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to be appointed for men, how shall I, who am stained with the filth of every sin, who bear within myself the very turbulent flood of my thoughts, and am purified neither in mind nor in intellect, so as to become a mirror of God and of His divine manifestations, nor possessing speech capable of giving sufficient expression to my thoughts, speak of things divine and ineffable, things that transcend the comprehension of every rational nature? Considering these things, then, I hesitated at the word, and feared the command—for the truth shall be spoken—lest I should incur a double ridicule, for ignorance and at the same time for folly; which is the most grievous thing. For the charge of ignorance is pardonable, if it does not proceed from sloth. But to possess, along with ignorance, the conceit of knowledge, is grievous and reprehensible and unworthy of all forgiveness and greater, that I may not say a proof of the utmost ignorance. But since the fruit of disobedience is death, while the humble and obedient disciple of Christ is raised up to the heights and receives from God the grace that gives light, and opening his mouth is filled with the spirit and is purified in heart and illumined in mind and receives a word in the opening of his mouth, not being anxious about what he will say, but becoming an instrument of the spirit speaking in him, through you obeying Christ who rules in you, I submit to the command and open my mouth, trusting in your prayers, that it will be filled with the spirit, and I will speak oracles not the fruit of my own intellect but the fruit of the spirit that enlightens the blind, receiving whatever he will give, and speaking these things. And first, I will set forth the best sayings of the wise among the Greeks, knowing that if anything is good, it has been bestowed from above by God upon men, since "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." But if anything is opposed to the truth, it is a "dark invention of satanic error and a fiction of an evil mind," as the great Gregory says in his theology. Imitating, therefore, the way of the bee, I shall compose with what is proper to the truth and I will gather salvation even from enemies, and I will reject everything that is worthless and connected with falsely-named knowledge. Then, following these, I will set in order the nonsensical talk of the God-hated heresies, so that by recognizing the falsehood we may hold more firmly to the truth. Then the truth, the destroyer of error and the banisher of falsehood, beautified and adorned as with golden tassels by the words of the God-inspired prophets and God-taught fishermen and God-bearing pastors and teachers, with God and His grace I will set forth, whose glory, flashing from within, illumines with its splendors those who approach with the necessary purification and the putting away of turbulent thoughts. I will say nothing of my own, as I said, but having collected into one the things labored upon by the approved teachers, as much as I can, I will make the discourse concise, yielding in all things to your command. But be forgiving to me, O God-honored ones, I beseech you, who have obeyed your commands, and receiving my obedience, give in return the provision of your prayers. 1 Concerning being, both substance and accident. Being is the common name for all existing things. This being, then, is divided into substance and accident. Substance, then, is a thing existing in itself, not needing another for its constitution, that is, that which is in itself and does not have its existence in another; while an accident is that which cannot exist in itself but has its existence in another. For substance is a subject, like the matter of things, while an accident is that which is observed in the substance, such as the body and the color; (ῃ. ι. 26-29) for the body is not in the color, but the color is in the body.

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ἀνθρώπων καθίστασθαι, πῶς ἐγὼ ὁ ῥύπῳ μὲν πάσης ἁμαρτίας κατεστιγμένος, φέρων δὲ τῶν λογισμῶν ἐν ἐμαυτῷ τὸν πολυτάραχον κλύδωνα, καὶ μήτε νοῦν καὶ διάνοιαν κεκαθαρμένος, ὡς ἔσοπτρον θεοῦ καὶ τῶν θείων χρηματίσαι ἐμφάσεων, μήτε λόγον ἔχων ἐπαρκέσαι τοῖς νοηθεῖσι δυνάμενον, τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἄῤῥητα φθέγξομαι, τὰ πάσης λογικῆς φύσεως ὑπερβαίνοντα τὴν κατάληψιν; Ταῦτα δὴ λογιζόμενος ὤκνουν τὸν λόγον, ἐδεδίειν τε τὸ ἐπίταγμα, εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθές, μήποτε διπλοῦν ὀφλήσω τὸν γέλωτα, τῆς ἀμαθίας ἅμα καὶ τῆς ἀνοίας· τὸ δὴ χαλεπώ τατον. Σύγγνωστον μὲν γὰρ τῆς ἀμαθίας τὸ ἔγκλημα, εἰ μὴ ἐκ ῥαθυμίας προέρχοιτο. Τὸ δὲ σὺν τῇ ἀμαθίᾳ κεκτῆσθαι τὴν τῆς γνώσεως οἴησιν, χαλεπὸν καὶ ἐπίμωμον καὶ συγγνώμης ἁπάσης ἀνάξιον καὶ μείζονος, ἵνα μὴ λέγω τῆς ἄκρας ἀμαθίας τεκμήριον. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τῆς παρακοῆς ὁ καρπὸς θάνατος, ὁ δὲ ταπεινὸς καὶ ὑπήκοος Χριστοῦ μαθητὴς καθιστάμενος πρὸς ὕψος ἀνάγεται καὶ χάριν παρὰ θεοῦ τὴν φωταγωγὸν κομίζεται καὶ ἀνοίγων τὸ στόμα πληροῦται τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ καρδίαν καθαίρεται διάνοιάν τε φωτίζεται καὶ λαμβάνει λόγον ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματος, οὐ μεριμνῶν τί λαλήσει, ὄργανον δὲ χρηματίζων ἐν αὐτῷ λαλοῦντος τοῦ πνεύματος, δι' ὑμῶν τῷ ἐν ὑμῖν ἱεραρχοῦντι Χριστῷ πειθόμενος ὑποκύπτω τῷ ἐπιτάγματι καὶ ἀνοίγω τὸ στόμα θαῤῥῶν ταῖς ὑμετέραις εὐχαῖς, ὡς πληρωθήσεται πνεύματος, καὶ λαλήσω λόγια οὐ τῆς διανοίας καρπὸν τῆς ἐμῆς ἀλλὰ καρπὸν τοῦ τοὺς τυφλοὺς φωτίζοντος πνεύματος, ὅσα δώσει, λαμβάνων καὶ ταῦτα φθεγγόμενος. Καὶ πρότερον μὲν τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι σοφῶν τὰ κάλλιστα παραθήσομαι εἰδώς, ὡς, εἴ τι μὲν ἀγαθόν, ἄνωθεν παρὰ θεοῦ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δεδώρηται, ἐπειδὴ «πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον ἄνωθέν ἐστι καταβαῖνον παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν φώτων». Εἴ τι δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀντίπαλον, τῆς σατανικῆς πλάνης «εὕρημα σκοτεινὸν καὶ διανοίας ἀνάπλασμα κακοδαίμονος», ὡς ὁ πολὺς ἐν θεολογίᾳ Γρηγόριος. Τὸν τῆς μελίσσης οὖν τρόπον μιμούμενος τοῖς οἰκείοις τῆς ἀληθείας συνθήσομαι καὶ παρ' ἐχθρῶν σωτηρίαν καρπώσομαι, ἀποπέμψομαι δὲ πᾶν, ὅ τι φαῦλον καὶ τῆς ψευδωνύμου ἐχόμενον γνώσεως. Εἶτα τούτων ἐχόμενα τῶν θεοστυγῶν αἱρέσεων συντάξω τὰ φληναφήματα, ὡς ἂν τὸ ψεῦδος ἐπιγινώσκοντες πλέον τῆς ἀληθείας ἑξώμεθα. Εἶτα τὴν τῆς πλάνης ὀλέτειραν καὶ τοῦ ψεύδους ἐλάτειραν, ὥσπερ κροσσωτοῖς χρυσοῖς τοῖς τῶν θεοπνεύστων προφητῶν καὶ θεοδιδάκτων ἁλιέων καὶ θεοφόρων ποιμένων τε καὶ διδασκάλων λόγοις κεκαλλωπισμένην καὶ περικεκοσμημένην ἀλήθειαν σὺν θεῷ καὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐκθήσομαι χάριτι, ἧς ἡ δόξα ἔσωθεν ἀπαστράπτουσα τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας μετὰ τῆς δεούσης καθάρσεως καὶ τῶν ταραχωδῶν λογισμῶν ἀποθέσεως φωτίζει τοῖς ἀμαρύγμασιν. Ἐρῶ δὲ ἐμὸν μέν, ὡς ἔφην, οὐδέν, τὰ δὲ τοῖς ἐγκρίτοις τῶν διδασκάλων πεπονημένα εἰς ἓν συλλεξάμενος, ὅση δύναμις, συντετμημένον τὸν λόγον ποιήσομαι κατὰ πάντα ὑπείκων τῷ ὑμετέρῳ προστάγματι. Ἀλλά μοι συγγνώμονες γένοισθε, θεοτίμητοι, παρακαλῶ, ταῖς ὑμετέραις ἐντολαῖς πειθαρχήσαντι καὶ λαμβάνοντες τὸ ὑπήκοον τὴν τῶν εὐχῶν χορηγίαν ἀντίδοτε. 1 Περὶ τοῦ ὄντος οὐσίας τε καὶ συμβεβηκότος. Τὸ ὂν κοινὸν ὄνομά ἐστι πάντων τῶν ὄντων. Τοῦτο οὖν τὸ ὂν τέμνεται εἰς οὐσίαν καὶ συμβεβηκός. Οὐσία μὲν οὖν ἐστι πρᾶγμα αὐθύπαρκτον μὴ δεόμενον ἑτέρου πρὸς σύστασιν ἤγουν τὸ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὂν καὶ μὴ ἐν ἑτέρῳ ἔχον τὴν ὕπαρξιν, συμβεβηκὸς δὲ τὸ μὴ δυνάμενον ἐν ἑαυτῷ εἶναι ἀλλ' ἐν ἑτέρῳ ἔχον τὴν ὕπαρξιν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ οὐσία ὑποκείμενόν ἐστιν ὥσπερ ὕλη τῶν πραγμάτων, συμβεβηκὸς δὲ τὸ ἐν τῇ οὐσίᾳ θεωρούμενον οἷον τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸ χρῶμα· (ῃ. ι. 26-29) οὐ γάρ ἐστι τὸ σῶμα ἐν τῷ χρώματι ἀλλὰ τὸ χρῶμα ἐν τῷ σώματι.