1

On the opinion of Dionysius

Of the blessed Athanasius, concerning Dionysius the bishop of Alexandria, that he too held views against the Arian heresy, as did the synod in Nicaea, and that the Ariomaniacs slander him in vain as being of the same opinion as themselves.

1.1 You were late in telling me about the recent discussion that took place among you with those who fight against Christ; for even before your communication was written, I learned of it, being inquisitive and gladly hearing about such things. I therefore accepted your reverence, thinking well of our blessed fathers, and I have now recognized the irrationality of the Ariomaniacs. 1.2 For since their heresy has nothing reasonable nor any saying from the divine scripture for its proof, they have always contrived shameless pretexts and plausible sophistries, and now they have even dared to slander the fathers. And this is not foreign but is characteristic of their malice; for those who have attempted to plot against the Lord and against his Christ, what wonder is it if they also revile the blessed Dionysius, the 1.3 bishop of Alexandria, as being of the same opinion and mind as themselves? For whomever they may seem to praise for the establishment of their heresy, even if they call him blessed, they do not simply but greatly slander him, like certain robbers and men of indecent character, who, when they are reproached for their own practices, count the temperate among themselves, lying about their temperance.

2.1 If, then, they are confident in what they think and say, let them present their heresy nakedly and show from it if they think they have anything either from the scriptures or even any pious human reasoning for a defense; but if they have nothing of the sort, let them be silent. 2.2 For they will find nothing from any source, but rather refutation against themselves: from the scriptures, John saying, "In the beginning was the Word," whom they say was not before he was begotten; and David singing from the person of the Father, "My heart has brought forth a good Word," whom they say exists by conception and came to be from nothing; then John again evangelizing that "all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made," and Paul writing, "one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things," and 2.3 in other places, "that in him all things were created." What confidence will these men have, and will they not rather be covered with shame, opposing the words of the saints, when they say that the creator of all things is a product and a creature, he in whom the creations came to be 2.4 and consist? Nor is any pious human reasoning left for them for a defense. For what man, whether Greek or barbarian, will attempt to call him a creature whom he confesses to be God, or say that he was not before he came to be? Or what man, having heard from him whom he believed to be the only God, saying, "This is my beloved Son," and "My heart has brought forth a good Word," will dare even to say that the Word from the heart of God came to be from nothing, or that the Son is a creature and not the proper offspring of him who speaks? And again, who, hearing him whom he believed to be Lord and Savior, saying, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," and "I and the Father are one," will attempt to divide what he has united and kept indivisible?

3.1 Indeed, seeing these things themselves and having no confidence in their own positions, they lie against the pious. But it was necessary for them, being destitute of all things and seeing themselves at a loss from all sides in the inquiries and gaping

1

De sententia Dionysii

Τοῦ μακαρίου Ἀθανασίου περὶ ∆ιονυσίου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς κατὰ τῆς ἀρειανῆς αἱρέσεως ἐφρόνει ὡς ἡ ἐν Νικαίᾳ

σύνοδος, καὶ μάτην αὐτὸν συκοφαντοῦσιν οἱ Ἀρειομανῖται ὡς ὁμόδοξον ἑαυτῶν.

1.1 Βραδέως ἐδήλωσας περὶ τῆς νῦν διαλέξεως τῆς γενομένης παρ' ὑμῖν πρὸς

τοὺς χριστο μάχους· καὶ γὰρ πρὶν γράψαι τὴν σὴν διάθεσιν ἔμαθον φιλοπευστῶν καὶ ἡδέως ἀκούων περὶ τῶν τοιούτων. τὴν μὲν οὖν σὴν εὐλάβειαν ἀπεδεξάμην καλῶς φρονοῦσαν περὶ τῶν μακαρίων πατέρων ἡμῶν, τῶν δ' Ἀρειομανιτῶν τὴν ἀλογίαν καὶ νῦν ἐπέγνων. 1.2 οὐδὲν γὰρ οὔτ' εὔλογον οὔτε πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν ἐκ τῆς θείας γραφῆς ῥητὸν ἐχούσης τῆς αἱρέσεως αὐτῶν ἀεὶ μὲν προφάσεις ἀναισχύντους ἐπορίζοντο καὶ σοφίσματα πιθανά, νῦν δὲ καὶ διαβάλλειν τοὺς πατέρας τετολμήκασι. καὶ οὐκ ἀλλότριόν γε ἀλλὰ καὶ οἰκεῖον τοῦτο τῆς κακονοίας ἐστὶν αὐτῶν· οἱ γὰρ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ μελετᾶν ἐπιχειρήσαντες, τί θαυμαστὸν εἰ καὶ τὸν μακαρίτην ∆ιονύσιον τὸν 1.3 ἐπίσκοπον Ἀλεξανδρείας ὡς ὁμόδοξον ἑαυτῶν καὶ ὁμόφρονα λοιδοροῦσιν; ὃν γὰρ ἐὰν οὗτοι πρὸς σύστασιν τῆς ἑαυτῶν αἱρέσεως δόξωσιν εὐφημεῖν, κἂν μακάριον αὐτὸν ὀνομάζωσι, τοῦτον οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἀλλὰ καὶ μεγάλως διαβάλλουσιν ὥσπερ λῃσταί τινες καὶ τὸν τρόπον ἄσεμνοι, οἳ ἐπειδὰν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ὀνειδίζωνται, τοὺς σώφρονας συναριθμοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς καταψευδόμενοι τῆς ἐκείνων σωφροσύνης.

2.1 Εἰ μὲν οὖν θαρροῦσιν οἷς φρονοῦσι καὶ λέγουσι, προφερέτωσαν γυμνὴν τὴν αἵρεσιν καὶ δεικνύτωσαν ἐξ αὐτῆς εἴ τινα νομίζουσιν ἢ ἐκ τῶν γραφῶν ἔχειν ἢ κἂν ἀνθρώ πινόν τινα λογισμὸν εὐσεβῆ πρὸς ἀπολογίαν, εἰ δὲ μηδέν τι τοιοῦτον ἔχουσι, σιωπάτωσαν. 2.2 οὐδαμόθεν γὰρ εὑρήσουσιν εἰ μὴ μᾶλλον ἔλεγχον καθ' ἑαυτῶν, ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν γραφῶν, τοῦ μὲν Ἰωάννου λέγοντος· «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος», ὃν οὗτοι λέγουσιν οὐκ ἦν πρὶν γεννηθῇ, τοῦ δὲ ∆αυὶδ ψάλλοντος ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ πατρός· «ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν», ὃν οὗτοι λέγουσι κατ' ἐπίνοιαν εἶναι καὶ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γεγενῆσθαι, εἶτα τοῦ μὲν Ἰωάννου πάλιν εὐαγγελιζομένου, ὅτι «πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν», τοῦ δὲ Παύλου γράφοντος· «εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα», καὶ 2.3 ἐν ἑτέροις· «ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα». ποίαν παρρησίαν ἕξουσιν οὗτοι καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον αἰσχύνην ὀφλήσουσιν ἐναντιούμενοι τοῖς τῶν ἁγίων ῥήμασιν, ὅταν λέγωσι ποίημα εἶναι τὸν τῶν πάντων δημιουργὸν καὶ κτίσμα τοῦτον, ἐν ᾧ τὰ κτίσματα γέγονε 2.4 καὶ συνέστηκεν; οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπινος δέ τις αὐτοῖς λογισμὸς εὐσεβὴς εἰς ἀπολογίαν περι λείπεται. τίς γὰρ ἀνθρώπων ἢ Ἕλλην ἢ βάρβαρος, ὃν ὁμολογεῖ θεόν, τοῦτον ἐπιχειρήσει κτίσμα λέγειν ἢ ὅτι οὐκ ἦν πρὶν γένηται; ἢ τίς ἀνθρώπων ἀκούσας παρὰ τούτου, ὃν ἐπίστευσε μόνον εἶναι θεόν, λέγοντος· «οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός», καὶ «ἐξη ρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν», τολμήσει κἂν εἰπεῖν ὅτι ὁ ἐκ καρδίας τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γέγονεν ἢ ὁ υἱὸς κτίσμα ἐστὶ καὶ οὐκ ἴδιον τοῦ λέγοντος γέννημα; πάλιν δὲ τίς ἀκούων τούτου, ὃν ἐπίστευσε κύριον εἶναι καὶ σωτῆρα, λέγοντος· «ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί», καὶ «ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν», ἐπιχειρήσει διαιρεῖν ἃ ἐκεῖνος ἥνωσε καὶ ἀμέριστα τετήρηκε;

3.1 Ταῦτα γοῦν καὶ αὐτοὶ συνορῶντες καὶ παρρησίαν οὐκ ἔχοντες ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις κατα ψεύδονται τῶν εὐσεβῶν. ἀλλ' ἔδει πάντων αὐτοὺς ἐρήμους ὄντας καὶ συνορῶντας ἑαυτοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἐρωτήσεσι πανταχόθεν ἀποροῦντας καὶ χασμωμένους