Gregory of Nazianzus De Filio (Orat. 29) 11

ed. Arthur James Mason

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De Filio (Orat. 29). Gregory of Nazianzus. ed. Arthur James Mason. Germany. 2014.

Sponsored by University of Leipzig.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

De Filio (Orat. 29) (Greek) (Gregory of Nazianzus. The Five Theological Orations. Mason, Arthur James, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1899.)

Notes on the current edition

De Filio (Orat. 29)

1. 1 γεγεννημένον] + οὐ ταὐτὸν λέγεις dg || 1 φύσις] + γεννήτορος καὶ be || 3 φύσιν] + τὸ γέννημα b || 4 εἰ μὲν] + γὰρ e || 5 τὴν ἄγεν.] om τὴν e
2. 5. τὴν ἀγενν. αὐτήν] ’ unbegottenness itself? the very character of not being begotten.
3. 7. περὶ ταὐτὸν δέ] not, of course, περὶ τὸν αὐτόν. They are opposite characteristics, but both are found in man without any difference of nature being involved. The wise man and the foolish man are alike man.
4. 8. οὐκ οὐσίας τ.] ‘they do not divide the essences; they are divisions (lit. divided) within (in connexion with) the same essence.’
5. 9. ἢ καὶ τὸ ἀθ’.] Α fresh argument. If τὸ ἀγέννητον constitutes the divine nature, so that it and τὸ θεῖον are convertible terms, a similar case can be made out for these other predicates. Then, since the divine nature is absolutely identified with τὸ ἀγέννητον, and yet at the same time with τὸ ἀθάνατον, we are driven to suppose that these are separate natures, or essences, or that they compose the divine nature by their aggregation.
6. 11. Assume for the sake of argument that to be unbegotten belongs to God alone, though the assertion would by some be denied. It does not follow that unbegottenness is a necessary part of the divine essence. Adam alone was directly fashioned by God; yet Seth is as truly man as Adam. The divine essence is a positive, not α negative thing. If you ask me what it is, I can answer that I hope we may know some day, but not here. Meanwhile, whatever glory there is in the underived existence belongs to the Son who is begotten of the Underived.
7. 13. κοινὰ γάρ] Angels e.g. are ἀθάνατοι; doves and lambs are called ἄκακα.
8. 15. οἱ καὶ τὴν ὔ.] The Platonists. Gr. does not adopt their opinion. He only uses it to embarrass the Eunomian. He might have cited in like manner the ’darkness,’ which the Manichees made to be coeternal with light ; but he disdains to do so.
9. 11. 1 ἀγένητα de || 2 ριψωμεν] -ομεν b ΙΙ 5 γὰρ] + καὶ d || 6 fiovov] μόνος c || 11 om ἐστι df || o] ω e2 || 14 om εἰς ’Reg. a’ 15 ws] + φησιν b || 17 τούτω] τοῦτο g || 18 θαρρήσομεν] -ωμεν adef
10. 2. ἔστω] for argument's sake, he will assume that none but God is unbegotten. That does not preclude the possibility of One who is begotten being God likewise, any more than the fact that Adam alone was directly formed by God precludes others who are not so formed from having the same nature as Adam.
11. 6. ovbt τὸ ἂγ. μόνον θεός] It would not be true to say that only what is unbegotten can be God — though nothing can be God which is not begotten of the Father; you must admit that what is begotten of Him is God likewise.
12. 8. πῶς οὐσίαν θ. λ] How can a merely negative attribute be spoken of as constituting the essence of God? Cp. ii 9.
13. 11. ὂ τὴν φύσιν ἐστι] ‘what He is by nature; nor what it is that has no generation.’
14. 12. τοῦτο λέγειν] ’to ash the question.’ Πολυπρ., cp. ii. 9.
15. 15. ὡς ἡ τοῦ ἂψ. vir.] Prob. Gr. refers to 1 Gor. xiii 12; cp. ii
Ὁ ἀψευδής, Tit. i
16. 17. τοῖς ἐπὶ τ. καθαιρ] Gp. ii 12 τοῖς ἐνταῦθα κεκ. . . .πρὸς τὸ ποθούμένον.
17. 18. εἰ καἰ μέγα κτλ.] If it is a great thing to be altogether underived, as the Father is, it is no less a thing to be derived from Him in the way the Son is. He shares the nature and glory of the Selfexistent, and has the additional glory of being begotten of Him. Cp. iv 7.