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of the pronoun, he declares that God is only one. 2.19.11 And again a little later he says, "I am the Lord your God," saying that he himself is Lord and God. And what else do we learn through another scripture? "And you shall know today," it says, "and you shall not be perverted in your mind, that the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on the earth below, and there is none besides him." And again in the same Deuteronomy it says, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your 2.19.12 soul and with all your mind." And again in the same, "See, see that I am, and there is no God besides me; I will kill and I will make alive; I will smite and I will heal." How then does Asterius, pretending to follow the holy scriptures simply and with fear, not know this part which says, "the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on the earth below, and there is no other besides him," and that "he is one" and besides him there "is no" other? 2.19.13 And after other things, he adds to these again, saying: How then will the holy prophet Jeremiah not openly convict him of teaching other doctrines? For prophesying to us the things concerning the Savior, he spoke thus: "This is our God, no other shall be accounted of in comparison to him. He has found out all the way of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men." 2.19.14 And again he adds, saying: But it seems that the Father is in the Word, even if it does not seem so to Asterius and those who think the same things as he. For this seems so to the divine prophet Isaiah, who says through the Holy Spirit: "And they shall worship you, and in you they shall pray; because in you is God, and there is no other besides you. For you are God." Do you see how it overturns from the root the artful villainy of those who teach other doctrines? 2.19.15 And again he adds: If you also wish to hear another prophecy of the same, confirming one God for us, "I am God," he says, "the first, and for the things to come, I am." For the "I" is indicative of one person, for the two sayings signify one person to us. For having said "I," he adds also the "am," so that through the two parts of the phrase, both pronoun and verb, the monad of the Godhead 2.19.16 may be testified. But if he should require another testimony, I will again furnish him the same prophet saying, "I am the first, and I am after these things, and besides me there is no God." If Asterius thinks the Son is divided from the Father in hypostasis as a son of man, being scandalized by the human flesh which he took up for us, let him show us who says these things; 2.19.17 for here too the saying spoken is of one person. Who then is the one saying, "There is no God besides me"? But let him also hear another prophecy saying, "There is none besides me who is just and a savior." If he should think there are two gods, it is necessary for him to confess that the other is neither just nor a savior. But if he is neither just nor a savior, how can he still be God? For he declares that there is one who is just and a savior. And again, "Before me," he says, "there was no other, and after me there will be none, I am God, and there will be no savior besides 2.19.18 me." But if he wishes to hear another prophetic saying, perhaps spoken to him and those who are similarly disposed as he is concerning the Godhead, let him hear this same Isaiah saying, "Repent, you who are wandering, return to your heart, and remember the former things from of old, that I am God and there is none besides 2.19.19 me." He did not say: I am God, in order that also through the addition of the article he might clearly show that he is one God. And what also of Hosea the prophet? Does not he also testify to the same things, saying, "I brought you up out of Egypt, and you shall know no God besides me, and there is no savior besides me"? And again Malachi says, "Has not one God 2.19.20 created you? Has not one Father of all of you?" But Asterius will perhaps say that David has said nothing about this, although he is the most ancient of the other prophets besides Moses, and for this reason to be in doubt, whether to think there are two gods divided in hypostasis

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ἀντωνυμίας ἕνα εἶναι θεὸν 2.19.11 μόνον ἀποφαίνεται. καὶ αὖθις μικρὸν ὕστερον «ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεός σου» φησίν, ἑαυτὸν κύριον καὶ θεὸν εἶναι λέγων. τί δὲ καὶ δι' ἑτέρας γραφῆς μανθάνομεν; «καὶ γνώσῃ σήμερον» φησὶν «καὶ οὐ διαστραφήσῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ, ὅτι κύριος ὁ θεός σου, οὗτος θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πλὴν αὐτοῦ». καὶ αὖθις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ «ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ·» φησὶν «κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν· καὶ ἀγα πήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης 2.19.12 ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης διανοίας». καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ «ἴδετε ἴδετε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν θεὸς πλὴν ἐμοῦ· ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω· πατάξω καὶ ἰάσομαι». πῶς οὖν Ἀστέριος ταῖς ἁγίαις γραφαῖς ἁπλῶς καὶ ἐμφόβως ἀκολουθεῖν προσποιούμενος οὐκ ἔγνω τὸ μέρος τοῦτο λέγον «κύριος ὁ θεός σου, οὗτος θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν αὐτοῦ», καὶ ὅτι «εἷς ἐστιν» καὶ πλὴν αὐτοῦ ἕτερος «οὐκ ἔστιν»; 2.19.13 καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα τούτοις αὖθις προστίθησιν λέγων πῶς οὖν ὁ ἱερὸς προφήτης Ἱερεμίας οὐ φανερῶς αὐτὸν ἑτεροδιδασκαλοῦντα ἐλέγξει; τὰ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν σωτῆρα ἡμῖν προ φητεύων οὕτως ἔφη «οὗτος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν. ἐξεῦρεν πᾶσαν ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης, καὶ ἔδωκεν Ἰακὼβ τῷ παιδὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανε στράφη». 2.19.14 καὶ πάλιν προστίθησιν λέγων ἀλλ' ἔοικεν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ ὁ πατὴρ εἶναι, κἂν Ἀστερίῳ μὴ δοκῇ καὶ τοῖς τὰ αὐτὰ ἐκείνῳ φρονοῦσιν. δοκεῖ γὰρ τοῦτο τῷ θεσπεσίῳ προφήτῃ Ἡσαΐᾳ, τῷ δι' ἁγίου λέγοντι πνεύματος «καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν σοι, καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσεύξονται· ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλος πλήν σου. σὺ γὰρ εἶ ὁ θεός.» ὁρᾷς ὅπως πρόρριζον ἀνατρέπει τὴν τῶν ἑτεροδιδασκαλούντων ἔντεχνον κακουργίαν; 2.19.15 καὶ αὖθις ἐπιλέγει εἰ δὲ καὶ βούλει καὶ ἑτέρας ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ αὐτοῦ προφητείας ἕνα ἡμῖν θεὸν βεβαιούσης, «ἐγὼ θεὸς» φησὶν «πρῶτος, καὶ εἰς τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐγώ εἰμι»· τὸ γὰρ ἐγὼ ἑνὸς προσώπου δεικτικόν ἐστιν, αἱ γὰρ δύο ῥήσεις ἓν ἡμῖν πρόσωπον σημαίνουσιν. «ἐγὼ» γὰρ εἰπὼν ἐπάγει καὶ τὸ «εἰμί», ὥστε διὰ τῶν δύο τοῦ λόγου μερῶν, ἀντωνυμίας τε καὶ ῥήματος, τὴν τῆς θεότητος 2.19.16 μαρτυρεῖσθαι μονάδα. εἰ δὲ δέοιτο καὶ ἑτέρας μαρτυρίας, αὖθις τὸν αὐτὸν αὐτῷ παρέξομαι προφήτην λέγοντα «ἐγὼ πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα, καὶ πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν θεός». εἰ ὑποστάσει διῃρημένον τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ πατρὸς ὡς υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου Ἀστέριος εἶναι οἴεται, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σαρκὸς ἣν δι' ἡμᾶς ἀνέλαβεν σκανδαλιζόμενος, δεικνύτω ἡμῖν τὸν ταῦτα λέγοντα· 2.19.17 ἑνὸς γάρ ἐστιν κἀνταῦθα προσώπου ἡ λεγομένη ῥῆσις. τίς οὖν ἔστιν ὁ λέγων «οὐκ ἔστιν πλὴν ἐμοῦ θεός»; ἀκουέτω δὲ καὶ ἑτέρας προφητείας λεγούσης «οὐκ ἔστιν πλὴν ἐμοῦ δίκαιος καὶ σωτήρ». εἰ δύο θεοὺς εἶναι νομίζοι, ἀνάγκη αὐτὸν τὸν ἕτερον μὴ δίκαιον ὁμολογεῖν εἶναι μηδὲ σωτῆρα. εἰ δὲ οὐ δίκαιος οὐδὲ σωτήρ, πῶς ἔτι θεὸς εἶναι δύναται; ἕνα γὰρ ἀποφαίνεται δίκαιον καὶ σωτῆρα εἶναι. καὶ αὖθις «ἔμπροσθέν μου» φησὶν «οὐκ ἐγένετο ἄλλος, καὶ μετ' ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔσται, ἐγὼ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται παρὲξ 2.19.18 ἐμοῦ σῴζων». εἰ δὲ βούλεται καὶ ἑτέρου προφητικοῦ ἀκοῦσαι ῥητοῦ, τάχα που πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίως περὶ θεότητος αὐτῷ διακειμένους λεχθέντος, ἀκουέτω αὐτοῦ Ἡσαΐου λέγοντος «μετανοήσατε, οἱ πλανώμενοι, ἐπιστρέψατε τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ μνήσθητε τὰ πρότερα ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος, ὅτι ἐγὼ ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν πλὴν 2.19.19 ἐμοῦ». οὐκ εἶπεν· ἐγὼ θεός, ἵνα καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἄρθρου προσθήκης ἕνα θεὸν ὄντα σαφῶς ἐπιδείξῃ. τί δὲ καὶ Ὡσηὲ ὁ προφήτης; οὐ καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ αὐτὰ μαρτυρεῖ, «ἐγὼ ἀνήγαγόν σε ἐξ Αἰγύπτου,» λέγων «καὶ θεὸν πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐ γνώσῃ, καὶ σῴζων οὐκ ἔστιν παρὲξ ἐμοῦ»; αὖθίς τε ὁ Μαλαχίας «οὐχὶ θεὸς εἷς 2.19.20 ἔκτισεν ὑμᾶς;» φησὶν «οὐχὶ πατὴρ εἷς πάντων ὑμῶν»; ἀλλὰ τὸν ∆αυὶδ φήσει που Ἀστέριος μηδὲν εἰρηκέναι περὶ τούτου, καίτοι πρεσβύτατον παρὰ Μωσέα τῶν ἄλλων προφητῶν ὄντα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀμφιγνοεῖν, εἴτε δύο θεοὺς ὑποστάσει διῃρημένους νομίζειν