79

will agree, he who does not approach the divine mysteries with carnal thoughts, but seeks a certain understanding 1.1.628 fitting to the majesty of what is signified; for he will neither conceive of passion concerning the impassible, nor will he reckon that the creator of all nature is in need of physical cooperation, nor will he admit a temporal extension in the case of eternal life, but having understood that the divine generation is pure of all these things, he will agree that the Only-begotten is indicated by the signification of 'Father' only as not being without a source, so that He has the cause of His being from there, but a beginning of His hypostasis is not to be reckoned, because it is not possible to perceive any 1.1.629 sign of what is sought. For since the concepts of older and younger and all such things are found in temporal intervals, if you remove time by reason, all such signs are removed along with it and are drawn away together with time. 1.1.630 Since, therefore, He who was with the Father before the ages according to the ineffable reason does not admit the "1once"2, He is indeed begotten, but He never begins to be; for He has His life neither in time nor in place. But with place and time and every such concept being removed in the case of the hypostasis of the Only-begotten, what is conceived before Him is the Father alone. But in this the Only-begotten also being, as He Himself says, it is not in His nature to receive the suspicion of ever not having been. 1.1.631 For if at some time the Father also was not, necessarily by the Father's non-existence the Son's eternity would also have been cut short at its source. But if the Father always is, how is the Son ever not, He who cannot be conceived of by Himself without the Father, but is always implicitly named along with the Father? 1.1.632 For the title of "Father" equally has the signification of the two persons in itself, as the concept of the Son automatically enters with this word. When was the Son not? In what was His non-existence apprehended? In place? There was no place; in time? The Lord is before all times. If, therefore, He was before these things, when was He not? And if He was in the Father, in what was He not, tell me, you who see the invisible things. 1.1.633 What has your reasoning fashioned in between? What new thing have you conceived of the Only-begotten, either thing or thought, which, being co-extended with the Father, proves His life to be more extended than that of the Only-begotten? 1.1.634 And why do I say this? For not even in the case of men can it properly be said, that someone was born from not being. For Levi, many generations before his own birth according to the flesh, has been tithed by Melchizedek; for so says the apostle, that Levi, who receives tithes, has been tithed, and he added the proof to what was said, that he was in the loins of his father when Abraham met the priest of the Most High. 1.1.635 If, then, a man is born, being in a certain way, according to the apostolic testimony, pre-existing through the community of substance in the one who begot him, how in the case of the divine nature do they dare to utter this phrase, that He was born from not being, He who was in the Father, as the Lord says: I 1.1.636 am in the Father and the Father in Me, each clearly being said to be in the other in a different sense, the Son in the Father, as the beauty of the image is in the archetypal form, and the Father in the Son, as the original beauty is in His own image. But in the case of man-made images, the intervening time in all cases separates the form that has been received from the original, but there it is not possible to separate the one from the other, as the apostle says, neither the character from the hypostasis, nor the radiance from the divine glory, nor the image from the goodness, but whoever has conceived of one of these things has also, in a connected way, received into his thought what is conceived along with it. 1.1.637 For "being," he says, "the radiance of the glory"—"being," not "having become"—so as clearly through this to reject the impiety of either supposition, and neither to think the Only-begotten unbegotten, by saying "the radiance of the glory;" for the radiance is from the glory, and not, conversely, the glory from it; nor that He ever began to be; for the testimony of 'being': the continuity and eternity of the Son, and the

79

συνεμπεσεῖται ὁ μὴ σαρκικαῖς διανοίαις τῶν θείων μυστηρίων ἐπιβατεύων, ἀλλὰ ζητεῖ τινα διάνοιαν τῷ μεγαλείῳ τοῦ σημαινομένου 1.1.628 πρέπουσαν· οὔτε γὰρ πάθος περὶ τὸν ἀπαθῆ νοήσει οὔτε συνεργίας φυσικῆς τὸν δημιουργὸν πάσης φύσεως ἐπιδεῖσθαι λογίσεται οὔτε χρονικὴν παράτασιν ἐπὶ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς παραδέξεται, ἀλλὰ πάντων τούτων καθαρεύουσαν τὴν θείαν γέννησιν κατανοήσας μόνον τὸ μὴ ἀνάρχως εἶναι διὰ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς σημασίας τὸν μονογενῆ δηλοῦσθαι συνθήσεται, ὡς τὴν αἰτίαν μὲν ἐκεῖθεν ἔχειν τοῦ εἶναι, ἀρχὴν δὲ τῆς ὑποστάσεως μὴ λογίζεσθαι, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαί τι ση 1.1.629 μεῖον τοῦ ζητουμένου κατανοῆσαι. τοῦ γὰρ προγενεστέρου καὶ τοῦ νεωτέρου καὶ πάντων τῶν τοιούτων νοημάτων ἐν τοῖς χρονικοῖς διαστήμασιν εὑρισκομένων, ἐὰν ὑφέλῃς τῷ λόγῳ τὸν χρόνον, πάντα συνυφῄρηται τὰ τοιαῦτα σημεῖα καὶ συνυπεσπάσθη μετὰ τοῦ χρόνου. 1.1.630 Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ "1ποτέ"2 οὐ προσίεται ὁ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων κατὰ τὸν ἄφραστον λόγον τῷ πατρὶ συνών, γεννητὸς μὲν ἐστίν, οὐ μήν ποτε τοῦ εἶναι ἄρχεται· οὔτε γὰρ ἐν χρόνῳ οὔτε ἐν τόπῳ τὴν ζωὴν ἔχει. ἐξαιρεθέντος δὲ καὶ τόπου καὶ χρόνου καὶ παντὸς τοιούτου διανοήματος ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως, τὸ πρὸ ἐκείνου νοούμενον ὁ πατήρ ἐστι μόνος. ἀλλ' ἐν τούτῳ καὶ ὁ μονογενὴς ὤν, καθὼς αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνός φησι, τὴν τοῦ ποτὲ μὴ εἶναι ὑπόνοιαν δέ 1.1.631 ξασθαι φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει. εἰ μὲν γάρ ποτε οὐκ ἦν καὶ ὁ πατήρ, ἀναγκαίως τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀνυπαρξίᾳ καὶ ἡ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀϊδιότης ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω συναπεκόπτετο. εἰ δὲ ἀεί ἐστιν ὁ πατήρ, πῶς ὁ υἱός ποτε οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ μὴ δυνάμενος ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ χωρὶς τοῦ πατρὸς νοηθῆναι, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ σιωπώ 1.1.632 μενον ἀεὶ τῷ πατρὶ συνονομαζόμενος; ἡ γὰρ τοῦ πατρὸς κλῆσις ἐπίσης τῶν δύο προσώπων ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὴν ἐπισημασίαν ἔχει, αὐτομάτως τῆς περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐννοίας τῇ φωνῇ ταύτῃ συνεισιούσης. πότε οὐκ ἦν ὁ υἱός; ἐν τίνι τὸ μὴ εἶναι αὐτοῦ κατελήφθη; ἐν τόπῳ; τόπος οὐκ ἦν· ἐν χρόνῳ; πρὸ χρόνων ὁ κύριος. εἰ οὖν πρὸ τούτων ἦν, πότε οὐκ ἦν; καὶ εἰ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ ἦν, ἐν τίνι οὐκ ἦν, εἴπατε οἱ τὰ ἀθέατα 1.1.633 βλέποντες. τί διὰ μέσου ὁ λογισμὸς ὑμῶν ἀνετυπώσατο; τί καινὸν τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἐνοήσατε ἢ πρᾶγμα ἢ νόημα, ὃ τῷ πατρὶ συμπαρεκτεινόμενον περισσοτέραν αὐτοῦ τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἀποδείκνυσι; 1.1.634 Καὶ τί τοῦτο λέγω; οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κυρίως ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι οὐκ ὤν τις ἐγεννήθη. Λευῒς γὰρ πρὸ πολλῶν γενεῶν τῆς κατὰ σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ γεννήσεως ὑπὸ τοῦ Μελχισεδὲκ δεδεκάτωται· οὕτω γάρ φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ὅτι Λευῒς ὁ τὰς δεκάτας λαμβάνων δεδεκάτωται, καὶ τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τοῖς λεγομένοις ἐπήγαγεν, ὅτι ἐν τῇ ὀσφύϊ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἦν ὅτε Ἀβραὰμ τῷ ἱερεῖ τοῦ ὑψίστου συνήν 1.1.635 τησεν. εἰ οὖν ἄνθρωπος τρόπον τινὰ ὢν γεννᾶται, κατὰ τὴν ἀποστολικὴν μαρτυρίαν διὰ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῆς οὐσίας ἐν τῷ γεγεννηκότι αὐτὸν προϋφεστώς, πῶς ἐπὶ τῆς θείας φύ σεως τὴν φωνὴν ταύτην τολμῶσι προφέρειν, ὅτι οὐκ ὢν ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ ὤν, καθώς φησιν ὁ κύριος· Ἐγὼ 1.1.636 ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί, κατ' ἄλλην δηλαδὴ καὶ ἄλλην ἐπίνοιαν ἑκάτερος ἐν τῷ ἑτέρῳ εἶναι λεγόμενος, ὁ μὲν υἱὸς ἐν τῷ πατρί, ὡς τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς εἰκόνος κάλλος ἐν τῇ ἀρχετύπῳ μορφῇ, ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ, ὡς ἐν τῇ εἰκόνι ἑαυτοῦ τὸ πρωτότυπον κάλλος. ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν χειροκμήτων εἰκόνων ὁ διὰ μέσου χρόνος τὴν μεταλη φθεῖσαν μορφὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρωτοτύπου πάντως διΐστησιν, ἐκεῖ δὲ οὐκ ἔστι χωρίσαι τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτερον, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, οὔτε τῆς ὑποστάσεως τὸν χαρακτῆρα οὔτε τῆς θείας δόξης τὸ ἀπαύγασμα οὔτε τῆς ἀγαθότητος τὴν εἰ κόνα, ἀλλ' ὁ τούτων τι διανοηθεὶς συνημμένως καὶ τὸ μετ' 1.1.637 αὐτοῦ νοούμενον τῇ διανοίᾳ συμπαρεδέξατο. ὢν γάρ, φη σίν, ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, ὤν, οὐχὶ γενόμενος, ὡς σαφῶς διὰ τούτου τὸ ἐφ' ἑκάτερα τῶν ὑπολήψεων ἀσεβὲς ἀποπέμ ψασθαι καὶ μήτε ἀγέννητον οἰηθῆναι τὸν μονογενῆ, διὰ τοῦ εἰπεῖν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης· ἐκ γὰρ τῆς δόξης ἐστὶ τὸ ἀπαύγασμα, καὶ οὐ τὸ ἔμπαλιν ἀπὸ τούτου ἡ δόξα· μήτε ὅτι ποτὲ τοῦ εἶναι ἤρξατο· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ὢν μαρτυρία τὸ διηνεκὲς τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ ἀΐδιον καὶ τὸ