1. Some others are secretly introducing another doctrine, who have become disciples of one Noetus, who was a native of Smyrna, (and) lived not very lo

 2. Now they seek to exhibit the foundation for their dogma by citing the word in the law, “I am the God of your fathers: ye shall have no other gods b

 3. In this way, then, they choose to set forth these things, and they make use only of one class of passages just in the same one-sided manner that T

 4. Let us, as I said, see how he is confuted, and then let us set forth the truth. Now he quotes the words, “Egypt has laboured, and the merchandise o

 5. But what is meant, says he, in the other passage: “This is God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of Him?” That said he righ

 6. Let us look next at the apostle’s word: “Whose are the fathers, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.

 7. If, again, he allege His own word when He said, “I and the Father are one,” let him attend to the fact, and understand that He did not say, “I and

 8. Many other passages, or rather all of them, attest the truth. A man, therefore, even though he will it not, is compelled to acknowledge God the Fat

 9. There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures, and from no other source. For just as a man, if he wishes to b

 10. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing contemporaneous with Himself, determined to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind, and will

 11. And thus there appeared another beside Himself. But when I say another ,

 12. Acting then in these (prophets), the Word spoke of Himself. For already He became His own herald, and showed that the Word would be manifested amo

 13. Now Jeremiah says, “Who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived His Word?”

 14. These things then, brethren, are declared by the Scriptures. And the blessed John, in the testimony of his Gospel, gives us an account of this eco

 15. But some one will say to me, You adduce a thing strange to me, when you call the Son the Word. For John indeed speaks of the Word, but it is by a

 16. And these indeed are testimonies bearing on the incarnation of the Word and there are also very many others. But let us also look at the subject

 17.  These testimonies are sufficient for the believing who study truth, and the unbelieving credit no testimony. For the Holy Spirit, indeed, in the

 18. Thus then, too, though demonstrated as God, He does not refuse the conditions proper to Him as man,

18. 99    [The sublimity of this concluding chapter marks our author’s place among the most eloquent of Ante-Nicene Fathers.]Thus then, too, though demonstrated as God, He does not refuse the conditions proper to Him as man,100    The following passage agrees almost word for word with what is cited as from the Memoria hæresium of Hippolytus by Gelasius, in the De duabus naturis Christi, vol. viii. Bibl. Patr., edit. Lugd. p. 704. [Compare St. Ignatius, vol. i. cap. vii. p. 52, this series; and for the crucial point (γεννητὸς καὶ ἀγέννητος) see Jacobson, ii. p. 278.] since He hungers and toils and thirsts in weariness, and flees in fear, and prays in trouble. And He who as God has a sleepless nature, slumbers on a pillow. And He who for this end came into the world, begs off from the cup of suffering. And in an agony He sweats blood, and is strengthened by an angel, who Himself strengthens those who believe on Him, and taught men to despise death by His work.101    Or, by deed, ἔργῳ. And He who knew what manner of man Judas was, is betrayed by Judas. And He, who formerly was honoured by him as God, is contemned by Caiaphas.102    ἱερατευόμενος, referring to John xi. 51, 52. And He is set at nought by Herod, who is Himself to judge the whole earth. And He is scourged by Pilate, who took upon Himself our infirmities. And by the soldiers He is mocked, at whose behest stand thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads of angels and archangels. And He who fixed the heavens like a vault is fastened to the cross by the Jews. And He who is inseparable from the Father cries to the Father, and commends to Him His spirit; and bowing His head, He gives up the ghost, who said, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again;”103    John x. 18. and because He was not overmastered by death, as being Himself Life, He said this:  “I lay it down of myself.”104    John x. 18. And He who gives life bountifully to all, has His side pierced with a spear. And He who raises the dead is wrapped in linen and laid in a sepulchre, and on the third day He is raised again by the Father, though Himself the Resurrection and the Life. For all these things has He finished for us, who for our sakes was made as we are. For “Himself hath borne our infirmities, and carried our diseases; and for our sakes He was afflicted,”105    Isa. liii. 4. as Isaiah the prophet has said. This is He who was hymned by the angels, and seen by the shepherds, and waited for by Simeon, and witnessed to by Anna. This is He who was inquired after by the wise men, and indicated by the star; He who was engaged in His Father’s house, and pointed to by John, and witnessed to by the Father from above in the voice, “This is my beloved Son; hear ye Him.”106    Matt. xvii. 5. [It may be convenient for some to turn to the Oxford translation of Bishop Bull’s Defensio, part i. pp. 193–216, where Tertullian and Hippolytus are nobly vindicated on Nicene grounds. The notes are also valuable.] He is crowned victor against the devil.107    Matt. xxvii. 29. στεφανοῦται κατὰ διαβόλου, [i.e., with thorns]. This is Jesus of Nazareth, who was invited to the marriage-feast in Cana, and turned the water into wine, and rebuked the sea when agitated by the violence of the winds, and walked on the deep as on dry land, and caused the blind man from birth to see, and raised Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days, and did many mighty works, and forgave sins, and conferred power on the disciples, and had blood and water flowing from His sacred side when pierced with the spear. For His sake the sun is darkened, the day has no light, the rocks are shattered, the veil is rent, the foundations of the earth are shaken, the graves are opened, and the dead are raised, and the rulers are ashamed when they see the Director of the universe upon the cross closing His eye and giving up the ghost. Creation saw, and was troubled; and, unable to bear the sight of His exceeding glory, shrouded itself in darkness.108    [Hippolytus confirms Tertullian’s testimony. Compare vol. iii. pp. 35 and 58.]  This (is He who) breathes upon the disciples, and gives them the Spirit, and comes in among them when the doors are shut, and is taken up by a cloud into the heavens while the disciples gaze at Him, and is set down on the right hand of the Father, and comes again as the Judge of the living and the dead. This is the God who for our sakes became man, to whom also the Father hath put all things in subjection. To Him be the glory and the power, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the holy Church both now and ever, and even for evermore.  Amen.

[18] οὕτως οὖν καὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ἑαυτοῦ οὐκ ἀπαναίνεται ἐνδεικνύμενος Θεὸς ὤν, ὅτε πεινᾷ καὶ κοπιᾷ καὶ κάμνων διψᾷ καὶ δειλιῶν φεύγει καὶ προσευχόμενος λυπεῖται καὶ ἐπὶ προσκεφάλαιον καθεύδει, ὁ ἄυπνον ἔχων τὴν φύσιν ὡς Θεός. καὶ ποτηρίου πάθος παραιτεῖται, ὁ διὰ τοῦτο παραγεγονὼς ἐν κόσμῳ, καὶ ἀγωνιῶν ἱδροῖ καὶ ὑπὸ ἀγγέλου ἐνδυναμοῦται, ὁ ἐνδυναμῶν τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύοντας καὶ θανάτου καταφρονεῖν ἔργῳ διδάξας. καὶ ὑπὸ Ἰούδα παραδίδοται, ὁ γινώσκων τὸν Ἰούδαν τίς ἐστιν, καὶ ἀτιμάζεται ὑπὸ Καιάφα, ὁ πρώην ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἱερατευόμενος ὡς Θεός, καὶ ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου ἐξουθενεῖται, ὁ μέλλων κρῖναι πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, καὶ μαστίζεται ὑπὸ Πιλάτου, ὁ τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἀναδεξάμενος, καὶ ὑπὸ στρατιωτῶν παίζεται, ᾧ παραστήκουσιν χίλιαι χιλιάδες καὶ μύριαι μυριάδες ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων, καὶ ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων ξύλῳ προσπήγνυται, ὁ πήξας ὡς καμάραν τὸν οὐρανόν. καὶ πρὸς Πατέρα βοῶν παρατίθεται τὸ πνεῦμα, ὁ ἀχώριστος τοῦ Πατρός, καὶ κλίνων κεφαλὴν ἐκπνεῖ, ὁ εἴπας, Ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν: ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἐκυριεύετο ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου ὡς ζωή, εἶπεν, Ἐγὼ ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ τίθημι αὐτήν. καὶ πλευρὰν λόγχῃ νύσσεται, ὁ τὴν ζωὴν πᾶσιν χαριζόμενος. καὶ σινδόνι ἑλισσόμενος ἐν μνημείῳ τίθεται, ὁ τοὺς νεκροὺς ἐγείρων, καὶ τριήμερος ὑπὸ Πατρὸς ἀνίσταται, αὐτὸς ὢν ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή. ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἡμῖν κατώρθωσεν ὁ δι' ἡμᾶς γεγονὼς καθ' ἡμᾶς: αὐτὸς γὰρ τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἀνεδέξατο καὶ τὰς νόσους ἐβάστασεν καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὠδυνᾶτο, καθὼς εἶπεν Ἡσαίας ὁ προφήτης. ὁ ὑπὸ ἀγγέλων ὑμνούμενος καὶ ὑπὸ ποιμένων θεωρούμενος καὶ ὑπὸ Συμεῶνος προσδοκώμενος καὶ ὑπὸ Ἄννας μαρτυρούμενος, οὗτος ἦν: ὁ ζητούμενος ὑπὸ μάγων καὶ σημαινόμενος ὑπὸ ἀστέρος, ὁ καὶ ἐν οἴκῳ Πατρὸς πολιτευόμενος καὶ ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου δακτυλοδεικτούμενος, ὁ ὑπὸ Πατρὸς ἄνωθεν μαρτυρούμενος, Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἀκούετε αὐτοῦ. οὗτος στεφανοῦται κατὰ διαβόλου, οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος, ὁ ἐν Κανὰ ἐν γάμοις κληθεὶς καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς οἶνον μεταβαλῶν, καὶ θαλάσσῃ ὑπὸ βίας ἀνέμων κινουμένῃ ἐπιτιμῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ θαλάσσης περιπατῶν ὡς ἐπὶ ξηρᾶς γῆς, καὶ τυφλὸν ἐκ γενετῆς ὁρᾶν ποιῶν, καὶ νεκρὸν Λάζαρον τετραήμερον ἀνιστῶν, καὶ ποικίλας δυνάμεις ἀποτελῶν, καὶ ἁμαρτίας ἀφίων, καὶ ἐξουσίαν διδῶν μαθηταῖς, καὶ αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ ἐξ ἁγίας πλευρᾶς ῥεύσας λόγχῃ νυγείς. τούτου χάριν ἥλιος σκοτίζεται, ἡμέρα οὐ φωτίζεται, ῥήγνυνται πέτραι, σχίζεται καταπέτασμα, τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς σείεται, ἀνοίγονται τάφοι καὶ ἐγείρονται νεκροὶ καὶ ἄρχοντες καταισχύνονται. τὸν γὰρ κοσμήτορα τοῦ παντὸς ἐπὶ σταυροῦ βλέποντες καμμύσαντα τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ παραδώσαντα τὸ πνεῦμα ἰδοῦσα ἡ κτίσις ἐταράσσετο, καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ ὑπερβάλλουσαν δόξαν χωρῆσαι μὴ δυναμένη ἐσκοτίζετο. οὗτος ἐμφυσῶν δίδωσι πνεῦμα μαθηταῖς καὶ θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων εἰσέρχεται, καὶ βλεπόντων μαθητῶν ὑπὸ νεφέλης ἀναλαμβάνεται εἰς οὐρανούς, καὶ ἐκ δεξιῶν Πατρὸς καθέζεται καὶ ζώντων καὶ νεκρῶν παραγίνεται κριτής. οὗτος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἄνθρωπος δι' ἡμᾶς γεγονώς, ᾧ πάντα ὑπέταξεν Πατήρ. αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος ἅμα Πατρὶ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἀμήν.