Fragment II.

The God of all things therefore became truly, according to the Scriptures, without conversion, sinless man, and that in a manner known to Himself alone, as He is the natural Artificer of things which are above our comprehension. And by that same saving act of the incarnation15    σωτήριον σάρκωσιν. He introduced into the flesh the activity of His proper divinity, yet without having it (that activity) either circumscribed by the flesh through the exinanition, or growing naturally out of the flesh as it grew out of His divinity,16    οὐδ᾽ ὥσπερ τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος οὕτω καὶ αὐτῆς φυσικῶς ἐκφυομένην. but manifested through it in the things which He wrought in a divine manner in His incarnate state. For the flesh did not become divinity in nature by a transmutation of nature, as though it became essentially flesh of divinity. But what it was before, that also it continued to be in nature and activity when united with divinity, even as the Saviour said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”17    Matt. xxvi. 41. And working and enduring in the flesh things which were proper to sinless flesh, He proved the evacuation of divinity (to be) for our sakes, confirmed as it was by wonders and by sufferings of the flesh naturally. For with this purpose did the God of all things become man, viz., in order that by suffering in the flesh, which is susceptible of suffering, He might redeem our whole race, which was sold to death; and that by working wondrous things by His divinity, which is unsusceptible of suffering, through the medium of the flesh He might restore it to that incorruptible and blessed life from which it fell away by yielding to the devil; and that He might establish the holy orders of intelligent existences in the heavens in immutability by the mystery of His incarnation,18    σωματώσεως. the doing of which is the recapitulation of all things in himself.19    Referring probably to Eph. i. 10. He remained therefore, also, after His incarnation, according to nature, God infinite, and more,20    ὑπεράπειρος. having the activity proper and suitable to Himself,—an activity growing out of His divinity essentially, and manifested through His perfectly holy flesh by wondrous acts economically, to the intent that He might be believed in as God, while working out of Himself21    αὐτουργῶν. by the flesh, which by nature is weak, the salvation of the universe.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. βʹ Γέγονεν οὖν ἀληθῶς κατὰ τὰς γραφὰς μὴ τραπεὶς ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς ἄνθρωπος ἀναμάρτητος, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτὸς μόνος, ὑπάρχων τεχνίτης φυσικὸς τῶν ὑπὲρ ἔννοιαν, κατ' αὐτὴν ἅμα τὴν σωτήριον σάρκωσιν τῆς ἰδίας θεότητος ἐμποιήσας τῇ σαρκὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν οὐ περιγραφομένην αὐτῇ διὰ τὴν κένωσιν, οὐδ' ὥσπερ τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος, οὕτω καὶ αὐτῆς φυσικῶς ἐκφυομένην, ἀλλ' ἐν οἷς ἂν σαρκωθεὶς θεϊκῶς ἐνήργησε, δι' αὐτῆς ἐκφαινομένην. οὐ γὰρ γέγονε φύσει θεότης μεταβληθεῖσα τὴν φύσιν ἡ σὰρξ γενομένη τῇ φύσει θεότητος σάρξ, ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἦν, καὶ θεότητι συμφυεῖσα μεμένηκε τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ σωτήρ: „τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής„. καθ' ἣν ἐνεργήσας τε καὶ παθών, ἅπερ ἦν ἀναμαρτήτου σαρκός, τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐπιστώσατο κένωσιν θεότητος θαύμασι καὶ σαρκὸς παθήμασι φυσικῶς βεβαιουμένην. διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεός, ἵνα σαρκὶ μὲν παθητῇ πάσχων ἅπαν ἡμῶν τὸ τῷ θανάτῳ πραθὲν λυτρώσηται γένος, ἀπαθεῖ δὲ θεότητι διὰ σαρκὸς θαυματουργῶν πρὸς τὴν ἀκήρατον αὐτοῦ καὶ μακαρίαν ἐπαναγάγῃ ζωὴν καὶ τὰ κατ' οὐρανοὺς ἅγια τάγματα τῶν νοερῶν οὐσιῶν στομώσῃ πρὸς ἀτρεψίαν τῷ μυστηρίῳ τῆς αὐτοῦ σωματώσεως, ἧς ἔργον ἡ τῶν ὅλων ἐστὶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀνακεφαλαίωσις. μεμένηκεν οὖν καὶ σαρκωθεὶς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν θεὸς ὑπεράπειρος, τὴν ἑαυτῷ συγγενῆ καὶ κατάλληλον ἔχων ἐνέργειαν, τῆς μὲν θεότητος οὐσιωδῶς ἐκφυομένην, διὰ δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ παναγίας σαρκὸς ἐν τοῖς θαύμασιν οἰκονομικῶς ἐκφαινομένην, ἵνα πιστευθῇ θεὸς εἶναι, δι' ἀσθενοῦς φύσει σαρκὸς αὐτουργῶν τὴν τοῦ παντὸς σωτηρίαν.