3

that creation should come into being at the time appointed by him. 7 That it is not possible for two unoriginated principles to exist even in respect to place, we shall learn thus: The two are either in one another—but it is impossible for light and darkness to be in one another; for the presence of light dispels darkness—or each of them is in its own particular place. Therefore each is confined in its own place, and the end of the place of the one becomes the beginning of the place of the other. But it is also impossible for the light to be unmixed with the darkness if there is no diaphragm preventing them from being blended with each other. Therefore, there must be the light and its place, and the darkness and its place, and the diaphragm which partitions and separates the place of each of them; and there will be not two principles, but five. 8 Manichaean: What then? Will not the God according to you and his Son and his Spirit fall into the same difficulties? Orthodox: Not at all. For I do not say that the divine is in a place—for it is without quantity and incomprehensible—nor do I say that the three hypostases are separated from one another, but just as the word, being born from the mind, does not go forth from it nor is it separated, but is born from it and is in it, so also the Son and the Spirit are from the Father and in him. For there is one substance and hypostases without interval, since the powers of the mind are without interval from it. For supernaturally the Word and the Spirit are both powers of the Father that do not go forth and are perfect hypostases, since it is fitting that the powers of the supernatural God be supernaturally hypostases. Wherefore, although there are three hypostases, yet there is one God and not three. For the mind and its word and its spirit are one mind and not three minds, just as the rose plant and the flower and the fragrance of each of them is called and is a rose, and they are not called three roses in enumeration, but one rose is the root and the branch and the flower. 9 That there will not be two principles according to rank and power, we know thus. There being only two, God and matter, either the one prevailed over and ruled the other, or neither ruled the other, or there were also other things, subject to and ruled by the two principles, co-eternal with them, and there will not be only two, but more—two that rule, and others that are ruled—or, if the things ruled were not co-eternal with the principles, there was once a time when they were not principles. Manichaean: Then will not the same things happen to your God? For either his creation under his hand was co-eternal with him, or there was a time when he did not rule. Orthodox: Not so; for creation is not co-eternal with him, but he always was and will be Lord, having power over being, bringing substances from non-being into being by his Word and by the Spirit of his mouth. Neither is his Word uttered, but essential and subsistent, nor is his mouth a bodily member, nor is his Spirit a breath that is dispersed, but all things of the supra-essential one are supra-essential, even if we understand things beyond us from things that pertain to us. 10 But neither will your two principles exist according to a natural and essential cause; for the Father is the begetter of a Son of the same substance, eternal of eternal, incorporeal of incorporeal. If, therefore, your two principles are the principles of all beings according to the natural cause, all things will be of the same substance and co-eternal with your principles. But if they are eternal, they are also immutable and contrary and without communion and ruling and not ruled and masters and not slaves. But if your two principles are the principles of beings according to the creative cause, then souls are not from the substance of God, nor bodies from the substance of matter, but they were brought from non-being into being, and matter neither warred with the light nor seized a part from it and made the souls. And how were things contrary and without communion brought together for the making of one world? Or how did the evil one construct the body,

3

τῷ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ὡρισμένῳ καιρῷ γενέσθαι τὴν κτίσιν. 7 Ὅτι δὲ οὐδὲ κατὰ τόπον δυνατὸν δύο εἶναι ἀνάρχους, οὕτω γνωσόμεθα· Τὰ δύο ἢ ἐν ἀλλήλοις εἰσίν-ἀδύνατον δὲ φῶς καὶ σκότος ἐν ἀλλήλοις εἶναι· φωτὸς γὰρ παρουσία σκότος διαλύει-ἢ ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ ἰδιάζοντι τόπῳ ἐστί. Περιορίζονται οὖν ἕκαστον ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τόπῳ, καὶ τὸ τέλος τοῦ τόπου τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀρχὴ τοῦ τόπου τοῦ ἑτέρου γίνεται. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδύνατον ἄμικτον εἶναι τῷ σκότει τὸ φῶς μὴ ὄντος τινὸς διαφράγματος τοῦ κωλύοντος συγκραθῆναι ἀλλήλοις. Χρὴ οὖν εἶναι τὸ φῶς καὶ τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ σκότος καὶ τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ διάφραγμα τὸ διατειχίζον καὶ διορίζον ἑκάστου αὐτῶν τὸν τόπον· καὶ ἔσονται οὐ δύο ἀρχαί, ἀλλὰ πέντε. 8 Μανιχαῖος· Τί οὖν; Ὁ κατὰ σὲ θεὸς καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ οὐ τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπεσοῦνται; Ὀρθόδοξος· Οὐδαμῶς. Ἐγὼ γὰρ οὐκ ἐν τόπῳ φημὶ εἶναι τὸ θεῖον-ἄποσον γὰρ καὶ ἀπερίληπτόν ἐστιν-οὐδὲ κεχωρισμένας ἀλλήλων φημὶ τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ λόγος ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ γεννώμενος οὐκ ἐκφοιτᾷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ χωρίζεται, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννᾶται καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐστιν, οὕτως ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἐκ τοῦ πατρός εἰσι καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ. Μία γὰρ οὐσία καὶ ὑποστάσεις ἀδιάστατοι, ἐπειδὴ αἱ δυνάμεις τοῦ νοῦ ἀδιάστατοι αὐτοῦ εἰσιν. Ὑπερφυῶς γὰρ ὁ λόγος καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ δυνάμεις εἰσὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀνεκφοίτητοι καὶ ὑποστάσεις τελεῖαι, ἐπειδὴ πρέπει τὰς τοῦ ὑπερφυοῦς θεοῦ δυνάμεις ὑπερφυῶς εἶναι ὑποστάσεις. ∆ιὸ εἰ καὶ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις, ἀλλ' εἷς θεὸς καὶ οὐ τρεῖς. Ὁ γὰρ νοῦς καὶ ὁ λόγος καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ εἷς νοῦς καὶ οὐ τρεῖς νόες, ὡς τὸ φυτὸν τοῦ ῥόδου καὶ τὸ ἄνθος καὶ ἡ εὐωδία ἑκάστου αὐτῶν ῥόδον λέγεται καὶ ἔστι καὶ οὐ τρία ῥόδα λέγονται ἐν τῇ συναριθμήσει, ἀλλ' ἓν ῥόδον ἡ ῥίζα καὶ ὁ κλάδος καὶ τὸ ἄνθος. 9 Ὅτι δὲ οὐδὲ κατὰ ἀξίωμα καὶ κράτος ἔσονται δύο ἀρχαί, οὕτω γινώσκομεν. ∆ύο μόνων ὄντων, θεοῦ καὶ ὕλης, ἢ ὁ ἕτερος τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐκράτει καὶ ἦρχεν ἢ οὐδεὶς οὐδενὸς ἦρχεν ἢ καὶ ἄλλα ἦσαν τὰ ὑποτασσόμενα καὶ κυριευόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν δύο ἀρχῶν συναΐδια αὐταῖς καὶ οὐ δύο μόνον ἔσονται, ἀλλὰ πλείονα-δύο μὲν τὰ ἄρχοντα, ἕτερα δὲ τὰ ἀρχόμενα-ἢ, εἰ μὴ ἦσαν τὰ ἀρχόμενα συναΐδια ταῖς ἀρχαῖς, ἦν ποτε χρόνος, ὅτε οὐκ ἦσαν ἀρχαί. Μανιχαῖος· Εἶτα καὶ τῷ σῷ θεῷ οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ συμβήσεται; Ἢ γὰρ συναΐδιος αὐτῷ ἦν ἡ ὑποχείριος αὐτοῦ κτίσις ἢ ἦν καιρός, ὅτε οὐκ ἦρχεν. Ὀρθόδοξος· Οὐχ οὕτως· ἡ μὲν γὰρ κτίσις οὐ συναΐδιος αὐτῷ, ἀεὶ δὲ καὶ κύριος ἦν καὶ ἔσται τοῦ εἶναι ἐξουσιάζων ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι παράγων οὐσίας τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ. Οὔτε δὲ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ προφορικός, ἀλλ' οὐσιώδης καὶ ἐνυπόστατος, οὔτε τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ μέλος σωματικὸν οὔτε τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ πνοὴ λυομένη, ἀλλ' ὑπερούσια πάντα τὰ τοῦ ὑπερουσίου, εἰ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς κατανοοῦμεν τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς. 10 Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ κατὰ φυσικὴν καὶ οὐσιώδη αἰτίαν ἔσονται αἱ καθ' ὑμᾶς δύο ἀρχαί· ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ ὁμοουσίου υἱοῦ γεννήτωρ, ἀΐδιος ἀϊδίου, ἀσώματος ἀσωμάτου. Εἰ οὖν αἱ καθ' ὑμᾶς δύο ἀρχαὶ κατὰ τὸ φυσικὸν αἴτιον ἀρχαί εἰσι πάντων τῶν ὄντων, ἔσονται τὰ πάντα ὁμοούσια καὶ συναΐδια ταῖς καθ' ὑμᾶς ἀρχαῖς. Εἰ δὲ ἀΐδια, καὶ ἄτρεπτα καὶ ἐναντία καὶ ἀκοινώνητα καὶ ἄρχοντα καὶ οὐκ ἀρχόμενα καὶ κύρια καὶ οὐ δοῦλα. Εἰ δὲ κατὰ τὸ ποιητικὸν αἴτιον ἀρχαί εἰσι τῶν ὄντων αἱ καθ' ὑμᾶς δύο ἀρχαί, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ θεοῦ αἱ ψυχαὶ οὐδὲ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τῆς ὕλης τὰ σώματα, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρήχθησαν, καὶ οὔτε ἐπολέμησεν ἡ ὕλη μετὰ τοῦ φωτὸς οὔτε ἥρπασεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ μέρος καὶ ἐποίησε τὰς ψυχάς. Πῶς δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐναντία καὶ ἀκοινώνητα συνεβιβάσθησαν εἰς ἑνὸς κόσμου ποίησιν; Ἢ πῶς ὁ μὲν πονηρὸς κατεσκεύασε τὸ σῶμα,