to be apprehensible to the eyes of men A, but rather, by the word "He appeared," he clearly points out the flesh of the Word of God. The content in the forty-ninth Psalm, spoken by the inspired David, holds to the same understanding: "God shall come manifestly" [Ps. XLIX, 3]. And the prophet Sophonias also prophesies this very same thing, saying: "The Lord shall appear upon them, and shall destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth" [Sophon. II, 11]. And no less does the evangelist John also proclaim this secret mystery: "That which was from the beginning," he says, "which we have heard, which we have seen [24], and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life" [I Joan. 1, 1]. He was not, of course, imagining that the incorporeal and invisible nature of the Word of God could be handled by hands, but he was honoring the body of the Word of God with the appellation of "Word." For so it is, and this is the faith handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, and by the sacred number of holy Fathers who came after them all. For after the only-begotten Word of God had become man as we are, and while remaining God, had accepted our affections into Himself through the form of a servant, He is not, from that point on, separated from His own flesh either by terms or by nature; but whether one says "man," he speaks of the God Word, or if he names "God," he nonetheless names Him with His flesh alongside. And let this suffice for now. For it is not our purpose to present a multitude of testimonies, but to refute this ignorant terminology and observation.
THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, TWENTY-SEVEN BOOKS AGAINST VARIOUS PROPOSITIONS
Read are the twenty-seven books of Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, against various propositions. The First is against those who say that the Word of God has become one nature, and [against those who say that the humanity] taken from the seed of David B
A primogeniture, and those who attribute passions to the divinity.
The Second engages with the same people more strictly from Scripture. The Third discusses the same subject. The Fourth contains the doctrine of the holy Fathers concerning the glorious incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Fifth gathers the opinions of heretics and compares them with the opinion of those who do not acknowledge two natures in Christ, and it shows that they have a great affinity between them. 1055 The Sixth gathers that our Lord Jesus Christ is one Son. The Seventh holds the place of an epistle: by which the first volume is completed.
The Eighth is against those who judge truth solely by the multitude. The Ninth is against those who say that one ought not to search or speak from the Scriptures, but that their own faith is sufficient for them. The Tenth is against those who maliciously object to that: “The Word became flesh.” The Eleventh is against those who forbid taking two natures in the incarnation. The Twelfth is against those who say that he who affirms the Word is one thing, and the flesh another, confesses two sons. The Thirteenth is against those who say that to acknowledge Christ as man is the same as placing one’s own hope in a man. The Fourteenth is against those who say: “He suffered impassibly.” The Fifteenth is against those who say: “He suffered as he willed.” The Sixteenth is against those who say that one ought to accept the words, but not to consider their meanings, as if they surpassed the comprehension of everyone. B The Seventeenth is against those who say: “The Word suffered through the flesh.” The Eighteenth is against those who say: “What punishment will the Jews pay if they did not crucify God?” The Nineteenth is against those who say: “A Jew is he who affirms that God was not crucified.” The Twentieth is against those who say that even the angels who took food at Abraham’s did not necessarily bring with them the nature of flesh. The Twenty-first is against those who diminish each miracle by denying the flesh. The Twenty-second is against those who inflict injury on our race, while they are unwilling to concede that the first-fruits were taken from our nature. The Twenty-third is against those who say to believe simply what they say, and not to consider what is fitting or unfitting. C The Twenty-fourth is against those who, after the passion and ascension, do away with the difference of the natures. The Twenty-fifth repeats in summary the things that were said in parts. The Twenty-sixth is about the composition, or co-subsistence, manifested later. The Twenty-seventh is about that which is based on the example of a common man.
It is clear, indeed, from the mere subject matter of these treatises, which of the aforementioned discourses strengthen the orthodox mindset, and which ones depart from it.