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the names of your own people, but you would even indict for insolence someone who mockingly jests at you through an exchange of names, but do you not shudder when you mock God, and when you ridicule 1.1.566 the doctrines of the mysteries, do you laugh without danger? For just as your father both shows his relationship to you and is in no way hindered by this from being a man, and no one of sound mind, instead of calling your begetter 'father', would give the definition of 'man', or again, if asked about his genus and having confessed to being a man, would say that he is hindered by this confession from also 1.1.567 being your father, so also in the case of the God of all, the pious man will not deny that His being unbegotten is signified by the appellation of Father, and that His relationship to the Son is indicated as something signified in another way; but he who scoffs at the truth says that the appellation of Father no longer signifies His having begotten the Son, if we are also taught by the same word that He is unbegotten. 1.1.568 Furthermore, let us also take this up for the refutation of the absurdity of what has been said, a point which I say no one is ignorant of, not even mere infants being introduced to the art of naming by a grammarian and a tutor. For who does not know that of names, some are absolute and non-relative, 1.1.569 while others are named with respect to some relation? And of these again, there are some which, according to the will of those who use them, incline towards either, which when said by themselves indicate their simple power, but when transferred often become relative terms. And that I may not prolong the discourse by using examples far from the subject at hand, what I am saying will be clarified from the doctrines themselves. 1.1.570 God is called both Father and King and is named by countless other names by Holy Scripture. Therefore, among these names, there is that which is mentioned simply by itself, spoken of absolutely, such as incorruptible, eternal, immortal, and anything else of that sort; for these, even if no other meaning is understood along with them, describe in themselves a complete thought about God. 1.1.571 But other names signify only the useful aspect of relation, such as helper and defender and protector, and as many as are found of such a meaning, from which if you take away that which is in need of help, the power manifested in the name becomes inoperative. And there are some, as has been said before, that are spoken both by themselves and with relation to something, such as 'God' and 'good' and suchlike. For the concept 1.1.572 of these does not remain entirely in the absolute. For the universal God often becomes the personal God of the one who calls upon Him, as one can hear the saints making the unmastered nature their own. Holy is the Lord God, up to this point it is non-relative. But the one who adds 'our' no longer allowed the name to be understood by itself, having appropriated the thing signified by the relation to himself. Again, 'Abba, Father,' the Spirit cries out; this is the 1.1.573 voice released from partial relation. But we were also commanded to call the Father in heaven 'our Father'; this again is the relative meaning. Therefore, just as one who made the universal God his own in no way obscured His worth over all things, so there is no hindrance for the Father, who brought forth from Himself the firstborn of all creation, to signify at once His having begotten the Son through the appellation of Father, and to interpret by the same word His not being from a superior 1.1.574 cause. For he who said 'the first Father' indicated the one pre-conceived of the universe, beyond whom there is not ... having nothing to see before Himself nor any end to which He might come after Himself, but being always everywhere equally and traversing the limit of an end and the concept of a beginning by the infinity of His life, He has His eternity understood together with every appellation. 1.1.575 But Eunomius, so grand in his theories of incomprehensible things, does not accept this unique property, nor does he posit that the signification concerning the Father is twofold, one, that from Him are all things and before all things the only-begotten Son, through whom are all things, is signified,

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οἰκείων ὀνόματα, ἀλλὰ κἂν ὕβρεως γράψαιό τινα τὸν χλευαστικῶς εἰς σὲ διὰ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων ὑπαλλαγῆς δια παίζοντα, θεοῦ δὲ καταπαίζων οὐ φρίττεις καὶ διαγελῶν 1.1.566 τὰ δόγματα τῶν μυστηρίων ἀκινδύνως γελᾷς; ὡς γὰρ ὁ σὸς πατὴρ καὶ τὴν πρὸς σὲ δείκνυσιν οἰκειότητα καὶ τὸ ἄνθρωπος εἶναι οὐδὲν διὰ τούτου κωλύεται, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις τῶν σωφρονούντων ἀντὶ τοῦ πατέρα σου προσειπεῖν τὸν γεν νήσαντα, ὁ δὲ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸν ὁρισμὸν ἀποδοίη, ἢ πάλιν περὶ τοῦ γένους ἐρωτηθεὶς καὶ ὁμολογήσας τὸ εἶναι ἄν θρωπον, κωλύεσθαι λέγοι διὰ τῆς ὁμολογίας ταύτης τὸ καὶ 1.1.567 σὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι πατέρα, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ὁ μὲν εὐσεβὴς καὶ τὸ ἀγεννήτως αὐτὸν εἶναι σημαίνεσθαι διὰ τῆς προσηγορίας τοῦ πατρὸς οὐκ ἀρνήσεται, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν οἰκειότητα καθ' ἕτερον ἐνδείκνυσθαι σημαι νόμενον· ὁ δὲ καταγελῶν τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκέτι τὸ γεγεννη κέναι τὸν υἱὸν τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς προσηγορίαν λέγει σημαίνειν, ἐὰν καὶ τὸ ἀγέννητον αὐτὸν εἶναι διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς φωνῆς διδασκώμεθα. 1.1.568 Ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς ἔλεγχον τῆς τῶν ῥηθέντων ἀτοπίας συμπαραλάβωμεν, ὅπερ οὐδένα φημὶ οὐδὲ τῶν κο μιδῇ νηπίων ὑπὸ γραμματιστῇ καὶ παιδαγωγῷ πρὸς τὴν ὀνοματικὴν τεχνολογίαν ἐναγόμενον ἀγνοεῖν. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι τῶν ὀνομάτων τὰ μὲν ἀπόλυτά τε καὶ ἄσχετα, 1.1.569 τὰ δὲ πρός τινα σχέσιν ὠνομασμένα ἐστίν; αὐτῶν δὲ τού των πάλιν ἔστιν ἃ κατὰ τὴν τῶν χρωμένων βούλησιν ἐπιρ ρεπῶς πρὸς ἑκάτερον ἔχει, ἃ ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν μὲν λεγόμενα τὴν ἁπλῆν ἐνδείκνυται δύναμιν, μετατιθέμενα δὲ πολλάκις τῶν πρός τι γίνεται. καὶ ἵνα μὴ τοῖς πόρρω τῶν προκειμένων ὑποδείγμασι χρώμενος ἐπιμηκύνω τὸν λόγον, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν 1.1.570 δογμάτων ὃ λέγω σαφηνισθήσεται. ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ καὶ βασιλεὺς λέγεται καὶ μυρίοις ὀνόμασιν ἄλλοις παρὰ τῆς ἁγίας γραφῆς ὀνομάζεται. ἔστι τοίνυν ἐκ τῶν ὀνομάτων τούτων τὸ μὲν ἁπλῶς οὕτως ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ μεμνημένον ἀπο λύτως εἰπεῖν οἷον ἄφθαρτος αἰώνιος ἀθάνατος καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον· ταῦτα γάρ, κἂν μηδὲν ἕτερον συνυπακούηται νόημα, ἀπηρτισμένην τινὰ περὶ θεοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐν ἑαυ 1.1.571 τοῖς περιγράφει. ἕτερα δὲ τῶν ὀνομάτων τὸ πρός τι χρή σιμον ἀποσημαίνει μόνον ὡς βοηθὸς καὶ ὑπερασπιστὴς καὶ ἀντιλήπτωρ καὶ ὅσα τῆς τοιαύτης σημασίας εὑρίσκεται, ὧν ἐὰν ὑφέλῃς τὸ τῆς βοηθείας δεόμενον, ἤργησεν ἡ ἐμφαι νομένη τῷ ὀνόματι δύναμις. ἔστι δέ τινα, καθὼς προεί ρηται, καὶ ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν καὶ μετὰ τῶν πρός τι λεγόμενα οἷον τὸ θεὸς καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸς καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα. οὐ γὰρ μέχρι 1.1.572 παντὸς ἐν τῷ ἀπολύτῳ τούτων διαμένει ἡ ἔννοια. ὁ γὰρ καθόλου θεὸς ἴδιος τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου πολλάκις γίνεται, καθὼς ἔστι τῶν ἁγίων ἀκούειν ἰδιοποιουμένων τὴν ἀδέσποτον φύσιν. Ἅγιος κύριος ὁ θεός, ἕως τούτου τὸ ἄσχετον. ἀλλ' ὁ προσθεὶς τὸ ἡμῶν, οὐκέτι ἔδωκεν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ νοεῖσθαι τὸ ὄνομα, τῇ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν σχέσει τὸ σημαινόμενον οἰκειώσας. πάλιν Ἀββᾶ ὁ πατήρ, τὸ πνεῦμα βοᾷ· αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ τῆς 1.1.573 μερικῆς σχέσεως ἀπολελυμένη φωνή. ἀλλὰ καὶ πατέρα ἡμῶν τὸν πατέρα τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καλεῖν προσετά χθημεν· αὕτη πάλιν ἡ σχετικὴ σημασία. ὥσπερ τοίνυν τὸν καθόλου θεὸν ἑαυτοῦ τις ποιησάμενος οὐδὲν τὴν ἐπὶ πάντων ἀξίαν ἠμαύρωσεν, οὕτως οὐδέν ἐστι κώλυμα τὸν πατέρα [καὶ] τὸν ἐξ αὑτοῦ τὸν πάσης κτίσεως πρωτότοκον ἀναδείξαντα ὁμοῦ τὸ γεγεννηκέναι τὸν υἱὸν διὰ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς προσηγορίας σημαίνειν καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐξ αἰτίας ὑπερ 1.1.574 κειμένης εἶναι διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἑρμηνεύειν φωνῆς. ὁ γὰρ τὸν πρῶτον πατέρα εἰπὼν τὸν τοῦ παντὸς προεπινοούμενον ἐνεδείξατο, οὗ τὸ ἐπέκεινα [οὗτος ἐκεῖνός] <οὐκ> ἔστιν ... οὐκ ἔχων ὅ τι πρὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἴδῃ οὐδὲ εἰς ὅ τι πέρας μεθ' ἑαυτὸν καταλήξῃ, ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν ἐπίσης ἀεὶ ὢν καὶ τέλους ὅρον καὶ ἀρχῆς ἔννοιαν τῇ ἀπειρίᾳ τῆς ζωῆς διαβαίνων πάσῃ προσηγορίᾳ συνυπακουόμενον ἔχει καὶ τὸ ἀΐδιον. 1.1.575 Ἀλλ' οὐ δέχεται τὸν ἰδιωτισμὸν τοῦτον ὁ πολὺς ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀλήπτων θεωρίαις Εὐνόμιος οὐδὲ διπλοῦν ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι τὸ σημαινόμενον τίθεται, ἓν μὲν τὸ ἐξ ἐκείνου τὰ πάντα καὶ πρὸ πάντων τὸν υἱὸν <τὸν> μονογενῆ, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, σημαίνεσθαι,