4. For whereas the Word of God was without flesh,21    The text has ὤν = being, for which read ἦν = was. He took upon Himself the holy flesh by the holy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He wove for Himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our mortal body, and by mixing22    μίξας. Thomassin, De Incarnatione Verbi, iii. 5, cites the most distinguished of the Greek and Latin Fathers, who taught that a mingling (commistio), without confusion indeed, but yet most thorough, of the two natures, is the bond and nexus of the personal unity. the incorruptible with the corruptible, and the strong with the weak, He might save perishing man. The web-beam, therefore, is the passion of the Lord upon the cross, and the warp on it is the power of the Holy Spirit, and the woof is the holy flesh wrought (woven) by the Spirit, and the thread is the grace which by the love of Christ binds and unites the two in one, and the combs or (rods) are the Word; and the workers are the patriarchs and prophets who weave the fair, long, perfect tunic for Christ; and the Word passing through these, like the combs or (rods), completes through them that which His Father willeth.23    [This analogy of weaving is powerfully employed by Gray (“Weave the warp, and weave the woof,” etc.). See his Pindaric ode, The Bard.]

[4] ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ λόγος ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄσαρκος ὢν ἐνεδύσατο τὴν ἁγίαν σάρκα ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου ὡς νυμφίος ἱμάτιον, ἐξυφήνας ἑαυτῷ ἐν τῷ σταυρικῷ πάθει, ὅπως συγκεράσας τὸ θνητὸν ἡμῶν σῶμα τῇ ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμει, καὶ μίξας τὸ φθαρτὸν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ καὶ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῷ ἰσχυρῷ σώσῃ τὸν ἀπολλύμενον ἄνθρωπον. ἔστι μὲν οὖν ὁ ἱστὸς τοῦ κυρίου ὡς τὸ πάθος τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ σταυρῷ γεγενημένον, στήμων δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος δύναμις, κρόκη δὲ ὡς ἡ ἁγία σὰρξ ἐνυφαινομένη ἐν τῷ πνεύματι, μίτος δὲ ἡ δι' ἀγάπης Χριστοῦ χάρις σφίγγουσα καὶ ἑνοῦσα τὰ ἀμφότερα εἰς ἕν, κερκὶς δὲ ὁ λόγος, οἱ δὲ ἐργαζόμενοι πατριάρχαι τε καὶ προφῆται οἱ τὸν καλὸν ποδήρη καὶ τέλειον χιτῶνα ὑφαίνοντες Χριστοῦ, δι' ὧν ὁ λόγος διικνούμενος κερκίδος δίκην ἐξυφαίνει δι' αὐτῶν ταῦθ' ἅπερ βούλεται ὁ πατήρ.