Chapter IV.—That the Son is Eternal and Increate. These attributes, being the points in dispute, are first proved by direct texts of Scripture. Concerning the ‘eternal power’ of God in Rom. i. 20, which is shewn to mean the Son. Remarks on the Arian formula, ‘Once the Son was not,’ its supporters not daring to speak of ‘a time when the Son was not.’

11. At his suggestion then ye have maintained and ye think, that ‘there was once when the Son was not;’ this is the first cloke of your views of doctrine which has to be stripped off. Say then what was once when the Son was not, O slanderous and irreligious men61? If ye say the Father, your blasphemy is but greater; for it is impious to say that He was ‘once,’ or to signify Him by the word ‘once.’ For He is ever, and is now, and as the Son is, so is He, and is Himself He that is, and Father of the Son. But if ye say that the Son was once, when He Himself was not, the answer is foolish and unmeaning. For how could He both be and not be? In this difficulty, you can but answer, that there was a time when the Word was not; for your very adverb ‘once’ naturally signifies this. And your other, ‘The Son was not before His generation,’ is equivalent to saying, ‘There was once when He was not,’ for both the one and the other signify that there is a time before the Word. Whence then this your discovery? Why do ye, as ‘the heathen, rage, and imagine vain phrases against the Lord62 and against His Christ?’ for no holy Scripture has used such language of the Saviour, but rather ‘always’ and ‘eternal’ and ‘coexistent always with the Father.’ For, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God63.’ And in the Apocalypse he thus speaks64; ‘Who is and who was and who is to come.’ Now who can rob ‘who is’ and ‘who was’ of eternity? This too in confutation of the Jews hath Paul written in his Epistle to the Romans, ‘Of whom as concerning the flesh is Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever65;’ while silencing the Greeks, he has said, ‘The visible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal Power and Godhead66;’ and what the Power of God is, he teaches us elsewhere himself, ‘Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God67.’ Surely in these words he does not designate the Father, as ye often whisper one to another, affirming that the Father is ‘His eternal power.’ This is not so; for he says not, ‘God Himself is the power,’ but ‘His is the power.’ Very plain is it to all that ‘His’ is not ‘He;’ yet not something alien but rather proper to Him. Study too the context and ‘turn to the Lord;’ now ‘the Lord is that Spirit68;’and you will see that it is the Son who is signified.

12. For after making mention of the creation, he naturally speaks of the Framer’s Power as seen in it, which Power, I say, is the Word of God, by whom all things have been made. If indeed the creation is sufficient of itself alone, without the Son, to make God known, see that you fall not, from thinking that without the Son it has come to be. But if through the Son it has come to be, and ‘in Him all things consist69,’ it must follow that he who contemplates the creation rightly, is contemplating also the Word who framed it, and through Him begins to apprehend the Father70. And if, as the Saviour also says, ‘No one knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him71,’ and if on Philip’s asking, ‘Shew us the Father,’ He said not, ‘Behold the creation,’ but, ‘He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father72,’ reasonably doth Paul,—while accusing the Greeks of contemplating the harmony and order of the creation without reflecting on the Framing Word within it (for the creatures witness to their own Framer) so as through the creation to apprehend the true God, and abandon their worship of it,—reasonably hath he said, ‘His Eternal Power and Godhead73,’ thereby signifying the Son. And where the sacred writers say, ‘Who exists before the ages,’ and ‘By whom He made the ages74,’ they thereby as clearly preach the eternal and everlasting being of the Son, even while they are designating God Himself. Thus, if Isaiah says, ‘The Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth75;’ and Susanna said, ‘O Everlasting God76;’ and Baruch wrote, ‘I will cry unto the Everlasting in my days,’ and shortly after, ‘My hope is in the Everlasting, that He will save you, and joy is come unto me from the Holy One77;’ yet forasmuch as the Apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says, ‘Who being the radiance of His glory and the Expression of His Person78;’ and David too in the eighty-ninth Psalm, ‘And the brightness of the Lord be upon us,’ and, ‘In Thy Light shall we see Light79,’ who has so little sense as to doubt of the eternity of the Son80? for when did man see light without the brightness of its radiance, that he may say of the Son, ‘There was once, when He was not,’ or ‘Before His generation He was not.’ And the words addressed to the Son in the hundred and forty-fourth Psalm, ‘Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages81,’ forbid any one to imagine any interval at all in which the Word did not exist. For if every interval in the ages is measured, and of all the ages the Word is King and Maker, therefore, whereas no interval at all exists prior to Him82, it were madness to say, ‘There was once when the Everlasting was not,’ and ‘From nothing is the Son.’ And whereas the Lord Himself says, ‘I am the Truth83,’ not ‘I became the Truth;’ but always, ‘I am,—I am the Shepherd,—I am the Light,’—and again, ‘Call ye Me not, Lord and Master? and ye call Me well, for so I am,’ who, hearing such language from God, and the Wisdom, and Word of the Father, speaking of Himself, will any longer hesitate about the truth, and not forthwith believe that in the phrase ‘I am,’ is signified that the Son is eternal and without beginning?

13. It is plain then from the above that the Scriptures declare the Son’s eternity; it is equally plain from what follows that the Arian phrases ‘He was not,’ and ‘before’ and ‘when,’ are in the same Scriptures predicated of creatures. Moses, for instance, in his account of the generation of our system, says, ‘And every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground84.’ And in Deuteronomy, ‘When the Most High divided to the nations85.’ And the Lord said in His own Person, ‘If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father, for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe86.’ And concerning the creation He says by Solomon, ‘Or ever the earth was, when there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth87.’ And, ‘Before Abraham was, I am88.’ And concerning Jeremiah He says, ‘Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee89.’ And David in the Psalm says, ‘Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, Thou art, God from everlasting and world without end90.’ And in Daniel, ‘Susanna cried out with a loud voice and said, O everlasting God, that knowest the secrets, and knowest all things before they be91.’ Thus it appears that the phrases ‘once was not,’ and ‘before it came to be,’ and ‘when,’ and the like, belong to things originate and creatures, which come out of nothing, but are alien to the Word. But if such terms are used in Scripture of things originate, but ‘ever’ of the Word, it follows, O ye enemies of God, that the Son did not come out of nothing, nor is in the number of originated things at all, but is the Father’s Image and Word eternal, never having not been, but being ever, as the eternal Radiance92 of a Light which is eternal. Why imagine then times before the Son? or wherefore blaspheme the Word as after times, by whom even the ages were made? for how did time or age at all subsist when the Word, as you say, had not appeared, ‘through’ whom ‘all things have been made and without’ whom ‘not one thing was made93?’ Or why, when you mean time, do you not plainly say, ‘a time was when the Word was not?’ But while you drop the word ‘time’ to deceive the simple, you do not at all conceal your own feeling, nor, even if you did, could you escape discovery. For you still simply mean times, when you say, ‘There was when He was not,’ and ‘He was not before His generation.’

Εἰρήκατε καὶ φρονεῖτε, ὑποβάλλοντος ὑμῖν ἐκείνου, ὅτι ἦν ποτε, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν ὁ Υἱός· τοῦτο γὰρ πρῶτον ὑμῶν τῆς ἐπινοίας ἀποδῦσαι τὸ ἔνδυμα δεῖ. Τί τοίνυν ἦν ποτε ὅτε ὁ Υἱὸς οὐκ ἦν, εἴπατε, ὦ δύσφημοι καὶ δυσσεβεῖς. Εἰ μὲν οὖν τὸν Πατέρα λέ γετε, μείζων ὑμῶν ἡ βλασφημία· οὐ γὰρ θέμις εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ποτὲ ἦν, ἢ ἐν τῷ ποτὲ σημαίνειν αὐτόν· ἔστι γὰρ ἀεὶ, καὶ νῦν ἐστιν, ὄντος τε καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐστι, καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ ὢν καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ Πατήρ. Εἰ δὲ λέγετε ὅτι ὁ Υἱὸς ἦν ποτε, ὅτε αὐτὸς οὐκ ἦν· μωρὰ καὶ ἀνόητός ἐστιν ἡ ἀπόκρισις. Πῶς γὰρ ἦν αὐτὸς, καὶ οὐκ ἦν αὐτός; Οὐκοῦν ἐν τούτοις ἀπο ροῦντας ὑμᾶς ἀνάγκη λοιπὸν λέγειν, Ἦν ποτε χρό νος, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν ὁ Λόγος· τοῦτο γὰρ φύσει ση μαίνει καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ποτέ ὑμῶν ἐπίῤῥημα. Καὶ ὅπερ δὲ πάλιν γράφοντες εἰρήκατε, Οὐκ ἦν ὁ Υἱὸς πρὶν γεννηθῇ, ταυτόν ἐστι λέγειν ὑμᾶς, Ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν· χρόνον γὰρ εἶναι κἀκεῖνο καὶ τοῦτο πρὸ τοῦ Λόγου σημαίνει. Πόθεν οὖν ὑμῖν ἐξεύρηται ταῦτα; Ἵνα τί καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὡς τὰ ἔθνη, ἐφρυάξατε, καὶ μελετᾶτε κενὰ λεξείδια κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ; Οὐδεμία γὰρ τῶν ἁγίων Γραφῶν τοιοῦτόν τι περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος εἴρηκεν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ ἀεὶ, τὸ ἀΐδιον, καὶ τὸ συνεῖναι ἀεὶ τῷ Πατρί. Ἐν ἀρχῇ γὰρ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει τάδε λέγει· Ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος. Τοῦ δὲ ὁ ὢν καὶ τοῦ ὁ ἦν τίς ἂν ἀφέλοιτο τὸν ἀΐδιον; Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους Ἰουδαίους μὲν ἤλεγχε γράφων· Ἐξ ὧνὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· Ἕλληνας δὲ ἐντρέπων ἔλεγε· Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται, ἥ τε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης. Τίς δὲ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ δύνα μις, αὐτὸς πάλιν διδάσκει λέγων· Χριστὸς Θεοῦ δύναμις, καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο λέ γων τὸν Πατέρα σημαίνει, ὡς πολλάκις πρὸς ἀλλή λους ἐψιθυρίσατε λέγοντες· Ὁ Πατήρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις. Οὐκ ἔστι δὲ οὕτως· οὐ γὰρ εἴρηκεν, αὐτὸς ὁ Θεός ἐστιν ἡ δύναμις· ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἡ δύναμις. Εὔδηλον δὲ πᾶσίν ἐστιν, ὡς τὸ αὐ τοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτὸς, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ξένον, ἴδιον δὲ μᾶλλον αὐτοῦ. Ἀνάγνωτε δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν ῥημάτων, καὶ ἐπιστρέψατε πρὸς Κύριον· (Ὁ δὲ Κύριος τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστι·) καὶ ὄψεσθε περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ εἶναι τὸ σημαινόμενον. Περὶ γὰρ τῆς κτίσεως μνημονεύων, ἀκολούθως γράφει καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐν τῇ κτίσει τοῦ δημιουργοῦ δυνάμεως, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, δι' οὗ καὶ τὰ πάντα γέγονεν. Εἰ μὲν οὖν αὐτάρκης ἐστὶν ἡ κτίσις ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς μόνης χωρὶς Υἱοῦ γνωρίσαι τὸν Θεὸν, σκοπεῖτε μὴ πέσητε, νομίζοντες καὶ χωρὶς Υἱοῦ τὴν κτίσιν γεγονέναι· εἰ δὲ δι' Υἱοῦ γέγονε, καὶ ἐν αὑτῷ τὰ πάντα συνέστηκεν, ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁ τὴν κτίσιν ὀρθῶς θεωρῶν θεωρεῖ καὶ τὸν ταύτην δημιουργήσαντα Λό γον, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν Πατέρα νοεῖν ἄρχεται· εἰ δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν Σωτῆρα, Οὐδεὶς γινώσκει τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ ᾧ ἂν ὁ Υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψῃ· τῷ τε Φιλίππῳ λέγοντι, ∆εῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν Πατέρα, οὐκ ἔλεγε, βλέπε τὴν κτίσιν, ἀλλ' Ὁ ἐμὲ ἑωρακὼς ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα· εἰκότως ὁ Παῦλος, αἰτιώμενος τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ὅτι, τὴν ἁρμονίαν καὶ τὴν τάξιν τῆς κτίσεως θεωροῦντες, οὐ διανοοῦνται περὶ τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ δημιουργοῦ Λόγου· (τὰ γὰρ κτίσματα μηνύει τὸν ἑαυτῶν δημιουργόν·) ἵνα δι' αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν νοήσωσι, καὶ παύσωνται τῆς εἰς τὰ κτίσματα λατρείας, εἴρηκεν, ἥ τε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύ ναμις καὶ θειότης, ἵνα τὸν Υἱὸν σημάνῃ. Λέγον τες δὲ οἱ ἅγιοι, Ὁ ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, καὶ δι' οὗ ἐποίησε τοὺς αἰῶνας, οὐδὲν ἧττον πάλιν τὸ ἀΐδιον εὐαγγελίζονται τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τὸ αἰώνιον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Θεὸν σημαίνουσιν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἡσαΐας φησί· Θεὸς αἰώνιος, ὁ κατασκευάσας τὰ ἄκρα τῆς γῆς· ἡ δὲ Σουσάννα ἔλεγεν· Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ αἰώνιος· ὁ δὲ Βαροὺχ ἔγραφε· Κεκράξομαι πρὸς τὸν αἰώ νιον ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις μου· καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ἐγὼ γὰρ ἤλπισα ἐπὶ τῷ αἰωνίῳ τὴν σωτηρίαν ὑμῶν, καὶ ἦλθέ μοι χαρὰ παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ πρὸς Ἑβραίους γράφων ὁ Ἀπόστολός φησιν, Ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, καὶ χαρακ τὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ· ψάλλει δὲ καὶ ὁ ∆α βὶδ ἐν τῷ ὀγδοηκοστῷ ἐνάτῳ ψαλμῷ, Καὶ ἡ λαμ πρότης Κυρίου ἔστω ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ Ἐν τῷ φωτί σου ὀψόμεθα φῶς· τίς οὕτως ἐστὶν ἀνόητος, ὡς ἀμ φιβάλλειν περὶ τοῦ ἀεὶ εἶναι τὸν Υἱόν; Πότε γάρ τις εἶδε φῶς χωρὶς τῆς τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος λαμπρότη τος, ἵνα καὶ περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ εἴπῃ, ἦν ποτε, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν, ἢ, ὅτι Πρὶν γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἦν, Καὶ τὸ λε γόμενον δὲ ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ τεσσαρακοστῷ τετάρτῳ ψαλμῷ πρὸς τὸν Υἱὸν, Ἡ βασιλεία σου βασιλεία πάντων τῶν αἰώνων, οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει τινὰ κἂν τὸ τυ χὸν διάστημα λογίσασθαι, ἐν ᾧ μὴ ὑπῆρχεν ὁ Λόγος. Εἰ γὰρ πᾶν διάστημα ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσι μετρεῖται, πάντων δὲ τῶν αἰώνων βασιλεύς ἐστι καὶ ποιητὴς ὁ Λόγος· ἀνάγκη, μὴ ὄντος κἂν τοῦ τυχόντος διαστή ματος πρὸ αὐτοῦ, μανία τὸ λέγειν, Ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν ὁ αἰώνιος, καὶ, Ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός. Λέγοντος δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου, Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια, καὶ οὐ λέγοντος, Ἐγενόμην ἀλήθεια, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ τὸ Εἰμὶ, λέγοντος, Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμήν· Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς· καὶ πάλιν, Οὐχ ὑμεῖς λέγετέ με, ὁ Κύ ριος, καὶ ὁ διδάσκαλος, καὶ καλῶς λέγετε, Εἰμὶ γάρ· τίς, τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀκούων ῥῆμα παρὰ Θεοῦ καὶ Σοφίας καὶ Λόγου Πατρὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λέγοντος, ἔτι διστάξειε περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ οὐκ εὐθὺς πι στεύσει, ὅτι ἐν τῷ, Εἰμὶ, τὸ ἀΐδιον καὶ τὸ πρὸ παν τὸς αἰῶνος ἄναρχον τοῦ Υἱοῦ σημαίνεται; Ὅτι μὲν οὖν τὸ ἀΐδιον περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ αἱ Γρα φαὶ δείκνυνται λέγουσαι, φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων· ὅτι δὲ ἅπερ φθέγγονται οἱ Ἀρειανοὶ λέγοντες τὸ οὐκ ἦν, καὶ τὸ πρὶν, καὶ τὸ ὅτε, αἱ αὐταὶ Γραφαὶ περὶ τῶν κτισμάτων λέγουσι, δηλώσει πάλιν τὰ μέλλοντα λέγεσθαι. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Μωϋσῆς περὶ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς γενέσεως διηγούμενός φησι· Καὶ πᾶν χλωρὸν ἀγροῦ πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· καὶ πάντα χόρτον ἀγροῦ πρὸ τοῦ ἀνατεῖλαι· οὐ γὰρ ἔβρεξεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἦν ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν γῆν· καὶ ἐν μὲν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ· Ὅτε διεμέριζεν ὁ Ὕψιστος ἔθνη. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος διὰ μὲν ἑαυτοῦ ἔλεγεν· Εἰ ἠγαπᾶτέ με, ἐχάρητε ἂν, ὅτι εἶπον· Πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, ὅτι ὁ Πατὴρ μείζων μοῦ ἐστι· καὶ νῦν προείρηκα ὑμῖν, πρὶν γενέσθαι, ἵνα, ὅταν γένηται, πιστεύσητε· περὶ δὲ τῆς κτίσεως διὰ Σολομῶνός φησι· Πρὸ τοῦ τὴν γῆν ποιῆσαι, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ τὰς ἀβύσσους ποιῆσαι, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ προελθεῖν τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι, πρὸ δὲ πάν των τῶν βουνῶν γεννᾷ με· καὶ, Πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι, ἐγώ εἰμι. Περὶ δὲ Ἱερεμίου λέγει· Πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ, ἐπίσταμαί σε. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ∆αβὶδ ψάλλει· Κύριε, καταφυγὴ ἐγενή θης ἡμῖν ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ. Πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη γενη θῆναι καὶ πλασθῆναι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν οἰκουμέ νην, ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ· ἐν δὲ τῷ ∆ανιήλ· Ἀνεβόησε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ Σου σάννα, καὶ εἶπεν· Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ αἰώνιος, ὁ τῶν κρυ πτῶν γνώστης, ὁ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν. Τὸ ἄρα, Οὐκ ἦν ποτε, καὶ τὸ, πρὶν γενέ σθαι, καὶ τὸ, ὅτε, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτά ἐστι λεξείδια ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν γενητῶν καὶ κτισμάτων, τῶν ἐξ οὐκ ὄν των γενομένων, ἁρμόζει λέγεσθαι, ἀλλότρια δὲ τοῦ Λόγου ἐστίν. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν γενητῶν, τὸ δὲ, ἀεὶ, ἐπὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ λέγουσιν αἱ Γραφαὶ, οὐκ ἄρα, ὦ θεομάχοι, ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γέγονεν ὁ Υἱὸς, οὐδὲ ὅλως τῶν γενητῶν ἐστιν ὁ Υἱὸς, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰκὼν καὶ Λόγος ἀΐδιός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ πώποτε οὐκ ὢν, ἀλλὰ ἀεὶ ὢν, ὡς ἀϊδίου ὄντος φωτὸς ἀΐδιον ἀπαύγασμα. Τί τοίνυν χρόνους πρὸ τοῦ Υἱοῦ φαντάζεσθε; ἢ διὰ τί μετὰ χρόνους βλασφημεῖτε τὸν Λόγον, δι' οὗ καὶ οἱ αἰῶνες γεγόνασι; Πῶς γὰρ ὅλως χρόνος ἢ αἰὼν ὑπέστη μήπω φανέντος καθ' ὑμᾶς τοῦ Λόγου, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονε, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν; Ἢ διὰ τί, χρόνον σημαίνοντες, οὐ λέγετε φανερῶς· Ἦν χρόνος ὅτε οὐκ ἦν ὁ Λόγος; Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ὄνομα τοῦ χρόνου σκέπετε πρὸς ἀπάτην τῶν ἀκεραίων, τὸ φρόνημα δὲ ὅλως ἑαυτῶν οὐ κρύ πτετε, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ κρύπτοντες λαθεῖν δύνασθε· πάλιν γὰρ χρόνους σημαίνετε λέγοντες, «Ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν,» καὶ «Οὐκ ἦν πρὶν γεννηθῇ.»