What is the difference between saying “incarnate,” and “inhominate”? | Saint Peter & Saint Andrew Coptic Orthodox Church

The answer

Incarnate is taking flesh, and inhominate is becoming man.

This means that the Lord Jesus Christ is the “Inhominate God.” Perfect God, and perfect man. True God, and true man. Divinity and humanity united in One Person without mingling, without confusion, and without alteration-the Person of the Incarnate Son of God.

This is why the Oriental Orthodox proclaim that they are “Miaphysite,”²⁹ or according to the statement of St. Cyril of Alexandria, the 24^th Patriarch, “One nature of God the Incarnate Word.”³⁰

The authentic Cyrillian formula denotes a harmonious (united) nature, and not numerically one.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II

Notes

²⁹ Translator’s note: Arabic text: “Adherents of the One Nature.”

³⁰ Translator’s note: See n. 23.

Pope Tawadros II, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, 2014), 83.

The page in the book (83)

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed. Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, Cairo; printed at Saint Mena Monastery Press, Maryut, Egypt. ISBN 978-977-344-149-7.