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they were condemned to captivity, having been exiled from the sanctuary and being 3.8.20 far from the inheritance of the fathers. It seems to me that these laments are now more appropriately sung, when the imitator of Jeconiah draws the deceived to this new form of idolatry, exiling them from the paternal inheritance, I mean, the faith. For them, just as in the history, the migration to the Babylonians takes place from the Jerusalem above, that is, from the church of God, for those being transferred to this confusion of wicked dogmas; for Babylon is interpreted as confusion; and like the blinded Jeconiah, this man also, having willingly deprived himself of the light of truth, has become the spoil of the Babylonian tyrant, the wretched one not having learned that the Gospel teaches to behold eternal life equally in Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, concerning the Father, the Word saying thus that to know him is eternal life; concerning the Son, that everyone who believes in him has eternal life; and concerning the Holy Spirit, that for the one who receives grace it will be a spring of water 3.8.21 welling up to eternal life. Therefore everyone who desires eternal life, when he finds the Son—I mean the true and not one falsely named—has found in Him the whole of what he desired, because He Himself is the life and has life in Himself. But this man, subtle in mind and piercing in heart, through much keen-sightedness, does not find eternal life in the Son, but passing over Him and leaving Him behind as some obstacle to what is sought, he investigates eternal life there, 3.8.22 where he thinks the true life is not. What could one devise more dreadful than these things for blasphemy, or more grim for an occasion of lamentation? But indeed, for 20Sabellius20 and 20Montanus20 to be rumored against our doctrines is like someone attributing to us the blasphemy concerning the 'unlikeness'. For if one were to examine carefully the deceit of these heresies, he would find them having 3.8.23 much affinity with the error of Eunomius. For each of them Judaizes in his doctrine, accepting neither the only-begotten God nor the Holy Spirit into communion with the divinity of the one they call the great and first God; for the one whom Sabellius calls "1of three names"2, Eunomius names "1unbegotten"2; and neither of them beholds the divinity in the trinity of hypostases. Who, therefore, has an affinity with Sabellius, let the judgment of those who encounter the argument declare. But so much for these things. 3.8.24 But since in what follows he is copious in stirring up the stench of his abominable arguments, through which he fabricates that the only-begotten God once was not, I say it is well, now that our understanding of these things has been moderately cleansed by what has gone before, not to contaminate our discourse further with similar evils. Except perhaps it is not untimely 3.8.25 to add this one thing, selected from the many. He says that equally also to the Father's essence is yoked ** if someone had said unbegottenness the argument proceeds through similar things, as he concluded in the case of the Son, clearly through the construction of opposites the dogma of piety is strengthened, namely, not to think that 20unbegottenness20 and 20generation20 are the same as the essence, but that these are contemplated in the subject, while the subject in its own definition is something other than these, in which, since no difference is found (because the distinction between 'begotten' and 'unbegotten' is separate from the essence), it remains by all necessity to conclude that the essence is unvaried in both. Furthermore, let us examine this in addition to what has been said: how he says 20generation20 is separated from the Father, understanding it as an essence or 3.8.26 an energy. But if he thinks this is an energy, it is in any case equally connected both to that which is acted upon and to that which acts, just as in every construction it is possible to see the energy equally in that which is being made and in that which makes, being neither separated from the craftsman and appearing in the construction of the results; but if
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αἰχμαλωσίαν κατεδικάσθησαν, ἐξοικισθέντες τοῦ ἁγιάσματος καὶ πόρρω τῆς τῶν πατέρων κληρονομίας γε 3.8.20 νόμενοι. τούτους μοι δοκεῖ νῦν τοὺς θρήνους οἰκειότερον ᾄδεσθαι, ὅτε ὁ μιμητὴς τοῦ Ἰεχονίου πρὸς τὸ καινὸν τοῦτο τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας εἶδος τοὺς ἀπατωμένους ἐφέλκεται, τῆς πατρικῆς ἐξοικίζων κληρονομίας, τῆς πίστεως λέγω. οἷς ἀτεχνῶς κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν εἰς Βαβυλωνίους ἡ μετανά στασις γίνεται ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ τουτέστιν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας ἐπὶ τὴν σύγχυσιν ταύτην τῶν πο νηρῶν δογμάτων μεθισταμένοις· σύγχυσις γὰρ ἡ Βαβυλὼν ἑρμηνεύεται· καὶ κατὰ τὸν πηρωθέντα Ἰεχονίαν καὶ οὗτος ἑαυτὸν ἑκουσίως τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς ἀληθείας στερήσας λάφυρον γέγονε τοῦ Βαβυλωνίου τυράννου, μὴ καταμαθὼν ὁ δείλαιος ὅτι τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν ἐπίσης πατρί τε καὶ υἱῷ καὶ πνεύ ματι ἁγίῳ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἐνορᾶν δογματίζει, περὶ μὲν τοῦ πατρὸς οὕτως εἰπόντος τοῦ λόγου ὅτι τὸ γινώσκειν αὐτὸν ἡ αἰώνιός ἐστι ζωή, περὶ δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ ὅτι πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν τὴν αἰώνιον ἔχει ζωήν, περὶ δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου ὅτι τῷ δεξαμένῳ τὴν χάριν ἔσται πηγὴ ὕδατος 3.8.21 ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. οὐκοῦν πᾶς ὁ ποθῶν τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν, ἐπειδὰν εὕρῃ τὸν υἱόν, τὸν ἀληθῆ λέγω καὶ οὐ ψευδώνυμον, ὅλον εὗρεν ἐν αὐτῷ ὅπερ ἐπόθησε, διότι καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ζωὴν ἔχει. ἀλλ' ὁ λεπτὸς οὗτος τὸν νοῦν καὶ διορατικὸς τὴν καρδίαν ὑπὸ πολλῆς ὀξυωπίας τῷ υἱῷ τὴν αἰώνιον οὐκ ἐνευρίσκει ζωήν, ἀλλ' ὑπερβὰς τοῦτον καὶ καταλιπὼν οἷον ἐμπόδιόν τι πρὸς τὸ ζητούμενον ἐκεῖ διερευνᾶται τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν, 3.8.22 ὅπου μὴ εἶναι οἴεται τὴν ὄντως ζωήν. τί ἄν τις ἐπινοή σειε τούτων ἢ εἰς βλασφημίαν φρικτότερον ἢ εἰς θρήνων ἀφορμὴν σκυθρωπότερον; ἀλλὰ μὴν τὸ 20Σαβέλλιόν20 τε καὶ 20Μοντανὸν20 τοῖς ἡμετέροις δόγμασιν ἐπιθρυλεῖσθαι τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν οἷον εἴ τις καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀνόμοιον ἡμῖν βλασφη μίαν προστρίβοιτο. εἰ γάρ τις ἐπεσκεμμένως τὴν τῶν αἱρέσεων τούτων ἀπάτην διεξετάσειεν, εὑρήσει πολλὴν ἔχον 3.8.23 τας πρὸς τὴν κατ' Εὐνόμιον πλάνην τὴν οἰκειότητα. ἰου δαΐζει γὰρ ἑκάτερος αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ δόγματι οὔτε τὸν μονο γενῆ θεὸν οὔτε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς θεότητος τοῦ μεγάλου παρ' αὐτοῖς καὶ πρώτου λεγομένου θεοῦ προσδεχόμενος· ὃν γὰρ Σαβέλλιος λέγει "1τριώνυμον"2, τοῦτον Εὐνόμιος ὀνομάζει "1ἀγέννητον"2· οὐδέτερος δὲ τού των ἐν τῇ τριάδι τῶν ὑποστάσεων θεωρεῖ τὴν θεότητα. τίς τοίνυν οἰκείως ἔχει πρὸς τὸν Σαβέλλιον, ἡ τῶν ἐντυγ χανόντων τῷ λόγῳ κρίσις ἀποφηνάσθω. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον. 3.8.24 Ἐπεὶ δὲ πολύς ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς τῶν βδελυρῶν ἐπιχειρημάτων ἀνακινῶν τὴν δυσωδίαν, δι' ὧν μὴ εἶναί ποτε τὸν μονογενῆ κατασκευάζει θεόν, καλῶς ἔχειν φημὶ διὰ τῶν προλαβόντων μετρίως τῆς περὶ τούτων ἡμῖν δια νοίας ἐκκαθαρθείσης μηκέτι συνδιαβαπτίζειν τὸν λόγον τοῖς ὁμοίοις κακοῖς. πλὴν τοῦτο μόνον οὐκ ἄκαιρον ἴσως 3.8.25 προσθεῖναι τῶν πολλῶν ἐκλεξάμενον. φησὶ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον καὶ τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίᾳ συνεζεῦχθαί ** τινος τὴν ἀγεν νησίαν εἰπόντος διὰ τῶν ὁμοίων ὁ λόγος προέρχεται, καθὼς ἐπὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ συνεπέρανε, σαφῶς διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐναν τίων κατασκευῆς τὸ δόγμα τῆς εὐσεβείας κρατύνεται, τὸ μὴ ταὐτὸν οἴεσθαι εἶναι τῇ οὐσίᾳ 20τὴν ἀγεννησίαν20 τε καὶ 20τὴν γέννησιν20, ἀλλ' ἐπιθεωρεῖσθαι μὲν ταῦτα τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ, ἄλλο δέ τι παρὰ ταῦτα εἶναι τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ τὸ ὑποκείμενον, ἐφ' οὗ μηδεμιᾶς διαφορᾶς εὑρισκομένης διὰ τὸ κεχωρίσθαι τῆς οὐσίας τὴν κατὰ τὸ γεννητόν τε καὶ ἀγέννητον διαφορὰν λείπεται κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν τὴν οὐσίαν συντίθεσθαι. ἔτι καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς εἰρημένοις προσεξετάσωμεν, πῶς κεχωρίσθαι τοῦ πατρὸς λέγει τὴν 20γέννησιν20, οὐσίαν αὐτὴν νοῶν ἢ 3.8.26 ἐνέργειαν. ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἐνέργειαν οἴεται ταύτην, ἐπίσης πάντως τῷ τε ἐνεργηθέντι καὶ τῷ ἐνεργοῦντι συνάπτεται, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ πάσης κατασκευῆς ὁμοίως ἐπί τε τοῦ γινομένου καὶ τοῦ ποιοῦντος ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τὴν ἐνέργειαν μήτε τοῦ τεχνι τεύοντος χωριζομένην καὶ τῇ κατασκευῇ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἐμφαινομένην· εἰ δὲ