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slander the divine generation from human examples. 3.2.66 But so that his precision and circumspection in his statements may be made more manifest, I shall again take up a small portion of what was said by him. For he says that 20things that act and things that are acted upon share nature with one another20, and after generation from bodies, he sets forth 20technical craftsmanship upon materials20. Let the astute hearer consider, then, how through these things he falls short of his own aim, being led astray by whatever chance arguments he comes across. He sees that the agent and the patient in things that come to be through the flesh are of the same substance, as 3.2.67 one imparts the substance and the other partakes of it. He knows so precisely how to see the truth in the nature of beings that he separates from the substance the one who imparts and the one who partakes, and says that each of these is another thing in itself, apart from the substance. For the one partaking or imparting is entirely other than that which is partaken of and imparted, so that it is necessary first to conceive of someone seen in himself in his own hypostasis, and then to say of him that he either 3.2.68 gives what he has or receives what he does not have. And having thus ridiculously spit out this argument, this wise man does not perceive that he is again subverting himself in what follows. For indeed the one who through art shapes the underlying matter to a desired form certainly produces something through his activity, and the matter, in being acted upon by the one who employs the art, receives its shaping; for matter does not receive the form from art while remaining 3.2.69 unaffected and resistant. If, then, in the case of things produced by art nothing could come to be unless being acted upon and activity run together for the production, how is it possible for the writer to think that through these examples he can stand by what he says, when by declaring a community of substance in being acted upon and activity, he risks not only attesting in some way to the commonality of substance between the one begotten and the one who begot, but also making all creation consubstantial with its maker, if indeed he defines 3.2.70 that which acts and that which is acted upon as being of the same nature with one another? Therefore, by the very means through which he constructs his desired point, he overturns what he is zealous for, making the doctrine of the "1homoousios"2 stronger by his own battle against it. For if generation from someone shows the substance of the one who begot in the one begotten, and if technical construction, being accomplished through activity and being acted upon, according to his argument, brings the agent and the product into a community of substance, then the writer, by establishing in many places in his own writings that the Lord was begotten, 3.2.71 therefore attests to the Lord's connection to the Father's substance by the very arguments through which he alienates Him from it. For if, according to his argument, the separation of substance is observed neither through generation nor through construction, then whatever he grants the Lord to be, whether created or begotten, through both he has testified to what is proper to Him in substance, he who has artfully described a community of nature in that which acts and is acted upon, and in that which begets and is begotten. 3.2.72 But let us turn to what follows in the argument. And I ask the readers not to be annoyed at the precision of the examination, which unintentionally extends the argument to great length. For the danger is not about ordinary matters, such that by overlooking something of what requires more diligent consideration we might suffer a small loss, but we are in danger regarding the very foundation of our hope. For the choice before us is either to be Christians, not carried away by the heretical perdition, or to be dragged down completely to Jewish and Hellenic notions. 3.2.73 Therefore, so that we may suffer neither of the forbidden things, neither being carried along with Jewish doctrines through the denial of the truly begotten Son, nor falling together with the ruin of the idolaters through the worship of a creature, let us necessarily dwell longer on the argument concerning these things, setting forth the very saying of Eunomius, which runs thus: 20These things being so divided, one might reasonably say that the most proper and first and only substance, which subsisted by the activity of the Father, into its own
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θείαν γέννησιν ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων διαβαλλέτω. 3.2.66 Ὡς δ' ἂν μᾶλλον αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀκριβές τε καὶ περιεσκεμμένον ἐν τοῖς λεγομένοις φανερὸν κατασταίη, μικρόν τι τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ ῥηθέντων πάλιν ἐπαναλήψομαι. φησὶ γὰρ 20τὰ ποιοῦντα καὶ πάσχοντα κοινωνεῖν ἀλλήλοις τῆς φύσεως20, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκ σωμάτων γέννησιν 20τὰς τεχνικὰς ἐπὶ τῶν ὑλῶν δημιουργίας20 ἐκτίθεται. σκεψάσθω τοίνυν ὁ ἀγχίνους ἀκροατὴς διὰ τούτων πῶς ἐκπίπτει τοῦ ἰδίου σκοποῦ, τοῖς ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸ συμβὰν παρευ ρισκομένοις ἐπιπλανώμενος. τὸ ποιοῦν καὶ πάσχον ἐν τοῖς διὰ σαρκὸς γινομένοις ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ὁρᾷ, ὡς τοῦ 3.2.67 μὲν μεταδιδόντος τῆς οὐσίας, τοῦ δὲ μετέχοντος. οὕτως οἶδε δι' ἀκριβείας ἐν τῇ τῶν ὄντων φύσει ὁρᾶν τὴν ἀλή θειαν, ὥστε χωρίζειν τῆς οὐσίας τὸν μεταδιδόντα καὶ τὸν μετέχοντα καὶ ἄλλον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ δίχα τῆς οὐσίας εἶναι λέγειν τούτων ἑκάτερον. ὁ γὰρ μεταλαμβάνων ἢ μεταδι δοὺς ἕτερος πάντως ἐστὶ παρὰ τὸ μετεχόμενον τε καὶ διδό μενον, ὡς δεῖν πρότερον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ νοεῖσθαί τινα καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἰδίαν ὁρώμενον, εἶθ' οὕτω λέγειν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἢ 3.2.68 διδόναι ὃ ἔχει ἢ ὃ μὴ ἔχει προσίεσθαι. καὶ τοῦτον οὕτως ἐπιγελάστως ἐκπτύσας τὸν λόγον τῷ ἐφεξῆς πάλιν ἑαυτὸν ἀνατρέπων ὁ σοφὸς οὐκ αἰσθάνεται. καὶ γὰρ ὁ τὴν ὑπο κειμένην ὕλην διὰ τῆς τέχνης πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν σχηματίζων ποιεῖ τι πάντως διὰ τῆς ἐνεργείας, καὶ ἡ ὕλη παρὰ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος τὴν τέχνην ἐν τῷ πάσχειν τὸν σχηματισμὸν ἀναδέχεται· οὐ γὰρ ἀπαθὴς καὶ ἀντίτυπος ἡ ὕλη μένουσα 3.2.69 τὴν ἐκ τῆς τέχνης μορφὴν παραδέχεται. εἰ τοίνυν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τέχνην ἐνεργουμένων οὐκ ἄν τι γένοιτο μὴ πά θους καὶ ἐνεργείας συνδεδραμηκότων ἀλλήλοις πρὸς τὸ γι νόμενον, πῶς ἔστι διὰ τούτων ἐφεστάναι τοῖς παρ' ἑαυτοῦ λεγομένοις τὸν λογογράφον οἴεσθαι, ὃς ἐν πάθει καὶ ἐνερ γείᾳ τὴν κοινωνίαν τῆς οὐσίας ἀποφαινόμενος κινδυνεύει μὴ μόνον τῷ γεννηθέντι προσμαρτυρεῖν πως πρὸς τὸν γε γεννηκότα τὸ κοινὸν τῆς οὐσίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν τῷ πεποιηκότι ποιεῖν ὁμοούσιον, εἴπερ τὸ ποιοῦν καὶ τὸ πάσχον ὁμογενῶς ἔχειν ἀλλήλοις κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ὁρί 3.2.70 ζεται. οὐκοῦν δι' ὧν κατασκευάζει ὃ βούλεται, διὰ τούτων ἀνατρέπει τὸ σπουδαζόμενον, ἰσχυροτέραν τῇ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ μάχῃ ποιῶν τὴν τοῦ "1ὁμοουσίου"2 δόξαν. εἰ γὰρ ἡ μὲν ἔκ τινος γέννησις τὴν τοῦ γεγεννηκότος οὐσίαν ἐν τῷ γεν νηθέντι δείκνυσιν, ἡ δὲ τεχνικὴ κατασκευὴ δι' ἐνεργείας τε καὶ πάθους ἀποτελουμένη κατὰ τὸν τούτου λόγον εἰς κοινωνίαν οὐσίας ἄγει τὸ ποιοῦν τε καὶ τὸ γινόμενον, γε γεννῆσθαι τὸν κύριον πολλαχῇ τῶν ἰδίων συγγραμμάτων ὁ 3.2.71 λογογράφος κατασκευάζων, ἄρα δι' ὧν ἀλλοτριοῖ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας τὸν κύριον, διὰ τούτων αὐτῷ προσμαρτυρεῖ τὴν συνάφειαν. εἰ γὰρ μήτε διὰ γεννήσεως μήτε διὰ κατα σκευῆς κατὰ τὸν τούτου λόγον ὁ τῆς οὐσίας χωρισμὸς καθορᾶται, ὅπερ ἂν δῷ εἶναι τὸν κύριον, εἴτε κτιστὸν εἴτε γέννημα, δι' ἀμφοῖν τὸ κατ' οὐσίαν οἰκεῖον προσεμαρτύ ρησεν ὁ ἐν τῷ ποιοῦντι καὶ πάσχοντι, γεννῶντι καὶ γεννω μένῳ τὴν τῆς φύσεως κοινωνίαν τεχνολογήσας. 3.2.72 Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς τοῦ λόγου τραπώμεθα. παραι τοῦμαι δὲ τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας μὴ δυσχεραίνειν τῇ ἀκριβείᾳ τῆς ἐξετάσεως εἰς πλῆθος ἀκούσιον προαγούσῃ τὸν λόγον. οὐ γὰρ περὶ τῶν τυχόντων ὁ κίνδυνος, ὥστε τι παραδρα μόντας τῶν φιλοπονωτέρας δεομένων τῆς θεωρίας ἐν ὀλίγῳ τὴν ζημίαν παθεῖν, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ τῷ κεφαλαίῳ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐγκινδυνεύομεν. πρόκειται γὰρ ἢ Χριστιανοὺς εἶναι, μὴ συμπαρενεχθέντας ὑπὸ τῆς αἱρετικῆς ἀπωλείας, ἢ πάντως πρὸς Ἰουδαϊκάς τε καὶ Ἑλληνικὰς ὑπολήψεις κατασυρῆναι. 3.2.73 ὡς ἂν οὖν μηθέτερον πάθοιμεν τῶν ἀπειρημένων, μήτε διὰ τῆς ἀρνήσεως τοῦ ἀληθῶς γεννηθέντος υἱοῦ τοῖς Ἰουδαϊκοῖς δόγμασι συμφερόμενοι, μήτε διὰ τῆς τοῦ κτίσματος προσ κυνήσεως τῷ πτώματι τῶν εἰδωλολατρούντων συγκαταπί πτοντες, ἀναγκαίως προσδιατρίψωμεν τῷ περὶ τούτων λόγῳ, θέντες αὐτὴν τοῦ Εὐνομίου τὴν ῥῆσιν ἔχουσαν οὕτως· 20οὕτω δὲ τούτων διῃρημένων, εἰκότως φαίη τις ἂν τὴν κυριωτάτην καὶ πρώτην καὶ μόνην ἐν εργείᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποστᾶσαν οὐσίαν εἰς ἑαυ