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generation)?; It is therefore confessed through the scriptures that the substance of the Only-begotten is made common by them even with the smallest parts of creation, and that every argument by which the Son's otherness from the Father is constructed has equal force also for each particular thing. 3.2.156 What need, then, has he of this varied subtlety for constructing the otherness according to nature, when he ought to have taken the short road of denial by openly declaring that the name of the Son should not be confessed nor the only-begotten God preached in the churches, but judging the Jewish worship to be more authoritative than the confession of Christians, and, by confessing the Father alone as maker and creator, to subject all the rest to the name and notion of 'creature', and among these to call the work set before others a 20thing made20, having come into being through some constructive energy, [and] addressing him as first-created instead of 3.2.157 only-begotten God and true Son? For if these points were established, it would be very easy for their doctrines to be concluded toward their goal, since everything would naturally be led from such a principle to its logical conclusion, namely that it is not possible for one who was neither begotten nor is a Son, but who came to subsist through some energy, to share in the substance of God. But as long as the voices of the Gospels prevail, through which he is preached as Son and Only-begotten and from the Father and from God and such things, he will babble in vain, deceiving both himself and his followers with such nonsense. 3.2.158 For since the appellation 'Son' proclaims the true relation to the Father, who is so foolish, when John and Paul and the rest of the choir of saints preach these genuine words indicative of kinship, as not to look to them, but to think Eunomius more truthful with the empty rattles of his sophistries *** than the teaching of those who speak mysteries through the Spirit and bear Christ within themselves? Who is this Eunomius? From where did he come to be elevated to lead Christians? 3.2.159 But let these things be, and as far as possible let our zeal for the matter at hand smooth our heart, which is swelling with zeal for the faith against the blasphemers. For how is it possible not to be moved to anger and hatred when our God and Master and Life-giver and Savior is being insulted by these paltry men? 3.2.160 For if someone reviled my earthly father or was hostile toward my benefactor, would it be possible to bear the anger against my loved ones dispassionately? But if the Lord of my soul, He who gave it subsistence when it did not exist and redeemed it when it was enslaved, He who gave it a taste of the present life and prepared the life to come, He who calls us to a kingdom and gives us surety how we might escape the condemnation of Gehenna—I say these things are small and not yet worthy of the greatness of our common Master—, He who is worshipped by all creation, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, whom the countless myriads of heavenly ministers attend, to whom everything that is administered here and has a desire for the good is turned, if this one is exposed to the reproach of men, for whom it is not enough only to attach themselves to the portion of the apostate, but they consider it a loss not to drag others with them into the same pit through their writings, so that guidance to destruction might not be lacking for future generations, does anyone blame our anger at these things? 3.2.161 But let us return to the sequence of the argument. For in what follows he slanders us again, as dishonoring the Son's generation by human likenesses, and he mentions what was written about these things by our father, in which he says that two things are signified by the word 'son', both the subsistence through passion and the genuineness in relation to the one who has begotten, that we should not admit the unseemly and carnal aspect in divine doctrines, but as for what serves as testimony to the glory of the Only-begotten, this alone should be included in lofty 3.2.162 dogmas. Who, then, dishonors the Son's generation with human conceptions, the one who banishes the passible and human from the divine generation, and impassibly joins the Son to the one who begot him, or the one who makes him common with the lower creation, who brought all things into being? But this new wisdom, it seems, thinks that such a thing tends toward dishonor, namely to appropriate the Son to the majesty of the Father, but considers it a great and lofty thing to bring him down into 3.2.163 equal honor with creation, our fellow servant. O empty accusations! Basil is slandered as dishonoring the Son, he who honors him as the Father is honored, and Eunomius champions the honor of the Only-begotten, he who separates him from the good nature of the Father. Such

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γέννησιν); οὐκοῦν ὁμολογεῖται διὰ τῶν γεγραμμένων ὅτι καὶ πρὸς τὰ μικρότατα τῆς κτίσεως μόρια κοινοποιεῖται παρ' αὐτῶν τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἡ οὐσία καὶ πᾶν ἐπιχείρημα, δι' οὗ κατασκευ άζεται ἡ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀλλοτρίωσις, τὴν ἴσην ἰσχὺν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον ἔχει. 3.2.156 Τίς οὖν αὐτῷ χρεία τῆς ποικίλης ταύτης λεπτουργίας εἰς κατασκευὴν τῆς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἀλλοτριότητος, δέον τὴν σύντομον τῆς ἀρνήσεως ὁδὸν τραπῆναι τῷ φανερῶς ἀπειπεῖν μὴ δεῖν ὁμολογεῖσθαι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸ ὄνομα μηδὲ τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις κηρύσσεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν λατρείαν κυριωτέραν τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν κρί νειν ὁμολογίας, καὶ μόνον κτίστην καὶ δημιουργὸν ὁμολο γοῦντας τὸν πατέρα τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα τῷ τῆς κτίσεως ὑπά γειν ὀνόματί τε καὶ νοήματι, ἐν δὲ τούτοις τὸ τῶν ἄλλων προτεταγμένον ἔργον 20ποίημα20 λέγειν διά τινος κατασκευα στικῆς ἐνεργείας γενόμενον, [καὶ] πρωτόκτιστον ἀντὶ μονο 3.2.157 γενοῦς θεοῦ καὶ ἀληθινοῦ υἱοῦ προσαγορεύοντας; τούτων γὰρ κεκρατηκότων, εὐκολία πολλὴ πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν αὐτῶν συμπερανθῆναι τὰ δόγματα, πάντων κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀκόλουθον ὁδηγουμένων, ὅτι τὸν μήτε γεννηθέντα μήτε υἱὸν ὄντα, διὰ δέ τινος ἐνεργείας ὑποστάντα κοινωνεῖν τῷ θεῷ τῆς οὐσίας οὐχ οἷόν τε. ἕως δ' ἂν κρατῶσιν αἱ τῶν εὐαγγελίων φωναί, δι' ὧν υἱὸς καὶ μονογενὴς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κηρύσσεται, μάτην ληρήσει, ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τοὺς καθ' ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῶν τοιούτων φληνάφων παρακρουόμενος. 3.2.158 τὴν γὰρ ἀληθῆ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα σχέσιν τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίας βοώσης, τίς οὕτως ἠλίθιος, ὡς Ἰωάννου καὶ Παύλου καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἁγίων τὰς γνησίας ταύ τας φωνὰς καὶ τῆς οἰκειότητος ἐνδεικτικὰς κηρυσσόντων μὴ πρὸς ἐκείνους βλέπειν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς διακένοις κροτάλοις τῶν Εὐνομίου σοφισμάτων *** διδασκαλίαν τῶν διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος λαλούντων μυστήρια καὶ Χριστὸν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς φε ρόντων Εὐνόμιον ἀληθέστερον οἴεσθαι; τίνα τοῦτον Εὐνό μιον; τὸν πόθεν εἰς τὸ καθηγεῖσθαι Χριστιανῶν ἐπαρ 3.2.159 θέντα; ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐάσθω, καὶ ὥς ἐστι δυνατὸν ἡ περὶ τὰ προκείμενα σπουδὴ καταλεαινέτω τὴν καρδίαν ἡμῖν ζήλῳ τῆς πίστεως κατὰ τῶν βλασφημούντων ὑπεροι δαίνουσαν. πῶς γὰρ ἔστι μὴ παρακινηθῆναι πρὸς ὀργὴν καὶ ἀπέχθειαν ἐν τῷ τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν καὶ δεσπότην καὶ ζωοποιὸν καὶ σωτῆρα παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρωπίσκων τούτων προ 3.2.160 πηλακίζεσθαι; εἰ γάρ μοι τὸν τῆς σαρκὸς ἐλοιδόρει πα τέρα ἢ πρὸς τὸν εὐεργέτην εἶχε τὸν ἐμὸν δυσμενῶς, ἆρα δυνατὸν ἦν ἀπαθῶς βαστάξαι τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἀγαπωμένων ὀργήν; εἰ δὲ ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς τῆς ἐμῆς κύριος, ὁ μὴ οὖσαν αὐτὴν ὑποστήσας καὶ δουλωθεῖσαν ἐξαγοράσας, ὁ τῆς τε παρούσης γεύσας ζωῆς καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν παρασκευάσας, ὁ πρὸς βασιλείαν καλῶν καὶ ὅπως ἂν φεύγοιμεν τὴν τῆς γεέννης κατάκρισιν παρεγγυῶν-μικρὰ λέγω ταῦτα καὶ οὔπω τῆς τοῦ κοινοῦ δεσπότου μεγαλωσύνης ἐπάξια-, ὁ ὑπὸ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως προσκυνούμενος, ἐπουρανίων, ἐπι γείων, καταχθονίων, ᾧ παρεστήκασιν αἱ ἀναρίθμητοι τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν λειτουργῶν μυριάδες, πρὸς ὃν ἐπέστραπται πᾶν ὅσον ὧδε διοικεῖται καὶ τοῦ καλοῦ τὴν ἔφεσιν ἔχει, εἰ οὗτος ἔκκειται πρὸς λοιδορίαν ἀνθρώποις, οἷς οὐκ ἀρκεῖ μόνον τὸ ἑαυτοὺς τῇ μερίδι τοῦ ἀποστάτου προσοικειῶσαι, ἀλλὰ ζημίαν ποιοῦνται τὸ μὴ καὶ ἄλλους εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ βά ραθρον μεθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐφελκύσασθαι διὰ τῆς λογογραφίας, ὡς ἂν μὴ λείποι τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἡ πρὸς τὸν ὄλεθρον χειραγωγία, ἆρά τις μέμφεται τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις ὀργήν; 3.2.161 Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ἐπαναδράμωμεν. δια βάλλει γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς πάλιν ἡμᾶς ὡς ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ὁμοιότησιν ἀτιμάζοντας τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν γέννησιν, καὶ μέμνηταί γε τῶν γεγραμμένων τῷ ἡμετέρῳ πατρὶ περὶ τούτων, ἐν οἷς φησι δύο σημαινομένων ἐκ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ φωνῆς, τῆς τε διὰ πάθους συστάσεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν γεγεννηκότα γνη σιότητος, τὸ μὲν ἀπρεπὲς καὶ σαρκῶδες ἐν τοῖς θείοις μὴ προσίεσθαι λόγοις, τὸ δὲ ὅσον εἰς μαρτυρίαν τῆς τοῦ μονο γενοῦς δόξης ἐστί, τοῦτο μόνον ἐν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς παραλαμ 3.2.162 βάνεσθαι δόγμασι. τίς οὖν ἀτιμάζει ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ὑπολήψεσι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν γέννησιν, ὁ ἐξορίζων τῆς θείας γεν νήσεως τὸ παθητὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπινον, ἀπαθῶς δὲ συνάπτων τὸν υἱὸν τῷ γεννήσαντι, ἢ ὁ κοινοποιῶν πρὸς τὴν κάτω κτίσιν τὸν τὰ πάντα παραγαγόντα εἰς γένεσιν; ἀλλὰ τὸ τοιοῦτον, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ καινὴ αὕτη σοφία πρὸς ἀτιμίαν οἴεται βλέπειν, τὸ τῇ μεγαλειότητι τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱὸν οἰκειῶσαι, μέγα δὲ καὶ ὑψηλὸν τὸ καταγαγεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς 3.2.163 ὁμοτιμίαν τῆς ἡμῖν ὁμοδούλου κτίσεως. ὢ κενῶν ἐγκλη μάτων· Βασίλειος ὡς ἀτιμάζων τὸν υἱὸν διαβάλλεται, ὁ τιμῶν αὐτὸν καθὼς τιμᾶται ὁ πατήρ, καὶ Εὐνόμιος τῆς τιμῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑπερμάχεται, ὁ τῆς ἀγαθῆς φύσεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἀφορίζων. τοιαύτην