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COMPLETE WORKS, OF MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR *

6th Volume 14 E ....................................................................................................................... 1 ... continued ... ON VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES ....................................................................... 1 COMMENTARIES ON THE WORKS OF SAINT DIONYSIUS ........................................................................ 43

6th Volume 14 E ... continued ... ON VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES * OF SAINTS DIONYSIUS AND GREGORY ... continued ... TO JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF CYZICUS

105. OF THE SAME, FROM THE SECOND ORATION ON BAPTISM, ON "A THREEFOLD BIRTH FOR US...". 14Ε_010 Of the same, from the second oration on baptism, on "The Word knows for us a threefold birth:

that from bodies, that from baptism, that from the resurrection"; then, having said something about these things, and interpreting the births, he said, "My Christ appears to have honored all these births from himself, the one by the first and life-giving in-breathing, the other by the incarnation and the baptism which he himself was baptized, and the other by the resurrection of which he was the first-fruits, as he became the firstborn among many brethren, so also deigning to become the firstborn from the dead."

How in these things does this God-minded teacher seem to have made a rather superfluous

repetition of what was said before? For having spoken of a threefold birth—that from bodies, that from baptism, that from the resurrection—he added, as if forgetting, through what seems to be a superfluous phrase, a fourth by saying, "The one by the first and life-giving in-breathing." Of which, 14Ε_012 for, with the three, he did not

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ΑΠΑΝΤΑ, ΜΑΞΙΜΟΥ τοῦ ΟΜΟΛΟΓΗΤΟΥ *

6ος Τόμος 14 Ε ....................................................................................................................... 1 ... συνέχεια ... ΠΕΡΙ ∆ΙΑΦΟΡΩΝ ΑΠΟΡΙΩΝ ....................................................................... 1 ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ∆ΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ........................................................................ 43

6ος Τόμος 14 Ε ... συνέχεια ... ΠΕΡΙ ∆ΙΑΦΟΡΩΝ ΑΠΟΡΙΩΝ * ΤΩΝ ΑΓΙΩΝ ∆ΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ... συνέχεια ... ΠΡΟΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΝ ΚΥΖΙΚΟΥ

ΡΕ (105). ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ, ΕΚ ΤΟΥ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΒΑΠΤΙΣΜΑ Β´ ΛΟΓΟΥ, ΕΙΣ ΤΟ «ΤΡΙΣΣΗΝ ΓΕΝΝΗΣΙΝ ΗΜΙΝ..». 14Ε_010 Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ εἰς τό βάπτισμα β´ λόγου, εἰς τό «Τρισσήν γέννησιν ἡμῖν

οἶδεν ὁ Λόγος, τήν ἐκ σωμάτων, τήν ἐκ βαπτίσματος, τήν ἐξ ἀναστάσεως»· εἶτα ἐπειπόντος τούτοις τινά, καί τά γεννήσεις ἑρμηνεύοντος, φῆσαι, «Ταύτας δέ τάς γεννήσεις ἁπάσας παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τιμήσας ὁ ἑμός Χριστός φαίνεται, τήν μέν τῷ ἐμφυσήματι τῷ πρώτῳ καί ζωτικῷ, τήν δέ τῇ σαρκώσει καί τῷ βαπτίσματι ὅπερ αὐτός ἐβαπτίσατο, τήν δέ τῇ ἀναστάσει ἧς αὐτός ἀπήρξατο, ὡς ἐγένετο πρωτότοκος ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, οὕτω καί πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν γενέσθαι καταξιώσας».

Πῶς ἐν τούτοις ὁ θεόφρων οὗτος διδάσκαλος δοκεῖ περιττοτέραν τήν

ἐπανάληψιν τῶν προῤῥηθέντων πεποιηκέναι; Τρισσήν γάρ εἰπών γέννησιν, τήν ἐκ σωμάτων, τήν ἐκ βαπτίσματος, τήν ἐξ ἀναστάσεως, ἐπήγαγεν ὥσπερ ἐπιλαθόμενος διά τῆς δοκούσης περιττῆς εἶναι φράσεως καί τετάρτην διά τοῦ φάναι, "Τήν μέν τῷ ἐμφυσήματι τῷ πρώτῳ καί ζωτικῷ». Ἧς 14Ε_012 γάρ μετά τῶν τριῶν οὐκ