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the meaning of both [both that which is before existence and that which is after the dissolution of what has come into being]. For 'not to be' is the same for one who has not been born and for one who has died, apart from the difference of names, when the word concerning the hope of the 3.7.51 resurrection is taken away. Since, therefore, we have learned from scripture that the only-begotten God is the author of life and life itself, and light and truth and everything whatever is honorable in name and concept, we say it is absurd and impious to contemplate together with him who truly is, that which is conceived as its opposite, whether dissolution into corruption or non-existence before coming into being, but stretching our minds in every direction towards what is to come and towards what is pre-eternal, we never cease in our thoughts at non-being, judging it an equal impiety to curtail the divine at any time by non-existence. For it is the same thing to call immortal life mortal, and truth false, and light dark, and being not to be. 3.7.52 Therefore, he who does not grant that he will ever not be, will not agree, according to our argument, that he ever was not, avoiding the same absurdity on either side; for just as death does not cut short the endlessness of the life of the only-begotten, so neither in what is before does non-existence stop his life from proceeding towards eternity, so that he who truly is may be in every way pure from communion with non-being. For this reason, the Lord, wishing his disciples to be far from such error, so that they themselves might never, in seeking what is before the substance of the only-begotten, be carried away by their reasonings to what is non-existent. `I`, he says, `am in the Father and the Father in me`, as neither non-being is conceived in being, nor being in non-being. And the very order of the saying interprets the piety of the dogma. 3.7.53 For since the Father is not from the Son, but the Son from the Father, for this reason he says first `I am in the Father`, showing that he is not otherwise than from him, then he reverses the saying, that `And the Father is in me`, signifying that he who bypasses the Son with meddlesome curiosity also passes by the concept of the Father. For one who is in someone cannot be found outside of the one in whom he is; so that he is foolish who does not dispute that the Father is in the Son, but imagines that he has apprehended 3.7.54 something of the Father outside the Son, and the shadow-boxing of our opponents about the term 20unbegottenness20, treading on air through non-existent things, wanders in vain. 3.7.55 But rather, if one must bring the whole absurdity of the argument to light, let us be permitted to dwell a little longer on the consideration. For since it is said by them that the only-begotten God was begotten later, after the Father, their "unbegotten"—whatever they imagine it to be—is of necessity found to imply the concept of evils. For who does not know that just as non-being is set in opposition to being, so also to every good thing and name is set that which is conceived from its contrary, such as evil to good, falsehood to truth, darkness to light, and all things that are similarly set opposite to one another, in which the opposition is immediate and it is not possible for the two to be together at the same time, but the presence of the one removes its opposite and in the 3.7.56 withdrawal of the one, the generation of its contrary occurs. And with these things so agreed upon by us, this too is clear to all, that just as Moses says darkness was before the creation of light, so also in the case of the Son, if according to the argument of the heresy the Father made him when he willed, before he made him that light, which is the Son, was not. But with light not yet being, it is not possible for its opposite not to be. For through other things we have learned that nothing made by the creator is in vain, but what is lacking is introduced to what exists through creation. It is therefore perfectly clear that if God made the Son, he made him because 3.7.57 something was lacking in the nature of beings. Therefore, just as when perceptible light was lacking, darkness existed, and if the light had not come into being, darkness would have prevailed completely, so also with the Son not yet being, both the true light and

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ἀμφοτέρων τὸ σημαι νόμενον [τό τε πρὸ τῆς συστάσεως καὶ τὸ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ συστάντος διάλυσιν]. τὸ γὰρ μὴ εἶναι τοῦ τε μὴ γεννη θέντος καὶ τοῦ τεθνηκότος πλὴν τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν ὀνο μάτων ἴσον ἐστὶν ὑπεξῃρημένου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς 3.7.51 ἀναστάσεως λόγου. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἀρχηγὸν ζωῆς καὶ αὐτο ζωὴν τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς μεμαθήκαμεν καὶ φῶς καὶ ἀλήθειαν καὶ πᾶν ὅτιπέρ ἐστιν ἐν ὀνόματι καὶ νοήματι τίμιον, ἄτοπον καὶ δυσσεβὲς εἶναί φαμεν τῷ ὄντως ὄντι συνθεωρεῖν καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίου νοούμενον, ἢ διάλυσιν εἰς φθορὰν ἢ ἀνυπαρξίαν πρὸ τῆς συστάσεως, ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς καὶ πρὸς τὸ προαιώνιον ἐπεκτείνοντες ἑαυτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν οὐδαμοῦ πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὂν ταῖς ἐννοίαις λήγομεν, ἴσον εἰς ἀσέβειαν κρίνοντες οἱῳδή ποτε χρόνῳ δι' ἀνυπαρξίας περικόπτειν τὸ θεῖον. ταὐτὸν γάρ ἐστιν καὶ θνητὴν εἰπεῖν τὴν ἀθάνατον ζωὴν καὶ ψευδῆ τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ σκοτεινὸν τὸ φῶς καὶ μὴ εἶναι τὸ ὄν. 3.7.52 ὁ τοίνυν τὸ μὴ ἔσεσθαί ποτε μὴ διδοὺς οὐδὲ τὸ μὴ εἶναί ποτε συνθήσεται κατὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀτο πίαν φεύγων καθ' ἑκάτερον μέρος· ὡς γὰρ τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς οὐκ ἐπικόπτει θάνατος, οὕτως οὐδὲ κατὰ τὸ ἄνω ἡ ἀνυπαρξία στήσει πρὸς τὸ ἀΐδιον αὐτοῦ τὴν ζωὴν προϊοῦσαν, ὡς ἂν πανταχόθεν καθαρεύοι τὸ ὄντως ὂν τῆς πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὂν κοινωνίας. διὰ τοῦτο πόρρω γίνεσθαι τῆς τοιαύτης πλάνης τοὺς μαθητὰς θέλων ὁ κύριος, ὡς ἂν μή ποτε καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ πρεσβύτερον τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως ἀναζητοῦντες πρὸς τὸ ἀνύπ αρκτον τοῖς λογισμοῖς ἀπενεχθεῖεν. Ἐγώ, φησίν, ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί, ὡς οὔτε τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ἐν τῷ ὄντι νοουμένου οὔτε τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῷ μὴ ὄντι. καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ τοῦ λόγου τάξις τὸ εὐσεβὲς ἑρμηνεύει τοῦ δόγματος. 3.7.53 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ υἱοῦ ὁ πατήρ, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱός, διὰ τοῦτο πρῶτόν φησιν Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί, δεικνὺς τὸ μὴ ἄλλως ἀλλ' ἐξ ἐκείνου εἶναι, εἶτα ἀναστρέφει τὸν λόγον ὅτι Καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί, σημαίνων ὅτι ὁ ὑπερβὰς τὸν υἱὸν τῇ πολυπραγμοσύνῃ καὶ τὴν περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἔν νοιαν συμπαρέρχεται. ὁ γὰρ ἔν τινι ὢν ἔξω τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν εὑρεθῆναι οὐ δύναται· ὥστε μάταιος ὁ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ μὲν εἶναι τὸν πατέρα μὴ ἀντιλέγων, ἔξω δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ κατει 3.7.54 ληφέναι τι τοῦ πατρὸς φανταζόμενος, καὶ μάτην διαπλανᾶ τῶν πολεμούντων ἡμῖν ἡ περὶ τὸ ῥῆμα τῆς 20ἀγεννη σίας20 σκιαμαχία διὰ τῶν ἀνυπάρκτων κενεμβατοῦσα. 3.7.55 Μᾶλλον δὲ εἰ χρὴ πᾶσαν εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἀγαγεῖν τὴν ἀτοπίαν τοῦ λόγου, μικρὸν ἔτι συγχωρηθήτω προσ διατρίψαι τῷ θεωρήματι. τοῦ γὰρ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ ὕστε ρον μετὰ τὸν πατέρα γεγεννῆσθαι παρ' αὐτῶν λεγο μένου, εὑρίσκεται κατ' ἀνάγκην τὸ ἀγέννητον αὐτῶν, ὅ τι ποτὲ καὶ εἶναι φαντάζονται, τῶν κακῶν τὴν ἔννοιαν συν εμφαῖνον. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι ὥσπερ τῷ ὄντι τὸ μὴ ὂν ἀντιδιαιρεῖται, οὕτω καὶ παντὶ ἀγαθῷ πράγματί τε καὶ ὀνόματι τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίου νοούμενον, οἷον τῷ καλῷ τὸ κακὸν καὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τὸ ψεῦδος, τῷ φωτὶ τὸ σκότος καὶ πάντα ὅσα τούτοις ὁμοιοτρόπως πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον ἀλλήλοις ἀντι καθίσταται, ἐφ' ὧν ἄμεσός ἐστιν ἡ ἐναντίωσις καὶ οὐκ ἐν δέχεται κατὰ ταὐτὸν τὰ δύο μετ' ἀλλήλων εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἥ τε παρουσία τοῦ ἑνὸς ὑπεξαιρεῖ τὸ ἀντίθετον καὶ ἐν τῇ 3.7.56 τοῦ ἑτέρου ὑποχωρήσει γίνεται τοῦ ἐναντίου ἡ γένεσις. τού των δὲ ἡμῖν οὕτω διωμολογημένων κἀκεῖνο παντὶ δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι ὥσπερ φησὶ Μωϋσῆς σκότος εἶναι πρὸ τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς κτίσεως, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ, εἰ κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς αἱρέσεως τότε ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ ὅτε ἠθέλησε, πρὶν ποιῆσαι αὐτὸν οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνο τὸ φῶς, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ υἱός. φωτὸς δὲ μήπω ὄντος οὐκ ἐνδέχεται μὴ τὸ ἀντι κείμενον εἶναι. καὶ γὰρ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐμάθομεν ὅτι οὐδὲν εἰκῇ τῶν παρὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ γεγονότων ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ τὸ λεῖπον ἐπεισάγεται τοῖς οὖσι διὰ τῆς κτίσεως. δῆλον οὖν ἐστι πάντως ὅτι εἴπερ ἐποίησε τὸν υἱὸν ὁ θεός, διὰ τὸ 3.7.57 λείπειν τῇ φύσει τῶν ὄντων ἐποίησεν. ὥσπερ οὖν τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ φωτὸς λείποντος σκότος ἦν καί, εἰ μὴ ἐγεγόνει τὸ φῶς, ἐπεκράτει πάντως τὸ σκότος, οὕτως καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ μήπω ὄντος αὐτό τε τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς καὶ