8

For we call the same grain at one time fruit, at another seed, and again food; fruit, as the end of the past farming; seed, as the beginning of the future; and food, as suitable for an addition to the body of the one who partakes of it. Each one of these spoken terms is also considered according to a concept, and it does not pass away with the sound of the tongue; but the concepts are established in the soul of the one who has understood. And, to put it simply, all things known by sense perception, which seem to be simple in their underlying reality but admit a varied account in their consideration, are said to be contemplated by conception. Indeed, we have been taught the use of such a mode of conception by the divine word as well. Therefore, I will pass over other things, though I have much to say, and I will mention only the one most opportune. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his words about himself, revealing to men the philanthropy of the divinity and the grace of the economy, signified this by certain properties contemplated concerning him, calling himself a door, and a way, and bread, and a vine, and a shepherd, and light, not be 29.525 ing one of many names; for not all the names refer to one and the same thing. For the meaning of light is one thing, and that of vine another, and that of way another, and that of shepherd another. But being one in his underlying reality, and one essence, simple and uncompounded, at different times he names himself differently, adapting the appellations that differ from each other by their concepts. For according to the difference of his activities and his relation to those who receive his benefits, he also gives himself different names. For he calls himself the light of the world, signifying by this name both the unapproachable glory in the divinity, and how by the splendor of knowledge he illuminates those whose eye of the soul has been purified; and vine, as nourishing with the fruits of good works those who are rooted in him by faith; and bread, as being the most proper food of a rational being, by maintaining the constitution of the soul, and preserving its property, always supplying from himself what is lacking, and not allowing it to be overcome by the sickness that comes from irrationality. And so one who examines each of the names would find various concepts for each one, regarding him who in essence underlies all things. Who then has so sharpened his tongue for blasphemy as to dare to say that these concepts are dissolved along with the sounds? What then is so absurd that something should also be understood conceptually concerning the God of all, and first of all this very thing, about which our whole argument has been set in motion? For we will find that “unbegotten” is in no way said otherwise. For we say that the God of all is incorruptible and unbegotten, addressing him by these names according to different mental applications. For when we look back to the ages past, finding the life of God transcends all beginning, we call him unbegotten; but when we extend our mind to the ages to come, we call him who is indefinite and infinite and comprehended by no end, incorruptible. As, therefore, the unendingness of his life is called incorruptible, so its beginninglessness has been named unbegotten, as we contemplate both by conception. What argument, then, will contradict both that each of these names is conceived, and that it is a confession of what in truth belongs to God? But he separates these things as conflicting and completely incompatible with each other: that something is said conceptually, and that it fulfills the confession for God of being what he is. 29.528 For let us not pass over this either, what a pretense of piety he has devised for the ruin of his hearers in saying, {EUN.} Not to honor God with the appellation of unbegotten according to human conception, but to pay him the most necessary debt of all, in the confession of being what he is. {BAS.} What argument could adequately reach the perversity of these devices? He attempts to frighten the more simple-minded, as if they were not rendering what is due to God, unless it is essence

8

γὰρ αὐτὸν σῖτον νῦν μὲν καρπὸν λέγομεν, νῦν δὲ σπέρμα, καὶ πάλιν τροφήν· καρπὸν μὲν, ὡς τέλος τῆς παρελθούσης γεωργίας· σπέρμα δὲ, ὡς ἀρχὴν τῆς μελλούσης· τροφὴν δὲ, ὡς κατάλληλον εἰς προσθήκην τῷ τοῦ προσφερομένου σώματι. Τούτων ἓν ἕκαστον τῶν λεγομένων καὶ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν θεωρεῖται, καὶ τῷ ψόφῳ τῆς γλώσσης οὐ συναπέρχεται· ἀλλὰ τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ νενοηκότος ἐνίδρυται τὰ νοήματα. Καὶ ἁπαξ απλῶς, πάντα τὰ τῇ αἰσθήσει γνώριμα, καὶ ἁπλᾶ μὲν εἶναι τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ δοκοῦντα, ποικίλον δὲ λόγον κατὰ τὴν θεωρίαν ἐπιδεχόμενα, ἐπινοίᾳ θεωρητὰ λέγεται. Ἐγγὺς δὴ τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου τῆς ἐπινοίας τὴν χρῆσιν καὶ παρὰ τοῦ θείου δεδιδάγμεθα λόγου. Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἄλλα παρήσω, πολλὰ ἔχων εἰπεῖν, ἑνὸς δὲ μόνου τοῦ καιριωτάτου μνησθήσομαι. Ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐν τοῖς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λό γοις, τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν τῆς θεότητος καὶ τὴν ἐξ οἰκονομίας χάριν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παραδηλῶν, ἰδιώ μασί τισι τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν θεωρουμένοις ἀπεσήμαινε ταύτην, θύραν ἑαυτὸν λέγων, καὶ ὁδὸν, καὶ ἄρτον, καὶ ἄμπελον, καὶ ποιμένα, καὶ φῶς, οὐ πο 29.525 λυώνυμός τις ὤν· οὐ γὰρ πάντα τὰ ὀνόματα εἰς ταυ τὸν ἀλλήλοις φέρει. Ἄλλο γὰρ τὸ σημαινόμενον φω τὸς, καὶ ἄλλο ἀμπέλου, καὶ ἄλλο ὁδοῦ, καὶ ἄλλο ποι μένος. Ἀλλ' ἓν ὢν κατὰ τὸ ὑποκείμενον, καὶ μία οὐσία καὶ ἁπλῆ καὶ ἀσύνθετος, ἄλλοτε ἄλλως ἑαυτὸν ὀνο μάζει, ταῖς ἐπινοίαις διαφερούσας ἀλλήλων τὰς προσ ηγορίας μεθαρμοζόμενος. Κατὰ γὰρ τὴν τῶν ἐνεργειῶν διαφορὰν, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ εὐεργετούμενα σχέσιν, διάφορα ἑαυτῷ καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα τίθεται. Φῶς μὲν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν τοῦ κόσμου λέγει, τό τε ἀπρόσιτον τῆς ἐν τῇ θεότητι δόξης τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ διασημαίνων, καὶ ὡς τῇ λαμπρότητι τῆς γνώσεως τοὺς κεκαθαρμένους τὸ ὄμμα τῆς ψυχῆς καταυγάζων· ἄμπελον δὲ, ὡς τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ἐῤῥιζωμένους ἐπ' ἔργων ἀγαθῶν καρποφορίαις ἐκτρέφων· ἄρτον δὲ, ὡς οἰκειο τάτη τροφὴ λογικοῦ τυγχάνων, τῷ διακρατεῖν τὴν σύστασιν τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τὸ ἰδίωμα αὐτῆς διασώζειν, ἀναπληρῶν ἀεὶ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ἐνδέον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀλογίας ἐγγινομένην ἀῤῥωστίαν οὐκ ἐῶν ὑποφέρεσθαι. Καὶ οὕτως ἄν τις τῶν ὀνομάτων ἕκαστον ἐφοδεύων ποικίλας εὕροι τὰς ἐπινοίας ἑνὸς ἑκάστου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν τοῖς πᾶσιν ὑποκειμέ νου. Τίς οὖν οὕτω τὴν γλῶσσαν πρὸς βλασφημίαν ἠκόνηται, ὥστε τολμῆσαι εἰπεῖν ταῖς φωναῖς τὰς ἐπινοίας ταύτας συνδιαλύεσθαι; Τί οὖν ἄτοπον οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων λαμβάνεσθαί τινα κατ' ἐπίνοιαν, καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πρῶτον, περὶ οὗ ὁ σύμπας ἡμῖν κεκίνηται λόγος; Εὑρήσομεν γὰρ οὐδα μῶς ἑτέρως λεγόμενον τὸ ἀγέννητον. Ἄφθαρτον γὰρ καὶ ἀγέννητον εἶναι τὸν Θεὸν τῶν ὅλων λέγομεν, κατὰ διαφόρους ἐπιβολὰς τοῖς ὀνόμασι τούτοις προσ αγορεύοντες. Ὅταν μὲν γὰρ εἰς τοὺς κατόπιν αἰῶνας ἀποβλέψωμεν, ὑπερεκπίπτουσαν πάσης ἀρχῆς εὑρί σκοντες τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀγέννητον αὐτὸν λέγο μεν· ὅταν δὲ τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις αἰῶσι τὸν νοῦν ἐπεκ τείνωμεν, τὸν ἀόριστον καὶ ἅπειρον, καὶ οὐδενὶ τέλει καταληπτὸν προσαγορεύομεν ἄφθαρτον. Ὡς οὖν τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τῆς ζωῆς ἄφθαρτον, οὕτω τὸ ἄναρχον αὐτῆς ἀγέννητον ὠνομάσθη, τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ θεωρούντων ἡμῶν ἑκάτερα. Τίς οὖν ἀντερεῖ λόγος καὶ ἐπινοεῖσθαι τῶν ὀνομάτων τούτων ἑκάτερον, καὶ ὁμο λογίαν εἶναι τοῦ κατ' ἀλήθειαν τῷ Θεῷ προσόντος; Ὁ δὲ ὡς μαχόμενα ταῦτα καὶ ἀσύμβατα παντελῶς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων διίστησι· τὸ, τὶ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν τὶ λέγε σθαι, καὶ τὸ ἀποπληροῦν τῷ Θεῷ τὴν τοῦ εἶναι ὅ ἐστιν ὁμολογίαν. 29.528 Καὶ γὰρ αὖ μηδὲ τοῦτο παρέλθωμεν, οἷον αὐτῷ τῆς εὐλαβείας τὸ σχῆμα ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόν των ἐπινενόηται ἐν τῷ λέγειν, {ΕΥΝ.} Μὴ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν ἀνθρωπίνην σεμνύνειν τὸν Θεὸν τῇ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου προσηγορίᾳ, ἐκτιννύναι δὲ αὐτῷ τὸ πάντων ἀναγκαιότατον ὄφλημα, ἐν τῇ τοῦ εἶναι ὅ ἐστιν ὁμολογίᾳ. {ΒΑΣ.} Τίς ἂν λόγος ἀξίως τῆς σκολιότητος ταύτης τῶν τεχνασμάτων ἐφίκοιτο; Ἐκφοβεῖν τοὺς ἁπλου στέρους ἐπιχειρεῖ, ὡς μὴ ἀποδιδόντας τὰ ὀφειλόμενα τῷ Θεῷ, εἰ μὴ οὐσίαν εἶναι