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still higher, that “if I go to them and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” And then he reveals, “I am the one who is.” And at first he began from the things nearest, but at the last he declared the highest. But Luke also begins from the things below and nearest, that “Jesus himself, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Abraham, the son of Nahor, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Enoch, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” And you see how he first showed the incarnate presence, then the last thing. Wherefore Matthew also, according to the incarnate genealogy, wishing to bring down the presence of Christ into the mind of men, did not immediately say that it was the generation of Jesus Christ the son of Abraham, but first the son of David, then the son of Abraham, in order that by showing what was recent and what was composed most nearly and what was still higher, he might signify what is still inalienably above all creation. 23. Therefore, the blessed John also, having come and found men occupied with the lower presence of Christ, and the Ebionites having been led astray by the incarnate genealogy of Christ, which is brought down from Abraham by Matthew and brought up to Adam by Luke, and having found the Cerinthians and Merinthians by perversion saying that he was a mere man, and the Nazoraeans and many other heresies, as coming afterwards—for he is the fourth to evangelize—he begins to recall, so to speak, those who were led astray and occupied with the lower presence of Christ, and to say to them, as one walking behind and seeing some who have turned into rough paths and have left the straight and true one, so to speak: Where are you being carried? Where are you walking, you who are walking on the rough and scandalous road that leads to a chasm? Turn back. It is not 3.173 so, the God Logos, who was begotten from the Father from above, is not from Mary alone, he is not from the times of Joseph her betrothed, he is not from the times of Salathiel and Zorobabel and David and Abraham and Jacob and Noah and Adam, but “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But the “was” and “was” and “was” does not admit of a “once he was not.” And you see how he immediately signifies first the things nearest, how Matthew showed the way through the genealogy, and not even he was precise in all things, but brought the genealogy up to the things from above, and how Mark related the things accomplished in the world and of a voice crying in the wilderness, and concerning the Lord who was prophesied through the prophets and the law, and how Luke led up from the things below to the things above; but coming later, as the fourth, John later declared the crown and the purity of the order from above and of the ever-existing divinity, just as Solomon also, speaking proverbially of the beginning of the ways *, if indeed some should wish to speak piously concerning the incarnate economy, as she says concerning the divinity of Christ that “this divinity built the house,” that this divinity wrought the flesh and the incarnation, “the beginning of his ways for his works” of the salvation and goodness of men, then immediately afterwards, as matters proceed further, she says, “he established me in the beginning.” Was the Son of God, therefore, having been created according to his divinity, later established? Let the engineers tell us, the surveyors of things above, by what art was wisdom created, with what tool was she established? But if we must think at all, let us flee from such a depth of blasphemy, from touching the divinity of the only-begotten, which always exists with the Father and is begotten from him. For the Word was always with the Father, always wisdom, always the Lord God from God, always true light and not spurious, always having his being from him and being truth and existing as life. 24. And why should I say many things

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ἔτι ἀνώτατον, ὅτι «ἐὰν ἀπέλθω πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ εἴπωσι πρός με· τί αὐτῷ ὄνομα; τί ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτούς;» ὁ δὲ λοιπὸν ἀποκαλύπτει· «ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν». καὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐγγυτάτων ἤρξατο, εἰς ἔσχατον δὲ τὸ ἀνώτατον ἐδήλου. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς ἄρχεται ἀπὸ τῶν κάτω καὶ ἐγγυτάτω, ὅτι «ἦν αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀρχόμενος ὡς ἐτῶν τριάκοντα, ὢν υἱὸς ὡς ἐνομίζετο τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, τοῦ Ἠλί, τοῦ Ματθᾶν, τοῦ Νάθαν, τοῦ ∆αυίδ, τοῦ Ἰούδα, τοῦ Ἰακώβ, τοῦἈβραάμ, τοῦ Ναχώρ, τοῦ Νῶε, τοῦ Λάμεχ, τοῦ Ἐνώχ, τοῦ Σήθ, τοῦ Ἀδάμ, τοῦ θεοῦ». καὶ ὁρᾷς πῶς τὴν ἔνσαρκον παρουσίαν πρῶτον ἔδειξεν, ἔπειτα τὸ ἔσχατον. διὸ καὶ Ματθαῖος κατὰ τὴν ἔνσαρκον γενεαλογίαν βουλόμενος καταγαγεῖν τὴν Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων διάνοιαν, οὐκ εὐθὺς εἶπεν ὅτι γένεσις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ, ἀλλὰ υἱοῦ ∆αυὶδ πρῶτον, εἶτα υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ, ἵνα τὸ πρόσφατον ὁρώμενον καὶ τὸ ἔγγιστα συγκροτούμενον καὶ τὸ ἔτι ἀνώτερον ὑποδεικνύων, τὸ ἔτι ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν κτίσιν σημάνῃ ἀναφαίρετον. 23. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης ἐλθὼν ὁ μακάριος καὶ εὑρὼν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἠσχολημένους περὶ τὴν κάτω Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν, καὶ τῶν μὲν Ἐβιωναίων πλανηθέντων διὰ τὴν ἔνσαρκον Χριστοῦ γενεαλογίαν ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ ὑπὸ Ματθαίου καταγομένην καὶ Λουκᾶ ἀναγομένην ἄχρι τοῦ Ἀδάμ, εὑρών τε τοὺς Κηρινθιανοὺς καὶ Μηρινθιανοὺς ἐκ παρατριβῆς αὐτὸν λέγοντας εἶναι ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τοὺς Ναζωραίους καὶ ἄλλας πολλὰς αἱρέσεις, ὡς κατόπιν ἐλθὼν τέταρτος γὰρ οὗτος εὐαγγελίζεται ἄρχεται ἀνακαλεῖσθαι ὡς εἰπεῖν τοὺς πλανηθέντας καὶ ἠσχολημένους περὶ τὴν κάτω Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν καὶ λέγειν αὐτοῖς ὡς κατόπιν βαίνων καὶ ὁρῶν τινας εἰς τραχείας ὁδοὺς κεκλικότας καὶ ἀφέντας τὴν εὐθεῖαν καὶ ἀληθινήν, ὡς εἰπεῖν· ποῖ φέρεσθε; ποῖ βαδίζετε οἱ τὴν τραχεῖαν ὁδὸν καὶ σκανδαλώδη καὶ εἰς χάσμα φέρουσαν βαδίζοντες; ἀνακάμψατε. οὐκ 3.173 ἔστιν οὕτως, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπὸ Μαρίας μόνον ὁ θεὸς λόγος, ὁ ἐκ πατρὸς ἄνωθεν γεγεννημένος, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπὸ τῶν χρόνων Ἰωσὴφ τοῦ ταύτης ὁρμαστοῦ, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπὸ τῶν χρόνων Σαλαθιὴλ καὶ Ζοροβάβελ καὶ ∆αυὶδ καὶ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰακὼβ καὶ Νῶε καὶ Ἀδάμ, ἀλλὰ «ἐν ἀρχῆἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος». τὸ δὲ ἦν καὶ ἦν καὶ ἦν οὐχ ὑποδέχεται τὸ μὴ εἶναί ποτε. καὶ ὁρᾷς πῶς εὐθὺς τὰ ἐγγυτάτω πρῶτον σημαίνει, πῶς Ματθαῖος μὲν τὴν ὁδὸν ἔδειξε διὰ τῆς γενεαλογίας καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτὸς πάντα ἠκρίβωσεν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνωθεν ἔφερε καίτοι γε τὴν γενεαλογίαν, πῶς τε ὁ Μάρκος περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πεπραγματευμένων διηγήσατο καὶ φωνῆς βοώσης ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, περί τε τοῦ κυρίου τοῦ διὰ προφητῶν πεπροφητευμένου καὶ νόμου, πῶς τε ὁ Λουκᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν κάτω ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω ἀνῆγεν, ἐς ὕστερον δὲ ἐλθὼν τέταρτος ὁ Ἰωάννης τὴν κορωνίδα καὶ τὸ ἀκραιφνὲς τῆς ἄνω τάξεως καὶ ἀεὶ οὔσης θεότητος τὸ ὕστερον ἐδήλωσεν, οὕτως καὶ ὁ Σολομῶν παροιμιωδῶς λέγων τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν ὁδῶν *, εἴ γε κἂν εὐσεβῶς θελήσαιέν τινες λέγειν περὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας, ὡς αὐτῆς φασκούσης περὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεότητος ὅτι «αὐτὴ ἡ θεότης ἔκτισε τὸν οἶκον», ὅτι αὐτὴ ἡ θεότης τὴν σάρκα καὶ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν εἰργάσατο, «ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ» τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας καὶ ἀγαθότητος, εἶτα εὐθὺς μετέπειτα, ἔτι προκοπτόντων τῶν πραγμάτων λέγει «ἐθεμελίωσέ με ἐν ἀρχῇ». ἆρα γοῦν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὴν θεότητα κτισθεὶς ὕστερον ἐθεμελιώθη; λεγέτωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ μηχανικοί, οἱ τῶν ἄνω κατοπτευταί, ποίᾳ τέχνῃ ἐκτίσθη ἡ σοφία, ποίῳ ἐργαλείῳ ἐθεμελιώθη. ἀλλὰ εἰ ὅλως διανοεῖσθαι χρή, φεύγωμεν ἀπὸ τοσούτου βυθοῦ τῆς βλασφημίας, τοῦ μὴ προσψαύειν τῇ θεότητι τοῦ μονογενοῦς, τῇ ἀεὶ σὺν πατρὶ ὑπαρχούσῃ καὶ γεγεννημένῃ ἐξ αὐτοῦ. ἀεὶ γὰρ ἦν ὁ λόγος σὺν πατρί, ἀεὶ ἡ σοφία, ἀεὶ θεὸς ἐκ θεοῦ ὁ κύριος, ἀεὶ φῶς ἀληθινὸν καὶ οὐ νόθον, ἀεὶ τὸ εἶναι ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔχων καὶ ἀλήθεια ὢν καὶ ζωὴ ὑπάρχων. 24. Καὶ τί μοι τὰ πολλὰ λέγειν