6. In this way too we can refute the impiety of those who say that the Word of God is a creature. Our faith is in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the Son himself said to the apostles: ‘Go ye, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ He spoke thus that by means of things we know we may understand the matters of which we have been speaking. Just as we would not call our fathers makers, but begetters, and as no one would call us their creatures, but sons by nature and one in essence with them: so, if God be Father, he must be Father of one who is by nature a Son and one in essence with him. Abraham did not create Isaac, he begat him. Bezalel and Eliab did not beget but made all the works in the Tabernacle. The shipwright and the housebuilder do not beget the things they make; they work, the one on the ship, the other on the house. Isaac does not make Jacob; he begets him by nature, a son. And likewise Jacob, Judah and his brethren. Just as one would be mad to say that the house is one in essence with the builder, and the ship with the shipwright, so it is correct to say that every son is one in essence with his own father. If then there is Father and Son, the Son must be Son by nature and in truth. But this is to be one in essence with the Father, as we have shown from many instances. Thus of the things that are made it is written: ‘He spoke, and they came to be; he commanded and they were created.’ But of the Son: ‘My heart hath uttered a good Word.’ Daniel knew the Son of God and he knew the works of God. The Son he saw quench the furnace; of the works he said, ‘O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord’, and then he enumerated each of the creatures. But he did not number the Son with them, for he knew that he is not a work. It is through him that the works came into being; while he in the Father is praised and exalted. As then through him God is revealed to them that know him, so through him, ‘blessing and praise and glory and power’ are ascribed to the Father—through him and in him, that this ascription may, in the words of Scripture, be ‘acceptable’. From these sayings, therefore, among many, we have shown, and we now show, that he is impious who says that the Word of God is a creature.

Καὶ οὕτω δ' ἄν τις διελέγξειε τὴν ἀσέβειαν τῶν λεγόντων κτίσμα εἶναι τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον. Ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμά ἐστι, λέγοντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις· «Πορευθέντες, μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος.» Εἶπε δὲ οὕτως, ἵνα ἐξ ὧν οἴδαμεν, ἀπὸ τούτων νοῶμεν καὶ περὶ τῶν προειρημένων. Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμεν τοὺς πατέρας ποιητὰς, ἀλλὰ γεννήτορας, καὶ αὐτοὺς δὲ ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἂν εἴποι τις κτίσμα πατέρων, ἀλλὰ υἱοὺς φύσει, καὶ ὁμοουσίους τῶν πατέρων· οὕτως, εἰ Πατὴρ ὁ Θεὸς, πάντως Υἱοῦ φύσει καὶ ὁμοουσίου ἐστὶ Πατήρ. Ἀβραὰμ γοῦν οὐκ ἔκτισε τὸν Ἰσαὰκ, ἀλλ' ἐγέννησε· Βεσελεὴλ δὲ καὶ Ἐλιὰβ οὐκ ἐγέννησαν, ἀλλ' ἐποίησαν πάντα τὰ ἔργα τὰ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ. Καὶ ναυ πηγὸς δὲ καὶ οἰκοδόμος οὐ γεννῶσιν ἃ ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος ἐργάζεται, ὁ μὲν τὸ σκάφος, ὁ δὲ τὴν οἰκίαν. Ὁ μέντοι Ἰσαὰκ οὐ ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ γεννᾷ φύσει καὶ ὁμοούσιον τὸν Ἰακώβ· καὶ ὁ Ἰακὼβ δὲ οὕτως τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ. Ὥσπερ οὖν μαίνοιτ' ἄν τις λέγων τὴν οἰκίαν ὁμοούσιον τοῦ οἰκο δόμου, καὶ τὸ σκάφος τοῦ ναυπηγοῦ, οὕτως πρεπόν τως ἄν τις εἴποι πάντα Υἱὸν ὁμοούσιον εἶναι τοῦ ἑαυ τοῦ Πατρός. Εἰ τοίνυν Πατήρ ἐστι καὶ Υἱὸς, ἀνάγκη τὸν Υἱὸν φύσει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ εἶναι Υἱόν. Τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ ὁμοούσιον εἶναι τῷ Πατρὶ, ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν ἐδείχθη. Ἀμέλει περὶ μὲν τῶν ποιημάτων· «Αὐτὸς εἶπε, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν· αὐτὸς ἐνετείλατο, καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν.» Περὶ δὲ τοῦ Υἱοῦ· «Ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου Λόγον ἀγαθόν.» Ὁ δὲ ∆ανιὴλ οἶδεν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἶδε καὶ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ τὸν μὲν Υἱὸν εἶδε δροσίζοντα τὴν κάμινον· περὶ δὲ τῶν ἔργων εἰρηκὼς, «Εὐλογεῖτε, πάντα τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου, τὸν Κύριον,» ἕκαστον μὲν τῶν κτισμάτων κατέλεξε· τὸν δὲ Υἱὸν οὐ συνηρίθμησε τούτοις, εἰδὼς, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἔργον, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτοῦ γέγονε μὲν τὰ ἔργα, ἐν Πατρὶ δὲ ὑμνούμενος καὶ ὑπερυψούμενός ἐστιν. Ὥσπερ οὖν δι' αὐτοῦ ἀποκαλύπτεται ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς γινώσκουσιν, οὕτως δι' αὐτοῦ ἡ εὐλογία, καὶ ὁ ὕμνος, καὶ ἡ δόξα, καὶ τὸ κράτος ὁμολογεῖται τῷ Πατρὶ δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ, ἵνα καὶ εὐπρόσδεκτος ἡ τοιαύτη ὁμολογία γένηται, ὡς αἱ Γραφαὶ λέγουσιν. Ἐκ πολλῶν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐκ τούτων δέδεικται καὶ δείκνυται ἀσε βὴς ὁ λέγων κτίσμα εἶναι τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον.