§1. Preface.—It is useless to attempt to benefit those who will not accept help.
§4. Eunomius displays much folly and fine writing, but very little seriousness about vital points.
§7. Eunomius himself proves that the confession of faith which He made was not impeached.
§10. All his insulting epithets are shewn by facts to be false.
§13. Résumé of his dogmatic teaching. Objections to it in detail.
§19. His acknowledgment that the Divine Being is ‘single’ is only verbal.
§21. The blasphemy of these heretics is worse than the Jewish unbelief.
§23. These doctrines of our Faith witnessed to and confirmed by Scripture passages .
§34. The Passage where he attacks the ‘ Ομοούσιον , and the contention in answer to it.
§35. Proof that the Anomœan teaching tends to Manichæism.
§36. A passing repetition of the teaching of the Church.
§38. Several ways of controverting his quibbling syllogisms .
§39. Answer to the question he is always asking, “Can He who is be begotten?”
§40. His unsuccessful attempt to be consistent with his own statements after Basil has confuted him.
§41. The thing that follows is not the same as the thing that it follows.
§42. Explanation of ‘Ungenerate,’ and a ‘study’ of Eternity.
Contents of Book II.
§1. The second book declares the Incarnation of God the Word, and the faith delivered by the Lord to His disciples, and asserts that the heretics who endeavour to overthrow this faith and devise other additional names are of their father the devil.
§2. Gregory then makes an explanation at length touching the eternal Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
§3. Gregory proceeds to discuss the relative force of the unnameable name of the Holy Trinity and the mutual relation of the Persons, and moreover the unknowable character of the essence, and the condescension on His part towards us, His generation of the Virgin, and His second coming, the resurrection from the dead and future retribution.
§4. He next skilfully confutes the partial, empty and blasphemous statement of Eunomius on the subject of the absolutely existent.
§5. He next marvellously overthrows the unintelligible statements of Eunomius which assert that the essence of the Father is not separated or divided, and does not become anything else.
§6. He then shows the unity of the Son with the Father and Eunomius’ lack of understanding and knowledge in the Scriptures.
§7. Gregory further shows that the Only-Begotten being begotten not only of the Father, but also impassibly of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost, does not divide the substance; seeing that neither is the nature of men divided or severed from the parents by being begotten, as is ingeniously demonstrated from the instances of Adam and Abraham.
§8. He further very appositely expounds the meaning of the term “Only-Begotten,” and of the term “First born,” four times used by the Apostle.
§9. Gregory again discusses the generation of the Only-Begotten, and other different modes of generation, material and immaterial, and nobly demonstrates that the Son is the brightness of the Divine glory, and not a creature.
§10. He explains the phrase “The Lord created Me,” and the argument about the origination of the Son, the deceptive character of Eunomius’ reasoning, and the passage which says, “My glory will I not give to another,” examining them from different points of view.
§11. After expounding the high estate of the Almighty, the Eternity of the Son, and the phrase “being made obedient,” he shows the folly of Eunomius in his assertion that the Son did not acquire His sonship by obedience.
§12. He thus proceeds to a magnificent discourse of the interpretation of “Mediator,” “Like,” “Ungenerate,” and “generate,” and of “The likeness and seal of the energy of the Almighty and of His Works.”
§13. He expounds the passage of the Gospel, “The Father judgeth no man,” and further speaks of the assumption of man with body and soul wrought by the Lord, of the transgression of Adam, and of death and the resurrection of the dead.
§14. He proceeds to discuss the views held by Eunomius, and by the Church, touching the Holy Spirit; and to show that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are not three Gods, but one God. He also discusses different senses of “Subjection,” and therein shows that the subjection of all things to the Son is the same as the subjection of the Son to the Father.
§15. Lastly he displays at length the folly of Eunomius, who at times speaks of the Holy Spirit as created, and as the fairest work of the Son, and at other times confesses, by the operations attributed to Him, that He is God, and thus ends the book.
αʹ. Ὁ δεύτερος λόγος τὴν σάρκωσιν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου καὶ τὴν δοθεῖσαν παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου τοῖς μαθηταῖς πίστιν ἐκδιδάσκει, καὶ τοὺς ταύτην ἀνατρέποντας αἱρετικοὺς καὶ ἕτερα προσεπινοήσαντας ὀνόματα ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ διαβόλου εἶναι λέγει.
βʹ. Εἶτα τὴν τοῦ ἀϊδίου πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος διὰ πλειόνων ἑρμηνείαν διέξεισιν.
γʹ. Ἔπειτα τὴν τοῦ ἀκατονομάστου τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος ὀνόματος καὶ τὴν τῶν προσώπων πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσιν ἔτι τε τὸ τῆς οὐσίας ἄγνωστον καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτοῦ συγκατάβασιν καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς παρθένου γέννησιν καὶ τὴν δευτέραν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν καὶ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασίν τε καὶ ἀνταπόδοσιν.
δʹ. Μετὰ τοῦτο τὴν κατὰ μέρος τοῦ Εὐνομίου περὶ τοῦ ὄντος κενὴν καὶ βλάσφημον ἔκθεσιν πανσόφως διελέγχει.
εʹ. Εἶτα τὸ ἀδιανόητον τῶν τοῦ Εὐνομίου ῥημάτων τῶν τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ πατρὸς μὴ χωρίζεσθαι ἢ μερίζεσθαι ἢ ἄλλο τι γίνεσθαι λεγόντων θαυμαστῶς ἀνατρέπει.
Ϛʹ. Εἶθ' οὕτως τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἑνότητα καὶ τοῦ Εὐνομίου τὸ τῶν γραφῶν ἀμύητον καὶ ἀνόητον δείκνυσι.
ζʹ. Πρὸς τούτοις δείκνυσιν ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ μονογενής, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου ἀπαθῶς ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου γεννηθεὶς τὴν οὐσίαν οὐκ ἐμέρισεν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις γεννωμένη ἀπὸ τῶν τικτόντων μερίζεται ἢ σχίζεται, καθὼς ἀπό τε τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ πανσόφως ἀπεδείχθη.
ηʹ. Ἐπὶ τούτοις τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς καὶ τὴν τοῦ πρωτοτόκου ἑρμηνείαν τετράκις παρὰ τοῦ ἀποστόλου ῥηθεῖσαν πάνυ ἁρμοδίως διέξεισιν.
θʹ. Εἶτα πάλιν τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς γέννησιν ἑτέρας τε διαφόρους ὑλικάς τε καὶ ἀΰλους γεννήσεις τεχνολογήσας ἀπαύγασμα δόξης καὶ οὐ κτίσμα τὸν υἱὸν μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἀποδείκνυσιν.
ιʹ. Ἔπειτα τὴν τοῦ Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ῥῆσιν καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ λόγον τό τε ἀπατηλὸν τῶν τοῦ Εὐνομίου ῥημάτων καὶ τὴν λέγουσαν ῥῆσιν Τὴν δόξαν μου ἑτέρῳ οὐ δώσω ποικίλως διεξετάσας καλῶς διηρμήνευσεν.
ιαʹ. Εἶτα τὴν τοῦ παντοκράτορος ἀξίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἀϊδιότητα καὶ τὸ Γενόμενος ὑπήκοος διασαφήσας τὸ τοῦ Εὐνομίου ἀνόητον ἐν τῷ λέγειν οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ὑπακοῆς αὐτὸν προσλαβεῖν τὸ εἶναι υἱὸν δείκνυσιν.
ιβʹ. Εἶθ' οὕτως τὴν τοῦ μεσίτου ἑρμηνείαν τοῦ τε ὁμοίου καὶ ἀγεννήτου καὶ γεννητοῦ τήν τε εἰκόνα καὶ σφραγῖδα τῆς τοῦ παντοκράτορος ἐνεργείας καὶ τῶν ἔργων παγκάλως διέξεισιν.
ιγʹ. Μετὰ τοῦτο τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν διερμηνεύει ῥῆσιν Ὁ πατὴρ κρίνει οὐδένα: ἔτι τοῦ μετὰ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἀναληφθέντος ἀνθρώπου παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου τήν τε παράβασιν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐξανάστασιν διεσάφησε.
ιδʹ. Πρὸς τούτοις τὴν δόξαν ἣν ἡ ἐκκλησία ὅ τε Εὐνόμιος περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου ἔχουσι πνεύματος διεξέρχεται, καὶ ὅτι οὐ τρεῖς θεοὶ ἀλλ' εἷς, ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα: πρὸς οἷς καὶ διαφόρους ὑποταγὰς ἐκτίθεται, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὴν παρὰ πάντων πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν ὑποταγὴν « καὶ τὴν » τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τὴν αὐτὴν ἀπέδειξεν.
ιεʹ. Εἶτα τὸ ἀδιανόητον τοῦ Εὐνομίου διὰ πολλῶν ἀποδείξας ποτὲ μὲν κτιστὸν τὸ ἅγιον λέγοντος πνεῦμα καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἔργον κάλλιστον, ποτὲ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν αὐτοῦ θεὸν ὁμολογοῦντος τελειοῖ τὸν λόγον.