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De fide contra Nestorianos

Of our father among the saints, John of Damascus, a discourse concerning faith against the Nestorians.

1 It was necessary for us, who have been saved by God through his only-begotten Son, whom he gave as a ransom for us, according to the word of the Lord, to believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God and one substance of divinity in three hypostases, and that the Word of God for our salvation unchangeably became flesh and dwelt among us, being persuaded by the holy gospels. But, since the sower of the tares, seizing worthy instruments for himself, confounded and disturbed the people of God, his Holy Spirit raised up the defenders of the truth, the shepherds and teachers, as lights in the world holding forth the word of life, and through them he guided us to the royal path, who taught to walk the middle way, turning neither to what seems to be right nor to what is clearly known to be left, whom we also, following with all our strength, will not go astray. 2 We believe, therefore, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, a consubstantial Trinity, one divinity in three hypostases or persons, worshipped and adored by all creation, and that the only-begotten Son and Word of God himself, who was begotten of the Father before all ages, himself by the good pleasure of the Father unchangeably became flesh from the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin, neither the divinity having been changed into the nature of flesh—for the divine is unchangeable and unalterable—nor the flesh having been transformed into the nature of the divinity; for the divine is incapable of any addition. 3 We confess, therefore, in our Lord Jesus Christ, the one of the Holy Trinity, two natures, each one perfect according to its own definition and principle, so that we do not introduce a change or confusion, but one hypostasis, so that we do not bring in a dyad of sons and a fourth person to the Trinity; for nature makes one thing, while hypostasis distinguishes another and a person. For if, in the case of the Holy Trinity, by saying three hypostases we proclaim three persons, it is necessary for those who confess two hypostases in our Lord Jesus Christ to also confess two persons. 4 Nature, therefore, and substance and form signify the species, that is, the commonality, such as divinity, humanity, while hypostasis and person signify the particular and what subsists in itself, such as this one and that one, in the case of the divinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and in the case of humanity, Peter, Paul, John. 5 Just as it is impossible for a nature and a nature to be one nature in Christ, so it is impossible for a hypostasis and a hypostasis to be one hypostasis. But if it is possible for a hypostasis and a hypostasis to be one hypostasis, and a person and a person to be one person, it is possible for a nature and a nature to be one nature in Christ. 6 Just as there is no hypostasis without substance, but it is not necessary for each hypostasis to have its own substance, so there is no nature without hypostasis, and it is not necessary in the case of things that are united for each nature to have its own and separate hypostasis. 7 Just as in the case of the Holy Trinity, when we speak of three hypostases we are not compelled to assign to each hypostasis its own nature, but the three have one nature and common substance of the divinity, and none of them is without substance, nor does each have its own substance, so in the case of Christ, when we speak of two natures we are not compelled to assign to each nature

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De fide contra Nestorianos

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου τοῦ ∆αμασκηνοῦ λόγος περὶ πίστεως κατὰ Νεστοριανῶν.

1 Ἔδει μὲν ἡμᾶς τοὺς ὑπὸ θεοῦ σεσωσμένους διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὃν ἔδωκε λύτρον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, κατὰ τὸν τοῦ κυρίου λόγον πιστεύειν εἰς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἕνα θεὸν καὶ μίαν οὐσίαν θεότητος ἐν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσιν, ὅτι τε ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν σὰρξ ἀτρέπτως ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, πειθομένους τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελλίοις, ἀλλ', ἐπειδὴ ὁ τῶν ζιζανίων ἐπισπορεὺς ὀργάνων ἀξίων αὐτοῦ δραξάμενος συνέχεε τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λαὸν καὶ συνετάραξεν, ἤγειρε τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον τοὺς ὑπασπιστὰς τῆς ἀληθείας, τοὺς ποιμένας τε καὶ διδασκάλους ὡς φωστῆρας ἐν κόσμῳ λόγον ζωῆς ἐπέχοντας, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν καθωδήγησε τρίβον, οἵτινες μέσην ὁδὸν βαδίζειν ἐδίδαξαν μὴ ἐκκλίνοντας μήτε εἰς τὰ δοκοῦντα δεξιὰ μήτε εἰς τὰ προδήλως ἀριστερὰ γνωριζόμενα, οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσῃ δυνάμει ἐξακολουθοῦντες οὐ πλανηθησόμεθα. 2 Πιστεύομεν τοίνυν εἰς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον, τριάδα ὁμοούσιον, μίαν θεότητα ἐν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσιν ἤτουν προσώποις προσκυνουμένην καὶ λατρευομένην ὑπὸ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως, ὅτι τε αὐτὸς ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς καὶ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων γεννηθεὶς ἐκ πατρός, αὐτὸς εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς σὰρξ ἀτρέπτως ἐγένετο ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου, οὔτε τῆς θεότητος τραπείσης εἰς σαρκὸς φύσιν-ἄτρεπτον γὰρ τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον-, οὔτε τῆς σαρκὸς μεταβληθείσης εἰς φύσιν θεότητος· πάσης γὰρ τὸ θεῖον προσθήκης ἐστὶν ἀνεπίδεκτον. 3 Ὁμολογοῦμεν τοιγαροῦν ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ ἑνὸς τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος, δύο μὲν φύσεις, ἑκάστην τελείαν κατὰ τὸν ἑαυτῆς ὅρον τε καὶ λόγον, ἵνα μὴ τροπὴν ἢ σύγχυσιν εἰσάγωμεν, μίαν δὲ τὴν ὑπόστασιν, ἵνα μὴ δυάδα υἱῶν καὶ τέταρτον τῇ τριάδι παρεισενέγκωμεν πρόσωπον· ἡ μὲν γὰρ φύσις ἄλλο ποιεῖ, ἡ δὲ ὑπόστασις ἄλλον καὶ πρόσωπον ἀφορίζει. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις λέγοντες τρία κηρύττομεν πρόσωπα, ἀνάγκη τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύο ὑποστάσεις ὁμολογοῦντας συνομολογεῖν καὶ δύο πρόσωπα. 4 Φύσις μὲν οὖν καὶ οὐσία καὶ μορφὴ τὸ εἶδος δηλοῖ, τουτέστι τὴν κοινότητα, οἷον θεότης, ἀνθρωπότης, ὑπόστασις δὲ καὶ πρόσωπον τὸ μερικὸν καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸ ὑφιστάμενον, οἷον ὁ δεῖνα καὶ ὁ δεῖνα, ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς θεότητος πατήρ, υἱός, πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἐπὶ δὲ ἀνθρωπότητος Πέτρος, Παῦλος, Ἰωάννης. 5 Ὥσπερ ἀδύνατον φύσιν καὶ φύσιν μίαν φύσιν εἶναι ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ, οὕτως ἀδύνατον ὑπόστασιν καὶ ὑπόστασιν μίαν ὑπόστασιν εἶναι. Εἰ δὲ δυνατὸν ὑπόστασιν καὶ ὑπόστασιν μίαν ὑπόστασιν εἶναι καὶ πρόσωπον καὶ πρόσωπον ἓν πρόσωπον εἶναι, δυνατὸν φύσιν καὶ φύσιν μίαν φύσιν εἶναι ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ. 6 Ὥσπερ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόστασις ἀνούσιος, οὐκ ἀνάγκη δὲ ἑκάστην ὑπόστασιν ἰδίαν ἔχειν οὐσίαν, οὕτως οὐκ ἔστι φύσις ἀνυπόστατος, καὶ οὐκ ἀνάγκη ἐπὶ τῶν ἑνουμένων ἑκάστην φύσιν ἰδίαν καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος ἔχειν ὑπόστασιν. 7 Ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις λέγοντες οὐκ ἀναγκαζόμεθα ἑκάστῃ ὑποστάσει ἰδίαν διδόναι φύσιν, ἀλλ' αἱ τρεῖς ἔχουσι μίαν φύσιν καὶ οὐσίαν κοινὴν τῆς θεότητος, καὶ οὔτε ἀνούσιος ἐπὶ μιᾷ ἑκάστῃ αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ ἑκάστη ἰδίαν ἔχει οὐσίαν, οὕτως ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δύο φύσεις λέγοντες οὐκ ἀναγκαζόμεθα ἑκάστῃ φύσει