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of the light of its operation, so also the mind, forcing its way by fantasies to what is outside of being, as if some light of truth were failing, being confused and becoming senseless, ceases from understanding? Therefore, neither could an eye use its sight outside of light, nor a soul, turned aside from the conception of the Only-Begotten, use its understanding. For the falling away from the truth is the mind’s inability to see, and its blindness. So the mind is vain and has been blinded, in reality knowing nothing, that thinks to have comprehended things more ancient than the Only-Begotten; just as if one should attest to the keen sight of an eye that is gazing at things in darkness. For in Your light, it says, we shall see light. But he who says he has comprehended the "when the light was not yet" has suffered something similar to those who in a frenzied ecstasy imagine they see things that are not there. For things beyond the Son are not conceived. Since whatever perceptible light is to the eye, this God the Word is to the soul. For there was, it says, the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world. So an unenlightened soul is incapable of understanding. How then could the things that are above the generation of the light be comprehended? But it was necessary, I think, for those who have cared even a little for the truth, having abandoned corporeal likenesses and the defiling of the conceptions about God with material fantasies, to follow the theologies handed down to us by the Holy Spirit, and instead of these questions, which are in no way inferior to riddles, having a dangerous supposition on either side, to conceive, on the one hand, a generation worthy of God, impassible, unparted, undivided, timeless, being led to the divine generation according to the radiance of the light shining forth; and on the other hand, to conceive the image of the invisible God, not like these artificial 29.605 images made later in reference to their archetype, but coexisting and subsisting with the prototype who brought it into being, being in fact the archetype, not impressed through imitation, as if the whole nature of the Father has been impressed upon the Son on some seal. Or if you wish, like the substance of the arts coming wholly from the teachers to be in the learners; with nothing lacking in the teachers, and perfection being added to those who learn. Or rather, this is not a precise likeness because of the extension of time. But it is more fitting to say that it is like the nature of thoughts co-subsisting timelessly with the movements of the mind. And let no one slander my argument, if any of the examples does not entirely agree with the subjects at hand. For it is not possible for small and insignificant things to fit with precision the divine and eternal things, but only so far as to refute the irony of those who are surely unable to grasp an impassible generation in their minds. And the Son is called and is a begotten Image, and he is the radiance of the glory of God, and the wisdom, and power, and righteousness of God, not as a state, nor as an aptitude, but a living and active substance, and he is the radiance of the glory of God. Therefore he also shows the whole Father in himself, having been radiated from His whole glory. To say, therefore, that the glory of God has no radiance, or that the wisdom of God did not at some time coexist with God, is it not the height of absurdity? But if he was, he says, he has not been begotten. Let us answer therefore that, because he has been begotten, he was; not having his being unbegotten, but being always and coexisting with the Father, from whom he also has the cause of his existence. When therefore was he brought into being by the Father? From when the Father is? But the Father is from eternity, he says; therefore the Son is also from eternity, being joined by generation to the unbegottenness of the Father. And that this argument is not ours, we will set before them the very words of the Holy Spirit. From 29.608 the Gospel, then, let us take, "In the beginning was the Word;" and from the Psalm what was said as from the person of the Father, "From the womb before the morning star I have begotten you;" and putting both together, let us say that He both was and has been begotten. But "I have begotten" signifies the cause from which He has the beginning of His being; but "He was," the

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φωτὸς τῆς ἐνεργείας ἵσταται, οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ νοῦς, ἐπὶ τὸ ἔξω τοῦ ὄντος ταῖς φαντασίαις εἰσβιαζόμενος, οἷόν τινος φωτὸς τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπιλειπούσης, συγχυ θεὶς καὶ ἀνοηταίνων τῆς νοήσεως ἀπολήγει; Οὔτ' ἂν οὖν ὀφθαλμὸς ἔξω τοῦ φωτὸς τῷ ὁρᾷν χρῆσθαι δύναι το, οὔτε ψυχὴ, τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐννοίας παρεν εχθεῖσα, τῇ νοήσει κεχρῆσθαι. Ἡ γὰρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπόπτωσις ἀορασία ἐστὶ διανοίας καὶ τύφλωσις. Ὥστε μάταιός ἐστι νοῦς καὶ τετύφλωται, τῷ ὄντι μηδὲν ἐπιστάμενος, ὁ τὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς πρεσβύτερα κατ ειληφέναι φρονῶν· ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ καὶ ὀφθαλμῷ τις ὀξυ ωπίαν προσμαρτυροίη, τοῖς ἐσκοτισμένοις ἐνατε νίζοντι. Ἐν τῷ φωτί σου γὰρ, φησὶν, ὀψόμεθα φῶς. Ὁ δὲ ἐν καταλήψει τοῦ ὅτε οὔπω ἦν τὸ φῶς γε γονέναι φάσκων παραπλήσιον πέπονθε τοῖς ἐν ἐκστάσει φρενιτικῇ ὁρᾷν φανταζομένοις τὰ μὴ παρ όντα. Τὰ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τὸν Υἱὸν οὐ νοεῖται. Ἐπειδὴ ὅ τι περ ὀφθαλμῷ τὸ αἰσθητόν ἐστι φῶς, τοῦτο ψυχῇ ὁ Θεός ἐστι Λόγος. Ἦν γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. Ὥστε ἀφώτιστος ψυχὴ ἀδύνατός ἐστι πρὸς νόησιν. Πῶς ἂν οὖν τὰ ὑπεράνω τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ φωτὸς καταληφθείη; Χρῆν δὲ, οἶμαι, τοὺς καὶ μικρὸν γοῦν τῆς ἀληθείας πεφροντικότας, ἀφεμένους τῶν σωματικῶν ὁμοιώσεων, καὶ τοῦ ταῖς ὑλικαῖς φαντασίαις τὰς περὶ Θεοῦ ἐννοίας καταῤῥυπαίνειν, τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος παραδοθείσαις ἡμῖν θεολογίαις ἀκολουθεῖν, καὶ ἀντὶ τῶν ἐρωτημάτων τούτων, ἃ τῶν γρίφων οὐδὲν ἀπολείπεται, τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάτερα ὑπόληψιν ἐπικίνδυνον ἐχόντων, νοεῖν μὲν ἀξίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ γέννησιν ἀπαθῆ, ἀμέριστον, ἀδιαίρε τον, ἄχρονον, κατὰ τὴν ἀπολάμπουσαν τοῦ φω τὸς αὐγὴν τῇ θείᾳ γεννήσει προσαγομένους· νοεῖν δὲ εἰκόνα τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, οὐ κατὰ τὰς τεχνητὰς 29.605 ταύτας ὕστερον ἀπεργασθεῖσαν πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, ἀλλὰ συνυπάρχουσαν καὶ παρυφεστηκυῖαν τῷ πρω τοτύπῳ ὑποστήσαντι, τῷ εἶναι τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, οὖ σαν, οὐκ ἐκτυπωθεῖσαν διὰ μιμήσεως, ὥσ περ ἐν σφραγῖδί τινι τῆς ὅλης φύσεως τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐναποσημανθείσης τῷ Υἱῷ. Εἰ δὲ βούλει, ὁποία τῶν τεχνῶν ἡ ὑπόστασις ἐκ τῶν διδασκόντων ὅλη τοῖς μαθητευομένοις ἐγγινομένη· οὔτε λείποντός τι νος τοῖς διδάσκουσι, καὶ τῆς τελειώσεως τοῖς ἐκμαν θάνουσι προσγινομένης. Ἢ τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ ἀκρι βὲς πρὸς ὁμοίωσιν διὰ τὴν τοῦ χρόνου παράτασιν. Οἰκειότερον δὲ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὁποία τῶν νοημάτων ἡ φύσις τοῖς τοῦ νοῦ κινήμασιν ἀχρόνως συνυφιστα μένη. Καὶ μηδείς μοι συκοφαντείτω τὸν λόγον, εἴ τι τῶν ὑποδειγμάτων μὴ πάντη συμβαίνοι τοῖς προκει μένοις. Οὐδὲ γὰρ δυνατὸν τὰ μικρὰ καὶ φαῦλα τοῖς θείοις καὶ ἀϊδίοις μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἁρμόζειν, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἐλέγξαι τὴν εἰρωνείαν τῶν οὐ δυναμένων δὴ γέννησιν ἀπαθῆ τῇ διανοίᾳ λαβεῖν. Εἰκὼν δὲ εἴ ρηται καὶ ἔστιν ὁ Υἱὸς γεννητὴ, καὶ ἀπαύγασμά ἐστι τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ σοφία, καὶ δύναμις, καὶ δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ, οὐχ ὡς ἕξις, οὐδὲ ὡς ἐπιτη δειότης, ἀλλ' οὐσία ζῶσα καὶ ἐνεργὴς, καὶ ἀπαύ γασμά ἐστι τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆ιόπερ καὶ ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ δείκνυσι τὸν Πατέρα, ἐξ ὅλης αὐτοῦ τῆς δόξης ἀπαυγασθείς. Τὴν τοίνυν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ ἔχειν ἀπαύγασμα λέγειν, ἢ τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ συνεῖναί ποτε τῷ Θεῷ, πάσης τῆς ἀτοπίας; Ἀλλ' εἰ ἦν, φησὶν, οὐ γεγέννηται. Ἀποκρινώμεθα τοίνυν ὅτι, Ἐπειδὴ γεγέννηται, ἦν· οὐκ ἀγέννητον ἔχων τὸ εἶναι, ὢν δὲ ἀεὶ καὶ συνὼν τῷ Πατρὶ, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ὑπάρξεως ἔχει. Πότε οὖν εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς παρήχθη; Ἀφ' οὗ ἐστιν ὁ Πατήρ; Ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀϊδίου, φησὶν, ὁ Πατήρ· ἐξ ἀϊδίου τοίνυν καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς, γεννητῶς τῇ ἀγεννησίᾳ τοῦ Πατρὸς συναπτό μενος. Ὅτι δὲ οὗτος οὐχ ἡμέτερος ὁ λόγος, αὐτὰς τὰς ἁγίου Πνεύματος φωνὰ αὐτοῖς παρεξόμεθα. Ἐκ μὲν 29.608 οὖν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου λάβωμεν τὸ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λό γος· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰρημένον τὸ, Ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου γε γέννηκά σε· καὶ συνθέντες ἀμφότερα, εἴπωμεν, ὅτι καὶ ἦν καὶ γεγέννηται. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν, Γεγέννηκα, τὴν αἰτίαν ἀφ' ἧς ἔχει τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ εἶναι σημαίνει· τὸ δὲ, Ἦν, τὴν