Sermonum Arianorum Fragmenta

Most Ancient Fragments of the Arian Sermons Discovered in Palimpsest Manuscripts and Now Published for the First Time with Suitable Refutations. (Maii Coll., vol. III, part II, p. 208.) FIRST FRAGMENT. Recently, dearest brother, you judged that I should be warned concerning the slanderers who speak against our faith, which is the true one, saying: How do you claim that there is one God, and yet again assert that Christ is a son? Necessarily, if God has a son, he also has a wife, or else he is feminine, and conceived and begot a son from some other source. Behold, you now say there are many gods; how do you insult us for saying that there are gods? These objections, which the sacrilegious raise against us, we have learned from you. For this reason we have deemed it necessary both to counter their error and to instruct your holiness concerning the hope that we hold. For we could no longer refuse, since your holiness desires to receive a written instruction of the true faith: not, however, from ourselves, but according to the tradition of the divine scriptures, through the grace of almighty God, with the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the ministration of the Holy Spirit, who distributes graces without hesitation to those who believe in God through Christ.

We have therefore presumed, trusting in your prayers, and approving the good desire of Your Holiness; to which, with the Lord assenting, we have hastened to give satisfaction, dearest brother: because, with you repeatedly suggesting and more frequently importuning, we could no longer dissemble: not trusting in the sublimity of speech or the word of a composed oration, for which we have had no study at all; but taking refuge in the mercy of the Lord, to whose glory we have proposed to speak, believing in Him who said: Open your mouth, and I will fill it. And again, the prophet saying: The Lord gave the word to those evangelizing with great power. And again: It is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father. Therefore, the insult of the sacrilegious has moved us to speak; the importunity of your charity has also compelled us. But He who gave the mouth to speak is also able, through your prayers, to supply us with the word, so that, warmed by His grace, we may speak opportunely for the common good, and for the glory of the same maker of our nature. For the holy and divine Scriptures, having within themselves deep and infinite treasures, do not require illumination; the Lord saying: Search the Scriptures, since you think you have eternal life in them. And these are they which bear witness concerning me. And do you not wish to come to me, that you may have eternal life? And again: He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.

Our Lord Jesus Christ also says this: "I am the light of this world; he who follows me does not remain in darkness, but will have the light of life." The holy prophets proclaimed him the sun of justice. This, therefore, is the sun of justice, Christ the Son of God. This is the true light, which illuminates every man coming into this world, which the darkness did not comprehend. It shines in pure hearts, but is seen by the clear eye of the mind in the singular and incorruptible proper nature of the Only-begotten, who most evidently shows to all who desire it the knowledge of the one true God, saying to the Jews: "How can you believe, receiving glory from one another, and not seek glory from the one God?" And again he says to the Father: "The hour has come; honor your son, so that the son may honor you; as you have given him power over all flesh, so that everything you have given him, he may give them eternal life." This, however, is eternal life: that they may know you alone as the true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. Therefore it is necessary for those who wish to be Christians to know the one true God, who is without beginning, unbegotten alone; and his only-begotten son in his own proper and singular begotten nature, true God, obedient and subject by will and nature to the unbegotten God and his Father.

Since we have said, according to the tradition of the Scriptures, that there is one true God, just as according to true reason there is one true God, one king, one lord, one creator and maker of the universe. Because He alone, possessing supreme power without beginning, alone lacks nothing, alone is not under the law of another, nor does He await a command; alone having no superior, He made no one equal to Himself. He who is the wholly unbegotten God made the wholly begotten Son, through whom He created all things, as it is written: "All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made": the creator made the creator, God made the God of the whole creation, subject and obedient in all things to His commands. This Son, not progressing afterward, but immediately perfect, as we have said: as much as He could, He consigned the whole power and the whole wisdom in the substitution of the Son, as it is written, "whom the Father sealed as God." Hence also the Apostle proclaims him the image of the invisible God, showing His invisible power or wisdom in the substance of the Son. Therefore, as much as God could, He showed by power and wisdom in the Son: whence the Apostle teaches that the Son is the power and wisdom of God: not that power or wisdom which is in the invisible God, without beginning; but sitting at the right hand of God, so as to receive from the Father, the Son of God's love, whom God loves.

Nothing defrauded Him to whom He entrusted everything, just as the Gospel proclaims: The Father loves the Son, and entrusted everything into His hand. The Son, likewise receiving everything from the Father, above all, before all, with all, adores the Father. Therefore we accept through the Scriptures that He is God of the whole creation: born, subject to the unbegotten God; born lord of the whole creation, but minister of the unbegotten Lord; born king of the whole creation under the power of the unbegotten king; true born light, subordinate to the unbegotten inaccessible light; born wisdom obedient in all things to the only unbegotten wise one; born creator under the unbegotten creator; good shepherd of the whole creation, born lamb of the unbegotten God; born life, making the whole creation live at the will of the Father, subject to the only unbegotten living God, as the Son says: Just as the Father has life; He has it in Himself and did not receive it; so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself, incomparable in His own proper born substance; just as the Father in His unbegotten substance is recognized as incomparable. Therefore we confess one and one God, not two Gods: for we do not say two unbegotten ones, or two fathers...

... the benefits of Christ, aiding the prayer of believers, and interceding for them with ineffable groans, and leading the saints to the Son, to be brought through the Son to the Father. As the holy apostle Paul says: No one can say Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit. And the Son indicates: No one can come to the Father except through me. Therefore it is necessary for us to confess this Trinity. The Holy Spirit magnifies the Son, just as the Son says: He honored me, because he will receive from me and will announce to you. And the Son honors the Father, as he says: I honored you on earth; I made your name known to the men whom you gave to me. Therefore this Spirit abides in all the saints, as the Son said: I will ask my Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive; because it does not see him, nor know him: but you recognize him, because he abides with you and is in you. Therefore he abides, as we have said, in all the saints, not divided but whole: for that nature cannot be divided: for that which is not composed of members cannot be divided, but remains whole in all. For we do not call the Holy Spirit God, because Scripture does not say so; but subject to God the Son, and obedient in all things to the commands of that Son, just as the Son is to the Father.

And just as the Father consigned all power and all wisdom and goodness into the substance of the Son, so also the Son, at the Father’s command, manifested all power and all wisdom in the Holy Spirit. In that Holy Spirit, therefore, archangels and angels and all spiritual powers and all saints adore the Son, and through the Son the Father. For thus also the Son, after the resurrection, handing on the saving mystery of the Trinity to his disciples, says: All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you all days until the end of the age. FRAGMENT III. .... The Father, unique, simple Spirit, alone good, alone possessing immortality and light, dwells in inaccessible place; so also the Son in his own only-begotten nature, which he received from the Father, is unique. All things that were made after him and through him by the providence of God are incomparably inferior to his eminence; so that nothing of those things which were made through him can be compared to him; because he is God of all, giving life to all by the will of the Father.

Here he is not compared to his own Father, from whom he obtained that he might be the life of all; nor could anything else be compared to him, as we have said, which, through his will, obtained by the will of God that they should exist and live; among these, the Holy Spirit Paraclete is prior, made better and greater than all others by the providence of God through Christ, and is proclaimed in the third place after the Father and after the Son in the holy Scriptures. This Spirit is recognized in the third place as singular and alone in his singularity. Such a one could neither be compared to Christ the Son of God, the maker of his nature, nor is anything compared to him among the rest, who through him received existence by the providence of God; for he is a singular sanctifying power. This Spirit is not God nor Lord, since he is not a creator; for he neither made nor can make anything of those things which did not exist, so that they might exist; because he is not God, but a minister of Christ, the Son of his God: in this ministry, he sanctifies, illuminates, and teaches those rational beings which were made through Christ by the will of God, and reminds them to keep the commandments of Christ, and distributes grace to all believers; he aids the weakness of our prayer, and intercedes for us with inexpressible groans, and by the nod of Christ remits sins to the penitent, and leads to the true and certain knowledge of Christ. He does not speak from himself, but whatever he has heard, he will speak, and teaches, and announces future things to believers.

Here he declares Christ to be his Lord and God, saying: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a footstool under your feet. And again, the same Spirit says to Christ, his God: Your throne is God forever; the rod of equity is the rod of your kingdom; you have loved justice... FRAGMENT IV. ...so that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me the command, so I do. Therefore, that which has been said quite often, I in the Father and the Father in me, signifies not one substance, but two: the unbegotten nature of the Father and the only-begotten nature of the Son. And thus the Son is understood to be within the Father, which is perceived in the love and in the power of him who holds all things; he himself, however, is infinite; this one also encompasses that one. But that one, receiving power from the Father over all things which were made after him and through him, encompasses all things. Therefore, the Father and the Son are not one and the same: the one who encompasses and the one who is encompassed; the unbegotten and the only-begotten; the begetter and the one who is begotten; the one who commands, and the good one, and the one alone having immortality, and the light dwelling in the inaccessible. Therefore, he alone in his singularity is such, and no other is such: God without beginning, and all-holding, and the sole author of all things.

God also is the only-begotten Son of God by nature, true and unchangeable in the will of God and of his Father, but the only-begotten was created and made and begotten from the unbegotten God, God of all things that were made after him and through Jesus by the providence of God and his Father. But the Father is God to the Son, whose author he is, and of all things; and therefore he alone is true God, because he is God of God, and holds the Son in his power, and has subjected all things under his feet according to the Apostle, and gave him a name that is above every name. And therefore the Father is one God, who neither received power nor existence from another, but is what he was without beginning, unbegotten, all-holding God. Therefore the holy Scriptures proclaim him one God and Lord, and one good, and alone having immortality, and dwelling in inaccessible light. Not because the Son is not God nor Lord, but because the Father is God to the Son and of all things; but the Son is God only-begotten and Lord of all things that were made through him, and good, and kind, immortal and also unchangeable by nature. But all these things he has obtained from the Father, and in all things he is found obedient to God his Father.

Therefore, the Father and the Son are not said to be one God, but the Father alone is called one God, who is God even to the Son, as has been said, and to all. The Son, however, is not God to the Father, but the Son is Lord and God to every creature. He worships the Father, and prays to him, and honors him, and gives thanks, and is a debtor, because he declares that he lives on account of him, and boasts that he has received all power from him in heaven and on earth, according to the evangelical tradition, where Jesus is reported saying to the Samaritan woman: "We worship what we know, but you worship what you do not know." And the evangelical tradition frequently shows Christ praying to his Father, and reveals him giving thanks to his Father and saying: "I thank you, Father, because you have heard me, and I know that you always hear me." Therefore, he always worships, because he always acknowledges his Father as the one who hears him. Note, then, the evangelical sense, since Jesus manifestly gives thanks on account of those who were present, just as he himself declares, saying to his Father: "For I know that you always hear me, but I say this on account of those who are present, so that they may perceive that you sent me." Attend therefore with diligence, and see the salutary tradition: that Christ wishes to be known for what he is, not to be called what he is not. For whoever calls Christ what he is not, violates the knowledge of him who is.

Do not therefore err: for those who pronounce the Father of Jesus Christ to be one and the same greater do not know the Father Himself, according to the saying of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: "If you loved me, you would indeed rejoice because I go to the Father, since my Father is greater than I." With this knowledge, therefore, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we must diligently seek that dwelling in the tabernacle of the Lord and that rest on His holy mountain which is promised in the present psalm: because the soul that is without spot can walk the path that leads to the heights, concerning which we have handed down above, and with a clear and simple eye can both travel that journey and always behold the goods that are prepared, according to what has been said: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." It also always sees God the giver of good things, as it has been said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." This, therefore, is what has been said: "He who enters without spot and works righteousness." He has instructed what sort of persons ought to be those who hasten to the possession of the goods that are prepared in the heavens; then, as it were, he will hand down steps, since those who ascend to the heights appear to ascend by steps; and first, ascending the nearest step, he will approach the next; then the third and the fourth, until he reaches the destination, which he cannot do without labor.

Therefore, those who desire to take up dwelling in the heights must apply themselves with all diligence to the labors and sweats of piety, so that they may be able to reach the appointed goal. After the immaculate knowledge of piety, therefore, the soul must adorn and instruct itself in good works, those who wish to celebrate the journey that leads to the heights; according to what has been said: "Let your light shine thus before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven." In accordance with this, the Lord, responding to those who follow, will explain what sort of person one who desires to dwell in the heights ought to be, or what he should do, saying: "He who enters without stain and works justice, speaking truth in his heart." And further in this, he teaches in order that first he should confirm truth in himself and in his heart, and, sending forth a root, as it were, prove it, so that he may be found just according to the apostolic doctrine, which says thus: "By heart one believes for justice, but by mouth confession is made for salvation." And therefore it says: "Speaking truth in his heart, he who has not practiced deceit with his tongue." For it is not fitting that he who desires heavenly goods should speak deceit; nor should he narrate whatever pleases him, but rather truth, scrutinized and proven in the heart, should be emitted through the lips for the salvation both of himself and of his hearers. For the apostle also teaches this, saying: "Let no evil word proceed from your mouth, but if there is anything good for the edification of faith, so that it may give grace to the hearers.

For it comes about that from those who speak carelessly, without concern, harm comes to the soul of the neighbor; and therefore he who wishes to dwell in the heavens ought to guard and measure his words, as it is said in the hundred and eleventh psalm: "A pleasant man who takes pity and lends, will order his words in judgment." And the Lord Jesus, teaching in the Gospel, says: "From your word it is manifest that you have justified a just man without deceit and hypocrisy; and from your word it is manifest that you have condemned a deceitful and perverse man." For this reason we are taught to guard and measure our words, so that we may teach our neighbor. Desiring to enter the tabernacle of the Lord, we shall do evil to our neighbor neither in word nor in pretense, according to what has been said: "And he did no evil to his neighbor." But it is necessary for him who desires to attain that blessed life to have those around him instructed in the Lord's discipline, lest he receive reproach from anyone on their account. For men are accustomed, when they see some to be unlearned and undisciplined, to reproach those who have them around or under them. For it is truly a reproach to those who ought to instruct, if those who are under their hand are found to be wanton or undisciplined, because they are less constrained to discipline, as it is said: "A reproach to the Father is a son not educated." Thus this word teaches those desiring...

FRAGMENT V. ...the divinity they did not see, but... they saw with carnal eyes and... and he himself... by this word asserting: "He who has seen me has also seen the Father who sent me," according to that... therefore they err... if anyone who has seen the Son in a human body judges the Father also to be corporeal; which is a horrible impiety. For according to the true sense, if they wish to accept this, he who has seen the Son sent by the Father and carrying out the Father's commands has seen the Father, that is, has known... they are light... For if anyone [considers] the Son of God, that is Jesus, in his own singular nature and dignity which he received from the Father by being begotten, and... to the Jews... asserting... the Father and Son named by names, from those things which were said above, this one truly in the light of God... to the Jews often spoken of according to the prophet... "Behold, I will place in Zion a stone of outpouring and a rock of scandal, and he who believes in it will not be confounded." And again: "He who falls upon this stone is broken; but he upon whom it falls, it will shatter him." And again: "Behold, it is placed here for the ruin and resurrection of many." It is manifest, therefore, that it is for the resurrection of believers who will not be confounded; but for the ruin of those who do not believe, who are scandalized by his teaching along with the Jews, not handling it rightly, they themselves will be shattered.

Therefore, those who saw the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, saw in two ways: with carnal eyes they saw the human body, but with the eye of the mind they recognized God through his works, the Son of God. Therefore, when he says: "He who has seen me has also seen the Father who sent me," this is as if to say: he who has seen the works of the Son and through the works has recognized the power of the divinity, he has seen—that is, has known—the one who sent me and entrusted these works to me, or rather, the one who works through me. Therefore, those who saw [became] seeing, they knew and saw, enlightened by the Son and instructed, the Father who sent him; according to the assertion of the Son himself, who says..... FRAGMENT VI. .....or if they have had the intention of making a vow, they cannot be promoted by God. But they have added to themselves about fifty other most vain and useless questions, which do not lead them to the kingdom of God and his Christ, but plunge them into the depths of hell. But let us return to where we started. Our chief cause is against those who call themselves orthodox, who have invaded our churches and hold them in a tyrannical manner, saying that the Son is equal in all things and in every respect to God the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is equal in all things and in every respect to God the Father and God the Son: and this very assertion of theirs is one of nearly thirty of their sects.

And because the Son did not say he was equal to the Father, but affirmed himself as consentient with the Father, the Son himself revealed to us, saying: “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” For just as the Father has life in himself, so he gave the Son to have life in himself; and he gave him the power of rendering judgment. As if he had said: My unbegotten begetter, God, who is and was God without beginning, living, powerful, good, wise, perfect, everlasting, who is without beginning and without end, willed me to be before all things living, powerful, good, wise, perfect, everlasting (but we call the Son everlasting in this sense: that although the Son has a beginning, he will have no end, but will remain forever, and will give everlastingness to all other good things).

And such capability he bestowed in me, in which he willed me to be, that I might be able to fulfill all his wills and dispositions and commands: and thus I have fulfilled and always do fulfill: for by the Father’s willing and commanding, I created countless living spirits, eternal powers and dominions: but also the Holy Spirit himself, who is before all things and greater than all creations, and the other celestial and terrestrial things, visible and invisible, times and ages, by the Father’s willing and commanding, I created: and there was no discrepancy between the Father commanding and me performing: but just as the Father willed, defined, commanded to me; so I, willing and able without any hindrance and discrepancy, accomplished all things: but also all other things which were done afterward, whether the flood, or the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all other things which are always done and governed, by the Father’s commanding, because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this, because the hour will come in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God: and those who have done good will go forth into the resurrection of judgment.

As if he had said: "Do not be unbelieving, because you see me to be flesh and think me to be merely a man: for you will all see, who think me to be merely a man, that I am not only a living God, but also the one who gives life to all the dead: and that the just, good, and faithful entering into eternal glory, but the evil and impious, thieves and robbers, and those who have distrusted the truth but believed in iniquity, who have rejected my teaching and established their own, by the command of my Father through me will be sent by my angels into the mine of eternal fire." More clearly than light, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, Son of God the Father Almighty, has revealed to us that which he had said above: "Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own unless he has first seen the Father doing it: for whatever the Father does, the Son does the same." Likewise, the Son presumes nothing for himself, but does all things commanded by the Father.

Let us again say a few words against the Macedonians, who say that the Son is similar in every respect and in all things to the Father, and that there is no difference between the Father and the Son; and against those who claim to be orthodox, who fatally defend that the Son is equal to God the Father in every respect and in all things, because they agree concerning the Father and the Son, but disagree concerning the Holy Spirit; for these also make the Holy Spirit equal in every respect and in all things to the Father and the Son; but the Macedonians defend that the Holy Spirit was created by the command of the Father through the Son, and proclaim him to be the messenger and minister of the Father, just as we do. (The treatise ends, as the blank space on the page shows.) FRAGMENT VII. ... in their own handlings they set the Father before the Son, when they say: "God most high, founder and maker of the world, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Likewise: "God brighter than the brightest, higher than the highest, the might of the mightiest, God among the foremost, highest among the highest, unique among individuals." Likewise, in no way do they set the Father before the Son in their writings; moreover, they condemn those who set the Father before the Son; and yet they themselves set the Father before the Son in the creed, when they say: "Do you believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth? Do you also believe in Jesus Christ his Son?

In no way do they set the Father before the Son in their writings; moreover, they condemn all who set the Father before the Son; and yet they themselves set the Father before the Son in their benedictions, when they say: "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who regenerated you from water, he himself will anoint you with the Holy Spirit," and so forth. In no way do they set the Father before the Son in their writings; moreover, they condemn all who set the Father before the Son; and yet they themselves set the Father before the Son in their offerings, saying: "It is worthy and just that we give thanks to you here and everywhere, Lord holy almighty God; nor is there any other through whom we may have access to you, make prayer, offer sacrifice to you, except through the one whom you sent to us," and so forth.

Likewise: It is worthy and just, it is fair and just, that we above all give thanks to you, Lord holy Father, almighty eternal God, who by the incomparable honor of your goodness deigned to make light shine in the darkness, sending us Jesus Christ, the rescuer of our souls, who for the sake of our salvation subjected himself even to death, so that we, restored to the immortality which Adam had lost, he might make his heirs and sons: for whose kindness we cannot sufficiently give thanks, nor praise your great magnanimity with any praises, begging from your great and flexible piety to accept this sacrifice, which we offer to you standing before the sight of your divine piety, through Jesus Christ Lord and our God, through whom we ask and pray. In no way do they set before. FRAGMENT VIII. ... the Father and the Son, that is, between born light and unbegotten light. But we Christians, upon whom the false name Arians has been imposed, thus believe and honor, as is written above: because God the Father almighty willed the Son himself to be before all things, and he is and remains: and because God the Father created all things and us through the Son, because the Father commanded the Son, and immediately the Son did it: we are ruled by the Father through the Son, because the Father commanded the Son, and the Son rules us.

The Father gave the law to Moses through the Son, he instructed the prophets through the Son, because the Father commanded the Son, and he gave the law and instructed the prophets. The Father redeemed us and remitted our sins through the Son, because the Son by the command of the Father both redeemed us and remitted our sins. The Father gave us the Holy Spirit through the Son, because the Father commanded the Son, and immediately the Son gave us the Holy Spirit. The Father heard us and has mercy through the Son, because we bend the knee and bow the neck to the Father through the Son. The Father raised up the temple of his Son through the Son, because the Father commanded the Son to take up a body, to lay it down, to receive it again on the third day, and to return to the Father. The Father is going to raise all the dead through the Son, because the Father will command the Son to raise all the dead. The Father is going to judge all the living and the dead through the Son, that is, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust, because the Father will command the Son to raise all the dead and to judge the living and the dead, that is, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust. God the Father is going to give eternal life to the just and perpetual punishment to the unjust through the Son, because the Son by the command of the Father will give eternal life to the just and perpetual punishment to the unjust.

Therefore, we of the holy Church of God and of His Christ give all the first fruits to the Father, and the second fruits to the Son; just as the apostle Paul also briefly defined all these things, saying: Even if there are gods or lords, whether in heaven or on earth, for us there is one God the Father, from whom are all things, and we from Him; and the Lord Jesus, through whom are all things, and we through Him. For concerning those who call themselves orthodox, who equal the Son in every respect and in all things to God the Father, and the Holy Spirit through... FRAGMENT IX. ... they defame us. But the Macedonians after all these things correct themselves, and say: We say that the Son is similar in every respect and in all things to God the Father; but to those who say that there is a difference between born light and unbegotten light, we do not communicate, because we say that there is no difference between born God and unbegotten God: equal in honor, equal in power, Soziphanes, their leader, wrote.

For this reason also they are compelled by us to show us whether those things which are written about the Son are written about the Father: let them say and show from the Scriptures whether the Father was born of the Son before the ages, and whether the Father did everything by the command of the Son, and rules everything; or whether God the Father Almighty is the minister, messenger, and priest of His Son; or whether by the command of the Son the Father took on, laid aside, and received again a body from the virgin; or whether God the Father begged the Son, and received the Holy Spirit, and gave, granted, and sent the Holy Spirit to the Apostles; or whether by the Son’s command the Father is to raise all the dead and to judge the living and the dead, that is, the good and the evil, the just and the unjust. It is written in the Gospel: For God so loved this world that He sent His only Son, that He might give His life for the life of the world; so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into this world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Likewise in the Gospel: The Father loves the Son, and gave everything into His hands. Likewise in the Gospel: For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself, and He gave him the power to perform judgment. Likewise in the Gospel: Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me, the Father. This, however, is His will: that I not lose anything of all that the Father gave me, but that I raise it up on the last day.

Likewise in the Gospel: "For this is the will of my Father, who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up." Fragment X. ... God, sending His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, condemned sin from sin. Likewise the Apostle Paul: "And when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, made through a woman." And the divine Scripture has handed down to us thousands of other such things. Therefore let the Macedonians show us—they who say the Son is in all things and through all things equal to God the Father, and also those who call themselves orthodox, who not only make the Son equal to the Father, but also make the Holy Spirit in all things and through all things equal to the Father and the Son—if it is written anywhere: "For God so loved this world that He sent His Father, to give His life for the life of the world, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life." For the Son did not send His Father to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Let them show us that it is written: "I confess to You, Son, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to the little ones. Yes, Son, because Your good will before You so pleased." Let them read to us if it is written: "The Son loves the Father, and has placed everything in His hands.

Let them prove to us that it is written: "For just as the Son has life in himself, so he gave to his Father to have life in himself, and he gave him the power to pass judgment." Or if they can show that it is written: "I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, my Son; for this is his will, that everything which the Son gave to me I should lose nothing of it, but raise him up on the last day." Likewise, let them read to us: "Everyone who hears the Son and has learned comes to me; not because anyone has seen the Son except he who is from him, this one has seen the Son." Let them show us that it is written: "My teaching is not mine, but that of him who sent me, my Son." Or let them prove to us that it is written: "Therefore my Son loves me, because I lay down my life and will take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up; for this command from the Son...

Fragment XI. ..... Likewise in the Psalm: "Blessed are those who dwell in your house; throughout the ages they will praise you." Likewise in the Gospel: "So that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved this world, that he sent his only Son; so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life." Likewise in the Gospel: "He who believes in the only Son has eternal life; he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will remain upon him." Likewise in the Gospel: "Jesus answered and said to him: Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again; but he who drinks from the water which I will give him will never thirst; but it will be a fountain of springing water for eternal life." Likewise in the Gospel: "He who reaps receives a reward; and he who gathers, fruit for eternal life." Likewise in the Gospel: "Amen, amen I say to you, that he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life; and judgment will not come, but he will pass from death into life." Likewise in the Gospel: "Then Jesus says: Amen, amen I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven; but my Father gives you that true bread from heaven. For it is the bread which descends from heaven and gives life to this world." Then they said to him: "Lord, give us this bread." And Jesus said to them: "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger; and he who believes in me will never thirst.

Likewise in the Gospel: "This, however, is the will of my Father who sent me, that everyone who has seen the Son and believes in him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day." Likewise in the Gospel: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me has eternal life." Likewise in the Gospel: "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven, so that if anyone eats of this bread, he may live forever." Likewise in the Gospel: "Whoever eats this bread lives forever." Likewise in the Gospel: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." Likewise in the Gospel: "Those who are from all my..." FRAGMENT XII. "Lift up your gates, O princes; and be raised up, O eternal gates, and the king of glory has entered." Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. "Lift up your gates, O princes; and be raised up, O eternal gates, and the king of glory has entered." Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, he himself is the king of glory.

Likewise the apostle Paul: "Be imitators of me, brothers, and observe those who walk thus: whom I often told you about, and now also weeping I say, enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end will be destruction; whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their own confusion: who savor earthly things; but our conversation is in the heavens; whence we also await our saving Lord Jesus Christ, who transfigured the body of our humility conformed to the body of his glory, according to the operation, so that he might be able to subject all things to it." Likewise in the Gospel: "When the Son of Man comes in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then all nations will be gathered before him; and he separated them, just as a shepherd separates sheep from goats; and he separated them to his right, but the goats to his left. Then the king says to those who are on the right, 'Come, blessed of my Father; receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was naked, and you covered me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.' Then they will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? or thirsty and give you drink? or when did we see you a stranger and take you in? or naked and cover you? or when did we see you sick and visit you? or in prison and come to you?'

The king answered them and said: "Amen I say to you, as long as you did to one of these least brothers, you did to me." Then he says to those who are on the left: "Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give me to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not receive me; I was naked, and you did not clothe me; I was sick, and you did not visit me; I was in prison, and you did not come to me." Then they will answer...... FRAGMENT XIII. ..... just as at the beginning of the Gospel the Word is proclaimed to be God with God. On account of these things which were foretold above, and when he delivered a pious sense to the pious on his account, then proceeding a little, he says: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of glory and truth." Therefore the Holy Spirit, through the most blessed John, most certainly and most clearly shows that the Word himself is God, so that you may not think this unbegotten Son to be the only-begotten of God, and at the same time most clearly announcing the manner of his humanity, he stops the mouths of those who say that he assumed a soul together with a body.

He says: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us": that is, he put on flesh, not because the Word God himself changed into the nature of flesh, but he took up flesh and dwelt in us, that is, in our flesh, and in that flesh the impassible Word God suffered; and the incorruptible God endured corruption, so that he might change us into incorruptibility. But the divinity of the Word himself did not die, nor did it undergo corruption; rather, the brief separation of the divinity from the body is recognized as the corruption of that body. The Word God, however, suffered nothing except injury only for our sake. For if, when we die, our souls do not die, but the withdrawal of the spirit from the body constitutes the corruption of our human being, much more does the divinity of the only-begotten God not die; but when he willed, by the Father's nod he died of his own accord; that is, he withdrew from the body, and his separation is called his death. After the third day, however, he again took up the body by the Father's will; and he revived it to incorruption; and he ascended with it above the heavens; and he has it as a glorious, holy, living temple; and in that very body, in which he saved the human race, in that body he is worshipped by all at the right hand of the power of God. Therefore, learn the certain knowledge of these things from the most blessed and first martyr of the divinity of Christ, Stephen, saying: "I see," he says, "the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the power of God." The Son of Man, the body which

FRAGMENT XIV. ..... of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ, he ascended while the disciples were watching. He ascended, however, with the body to his Father, where he was before; and he offered to the Father an acceptable gift, our body; and receiving it, to his seat at the right hand; from there to come again with glory and power to judge the living and the dead, and to render to each according to his works. By the will of the Father he sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples, as he promised, saying: If I ascend to the Father, I send you the Spirit of truth. But this Spirit we, who are defenders of the truth, must necessarily confess, third after the Father and the Son in nature and order, and possessing the same nature and dignity. This is the first and greater work of the Father through the Son for the creature. Yet there appears to be no lacuna. through the Son, by nature holy, possessing a sanctifying power, so that he may sanctify those who simply believe in the Father through the Son, our Lord and God Jesus Christ: and so that he may teach and admonish and illuminate their souls, and distribute graces, and lead all to the knowledge of truth and bring them to the Son.

Here the Holy Spirit is acknowledged by the divine Scriptures as not God nor Lord, not creator nor maker, not to be worshipped nor adored; but the Holy Spirit, through the Son, sanctifies, illuminates, and consoles what has been made, and intercedes with inexpressible groans for us, and aids the weakness of our prayer, and leads those who are to be brought to the Son of God on to the Father. In this Spirit both angels adore the Son, and archangels and all natures of invisible and heavenly beings in this Spirit adore the Son, and through the Son, the Father; and in this same Spirit all rational creatures, once sanctified, approach the Son of God, and through him glorify the Father; and the Spirit himself, before all things and for all things and above all things and with all things, adores the Son, he alone without a mediator, through whom he was made before all things: just as the Son also, before all things and for all things and with all things and above all things, adores the Father and gives thanks without a mediator, he alone worthily, who begot him before all things. And just as the Son does nothing by himself, but...

Fragment XV. ...and are ruled, will not live in eternity, but rather will be condemned to the pit of eternal fire. By this same principle we believe that only God the Father, all-powerful, created everything and rules all things: He gave the law, He gave and always gives the Holy Spirit to the saints, He instructed the prophets: the temple, which the Son took from the Virgin Mary and laid down on the cross, the Father raised up: He reconciled the world to Himself, He forgave and daily forgives sins, He will resurrect all the dead, and will judge all the living and the dead, He will give rest and eternal glory to the good and faithful, and will send the evil and faithless into Gehenna: first, because He Himself, knowing, powerful, willing, before all things created, founded, begot, made the Son; secondly, because God the Father Almighty Himself willed, defined, commanded the Son, that through Him all things were created, made, founded, born, subsist and are ruled by the Father's command: through the Son He gave the law: the Son gave and always gives the Holy Spirit to the saints: He instructed the prophets: His own temple, which He took from the Virgin Mary and laid down on the cross, the Son Himself raised up: He reconciled the world to His Father and to Himself: He forgave and daily forgives sins, He will resurrect all the dead and will judge all the living and the dead: He will give rest and eternal glory to the good and faithful: He will send the evil and faithless into Gehenna.

We say that there is one rule and one power, because the Son accomplishes everything according to the Father’s command; but the Son also commands the Holy Spirit, angels, and men to do what the Father wills and orders the Son, so that the Son may command all the rest. As for those who say that whenever divine Scripture mentions Jesus Christ, it signifies only a man, body and soul, and not God, and that Jesus Christ exists from the fact that he was born of Mary, and did not exist before—as Photinus and his predecessors asserted—we hold them alien to our communion. We say and believe that there is one God and Father of all, in such a way that this Holy Spirit, whom we place in the third position after the Father and the Son in the creed and in baptism, is not the creator God, because nothing has been created by him and through him; for all things have been created by the Father through the Son; nor does he himself rule...

Fragment XVI. ...... overseer of all, judge and dispenser, God because He created and constructed all things: who made all things from nothing. Again, the same Athanasius brings forward the memory of the ancients and of Bishop Dionysius, to show that the Father existed before the Son was generated, saying: Thus the Father indeed is Father and not Son; not because He was made, but because of what He is; not from something, but remaining in Himself: the Son, however, is Son and not Father, not because He existed, but because He was made; not from Himself, but from the one who made Him, He obtained the dignity of Son. Then Athanasius himself: For the Son does not raise himself against the Father, nor does he think himself equal with God: but he yields to his Father, and confesses; teaching all that the Father is greater: greater, however, not in vastness or magnitude, which are properties of bodies, but in the perpetuity and ineffable paternal and generative power of Him: because He Himself is everlasting, and has fullness in Himself, and has life from no one. Similarly also the Bishop of Bithynia, known to the Pope; (Therefore we say the Son is begotten: but the Son can never become unbegotten. Knowing only the Father to be unbegotten from the Holy Scriptures: we venerate the Son, because it is certain to us that this glory of his ascends to the Father.) And after a few words, the same: (Since the Father shows Himself greater, it is certain that not only is He the operation of creation, but also that He is unbegotten.)

Similarly, the same author in another epistle: "But concerning the Father and the Son, you will speak, as you know, the staff of the high is to walk." Therefore, truly, we first beseech the Lord that He grant me pardon on account of necessity; and thus I shall begin concerning these matters, not with many questions, nor in a roundabout way, but by a concise path. FRAGMENT XVII. (.....) by the signification of fire, having fire within itself, and remaining in the fire of fire. For while in it there is the splendor of the light of nature, the heat of the power of burning, the mobility of boiling, yet the whole is fire, and all these are one nature. Likewise Hilary: ("Therefore, be the father of all your own.") Likewise Hilary: ("I ask whether God is of another kind, who remains God in the form of God, and according to the sealed and sealing types we discern in seals, with the impressed lead, iron, and gem, the wax shape or the image signed in itself concave.") Likewise Hilary: ("I ask therefore now, whether there is division and separation when fire is from fire; is nature cut off?")

or does nature not follow, so that it is not with the kindled light from the light? We have deemed it useful to set forth these examples of comparison on behalf of the Father: nor would he be thought to lie about his own profession, since the understanding of the divine profession and certain natural examples of creatures would provide support. (But because heretical madness would disturb the faith of the simpler ones, so that it would not be necessary to believe about God what is difficult to understand except through a corporeal comparison; therefore, according to that saying of the Lord, 'What is born of flesh is flesh; but what is born of Spirit is spirit'; because God is spirit, and is born of God.) The utterly vain Hilary ensnares the minds of the innocent; and what the Lord had said about the baptized and about those who are born spiritually, he asserted was written about the nativity of the Son of God. But the reading itself kills Hilary, as divine Scripture says: ('Do not be surprised, because I told you, "You must be born again."') Therefore let them see and understand.

FIRST CHAPTER OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH We confess, believe, and hold that God the Father Almighty is without beginning, unbegotten, indivisible, unchangeable, and immutable; supreme, most high, incomparable, and God of all; and that, knowing, able, and willing, before all ages and times, and before absolutely everything, He created, founded, begot, and made the Son for Himself; and the Son Himself remains indivisible and immutable with God the Father throughout everlasting ages without end. And because, by the will, decree, and command of God the Father Almighty, through the only-begotten Son, God the Holy Spirit, all other things, celestial and terrestrial, visible and invisible, were created, made, born, founded, established, formed, and constituted, and came into being. And that the Son, in the beginning and before He descended into the Virgin Mary, was always obedient to God and His Father. And because, by the arrangement and decree of God the Father Almighty, through the Son all the prophets, inspired, spoke that the Son Himself would come, sent by God the Father, as the illuminator and savior of the human race; and that He would take from the Virgin a temple, that is, flesh, so that the Son of God Almighty, by reason of the assumption of flesh, would be proclaimed Son of man and man, that is, Son of David, because He received flesh from his seed.

And because God the Father sent the Son into this world, so that through his teaching and passion and death on the cross, and on the third day his resurrection and ascension into heaven with the flesh, whence he had descended without flesh, he might save the whole human race believing in him with complete faith through the grace of baptism, whom also the Church has named. And that our Lord and God Jesus Christ taught this on earth, according to what God the Father commanded him in heaven. And that the Son is the high priest to God the Father, and is the mediator between God the Father Almighty and every creature: and that he is the one through whom we are reconciled to God the Father. We also believe that the Son asks his Father: he also petitions and prays for all the saints and penitents: and that the Son has given and gives thanks to God his Father: and that all prayers or thanksgivings are offered to God the Father through the Son: and that by the command of God the Father, his Son sits at his right hand, and intercedes with his Father for us: and we believe that God the Father subjected absolutely everything to the Son. And if God the Father subjected everything to the Son, he also subjected the Holy Spirit. But if the Holy Spirit is not subjected to the Son, then God the Father Almighty did not subject everything to his Son.

But also that which is written: the Father subjected the Son; he loves the Son, and gave everything into his hands; and all things have been handed over to me by my Father; we believe it to be thus: in that the Father begot the Son, he said to him, know that you will create all things, rule them, and have dominion over all, as I will have willed, defined, commanded you. But also the Son most willingly shows this very thing which is neither from himself nor does he do anything by himself, but the workmanship of God in his own nature of brightness without doubt, exhibiting his ministry together with the other created things, serving the providence of God to men, like a giant exulting, running the path from the East to the West, bearing the light of his own brightness of nature to all; so that every man having a rational intellect, looking to him, gives thanks to God, who prepared this brightness for the light of human life. For when you see some man preparing a light late at night, do you give thanks to that light according to the principle of justice? No, but to him who prepared the light. According to this principle of justice, therefore, or using natural intellect, you ought to magnify only the maker and giver of this; and you ought to give thanks to him who granted you the sight of this light; so that you, just as the sun exhibits to you the service of ministry according to the providence of God, may render thanks to your giver, to whom you are a debtor, who placed the sun in the sky for your benefit, so that it might shine upon the earth.

Thus it is, therefore, as has been said: He placed his tabernacle in the sun; and he himself, like a bridegroom coming forth from his bridal chamber, rejoiced as a giant to run the course: his rising is from the highest heaven, and his meeting is up to its highest point; and there is none who hides himself from his heat. You, therefore, if you persist in the ignorance of your error, and deny that the workmanship of this visible creation belongs to one God, and, according to the impiety of your folly, affirm it to be the work of several gods who do not exist, the creation itself, by the very aspect of its nature, most evidently convicts your folly of error, since it mutually preserves order, observes the proper seasons, succeeds itself in turn, and, as if from unanimity, according to the providence of one God, exhibits the use of its ministry to men. It is therefore manifest that he who created the heaven also created the lights in the heaven; he likewise also created the earth and all things that are upon the earth. Moreover, the most evident indication of this is that those things which

FRAGMENT XVIII “... His nativity is before eternal times. If there is anything in things that precedes eternity, there will surely be something that exceeds the sense of eternity. For it is your own thing, and he is your only-begotten: not a portion, not an extension, not, according to the opinion of the effectors, some empty name; but the Son, the Son from you, God the Father, true God, and begotten from you in the unity of your nature; to be confessed after you in such a way as with you: because you are the eternal author of his eternal origin. Now, because he is from you, he is second from you; but because he is yours, you are not to be separated from him: because you are never to be confessed without him, lest you be charged either as imperfect without generation, or as superfluous after generation. Likewise of Phoebadius of Aquitaine, associate of Hilary. Therefore, whoever has proved that the Father was at some time without word, without reason, without wisdom, without power, without spirit, has proved that the Son was not with the Father and in the Father before every beginning. And yet I do not know if, lacking these powers, he can be called God. For not only God, who is perfect in his own sempiternity, but not even that creature according to its own kind has stood uncompleted. It cannot be something, if it is not; but it will not be, if that which it ought to be is lacking to it. Therefore, everything was lacking to the Father, if anything was lacking. But everything was lacking, if his Son, that is, the fullness of his powers, does not lack a beginning.

And it is necessary that this opinion pass over into one or the other part of blasphemy by a profane and sacrilegious definition. For either the Father must be believed to have had his beginning together with his Son, because he could not have been without his Son, that is, without his powers; and indeed to this beginning of theirs there is some third God: or if the Father alone is said to be without beginning, then he must be said to have been imperfect for the generation of the Son. For he is imperfect, if he began to have what he did not have before, and yet ought to have had. Finally, he who always ought to have been perfect always wished to have; because whatever has occupied the whole does not receive increase. Likewise Ambrose, as he confirmed the above-written statements of Hilary and Phoebadius. (Someone says, how was the Son generated? As everlasting, as word, as wisdom, as splendor of eternal light: because splendor operates, as it is born. That is the example of the Apostle, not mine. Do not therefore believe that there was any moment or any time when God was without wisdom, or light without splendor.) Likewise Ambrose: (Take another thing that shines; the Apostle said the Son is everlasting, because his power and divinity are everlasting.) Likewise Phoebadius: (This is the surge of blasphemy, this is the whole sacrilegious pain, that in the Father and the Son one God is received.) Likewise Phoebadius: (The Father is God and the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and all these are one God.)

FRAGMENT XIX. ...and the evil will be exterminated from you. Likewise in Deuteronomy: He shall write for himself this Deuteronomy in a book for the Levites and priests, so that it may be with him; and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to observe all his precepts, and to perform these ordinances, so that his heart may not be exalted above his brothers; but he shall not deviate from the precepts to the right or to the left, that he may be long-lived in his principate, he and his Son. Likewise in Deuteronomy: And I do not arrange this Testament and these curses for you alone, but also for those who accompany you today in the sight of the Lord your God, as for those who are not with you today. Likewise in Deuteronomy: And all the nations of the earth will say, why has the Lord done thus to this land? what is this immense wrath of fury? And they will say, because they abandoned the Testament of the Lord God of their fathers, which he arranged for their fathers, when he led them out of the land of Egypt. And going, they served alien gods, and worshipped those whom they did not know, and did not remain with the Lord their God. And the Lord, in his fury, was angry over that land, and brought upon it according to all the curses of the Testament, which are written in this book. And the Lord removed them from their land in fury and wrath and very great exasperation: and cast them into another land; and so forth.

This divine law, these holy Scriptures, defends Constantine the Elder, saying: (Although I feel myself to be the most exalted and lord of all, I know that I am mortal, and I understand that I will one day leave behind the glory of this kingdom.) Therefore, eternal fame is to be sought, and those sublime things which descend from the eternal Lord and the high God; which the promises of divine law; which the sacred promises of the Son of God; which, after the course of this life, are presented by the Son of God himself as guarantor. Therefore, let the brief glory of this time be set aside, so that through faith, without faith, they may be possessed, whereby he himself, according to the sacred law of God, after the bond of death, will grant immortality, after a very brief life, to promise without end; and so forth. This divine law, these holy Scriptures, defends Constantius, writing to the holy... FRAGMENT XX. ...the prophets of God. And when they had heard the false prophets who were with Ahaziah, son of Ahab, whose teacher was Gamarias from Mount Ephraim, and he himself was the brother of Zedekiah, he persuaded Ochozias, king of Gomorrah, and killed Micah. And Bechira knew, and saw the place of Isaiah and the prophets who were with him; for he himself dwelt in Beclem; and he went to Jerusalem, and they themselves joined with Asamar. And it happened that when Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, came and took Samaria, and led away the name... said... into prison, and led them to Mount Medor...

to the river Gozan, Bechira was younger, and he fled and arrived at Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah: he did not walk in the ways of his father of Samaria, because he feared Hezekiah. And he was found in the time of Hezekiah speaking words of injustice in Jerusalem, and he was seized by the boys in the region of Bethlehem. And Bechira despised Isaiah and the prophets who were with him, saying that Isaiah and the prophets who are with him were prophesying in Jerusalem against the city of Judea, because they are being deserted, and against the sons of Judea and the good, because they are being led away captive. And from there, O lord king, because the Greek helmet is led through iron: they themselves prophesied in Israel and in Judah and in Jerusalem: and Isaiah himself said that he prophesied more than Moses. For Moses said that a man cannot see God; but Isaiah said, I have seen God, and behold I live. You, O king, understand that he is a liar: and behold, he called Jerusalem Sodom, and its princes and the people of Judea and Jerusalem he will name Gomorrah. And when he had spoken many things against Isaiah and the prophets, and Belial sat in the heart of Manasseh, and in the hearts of the princes of Judah and Benjamin and of the eunuchs and counselors of the king. And the words of Bechira pleased them, and the king commanded, and they seized Isaiah.

For Beliac had bile against Isaiah because he revealed Samael in himself, and because he himself announced the coming of the Most Beloved from the seventh heaven and of the Transfigured One; and his descent and the form in which he would be transfigured to be that of a man, and the persecution which he would suffer, and the contumely which... FRAGMENT XXI. ...sons of the voice of Micah and the remaining prophets, saying in that, in which you have heard my prophecy: I saw a glorious angel, not according to the glory of the angels whom I always saw, but having a great and holy brightness, which brightness I cannot describe. And he approached and took my hand, and said: And who are you, and what is your name, and whither will you take me? For I received strength to speak with him. And he said to me: When I have set you down and shown you the vision, on account of which I was sent to you, then you will understand who I am, but I will not tell you my name, because you will return to the flesh. For when you have lifted yourself up, then you will see. For this reason I was sent, that I might come. He answers me simply and says to me: And you will see something greater. He speaks cheerfully and simply to you... [and the greater] of his superiors he will see. For this reason I was sent from the seventh heaven, that I might show you everything. And he lifted me up, and I myself ascended into the first firmament, and there I saw Samael and his strength: and there was a great war in him, and the angels of Satan envying at the same time; for just as above, so also on earth.

I said to the angel who was with me: What is this war, and what is this envy? And he said to me: It is as it has been from the time the eye was made until now; the war will be as it is until the one whom he will see comes and cleanses him. And afterwards he placed me upon the firmament; and there was a heaven, and I saw there a throne in the middle, and on its right and on its left there were angels; the angels on the left were 10, as on the right: for on the right they had great brightness: and they all praised with one voice: and the throne was in the middle, and on the left afterwards they blessed. But there was a voice from the left, not as if it were lesser, nor was it unlike them; and I asked the angel who led me, and I said to him: To whom do the angels send hymns? And he said to me: To the glory of the one sitting in the seventh heaven, who is of the eternal age, and to his beloved one by whom I was sent to you. And I placed myself in the second heaven, and the height of the heaven was as from heaven to earth and to the firmament: And I saw there, as I had seen in the first heaven, angels on the right and on the left and thrones in the middle......