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he likened the only-begotten Word to the precepts concerning things to be done. 25. How he wrote things contrary to himself. 2.1.1 After the cited testimonies of the divine readings, through which it was shown that the Son of God was not only named Word before his incarnate presence, as indeed it seemed to Marcellus, but also countless other things, come, then, let us now examine the phantom of Sabellius, as if emerging from the earth. For he dared to say that the God over all himself, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was born of the holy virgin and that he himself suffered, having written in this manner: "What, then, was it that came down before the incarnation? He says, no doubt: Spirit. For if he should wish to say anything besides this, the angel who spoke to the virgin will not permit him, saying, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you.' But if he says it is Spirit, let him hear the Savior saying, 'God is Spirit.'" 2.1.2 By these words, he said that the God of all, about whom our Savior and Lord taught when he said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth," was the Spirit that came upon the virgin 2.1.3 openly reviving Sabellius. And proceeding next, when Jeremiah the prophet had spoken clearly concerning the incarnation of the Savior, "After these things he was seen on earth, and conversed with men," he refers the saying to the Father, stating in these very words: "But it seems that the Father is in the Word, even if it does not seem so to Asterius and to those who think the same things as he." 2.1.4 And he does the same thing regarding the passion of the Savior. For having quoted from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, "Christ the Lord, the breath of our face, was taken in their corruptions," he adds, "Here likewise the prophet discourses concerning the Word who has taken our flesh," and he adds, saying, "A spirit that produces a shadow could never exist." But that God himself is Spirit, the Savior said, "God is Spirit." And that God is light, he himself teaches us, saying "I am the light." Do you see how he transfers what was said about the Savior to the divinity of 2.1.5 the Father? And again he abolishes the hypostasis of the Son with a bare head, declaring that before the creation of generated things there was nothing else except God alone. For he writes thus, word for word: "The authority given to him Asterius calls glory, and not only glory but also pre-cosmic glory, not understanding that when the cosmos had not yet come into being, there was nothing else except God alone." And again he confirms the same thing, saying, "Heaven and earth and all things in the heavens and on the earth have been made by God; if, then, one believes this, it is necessary for him to confess that other thing also, that besides God there was nothing else." 2.2.1 You see a Jew openly denying the only-begotten Son of God, "through whom all things" were made. For if besides God there was nothing else before the creation of the world, then the Son did not exist. And how were "all things made through him, and without him was not anything made"? The Jew, therefore, who denies the Christ of God, knows nothing before the creation of the world except God alone, with Marcellus bearing witness with him. But the church of Christ with all boldness boasts, saying, "For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and 2.2.2 one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." And when it says "through whom are all things," it knows him to be before all things. Therefore, the one who says that before the creation of the world there was nothing else except God alone speaks falsely against the truth. For with the only God was also his only-begotten Son before the foundation of the world, and was with the Father. For he who said, "in these last days has spoken to us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also 2.2.3 he made the ages," taught this very thing. And in Proverbs through Solomon the Son himself teaches concerning himself, saying, "when he prepared the heaven, I was present with him." But he was also "the light, which enlightens every man coming into the world," since "he was in the world, and

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τοῖς τῶν πρακτέων παραγγελτικοῖς τὸν μονογενῆ λόγον ἀφωμοίου. κεʹ ὅπως αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ τἀναντία ἔγραφεν. 2.1.1 Μετὰ τὰς παρατεθείσας τῶν θείων ἀναγνωσμάτων μαρτυρίας, δι' ὧν ὅτι μὴ μόνον λόγος ὠνόμαστο πρὸ τῆς ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ παρέστη ὥσπερ οὖν ἐδόκει Μαρκέλλῳ ἀλλὰ καὶ μυρία ἕτερα, φέρε δὴ λοιπὸν τὸ Σαβελλίου εἴδωλον ὥσπερ ἀπὸ γῆς ἀνακύψαν ἐποπτεύσωμεν. ἐτόλμησεν οὖν εἰπεῖν αὐτὸν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν, τὸν πατέρα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, γεγεννῆσθαι ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου καὶ αὐτὸν πεπονθέναι, τοῦτον γράψας τὸν τρόπον τί τοίνυν ἦν τὸ κατελθὸν πρὸ τοῦ ἐνανθρωπῆσαι; πάντως πού φησιν· πνεῦμα. εἰ γάρ τι παρὰ τοῦτο λέγειν ἐθέλοι, οὐ συγχωρήσει αὐτῷ ὁ πρὸς τὴν παρθένον εἰρηκὼς ἄγγελος «πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ». εἰ δὲ πνεῦμα εἶναι φήσει, ἀκουέτω τοῦ σωτῆρος λέγοντος «πνεῦμα ὁ θεός». 2.1.2 διὰ τούτων τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεόν, περὶ οὗ ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν ἐδίδαξεν εἰπὼν «πνεῦμα ὁ θεός, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν», τὸ ἐπελθὸν τῇ παρθένῳ 2.1.3 πνεῦμα εἶναι ἔφη, ἄντικρυς τὸν Σαβέλλιον ἀνανεούμενος. καὶ προϊὼν ἑξῆς, Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου περὶ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ σωτῆρος σαφῶς εἰρηκότος «μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη», ἐπὶ τὸν πατέρα ἀναφέρει τὸ λόγιον φάσκων αὐτοῖς ῥήμασιν ἀλλ' ἔοικεν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ ὁ πατὴρ εἶναι, κἂν Ἀστερίῳ μὴ δοκῇ καὶ τοῖς ταὐτὰ ἐκείνῳ φρονοῦσιν. 2.1.4 καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πάθους δὲ τοῦ σωτῆρος ταὐτὸν ποιεῖ. παραθεὶς γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν Ἱερεμίου Θρήνων τὸ «πνεῦμα προσώπου ἡμῶν Χριστὸς κύριος συνελήφθη ἐν ταῖς διαφθοραῖς αὐτῶν», ἐπιλέγει κἀνταῦθα ὁμοίως ὁ προφήτης περὶ τοῦ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀνειληφότος σάρκα λόγου διαλέγεται, καὶ ἐπιφέρει λέγων πνεῦμα σκιᾶς ποιητικὸν οὐκ ἄν ποτε γένοιτο. πνεῦμα δὲ ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ θεός, ὁ σωτὴρ ἔφη «πνεῦμα ὁ θεός». ὅτι δὲ ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν, αὐτὸς διδάσκει ἡμᾶς «ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς» λέγων. θεωρεῖς ὅπως τὰ περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος λελεγμένα ἐπὶ τὴν θεότητα τοῦ 2.1.5 πατρὸς μεταφέρει. καὶ πάλιν ἀναιρεῖ τὴν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ υἱοῦ γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ πρὸ τῆς τῶν γεννητῶν δημιουργίας μηδὲν ἕτερον εἶναι πλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μόνου ἀποφαινόμενος· γράφει δ' οὖν ὧδε κατὰ λέξιν τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ ἐξουσίαν Ἀστέριος δόξαν ὀνομάζει, καὶ οὐ δόξαν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ προκόσμιον δόξαν, οὐκ ἐννοῶν ὅτι μήπω τοῦ κόσμου γεγονότος οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἦν πλὴν θεοῦ μόνου. καὶ αὖθις τὸ αὐτὸ βεβαιοῖ λέγων οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὄντα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγένηται· εἰ τοίνυν τοῦτο πιστεύοι, ἀνάγκη αὐτὸν κἀκεῖνο συνομολογεῖν ὅτι πλὴν θεοῦ οὐδὲν ἕτε ρον ἦν. 2.2.1 ὁρᾷς Ἰουδαῖον ἄντικρυς τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, «δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα» γέγονεν, ἀρνούμενον. εἰ γὰρ πλὴν θεοῦ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἦν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως, οὐκ ἦν ἄρα ὁ υἱός· καὶ πῶς «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν»; ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἰουδαῖος, ὁ τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀρνούμενος, πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως οὐδὲν οἶδεν πλὴν θεοῦ μόνου, συμμαρτυροῦντος αὐτῷ Μαρκέλλου· ἡ δὲ Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησία σὺν παρρησίᾳ πάσῃ σεμνύνεται λέγουσα «ἡμῖν εἷς θεὸς ὁ πατήρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ 2.2.2 εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα». ἐπὰν δὲ λέγῃ «δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα», οἶδεν αὐτὸν πρὸ πάντων· ὥστε πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως ὁ λέγων οὐδὲν ἕτερον εἶναι πλὴν θεοῦ μόνου τῆς ἀληθείας καταψεύδεται. σὺν γὰρ τῷ μόνῳ θεῷ καὶ ὁ μονογενὴς αὐτοῦ υἱὸς ἦν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συστάσεως, καὶ τῷ πατρὶ συνῆν. τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδίδαξεν αὐτὴν καὶ ὁ εἰπὼν «ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ, ὃν ἔθηκεν κληρονόμον πάντων, δι' οὗ καὶ 2.2.3 ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας». καὶ ἐν Παροιμίαις διὰ Σολομῶνος αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ διδάσκει λέγων «ἡνίκα ἡτοίμαζεν τὸν οὐρανόν, συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ». ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς «ἦν τὸ φῶς, τὸ φωτίζον πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον», ἐπειδὴ «ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, καὶ