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has its method and this is an irrefutable definition of the truth, that these two things should concur with each other, both the natural order, as he says, and the testimony of the knowledge from above, which confirms the judgment of nature, so that it is clear that to say anything contrary to these things is nothing other than to openly fight against the truth itself. Let us hear again, then, what this man, who makes nature the teacher of this name and says we should abide by what has been made known to us from above through the teaching of the saints, relates, going on a little after the things already said. 3.1.7 For now I shall skip over the continuous part of what has been arranged in his argument in consequence of these things, so that the contradiction in what has been written might not escape notice, being obscured by the reading of the intervening material. 20The same20, he says, 20argument applies both to ‘what is made’ and ‘what is created,’ from both the natural judgment and the relation of the things to each other, and further, from the usage of the saints which grants us unhindered authority for the expression; therefore one would not err in fitting ‘what is made’ to the one who made it and 3.1.8 ‘what is created’ to the one who created it.20 About what 20creation20 and 20making20 is he speaking, as having a natural relation in the name to the one who has made and created? If he speaks about the things seen in creation, both visible and invisible, as Paul details, saying that in him all things were created, visible and invisible, so that this relative pairing of names might be properly fitted to itself, with ‘what is made’ being assigned to the one who made it, and ‘what is created’ to the one who created it—if he says these things, we also agree. For in reality, since the Lord is the maker of angels, a 20thing made20 is the angel in every way by the one who made it, and since the Lord is the creator of the world, a 20thing created20, clearly, by the one who created it is the name given to both the world itself and all things in it. 3.1.9 If, then, looking to these things, he distinguishes the order of nature, expounding on the appropriation of the nominal significance of the mutual relation of relative terms, even so it was superfluous, since no one is ignorant of these things, for him to give us some pedantic exposition 3.1.10 of grammar, having abandoned the doctrines. But if he applies such terms to the only-begotten God, so as to say he is a 20thing made20 20by the one who made him20 and a 20creature20 20by the one who created him,20 and traces the authority for this coinage of terms to the usage of the saints, let him first demonstrate in his argument which saints he means who declared the maker of the universe to be a 20thing made20 and a 20creature,20 following whom he makes so bold with this term. 3.1.11 The Church knows as saints those who are borne by the Holy Spirit: patriarchs, lawgivers, prophets, evangelists, apostles. If any one among these, through his own God-inspired words, lays down as doctrine that the God over all is created and made—he who upholds the universe by the word of his power and embraces all existing things and through himself alone by his will gave substance to the universe—he will be pardoned for 20the usage of the saints,20 as 3.1.12 he says, for following such a formulation of doctrine. But if the knowledge of the divine scriptures is freely available to all and nothing is secret or hidden from anyone wishing to partake of the divine teaching, how does he attempt to deceive his hearers through slander against the scriptures, by tracing the term 20creature20, in reference to the Only-begotten, to the usage of the saints? For that all things came to be through him, one can hear from almost every holy voice from Moses and the succeeding prophets and apostles, of whom it would be lengthy now 3.1.13 to quote each one. But it is sufficient, with and before the others, for the sublime John, who cried this out in the preliminaries of his theology of the Only-begotten, that nothing that has come to be was not made through him, which is an irrefutable and indubitable proof that he is Lord of creation, not to be numbered in the catalogue of created things. For if all things that have come to be exist through no other than through him, and nothing

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ἔχει τὸν τρόπον καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν ὅρος τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπαραλόγιστος, τὸ τὰ δύο ταῦτα συνδραμεῖν πρὸς ἄλληλα, τήν τε φυσικήν, κα θώς φησι, τάξιν καὶ τὴν τῆς ἄνωθεν γνώσεως μαρτυρίαν, βεβαιοῦσαν τὴν κρίσιν τῆς φύσεως, δῆλον ὅτι τὸ παρὰ ταῦτά τι λέγειν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἕτερον ἢ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτὴν ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ διαμάχεσθαι. οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ τὴν φύσιν διδάσκαλον τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου ποιούμενος καὶ τοῖς ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων διδασκαλίας ἐγνω σμένοις ἐμμένειν λέγων οἷα διεξέρχεται μικρὸν ὑποβὰς μετὰ τὰ εἰρημένα πάλιν ἀκούσωμεν. 3.1.7 Τέως γὰρ τὸ συνεχὲς ὑπερβήσομαι τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἀκό λουθον τούτοις ἐν τῷ λόγῳ συντεταγμένων, ὡς ἂν μὴ δια λάθοι τῶν γεγραμμένων ἡ ἐναντίωσις, τῇ ἀναγνώσει τῶν διὰ μέσου παρεγκειμένων συσκιασθεῖσα. 20ὁ αὐτός20, φησίν, 20ἁρ μόσει λόγος καὶ περὶ τοῦ ποιήματος καὶ κτί σματος, τῆς τε φυσικῆς κρίσεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσεως τῶν πραγμάτων, ἔτι δὲ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων χρήσεως ἀκώλυτον ἡμῖν παρεχούσης τοῦ τύπου τὴν ἐξουσίαν· διόπερ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τις συναρμόζων τῷ τε ποιήσαντι τὸ ποίημα καὶ τῷ 3.1.8 κτίσαντι τὸ κτίσμα20. περὶ τίνος λέγει 20κτίσματος20 καὶ 20ποιήματος20 ὡς φυσικὴν ἔχοντος τὴν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι σχέσιν πρὸς τὸν πεποιηκότα καὶ κτίσαντα; εἰ μὲν περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ κτίσει θεωρουμένων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων, καθὼς ὁ Παῦλος διέξεισιν, ἐν αὐτῷ λέγων ἐκτίσθαι τὰ πάντα, ὁρατὰ καὶ ἀόρατα, ὥστε τὴν σχετικὴν ταύτην τῶν ὀνομάτων συζυγίαν κυρίως πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἁρμοσθῆναι, συν ταχθέντος τῷ ποιήσαντι μὲν τοῦ ποιήματος, τῷ κτίσαντι δὲ τοῦ κτίσματος, εἰ ταῦτα λέγει, καὶ ἡμεῖς συντιθέμεθα· τῷ ὄντι γάρ, ἐπειδὴ ποιητὴς ἀγγέλων ὁ κύριος, 20ποίημα20 πάντως ἐστὶ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ὁ ἄγγελος, καὶ ἐπειδὴ τοῦ κόσμου κτίστης ὁ κύριος, 20κτίσμα20 δηλονότι τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτός τε ὁ κόσμος καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα κατονομάζεται. 3.1.9 εἰ μὲν οὖν πρὸς ταῦτα βλέπων διακρίνει τὴν τῆς φύσεως τάξιν, ἐπὶ τῆς ὀνοματικῆς σημασίας τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέ σεως τῶν πρός τι λεγομένων ὀνομάτων τεχνολογῶν τὴν οἰκείωσιν, περιττὸν μὲν καὶ οὕτως ἦν, μηδενὸς ἀγνοοῦντος ταῦτα, γραμματικῆς μικρολογίας ἡμῖν ποιεῖσθαί τινα τεχνο 3.1.10 λογίαν, τῶν δογμάτων ἀφέμενον. εἰ δὲ τῷ μονογενεῖ θεῷ τὰς τοιαύτας ἐφαρμόζει φωνάς, ὥστε 20ποίημά20 τε 20τοῦ ποιήσαντος20 καὶ 20κτίσμα20 αὐτὸν εἶναι λέγειν 20τοῦ κτί σαντος20, καὶ εἰς ἁγίων χρῆσιν ἀναπέμπειν τῆς ὀνοματο ποιΐας ταύτης τὴν ἐξουσίαν, τοῦτο πρῶτον ἐπιδειξάτω τῷ λόγῳ, τίνας ἁγίους εἶναί φησιν οἳ 20ποίημα20 καὶ 20κτίσμα20 τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ποιητὴν ἀπεφήναντο, οἷς ἀκολουθῶν τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης καταθρασύνεται. 3.1.11 Ἁγίους ἡ ἐκκλησία τοὺς τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι θεοφορου μένους ἐπίσταται πατριάρχας νομοθέτας προφήτας εὐαγγε λιστὰς ἀποστόλους. εἴ τις ἐν τούτοις ἐστὶ διὰ τῶν θεο πνεύστων ἑαυτοῦ λόγων κτιστὸν εἶναι καὶ ποίημα δογματί ζων τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν, τὸν φέροντα τὰ σύμπαντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ καὶ περιδεδραγμένον πάντων τῶν ὄντων καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ μόνῳ τῷ θελήματι τὸ πᾶν οὐσιώ σαντα, συγγνωστὸς ἔσται 20τῇ χρήσει τῶν ἁγίων20, καθ 3.1.12 ώς φησι, πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην δογματοποιΐαν ἑπόμενος. εἰ δὲ πᾶσι πρόκειται τῶν θείων γραφῶν κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἡ γνῶσις καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπόρρητον οὐδὲ ἀπόκρυφον οὐδενὶ τῶν βουλομένων τῆς θείας διδασκαλίας μετέχειν, πῶς ἐπιχειρεῖ τοὺς ἀκούντας παρακρούεσθαι διὰ τῆς κατὰ τῶν γραφῶν συκοφαντίας, εἰς ἁγίων χρῆσιν τὴν τοῦ 20κτίσματος20 φω νὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἀναπέμπων; τὸ μὲν γὰρ δι' αὐτοῦ γεγονέναι τὰ πάντα πάσης μικροῦ δεῖν ἔστι τῆς ἁγίας ἀκοῦσαι φωνῆς ἀπὸ Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν καθεξῆς προφητῶν τε καὶ ἀποστόλων, ὧν μακρὸν ἂν εἴη τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον νυνὶ 3.1.13 παρατίθεσθαι. ἀρκεῖ δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ὁ ὑψηλὸς Ἰωάννης ἐν προοιμίοις τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεολογίας τοῦτο βοήσας, ὅτι οὐδὲν τῶν γεγονότων ἐστὶν ὃ μὴ δι' ἐκείνου ἐγένετο, ὅπερ ἄμαχός τε καὶ ἀναμφίβολός ἐστιν ἀπόδειξις τοῦ κύριον αὐτὸν εἶναι τῆς κτίσεως, οὐχὶ τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν κτιστῶν ἐναρίθμιον. εἰ γὰρ πάντα τὰ γεγονότα δι' οὐδενὸς ἄλλου ἢ διὰ τούτου ἔστι καὶ οὐδὲν