Moreover we proclaim the holy Virgin to be in strict truth See especially
Greg. Naz., Ep. 1 ad Cled.; Theod., Hær.
fab., v. 18.
the Mother of God Greg. Naz.,
Epist. I. ad Cledon.. For
inasmuch as He who was born of her was true God, she who bare the true
God incarnate is the true mother of God. For we hold that God was
born of her, not implying that the divinity of the Word received from
her the beginning of its being, but meaning that God the Word Himself,
Who was begotten of the Father timelessly before the ages, and was with
the Father and the Spirit without beginning and through eternity, took
up His abode in these last days for the sake of our salvation in the
Virgin’s womb, and was without change made flesh and born of
her. For the holy Virgin did not bare mere man but true
God: and not mere God but God incarnate, Who did not bring down
His body from Heaven, nor simply passed through the Virgin as channel,
but received from her flesh of like essence to our own and subsisting
in Himself Ibid.. For if
the body had come down from heaven and had not partaken of our nature,
what would have been the use of His becoming man? For the purpose
of God the Word becoming man Infr. ch.
18. was that the very
same nature, which had sinned and fallen and become corrupted, should
triumph over the deceiving tyrant and so be freed from corruption, just
as the divine apostle puts it, For since by man came death, by man
came also the resurrection of the dead 1 Cor. xv. 21.. If the first is true the second must
also be true.