16

the Father has sealed, that is, God; and of the Apostle, Who is the image of the invisible God. An image not lifeless, nor handmade, nor a work of art and device; but a living image, or rather life itself existing, not in a likeness of form, but always preserving the unchangeableness in its very substance. For I say that "existing in the form of God" has the same meaning as "existing in the substance of God." For just as "to have taken the form of a servant" signifies that our Lord was born in the substance of humanity, so 29.553 also "to exist in the form of God" certainly represents the property of the divine substance. He who has seen me, he says, has seen the Father. But this man, by alienating the Only-Begotten from the Father, and completely severing his communion with him, cuts off, as much as in him lies, the ascent to knowledge which comes through him. All things that the Father has are mine, the Lord says. But Eunomius says there is no communion of the Father with him who is from him. And, As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. This we have been taught by the Lord himself; but what from Eunomius? That there is no comparison of the begotten with the begetter. And in short, with this one statement he both destroys the concept of the image, and sets aside his being the radiance and character of his substance. For it is possible neither to conceive of an image of the incomparable, nor for there to be a radiance of that which is by nature incommunicable. And he persists again in the same kind of artifice, saying that there is no comparison of the unbegotten with the begotten; not of the Father with him who is from him, in order that whatever opposition he might show to exist in these terms, he might transfer this to the very substance of the Father and of the Son. But lest, by following all his blasphemies and attempting to correct each of the things said, we extend the discourse to a great length, we will pass over whatever has its impiety ready at hand and is immediately clear to those who encounter it; but what requires some argument for its refutation, this we will set forth. For having variously constructed the incommunicability of the Father's substance with respect to the Son, and having shown the absurdity, as he thinks, from every side, he adds: {EUN.} For we would not say this, that the substance is common to both, but that by order and by seniority in time the one is first, and the other second. Since indeed the cause of pre-eminence must be present in those who are pre-eminent; but neither time, nor age, nor order is conjoined with the substance of God. For order is secondary to the one who orders; and none of God's attributes has been ordered by another. And time is a certain movement of the stars; but the stars came into being not only after the unbegotten substance and all intelligible things, but also after the first bodies. And what need is there even to speak of ages, when Scripture clearly declares that God exists before the ages? 29.556 {BAS.} Having supposed for himself in his argument whatever he wished, and having taken what follows from his suppositions, and then thrusting himself into absurd notions, he thinks he thereby demonstrates the necessary acceptance of his own doctrines. For he says that, We would not say this, that the substance is common to both, but that by order and by seniority in time the one is first, and the other second. If, then, he said this, understanding the community of substance in such a way as to conceive of some distribution and division from a pre-existing matter into the things from it, we ourselves would not accept this idea; may it never be! and we declare that those who say it, if any such there be, are no less impious than those who say they are unlike; but if one should take the community of substance in this way, that the principle of being is seen as one and the same in both, so that if, hypothetically, the Father were conceived as light in his hypostasis, the substance of the Only-Begotten would also be confessed as light, and whatever principle of being one might assign to the Father, this same one would also apply to the Son; if the community of substance were taken in this way, we accept it; and we will say that the doctrine is ours. For according to this there is also one godhead;

16

ὁ Πα τὴρ ἐσφράγισεν ὁ Θεός· τοῦ δὲ Ἀποστόλου· Ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου. Εἰκὼν οὐκ ἄψυχος, οὐδὲ χειρόκμητος, οὐδὲ τέχνης ἔργον καὶ ἐπινοίας· ἀλλὰ εἰκὼν ζῶσα, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτοοῦσα ζωὴ, οὐκ ἐν σχήματος ὁμοιότητι, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ οὐσίᾳ τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον ἀεὶ διασώζουσα. Ἐγὼ γὰρ καὶ τὸ, ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχειν, ἴσον δύνασθαι τῷ, ἐν οὐσίᾳ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχειν, φημί. Ὡς γὰρ τὸ, μορφὴν ἀνειληφέναι δούλου, ἐν τῇ οὐσίᾳ τῆς ἀνθρωπότη τος τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν γεγεννῆσθαι σημαίνει· οὕτω 29.553 δὲ καὶ τὸ, ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχειν, τῆς θείας οὐσίας παρίστησι πάντως τὴν ἰδιότητα. Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ, φησὶν, ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα. Οὗτος δὲ ἀλλοτριῶν τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸν Μονογενῆ, καὶ παντελῶς ἀποσχίζων τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν κοινωνίας, τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ γενομένην τῆς γνώσεως ἄνοδον, τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτῷ, διακό πτει. Πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατὴρ, ἐμά ἐστιν, ὁ Κύ ριός φησιν. Εὐνόμιος δὲ οὐδεμίαν λέγει κοινωνίαν εἶ ναι τῷ Πατρὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ, Ὥσπερ ὁ Πα τὴρ ζωὴν ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὕτως ἔδωκε καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ. Τοῦτο παρ' αὐτοῦ δεδιδάγμε θα τοῦ Κυρίου· παρὰ δὲ Εὐνομίου τί; Μηδεμίαν εἶ ναι σύγκρισιν τῷ γεννηθέντι πρὸς τὸν γεννήσαντα. Καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς, διὰ μιᾶς ταύτης φωνῆς ἀναιρεῖ μὲν τὸν τῆς εἰκόνος λόγον, ἀθετεῖ δὲ τὸ ἀπαύγασμα εἶναι καὶ χαρακτῆρα τῆς ὑποστάσεως. Οὔτε γὰρ εἰκόνα δυ νατὸν τοῦ ἀσυγκρίτου νοεῖσθαι, οὔτε ἀπαύγασμα εἶ ναι τοῦ ἀκοινωνήτου κατὰ τὴν φύσιν. Τῷ δὲ αὐτῷ εἴδει πάλιν τοῦ τεχνάσματος ἐπιμένει, τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ λέγων μὴ εἶναι πρὸς τὸ γεννητὸν σύγκρισιν· οὐχὶ τῷ Πατρὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ἥνπερ ἂν ταῖς φωναῖς ταύταις ὑπάρχουσαν ἀντίθεσιν ἐπιδείξῃ, ταύτην ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ μετ ενέγκῃ. Ὅπως δὲ μὴ, πάσαις αὐτοῦ κατακολουθοῦντες ταῖς βλασφημίαις, καὶ ἕκαστον εὐθύνειν τῶν εἰρημέ νων ἐπιχειροῦντες, εἰς πολὺ μῆκος τὸν λόγον ἐκτεί νωμεν· ὅσα μὲν καὶ πρόχειρον ἔχει τὴν ἀσέβειαν, καὶ αὐτόθεν φανερὰ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσίν ἐστι, παρ ήσομεν· ἃ δὲ λόγου τινὸς πρὸς τὸν ἔλεγχον δεῖται, ταῦτα παραθησόμεθα. Ποικίλως γὰρ τὸ πρὸς τὸν Υἱὸν ἀκοινώνητον τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐσίας κατασκευά σας, καὶ πανταχόθεν, ὡς οἴεται, τὸ ἄτοπον ἐπιδείξας, ἐπάγει· {ΕΥΝ.} Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο ἂν εἴποιμεν, ὡς κοινὴ μὲν ἀμφοῖν ἡ οὐσία· τάξει δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐκ χρόνου πρεσβείοις ὁ μὲν ἔστι πρῶτος, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος. Ἐπειδή γε δεῖ προσεῖναι ἐν τοῖς ὑπερέχουσι τὸ τῆς ὑπεροχῆς αἴτιον· οὐ συνέζευκται δὲ τῇ οὐσίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ χρόνος, οὐκ αἰὼν, οὐ τάξις. Ἥ τε γὰρ τάξις δευτέρα τοῦ τάττοντος· οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑφ' ἑτέρου τέτακται. Ὅ τε χρόνος ἀστέρων ποιά τίς ἐστι κίνησις· ἀστέρες δὲ οὐ τῆς ἀγεννήτου μό νον οὐσίας καὶ νοητῶν ἁπάντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πρώ των σωμάτων γεγόνασιν ὕστεροι. Περὶ δὲ αἰώνων τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν, τῆς Γραφῆς σαφῶς διαγορευούσης, πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων ὑπάρχειν τὸν Θεόν; 29.556 {ΒΑΣ.} Ὑποθέμενος ἑαυτῷ κατὰ τὸν λόγον ἅπερ ἐβούλετο, καὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα λαβὼν ταῖς ὑποθέ σεσιν, εἶτα εἰς ἀτόπους ἐννοίας ἑαυτὸν ἐξωθῶν, ἀναγκαίαν ἐντεῦθεν οἴεται τὴν παραδοχὴν τῶν ἰδίων δογμάτων ἐπιδεικνύναι. Φησὶ γὰρ ὅτι, Οὐκ ἂν τοῦτο εἴποιμεν, ὡς κοινὴ μὲν ἀμφοῖν ἡ οὐσία· τάξει δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐκ χρόνου πρεσβείοις ὁ μὲν ἕστι πρῶτος, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος. Εἰ μὲν οὖν τὸ κοινὸν τῆς οὐσίας οὕτω νοήσας εἶπεν, ὡς ἐξ ὕλης προϋπαρχούσης διανομήν τινα καὶ καταδιαίρεσιν εἰς τὰ ἀπ' αὐτῆς νοεῖν, οὔτ' ἂν αὐτοὶ καταδεξαίμεθα τὴν διάνοιαν ταύτην· μὴ γένοιτο! καὶ τοὺς λέγοντας, εἴ τινες καί εἰσιν, οὐδὲν ἔλαττον ἀσεβεῖν τῶν τὸ ἀνόμοιον λεγόντων ἀπο φαινόμεθα· εἰ δὲ οὕτω τις ἐκλαμβάνοι τὸ τῆς οὐσίας κοινὸν, ὡς τὸν τοῦ εἶναι λόγον ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν θεωρεῖσθαι, ὥστε καὶ εἰ καθ' ὑπόθεσιν φῶς ὁ Πατὴρ τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ νοοῖτο, φῶς καὶ τὴν τοῦ Μο νογενοῦς οὐσίαν ὁμολογεῖσθαι, καὶ ὅνπερ ἄν τις ἀπο δῷ ἐπὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸν τοῦ εἶναι λόγον, τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ ἐφαρμόζειν· εἰ οὕτω τὸ κοινὸν τῆς οὐσίας λαμβάνοιτο, δεχόμεθα· καὶ ἡμέτερον εἶναι τὸ δόγμα φήσομεν. Κατὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ θεότης μία·