Orthodoxus and Eranistes.
Orth. — In our former discussions we have proved that God the Word is immutable, and became incarnate not by being changed into flesh, but by taking perfect human nature. The divine Scripture, and the teachers of the churches and luminaries of the world have clearly taught us that, after the union, He remained as He was, unmixed, impassible, unchanged, uncircumscribed; and that He preserved unimpaired the nature which He had taken. For the future then the subject before us is that of His passion, and it will be a very profitable one, for thence have been brought to us the waters of salvation.
Eran. — I am also of opinion that this discourse will be beneficial. I shall not however consent to our former method, but I propose myself to ask questions.
Orth. — And I will answer, without making any objection to the change of method. He who has truth on his side, not only when he questions but also when he is questioned, is supported by the might of the truth. Ask then what you will.
Eran. — Who, according to your view, suffered the passion?
Orth. — Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Eran. — Then a man gave us our salvation.
Orth. — No; for have we confessed that our Lord Jesus Christ was only man?
Eran. — Now define what you believe Christ to be.
Orth. — Incarnate Son of the living God.
Eran. — And is the Son of God God?
Orth. — God, having the same substance as the God Who begot Him.
Eran. — Then God underwent the passion.
Orth. — If He was nailed to the cross without a body, apply the passion to the Godhead; but if he was made man by taking flesh, why then do you exempt the passible from the passion and subject the impassible to it?
Eran. — But the reason why He took flesh was that the impassible might undergo the passion by means of the passible.
Orth. — You say impassible and apply passion to Him.
Eran. — I said that He took flesh to suffer.
Orth. — If He had had a nature capable of the Passion He would have suffered without flesh; so the flesh becomes superfluous.
Eran. — The divine nature is immortal, and the nature of the flesh mortal, so the immortal was united with the mortal, that through it He might taste of death.
Orth. — That which is by nature immortal does not undergo death, even when conjoined with the mortal; this is easy to see.
Eran. — Prove it; and remove the difficulty.
Orth. — Do you assert that the human soul was immortal, or mortal?
Eran. — Immortal.
Orth. — And is the body mortal or immortal?
Eran. — Indubitably mortal.
Orth. — And do we say that man consists of these natures?
Eran. — Yes.
Orth. — So the immortal is conjoined with the mortal?
Eran. — True.
Orth. — But when the connection or union is at an end, the mortal submits to the law of death, while the soul remains immortal though sin has introduced death, or do you not hold death to be a penalty?
Eran. — So divine Scripture teaches. For we learn that when God forbade Adam to partake of the tree of knowledge He added on the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.
Orth. — Then death is the punishment of them that have sinned?
Eran. — Agreed.
Orth. — Why then, when soul and body have both sinned together, does the body alone undergo the punishment of death?
Eran. — It was the body that cast its evil eye upon the tree, and stretched forth its hands, and plucked the forbidden fruit. It was the mouth that bit it with the teeth, and ground it small, and then the gullet committed it to the belly, and the belly digested it, and delivered it to the liver; and the liver turned what it had received into blood and passed it on to the hollow vein and the vein to the adjacent parts and they through the rest, and so the theft of the forbidden food pervaded the whole body. Very properly then the body alone underwent the punishment of sin.
Orth. — You have given us a physiological disquisition on the nature of food, on all the parts that it goes through and on the modifications to which it is subject before it is assimilated with the body. But there is one point that you have refused to observe, and that is that the body goes through none of these processes which you have mentioned without the soul. When bereft of the soul which is its yoke mate the body lies breathless, voiceless, motionless; the eye sees neither wrong nor aright; no sound of voices reaches the ears, the hands cannot stir; the feet cannot walk; the body is like an instrument without music. How then can you say that only the body sinned when the body without the soul cannot even take a breath?
Eran. — The body does indeed receive life from the soul, and it furnishes the soul with the penal possession of sin.
Orth. — How, and in what manner?
Eran. — Through the eyes it makes it see amiss; through the ears it makes it hear unprofitable sounds; and through the tongue utter injurious words, and through all the other parts act ill.