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Refutatio confessionis Eunomii

OF GREGORY BISHOP OF NYSSA, A REFUTATION AGAINST THE CONFESSION OF EUNOMIUS

1 The faith of Christians which to all the nations according to the command of the

Lord preached by the disciples is neither from men nor through men, but through our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who, being Word and life and light and truth and God and wisdom and all things that exist by nature, for this reason especially was made in the likeness of man and shared our nature in all things according to likeness without sin, and according to likeness in that he took on the whole man with soul and body, 2 so that through both salvation might come to us. He was seen on earth and conversed with men, so that men might no longer form opinions about the Existent One according to their own thoughts, making into dogma the suspicions that arise in them from certain conjectures, but, being persuaded that truly God was manifested in the flesh, we might believe that to be the only true mystery of piety which was delivered to us through the Word and God Himself, who spoke through Himself to the apostles. And the teaching concerning the transcendent nature from the more ancient scripture, from the law and prophecy and proverbial wisdom, we accept through a mirror and in an enigma as a testimony of the truth revealed to us, piously understanding the meaning of the sayings, so as to be in harmony with the faith set forth by the Lord of all, which we guard pure and inviolate, word for word as we received it, and judging the slightest deviation from the delivered words 3 as the utmost blasphemy and impiety. We believe, therefore, as the Lord set forth the faith to his disciples, saying: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; this is the word of the mystery, in which through the birth from above our nature is transformed from the corruptible to the incorruptible, being renewed from the old man according to the image of the one who created the godlike likeness in the beginning. Therefore, since this faith was delivered by God to the apostles, we make no subtraction, nor alteration, nor addition, knowing clearly that he who dares to pervert the divine voice through malicious sophistry is of his father the devil, who, having abandoned the words of truth, speaks from his own things, becoming the father of lies. For everything said contrary to the truth is altogether a lie and not the truth.

4 Since, therefore, this doctrine is set forth by Truth itself, if the inventors of wicked heresies contrive anything for the setting aside of this divine voice, such as to name him creator and maker of the Son instead of Father, and instead of Son, a work and a creature and a thing made, and instead of Holy Spirit, a creature of a creature and a work of a work and all the things that it seems good to the God-fighters to say about him, we call all such things a denial of the divinity revealed to us in this doctrine, and a transgression. For we have learned once for all from the Lord that to which the mind must look, through which the transformation of our nature from mortal to immortal takes place; and this 5 is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We say, therefore, that it is a dreadful and destructive thing to reason falsely about these divine voices, and to invent in opposition those things which are devised for the setting aside of these, as if correcting God the Word who legislated that we should hold these voices in the faith. For each of these names, understood by its proper meaning, is a rule

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Refutatio confessionis Eunomii

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΑΝΤΙΡΡΗΤΙΚΟΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΥΝΟΜΙΟΥ ΕΚΘΕΣΙΝ

1 Ἡ τῶν Χριστιανῶν πίστις ἡ εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ

κυρίου παρὰ τῶν μαθητῶν κηρυχθεῖσα οὔτε ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶν οὔτε δι' ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς λόγος ὢν καὶ ζωὴ καὶ φῶς καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ θεὸς καὶ σοφία καὶ πάντα, ὅσα κατὰ φύσιν ἐστί, διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπου γενόμενος καὶ μετασχὼν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν Κατὰ πάντα καθ' ὁμοιότητα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας, καθ' ὁμοιότητα δὲ τῷ μετὰ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἀναλαβεῖν ὅλον τὸν ἄνθρωπον, 2 ὥστε δι' ἀμφοτέρων ἡμῖν γενέσθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν. οὗτος Ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη, ἵνα μηκέτι οἱ ἄνθρωποι κατὰ τὰς ἑαυτῶν γνώμας περὶ τοῦ ὄντος δοξάζωσι, τὰς γινομένας αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ στοχασμῶν τινων ὑπονοίας δόγμα ποιούμενοι, ἀλλὰ πεισθέντες ὅτι ἀληθῶς Θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί, ἐκεῖνο μόνον ἀληθινὸν τῆς εὐσε βείας μυστήριον εἶναι πιστεύσωμεν, ὃ δι' αὐτοῦ ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου καὶ θεοῦ παρεδόθη τοῦ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις λαλήσαντος. τὴν δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἀρχαιοτέρας γραφῆς ἐκ νόμου τε καὶ προφητείας καὶ τῆς παροιμιώδους σοφίας γε νομένην περὶ τῆς ὑπερκειμένης φύσεως διδασκαλίαν δι' ἐσόπτρου τινὸς καὶ αἰνίγματος ὡς μαρτυρίαν τῆς ἀπο καλυφθείσης ἡμῖν ἀληθείας δεχόμεθα, εὐσεβῶς τὴν διά νοιαν τῶν ῥητῶν ἐκλαμβάνοντες, ὡς συμφωνεῖν τῇ παρὰ τοῦ δεσπότου τῶν ὅλων ἐκτεθείσῃ πίστει, ἣν ἐπὶ λέξεως καθαρὰν καὶ ἀπαρεγχείρητον φυλάσσομεν ὡς παρελάβομεν, καὶ τὴν ἐν ὀλίγῳ παρατροπὴν τῶν παραδοθέντων ῥημάτων 3 ἐσχάτην κρίνοντες βλασφημίαν τε καὶ ἀσέβειαν. πιστεύομεν οὖν καθὼς ἐξέθετο τοῖς μαθηταῖς τὴν πίστιν ὁ κύριος ὁ εἰπὼν ὅτι Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτί ζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος τοῦ μυστηρίου, ἐν ᾧ διὰ τῆς ἄνωθεν γεννήσεως μετασκευάζεται ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις ἀπὸ τοῦ φθαρτοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἄφθαρτον, ἐκ τοῦ παλαιοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀνακαινιζομένη κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος ἐν ἀρχῇ τὸ θεοειδὲς ὁμοίωμα. ταύτης οὖν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις παραδοθείσης τῆς πίστεως οὔτε ὑφαίρεσιν οὔτε παραλλαγὴν οὔτε προσθήκην ποιούμεθα, σαφῶς εἰδότες ὅτι ὁ τολμῶν τὴν θείαν φωνὴν διὰ κακουργίας σοφιστικῆς παρατρέπειν οὗτος ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστίν, ὃς ἀφεὶς τῆς ἀληθείας τὰ ῥήματα ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων λαλεῖ, πατὴρ ψεύδους γινόμενος. πᾶν γὰρ τὸ παρὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λε γόμενον ψεῦδός ἐστι πάντως καὶ οὐκ ἀλήθεια.

4 Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ δόγμα τοῦτο παρ' αὐτῆς ἐκτίθεται τῆς ἀληθείας, εἴ τι παρεπινοοῦσιν ἐπὶ ἀθετήσει τῆς θείας ταύ της φωνῆς οἱ τῶν πονηρῶν αἱρέσεων εὑρεταί, ὡς ἀντὶ μὲν τοῦ πατρὸς κτίστην αὐτὸν καὶ δημιουργὸν τοῦ υἱοῦ ὀνο μάζειν, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἔργον καὶ κτίσμα καὶ ποίημα, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος κτίσμα κτίσματος καὶ ἔργον ἔργου καὶ πάντα ὅσα τοῖς θεομάχοις περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγειν δοκεῖ, πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἄρνησιν τῆς ἀποκαλυφθείσης ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ δόγματι τούτῳ θεότητος καὶ παράβασιν ὀνομάζομεν. ἅπαξ γὰρ μεμαθήκαμεν παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου, πρὸς ὃ βλέπειν χρὴ τῇ διανοίᾳ, δι' οὗ γίνεται ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ θνητοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀθάνατον τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν μεταστοιχείωσις· τοῦτο δέ 5 ἐστιν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. φοβερὸν οὖν εἶναί φαμεν καὶ ὀλέθριον παραλογίσασθαι μὲν τὰς θείας ταύτας φωνάς, ἀντεπινοεῖν δὲ τὰς ἐπὶ ἀθετήσει τού των παρευρισκομένας, ὥσπερ ἐπιδιορθουμένους τὸν θεὸν λόγον τὸν νομοθετήσαντα ταύτας τὰς φωνὰς ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τῆς πίστεως ἔχειν. ἑκάστη γὰρ τῶν κλήσεων τούτων διὰ τῆς προσφυοῦς σημασίας νοουμένη κανὼν