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presenting the idea of comparison with what is less honorable. 1.1.341 But also to say 20older20 in the case of the perceptible creation is true; for since the succession of the works is shown in the order of the days, one might say that the heaven is so much older than the creation of man, and he will measure the time in between by the interval of the days; but in the case of the first nature, which transcends every notion of time and leaves behind every comprehensive concept, to think that one thing precedes in the dignities of time and another comes after belongs to the wisdom that has now 1.1.342 appeared. For the one who declares the Father to be 20older20 than the hypostasis of the Only-begotten declares nothing other than the Son himself to be younger than the things that came to be through the Son, if indeed it is true to say that all ages and every interval of time have come into being after the Son and through the Son. 1.1.343 And in addition to these things, which even more refutes the absurdity of the dogma, not only will a temporal beginning of existence be constructed for the Son from such an argument, but as a result of such a consequence, they will not shrink from constructing for the Father too a beginning from time. For if some point lies beyond as a mark of the generation of the Son, that point clearly will also define for the Father the beginning of His hypostasis. 1.1.344 But for the sake of clarity, it is perhaps not inopportune to examine the argument more laboriously. The one who dogmatizes that the life of the Father is older than the life of the Son certainly separates the Only-begotten from the God over all by some interval; and this interval in between he will suppose either as something infinite, or as defined by some clear limits and points. 1.1.345 But the principle of mediation will not allow him to say infinite, or it will completely abolish the concept of Father and Son in the argument, and he will not even conceive it as a middle, as long as it is infinite, being defined in relation to neither, with neither the concept of the Father upwards cutting off the progression of the infinite, nor the Son downwards cutting off the infinity. For this is the concept of the infinite, to be poured out by nature in every direction and to be contained by no limit from anywhere. 1.1.346 Therefore, in order that the conception of the being of both the Father and the Son may remain firm and unchangeable, there will be no room to conceive the interval as infinite, but of all necessity they will separate the Only-begotten from the Father by some finite thing. This then is what I am saying, that this argument will construct the idea that the God over all is not from eternity, but has had his beginning from some defined point. 1.1.347 And what I am saying is this; and I will speak through familiar examples, clarifying the meaning, so that what is unknown might become manifest to us through things that are apparent. by saying from the writing of Moses that man came into being on the fifth day after the heaven, we have, by this statement, constructed by what is passed over in silence the idea that the heaven did not even exist before the number of these days; thus that which came to be after something, through the interval before itself, also defines the existence of that which is presupposed before it. 1.1.348 But if we have not sufficiently clarified the argument by the example, it is possible also to present what is meant through other examples. By saying that the law given through Moses was four hundred and thirty years later than the promise to Abraham, if, from the law, we traverse with our reasoning the time backwards through analysis and arrive at the end of the numbered years, we clearly grasp that before this time the promise of God was not yet. And it is possible to say many such things, to go through which one by one I will decline as being troublesome. 1.1.349 Therefore, according to the consequence of the things said in the examples, let us also examine the argument set before us. and this was, according to the supposition of our opponents, to say that in the case of the hypostasis of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit one is 20older20 and younger than another. 1.1.350 Therefore, whenever, having passed beyond the generation of the Son, as the one of the heresy instructs

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συγκρίσεως τοῦ ἀτιμοτέρου παριστῶν τὴν ἔννοιαν. 1.1.341 Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ 20πρεσβύτερον20 ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς αἰσθητῆς κτίσεως λέγειν ἀληθές ἐστι· τῆς γὰρ ἀκολουθίας τῶν ἔρ γων ἐν τῇ τάξει τῶν ἡμερῶν δεικνυμένης, εἴποι τις ἂν τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευῆς τοσόνδε προγενέστερον εἶναι τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ διαμετρήσει τὸν διὰ μέσου χρόνον τῷ τῶν ἡμερῶν διαστήματι· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς πρώτης φύσεως τῆς πᾶσαν μὲν χρονικὴν ἔννοιαν ὑπεραιρούσης πᾶσαν δ' ἐπίνοιαν κατα ληπτικὴν ἀπολειπούσης τὸ μέν τι προάγειν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν χρόνον πρεσβείοις τὸ δὲ ἐφυστερίζειν οἴεσθαι τῆς νῦν 1.1.342 ἀναφανείσης σοφίας ἐστίν. ὁ γὰρ 20πρεσβύτερον20 τὸν πατέρα τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως ἀποφαινόμενος οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ νεώτερον τῶν διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ γενομένων αὐτὸν τὸν υἱὸν ἀποφαίνεται, εἴπερ ἀληθὲς πάντας αἰῶνας καὶ πᾶν διάστημα χρονικὸν μετὰ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ γεγε 1.1.343 νῆσθαι λέγειν. καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις, ὅπερ καὶ μᾶλλον ἀπελέγχει τὴν ἀτοπίαν τοῦ δόγματος, οὐ μόνον τῷ υἱῷ κατασκευασθήσεται χρονική τις ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς ὑπάρξεως ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου λόγου, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀκολουθίας φείσονται τὸ μὴ οὐχὶ κἀκεῖνον ἀπὸ χρόνου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκέναι κατασκευάσαι. εἰ γάρ τι σημεῖον ὑπέρ κειται γνωριστικὸν τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ γεννήσεως, ἐκεῖνο δηλονότι καὶ τῷ πατρὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁρίσει τῆς ὑποστάσεως. 1.1.344 Σαφηνείας δὲ χάριν οὐκ ἄκαιρον ἴσως φιλοπονώτερον ἐξετάσαι τὸν λόγον. ὁ πρεσβυτέραν τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ ζωῆς τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς δογματίζων διαστήματί τινι τὸν μονογενῆ τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ πάντως διΐστησι· τοῦτο δὲ ἢ ἄπειρόν τι ὑπο θήσεται τὸ διὰ μέσου διάστημα ἤ τισι πέρασι καὶ σημείοις 1.1.345 φανεροῖς ὁριζόμενον. ἀλλ' ἄπειρον μὲν εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἐάσει ὁ τῆς μεσότητος λόγος ἢ παντελῶς τὴν τοῦ πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ ἔννοιαν διαγράψει τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ οὐδὲ μέσον αὐτὸ νοήσει, ἕως ἂν ἄπειρον ᾖ πρὸς οὐθέτερον ὁριζόμενον, οὔτε ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐννοίας ἀποτεμνούσης τοῦ ἀπείρου τὴν πρόοδον, οὔτε ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν ἀπειρίαν ἐκκό πτοντος. αὕτη γὰρ τοῦ ἀπείρου ἡ ἔννοια, τὸ πανταχόθεν ἐκκεχύσθαι τῇ φύσει καὶ μηδενὶ πέρατι μηδαμόθεν περι 1.1.346 λαμβάνεσθαι. οὐκοῦν ἵνα παγία καὶ ἀμετάθετος διαμένῃ περί τε τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἡ τοῦ εἶναι ὑπόληψις, οὐδεμίαν ἕξει χώραν ἄπειρον ἐννοεῖν τὸ διάστημα, ἀλλὰ πεπερασμένῳ τινὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην τὸν μονογενῆ τοῦ πατρὸς διαστήσου σι. τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν ὅ φημι, ὅτι ὁ λόγος οὗτος οὐκ ἐξ ἀϊδίου εἶναι τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν, ἀλλ' ἀπό τινος ὡρισμένου ση 1.1.347 μείου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκέναι κατασκευάσει. ὃ δὲ λέγω, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· λέξω δὲ διὰ τῶν γνωρίμων ὑποδειγμάτων σα φηνίζων τὸ νόημα, ὡς ἂν γένοιτο διὰ τῶν φαινομένων κατα φανὲς ἡμῖν τὸ ἀγνοούμενον. πέμπτῃ μετὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἡμέρᾳ γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον λέγοντες ἐκ τῆς Μωϋσέως γραφῆς συγκατεσκευάσαμεν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ κατὰ τὸ σιω πώμενον τὸ πρὸ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων μηδὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν εἶναι· οὕτω τὸ μετά τι γενόμενον διὰ τοῦ πρὸ ἑαυτοῦ διαστήματος ὁρίζει καὶ τὴν τοῦ προϋπονοουμένου 1.1.348 ὑπόστασιν. εἰ δὲ οὐχ ἱκανῶς τῷ ὑποδείγματι τὸν λόγον ἐσαφηνίσαμεν, δυνατόν ἐστι καὶ δι' ἑτέρων τὸ νοηθὲν παρα στῆσαι. τὸν διὰ Μωϋσέως δοθέντα νόμον τετρακοσίοις ἔτεσι καὶ τριάκοντα τῆς τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπαγγελίας μεταγενέστερον λέγοντες, ἐὰν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τὸν κατόπιν χρόνον δι' ἀνα λύσεως τῷ λογισμῷ παροδεύσαντες εἰς τὸ πέρας τῶν ἠριθ μημένων φθάσωμεν ἐτῶν, σαφῶς καταλαμβάνομεν, ὅτι πρὸ τοῦ χρόνου τούτου ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπαγγελία οὔπω ἦν. καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἔστιν, οἷς τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐπεξιέναι ὡς ὀχληρὸν παραιτήσομαι. 1.1.349 Κατὰ τοίνυν τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὑποδείγμασιν εἰρημένων καὶ τὸν προκείμενον ἐξετάσωμεν λόγον. ἦν δὲ οὗτος κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων ὑπόληψιν τὸ 20πρεσβύτερον20 καὶ νεώτερον ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ πατρός τε καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ 1.1.350 ἁγίου πνεύματος ὑποστάσεως ἕτερον ἑτέρου λέγειν εἶναι. οὐκ οῦν ἐπειδὰν τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ γέννησιν διαβάντες, καθὼς ὑφη γεῖται ὁ τῆς αἱρέσεως