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knowing the natures in Christ, divinity and humanity, it also beholds the most brilliant difference of these towards one another. For divinity and humanity are not the same thing, even if Christ is one, existing in both, and is both; for even if the composite is one, yet not in nature, but in union, the ecclesiastical herald most clearly proclaims. The Church, not accepting the difference according to Severus; but according to her own teaching does not cast it away in the manner of the one of Halicarnassus. For she knows the Word to have assumed true flesh and an intelligent soul with their own properties (1501); and she knows the immortal to have been united with the corruptible, as the aforementioned Theologian Gregory said.

Therefore, as we were saying, the truth has remained in the middle of both and unmoved, rejecting on the one hand the saying according to Severus of one nature and a difference; for this is in no way different from an enigma and a monstrous fable. For how will the same nature be two opposite things? and how will it subsist according to its very nature, being warred against by itself, and warring against itself? And in this, it is timely to remember the Lord crying out, that every house or kingdom divided against itself, will not stand. If therefore according to him the one nature was divided against itself, how will its existence stand? Therefore, according to the common notions and according to the very word of the Lord, the teaching of the Church, doing well, does not accept one nature differing from itself, and contrary to itself, according to the unstable and most contentious notion of Severus. But indeed, neither according to Julian does the Church of God completely reject the difference. For if according to him Christ is one nature, and has in no way admitted an essential difference, it is entirely necessary for the one who strongly affirms these things to confess one of two things: either that the Lord is a mere man, and that the things said of him were done by a divine power that was other than him, and was in him and acting; or that Christ is God bare and not become man, and the human things said of him, that he suffered these things not as man, but as God, accepting these things into his one nature; or if neither of these, to say that he did what he did, that is, the divine things or the human things, by some phantasm and deceit, or that the whole evangelical history concerning him is altogether false, and that Christians are deceived in vain, and that the hope in Christ is an empty blessedness, as it is said. It is time, then, also to say the words of the Apostle, "Then our preaching is in vain. We are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise."

Such reasonings are truly vanity, and an overthrow of the faith according to the Theologian Gregory. It has been demonstrated, therefore, from every side that the doctrine of the holy catholic Church of God is purified from all contradiction, and is irrefutable, and stands alone upon the truth. For when it wishes to set forth the manner in which the condescension to us out of divine love for mankind came to be, they confess the one incarnate nature of God the Word; since the Word is without beginning and eternally in the Father, but in later times became man for us and for our salvation, and took on the seed of Abraham, and was made like us in all things, apart from sin alone. But when it wishes to consider the things in which Christ is, or even what Christ is, confessing two natures (1504) essentially united, and from this setting forth the greatness of the mercy and of the compassions of God who deigned for our sake, through his affection for us, for our nature to be with and to be co-numbered with his own nature; and thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. And so much for these things. But since Severus is occupied with mere words, and places piety in mere phrases and sounds,

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φύσεις ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ γινώσκουσα, θεότητα καί ἀνθρωπότητα, τούτων καί διαφοράν τήν πρός ἄλληλα τηλαυγεστάτην θεωρεῖ. Οὐ γάρ ταυτόν θεότης, καί ἀνθρωπότης, εἰ καί εἷς ὁ Χριστός ὁ ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ὑπάρχων, καί ἀμφότερον· εἰ γάρ καί τό συναμφότερον ἕν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῇ φύσει, τῇ δέ συνόδῳ, ὁ ἐκκλησιαστικός κήρυξ ἀριδήλως βοᾷ. Μή δεχομένη δέ ἡ Ἐκκλησία κατά Σευῆρον τήν διαφοράν· ἀλλά κατά τόν ἑαυτῆς λόγον οὐκ ἀποβάλλεται ταύτην καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ Ἀλικαρνασσέως. Σάρκα γάρ ἀληθῇ καί ψυχήν νοεράν μετά τῶν οἰκείων ἰδιωμάτων (1501) ἀναλαβόντα τόν Λόγον ἐπίσταται· καί ἑνωθέν οἶδε τῷ φθαρτῷ τό ἀθάνατον, ὡς ὁ προλεχθείς Θεολόγος Γρηγόριος ἔφη.

Ἄρ᾿ οὖν, ὅπερ ἐλέγομεν, μέση μεμένηκεν ἀμφοτέρων καί ἀκίνητος ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἀποβαλλομένη μέν τό λέγειν κατά Σευῆρον μίαν φύσιν καί διαφοράν· αἰνίγματος γάρ καί τερατομυθίας οὐδέν ἧττον διενήνοχε τοῦτο. Πῶς γάρ ἡ αὐτή φύσις δύο ἔσται τά ἐναντία; πῶς δέ καί ὑποστήσεται κατ᾿ αὐτό τό πεφυκέναι πολεμουμένη ὑφ᾿ ἑαυτῆς, καί αὐτήν πολεμοῦσα; Καί ἐν τούτῳ δέ κατά καιρόν μνημονευτέον τοῦ Κυρίου βοῶντος, ὅτι πᾶσα οἰκία ἤ βασιλεία καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν μερισθεῖσα, οὐ σταθήσεται. Εἰ οὖν κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἡ μία φύσις ἐμερίσθη ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτήν, πῶς σταθήσεται ἡ ταύτης ὕπαρξις; ἆρ᾿ οὖν κατά τάς κοινάς ἐννοίας κατά τε αὐτόν τόν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον, εὖ γε ποιῶν ὁ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας λόγος, οὐ παραδέχεται μίαν φύσιν πρός ἑαυτήν διαφερομένην, καί αὐτῇ ἐναντίαν, κατά τήν τοῦ Σευήρου ἄστατον καί μαχιμωτάτην ἐπίνοιαν. Ἀλλά μήν οὐδέ κατά Ἰουλιανόν παντάπασι τήν διαφοράν ἀποβάλλεται ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία. Εἰ γάρ μία μέν φύσις κατ᾿ ἐκεῖνον ὁ Χριστός, καί διαφοράν οὐσιώδη μή καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν παραδέδεκται, ἕν τῶν ὁποτέρων ἀνάγκη πάντως ὁμολογεῖν τόν ταῦτα διισχυριζόμενον, ἤ ἄνθρωπον ψιλόν εἶναι τόν Κύριον, καί τά λεγόμενα ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, θείαν δύναμιν ἑτέραν παρ᾿ αὐτόν οὖσαν, καί ἐν αὐτῷ οὖσαν, καί ἐνεργοῦσαν πεπρᾶχθαι· ἤ Θεόν γυμνόν καί μή ἐνηνθρωπηκότα εἶναι τόν Χριστόν, καί τά λεγόμενα ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἀνθρώπινα, μή ὡς ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς Θεόν ταῦτα παθεῖν, εἰς τήν μίαν αὐτοῦ φύσιν ταῦτα ἀνδεχόμενον· ἤ εἰ μηδέ ἕν τούτων, φαντασίᾳ τινί καί ἀπάτῃ λέγειν περί αὐτοῦ δεδρακέναι ἅπερ ἕδρα, ἤτοι τά θεῖα, ἤτοι τά ἀνθρώπινα, ἤ τό παράπαν ψευδῆ εἶναι τήν περί αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν εὐαγγελικήν ἱστορίαν, καί μάτην ἀπατᾶσθαι τούς Χριστιανούς, καί κενήν μακαρίαν εἶναι, τό δή λεγόμενον, τήν εἰς Χριστόν ἐλπίδα. Καιρός δέ λοιπόν καί τό τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λέγειν, Κενόν ἄρα τό κήρυγμα ἡμῶν. Εὑρισκόμεθα δέ καί ψευδομάρτυρες τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι ψευδοεμαρτυρήσαμεν κατά τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι ἤγειρε τόν Χριστόν, ὅν οὐκ ἤγειρε.

Ματαιότης ὄντως οἱ τοιοῦτοι συλλογισμοί, καί τῆς πίστεως ἀνατροπή κατά τόν Θεολόγον Γρηγόριον. Ἐκ παντός οὖν ἀποδέδεικται κεκαθαρμένην ἀντιῤῥήσεως ἁπάσης, καί ἀνεξέλεγκτον εἶναι, καί μόνην ἐπί τῆς ἀληθείας ἑστάναι τήν δόξαν τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Ὅταν μέν γάρ τόν τρόπον καθ᾿ ὅν γέγονεν ἡ ἐκ θείας φιλανθρωπίας πρός ἡμᾶς συγκατάβασις βούληται παριστᾷν, τήν μίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου φύσιν σεσαρκωμένην ὁμολογοῦσιν· ὡς ἅτε τοῦ Λόγου ἀνάρχου τε ὄντος καί ἀϊδίως ἐν τῷ Πατρί, ἐν ὑστέρῳ δέ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς καί τήν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν ἐνανθρωπήσαντος, καί σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ ἐπιλαβομένου, καί κατά πάντα ἡμῖν ὁμοιωθέντος δίχα μόνης ἁμαρτίας. Ὅταν δέ τά ἐν οἷς ὁ Χριστός, ἤ καί ὅσα ὁ Χριστός, βούληται θεωρεῖν, δύο φύσεις (1504) οὐσιωδῶς ἡνωμένας ὁμολογοῦσα, κἀκ τούτου παριστῶσα τό μεγαλεῖον τοῦ ἐλέους, καί τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ περί ἡμᾶς καταδεξαμένου, διά τήν πρός ἡμᾶς στοργήν συνεῖναί τε καί συναριθμεῖσθαι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φύσει τήν ἡμετέραν· καί χάρις τῷ Θεῷ ἐπί τῇ ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ αὐτοῦ δωρεᾷ. Καί ταῦτα μέν εἰς τοσοῦτον. Ἐπειδή δέ ὁ Σευῆρος ψιλαῖς προκαθέζεται φωναῖς, ἐν ῥήμασί τε μόνοις καί ἦχοις τήν εὐσέβειαν ὑποτίθεται·