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uninstructed, either to think that He is from "non-existing things," or to say there are two unbegotten beings in every respect; "the undisciplined being ignorant how great a distance there would be between an unbegotten Father "and the things created by Him out of nothing, both rational and "irrational. Between whom a mediating only-begotten nature, through which the "Father of the Word of God made all things out of nothing, "has been begotten from the Father who Himself is; as the Lord Himself somewhere testified, saying: " "He that loveth the Father loveth also the Son that is begotten "of Him". "Concerning whom we so believe, as it seems good to the apostolic Church; "in one unbegotten Father alone, having no one as the cause "of His being, who is both immutable and unchangeable, ever being in the same state and "in the same way, admitting neither of progress nor of diminution, the giver "of the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels, the Lord of patriarchs and apostles "and all saints; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the "only-begotten Son of God, begotten not out of that which is not but out of the "Father who is, not according to the likenesses of bodies by means of "cuttings or by emanations from divisions, as it seems to Sabellius and "Valentinus, but inexpressibly and inexplicably, according to him who said, as "we have set forth above: "who shall declare His generation?" 21 "His hypostasis being unsearchable by every begotten nature, "just as the Father Himself is also unsearchable, because the nature "of rational beings cannot contain the knowledge of the Father's divine begetting. "Which things men moved by the Spirit of truth need not learn from me, "for the voice of Christ concerning this has already reached and taught us: " "no one knoweth who the Father is, but "the Son; and no one knoweth who the Son is, but the Father." "We have learned that this Son is immutable and unchangeable as the Father, in need of nothing and "perfect, like the Father, lacking that of Him "only in being unbegotten. For He is the exact and unvarying "image of the Father. For it is clear that the image is full of all those things by which the "greater likeness exists, as the Lord Himself taught, "saying, "My Father is greater than I." And according to this we believe also that "the Son is always from the Father; for He is the brightness of His "glory, and the express image of the Father's hypostasis. But let no one "take "always" with a suspicion of unbegottenness, as they think whose senses of the "soul are hardened; for neither "was," nor "always," nor "before ages" is the same as "unbegotten." But neither does anything that human "thought may strive to name, signify the unbegotten (as I believe "you also so understand, and I am confident in the right purpose of you all "concerning this), since these names in no way "signify the unbegotten. For these names seem to be, as it were, extensions "of time, but are not able to signify the divinity and, "as it were, the antiquity of the only-begotten in a worthy manner, but the holy men, "striving as far as was in each one's power to make plain the mystery, ask pardon 22 "from their hearers with a reasonable defense by "saying: to the things which we have attained. But if the men expect something greater than what is human through "the utterance of lips, saying that the things known to them in part "are done away, it is clear that "was" and "always" and "before ages" fall far short of "what is hoped for; but whatever "it may be, it is not the same as the unbegotten. Therefore, the proper dignity "must be preserved for the unbegotten Father, saying that no one is the cause "of His being; and fitting honor must be rendered to the Son, ascribing "to Him a beginningless generation from the Father; and as "we have attained, rendering reverence to Him, only piously and reverently "saying of Him "was" and "always" and "before ages," not however "denying His divinity, but ascribing to Him a likeness to the image and the impress "of the Father in all things, but "holding that being unbegotten is the sole property of the Father, "since indeed the Savior Himself says: "My Father is greater than I." "And in addition to this pious opinion concerning the Father and the Son, as

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ἀπαίδευτοι, ἢ ἐξ οὐκ "ὄντων αὐτὸν εἶναι φρονεῖν, ἢ πάντως ἀγέννητα λέγειν δύο· ἀγνο "οῦντες οἱ ἀνάσκητοι ὡς μακρὸν ἂν εἴη μεταξὺ πατρὸς ἀγεννήτου "καὶ τῶν κτισθέντων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων, λογικῶν τε καὶ "ἀλόγων. ὧν μεσιτεύουσα φύσις μονογενής, δι' ἧς τὰ ὅλα ἐξ οὐκ "ὄντων ἐποίησεν ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὄντος πα "τρὸς γεγέννηται· ὡς καὶ αὐτός που διεμαρτύρατο λέγων ὁ κύριος· " ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν πατέρα ἀγαπᾷ καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ "γεγεννημένον ". "Περὶ ὧν ἡμεῖς οὕτως πιστεύομεν, ὡς τῇ ἀποστολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ "δοκεῖ· εἰς μόνον ἀγέννητον πατέρα, οὐδένα τοῦ εἶναι αὐτῷ τὸν "αἴτιον ἔχοντα, ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον, ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ "ὡσαύτως ἔχοντα, οὔτε προκοπὴν οὔτε μείωσιν ἐπιδεχόμενον, νόμου "καὶ προφητῶν καὶ εὐαγγελίων δοτῆρα, πατριαρχῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων "καὶ ἁπάντων ἁγίων κύριον· καὶ εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν "υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ μονογενῆ, γεννηθέντα οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ἀλλ' ἐκ "τοῦ ὄντος πατρός, οὐ κατὰ τὰς τῶν σωμάτων ὁμοιότητας ταῖς "τομαῖς ἢ ταῖς ἐκ διαιρέσεων ἀπορροίαις, ὥσπερ Σαβελλίῳ καὶ Βαλεν "τίνῳ δοκεῖ, ἀλλ' ἀρρήτως καὶ ἀνεκδιηγήτως, κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα, ὡς "ἀνωτέρω παρεθήκαμεν· " τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται ;" 21 "τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ πάσῃ τῇ γενητῇ φύσει ἀπεριεργάστου τυγχα "νούσης, καθὼς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ πατὴρ ἀπεριέργαστός ἐστι, διὰ τὸ μὴ "χωρεῖν τὴν τῶν λογικῶν φύσιν τῆς πατρικῆς θεογονίας τὴν εἴδησιν. "ἅπερ οὐ παρ' ἐμοῦ δεῖ μαθεῖν ἄνδρας τῷ τῆς ἀληθείας πνεύματι "κινουμένους, ὑπηχούσης ἡμᾶς καὶ τῆς φθασάσης Χριστοῦ περὶ τούτου "φωνῆς καὶ διδασκούσης· " οὐδεὶς οἶδε τίς ἐστιν ὁ πατήρ, εἰ μὴ "ὁ υἱός· καὶ οὐδεὶς οἶδε τίς ἐστιν ὁ υἱός, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ ". "ἄτρεπτον τοῦτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον ὡς τὸν πατέρα, ἀπροσδεῆ καὶ "τέλειον υἱόν, ἐμφερῆ τῷ πατρὶ μεμαθήκαμεν, μόνῳ τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ "λειπόμενον ἐκείνου. εἰκὼν γάρ ἐστιν ἀπηκριβωμένη καὶ ἀπαράλλα "κτος τοῦ πατρός. πάντων γὰρ εἶναι τὴν εἰκόνα πλήρη δι' ὧν ἡ "μείζων ἐμφέρεια, δῆλον, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐπαίδευσεν ὁ κύριος " ὁ πατήρ "μου " λέγων " μείζων μού ἐστι ". καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ ἀεὶ εἶναι "τὸν υἱὸν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς πιστεύομεν· ἀπαύγασμα γάρ ἐστι τῆς "δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς πατρικῆς ὑποστάσεως . ἀλλὰ μή τις "τὸ ἀεὶ πρὸς ὑπόνοιαν ἀγεννήτου λαμβανέτω, ὡς οἴονται οἱ τὰ τῆς "ψυχῆς αἰσθητήρια πεπωρωμένοι· οὔτε γὰρ τὸ ἦν, οὔτε τὸ ἀεί, οὔτε "τὸ πρὸ αἰώνων ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ. ἀλλ' οὐδ', ὁτιοῦν ἀνθρώ "πων ἔννοια ὀνοματοποιῆσαι σπουδάσει, δηλοῖ τὸ ἀγέννητον (ὡς καὶ "ὑμᾶς οὕτως ἐκδέχεσθαι πιστεύω καὶ τεθάρρηκα τῇ περὶ πάντων "ὑμῶν ὀρθῇ προθέσει), κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον τούτων τῶν ὀνομάτων "τὸ ἀγέννητον δηλούντων. ἔοικε γὰρ οἱονεὶ χρόνων εἶναι παρέκτασις "ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα, τὴν μέντοι κατ' ἀξίαν τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεότητα "καὶ οἷον ἀρχαιότητα σημαίνειν μὴ δυναμένων, τῶν δὲ ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν "ὡς δύναμις ἑκάστῳ ἐμφανίσαι τὸ μυστήριον βιαζομένων καὶ συγ 22 "γνώμην αἰτούντων παρὰ τῶν ἀκροατῶν δι' εὐλόγου ἀπολογίας διὰ "τοῦ λέγειν· εἰς ἃ ἐφθάσαμεν . εἰ δέ τι παρὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον διὰ "χειλέων φθέγμα μεῖζόν τι προσδοκῶσιν οἱ ἄνδρες, τὰ ἐκ μέρους "αὐτοῖς γνωσθέντα καταργεῖσθαι λέγοντες, δῆλον ὅτι πολὺ τοῦ "ἐλπιζομένου λείπεται τὸ ἦν καὶ τὸ ἀεὶ καὶ τὸ πρὸ αἰώνων· ὅπερ "δ' ἂν ᾖ, οὐκ ἔστι ταὐτὸν τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ. οὐκοῦν τῷ μὲν ἀγεννήτῳ "πατρὶ οἰκεῖον ἀξίωμα φυλακτέον, μηδένα τοῦ εἶναι αὐτῷ τὸν αἴτιον "λέγοντας· τῷ δὲ υἱῷ τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν τιμὴν ἀπονεμητέον, τὴν "ἄναρχον αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς γέννησιν ἀνατιθέντας· καὶ ὡς "ἐφθάσαμεν αὐτῷ σέβας ἀπονέμοντες, μόνον εὐσεβῶς καὶ εὐφήμως "τὸ ἦν καὶ τὸ ἀεὶ καὶ τὸ πρὸ αἰώνων λέγοντες ἐπ' αὐτοῦ, τὴν μέντοι "θεότητα αὐτοῦ μὴ παραιτούμενοι, ἀλλὰ τῇ εἰκόνι καὶ τῷ χαρακτῆρι "τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπηκριβωμένην ἐμφέρειαν κατὰ πάντα ἀνατιθέντες, τὸ "δὲ ἀγέννητον τῷ πατρὶ μόνον ἰδίωμα παρεῖναι δοξάζοντες, ἅτε δὴ "καὶ αὐτοῦ φάσκοντος τοῦ σωτῆρος· " ὁ πατήρ μου μείζων μού "ἐστι ". "Πρὸς δὲ τῇ εὐσεβεῖ ταύτῃ περὶ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ δόξῃ, καθὼς