428
which I have heard from my Father” *, but 3.190 not defining the divinity from the incarnation. For neither did the divinity exist apart from the incarnation when he was about to suffer, nor was the incarnate presence abandoned by the Word in the suffering. But neither did the impassible Word suffer before, but only in being in the suffering flesh. For the one name is true of both, both in the divinity and in the incarnation. For Christ is the incarnation of the Word himself, and Christ is Lord in his very incarnate presence. But the suffering was in the flesh, as Peter said, "Christ having suffered for us in the flesh," to show the impassibility of the divinity, and again, "being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit." "This Jesus, whom you crucified," so that the holy incarnate economy might not be separated from the impassible and uncreated Word, but be united above to the uncreated Word, for this reason also "God has made" "both Lord and Christ" that which was conceived of Mary, that which was united in divinity; for Mary is not God by nature, for this reason he adds "made," just as the angel Gabriel says, when she asked "How will this be, since I do not know a man," he says, "The spirit of the Lord will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the holy one to be born will be called Son of God." And when he said "and the one to be born," he showed without question concerning God the Word, that he is Son undoubtedly, not created, not made. But concerning the incarnate economy from Mary, with the addition of "and the holy one to be born will be called Son of God," he showed that he also made the one born to be Christ and Lord; as in the other sayings all things were clearly fulfilled and contain no labor, so also here it has been fulfilled in the incarnate presence and there is no deviation for those who care for their own life. For the Word is living from the living Father, Son of the Father, and not created. But all things have been fulfilled in the incarnate presence, so that it might be considered neither a phantom nor the flesh consubstantial with the divinity above, but his incarnation united into one impassibility, especially after the resurrection from the dead. "For he no longer dies," it says, "death no longer has dominion over him." For there is one Lord, one Christ, one king, seated at the right hand of the Father, the bodily and the spiritual one union, one spiritual divinity, both bright 3.191 and glorious. Furthermore, I will pass over the saying, considering it sufficiently interpreted, and take up the other points of their * devised for the subversion of the hearers * way of speaking. 43. For they say again: If he is from the substance of the Father, how does he not know the hour and the day, but with his own word confesses to the disciples that he does not know what the Father knows, saying, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone?" If, therefore, they say, the Father knows and he himself does not know, how can there be the same divinity of the Father and the Son, when the Son is ignorant of what the Father knows? But whatever things the Only-begotten taught and suggested mystically and in his divine wisdom for the security of the truest knowledge, these men, being ignorant of the things pertaining to human nature, seize upon all of them to their own harm, like dreadful serpents snatching things baited by the crafty hunter for their own ruin, not knowing that falsehood will nowhere stand, but truth everywhere corrects its own sons and refutes falsehood. For let those who have held an evil suspicion about Christ from the beginning tell us, what is greater by nature and with respect to knowledge, God the master of all and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the day that is brought and comes to be by the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and that hour? And being asked, they will certainly be compelled by truth itself to say the Father is greater, as indeed he is. If, therefore, the Son affirms, saying, "no one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the
428
ἣν ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου» *, ἀλλ' 3.190 οὐ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως διορίζων τὴν θεότητα. οὔτε γὰρ ἐκτὸς τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ὑπῆρχεν ἡ θεότης, ὁπηνίκα ἔμελλε πάσχειν, οὔτε ἐν τῷ πάσχειν ἐγκατελείφθη ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου ἡ ἔνσαρκος παρουσία. ἀλλ' οὔτε ὁ ἀπαθὴς λόγος πέπονθε τὸ πρότερον ἀλλ' ἢ ἐν σαρκὶ ὢν τῇ πασχούσῃ. ἀληθὲς γάρ ἐστιν ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων τὸ ἓν ὄνομα, ἔν τε τῇ θεότητι καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐνανθρωπήσει. Χριστὸς γὰρ ἡ ἐνανθρώπησις αὐτοῦ τοῦ λόγου καὶ Χριστὸς κύριος ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἐνσάρκῳ παρουσίᾳ. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν παθεῖν ἐν σαρκί, καθὼς εἶπε Πέτρος ὅτι «Χριστοῦ παθόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σαρκί», ἵνα δείξῃ τὴν ἀπάθειαν τῆς θεότητος, καὶ πάλιν «ἀποθανὼν ἐν σαρκί, ζωογονηθεὶς δὲ τῷ πνεύματι». «τοῦτον οὖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὃν ἐσταυρώσατε», ἵνα μὴ παραλειφθῇ ἡ ἁγία ἔνσαρκος οἰκονομία ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς καὶ ἀκτίστου λόγου, ἀλλὰ συνενωθῇ ἄνω τῷ ἀκτίστῳ λόγῳ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ «κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησε» τὸ ἐκ Μαρίας συλληφθέν, τὸ ἐν θεότητι συνενωθέν· οὐ γὰρ ἡ Μαρία θεὸς κατὰ φύσιν, διὰ τοῦτο ἑξῆς τὸ «ἐποίησεν» ἐπιφέρει, ὡς καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος Γαβριήλ φησιν, ἐρωτησάσης αὐτῆς ὅτι «πῶς ἔσται τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω» φησί, «πνεῦμα κυρίου ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι. διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται υἱὸς θεοῦ». ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ «καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον», ἔδειξεν ἀκαταζητήτως περὶ θεοῦ λόγου, ὅτι υἱός ἐστιν ἀναμφιβόλως, οὐ κτισθείς, οὐ ποιηθείς. περὶ δὲ τῆς ἀπὸ Μαρίας ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας, μετὰ προσθήκης τοῦ «καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται υἱὸς θεοῦ» ἔδειξεν ὅτι καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ κύριον ἐποίησεν· ὡς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄλλαις ῥήσεσι πάντα σαφῶς ἐπληρώθη καὶ οὐδὲν καμάτου περιέχουσιν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐν τῇ ἐνσάρκῳ παρουσίᾳ πεπλήρωται καὶ οὐδεμία ἔστι παρεκτροπὴ τοῖς τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆς ἐπιμελουμένοις. ζῶν γὰρ ὁ λόγος ἀπὸ ζῶντος πατρός, υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός, καὶ οὐ κτιστός. πάντα δὲ ἐν τῇ ἐνσάρκῳ παρουσίᾳ πεπλήρωται, ἵνα μήτε φάντασμα νομισθείη μήτε ὁμοούσιος ἡ σὰρξ τῇ ἄνω θεότητι, ἀλλὰ συνηνωμένη ἡ ἐνανθρώπησις αὐτοῦ εἰς μίαν ἀπάθειαν, μάλιστα μετὰ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν. «οὐκέτι γὰρ ἀποθνήσκει, φησί, θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι κυριεύει.» ἔστι γὰρ εἷς κύριος, εἷς Χριστός, εἷς βασιλεύς, ἐν δεξιᾷ πατρὸς καθήμενος, τὸ σωματικὸν καὶ πνευματικὸν μία ἕνωσις, μία θεότης πνευματική, τὰ ἀμφότερα φω3.191 τεινὰ καὶ ἔνδοξα. ἔτι δὲ ὑπερβήσομαι τὸ ῥητὸν ἱκανῶς ἑρμηνευόμενον νομίζων καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἕτερα τῆς αὐτῶν * εἰς ἀνατροπὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων ἐπινενοημένης * τοῦ λέγειν ἐπιλάβοιμι. 43. Φασὶ γὰρ πάλιν· εἰ ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός, πῶς οὐκ οἶδε τὴν ὥραν καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν, ἀλλὰ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ὁμολογεῖ τοῖς μαθηταῖς μὴ εἰδέναι ἃ ὁ πατὴρ ἐπίσταται, φήσας ὅτι «περὶ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης καὶ τῆς ὥρας οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὔτε οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐν οὐρανῷ οὔτε ὁ υἱός, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ μόνος;» εἰ τοίνυν, φασίν, ὁ πατὴρ οἶδε καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ οἶδε, πῶς δύναται ἡ αὐτὴ θεότης πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ ὑπάρχειν, ὁπότε ἃ οἶδεν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ υἱὸς ἀγνοεῖ; ὅσα δὲ μυστικῶς καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐνθέῳ αὐτοῦ σοφίᾳ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν γνώσεως ἀληθεστάτης ὁ μονογενὴς διδάσκων ὑφηγεῖτο, οὗτοι ἀγνοοῦντες τὰ ἀνθρωποπαθῆ, πάντα εἰς ἑαυτῶν βλάβην, ὥσπερ δεινὰ ἑρπετὰ καὶ εἰς ἑαυτῶν λύμην τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ πανούργου θηρευτοῦ δεδελεασμένα ἀφαρπάζουσιν, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι τὸ ψεῦδος οὐδαμοῦ σταθήσεται, ἡ δὲ ἀλήθεια πάντη τοὺς ἰδίους αὐτῆς υἱοὺς διορθοῦται καὶ ἐξελέγχει τὸ ψεῦδος. εἴπωσι γὰρ ἡμῖν οἱ τὴν κακὴν ὑπόνοιαν περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ κεκτημένοι ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, τί μεῖζον ἐστὶ κατὰ φύσιν καὶ πρὸς τὴν εἴδησιν, ὁ θεὸς ὁ πάντων δεσπότης καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἢ ἡ ἡμέρα ὑπὸ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀγομένη τε καὶ γινομένη καὶ ἡ ὥρα ἐκείνη; πάντως δὲ ἐρωτώμενοι ἀναγκασθήσονται ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας τὸν πατέρα μείζονα λέγειν, ὡς καὶ ἔστιν. εἰ τοίνυν φάσκει ὁ υἱὸς λέγων «οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν