Letter 484: The danger that accompanies learning, Ammonios, is pride — and the pride of the learned is particularly resistant to...

To Eustephius, on the celebrated death of our Savior: You asked: from where is it clear that Christ came to his death willingly? Most of all, from the fact that he raised the dead by his own sovereign authority. For he who bestowed life upon the dead would surely not have been led unwillingly to his passion. And if also by divine authority...

ΡΚΗ. – ΕΥΣΤΕΦΙΟ (19). Εἰς τὸν ἀοίδιμον θάνατον τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν (20). Πόθεν, ἔφης, δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι ἑκὼν ἐπὶ τὸν θάνα-- τον ἦλθεν ὁ Χριστός (21); Μάλιστα μὲν ἐκ τοῦ νεκροὺς Δεσποτικῇ αὐθεντίᾳ ἐγηγερκέναι. Ὁ γὰρ νεκροῖς ζωὴν χαρισάμενος, οὐκ ἂν δήπου ἄκων ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος ἤχθη. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τῇ θεϊκῇ ἐξουσίᾳ οὐκ ἤθελε χρήσα - σθαι, ἀλλὰ γε ἐξῆν ἀπολογησάμενον ἐκφυγεῖν, εἶγε ἤθελε. Καὶ γὰρ εἶχε καὶ τὸν Πιλάτον εἰς τοῦτο αὐτῷ συμπράττοντα, καὶ λέγοντα, ποτὲ μέν· « Οὐχ εὐρί- σκω ἐν αὐτῷ οὐδὲ μίαν αἰτίαν θανάτου· · ποτὲ δὲ · « ᾿Αθῶός εἰμι ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τούτου. » Εἰ δὲ μὴ C ἀπολογήσασθαι ἤθελεν, ἐκκαλέσασθαι κατὰ Παῦλον ἐξῆν. Καὶ γὰρ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους ἦσαν. Λοιπὸν γὰρ Αύγουστος ὁ Ῥωμαίων αὐτοκράτωρ χειρωσάμενος ἅπαντας, ἐν οἷς ἦσαν καὶ αὐτοὶ, ἐκέλευσεν ἀπογρά- ψασθαι πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, πρὸ τοῦ τὸν Σωτῆρα τὸ κατὰ σάρκα γεννηθῆναι· καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμών - ἦν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ὁ Πιλάτος, διέπων τὰ πράγματα, καὶ τοὺς ἐκκαλουμένους πέμπων εἰς τὴν Ῥωμαίων, καὶ τηρῶν αὐτοῖς τὸ ἄσυλον· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ Φῆστος, εἰ δὲ βούλει, ὁ χιλίαρχος, τὸν Παῦλον καὶ διέσωσεν ἐκ τῆς φονώσης συνόδου, καὶ εἰς Ῥώμην πρὸς Καίσαρα ἀνέπεμψεν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐδὲν τούτων πε ποίηκεν ὁ Χριστός· οὔτε γὰρ τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ, οὔτε τῇ ἀπολογίᾳ, οὔτε τῇ ἐκκλήτῳ ἐχρήσατο, ἵνα λαμπρῶς δείξῃ, ὅτι τὸν θάνατον θανατώσων δεῦρ' ἀφίκτο. Ρ. 484. - LIB. 1, ΕΡ. 201. P. 60, lit. A, lin. 2. Ρ. οὐσίας καὶ τῆς Θεοτόκου Μαρίας ληφθέντος, τὴν ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος και. οὐσίας ἀνα ληφθέντος τὴν ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος.