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Lest we should set something between the Father and the Son who are forever, and separate the Lord Son from the Lord Father. For what is before God, whether time, or will, is to me a division of the Godhead. 404 As God, as begetter, a great begetter. And if it is the greatest thing for the Father to have no origin of His good Godhead, It is no less for the august offspring of the great Father to have such a root. Therefore do not shut God off from God. For you have not known the Son apart from the Father. But the term unbegotten, and generation from the Father, were not two forms of Godhead; who has fashioned them? Both being outside it, a nature incurable to me; If indeed the Word has generation, neither will the Father, being without flesh, experience anything of the flesh (never is the mind of men so reckless as to think this), And you have God the Son, the worthy boast of His begetter. But if, bearing gifts to the Godhead of the great Father rashly, and carving empty fear in your mind, 405 you should deny the one, and cast Christ among the creatures, you have insulted the Godhead of both, O empty-minded one, The one you have deprived of His Son, and the other is not God, if he was created. For everything that once was not, is their own; even if something of God should remain in the great words, and be constant. And what reason is there, that you, O best of men, starting from that point, should become a god afterwards through the sufferings of Christ, while He is brought under bonds, and you call him your fellow-slave, honored with the prizes of slavery instead of God? If the great God afterwards made him a good instrument (as a smith laboring at a hammer for a chariot), so that God might acquire me with the hand of the First-begotten; Thus also would the creation of the heavenly Christ be 406 much better, if the Word is for its sake and not it for Christ's. Who could say these things? But if because He took a body to aid your sufferings, for that reason you will also set limits to His renowned Godhead; Did He who pitied you sin? To me, He is even more admirable. For He neither scraped off any of His Godhead, and He saved me, a healer bending over foul-smelling sufferings. He was mortal, but God. Of David's race, but Adam's Creator. Bearing flesh, but also outside the body. Of a mother, but of a virgin; circumscribed, but immeasurable. And a manger received Him, but a star led the Magi, and gift-bearers went, and bent their knees. As a mortal He came to the contest, but as unconquerable He overcame 407 the tempter in three wrestlings; He submitted to food, but He fed thousands, and changed water into wine. He was washed, but He cleansed sins, but He was testified to by the Spirit from a thundering voice as the Son of the Unoriginate; As a mortal He accepted sleep, and as God He calmed the sea. His knees grew weary, but to the paralyzed He gave strength and fixed their knees. He prayed; but who heard the weak who supplicated? He was a sacrifice, and a high priest; a priest, but also God. He offered blood to God, and cleansed the whole world. And a cross lifted Him up, but sin was fixed by the nails. But why should I speak of each thing? He was mingled with the dead, but He was roused from the dead, and raised the dead before Him. Those things were of mortal poverty, these of the wealth of the fleshless; 408 Do not you dishonor the Godhead by these mortal things, but by it make the earthly form glorious, Which, being gracious to you, the immortal Son formed for Himself. III. Concerning the Holy Spirit. O soul, why do you delay? Sing also the glory of the Spirit, And do not divide in words what nature has not placed outside. Let us tremble before the great Spirit, of one nature with God, by whom I knew God, Who is God before us, and who makes God here; All-powerful, giver of varied gifts, the hymn of the pure choir, Life-bearing for heavenly and earthly things, enthroned on high, Coming from the Father, a divine power, self-commanded, Neither a Son (for there is only one Son of the one good and best Father), 409 Nor outside the unseen Godhead, but of equal glory. Whoever in the pages of the God-inspired law desires to grasp the Godhead of the heavenly Spirit, will see many and dense paths coming together into one, if he wishes, and if he has drawn anything of the Holy Spirit into his heart, and if his mind sees sharply. But if he desires a bare statement of the lovely Godhead, let him know that he does not desire a wise word. For it was not fitting, when Christ's had not yet been revealed to most mortals, to bring an unbelievable burden to the weakest hearts. Nor

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Ὄφρα κε μή τι Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱέος αἰὲν ἐόντων Μεσσηγὺ στήσαντες, ἀποῤῥήξωμεν ἄνακτα Υἱὸν Πατρὸς ἄνακτος. Ὃ γὰρ πάρος ἐστὶ Θεοῖο, Ἢ χρόνος, ἠὲ θέλησις, ἐμοὶ τμῆξις θεότητος. 404 Ὡς Θεὸς, ὡς γενέτης, γενέτης μέγας. Εἰ δὲ μέγιστον Πατρὶ τὸ μή τιν' ἔχειν κεδνῆς θεότητος ἀφορμὴν, Οὔθ' ἧσσον μεγάλοιο Πατρὸς γεννήματι σεπτῷ Τοίην ῥίζαν ἔχειν. Τῷ μὴ Θεὸν εἶργε Θεοῖο. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπόπροθι Πατρὸς ἔγνως Πάϊν. Ἡ δ' ἀγένητος Φωνὴ, γέννησίς τε Πατρὸς ἄπο, οὐ θεότητος Ἔπλετο εἴδεα δισσά· τὶς ἔπλασεν, ἀμφὶ δ' ἐκείνην Ἀμφότερ' ἐκτὸς ἐόντα, φύσις δ' ἀκέαστος ἔμοιγε· Εἰ μὲν δὴ γέννησιν ἔχει Λόγος, οὔτε Πατήρ τι Σαρκὸς, ἄσαρκος ἐὼν ἐπιδέξεται (οὔποτε τόσσον Ἀνθρώπων νόος ἐστὶν ἀτάσθαλος ὥστε νοῆσαι), Καὶ Θεὸν Υἱὸν ἔχεις, γεννήτορος ἄξιον εὖχος. Εἰ δ' ἐπίηρα φέρων Πατρὸς μεγάλου θεότητι Μαψιδίως, κενεόν τε δέος πραπίδεσσι χαράσσων, 405 Τὴν μὲν ἀπαρνήσαιο, βάλοις δ' ἐς κτίσματα Χριστὸν, Ἀμφοτέρων θεότητα καθύβρισας, ὦ κενεόφρον, Τὸν μὲν Παιδὸς ἄμερσας, ὁ δ' οὐ Θεὸς, εἴπερ ἐτύχθη. Πᾶν γὰρ ὃ μή ποτε ἦν, αὐτῶν τόδε· κἄν τι Θεοῖο Τοῖς μεγάλοισι λόγοισι μένοι, καὶ ἔμπεδον εἴη. Τίς δὲ λόγος, σὲ μὲν ἔνθεν ἀφορμηθέντα, φέριστε, Τοῖς Χριστοῦ παθέεσσι Θεὸν μετέπειτα γενέσθαι, Τὸν δ' ὑπὸ δεσμὰ φέρειν, καὶ σὸν καλέειν ὁμόδουλον ∆ουλοσύνης γεράεσσι τιμώμενον ἀντὶ Θεοῖο; Εἴ μιν ἔτευξεν ἔπειτα Θεὸς μέγας ὄργανον ἐσθλὸν (Χαλκεὺς ὡς ῥαιστῆρα πονησάμενος δι' ἅμαξαν), Ὥς κεν ἔμ' Ἀρχεγόνοιο Θεὸς χειρὶ κτεατίσσῃ· Ὡδ' ἂν καὶ Χριστοῖο πέλοι κτίσις οὐρανίοιο 406 Πολλὸν ἀρειοτέρη, κείνης Λόγος εἴ περ ἕκητι Οὐ κείνη Χριστοῖο. Τίς ἂν τάδε μυθήσαιτο; Εἰ δ' ὅτι σῶμ' ὑπέδεκτο τεοῖς παθέεσσιν ἀρήγων, Τοὔνεκα καὶ θεότητι μεγακλέϊ μέτρ' ἐπιθήσεις· Ἤλιτεν ὅς σ' ἐλέῃρεν; ἐμοὶ δέ γε πλεῖον ἀγητός· Οὔτε τι γὰρ θεότητος ἀπέξεσε, καί μ' ἐσάωσεν, Ἰητὴρ δυσόδμοισιν ἐπικύψας παθέεσσιν. Ἦν βροτὸς, ἀλλὰ Θεός. ∆αβὶδ γένος, ἀλλ' Ἀδάμοιο Πλάστης. Σαρκοφόρος μὲν, ἀτὰρ καὶ σώματος ἐκτός. Μητρὸς, παρθενικῆς δέ· περίγραφος, ἀλλ' ἀμέτρητος. Καὶ φάτνη μὲν ἔδεκτο, Μάγοις δέ τε ἡγεμόνευεν Ἀστὴρ, δωροφόροι δ' ἄρ' ἔβαν, καὶ γούνατ' ἔκαμψαν. Ὡς βροτὸς ἦλθ' ἐπ' ἀγῶνα, ὑπέρσχεθε δ' ὡς ἀδάμαστος 407 Πειραστὴν τρισσοῖσι παλαίσμασιν· εἶδαρ ὑπέστη, Θρέψε δὲ χιλιάδας, ὕδωρ τ' εἰς οἶνον ἄμειψε. Λούσατο, ἀλλ' ἐκάθηρεν ἁμαρτάδας, ἀλλ' ἐβοήθη Πνεύματι βρονταίης φωνῆς ὕπο Υἱὸς Ἀνάρχου· Ὡς βροτὸς ὕπνον ἔδεκτο, καὶ ὡς Θεὸς εὔνασε πόντον. Γοῦνα κάμεν, παρέτοις δὲ μένος καὶ γούνατ' ἔπηξεν. Εὔξατο· τίς δ' ἐσάκουσε λιταζομένων ἀμενηνῶν; Ἦν θύος, ἀρχιερεὺς δέ· θυηπόλος, ἀλλὰ Θεός περ. Αἷμ' ἀνέθηκε Θεῷ, κόσμον δ' ἐκάθηρεν ἅπαντα. Καὶ σταυρός μιν ἄειρε, πάγη δ' ἥλοισιν ἁμαρτάς. Ἀλλὰ τί μοι τὰ ἕκαστα λέγειν; νεκύεσσιν ἐμίχθη, Ἔγρετο δ' ἐκ νεκύων, νεκροὺς δ' ἀνέγειρε πάροιθεν Ἐκεῖνα βροτέης πενίης, ὅδε πλοῦτος ἀσάρκου· 408 Μὴ σύ γε τοῖς βροτέοισιν ἀτιμάζοις θεότητα, Κείνῃ δὲ χθονίην μορφὴν ἐρικυδέα τεύχειν, Ἣν, σοί γ' εὐμενέων, μορφώσατο ἄφθιτος Υἱός. Γʹ. Περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Θυμὲ, τί δηθύνεις; καὶ Πνεύματος εὖχος ἄειδε, Μηδὲ τέμῃς μύθοισιν, ὃ μὴ φύσις ἐκτὸς ἔθηκε. Πνεῦμα μέγα τρομέωμεν, ὁμοίθεον, ᾧ Θεὸν ἔγνων, Ὃς Θεός ἐστιν ἔναντα, καὶ ὃς Θεὸν ἐνθάδε τεύχει· Πανσθενὲς, αἰολόδωρον, ἁγνῆς ὕμνημα χορείης, Οὐρανίων χθονίων τε φερέσβιον, ὑψιθόωκον, Πατρόθεν ἐρχόμενον, θεῖον μένος, αὐτοκέλευστον, Οὔτε Πάϊς (μοῦνος γὰρ ἑνὸς Πάϊς ἐσθλὸς ἀρίστου), 409 Οὔτ' ἐκτὸς θεότητος ἀειδέος, ἀλλ' ὁμόδοξον. Ὅστις δ' ἐν σελίδεσσι θεοπνεύστοιο νόμοιο Πνεύματος οὐρανίοιο λαβεῖν ποθέει θεότητα, Πολλὰς μὲν πυκινάς τε τρίβους εἰς ἓν συνιούσας Ὄψεται, ἢν ἐθέλῃσι, καὶ εἴ τι Πνεύματος ἁγνοῦ Εἴρυσεν ᾗ κραδίῃ, καὶ εἰ νόος ὀξὺ δέδορκεν. εἰ δὲ γυμνὴν ποθέει φωνὴν θεότητος ἐραννῆς, Ἴστω μὴ πινυτὸν ποθέων λόγον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐῴκει, Μή πω τῆς Χριστοῖο βροτῶν πλεόνεσσι φανείσης, Ἄχθος ἄγειν κραδίῃσιν ἀφαυροτάτῃσιν ἄπιστον. Οὐδὲ