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and the substance of God is superior to generation, that which concerns the Son will be confessed only as far as a mere name. 3.372 Refutation. Therefore, it was necessary not only for you, Aetius, but also to 'reject a heretical man after one admonition,' as the holy and wise Word commands. For you happen to be 'self-condemned,' drawing down destruction upon yourself and not being compelled by another. Who then will pity him who is 'evil to himself and good to no one'? But lest, in the evils you have sprouted for the world, holding * in yourself, you should suppose them to be great and opposing things, we also will persist with long-suffering with 'the two-edged sword, the word of Christ,' cutting out your thorny roots in the sound, perfect, and true confession to God. For glory to the merciful God who has exposed what sort of man you are, holding the position of Judas, who was numbered with the disciples but was set apart, not having the mind of Christ, but receiving from Satan the god-denying insolence against his master. For you confessed the Son of God with a bare word, not having him in your mind. And what need is there of superfluous speech to you, since you are altogether an alien to Christians, to prophets and apostles and evangelists, and to martyrs and all the saints, who are ready to convict you on the day of judgment, because they endured being tortured even to death, being scourged, being flayed, being cast to wild beasts and fire and the slaughter of the sword, so that they might not deny the Son of God, who exists and was truly begotten of him. For the Father is the begetter of the only-begotten alone and of no other after the one, and the pourer forth of the Holy Spirit and of no other spirit, but the creator and maker of the things that have come into being and are always coming into being through him. Therefore, since many sons are not being begotten, nor many spirits proceeding from him, the same divinity always remains and is glorified in the Trinity, and is never added to nor diminished nor ever supposed as not existing. Therefore also the dignity does not rest on a mere name for the offspring; otherwise he would have had many brothers like him after him, as in the saying 'I have begotten and exalted sons,' and in 'who has begotten the drops of dew?', and in 'from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,' and in 'is not one the Father of you all?', and in 'my servant Jacob,' and in 'my firstborn 3.373 Israel.' For all these, by a bare word through the elevation * from not being to being, having advanced, do not stand in the true name according to substance, but merely by word and by grace. Therefore, through the one who is named neither by grace nor by a mere name, but who exists according to truth, they were created, from the one through the one with the one who proceeds from him and receives from him. 26. ˉθ. If the offspring was in the unbegotten God seminally, after the birth, having received something from without, as one might say, it became mature. The Son, therefore, is perfect not from what he was begotten from, but from what he received. For things that take on congenitally, as if composed of those things, are by nature suited to accept the name 'perfect' in different ways. Refutation. If the begetter were not confessed to be incorporeal, let everything be dramatized by you. But by dramatizing you do not spit on another, but you muddy your own mind from the true confession. For being perfect God from himself, he begot a perfect Son, not another contrary to his nature. For he is not unseemly towards the begetter, nor in need of an addition from without. For there is nothing greater after the substance of God, such that it could impart addition for perfection to one in need. For He who is always incorporeal has truly begotten as perfect Him who is incorporeal and always with Him who is, generatively, being God who is spirit and having begotten the hypostatic Word who is spirit. For the whole thing would be foolish according to you, Aetius, who treads upon the things above and the things according to God

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καὶ γενέσεως κρείττων ἡ οὐσία τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ κατὰ τὸν υἱὸν ἕως ψιλῆς προσηγορίας ὁμολογηθήσεται. 3.372 Ἀνατροπή. Ἔδει μὲν οὖν οὐ μόνον σε, Ἀέτιε, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντα»αἱρετικὸν μετὰ μίαν νουθεσίαν παραιτεῖσθαι», ὡς ὁ ἅγιος καὶ σοφὸς κελεύει λόγος. «αὐτοκατάκριτος» γὰρ τυγχάνεις, ἑαυτῷ τὸν ὄλεθρον ἐπισπώμενος καὶ οὐχ ὑφ' ἑτέρου ἀναγκαζόμενος. τίς οὖν ἐλεήσει τὸν «ἑαυτῷ πονηρὸν καὶ οὐδενὶ ἀγαθὸν» τυγχάνοντα; ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ ἐφ' οἷς ἐβλάστησας τῷ κόσμῳ κακοῖς, ἐν σεαυτῷ * ἔχων ὑπολαμβάνοις ὡς περὶ μεγάλων καὶ ἀντιθέτων, ἐπιμενοῦμεν καὶ αὐτοὶ μετὰ μακροθυμίας «τῇ διστόμῳ μαχαίρᾳ, τοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγῳ» ἐκτέμνοντές σου τὰς ἀκανθώδεις ῥίζας ἐν τῇ ὑγιαινούσῃ πρὸς θεὸν τελείᾳ καὶ ἀληθινῇ ὁμολογίᾳ. δόξα γὰρ τῷ ἐλεήμονι θεῷ τῷ φωράσαντί σε ὁποῖος εἶ, τὴν τοῦ Ἰούδα ἐπέχων τάξιν, τοῦ σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς μὲν ἀριθμηθέντος, ἀφορισθέντος δέ, οὐ Χριστοῦ ἔχοντος τὸν νοῦν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ Σατανᾶ ὑποδεξαμένου τὴν πρὸς τὸν δεσπότην αὐτοῦ ἐπαρνησιθεΐαν. ψιλῇ γὰρ λέξει ὡμολόγησας τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔχειν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ. καὶ τίς ἐστι χρεία περιττῆς πρὸς σὲ λαλιᾶς, ὁπότε παντάπασιν ἀλλότριος Χριστιανῶν ὑπάρχεις, προφητῶν τε καὶ ἀποστόλων καὶ εὐαγγελιστῶν, μαρτύρων τε καὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, τῶν ἐλέγξαι σε εἰς ἡμέραν κρίσεως ἑτοίμως ἐχόντων, ὅτι ἄχρι θανάτου στρεβλούμενοι ὑπέμειναν, μαστιζόμενοι, ξεόμενοι, θηρσὶ καὶ πυρὶ παραβληθέντες καὶ φόνῳ μαχαίρας, ἵνα υἱὸν θεοῦ ὄντα καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀληθινῶς γεγεννημένον μὴ ἀρνήσωνται. γεννητικὸς γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ μόνου μονογενοῦς καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρου τινὸς ἔτι μετὰ τὸν ἕνα, καὶ ἀνομβρητικὸς πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρου πνεύματος, κτίστης δὲ καὶ ποιητὴς τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενομένων καὶ ἀεὶ γινομένων. διὸ οὐκέτι πολλῶν υἱῶν γεννωμένων, οὔτε πολλῶν πνευμάτων ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐκπορευομένων, τῆς αὐτῆς θεότητος ἀεὶ ἐν τῇ τριάδι μενούσης καὶ δοξαζομένης, καὶ μηδέποτε προστιθεμένης μήτε ληγούσης μήτε ὑποληφθείσης ποτὲ ὡς μὴ οὔσης. διὸ καὶ οὐχ ἕως ψιλῆς ὀνομασίας ἐπὶ τῷ γεννήματι ἵσταται τὸ ἀξίωμα· ἐπεὶ ἂν πολλοὺς ἀδελφοὺς μετ' αὐτὸν ἔσχεν ὁμοίους αὐτῷ, ὡς ἐπὶ τῷ εἰρημένῳ «υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα», καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ «ὁ τετοκὼς βώλους δρόσου», καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ «ἀφ' οὗ πᾶσα πατριὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ὀνομάζεται», καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ «οὐχ εἷς πατὴρ πάντων ὑμῶν;» καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ «παῖς μου Ἰακώβ», καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ «πρωτότοκός 3.373 μου Ἰσραήλ». οὗτοι γὰρ πάντες ψιλῇ λέξει τῷ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς * ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι εἰς τὸ εἶναι προκεκοφότες οὐ κατ' οὐσίαν τῇ ἀληθινῇ ἵστανται ὀνομασίᾳ, ἀλλὰ ψιλῶς λέξει καὶ κατὰ χάριν. διὸ διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς τοῦ οὔτε κατὰ χάριν οὔτε ψιλῇ ὀνομασίᾳ ὀνομαζομένου, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ὄντος ἐκτίσθησαν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑνὸς διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς σὺν τῷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐκπορευομένῳ καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λαμβάνοντι. 26. ˉθ. Εἰ σπερματικῶς ἦν ἐν τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ θεῷ τὸ γέννημα, μετὰ τὴν γέννησιν ἔξωθεν προσλαβὸν ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις ἠνδρώθη. τέλειος οὖν ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς οὐκ ἐξ ὧν ἐγεννήθη, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν προσέλαβε. τὰ γὰρ συγγενικῶς προσλαμβάνοντα, ὡς ἐξ ἐκείνων συνεστῶτα, τὸ τοῦ τελείου ὄνομα διαφόρως προσίεσθαι πέφυκεν. Ἀνατροπή. Εἰ μὴ ὡμολογεῖτο ἀσώματος ὢν ὁ γεννήτωρ, πάντα παρὰ σοὶ δραματουργείσθω. δραματουργήσας δὲ οὐκ ἄλλον τινὰ πτύρεις, σεαυτοῦ δὲ τὸν νοῦν θολοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ὁμολογίας. ἐξ αὐτοῦ γὰρ θεὸς τέλειος ὢν τέλειον υἱὸν ἐγέννησεν, οὐχ ἕτερον παρὰ τὴν φύσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἀπρεπής ἐστι πρὸς τὸν γεννήτορα, οὔτε ἔξωθεν ἐπιδεόμενος προσλήψεως. οὐ γάρ τί ἐστι μεῖζον μετὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ οὐσίαν, ὅπως τῷ ἐνδεομένῳ μεταδοῦναι τῆς προσλήψεως πρὸς τελειότητα δυνηθείη. ὁ γὰρ ὢν ἀεὶ ἀσώματος τὸν ὄντα ἀσώματον παρ' αὐτῷ τῷ ὄντι ἀεὶ γεννητικῶς, τέλειον ὁ τέλειος ἀεὶ ὄντως γεγέννηκε, πνεῦμα ὢν θεὸς καὶ πνεῦμα ὄντα τὸν ἐνυπόστατον Λόγον γεγεννηκώς. τὸ ὅλον γὰρ ἠλίθιον εἴη παρὰ σοὶ τῷ Ἀετίῳ, τῷ τὰ ἄνω ἐμβατεύοντι καὶ τὰς κατὰ θεὸν