172

dogmatizing the otherness of essences through such expressions. 3.1.73 But that the argument concerning these things might be revealed to us most clearly, we will once again consider the matter at hand in this way. He who established the universe made human nature in the beginning along with all things, and after Adam came to be, then he legislated for human beings generation from one another, saying, Increase and multiply. Therefore, since Abel came into existence by being begotten, who of those who are right-minded would not say, according to the very meaning of human generation, 3.1.74 that Adam came into existence unbegottenly? But indeed the first man had in himself the whole definition of human essence, and he who was begotten from him is likewise described by the same account of essence. For if the begotten essence were established as some other essence apart from the unbegotten, the same account of essence would not have applied to both. For of those whose essence is different, the account of the essence is not the same. Therefore, since the essence of Adam and the essence of Abel are characterized by the same properties, it is altogether necessary to agree that there is one essence for both, but that a different one and a different one is shown in the same nature. 3.1.75 For Adam and Abel, in the account of nature, the two are one, but in the properties observed in each of them, they have an unconfused distinction from each other. Therefore it is not proper to say that Adam begot another essence apart from himself, but rather that from himself he begot another self, to whom the whole account of the begetter's essence 3.1.76 was imparted. Therefore, what we have learned concerning human nature through the guidance previously shown to us by the argument in a consistent way, this I think we must also take for guidance to the pure understanding of divine doctrines. For having shaken off every carnal and material concept of the divine and lofty doctrines, we will have, through the remaining thought when it is purified of such things, the most secure guidance to things lofty and inaccessible. 3.1.77 For it is confessed even by our opponents that the God who is over all both is and is called Father of the Only-begotten, but they also name the Only-begotten God, who is from the Father, 20begotten20 because he was begotten. Therefore, since among men the name of father has certain conjoined implications, from which the pure nature is alienated, it is fitting to leave behind all the material concepts concerning the carnal meaning of father that enter in, and to impress on oneself a certain God-befitting thought, indicative only of genuineness in the case of God the Father. 3.1.78 Therefore, since not only everything that the flesh supposes is included in the concept of a human father, but also a certain notion of interval is certainly conceived of along with human fatherhood, it would be good to cast off along with the corporeal filth also the notion of interval in the case of the divine generation, so that, with the material property washed away from every side, the transcendent generation might be pure of every passionate, but also of every intervallic, thought. 3.1.79 Therefore he who calls God "Father" will include in the concept of God's being also what he is. For for whom being is from some beginning, for him what he is also certainly begins from something; but for him whose being did not begin, neither does anything else contemplated concerning him have its beginning from something. But indeed God is Father. Therefore from eternity he is what he is; for he did not become, but is Father; for in God's case, what 3.1.80 was, also is and will be. And if at some time something was not, it neither is nor will be; for he is not believed to be Father of some such thing, without which it is pious to say that God was ever by himself. For the Father is Father of life, and of truth, and of wisdom, and of light, and of sanctification, and of power, and of all such things, whatever the Only-begotten both is and is named. Therefore, when it is argued by the enemies that the light once was not, I do not know whose loss is greater, whether that of the light itself, when it is not the light, or of him who has it, when he does not 3.1.81 have the light. So also concerning life and truth and power and

172

τὴν ἑτερότητα τῶν οὐσιῶν διὰ τῶν τοιούτων φωνῶν δογματίζουσα. 3.1.73 Ὡς δ' ἂν μάλιστα σαφέστερον ἡμῖν ὁ περὶ τούτων λόγος ἐκκαλυφθείη, οὑτωσὶ τὸ προκείμενον πάλιν διαληψό μεθα. ἐποίησε τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν κατ' ἀρχὰς μετὰ πάντων ὁ τὸ πᾶν συστησάμενος, καὶ μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τὸν Ἀδὰμ τότε τὴν ἐξ ἀλλήλων γέννησιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐνο μοθέτησεν εἰπὼν Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε. τοῦ τοίνυν Ἄβελ γεννητῶς ὑποστάντος, τίς οὐκ ἂν εἴποι τῶν εὖ φρο νούντων κατ' αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης γεννήσεως σημαι 3.1.74 νόμενον ἀγεννήτως τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὑποστῆναι; ἀλλὰ μὴν ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ὅλον ἔσχεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης οὐσίας τὸν ὅρον, καὶ ὁ ἐξ ἐκείνου γεννηθεὶς ὡσαύτως ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τῆς οὐσίας ὑπογράφεται λόγῳ. εἰ δὲ ἄλλη τις ἡ γεννηθεῖσα οὐσία παρὰ τὴν μὴ γεννηθεῖσαν κατεσκευάζετο, οὐκ ἂν ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων ὁ αὐτὸς τῆς οὐσίας ἥρμοσε λόγος. ὧν γὰρ ἡ οὐσία διάφορος, τούτων οὐδὲ ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν ὁ αὐτὸς τῆς οὐσίας. ἐπεὶ οὖν τοῖς αὐτοῖς χαρακτηρίζεται ἰδιώμασιν ἥ τε τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ ἡ τοῦ Ἄβελ οὐσία, πᾶσα ἀνάγκη μίαν μὲν οὐσίαν ἐπ' ἀμφοτέροις εἶναι συντίθεσθαι, ἄλλον δὲ καὶ ἄλλον τὸν ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ φύσει δεικνύμενον. 3.1.75 ὁ γὰρ Ἀδὰμ καὶ ὁ Ἄβελ ἐν μὲν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως εἷς οἱ δύο εἰσίν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐπιθεωρουμένοις ἑκατέρῳ αὐτῶν ἰδιώμασιν ἀσύγχυτον ἔχουσι τὴν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων διάκρισιν. οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἔστι κυρίως εἰπεῖν ὅτι ὁ Ἀδὰμ οὐσίαν παρ' αὐτὸν ἄλλην ἐγέννησεν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὅτι ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ἐγέν νησεν ἄλλον ἑαυτόν, ᾧ πᾶς ὁ τῆς τοῦ γεννήσαντος οὐσίας 3.1.76 συναπετέχθη λόγος. ὅπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης μεμα θήκαμεν φύσεως διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου προδειχθείσης ἡμῖν ὁδηγίας, τοῦτο οἶμαι δεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκήρατον τῶν θείων δογμάτων κατανόησιν εἰς ὁδηγίαν λαβεῖν. πᾶσαν γὰρ σαρκώδη καὶ ὑλικὴν ἔννοιαν τῶν θείων τε καὶ ὑψηλῶν δογμάτων ἀποσεισάμενοι ἀσφα λεστάτην ἕξομεν διὰ τοῦ καταλειπομένου νοήματος, ὅταν ἐκκαθαρθῇ τῶν τοιούτων, τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλά τε καὶ ἀπρόσ ιτα χειραγωγίαν. 3.1.77 Ὁμολογεῖται γὰρ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἐναντίων τὸν ἐπὶ πάν των ὄντα θεὸν πατέρα τοῦ μονογενοῦς καὶ εἶναι καὶ λέ γεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν τὸν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὄντα 20γεννητὸν20 διὰ τὸ γεννηθῆναι κατονομάζουσιν. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν ἀνθρώποις τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ὄνομα συνεζευγμένας ἔχει τινὰς ἐμφάσεις, ὧν ἡ ἀκήρατος ἠλλοτρίωται φύσις, πάντα προσήκει ὅσα περὶ τὴν σαρκώδη τοῦ πατρὸς σημασίαν ὑλικὰ νοήματα συνεισέρχεται καταλιπόντα θεοπρεπῆ τινα διάνοιαν ἐμφαντικὴν μόνης τῆς γνησιότητος ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς 3.1.78 ἐντυπώσασθαι. ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐ μόνον ὅσα ἡ σὰρξ νοεῖν ὑπο τίθεται τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου πατρὸς ἐννοίᾳ συγκαταλαμβά νεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ διαστηματική τις ἔννοια συνεπινοεῖται πάν τως τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ πατρότητι, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι τῷ σωματικῷ ῥύπῳ καὶ τὴν διαστηματικὴν ἔννοιαν ἐπὶ τῆς θείας συν αποβαλεῖν γεννήσεως, ὡς ἂν πανταχόθεν ἐκπλυθείσης τῆς ὑλικῆς ἰδιότητος καθαρεύοι παντὸς οὐ μόνον ἐμπαθοῦς, ἀλλὰ καὶ διαστηματικοῦ νοήματος ἡ ὑπερέχουσα γέννησις. 3.1.79 οὐκοῦν ὁ πατέρα τὸν θεὸν λέγων τῇ τοῦ εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ἐννοίᾳ καὶ τὸ τὶ εἶναι συμπεριλήψεται. ᾧ γὰρ ἀπό τινος ἀρχῆς ἐστι τὸ εἶναι, τούτῳ καὶ τὸ τὶ εἶναι πάντως ἀπό τινος ἄρχεται· ἐφ' οὗ δὲ τὸ εἶναι οὐκ ἤρξατο, οὐδὲ εἴ τι ἄλλο περὶ αὐτὸν θεωρεῖται ἀπό τινος τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχει. ἀλλὰ μὴν πατὴρ ὁ θεός. οὐκοῦν ἐξ ἀϊδίου ἐστὶν ὅπερ ἐστίν· οὐ γὰρ ἐγένετο, ἀλλ' ἐστὶ πατήρ· ἐπὶ θεοῦ γὰρ ὃ 3.1.80 ἦν, καὶ ἐστὶ καὶ ἔσται. εἰ δέ τί ποτε μὴ ἦν, οὔτε ἐστὶν οὔτε ἔσται· οὐ γὰρ τοιούτου τινὸς πεπίστευται εἶναι πατήρ, οὗ χωρὶς εὐσεβές ἐστιν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ ποτε τὸν θεὸν εἶναι λέγειν. ζωῆς γάρ ἐστι πατὴρ ὁ πατὴρ ἀληθείας τε καὶ σοφίας καὶ φωτὸς καὶ ἁγιασμοῦ καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ πάντων τῶν τοιούτων, ὅσα ὁ μονογενής ἐστί τε καὶ ὀνομάζεται. ὅταν τοίνυν παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν κατασκευάζηται τὸ μὴ εἶναί ποτε φῶς, οὐκ οἶδα τίνος πλείων ἐστὶν ἡ ζημία, πότερον αὐτοῦ τοῦ φωτός, ὅταν μὴ τὸ φῶς ᾖ, ἢ τοῦ ἔχοντος, ὅταν μὴ 3.1.81 ἔχῃ τὸ φῶς. οὕτω καὶ περὶ τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ