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to the foolish, and he says, 20From the facts themselves and from the trusted oracles, I provide the proof of what is said20. This then is the promise; but whether he advances his argument in a manner worthy of his promises, the intelligent hearer will surely examine. 20The blessed20, he says, 20John, having said that the Word was in the beginning and having called him Life, then having named the Life Light, going on a little, says, ‘And the Word became flesh’. If, then, the Light is the Life, and the Life is the Word, and the Word became flesh, it becomes immediately 3.10.27 clear that the Light has come in the flesh20. What then? Because the Light and the Life and God and the Word was manifested in the flesh, has the true Light for this reason been altered from the Light that is in the Father? And yet it is testified by the Gospel, that even having come into the darkness, it remained inaccessible to the contrary nature. For ‘the Light,’ it says, ‘shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.’ If, then, the Light, having come into the darkness, had been changed to its opposite and was mastered by the gloom, it would have been a strong proof for those wishing to show how much for the worse this Light has been altered from that which is seen in the Father; 3.10.28 but if even the Word, though he comes in the flesh, remains the Word, and the Light, though it shines in the darkness, is no less the Light, not admitting communion with the opposite, and the Life, though it comes in death, is preserved in itself, and God, though he undergoes the form of a servant, does not himself become a servant, but what was subject is elevated to lordship and kingship, making what is lowly and human Lord and Christ, how does he through this demonstrate the alteration of the Light for the worse, since perhaps each possesses immutability to evil and unchangeableness, not even paying attention to this, that he who looked upon the incarnate Word, who was also Light and Life and God, recognized through the glory that was seen the Father of glory, saying, ‘We have seen his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father.’ 3.10.29 But he has come to the irrefutable argument which long ago was detected by us from the consequence of his statements, but now is uttered with a bare voice. For he wishes to show the essence of the Son to be subject to passion and mortal, and in no way different from a material and fluid nature, so that through this he might prove the difference from the Father. For he says, 20If he can show also the God over all, who is unapproachable light, to have been in the flesh or to be able to come under authority, to obey commands, to live under human laws, to bear a cross, 3.10.30 let him say the Light is equal to the Light.20 If these things were brought forward by us as we found them logically through our preparatory arguments, and were not confirmed by his own words. who would not have accused us of slander, as if by some contrivance of words we were driving the doctrine of our opponents to this absurdity? But now, it is a kind of support for us thoughtfully with truth to correct the argument of the heresy, that the absurdity that logically appears has not been kept silent even by them themselves. For behold how unveiled and boldly spoken is the fight against the only-begotten God, and the work of loving-kindness has been considered by his enemies a slander and accusation against the nature of the Son of God, as if he slipped down not providentially, but by nature, to the life in the flesh and the passion of the cross. 3.10.31 And just as it is the nature of a stone to move downwards and of fire the opposite, and the elements do not exchange their properties with each other, so that the stone moves upward, and the fire weighs down, being carried downward, so they construct their argument that the passions are connatural to the nature of the Son, and for this reason he came to what was akin and proper to himself, but that of the Father, being free from such passions, remained unapproachable to the assault of evils. For he says that the God over all, who is unapproachable light, neither came in the flesh nor indeed 3.10.32 is able to come. It would have been enough to say the former of these things, that the Father did not

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τοῖς ματαίοις καί φησιν 20ἐξ αὐ τῶν τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ τῶν πεπιστευμένων λογίων παρέχομαι τῶν λεγομένων τὴν πίστιν20. ἡ μὲν οὖν ὑπόσχεσις αὕτη· εἰ δὲ κατ' ἀξίαν τῶν ἐπηγγελ μένων προάγει τὸν λόγον, ὁ συνετὸς πάντως ἀκροατὴς ἐπισκοπήσει. 20ὁ μακάριος20, φησίν, 20Ἰωάννης ἐν ἀρχῇ εἶναι τὸν λόγον φήσας καὶ τοῦτον ζωὴν προσ ειπών, εἶτα τὴν ζωὴν φῶς ὀνομάσας, μικρὸν ὑποβὰς Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, φησίν. εἰ τοίνυν τὸ μὲν φῶς ἐστιν ἡ ζωή, ἡ δὲ ζωὴ ὁ λό γος, ὁ δὲ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, αὐτόθεν γίνεται 3.10.27 φανερὸν ὅτι τὸ φῶς ἐν σαρκὶ γέγονε20. τί οὖν; ἐπειδὴ τὸ φῶς καὶ ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ὁ θεὸς καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐν σαρκὶ ἐφανερώθη, διὰ τοῦτο παρήλλακται πρὸς τὸ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς; καὶ μὴν μαρτυρεῖται παρὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῷ σκότει γενόμενον ἀπρόσ ιτον ἔμεινε τῇ ἐναντίᾳ φύσει. Τὸ γὰρ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ, φησίν, ἔλαμψε, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἠλλοιώθη πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον καὶ ἐδυναστεύθη τῷ ζόφῳ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ γενόμενον, ἰσχυρὸν ἂν ἦν πρὸς ἀπό δειξιν τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπιδεικνύειν, ὅσον πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον παρήλλακται τοῦτο τὸ φῶς πρὸς τὸ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ θεωρούμενον· 3.10.28 εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ λόγος, κἂν ἐν σαρκὶ γένηται, λόγος μένει, καὶ τὸ φῶς, κἂν ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ λάμψῃ, φῶς οὐδὲν ἧττόν ἐστι, τοῦ ἐναντίου τὴν κοινωνίαν οὐ προσδεχόμενον, καὶ ἡ ζωή, κἂν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ γένηται, ἐν ἑαυτῇ φυλάσσεται, καὶ ὁ θεός, κἂν τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφὴν ὑπέλθῃ, οὐκ αὐτὸς γίνεται δοῦλος, ἀλλ' εἰς κυριότητα καὶ βασιλείαν ἐξαιρεῖται τὸ ὑποχείριον, κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν ποιῶν τὸ ταπεινὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπινον, πῶς διὰ τούτου πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον τὴν παραλλαγὴν τοῦ φωτὸς ἐπι δείκνυσιν, ἴσως ἑκατέρου τὸ ἄτρεπτον εἰς κακίαν καὶ τὸ ἀναλλοίωτον ἔχοντος, οὐδὲ τούτῳ προσέχων, ὅτι ὁ πρὸς τὸν σαρ κωθέντα λόγον ἰδών, ὃς ἦν καὶ φῶς καὶ ζωὴ καὶ θεός, ἐπέγνω διὰ τῆς ὀφθείσης δόξης τὸν πατέρα τῆς δόξης εἰπὼν Ἐθεασά μεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός. 3.10.29 Ἀλλ' ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀνανταγώνιστον λόγον τὸν πάλαι μὲν ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς ἀκολουθίας τῶν λεγομένων πεφωραμένον, νῦν δὲ γυμνῇ τῇ φωνῇ προφερόμενον. βούλεται γὰρ ἐμπαθῆ τινα καὶ ἐπίκηρον καὶ οὐδὲν τῆς ὑλικῆς καὶ ῥοώδους φύ σεως διαφέρουσαν ἐπιδεῖξαι τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν, ὡς ἂν διὰ τούτου τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα διαφορὰν ἀποδείξειεν. φησὶ γὰρ 20εἰ μὲν ἔχει δεικνύναι καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν, ὅσπερ ἐστὶν ἀπρόσιτον φῶς, ἐν σαρκὶ γενόμενον ἢ γενέσθαι δυνάμενον ὑπ' ἐξου σίαν ἐλθεῖν, προστάγμασιν ὑπακοῦσαι, νό μοις ἀνθρωπίνοις πολιτεύεσθαι, σταυρὸν ἐνεγ 3.10.30 κεῖν, ἴσον λεγέτω τῷ φωτὶ τὸ φῶς20. εἰ ταῦτα παρ' ἡμῶν προεφέρετο διὰ τῶν προκατεσκευασμένων κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐξευρισκόντων, μὴ συμμαρτυρούμενα ταῖς ἐκείνου φωναῖς. τίς οὐκ ἂν ἡμᾶς συκοφαντεῖν ᾐτιάσατο, ὡς περινοίᾳ τινὶ λόγων πρὸς τὴν ἀτοπίαν ταύτην τὸ δόγμα τῶν ὑπεναν τίων ἐκβάλλοντας; νυνὶ δὲ συνηγορία τίς ἐστι τοῦ πεφρον τισμένως ἡμᾶς μετὰ τῆς ἀληθείας εὐθύνειν τὸν τῆς αἱρέ σεως λόγον τὸ μηδὲ παρ' αὐτῶν ἐκείνων τὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἀναφαινομένην ἀτοπίαν σιωπηθῆναι. ἰδοὺ γὰρ πῶς ἀπαρακάλυπτός ἐστι καὶ πεπαρρησιασμένη ἡ κατὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ μάχη, καὶ τὸ κατὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἔργον διαβολὴ καὶ κατηγορία τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ φύσεως παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐνομίσθη, ὡς οὐχὶ προνοητικῶς, ἀλλὰ φυσικῶς αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἐν σαρκὶ βίον καὶ τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ 3.10.31 πάθος κατολισθήσαντος. καὶ ὥσπερ φύσις ἐστὶ τῷ λίθῳ ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φορὰ καὶ τῷ πυρὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν, καὶ οὐκ ἀντιμεταλαμβάνουσι τὰς ἀλλήλων ἰδιότητας αἱ ὗλαι, ὥστε ἀνωφερῆ μὲν εἶναι τὸν λίθον, βρίθειν δὲ τὸ πῦρ ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φερόμενον, οὕτως κατασκευάζουσι τῇ μὲν τοῦ υἱοῦ φύσει συνουσιῶσθαι τὰ πάθη καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς τὸ συγ γενὲς ἑαυτῇ καὶ οἰκεῖον ἐλθεῖν, τὴν δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐλευ θέραν οὖσαν τῶν τοιούτων παθῶν ἀπρόσιτον μεῖναι τῇ τῶν κακῶν προσβολῇ. φησὶ γὰρ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν, ὅσπερ ἐστὶν ἀπρόσιτον φῶς, μήτε γενόμενον ἐν σαρκὶ μήτε γε 3.10.32 νέσθαι δυνάμενον. ἤρκει τὸ πρότερον τῶν εἰρημένων εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ οὐκ