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an unbegotten projection. And we cannot even bear to hear of these impieties, even if the heretics threaten us with a thousand deaths. But what do we say and think and have we taught and do we teach? That the Son is not unbegotten, nor a part of the Unbegotten in any way, nor from any pre-existing matter, but that by will and counsel He has his subsistence before times and before ages, full God, only-begotten, unchangeable, and before He was begotten, or created, or defined, or established, He was not. For He was not unbegotten. But we are persecuted because we have said: The Son has a beginning, but God is without beginning. For this reason we are persecuted, and because we have said: He is from things that are not. And we have said this, because He is neither a part of God, nor from any pre-existing matter; for this we are persecuted. For the rest, you know. I pray for your health in the Lord, remembering our afflictions, O Eusebius, our true fellow-Lucianist. 7. But we have also subjoined another letter, written from Nicomedia, ostensibly for the sake of an apology to the most holy Pope Alexander, and filled again with his venomous and blasphemous words without omission, and sent by him to Alexandria. And it is this: To our blessed Pope and Bishop, Alexander, the presbyters and deacons, greeting in the Lord. 3.158 Our faith from our forefathers, which we have also learned from you, blessed Pope, is this: We know one God, alone unbegotten, alone eternal, alone without beginning, alone true, alone having immortality, alone wise, alone good, alone sovereign, alone judge, administrator, and steward of all, unchangeable and unalterable, just and good, of the Law and the Prophets and the New Testament * this God who begot an only-begotten Son before eternal times, through whom He has made both the ages and the rest of things, begot Him not in appearance, but in truth, giving Him subsistence by His own will, unchangeable and unalterable, a perfect creature of God, but not as one of the creatures, an offspring, but not as one of the offspring, nor as Valentinus taught that the offspring of the Father was a projection, nor as Manichaeus introduced the offspring as a consubstantial part of the Father, nor as Sabellius, dividing the monad, said He was a Son-Father, nor as Hieracas, a lamp from a lamp, or as one torch into two, nor one who was pre-existent and afterwards was begotten or created anew into a Son, as you yourself, blessed Pope, in the midst of the church and in council have very often condemned those who introduced these things, but, as we say, created by the will of God before times and before ages and having received life and being from the Father, and the glories, the Father having caused Him to subsist along with Himself; for the Father, in giving him the inheritance of all things, did not deprive Himself of what is unbegotten in Himself; for He is the source of all things. 8. So there are three hypostases, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And God, being the cause of all things, is without beginning and most solitary, but the Son, begotten timelessly by the Father, and created and established before the ages, was not before He was begotten, but, begotten timelessly before all things, He alone has His subsistence from the Father alone. For He is not eternal or co-eternal or co-unbegotten with the Father; nor does He have His being at the same time as the Father, as some say of things relative, introducing two unbegotten first principles, but as the monad and beginning of all things, so 3.159 God is before all things. Therefore He is also before Christ, as we have learned from you, when you preached in the midst of the church. Therefore, inasmuch as He has His being from God, and has received His life and glories and all things from Him, in this respect God is His beginning. For He rules over Him, as being His God and being before Him because He is from Him. And if "from the womb" and "I came forth from the Father and am come" is understood by some as a part of the consubstantial and as a projection, the Father will be composite and divisible and subject to change, and a body according to them, and, as far as they are concerned, the incorporeal God will suffer the consequences of having a body. I pray for your health in the Lord,

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προβολὴν ἀγένητον. καὶ τούτων τῶν ἀσεβειῶν οὐδὲ ἀκοῦσαι δυνάμεθα, ἐὰν μυρίους θανάτους ἡμῖν ἐπαπειλῶσιν οἱ αἱρετικοί. ἡμεῖς δὲ τί λέγομεν καὶ φρονοῦμεν καὶ ἐδιδάξαμεν καὶ διδάσκομεν; ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγένητος οὐδὲ μέρος ἀγενήτου κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον, ἀλλ' οὔτε ἐξ ὑποκειμένου τινός, ἀλλ' ὅτι θελήματι καὶ βουλῇ ὑπέστη πρὸ χρόνων καὶ πρὸ αἰώνων, πλήρης θεὸς μονογενής, ἀναλλοίωτος, καὶ πρὶν γεννηθῇ ἤτοι κτισθῇ ἤτοι ὁρισθῇ ἢ θεμελιωθῇ, οὐκ ἦν. ἀγένητος γὰρ οὐκ ἦν. διωκόμεθα δέ, ὅτι εἴπομεν· ἀρχὴν ἔχει ὁ υἱός, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἄναρχός ἐστι. διὰ τοῦτο διωκόμεθα καὶ ὅτι εἴπομεν· ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐστίν. οὕτως δὲ εἴπομεν, καθότι οὐδὲ μέρος θεοῦ ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἐξ ὑποκειμένου τινός· διὰ τοῦτο διωκόμεθα. λοιπὸν σὺ οἶδας. ἐρρῶσθαί σε ἐν κυρίῳ εὔχομαι, μεμνημένον τῶν θλίψεων ἡμῶν, συλλουκιανιστὰ ἀληθῶς Εὐσέβιε. 7. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλην, ἀπὸ Νικομηδείας τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ πάπᾳ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ ἀπολογίας χάριν δῆθεν γραφεῖσαν καὶ χείρω πάλιν τῆς αὐτοῦ ἰοβολίας ἀπαραλείπτως βλασφήμων ῥημάτων ἐμπεπλησμένην καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ ἀπεσταλμένην, ὑπετάξαμεν. καὶ ἔστιν ἥδε· Μακαρίῳ πάπᾳ καὶ ἐπισκόπῳ ἡμῶν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι καὶ οἱ διάκονοι ἐν κυρίῳ χαίρειν. 3.158 Ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν ἡ ἐκ προγόνων, ἣν καὶ ἀπὸ σοῦ μεμαθήκαμεν, μακάριε πάπα, ἔστιν αὕτη· οἴδαμεν ἕνα θεόν, μόνον ἀγέννητον, μόνον ἀΐδιον, μόνον ἄναρχον, μόνον ἀληθινόν, μόνον ἀθανασίαν ἔχοντα, μόνον σοφόν, μόνον ἀγαθόν, μόνον δυνάστην, μόνον κριτὴν πάντων διοικητὴν οἰκονόμον, ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον, δίκαιον καὶ ἀγαθόν, νόμου καὶ προφητῶν καὶ καινῆς διαθήκης * τοῦτον θεὸν γεννήσαντα υἱὸν μονογενῆ πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων, δι' οὗ καὶ τοὺς αἰῶνας καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πεποίηκε, γεννήσαντα δὲ οὐ δοκήσει, ἀλλ' ἀληθείᾳ, ὑποστήσαντα δὲ ἰδίῳ θελήματι, ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον, κτίσμα τοῦ θεοῦ τέλειον, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἓν τῶν κτισμάτων, γέννημα, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἓν τῶν γεννημάτων, οὐδ' ὡς Οὐαλεντῖνος προβολὴν τὸ γέννημα τοῦ πατρὸς ἐδογμάτισεν, οὐδ' ὡς ὁ Μανιχαῖος μέρος ὁμοούσιον τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ γέννημα εἰσηγήσατο, οὐδ' ὡς Σαβέλλιος ὁ τὴν μονάδα διαιρῶν υἱοπάτορα εἶπεν, οὐδ' ὡς Ἱερακᾶς λύχνον ἀπὸ λύχνου ἢ ὡς λαμπάδα εἰς δύο, οὐδὲ τὸν ὄντα πρότερον, ὕστερον γεννηθέντα ἢ ἐπικτισθέντα εἰς υἱόν, ὡς καὶ σὺ αὐτός, μακάριε πάπα, ἐν μέσῃ τε ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ συνεδρίῳ πλειστάκις τοὺς ταῦτα εἰσηγησαμένους ἀπηγόρευσας, ἀλλ' ὥς φαμεν, θελήματι τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸ χρόνων καὶ πρὸ αἰώνων κτισθέντα καὶ τὸ ζῆν καὶ τὸ εἶναι παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰληφότα καὶ τὰς δόξας, συνυποστήσαντος αὐτῷ τοῦ πατρός· οὐ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ δοὺς αὐτῷ πάντων τὴν κληρονομίαν ἐστέρησεν ἑαυτὸν τοῦ τὸ ἀγένητον ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ· πηγὴ γάρ ἐστι πάντων. 8. Ὥστε τρεῖς εἰσιν ὑποστάσεις, πατὴρ υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. καὶ ὁ μὲν θεός, αἴτιος τῶν πάντων τυγχάνων, ἐστὶν ἄναρχος μονώτατος, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς ἀχρόνως γεννηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ πρὸ αἰώνων κτισθεὶς καὶ θεμελιωθείς, οὐκ ἦν πρὸ τοῦ γεννηθῆναι, ἀλλὰ ἀχρόνως πρὸ πάντων γεννηθεὶς μόνος ὑπὸ μόνου τοῦ πατρὸς ὑπέστη. οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστιν ἀΐδιος ἢ συναΐδιος ἢ συναγένητος τῷ πατρί· οὐδὲ ἅμα τῷ πατρὶ τὸ εἶναι ἔχει, ὥς τινες λέγουσι τὰ πρός τι, δύο ἀγενήτους ἀρχὰς εἰσηγούμενοι, ἀλλὰ ὡς μονὰς καὶ ἀρχὴ τῶν πάντων, οὕτως 3.159 ὁ θεὸς πρὸ πάντων ἐστί. διὸ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν, ὡς παρὰ σοῦ μεμαθήκαμεν, ἐν μέσῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ κηρύξαντος. καθὸ οὖν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ εἶναι ἔχει τοῦ καὶ τὸ ζῆν καὶ τὰς δόξας καὶ πάντα αὐτῷ παρασχόντος κατὰ τοῦτο ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ὁ θεός. ἄρχει γὰρ αὐτοῦ, ὡς θεὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἔχων τὸ εἶναι διὰ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ. καὶ εἰ τὸ «ἐκ γαστρός» καὶ τὸ «ἐκ πατρὸς ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω», ὡς μέρος τοῦ ὁμοουσίου καὶ ὡς προβολὴ ὑπό τινων νοεῖται, σύνθετος ἔσται ὁ πατὴρ καὶ διαιρετὸς καὶ τρεπτὸς, καὶ σῶμα κατ' αὐτοὺς καὶ τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τὰ ἀκόλουθα σώματι πάσχων, ὁ ἀσώματος θεός. ἐρρῶσθαί σε ἐν κυρίῳ εὔχομαι,