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every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 3.3.67 But if we must distinguish the other points in the same way, let us consider what it is that dies and what it is that destroys death, what it is that is renewed and what it is that is emptied. For the Godhead is emptied, so that it might become containable by human nature, but the human is renewed, becoming divine through its mixture with the divine. For just as air is not contained in water, when, dragged down with something heavier, it has been trapped in the depth of the water, but runs up to what is kindred to it, and the water is often lifted up with the upward rush of the air, being made convex on its surface in a certain thin and membranous airy circle, so also when the true life that lay in the flesh ran up to itself after the passion, the flesh around it was also lifted up with it, being raised up together from corruption by the divine immortality 3.3.68 to incorruption. And just as fire in wood, often hidden beneath the surface, escapes the notice of those who see or even the sense of those who touch, but when rekindled is made manifest, so also, being in death, He acted according to His authority, He who separated the soul from the body, He who said to His own Father that 'Into your hands I commit my spirit,' He who, as He says, has authority to lay it down and has authority to take it up again; this one, who despised the shame among men because he was the Lord of glory, as it were having covered the live coal of life with the nature of the body in the economy of death, again kindled and rekindled it by the power of His own Godhead, having warmed again that which had been put to death, and thus with the infinity of the divine power having poured it into that small first-fruit of our nature, what He Himself was, this He made that also, making the form of a servant, Lord, and the man from Mary, Christ, and the one crucified in weakness, life and power, and all things, whatever are piously contemplated in God the Word, He made also in that which was assumed by the Word; so that these things do not seem to be distinctly in each according to some division, but that by the mixture with the divine, the mortal nature, having been refashioned according to what prevails, partook of the power of the Godhead, just as if one were to say that the mixture made a drop of vinegar mixed into the ocean into sea, because the natural quality of this liquid no longer 3.3.69 abides in the infinity of that which prevails. This is our account, not of a number of Christs, as Eunomius alleges, but professing a union of the human with the divine, calling the trans-elementation of the mortal to the immortal, and of the servant to the Lord, and of sin to righteousness, and of the curse to the blessing, and of the man to Christ, a 20making20. What argument, then, is still left for the slanderers, as if we preach two Christs in our doctrine, if Him who was uncreatedly from the Father from the beginning, Lord and Christ and Word and God, we do not say 20to have been made20, but we determine that the blessed Peter, who briefly and in passing shows the mystery according to the flesh, says, according to the meaning demonstrated before, that He who was crucified in weakness, even He, through the prevailing power of Him who dwelt within, has become that which He who dwelt within both is and is called, and He is called Christ and Lord, as we have said? 3.4.1 But I perceive that I have lingered on this topic more than is necessary, as the necessity of the thoughts led us off to this contemplation; but we must take up again the sequence of the accusations, so that we may not pass by any of the charges brought against us without a defense. And first, if you please, let us consider this, how he accuses us of saying that a common man accomplished the salvation of all. For although this has already been moderately proven beforehand through the things examined, yet so that the opinion of those judging us from slander may be completely cleared up, 3.4.2 we shall again discuss it briefly. We are so far from [attributing] to a common man the great
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πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογεῖται ὅτι κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πατρός. 3.3.67 Εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν διελεῖν τρό πον, σκεψώμεθα τί τὸ ἀποθνῆσκον καὶ τί τὸ καταλύον τὸν θάνατον, τί τὸ ἀνακαινούμενον καὶ τί τὸ κενούμενον. κε νοῦται μὲν γὰρ ἡ θεότης, ἵνα χωρητὴ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει γένηται, ἀνακαινοῦται δὲ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἀνακράσεως θεῖον γινόμενον. ὡς γὰρ οὐ κρατεῖται πνεῦμα ἐν ὕδατι, ὅταν τινὶ τῶν βαρυτέρων συγκατασπασθὲν ἐναποληφθῇ τῷ βάθει τοῦ ὕδατος, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ συγγενὲς ἀνατρέχει, τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ πολλάκις τῇ ἀναδρομῇ τοῦ πνεύ ματος συνεπαίρεται, ἐν λεπτῇ τινι καὶ ὑμενώδει τῇ ἐπιφα νείᾳ τῷ ἀερώδει κύκλῳ περικυρτούμενον, οὕτω καὶ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ζωῆς τῆς ἐγκειμένης τῇ σαρκὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν μετὰ τὸ πάθος ἀναδραμούσης καὶ ἡ περὶ αὐτὴν σὰρξ συνεπήρθη, ὑπὸ τῆς θεϊκῆς ἀθανασίας ἀπὸ τῆς φθορᾶς συνανωσθεῖσα 3.3.68 ἐπὶ τὸ ἄφθαρτον. καὶ ὥσπερ τὸ ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ πῦρ ἐντὸς πολλάκις τῆς ἐπιφανείας κρυπτόμενον λανθάνει τῶν ὁρών των ἢ καὶ τῶν ἁπτομένων τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀναζωπυρούμενον δὲ φανεροῦται, οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ ὢν πεποίηται κατ' ἐξουσίαν ὁ διαζεύξας τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος, ὁ εἰπὼν πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον πατέρα ὅτι Ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου, ὁ καθώς φησιν ἐξουσίαν ἔχων θεῖναι αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχων πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν· οὗτος ὁ τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις αἰσχύνης καταφρονήσας διὰ τὸ εἶναι τῆς δόξης κύριος, οἱονεὶ συγκαλύψας τὸ τῆς ζωῆς ἐμπύρευμα τῇ φύσει τοῦ σώματος ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὸν θάνατον οἰκονομίᾳ πάλιν ἀνῆψέ τε καὶ ἀνεζωπύρησε τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἰδίας θεότητος, τὸ νεκρωθὲν ἀναθάλψας καὶ οὕτως τῷ ἀπείρῳ τῆς θεϊκῆς δυνάμεως τὴν βραχεῖαν ἐκείνην τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἀπαρχὴν ἀναχέας, ὅπερ αὐτὸς ἦν, τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο ἐποίησε, τὴν δου λικὴν μορφὴν κύριον καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἐκ Μαρίας Χριστὸν καὶ τὸν σταυρωθέντα ἐξ ἀσθενείας ζωὴν καὶ δύ ναμιν καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ἐν τῷ θεῷ λόγῳ κατὰ τὸ εὐσεβὲς θεωρεῖται, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀναληφθέντι παρὰ τοῦ λόγου ποιήσας· ὡς μὴ κατά τινα διαίρεσιν ἰδιαζόντως ἐφ' ἑκατέρου ταῦτα δοκεῖν εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῇ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἀνακράσει κατὰ τὸ ἐπικρατοῦν ἀναποιηθεῖσαν τὴν ἐπίκηρον φύσιν μεταλαβεῖν τὴν τῆς θεότητος δύναμιν, ὡς εἴ τις λέγοι ὅτι τὴν σταγόνα τοῦ ὄξους ἐμμιχθεῖσαν τῷ πελάγει θάλασσαν ἡ μίξις ἐποίησε τῷ μηκέτι τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ποιότητα τοῦ ὑγροῦ 3.3.69 τούτου ἐν τῇ ἀπειρίᾳ τοῦ ἐπικρατοῦντος συμμένειν. οὗτος ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος, οὐκ ἀριθμὸν Χριστῶν, καθὼς κατηγορεῖ ὁ Εὐνόμιος, ἀλλὰ ἕνωσιν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πρὸς τὸ θεῖον πρε σβεύων, τὴν τοῦ θνητοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀθάνατον καὶ τὴν τοῦ δούλου πρὸς τὸν κύριον καὶ τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας πρὸς τὴν δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὴν τῆς κατάρας πρὸς τὴν εὐλογίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν μεταστοιχείωσιν 20ποίη σιν20 ὀνομάζων. τίς οὖν ἔτι τοῖς συκοφάνταις ὑπολείπεται λόγος, ὡς δύο Χριστοὺς ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ δόγματι κηρυσσόντων, εἰ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀκτίστως ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὄντα κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν καὶ λόγον καὶ θεὸν οὐ λέγομεν 20πεποιῆσθαι20, τὸν δὲ μακάριον Πέτρον ἐν βραχεῖ τὸ κατὰ τὴν σάρκα μυστήριον παροδικῶς ἐνδεικνύμενον λέγειν διοριζόμεθα κατὰ τὴν προ αποδεδειγμένην διάνοιαν, ὅτι τὸ σταυρωθὲν ἐξ ἀσθενείας καὶ αὐτὸ διὰ τὴν ἐπικρατήσασαν τοῦ ἐνοικήσαντος δύναμιν ἐκεῖνο γέγονεν, ὅπερ ὁ ἐνοικήσας ἐστί τε καὶ ὀνομάζεται, ὀνομάζεται δὲ Χριστὸς καὶ κύριος, καθὼς εἰρήκαμεν; 3.4.1 Ἀλλ' αἰσθάνομαι πέρα τοῦ δέοντος ἐμφιλοχωρήσας τῷ τόπῳ, τῆς ἀνάγκης τῶν νοημάτων πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν ἡμᾶς ταύτην ἐξαπαγούσης· ἐπαναληπτέον δὲ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, ὡς ἂν μηδὲν τῶν ἐπενεχθέντων ἡμῖν ἀναπο λόγητον παραδράμοιμεν. καὶ πρῶτον εἰ δοκεῖ τοῦτο σκε ψώμεθα, ὅπως ἡμᾶς αἰτιᾶται κοινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὴν τοῦ παντὸς σωτηρίαν ἐνηργηκέναι λέγειν. τοῦτο γὰρ εἰ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐξητασμένων μετρίως ἤδη προαποδέδεικται, ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν διὰ πάντων ἐκκαθαρθείη τῶν ἐκ διαβολῆς κρινόν 3.4.2 των ἡμᾶς ἡ ὑπόληψις, ἐν ὀλίγῳ πάλιν διαληψόμεθα. ἡμεῖς τοσοῦτον ἀπέχομεν εἰς κοινὸν ἄνθρωπον τῆς μεγάλης