193

rank. Surely you remember the history, that all of Judea was tributary to David, and the land of Idumea, and Moabitis, and as much of Syria as was neighboring and the more distant parts up to Mesopotamia, and in another direction as far as the river of Egypt. If, then, no one of those after him appeared with so great a rank, how is the prophet's word not true, that no one from the seed of Jechoniah will ever again be seated on the throne of David? For no one from him appears to have attained this rank. However, the tribe of Judah did not fail until He came for whom it was reserved, who did not Himself sit upon the physical throne, since the Judean kingdom had then passed to Herod, the son of Antipater the Ascalonite, and his children, who divided Judea into four tetrarchies, while Pilate was governor, and Tiberius held the entire power of the Roman empire. But he calls the indestructible kingdom the throne of David, upon which the Lord sat. "For he is the expectation of the nations," not of the smallest part of the inhabited world. "For," he says, "there shall be the root of Jesse, and he who rises to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope. For I have made you a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. And I will establish," he says, "his seed forever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven." Thus, then, he remained a priest, even if he did not receive the scepters of Judea, and God is king of all the earth, and the blessing of Jacob was confirmed: "And in his seed all the tribes of the earth will be blessed," and all the nations will call Christ blessed. 236.4 And to the elegant Encratites, regarding their solemn problem of why we too do not eat everything, let this be said: that we also abhor our own excrement. For according to their value, meats are to us as the green herb, but according to the distinction of what is beneficial, just as among vegetables we separate the harmful from the suitable, so too among meats we distinguish the harmful from the useful, since hemlock is also a vegetable, just as vulture is also meat; but still, no one in his right mind would eat henbane, nor would one touch a dog unless pressed by great necessity, although the one who eats it has not sinned. 236.5 As for those who say that human affairs are governed by fate, do not seek arguments from us, but wound them with the proper barbs of rhetoric; for the problem is too great for my present weakness. But concerning the emersion in baptism, I do not know what occurred to you to ask, if indeed you accepted that the immersion fulfills the type of the three days. For it is impossible to be baptized three times without emerging that many times. But we accent φαγών on the penult. 236.6 Ousia and hypostasis have this difference which the general has in relation to the particular, for example, as animal has in relation to a specific man. For this reason we confess one ousia in the Godhead, so as not to give a different account of being; but a particular hypostasis, so that our concept of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit may be unconfused and distinct within us. For if we do not conceive the distinct characteristics of each, such as Fatherhood and Sonship and Sanctification, but confess God from the common concept of being, it is impossible to give a sound account of the faith. It is necessary, therefore, adding the particular to the common, to confess the faith thus: the Godhead is common, Fatherhood is particular; joining them we say: I believe in God the Father. And again in the confession of the Son, to do the same, joining the particular to the common and saying: in God the Son. Likewise also in the case of the Holy Spirit, forming the utterance according to the sequence of the pronouncement, saying: I believe also in the divine Holy Spirit, so that throughout both the unity is preserved in the confession of the one Godhead, and the particularity of the persons is confessed in the definition of the properties conceived of each. But those who say ousia and hypostasis are the same

193

ἀξίωμα. Πάντως δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας μέμνησαι, ὅτι ὑπόφορος μὲν ἦν τῷ ∆αβὶδ πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία καὶ ἡ Ἰδουμαία χώρα καὶ ἡ Μωαβῖτις καὶ τῆς Συρίας ὅσα τε πρόσχωρα καὶ τὰ πορρωτέρω μέχρι τῆς Μέσης τῶν ποταμῶν, καὶ καθ' ἕτερον μέρος ἕως ποταμοῦ Αἰγύπτου. Εἰ οὖν οὐδεὶς ἐφάνη ἐπὶ τοσούτου ἀξιώματος, τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα, πῶς οὐκ ἀληθὴς ὁ τοῦ προφήτου λόγος, ὅτι οὐκ ἔτι καθιεῖται ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου ∆αβὶδ ἐκ τοῦ σπέρ ματος Ἰεχονίου; Οὐδεὶς γὰρ φαίνεται τῆς ἀξίας ταύτης ἐπειλημμένος ἐξ αὐτοῦ. Οὐ μέντοι ἐξέλιπεν ἡ τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλὴ ἕως οὗ ἦλθεν ᾧ ἀπέκειτο, ὃς οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ἐκαθέσθη ἐπὶ τοῦ σωματικοῦ θρόνου, μεταπεσούσης λοιπὸν τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς βασιλείας ἐπὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Ἀσκαλωνίτου Ἀντιπάτρου Ἡρώδην καὶ τοὺς ἐκείνου παῖδας, οἳ εἰς τέσσαρας ἀρχὰς κατενείμαντο τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, ἡγεμονεύοντος μὲν Πιλάτου, τὸ δὲ σύμπαν τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς ἀρχῆς κράτος ἔχοντος Τιβερίου. Ἀλλὰ θρόνον λέγει ∆αβίδ, ἐφ' ὃν ὁ Κύριος ἐκάθισε, τὴν ἀκαθαίρετον βασιλείαν. «Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστι προσ δοκία ἐθνῶν», οὐχὶ τοῦ ἐλαχίστου μέρους τῆς οἰκουμένης. «Ἔσται γάρ, φησίν, ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαὶ καὶ ὁ ἀνιστάμενος ἄρχειν ἐθνῶν· ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσι. Τέθεικα γάρ σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν. Καὶ θήσομαι, φησίν, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ ὡς τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.» Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἱερεὺς διέμεινεν, εἰ καὶ μὴ τὰ σκῆπτρα τῆς Ἰουδαίας παρέλαβε, καὶ βασιλεὺς πάσης τῆς γῆς ὁ Θεός, καὶ ἡ εὐλογία τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἐβεβαιώθη· «Καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς», καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη μακα ριοῦσι τὸν Χριστόν. 236.4 Τοῖς δὲ κομψοῖς Ἐγκρατίταις πρὸς τὸ σεμνὸν αὐτῶν πρόβλημα, διὰ τί καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐχὶ πάντα ἐσθίομεν, ἐκεῖνο λεγέσθω ὅτι καὶ τὰ περιττώματα ἡμῶν βδελυσσόμεθα. Κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἀξίαν λάχανα χόρτου ἡμῖν ἐστι τὰ κρέα, κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν συμφερόντων διάκρισιν, ὡς καὶ ἐν λαχάνοις τὸ βλαβερὸν τοῦ καταλλήλου χωρίζομεν, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τοῖς κρέασι τοῦ χρησίμου τὸ βλαβερὸν διακρίνομεν, ἐπεὶ λάχανόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ κώνειον, ὥσπερ κρέας ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ γύπειον· ἀλλ' ὅμως οὔτε ὑοσκύαμον φάγοι ἄν τις νοῦν ἔχων, οὔτε κυνὸς ἅψαιτο μὴ μεγάλης ἀνάγκης κατεπειγούσης, ὡς ὅγε φαγὼν οὐκ ἠνόμησεν. 236.5 Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας καθ' εἱμαρμένην διοικεῖσθαι τὰ ἀνθρώπινα μὴ παρ' ἡμῶν ζήτει λόγους, ἀλλὰ ταῖς οἰκείαις τῆς ῥητορικῆς ἀκίσιν αὐτοὺς κατατίτρωσκε· μακρό τερον γάρ ἐστι τὸ πρόβλημα τῆς παρούσης μοι ἀσθενείας. Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι ἀνανεύσεως οὐκ οἶδα τί ἐπῆλθέ σοι ἐρωτῆσαι, εἴπερ ἐδέξω τὴν κατάδυσιν τὸν τύπον τῶν τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐκπληροῦν. Βαπτισθῆναι γὰρ τρισσάκις ἀδύνατον μὴ ἀναδύντα τοσαυτάκις. Τὸν δὲ φάγον παροξυ τονοῦμεν ἡμεῖς. 236.6 Οὐσία δὲ καὶ ὑπόστασις ταύτην ἔχει τὴν διαφορὰν ἣν ἔχει τὸ κοινὸν πρὸς τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον, οἷον ὡς ἔχει τὸ ζῷον πρὸς τὸν δεῖνα ἄνθρωπον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐσίαν μὲν μίαν ἐπὶ τῆς θεότητος ὁμολογοῦμεν, ὥστε τὸν τοῦ εἶναι λόγον μὴ διαφόρως ἀποδιδόναι· ὑπόστασιν δὲ ἰδιάζουσαν, ἵν' ἀσύγχυτος ἡμῖν καὶ τετρανωμένη ἡ περὶ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἔννοια ἐνυπάρχῃ. Μὴ γὰρ νοούντων ἡμῶν τοὺς ἀφωρισμένους περὶ ἕκαστον χαρακτῆρας, οἷον πατρότητα καὶ υἱότητα καὶ ἁγιασμόν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς κοινῆς ἐννοίας τοῦ εἶναι ὁμολογούντων Θεόν, ἀμήχανον ὑγιῶς τὸν λόγον τῆς πίστεως ἀποδίδοσθαι. Χρὴ οὖν τῷ κοινῷ τὸ ἰδιά ζον προστιθέντας, οὕτω τὴν πίστιν ὁμολογεῖν· κοινὸν ἡ θεότης, ἴδιον ἡ πατρότης· συνάπτοντας λέγειν· πιστεύω εἰς Θεὸν Πατέρα. Καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ὁμολογίᾳ τὸ παραπλήσιον ποιεῖν, τῷ κοινῷ συνάπτειν τὸ ἴδιον καὶ λέγειν· εἰς Θεὸν Υἱόν. Ὁμοίως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Ἁγίου κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τῆς ἐκφωνήσεως τὴν προφορὰν σχημα τίζοντας λέγειν· πιστεύω καὶ εἰς τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, ὥστε δι' ὅλου καὶ τὴν ἑνότητα σῴζεσθαι ἐν τῇ τῆς μιᾶς θεότητος ὁμολογίᾳ, καὶ τὸ τῶν προσώπων ἰδιάζον ὁμολο γεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ ἀφορισμῷ τῶν περὶ ἕκαστον νοουμένων ἰδιωμάτων. Οἱ δὲ ταὐτὸν λέγοντες οὐσίαν καὶ ὑπόστασιν