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That most of the ill-named heresies were given over to the primordial gods of Valentinus, Bythos and Sige, has been demonstrated in the books already written. And cities and villages freed from these bear witness to the account. But the father of lies, whom the Lord rightly called a murderer (for he always plots against the souls of men), contrived other devices for his schemes. For perceiving that the things said about the God of the universe by his disciples seemed abominable to all, and that the accounts of the economy lacked plausibility; for some said that a bare divinity had appeared, while others that a mere humanity, devoid of divinity, had accomplished the economy; he mixed an impiety free from either extreme. A'. -Concerning Arius. And finding Arius striving for human glory, he kindled in him the passion of arrogance, and implanted the error of heresy. For this man, being on the list of the presbyters of the Church of Alexandria, and seeing the great Alexander established on the archepiscopal throne, received the sting of envy, and seeking occasions for conflict with him, found a pretext in the impiety of doctrines. For while that one offered the apostolic pasture to the flock, and guided the sheep to the evangelical springs, this one 83.413 contradicted what was said, and when the all-wise teacher said the Son was of one substance with the Father, this one contradicted, calling him a creature, whom he had called a genuine son; and when that one said that God the Word was co-eternal with God the Father, as being in the beginning, and being God the Word, and the radiance of his glory; this one said that he who is had come into being out of things that are not, and said that he had a mutable nature. And indeed he also mutilated the account of the incarnation. For he said that he had taken a soulless body, and that the divinity had performed the functions of the soul, so as to attribute to it the sympathy arising from the body. This man also, abandoning the rules of the doxology, which the original eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word handed down, introduced another form, teaching the deceived to glorify the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. And he did not dare to alter the invocation made at holy baptism because of the obviousness of the transgression; but according to the Lord's command, he handed down that they should baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; but he prevented them from glorifying according to the rule of baptism, although our God and Savior had commanded not simply to baptize, but first to make disciples. "For go, he said, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." And according to this rule, both the divine apostles and the teachers of the Church after them, disciple those who come to believe in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and they baptize those who have been discipled in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, those who have enjoyed the gift, as they were discipled and baptized, glorify the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For it is dreadful for those who have received the gift of baptism from the Holy Trinity to offer the doxology to the Father alone, and to leave the Son and the all-holy Spirit unhonored. But these things we have spoken of at length in the works we wrote against them; but the purpose of the present writing is to show the character of each heresy. Therefore, this Arius, who held these opinions, the holy Fathers who assembled at Nicaea openly repudiated, as being altogether foreign to the
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Ὅτι μὲν τῶν δυσωνύμων αἱρέσεων αἱ πλείους τοῖς ἀρχεγόνοις Βαλεντίνου θεοῖς τῷ Βυθῷ καὶ τῇ Σιγῇ παρεδόθησαν, ἐν τοῖς ἤδη γραφεῖσι βιβλίοις δε δήλωται. Μαρτυροῦσι δὲ τῷ λόγῳ πόλεις καὶ κῶμαι τούτων ἀπηλλαγμέναι. Ἀλλ' ὁ τοῦ ψεύδους πατὴρ, ὃν ἀνθρωποκτόνον εἰκότως ὁ Κύριος προσηγόρευσεν (ἀεὶ γὰρ ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιβουλεύει ψυχαῖς), ἑτέρας ἐπιβουλῶν ἐτεκτήνατο μηχανάς. Συνιδὼν γὰρ, ὡς μυσαρὰ πᾶσιν εἶναι δοκεῖ τὰ περὶ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων παρὰ τῶν ἐκείνου φοιτητῶν εἰρημένα, καὶ τῆς οἰκο νομίας οἱ λόγοι τὸ πιθανὸν οὐκ ἐσχήκασιν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ γυμνὴν ἔφασαν ἐπιφανῆναι θεότητα, οἱ δὲ μόνην ἀνθρωπότητα θεότητος ἔρημον τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἐργά σασθαι· ἐκέρασεν ἀσέβειαν ἑκατέρας ἀπηλλαγμένην ὑπερβολῆς. Αʹ. -Περὶ Ἀρείου. Καὶ τὸν Ἄρειον εὑρὼν ἀνθρωπίνης ὀριγνώμενον δόξης, καὶ τῆς ἀλαζονείας ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ πάθος ἐπύρ σευσε, καὶ τῆς αἱρέσεως τὸν πλάνον ἐνέθηκεν. Οὗ τος γὰρ εἰς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων κατάλογον τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων Ἐκκλησίας τελῶν, καὶ τὸν μέγαν Ἀλέξανδρον τοῖς ἀρχιερατικοῖς ἐνιδρυθέντα θώκοις ἰδὼν, τοῦ φθόνου τὸ κέντρον ἐδέξατο, καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἁψιμαχίας ἐπιζητῶν ἀφορμὰς, πρόφασιν εὗρε τὴν τῶν δογμάτων ἀσέβειαν. Ἐκείνου γὰρ τὴν ἀποστο λικὴν πόαν τῇ ποίμνῃ προσφέροντος, καὶ πρὸς τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς τὰ πρόβατα ποδηγοῦντος πηγὰς, οὗτος 83.413 ἀντεῖπε. τοῖς λεγομένοις, καὶ τοῦ πανσόφου διδασκά λου τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸν Υἱὸν ὁμοούσιον λέγοντος, οὗτος ἀντέλεγε, κτίσμα ἀποκαλῶν, ὃν υἱὸν γνήσιον προσηγόρευσε· κἀκείνου τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον συναΐδιον λέγοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, ὡς ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα, καὶ Θεὸν ὄντα Λόγον, καὶ ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης· οὗτος ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἔλεγε γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ὄντα, καὶ τρεπτὴν αὐτὸν ἔχειν ἔφησε φύσιν. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὸν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ἠκρωτηρίασε λόγον. Σῶμα γὰρ αὐτὸν ἄψυχον ἔφη εἰληφέναι, ἐνηργηκέναι δὲ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν θεότητα, ὥστε ταύτῃ προσάψαι τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος ἐγγινο μένην συμπάθειαν. Οὗτος καὶ τῆς δοξολογίας τοὺς νόμους καταλιπὼν, οὓς οἱ ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται τοῦ Λόγου παρέδοσαν, ἕτερον ἐπεισήγαγε τύπον, δοξάζειν, τοὺς ἐξηπατημένους διδάξας τὸν Πατέρα διὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι. Καὶ τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος γινομένην ἐπίκλησιν ἐναλλάξαι διὰ τὸ τῆς παραβάσεως προφανὲς οὐκ ἐθάῤῥησεν· ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ∆εσποτικὴν ἐντολὴν, βα πτίζειν μὲν παρέδωκεν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· δοξάζειν δὲ κατὰ τὸν τοῦ βαπτίσματος διεκώλυσε νόμον, καίτοι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς βαπτίσαι, ἀλλὰ πρότερον μαθητεῦσαι προστεταχότος. "Πορευθέντες γὰρ, ἔφη, μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος." Κατὰ τοῦτον δὲ τὸν νόμον καὶ οἱ θεῖοι ἀπόστολοι, καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκείνους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας διδάσκαλοι, μαθητεύουσι τοὺς προσιόντας πιστεύειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καὶ τοὺς μαθητευθέντας βαπτίζου σιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Οὗ δὴ χάριν, οἱ τῆς δωρεᾶς ἀπο λαύσαντες, ὡς ἐμαθητεύθησαν καὶ ἐβαπτίσθησαν, δοξάζουσι τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα Σχέτλιον γὰρ, τοὺς παρὰ τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος κομισαμένους τὴν τοῦ βαπτίσμα τος δωρεὰν, μόνῳ τὴν δοξολογίαν προσενεγκεῖν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ ἀγέραστον καταλιπεῖν τὸν Υἱὸν, καὶ τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦμα. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐν οἷς κατ' ἐκείνων συνεγράψαμεν διὰ πλάτους εἰρήκαμεν· τῆς δὲ παρούσης συγγραφῆς ὁ σκοπὸς αἱρέσεως ἑκάστης ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸν χαρακτῆρα. Τοῦτον τοίνυν τὸν Ἄρειον, ταῦτα πεφρονηκότα, οἱ ἐν Νικαίᾳ συνεληλυθότες ἅγιοι Πατέρες ἄντικρυς ἀπεκήρυξαν, ὡς ἀλλότρια παντελῶς τῶν