Question
227
Should
we say “God sent His Son being begotten” (γεννωμενον) or “having become”(γενομενον)—with one n or
with two?
We must say γενομενον (“having become”) of a woman,
just as we say γενομενον (“being
made subject”) under the law—with one immutable n. First, because of the
continuous sequence of meanings and words. Second, because Christ was indeed
born of the Virgin with the unchangeable spelling of the double n in the
second syllable (γεννηθεντα),
yet He is not being born. For he was born once of the Virgin. Let no one,
therefore, be led astray by the saying of Gregory the Theologian. For when he
said, “Christ is born,” he did not mean that He is forever being born of the
Virgin, but that the feast then being celebrated concerned the day of the Lord’s
birth. For this reason, we must take every care neither to write nor to
pronounce “γενομενον απο γυναικα” with
the double n. (Photius, The Collected Amphilochia, 3 vols.
[trans. Nun Christina; 2025], 3:517)
