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creation is a making, nor did the meaning of Son admit time or matter or place or passion, so also here, having purged the meaning of "radiance" and the other terms mentioned of every material concept, the Word, taking up only what is fitting for God in such a mode of generation, shows that He is to be conceived as from Him and with Him through the significance of this term. 3.6.39 For neither does "vapor" represent a diffusion into the air from the underlying matter, nor "fragrance" the transfer into the air arising from the quality of the ointment, nor "radiance" an effluence from the solar body through its rays, but this alone is shown from all of them, as has been said, through such a manner of generation: that He is from Him and is conceived with Him, with no interval mediating between the Father and the one who is from Him. And since, through a greater love for humanity, the grace of the Holy Spirit arranged from many sources for the divine concepts concerning the Only-begotten to be engendered in us, it also added the remaining mode seen in generation, 3.6.40 I mean that from the mind and the word. But the sublime John uses greater foresight, so that the hearer might not, through weakness and faintheartedness, fall into a common notion of "word," so as to think the Son is the Father's utterance. For this reason, in his first proclamation, he prepares us to see the Word in substance, and in a substance not alienated or broken off from its source, but in the first and blessed nature itself. For this he teaches, saying that in the beginning was the Word, and with God, and was God, [and] being Himself all that the beginning is. 3.6.41 For thus he expounds, theologizing about the eternity of the Only-begotten. Since, therefore, these modes of generation, that is, of those subsisting from a cause, which are known in our common experience, have also been adopted by Holy Scripture for teaching about transcendent realities, with each of them being adapted as is fitting for the presentation of divine concepts, let him who reads this discourse judge a just judgment, whether anything brought forward by the heresy has any strength against the truth. 3.6.42 I shall again set forth verbatim the saying of the opponent, which runs thus. "There being two points," he says, "stated by us: that the substance of the Only-begotten did not exist before His own generation, and that, having been begotten, He exists before all things." What mode of generation does this dogmatist propose to us? Is it the one fitting to think and speak of God? And who is so godless 3.6.43 as to preconceive of God a "not being"? But it is clear that, looking to this material generation, he makes the lower nature the teacher of his conception of the Only-begotten God, and since an ox or a donkey or a camel does not exist before its own generation, this he wishes to say also of the Only-begotten, which the logic of the lower nature allows us to see in the case of animals, not even understanding, this fleshly theologian, that "only-begotten" when said of God signifies by the very word that which is incommunicable and unique with respect to every generation. 3.6.44 For how could this generation be "only-begotten," if it had communion in significance and identity with another generation? For that which is to be understood of Him as uniquely exceptional, which cannot be observed in any other generation, is properly and fittingly interpreted by the title "Only-begotten"; so that if anything of the lower generation were also observed in Him, He would no longer be "only-begotten," being made common in some properties of generation with the rest of the begotten. 3.6.45 For if the same things were said of Him as are also said of the others who come into being through generation, the argument will transform the meaning of "Only-begotten" into a kind of fraternal relationship. Therefore, if the meaning of "Only-begotten" indicates what is unmixed and incommunicable with the rest of created things, we will not admit that any of the things seen in the lower generation can be conceived of in the Son's subsistence from the Father. But indeed, a property

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κτίσεως ποίησις οὔτε ἡ τοῦ υἱοῦ σημασία χρόνον ἢ ὕλην ἢ τόπον ἢ πάθος συμπαρεδέξατο, οὕτως καὶ ἐνταῦθα πάσης τῆς ὑλικῆς ἐννοίας ἐκκαθάρας τὴν τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν μνημονευθέντων σημασίαν, μόνον τὸ θεοπρεπὲς τοῦ τοιούτου τῆς γεννήσεως εἴδους ὁ λόγος παραλαβὼν ἐνδείκνυται τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τε καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ νοεῖσθαι διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν λέξιν ταύτην ἐμ 3.6.39 φάσεως. οὔτε γὰρ ἡ ἀτμὶς τὴν εἰς ἀέρα διάχυσιν ἐκ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ὕλης παρίστησιν οὔτε ἡ ὀσμὴ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ποιότητος τοῦ μύρου γινομένην πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα μετάστασιν οὔτε τὸ ἀπαύγασμα τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ σώματος διὰ τῶν ἀκτίνων ἀπόρροιαν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μόνον ἐκ πάντων, καθὼς εἴρηται, διὰ τοῦ τοιούτου τῆς γεννήσεως τρόπου δηλοῦται, τὸ ἐξ ἐκείνου τε εἶναι καὶ μετ' ἐκείνου νοεῖσθαι, μηδενὸς διαστήματος μεταξὺ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ μεσιτεύ οντος. ἐπεὶ δὲ διὰ πλείονα φιλανθρωπίαν ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος χάρις πολλαχόθεν ἡμῖν ἐγγενέσθαι τὰς θείας περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑπολήψεις ᾠκονομήσατο, προσέθηκεν καὶ τὸ λειπόμενον τῶν ἐν γεννήσει θεωρουμένων εἶδος, τὸ 3.6.40 ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ φημι καὶ τοῦ λόγου. ἀλλὰ πλείονι χρῆται τῇ προμηθείᾳ ὁ ὑψηλὸς Ἰωάννης, ὡς μήποτε ὑπὸ ἀτονίας τε καὶ μικροψυχίας καταπεσεῖν τὸν ἀκούοντα πρὸς κοινὴν ἔν νοιαν λόγου, ὡς φθόγγον τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱὸν νομισθῆναι. διὰ τοῦτο ἐν οὐσίᾳ βλέπειν τὸν λόγον παρασκευάζει τῷ πρώτῳ κηρύγματι καὶ ἐν οὐσίᾳ οὐκ ἀπεξενωμένῃ τινὶ καὶ ἀπερρωγυίᾳ τῆς ὅθεν ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πρώτῃ καὶ μακαρίᾳ φύσει. ταῦτα γὰρ διδάσκει λέγων ὅτι ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ θεός, [καὶ] πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶν 3.6.41 ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ὤν. οὕτως γὰρ περὶ τῆς ἀϊδιότητος τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεολογῶν διεξέρχεται. τούτων τοίνυν τῶν τῆς γεννήσεως τρόπων ἤτοι τῶν ἐξ αἰτίας ὑφεστηκότων ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς συνηθείᾳ γινωσκομένων, παραληφθέντων δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῆς ἁγίας γραφῆς πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὑπερκειμένων διδασκαλίαν οὕτως ὡς εἰκός ἐστι πρὸς παράστασιν τῶν θείων ὑπολήψεων ἕκαστον τούτων μεταληφθῆναι, κρινάτω δικαίαν κρίσιν ὁ ἐντυγχάνων τῷ λόγῳ, εἴ τι τῶν παρὰ τῆς αἱρέσεως φερομένων ἰσχύν τινα κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἔχει. 3.6.42 Προθήσω δὲ πάλιν αὐτὴν ἐπὶ λέξεως τοῦ ἐναντίου τὴν ῥῆσιν ἔχουσαν οὕτως. 20δύο20, φησί, 20ὄντων τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν εἰρημένων, τοῦ τε πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας γεννή σεως μὴ εἶναι τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ μονογενοῦς καὶ τοῦ γεννηθεῖσαν πρὸ πάντων εἶναι20. ποῖον γεν νήσεως εἶδος ὁ δογματιστὴς ἡμῖν προτείνεται; ἆρα τὸ πρέπον ἐπὶ θεοῦ νοεῖν τε καὶ λέγειν; καὶ τίς οὕτως ἄθεος 3.6.43 ὥστε προεπινοεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ μὴ εἶναι; ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὅτι πρὸς τὴν ὑλικὴν ταύτην γένεσιν βλέπων τὴν κάτω φύσιν τῆς περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ ὑπολήψεως ποιεῖται διδά σκαλον, καὶ ἐπειδὴ βοῦς ἢ ὄνος ἢ κάμηλος πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας γεννήσεως οὐκ ἔστι, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς βούλεται λέγειν, ὃ ἐπὶ τῶν ζῴων ἡ ἀκολουθία τῆς κάτω φύσεως δίδωσι βλέπειν, οὐδὲ τοῦτο νοῶν ὁ σωματικὸς θεολόγος, ὅτι τὸ μονογενὲς ἐπὶ θεοῦ λεγόμενον αὐτῷ τῷ ῥήματι τὸ πρὸς πᾶσαν γένεσιν ἀκοινώνητόν τε καὶ ἰδιάζον ἀποσημαίνει. 3.6.44 πῶς γὰρ ἂν εἴη μονογενὴς αὕτη ἡ γέννησις, εἰ κοινωνίαν κατὰ τὴν ἔμφασιν καὶ ταὐτότητα πρὸς ἄλλην γέννησιν ἔχοι; τὸ γὰρ μόνον κατ' ἐξαίρετον ἐπ' αὐτοῦ νοεῖσθαι, ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπ' ἄλλης κατανοῆσαι γεννήσεως, κυρίως τε καὶ προσ φυῶς τῷ προσρήματι τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἑρμηνεύεται· ὡς εἴ γέ τι τῆς κάτω γεννήσεως καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ θεωροῖτο, οὐκέτ' ἂν εἴη μονογενὴς ὅ τισι τῆς γεννήσεως ἰδιώμασι πρὸς τὰ 3.6.45 λοιπὰ τῶν γεννηθέντων κοινοποιούμενος. εἰ γὰρ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου λέγοιτο, ἃ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν διὰ γεν νήσεως εἰς τὸ εἶναι προϊόντων λέγεται, εἰς ἀδελφικήν τινα σχέσιν τὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς σημαινόμενον μετασκευάσει ὁ λόγος. οὐκοῦν εἰ τὸ ἄμικτόν τε καὶ ἀκοινώνητον πρὸς τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν γινομένων ἐνδείκνυται τὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς σημαινόμενον, οὐδὲν τῶν περὶ τὴν κάτω γέννησιν ὁρωμένων καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποστάσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ νοεῖσθαι καταδεξόμεθα. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἴδιον