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a pillar. And yet there on the pillar it was said to Jacob: *I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac.* Therefore, the one here called an angel, he says there to have been revealed 29.612 to Jacob. It is therefore clear to everyone that where the same one is addressed as both angel and God, it is the Only-begotten who is being indicated, revealing himself generation by generation to men, and announcing the will of the Father to his saints. So that when he called himself the "I AM" in the time of Moses, he could be understood as none other than the God Logos, who was in the beginning with God. But those who speak injustice on high did not shrink from addressing the Son as not-being. And while *the fool said in his heart, There is no God*; these men not only thought it, but also spoke it in wickedness, and did not refuse to hand it down in writing for the time to come, daring to name God as not-being. And since they see that not even the demons themselves deny that God exists, these men, returning in their argument to a time before, there fulfill their impious desire, blaspheming that the Son at one time was not, as though not existing by his own nature, but brought into being by God through grace. Then, that saying which Paul uttered concerning idols, saying: *You served those who by nature are not gods*; and Jeremiah: *And they swore by those who are not gods*; and the most wise Esther: *Do not give, Lord, your scepter to those that are not*; having said this about the true God, how can these men still rightly lay claim to the name of Christians? For indeed elsewhere this same Apostle, who speaks in the Spirit of God, calls the nations "not-beings" because they were deprived of the knowledge of God, saying that *God chose the things that are not*. For since God is being and truth and life, those who are not united by faith to the God who is, but are made familiar with the non-existence of falsehood through the error of idols, were, I think, rightly called "not-beings" on account of their deprivation of the truth and their alienation from life. But also, writing to the Ephesians as those genuinely united to the One who is through knowledge, he distinctly called them "beings," saying: *To the saints who are, and faithful in Christ Jesus.* For thus also those before us 29.613 have handed down, and we have found it in the ancient copies. But he did not deign to deem our God worthy even of that title which the servants of Christ share, but addressed him who brought creation from not-being into being, as not-being. And one might further learn his contempt from the ways in which he pretends, forsooth, to venerate the Lord. {EUN.} We do not make the substance of the Only-begotten common, he says, with the things that came from not-being, since not-being is not a substance; but we assign to him such superiority as a maker must have over his own works. {BAS.} Having advanced the argument to this point through his constructions, he feigns benevolence with his word, and says he does not make the substance of the Only-begotten common with the things from not-being. And yet if the God of all, because he is unbegotten, has a necessary difference from begotten things, and all begotten things have in common their hypostasis from not-being, how are these not necessarily joined together by nature? For just as there the unapproachableness divides the natures, so here what is of equal status brings them together into the same thing. But though saying the Son and the things made by him are from not-being, and thus making their nature common in this respect, they say they do not grant him a substance similar to the things from not-being. For again, this too, as if he himself were Lord of how much dignity he wishes to grant to the Only-begotten, he frames his words thus: For we assign to him, he says, such superiority as a maker must have over his own works. He did not say, We have comprehended or We glorify, as was fitting in the case of God; but, We assign, as if he himself were originating the measure of the distribution. And how much superiority does he give? As much, he says, as a maker must have over his own works.

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στήλην. Καίτοι ἐκεῖ ἐπὶ τῆς στήλης τῷ Ἰακὼβ εἴρηται· Ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ τοῦπατρός σου, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσαάκ. Ὁ τοίνυν ἐνταῦθα ἄγγελος εἰρημένος, οὗτος ἐκεῖ λέγει πεφανερῶσθαι 29.612 τῷ Ἰακώβ. Παντὶ οὖν δῆλον, ὅτι ἔνθα καὶ ἄγγελος καὶ Θεὸς ὁ αὐτὸς προσηγόρευται, ὁ Μονογενής ἐστι δηλούμενος, ἐμφανίζων ἑαυτὸν κατὰ γενεὰν τοῖς ἀν θρώποις, καὶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρὸς τοῖς ἁγίοις ἑαυ τοῦ διαγγέλλων. Ὥστε καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ὄντα ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάσας, οὐκ ἄλλος τις παρὰ τὸν Θεὸν Λό γον, τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, νοηθείη. Ἀλλ' οἱ τὴν ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸ ὕψος λαλοῦντες μὴ ὄντα προσειπεῖν τὸν Υἱὸν οὐκ ἀπώκνησαν. Καὶ Ὁ μὲν ἄφρων ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ εἶπεν, Οὐκ ἔστι Θεός· οἱ δὲ οὐ διενοήθησαν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλάλησαν ἐν πονηρίᾳ, καὶ γραφῇ παραδοῦναι εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρό νον οὐ παρῃτήσαντο, μὴ ὄντα τολμήσαντες τὸν Θεὸν ὀνομάσαι. Καὶ ἐπειδή γε ὁρῶσιν οὐδὲ τοὺς δαίμονας αὐτοὺς ἀπαρνουμένους τὸ εἶναι Θεὸν, οὗτοι, εἰς τὸν κατόπιν χρόνον ἐπανελθόντες τῷ λόγῳ, ἐκεῖ τὴν ἀσεβῆ ἑαυτῶν ἐπιθυμίαν ἀποπληροῦσι, μὴ εἶναί ποτε τὸν Υἱὸν βλασφημοῦντες, ὡς τῇ μὲν ἑαυτοῦ φύ σει μὴ ὄντα, χάριτι δὲ εἰς τὸ εἶναι ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ παρ αχθέντα. Εἶτα ἣν ὁ Παῦλος περὶ τῶν εἰδώλων ἀφῆκε φωνὴν, εἰπών· Ἐδουλεύσατε τοῖς φύσει μὴ οὖσι θεοῖς· καὶ ὁ Ἱερεμίας· Καὶ ὤμνυσαν ἐν τοῖς μὴ οὖσι θεοῖς· καὶ ἡ σοφωτάτη Ἐσθήρ· Μὴ παρα δῷς, Κύριε, τὸ σκῆπτρόν σου τοῖς μὴ οὖσι· ταύτην οὗτοι περὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ εἰπόντες, πῶς ἂν δικαίως ἔτι τῆς Χριστιανῶν προσηγορίας μετα ποιοῖντο; Καὶ γάρ που καὶ ἑτέρωθι ὁ αὐτὸς οὗτος Ἀπόστολος, ὁ ἐν Πνεύματι Θεοῦ λαλῶν, μὴ ὄντα ὀνο μάζει τὰ ἕθνη διὰ τὸ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστερῆ σθαι, εἰπὼν, ὅτι Τὰ μὴ ὄντα ἐξελέξατο ὁ Θεός. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ ὢν καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ ζωὴ ὁ Θεὸς, οἱ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ὄντι μὴ ἡνωμένοι κατὰ τὴν πίστιν, τῇ δὲ ἀνυπαρξίᾳ τοῦ ψεύδους οἰκειωθέντες διὰ τῆς περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνης, εἰκότως, οἶμαι, διὰ τὴν στέρη σιν τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ζωῆς ἀλλοτρίω σιν, μὴ ὄντες προσηγορεύθησαν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς Ἐφεσίοις ἐπιστέλλων ὡς γνησίως ἡνωμένοις τῷ ὄντι δι' ἐπιγνώσεως, ὄντας αὐτοὺς ἰδιαζόντως ὠνόμα σεν, εἰπών· Τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσι, καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ οἱ πρὸ ἡμῶν πα 29.613 ραδεδώκασι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς τῶν ἀντι γράφων εὑρήκαμεν. Ὁ δὲ οὐδὲ ἧς οἱ δοῦλοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσηγορίας μετέχουσιν, οὐδὲ ταύτης ἀξιῶ σαι τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῶν ἠνέσχετο, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγόντα τὴν κτίσιν, μὴ ὄντα προσεῖπε. Πλέον δ' ἄν τις αὐτοῦ τὴν καταφρόνησιν καταμάθοι, ἐξ ὧν προσποιεῖται δῆθεν ἀπο σεμνύνειν τὸν Κύριον. {ΕΥΝ.} Οὐ κοινοποιοῦμεν, φησὶ, τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὴν οὐσίαν πρὸς τὰ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων γενόμενα, ἐπείπερ οὐκ οὐσία τὸ μὴ ὄν· ἀλλὰ τοσαύτην αὐτῷ νέμομεν τὴν ὑπεροχὴν, ὅσην ἔχειν ἀναγκαῖον τῶν ἰδίων ποιη μάτων τὸν ποιητήν. {ΒΑΣ.} ∆ιὰ τῶν κατασκευῶν εἰς τοῦτο τὸν λόγον προαγαγὼν, τῷ ῥήματι δῆθεν φιλανθρωπεύεται, καί φησι, μὴ κοινοποιεῖν πρὸς τὰ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς. Καίτοι εἰ ὁ Θεὸς τῶν ὅλων, διὰ τὸ ἀγέννητος εἶναι, ἀναγκαίαν ἔχει τὴν πρὸς τὰ γεννητὰ παραλλαγὴν, τὰ δὲ γεννητὰ σύμπαντα κοινὴν ἔχει τὴν ἐκ μὴ ὄντων ὑπόστασιν, πῶς οὐχὶ ἀναγκαίως ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν φύσιν συνάπτεται; Ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ ἀπρόσιτον διίστησι τὰς φύσεις, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα τὸ ὁμότιμον εἰς ταυτὸν ἀλλήλοις συν άγει. Ἐκ μὴ ὄντων δὲ λέγοντες τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενόμενα, καὶ κοινοποιοῦντες αὐτῶν κατὰ τοῦτο τὴν φύσιν, οὔ φασιν ὁμοίαν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὰ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων διδόναι τὴν οὐσίαν. Καὶ γὰρ αὖ καὶ τοῦτο, ὡς αὐτὸς Κύριος ὢν, ὅσον βούλεται παρέχειν τῷ Μονογενεῖ τῆς ἀξίας, οὕτω ποιεῖται τοὺς λόγους· Τοσαύτην γὰρ αὐτῷ νέμομεν, φησὶ, τὴν ὑπεροχὴν, ὅσον ὑπερέχειν ἀναγκαῖον τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων τὸν ποιητήν. Οὐκ εἶπε, Κατειλήφαμεν ἢ δοξάζομεν, ὡς ἐπὶ Θεοῦ προσῆκον ἦν· ἀλλὰ, Νέμομεν, ὡς αὐ τὸς τοῦ μέτρου τῆς διανομῆς κατάρχων. Πόσην δὲ καὶ δίδωσι τὴν ὑπεροχήν; Ὅσον ὑπερέχειν, φησὶν, ἀναγκαῖον τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων τὸν ποιητήν.