Dialogues on the Holy Trinity, Dialogue 2 · §dialogue-2-open

Dialogue 2 opening: coeternal Son begotten by nature; Arians wound with soft words

Dialogue 2 — That the Son is also coeternal with God the Father and begotten from him by nature.

A. Is it not true, Hermias, that the tale of truth is simple by nature, and has its best seat in simple hearts, and is far sweeter than the bees’ labor? Divine David will persuade you it is so when he says to God the Savior of all, How sweet are your words to my throat, beyond honey to my mouth.

B. Yes. I too would agree that truth’s speech is altogether simple and sweeter than the combs themselves. But what sort of simplicity in these things should we take it to be?

A. What else would show truth’s tale simple for us than that it is free of tangled inquiries, and of a thought that looks somehow grim and unsmiling, composed for mischief, and that spends its strength not on what helps discovery of truth but on what can badly hurt those who listen? Look, if you will, as on a bright tablet, and see that my word has not missed what is fitting when you gaze at the heresy of Arius and those around him — to whom I think one must say, If the Ethiopian will change his skin and the leopard its spots, you too will be able to do good, having learned evil.

For their mind, I think, differs in nothing from a leopard. The beast is spotted in many ways and carries a mixed rush of colors on its back; they have a mind unlike and unjoined even to itself, and send upward the word from the heart. Their tongue is a wounding dart, as it is written; the words of their mouth are deceitful; they speak peace to their neighbor, and in themselves they keep enmity.

They pretend in no way to fight the Only-begotten’s glory; yet they wound as with a sharp dart, sending from the tongue words that contradict and are hard to bear.

B. What sort of words do you mean?

A. While they name the Only-begotten Word of God “Son” quite rightly, and do not refuse to agree that he has been begotten, they force truth’s account, turning the glory about him unholy into the very opposite, and shifting him into another nature than what is thought in the Father — as if he were outside and of another kind, or rather altogether standing away from the natural relation of the one said to beget, and no longer, on their showing, even of one who has begotten.

Greek

ΛΟΓΟΣ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ Ὅτι καὶ συναΐδιος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατὰ φύσιν γεννητὸς ὁ Υἱός. {Α.} Ἆρ' οὐκ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ὦ Ἑρμεία, ὡς ἁπλοῦς τε ἔφυ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ μῦθος καὶ ἀρίστην ὅτι μάλιστα τὴν ἕδραν ἐν καρδίαις ἔχει ταῖς ἁπλαῖς, παρὰ πολὺ δὲ ἡδίων ἢ μελιττῶν ἐστι πόνος; Ἀληθὲς δὲ ὅτι τὸ χρῆμά ἐστιν ἀναπείσει λέγων ὁ Θεῖος ∆αβὶδ πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Σωτῆρα Θεόν· "Ὡς γλυκέα τῷ λάρυγγί μου τὰ λόγιά σου, ὑπὲρ μέλι τῷ στόματί μου." {Β.} Ναί. Τῆς ἀληθείας κομιδῇ μὲν ἁπλοῦν καὶ κηρίων αὐτῶν ἡδίονα συμφήσαιμ' ἂν εἶναι καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν λόγον· ἁπλότητος δὲ τῆς ἔν γε τουτοισὶ ποδαπὸς ἂν νοοῖτο πρὸς ἡμῶν ὁ τρόπος; {Α.} Τί γὰρ ἕτερον ἁπλοῦν ἡμῖν ὄντα τῆς ἀληθείας τὸν μῦθον παραδείξειεν ἂν ἢ τὸ πολυπλόκων μὲν ἀπηλλάχθαι διασκεμμάτων καὶ οἱονεὶ βλοσυρόν τι καὶ ἀμειδὲς ὁρώσης ἐννοίας καὶ φιλοκακούργως συντεθειμένης καὶ τῆς ἐνούσης εὐσθενείας αὐτῇ ποιουμένης τὴν ἔνδειξιν οὐκ ἐφ' οἷς ὀνήσει πρὸς ἀληθείας εὕρεσιν, ἀλλ' ἐφ' οἷς ἂν οὐ μετρίως κατα λωβήσαιτο τοὺς ἀκροωμένους; Πάρα δέ, εἴ σοι δοκεῖ, καθάπερ ἐν πίνακι λαμπρῶς καθιδεῖν τὸν ἐμὸν τοῦ πρέποντος οὐχ ἡμαρτηκότα λόγον εἰ τὴν Ἀρείου τε καὶ τῶν ἀμφ' αὐτὸν καταθρήσεις αἵρεσιν, οἷς καὶ εὖ ἔχειν εἰπεῖν οἰήσομαι δεῖν· "Εἰ ἀλλάξεται Αἰθίοψ τὸ δέρμα αὐτοῦ καὶ πάρδαλις τὰ ποικίλματα αὐτῆς, καὶ ὑμεῖς δυνήσεσθε εὖ ποιεῖν, μεμαθηκότες τὰ κακά." Παρδάλεως γὰρ οἶμαι διενεγκεῖν οὐδὲν τῶν δι' ἐναντίας τὸν νοῦν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ποικίλως κατε στιγμένη, παμμιγῆ καὶ πάμμορφον χρωμάτων συνδρομὴν ἐπὶ νῶτα φέρει· οἱ δὲ ἀνόμιόν τε καὶ ἀσυναφῆ καὶ αὐτὸν ἔχουσι τὸν νοῦν, καὶ τὸν ἐκ καρδίας ἱεῖσι πρὸς τὸ ἄνω λόγον. "Βόλις γὰρ τιτρώσκουσα ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, δόλια τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν. Τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ λαλεῖ εἰρηνικά, καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει τὴν 418 ἔχθραν." Ὑποπλάττονται μὲν γὰρ κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον τῇ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἀντιφέρεσθαι δόξῃ· τιτρώσκουσι δὲ καθάπερ ὀξείᾳ βολίδι, παλίμφημά τε καὶ δυσαχθῆ τὰ ἀπὸ γλώττης ἱέντες ῥήματα. {Β.} Τὰ ποῖα ἅττα φῄς; {Α.} Ὀρθῶς γὰρ δὴ λίαν Υἱὸν ὀνομάζοντες τὸν μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, καὶ μὴν καὶ ὡς εἴη γεγεννημένος συνομο λογεῖν οὐ παραιτούμενοι, τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας παραβιάζονται λόγον, περιτρέποντες ἀνοσίως εἰς πᾶν τοὐναντίον τὴν ἐπ' αὐτῷ δόξαν, καὶ εἰς ἑτέραν τινὰ μεθιστάντες φύσιν παρὰ τὴν ἐν Πατρὶ νοουμένην, ὡς ἐξούσιόν τε εἶναι καὶ ἑτεροφυά, μᾶλλον δὲ εἰσάπαν ἐξεστηκότα τῆς τοῦ λεγομένου τεκεῖν σχέσεως φυσικῆς, οὐκ ἔτι δὲ κατ' αὐτοὺς καὶ γεγεννη κότος. Τὸ δὲ δὴ πρὸς τοῦτο ἠλιθιότητος καθικνεῖσθαι φιλεῖν, φαίην ἂν ἔγωγε προξενεῖν αὐτοῖς ἕτερον οὐδὲν ἢ ἐκεῖνο. {Β.} Τὸ ποῖον δή;

About this text

Cyril of Alexandria, Dialogue 2 on the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity (Greek). Complete on this page: opening + rem CLOSEOUT.

English follows PG 75 Greek (CPG 5216). Durand SC French and modern English syncs were not used as wording. Dialogue 2 CLOSEOUT.

Witnesses

Copy-text PG 75 — De sancta et consubstantiali Trinitate dialogi (Greek · Dialogue 1 prologue + opening)

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.