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of preparation, such as of matter or some other human sort, that God needed for creation, but of this 2.2.32 preparation in his own mind. Since, then, it was impossible for God to conceive of the creation of heaven without the Word and the wisdom inherent in the Word, he reasonably said, 'When he prepared the heaven, I was present with him.' And he adds again, comparing the Word of God to a human word, in order to show him to be without hypostasis, and he writes thus here: 'I am who I am,' the Father says to Moses, 2.2.33 but he says it, clearly, through the Word. For all that the Father says, he is seen to say everywhere through the Word. And this is clear even from ourselves, to compare small things with great and divine things; for we too do all that we wish to say and to do, as far as is possible, by our word. 2.2.34 Then, after saying some things in between, he adds: How then did Asterius, pretending to follow the holy scriptures simply and with fear, not know this part which says, 'The Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on the earth below, and there is no other besides him,' and that 'he is one' and besides him 'there is no other'? 2.2.35 And going on, he again insists, saying, not 20called Word in a figurative sense20, even if those who teach other doctrines burst, lying, but being properly and truly the Word. And he adds, For what other hidden mystery was there than that which concerns the Word? And this mystery was so hidden 'in God' before, that no one of the former people knew clearly the things concerning the Word, but it is for us now to enjoy the wealth 'of the glory' and of the hidden mystery. 2.2.36 And after this he again uses a human image, writing in this manner: For who, whether of the holy angels or of just men, was so trustworthy as to undo the punishment decreed against him from the person of God, 2.2.37 if not the Word himself, who was present and fashioned along with him, 2.2.37 to whom the Father said, 'Let us make man in our image and likeness,' since there was no other god who could fashion along with him. For 'I,' he says, 'am God, the first, and I am after these things, and besides me there is no other God.' Therefore, there was neither 20any newer god20, nor was any other being God 'after these things' 2.2.38 able to be a co-worker with God. But if someone, using a small and human example according to our ways, were to examine the divine action as through an image: just as a skilled sculptor, wishing to fashion a statue, first considers its forms and features within himself, then conceives of its suitable breadth and length, and examines the proportion of the whole in each particular part, and having prepared the suitable material of bronze and having prefigured the future statue in his own mind and believing he sees it intellectually, and being conscious that his word is his co-worker, with which he reasons and with which he is accustomed to do all things—for nothing that is not done with reason is good—beginning this perceptible work, he exhorts himself as if another, saying: Come, let us make, come, let us fashion a statue; so the Master of all, God, making the living statue from the earth, exhorts not some other but his own Word, saying: 'Let us make man,' not in the same manner as the other things; for the whole creation came into being by the Word. 2.2.39 And to these things, after others, he adds: But now I believe the divine scriptures, that there is one God, and his Word is God, who came forth from the Father, in order that 'all things might come into being through him'; but after the time of judgment and the restoration of all things and the abolition of all opposing energy, 'then he himself will be subjected to him who subjected all things to him,' 'to God and the Father,' so that the Word may be in God in this way, just as he was before the world existed. For when nothing existed before except God alone, and all things were about to come into being through the Word, the Word came forth with effective energy, this Word being of the Father. 2.2.40 And again

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ἑτοιμασίας, οἷον ὕλης ἢ ἄλλης τινὸς ἀνθρωπίνης, ὁ θεὸς ἐδεῖτο πρὸς κατασκευήν, ἀλλὰ ταύτης τῆς ἐν 2.2.32 τῇ αὐτοῦ διανοίᾳ ἑτοιμασίας. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀδύνατον ἦν χωρὶς λόγου καὶ τῆς προσούσης τῷ λόγῳ σοφίας ἐννοῆσαι περὶ τῆς τοῦ οὐρα νοῦ κατασκευῆς τὸν θεόν, εἰκότως ἔφη «ἡνίκα ἡτοίμαζεν τὸν οὐρανόν, συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ». καὶ προστίθησιν αὖθις ἐξομοιῶν τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ λόγῳ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰς τὸ δεῖξαι αὐτὸν ἀνυπόστατον, γράφει δὲ οὕτως ἐνταῦθα «ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὢν» λέγει μὲν τῷ Μωσεῖ ὁ πατήρ, 2.2.33 λέγει δὲ δηλονότι διὰ τοῦ λόγου. πάντα γὰρ ὅσα ἂν ὁ πατὴρ λέγῃ, ταῦτα πανταχοῦ διὰ τοῦ λόγου λέγων φαίνεται. τοῦτο δὲ δῆλόν ἐστιν καὶ ἀφ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, ὅσα μικρὰ τοῖς μεγάλοις καὶ θείοις ἀπεικάσαι· καὶ ἡμεῖς γὰρ πάντα ὅσα ἂν θέλωμεν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν λέγειν τε καὶ ποιεῖν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ ποιοῦμεν λόγῳ. 2.2.34 εἶτα μεταξύ τινα εἰπὼν ἐπιλέγει πῶς οὖν Ἀστέριος ταῖς ἁγίαις γραφαῖς ἁπλῶς καὶ ἐμφόβως ἀκολουθεῖν προσποιούμενος οὐκ ἔγνω τὸ μέρος τοῦτο λέγον «κύριος ὁ θεός σου, οὗτος θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν αὐτοῦ», καὶ ὅτι «εἷς ἐστιν» καὶ πλὴν αὐτοῦ ἕτερος «οὐκ ἔστιν». 2.2.35 καὶ προϊὼν αὖθις διισχυρίζεται φάσκων οὐ 20καταχρηστικῶς λόγος ὀνομασθείς20, κἂν διαρρα γῶσιν οἱ ἑτεροδιδασκαλοῦντες ψευδόμενοι, ἀλλὰ κυρίως τε καὶ ἀλη θῶς ὑπάρχων λόγος. καὶ προστίθησιν τί γὰρ ἕτερον ἦν ἀποκεκρυμμένον μυστήριον ἢ τὸ κατὰ τὸν λόγον; οὕτως δὲ ἦν ἀποκεκρυμμένον «ἐν τῷ θεῷ» τουτὶ πρό τερον τὸ μυστήριον, ὥστε μηδένα τοῦ προτέρου λαοῦ σαφῶς τὰ κατὰ τὸν λόγον εἰδέναι, ἀλλ' ἡμᾶς τοῦ πλούτου «τῆς δόξης» καὶ τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου μυστηρίου ἀπολαύειν νυνί. 2.2.36 καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν ἀνθρωπίνῃ κέχρηται εἰκόνι, τοῦτον γράφων τὸν τρόπον τίς γὰρ οὕτως ἢ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων ἢ ἀνδρῶν δικαίων ἀξιόπιστος ἦν τὴν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ ὁρισθεῖσαν αὐτῷ τιμω2.2.37 ρίαν λῦσαι, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος ὁ συμπαρών τε καὶ συμπλάττων, 2.2.37 πρὸς ὃν ὁ πατὴρ «ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον» ἔφη «κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμε τέραν καὶ ὁμοίωσιν», οὐκ ὄντος ἑτέρου θεοῦ τοῦ συμπλάττειν αὐτῷ δυναμένου. «ἐγὼ» γάρ εἰμι, φησίν, «θεὸς πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα, καὶ πλὴν ἐμοῦ θεὸς ἕτερος οὐκ ἔστιν». οὔτε οὖν 20νεώτερός τις θεὸς20 ἦν, οὔτε ἄλλος τις «μετὰ ταῦτα» θεὸς ὢν 2.2.38 θεῷ συνεργεῖν δυνατὸς ἦν. ἀλλ' εἴ τις μικρῷ τινι καὶ ἀνθρωπίνῳ καθ' ἡμᾶς παραδείγματι χρώμενος ὡς διὰ εἰκόνος τὴν θείαν ἐξε τάζοι πρᾶξιν· ὥσπερ ἄν τις ἀνδριαντοποιὸς ἐπιστήμων ἀνήρ, ἀνδριάντα πλάσαι βουλόμενος, πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς τύπους αὐτοῦ καὶ χαρακτῆρας ἐν ἑαυτῷ σκοπεῖ, ἔπειτα πλάτος τε καὶ μῆκος ὅσον εὐπρεπὲς ἐννοεῖ, ἀναλογίαν τε τοῦ παντὸς ἐν τῷ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐξετάζει μέρει, χαλκοῦ τε τὴν πρόσφορον ἑτοιμάσας ὕλην καὶ τὸν ἐσόμενον ἀνδριάντα τῇ ἑαυτοῦ προτυπώσας διανοίᾳ καὶ νοητῶς ὁρᾶν νομίσας συνειδώς τε ἑαυτῷ συνεργεῖν τὸν λόγον, ᾧ λογίζεται καὶ ᾧ πάντα πράττειν εἴωθεν οὐδὲν γὰρ μὴ λόγῳ γιγνόμενον καλόν, ἀρχόμενος τῆς αἰσθητῆς ταύτης ἐργασίας πρὸς αὑτὸν ὡς πρὸς ἕτερον παρακελεύεται λέγων· ἄγε ποιήσωμεν, ἄγε πλάσωμεν ἀνδριάντα· οὕτως ὁ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότης θεὸς τὸν ἔμψυχον ἐκ γῆς ἀνδριάντα ποιῶν οὐκ ἄλλῳ τινὶ ἀλλὰ τῷ ἑαυτοῦ λόγῳ παρα κελεύεται λέγων· «ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον», οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἄλλοις τρόπον· λόγῳ γὰρ ἡ πᾶσα ἐγένετο κτίσις. 2.2.39 καὶ τούτοις μεθ' ἕτερα ἐπιλέγει νυνὶ δὲ πιστεύω ταῖς θείαις γραφαῖς, ὅτι εἷς θεός, καὶ ὁ τούτου λόγος θεὸς προῆλθεν μὲν τοῦ πατρός, ἵνα «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ» γένηται· μετὰ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς κρίσεως καὶ τὴν τῶν ἁπάντων διόρθωσιν καὶ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν τῆς ἀντικειμένης ἁπάσης ἐνεργείας, «τότε αὐτὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα» «θεῷ καὶ πατρί», ἵν' οὕτως ᾖ ἐν θεῷ ὁ λόγος, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον ἦν πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι. οὐδενὸς γὰρ ὄντος πρότε ρον ἢ θεοῦ μόνου, πάντων δὲ διὰ τοῦ λόγου γίγνεσθαι μελλόντων, προῆλθεν ὁ λόγος δραστικῇ ἐνεργείᾳ, ὁ λόγος οὗτος τοῦ πατρὸς ὤν. 2.2.40 καὶ πάλιν