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is so peculiar as it is of the Greeks? For they too say that according to their own conception, there is something more plausible than our preaching, and some of them postulate some great god who is exalted above the others, and they acknowledge certain subordinate powers, which through some order and sequence differ from one another in being greater or lesser, but are all equally subject 3.9.60 to the one who is pre-eminent. These things, therefore, the teachers of the new idolatry also preach, and their followers do not fear the condemnation that awaits transgressors, as if not understanding that to do something wicked in deed is much worse than merely sinning in word. Therefore, those who in deed deny the faith and make light of the customs and disregard the confession of the names and judge the sanctification from the mystical symbols to be of no account, but have been persuaded to look to sophistic words and think that salvation lies in the terminology of 20begotten20 and 20unbegotten,20 what else are they but transgressors of the doctrines of salvation? 3.9.61 But if anyone thinks that these things are brought against them by us as some kind of slander, let him examine for himself the things written by him, both what was proposed to us for examination and all that follows what has been said. For, misinterpreting the law of the Lord (for the tradition of the divine mystery is the law), he says that baptism is not to be administered into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as he commanded the disciples when he delivered the mystery, but 20into a maker and creator and not only a fa 3.9.62 ther,20 he says, 20of the only-begotten, but also a God.20 O you who give your neighbor a murky potion to drink, how he stirs up and muddies the truth with his slimy addition, how he does not fear the curse that awaits those who add anything to the divine words or dare to take anything away? Let us read the Lord's voice in his own words. Go, he says, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Where did he call the Son a creature? Where did the word teach that the Father is the creator and maker of the only-begotten? Where in what has been said is the Son taught to be a servant of God? Where in the tradition of the 3.9.63 mystery is God proclaimed to be the God of the Son? Do you perceive and understand, you who are being dragged down to destruction by deceit, what sort of guide you have set over your own souls, who adulterates the holy scriptures, who alters the divine words, who muddies with his own filth the purity of the doctrines of piety, who not only arms his own tongue against us, but also attempts to tamper with the holy words themselves, who strives to show that his own perversion is more authoritative than the teaching of the Lord? Do you not yet see that he sets himself up against the adored name, so that in time the name of the Lord may be silenced, and in the churches Eunomius 3.9.64 may be introduced instead of Christ? Do you not yet realize that this godless preaching has been laid down in advance by the devil as a study, a preparation, and a prelude to the coming of the antichrist? For he who strives to show that his own words are more authoritative than the words of Christ and to change the faith from the divine names and the mystical customs and symbols to his own deceit, what else could he properly be called but an antichrist? 3.10.1 But let us also look at what follows this blasphemy, which is the very main point of the defense of their doctrine. For those who drag down the majesty of the glory of the only-begotten to humble and servile conceptions think they have the strongest proof of what they say in the word of the Lord to Mary, which he spoke after the resurrection before the ascension, saying 'Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and say to them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and my God and 3.10.2

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οὕτως ἴδιον ὡς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐστίν; ἐπεὶ κἀκεῖνοί φασιν εἶναί τι κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὑπό ληψιν τοῦ κηρύγματος ἡμῶν πιθανώτερον καί τινα μέγαν ἐξ αὐτῶν τινες ὑποτίθενται θεὸν ὑπερανεστηκότα τῶν ἄλ λων καὶ ὑποχειρίους τινὰς δυνάμεις ὁμολογοῦσι, διά τινος τάξεως καὶ ἀκολουθίας ἀλλήλων μὲν πρὸς τὸ μεῖζον ἢ καταδεέστερον διαφερούσας, ὑπεζευγμένας δὲ πάσας ἐπίσης 3.9.60 τῷ ὑπερέχοντι. ταῦτα τοίνυν καὶ οἱ καθηγηταὶ τῆς νέας εἰδωλολατρίας κηρύσσουσι, καὶ οὐ δεδοίκασιν οἱ ἑπόμενοι τὴν ἐπικειμένην τοῖς παραβεβηκόσι κατάκρισιν, ὥσπερ οὐ συνιέντες ὅτι τὸ ἔργῳ τι ποιῆσαι τῶν ἀτόπων τοῦ διὰ ῥή ματος ἐξαμαρτεῖν μόνου παρὰ πολὺ χαλεπώτερον. οἱ τοίνυν ἔργῳ μὲν τὴν πίστιν ἀρνούμενοι καὶ τὰ ἔθη φαυλίζοντες καὶ τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων ὁμολογίαν περιορῶντες καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῶν μυστικῶν συμβόλων ἁγιασμὸν ἀντ' οὐδενὸς εἶναι κρί νοντες, πρὸς δὲ τὰ σεσοφισμένα ῥήματα βλέπειν ἀνα πεισθέντες καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ 20γεννητοῦ20 καὶ 20ἀγεννήτου20 τεχνολογίᾳ τὴν σωτηρίαν εἶναι νομίζοντες τί ἄλλο καὶ οὐχὶ παραβάται τῶν τῆς σωτηρίας δογμάτων εἰσίν; 3.9.61 Εἰ δέ τις οἴεται ταῦτα κατά τινα συκοφαντίαν παρ' ἡμῶν αὐτοῖς ἐπιφέρεσθαι, καθ' ἑαυτὸν διασκεψάσθω τὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένα, τά τε προτεθέντα ἡμῖν εἰς ἐξέ τασιν καὶ ὅσα κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐπάγεται. φησὶ γὰρ τὸν τοῦ κυρίου νόμον παραγραφόμενος (νόμος γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τῆς θείας μυσταγωγίας παράδοσις) μὴ εἰς πατέρα τε καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τὸ βάπτισμα γίνεσθαι, καθὼς ἐνετείλατο τοῖς μαθηταῖς παραδιδοὺς τὸ μυστήριον, ἀλλ' 20εἰς δημιουργὸν καὶ κτίστην καὶ οὐ μόνον πα 3.9.62 τέρα20, φησί, 20τοῦ μονογενοῦς, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεόν20. Ὢ ὁ ποτίζων τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ ἀνατροπὴν θολερὰν πῶς ἀναταράσσει τῇ ἰλυώδει προσθήκῃ καὶ ἀναθολοῖ τὴν ἀλή θειαν, πῶς οὐ δέδοικε τὴν ἐπικειμένην ἀρὰν κατὰ τῶν προστιθέντων τι ταῖς θείαις φωναῖς ἢ ὑφαιρεῖν τολμώντων; ἀναγνῶμεν ἐπ' αὐτῶν τῶν ῥημάτων τὴν τοῦ κυρίου φωνήν. Πορευθέντες, φησί, μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτί ζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. ποῦ κτίσμα τὸν υἱὸν προσηγόρευσε; ποῦ κτίστην καὶ δημιουργὸν τοῦ μονογενοῦς τὸν πατέρα ὁ λόγος ἐδίδαξε; ποῦ δοῦλος θεοῦ ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὁ υἱὸς εἶναι διδάσκεται; ποῦ θεὸς τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐν τῇ παραδόσει τοῦ 3.9.63 μυστηρίου κηρύσσεται; ἆρα νοεῖτε καὶ συνίετε οἱ δι' ἀπάτης κατασυρέντες πρὸς τὴν ἀπώλειαν, τίνα τῶν ἰδίων ψυχῶν καθηγητὴν προεστήσασθε τὸν νοθεύοντα τὰς ἁγίας γραφάς, τὸν μεταποιοῦντα τὰς θείας φωνάς, τὸν ἀναθολοῦντα τῷ ἰδίῳ βορβόρῳ τὸ καθαρὸν τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας δογμάτων, τὸν μὴ μόνον καθ' ἡμῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γλῶσσαν ὁπλίζοντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὰς μετασκευάζειν ἐπιχειροῦντα τὰς ἁγίας φωνάς, τὸν κυριωτέραν τὴν ἰδίαν διαστροφὴν τῆς τοῦ κυ ρίου διδασκαλίας ἀποδεῖξαι φιλονεικοῦντα; οὔπω καθορᾶτε ὅτι ἀντεγείρει ἑαυτὸν τῷ προσκυνουμένῳ ὀνόματι, ὥστε σιωπηθῆναι μὲν τῷ χρόνῳ τὸ τοῦ κυρίου ὄνομα, ἀντεισαχθῆναι δὲ ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἀντὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸν Εὐνό 3.9.64 μιον; οὔπω λογίζεσθε ὅτι μελέτη καὶ παρασκευὴ καὶ προοίμιον τῆς τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου παρουσίας τὸ ἄθεον τοῦτο παρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου προκαταβέβληται κήρυγμα; ὁ γὰρ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγων κυριωτέρας τὰς ἰδίας φωνὰς ἀποδεῖξαι φιλονεικῶν καὶ μεταλλάξαι τὴν πίστιν ἀπὸ τῶν θείων ὀνο μάτων καὶ τῶν μυστικῶν ἐθῶν καὶ συμβόλων εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν ἀπάτην, τί ἂν ἄλλο κυρίως καὶ οὐχὶ ἀντίχριστος λέγοιτο; 3.10.1 Ἀλλ' ἴδωμεν καὶ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἀκολούθου τῇ βλασφημίᾳ προσκείμενον, ὅπερ ἐστὶν αὐτὸ τὸ κεφάλαιον τῆς τοῦ δόγμα τος αὐτῶν συνηγορίας. οἴονται γὰρ ἰσχυροτάτην ἀπόδειξιν ὧν λέγουσιν ἔχειν οἱ τὸ μεγαλεῖον τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς δόξης εἰς ταπεινὰς καὶ δουλοπρεπεῖς ὑπολήψεις κατάγοντες τὸν πρὸς τὴν Μαρίαν τοῦ κυρίου λόγον, ὃν μετὰ τὴν ἀνά στασιν πρὸ τῆς ἀνόδου πεποίηται λέγων Μή μου ἅπτου, οὔπω γὰρ ἀναβέβηκα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου· πορεύθητι δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφούς μου καὶ εἰπὲ αὐτοῖς ὅτι ἀναβαίνω πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν καὶ θεόν μου καὶ 3.10.2