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the substance of the Godhead consists. For neither will the utterance of men or others boast as if it were bestowing glory on a deficient God or beautifying God the almighty, God who is to be worshipped, God the overseer and creator and its own maker. For neither does it consider itself most glorious; and the adorner of its own 3.398 maker, since it would then consider itself worthy of worship, and not be worshipping the one who is worshipped. And your argument, Aetius, raises a case against all reason in vain. 44. 27. If to every begotten thing a cause is allotted, but the unbegotten nature is uncaused, 'unbegotten' does not declare a cause, but signifies a hypostasis. Overthrow. And to every begotten thing a cause is allotted, and we do not confess this as having learned it from you. For the faith of the truth foresees this and confesses it beforehand and teaches that God is the one uncaused by any cause and unmixed and not subject to any equality. For this reason we ourselves also do not worship anything that is inferior to the substance of God himself, because it is fitting to give worship only to him who is not subject, to the unbegotten Father and to the Son from him and to the Holy Spirit from him and through the only-begotten, since there is nothing in the Trinity that is created and falls under a cause. For there is nothing in the Trinity from non-beings, as are the other things that have fallen under a cause and have been allotted a cause. Therefore, being uncaused by such a cause, the Trinity has unerringly taught that it alone is to be worshipped, since it alone is uncaused. But all things have come under a cause; for some are things that have come into being and have been created, but the Father is uncreated, having a Son begotten from him, but not created, and a Holy Spirit proceeding from him, and not fashioned. And since these things are so, neither the worshipped Son nor the Holy Spirit has been allotted the passion of a cause, even though he has the Father as his begetter, nor could the rest of creation be a cause of allotment without passion, having been created by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; but clearly the only-begotten would be a cause of allotment without passion, and his Holy Spirit, just as the Father, because the Son is an offspring and not a creature, and the Son will not be allotted a cause of passion from being begotten, nor the Spirit, since he proceeds from the Father. For neither the Father, since he begot and brought forth from himself, and created all other things after the Son and the Spirit, is found falling under a passion of cause, although all other things are constrained by passion in creating or begetting. Therefore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are uncaused; but the Trinity is the cause of all things, creating together and fashioning together, knowing nothing in itself to be created or fashioned. 45. 28. If everything that has come into being has come into being by another, but the unbegotten hypostasis has come into being neither by itself nor by another, it is necessary that 'unbegotten' declares substance. 3.399 Overthrow. And this again Aetius comes bringing to us, as if explaining something new and recent, so that he may appear to be an inventor of dialectical syllogism, superfluously declaring not only this very thing, which is neither doubted nor contrary to the truth * that which is always in him * and exists as confessed in the Catholic Church. "For if everything that has come into being comes into being by another, but the unbegotten hypostasis has come into being neither by itself nor by another, it is even a necessity that 'unbegotten' declares substance." And what is more necessary than this? For what is always rejected by them, both the Anomoeans and the Arians, the name of substance, Aetius has contrarily accepted, clearly being compelled by the truth to confess. Since, therefore, unbegottenness is substance, and from it and not from non-beings she immaculately and impassibly begot the only-begotten, timelessly and without beginning, and from it brought forth the Holy Spirit and not from non-beings, clearly in the holy catholic church the Trinity is orthodoxly proclaimed homoousios, with none of the created things being able to be called by this name, because by nature there is nothing similar to the

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θεότητος οὐσία συνίσταται. οὔτε γὰρ καυχήσεται ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἢ ἄλλων προφορὰ ὡς θεῷ ἐνδεεῖ δόξαν περιποιουμένη ἢ καλλωπίζουσα θεὸν παντοκράτορα, θεὸν προσκυνητόν, θεὸν ἐπιστάτην καὶ κτίστην καὶ δημιουργὸν ἴδιον. οὔτε γὰρ ἑαυτὴν ὑπερένδοξον· ἡγεῖται καὶ κοσμήτριαν τοῦ ἰδίου 3.398 αὐτῆς δημιουργοῦ, ἐπεὶ ἂν ἑαυτὴν προσκυνητὴν ἡγήσαιτο, οὐ μὴν προσκυνοῦσα τὸν προσκυνούμενον. καὶ μάτην κατὰ πάντων λόγον κινεῖ ὁ σὸς λόγος, Ἀέτιε. 44. ˉκˉζ. Εἰ παντὶ γεννητῷ αἰτία συγκεκλήρωται, ἀναίτιος δὲ ἡ ἀγέννητος φύσις, οὐκ αἰτίαν δηλοῖ τὸ ἀγέννητον, ἀλλ' ὑπόστασιν σημαίνει. Ἀνατροπή. Καὶ παντὶ γεννητῷ αἰτία συγκεκλήρωται, καὶ οὐχ ὁμολογοῦμεν τοῦτο, ὡς ἀπὸ σοῦ μεμαθηκότες. προορᾷ γὰρ ἡ πίστις τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦτο καὶ προομολογεῖ καὶ διδάσκει, ὅτι θεός ἐστιν ὁ ἀναίτιος πάσης αἰτίας καὶ ἀμιγὴς καὶ ἀνυπεύθυνος πάσης ἰσότητος. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐ προσκυνοῦμεν πᾶν τὸ ὑποβεβηκὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐσίαν, διὰ τὸ μόνῳ πρέπειν τῷ ἀνυπευθύνῳ τὸ σέβας νέμειν, πατρὶ τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ καὶ υἱῷ τῷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι τῷ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς, ἐπειδὴ οὐδὲν ἐν τῇ τριάδι κτιστὸν καὶ ὑπὸ αἰτίαν ἐμπῖπτόν ἐστιν. οὐ γὰρ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τί ἐστιν ἐν τῇ τριάδι, ὡς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ ὑπὸ αἰτίαν πεπτωκότα καὶ αἰτίαν κεκληρωμένα. διὸ ἀναιτία οὖσα τῆς τοιαύτης αἰτίας ἡ τριὰς μόνην ἑαυτὴν ἀπλανῶς ἐδίδαξε προσκυνεῖσθαι, ἐπειδὴ μόνη αὕτη ἀναίτιός ἐστι. τὰ δὲ πάντα ὑπὸ αἰτίαν περιπέπτωκε· τὰ μὲν γάρ ἐστι γεγονότα καὶ κεκτισμένα, πατὴρ δὲ ἄκτιστος, υἱὸν ἔχων ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένον, ἀλλ' οὐ κτιστὸν, καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐκπορευόμενον, καὶ οὐ δεδημιουργημένον. τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων οὔτε πάθος κεκλήρωται αἰτίου ὁ προσκυνούμενος υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, κἂν πατέρα ἔχοι τὸν γεννήτορα, οὔτε τὰ λοιπὰ κτίσματα ἄνευ πάθους εἴη κληρώσεως αἰτία, ἀπὸ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος κεκτισμένα· σαφῶς δὲ ἄνευ πάθους εἴη ὁ μονογενὴς κληρώσεως αἰτία, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα, ὡς καὶ ὁ πατήρ, ὅτι υἱός ἐστι γέννημα καὶ οὐ κτίσμα, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ γεγεννῆσθαι αἰτίαν πάθους κληρωθήσεται ὁ υἱός, οὐδὲ τὸ πνεῦμα, ἐπειδὴ ἐκ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται. οὔτε γὰρ ὁ πατήρ, ἐπειδὴ ἐγέννησε καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ἐξήγαγε, τὰ δ' ἄλλα πάντα μετὰ υἱὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἔκτισεν, ὑπὸ πάθος αἰτίας ἐμπίπτων εὑρίσκεται, καίτοι γε τῶν ἄλλων πάντων ἐν τῷ κτίζειν ἢ γεννᾶν πάθει συνεχομένων. ἀναίτιος γοῦν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα· αἰτία δέ ἐστιν ἡ τριὰς τῶν ἁπάντων, συγκτίζουσα καὶ συνδημιουργοῦσα, μηδὲν ἐν αὐτῇ κτιστὸν ἢ δεδημιουργημένον γινώσκουσα. 45. ˉκˉη. Εἰ πᾶν τὸ γεγονὸς ὑφ' ἑτέρου γέγονεν, ἡ δὲ ἀγέννητος ὑπόστασις οὔτε ὑφ' ἑαυτῆς οὔτε ὑφ' ἑτέρας γέγονεν, ἀνάγκη οὐσίαν δηλοῦν τὸ ἀγέννητον. 3.399 Ἀνατροπή. Καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν Ἀέτιος ἥκει φέρων ἡμῖν, ὡς καινόν τι καὶ πρόσφατον ὑφηγούμενος, ἵνα φανῇ διαλεκτικῆς ἐφευρετὴς εἶναι συλλογιστίας, ἐκ περισσοῦ οὐ μόνον αὐτὸ τοῦτο δηλῶν, ὅπερ οὐδὲ ἀμφιβάλλεται οὔτε κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας * τὸ ἀεὶ ἐν αὐτῷ * ἔν τε τῇ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ὁμολογούμενον ἐνυπάρχει. «εἰ πᾶν γὰρ τὸ γεγονὸς ὑφ' ἑτέρου γίνεται, ἡ δὲ ἀγέννητος ὑπόστασις οὔτε ὑφ' ἑαυτῆς οὔτε ὑφ' ἑτέρας γέγονεν, εἰ καὶ ἀνάγκη οὐσίαν δηλοῦν τὸ ἀγέννητον.» καὶ τί τούτου ἀναγκαιότερον; ὅπερ γὰρ ἀεὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς τοῖς τε Ἀνομοίοις καὶ Ἀρειανοῖς ἀποβάλλεται, τὸ τῆς οὐσίας ὄνομα, παλιμβόλως ἐξελάβετο Ἀέτιος, σαφῶς ἀναγκαζόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁμολογεῖν. οὐσίας τοίνυν οὔσης τῆς ἀγεννησίας, ἐξ αὐτῆς δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἀχράντως καὶ ἀπαθῶς γεννησάσης τὸν μονογενῆ, ἀχρόνως καὶ ἀνάρχως, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐξαγαγούσης τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ οὐκ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων, σαφῶς ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ὀρθοδόξως ὁμοούσιος ἡ τριὰς κηρύττεται, μηδενὸς τῶν κεκτισμένων δυναμένου τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ καλεῖσθαι, διὰ τὸ μηδὲ κατὰ φύσιν εἶναί τι ὅμοιον τῷ