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resurrection of which He Himself was the first-fruits, as He became the first-born among many brethren, so also He was deemed worthy to become the first-born from the dead."

How in these things does this God-minded teacher seem to have made a rather superfluous repetition of what has been said before? For having spoken of a threefold birth—that from bodies, that from baptism, that from the resurrection—he added, as if forgetting, through a phrase that seems superfluous, a fourth one also by saying, "The one by the first and life-giving in-breathing." For he did not mention this one with the three births, but added it as though it had been spoken of before, saying, "The one by the first and life-giving in-breathing." How, then, the teacher has truly said this, is surely known by one who has become like him in virtue, and is not far removed from his wise knowledge concerning divine things. Insofar, then, as I can know according to the faintness of my weak mind, I do not think the fourth birth that was introduced is superfluous, but rather complementary to the birth from bodies that was set forth, and an explanation of the divine words and ways concerning it. For He who, for the sake of the first Adam's coming into being, deigned to become man, not spurning the grace, showed through His own coming into being His condescension to the fallen, and through His birth His voluntary self-emptying to the condemned; by His coming into being He was naturally brought into sameness with man according to the life-giving in-breathing, from which, having received the "according to the image" as man, He remained, possessing freedom inviolable, sinlessness, and purity. but by His birth according to the incarnation, willingly putting on through the form of a servant the likeness to corruptible man, He endured to be subject by His will to the same natural passions as we are, without sin, as though the sinless one were liable. For having cut from both these parts, He was composed from parts, and became (1317) a perfectly new Adam, bearing within Himself the first Adam undiminished in both his parts. For having endured, according to His formation, a condescension to the law of Adam's coming into being before the transgression, and having naturally received sinlessness through the in-breathing, He did not assume incorruptibility. And having naturally taken on passibility from the birth of condemnation after the transgression, according to His voluntary self-emptying, He did not assume sinfulness, and He becomes a new Adam, receiving the same sinless coming into being and enduring the same passible birth. For having perfectly interwoven both for Himself interchangeably in both parts, He powerfully healed both through each other by the lack of the extreme in each, making the second and dishonorable one salvific and renewing for the first and honorable one, and establishing the first one as constitutive and preserving for the second. And by extremes I mean, of the coming into being which is first and honorable, incorruptibility, as the principle of sinlessness; and of the birth which is second and dishonorable, sinfulness, as the cause of all passion and corruption. The Savior, having in no way taken these into Himself at the incarnation, yet having condescended to the things caused by them, made the birth salvific for the coming into being, paradoxically renewing the incorruptibility of the coming into being by the passion proper to the birth, and again He established the coming into being as preserving for the birth, hallowing the passibility of the birth by the sinlessness proper to the coming into being, so that He might completely save the coming into being, with the divinely-perfected principle according to it sustaining nature, and completely free the nature that had fallen subject to the birth on account of sin, it no longer being dominated by the inflowing manner of sowing, like perhaps the other living creatures on earth. Having therefore naturally joined coming into being and formation and in-breathing with the incarnation and the birth, he distinguished them from each other only in thought, and you will find, according to the great teacher, the fourth birth,

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ἀναστάσει ἧς αὐτός ἀπήρξατο, ὡς ἐγένετο πρωτότοκος ἐν πολλοις ἀδελφοῖς, οὕτω καί πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν γενέσθαι καταξιώσας."

Πῶς ἐν τούτοις ὁ θεόφρων οὗτος διδάσκαλος δοκεῖ περιττοτέραν τήν ἐπανάληψιν τῶν προῤῥηθέντων πεποιηκέναι; Τρισσήν γάρ εἰπών γέννησιν, τήν ἐκ σωμάτων, τήν ἐκ βαπτίσματος, τήν ἐξ ἀναστάσεως, ἐπήγαγεν ὥσπερ ἐπιλαθόμενος διά τῆς δοκούσης περιττῆς εἶναι φράσεως καί τετάρτην διά τοῦ φάναι, "Τήν μέν τῷ ἐμφυσήματι τῷ πρώτῳ καί ζωτικῷ." Ἧς γάρ μετά τῶν τριῶν οὐκ ἐμνημόνευσε γεννήσεων ὡς περί προλεχθείσης ἐπήγαγεν εἰπών, "Τήν μέν τῷ ἐμφυσήματι τῷ πρώτῳ καί ζωτικῷ." Πῶς οὖν τοῦτο κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν εἴρηκεν ὁ διδάσκαλος, οἶδε πάντως ὁ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν αὐτῷ γεγονώς παραπλήσιος, καί μή πόῤῥω τῆς αὐτοῦ περί τά θεῖα σοφῆς ἐπιστήμης διεστηκώς. Ὅσον δ᾿ οὖν ἐμέ γινώσκειν κατά τό ἐμῆς ἀσθενοῦς διανοίας ἀβληχρόν, οὐκ οἶμαι περιττήν εἶναι τήν ἐπαχθεῖσαν τετάρτην γέννησιν, ἀλλά μᾶλλον συμπληρωτικήν τῆς ἐκ σωμάτων προτεθείσης γεννήσεως, καί ἑρμηνευτικήν τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ θείων λόγων τε καί τρόπων. Ὁ γάρ τῆς γενέσεως ἕνεκεν τοῦ πρώτου Ἀδάμ ἄνθρωπος γενέσθαι καταδεξάμενος χάριν οὐκ ἀπαξιώσας, διά μέν τῆς γενέσεως τήν πρός τόν πεσόντα συγκατάβασιν, διά δέ τῆς γεννήσεως τήν πρός τόν καταδεδικασμένον ἑκούσιον κένωσιν ἐπιδείξατο· τῇ μέν γενέσει φυσικῶς εἰς ταὐτόν τῷ ἀνθρώιπω κατά τήν ζωτικήν ἀγόμενος ἔμπνευσιν, ἐξ ἧς τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα λαβών ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἄπρατον διέμεινεν ἔχων τῆς ἐλευθερίας, τῆς ἀναμαρτησίας καί ἄχραντον. τῇ δέ γεννήσει κατα τήν σάρκωσιν τήν πρός τόν ἄνθρωπον τῆς φθορᾶς ὁμοίωσιν ἑκουσίως διά τῆς δουλικῆς φορφῆς ὑποδύς τοῖς αὐτοῖς παραπλησίως ἡμῖν κατά θέλησιν ὑποκεῖσθαι φυσικοῖς παθήμασι χωρίς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ὑπεύθυνος ὁ ἀναμάρτητος, ἠνέσχετο. Κατ᾿ ἄμφω γάρ ταῦτα μέρη τεμών ἐκ μερῶν συνετέθη, καί γένονε (1317) τελείως νέος Ἀδάμ, τόν πρῶτον τοῖς κατ᾿ ἄμφω μέρεσιν Ἀδάμ ἐν ἑαυτῷ φέρων ἀμείωτον. Τῆς γάρ πρό τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ Ἀδάμ γενέσεως νόμῳ συγκαταβάσεως ἀνασχόμενος κατά τήν πλάσιν τό ἀναμάρτητον φυσικῶς λαβών διά τῆς ἐμπνεύσεως, ἄφθαρτον οὐ προσέλαβε. Τῆς δέ μετά τήν παράβασιν ἐκ καταδίκης γεννήσεως κατά τήν ἑκούσιον κένωσιν τό παθητόν φυσικῶς εἰληφώς τό ἁμαρτητικόν οὐ προσείληφε, καί γίνεται νέος Ἀδάμ, γένεσιν λαμβάνων τήν αὐτήν ἀναμάρτητον καί γεννήσεως τῆς αὐτῆς παθητῆς ἀνεχόμενος. Ἄμφω γάρ ἀλλήλαις τελείως περί ἑαυτόν ἐναλλάξ τοῖς κατ᾿ ἄμφω μέρεσιν συμπλέξας ἄμφω δι᾿ ἀλλήλων τῇ ἐλλείψει τοῦ περί ἑκατέραν ἄκρου δυνατῶς ἐξιάσατο, τῆς μέν πρώτης καί τιμίας τήν δευτέραν καί ἄτιμον ποιούμενος σωστικήν τε καί ἀνανεωτικήν, τῆς δέ δευτέρας τήν πρώτην συστατικήν τε καί περιποιητικήν καταστήσας. Ἄκρα δέ φημι τῆς μέν γενέσεως πρώτης καί τιμίας ὑπαρχούσης τό ἄφθαρτον, ὡς ἀναμαρτησίας ἀρχή, τῆς δέ γεννήσεως ὡς δευτέρας οὔσης καί ἀτίμου τό ἁμαρτητικόν, ὡς παντός πάθους αἴτιον καί φθορᾶς. Ἄπερ εἰς ἑαυτόν κατά τήν σάρκωσιν μηδαμῶς εἰληφώς ὁ Σωτήρ καί τά δι᾿ αὐτά καταδεξάμενος τῆς μέν γενέσεως τήν γέννησιν σωστικήν ἐποιήσατο, τῷ καθ᾿ αὐτήν πάθει παραδόξως τήν τῆς γενέσεως ἀφθαρσίαν ἀνανεούμενος, τῆς δ᾿ αὖ πάλιν γεννήσεως τήν γένεσιν περιποιητικήν κατεστήσατο, τῇ κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἀναμαρτησίᾳ τήν τῆς γεννήσεως καθαγιάζων ἐμπάθειαν, ἵνα τήν μέν γένεσιν παντελῶς ἀνασώσηται, τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτήν θεοτελεῖ λόγῳ τήν φύσιν διακρατοῦσαν, τῆς δέ γεννήσεως τήν ὑποπεσοῦσαν αὐτῇ φύσιν διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν παντελῶς ἐλευθερώσῃ, τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἴσως τοῖς λοιποῖς ἐπί γῆς ζώοις ἐπιῤῥύτῳ τῆς σπορᾶς τρόπῳ μή κρατουμένην. Συνάψας οὖν γένεσιν καί πλάσιν καί ἔμπνευσιν φυσικῶς τῇ σαρκώσει καί τῇ γεννήσει, κατά μόνην ἐπίνοιαν ἀλλήλων δίελε, καί εὑρήσεις κατά τόν μέγαν διδάσκαλον τήν τετάρτην γέννησιν,