57. Concerning this: that according to the Divine Scriptures we have learned to confess Christ God by nature and Man by nature.
Since then he called himself by the two [names], both the Apostles and the Evangelists say also that he exists in the two: [he is] both God by whom everything comes about, and he came into the world, and he made the world, and he was not received by his servants, and to those / who received him and believed in his name he gave authority to become the sons of God, and he became flesh and sojourned among us, he and none other. And since he became [flesh] and sojourned among us, he has drawn to himself the very flesh for [the purpose of] the adoption as for his own prosôpon, which is in both of them, in that on the one hand [there is] the ousia of God, but on the other the flesh by the union and the adoption; in such wise that the flesh, which is flesh by nature, is also Son by the union and the adoption of the prosôpon; although he exists in both of them, yet he is called one Son and one flesh. And consequently the only begotten Son of God and the Son of man, the same [formed] of both of them, is predicated in both of them, because he has made the things of their prosôpa his own prosôpon and is therefore acknowledged as his own prosôpon by the one as by the other; and he speaks with them now by virtue of the divinity and now by virtue of the humanity and now by virtue of both of them; as also the humanity used to speak now by virtue of the ousia of the humanity and now |54 by the prosôpon of the divinity: on this account he both is the Son of God and the Son of man and has so spoken.
58. That as also God the Word is conceived to have become flesh and the flesh is one, and there are not two fleshes, so also the flesh is Son and there are not two Sons.
/ Is it not as if the Word were Son only in so far as he became flesh? Since he took the flesh in his own prosôpon, he became flesh and the flesh was God because of the prosôpon of the Word, in such wise that God the Word is said to be flesh and man, while the flesh is called the Son of God. For until he took the flesh in his own prosôpon and was revealed therein, he was called Son on account of the divinity: in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; everything came into being through him, and without him also nothing whatever came into being. But since he became flesh in taking the flesh, he was named after both of them in both of them, but as though he were one in both of them, not [in both] in nature, but in the one indeed in nature but in the other in prosôpon by adoption as well as by revelation. The Son was revealed in flesh, being similar to his Father: / and my Father are one, he says in a manner demonstrative of his own prosôpon. He who was seen speaks from him who was conceived as from his own prosôpon, as though he were one and possessed the same prosôpon. Through one is the other conceived, and he who is conceived discourses by him who was seen as by the very prosôpon of him who was seen. If you do not believe on me, believe in my works, because I and the Father are one. / And all such things as these which have been said originally of the ousia [are to be said] accordingly also to speak and to understand and to operate in the very same way in the prosôpon as by adoption. For they are not far removed either in operation or in word or in ousia; nor are the things which are to be distinguished the one from the other in the prosôpon distinct in love, for they are conceived of his prosôpon in the love and the will of God in that he took the flesh; and therein he was revealed and therein he taught, and |55 therein and by means thereof he acts as though present and not as though absent. Of his own prosôpon he made use in the flesh, in that he wished that he should become flesh and that the flesh should become himself, so that those who see the flesh [see] also God, as his own body is in the bread and those who see the bread [see] also the body, because he has taken it for his prosôpon. He who is the similitude of God has taken the prosôpon of the flesh, the likeness of a servant, and he has given unto him, unto the likeness of the servant [which is] his likeness, a name which is more excellent than all names, that is 'Son', at which every knee shall bow which is in heaven and in earth, and which is beneath the earth} And consequently there must be two natures, that of the divinity and that of the humanity, that which has emptied itself into the likeness of a servant and the likeness of a servant which has been raised into the name which is above all names. For he who does not remain in his own ousia can neither / be emptied nor diminished nor even raised above all names. Therefore has he said 'the likeness' and 'the name' which it has taken, which indicates a prosôpon as of one; and this same name and prosôpon make the two of them to be understood; and the distinction of nature, one hypostasis and one prosôpon , is theirs, the one being known by the other and the other by the one, so that the one is by adoption what the other is by nature and the other is with the one in the body. As a king and a lord, who has taken the prosôpon of a servant as his own prosôpon and gives his prosôpon to the servant and makes known that he is the other and the other he, is content to be abased in the prosôpon of the servant while the servant is revered in the prosôpon of the lord and king, and for this reason, even though I should not have said the one for the other nor the other for the one, it is so with both of them who are one and possess the same prosôpon ----[so] are these things in regard to the two natures which are distinct in ousia but are united by love and in the same prosôpon.
59. Concerning this: that the adoption and the indwelling |56 ought to be accepted as the will of God and that we ought not to avoid a name as though that which is profane were said in consequence of the homonymy.
For although the humanity of ours bears / as mediator the prosôpon only of God by adoption as well as by the indwelling of the ousia and not only by the indwelling of divinity, yet this indwelling is such as to result in one prosôpon, which is the same for him who is revealed as for him who is to be revealed. For the [words] He is and He dwelt are of necessity to be confessed and interpreted by us according to the will of God. God indeed is in all creatures; for in him we are and thereby is it defined that, although thus he is verily in all, he is said to have dwelt in some men; but in regard to others it is even said that he is not their God. And it is not said that he dwelt in all men in like manner, but according to his love; in some of us it is said that he only dwelt in a composition as in a house, as in the believers, while in others, although he is acting, yet [he acts] not in like manner but to a greater or less degree; in others as in all the apostles and in others as in the prophets and in others as in teachers and in others according to the division of gifts. In this one and in that and in another he dwells, and he acts also in all; and all of them are not equal to all nor like one another, but [all are] according to the love of him who dwells in them. Among them some hold the first place and others of them the second [rank] and in gradually descending order are they attached and joined one to another, in the same way as are the limbs / in the body. But Christ is the head of all and in him are we bound together; but also God is the head of Christ, for whom, as he is for us the head and the prosôpon, is God so also his head and his prosôpon in his incarnation. Therefore we have received |57 from him to become the sons of God, in that he is the only begotten Son; so that his flesh becomes that which also is the Son of God and of the Father so as to become the image of the Father, [being] the Son of the Father whose is the image; because this same is the prosôpon of the Son, it is he and none other which [exists] in the two ousias and is not distinguished.
60. Concerning this: that we should not thus think of the Archetype as also of images or as of angels or as of ambassadors who take the place of him who is absent, but [ that we should think ] that he has been united to the body by his own nature and by his prosôpon and that he has become incarnate in their making use of the body in its own prosôpon and the body's [making use] of the prosôpon of God the Word.
God is not indeed among the things which are represented in effigy for there things can be said to exist only in the visible shape, by visible shape and by likeness while far distant from the ousia, nor again as angels or ambassadors who take the place of those who send them and are thereby their prosôpa in virtue of service and mere authority, / but he himself has made use of his very [own] nature and his prosôpon in saying that 'I and the Father are one', and he is whatever he is in prosôpon and whatever he is in prosôpon he is, not that he made his likeness in another likeness but in his own likeness, nor in any other likeness like unto the likeness of a servant but in the very natural likeness of the other, so that the one became what the other was and the other that which the one was, both the one and the other remaining.
61. Concerning this: that through the nature of man he received a name which is more excellent than all names.
This in fact is the chief greatness of the nature of humanity: that, since he remains in the nature of humanity, he accepts a name which is more excellent than all names ; neither in consequence of moral progress nor in consequence of |58 knowledge and faith, but therein by virtue of his readiness to accept [it] has it come about that it should become his eikôn and his prosôpon in such wise that his prosôpon is also the prosôpon of the other. And he is both God and man, and the likeness of God in condescension and in kenôsis and in schema, [and] the likeness of the flesh as man; and the man is by exaltation what God is, through the name which is above all names. Consequently in the kenôsis he humbled himself unto death, even death / upon the cross, in that he made use of the prosôpon of him who died and was crucified as his own prosôpon, and in his own prosôpon he made use of the things which appertained unto him who died and was crucified and was exalted. And therefore [this] is said as of the one prosôpon of Christ, and the former things and the latter are each thus different, in nature, as the divine nature is different from the nature of man; so that Christ is two natures, the likeness of God and the likeness of a servant, that which has been exalted and that which exalts. If also he is called Christ because of the flesh which has been anointed, there is one prosôpon of the two natures, because also there is only one name which is more excellent than all names, [one for] both of them, if the divine nature is meant; for the names of the natural prosôpa are common in the condescension and in the exaltation.
62. Concerning this: that the dispensation for our sake ought to have taken place by both of them.
And it was congruous with the dispensation which is for our sake that both of them should be taken into the prosôpon; for, because God created the first man in his own image and in his likeness and the prosôpa of God the Maker----of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,----were not revealed to us, so that we might also know the Creator and obtain completely the teaching of the Divine knowledge and receive in completeness a complete idea / of the image of God, he has renewed all creation in Christ and has made known and shown unto us what the Maker is: he who from the beginning was the Word with God was also God the Maker |59 of all; everything came into being through him and without him also nothing whatever came into being.
63. Concerning this: wherefore God the Word built for himself the temple of the body.
Even as it must have been fitting that our renewal also should take place through the Maker of [our] nature, through him who also originally formed us and made us from the earth, he who took the body and made it in his likeness and constituted it in his prosôpon in everything as his own in the honour and glory of God, made use of the nature of the Divinity on the one hand and of the prosôpon of the Son on the other. For the honour of the Father and of the Son is one in such wise that those who honour the Father honour also the Son. He then has taught us that he who has created everything is God and that he created [it] with the Father and the Holy Spirit; for in him he lived, showing the natural union, [to wit] that the Father is [Father] of the Son and that the Father is in the Son and that the Holy Spirit lives in them. And he created the body in a new manner [other] than from a man and a woman, and, since it was an act of creation, he tells of that which is to be created and of him who creates: The Holy Spirit will come and the power of the Most High shall overshadow [ thee ] / ----denoting the Creator. Therefore he who shall be born shall be called the son of God ----that is the Holy One who is to be created; so that in the creation he calls [him] 'holy' and 'Son', denoting the image and the likeness which the first man received in the Creation and which he kept not. For, as the image of God, he ought to have kept himself for God without spot and without blemish, and that by willing what God wills, since he had the prosôpon of God. For [to have] the prosôpon of God is to will what God wills, whose prosôpon he has. Consequently the second man was created by the Holy Spirit and the power |60 of the Most High and he has received from him to be holy and the Son of God.
64. Concerning this: that he has received to become 'Son' from [ the moment of ] his formation and not by degrees.
[In that he has received the title to be 'holy'] not as the rest of mankind by virtue of obedience in faith and in works, but from [the moment of] coming into being by the creation of the Creator, he has received his prosôpon as something created, in such wise as not originally to be man but at the same time Man-God by the incarnation of God who in him is what God was in the first man. He indeed was the Maker of all, the law-giver, without king, the glory, the honour and the power; he was also the second / man with qualities complete and whole, so that God was his prosôpon while he was in God.
65. Concerning this: how, in that he has not the prosôpon of his being, the prosôpon in the union ought to be understood:
As God appeared and spoke unto Adam in schema, and as it was none other, so will God be [seen] of all men in the natural schema which has been created, that is, that of the flesh, appearing and speaking in his own image and the image in the Archetype. So that on the one hand God appeared in the image, since he is not visible, on the other hand the image is conceived as representing him who appeared not. For it is not [the fact] that the image is his being, but that on the other hand the very image and prosôpon [are] the humanity of the divinity and the divinity of the humanity. The prosôpon of him who is conceived, who was in the likeness and in the similitude of God took the likeness of a servant and in schema was |61 found as a man in him who appeared. And he who appeared [is considered] as representing him who is conceived as touching the prosôpon and the name which is above all names and honour and glory and adoration. For he gave unto him a name which is more excellent than all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow which is in heaven and on the earth and which is beneath the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus is the Lord [as it is] narrated. /
66. How the flesh is adored in the prosôpon of the Son and how, since it is in nothing worthy of that adoration, it is adored in the prosôpon of God the Word.
Man indeed is known by the human prosôpon, that is, by the schema of the body and by the likeness, but God by the name which is more excellent than all names and by the adoration of all creation and by the confession [of him] as God. For thereby has he taken the likeness of a servant and has given his likeness to the likeness of the servant, that it might be equal with God, and that, as he has accepted it for himself to be his own prosôpon, no one might refuse to him on account of [his] nature the adoration of the Divinity in heaven and on earth' and beneath the earth and [the confession] by every tongue, although by nature it is above all human nature. Who then would refuse him the adoration which belongs to the Lord of all and which belongs to his own prosôpon and his name? And who again refuses to prostrate himself before that before which formerly the Creator of all refused not to prostrate himself? And he prostrated himself to such a degree that his own creation in its nature was not in honour nor in glory but in contempt and in abasement and in all humiliation unto death upon the cross; he humiliated himself unto death, even death upon the cross; there is nothing more scorned than death. It was not wrought / in the same manner as in Adam, to whom he gave his image in all glory and honour; for he subjected everything under his feet. In the same way also he gave to the Second Man his image of glory both in honour and in power. But |62 all these things came to pass in the opposite way; he surely gave the image of God and he surely took the likeness of a servant in prosôpon . . .
67. Wherefore, in taking the likeness of a servant, he took not that which was honourable but rather that which was contemptible.
And consequently he took the likeness of a servant, a humble likeness, a likeness which had lost the likeness of God, not for honour nor for glory nor for adoration nor again for authority, although indeed he was the Son, but for the obedience which it should observe in the prosôpon of the Son according to the purpose of God; since it had the purpose of the latter and not its own nor anything that it wished, but that which God the Word wished. For this is the likeness of God, to have neither purpose nor will of its own / but that of him whose prosôpon and likeness it has. And therefore the likeness of God took the likeness of a servant, without concealing aught of the humiliation of the likeness of a servant; but all these things it took, in order that the likeness might be in all of them in such wise that it might do so without diminution in its own likeness.
68. Why he took voluntary obedience in the likeness of a servant and did not exhibit a mechanical [ obedience ] without volition.
Because in fact he took this [likeness] in order to abolish the guilt of the first man and in order to give to his nature the former image which he had lost through his guilt, rightly he took that which had proved itself guilty and had been made captive and had been subjected to servitude, with all the bonds of scorn and contempt. Apart from his own prosôpon there was nothing divine or appertaining to honour or to authority. As a son, as long as he is young, possesses not the authority to inherit or be master of anything, except by obedience, so also the likeness of a servant which he took for his own prosôpon he accepted as the |63 likeness of a servant, not for authority but for obedience, even all that obedience from which especially is born the obedience which is sinless, and he appeared / truly sinless. When then anyone is freed from all the causes from which disobedience comes into being, then obviously and without doubt it appears that he is sinless. For this [cause] also he took a nature which had sinned, lest in taking a nature which was not subject unto sins he should be supposed not to have sinned on account of the nature and not on account of his obedience. But, although he had all those things which appertain unto our nature, anger and concupiscence and thoughts, and although also they increased with the progress and increase of every age [in his life], he stood firm in thoughts of obedience.
69. Wherefore he accepted not obedience in some commandments, as Adam, but accepted all the commandments and not single ones.