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timelessly before anything was. For it did not speak only of the morning star, the star, although there are many stars and the sun and the moon, which came to be on the fourth day, while the sea and trees and fruits, and the firmament of the earth and of heaven, had come to be before, and the angels came to be together with these; for if the angels were not created at the same time as heaven and earth, he would not have said to Job that "when the stars were born, all my angels praised me with a voice." Therefore, "before the morning star" *, in order to say "before anything was or was created." For the Word was always with the Father; "for through him all things were made, and without him was not anything made." 5. But someone might say: "You have shown that the angels exist before the stars, but you said they came to be at the same time as heaven and earth. From where have you made this proof, tell us; Did they not then surely come to be before the heaven and the earth? For nowhere does it clearly indicate the time of the creation of the angels. And it is quite clear that you have rightly shown them to be before the stars; for if they did not exist, how could they sing hymns to God at the creation of the stars?" But we are able to state each discovery of a question not from our own reasonings, but from the sequence of the scriptures. For the word of God clearly indicates that angels came to be neither after the stars nor before heaven and earth, since the saying is clearly unchangeable, that before heaven and earth there was nothing of created things, because "in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth," as the beginning of creation, with nothing created existing before it. Therefore, as I said before, the word in a man cannot be called a man, but the word of a man. But if the Word of God is God, he is not a word without substance, but a substantial God, the Word, begotten from God without beginning and without time; "for the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bears witness about him, and has 3.8 cried out, saying: "This is he of whom I said to you, 'He who comes after me has ranked before me, because he was before me.'" "This one came into the world, that the world might be saved through him." "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him." Do you see the only-begotten Word? Do you see him who came into the world among men and has "the glory of the only-begotten from the Father"? not as if the Father were the Word, nor as if the Father appeared in a confusion with the Word, as a man appears together with his own word, where his word cannot appear unless he who utters the word is present. In whom then shall I believe? With whom shall I agree? From whom shall I receive life in teachings? From the holy evangelists and Spirit-bearers, who said the Word was sent from the Father, or from these followers of Paul of Samosata, who speak of God with the Word and the Word with God, who define one person of the Father with respect to the Word and of the Word with respect to the Father? But if the person is one, how does one send, and the other is sent? For the prophet says, "he will send forth his word, and melt them; his wind will blow, and the waters will flow," and again, "I came from my Father and have come," and "I live, and the Father who sent me lives in me." How then is the one who was sent, sent, and appears through the flesh? "For no one has ever seen God; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." And it says, "the only-begotten God"; for the Word is begotten from the Father, but the Father was not begotten; for this reason he is the only-begotten God. 6. For the divine knowledge anticipated, proclaiming its own truth through its foreknowledge for the security of our souls, since it knew the folly of Samosatenus and the false doctrine of the Arians and the wickedness of the Anomoeans and the fall of the Manichaeans and the evil artifice of other heresies. And for this reason the divine word secures us concerning each expression; the
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ἀχρόνως πρὸ τοῦ τι εἶναι. οὐ γὰρ τὸν ἑωσφόρον μόνον ἔλεγε τὸν ἀστέρα, καίτοι γε πολλῶν ὄντων τῶν ἄστρων καὶ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ γενομένων, προγενομένων δὲ θαλάσσης καὶ ξύλων καὶ καρπῶν, στερεώματός τε γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἀγγέλων ἅμα σὺν τούτοις γεγονότων· εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἅμα οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ καὶ ἄγγελοι ἐκτίσθησαν, οὐκ ἂν ἔλεγε τῷ Ἰὼβ ὅτι «ὅτε ἐγενήθησαν ἄστρα, ᾔνεσάν με πάντες ἄγγελοί μου φωνῇ». τὸ οὖν πρὸ ἑωσφόρου *, ἵνα εἴπῃ πρὸ τοῦ εἶναί τι καὶ κτισθῆναι. ἦν γὰρ ἀεὶ ὁ Λόγος σὺν πατρί· «δι' αὐτοῦ γὰρ πάντα γέγονε, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν.» 5. Λέξειε δ' ἄν τις· «ἔδειξας εἶναι πρὸ ἄστρων τοὺς ἀγγέλους, ἅμα δὲ οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ τούτους ἔφης γεγονέναι. πόθεν πεποίησαι τὴν ἀπόδειξιν, λέγε ἡμῖν· οὐχὶ ἄρα πρὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς πάντως γεγόνασιν; οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ τηλαυγῶς σημαίνει τὸν χρόνον τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων ποιήσεως. καὶ ὅτι μὲν καλῶς αὐτοὺς ἔδειξας εἶναι πρὸ ἄστρων εὔδηλον· εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦσαν, πῶς ὕμνουν θεὸν ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ἄστρων ποιήσει;» ἡμεῖς δὲ ἑκάστην ζητήματος εὕρεσιν οὐκ ἀπὸ ἰδίων λογισμῶν δυνάμεθα λέγειν, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν γραφῶν ἀκολουθίας. τηλαυγῶς γὰρ σημαίνει ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ὅτι οὔτε μετὰ τὰ ἄστρα γεγόνασιν ἄγγελοι οὔτε πρὸ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, σαφῶς ἀμεταθέτου ὄντος τοῦ ῥητοῦ, τοῦ ὅτι πρὸ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς οὐδὲν ἦν τῶν ἐκτισμένων, ὅτι «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν», ὡς ἀρχῆς οὔσης τῆς κτίσεως καὶ οὐδενὸς πρὸ αὐτῆς τῶν κεκτισμένων ὑπάρχοντος. Οὐ δύναται οὖν, ὡς προεῖπον, ὁ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ λόγος ἄνθρωπος καλεῖσθαι, ἀλλὰ λόγος ἀνθρώπου. εἰ δὲ ὁ Λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ θεός ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνυπόστατος λόγος, ἀλλὰ ἐνυπόστατος θεὸς Λόγος, ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγεννημένος ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀχρόνως· «ὁ γὰρ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ εἴδομεν τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας. Ἰωάννης μαρτυρεῖ περὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ κέ3.8 κραγε λέγων· «οὗτός ἐστιν ὃν εἶπον ὑμῖν, ὁ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν.» «οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ.» «ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω». ὁρᾷς μονογενῆ Λόγον; ὁρᾷς ἐν κόσμῳ παραγενόμενον ἐν ἀνθρώποις καὶ πλήρη ἔχοντα «δόξαν μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός»; οὐχ ὡς τοῦ πατρὸς ὄντος Λόγου, οὐ πατρὸς ἅμα Λόγῳ συναλοιφῇ πεφηνότος, ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἅμα τῷ ἑαυτοῦ λόγῳ φαινόμενος ὅπου καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ οὐ δύναται φανῆναι, ἐὰν μὴ παρῇ ὁ φθεγγόμενος τὸν λόγον. τίνι τοίνυν πιστεύσω; τίνι συνθῶμαι; παρὰ τίνων λάβω ζωὴν ἐν μαθήμασι; παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων εὐαγγελιστῶν καὶ πνευματοφόρων, τῶν τὸν Λόγον παρὰ πατρὸς ἀπεσταλμένον φησάντων, ἢ παρὰ τούτων τῶν ἀπὸ Παύλου τοῦ Σαμοσατέως, τῶν σὺν τῷ Λόγῳ θεὸν καὶ Λόγον σὺν τῷ θεῷ φασκόντων, τῶν ἓν πρόσωπον πατρὸς πρὸς τὸν λόγον καὶ τοῦ Λόγου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὁριζόντων; εἰ δὲ ἓν τὸ πρόσωπον, πῶς ὁ μὲν ἀποστέλλει, ὁ δὲ ἀποστέλλεται; «ἀποστελεῖ» γάρ φησιν ὁ προφήτης «τὸν λόγον, καὶ τήξει αὐτά· πνεύσει τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ῥυήσεται ὕδατα», καὶ πάλιν «ἐγὼ ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ ἥκω» καὶ «ζῶ ἐγώ, καὶ ζῇ ἐν ἐμοὶ ὁ ἀποστείλας με πατήρ». πῶς οὖν ἀποστέλλεται ὁ ἀποσταλεὶς καὶ διὰ σαρκὸς φαίνεται; «θεὸν γὰρ οὐδεὶς πώποτε ἑώρακεν· ὁ μονογενὴς θεός, ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο». καί φησιν «ὁ μονογενὴς θεός»· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Λόγος ἐστὶν ἐκ πατρὸς γεννηθείς, ὁ πατὴρ δὲ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη· διὰ τοῦτο μονογενὴς θεός. 6. Προὔλαβε γὰρ ἡ θεία γνῶσις κηρύττουσα ἑαυτῆς τὴν ἀλήθειαν διὰ τὴν αὐτῆς πρόγνωσιν εἰς ἀσφάλειαν τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν, ἐπειδήπερ ᾔδει τοῦ Σαμοσατέως τὴν ἄνοιαν καὶ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν τὴν κακοδοξίαν καὶ τῶν Ἀνομοίων τὴν κακουργίαν καὶ τῶν Μανιχαίων τὴν πτῶσιν καὶ λοιπῶν αἱρέσεων τὴν κακομηχανίαν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περὶ ἑκάστης λέξεως ἀσφαλίζεται ἡμᾶς ὁ θεῖος λόγος· τὸν