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is glorified in proportion to his power, the doxology has subsided or has been changed; but it is in itself unchangeable, since all creation is deprived of extending to the infinite in doxology, with the highest essence always surpassing every mind, not through the things said by all is it possible for it † either turning or change or progress to acquire for itself. For the same divinity is better and incomparable and has been glorified. 42. ˉκˉε. If the unbegotten indicates a privation not belonging to God, how do we say that he is unbegotten, but not begotten? Refutation. He is indeed unbegotten, but it was said nowhere, not by any prophet, not by an apostle, not by an evangelist. For it was no wonder to say this about God. For it was present to pious reasoning from the law of nature itself. But you, Aetius, having innovated this for us to say, think you bring yourself forward as a marvel. But you have kneaded together and mixed, with the pious law of nature and with the ordinance of faith, which was graciously given by God for the addition of improvement, the idea of a begotten being equal in dignity to the unbegotten, so that the unlike one worshipped by you might be found equal to the one preached by you as unlike. If, then, you were to worship the Father by a bare name, you would have offered honor with irony. And if you were to worship the Son, acknowledging him as unlike the Father, you would have worked confusion in worship, honoring an unlike one perhaps as unlike. But if, through your preconception of unbelief, you refuse to worship the Son, you will be refuted by all, not acknowledging the one who is rightly worshipped by all and is equal. “For all the angels of God will worship him,” and Mary worshipped him when he was gloriously raised in the flesh, and all his disciples. For they know that he does not have the name of a created or made thing, but has been begotten of the Father, and they worship him who is from a being, and the Holy Spirit from him. For they know him to be alien in essence from things that have come into being. For 3.397 he is not made or created, but begotten of the Father. Wherefore, having toiled over everything and spent much time, Aetius, and having introduced strange arguments * you will worship him. “For we must all stand before his judgment seat,” and “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” who is not alien to God, but “to the glory of God the Father,” according to what is written and believed. 43. ˉκˉ. If ‘unbegotten’ is a bare name applied to God, and the bare utterance elevates the hypostasis of God above all begotten things, then is the utterance of men more honorable than the hypostasis of the Almighty, having adorned God the Almighty with an incomparable superiority? Refutation. Neither is ‘unbegotten’ a bare name applied to God nor does it have communion in essence with created things. Wherefore, neither are created things indicative of a bare name; and with another name being sought between unbegotten and created, which is Son, begotten and not created, to which should the distinction be assigned? And if we grant to created things that which they have in common, with neither of the said things being named by a bare name, just as in the case of the unbegotten and creating one and of created things that have come to be, as a bare naming is not admissible, so also in the case of the begotten and Son, a bare naming not being admissible, the thing being falsely accused in vain will declare the confusion being reasoned out by Aetius, because created things are not co-equalized with the name of Son, since created nature exists in truth and not by a bare name, inasmuch as the Son himself does not admit a bare naming concerning the Son. And since he is not non-existent, neither being spoken of by a bare name, the only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit are joined to the Father’s glory, and are not confused with the name of created things. For the divinity neither needs elevation as if it were not, nor is it in need of height, even if it is not exalted by some who are in ignorance, nor through the utterance of some is the

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ἀναλόγως τῇ αὐτοῦ δυνάμει δοξολογεῖται ὑποβέβηκεν ἡ δοξολογία ἢ μεταβέβληται· ἀλλ' ἔστι μὲν ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἀμετάβλητος, στερισκομένης πάσης κτίσεως πρὸς τὸ ἄπειρον ἐπεκτείνεσθαι ἐν δοξολογίᾳ, ὑπερβαινούσης ἀεὶ πάντα νοῦν τῆς ἀνωτάτω οὐσίας, οὐ διὰ τῶν λεγομένων ὑπὸ πάντων ἐξεῖναι αὐτῇ † ἢ τροπὴν ἢ μεταβολὴν ἢ προκοπὴν περιποιουμένης. ἡ γὰρ αὐτὴ θεότης ἀμείνων ἐστὶ καὶ ἀσύγκριτος καὶ δεδοξασμένη. 42. ˉκˉε. Εἰ τὸ ἀγέννητον δηλοῖ στέρησιν μὴ προσοῦσαν τῷ θεῷ, πῶς αὐτὸν ἀγέννητον εἶναι λέγομεν, γεννητὸν δὲ μὴ εἶναι; Ἀνατροπή. Ἀγέννητος ἔστι μὲν οὖν, ἐρρέθη δὲ οὐδαμοῦ, οὐκ ἀπό του προφήτου, οὐκ ἀπὸ ἀποστόλου, οὐκ ἀπὸ εὐαγγελιστοῦ. θαῦμα γὰρ οὐδὲν ἦν τοῦτο περὶ θεοῦ λέγειν. προσῆν γὰρ τῷ εὐσεβεῖ λογισμῷ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν νόμου. σὺ δέ, Ἀέτιε, τοῦτο ἡμῖν καινοτομήσας λέγειν ὡς θαῦμα προσεισφέρειν σεαυτὸν νομίζεις. συνέφυρας δὲ καὶ συνέμιξας τῷ εὐσεβεῖ τῆς φύσεως νόμῳ καὶ τῷ τῆς πίστεως θεσμῷ, τῷ ἐπὶ προσθήκῃ βελτιώσεως ἐκ θεοῦ κεχαρισμένῳ, τὸ τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ γεννητὸν ἐπινοῆσαι ἐξισούμενον τῷ ἀξιώματι, ἵνα ὁ παρὰ σοὶ προσκυνούμενος ἀνόμοιος ἴσος εὑρεθείη τῷ κατὰ σὲ ἀνομοίως κηρυττομένῳ. εἰ μὲν οὖν προσκυνήσειας τὸν πατέρα ψιλῇ ὀνομασίᾳ, εἰρωνείᾳ τὴν τιμὴν προσήνεγκας. καὶ εἰ τὸν υἱὸν προσκυνήσειας ἀνόμοιον πατρὶ ἐπιγινώσκων, σύγχυσιν εἰργάσω ἐν τῇ προσκυνήσει, ἀνόμοιον ἀνομοίου ἴσως τιμήσας. εἰ δὲ διὰ τὴν σοῦ πρόληψιν τῆς ἀπιστίας ἀρνήσῃ προσκυνεῖν υἱῷ, ἐλεγχθήσῃ ὑπὸ πάντων, οὐκ ἐπιγνοὺς τὸν ὀφειλομένως ὑπὸ πάντων προσκυνούμενον καὶ ἴσον. «προσκυνήσουσι γὰρ αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι θεοῦ», καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ Μαρία ἐνδόξως ἀναστάντι ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ πάντες οἱ αὐτοῦ μαθηταί. οὐ γὰρ ἔχειν γενητοῦ ὀνομασίαν οὐδὲ κτιστοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐκ πατρὸς γεγεννημένον ἴσασι καὶ προσκυνοῦσιν ὄντα ἐξ ὄντος καὶ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. οἴδασι γὰρ αὐτὸν ἀλλότριον τῇ οὐσίᾳ ἀπὸ τῶν γεγονότων. οὐ γάρ 3.397 ἐστι γενητὸς ἢ κτιστός, ἀλλὰ γεννητὸς ἐκ πατρός. διὸ περὶ πάντα καμὼν καὶ πολλοὺς χρόνους ἀναλώσας, Ἀέτιε, καὶ λόγους ξένους παρεισενέγκας * προσκυνήσεις αὐτῷ. «δεῖ γὰρ πάντας στῆναι ἐνώπιον τοῦ βήματος αὐτοῦ», καὶ «πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται ὅτι κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός», ὁ οὐκ ἀλλότριος θεοῦ ὤν, ἀλλὰ «εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πατρός», κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον καὶ πεπιστευμένον. 43. ˉκˉ. Εἰ ψιλὸν ὄνομά ἐστιν ἐπὶ θεοῦ τὸ ἀγέννητον, ἡ δὲ ψιλὴ προφορὰ τὴν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπαίρει κατὰ πάντων τῶν γεννητῶν, τιμιωτέρα ἄρα ἐστὶν ἡ ἀνθρώπων προφορὰ τῆς τοῦ παντοκράτορος ὑποστάσεως, ἀσυγκρίτῳ ὑπεροχῇ καλλωπίσασα θεὸν τὸν παντοκράτορα. Ἀνατροπή. Οὔτε ψιλὸν ὄνομα ἐπὶ θεοῦ ἐστι τὸ ἀγέννητον οὔτε τοῖς κτιστοῖς κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐπικοινωνοῦν. διὸ οὔτε τὰ κτίσματα ψιλῆς ὀνομασίας ἐστὶ σημαντικά· μέσον δὲ ἀγεννήτου καὶ κτιστοῦ ἄλλου ὀνόματος ἐπιζητουμένου, ὅπερ ἐστὶν υἱός, γεννητὸς καὶ οὐ κτιστός, τίνι ἂν τὸ ἐξαίρετον ἀποδοτέον; καὶ εἰ μὲν τοῖς κεκτισμένοις τὸ ἐπικοινωνοῦν δῶμεν, οὐδ' ὁποτέρου τῶν λεγομένων διὰ ψιλῆς ὀνομασίας ὀνομαζομένου, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου καὶ κτίζοντος καὶ κτιστῶν γεγονότων ὡς οὐ ψιλῆς ἐνδεχομένης ὀνομασίας, οὕτως ἐπὶ τοῦ γεννητοῦ καὶ υἱοῦ μὴ ψιλῆς ἐπιδεχομένης ὀνομασίας, τὸ μάτην συκοφαντούμενον σύγχυσιν δηλώσει παρὰ τῷ Ἀετίῳ συλλογιζομένην, διὰ τὸ μὴ συνεξισοῦσθαι τὰ κτιστὰ τῷ υἱοῦ ὀνόματι, τῆς κτιστῆς φύσεως ἐν ἀληθείᾳ οὔσης καὶ οὐ διὰ ψιλῆς ὀνομασίας, ἐπειδήπερ οὐ ψιλὴν ἐπιδέχεται καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς τὴν περὶ υἱοῦ ὀνομασίαν. οὐκ ὄντος δὲ ἀνυπάρκτου, οὔτε κατὰ ψιλὴν ὀνομασίαν λεγομένου τοῦ υἱοῦ μονογενοῦς καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς συνῆπται δόξῃ, καὶ οὐ συγκέχυται τῇ τῶν κτισμάτων ὀνομασίᾳ. οὔτε γὰρ ἐπάρσεως δεῖται ἡ θεότης ὡς μὴ οὖσα, οὔτε ὕψους ἐστὶν ἐνδεομένη, κἄν τε παρά τινων τῶν ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ ὄντων μὴ ὑψοῖτο, οὔτε διὰ τῆς τινων προφορᾶς ἡ