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all begotten things the notion; for he who said ‘begotten’ signified that he has come to be, but in no way did he show the one understood as eternally Son. Therefore, understanding the Son of God eternally, we will not accept this; in addition to this, that the name of Father and Son signifies a relative relation, so that even if we name only the Father, we have implied in the name of the Father the notion of the Son. For a father is called the father of a son, and if we name only the Son, we have the notion of the Father, because a son is called the son of a father. For the one holds to the other and the relation is not broken, but even when each is said alone, it introduces the notion of the other, and not only the name, but with the name also the kinship of nature. For in understanding God as Father, we understand him as Father of God, and in understanding the Son of God, we understand that the one called Son of God is God and like him in nature whose Son he is also understood to be. But unbegotten is not said to be the unbegotten of a begotten, nor is begotten the begotten of an unbegotten. 20. Since, therefore, the terms 'unbegotten' and 'begotten' do not have a mutual relation, nor do they imply the nature, but make the property of the Son common with the other creatures, we will not accept the names, on account of their method leading to impiety, but we will always use piously those of Father and Son. First, then, that we who were called from the gentiles were not baptized into unbegotten and begotten, but into Father and Son; then, that nowhere is the Son found to have called his own Father unbegotten, but always having called God Father and always himself Son of God, we must note a few things, hearing him say, "If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to my Father," and "the one whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, are you angry with me because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?" and "I came forth from the Father and have come. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again I am leaving the world and going to the Father," and the confession of Peter, "You are the Christ, the Son of God," and the Father from above, "This is my beloved Son." And for this reason, since thus the Father makes mention of the Son and the Son of the Father, and in these names 3.293 I will say again we were sealed, these we shall also always use, rejecting the "profane empty talk" against the apostolic faith. For what was said by the Father, "in the splendors of the saints"; "from the womb before the morning star I have begotten you," was necessarily said and it will separate from communion with the created things the Son, the Father teaching through the name 'from the womb' that he is the genuine and uniquely begotten Son from him; just as likewise the Son, having said "the Lord created me," so that we might not suspect his nature to be shared with the other creatures, necessarily added, "and before all hills he begets me," presenting to us a pious and impassible notion of his sonship from God the Father. But once the Father and once the Son, on account of the aforementioned pious genuineness of the Son, set forth for us the 'begotten'. But the whole New Testament is full of the names of Father and Son. 21. But that those who innovate the heresy may be known from their own words, from the many things written by them on the subject, we have noted a few on account of length, from which the catholics, having learned the whole mind of the heresy, will necessarily, I think, judge that those who wrote these things should anathematize them and cast them and their own out of the apostolic faith, and also to anathematize those who think and teach the same things as them. For they write in these very words thus: "For I was eager to share with you, in brief, the most beautiful of the words in God. All those who suppose that the Son preserves a likeness of substance to the Father have stepped outside the truth, 'through the appellation 'unbegotten' accusing the one who is like in substance'." And again they will say: "But the Son is inferior * of generation and is and has been confessed.

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πάντα τὰ γεννητὰ τὴν ἔννοιαν ὁ γὰρ εἰπὼν γεννητὸν ὅτι μὲν γέγονεν ἐσήμανεν, οὐδαμοῦ δὲ τὸν ἀϊδίως υἱὸν νοούμενον παρεδήλωσε, διὸ ἀϊδίως ἐννοοῦντες υἱὸν θεοῦ οὐ δεξόμεθα τοῦτο· πρὸς τούτοις δέ, ὅτι τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ ὄνομα τὴν πρός τι σχέσιν σημαίνει, διὸ κἂν πατέρα μόνον ὀνομάζωμεν, ἔχομεν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ πατρὸς συνυπακουομένην τὴν ἔννοιαν τοῦ υἱοῦ πατὴρ γὰρ υἱοῦ πατὴρ λέγεται, κἄν τε υἱὸν μόνον ὀνομάσωμεν, ἔχομεν τὴν ἔννοιαν τοῦ πατρός, ὅτι υἱὸς πατρὸς λέγεται. ἔχεται γὰρ θάτερον θατέρου καὶ οὐ διακόπτεται ἡ σχέσις, ἀλλὰ καὶ μόνον ἑκάτερον λεγόμενον συνεισάγει θατέρου τὴν ἔννοιαν, καὶ οὐ τὸ ὄνομα μόνον, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ τῆς φύσεως τὴν οἰκειότητα. πατέρα γὰρ νοοῦντες τὸν θεὸν θεοῦ νοοῦμεν πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν νοοῦντες θεοῦ θεὸν νοοῦμεν τὸν ῥηθέντα υἱὸν θεοῦ καὶ ὅμοιον ἐκείνῳ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν οὗ καὶ νοεῖται υἱός. ἀγέννητον δὲ οὐ λέγεται γεννητοῦ ἀγέννητον οὐδὲ γεννητὸν ἀγεννήτου γεννητόν. 20. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν οὔτε τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσιν ἔχει τὰ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου καὶ γεννητοῦ οὔτε συνεμφαίνει τὴν φύσιν, κοινοποιεῖ δὲ πρὸς τὰ λοιπὰ ποιήματα τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν ἰδιότητα, οὐ δεξόμεθα μὲν διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἀσέβειαν μεθοδείαν τὰ ὀνόματα, ἀεὶ δὲ τῷ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ ὁσίως χρησόμεθα. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ὅτι οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν κληθέντες οὐκ ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς ἀγέννητον καὶ γεννητόν, ἀλλ' εἰς πατέρα καὶ υἱόν· ἔπειτα ὅτι οὐδαμοῦ εὑρίσκεται ὁ υἱὸς εἰρηκὼς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα ἀγέννητον, ἀλλὰ ἀεὶ πατέρα εἰρηκὼς τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἀεὶ ἑαυτὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, ὀλίγα παρασημειωτέον ἀκούοντες αὐτοῦ λέγοντος «εἰ ἠγαπᾶτέ με, ἐχάρητε ἂν ὅτι πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου», καὶ «ὃν ὁ πατὴρ ἡγίασε καὶ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἐμοὶ χολᾶτε ὅτι εἶπον, υἱὸς θεοῦ εἰμι», καὶ «ἐγὼ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω. ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐλήλυθα εἰς τὸν κόσμον· πάλιν ἀφίημι τὸν κόσμον καὶ πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα», καὶ ἡ ὁμολογία δὲ τοῦ Πέτρου «σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστός, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ», καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἄνωθεν «οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός». καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, ἐπειδὴ οὕτως καὶ πατὴρ υἱοῦ μέμνηται καὶ υἱὸς πατρὸς καὶ ἐν τούτοις τοῖς ὀνόμασι 3.293 πάλιν ἐρῶ ἐσφραγίσθημεν, τούτοις καὶ ἀεὶ χρησόμεθα, ἀποκρουόμενοι τὰς κατὰ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς πίστεως «βεβήλους κενοφωνίας». τὸ γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰρημένον «ταῖς λαμπρότησι τῶν ἁγίων»· «ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε» ἀναγκαίως εἴρηται καὶ ἀπάξει τῆς κοινότητος τῆς πρὸς τὰ ποιήματα τοῖς τὸν υἱόν, τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γνήσιον καὶ ἰδίως γεγεννημένον υἱὸν διὰ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα ὀνόματος παιδεύοντος· ὡς ὁμοίως καὶ ὁ υἱὸς «κύριος ἔκτισέ με» εἰπών, ἵνα μὴ κοινοποιουμένην αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὰ λοιπὰ κτίσματα ὑποπτεύσωμεν τὴν φύσιν, ἐπήνεγκεν ἀναγκαίως «πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με», εὐσεβῆ ἡμῖν καὶ ἀπαθῆ τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ πατρὸς τῆς υἱότητος αὐτοῦ ἔννοιαν παριστάς. ἀλλ' ἅπαξ μὲν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ἅπαξ ὁ υἱὸς διὰ τὴν προειρημένην εὐσεβῆ γνησιότητα τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸ γεννητὸν ἡμῖν ἐξέθεντο. πᾶσα δὲ ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη γέμει πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ ὀνομάτων. 21. Ἵνα δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων γνωρισθῶσιν οἱ καινοτομοῦντες τὴν αἵρεσιν, ἐκ πολλῶν τῶν παρ' αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν γεγραμμένων ὀλίγα διὰ τὸ μῆκος παρεσημειωσάμεθα, ἀφ' ὧν ὅλον οἱ καθολικοὶ καταμαθόντες τὸν νοῦν τῆς αἱρέσεως ἀναγκαίως, οἶμαι, κρινοῦσι τοὺς ταῦτα γράψαντας ἀναθεματίσαι αὐτὰ καὶ αὐτούς τε καὶ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἐκβαλεῖν τῆς ἀποστολικῆς πίστεως, ἀναθεματίσαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς τὰ αὐτὰ αὐτοῖς φρονοῦντας καὶ διδάσκοντας. γράφουσι γὰρ αὐταῖς λέξεσιν οὕτως· «τὸ γὰρ μεταδοῦναι ὑμῖν τῶν ἐν θεῷ ῥημάτων καλλίστων τὰ μάλιστα διὰ βραχέων προεθυμήθην. ὅσοι τὴν κατ' οὐσίαν ὁμοιότητα ἀποσώζειν τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρὶ ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας βεβήκασι, «διὰ τῆς ἀγενήτου προσηγορίας κατηγοροῦντες τοῦ ὁμοίου κατ' οὐσίαν». καὶ πάλιν ἐροῦσιν· «ὁ δὲ υἱὸς ἐλάττων * γενέσεως καὶ ἔστι καὶ ὡμολόγηται.