Take the case of the flaming sword; just as in it
the natures of the fire and the steel are preserved distinct Maxim., lib. De
duab. vol. et Dial. cum Pyrrh., so also are their two energies and their
effects. For the energy of the steel is its cutting power, and
that of the fire is its burning power, and the cut is the effect of the
energy of the steel, and the burn is the effect of the energy of the
fire: and these are kept quite distinct in the burnt cut, and in
the cut burn, although neither does the burning take place apart from
the cut after the union of the two, nor the cut apart from the
burning: and we do not maintain on account of the twofold natural
energy that there are two flaming swords, nor do we confuse the
essential difference of the energies on account of the unity of the
flaming sword. In like manner also, in the case of Christ, His
divinity possesses an energy that is divine and omnipotent while His
humanity has an energy such as is our own. And the effect of His
human energy was His taking the child by the hand and drawing her to
Himself, while that of His divine energy was the restoring of her to
life St. Luke viii. 54; Max., Dial. cum
Pyrrh.. For the one is quite distinct from
the other, although they are inseparable from one another in theandric
energy. But if, because Christ has one subsistence, He must also
have one energy, then, because He has one subsistence, He must also
have one essence.