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provoked by what causes does he who is firm in his judgment and sound in his reasonings say this? having condemned which of the things said most of all? that he accepts the concept of the 'unbegotten,' but says the word, as having been badly understood by those who distort it, 1.1.539 is worthy of silence? For what? Is not the security of the faith at risk in words and speech, while there is no account of the precision according to the mind? Or does not the word of truth exhort us primarily to be pure in heart from evil thoughts, and to use words for the declaration of the soul's movements, through which it may be possible to show the secret of the mind, not being pedantic about such a 1.1.540 sound of the voice? For speaking in this way or that does not become the cause of the thought within us, but the hidden thought of the heart gives the cause for such words; For out of the abundance, he says, of the heart the mouth speaks. And we make speech the interpreter of things thought, not the reverse, gathering our thought from what we say; and if both should occur, both to think rightly and to interpret, the man is complete through both; but if one is lacking, the loss is small for the simple man in regard to speech, as his knowledge in the soul is equipped for the good 1.1.541. This people, he says, honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, signifying what by this? that the soul's relation to the truth is more precious to God the judge, who hears unutterable 1.1.542 groanings, than the comeliness of speech in words. For these can also be used for the opposite, with the tongue serving easily for what seems good, according to the power of the one speaking; but the disposition of the soul, whatever it may happen to be, is thus seen by the one who looks into secret things. 1.1.543 For what reason, then, is he 20inconsistent and rash, no less than wicked, who20 both confesses and accepts the pious meaning from the word 'unbegotten,' but commands that what contributes to impiety for those who transgress <in> the doctrines be silenced? For if he were saying that it is not 1.1.544 necessary to think of God as unbegotten, perhaps he would have occasion to use these and even harsher reproaches against him. But if he confesses this according to the common opinion of the pious, and as it were gives an opinion befitting a teacher's disposition, that 'Abstain from this word, from which the pretext of destruction has its beginning,' but commands to hold the concept of God being unbegotten also through other names, for this reason he is 1.1.545 worthy of none of these reproaches. Or have we not also been taught by the Truth to do these things, and not to cling to even the most honorable things, if any of them contributes to evil? Commanding to cut off a right eye and a foot and a hand likewise, whenever any of these causes scandal, what else does he suggest to do through this riddle than to render idle and ineffective even the things that seem to be good, if through the thoughtlessness of those who use them it leads a person to some evil, as it is more profitable to be saved, though maimed of the things that lead to sin, than to be held by them and through 1.1.546 them perish. And what of Paul, the imitator of Christ? He too in the depth of wisdom teaches the same things. For he who called all things good and nothing to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving, at times for the sake of the conscience of the weak, rejects again some of the things he had accepted, and commands to refuse them. For if because of food, he says, my brother 1.1.547 is grieved, I will never eat meat. This, therefore, the imitator of Paul also does, who, seeing the deceit of those who teach the 'unlike' through this word being strengthened by the evil use of the heresy through the term 'unbegotten,' advised to preserve in souls the pious thought concerning the 'unbegotten,' but that the term, as having become a provision of sin for the perishing, should not be too eagerly pursued; for the appellation of 'Father,' according to a certain meaning, and the meaning of 'unbegotten,' sufficiently for us 1.1.548

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αἰτίας παροξυνθεὶς ὁ τὴν γνώμην ἐστηριγμένος καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς ὑγιαίνων φησί; τίνος μάλιστα καταγνοὺς τῶν εἰρημένων; ὅτι τὴν ἔννοιαν δέχεται τοῦ ἀγεννήτου, τὴν δὲ φωνὴν ὡς κακῶς ἐκληφθεῖσαν παρὰ τῶν διαστρεφόντων 1.1.539 σιωπῆς ἀξίαν φησί; τί γάρ; μὴ ἐν ῥήμασι καὶ προφορᾷ τὸ ἀσφαλὲς κινδυνεύει τῆς πίστεως, τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν διά νοιαν ἀκριβείας λόγος οὐδείς; ἢ οὐχὶ προηγουμένως τῇ καρδίᾳ καθαρεύειν ἀπὸ τῶν πονηρῶν ἐννοημάτων ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας παρακελεύεται λόγος, ῥήμασι δὲ κεχρῆσθαι πρὸς δήλωσιν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς κινημάτων, δι' ὧν ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν ἐνδείξασθαι τοῦ νοῦ τὸ ἀπόρρητον, οὐδὲν περὶ τὸν τοιόνδε 1.1.540 τῆς φωνῆς ἦχον μικρολογούμενον; οὐ γὰρ τὸ οὕτως ἢ ὡς ἑτέρως εἰπεῖν αἴτιον τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν διανοίας καθίσταται, ἀλλὰ τὸ κρυπτὸν τῆς καρδίας νόημα τῶν τοιῶνδε λόγων τὴν αἰτίαν ἐνδίδωσιν· Ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ περισσεύματος, φησί, τῆς καρδίας τὸ στόμα λαλεῖ. καὶ τῶν νοηθέντων ἑρμηνέα τὸν λόγον ποιούμεθα, οὐ τὸ ἔμπαλιν τὴν διάνοιαν ἀφ' ὧν λέ γομεν συναγείρομεν· κἂν μὲν ἀμφότερα συμβαίνῃ, καὶ νοεῖν δεξιῶς καὶ ἑρμηνεύειν, ἄρτιος δι' ἑκατέρων ὁ ἄνθρωπος, εἰ δὲ τὸ ἕτερον λίποι, ὀλίγη τῷ ἰδιώτῃ κατὰ τὸν λόγον ἐστὶν ἡ ζημία, τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν γνώσεως πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν 1.1.541 κατηρτισμένης. Ὁ λαός, φησίν, οὗτος τοῖς χείλεσί με τιμᾷ, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν πόρρω ἀπέχει ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, τί τούτῳ σημαίνων; ὅτι προτιμοτέρα παρὰ θεῷ κριτῇ τῷ τῶν ἀλα λήτων στεναγμῶν ἐπαΐοντι ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν 1.1.542 σχέσις τῆς ἐν ῥήμασιν εὐπρεπείας τοῦ λόγου. τούτοις μὲν γὰρ ἔστι καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον συγχρήσασθαι, κατὰ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ φθεγγομένου πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν εὐκόλως ὑπη ρετούσης τῆς γλώττης· ἡ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς διάθεσις, ὅπως ἂν ἔχουσα τύχῃ, οὕτως ὁρᾶται τῷ εἰς τὰ κρύφια βλέποντι. 1.1.543 Τίνος οὖν χάριν 20ἀνώμαλος καὶ προπετὴς οὐχ ἧττον ἢ πονηρὸς ὁ τὸ20 μὲν εὐσεβῶς νοούμενον ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φωνῆς καὶ ὁμολογῶν καὶ δεχόμενος, τὸ δὲ ὅσον συντελεῖ πρὸς ἀσέβειαν τοῖς <εἰς> τὰ δόγματα παρα νομοῦσι, τοῦτο σιωπᾶσθαι κελεύων; εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἔλεγεν μὴ 1.1.544 δεῖν ἀγέννητον νοεῖν τὸν θεόν, εἶχεν ἂν ἴσως καιρὸν ταύταις καὶ ἔτι τούτων χαλεπωτέραις κατ' αὐτοῦ κεχρῆσθαι ταῖς λοιδορίαις. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ὁμολογεῖ κατὰ τὴν κοινὴν τῶν εὐσεβούντων ὑπόληψιν, οἱονεὶ δὲ γνώμην δίδωσι διδα σκαλικῇ διαθέσει πρέπουσαν ὅτι Ἀπέχου τῆς φωνῆς ταύ της, εἰς ἣν ἐντεῦθεν ἡ τῆς καταστροφῆς ὑπόθεσις τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχει, τὴν δὲ ἔννοιαν ἔχειν περὶ τοῦ ἀγέννητον εἶναι τὸν θεὸν καὶ δι' ἑτέρων ὀνομάτων κελεύει, οὐδὲν διὰ 1.1.545 ταῦτα τῶν λοιδοριῶν τούτων ἄξιος. ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ παρὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ταῦτα ποιεῖν ἐδιδάχθημεν μηδὲ τῶν σφόδρα τιμίων ἀντέχεσθαι, ἐάν τι τούτων εἰς κακὸν συντελῇ; ὀφθαλμὸν δεξιὸν καὶ πόδα καὶ χεῖρα ὡσαύτως ἀποτέμνειν κελεύων, ὅταν σκανδαλίζῃ τι τούτων, τί ἄλλο διὰ τοῦ αἰνίγματος τούτου ποιεῖν ὑποτίθεται ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ τὰ δο κοῦντα καλῶς ἔχειν, εἰ πρός τι κακὸν ἐξ ἀβουλίας τῶν χρωμένων ἀπάγει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀργὰ καὶ ἄπρακτα ποιεῖ εἶναι, ὡς λυσιτελέστερον ὂν τῶν πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν χειραγωγούν των ἀκρωτηριασθέντα σωθῆναι ἢ τούτων περιεχόμενον δι' 1.1.546 αὐτῶν ἀπολέσθαι. τί δὲ ὁ μιμητὴς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Παῦλος; καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς σοφίας τὰ αὐτὰ δογματίζει. ὁ γὰρ πάντα καλὰ προσειπὼν καὶ μηδὲν ἀπόβλητον, εἰ μετ' εὐχαριστίας μεταλαμβάνεται, ἔστιν ὅτε διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν τοῦ ἀσθενοῦντος ἀθετεῖ τινα πάλιν, ἐξ ὧν ἀπεδέξατο, καὶ παραιτεῖσθαι κελεύει. εἰ γὰρ διὰ βρῶμα, φησίν, ὁ ἀδελφός 1.1.547 μου λυπεῖται, Οὐ μὴ φάγω κρέα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. τοῦτο τοίνυν καὶ ὁ μιμητὴς Παύλου ποιεῖ, ὃς τῇ πονηρᾷ τῆς αἱρέσεως χρήσει διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου λέξεως ἰσχυροποι ουμένην ἰδὼν τὴν ἀπάτην τῶν διὰ τοῦ ῥήματος τούτου τὸ ἀνόμοιον δογματιζόντων συνεβούλευε τὴν μὲν εὐσεβῆ περὶ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου διάνοιαν ταῖς ψυχαῖς διασῴζειν, τὴν δὲ λέξιν ὡς ἁμαρτίας γενομένην τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις ἐφόδιον μὴ λίαν σπουδάζεσθαι· τὴν γὰρ τοῦ πατρὸς προσηγορίαν κατά τι σημαινόμενον καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀγεννήτου σημασίαν ἡμῖν ἱκανῶς 1.1.548