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he knows himself, being ignorant, that is, of the unbegotten participation; for it is not possible for him to have knowledge of himself and of unbegotten substance and of begotten. But if the begotten is contemptible because of its fitness for change, an axiom of nature is 3.359 unchangeable substance, the unbegotten substance being acknowledged as superior to every cause. 33. If the unbegotten is removed from every cause, and there were many unbegotten things, they will have an unvarying nature. For unless having partaken by allotment of some common and particular nature, one would not be making, and the other being made. 34. If every substance is unbegotten, neither will differ from the other in respect to being without a master. How then could one say that one is changed, and the other changes, not permitting God to give substance out of non-pre-existing substance? 35. If every substance is unbegotten, every one is unvarying. And since substance has its unvarying quality, the making and the suffering must be ascribed to spontaneity. But with many things being unbegotten and unvarying, they will differ from one another innumerably. For the things that are distinct, either universally or in some respect, would not be numerable, with every distinction showing some allotment of an even more set-apart unbegotten nature. 36. If 'unbegotten' and 'God' in parallel mean the same thing, the unbegotten begot an unbegotten. But if 'unbegotten' means one thing, and 'God' another, it is not absurd for God to have begotten God, each having received existence from an unbegotten substance. But if there is nothing before God, as indeed there is not, 'God' and 'unbegotten' mean the same thing, the offspring not admitting the 'unbegotten'. Therefore he does not endure to be named together with God his Father. May the self-begotten God who is, who for this reason alone was called the true God by the one who was sent, Jesus Christ, who truly subsisted before the ages and is truly 3.360 of a begotten substance, keep you, men and women, strong and safe from impiety, in Christ Jesus our savior, through whom is all glory to God the Father, both now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen. The treatise of Aetius is completed. 13. And this is the beginning of his destructive sayings which have come to us in part, as I said, which is being refuted by us. For they say that he composed three hundred chapters altogether of the same sort as these, full of all blasphemy. But here, as when the body of a perishing and putrefied reptile, some earnest plotter, having collected the bones from the remains of the reptile for the ruin of some, which plot he boasts of having made against some people by writing, I supposedly presented the little treatise as if out of a love for beauty, of which the beginning is thus. For this reason, we ourselves too, through the energy of God, having collected from beginning to end the healing words of the divine scripture, let us prepare a refutative antidote for those who wish to be healed of his venom-spitting, by setting forth refutations directly for each saying of the same syllogistic chapters thus: The works of Aetius the Anomoean. 14. Since, in the time of the persecution brought upon us by the Chronites, some of the aforementioned, having appropriated along with many others a short work diligently composed by us specifically about the unbegotten God and the begotten, and having corrupted it with additions and subtractions, published it, having changed the consecutive train of thought, and after this it came to us, one of the zealous having brought it to us, I was compelled as a father, having thoroughly cleansed it again, to send out the composition to you, O all you pious athletes, both male and female, so that you may know that the short treatise was spoken by us in accordance with the meaning of the holy scriptures, by which you will be able to stop every person who attempts to contradict you about the unbegotten God and the begotten 3.361 from acting shamelessly with concise refutations, and most of all the aforementioned Chronites; and in the form of verse-like sections I have arranged aporia upon aporia and solution upon solution for the sake of the easy comprehension and clarity of the

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γινώσκει ἑαυτόν, ἀγνοῶν δηλονότι τὴν ἀγέννητον μετουσίαν· οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε αὐτὸν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἀγεννήτου οὐσίας γνῶσιν ἔχειν καὶ γεννητῆς. εἰ δὲ εὐκαταφρόνητόν ἐστι τὸ γεννητὸν διὰ μεταβολῆς ἐπιτηδειότητα, ἀξίωμα φύσεώς ἐστιν 3.359 οὐσία ἀμετάβλητος, τῆς ἀγεννήτου οὐσίας πάσης αἰτίας κρείττονος ὡμολογημένης. ˉλˉγ. Εἰ τὸ ἀγέννητον πάσης αἰτίας ἐξῄρηται, εἴη δὲ πολλὰ ἀγέννητα, ἀπαράλλακτον ἕξουσι τὴν φύσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἂν μὴ ἀποκληρώσει φύσεως τινὸς κοινοῦ καὶ ἰδίου μετειληφυῖα ἡ μὲν ἐποίει, ἡ δὲ ἐγίνετο. ˉλˉδ. Εἰ πᾶσα οὐσία ἐστὶν ἀγέννητος, οὐδ' ὁποτέρα διοίσει τῆς ἄλλης κατὰ τὸ ἀδέσποτον. πῶς οὖν ἄν τις φαίη τὴν μὲν μεταβάλλεσθαι, τὴν δὲ μεταβάλλειν, οὐκ ἐπιτρεπόντων τῷ θεῷ ὑφιστᾶν ἐκ μὴ ὑποκειμένης οὐσίας; ˉλˉε. Εἰ πᾶσα οὐσία ἐστὶν ἀγέννητος, πᾶσά ἐστιν ἀπαράλλακτος. τῆς δὲ οὐσίας τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον ἐχούσης τὸ ποιεῖν τε καὶ τὸ πάσχειν αὐτοματισμῷ ἀναθετέον. πολλῶν δὲ ὄντων ἀγεννήτων καὶ ἀπαραλλάκτων ἀναριθμήτως διοίσουσιν ἀλλήλων. οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἴη ἀριθμητὰ τὰ διεστῶτα ἢ καθόλου ἢ κατά τι, πάσης διαστάσεως ἀποκλήρωσίν τινα ἐμφαινούσης ἔτι ἀποτεταγμένης ἀγεννήτου φύσεως. ˉλˉ. Εἰ τὸ ἀγέννητος καὶ τὸ θεὸς ἐκ παραλλήλου τὸ αὐτὸ δηλοῖ, ὁ ἀγέννητος ἀγέννητον ἐγέννησεν. εἰ δὲ ἕτερόν τι δηλοῖ τὸ ἀγέννητος, ἕτερον δὲ τὸ θεός, οὐκ ἄτοπον τὸ θεὸν γεγεννηκέναι θεόν, ἑκατέρου τὴν ὕπαρξιν λαβόντος ἐξ ἀγεννήτου οὐσίας. εἰ δὲ τὸ πρὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μηδὲν εἴη, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἔστι, τὸ θεὸς καὶ τὸ ἀγέννητος ταὐτὸν δηλοῖ, οὐ προσιεμένου τοῦ γεννήματος τὸ ἀγέννητον. διὸ οὐδὲ συνεκφωνεῖσθαι τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ ἀνέχεται. Ἐρρωμένους καὶ ἐρρωμένας ὑμᾶς ὁ ὢν αὐτογέννητος θεός, ὁ καὶ μόνος διὰ τοῦτο ἀληθινὸς θεὸς προσαγορευθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποσταλέντος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὑποστάντος τε ἀληθῶς πρὸ αἰώνων καὶ ὄντος ἀληθῶς 3.360 γεννητῆς ὑποστάσεως, διατηρήσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀσεβείας, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ σωτῆρι ἡμῶν, δι' οὗ πᾶσα δόξα τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί, καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἀμήν. Πεπλήρωται τὸ σύνταγμα τοῦ Ἀετίου. 13. Καὶ ἔστι τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ μέρους ἐλθόντων αὐτοῦ φθοριμαίων λέξεων, ὡς ἔφην, ἡ ἀρχὴ ἡ παρ' ἡμῶν ἀνατρεπομένη αὕτη. τριακόσια γὰρ ὁμοῦ κεφάλαια ὁμοιότροπα τούτοις φασὶν αὐτὸν πεποιηκέναι πάσης βλασφημίας ἔμπλεα. ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὡς ἀπολλυμένου σώματος ἑρπετοῦ καὶ σαπέντος, ἐπιβούλου τινὸς σπουδαίου ἀναλεξαμένου τῶν τοῦ ἑρπετοῦ λειψάνων τὰ ὀστέα εἰς λύμην τινῶν, ἣν καυχᾶται ἐπιβουλὴν πεποιηκέναι τισὶ γράφων, δῆθεν ὡς κατὰ φιλοκαλίαν παρεθέμην τὸ συνταγμάτιον, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ οὕτως. οὗ εἵνεκεν καὶ αὐτοὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνεργείας τὰ ἰατικὰ τῶν λόγων τῆς θείας γραφῆς ἀναλεξάμενοι ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἄχρι τέλους ἀνατρεπτικὴν ἀντίδοτον κατασκευάσωμεν τοῖς βουλομένοις ἰαθῆναι τῆς αὐτοῦ ἰοβολίας, ἄντικρυς ἑκάστης λέξεως ἀνατροπὰς παραθησόμενοι τῶν αὐτῶν συλλογιστικῶν κεφαλαίων οὕτως· Τὰ Ἀετίου τοῦ Ἀνομοίου. 14. Ἐπειδὴ ἐν καιρῷ τοῦ ἐπενεχθέντος ἡμῖν διωγμοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν Χρονιτῶν τινὲς τῶν προειρημένων σφετερισάμενοι μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν πονημάτιον σπουδασθὲν ἡμῖν ἰδιαζόντως περὶ ἀγεννήτου θεοῦ καὶ γεννητοῦ παρενθήκαις τε καὶ ἀφαιρέσεσι διαφθείραντες ἐξέδωκαν, τὴν ἀκόλουθον ἀμείψαντες ἀγωγήν, ἦλθε δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα τοῦτο εἰς ἡμᾶς, τινὸς τῶν σπουδαίων ἡμῖν αὐτὸ προσκεκομικότος, ἠναγκάσθην οἷα πατὴρ αὖθις διακαθάρας ἐκπέμψαι ὑμῖν τὸ σύγγραμμα, ὦ πάντες εὐσεβεῖς ἀθληταί τε καὶ ἀθλήτριαι, ὅπως ἂν εἰδέναι ἔχοιτε κατ' ἔννοιαν τῶν ἁγίων γραφῶν εἰρῆσθαι ἡμῖν τὸ λογίδιον, δι' οὗ πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἀντιλέγειν ὑμῖν ἐπιχειροῦντα περὶ ἀγεννήτου θεοῦ καὶ γεννητοῦ 3.361 παύειν ἀναισχυντεῖν συντόμοις περιτροπαῖς δυνήσεσθε, πάντων δὲ μᾶλλον τοὺς προειρημένους Χρονίτας· ἐν εἴδει δὲ τῶν στιχηρῶν ἐπαπόρησιν ἐπαπορήσεως διέστησα καὶ λύσιν λύσεως διὰ τὸ εὐπερίδρακτον καὶ σαφὲς τῶν