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the uncreated nature is lying when it testifies that the creation belongs to the Son, but if he were to believe Him created, he makes Him out to be His own creator. 3.9.48 For if creation were not set apart by the uncreatedness in itself of the intelligible substance, nothing distinguishing would be left, since both the sensible creation and the intellectual substance would be understood as common. But he adds to these things 20that in the creation of beings he has been entrusted by the Father with the creation of all things, both visible and invisible, and the providence for things that have come to be, the power allotted to him from above being sufficient for the generations of the things created20. The multitude of things written compels one to run through these things briefly, but the blasphemy somehow holds back the discourse, containing a great swarm of thoughts like some venomous 3.9.49 wasps. He was entrusted, he says, by the Father with the creation. But if the discourse were about some artisan who handles the work according to the will of the one who hired him, would he not have used the same words? For indeed, concerning Bezalel we do not err in saying the same thing, that having been entrusted by Moses with the making of the tabernacle, he became the creator of the things mentioned there, not having come to the task without first having acquired the knowledge by divine power and having dared the work by the commission of Moses. 3.9.50 Therefore the word 20to have been entrusted20 indicates that the creative power and authority became something acquired for him, so that before being entrusted he was neither daring nor able, but when he received the authority for the works and sufficient power for the works, he thus became creator of beings, 20being sufficient for him20, as Eunomius says, 20the power allotted from above20. Does he not perhaps, according to some monstrous astrological theory, also place the generation of the Son under some fate, just as those who have practiced this vain deceit say that according to certain conjunctions and separations of the stars, the allotments of life happen to those who are born, with the revolution carried from above by some sequence spinning out the powers concerning something for those who come into being? 3.9.51 Perhaps the wise one thinks something of this sort and says that to him who is above every rule and authority and lordship and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come, as if confined in some hollow places, power has been allotted from above, measured out according to the quantity of the things that come into being. I will run through this argument too with brevity, casting from the small beginning of the things examined seeds for the understanding of the blasphemy for the more intelligent of my readers. 3.9.52 Then in what follows a certain defense on our behalf has been written by him. For we would no longer seem to the readers to misinterpret the meaning of the argument and to translate the words toward the reprehensible, when his own voice confesses the absurdity. For what has been written is as follows: 20For have not earth and angel come into being from not being?20 Do you see the lofty theologian, how he is not ashamed to apply the same argument to earth and to angels and to the very Maker of the universe? Therefore if he thinks it fitting to say the same things about the earth and the Lord, he will either deify this one entirely or he will dishonor that one along with this. 3.9.53 Then he adds to these things statements through which the blasphemy is laid more bare, so that the absurdity is not difficult for even a child to understand. For he says that 20it would be a long task to go through all the generations or the substances of the intelligible beings, for all of which the nature of non-being is not some common thing, but the variation is according to the energies of the one who created.20 For these things, even if we are silent, have a very clear and manifest blasphemy against the Son, when he confesses that what is said concerning every generation and substance is in no way discordant with the argument concerning the divine hypostasis of the Only-begotten. But it seems good to me, having passed over the construction of the blasphemy in the middle, which has been in a way refuted beforehand in the things examined, to the main points 3.9.54 of the

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ψεύδεσθαι τῆς ἀκτίστου φύσεως τὴν δημιουργίαν τῷ υἱῷ προσμαρτυροῦντα, εἰ δὲ κτιστὴν πιστεύοι, αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῦ κτίστην εἶναι κατασκευάζει. 3.9.48 εἰ γὰρ μὴ τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀκτίστῳ τῆς νοητῆς οὐσίας ἀφορίζοιτο ἡ δημιουργία, οὐδὲν ἔτι τὸ διακρῖνον ὑπολειφθή σεται, τῆς τε αἰσθητῆς κτίσεως καὶ τῆς νοερᾶς οὐσίας ἐπικοίνου νοουμένης. ἀλλ' ἐπάγει τούτοις 20ὅτι ἐν τῇ τῶν ὄντων κτίσει παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπιτέτραπται τὴν τῶν ἁπάντων, ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων, δη μιουργίαν καὶ τῶν γενομένων τὴν πρόνοιαν, ἀρκούσης αὐτῷ τῆς ἄνωθεν ἀποκληρωθείσης δυνάμεως πρὸς τὰς γενέσεις τῶν δημιουργη θέντων20. ταῦτα βιάζεται μὲν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν συντόμῳ παραδραμεῖν, παρακατέχει δέ πως ἡ βλασφημία τὸν λόγον, πολὺν ἑσμὸν νοημάτων οἷόν τινων ἰοβόλων σφη 3.9.49 κῶν περιέχουσα. ἐπετράπη, φησί, παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν δημιουργίαν. εἰ δὲ περὶ χειροτέχνου τινὸς ὁ λόγος ἐγίνετο κατὰ γνώμην τοῦ μισθουμένου μεταχειριζομένου τὴν ἐργα σίαν, ἆρ' οὐκ ἂν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐχρήσατο λόγοις; καὶ γὰρ περὶ τοῦ Βεσελεὴλ τὸ ἴσον οὐχ ἁμαρτάνομεν λέγοντες ὅτι ἐπιτραπεὶς παρὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως τὴν σκηνοποιΐαν δημιουργὸς τῶν ἐκεῖ μνημονευθέντων ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἂν ἐπὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐλθὼν μὴ πρότερον θείᾳ τε δυνάμει τὴν ἐπιστήμην κτησά μενος καὶ τῇ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐπιτροπῇ τῆς ἐνεργείας κατα 3.9.50 τολμήσας. οὐκοῦν ἡ τοῦ 20ἐπιτετράφθαι20 λέξις ἐπί κτητον αὐτῷ γεγενῆσθαι τὴν δημιουργικὴν ἐνδείκνυται δύ ναμίν τε καὶ ἐξουσίαν, ὡς πρὶν ἐπιτραπῆναι μήτε θαρ σοῦντα μήτε δυνάμενον, ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν τῶν ἔργων ἐξουσίαν ἔλαβε καὶ ἀποχρῶσαν πρὸς τὰ ἔργα τὴν δύναμιν, οὕτω γεγενῆσθαι δημιουργὸν τῶν ὄντων, 20ἀρκούσης αὐτῷ20, καθώς φησιν ὁ Εὐνόμιος, 20τῆς ἄνωθεν ἀποκληρωθείσης δυνάμεως20. ἆρα μὴ κατά τινα τερατείαν τῶν γενεθλιακῶν λόγων καὶ ἐν εἱμαρμένῃ τινὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν γέννησιν τίθεται, καθάπερ φασὶν οἱ τὴν ματαίαν ταύτην ἐξησκηκότες ἀπάτην κατὰ τὰς ποιὰς τῶν ἀστέρων ἐπι πλοκάς τε καὶ ἀποστάσεις τὰς ἀποκληρώσεις τῶν βίων τοῖς τικτομένοις συμβαίνειν, τῆς ἄνωθεν εἱρμῷ τινι φερο μένης δινήσεως τὰς περί τι δυνάμεις τοῖς γινομένοις ἐπι 3.9.51 κλωθούσης; τάχα τι τοιοῦτον ὁ σοφὸς ἐννοεῖ καί φησι τῷ ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ κυριότητος καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι καθάπερ ἐν κοίλοις τισὶ καθειργ μένῳ χωρίοις ἄνωθεν ἀποκεκληρῶσθαι διαμεμετρημένην πρὸς τὴν ποσότητα τῶν γινομένων τὴν δύναμιν. παραδρα μοῦμαι καὶ τοῦτον διὰ συντομίας τὸν λόγον, ἐξ ὀλίγης τῆς τῶν ἐξετασθέντων ἀρχῆς σπέρματα πρὸς τὴν κατανόησιν τῆς βλασφημίας τοῖς συνετωτέροις τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων κατα 3.9.52 βαλλόμενος. εἶτα διὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς ἀπολογία τις ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν αὐτῷ γέγραπται. οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔτι δοκοίημεν τοῖς ἐντυγχά νουσι παραστοχάζεσθαι τῆς διανοίας τοῦ λόγου καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὑπεύθυνον μεθερμηνεύειν τὰ ῥήματα, αὐτῆς τῆς ἐκείνου φωνῆς ὁμολογούσης τὴν ἀτοπίαν. ἔχει γὰρ οὕτω τὰ γε γραμμένα· 20ἦ γὰρ οὐχὶ γῆ μὲν καὶ ἄγγελος οὐκ ὄντα γέγονεν20; ὁρᾶτε τὸν ὑψηλὸν θεολόγον ὡς οὐκ αἰσχύνεται τὸν αὐτὸν γῇ τε καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ ποιητῇ τοῦ παντὸς ἐφαρμόζων λόγον; οὐκοῦν εἰ τὰ αὐτὰ πρέπειν οἴεται περί τε τῆς γῆς καὶ τοῦ κυρίου λέγειν, ἢ καὶ ταύτην πάντως θεοποιήσει ἢ καὶ ἐκεῖνον ταύτῃ συν ατιμάσει. 3.9.53 Εἶτα προστίθησι τούτοις δι' ὧν ἀπογνυμνοῦται πλέον ἡ βλασφημία, ὡς μηδὲ παιδὶ δυσκατανόητον εἶναι τὸ ἄτοπον. φησὶ γὰρ ὅτι 20μακρὸν ἂν εἴη πάσας ἐπεξιέναι τῶν νοητῶν τὰς γενέσεις ἢ τὰς οὐσίας, αἷς ἁπάσαις οὐχὶ κοινή τις ἡ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος φύσις, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὰς τοῦ δημιουργήσαντος ἐνεργείας ἡ παραλλαγή20. ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ σιωπώντων ἡμῶν ἀρίδηλον ἔχει καὶ περιφανῆ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ βλασφημίαν, ὅταν ὁμολογῇ τὸ κατὰ πάσης γενέσεως καὶ οὐσίας λεγόμενον μηδὲν ἀπᾴδειν τοῦ περὶ τῆς θείας τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑπο στάσεως λόγου. ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν ὑπερβάντα τὴν διὰ μέσου τῆς βλασφημίας κατασκευὴν τρόπον τινὰ προδιελεγχθεῖσαν ἐν τοῖς ἐξητασμένοις ἐπὶ τὰ κεφάλαια 3.9.54 τῆς τοῦ