Letter 198

To the Same Person. The blessed Paul says that the almighty God and Father dwells in unapproachable light [1 Timothy 6:16]. This light, which is incomprehensible, subsistent, ungraspable, and boundless, is the adorable Son, and Word, and Lord of all things. If, then, these things are so, how do the beast-minded Arians, destroyers of the flock of Christ, dare to teach you that the only-begotten Son and Word of God is a creature and was brought into being out of things that did not exist?

Φῶς οἰκεῖν ἀπρόσιτον φησὶ τὸν παντοκράτορα Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος. Τοῦτο ἀνόητον, καὶ ἐνυπόστατον, καὶ ἀκατάληπτον, καὶ ἀπέραντον φῶς ἐστιν ὁ προσκυνητὸς Υἱός, καὶ Λόγος, καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος. Εἰ τοίνυν ταῦθ’ οὕτως ἔχει, πῶς κτίσμα, καὶ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων γεγενῆσθαι τὸν μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱόν, καὶ Λόγον, διδάσκειν σε τολμῶσιν οἱ θηριογνώμονες, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ποίμνης ὀλετῆρες Ἀρειανοί;