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Unbegottenness, through the privative particle, signifies that none of these things pertain to God, neither corruption nor generation, since also many other names, though spoken homonymously, indicate the removal of what is not present, not the positing of what is, like "guileless" and "griefless" and "without wickedness" and "untroubled" and "without anger," "sleepless," "without sickness," "impassible," "blameless" 2.1.143 and all such things. For these things are truly said and are a kind of catalog and enumeration of the things conceived as worse, from which the divine is separate, yet the discourse does not present anything about that of which it speaks through these names. For what He is not, we have been taught through what we have heard, but what He is, 2.1.144 the power of the things said has not shown. For just as if someone, wishing to say something about the nature of man, saying that it is neither inanimate nor without sensation nor winged nor four-footed nor aquatic, did not show what it is, but clarified what it is not, and he neither lies in recounting these things about man nor clearly shows the subject, in the same way, with many such things being said about the divine nature, we learn in what ways we must conceive God to be, but what He actually is in essence, we are not taught through the things that are said. But, avoiding in every way being carried along by any absurd concepts in our beliefs about God, we have used many and various titles for Him, adapting the appellations according to the difference of our conceptions 2.1.145. For since not one name has been found that is comprehensive of the divine nature, fittingly assigned to the subject itself, for this reason we address the divine with many names, each one, according to different approaches, forming a particular conception about Him, hunting for some sparks toward the understanding of what is sought 2.1.146 from the manifold and varied significance concerning Him. For asking ourselves and examining what the divine is, we declare it in different ways, such as that which is above the constitution and governance of beings, which does not have its existence from a cause, but is established as the cause of being for all the rest, concerning which there is no generation and beginning and corruption and end, neither a turning to the contrary nor a lessening of the better, so that neither does evil 2.1.147 have a place in it, nor is the good absent. If, then, one should wish to distinguish such conceptions by names, it is altogether necessary to name that which does not admit a turn for the worse "unchangeable" and "unalterable," and to call the first cause of all "unbegotten," and "incorruptible" that which is not susceptible to corruption, and that which comes to no end "immortal" and "endless," and "Almighty" the one who governs all, and thus coining all other names according to pious suppositions, we address him in one way and another according to the differences of our conceptions, signifying through the names either power or might or goodness or not being from a cause or abiding forever. 2.1.148 I say, therefore, that men are masters of such name-coining, fittingly applying the appellations to the subject according to what appears to each, and that there is nothing absurd in what the writer puts forward, making a bogeyman of it as something fearful and dreadful, namely, to confess that the application of names is more recent than any thing named, and than God himself. For God is not a word 2.1.149 nor does He have his being in a sound and a utterance. But God exists in himself, whatever He is also believed to be, and He is named by those who call upon Him not as what He is (for the nature of that which is is ineffable), but He has His titles from those things He is believed to effect in our life, such as this very thing which is readily said: for in calling Him God, we invoke him, meaning the one who watches over and oversees and sees through 2.1.150 hidden things. But if the essence pre-exists the energies, and we perceive the energies through what we sense, and we report these with words as far as is possible, what fear remains in saying that names are more recent than the things? For if we do not first interpret any of the things said about God before we conceive them, and we conceive them through what we are taught from the energies, and the power pre-exists the energy, and the power depends on the divine will, and the will is located in the authority of the divine nature, are we not clearly taught that the appellations signifying what happens come after the things, and that utterances are like shadows of the things, being formed according to the movements of the existing things? 2.1.151 And that these things are so, the divine scripture clearly persuades us through the great David, who invokes the divine nature as if through certain proper and fitting names conceived by him from its energy. For, he says, the Lord is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and of great mercy. What, then, do these things say? to have energies

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ἀγεν νησία διὰ τοῦ ἀφαιρετικοῦ μορίου τὸ μηδὲν τούτων προσ εῖναι τῷ θεῷ, μήτε φθορὰν μήτε γένεσιν, ἀποσημαίνει, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων ὁμοφώνως λεγόμενα τὴν ἀφαίρεσιν τοῦ μὴ προσόντος, οὐ τὴν θέσιν τοῦ ὄντος ἐνδείκνυται, τὸ ἄκακον καὶ ἄλυπον καὶ ἀπόνηρον καὶ ἀτά ραχον καὶ ἀόργητον ἄϋπνον ἄνοσον ἀπαθὲς ἀνεπίληπτον 2.1.143 καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα. λέγεται μὲν γὰρ ἀληθῶς ταῦτα καὶ οἷον κατάλογός τίς ἐστι καὶ ἀπαρίθμησις τῶν πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον νοουμένων, ὧν τὸ θεῖον κεχώρισται, οὐ μήν τι περὶ οὗ λέγεται διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων ὁ λόγος παρίστησιν. τί μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι, δι' ὧν ἠκούσαμεν ἐδιδάχθημεν, τί δέ ἐστιν, 2.1.144 ἡ τῶν εἰρημένων οὐκ ἐνεδείξατο δύναμις. ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τις περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως εἰπεῖν τι θέλων τὸ μήτε ἄψυχον λέγων μήτε ἀναίσθητον μήτε πτηνὸν μήτε τετρά πουν μήτ' ἔνυδρον τὸ μὲν ὂν οὐκ ἐνεδείξατο, τὸ δὲ μὴ ὂν διεσάφησε, καὶ οὔτε ψεύδεται ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διεξιὼν οὔτε σαφῶς τὸ ὑποκείμενον δείκνυσιν, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον πολλῶν τοιούτων περὶ τὴν θείαν φύσιν λεγομένων, ἐν οἷς χρὴ τὸν θεὸν ὑπονοεῖν εἶναι μανθάνομεν, αὐτὸ δὲ ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι κατ' οὐσίαν διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων οὐ διδασκόμεθα. φεύγοντες δὲ παντὶ τρόπῳ τῶν ἀτόπων τινὶ νοημάτων ἐν ταῖς περὶ θεοῦ δόξαις συνενεχθῆναι πολλαῖς καὶ ποικίλαις ἐπωνυμίαις ἐπ' αὐτοῦ κεχρήμεθα, κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐπινοιῶν 2.1.145 διαφορὰν τὰς προσηγορίας ἁρμόζοντες. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἓν οὐδὲν ὄνομα περιληπτικὸν τῆς θείας ἐξεύρηται φύσεως κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου προσφυῶς τεταγμένον, διὰ τοῦτο πολλοῖς ὀνόμασι, ἑκάστου κατὰ διαφόρους ἐπιβολὰς ἰδιά ζουσάν τινα περὶ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔννοιαν ποιουμένου, τὸ θεῖον προσαγορεύομεν, ἐκ τῆς πολυειδοῦς καὶ ποικίλης κατ' αὐτοῦ σημασίας ἐναύσματά τινα πρὸς τὴν κατανόησιν τοῦ ζητου 2.1.146 μένου θηρεύοντες. ἐρωτῶντες γὰρ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς καὶ διεξ ετάζοντες τί τὸ θεῖόν ἐστι, διαφόρως ἀποφαινόμεθα οἷον τὸ ὑπερκείμενον τῆς τῶν ὄντων συστάσεώς τε καὶ διοική σεως, ὃ οὐκ ἐξ αἰτίας τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχει, τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς πᾶσιν αἴτιον τοῦ εἶναι καθέστηκεν, περὶ ὃ γέννησις καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ φθορὰ καὶ τέλος οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε πρὸς τὸ ἐναν τίον τροπὴ οὔτε τοῦ κρείττονος ὕφεσις, ὡς μήτε τὸ κακὸν 2.1.147 ἐπ' αὐτοῦ χώραν ἔχειν μήτε τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀπεῖναι. εἰ δή τις τὰς τοιαύτας ἐννοίας ὀνόμασι διαλαμβάνειν ἐθέλοι, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα τὸ μὲν μὴ προσιέμενον τὴν πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον τροπὴν ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον ὀνομάσαι, τὸ δὲ πρῶτον αἴτιον τοῦ παντὸς ἀγέννητον προσειπεῖν, ἄφθαρτον δὲ τὸ φθορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτον, τὸ δὲ εἰς μηδὲν καταλῆγον πέρας ἀθάνατόν τε καὶ ἀτελεύτητον, παντοκράτορα δὲ τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ἐξη γούμενον, καὶ οὕτω τἄλλα πάντα κατὰ τὰς εὐσεβεῖς ὑπο λήψεις ὀνοματοποιοῦντες ταῖς τῶν ἐπινοιῶν διαφοραῖς ἄλ λως καὶ ἄλλως προσαγορεύομεν, ἢ δύναμιν ἢ κράτος ἢ ἀγαθότητα ἢ τὸ μὴ ἐξ αἰτίου εἶναι ἢ τὸ εἰς ἀεὶ διαμένειν διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων σημαίνοντες. 2.1.148 Φημὶ τοίνυν τῆς τοιαύτης ὀνοματοποιΐας τοὺς ἀνθρώ πους εἶναι κυρίους κατὰ τὸ φανὲν ἑκάστῳ προσφυῶς ἐφαρ μόζοντας τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ τὰς κλήσεις, καὶ μηδὲν ἄτοπον εἶναι, ὅπερ ὡς φοβερόν τε καὶ φρικῶδες μορμολυττόμενος ὁ λογογράφος προτείνεται, τὸ νεωτέρας εἶναι τὰς τῶν ὀνο μάτων θέσεις ὁμολογεῖν ἐπὶ παντὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ κατονομα ζομένου πράγματος καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. οὐ γὰρ ῥῆμα 2.1.149 ὁ θεὸς οὐδὲ ἐν φωνῇ καὶ φθόγγῳ ἔχει τὸ εἶναι. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν θεός ἐστιν καθ' ἑαυτόν, ὅ τι ποτὲ καὶ εἶναι πεπίστευται, ὀνομάζεται δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἐπικαλουμένων οὐκ αὐτὸ ὅ ἐστιν (ἄφραστος γὰρ ἡ φύσις τοῦ ὄντος), ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν ἐνεργεῖν τι περὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν πεπίστευται τὰς ἐπωνυμίας ἔχει, οἷον καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου λεγόμενον· θεὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν λέγοντες τὸν ἔφορον καὶ ἐπόπτην καὶ διορατικὸν τῶν 2.1.150 κεκρυμμένων νοοῦντες ἐπικαλούμεθα. εἰ δὲ προϋφέστηκε τῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἡ οὐσία, νοοῦμεν δὲ τὰς ἐνεργείας δι' ὧν αἰσθανόμεθα, ῥήμασι δὲ ταύτας ὅπως ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν ἐξαγ γέλλομεν, τίς ἔτι καταλείπεται φόβος νεώτερα τῶν πραγμά των τὰ ὀνόματα λέγειν; εἰ γὰρ μὴ πρότερον ἑρμηνεύομέν τι τῶν περὶ θεοῦ λεγομένων, πρὶν ἂν νοήσωμεν, νοοῦμεν δὲ δι' ὧν ἐκ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν διδασκόμεθα, προϋφέστηκε δὲ τῆς ἐνεργείας ἡ δύναμις, ἡ δὲ δύναμις ἐξήρτηται τοῦ θείου βουλήματος, τὸ δὲ βούλημα ἐν τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ τῆς θείας ἀπό κειται φύσεως, ἆρ' οὐ σαφῶς διδασκόμεθα ὅτι ἐπιγίνονται τοῖς πράγμασιν αἱ σημαντικαὶ τῶν γινομένων προσηγορίαι καὶ ὥσπερ σκιαὶ τῶν πραγμάτων εἰσὶν αἱ φωναί, πρὸς τὰς κινήσεις τῶν ὑφεστώτων σχηματιζόμεναι; 2.1.151 Καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει, πείθει σαφῶς ἡ θεία γραφὴ διὰ τοῦ μεγάλου ∆αβὶδ τοῦ καθάπερ διά τινων ἰδίων καὶ προσφυῶν ὀνομάτων τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἐνεργείας αὐτῷ νοηθέντων τὴν θείαν φύσιν ἀνακαλοῦντος. Οἰκτίρμων γάρ, φησί, καὶ ἐλεήμων ὁ κύριος, μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος. ταῦτα τοίνυν τί λέγουσιν; ἐνεργείας ἔχειν