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procures, having its dignity from a different name apart from the things that have come into being, the creatures, and not procuring honor for the creator according to the things that have come into being. For the things outside of him procure glory for the one who possesses them, not being equal to the one who made them nor being called by the name of the one who made them, but having become slaves for the glory of the one who made them, so that from the glorious things, the preferable thing, which is from the one who is above the glorious things that have come into being and is above them, might be contemplated analogously. But he who is no longer called by their name, but has his dignity unitedly from being born with the consubstantiality of the preferable one, 3.365 if he should differ from the preferable one because of the variation, he will also procure a lesser dignity for the preferable one, as the communication of the offspring according to the preferable one is altered. Wherefore, the offspring has been apprehended by us in faith as like from like and equal from equal, not from a bodily concept, but as God from God, light from light, and the hypostatic Word of the Father, the unchangeable glory of the preferable one being preserved, in that the preferable one is not the cause of itself, but generates from itself the equal by a pure and incomprehensible essence, the essential and hypostatic divine offspring consubstantially, which is an image not inanimate, but characterizing the Father’s genus, as the divine scripture says, placing the offspring in equality with the begetter, saying, “the image of the invisible God.” And lest anyone think the image to be a difference from the identity, the Father himself, providing for the correction of our life, said before this word, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness,” not distinguishing himself from the Son, but adding a dual and homonymous word, “Let us make man,” so that he might signify two, both himself and the Son, or I might even say the Holy Spirit too. and * in the equality of the image, inserting what is not unlike through two words, he said one “image,” but by “our” he declared the dual, and the man who was coming into being was becoming an image not of one, but of the likeness and equality of the two, so that it might be entirely clear that the preferable thing in the Father and Son and Holy Spirit remains in identity and is not altered. For the Father did not receive from another nature, nor the Son, nor the Holy Spirit, nor did he give to another nature a share of his own nature and dignity, nor did the fact that the only-begotten and the Holy Spirit are from him work an alteration of nature by some division or emanation, but just as from the beginning the preferable nature was always unbegotten and uncreated, so he has clearly and unalterably preached to us that from him are always the preferable offspring and the Holy Spirit. 20. 3. But if he did not provide existence to himself, not because of the weakness of his nature but because of having surpassed all cause, from where would anyone concede that the nature which has subsisted has unchangeableness in essence with respect to the nature which caused it to subsist, since such a subsistence does not admit of coming into being? 3.366 Refutation. It is necessary for you, O Aetius, looking up and perceiving your own pitiable state, to restrain the excess of impiety of your own audacious mind, so that we too, not sharing in such fearlessness, might not be supposed to have been defeated, but counseling both you and ourselves in the things pertaining to piety. For while seeming in necessary things and in things befitting God, to preach from great error that God is unlike and unequal to the one begotten from him, * to come forth according to some pious making † God, you rather preach that he is like in the most unseemly things which do not befit his divinity. And first, to have thought about God such a great depth of folly is the fruit of impiety and rather of a frenzied mind. For by saying that he is the cause of himself or that he provided existence to himself, you have ensnared yourself in two evil suspicions, groping and inquiring about God how he was: whether he was always, or provided existence to himself, or has existence automatically. And I fear and shudder at the

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περιποιεῖται, ἑτέρου ὀνόματος παρὰ τὰ γεγονότα κτίσματα ἔχον τὸ ἀξίωμα καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὰ γεγονότα τὴν τιμὴν τῷ πεποιηκότι περιποιούμενον. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκτὸς αὐτοῦ δόξαν τῷ κεκτικότι περιποιεῖται, οὐκ ὄντα ἴσα τῷ πεποιηκότι οὐδὲ ὀνόματι τοῦ πεποιηκότος καλούμενα, ἀλλὰ δοῦλα γενόμενα εἰς δόξαν τοῦ πεποιηκότος, ἵνα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνδόξων ἐκ τοῦ ὑπὲρ τὰ ἔνδοξα γεγονότα ὄντος τὸ προκριτέον καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτὰ ὂν ἀναλόγως θεωρῆται. ὁ δὲ οὐκέτι τῇ τούτων ὀνομασίᾳ κικλησκόμενος, τῇ δὲ τοῦ προκριτέου ὁμοουσιότητι ἐκ τοῦ τετέχθαι συνηνωμένως 3.365 ἔχων τὸ ἀξίωμα, εἰ διοίσει τοῦ προκριτέου διὰ τὴν παραλλαγήν, καὶ τῷ προκριτέῳ ἔλαττον ἀξίωμα περιποιήσεται, διαλλαττομένης τῆς κατὰ τὸ προκριτέον τοῦ γεννήματος ἐπικοινωνίας. διὸ ὅμοιος ἐξ ὁμοίου καὶ ἴσος ἐξ ἴσου ἡμῖν ὁ βλαστὸς οὐκ ἀπὸ σωματικῆς ἐννοίας τῇ πίστει κατείληπται, ἀλλ' ὡς θεὸς ἐκ θεοῦ, φῶς ἐκ φωτὸς καὶ λόγος πατρὸς ἐνυπόστατος, σῳζομένης τῆς ἀμεταθέτου τοῦ προκριτέου δόξης, ἐν τῷ τὸ προκριτέον οὐκ αὐτὸ ἑαυτοῦ εἶναι αἴτιον, ἀλλ' ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τὸ ἴσον γεννῶν ἀχράντῳ καὶ ἀκαταλήπτῳ οὐσίᾳ, ὁμοουσίως τὸ οὐσιῶδες καὶ ἐνυπόστατον θεῖον γέννημα, ὅπερ εἰκών ἐστιν οὐκ ἄψυχος, ἀλλὰ πατρὸς χαρακτηρίζουσα γένος, ὥς φησιν ἡ θεία γραφή, ἐπὶ τῇ ἰσότητι τοῦ γεννήτορος τὸ γέννημα τάττουσα, «εἰκών», φάσκουσα, «τοῦ ἀοράτου θεοῦ». καὶ ἵνα μή τις νομίσῃ διαφορὰν εἶναι τὴν εἰκόνα τῆς ταυτότητος, αὐτὸς ὁ πατὴρ τὴν διόρθωσιν τῆς ἡμετέρας ζωῆς προνοῶν πρὸ τούτου τοῦ λόγου ἔφησε τὸ «ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν», οὐ διοίσας ἑαυτὸν παρὰ τὸν υἱόν, ἀλλὰ δυϊκὴν καὶ ὁμώνυμον λέξιν ἐπειπών, τὸ «ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον», ἵνα δύο σημάνῃ, ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὸν υἱόν, ἢ καὶ εἴποιμι καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. καὶ τὸ * ἐπὶ τῇ ἰσότητι τῆς εἰκόνος, τὸ μὴ ἀνόμοιον διὰ δύο λόγων παρενθείς, «εἰκόνα» μίαν ἔφη, τῷ «ἡμετέραν» δὲ τὸ δυϊκὸν ἀπεφήνατο, τὸν δὲ γινόμενον ἄνθρωπον οὐ τῇ τοῦ ἑνὸς εἰκόνι, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῶν δύο ὁμοιότητί τε καὶ ἰσότητι εἰκόνα γινόμενον, ἵνα πάντη σαφὲς εἴη τὸ προκριτέον ἐν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι μένον ἐν ταυτότητι καὶ μὴ ἀλλοιούμενον. οὐ γὰρ παρ' ἑτέρας φύσεως εἴληφεν ὁ πατὴρ ἢ ὁ υἱὸς ἢ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἢ δέδωκεν ἑτέρᾳ φύσει συμμετοχὴν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως καὶ ἀξιώματος, οὔτε κατά τινα τομὴν ἢ ἀπόρροιαν τὸ εἶναι ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἀλλοίωσιν τῆς φύσεως ἐξειργάσατο, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς προκριτέα φύσις ἀγέννητος καὶ ἄκτιστος ἀεὶ ἦν, οὕτως ἀεὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ προκριτέον γέννημα καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἡμῖν σαφῶς κεκήρυχε καὶ οὐκ ἐνηλλαγμένως. 20. ˉγ. Εἰ δὲ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ τὸ εἶναι μὴ παρέσχεν, οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ὑπερβεβηκέναι πᾶσαν αἰτίαν, πόθεν ἄν τις τὴν ὑποστᾶσαν πρὸς τὴν ὑποστήσασαν φύσιν τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον εἰς οὐσίαν ἔχειν συγχωρήσειεν, οὐ προσιεμένης τῆς τοιαύτης ὑποστάσεως γένεσιν; 3.366 Ἀνατροπή. Χρή σε, ὦ Ἀέτιε, ἄνω προσέχοντα καὶ σεαυτοῦ τὸ ἐλεεινὸν κατανοοῦντα ἐπέχειν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τολμηρᾶς διανοίας τὸ περιττὸν τῆς ἀσεβείας, ἵνα μὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς μὴ συμμαινόμενοι τῇ τοσαύτῃ ἀφοβίᾳ ἡττημένοι ὑποληφθῶμεν, ἀλλὰ σοί τε καὶ ἑαυτοῖς τὰ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν συμβουλεύοντες. δοκῶν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς θεῷ πρέπουσιν ἀνόμοιον καὶ ἄνισον τὸν θεὸν τῷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένῳ, κηρύττειν ἀπὸ πολλῆς πλάνης * κατὰ εὐσεβῆ τινα ποίησιν ἐξελθεῖν † θεόν, μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς ἀπρεπωδεστάτοις ὅμοιον αὐτὸν κηρύττεις τοῖς μὴ πρέπουσι τῇ αὐτοῦ θεότητι. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὸ διανοηθῆναι περὶ θεοῦ τὸν τοσοῦτον βυθὸν τῆς ἀνοίας ἀσεβείας ἐστὶ καρπὸς καὶ μᾶλλον μανιώδους διανοίας. τῷ γὰρ εἰπεῖν αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῦ αἴτιον ἢ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ τὸ εἶναι παρέσχεν, ἐν δυσὶν ὑπονοίαις κακαῖς σεαυτὸν περιέπειρας, ἀναψηλαφῶν καὶ ζητῶν περὶ θεοῦ τὸ πῶς ἦν· ἆρα ἀεὶ ἢ ἑαυτῷ τὸ εἶναι παρέσχεν ἢ αὐτομάτως ἔχει τὸ εἶναι. καὶ δέδια καὶ φρίττω τῷ