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having been said, is cast in the middle of opinions and fanned towards either supposition. 1.1.324 He adds that 20it is not right to say that the same energy is that by which he made the angels or the stars and the heaven or man20. Again, from what necessity or logical sequence he adduced these things to what was said, or what is rather established by these things, namely, that the energies differ from each other to the extent that the works differ from each other, in arguing that not all things happen to be the works of the same one, but that one thing comes to be from another, 1.1.325 for my part I do not see. For we have learned from scripture that heaven and angel and star and man and all things that are conceived in creation are all the works of one; but their argument for their dogma establishes that the Son and the Spirit are not the works of one, but the Son is the work of the energy that follows the first substance, 1.1.326 and the Spirit in turn is another work of the work. What communion, then, do heaven and man and angel and star, now brought into comparison by his argument, have with his construction? Let him say, or anyone who is a sharer in his secret wisdom. For in these things the impiety is clearly shown in what has been said, and the construction of the impiety 1.1.327 is also inconsistent with itself. For to suppose that so great a difference is observed in the holy Trinity as one can perceive between heaven, which embraces all creation, and the single man, or between an angel and the star appearing in the heaven, contains manifest impiety; but the ordered and consequent arrangement of the thoughts for the construction of this very point, I say that this is not easily comprehended either by me or perhaps by the father of the blasphemy himself. 1.1.328 For if he reasoned thus concerning creation, that heaven is the work of a certain superjacent energy, and the star is the result of the energy that follows the heaven, and the angel of that, and man of this, his argument would have some point, establishing the dogma through the juxtaposition of similar things. But if he himself agrees that these things have come to be through one (unless he completely fights against the voice of the scriptures), but defines some other manner for their construction, what is the connection of what has been introduced to what went before? 1.1.329 But let it be granted that these things have something in common for the proof of the difference of the substances (for he desires to establish this through what he says), but how he connected the following things to what has been said, let us hear. 20Inasmuch as20, he says, 20the works of the works are older and more honorable, by so much also one might say, thinking piously, that the energy is superior to the energy20. For if he says these things about perceptible things, his argument is far from what was proposed. 1.1.330 For what is the necessity for one who has set out to say something about dogmas to philosophize about the order of the things created in the cosmogony and to insist that the energies of the creator are higher and lower in proportion to the magnitude of each of the things that have come to be? 1.1.331 But if he makes his argument about those things and says that the things now fashioned by him in his dogma, that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are 20works of works, older and more honorable20, perhaps it is better to abominate the argument in silence than by engaging with it to establish the appearance that it is even an argument. For how could the more honorable be found 1.1.332 in those things in which there is no less honorable? For if he proceeds so far in his facility and readiness for evil as to suspect both the term and the notion of the 'less honorable' concerning any of those believed in the Holy Trinity, it is fitting to stop one's ears and flee with all one's might from a wicked hearing, lest some communion of the defilement come to the hearer, as if the argument were being poured from some vessel full of impurity into the heart of the listener. 1.1.333 For how would anyone dare to say such a thing concerning the divine and honorable and transcendent nature, by which the 'less honorable' is established comparatively by <τοῦ> argument? `That all,` he says, `may honor the Son,`

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εἰρημένων ἐπὶ τοῦ μέσου τῶν ὑπολή ψεων ῥιφεῖσα πρὸς ἑκατέρας τὰς ὑπονοίας μεταρριπίζεται. 1.1.324 Προστίθησι δὲ ὅτι 20οὐδὲ θέμις τὴν αὐτὴν ἐνέρ γειαν εἰπεῖν καθ' ἣν τοὺς ἀγγέλους ἐποίησεν ἢ τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἢ τὸν ἄνθρωπον20. πάλιν ταῦτα ἐκ ποίας ἀνάγκης ἢ ἀκολουθίας τοῖς εἰρημέ νοις ἐπήγαγεν ἢ τί μᾶλλον διὰ τούτων κατασκευάζεται τὸ παρηλλάχθαι τὰς ἐνεργείας κατὰ τοσοῦτον ἀλλήλων, ὅση καὶ τῶν ἔργων ἐστὶν ἡ πρὸς ἄλληλα διαφορά, τῷ μὴ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τυγχάνειν ἔργα τὰ πάντα ἀλλ' ἕτερον ἐξ ἑτέρου γε 1.1.325 γενῆσθαι κατασκευάζειν, ἐγὼ μὲν οὐ συνορῶ. οὐρανὸν γὰρ καὶ ἄγγελον καὶ ἀστέρα καὶ ἄνθρωπον καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ κτίσει νοούμενα, ἑνὸς ἔργα τὰ πάντα παρὰ τῆς γρα φῆς μεμαθήκαμεν· ὁ δὲ τοῦ δόγματος αὐτῶν κατασκευάζει λόγος ὅτι οὐχ ἑνὸς ἔργα ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν υἱὸς τῆς παρεπομένης τῇ πρώτῃ οὐσίᾳ ἐνεργείας ἔργον ἐστί, 1.1.326 τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἔργου πάλιν ἕτερον ἔργον. τίνα οὖν κοι νωνίαν ἔχει πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου κατασκευὴν οὐρανὸς καὶ ἄν θρωπος ἄγγελός τε καὶ ἀστὴρ νῦν συμπαραληφθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, αὐτὸς εἰπάτω, ἢ εἴ τις τῆς ἀπορρήτου σοφίας αὐτοῦ κοινωνός ἐστιν. ἐν τούτοις γὰρ τὸ μὲν ἀσεβὲς φα νερῶς τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐμφαίνεται, ἡ δὲ τῆς ἀσεβείας κατα 1.1.327 σκευὴ καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτήν ἐστιν ἀσύμφωνος. τὸ μὲν γὰρ οἴεσθαι τοσαύτην ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ τριάδι διαφορὰν θεωρεῖσθαι, ὅσην ἔστι κατανοῆσαι οὐρανοῦ τοῦ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν ἐμπεριειλη φότος πρὸς τὸν ἕνα τῷ ἀριθμῷ ἄνθρωπον ἢ ἀγγέλου πρὸς τὸν ἐν οὐρανῷ φαινόμενον ἀστέρα, φανερὰν τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἔχει· τὸ δὲ συντεταγμένον τῶν νοημάτων καὶ ἀκόλουθον τῆς περὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο κατασκευῆς, τοῦτό φημι μήτε ἐμοὶ μήτε αὐτῷ τάχα τῷ πατρὶ τῆς βλασφημίας εὐσύνοπτον 1.1.328 εἶναι. εἰ μὲν γὰρ τοιαῦτα περὶ τῆς κτίσεως ἐλογίζετο, ὅτι οὐρανὸς μὲν ἔργον ἐστὶν ὑπερκειμένης τινὸς ἐνεργείας, τῆς δὲ τῷ οὐρανῷ παρεπομένης ἐνεργείας ἀποτέλεσμα ὁ ἀστήρ, ἐκείνου δὲ ὁ ἄγγελος καὶ τούτου ὁ ἄνθρωπος, εἶχεν ἄν τι ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ, διὰ τῆς τῶν ὁμοίων παραθέσεως κατα σκευάζων τὸ δόγμα. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν δι' ἑνὸς γεγενῆ σθαι καὶ αὐτὸς συντίθεται (εἴ γε μὴ παντελῶς τῇ τῶν γραφῶν φωνῇ διαμάχεται), τῆς δὲ ἐκείνων κατασκευῆς ἕτερόν τινα διορίζεται τρόπον, τίς ἡ κοινωνία τῶν ἐπα χθέντων πρὸς τὰ προάγοντα; 1.1.329 ∆εδόσθω δέ τι καὶ κοινὸν ἔχειν ταῦτα πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς τῶν οὐσιῶν παραλλαγῆς (ταῦτα γὰρ ἐπιθυμεῖ δι' ὧν λέγει κατασκευάζειν), ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐφεξῆς πῶς συνήρτησε τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ἀκούσωμεν. 20ὅσῳ20, φησί, 20τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἔργων πρεσβύτερα καὶ τιμιώτερα, τοσούτῳ καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς ἐνεργείας ἀναβεβηκέναι φαίη ἄν τις εὐσεβῶς διανοούμενος20. ταῦτα γὰρ εἰ μὲν περὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν λέγει, πόρρω τῶν προτεθέντων 1.1.330 ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος. τίς γὰρ ἡ ἀνάγκη τὸν περὶ τῶν δογμάτων εἰπεῖν τι προθέμενον περὶ τῆς τάξεως τῶν ἐν τῇ κοσμο γονίᾳ δημιουργηθέντων φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ ὑψηλοτέρας καὶ ὑφειμένας τὰς ἐνεργείας τοῦ κτίσαντος πρὸς λόγον τῆς ἑκάστου τῶν γεγονότων πηλικότητος εἶναι διϊσχυρίζεσθαι; 1.1.331 εἰ δὲ περὶ ἐκείνων ποιεῖται τὸν λόγον καὶ 20ἔργα ἔργων πρεσβύτερά τε καὶ τιμιώτερα20 λέγει τὰ διαπλασθέντα παρ' αὐτοῦ νῦν ἐν τῷ δόγματι, τουτέστι τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, τάχα καλῶς ἔχει σιωπῇ μᾶλλον τὸν λόγον βδελύξασθαι ἢ διὰ τοῦ συμπλακῆναι τὸ δοκεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ λόγον εἶναι κατασκευάσαι. πῶς γὰρ ἂν εὑρεθείη τὸ προτι 1.1.332 μότερον ἐν οἷς οὐκ ἔστι τὸ ἀτιμότερον; εἰ μὲν γὰρ μέχρι τούτου τῇ πρὸς τὸ κακὸν εὐκολίᾳ καὶ ἑτοιμότητι πρόεισιν, ὥστε τοῦ ἀτιμοτέρου καὶ τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τὴν ἔννοιαν ἐπί τινος τῶν ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ τριάδι πιστευομένων ὑπονοῆσαι, βῦσαι τὰ ὦτα προσήκει καὶ φυγεῖν ὅση δύναμις ἀπὸ ἀκοῆς πο νηρᾶς, ὡς ἂν μὴ κοινωνία τις τοῦ μιάσματος γένοιτο τῷ ἀκούοντι, καθάπερ ἐξ ἀγγείου τινὸς πλήρους ἀκαθαρσίας εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἀκούοντος καρδίαν μεταχεομένου τοῦ λόγου. 1.1.333 Πῶς γὰρ ἄν τις ἐπὶ τῆς θείας τε καὶ τιμίας καὶ ὑπερκειμένης φύσεως εἰπεῖν τι τοιοῦτο τολμήσειε, δι' οὗ τὸ ἀτιμότερον συγκριτικῶς ὑπὸ <τοῦ> λόγου κατασκευ άζεται; Ἵνα πάντες, φησί, τιμῶσι τὸν υἱόν,