The Eternal Nature of the Son
I will say—the great and only great thing compared by a small thing—as at once from the sun and from the nature of the sun, and from the whole disk, indivisibly and without separation and equally, the whole light is co-manifested and co-operates and co-provides heat to those receptive of sensation. And the light of the pre-existing essence, being immediately and not later poured out and co-proceeding and co-woven, manifests its quality entirely within itself.
15.36 But, regarding those words, 'there was when there was not' the radiance, where is the radiance-emitting subsistence of the light? For it must have certainly slid along with that. And indeed Daniel, prophesying, said: 'and light was with him' (Dan 4:35) instead of 'the Son with the Father'. 15.37 For this most demonstrates the unmixed and great nature of the divinity, that the Father begat it co-beginning and co-existing, and at once perfect and unchangeable and impassible.
15.38 For it is a property of a creature and not of a Creator, turnable and not unchangeable, under judgment and not unjudgeable, being made alive and not making alive, under sin and not of God, not to be thus begotten and born. 15.39 For if he himself, before any other energy having become, 'made the ages' (Ps 102:25), which are composed of times, and laid a beginning to all things, and nothing can be understood before the ages and aeons except the incomprehensible and truly only first and primordial nature, which alone exists, being without ties to another, how is it not believed that he is begotten without beginning from the subsistence of the Father and not from energy, since he is the only one being without beginning and eternal and having no ties to another?
15.40 For time not defining, there is not before and after, but he who is not under time is without beginning, and he who is without beginning is uncreated. 15.41 For just as there is no time ungenerated, so also no creation is timeless, but time has a measure; for with it also time has come to be. And appropriately all things are measured from the Creator as second things, but he himself is measured by nothing, since...
Indeed, the God who is without beginning and is by nature. 15.42 The same things are considered regarding the Holy Spirit. For it has not been written 'he proceeded', but 'he proceeds'. How can life itself be made life-giving, or the true light be made light-giving? 15.43 Thus the divine light and 'eternal life' (John 1:4) were always, and the truthful and great God calls himself so. 15.44 It is impossible that the Father did not possess that which Paul testifies the same Only-begotten possesses: 'a radiance of glory and a character of substance and an icon of goodness and power and wisdom and justice of God' (Hebrews 1:3), rather, what was not fitting to say, he later took on in a certain way. 15.45 For if he had possessed them, he would have always been the Only-begotten being these things. 15.46 For neither the one being these things outside of God, nor God without his being, can ever be conceived of these things. But the Only-begotten possesses these, not as a possession or an attribute, but essentially, as has been said before. 15.47 If even at the beginning of the cosmogony the first trees stood together with their fruits—and it is nothing paradoxical, if the fruit grew together with the root—how is it impossible that the fruitful Father, from the beginning, was not without his own Son, and immediately burst forth with the radiance from the glory of his substance? 15.48 Just as his downward birth through incarnation is not compared to any other birth—for from a virgin it is incomparable, being without a man, which our nature does not have—so also the upward birth exists as incomprehensible, surpassing every other birth and transforming all. And it is not necessary to disbelieve, nor is it safe for us to seek or to explain the manner, those unable to say how a virgin gave birth remaining a virgin, nor to know our own birth. 15.49 For where even the one according to us we know, we do not by all means know the one of God, which, being incomprehensible with heavenly powers, turns out to be so. 15.50 Therefore, with astonishment the prophet says concerning the downward birth: 'and he is a man and who...'
The text ends abruptly mid-sentence.
Greek
ἐρῶ– τὸ μέγα καὶ μόνον μέγα μικρῷ συμβάλλων–ὡς ἅμα τε ἥλιος, ἅμα ἐξ ἡλίου φύσεως καὶ ἐξ ὅλου τοῦ δίσκου ἀμερίστως καὶ ἀδιαστάτως καὶ ἰσομέτρως ὅλον τὸ φῶς συνεκφαίνεται καὶ συνενεργεῖ καὶ συμπαρέχει τὴν θέρμην τοῖς αἰσθήσεως δεκτικοῖς. καὶ τῆς τοῦ προέντος οὐσίας τὸ ἀμέσως καὶ οὐχ ὕστερον προχεόμενον καὶ συμπροϊὸν καὶ συνυφιστάμενον φῶς ὅλην ἐν ἑαυτῷ διεκφαίνει τὴν ποιότητα. 15.36 Εἰ δέ, πρὸς τὸ εἶκον ἐκείνοις, «ἦν ὅτε οὐκ ἦν» τὸ ἀπαύγασμα, ποῦ ἡ ἀπαυγάζουσα αὐτὸ ὑπόστασις τοῦ φωτός; συνδιολισθήσει γάρ που πάντως ἐκείνῳ τοῦτο. καὶ μὴν καὶ ∆ανιὴλ προφητεύων εἶπεν· «καὶ φῶς μετ' αὐτοῦ ἦν» ἀντὶ τοῦ «ὁ υἱὸς μετὰ τοῦ πατρός». 15.37 Τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα δείκνυσιν τὸ ἀσυνείκαστον καὶ μέγα τῆς θεότητος, ὅτι συνάναρχον αὐτοῦ καὶ σύναρχον ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ τέλειον καὶ ἀπαράλλακτον ἀπαθῶς ἐγέννησεν ὁ πατήρ. 15.38 κτίσματος γὰρ ἴδιον καὶ οὐ κτίστου, τρεπτοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἀτρέπτου, ὑπὸ κρίσιν καὶ οὐ κριτοῦ, ζωοποιουμένου καὶ οὐ ζωοποιοῦντος, ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν καὶ οὐ θεοῦ τὸ μὴ οὕτως γεννῆσαι καὶ γεννηθῆναι. 15.39 εἰ γὰρ αὐτός, οὔπω ἐνεργείας ἄλλης οὐδεμιᾶς γενομένης, «ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας», οἱ ἐκ τῶν χρόνων ἀποτελοῦνται, καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀρχὴν ἐπέθηκεν, οὐδὲν δὲ πρὸ τῶν χρόνων καὶ αἰώνων νοεῖσθαι δύναται εἰ μὴ ἡ ἀκατάληπτος καὶ ἀληθῶς μόνη πρωτίστη καὶ πρωτουργὸς φύσις ἡ μόνως οὖσα ἄναρχος καὶ αἰώνιος καὶ 9 ὕφεσιν πρὸς ἑτέραν οὐκ ἔχουσα, πῶς οὐκ ἀνάρχως ἐκ τῆς ὑποστάσεως γεννηθῆναι πιστεύεται τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἐνεργείας; 15.40 χρόνου γὰρ οὐ διορίζοντος οὐκ ἔστιν πρότερον καὶ ὕστερον, ἀλλ' ὁ μὴ ὢν ὑπὸ χρόνον ἄναρχός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ ἄναρχος ἄκτιστος. 15.41 ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι χρόνος ἀγένητος, οὕτως οὐδὲ κτίσις ἄχρονος, ἀλλ' ἔχει μέτρον τὸν χρόνον· σὺν αὐτῇ γὰρ καὶ ὁ χρόνος γέγονεν. καὶ εἰκότως πάντα μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ μετρεῖται ὡς δεύτερα, αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπ' οὐδενός, ἐπειδὴ ἄναρχος καὶ φύσει θεός. 15.42 Τὰ δὲ ἴσα θεωρεῖται καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. οὐ γὰρ γέγραπταί ποτε «ἐξεπορεύθη», ἀλλ' «ἐκπορεύεται». πῶς δὲ αὐτὴ ἡ ζωὴ ζωοποιεῖται ἢ τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς φωτίζεται; 15.43 Ἦν δὲ ἄρα τό τε θεῖον φῶς καί «ζωὴ αἰώνιος» ἀεί, καὶ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν λέγει ὁ ἀψευδὴς καὶ μέγας θεός. 15.44 οὐ μὴ ἦν ὅτε «ἀπαύγασμα δόξης καὶ χαρακτῆρα ὑποστάσεως καὶ εἰκόνα ἀγαθότητος καὶ δύναμιν καὶ σοφίαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην θεοῦ» ἃ ὑπάρχειν τὸν αὐτὸν μονογενῆ Παῦλος μαρτυρεῖ οὐκ εἶχεν ὁ πατήρ, ἀλλ', ὃ μὴ προσῆκεν εἰπεῖν, ὕστερον ὁτιοῦν προσέλαβεν. 15.45 εἰ δὲ εἶχεν, ἦν ἀεὶ ὁ ταῦτα ὢν μονογενής. 15.46 οὔτε γὰρ ὁ ταῦτα ὢν ἐκτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ οὔτε ὁ θεὸς χωρὶς τοῦ ὄντος αὐτοῦ ταῦτά ποτε νοηθῆναι δύναται. ταῦτα δὲ ὑπάρχει ὁ μονογενής, οὐ καθάπερ ἕξις ἢ ἐπιτηδειότης, ἀλλ' οὐσιωδῶς, καθὰ προείρηται. 15.47 Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς κοσμογονίας τὰ πρῶτα δένδρα σὺν τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν καρποῖς συνυπέστη–καὶ παράδοξον οὐδέν, εἰ σὺν τῇ ῥίζῃ ὁ καρπὸς συνανέτειλεν–, πῶς ἀμήχανον κατ' ἀρχὰς τὸν εὐμήχανον πατέρα μὴ ἔγκαρπον γεγενῆσθαι τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ καὶ εὐθὺς ἐκ τῆς δόξης τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ συνεκλάμψαι τὸ ἀπαύγασμα; 15.48 καθὰ οὖν αὐτοῦ ἡ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως κάτω γέννησις ἑτέρᾳ γεννήσει οὐ συγκρίνεται–ἐκ παρθένου γὰρ ἄρευστος, ἀπήμαντος, ὅπερ ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν οὐκ ἔχει–, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἄνω γέννησις ἀκατάληπτος ὑπὲρ τὸ πλέον καὶ πᾶσαν ἐξαλλάττουσα γέννησιν ὑπάρχει. καὶ οὔτε ἀπιστεῖν χρὴ οὔτε μὴν ζητεῖν ἢ ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὸν τρόπον ἡμῖν ἀσφαλὲς τοῖς εἰπεῖν μὴ δυναμένοις, πῶς παρθένος ἔτεκεν μείνασα παρθένος μήτε δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν ἡμῶν γέννησιν ἐπισταμένοις. 15.49 ὅπου γε καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς εἰ ἐγινώσκομεν, οὐ πάντως καὶ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἥτις καὶ ταῖς ἐπουρανίοις δυνάμεσιν ἀκατάληπτος οὖσα τυγχάνει. 15.50 ∆ιὸ σὺν ἐκπλήξει ὁ προφήτης φησὶν περὶ μὲν τῆς κάτω γεννήσεως· «καὶ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν καὶ τίς
About this text
Didymus the Blind defends the full divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit against those who rank them.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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