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publishing nature and the experiences connected with human generation, abandoning the subject proposed? For we did not need to learn about this animal generation, 3.2.6 which consists of flesh. For who is so foolish, as to, while seeing himself and understanding the human element in himself, seek another interpreter of his own nature and need to learn the necessary experiences, which are observed in connection with the generation of the body, that in one way the one who begets, and in another way the one who is begotten, comes to be in passion, so that a man might learn from this teaching that he both begets through passion and 3.2.7 passion began his own generation? For these things, whether kept silent or spoken, have the same effect; whether someone details, publishing the hidden things, or conceals the unutterable things in silence, we were not ignorant that our nature proceeds through passion. But we are seeking that the account be clarified concerning the high and ineffable existence of the Only-begotten, according to which he is believed to be from the Father. 3.2.8 Since this, then, is the investigation set before us, the new theologian adds to his discourse flux and passion and a material cause and a certain activity of filth that is not pure and an external, inflowing supply and all such things, I do not know what has come over him, he who says that by the excess of his wisdom nothing of the incomprehensible things is left outside his own knowledge and who professes to interpret the ineffable generation of the Son, having departed from the subject at hand, like an eel, dives down into the slimy mire of his reasonings like that nocturnal Nicodemus, who, when the Lord was teaching about the generation from above, was dragged down by his reasonings to the toil in the womb, and was perplexed how he might be again a second time within the womb, saying, "How can this happen?", thinking that by the inability of an old man to be conceived again through a maternal womb he would refute the spiritual generation as inconsistent. 3.2.9 But the Lord corrects even his mistaken assumption, saying that the properties of the flesh and of the Spirit are unmixed; and so let this man correct himself in similar matters, if he wishes. For it is necessary, I think, for the student of truth to consider the subject at hand from its own properties, not to slander the immaterial through the accusation of material things. For if a man or an ox or any other of those born through flesh is not pure from passion when begetting or being begotten, what 3.2.10 is this to the impassible and undefiled nature? For neither does our being mortal call into question the immortality of the Only-begotten, nor does the turning of men to evil make it doubtful the unchangeableness in the divine nature, nor is anything else of ours also transferred to God, but there is a certain unmixed and incommunicable distinctiveness of both human and divine life, and the characteristic properties have been entirely altered, so that neither are these apprehended in that nor, conversely, are those apprehended in this. 3.2.11 How then does Eunomius, when the divine generation is the subject of his discourse, leaving aside the subject, go through the things on earth, when there is no dispute for us with him concerning these things? But the purpose of the craftsman is manifest, that by the slander against 3.2.12 the passion he might circumscribe the generation of the Lord. At which things I, for my part, leaving aside the matter of the blasphemy, marvel at the man's cleverness, how he remembers his own earnest argument, who, having established through the aforesaid arguments that the Son must both be and be called an offspring, now struggles for the idea that one must not think of generation in his case. For if every generation, as this man thinks, has yoked with it the condition related to passion, it is altogether necessary to be acknowledged through these things, that what is alien to passion is also entirely alienated from generation. For if these things are thought of as connected with one another, both passion and generation, he who has no part in one of these would not have communion with the other. 3.2.13 How then does he call him an offspring on account of his generation, who is being demonstrated by the things now said by him that he was not generated, and for what does he fight against our teacher who advises not to be so bold in the coining of names in regard to divine doctrines, but

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τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀνθρω πίνην γέννησιν πάθη δημοσιεύων, καταλιπὼν τὴν προκει μένην ὑπόθεσιν; οὐ γὰρ τὴν ζῳώδη ταύτην γέννησιν τὴν 3.2.6 διὰ σαρκὸς συνισταμένην μαθεῖν ἐδεόμεθα. τίς γὰρ οὕτως ἠλίθιος, ὡς ἑαυτὸν βλέπων καὶ νοῶν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἀνθρώ πινον ἄλλον ἑρμηνέα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζητεῖν φύσεως καὶ δεῖσθαι μαθεῖν τὰ ἀναγκαῖα πάθη, ὅσα τῇ γεννήσει συνθεωρεῖται τοῦ σώματος, ὅτι ἄλλως μὲν ὁ τίκτων, ἑτέρως δὲ τὸ τικτό μενον ἐν πάθει γίνεται, ὡς ἂν μάθοι ἐκ τῆς διδασκαλίας ταύτης ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι αὐτός τε διὰ πάθους γεννᾷ καὶ 3.2.7 πάθος αὐτῷ τῆς γεννήσεως ἤρξατο; ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ σιω πώμενα καὶ λεγόμενα τὸ ἴσον ἔχει, κἄν τις διεξίῃ δημο σιεύων τὰ κρύφια, κἂν συγκαλύπτῃ [τῇ] σιωπῇ τὰ ἀπόρ ρητα, τὸ διὰ πάθους προϊέναι τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν οὐκ ἠγνοή σαμεν. ζητοῦμεν δὲ περὶ τῆς ὑψηλῆς τε καὶ ἀφράστου τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑπάρξεως, καθ' ἣν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι πεπίστευται, σαφηνισθῆναι τὸν λόγον. 3.2.8 Ταύτης τοίνυν προκειμένης τῆς ἐξετάσεως ὁ καινὸς θεολόγος ῥεῦσιν καὶ πάθος καὶ ὑλικὴν αἰτίαν καὶ ἐνέργειάν τινα ῥύπου μὴ καθαρεύουσαν καὶ ἔξωθεν ἐπιρρέουσαν χορηγίαν καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα τῷ λόγῳ προστίθησιν, οὐκ οἶδα τί παθὼν ὁ τῷ ὑπερβάλλοντι τῆς σοφίας μηδὲν τῶν ἀλήπτων ἔξω τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γνώσεως καταλείπεσθαι λέ γων καὶ τὴν ἄρρητον τοῦ υἱοῦ γέννησιν ἑρμηνεύειν ἐπαγγελ λόμενος, ἀποστὰς τῶν προκειμένων ἐγχέλυος δίκην εἰς τὸν ἰλυώδη βόρβορον τῶν λογισμῶν καταδύεται κατὰ τὸν νυ κτερινὸν ἐκεῖνον Νικόδημον, ὃς τὴν ἄνωθεν γέννησιν τοῦ κυρίου διδάσκοντος πρὸς τὸν ἐν μήτρᾳ κόπον τοῖς λογι σμοῖς κατεσύρετο, καὶ πῶς ἂν ἐκ δευτέρου πάλιν ἐντὸς τῆς νηδύος γένοιτο διηπόρει λέγων Πῶς δύναται τοῦτο γενέσθαι; νομίζων τῷ μὴ δύνασθαι τὸν πρεσβύτην διὰ σπλάγχνου πάλιν κυοφορηθῆναι μητρῴου τὴν πνευματικὴν γέννησιν διε 3.2.9 λέγξειν ἀσύστατον. ἀλλὰ κἀκείνου τὴν πεπλανημένην ὑπό ληψιν διορθοῦται ὁ κύριος, ἄμικτα λέγων εἶναι τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος ἰδιώματα, καὶ οὗτος ἑαυτὸν ἐν τοῖς ὁμοίοις, εἰ βούλεται, διορθούσθω. δεῖ γὰρ οἶμαι τὸν φροντιστὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων θεωρεῖν τὸ προκεί μενον, μὴ διὰ τῆς τῶν ὑλικῶν κατηγορίας διαβάλλειν τὸν ἄϋλον. εἰ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἢ βοῦς ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν διὰ σαρκὸς τικτομένων οὐ καθαρεύει πάθους γεννῶν ἢ γεννώμενος, τί 3.2.10 τοῦτο πρὸς τὴν ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀκήρατον φύσιν; οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ θνητοὺς ἡμᾶς εἶναι τὴν ἀθανασίαν τοῦ μονογενοῦς παρα γράφεται οὐδὲ ἡ πρὸς κακίαν τροπὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀμφί βολον ἐπὶ τῆς θείας φύσεως εἶναι παρασκευάζει τὸ ἄτρεπτον οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἡμετέρων καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν μεταφέρεται, ἀλλά τις ἄμικτός ἐστι καὶ ἀκοινώνητος ἡ ἰδιότης τῆς ἀν θρωπίνης τε καὶ τῆς θείας ζωῆς καὶ παρήλλακται παντά πασι τὰ γνωριστικὰ ἰδιώματα, ὡς μήτε ταῦτα ἐπ' ἐκείνης μήτε τὸ ἔμπαλιν ἐπὶ ταύτης ἐκεῖνα καταλαμβάνεσθαι. 3.2.11 Πῶς οὖν ὁ Εὐνόμιος, τῆς θείας προκειμένης τῷ λόγῳ γεννήσεως, ἀφεὶς τὸ προκείμενον τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ διεξέρχεται, οὐδεμιᾶς ἡμῖν περὶ τούτων πρὸς αὐτὸν οὔσης ἀμφισβητή σεως; ἀλλὰ πρόδηλος ὁ σκοπὸς τοῦ τεχνίτου, ἵνα τῇ πρὸς 3.2.12 τὸ πάθος διαβολῇ περιγράψῃ τοῦ κυρίου τὴν γέννησιν. ἐφ' οἷς ἔγωγε τὸ κατὰ τὴν βλασφημίαν παρεὶς θαυμάζω τῆς ἀγχινοίας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, πῶς μέμνηται τῆς οἰκείας σπου δῆς, ὃς τὸ δεῖν γέννημα τὸν υἱὸν καὶ εἶναι καὶ λέγεσθαι διὰ τῶν προειρημένων κατασκευάσας νῦν περὶ τοῦ μὴ χρῆναι γέννησιν περὶ αὐτὸν νοεῖν ἀγωνίζεται. εἰ γὰρ πᾶσα γέν νησις, καθὼς οὗτος οἴεται, συνεζευγμένην ἔχει τὴν κατὰ τὸ πάθος διάθεσιν, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα διὰ τούτων ὁμολογεῖσθαι, ὅτι τὸ τοῦ πάθους ἀλλότριον συναλλοτριοῦται πάντως καὶ τῆς γεννήσεως. εἰ γὰρ ταῦτα μετ' ἀλλήλων συνημμένως νοεῖται, τὸ πάθος τε καὶ ἡ γέννησις, ὁ τοῦ ἑνὸς τούτων ἀμέτοχος οὐδ' ἂν πρὸς τὸ ἕτερον τὴν κοινωνίαν ἔχοι. 3.2.13 πῶς οὖν γέννημα διὰ τὴν γέννησιν λέγει τὸν ὅτι οὐκ ἐγεν νήθη διὰ τῶν νῦν παρ' αὐτοῦ λεγομένων ἀποδεικνύμενον, καὶ ὑπὲρ τίνος μάχεται πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον ἡμῶν τὸν συμβουλεύοντα μὴ κατατολμᾶν ἐπὶ τῶν θείων δογμάτων τῆς ὀνοματοποιΐας, ἀλλὰ