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the Father to utter a voice from above impassibly for the hearing of men, just as the created angels and heavens and the earth and all things did not bring about change and passion for the one who made them, but the whole is an astonishing mystery according to what was said, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God." 40. 23. If the unbegotten nature is the cause of that which has come into being, but the unbegotten were nothing, how could nothing be the cause of that which has come into being? Refutation. Therefore, the unbegotten nature is a cause according to another sense, but not in the same way towards all things, towards the only-begotten offspring and towards the Holy Spirit from it, but it is not a cause as that which exists is towards that which does not exist. For the one who was begotten is not from non-existing things, nor is the one who begot non-existent, nor the Holy Spirit from him, but the one who is is the cause of the other things. Therefore the Holy Trinity always co-exists with its own glory, its dignity always existing analogously to each name. For through it and not outside of it the things that have come to be, which were not, have come to be. Therefore not even the Father by himself is the cause of the things that have come to be, but the Father and Son and Holy Spirit made all things. But if the Son were alien, having come into being from a cause as one who was not, he would have come forth with all things and he himself would have become equal to them, and God would be the cause no longer of one brought forth generatively, but creatively, and it would no longer be possible for the one to be called offspring, and the others creations, but either all things with him would be called offspring, or he with all things would likewise be called a creation; and there was nothing special, the one being made equal to the all in the aspect of being from non-existing things; I would not only say angels are equal to their own maker and creator, 3.395 the only-begotten, but also men and beasts and all things that are infinitely lacking his nature and dignity. But the one who is is always with the one who is from him, who has been truly begotten timelessly, not from non-existing things, but from him. And there is his Holy Spirit, which is not alien to his substance, nor provided to God for the purpose of help according to the argument of Aetius. 41. 24. If the unbegotten is a privation, and privation is the loss of a state, and the loss either perishes completely or is transferred to another, how is it possible for the substance of God to be named by the appellation of unbegotten, by a state that is being transferred or perishing? Refutation. If from you until now, Aetius, the doctrine concerning God has been provided for God's glory from your syllogisms according to the arguments spoken by you above, I myself, addressing you, with God permitting, will also say the same things to you, that since none of the ancient holy apostles or prophets in both the Old Testament and in the New has thought this, you make yourself better and more secure than God himself. For from you until now the divine, according to your argument, has received into its faith this syllogistic artifice of yours, to speak of the unbegotten as privation and of the begotten, and of the complete loss of a state and of change, and concerning the naming of God in the appellation of the substance which is God. For neither because God is the creator of all things after his only-begotten and his Holy Spirit, was the privative of things not belonging to God discovered through the constitution of created things, nor has the affirmative of things belonging to him been received, so that what was created afterwards might offer what is better to God and the unadulterated might be conceived through the privative and unchangeable from that to these; but because it is always itself, being wholly glory and wholly incomprehensible by all things created by it, being glorified according to the measure of those extending themselves to doxology, by angels according to the tongue of angels, which is declared by the apostle to be superior to that of men, but by men according to the tongue of men, which is inferior 3.396 in measure, and * according to the power of those who are yet inferior; and not in every way because in each creature

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τὸν πατέρα φθογγὴν εἰς ἀκοὴν ἀνθρώπων ἀπορρῆξαι ἄνωθεν ἀπαθῶς, ὥσπερ οὐ μεταβολὴν καὶ πάθος περιεποιήσαντο οἱ κτισθέντες ἄγγελοι καὶ οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ τὰ πάντα τῷ αὐτὰ πεποιηκότι, ἀλλὰ τὸ πᾶν ἐστιν ἔκπληκτον μυστήριον κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον «ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ». 40. ˉκˉγ. Εἰ τῆς γενομένης ἡ ἀγέννητος φύσις ἐστὶν αἰτία, τὸ δὲ ἀγέννητον μηδὲν εἴη, πῶς ἂν εἴη αἴτιον τὸ μηδὲν τοῦ γεγονότος; Ἀνατροπή. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν καθ' ἑτέραν διάνοιαν ἀλλ' οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἴσην πρὸς πάντα αἴτιον ἡ ἀγέννητος φύσις πρὸς τὸ μονογενὲς γέννημα καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἅγιον πνεῦμα, οὐκ αἴτιον δέ, ὡς τὸ ὑπάρχον πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὄν. ἔστι γὰρ οὐκ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ὁ γεννηθεὶς οὐδὲ μὴ ὢν ἐστὶν ὁ γεννήσας οὐδὲ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἐστὶν αἴτιον τὸ ὄν. διὸ σύνεστι τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἀεὶ δόξῃ ἡ ἁγία τριάς, ἀεὶ ὄντος ἀναλόγως ἑκάστῳ ὀνόματι τοῦ αὐτῆς ἀξιώματος. δι' αὐτῆς γὰρ καὶ οὐκ ἐκτὸς τὰ γεγονότα γεγόνασιν οὐκ ὄντα. διόπερ οὐδὲ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὁ πατὴρ αἴτιος τῶν γεγονότων ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ πατὴρ καὶ υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐποίησε τὰ πάντα. εἰ δὲ ἦν ἀλλότριος ὁ υἱός, ὡς ἀπὸ αἰτίου γεγονὼς οὐκ ὤν, προελθὼν ἂν μετὰ πάντων καὶ αὐτὸς ἴσος αὐτοῖς ἐγένετο, καὶ αἴτιος ἦν ὁ θεὸς οὐκέτι γεννητικῶς προαχθέντος, ἀλλὰ κτιστικῶς, καὶ οὐκέτι ἐνεδέχετο τὸν ἕνα λέγεσθαι γέννημα, τὰ δ' ἄλλα κτίσματα, ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ πάντα σὺν αὐτῷ γεννήματα λέγεσθαι ἢ αὐτὸν σὺν πᾶσι κτίσμα ὁμοίως καλεῖσθαι· καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν ἐξαίρετον, ἐξισουμένου τοῦ ἑνὸς τοῖς πᾶσι κατὰ τὸ μέρος τὸ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων· οὐ μόνον εἴποιμι ἀγγέλους ἴσους τῷ αὐτῶν δὲ ποιητῇ καὶ κτίστῃ 3.395 μονογενεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ κτήνη καὶ ὅσα ἀπειρομεγέθως ἀποδέει τῆς ἐκείνου φύσεως καὶ ἀξιώματος. ἔστιν δὲ ὁ ὢν ἀεὶ σὺν τῷ ὄντι ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀχρόνως ὄντως γεγεννημέῳ, οὐκ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἔστι τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα, τὸ οὐκ ἀλλότριον τῆς αὐτοῦ οὐσίας, οὐδὲ ὡς ἐπὶ βοηθείᾳ κατὰ τὸν Ἀετίου λόγον θεῷ προσπεπορισμένον. 41. ˉκˉδ. Εἰ τὸ ἀγέννητον στέρησις, ἡ δὲ στέρησις ἕξεως ἀποβολή ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ ἀποβολὴ παντελῶς ἀπόλλυται ἢ μεθίσταται ἐφ' ἕτερον, πῶς οἷόν τε ἕξει μεθισταμένῃ ἢ ἀπολλυμένῃ κατονομάζεσθαι τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου προσηγορίᾳ; Ἀνατροπή. Εἰ ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ δεῦρο, Ἀέτιε, ἡ περὶ θεοῦ δόξα ἀπὸ τῶν σῶν συλλογισμῶν εἰς δόξαν θεῷ πεπόρισται κατὰ τοὺς ἀνωτάτω ὑπὸ σοῦ λεχθέντας λόγους, καὶ αὐτὸς πρὸς σὲ ἀποτεινόμενος, συγχωροῦντος τοῦ θεοῦ, τὰ ἴσα σοι καὶ αὐτὸς προσφθέγξομαι, ὅτι μηδενὸς τῶν παλαιῶν ἔν τε τῇ παλαιᾷ διαθήκῃ καὶ ἐν τῇ καινῇ ἁγίων ἀποστόλων ἢ προφητῶν τοῦτο πεφρονηκότος, ἀμείνονα σεαυτὸν καθιστᾷς καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἀσφαλῆ. ἀπὸ γὰρ σοῦ καὶ δεῦρο προσέλαβε τὸ θεῖον, ὡς κατὰ τὸν σὸν λόγον, εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ πίστιν τὴν συλλογιστικὴν ταύτην σου τὴν τεχνολογίαν, τὸ περὶ ἀγεννήτου λέγειν στερήσεως καὶ τοῦ γεννητοῦ, καὶ παντελῶς ἀποβολῆς ἕξεως καὶ μεταβολῆς, καὶ περὶ θεοῦ κατονομασίας ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὸν θεὸν οὐσίας προσηγορίᾳ. οὔτε γὰρ διὰ τὸ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι πάντων κτίστην τῶν μετὰ τὸν μονογενῆ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα διὰ τῆς τῶν κεκτισμένων συστάσεως τὸ στερητικὸν ἐφευρέθη τῶν οὐ προσόντων θεῷ ἢ τὸ ὁμολογητικὸν τῶν ὄντων αὐτῷ προσείληπται, ἵνα τὸ μετέπειτα κτισθὲν τὸ ἄμεινον θεῷ προσφέρῃ καὶ τὸ ἀκραιφνὲς διὰ τοῦ ἀπ' ἐκείνου πρὸς ταῦτα στερητικοῦ τε καὶ ἀμεταβλήτου ἐπινοοῖτο· ἀλλ' ὅτι ἔστιν ἀεὶ αὐτό, ὂν ὅλον δόξα καὶ ὅλον ἀπερίληπτον ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κεκτισμένων, κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῶν πρὸς τὴν δοξολογίαν ἐπεκτεινομένων δοξολογούμενον, παρ' ἀγγέλοις μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἀγγέλων γλῶσσαν, τὴν παρὰ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ προκριτέαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καταγγελλομένην, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων γλῶσσαν τὴν ὑποβεβηκυῖαν 3.396 τῷ μέτρῳ καὶ * κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἔτι ὑποβεβηκότων δύναμιν· καὶ οὐ πάντως ὅτι ἐν ἑκάστῳ κτίσματι