Traduction Masquer
Against Five Heresies

7.

But I, says the Manichean, neither accept Moses nor the Prophets. What do you say about the Apostle Paul, who wrote at the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh ¹. Although we responded to others, we did not remain silent: but even now, keeping his order, let us see what arrows he throws. Let no one's [P. 1108] powerful person terrify: All flesh is grass ². You see grass growing daily, you see it blooming, what are you afraid of? Such fruits does the deserted earth bring forth. I do not accuse farmers, but I seek. Where are you now, O good farmers? What are you doing? Why are you idle? You see how full this earth is of evils: here thorns, there thistles, here grass grows. Burn the thorns, uproot the thistles, cut the grass, sow good seeds, do not be afraid of winter: and if iniquity abounds, let your charity still burn. Sow in winter, that you may reap in summer. But to whom do I speak? Where are the fountains of tears? To which farmers do I speak? Some are dead, others are driven away: the earth is delivered into the hands of the wicked ³, tribulation and necessity have found us. Lord, give us help from tribulation, that the salvation of man may not be vain, but true ⁴. What do you say, Arian? I ask you to answer the question. I do not want you to despise the little one, the great form does not help you, the great arms do not protect you, the blow of a single stone penetrates the helmeted forehead ⁵. So tell me what I ask you: Do you believe in God the Father Almighty? I believe, he says. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord? I believe, he says. Do you believe that Jesus Christ, God and man, was born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary? I believe, he says. You do well. I still ask: As the Father is God, so is the Son God? Yes. Is the Father one, the Son another? And especially. Is the Son equal to the Father? Equal, he says. What remains? Behold, he has answered everything I asked. In that he says he believes in God the Father and God the Son, he is contrary to the Pagan with me. In that he believes Christ is God and man born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, he is with me against the Jew and the Manichean. In that he believes the Father is one, the Son another, he is with me against the Sabellian. Come, if you are with me in all things, why do we argue? If we have one inheritance, let us possess it together; we are brothers: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ⁶! Why is there a new building before the wall? Let us watch together for the protection of our inheritance. Our inheritance is glorious to us ⁷. We have the envious, we have enemies: and they want to possess it, not with us, but against us. Let no one usurp anything for himself: this inheritance has been left to us so that it may be possessed undivided, not dissipated in parts. Let us gather the fruit together, lest we lose it by dividing. Poverty makes me anxious; I beg you, do not gather outside without me, lest you begin to scatter. He who does not gather with me, scatters ⁸. I almost forgot with whom I was dealing; but I have not forgotten, I question the Arian, whom I desire to be catholic. Someone says: He has answered everything you wanted, nothing adverse is found in his answers: what more do you seek? Wait, brother, do not judge easily, I still have something to ask: do not quickly commit yourself to him, the answer is clear, the poison is hidden. What did you say, brother? Is the Son equal to the Father? Equal, you say. Now be vigilant, now what was hidden will be revealed. How do you say the Son is equal to the Father? In operation, or in origin? In power, or in eternity? Or perhaps in both? By no means, you say. He is equal in operation and power, not in eternity: for how can the begotten be equal to the unbegotten? Behold, he who was walking with me as if a co-heir, the deceit that was hidden has appeared. He was thought to possess with me, he wants to divide: but I do not allow it; I absolutely resist. The laws require that the testator's will be obeyed in all things: if anyone wishes to act against the testator's will, let him be deprived of the inheritance. But do the laws fall silent among arms ⁹? Not at all: we labor, we fight, so that the laws may be served. I bring forth the testament, I recite the words of the testator: if there is something to be divided, I find it there: if there is nothing to be divided, I resist you with the testament itself. Hear what the testament has: Peace I leave with you, [P. 1109] my peace I give unto you ¹⁰. This is the inheritance. And who is the testator himself? Read the Testament, and you will find. When the prophet was speaking of the Lord, he said; He shall be magnified unto the ends of the earth, and this man shall be the peace (Micah V, 4, 5). Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men ¹¹; not to those who divide the holy unity, but to men of good will. He is the inheritance, he is the testator, you seek to divide him. Why do you divide one? If you divide one, you will have nothing whole. O Arian heresy, cruel and impious harlot, blush with Solomon judging. The harlot, lest she lose her living son, conceived from wherever, already born, did not allow her son to be divided; and do you divide your Lord God? She, though a harlot, was pious because she was a mother; you are both a harlot and impious because you are not a mother, you strangle what you bear, you gather what you do not bear. How do you nurse another's child, who kill your own? Your bowels have hardened, hers trembled. What did she say? Give her the child, and do not divide him ¹²: He is my son; but I would rather rejoice that he is whole and alive with her, than mourn him divided and dead. He is my son, she says; but what good will I do as a mother to the child if I take away the life I do not give? I want to repel the cruel woman from the child, but I am more compelled to fear the judge's sword. Give her my son: he is my born; but let him go to her whole, let affection remain with me. Give her the whole child, let not the life of the members be taken away: let not the integrity be divided, let not my piety be taken away. What did she say, Give her the child and do not divide him? Behold, I also say, possess the whole, and do not divide God. No, he says; but if you want to have peace without prejudice, divide the inheritance. And how do I divide it? The Father is greater, the Son is lesser? O parts! O justice! O equality! One part is greater, the other lesser. I do not consent, I do not make a part; because I do not divide peace. For if peace is broken, it will no longer be peace. But how can peace remain inviolate with you, with whom faith is not whole? Therefore, because you do not want to possess with me, and you want to divide peace, you cannot obtain the inheritance. Finally, if you are inclined to your custom, not to peace, but to perfidy, go, appeal to the judge, let us see what he will say to you. You have an ordinary judge, I do not want you to bring me other and other powers from different parts. I do not need an armed man, but a lawgiver. And where, you ask, do I find him? Where do you not find him? Hear the prophet saying: The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver. Do not think the judge is to be despised; hear what follows: The Lord is our king, the Lord himself will save us ¹³. Behold, you have a judge. If it is not enough, our king is also before you. He is in heaven, so as not to forsake the earth. Heaven, he says, and earth I fill ¹⁴. I am with you all days until the end of the world ¹⁵. And he is with us, and with the Father: because he did not leave the Father when he descended to us; nor did he forsake us when he ascended to the Father. Appeal to him, say to him: Lord, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Hear the divine response, hear the just judge; hear peace, fleeing strife: what does he say? Friend, who made me a judge or a divider over you ¹⁶? You want to divide peace, and you seek to have a judge of peace? I do not want to be your judge; I am peace, I do not know how to litigate; I sit with those who agree, I flee from those who litigate. If when you were an enemy to my Father, I reconciled you through me, how then will you separate me from my Father? When you were far away, I came to bring you back: when you wandered among mountains and forests, I sought you: among stones and woods I found you: you stumbled on stones, you clung to them, because you worshipped wood and stones. And lest you be torn by the greedy mouth of wolves and wild beasts, I gathered you, I carried you on my shoulders, I returned you to my father, I labored, I sweated, I placed my head under thorns, I exposed my hands to nails, a spear opened my side: I was lacerated by so many not to say injuries, but also asperities: I shed my blood, I laid down my life, [P. 1110] to join you to me, and you divide me? Hear what is answered to the disciple who knew the Son and sought the Father. Philip said to the Lord: Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Did he not also separate the Son from the Father? Now you, he says, we know, but we do not know your Father. And what do you want? Show us the Father, and it suffices us. And the Lord to him. If you want, Arian, to hear, you erred with the Apostle, return with the Apostle: let his rebuke also be your cure. What does the Lord say? Have I been so long with you, and you have not known me? Philip, I came to attach you to my Father, do not separate me: why do you seek as if another besides me? He who has seen me has seen the Father. There is such unity in us, such likeness, such love, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. I sense, Sabellian, what you mutter, or you hasten to enclose me in the Arian, or to call me away from the Arian. But in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; not of three, but of one God; when I respond to him, I do not pass over you. What did the Lord say? He who has seen me has seen the Father. Did he say, He who has seen me, has seen the Father; or, I am the Son and the Father at the same time? But he said, I in the Father, and the Father in me; and He who has seen me has seen the Father ¹⁷. The insertion of one syllable, which is called And, distinguishes both the Father and the Son; and shows you that you have neither the Father nor the Son. Tell me, Arian: Do you say the Father is God? And especially. What about the Son? I also confess him to be God. How do you recognize this? Because when he was foretold to come in the flesh, the prophet said of him, Say to the faint-hearted, Be strong: fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you ¹⁸. Recognize, in what you say you recognize, if you do not oppose the Prophets. What then do you say about the Father? He is God. What about the Son? He is God. Is the Son coeternal with the Father? No. Therefore there was a time when the Son was not, according to you. If there was a time when the Son was not, then there was a time that the Son did not make. If there was a time that the Son did not make, not all things were made by him: for there was already time when the Son was not. If there was a time when the Son was not, the evangelist John should not have said, In the beginning was the Word; but, In the beginning was time. John says, All things were made by him ¹⁹: but the Arian contradicts. Tell me, Arian: how do you know there was a time when the Son was not? Or perhaps you will say, And how does John know that in the beginning was the Word? Because he reclined on the Lord's breast, and from there he drew what he drank at the feast of Christ, because in the beginning was the Word. Yet tell me, when in the beginning was the Word ²⁰, or when John reclined on the Lord's breast ²¹, and learned from the Word of the Lord that the Word was in the beginning, and the Word was God: where was Arius? I do not know if you dare to say he was there. It is known and read at what time he was born, and why he was condemned. It is also known how he lived, how he died: and therefore you do not dare to say of Arius, as of the Word, And he was, and he is: because neither was Arius then, nor is he now. But to exclude the Arian in all things, hear what is said through Solomon: The Lord made regions and uninhabitable places under heaven. When he prepared the heavens, I was there with him. And after a few words: I was with him arranging all things: I was there when he made the strong foundations of the earth: I was the one he rejoiced in ²². But you say, It is about time; whether the Son was before there was time. Hear him saying through the prophet: From the time, he says. What is, From the time? Is it not from when time began to be? Not so, impious Arian; not so: but, From the time, before it was made, I was there ²³. Behold, before time was made, he was there. Now seek when he was not, who was before times. In the beginning was the Word. The Greeks say it better, Λόγος. Λόγος indeed signifies both word and reason. You see, therefore, that he always was, of whom you dare to say, He was not. Or if you say that God was ever without word, or without reason, you will not only be an adversary to the Son, but also to the Father [P. 1111]. I, he says, came forth from the mouth of the Most High ²⁴. Who says this? The Word. And what is this Word? Let John say: The Word was God. And therefore the Word, and whose Word it was, are not two, but one. No, you say: because the word is later than he whose word it is, whence it appears that the Son is lesser than the Father. You deny, therefore, that the Son of God is God. I do not deny, you say: and I call the Father God, and the Son God; but the Father greater, the Son lesser. How long is the Father greater, the Son lesser? Tell me, because I see you want to calculate eternity: by how many years does God the Father precede his Son? Where have you read the day of the birth of the Son of God? I say the Son of God, I do not say the Son of God and man. Where then have you read the day of his birth? With which mathematician did you seek and discuss the constellation of the Creator of the stars? What times, what hours, what moments, what numbers, what small moments of his birth, who created all things, have you collected? Let your heretical, not religion, but superstition rest, I beg: calculation fails concerning the beginning of Christ. Because when eternity is heard without beginning, no age is sought there. If the Father is God, and the Son is God, the Father greater, the Son lesser: now not one God, but two gods. If there are two gods, what then does the Lord say through the prophet, Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be none ²⁵? What do you say, Arian? To whom do you attribute these words? If they are the Father's, by saying, Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be none: either the Father himself will not be, or the Son will not be God. For if he only said, Before me there was no God formed; and did not add, and after me there shall be none: it was free for you to apply these words only to the Father. But when he follows and says, after me there shall be none: according to you, as I said, he denies both himself as Father and the Son as God. Again, if these words are the Son's, he denies his Father and God and Father. For if he did not say, Before me there was no God formed; but only said, after me there shall be none: it might perhaps be said that the Son spoke it. Now, however, when he says, Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be none: he says his Father is neither God nor Father. Again, if these words are the Father's; who says, to whom does he say, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ²⁶? Or perhaps, God forbid, is God to be accused of lying? But if these words are the Son's, who says, of whom does he say, My Father worketh hitherto ²⁷? Or perhaps he is to be judged injurious to the Father and ungrateful? But would it be said to the ungrateful, Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession ²⁸? Or perhaps the Prophet either did not know what he was saying, or wished to deceive; or to say something milder about the Prophet, is he to be believed to have invented two conversing, that is, the Father and the Son; and the Father saying, Before me there was no God formed, the Son added, And after me there shall be none? Are we acting out mimes and jests, or divine things? O crime! Alas! Spare, spare, heretical impiety. When you do not understand God, you also provoke us to blasphemy. The holy Church does not teach this. The Father is the Father; the Son is the Son: and he never was not the Father, and he never was not the Son: both eternal, neither began to be, nor cease. What the Father speaks, the Son speaks, because he is the Word of the Father: and what the Son speaks, the Father speaks, because the Father is the Word. The Word itself says, The words that I speak, I speak not of myself ²⁹. Grant, I pray, to the Creator what he himself granted to the creature, and in the creature, if you can, understand the Creator. Behold, fire and splendor are two, one is from the other, nor is one without the other: fire is the father, splendor is the son. He, if he could, would say, What I shine, I do not shine of myself; but he who sent me, he gave me to shine. For fire sends forth splendor. And as the Son of God the Father says, The Father is with me ³⁰; so splendor could say, Fire is with me. Extinguish the fire, the splendor will appear nowhere. If therefore fire and splendor, father and son, one father without a consort, the other son without a mother; nor can one be divided from the other; and while one is from the other, yet the beginning of one cannot be without the other; this being possible, granted by the Creator to the creature: what can the Creator himself do? Let the Pagan come, let the Sabellian come, let the Arian come: let them contemplate the lamp, see in it what they cannot see in God. I do not do injury, if in some part desiring to show the power of such a great Creator, I bring a small likeness from fire or a lamp. For it is written, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, O Lord, and a light unto my path ³¹. And it is said of God, A consuming fire ³². Come, therefore, and diligently consider the lamp, and remove your foolish darkness. Let the Pagan look, and there learn that there is a Father without a consort and a Son, and how the Son was born: and if you are not blind, see there; seek the middle between fire and splendor. If there is no middle, there is no consort. Do not wish to search for the middle, lest you suffer a great burning. Let the Sabellian come, see two in one, fire and splendor. Can splendor not rightly say, I in the fire, and the fire in me; just as the Son says, I in the Father, and the Father in me ³³? Let the Arian also come, see also one from the other, yet one cannot be born without the other: neither is one prior, nor one posterior; the father and son, splendor and fire, are coeval: neither fire without splendor, nor splendor without fire can exist. Or certainly, if it pleases, put forth your hand, divide one from the other: show me fire without splendor, or splendor without fire. God forbid, God forbid: you will only be able to burn, you will not be able to separate one from the other. For as fire and splendor are one from the other, yet one cannot be without the other: so God the Father and God the Son are one from the other, yet one cannot be without the other. They do not have a beginning that is not, but one eternity and substance. Fire and splendor are temporal: but God the Father and God the Son are eternal. I say they are, because Father and Son; I say God, because they are one. Duality in offspring, unity in deity. The birth makes them two, but the divinity shows them to be one. When I say, Son, he is another: when I say, God, he is one. He is another, because he is the Son: he is not another thing, because he is God. Blush, Arians. The tunic of the man already judged on the cross by Pilate's executioners was not dared to be torn ³⁴: and do you attempt to divide the love of God sitting in heaven, indeed the love itself, God? But try; as much as you can, try, you have already fallen into hell: for you will never tear that tunic. Again, the Lord says through the prophet, There is no God beside me: a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me ³⁵.

Edition Masquer
Sermo 10, aduersus quinque haereses.

7.

Sed ego, inquit Manichaeus, nec Moysen accipio, nec Prophetas. Quid ais de Paulo apostolo, qui in exordio Epistolae suae ad Romanos scripsit, Paulus servus Jesu Christi vocatus apostolus, segregatus in Evangelium Dei, quod ante promiserat per Prophetas suos in Scripturis sanctis de Filio suo, qui factus est ei ex semine David secundum carnem ¹. Jam quidem cum aliis responderemus, nec ipsi tacuimus: sed etiam nunc servato ipsius ordine, videamus quae spicula jaciat. Nullius [P. 1108] terreat persona potentis: Omnis caro fenum ². Vides quotidie fenum crescere, vides florere, quid expavescis? Tales fructus deserta germinat terra. Agricolas non accuso, sed quaero. Ubi modo estis, o boni agricolae? Quid agitis? quare vacatis? Videtis quot malis ista plena sit terra: hinc spinae, hinc tribuli, hinc fenum surgit. Spinas incendite, tribulos eradicate, fenum secate, bona semina spargite, non vos terreat hiems: et si abundat iniquitas, tamen vestra ferveat charitas. Serite hieme, quod metatis aestate. Sed quibus dico? Ubi estis fontes lacrymarum? Quibus agricolis loquor? Alii sunt mortui, alii fugati: terra tradita est in manus impii ³, tribulatio et necessitas invenerunt nos. Domine, da nobis auxilium de tribulatione, ut salus hominis non sit vana, sed vera ⁴ Quid dicis, Ariane? Interroganti quaeso respondeas. Nolo despicias parvulum, non te grandis forma juvat, non magna protegunt arma, unius lapidis ictus frontem penetrat galeatam ⁵. Dic mihi ergo quod te interrogo: Credis in Deum Patrem omnipotentem? Credo, inquit. Credis in Jesum Christum Filium ejus Dominum nostrum? Credo, inquit. Credis Deum et hominem Jesum Christum natum de Spiritu sancto ex virgine Maria? Credo, inquit. Bene facis. Adhuc interrogo: Sicut Pater Deus est, ita et Filius Deus est? Ita. Alius est Pater, Alius Filius? Et maxime. Aequalis est Patri Filius? Aequalis, inquit. Quid restat? Ecce ad omnia quae interrogavi, respondit. In eo quod credere se dicit Deum Patrem et Deum Filium, contrarius est mecum Pagano. In eo quod credit Christum Deum et hominem natum de Spiritu sancto ex virgine Maria, mecum est contra Judaeum et Manichaeum. In eo quod credit alium esse Patrem, alium Filium, mecum est contra Sabellianum. Age, si mecum es in omnibus, quare litigamus? Si una nobis est haereditas, simul possideamus; fratres sumus: Ecce quam bonum et jucundum habitare fratres in unum ⁶! Quare est nova fabrica ante murum? Simul ad custodiam nostrae haereditatis in vigilemus. Haereditas nostra praeclara est nobis ⁷. Habemus invidos, habemus inimicos: et ipsi possidere volunt, non nobiscum, sed contra nos. Nemo sibi usurpet aliquid: haereditas ista sic est nobis dimissa, ut indivisa possideatur, non partibus dissipetur. Simul fructum colligamus, ne dividendo perdamus. Paupertas sollicitum me facit; rogo te, noli foras praeter me colligere, ne incipias spargere. Qui enim mecum non colligit, spargit ⁸. Quasi oblitus sum, cum quo agebam; sed non sum oblitus, interrogo Arianum, quem desidero esse catholicum. Dicit aliquis: Ad omnia quae voluisti respondit, in responsionibus illius nihil invenitur adversum: quid amplius quaeris? Exspecta, frater, noli facile judicare, habeo adhuc quod interrogem: noli cito te illi committere, responsio claret, virus latet. Quid dixisti, frater? Aequalis est Patri Filius? Aequalis, inquis. Eia modo vigila, modo manifestabitur quod latebat. Quomodo dicis aequalem Patri Filium? operatione, an origine? potestate, an aeternitate? an forte in utroque? Absit, inquis. Operatione et potestate aequalis est, non aeternitate: quomodo enim fieri potest, ut genitus sit aequalis ingenito? En adest ille qui mecum quasi cohaeres ambulabat, dolus apparuit qui latebat. Mecum possidere putabatur, vult dividere: sed non permitto; prorsus resisto. Leges habent ut testatoris voluntati in omnibus pareatur: si quis contra voluntatem testatoris facere voluerit, careat haereditate. Sed silent leges inter arma ⁹? Non prorsus: ad hoc laboratur, ad hoc pugnatur, ut legibus serviatur. Testamentum profero, verba testatoris recito: si est quod dividatur, ibi invenio: si non est quod dividatur, de ipso testamento tibi resisto. Audi quid habet testamentum: Pacem meam do vobis, [P. 1109] pacem relinquo vobis ¹⁰. Haec est haereditas. Et quis est ipse testator? Lege Testamentum, et invenies. Cum propheta de Domino loqueretur, ait; Magnificabitur usque ad terminos orbis terrae, et erit ipse pax (Michaeae V, 4, 5). Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus ¹¹; non divisoribus sanctae unitatis, sed hominibus bonae voluntatis. Ipse est haereditas, ipse est testator, ipsum quaeris dividere. Quid partiris unum? Si unum diviseris, integrum nihil habebis. O ariana haeresis, crudelis et impia meretrix, erubesce judicante Salomone. Meretrix, ne unum vivum, ne undecumque conceptum, jamque partum perderet, non permisit dividi filium suum; et tu dividis Dominum Deum tuum? Illa etsi meretrix, tamen pia, quia mater; tu et meretrix et impia, quia non mater, quod paris praefocas, quod non paris congregas. Quomodo alienum lactas, quae tuum necas? Viscera tua duruerunt, illius tremuerunt. Quid dixit? Date illi puerum, et nolite dividere eum ¹²: Filius meus est; sed melius apud illam integrum gaudeo vivum, quam divisum lugeam mortuum. Filius meus est, inquit; sed quid prodero mater puero, si vitam quam non confero, aufero? volo illius crudelis a parvulo repellere ubera, sed magis cogor judicis timere machaeram. Date illi filium meum: meus est natus; sed migret ad illam totus, apud me maneat affectus. Date illi puerum totum, non auferatur vita membrorum: non dividatur integritas, mihi non eripitur pietas. Quid dixit, Date illi puerum et nolite dividere eum? Ecce et ego dico, totum posside, et noli dividere Deum. Non, inquit; sed si vis habere pacem sine praejudicio, divide haereditatem. Et quomodo habeo dividere? Pater major est, Filius minor? O partes! o justitia! o aequalitas! Una pars major est, alia minor. Non consentio, non facio partem; quia non divido pacem. Si enim fracta fuerit pax, jam non erit pax. Sed quomodo apud te pax illibata esse potest, apud quem fides integra non est? Unde, quia mecum non vis possidere, et pacem vis dividere, haereditatem non potes obtinere. Postremo si more tuo non paci, sed perfidiae studes, vade, interpella judicem, videamus quid tibi dicturus est. Habes judicem ordinarium, nolo mihi adducas ex diversis partibus alias atque alias potestates. Non mihi armiger, sed legifer necessarius est. Et ubi, inquis, istum invenio? Ubi autem eum non invenies? Audi prophetam dicentem: Dominus judex noster, Dominus legifer noster. Nec contemnendum judicem putes; audi quid sequitur: Dominus rex noster, Dominus ipse salvabit nos ¹³. Ecce habes judicem. Si parum est, et rex noster ante te est. Sic est in coelo, ut non deserat terram. Coelum, inquit, et terram ego impleo ¹⁴. Vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi ¹⁵. Et nobiscum est, et cum Patre est: quia nec Patrem dimisit, cum ad nos descendit; nec nos deseruit, cum ad Patrem ascendit. Ipsum interpella, ipsi dic: Domine, dic fratri meo ut dividat mecum haereditatem. Audi responsum divinum, audi judicem justum; audi pacem, fugientem litem: quid ait? Amice, quis me constituit judicem aut divisorem inter vos ¹⁶? Vis dividere pacem, et quaeris habere judicem pacem? Judex tuus nolo esse; ego pax sum, litigare non novi; consentientibus assideo, litigantes fugio. Si tu cum esses inimicus Patri meo, reconciliavi te per me, quomodo ergo a Patre meo separabis me? Ego cum esses longe, veni ut reducerem te: cum inter montes et silvas errares, quaesivi te: inter lapides et ligna inveni te: in lapidibus offendebas, ipsis adhaerebas, quia ligna et lapides adorabas. Et ne luporum ferarumque avido ore laniareris, collegi te, humeris meis portavi te, patri meo reddidi te, laboravi, sudavi, caput meum spinis supposui, manus meas clavis objeci, lancea latus meum aperuit: tot non dicam injuriis, sed et asperitatibus laceratus sum: sanguinem meum fudi, animam meam posui, [P. 1110] ut mihi conjungerem te, et tu dividis me? Audi quid respondeatur discipulo, qui Filium noverat, et Patrem quaerebat. Ait Philippus Domino: Domine, ostende nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis. Numquid non et ipse Filium separabat a Patre? Jam te, inquit, novimus, sed Patrem tuum non novimus. Et quid vis? Ostende nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis. Et Dominus ad eum. Si vis, Ariane, audire, errasti cum Apostolo, redi cum Apostolo: sit illius objurgatio etiam tua curatio. Quid ait Dominus? Tanto tempore, inquit, vobiscum sum, et non cognovistis me? Philippe, ego veni Patri meo te applicare, tu noli me separare: quid quaeris quasi alterum praeter me? Qui me vidit, vidit et Patrem. Tanta in nobis est unitas, tanta similitudo, tanta charitas, ut ego in Patre sim, et Pater in me. Sentio, Sabelliane, quid mussitas, aut in Ariano me concludere, aut ab Ariano avocare festinas. Sed in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti; non trium, sed unius Dei; cum illi respondeo, te non praetereo. Quid dixit Dominus? Qui me vidit, vidit et Patrem. Numquid dixit, Qui vidit me, vidit Patrem; aut, Ego sum Filius simul et Pater? Sed dixit, Ego in Patre, et Pater in me; et Qui me vidit, vidit et Patrem ¹⁷. Interpositio unius syllabae, quae dicitur Et, discernit et Patrem, discernit et Filium; teque demonstrat nec Patrem habere, nec Filium. Dic mihi, Ariane: Patrem dicis Deum? Et maxime. Quid Filium? Ipsum quoque Deum confiteor. Unde agnoscis? Quia cum praenuntiaretur in carne venturus, de ipso propheta dixit, Dicite, Pusillanimes confortamini: nolite timere, ecce Deus noster ultionem adducet retributionis; Deus ipse veniet, et salvabit nos ¹⁸. Agnosce, in eo quod te agnoscere dicis, si Prophetae non adversaris. Quid ergo dicis de Patre? Deus est. Quid Filius? Deus est. Coaeternus est Patri Filius? Non. Ergo erat tempus, quando non erat Filius, secundum te. Si erat tempus quando non erat Filius, ergo fuit tempus quod non fecit Filius. Si fuit tempus quod non fecit Filius, non omnia per ipsum facta sunt: jam enim erat tempus, quando non erat Filius. Si erat tempus, quando non erat Filius, Joannes evangelista non debuerat dicere, In principio erat Verbum; sed, In principio erat tempus. Joannes dicit, Omnia per ipsum facta sunt ¹⁹: sed Arianus contradicit. Dic, Ariane: unde scis quia erat tempus, quando non erat Filius? An forte dicturus es, Et Joannes unde scit, quia in principio erat Verbum? Quia super pectus Domini discumbebat, et inde hauriebat quod in convivio Christi bibebat, quia in principio erat Verbum. Tamen dic mihi, quando in principio erat Verbum ²⁰, vel quando Joannes super pectus Domini recumbebat ²¹, et a Verbo Domini discebat, quia Verbum erat in principio, et Verbum Deus erat: Arius ubi erat? Nescio, si audes dicere ibi erat. Notum est enim et legitur quo tempore natus est, meritoque sit damnatus. Notum est etiam quomodo vixerit, quomodo mortuus fuerit: et ideo non audes dicere de Ario, sicut de Verbo, Et fuit, et est: quia nec tunc fuit Arius, nec modo est. Sed ut in omnibus excludatur Arianus, audi quid per Salomonem dicatur: Dominus fecit regiones et fines inhabitabiles sub coelo. Cum pararet coelum, aderam illi. Et post pauca: Eram ego apud illum cuncta disponens: ego eram quando faciebat fortia fundamenta terrae: ego eram cui adgaudebat ²². Sed dicis, De tempore agitur; utrum fuerit Filius antequam esset tempus. Audi ipsum per prophetam dicentem: Ex tempore, inquit. Quid est, Ex tempore? Numquid ex quo tempus esse coepit? Non sic, impie Ariane; non sic: sed, Ex tempore, antequam fieret, ibi eram ²³. Ecce antequam fieret tempus, ibi erat. Quaere jam quando non erat, qui ante tempora erat. In principio erat Verbum. Melius Graeci dicunt, Λόγος. Λόγος quippe verbum significat et rationem. Vides ergo quia semper erat, de quo tu audes dicere, Non erat. Aut si dicis Deum aliquando sine verbo, aut sine ratione fuisse, jam non Filio tantum, sed et Patri [P. 1111] adversarius eris. Ego, inquit, ex ore Altissimi prodii ²⁴. Quis dicit? Verbum. Et Verbum hoc quid est? Joannes dicat: Deus erat Verbum. Et Verbum ergo, et cujus erat Verbum, non duo, sed unum sunt. Non, inquis: quia verbum posterius est eo cujus est verbum, unde apparet Filium Patre esse minorem. Negas itaque Filium Dei esse Deum. Non nego, inquis: et Patrem Deum dico, et Filium Deum; sed Patrem majorem, Filium minorem. Quamdiu Pater major, Filius minor? Dic mihi, quia video te calculare velle aeternitatem: quot annis praecedit Deus Pater Filium suum? Ubi diem nativitatis Filii Dei legisti? Filii Dei dico, non dico Filii Dei et hominis. Ubi ergo diem nativitatis ipsius legisti? Cum quo mathematico Creatoris siderum constellationem quaesisti, atque tractasti? Quae tempora, quas horas, quae momenta, quos numeros, quas minutas momentorum nativitatis illius, qui omnia condidit, collegisti? Conquiescat rogo, conquiescat haeretica tua, non religio, sed superstitio: de Christi initio deficit calculatio. Quia cum auditur sine initio aeternitas, nulla ibi quaeritur aetas. Si Pater Deus, et Filius Deus, Pater major, Filius minor: jam non unus Deus, sed duo dii. Si duo dii sunt, quid est ergo quod dicit Dominus per prophetam, Ante me non est formatus Deus, et post me non erit ²⁵? Quid dicis, Ariane? Cui istas deputas voces? Si Patris sunt, dicendo, Ante me non est formatus Deus, et post me non erit: aut ipse Pater non erit, aut Filius Deus non erit. Si enim hoc tantum diceret, Ante me non est formatus Deus; nec adderet, et post me non erit: liberum tibi erat haec verba Patri tantummodo applicare. Cum autem sequitur et dicit, post me non erit: secundum te, ut dixi, et se Patrem et Filium negat Deum. Item si Filii sunt haec verba, Patrem suum et Deum negat et Patrem. Si enim non diceret, Ante me non est formatus Deus; sed tantum diceret, post me non erit: posset forsitan dici Filium illud fuisse locutum. Modo autem cum dicit, Ante me non est formatus Deus, et post me non erit: Patrem suum nec Deum dicit esse, nec Patrem. Item si Patris sunt haec verba; quis dicit, cui dicit, Filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te ²⁶? An forte, quod absit, mendacii arguendus est Deus? Sed si Filii verba sunt, quis dicit, de quo dicit, Pater meus usquemodo operatur ²⁷? An forte et injuriosus Patri judicandus est, et ingratus? Sed numquid ingrato diceretur, Postula a me, et dabo tibi gentes haereditatem tuam, et possessionem tuam terminos terrae ²⁸? An forte Propheta aut quid diceret nescivit, aut fallere voluit; aut ut mitius aliquid de Propheta dicamus, finxisse credendus est sibi duos confabulantes, id est, Patrem et Filium; et Patre dicente, Ante me non est formatus Deus, adjunxit et Filius dicendo, Et post me non erit? Mimica sunt et jocularia quae agimus, an divina? O scelus! proh dolor! Parce, parce, haeretica impietas. Cum tu Deum non capias, nos quoque ad blasphemiam provocas. Non hoc docet sancta Ecclesia. Pater, Pater est; Filius, Filius est: et ille nunquam non fuit Pater, et iste nunquam non fuit Filius: ambo aeterni, nec coeperunt esse, nec desistunt. Quod Pater loquitur, Filius loquitur, quia Verbum Patris est: et quod Filius loquitur, Pater loquitur, quia Pater Verbi est. Ipsum Verbum dicit, Verba quae ego loquor, a me ipso non loquor ²⁹. Concedite, quaeso, Creatori quod ipse praestitit creaturae, et in creatura, si potestis, capite Creatorem. Ecce ignis et splendor duo sunt, alter ex altero est, nec sine altero alter est: ignis pater, splendor filius. Ipse, si posset, diceret, Quod luceo, non a me ipso luceo; sed qui me misit, ipse mihi dedit ut luceam. Ignis enim splendorem mittit. Et sicut Filius de Deo Patre dicit, Pater mecum est ³⁰; ita et splendor dicere posset, Ignis mecum est. Exstingue ignem, splendor [P. 1112] nusquam parebit. Si ergo ignis et splendor, pater et filius, unus sine conjuge pater, alius sine matre filius est; nec dividi alter ab altero potest; et cum sit alter ex altero, initium tamen alterius esse non potest sine altero; hoc autem posse, a Creatore tributum est creaturae: quid potest ipse Creator? Accedat Paganus, accedat Sabellianus, accedat Arianus: contemplentur lucernam, in ipsa videant quod in Deo videre non possunt. Non facio injuriam, si aliqua ex parte tanti Creatoris cupiens ostendere potestatem, ignis sive lucernae afferam tantillam similitudinem. Scriptum est enim, Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum, Domine, et lumen semitis meis ³¹. Et de Deo dictum est, Ignis consumens ³². Accedite ergo, et lucernam diligenter considerate, vestrasque fatuas tenebras removete. Paganus intueatur, et illic sine conjugio esse Patrem discat et Filium, et quomodo natus est Filius: et si caecus non es, ibi vide; inter ignem et splendorem quaere medium. Si nullum est medium, nullum est conjugium. Noli velle perscrutari medium, ne magnum patiaris incendium. Accedat Sabellianus, videat duos in unum, ignem et splendorem. Numquid non recte dicere potest splendor, Ego in igne, et ignis in me; sicut et Filius dicit, Ego in Patre, et Pater in me ³³? Accedat et Arianus, videat et ipse alterum ex altero, nec tamen nasci posse alterum sine altero: nemo eorum prior, nemo posterior; coaevi sunt pater et filius, splendor et ignis: nec ignis sine splendore, nec splendor sine igne esse potest. Aut certe, si placet, mitte manum, divide alterum ab altero: ostende mihi ignem sine splendore, vel splendorem sine igne. Absit, absit: ardere tantummodo poteris, separare alterum ab altero non poteris. Sicut enim ignis et splendor alter ex altero est, nec tamen esse alter sine altero potest: ita Pater Deus et Filius Deus alter ex altero est, nec tamen esse alter sine altero potest. Non illis ortus qui non est, sed aeternitas atque substantia una est. Ignis et splendor temporales sunt: Pater autem et Filius Deus aeterni sunt. Sunt dico, quia Pater et Filius; Deus dico, quia unum sunt. Dualitas in prole, unitas in deitate. Alterum facit unius nativitas, sed unum ostendit esse divinitas. Cum dico, Filius, alter est: cum dico, Deus, unus est. Alius est, quia Filius est: aliud non est, quia Deus est. Erubescite, Ariani. Tunicam hominis jam judicati in cruce pendentis carnifices Pilati non sunt ausi conscindere ³⁴: et vos conamini charitatem Dei in coelo sedentis, imo ipsam charitatem Deum dividere? Sed conamini; quantum potestis, conamini, vos jam in infernum ruistis: nam illam tunicam nunquam rumpetis. Item per prophetam Dominus dicit, Non est Deus absque me: Deus justus et salvans non est praeter me ³⁵.