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his Aaron. But between these things, from the instruction concerning him, the blessed presbyters of the church, having summoned him, examined him concerning all these things and whether he had brought forth this blasphemy concerning the Father. But at first he denied it, being brought before the presbytery, because no one before him had vomited forth this terrible and destructive bitterness. But later, from the madness he had, having instilled it, so to speak, into certain others and bringing with him about ten men, he was lifted up to greater pride and audacity, and having become bold, he then openly taught his heresy. And again the same presbyters, having summoned both him and the men who had been corrupted by him, asked again about the same things. But he, together with those who had been deceived by him, hardened his brow and then openly contradicted them, saying, "For what evil have I done, that I glorify one God? I know one God and no other besides him, who was born, suffered, died." When therefore he persisted in these things, they cast him out of the church, together with those who had been made disciples by him into his own doctrine. And he himself died recently along with his own brother, not like Moses in glory, nor was his brother buried like Aaron in honor. For they were cast out as transgressors, and none of the godly 2.345 shrouded them. After this, those whose minds had been corrupted by him strengthened this doctrine, being led astray by these sayings which their evil teacher also used from the beginning. For when, being questioned by the presbytery, he said he glorified one God, he heard from them truthfully that we too glorify one God, but as we know how to glorify justly; and we have one Christ, but as we know one Christ, the Son of God, who suffered as he suffered, died as he died, rose again, ascended into heaven, is at the right hand of the Father, and is coming to judge the living and the dead. These things we say, having learned them from the divine scriptures, which we also understand. 2. From this, therefore, the Noetians, being a splinter group from him and those from them, will hold this doctrine, attempting from these sayings to establish their own insane teaching. from what God said to Moses: "I am the God of your fathers; I am the first and I am after these things; you shall have no other gods," and so on. Therefore they said: We then know him alone. If, then, Christ came and was born, he is the Father, he is the Son; therefore the same one is God who always is and who has now come; as the scripture says, "This is your God, 2.346 no other shall be accounted of in comparison with him; he found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved; after this he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men." Do you see, he says, again how the divine scripture instructs us not to consider one God and another, stating that he is God who alone is and he himself was later seen? And again they use this other saying, as it says: "The labor of Egypt and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be your servants, and they shall walk after you bound in fetters, and they shall worship in you and they shall pray in you, because God is in you, and there is no God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know, the God of Israel, the Savior." Do you see, he says, how the divine scriptures signify one God and proclaim him as having become manifest? And confessedly he is one, the same who always is. And for this reason we do not speak of many gods, but of one God, the same impassible, himself the Father of the Son, himself the Son and having suffered, that he might save us by his own passion, and we cannot say another; forsooth, having learned from their master this confession and this wicked suspicion and destructive madness. Then they bring other sayings for their own establishment, as their teacher said that "the apostle also bears witness to these words, 2.347 saying: whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to

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αὐτοῦ Ἀαρών. ἀλλὰ μεταξὺ τούτων ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐνηχήσεως οἱ μακάριοι πρεσβύτεροι τῆς ἐκκλησίας μετακαλεσάμενοι αὐτὸν ἐξήταζον περὶ τούτων ἁπάντων καὶ εἰ ταύτην τὴν βλασφημίαν περὶ πατρὸς προηγάγετο. ὁ δὲ τὰ πρῶτα μὲν ἠρνεῖτο ἐπὶ τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου ἀγόμενος, διὰ τὸ μηδένα πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐξεμέσαι ταύτην τὴν δεινὴν καὶ ὀλετήριον πικρίαν. ὕστερον δέ, ἀφ' ἧς εἶχε λύσσης εἴς τινας ἄλλους ἐμβαλὼν ὡς εἰπεῖν καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ ὥσπερ δέκα ἄνδρας ἐπαγόμενος, εἰς τῦφον μείζονα καὶ θράσος ἐπαρθεὶς τολμηρός τε γεγονὼς παρρησίᾳ λοιπὸν τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐδογμάτιζε. πάλιν δ' αὖ οἱ αὐτοὶ πρεσβύτεροι προσκαλεσάμενοι αὐτόν τε καὶ τοὺς προσφθαρέντας αὐτῷ ἀνθρώπους περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πάλιν ἠρώτων. ὁ δὲ ἅμα τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πεπλανημένοις ὑποτρίψας τὸ μέτωπον λοιπὸν παρρησίᾳ ἀντέλεγε, φάσκων ὅτι «τί γὰρ κακὸν πεποίηκα ὅτι ἕνα θεὸν δοξάζω; ἕνα θεὸν ἐπίσταμαι καὶ οὐκ ἄλλον πλὴν αὐτοῦ, γεννηθέντα πεπονθότα ἀποθανόντα». ὡς οὖν ἐν τούτοις ἔμενεν, ἐξέωσαν αὐτὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἅμα τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ ἴδιον δόγμα μεμαθητευμένοις. ἐτελεύτα δὲ αὐτὸς ἔναγχος ἅμα τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀδελφῷ, οὐχ ὡς Μωυσῆς ἐν δόξῃ οὐδὲ ὁ αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὸς ὡς Ἀαρὼν ἐν τιμῇ ἐτάφη. ἐρρίφησαν γὰρ ὡς παραβάται καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτοὺς τῶν θεοσε2.345 βῶν περιέστειλε. μετὰ τοῦτο οἱ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τὸν νοῦν φθαρέντες ἐκράτυναν τουτὶ τὸ δόγμα, τούτοις τοῖς ῥητοῖς ὑπαχθέντες οἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτῶν κακοδιδάσκαλος ἐξ ἀρχῆς. ὅτε γὰρ ἐρωτώμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου ἔφη ἕνα θεὸν δοξάζειν, ἤκουε παρ' αὐτῶν φιλαλήθως ὅτι ἕνα θεὸν δοξάζομεν καὶ αὐτοί, ἀλλ' ὡς οἴδαμεν δικαίως δοξάζειν· καὶ ἕνα Χριστὸν ἔχομεν, ἀλλ' ὡς οἴδαμεν ἕνα Χριστόν, υἱὸν θεοῦ, παθόντα καθὼς ἔπαθεν, ἀποθανόντα καθὼς ἀπέθανεν, ἀναστάντα, ἀνελθόντα εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, ὄντα ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ πατρός, ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. ταῦτα λέγομεν μεμαθηκότες ἀπὸ τῶν θείων γραφῶν, ἃ καὶ ἐπιστάμεθα. 2. Ἐκ τούτου οὖν Νοητιανοὶ ἀπόσπασμα ὄντες αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ ἐξ αὐτῶν τουτὶ τὸ δόγμα δοξάξουσιν, ἐκ τῶν ῥητῶν τούτων πειρώμενοι συνιστᾶν τὴν κατ' αὐτοὺς ἐμμανῆ διδασκαλίαν. ἀφ' ὧν εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν «ἐγὼ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν· ἐγὼ πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα· οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἔλεγον οὖν· ἡμεῖς τοίνυν αὐτὸν οἴδαμεν μόνον. εἰ τοίνυν ἐλθὼν Χριστὸς ἐγεννήθη, αὐτός ἐστι πατήρ, αὐτὸς υἱός· ἄρα ὁ αὐτός ἐστι θεὸς ὁ ἀεὶ ὢν καὶ νῦν ἐλθών· ὡς λέγει ἡ γραφή «οὗτος ὁ θεός σου, 2.346 οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν· ἐξεῦρε πᾶσαν ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν Ἰακὼβ τῷ παιδὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ· μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη». ὁρᾷς, φησί, πάλιν πῶς ἡ θεία γραφὴ ἡμᾶς συνετίζει, τοῦ μὴ ἄλλον καὶ ἄλλον θεὸν ἡγεῖσθαι, φάσκουσα ὅτι αὐτὸς θεός ἐστι ὁ μόνος ὢν καὶ αὐτὸς ὕστερον ὀφθείς; πάλιν δὲ ἄλλῳ ῥητῷ κέχρηνται τούτῳ, ὡς λέγει «ἐκοπίασεν Αἴγυπτος καὶ ἐμπορία Αἰθιόπων, καὶ οἱ Σαβαεὶν ἄνδρες ὑψηλοὶ ἐπὶ σὲ διαβήσονται καὶ σοὶ δοῦλοι ἔσονται καὶ πορεύσονται ὀπίσω σου δεδεμένοι χειροπέδαις καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσκυνήσουσι καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσεύξονται, ὅτι ἐν σοὶ θεός ἐστι καὶ οὐκ ἔστι θεὸς πλὴν σοῦ. σὺ γὰρ εἶ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδειμεν, ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ σωτήρ». ὁρᾷς, φησί, πῶς αἱ θεῖαι γραφαὶ ἕνα θεὸν σημαίνουσι καὶ καταγγέλλουσιν αὐτὸν γενόμενον ἐμφανῆ; καὶ ὁμολογουμένως εἷς ἐστιν, ὁ αὐτὸς ἀεὶ ὤν. καὶ τούτου ἕνεκα οὐ πολλοὺς θεοὺς λέγομεν, ἀλλὰ ἕνα θεόν, τὸν αὐτὸν ἀπαθῆ, αὐτὸν πατέρα τοῦ υἱοῦ, αὐτὸν υἱὸν καὶ πεπονθότα, ἵνα σώσῃ ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ πάθει, καὶ οὐ δυνάμεθα ἄλλον λέγειν· δῆθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐπιστάτου αὐτῶν μεμαθηκότες ταύτην τὴν ὁμολογίαν καὶ τὴν πονηρὰν ταύτην ὑπόνοιαν καὶ λυμαντικὴν μανίαν. Εἶτα ἄλλα ῥητὰ φέρουσιν εἰς σύστασιν ἑαυτῶν, ὡς ὁ αὐτῶν διδάσκαλος ἔλεγεν ὅτι «καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος τούτοις μαρτυρεῖ τοῖς λόγοις 2.347 φάσκων· ὧν οἱ πατέρες, ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ