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to have made the ship alone, because he used tools for its construction? So creation is also only-begotten, and its parts; not only the invisible powers, but also the perceptible bodies, and of these the most insignificant, gnats, and locusts, and frogs. For he himself spoke, and they were made. For what service would he need who creates by will alone, when creation subsists together with his counsel? But what? How, according to us, are all things through the Son? Because the divine will, setting forth as if from some spring of the first cause, proceeds into action through the 29.620 proper image of God the Word. But he called the only-begotten Son a servant, adding this great thing to him, that he is well-suited for the ministry of the things commanded. For if he does not possess perfect glory in being God, but in being a precise servant, how will he differ from the ministering spirits, who blamelessly perform the work of ministry? For this reason he joined "created" to "begotten," in order to show from this that there is no difference between Son and creature. But it is worthwhile to hear also the exhortation. {EUN.} One must not, he says, by attending to the titles of Father and Son, conceive of his generation in a human way, nor, by being led back from generations among men, subject God to the names and passions of participation. {BAS.} The exhortation, on the one hand, is that one must not conceive of the likeness in essence of Son and Father. For this is what the prohibition of participation means to him, as if the essence of the Father is without communion with that of the Only-begotten. For this reason are those solemn distinctions of names, whose confusing mass we have surpassed; that things whose utterances are the same are not also immediately identical in what is signified, so that he might take away the fact that God is the Father of the Son on account of those on earth who are called fathers. But I, while there are many things which separate Christianity from Greek error and from Jewish ignorance, think no doctrine more essential to the Gospel of our salvation to be inherent in it than the faith in the Father and the Son. Since even those separated by whatever error agree that God is creator and demiurge. But he who proclaims a Father falsely named, and a Son only to the extent of a bare title, and who thinks it makes no difference either to confess a Father or a creator, and either to say Son or a thing made, where will he be ranked by us? or of what portion will he be numbered? that of the Jews, or that of the Greeks? For he will not indeed count himself among Christians, who denies the power of piety, and the, as it were, character of our worship. For we have not believed in a demiurge and a thing made; but we were sealed in Father and Son through the grace in baptism. Therefore he who dares to reject these words at the same time dismisses the whole power of the Gospels, preaching a Father who did not 29.621 beget, and a Son who was not begotten. But I say these things, he says, to avoid the concept of passion that arises from the word "Father." But surely it was necessary for one who has determined to be pious, having rejected what is unseemly in the thought in these words, if anything of the sort was present in them, not to reject the whole word at once, nor on the pretext of what is unfitting to cast out also whatever is useful from it; but to be pure from lowly and carnal thoughts in the doctrines concerning God, and to conceive of a generation befitting the holiness and impassibility of God; leaving aside the manner in which God begot, as unspeakable and inconceivable, but being guided to the likeness in essence by the title of begetting. And yet it is clear to one who considers it, that these names, I mean father and son, are not by nature designed to produce a concept properly and primarily of corporeal passions; but when spoken in themselves, they indicate only the relation to one another. For a father is one who has provided to another the beginning of being according to a nature like his own; and a son is one who has received the beginning of being from another by way of generation. When
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μόνον πεποιηκέναι τὴν ναῦν, ὅτι δὴ ὀργάνοις πρὸς τὴν κατασκευὴν συνεχρήσατο; Ὥστε μονογενὴς καὶ ἡ κτίσις, καὶ τὰ μέρη ταύτης· οὐ μόνον αἱ ἀόρατοι δυνάμεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ σώματα, καὶ τούτων τὰ εὐτελέστατα, σκνῖπες, καὶ ἀκρίδες, καὶ βάτραχοι. Αὐτὸς γὰρ εἶπε, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν. Τίνος γὰρ ἂν καὶ ὑπουργίας δέοιτο ὁ θελήματι μό νῳ δημιουργῶν, ὁμοῦ τῇ βουλήσει συνυφιστα μένης τῆς κτίσεως; Ἀλλὰ τί; πῶς καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς διὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὰ πάντα; Ὅτι τὸ θεῖον βούλημα, οἷον πηγῆς τινος τῆς πρώτης αἰτίας ἀφορμηθὲν, διὰ τῆς 29.620 οἰκείας εἰκόνος τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου πρόεισιν εἰς ἐνέρ γειαν. Ὁ δὲ τὸν μονογενῆ Υἱὸν ὑπουργὸν προσηγό ρευσε, τοῦτο αὐτῷ προστιθεὶς μέγα, ὅτι εὔθετος πρὸς τὴν διακονίαν τῶν ἐπιτασσομένων ἐστίν. Εἰ γὰρ οὐκ ἐν τῷ Θεὸς εἶναι τέλειος τὴν δόξαν κέκτηται, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ ὑπουργὸς ἀκριβὴς, τί διοίσει τῶν λειτουργικῶν πνευμάτων, ἀμέμπτως τὸ ἔργον τῆς διακονίας ἐπι τελούντων; ∆ιὰ ταῦτα τῷ γεννηθεὶς τὸ κτισθεὶς συνῆψεν, ἵνα κἀντεῦθεν μηδεμίαν οὖσαν Υἱοῦ καὶ κτίσματος διαφορὰν ἐπιδείξῃ. Ἄξιον δὲ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ τῆς παραινέσεως. {ΕΥΝ.} Οὐ χρὴ, φησὶ, τῇ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ προσέχοντας προσηγορίᾳ ἀνθρωπικὴν αὐτοῦ τὴν γέννησιν ἐννοεῖν, κἀκ τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις γενέ σεων ἀναγομένους, τοῖς τῆς μετουσίας ὀνόμασι καὶ πάθεσιν ὑπάγειν τὸν Θεόν. {ΒΑΣ.} Ἡ μὲν παραίνεσις, μὴ δεῖν τὴν κατ' οὐ σίαν Υἱοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ὁμοιότητα ἐννοεῖν. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτῷ βούλεται ἡ τῆς μετουσίας ἀπαγόρευσις, ὡς ἀκοινωνήτου τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐσίας πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ὑπαρχούσης. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα αἱ σεμναὶ ἐκεῖναι τῶν ὀνομάτων διαστολαὶ, ὧν τὸν ὄχλον ἡμεῖς ὑπερέβημεν· ὡς οὐχὶ ὅσων αἱ ἐκφωνήσεις αἱ αὐταὶ, ταῦτα καὶ τῷ σημαινομένῳ ἤδη ταυτὰ, ἵνα τὸ Πα τέρα εἶναι τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὸν Θεὸν διὰ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς πα τέρας ὀνομαζομένους ἀφέληται. Ἐγὼ δὲ, πολλῶν ὄντων, ἃ τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς πλάνης καὶ τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς ἀγνωσίας διίστησιν. οὐ δὲν ἡγοῦμαι κυριώτερον δόγμα τῆς εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν πίστεως τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν ἐνυπάρχειν. Ἐπεὶ τό γε κτίστην εἶναι καὶ δη μιουργὸν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ οἱ καθ' ὁποιανδήποτε πλάνην ἀπεσχισμένοι συντίθενται. Ὁ δὲ Πατέρα ψευδώνυ μον, καὶ Υἱὸν μέχρι προσηγορίας ψιλῆς κατ αγγέλλων, καὶ οὐδὲν ἡγούμενος διαφέρειν, ἢ Πα τέρα ὁμολογεῖν ἢ κτίστην, καὶ ἤτοι Υἱὸν λέ γειν ἢ ποίημα, ποῦ τετάξεται παρ' ἡμῶν; ἢ τῆς ποίας εἶναι μερίδος ἀριθμηθήσεται; τῆς Ἰου δαίων, ἢ τῆς Ἑλλήνων; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ Χριστιανοῖς ἑαυτὸν εἰσποιήσει, ὁ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς εὐσεβείας, καὶ τὸν οἱονεὶ χαρακτῆρα τῆς λατρείας ἡμῶν ἀρνούμε νος. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς δημιουργὸν καὶ ποίημα ἐπιστεύ σαμεν· ἀλλ' εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν διὰ τῆς ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι χάριτος ἐσφραγίσθημεν. Ὥστε ὁ ταύτας τολμῶν ἀθετεῖν τὰς φωνὰς πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ παραγρά φει τῶν Εὐαγγελίων τὴν δύναμιν, Πατέρα μὴ 29.621 γεννήσαντα, καὶ Υἱὸν μὴ γεννηθέντα κηρύσσων. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα λέγω, φησὶ, τὴν τοῦ πάθους ἔν νοιαν τὴν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς φωνῆς ἐγγινομένην ἐκκλίνων. Ἐχρῆν δὲ δήπου τόν γε εὐσεβεῖν ἐγνω κότα, τὸ ἀπεμφαῖνον τῆς ἐν τοῖς ῥήμασι τούτοις διανοίας, εἴ τι ἄρα καὶ ἐνυπῆρχε, παραιτησάμενον, μὴ πᾶσαν ἀθρόως τὴν φωνὴν ἀθετεῖν, μηδὲ τῇ προ φάσει τοῦ ἀπρεποῦς καὶ τὸ ὅσον ἀπ' αὐτῆς χρήσι μον συνεκβάλλειν· ἀλλ' ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν ταπεινῶν καὶ σαρκικῶν νοημάτων ἐν τοῖς περὶ Θεοῦ δόγμασι κα θαρεύειν, γέννησιν δὲ τῇ ἁγιωσύνῃ καὶ τῇ ἀποθείᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρέπουσαν ἐννοεῖν· τὸν μὲν τρόπον, καθ' ὃν ἐγέννησεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὡς ἄῤῥητον καὶ ἀπερινόητον ἀφιέντα, πρὸς δὲ τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν ὁμοιότητα ἐκ τῆς τοῦ γεννᾷν προσηγορίας ὁδηγούμενον. Καίτοιγε φα νερὸν σκοπουμένῳ, ὅτι οὐ σωματικῶν παθῶν κυρίως καὶ πρώτως ἔννοιαν ἐμποιεῖν ταυτὶ πέφυκε τὰ ὀνό ματα, ὁ πατὴρ, λέγω, καὶ ὁ υἱός· ἀλλὰ καθ' ἑαυτὰ μὲν λεγόμενα, τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσιν ἐνδείκνυ ται μόνην. Πατὴρ μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἑτέρῳ τοῦ εἶναι κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίαν ἑαυτῷ φύσιν τὴν ἀρχὴν παρασχών· υἱὸς δὲ ὁ ἐξ ἑτέρου γεννητῶς τοῦ εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκώς. Ὅταν