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to understand the generation of the divinity of the Son, he objects, especially because he has given hypostasis to the Son. And he brings in Origen again, speaking ill of him, and contradicting what was correctly written by him in these matters, saying that Origen, in writing such things, used his own dogmas, which is clear from the fact that he often overturns his own statements. At any rate, in another passage what he says about God, it is fitting to 1.4.22 recall. He writes thus: 20For God did not begin to be a Father by being prevented, as men who become fathers are, by not yet being able to be fathers. For if God is always perfect, and the power to be a Father is present to him, and it is good for him to be the Father of such a Son, why does he delay and deprive himself of what is good and, so to speak, from the time when he is able to be a Father, does not become a Father? The same thing, indeed, must be said also concerning the Holy Spirit20. 1.4.23 How then, when Origen had written this also, did the blessed Paulinus, according to him, consider it not without risk to conceal this, but to use for the construction of his own opinions the contrary things, for which I would say not even Origen himself would have been able to give an account? In these things Marcellus, by saying that Origen had said contradictory things to himself, lied, being unable to understand that through the first quotation he was showing the incorporeal and impassible nature of the Father, and through the second that he had begotten the Son not in time but before all ages. 1.4.24 Again, after other things concerning Origen, the same man writes these things and yet if it is necessary to speak the truth about Origen, it is proper to say this, that having recently departed from philosophical studies, and choosing to converse with the divine oracles before an accurate comprehension of the scriptures, because of the great and ambitious nature of his secular education he began to write sooner than he ought and was led astray by the arguments of philosophy, and on account of them wrote some things not well. And it is clear; for still mindful of the dogmas of Plato, 1.4.25 and of the difference of principles in him, he wrote a book ON FIRST PRINCIPLES, and gave this title to the work. And the greatest proof of this is that he began his text not from anywhere else or from the title of the book, but from the words spoken by Plato; for he wrote at the beginning thus: 1.4.26 20Those who have believed and are persuaded20, you would find this saying thus stated in the Gorgias of Plato. nor, if it were cited, would it have brought slander upon Origen for saying: 20those who have believed or even are persuaded20, and for adding next: 20that grace and truth came "through Jesus Christ" and that Christ is the truth according to what was said by him: "I am the truth"20. For what communion could there 1.4.27 ever be for Plato with these things? No book of Plato, ON FIRST PRINCIPLES, is remembered, nor did Origen hold similar opinions to Plato concerning first principles, for he knew only one unbegotten and unoriginate principle beyond all things, and that this is the Father of one only-begotten Son, through whom all things were made. And he, having lied about Origen also in these things, after other matters 1.4.28 adds, saying For when Asterius had said 20that the Word was begotten before the ages20, the saying itself convicts him of lying; so that he has erred not only in the matter, but also in the letter. For if Proverbs says, "he established me before the age," how did he himself say 20that he was begotten before the ages20? For it is one thing for him to have been established before the age, and another to have been begotten before the ages. 1.4.29 Having said these things and added others for the refutation of the Son's having been begotten before the ages, he adds in these very words But I ask those who read the saints, as having truly received the seeds and first principles of this exposition, to add more proofs to what has been said, so that the choices of those who pervert the faith may be yet more refuted. For they have truly "forsaken God who begot them, and

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ὑπολαμβάνειν τὴν τῆς θεότητος τοῦ υἱοῦ γέννησιν, ἀντιλέγει, μάλισθ' ὅτι τῷ υἱῷ δέδωκεν ὑπόστασιν. καὶ ἐπιφέρει τὸν Ὠριγένη πάλιν κακῶς λέγων τοῖς τε ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ὀρθῶς γραφεῖσιν ἀντιλέγων ἐν τούτοις ὅτι τὰ τοιαῦτα γράφων Ὠριγένης ἰδίοις ἐχρῆτο δόγ μασιν, δῆλον ἀφ' ὧν καὶ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ἀνατρέπει πολλάκις. ἐν γοῦν ἑτέρῳ χωρίῳ ἅτινα περὶ θεοῦ λέγει, ἀκόλουθόν ἐστιν ὑπο1.4.22 μνῆσαι. γράφει δὲ οὕτως· 20οὐ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς πατὴρ εἶναι ἤρξατο κωλυόμενος, ὡς οἱ γινόμενοι πατέρες ἄνθρωποι, ὑπὸ τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαί πω πατέρες εἶναι. εἰ γὰρ ἀεὶ τέλειος ὁ θεός, καὶ πάρεστιν αὐτῷ δύναμις τοῦ πατέρα αὐτὸν εἶναι, καὶ καλὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι πατέρα τοιούτου υἱοῦ, τί ἀναβάλ λεται καὶ τοῦ καλοῦ ἑαυτὸν στερίσκει καί, ὡς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἐξ οὗ δύναται πατὴρ εἶναι, οὐ γίνεται πατήρ; τὸ αὐτὸ μέντοιγε καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος λεκτέον20. 1.4.23 πῶς οὖν Ὠριγένους καὶ τοῦτο γράψαντος, ὁ μακάριος κατ' αὐτὸν Παυλῖνος τοῦτο μὲν ἀποκρύψασθαι οὐκ ἀκίνδυνον ἐνόμισεν, χρή σασθαι δὲ εἰς κατασκευὴν τῶν ἑαυτῷ δοκούντων τοῖς ἐναντίοις, ὧν οὐδὲ αὐτὸν ἂν Ὠριγένη εἴποιμι τὸν λόγον ἀποδοῦναι δυνατὸν εἶναι; ἐν τούτοις ὁ Μάρκελλος ἐναντία φάναι αὑτῷ τὸν Ὠριγένη εἰπὼν κατεψεύσατο, μὴ δυνηθεὶς συνεῖναι, ὡς διὰ μὲν τῆς προτέρας παραθέσεως τὸ ἀσώματον καὶ ἀπαθὲς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐδήλου, διὰ δὲ τῆς δευτέρας τὸ μὴ χρόνῳ πρὸ πάντων δὲ αἰώνων τὸν υἱὸν γεγεννηκέ1.4.24 ναι. αὖθις δὲ μεθ' ἕτερα περὶ τοῦ Ὠριγένους ὁ αὐτὸς ταῦτα γράφει καίτοι εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς περὶ Ὠριγένους εἰπεῖν, τοῦτο προσ ήκει λέγειν, ὅτι ἄρτι τῶν κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν ἀποστὰς μαθημάτων, καὶ τοῖς θείοις ὁμιλῆσαι προελόμενος λόγοις πρὸ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς τῶν γραφῶν καταλήψεως, διὰ τὸ πολὺ καὶ φιλότιμον τῆς ἔξωθεν παιδεύσεως θᾶττον τοῦ δέοντος ἀρξάμενος ὑπογράφειν ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς φιλοσοφίας παρήχθη λόγων, καί τινα δι' αὐτοὺς οὐ καλῶς γέγραφεν. δῆλον δέ· ἔτι γὰρ τῶν Πλάτωνος μεμνημένος δογμάτων, 1.4.25 καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀρχῶν παρ' αὐτῷ διαφορᾶς, ΠΕΡΙ ΑΡΧΩΝ γέγραφεν βιβλίον, καὶ ταύτην τῷ συγγράμματι τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν ἔθετο. δεῖγμα δὲ τούτου μέγιστον τὸ μηδὲ ἄλλοθέν ποθεν τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν λέξεων αὐτὸν ἢ τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν τοῦ βιβλίου ποιήσασθαι, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν Πλάτωνι λεχθέντων ῥημάτων· γέγραφεν γὰρ ἀρχόμενος οὕτως· 1.4.26 20οἱ πεπιστευκότες καὶ πεπεισμένοι20, τοῦτο τὸ ῥητὸν οὕτως εἰρημένον εὕροις ἂν ἐν τῷ Γοργίᾳ Πλάτωνος. οὔτ' εἰ ἐφέρετο, ἤνεγκεν ἂν διαβολὴν Ὠριγένει φάντι· 20οἱ πεπιστευκότες ἢ καὶ πεπεισμένοι20, καὶ συνάψαντι ἑξῆς· 20τὴν χάριν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν «διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ» γεγονέναι καὶ Χριστὸν εἶναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ· «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια»20. ποία γὰρ πρὸς ταῦτα κοινωνία γένοιτ' 1.4.27 ἄν ποτε Πλάτωνι; οὐδὲν Πλάτωνος ΠΕΡΙ ΑΡΧΩΝ μνημονεύεται βιβλίον, οὐδὲ Ὠριγένης ὁμοίως περὶ ἀρχῶν ἐδόξασεν Πλάτωνι, ὁ μίαν μόνην τὴν ἀγένητον καὶ ἄναρχον καὶ ἐπέκεινα τῶν ὅλων εἰδὼς ἀρχήν, ταύτην τε εἶναι πατέρα ἑνὸς μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονεν. ὁ δὲ καὶ ἐν τούτοις Ὠριγένους καταψευσάμενος μεθ' ἕτερα 1.4.28 προστίθησι λέγων Ἀστερίου γὰρ εἰρηκότος 20πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων γεγενῆσθαι τὸν λόγον20, αὐτὸ τὸ ῥητὸν αὐτὸν ἐλέγχει ψευδόμενον· ὥστε μὴ μόνον αὐτὸν τοῦ πράγματος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ γράμματος διαμαρτεῖν. εἰ γὰρ «πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέν με» φησὶν ἡ Παροιμία, πῶς αὐτὸς 20γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων20 ἔφη; ἕτερον γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος τεθεμελιῶσθαι αὐτόν, καὶ ἕτερον πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων γεγενῆσθαι. 1.4.29 ταῦτα εἰπὼν καὶ προσθεὶς ἕτερα εἰς ἀνατροπὴν τοῦ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων γεγενῆσθαι τὸν υἱόν, ἐπιλέγει αὐτοῖς ῥήμασιν ἀξιῶ δὲ τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῶν ἁγίων, ὡσπερεὶ σπέρ ματα καὶ ἀρχὰς τῆσδε τῆς ἐξηγήσεως ἀληθῶς εἰληφότας, πλείονας ἀποδείξεις προσθεῖναι τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ὥστε ἔτι μᾶλλον τὰς τῶν περὶ τὴν πίστιν διαστρεφόντων ἐλέγχεσθαι προαιρέσεις. ὄντως γὰρ θεὸν τὸν γεννήσαντα αὐτοὺς «ἐγκατέλιπον, καὶ