Contents of Book XI.

§1. The eleventh book shows that the title of “Good” is due, not to the Father alone, as Eunomius, the imitator of Manichæus and Bardesanes, alleges, but to the Son also, Who formed man in goodness and loving-kindness, and reformed him by His Cross and Death.

§2. He also ingeniously shows from the passage of the Gospel which speaks of “Good Master,” from the parable of the Vineyard, from Isaiah and from Paul, that there is not a dualism in the Godhead of good and evil, as Eunomius’ ally Marcion supposes, and declares that the Son does not refuse the title of “good” or “Existent,” or acknowledge His alienation from the Father, but that to Him also belongs authority over all things that come into being.

§3. He then exposes the ignorance of Eunomius, and the incoherence and absurdity of his arguments, in speaking of the Son as “the Angel of the Existent,” and as being as much below the Divine Nature as the Son is superior to the things created by Himself. And in this connection there is a noble and forcible counter-statement and an indignant refutation, showing that He Who gave the oracles to Moses is Himself the Existent, the Only-begotten Son, Who to the petition of Moses, “If Thou Thyself goest not with us, carry me not up hence,” said, “I will do this also that thou hast said”; Who is also called “Angel” both by Moses and Isaiah: wherein is cited the text, “Unto us a Child is born.”

§4. After this, fearing to extend his reply to great length, he passes by most of his adversary’s statements as already refuted. But the remainder, for the sake of those who deem them of much force, he briefly summarizes, and refutes the blasphemy of Eunomius, who says of the Lord also that He is what animals and plants in all creation are, non-existent before their own generation; and so with the production of frogs; alas for the blasphemy!

§5. Eunomius again speaks of the Son as Lord and God, and Maker of all creation intelligible and sensible, having received from the Father the power and the commission for creation, being entrusted with the task of creation as if He were an artizan commissioned by some one hiring Him, and receiving His power of creation as a thing adventitious, ab extra, as a result of the power allotted to Him in accordance with such and such combinations and positions of the stars, as destiny decrees their lot in life to men at their nativity. Thus, passing by most of what Eunomius had written, he confutes his blasphemy that the Maker of all things came into being in like manner with the earth and with angels, and that the subsistence of the Only-begotten differs not at all from the genesis of all things, and reproaches Him with reverencing neither the Divine mystery nor the custom of the Church, nor following in his attempt to discover godliness any teacher of pious doctrine, but Manichæus, Colluthus, Arius, Aetius, and those like to them, supposing that Christianity in general is folly, and that the customs of the Church and the venerable sacraments are a jest, wherein he differs in nothing from the pagans, who borrowed from our doctrine the idea of a great God supreme over all. So, too, this new idolater preaches in the same fashion, and in particular that baptism is “into an artificer and creator,” not fearing the curse of those who cause addition or diminution to the Holy Scriptures. And he closes his book with showing him to be Antichrist.

αʹ. Ὁ ιαʹ λόγος οὐ τῷ πατρὶ μόνον τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ὀφείλεσθαι, ὥς φησιν ὁ Εὐνόμιος ὁ μιμητὴς Μανιχαίου καὶ Βαρδησάνου, ἀλλὰ « ὅτι » καὶ τῷ υἱῷ τῷ διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ ἀγαθότητα τὸν ἄνθρωπον πλάσαντι καὶ διὰ σταυροῦ καὶ θανάτου ἀναπλάσαντι ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προσηγορία ὀφείλεται, δείκνυσι.
βʹ. Καὶ ὅτι οὐ διθεΐα ἀγαθοῦ καὶ κακοῦ, ὡς Μαρκίων ὁ ὁμόφρων αὐτοῦ οἴεται, πανσόφως ἐκ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ῥήσεως τῆς Διδάσκαλε ἀγαθὲ λεγούσης καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος παραβολῆς Ἠσαΐου τε καὶ Παύλου ἀποδείκνυσι, καὶ ὅτι οὐ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τοῦ ὄντος ἢ ἀγαθοῦ [ἢ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀλλοτρίωσιν] ὁ υἱὸς ἀρνεῖται: ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τῶν γενομένων ἐξουσίαν προσήκειν αὐτῷ φησιν.
γʹ. Εἶτα τὴν τοῦ Εὐνομίου ἀμαθίαν καὶ τὸ ἀσυνάρτητον καὶ γελοῖον τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ ἐκτίθεται, ἄγγελον τοῦ ὄντος τὸν υἱὸν λέγοντος καὶ κατώτερον τῆς θείας φύσεως, ὅσον τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ υἱὸς ὑπερέχει κτισμάτων. πρὸς ἃ γενναία καὶ σφοδρὰ ἡ ἀντίθεσις καὶ ὁ ἔλεγχος ὀργιλώτερος, καὶ ὅτι ὁ χρηματίζων τῷ Μωϋσεῖ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ ὤν, ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς ὃς τῷ Μωϋσεῖ αἰτοῦντι Εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς συμπορεύῃ ἡμῖν, μή με ἀναγάγῃς ἐντεῦθεν, εἴρηκεν ὅτι Καὶ τοῦτόν σου τὸν λόγον ποιήσω: ὃς καὶ ἄγγελος καλεῖται παρά τε Μωϋσέως καὶ Ἠσαΐου ἐν ᾧ παρήχθη ὅτι Παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν.
δʹ. Μετὰ τοῦτο τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ἀντιρρήσεως δεδιὼς τὰ πολλὰ τοῦ ἀντιπάλου παρέδραμεν ὡς ἤδη προανατραπέντα. τὰ δὲ λείποντα διὰ τοὺς οἰομένους κράτιστα εἶναι διὰ βραχέων ἐπιτεμὼν τὴν τοῦ Εὐνομίου βλασφημίαν διελέγχει λέγοντος, ὅπερ ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως ζῷά τε καὶ φυτά εἰσι πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας γεννήσεως μὴ ὄντα, τοῦτο καὶ τὸν κύριον εἶναι [καὶ ὁμοίως τῆς τῶν βατράχων γενέσεως: φεῦ τῆς βλασφημίας].
εʹ. Πάλιν τε κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ θεὸν καὶ δημιουργὸν πάσης τε νοητῆς καὶ αἰσθητῆς κτίσεως ὁ Εὐνόμιος καλεῖ [παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν δύναμιν τῆς δημιουργίας καὶ τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν εἰληφότα, καθάπερ χειροτέχνης παρὰ τοῦ μισθουμένου τὴν δημιουργίαν ἐπιτραπείς] ἐπίκτητόν τε καὶ ἔξωθεν τῆς δημιουργίας τὴν δύναμιν εἰληφότα ἐκ τῆς ἀποκληρωθείσης αὐτῷ δυνάμεως κατὰ τὰς ποιὰς τῶν ἀστέρων ἐπιπλοκάς τε καὶ ἀποστάσεις, τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἐπικλωθούσης τοῖς τικτομένοις τὰς ἀποκληρώσεις τῶν βίων. καὶ τὰ πολλὰ παρατρέχων ἐκ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένων τὴν βλασφημίαν ἐλέγχει, γῇ καὶ ἀγγέλοις ὁμοίως γεγονότα τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ἁπάντων καὶ μηδὲν τῆς πάντων γενέσεως τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἀπᾴδειν ὑπόστασιν: μήτε θεῖον μυστήριον μήτε ἔθος * μήτε τινὶ τῶν τῆς θεοσεβείας διδασκάλων πειθόμενον πρὸς τὴν τῆς εὐσεβείας εὕρεσιν, εἰ μὴ Μανιχαῖον Κόλουθον Ἄρειον Ἀέτιον καὶ τοὺς κατ' αὐτούς, λῆρον πάντα τὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν * καὶ παίγνιον τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἔθη καὶ σεβάσμια ἡγούμενον μυστήρια, μηδὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων διαφέροντα, οἳ μέγαν θεὸν ὑπερέχοντα τῶν ἄλλων ἐκ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὑπέλαβον δόγματος. οὕτως οὖν καὶ ὁ νέος οὗτος εἰδωλολάτρης ὁμοίως κηρύσσει καὶ εἰς δημιουργὸν καὶ κτίστην τὸ βάπτισμα γίνεσθαι, μὴ δεδιὼς τὴν ἀρὰν τῶν προσθήκην ἢ ἔλλειψιν ἐν ταῖς θείαις ποιουμένων γραφαῖς: ἀντίχριστόν τε τοῦτον ἀποδεικνὺς τὸν λόγον πληροῖ.