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form, but the one who emptied himself into the form of a servant emptied himself into the generation of man, the man who is seen emptied 3.3.19 himself into the generation of man. But the very nature of things opposes this, and he who in his theology hymned this economy also manifestly contradicts it, saying not that the visible man, but that the very Word who was in the beginning and was God had taken on flesh, which in other words is equivalent to having taken the form of a servant. If, then, you believe these things, change your course from error, cease from thinking that the man was emptied into a man. 3.3.20 But if you are not sufficient to persuade the unbelieving, with another voice and a second vote resolve their unbelief. Remember the one who said, Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. For there is no man who will appropriate this saying. No one of the saints who have ever lived was the only-begotten God, having become man. For this is to be in the form of God 3.3.21 and take the form of a servant. If, then, the blessed Peter is speaking about the one who emptied himself into the form of a servant, and the one who emptied himself into the form of a servant is the one who was in the form of God, and the one who was in the form of God is the Word who was in the beginning and was the only-begotten God, the blessed Peter is speaking about the one who was in the beginning and was God, and he teaches that this one has 3.3.22 been made Lord and Christ. However, Basil turns this conflict against himself and is clearly shown neither to have applied his mind to the intention of the apostles nor to have kept the consistency of his own words; from which, either perceiving the inconsistency he will concede that the Word who was in the beginning and was God has become Lord, or, adding conflicting things to conflicting things and contentiously persisting in them, he will add other things more hostile, contriving that there are two Christs and two Lords. For if one is the God Word who was in the beginning, and another is the one who emptied himself and took the form of a servant, and the God Word through whom are all things is also Lord, and this Jesus who was crucified after all things were made is also Lord and Christ, 3.3.23 according to him there are two Lords and Christs. Therefore no argument will absolve him of such manifest blasphemy. But if someone, agreeing with him, should say that the one who was in the beginning is the same Word who also became Lord, and that he became Lord and Christ according to his presence in the flesh, he will be compelled in any case to say that before his presence in the flesh the Son was not Lord. But even if two Lords and Christs are falsely proclaimed by Basil and the faithless ones with him, yet for us there is one Lord and Christ through whom all things were made, not having become Lord by advancement, but existing as Lord Jesus, through whom are all things, before all creation and before all ages, all the saints teaching us this in harmony and having proclaimed this most excellent of dogmas. 3.3.24 For the blessed John teaches that the God Word through whom all things were made has become incarnate, saying, And the Word became flesh, and the most admirable Paul, leading those who pay him mind to humility, says that Christ Jesus is the one who, existing in the form of God, both emptied himself into the form of a servant and was humbled unto death, even death on a cross, and again in other places he calls the crucified one the Lord of glory. 3.3.25 For if they had known, he says, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And much more explicitly than this he names the very substance Lord, saying, Now the Lord is the Spirit. If, then, the Word in the beginning, inasmuch as he is Spirit, is Lord and Lord of glory, and God made this one Lord and Christ, God made the Spirit himself and the God Word, and not some other lord, whom Basil dreams up.20 3.3.26 Such, then, is the accusation. But it seems to me that I must first briefly go through each of the points brought forward under their main heads, and then in this way to set straight by argument the things that have been said, so that for those judging the truth

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μορφήν, ὁ δὲ κενώσας ἑαυτὸν εἰς δούλου μορφὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν, ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος εἰς ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἐκένω 3.3.19 σεν ἑαυτόν. ἀλλ' ἀντιμάχεται μὲν τούτοις καὶ αὐτὴ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ φύσις, ἀντιφθέγγεται δὲ περιφανῶς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῇ θεολογίᾳ τὴν οἰκονομίαν ταύτην ὑμνήσας, οὐ τὸν βλεπόμενον ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα λόγον καὶ θεὸν ὄντα σάρκα ἀνειληφέναι λέγων, ὅπερ ἄλλαις φωναῖς ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ μορφὴν δούλου λαβεῖν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα νομίζετε πιστά, μετάθεσθε τοῦ πλάνου, παύσασθε τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἰς ἄνθρωπον κεκενῶσθαι 3.3.20 δοξάζοντες. εἰ δὲ οὐχ ἱκανοί ἐστε πείθειν ἀπεί στους, ἑτέρᾳ φωνῇ καὶ δευτέρᾳ ψήφῳ τὴν ἀπιστίαν λύσατε. ὑπομνήσθητε τοῦ φήσαντος Ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε μορφὴν δούλου λαβών. οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἀνθρώπων οὐδεὶς ὃς τοῦτον οἰκειώσεται τὸν λόγον. οὐδεὶς τῶν πώποτε γενο μένων ἁγίων μονογενὴς ἦν θεός, γενόμενος ἄνθρω πος. τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ τυγχάνοντα 3.3.21 μορφὴν δούλου λαβεῖν. εἰ τοίνυν περὶ τοῦ κε νώσαντος ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ὁ μακάριος διαλέγεται Πέτρος, ἐκένωσεν δὲ ἑαυ τὸν εἰς δούλου μορφὴν ὁ ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρ χων, ὁ δὲ ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν λόγος καὶ θεὸς ὢν μονογενής, περὶ τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος καὶ θεοῦ ὄντος ὁ μακάριος διαλέγεται Πέτρος, καὶ τοῦτον ἐκδιδάσκει γε 3.3.22 γονέναι κύριον καὶ Χριστόν. ταύτην μέντοι τὴν μάχην αὐτὸς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀναστρέφει Βα σίλειος καὶ δείκνυται σαφῶς οὔτε τῷ βουλή ματι τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸν ἑαυτοῦ νοῦν ἐπιστή σας οὔτε τῶν οἰκείων λόγων φυλάττων τὴν ἀκολου θίαν· ἐξ ὧν ἢ συναισθόμενος τῆς ἀνωμαλίας συγχωρήσει τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα λόγον καὶ θεὸν ὄντα γεγονέναι κύριον, ἢ μαχομένοις μαχόμενα συνάπ των καὶ τούτοις παραμένων φιλονείκως ἕτερα προσθήσει πολεμιώτερα, δύο κατασκευάζων εἶναι Χριστοὺς καὶ δύο κυρίους. εἰ γὰρ ἕτερος μὲν ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν θεὸς λόγος, ἕτερος δὲ ὁ κενώσας ἑαυτὸν καὶ μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, κύριος δὲ καὶ ὁ θεὸς λόγος δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, κύριος δὲ καὶ Χριστὸς οὗτος ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὁ σταυρωθεὶς μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τὰ πάντα, 3.3.23 δύο κατ' αὐτὸν κύριοι καὶ Χριστοί. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν οὐδεὶς παραιτήσεται λόγος τῆς οὕτως περι φανοῦς βλασφημίας. εἰ δέ τις τούτῳ συνιστά μενος φαίη τὸν αὐτὸν μὲν εἶναι τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ λόγον καὶ γενόμενον κύριον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐν σαρκὶ παρουσίαν γεγενῆσθαι κύριον καὶ Χρι στόν, ἀναγκασθήσεται πάντως εἰπεῖν πρὸ τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ παρουσίας μὴ εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν κύριον. ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἰ καὶ Βασιλείῳ καὶ τοῖς κατ' αὐτὸν ἀπίστοις δύο κύριοι καὶ Χριστοὶ καταγγέλ λονται ψευδῶς, ἀλλ' ἡμῖν γε εἷς κύριος καὶ Χρι στὸς δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονεν, οὐ κατὰ προκοπὴν γενόμενος κύριος, ἀλλὰ πρὸ πάσης κτίσεως καὶ πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων ὑποστὰς κύριος Ἰησοῦς, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, τοῦτο πάντων ἡμᾶς τῶν ἁγίων συμφώ νως ἐκδιδασκόντων καὶ καταγγειλάντων τῶν δογ 3.3.24 μάτων τὸ κάλλιστον. ὅ τε γὰρ μακάριος Ἰωάννης τὸν θεὸν λόγον δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονεν ἐν σαρκὶ γεγενῆσθαι διδάσκει λέγων Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, ὅ τε θαυμασιώτατος Παῦλος εἰς ταπει νοφροσύνην ἐνάγων τοὺς προσέχοντας αὐτῷ τὸν νοῦν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν λέγει τὸν ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ κενώσαντα ἑαυτὸν εἰς δούλου μορφὴν καὶ ταπεινωθέντα μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ, καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἑτέροις κύριον τῆς δόξης 3.3.25 ὀνομάζει τὸν σταυρωθέντα. Εἰ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν, φησίν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν. καὶ πολύ γε τούτου γυμνότερον αὐτὴν τὴν οὐσίαν ὀνομάζει κύριον εἰπὼν Ὁ δὲ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν. εἰ τοίνυν ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ λόγος, καθὸ πνεῦμα, κύριος καὶ τῆς δόξης κύριος, τοῦτον δὲ τὸν κύ ριον καὶ Χριστὸν ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός, αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸν θεὸν λόγον ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἄλλον τινὰ κύριον, ὃν ὀνειροπολεῖ Βασί λειος20. 3.3.26 Ἡ μὲν δὴ κατηγορία τοιαύτη. δοκεῖ δέ μοι χρῆναι πρῶτον ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων ἕκαστον τῶν ἐπενηνεγμένων ἐν ὀλίγῳ διεξελθεῖν, εἶθ' οὕτως εὐθῦναι τῷ λόγῳ τὰ εἰρημένα, ὡς ἂν τοῖς τε κρίνουσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν