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AND THEIR REFUTATION. 205
the Notary Paschasias to read the Greek copy that was preserved,
and the words were found to be novam quandam, &c., and not
unam, &c., and this was in no wise opposed to the Catholic
doctrine, and can be explained two ways in an orthodox sense.
First As St. John of Damascus says, every operation (1) per
formed by Christ by the Divine and human nature is Theandric,
or human-divine, because it is the operation of a Man-God, and
is attributed to the Person of Christ, the term, at the same time,
of both the Divine and human nature. The second sense, as
Sophronius and St. Maximus lay down is this, that the new
Theandric operation St. Dionisius speaks of should be restricted
to those operations of Christ alone, in which the Divine and
human natures concur, and, therefore, there are three distinct
operations to be noted in him : first, those which peculiarly
belong to human nature alone, as walking, eating, sitting, and
so forth ; secondly, those which belong purely to the Divine
Nature, as remitting sins, working miracles, and the like ; and,
thirdly, those which proceed from both Natures, as healing the
sick by touching them, raising the dead by calling them, &c. ;
and it is of operations of this sort that the passage of St. Dio
nisius is to be explained.
9. Secondly They object that St. Athanasius (2) admits the
Divine Will only,
"
voluntatem Deitatis tantum;" but we answer
that this does not exclude human will, but only that opposing will
which springs from sin, as the context proves. Thirdly They
object that St. Gregory of Nazianzen (3) says that the will of
Christ was not opposed to God, as it was totally Deified :
"
Christi velle non fuisse Deo contrarium, utpote Deificatem
totum." We answer, with St. Maximus and St. Agatho, that there
is not the least doubt but that St. Gregory admitted two wills,
and the whole meaning of this expression is that the human will
of Christ was never opposed to the Divine will. They object,
fourthly, that St. Gregory of Nyssa, writing against Eunomius
says, that the Deity worked out the salvation of man ; the
suffering, he says, was of the flesh, but the operation was of
God :
"
Operatur vere Deitas per corpus, quod circa ipsam est
omnium salutem, ut sit carnis quidem passio, Dei autem operatic."
(1) St. Jo. Damas. /. 3, de Fide Or- (2) St. Athanas. in I. de Adv. Chri.
thodox. c. 19.
(3) St. Greg. Naz. Orat, 2 de Filio.