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Adversus Eunomium

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS BASIL, ARCHBISHOP OF CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA, A REFUTATION OF THE APOLOGY OF

THE IMPIOUS EUNOMIUS. BOOK 1.

If all, upon whom the name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ has been called, were willing to attempt nothing against the truth of the Gospel, 29.500 and to be content with the tradition of the apostles and the simplicity of the faith, we would have no need for words at the present time, but even now we would have certainly embraced the silence which we honored from the beginning; but since the enemy of the truth, always increasing the evil by additions to the tares which he sowed from the beginning in the Church of God, and having now found instruments that readily receive all his art, under the guise of Christianity introduces the denial of the divinity of the Only-begotten, disturbing the pure and simple teaching of the divine Spirit with this external and vain wisdom, and deceiving the more guileless with plausible reasoning; we too, of necessity, both for the love of you who commanded it and for our own safety, overlooking our weakness in this, although we are completely untrained in this kind of discourse, according to the measure of knowledge supplied to us by the Lord, have undertaken both to stand with the truth and to refute the falsehood; thinking that we shall certainly not fail to attain at least one of three good things: for we will either give the refutation as an antidote to the evil for those already taken in; or we will provide a moderate defense for those who are sound; or we ourselves will certainly obtain the rewards for having chosen what is best for our brothers. The first, so far as we know, who dared to say and teach openly that the only-begotten Son is unlike in substance to God the Father, was Aetius the Syrian, of whom I will not say, having been trained from the beginning in what sort of practices, he gradually corrupted the Churches of God, so that I may not seem to be reviling, abstaining from refutations; but the one who received the impiety and perfected it is this Eunomius the Galatian, who, acquiring his prominence for himself from the most shameful things (For their glory, it says, is in their shame), preferring the ambition of writing what no one else 29.501 had ever dared, to the good things laid up for the pious, was moved to publish in this brilliant treatise the blasphemy that was until then spoken under the breath, being ambitious to be proclaimed the leader and champion of a whole heresy. It is he, therefore, whom we propose to censure at present. Since one evil exists in both, it is clear that in the perfected disciple the teacher also will be refuted along with him, the one who sowed the seeds of impiety; if indeed it should be granted to us through your prayers to receive such power of speech, as to reach both of them together, who are intertwined with each other against piety, with the one blow of refutation like the zealous Phinehas. Therefore, though I have many things to show him to be in this discourse—a liar, an ignoramus, an insolent man, an ironist, a blasphemer—I will set aside the mention of the others as a secondary matter, but the blasphemy, which he has spoken against the height of the glory of the Only-begotten, having stripped it of the veils of his art, I will try to make manifest to all. And now I shall proceed to the refutations, making my beginning from the title itself. For, first of all, this form of discourse has been devised by him as a piece of villainy, composing his teaching in the form of an apology, so that he might not seem to be making a primary exposition of the doctrines of

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Adversus Eunomium

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑΣ ΚΑΠΠΑ∆ΟΚΙΑΣ ΑΝΑΤΡΕΠΤΙΚΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΠΟΛΟΓΗΤΙΚΟΥ ΤΟΥ

∆ΥΣΣΕΒΟΥΣ ΕΥΝΟΜΙΟΥ. ΛΟΓΟΣ Αʹ.

Εἰ μὲν ἐβούλοντο πάντες, ἐφ' οὓς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπικέκληται, μηδὲν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου παρεγχειρεῖν, 29.500 τῇ δὲ παραδόσει τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ τῇ ἁπλότητι τῆς πίστεως ἐξαρκεῖσθαι, οὐδὲν ἂν ἡμῖν ἔδει λόγων ἐν τῷ παρόντι, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν ἂν πάντως ἣν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐτι μήσαμεν σιωπὴν ἠσπασάμεθα· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ ἐχθρὸς τῆς ἀληθείας προσθήκαις ἀεὶ τὸ κακὸν πλεονάζων, πρὸς οἷς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπέσπειρε ζιζανίοις τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ νῦν εὑρὼν ὅργανα πᾶσαν ἀθρόως αὐτοῦ τὴν τέχνην ὑποδεχόμενα, ἐν προσχήματι Χρι στιανισμοῦ τὴν ἄρνησιν τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Μονογενοῦς παρεισάγει, τῇ ἔξωθεν ταύτῃ καὶ ματαίᾳ σοφίᾳ τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ ἁπλοῦν τῆς διδασκαλίας τοῦ θείου Πνεύ ματος συνταράσσων, καὶ ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ τοὺς ἀκεραιοτέρους παρακρουόμενος· ἀναγκαίως καὶ ἡμεῖς, διά τε τὴν ὑμετέραν τῶν ἐπιταξάντων ἀγάπην καὶ διὰ τὸ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἀσφαλὲς, ἐν τούτῳ τῆς ἀσθε νείας ὑπεριδόντες, καίτοι παντελῶς ἀγύμναστοι τοῦ τοιούτου εἴδους τῶν λόγων ὄντες, κατὰ τὸ ἐπιχορη γηθὲν ἡμῖν παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου τῆς γνώσεως μέ τρον, τῇ τε ἀληθείᾳ συνίστασθαι, καὶ ἀπελέγχειν τὸ ψεῦδος ὑπεδεξάμεθα· ἡγούμενοι τριῶν ἀγαθῶν ἑνός γε πάντως μὴ ἁμαρτήσεσθαι· ἢ γὰρ τοῖς ἤδη προειλημμένοις ἀλεξητήριον τοῦ κακοῦ τὸν ἔλεγχον δώ σειν· ἢ φυλακὴν μετρίαν παρέξειν τοῖς ὑγιαίνουσιν· ἢ πάντως γε αὐτοὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τῷ προελέσθαι τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἡμῶν τὰ βέλτιστα μισθῶν ἐπιτεύξεσθαι. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ μὲν πρῶτος εἰπεῖν φανερῶς καὶ διδάξαι τολμήσας ἀνόμοιον εἶναι κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν τὸν μονο γενῆ Υἱὸν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, ὅσα γε ἡμεῖς ἴσμεν, Ἀέτιος ὁ Σύρος, ὃν οὐκ ἐρῶ, ποδαποῖς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐντετραμμένος ἐπιτηδεύμασι, ταῖς Ἐκκλη σίαις τοῦ Θεοῦ προϊὼν εἰσεφθάρη, ἵνα μὴ δόξω λοι δορεῖν, τῶν ἐλέγχων ἀφέμενος· ὁ δὲ ἐκδεξάμενος τὴν ἀσέβειαν καὶ τελειώσας αὐτὴν Εὐνόμιος οὗτος ὁ Γα λάτης, ὃς, ἐκ τῶν αἰσχίστων ἑαυτῷ τὴν περι φάνειαν κτώμενος (Ἡ γὰρ δόξα, φησὶν, ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ αὐτῶν), τὴν ἐκ τοῦ γράψαι ἃ μηδεὶς ἄλ 29.501 λος τετόλμηκε πώποτε φιλοτιμίαν τῶν ἀποκειμένων τοῖς εὐσεβέσιν ἀγαθῶν προτιμήσας, ὑπ' ὀδόντα τέως λαλουμένην τὴν βλασφημίαν ἐπήρθη δημοσιεῦ σαι τῷ λαμπρῷ τούτῳ συντάγματι, ἀρχηγὸς καὶ πρω τοστάτης ὅλης αἱρέσεως ἀναῤῥηθῆναι φιλοτιμούμε νος. Ὅνπερ οὖν καὶ εὐθύνειν πρόκειται ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ παρόντι. Ἑνὸς δὲ κακοῦ ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ὑπάρχον τος, δῆλον, ὡς ἐν τῷ μαθητῇ τῷ κατηρτισμένῳ καὶ ὁ διδάσκαλος συναπελεγχθήσεται, ὁ τὰ σπέρματα τῆς ἀσεβείας καταβαλόμενος· εἴπερ δὴ ὑπάρξειεν ἡμῖν διὰ τῶν προσευχῶν ὑμῶν τοσαύτην λαβεῖν τοῦ λόγου δύναμιν, ὥστε κατὰ τὸν ζηλωτὴν Φινεὲς τῇ μιᾷ πληγῇ τοῦ ἐλέγχου ἀμφοτέρων ὁμοῦ καθικέσθαι τῶν κατὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν συμπεπλεγμένων ἀλλήλοις. Πολλὰ τοίνυν ἔχων αὐτὸν ἐν τούτῳ δεικνύναι τῷ λό γῳ ψεύστην, ἀμαθῆ, ὑβριστὴν, εἴρωνα, βλάσφημον, τῶν μὲν ἄλλων τὴν μνήμην ἐν παρέργῳ θήσομαι, τὴν δὲ βλασφημίαν, ἣν εἰς τὸ ὕψος τῆς δόξης τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐλάλησε, τῶν ἐκ τῆς τέχνης προκαλυμ μάτων ἀπογυμνώσας, ἐμφανῆ πᾶσι καταστῆσαι πει ράσομαι. Ἤδη δὲ βαδιοῦμαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐλέγχους, ἐξ αὐ τῆς τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ πάντων κακούργημα τὸ σχῆμα τοῦτο τῶν λόγων ἐπινενόηται, ἐν ἀπολογίας εἴδει τὴν δι δασκαλίαν συνθέντι, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ προηγουμένως ποιεῖσθαι τῶν δογμάτων τῆς