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Against the Aphthartodocetae

I. 1. If the body of Christ is by nature incorruptible and unsusceptible to corruption, how is it consubstantial with us, concerning whom it is said: For this corruptible must put on incorruption? For what becomes incorruptible through change has corruption by nature. 2. But perhaps one from the opposite side will say: If the body of Christ, being incorruptible before the resurrection, is not consubstantial with the now corruptible bodies of men, do you then, who confess that the body of Christ is incorruptible after the resurrection, no longer say that it is consubstantial with us? 3. To whom it must be answered that in this respect it is consubstantial with ours; for just as, being receptive of incorruptibility, it became incorruptible from a corruptible nature, so too our bodies, being corruptible by nature, will become incorruptible in the resurrection. And if the body of Christ were incorruptible, how was it divided by the lance? For it is proper to things that are divided to be corrupted, even if they are not often corrupted, being held together by the will of God, just as the Lord's body, though corruptible by nature, by the advent of the Word according to its own nature was not corrupted by being dissolved in the tomb into the simple elements from which it was composed. 4. But that God the Word incarnate willed His own body to be corruptible by nature, and that He took on our body, procuring salvation for us all through Himself and in Himself, through the things which He began both to do and to teach, and to bestow supernatural gifts to men, the blessed Cyril says in the first chapter on the incarnation: «Then He became free from sin, so that in Him alone, crowned with the glories of sinlessness, human nature might be enriched with the Holy Spirit», and again to the queens, chapter 23: | «And insofar as He is by nature and truly God, He receives in a human manner, not so much for Himself, but procuring it for human nature through Himself and first in Himself, and He gives divinely from His own nature to those worthy to receive». 5. In addition to these good things, He took on our body to be a model for us, as an example and teaching. But how is He a model for us who have a corruptible body, if He Himself has an incorruptible one and is like us then only in appearance and not in reality? For to dogmatize that Christ took an incorruptible body is similar to saying the economy was a phantasm. 6. Since, then, after the transgression, Adam's body became corruptible by nature because of the decree from God, which after Adam ran through our entire race, Christ, wishing to save this corruptible body, assumed a body. For how could what was not assumed have enjoyed healing? 7. But if they dare to say that the incarnate Word did not become a model for us—perhaps fighting against all the teachers of the church and Christ's own disciples and apostles, for everywhere they preach that He became a model for us—how then did He grow, if it were incorruptible? For alteration in quantity occurs only in a corruptible substance. 8. Since, then, not understanding, they put forward a scriptural saying, that it is said, His flesh did not see corruption, they are truly not understanding. For it did not say 'incorruptible by nature,' but that though corruptible

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Adversus Aphthartodocetas

I. 1. Εἰ ἄφθαρτον φύσει τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ φθορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτον, πῶς ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιον, περὶ ὧν εἴρηται· ∆εῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν; Τὸ γὰρ ἐκ μεταβολῆς γενόμενον ἄφθαρτον φύσει ἔχει τὴν φθοράν. 2. Ἀλλ' ἴσως ὁ δι' ἐναντίας ἐρεῖ· Ἐὰν ἄφθαρτον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὑπάρχον πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τοῖς νῦν τῶν ἀνθρώπων σώμασιν οὖσι φθαρτοῖς οὐκ ἔστιν ὁμοούσιον, ἆρα καὶ ὑμεῖς οἱ ὁμολογοῦντες μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἄφθαρτον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὐκέτι φατὲ αὐτὸ ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιον; 3. Πρὸς οὓς ἀποκριτέον ὅτι κατὰ τοῦτο τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐστὶν ὁμοούσιον· ὥσπερ γὰρ δεκτικὸν ὑπάρχον ἀφθαρσίας, ἄφθαρτον γέγονεν ἐκ φύσεως φθαρτῆς, οὕτως καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα, φύσει ὄντα φθαρτά, ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἄφθαρτα γενήσεται. Καὶ εἰ ἄφθαρτον ἦν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πῶς διῃρέθη τῇ λόγχῃ; Τῶν γὰρ διαιρουμένων ἴδιον τὸ φθείρεσθαι, εἰ καὶ μὴ φθείροιντο πολλάκις βουλήσει θεοῦ συγκροτούμενα, ὡς καὶ τὸ τοῦ κυρίου σῶμα φθαρτὸν ὑπάρχον φύσει τῇ τοῦ λόγου ἐπιβάσει κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν οὐκ ἐφθάρη διαλυθὲν ἐν τῷ τάφῳ εἰς τὰ ἁπλᾶ ἐξ ὧν συνετέθη. 4. Ὅτι δὲ φθαρτὸν φύσει ἐβούλετο ὁ θεὸς λόγος σαρκωθεὶς εἶναι τὸ οἰκεῖον σῶμα καὶ ὅτι τὸ ἡμέτερον ἀνέλαβε καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἡμῖν σωτηρίαν προξενῶν, δι' ὧν ἤρξατο ποιεῖν τε καὶ διδάσκειν καὶ δωρεῖσθαι τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, φησὶν ὁ μακάριος Κύριλλος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ κεφαλαίῳ περὶ ἐνανθρωπήσεως· «Εἶτα γέγονεν ἁμαρτίας ἐλεύθερος, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ μόνῳ τοῖς τῆς ἀναμαρτησίας αὐχήμασιν ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις στεφανουμένη καταπλουτήσῃ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον», καὶ πάλιν πρὸς τὰς βασιλίδας, κεφάλαιον κγʹ· | «Καὶ καθὸ φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς ἐστι θεός, δέχεται μὲν ἀνθρωπίνως οὐχ ἑαυτῷ μᾶλλον, ἀλλὰ τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσει δι' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ πρώτῳ προξενῶν αὐτό, δίδωσι δὲ θεϊκῶς ἐξ ἰδίας αὐτοῦ φύσεως τοῖς ἀξίοις τοῦ λαβεῖν». 5. Πρὸς τούτοις τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς εἰς ὑπογραμμὸν ὡς γραφὴν καὶ διδασκαλίαν ἡμῶν τὸ ἡμέτερον ἀνέλαβε σῶμα. Πῶς δὲ ἡμῖν ὑπογραμμὸν τοῖς φθαρτὸν ἔχουσι σῶμα, αὐτὸς δὲ ἄφθαρτον καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς λοιπὸν δοκήσει καὶ οὐκ ἀλη- θείᾳ; Ὅμοιον γάρ ἐστι τοῖς δογματίζουσιν ἄφθαρτον Χριστὸν εἰληφέναι σῶμα τοῖς λέγουσι φαντασίαν τὴν οἰκονομίαν. 6. Ἐπεὶ οὖν μετὰ τὴν παράβασιν φύσει φθαρτὸν Ἀδὰμ γέγονε τὸ σῶμα διὰ τὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ὅρον, ὃς μετὰ τὸν Ἀδὰμ διέδραμεν εἰς ὅλον τὸ γέ- νος ἡμῶν, τοῦτο τὸ φθαρτὸν βουλόμενος σῶσαι Χριστὸς ἀνείληφε σῶμα. Πῶς γὰρ ἰατρείας ἀπέλαυε τὸ μὴ προσειλημμένον; 7. Εἰ δὲ τολμῶσι λέγειν ὡς οὐ γέγονεν ἡμῖν ὑπογραμμὸς σαρκωθεὶς ὁ λόγος- ἴσως μαχόμενοι πᾶσι τοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας διδασκάλοις καὶ αὐτοῖς Χριστοῦ μαθηταῖς καὶ ἀποστόλοις, πανταχοῦ γὰρ κηρύσσουσι τὸ ἡμῖν ὑπογραμμὸν γεγονέναι-πῶς δὲ αὔξει, εἰ ἄφθαρτον ἦν; Ἐν γὰρ φθαρτῇ μόνῃ οὐσίᾳ γίνεται ἡ ἐν ποσῷ ἀλλοίωσις. 8. Ἐπεὶ οὖν μὴ νοοῦντες προβάλλονται λόγιον γραφι- κὸν ὅτι εἴρηται Ἡ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ οὐκ εἶδε διαφθοράν, εἰσὶν ὄν- τως μὴ νοοῦντες. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ἄφθαρτον φύσει, ἀλλ' ὅτι φθαρτὸν