12

every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is one Lord.” 15.71 And concerning the Spirit, both according to what has recently been said about him and inasmuch as all that the Father is must be understood of him, as his Spirit, but without his being the Father. For in this and in all things he represents God, as he proclaims: “Hereby we know that he is in us, by his Spirit which he has given us.” 15.72 And equivalent to what was sung about God the Father: “You alone are Most High over all the earth,” is what was prophesied about the Son in the 86th Psalm: “Mother Sion will say: A man and a man was born in her, and he, the Most High, founded her,” and what was said about the Holy Spirit in the Gospel: “you will receive power from on high when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” 15.73 And just as the Father is great, among other reasons, because he knows the Son, so also the Son is great also for knowing the Father; 15.74 likewise also the Holy Spirit. For he says: “so also no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God.” And identical to what was written by Paul to the Hebrews about the Father: “For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things,” is what was prophesied about the Son: “all things were made through him,” and about the Spirit: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their powers.” 15.75 How then could the glorious hypostases, equally honored with God the Father, as having inherited his unmixed and incomparable divine nature which is over all things, be numbered among all things under God, inasmuch as they are decreed to be created? 15.76 For just as it is impossible for the Father not to be Father without beginning and truly—for he did not receive this name in time nor as an epithet—so it is impossible for the Son, the Word, and his Spirit not to be without beginning and by nature from his hypostasis. For at the same time as he is Father—and let it be forgiven to speak thus—without interval the one was begotten, and the other proceeded. 15.77 And so he has not been deprived of being the Father of the only-begotten and of having his Spirit proceeding from himself. And because he is Father, he differs neither in time nor in essence from his Son and his Spirit. For if he had begotten later, he would have been changed or else turned, which is alien to the Godhead, along with God being found at some time not being called or not being Father, as not yet having begotten. 15.78 And to the Hebrews the apostle, presenting the beginningless and incomprehensible generation of the Son of God, writes about Melchizedek: “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like the Son of God.” 15.79 But he was made like—inasmuch as he was not genealogized, as it was the custom for the tribes of Israel to do concerning their honored members—because he was a type and a certain pattern of the Master, who above is without mother and timeless, but below is without father and from time. 15.80 And yet Melchizedek became a distinguished priest, so that Abraham was blessed by him and gave him tithes of the spoils, as the same apostle says: “But consider how great this man was, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth of all.” And again: “And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes,” that is, through his forefather Abraham. “For,” he says, “he was still in the loins of his father”—Levi, the descendant of Abraham, from whom the tithing to the Lord is generally conceived—“when Melchizedek met him”—that is, Abraham. 15.81 What then is the intent of their empty talk, and where is the absurdity? For understand: as many as wish to speak of a beginning also confess an end, and by professing a coming into being, they also accept the death resulting from it; 15.82 and by supposing him to have come into being from non-beings or from a substance unlike the divine, they declare him to be at once mortal and alien to the co-divinity of the Father, which, even if only spoken and not believed, is full of all atheism. 15.83 But concerning the “in the beginning”

12

γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται, ὅτι εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός». 15.71 Περὶ δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος κατά τε τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ προσφάτως εἰρημένα καὶ καθὸ πάντα νοεῖσθαι κεχρεώστηται αὐτῷ, ὅσα ἐστὶν ὁ πατήρ, ὣς πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, δίχα μέντοι τοῦ εἶναι πατέρα. ἐξεικονίζει γὰρ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν τὸν θεόν, ᾗ διαγορεύει «ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν, ὅτι ἐν ἡμῖν ἐστιν, ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ, οὗ ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν». 15.72 καὶ ἰσοδύναμον τῷ μελῳδηθέντι περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ πατρός· «σὺ εἶ μόνος ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν» τὸ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ χρησμῳδηθὲν ἐν π ϛʹ ψαλμῷ· «μήτηρ Σιὼν ἐρεῖ· ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐγενήθη ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτὴν ὁ ὕψιστος» καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐν εὐαγγελίῳ· «ὑμεῖς λήψεσθε δύναμιν ἐξ ὕψους ἐπελθόντος τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐφ' ὑμᾶς». 15.73 Καὶ καθὰ μέγας ὁ πατὴρ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὅτι οἶδεν τὸν υἱόν, οὕτω καὶ ὁ υἱὸς μέγας ἐστὶ καὶ διὰ τὸ γινώσκειν τὸν πατέρα· 15.74 ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. φησὶν γάρ· «οὕτω καὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ». καὶ ἀπαράλλακτον τῷ παρὰ Παύλου Ἑβραίοις γραφέντι περὶ τοῦ πατρός· «ἔπρεπεν γὰρ αὐτῷ, δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα» τὸ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ χρησμῳδηθέν· «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο» καὶ περὶ τοῦ πνεύματος· «τῷ λόγῳ κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν». 15.75 Αἱ οὖν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ ἐν ἴσῳ ἐκτετιμημέναι ἔνδοξοι ὑποστάσεις, ὡς τὴν ἐπὶ πάντων θεϊκὴν ἄμικτον καὶ ἀπαράβλητον αὐτοῦ φύσιν διακληρωσάμεναι, πῶς ἂν ἐν πᾶσιν ὑπὸ θεῷ, καθὸ κτιστὰς ψηφίζονται αὐτάς, συναριθ μηθείησαν; 15.76 ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν μὴ τὸν πατέρα ἀνάρχως τε καὶ ἀληθῶς εἶναι πατέρα-οὐ γὰρ χρόνῳ οὐδ' ἐπίθετον ἔσχεν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦτο-, οὕτως ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν μὴ τὸν υἱὸν λόγον καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ἀνάρχως τε καὶ φύσει εἶναι ἐκ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ. ἅμα γὰρ πατήρ- συγχωρηθῇ δὲ τὸ οὕτως εἰπεῖν-ἀδιαστάτως ὁ μὲν ἐγεννήθη, τὸ δὲ ἐξεπορεύθη. 15.77 καὶ τοῦ εἶναι οὖν πατέρα τοῦ μονογενοῦς καὶ τοῦ ἔχειν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ἐκπορευόμενον παρ' αὐτοῦ οὐ παρῄρηται. καὶ διὰ τὸ εἶναι πατέρα οὔτε χρόνῳ οὔτε οὐσίᾳ διαφέρει τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ. εἰ γὰρ ὕστερον ἐγέννα, μετεβάλλετο ἂν ἤτ' οὖν ἐτρέπετο, ὅπερ ἀλλότριον θεότητος μετὰ τοῦ εὑρίσκεσθαι τὸν θεόν ποτε μὴ λεγόμενον ἢ μὴ ὄντα πατέρα ὡς μήπου γεγεννηκότα. 15.78 Καὶ Ἑβραίοις δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος τὸ ἄναρχον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ γεννήσεως παριστῶν γράφει περὶ τοῦ Μελχισεδέκ· «ἀπάτωρ, ἀμήτωρ, ἀγενεαλόγητος μηδὲ ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν ἔχων, μηδὲ τέλος ζωῆς, ἀφωμοιωμένος τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ». 15.79 ἀφωμοίωτο δέ-καθὸ οὐκ ἐγενεαλογήθη, ὡς ἔθος ἦν ποιεῖν ταῖς φυλαῖς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ περὶ τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ἐντίμων-διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν τύπον καὶ ὑπογραμμόν τινα τοῦ δεσπότου, τοῦ ἄνω μὲν ἀμήτορος καὶ ἀχρόνου, κάτω δὲ ἀπάτορος καὶ ἀπὸ χρόνου. 15.80 καίτοι ἐπιφανὴς ἱερεὺς γενόμενος ὁ Μελχισεδέκ, ὡς εὐλο γηθῆναι παρ' αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ δεκάτας αὐτῷ τῶν σκύλων παρασχεῖν, καθὰ ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπόστολος λέγει· «θεωρεῖτε δέ, πηλίκος οὗτος, ᾧ καὶ δεκάτην ἀπὸ πάντων ἐμέρισεν Ἀβραάμ». καὶ πάλιν· «καί, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, διὰ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Λευῒ ὁ δεκάτας λαμβάνων δεδεκάτω ται», τουτέστιν διὰ τοῦ προπάτορος Ἀβραάμ. «ἔτι γάρ», φησίν, «ἐν τῇ ὀσφύϊ τοῦ πατρὸς ἦν»-Λευΐ, ὁ ἀπόγονος Ἀβραάμ, παρ' οὖ ἡ δεκάτωσις τῷ κυρίῳ, γενικῶς ἐπινενόηται-»ὅτε συνήντησεν αὐτῷ» -τουτέστιν τῷ Ἀβραάμ-»ὁ Μελχισεδέκ». 15.81 Τί δὴ οὖν τὸ βούλημα τῆς κενολογίας αὐτῶν καὶ πῇ τὸ ἄτοπον; σύνες γάρ· ὅσοι ἐθέλωσι λέγειν ἀρχήν, καὶ πέρας ὁμολογοῦσιν, καὶ τῷ γένεσιν ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι, καὶ τὴν ἐκ ταύτης θνῆσιν ἀποδέχονται· 15.82 καὶ τῷ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἢ ἐξ ἀνομοίας τῆς θεϊκῆς οὐσίας ὑπολαμβάνειν γεγενῆσθαι, θνητόν τε ἅμα καὶ ἀλλότριον τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς συνθεότητος ἀποφαίνονται, ὅπερ καὶ λεγόμενον μόνον, οὐχὶ καὶ δοξαζόμενον πάσης ἀθεΐας ἀνάμεστον. 15.83 Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τό «ἐν ἀρχῇ