Chapter 9
the first discourse against the arians chapter nine by athanasius of alexandria translated by john henry newman and archibald robertson this librivox recording is in the public domain objections continued these considerations encourage the faithful and distress the heretical perceiving as they do their heresy overthrown thereby moreover their further question whether the unoriginate be one or two shows how false are their views how treacherous and full of guile not for the father's honour ask they this but for the dishonour of the word accordingly should any one not aware of their craft answer the unoriginated is one forthwith they spurt out their own venom saying therefore the son is among things originated and well have we said he was not before his generation thus they make any kind of disturbance and confusion provided they can but separate the son from the father and reckon the framer of all among his works now first they may be convicted on this score
that while blaming the nicene bishops for their use of phrases not in scripture though these not injurious but subversive of their irreligion they themselves went off upon the same fault that is using words not in scripture and those in contumely of the lord knowing neither what they say nor whereof they affirm for instance let them ask the greeks who have been their instructors for it is a word of their invention not scripture and when they have been instructed in its various significations then they will discover that they cannot even question properly on the subject which they have undertaken for they have led me to ascertain that by unoriginate is meant what has not yet come to be but is possible to be as would which is not yet become but is capable of becoming a vessel and again what neither has nor ever can come to be as a triangle quadrangular or an even number odd for a triangle neither has nor ever can become quadrangular nor has even ever nor can ever become odd
moreover by unoriginate is meant what exists but has not come into being from any nor having a father at all further asterius the unprincipled sophist the patron too of this heresy has added in his own treatise that what is not made but is ever is unoriginate they ought then when they ask the question to add in what sense they take the word unoriginate and then the party's question would be able to answer to the point but if they still are satisfied with merely asking is the originate one or two they must be told first of all as ill-educated men that many are such and nothing is such many which are capable of origination and nothing which is not capable as has been said but if they ask according as asterius ruled it as if what is not a work but was always were unoriginate then they must constantly be told that the son as well as the father must in this sense be called unoriginate for he is neither in the number of things unoriginated nor a work but has ever been with the father as has already been shown in spite of their many variations for the sole sake of speaking against the lord
he is of nothing and he was not before his generation when then after failing at every turn they betake themselves to the other sense of the question existing but not generated of any nor having a father we shall tell them that the unoriginate in this sense is only one namely the father and they will gain nothing by their question for to say that god is in this sense unoriginate does not show that the father is a thing originated it being evident from the above proofs that the word is such as he who begat him therefore if god be unoriginate his image is not originated but an offspring which is his word and his wisdom for what likeness has the originated to the unoriginate one must not weary of using repetition for if they will have it that the one is like the other so that he who sees the one beholds the other they are like to say that the unoriginate is the image of creatures the end of which is a confusion of the whole subject an equaling of things originated with the unoriginate and a denial of the unoriginate by measuring him with the works
and all to reduce the sun into their number however i suppose that even they will be unwilling to proceed to such lengths if they follow asterius the sophist for he earnest as he is in his advocacy of the arian heresy and maintaining that the unoriginate is one runs counter to them in saying that the wisdom of god is unoriginate and without beginning also the following is a passage out of his work the blessed paul said not that he preached christ the power of god or the wisdom of god but without the article god's power and god's wisdom thus preaching that the proper power of god himself which is natural to him and co-existent with him unoriginately is something besides and again soon after however his eternal power and wisdom which truth argues to be without beginning and unoriginate this must surely be one
for though misunderstanding the apostle's words he considered that there were two wisdoms yet by speaking still of a wisdom co-existent with him he declares that the unoriginate is not simply one but that there is another unoriginate with him for what is co-existent co-exists not with itself but with another if then they agree with asterius let them never ask again is the unoriginate one or two or they will have to contest the point with him if on the other hand they differ even from him let them not rely upon his treatise lest biting one another they be consumed one of the other so much in the point of their ignorance but who can say enough on their crafty character who but would justly hate them while possessed by such madness for when they were no longer allowed to say out of nothing and he was not before his generation they hit upon this word unoriginate that by saying among the simple that the son was originate they might imply the very same phrases out of nothing and he once was not for in such phrases things originated and creatures are implied
if they have confidence in their own positions they should stand to them and not change about so variously but this they will not from an idea that success is easy if they do but shelter their heresy under colour of the word unoriginate yet after all this term is not used in contrast with the sun clamour as they may but with things originated and the like may be found in the words almighty and lord of the powers for if we say that the father has power and mastery over all things by the word and the son rules the father's kingdom and has power of all as his word and as the image of the father it is quite plain that neither here is the son reckoned among that all nor is god called almighty and lord with reference to him but to those things which through the son came to be and over which he exercises power and mastery through the word and therefore the unoriginate is specified not by contrast to the son but to the things which through the son came to be and excellently since god is not as things originated but is their creator and framer through the son
and as the word unoriginate is specified relatively to things originated so the word father is indicative of the son and he who names god maker and framer and unoriginate regards and apprehends things created and made and he who calls god father thereby conceives and contemplates the son and hence one might marvel at the obstinacy which is added to their irreligion that whereas the term unoriginate has the aforesaid good sense and admits of being used religiously they in their own heresy bring it forth for the dishonour of the son not having read that he who honoureth the son honoureth the father and he who dishonoureth the son dishonoureth the father if they had any concern at all for reverence speaking and the honour due to the father it became them rather and this were better and higher to acknowledge and call god father than to give him this name for in calling god unoriginate they are as i said before calling him from his works and as maker only and framer supposing that hence they may signify that the word is a work after their own pleasure
but that he who calls god father signifies him from the son being well aware that if there be a son of necessity through that son all things originate were created and they when they call him unoriginate name him only from his works and know not the son any more than the greeks but he who calls god father names him from the word and knowing the word he acknowledges him to be framer of all and acknowledges that through him all things have been made therefore it is more pious and more accurate to signify god from the son and call him father than to name him from his works only and call him unoriginate for the latter title as i have said does nothing more than signify all the works individually and collectively which is come to be at the will of god through the word but the title father has its significance and its bearing only from the son and whereas the word surpasses things originated by so much and more doth calling god father surpass the calling him unoriginate for the latter is unscriptural and suspicious because it has various senses so that when a man is asked concerning it his mind is carried about to many ideas
but the word father is simple and scriptural and more accurate and only implies the son and unoriginate is a word of the greeks who know not the son but father has been acknowledged and vouchsafed by our lord for he knowing himself whose son the father he was said i am in the father and the father is in me and he that hath seen me hath seen the father and i and the father are one but nowhere is he found to call the father unoriginate moreover when he teaches us to pray he says not when ye pray say o god unoriginate but rather when ye pray say our father which art in heaven and it was his will that the summary of our faith should have the same bearing in bidding us be baptized not into the name of unoriginate and originate nor into the name of creator and creature but into the name of father son and holy ghost for with such an initiation we two being numbered among works are made sons and using the name of the father acknowledge from that name the word also in the father himself
a vain thing then is their argument about the term unoriginate as is now proved and nothing more than a phantasy chapter nine
