CHAPTER 25.

THAT Deity should be born in our nature, ought not reasonably to present any strangeness to the minds of those who do not take too narrow a view of things. For who, when he takes a survey of the universe, is so simple as not to believe that there is Deity in everything, penetrating it, embracing it, and seated in it?

  25 Τὸ δὲ ἐν τῇ φύσει γενέσθαι ἡμῶν τὴν θεότητα τοῖς μὴ λίαν μικροψύχως κατανοοῦσι τὰ ὄντα οὐδένα ἂν ἐκ τοῦ εὐλόγου ξενισμὸν ἐπαγάγοι. τίς γὰρ οὕτω νήπιος τὴν ψυχὴν ὡς εἰς τὸ πᾶν βλέπων μὴ ἐν παντὶ πιστεύειν εἶναι τὸ θεῖον͵ καὶ ἐνδυόμενον καὶ ἐμπεριέχον καὶ ἐγ καθήμενον;

For all things depend on Him Who is (Exod. 3:14) , nor can there be anything which has not its being in Him Who is.

τοῦ γὰρ ὄντος ἐξῆπται τὰ ὄντα͵ καὶ οὐκ ἔνεστιν εἶναί τι μὴ ἐν τῷ ὄντι τὸ εἶναι ἔχον.

If, therefore, all things are in Him, and He in all things, why are they scandalized at the plan of Revelation when it teaches that God was born among men, that same God Whom we are convinced is even now not outside mankind? For although this last form of God’s presence amongst us is not the same as that former presence, still His existence amongst us equally both then and now is evidenced;

εἰ οὖν ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἐκεῖνο͵ τί ἐπαισχύνον ται τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ θεὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ γεγενῆσθαι διδάσκοντος τὸν οὐδὲ νῦν ἔξω τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἶναι πεπιστευμένον; εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν τοῦ θεοῦ παρουσίας οὐχ ὁ αὐτὸς οὗτος ἐκείνῳ͵ ἀλλ΄ οὖν τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν εἶναι καὶ νῦν καὶ τότε κατὰ τὸ ἴσον διωμο λόγηται.

only now He Who holds together Nature in existence is transfused in us; while at that other time He was transfused throughout our nature,

νῦν μὲν οὖν ἐγκέκραται ἡμῖν ὡς συνέχων ἐν τῷ εἶναι τὴν φύσιν· τότε δὲ κατεμίχθη πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον͵

in order that our nature might by this transfusion of the Divine become itself divine, rescued as it was from death, and put beyond the reach of the caprice of the antagonist

ἵνα τὸ ἡμέτερον τῇ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἐπιμιξίᾳ γένηται θεῖον͵ ἐξαιρεθὲν τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου τυραννίδος ἔξω γενόμενον·

For His return from death becomes to our mortal race the commencement of our return to the immortal life.

ἡ γὰρ ἐκείνου ἀπὸ τοῦ θανά του ἐπάνοδος ἀρχὴ τῷ θνητῷ γένει τῆς εἰς τὴν ἀθάνατον ζωὴν ἐπανόδου γίγνεται.

CHAPTER 37.
(The soul deified through faith – the body through the Eucharist)

But since the human being is a twofold creature, compounded of soul and body, it is necessary that the saved should lay hold of the Author of the new life through both their component parts.

  37 Ἀλλ΄ ἐπειδὴ διπλοῦν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον͵ ψυχῇ τε καὶ σώματι συγκεκραμένον͵ δι΄ ἀμφοτέρων ἀνάγκη τοῦ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν καθηγουμένου τοὺς σωζομένους ἐφάπτεσθαι.

for the act of union with the life

implies a fellowship with the life.

ἡ γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἕνωσις

 τὴν τῆς ζωῆς κοινωνίαν ἔχει·

But the body comes into fellowship and blending with the Author of our salvation in another way.

  τὸ δὲ σῶμα ἕτερον τρόπον ἐν μετουσίᾳ τε καὶ ἀνακράσει τοῦ σώζοντος γίνεται.

 Yet in no other way can anything enter within the body but by being transfused through the vitals by eating and drinking. It is, therefore, incumbent on the body to admit this life-producing power in the one way that its constitution makes possible.

ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως ἐντός τι γενέσθαι τοῦ σώματος͵ μὴ διὰ βρώσεως καὶ πόσεως τοῖς σπλάγχνοις καταμιγνύμενον. οὐκοῦν ἐπάναγκες κατὰ τὸν δυνατὸν τῇ φύσει τρόπον τὴν ζωοποιὸν δύναμιν τῷ σώματι δέξασθαι.

And since that Body only which was the receptacle of the Deity received this grace of immortality, and since it has been shown that in no other way was it possible for our body to become immortal, but by participating in incorruption through its fellowship with that immortal Body, it will be necessary to consider how it was possible that that one Body, being for ever portioned to so many myriads of the faithful throughout the whole world, enters through that portion, whole into each individual, and yet remains whole in itself. In order, therefore, that our faith, with eyes fixed on logical probability, may harbour no doubt on the subject before us, it is fitting to make a slight digression in our argument, to consider the physiology of the body. Who is there that does not know that our bodily frame, taken by itself, possesses no life in its own proper subsistence, but that it is by the influx of a force or power from without that it holds itself together and continues in existence, and by a ceaseless motion that it draws to itself what it wants, and repels what is superfluous?

μόνου δὲ τοῦ θεοδόχου σώματος ἐκείνου ταύτην δεξαμένου τὴν χάριν͵ ἄλλως δὲ δειχθέντος μὴ εἶναι δυνατὸν ἐν ἀθανασίᾳ γενέσθαι τὸ ἡμέτερον σῶμα͵ μὴ διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀθάνατον κοινωνίας ἐν μετουσίᾳ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας γινόμενον͵ σκοπῆσαι προσήκει͵ πῶς ἐγένετο δυνατὸν τὸ ἓν ἐκεῖνο σῶμα ταῖς τοσαύταις τῶν πιστῶν μυριάσι κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην εἰς ἀεὶ καταμεριζόμενον ὅλον ἑκάστου διὰ τοῦ μέρους γίνεσθαι καὶ αὐτὸ μένειν ἐφ΄ ἑαυτοῦ ὅλον. οὐκοῦν ὡς ἂν πρὸς τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἡμῖν ἡ πίστις βλέπουσα μηδεμίαν ἀμφιβολίαν περὶ τοῦ προκειμένου νοήματος ἔχοι͵ μικρόν τι προσήκει παρασχολῆσαι τὸν λόγον εἰς τὴν φυσιολογίαν τοῦ σώματος. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν φύσις αὐτὴ καθ΄ ἑαυτὴν ἐν ἰδίᾳ τινὶ ὑπο στάσει ζωὴν οὐκ ἔχει͵ ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ἐπιρρεούσης αὐτῇ δυνάμεως συνέχει τε ἑαυτὴν καὶ ἐν τῷ εἶναι μένει͵ ἀπαύστῳ κινήσει τό τε λεῖπον πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐφελκομένη καὶ τὸ περιττεῦον ἀπωθουμένη;

When a leathern bottle is full of some liquid, and then the contents leak out at the bottom, it would not retain the contour of its full bulk unless there entered? at the top something else to fill up the vacuum; and thus a person, seeing the circumference of this bottle swollen to its full size, would know that this circumference did not really belong to the object which he sees, but that what was being poured in, by being in it, gave shape and roundness to the bulk. In the same way the mere framework of our body possesses nothing belonging to itself that is cognizable by us, to hold it together, but remains in existence owing to a force that is introduced into it. Now this power or force both is, and is called, nourishment. But it is not the same in all bodies that require aliment, but to each of them has been assigned a food adapted to its condition by Him who governs Nature.

καὶ ὥσπερ τις ἀσκὸς ὑγροῦ τινὸς πλήρης ὤν͵ εἰ κατὰ τὸν πυθμένα τὸ ἐγκείμενον ὑπεξίοι͵ οὐκ ἂν φυλάσσοι τὸ περὶ τὸν ὄγκον ἑαυτοῦ σχῆμα͵ μὴ ἀντεισιόντος ἄνωθεν ἑτέρου πρὸς τὸ κενού μενον͵ ὥστε τὸν ὁρῶντα τὴν ὀγκώδη τοῦ ἀγγείου τούτου περιοχὴν εἰδέναι μὴ ἰδίαν εἶναι τοῦ φαινομένου͵ ἀλλὰ τὸ εἰσρέον ἐν αὐτῷ γινόμενον σχηματίζειν τὸ περιέχον τὸν ὄγκον· οὕτω καὶ ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν κατασκευὴ ἴδιον μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῆς σύστασιν οὐδὲν ἡμῖν γνώριμον ἔχει͵ διὰ δὲ τῆς ἐπεισαγομένης δυνάμεως ἐν τῷ εἶναι μένει. ἡ δὲ δύναμις αὕτη τροφὴ καὶ ἔστι καὶ λέγεται. ἔστι δὲ οὐχ ἡ αὐτὴ πᾶσι τοῖς τρεφομένοις σώμασιν͵ ἀλλά τις ἑκάστῳ κατάλληλος παρὰ τοῦ τὴν φύσιν οἰκονομοῦντος ἀποκεκλήρωται.

Some animals feed on roots which they dig up. Of others grass is the food, of others different kinds of flesh, but for man above all things bread; and, in order to continue and preserve the moisture of his body, drink, not simply water, but water frequently sweetened with wine, to join forces with our internal heat. He, therefore, who thinks of these things, thinks by implication of the particular bulk of our body. For those things by being within me became my blood and flesh, the corresponding nutriment by its power of adaptation being changed into the form of my body. With these distinctions we must return to the consideration of the question before us.

τὰ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ζῴων ῥιζωρυχοῦντα τρέφεται͵ ἑτέροις ἐστὶν ἡ πόα τρόφιμος͵ τινῶν δὲ ἡ τροφὴ σάρκες εἰσίν͵ ἀνθρώπῳ δὲ κατὰ τὸ προηγούμενον ἄρτος. καὶ εἰς τὴν τοῦ ὑγροῦ διαμονὴν καὶ συντήρησιν πότον γίνεται οὐκ αὐτὸ μόνον τὸ ὕδωρ͵ ἀλλ΄ οἴνῳ πολλάκις ἐφηδυνόμενον͵ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ θερμοῦ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν συμμαχίαν. οὐκοῦν ὁ πρὸς ταῦτα βλέπων δυνάμει πρὸς τὸν ὄγκον τοῦ ἡμετέρου σώματος βλέπει· ἐν ἐμοὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα γενόμενα αἷμα καὶ σῶμα γίνεται͵ καταλλήλως διὰ τῆς ἀλλοιω τικῆς δυνάμεως πρὸς τὸ τοῦ σώματος εἶδος τῆς τροφῆς μεθισταμένης. τούτων ἡμῖν τοῦτον διευκρινηθέντων τὸν τρόπον ἐπανακτέον πάλιν πρὸς τὰ προκείμενα τὴν διανοίαν.

The question was, how can that one Body of Christ vivify the whole of mankind, all, that is, in whomsoever there is Faith, and yet, though divided amongst all, be itself not diminished? Perhaps, then, we are now not far from the probable explanation.

ἐζητεῖτο γὰρ πῶς τὸ ἓν ἐκεῖνο σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ πᾶσαν ζωοποιεῖ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν͵ ἐν ὅσοις ἡ πίστις ἐστί͵ πρὸς πάντας μεριζόμενον καὶ αὐτὸ οὐ μειούμενον. τάχα τοίνυν ἐγγὺς τοῦ εἰκότος λόγου γινόμεθα.

If the subsistence of every body depends on nourishment, and this is eating and drinking, and in the case of our eating there is bread and in the case of our drinking water sweetened with wine, and if, as was explained at the beginning, the Word of God, Who is both God and the Word, coalesced with man’s nature, and when He came in a body such as ours did not innovate on man’s physical constitution so as to make it other than it was, but secured continuance for His own body by the customary and proper means, and controlled its subsistence by meat and drink, the former of which was bread,—just, then, as in the case of ourselves, as has been repeatedly said already, if a person sees bread he also, in a kind of way, looks on a human body, for by the bread being within it the bread becomes it, so also, in that other case, the body into which God entered, by partaking of the nourishment of bread, was, in a certain measure, the same with it; that nourishment, as we have said, changing itself into the nature of the body. For that which is peculiar to all flesh is acknowledged also in the case of that flesh, namely, that that Body too was maintained by bread; which Body also by the indwelling of God the Word was transmuted to the dignity of Godhead.

Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was once, by implication, bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that by which the bread that was transformed in that Body was changed to a Divine potency, a similar result takes place now.

εἰ γὰρ παντὸς σώματος ἡ ὑπόστασις ἐκ τῆς τροφῆς γίνεται͵ αὕτη δὲ βρῶσις καὶ πόσις ἐστίν͵ ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ βρώσει ἄρτος͵ ἐν δὲ τῇ πόσει τὸ ὕδωρ ἐφηδυσμένον τῷ οἴνῳ͵ ὁ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος͵ καθὼς ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις διῄρηται͵ ὁ καὶ θεὸς ὢν καὶ λόγος͵ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ συνανεκράθη φύσει καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι τῷ ἡμετέρῳ γενόμενος οὐκ ἄλλην τινὰ παρεκαινο τόμησε τῇ φύσει τὴν σύστασιν͵ ἀλλὰ διὰ τῶν συνήθων τε καὶ καταλλήλων ἔδωκε τῷ καθ΄ ἑαυτὸν σώματι τὴν διαμονήν͵ βρώσει καὶ πόσει περικρατῶν τὴν ὑπόστασιν͵ ἡ δὲ βρῶσις ἄρτος ἦν· ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἐφ΄ ἡμῶν͵ καθὼς ἤδη πολλάκις εἴρηται͵ ὁ τὸν ἄρτον ἰδὼν τρόπον τινὰ τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἀνθρώπινον βλέπει͵ ὅτι ἐν τούτῳ ἐκεῖνο γινόμενον τοῦτο γίνεται͵ οὕτω κἀκεῖ τὸ θεοδόχον σῶμα τὴν τροφὴν τοῦ ἄρτου παραδεξάμενον λόγῳ τινὶ ταὐτὸν ἦν ἐκείνῳ͵ τῆς τροφῆς͵ καθὼς εἴρηται͵ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν μεθισταμένης· τὸ γὰρ πάντων ἴδιον καὶ ἐπ΄ ἐκείνης τῆς σαρκὸς ὡμολογήθη͵ ὅτι ἄρτῳ κἀκεῖνο τὸ σῶμα διεκρατεῖτο͵ τὸ δὲ σῶμα τῇ ἐνοικήσει τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου πρὸς τὴν θεικὴν ἀξίαν μετεποιήθη. καλῶς οὖν καὶ νῦν τὸν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ ἁγιαζόμενον ἄρτον εἰς σῶμα τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου μετα ποιεῖσθαι πιστεύομεν. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο τὸ σῶμα ἄρτος τῇ δυνάμει ἦν͵ ἡγιάσθη δὲ τῇ ἐπισκηνώσει τοῦ λόγου τοῦ σκηνώσαντος ἐν τῇ σαρκί. οὐκοῦν ὅθεν ὁ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ σώματι μεταποιηθεὶς ἄρτος εἰς θείαν μετέστη δύναμιν͵ διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ νῦν τὸ ἴσον γίνεται. ἐκεῖ τε γὰρ ἡ τοῦ λόγου χάρις ἅγιον ἐποίει τὸ σῶμα ᾧ ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου ἡ σύστασις ἦν͵ καὶ τρόπον τινὰ καὶ αὐτὸ ἄρτος ἦν·

For as in that case, too, the grace of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which came of the bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as says the Apostle (1 Tim. iv. 5), “is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer”; not that it advances by the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the Word, but it is at once changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word itself said, “This is My Body.” Seeing, too, that all flesh is nourished by what is moist (for without this combination our earthly part would not continue to live), just as we support by food which is firm and solid the solid part of our body, in like manner we supplement the moist part from the kindred element; and this, when within us, by its faculty of being transmitted, is changed to blood, and especially if through the wine it receives the faculty of being transmuted into heat.

ἐν ταῦθά τε ὡσαύτως ὁ ἄρτος͵ καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος͵ ἁγιάζεται διὰ λόγου θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως͵ οὐ διὰ βρώσεως προιὼν εἰς τὸ σῶμα γενέσθαι τοῦ λόγου͵ ἀλλ΄ εὐθὺς πρὸς τὸ σῶμα διὰ τοῦ λόγου μεταποιούμενος͵ καθὼς εἴρηται ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου ὅτι Τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ σῶμά μου. πάσης δὲ σαρκὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦ ὑγροῦ τρεφομένης· οὐ γὰρ ἂν δίχα τῆς πρὸς τοῦτο συζυγίας τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν γεῶδες ἐν τῷ ζῇν διαμένοι· ὥσπερ διὰ τῆς στερρᾶς τε καὶ ἀντιτύπου τροφῆς τὸ στερρὸν τοῦ σώματος ὑποστηρίζομεν͵ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τῷ ὑγρῷ τὴν προσθήκην ἐκ τῆς ὁμογενοῦς ποιούμεθα φύσεως͵ ὅπερ ἐν ἡμῖν γενόμενον διὰ τῆς ἀλλοιωτικῆς δυνάμεως ἐξαιματοῦται καὶ μάλιστά γε εἰ διὰ τοῦ οἴνου λάβοι τὴν δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν εἰς τὸ θερμὸν μεταποίησιν.

Since, then, that God-containing flesh partook for its substance and support of this particular nourishment also, and since the God who was manifested infused Himself into perishable humanity for this purpose,

ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἡ θεοδόχος ἐκείνη σὰρξ πρὸς τὴν σύστασιν ἑαυτῆς παρεδέξατο͵ ὁ δὲ φανερωθεὶς θεὸς διὰ τοῦτο κατέμιξεν ἑαυτὸν τῇ ἐπικήρῳ φύσει͵

 viz. that by this communion with Deity mankind might at the same time be deified, for this end it is that, by dispensation of His grace,

 ἵνα τῇ τῆς θεότητος κοινωνίᾳ συναποθεωθῇ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον͵ τούτου χάριν πᾶσι τοῖς πεπιστευκόσι τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τῆς χάριτος