Chapter V.--In reply to those who ask if Christ's subsistence is create or uncreate.
The subsistence [2267] of God the Word before the Incarnation was simple and uncompound, and incorporeal and uncreate: but after it became flesh, it became also the subsistence of the flesh, and became compounded of divinity which it always possessed, and of flesh which it had assumed: and it bears the properties of the two natures, being made known in two natures: so that the one same subsistence is both uncreate in divinity and create in humanity, visible and invisible. For otherwise we are compelled either to divide the one Christ and speak of two subsistences, or to deny the distinction between the natures and thus introduce change and confusion.
[2267] hupostasis, hypostasis.
Chapter VI.--Concerning the question, when Christ was called.
The mind was not united with God the Word, as some falsely assert [2268] , before the Incarnation by the Virgin and from that time called Christ. That is the absurd nonsense of Origen [2269] who lays down the doctrine of the priority of the existence of souls. But we hold that the Son and Word of God became Christ after He had dwelt in the womb of His holy ever-virgin Mother, and became flesh without change, and that the flesh was anointed with divinity. For this is the anointing of humanity, as Gregory the Theologian says [2270] . And here are the words of the most holy Cyril of Alexandria which he wrote to the Emperor Theodosius [2271] : "For I indeed hold that one ought to give the name Jesus Christ neither to the Word that is of God if He is without humanity, nor yet to the temple born of woman if it is not united with the Word. For the Word that is of God is understood to be Christ when united with humanity in ineffable manner in the union of the oeconomy [2272] ." And again, he writes to the Empresses thus [2273] : "Some hold that the name Christ' is rightly given to the Word that is begotten of God the Father, to Him alone, and regarded separately by Himself. But we have not been taught so to think and speak. For when the Word became flesh, then it was, we say, that He was called Christ Jesus. For since He was anointed with the oil of gladness, that is the Spirit, by Him Who is God and Father, He is for this reason [2274] called Christ. But that the anointing was an act that concerned Him as man could be doubted by no one who is accustomed to think rightly." Moreover, the celebrated Athanasius says this in his discourse "Concerning the Saving Manifestation:" "The God Who was before the sojourn in the flesh was not man, but God in God, being invisible and without passion, but when He became man, He received in addition the name of Christ because of the flesh, since, indeed, passion and death follow in the train of this name."
And although the holy Scripture [2275] says, Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness [2276] , it is to be observed that the holy Scripture often uses the past tense instead of the future, as for example here: Thereafter He was seen upon the earth and dwelt among men [2277] . For as yet God was not seen nor did He dwell among men when this was said. And here again: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea wept [2278] . For as yet these things had not come to pass.
[2268] See Sophr., Ep. ad Serg.; Origen, Peri archon, II. 6; Ruf., Expos. Symb., &c.
[2269] Origen, Peri archon, bk. ii., ch. 6.
[2270] Orat. 36, near the end.
[2271] Edit. Paris, p. 25.
[2272] kath' henosin oikonomiken, in the union of the Incarnation.
[2273] Edit. Paris, p. 54.
[2274] Ps. xlv. 7.
[2275] Ps. xlv. 7.
[2276] Some copies omit the last five words.
[2277] Bar. iii. 38.
[2278] Ps. cxxxvii. 1.
Chapter VII.--In answer to those who enquire whether the holy Mother of God bore two natures, and whether two natures hung upon the Cross.
ageneton and geneton, written with one n' [2279] and meaning uncreated and created, refer to nature: but agenneton and genneton, that is to say, unbegotten and begotten, as the double n' indicates, refer not to nature but to subsistence. The divine nature then is agenetos, that is to say, uncreate, but all things that come after the divine nature are geneta, that is, created. In the divine and uncreated nature, therefore, the property of being agenneton or unbegotten is contemplated in the Father (for He was not begotten), that of being genneton or begotten in the Son (for He has been eternally begotten of the Father), and that of procession in the Holy Spirit. Moreover of each species of living creatures, the first members were agenneta but not ageneta: for they were brought into being by their Maker, but were not the offspring of creatures like themselves. For genesis is creation, while gennesis or begetting is in the case of God the origin of a co-essential Son arising from the Father alone, and in the case of bodies, the origin of a co-essential subsistence arising from the contact of male and female. And thus we perceive that begetting refers not to nature but to subsistence [2280] . For if it did refer to nature, to genneton and to agenneton, i.e. the properties of being begotten and unbegotten, could not be contemplated in one and the same nature. Accordingly the holy Mother of God bore a subsistence revealed in two natures; being begotten on the one hand, by reason of its divinity, of the Father timelessly, and, at last, on the other hand, being incarnated of her in time and born in the flesh.
But if our interrogators should hint that He Who is begotten of the holy Mother of God is two natures, we reply, "Yea! He is two natures: for He is in His own person God and man. And the same is to be said concerning the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension. For these refer not to nature but to subsistence. Christ then, since He is in two natures, suffered and was crucified in the nature that was subject to passion. For it was in the flesh and not in His divinity that He hung upon the Cross. Otherwise, let them answer us, when we ask if two natures died. No, we shall say. And so two natures were not crucified but Christ was begotten, that is to say, the divine Word having become man was begotten in the flesh, was crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh, while His divinity continued to be impassible."
[2279] Supr., bk. i. ch. 9.
[2280] Euthym., p. 2, tit. 8.