20
him". And he called God the one who made man and the one in whose imitation he formed the one whom he fashioned; not because the form of this one is different from that one; for the nature of the Trinity is one; for this reason he said that God had said: "Let us make 2.63 man in our image and after our likeness." And he added, "in the image of God he made him," to show the difference of the persons. And indeed, when legislating to Noah about eating meat and forbidding the consumption of blood, he said that the God of all had said: "You shall eat everything as the green herbs; but flesh with its life, which is its blood, you shall not eat. For I will surely require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of his brother. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God I made man. 2.64" And he did not say "in my own image," but "in the image of God," again showing the difference of the persons. And when those who had raged against the creator, gathered together in the same place, were building that great tower, named for the confusion of tongues, the lawgiver said that God had said: "Come, let us go down and confuse their tongues. 2.65" And the phrase "let us go down and confuse" indicates equality of honor; for he did not say "go down" or "let him go down," which is fitting for subjects and those under command, but "let us go down and confuse," which clearly indicates equality; and the word "come" signifies the Son and 2.66 the Spirit, the partners in creation. For since, when fashioning man, he said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness," it is reasonable that, when dividing the one language into many, he takes as fellow workers the 2.67 Son and the all-holy Spirit. And later in time, wishing to destroy Sodom and the neighboring cities, partners in impiety and lawlessness, with firestorms and lightning, he showed us a dyad of Lords, and Moses, who wrote these things, says: "And the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah fire 2.68 and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven." And lest anyone suppose that this prophet alone spoke about the divine Trinity, hear, O beloved, the divinely inspired David also crying out: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their host." And again: "The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." And after a little, the father of the Lord says to the same Lord: "From the womb before the morning star I have begotten you." And in another psalm: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom; you have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness 2.69 beyond your companions." And the prophet Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and Zechariah and Micah and the entire chorus of these offer us the same teaching; but I think it superfluous to show you these things, since you have not yet brought forth the confession of faith. 2.70 I shall turn, therefore, to another method of teaching and I will show that Plato and those after him plundered something of the theology from these divine men, and inserted it into their own 2.71 writings. For Plato, in what he wrote to Coriscus, added this also: "Swearing with a seriousness that is not uncultured and with playfulness, the sister of seriousness, swearing by the guide of all gods, of things that are and things that will be, and by the father and lord of the guide and cause, whom, if you philosophize correctly, you will know." These, O dear men, are the doctrines of Plato. 2.72 But of these, some are praiseworthy and adhere to the apostolic and prophetic teaching, but others are the offspring of Hellenic 2.73 mythology. For by saying that the guide and cause of the universe is one, and the father of the cause is another, he artlessly showed the truth, from which he drew and adorned his own discourses; but by [calling] him [the guide] of gods
20
αὐτόν". Καὶ Θεὸν ὠνόμασε τὸν πεποιηκότα τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὸν οὗ πρὸς μίμησιν ἐξετύπωσεν ὃν διέπλασεν· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ἄλλο τούτου καὶ ἄλλο ἐκείνου τὸ εἶδος· μία γὰρ δὴ τῆς Τριάδος ἡ φύσις· τούτου γὰρ δὴ χάριν καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἔφησεν εἰρηκέναι· "Ποιήσω 2.63 μεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν." Καὶ ἐπήγαγε "κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν", ἵνα δείξῃ τὸ τῶν προσώπων διάφορον. Καὶ δὴ καὶ τῷ Νῶε περὶ κρεηφαγίας νομο θετῶν καὶ τοῦ αἵματος ἀπαγορεύων τὴν ἐδωδήν, ἔφη τὸν τῶν ὅλων εἰρηκέναι Θεόν· "Ἔδεσθε πάντα ὡς λάχανα χόρτου· πλὴν κρέας ἐν αἵματι ψυχῆς οὐκ ἔδεσθε· καὶ γὰρ τὸ ὑμέτερον αἷμα ἐκζητήσω· ἐκ πάντων τῶν θηρίων ἐκζητήσω αὐτό, καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς ἀνθρώπου ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ. Ὁ ἐκχέων αἷμα ἀνθρώπου, ἀντὶ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ ἐκχυθήσεται, ὅτι ἐν εἰκόνι Θεοῦ ἐποίησα τὸν ἄνθρω 2.64 πον." Καὶ οὐκ ἔφη "ἐν εἰκόνι ἐμαυτοῦ", ἀλλ' "ἐν εἰκόνι Θεοῦ", τῶν προσώπων πάλιν δεικνὺς τὸ διάφορον. Καὶ ἡνίκα δὲ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ξυλλεγέντες οἱ κατὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος λυττή σαντες, τὸν πύργον ἐκεῖνον ᾠκοδόμουν τὸν μέγιστον, τῆς τῶν γλωττῶν ξυγχύσεως τὸν ἐπώνυμον, φάναι τὸν Θεὸν εἴρηκεν ὁ νομοθέτης· "∆εῦτε καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν τὰς γλώσ 2.65 σας." Καὶ τὸ μὲν "καταβάντες συγχέωμεν" δηλοῖ τὸ ὁμότιμον· οὐ γὰρ εἶπε "κατάβηθι" ἢ "καταβήτω", ὅπερ δὴ τοὶς ὑπη κόοις καὶ προσταττομένοις ἁρμόττει, ἀλλὰ "καταβάντες συγχέω μεν", ὃ σαφῶς δηλοῖ τὴν ἰσότητα· τὸ δὲ "δεῦτε" τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ 2.66 τὸ Πνεῦμα σημαίνει, τῆς δημιουργίας τοὺς κοινωνούς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ καὶ διαπλάττων τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔφη "ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν", εἰκότως ἄρα καὶ μερίζων εἰς πολλὰς τὴν μίαν φωνὴν ξυνεργοὺς λαμβάνει τὸν 2.67 Υἱὸν καὶ τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦμα. Χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον πρηστῆρσι καὶ κεραυνοῖς ἀναλῶσαι τὰ Σόδομα βουληθεὶς καὶ τὰς ἀγχιτέρμονας πόλεις, τῆς ἀσεβείας καὶ παρανομίας τὰς κοινωνούς, δυάδα Κυ ρίων ἡμῖν ἐπέδειξε, καί φησι Μωϋσῆς ὁ ταῦτα ξυγγεγραφώς· "Καὶ ἔβρεξε Κύριος παρὰ Κυρίου ἐπὶ Σόδομα καὶ Γόμορρα πῦρ 2.68 καὶ θεῖον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ." Καὶ ἵνα μή τις ὑπολάβῃ, τοῦτον μόνον τὸν προφήτην τὰ περὶ τῆς θείας εἰρηκέναι Τριάδος, ἀκού σατε, ὦ φιλότης, καὶ τοῦ θεσπεσίου βοῶντος ∆αυίδ· "Τῷ λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν." Καὶ πάλιν· "Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τῷ Κυρίῳ μου· κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου." Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα δὲ πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν Κύριον ὁ τοῦ Κυρίου λέγει πατήρ· "Ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε." Καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ ψαλμῷ· "Ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ Θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβ δος τῆς βασιλείας σου· ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνο μίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεός σου ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως 2.69 παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου." Τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ ἡμῖν διδασκαλίαν καὶ Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης καὶ Ἱερεμίας καὶ Ἰεζεκιὴλ καὶ ∆ανιὴλκαὶ Ζαχαρίας καὶ Μιχαίας καὶ ἅπας ὁ τούτων προσφέρει χορός· ἀλλὰ παρέλκον οἶμαι ταῦτα ὑμῖν ἐπιδεικνύναι μηδέπω προσενη νοχόσι τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς πίστεως. 2.70 Ἐφ' ἑτέραν τοίνυν μέθοδον διδασκαλίας τραπήσομαι καὶ δείξω τὸν Πλάτωνα καὶ τοὺς μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἐκ τούτων μὲν τῶν θείων ἀνδρῶν τῆς θεολογίας σεσυληκότας τινά, τοῖς δὲ σφετέροις ἐντε 2.71 θεικότας ξυγγράμμασιν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Πλάτων, ἐν οἷς πρὸς Κορί σκον ἐπέστειλε, καὶ τάδε προστέθεικεν· "Ἐπομνύντας σπουδῇ τε ἅμα μὴ ἀμούσῳ καὶ τῇ τῆς σπουδῆς ἀδελφῇ παιδιᾷ καὶ τὸν πάντων θεῶν ἡγεμόνα τῶν τε ὄντων καὶ τῶν μελλόντων τοῦ τε ἡγεμόνος καὶ αἰτίου πατέρα καὶ κύριον ἐπομνύντας, ὅν, ἐὰν ὀρθῶς φιλοσοφῆτε, εἴσεσθε." Ταῦτα, ὦ φίλοι ἄνδρες, τοῦ Πλάτωνός 2.72 ἐστι δόγματα. Ἀλλὰ τούτων τὰ μὲν ἀξιέπαινα καὶ τῆς ἀποστο λικῆς καὶ προφητικῆς διδασκαλίας ἐχόμενα, τὰ δὲ τῆς Ἑλληνι 2.73 κῆς μυθολογίας κυήματα. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ φάναι ἄλλον εἶναι τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ἡγεμόνα καὶ αἴτιον, ἄλλον δὲ τὸν τοῦ αἰτίου πατέρα, ἀτεχνῶς ἔδειξε τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἐξ ἧς ἀρυσάμενος τοὺς οἰκείους διεκάλλυνε λόγους· τῷ δέ γε θεῶν αὐτὸν