527

by all means; for he wills those things which he also does, in proportion to his own dignity, with neither his will acting against his not being able, nor his ability being opposed to his will, * not because of not being able, but because of not willing. And in another way. After such impassibility existing in God, but in us and other creatures there being a passible nature, if one happens to think thus, again another passion must be confessed according to the truth; and after the second, it is possible to think of a third. By passion we beget and are begotten, with our nature and that of the others who are begotten and beget undergoing division and being subject to flux, and expansion and contraction, and bulk and diminution, and all the other things, which are held together by passion for such a reason. But in God, none of these things existed in his having begotten the Son. For if any one of such things existed in God according to their specious suspicion for the subversion of the generation, it must be said to them in opposition from the other side, according to us, that in us who by passion both beget and are begotten, there is a second passion in creating, and we suffer in both begetting and being begotten, but God, who is conceived by you as a creator and not a begetter, to whom you subversively apply passion on account of his begetting, in order that you might deny the Son's genuineness, but you consign to oblivion the passion involved in creating, which itself also is not a passion in God, God forbid *. For neither do we attribute passion to him, confessing him to be the creator of all things, 3.381 nor again do we conceive another passion concerning him, confessing that he has begotten the true Son truly, without beginning and without time. Wherefore we know his nature to be incomprehensible and not constrained by passion. For this reason we confess him to be both an impassible begetter and an impassible creator. For he begot the only-begotten without suffering, and sent forth from himself his holy spirit, without undergoing division, and created the things that have been created and are being created, not being constrained by evils nor by passion, and he does what he wills in a manner fitting to his divinity, not first deliberating, in order that he might learn by thinking whether what is being accomplished should come to be, nor willing to act and not being able to supply to his will what is perfected because of passion. For he has at once the willing, the doing, the having begotten the only-begotten, the creating of all things, the divine nature and dignity being above the syllogistic concept of Aetius and all of humanity, God being better than every conception, not yielding to passion, but being above all passions and all suspicion. 32. 15. If the offspring is unchangeable in nature on account of the one who begot, the unbegotten is an unchangeable substance, not on account of will, but on account of its dignity in substance. Refutation. How long will this man come to us saying the same thing and not going beyond the propositions? For all that he said from beginning to end were the same things about the same things and he narrated nothing else, not showing us mysteries, not teaching about God as he professes, not faith, through which the apostles, working, naming the firm confession of the truth, raised the dead and cleansed lepers, and did all the other things of the good harmony, from which the examples of the true energy appeared, but vain and boastful syllogisms not going beyond the utterance of tautology, but narrating those very same things and nothing else; wherefore we ask that none of those who read blame us, if we too should be brought against the same things, being compelled to speak against his tautology. For the offspring is unchangeable, as is fitting for divinity, and the begetter is unchangeable, as is fitting in proportion to his unchangeable nature. And the one who begot always remains, having the one begotten from himself, allowing no suspicion for those created by him to know a father without a son and at any time without a father

527

πάντως· ἐκεῖνα γὰρ βούλεται, ἃ καὶ πράττει, ἀναλόγως τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀξίας, οὔτε τοῦ βουλήματος ἀντιπράττοντος πρὸς τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι, οὔτε τοῦ δύνασθαι ἀντιθέτου ὄντος πρὸς τὸ βούλεσθαι, * οὐ διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ βούλεσθαι. Καὶ ἄλλως. Μετὰ τὴν τοιαύτην ἀπάθειαν ἐν θεῷ ὑπάρχουσαν, ἐν ἡμῖν δὲ καὶ ἄλλοις κτίσμασι παθητὴν φύσιν οὖσαν, ἐὰν συμβῇ οὕτως διανοεῖσθαι, πάλιν ἕτερον πάθος κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειάν ἐστιν ὁμολογητέον· μετὰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον ἔστι διανοηθῆναι. πάθει γεννῶμεν καὶ γεννώμεθα, τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων τῶν γεννωμένων καὶ γεννώντων τομὴν ὑποδεχομένης καὶ ῥύσιν ἐπεχούσης, πλατυσμόν τε καὶ συστολήν, ὄγκον τε καὶ μείωσιν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα, ὅσαπερ πάθει συνέχεται διὰ τὴν τοιαύτην αἰτίαν. ἐν θεῷ δὲ οὐδὲν τούτων ἐν τῷ τὸν υἱὸν γεγεννηκέναι ἐνυπῆρξεν. εἰ γὰρ ὑπῆρξεν ἕν τι τῶν τοιούτων ἐν θεῷ κατὰ τὴν προφασιστικὴν εἰς ἀνατροπὴν τοῦ γεννήματος αὐτῶν ὑπόνοιαν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου καθ' ἡμᾶς μέρους ἀντιθέτως πρὸς αὐτοὺς ῥητέον ὅτι ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐν πάθει γεννῶσί τε καὶ γεννωμένοις πάθος ἐστὶ δεύτερον ἐν τῷ κτίζειν καὶ πάσχομεν ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν τε καὶ γεννᾶσθαι, θεὸς δὲ ὁ παρ' ὑμῖν κτίστης καὶ οὐ γεννήτωρ ἐπινοούμενος, ᾧ διὰ μὲν τὸ γεννᾶν ἀνατρεπτικῶς τὸ πάθος παραφέρετε, ἵνα τὴν υἱοῦ γνησιότητα ἀρνήσησθε, λήθῃ δὲ παραδιδόατε τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ κτίζειν πάθος, ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸ ἐν θεῷ οὐ πάθος ὑπάρχει μὴ γένοιτο *. οὔτε γὰρ ἡμεῖς πάθος αὐτῷ προσάπτομεν, ὁμολογοῦντες αὐτὸν κτίστην ὄντα τῶν ἁπάντων, 3.381 οὔτε πάλιν πάθος ἕτερον περὶ αὐτὸν διανοούμεθα, γεγεννηκότα τὸν ἀληθινὸν υἱὸν ἀληθινῶς ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀχρόνως ὁμολογοῦντες. διὸ τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ γινώσκομεν ἀκατάληπτον οὖσαν καὶ πάθει μὴ συνεχομένην. διὰ τοῦτο ὁμολογοῦμεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπαθῆ γεννήτορα καὶ κτίστην ἀπαθῆ. ἐγέννησε γὰρ τὸν μονογενῆ μὴ πάσχων, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα, τομὴν μὴ ὑποστάς, καὶ ἔκτισε τὰ κτισθέντα καὶ κτιζόμενα, μὴ κακῶν μηδὲ πάθει συσχεθείς, καὶ ποιεῖ ὃ βούλεται συμπρεπόντως τῇ αὐτοῦ θεότητι, οὐ πρῶτον βουλευόμενος, ἵνα μάθῃ διανοούμενος εἰ χρὴ γενέσθαι τὸ ἐπιτελούμενον, οὐδὲ βουλόμενος πράττειν καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος ἐπιχορηγεῖν τῷ βουλήματι διὰ πάθος τὸ τελειούμενον. ἅμα γὰρ ἔχει τὸ θέλειν, τὸ πράττειν, τὸ γεγεννηκέναι τὸν μονογενῆ, τὸ κτίσαι τὰ πάντα, τῆς θεϊκῆς φύσεως καὶ ἀξιώματος ἀνωτάτου ὄντος τῆς Ἀετίου συλλογιστικῆς ἐννοίας καὶ πάσης ἀνθρωπότητος, ἀμείνονος ὄντος τοῦ θεοῦ πάσης ἐπινοίας, οὐ πάθει εἴκοντος, ἀλλ' ἀνωτάτου ὄντος πάντων τῶν παθῶν καὶ πάσης ὑπονοίας. 32. ˉιˉε. Εἰ τὸ γέννημα ἄτρεπτον τὴν φύσιν ἐστὶ διὰ τὸν γεννήσαντα, τὸ ἀγέννητον οὐσία ἐστὶν ἄτρεπτος, οὐ διὰ γνώμην, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἐν οὐσίᾳ ἀξίωμα. Ἀνατροπή. Ἕως πότε ἥκει φέρων ἡμῖν οὗτος τὸ αὐτὸ λέγειν καὶ μηδὲν ὑπερβαίνειν τῶν ἐγκειμένων; ὅσα γὰρ ἔφη ἀπ' ἀρχῆς καὶ ἄχρι τέλους τὰ αὐτὰ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ οὐθὲν ἕτερον διηγήσατο, οὐ μυστήρια ἡμῖν ὑποδείξας, οὐ θεὸν ὡς ἐπαγγέλλεται διδάξας, οὐ πίστιν, δι' ἧς ἐνεργοῦντες ἀπόστολοι τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ὀνομάζοντες στερεὰν ὁμολογίαν νεκροὺς ἤγειραν καὶ λεπροὺς ἐκαθάρισαν, καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ἐποίουν τῆς ἀγαθῆς συμφωνίας, ἐξ ὧν τὰ ὑποδείγματα ὑπέφαινον τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἐνεργείας, ἀλλὰ ματαίους καὶ κομπώδεις συλλογισμοὺς μὴ ὑπερβαίνοντας τὴν τῆς ταυτολογίας προφοράν, ἀλλ' αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνα καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον διηγούμενος· διὸ παρακαλοῦμεν ὅπως μηδεὶς ἡμᾶς ἐπιμέμψηται τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων, εἴπερ καὶ αὐτοὶ κατὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐνεχθῶμεν, ἀναγκαζόμενοι λέγειν πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ ταυτολογίαν. τὸ γέννημα γὰρ ἄτρεπτόν ἐστιν, ὡς πρέπει θεότητι, καὶ ὁ γεννήτωρ ἄτρεπτός ἐστιν, ὡς πρέπει ἀναλόγως τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀτρέπτῳ φύσει. μένει δὲ ὁ γεννήσας ἀεὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔχων γεγεννημένον, μηδεμίαν ὑπόνοιαν συγχωρῶν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κεκτισμένοις ἄνευ υἱοῦ εἰδέναι πατέρα καὶ ἄνευ πατρός ποτε