§3. He further proceeds notably to interpret the language of the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word,” and “Life” and “Light,” and “The Word was made flesh,” which had been misinterpreted by Eunomius; and overthrows his blasphemy, and shows that the dispensation of the Lord took place by loving-kindness, not by lack of power, and with the co-operation of the Father.

But he puts his strength into his idle contention and says, “From the facts themselves, and from the oracles that are believed, I present the proof of my statement.” Such is his promise, but whether the arguments he advances bear out his professions, the discerning reader will of course consider. “The blessed John,” he says, “after saying that the Word was in the beginning, and after calling Him Life, and subsequently giving the Life the further title of ‘Light,’ says, a little later, ‘And the Word was made flesh993    Cf. S. John i. 4 and 14..’ If then the Light is Life, and the Word is Life, and the Word was made flesh, it thence becomes plain that the Light was incarnate.” What then? because the Light and the Life, and God and the Word, was manifested in flesh, does it follow that the true Light is divergent in any degree from the Light which is in the Father? Nay, it is attested by the Gospel that, even when it had place in darkness, the light remained unapproachable by the contrary element: for “the Light,” he says, “shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not994    S. John i. 5 (A.V., following the Vulgate). The word κατέλαβε is perhaps better rendered by “overtook.” “As applied to light this sense includes the further notion of overwhelming, eclipsing. The relation of darkness to light is one of essential antagonism. If the darkness is represented as pursuing the light, it can only be to overshadow and not to appropriate it.” (Westcott on S. John ad loc.).” If then the light when it found place in darkness had been changed to its contrary, and overpowered by gloom, this would have been a strong argument in support of the view of those who wish to show how far inferior is this Light in comparison with that contemplated in the Father. But if the Word, even though it be in the flesh, remains the Word, and if the Light, even though it shines in darkness, is no less Light, without admitting the fellowship of its contrary, and if the Life, even though it be in death, remains secure in Itself, and if God, even though He submit to take upon Him the form of a servant, does not Himself become a servant, but takes away the slavish subordination and absorbs it into lordship and royalty, making that which was human and lowly to become both Lord and Christ,—if all this be so, how does he show by this argument variation of the Light to inferiority, when each Light has in equal measure the property of being inconvertible to evil, and unalterable? And how is it that he also fails to observe this, that he who looked on the incarnate Word, Who was both Light and Life and God, recognized, through the glory which he saw, the Father of glory, and says, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father995    S. John i. 14”?

But he has reached the irrefutable argument which we long ago detected lurking in the sequel of his statements996    The passage has already been cited by S. Gregory, Book V §3 (p. 176 sup.)., but which is here proclaimed aloud without disguise. For he wishes to show that the essence of the Son is subject to passion, and to decay, and in no wise differs from material nature, which is in a state of flux, that by this means he may demonstrate His difference from the Father. For he says, “If he can show that the God Who is over all, Who is the Light unapproachable, was incarnate or could be incarnate, came under authority, obeyed commands, came under the laws of men, bore the Cross, let him say that the Light is equal to the Light.” If these words had been brought forward by us as following by necessary consequence from premises laid down by Eunomius, who would not have charged us with unfairness, in employing an over-subtle dialectic to reduce our adversaries’ statement to such an absurdity? But as things stand, the fact that they themselves make no attempt to suppress the absurdity that naturally follows from their assumption, helps to support our contention that it was not without due reflection that, with the help of truth, we censured the argument of heresy. For behold, how undisguised and outspoken is their striving against the Only-begotten God! Nay, by His enemies His work of mercy is reckoned a means of disparaging and maligning the Nature of the Son of God, as though not of deliberate purpose, but by a compulsion of His Nature he had slipped down to life in the flesh, and to the suffering of the Cross! And as it is the nature of a stone to fall downward, and of fire to rise upward, and as these material objects do not exchange their natures one with another, so that the stone should have an upward tendency, and fire be depressed by its weight and sink downwards, even so they make out that passion was part of the very Nature of the Son, and that for this cause He came to that which was akin and familiar to Him, but that the Nature of the Father, being free from such passions, remained unapproachable by the contact of evil. For he says, that the God Who is over all, Who is Light unapproachable, neither was incarnate nor could be incarnate. The first of the two statements was quite enough, that the Father did not become incarnate. But now by his addition a double absurdity arises; for he either charges the Son with evil, or the Father with powerlessness. For if to partake of our flesh is evil, then he predicates evil of the Only-begotten God; but if the lovingkindness to man was good, then he makes out the Father to be powerless for good, by saying that it would not have been in His power to have effectually bestowed such grace by taking flesh. And yet who in the world does not know that life-giving power proceeds to actual operation both in the Father and in the Son? “For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them,” He says, “even so the Son quickeneth whom He will997    S. John v. 21,”—meaning obviously by “dead” us who had fallen from the true life. If then it is even so as the Father quickeneth, and not otherwise, that the Son brings to operation the same grace, how comes it that the adversary of God moves his profane tongue against both, insulting the Father by attributing to Him powerlessness for good, and the Son by attributing to Him association with evil. But “Light,” he says, “is not equal to Light,” because the one he calls “true,” and the other “unapproachable.” Is then the true considered to be a diminution of the unapproachable? Why so? and yet their argument is that the Godhead of the Father must be conceived to be greater and more exalted than that of the Son, because the one is called in the Gospel “true God998    S. John xvii. 3,” the other “God999    S. John i. 1” without the addition of “true.” How then does the same term, as applied to the Godhead, indicate an enhancement of the conception, and, as applied to Light, a diminution? For if they say that the Father is greater than the Son because He is true God, by the same showing the Son would be acknowledged to be greater than the Father, because the former is called “true Light1000    S. John i. 9,” and the latter not so. “But this Light,” says Eunomius, “carried into effect the plan of mercy, while the other remained inoperative with respect to that gracious action.” A new and strange mode of determining priority in dignity! They judge that which is ineffective for a benevolent purpose to be superior to that which is operative. But such a notion as this neither exists nor ever will be found amongst Christians,—a notion by which it is made out that every good that is in existent things has not its origin from the Father. But of goods that pertain to us men, the crowning blessing is held by all right-minded men to be the return to life; and it is secured by the dispensation carried out by the Lord in His human nature; not that the Father remained aloof, as heresy will have it, ineffective and inoperative during the time of this dispensation. For it is not this that He indicates Who said, “He that sent Me is with Me1001    Cf. S. John v. 37, and xvi. 32.,” and “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works1002    S. John xiv. 10.” With what right then does heresy attribute to the Son alone the gracious intervention on our behalf, and thereby exclude the Father from having any part or lot in our gratitude for its successful issue? For naturally the requital of thanks is due to our benefactors alone, and He Who is incapable of benefiting us is outside the pale of our gratitude. See you how the course of their profane attack upon the Only-begotten Son has missed its mark, and is working round in natural consequence so as to be directed against the majesty of the Father? And this seems to me to be a necessary result of their method of proceeding. For if he that honoureth the Son honoureth the Father1003    Cf. S. John v. 23, according to the Divine declaration, it is plain on the other side that an assault upon the Son strikes at the Father. But I say that to those who with simplicity of heart receive the preaching of the Cross and the resurrection, the same grace should be a cause of equal thankfulness to the Son and to the Father, and now that the Son has accomplished the Father’s will (and this, in the language of the Apostle, is “that all men should be saved1004    1 Tim. ii. 4.”), they ought for this boon to honour the Father and the Son alike, inasmuch as our salvation would not have been wrought, had not the good will of the Father proceeded to actual operation for us through His own power. And we have learnt from the Scripture that the Son is the power of the Father1005    1 Cor. i. 24..

Ἀλλ' ἐναγωνίζεται τοῖς ματαίοις καί φησιν « ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ τῶν πεπιστευμένων λογίων παρέχομαι τῶν λεγομένων τὴν πίστιν ». ἡ μὲν οὖν ὑπόσχεσις αὕτη: εἰ δὲ κατ' ἀξίαν τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων προάγει τὸν λόγον, ὁ συνετὸς πάντως ἀκροατὴς ἐπισκοπήσει. « ὁ μακάριος », φησίν, « Ἰωάννης ἐν ἀρχῇ εἶναι τὸν λόγον φήσας καὶ τοῦτον ζωὴν προσειπών, εἶτα τὴν ζωὴν φῶς ὀνομάσας, μικρὸν ὑποβὰς Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, φησίν. εἰ τοίνυν τὸ μὲν φῶς ἐστιν ἡ ζωή, ἡ δὲ ζωὴ ὁ λόγος, ὁ δὲ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, αὐτόθεν γίνεται φανερὸν ὅτι τὸ φῶς ἐν σαρκὶ γέγονε ». τί οὖν; ἐπειδὴ τὸ φῶς καὶ ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ὁ θεὸς καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐν σαρκὶ ἐφανερώθη, διὰ τοῦτο παρήλλακται πρὸς τὸ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς; καὶ μὴν μαρτυρεῖται παρὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῷ σκότει γενόμενον ἀπρόσιτον ἔμεινε τῇ ἐναντίᾳ φύσει. Τὸ γὰρ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ, φησίν, ἔλαμψε, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἠλλοιώθη πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον καὶ ἐδυναστεύθη τῷ ζόφῳ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ γενόμενον, ἰσχυρὸν ἂν ἦν πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπιδεικνύειν, ὅσον πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον παρήλλακται τοῦτο τὸ φῶς πρὸς τὸ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ θεωρούμενον: εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ λόγος, κἂν ἐν σαρκὶ γένηται, λόγος μένει, καὶ τὸ φῶς, κἂν ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ λάμψῃ, φῶς οὐδὲν ἧττόν ἐστι, τοῦ ἐναντίου τὴν κοινωνίαν οὐ προσδεχόμενον, καὶ ἡ ζωή, κἂν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ γένηται, ἐν ἑαυτῇ φυλάσσεται, καὶ ὁ θεός, κἂν τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ὑπέλθῃ, οὐκ αὐτὸς γίνεται δοῦλος, ἀλλ' εἰς κυριότητα καὶ βασιλείαν ἐξαιρεῖται τὸ ὑποχείριον, κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν ποιῶν τὸ ταπεινὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπινον, πῶς διὰ τούτου πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον τὴν παραλλαγὴν τοῦ φωτὸς ἐπιδείκνυσιν, ἴσως ἑκατέρου τὸ ἄτρεπτον εἰς κακίαν καὶ τὸ ἀναλλοίωτον ἔχοντος, οὐδὲ τούτῳ προσέχων, ὅτι ὁ πρὸς τὸν σαρκωθέντα λόγον ἰδών, ὃς ἦν καὶ φῶς καὶ ζωὴ καὶ θεός, ἐπέγνω διὰ τῆς ὀφθείσης δόξης τὸν πατέρα τῆς δόξης εἰπὼν Ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός.
Ἀλλ' ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀνανταγώνιστον λόγον τὸν πάλαι μὲν ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς ἀκολουθίας τῶν λεγομένων πεφωραμένον, νῦν δὲ γυμνῇ τῇ φωνῇ προφερόμενον. βούλεται γὰρ ἐμπαθῆ τινα καὶ ἐπίκηρον καὶ οὐδὲν τῆς ὑλικῆς καὶ ῥοώδους φύσεως διαφέρουσαν ἐπιδεῖξαι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν, ὡς ἂν διὰ τούτου τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα διαφορὰν ἀποδείξειεν. φησὶ γὰρ « εἰ μὲν ἔχει δεικνύναι καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν, ὅσπερ ἐστὶν ἀπρόσιτον φῶς, ἐν σαρκὶ γενόμενον ἢ γενέσθαι δυνάμενον ὑπ' ἐξουσίαν ἐλθεῖν, προστάγμασιν ὑπακοῦσαι, νόμοις ἀνθρωπίνοις πολιτεύεσθαι, σταυρὸν ἐνεγκεῖν, ἴσον λεγέτω τῷ φωτὶ τὸ φῶς ». εἰ ταῦτα παρ' ἡμῶν προεφέρετο διὰ τῶν προκατεσκευασμένων κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐξευρισκόντων, μὴ συμμαρτυρούμενα ταῖς ἐκείνου φωναῖς. τίς οὐκ ἂν ἡμᾶς συκοφαντεῖν ᾐτιάσατο, ὡς περινοίᾳ τινὶ λόγων πρὸς τὴν ἀτοπίαν ταύτην τὸ δόγμα τῶν ὑπεναντίων ἐκβάλλοντας; νυνὶ δὲ συνηγορία τίς ἐστι τοῦ πεφροντισμένως ἡμᾶς μετὰ τῆς ἀληθείας εὐθύνειν τὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως λόγον τὸ μηδὲ παρ' αὐτῶν ἐκείνων τὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἀναφαινομένην ἀτοπίαν σιωπηθῆναι. ἰδοὺ γὰρ πῶς ἀπαρακάλυπτός ἐστι καὶ πεπαρρησιασμένη ἡ κατὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ μάχη, καὶ τὸ κατὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἔργον διαβολὴ καὶ κατηγορία τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ φύσεως παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐνομίσθη, ὡς οὐχὶ προνοητικῶς, ἀλλὰ φυσικῶς αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἐν σαρκὶ βίον καὶ τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ πάθος κατολισθήσαντος. καὶ ὥσπερ φύσις ἐστὶ τῷ λίθῳ ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φορὰ καὶ τῷ πυρὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν, καὶ οὐκ ἀντιμεταλαμβάνουσι τὰς ἀλλήλων ἰδιότητας αἱ ὗλαι, ὥστε ἀνωφερῆ μὲν εἶναι τὸν λίθον, βρίθειν δὲ τὸ πῦρ ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φερόμενον, οὕτως κατασκευάζουσι τῇ μὲν τοῦ υἱοῦ φύσει συνουσιῶσθαι τὰ πάθη καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ἑαυτῇ καὶ οἰκεῖον ἐλθεῖν, τὴν δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐλευθέραν οὖσαν τῶν τοιούτων παθῶν ἀπρόσιτον μεῖναι τῇ τῶν κακῶν προσβολῇ. φησὶ γὰρ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν, ὅσπερ ἐστὶν ἀπρόσιτον φῶς, μήτε γενόμενον ἐν σαρκὶ μήτε γενέσθαι δυνάμενον. ἤρκει τὸ πρότερον τῶν εἰρημένων εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ οὐκ ἐν σαρκὶ ἐγένετο: νυνὶ δὲ διπλῆ τίς ἐστι διὰ τῆς προσθήκης ἡ τοῦ ἀτόπου κατασκευή. ἢ γὰρ τοῦ υἱοῦ κατηγορεῖ κακίαν ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀδυναμίαν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ κακὸν ἡ τῆς σαρκὸς κοινωνία, τῷ μονογενεῖ θεῷ προσμαρτυρεῖ τὴν κακίαν: εἰ δὲ ἀγαθὸν ἡ φιλανθρωπία, ἀδύνατον εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀποδείκνυσι τὸν πατέρα, λέγων μὴ ἂν αὐτὸν δυνηθῆναι τὴν τοιαύτην χάριν διὰ σαρκὸς ἐνεργῆσαι. καίτοι τίς οὐκ οἶδε τῶν πάντων, ὅτι ἡ ζωοποιὸς δύναμις ὁμοίως ἐκ πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ πρόεισιν εἰς ἐνέργειαν; Ὥσπερ γάρ, φησίν, ὁ πατὴρ ἐγείρει τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ ζωοποιεῖ, οὕτως καὶ ὁ υἱὸς οὓς θέλει ζωοποεῖ, ἡμᾶς δηλαδὴ νεκροὺς λέγων τοὺς τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀποπεσόντας ζωῆς. εἰ οὖν ὥσπερ ὁ πατὴρ ζωοποιεῖ, οὕτω καὶ οὐκ ἄλλως ὁ υἱὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ἐνεργεῖ χάριν, πῶς ὁ θεομάχος κατ' ἀμφοτέρων κινεῖ τὴν βλάσφημον γλῶσσαν, τὸν μὲν πατέρα τῇ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀδυναμίᾳ, τὸν δὲ υἱὸν τῇ πρὸς τὸ κακὸν οἰκειότητι καθυβρίζων;
Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι, φησί, τῷ φωτὶ τὸ φῶς ἴσον, διότι τὸ μὲν ἀληθινόν, τὸ δὲ ἀπρόσιτον λέγεται. τὸ οὖν ἀληθινὸν ἐν ἐλαττώσει κρίνεται; διὰ τί; καὶ μὴν ἐκείνων ἐστὶ λόγος, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο μείζων καὶ ὑψηλοτέρα τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ θεότης παρὰ τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ νοεῖται, διότι ὁ μὲν ἀληθινὸς θεὸς ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ προσείρηται, ὁ δὲ χωρὶς τῆς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ προσθήκης. πῶς οὖν ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς θεότητος αὔξησιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ φωτὸς ἐλάττωσιν τοῦ νοουμένου σημαίνει; εἰ γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο μείζονα τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα φησίν, ὅτι ἀληθινὸς θεός ἐστι, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον μείζων ἂν ὁμολογηθείη τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱός, ὅτι ὁ μὲν ἀληθινὸν φῶς, ὁ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως κατονομάζεται. « ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μέν », φησί, « τὸ φῶς τὰ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἐνήργησεν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην χάριν ἀνενέργητον ἔμεινε ». καινὸς προτιμήσεως τρόπος: τὸ ἄπρακτον εἰς φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ ἐνεργήσαντος ὑπέρτερον κρίνουσιν. ἀλλ' οὔτε ἔστιν οὔτε γενήσεται τοιοῦτον ἐν Χριστιανοῖς ποτε νόημα, δι' οὗ κατασκευάζεται μὴ πᾶν ἀγαθόν, ὅτιπερ ἐν τοῖς οὖσίν ἐστιν, ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχειν. τῶν δὲ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀγαθῶν τὸ κεφάλαιον ἡ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἐπάνοδος παρὰ τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσι πεπίστευται: αὕτη δὲ διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομίας τοῦ κυρίου κατώρθωται, οὐκ ἀπράκτου καὶ ἀνενεργήτου, καθὼς ἡ αἵρεσις βούλεται, τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἀπιδιάσαντος. οὐ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐνδείκνυται ὁ εἰπὼν ὅτι Ὁ πέμψας με μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐστι, καὶ Ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοὶ μένων ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα ταῦτα. πῶς οὖν ἡ αἵρεσις μόνῳ τῷ υἱῷ τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν χάριν προσμαρτυροῦσα ἀπόμοιρον ποιεῖ τὸν πατέρα τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθωθεῖσιν εὐχαριστίας; μόνοις γὰρ κατὰ φύσιν ὀφείλεται τοῖς εὐεργέταις ἡ τῆς εὐχαριστίας ἀντίδοσις, ὁ δὲ πρὸς εὐεργεσίαν ἀδύνατος ἔξω τοῦ εὐχαριστεῖσθαι πάντως ἐστίν. ὁρᾷς ὡς διὰ πάντων αὐτοῖς πρὸς τοὐναντίον ὁ σκοπὸς περιτρέπεται τῆς κατὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς βλασφημίας, κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐπὶ τὸν πατέρα μεταβαινούσης. καί μοι δοκεῖ κατ' ἀνάγκην τὸ τοιοῦτον συμβαίνειν. εἰ γὰρ ὁ τιμῶν τὸν υἱὸν τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα, κατὰ τὴν θείαν ἀπόφασιν, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ σπουδὴ ἐπὶ τὸν πατέρα τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἔχει. ἐγὼ δέ φημι δεῖν τοῖς ἁπλούστερον δεχομένοις τὸ περὶ τὸν σταυρὸν καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν κήρυγμα ἴσης εὐχαριστίας πρός τε τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα τὴν αὐτὴν χάριν ὑπόθεσιν γίνεσθαι, καὶ τὸ πατρικὸν θέλημα τοῦ υἱοῦ τελειώσαντος (τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ πάντας ἀνθρώπους σωθῆναι, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος) ὁμοίως ἐπὶ τῇ χάριτι ταύτῃ τιμᾶν τὸν πατέρα τε καὶ τὸν υἱόν, ὡς οὐκ ἂν γενομένης ἡμῖν τῆς σωτηρίας, εἰ μὴ τὸ ἀγαθὸν θέλημα τοῦ πατρὸς διὰ τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ προῆλθεν ἡμῖν εἰς ἐνέργειαν. δύναμιν δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱὸν εἶναι παρὰ τῶν γραφῶν μεμαθήκαμεν.