Fragment VIII.

Into this error, then, have they been carried, by believing, unhappily, that that divine energy was made the property of the flesh which was only manifested through the flesh in His miraculous actions; by which energy Christ, in so far as He is apprehended as God, gave existence to the universe, and now maintains and governs it.  For they did not perceive that it is impossible for the energy of the divine nature to become the property53    ἰδίωμα. of a being of a different nature54    ἑτεροφανοῦς οὐσίας. apart from conversion; nor did they understand that that is not by any means the property of the flesh which is only manifested through it, and does not spring out of it according to nature; and yet the proof thereof was clear and evident to them. For I, by speaking with the tongue and writing with the hand, reveal through both these one and the same thought of my intelligent soul, its energy (or operation) being natural; in no way showing it as springing naturally out of tongue or hand; nor yet (showing) even the spoken thought as made to belong to them in virtue of its revelation by their means. For no intelligent person ever recognised tongue or hand as capable of thought, just as also no one ever recognised the perfectly holy flesh of God, in virtue of its assumption, and in virtue of the revelation of the divine energy through its medium, as becoming in nature creative.55    δημιουργόν. But the pious confession of the believer is that, with a view to our salvation, and in order to connect the universe with unchangeableness, the Creator of all things incorporated with Himself56    ἐνουσιώσας. a rational soul and a sensible57    Or sensitive, αἰσθητικοῦ. body from the all-holy Mary, ever-virgin, by an undefiled conception, without conversion, and was made man in nature, but separate from wickedness: the same was perfect God, and the same was perfect man; the same was in nature at once perfect God and man. In His deity He wrought divine things through His all-holy flesh,—such things, namely, as did not pertain to the flesh by nature; and in His humanity He suffered human things,—such things, namely, as did not pertain to deity by nature, by the upbearing of the deity.58    ἀνοχῇ πάσχων θεότητος. He wrought nothing divine without the body;59    γυμνὸν σώματος. nor did the same do anything human without the participation of deity.60    ἄμοιρον δράσας θεότητος. Thus He preserved for Himself a new and fitting method61    καινοπρεπῆ τρόπον. by which He wrought (according to the manner of) both, while that which was natural to both remained unchanged;62    τὸ κατ᾽ ἄμφω φυσικῶς ἀναλλοίωτον. to the accrediting63    εἰς πίστωσιν. of His perfect incarnation,64    ἐνανθρωπήσεως.  [See Athanasian Creed, in Dutch Hymnal.] which is really genuine, and has nothing lacking in it.65    μηδὲν ἐχούσης φαυλότητος. Beron, therefore, since the case stands with him as I have already stated, confounding together in nature the deity and the humanity of Christ in a single energy,66    ἐνεργείας μονάδι. and again separating them in person, subverts the life, not knowing that identical operation67    ταυτουργίαν. is indicative of the connatural identity only of connatural persons.68    μόνης τῆς τῶν ὁμοφυῶν προσώπων ὁμοφυοῦς ταυτότητος.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. ηʹ. Εἰς ταύτην δὲ τὴν πλάνην κατήχθησαν κακῶς πεισθέντες, ἰδίαν γενέσθαι τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν δι' αὐτῆς ἐκφανθεῖσαν ἐν τοῖς θαύμασι θείαν ἐνέργειαν, ᾗ τὸ πᾶν ὁ Χριστὸς οὐσιώσας, καθὸ νοεῖται θεός, συνέχει κρατούμενον. οὐ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν ἀδύνατον εἶναι, θείας ἐνεργείας φύσεως ἑτεροφυοῦς οὐσίας ἰδίωμα γενέσθαι δίχα τροπῆς, οὐδὲ συνῆκαν, ὡς οὐ πάντως ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ δι' αὐτῆς μὲν ἐκφαινόμενον, οὐκ αὐτῆς δὲ φυσικῶς ἐκφυόμενον, καίτοι σαφοῦς αὐτοῖς οὔσης καὶ προφανοῦς τῆς ἀποδείξεως. ἐγὼ γὰρ γλώσσῃ λαλῶν καὶ χειρὶ γράφων μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν δι' ἀμφοῖν τῆς νοερᾶς μου ψυχῆς ἐκφαίνω διάνοιαν, ἐνέργειαν αὐτῆς ὑπάρχουσαν φυσικήν, μηδενὶ λόγῳ δείξας αὐτὴν γλώσσης ἢ χειρὸς φυσικῶς ἐκφυομένην, μήτε μὴν γενομένην αὐτῶν ἢ λεγομένην διάνοιαν διὰ τὴν δι' ἀμφοῖν αὐτῆς ἔκφανσιν. γλῶσσαν γὰρ ἢ χεῖρα διανοητικὴν συνετὸς οἶδεν οὐδείς, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὴν παναγίαν τοῦ θεοῦ σάρκα διὰ τὸ προσληφθῆναι καὶ τὸ δι' αὐτῆς ἐκφανθῆναι τὴν θείαν ἐνέργειαν γενομένην κατ' αὐτὸν φύσει δημιουργόν, ἀλλ' εὐσεβῶς ὁμολογεῖ πιστεύων, ὅτι διὰ τὴν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν καὶ τὸ δῆσαι πρὸς ἀτρεψίας τὸ πᾶν ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς ἐκ τῆς παναγίας ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας κατὰ σύλληψιν ἄχραντον δίχα τροπῆς ἐνουσιώσας ἑαυτῷ ψυχὴν νοερὰν μετὰ αἰσθητικοῦ σώματος, γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος φύσει κακίας ἀλλότριος ὁ λόγος θεὸς ὁ αὐτός: θεότητι μὲν τὰ θεῖα διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ παναγίας σαρκός, οὐκ ὄντα φύσει τῆς σαρκός, ἐνεργῶν, ἀνθρωπότητι δὲ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, οὐκ ὄντα φύσει θεότητος, ἀνοχῇ πάσχων θεότητος, μηδὲν θεῖον γυμνὸν σώματος ἐνεργήσας, μηδὲν ἀνθρώπινον ὁ αὐτὸς ἄμοιρον δράσας θεότητος, τηρῶν ἑαυτῷ καὶ καθ' ὃν ἐνήργησεν ἀμφότερα καινοπρεπῆ τρόπον τὸ κατ' ἄμφω φυσικῶς ἀναλλοίωτον, εἰς πίστωσιν τῆς αὐτοῦ τελείας ἐνανθρωπήσεως τῆς ὄντως ἀληθοῦς καὶ μηδὲν ἐχούσης φαυλότητος. ὁ μὲν οὖν Βήρων οὕτως ἔχων, ὡς ἔφην, ἐνεργείας μονάδι τὴν θεότητα τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα συγχέας ὁμοῦ φυσικῶς λύει τὸν βίον, ἀγνοήσας, μόνης τῆς τῶν ὁμοφυῶν προσώπων ὁμοφυοῦς ταυτότητος τὴν ταυτουργίαν εἶναι δηλωτικήν.