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as you say, what was that interval? What name will you devise for it? For common usage subjects every interval either to times or to ages; since what time is in sensible things, this the nature of the age is in super-mundane things. But if these men devise some third thing from their own wisdom, let them say so. But as long as they are silent, let them not be unaware that they are placing the substance of the Only-begotten second to the ages. For if there was some interval older than the Son, co-extensive with the life of the Father, it was clearly one of these. But there is not, nor may there be, a concept older than the hypostasis of the Only-begotten. For the existence of God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, will be found to be superior to everything that can be conceived in terms of antiquity. And even if the mind, having deceived itself with myriad fantasies and applying itself to the fabrications of non-existent things, should contemplate things that are not, it will discover no device whatsoever by which it will be able to place itself beyond the beginning of the Only-begotten; and to leave the life of Life-itself lower than its own motion; and with its own reason to surpass the beginning of God the Word; and to look upon ages devoid of the God of the ages. 29.597 But while taking away the glory owed to the Only-begotten, observe with what words he dignifies him. {EUN.} The substance of the Son, he says, was begotten before all things, by the will of God the Father. {BAS.} This adds something great to the Son, to be older than creation, and to pre-exist his own works, positing it as sufficient glory for the Creator of all things that he is ranked before his own creatures. For having alienated him, as far as he could, from communion with God the Father, he attests glory to him in his precedence over created things. Then, carrying his blasphemy to the point of shamelessness, he surrounds us with what he considers the inescapable necessities of his reasonings. {EUN.} For either, he says, God begot the Son as existing, or as not existing. But if as not existing, let no one, he says, charge me with audacity; but if as existing, the argument contains an excess not only of absurdity and blasphemy, but also of all foolishness; for that which exists does not need to be begotten. {BAS.} So then, the much-talked-of sophism, which was invented long ago by others, but has now been perfected by these men with their shameless and impudent tongues, is this. But we shall first remind the hearers of this, that this is the one who has come to the necessity of these arguments on account of the ignorance of the many, who hear of the begetting of the Son in a human way; this is the one who leads uninstructed souls up from bodily conceptions to the spiritual vision; who, since animals that are born did not exist before, and then are born, and he who was born today did not exist yesterday, transfers this same concept also to the hypostasis of the Only-begotten. And since he has been begotten, he says, he did not exist before the begetting. Thus he speaks theology to us with genius about the begetting of the Only-begotten, and through such words the infirmities of our brethren are corrected, being worthy, if anyone is, to hear the proverb, that Physician, heal thyself. Yet what consolation for this absurd disease of his reasonings should we offer him other than what was spoken to us by the Holy Spirit through the blessed John, that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God? Through these two sayings the evangelist has blocked the way, one being 29.600 insuperable and the other inescapable. For it is not possible to conceive of anything older than the beginning; for it would no longer be a beginning, if it had something external to itself; nor is it possible for those who have traversed the "was" with their reasoning, to look beyond to a "when he was not." For the conception of "that he was not" is a negation of the "was." For if the beginning were one of those things spoken of in relation to another, such as the beginning of wisdom, and the beginning of a good way, and, In the beginning God made, it would perhaps have been possible for those subsisting from such a beginning to surpass the begetting through thought; but since this meaning of the beginning

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ὥς φατε, τί ἦν ἐκεῖνο τὸ διάστημα; τίνα αὐτῷ προσηγο ρίαν ἐπινοήσετε; Ἡ μὲν γὰρ κοινὴ συνήθεια ἢ χρό νοις ἢ αἰῶσιν ἅπαν διάστημα ὑποβάλλει· ἐπειδὴ ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ὁ χρόνος, τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς ὑπερ κοσμίοις ἡ τοῦ αἰῶνος φύσις ἐστίν. Οὗτοι δὲ, εἴ τι τρίτον ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν σοφίας ἐπινοοῦσι, λεγέτωσαν. Ἕως δ' ἂν σιωπῶσι, μὴ λανθανέτωσαν δευτέραν αἰώνων τὴν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς οὐσίαν τιθέμενοι. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν τι διάστημα πρεσβύτερον τοῦ Υἱοῦ, συμπαρ εκτεινόμενον τῇ ζωῇ τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἕν τι τούτων ἦν δηλονότι. Ἀλλ' οὔτ' ἔστιν, οὔτε μὴ γένηται ἔννοια πρεσβυτέρα τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως. Παν τὸς γὰρ τοῦ δυναμένου εἰς ἀρχαιότητος λόγον ἐπι νοεῖσθαι ἀνωτέρα ἡ ὕπαρξις τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν εὑρεθήσεται. Κἂν, μυρίαις φαντασίαις ἑαυτὸν ἐξαπατήσας ὁ νοῦς, καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἀνυπάρκτων ἀναπλασμοῖς ἐπιβάλλων, τὰ μὴ ὄντα περινοῇ, οὐδεμίαν τῶν πασῶν μηχανὴν ἐξευρή σει, δι' ἧς δυνήσεται τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἑαυ τὸν ὑπερθεῖναι· καὶ κατωτέραν τοῦ ἰδίου κινήματος τὴν ζωὴν καταλιπεῖν τῆς αὐτοζωῆς· καὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπερβῆναι· καὶ αἰῶνας ἐποπτεῦσαι ἐρήμους τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν αἰώ νων. 29.597 Ἀφαιρούμενος δὲ τὴν ὀφειλομένην τῷ Μονο γενεῖ δόξαν, σκοπεῖτε ποίοις αὐτὸν ἀποσεμνύνει λό γοις. {ΕΥΝ.} Ἔστι δὲ, φησὶν, ἡ οὐσία τοῦ Υἱοῦ γεννηθεῖσα πρὸ πάντων, γνώμῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός. {ΒΑΣ.} Τοῦτο μέγα προστίθησι τῷ Υἱῷ, τὸ πρεσβύ τερον εἶναι τῆς κτίσεως, καὶ τῶν ποιημάτων αὐτὸν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ προϋπάρχειν, ἀρκοῦν εἰς δόξαν τῷ ∆η μιουργῷ τῶν ὅλων τιθέμενος τὸ κτισμάτων αὐ τὸν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ προτετάχθαι. Τῆς γὰρ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα κοινωνίας τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν ἧκον ἀλλο τριώσας, ἐν τῇ τῶν κτισμάτων προτιμήσει τὴν δόξαν αὐτῷ μαρτυρεῖ. Εἶτα πρὸς τὸ ἀναίσχυντον τὴν βλασφημίαν ἐκφέρων ταῖς ἀφύκτοις ἡμᾶς, ὡς οἴεται, τῶν λογισμῶν ἀνάγκαις περιστοιχίζεται. {ΕΥΝ.} Ἤτοι γὰρ ὄντα, φησὶν, ἐγέννησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν Υἱὸν, ἢ οὐκ ὄντα. Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν οὐκ ὄντα, μηδείς μοι φησὶ, τόλμαν ἐπεγκαλείτω· εἰ δὲ ὄντα, οὐκ ἀτοπίας μόνον καὶ βλασφημίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης εὐηθείας ὑπερβολὴν ὁ λόγος ἔχει· τῷ γὰρ ὄντι οὐ δεῖ γεννήσεως. {ΒΑΣ.} Τὸ μὲν οὖν πολυθρύλλητον σόφισμα, τὸ πά λαι μὲν ἐξευρεθὲν παρ' ἑτέρων, τελείως δὲ νῦν ἐν ταῖς ἀπηρυθριασμέναις καὶ ἀναισχύντοις γλώσσαις ὑπὸ τούτων ἐξεργασθὲν, τοῦτό ἐστιν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ πρῶτον ἐκεῖνο τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ὑπομνήσομεν, ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ διὰ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν ἄγνοιαν ἀνθρωπι κῶς ἐξακουόντων τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ Υἱοῦ εἰς ἀνάγ κην ἐληλυθὼς τῶν λόγων τούτων· οὗτος ὁ ἀπὸ τῶν σωματικῶν ἐννοιῶν ἐπὶ τὴν πνευματικὴν θεωρίαν τὰς ἀπαιδεύτους ψυχὰς ἐπανάγων· ὃς, ἐπειδὴ τὰ γεννώ μενα ζῶα οὐκ ὄντα πρότερον, εἶτα γεννᾶται, καὶ ὁ σήμερον γεννηθεὶς χθὲς οὐχ ὑπῆρχε, ταύτην καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως τὴν ἔννοιαν μεταφέρει. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ γεγέννηται, φησὶν, οὐχ ὑπῆρχε πρὸ τῆς γεννήσεως. Οὕτω μεγαλοφυῶς τὴν γέννησιν ἡμῖν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς θεολογεῖ, καὶ διὰ τοιού των λόγων τὰ ἀῤῥωστήματα τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν ἐπ ανορθοῦται, ἄξιος ὢν, εἴπερ τις, ἀκοῦσαι τῆς παροι μίας, ὅτι Ἰατρὲ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν. Τίνα μέντοι καὶ παραμυθίαν τῆς ἀτόπου ταύτης νόσου τῶν λο γισμῶν αὐτῷ προσενέγκωμεν ἢ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος διὰ τοῦ μακαρίου Ἰωάννου λαληθέντα ἡμῖν, ὅτι Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος; ∆ιὰ τούτων τῶν δύο ῥήσεων ἀπέκλεισεν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς, μιᾶς ἀν 29.600 υπερβάτου καὶ ἑτέρας ἀνεκβάτου. Οὔτε γὰρ ἀρ χῆς ἐστί τι ἐπινοῆσαι πρεσβύτερον· οὐ γὰρ ἔτι ἂν εἴη ἀρχὴ, εἴπερ ἔχοι τι ἑαυτῆς ἐξώτερον· οὔτε τὸ Ἦν διαβάντας τῷ λογισμῷ, εἰς τὸ ὅτε οὐκ ἦν δυνατὸν ὑπερκύψαι. Ἀθέτησις γάρ ἐστι τοῦ Ἦν, ἡ τοῦ ὅτι οὐκ ἦν ἐπίνοια. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῶν πρὸς ἕτερον λεγομένων ἦν, ὡς τὸ ἀρχὴ σο φίας, καὶ ἀρχὴ ὁδοῦ ἀγαθῆς, καὶ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἦν ἃν τυχὸν, τοῦ ἐκ τοιαύτης ἀρχῆς ὑφεστῶτες, δι' ἐνθυμήσεως ὑπερβῆναι τὴν γέννησιν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὸ σημαινόμενον τοῦτο τῆς ἀρχῆς