ὁ περὶ τῶν ὑψηλοτέρων ἀγωνιζόμενος; οὐκ οἶδα εἰ τῆς Παύ λου μεγαλοφωνίας ὁ κατήγορος ἤκουσεν ὁ οὕτω κατα σμικρύνων τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ γνωρισθέντα θεόν, οἷα καὶ ὅσα ἐκεῖνος τῷ ὑψηλῷ στόματι περὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ διεξέρ χεται. ὁ γὰρ διὰ τοσούτων καὶ τοιούτων θαυμάτων ἑαυτὸν γνωρίζειν ἔχων μὴ γένοιτο, φησίν, ἐπί τινι ἄλλῳ καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐπὶ τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ πρὸς Κορινθίους λέγει τὸν λόγον τοῦ σταυροῦ δύναμιν θεοῦ τοῖς σῳζομένοις 3.3.40 εἶναι. Ἐφεσίοις δὲ τὴν τὸ πᾶν διακρατοῦσάν τε καὶ συν έχουσαν δύναμιν τῷ σχήματι τοῦ