28

Is the proclamation of the master of creation, by those entrusted with the preaching, the sort of thing the forerunner of the apostasy relates concerning him?

164 What does he say? as an image, he says, and a seal of all the energy and power of the Almighty. How does he falsify the words of the great Paul? That one says that the Son is the power of God, but this one says he is a seal of power, not power. And again taking up the argument, what does he add to what has been said? He calls him a seal of the Father's works and words and counsels. To what works of the Father is he like? He will certainly say the world and all the things in it. But indeed the gospel has testified that all these things are works of the Only-begotten. 165 To what works of the Father, therefore, was the Son made like? Of what works did he become a seal? And what scripture called him a seal of the Father's works? But if one should grant him this too, to fashion his words with authority as he wishes, even if scripture does not agree, let him say what works of the Father there are, separate from those that have come to be through the Son, of which he says the Son has become a seal. The works of the Word are all things visible and invisible; among the visible things, the whole world and all things in it, 166 among the invisible, the supracelestial creation. What works of the Father, therefore, are left outside of things visible and invisible, considered in themselves, of which he says the Son has become a seal? Or perhaps, being cornered, he will return again to the foul vomit of heresy and say that the Son is a work of the Father? How then does the Son become a seal of these works, being himself, as he himself says, the work? Or does he call the same one both work and likeness of a work?

167 Let these things be granted; let him state the remaining works of which he says the Father is creator, to which the Son was made like, if indeed by "seal" he means "likeness." But what other words of the Father does Eunomius know besides the Word who is always in the Father, whom he calls a seal, the one who is properly and truly and primarily the Word, both in being and in name? And to what counsels does he look, separate from the wisdom of God, to which the wisdom of God is likened, becoming a seal 168 of the counsels? See the lack of distinction and the thoughtlessness and the jumble of his argument, how he scatters the mystery, understanding neither what he says nor about what he is making his argument. For he who has the whole Father in himself and is wholly in the Father as Word and Wisdom and Power and Truth and Character and Effulgence, he himself is all things in the Father, not becoming an image and seal and likeness of certain other things considered in the Father before him.

169 Then he graciously grants to him the destruction of men by water in the time of Noah, and the rain of fire in Sodom, and the just punishment of the Egyptians, as though testifying to some great things for him who holds in his hand the ends of the world, in whom all things consist, as the apostle says, as if not knowing that for him who contains all things and leads and brings both past and future events to his will, the mention of two or three miracles does not so much add to his glory as the silence about the rest is a subtraction and a loss. But even if these things are passed over in silence, the one saying of Paul is sufficient to show all things comprehensively by itself, the one which says he is over all and through all and in all. 170 Then he legislates, he says, at the command of the eternal God. Who is the eternal God and who is the one ministering to him in the giving of the law? But it is clear to everyone that God legislates through Moses to those who receive the law. And since Eunomius himself confesses that the Only-begotten God is the one who gave oracles to Moses, how does his present argument substitute the master of all into the rank of Moses, and assign the meaning of "eternal God" to the Father alone, so that by the distinction with "the eternal one," the Only-begotten 171 God is shown to be not eternal, but recent, the creator of the

28

ἀνακηρύσσεται τοῦ δεσπότου τῆς κτίσεως παρὰ τῶν πεπιστευμένων τὸ κήρυγμα, οἷα περὶ αὐτοῦ διεξέρχεται ὁ τῆς ἀποστασίας πρόδρομος;

164 τί λέγει; ὡς εἰκόνα, φησί, καὶ σφραγῖδα πάσης τῆς τοῦ παντοκράτορος ἐνεργείας καὶ δυνά μεως. πῶς παραγράφεται τὰς τοῦ μεγάλου Παύλου φωνάς; ἐκεῖνός φησιν ὅτι θεοῦ δύναμίς ἐστιν ὁ υἱός, οὗτος δὲ αὐτὸν σφραγῖδα λέγει δυνάμεως, οὐχὶ δύναμιν. καὶ πάλιν ἐπαναλαβὼν τὸν λόγον οἷα τοῖς εἰρημένοις προσ τίθησιν; σφραγῖδα λέγει τῶν τοῦ πατρὸς ἔργων καὶ λόγων καὶ βουλευμάτων. ποίοις ἔργοις τοῦ πατρός ἐστιν ὅμοιος; τὸν κόσμον πάντως ἐρεῖ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα. ἀλλὰ μὴν πάντα ταῦτα τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἔργα 165 εἶναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἐμαρτύρησε. ποίοις τοίνυν ἔργοις τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὡμοιώθη; τίνων ἐγένετο ἔργων σφραγίς; ποία δὲ γραφὴ σφραγῖδα τῶν πατρικῶν ἔργων αὐτὸν προση γόρευσεν; εἰ δέ τις αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦτο δοίη, τὸ πλάσσειν τοὺς λόγους κατ' ἐξουσίαν ὡς βούλεται, κἂν ἡ γραφὴ μὴ συντι θῆται, εἰπάτω ποῖα τοῦ πατρός ἐστιν ἔργα τῶν παρὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ γεγονότων κεχωρισμένα, ὧν σφραγῖδα λέγει τὸν υἱὸν γεγενῆσθαι. ἔργα τοῦ λόγου τὰ ὁρατὰ πάντα καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα· ἐν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις ὁ κόσμος ὅλος καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ 166 πάντα, ἐν τοῖς ἀοράτοις ἡ ὑπερκόσμιος κτίσις. ποῖα τοίνυν ὑπολείπεται ἔξω τῶν ὁρωμένων τε καὶ ἀοράτων ἔργα τοῦ πατρὸς ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν θεωρούμενα, ὧν σφραγῖδα λέγει τὸν υἱὸν γεγενῆσθαι; ἢ τάχα πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸν δυσώδη τῆς αἱρέ σεως ἔμετον ἐπανήξει στενοχωρούμενος καὶ λέξει ἔργον εἶναι τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱόν; πῶς οὖν σφραγὶς γίνεται τῶν ἔργων τούτων ὁ υἱός, αὐτὸς ὤν, ὥς φησιν αὐτός, τὸ ἔργον; ἢ τὸν αὐτὸν λέγει καὶ ἔργον καὶ ἔργου ὁμοίωμα;

167 ∆εδόσθω ταῦτα· εἰπάτω τὰ λοιπὰ ἔργα ὧν λέγει δη μιουργὸν τὸν πατέρα, οἷς ὁ υἱὸς ὡμοιώθη, εἴπερ διὰ τῆς σφραγῖδος νοεῖ τὸ ὁμοίωμα. ποίους δὲ λόγους ἄλλους τοῦ πατρὸς οἶδεν ὁ Εὐνόμιος παρὰ τὸν ἀεὶ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ ὄντα λόγον, ὃν σφραγῖδα ὀνομάζει, τὸν κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς καὶ πρώτως ὄντα τε καὶ ὀνομαζόμενον λόγον; πρὸς ποῖα δὲ βουλεύματα βλέπει τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας κεχωρι σμένα, οἷς ὁμοιοῦται ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ σοφία, σφραγὶς γινομένη 168 τῶν βουλευμάτων; ὁρᾶτε τὸ ἀδιάκριτον καὶ ἀπερί σκεπτον καὶ τὸν συρφετὸν τοῦ λόγου, οἷα τοῦ μυστηρίου κατασκεδάζει, μήτε ἃ λέγει ἐπιστάμενος μήτε περὶ τίνος ποιεῖται τὸν λόγον. ὁ γὰρ ὅλον ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ ὅλος ὢν ὡς λόγος καὶ σοφία καὶ δύναμις καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ χαρακτὴρ καὶ ἀπαύγασμα, αὐτός ἐστιν ἐν τῷ πατρὶ τὰ πάντα, οὐκ ἄλλων τινῶν ἐν τῷ πατρὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ θεωρουμένων εἰκὼν γινόμενος καὶ σφραγὶς καὶ ὁμοίωμα.

169 Εἶτα χαρίζεται αὐτῷ τὸν ἐπὶ Νῶε δι' ὕδατος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀφανισμὸν καὶ τὴν ἐν Σοδόμοις τοῦ πυρὸς ἐπομβρίαν καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τὴν ἔνδικον τιμωρίαν, ὥς τινα μεγάλα προσμαρτυρῶν τῷ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ ἔχοντι τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα συνέστηκε, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ὥσπερ οὐκ εἰδώς, ὅτι τῷ περιέχοντι τὰ πάντα καὶ πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν ἄγοντί τε καὶ φέροντι τά τε ἤδη γεγενημένα καὶ τὰ ἐσό μενα οὐ τοσοῦτον προσθήκην ποιεῖ τῆς δόξης δύο ἢ τρία μνημονευθέντα θαύματα, ὅσον ἀφαίρεσιν καὶ ζημίαν ἡ τῶν λοιπῶν σιωπή. ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων σιωπωμένων ἀρκεῖ ἡ μία τοῦ Παύλου φωνὴ περιληπτικῶς τὰ πάντα δι' ἑαυτῆς ἐνδείξασθαι ἡ ἐπὶ πάντων αὐτὸν λέγουσα καὶ διὰ πάντων καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν. 170 Εἶτα νομοθετεῖ, φησί, κατ' ἐπιταγὴν τοῦ αἰωνίου θεοῦ. τίς ὁ αἰώνιός ἐστι θεὸς καὶ τίς ὁ ὑπουργῶν αὐτῷ περὶ τὴν τοῦ νόμου θέσιν; ἀλλὰ παντὶ δῆλον τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅτι διὰ Μωϋσέως νομοθετεῖ ὁ θεὸς τοῖς δεχομένοις τὸν νόμον. αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ Εὐνομίου τὸν μονο γενῆ θεὸν εἶναι ὁμολογοῦντος τὸν Μωϋσεῖ χρηματίζοντα πῶς ὁ παρὼν αὐτοῦ λόγος εἰς τὴν τοῦ Μωϋσέως τάξιν τὸν τοῦ παντὸς δεσπότην ἀντικαθίστησιν, τὸ δὲ τοῦ αἰωνίου θεοῦ σημαινόμενον τῷ πατρὶ ἀνατίθησι μόνῳ, ὡς τῇ πρὸς τὸν αἰώνιον διαστολῇ μὴ αἰώνιον, ἀλλὰ πρόσφατον τὸν μονογενῆ 171 θεὸν ἀποδείκνυσθαι, τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν