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to set forth concerning ......... on the one hand a refutation of those who boast of believing in them as divine ........... scriptures; yet not accepting .. .. ......... of Jesus as being himself the one prophesied; a further questioning of.... them, I mean those of the circumcision, and those from the heresies .... of and refutations of what they might say in trying to explain the divine words in a rather mythical way. And there will be also, in brief, a certain modest exposition of ours, at one time containing a demonstration that the sacred prophecies of God were fulfilled in our Savior alone, and at another time indicating our own opinion which we hold concerning the things to be set forth. But indeed, as we are about to touch on these things, it is necessary to state beforehand that in some places the sacred words teach that the Word of God pre-existed not only 4 the incarnation but also every created substance, addressing him as God ... after the Father and Lord, just as the ecclesiastical proclamation also contains, in accordance with the Gospel testimony which says, In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that was made; and in other places they proclaim beforehand his two comings: the first, in which they clearly prophesied that he would have neither form nor beauty, that he would be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and saying clearly thus that he would be condemned to death on account of the iniquities of the former people; just as the dispensations of his first coming in the times of Tiberius also prove; and the second, no longer like the first, but more divine and greatly different in glory, which will happen with an angelic escort and the host of heaven; for which things it is necessary for the one who reads to judiciously hold the apostolic proclamation as a rule and as a standard, preserving the doctrines of the truth perfect and unassailable, that is, those concerning the first and unbegotten nature of the God of all things, and those concerning the pre-existence and ministry of the divine Word, which in the creation of all created things, as indeed a word. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . apart from the four unpronounced letters among the Hebrews, the name signified by the composition of which, being unutterable, but called Lord by an extended use, has never yet been applied to an angelic power, as you will observe throughout the whole of the divinely-inspired scripture, where God or the Lord signified by the tetragrammaton is recorded to have made use of certain ones; whether the things signified should be referred to the unbegotten nature of the God of all things, or to his Word, whom, being the second cause of all things, both God and Lord, the divine scripture is accustomed to address according to what is signified by the unutterable name among the Hebrews. And so, when the passage at hand says, that the Lord came down, and the Lord said the things that have been written, someone might reasonably ask whether what is signified has reference to one of the angels, or to the first cause. But it is not possible for it to be angels; on the one hand, because here also 6 the Lord is taken through the unpronounced name, and on the other hand, because it indicates that the words were made to others subordinate to him. Then again, the thought is inappropriate with respect to the Father and God of all things; for it would not be fitting for him to say, Come, let us go down and confound their language, and the phrase, the Lord came down to see the city, would in no way be fitting to be said concerning the supreme authority. It remains, then, to understand that the divine Word is also signified through the preceding passages. He indeed, having been entrusted by the Father with the providence and dispensation of all things, never ceased, at one time through himself, at another time through ministering angels, serving the Father's will in matters contributing to the benefit and salvation of all. The things in this passage pertaining to mystical and secret contemplation, it is not now the time to unfold. CHAPTER 3. The first is recorded to have been born

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παραθέσθαι περὶ ......... μὲν ἔλεγχον τῶν πιστεύειν μὲν ὡς θείαις ........... ραῖς αὐχούντων γραφαῖς· μὴ μὴν προσιεμεν .. υτα .. .........ῶν Ἰησοῦν ὡς ἂν αὐτὸν ὄντα τὸν προφητευόμενον· ἐπαπορήσιν π.... αὐτοὺς, λέγω δὲ τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς, καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσε .... μοῦ δὲ καὶ ἀνατροπὰς ὧν ἂν εἴποιεν μυθικώτερον ἐπιλύειν πειρώμενοι τὰς θείας φωνάς. Ἔσται δὲ καὶ διὰ βραχέων μετρία τὶς ἡμῶν ἐξήγησις, ὅτε μὲν ἀπόδειξιν περιέξουσα τοῦ κατὰ μόνον τὸν ἡμετέρον Σωτῆρα πεπληρῶσθαι τὰς ἱερὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ προρρήσεις, ὅτε δὲ τὴν ἡμετέραν γνώμην ἣν ἐχόμεν περὶ τῶν ἐκτεθησομένων σημαίνουσα. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τούτων ἐφάπτεσθαι μέλλοντας, ἀναγκαίως προδιαστείλασθαι ὡς πῆ μὲν προόντα οὐ μόνον 4 τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης γενετῆς ὑποστάσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον διδάσκουσιν οἱ ἱεροὶ λόγοι, Θεὸν ... αὐτὸν μετὰ τὸν Πατέρα καὶ Κύριον προσαγορεύοντες, οἷα δὴ καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα τὸ ἐκκλησιαστικὸν περιέχει ἀκολούθως τῇ εὐαγγελικῇ μαρτυρίᾳ εἰπούσῃ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος· καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος· πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο· καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν· πῆ δὲ τὰς δύο παρουσίας αὐτοῦ προαναφωνοῦσι· τήν τε προτέραν, ἐν ᾗ μήτε εἶδος αὐτὸν μήτε κάλλος ἕξειν προυθέσπιζον διαρρήδην ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἀχθήσεσθαι, καὶ σαφῶς οὕτως ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνομιῶν τοῦ προτέρου λαοῦ τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ καταδικασθήσεσθαι λέγοντες· οἷα δὴ καὶ ἀποδείκνυνται τῆς προτέρας αὐτοῦ παρουσίας αἱ κατὰ τοὺς Τιβερίου χρόνους οἰκονομίαι· καὶ τὴν δευτέραν, οὐκέθ' ὁμοίαν τῇ προτέρᾳ, θειοτέραν δὲ καὶ πολὺ τῇ δόξῃ παραλλάττουσαν, μετ' ἀγγελικῆς δορυφορίας καὶ τῆς ἀπ' οὐρανῶν παρατάξεως γενησομένην· οἷς εὐγνωμόνως τὸν ἐντυγχάνοντα χρεὼν κανόνα ὥσπερ καὶ σκοπὸν τὸ κήρυγμα κατέχειν τὸ ἀποστολικὸν τέλεια καὶ ἀπαρεγχείρητα τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας δόγματα διαφυλάττοντα, τουτέστιν τὰ περὶ τῆς πρώτης καὶ ἀγενήτου τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Θεοῦ φύσεως, καὶ τὰ τῆς τοῦ θείου Λόγου προϋποστάσεώς τε καὶ ὑπουργίας, ἣν ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν γενητῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργίᾳ, οἷα δὴ λόγος. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . χωρὶς τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις ἀνεκφωνήτων, ὧν διὰ τῆς συνθέσεως τὸ σημαινόμενον ὄνομα ἄρρητον ὑπάρχον, καταχρηστικώτερον δὲ Κύριος ἐπικαλούμενον, οὐδέπω ποτὲ ἐπὶ ἀγγελικῆς παρείληπται δυνάμεως, ὡς ἐπιστήσεις καθ' ὅλης τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς, ἔνθα ὁ Θεὸς ἢ ὁ διὰ τοῦ τετραγράμμου δηλούμενος Κύριος ἀναγέγραπται κεχρηκέναι τίσι· πότερον ἐπὶ τὴν ἀγένητον τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Θεοῦ φύσιν ἀνενεκτέον τὰ δηλούμενα, ἢ ἐπὶ τὸν τούτου Λόγον, ὃν δεύτερον τυγχάνοντα τῶν ὅλων αἴτιον καὶ Θεὸν καὶ Κύριον κατὰ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἐκ τοῦ παρ' Ἑβραίοις ἀρρήτου ὀνόματος προσαγορεύειν εἴωθεν ἡ θεία γραφή. Καὶ δῆτα ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος φήσαντος τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι δὴ κατέβη κύριος, καὶ εἶπεν κύριος τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα, ζητήσαι ἄν τις εὐλόγως εἴτε ἐπί τινα τῶν ἀγγέλων, εἴτε ἐπὶ τὸ πρῶτον αἴτιον τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἔχει τὸ δηλούμενον. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μὲν ἀγγέλων οὐχ' οἷόν τε· τοῦτο μὲν, ὅτι κἀνταῦθα 6 τὸ Κύριος διὰ τῆς ἀνεκφωνήτου παρείληπται προσηγορίας, τοῦτο δὲ, ὅτι ἑτέροις παρ' αὐτὸν ὑποβεβηκόσιν ἐμφαίνει πεποιῆσθαι τοὺς λόγους. Πάλιν δ' αὖ ἐπὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἀνοικεῖος ἡ διάνοια· οὐ γὰρ δὴ αὐτῷ πρέποι ἂν λέγειν τὸ, δεῦτε καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὸ, κατέβη κύριος ἰδεῖν τὴν πόλιν, οὐδαμῶς ἂν ἁρμόττοι περὶ τῆς αὐθεντείας λέγεσθαι. Λείπεται δὴ νοεῖν τὸν θεῖον Λόγον καὶ διὰ τῶν προκειμένων δηλοῦσθαι. Οὗτος δὴ τὴν τῶν ἁπάντων πρόνοιάν τε καὶ οἰκονομίαν πρὸς τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐπιτετραμμένος οὐ πώποτε διέλειπεν τότε μὲν δι' ἑαυτοῦ, τότε δὲ δι' ὑπηρετῶν ἀγγέλων τῷ πατρικῷ βουλήματι τὰ συντείνοντα ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ὅλων ὠφελείᾳ τε καὶ σωτηρίᾳ διακονούμενος. Μυστικῆς δὲ καὶ ἀπορρήτου θεωρίας ἐχόμενα τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον οὐ νῦν ἀναπτύσσειν καιρός. Γʹ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ. Πρῶτος ἀναγέγραπται γενόμενος