Logos I opening: unbegotten and begotten — better to call God Father than unbegotten
First discourse. On the unbegotten and the begotten — in which: that it is better and more worthy to call God Father than unbegotten.
If Arians try to interrogate us, putting forward the names “unbegotten” and “begotten” as if they marked two unlike substances, we must not let the quarrel of words overturn the faith. Scripture names God Father more often and more fittingly than “unbegotten,” and the Son is confessed begotten without being ranked among things made.
The question is not whether a sound can be found that the Father alone bears, but what the Church’s preaching holds: the Father begets the Son eternally, and “Father” says more of God than a bare denial of having been made.
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΣ. Περὶ γενητοῦ καὶ ἀγενήτου. Εἰ διερωτᾷν ἡμᾶς ἐπιχειροῖεν Ἀρειανοὶ, ἓν τὸ ἀγένητον ἢ δύο, ἵνα δῆθεν ἓν εἰπόντες αὐτὸ, καὶ εἰς τὸν Πατέρα φέροντες, ἐν τοῖς γενητοῖς καταριθμήσωμεν τὸν Υἱὸν, ἀποκρίνασθαι χρὴ τοιῶσδε· πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἀμαθὴς καὶ ἀπαίδευτος ἡ ἐρώτησις· κατὰ πολλὰ γὰρ σημαινόμενα τὸ ἀγένητον ἐκλαμβάνεται. Ἀγένητόν ἐστι τὸ μήπω μὲν γενόμενον, ἐνδεχόμενον δὲ γενέσθαι, ὡς ἀπὸ ξύλου σκάφος, ἢ ἐκ χαλκοῦ ἀνδριάς. Καὶ πάλιν ἀγένητον λέγεται τὸ μήτε γενόμενον πώποτε, μήτε μὴν γενέσθαι δυνάμενον· φέρε εἰπεῖν, τὸ τρίγωνον σχῆμα οὐ γέγονέ ποτε τετράγωνον, οὔτ' ἂν γένοιτό ποτε· ἅμα γὰρ ἀφανίζεται τοῦ τριγώνου τὸ σχῆμα, ἕτερόν τι παρ' ὅπερ ἦν γίνεται. Λέγεται πάλιν ἀγένητον, τὸ ὑπάρχον μὲν καὶ ὑφεστηκὸς, μὴ μὴν γεγενημένον ὑπό τινος. Κατὰ πολλοὺς τοιγαροῦν νοουμένου τρόπους τοῦ ἀγενήτου, τί ἄρα σημαίνειν ἐπὶ Θεοῦ βούλονται τὸ, ἀγένητον; Ἀλλ' ἴσως τὸ μὴ γεγενῆσθαι φήσουσιν, ὁμολογήσαντες πρότερον ἀπαιδεύτως πεποιῆσθαι τὴν ἐπερώτησιν. Λεγέσθω τοίνυν καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν ὅτι ἓν τὸ ἀγένητον. Εἰ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο φαῖεν, Οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη πᾶσα συνομολογεῖν γεγενῆσθαι τὸν Υἱὸν, ἐπειδὴ τὸ ἀγένητον ἓν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ Πατὴρ, ἀντακούσονται πάλιν· Εἰ σοφία καὶ δύναμις, καὶ λόγος τοῦ Πατρός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός· ἦν δὲ ἀεὶ ἐν Πατρὶ λόγος, καὶ σοφία, καὶ δύναμις, οὐκ ἐπιγέγονεν οὖν ὁ Υἱὸς, ὃς ταῦτά ἐστι καὶ καλεῖται. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκ Θεοῦ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐκ φωτὸς ἐξέλαμψε φῶς, οὕτω καὶ ἐξ ἀγενήτου ἀγένητος. ∆εῖ γὰρ εἶναι τοιοῦτον τὸν Λόγον, ὁποῖός ἐστι καὶ ὁ γεννήσας αὐτόν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν τὸ τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐσίας γνήσιον ἐπαληθεύοιτο τῷ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννωμένῳ. Κωλύει τοίνυν οὐδὲν ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ ἀγενήτου Πατρὸς, ἀγένητον εἶναι καὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ Λόγον, ὡς ἕν τι μετὰ Πατρὸς καὶ ἐν Πατρὶ νοούμενον διὰ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἀπαράλλακτον· ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φησιν· Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν, διὰ μὲν τοῦ, ἓν, τὴν ταυτότητα τῆς οὐσίας σημαίνων· διὰ δὲ τοῦ, ἐσμὲν, εις δυάδα τέμνων τὸ νοούμενον, καὶ πάλιν εἰς μίαν περισφίγγων Θεότητα. ΑΛΛΟ. Εἰ τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰκὼν ἀπαράλλακτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱὸς, ὡς ἐκεῖνον ἐν αὐτῷ φαίνεσθαι, κατὰ τὸ, Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ, ἑώρακε καὶ τὸν Πατέρα, ἀνάγκη λέγειν, ἀγένητον εἶναι τὸν ἐξ ἀγενήτου προελθόντα Πατρός· ἐπεὶ πῶς ἂν ἐν τῷ γενητῷ ὀφθείη ποτὲ τὸ ἀγένητον; Εἰ γὰρ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἐν τῷ μιμήματι φαίνοιτο, ἔσται πάντως κατὰ τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο. Ὥρα λέγειν οὖν γενητὸν εἶναι καὶ τὸν Πατέρα, καθ' ὃν ἡ εἰκὼν ἐμορφώθη. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἄτοπον, ἔσται πάντως ἀγενήτου τὸ ἀγένητον εἰκών. ΑΛΛΟ.
About this text
Cyril of Alexandria, Thesaurus on the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity (Greek). SERIES on this page: prologue + Logos I–XXXV CLOSEOUT.
English follows PG 75 Greek (CPG 5215). Greystone / Durand SC / modern English syncs were not used as wording. Thesaurus SERIES CLOSEOUT prologue + Logos I–XXXV.
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 75 — Thesaurus de sancta et consubstantiali Trinitate (Greek)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.