Mothers And Children

Οὐκοῦν οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι παντες, ὡς ἔφην, εἴεν ἄν καὶ μάλα εἰκότως δια τὸ κεχρίσθαι χριστοὶ, μόνος δὲ χριστὸς Θεὸς ἁληθινὸς ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ. Καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τάλαηθοῦς, εἴ τις ἂν ἔλοιτο λέγειν ὡς αἱ τῶν ἄλλων μητέρες χριστοτόκοι μὲν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ θεοτόκοι. Μόνη δὲ παρ' ἐκείνας ἡ ἁγία Παρθένος χριστοτόκος τε ὁμοῦ αὶ Θεοτόκος νοεῖται τε καὶ λέγεται· γεγέννηκε γὰρ οὐ ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον, καθ' ἡμᾶς, σαρκωθέντα δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγον. Ὤνομάσμεθα μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς κατὰ χάριν θεοῖ· πλὴν οὐχ οὕτως Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς φύσει δὲ μᾰλλον καὶ ἀληθείᾳ κἂν εἰ γέγονε σάρξ. Ἀλλα' ἴσως ἐκεῖνο ἐρεῖς· Ἄρ οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, θεότητος μήτηρ γέγονεν ἡ Παρθένος; Καὶ πρός γε τοῦτό φαμεν ὅτι γεγέννηται μὲν ὁμολογουμένως ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ Πατρὸς ὁ ζῶν τε καὶ ἐνυπόστατος Λόγος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἄναρχον ἐν χρόνῳ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχει, ἀεὶ συνυφεστηκὼς τᾡ γεγεννηκότι, ἐν αὐτῷ τε καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ συνυπάρχων καὶ συννοούμενος· ἐν ἐσχάτοις δὲ τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς, ἐπειδὴ γέγονε σὰρξ, τουτέστιν ἡνώθη σαρκὶ ψυχὴν ἐχούσῃ τὴν λογικὴν, γεγεννῆσθαι λέγεται καὶ σαρκικῶς διὰ γυναικός. Ἔοικε δέ πως τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς τόκῳ τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῷ μυστήριον. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς μητέρες ὑπηρετοῦσαι τῇ φύσει πρὸς γέννησιν, ἔχουσι μὲν ἐν μήτρᾳ πηγυμένην κατὰ βραχὴ τὴν σάρκα, καὶ ἀφράστοις τισὶν ἐνεργρείαις Θεοῦ προῖοῦσαν καὶ τελειουμένην εἰς εἴδος τὸ ἀνθρώπινον· ἐνίησι δὲ τῷ ζώῳ τὸ πνεῦμα ὁ Θεὸς, καθ' ὄν οἶδε τρόπον· Πλάττει γὰρ τὸ πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν. Ἕτερος δὲ σαρκὸς, καὶ ὁμοίως ἕτερος ὁ ψυχῆς ἐστι λόγος. Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ γεγόνασι μόνον αὗται τῶν ἀπὸ γης σωμάτων μητέρες, ἀλλ' οὖν ὅλον ἀποτεκοῦσαι τὸ ζῶον, τὸ ἐκ ψυχῆς δὴ λέγω καὶ σώματος, οὐχὶ μέρος λέγονται τεκεῖν.Οὐδ' ἂν εἴποι τις, φέρε εἰπεῖν, τὴν Ἐλισάβετ σαρκοτόκον μὲν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ ψυχοτόκον· ἐκτέτοκε γὰρ ψυχωθέντα τὸν Βαπτιστὴν, καὶ ὡς ἔν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ψυχῆς δὴ λέγω καὶ σώματος· τοιοῦτόν τι πεπρᾶχθαι παρδεξόμεθα καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ γεννήσει τοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ. Γεγέννηται μὲν γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς οὐσίας ὁ μονογενὴς αὐτοῦ Λόγος· ἐπειδὴ δὲ σάρκα λαβὼν καὶ ἰδίαν αὐτὴν ποιησάμενος, κεχρημάτικε καὶ Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, καὶ γέγονε καθ' ἡμᾶς, οὐδὲν, οἴμαι, τὶ ἄτοπον εἰπεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀναγκαῖον ὁμολογεῖν ὅτι καὶ γεγέννηται κατὰ σάρκα διὰ γυναικὸς. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐπιστoλή Α' Source:Migne PG 77.20d-21c

So all other children may be, as Nestorius says, indeed 'christs' on account of an anointing , but only Emmanuel is Christ the true God. Whence he would not err who called other mothers 'bearers of christ' but in no way are they bearers of God. For only she among all women, the Blessed Virgin, is to be thought and named both bearer of Christ and bearer of God, for she bore not a mere man, as we are, but rather the Incarnate Word of God the Father made man. Now we also on account of the grace of God may be named 'gods', 1 but not at all 'God the Son' which He is by nature and in truth, even if being flesh. But perhaps you ask, 'Tell me, do you think the Virgin was made the mother of His Divinity?' To this we say that it should be understood that the Word was born from her of the very substance of God Himself, and is the living and substantial Word of the Father without beginning in time, eternally coexisting with Him, always being in Him and with Him, but in these recent times made flesh, that is united to flesh with a rational soul, according to which flesh he was born of woman. As the mothers of earthly children impart to them their nature in generation which gradually grows in time, so in this work of mystery the Creator took up, He grew bit by bit to the perfection of the human form, but God gives the spirit, as He knows how, in the animal, 'He forms the spirt of man in him,' 2 as the Prophet says. For the flesh is one thing and the rational soul is another. But though these are mothers of the earthly body only, when they give birth, they are said to give birth to the whole, that is, to both the body and soul, and not merely a part. For no one, for sake of example, would say that Elisabeth gave birth to the flesh only and not the soul, but she birthed the Baptist as a creature with soul and a man, as one thing from two, that is, flesh and soul. So do we think it to have happened in the birth of Emmanuel. For the only begotten Word of God was generated from the substance of His Father; but after He took on flesh, making it His own, and was made the Son of Man, endowed with our nature; and so, I think, without any absurdity it is necessary to confess that He was born of a woman according to the flesh. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, from the First Letter 1 Ps 81.6 2 Zachar 12.1