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of the things being said, they may separate the only-begotten God from his unity with the Father. For this reason they say: before his generation into being, he was not the Son; but the sons of rams, whom the prophet mentions, are they not also called sons after they have come into being? 105 Therefore, what the argument observes in the case of the sons of rams, that before their generation into being they were not sons of rams, this our solemn theologian now applies to the Maker of the ages and of all creation, to the one who has the eternal Father in himself and is contemplated in the Father’s eternity, just as he himself says that, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. But those who are unable to detect the malice in the statement, nor have been trained to understand any logical consequence, follow these incoherent statements, 106 accepting what is attached to them as a consequence; for it says 'having come into being before all creation;' and as if this expression were not sufficient to demonstrate the impiety, he lies in wait with the next statement, uttering the blasphemy that he is 'not uncreated.' How then does he name 'true Son' him who is not uncreated? For if it is fitting to call the not-uncreated a 'true Son,' then the heaven is certainly a true son also; for it too is not uncreated. Thus the sun is also a true son, and all things, both small and great, that creation has, are certainly worthy of the title 'true Son.' But how does he call 'only-begotten' one who has 'come into being'? For all things that have come into being are certainly brothers of one another, 107 I mean according to the very principle of 'coming into being.' And from whom has he 'come into being'? For if anything has come into being, it has certainly come into being from the Son. For thus John testifies, saying that, All things came into being through him. If, therefore, the Son also 'came into being' according to the argument of Eunomius, he is certainly in the nature of things that have come into being. If, therefore, all things that have come into being came into being through him, and the Word is one of the things that have come into being, who is so foolish as not to perceive from what has been posited the absurdity, that this new dogmatist declares that the Lord of creation has become a work of himself, by plainly saying that the Lord and Creator 108 of all creation is not uncreated? From where does he get his boldness, let him say. From what God-inspired scripture? What evangelist, what apostle uttered such a saying? What prophet or lawgiver or patriarch or any other of those borne by the Holy Spirit, whose sayings are recorded, has taught such an expression? We have learned of Father and Son and Holy Spirit in the tradition of the faith from the Truth. If it were necessary to believe him to be created, how is it that the Truth, in handing down the mystery to us, legislated faith in the Son and not in the creature? And how does the divine apostle, while worshiping Christ, define those who serve the creation rather than the creator as idolaters? 109 For either he would not have worshiped him, if he were created, or he would not have ranked those who serve the creation with idolaters, lest he himself should seem to be an idolater by offering worship to a created being. But he knows that he who is worshiped by him is God over all; for so he names the Son in his epistle to the Romans. Therefore, why do those who alienate the Son from the essence of the Father and call him created mockingly bestow upon him a false name, vainly applying the title 'God' to one who is foreign to the true divinity, as if to Bel or Dagon or the serpent? So let those who define him as created either not confess him to be God at all, so that they may appear to be Judaizing, or if they confess the one who was created to be God, let them not deny that they are idolaters.

110 But they certainly bring forward that proverbial saying, which says that, The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways, for his works. Now it is possible to set this forth more clearly through many arguments; however, it should be possible to convey the meaning in few words to the well-disposed. For some of those who have been accurately instructed in divine things also say this, that 'He created' is not written in the Hebrew, and we in

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λεγομένων ἀποστήσωσι τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν τῆς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἑνότητος. διὰ τοῦτό φασιν· πρὸ τῆς εἰς τὸ εἶναι γεννήσεως οὐκ ἦν υἱός· οἱ δὲ τῶν κριῶν υἱοί, ὧν ὁ προφήτης μέμνηται, οὐχὶ κἀκεῖνοι μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι κα 105 λοῦνται υἱοί; ὅπερ οὖν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν κριῶν ἐνορᾷ ὁ λόγος, τὸ πρὸ τῆς εἰς τὸ εἶναι γεννήσεως μὴ εἶναι αὐτοὺς υἱοὺς κριῶν, τοῦτο νῦν ὁ σεμνὸς θεολόγος ἀνατίθησι τῷ ποιητῇ τῶν αἰώνων καὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως, τῷ τὸν ἀΐδιον πατέρα ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχοντι καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀϊδιότητι θεωρου μένῳ, καθὼς αὐτός φησιν ὅτι Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί. ἀλλ' οἱ μὴ δυνάμενοι τὴν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ κακουργίαν φωρᾶσαι μηδέ τινα τοῦ ἀκολούθου κατανόησιν πεπαιδευμένοι τοῖς ἀσυναρτήτοις τούτοις ἀκολουθοῦσιν, ὡς 106 ἀκόλουθον δεχόμενοι τὸ τούτοις προσκείμενον φησὶ γὰρ ὅτι πρὸ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως γενόμενον· καὶ ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀρκούσης τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης πρὸς ἔνδειξιν τῆς ἀσε βείας, ἐφεδρεύει τῷ ἐφεξῆς λόγῳ τὴν βλασφημίαν εἰπὼν ὅτι οὐκ ἄκτιστον. πῶς οὖν ὀνομάζει υἱὸν ἀληθινὸν τὸν οὐκ ἄκτιστον; εἰ γὰρ τὸν οὐκ ἄκτιστον υἱὸν ἀληθινὸν λέγειν προσήκει, ἀληθινὸς υἱὸς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς πάντως ἐστί· καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἄκτιστός ἐστιν. οὕτως ἀληθινὸς υἱὸς καὶ ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ἡ κτίσις ἔχει μικρά τε καὶ μείζονα, τῆς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίας ἄξια πάντως ἐστίν. πῶς δὲ λέγει μονογενῆ τὸν γενόμενον; πάντα γὰρ τὰ γενόμενα ἀδελφὰ πάντως ἐστὶν ἀλλήλων, 107 κατ' αὐτὸν λέγω τὸν τοῦ γενέσθαι λόγον. παρὰ τίνος δὲ καὶ γενόμενον; πάντα γὰρ εἴ τι γέγονε, παρὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ πάντως ἐγένετο. οὕτως γὰρ ὁ Ἰωάννης μαρτύρεται λέγων ὅτι Πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο. εἰ τοίνυν καὶ ὁ υἱὸς κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Εὐνομίου λόγον ἐγένετο, πάντως ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν γενομένων καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν. εἰ οὖν πάντα τὰ γενόμενα δι' ἐκείνου ἐγένετο, ἓν δὲ τῶν γενομένων καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐστίν, τίς οὕτως ἀνόητος, ὡς μὴ συνιδεῖν διὰ τῶν τεθέντων τὸ ἄτοπον, ὅτι αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἔργον γεγενῆσθαι τὸν δεσπότην τῆς κτίσεως ὁ καινὸς οὗτος δογματιστὴς ἀποφαίνεται, τῷ διαρρήδην εἰπεῖν μὴ ἄκτιστον εἶναι τὸν κύριον καὶ δημιουρ 108 γὸν πάσης τῆς κτίσεως; πόθεν ἔχει τὴν παρρησίαν, εἰπάτω. ἐκ ποίας θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς; τίς εὐαγγελιστής, ποῖος ἀπόστολος τὴν τοιαύτην ἀφῆκε φωνήν; τίς προφήτης ἢ νομοθέτης ἢ πατριάρχης ἢ ἄλλος τις τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος θεοφορουμένων, ὧν ἀνάγραπτοί εἰσιν αἱ φωναί, τῆς τοιαύτης ῥήσεως καθηγήσατο; πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐν τῇ παραδόσει τῆς πίστεως παρὰ τῆς ἀλη θείας ἐμάθομεν. εἰ κτιστὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι πιστεύειν ἐχρῆν, πῶς παραδιδοῦσα ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον ἡ ἀλήθεια τὴν εἰς τὸν υἱὸν πίστιν καὶ οὐκ εἰς τὸ κτίσμα ἐνομοθέτησε; πῶς δὲ προσκυνῶν τὸν Χριστὸν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τοὺς τῇ κτίσει λατρεύοντας παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα εἰδωλολατρεῖν διορί 109 ζεται; ἢ γὰρ οὐκ ἂν προσεκύνησεν, εἰ κτιστὸς ἦν, ἢ οὐκ ἂν τοῖς εἰδωλολάτραις συνέταξε τοὺς τῇ κτίσει λατρεύοντας, ἵνα μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς εἰδωλολατρεῖν δόξῃ προσάγων τῷ κτιστῷ τὴν προσκύνησιν. ἀλλ' οἶδεν ὅτι ὁ παρ' αὐτοῦ προσκυνού μενος ἐπὶ πάντων ἐστὶ θεός· οὕτω γὰρ ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ῥω μαίους λόγῳ τὸν υἱὸν ὀνομάζει· οἱ τοίνυν ἀποξενοῦντες τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱὸν καὶ κτιστὸν αὐτὸν λέγοντες τί χλευαστικῶς αὐτῷ τὴν ψευδώνυμον κλῆσιν χαρίζονται, τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ τῆς ἀληθινῆς θεότητος τὴν θεὸς φωνὴν μάτην ἐπιφημίζοντες ὥσπερ τῷ Βὴλ ἢ τῷ ∆αγὼν ἢ τῷ δράκοντι; ὥστε ἢ μηδὲ θεὸν ὁμολογείτωσαν αὐτὸν οἱ κτιστὸν εἶναι διοριζόμενοι, ἵνα φανῶσιν ἰουδαΐζοντες, ἢ εἴπερ ὁμολογοῦσι τὸν κτισθέντα εἶναι θεόν, εἰδωλολατρεῖν μὴ ἀρνείσθωσαν.

110 Ἀλλὰ τὴν παροιμιώδη φωνὴν πάντως προφέρουσιν, ἥ φησιν ὅτι Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ, εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ. τοῦτο δὲ διὰ πλειόνων μὲν ἔστιν παραθέσθαι σαφέστερον ὅπως ἔχει· πλὴν δυνατὸν ἂν εἴη καὶ δι' ὀλί γων τοῖς εὐγνώμοσι παραδοῦναι τὸ νόημα. λέγουσι γὰρ καὶ τοῦτό τινες τῶν δι' ἀκριβείας τὰ θεῖα πεπαιδευ μένων, ὅτι οὐ γέγραπται παρ' Ἑβραίοις τὸ Ἔκτισε, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν