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one who is wrestling, then eagerly throwing himself down, should think that he has thrown his opponent, something like this has the wise writer suffered, inventing suspicions which we do not know, and fighting with shadows, which he has fashioned through his own reasonings. 1.1.488 For let him say, what necessity is there for one who confesses that the Son is "1begotten"2 from the Father to be carried away into notions of two unbegottens? or whose is it rather to construct two unbegottens, one who maintains that the Son is falsely named so, or one who 1.1.489 confirms that the nature is verified by the appellation? For he who does not accept the true generation of the Son, but confesses that He exists at all, would more appropriately be suspected of calling unbegotten Him who exists, but does not have His being through generation; but he who defines the distinctive likeness of the Only-begotten's hypostasis as His having subsisted from the Father by way of generation, how could he be carried away to think Him unbegotten? 1.1.490 And yet according to you wise men, as long as the view prevails that the Son was not "1begotten"2 by the Father, in some one sense of the things signified by unbegotten, He himself will properly be called unbegotten. For since some things are born and others are made, there is nothing to prevent us from saying that what subsists not by way of generation subsists unbegottenly, 1.1.491 according to only the meaning of generation. But this is what your argument concerning the Lord constructs, which defines Him as a creature. Therefore, according to you, O most wise ones, the Only-begotten will be called unbegotten from such a consequence, not according to our dogma, and the verdict is found for you, 20the verdict20, which you also call a verdict, 20voting against your own people20. 1.1.492 For it is opportune to spit upon the abomination of the dogma from the mire of their arguments. For the other part of what was proposed by him in the dilemma is of equal derangement. 20Or one20, he says, 20and only one unoriginate substance you confess, and then defining this as Father and Son by generation, you will say that the unbegotten 1.1.493 substance has been begotten from itself20. What is this new monstrous tale again? How is someone begotten by himself, having himself as father and again becoming his own son? What nausea, what delirium, for the roof to turn downwards for them and to have the floor above their head? which those heavy-headed from drunkenness think and shout and insist that the earth is not fixed for them, and that the walls are fleeing, and everything is spinning around in a circle, and the things that appear have no 1.1.494 stability. Perhaps, then, the writer wrote with his soul in such a storm, and it is more fitting to pity him for what he has written than to loathe him. For who is so ignorant of the divine dogmas, who is so far from the mysteries of the Church, as to accept such a notion against the faith? Or rather, it is perhaps a small thing to say this, that no one would suspect this absurdity 1.1.495 against the faith. But who, concerning human nature or any other of the things apprehended by sense, whenever he hears of the community of substance, either suspects all things to be without origin which agree with one another in the definition of substance, or says that something comes to be from itself, both begetting itself and being begotten by itself? 1.1.496 The first man and he who was from him, each having their being differently, the one from the union of parents, the other from the fashioning of dust, are both believed to be two and are not divided from each other in the definition of substance, and neither are two unoriginate substances said to be set in opposition to each other, nor that the one who is is begotten by the one who is, nor were the two ever conceived as one in such a monstrous tale of an argument, so that both are considered their own father and again their own son; for both this one and that one are man, and the definition of substance is common to the two; each is mortal, likewise rational, likewise receptive of mind and knowledge. 1.1.497 If, then, the definition of humanity in the case of Adam and Abel is not altered by the difference of their generation, neither of the order nor

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προσπαλαίοντος, εἶτα κατὰ σπουδὴν ἑαυτὸν καταβαλὼν τὸν προσμαχόμενον οἴοιτο, τοιοῦτόν τι πέπονθεν ὁ σοφὸς λογογράφος ἀναπλάσσων ὑπονοίας, ἃς ἡμεῖς οὐ γινώσκομεν, καὶ σκιαῖς προσμαχόμενος, ἃς διὰ τῶν λογισμῶν τῶν ἰδίων ἀνετυπώσατο. 1.1.488 Εἰπάτω γάρ, τίς ἡ ἀνάγκη τὸν ὁμολογοῦντα υἱὸν ἐκ πατρὸς "1γεγεννῆσθαι"2 εἰς δύο ἀγεννήτων ὑπολήψεις ἐκφέρε σθαι; ἢ τίνος μᾶλλόν ἐστι δύο κατασκευάζειν ἀγέννητα, τοῦ τὸν υἱὸν ψευδωνύμως λέγεσθαι κατασκευάζοντος ἢ τοῦ δια 1.1.489 βεβαιουμένου τῇ προσηγορίᾳ τὴν φύσιν ἐπαληθεύεσθαι; ὁ γὰρ τὴν ἀληθῆ γέννησιν τοῦ υἱοῦ μὴ δεξάμενος, εἶναι δὲ ὅλως ὁμολογῶν, οἰκειότερον ἂν ὑπονοηθείη ἀγέννητον λέγειν τὸν ὄντα μέν, μὴ διὰ γεννήσεως δὲ τὸ εἶναι ἔχοντα· ὁ δὲ τὸ γνωριστικὸν ὁμοίωμα τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑπο στάσεως αὐτὸ τὸ γεννητῶς αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποστῆναι διοριζόμενος, πῶς ἂν εἰς τὸ ἀγέννητον αὐτὸν οἴεσθαι παρε 1.1.490 νεχθείη; καίτοι καθ' ὑμᾶς τοὺς σοφούς, ἕως ἂν κρατῇ τὸ μὴ "1γεννηθῆναι"2 παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱόν, ἑνί τινι τρόπῳ τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου σημαινομένων καὶ αὐτὸς ἀγέννητος κυρίως ὀνομασθήσεται. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ μὲν τικτόμενα τὰ δὲ κατασκευαζόμενα γίνεται, τὸ μὴ διὰ γεν νήσεως ὑφεστὸς οὐδὲν κωλύει ἀγεννήτως ὑφεστάναι λέγειν 1.1.491 κατὰ μόνον τὸ τῆς γεννήσεως σημαινόμενον. τοῦτο δὲ ὁ ὑμέτερος περὶ τοῦ κυρίου κατασκευάζει λόγος ὁ κτίσμα εἶναι διοριζόμενος. οὐκοῦν καθ' ὑμᾶς ὦ σοφώτατοι ἀγέν νητος ὁ μονογενὴς ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀκολουθίας ὀνομασθή σεται, οὐ κατὰ τὸ ἡμέτερον δόγμα, καὶ εὑρίσκεται ὑμῖν 20ἡ δίκη20, ἥντινα καὶ λέγεις δίκην, 20τοῖς ὑμετέροις καθ' ὑμῶν ἐπιψηφίζουσα20. 1.1.492 Εὔκαιρον γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ βορβόρου τῶν ἐκεῖθεν λόγων προσπτύσαι τῇ βδελυρίᾳ τοῦ δόγματος. καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος τῶν κατὰ τὸ διλήμματον τεθέντων αὐτῷ τῆς ἴσης ἔχεται παραπληξίας. 20ἢ μίαν20, φησί, 20καὶ μόνην ἄναρχον ὁμολογοῦντες οὐσίαν εἶτα ταύτην εἰς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν τῇ γεννήσει περιγράφον τες αὐτὴν παρ' ἑαυτῆς γεγεννῆσθαι τὴν ἀγέν 1.1.493 νητον οὐσίαν φήσετε20. τίς αὕτη πάλιν ἡ καινὴ τερατολογία; πῶς αὐτός τις ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ γεννᾶται, ἑαυτὸν πατέρα ἔχων καὶ υἱὸς ἑαυτοῦ πάλιν γινόμενος; τίς ἡ ναυτία, τίς ἡ παραφορά, στρέφεσθαι ἑαυτοῖς ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω τὸν ὄροφον καὶ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς τὸ ἔδαφος ἔχειν; ὃ οἱ ὑπὸ μέθης καρηβαροῦντες νομίζουσι καὶ βοῶσι καὶ διατείνονται μήτε τὴν γῆν αὐτοῖς πεπηγέναι φεύγειν τε καὶ τοὺς τοίχους καὶ ἐν κύκλῳ περιδινεῖσθαι τὰ πάντα καὶ μηδεμίαν ἔχειν 1.1.494 τὰ φαινόμενα στάσιν. τάχα τοίνυν ἐν τοιούτῳ σάλῳ τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχων ὁ λογογράφος συνέγραφε καὶ ἐλεεῖν προσήκει μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγραμμένοις αὐτὸν ἢ βδελύττεσθαι. τίς γὰρ οὕτω τῶν θείων δογμάτων ἀνήκοος, τίς οὕτω πόρρω τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας μυστηρίων ἐστίν, ὡς τὴν τοιαύτην ἔν νοιαν κατὰ τῆς πίστεως δέξασθαι; μᾶλλον δὲ μικρὸν ἴσως τὸ τοιοῦτον λέγειν, τὸ μηδένα κατὰ τῆς πίστεως τὴν ἀτο 1.1.495 πίαν ταύτην ὑπονοῆσαι. ἀλλὰ τίς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύ σεως ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν δι' αἰσθήσεως καταλαμβανο μένων, ἐπειδὰν τὸ κοινὸν τῆς οὐσίας ἀκούσῃ, ἢ ἄναρχα ὑπονοεῖ πάντα, ὅσα τῷ λόγῳ τῆς οὐσίας ἀλλήλοις συμφέ ρεται, ἢ αὐτό τι ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ γίνεσθαι λέγει καὶ τίκτειν ἅμα ἑαυτὸ καὶ ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ γεννᾶσθαι; 1.1.496 Ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ ἐξ ἐκείνου γεγονὼς δια φόρως ἑκάτεροι τὸ εἶναι ἔχοντες, ὁ μὲν ἐκ συνδυασμοῦ τῶν γονέων, ὁ δὲ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ χοῦ διαπλάσεως, καὶ δύο εἶναι πιστεύονται καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς οὐσίας ἀπ' ἀλλήλων οὐ δια σχίζονται, καὶ οὔτε ἄναρχοι δύο οὐσίαι ἀλλήλαις ἀντι παρεξάγεσθαι λέγονται οὔτε ὁ ὢν ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄντος γεννᾶσθαι, οὔτε εἷς οἱ δύο ποτὲ ἐνοήθησαν ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ τερατολογίᾳ τοῦ λόγου, ὡς ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα καὶ ἑαυτοῦ πάλιν υἱὸν ἀμ φοτέρους νομίζεσθαι· ἄνθρωπος γὰρ καὶ οὗτος κἀκεῖνος, καὶ ὁ λόγος τῆς οὐσίας ἐπὶ τῶν δύο κοινός· θνητὸς ἑκά τερος, λογικὸς ὁμοίως, νοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικὸς ὡσαύ 1.1.497 τως. εἰ οὖν ὁ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος λόγος ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ τοῦ Ἄβελ τῷ παρηλλαγμένῳ τῆς γεννήσεως οὐχ ὑπαλλάσσεται, οὐδεμίαν οὔτε τῆς τάξεως οὔτε