1

Quaestiones et responsiones ad orthodoxos

OF THEODORET, BISHOP OF THE CITY OF CYRRHUS, one of the 630 holy fathers at Chalcedon, in response to the questions brought to him by one of the

bishops from Egypt.

Table of contents. 1. If God is one God, it is clear that in every respect he possesses unity, simplicity

or complexity. How then, with the Father begetting and so forth? 2. If God has an existing hypostasis or an existing will and an existing son, how, being composed of so many things, is he called simple? 3. If that which is by itself is simple, as with the elements of letters, such as iota, but that which is with another is composite, such as pi, how is God said to be uncompounded? 4. If the union of the divine hypostases is indivisible, how can they be called three hypostases and three persons? 5. If "God" is indicative of the substance, but "Father" of the person, how is it the same to say "son of God" as to say "son of the Father"? 6. If according to our nature, if anything is an offspring, this is consubstantial with the one who begot it, how is it not according to it that if anything has been begotten, it exists after the one who begot it and so forth? 2 7. If the divine substance is one, how do some attribute the incarnation and the union and the indwelling in the economy to God the Word alone and so forth? 8. Those who say that the truly and properly existing Son was united to the form of a servant, how do they not worship a dyad of sons? 9. If that which contains is greater than that which is contained in substance, but less in worth, heaven and earth are the house of angels and so forth. 10. If that which contains is for the guarding and preservation of that which is contained, how is God, who contains all, not for guarding and so forth? 11. Since the Lord continually calls himself Son of man and not of woman, and because of this the unbelievers try to show that the Lord's birth came from marital union and so forth. 12. If the evangelists Matthew and Luke, in tracing the genealogy of the Lord according to the flesh, the one wrote his genealogy according to nature, and the other according to the law, how is Luke not shown to be in conflict with Matthew, with those according to the law being more numerous than those according to nature and so forth? 13. If according to the Mosaic law the brother of one who died childless, taking his wife, procreated from her according to nature for himself. 14. If the aforementioned law was commanded to the Israelites before David, how did Matthew mention the fathers according to nature before David and after him equally, but Luke the ones according to nature before David and so forth? 15. Since Isaiah, prophesying concerning Christ, mentions "who shall declare his generation?", does he speak of something hard to declare or impossible to declare, and concerning the divinity or the flesh? 16. If God abolished the ancient worship, as not being pleased with it, and introduced that of the Christians, how did he leave error unuprooted? 3 17. If prophets and apostles foretold future events, and also some of the Greeks, from where are the better ones known, since the prophecy of both has occurred? 18. If all who have sinned are punished in the resurrection, but more so those who knew the will and did not do it, what is the gain for the Christian and the Greek? 19. If the heretics strove with all their power to know the truth of the doctrines and were not able, how is it not unjust to cast them into punishment? 20. If powers and miracles are worked in the churches of the heretics, how is it not necessary from these for them to be confirmed in their error? 21. If in those who feel pain and pleasure the capacity for suffering is shown, and those at the judgment partake of these, how is impassibility in the resurrection

1

Quaestiones et responsiones ad orthodoxos

ΘΕΟ∆ΩΡΗΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ ΚΥΡΟΥ, ἑνὸς τῶν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι χλʹ ἁγίων πατέρων, πρὸς τὰς ἐπενεχθείσας αὐτῷ ἐρωτήσεις παρά τινος τῶν

ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐπισκόπων.

Πίναξ αὐτῶν. ˉαˉʹ. Εἰ εἷς ἐστι θεὸς ὁ θεός, δῆλον ὅτι κατὰ πάντα κέκτηται τὸ ἕν, τὸ ἁπλοῦν

ἢ τὸ σύνθετον. πῶς οὖν τοῦ πατρὸς γεννήσαντος καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; ˉβˉʹ. Εἰ ἔχει ὁ θεὸς ὑπόστασιν ὑπάρχουσαν ἢ βουλὴν ἐνυπάρ χουσαν καὶ υἱὸν ἐνυπάρχοντα, πῶς ἐκ τοσούτων συγκείμενος ἁπλοῦς ὀνομάζεται; ˉγˉʹ. Εἰ ἁπλοῦν μὲν τὸ καθ' ἑαυτό, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ γράμ ματα στοιχείων, οἷον ἰῶτα, σύνθετον δὲ τὸ μεθ' ἑτέρου, οἷον πῖ, πῶς ὁ θεὸς ἀσύνθετος λέγεται; ˉδˉʹ. Εἰ τῶν θείων ὑποστάσεων ἡ ἕνωσίς ἐστιν ἀδιαίρετος, πῶς δύνανται τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις καὶ τρία ὀνομάζεσθαι πρόσωπα; ˉεˉʹ. Εἰ τὸ μὲν θεὸς τῆς οὐσίας, τὸ δὲ πατὴρ τοῦ προσώπου ἐστὶ δηλωτικόν, πῶς ταὐτὸν τὸ λέγειν υἱὸν θεοῦ τῷ λέγειν υἱὸν τοῦ πατρός; ˉ ϛˉʹ. Εἰ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν, εἴ τι γέννημα, τοῦτο τῷ γεννήσαντι ὁμοούσιον, πῶς οὐχὶ κατ' αὐτὴν εἴ τι γεγέννηται, μεθ' οὗ ὑπάρχει τοῦ γεννήσαντος καὶ ἑξῆς; 2 ˉζˉʹ. Εἰ ἡ θεία οὐσία μία καθέστηκε, πῶς τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν καὶ τὴν ἐνοίκησιν ἐν τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ λόγῳ τινὲς περιάπτουσι καὶ ἑξῆς; ˉηˉʹ. Οἱ λέγοντες ἡνῶσθαι τῇ τοῦ δούλου μορφῇ τὸν ἀληθῶς καὶ κυρίως ὄντα υἱόν, πῶς δυάδι υἱῶν οὐ λατρεύουσιν; ˉθˉʹ. Εἰ τὸ περιέχον μεῖζον μέν ἐστι τοῦ περιεχομένου κατ' οὐσίαν, ἧττον δὲ κατ' ἀξίαν, οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ ἀγγέλων οἶκος καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ˉιˉʹ. Εἰ τὸ περιέχον ἐπὶ φρουρᾷ καὶ συντηρήσει ἐστὶ τοῦ περιεχο μένου, πῶς ὁ θεὸς περιέχων τὸ πᾶν οὐκ ἐπὶ φρουρᾷ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; ˉιˉαˉʹ. Ἐπειδὴ συνεχῶς ὁ κύριος υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ οὐχὶ τῆς ἀνθρώπου ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάζει, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πειρῶνται οἱ ἄπιστοι δεικνύναι ὡς ἐκ γαμικῆς συναφείας ὁ δεσποτικὸς γέγονε τόκος καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ˉιˉβˉʹ. Εἰ οἱ εὐαγγελισταὶ Ματθαῖός τε καὶ Λουκᾶς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα γενεαλογοῦντες τὸν κύριον, ὃ μὲν τὴν κατὰ φύσιν, ὃ δὲ τὴν κατὰ νόμον αὐτοῦ γενεαλογίαν συνέγραψε, πῶς ὁ Λουκᾶς οὐ δείκνυται τῷ Ματθαίῳ μαχόμενος, πλείονας τοὺς κατὰ νό μον τῶν κατὰ φύσιν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; ˉιˉγˉʹ. Εἰ κατὰ τὸν Μωσαϊκὸν νόμον ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ τελευτή σαντος ἄπαιδος τὴν γυναῖκα λαμβάνων ἐπαιδοποίει ἐξ αὐτῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἑαυτῷ. ˉιˉδˉʹ. Εἰ ὁ προλεχθεὶς νόμος πρὸ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις ἐντέταλτο, πῶς ὁ Ματθαῖος τῶν κατὰ φύσιν πατέρων πρὸ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν ἐπίσης ἐμνημόνευσεν, ὁ δὲ Λουκᾶς τῶν κατὰ φύσιν πρὸ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; ˉιˉεˉʹ. Ἐπειδὴ ὁ Ἡσαΐας προφητεύων εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν ἀναφέρει "τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται", ἐπὶ δυσδιηγήτου ἢ ἀδιη γήτου λέγει καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς θεότητος ἢ τῆς σαρκός; ˉιˉ ϛˉʹ. Εἰ τὴν ἀρχαίαν λατρείαν ἀνεῖλεν ὁ θεὸς ὡς μὴ ἀρε σκόμενος αὐτῇ, ἀντεισήγαγε δὲ τὴν χριστιανῶν, πῶς τὴν πλά νην κατέλιπεν ἀνεκρίζωτον; 3 ˉιˉζˉʹ. Εἰ τὰ μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι προφῆται καὶ ἀπόστολοι προ εῖπον καί τινες τῶν Ἑλλήνων, πόθεν οἱ κρείττους γνωρίζονται, γεγενημένης τῆς ἑκατέρων προρρήσεως; ˉιˉηˉʹ. Εἰ πάντες ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει οἱ ἡμαρτηκότες κολάζονται, πλέον δὲ οἱ εἰδότες τὸ θέλημα καὶ μὴ ποιήσαντες, τί τὸ κέρδος τοῦ χριστιανοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἕλληνος; ˉιˉθˉʹ. Εἰ πάσῃ δυνάμει ἔσπευσαν οἱ αἱρετικοὶ γνῶναι τὴν τῶν δογμάτων ἀλήθειαν καὶ οὐκ ἴσχυσαν, πῶς οὐκ ἄδικον τούτους κολάσει ἐμβαλεῖν; ˉκˉʹ. Εἰ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῶν αἱρετικῶν δυνάμεις καὶ θαύ ματα ἐνεργοῦνται, πῶς οὐκ ἀνάγκη ἐκ τούτων ἐν τῇ πλάνῃ βε βαιοῦσθαι ἐκείνους; ˉκˉαˉʹ. Εἰ ἐν τοῖς ἀλγοῦσι καὶ ἡδομένοις τὸ παθητὸν διαδεί κνυται, τούτων δὲ οἱ ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετέχουσι, πῶς ἀπάθειαν ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει