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of a power evidently lying within him. Therefore, whatever he sees the Father doing, these things the Son also does likewise. {EUN.} But the likeness, he says, or comparison, or communion, according to essence, leaving no superiority or difference, clearly works out equality. {BAS.} How then does it leave no difference, not even that which exists in causes with respect to the things from them? Then he adds: {EUN.} Who is so foolish, or bold toward impiety, as to say the Son is equal to the Father? {BAS.} Let us say to him the words of the prophet in response to this: that, The face of a harlot has become yours; you have been shameless toward all. For those women also rub their own reproaches on those who have lived honorably; and this man calls those who desire to magnify the glory of the Only-begotten foolish and bold toward impiety, being angry at the same things at which the Jews were then provoked, saying that, He makes himself equal to God. And yet (and let what is said seem paradoxical to no one) those men seemed somehow more to perceive the consequence. For they were indignant that he called God his own Father; reasoning for themselves the consequence, that through this he makes himself equal to God; as if being equal to him necessarily follows from having God as Father. But he, while pretending to concede the first point, rejects the second, and puts before us the voice of the Lord saying: The Father, 29.565 who sent me, is greater than I; but he does not hear the Apostle saying that, He did not consider it a thing to be grasped to be equal with God. And yet if according to your argument unbegottenness were essence, and he wished to demonstrate the superiority in essence, he would have said: The unbegotten is greater than I. But it is your argument that the title of Father is indicative of an energy and not of an essence. Therefore, in saying the Father is greater than the Son, you say the energy is greater than the work. But every energy, surely, corresponds in measure to the things that come from it; it is great for great works, and small for smaller ones. To confess, therefore, according to this argument, that the Father is greater than the Son is nothing other than to posit the energy as incommensurate with the work, and to claim in vain that God was moved to the magnitude of the energy, being unable to make the end equal to the energy. So that one of the two will necessarily fall: either that the Father does not signify an energy, but an essence, and thus for them the sophistical argument of likeness will be erased, since they posit the Son is like the Father, that is, to the energy; for as the Father willed, he says, so he made, just as they also name him the image of the will; or, holding to this, to say that the Father is not greater. Since every energy, with nothing from without resisting, is commensurate with its own results. Let these things, therefore, have been said for the refutation of the inconsistency in their doctrines. But to which of all is this unclear, that 'the greater' is said either according to the principle of cause, or according to the surplus of power, or according to the superiority of rank, or according to the abundance of bulk? Therefore, that 'the greater' is not taken with respect to bulk 29.568 he himself has said beforehand, and it is reasonable that it is so; since 'the greater' in magnitudes is as much as the lesser, and more. But things uncircumscribed in magnitude, or rather without magnitude and altogether without quantity, who could measure against one another? And of things whose comparison is impossible, in what way could the surpassing be known in them? But to say that Christ is lacking in the power of God is for utter infants and for those who do not even hear the voice of the Lord, saying: I and the Father are one; taking 'the one' in place of 'the equal in power', as we shall show from the very words of the Gospel. For having said concerning those who have believed that, No one shall snatch them from my hand; and that The Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and, No one is able to snatch them from the hand of my Father, he added: I and the Father are one, clearly

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δυνάμεως ἐναποκει μένης αὐτῷ δηλονότι. Ὅθεν ὅσαπερ ἂν βλέπῃ τὸν Πατέρα ποιοῦντα, ταῦτα καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς ὁμοίως ποιεῖ. {ΕΥΝ.} Ἀλλ' ἡ κατ' οὐσίαν, φησὶν, ὁμοιότης, ἢ σύγκρισις, ἢ κοινωνία, μηδεμίαν ὑπεροχὴν ἢ διαφο ρὰν καταλείπουσα, ἰσότητα σαφῶς ἀπεργάζεται. {ΒΑΣ.} Πῶς οὖν οὐδεμίαν διαφορὰν καταλείπει, οὐδὲ τὴν τοῖς αἰτίοις πρὸς τὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐνυπάρχουσαν; Εἶτα ἐπάγει· {ΕΥΝ.} Τίς δὲ οὕτως ἀνόητος, ἢ πρὸς ἀσέβειαν τολ μηρὸς, ὥστε ἴσον εἰπεῖν τὸν Υἱὸν τῷ Πατρί; {ΒΑΣ.} Εἴπωμεν αὐτῷ τὰ τοῦ προφήτου πρὸς ταῦτα· ὅτι, Ὄψις πόρνης ἐγένετό σοι· ἀπηναισχύντησας πρὸς πάντας. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι τὰ ἑαυτῶν ὀνείδη τοῖς σεμνῶς βεβιωκόσι προστρίβονται· καὶ οὗτος τοὺς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς μεγαλύνειν ἐπιθυμοῦντας ἀνοήτους ἀποκαλεῖ καὶ πρὸς ἀσέβειαν τολμηροὺς, ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς χαλεπαίνων, ἐφ' οἷς καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι παρ ωξύνοντο τηνικαῦτα λέγοντες ὅτι, Ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιεῖ τῷ Θεῷ. Καίτοι γε (καὶ μηδενὶ παράδοξον τὸ λεγόμενον δόξῃ) μᾶλλόν πως ἐδόκουν ἐκεῖνοι τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐπι βλέπειν. Ἠγανάκτουν γὰρ, ὅτι Πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ ἔλεγε τὸν Θεόν· τὸ ἐφεξῆς ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν συλλογιζόμενοι, ὅτι διὰ τούτου ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιεῖ τῷ Θεῷ· ὡς ἀναγκαίως ἑπομένου τῷ Πατέρα ἔχειν τὸν Θεὸν τοῦ ἴσον ὑπάρχειν αὐτῷ. Ὁ δὲ, τὸ πρῶτον συγχωρῶν δῆθεν, πρὸς τὸ δεύτερον ἀνανεύει, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Κυ ρίου φωνὴν ἡμῖν προβάλλεται εἰπόντος· Ὁ Πατὴρ, 29.565 ὁ πέμψας με, μείζων μου ἐστί· τοῦ δὲ Ἀπο στόλου λέγοντος οὐκ ἀκούει ὅτι, Οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ. Καίτοι εἰ κατὰ τὸν σὸν λόγον ἡ ἀγεννησία οὐσία ἦν, ἐβούλετο δὲ τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν ὑπεροχὴν ἐπιδεῖξαι, εἶπεν ἄν· Ὁ ἀγέν νητος μείζων μου ἐστίν. Ὑμέτερος δέ ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, ὅτι ἡ τοῦ Πατρὸς προσηγορία ἐνεργείας ἐστὶ καὶ οὐκ οὐσίας σημαντική. Μείζονα οὖν λέγοντες τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὸν Πατέρα, μείζονα τοῦ ἔργου φατὲ τὴν ἐνέρ γειαν. Πᾶσα δὲ δήπου ἐνέργεια συμβαίνει τῷ μέτρῳ τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς γινομένοις· καὶ μεγάλη μὲν τῶν μεγάλων ἔργων ἐστὶ, σμικρὰ δὲ τῶν σμικροτέ ρων. Τὸ οὖν μείζονα τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὸν Πατέρα κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ὁμολογεῖν οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν, ἢ ἀσύμμετρον τῷ ἔργῳ τίθεσθαι τὴν ἐνέργειαν, καὶ μάτην φάσκειν πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας μέγεθος τὸν Θεὸν κεκινῆσθαι, οὐ δυνηθέντα τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ παρ ισῶσαι τὸ τέλος. Ὥστε τὸ ἕτερον τοῖν δυοῖν ἀναγ καίως διαπεσεῖται· ἢ μὴ δηλοῦν ἐνέργειαν τὸν Πα τέρα, ἀλλὰ οὐσίαν, καὶ οὕτως αὐτοῖς ὁ σεσοφισμέ νος τῆς ὁμοιότητος λόγος διαγεγράψεται, ὅμοιον τῷ Πατρὶ τὸν Υἱὸν τιθεμένων, τουτέστι, τῇ ἐνερ γείᾳ· οἷον γὰρ ἠθέλησεν ὁ Πατὴρ, φησὶ, τοιοῦτον ἐποίησε, καθὸ καὶ εἰκόνα βουλήσεως ὀνομά ζουσιν· ἢ τοῦτο φυλάσσοντας, μὴ εἶναι λέγειν μεί ζονα τὸν Πατέρα. Ἐπειδήπερ πᾶσα ἐνέργεια, μηδενὸς ἀνθισταμένου τῶν ἔξωθεν, σύμμετρός ἐστι τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀποτελέσμασι. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν πρὸς ἔλεγχον τῆς ἐν τοῖς δόγμασιν αὐτῶν ἀσυμφωνίας εἰρήσθω. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ τίνι τῶν πάντων ἄδηλον, ὅτι τὸ μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ τὸν τῆς αἰτίας λόγον, ἢ κατὰ τὸν τῆς δυνάμεως πλεονασμὸν, ἢ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀξιώματος ὑπεροχὴν, ἢ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὄγκων περιου σίαν λέγεται; Κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὸν ὄγκον μὴ εἰλῆ 29.568 φθαι τὸ μεῖζον αὐτός τε οὗτος προλαβὼν ἔφησε, καὶ τὸ εἰκὸς οὕτως ἔχει· ἐπειδήπερ τὸ μεῖζον ἐν τοῖς μεγέθεσι τοσοῦτόν ἐστιν, ὅσον καὶ τὸ ἔλαττον, καὶ ἔτι. Τὰ δὲ ἀπερίληπτα τῷ μεγέθει, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀμεγέθη καὶ ἄποσα παντελῶς, τίς ἂν ἀλλήλοις πα ραμετρήσειεν; ὧν δὲ ἀμήχανος ἡ παράθεσις, τίνι ἂν τρόπῳ ἐν τούτοις τὸ ὑπερβάλλον ἐπιγνωσθείη; ∆υ νάμει δὲ λέγειν ἐλλείπειν τὸν Χριστὸν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμιν κομιδῆ νηπίων καὶ οὐδὲ κατακουόντων τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ Κυρίου, λέγοντος· Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν· καὶ τὸ ἓν ἀντὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν ἴσου παραλαμβάνοντος, ὡς ἐξ αὐτῶν δείξομεν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τῶν ῥημάτων. Εἰπὼν γὰρ περὶ τῶν πιστευσάντων ὅτι, Οὐ μή τις ἁρπάσῃ ἐκ τῆς χει ρός μου· καὶ ὅτι Ὁ Πατὴρ, ὃς δέδωκέ μοι, μεί ζων πάντων ἐστί· καὶ, Οὐδεὶς δύναται ἁρπάσαι ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ Πατρός μου, ἐπήγαγεν· Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν, σαφῶς