But in His very essence, he says, God is indestructible. Well, what other conceivable attribute of God does not attach to the very essence of the Son, as justice, goodness, eternity, incapacity for evil, infinite perfection in all conceivable goodness? Is there one who will venture to say that any of the virtues in the Divine nature are acquired, or to deny that all good whatsoever springs from and is seen in it? “For whatsoever is good is from Him, and whatsoever is lovely is from Him100    Zech. ix. 17 (LXX.)..” But he appends to this, that He is in His very essence ungenerate too. Well, if he means by this that the Father’s essence is ungenerate, I agree with what is said, and do not oppose his doctrine: for not one of the orthodox maintains that the Father of the Only-begotten is Himself begotten. But if, while the form of his expression indicates only this, he maintains that the ungeneracy itself is the essence, I say that we ought not to leave such a position unexamined, but expose his attempt to gain the assent of the unwary to his blasphemy.

ἀλλὰ « κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν οὐσίαν », φησίν, « ἄφθαρτός ἐστιν ὁ θεός ». τί δὲ ἄλλο τῶν θεοπρεπῶν νοημάτων οὐκ αὐτῆς ἔχεται τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς οὐσίας, τὸ δίκαιον, τὸ ἀγαθόν, τὸ ἀΐδιον, τὸ τοῦ κακοῦ παντὸς ἀνεπίδεκτον, τὸ ἐν παντὶ τῷ κατὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν νοουμένῳ ἀπεριόριστον; ἆρά τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων ἐπίκτητόν τι τῶν καλῶν εἶναι τῇ θείᾳ φύσει καὶ οὐ πᾶν ὅτιπέρ ἐστι καλὸν ἐκεῖθέν τε ἀφορμᾶσθαι καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ θεωρεῖσθαι, οὕτω τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος Ὅτι εἴ τι καλόν, αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἴ τι ἀγαθόν, παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐστι; συνάπτει δὲ τούτῳ τὸ « καὶ ἀγέννητον κατ' οὐσίαν εἶναι ». ἐγὼ δέ, εἰ μὲν οὕτω νοῶν τοῦτο λέγει, ὅτι ἀγεννήτως ἔστι τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ οὐσία, συντίθεμαι τῷ λεγομένῳ καὶ οὐκ ἀντιβαίνω τῷ δόγματι: οὐδὲ γάρ τις ὅλως τῶν εὐσεβούντων γεννητὸν εἶναι τὸν πατέρα τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποτίθεται: εἰ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ἐνδείκνυται κατὰ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ λόγου, κατασκευάζει δὲ τὸ αὐτὴν « τὴν ἀγεννησίαν » οὐσίαν εἶναι, τοῦτό φημι δεῖν μὴ παραδραμεῖν ἀνεξέταστον, ὡς ἂν μὴ λάθοι τοὺς εὐεξαπατήτους πρὸς τὴν συγκατάθεσιν τῆς βλασφημίας ὑποποιούμενος.