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since nature does not admit passion, but the Son, on account of His lower and altered state, condescends to the fellowship of sufferings, I wish to add this to what has been said: that there is in truth no passion that does not lead to sin, nor would one properly call the necessary series of nature a passion, seeing the composite nature proceeding on its way in a certain order and sequence. For the concourse of the dissimilar elements with one another in the constitution of our body is 3.4.28 a certain composition fitted together from many unlike things. But when, at the proper time, the harmony that binds together the concourse of the elements is dissolved, the composite thing is again resolved into the things from which it was composed. This, then, is rather a work and not a passion of nature. For we properly call a passion only that which is understood as contrary to the passionlessness of virtue, of which we have believed that He who grants us salvation did not remain without a share in the fellowship of our nature, He who was tempted in all things in 3.4.29 our likeness, without sin. Of passion in the true sense, therefore, which is a disease of the will, He did not partake. For, it says, ‘He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth’; but of the properties of our nature, which through a certain custom and misuse are homonymously called passions, of these we confess that the Lord partook: birth and nourishment and growth, sleep and toil, and all the ways in which the soul is naturally disposed to share in bodily distresses, as the appetite for what is lacking extends from the body to the soul, and the sense of grief and fear of death and all such things, except 3.4.30 for anything that leads to the consequence of sin. Just as, then, in considering His power that extends through all things in heaven and air and earth and sea and whatever is celestial and whatever is beneath the earth, we believe that He is everywhere and through all things, yet we do not say that He is any of these things in which He is (for He is not heaven, Who has comprehended it with the span that contains the universe, nor earth, Who holds the circle of the earth, nor again water, Who contains the liquid nature), so also we do not say that He, having passed through the so-called passions of the flesh, was Himself subject to passion, but rather as the cause of all beings and grasping the whole universe, and by the ineffable power of His own majesty steering everything that moves and preserving on a firm foundation that which is stationary, we say that He has also been among us for the healing of the disease of sin, suitably to the passion applying the operation of His medicine, as He knew would be beneficial for the ailing part of creation, thus bringing the 3.4.31 cure. For it was beneficial to heal the passion by contact; [and so healing it] yet not because He cures the sickness, is He for this reason Himself considered to have become subject to passion; for not even in the case of men does custom allow us to say such a thing. For of one who touches the sick person for the purpose of healing, we do not say that he himself partakes of the sickness, but rather we say both that he grants to the sick a return to health and that he does not partake of the sickness; for the passion is not his, but on the contrary 3.4.32 he touches the disease. If, then, he who through his art works some good for bodies is not called sluggish and sick, but is named philanthropic and a benefactor and suchlike, why do they, slandering the economy concerning us as something base and inglorious, deduce from this that the substance of the Son has been altered for the worse, as if the nature of the Father were superior to passions, but that of the Only-begotten were not pure from passion? For if the purpose of the economy in the flesh was not for the Lord to become subject to passion, but for His love for man to be displayed, and it is not doubted that the Father is also loving toward man, then the Father is in the same things as the Son, if 3.4.33 one is willing to look to the purpose. But if the Father did not effect the abolition of death, do not be surprised at all. For He has also given all judgment to the Son, Himself judging no one, not in that He does not

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τῆς φύσεως οὐ παραδεχομένου τὸ πάθος, τοῦ υἱοῦ δὲ διὰ τὸ καταδεὲς καὶ παρηλλαγμένον πρὸς τὴν τῶν παθημάτων κοινωνίαν συγκατιόντος, ταῦτα προσθεῖναι βούλομαι τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ὅτι οὐδὲν κατὰ ἀλή θειαν πάθος ἐστίν, ὃ μὴ εἰς ἁμαρτίαν φέρει, οὐδὲ κυρίως ἄν τις τὸν ἀναγκαῖον τῆς φύσεως εἱρμὸν πάθος λέγοι, βλέ πων ὁδῷ προϊοῦσαν ἐν τάξει τινὶ καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ τὴν σύν θετον φύσιν. ἡ γὰρ τῶν ἑτεροφυῶν στοιχείων πρὸς ἄλληλα συνδρομὴ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν κατασκευὴν σύν 3.4.28 θεσίς τίς ἐστι διὰ πλειόνων ἀνομοίων ἁρμοζομένη. ἐκλυ θείσης δὲ τῷ καθήκοντι καιρῷ τῆς συνδεούσης τὴν τῶν στοιχείων συνδρομὴν ἁρμονίας πάλιν τὸ σύνθετον εἰς τὰ ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκεν ἀναλύεται. ἔργον οὖν ἐστι τοῦτο μᾶλλον καὶ οὐχὶ πάθος τῆς φύσεως. μόνον γὰρ τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίου τῇ κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀπαθείᾳ νοούμενον κυρίως προσαγο ρεύομεν πάθος, οὐ καὶ ἐν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῆς ἡμετέρας φύ σεως ἀμέτοχον διαμεῖναι τὸν τὴν σωτηρίαν ἡμῖν χαριζό μενον πεπιστεύκαμεν, τὸν Πεπειραμένον κατὰ πάντα καθ' 3.4.29 ὁμοιότητα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας. τοῦ μὲν οὖν κατὰ ἀλήθειαν πάθους, ὃ προαιρέσεώς ἐστι νόσος, οὐκ ἐκοινώνησεν. Ἁμαρ τίαν γάρ, φησίν, οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ· τῶν δὲ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἰδιωμάτων, ἃ διά τινος συνηθείας καὶ καταχρήσεως ὁμωνύμως λέγεται πάθη, τούτων μετασχεῖν ὁμολογοῦμεν τὸν κύριον, γεννήσεως καὶ τροφῆς καὶ αὐξήσεως ὕπνου τε καὶ κόπου καὶ ὅσα πρὸς τὰς σωματικὰς ἀχθηδόνας ἡ ψυχὴ φυσικῶς συνδια τίθεσθαι πέφυκε, τὴν τοῦ ἐνδέοντος ἔφεσιν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τῆς ὀρέξεως διατεινούσης, καὶ λύπης αἴσθησιν καὶ δειλίαν πρὸς θάνατον καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, πλὴν 3.4.30 εἰ μή τι πρὸς ἁμαρτίας ἀκολουθίαν φέρει. ὥσπερ τοίνυν τὴν διὰ πάντων αὐτοῦ διήκουσαν δύναμιν κατανοοῦντες ἐν οὐρανῷ τε καὶ ἀέρι καὶ γῇ καὶ θαλάσσῃ καὶ εἴ τι ἐπου ράνιον καὶ εἴ τι καταχθόνιον, πανταχοῦ μὲν καὶ διὰ πάν των αὐτὸν εἶναι πιστεύομεν, οὐδὲν δὲ τούτων τῶν ἐν οἷς ἐστιν ἐκεῖνον εἶναί φαμεν (οὐ γὰρ οὐρανός ἐστιν ὁ διειλη φὼς αὐτὸν τῇ περικρατητικῇ τοῦ παντὸς σπιθαμῇ οὐδὲ γῆ ὁ κατέχων τὸν γῦρον τῆς γῆς οὐδὲ ὕδωρ πάλιν ὁ τὴν ὑγρὰν περιέχων φύσιν), οὕτως οὐδὲ διὰ τῶν λεγομένων τῆς σαρκὸς παθημάτων ἐλθόντα ἐμπαθῆ αὐτὸν εἶναί φαμεν, ἀλλ' ὡς τῶν ὄντων αἴτιον καὶ τοῦ παντὸς περιδεδραγμένον καὶ τῇ ἀφράστῳ δυνάμει τῆς ἰδίας μεγαλειότητος πᾶν τό τε κινούμενον οἰακίζοντα καὶ τὸ ἑστὼς ἐν παγίᾳ συντη ροῦντα τῇ βάσει, καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν γεγενῆσθαί φαμεν ἐπὶ θερα πείᾳ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν νόσου, καταλλήλως τῷ πάθει τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς ἰατρικῆς ἁρμοσάμενον, ὡς ᾔδει συμφέρειν τῷ ἀρρωστοῦντι μέρει τῆς κτίσεως, οὕτως ἐπαγαγόντα τὴν 3.4.31 ἴασιν. συνέφερε δὲ τῇ ἐπαφῇ τὸ πάθος ἰάσασθαι· [οὕτω καὶ ἰασάμενον] οὐ μὴν ἐπειδὴ ἰατρεύει τὴν ἀρρωστίαν, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμπαθὴς γεγενῆσθαι νομίζεται· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ τοιοῦτον λέγειν ἡ συνήθεια δίδωσι. τὸν γὰρ θεραπευτικῶς ἁπτόμενον τοῦ νενοσηκότος οὐκ αὐτὸν μετέχειν τῆς ἀρρωστίας φαμέν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ νοσοῦντι χα ρίζεσθαι τὴν εἰς ὑγίειαν ἐπάνοδον καὶ μὴ μετέχειν τῆς ἀρ ρωστίας φαμέν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκείνου τὸ πάθος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔμ 3.4.32 παλιν ἐκεῖνος τοῦ ἀρρωστήματος ἅπτεται. εἰ οὖν ὁ διὰ τῆς τέχνης ἀγαθόν τι τοῖς σώμασιν ἐνεργῶν οὐχὶ νωθρός τε καὶ ἄρρωστος, ἀλλὰ φιλάνθρωπός τε καὶ εὐεργέτης καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα κατονομάζεται, τί ὡς ταπεινόν τε καὶ ἄδοξον τὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς οἰκονομίαν διαβάλλοντες διὰ ταύτης πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον παρηλλάχθαι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν κατασκευάζουσιν, ὡς τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς μὲν φύσεως ἀνωτέρας τῶν παθημάτων οὔσης, τῆς δὲ τοῦ μονογενοῦς οὐ καθαρευούσης τοῦ πά θους; εἰ γὰρ ὁ σκοπὸς τῆς διὰ σαρκὸς οἰκονομίας οὐ τὸ ἐμπαθῆ γενέσθαι τὸν κύριον, ἀλλὰ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον ἐπι δειχθῆναι, φιλάνθρωπος δὲ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ εἶναι οὐκ ἀμφι βάλλεται, ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ἄρα τῷ υἱῷ ὁ πατήρ, εἰ 3.4.33 πρὸς τὸν σκοπόν τις ἐθέλοι βλέπειν. εἰ δὲ οὐχ ὁ πατὴρ ἐνήργησε τὴν τοῦ θανάτου κατάλυσιν, θαυμάσῃς μηδέν. καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν κρίσιν πᾶσαν δέδωκε τῷ υἱῷ αὐτὸς κρίνων οὐδένα, οὐ τῷ μὴ