De sancta trinitate dialogi OF SAINT CYRIL ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA <On the Holy and
they are poured in herds, and as if entering some oak-wood or thicket of flowering grass, they devise what is profitable but when the gleam of the su
of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him? For surely, by the divine and intelligible light, things lacki
with your words, O you come now, come, let us bring forth what was accurately and carefully defined in the holy and all-praised synod, which was gath
that is, to the confession of faith? {B.} Yes, they say. For we will rightly censure the word homoousios, affirming that it is both a neologism and un
the Son to the Father, but would rather say that He is of like substance? {A.} They will not speak correctly, my friend, but first they will be caught
we say that he grants the attainment of such glory not to those who leap from humanity into some other nature, but to those who from a wicked choice a
truth that which is not as it is named, at least in the divinely inspired Scriptures? Why then do they say that the Son is not of this world at all? {
and again: For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and
I thank you. {A.} Therefore, going to the hierophant Moses himself, and striving to set up the most clear power of the things done and said through hi
us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die, said Israel and this they sought in Horeb on the day of the assembly, when God was in the form of fire
{B.} You speak well, since indeed the divine Paul also writes: But Christ, having appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, through the g
of the Father according to his own will, and he became man, preserving in himself the dignity of his own nature completely inviolate and unadulterated
natural, but rather voluntary the union of the Son to be with the Father and God? For he will differ, I think, in no way, if it is so and is true, fro
Father and Son, but with each one both being and subsisting, and said to have its own existence, the identity of substance guarantees the union. {B.}
will be laid down in word, as having been removed from the substance of God the Father. {B.} For they maintain that the Son is otherwise than the Fath
God in glory and in nature, to whom in every way and in every sense would belong as his own good the unbegotten for this reason, to those subject to
they deem it right to accept and understand the matter naturally. {A.} Therefore, they persuade both themselves and others to think that the name of s
superior even to being seen by anyone, the power of the words shows us is it not so? {B.} True. {A.} If, then, anyone should say that the Father and
what sort of approach should we consider for these things? {Α.} For what else could show us that the word of truth is simple, than that it is free fro
as poets say, having loosed the cable, and as if setting sail from shore and moorings, let us launch our discourse like a merchant ship onto the open
by way of being begotten it will be otherwise and would not be understood as the same. For if it is not one and another, but you think it is the same,
conceived, yet not yet distinctly the person of one specifically. But when saying Father and Son and Holy Spirit, he makes the declaration not from th
with rejoinders to common notions, with Christ being present and defending us, that we may, as far as possible, lay them waste, singing opportunely th
We must proceed. {B.} It is not otherwise. {A.} Consider then, or rather let those who ignorantly treat unbegotten as having the force of a definiti
has occurred. {B.} How do you mean? 428 {A.} For instance, when we want to state what fire or water is, or of what sort each is by nature, concerning
forgivingly, and if they should choose to move on to other topics, let us proceed to those, so that no account of our arrogance may be furnished to th
having appeared. And indeed we ourselves have been taught, he says, to name God thus and to say in our prayers: Our Father, who art in heaven. {A.}
be formed according to that which is unbegotten? {A.} I do not say this, but I thought it necessary to point out the absurdity of the notions arising
you say he is in identity and consubstantial with God the Father, you will no longer hesitate, in all probability, to think that he also always co-exi
is not easy, but it is possible nonetheless for those willing to measure. For there is nothing among existing things that can escape the account of it
the word became steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvatio
in a truth of generation that does not introduce to it the necessity of being in every way and altogether adorned in the nature of the one who begot t
of God's energy, fire, which is caustic, and also water, which knows how to cool, 442 but both are works of one, the simple. And if these are works of
to leave it as unattainable. For I think that no one at all among those who have soberly considered that it is fitting to concede victory to those who
of all such things and not without purpose He who relies on falsehoods, this one will shepherd winds, and he himself will chase winged birds. For he
in a place, somewhere certainly, and in size and quantity. And since it has quantity, let it not escape circumscription. And a swarm of other thoughts
the generation of an incorporeal nature, why will he not rather charge himself with ignorance? But that which is greater and better than what is accor
indeed, by courses from the depth to the above and outward, the word fashions for us the generation as in some way substantial. And he seems to be som
I do not think I can make clear what manner of the divine generation might be conceived by us, but rather this, that if God is Father, He did not find
I would know. {B.} For, I think, adding that too, they will say, that if indeed the Son is unwanted by the Father, He has begotten not willingly, but
and he will very well observe the nature of things, and he will consider that of things to be done or not, both will and unwillingness have power, but
For he is what he is not unwillingly, not submitting to a necessary will in this respect, just as, for example, if he might be conceived as holy and g
he shapes the forms of bronze figures or, at any rate, works on something else of a similar kind. Does it seem to you, then, that he is moved in an eq
if from unbegottenness still, that is from potentiality, he should proceed not without time into generation in actuality, even if the interval were th
{A.} Therefore, what in another way is, I do not understand very well, but perhaps you would state it yourself, if you happen to know it. For it is
our God, no other shall be reckoned with him. He found all the way of knowledge and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved. And after
delivered to us from the sacred Scriptures. For the Father, being alone by nature and truly God, would not otherwise accept the Son as being alone God
less, since the fullness of God the Father would not have been entirely sufficient to save us. But I say that to think and to say these things are bla
and will the Spirit be ranked with the Son and be inscribed in the one nature of the divinity, or not? {Β.} They say that there is one true God, the F
having improvised the generation of all other things: Let us make man in our image and likeness. And having thrown in something brief in between: A
He has created him a new form in the beginning, that is, in likeness to Himself, but rather He would have placed in him another form and appearance, i
of stupidity and ignorance is the mind, to say or at least ever to suppose that the Son is better than the Father, who has his begetter as a sort of r
the measure of his own nature. Then how will the divine proclamation to us, I mean the evangelical one, which persuades us that we must assent to the
and from them did one of the earth-born spring up? Or do you say that that is better and true, that he has been styled a brother and was placed in the
nature to have been introduced, when it also first entered? {B.} By no means, as is likely for light always was. {A.} Why then indeed do they raise u
And even if God and the Father were said alone to have immortality, the dignity will be essential in the Son also, and He will in every way be called
what of this? {A.} Because for one who has a nature of his own devoid of immortality and of life, but gains this thing as adopted from another, I thin
Further, to try now to conceive the corresponding element, at least according to a probable argument, as the reverse of the mystery of the economy wit
bestow its own properties upon beings. But to think in this way is frantic but the things of God are worthy of acceptance, and He refers it to the hi
they arrive at such a measure as to think that the Son must be adoptive and ranked with the others, even if, blushing at their own inventions and as i
choosing to insist and to think that the one who has begotten 491 dwells in the Son? And besides, I think, it will be necessary to say this too: is it
His Spirit dwelling in us? And to this I say, if the Spirit of God the Father, in whom He both gives life and sanctifies the nature of those things br
we have received. Would a good gift and a perfect gift be anything else, according to what you yourself think, except to partake of the Holy Spirit?
those who have believed? For My sheep, He says, hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me and I give them eternal life, and they shall ne
calling? For in everything, he said, commending ourselves as ministers of God. And elsewhere somewhere concerning certain ones: Are they minister
of substance and that the Son has been truly revealed from her, signifying this through this. {B.} How do you say? {A.} For do you think this argument
a good tree and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. {B.} You have spoken excellently. {A.} For it is a clear proof of truly the u
would be at a disadvantage in glory, and would He not rather be in an equal and similar state in every single respect with the one who has begotten? {
for in him we both move and have our being, as a wise word has somewhere said. {B.} True. {A.} Let the word of blasphemy, then, go simply against him
John will by no means be convicted of speaking falsely, saying openly that: Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which a
Not at all. {A.} And very eagerly for there is no difficulty. Has He given His own Son for the life of the world? {B.} Absolutely. {A.} And surely th
Therefore, it is true that each subsists together and is done away with together through both, and with one subsisting, that for which it is said and
he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father so we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elements of the world bu
more absurdly, for those who have not yet been enriched with the light of truth have come to know the true and by nature God but we, the chosen ones,
whether Christ himself would also be ranked with those who pay tribute and be taxed, or whether he refuses the payment-, the divine disciple immediate
to say that the divine and ineffable nature has been forced, or rather, has been overcome by creation, how is this not utterly senseless? Therefore, h
meaning, firstborn and only-begotten. For how could each be applied to one and the same, and be understood as true? {B.} It could not be otherwise, as
he raised up to what is above nature, to be called gods, so, I think, he would in no way bring him down to what is contrary to nature, to be ranked wi
and of the Father. {B.} But if they too should choose to think it necessary to call him only-begotten because he alone has come from the Father alone,
with the Son revealing the Father dare to say that he is still inactive concerning creation? {Β.} Most perilous. {Α.} And that other point is also sen
what has been written. {A.} And how would it not be a small and mean thing for the nature of the Son to have fashioned a sparrow? And for what reason,
believing the Only-Begotten to have been revealed as God. For in this way, having disproved the charge of seeming to have been deceived, we might thru
was formed for it was without God in the world but since it has known the Son through faith, it has appeared within a good hope, and has escaped and
{B.} You speak well. {A.} If then, having abandoned the notion that they must beguile us with fine words, they cast out the Son as far as possible fro
For like is always dear to like, and what is created would not be separated from what is created, at least in respect to being created things. For wha
we will either abolish [the term] begetting because of their saying he was created, or abandoning [the term] created, we will grant that he was begott
to possess the creative power, but at the same time to miss what is fitting, and so to be deprived of the highest strength? {B.} How? {A.} Do you not
A most beautiful and excellent lot for God is to be able to create, since through this He is known by us, who and how great He is. For from the great
My good man. But which way should we believe He ought to create, distributing to created things the starting point for existence, the will for them to
what would our opponents [say] to us? For they will by no means cease misrepresenting the truth and those things which would follow to be wisely under
will ever be inactive, if the Father wished to take away what was given and to ward off the energy of the Son's nature, by which, as they say, being m
FIFTH DISCOURSE That the properties of the Godhead and the glory are naturally in
name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Chris
Paul for instance [states] the cause of the incarnation, saying that the Word of God took not on him the nature of angels, but of the seed of Abraham,
would you senselessly mutilate the sound and pious account of him? {B.} We are in danger. {A.} Let us then put away the charge of impiety and the accu
Without effort, O good sir for the matter is hard to go through, except that from necessary reasonings, it will be very possible to hunt down the tru
the same in form, he made clear, saying 554 He who sees me sees the one who sent me. And since the Father is seen and known in the Son brilliantly
a right-minded person would not think it the nature of God therefore the Father is not will, but being conceived in His own existence, He has His own
Show us the Father, and he did not say the will of the Father. But the Son, presenting Himself as an image of the Father, says, He who has seen me,
to have in himself. And indeed also elsewhere, having been a burden to no one: As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he
but would rather have its being through all, having existence without beginning and without end. But if they think 561 their argument is wise and care
in himself, so also he has given to the Son to have life in himself. {Α.} Add what is missing, or know that you wrong the truth. {Β.} And what is tha
that But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mort
water for my head and a fountain of tears for my eyes, and I shall weep for this people day and night? Let every lover of God and pious person cry ou
for our slips and sins, let the Only-Begotten have the greatest possible grace. But let him know that the occasion for his deifying glory was humanity
to distribute to each the rewards for what they have done and to justify whomsoever He would choose (for it is God who justifies, who is he that cond
attributing the pettiness of humanity to the nature that is above all, as if it were properly attached to it, but having decided to make a very clear
Therefore, there are very many sons by nature, or rather, more than can be numbered and let the breadth of this blasphemy be set aside, if all are so
painting a shadow and believing that he is honored with mere names but they will openly reject his being God by nature and in truth. Then who is so d
slander? For let it be granted that even that which is excessively superior sometimes willingly lowers its own glory to the littleness of those placed
to understand. {A.} What then does the hand of the Father signify to us? Whether the all-creative energy, that is, the power? For in some way the word
being hard and difficult to lead, 580 Israel. For it is written thus: As an eagle would shelter his nest, spreading his wings, he received them and t
they drown herds together. Tell me, then, did Christ grant the honor to such loathsome and unclean spirits, and did he allow what seemed good to them
the saying, and not at all on its own account (for it is written correctly), but by the perversions of those on the opposite side being pushed into se
having taken. Do I not seem to you to say these things most excellently? {B.} Most elegantly, indeed. {A.} Since, then, the graceless and uncomely as
587 {A.} Concerning equality, then, I think, and indeed that of God the Father
In addition to these things, the Son himself also said, speaking to the Jews: Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? If he called the
{B.} John the Baptist has testified, saying that I have seen the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. {A.} Therefore,
the principle of difference, placing each one in every way without parts for otherwise there would be two gods but since the Godhead is and is conce
they will again condemn his participation and say that the sanctification from God the Father through the Spirit has been introduced and given to him
of God and the Father? And how also is He the effulgence and stamp of His substance? For He did not become the stamp in time, but this He was by natur
when unholy audacity is assailed, I would in no way hesitate to say even something that leads to absurdity For would not the ability to sanctify befi
they have kept your word. Now they have known that all things that you have given me are from you, for the words which you gave me I have given them,
a man, who not having as the fruit of his own nature the ability to perform things befitting God, receives it somehow by union and the ineffable concu
to raise their 603 voices at the appropriate times, have decided to throw everything into confusion up and down and to mix it all up. And yet how is i
and God, as from the person of those justified by faith: But I in righteousness shall appear before your face I shall be satisfied when your glory a
indeed living, having economically granted to death the appearance of victory, will clearly be opened also to the other, that is, what is manifest in
But if it seems so to anyone else, that to the one who is truly God by nature belongs the power over all that has come into being, and all things are
for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you will call his name Jesus for he will save his p
{B.} It will be consistent then for the argument is clear and true. {A.} And what, indeed, did the minister of our divine mysteries learn that he cal
from me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. For where would the Son’s inheritance b
they will serve. His authority, an eternal authority, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed. {B.} Clear and incontroverti
will be captured by powers. Would not this, then, be loud laughter, or rather, madness? {B.} Very much so. {A.} Following, therefore, the faith of the
of them. Or would not the Word who is from Him and in Him be conceived, tell me, as other than the Father and God, at least in being, I mean, accordi
for the apostles to choose to think on Christ is a great thing, and they are accustomed to make him their boast for the working through them? {B.} Ver
by the things done by both Him and the Father, He gave full assurance, adding: Amen, amen, I say to you, 622 the Son can do nothing of Himself, unles
Worship belongs to the humanity yoked to God and bound tight by the yoke of slavery with obedience, and indeed also not knowing what is the counsel an
that to me every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. The divine Paul, very rightly positing the Son as consubstantial with the Father, and knowi
that it is necessary for God to be worshipped in order and with measure? {B.} Not in the least. {A.} Correctly, friend. For it would be fitting only f
For how could it not be so? {Α.} If, then, the Spirit of the Father is the Son's own, how will he be ignorant of any of the things hidden in God, sinc
Do you hear how, having refuted the opinion as unseemly and more fitting for the ignorance of the Jews, he commands that one should rather choose to d
for him to seem so on this point, how is it not utterly stale, although very many things for us, even if they exist among created things, have a singu
Son. It is impious and utterly shocking to mutilate it into a dyad, and, as it were, to dare to contract the nature of the Godhead, although indeed th
Spirit to do this. {A.} In what way then, my friend, if the Spirit is not God? {B.} Because even if one should choose, he says, to be reverent towards
he is convicted by all, he is judged by all, the secrets of his heart are made manifest and so 638 falling on his face he will worship God, declaring
conformed to the image of His Son, these He also called. For we are remolded into an image of the Holy Spirit, that is, of God, through faith and san
clearly and accurately uniting His Spirit to God, and openly teaching that our participation in God could not happen in any other way except through t
glory of condemnation, will not the ministry of righteousness much more abound in glory? And concerning himself and the other apostles. Who has made
This condition would follow, O Hermias, and very reasonably, for a created and made nature, but it would stand very far apart from God. {B.} Certainly
the holy one, but rather serves ministerially the grace from another, how has Christ been anointed as king, having received the Spirit as an anointing
not a messenger nor an angel, but the Lord himself saved them, because he loved them and spared them. He himself redeemed them, and took them up, and
of a vote, to be able to achieve for themselves and for others the reaching of royal thrones, and to begin to hold illustrious rule and sceptres, God
as from a spring of God, at least in my opinion, power is upon each of those who are empowered, just as, indeed, wisdom also, and the things of which
of God, shall we be disposed to follow after the Creator, and through a division into a degenerate otherness, do we manage His pre-eminence in the mos
having accepted the glory, we will walk the straight path, freeing the mind from nods, as it were, and from an inclination toward anything whatever th
he adduces, saying: But this he spoke concerning 657 the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. Behold, again, clearly and pl
a mode of otherness, I mean, of that which is according to substance? Or how would those not be found unsound and foolish who number with creation tha
be formed according to that which is unbegotten? {A.} I do not say this, but I thought it necessary to point out the absurdity of the notions arising from this, from which a wise argument persuades us that it is fitting to depart and go as far away as possible: "Keep yourself pure," and this: "You must not share in the sins of others," strongly admonishing. And yet, though it is our duty to cling fast to the irreproachable doctrine of the holy Fathers, why should we take pleasure in what is foreign, and so share in a savage mind? For a savage mind is one that barks against the glory of the Son, and "speaks injustice against God," as it is written. For it seemed, I think, and quite rightly so, to those celebrated men, who became stewards of the mysteries of our Savior, both benevolent and most approved, that "unbegotten" is by no means the substance of God the Father, but only a word signifying to the hearers that he was not begotten. Which indeed we also say is inherent in the account of the hypostasis of God the Father, that it is not the very substance of God. For those who are willing to investigate can see that of all the things that exist for us, or even exist only in suspicions of being, and, so to speak, have the form of existence fashioned for them, some are as if in their own foundations and have indeed inherited their being what they are hypostatically, while others do not have this from anywhere, but are rather external, and not fixed in their own natures, but hover around the substances of existing things, and by being able to be an accident of this or that, so to speak, they seem almost to subsist along with those things that possess them, and they falsely claim another's nature as their own. {B.} How do you say? {A.} For do you not recall that our argument has labored and, as far as possible, has well demonstrated that things ranked as accidents, or simply enumerated as inherent properties, are least of all subsistent in themselves, but one would rather perceive 434 them as existing in others, and though they seem to be something and are spoken of in themselves, they have the nature of that which possesses them as their own. For "begotten" and "unbegotten" are not something existing in itself and hypostatically, but bring to us only the indication of having been begotten, or, at any rate, of not having been begotten. {B.} You speak well. {A.} Therefore, unbegottenness must be accounted as inhering in the definition of the hypostasis of God the Father, and we must posit that it belongs to it, but is not it itself. For consider the absurdity this way, if you please. For if they truly say that "unbegotten" is substance, and countless existing things exist by being begotten, what is to prevent them from insanely saying that none of the existing things subsists, though having received being by being begotten, if indeed each one will run away from and slip out of being a substance, by not being unbegotten? {B.} It would slip out, for how could it not? {A.} And how is it not most fitting to say that to them? For if they will reckon "unbegotten" as the substance of God the Father, and He has cut this off as a private nature, completely separated from all others, being supersubstantial and God beyond all things, then it is necessary to conceive of the rest as existing by being begotten and being situated in some private nature, having nothing naturally in common with that one. For between begotten and unbegotten, what and what sort of relation could there be, with respect to quality, that is, clearly, the one according to substance? Then what would those who are prone to every kind of evil say, when they see the properties of God the Father also in the offspring, that is, in the Son? For the Father is life and light and true God; but the Son is also these things, not by participation or with variation, but substantially and in an equal manner. Do you therefore perceive now that the proper and excellent attributes of the Godhead would not befit the concept and mode of unbegottenness more, lest we say they belong to others as well, which appear to be and subsist without generation, but would rather befit God the Father as God? For in this way the sameness in substance would then extend to the Son as well, and from Him, by the law of nature, I think. Therefore "unbegotten" is by no means the substance of God, but is indicative, as I said, only of the Father's not having been begotten, and it does not subsist in its own right. {B.} That is correct. But those on the opposite side would perhaps say: If the Son being begotten
διαπλάττοιτο πρὸς τὸ ἀγεννήτως ἔχον; {Α.} Οὐ τοῦτό φημι, νοημάτων δὲ τῶν ἐντεῦθεν τὴν ἀτοπίαν ᾠήθην ἔγωγε παραδεῖξαι δεῖν,
ὧν ὅτι προσῆκεν ἀποφοιτᾶν ἰέναι τε ὡς ἀπωτάτω σοφὸς ἡμᾶς ἀναπείθει λόγος· "Σεαυτὸν ἁγνὸν τήρει," καὶ τό· "Μὴ χρῆναι κοινωνεῖν
ταῖς ἑτέρων ἁμαρτίαις," εὖ μάλα παραφωνῶν. Καίτοι γὰρ δέον ἡμᾶς ἀπρὶξ ἠρτῆσθαι φιλεῖν τῆς τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων ἀδιαβλήτου δόξης,
τί τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις ἐφήδεσθαι χρή, καὶ ἀγρίας οὕτω μετασχεῖν φρενός; Ἀγρία γὰρ φρὴν ἡ τῆς τοῦ Υἱοῦ καθυλακτοῦσα δόξης, καὶ
"λαλοῦσα κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀδικίαν," κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Ἐδόκει γάρ, οἶμαι, καὶ μάλα ὀρθῶς τοῖς διαβοήτοις ἐκείνοις ἀνδράσιν,
οἳ τῶν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν μυστηρίων ταμίαι γεγόνασιν, εὔνοι τε καὶ δοκιμώτατοι, οὐσίαν μὲν οὐδαμῶς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον,
φωνὴν δὲ εἶναι μόνον τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις τὸ μὴ γεννηθῆναι κατασημαίνουσαν. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐνεῖναί φαμεν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ περί γε τῆς ὑποστάσεως
τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, οὐκ αὐτόχρημα εἶναι τὴν Θεοῦ οὐσίαν. Ἔστι γὰρ δὴ τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν ἀνασκοπουμένοις ὁρᾶν ὡς ἁπάντων ἡμῖν
τῶν ὄντων ἢ καὶ ἐν μόναις ὄντων ὑποψίαις τοῦ εἶναι καὶ μονονουχὶ τὸ τῆς ὑπάρξεως πλαττο μένων σχῆμα, τὰ μὲν ὥσπερ ἐν ἰδίαις
ἕδραις ἐστὶ καὶ μὴν καὶ τὸ εἶναι τοῦθ' ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐνυποστάτως διεκληρώσατο, τὰ δὲ ὧδε μὲν οὐκ ἔχει ποθέν, ἔξεδρα δὲ μᾶλλόν
ἐστι, καὶ ἐν ἰδίαις μὲν οὐκ ἐρηρεισμένα φύσεσι, τὰς δέ γε τῶν ὄντων οὐσίας περιποτώμενα, καὶ διὰ τοῦ συμβῆναι δύνασθαι τῷ
δεῖνι τυχὸν ἢ φέρε εἰπεῖν τῷ δεῖνι, μονονουχὶ καὶ συνυφε στάναι τοῖς ἔχουσι δοκεῖ, ἰδίαν δὲ ὥσπερ φύσιν τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ψεύδεται.
{Β.} Πῶς λέγεις; {Α.} Οὐ γὰρ δὴ διαμεμνήσῃ πεπονηκότος ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου καὶ ὡς ἔνι καλῶς ἀποδεδειχότος ὅτι τὰ ἐν τάξει τῶν συμβεβηκότων,
ἢ καὶ ἐνόντων ἁπλῶς κατηριθμημένα, ἥκιστα μέν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, ἑτέροις δὲ μᾶλλον ἐνυπάρχοντα κατα 434 θρήσαι τις ἄν, καὶ δοκεῖ
μὲν εἶναί τι καθ' ἑαυτὰ καὶ λέγεσθαι, φύσιν δὲ τὴν τοῦ λαχόντος ὡς ἰδίαν ἔχει. Οὐ γὰρ αὐτό τι καθ' ἑαυτὸ καὶ ἐνυποστάτως ὑπάρχον
τὸ γεννητὸν καὶ ἀγέννητον, μόνην ἡμῖν τὴν τοῦ γεγεννῆσθαι δήλωσιν, ἢ γοῦν τοῦ μὴ γεγεννῆσθαι τυχόν, εἰσφέροντα. {Β.} Εὖ λέγεις.
{Α.} Καταλογιστέον δὴ οὖν τὴν ἀγεννησίαν, ὡς ἐνυπαρ χούσαν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ὑποστάσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, καὶ αὐτῆς μέν, οὐκ
αὐτὴν δὲ εἶναι θετέον. Ἀνασκόπει γὰρ ὧδε τὴν ἀτοπίαν, εἰ δοκεῖ. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ κατὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς οὐσίαν εἶναί φασι τὸ ἀγέννητον, μυρία
δὲ ὅσα τῶν ὄντων ὑπάρχειν γεννητῶς, τί τὸ ἀπεῖργον ἔτι παρανοοῦντας εἰπεῖν μηδὲ ὑφεστάναι τῶν ὄντων τινά, καίτοι τὸ εἶναι
λαχόντα γεννητῶς, εἴπερ ἕκαστον ἀποδραμεῖταί τε καὶ ἐξολισθήσειεν ἂν τοῦ εἶναι οὐσία, μὴ ὂν ἀγέννητον; {Β.} Ἐξολισθήσειεν
ἄν, πῶς γὰρ οὔ; {Α.} Πῶς δὲ οὐχὶ κἀκεῖνο φράζειν αὐτοῖς τῶν ὅτι δὴ μάλιστα πρεπωδεστάτων; Εἰ γὰρ οὐσίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς
καταλογιοῦνται τὸ ἀγέννητον, ταύτην δὲ ὥσπερ ἰδίαν ἀπετέμετο φύσιν, τῶν ἄλλων εἰσάπαν ἀνῳκισμένην, ὑπερούσιος ὢν καὶ πάντων
ἐπέκεινα Θεός, γεννητῶς εἶναι τὰ λοιπὰ διανοεῖσθαι χρὴ καὶ ἐν ἰδίᾳ τινὶ κεῖσθαι φύσει, οὐδὲν ἐχούσῃ κοινὸν φυσικῶς πρὸς ἐκείνην.
Γεννητῷ γὰρ πρὸς ἀγέννητον, τίς ἂν γένοιτο καὶ ποῖος ὁ λόγος, τό γε ἧκον εἰς ποιότητα, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν; Εἶτα
τί φαῖεν ἂν οἱ πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν εὔκολοι τῶν κακῶν, τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἴδια καὶ ἐν τῷ γεννήματι βλέποντες, τουτέστι τῷ Υἱῷ;
Ζωὴ μὲν γὰρ καὶ φῶς καὶ Θεὸς ἀληθινὸς ὁ Πατήρ· ἀλλ' ἔστι ταῦτα καὶ ὁ Υἱός, οὐ μεθεκτῶς ἢ παρηλλαγμένως, ἀλλ' οὐσιωδῶς καὶ
ἐν ἴσῳ τρόπῳ. Ἆρ' οὖν αἰσθάνῃ λοιπὸν ὅτι τὰ τῆς θεότητος ἴδια καὶ ἐξαίρετα οὐχὶ λόγῳ τε καὶ τρόπῳ τῷ τῆς ἀγεννησίας πρέποι
ἂν μᾶλλον, ἵνα μὴ καὶ ἑτέρων εἶναι φῶμεν, ἃ δίχα γεννήσεως ὄντα τε καὶ ὑφεστηκότα φαίνεται, ἁρμόσαι δ' ἂν μᾶλλον ὡς Θεῷ τῷ
Πατρί; Ὧδε γὰρ ἂν διήκοι λοιπὸν ὡς εἰς Υἱόν τε καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ, φύσεως οἶμαι νόμῳ, τὸ ἐν οὐσίᾳ ταὐτόν. Ἔστι τοίνυν οὐσία μὲν
ἥκιστά γε τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἀγέννητον, σημαντικὸν δέ, ὡς ἔφην, τοῦ μὴ γεγεννῆσθαι μόνον τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ οὐχ ὑφεστηκὸς ἰδικῶς. {Β.}
Ὀρθῶς ἔχει. Φαῖεν δ' ἂν ἴσως οἱ δι' ἐναντίας· Εἰ γεννητῶς ὄντα τὸν Υἱὸν
