260

of the one grafting? then he says 20nor indeed such a notion fabricated from without and by us, which inscribes itself in the laws of piety20. But I will once again beg pardon concerning what has been said, that it was not to make a joke for the readers that I set forth these laughable statements, but so that I might persuade the hearer, from what sort of preparation of arguments this man, who derides our lack of eloquence, proceeds, and then makes bold against the truth. 2.1.607 what sort of man is he in his speech and what sort of things does he utter, he who revels in and makes a show for the thick-skinned among his audience, who, as he artlessly brings to conclusion these pompous and dry-mouthed phrases, proclaim him as one who has conquered all by the power of his words? But he says that the substance itself is immortality. But what do you say the substance of the Only-begotten is, I might say to him, immortality or not? since in this case also simplicity, 20no20, as you say, 20connaturality 2.1.608 admits of20. If, then, he denies that the substance of the Son is immortality, it is clear at what he is aiming. For what is contrasted with the immortal does not require a very subtle mind to comprehend. For just as the consequence of the opposite division shows that what is not incorruptible is corruptible, and what is not unchangeable is changeable, so also what is not immortal is certainly mortal. What then will the expounder of new doctrines, what will he say literally to us about the substance of the 2.1.609 Only-begotten? For I will again pose the same question to the speechwriter. Will he grant that this also is immortality, or will he not agree? If, then, he should not accept that the substance of the Son is immortality, he will necessarily agree with the opposite, concluding through the removal of the better term that it is 2.1.610 death. But if, fleeing the absurdity, he should name the substance of the Only-begotten also immortality, he will necessarily agree that on this account there is no difference according to substance. For if the nature of both the Father and the Son is equally immortality, and immortality is not divided from itself by any principle of difference, then it is confessed even by our enemies that no principle of difference is found between the Father and the Son with respect to substance. 2.1.611 But it would be time to set forth his grave accusation against us, which he made at the end of his speech, saying that we 20say the Father is from that which is in no way existent20. Having stolen a certain phrase from the context and dragged it out bare and disconnected from the rest of the body, he attempts to vex it, tearing it with his insatiate teeth, or rather, beslobbering the statement. But I will speak first of the meaning of the things clarified for us by our teacher concerning this matter, and then I will set forth the statement itself word for word, so that it may become clear to all who it is that, for the ruin of the truth, worms his way into the pursuits of the pious. 2.1.612 For our teacher, leading us to the meaning of 'unbegotten' through his own arguments, proposed to us such an approach to the knowledge of what is sought, showing that the meaning of 'unbegotten' is far from the concept related to substance. The evangelist, he says, having begun the genealogy of the Lord according to the flesh from Joseph, then proceeding to the one always older in time and setting the end of the genealogy at Adam, and because no physical father exists above the first-formed man, saying "of God," he says it is ready for each person's mind to grasp this concerning God, that God, from whom Adam is, does not himself have his hypostasis from another in the likeness of those who are genealogized in a human way. 2.1.613 For when, having gone through all things, we grasp God after all things with our mind, we have understood the beginning of all things. But any beginning, if it should happen to be dependent on something else, is not a beginning. Therefore, if God is the beginning of the universe, there will be nothing whatsoever superior to the beginning of all things. This is the teacher's exposition concerning the meaning of 'unbegotten'. And that nothing outside the truth has been testified by us concerning him, I will set forth the saying about this in its very words. 2.1.614 "1The evangelist Luke," he says, "the genealogy according to the flesh of our God and Savior Jesus

260

ἐγκεντρίζοντος; εἶτά φησι 20μήτε μὴν ἔξωθεν καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν πλαττομένην τοι αύτην ἔννοιαν εὐσεβείας νόμοις ἐγγραφούσης20. ἀλλὰ παραιτήσομαι πάλιν περὶ τῶν εἰρημένων, ὡς οὐχὶ γελωτοποιῶν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι τὰς ἐπιγελάστους ταύτας ἐξεθέμην φωνάς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν πείσαιμι τὸν ἀκροατήν, ἀφ' οἵας οὗτος παρασκευῆς τῶν λόγων ὁρμώμενος ὁ τὸν ἡμέ τερον ἰδιωτισμὸν διαπλύνων ἔπειτα τῆς ἀληθείας καταθρα 2.1.607 σύνεται. τίς ὢν κατὰ τὸν λόγον καὶ οἷα φθεγγόμενος ὁ τοῖς παχυδέρμοις τῶν ἀκροατῶν ἐντρυφῶν τε καὶ ἐμπομ πεύων, οἳ τὰς στομφώδεις αὐτὸν ταύτας ξηροστομίας κακο συνθέτως διαπεραίνοντα ὡς κεκρατηκότα τῶν πάντων τῇ δυνάμει τῶν λόγων ἀνακηρύσσουσιν; ἀλλ' αὐτὴν εἶναί φησι τὴν οὐσίαν ἀθανασίαν. τὴν δὲ τοῦ μονογενοῦς οὐσίαν τί φῄς, πρὸς αὐτὸν εἴποιμι ἄν, ἀθανασίαν ἢ οὐχί; ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτης ἡ ἁπλότης 20οὐδεμίαν20, καθὼς φῄς, 20συμ 2.1.608 φυΐαν προσίεται20. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀρνεῖται τὸ ἀθανασίαν εἶναι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν, δῆλον εἰς ὅ τι βλέπει. τὸ γὰρ ἀντιδιαστελλόμενον τῷ ἀθανάτῳ οὐ λίαν ἐστὶ λεπτῆς κατα νοῆσαι φρενός. ὡς γὰρ τὸ μὴ ἄφθαρτον φθαρτὸν ἡ ἀκο λουθία τῆς ἀντιδιαιρέσεως δείκνυσι καὶ τρεπτὸν τὸ μὴ ἄτρεπτον, οὕτω καὶ θνητὸν πάντως τὸ μὴ ἀθάνατον. τί οὖν ὁ τῶν καινῶν δογμάτων ἐξηγητής, τί περὶ τῆς τοῦ 2.1.609 μονογενοῦς ἡμῖν οὐσίας κυριολογήσει; πάλιν γὰρ τὴν αὐτὴν προσοίσω τῷ λογογράφῳ ἐρώτησιν. δώσει καὶ ταύτην ἀθα νασίαν εἶναι ἢ οὐ συνθήσεται; εἰ μὲν οὖν μὴ δέχοιτο τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν ἀθανασίαν εἶναι, ἀναγκαίως τῷ ἐναντίῳ συνθήσεται, διὰ τῆς τοῦ κρείττονος ἀφαιρέσεως θάνατον 2.1.610 αὐτὴν εἶναι κατασκευάζων. εἰ δὲ φεύγων τὸ ἄτοπον ἀθα νασίαν καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς τὴν οὐσίαν κατονομάζοι, οὐδε μίαν ἐξ ἀνάγκης διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν διαφορὰν εἶναι συνθήσεται. εἰ γὰρ ἐπίσης ἥ τε τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ φύσις ἀθανασία ἐστὶν, ἀθανασία δὲ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ διαφορᾶς διασχίζεται, ἄρα καὶ παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἐχ θρῶν ὁμολογεῖται τὸ μηδένα διαφορᾶς λόγον ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν εὑρίσκεσθαι. 2.1.611 Ἀλλὰ καιρὸς ἂν εἴη τὴν χαλεπὴν αὐτοῦ καθ' ἡμῶν προθεῖναι κατηγορίαν, ἣν ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ λόγου πεποίη, λέγων ἡμᾶς 20ἐκ τοῦ πάντη μὴ ὄντος τὸν πατέρα λέγειν20. κλέψας τινὰ λέξιν ἐκ τῆς συμφράσεως καὶ ψιλὴν αὐτὴν καὶ ἀσύντακτον ἐκ τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος ἀφελκύσας κνίζειν ἐπιχειρεῖ τοῖς ἀπλήκτοις ὀδοῦσι κατα σπαράσσων, μᾶλλον δὲ κατασιελίζων τὸν λόγον. λέξω δὲ πρῶτον μὲν τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν παρὰ τοῦ διδασκάλου περὶ τούτου διευκρινηθέντων ἡμῖν, εἶθ' οὕτω τὸν λόγον αὐτὸν ἐπὶ λέξεως παραθήσομαι, ὡς ἂν πᾶσι γένοιτο φανερὸς ὁ ἐπὶ λύμῃ τῆς ἀληθείας ταῖς τῶν εὐσεβούντων σπουδαῖς 2.1.612 εἰσφθειρόμενος. προσάγων γὰρ ἡμᾶς τῇ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου σημασίᾳ διὰ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν λόγων ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν τοιαύτην ἡμῖν ἔφοδον πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ζητουμένου γνῶσιν ὑπέ θετο, δεικνὺς πόρρω τῆς κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐννοίας ὂν τοῦ ἀγεννήτου τὸ σημαινόμενον. τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, φησί, τῆς κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ κυρίου γενεαλογίας ἐκ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιησαμένου, εἶτα προϊόντος ἐπὶ τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνῳ πρε σβύτερον καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ τὸ πέρας τῆς γενεαλογίας ὁρί σαντος καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ὑπερκεῖσθαι τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου σω ματικὸν πατέρα τοῦ θεοῦ φήσαντος, πρόχειρον εἶναί φησι τῇ ἑκάστου διανοίᾳ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦτο λαβεῖν ὅτι ὁ θεός, ἐξ οὗ ὁ Ἀδάμ, οὐ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἀνθρωπικῶς γε νεαλογηθέντων καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ ἑτέρου τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει. 2.1.613 ἐπειδὰν γὰρ πάντα διεξελθόντες τὸν θεὸν μετὰ πάντα τῷ νῷ λάβωμεν, τὴν πάντων ἀρχὴν ἐνοήσαμεν. ἀρχὴ δὲ πᾶσα εἴπερ ἑτέρου τινὸς ἐξημμένη τύχοι, ἀρχὴ οὐκ ἔστιν. οὐκοῦν εἰ ἀρχὴ τοῦ παντὸς ὁ θεός, οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν ἔσται τῆς τῶν πάντων ἀρχῆς ὑπερκείμενον. αὕτη τοῦ διδασκάλου περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου σημασίας ἡ ἔκθεσις. καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῷ παρ' ἡμῶν μεμαρτύρηται, αὐτὴν ἐπὶ ῥημάτων τὴν περὶ τούτου ῥῆσιν ἐκθήσομαι. 2.1.614 "1Ὁ εὐαγγελιστής, φησί, Λουκᾶς τὴν κατὰ σάρκα γε νεαλογίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ