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Lord, instead of a subject Christ the king, instead of lowly the most high, instead of man God. What handle, then, has he who pretends to war against us on behalf of the apostles found from the scriptures against the saints? But let this accusation also be passed over in silence; for I think it is a small and ignoble thing to oppose what is said falsely and without proof. But let us proceed to the more vehement part of the accusation. 3.3.47 He says that we say 20that man was emptied into man20 and 20that he who through obedience humbled himself in the form of a servant was conformed to men even before he took on this form20. Not a word has been changed, but the very phrases have been transferred by us from his words to ours. If there is anything like this in our writings (for I say that the teacher's writings are ours), let no one accuse the rhetor of slander; we too will bear witness for him of every concern for the truth. 3.3.48 But if there is none of these things in the writings, and the argument does not bring a bare accusation, but is indignant and enraged as at things manifestly demonstrated, calling them 20monstrosities and nonsense and full of confusion and irregularities20 and such things, I do not see what must be done. Just as those who are at a loss in the face of the unprovoked rages of madmen do not know what to resolve, so too I myself find no device for this perplexity. The teacher says (for I will repeat his argument word for word again) that "1he does not hand down to us a way of theology, 3.3.49 but the principles of the economy."2 But the accuser, starting from this, says we construct the argument 20that man was emptied into man20. What communion is there between these things and those? If we say that the apostle did not hand down to us a way of theology, but pointed out in his discourse the economy of the passion, are we for this reason slandered as saying there was an emptying of man into man, and a pre-eternal form of a servant, and that the man from Mary was older than the presence in the flesh? But I think it is superfluous to dwell on what is agreed, since truth itself acquits 3.3.50 us of the charge. For one must oppose the accusers at that time when one has provided a handle against oneself to the slanderer; but in cases where there is no danger of being suspected of any absurdity, the accusation becomes a proof not of the slandered person's calumny, but of the accuser's madness. But just as, though we had the charge 20of being ashamed of the cross,20 we showed through what was examined that the accusation was turned back against the accuser, so also we will show that this charge returns to the accusers themselves, as it is they, not we, who dogmatize about a transfer of the Son from like to like in the economy of the passion. 3.3.51 For let us examine, placing side by side in summary, the things said by each party. We say that the only-begotten God, having brought all things into being through himself, holds all things <in> himself, and one of the things that came to be from him is also human nature, which, having flowed away toward evil and for this reason come to be in the corruption of death, he again drew to immortal life through himself, by means of the man in whom he tabernacled, taking the whole of humanity to himself, and he mixed his own life-giving power with mortal and ephemeral nature and remade our deadness through commixture with himself 3.3.52 into life-giving grace and power. And this we say is the mystery of the Lord according to the flesh, that the unchangeable comes to be in the changeable, so that, by altering and changing it from worse to better, he might cause the evil mixed with the changeable disposition to disappear from nature, having consumed the evil in himself. For our God is a consuming fire, in which all matter of evil is made to disappear. This is our argument, but what does the accuser say? Not that the unchangeable and uncreated was mixed with that which came to be through creation and for this reason was altered toward evil, but that he himself, being created, came to what is kindred

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κύριος, ἀντὶ ὑποχειρίου Χριστὸς βασιλεύς, ἀντὶ ταπεινοῦ ὕψιστος, ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου θεός. τίνα τοίνυν ὁ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀποστόλων πολεμεῖν ἡμῖν σχηματιζόμενος εὗρεν ἐκ τῶν γεγραμμένων κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων λαβήν; ἀλλὰ σιωπάσθω καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἔγκλημα· μικρὸν γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ ἀγεννὲς εἶναι πρὸς τὰ ψευδῆ τε καὶ ἀναπόδεικτα τῶν λεγομένων ἵστασθαι. ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ σφοδρότερον τῆς κατηγορίας μετέλθωμεν. 3.3.47 Φησὶ 20τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἰς ἄνθρωπον κεκενῶ σθαι20 λέγειν ἡμᾶς καὶ 20τὸν ἐξ ὑπακοῆς ἑαυτὸν τα πεινώσαντα τῇ τοῦ δούλου μορφῇ σύμμορφον εἶναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ πρὶν ταύτην ἀναλα βεῖν τὴν μορφήν20. οὐδὲν ὑπημείφθη τῆς λέξεως, ἀλλ' αὐτὰ τὰ ῥήματα παρ' ἡμῶν μετενήνεκται ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκείνου λόγων πρὸς τὸν ἡμέτερον. εἰ μὲν ἔστι τι τοιοῦτον ἐν τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν γεγραμμένοις (ἡμέτερα γὰρ τὰ τοῦ διδα σκάλου φημί), μηδεὶς ἐγκαλείτω συκοφαντίαν τῷ ῥήτορι· πᾶσαν αὐτῷ φροντίδα τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἡμεῖς μαρτυρή 3.3.48 σομεν. εἰ δὲ τούτων μὲν ἔστιν ἐν τοῖς γεγραμμένοις οὐδέν, ὁ λόγος δὲ οὐκ αἰτίαν ἐπάγει ψιλήν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπιφανῶς ἀποδεδειγμένοις ἀγανακτεῖ καὶ ὀργίζεται 20τερατείας καὶ λήρους καὶ ταραχῆς πλήρεις καὶ ἀνωμαλίας20 καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα καλῶν, τί χρὴ πράττειν οὐ συνορῶ. καθάπερ οἱ πρὸς τὰς ἀπροφασίστους ὀργὰς τῶν φρενιτι ζόντων ἀμηχανοῦντες οὐκ ἔχουσιν ὅ τι βουλεύσονται, οὕτως οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ἐξευρίσκω τινὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀμηχανίαν ταύτην ἐπί νοιαν. φησὶν ὁ διδάσκαλος (πάλιν γὰρ ἐπὶ λέξεως αὐτοῦ τὸν λόγον ἐπαναλήψομαι) ὅτι "1οὐχὶ θεολογίας ἡμῖν παρα 3.3.49 δίδωσι τρόπον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῆς οἰκονομίας λόγους."2 ὁ δὲ κατήγορος ἐκ τούτων ὁρμηθεὶς 20ἄνθρωπον εἰς ἄνθρω πον κεκενῶσθαι20 λέγει κατασκευάζειν ἡμᾶς. τίς κοι νωνία τούτων κἀκείνων; εἴ φαμεν τὸν ἀπόστολον μὴ θεο λογίας ἡμῖν παραδεδωκέναι τρόπον, ἀλλὰ τὴν κατὰ τὸ πάθος οἰκονομίαν ὑποδεῖξαι τῷ λόγῳ, διὰ τοῦτο ἀνθρώπου εἰς ἄνθρωπον κένωσιν καὶ δούλου μορφὴν προαιώνιον καὶ τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ παρουσίας πρεσβύτερον τὸν ἐκ Μαρίας ἄν θρωπον λέγειν διαβαλλόμεθα; ἀλλὰ περιττὸν οἶμαι τοῖς ὁμολογουμένοις ἐνδιατρίβειν, αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας ἀφιείσης 3.3.50 ἡμᾶς τοῦ ἐγκλήματος. τότε γὰρ χρὴ τοῖς κατηγοροῦσιν ἀντικαθίστασθαι, ὅταν τις παράσχῃ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τῷ συκο φάντῃ λαβήν· ἐφ' ὧν δὲ κίνδυνος ἔστιν οὐδεὶς ὑπονοηθῆναί τι τῶν ἀτόπων, οὐ τῆς τοῦ συκοφαντουμένου διαβολῆς, ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ κατηγοροῦντος μανίας ἔλεγχος ἡ κατηγορία καθ ίσταται. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ 20ἐπαισχύνεσθαι τῷ σταυρῷ20 τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχοντες ἐδείξαμεν διὰ τῶν ἐξητασμένων εἰς τοὐν αντίον περιτρεπόμενον τῷ κατηγόρῳ τὸ ἔγκλημα, οὕτω καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ταύτην εἰς αὐτοὺς τοὺς κατηγόρους ἐπαναστρέ φουσαν δείξομεν, ὡς ἐκείνων, οὐχ ἡμῶν τὴν ἐξ ὁμοίου πρὸς τὸ ὅμοιον τοῦ υἱοῦ μετάστασιν ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὸ πάθος οἰκο 3.3.51 νομίᾳ δογματιζόντων. ἐξετάσωμεν γὰρ παρ' ἄλληλα θέντες ἐπὶ κεφαλαίου τὰ παρ' ἑκατέρων λεγόμενα. ἡμεῖς φαμεν τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν δι' ἑαυτοῦ παραγαγόντα τὰ πάντα εἰς γένεσιν <ἐν> αὑτῷ περικρατεῖν τὰ πάντα, ἓν δὲ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γεγονότων καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, ἧς πρὸς κακίαν ἀπορρυείσης καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γενομένης ἐν τῇ τοῦ θανάτου φθορᾷ, πάλιν αὐτὴν δι' ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἀθάνατον ζωὴν ἐφελκύσασθαι, διὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ᾧ κατεσκήνωσεν ὅλον ἀναλαβόντα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, καὶ τὴν ζωοποιὸν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν τῇ θνητῇ καὶ ἐπικήρῳ καταμίξαι φύσει καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν νέκρωσιν διὰ τῆς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀνακράσεως 3.3.52 εἰς ζωτικὴν μεταποιῆσαι χάριν καὶ δύναμιν. καὶ τοῦτό φαμεν εἶναι τὸ κατὰ τὴν σάρκα τοῦ κυρίου μυστήριον, ὅτι ὁ ἄτρεπτος ἐν τῷ τρεπτῷ γίνεται, ἵνα πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἀλλοιώσας καὶ μεταβαλὼν ἐκ τοῦ χείρονος τὴν ἐμμιχθεῖσαν τῇ τρεπτῇ διαθέσει κακίαν ἐξαφανίσῃ ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ κακὸν δαπανήσας. ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταν αλίσκον ἐστίν, ᾧ ἐναφανίζεται πᾶσα κακίας ὕλη. οὗτος ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος, ὁ δὲ κατήγορος τί φησι; οὐ τὸν ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἄκτιστον τῷ διὰ κτίσεως γεγονότι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς κακίαν ἀλλοιωθέντι καταμιχθῆναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν κτιστὸν ὄντα πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ἐλθεῖν