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having set their skill against the violent blasts of the winds, to snatch the vessel from the surging sea. But if they, sailing a perceptible sea for the sake of worldly affairs, thus have their soul perpetually awake, by much more must we be so prepared; for indeed the danger is greater for the slothful, and the safety is greater for the sober. For this vessel of ours has not been constructed from planks, but has been glued together from the divine Scriptures, nor do stars guide it from above, but the sun of righteousness directs this voyage for us, and we sit at the rudders, not waiting for the breaths of the west wind, but for the gentle breeze of the Spirit. 2. Let us be sober, therefore, and examine the ways with precision; for our discourse is again about the glory of the Only-begotten. Formerly, then, we were showing that the comprehension of the essence of God surpasses with great abundance the wisdom of men, and of angels, and of archangels, and simply of all creation, and is known and clear to the Only-begotten alone and to the Holy Spirit; but now our discourse moves 48.758 to another part of the contests. For we are investigating if the Son is of the same power, if of the same authority, if of the same essence as the Father; or rather, we are not investigating, but we have found this through the grace of Christ, and we hold it with security; but for those who are shameless about these things, we are now preparing to prove this very thing. I am ashamed, therefore, and I blush, being about to launch into these arguments. For who will not laugh at us, trying to establish and prove such manifest things? And what condemnation would there not be to ask if the Son is of the same essence as the Father? For this is at war not only with the Scriptures, but also with the common opinion of all men, and with the nature of things. For that the one begotten is of the same essence as the one who begot, one might see this not only in the case of men, but also in the case of all animals, and in the case of trees. How then is it not absurd that this law remains unmoved in the case of plants and men and animals, but to move and overturn it in the case of God alone? But nevertheless, so that we may not seem to be affirming these things from matters among us, come, let us prove this from the Scriptures themselves, and let us set in motion the arguments concerning these things. For not we who are persuaded, but those who disbelieve will incur the ridicule, they who resist such manifest things, and who look against the truth. What manifest things, he says? For if, since he is called Son, he is of the same essence as the Father, we too will be able to be of the same essence; for we too are called sons; For I have said, it says, you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. O the shamelessness! O the utter folly! How in all things they display their own madness! When we were setting in motion the argument concerning the incomprehensible, they were contending to claim for themselves this, which belonged to the Only-begotten alone, to know God as precisely as He knows Himself; but now, since our argument is about the glory of the Only-begotten, they contend to bring him down to their own insignificance, saying that we too are called sons. And this by no means makes us of the same essence as God. You may be called son, but he *is*. Here it is a word, there it is a reality. You may be called son, but you are not called Only-begotten just as he is, but you do not abide in the bosom of the Father, but you are not the radiance of his glory, nor the character of his substance, nor do you exist in the form of God. If, therefore, the former does not persuade you, let these things persuade, and many others more than these, which bear witness to that noble birth of his. For whenever he wishes to show the unchangeableness of his essence in relation to the one who begot him, He who has seen me, he says, has seen the Father. And when the uniqueness of his power, I, he says, and the Father are one; and when the equality of his authority, For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also

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ταῖς βιαίοις τῶν ἀνέμων ἐμβολαῖς τὴν αὐτῶν ἀντιστήσαντας τέχνην, ἐξαρπάσαι τοῦ κλυδωνίου τὸ σκάφος. Εἰ δὲ ὑπὲρ βιωτικῶν ἐκεῖνοι πραγμάτων αἰσθητὴν πλέοντες θάλασσαν, οὕτως ἐγρηγορυῖαν διηνεκῶς ἔχουσι τὴν ψυχὴν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς οὕτω παρεσκευάσθαι χρή· καὶ γὰρ καὶ μείζων ὁ κίνδυνος ῥᾳθυμοῦσι, καὶ πλείων ἡ ἀσφάλεια νήφουσιν. Οὔτε γὰρ ἀπὸ σανίδων ἡμῖν τὸ σκάφος τοῦτο κατεσκεύασται, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν θείων κεκόλληται Γραφῶν, οὔτε ἀστέρες αὐτὸ χειραγωγοῦσιν ἄνωθεν, ἀλλ' ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος τοῦτον ἡμῖν κατευθύνει τὸν πλοῦν, καὶ καθήμεθα ἐπὶ τῶν οἰάκων, οὐ ζεφύρου πνοὰς ἀναμένοντες, ἀλλὰ τὴν πραεῖαν αὔραν τοῦ Πνεύματος. βʹ. Νήφωμεν τοίνυν καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς μετὰ ἀκριβείας περισκοπῶμεν· περὶ γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς δόξης ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν ἐστι πάλιν. Πρώην μὲν οὖν ἐδείκνυμεν, ὅτι καὶ ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἀγγέλων, καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων, καὶ ἁπλῶς πάσης τῆς κτίσεως τὴν σοφίαν, ἡ κατάληψις τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, μετὰ πολλῆς ὑπερβαίνει τῆς περιουσίας, καὶ τῷ Μονογενεῖ μόνῳ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι γνώριμός ἐστι καὶ σαφής· νυνὶ δὲ πρὸς ἕτερον παλαισμάτων ἡμῖν μέρος ὁ λόγος μεθ 48.758 ίσταται. Ζητοῦμεν γὰρ εἰ τῆς αὐτῆς δυνάμεως, εἰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐξουσίας ἐστὶν, εἰ τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ὁ Υἱὸς τῷ Πατρί· μᾶλλον δὲ ἡμεῖς οὐ ζητοῦμεν, ἀλλ' εὑρήκαμεν τοῦτο διὰ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριν, καὶ κατέχομεν μετὰ ἀσφαλείας· τοῖς δὲ ἀναισχυντοῦσιν ὑπὲρ τούτων αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἀποδεῖξαι παρασκευαζόμεθα νῦν. Αἰσχύνομαι μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐρυθριῶ, μέλλων εἰς τούτους ἐμβάλλειν τοὺς λόγους. Τίς γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐ γελάσεται τὰ οὕτω φανερὰ κατασκευάζειν καὶ ἀποδεικνύναι πειρωμένους; ποία δὲ οὐκ ἂν εἴη κατάγνωσις ζητεῖν, εἰ ὁμοούσιός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱὸς τῷ Πατρί; Τοῦτο γὰρ οὐχὶ ταῖς Γραφαῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ κοινῇ πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξῃ, καὶ τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων φύσει μαχόμενόν ἐστιν. Ὅτι γὰρ ὁμοούσιος ὁ γεννηθεὶς τῷ γεννήσαντι, οὐκ ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ ζώων ἁπάντων, καὶ ἐπὶ δένδρων τοῦτο ἴδοι τις ἄν. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον ἐπὶ μὲν φυτῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων καὶ ζώων ἀκίνητον τοῦτον μένειν τὸν νόμον, ἐπὶ Θεοῦ δὲ μόνον κινεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀνατρέπειν; Πλὴν ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ δοκῶμεν ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν πραγμάτων ταῦτα διισχυρίζεσθαι, φέρε ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν αὐτῶν τοῦτο ἀποδείξωμεν, καὶ κινήσωμεν τοὺς περὶ τούτων λόγους. Οὐ γὰρ ἡμεῖς οἱ πεπεισμένοι, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι οἱ ἀπιστοῦντες τὸν γέλωτα ὀφλήσουσιν, οἱ πρὸς τὰ οὕτω φανερὰ ἀνθιστάμενοι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀντιβλέποντες. Ποῖα φανερὰ, φησίν; εἰ γὰρ, ἐπειδὴ Υἱὸς λέγεται, ὁμοούσιός ἐστι τῷ Πατρὶ, δυνησόμεθα καὶ ἡμεῖς ὁμοούσιοι εἶναι· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς υἱοὶ λεγόμεθα· Ἐγὼ γὰρ εἶπον, φησὶ, θεοί ἐστε, καὶ υἱοὶ Ὑψίστου πάντες. Ὢ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας! ὢ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀνοίας! πῶς διὰ πάντων τὴν αὐτῶν μανίαν ἐνδείκνυνται! Ὅτε τὸν περὶ ἀκαταλήπτου λόγον ἐκινοῦμεν, ἐφιλονείκουν ἑαυτοῖς διεκδικεῖν τοῦτο, ὃ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἦν μόνου, τὸ τὸν Θεὸν οὕτως εἰδέναι ἀκριβῶς, ὡς αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν οἶδε· νῦν δὲ ἐπειδὴ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς δόξης ἡμῖν ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, φιλονεικοῦσιν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν εὐτέλειαν καταγαγεῖν λέγοντες, ὅτι καὶ ἡμεῖς υἱοὶ λεγόμεθα. Καὶ οὐ πάντως τοῦτο ὁμοουσίους ἡμᾶς ποιεῖ τῷ Θεῷ. Υἱὸς λέγῃ σὺ, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος ἔστιν· ἐνταῦθα ῥῆμα, ἐκεῖ πρᾶγμα. Υἱὸς λέγῃ σὺ, ἀλλὰ Μονογενὴς οὐ λέγῃ καθάπερ καὶ ἐκεῖνος, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐ διατρίβεις, ἀλλ' ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης οὐκ εἶ, οὐδὲ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως, οὐδὲ μορφὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχεις. Εἰ τοίνυν οὐ πείθει σε τὸ πρότερον, ταῦτα πειθέτω, καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα πλείονα τούτων, τὴν εὐγένειαν αὐτῷ μαρτυροῦντα ἐκείνην. Ὅταν μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ δεῖξαι βούληται τὸ πρὸς τὸν γεγεννηκότα, Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ, φησὶν, ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα. Ὅταν δὲ τὸ ἰδιάζον τῆς δυνάμεως, Ἐγὼ, φησὶ,καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν· ὅταν δὲ τὸ ἐφάμιλλον τῆς ἐξουσίας, Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐγείρει τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ ζωοποιεῖ, οὕτω