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He is highest over all the earth, likewise from above for earthly things the oversight comes from both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But also the things that follow what has been said: highest in the heavens, highest in the highest, heavenly, true in always being what he is and remaining so, true in works, true in words; for the eye of Christians sees all these things equally in the Father and the Son and the Holy 51 Spirit. If indeed Eunomius assigns these things to only one of the persons handed down in the faith, let him dare to say that the one who said, "I am the truth," is not true in words, or the Spirit of truth, or let him not agree that the one who brings judgment and justice is true in works, or the Spirit who works all things in all as he wills. For if he should not bear witness to these things for the persons handed down in the faith, he completely rejects the faith of Christians. For how will anyone think one worthy of faith who is false in his words and not true in his works?

52 But let us proceed to what follows in the argument. For he says that he is above all rule, subjection, authority, kingdom. This saying is ours and proper to the catholic church, to believe that the divine nature is above all rule, and holds subject to itself everything whatsoever that is conceived among existing things. And the divine nature is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But if he testifies to this power for the Father alone, and if he declares him alone to be free from turning and change, and if he calls him alone undefiled, what is constructed from these things is obvious, that he who does not have these things is certainly subject to turning and corruptible and changeable and mortal. 53 Therefore Eunomius teaches these doctrines concerning the only-begotten God and the Holy Spirit; for he would not have used the distinction, separating the Father from them, if he did not have this thought concerning the Son and the Spirit. For the rest, brothers, test whether he who thinks these things is not a persecutor of the Christian faith. For who will accept to judge as venerable for himself that which is subject to turning and changing and is mortal? Therefore the whole purpose for the one constructing such thoughts is to cast out from the church the faith in the Son and the Holy Spirit, through which he constructs that neither Truth itself nor the Spirit of truth is undefiled or unchangeable or immutable.

54 Let us see also what sort of things he adds to what has been said. Not in begetting, he says, dividing his own substance and being the same one begetting and being begotten, or being the same one Father and Son; for he is incorruptible. This is perhaps like what the prophet says about the impious, that "They weave a spider's web." For just as in that case there is a form of weaving, but there is no substance in the form (for whoever touches it touches nothing substantial, the spider's threads being destroyed by the touch of the fingers), such also is the unsubstantial weaving of empty words. Not in begetting, he says, dividing his own substance and being the same one begetting and being begotten. Should one call what is said an argument, or rather a mass of phlegm being spit up 55 from some dropsical fullness? For what is this dividing one's own substance in begetting and being the same one begetting and being begotten? Who is so frantic, who so out of his mind, as to say this argument against which Eunomius seems to fight? For the church believes the true Father to be truly the Father of a Son, his own, as the apostle says, not another's. For thus he declared in one of his epistles: "He who did not spare his own Son," distinguishing by the addition of "his own" those who were counted worthy of adoption by grace and not by nature. But he who slanders this 56 conception of ours, what does he say? Not in begetting dividing his own substance, nor being the same one begetting and being begotten, or being the same one Father and Son; for he is incorruptible. a certain someone hearing of a Word being in the beginning, and the Word being God, and

9

ἐκεῖνος ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, ὁμοίως ἄνωθεν τοῖς ἐπιγείοις τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς γινομένης παρά τε τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς τοῖς εἰρημένοις προσκεί μενα· ὕψιστος ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὕψιστος ἐν ὑψίστοις, ἐπουράνιος, ἀληθινὸς ἐν τῷ εἶναι ἀεὶ ὅ ἐστι καὶ διαμένων, ἀληθινὸς ἐν ἔργοις, ἀληθινὸς ἐν λόγοις· ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἐπίσης ἐνορᾷ ὁ τῶν Χρι στιανῶν ὀφθαλμὸς ἐπὶ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύ 51 ματος. εἰ δὴ μόνον ἑνί τινι τῶν ἐν τῇ πίστει παραδοθέν των προσώπων ὁ Εὐνόμιος ταῦτα νέμει, τολμησάτω μὴ ἀληθινὸν εἰπεῖν ἐν λόγοις τὸν εἰπόντα ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ἢ ἀληθινὸν ἐν ἔργοις μὴ συνθέσθω τὸν ποιοῦντα κρῖμα καὶ δικαιοσύνην ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἐνεργοῦν πάντα ἐν πᾶσι καθὼς βούλεται. ταῦτα γὰρ εἰ μὴ προσμαρτυροίη τοῖς παραδοθεῖσιν ἐν τῇ πίστει προσώποις, καθόλου τὴν τῶν Χριστιανῶν παραγρά φεται πίστιν. πῶς γάρ τις πίστεως ἄξιον οἰήσεται τὸν ψευδῆ μὲν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, μὴ ἀληθινὸν δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ;

52 Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς τῷ λόγῳ προέλθωμεν. φησὶ γὰρ ὅτι ἀρχῆς ἁπάσης, ὑποταγῆς, ἐξουσίας, βασιλείας ἀνώτερος. ἡμέτερος οὗτος ὁ λόγος καὶ τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας ἴδιος, τὸ πιστεύειν τὴν θείαν φύσιν πάσης ἀρχῆς ἀνωτέραν εἶναι, ὑποχείριον δὲ ἑαυτῆς ἔχειν πᾶν ὅτιπέρ ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι νοούμενον. θεία δὲ φύσις ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. εἰ δὲ μόνῳ τῷ πατρὶ ταύτην προσμαρτυρεῖ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ εἰ μόνον αὐτὸν τροπῆς τε καὶ μεταβολῆς ἐλεύθερον ἀποφαί νεται καὶ εἰ μόνον αὐτὸν λέγει ἀκήρατον, πρόδηλον τὸ ἐκ τούτων κατασκευαζόμενον, ὅτι ὁ ταῦτα μὴ ἔχων τρεπτός ἐστι πάντως καὶ φθαρτὸς καὶ μεταβλητὸς καὶ ἐπίκηρος. 53 οὐκοῦν ταῦτα δογματίζει ὁ Εὐνόμιος ἐπὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐχρήσατο τῇ ἀντιδιαστολῇ, τούτοις ἀντιδιαιρῶν τὸν πατέρα, μὴ ταύτην τὴν διάνοιαν ἔχων περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος. τὸ λοιπόν, ἀδελφοί, δοκιμάσατε, εἰ μὴ διώκτης ἐστὶ τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν πίστεως ταῦτα φρονῶν. τίς γὰρ τὸ τρεπόμενον καὶ μεταβαλλόμενον καὶ τὸ ἐπίκηρον καταδέξεται σεβά σμιον ἑαυτῷ κρῖναι; οὐκοῦν ὅλος ὁ σκοπός ἐστι τῷ κατα σκευάζοντι τὰ τοιαῦτα νοήματα, ἐκβαλεῖν τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὴν εἰς τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα πίστιν, δι' ὧν κατα σκευάζει μήτε ἀκήρατον εἶναι μήτε ἄτρεπτον μήτε ἀμετά βλητον ἢ αὐτὴν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας.

54 Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ οἷα τοῖς εἰρημένοις προστίθησιν. οὐκ ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν, φησί, τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν μερίζων καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς γεννῶν καὶ γεννώμενος ἢ ὁ αὐ τὸς πατὴρ γινόμενος καὶ υἱός· ἔστι γὰρ ἄφθαρ τος. τοιοῦτον τάχα ἐστίν, ὅ φησι περὶ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ὁ προφήτης, ὅτι Ἱστὸν ἀράχνης ὑφαίνουσιν. ὡς γὰρ ἐπ' ἐκεί νου σχῆμα μὲν ἐστὶ τοῦ ὑφάσματος, ὑπόστασις δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ σχήματι (ὁ γὰρ ἁψάμενος οὐδενὸς ὑφεστῶτος ἅπτεται, περιφθειρομένων τῇ τῶν δακτύλων ἁφῇ τῶν ἀραχνίων νη μάτων), τοιαύτη ἐστὶν καὶ ἡ τῶν ματαίων λέξεων ἀνυπό στατος ἱστουργία. οὐκ ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν, φησί, τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν μερίζων καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς γεννῶν καὶ γεννώ μενος. ἆρα λόγον ὀνομάσαι χρὴ τὰ λεγόμενα ἢ μᾶλλον φλέγματός τινος ὄγκον ἀπό τινος ὑδερικῆς πληθώρας ἀνα 55 πτυόμενον; τί γάρ ἐστι τὸ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μερίζειν οὐ σίαν ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι γεννῶντά τε καὶ γεννώμενον; τίς οὕτω παράφορος, τίς οὕτως ἐξε στηκὼς τὴν διάνοιαν, ὡς τοῦτον εἰπεῖν τὸν λόγον πρὸς ὃν μάχεσθαι δοκεῖ ὁ Εὐνόμιος; ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐκκλησία πιστεύει τὸν ἀληθινὸν πατέρα ἀληθῶς εἶναι υἱοῦ πατέρα, ἰδίου, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, οὐκ ἀλλοτρίου. οὕτω γὰρ ἔν τινι τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ἀπεφήνατο· Ὃς τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀντιδιαστέλλων τῇ τοῦ ἰδίου προσθήκῃ τοὺς χάριτι καὶ οὐ φύσει τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἠξιωμένους. ὁ δὲ ταύτην ἡμῶν δια 56 βάλλων τὴν ὑπόληψιν τί λέγει; οὐκ ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν τὴν οὐσίαν ἑαυτοῦ μερίζων οὐδὲ ὁ αὐτὸς γεν νῶν καὶ γεννώμενος ἢ ὁ αὐτὸς πατὴρ γινό μενος καὶ υἱός· ἔστι γὰρ ἄφθαρτος. ἀκούων τις λόγον ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα καὶ θεὸν ὄντα τὸν λόγον καὶ