Definition and first modes of union

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

John of Damascus opens his treatise On Union by defining union and beginning a list of twelve modes of union with examples from nature.

Union is the communal coming together of separate things. It occurs in twelve modes: according to blending, according to heaping, according to nature, according to mixing, according to confusion, according to harmony, according to juxtaposition, according to fusion, according to substance, according to relation, according to composition, and according to person only. Blending occurs with liquids, as with wine and water. Heaping occurs with dry things, as with wheat and barley. Nature occurs with dry and wet, as with earth and water. Mixing occurs with different flours. Confusion occurs with molten things, as with gold and silver, or wax and pitch. Harmony occurs with stones.

Greek

Περὶ ἑνώσεως, τοῦ ∆αμασκηνοῦ.

Ἕνωσίς ἐστι διεστώτων πραγμάτων κοινωνικὴ συνδρομή. Γίνεται δὲ κατὰ ιβʹ

τρόπους· κατὰ κρᾶσιν κατὰ σωρείαν, κατὰ φύσιν, κατὰ ἀνάμιξιν, κατὰ σύγχυσιν, κατὰ

ἁρμονίαν, κατὰ παράθεσιν, κατὰ συναλοιφὴν, κατὰ οὐσίαν, κατὰ σχέσιν, κατὰ σύνθεσιν,

καθ' ὑπό στασιν μόνως. Καὶ ἔστι κατὰ κρᾶσιν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν ὑγρῶν· οἴνου καὶ ὑδάτων.

Κατὰ σωρείαν, ὡς ἐπὶ ξηρῶν· σίτου καὶ κριθῆς. Κατὰ φύρσιν, ὡς ἐπὶ ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ·

γῆς καὶ ὕδατος. Κατὰ ἀνάμιξιν, ὡς ἐπὶ διαφόρων ἀλεύρων. Κατὰ σύγχυσιν, ὡς ἐπὶ

τηκτῶν· χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύ ρου, κηροῦ καὶ πίσσης. Κατὰ ἁρμονίαν, ὡς ἐπὶ λίθων.

About this text

John of Damascus lists twelve kinds of union, from wine mixed with water to union in one person, to show how Christ's two natures are joined.

John of Damascus, an Eastern Christian monk and theologian, wrote this treatise in Greek. He had served as a financial official under the Syrian caliph before entering the monastery of Mar Saba. The work is a doctrinal explanation of the concept of union, written to clarify how the divine and human natures come together in Christ.

The treatise responds to errors about Christ's person. John argues against Nestorius, who divided Christ into two persons, and also against Eutyches and Dioscorus, who confused or mixed the natures. The reader will meet Peter and Paul as examples of individuals who share one substance, and will hear the teaching of Nestorius quoted only as the 'nonsense' that John rejects.

A reader should know that 'person' here translates the Greek term hypostasis, meaning an individual concrete reality, while 'nature' means the essential character of a thing and 'substance' means what a thing is. 'Union according to substance' means that individuals such as Peter and Paul share the same humanity but remain separate persons. 'Union according to person' applies only to Christ, in whom the divine and human natures are united in one person without confusion or change, each nature keeping its own natural property.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 94-96; De unione (Greek)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.