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to one who will know the souls of the flock, and will guide them according to the principle of the pastoral art, that which is upright and just, and worthy of our true Shepherd.

ΛΕʹ. But as to the distribution of the word itself—to mention last 35.444 the first of our duties—I mean the divine and sublime Word, about which everyone now philosophizes, if anyone else is confident, and supposes it to be within the scope of every intellect, I for my part admire his intelligence, not to say his simplicity; but to me it seems a matter not of the most trivial kind, nor one requiring little of the Spirit, to give to each in due season his portion of the word, and to administer with judgment the truth of our doctrines: all that has been philosophized about worlds or a world, about matter, about soul, about mind and intelligent natures, both better and worse, about the providence that binds together and directs all things, and both what seems to meet us according to reason, and what is beyond the reason that is below and human.

Λςʹ. And further, all that concerns our first constitution and last recreation, of types and of truth, and of covenants, and of the first and second coming of Christ, of His incarnation and sufferings and departure; and all that concerns the resurrection, the end, the judgment and the recompense, both the more sorrowful and the more glorious; and, to sum it all up, what we must believe about the royal and blessed Trinity. This indeed is the greatest of dangers for those entrusted with enlightenment, lest, contracting the doctrine into a single hypostasis for fear of polytheism, we leave ourselves with bare names, supposing the same to be Father and Son and Holy Spirit; or lest, by dividing it into three, either degenerate and foreign, or disorderly and without principle, and, so to speak, rival gods, we fall into an equal evil from the opposite side; just as a crooked plant is bent too far the other way.

ΛΖʹ. For since there are three sicknesses now concerning theology, Atheism, Judaism, and Polytheism—of which Sabellius the Libyan was the champion of the first, Arius of Alexandria of the second, and some 35.445 of the over-orthodox among us of the third. What is my argument? That having escaped what is harmful in the three, we should remain within the bounds of piety, and neither be drawn toward the atheism of Sabellius by this new analysis or synthesis, defining that all are one rather than that each is nothing; for that which moves and passes into another ceases to be what it is; nor sketch and fashion for ourselves some strange and composite God, like the mythical creatures; nor by cutting the natures according to the well-named madness of Arius, be confined to a Jewish poverty, and introduce envy into the divine nature, by circumscribing the Godhead to the Unbegotten alone, as if fearing lest our God should be destroyed, being Father of a true God of like nature; nor by setting up or marshalling three principles against each other, introduce a Greek polyarchy, which we have escaped.

ΛΗʹ. For we must not be so fond of the Father as to take away His being Father; for of whom would He be Father, if the Son's nature were separated and alienated with the creation? For that which is alien is not a Son. Or if He were smeared over and confused with the Father, which is to say, also confusing Him; nor so fond of Christ, as not to preserve for Him His being Son; (for of whom would He be, if He were not referred to the Father as His principle?) nor to the Father the dignity of His principle, as Father and Begetter; for He would be the principle of small and unworthy things, or rather, in a small and unworthy way, if He were not the principle of the Godhead and Goodness which are contemplated in the Son and the Spirit; in the one as Son and Word, in the other as a procession and an indissoluble Spirit; since it is necessary both to preserve the one God, and to confess the three hypostases, and each with its own property. 35.448

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γνωσομένῳ ψυχὰς ποιμνίου, καὶ ἀφηγησομένῳ κατὰ λόγον ποιμαντικῆς, τῆς γε ὀρθῆς καὶ δικαίας, καὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ποιμένος ἡμῶν ἀξίας.

ΛΕʹ. Αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν τοῦ λόγου διανομὴν, ἵνα τελευ 35.444 ταῖον εἴπω τὸ πρῶτον τῶν ἡμετέρων, τοῦ θείου λέγω καὶ ὑψηλοῦ, καὶ ὃν νῦν πάντες φιλοσοφοῦσιν, εἰ μέν τις ἄλλος θαῤῥεῖ, καὶ πάσης διανοίας ὑπολαμβά νει, θαυμάζω τοῦτον ἐγὼ τῆς συνέσεως, ἵνα μὴ λέγω τῆς εὐηθείας· ἐμοὶ δ' οὖν πρᾶγμα φαίνεται οὐ τῶν φαυλοτάτων, οὐδὲ ὀλίγου τοῦ πνεύματος, διδόναι κατὰ καιρὸν ἑκάστῳ τοῦ λόγου τὸ σιτομέτριον, καὶ οἰκονομεῖν ἐν κρίσει τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν ἡμετέρων δογμάτων· ὅσα περὶ κόσμων ἢ κόσμου πεφιλοσόφηται, περὶ ὕλης, περὶ ψυχῆς, περὶ νοῦ, καὶ τῶν νοερῶν φύσεων, βελτιόνων τε καὶ χειρόνων, περὶ τῆς τὰ πάντα συνδεούσης τε καὶ διεξαγούσης προνοίας, ὅσα τε κατὰ λόγον ἀπαντᾷν δοκεῖ, καὶ ὅσα παρὰ λόγον τὸν κάτω καὶ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον.

Λςʹ. Ἔτι τε ὅσα περὶ τῆς πρώτης ἡμῶν συστά σεως, καὶ τῆς τελευταίας ἀναπλάσεως, τύπων τε καὶ ἀληθείας, καὶ διαθηκῶν, καὶ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας πρώτης τε καὶ δευτέρας, σαρκώσεώς τε καὶ παθημάτων, καὶ ἀναλύσεως, ὅσα τε περὶ ἀναστά σεως, περὶ τέλους, περὶ κρίσεως καὶ ἀνταποδό σεως, σκυθρωποτέρας τε καὶ ἐνδοξοτέρας· καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον ὅσα περὶ τῆς ἀρχικῆς καὶ μακαρίας Τριάδος ὑποληπτέον· ὅσπερ δὴ καὶ κινδύνων μέγιστος τοῖς φωτίζειν πεπιστευμένοις, ὡς μήτε εἰς μίαν ὑπόστασιν συναιρεθέντα τὸν λό γον δέει πολυθεΐας, ψιλὰ καταλιπεῖν ἡμῖν τὰ ὀνόματα, τὸν αὐτὸν Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦ μα ὑπολαμβάνουσι· μήτε εἰς τρεῖς, ἢ ἐκφύλους καὶ ἀλλοτρίας διαιρεθέντα, ἢ ἀτάκτους καὶ ἀνάρχους, καὶ οἷον εἰπεῖν, ἀντιθέους, πρὸς κακὸν ἴσον ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων μεταπεσεῖν· ὥσπερ φυτοῦ διαστροφῆς ἐπὶ θάτερα πολὺ μετακλινομένης.

ΛΖʹ. Τριῶν γὰρ ὄντων τῶν νῦν περὶ τὴν θεολογίαν ἀῤῥωστημάτων, ἀθεΐας, καὶ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ, καὶ πολυ θεΐας, ὧν τῆς μὲν Σαβέλλιος προστάτης ὁ Λίβυς ἐγέ νετο, τῆς δὲ Ἄρειος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεὺς, τῆς δέ τινες 35.445 τῶν ἄγαν παρ' ἡμῖν ὀρθοδόξων. Τίς ὁ ἐμὸς λό γος; τῶν τριῶν ὅσον ἐστὶ βλαβερὸν διαφυγόντας, ἐν ὅροις μένειν τῆς εὐσεβείας, καὶ μήτε πρὸς τὴν Σαβελλίου ἀθεΐαν ἐκ τῆς καινῆς ταύτης ἀναλύσεως ἢ συνθέσεως ὑπαχθῆναι, μὴ μᾶλλον ἓν τὰ πάντα ἢ μηδὲν ἕκαστον εἶναι ὁριζομένους· φεύγει γὰρ εἶναι ὅπερ ἐστὶν εἰς ἄλληλα μεταχωροῦντα καὶ μεταβαίνοντα· ἢ σύνθετόν τινα καὶ ἄτοπον ἡμῖν Θεὸν, ὥσπερ τὰ μυθώδη τῶν ζώων σκιαγραφοῦντας καὶ ἀναπλάττοντας· μήτε τὰς φύσεις τέμνοντας κατὰ τὴν Ἀρείου καλῶς ὀνομασθεῖσαν μανίαν, εἰς Ἰουδαϊκὴν πενίαν κατακλεισθῆναι, καὶ φθόνον ἐπεισάγειν τῇ θείᾳ φύσει, μόνῳ τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ τὴν θεότητα περιγράφοντας, ὥσπερ δεδοικότας μὴ διαφθείροιτο ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς, Θεοῦ Πατὴρ ὢν ἀληθινοῦ καὶ ὁμοτίμου τὴν φύσιν· μήτε τρεῖς ἀρχὰς ἀλλήλαις ἀντ επεξάγοντας ἢ συντάσσοντας πολυαρχίαν εἰσ άγειν Ἑλληνικὴν, ἣν πεφεύγαμεν.

ΛΗʹ. ∆έον μήτε οὕτως εἶναί τινας φιλοπάτορας, ὡς καὶ τὸ εἶναι Πατέρα περιαιρεῖν· τίνος γὰρ ἂν καὶ εἴη Πατὴρ, τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὴν φύσιν κεχωρισμένου καὶ ἀπεξενωμένου μετὰ τῆς κτίσεως; οὐ γὰρ τοῦτο Υἱὸς τὸ ἀλλότριον ἢ συναλειφομένου πρὸς τὸν Πα τέρα, καὶ συγχεομένου, ἴσον δὲ εἰπεῖν, καὶ συγχέον τος· μήτε τοσοῦτον φιλοχρίστους, ὡς μήτε τούτῳ φυλάττειν τὸ εἶναι Υἱῷ· (τίνος γὰρ ἂν καὶ εἴη, μὴ πρὸς ἀρχὴν ἀναφερόμενος τὸν πατέρα;) μήτε τῷ Πατρὶ τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀξίωμα, τῆς ὡς πατρὶ καὶ γεν νήτορι· μικρῶν γὰρ ἂν εἴη καὶ ἀναξίων ἀρχὴ, μᾶλλον δὲ μικρῶς τε καὶ ἀναξίως, μὴ θεότητος ὢν ἀρχὴ καὶ ἀγαθότητος, τῆς ἐν Υἱῷ καὶ Πνεύματι θεω ρουμένης· τῷ μὲν ὡς Υἱῷ καὶ Λόγῳ, τῷ δὲ ὡς προόδῳ καὶ οὐ διαλύτῳ Πνεύματι· ἐπειδή γε ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τὸν ἕνα Θεὸν τηρεῖν, καὶ τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις ὁμολογεῖν, καὶ ἑκάστην μετὰ τῆς ἰδιό τητος. 35.448