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And what Paul declared to the Colossians might be understood in this way: “And he is before all things;” not as a maker—far from it!—but as begotten. For if he had not been without beginning, truly and consubstantially begotten before all things, we would not have become in his image consubstantial with the one who begot us; and if the maker and provider did not pre-exist uncreatedly, the created and provided-for things would not exist creatively.

CH. 6. Fourth, they propose from an intemperate tongue what is said by Peter in

the Acts: “Let all the house of Israel know that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” And this is not written about the divine and incomprehensible substance of God the Word who was in the beginning, and was with God, and did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but about him from Mary, conformed to our humiliation. For the memory of the cross and the connection of ‘Whom you crucified’ to ‘made’ indicated him, of whom Scripture makes mention in many places. And as when the same Peter says in the Acts: “The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Author of life.” And Zechariah says: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look on me, whom they have pierced, 39.844 and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn.” John, recalling which prophecy after the saving cross, said: “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” Concerning this the angel also, rejoicing with men, said: “For to us is born today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” But he who is born today could never be understood as the pre-eternal one. Therefore, we must also attend to this wonder of the Letter, that angels and men celebrated a festival of one new knowledge of God with equal disposition, speaking in harmony and thinking alike. And so we speak, by some concept signifying his ineffable economy, and avoiding the blasphemy that extends to his divinity, not believing that the Son from the Father is one, and he who became flesh and was crucified is another; since divinity is not by nature ever separated from itself, nor changed. For the Apostle would not have understood two, when he said: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh.” For the Hierophant, too, both somehow hiding and openly revealing this ineffable mystery of the economy, and covering more than being ignorant, and being ignorant more than covering, prophesies in the 108th psalm in a manner similar to the saying of Peter that has been mentioned: “And let them know that this is your hand; and you, Lord, have made it;” on the one hand, because he co-exists consubstantially with the Father, and all things have come to be through him, he calls God the Word the hand of the Father. On the other hand, because he unchangeably became flesh, as he knew and willed, he says he was made by him whose hand he is. But ‘he made’ is not always understood instead of 39.845 ‘he created,’ but also in relation to something; as one makes someone who already exists by substance a teacher of one's own children at the time when the teacher begins to teach the children; and as when one makes a child a soldier, or an orator, at the time when the child undertakes military service, or rhetoric. For with this thought he said of the Father and God: “He became my helper and protector for salvation;” and Isaiah: “You have become a helper to every humble city.” And the Hierophant in the 29th psalm: “The Lord became my helper;” and in the 30th: “Be to me a protecting God, and a house of refuge, to

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νοηθείη ἂν καὶ ὅπερ Παῦλος Κολοσσαεῦσιν ἐξήγγειλε τόνδε τὸν τρόπον· «Καὶ αὐτός ἐστι πρὸ πάντων·» οὐχ ὡς ποιητὸς μὴ γένοιτο!, ἀλλ' ὡς γεννητός. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦν ἀνάρχως αὐτὸς πρὸ πάντων γεννηθεὶς ἀληθινῶς καὶ ὁμοουσίως, οὐκ ἂν κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμεῖς αὐτοῦ ὁμοούσιοι τοῦ ἡμᾶς τεκόντος ἐγενήθημεν· καὶ εἰ μὴ προῆν ἀδημιουργήτως ὁ ποιητὴς καὶ προνοητὴς, οὐκ ἂν ὑπῆν δημιουργικῶς τὰ ποιητὰ καὶ προνοούμενα.

ΚΕΦ. ςʹ. Τέταρτον προτείνουσιν ὑπὸ ἀκολάστου γλώσσης τὸ παρὰ Πέτρῳ ἐν

ταῖς Πράξεσιν εἰρημένον· «Γινωσκέτω πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι καὶ Κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησεν, τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε.» Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ οὐ περὶ τῆς θείας καὶ ἀκαταλήπτου γέγραπται οὐσίας τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος Θεοῦ Λόγου, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὄντος, καὶ οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγησαμένου τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ ἐκ Μαρίας συμμόρφου τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν. Ἡ γὰρ μνήμη τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ τὸ συνῆφθαι τῷ «ἐποίησεν» τὸ, «Ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε,» αὐτὸν ἐδήλωσεν, οὗ πολλαχοῦ μέμνηται ἡ Γραφή. Καὶ ὡς ὅταν ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι λέγῃ ὁ αὐτὸς Πέτρος· «Ὁ Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰκὼβ, ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν ἐδόξασε τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ὑμεῖς μὲν παρεδώκατε καὶ ἠρνήσασθε κατὰ πρόσωπον Πιλάτου, κρίναντος ἐκείνου ἀπολύειν· ὑμεῖς δὲ τὸν ἅγιον καὶ δίκαιον ἠρνήσασθε· καὶ ᾐτήσατε ἄνδρα φονέα χαρισθῆναι ὑμῖν, τὸν δὲ ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς ἀπεκτείνατε.» Καὶ Ζαχαρίας φησίν· «Ἐκχεῶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον ∆αυῒδ καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Ἱερουσαλὴμ Πνεῦμα χάριτος καὶ οἰκτιρμοῦ· καὶ ἐπιβλέψονται πρὸς μὲ, εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν, 39.844 καὶ κόψονται ἐπ' αὐτὸν κοπετὸν, ὡς ἐπὶ ἀγαπητὸν, καὶ ὀδυνηθήσονται ἐπ' αὐτὸν, ὡς ἐπὶ πρωτότοκον.» Ἧστινος προφητείας ἀναμνησθεὶς Ἰωάννης μετὰ τὸν σωτήριον σταυρὸν, εἶπεν· «Ὄψονται, εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν.» Περὶ τούτου καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος συγχαίρων ἀνθρώποις ἔλεξεν· «Ἐτέχθη ἡμῖν Σωτὴρ σήμερον, ὅς ἐστι Χριστὸς Κύριος.» Ὁ δὲ σήμερον τεχθεὶς οὐκ ἄν ποτε ὁ προαιώνιος νοηθείη. Προσεκτέον οὖν καὶ τῷδε τῷ τοῦ Γράμματος θαύματι, ὅτι ἄγγελοι καὶ ἄνθρωποι μιᾶς νεαρᾶς θεογνωσίας ἑορτὴν ἐπετέλουν ἴσῃ διαθέσει ὁμοφωνοῦντες καὶ ὁμογνωμονοῦντες. Οὕτω δέ φαμεν, ἐπινοίᾳ τινὶ τὴν ἄφραστον αὐτοῦ οἰκονομίαν σημαίνοντες, καὶ τὴν εἰς τὴν θεότητα αὐτοῦ συντείνουσαν βλασφημίαν ἐκκλίνοντες, οὐκ ἄλλον δὲ πιστεύοντες εἶναι τὸν ἐκ Πατρὸς Υἱὸν, καὶ ἄλλον τὸν γενόμενον σάρκα καὶ σταυρωθέντα· ἐπεὶ μήποτε διαζεύγνυσθαι ἑαυτῆς, μηδὲ τρέπεσθαι πέφυκεν ἡ θεότης. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόστολος δύο ἐνόησεν ἂν, εἰπών· «Χριστοῦ οὖν παθόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σαρκί.» Καὶ ὁ Ἱεροψάλτης γὰρ τὸ ἀπόῤῥητον τοῦτο μυστήριον τῆς οἰκονομίας καὶ κρύπτων πως καὶ ἀναπεπταμένως ἐκφαίνων, καὶ καλύπτων μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγνοῶν, καὶ ἀγνοῶν μᾶλλον ἢ καλύπτων, ἐν ρηʹ ψαλμῷ ὁμοιότροπον τοῦ μνημονευθέντος ῥήματος Πέτρου προφητεύει· «Καὶ γνώτωσαν, ὅτι ἡ χείρ σου αὕτη· καὶ σὺ, Κύριε, ἐποίησας αὐτήν·» διὰ μὲν τὸ ὁμοουσίως συνυπάρχειν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ πάντα γεγενῆσθαι πρὸς αὐτοῦ, χεῖρα τοῦ Πατρὸς προσαγορεύων τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον. ∆ιὰ δὲ τὸ ἀτρέπτως σάρκα, ὡς οἶδε καὶ ἠθέλησε, γεγενῆσθαι, λέγων αὐτὸν πεποιῆσθαι παρ' ἐκείνου, οὗ χείρ ἐστιν. Οὐκ ἀεὶ δὲ τὸ, «ἐποίησε,» νοεῖται ἀντὶ τοῦ, 39.845 «ἔκτισεν,» ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ σχέσιν· ὡς τὸν ἤδη ὄντα κατ' οὐσίωσιν διδάσκαλον, τότε ποιεῖ τις τῶν ἑαυτοῦ παίδων διδάσκαλον, ὅταν διδάσκειν τοὺς παῖδας ὁ διδάσκαλος ἄρξηται· καὶ ὡς ὅτε παῖδα τότε ποιεῖ τις στρατιώτην, ἢ ῥήτορα, ὅταν τὴν στρατείαν, ἢ τὸ ῥητορεύειν ὁ παῖς μετέρχηται. Τῇ γὰρ διανοίᾳ ταύτῃ περὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ Θεοῦ εἶπεν· «Βοηθὸς καὶ σκεπαστὴς ἐγένετό μοι εἰς σωτηρίαν·» καὶ Ἠσαΐας· «Ἐγένου πάσῃ πόλει ταπεινῇ βοηθός.» Καὶ ὁ Ἱεροψάλτης ἐν μὲν κθʹ ψαλμῷ· «Κύριος ἐγενήθη βοηθός μου·» ἐν δὲ λʹ· «Γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεὸν ὑπερασπιστὴν, καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς, τοῦ