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From the same discourse, on the text, "You have the appellations of the Son; proceed by means of them, as many as are lofty, in a divine manner, and as many as are corporeal, in a sympathetic manner, or rather, the whole in a divine manner, that you may become God, having ascended from below on account of Him who descended for us from above."

The one who has enlightened the mind through lofty contemplation according to the conception of each of the divine names, and has both led it up and transformed it to the original and spiritual principle of each, and by labors for virtue has subjected the mind of the flesh to the spirit, and has become obedient even unto death, this person truly proceeds "by means of the divine appellations" blamelessly according to both spirit and flesh, making the divine journey that leads to God, "loftily" according to mystical contemplation through the lofty names, but "sympathetically" according to practical philosophy, through the corporeal names hastening towards the end above, "or rather, the whole in a divine manner," since practice is also contemplative and not deprived of rational grace; but for whose sake he chose the volitional estrangement from the flesh through the perfect circumcision of its natural movements, clearly suggesting that, in order that he himself might by grace become God, having established himself above matter according to the flesh through practice, and according to the mind through contemplation above form, from which the existence of beings subsists, and, to speak comprehensively, having become entirely immaterial and formless according to the disposition of virtue and knowledge, for the sake of the God Logos who for our sake truly became from us according to us in matter and form, He who is by nature properly immaterial and formless. Or again, the phrase: "Or rather, the whole in a divine manner," on account of the dispassion which came to be in him who had achieved the virtue and knowledge attainable by humans, a dispassion which comes from sympathy for God and neighbor, to suffer for the debt of others and to readily give up his soul, as being altogether free from stains.

From the same, from the discourse on the Nativity, on the text, "The laws of nature are dissolved; the world above must be filled. Christ commands; let us not resist. "

Truly the laws of nature, having been dissolved, the filling of the world above

accomplished. (1276) Clearly, if they had not been dissolved, the world above would have remained deficient and unfilled. What, then, are the laws of nature that are dissolved? Conception through seed and birth through corruption, I think, are these laws, neither of which at all characterized the true incarnation and perfect taking of flesh of God. For truly the conception was without seed, and the birth entirely without corruption, pure and untouched, and for this reason the Mother was a Virgin even after the birth of the one born, remaining rather impassible through childbirth, which is both paradoxical and has transgressed every law and principle of nature, and God, who deigned to be born in the flesh from her, tightened for her as mother the bonds of virginity through the birth. Truly a marvelous deed and report, that the birth and coming forth of an infant should happen without the generative gates of the mother being opened. For it was truly necessary, necessary for the maker of nature, restoring nature through himself, first to dissolve those laws of nature by which sin, through disobedience, had condemned human beings to have the same property of succession from one another as irrational animals, and thus of the first and truly divine creation the

488

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγους, εἰς τό, "Ἔχεις τάς τοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίας, βάδιζε δι᾿ αὐτῶν, ὅσαι ὑψηλαί, θεϊκῶς, καί ὅσαι σωματικαί, συμπαθῶς, μᾶλλον δέ ὅλον θεϊκῶς, ἵνα γένῃ Θεός κάτωθεν ἀνελθών διά τόν κατελθόντα δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἄνωθεν."

Ὁ τόν νοῦν διά τῆς ὑψηλῆς θεωρίας κατά τήν ἑκάστου τῶν θείων ὀνομάτων ἐπίνοιαν καταφωτίσας καί πρός τόν ἀρχικόν ἑκάστου καί πνευματικόν λόγον ἀναγαγών τε καί μεταποιήσας, καί τοῖς ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς πόνοις τό φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός καθυποτάξας τῷ πνεύματι, ὑπήκοός τε μέχρι θανάτου γενόμενος, οὗτος ἀληθῶς βάδιζε "διά τῶν θείων προσηγοριῶν" ἀμέπτως κατά τε πνεῦμα καί σάρκα, τήν θείαν καί πρός Θεόν ἄγουσαν πορείαν ποιούμενος, "ὑψηλῶς" μέν κατά τήν μυστικήν θεωρίαν διά τῶν ὑψηλῶν ὀνομάτων, "συμπαθῶς" δέ κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν, διά τῶν σωματικῶν πρός τήν ἄνω λῆξιν ἐπειγόμενος, "μᾶλλον δέ τό ὅλον θεϊκῶς," ὡς θεωρητικῆς οὔσης καί τῆς πράξεως καί λογικῆς χάριτος μή ἀμοιρούσης· ἀλλ᾿ ὅτου χάριν τήν πρός τήν σάρκα γνωμικήν ἀλλοτρίωσιν διά τῆς τελείας περιτομῆς τῶν αὐτῶν φυσικῶν κινημάτων εἵλετο σαφῶς ὑπαγορεύων ὅτιπερ, ἵνα γένηται καί αὐτός χάριτι Θεός, ὑπέρ τήν ὕλην κατά σάρκα διά τῆς πράξεως, καί κατά νοῦν διά θεωρίας ὑπέρ τό εἶδος, ἐξ ὧν ἡ τῶν ὄντων ὕπαρξις ὑφέστηκεν, ἑαυτόν καταστήσας, καί τό ὅλον εἰπεῖν, κατά τήν ἕξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως ἄϋλος καί ἀνείδεος πάντη γενόμενος, διά τόν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐν ὕλῃ καί εἴδει καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀληθῶς ἐξ ἡμῶν γενόμενον Θεόν Λόγον, τόν κατά φύσιν κυρίως ἄϋλον καί ἀνείδεον. Ἤ καί πάλιν τό· "Μᾶλλον δέ ὅλον θεϊκῶς," διά τήν ἐγγενομένην αὐτῷ κατορθώσαντι τήν ἐφικτήν ἀνθρώποις ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν, ἐκ τῆς πρός τόν Θεόν καί τόν πλησίον συμπαθείας, ἀπάθειαν, ὑπέρ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων ὀφειλῆς πάσχειν καί τήν ψυχήν ἑτοίμως προΐεσθαι, ὡς κηλίδων παντάπασιν ὑπάρχων ἐλεύθερος.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ εἰς τά Γενέθλια λόγου, εἰς τό, " Νόμοι φύσεως καταλύονται· πληρωθῆναι δεῖ τόν ἄνω κόσμον. Χριστός κελεύει· μή ἀντιτείνωμεν. "

Κατά ἀλήθειαν οἱ νόμοι τῆς φύσεως καταλυθέντες τήν τοῦ ἄνω κόσμου πλήρωσιν

εἰργάσαντο. (1276) ∆ηλονότι μή καταλυθέντων ἐλλιπής ἄν ὁ ἄνω κόσμος διέμεινε καί ἀπλήρωτος. Τίνες δέ οἱ καταλυόμενοι νόμοι τῆς φύσεως εἰσιν; Ἡ διά σπορᾶς σύλληψις καί ἡ διά φθορᾶς ἐστιν, ὡς οἶμαι, γέννησις, ὧν οὐδέτερον τήν ἀληθινήν τοῦ Θεοῦ σάρκωσιν καί τελείαν ἐνανθρώπησιν παντελῶς ἐχαρακτήρισε. Σπορᾶς γάρ ἀληθῶς ἡ σύλληψις, καί φθορᾶς γέγονε πάμπαν ἡ γέννησις, καθαρά καί ἀνέπαφος, καί διά τοῦτο Παρθένος καί μετά τόν τόκον τοῦ γεννηθέντος ἡ Μήτηρ, διά τοῦ τοκετοῦ μᾶλλον ἀπαθής διαμείνασα, ὅ καί παράδοξον καί πάντα φύσεως νόμον τε καί λόγον ἐκβεβηκός, καί Θεός ὁ ἐξ αὐτῆς σαρκί γεννηθῆναι καταξιώσας, διασφίγξας αὐτῇ μᾶλλον ὡς μητρί τά τῆς παρθενίας δεσμά διά τῆς γεννήσεως. Τό θαυμαστόν ὄντως καί πρᾶγμα καί ἄκουσμα, γέννησιν γενέσθαι βρέφους καί πρόοδον, τῶν γεννητικῶν κλείθρων τῆς τεκούσης μή ἀνοιγέντων. Ἔδει γάρ ὄντως, ἔδει τόν ποιητήν τῆς φύσεως δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τήν φύσιν ἐπανορθούμενον πρώτους καταλῦσαι τούς νόμους τῆς φύσεως, οἷς ἡ ἁμαρτία διά τῆς παρακοῆς τήν αὐτήν τοῖς ἀλόγοις ζώοις τούς ἀνθρώπους ἔχειν τῆς ἐξ ἀλλήλων διαδοχῆς ἰδιότητα κατεδίκασε, καί οὕτω τῆς πρώτης καί ὄντως θείας δημιουργίας τούς