Exposition of Trinitarian Faith by St. Gregory of Nazianzus (ca 329 - 390 AD)

(Gregory of Nazianzus (ca 329 - 390 AD) was Archbishop of Constantinople who presided over Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. He was one of the main architects involved in expansion of the clause concerning Holy Spirit in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. He was one of the major defenders of Trinitarian theology through his famous theological orations and is rightly called Gregory the Theologian. He is considered one of the Cappadocian fathers (along with Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa). This is taken from his Theological Oration 25 given in honor of Maximus I of Constantinople, where he clearly explicates Trinitarian faith)

Define our faith by teaching the knowledge of One God, Unbegotten, the Father; and One Begotten Lord, His Son; and One Holy Spirit, who proceeds or goes forth from the Father, to those who understand things properly—combated by the impious but understood by those who are above them, and even professed by those who are more spiritual;

Teach that we must not make the Father subject to another source, lest we posit a ‘‘first of the First,’’ and thus overturn the divine existence; nor should we say that the Son or the Holy Spirit is without source, lest we take away the Father’s special characteristic. For they are not without source—and yet in a sense they are without source, which is a paradox. They are not without source with respect to their cause, for they are from God even if they are not subsequent to him in time, just as light comes from the sun. But they are without source with respect to time, since they are not subject to time. And teach that we do not believe in three first principles, lest we espouse the polytheism of the Greeks; nor in a solitary principle, Jewish in its narrowness and somewhat grudging and ineffectual, either by positing a self-absorbing Deity or by casting down the natures of the Son and Spirit and making them foreign to Divinity—as though Divinity feared some rival opposition, or was able to produce nothing higher than creatures!

Teach that the Son is not unbegotten, for the Father is unique; and that the Spirit is not Son, for the Only-Begotten is unique, the result being that they each possess this divine quality of uniqueness, the one sonship and the other procession, which is different from sonship. Rather, teach that the Father is truly a father—much more truly even than human fathers are—because He is a Father uniquely and distinctively, in a way different from corporeal beings; unique, being without a mate; of one who is unique, namely the Only-Begotten; He is only a Father, since He was not formerly a Son; completely a Father and father of One who is complete; and Father from the beginning, since He did not become a Father at a later point in time. Teach that the Son is truly a son, because he is Son alone, of One alone, absolutely, and only, since He is completely a Son, and of One who is complete, and from the beginning, having never come to be a Son, since His Divinity is not due to a change of purpose, nor His divinization to moral progress, otherwise there would be a time when the One was not a Father and the Other was not a Son.

Teach that the Holy Spirit is truly holy, because there is nothing else that is like it or holy in the same way. Its sanctification does not come by way of addition, but it is holiness itself, It is neither more or less; it did not begin, nor will it end, in time. In effect, common to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the fact that they were not created, as well as their Divinity. Common to the Son and Holy Spirit is the fact that they come from the Father. Uniquely characteristic of the Father is unbegottenness; of the Son begottenness; and of the Spirit being sent.

Confession of Faith by St. Cyril of Alexandria (ca 376 - 444 AD)

(Following is the confession of faith by venerable Patriarch Cyril of Alexandria as recorded in the Acts of Second Council of Ephesus held in 449 AD convoked by Emperor Theodosius II under the presidency of Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria (died ca 454 AD) which was later nullified and termed "Robber Synod" by Pope Leo I of Rome and Chalcedonian faction)

We confess our Lord Jesus is perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and body subsisting: Who, as to His divinity, was begotten of the Father before the worlds; but, in the latter times, the same was, as regards His humanity, for us and for our salvation, born of the virgin Mary, consubstantial with the Father as to His divinity, and consubstantial with us as to His humanity. For, a union took place of the two natures. For this reason we acknowledge one Christ, One Son, One Lord; for, we do not dissolve the union, but we believe the union was made without confusion, being assured by the Lord, Who said to the Jews: "destroy this temple and the third day I will raise it up again." But, if commixture had taken place, and confusion, and one nature formed out of those two, then it had been fitting and proper for him to have said: "dissolve Me, and the third day I will rise again."

But now, in order to show that the one is God by nature and that the other is the temple, and that the two constitute one Christ, He said: "dissolve this temple, and the third day I will raise it up again; clearly indicating that it is not God, but the temple that was subject to dissolution, and that the nature of the one was compatible with dissolution; but, as to the other, His power that raised up what was dissoluble. So, we confess Christ to be God and man, following the divine scriptures. For, that our Lord Jesus Christ is God, the blessed evangelist St. John proclaims: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made." (John 1:1-3) And again: "He is the true light, enlightening every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9) But the Lord Himself manifestly teaches this, when He says: "Whosoever sees Me, sees My Father" (John 14:9) and: "I and My Father are one;" (John 10:30) and "I am in the Father and the Father is in Me." (John 14:11) And the blessed Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, said: "Who is the brightness of His glory and the image of His being, and Who upholds all things by the power of His Word." (Hebrews 1:3) And in that to the Philippians: "Let this mind be in you which was, also, that of Jesus Christ Who, although He was the form of God, yet He did not think it robbery to be the count part of God ; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." (Philippians 2:5-7) And, in that to the Romans, he said: "Whose are the fathers, of whom according to the flesh, is Christ, Who is over all, the blessed God." (Romans 9:5) Also, in that to Titus: "Hoping for the announcement of the blessed revelation of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:13) Isaiah, too, exclaims: "A child is born to us and a son is given to us, He Whose power is upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called the messenger of the great covenant, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the powerful one, the prince of peace, the Father of the future world." (Isaiah 9:6) And elsewhere he said: "After Thee shall they walk they who are bound with chains: and unto Thee shall they pray, because God is in Thee and there is no God beside Thee; for, Thou art truly God and we knew it not, God the Redeemer of Israel." (Isaiah 45:14) But the name of Immanuel signifies God and man; for, it is explained, according to the doctrine of the gospel, as "God with us" that is, God in man, God in our nature.

Also, Jeremiah, the divine prophet, proclaims it, when he says: "He is our God, and no others are to be regarded in comparison with Him. He hath discovered all the way of knowledge and hath delivered it to Jacob His servant and to Israel His beloved. Afterwards was He seen upon the earth and held converse with the sons of men." (Baruch 3:35-37)

And thousands of other expressions any one may cull from the divine evangelists, and from the writings of the apostles, arid from the prophecies of the prophets, proving that our Lord Jesus is very God. But that He is, also, named man after the incarnation, the Lord Himself teaches, when discoursing with the Jews, and exclaiming " why do ye want to kill me a man who hath spoken to you true things?" (John 7:19) And the blessed Paul, in the first letter to the Corinthians, teaches it, when he says: "Since through man came death, through man also came the resurrection of the dead." (1 Corinthians 15:21) And, in showing concerning whom he is speaking, he explains what has been spoken, after this manner: "As in Adam all men are dead, so in Christ all of them live." (1 Corinthians 15:22) In writing to Timothy, also, he said: "There is only one God, one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5) In the Acts of the Apostles, also, when he is addressing the Athenians, Paul says: "God, then, having overlooked the times of ignorance, now commands us all, in every quarter, to repent, since He has appointed a time when He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath appointed, affording good faith thereof to all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31) The blessed Peter, too, in preaching to the Jews, said: "Men of Israel! Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man that appeared from GOD among you by signs, 'and wonders, and powers which GOD wrought by Him." (Acts 2:22)

And the Prophet Isaiah, predicting the sufferings of Christ, Whom a little before he had named God Him he calls a man, thus speaking: "A man who is one of stripe and knows how to bear sickness, who bears our sins and hath suffered for our sakes." (Isaiah 53)

But many other similar expressions to these testimonies I should continue to cull from the divine writings, and insert in this letter, were I not persuaded of your piety, that your mode of life in this world consists in meditation on the divine scriptures, like the man who, by the Psalmist, is designated blessed.

Leaving, then, to your industry the collecting of the proofs, I pass on to my subject.

We confess our Lord Jesus Christ to be very God and very man, not dividing the one Christ into two persons, but we believe that the two natures are united without confusion.

By that means are we easily able to refute the many vain blasphemies of the heretics; for, manifold and varied is the error of those who have opposed the Truth, as we, also, forthwith show. For, Marcion, and Valentinus, and Manes deny that God the Word took the nature of manhood; nor do they believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin, but that God the Word was born in the manner of the semblance of man and appeared as man in fantasy rather than in reality. But Sabellius, the Libyan, and Photinus, and Marcellus of Galatia, and Paul of Samosata, affirm that a mere man was born of the virgin, since they evidently deny that Christ is, also, God before the worlds. Arius and Eunomius, likewise, contend that God the Word took body only from the virgin, but Apollinarius, also, adds to the body an irrational soul, just as if the Incarnation of God the Word took place for beings destitute, rather than for those possessed, of reason; but the doctrine of the Apostle teaches us that perfect man was assumed by perfect God. For, this sentence reveals it "He who is the form of God assumed the form of a servant," because form is here substituted for nature and essence. That sentence indicates, then, that, whilst he had the nature of God, He took the nature of a servant. Therefore, when speaking of the prime inventors of impiety Marcion, and Manes, and Valentinus we are anxious to prove, from the divine scriptures, that our Lord Jesus Christ is not only God, but man also. On the other hand, when we would refute the impiety of Sabellius, and Marcellus, and Photinus, and of Paul, should we not have recourse to the testimony of the scriptures to show that our Lord Christ is not man only, but God before the worlds and consubstantial with the Father.

As regards, again, the doctrine of Arius, and Eunomius, and Apollinarius on the subject of the Incarnation, we prove it to the uninitiated to be imperfect, by showing, by the words of the Holy Ghost, that a perfect nature was assumed by the Word. For, that He took a reasonable soul our Lord Himself teaches, where He says: "Now is my soul troubled!" (John 12:27) and in what He said:" O, my Father! Deliver me from this hour, but to this hour have I come for this.” (John 12:27) And in another, “My soul is sorrowful, even unto death" (Matthew 26:38) and in another place: "I have the power of laying down my soul, and I have the power of taking it again. No man taketh it away from me." (John 10:18) The angel, too, said to Joseph: "Take the lad and his mother and go into the land of Israel; for, they are dead who sought the soul of the lad." (Matthew 2:13) And the evangelist, likewise, said: "And Jesus continued to increase in stature and wisdom and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52) Now, that did not increase in stature and wisdom which is perfect at all times, but that human nature which took being in time, and increased, and came to perfection. And, therefore, all those properties of humanity in reality appertain to our Lord Jesus Christ I mean hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and sleep, and sweating, and prayer, and want of knowledge, and fear, and all similar things, things such as we speak of as specially pertaining to ourselves, to which, on God the Word accepting them, He appropriated to Himself, when purchasing our redemption; but the giving ability to the lame to walk again, the raising of the dead, and the multiplication of bread, and the changing water into wine, and all those other wonderful works we believe to be works proper to the power of God, so that this same Christ our Lord could, I affirm, suffer and dissolve sufferings: He could, in truth, suffer, and in that which was visible to us: and He could in truth dissolve these sufferings by that divinity, Which, in a manner ineffable, dwelt in Him.

Now, this, also, the narrative of the Holy Evangelists distinctly declares: for, we learn from them that, when He was laid in the crib, whilst confined in swaddling clothes, by the star He was announced, by the magi worshipped, and glorified by the angels. It is with reason that we make a distinction: His being the Infant, and the swaddling clothes, and the meanness of the bed, and all the poverty these we have as things proper to His humanity: whilst the journeying of the magi, and the guidance of the star, and the choir of the angels proclaim the divinity of Him, "who hideth Himself."

In the same way He flees into Egypt, and, by the flight, escapes the wrath of Herod; for, He was man. But it was as God that He shakes the idols of Egypt; for, He was God.

Being circumcised he observes the Law, and offers the sacrifices of purification; for, from the root of Jesse did He spring, and He was under the Law as man; but, afterwards dissolved the Law and gave the new covenant: for, He was the law-maker, and, by His prophets, had promised to give the Law.

He was baptized by John, and that argues His being one of us. But He was testified to, from above, by the Father, and was manifested by the Holy Spirit and that proclaims Him to be before the worlds. He hungered, but He also satisfied many thousands with five loaves of bread this is a property of divinity and that of humanity. He thirsted and asked for water, but He was the fountain of life. The one, indeed, appertained to human infirmity, but the other to divine power. He slept in the ship, but He also quelled the storm of the sea that belonged to a suffering nature, but this to a creative and formative power that bestowed upon every man his existence. He was wearied with exertion in walking, but He, also, caused the lame to be swift of foot, and He raised the dead from the grave; this is, indeed, a power above the worlds, but that is proper to our infirmity. He feared death, but he abolished death, the one was an indication of mortality; the other of immortality, besides being an indication that He gives life. "He was crucified," but according to the doctrine of the blessed Paul, "through weakness, but He lives by the power of God." (2 Corinthians 13:4) That term "weakness" should teach us that not He, Who is Omnipotent, and Incomprehensible, and Invariable, and Immutable, was affixed to the cross by nails, but that nature which, by the power of God, took being in life, according to the doctrine of His apostle. He died and was buried, two characteristics these of the form of a servant. "The gates of brass He crushed into pieces, and broke the bars of iron," and overthrew the empire of death, and, on the third day, caused the temple to rise again, these are proofs of the form of God, according to the teaching of our Lord when He said: "destroy this temple, and the third day I will raise it up again." (John 2:19) Thus in Christ, by means of the passion, we perceive, indeed, humanity; but, by means of his wonderful works, we descry His divinity, not that we divide the two natures into two Christs; but we discern the two natures to exist in one Christ, and are persuaded, as well, that God the Word was begotten of the Father, as that He, who is our beginning, is derived from Abraham and David. For this reason, also, it is that the blessed Paul said, in discoursing about Abraham: "He said not of Thy seeds, as of many, but as of one, and of Thy seed which is Christ." (Galatians 3:16) And, in writing to Timothy, he said: "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, rose from the dead, according to my gospel." (2 Timothy 2:8) And, in writing to the Romans, he said: "concerning His Son, Who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh." (Romans 1:3) And again: "whose are the fathers, of whom is the Christ according to the flesh." (Romans 9:5) And the evangelist says: "the book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Matthew 1:1) And the blessed Peter, in the Acts: "A prophet truly was David; and, knowing that God had sworn to him with oaths that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ and cause Him to sit upon His throne, he foresaw and spoke concerning His resurrection." (Acts 2:30-31)

And God spoke to Abraham: "In thy seed, indeed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 22:18) And Isaiah says: "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a stump shall grow up out of his root, and the spirit of God shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The spirit of godly fear shall fill him." (Isaiah 11:1-2) And a little after: "There shall arise a root of Jesse, and He that shall stand for a head to the Gentiles and in Him shall the Gentiles hope; and His rest shall be glorious." (Isaiah 11:10)

It is, therefore, evident from what has now been said that Christ, according to the flesh, is the son of Adam and David, and that He is clothed with their nature; but that, by reason of His divinity, He existed before the worlds, as the Son of God and the Word, Who was, in a manner ineffable and beyond human ken, born of the Father, and is coeternal with Him, as His brightness, as His image, and as His Word. For, as word is united with mind and brightness with light, from which it cannot be separated, so is the only-begotten Son, also, united with His Father.

We, therefore, affirm of our Lord Jesus Christ that He is the only-begotten of God, and the first begotten, the only-begotten, assuredly, before the incarnation and after the incarnation; but the first begotten after being born of the virgin. For, to the only-begotten the first-born seems to be the contradistinction, because the only-begotten is so named who alone is born of any substance, and the first-born is He who is the first of many brethren. Now, as regards God the Word, who alone was born of the Father, the holy scriptures teach that the only-begotten became, also, the first-born when He took our nature of the virgin and deemed them worthy of being called His brethren who believed in Him, so that the same person could be in reality the only-begotten in that He was God, and the firstborn in that He was man.

It is thus, that we, confessing the two natures, worship the one Christ and offer up the one worship to Him; for, we believe that the union of the two natures was effected, by the conception Itself, in the womb of the blessed virgin: and, therefore, we speak of the holy virgin, as being both mother of God and mother of man; for which reason, also, our Lord Jesus Christ is called, by the divine scriptures, God and man: but does not Immanuel, in this way, proclaim the union of the two natures?

If, then, we designate Christ God and man, who is so stupid as to cry out against the term "mother of man" when put in juxtaposition with that of "mother of God?" For, if we assign two names to our Lord Jesus Christ, on whose account the virgin is honored and is called blessed among women, what person is there, of a proper state of mind: who would refuse to call the virgin by the appellatives of our redeemer, seeing that it is on His account that she is honored by believers? For, not He, Who was born of her, is, for her sake, worshipped; but she, on account of Him Who is of her, is exalted by most lofty appellations.

If, however, Christ is God only and received from the virgin a beginning of His essence, from that circumstance the virgin should be named and called the mother of God only, since in that case she brought forth God only. But, if Christ is both God and man and He was indeed ever that; for, He had no beginning, since He is coeternal with His Father, whilst the other (man), in the last days, He took from human nature - a person, who would teach from these two, must weave appellatives for the virgin, indicating which is proper and appropriate to the Nature, and which to the union of the two natures. If, however, any person is desirous of giving utterance to panegyrics, and of spinning out encomial sentences, and pronouncing orations of praise, and wants only to make use of magniloquent terms, not in disputation, as we said, but in panegyrizing, let him, astonished, as is possible, at the magnitude of the Mystery, call her whatever he likes, let him use the very highest, let him praise, let him wonder. For, many expressions, similar to these, have I found in orthodox doctors. Everywhere, however, let moderation be preferred; for, I highly regard the man who asserts moderation to be best, and that, although he may not be of our flock.

This is the confession of the church's faith. This is the doctrine of the faith of the gospel and apostles. For this we refuse not three times and many times, by the aid of the grace of God, to die. These things we have been ready to teach even to those who are now in error and frequently have we challenged them to discussion, being anxious to show them the truth, but they have not consented; for, fearing their evident refutation, they have refused the contest. For, truly weak is error, and it is conjoined with darkness, as it is said that: "Everyone that doeth evil cometh not to the light, lest his deeds should be made manifest by the light." (John 3:20)

Confession of Faith by Jacob Baradaeus (ca 578 AD)

(Following is the confession of true faith attributed to Jacob Baradaeus. Jacob Baradaeus is one of the prominent bishop and doctor of Oriental Orthodox communion belonging to Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch who lived in 6th century CE. He was instrumental in setting up churches which did not affirm Chalcedonian doctrine of Christology in Syria and Persia and suffered persecution on account of this. But he received able support surprisingly from the wife of Emperor Justinian I, Empress Theodora who was sympathetic to miaphysite doctrine of Christology as opposed to her husband.)

A controversy has arisen among the Christians, and Satan, the hater of the good who divided them—and thereby the Word of our Lord was fulfilled which He speaks in the Old and the New (Testament). For He says in the holy Gospel: 'Every kingdom which is divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every house, if it is divided against itself, is destroyed.' (Matthew 12:25) This is the truth of His words in the New (Testament) and His words in the Old (Testament): Wisdom builds a house, but foolishness tears it down. And I myself saw and beheld this impious schism and condemnable destruction which destroys the Christian churches; but I ask of the Lord Christ for this that He may reward those who remain firm in these and similar days, until the Lord Christ comes to judge the living and the dead. To Him be glory evermore, to all eternity! Amen. Following is the confession of faith, the true and only one that is orthodox. 

"I believe and confess and say: I believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, the one God, whose Godship is one and whose glory is one and whose power is one and whom (men) worship in one majesty; one Creator and whose creature is one, one His good pleasure and one His will, one His beginning and one His supremacy, one His government, one His power, one His substance and one His honor, He Who is not approachable and is not reached and cannot be spoken to, like images and like formed things, and cannot be described, Whom the thoughts of these attempting cannot attain, nor the thoughts of the searchers nor the thoughts of the reasoners nor the thoughts of the poets. One in His divinity and divided into three hypostases which are in three persons, equal in one power, in one glory and in one nature, in one good pleasure and in one substance and in one honor. And I believe that He is one God in three hypostases, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And I believe that He is one in Godship and three in hypostases; three in one and one in three, division in the union and union in the division; no separation between His wisdom and reason and life. I say and believe and confess that the Father is the wisdom and the Son the reason and the Holy Spirit the life, and again I say and believe and confess that the Father is the begetter but is not the begotten, and to him alone evermore and to eternity belongs begetting and fatherhood. And further I say and believe and confess that the Son is the begotten one who is not a begetter and to him alone belongs the state of being begotten and the sonship. And I believe and say and confess that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and takes from the Son, but is not a Son, and to him alone belongs the state of proceeding. And I believe that the Father did not precede the Son and the Holy Spirit in time and in the state of Godship. And I believe that the Son did not precede the Father and the Holy Spirit in time and in the state of Godship. And I believe that one hypostasis is not smaller or less, neither in honor nor in the state of Godship. I say and believe in three hypostases and one God. No beginning and no end, embracing all things and powerful over all things, and He knows all things that are in heaven or on earth; He knows the weight of the mountains and each single ones, He is a being to eternity, and He knows the beings, He is the Creator of beings, He is the God of beings, Who is hidden from the beings, and near to the beings, veiled from the beings, and far from the beings, known by all beings, and there is nothing which is not held by His hand. The Father is God from eternity, above the Son there is no God, and the Holy Spirit is the completion of the state of Godship. And when we say "the Father is God" we do not mean Him without His Son and His Holy Spirit. And when we say "the Holy Spirit is God," we do not mean Him without the Father and the Son. And again I say that God is the eternal grace which is in Him and the love of the Son of Man and the long-suffering of the Holy Spirit. And when He saw that sin increased and destroyed the creatures, and all creation served Satan, and their hearts went astray on the thoughts of idolatry and this work was tramped under foot, and their associations were scattered and the hope ceased, He punished them first by their expulsion from the garden of bliss, in order that the children of Adam should turn to their God and should seek forgiveness from Him. But the enemy became powerful over the elder of them, and he slew his brother and destroyed him with words of blasphemy and did not repent. Their children became corrupt and according to the word of the prophet, He punished them with the water of the deluge and none of them was saved except Noah (for he made a ship out of wood that does not rot), and he destroyed them by the drowning of all their generations. And again He punished the people of Sodom and Gomorrah by the burning fire. But men returned to their fluctuation and increased exceedingly their sins. Against them Paul, the apostle, is a witness, saying: 'The Lord has spoken to our fathers through the prophets.' (Hebrews 1:1) And in all this, the Lord was waiting for the repentance of the creatures; for the restoration of the creatures is impossible except by their Creator; for a crystal vessel, if it has been broken, cannot be repaired except by its maker. And when the time arrived, when the paternal mercy became great over the human creatures, the reason-hypostasis, which is the eternal Word, descended without being separated from the throne of His glory. His descent and association with us began by the announcement of Gabriel, the messenger between God and the Virgin Mary. He went and announced to her: 'Rejoice, O thou filled with grace, the Lord is with thee, thou blessed among women.' (Luke 1:28) And this was a thing too difficult to be understood by the hearts of the children of men - the incarnation of their Creator in the flesh of the creatures; but this took place only by His will. He descended from His eternal existence, no eye seeing Him, nor was He seen in the time of His descent. He dwelt in the womb of the Virgin Mary, as He knew it Himself, and His Father and His Holy Spirit. And from her He became flesh, and appeared in pure and holy flesh, as it united with His divinity without change or mixture. The fire of His Godship did not burn His flesh, and the coldness of His flesh did not extinguish His divinity. His divinity was not changed into His condition of flesh, as the gold in the smelting oven is not changed into silver, and was not mixed as vinegar is not mixed with honey; nor bitter with the sweet ; but he was born of the Virgin Mary, her virginity being sealed (preserved), like the birth of a look from the eye, and like the birth of sweat (or heat) from the body, and like the birth of a picture of a form from the mirror; the look does not break the eye, and still comes forth, and the picture of a form does not break the mirror, and yet enters into it, and the sweat does not break the body, and yet it comes forth. He came forth in human shape, with clean flesh, and with a rational soul, and with sublime understanding. The union of the Godship with the flesh was a mysterious union, which the understanding cannot reach, and for which the thoughts cannot find pictures. His divinity was not flesh, nor was His humanity divine, but as it is impossible for the flesh to become spiritual like the soul, and as the soul is not able to change into  the nature of the flesh, but they both became one nature so is with the person of Jesus; thus the divinity does not change the humanity into its essence, and the humanity does not change the divinity into its essence, and yet we do not call Him by two names, nor two persons, nor two Gods, and not two hypostases, and not two natures, and not two Messiahs, but one Messiah and one hypostasis, and one nature, and one Son, who is born from the pure Virgin Mary. She gave him birth while she was a virgin, and in this way we call her the mother of God, the eternal Creator, who was identical with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, in substance. He it is of whom the Apostle Paul preaches, saying: 'From Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ, who was called and separated, and chosen to preach the Gospel of the Holy God, who was born in the flesh from the seed of the house of David, who was appointed Son of God through Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from dead' (Romans 1:1) It became known that He was the Son of God. I believe that He is light, which is from the light, and God, who is from God in truth. He did the deeds of God, signs and miracles, in the weak flesh. His divine nature was not separated, while performing signs and miracles, from the weak human nature, and men did not perceive His divine nature by itself without the human, as He performed miracles. I believe that He as having one nature out of His divine nature and His human nature; in that He performed signs and miracles as God and at the same time He slept in the flesh, He ate and drank in the flesh, He suffered and was crucified, and died, and was buried in the flesh, He resurrected in glory in the flesh, His divine nature being united with His human nature all the time.  And it is He, concerning whom David, the prophet, prophesied, saying: 'Thou wilt not permit that thy just one see destruction'. (Psalm 16:10) I say: Blessed is He who ate in the house of Abraham and reclined in the house of Simeon and forgave the sins of the sinning woman. I do not say that there were two, one heavenly, and the other earthly, or that there was a separation in Him, or that there are two hypostases, one the son of a divine nature and the other the son of Mary as is testimony of Nestorius-cursed be he!. And he who teaches thus, may he be cursed! If anyone says: the one creator, the other created, cursed be he! If anyone says; one strong and the other weak, cursed be he! If anyone worships the flesh of Christ alone without its being united to divine nature, cursed be he! If anyone reasons out two adorations, cursed be he! If anyone introduces a fourfold character into the Trias, cursed be he! If anyone separates Christ from his Trias, cursed be he! If anyone worships his divine character without the human or the human character without the divine, cursed be he! If anyone establishes a new God and an old God, cursed be he! If anyone does not praise the hidden Father and the crucified Son and the Holy Spirit, cursed be he! If anyone does not adore the three hypostases in the same manner, let him be cursed! If anyone honors the Father above the Son, let him be cursed! And if anyone detracts from the honor of the hypostasis of the Son on account of the incarnation, let him be cursed! If anyone says that the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, let him be cursed! If anyone says: God and Christ, His companion, let him be cursed! If anyone says: the Lord and the Lord, let him be cursed! If anyone says: the Creator and the Creator let him be cursed! If anyone says: two spirits, one holy and one holy, let him be cursed! If anyone says: God in the beginning and God later, let him be cursed! If anyone says: a greater God and a lesser God let him be cursed. If anyone says, and pollutes his mouth in saying: two natures after the union let him be cursed! Like Leo who corrupted the faith and effected this schism and created this blasphemy! If anyone says: Christ is two, let him be cursed; for he does not believe the word of Paul, the apostle, who says: one Lord, one faith and one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). This word I confess and say, that the Father is God and the Son is the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God; and I confess that the Father, His Word and His Holy Spirit are one God. And I believe that the prophecy of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning the Virgin Mary is true, that she has given birth to the son whose name is Immanuel, which is translated, God with us (Isaiah 7:14). And again he said by the command of the Lord in that prophecy, in which he said to him: speak to the children of Israel, 'Ye shall not choose many gods, I am the first and the last, and there is no other God besides me'. (Isaiah 44:6) And to Moses the prophet he said: O Israel, I am thy God, who has led thee out of the land of Egypt, and thou shalt not make to thee any gods besides me, and thou shalt not worship any graven image or likeness, not of what is in heaven nor of what is on earth. (Exodus 20:2-5) He means: not the likeness of the stars, and not the likeness of the sun, and of the moon, and not the likeness of the children of Adam, and not the likeness of the fish of the sea, and not the likeness of crocodiles or anything similar to these. And I confess the testimony of David, the prophet, who says: 'When thou hearest me thou dost not add unto thyself a strange god.' (Psalm 81:8-9) And I confess the testimony of Jeremiah, who says: 'Every god who is not the creator of the heavens and of the earth and of the sea and of all that is therein is no god.' (Jeremiah 10:11) And I believe that Christ clothed Himself in flesh and I believe that He is the Word of God, and 'through the Word of God the heavens were created, and through the Spirit of his mouth were all their hosts', as says David, the prophet. (Psalm 33:6) And I confess the testimony of Paul, the apostle, who says: 'Many are they who are called lords and gods; but we have only one God, who is the Father, in whose hands all things are held, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things that are in the heavens and on earth.; (1 Corinthians 8:5-6) And I confess the testimony of Christ our Lord, who says to his disciples: 'Go and preach to all nations, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.' (Matthew 28:19) He did not teach of two natures, concerning which the cursed Leo speaks. I believe in the confession of faith of the 318, who say: We believe in one God, the Father almighty; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, and so forth; and in the Holy Spirit, the vivifying Lord. And this I confess and in this I live and in this I will die and in this is my pride. And again I say: If any one changes this faith, he shall return answer to the Lord on the day on which the Lord Jesus Christ will judge him; and his name will be erased from the Book of Life. And I speak as is the expression of Gregorius, the theologian, who says in his homily through which he expelled Nestorius from the Christian Church of the city of Constantinople; and he ascended the chair of teaching and sat down to read it, and called his homily "Theotokos" which is, "the mother of God," saying therein: I have no fear when I call thee the mother of God; a second highest heaven, thou art exalted above it, and thou art exalted above the cherubim, for these have not the power to look upon him, but thou hast carried him in thy arms, the divine Word." I say also with Cyrillus: "His divine nature was united with His human nature at the time of His incarnation."  I believe that the One Who is filling heaven and earth, Him the weak Simeon carried on his arms and asked Him to give him the eternal rest, for there was none other whom he could trust for help. I believe in the testimony of His annunciation, the birth and the flight to the land of Egypt. Further, I believe that He was reared in Nazareth about twenty-five years. Further, I believe that He was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist. I believe that He revealed Himself to his disciples on Mount Tabor in the vision of His divinity. I believe that He gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and what he binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and what he loosens on earth will be loosened in heaven. I believe that He raised from the dead the son of the widow, Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus. I believe that He blessed five loaves and two fishes and satisfied with them 5000 souls, and again seven loaves and fish and satisfied with them 4,000 souls, besides the women and children. And I believe that He went to Jerusalem riding upon an ass with His disciples and all cried aloud, saying: 'Hosianna to the Son of David, blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord' and thus the word of the prophet who says: out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained thy praise' (Psalm 8:2), has come true. I believe that He washed the feet of His disciples in the loft of Zion, that He gave them the power to journey around among the nations and lands preaching. I believe that He suffered and tasted of death in the flesh on the wood of the cross. I believe that Jews nailed the hand which formed our father Adam to the wood of the cross, but this was according to His own will. Then I believe that when He was buried He did not see destruction but He arose in glory and ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the inaccessible glory of His Father. I believe that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe that everyone who believes in our Lord Jesus Christ in true faith will be delivered. And I, the least of all the high priests, accept three holy councils, which were at Nicaea and at Constantinople and at Ephesus. And I accept further the words of the Syrian fathers, that of the Jacob of Nisibis, that of the Ephraim, and that of the Isaac the Syrian, and that of the Simeon the potter. I accept the words of Jacob of Serug, Philoxenus of Mabbug, Jacob the interpreter of Edessa, and Barsauma, the ornament of the ascetics. I accept the words of the twelve chapters which Cyrillus, the pride of teachers, spoke, and I accept the words of the Greek fathers Basilius and Gregorius the theologian. I accept the homilies of John Chrysostomus, the patriarch of Constantinople. I accept the words of Clemens and Epiphanius, the bishop of Cyprus. I accept the words of the holy and chosen Dioscorus the Great who expelled Marcion the apostate to the island Gangra, and that of the five fathers, his companions who converted Jews and did wonders among them until he brought them back to the right faith. I accept the words of the believing kings, of whom the first was Abgar, who was king of Edessa, the just Emperor Constantine, Theodosius the elder and his son the younger, and Zeno the just Emperor who condemned and burned the writing of the cursed Leo and declared the confession of faith of the Synod at Chalcedon wrong, and said: The curse of Christ rest upon Marcion and Pulcheria, and upon the fourth council and upon those who believed in the fourth council and corrupted the true faith, and upon Leo their companion, and upon those killed Barsauma of Nisibis with keys, and upon everyone that says Christ has two natures after the union. And I accept the six anathemas with which the holy Dioscorus, the Archbishop of Alexandria cursed the fourth council, and believe in them because they are right. The first anathema:  Cursed be the fourth council and all in it and all that walk according to it and all that follow it, for it has falsified the faith of the 318 fathers, by adding a second nature to the Trinity. If they had feared the curse of the 318 fathers they would not have added one to the hypostases in the manner of Nestorius. The second anathema: Cursed all those that assembled themselves in the fourth council, because this has tramped upon the holy canons and changed the ordinances which the fathers had prescribed. The third anathema: Cursed be the bishops and fathers who had taken part in the council for honoring the person of Marcion thus transgressing against the Lord Christ; and their handwritings being in the protocol of the council, for not turning and not assembling another council concerning the faith. The fourth anathema: Cursed be all who would follow them: For these are they who have reversed the truth and that which the fathers promulgated and have accepted the epistle of Leo. The fifth anathema: Cursed be all that would follow them: For they received the children of Nestorius, that they should declare false the writings of Gregorius the theologian. The sixth anathema: Cursed be all that would follow them: For they believed in the foolishness of the faith of Nestorius and made the Lord Christ two natures and say that he is man individually and God individually. And may our Lady Mary say: Let it be cursed! And may the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit say: Let it be cursed! And may angels and men say: Let it be cursed! And may the heavens and the earth say: Let it be cursed! And may the curse rest upon the fourth council unto eternity, as long as heaven and earth exist, and upon every one that speaks according to its words and upon every one that follows them or believes in their faith. Every one who follows them, as soon as they repent, let them be pardoned."