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he constructs the blasphemy. For since he thinks that the generate is opposed to the ungenerate by way of contrariety, he applies the same opposition of light to light, so that through all things he might show the substance of the Father to be a rival and an enemy to that of the Only-begotten. For these reasons, this is the new legislation of dogmas: ‘As much as the generate is different from the ungenerate, so much must light be different from light.’ And yet, between ungenerate and generate there is a certain opposition, according to the placing of the terms, even if not according to the nature of the realities, which these men construct; but between light and light it is not possible to conceive any contrariety, neither in pronunciation nor in meaning. But indeed he seems to delude himself with deceptive sophisms. For he thinks that the things that follow upon contraries 29.633 have the same conflict with one another as do their antecedents; and that when a contrary is true of one of a pair of contraries, its contrary will in every case follow the other. For example, if light follows sight, darkness follows blindness; if feeling follows living, being without feeling follows being dead. But that this observation is weak and falls apart is known to everyone who has paid even a little attention. For it is not that, because living follows being awake, being dead in every case follows being asleep. But neither is the generate contrary to the ungenerate. For if they are contraries and destructive of one another—which may it be turned upon the head of the blasphemers—but they are neither enemies by nature, nor will the things that follow them necessarily have the same separation that their antecedents were shown to have. Therefore, either erase your sayings, or do not deny the impiety. For yours is the blasphemy of the one who said: ‘As much as the ungenerate is different from the generate, so much must light be different from light.’ Therefore, just as the generate will never partake of ungenerateness, so you will never grant to him a share of the light. And, according to you, the substance of the Only-begotten will be equally distant from being ungenerate and from being conceived of and named light. But John, with the great voice of the Spirit, cries out to you, saying: ‘He was the true light’; but you have no ears to hear, nor a heart to understand; but with your sophisms you drive the substance of the Only-begotten toward a rival nature, which cannot coexist with the light. For surely you will not say that this is a strong argument, that you did not take away the appellation of light from the Only-begotten. For piety is not in a sound of air, but in the power of the things signified. But he did not stop at these things, but also infers life and power with the same measure of separation into contrariety, saying: ‘As much as the generate is different from the ungenerate, so much must light be different from light, and life from life, and power from power.’ Therefore, according to you, the Only-begotten is neither life nor power. But you reject the Lord Himself when he says, ‘I am the life’; and you reject Paul when he says, ‘Christ is the power of God.’ For what was shown in the things before, these things will also apply to the present. For no one would say that life is opposed to life or power to power; but death and powerlessness fulfill the most complete opposition. These things this man, having hidden the deceit of his words in all 29.636 cunning, deeply and covertly constructs the horror of his impiety, and with the devices of his words, having separated the nature of the Only-begotten to what is contrary to the Father, he leaves only the euphemism of the names. What then of us? how, when we confess the Father as ungenerate and the Son as generate, could we escape the opposition in their very being? what do we say? That of a good Father, the Son is good; and from the ungenerate light, the eternal light shone forth, and from the life that truly is, the life-giving spring came forth, and from power-itself, the power of God was revealed; but darkness, and death, and weakness belong to the ruler of this world, and to the world-rulers of darkness, and to the spiritual forces of wickedness, and to every enemy of the divine

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κατασκευάζει τὸ βλάσφημον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἴεται τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ τὸ γεν νητὸν κατ' ἐναντίωσιν ἀντικεῖσθαι, τὴν αὐτὴν τῷ φωτὶ πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἀντίθεσιν ἐφαρμόζει, ἵνα διὰ πάν των τὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐσίαν ἀντίπαλον καὶ πολεμίαν τῇ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐπιδείξῃ. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ἡ καινὴ αὕτη τῶν δογμάτων νομοθεσία· Ὅσον παρήλλακται τὸ γεννητὸν τοῦ ἀγεννήτου, τοσοῦτον ἀνάγκη παρηλ λάχθαι τὸ φῶς πρὸς τὸ φῶς. Καίτοι τῷ μὲν ἀγεν νήτῳ πρὸς τὸ γεννητόν ἐστί τις, κατὰ τὴν θέσιν τῶν ῥημάτων, εἰ καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν τῶν πραγμάτων, ἀντίθεσις, ὅπερ οὗτοι κατασκευάζουσι· φωτὶ δὲ πρὸς τὸ φῶς οὔτε κατὰ τὴν προφορὰν οὔτε κατὰ τὴν ἔν νοιαν ἐπινοῆσαί τινα δυνατὸν ἐναντίωσιν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἔοικε σοφίσμασιν ἀπατηλοῖς ἑαυτὸν παρακρού εσθαι. Οἴεται γὰρ, ὅτι τὰ τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἑπόμενα 29.633 τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα μάχην, ἥνπερ ἂν ἔχει καὶ τὰ ἡγούμενα· καὶ ὅταν τῷ ἑτέρῳ τῶν ἐναντίων τὸ ἐναντίον ὑπάρχῃ, καὶ τῷ ἑτέρῳ πάντως τὸ ἐναν τίον ἀκολουθήσει. Οἷον, εἰ τῇ ὁράσει τὸ φῶς ἕπεται, τῇ τυφλότητι τὸ σκότος· εἰ τῷ ζῇν τὸ αἰσθάνεσθαι, τῷ τεθνηκέναι τὸ ἀναισθητεῖν. Τοῦτο δὲ ὡς ἀσθε νὲς καὶ διαπῖπτον τὸ παρατήρημα, παντὶ γνώριμον τῷ καὶ μικρὸν ἐπιστήσαντι. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ τῷ ἐγρη γορέναι τὸ ζῇν ἕπεται, τῷ καθεύδειν ἀκολουθεῖ πάν τως τὸ τεθνάναι. Ἀλλ' οὔτε ἐναντίως ἔχει τὸ γεννη τὸν πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον. Εἰ γὰρ ἐναντία καὶ φθαρτικὰ ἀλλήλων, ὅπερ εἰς κεφαλὴν τοῖς βλασφημοῦσι τρέ ποιτο, ἀλλ' οὔτε τῇ φύσει πολέμια, οὔτε μὴν τὰ ἑπόμενα τούτοις τὴν αὐτὴν ἀναγκαίως ἕξει διάστασιν, ἣν ἐδείκνυτο ἔχειν καὶ τὰ ἡγούμενα. Ἢ τοίνυν ἀπάλειψόν σου τὸ ῥήματα, ἢ μὴ ἀρνοῦ τὴν ἀσέβειαν. Σὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ βλασφημία τοῦ εἰπόντος· Ὅσον παρήλλακται τοῦ γεννητοῦ τὸ ἀγέν νητον, τοσοῦτον ἀνάγκη παρηλλάχθαι τὸ φῶς πρὸς τὸ φῶς. Οὐκοῦν ὡς οὐδέποτε μεθέξει τῆς ἀγεννη σίας ὁ γεννητὸς, οὕτως οὐδέποτε αὐτῷ τοῦ φωτὸς μεταδώσεις. Καὶ ἔσται, κατὰ σὲ, ἡ οὐσία τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἴσον ἀπέχουσα τοῦ γε ἀγέννητος εἶναι, καὶ τοῦ φῶς νοεῖσθαι καὶ ὀνομάζεσθαι. Ἀλλὰ Ἰωάννης μὲν τῇ μεγαλοφωνίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐμβοᾷ σοι λέγων· Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν· σοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ὦτα τοῦ ἀκούειν, οὐδὲ καρδία τοῦ συνιέναι· ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀντίπαλον φύσιν, καὶ ἀσυνύπαρκτον τῷ φωτὶ τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, τοῖς σοφίσμασιν ἀπελαύνεις. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἐκεῖνο ἰσχυρὸν ἐρεῖς, ὅτι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὴν προσηγορίαν τοῦ φωτὸς οὐκ ἀφείλου. Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ψόφῳ ἀέρος, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τῶν σημαινομένων τὸ εὐσεβές. Ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτων ἔστη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῷ αὐτῷ μέτρῳ τῆς εἰς ἐναντίον ἀπο στάσεως συνεπάγει, εἰπών· Ὅσον παρήλλακται τὸ γεννητὸν πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον, τοσοῦτον ἀνάγκη παρ ηλλάχθαι τὸ φῶς πρὸς τὸ φῶς, καὶ τὴν ζωὴν πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν δύναμιν. Οὐκοῦν οὔτε ζωὴ, κατὰ σὲ, οὔτε δύναμις ὁ Μονογενής. Ἀλλὰ παραγράφῃ μὲν αὐτὸν τὸν Κύριον λέγοντα· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ζωή· παραγράφῃ δὲ Παῦλον τὸν εἰπόντα· Χριστὸς Θεοῦ δύναμις. Ἃ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν ἐδεί κνυτο, ταῦτα καὶ τοῖς νῦν ἐφαρμόσει. Οὔτε γὰρ ζωὴν οὔτε δύναμιν τῇ ζωῇ καὶ τῇ δυνάμει ἀντικεῖσθαι φαίη τις ἄν· ἀλλὰ θάνατον καὶ ἀδυναμίαν τὴν τελεωτά την ἀντίθεσιν ἐκπληροῦν. Ἅπερ οὗτος, ἐν παν 29.636 ουργίᾳ δόλον τὸν λόγων ἀποκρυψάμενος, βα θέως καὶ περικεκαλυμμένως τὸ φρικτὸν τῆς ἀσεβείας κατασκευάζει, καὶ τοῖς τῶν λόγων τεχνάσμασι πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον τῷ Πατρὶ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἀποστήσας, μόνην καταλείπει τὴν εὐφημίαν τῶν ὀνο μάτων. Τί οὖν ἡμεῖς; πῶς, καὶ ἀγέννητον τὸν Πα τέρα καὶ γεννητὸν τὸν Υἱὸν ὁμολογοῦντες, τὴν κατ' αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι διαφύγοιμεν ἐναντίωσιν; τί λέγον τες; Ὅτι ἀγαθοῦ μὲν Πατρὸς ἀγαθὸς ὁ Υἱός· φωτὸς δὲ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φῶς ἐξέλαμψε τὸ ἀΐδιον, καὶ ἐκ τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς ἡ ζωοποιὸς προῆλθε πηγὴ, καὶ ἐκ τῆς αὐτοδυνάμεως ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμις ἐξεφάνη· σκότος δὲ, καὶ θάνατος, καὶ ἀσθένεια τῷ ἄρχοντι τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, καὶ τοῖς κοσμοκράτορσι τοῦ σκότους, καὶ τοῖς πνευματικοῖς τῆς πονηρίας, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ ἐχθρᾷ τῆς θείας