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In older books we have read *He possessed* written instead of *He created me*. And possession certainly signifies through the proverbs' enigmas the servant, the one who for our sake took on the form of a servant. But if someone should also put forward the prevailing reading in the churches in this part, we do not reject 111 the word *created*. For this also looks to the meaning of "servant" through the enigma, since all creation serves, as the apostle says. For this reason we say that this word is also pious. For he who for our sake became like us was truly created in the last days, he who in the beginning was the Word and God, but after these things became flesh and man. But the nature of the flesh is created; partaking of which in all things in likeness without sin, he was created becoming man, and he was created according to God, not according to man, as the apostle says, in a certain new 112 way and not according to human custom. For we learned that it was from the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High, yet nevertheless this new man was created, whom Paul, the interpreter of the ineffable mysteries, commands us to put on, naming the garment in two ways, now saying *Put on the new man, who was created according to God*, and again that *Put on the Lord Jesus Christ*.

For he who said *I am the way* becomes for us who have put him on the beginning of the ways of salvation, that he might make us the works of his hands, having reworked us again from the evil creation of sin to his own image. And he himself also becomes for us a foundation before the age to come according to the voice of Paul, who says that *No one can lay a foundation other than the one laid*, and *Before the springs of waters came forth and before the mountains were established and before He made the abysses and before all hills 113 he begets me*. For it is possible for each of these things, being taken according to proverbial custom, to be applied to the Word in a tropical interpretation. For the great David calls the mountains of God righteousness, and the abysses his judgments, and the springs the teachers in the churches, saying, *Bless the Lord God from the springs of Israel*; and the hills, guilelessness, which he showed through the leaping of the lambs. Before these things, therefore, the man created for us is begotten in us, so that the creation of such things might also find a place in us. But I think it is necessary to pass over the argument concerning these things, the truth having been sufficiently shown in a few words to the well-disposed; let us now proceed to the subsequent arguments of Eunomius.

114 *In the beginning*, he says, *being, not without beginning*. Oh, how he who thinks himself wiser than others understands the divine words! He interprets the one who is *in the beginning* as having a beginning, and does not know that, if the one who is in the beginning has a beginning, then the beginning certainly has another beginning. For whatever he might say about the beginning, this he will certainly, by necessity, also confess concerning the one who is in the beginning. For how shall the one who is in the beginning be separated from the beginning? And how can someone conceive of "was not" before "was"? For in whatever way one may raise and stretch his mind toward the comprehension of the beginning, he certainly comprehends at the same time the Word who is in it, being unable to be separated from the beginning in which he is, never either beginning to be in it nor ceasing. But let no one through these things divide the doctrine into two beginnings. For there is truly one beginning, in which is inseparably contemplated the Word, who is united through all things to the 115 Father. He who thinks these things will give no way for the heresy to do violence to piety through the innovation of the name "unbegotten". But in what is set forth next, his argument resembles bread having a great mixture of sand. For by mixing heretical thoughts with what is said soundly, he makes even the nourishment inedible because of the stone mixed in. For he calls the Lord living wisdom and active truth and subsistent power and life; up to this point, it is nourishment. But he places the poison of heresy in the things that have been said. For by naming the life "begotten," he understands something other by the contrast with the unbegotten life, and not

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ἀρχαιοτέραις βίβλοις ἀνέγνωμεν Ἐκτήσατο γε γραμμένον ἀντὶ τοῦ Ἔκτισέ με. ἐμφαίνει δὲ πάντως τὸν δοῦλον ἡ κτῆσις διὰ τῶν παροιμιακῶν αἰνιγμάτων τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς ἀναλαβόντα τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφήν. εἰ δέ τις καὶ τὴν ἐπικρατοῦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἀνάγνωσιν ἐν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ προβάλοιτο, οὐδὲ τὴν Ἔκτισε φωνὴν ἀποβάλ 111 λομεν. καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ δούλου σημασίαν διὰ τοῦ αἰνίγματος βλέπει, ἐπειδὴ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις δουλεύει, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν εὐσεβῶς ἔχειν φαμέν. ἐκτίσθη γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν ὁ δι' ἡμᾶς καθ' ἡμᾶς γενόμενος, ὁ ἐν μὲν τῇ ἀρχῇ λόγος ὢν καὶ θεός, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ σὰρξ γενόμενος καὶ ἄνθρωπος. κτιστὴ δὲ τῆς σαρκὸς ἡ φύσις· ἧς μετασχὼν κατὰ πάντα καθ' ὁμοιότητα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ἐκτίσθη γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, ἐκτίσθη δὲ κατὰ θεόν, οὐ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, καινόν τινα 112 τρόπον καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην συνήθειαν. ἐμάθομεν γὰρ ὅτι ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ τῆς τοῦ ὑψίστου δυνάμεως, πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐκτίσθη ὁ καινὸς οὗτος ἄνθρωπος, ὃν κελεύει ὁ τῶν ἀρρήτων μυστηρίων ὑφηγητὴς Παῦλος ἐνδύσασθαι ἡμᾶς διχῶς ὀνομάζων τὸ ἔνδυμα, νῦν μὲν λέγων Ἐνδύ σασθε τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα, πάλιν δὲ ὅτι Ἐνδύσασθε τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν.

Οὗτος γὰρ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐνδυσαμένοις αὐτὸν γίνεται ἀρχὴ τῶν ὁδῶν τῆς σωτηρίας ὁ εἰπὼν Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδός, ἵνα ἔργα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ χειρῶν ποιήσῃ ἡμᾶς, ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ πλάσματος τῆς ἁμαρτίας πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν εἰκόνα πάλιν μετεργασάμενος. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ θεμέλιος ἡμῖν γίνεται πρὸ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου φωνήν, ὅς φησιν ὅτι Θεμέλιον οὐδεὶς δύναται θεῖναι παρὰ τὸν κείμενον, καὶ Πρὸ τοῦ ἐλ θεῖν τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι καὶ πρὸ τοῦ τὰς ἀβύσσους ποιῆσαι καὶ πρὸ πάντων βουνῶν 113 γεννᾷ με. δυνατὸν γὰρ ἕκαστον τούτων κατὰ τὴν παροι μιώδη συνήθειαν μεταληφθὲν εἰς τροπικὴν θεωρίαν ἐφαρ μοσθῆναι τῷ λόγῳ. ὁ γὰρ μέγας ∆αβὶδ δικαιοσύνην ὀνο μάζει τὰ ὄρη τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀβύσσους δὲ τὰ κρίματα, πηγὰς δὲ τοὺς διδασκάλους ἐν ἐκκλησίαις λέγων Εὐλογεῖτε τὸν θεὸν κύριον ἐκ πηγῶν Ἰσραήλ· βουνοὺς δὲ τὴν ἀκακίαν, ἣν διὰ τοῦ σκιρτήματος τῶν ἀρνίων ἐνεδείξατο. πρὸ τού των οὖν ἐν ἡμῖν γεννᾶται ὁ δι' ἡμᾶς κτισθεὶς ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα καὶ ἡ τῶν τοιούτων κτίσις ἐν ἡμῖν χώραν εὕρῃ. ἀλλὰ παραδραμεῖν οἶμαι χρῆναι τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον, ἱκανῶς τοῖς εὐγνώμοσιν ὑποδειχθείσης δι' ὀλίγων τῆς ἀληθείας· ἐπὶ δὲ τὰ ἐφεξῆς τῶν τοῦ Εὐνομίου λόγων μετέλθωμεν.

114 Ἐν ἀρχῇ, φησίν, ὄντα, οὐκ ἄναρχον. ὢ πῶς νοεῖ τὰς θείας φωνὰς ὁ ἐπὶ συνέσει ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους φρο νῶν; τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα ἀρχὴν ἔχοντα ἑρμηνεύει, καὶ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι, εἰ ἀρχὴν ἔχει ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὤν, καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ πάντως ἔχει ἄλλην ἀρχήν. ὃ γὰρ ἂν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς εἴπῃ, τοῦτο κατ' ἀνάγκην καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ ὄντος ὁμολογήσει πάντως. πῶς γὰρ τὸ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ ὂν τῆς ἀρχῆς χωρισθή σεται; πῶς δέ τις τὸ οὐκ ἦν προεπινοήσει τοῦ ἦν; ὅπως γὰρ ἄν τις ἀναγαγὼν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν πρὸς τὴν κατα νόησιν τῆς ἀρχῆς ὑπερτείνῃ, συγκατανοεῖ πάντως τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ ὄντα λόγον χωρισθῆναι τῆς ἐν ᾗ ἐστιν ἀρχῆς μὴ δυνάμενον, οὐδέποτε τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ εἶναι οὔτε ἀρχόμενον οὔτε παυόμενον. μηδεὶς δὲ διὰ τούτων εἰς δύο ἀρχὰς δια σχιζέτω τὸ δόγμα. μία γάρ ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡ ἀρχή, ᾗ ἀχωρίστως ἐνθεωρεῖται ὁ λόγος ὁ διὰ πάντων πρὸς τὸν 115 πατέρα ἡνωμένος. ὁ ταῦτα φρονῶν οὐδεμίαν δώσει τῇ αἱρέσει πάροδον διὰ τῆς καινοτομίας τοῦ ἀγέννητος ὀνό ματος τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ λυμαίνεσθαι. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐφεξῆς ἐκτε θεῖσιν ἄρτῳ ἔοικεν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ πολλὴν ἔχοντι τὴν ἐπι μιξίαν τῆς ἄμμου. τοῖς γὰρ ὑγιῶς λεγομένοις τὰ αἱρετικὰ συμμίξας νοήματα ἄβρωτον διὰ τοῦ συμμεμειγμένου λίθου ποιεῖ καὶ τὸ τρόφιμον. λέγει γὰρ σοφίαν ζῶσαν τὸν κύριον καὶ ἀλήθειαν ἐνεργοῦσαν καὶ δύναμιν ὑφεστῶσαν καὶ ζωήν· ἕως τούτου τὸ τρόφιμον. ἐν τίθησι δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὸν ἰὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως. γεννη τὴν γὰρ τὴν ζωὴν ὀνομάσας ἄλλο τι τῇ πρὸς τὴν ἀγέν νητον ζωὴν ἀντιδιαστολῇ νοεῖν καὶ οὐχὶ