But before we examine what he has written, it may be better to enquire with what purpose it is that he refuses to admit that ungenerate can be predicated of God by way of conception. Now the tenet which has been held in common by all who have received the word of our religion is, that all hope of salvation should be placed in Christ, it being impossible for any to be found among the righteous, unless faith in Christ supply what is desired. And this conviction being firmly established in the souls of the faithful, and all honour and glory and worship being due to the Only-begotten God as the Author of life, Who doeth the works of the Father, as the Lord Himself saith in the Gospel10 S. John x. 37, and Who falls short of no excellence in all knowledge of that which is good, I know not how they have been so perverted by malignity and jealousy of the Lord’s honour, that, as though they judged the worship paid by the faithful to the Only-begotten God to be a detriment to themselves, they oppose His Divine honours, and try to persuade us that nothing that is said of them is true. For with them neither is He very God, though called so, it would seem, by Scripture, nor, though called Son, has He a nature that makes good the appellation, nor has He a community of dignity or of nature with the Father. For, say they, it is not possible for Him that is begotten to be of equal honour with Him Who made Him, either in dignity, or in power, or in nature, because the life of the latter is infinite, and His existence from eternity, while the life of the Son is in a manner circumscribed, the beginning of His being begotten limiting His life at the commencement, and preventing it from being coextensive with the eternity of the Father, so that His life also is to be regarded as defective; and the Father was not always what He now is and is said to be, but, having been something else before, He afterwards determined that He would be a Father, or rather that He would be so called. For not even of the Son was He rightly called Father, but of a creature supposititiously invested with the title of son. And every way, say they, the younger is of necessity inferior to the elder, the finite to the eternal, that which is begotten by the will of the begetter, to the begetter himself, both in power, and dignity, and nature, and precedence due to age, and all other prerogatives of respect. But how can we justly dignify with the honours due to the true God that which is wanting in the perfection of the diviner attributes? Thus they would establish the doctrine that one who is limited in power, and wanting in the perfection of life, and subject to a superior, and doing nothing of himself but what is sanctioned by the authority of the more powerful, is in no divine honour and consideration, but that, while we call him God, we are employing a term empty of all grandeur in its significance. And since such statements as these, when stripped of their plausible dress, move indignation and make the hearer shudder at their strangeness (for who can tolerate an evil counsellor nakedly and unadvisably urging the overthrow of the majesty of Christ?), they therefore try to pervert foolish hearers with these foreign notions by enveloping their malignant and insidious arguments in a number of seductive fallacies. For after laying down such premises as might naturally lead the mind of the hearers in the desired direction, they leave the hearer to draw his conclusion for himself.
ἄμεινον δὲ ἴσως πρὶν διευθῦναι τὰ γεγραμμένα τὸν σκοπὸν ἐξετάσαι, τί βουλόμενος ἀποφεύγει τὸ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν ἐπιλέγεσθαι τῷ θεῷ τὸ ἀγέννητον.
Δόγμα κοινὸν ἐπὶ πάντων τῶν παραδεδεγμένων τὸν λόγον τῆς εὐσεβείας κεκράτηκε τὸ πᾶσαν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας δεῖν ἔχειν, ὡς οὐκ ἐνδεχόμενον ἄλλως ἐν ἀγαθοῖς γενέσθαι, μὴ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως παρεχομένης τὸ σπουδαζόμενον. ταύτης δὲ τῆς διανοίας παγίως ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν πεπιστευκότων ἐνερηρεισμένης καὶ πάσης τιμῆς τε καὶ λατρείας καὶ δόξης τῷ μονογενεῖ θεῷ παρὰ πάντων ὡς ἀρχηγῷ τῆς ζωῆς ἀνακειμένης τῷ ποιοῦντι τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἔργα, καθὼς αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ φησί, καὶ μηδεμιᾶς κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀγαθοῦ πράγματος ἔννοιαν ὑπερβολῆς ἐλαττουμένῳ, οὐκ οἶδα πόθεν παρακινηθέντες δυσμενείᾳ καὶ φθόνῳ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου τιμῆς, καθάπερ ζημίαν ἑαυτοῖς κρίνοντες τὴν γινομένην τῷ μονογενεῖ θεῷ παρὰ τῶν πεπιστευκότων προσκύνησιν, ἀνταίρουσι ταῖς θείαις τιμαῖς καὶ πείθειν ἐπιχειροῦσιν, ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν περὶ αὐτῶν λεγομένων ἀληθῶς λέγεται. οὔτε γὰρ θεός, κἂν ὀνομάζηταί πως ὑπὸ τῆς γραφῆς, ἀληθινός ἐστι θεός, οὔτε υἱὸς λεγόμενος ἐπαληθεύουσαν ἔχει τῇ προσηγορίᾳ τὴν φύσιν οὔτε ἀξίας οὔτε φύσεως αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἔστι τις κοινωνία. μηδὲ γὰρ εἶναι δυνατὸν τῷ γεγεννημένῳ πρὸς τὸν ποιήσαντα τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἢ τὴν δύναμιν ἢ τὴν φύσιν ὑπάρχειν ὁμότιμον, διότι τῷ μὲν ἀόριστος ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἐξ ἀϊδίου ἡ ὕπαρξις, τῷ δὲ υἱῷ τρόπον τινὰ περιγέγραπται ἡ ζωή, τῆς ἀρχῆς καθ' ἣν γέγονε περατούσης ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω τῆς ζωῆς τὴν πρόοδον καὶ τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀϊδιότητι συμπαρατείνεσθαι κωλυούσης: ὥστε καὶ τούτῳ τὴν ζωὴν ἐλλιπῆ νομίζεσθαι καὶ τὸν πατέρα μὴ ἀεὶ εἶναι, ὅπερ νῦν ἐστί τε καὶ λέγεται, ἀλλ' ἕτερόν τι πρότερον ὄντα μετὰ ταῦτα βουλεύσασθαι γενέσθαι πατέρα, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχὶ γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ κληθῆναι: μηδὲ γὰρ υἱοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ὀνομασθῆναι πατέρα, ἀλλὰ κτίσματος εἰς υἱοῦ κλῆσιν ὑποβληθέντος. πάντως δέ, φασί, τὸ μεταγενέστερον τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου καὶ τὸ ὡρισμένον τοῦ ἀϊδίου καὶ τὸ κατὰ βούλησιν τοῦ πεποιηκότος γεγεννημένον αὐτοῦ τοῦ πεποιηκότος δυνάμει τε καὶ ἀξίᾳ καὶ φύσει καὶ τοῖς ἐκ χρόνου πρεσβείοις καὶ ἅπασι τοῖς τιμίοις ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἠλάττωται. οὗ δὲ τὸ τέλειον ἐν ταῖς θειοτέραις τῶν ὑπολήψεων ἄπεστι, πῶς ἄν τις τοῦτο ταῖς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ τιμαῖς εὐλόγως ἀποσεμνύνειεν; ὡς ἐκ τούτου κατασκευάζεσθαι παρ' αὐτῶν τὸν ἀτελῆ μὲν κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν, ἐλλιπῆ δὲ κατὰ τὴν τῆς ζωῆς τελειότητα, ὑποχείριον δὲ τῷ δυναστεύοντι, ποιοῦντα δὲ μηδὲν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ πλὴν εἴ τι νομοθετεῖται τῷ τοῦ κρατοῦντος προστάγματι, τοῦτον ἐν μηδεμιᾷ θεοπρεπεῖ τιμῇ τε καὶ ὑπολήψει πιστεύειν « δεῖν » εἶναι, ἀλλὰ θεὸν μὲν ὀνομάζειν, κενὸν δὲ πάσης μεγαλοπρεποῦς ἐννοίας περιφέρειν τὸ ὄνομα.
Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα οὑτωσὶ λεγόμενα δίχα τῆς τῶν λογισμῶν περιβολῆς παροξύνει πως εἰς ὀργὴν καὶ φρίττειν ποιεῖ τῷ ξενισμῷ τὸν ἀκούοντα (τίς γὰρ δέχεται πονηρὸν σύμβουλον γυμνῶς καὶ ἀκατασκεύως τὴν καθαίρεσιν τῆς μεγαλειότητος τοῦ Χριστοῦ συμβουλεύοντα;), διὰ τοῦτο παραγωγαῖς τισι πιθαναῖς καὶ ἀπάταις τὴν πονηρὰν ταύτην ἐνέδραν τοῦ λόγου περικαλύψαντες ταῖς ἔξωθεν ἐπινοίαις τοὺς ἀνοήτους τῶν ἀκροατῶν παρακρούονται. τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα κατασκευάσαντες, δι' ὧν ἂν ᾗ δυνατὸν αὐτομάτως ἐπὶ ταῦτα κατασυρῆναι τὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων διάνοιαν, τῷ ἀκροατῇ τὸ πέρας τῆς καταστροφῆς καταλείπουσιν.