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will they not be able to deny that from the only-begotten they have their being, having been created? If, therefore, the angels who came into being through him, though they were made spiritual, yet being his creatures and infinitely far inferior to his substance, as being his work, nevertheless have not taken on flesh, what shall we say? Are they who were created by him greater than the Son? Or even the Holy Spirit? Why did not the Holy Spirit of God or one of the angels come into flesh and put on flesh and become man? For it was not at all because the Son was made lower than the Father that he for this reason put on flesh, since otherwise the angels 3.199 would have been obliged to put on flesh, or even the Spirit, but because he, being the wisdom of the Father and power and Word, himself created all things with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in order to show that Adam, the cause of the transgression, did not have the sin or the disobedience from being formed or from being made, but from his own choice, in order to bring his righteous judgment to completion, as Isaiah said, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings forth judgment to victory, and in his name the nations will hope," just as David also said concerning him, "and you will be victorious when you are judged." For he was judged, so that by judging righteously he might shut the mouths of those who would speak against him. For no one will be able to speak against his righteous judgment. For he put on the body, preserving it undefiled. For what happened in man from the beginning, that is, in Adam, was not at all for this reason from the Creator, who is blameless for Adam's sin, that sinning came to be, and for this reason he sinned, but He gave him free will, and each person becomes the cause of his own sin. For this very reason, the Creator God the Word, being blameless, he who with the Father and with his Holy Spirit created man, immortal and undefiled, by his own will, through some ineffable mystery of wisdom, became man, completely taking up all things on behalf of his own creation out of an excess of love for mankind, not by necessity, but by a willing mind, so that "in the flesh he might condemn sin" and on the cross might dissolve the curse and in the tomb might make corruption disappear and in Hades, descending with the soul in his divinity, might break "the sting of death" and dissolve the covenant with Hades. But the utterly ungrateful, turning good things into bad, instead of giving thanks to him who loves mankind and is perfect and good from a good Father, they no longer give thanks, but are rather ungrateful, attributing passions to his divinity, which they cannot establish, since the truth is manifest to all. 53. And with these things thus interpreted, I will again come to other words in order. For they say, interpreting the saying of the gospel wrongly, that "the Father who sent me is greater than I." And first, he says "the Father who sent 3.200 me," and not "he who created me." For all the divine scriptures signify his genuineness in relation to the Father. "You begot me," he says, "Father," and "I came forth from the Father and have come," and "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," and "the Father who sent me"; and nowhere has he said "the one who created," nowhere "the one who made." And how do these people heap up for themselves things that are not? "But 'the Father who sent me is greater than I.'" What is more authoritative than this? And what is more necessary than this? And what is more genuine than this? And what is more fitting than this? For to whom is it fitting to glorify a father, but to a true son, to the one begotten of him? For the Father glorifies the Son and the Son glorifies the Father, and for this reason for our example and for the sake of the glory offered up by him to the Father into one unity and into one glory, the Son glorifies the Father, in order that he might teach us that his honor is the Father's, as he has said that "he who does not honor the Son as he honors the Father, the wrath of God remains upon him." But "greater" according to

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οὐ δυνήσονται ἀρνήσασθαι ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἐσχήκασι τὸ εἶναι κεκτισμένοι γεγονότες; εἰ τοίνυν οἱ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγονότες ἄγγελοι πνευματικοὶ μὲν γεγονότες, πλὴν κτίσματα αὐτοῦ ὄντες καὶ ὑποβεβηκότες πολὺ ἀπείρως τῆς αὐτοῦ οὐσίας, ὡς ἔργον αὐτοῦ ὄντες, ὅμως σάρκα μὴ εἰλήφασι, τί ἐροῦμεν; ἆρα μείζους εἰσὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κτισθέντες; ἢ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; διὰ τί μὴ εἰς σάρκα ἦλθε καὶ σάρκα ἐφόρεσε καὶ ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τοῦ θεοῦ ἤ τις τῶν ἀγγέλων; οὐ γὰρ πάντως διὰ τὸ ἠλαττῶσθαι τὸν υἱὸν παρὰ τὸν πατέρα, τούτου ἕνεκα σάρκα ἐνεδύσατο, ἐπεὶ ἂν ὤφειλον καὶ 3.199 οἱ ἄγγελοι πάντως σάρκα ἐνδύσασθαι ἢ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἡ σοφία ὢν τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ δύναμις καὶ λόγος αὐτὸς τὰ πάντα ἐδημιούργησε σὺν πατρὶ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, ἵνα δείξῃ ὅτι τὸ αἴτιον ὁ Ἀδὰμ τῆς παραβάσεως οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ πεπλακέναι οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ πεποιηκέναι τὸ ἁμαρτὲς ἢ τὸ τῆς παρακοῆς ἔσχεν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ ἰδίας προαιρέσεως, ἵνα τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν εἰς τέλος διεξαγάγοι, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Ἠσαΐας «κάλαμον συντετριμμένον οὐ κατεάξει, καὶ λίνον τυφόμενον οὐ σβέσει, ἕως ἐξαγάγοι τὴν κρίσιν εἰς νῖκος, καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσι», καθάπερ καὶ ∆αυὶδ περὶ αὐτοῦ εἴρηκε τὸ «καὶ νικήσεις ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε». ἐκρίθη γάρ, ἵνα κρίνων δικαίως φράξῃ τὰ στόματα τῶν μελλόντων ἀντιλέγειν. οὐ γὰρ δυνήσεταί τις ἀντιλέγειν τῇ αὐτοῦ δικαίᾳ κρίσει. ἐφόρεσε γὰρ τὸ σῶμα, ἄχραντον αὐτὸ συντηρήσας. οὐ γὰρ ὃ γέγονεν ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ Ἀδάμ, πάντως εἰς τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ, τοῦ ἀναιτίου τῆς τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἁμαρτίας, τὸ ἁμαρτεῖν γέγονε καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἥμαρτεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον αὐτῷ ἀπέδωκεν καὶ αἴτιος ἑαυτῷ ἕκαστος γίνεται ἁμαρτίας. διά τοι τοῦτο ἀναίτιος ὢν ὁ δημιουργὸς θεὸς λόγος, ὁ σὺν πατρὶ κτίσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ πνεύματι, ἀθάνατος καὶ ἄχραντος, ἰδίᾳ δοκήσει ἀρρήτῳ τινὶ σοφίας μυστηρίῳ ἐνηνθρώπησε, τελείως τὰ πάντα ἀναδεξάμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἰδίου πλάσματος δι' ὑπερβολὴν φιλανθρωπίας, οὐ μετὰ ἀνάγκης, ἀλλ' ἑκουσίᾳ γνώμῃ, ἵνα «ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ κατακρίνῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν» καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ σταυρῷ διαλύσῃ τὴν κατάραν καὶ ἐν τῷ μνήματι καταφαίρετον ποιήσῃ τὴν φθορὰν καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἅιδῃ σὺν τῇ ψυχῇ κατελθὼν ἐν τῇ θεότητι κλάσῃ «τὸ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου» καὶ διαλύσῃ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Ἅιδην διαθήκην. οἱ δὲ ἀχάριστοι παντάπασι τὰ ἀγαθὰ εἰς κακὰ μετατρέποντες, ἀνθ' ὧν εὐχαριστῆσαι ἔδει τῷ φιλανθρώπῳ καὶ τελείῳ καὶ ἀγαθῷ ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ πατρὸς ὑπάρχοντι οὐκέτι εὐχαριστοῦσιν, ἀλλ' ἀχαριστοῦσι μᾶλλον, πάθη τῇ αὐτοῦ θεότητι προσάπτοντες, ἃ μὴ δύνανται συνιστᾶν, τῆς ἀληθείας φανερᾶς πᾶσιν ὑπαρχούσης. 53. Καὶ τούτων οὕτως ἑρμηνευομένων πάλιν ἐπ' ἄλλας λέξεις ἐφεξῆς ἐλεύσομαι. λέγουσι γὰρ τὸ ῥητὸν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου κακῶς ἑρμηνεύοντες ὅτι «ὁ ἀποστείλας με πατὴρ μείζων μού ἐστι». καὶ πρῶτον μὲν «ὁ ἀποστείλας 3.200 με πατήρ» φάσκει, καὶ οὐχ «ὁ κτίσας με». πᾶσαι γὰρ αἱ θεῖαι γραφαὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸς πατέρα γνησιότητα σημαίνουσιν. «ἐγέννησάς με» φησὶ «πάτερ», καὶ «ἐγὼ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω», καὶ «ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί», καὶ «ὁ ἀποστείλας με πατήρ»· καὶ οὐδαμοῦ ὁ κτίσας, οὐδαμοῦ ὁ ποιήσας εἴρηκε. καὶ πῶς οὗτοι τὰ μὴ ὄντα ἑαυτοῖς ἐπισωρεύουσιν; «ὁ» δὲ «ἀποστείλας με πατὴρ μείζων μου ἐστί.» τί τούτου κυριώτερον; καὶ τί τούτου ἀναγκαιότερον; καὶ τί τούτου γνησιώτερον; καὶ τί τούτου πρεπωδέστερον; τίνι γὰρ πρέπει δοξάζειν πατέρα, ἀλλὰ υἱῷ ἀληθινῷ, τῷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένῳ; ὁ πατὴρ γὰρ δοξάζει τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ὁ υἱὸς δοξάζει τὸν πατέρα, καὶ τούτου ἕνεκα εἰς ἡμῶν ὑπογραμμὸν καὶ ἕνεκεν τῆς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα δόξης ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀναφερομένης εἰς μίαν ἑνότητα καὶ εἰς μίαν δόξαν, δοξάζει ὁ υἱὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἵνα ἡμᾶς διδάξῃ τὴν αὐτοῦ τιμὴν τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι, καθὼς εἴρηκεν ὅτι «ὁ μὴ τιμῶν τὸν υἱὸν ὡς τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα, ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπ' αὐτὸν μένει». «μείζων» δὲ κατὰ