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Epistulae theologicae

Of the same to Cledonius the presbyter, first letter

101.1 To the most honorable and most God-beloved brother and fellow presbyter Cledonius, Gregory, greetings in the Lord. 101.2 We wish to learn what is this new teaching concerning the Church, so that it is permissible for anyone who wishes and is "passing by," as it is written, to scatter the flock that has been well led and to carry it off by stealthy assaults, or rather by brigandish and irrational teachings. 101.3 For if those who have now come upon us had something to condemn in us concerning the faith, not even so should they have dared such things without admonishing us. 101.4 For it was necessary either to persuade or be willing to be persuaded first (if indeed there is any account of us as those who fear God and have labored for the word and have benefited the Church), and then, if at all, to introduce new things, except that perhaps there was some defense for the insolent ones. 101.5 But since our faith has been proclaimed both in writing and unwritten, both here and further away, both with and without dangers, how is it that some attempt such things, while others keep silent? 101.6 And this is not yet the terrible thing, although it is terrible, if men deposit their own evil doctrine into the more guileless souls through the more malevolent, but that they also lie about us, as being of the same doctrine and mind, 101.7 casting the bait around the bronze hook and through this pretense evilly fulfilling their own will, and having made our simplicity, from which we regarded them fraternally and not as strangers, a provision for wickedness; 101.8 and not only this, but also that they say they have been received by the western synod, as I learn, by which they had previously been condemned, as is very clear to all. 101.9 If, then, those who hold the opinions of Apollinarius were received either now or before, let them show this and we will accept it. For it is clear that it was by agreeing to the right doctrine; for it is not otherwise possible, if they have obtained this.

101.10 And they will certainly show it either through a synodical tome or through letters of communion; for this is the law of synods. 101.11 But if this is a rumor and a fabrication for the sake of decency for them and credibility with the many, devised on account of the trustworthiness of the persons, teach them to be quiet and refute them. For we suppose that this is fitting for your way of life and orthodoxy. 101.12 Let the men not deceive nor be deceived, accepting a mindless man as the Lordly one, as they say, but rather our Lord and God. 101.13 For we do not separate the man from the divinity, but we teach one and the same, formerly not man, but God and only Son and pre-eternal, unmixed with body and the things of the body, 101.14 but in the end also man, assumed for our salvation, passible in flesh, impassible in divinity, circumscribed in body, uncircumscribed in spirit, 101.15 the same earthly and heavenly, seen and conceived, contained and uncontained, so that by the whole man, who is the same as God, the whole man who had fallen under sin might be refashioned. 101.16 If anyone does not suppose the holy Mary to be the Theotokos, he is without the divinity. If anyone should say that He passed through the Virgin as through a channel, but was not formed in her both divinely and humanly (divinely, because without a man; but humanly, because by the law of gestation), he is likewise godless. 101.17 If anyone should say that the man was formed, and then God entered into him, he is condemned. For this is not a generation of God, but a flight from generation. 101.18 If anyone introduces two Sons, one from God the Father, and a second from the

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Epistulae theologicae

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρὸς Κληδόνιον πρεσβύτερον ἐπιστολὴ πρώτη

101.1 Τῷ τιμιωτάτῳ καὶ θεοφιλεστάτῳ ἀδελφῷ καὶ συμπρεσβυτέρῳ Κληδονίῳ Γρηγόριος ἐν Κυρίῳ χαίρειν. 101.2 Βουλόμεθα μαθεῖν τίς ἡ καινοτομία περὶ τὴν Ἐκκλη σίαν, ἵν' ἐξῇ παντὶ βουλομένῳ καὶ «παραπορευομένῳ», κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, διασπᾶν τὴν ποίμνην καλῶς ἠγμένην καὶ συλαγωγεῖν κλοπιμαίοις ἐφόδοις, μᾶλλον δὲ λῃστρικοῖς καὶ παραλόγοις διδάγμασιν. 101.3 Εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶχόν τι κατα γινώσκειν ἡμῶν περὶ τὴν πίστιν οἱ νῦν ἐπελθόντες, οὐδ' οὕτω μὲν χωρὶς ὑπομνήσεως ἡμῶν ἔδει τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμᾶν. 101.4 Πεῖσαι γὰρ ἐχρῆν ἢ πεισθῆναι θελῆσαι πρότερον (εἴπερ τις καὶ ἡμῶν λόγος ὡς τὸν Θεὸν φοβουμένων καὶ κοπια σάντων ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ὠφελησάντων), καὶ τότε, εἴπερ ἄρα, καινοτομεῖν, πλὴν καὶ ἀπολογία τις ἦν ἴσως τοῖς ὑβρισταῖς. 101.5 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἐγγράφως καὶ ἀγράφως, καὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ πορρωτέρω, καὶ μετὰ κινδύνων καὶ ἀκινδύνως ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν κεκήρυκται, πῶς οἱ μὲν ἐγχειροῦσι τοῖς τοιούτοις, οἱ δὲ ἡσυχάζουσι; 101.6 Καὶ οὐχὶ τοῦτό πω δεινόν, καίπερ ὂν δεινόν, εἰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν κακοδοξίαν ἄνθρωποι ταῖς ἀκεραιοτέραις ψυχαῖς διὰ τῶν κακουργοτέρων ἐναποτίθενται, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ἡμῶν καταψεύδονται ὡς ὁμοδόξων καὶ ὁμοφρόνων, 101.7 τῷ χαλκῷ τὸ δέλεαρ περιβάλλοντες καὶ διὰ τοῦ προσχήματος τούτου τὸ ἑαυτῶν θέλημα κακῶς ἐκπληροῦντες, καὶ τὴν ἁπλότητα ἡμῶν, ἐξ ἧς ἀδελφικῶς αὐτοὺς ἑωρῶμεν, καὶ οὐκ ἀλλοτρίως, κακίας ἐφόδιον ποιησάμενοι· 101.8 οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς δυτικῆς συνόδου δεδέχθαι φασίν, ὡς πυνθάνομαι, ὑφ' ἧς τὸ πρότερον ἦσαν κατακριθέντες, ὡς πᾶσιν εὔδηλον. 101.9 Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐδέχθησαν ἢ νῦν ἢ πρότερον οἱ τὰ Ἀπολλιναρίου φρονοῦντες, τοῦτο δειξάτωσαν καὶ ἡμεῖς στέρξομεν. ∆ῆλον γὰρ ὅτι τῷ ὀρθῷ λόγῳ συνθέμενοι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐνδέχεται ἄλλως, εἰ τούτου τετυχήκασι.

101.10 ∆είξουσι δὲ πάντως ἢ διὰ τόμου συνοδικοῦ ἢ δι' ἐπιστολῶν κοινωνικῶν· οὗτος γὰρ τῶν συνόδων ὁ νόμος. 101.11 Εἰ δὲ λόγος τοῦτό ἐστι καὶ ἀναπλασμὸς εὐπρεπείας ἕνεκεν αὐτοῖς καὶ πιθανότητος τῆς πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς εὑρημένος διὰ τὸ τῶν προσώπων ἀξιό πιστον, δίδαξον αὐτοὺς ἠρεμεῖν καὶ διέλεγχε. Τῇ γὰρ σῇ πολιτείᾳ καὶ ὀρθοδοξίᾳ τοῦτο πρέπειν ὑπολαμβάνομεν. 101.12 Μὴ ἀπατάτωσαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μηδὲ ἀπατάσθωσαν ἄνθρωπον ἄνουν δεχόμενοι τὸν Κυριακόν, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν καὶ Θεόν. 101.13 Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸν ἄνθρωπον χωρίζομεν τῆς θεότητος, ἀλλ' ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν δογματίζομεν, πρότερον μὲν οὐκ ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ Θεὸν καὶ Υἱὸν μόνον καὶ προαιώνιον, ἀμιγῆ σώματος καὶ τῶν ὅσα σώματος, 101.14 ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπον, προσληφθέντα ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς ἡμετέρας, παθητὸν σαρκί, ἀπαθῆ θεότητι, περιγραπτὸν σώματι, ἀπερίγραπτον πνεύματι, 101.15 τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπίγειον καὶ οὐράνιον, ὁρώμενον καὶ νοούμε νον, χωρητὸν καὶ ἀχώρητον, ἵν' ὅλῳ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ Θεῷ ὅλος ἄνθρωπος ἀναπλασθῇ πεσὼν ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. 101.16 Εἴ τις οὐ Θεοτόκον τὴν ἁγίαν Μαρίαν ὑπολαμβάνει, χωρὶς ἐστὶ τῆς θεότητος. Εἴ τις ὡς διὰ σωλῆνος τῆς Παρθένου διαδραμεῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐν αὐτῇ διαπεπλάσθαι λέγοι θεϊκῶς ἅμα καὶ ἀνθρωπικῶς (θεϊκῶς μέν, ὅτι χωρὶς ἀνδρός· ἀνθρωπικῶς δέ, ὅτι νόμῳ κυήσεως), ὁμοίως ἄθεος. 101.17 Εἴ τις διαπεπλάσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, εἶθ' ὑποδεδυκέναι λέγοι Θεόν, κατάκριτος. Οὐ γέννησις γὰρ Θεοῦ τοῦτό ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ φυγὴ γεννήσεως. 101.18 Εἴ τις εἰσάγει δύο Υἱούς, ἕνα μὲν τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, δεύτερον δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῆς