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is of his substance, he does not know the day, as he says, nor the hour, "but concerning that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels nor the Son, but the Father alone?" "But how did he come in the flesh, if he is from the Father? How was that uncontainable nature able to put on flesh, if it was from the Father according to nature?" 16. And they do not know how they assemble these arguments to their own shame. For if it was because he was altered from the Father's substance that he put on flesh and suffered in it and was crucified, let them show us, which of the other spiritual beings, though they are creatures, put on flesh. For they cannot but confess the Son to be above all things. And even if they call him a creature, they confess him to be above all his creatures. But also, as if doing him a favor, they wish to minister to him with a word, as if striking with one hand, but anointing with the other. For this they wish to grant him, as if from their own choice, and they say: "We call him a creature, but not as one of the creatures; and a product, but not as one of the products; and a begotten thing, but not as one of the begotten things," so that by saying, "not as one of the begotten things," they may deprive him of his generation according to nature, and by saying, "not as one of the creatures," they may declare him to be a true creature. For if it is a creature, it is a creature, and even if it had a name ten thousand times greater, it is the same, being made equal to all creatures. For because the sun is brighter than the others, it cannot not be a creature, just like the stone; nor because the moon surpasses the stars, is it for this reason not one of the creatures. "For behold, all things are your servants." For all things that exist are created by him and are servants. But the only-begotten is truth, and his word is true, as he said: "If you abide in my word, you are truly 3.166 my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." But if his word is truth and sets free those who are set free, how much more is he himself free, being truth and setting free those who obey him, who are servants? Because all things are servants of him and of his Father and of his Holy Spirit. 17. Then they say again: "How did he come in the flesh, if he was of the Father's substance?" Let them tell us then, how is it that angels did not take on flesh, being his servants? How is it that archangels did not? How is it that the hosts did not? How is it that all the other spiritual beings did not? But such men also say that the Spirit is inferior and a creature of a creature, as a product of the Word himself. How then did the Spirit not take on flesh, being able to have a changeable person beyond the Son, according to their argument? But because he was the wisdom of the Father, he was pleased through himself, in his perfection, to take up our weakness, so that through himself all salvation might come to the world. But by turning good things into evil, they are ungrateful—ungrateful and senseless and insolent and blasphemers of their own master. And the other things they say, moreover, they think in a diminished way: "But how did he hunger, if he was of the Father's substance?" For it is written about God, "He will not hunger, nor will he thirst, nor is there any searching of his understanding." But this one both hungered and thirsted. How did he grow weary from the journey and sit down, where it is written also that God "will not grow weary"? But how, he says, did he say: "My Father who sent me is greater than I"? For the one who sends is one person, and the one who is sent is another." And it is clear that the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. For we do not speak according to Sabellius, who says he is Son-Father. For unless he had said that "the one who sent me is another" and "I am going to my God and your God, to my Father and your Father" * he said, * the disciples would not have been born from the substance of God according to nature. Therefore he also said to them: "your Father." But there is great madness in those who say such things. if

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οὐσίας αὐτοῦ ἐστιν, οὐκ οἶδε τὴν ἡμέραν, ὡς λέγει, καὶ τὴν ὥραν, «περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ἢ τῆς ὥρας οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὔτε οἱ ἄγγελοι οὔτε ὁ υἱός, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ μόνος;» «πῶς δὲ εἰς σάρκα ἦλθεν, εἰ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ πατρός; πῶς δὲ ἐδύνατο ἡ ἀχώρητος ἐκείνη φύσις σάρκα ἐνδύσασθαι, εἰ ἦν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς κατὰ φύσιν;» 16. Καὶ οὐκ οἴδασι πῶς εἰς ἑαυτῶν αἰσχύνην τοὺς λογισμοὺς τούτους ἐπισυνάγουσιν. εἰ γὰρ διὰ τὸ ἠλλοιῶσθαι αὐτὸν παρὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίαν ἐνεδύσατο σάρκα καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ πέπονθε καὶ ἐσταυρώθη, δειξάτωσαν ἡμῖν, τί τῶν ἄλλων πνευματικῶν, κτισμάτων καίτοι γε ὄντων, ἐνεδύσατο σάρκα. οὐ γὰρ δύνανται μὴ οὐχ ὁμολογεῖν τὸν υἱὸν ὑπὲρ πάντα. κἄν τε κτίσμα αὐτὸν λέγοιεν, ὁμολογοῦσιν αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ ὅλα τὰ κτίσματα αὐτοῦ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς χαριζόμενοι αὐτῷ βούλονται αὐτὸν θεραπεύειν λόγῳ, ὥσπερ χειρὶ μιᾷ μὲν παίοντες, τῇ δὲ ἄλλῃ ἀλείφοντες. τοῦτο γὰρ θέλουσιν ὥσπερ ἐξ ἰδίας προαιρέσεως αὐτῷ προσχαρίσασθαι καὶ λέγουσι· «κτίσμα μὲν λέγομεν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἓν τῶν κτισμάτων, καὶ ποίημα, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἓν τῶν ποιημάτων, καὶ γέννημα, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἓν τῶν γεννημάτων», ἵνα ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν, «οὐχ ὡς ἓν τῶν γεννημάτων», ἀποστερήσωσιν αὐτὸν τῆς κατὰ φύσιν γεννήσεως, καὶ ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν, «οὐχ ὡς ἓν τῶν κτισμάτων», ἵνα ἀληθινὸν κτίσμα αὐτὸν ἀποφάνωσιν. οἷον γὰρ ἐὰν ᾖ κτίσμα, κτίσμα ὑπάρχει, κἄν τε μυριονταπλάσιον ἐπάνω εἴη ὄνομα ἔχον, τὸ αὐτό ἐστι τοῖς πᾶσι κτίσμασιν ἐξισαζόμενον. οὐ γὰρ ὅτι ἥλιος φαιδρότερος τῶν ἄλλων ἐστί, δύναται μὴ εἶναι κτίσμα, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ λίθος· οὐδὲ ὅτι ἡ σελήνη ὑπερπαίει τὰ ἄστρα, παρὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστι τῶν κτισμάτων. «ἰδοὺ γὰρ τὰ σύμπαντα δοῦλα σά». ὅσα γὰρ ἔστιν, ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἐκτισμένα καὶ δοῦλα. ὁ δὲ μονογενὴς ἀλήθειά ἐστι καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ ἀληθινὸς ὑπάρχει, ὡς ἔφη· «ἐὰν ὑμεῖς μείνητε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ, ἀληθῶς 3.166 μαθηταὶ μού ἐστε, καὶ γνώσεσθε τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς.» εἰ δὲ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ ἀλήθεια ὑπάρχει καὶ ἐλευθεροῖ τοὺς ἐλευθερουμένους, πόσῳ γε μᾶλλον αὐτὸς ἐλεύθερος ὑπάρχει, ἀλήθεια ὢν καὶ ἐλευθερῶν τοὺς αὐτῷ πειθομένους ὄντας δούλους; διὰ τὸ σύμπαντα δοῦλα εἶναι αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος αὐτοῦ. 17. Εἶτα πάλιν λέγουσι· «πῶς ἐνεδήμησεν εἰς σάρκα, εἰ ἦν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας;» εἴπωσι τοίνυν ἡμῖν, πῶς ἄγγελοι σάρκα οὐκ ἔλαβον ὄντες δοῦλοι αὐτοῦ; πῶς ἀρχάγγελοι; πῶς στρατιαί; πῶς τὰ ἄλλα πάντα τὰ πνευματικά; ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑποδεέστερόν φασιν εἶναι οἱ τοιοῦτοι τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ κτίσμα κτίσματος, ὡς αὐτοῦ τοῦ λόγου ποίημα. πῶς οὖν τὸ πνεῦμα οὐκ ἔλαβε σάρκα, δυνάμενον ἔχειν πρόσωπον τρεπτὸν ὑπὲρ τὸν υἱὸν κατὰ τὸν αὐτῶν λόγον; ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ σοφία ἦν τοῦ πατρός, ηὐδόκησε δι' ἑαυτοῦ τῆς τελειότητος τὸ ἡμέτερον ἀσθενὲς ἀναλαβεῖν, ἵνα δι' ἑαυτοῦ πᾶσα σωτηρία τῷ κόσμῳ γένηται. τὰ δὲ ἀγαθὰ εἰς κακὰ μετατρέποντες ἀχαριστοῦσιν, ἀχάριστοι καὶ ἀγνώμονες καὶ δεσπότου ἰδίου ὑβρισταὶ καὶ βλάσφημοι. τὰ δὲ ἄλλα λοιπὸν ὅσα λέγουσιν ἠλαττωμένως φρονοῦσι· «πῶς δὲ ἐπείνασεν, εἰ ἦν τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας;» περὶ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ γέγραπται «οὐ πεινάσει, οὐδὲ διψήσει, οὔτε ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ». οὗτος δὲ καὶ ἐπείνασε καὶ ἐδίψησε. πῶς κέκμηκεν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας καὶ ἐκάθισε ὅπου γέγραπται καὶ ὅτι ὁ θεὸς «οὐ κοπιάσει». πῶς δέ, φησιν, εἶπεν· «ὁ ἀποστείλας με πατήρ μου μείζων μου ἐστίν; ἄλλος γὰρ ὁ ἀποστέλλων, ἄλλος δὲ ὁ ἀποστελλόμενος.» καὶ δῆλον ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ὁ υἱὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ πατήρ. οὐ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Σαβέλλιον ἡμεῖς λέγομεν, τὸν λέγοντα υἱοπάτορα εἶναι. εἰ μὴ γὰρ εἶπεν ὅτι «ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀποστείλας με» καὶ «ἀπέρχομαι πρὸς τὸν θεόν μου καὶ θεὸν ὑμῶν, πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν» * εἶπε, * καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ οὐσίας οἱ μαθηταὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἐγεννήθησαν. διὸ καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· «πατέρα ὑμῶν.» Πολλὴ δὲ φρενοβλάβεια τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα λεγόντων. εἰ