| Gregorius quirico episcopo et ceteris in hiberia catholicae ecclesiae episcopis quia caritati nil longe est, quos diuidunt loca iungat epistula...
| Gregory, to Bishop Quiricus and the other bishops of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Nothing is far from love, and those that distance separates a letter joins together...
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| Verbum uero carnem dicimus factum non immutando quod erat, sed suscipiendo quod non erat. Incarnationis enim suae misterio unigenitus patris nostra auxit, sua non minuit. Vna itaque persona est uerbum et caro, sicut ipse ait: nemo ascendit in caelum, nisi qui de caelo descendit, filius hominis. Qui filius dei in caelo, erat filius hominis, qui loquebatur in terra. Hinc iohannes ait: scimus, quia filius dei uenit et dedit nobis sensum. Qui nobis quem sensum dederit ilico subiungit: ut cognoscamus uerum deum. Quem hoc loco uerum deum insinuat nisi patrem omnipotentem? Sed quid etiam de omnipotente filio sentiat, adiungat: et simus in uero filio eius iesu christo.
| We say that the Word became flesh, not by changing what it was, but by receiving what it was not. By the mystery of his Incarnation, the Only-Begotten of the Father took on what belongs to us, without diminishing what belongs to himself. Therefore the Word and the Flesh are one person, as he himself said, "No one goes up to heaven but the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man" (Jn 3:13). The Son of God in heaven is the Son of Man when he speaks on earth. So John said, "We know that the Son of God came and gave us understanding" (1 Jn 5:20). Which kind of understanding? He adds: "that we may know the true God." What does he mean by the "true God" but the omnipotent Father? But regarding the omnipotent Son, he adds: "that we may be in his true Son, Jesus Christ."
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| Ecce ait uerum deum patrem, uerum filium eius iesum christum. Quem uerum filium quid esse sentiat apertius ostendat: hic uerus deus et uita aeterna.
| Thus he mentioned the true God the Father, and his true Son Jesus Christ. What does he mean by the "true Son"? He now explains: "He is the true God and eternal life."
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| Si igitur iuxta errorem nestorii alius uerbum atque alius esset homo iesus christus, qui uerus est homo, utique uerus deus non esset et uita aeterna. Sed unigenitus filius uerbum ante saecula factus est homo. Hic est ergo uerus deus et uita aeterna.
| If, according to the error of Nestorius, the Word is one person, and the man Jesus Christ is another, who is true man, then he would not be true God and eternal life. But the Only-Begotten Son, who was Word before all ages, became man. He is therefore true God and eternal life.
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| Certe cum hunc sancta uirgo conceptura esset et loquentem ad se angelum audiret, ait: ecce ancilla domini, fiat sicut dicis. Quae cum eum concepisset et ad elisabeth cognatam suam pergeret, ab eadem elisabeth protinus audiuit: unde ego digna, ut mater domini mei ueniat ad me? Ecce eadem uirgo et ancilla domini dicitur et mater. Ancilla enim domini, quia uerbum ante saecula unigenitus aequalis patri, mater uero, quia in eius uisceribus ex sancto spiritu qua eius carne factus est homo.
| Certainly, when the holy Virgin was about to conceive, and heard the angel speaking to her, she said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it happen as you say." Then, when she had conceived him, and went to her cousin Elizabeth, she heard from the same Elizabeth: "What should make me so worthy that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" So the same Virgin is called both handmaid and mother. She was handmaid of the Lord, because the Word, the Only-Begotten, was equal to the Father before time began. She was mother, because in her womb, from her flesh, he was made man by the Holy Spirit.
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| Nec alterius ancilla, alterius mater, quia, dum unigenitus dei exsistens ante saecula ex eius utero natus est homo, inuestigabili miraculo facta est et ancilla hominis per diuinitatem et mater uerbi per carnem. Non autem prius in utero uirginis caro concepta est et postmodum diuinitas uenit in carne, sed mox uerbum uenit in utero, mox uerbum seruata propriae uirtute naturae factum est caro.
| She was not the handmaid of one person, and the mother of another, because the Only-Begotten Son of God, who existed before time began, was born as a man from her womb. By this mind-blowing miracle, she became the handmaid of a man by reason of his divinity, and mother of the word by reason of his flesh. The flesh was not first conceived in the womb of the Virgin, and then the divinity entered the flesh, but the instant the Word came into her womb, while retaining its own natural power, it became flesh.
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| Et perfectus homo, id est in ueritate carnis et animae rationalis, natus est per uterum uirginis filius dei. Vnde et unctus prae participibus dicitur, sicut psalmista ait: unxit te deus deus tuus oleo laetitiae prae consortibus tuis. Vnctus quippe est oleo, dono uidelicet spiritus sancti. Sed prae consortibus unctus est, quia omnes nos prius peccatores homines exsistimus et postmodum per unctionem sancti spiritus sanctificamur. Ipse autem qui exsistens deus ante saecula per sanctum spiritum in utero uirginis homo conceptus est in fine saeculorum, ibi ab eodem spiritu unctus est, ibi conceptus. Nec ante conceptus et postmodum unctus est, sed hoc ipsum de spiritu sancto ex carne uirginis concipi a sancto spiritu ungueri fuit...
| A perfect man, that is comprising real flesh and a rational soul, was, through the Virgin's womb, born as Son of God. Therefore he is said to have been anointed above his companions, as the Psalmist says: "God, your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions" (Ps 45). He was anointed with oil, trhat is the gift of the Holy Spirit. But he was anointed above his companions, because all of us were first sinners, and afterwards, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we were sanctified. He who was God before time began, was conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin at the end of the ages. He was anointed by the Spirit in the same place he was conceived. He was not first conceived and then anointed, but his very conception by the Holy Spirit from the flesh of the Virgin was his anointing by the Holy Spirit...
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