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De duabus in Christo voluntatibus

Of the blessed John, monk of Damascus, concerning the properties of the two natures in the one Christ our Lord, and briefly also concerning two wills and energies and one hypostasis.

1 Those who confess two natures and one hypostasis in our Lord Jesus Christ ought also to confess the natural properties of the natures as double and different, but those of the hypostasis as simple; for it is impossible for a nature to subsist apart from its own natural properties which constitute it and distinguish it from the other natures, the collection of which will not be observed in another species. And again it is impossible for the one and same hypostasis to differ from itself in its constitutive and characteristic and distinguishing properties from the other hypostases of the same species, I mean, by the hypostatic properties, the collection of which it is impossible to be observed in another hypostasis. Those who are skilled in these matters are accustomed to call these accidental and non-essential. 2 For a nature is compared to a nature and is said to differ from a nature, that is, a species from a species, by the essential and natural differences. Likewise, a hypostasis is also compared to a hypostasis of the same species and is said to differ from hypostases of the same species by the characteristic properties of the hypostases; but a hypostasis is not compared to a hypostasis of another species as a hypostasis. For the hypostatic properties of Peter, for example, when compared to this ox, define a nature rather than a hypostasis; for we do not say that this man differs from this horse because one is bald and the other has a fine mane, nor because one is tall and the other has a docked tail, but because one is rational and the other is irrational, nor because one is the son of so-and-so, and the other is the son of so-and-so. But if we should also say that one is the son of Nestor, and the other is the son of this horse, and one is wise and the other is unwise, they are classified as natural differences; for the hypostatic differences of men in relation to the hypostatic differences of horses are reckoned as natural. Wherefore also in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ the form of the body and the character of his appearance and his being the son of the virgin in relation to his being the formless son of God are not distinctive of different hypostases, but of different natures, but of one hypostasis, distinguishing it from those consubstantial with it according to its divinity, I mean the hypostases of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, and from the hypostases consubstantial with it according to its humanity, I mean of his mother and of the other individual men; for when one composite hypostasis is formed from two natures, both these things and those things, both the natural and hypostatic properties of the divine nature, for instance, and of the human, become constitutive of the same hypostasis. Whence Christ is both God and man, without beginning and having begun, the same one hypostasis, visible and invisible, created and uncreated, circumscribed and uncircumscribed, passible and impassible, Son of God and son of the virgin, that is, of man, without mother from the Father, without father from the mother, pre-eternal and recent, without form and in the form of a servant and in the likeness of a man, "beautiful in appearance beyond the sons of men." All these things are constitutive and characteristic of the hypostasis of Christ God and he is named from all of them together and from each one. 3 Wisely, therefore, the creator of natures, that is, of species, made a very great difference for a demonstration of the richness of his wisdom and power, so that being admired he might be desired the more,

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De duabus in Christo voluntatibus

Τοῦ μακαρίου Ἰωάννου μοναχοῦ ∆αμασκηνοῦ περὶ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων τῶν ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ Χριστῷ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν δύο φύσεων, ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς δὲ καὶ περὶ δύο

θελημάτων καὶ ἐνεργειῶν καὶ μιᾶς ὑποστάσεως. 1 Οἱ δύο φύσεις καὶ μίαν ὑπόστασιν ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁμολογοῦντες διπλᾶ μὲν καὶ διάφορα τὰ τῶν φύσεων φυσικὰ ἰδιώματα συνομολογεῖν ὀφείλουσιν, ἁπλᾶ δὲ τὰ τῆς ὑποστάσεως· ἀμήχανον γὰρ φύσιν συστῆναι ἐκτὸς τῶν κατ' αὐτὴν φυσικῶν ἰδιωμάτων τῶν συνιστώντων αὐτὴν καὶ ἀποδιαιρούντων ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν φύσεων, ὧν τὸ ἄθροισμα ἐν ἑτέρῳ οὐ θεωρηθήσεται εἴδει. Ἀδύνατον δ' αὖ πάλιν τὴν μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπόστασιν διαφέρειν ἑαυτῆς τοῖς συστατικοῖς καὶ χαρακτηριστικοῖς αὐτῆς καὶ ἀφοριστικοῖς ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν ὁμοειδῶν ὑποστάσεων, τοῖς ὑποστατικοῖς, φημί, ἰδιώμασιν, ὧν τὸ ἄθροισμα ἐφ' ἑτέρας ὑποστάσεως θεωρηθῆναι ἀμήχανον. Συμβεβηκότα δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ἐπουσιώδη καλεῖν ἔθος τοῖς περὶ ταῦτα δεινοῖς. 2 Φύσις μὲν γὰρ φύσει συγκρίνεται καὶ φύσεως διαφέρειν λέγεται ἤτοι εἶδος εἴδους ταῖς οὐσιώδεσι καὶ φυσικαῖς διαφοραῖς. Ὡσαύτως καὶ ὑπόστασις ὑποστάσει συγκρίνεται ὁμοειδεῖ καὶ διαφέρειν τῶν ὁμοειδῶν ὑποστάσεων λέγεται τοῖς τῶν ὑποστάσεων χαρακτηριστικοῖς ἰδιώμασιν· οὐ μὴν ὑπόστασις ἑτεροειδεῖ ὑποστάσει συγκρίνεται ὡς ὑπόστασις. Τὰ γὰρ ὑποστατικὰ τοῦ Πέτρου τυχὸν ἰδιώματα πρὸς τόνδε τὸν βοῦν συγκρινόμενα φύσιν μᾶλλον ἀφορίζει καὶ οὐχ ὑπόστασιν· οὐ γὰρ λέγομεν διαφέρειν τόνδε τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦδε τοῦ ἵππου, ὅτι ὁ μὲν φαλακρός, ὁ δὲ εὐχαίτης, οὐδ' ὅτι ὁ μὲν μακρός, ὁ δὲ κολοβός, ἀλλ' ὅτι ὁ μὲν λογικός, ὁ δὲ ἄλογος, οὐδ' ὅτι ὁ μὲν υἱὸς τοῦδε, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦδε. Εἰ δὲ καὶ εἴπωμεν, ὅτι ὁ μὲν υἱὸς Νέστορός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦδε τοῦ ἵππου, καὶ ὁ μὲν σοφός, ὁ δὲ ἄσοφος, φυσικαὶ διαφοραὶ τάττονται· αἱ γὰρ ὑποστατικαὶ διαφοραὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς ὑποστατικὰς διαφορὰς ἵππων φυσικαὶ λογίζονται. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ τοῦ σώματος σχῆμα καὶ ὁ τῆς ὄψεως χαρακτὴρ καὶ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν υἱὸν τῆς παρθένου πρὸς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν υἱὸν θεοῦ ἀσχημάτιστον οὐχ ὑποστάσεών εἰσιν διαφόρων ἀφοριστικά, ἀλλὰ διαφόρων φύσεων, μιᾶς δὲ ὑποστάσεως ἀφορίζοντα αὐτὴν ἐκ τῶν ὁμοουσίων αὐτῇ κατὰ τὴν αὐτῆς θεότητα, ὑποστάσεων τοῦ πατρός φημι καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, καὶ τῶν ὁμοουσίων αὐτῇ κατὰ τὴν αὐτῆς ἀνθρωπότητα ὑποστάσεων, τῆς μητρός φημι καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν κατὰ μέρος ἀνθρώπων· ὅτε γὰρ ἐκ δύο φύσεων μία ὑπόστασις σύνθετος γένηται, ταῦτά τε κἀκεῖνα, τά τε τῆς θείας τυχὸν φύσεως φυσικά τε καὶ ὑποστατικὰ ἰδιώματα καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης τῆς αὐτῆς ὑποστάσεως συστατικὰ γίνεται. Ὅθεν ὁ Χριστὸς θεός τε καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ἄναρχος καὶ ἠργμένος ἡ αὐτὴ μία ὑπόστασις, ὁρατὴ καὶ ἀόρατος, κτιστὴ καὶ ἄκτιστος, περιγραπτὴ καὶ ἀπερίγραπτος, παθητὴ καὶ ἀπαθής, υἱὸς θεοῦ καὶ υἱὸς παρθένου εἴτουν ἀνθρώπου, ἀμήτωρ ἐκ πατρός, ἀπάτωρ ἐκ μητρός, προαιώνιος καὶ πρόσφατος, ἀσχημάτιστος καὶ ἐν μορφῇ δούλου καὶ ἐν σχήματι ἀνθρώπου, «ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων». Ταῦτα πάντα συστατικὰ καὶ χαρακτηριστικὰ τῆς Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ὑποστάσεως καὶ ἐκ πάντων ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου κατονομάζεται. 3 Σοφῶς οὖν ὁ δημιουργὸς φύσεών τε, τουτέστιν εἰδῶν, πλείστην διαφορὰν ἐποιήσατο πρὸς ἔνδειξιν τοῦ πλούτου τῆς αὐτοῦ σοφίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως, ὡς ἂν θαυμαζόμενος ποθοῖτο πλέον,