Contents of Book VIII.

§1. The eighth book very notably overthrows the blasphemy of the heretics who say that the Only-begotten came from nothing, and that there was a time when He was not, and shows the Son to be no new being, but from everlasting, from His having said to Moses, “I am He that is,” and to Manoah, “Why askest thou My name? It also is wonderful”;—moreover David also says to God, “Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail;” and furthermore Isaiah says, “I am God, the first, and hereafter am I:” and the Evangelist, “He was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God:”—and that He has neither beginning nor end: —and he proves that those who say that He is new and comes from nothing are idolaters. And herein he very finely interprets “the brightness of the glory, and the express image of the Person.”

§2. He then discusses the “willing” of the Father concerning the generation of the Son, and shows that the object of that good will is from eternity, which is the Son, existing in the Father, and being closely related to the process of willing, as the ray to the flame, or the act of seeing to the eye.

§3. Then, thus passing over what relates to the essence of the Son as having been already discussed, he treats of the sense involved in “generation,” saying that there are diverse generations, those effected by matter and art, and of buildings,—and that by succession of animals,—and those by efflux, as by the sun and its beam. The lamp and its radiance, scents and ointments and the quality diffused by them,—and the word produced by the mind; and cleverly discusses generationfrom rotten wood; and from the condensation of fire, and countless other causes.

§4. He further shows the operations of God to be expressed by human illustrations; for what hands and feet and the other parts of the body with which men work are, that, in the case of God, the will alone is, in place of these. And so also arises the divergence of generation; wherefore He is called Only-begotten, because He has no community with other generation such as is observed in creation

§5. Then, after showing that the Person of the Only-begotten and Maker of things has no beginning, as have the things that were made by Him, as Eunomius says, but that the Only-begotten is without beginning and eternal, and has no community, either of essence or of names, with the creation, but is co-existent with the Father from everlasting, being, as the all-excellent Wisdom says, “the beginning and end and midst of the times,” and after making many observations on the Godhead and eternity of the Only-begotten, and also concerning souls and angels, and life and death, he concludes the book.

αʹ. Ὁ δὲ ηʹ λόγος τὴν παρὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν βλασφημίαν τῶν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τὸν μονογενῆ λεγόντων καὶ ὅτι ἦν ὅτε οὐκ ἦν πάνυ θαυμαστῶς ἀνατρέπει καὶ οὐ πρόσφατον ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀϊδίου τὸν υἱὸν ὄντα δείκνυσιν ἔκ τε τοῦ τῷ Μωϋσεῖ εἰρηκέναι Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, τῷ δὲ Μανωὲ Ἵνα τί ἐρωτᾷς τὸ ὄνομά μου καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι θαυμαστόν; πρὸς τούτοις καὶ ὁ Δαβὶδ πρὸς τὸν θεόν φησι Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ἠσαΐας Ἐγὼ θεὸς πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα, καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ θεὸς ἦν: καὶ μήτε ἀρχὴν μήτε τέλος ἔχοντα, εἰδωλολάτρας δὲ τοὺς πρόσφατον ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων αὐτὸν λέγοντας ἀποδείκνυσιν: ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸ ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς ὑποστάσεως παγκάλως διερμηνεύει.
βʹ. Εἶτα τὴν βούλησιν τοῦ πατρὸς περὶ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ γεννήσεως διεξιὼν δείκνυσι τὸ ἀγαθὸν βούλημα ἐξ ἀϊδίου ὄν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ υἱός, τῷ πατρὶ ἐνυπάρχων καθάπερ τῇ φλογὶ ἡ αὐγὴ καὶ τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ ἡ τοῦ ὁρᾶν ἐνέργεια συμφυὴς οὖσα τῇ βουλήσει.
γʹ. Εἶθ' οὕτως τὰ περὶ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ υἱοῦ ὡς προεξετασθέντα παραδραμὼν τὸ [περὶ] τῆς γεννήσεως σημαινόμενον διέξεισι διαφόρους εἰπὼν γεννήσεις ἐξ ὕλης καὶ τέχνης, ὡς οἰκοδομημάτων, καὶ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ζῴων διαδοχῆς, τῶν τε ἐξ ἀπορροίας, ὡς ἐφ' ἡλίου καὶ ἀκτῖνος, λαμπάδος καὶ αὐγῆς, ἀρωμάτων καὶ μύρων καὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ποιότητος καὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ λόγων, καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ σήψεως ξύλων καὶ πυρὸς συμπιλήσεως καὶ ἑτέρων μυρίων, πανσόφως διελήλυθεν.
δʹ. Πρὸς τούτοις τὰς περὶ θεοῦ ἐνεργείας ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων δείκνυσιν ὑποδειγμάτων: καὶ γὰρ ὃ χεῖρες καὶ πόδες καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ μόρια τοῦ σώματος, μεθ' ὧν οἱ ἄνθρωποι δημιουργοῦσι, τοῦτο ἀντὶ πάντων ἐπὶ θεοῦ μόνον τὸ βούλημα ὑπάρχει. οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸ περὶ τῆς γεννήσεως παρηλλαγμένον τυγχάνει: διὸ καὶ μονογενὴς προσηγόρευται, διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν κοινωνίαν ἑτέρας γεννήσεως ἢ ἀδελφὴν ἔχειν τὴν κτίσιν, ἀλλ' ἀπαύγασμα δόξης καὶ ὀσμὴ μύρου λεγόμενος τὸ συνημμένον καὶ συναΐδιον τῆς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα σχέσεως δείκνυσιν.
εʹ. Εἶτα τὴν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ καὶ μονογενοῦς ὑπόστασιν οὐκ ἀρχὴν ἔχουσαν ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ δημιουργήματα, ὡς ὁ Εὐνόμιός φησιν, ἀλλ' ἄναρχον καὶ ἀΐδιον « δείξας », καὶ μηδεμίαν κοινωνίαν μήτε ἀπὸ τῆς οὐσίας μήτε ἀπὸ τῶν ὀνομάτων τὸν μονογενῆ πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν ἔχοντα, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀϊδίου τῷ πατρὶ συνόντα, καθὼς ἡ πανάρετος λέγει Σοφία, ἀρχήν τε καὶ τέλος καὶ μεσότητα χρόνων ὄντα: πολλά τε περὶ τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεότητος καὶ ἀϊδιότητος, ἔτι τε περὶ ψυχῶν καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου εἰπὼν τὸν λόγον πληροῖ.