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of the divine incarnation, divinity and humanity were united according to hypostasis, with neither of their natural energies ceasing because of the union, nor indeed possessing it without relation after the union, and distinguished from that which is composite and co-existent. For the incarnate Word, possessing by the whole active power of His own divinity the whole passive power of His own humanity, naturally joined in an indissoluble union, being God, worked wonders in a human way, which were accomplished through flesh that is by nature passible, and being man, went through the passions of nature in a divine way, being fulfilled according to divine authority; but both rather in a theandric way, as being at once God and man, by the one returning us to ourselves, having appeared as what we have become, and by the other giving us to Himself, having become what He showed forth, and through both confirming the truth of those things from which, in which, and which He was, as alone true and faithful, and wishing to be confessed by us as what He is. Having Him, sanctified in word and life, imitate His long-suffering as He is being formed in you, and receiving this present writing, show yourselves to me as benevolent judges of its contents, overcoming with sympathy the failings of your child, who expects this alone as a return for his obedience, and become for me mediators of reconciliation with Him, creating the peace which surpasses all understanding, of which the Savior Himself is the Prince, freeing by a practical state those who fear Him from the disturbance of the passions, and Father of the age to come, begetting in the Spirit through love and knowledge those who have filled the world above. To Him be glory, majesty, power, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages. Amen.

FROM THE SAME. (1061)

To John, Archbishop of Cyzicus, Maximus, greetings in the Lord. Indeed, they are praised, and perhaps justly, by all on account of their love of learning, the

more eager lovers of noble things and the more diligent cultivators of knowledge concerning them, who approach the better and the teachers of better things, because by questioning they unashamedly receive knowledge and understanding of things unknown, freeing themselves from ignorance (1064) and inexperience and the reproach that comes with them. But what word could praise you worthily? Or what man will be found capable of comprehending, even in thought, the magnitude of your virtue? For being proven shepherds of rational sheep, and knowing how to lead them up and bring them to the fold above with the sounds of a spiritual flute, as having already acquired the state of mystical knowledge of divine things, which is unattainable by others; according to which, having been worthily entrusted with the rudders of the Church of Christ, you expertly guide it like a ship, with its cargo of faith and the decency of a life according to God, to the harbor of the divine will, unharmed by any of the temptations on the sea of life.

Concerning things known to you, of which God has also made you interpreters, not only the wiser, if there is anyone at all superior to you in knowledge, but also those worthy of nothing and utterly inexperienced in every subject, with faith of finding something, as is your custom, you do not consider it unworthy to ask what is notable even from the obscure. Therefore I too, having received your esteemed letter, the one concerning each of the difficult points for you in the orations of Saint Gregory the Theologian, about which we were laboring

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τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως θεότης καί ἀνθρωπότης ἡνώθη καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, μηδετέρας τῆς φυσικῆς ἐκστάσης ἐνεργείας διά τήν ἕνωσιν, μήτε μήν ἄσχετον αὐτήν κεκτημένης μετά τήν ἕνωσιν, καί τῆς συγκειμένης καί συνυφεστώσης διακεκριμμένην. Ὅλῃ γάρ τῇ δραστικῇ δυνάμει τῆς οἰκείας θεότητος ὀ σαρκωθείς Λόγος ὅλην ἐσχηκώς συμφυεῖσαν καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἄλυτον τήν παθητικήν τῆς ἰδίας ἀνθρωπότητος δύναμιν ἀνθρωπίνως Θεός ὤν ἐνήργει τά θαύματα, διά σαρκός φύσει παθητῆς συμπληρούμενα, καί θεϊκῶς ἄνθρωπος ὤν διεξῄει τά πάθη τῆς φύσεως, κατ᾿ ἐξουσίαν ἐπιτελούμενα θεϊκήν· ἄμφω δέ μᾶλλον θεανδρικῶς, ὡς Θεός ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπος ὤν τοῖς μέν ἡμᾶς ἑαυτοῖς ἀποδιδούς, φανέντας ὅπερ γεγόναμεν, τοῖς δέ διδούς ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ, γενομένους ὅπερ παρέδειξε, καί δι᾿ ἀμφοτέρων πιστούμενος τήν τῶν ἐξ ὧν, ἐν οἷς τε καί ἅπερ ὑπῆρχεν ἀλήθειαν, ὡς μόνος ἀληθής και πιστός, καί ὅπερ ἐστι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁμολογεῖσθαι βουλόμενος. Ὅν ἔχοντες, ἡγιασμένοι λόγῳ τε καί βίῳ, μορφούμενον μιμήσασθε τήν μακροθυμίαν, καί τήν παροῦσαν δεχόμενοι γραφήν, φάνητέ μοι τῶν ἐμφερομένων φιλάνθρωποι κριταί νικῶντες συμπαθείᾳ τά τοῦ παιδός ὑμῶν ὀλισθήματα, μόνην ταύτην ἐκδεχομένῳ τῆς εὐπειθείας ἀντίδοσιν, καί γένεσθέ μοι μεσῖται τῆς πρός αὐτόν καταλλαγῆς εἰρήνην δημιουργοῦντες τήν πάντα νοῦν ὑπερέχουσαν, ἧς αὐτός ἄρχων ἐστίν ὁ Σωτήρ, ἕξει πρακτικῇ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ταραχῆς ἐλευθερῶν τούς φοβουμένους αὐτόν, καί Πατήρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, Πνεύματι γεννῶν δι᾿ ἀγάπης καί γνώσεως τούς τόν ἄνω κόσμον πληρώσαντας. Αὐτῷ δόξα, μεγαλωσύνη, κράτος, σύν τῷ Πατρί καί τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι εἰς τούς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

ΕΚ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ. (1061)

Πρός Ἰωάννην ἀρχιεπίσκοπον Κυζίκου Μάξιμος ἐν Κυρίῳ χαίρειν. Ἐπαινοῦνται μέν, καί τυχόν δικαίως, παρά πάντων τῆς φιλομαθείας ἕνεκεν οἱ

προθυμότεροι τῶν καλῶν ἑρασταί καί τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἐπιστήμης ἐπιμεληταί σπουδαιότεροι τοῖς κρείττοσι καί τῶν κρειττόνων διδασκάλοις προσιόντες, ὅτι δι᾿ ἐρωτήσεως τήν γνῶσιν τῶν ἠγνοημένων καί τήν ἐπιστήμην ἀνεπαισχύντως λαμβάνοντες σφᾶς αὐτούς ἀγνοίας (1064) καί ἀπειρίας καί τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτάς ὀνείδους ἐλευθεροῦσιν. Ὑμᾶς δέ τίς ἄν ἀξίως ἐπαινέσειε λόγος; ἤ τίς ἀνθρώπων κἄν διανοίᾳ περιλαβεῖν ὑμῶν τό τῆς ἀρετῆς μέγεθος ἱκανός εὑρεθήσεται; Ὅτι δόκιμοι λογικῶν προβάτων ποιμένες ὑπάρχοντες, καί πρός τήν ἄνω μάνδραν φωναῖς σύριγγος πνευματικῆς ἀνάγειν τε και ἀπάγειν εἰδότες, οἷα δή τῆς ἀνεφίκτου τοῖς ἄλλοις τῶν θείων μυστικῆς γνώσεως τήν ἕξιν προειληφότες· καθ᾿ ἥν τῆς Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίας ἀξίως πεπιστωμένοι τούς οἴακας νηός τρόπον ἐπιστημόνως ἰθύνετε, μετά τοῦ φόρτου τῆς πίστεως καί τῆς τοῦ κατά Θεόν βίου εὐπρεπείας, πρός τόν λιμένα τοῦ θείου θελήματος, μηδέν τῶν κατά τήν θάλασσαν τοῦ βίου πειρασμῶν παραβλαβεῖσαν.

Περί τῶν ἐγνωσμένων ὑμῖν, ὧν καί ἐξηγητάς ὑμᾶς κατέστησεν ὁ Θεός, οὐ μόνον τούς σοφωτέρους, εἴπερ τις ὑμῶν ἐστιν ὅλως κατά τήν γνῶσιν ἀνώτερος, ἀλλά καί τούς μηδενός ἀξίους καί παντελῶς παντός ἀπείρους μαθήματος, πίστει τοῦ εὑρεῖν τι, καθώς εἰώθατε, καί παρά τοῖς ἀσήμοις ἐπίσημον ἐρωτᾷν οὐχ ἡγεῖσθε ἀνάξιον. ∆ιό κἀγώ δεξάμενος τήν τιμίαν ὑμῶν ἐπιστολήν τόν περί ἑκάστου τῶν ἀπορηθέντων ὑμῖν κεφαλαίων ἐν τοῖς τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου τοῦ Θεολόγου λόγοις, περί ὧν ἐφιλοπονοῦμεν