264

he said concerning him that he is a man, saying thus: that he is a man who knows how to bear sickness; and we saw him in affliction and in distress and he was dishonored and not esteemed.” But the beastly one does not know how he is again refuted. For in the same words Isaiah said thus: “As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.” Then he says, “Who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken away from men,” and he did not say “his life is taken from him,” but “from men.” For the Word is always living, existing and having life from himself and giving life to those who have loved him; his life was indeed taken away from men, * being life from himself. “For the Word is living” and provides life to all who have hoped in him in truth. And the phrase, “Who shall declare his generation?” *. If he were a mere man born from Mary, then his birth would be easy to declare. But since he is before David and before Abraham, —“For Abraham your father,” he says, “desired to see my day, and he saw it and was glad”; then as they were marveling and saying, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?”, refuting Theodotus and the faithless and God-denying Jews, he said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am”; for he was truly before Abraham and before Noah and before Adam and before the world and before heaven and before the time of the world and before all created things, being timeless, —for which reason he is also proclaimed inexpressible by the Holy Spirit through Isaiah, that “Who shall declare his generation? Because his life is taken from the earth.” But he says, “The apostles said, a man attested to you by signs and wonders, and they did not say: God attested.” But you are again refuted, Theodotus, because again the same apostles in the same Acts said, as the blessed Stephen says, “Behold, I see the heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 6. Again he makes an excuse, saying that “the apostle said concerning him that he is the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” and he does not know how he again rises up against himself. For he who said “mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” himself clarified, saying, “designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ,” and again, “born of a woman, born under the law.” And making these words the foundation, he says, “Even if there are many so-called gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, from whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we unto him.” But if “through whom are all things and we unto him,” then the only-begotten would not be a mere man, from Mary and onwards, nor from the seed of a man. For how could all things be through him, things that came to be before him according to your argument, if he was a mere man? Or how could all things that were known and came to be before him be unto him? And from every side this man's nonsense has failed. But in the dialogue itself, having stated both the knowledge concerning him and the refutation for each word, we will proceed according to the custom of the sequence, having struck and destroyed, as it were, some part of a reptile still twitching, with the hope and faith of the truth, and we shall examine the subsequent things and hasten to look around at the most beastly heresies. 2.324 Against the Melchizedekians ˉλˉε, and of the sequence ˉνˉε. 1. Again, others call themselves Melchizedekians, having perhaps broken away from those called Theodotians. These glorify the Melchizedek mentioned in the scriptures, considering him to be some great power. And they assert in their error that he is above in unnameable places and that this one is truly not only some power, but even greater than Christ. But they consider Christ to have come simply and

264

περὶ αὐτοῦ ἔφη ὅτι ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν, οὕτως εἰπών· ὅτι ἄνθρωπος εἰδὼς φέρειν μαλακίαν· καὶ εἴδομεν αὐτὸν ἐν πληγῇ καὶ ἐν κακώσει καὶ ἠτιμάσθη καὶ οὐκ ἐλογίσθη». ἀλλὰ οὐκ οἶδε πῶς πάλιν ἐλέγχεται ὁ κτηνώδης. ἐν αὐταῖς γὰρ ταῖς λέξεσιν Ἠσαΐας οὕτως εἶπεν «ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος· οὕτως οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ· ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει αὐτοῦ ἡ κρίσις αὐτοῦ ἤρθη». εἶτά φησιν «τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται, ὅτι αἴρεται ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ», καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν «αἴρεται ἡ ζωὴ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ», ἀλλά «ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων». ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ Λόγος ζῶν ἐστιν ὑπάρχων τε καὶ τὸ ζῇν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ἔχων καὶ ζωὴν τοῖς αὐτὸν ἠγαπηκόσι διδούς· ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μὲν ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἤρθη, * ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ζωὴ ὤν. «ζῶν γὰρ ὁ Λόγος» καὶ πᾶσι ζωὴν παρέχων τοῖς ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἐλπίσασιν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. καὶ τό «τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται;» *. εἰ ἦν ἄνθρωπος ψιλὸς ἀπὸ Μαρίας γεγεννημένος, εὐδιήγητος ἄρα ἦν ἡ αὐτοῦ γέννησις. ἐπειδὴ δέ ἐστι πρὸ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, -»Ἀβραὰμ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν, φησίν, ἐπεθύμησεν ἰδεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν μου, καὶ εἶδε καὶ ἐχάρη»· εἶτα αὐτῶν θαυμαζόντων καὶ λεγόντων «πεντήκοντα ἔτη οὔπω ἔχεις, καὶ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἑώρακας;», ἐλέγχων Θεόδοτον καὶ τοὺς ἀπίστους καὶ ἐπαρνησιθέους Ἰουδαίους ἔφη «ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι πρὸ Ἀβραὰμ ἐγώ εἰμι»· ἦν γὰρ πρὸ Ἀβραὰμ ἀληθῶς καὶ πρὸ Νῶε καὶ πρὸ Ἀδὰμ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ πρὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ κόσμου καὶ πρὸ πάντων τῶν κτισμάτων, ἄχρονος ὤν, -διὸ καὶ ἄφραστος καταγγέλλεται ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος διὰ Ἠσαΐου ὅτι «τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται; ὅτι αἴρεται ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ». Ἀλλά φησιν, «εἶπαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἄνδρα ἀποδεδειγμένον εἰς ὑμᾶς σημείοις καὶ τέρασι, καὶ οὐκ εἶπαν· θεὸν ἀποδεδειγμένον». ἐλέγχῃ δὲ πάλιν, Θεόδοτε, ὅτι πάλιν οἱ αὐτοὶ ἀπόστολοι ἐν ταῖς αὐταῖς Πρά2.323 ξεσιν ἔφησαν, ὡς ὁ μακάριος Στέφανός φησιν «ἰδοὺ ὁρῶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεῳγμένον καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἑστῶτα ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θεοῦ». 6. Πάλιν δὲ προφασίζεται λέγων ὅτι «ἔφη περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀπόστολος ὅτι μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς», καὶ οὐκ οἶδε πῶς πάλιν καθ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐπεγείρει. ὁ γὰρ εἰπών «μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς» αὐτὸς ἐσαφήνισε λέγων «προορισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν, τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ», καὶ πάλιν «γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικός, γενόμενος ὑπὸ νόμον». τούτων δὲ ποιούμενος τῶν λέξεων τὴν ἀσφάλειάν φησιν «εἴπερ εἰσὶ λεγόμενοι θεοὶ πολλοὶ καὶ κύριοι πολλοί, ἡμῖν δὲ εἷς θεός, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτόν». εἰ δέ «δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτόν», οὐκ ἄρα ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος εἴη ὁ μονογενής, ἀπὸ Μαρίας ὢν καὶ δεῦρο, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ σπέρματος ἀνδρός. ἐπεὶ πῶς τὰ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἠδύνατο εἶναι, τὰ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενόμενα κατὰ τὸν σοῦ λόγον, εἰ ψιλὸς ἦν ἄνθρωπος; ἢ πῶς εἴη εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα τὰ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐπιγνωσθέντα καὶ γενόμενα; καὶ ἐκ πανταχόθεν ἐξέπεσεν ἡ τούτου ληρῳδία. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ διαλόγῳ ἅμα τήν τε περὶ αὐτοῦ γνῶσιν εἰπόντες καὶ τὴν ἀνατροπὴν καθ' ἑκάστην λέξιν, ὑπερβησόμεθα κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἀκολουθίας, ὥσπερ τι μέρος ἑρπετοῦ ἔτι σκαρίζοντος τῇ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλπίδι καὶ πίστει πεπαικότες καὶ ἀνελόντες, τάς τε ἑξῆς διασκοπήσωμεν καὶ περιβλέπεσθαι τὰς θηριωδεστάτας αἱρέσεις σπεύσωμεν. 2.324 Κατὰ Μελχισεδεκιανῶν ˉλˉε, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉνˉε. 1. Μελχισεδεκιανοὺς πάλιν ἕτεροι ἑαυτοὺς καλοῦσιν, ἀποσπασθέντες τάχα ἀπὸ τῶν Θεοδοτιανῶν καλουμένων. οὗτοι τὸν Μελχισεδὲκ τὸν ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς λεγόμενον δοξάζουσι, μεγάλην τινὰ δύναμιν ἡγούμενοι. εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἄνω ἐν ἀκατονομάστοις τόποις καὶ ἀληθῶς εἶναι τοῦτον οὐ μόνον δύναμίν τινα, ἀλλὰ καὶ μειζότερον τοῦ Χριστοῦ τῇ ἑαυτῶν πλάνῃ φάσκουσι. Χριστὸν δὲ ἡγοῦνται ἁπλῶς ἐληλυθότα καὶ