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the gospel of our reconciliation to God. 3.10.15 For what happened to the man in Christ is a common grace for human nature. For just as, seeing the body that was borne downwards and weighted to the earth carried up through the air to the heavens, we believe according to the Apostle's word that we too will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, so having heard that the true God and Father has become Father and God of our first-fruits, we no longer doubt that he has become our Father and God too, having learned that we will enter into the same place where Christ entered as a forerunner 3.10.16 on our behalf. That the grace was announced through a woman is also consistent with the meaning given. For since, as the Apostle says, the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression and led the way in apostasy from God through disobedience, for this reason she becomes the first witness of the resurrection, so that she might restore the ruin from the transgression through faith in the resurrection, and just as in the beginning, having become a minister and counselor of the serpent's words to the man, she consequently introduced the beginning of evil into life, so, by carrying the words of the one who put the apostate dragon to death to the disciples, she becomes the originator of faith for men, through which the first sentence 3.10.17 of death is fittingly annulled. But it is likely that a more beneficial exegesis of the preceding matters might be found by more diligent students; but even if none were found, I think everyone who is pious will agree that the one put forward by our enemies is altogether idle in comparison with the one found. For the one is fabricated for the destruction of the glory of the Only-begotten, and nothing more; but this one contains the purpose of the economy concerning the man. For it was shown that it was not the one who is intangible and unchangeable and invisible, but the one who is seen and moved and touched, which is proper to human nature, that gave the command to Mary to minister the word to the brothers. 3.10.18 Let us now also examine what sort of defense he has made for the things for which he was refuted by the great Basil, for assigning the Only-begotten God to the portion of darkness in saying 20as great as is the distance of the begotten from the unbegotten, so great is the difference of the light from the light20. For since that one showed that the distance of the begotten from the unbegotten is not one of degree and intensity, but that there is a diametrical opposition in the things signified, and having inferred through the consequence of what was proposed that, in proportion to the 20unbegottenness20 and the 20begottenness20 by which the Father's light differs from the Son's, it is entirely necessary that not a lessening of light be conceived in the Son, but a complete alienation (for just as it is not possible to say that begottenness is a diminished unbegottenness, but the things signified by unbegottenness and begottenness are altogether distinct from each other in opposition, so if the Father's light were to maintain the same difference with respect to what is conceived in the Son, the Son will no longer be supposed to be light by consequence, being equally outside both unbegottenness itself and the light corresponding to it; and that which is something other than light will evidently have an affinity for its opposite, as a 3.10.19 consequence); since, therefore, this absurdity has been shown from what was proposed, Eunomius attempts to refute it by the technical methods of proofs, saying thus: 20For we know, we know the true light, we know the one who created the light after heaven and earth, we have heard from life and truth itself, Christ, saying to his own disciples: You are the light of the world; we have learned from the blessed Paul who calls the God over all 'unapproachable light', both defining by the addition and teaching the preeminence of the light; then, having learned such a great difference of light, we will not tolerate, even to bare 3.10.20 hearing, the notion of light to be the same20. Is he then, being zealous for the

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τῆς ἡμετέρας πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καταλ 3.10.15 λαγῆς εὐαγγέλια. τὸ γὰρ περὶ τὸν κατὰ Χριστὸν ἄνθρωπον γεγενημένον κοινὴ τῆς φύσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων χάρις ἐστίν. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ κατωφερὲς καὶ εἰς γῆν βρῖθον τοῦ σώματος διαέριον ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἰδόντες φερόμενον πιστεύομεν κατὰ τὸν τοῦ ἀποστόλου λόγον καὶ ἡμεῖς ἁρπαγήσεσθαι ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, οὕτως ἀκη κοότες, ὅτι τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀπαρχῆς πατὴρ καὶ θεὸς γέ γονεν ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, οὐκέτι ἀμφιβάλλομεν τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ ἡμέτερον πατέρα καὶ θεὸν γενέσθαι, μα θόντες ὅτι εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν εἰσελευσόμεθα, ὅπου πρόδρομος 3.10.16 ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰσῆλθεν ὁ Χριστός. τὸ δὲ διὰ γυναικὸς τὴν χάριν μηνύεσθαι καὶ αὐτὸ σύμφωνόν ἐστι τῷ ἀποδοθέντι νοήματι. ἐπειδὴ γάρ, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἡ γυνὴ ἐξαπατηθεῖσα ἐν παραβάσει γέγονε καὶ τῆς ἀποστάσεως τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς προηγήσατο, διὰ τοῦτο πρώτη τῆς ἀναστάσεως γίνεται μάρτυς, ἵνα τὴν ἐκ τῆς παραβάσεως καταστροφὴν διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν πίστεως ἀνορθώσῃ, καὶ ὥσπερ τῶν τοῦ ὄφεως λόγων τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς γενομένη πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα διάκονός τε καὶ σύμ βουλος ἀρχὴν τοῦ κακοῦ τῷ βίῳ καῖ' ἀκολουθίαν εἰσήνεγκεν, οὕτω τοῦ θανατώσαντος τὸν ἀποστάτην δράκοντα τοὺς λό γους τοῖς μαθηταῖς διακομίσασα ἀρχηγὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τῆς πίστεως γένηται, δι' ἧς εἰκότως ἀναλύεται ἡ πρώτη 3.10.17 τοῦ θανάτου ἀπόφασις. ἀλλ' εὑρεθῆναι μὲν εἰκὸς παρὰ τῶν ἐπιμελεστέρων ὠφελιμωτέραν τινὰ τῶν προκειμένων ἐξήγησιν· εἰ δὲ καὶ μηδὲν εὑρίσκοιτο, ἐκείνην πάντως ἀρ γεῖν τὴν παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν προφερομένην συγκρίσει τῆς εὑρεθείσης πάντα οἶμαι τὸν εὐσεβοῦντα συνθήσεσθαι. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς δόξης συμ πέπλασται καὶ πλέον οὐδέν· αὕτη δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἄν θρωπον οἰκονομίας τὸν σκοπὸν περιέχει. ἐδείχθη γὰρ ὅτι οὐχ ὁ ἀναφής τε καὶ ἀμετάθετος καὶ ἀόρατος, ἀλλὰ τὸ βλεπόμενόν τε καὶ κινούμενον καὶ ψηλαφώμενον, ὅπερ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἴδιόν ἐστι, τῇ Μαρίᾳ τὴν ἐντολὴν ἐδί δου πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς διακονῆσαι τὸν λόγον. 3.10.18 Ἔτι καὶ τοῦτο προσεξετάσωμεν, οἵαν πεποίηται τὴν ἀπολογίαν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἀπηλέγχθη παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Βασι λείου εἰς τὴν τοῦ σκότους μοῖραν τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἀφο ρίζων ἐν τῷ λέγειν 20ὅσον διέστηκε τὸ γεννητὸν πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον, τοσοῦτον παρήλλακται τὸ φῶς πρὸς τὸ φῶς20. δείξαντος γὰρ ἐκείνου μὴ κατὰ ὕφεσίν τινα καὶ ἐπίτασιν τοῦ γεννητοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον τὴν διάστασιν εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἐκ διαμέτρου τὴν ἀντίθεσιν ἐν τοῖς σημαινομένοις ὑπάρχειν, καὶ συλλογισαμένου διὰ τῆς τῶν τεθέντων ἀκολουθίας ὅτι ἀναλόγως τῇ 20ἀγεννησίᾳ20 καὶ τῇ 20γεννήσει20 τοῦ πατρικοῦ φωτὸς πρὸς τὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ παραλλάσσοντος ἀνάγκη πᾶσα μὴ ἐλάττωσιν φωτὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ νοηθῆναι, ἀλλὰ παντελῆ ἀλλοτρίωσιν (ὡς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ὑφειμένην ἀγεννησίαν εἶναι τὴν γέννησιν, ἀλλὰ καθόλου διέστηκεν ἀντιθετικῶς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων τὰ σημαινό μενα τῆς ἀγεννησίας καὶ τῆς γεννήσεως, οὕτως εἰ τὴν αὐτὴν φυλάσσοι παραλλαγὴν τὸ πατρικὸν φῶς πρὸς τὸ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ νοούμενον, οὐκέτι φῶς ἐκ τῆς ἀκολουθίας ὁ υἱὸς εἶναι ὑποληφθήσεται, ἐπίσης αὐτῆς τε τῆς ἀγεννησίας καὶ τοῦ κατ' αὐτὴν φωτὸς ἔξω γινόμενος· ὁ δὲ ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὸ φῶς ὢν δηλαδὴ πρὸς τὸ ἀντικείμενον οἰκείως κατὰ τὸ 3.10.19 ἀκόλουθον ἕξει)· ταύτης τοίνυν τῆς ἀτοπίας ἐκ τῶν τεθέν των ἀναφανείσης, ἀναλύειν ἐπιχειρεῖ ὁ Εὐνόμιος ταῖς τε χνικαῖς ἐφόδοις τῶν ἀποδείξεων οὑτωσὶ λέγων· 20ἴσμεν γάρ, ἴσμεν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ἴσμεν τὸν κτίσαντα τὸ φῶς μετὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, ἠκού σαμεν αὐτῆς τῆς ζωῆς καὶ ἀληθείας Χριστοῦ λέγοντος τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς· Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου· μεμαθήκαμεν παρὰ τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου φῶς ἀπρόσιτον ὀνομάζοντος τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν τῇ τε προσθήκῃ διορί ζοντος καὶ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκδιδά σκοντος· εἶτα τοσαύτην φωτὸς παραλλαγὴν με μαθηκότες οὐκ ἀνεξόμεθα μέχρι ψιλῆς γοῦν 3.10.20 ἀκοῆς τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι φωτὸς ἔννοιαν20. ἆρα σπου δάζων τὰ