Against Eunomius

§1. Preface.—It is useless to attempt to benefit those who will not accept help. It seems that the wish to benefit all, and to lavish indiscriminately upon the first comer one’s own gifts, was not a thing altogether…

§1–5 (¶1)

§6. A notice of Aetius, Eunomius’ master in heresy, and of Eunomius himself, describing the origin and avocations of each. Verily this did great damage to our declamation-writer, or rather to his patron and guide in…

§6–10 (¶2)

§11. The sophistry which he employs to prove our acknowledgment that he had been tried, and that the confession of his faith had not been unimpeached, is feeble.

§11–2 (¶3)

§14. He did wrong, when mentioning the Doctrines of Salvation, in adopting terms of his own choosing instead of the traditional terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

§14–18 (¶4)

§19. His acknowledgment that the Divine Being is ‘single’ is only verbal. “Each Being has, in fact and in conception, a nature unmixed, single, and absolutely one as estimated by its dignity; and as the works are…

§19–23 (¶5)

§24. His elaborate account of degrees and differences in ‘works’ and ‘energies’ within the Trinity is absurd. Now let us see what he adds, as the consequence of this.

§24–28 (¶6)

§29. He vainly thinks that the doubt about the energies is to be solved by the beings, and reversely. Now let us see what comes next. ‘The doubt about the energies is to be solved by the beings.’ What way is there of…

§29–33 (¶7)

§34. The Passage where he attacks the ‘ μ LXXX , and the contention in answer to it. I will omit to speak of the words which occur before this passage which has been quoted.

§34–38 (¶8)

1. Father (partly) means ᾽Αγέννητος Things which mean the same in part, mean the same in all (false premiss). Father means ᾽Αγέννητος (false). 2. Father means ᾽Αγέννητος (false).

§1–41 (¶9)

§42. Explanation of ‘Ungenerate,’ and a ‘study’ of Eternity. XCVII I The eternity of God’s life, to sketch it in mere outline, is on this wise.

§42–10 (¶10)

§1. The second book declares the Incarnation of God the Word, and the faith delivered by the Lord to His disciples, and asserts that the heretics who endeavour to overthrow this faith and devise other additional names…

§1–5 (¶1)

§6. He then shows the unity of the Son with the Father and Eunomius’ lack of understanding and knowledge in the Scriptures. CVII What he adds next after this is as follows:—“Having no sharer,” he says, “in His Godhead,…

§6–10 (¶2)

§11. After expounding the high estate of the Almighty, the Eternity of the Son, and the phrase “being made obedient,” he shows the folly of Eunomius in his assertion that the Son did not acquire His sonship by…

§11–15 (¶3)

§1. This third book shows a third fall of Eunomius, as refuting himself, and sometimes saying that the Son is to be called Only-begotten in virtue of natural generation, and that Holy Scripture proves this from the…

§1–5 (¶1)

§6. Thereafter he expounds the appellation of “Son,” and of “product of generation,” and very many varieties of “sons,” of God, of men, of rams, of perdition, of light, and of day.

§6–7 (¶2)

§1. The fourth book discusses the account of the nature of the “product of generation,” and of the passionless generation of the Only-Begotten, and the text, “In the beginning was the Word,” and the birth of the Virgin.

§1–5 (¶1)

§6. He then exposes argument about the “Generate,” and the “product of making,” and “product of creation,” and shows the impious nature of the language of Eunomius and Theognostus on S. John xi.

§6–9 (¶2)

§1. The fifth book promises to speak of the words contained in the saying of the Apostle Peter, but delays their exposition. He discourses first of the creation, to the effect that, while nothing therein is deserving of…

§1. The sixth book shows that He Who came for man’s salvation was not a mere man, as Eunomius, falsely slandering him, affirmed that the great Basil had said, but the Only-begotten Son of God, putting on human flesh,…

§1. The seventh book shows from various statements made to the Corinthians and to the Hebrews, and from the words of the Lord, that the word “Lord” is not expressive of essence, according to Eunomius’ exposition, but of…

§1. The eighth book very notably overthrows the blasphemy of the heretics who say that the Only-begotten came from nothing, and that there was a time when He was not, and shows the Son to be no new being, but from…

§1. The ninth book declares that Eunomius’ account of the Nature of God is, up to a certain point, well stated. Then in succession he mixes up with his own argument, on account of its affinity, the expression from…

§1. The tenth book discusses the unattainable and incomprehensible character of the enquiry into entities. And herein he strikingly sets forth the points concerning the nature and formation of the ant, and the passage…

§1. The eleventh book shows that the title of “Good” is due, not to the Father alone, as Eunomius, the imitator of Manichæus and Bardesanes, alleges, but to the Son also, Who formed man in goodness and loving-kindness,…

§1. This twelfth book gives a notable interpretation of the words of the Lord to Mary, “Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father.” But let us see what is the next addition that follows upon this profanity,…