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John testifies that among the things that exist through creation, nothing has come to be without him, who is so blind in mind as not to see the truth in the proclamation of the evangelist, that the one who made all creation is entirely something other 3.1.14 than the creation? For if everything numbered among the things that have come to be is through him, and he is in the beginning and is with God, being God and Word and life and light and character and effulgence, and none of the things that have come to be through creation are named by the same names, not Word, not God, not life, not light, not truth, not character, not effulgence, nor is it possible to find any other of the names befitting God in connection with creation, it is clear that the one who is these things is by nature something other than the creation, which is neither said to be nor is any of these things. 3.1.15 For if there were some homonymy in such expressions for the creation with the creator, perhaps it would be excusable, through the commonality of the other names, to make the name of "creation" common to that which was created and to the one who created; but if the characteristics observed in the created and uncreated nature are, in all respects, incompatible and have nothing in common, as shown by their names, how is the slander of one who dares to apply the name of servitude to the one who is Lord not manifest to all, as the prophet says, in the dominion of his age, and to bring the one who is preeminent in all things, as the apostle says, through the name and concept associated with creation into an equal <rank> with the servile nature? 3.1.16 For the great Paul declared that all creation serves, he who was instructed in the ineffable knowledge in the schools above the heavens, having learned these things there where every significant voice uttered by speech is idle, but the unutterable thought becomes a word of teaching, teaching the purified heart things beyond speech through the unspoken 3.1.17 illumination of thoughts. If, then, Paul proclaims these things, that creation serves, and the only-begotten God is truly Lord and God over all, and John testifies that all creation came to be through him, how will one who is in any way numbered among Christians still endure seeing Eunomius, through this incoherent and illogical artifice, drag down the power that is above every rule and authority and lordship to the lowliness of creation through homonymy with that which serves? 3.1.18 But if he says that he has some of the saints who proclaimed him a servant or created or made or any of the lowly and servile names, behold, the Scriptures are present; let him, or someone else on his behalf, produce one such saying, and we shall be silent. 3.1.19 But if there is no such expression nor could such a thought ever be found in the trusted, divinely inspired Scriptures, which becomes an advocate for this impiety, why must one contend further about things that are acknowledged, against one who not only slanders the words of the saints, 3.1.20 but also wrestles with his own definitions? For if the order of nature, as this man himself acknowledges, attests the name to the Son because he was begotten, and thus the pairing of the name comes about through the relation of the one begotten to the one who begot, how, having detached the meaning of "Son" from its natural affinity, does he change the relation to that of a product and its maker? which it is true to say not only of the elements of the world, but also if one should speak of a silkworm and an ant, inasmuch as each of these is a product, the relation of the name to the maker holds equally. 3.1.21 The blasphemy, then, is clear from what has been said, along with many other things; but the usage by the saints, which this man claims to follow in saying these things, is nowhere apparent. But perhaps that part of the proverb might be brought forward to us by them, which the champions of the heresy are accustomed to adduce as a testimony that the Lord was created, the "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works." For because this saying was spoken by Wisdom, and the Lord was named Wisdom by the great Paul, as if of the only-begotten God himself through

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ἐν τοῖς διὰ τῆς κτίσεως οὖσι χωρὶς αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαι ὁ Ἰωάννης μαρτύρεται, τίς οὕτω τυφλὸς τὴν διάνοιαν, ὡς μηδὲ ἰδεῖν ἐν τῷ κηρύγματι τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ τὴν ἀλή θειαν, ὅτι ὁ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν ποιήσας ἄλλο τι πάντως 3.1.14 παρὰ τὴν κτίσιν ἐστίν; εἰ γὰρ πᾶν τὸ ἐν τοῖς γεγονόσιν ἀριθμούμενον δι' ἐκείνου ἐστίν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐστι καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεόν ἐστι, θεὸς ὢν καὶ λόγος καὶ ζωὴ καὶ φῶς καὶ χαρακτὴρ καὶ ἀπαύγασμα, οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν διὰ κτίσεως γεγονότων διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ὀνομάτων ὀνομάζεται, οὐ λόγος, οὐ θεός, οὐ ζωή, οὐ φῶς, οὐκ ἀλήθεια, οὐ χαρακτήρ, οὐκ ἀπαύγασμα, οὐδ' ἄλλο τι τῶν θεοπρεπῶν ὀνομάτων ἔστι περὶ τὴν κτίσιν εὑρεῖν, δῆλον ὅτι ὁ ταῦτα ὢν ἄλλο τι τῇ φύσει παρὰ τὴν κτίσιν ἐστίν, ἥτις τούτων οὐδὲν οὔτε ἐστὶν οὔτε λέγεται. 3.1.15 Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν τις ἐν ταῖς τοιαύταις φωναῖς ὁμω νυμία τῇ κτίσει πρὸς τὸν ποιήσαντα, συγγνωστὸς ἦν ἴσως διὰ τῆς τῶν λοιπῶν ὀνομάτων κοινότητος καὶ τὸ τῆς κτί σεως ὄνομα κοινοποιῆσαι τῷ κτισθέντι καὶ τῷ ποιήσαντι· εἰ δὲ πάντων ἀσύμβατά τε καὶ ἀκοινώνητα τὰ ἐπιθεω ρούμενα τῇ κτιστῇ τε καὶ τῇ ἀκτίστῳ φύσει διὰ τῶν ὀνο μάτων γνωρίσματα, πῶς οὐ φανερὰ πᾶσίν ἐστιν ἡ συκο φαντία τοῦ τολμῶντος ἐφαρμόσαι τὸ τῆς δουλείας ὄνομα τῷ δεσπόζοντι, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, ἐν τῇ δυναστείᾳ αὐτοῦ τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ τὸν ἐν πᾶσι πρωτεύοντα, καθὼς ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγει, διὰ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν κτίσιν ὀνόματός τε καὶ νοήματος εἰς ὁμότιμον ἄγειν <τάξιν> τῇ δουλευούσῃ φύσει; 3.1.16 πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν κτίσιν δουλεύειν ὁ μέγας ἀπεφήνατο Παῦ λος, ὁ ἐν τοῖς ἄνω τῶν οὐρανῶν διδασκαλείοις παιδευθεὶς τὴν ἀπόρρητον γνῶσιν, ἐκεῖ ταῦτα μαθὼν ὅπου ἀργεῖ πᾶσα φωνὴ σημαντικὴ διὰ λόγου προφερομένη, ἀλλὰ ῥῆμα γίνεται διδασκαλίας ἡ ἀνεκφώνητος ἔννοια, τὰ ὑπὲρ λόγον τὴν κεκαθαρμένην καρδίαν διὰ τῆς ἀλαλήτου τῶν νοημάτων 3.1.17 ἐλλάμψεως ἐκδιδάσκουσα. εἰ οὖν ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Παῦλος βοᾷ, ὅτι ἡ κτίσις δουλεύει, ὁ δὲ μονογενὴς θεὸς ἀληθῶς ἐστι κύριος καὶ θεὸς ἐπὶ πάντων, Ἰωάννης δὲ τὸ πᾶσαν δι' αὐτοῦ τῶν γεγονότων εἶναι τὴν κτίσιν μαρτύρεται, πῶς ἔτι ὁ καὶ ὁπωσοῦν ἐν Χριστιανοῖς ἀριθμούμενος ἀνέξεται διὰ τῆς ἀσυστάτου ταύτης καὶ ἀνακολούθου τεχνολογίας ὁρῶν τὸν Εὐνόμιον εἰς τὴν τῆς κτίσεως ταπεινότητα τὴν ὑπερ κειμένην πάσης ἀρχῆς τε καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ κυριότητος δύναμιν διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ δουλεῦον ὁμωνυμίας καθέλκοντα; 3.1.18 εἰ δέ φησιν ἔχειν τινὰς τῶν ἁγίων οἳ δοῦλον αὐτὸν ἀνεῖπον ἢ κτιστὸν ἢ ποιητὸν ἤ τι τῶν ταπεινῶν τε καὶ δουλοπρεπῶν ὀνομάτων, ἰδοὺ πάρεισιν αἱ γραφαί· δότω μίαν ἢ αὐτὸς ἢ ἄλλος τις ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου τοιαύτην φωνήν, καὶ ἡμεῖς σιωπή 3.1.19 σομεν. εἰ δὲ οὔτε ἔστι τοιαύτη λέξις οὔτ' ἂν εὑρεθείη ποτὲ ἐν ταῖς πεπιστευμέναις θεοπνεύστοις γραφαῖς διάνοιά τις τοιαύτη, ἥτις τῆς ἀσεβείας ταύτης συνήγορος γίνεται, τί χρὴ περαιτέρω περὶ τῶν ὁμολογουμένων διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τὸν οὐ μόνον τὰς τῶν ἁγίων συκοφαντοῦντα φωνάς, 3.1.20 ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις διορισμοῖς προσπαλαίοντα; εἰ γὰρ ἡ τῆς φύσεως τάξις, καθὼς αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁμολογεῖ, τῷ υἱῷ τὸ ὄνομα διὰ τὸ γεννηθῆναι προσμαρτυρεῖ, καὶ οὕτω γίνεται διὰ τῆς γεννηθέντος πρὸς τὸν γεννήσαντα σχέ σεως ἡ τοῦ ὀνόματος συζυγία, πῶς ἀποσπάσας τῆς φυσικῆς οἰκειότητος τὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ σημαινόμενον μεταβάλλει τὴν σχέσιν ἐπὶ τὸ ποίημά τε καὶ τὸν ποιήσαντα; ὅπερ οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τῶν στοιχείων τοῦ κόσμου ἀληθές ἐστι λέγειν, ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐπὶ βομβυλιοῦ τις εἴπῃ καὶ μύρμηκος, καθὸ ποίημα τού των ἐστὶν ἑκάτερον, ὁμοίως πρὸς τὸν ποιήσαντα ἡ τοῦ ὀνό ματος σχέσις τὸ ἴσον ἔχει. 3.1.21 Τὸ μὲν οὖν βλάσφημον μετὰ πολλῶν ἑτέρων καὶ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων δῆλόν ἐστιν· ἡ δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων χρῆσις, ᾗ φησιν οὗτος ἀκολουθῶν ταῦτα λέγειν, φανερὰ μέν ἐστιν οὐδεμία. τάχα δ' ἂν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖνο προενεχθείη παρ' αὐτῶν τῆς παροιμίας τὸ μέρος ὅπερ οἱ πρόμαχοι τῆς αἱρέσεως εἰς μαρτυρίαν τοῦ ἐκτίσθαι τὸν κύριον προφέρειν εἰώθασι, τὸ Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ. διὰ γὰρ τὸ παρὰ τῆς σοφίας εἰρῆσθαι τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, σοφίαν δὲ παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Παύλου κατωνομάσθαι τὸν κύριον, ὡς αὐτοῦ τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ διὰ