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to know God. Therefore, cleansing away the error of all these, the church proclaims the one God, teaching that he is both Father and Almighty, Father of the one Christ alone, but of all the rest, God and Creator and Lord. Thus also it delivers to us Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, not being the same as the Father, but existing and living in himself and truly co-existing as Son, God from God and Light from Light and Life from Life, begotten from the Father by means inexpressible and unutterable and entirely unknown and incomprehensible to us, for the salvation of all, and not subsisting in the same way as the other created things, nor living a life similar to those who have come into being through him, but alone born from the Father himself and being life itself. For it was fitting for the God over all to bring forth this only-begotten offspring before every created thing and before all ages, as a kind of firm base and unshakable foundation for the things that were to come into being through him. Therefore, he begat the Son before all things that were to be, like a ray of light and a spring of life and a treasury of good things, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” according to the 1.8.4 divine apostle. Of so many good things the only good Father established the Son, being life itself, the life-giver of all, and light itself, “the true light” and illuminator of every intellectual and rational substance, and reason itself and wisdom itself, wisely and rationally both establishing and administering all things, for which reasons he alone and no other has been proclaimed and is the only-begotten Son of God. 1.9.1 Whence one might rightly blame those who have dared to say he is a creature, come into being from non-existence in the same way as the other creatures. For how will he still be a Son? And how can he be the only-begotten of God who is ascribed the same nature as the other creatures? For by this he would become their brother rather than the Son of God, and he will be one of the many created things, since he has shared communion with them in the creation from non-existence. 1.9.2 But the divine oracles do not teach thus concerning him. But when it gives instruction about the existence of created things, it testifies at once that all things came to be through him: for “all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” and “in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” and “all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” according to the 1.9.3 apostolic teachings. But when it introduces the theology concerning him, it separates him from all the rest, and knows him as Lord and Master and Creator and God and Savior of all, and declares that he alone and no other is the only-begotten Son of God, and calls him alone wisdom and reason and life and light, and “the image of the invisible God” and “the radiance of eternal light,” and it teaches us to glorify him with countless other things akin to these, showing in this way the special relation of the Father’s divinity toward him alone, as toward an only-begotten Son. 1.9.4 Wherefore also the Father’s voice proclaimed him alone as beloved Son by the streams of the Jordan, testifying with a loud cry, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And it repeats the testimony also at the transfiguration on the mountain, 1.9.5 sealing the same word. Therefore, since the God of all himself has given this testimony to him, and since the evangelist explicitly teaches that he is the only-begotten Son through what he said, “No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son,” or “only-begotten God,” “who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known,” but also since the Savior himself in his teachings about himself confirms these things, through what he said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes 1.9.6 in him should have eternal life,” he who after these words [calls] the Son a thing created out of non-existence and a creature brought forth from what is not

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ἂν εἰδέναι θεόν. διὸ δὴ τούτων ἁπάντων ἀποκαθαίρουσα τὴν πλάνην ἡ ἐκκλησία τὸν ἕνα θεὸν κηρύττει, αὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ πατέρα καὶ παντοκράτορα διδάσκουσα, πατέρα μὲν ἑνὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ μόνου, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν ἁπάντων θεὸν καὶ κτίστην καὶ κύριον. οὕτω καὶ υἱὸν θεοῦ μονογενῆ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν παραδίδωσιν, τὸν πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεγεννημένον, οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα τῷ πατρί, καθ' ἑαυτὸν δὲ ὄντα καὶ ζῶντα καὶ ἀληθῶς υἱὸν συνόντα, θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ φῶς ἐκ φωτὸς καὶ ζωὴν ἐκ ζωῆς, ἀλέκτοις καὶ ἀρρήτοις καὶ παντάπασιν ἀγνώστοις ἡμῖν καὶ ἀκαταλήπτοις λόγοις ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ὅλων γεγεννημένον, καὶ οὐχ ὁμοίως μὲν τοῖς λοιποῖς γενητοῖς ὑποστάντα οὐδὲ ζωὴν ἐμφερῆ τοῖς δι' αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένοις ζῶντα, μόνον δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ 1.8.3 τοῦ πατρὸς ἀποτεχθέντα καὶ αὐτοζωὴν ὄντα. καὶ ἔπρεπεν γὰρ τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ πρὸ παντὸς γενητοῦ καὶ πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων τὸ μονογενὲς τοῦτο προβαλέσθαι γέννημα, ὥσπερ τινὰ κρηπίδα καὶ θεμέλιον ἀρραγῆ τῶν μελλόντων δι' αὐτοῦ γενήσεσθαι. διὸ δὴ πρὸ πάντων τῶν μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι τὸν υἱὸν ἐγέννα ὥσπερ τινὸς φωτὸς ἀκτῖνα καὶ ζωῆς πηγὴν καὶ θησαυρὸν ἀγαθῶν, «ἐν ᾧ πάντες εἰσὶν οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι» κατὰ τὸν 1.8.4 θεῖον ἀπόστολον. τοσούτων ἀγαθῶν ὁ μόνος ἀγαθὸς πατὴρ τὸν υἱὸν ὑφίστη, αὐτοζωὴν ὄντα ζωοποιὸν τῶν ὅλων, καὶ αὐτοφῶς «τὸ ἀληθινὸν» καὶ πάσης νοερᾶς καὶ λογικῆς οὐσίας φωτιστικόν, καὶ αὐτόλογον καὶ αὐτοσοφίαν σοφῶς τὰ πάντα καὶ λογικῶς ὑφιστάμενόν τε καὶ διοικοῦντα, ὧν δὴ χάριν μονογενὴς υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ μόνος αὐτὸς καὶ οὐδεὶς ἄλλος ἀνηγόρευταί τε καὶ ἔστιν. 1.9.1 ὅθεν εἰκότως ἄν τις μέμψαιτο τοῖς κτίσμα αὐτὸν φάναι τετολμηκόσιν, ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ὁμοίως τοῖς λοιποῖς κτίσμασιν γενόμενον. καὶ πῶς γὰρ ἔτι ἔσται υἱός; πῶς δὲ μονογενὴς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ τὴν αὐτὴν τοῖς λοιποῖς κτίσμασιν ἐπιγραφόμενος φύσιν; ταύτῃ γὰρ ἀδελφὸς ἂν τούτων γένοιτο μᾶλλον, οὐχὶ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, τῶν τε πολλῶν γενητῶν ἔσται εἷς, ἅτε τῆς ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων κτίσεως ὁμοίως αὐτοῖς μετα1.9.2 σχὼν κοινωνίας. ἀλλ' οὐχ ὧδε τὰ θεῖα περὶ αὐτοῦ παιδεύει λόγια. ἀλλ' ὅτε μὲν τῆς τῶν γενητῶν ὑπάρξεως τὴν διδασκαλίαν ποιεῖται, ἀθρόως τὰ πάντα μαρτυρεῖ δι' αὐτοῦ γεγονέναι· «πάντα» γὰρ «δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν» καὶ «ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἴτε ὁρατὰ εἴτε ἀόρατα» καὶ «τὰ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται· καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν» κατὰ τὰς 1.9.3 ἀποστολικὰς διδασκαλίας. ὅτε δὲ τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ θεολογίαν εἰσάγει, τῶν μὲν λοιπῶν ἁπάντων αὐτὸν ἀφορίζει, κύριον δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ δεσπότην καὶ δημιουργὸν καὶ θεὸν καὶ σωτῆρα τῶν ὅλων οἶδεν, μονογενῆ τε υἱὸν θεοῦ μόνον αὐτὸν καὶ οὐδένα ἄλλον ἀποφαίνει, σοφίαν τε καὶ λόγον καὶ ζωὴν καὶ φῶς μόνον αὐτὸν ἀποκαλεῖ, «εἰκόνα» τε «τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου» καὶ «ἀπαύγασμα φωτὸς ἀιδίου», ἕτερά τε μύρια τούτοις ἀδελφὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ δοξάζειν διδάσκει, ὧδέ πη τῆς πατρικῆς θεότητος τὴν πρὸς μόνον αὐτὸν ὡσανεὶ πρὸς υἱὸν μονογενῆ ἰδιά1.9.4 ζουσαν σχέσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενα. διὸ καὶ υἱὸν ἀγαπητὸν ἀνεκήρυττεν μόνον αὐτὸν ἀμφὶ τὰ Ἰορδάνου ῥεῖθρα ἡ πατρικὴ φωνὴ μεγάλῃ μαρτυροῦσα βοῇ «οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα». καὶ δευτεροῖ γε τὴν μαρτυρίαν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ ὄρει 1.9.5 μεταμορφώσεως τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπισφραγιζομένη λόγον. αὐτοῦ τοιγαροῦν τοῦ τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ ταύτην αὐτῷ τὴν μαρτυρίαν παρασχομένου, τοῦ τε εὐαγγελιστοῦ διαρρήδην αὐτὸν υἱὸν μονογενῆ εἶναι διδάσκοντος δι' ὧν ἔφη «θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε· ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς ἢ «μονογενὴς θεὸς» ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο», ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐν ταῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίαις ταῦτ' ἐπισφραγιζομένου, δι' ὧν ἔλεγεν «οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πι1.9.6 στεύων εἰς αὐτὸν ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον», ὁ μετὰ ταύτας τὰς φωνὰς γενητὸν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων καὶ κτίσμα προηγμένον ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος τὸν υἱὸν