369

He was the one who is, but he through whom He sent was the angel of the one who is20, thus naming the Lord. Therefore, the absurdity of the speech-writer is refuted by Scripture itself, in which Moses beseeches the Lord not to set an angel over the leadership of the people, but that He Himself should lead their journey. The text from the person of God runs thus: 'Go, descend and lead this people to the place of which I have told you; and behold, my angel will go before you on the day I visit.' 3.9.35 And again, after a little, it says, 'And I will send my angel before you.' Then, a little later in the sequence, a supplication is made by the servant to God in this manner: 'If I have found grace in your sight, let my Lord go with us'; and again, 'If you yourself do not go with us, do not bring me up from here'; then the response of God to Moses: 'And this word which you have spoken I will do for you; for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you above all.' Therefore, if Moses refuses the angel, and He who spoke the oracle to him becomes his fellow-traveler and leader of the army, it is clearly shown through these things that the one who made himself known by the title 'the one who is' is the only-begotten God. 3.9.36 But if anyone should speak against this, he will be an advocate of the Jewish opinion, not including the Son in the salvation of the people. For if an angel does not go along with the Israelites, and he who is revealed by the title 'the one who is' is not the only-begotten, as Eunomius wishes, then nothing other than the dogmas of the synagogue are being transferred to the church of God. Therefore, they will of necessity confess one of two things: either that the only-begotten God was nowhere present with Moses, or that the Son himself is 'the one who is,' from whom the word comes to the servant. 3.9.37 But he objects to what has been said, putting forward the Scripture itself which says that the voice 20of an angel was put first, and thus the dialogue of 'the one who is' was introduced20. But this is not a contradiction, but a confirmation of our own positions. For we too say clearly that the prophet, wishing to make the mystery concerning Christ manifest to men, called 'the one who is' an angel, so that the mind might not be drawn back to the Father when only the title 'the one who is' is found in the dialogue. But just as our word becomes an announcer and angel of the movements of the mind, so we say also that the true Word who was in the beginning, proclaiming the will of His own Father, is called an angel, being so named from the activity of 3.9.38 His message. And just as the lofty John, having first called Him 'Word,' so adds that the Word is God, so that if the title 'God' had not preceded, we might not be carried away by our assumptions to the Father, so also the great Moses, having first named Him 'angel,' teaches in the following words that He is 'the one who is,' so that the mystery concerning Christ might be clearly proclaimed beforehand, with Scripture teaching through 'angel' the Word as the interpreter of the Father's will, and through the title 'the one who is' the natural kinship of the Son with 3.9.39 the Father according to being itself. But if he should also put forward Isaiah as saying that His name is called 'Angel of great counsel,' not even so will he overturn our argument. For it is clear and indisputable there that the economy according to His humanity is signified through the prophecy. 'For a child,' it says, 'is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Angel of great counsel.' To which I think David also looks when he relates the establishment of the kingdom, not as if He were not king, but as the servile humility, which the Lord underwent according to the economy, having been taken up into the dignity of 3.9.40 kingship. 'For I was established,' he says, 'as king by him, on Zion his holy mountain, proclaiming the decree of the Lord.' Therefore, both angel and word, seal and image, and all such things, are said in the same sense of the one who through himself the fatherly goodness

369

ἦν ὁ ὤν, δι' οὗ δὲ ἀπέστειλεν, ὁ τοῦ ὄντος ἄγγελος ἦν20, οὕτως ὀνομάζων τὸν κύριον. οὐκοῦν ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἐλέγχεται τῆς γραφῆς ἡ ἀτοπία τοῦ λογογράφου, ἐν οἷς ὁ Μωϋσῆς ἱκετεύει τὸν κύριον μὴ ἄγγελον τῇ ἡγεμονίᾳ τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπι στῆσαι, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν τῆς πορείας αὐτῶν ἀφηγήσασθαι. ἔχει δὲ οὕτως ἡ λέξις ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· Βάδιζε, κατά βηθι καὶ ὁδήγησον τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃν εἶπόν σοι· καὶ ἰδοὺ ὁ ἄγγελός μου προπορεύσεταί σου ᾗ ἂν 3.9.35 ἡμέρᾳ ἐπισκέπτωμαι. καὶ πάλιν μετ' ὀλίγα φησὶ Καὶ συν αποστελῶ πρότερόν σου τὸν ἄγγελόν μου. εἶτα μικρὸν κατὰ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν γίνεται παρὰ τοῦ θεράποντος πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἱκετηρία τοῦτον ἔχουσα τὸν τρόπον· Εἰ εὕρηκα χάριν ἐναντίον σου, συμπορευθήτω ὁ κύριός μου μεθ' ἡμῶν· καὶ πάλιν Εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς συμπορεύῃ ἡμῖν, μή με ἀναγάγῃς ἐντεῦθεν· εἶτα ἀπόκρισις τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν Μωϋσέα· Καὶ τοῦτόν σοι τὸν λόγον ὃν εἴρηκας ποιήσω· εὕρηκας γὰρ χάριν ἐνώπιόν μου καὶ οἶδά σε παρὰ πάντας. οὐκοῦν εἰ Μωϋσῆς μὲν παραιτεῖται τὸν ἄγγελον, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ χρηματίζων αὐτῷ συνέμπορος γίνεται καὶ καθηγεμὼν τῆς στρατιᾶς, φανερῶς ἀποδείκνυται διὰ τούτων, ὅτι ὁ τῇ τοῦ ὄντος ἐπωνυμίᾳ ἑαυτὸν γνωρίσας ὁ μονογενής ἐστι θεός. 3.9.36 εἰ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτό τις ἀντιλέγοι, τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς ὑπολήψεως ἔσται συνήγορος, τὸν υἱὸν μὴ συμπαραλαμβάνων εἰς τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ σωτηρίαν. εἰ γὰρ ἄγγελος μὲν τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις οὐ συναπέρχεται, ὁ δὲ διὰ τῆς τοῦ ὄντος ἐπωνυμίας δηλού μενος ὁ μονογενὴς οὐκ ἔστι, καθὼς ὁ Εὐνόμιος βούλεται, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ τὰ ἐκ τῆς συναγωγῆς δόγματα πρὸς τὴν ἐκ κλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ μεταφέρεται. οὐκοῦν τῶν δύο τὸ ἕτερον ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁμολογήσουσιν, ἢ μηδαμοῦ παρεῖναι τῷ Μωϋσῇ τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἢ αὐτὸν τὸν υἱὸν εἶναι τὸν ὄντα, παρ' οὗ ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὸν θεράποντα γίνεται. 3.9.37 Ἀλλ' ἀντιλέγει τοῖς εἰρημένοις αὐτὴν τὴν γραφὴν προτεινόμενος λέγουσαν 20ἀγγέλου προτετάχθαι φω νήν, καὶ οὕτως ἐπῆχθαι τὸν τοῦ ὄντος διά λογον20. τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἀντίρρησις, ἀλλὰ βεβαίωσις τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐστίν. καὶ ἡμεῖς γάρ φαμεν ἐναργῶς τὸν προ φήτην τὸ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστήριον ἐμφανὲς ποιῆσαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις βουλόμενον ἄγγελον τὸν ὄντα προσαγορεῦσαι, ὡς ἂν μὴ μόνης τῆς τοῦ ὄντος ἐπωνυμίας κατὰ τὸν διάλογον εὑρισκομένης πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὁ νοῦς τῶν λε γομένων ἐπαναφέροιτο. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος τῶν τοῦ νοῦ κινημάτων μηνυτής τε καὶ ἄγγελος γίνεται, οὕτω φαμὲν καὶ τὸν ἀληθινὸν λόγον τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα διαγγέλλοντα τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς τὴν βουλὴν τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τῆς 3.9.38 ἀγγελίας ἐπονομαζόμενον ἄγγελον λέγεσθαι. καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ ὑψηλὸς Ἰωάννης πρότερον αὐτὸν λόγον εἰπὼν οὕτως ἐπάγει τὸ θεὸν εἶναι τὸν λόγον, ὡς ἂν μὴ προηγησαμένης τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προσηγορίας πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ταῖς ὑπονοίαις ἀπενεχθείημεν, οὕτω καὶ ὁ μέγας Μωϋσῆς ἄγγελον προονο μάσας αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ὄντα τοῖς ἐφεξῆς ἐκδιδάσκει λόγοις, ὡς ἂν φανερῶς τὸ κατὰ τὸν Χριστὸν προαγγελθείη μυ στήριον, διὰ μὲν τοῦ ἀγγέλου τὸν ἑρμηνέα τοῦ πατρικοῦ βουλήματος λόγον τῆς γραφῆς διδασκούσης, διὰ δὲ τῆς τοῦ ὄντος προσηγορίας τὴν κατ' αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς 3.9.39 τὸν πατέρα φυσικὴν οἰκειότητα. εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἠσαΐαν προβάλοιτο ὡς εἰπόντα καλεῖσθαι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελον, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀνατρέψει τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον. σαφὲς γὰρ ἐκεῖ καὶ ἀναντίρρητον ὡς ἡ κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώ πινον οἰκονομία διὰ τῆς προφητείας σημαίνεται. Παιδίον γάρ, φησίν, ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν καὶ υἱὸς ἐδόθη ἡμῖν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου αὐτοῦ, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος. πρὸς ὃ καὶ τὸν ∆αβὶδ οἶμαι βλέποντα τὴν τῆς βασιλείας κατάστασιν διηγεῖσθαι, οὐχ ὡς οὐκ ὄντος βασιλέως, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς δουλικῆς ταπεινότητος, ἣν ὑπῆλθε κατ' οἰκονομίαν ὁ κύριος, εἰς τὴν τῆς βασιλείας 3.9.40 ἀξίαν ἀναληφθείσης. Κατεστάθην γάρ, φησί, βασιλεὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, ἐπὶ Σιὼν ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ, διαγγέλλων τὸ πρόσ ταγμα κυρίου. οὐκοῦν ἄγγελός τε καὶ λόγος σφραγίς τε καὶ εἰκὼν καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔννοιαν λέγεται ὁ τὴν πατρικὴν ἀγαθότητα δι' ἑαυτοῦ