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For if he had completely cast out the word "Son" from his own doctrine, the deception would have become unacceptable to men, since the denial was clearly proclaimed in an open preaching; but now, by leaving only the name, and transferring the meaning to the concept of creation, he both establishes 3.2.134 idolatry and steals away refutation. But since we were commanded not to honor God with our lips, nor is piety judged by the sound of the voice, but it is necessary first to believe in the Son with the heart for righteousness and then to confess with the mouth for salvation, and those who say in their heart that there is no God, even if they confess the Lord with their mouth, have become corrupt and abominable, as the prophecy says, for this reason I say that it is necessary to look to the meaning of the words of faith that are put forward, so to speak, and not be enticed by the 3.2.135 sounds. If, then, in saying "Son" he does not look to a creature through the word, he is one of us and not of our adversaries; but if anyone applies the name of Son to creation, he will be ranked among the idolaters. For they too called Dagon and Bel and the dragon "god," but for this reason they did not worship God. For the wood and the bronze and the beast are not God. 3.2.136 But why is it necessary for us, by conjecturing their thought, to uncover with our argument the hidden deceit and perhaps provide occasions for our listeners to think that we are not truly bringing these charges against our enemies? For behold, he lays bare the blasphemy to us, not concealing the trick with any veil, but speaking boldly of his absurdities with a free 3.2.137 voice. And what is written is as follows. 20We, then,20 he says, 20finding nothing other than the substance of the Son that admits of generation, think we must apply the titles to the substance itself, or else we say "Son" and "begotten" in vain and with bare words, if we separate these from the substance. Starting from these points we are also convinced that their substances are altered from one another20. 3.2.138 I think there is no need for the absurdity in what has been said to be refuted by our arguments; for the mere reading of what has been written is sufficient to denounce the blasphemy. Let us consider it thus. He says that 20the substances of one another20, of the Son and of the Father, 20are altered20. What, then, is signified by 20altered20? First let us examine the very emphasis of the word in itself, so that through the interpretation of the term the 3.2.139 blasphemy may be more fully uncovered. The verb for "alteration," then, is used in common parlance, in the case of bodies, when some member is diverted from its natural harmony because of paralysis or some other affection; for from the comparison of the affected part with the healthy one, we call the turning for the worse of the part that has received the affection an "alteration"; and in the case of those who differ in character according to virtue and vice, when the dissolute life is compared with the pure and temperate, or the unjust with the just, or against the meek and peaceable and quiet man is the passionate and warlike and one who does not restrain his anger, and in general everything that is accused of vice by comparison with what is better is said to be "altered," because the characteristics of both do not correspond with each other, I mean of the good and the 3.2.140 worse. Further, we say that the qualities observed in the elements are also "altered," as many as correspond to each other in opposition, having a destructive power against each other, such as hot and cold, or dry and moist, or in general if anything is set against another in opposition; and the incompatibility in these things we interpret by the term "alteration," and in general, everything that is dissonant with another in its observed characteristics belongs to the "altered," as health to sickness, and life to death, and peace to war, and virtue to vice, and as many things as are similar to these. 3.2.141 Since these things have been so clarified by us, let us consider in the case of the writer, how he says that 20the substances are altered from one another20 in the case of the Father and the Son. What does he mean by this? Is it as
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γὰρ παντε λῶς ἐξέβαλε τοῦ καθ' ἑαυτὸν δόγματος τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν φωνήν, ἀπαράδεκτος ἡ ἀπάτη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐγίνετο, φα νερῶς διαβοωμένης τῆς ἀρνήσεως ἐν προδήλῳ κηρύγματι· νυνὶ δὲ καταλιπὼν μόνον τὸ ὄνομα, τὸ δὲ σημαινόμενον πρὸς τὴν τῆς κτίσεως ἔννοιαν μεταγαγὼν καὶ κατορθοῖ 3.2.134 τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν καὶ ὑποκλέπτει τὸν ἔλεγχον. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐ χείλεσι τιμᾶν τὸν θεὸν προσετάχθημεν οὐδὲ ἐν ἤχῳ φωνῆς ἡ εὐσέβεια κρίνεται, ἀλλὰ χρὴ πρῶτον τῇ καρδίᾳ πιστευθῆναι τὸν υἱὸν εἰς δικαιοσύνην καὶ τότε ὁμο λογηθῆναι τῷ στόματι εἰς σωτηρίαν, καὶ οἱ ἐν καρδίᾳ λέγοντες μὴ εἶναι θεόν, κἂν τῷ στόματι κύριον ὁμολογῶσι, διεφθάρησαν καὶ ἐβδελύχθησαν, καθὼς ἡ προφητεία φησί, διὰ τοῦτό φημι χρῆναι πρὸς τὸν νοῦν βλέπειν τῶν προβαλ λομένων δῆθεν τὰ τῆς πίστεως ῥήματα, μὴ πρὸς τὰς 3.2.135 φωνὰς δελεάζεσθαι. εἰ οὖν υἱὸν λέγων οὐ πρὸς κτίσμα βλέπει διὰ τῆς λέξεως, ἡμέτερος καὶ οὐχὶ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐστί· εἰ δέ τις υἱοῦ ὄνομα τῇ κτίσει τίθεται, ἐν τοῖς εἰδω λολάτραις τετάξεται. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ τὸν ∆αγὼν καὶ τὸν Βὴλ καὶ τὸν δράκοντα θεὸν ὠνόμαζον, ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸν θεὸν προσεκύνουν. οὐ γὰρ θεὸς τὸ ξύλον καὶ ὁ χαλκὸς καὶ τὸ θηρίον. 3.2.136 Ἀλλὰ τί χρὴ καταστοχαζομένους τῆς διανοίας ἀνα καλύπτειν τῷ λόγῳ τὴν κεκρυμμένην ἀπάτην καὶ παρέχειν ἴσως ἀφορμὰς τοῖς ἀκούουσιν, ὡς οὐκ ἀληθῶς ἡμῶν ταῦτα τοῖς ἐχθροῖς προφερόντων; ἰδοὺ γὰρ γυμνὴν ἡμῖν ἐκτίθεται τὴν βλασφημίαν, δι' οὐδενὸς προκαλύμματος τὸν δόλον ἐπι κρυπτόμενος, ἀλλ' ἐμπαρρησιαζόμενος τοῖς ἀτόποις ἐλευ 3.2.137 θέρᾳ φωνῇ. οὕτω δὲ ἔχει τὰ γεγραμμένα. 20ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν20, φησίν, 20οὐδὲν ἕτερον εὑρίσκοντες παρὰ τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸ δεχόμενον τὴν γέννησιν, ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς οὐσίας τάττειν οἰόμεθα δεῖν τὰς προσηγορίας, ἢ μάτην γε καὶ ψιλοῖς ῥή μασι λέγομεν υἱὸν καὶ γεννητόν, εἴ γε ταῦτα τῆς οὐσίας χωρίσαιμεν. ἐκ τούτων ὁρμώμενοι καὶ τὸ παρηλλάχθαι τὰς οὐσίας ἀλλήλων πι 3.2.138 στούμεθα20. οὐδὲν οἶμαι χρῆναι τὴν ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀτοπίαν διὰ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐλέγχεσθαι λόγων· αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡ τῶν γεγραμμένων ἀνάγνωσις ἱκανὴ στηλιτεῦσαι τὴν βλασφη μίαν. οὑτωσὶ δὲ διασκοπήσωμεν. 20παρηλλάχθαι20 λέγει 20τὰς οὐσίας ἀλλήλων20 τοῦ υἱοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ πατρός. τί τοίνυν διὰ τοῦ 20παρηλλαγμένου20 σημαίνεται; πρῶτον αὐτὴν τὴν τῆς λέξεως ἔμφασιν ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς ἐξετάσωμεν, ὡς ἂν μᾶλλον διὰ τῆς τοῦ ῥήματος ἑρμηνείας ἐκκαλυφθείη τὸ 3.2.139 βλάσφημον. λέγεται τοίνυν ἐν τῇ καταχρήσει τῆς συνη θείας τὸ ῥῆμα τῆς παραλλαγῆς ἐπὶ σωμάτων μέν, ὅταν ἐκ παραλύσεως ἤ τινος ἑτέρου πάθους παρατραπῇ τι μέλος τῆς φυσικῆς ἁρμονίας· ἐκ γὰρ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ὑγιαῖνον τοῦ πεπονθότος ἀντιπαραθέσεως τὴν πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον παρα τροπὴν τοῦ παραδεξαμένου τὸ πάθος παραλλαγὴν ὀνομά ζομεν· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἐν ἤθει κατ' ἀρετὴν καὶ κακίαν διαφε ρόντων, ὅταν ὁ ἀκόλαστος βίος ἀντιπαρατιθέμενος τῷ καθαρῷ τε καὶ σώφρονι ἢ τῷ δικαίῳ ὁ ἄδικος ἢ πρὸς τὸν πρᾷόν τε καὶ εἰρηνικὸν καὶ ἡσύχιον ὁ θυμώδης τε καὶ πολεμικὸς καὶ τὴν ὀργὴν ἀταμίευτος καὶ πᾶν ὅλως τὸ τῇ παραθέσει τοῦ κρείττονος ἐν κακίᾳ κατηγορούμενον παρ ηλλάχθαι λέγεται, τῷ μὴ συμβαίνειν ἀλλήλοις τὰ ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων γνωρίσματα, τοῦ τε καλοῦ φημὶ καὶ τοῦ χεί 3.2.140 ρονος. ἔτι παρηλλάχθαι φαμὲν καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ τῶν στοι χείων θεωρουμένας ποιότητας, ὅσαι κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον ἀντι στοιχοῦσιν ἀλλήλαις, φθαρτικὴν κατ' ἀλλήλων ἔχουσαι δύναμιν, οἷον τὸ θερμόν τε καὶ τὸ ψυχρὸν ἢ τὸ ξηρόν τε καὶ τὸ ὑγρὸν ἢ ὅλως εἴ τι τῷ ἑτέρῳ πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον ἀντικαθέστηκε καὶ τὸ ἐν τούτοις ἀσύμβατον τῷ τῆς παραλ λαγῆς διερμηνεύομεν ῥήματι, καὶ πᾶν ὅλως τὸ διαφωνοῦν πρὸς τὸ ἕτερον ἐν τοῖς ἐπιθεωρουμένοις γνωρίσμασι τῶν παρηλλαγμένων ἐστίν, ὡς ὑγίεια πρὸς νόσον καὶ πρὸς θά νατον ἡ ζωὴ καὶ πρὸς εἰρήνην ὁ πόλεμος καὶ ἀρετὴ πρὸς κακίαν καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἐστὶν ὁμοιότροπα. 3.2.141 Τούτων δὲ ἡμῖν οὕτω διευκρινηθέντων, κατανοήσωμεν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λογογράφου, πῶς 20παρηλλάχθαι λέγει τὰς οὐσίας ἀλλήλων20 ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρός τε καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ. τί τοῦτο λέγων; ἆρ' ὡς