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God made, but him not through anyone, but he himself fashioned him himself, and he made him surpassing all in greatness and in power; for this reason he called him the only-begotten Son. 14. But we of the catholic church, having received the confession of faith from the divine scriptures, hold thus, that the Father is Father of a Son like himself, and the Son is like the Father, from which Father he is understood to be Son. As we further define this and thus purify our understanding against the Sabellians and the rest, that neither can the Son be Father nor can the Father be Son, but the Son is Son and the Father is Father and not Son; for in these things lies the precise knowledge of the persons, in that the Father, being always Father, is without flesh and immortal, while the Son, being always Son and never Father (and he is called always-existing on account of the timeless and incomprehensible nature of his hypostasis), took flesh according to the will of the Father and endured death for us—with these things clarified, these wonderful men, the allies of the heresy, hasten to contrive two things: one, to no longer say Father and Son, but unbegotten and begotten, and through this sophism thinking to introduce their heresy into the church. For these men, wise in the things of God, know that "unbegotten" seems to be less than the name of Father. For "unbegotten," it is understood that 3.287 he was not begotten, but it does not yet signify if he is also a Father; but "Father" is more than the name "unbegotten." For in "unbegotten," I say, the power of the Father is not revealed, but in the name "Father" it is revealed at once that the Father is not a Son, if indeed the Father is properly understood, and that he is the cause of a Son like himself. This, then, is one thing; a second is that having already written that the Son is unlike the Father in substance, they thought to condemn the church through the letters they extracted from the venerable bishop Hosius, in which is contained "unlike in substance." But since those from the East, having gone up to Sirmium last year, exposed the villainy of this heresy, in order that they might not be held accountable for their audacities against the faith of the church, they hastened to remove the name of "substance"—which was in use among the fathers—from the teaching of the church for the aforementioned reasons, so that by this means also they might seem to strengthen their own heresy. 15. For they supposed that if the name of "substance" were cast out, by saying the Son is like the Father only in will and in energy, they would have license, with "substance" not being named, finally to say the Son is unlike the Father in being and in existence. But nevertheless God, the avenger of truth, "who catches the wise in their craftiness," declared boldly in the presence of the pious emperor the kinship of his only-begotten, that the Son is like the Father in all things. For so he himself thought, being pious, on behalf of his champion, the only-begotten Son of God, and thinking thus he decreed with a pious mouth that the Son is like the Father in all things, as we catholics have believed, and that through him the plot against the church's faith should not advance, a plot which desired to remove the name of 3.288 substance, so that with "substance" not being spoken by the mouth, the heresy, lurking in their hearts, might finally spread. But let us anticipate them writing "like in will, but unlike in substance"; for if they confess "like in all things" without deceit and purely, their argument, having been eager to remove the name of "substance," will be proved stale to them. For they gained nothing, being compelled to confess that the Son is like the Father in all things; for if he is like in all things, as they confessed, just as the Son is indeed like the Father, he is like not only in will and in energy, as they define it, but in existence and in hypostasis and in being as Son, and in short "in all things" is comprehensive of all things and

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ὁ θεὸς ἐποίει, αὐτὸν δὲ οὐ διά τινος, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς αὐτὸν αὐτούργησε, καὶ ὑπερέχοντα μεγέθει καὶ δυνάμει ἁπάντων ἐποίησε, διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν ἐκάλεσε μονογενῆ υἱόν. 14. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκ τῶν θείων γραφῶν τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς πίστεως παρειληφότες οὕτως ἔχομεν, ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ ὁμοίου ἐστὶν ἑαυτοῦ υἱοῦ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὅμοιός ἐστι τοῦ πατρός, ἐξ οὗ πατρὸς νοεῖται υἱός. τοῦτο ἡμῶν προσδιοριζομένων καὶ οὕτως καθαιρούντων τὸν νοῦν, ὡς πρὸς τοὺς Σαβελλίους καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς, ὅτι οὔτε ὁ υἱὸς δύναται εἶναι πατὴρ οὔτε ὁ πατὴρ δύναται εἶναι υἱός, ἀλλ' ὁ υἱὸς υἱὸς καὶ ὁ πατὴρ πατὴρ καὶ οὐχ υἱός ἐν τούτοις γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀκρίβεια τῆς τῶν προσώπων ἐπιγνώσεως, τῷ τὸν πατέρα πατέρα ἀεὶ ὄντα ἄσαρκον μὲν εἶναι καὶ ἀθάνατον, τὸν δὲ υἱὸν υἱὸν ὄντα ἀεὶ καὶ οὐδέποτε ὄντα πατέρα, ἀεὶ ὄντα δὲ λεγόμενον διὰ τὸ ἄχρονον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον τῆς ὑποστάσεως, σάρκα ἀνειληφέναι κατὰ βούλησιν τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ θάνατον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὑποστῆναι-τούτων διευκρινημένων οἱ θαυμαστοί, οἱ τῇ αἱρέσει συμμαχοῦντες, δύο πραγματεύσασθαι σπεύδουσιν, ἓν μὲν τὸ μηκέτι λέγειν πατέρα καὶ υἱόν, ἀλλὰ ἀγέννητον καὶ γεννητόν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο σόφισμα τῆς αἱρέσεως οἰόμενοι ἐπεισάγειν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. συνίσασι γὰρ οἱ σοφοὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι τὸ ἀγέννητον ἔλαττον δοκεῖ εἶναι τοῦ πατρὸς ὀνόματος. τὸ γὰρ ἀγέννητον, ὅτι ὁ 3.287 μὲν οὐκ ἐγεννήθη νενόηται, οὐδέπω δὲ εἰ καὶ πατήρ ἐστι σημαίνει· τὸ δὲ πατὴρ πλέον ἐστὶ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου ὀνόματος ὄν. ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ, φημί, οὐκ ἐμφαίνεται ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς δύναμις, ἐν δὲ τῷ πατὴρ ὀνόματι ὁμοῦ ἐμφαίνεται ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν υἱὸς ὁ πατήρ, εἴ γε κυρίως νοεῖται ὁ πατήρ, καὶ ὅτι αἴτιός ἐστιν ὁμοίου ἑαυτοῦ υἱοῦ. ἓν μὲν δὴ τοῦτο, ἕτερον δὲ ὅτι φθάσαντες ἀνόμοιον κατ' οὐσίαν γράψαι τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρί, ὡσπεροῦν ἐνόμισαν καταψηφίζεσθαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν δι' ὧν ἐθήρασαν παρὰ τοῦ αἰδεσίμου ἐπισκόπου Ὁσίου γραμμάτων, ἐν οἷς φέρεται τὸ ἀνόμοιον κατ' οὐσίαν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀνελθόντες οἱ ἐκ τῆς ἀνατολῆς ἐπὶ τὸ Σίρμιον πέρυσιν ἤλεγξαν τὸ κακούργημα τούτου τοῦ αἱρετισμοῦ, ἵνα μὴ εὐθύνας ὑπέχωσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν πίστιν τολμηθεῖσιν, ἐσπούδασαν τὸ τῆς οὐσίας ὄνομα, ἐν χρήσει ὑπάρχον τοῖς πατράσιν, διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας ἀνελεῖν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς διδασκαλίας, ἵνα καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο δόξωσι κρατύνειν ἑαυτῶν τὴν αἵρεσιν. 15. Ὑπέλαβον γὰρ ὅτι, εἰ τὸ τῆς οὐσίας ὄνομα ἐκβληθείη, κατὰ βούλησιν μόνον λέγοντες καὶ κατ' ἐνέργειαν ὅμοιον τῷ πατρὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἐξουσίαν ἕξουσιν οὐσίας μὴ ὀνομαζομένης, λοιπὸν ἀνόμοιον λέγειν κατὰ τὸ εἶναι καὶ κατὰ τὸ ὑπάρχειν τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρί. ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ ἔκδικος τῆς ἀληθείας θεός, «ὁ δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν», ὃς τὴν συγγένειαν τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ, τὸ κατὰ πάντα ὅμοιον τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρὶ εἶναι, ἐπὶ τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς βασιλέως ἐπαρρησιάσατο. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐφρόνει, εὐσεβὴς ὤν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὑπερμαχοῦντος αὐτοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ φρονῶν εὐσεβεῖ στόματι διωρίσατο κατὰ πάντα, ὡς οἱ καθολικοὶ πεπιστεύκαμεν, ὅμοιον εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ μὴ προχωρῆσαι τὴν κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς πίστεως μεθοδείαν, ἀναιρεῖν βουλομένην τὸ ὄνομα τῆς 3.288 οὐσίας, ἵνα τῷ στόματι μὴ λαλουμένης οὐσίας λοιπὸν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις φωλεύουσα ἡ αἵρεσις νέμηται. ἀλλ' αὐτοὺς φθάσωμεν γράφοντας ὅμοιον κατὰ βούλησιν, ἀνόμοιον δὲ κατ' οὐσίαν· εἴ γε ἀνυπούλως καὶ καθαρῶς τὸ κατὰ πάντα ὅμοιον ὁμολογοῦσιν, ἕωλον αὐτοῖς ἀπελεγχθήσεται τὸ ἐπιχείρημα, σπουδάσασιν ἆραι τὸ ὄνομα τῆς οὐσίας. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐκέρδαινον, ἀναγκασθέντες ὁμολογῆσαι τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρὶ κατὰ πάντα ὅμοιον· εἰ γὰρ κατὰ πάντα, ὡς ὡμολόγησαν, ἔστιν ὅμοιος, ὥσπερ οὖν ἔστιν ὁ υἱὸς τῷ πατρὶ ὅμοιος, ἔστιν ὅμοιος οὐ κατὰ τὴν βούλησιν καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν μόνην, καθὰ αὐτοὶ διορίζονται, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ὕπαρξιν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὑπόστασιν καὶ κατὰ τὸ εἶναι ὡς υἱός, καὶ καθάπαξ τὸ κατὰ πάντα ἁπάντων ἐστὶ περιληπτικὸν καὶ