Fragment IV.

For, in the view of apostles and prophets and teachers, the mystery of the divine incarnation has been distinguished as having two points of contemplation natural to it,31    διττὴν καὶ διαφορὰν ἔχον διέγνωσται τὴν ἐν πᾶσι φυσικὴν θεωρίαν. distinct in all things, inasmuch as on the one hand it is the subsistence of perfect deity, and on the other is demonstrative of full humanity. As long, therefore,32    The text goes, ἕως ἂν οὐχ, which is adopted by Combefisius. But Capperonnier and Migne read οὖν for οὐχ, as we have rendered it. as the Word is acknowledged to be in substance one, of one energy, there shall never in any way be known a movement33    Change, κίνησις. in the two. For while God, who is essentially ever-existent, became by His infinite power, according to His will, sinless man, He is what He was, in all wherein God is known; and what He became, He is in all wherein man is known and can be recognised. In both aspects of Himself He never falls out of Himself,34    μένει ἀνέκπτωτος. in His divine activities and in His human alike, preserving in both relations His own essentially unchangeable perfection.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. δʹ. Τὸ γὰρ μυστήριον τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως ἀποστόλοις τε καὶ προφήταις καὶ διδασκάλοις διττὴν καὶ διάφορον ἔχον διέγνωσται τὴν ἐν πᾶσι φυσικὴν θεωρίαν, ἀνελλιποῦς ὑπάρχον θεότητος καὶ πλήρους ἐνδεικτικὸν ἀνθρωπότητος ὄν. ἕως ἂν οὐχ εἷς κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν γνωρίζεται λόγος μιᾶς ἐνεργείας, οὐδέποτε καθ' ὁτιοῦν ἀμφοτέρων γνωσθήσεται κίνησις. ὁ γὰρ ἀεὶ κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχων θεός, ὑπεραπείρῳ δυνάμει γενόμενος, ὡς ἠθέλησεν, ἄνθρωπος ἀναμάρτητος, ὅπερ ἦν, ἔστι μεθ' ὅσων νοεῖται θεός, καὶ ὅπερ γέγονεν, ἔστι μεθ' ὅσων νοεῖται θεὸς καὶ γνωρίζεσθαι πέφυκεν ἄνθρωπος, ἑαυτοῦ καθ' ἑκάτερον ἀεὶ μένων ἀνέκπτωτος, οἷς θεϊκῶς ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀνθρωπίνως ἐνήργησε, τέλειον κατὰ τὸν ἑκατέρου λόγον σώζων ἑαυτῷ φυσικῶς ἀναλλοίωτον.