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of the appellations, with nature crying out against the appellations, and dishonoring what is honorable 2.1.325 by homonymy with the base things that exist. And while a certain man who looks toward virtue, often carried away somewhat outside the truth and unwillingly, is overcome by shame, does he consider it a fitting honor for God to appear belying things by their names? The prophecies do not bear witness to these things for the divine nature. Long-suffering and full of mercy and true, says David. How then is he true, who belies things and alters the truth in the significance of names? Upright is the Lord 2.1.326 God, he is again addressed by the same. Is it then a mark of uprightness to dignify the dishonorable with the most honorable of names and, giving a mere appellation of the dignity signified by the word, to begrudge it to the one who has partaken of the name? This is the testimony of these theologians concerning the new god; this is the end of their much-vaunted dialectical cleverness, to show God himself delighting in deceptions and not being pure 2.1.327 from the passion of envy. For it is a mark of deception not to name weak things according to their nature and worth, but to bestow upon them in vain the appellations from superior things, not transferring with the name the power to the things so named; and of envy, being able to grant the more honorable lot to those named for the better, to withhold the grace, as if judging the well-being of the weak to be a private loss. 2.1.328 But I would advise those who have sense, even if the god of these Gnostics is compelled to be such by the force of their syllogisms, not to think the true God, the only-begotten God, is so, but to look to the truth of the subjects and to witness to each according to its worth and to name from the things themselves. Come, he says, you blessed ones, and Depart, you cursed ones, neither honoring him who is worthy of a curse with the name of blessing, nor the reverse, sending away him who has stored up for himself a blessing with the most accursed. 2.1.329 But what does the speechwriter intend by what has been said, and to what end does his argument look? For let no one suppose this, that through a lack of words, as he might seem especially to extend his argument at length, stammering with certain unintelligible things, he has extended his nonsense. But even the 2.1.330 foolishness of what has been said has something suspect with respect to the heresy. For to say that 20the most honorable of names are applied even to the weakest,20 even if they happen not to share equally in the nature of the dignity, is for him a certain construction secretly preparing the way for the blasphemy; so that those who learn his doctrines might learn this from him, that even if the only-begotten is named God, and wisdom and power and light and truth and judge and king and God over all and great God and prince of peace and father of the age to come and all such 2.1.331 things, the honor is in name only. For he does not also partake of the worth which the power of the names signifies. And what the wise Daniel did for the Babylonians, correcting their error concerning idols, so that they might not worship the bronze or the dragon, revering the name of god that was proclaimed for them by foolish men, and clearly showed through what he did that the lofty name of divinity does not correspond both with the creeping beast and with the shape in which the bronze was fashioned, these things, to the contrary, the enemy of God also strives to construct through his doctrines in the case of the only-begotten God, shouting this through all the passage set before him: 'Do not look to the names of the Lord of which he has partaken, so as from these to reckon the ineffable and lofty nature of his substance; for many other of the weakest things have been honored with superior appellations, of which the name has loftiness, but the nature is not changed to the greatness of the appellation.' 2.1.332 For this reason he says that from God it happens only to the extent of mere names

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προσηγορίας, ἀντιφθεγγο μένης ταῖς προσηγορίαις τῆς φύσεως, καὶ τὰ τίμια καθυ 2.1.325 βρίζοντος τῇ πρὸς τὰ φαῦλα τῶν ὄντων ὁμωνυμίᾳ. καὶ ἄνθρωπος μέν τις τῶν πρὸς ἀρετὴν βλεπόντων ἔξω τι τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἀκουσίως πολλάκις παρενεχθεὶς ὑπ' αἰδοῦς καταδύεται, θεῷ δὲ πρέπουσαν ἡγεῖται τιμὴν τὸ φανῆναι διαψευδόμενον ταῖς ἐπωνυμίαις τὰ πράγματα; οὐ ταῦτα μαρτυροῦσιν αἱ προφητεῖαι τῇ θείᾳ φύσει. Μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ ἀληθινός, φησὶν ὁ ∆αβίδ. πῶς οὖν ἀληθινὸς ὁ τῶν πραγμάτων καταψευδόμενος καὶ ὑπαλλάσσων ἐν ταῖς τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐμφάσεσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν; Εὐθὴς κύριος 2.1.326 ὁ θεός, παρὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πάλιν προσαγορεύεται. ἆρ' οὖν εὐθύτητός ἐστι τὸ σεμνύνειν ἐν τοῖς τιμιωτάτοις τῶν ὀνο μάτων τὰ ἄτιμα καὶ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν διδόντα ψιλὴν τῆς ἐμ φαινομένης ἀξίας τῷ ῥήματι βασκαίνειν τῷ μετειληφότι τῆς κλήσεως; αὕτη τῶν θεολόγων τούτων ἡ περὶ τοῦ νέου θεοῦ μαρτυρία· τοῦτο τῆς πολυθρυλήτου διαλεκτικῆς ἀγχινοίας τὸ πέρας, τὸ δεῖξαι τὸν θεὸν αὐτὸν καὶ ταῖς ἀπάταις ἐπι τερπόμενον καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν φθόνον πάθους οὐ καθα 2.1.327 ρεύοντα. ἀπάτης μὲν γάρ ἐστι τὸ μὴ ὡς ἔχει φύσεώς τε καὶ ἀξίας τὰ ἀσθενῆ τῶν πραγμάτων κατονομάζειν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν ὑπερεχόντων τὰς ἐπωνυμίας αὐτοῖς μάτην χαρίζεσθαι, μὴ συμμετατιθέντα τῇ κλήσει τῶν κατονομαζομένων τὴν δύναμιν· φθόνου δὲ τὸ δυνάμενον τὴν τιμιωτέραν λῆξιν τοῖς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ὀνομασθεῖσι χαρίζεσθαι ὀκνεῖν τὴν χάριν, οἱονεὶ ζημίαν ἰδίαν κρίνοντα τὴν τῶν ἀσθενῶν εὐπραγίαν. 2.1.328 ἀλλ' ἐγὼ συμβουλεύσαιμ' ἂν τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσι, κἂν ὁ τῶν Γνωστικῶν τούτων θεὸς τοιοῦτος εἶναι ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν συλλογισμῶν βίας καταναγκάζηται, μὴ οὕτω καὶ τὸν ἀλη θινὸν θεόν, τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν οἴεσθαι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν ὑποκειμένων ὁρᾶν καὶ τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ προσμαρτυρεῖν καὶ ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων κατονομάζειν. ∆εῦτε; φησίν, οἱ εὐλογημένοι, καὶ Πορεύεσθε οἱ κατηραμένοι, οὔτε τὸν κατάρας ἄξιον τῷ τῆς εὐλογίας τιμήσας ὀνόματι οὔτε τὸ ἔμπαλιν τὸν τὴν εὐλογίαν ἑαυτῷ θησαυρίσαντα μετὰ τῶν ἐξαγίστων ἀποπεμψάμενος. 2.1.329 Ἀλλὰ τί βούλεται τῷ λογογράφῳ τὰ εἰρημένα καὶ πρὸς τίνα βλέπει σκοπὸν ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ; μὴ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτό τις ὑπονοείτω ὅτι δι' ἀπορίαν ῥημάτων, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα δόξειεν εἰς πλάτος ἐκτείνειν τὸν λόγον, ἀδιανοήτοις τισὶν ἐμβατταρίζων τὴν φλυαρίαν ἐξέτεινεν. ἀλλ' ἔχει τι καὶ τὸ 2.1.330 ἀνόητον τῶν εἰρημένων ὡς πρὸς τὴν αἵρεσιν ὕποπτον. τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν 20τὰ τιμιώτατα τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ τοῖς ἀσθενεστάτοις20 ἐπιλέγεσθαι, κἂν μὴ ἰσομοιροῦντα τύχῃ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ ἀξιώματος, κατασκευή τίς ἐστιν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς τῇ βλασφημίᾳ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ὑπευτρε πίζουσα· ὡς ἂν τοῦτο παρ' αὐτοῦ μάθοιεν οἱ τὰ ἐκείνου μανθάνοντες, ὅτι κἂν θεὸς ὁ μονογενὴς ὀνομάζηται καὶ σοφία καὶ δύναμις καὶ φῶς καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ κριτὴς καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς καὶ μέγας θεὸς καὶ ἄρχων εἰρήνης καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος καὶ πάντα τὰ 2.1.331 τοιαῦτα, μέχρις ὀνόματος μόνον ἐστὶν ἡ τιμή. οὐ γὰρ συμμετέχει καὶ τῆς ἀξίας ἣν ἐμφαίνει τῶν ὀνομάτων ἡ δύναμις. καὶ ὅπερ ἐποίει τοῖς Βαβυλωνίοις ὁ σοφὸς ∆ανιὴλ διορθούμενος αὐτῶν τὴν περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνην, ὡς ἂν μὴ τὸν χαλκὸν ἢ τὸν δράκοντα σέβοιεν, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ παρὰ τῶν ματαίων αὐτοῖς ἐπιπεφημισμένον αἰδούμενοι, καὶ σαφῶς δι' ὧν ἐποίησεν ἔδειξεν ὅτι οὐ συμ βαίνει τὸ ὑψηλὸν τῆς θεότητος ὄνομα πρός τε τὸ ἑρπετὸν θηρίον καὶ πρὸς τὸ σχῆμα ᾧ ὁ χαλκὸς ἐτετύπωτο, ταῦτα πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον καὶ ὁ ἐχθρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ μονο γενοῦς θεοῦ κατασκευάζειν διὰ τῶν δογμάτων φιλονεικεῖ, τοῦτο βοῶν διὰ πάσης τῆς προκειμένης αὐτῷ ῥήσεως ὅτι μὴ πρὸς τὰ ὀνόματα τοῦ κυρίου βλέπετε ὧν μετείληφεν, ὡς ἐκ τούτων τὸ ἄφραστον αὐτοῦ καὶ ὑψηλὸν τῆς οὐσίας λογίζεσθαι· πολλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἄλλα τῶν ἀσθενεστάτων ταῖς ὑπερεχούσαις ἐπωνυμίαις τετίμηται, ὧν ἡ μὲν κλῆσις τὸ ὑψηλὸν ἔχει, ἡ δὲ φύσις πρὸς τὸ μεγαλεῖον τῆς προσηγορίας 2.1.332 οὐκ ἐξαλλάσσεται. διὰ τοῦτο λέγει μέχρις ὀνομάτων ψιλῶν γίνεσθαι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ