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being from the aforementioned irrational heresy, that which denies the Gospel according to John and the God, the Word, who was in the beginning, proclaimed in it, and his Revelation, but also having associated with and co-existed with the other aforementioned heresies and succeeding them in time, from which are the so-called Theodotians. And whether the heresy still exists, we do not know, but we will speak of what has come to us from writings. This Theodotus was from Byzantium, which is now called Constantinople. a leather-worker by trade, but very learned in speech. He, along with several others, at a time when a persecution arose—I do not know how to say in which persecution—was arrested by the ruler of the city with several others and examined with the others on behalf of Christ. All the others, servants of God, carrying off the victory, obtained heavenly rewards, having witnessed for Christ, but this man, having denied Christ and fallen away from the goal of truth, went astray, and out of great shame, being reproached by many, he fled from his own fatherland and went up to Rome and stayed there. But being recognized by those in Rome, he fell again there under the same reproach because he was accused by those who knew him on account of his great learning, that being a very learned man he had fallen away from the truth. And for his own supposedly wicked defense he contrived this new doctrine, saying, "I did not deny God, but I denied a man." Then when asked, "What man?" he answered, saying, "I denied Christ, a man." From this he thus dogmatized for himself a doctrine, as did the Theodotians who were formed from him, asserting that Christ was a mere man and born from the seed of a man. Then for his own wicked defense he collected whatever useful things he found, not thinking purely, but heaping these things up for himself as a pretext for his deviation, "because, he says, Christ said, 'But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth.'" "You see," he says, "that he is a man." 2. But the wretch did not know that in the same passage the Lord says, "the truth, which I heard from my Father." And he calls God his 2.319 Father, not a man. For if he had heard it from a man, he would not 2.319 have boasted in the witness of the truth, saying he had heard the truth from men; but so that he might show that he is God, begotten from the Father above, but became man for our sake and was killed in the flesh, but is always living in divinity. Then he says that he did not even commit a sin by denying Christ, "for Christ himself," he says, "said, 'Every blasphemy will be forgiven men,' and 'Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.'" And the miserable man does not know that the Lord, wishing to secure beforehand the salvation of those who had once blasphemed him and were returning to repentance, so that he might not decree condemnation for them, utters this word, through an excess of gentleness and love for mankind and because he knew that some would rise up and blaspheme the Holy Spirit and define it as in the rank of a servant and created and foreign to the substance of God. Therefore, securing it, he says, "But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither here nor in the age to come," not praising those who blaspheme him, but showing his own foreknowledge and his own love for mankind, securing beforehand the salvation of those who repent from blaspheming him. For he himself again says, "He who has denied me before men will be denied before my Father," and again, "I will deny him," and again, "He who confesses in me, I will confess him before my Father." 3. And again the same Theodotus says:

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ὑπάρχων ἐκ τῆς προειρημένης ἀλόγου αἱρέσεως, τῆς ἀρνουμένης τὸ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγέλιον καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ κηρυχθέντα ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα θεὸν Λόγον καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ Ἀποκάλυψιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις αἱρέσεσι ταῖς προειρημέναις συγγενόμενός τε καὶ συνυπάρξας καὶ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον αὐτὰς διαδεξάμενος, ἐξ οὗπερ οἱ Θεοδοτιανοὶ καλούμενοι. καὶ εἰ μὲν ὑπάρχει ἔτι ἡ αἵρεσις ἀγνοοῦμεν, τὰ δὲ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ συγγραμμάτων ἐλθόντα ἐροῦμεν. Οὗτος ὁ Θεόδοτος ἀπὸ Βυζαντίου μὲν ὡρμᾶτο, τῆς νυνὶ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως καλουμένης. σκυτεὺς τὴν τέχνην, πολυμαθὴς δὲ τῷ λόγῳ. οὗτος ἅμα τισὶ πλείοσιν ἐν καιρῷ διωγμοῦ ἐνστάντος οὐκ οἶδα εἰπεῖν ἐν ποίῳ διωγμῷ ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς πόλεως ἄρχοντος συλλη2.318 φθεὶς μετὰ πλειόνων καὶ ἐξετασθεὶς σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι πάντες θεοῦ δοῦλοι τὸ νῖκος ἀπενεγκάμενοι βραβείων ἔτυχον ἐπουρανίων ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ μαρτυρήσαντες, οὗτος δὲ Χριστὸν ἀρνησάμενος καὶ παραπεσὼν τοῦ σκοποῦ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐν παρεκβάσει γεγένηται, καὶ ἀπὸ αἰσχύνης πολλῆς ὑπὸ πολλῶν ὀνειδιζόμενος ἀπέδρασε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδος καὶ ἀναβὰς εἰς Ῥώμην ἐκεῖσε διέτριβεν. ἐπιγνωσθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν Ῥώμῃ, πάλιν ἐκεῖ τῷ αὐτῷ ὀνείδει ὑπέπεσε διὰ τὸ ἐγκαλεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτὸν εἰδότων ἕνεκεν τῆς πολυμαθίας, ὅτι ἀνὴρ πολυμαθὴς ὢν ἐξέπεσε τῆς ἀληθείας. εἰς ἑαυτοῦ δὲ δῆθεν κακὴν ἀπολογίαν ἐπινενόηκε τουτὶ τὸ καινὸν δόγμα, φήσας ὅτι «θεὸν ἐγὼ οὐκ ἠρνησάμην, ἀλλὰ ἄνθρωπον ἠρνησάμην». εἶτα ἐρωτώμενος «ποῖον ἄνθρωπον» ἀπεκρίνατο λέγων «Χριστὸν ἠρνησάμην ἄνθρωπον». Ἐντεῦθεν οὕτως ἑαυτῷ ἐδογμάτισε δόγμα καὶ οἱ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ συσταθέντες Θεοδοτιανοί, ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον φάσκοντες εἶναι τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ ἐκ σπέρματος ἀνδρὸς γεγεννῆσθαι. εἶτα εἰς κακὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀπολογίαν ὅσαπερ χρήσιμα εὗρεν οὐχ ἁγνῶς οἰόμενος, ἀλλὰ προφάσει τῆς αὐτοῦ παρεκτροπῆς ταῦτα ἑαυτῷ ἐπισωρεύων συνήγαγεν, «ὅτι, φησίν, ὁ Χριστὸς ἔφη· νῦν δέ με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι ἄνθρωπον, ὃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα». ὁρᾷς, φησίν, ὅτι ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν. 2. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔγνω ὁ τάλας ὅτι ἐν ταὐτῷ ὁ κύριος λέγει «τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἣν ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου». πατέρα δὲ ἑαυτοῦ λέγει 2.319 τὸν θεόν· οὐ γὰρ ἄνθρωπον. εἰ γὰρ παρὰ ἀνθρώπου ἀκήκοεν, οὐκ 2.319 ἐκαυχᾶτο τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ τῆς ἀληθείας, λέγων παρὰ ἀνθρώπων τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀκηκοέναι· ἀλλ' ἵνα σημάνῃ θεὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα ἐκ πατρὸς ἄνωθεν γεγεννημένον, ἄνθρωπον δὲ δι' ἡμᾶς γενόμενον καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ ἀποκτανθέντα, ἐν θεότητι δὲ ἀεὶ ζῶντα. Εἶτά φησι μηδὲ ἁμαρτίαν πεποιηκέναι ἀρνησάμενον τὸν Χριστόν, «αὐτοῦ, φησί, τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰπόντος· πᾶσα βλασφημία ἀφεθήσεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις», καὶ «ὁ λέγων λόγον εἰς τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ· τῷ δὲ βλασφημοῦντι εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ». καὶ ἀγνοεῖ ὁ ἐλεεινὸς ἄνθρωπος ὅτι βουλόμενος ὁ κύριος προασφαλίσασθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν ποτὲ αὐτὸν βλασφημησάντων καὶ ἐπανακαμπτόντων εἰς μετάνοιαν, ἵνα μὴ ὁρίσῃ αὐτοῖς καταδίκην, τὸν λόγον προθεσπίζει, δι' ὑπερβολὴν πρᾳότητος καὶ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ διὰ τὸ εἰδέναι αὐτὸν μέλλοντάς τινας ἐπανίστασθαι καὶ βλασφημεῖν τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ ἐν τάξει δούλου αὐτὸ ὁρίζεσθαι καὶ κτιστὸν καὶ ἀλλότριον τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ οὐσίας. διὸ ἐπασφαλιζόμενός φησιν «ὁ δὲ βλασφημῶν εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ, οὔτε ἐνταῦθα οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι», οὐκ ἐπαινῶν τοὺς βλασφημοῦντας αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ πρόγνωσιν καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν δεικνύς, προασφαλιζομένην τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀπὸ βλασφημίας αὐτοῦ μετανοούντων. αὐτὸς γὰρ πάλιν φησίν «ὁ ἀρνησάμενός με ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀρνηθήσεται ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός μου», καὶ πάλιν «ἀρνήσομαι αὐτόν», καὶ πάλιν «ὁ ὁμολογῶν ἐν ἐμοί, ὁμολογήσω αὐτὸν ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός μου». 3. Καὶ πάλιν δὲ ὁ αὐτὸ Θεόδοτός φησι·