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For work is the proof of disposition. But perhaps it is not worse to suppose this also, that he tests our obedience, and measures all our things by his own sufferings, by an art of love for humanity, so as to be able to know our things by his own, and how much is required of us, and how much is forgiven, reckoning weakness along with suffering."

For as God the Word by nature, He is, he says, completely free from obedience and disobedience, because by nature He also exists as Lord, the giver of every commandment, of which obedience is the keeping, and disobedience the transgression. For the law according to commandment and its fulfillment and transgression belong to those who are moved by nature, not to him whose being by nature is stability.

But as in the form of a servant, that is, having become man by nature, He condescended to his fellow servants and servants, being formed in what was alien, together with the nature, also putting on the passibility of our nature. For alien to the one who is sinless by nature is the penalty of the one who has sinned, which is the passibility of the whole nature condemned on account of the transgression.

But if, having been emptied in the form of a servant, that is, as a man, and having condescended, he is formed in what is alien, that is, as a man by nature he becomes passible, then an emptying concerning him as good and at the same time loving man is seen, and a condescension, the one showing him to be truly man, the other showing him to have become a truly passible man by nature. Wherefore the teacher says: (1044) "Bearing the whole of me in himself along with what is mine, " that is, the entire human nature, by hypostatic union with its irreproachable passions. By which, having consumed what is worse in us, for which reason passibility was introduced into the nature, I mean the law of sin from disobedience, whose power is the disposition of our will contrary to nature, introducing passion into the passibility of the nature according to remission and intensity, He has not only saved those held by sin, but has also imparted divine power, having dissolved our penalty in himself, which works immutability of soul and incorruptibility of body in the identity of the will concerning that which is good by nature, for those who strive to honor grace by deed. Which I think the saint teaches when he says: "That he might consume in himself what is worse, as fire does wax, or the sun the mist of the earth, and that I might partake of what is his through the commixture;" that is, having by grace become pure from passion just as He is. And I know also another account concerning, "He is formed in what is alien," having learned it from a certain saint, wise in both word and life. For when asked, he said that obedience is by nature alien to the Word, just as is submission, which, having paid in full on behalf of us who transgressed the commandment, he worked the salvation of the race, making ours his own. For this reason he honors obedience by deed, having become by nature a new Adam on behalf of the old, and he is tested in this by suffering, having voluntarily been subjected to the same sufferings as we. If indeed, according to this great teacher, "He labored, and he hungered, and he thirsted, and he was in agony, and he wept" according to the law of the body, which is indeed a clear proof of an active disposition, and evidence of his condescension to his fellow servants and servants. For he remained Master by nature, and also became a servant for me, the one who is by nature a servant, so that he might make me master of the one who tyrannically ruled through deceit, for this reason, performing servile things in a masterly way, that is, fleshly things divinely, he demonstrated the impassible and by nature sovereign power in fleshly things, which through suffering makes corruption disappear, and through death creates indestructible life, while doing masterly things in a servile way, that is, divine things in a fleshly way, he demonstrated the ineffable emptying, which through passible flesh deifies the entire race which had been brought to earth by corruption. For by the interchange of these he clearly confirmed both the natures of which he himself was the hypostasis, and their own

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Ἔργον γάρ ἀπόδειξις διαθέσεως. Οὐ χεῖρον δέ ἴσως κἀκεῖνο ὑπολαβεῖν, ὅτι δοκιμάζει τήν ἡμετέραν ὑπακοήν, καί πάντα μετρεῖ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πάθεσι τά ἡμέτερα, τέχνη φιλανθρωπίας, ὥστε ἔχειν εἰδέναι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ τά ἡμέτερα, καί πόσον μέν ἀπαιτούμεθα, πόσον δέ συγχωρούμεθα, λογιζομένης μετά τοῦ πάσχειν καί τῆς ἀσθενείας."

Ὡς μέν γάρ φύσει Θεός Λόγος, ὑπακοῆς, φησί, καί παρακοῆς πάντως ἐλεύθερος, ὅτι καί φύσει πάσης ἐντολῆς ὡς Κύριος ὑπάρχει δοτήρ, ἧς ἡ μέν ὑπακοή τήρησίς ἐστιν, ἡ δέ παρακοή παράβασις. Τῶν γάρ φύσει κινουμένων ὁ κατ᾿ ἐντολήν νόμος καί ἡ κατ᾿ αὐτόν πλήρωσίς ἐστι καί παράβασις, οὐχί οὗ φύσει τό εἶναι στάσις ἐστίν.

Ὡς δέ δούλου μορφῇ, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπος φύσει γενόμενος, συγκατέβη τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις καί δούλοις, φορφωθείς τό ἀλλότριον, ἅμα τῇ φύσει καί τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς τῆς φύσεως ὑποδύς παθητόν. Ἀλλότριον γάρ τοῦ κατά φύσιν ἀναμαρτήτου τό τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος ἐπιτίμιον, ὅπερ ἐστί τό διά τήν παράβασιν κατακριθέν τῆς ὅλης φύσεως παθητόν.

Εἰ δέ κενωθείς μέν δούλου μορφῇ, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπος συγκαταβάς δέ μορφοῦται τό ἀλλότριον, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπος φύσει γίνεται παθητός, κένωσις ἅρα περί αὐτόν ὡς ἀγαθόν ὁμοῦ καί φιλάνθρωπον θεωρεῖται καί συγκατάβασις, ἡ μέν ἄνθρωπον ἀληθῶς, ἡ δέ φύσει παθητόν ἄνθρωπον ἀληθῶς ὄντα δεικνῦσα γεγενημένον. ∆ιό φησιν ὁ διδάσκαλος· (1044) " Ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐμέ φέρων μετά τῶν ἐμῶν, " τουτέστι τήν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ὁλόκληρον, ἑνώσει τῇ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν μετά τῶν αὐτῆς ἀδιαβλήτων παθῶν. Οἷς ἡμῶν δαπανήσας τό χεῖρον, διό τῇ φύσει τό παθητόν ἐπεισεκρίθη, λέγω δέ τόν ἐκ τῆς παρακοῆς νόμον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, οὗ κράτος ἐστίν ἡ παρά φύσιν τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώμης διάθεσις, ἐμπάθειαν τῷ παθητῷ τῆς φύσεως ἐπεισάγουσα κατ᾿ ἄνεσιν καί ἐπίτασιν, οὐ μόνον σέσωκεν ὑπό τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατεχομένους, ἀλλά καί θείας δυνάμεως μεταδέδωκεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ λύσας ἡμῶν τό ἐπιτίμιον, ψυχῆς ἀτρεψίαν καί σώματος ἀφθαρσίαν ἐργαζομένης ἐν τῇ περί τό φύσει καλόν τῆς γνώμης ταυτότητι, τοῖς ἔργῳ τιμᾷν τήν χάριν σπουδάζουσιν. Ὅπερ οἶμαι διδάσκων ὁ ἅγιός φησιν· " Ἵνα ἐν ἑαυτῷ δαπανήσῃ τό χεῖρον, ὡς κηρόν πῦρ, ἤ ὡς ἀτμίδα γῆς ἥλιος, κἀγώ μεταλάβω τῶν ἐκείνου διά τήν σύγκρασιν·" καθαρός δηλαδή τῇ χάριτι πάθους ἴσως ἐκείνῳ γενόμενος. Οἶδα δέ καί λόγον ἕτερον περί τοῦ, "Μορφοῦται τό ἀλλότριον," παρά τινος ἁγίου σοφοῦ καί λόγον καί βίον μαθών. Ἔλεγε γάρ ἐρωτηθείς ἐκεῖνος ἀλλότριον εἶναι τοῦ Λόγου φύσει τήν ὑπακοήν, ὥσπερ καί τήν ὑποταγήν, ἥν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν παραβάντων τήν ἐντολήν ἐκτίσας ὅλην εἰργάσατο τοῦ γένους τήν σωτηρίαν, ἑαυτοῦ ποιούμενος τό ἡμέτερον. ∆ιά τοῦτο ἔργῳ τιμᾷ τήν ὑπακοήν, νέος Ἀδάμ ὑπέρ τοῦ παλαιοῦ φύσει γενόμενος, καί πειρᾶται ταύτης ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν, διά τῶν αὐτῶν ἑκουσίως ἡμῖν ἐνεχθείς παθημάτων. Εἴπερ κατά τοῦτον ἀληθῶς τόν μέγαν διδάσκαλον, " Ἐκοπίασε, καί ἐπείνασε, καί ἐδίψησε, καί ἠγωνίασε, καί ἐδάκρυσε " νόμῳ σώματος, ὅ δή σαφής ἐνεργοῦς ἐστιν ἀπόδειξις διαθέσεως, καί τῆς προς τούς ὁμοδόλους τε καί δούλους τεκμήριον συγκαταβάσεως. ∆εσπότης γάρ φύσει μεμένηκε, καί δοῦλος δ᾿ ἐμέ τόν φύσει δοῦλον γενόμενος, ἵνα ποιήσῃ δεσπότην τοῦ δι᾿ ἀπάτης τυραννικῶς κυριεύσαντος, διά τοῦτο τά μέν δουλικά δεσποτικῶς ἐνεργῶν, τουτέστι τά σαρκικά θεϊκῶς, τήν ἀπαθῆ καί φύσει δεσπόζουσαν ἐν τοῖς σαρκικοῖς ἐπεδείκνυτο δύναμιν, διά πάθους, τήν φθοράν ἀφανίζουσαν, καί διά θανάτου ζωήν δημιουργοῦσαν ἀνώλεθρον, τά δεσποτικά δέ πράττων δουλικῶς, τουτέστι τά θεῖα σαρκικῶς, τήν ἄφατον ἐνεδείκνυτο κένωσιν, διά σαρκός παθητῆς τό γένος ἅπαν τῇ φθορᾷ γεωθέν θεουργοῦσαν. Τῇ γάρ τούτων ἐπαλλαγῇ σαφῶς ἐπιστοῦτο τάς τε φύσεις ὧν αὐτός ὑπόστασις ἦν, καί τάς αὐτῶν