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of the Father he will certainly say, if indeed he were not shameless toward the truth. But since it is not possible to separate the eternity of the Son from the eternal Father, as the signification of the Father certainly co-indicates the Son, for this reason, having rejected the title of Father, he transfers the argument to the "unbegotten," since the meaning of this name is both unrelated and incommunicable to the Son, and so, by leading his hearers through this change of name not to contemplate the Son together with the Father, he gave a way to his wickedness, preparing the way for impiety through the insertion of the unbe 100 gotten. For those who, according to the Lord's command, have their faith in the Father, as soon as they hear "the Father," have also received the Son together with him in their thought, with no interval in between, their thought not treading on empty ground from the Son to the Father. But those who are diverted from "the Father" to the title of "the unbegotten" receive the bare notion of this name, being taught only that he did not come into being, but not that he is also Father. From this, for those who understand with intelligence, the faith remains unconfused even through this notion.

101

For "not to have come into being" is likewise said of the uncreated nature, and uncreated in like manner are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, because every creature, both sensible and supramundane, is believed by those who follow the divine words to have its subsistence from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For he who heard that "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power," understood the Word not as a spoken word nor the Spirit as a breath, but formed an image of God the Word and the Spirit of God through what was said. But the same thing cannot both create and be created, but with beings divided in two, into that which makes and that which comes into being, each is by nature something other than the other, so that neither is that which comes into being uncreated, nor is that which works the nature of things that come into 102 being created. To those, therefore, who according to the Lord's exposition of the faith have believed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, it is confessed equally that none of these came into being, and the meaning of "unbegotten" in no way harms the sound faith; but for the thick-skinned and inarticulate, this name becomes the beginning of their deviation from the sound doctrine, for not understanding the true significance of the name, that the term "unbegotten" signifies only not to have been begotten, and that "not to have come into being" is common to everything that is superior to creation, they abandoned faith in the Father and set up the name "unbegotten" in place of the Father. But since, as has been said, the hypostasis of the Only-begotten is not co-signified in this name, they define the being of the Son from some definite beginning, saying what this man has now added to his statements, that he is named Son not without a generation prior to his being.

103

What is this new monstrosity again? Does he know that he is making his argument about God, who was in the beginning and is in the Father and there is not when he was not? He does not know what he is saying nor about whom he is making his assertions, but as if tracing the genealogy of some man, he tries to apply these things, which are properly said of our lower nature, to the Lord of all 104 creation. For Ishmael, for example, was not before his generation into being, but there was certainly something before his generation, I mean the interval of time. But in the case of the effulgence of the glory, this "before" and "after" has no place; for before the effulgence, the glory certainly was not either; for together with the being of the glory, the effulgence certainly shines forth as well, and for the one to be separated from the other is not in its nature, nor is it possible to see the glory by itself before the effulgence. For he who says this will make the glory out to be without light and blind in itself, if the effulgence from it does not shine forth together with it. This is the wickedness of the here sy, that through what is thought and

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πατρὸς ἐρεῖ πάντως, εἴπερ μὴ ἀναισχυντοίη πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦ ἀϊδίου πατρὸς οὐκ ἔστι τὴν ἀϊδιότητα τοῦ υἱοῦ διαστῆσαι, συνενδεικνυμένης πάντως καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ση μασίας, διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ πατρὸς ἀποδοκιμάσας τὴν κλῆσιν μετάγει τὸν λόγον πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον, ἐπειδὴ τούτου τοῦ ὀνόματος ἄσχετόν τε καὶ ἀκοινώνητόν ἐστι πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν τὸ σημαινόμενον, καὶ οὕτως παραγαγὼν τοὺς ἀκούοντας πρὸς τὸ μὴ συνθεωρεῖν τῷ πατρὶ τὸν υἱὸν διὰ τῆς ὑπαλλαγῆς τοῦ ὀνόματος ὁδὸν ἔδωκεν τῇ κακουργίᾳ, διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεν 100 νήτου παρενθήκης ὁδοποιῶν τὴν ἀσέβειαν. οἱ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ δεσπότου εἰς τὸν πατέρα τὴν πίστιν ἔχοντες ὁμοῦ τῷ ἀκοῦσαι τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τῇ διανοίᾳ συμ παρεδέξαντο, οὐδενὶ τῷ μεταξὺ διαστήματι τῆς διανοίας ἀπὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα κενεμβατούσης. οἱ δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ πατρὸς παρενεχθέντες πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀγεννήτου κλῆσιν ψιλὴν τὴν τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου ἀναλαμβάνουσιν ἔννοιαν, μόνον τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν διδασκόμενοι, οὐ μὴν καὶ τὸ πατέρα εἶναι. ἐκ τούτου δὲ τοῖς μὲν συνετῶς ἐπαΐουσιν ἀσύγχυτος μένει καὶ διὰ ταύτης τῆς διανοίας ἡ πίστις.

101 Τὸ γὰρ μὴ γενέσθαι ὡσαύτως ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκτίστου λέγεται φύσεως, ἄκτιστος δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ὁ πατήρ τε καὶ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, διότι πᾶσα κτίσις αἰσθητή τε καὶ ὑπερκόσμιος ἐκ πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχειν παρὰ τῶν ἀκολουθούντων ταῖς θείαις φωναῖς πεπίστευται. ὁ γὰρ ἀκούσας ὅτι Τῷ λόγῳ κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν, οὔτε ῥῆμα τὸν λόγον ἐνό ησεν οὔτε ἆσθμα τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀλλὰ τὸν θεὸν λόγον καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνετυπώσατο. οὐ δύ ναται δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ κτίζειν καὶ κτίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ διχῇ μεριζομένων τῶν ὄντων εἰς τὸ ποιοῦν τε καὶ τὸ γινόμενον, ἄλλο τι ἑκάτερόν ἐστι τῇ φύσει παρὰ τὸ ἕτερον, ὡς μήτε τὸ γινόμενον ἄκτιστον εἶναι μήτε κτιστὸν ὃ τὴν τῶν γινο 102 μένων κατεργάζεται φύσιν. τοῖς μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὴν δεσπο τικὴν τῆς πίστεως ἔκθεσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος πεπιστευκόσι τὸ μὴ γε νέσθαι τι τούτων ἐπίσης ὁμολογεῖται, καὶ οὐδὲν τοῦ ἀγεν νήτου τὸ σημαινόμενον παραβλάπτει τὴν ὑγιαίνουσαν πίστιν· τοῖς δὲ παχυδέρμοις τε καὶ ἀδιαρθρώτοις ἀρχὴ τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑγιαίνοντος λόγου παρατροπῆς τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα γίνεται μὴ συνέντες γὰρ τὴν ἀληθῆ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἔμφασιν, ὅτι μόνον τὸ μὴ γεγεννῆσθαι σημαίνει ἡ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φωνὴ καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι κοινόν ἐστι ἐπὶ παντὸς τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου τῆς κτίσεως, ἀφέντες τὴν εἰς τὸν πατέρα πίστιν τὸ ἀγέννητον ὄνομα ἀντὶ τοῦ πατρὸς προεστήσαντο· μὴ συνεμφαινομένης δέ, καθὼς εἴρηται, τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως, ἀπό τινος ὡρισμένης ἀρχῆς ὁρίζουσι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸ εἶναι, λέγοντες ὅπερ νῦν οὗτος τοῖς εἰρημένοις προσέθηκε, τὸ οὐκ ἄνευ τῆς πρὸ τοῦ εἶναι γεννήσεως ὀνομαζόμενον υἱόν.

103 Τίς αὕτη πάλιν ἡ καινὴ τερατεία; ἆρα ἐπίσταται ὅτι περὶ θεοῦ ποιεῖται τὸν λόγον τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος καὶ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ ὄντος καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτε οὐκ ὄντος; οὐκ οἶδεν ὃ λέγει οὐδὲ περὶ τίνος διϊσχυρίζεται, ἀλλ' ὥς τινα τῶν ἀν θρώπων γενεαλογῶν τὰ κυρίως ἐπὶ τῆς κάτω λεγόμενα φύσεως ταῦτα ἐφαρμόζειν πειρᾶται τῷ δεσπότῃ πάσης τῆς 104 κτίσεως. ὁ γὰρ Ἰσμαήλ, φέρε εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἦν πρὸ τῆς εἰς τὸ εἶναι γεννήσεως, ἦν δέ τι πρὸ τῆς γεννήσεως αὐτοῦ πάντως, τὸ χρονικὸν λέγω διάστημα. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ τῆς δόξης ἀπαυγάσματος τὸ πρὸ καὶ τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο χώραν οὐκ ἔχει· πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος πάντως οὐδὲ ἡ δόξα ἦν· ὁμοῦ γὰρ τῷ εἶναι τὴν δόξαν συνεκλάμπει πάντως καὶ τὸ ἀπαύ γασμα, καὶ τὸ διαζευχθῆναι τὸ ἕτερον τοῦ ἑτέρου φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει οὐδὲ δυνατόν ἐστι πρὸ τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς τὴν δόξαν ἰδεῖν. ἀλαμπῆ γὰρ καὶ τυφλὴν ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς εἶναι κατασκευάσει τὴν δόξαν ὁ τοῦτο λέγων, μὴ συνεκλάμποντος αὐτῇ τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπαυγάσματος. αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ τῆς αἱρέ σεως κακουργία, ἵνα διὰ τῶν περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον νοουμένων τε καὶ