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"a tongue of instruction," but also "to know when it is necessary to speak a word," should he condemn our rashness in speaking to silence? which is what was done in the case of the blessed Zacharias, who, since he did not believe the one who announced the good news 3.308 of the birth of the child, testing the grace and power of God with human reasonings and doubting within himself whether it was according to nature for an old man to beget a child from one advanced in years, what does he say? "How shall I know that this will be? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days." Therefore, when he heard, "Behold, you will be silent and not able to speak," he did not speak when he came out. 33. Therefore, ceasing to dispute about controverted matters and about things beyond us, we hold fast to what we have received. For who is he that dares to be puffed up with knowledge, when he himself who was deemed worthy of "revelations," who was "caught up to the third heaven," who "heard inexpressible words," was disciplined by "the thorn in the flesh" "not to be exalted"? And the prophet himself who said, "I believed, therefore I spoke," says "I was humbled," not simply, but "greatly." For the closer one seems to be to knowledge, the more he ought to reason with himself that he is a man. Concerning this, hear what he says: "But I said in my ecstasy, every man is a liar." Having, therefore, the teacher of truth, let us no longer resort to human teachers, but understanding, * and let us neither investigate the modes nor anything else. For just as it is not possible to speak of the generation of the Son, neither is it possible to declare the mode of the generation of the Father, but one must consider it sufficient for teaching that "all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." And may the Lord grant that we think according to Abraham, who says, "Now I have begun to speak to my Lord, though I am earth and ashes," and are not "exalted like the cedars of Lebanon," because "not in the teachable words of human wisdom, but in the teachable things of faith" is smooth and peaceful wisdom achieved, and that we may not be perplexed, but doing whatsoever, we may please God the Father and with him and together with him the Son in the Holy Spirit, to whom be the glory, the dominion, the honor, and the power, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. The homily of Meletius is completed. 3.309 34. But this seemed to those who had hastened to bring him from the region of Pontus to have been said not to the joy of most of the Arians, nor for their repose, but to their burden. From this they move the emperor and conspire against the man as not having confessed him to be a perfect creature, and they drive him from his see. And the man is exiled by night until these times; who even now exists here in his own homeland, an honorable and much-desired man, especially on account of those things which we are now taught he has achieved and from those things which those under him in Antioch now confess, no longer at all, not even in passing, mentioning the name of creature, but confessing the Father and Son and Holy Spirit to be of one substance, three hypostases, one essence, one divinity; as is the true faith, that from the beginning, both prophetic and evangelical and apostolic, which our fathers and bishops who gathered at the Council of Nicaea confessed under Constantine the great and most blessed emperor. And may it be that the most honorable Meletius himself confesses thus, in accordance with those under him in Antioch and those in some other places who confess thus. For there are also some of those who seem to be in communion with him and with his synod who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and while they speak well concerning the Son, they consider the Spirit to be created and altogether alien to God; concerning whom we will later speak precisely about all things according to our ability in the refutation of their heresy. 35. The man is therefore honorable to us, as I said, on account of such

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«γλῶτταν παιδείας», ἀλλὰ καὶ «γνῶναι ἡνίκα δεῖ εἰπεῖν λόγον», καταψηφίσηται ἡμῶν τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ λέγειν προπετείας τὴν σιωπήν; ὅπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ μακαρίου Ζαχαρίου πεποίηται, ὃς ἐπειδὴ μὴ ἐπίστευσε τῷ εὐαγγελισαμένῳ 3.308 τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ παιδός, ἀνθρωπίνοις λογισμοῖς δοκιμάζων τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ χάριν καὶ δύναμιν καὶ διαπορῶν πρὸς ἑαυτόν, εἰ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχει τὸν πρεσβύτην ἐκ τῆς προβεβηκυίας παιδοποιήσασθαι, τί φησι; «πῶς γνώσομαι τοῦτο ὅτι ἔσται; ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι πρεσβύτης καὶ ἡ γυνή μου προβεβηκυῖα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις αὐτῆς», τοιγαροῦν ὁπότε ἤκουσεν ὅτι «ἰδού, ἔσῃ σιωπῶν καὶ οὐ δυνάμενος λαλεῖν», καὶ οὐκ ἐλάλησεν ἐξελθών. 33. ∆ιόπερ ἀφέντες περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων φιλονεικεῖν καὶ περὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς, κρατοῦμεν ἃ παρειλήφαμεν. τίς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τολμῶν ἐπὶ γνώσει φυσιωθῆναι, ὁπότε αὐτὸς ὁ «τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων» καταξιωθείς, ὁ «εἰς οὐρανὸν τρίτον» ἀναληφθείς, ὁ «ἀκούσας ἄρρητα ῥήματα», ἐσωφρονίσθη διὰ «τοῦ κατὰ τὴν σάρκα σκόλοπος» «μὴ ὑπεραίρεσθαι»; καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ προφήτης ὁ εἰπὼν «ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα», «ἐταπεινώθην» φησίν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ «σφόδρα». ὅσῳ γὰρ ἄν τις ἐγγυτέρω τῆς γνώσεως εἶναι δοκῇ, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ὀφείλει λογίζεσθαι πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἄνθρωπός ἐστι. περὶ τούτου ἄκουε τί λέγει· «ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου, πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης». ἔχοντες οὖν τὸν διδάσκαλον τῆς ἀληθείας, μηκέτι ἀνθρωπίνοις διδασκάλοις προσχρώμεθα, ἀλλ' ἐννοοῦντες, * καὶ μήτε τρόπους περιεργαζώμεθα μήτε ἕτερόν τι. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὴν γέννησιν τοῦ υἱοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲ τὸν τρόπον τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἔστιν ἀποφήνασθαι, ἀλλὰ δεῖ ἀρκεῖν ἡγεῖσθαι πρὸς διδασκαλίαν τοῦτο ὅτι «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν». δῴη δὲ κύριος κατὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ φρονοῦντας ἡμᾶς τὸν λέγοντα «νῦν ἠρξάμην λαλεῖν τῷ κυρίῳ μου, ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι γῆ καὶ σποδός», καὶ μὴ «ὑπεραιρομένους κατὰ τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου», ὅτι «μὴ ἐν διδακτοῖς ἀνθρωπίνης σοφίας λόγοις, ἀλλ' ἐν διδακτοῖς πίστεως» ἡ ὁμαλὴ καὶ εἰρηνικὴ κατορθοῦται σοφία, μήτε διαπορεῖν ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' ὁτιοῦν ποιοῦντες εὐαρεστήσωμεν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τῷ υἱῷ ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, ᾧ ἡ δόξα, τὸ κράτος, ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ δύναμις νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἀμήν. Πεπλήρωται ἡ τοῦ Μελιτίου ὁμιλία. 3.309 34. Ἔδοξε δὲ τοῦτο τοῖς μετενέγκαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ποντικῆς χώρας σπουδάσασι τοὺς πλείους τῶν Ἀρειανῶν οὐκ ἐπὶ χαρᾶς καταστῆσαι, οὐδὲ εἰς αὐτῶν ἀνάπαυσιν, ἀλλ' εἰς ἐπάχθειαν εἰρῆσθαι. ἐντεῦθεν κινοῦσι τὸν βασιλέα καὶ συσκευάζονται τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς διὰ τὸ μὴ ὡμολογηκέναι κτίσμα τέλειον αὐτὸν καὶ ἐξεοῦσι τῆς αὐτοῦ καθέδρας. καὶ νύκτωρ φυγαδεύεται ὁ ἀνὴρ ἕως τῶν χρόνων τούτων· ὃς καὶ δεῦρο ὑπάρχει ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ πατρίδι τίμιος ἀνὴρ καὶ ἐπιπόθητος, μάλιστα δι' ὧν νυνὶ ἐνηχούμεθα κατωρθωκέναι καὶ ἀφ' ὧν νυνὶ οἱ ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ ὁμολογοῦσιν, οὐκέτι ὅλως οὔτε ἐν παραδρομῇ μεμνημένοι κτίσματος ὀνόματος, ἀλλ' ὁμοούσιον ὁμολογοῦντες πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις, μίαν οὐσίαν, μίαν θεότητα· καθώς ἐστιν ἡ ἀληθινὴ πίστις, ἡ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνέκαθεν, προφητική τε καὶ εὐαγγελικὴ καὶ ἀποστολική, ἣν ὡμολόγησαν οἱ συνελθόντες πατέρες ἡμῶν καὶ ἐπίσκοποι ἐν τῇ Νικαίᾳ συνόδῳ ἐπὶ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ μακαριωτάτου βασιλέως. γένοιτο δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν τιμιώτατον Μελίτιον οὕτως ὁμολογεῖν κατὰ τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτὸν ὄντας ἐν τῇ Ἀντιοχείᾳ καὶ τοὺς ἐν ἄλλοις τισὶ τόποις οὕτως ὁμολογοῦντας. εἰσὶ γὰρ καί τινες τῶν δοκούντων αὐτῷ κοινωνεῖν καὶ τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν συνόδῳ βλασφημοῦντες τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ περὶ μὲν υἱοῦ καλῶς λέγοντες, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κτιστὸν ἡγούμενοι καὶ ἀλλότριον θεοῦ παντάπασι· περὶ ὧν ὕστερον ἐν τῇ κατ' αὐτοὺς ἀνατροπῇ τῆς αἱρέσεως τὰ πάντα ἀκριβῶς κατὰ δύναμιν λέξομεν. 35. Τίμιος οὖν ὁ ἀνὴρ ἡμῖν, ὡς ἔφην, διὰ τὰς τοιαύτας