40

apart from me," and whatever other things are akin to these are found in the rest of the prophets, it was God and from him "in Christ reconciling the world to himself," and it was the Father himself speaking forth these things to men through the only-begotten Son, as through an interpreter. And this the Son himself handed down in the Gospels, teaching to know one God only, in which he said, "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Therefore he himself was the true God, the one only and there is no other beside him, who not only through the prophets but through his own Son was at that time commanding these things to the idolatrous nation of the Jews. For instance, Isaiah, or rather God through him, having said, "Besides me there is no God. Who is like me?" and next, "You are my witnesses if there is a God besides me," added the words, "And they were not then. Those who fashion and those who carve are all vain, doing their own desires." And through his whole prophecy you might find the lifeless wooden images being cut down, and with each prophet likewise you will find the one God being proclaimed for the turning away from the polytheistic error. Thus we too are accustomed, in our dialogues with the superstitious among the Greeks, to reserve the teaching concerning Christ for an opportune time, and for the time being to offer them refutations of their idolatrous error and to establish with demonstrative arguments that God is one. Let Marcellus learn, therefore, if, having grown old in the episcopate of Christ's church, he has not yet learned even now, that for the ancient people the knowledge of the hidden mystery concerning the Son of God was by no means suitable, since they were prone to slip into idolatry, and that for his church alone "the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations" was reserved through his grace, in which mystery the doctrine concerning the holy Trinity of Father and Son and Holy Spirit was contained. But he, having gathered so many things as even a teacher of the Jews might say speaking about circumcision in a Jewish synagogue, prides himself in putting these things forward to the disciples of Christ, not knowing that the carnal Jew might say more than he. In these things, then, he boasts, but in distorting the true theologies concerning our Savior he is not ashamed. 2.23.1 For instance, he does not understand the words of the divine apostle, who taught in various ways that he is the image of God through those words of his which I have set forth, from which it is necessary to understand that the church of God does not proclaim two Gods; for it does not introduce two unbegotten beings nor two without beginning, as has often been said by us, nor two substances set up in opposition to each other from equal honor, wherefore not two Gods, but teaching one beginning and God and that the same is Father of the only-begotten and beloved Son, and likewise also one image "of the invisible God," which is the same as his only-begotten and beloved Son. And if the apostle, theologizing about the Father, says, "the blessed and 2.23.2 only Potentate," and again, "who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light," and again, "to the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God," and again, "to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be glory forever. Amen," and if even more than these things should be said for the doxology of the one God over all, of all these things one must understand the only-begotten Son of God to be the image, not as in lifeless matter but as formed in a living Son. And if the Savior himself teaches that the Father is the only true God, saying, "that they may know you, the only true God," yet one must not shrink from confessing that he himself is also true God, as possessing this also in the image, so that the addition of "only" may be fitting for the Father alone as the archetype of the image. 2.23.3 For most clearly that he is the image and effulgence of the Father and "in the form" of God, the divine Paul taught, as has been demonstrated by the things before. Therefore, just as when there is one existing Father and one Son born from the Father, no one in his right mind would say that there are two fathers or two sons, and just as when one king reigns

40

πάρεξ ἐμοῦ» καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τούτοις ἀδελφὰ ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς φέρεται προφήταις, θεὸς ἦν καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου «ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ», καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ πατὴρ ταῦτα διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ, οἷα δι' ἑρμηνέως, ἀνθρώποις ὑποφθεγγόμενος. ὁ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις παρεδίδου, ἕνα μόνον εἰδέναι διδάσκων θεόν, ἐν οἷς ἔλεγεν «αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή, ἵνα γινώσκωσίν σε τὸν μόνον ἀλη2.22.2 θινὸν θεὸν καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν». αὐτὸς οὖν ὁ ἀληθινὸς ἦν θεός, ὁ εἷς μόνος καὶ ἕτερος οὐκ ἔστιν πλὴν αὐτοῦ, ὁ μὴ μόνον διὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ ταῦτα κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ εἰδωλολατρεύοντι τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἐγκελευόμενος ἔθνει. αὐτίκα δ' οὖν ὁ Ἡσαΐας μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ θεὸς δι' αὐτοῦ εἰπὼν «πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν θεός. τίς ὥσπερ ἐγώ;» καὶ ἑξῆς «μάρτυρες ὑμεῖς ἐστε εἰ ἔστιν θεὸς πλὴν ἐμοῦ», ἐπήγαγεν τὸ «καὶ οὐκ ἦσαν τότε. οἱ πλάσσοντες καὶ οἱ γλύφοντες πάντες μάταιοι, ποιοῦντες τὰ καταθύμια 2.22.3 αὐτῶν». καὶ δι' ὅλης δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ προφητείας εὕροις ἂν κοπτόμενα τὰ ἄψυχα ξόανα, καὶ παρ' ἑκάστῳ δὲ προφήτῃ ὁμοίως εἰς ἀποτροπὴν τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης τὸν ἕνα θεὸν κηρυττόμενον εὑρήσεις. οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰώθαμεν Ἑλλήνων τοῖς δεισιδαίμοσιν ἐν τοῖς πρὸς αὐτοὺς διαλόγοις τὴν μὲν περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίαν εἰς εὔκαιρον ταμιεύεσθαι, τέως δὲ αὐτοῖς τῆς εἰδωλολάτρου πλάνης ἐλέγχους προσφέρειν καὶ τὸν ἕνα εἶναι θεὸν ἀποδεικτικοῖς κατασκευάζειν λό2.22.4 γοις. μανθανέτω τοίνυν Μάρκελλος, εἰ καταγηράσας ἐν ἐπισκοπῇ τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας οὔπω καὶ νῦν μεμάθηκεν, ὅτι τῷ παλαιῷ λαῷ ἡ τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου μυστηρίου περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ γνῶσις κατάλληλος οὐδαμῶς ἦν, ὀλισθηρῶς ἔχοντι πρὸς εἰδωλολατρείαν, καὶ ὡς μόνῃ τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ «τὸ μυστήριον τὸ ἀποκεκρυμμένον ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν γενεῶν» διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος ἐταμιεύετο, ἐν ᾧ μυστηρίῳ ὁ περὶ τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου 2.22.5 πνεύματος περιείχετο λόγος. ὁ δὲ τοσαῦτα συναγαγὼν ὅσα ἂν εἴποι καὶ Ἰουδαίων διδάσκαλος περὶ τῆς ἐκτομῆς ὁμιλῶν ἐν Ἰουδαίων συναγωγῇ, σεμνύνεται τοῖς Χριστοῦ μαθηταῖς ταῦτα προβαλλόμενος, οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅτι πλείονα αὐτοῦ εἴποι ἂν ὁ σωματικὸς Ἰουδαῖος. ἐπὶ τούτοις μὲν οὖν αὐχεῖ, τὰς δ' ἀληθεῖς περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεολογίας διαστρέφων οὐκ ἐγκαλύπτεται. 2.23.1 αὐτίκα δ' οὖν οὐ συνίησιν τὰς φωνὰς τοῦ θείου ἀποστόλου, διαφόρως διδάξαντος αὐτὸν εἶναι εἰκόνα τοῦ θεοῦ δι' ὧν ἐξεθέμην αὐτοῦ λέξεων, δέον ἐντεῦθεν συνεῖναι ὡς οὐ δύο θεοὺς ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ κηρύττει· οὐ γὰρ δύο ἀγέννητα οὐδὲ δύο ἄναρχα, ὡς πολλάκις ἡμῖν εἴρηται, οὐδὲ δύο οὐσίας ἐξ ἰσοτιμίας ἀντιπαρεξαγομένας ἀλλήλαις εἰσάγει, διὸ οὐδὲ δύο θεούς, ἀλλὰ μίαν ἀρχὴν καὶ θεὸν καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν πατέρα διδάσκουσα εἶναι τοῦ μονογενοῦς καὶ ἀγαπητοῦ υἱοῦ, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ μίαν εἰκόνα «τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου», τὴν αὐτὴν οὖσαν τῷ μονογενεῖ καὶ ἀγαπητῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ. κἂν λέγῃ δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος θεολογῶν τὸν πατέρα «ὁ μακάριος καὶ 2.23.2 μόνος δυνάστης» καὶ πάλιν «ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἀθανασίαν, φῶς οἰκῶν ἀπρόσιτον» καὶ αὖθις «τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων, ἀφθάρτῳ ἀοράτῳ μόνῳ θεῷ» καὶ πάλιν «μόνῳ σοφῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν», κἂν τούτων ἔτι πλείονα λέγηται εἰς δοξολογίαν τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ, καὶ τούτων ἁπάντων χρὴ νοεῖν εἰκόνα εἶναι τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐχ ὡς ἀψύχῳ ὕλῃ ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν υἱῷ ζῶντι μεμορφωμένην. κἂν αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεὸν διδάσκῃ εἶναι τὸν πατέρα λέγων «ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σὲ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεόν», ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀποκνητέον καὶ αὐτὸν θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ὁμολογεῖν ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι καὶ τοῦτο κεκτημένον, ἵνα ἡ τοῦ μόνου προσθήκη μόνῳ τῷ πατρὶ ὡς ἂν ἀρχετύπῳ τῆς εἰκόνος ἁρμόζῃ. 2.23.3 σαφέστατα γοῦν εἰκόνα καὶ ἀπαύγασμα τοῦ πατρὸς «ἐν μορφῇ» τε τοῦ θεοῦ εἶναι αὐτὸν ὁ θεσπέσιος ἐδίδαξεν Παῦλος, ὡς διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἀποδέδεικται. ὥσπερ οὖν ἑνὸς ὑφεστῶτος πατρὸς καὶ ἑνὸς υἱοῦ φύντος ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς οὐκ ἄν τις εὖ φρονῶν εἴποι δύο πατέρας ὑπάρχειν οὐδὲ υἱοὺς δύο, καὶ ὥσπερ βασιλέως κρατοῦντος ἑνὸς