286

and whatever is of the sensible nature; these things they also preach about the Lord. By the will of God we say all things that have come into being were established; these things they also recount about the Only-begotten. We have believed that neither the angelic creation nor the creation in the world is from the essence of the one who made them; and they likewise alienate him from the essence of the Father. We confess that all things are in servitude to the will of the one who made them; this is the thought 3.2.37 they also have about the Only-begotten. Therefore, by necessity, all the other things, whatever they may think about this creation, these they will also apply to the Only-begotten, and whatever they may believe in him, this they will also suppose about creation; so that if they confess the Lord to be God, they will also deify the rest of creation, but if they determine that these things are without share in the divine nature, they will not deny the same supposition also about the Only-begotten. But surely no one of sound mind attests divinity to creation; therefore not—and I am silent about what remains, so that I might not anoint my tongue with the blasphemy of the enemies; let them say what is brought forth from the consequence, whose mouth has been trained for blasphemy 3.2.38. But the argument is clear even when we are silent. For of two things, one will be by necessity: either they will openly vote against the Only-begotten being God, so that among them this is no longer both what he is and what he is called; or if they attest divinity to him, they will also attest the same to all of creation; or what remains, fleeing the impiety that appears on either side, they will take refuge in the pious argument and will surely agree that he is not created, so that they may confess that he is truly God. 3.2.39 Why must one spend time saying the other things, all the blasphemies that are necessarily implied in the argument from this starting-point? For he who looks to the consequence will understand through what has been said, that even the father of the lie, the creator of death, the inventor of evil, being created in an intellectual and immortal and incorporeal nature, was not prevented by his nature from becoming through change that which he is. For the mutable part of the essence, moving toward either side by its own authority, has the power of its nature following the inclination of its choice, so as to become that toward which its choice may lead 3.2.40 it. Therefore they will define the Lord as receptive of opposites, as they drag him down to the same rank as the angels through his createdness. But let them hear the great voice of Paul. How does he say that this one alone has been called Son? Because he is not of the nature of angels, but of a better nature. For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my Son? And when again he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, And let all the angels 3.2.41 of God worship him. And to the angels he says, Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire; but to the Son, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom, and as many other things as prophecy, speaking of God, recounts with these. And he also adds from another psalm what is fitting: You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands, and all that follows until You are the same, and your years will not fail, by which he sketches 3.2.42 the unchangeable and eternal nature. If, then, the divinity of the Only-begotten so far surpasses the angelic nature, as much as the owner differs from the slaves, how do they make common either with sensible creation the Lord of creation, or with the nature of angels the one who is worshipped by them, recounting these things about the manner of his existence, which would properly be applied to each of the things seen in creation, as we have already shown that the argument delivered by the heresy about the Lord is suitably and appropriately related to the creation of the earth? 3.2.43 But so that nothing ambiguous might be left for those who encounter our labors, concerning those things that provide some advocacy for the heretical dogmas, it would be worthwhile from the divinely inspired scripture also this to the

286

καὶ ὅση τῆς αἰσθητῆς ἐστι φύσεως· ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τοῦ κυρίου κηρύσ σουσι. θελήματι θεοῦ πάντα συστῆναι τὰ γεγονότα λέ γομεν· ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς διεξέρχονται. οὐκ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας εἶναι τοῦ πεποιηκότος οὔτε τὴν ἀγγελικὴν κτίσιν οὔτε τὴν ἐγκόσμιον πεπιστεύκαμεν· κἀκεῖνον ὁμοίως τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας ἀλλοτριοῦσι. δουλεύειν τὰ σύμπαντα τῷ θελήματι τοῦ πεποιηκότος ὁμολογοῦμεν· ταύτην ἔχουσι 3.2.37 καὶ περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς τὴν διάνοιαν. οὐκοῦν ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα, ὅσαπερ ἂν ἐπὶ ταύτης νοήσωσι, ταῦτα καὶ τῷ μονογενεῖ ἐφαρμόσουσι, καὶ ὅπερ ἂν ἐν ἐκείνῳ πι στεύσωσι, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κτίσεως ὑπολήψονται· ὥστε εἰ θεὸν ὁμολογοῦσι τὸν κύριον, καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν κτίσιν θεοποιή σουσιν, εἰ δὲ ταῦτα τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀμοιρεῖν διορίζονται, τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπόληψιν καὶ περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς οὐκ ἀρνή σονται. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδεὶς τῶν σωφρονούντων τῇ κτίσει προσμαρτυρεῖ τὴν θεότητα· οὐκ ἄρα-καὶ σιωπῶ τὸ λειπόμενον, ὡς ἂν μὴ χρίσαιμι τῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν βλα σφημίᾳ τὴν γλῶσσαν· ἐκεῖνοι λεγέτωσαν τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἀκο λουθίας ἐπιφερόμενον, οἷς τὸ στόμα πρὸς τὴν βλα 3.2.38 σφημίαν καταγεγύμνασται. ὁ δὲ λόγος καὶ σιωπώντων δῆλός ἐστι. τῶν δύο γὰρ τὸ ἕτερον ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἔσται· ἢ φανερῶς ἀποχειροτονήσουσι τὸν μονογενῆ θεόν, ὥστε μη κέτι παρ' ἐκείνοις καὶ εἶναι τοῦτο καὶ λέγεσθαι· ἢ εἰ προσ μαρτυροῦσιν αὐτῷ τὴν θεότητα, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει τὸ ἴσον προσμαρτυρήσουσιν· ἢ τὸ λειπόμενον, φεύγοντες τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάτερα προφαινομένην ἀσέβειαν ἐπὶ τὸν εὐσεβῆ κατα φεύξονται λόγον καὶ τὸ μὴ κτιστὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι πάντως συγκαταθήσονται, ἵνα θεὸν αὐτὸν ἀληθῶς εἶναι ὁμολο γήσωσι. 3.2.39 Τί δεῖ τὰ ἄλλα λέγοντα διατρίβειν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ταύτης ὅσα κατ' ἀνάγκην ὕπεστι τῷ λόγῳ τὰ βλάσφημα; συνήσει γὰρ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ὁ πρὸς τὸ ἀκόλουθον βλέ πων, ὅτι καὶ ὁ τοῦ ψεύδους πατήρ, ὁ τοῦ θανάτου δη μιουργός, ὁ τῆς κακίας εὑρετής, κτιστὸς ὢν ἐν νοερᾷ τε καὶ ἀθανάτῳ καὶ ἀσωμάτῳ τῇ φύσει, οὐκ ἐκωλύθη ὑπὸ τῆς φύ σεως διὰ μεταβολῆς γενέσθαι ὅπερ ἐστί. τὸ γὰρ τρεπτὸν τῆς οὐσίας ἐφ' ἑκάτερον κατ' ἐξουσίαν κινούμενον ἀκολουθοῦσαν ἔχει τῇ τῆς προαιρέσεως ῥοπῇ τὴν τῆς φύσεως δύναμιν, ὥστε ἐκεῖνο γενέσθαι πρὸς ὅπερ ἂν ἡ προαίρεσις αὐτῆς ἀφηγή 3.2.40 σηται. οὐκοῦν δεκτικὸν καὶ τῶν ἐναντίων τὸν κύριον διο ρίσονται, ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἀγγελικὴν ὁμοτιμίαν αὐτὸν κατα σπῶντες διὰ τῆς κτίσεως. ἀλλ' ἀκουσάτωσαν τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ Παύλου φωνῆς. πῶς μόνον τοῦτον υἱὸν κεκλῆσθαί φησι; διὰ τὸ εἶναι οὐχὶ τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀλλὰ τῆς κρείτ τονος φύσεως. Τίνι γὰρ εἶπέ ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων Υἱός μου εἶ σύ; καὶ ὅταν πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, λέγει Καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι 3.2.41 θεοῦ. καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει Ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα· πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱὸν Ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασι λείας σου, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα μετὰ τούτων ἡ προφητεία θεολο γοῦσα διέξεισι. προστίθησι δὲ καὶ ἀφ' ἑτέρας ὑμνωδίας τὰ πρόσφορα τὸ Σὺ κατ' ἀρχὰς τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας, κύριε, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου εἰσὶν οἱ οὐρανοί, καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς πάντα ἕως τοῦ Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσι, δι' ὧν τὸ ἀναλλοίωτόν τε καὶ τὸ ἀΐδιον ὑπο 3.2.42 γράφει τῆς φύσεως. εἰ οὖν τοσοῦτον ὑπέρκειται τῆς ἀγγε λικῆς φύσεως τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἡ θεότης, ὅσον διαφέρει τῶν δούλων ὁ κεκτημένος, πῶς κοινοποιοῦσιν ἢ πρὸς τὴν αἰσθη τὴν κτίσιν τὸν τῆς κτίσεως κύριον ἢ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων φύσιν τὸν ὑπ' αὐτῶν προσκυνούμενον, ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς ὑπάρξεως αὐτοῦ διεξιόντες, ἃ τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἐν τῇ κτίσει θεωρουμένων κυρίως ἐφαρμοσθήσεται, καθὼς ἤδη τὸν ἀποδοθέντα περὶ τοῦ κυρίου λόγον ὑπὸ τῆς αἱρέ σεως τῇ κατασκευῇ τῆς γῆς προσφυῶς ἔχοντα καὶ οἰκείως 3.2.43 ἐδείξαμεν; ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν μή τι τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι τοῖς πό νοις ἡμῶν ἀμφίβολον ὑπολείποιτο τῶν τινα συνηγορίαν τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς δόγμασι παρεχομένων, ἐκ τῆς θεοπνεύστου γρα φῆς ἄξιον ἂν εἴη καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς