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it does this entirely according to nature, or contrary to nature. And if according to nature, it will never be seen ceasing from its composition with another for the fulfillment of another form, because of the force of nature being unable to depart from itself, and for this reason neither will the soul ever be conceived without the body, nor the body without the soul, and wisdom has been turned to foolishness by those of excessive understanding, driven by force toward the very thing they strove to escape. But if, contrary to nature, one of these accepts composition with the other for the completion of the form of the other, it is entirely corrupted, departing from its natural boundary, and becoming what it is not by nature and changing into what it was not. What could be more foolish than this? But let us return to the matter at hand.

The generation of the soul, then, as the teacher clearly states, does not come from pre-existing matter, as bodies do, but by the will of God through the life-giving inbreathing, ineffably and unknowably, as only its Creator knows. The soul, receiving its being at conception, is brought together with the body for the completion of one human being, while the body comes from the pre-existing matter of another body, that is, at conception, receiving together with the soul the composition to be one form with it. Which the teacher, showing more clearly elsewhere, says, “According to the twofold power of the inbreathing, all being inbreathed with both breath and Holy Spirit. Therefore, one must distinguish in thought at conception the life-giving inbreathing and the Holy Spirit for the intellectual substance of the soul, but the incarnation and the breath for the nature of the body, as the Fathers say. And the generation of the forefather Adam was mystically brought forth, having one principle of being and mode of coming-to-be for the soul, and another, that is, for the body, as the divine scripture magnificently initiated us, not allowing the soul and the body, having come together with one another in one and the same mode of generation, to be confused in their nature, and the principle of the substance of each to be unknown, and the mode of their generation.

(1325) But if the twofold power of the inbreathing accompanied Adam, concurring in his generation into being, what might one say concerning the composite humanity of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, I mean of soul and body? which mixture, as far as possible, preserves a great resemblance to the first Adam. For just as, as the teacher himself says, God, having taken the body from matter, that is, which had newly subsisted, and having put life from Himself into it, which the Word knows to be an intellectual soul and the image of God, creates man, in the same way, having taken the body from the immaculate Virgin as from undefiled earth, and having put life from Himself into it, which the Word knows to be an intellectual soul and the image of God, He created His own humanity, or rather, having created Himself unchangeably by the assumption of flesh intellectually and rationally ensouled, for our sake He willingly, as almighty, made Himself man.

In this way, then, as I think, the teacher says that our Lord and God has honored our threefold generation, that is, the universal modes of our generation into being, and well-being, and eternal being, the one from bodies, being a single generation of the composite according to the simultaneous coexistence of the parts with each other, I mean of soul and body, divided into two because of the different mode of generation of each, through which we receive being, the one from baptism, by which we richly receive well-being, and the one from the resurrection, by which we are transformed through grace to eternal being. Therefore, one must attend precisely to the words of the teacher because of those who malign what is well-established. For having divided by thought alone the one from bodies

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κατά φύσιν τοῦτο ποιεῖ πάντως, ἤ παρά φύσιν. Καί εἰ μέν κατά φύσιν, οὐδέποτε τῆς πρός ἄλλο πρός ἐκπλήρωσιν εἴδους ἑτέρου συνθέσεως παυόμενον ὁραθήσεται, διά τήν βίαν τῆς φύσεως ἑαυτῆς ἐκστῆναι μή δυναμένης, καί τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ οὔτε σώματος χωρίς ἡ ψυχή, οὔτε ψυχῆς σῶμά ποτε νοηθήσεται, καί περιετράπη τοῖς περιττοῖς τήν σύνεσιν εἰς ἠλιθιότητα τό σοφόν, ἐναχθεῖσι βίᾳ πρός ὅπερ φεύγειν ἐσπούσασαν. Εἰ δέ παρά φύσιν τήν πρός ἄλλου συμπλήρωσιν εἴδους θάτερον τούτων τήν πρός τό ἕτερον δέχεται σύνθεσιν, φθείρεται πάντως, τοῦ κατά φύσιν ἐξιστάμενον ὅρου, καί γινόμενον ὅπερ μή πέφυκε καί εἰς ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν μεταπίπτον. Οὗ τί γένοιτ᾿ ἄν ἀσυνετώτερον; Ἀλ᾿ ἐπί τό προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν.

Ψυχῆς μέν οὖν γένεσις, ὥς φησιν ἐμφαντικῶς ὁ διδάσκαλος, ἐξ ὑποκειμένης ὕλης οὐ γίνεται, καθάπερ τά σώματα, ἀλλά τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς ζωτικῆς ἐμπνεύσεως ἀῤῥήτως τε καί ἀγνώστως, ὡς οἶδε μόνος ὁ ταύτης δημιουργός. Ἡ ψυχή τό εἶναι λαμβάνουσα κατά τήν σύλληψιν ἅμα τῷ σώματι πρός ἑνός ἀνθρώπου συμπλήρωσιν ἄγγεται, τό δέ σῶμα ἐκ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ὕλης τοῦ ἑτέρου δηλαδή γίνεται σώματος κατά τήν σύλληψιν, ἅμα τῇ ψυχῇ τήν τοῦ ἕν εἶδος εἶναι σύν αὐτῇ δεχόμενον σύνθεσιν. Ὅπερ ἀλλαχοῦ τρανότερον ἐμφαίνων φησίν ὁ διδάσκαλος, "Κατά τήν διπλῆν τοῦ ἐμφυσήματος δύναμιν, καί πνοήν ἐμφυσώμενοι πάντες καί Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Μεριστέον οὖν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ κατά τήν σύλληψιν τό μέν ζωτικόν ἐμφύσημα καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον τῇ νοερᾷ τῆς ψυχῆς οὐσίᾳ, τήν δέ σάρκωσιν καί τήν πνοήν τῇ φύσει τοῦ σώματος, καθώς οἱ Πατέρες φασί. Καί ἡ τοῦ προπάτορος Ἀδάμ μυστικῶς παρήχθη γένεσις, ἕτερον τῆς ψυχῆς ἔχουσα τόν τε τοῦ εἶναι λόγον καί τόν τοῦ γενέσθαι τρόπον, καί ἕτερον δηλαδή τοῦ σώματος, ὡς τό θεῖον ἡμᾶς μεγαλοφυῶς ἐμυσταγώγησε γράμμα, μή συγχωροῦν τήν ψυχήν καί τό σῶμα καθ᾿ ἕνα καί τόν αὐτον τρόπον τῆς γενέσεως ἀλλήλοις συμπεσόντα φυρῆναι κατά τήν φύσιν καί τόν ἑκάστου τῆς οὐσίας λόγον ἀγνοηθῆναι, καί τόν τῆς γενέσεως τρόπον.

(1325) Εἰ δέ τῷ Ἀδάμ ἐνηκολούθησεν ἡ διπλῆ τοῦ ἐμφυσήματος δύναμις κατά τήν εἰς τό εἶναι γένεσιν σύνδρομος, τί ἄν τις εἴποι περί τοῦ κατά τήν ἀνθρωπότητα συναμφοτέρου τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ψυχῆς λέγω καί σώματος; ὅπερ κρᾶμα κατά τό δυνατόν ἐμφέρειαν σώζει πολλήν πρός τόν πρῶτον Ἀδάμ. Ὥσπερ γάρ, ὡς αὐτός φησιν ὁ διδάσκαλος, παρά τῆς ὕλης τό σῶμα λαβών ὁ Θεός, νεοτελοῦς δηλονότι προϋποστάσης, παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ δέ ζωήν ἐνθείς, ὅ δή νοεράν ψυχήν καί εἰκόνα Θεοῦ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, δημιουργεῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον, τόν αὐτόν τρόπον καί ἐξ ἀχράντου Παρθένου οἱονεί γῆς ἀμιάντου τό σῶμα λαβών, παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ δέ ζωήν ἐνθείς, ὅ δή ψυχήν νοεράν καί εἰκόνα Θεοῦ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, τό ἑαυτοῦ ἀνθρώπινον ἐδημιούργησεν, ἤ ἑαυτόν ἀτρέπτως κατά πρόσληψιν σαρκός νοερῶς τε καί λογικῶς ἐψυχωμένης, δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἑκουσίως ὡς παντοδύναμος δημιουργήσας ἐποίησεν ἄνθρωπον.

Ταύτῃ γοῦν καί τετιμηκέναι, καθάπερ οἶμαι, φησίν ὁ διδάσκαλος τήν Κύριον ἡμῶν καί Θεόν τήν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς τρισσήν γέννησιν, τουτέστι τούς καθόλου τρόπους τῆς ἡμῶν εἰς τό εἶναι καί τό εὖ εἶναι καί ἀεί εἶναι γενέσεως, τήν μέν ἐκ σωμάτων, μίαν οὖσαν τοῦ συναμφοτέρου κατά τήν ἅμα τῶν μερῶν ἀλλήλοις συνύπαρξιν, ψυχῆς λέγω καί σώματος, εἰς δύο διαιρουμένην, διά τόν ἑτεροῖον τῆς ἑκατέρου γενέσεως τρόπον, δι᾿ ἧς τό εἶναι λαμβάνομεν, τήν δέ ἐκ βαπτίσματος, καθ᾿ ἥν τό εὖ εἶναι πλουσίως ὑποδεχόμεθα, τήν δέ ἐξ ἀναστάσεως, καθ᾿ ἥν πρός τό ἀεί εἶναι διά χάριτος μεταποιούμεθα. Ἀκριβῶς τοίνυν δεῖ τοῖς τοῦ διδασκάλου λόγοις ἐπισκήπτειν διά τούς ἐπηρεαστάς τῶν καλῶν κειμένων. Τῇ γάρ ἐπινοίᾳ μόνῃ διελών τήν ἐκ σωμάτων