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knows how to characterize as orthodox. And yet she herself somehow bears witness, crying out, that the abominable Nestorius would never have dared to speak of two wills; but confesses self-will, that is, one will, of the two persons fabricated by him. If, therefore, even according to her, Nestorius advocates not two, but one will; and this Apollinarius also, and all the impious from them, and indeed also one energy, as the argument has shown, indisputably then we who say two, according to the divine Fathers, are in every way of a different opinion; while she who says one is of the same mind as Nestorius and Apollinarius, and those with them, whose dogmas she stands by; and, as I said, setting aside the divine ones, while inscribing the accursed as her own Fathers.

But for what reason, or what compelling cause, has she introduced this against the pious confession? If it is because we have no faith, the argument is false; for all who advocate the right doctrine were Christians even before this. But if it is because we do have it, the manner is to be shunned, introducing the superfluous as spurious, by which, overshadowing their own knavery, and unable to bring forward the use of a single council at all, or Father, or Scripture, as testimony for their own things, they say these things, fabricating the (15Α_236> dogmas of piety, which were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, and their disciples and successors in turn, the divinely inspired teachers of the truth; which is to say, the five holy and ecumenical councils of the most blessed and God-bearing Fathers. But if they handed these things down, what is the proof, or whence for them is the confirmation of such dogmas? Besides, since we hold to and confess the holy councils, it is clear that the invention of what has been introduced is spurious. But if these things are not of the holy councils, what is the pomposity of the drama, bending the infamous by the name of the all-praised, so that the title of the glorious Fathers and councils might be a bait to the more simple for their apostasy from the truth, 0181 ingeniously devised by the heterodox from the beginning, both for the concealment, as I said, of their own things, and for a kind of deceitful snatching away of those who are led astray. Wherefore, for the complete abolition of such things, I mean of those who from time to time devise deceitful inquiries against the faith, a synodical law is also most excellently defined by the holy assembly of the blessed Fathers at Chalcedon, commanding somewhere thus: " The holy and ecumenical council has decreed that it is lawful for no one to bring forward, or to write, or to compose, or to think, or to teach a different faith; and that those who dare either to compose a different faith, or to bring forward, or to teach, or to hand down a different creed to those who wish to turn to the knowledge of the truth from Hellenism or Judaism or from any heresy whatsoever, that these, if they should be bishops or clerics, the bishops are to be alien from the episcopate, and the clerics from the clergy; but if they should be monks or laity, they are to be anathematized».

(15Α_238> Who then of those who have any perception of God, and are dependent on his all-luminous glory, from whom, and through whom, and for whom is the salvation of those who piously confess him, would ever abandon the orthodox faith handed down to us from above and from the beginning through the divine oracles and Fathers, and prefer the recent innovation; against which, just as indeed against every other devised by the heterodox contrary to pious reason, the established law of the approved and synodical curse has been brought forth by the holy Fathers gathered in Chalcedon, as the argument has shown; unless someone, becoming numb to his own life, has preferred alienation from the glory of God. Therefore, observing with the facts themselves, O Master, and understanding that it is openly and publicly a progression and proclamation, both to the overthrow of all piety, and to the denial of the true of the Only-begotten

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ὁμόδοξον οἶδε χαρακτηρίζειν. Καίτοι μαρτύρεταί πως καί αὐτή, βοῶσα, μή δύο τετολμηκέναι θελήματα φάναι ποτ᾿ ἄν τόν μιαρόν Νεστόριον· ἀλλά αὐτοβουλίαν, τουτέστιν, ἕν θέλημα, τῶν πλαττομένων αὐτῷ δύο προσώπων ὁμολογεῖν. Εἰ τοίνυν καί κατά ταύτην, οὐ δύο μέν, ἕν δέ θέλημα πρεσβεύει Νεστόριος· τοῦτο δέ καί Ἀπολινάριος, καί οἱ ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνων δυσσεβεῖς ἅπαντες, καί μέντοι καί μίαν ἐνέργειαν, ὡς ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξεν, ἀναμφηρίστως ἄρα δύο μέν ἡμᾶς λέγοντας κατά τούς θείους Πατέρας, ἑτερόφρονας πάντη· μίαν δέ λέγουσαν ἑαυτήν ὁμόφρονα Νεστορίῳ τε καί Ἀπολιναρίῳ, καί τοῖς ἀμφ᾿ αὐτοῖς οὖσαν, οἷς δογματίζει παρέστηκε· καί τούς μέν θείους παραγραφομένην, ὡς ἔφην, τούς δέ ἐναγεῖς, οἰκείους Πατέρας ἐπιγραφομένην.

Τίνος δέ ταύτην, ἤ ποίας ἐκβιασαμένης αἰτίας, κατά τῆς εὐσεβοῦς εἰσκεκόμικεν ὁμολογίας; Εἰ μέν ὡς οὐκ ἐχόντων πίστιν ἡμῶν, ψευδής ὁ λόγος· Χριστιανοί γάρ καί πρό ταύτης ἅπαντες, οἱ τόν ὀρθόν λόγον πρεσβεύοντες. Εἰ δέ ὡς ἐχόντων, φευκτός ὁ τρόπος, τό περιττόν, ὡς κίβδηλος, ἐπεισάγων, ᾧ τήν αὐτῶν συσκιαζοντες πανουργίαν, καί οὐδενός οὐδέ μίαν συνόδου καθάπαξ, ἤ Πατρός, ἤ Γραφῆς χρῆσιν προκομίζειν, εἰς τήν τῶν οἰκείων ἔχοντες μαρτυρίαν, ταῦτά φασι, πλαττόμενοι τῆς εὐσεβείας τά (15Α_236> δόγματα, ἅ παρεδώκασιν ἡμῖν οἱ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται, καί ὑπηρέται τοῦ Λόγου γενόμενοι, καί οἱ τούτων μαθηταί καί διάδοχοι καθεξῆς, θεόπνευστοι τῆς ἀληθείας διδάσκαλοι· ταὐτόν δέ εἰπεῖν, αἱ ἅγιαι και οἰκουμενικαί ε´σύνοδοι τῶν μακαριωτάτων καί θεοφόρων Πατέρων. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ ταῦτα παρέδωκαν, τίς ἡ ἀπόδειξις, ἤ πόθεν ἐκείνοις τῶν τοιούτων δογμάτων ἡ πίστωσις; Ἄλλως τε τάς ἁγίας προσεχόντων ἡμῶν καί ὁμολογούντων συνόδους, δῆλον ὡς τῶν ἐπεισάκτων κίβδηλος ἡ ἐφεύρεσις. Εἰ δέ μή ταῦτα τῶν ἁγίων συνόδων, τίς ὁ τοῦ δράματος ὄγκος, κλήσει τῶν πανευφήμων τό δύσφημον ἐπικάμπτων, ὡς ἄν δέλεαρ ᾗ τοῖς ἁπλουστέροις εἰς τήν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπόστασιν, τῶν περιδόξων Πατέρων τε καί συνόδων ἡ προσηγορία, 0181 τοῖς ἑτερόφροσιν ἄνωθεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὐμηχάνως ἐξηυρημένη, πρός τέ τήν τῶν οἰκείων, ὡς ἔφην, συγκάλυψιν, καί τῶν ὑπαγομένων δολεράν οἶον ὑφαρπαγήν. Ὅθεν εἰς παντελῆ τῶν τοιούτων κατάργησιν, λέγω δή τῶν κατά καιρούς τάς ἀπατηλάς ἐξερευνώντων ἐξερευνήσεις κατά τῆς πίστεως, καί συνοδικός ὁρίζεται κάλλιστα νόμος τῆς ἁγίας ἐν Χαλκηδόνι συνάξεως τῶν μακαρίων Πατέρων, ὧδέ πη κελευόμενος· " Ὥρισεν ἡ ἁγία καί οἰκουμενική σύνοδος, ἑτέραν πίστιν μηδενί ἐξεῖναι προφέρειν, ἤγουν συγγράφειν ἤ συντιθέναι, ἤ φρονεῖν ἤ διδάσκειν ἑτέρους· τούς δέ τολμῶντας ἤ συντιθέναι πίστιν ἑτέραν ἤγουν προκομίζειν, ἤ διδάσκειν ἤ παραδιδόναι ἕτερον σύμβολον, τοῖς ἐθέλουσιν ἐπιστρέφειν εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξ Ἑλληνισμοῦ ἤ Ἰουδαϊσμοῦ, ἤγουν ἐξ αἱρέσεως οἱασδηποτοῦν, τούτους, εἰ μέν εἶεν ἐπίσκοποι ἤ κληρικοί, ἀλλοτρίους εἶναι τούς ἐπισκόπους τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς, καί τούς κληρικούς τοῦ κλήρου· εἰ δέ μονάζοντες ἤ λαϊκοί εἶεν, ἀναθεματίζεσθαι αὐτούς».

(15Α_238> Τίς οὖν ἄρα τῶν ὁποσοῦν ᾐσθημένων Θεοῦ, καί τῆς αὐτοῦ παμφαοῦς δόξης ἐξηρτημένων, παρ᾿ οὗ, καί δι᾿ οὗ, καί εἰς ὅν ἡ σωτηρία τῶν εὐσεβῶς ὁμολογούντων αὐτόν, ἔτ᾿ ἄν τήν διά τῶν θεσπεσίων λογίων τε καί Πατέρων ἄνωθεν καί ἐξ ἀρχῆς παραδεδομένην ἡμῖν ὀρθόδοξον πίστιν ἀπολιπεῖν, καί προκρῖναι τήν πρόσφατον καινοτομίαν· καθ᾿ ἧς, ὥσπερ δή καί πάσης ἑτέρας παρά τόν εὐσεβῆ λογισμόν ἐξηυρημένης τοῖς ἑτερόφροσιν, ὁ τῆς ἐγκρίτου καί συνοδικῆς ἀρᾶς ἔνθεσμος ἐξενήνεκται τῶν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι συνειλεγμένων ἁγίων Πατέρων, ὡς ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξεν· αἱ μή που τῆς οἰκείας καταναρκήσας ζωῆς, τῆς ἀπό Θεοῦ δόξης τήν ἀλλοτρίωσιν προτετίμηκε. ∆ιό δή πράγμασιν αὐτοῖς θεώμενοι, ∆έσποτα, καί κατανοοῦντες πρόοδον οὖσαν φανερῶς ἀναφανδόν καί προκήρυξιν, εἴς τε θεοσεβείας ἁπάσης ἀνατροπήν, καί τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐξάρνησιν ἀληθοῦς