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asking for and obtaining knowledge of the true faith, so that they may not try to exceed their own measure, but may learn 3.403 to keep quiet from a blinded mind and not to be clever through a kindled tongue and foolish reasonings, but rather to be disciplined through the wise saying of the holy and divine scripture which says "not to think more highly of oneself than one ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment." 49. ˉλˉβ. If God abides in an unbegotten nature, let the knowledge of himself in generation and unbegottenness be taken away. But if it is conceded that he extends his own substance in the unbegotten and the begotten, he is ignorant of his own substance, being led about by generation and unbegottenness. But if the begotten has also partaken of the participation of the unbegotten, but abides unendingly in a begotten nature, he knows himself in the nature in which he continues, being ignorant, clearly, of the unbegotten participation; for it is not possible for him to have knowledge about himself of both unbegotten and begotten substance. But if the begotten is contemptible because of its fitness for change, the dignity of nature is an unchangeable substance, the unbegotten substance being acknowledged to be superior to every cause. Refutation. God undoubtedly abides in an unbegotten nature, who created and fashioned all things out of nothing, the Father who begot from himself a Son consubstantial with himself and co-fitting his own eternity, and the Holy Spirit who proceeded from him, existing fittingly with his consubstantiality; and neither because the Trinity created existing things out of non-existing things, both visible and invisible, is the eternity of the one who is, which corresponds to the dignity of God, destroyed by the recent name of the created things. But the substance from above which transcends is removed from created things, not being consubstantial with them, but having called them from non-existence into existence. Therefore the begotten Son is not from non-existing things, but from the one who is, and is fittingly regarded together with him, with the substance neither being extended nor contracted, but the Father, being spirit, truly begot the Son, a spirit, and brought forth from himself the Holy Spirit, and he is not ignorant of himself nor does he know his own substance as being contracted or expanded or undergoing division; for it is most irrational for God to know all these things about himself, just as it is to be ignorant of 3.404 the divine itself * which is the Holy Spirit *. And neither does the unbegotten not share the consubstantiality with the begotten, nor does the begotten not comprehend the eternity in the Father. For the Father knows the Son and the Son knows the Father, the uncreated Trinity always remaining without end and the only-begotten existing without end, having been begotten from the one who always is, truly existing and in his own perfect nature. Therefore he knows himself and is not ignorant, neither the Son of the Father's unbegotten substance, nor the unbegotten of the Son's substance from himself, since the trustworthy only-begotten God the Word said "no one knows the Father except the Son, and [no one knows] the Son except the Father." Therefore, let this assertive command of that worthy Aetius be taken away, which said: "for it is not possible for him to have knowledge about himself of both unbegotten and begotten substance." For the Only-begotten anticipated and set aside this judicial pronouncement of his, by saying that he himself knows the Father and no one else, including at the same time the real existence of his Holy Spirit, as he also says in another place, "the Spirit of the Father will teach you." And if the Spirit is of the Father, he too is not ignorant of the Father. And in saying "no one knows the Father except the Son," * in order to signify that himself and the Father and the Holy Spirit transcend all others who have not existed eternally, but have come into being. But if he anticipated by saying that he always knows the Father, in vain does Aetius, with empty words, creep in among us, being clearly manifest to all that he reasons as a man, being judged carnal and existing as a natural man through him who knows himself and the Father and his Holy Spirit. God, therefore, is removed from every cause, not only the Father, but also

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αἰτούμενοι τῆς ἀληθινῆς πίστεως τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ πορισάμενοι, ἵνα μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν πειρῶνται τὸ ἴδιον μέτρον, ἀλλὰ μάθωσιν 3.403 ἡσυχάζειν ἀπὸ τετυφλωμένης ἐννοίας καὶ μὴ σοφίζεσθαι διὰ ἀναπτομένης γλώσσης καὶ λογισμῶν ἀσυνέτων, σωφρονίζεσθαι δὲ μᾶλλον διὰ τοῦ συνετοῦ ῥητοῦ τῆς ἁγίας καὶ θείας γραφῆς τῆς λεγούσης «μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρ' ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν, ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν». 49. ˉλˉβ. Εἰ διαμένει ἐν φύσει ἀγεννήτῳ ὁ θεός, τὸ ἐν γενέσει καὶ ἀγεννησίᾳ ἑαυτὸν εἰδέναι ἀφῃρήσθω. συγχωρουμένου δὲ ἐν ἀγεννήτῳ καὶ γεννητῷ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ οὐσίαν παρατείνειν, αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ ἀγνοεῖ τὴν οὐσίαν, περιαγόμενος ὑπὸ γενέσεως καὶ ἀγεννησίας. εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸ γεννητὸν μετείληφε μετουσίας ἀγεννήτου, ἐν δὲ γεννητοῦ φύσει ἀτελευτήτως διαμένει, ἐν ᾗ μὲν διατελεῖ φύσει γινώσκει ἑαυτόν, ἀγνοῶν δηλονότι τὴν ἀγέννητον μετουσίαν· οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε αὐτὸν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἀγεννήτου οὐσίας γνῶσιν ἔχειν καὶ γεννητῆς. εἰ δὲ εὐκαταφρόνητόν ἐστι τὸ γεννητὸν διὰ μεταβολῆς ἐπιτηδειότητα, ἀξίωμα φύσεώς ἐστιν οὐσία ἀμετάβλητος, τῆς ἀγεννήτου οὐσίας πάσης αἰτίας κρείττονος ὡμολογημένης. Ἀνατροπή. Ἐν ἀγεννήτῳ φύσει διαμένει ἀναμφιβόλως ὁ θεός, ὁ τὰ πάντα κτίσας ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων καὶ δημιουργήσας, ὁ πατὴρ ὁ γεννήσας ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ὁμοούσιον ἑαυτῷ υἱὸν καὶ συμπρέποντα τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀϊδιότητι, καὶ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐξελθόν, πρεπόντως ὑπάρχον τῇ αὐτοῦ ὁμοουσιότητι· καὶ οὔτε ἐπειδήπερ ἡ τριὰς ἔκτισεν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τὰ ὄντα, ὁρατά τε καὶ ἀόρατα, παρὰ τοῦτο ἀναιρεῖται τὸ ἀναλογοῦν τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀξιώματι διὰ τοῦ προσφάτου τῶν κτισμάτων ὀνόματος, ἡ τοῦ ὄντος ἀϊδιότης. ἀφαιρεῖται δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν κεκτισμένων ἡ ἄνωθεν ὑπερβαίνουσα οὐσία, οὐκ οὖσα τούτοις ὁμοούσιος, ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων δὲ καλέσασα εἰς τὸ εἶναι. διὸ ὁ γεγεννημένος υἱὸς οὐκ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων, ἀλλὰ ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος, συμπρεπόντως ἅμα θεωρεῖται, οὔτε παρατεινομένης τῆς οὐσίας οὔτε συστελλομένης, ἀλλὰ πνεῦμα ὢν ὁ πατὴρ πνεῦμα ἀληθινῶς τὸν υἱὸν ἐγέννησεν, καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ἐξήνεγκε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἀγνοεῖ οὔτε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ οὐσίαν συστελλομένην ἢ πλατυνομένην οἶδεν ἢ τομὴν ὑφισταμένην· ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα περὶ ἑαυτοῦ θεὸν εἰδέναι ἀλογώτατον, ὥσπερ καὶ ἀγνοεῖν 3.404 αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον * ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα *. καὶ οὔτε ὁ ἀγέννητος οὐ συμμετέχει τῷ γεννήματι τὸ ὁμοούσιον οὔτε ὁ γεννητὸς οὐ συμπεριέχει τῷ πατρὶ τὸ ἀΐδιον. οἶδε γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ὁ υἱὸς οἶδε τὸν πατέρα, ἀτελευτήτως ἀεὶ τῆς τριάδος ἀκτίστου μενούσης καὶ ἀτελευτήτως ὑπάρχοντος τοῦ μονογενοῦς, γεγεννημένου ἐκ τοῦ ἀεὶ ὄντος, ὄντως ὄντος καὶ ἐν ἰδίᾳ τελείᾳ φύσει. διὸ γινώσκει ἑαυτὸν καὶ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ οὔτε ὁ υἱὸς τὴν ἀγέννητον πατρὸς οὐσίαν οὔτε ὁ ἀγέννητος τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ οὐσίαν, ἀξιοπίστου ὄντος τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ λόγου φήσαντος «οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ». ∆ιὸ ἀφῃρήσθω τὸ τούτου τοῦ γεννάδα Ἀετίου ἀποφαντικὸν κέλευσμα τὸ φῆσαν· «οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε αὐτὸν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἀγεννήτου οὐσίας γνῶσιν ἔχειν καὶ γεννητῆς». προὔλαβε γὰρ ὁ μονογενὴς παραγράψαι τὴν δικαστικὴν αὐτοῦ ταύτην φωνήν, φήσας ἑαυτὸν εἰδέναι τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον οὐδένα, συμπεριλαβὼν ἅμα καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου τὸ ἐνύπαρκτον, ὡς καὶ ἐν ἄλλῳ φάσκει ὅτι «τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ πατρὸς διδάξει ὑμᾶς». εἰ δὲ τοῦ πατρός ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα, οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸν πατέρα. ἐν δὲ τῷ εἰρηκέναι «οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός», * ἵνα ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ὑπερβεβηκὸς σημάνῃ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν μὴ ἀϊδίως ὑπαρξάντων, γενομένων δέ. εἰ δὲ προὔλαβεν φάσκων ἀεὶ εἰδέναι τὸν πατέρα, μάτην ἡμῖν Ἀέτιος κενολεκτῶν ὑπεισδύνει, σαφῶς πᾶσιν ὢν δῆλος ὅτι ὡς ἄνθρωπος λογίζεται, σαρκικὸς ἀνακρινόμενος καὶ ψυχικὸς ὑπάρχων διὰ τοῦ ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα γινώσκοντος καὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα. ἐξῄρηται οὖν πάσης αἰτίας ὁ θεός, οὐ μόνον πατήρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ