Gregory of Nyssa, Against Arius and Sabellius on the Father and Son

Adversus Arium et Sabellium de patre et filio

OF GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, AGAINST ARIUS AND SABELLIUS

“My heart has uttered a good word,” the psalmist recently said. This good word of God, those following Arius and Achilles, uttering a most impious statement, dared to proclaim a creature and a product and have drawn many into their own error; while those following Sabellius, thinking the opposite of these things, try to abolish the hypostasis of the Son, and thinking to honor the Father himself, being one, with two names, they call him Son-Father. And both these opinions have been set like two traps by the aforementioned; but a certain middle way runs between, narrow and afflicted, which leads to life according to the gospel. Many men, turning away from this, become the prey of the one or the other; but you seem to me to fear falling into either of them and to avoid the very way of truth, thinking one ought not to engage in discourse about God. See, therefore, that in cautiously avoiding the error of the two, you might not incur the penalty of impiety. The Savior himself, standing before the true way, cried out, saying: “I am the way and the truth”; do not turn to the right or to the left, so that you may not run into either of them. And again: “I am the door of the sheep; he who does not enter through me, but climbs in by another way is a thief and a robber,” who, being caught in a trap, will also perish. Therefore, let them hear, those who have turned their mind to the error of either party, that according to nature our Savior Jesus 3,1.72 Christ is and is called Son of God, and is not called a son by adoption, being a created thing, as we are, and that he has no beginning, but is eternal; for this reason also in endless ages he will reign together with the Father in his own hypostasis.

But perhaps someone might say: everything that is without beginning must be unbegotten; how could the Son rightly be called without beginning, whose very name implies a beginning? For a son is so named from having been begotten. And that generation falls under a beginning, no one would deny; if, therefore, he is a son, it is shown to us from his generation that he has received a beginning. And perhaps he will also have an end, one might say according to philosophical reasoning; and the apostle also says that he will be subjected to him who subjected all things to him and that he will hand over the kingdom to the Father and God, so that it is supposed that he who did not exist before being begotten will again return to non-existence. Ascend for me upon the sure faith, do not be swept away as by a violent blast by the deceit of such reasonings, like the chaff which the wind drives away, from the narrow and straight way into the pits of destruction. For if the Father of all is unbegotten and eternal, wise and powerful, and the apostle, preaching faith in him, proclaims to all Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, how could they dare to bring his generation under time and not suppose him to be eternal nor without beginning? For if according to the opinion of some, the generation of our Savior has fallen under the portion of time, not only the Son but also the Father has been dishonored, according to the voice of the Son: “You know neither me nor the Father”; “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father,” the one, as not existing before he was begotten, the other, as not having power and wisdom before the Son existed. And consequently such people would suppose that the Father was not even God at any time before the generation of the Son; 3,1.73 for how could he be God, if he did not possess power and wisdom? But if he is always God, as has been declared to us by the divine scriptures, then it must be believed that he always had wisdom and power, that is, Christ, with himself.

But I remember having promised before to show you as through a mirror the image of the things concerning the Father and the Son, since by human reason the things concerning the

Adversus Arium et Sabellium de patre et filio

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΑΡΕΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΣΑΒΕΛΛΙΟΥ

Ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν, ἀρτίως ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς ἔλεγεν. τοῦτον τὸν ἀγαθὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ οἱ μὲν κατὰ Ἄρειον καὶ Ἀχίλλιον τὴν ἀσεβεστάτην φωνὴν προϊέμενοι ἐτόλμησαν κτίσμα καὶ ποίημα διακηρύξαι καὶ πολλοὺς τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἐφείλκυσαν πλάνῃ· οἱ δὲ κατὰ Σαβέλλιον τἀναντία τούτων φρονοῦντες ἀναιρεῖν μὲν πειρῶνται τὴν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ υἱοῦ, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν πατέρα ἕνα ὄντα δυσὶν ὀνόμασι γεραίρειν οἰόμενοι υἱοπάτορα προσαγορεύουσιν. αἱ δ' ἑκάτεραι δόξαι αὗται ὥσπερ παγίδες δύο τέθεινται ὑπὸ τῶν προηγορευμένων· δίεισι δὲ μέση τις ὁδὸς στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ζωὴν κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον. ταύτης οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκκλίνοντες τῆς ἑτέρας θήραμα γίνονται· σὺ δέ μοι δοκεῖς δεδοικέναι τὰς ἑκατέρων ἐμπτώσεις καὶ αὐτὴν ἀποφεύγειν τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ὁδὸν οἰό μενος μὴ δεῖν περὶ θεοῦ λόγον προχειρίζεσθαι. ὅρα τοίνυν μὴ τὴν τῶν δυεῖν πλάνην εὐλαβούμενος ἀσεβείας τιμωρίαν ὀφλήσῃς. αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ πρὸ τῆς ἀληθοῦς ὁδοῦ ἑστηκὼς κέκραγε λέγων· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια· μὴ ἐκκλίνῃς εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ ἢ εἰς τὰ ἀριστερά, ὅπως μηδετέρᾳ αὐτῶν προστύχῃς. καὶ πάλιν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα τῶν προβάτων· ὁ μὴ εἰσιὼν δι' ἐμοῦ, ἀλλὰ ἀλλαχόθεν ἀναβαίνων κλέπτης ἐστὶ καὶ λῃστής, ὃς καὶ ὑπὸ παγίδος ἁλοὺς ἀπολεῖται. ἀκουέτωσαν τοίνυν οἱ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἑκατέρων πλάνην ἐπιτρέψαντες τὸν νοῦν, ὡς κατὰ φύσιν ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς 3,1.72 Χριστὸς υἱὸς θεοῦ ἔστι τε καὶ προσαγορεύεται καὶ οὐ ποίημα ὢν κατὰ χρῆσιν ὀνομάζεται ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς υἱὸς καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἔχων ἀρχήν, ἀλλὰ ἀΐδιος· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν ἀτελευ τήτοις αἰῶσι κατ' ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν συμβασιλεύσει τῷ πατρί.

Ἀλλ' ἴσως εἴποι τις ἄν· πᾶν τὸ ἄναρχον καὶ ἀγέννητον ἂν εἴη· πῶς ὁ υἱὸς εἰκότως ἂν προσαγορεύοιτο ἄναρχος, οὗ καὶ τοὔνομα ἔμφασιν ἀρχῆς ἔχει; υἱὸς γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ γεγεννῆσθαι ὠνόμασται. γέννησις δὲ ὅτι ἀρχῇ ὑποπέπτωκεν, οὐκ ἄν τις ἀνήναιτο· εἰ οὖν υἱὸς τυγχάνει, δηλοῦται ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς γεννή σεως ἀρχὴν εἰληφώς. ἴσως δὲ καὶ τέλος ἕξει, εἴποι τις ἂν κατὰ τὸν φιλόσοφον λόγον· καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος δέ φησιν ὑποτα γήσεσθαι αὐτὸν τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα καὶ παρα δώσειν αὐτὸν τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ θεῷ, ὡς ὑπειλῆφθαι αὐτὸν οὐκ ὄντα πρὸ τοῦ γεννᾶσθαι πάλιν εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι χωρήσειν. Ἀνάβηθί μοι ἐπὶ τῆς ἀσφαλοῦς πίστεως, μὴ συν αρπασθῇς ὥσπερ βιαίᾳ πνοῇ τῇ τῶν τοιούτων λογισμῶν ἀπάτῃ, ὡς χνοῦς ὃν ἐκρίπτει ὁ ἄνεμος, ἐκ τῆς στενῆς καὶ εὐθείας ὁδοῦ ἐπὶ βάραθρα τῆς ἀπωλείας. εἰ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ τῶν ὅλων ἀγέννητος καὶ ἀΐδιος, σοφός τε καὶ δυνατός, ὁ δ' ἀπόστολος τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν εὐαγγελιζόμενος διακηρύττει πᾶσι Χριστὸν θεοῦ δύναμιν καὶ θεοῦ σοφίαν, πῶς ἂν τολ μῶσιν ὑπὸ χρόνον ἄγειν αὐτοῦ τὴν γέννησιν καὶ οὐκ ἀΐδιον οὐδὲ ἄναρχον ὑπολαμβάνειν; εἰ γὰρ κατὰ τήν τινων ὑπόληψιν ὑπὸ χρόνου μοῖραν πέπτωκεν ἡ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν γέννησις, ἠτίμασται ἔτι οὐ μόνον ὁ υἱὸς ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ φωνήν· Οὔτε ἐμὲ οἴδατε οὔτε τὸν πατέρα· Ὁ μὴ τιμῶν τὸν υἱὸν οὐ τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα, ὁ μὲν ὡς οὐκ ὢν πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι, ὁ δὲ ὡς μὴ ἔχων δύναμιν καὶ σοφίαν πρὸ τοῦ εἶναι τὸν υἱόν. ἀκολούθως δ' ἂν ὑπολαμβάνοιεν οἱ τοιοῦτοι μηδὲ θεὸν εἶναι τὸν πατέρα ποτὲ πρὶν γενέσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ· 3,1.73 πῶς γὰρ ἂν θεός, εἰ μὴ δύναμιν καὶ σοφίαν ἐκέκτητο; εἰ δὲ ἀεὶ ὢν θεὸς ὑπὸ τῶν θείων ἡμῖν γραφῶν τεθέσπισται, ἀεὶ ἄρα σοφίαν καὶ δύναμιν, τουτέστι τὸν Χριστόν, ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ πιστευτέος.

Μέμνημαι δὲ ὑποσχόμενος ἔμπροσθεν ὥσπερ δι' ἐσόπ τρου δείξειν ὑμῖν τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν περὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱόν, ἐπείπερ ἀνθρωπίνῳ λόγῳ τὰ κατὰ τὴν