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and he who was without beginning was known. 26.48 And the other things written to these same Philippians, that he somehow already shows the Son to be pre-eminent and surpassing with his own father, at least in regard to the unwise, have already been spoken by me previously in chapter 7. 26.49 But nothing prevents establishing this also from the ancient scripture; for it is necessary not to treat theology as a secondary matter. 26.50 Therefore God says in Isaiah: ‘Your new moons and your sabbaths and your feasts my soul hates. You have become to me a surfeit; I will no longer forgive your sins. Even if you multiply your prayer, I will not listen to you; for your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, become clean, remove your sins from your souls’. 26.51 You see, then, that loving-kindness even anticipates the threat, as he is almost immediately reconciled and not disposed to be angry for long, or rather, not knowing how to be angry at all. 26.52 And he hates their feasts, that is, their religion, as falling short of the most perfect knowledge of God; and he exhorts them to be baptized so as to receive the faith according to the Lord’s rule concerning baptism. 26.53 And Paul has confirmed for us elsewhere, crying out in these words, that the Son has no one greater than himself. 26.54 For when God said in Genesis to Abraham: “Offer your son to me as a sacrifice” and when he did this eagerly and was about to lay his hand upon him, armed with a knife, the angel of the Lord called to him, saying: ‘Abraham, do not lay your hand upon the child, nor do anything harmful to him. For now I know that you fear God, and have not spared your beloved son for my sake’. 26.55 Then, when a ram was found for the sacrifice instead of Isaac, and the sacrifice was completed by Abraham—in intent, through the child, but in slaughter, through the ram—‘the angel of the Lord,’ it says, ‘called to him a second time from heaven, saying: By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not spared your beloved son for my sake; truly blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea; and in you all the nations shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice’. 26.56 But it was neither the Father nor, indeed, a ministering angel. 26.57 For a minister does not swear by himself, or bless, or say: ‘you have not spared your beloved son for my sake’; nor does he dare to stop the sacrifice being offered to God, nor, in turn, does he have authority to accept it; 26.58 but it was the only-begotten God, the Word who sought the sacrifice, granting the only-begotten to Abraham, as Paul explains, writing to the Hebrews thus: ‘For when God made a promise to Abraham’—which things he both promised and did—‘since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying: Truly, blessing I will bless you’. 26.59 And to the Romans he explains that the Son again swears by himself: ‘For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, as it is written: As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God’. 26.60 And his sitting together with the Father at the right hand, and further, the evangelist’s declaring with divinely-inspired tongue that the Father’s bosom is the throne befitting the Son, if this does not signify that the only-begotten God and Son is of the same substance and of equal honor and that he must be worshiped with the Father and his Spirit, but—for it is surely not right to interpret the things written about God in a human way—according to them the one at the right hand is greater and more glorious, the one who has the ineffable divine bosom as his many-eyed cherubic throne. 26.61 Far be it from us to say this of the most ineffable and most serene Trinity. 26.62 For David sings about the Father in the 109th Psalm: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand’; 26.63 And Paul teaches the Hebrews: ‘Who being the radiance of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on

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καὶ ὅστις ἀνάρχως ἦν ἐπεγνώσθη. 26.48 Καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὲ τὰ ἐπισταλέντα τοῖς αὐτοῖς Φιλιππησίοις, ὅτι ἤδη πως τὸν υἱὸν προὔχοντά τε καὶ ὑπερβάλλοντα σὺν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ πατρὶ ὅσον πρὸς ἀσυνέτους ἀποφαίνει, ἤδη μοι λέλεκται πρόσθεν ἐν κεφαλαίῳ ζʹ. 26.49 κωλύει δὲ οὐδέν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχαίας τοῦτο συστῆσαι γραφῆς· δεῖ γὰρ μὴ παρέργως κεχρῆσθαι τῇ θεολογίᾳ. 26.50 Λέγει οὖν παρὰ τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ ὁ θεός· «τὰς νουμηνίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ σάββατα καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν μισεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου. ἐγενήθητέ μοι εἰς πλησμονήν· οὐκέτι ἀνήσω τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν. κἂν πληρώ σητε τὴν δέησιν, οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι ὑμῶν· αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν αἵματος πλή ρεις. λούσασθε, καθαροὶ γένεσθε, ἀφέλετε τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν». 26.51 ὁρᾷς τοίνυν, ὅτι καὶ φθάνει φιλανθρωπία τὴν ἀπειλήν, ὅσον οὐδέπω διαλλαττόμενος καὶ μηνιεῖν μακρά, μᾶλλον δὲ μηνιεῖν ὅλως οὐκ εἰδώς. 26.52 καὶ μισεῖ τὰς ἑορτὰς αὐτῶν, ὅ ἐστι τὴν θρησκείαν, ὡς τῆς τελεωτάτης θεογνωσίας ἀπολειπομένην· παρακελεύεται δὲ βαπτισθῆναι ὥστε δέξασθαι τὴν πίστιν πρὸς τὸν περὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος δεσποτικὸν ὅρον. 26.53 ἐπιστώσατο δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ὁ Παῦλος ἐπὶ λέξεως ἀνακεκραγώς, μὴ ἔχειν ἑαυτοῦ μείζονα τὸν υἱόν. 26.54 εἰπόντος γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῇ Γενέσει πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραάμ· "4τὸν υἱόν σου προσένεγκέ μοι θυσίαν"5 καὶ τοῦτο προθύμως ποιήσαντος καὶ ἐπάγειν ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὴν χεῖρα μαχαίρᾳ ὡπλισμένην μέλλοντος ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸν ἄγγελος κυρίου εἰπών· «Ἀβραάμ, μὴ ἐπιβάλῃς τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπὶ τὸ παιδάριον μήτε ποιήσῃς αὐτῷ μηθὲν κακόν. νῦν γὰρ ἔγνων, ὅτι φοβῇ σὺ τὸν θεὸν καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι' ἐμέ». 26.55 εἶτα κριοῦ πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν ἀντὶ Ἰσαὰκ εὑρεθέντος καὶ τῆς θυσίας ὑπὸ Ἀβραὰμ πληρωθείσης, τῇ μὲν γνώμῃ διὰ τοῦ παιδός, τῇ δὲ σφαγῇ διὰ τοῦ κριοῦ, «ἐκάλεσεν», φησίν, «αὐτὸν ἐκ δευτέρου ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λέγων· κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ ὤμοσα, λέγει κύριος, οὗ εἵνεκεν ἐποίησας τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι' ἐμέ· ἦ μὴν εὐλογῶν εὐλογήσω σε καὶ πληθύνων πληθυνῶ τὸ σπέρμα σου ὡς τοὺς ἀστέρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τὴν ἄμμον τῆς θαλάσσης· καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἀνθ' ὧν ὑπήκουσας τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς». 26.56 Ἦν δὲ οὔτε ὁ πατὴρ οὔτε μὴν λειτουργὸς ἄγγελος. 26.57 οὐ γὰρ ὀμνύει καθ' ἑαυτοῦ λειτουργὸς ἢ εὐλογεῖ ἢ λέγει· «οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι' ἐμέ»· οὐδ' ἀποστῆσαι τὴν τῷ θεῷ προσαγομένην τολμᾷ θυσίαν οὐδ' αὖ προσίεσθαι αὐτὴν ἐξουσιάζει· 26.58 ἀλλὰ ἦν ὁ τὴν θυσίαν ζητήσας μονογενὴς θεὸς λόγος χαριζόμενος τὸν μονογενῆ τῷ Ἀβραάμ, ὡς Παῦλος ἑρμηνεύει γράφων Ἑβραίοις οὑτωσί· «τῷ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπαγγειλάμενος ὁ θεός»-ἅπερ ἐπηγγείλατό τε καὶ ἐποίησεν-»ἐπεὶ κατ' οὐδενὸς μείζονος εἶχεν ὀμόσαι, ὤμοσεν καθ' ἑαυτοῦ λέγων· ἦ μὴν εὐλογῶν εὐλογήσω σε». 26.59 καὶ Ῥωμαίοις δὲ τὸν υἱὸν αὖθις καθ' ἑαυτοῦ ὀμνύοντα ἐξηγεῖται· «πάντες γὰρ παραστησόμεθα τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ καθῶς γέγραπται· ζῶ ἐγώ, λέγει κύριος, ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολο γήσεται τῷ θεῷ». 26.60 Καὶ τὸ ἐκ δεξιῶν δὲ συγκαθέζεσθαι τῷ πατρί, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὸ θεοφράστῳ γλώττῃ ἀναφθέγγεσθαι τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν καθέδραν πρέπουσαν τῷ υἱῷ τὸν πατρικὸν εἶναι κόλπον εἰ μὴ σημαίνει τὸ ταυτούσιον καὶ ὁμότιμον καὶ τὸ χρῆναι σὺν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι αὐτοῦ προσκυνεῖσθαι τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν καὶ υἱόν, ἀλλά-κατὰ ἄνθρωπον οὐ δέον ἐκδέχεσθαι γρὴ τὰ περὶ θεοῦ γεγραμμένα-μείζων καὶ ἐνδοξότερος κατ' αὐτούς ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ δεξιῶν, ὁ τὸν θεϊκὸν ἄφατον κόλπον ὡς τὸν χερουβικὸν ἔχων πολυῶπα θρόνον. 26.61 ὃ μὴ γένοιτο εἰπεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρρητοτάτης καὶ γαληνοτάτης τριάδος. 26.62 ὁ μὲν γὰρ ∆αυὶδ ᾄδει περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν ρθʹ ψαλμῷ· «εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου· κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου»· 26.63 ὁ δὲ Παῦλος Ἑβραίοις ὑφηγεῖται· «ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, καθαρισμὸν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιησάμενος, ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν