36
that which is cut by it is circumscribed by the shape of the iron, and the circle in the cut will be shown to be as large as that in the instrument; and again, with whatever radius the instrument is turned, with that much it will also describe 1.1.246 the circle through the cut. Such is the theologian's conception of the divine hypostasis of the Only-begotten. He says that a certain energy, like an instrument accompanying the first essence, made the Lord a work commensurate with itself. Thus he knows how to glorify the Son of God. The one who is now glorified in the glory of the Father and will be revealed at the time of judgment, this one, he says, 20being a work, is measured by the energy that produced him20. What, then, is the energy which accompanies the God of all, but is conceived before the Only-begotten and circumscribes his essence? 1.1.247 A certain essential power, subsisting in itself and working its will through self-determined motion. Therefore, this is the Father of the Lord. And why is the title of Father still proclaimed for the God over all, if not he, but some energy from 1.1.248 outside accompanying him, produced the Son? And how is the Son a son, whom he says subsisted through some other means, and like some changeling (may the Lord be merciful to this statement) thus assumes the Father's intimacy, honored only by the appellation of Son? And how will he who numbers the Son as third from the Father rank the Lord after the God of all, since that mediating energy is numbered in the second rank after the God over all? 1.1.249 And according to this sequence, the Holy Spirit 1.1.249 will surely be found no longer in the third, but in the fifth rank, with the energy that accompanies the Only-begotten, through which the Holy Spirit subsisted, according to Eunomius's argument, certainly being numbered in between. 1.1.250 But also to say that all things came to be through the Son will be shown to be inconsistent through these things, since another hypostasis, older than the Only-begotten, has been pre-fashioned by the new theologian, to which the cause of the creation of all things will reasonably be referred, because the very creation of the Only-begotten, according to his argument, depends on that energy. 1.1.251 But if, fleeing these absurdities, he should say the energy, of which he defines the Son to be the result, is some non-hypostatic thing, let him say again how non-being follows being, and how the non-subsistent produces the subsistent. For through these things it will be found that non-existent things follow God, and non-beings become the causes of beings, and things that do not subsist by their own nature circumscribe the nature of subsistent things, and the effective and creative power of all creation will, according to his own argument, be contained by the non-existent. 1.1.252 Such are the dogmas of the theologian, who says that the Lord of heaven and earth and creator of all creation, the Word of God who was in the beginning, through whom are all things—this one subsisted and is circumscribed by some non-existent and non-hypostatic thing or concept—or I do not know what one should call the energy now fashioned by him—as if confined on all sides by non-existence as by some fence. And he who sees the unseen things does not understand to what 1.1.253 end the consequence of his argument leads. For if the energy of God is non-hypostatic, and the work produced from non-existence is circumscribed by it, then surely the result will be conceived in nature as being of such a kind as the nature of that which caused the work to subsist was fashioned by the argument; for that which is both produced from non-existence and contained by it is surely plain to everyone what it is conceived to be: 1.1.254 nothing. For it is not in the nature of opposites to be contained by their opposites; for neither is water contained by fire, nor light by darkness, nor being by non-being. But these things, because of his superfluous wisdom, he either does not understand or willingly is dull toward the truth. 1.1.255 And from some necessity he conceives something lesser in the hypostasis of the Only-begotten, and again he constructs some intensification of the lessening beyond the Son to be observed in the Holy Spirit, speaking thus to
36
συμπεριγράφεται τῷ σχήματι τοῦ σιδήρου τὸ δι' αὐτοῦ ἐντεμνόμενον, καὶ τοσοῦτος ὁ ἐν τῇ τομῇ κύκλος δειχθήσεται, ὅσος ὁ ἐν τῷ ὀργάνῳ ἐστί· καὶ πάλιν ὅσῳ διαστήματι περιῆκται τὸ ὄργανον, τοσοῦτον καὶ διὰ 1.1.246 τῆς τομῆς περιγράψει τὸν κύκλον. τοιαύτη τοῦ θεολόγου ἡ ἔννοια περὶ τῆς θείας τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως. ἐν έργειάν τινα καθάπερ ὄργανον τῇ πρώτῃ οὐσίᾳ παρεπομένην σύμμετρόν φησιν ἑαυτῇ ἔργον πεποιηκέναι τὸν κύριον. οὕτως οἶδε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ δοξάζειν. τὸν ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ πατρὸς νῦν δοξαζόμενον καὶ ἐν καιρῷ τῆς κρίσεως ἐκκαλυφθησό μενον, τοῦτόν φησιν 20ἔργον ὄντα τῇ ἐργασαμένῃ αὐ τὸν ἐνεργείᾳ παραμετρεῖσθαι20. τίς τοίνυν ἡ ἐνέρ γεια ἡ τῷ θεῷ μὲν τῶν ὅλων παρεπομένη, πρὸ δὲ τοῦ μονογενοῦς νοουμένη καὶ περιγράφουσα αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν; 1.1.247 δύναμίς τις οὐσιώδης καθ' ἑαυτὴν ὑφεστῶσα καὶ τὸ δοκοῦν ἐργαζομένη δι' αὐτεξουσίου κινήματος. οὐκοῦν αὕτη πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου. καὶ τί ἔτι ἐπιθρυλεῖται τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς κλῆσις, εἰ μὴ ἐκεῖνος, ἀλλά τις ἐνέργεια τῶν 1.1.248 ἔξωθεν αὐτῷ παρεπομένων τὸν υἱὸν ἀπειργάσατο; πῶς δὲ υἱὸς ὁ υἱός, ὃν δι' ἑτέρου μέν τινος ὑποστῆναι λέγει, καθάπερ δέ τινα τῶν ὑποβολιμαίων (ἵλεως δὲ εἴη τῷ λόγῳ ὁ κύριος) οὕτω τὴν οἰκειότητα τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποδύεσθαι, μόνῃ τῇ προσηγορίᾳ τοῦ υἱοῦ τετιμημένον; πῶς δὲ μετὰ τὸν θεὸν τῶν ὅλων καὶ τὸν κύριον τάξει ὁ τρίτον ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱὸν ἀριθμῶν, τῆς μεσιτευούσης ἐνεργείας ἐκεί νης ἐν δευτέρᾳ τάξει μετὰ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν ἀριθμου 1.1.249 μένης; κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ταύτην καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ 1.1.249 ἅγιον πάντως οὐκέτι ἐν τρίτῃ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ πέμπτῃ τάξει καταληφθήσεται, τῆς ἐνεργείας τῆς τῷ μονογενεῖ παρεπο μένης, καθ' ἣν ὑπέστη τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὡς ὁ Εὐνο μίου λόγος, διὰ μέσου πάντως ἀριθμουμένης. 1.1.250 Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ πάντα διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ γεγενῆσθαι λέγειν ἀσύστατον διὰ τούτων ἐπιδειχθήσεται, ἑτέρας τινὸς ὑπο στάσεως πρεσβυτέρας τοῦ μονογενοῦς προαναπλασθείσης ὑπὸ τοῦ καινοῦ θεολόγου, εἰς ἣν εἰκότως ἡ αἰτία τῆς κτίσεως τῶν πάντων ἀνενεχθήσεται, διότι καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἡ κατασκευὴ κατὰ τὸν ἐκείνου λόγον τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐκείνης 1.1.251 ἤρτηται. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα τὰ ἄτοπα φεύγων ἀνυπόστατόν τι πρᾶγμα λέγοι τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἧς ἀποτέλεσμα τὸν υἱὸν διορί ζεται, πάλιν εἰπάτω πῶς ἕπεται τῷ ὄντι τὸ μὴ ὄν, πῶς δὲ κατεργάζεται τὸν ὑφεστῶτα τὸ μὴ ὑφεστός. εὑρεθήσεται γὰρ διὰ τούτων ἀκολουθοῦντα μὲν τῷ θεῷ τὰ ἀνύπαρκτα, αἴτια δὲ τῶν ὄντων τὰ μὴ ὄντα γινόμενα, καὶ περιγρά φοντα τὴν τῶν ὑφεστώτων φύσιν ἃ τῇ ἑαυτῶν οὐχ ὑφέστηκε φύσει, καὶ ἡ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως ἀποτελεστικὴ καὶ δη μιουργὸς δύναμις τῷ ἀνυπάρκτῳ κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον λόγον περι 1.1.252 ληφθήσεται. τοιαῦτα τοῦ θεολόγου τὰ δόγματα, ὃς τὸν κύριον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως δημιουργόν, τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα λόγον θεοῦ, τὸν δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα τοῦτον ἀνυπάρκτῳ τινὶ καὶ ἀνυποστάτῳ πράγματι ἢ νοήματι ἢ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ὀνομάσαι προσήκει τὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ νῦν ἀναπλασθεῖσαν ἐνέργειαν ὑποστῆναι λέγει καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ περιγεγράφθαι, οἷόν τινι ἑρκίῳ τῇ ἀνυπαρξίᾳ πανταχόθεν διειλημμένον. καὶ οὐ συνίησιν ὁ τὰ ἀθέατα βλέπων, εἰς 1.1.253 οἷον καταστρέφει πέρας ἡ ἀκολουθία τοῦ λόγου. εἰ γὰρ ἀνυπόστατος μὲν ἡ ἐνέργεια τοῦ θεοῦ, ταύτῃ δὲ ἐμπερι γράφεται τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἀνυπαρξίας ἀποτελεσθὲν ἔργον, πάντως ὅτι τοιοῦτόν τι νοηθήσεται τῇ φύσει τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα, οἵα καὶ ἡ τοῦ ὑποστησαμένου τὸ ἔργον φύσις ἀνεπλάσθη τῷ λόγῳ· τὸ γὰρ καὶ ἀποτελεσθὲν ἐκ τῆς ἀνυπαρξίας καὶ ἐμ περιειλημμένον ταύτῃ παντὶ δήπου πρόδηλον, τί νοεῖται, 1.1.254 ὅτι οὐδέν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔχει φύσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων τὰ ἐν αντία περιέχεσθαι· οὔτε γὰρ ὑπὸ πυρὸς ὕδωρ οὔτε ὑπὸ σκότους φῶς οὔτε ὑπὸ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος τὸ ὄν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς περιττευούσης αὐτῷ σοφίας ἢ οὐ συνίησιν ἢ ἑκὼν ἀμβλυώττει πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. 1.1.255 Ἐξ ἀνάγκης δέ τινος τὸ ἔλαττον ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ μονογε νοῦς ὑποστάσεως νοεῖ καὶ πάλιν ἐπίτασίν τινα τῆς ἐλαττώ σεως παρὰ τὸν υἱὸν ἐνθεωρεῖν τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι κατα σκευάζει, οὕτω λέγων τοῖς