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De sancta trinitate

Dialogue of an Orthodox and an Anomoean Anomoean Since during the time of the persecution brought upon us by the chronites, some of the aforementioned, having appropriated, along with many other treatises, a little work diligently composed by us specifically about unbegotten God and begotten, and having corrupted it with insertions and deletions, published it, having changed the logical sequence, and after this it came to us, brought by one of our diligent followers; I was compelled, like a father, having cleansed it again, to send this composition to you, O all you pious athletes, both men and women, so that you may know that our little discourse was spoken according to the meaning of the scriptures, through which you will be able to silence with brief refutations every man who attempts to argue with you about begotten and unbegotten God, and above all the aforementioned chronites, having arranged question after question and solution after solution in the form of stichera, for the sake of the ease of comprehension and clarity of the arguments, beginning concerning unbegotten God and begotten. Orthodox. Do not boast of being persecuted, if indeed you were persecuted. For those who made his Father's house a house of trade were also driven out by the Son; if this is so, then being persecuted is not always praiseworthy. And whom do you call chronites? Those from the holy apostles until today who praise Father and Son and Holy Spirit of God, or those from you, appearing yesterday and today, who hold the heresy? m28.1176 But let us grant that some have at some time made insertions and deletions to the wickedness written by you. Now what do you say? Or what greater blasphemy do you seek, saying the Son is unlike in substance? What more can you say than this, which both Greeks and Jews say he is, who are not persuaded that he is God? And for this reason they say these things about him, which you say, putting forth unbegotten and begotten and having abandoned Father and Son, which is to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness? And you wish to be a father to those who strive on behalf of a begotten and unbegotten God, m28.1173 having abandoned the precious and holy name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and exalting yourselves against him who taught to baptize in the name of the m28.1176 Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and thinking yourselves to be wiser than the one who taught that the Father is Father and he himself is Son? But if it were conceded to you to baptize in the name of the unbegotten and the begotten, what will you do with the name of the Spirit? Will you call it neither begotten nor unbegotten, or even self-begotten? And how, according to you, will the begotten be of a different substance from the begotten, if the begotten is substance? Anom. If it is impossible for the unbegotten God to make the begotten unbegotten, it would also be impossible to make the unbegotten begotten. Orth. Even if it is impossible for him to make the begotten unbegotten, as it is to lie, yet it is not impossible for him to beget, for neither is it impossible to speak the truth; and in begetting he begets not an unbegotten, but God. Therefore, God, having begotten God, neither made the begotten unbegotten, nor the unbegotten begotten. Anom. If the unbegotten God is superior to all cause, for this reason he would also be superior to generation. And if he is superior to all cause, clearly he is also superior to generation. For he has not received being from another nature, nor has he given being to himself, not because of weakness of nature, but because he has transcended all cause. Orth. Truly "professing to be wise, they became fools" was said about you who wage war against the Son of God. For if, since the unbegotten God is superior to all cause, for this reason he is also superior to generation, generation is a cause and is not substance. But if generation is not

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De sancta trinitate

∆ιάλεκτος ὀρθοδόξου καὶ ἀνομοίου Ἀνόμοιος Ἐπειδὴ ἐν καιρῷ τοῦ ἐπενεχθέντος ἡμῖν διωγμοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν χρονιτῶν τινὲς τῶν προειρημένων σφετερισάμενοι μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν θεωρημάτων πονημάτιον σπουδασθὲν ἡμῖν ἰδιαζόντως περὶ ἀγεννήτου θεοῦ καὶ γεννητοῦ παρενθήκαις τε καὶ ἀφαιρέσεσι διαφθείραντες ἐξέδωκαν, τὴν ἀκόλουθον ἀμείψαντες ἀγωγήν, ἦλθε δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα τοῦτ' εἰς ἡμᾶς τινὸς τῶν σπουδαίων ἡμῖν αὐτὸ προσκεκομικότος· ἠναγκάσθην αὐτὸ οἷα πατὴρ αὖθις διακαθάρας ἐκπέμψαι ὑμῖν τὸ σύγγραμμα, ὦ πάντες εὐσεβεῖς ἀθληταί τε καὶ ἀθλήτριαι, ὅπως ἂν εἰδέναι ἔχοιτε κατ' ἔννοιαν τῶν γραφῶν εἰρῆσθαι ἡμῖν τὸ λογίδιον, δι' οὗ πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἀντιλέγειν ὑμῖν ἐπιχειροῦντα περὶ γεννητοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἀγεννήτου παύειν συντόμοις περι τροπαῖς δυνήσεσθε, πάντων δὲ μᾶλλον τοὺς προ ειρημένους χρονίτας, ἐν εἴδει τῶν στιχηρῶν ἐπαπόρησιν ἐπαπορήσεως διαστήσας καὶ λύσιν λύσεως διὰ τὸ εὐπερίδρακτον καὶ σαφὲς τῶν ἐπιχειφημάτων ποιησάμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν περὶ ἀγεννήτου θεοῦ καὶ γεννητοῦ. Ὀρθόδοξος. Μὴ καυχῶ διωχθεὶς, εἴ γε ἐδιώχθης. ἐδιώχθησαν γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ οἱ ποιοῦντες τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ οἶκον ἐμπορίου· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, οὐκ ἄρα τὸ διώκεσθαι πάντως ἐπαινετόν. τίνας δὲ λέγεις χρο νίτας; τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων μέχρι καὶ σήμερον αἰνοῦντας πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἢ τοὺς ἀπὸ σοῦ χθὲς καὶ σήμερον φα νέντας τὴν αἵρεσιν ἔχοντας; μ28.1176 δῶμεν δὲ ὅτι παρενθήκας καὶ ἀφαιρέσεις τινές ποτε τῇ παρὰ σοῦ γραφείσῃ πονηρίᾳ πεποιήκασιν. νῦν τί λέγεις; ἢ τί πλεῖον ἐπιζητεῖς βλασφημίας ἀνόμοιον λέγων κατ' οὐσίαν τὸν υἱόν; ἔχεις τί πλέον τούτου εἰπεῖν, οὗ καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι εἶναι λέγουσιν, οἱ μὴ πειθόμενοι εἶναι αὐτὸν θεόν; καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ταῦτα λέγοντες περὶ αὐτοῦ, ἃ σὺ λέγεις ἀγέννητον καὶ γεννητὸν προβαλλόμενος καὶ ἐάσας πατέρα καὶ υἱόν, ὅ ἐστιν Ἰουδαίοις μὲν σκάνδαλον, ἔθνεσι δὲ μωρία; καὶ πατέρα σεαυτὸν εἶναι θέλεις τῶν ἀθλούν των ὑπὲρ γεννητοῦ καὶ ἀγεννήτου θεοῦ, μ28.1173 ἐασάντων τὸ πα τρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος τίμιον καὶ ἅγιον ὄνομα καὶ ἐπαιρομένων κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ διδάξαντος βαπτίζειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα πα μ28.1176 τρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος καὶ νομιζόντων ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι σοφωτέρους τοῦ τὸν πατέρα πατέρα καὶ ἑαυτὸν υἱὸν διδάξαντος; ἐὰν δὲ καὶ συγχωρηθῇ σοι εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἀγεννήτου καὶ γεννητοῦ βαπτίσαι, τί ποιήσεις τὴν τοῦ πνεύ ματος ὀνομασίαν; ἆρα οὔτε γεννητὸν οὔτε ἀγέννητον ὀνομάσεις, ἢ καὶ αὐτογέννητον; καὶ πῶς ἔσται κατὰ σὲ ἑτεροούσιον τὸ γεννητὸν τῷ γεννητῷ, εἴπερ οὐσία τὸ γεννητόν; Ἀνόμ. Εἰ ἀδύνατόν ἐστι τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ θεῷ τὸ γεννητὸν ἀγέννητον ποιῆσαι, ἀδύνατον ἂν εἴη καὶ τὸ ἀγέννητον γεννητὸν ποιῆσαι. Ὀρθ. Κἂν ᾖ αὐτῷ ἀδύνατον τὸ γεννητὸν ἀγέννητον ποιῆσαι ὡς καὶ τὸ ψεύδεσθαι, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀδύνατον αὐτῷ τὸ γεννῆσαι, οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ ἀληθεῦσαι ἀδύνατον· γεννῶν δὲ οὐκ ἀγέννητον γεννᾷ, ἀλλὰ θεόν. θεὸν ἄρα θεὸς γεννήσας οὔτε τὸ γεννη τὸν ἀγέννητον ἐποίησεν οὔτε τὸ ἀγέννητον γεννητόν. Ἀνόμ. Εἰ πάσης αἰτίας κρείττων ὑπάρχει ὁ ἀγέννητος θεός, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ γενέσεως κρείττων ἂν εἴη. Εἰ δὲ κρείττων ἐστὶ πάσης αἰτίας, δηλονότι καὶ γενέσεως. οὔτε γὰρ παρ' ἑτέρας φύσεως εἴληφε τὸ εἶναι, οὔτε αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ τὸ εἶναι παρέσχεν, οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ὑπερβεβηκέναι πᾶσαν αἰτίαν. Ὀρθ. Ἀληθῶς "φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοὶ ἐμωράνθησαν" περὶ ὑμῶν εἴρηται τῶν κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ στρατευομένων. εἰ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ πάσης αἰτίας κρείττων ὑπάρχει ὁ ἀγέννητος θεὸς, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ γενέσεως, ἡ γένεσις αἰτία καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐσία. εἰ δὲ ἡ γένεσις οὐκ