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the soul is so overwhelmed by calamities, that I do not even count the personal sorrows of my own life among my evils (though they are so many and so great that, had they happened to anyone else, they would not be thought bearable), but I look only to the common sufferings of the Churches, 202.3 which, if no effort is made for their correction at the present time, will little by little advance into complete hopelessness. 202.4 Those of the Arian or Eudoxian heresy, I know not what has incited them to desperation, as if they have seized some freedom of speech, parade their own disease, gathering churches, as if they are doing this by permission.
202.5 And those who dispute according to Macedonius have advanced to such a degree of desperation, that they even claim for themselves the name of bishops and overrun the regions around us, boasting of Eleusius in their ordinations. 202.6 And our own bosom evil, Eunomius, is no longer content to exist in any way; but if he does not drag everyone down with him into his own destruction, he considers it a loss. 202.7 And these things are bearable; but the most difficult of all in the calamities of the churches is the boldness of the Apollinarians, whom I do not know how your holiness overlooked, as they have procured for themselves the authority to assemble equally with us. 202.8 In all things, then, having been instructed in the divine mysteries by the grace of God, you understand not only the defense of the right reason, but also all those things which have been devised by the heretics against the sound faith; 202.9 nevertheless, it is perhaps not untimely for your reverence to hear even from our insignificance that a tablet of Apollinarius has come into my hands, in which the things he constructs surpass all heretical wickedness. 202.10 For he affirms that the flesh assumed by the only-begotten Son according to the economy for the transformation of our nature was not acquired, but that that fleshy nature was in the Son from the beginning. 202.11 And having badly interpreted a certain evangelical saying, he puts it forward as a testimony of such an absurdity, saying that "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man," 202.12 as if he were Son of Man even before he descended, and descended bringing with him that particular flesh, which he happened to have in the heavens, being pre-eternal and co-essential.
202.13 For he again cites a certain apostolic saying, having scraped it from the whole body of its context, that "the second man is from heaven." 202.14 Then he argues that that man who came from above did not have a mind, but that the divinity of the Only-begotten filled the nature of the mind, becoming the third part of the human compound, with soul and body being about him in the human manner, but there being no mind, but the Word of God filling its place. 202.15 And this is not yet the terrible thing; but the most difficult of all, is that he makes the only-begotten God himself, the judge of all, the author of life, the destroyer of death, to be mortal, 202.16 and to have received suffering in his own divinity, and in that three-day death of the body, the divinity also to have died along with the body, and so to have been raised again from death by the Father. 202.17 It would be a long task to go through all the other things he adds to such absurdities. 202.18 If, therefore, those who think such things are given authority to assemble, let your esteemed wisdom in Christ consider that, if we do not agree with what they think, for them to receive the authority of assembly is nothing other than to be considered more true than our doctrine. 202.19 For if they are permitted as pious men to teach as they think and to preach their own views with boldness, it is clear that the doctrine of the Church has been condemned, as if the truth were with them. 202.20 For two contrary
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τοσοῦτον βεβάπτισται ὑπὸ συμφορῶν ἡ ψυχή, ὥστε τὰ μὲν ἴδια τῆς ἐμῆς ζωῆς ἀλγεινὰ μηδὲ ἐν κακοῖς εἶναι λογίζεσθαι (τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα ὄντα, ὡς μὴ ἂν ἑτέρῳ τινὶ συμβάντα φορητὰ εἶναι νομισθῆναι), πρὸς μόνα δὲ βλέπειν τὰ κοινὰ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν πάθη, 202.3 ὧν εἰ μὴ γένοιτό τις ἐν τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ σπουδὴ πρὸς διόρθωσιν, εἰς παντελῆ ἀνελπιστίαν κατὰ μικρὸν προελεύσεται. 202.4 Οἱ τῆς Ἀρείου ἤτοι Εὐδοξίου αἱρέσεως, οὐκ οἶδα τίνος αὐτοὺς παρακινήσαντος εἰς ἀπόνοιαν, ὥσπερ τινὸς παρρησίας ἐπειλημμένοι, τῇ νόσῳ ἑαυτῶν ἐκπομπεύουσιν, ἐκκλησίας συνάγοντες, ὡς ἐξ ἐπιτροπῆς τοῦτο ποιοῦντες.
202.5 Οἱ δὲ κατὰ Μακεδόνιον ἐρίζοντες εἰς τοσοῦτον προελη λύθασιν ἀπονοίας, ὡς καὶ ὄνομα ἐπισκόπων ἑαυτοῖς ἐπιφη μίζοντες τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς τόποις ἐπιπολάζειν, τὸν Ἐλεύσιον ταῖς χειροτονίαις αὐτῶν ἐπιθρυλοῦντες. 202.6 Τὸ δὲ ἐγκόλπιον ἡμῶν κακόν, ὁ Εὐνόμιος, οὐκέτι ἀγαπᾷ τὸ ὁπωσοῦν εἶναι· ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ πάντας τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπωλείᾳ συνεφελκύσαιτο, ζημίαν κρίνει. 202.7 Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν φορητά· τὸ δὲ πάντων χαλεπώτατον ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησιαστικαῖς συμφοραῖς, ἡ τῶν Ἀπολλιναριστῶν ἐστι παρρησία, οὓς οὐκ οἶδα πῶς παρεῖδέ σου ἡ ὁσιότης πορισαμένους ἑαυτοῖς τοῦ συνάγειν ὁμοτίμως ἡμῖν ἐξουσίαν. 202.8 Πάντως μὲν οὖν διὰ πάντων κατὰ Θεοῦ χάριν τὰ θεῖα πεπαιδευμένος μυστήρια, οὐ μόνον τὴν τοῦ ὀρθοῦ λόγου συνηγορίαν ἐπίστασαι, ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνα ὅσα παρὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν κατὰ τῆς ὑγιαινούσης ἐπινενόηται πίστεως· 202.9 πλὴν καὶ παρὰ τῆς βραχύτητος ἡμῶν οὐκ ἄκαιρον ἴσως ἀκοῦσαί σου τὴν σεμνοπρέπειαν ὅτι μοι πτυκτίον γέγονεν ἐν χερσὶ τοῦ Ἀπολλιναρίου, ἐν ᾧ τὰ κατασκευαζόμενα πᾶσαν αἱρετικὴν κακίαν παρέρχεται. 202.10 ∆ιαβεβαιοῦται γὰρ μὴ ἐπίκτητον εἶναι τὴν σάρκα κατ' οἰκονομίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ προσληφθεῖσαν ἐπὶ μεταστοιχειώσει τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ τὴν σαρκώδη ἐκείνην φύσιν εἶναι. 202.11 Καὶ κακῶς ἐκλαβὼν εὐαγγελικήν τινα ῥῆσιν εἰς μαρτυρίαν τῆς τοιαύτης ἀτοπίας προβάλλεται λέγων ὅτι «Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου», 202.12 ὡς καὶ πρὶν τοῦ κατελθεῖν αὐτὸν υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου εἶναι, καὶ κατελθεῖν ἰδίαν ἐπαγόμενον σάρκα ἐκείνην, ἣν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἔχων ἐτύγχανε, προαιώνιόν τινα καὶ συνουσιωμένην.
202.13 Λέγει γὰρ πάλιν ἀποστολικήν τινα ῥῆσιν, τοῦ ὅλου σώματος τῆς συμφράσεως ἀποκνίσας, ὅτι «ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ». 202.14 Εἶτα κατα σκευάζει τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄνωθεν ἥκοντα τὸν νοῦν μὴ ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ τὴν θεότητα τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὴν τοῦ νοῦ φύσιν ἀναπληρώσασαν, μέρος γενέσθαι τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου συγκράματος τὸ τριτημόριον, ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον περὶ αὐτὸν ὄντων, νοῦ δὲ μὴ ὄντος, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐκείνου τόπον τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ἀναπληροῦντος. 202.15 Καὶ οὔπω τοῦτο δεινόν· ἀλλὰ τὸ πάντων χαλεπώτατον, ὅτι αὐτὸν τὸν μονογενῆ Θεόν, τὸν κριτὴν τῶν πάντων, τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς, τὸν καθαιρέτην τοῦ θανάτου, θνητὸν εἶναι κατασκευάζει, 202.16 καὶ τῇ ἰδίᾳ αὐτοῦ θεότητι πάθος δέξασθαι, καὶ ἐν τῇ τριημέρῳ ἐκείνῃ νεκρώσει τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὴν θεότητα συναπονεκρωθῆναι τῷ σώματι, καὶ οὕτω παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ θανάτου διαναστῆναι. 202.17 Τὰ δ' ἄλλα ὅσα προστίθησι ταῖς τοιαύταις ἀτοπίαις μακρὸν ἂν εἴη διεξιέναι. 202.18 Εἰ τοίνυν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα φρονοῦντες ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ τοῦ συνάγειν γίνονται, σκοπείτω σου ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ εὐδόκιμος φρόνησις ὅτι, μὴ συμβαινόντων ἡμῶν οἷς ἐκεῖνοι φρονοῦσι, τὸ λαβεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐξουσίαν συνάξεως οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἢ ἀληθεστέρους τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς δόγματος νομισθῆναι. 202.19 Εἰ γὰρ ὡς εὐσεβοῦντες ἐκεῖνοι διδάσκειν ὡς φρονοῦσι καὶ κηρύττειν ἐν παρρησίᾳ τὸ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιτρέπονται, δῆλον ὅτι κατέγνωσται ὁ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας λόγος, ὡς τῆς ἀληθείας παρ' αὐτοῖς οὔσης. 202.20 ∆ύο γὰρ ἐναντίους