26

a piously-minded person might say that the activity has ascended from the activity, since, of course, the same activities produce an identity of works, and different works show different 1.1.154 activities. Since these things are so and maintain an unbroken connection in their relation to one another, it is fitting, I suppose, for those who make their examination according to the order that is connatural to the things, and who are not trying to mix and confuse everything together, if some dispute should arise concerning the substances, to make the proof of what is being shown and the resolution of what is being disputed from the first activities that are close to the substances, but to resolve the doubt concerning the activities from the substances, and to consider the descent from the first things to the second as more suitable and for all more effective20. 1.1.155 Such then is the artifice of this blasphemy, but may the true God, the Son of the true God, direct our account toward the truth for us through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But let us take up again in order the things that have been said. He said 20that the account of his own dogmas is completed from the highest and most sovereign substance and from that which exists on account of that one, but after that one is first of all other things, and third, 20he says, 20is that which is not ranked with either of these, but is subordinated to the one because of its cause, and to the other because of 1.1.156 its activity20. First, then, of the things wickedly contrived in the account is this, that, having promised to set forth the mystical doctrine for us, as if correcting the evangelical utterances, he does not use those names through which the Lord delivered the mystery in the perfection of the faith, but having passed over in silence the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, instead of <the> Father he speaks of a certain highest and most sovereign substance, and instead of the Son, that which exists on account of that one, but after that one is first of the others, and instead of the Holy Spirit, that which is not ranked with either of these but is subordinated to both. 1.1.157 And yet if it were more proper to speak this way, the truth would surely not have been at a loss for the discovery of these words, nor surely would those who successively received the preaching of the mystery, both those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, and those after them who filled the whole world with the 1.1.158 evangelical doctrines, and again those who after these things, at certain times, resolved in a common council the doubts that were raised about the doctrine, whose written traditions are always preserved in the churches, if it were necessary to say these things, they would not have made mention of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, if indeed it were pious or safe at all to restamp the words of the faith into this novelty. Or were all those people ignorant and uninstructed in the mysteries and unheard of 20the fitting20, as this man says, 20names20, who neither knew nor wished to make their own concepts more honorable than the 1.1.159 names delivered to us by the divine voice? But I think the reason for this new coining of names is obvious to everyone, that all men, upon hearing the address of Father and Son, immediately recognize through the names themselves their proper and natural relation to one another. For the kinship of nature is 1.1.160 automatically interpreted from these addresses. Therefore, so that these things might not be thought concerning the true Father and the only-begotten Son, for this reason he steals from his hearers the emphasis of intimacy that comes in through the names, and abandoning the divinely inspired words, he makes his exposition of the doctrine through terms contrived for the ruin of the truth. 1.1.161 And he says this well, that not the universal doctrines of the church, but those of their own circle are in these things 20completed in their account20. The understanding of the impiety of the things said is ready at hand for anyone who has a mind. But perhaps it is not untimely also to examine in our account each point, what

26

τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς ἐνεργείας ἀναβεβηκέναι φαίη ἄν τις εὐσεβῶς διανοούμενος, ἅτε δὴ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐνεργειῶν τὴν ταὐτότητα τῶν ἔργων ἀποτελουσῶν, καὶ τῶν παρηλλαγμένων ἔργων παρηλλαγμένας τὰς ἐνερ 1.1.154 γείας ἐμφαινόντων. οὕτω δὲ τούτων ἐχόντων καὶ τῇ πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσει τὸν εἱρμὸν ἀπαράβα τον διατηρούντων, προσήκει δήπου τοὺς κατὰ τὴν συμφυῆ τοῖς πράγμασι τάξιν τὴν ἐξέτασιν ποιου μένους καὶ μὴ φύρειν ὁμοῦ πάντα καὶ συγχεῖν βιαζομένους, εἰ μὲν περὶ ταῖς οὐσίαις κινοῖτό τις ἀμφισβήτησις, ἐκ τῶν πρώτων καὶ προσεχῶν ταῖς οὐσίαις ἐνεργειῶν ποιεῖσθαι τῶν δεικνυ μένων τὴν πίστιν καὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων τὴν διάλυσιν, τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐνεργείαις ἀμφιβο λίαν διαλύειν ἐκ τῶν οὐσιῶν, ἁρμοδιωτέραν γε μὴν καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀνυσιμωτέραν ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πρώτων ἐπὶ τὰ δεύτερα κάθοδον20. 1.1.155 Ἡ μὲν οὖν τεχνολογία τῆς βλασφημίας αὕτη, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἡμῖν ὁ ἀληθινὸς ὁ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ὁδηγίας κατευθύνοι τὸν λόγον πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. πάλιν δὲ τὰ εἰρημένα καθεξῆς ἀναλάβωμεν. εἶπε 20τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν δογμάτων συμπληροῦσθαι τὸν λόγον ἐκ τῆς ἀνωτάτης καὶ κυριωτάτης οὐ σίας καὶ ἐκ τῆς δι' ἐκείνην μὲν οὔσης, μετ' ἐκείνην δὲ πάντων τῶν ἄλλων πρωτευούσης καὶ τρίτης γέ20 φησι 20τῆς μηδεμιᾷ τούτων συνταττο μένης, ἀλλὰ τῇ μὲν διὰ τὴν αἰτίαν, τῇ δὲ διὰ 1.1.156 τὴν ἐνέργειαν ὑποταττομένης20. πρῶτον τοίνυν τῶν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ κακουργηθέντων τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅτι τὸ δόγμα τὸ μυστικὸν ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἡμῖν ἐκθήσεσθαι ὥσπερ ἐπιδιορ θούμενος τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς φωνὰς οὐκ ἐκείνοις κέχρηται τοῖς ὀνόμασι, δι' ὧν παρέδωκεν ὁ κύριος τὸ μυστήριον ἐν τῇ τελειώσει τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀποσιωπήσας ἀντὶ μὲν <τοῦ> πατρὸς ἀνωτάτω τινὰ καὶ κυριωτάτην οὐσίαν λέγει, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν δι' ἐκείνην μὲν οὖσαν, μετ' ἐκείνην δὲ τῶν ἄλλων πρωτεύουσαν, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος τὴν μη δεμιᾷ τούτων συνταττομένην ἀμφοτέραις δὲ ὑποτεταγμένην. 1.1.157 καίτοιγε εἰ οὕτως εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον ἦν, οὐκ ἂν πάντως ἠπόρησεν ἡ ἀλήθεια τῆς τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων εὑρέσεως οὐδ' ἂν πάντως οἱ καθεξῆς ἐκδεξάμενοι τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸ κήρυγμα, οἵ τε ἀπ' ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται τοῦ λόγου γενόμενοι καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκείνους πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην τῶν 1.1.158 εὐαγγελικῶν δογμάτων καταπληρώσαντες, καὶ πάλιν οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα κατὰ καιρούς τινας τὰς περὶ τοῦ δόγματος κινου μένας ἀμφιβολίας ἐν κοινῷ συνεδρίῳ διαλαβόντες, ὧν αἱ παραδόσεις ἔγγραφοι ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἀεὶ διασῴζονται, εἰ ταῦτα λέγειν ἐχρῆν, οὐκ ἂν πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐποιοῦντο τὴν μνήμην, εἴπερ ὅλως εὐσεβὲς ἢ ἀκίνδυνον ἦν πρὸς τὴν καινότητα ταύτην μεταχαράττειν τὰ τῆς πίστεως ῥήματα· ἢ πάντες ἀμαθεῖς ἦσαν ἐκεῖνοι καὶ ἀκατήχητοι τῶν μυστηρίων καὶ 20τῶν προσφυῶν20, ὥς φησιν οὗτος, 20ὀνομάτων20 ἀνήκοοι οἱ μήτε εἰδότες μήτε θελήσαντες τῶν παραδοθέντων ἡμῖν παρὰ τῆς θείας φωνῆς 1.1.159 ὀνομάτων τὰς ἰδίας ἐννοίας προτιμοτέρας ποιήσασθαι; ἀλλὰ παντὶ πρόδηλον οἶμαι τὴν αἰτίαν εἶναι τῆς καινῆς ταύτης ὀνοματοποιΐας, ὅτι πάντες ἄνθρωποι πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ προσ ηγορίαν ἀκούσαντες εὐθὺς τὴν οἰκείαν αὐτῶν καὶ φυσικὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσιν ὑπ' αὐτῶν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐπιγινώσκουσι. τὸ γὰρ τῆς φύσεως συγγενὲς ἐκ τῶν προσηγοριῶν τούτων 1.1.160 αὐτομάτως διερμηνεύεται. ἵνα οὖν μὴ ταῦτα νοῆται περὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ, διὰ τοῦτο ὑποκλέπτει τῶν ἀκουόντων τὴν διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων συνεισιοῦ σαν τῆς οἰκειότητος ἔμφασιν, καὶ καταλιπὼν τὰ θεόπνευστα ῥήματα διὰ τῶν ἐπινοηθέντων ἐπὶ λύμῃ τῆς ἀληθείας ποι εῖται τὴν τοῦ δόγματος ἔκθεσιν. 1.1.161 Καλῶς δὲ τοῦτό φησιν, οὐ τῶν καθόλου τῆς ἐκκλησίας δογμάτων, ἀλλὰ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐν τούτοις 20συμπλη ροῦσθαι τὸν λόγον20. ἔστι δὲ πρόχειρος μὲν παντὶ τῷ γε νοῦν ἔχοντι τῆς ἀσεβείας τῶν εἰρημένων ἡ κατανόησις. οὐδὲν δὲ ἴσως ἀπὸ καιροῦ καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον διεξετάσαι τῷ λόγῳ, τί