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and having received every alteration from him. 15.98 And in another way: if someone were to declare one to be the maker of every created thing, and to be upholding all creation, and would name him the image of God and Son, attending to the truth and being fully convinced by the divine oracles, how could this person, unless he were mad, also confess him to be a created thing or smaller than the God who bears all things or having a predecessor? 15.99 Concerning his being called God and angel, Malachi prophesies, saying thus: 'The Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, and the angel of the covenant, whom you desire. Behold, the Lord comes, and who will endure the day of his coming? Or who will stand in his sight?' 15.100 The beginning of the saying declares the economy, and what follows, his fearful and benevolent second coming. 15.101 And Isaiah, crying out in the manner that those who rejoice are accustomed to announce to those who have not yet perceived what has happened: 'A child is born to us, a son is also given, and his name is called Angel of Great Counsel, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Potentate, Prince of Peace.' 15.102 Jacob also calls this God, the Word, an angel, when traveling to Mesopotamia he fell asleep and saw a dream. For it says: 'And behold, a ladder set up on the earth, whose top reached to heaven. And the angels of God were ascending and descending on it, and the Lord was supported upon it and said: I am the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. Do not fear; the land on which you sleep, I will give it to you and to your seed. And I will be with you and will protect you in every way. Wherever you go, I will bring you back with salvation to the house of your father. And your seed will be spread to the south and to the sea and to the north and to the east.' 15.103 The cross was prophesied through the ladder, by which the faithful ascend to the heavenly tents, and the God supported on the ladder is he himself who was willingly nailed to the cross for our sake. 15.104 And after other things: 'Jacob vowed a vow,' it says, 'If the Lord God is with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and a garment to put on, and brings me back with salvation to my father's house, then the Lord shall be my God; and this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be God's house to me. And of all that you give me, I will give a tenth to you.' 15.105 Then, having multiplied his possessions with Laban, he saw again in a vision during the breeding of the flocks the God who had appeared to him before 15.106 and he related it thus: 'The angel of God said to me in a dream: Jacob, lift up your eyes and see the rams and the he-goats mounting the sheep and the she-goats; for I know all that Laban will do to you. I am the God who appeared to you in the way where you began, where you set up a pillar for me and made a vow to me there.' 15.107 And in Egypt, the same Jacob asks the blessing of this angel and 'great God' for the sons of Joseph, saying: 'The God, in whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac were well-pleasing, the God who has fed me from my youth until this day, the angel who has delivered me from all my evils.' 16.v Concerning those who say that 'the Father is incomparable and greater than the Son' and that 'an image is one thing and God another' and that 'man also was written as the image and glory of God.' And concerning the testimony that the Father differs in nothing from the Son.

16.1 And the incomparable and the greater to the Father on account of his being unbegotten

they assign, and to the Son the unlike on account of his having been begotten, dragging down again the things concerning the most ineffable divinity to the results of our nature and thinking that intelligible things are made similar to the flows of matter. 16.2 For all the things above the heavens surpass all mind and all understanding, while the earthly and lowly things happen to come into being and pass away in time. 16.3 But especially indeed without beginning

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καὶ πᾶσαν εἰληχότων πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐξαλλαγήν. 15.98 καὶ ἄλλως· ὃν ἄν τις παντὸς ποιήματος ποιητὴν ἀποφήναιτο καὶ πᾶσαν βαστάζοντα τὴν κτίσιν καὶ εἰκόνα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ υἱὸν ὀνομάσοι, τῇ τε ἀληθείᾳ προσέχων καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν θείων λογίων πληροφορούμενος, τοῦτον πῶς ἂν ποίημα ἢ μικρότερον τοῦ φέροντος τὰ πάντα θεοῦ ἢ προγενέστερον ἔχοντα, εἰ μὴ μαίνοιτο, προσομολογήσοι; 15.99 Περὶ δὲ τοῦ θεὸν καὶ ἄγγελον κεκλῆσθαι προφητεύουσιν Μαλαχίας μὲν οὕτως εἰπών· «ἥξει εἰς τὸν ναὸν αὐτοῦ κύριος, ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθή κης, ὃν ὑμεῖς θέλετε. ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται κύριος, καὶ τίς ὑπομενεῖ ἡμέραν εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ; ἢ τίς ὑποστήσεται ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ αὐτοῦ;» 15.100 ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ ῥητοῦ τὴν οἰκονομίαν, τὸ δὲ ἑπόμενον τὴν φοβερὰν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον αὐτοῦ δευτέραν παρουσίαν δηλοῖ. 15.101 Ἠσαΐας δὲ βοῶν τρόπῳ ᾧ εἰώθασιν οἱ συγχαίροντες ἀγγέλλειν τοῖς οὔπω τοῦ γενομένου ᾐσθημένοις· «παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μεγά λης βουλῆς ἄγγελος, θαυμαστὸς σύμβουλος, θεὸς ἰσχυρός, ἐξουσιαστής, ἄρχων εἰρήνης». 15.102 Τοῦτον τὸν θεὸν λόγον καὶ Ἰακὼβ ἄγγελον καλεῖ, ὅτε πορευόμενος εἰς Μεσοποταμίαν κοιμηθεὶς εἶδεν ὄναρ. φησὶν γάρ· «καὶ ἰδοῦ κλίμαξ ἐστηριγμένη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἧς ἡ κεφαλὴ ἐφικνεῖτο εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνέβαινον καὶ κατέβαινον ἐπ' αὐτῆς, ὁ δὲ κύριος ἐπεστήρικτο ἐπ' αὐτῆς καὶ εἶπεν· ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων σου, ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαάκ. μὴ φοβοῦ· ἡ γῇ, ἐφ' ἧς σὺ καθεύδεις, σοὶ δώσω αὐτὴν καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου. καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσομαι μετά σου καὶ διαφυ λάξω σε ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ πάσῃ. ᾗ ἐὰν πορευθῇς, καὶ ἀποστρέψω σε μετὰ σωτηρί ας εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου. καὶ πλατυνθήσεται τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐπὶ λίβα καὶ θάλασσαν καὶ βορρᾶν καὶ ἀνατολάς». 15.103 Προεφητεύετο δὲ διὰ μὲν τῆς κλίμακος ὁ σταυρός, δι' οὗ οἱ πιστοὶ ἐπὶ τὰς οὐρανίους ἀναβαίνουσιν σκηνάς, ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ κλίμακι ἐπεστηριγμένος θεὸς αὐτὸς ὁ ἑκουσίως τῷ σταυρῷ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσηλωθείς. 15.104 Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «ηὔξατο», φησίν, «Ἰακώβ· ἐὰν ᾖ κύριος ὁ θεὸς μετ' ἐμοῦ καὶ διαφυλάξῃ με ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ᾖ πορεύομαι, καὶ δῷ μοι ἄρτον φαγεῖν καὶ ἱμάτιον περιβαλέσθαι καὶ ἀποστρέψῃ με μετὰ σωτηρίας εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός μου, καὶ ἔσται μοι κύριος εἰς θεόν· καὶ ὁ λίθος οὗτος, ὃν ἔστησα στήλην, ἔσται μοι οἶκος θεοῦ. καὶ ἀπὸ πάντων, ὧν ἄν μοι δῷς, δεκάτην ἀποδεκατώσω σοι». 15.105 Εἶτα πληθυνθεὶς παρὰ τῷ Λάβαν εἶδεν ἐν τῇ κισσήσει τῶν θρεμμάτων πάλιν ἐν ὀπτασίᾳ τὸν ἀνωτέρω ὀφθέντα αὐτῷ θεὸν 15.106 καὶ διηγήσατο οὑτωσί· «εἶπέν μοι ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ καθ' ὕπνον· Ἰακώβ, ἀνάβλεψον τοῖς ὀφθαλ μοῖς σου καὶ ἰδὲ τοὺς κριοὺς καὶ τοὺς τράγους ἀναβαίνοντας ἐπὶ τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰς αἶγας· οἶδα γάρ, ὅσα σοι Λάβαν ποιήσει. ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεὸς ὁ ὀφθείς σοι ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ᾗ ἤρχου, οὗ ἔστησάς μοι στήλην καὶ ηὔξω μοι ἐκεῖ εὐχήν». 15.107 Καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς Ἰακὼβ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰωσὴφ τούτου τοῦ ἀγγέλου καὶ «μεγάλου θεοῦ» τὴν εὐλογίαν αἰτεῖται εἰπών· «ὁ θεός, ᾧ εὐηρέστησαν οἱ πατέρες μου Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαάκ, ὁ θεὸς ὁ τρέφων με ἐκ νεότητός μου ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης, ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ ῥυόμενός με ἐκ πάν των τῶν κακῶν μου». 16.ν Περὶ τῶν λεγόντων, ὅτι «ἀσύγκριτος καὶ μείζων ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ υἱοῦ» καὶ ὅτι «ἄλλο εἰκὼν καὶ ἄλλο θεὸς» καὶ ὅτι «καὶ ἄνθρωπος εἰκὼν θεοῦ ἐγράφη καὶ δόξα». καὶ περὶ τοῦ μαρτυρεῖσθαι κατ' οὐδὲν διαφέρειν τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα.

16.1 Καὶ τὸ ἀσύγκριτον δὲ καὶ μεῖζον τῷ πατρὶ διὰ τὸ ἀγέννητον

ἀπονέμουσιν, τῷ δὲ υἱῷ τὸ ἀνόμοιον διὰ τὸ ἔχειν τὸ γεννητόν, καθέλκοντες πάλιν τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀρρητοτάτης θεότητος εἰς τὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως ἀποτελέσματα καὶ τὰ νοητὰ τοῖς τῆς ὕλης ῥεύμασιν συνεξομοιοῦσθαι νομίζοντες. 16.2 τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὑπερουράνια πάντα νοῦν καὶ πᾶσαν νόησιν ὑπερβαίνοντα, τὰ δὲ γήϊνα καὶ ταπεινὰ καὶ χρόνῳ γινόμενα καὶ ἀπογινόμενα τυγχάνει. 16.3 Ἀλλὰ μάλιστα μὲν ἀνάρχως