Against Eunomius.
Contents of Book I.
Contents of Book II.
Contents of Book III.
Contents of Book IV.
Contents of Book V.
Contents of Book VI.
Contents of Book VII.
Contents of Book VIII.
Contents of Book IX.
Contents of Book X.
Contents of Book XI.
Contents of Book XII.
§1. Preface.—It is useless to attempt to benefit those who will not accept help.
§2. We have been justly provoked to make this Answer, being stung by Eunomius’ accusations of our brother.
§3. We see nothing remarkable in logical force in the treatise of Eunomius, and so embark on our Answer with a just confidence.
§4. Eunomius displays much folly and fine writing, but very little seriousness about vital points.
§5. His peculiar caricature of the bishops, Eustathius of Armenia and Basil of Galatia, is not well drawn.
§6. A notice of Aetius, Eunomius’ master in heresy, and of Eunomius himself, describing the origin and avocations of each.
§7. Eunomius himself proves that the confession of faith which He made was not impeached.
§8. Facts show that the terms of abuse which he has employed against Basil are more suitable for himself.
§9. In charging Basil with not defending his faith at the time of the ‘Trials,’ he lays himself open to the same charge.
§10. All his insulting epithets are shewn by facts to be false.
§11. The sophistry which he employs to prove our acknowledgment that he had been tried, and that the confession of his faith had not been unimpeached,
§12. His charge of cowardice is baseless: for Basil displayed the highest courage before the Emperor and his Lord-Lieutenants.
§13. Résumé of his dogmatic teaching. Objections to it in detail.
§14. He did wrong, when mentioning the Doctrines of Salvation, in adopting terms of his own choosing instead of the traditional terms Father, Son, and
§15. He does wrong in making the being of the Father alone proper and supreme, implying by his omission of the Son and the Spirit that theirs is impro
§16. Examination of the meaning of ‘subjection:’ in that he says that the nature of the Holy Spirit is subject to that of the Father and the Son. It i
§17. Discussion as to the exact nature of the ‘energies’ which, this man declares, ‘follow’ the being of the Father and of the Son.
§18. He has no reason for distinguishing a plurality of beings in the Trinity. He offers no demonstration that it is so.
§19. His acknowledgment that the Divine Being is ‘single’ is only verbal.
§20. He does wrong in assuming, to account for the existence of the Only-Begotten, an ‘energy’ that produced Christ’s Person.
§21. The blasphemy of these heretics is worse than the Jewish unbelief.
§22. He has no right to assert a greater and less in the Divine being. A systematic statement of the teaching of the Church.
§23. These doctrines of our Faith witnessed to and confirmed by Scripture passages .
§24. His elaborate account of degrees and differences in ‘works’ and ‘energies’ within the Trinity is absurd .
§25. He who asserts that the Father is ‘prior’ to the Son with any thought of an interval must perforce allow that even the Father is not without begi
§26. It will not do to apply this conception, as drawn out above, of the Father and Son to the Creation, as they insist on doing: but we must contempl
§27. He falsely imagines that the same energies produce the same works, and that variation in the works indicates variation in the energies.
§28. He falsely imagines that we can have an unalterable series of harmonious natures existing side by side.
§29. He vainly thinks that the doubt about the energies is to be solved by the beings, and reversely.
§30. There is no Word of God that commands such investigations: the uselessness of the philosophy which makes them is thereby proved.
§31. The observations made by watching Providence are sufficient to give us the knowledge of sameness of Being.
§32. His dictum that ‘the manner of the likeness must follow the manner of the generation’ is unintelligible.
§33. He declares falsely that ‘the manner of the generation is to be known from the intrinsic worth of the generator’.
§34. The Passage where he attacks the ‘ Ομοούσιον , and the contention in answer to it.
§35. Proof that the Anomœan teaching tends to Manichæism.
§36. A passing repetition of the teaching of the Church.
§37. Defence of S. Basil’s statement, attacked by Eunomius, that the terms ‘Father’ and ‘The Ungenerate’ can have the same meaning .
§38. Several ways of controverting his quibbling syllogisms .
§39. Answer to the question he is always asking, “Can He who is be begotten?”
§40. His unsuccessful attempt to be consistent with his own statements after Basil has confuted him.
§41. The thing that follows is not the same as the thing that it follows.
§42. Explanation of ‘Ungenerate,’ and a ‘study’ of Eternity.
Book II
Book II.
§2. Gregory then makes an explanation at length touching the eternal Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
§3. Gregory proceeds to discuss the relative force of the unnameable name of the Holy Trinity and the mutual relation of the Persons, and moreover the
§4. He next skilfully confutes the partial, empty and blasphemous statement of Eunomius on the subject of the absolutely existent.
§5. He next marvellously overthrows the unintelligible statements of Eunomius which assert that the essence of the Father is not separated or divided,
§6. He then shows the unity of the Son with the Father and Eunomius’ lack of understanding and knowledge in the Scriptures.
§7. Gregory further shows that the Only-Begotten being begotten not only of the Father, but also impassibly of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost, does not
§8. He further very appositely expounds the meaning of the term “Only-Begotten,” and of the term “First born,” four times used by the Apostle.
§9. Gregory again discusses the generation of the Only-Begotten, and other different modes of generation, material and immaterial, and nobly demonstra
§10. He explains the phrase “The Lord created Me,” and the argument about the origination of the Son, the deceptive character of Eunomius’ reasoning,
§11. After expounding the high estate of the Almighty, the Eternity of the Son, and the phrase “being made obedient,” he shows the folly of Eunomius i
§12. He thus proceeds to a magnificent discourse of the interpretation of “Mediator,” “Like,” “Ungenerate,” and “generate,” and of “The likeness and s
§13. He expounds the passage of the Gospel, “The Father judgeth no man,” and further speaks of the assumption of man with body and soul wrought by the
§14. He proceeds to discuss the views held by Eunomius, and by the Church, touching the Holy Spirit and to show that the Father, the Son, and the Hol
§15. Lastly he displays at length the folly of Eunomius, who at times speaks of the Holy Spirit as created, and as the fairest work of the Son, and at
Book III
Book III.
§2. He then once more excellently, appropriately, and clearly examines and expounds the passage, “The Lord Created Me.”
§3. He then shows, from the instance of Adam and Abel, and other examples, the absence of alienation of essence in the case of the “generate” and “ung
§4. He thus shows the oneness of the Eternal Son with the Father the identity of essence and the community of nature (wherein is a natural inquiry int
§5. He discusses the incomprehensibility of the Divine essence, and the saying to the woman of Samaria, “Ye worship ye know not what.”
§6. Thereafter he expounds the appellation of “Son,” and of “product of generation,” and very many varieties of “sons,” of God, of men, of rams, of pe
§7. Then he ends the book with an exposition of the Divine and Human names of the Only-Begotten, and a discussion of the terms “generate” and “ungener
Book IV
Book IV.
§2. He convicts Eunomius of having used of the Only-begotten terms applicable to the existence of the earth, and thus shows that his intention is to p
§3. He then again admirably discusses the term πρωτότοκος as it is four times employed by the Apostle.
§4. He proceeds again to discuss the impassibility of the Lord’s generation and the folly of Eunomius, who says that the generated essence involves t
§5. He again shows Eunomius, constrained by truth, in the character of an advocate of the orthodox doctrine, confessing as most proper and primary, no
§6. He then exposes argument about the “Generate,” and the “product of making,” and “product of creation,” and shows the impious nature of the languag
§7. He then clearly and skilfully criticises the doctrine of the impossibility of comparison with the things made after the Son, and exposes the idola
§8. He proceeds to show that there is no “variance” in the essence of the Father and the Son: wherein he expounds many forms of variation and harmony,
§9. Then, distinguishing between essence and generation, he declares the empty and frivolous language of Eunomius to be like a rattle. He proceeds to
Book V
Book V.
§2. He then explains the phrase of S. Peter, “Him God made Lord and Christ.” And herein he sets forth the opposing statement of Eunomius, which he mad
§3. A remarkable and original reply to these utterances, and a demonstration of the power of the Crucified, and of the fact that this subjection was o
§4. He shows the falsehood of Eunomius’ calumnious charge that the great Basil had said that “man was emptied to become man,” and demonstrates that th
§5. Thereafter he shows that there are not two Christs or two Lords, but one Christ and one Lord, and that the Divine nature, after mingling with the
Book VI
Book VI.
§2. Then he again mentions S. Peter’s word, “made,” and the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which says that Jesus was made by God “an Apostle a
§3. He then gives a notable explanation of the saying of the Lord to Philip, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father ” and herein he excellently di
§4. Then returning to the words of Peter, “God made Him Lord and Christ,” he skilfully explains it by many arguments, and herein shows Eunomius as an
Book VII
Book VII.
§2. He then declares that the close relation between names and things is immutable, and thereafter proceeds accordingly, in the most excellent manner,
§3. Thereafter he discusses the divergence of names and of things, speaking, of that which is ungenerate as without a cause, and of that which is non-
§4. He says that all things that are in creation have been named by man, if, as is the case, they are called differently by every nation, as also the
§5. After much discourse concerning the actually existent, and ungenerate and good, and upon the consubstantiality of the heavenly powers, showing the
Book VIII
Book VIII.
§2. He then discusses the “willing” of the Father concerning the generation of the Son, and shows that the object of that good will is from eternity,
§3. Then, thus passing over what relates to the essence of the Son as having been already discussed, he treats of the sense involved in “generation,”
§4. He further shows the operations of God to be expressed by human illustrations for what hands and feet and the other parts of the body with which
§5. Then, after showing that the Person of the Only-begotten and Maker of things has no beginning, as have the things that were made by Him, as Eunomi
Book IX
Book IX.
§2. He then ingeniously shows that the generation of the Son is not according to the phrase of Eunomius, “The Father begat Him at that time when He ch
§3. He further shows that the pretemporal generation of the Son is not the subject of influences drawn from ordinary and carnal generation, but is wit
§4. Then, having shown that Eunomius’ calumny against the great Basil, that he called the Only-begotten “Ungenerate,” is false, and having again with
Book X
Book X.
§2. He then wonderfully displays the Eternal Life, which is Christ, to those who confess Him not, and applies to them the mournful lamentation of Jere
§3. He then shows the eternity of the Son’s generation, and the inseparable identity of His essence with Him that begat Him, and likens the folly of E
§4. After this he shows that the Son, who truly is, and is in the bosom of the Father, is simple and uncompounded, and that, He Who redeemed us from b
Book XI
Book XI.
§2. He also ingeniously shows from the passage of the Gospel which speaks of “Good Master,” from the parable of the Vineyard, from Isaiah and from Pau
§3. He then exposes the ignorance of Eunomius, and the incoherence and absurdity of his arguments, in speaking of the Son as “the Angel of the Existen
§4. After this, fearing to extend his reply to great length, he passes by most of his adversary’s statements as already refuted. But the remainder, fo
§5. Eunomius again speaks of the Son as Lord and God, and Maker of all creation intelligible and sensible, having received from the Father the power a
Book XII
Book XII.
§2. Then referring to the blasphemy of Eunomius, which had been refuted by the great Basil, where he banished the Only-begotten God to the realm of da
§3. He further proceeds notably to interpret the language of the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word,” and “Life” and “Light,” and “The Word was ma
§4. He then again charges Eunomius with having learnt his term ἀγεννησία from the hieroglyphic writings, and from the Egyptian mythology and idolatry,
§5. Then, again discussing the true Light and unapproachable Light of the Father and of the Son, special attributes, community and essence, and showin
§8. Facts show that the terms of abuse which he has employed against Basil are more suitable for himself.
But these remarks are by the way, and come from our not keeping close to our argument. We had to inquire not how he ought to have made his apology, but whether he had ever made one at all. But now let us return to our former position, viz., that he is convicted by his own statements. This hater of falsehood first of all tells us that he was condemned because the jury which was assigned him defied the law, and that he was driven over sea and land and suffered much from the burning sun and the dust. Then in trying to conceal his falsehood he drives out one nail with another nail, as the proverb says, and puts one falsehood right by cancelling it with another. As every one knows as well as he does that he never uttered one word in court, he declares that he begged to be let off coming into a hostile court and was condemned by default. Could there be a plainer case than this of a man contradicting both the truth and himself? When he is pressed about the title of his book, he makes his trial the constraining cause of this ‘apology;’ but when he is pressed with the fact that he spoke not one word to the jury, he denies that there was any trial and says that he declined27 ἀπαξιοῖ. such a jury. See how valiantly this doughty champion of the truth fights against falsehood! Then he dares to call our mighty Basil ‘a malicious rascal and a liar;’ and besides that, ‘a bold ignorant parvenu28 παρέγγραπτον: for the vox nihili παράγραπτον. Oehler again has adopted the reading of the Ven. ms.,’ ‘no deep divine,’ and he adds to his list of abusive terms, ‘stark mad,’ scattering an infinity of such words over his pages, as if he imagined that his own bitter invectives could outweigh the common testimony of mankind, who revere that great name as though he were one of the saints of old. He thinks in fact that he, if no one else, can touch with calumny one whom calumny has never touched; but the sun is not so low in the heavens that any one can reach him with stones or any other missiles; they will but recoil upon him who shot them, while the intended target soars far beyond his reach. If any one, again, accuses the sun of want of light, he has not dimmed the brightness of the sunbeams with his scoffs; the sun will still remain the sun, and the fault-finder will only prove the feebleness of his own visual organs; and, if he should endeavour, after the fashion of this ‘apology,’ to persuade all whom he meets and will listen to him not to give in to the common opinions about the sun, nor to attach more weight to the experiences of all than to the surmises of one individual by ‘assigning victory to mere quantity,’ his nonsense will be wasted on those who can use their eyes.
Let some one then persuade Eunomius to bridle his tongue, and not give the rein to such wild talk, nor kick against the pricks in the insolent abuse of an honoured name; but to allow the mere remembrance of Basil to fill his soul with reverence and awe. What can he gain by this unmeasured ribaldry, when the object of it will retain all that character which his life, his words, and the general estimate of the civilized world proclaims him to have possessed? The man who takes in hand to revile reveals his own disposition as not being able, because it is evil, to speak good things, but only “to speak from the abundance of the heart,” and to bring forth from that evil treasure-house. Now, that his expressions are merely those of abuse quite divorced from actual facts, can be proved from his own writings.
Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν οὐκ οἶδα πῶς παρενέπεσεν ἐκ τῆς ἀκολουθίας τοῦ λόγου τῷ μὴ καλῶς προῆχθαι τὴν ἀπολογίαν. οὐδὲ γὰρ περὶ τοῦ πῶς ἐχρῆν ἀπολογήσασθαι πρόκειται νῦν ἐξετάζειν, ἀλλ' εἰ ἀπολελόγηται ὅλως. πρὸς δὲ τὸ προτεθὲν ἐπανέλθωμεν, ὅτι τοῖς ἰδίοις ἁλίσκεται φανερῶς οὕτως ὁ δυσχεραίνων τὸ ψεῦδος: « κεκρίσθαι » λέγει καὶ « παρανόμων ἐπιτυχεῖν δικαστῶν » καὶ « διὰ γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης ἀγόμενος πρὸς ἡλίου τε φλογμὸν καὶ κόνιν κακοπαθῆσαι »: εἶτα πάλιν περιστέλλων τὸ ψεῦδος ἥλῳ τὸν ἧλον κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν ἐκκρούει, ἄλλῳ ψεύδει τοῦτο τὸ ψεῦδος ἐπανορθούμενος. πάντων γὰρ αὐτῷ συνεπισταμένων ὅτι οὐδεμίαν ἔρρηξεν ἐν δικαστηρίῳ φωνήν, παρῃτῆσθαί φησι τὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν δικαστήριον καὶ σιγῶν ἁλῶναι. πῶς ἄν τις μᾶλλον ἐξελεγχθείη καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐναντίως ἔχων; ὅταν ἐγκαλῆται περὶ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς τοῦ λόγου, τῇ κρίσει τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς ἀπολογίας προστίθησιν: ὅταν ἐλέγχηται μηδὲν ἐπὶ τῶν δικαζόντων εἰπών, ἀρνεῖται τὴν κρίσιν καὶ ἀπαξιοῖ τοὺς δικάζοντας. ὁρᾶτε τὸν σφοδρὸν τοῦτον πρόμαχον τῆς ἀληθείας, ὡς ἐρρωμένως πρὸς τὸ ψεῦδος ἀντικαθίσταται. εἶτα τοιοῦτος ὢν « πονηρὸν » καὶ « κακοήθη » καὶ « ψεύστην » τὸν μέγαν Βασίλειον ὀνομάζειν τολμᾷ, καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις « θρασύν, ἀμαθῆ, παρέγγραπτον, τῶν θείων ἀμύητον », προστίθησι δὲ τῷ καταλόγῳ τῆς λοιδορίας καὶ « παραπληξίαν » καὶ « μανίαν » καὶ μυρία τοιαῦτα σποράδην παντὶ καταμιγνύων τῷ λόγῳ, ὥσπερ ἐξαρκεῖν οἰόμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πικρίαν ἀντίρροπον ταῖς πάντων ἀνθρώπων μαρτυρίαις γενήσεσθαι, οἳ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ μεγάλου καθάπερ τινὸς τῶν ἀρχαίων ἁγίων τεθήπασι, καὶ νομίζει τὸν ἄτρωτον τῷ μώμῳ δύνασθαι μόνον διὰ τῆς λοιδορίας λυμήνασθαι. οὐχ οὕτω ταπεινὸς ὁ ἥλιος, ὡς μέχρις ἐκείνου φθάσαι τὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ λίθους ἢ ἄλλο τι βάλλοντα: πάλιν γὰρ ἐπαναστρέφει τὰ βληθέντα κατὰ τοῦ πέμψαντος, ὁ δὲ σκοπὸς μένει τῆς βολῆς ὑψηλότερος. κἄν τις ὡς ἀλαμπῆ διαβάλλῃ τὸν ἥλιον, οὐ τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἐκ τῶν σκωμμάτων ἠμαύρωσεν, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ἥλιος ἔσται καὶ σκωπτόμενος ἥλιος, τοῦ δὲ λοιδοροῦντος ὡς ἀφεγγῆ τὴν ἀκτῖνα ἡ πήρωσις τῶν ὁρατικῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἀπελεγχθήσεται: κἂν ὅτι μάλιστα τούς τε ἀκουσομένους καὶ τοὺς ἐντευξομένους πείθειν ἐθέλῃ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῆς ἀπολογίας ἐκείνης μὴ ταῖς πάντων περὶ τοῦ ἡλίου δόξαις προστίθεσθαι μηδὲ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν πεῖραν τῆς ἰδίας ὑπολήψεως ποιεῖσθαι κυριωτέραν, « τῇ πλείονι μοίρᾳ τὸ κρεῖττον προσάπτοντας », μάτην ἐπὶ τῶν βλεπόντων παραληρήσει καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν πλέον ταῖς κοιναῖς δόξαις ἑαυτὸν ἀντιστήσει.
Εἴ τις οὖν εὔνους τῷ Εὐνομίῳ, πεισάτω χαλινὸν αὐτὸν ἐπιθεῖναι τῷ στόματι μηδὲ ἀφηνιάζειν τῇ ἀταξίᾳ τοῦ λόγου μηδὲ πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν μηδὲ θρασυστομεῖν κατὰ τοῦ τιμίου ὀνόματος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ μνήμῃ λαμβάνοντα μόνον τὸν μέγαν Βασίλειον εὐλαβείας καὶ δέους τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναπίμπλασθαι. τί γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ πλέον ἐκ τῆς ἀμέτρου πομπείας ταύτης γενήσεται, ὅταν ὁ μὲν τοιοῦτος δοκῇ παρὰ πᾶσιν οἷον αὐτὸν ἀνακηρύττει ὁ βίος, ὁ λόγος, ἡ κοινὴ τῆς οἰκουμένης περὶ αὐτοῦ μαρτυρία, ὁ δὲ κακίζειν ἐπιχειρῶν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δεικνύῃ τρόπον, ὡς μὴ δυνάμενος, καθώς φησί που τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἀγαθὰ λαλεῖν τῷ πονηρὸς εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας φθέγγεσθαι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ θησαυροῦ προχειρίζεσθαι; ὅτι γὰρ ψιλὰ τῆς λοιδορίας ἐστὶ τὰ ῥήματα τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἀληθείας οὐ προσαπτόμενα, ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐστι τῶν γεγραμμένων ὁ ἔλεγχος.
