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heat, or the qualities according to the humors, or the differences according to shape; of which these men would call none of them substance, not even if they spoke all things easily. And again, by no reasoning has it become an object of contemplation for the wise and blessed men; what way of knowledge then remains? Let them answer us, who despise all things at their feet, but traverse heaven, and all the super-cosmic powers, and are joined by the mind to the first substance itself. But arrogance seems to be the most grievous of all human passions, and truly to cast into the condemnation of the devil those to whom it attaches. Whence also these men, not knowing the nature of the earth which they tread underfoot, boast that they can tread upon the very substance of the God of all things. And to His saints, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, whom, because they were perfect in all virtue, He preferred to be called their God, as something special and fitting to His own majesty, saying that He is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For this is my eternal name, He says, and a memorial to generations of generations. To these, therefore, God did not even declare His name, let alone reveal what His substance is. For I, He says, am the Lord; and I appeared to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, being their God; and my name I did not declare to them; as being clearly too great to be contained by human hearing. But to Eunomius, it seems, 29.544 God revealed not only His name but His very substance; and this so great a secret, which was manifested to none of the saints, he himself writes in books and publishes and speaks out to all men recklessly. And the things laid up for us in the promises are beyond all human knowledge, and the peace of God surpasses all understanding; but he does not accept that the very substance of God is beyond all understanding and beyond all knowledge of men. But I think that comprehension of it surpasses not only men, but also every rational nature. And by rational now I mean that which is in creation. For the Father is known to the Son alone, and to the Holy Spirit; because No one knows the Father except the Son; and, The Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For no one knows, he says, the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him; and the things of God no one has known except the Spirit that is from God. What special thing then will they leave to the knowledge of the Only-begotten or of the Holy Spirit, if they themselves possess the comprehension of the very substance? For surely, having assigned the contemplation of the power, and the goodness, and the wisdom of God to the Only-begotten, they will not set the understanding of the substance as commensurate for themselves. For quite the contrary, it is likely that the substance itself is incomprehensible to all, except to the Only-begotten and to the Holy Spirit; and that we, being led up from the energies of God, and perceiving the maker through His works, receive an understanding of His goodness and His wisdom. For this is what is known of God, which God has revealed to all men. Since whatever seems to have been written by theologians concerning the substance of God, through certain tropes or allegories, the words lead to other meanings. So that if anyone should contentiously insist on adhering to the bare letter according to the obvious interpretation, being turned aside to Jewish and old wives' fables, he will grow old completely poor in thoughts worthy of God. For in addition to conceiving the substance of God as something material, and in this agreeing with the atheists among the Greeks, he will also suppose it to be varied and composite. For the prophet relates that God from the loins upwards is like electrum, and that the parts below are composed of fire; but he who does not ascend through the letter to higher thoughts, but remains somewhere in the bodily descriptions, and having been taught such a substance of 29.545 God from Ezekiel, will hear again from Moses that God is a fire, and from the wise Daniel

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θερμότης, ἢ αἱ κατὰ τοὺς χυμοὺς ποιότητες, ἢ αἱ κατὰ σχῆμα δια φοραί· ὧν οὐδὲν ἂν οὐσίαν εἴποιεν οὗτοι, οὐδὲ εἰ πάντα ῥᾳδίως λέγοιεν. Λόγῳ δὲ πάλιν οὐδενὶ γέ γονε θεωρητὴ τῶν σοφῶν καὶ μακαρίων ἀνδρῶν· ποῖος οὖν ἔτι τρόπος τῆς γνώσεως ὑπολείπεται; Ἀποκρινάσθωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ περιφρονοῦντες μὲν πάντα τὰ ἐν ποσὶ, διαβαίνοντες δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ πάσας τὰς ὑπερκοσμίους δυνάμεις, αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ πρώτῃ οὐσίᾳ διὰ τοῦ νοῦ συναπτόμενοι. Ἀλλ' ἔοικεν ὁ τῦφος πάν των εἶναι τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις παθῶν χαλεπώτα τον, καὶ ὄντως τῷ τοῦ διαβόλου κρίματι περιβάλ λειν, οἷς ἂν προσγένηται. Ὅθεν καὶ οὗτοι οὐδὲ τῆς γῆς, ἣν καταπατοῦσι, τὴν φύσιν, ἥτις ἐστὶν, ἐπιστάμενοι, αὐτὴν ἐμβατεύειν τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἀλαζονεύονται. Καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεὸς, τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῷ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τῷ Ἰακὼβ, ὧν, διὰ τὸ εἰς πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν τελεῖν, καὶ τὸ Θεὸς ὀνομάζεσθαι, ὥς τι ἐξαίρετον καὶ πρέπον τῇ ἑαυτοῦ μεγαλειότητι, προετίμησε, λέγων ἑαυτὸν Θεὸν Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ Θεὸν Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Θεὸν Ἰακώβ· Τοῦτογάρ μού ἐστιν ὄνομα αἰώνιον, φησὶ, καὶ μνη μόσυνον γενεῶν γενεαῖς. Τούτοις τοίνυν οὐδὲ τὸ ὄνομα ἑαυτοῦ ἐδήλωσεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἤπου γε τὴν οὐσίαν ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀπεκάλυψεν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶ, Κύριος· καὶ ὤφθην πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Ἰακὼβ, Θεὸς ὢν αὐτῶν· καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου οὐκ ἐδήλωσα αὐτοῖς· ὡς μεῖζον δηλονότι ἢ ὥστε ἀν θρωπίνῃ ἀκοῇ χωρηθῆναι. Εὐνομίῳ δὲ, ὡς ἔοι 29.544 κεν, οὐ τὸ ὄνομα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν ὁ Θεὸς ἐνεφάνισε· καὶ τὸ τοσοῦτον ἀπόῤ ῥητον, ὃ μηδενὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἐφανερώθη, αὐτὸς ἐν βί βλοις γράφων δημοσιεύει καὶ ἐκλαλεῖ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώ ποις ἀπερισκέπτως. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις ἀπο κείμενα ἡμῖν ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν γνῶσίν ἐστιν ἀνθρωπίνην, καὶ ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπερέχει πάντα νοῦν· αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ καταδέχεται ὑπὲρ πάντα νοῦν καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν γνῶσιν ἀνθρώπων εἶναι. Οἶμαι δὲ οὐκ ἀνθρώπους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶ σαν λογικὴν φύσιν ὑπερβαίνειν αὐτῆς τὴν κατάλη ψιν. Λογικὴν δὲ νῦν τὴν ἐν τῇ κτίσει λέγω. Υἱῷ γὰρ μόνῳ γνωστὸς ὁ Πατὴρ, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι· ὅτι Οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱός· καὶ, Τὸ Πνεῦμα πάντα ἐρευνᾷ, καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ οἶδε, φησὶ, τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ· καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐδεὶς ἔγνωκεν εἰ μὴ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τί οὖν ἐξαίρετον τῇ γνώσει τοῦ Μονογε νοῦς ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος καταλείψουσιν, εἴπερ αὐτοὶ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῆς ἔχουσι τὴν κατάληψιν; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ, τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ τῆς ἀγαθότητος, καὶ τῆς σοφίας τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Μονογενεῖ τὴν θεωρίαν προσνεί μαντες, σύμμετρον ἑαυτοῖς θήσονται τῆς οὐσίας τὴν κατανόησιν. Πᾶν γάρ που τὸ ἐναντίον, εἰκὸς αὐτὴν μὲν τὴν οὐσίαν ἀπερίοπτον εἶναι παντὶ, πλὴν εἰ τῷ Μονογενεῖ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι· ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀναγομένους ἡμᾶς, καὶ διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων τὸν ποιητὴν ἐννοοῦντας, τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς σοφίας λαμβάνειν τὴν σύνεσιν. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὃ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώ ποις ὁ Θεὸς ἐφανέρωσεν. Ἐπεί γε ὅσα παρὰ τοῖς θεολόγοις περὶ οὐσίας Θεοῦ ἀναγεγράφθαι δοκεῖ τρο πολογίαις τισὶν ἢ καὶ ἀλληγορίαις, πρὸς ἑτέρας ἐν νοίας οἱ λόγοι φέρουσιν. Ὥστε εἴ τις ἀβασανίστως κατὰ τὴν πρόχειρον ἐκδοχὴν ψιλῷ παρίστασθαι φι λονεικοίη τῷ γράμματι, πρὸς Ἰουδαϊκοὺς καὶ γραώ δεις μύθους ἐκτραπεὶς, πτωχὸς παντελῶς τῶν ἀξίων περὶ Θεοῦ νοημάτων καταγηράσει. Πρὸς γὰρ τῷ ὑλι κήν τινα ἐννοεῖν τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο τοῖς ἀθέοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων συμφέρεσθαι, ἔτι καὶ ποι κίλην καὶ σύνθετον ὑπολήψεται ταύτην. Ἠλέκτρινον μὲν τὸ ἀπὸ ὀσφύος ἕως ἄνω τὸν Θεὸν εἶναι τοῦ προ φήτου διηγουμένου, ἐκ πυρὸς δὲ συμβεβλῆσθαι τὰ κάτω· ὁ δὲ μὴ πρὸς ὑψηλοτέρας ἐννοίας ἀναβαίνων διὰ τοῦ γράμματος, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ που ταῖς σωμα τικαῖς ἐγκαταμένων ὑπογραφαῖς, καὶ τοιαύτην τοῦ 29.545 Θεοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν παρὰ τοῦ Ἰεζεκιὴλ διδαχθεὶς, πά λιν πῦρ εἶναι τὸν Θεὸν παρὰ τοῦ Μωσέως ἀκούσεται, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ σοφοῦ ∆ανιὴλ