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neither place nor time nor any other creation exists in which the Word who was in the beginning is not, the proposition that the Lord at some time was not has been utterly excluded from the dogma of piety. Therefore, the one who dogmatizes that the Only-begotten both is and is not, contends not with us but with himself. For in confessing that the Son's conjunction with the Father is in no way divided, 3.7.43 he has in every way testified to His eternity. But if he should say that the Son is not in the Father, we ourselves will not argue against such a statement, but we will set against it the Scripture, which says that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son, not adding 'sometime' or 'when' or 'then' to the statement, but by this negative and absolute utterance having testified to His eternity. 3.7.44 But to construe that the only-begotten God is said by us to be unbegotten is equal to saying that we also 3.7.45 define the Father to be begotten. For each is of the same absurdity, or rather, blasphemy; so that if he has decided to slander, let him add the other charge as well, sparing nothing by which it might be possible to exasperate his hearers against us more severely. But if he does not bring the other of these charges because of the blatant slander, let him drop the remaining one as well; for it is equal in impiety, as has been said, both to say the Son is unbegotten and the Father is begotten. 3.7.46 If, therefore, any such expression is found in what has been written by us, by which the Son is named unbegotten, we shall pass the final sentence against ourselves; but if he fabricates false charges and slanders at will, making up stories that seem fit for the defamation of our doctrines, perhaps this too would be for those who have sense a proof of the piety in us, that since our truth is fighting on our behalf, he has put falsehood forward for the accusation of our dogma, constructing an indictment of impiety that is alien to our reasoning. But it is possible to make a defense briefly against 3.7.47 these charges. For just as we judge accursed the one who says the only-begotten God exists unbegottenly, so too let him curse the one who defines that He who was in the beginning at some time was not. For from such a method it will be shown who brings charges truthfully and who slanderously. But if we deny the accusations, and in saying 'Father' we also conceive 'Son' by that utterance, and in naming the Son we say that what is spoken of truly is, having been begottenly radiated from the unbegotten light, how is the slander of those who rumor that we call the Only-begotten unbegotten not manifest? However, just because we say that He exists begottenly, we will not on this account accept that at some time He 3.7.48 was not. For who does not know that the opposition in meaning between 'being' and 'not-being' is immediate, so that the positing of one of the said terms is necessarily the negation of the opposite, and that just as 'to be' is the same throughout all time in which one might suppose something of the existing things to subsist (for heaven and stars and sun and the rest of the existing things do not exist more now than yesterday and the day before and in all preceding time), in the same way also the meaning of 'not to be' equally in everything has non-existence, whether one speaks of it in relation to what is prior 3.7.49 or what is later. For something of the things that subsist does not 'not-exist' more now than if it were non-existent before, but the principle of 'not-being' for that which is not is one throughout every interval of time. Wherefore also in the case of living creatures, we signify by different names non-existence—both the dissolution of what has come into being into not-being, and that which has not yet had passage into coming to be—saying either that it has not come to be at all or that what has come to be has died, but equally through each 3.7.50 expression we represent non-existence in our discourse. For just as the day is contained by night on either side, but the containing parts are not spoken of in the same way, but one after the evening, and the other before the dawn, yet what is signified in both cases is night; in the same way, if one were to consider not-being in contrast to being, one will name differently both that which is before the constitution and that which is after the dissolution of what was constituted, but one will conceive through

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τόπος μήτε χρόνος μήτε τις ἑτέρα κτίσις ἐστὶν ἐν ᾗ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν λόγος, πανταχόθεν τοῦ δόγματος τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐξῄρηται τὸ ποτὲ μὴ εἶναι τὸν κύριον. οὐκοῦν οὐχ ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' ἑαυτῷ διαμάχεται ὁ καὶ εἶναι καὶ μὴ εἶναι τὸν μονογενῆ δογματίζων. ἐν γὰρ τῷ ὁμολογεῖν μηδενὶ τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα διαιρεῖσθαι 3.7.43 συνάφειαν τὸ ἀΐδιον αὐτῷ πάντως προσμεμαρτύρηκεν. εἰ δὲ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ λέγοι μὴ εἶναι τὸν υἱόν, τῷ τοιούτῳ λόγῳ οὐκ ἀντεροῦμεν αὐτοί, ἀλλὰ τὴν γραφὴν ἀντιθήσομεν, ἥ φησιν ἐν τῷ πατρί τε εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ τὸν πατέρα, τὸ πότε ἢ ὅτε ἢ τότε μὴ προστιθεῖσα τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀποφατικῇ ταύτῃ καὶ ἀπολύτῳ φωνῇ τὸ ἀΐδιον αὐτῷ μαρτυρήσασα. 3.7.44 Τὸ δὲ κατασκευάζειν αὐτὸν ἀγέννητον παρ' ἡμῶν λέ γεσθαι τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ λέγειν ὅτι καὶ 3.7.45 γεννητὸν εἶναι τὸν πατέρα διοριζόμεθα. τῆς γὰρ αὐτῆς ἀτοπίας, μᾶλλον δὲ βλασφημίας ἑκάτερον· ὥστε εἰ μὲν συκοφαντεῖν ἔγνωκε, προστιθέτω καὶ τὸ ἕτερον ἔγκλημα, μηδενὸς φειδόμενος δι' ὧν ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν χαλεπώτερον ἐκ τραχύνειν καθ' ἡμῶν τοὺς ἀκούοντας. εἰ δὲ τὸ ἕτερον τούτων διὰ τὸ περιφανὲς τῆς συκοφαντίας οὐκ αἰτιᾶται, ἀφιέτω καὶ τὸ λειπόμενον· ἴσον γὰρ εἰς ἀσέβειαν, καθὼς εἴρηται, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἀγέννητον λέγειν καὶ γεννητὸν τὸν 3.7.46 πατέρα. εἰ μὲν οὖν εὑρίσκεταί τις ἐν τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν γε γραμμένοις φωνὴ τοιαύτη, δι' ἧς ἀγέννητος ὁ υἱὸς ὀνομά ζεται, καθ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν τὴν ἐσχάτην ψῆφον ἐξοίσομεν· εἰ δὲ ψευδεῖς αἰτίας τε καὶ συκοφαντίας κατ' ἐξουσίαν συμ πλάσσει, τὸ δοκοῦν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς δογμάτων λογοποιῶν, γένοιτ' ἂν ἴσως τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσι καὶ αὕτη τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν εὐσεβείας ἀπόδειξις, ὅτι τῆς ἀληθείας ἡμῶν ὑπερμαχούσης τὸ ψεῦδος εἰς κατηγορίαν τοῦ δόγματος ἡμῶν προεστήσατο, ἀλλοτρίαν τοῦ ἡμετέρου λόγου κατασκευάζων τὴν τῆς ἀσεβείας γραφήν. ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἐν συντόμῳ πρὸς 3.7.47 τὰς αἰτίας ταύτας ἀπολογήσασθαι. ὡς γὰρ ἡμεῖς τὸν ἀγεν νήτως εἶναι λέγοντα τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἐπάρατον κρίνομεν, οὕτω κἀκεῖνος ἐπαράσθω τὸν μὴ εἶναί ποτε τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα διοριζόμενον. ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ τοιούτου δειχθήσεται τρόπου ὅ τε κατὰ ἀλήθειαν καὶ ὁ συκοφαντικῶς τὰς αἰτίας ἐπά γων. εἰ δὲ ἡμεῖς ἀρνούμεθα τὰ ἐγκλήματα, καὶ πατέρα λέγοντες τῇ φωνῇ υἱὸν συνεπινοοῦμεν, καὶ υἱὸν ὀνομάσαντες ἀληθῶς εἶναί φαμεν ὃ λέγεται, γεννητῶς ἐκ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φωτὸς ἀπαυγασθέντα, πῶς οὐ πρόδηλος ἡ συκοφαντία τῶν ἀγέννητον λέγειν ἡμᾶς τὸν μονογενῆ θρυλούντων; οὐ μὴν ἐπειδὴ γεννητῶς αὐτὸν εἶναί φαμεν, τὸ μὴ εἶναι αὐτόν 3.7.48 ποτε διὰ τούτου παραδεξόμεθα. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι ἄμεσός ἐστιν ἡ κατὰ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἐναντίωσις τοῦ ὄντος καὶ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος, ὥστε τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου τῶν εἰρημένων θέσιν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ ἐναντίου γίνεσθαι πάντως, καὶ ὅτι καθάπερ τὸ εἶναι κατὰ πάντα χρόνον ταὐτόν ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧπερ ἄν τις ὑφεστάναι τι τῶν ὄντων ὑπόθηται (οὐ γὰρ μᾶλλον νῦν ἔστιν οὐρανὸς καὶ ἄστρα καὶ ἥλιος καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ὄντων ἢ χθὲς καὶ πρώην καὶ ἐν παντὶ τῷ προάγοντι χρόνῳ), τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι τὸ σημαινόμενον ἐπίσης ἐν παντὶ τὸ ἀνύπαρκτον ἔχει, εἴτε κατὰ τὸ πρότερόν τις εἴτε 3.7.49 κατὰ τὸ ὕστερον λέγοι. οὐ γὰρ μᾶλλον νῦν τι τῶν ὑφεστώ των οὐκ ἔστιν ἢ εἰ πρότερον ἀνύπαρκτον ἦν, ἀλλὰ εἷς ὁ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι λόγος ἐπὶ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ἐν παντὶ χρονικῷ διαστήματι. διὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ζῴων τήν τε τοῦ γεγονότος εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν ἀνάλυσιν καὶ τοῦ μηδέπω τὴν εἰς τὸ γε νέσθαι πάροδον ἐσχηκότος ὀνόμασι μὲν διαφόροις τὴν ἀνυπ αρξίαν σημαίνομεν, ἢ μὴ γεγενῆσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἢ τε θνάναι τὸ γενόμενον λέγοντες, ἐπίσης δὲ δι' ἑκατέρας 3.7.50 φωνῆς τὸ ἀνύπαρκτον παριστῶμεν τῷ λόγῳ. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ ἡμέρα νυκτὶ περιέχεται καθ' ἑκάτερον μέρος, λέγεται δὲ οὐχ ὡσαύτως τὰ περιέχοντα, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν μετὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν, τὸ δὲ πρὸ τοῦ ὄρθρου, νὺξ δὲ τὸ δηλούμενόν ἐστι κατ' ἀμφότερα, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον εἰ ἐκ τοῦ παραλλήλου πρὸς τὸ ὂν ἀντιθεωροίη τις τὸ μὴ ὄν, κατονομάσει μὲν διαφόρως τό τε πρὸ τῆς συστάσεως καὶ τὸ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ συστάντος διάλυσιν, ἓν δὲ νοήσει δι'