Chapter II. —Concerning the manner in which the Word537    Ps. civ. 4.    Text, τοῦ Λόλου. Variant, τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου: so Dei Verbi (Faber).was conceived, and concerning His divine incarnation.

The angel of the Lord was sent to the holy Virgin, who was descended from David’s line538    Greg. Naz., Orat. 38.    St. Luke i. 27.. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe no one turned his attention to the altar539    Nemes., ch. 1.    Hebr. vii. 14., as the divine apostle said: but about this we will speak more accurately later. And bearing glad tidings to her, he said, Hail thou highly favoured one, the Lord is with thee540    Text, χάριτι. R. 2930, κατὰ χάριν.    St. Luke i. 28.. And she was troubled at his word, and the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God, and shalt bring forth a Son and shalt call His name Jesus541    ἄνευ λόγου προφορικου: without word of utterance.    Ibid. 30, 31.; for He shall save His people from their sins542    Greg. Naz., Orat. 38.    St. Matt. i. 21.. Hence it comes that Jesus has the interpretation Saviour. And when she asked in her perplexity, How can this be, seeing I know not a man543    Ibid. 34.    St. Luke i. 34.? the angel again answered her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee544    Text, ἀξίοις. R. 2930, ἁγίοις.    “Of thee” is wanting in some mss.shall be called the Son of God545    Theodoret, Epist. de div. decr., ch. 8.    St. Luke i. 35.. And she said to him, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to Thy word546    ἐν νοητοῖς καὶ τόποις. Cf. bk. i. 17.    Ibid. 38..

So then, after the assent of the holy Virgin, the Holy Spirit descended on her, according to the word of the Lord which the angel spoke, purifying her547    See Greg. Naz., Orat. 34. And cf. Cyril, Thesaur. 31, p. 266; Epiph., Hæres. 64.    Ibid. 27, 28., and granting her power to receive the divinity of the Word, and likewise power to bring forth548    Dionys., De Cœl. Hier., ch. 3; Greg. Naz., Orat. 34.    Greg. Naz., Orat. 38 and 42.. And then was she overshadowed549    Dionys., De Cœl. Hier., ch. 9; Greg., Orat. 34.    Cf. Athan., Ep. ad Serap., De Spiritu Sancto; Greg. Nyss., Contr. Apoll. 6, 25; Rufinus, Exp. Symb.; Tertullian, De Carne Christi and Contr. Prax.; Hilary, De Trin. II. 26. by the enhypostatic Wisdom and Power of the most high God, the Son of God Who is of like essence with the Father as of Divine seed, and from her holy and most pure blood He formed flesh animated with the spirit of reason and thought, the first-fruits of our compound nature550    Greg. Naz., Orat. 38.    Basil, Christi Nativ.: not by procreation but by creation through the Holy Spirit: not developing the fashion of the body by gradual additions but perfecting it at once, He Himself, the very Word of God, standing to the flesh in the relation of subsistence. For the divine Word was not made one with flesh that had an independent pre-existence551    Text, τροφήν. Variant, τρυφήν, cf. Dionys., De Cœl. Hier., ch. 7.    Cyril, Apolog. 5 and 8 anathem., but taking up His abode in the womb of the holy Virgin, He unreservedly in His own subsistence took upon Himself through the pure blood of the eternal Virgin a body of flesh animated with the spirit of reason and thought, thus assuming to Himself the first-fruits of man’s compound nature, Himself, the Word, having become a subsistence in the flesh. So that552    Dionys., De Cœl. Hier., ch. 6.    Cf. Greg. Naz., 1 Ep. ad Cledon; Cyril, 1 Ep. ad Nestor.; Theodor., Ep. ad Joan. Antioch., &c. He is at once flesh, and at the same time flesh of God the Word, and likewise flesh animated, possessing both reason and thought553    But cf. August., Enchir., ch. 8; Greg. Naz., Orat. 34; Greg. Nyss., Contra Eunom., Orat. 1; Chrysost., De incomprehens., hom. 3, &c.    Cyril., Epist. ad Monach.. Wherefore we speak not of man as having become God, but of God as having become Man554    See Epiph., Hæres. 6, n. 4 and 5; Basil, Hex. 1; Chrysost., 2 Hom. in Gen.; Theodor., Quæst. 3in Gen.    Procl., Epist. 2 ad Arm.. For being by nature perfect God, He naturally became likewise perfect Man: and did not change His nature nor make the dispensation555    Greg. Naz., Orat. 2.    τῆν οἰκονομίαν, the œconomy, the Incarnation. an empty show, but became, without confusion or change or division, one in subsistence with the flesh, which was conceived of the holy Virgin, and animated with reason and thought, and had found existence in Him, while He did not change the nature of His divinity into the essence of flesh, nor the essence of flesh into the nature of His divinity, and did not make one compound nature out of His divine nature and the human nature He had assumed556    Cod. R. 2428 adds here some statements taken from the Dissertation against the Nestorians..

Περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς συλλήψεως τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ σαρκώσεως

Ἄγγελος γὰρ κυρίου ἀπεστάλη πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν παρθένον ἐκ δαυιτικοῦ φύλου καταγομένην: «πρόδηλον γὰρ ὡς ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀνατέταλκεν ὁ κύριος», «ἐξ ἧς φυλῆς οὐδεὶς προσέσχηκε τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ», ὡς ὁ θεῖος ἔφη ἀπόστολος: περὶ οὗ ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν ἀκριβέστερον. Ἣν εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἔλεγε: «Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ κύριος μετὰ σοῦ. Ἡ δὲ διεταράχθη ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ» καί φησι πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁ ἄγγελος: «Μὴ φοβοῦ, Μαριάμ: εὗρες γὰρ χάριν παρὰ κυρίῳ καὶ τέξῃ υἱὸν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν.» Ὅθεν τὸ «Ἰησοῦς» σωτὴρ ἑρμηνεύεται. Τῆς δὲ διαπορούσης: «Πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω;» Πάλιν φησὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁ ἄγγελος: «Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι. Διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται υἱὸς θεοῦ». Ἡ δὲ πρὸς αὐτόν: «Ἰδοὺ ἡ δούλη κυρίου: γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου».

Μετὰ οὖν τὴν συγκατάθεσιν τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπῆλθεν ἐπ' αὐτὴν κατὰ τὸν τοῦ κυρίου λόγον, ὃν εἶπεν ὁ ἄγγελος, καθαῖρον αὐτὴν καὶ δύναμιν δεκτικὴν τῆς τοῦ λόγου θεότητος παρέχον, ἅμα δὲ καὶ γεννητικήν. Καὶ τότε ἐπεσκίασεν ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου ἐνυπόστατος σοφία καὶ δύναμις, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ τῷ πατρὶ ὁμοούσιος, οἱονεὶ θεῖος σπόρος καὶ συνέπηξεν ἑαυτῷ ἐκ τῶν ἁγνῶν καὶ καθαρωτάτων αὐτῆς αἱμάτων σάρκα ἐψυχωμένην ψυχῇ λογικῇ τε καὶ νοερᾷ, ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ ἡμετέρου φυράματος, οὐ σπερματικῶς ἀλλὰ δημιουργικῶς διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, οὐ ταῖς κατὰ μικρὸν προσθήκαις ἀπαρτιζομένου τοῦ σχήματος, ἀλλ' ὑφ' ἓν τελειωθέντος. Αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος χρηματίσας τῇ σαρκὶ ὑπόστασις: οὐ γὰρ προϋποστάσῃ καθ' ἑαυτὴν σαρκὶ ἡνώθη ὁ θεὸς λόγος, ἀλλ' ἐνοικήσας τῇ γαστρὶ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου ἀπεριγράπτως ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ὑποστάσει ἐκ τῶν ἁγνῶν τῆς παρθένου αἱμάτων σάρκα ἐψυχωμένην ψυχῇ λογικῇ τε καὶ νοερᾷ ὑπεστήσατο ἀπαρχὴν προσλαβόμενος τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου φυράματος, αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος γενόμενος τῇ σαρκὶ ὑπόστασις. Ὥστε ἅμα σάρξ, ἅμα θεοῦ λόγου σάρξ, ἅμα σὰρξ ἔμψυχος λογική τε καὶ νοερά, ἅμα θεοῦ λόγου σὰρξ ἔμψυχος λογική τε καὶ νοερά. Διὸ οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἀποθεωθέντα λέγομεν, ἀλλὰ θεὸν ἐνανθρωπήσαντα: ὢν γὰρ φύσει τέλειος θεὸς γέγονε φύσει τέλειος ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτὸς οὐ τραπεὶς τὴν φύσιν οὐδὲ φαντάσας τὴν οἰκονομίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου ληφθείσῃ λογικῶς τε καὶ νοερῶς ἐψυχωμένῃ σαρκὶ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ εἶναι λαχούσῃ ἑνωθεὶς καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἀσυγχύτως καὶ ἀναλλοιώτως καὶ ἀδιαιρέτως, μὴ μεταβαλὼν τὴν τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ φύσιν εἰς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς οὐσίαν μήτε μὴν τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν φύσιν τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος οὐδὲ ἐκ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ φύσεως καί, ἧς προσελάβετο ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, μίαν φύσιν ἀποτελέσας σύνθετον.