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having no subordination to another, how is he not believed to be begotten without beginning from the substance of the Father and not from his energy? 15.40 For since time does not define it, there is no before and after, but he who is not under time is without beginning, and he who is without beginning is uncreated. 15.41 For just as time is not unbegotten, so also creation is not timeless, but has time as its measure; for with it time also came to be. And reasonably all things are measured by the Creator as secondary, but he himself by nothing, since he is without beginning and God by nature. 15.42 And the same things are considered also concerning the Holy Spirit. For it is never written, “he proceeded,” but “he proceeds.” But how is life itself made alive, or the true light illumined? 15.43 Therefore, the divine light and “eternal life” always was, and the truthful and great God says this of himself. 15.44 There was never a time when the Father did not have “the radiance of his glory and the image of his substance and the image of his goodness and the power and wisdom and righteousness of God,” which Paul testifies the same Only-begotten to be, but rather, which it is not fitting to say, that he acquired anything afterwards. 15.45 But if he had them, the Only-begotten who is these things always was. 15.46 For neither can he who is these things be conceived of apart from God, nor can God ever be conceived of without him who is these things. And the Only-begotten is these things, not as a state or a capacity, but substantially, as has been said before. 15.47 But if also at the beginning of the creation of the world the first trees came into being together with the fruits from them—and it is not at all paradoxical if the fruit sprang up together with the root—how is it impossible that in the beginning the resourceful Father was not fruitful with his own Son and that the radiance immediately shone forth from the glory of his substance? 15.48 Therefore, just as his earthly birth of the incarnation is not compared to another birth—for from a virgin, without flow, unharmed, which our nature does not have—so also the birth from above is incomprehensible beyond measure and surpasses every generation. and one must neither disbelieve, nor indeed is it safe for us to seek or explain the manner, we who are unable to say how a virgin gave birth while remaining a virgin, nor even understanding our own birth. 15.49 For even if we knew our own, we would not in any case know that of God, which happens to be incomprehensible even to the heavenly powers. 15.50 Therefore with amazement the prophet says concerning the earthly birth: “and he is a man, and who will know him?” instead of, "no one." 15.51 And concerning the one from above: “And his generation who shall declare, for his life is taken up from the earth?” calling the birth "generation," the existence "life," and the being immeasurably exalted from the earth and surpassing all mind "is taken up from the earth," most mystically. 15.52 For he is endlessly superior to all time, whatever one might conceive by circling much in thought, and incomparably greater than all quantity, and in substance he is established as inconceivable and on all sides inaccessible to all—encompassing himself and having nothing outside of himself—and the multitude of angels yields to his so great incomprehensibility, and every host of the heavenly orders exclaims thus: David in the 17th psalm: “He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him,” and the song of Habakkuk: “His excellence covered the heavens,” 15.53 and Matthew says, “no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son.” 15.54 For that which is born from creation is begotten through the union of one with another and is not of the same nature as the one who begot it, nor has it come forth immediately perfect and impassibly. 15.55 but in the case of the Godhead, it is the opposite. For since creation is thus, the Author of being acts contrariwise and not in the same way as his own creations, but as the blessed Trinity alone knows these things. 15.56 For he would not be incomprehensible, if he were comprehended, nor a mystery, if he were known, nor divine, if he were contained, nor creator of all, if from time, nor uncompounded and indivisible, if compared to bodies. 15.57 For just as

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ὕφεσιν πρὸς ἑτέραν οὐκ ἔχουσα, πῶς οὐκ ἀνάρχως ἐκ τῆς ὑποστάσεως γεννηθῆναι πιστεύεται τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἐνεργείας; 15.40 χρόνου γὰρ οὐ διορίζοντος οὐκ ἔστιν πρότερον καὶ ὕστερον, ἀλλ' ὁ μὴ ὢν ὑπὸ χρόνον ἄναρχός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ ἄναρχος ἄκτιστος. 15.41 ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι χρόνος ἀγένητος, οὕτως οὐδὲ κτίσις ἄχρονος, ἀλλ' ἔχει μέτρον τὸν χρόνον· σὺν αὐτῇ γὰρ καὶ ὁ χρόνος γέγονεν. καὶ εἰκότως πάντα μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ μετρεῖται ὡς δεύτερα, αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπ' οὐδενός, ἐπειδὴ ἄναρχος καὶ φύσει θεός. 15.42 Τὰ δὲ ἴσα θεωρεῖται καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. οὐ γὰρ γέγραπταί ποτε «ἐξεπορεύθη», ἀλλ' «ἐκπορεύεται». πῶς δὲ αὐτὴ ἡ ζωὴ ζωοποιεῖται ἢ τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς φωτίζεται; 15.43 Ἦν δὲ ἄρα τό τε θεῖον φῶς καί «ζωὴ αἰώνιος» ἀεί, καὶ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν λέγει ὁ ἀψευδὴς καὶ μέγας θεός. 15.44 οὐ μὴ ἦν ὅτε «ἀπαύγασμα δόξης καὶ χαρακτῆρα ὑποστάσεως καὶ εἰκόνα ἀγαθότητος καὶ δύναμιν καὶ σοφίαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην θεοῦ» ἃ ὑπάρχειν τὸν αὐτὸν μονογενῆ Παῦλος μαρτυρεῖ οὐκ εἶχεν ὁ πατήρ, ἀλλ', ὃ μὴ προσῆκεν εἰπεῖν, ὕστερον ὁτιοῦν προσέλαβεν. 15.45 εἰ δὲ εἶχεν, ἦν ἀεὶ ὁ ταῦτα ὢν μονογενής. 15.46 οὔτε γὰρ ὁ ταῦτα ὢν ἐκτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ οὔτε ὁ θεὸς χωρὶς τοῦ ὄντος αὐτοῦ ταῦτά ποτε νοηθῆναι δύναται. ταῦτα δὲ ὑπάρχει ὁ μονογενής, οὐ καθάπερ ἕξις ἢ ἐπιτηδειότης, ἀλλ' οὐσιωδῶς, καθὰ προείρηται. 15.47 Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς κοσμογονίας τὰ πρῶτα δένδρα σὺν τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν καρποῖς συνυπέστη-καὶ παράδοξον οὐδέν, εἰ σὺν τῇ ῥίζῃ ὁ καρπὸς συνανέτειλεν-, πῶς ἀμήχανον κατ' ἀρχὰς τὸν εὐμήχανον πατέρα μὴ ἔγκαρπον γεγενῆσθαι τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ καὶ εὐθὺς ἐκ τῆς δόξης τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ συνεκλάμψαι τὸ ἀπαύγασμα; 15.48 καθὰ οὖν αὐτοῦ ἡ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως κάτω γέννησις ἑτέρᾳ γεννήσει οὐ συγκρίνεται-ἐκ παρθένου γὰρ ἄρευστος, ἀπήμαντος, ὅπερ ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν οὐκ ἔχει-, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἄνω γέννησις ἀκατάληπτος ὑπὲρ τὸ πλέον καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξαλλάττουσα γέννησιν ὑπάρχει. καὶ οὔτε ἀπιστεῖν χρὴ οὔτε μὴν ζητεῖν ἢ ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὸν τρόπον ἡμῖν ἀσφαλὲς τοῖς εἰπεῖν μὴ δυναμένοις, πῶς παρθένος ἔτεκεν μείνασα παρθένος μήτε δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν ἡμῶν γέννησιν ἐπισταμένοις. 15.49 ὅπου γε καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς εἰ ἐγινώσκομεν, οὐ πάντως καὶ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἥτις καὶ ταῖς ἐπουρανίοις δυνάμεσιν ἀκατάληπτος οὖσα τυγχάνει. 15.50 ∆ιὸ σὺν ἐκπλήξει ὁ προφήτης φησὶν περὶ μὲν τῆς κάτω γεννήσεως· «καὶ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν καὶ τίς γνώσεται αὐτόν;» ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐδείς. 15.51 περὶ δὲ τῆς ἄνω· «τὴν δὲ γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς ἐξηγήσεται, ὅτι αἴρεται ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ;» τὴν γέννησιν γενεάν, τὴν ὕπαρξιν ζωήν, τὸ ὑπερεξεπῆρθαι ἀμέτρως ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ὑπερφέρειν παντὸς νοῦ «αἴρεται ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς» καλέσας μυστικώτατα. 15.52 ὅτι γὰρ παντὸς χρόνου, ὃν ἂν νοήσῃ τις πολλὰ κυκλεύσας τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἀπεράντως ἀνώτατος καὶ ποσότητος πάσης ἀσυγκρίτως ἀμείνων καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ἀπερινόητος καὶ πάντοθεν ἄποπτος εἰς ἅπαν καθέστηκεν-αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν περιβαλὼν καὶ οὐδὲν ἑαυτοῦ ἔξωθεν ἔχων-, καὶ παραχωρεῖ τῷ τοσούτῳ αὐτοῦ ἀκαταλήπτῳ καὶ ἡ ἀγγέλων πληθύς, καὶ πᾶς οὐρανίων ταγμάτων δῆμος ἐκβοῶσιν ὡδί· ὁ μὲν ∆αυῒδ ἐν ιζʹ ψαλμῷ· «ἔθετο σκότος ἀποκρυφὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ ἡ σκηνὴ αὐτοῦ», ἡ δὲ ᾠδὴ Ἀμβακούμ· «ἐκάλυψεν οὐρανοὺς ἡ ἀρετὴ αὐτοῦ», 15.53 ὁ δὲ Ματθαῖος «οὐδείς» φησίν «γινώσκει τὸν υἱόν, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ, οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα τις ἐπιγι νώσκει, εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός». 15.54 Τὸ μὲν γὰρ τεχθὲν παρὰ τῆς κτίσεως κατὰ κοινωνίαν ἄλλου πρὸς ἄλλο γεγέννηται καὶ οὐ συμφυὲς τῷ γεννήσαντι, οὐδὲ τέλειον εὐθὺς καὶ ἀπαθῶς ἐξελήλυθεν· 15.55 ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς θεότητος τὸ ἔμπαλιν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ κτίσις τοιῶσδε, ὁ γενεσιουργὸς ἐναντίως καὶ οὐχ ὁμοίως τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων, ἀλλ' ὡς οἶδεν ταῦτα μόνη ἡ μακαρία τριάς. 15.56 οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀκατάληπτος, εἰ κατελαμβάνετο, οὐδὲ μυστήριον, εἰ ἐγινώσκετο, οὐδὲ θεῖον, εἰ ἐχωρεῖτο, οὐδὲ δημιουργὸς πάντων, εἰ ἀπὸ χρόνου, οὐδὲ ἀσύνθετος καὶ ἀμερής, εἰ πρὸς τὰ σώματα. 15.57 καθάπερ γὰρ