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will be clarified. For having said those wise and well-considered things, that neither does a father resemble a father nor a son a son—and yet there is no necessity at all for a father to resemble a father and a son a son; for there is a father among the Ethiopians, and a father among the Scythians, and the son of each of these is black in the case of the Ethiopian, but fair-skinned and with somewhat golden hair in the case of the Scythian, and no more for the reason that each is a father does the Scythian become black because of the Ethiopian, nor is the body of the Ethiopian changed to white because of the Scythian—but nevertheless, having said these things according to his own pleasure, Eunomius added that He is like as a son to a father, 158 and while such a statement indicates what is proper according to nature, as the divinely-inspired teaching testifies in the case of Seth and Adam, the dogmatist, caring little for those who listen with understanding, introduced the new interpretation of the Son's title, defining him as an image and seal of the activity of the Almighty.
159 For the Son is, he says, an image and seal of the activity of the Almighty. Let him who has ears to hear first examine this very point for me: what is the seal of an activity? For every activity is observed in the one who is accomplishing the object of his effort, but when the object of effort is completed, it does not subsist in itself; for instance, the activity of a runner is the movement through the feet, but when the movement has ceased, the activity no longer exists on its own. 160 Thus it is also possible to say the same thing about every pursuit, that the activity also ceases with the effort of the one laboring at something *** and it does not exist on its own, neither while someone is performing the task set before him, nor if he should cease from the task. What then does he say an activity is in itself, being neither substance nor character nor hypostasis? Therefore he said He is a likeness of that which has no hypostasis; but that which is like the non-existent, does not itself exist at all. This is the monstrosity of the new dogmas, to believe in that which is not. For that which is like what is not, is certainly not.
161 O Paul and John and the rest of the choir of evangelists and apostles, who are these that arm their own venomous tongues against your voice? Who are these that raise up their own frog-like voices against your heavenly thunders? What then does the son of thunder say? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And what of that other one after him, who was within the heavenly sanctuaries, who was initiated into the ineffable things in paradise? Being, he says, the radiance of His glory and the character of His hypostasis. What does the ventriloquist say after these? A seal, he says, of the activity of the Almighty. 162 He makes Him third after the Father, mediated by that non-existent activity, or rather, formed according to what seems to be non-existence. Is the Word God who was in the beginning, and who is contemplated in the eternity of the beginning of beings, a seal of an activity, the only-begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, who upholds all things by the word of His power, the creator of the ages, from whom are all things and through whom are all things and in whom are all things, who holds the circle of the earth, who has measured out the heaven with a span, who measures the water in His hand, who has grasped all existing things, who dwells in the heights and looks upon the humble things, or rather looked upon them, that he might make the whole world his footstool, impressed by the footprint of the Word? Is the form of God a seal of an activity? 163 Therefore is God an activity, not a hypostasis? And yet Paul, interpreting this very thing, says that He is the character not of the activity, but of the hypostasis. Or is the radiance of glory a seal of God's activity? O impious ignorance! What is between God and His own form? By what is the hypostasis mediated to its own character? And what is conceived between the glory and the radiance? But although there are such and so many things through which the greatness
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σαφηνισθήσεται. εἰπὼν γὰρ ἐκεῖνα τὰ σοφά τε καὶ περι εσκεμμένα, ὅτι οὔτε ὡς πατρὶ ἔοικε πατὴρ οὐδὲ ὡς υἱῷ υἱός-καίτοι γε οὐδεμία ἐστὶν ἀνάγκη ἐοικέναι πάντως πατρὶ πατέρα καὶ υἱῷ υἱόν· πατὴρ γάρ τίς ἐστιν ἐν Αἰθίοψι, πατὴρ καὶ ἐν Σκύθαις, καὶ υἱὸς ἑκατέρου τούτων μέλας μὲν ὁ τοῦ Αἰθίοπος, λευκόχρους δὲ καὶ ὑποχρυσίζων κατὰ τὴν κόμην ὁ Σκύθης, καὶ οὐδὲν μᾶλλον διὰ τὸ πατέρα εἶναι ἑκάτερον οὔτε διὰ τὸν Αἰθίοπα ὁ Σκύθης μελαίνεται οὔτε διὰ τὸν Σκύθην ἀλλοιοῦται τὸ σῶμα πρὸς τὸ λευκὸν τοῦ Αἰθίοπος-ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰπὼν ταῦτα κατὰ τὸ ἀρέσκον αὐτῷ ὁ Εὐνόμιος ἐπήγαγεν, ὅτι ὅμοιός ἐστιν ὡς υἱὸς πατρί, 158 τοῦ δὲ τοιούτου λόγου τὸ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν οἰκεῖον ἐνδεικνυ μένου, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Σὴθ καὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἡ θεόπνευστος μαρτυρεῖ διδασκαλία, μικρὰ φροντίσας ὁ δογματιστὴς τῶν συνετῶς ἀκροωμένων τὴν καινὴν ἐπήγαγεν ἑρμηνείαν τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίας, εἰκόνα καὶ σφραγῖδα τῆς τοῦ παντο κράτορος ἐνεργείας αὐτὸν ὁρισάμενος.
159 Υἱὸς γάρ ἐστι, φησίν, εἰκὼν καὶ σφραγὶς τῆς τοῦ παντοκράτορος ἐνεργείας. αὐτό μοι τοῦτο πρῶτον ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἐπισκεψάσθω, τίς ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ἐνεργείας σφραγίς; πᾶσα γὰρ ἐνέργεια ἐν μὲν τῷ ἐκπονοῦντι τὸ σπουδαζόμενον θεωρεῖται, περαιωθέντος δὲ τοῦ σπουδαζομένου καθ' ἑαυτὴν οὐχ ὑφέστηκεν· οἷον ἐν έργεια τοῦ δρομέως ἡ διὰ τῶν ποδῶν ἐστι κίνησις, παυσα μένης δὲ τῆς κινήσεως οὐκέτι ἔστιν ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς ἡ ἐνέργεια. 160 οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ παντὸς ἔστιν ἐπιτηδεύματος τὸ ἴσον εἰπεῖν, τῇ σπουδῇ τοῦ περί τι πονοῦντος συναπολήγειν καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν *** ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς δὲ οὐκ οὖσαν οὔτε ἐνεργοῦντός τινος τὴν προκειμένην ἑαυτῷ σπουδὴν οὔτε εἰ τῆς σπουδῆς ἀπολήξειε. τί οὖν λέγει εἶναι καθ' ἑαυτὴν τὴν ἐνέργειαν τὴν οὔτε οὐσίαν οὖσαν οὔτε χαρακτῆρα οὔτε ὑπόστασιν; οὐκοῦν τοῦ ἀνυποστάτου αὐτὸν εἶπεν ὁμοίωμα· τὸ δὲ τῷ ἀνυπάρκτῳ ὅμοιον οὐδὲ αὐτὸ πάντως ἔστιν. αὕτη τῶν καινῶν δογμάτων ἡ τερατεία, τὸ πιστεύειν εἰς τὸ μὴ ὄν. τὸ γὰρ τῷ μὴ ὄντι ὅμοιον οὐκ ἔστι πάντως.
161 ὦ Παῦλε καὶ Ἰωάννη καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων χορός, τίνες τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ φωνῇ τὰς ἰοβόλους γλώσσας ἑαυτῶν ἀνθοπλίζουσι; τίνες ταῖς οὐρα νίαις ὑμῶν βρονταῖς τὰς βατραχώδεις ἑαυτῶν φωνὰς ἀντε γείρουσι; τί οὖν λέγει ὁ υἱὸς τῆς βροντῆς; Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. τί δὲ ὁ μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἄλλος ἐκεῖνος, ὁ ἐντὸς τῶν οὐρανίων ἀδύτων γενόμενος, ὁ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ μυηθεὶς τὰ ἀπόρ ρητα; Ὤν, φησίν, ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ. τί μετὰ τούτους λέγει ὁ ἐγγαστρίμυθος; σφραγίς, φησί, τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ παντοκρά 162 τορος. τρίτον αὐτὸν μετὰ τὸν πατέρα ποιεῖ, τῇ ἀνυπάρκτῳ ἐκείνῃ ἐνεργείᾳ μεσιτευόμενον, μᾶλλον δὲ πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν τῇ ἀνυπαρξίᾳ τυπούμενον. ἐνεργείας ἐστὶ σφραγὶς ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν λόγος θεὸς καὶ τῇ ἀϊδιότητι τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν ὄν των ἐνθεωρούμενος, ὁ μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ πατρός, ὁ τὰ σύμπαντα φέρων τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, ὁ ποιητὴς τῶν αἰώνων, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα, ὁ κατέχων τὸν γῦρον τῆς γῆς, ὁ διειληφὼς τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ, ὁ περιμετρῶν τῇ χειρὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, ὁ περιδεδραγμένος πάντων τῶν ὄντων, ὁ ἐν ὑψηλοῖς κατοικῶν καὶ τὰ ταπεινὰ ἐφορῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπι δών, ἵνα ποιήσῃ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἑαυτοῦ ὑποπόδιον, τῷ ἴχνει τοῦ λόγου ἐντυπωθεῖσαν; ἐνεργείας ἐστὶ 163 σφραγὶς ἡ μορφὴ τοῦ θεοῦ; οὐκοῦν ἐνέργειά ἐστιν ὁ θεός, οὐχ ὑπόστασις; καὶ μὴν αὐτὸ τοῦτο διερμηνεύων φησὶν ὁ Παῦλος, ὅτι χαρακτήρ ἐστιν οὐ τῆς ἐνεργείας, ἀλλὰ τῆς ὑποστάσεως. ἢ τὸ τῆς δόξης ἀπαύγασμα σφραγίς ἐστιν ἐνεργείας θεοῦ; ὢ τῆς ἀσεβοῦς ἀμαθίας. τί μέσον ἐστὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς ἰδίας μορφῆς; τίνι δὲ μεσιτεύεται πρὸς τὸν χαρακτῆρα ἑαυτῆς ἡ ὑπόστασις; τί δὲ μεταξὺ νοεῖται τῆς δόξης καὶ τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος; ἀλλὰ τοιούτων καὶ τοσούτων ὄντων δι' ὧν τὸ μεγαλεῖον