The four phrases as a fixed defense
Basil is closing his homily by giving the congregation the four phrases of John 1:1 as a permanent defense against those who say the Son once was not.
Since among us the things that beget do so in time and with passion, John anticipated this and said “Word,” correcting beforehand the unseemly suppositions, so that he might keep your soul unwounded. “And the Word was with God.” Again the “was,” against those who blaspheme that he was not. Where was the Word? Not in a place; for the uncircumscribed things are not contained by place. But where was he? With God. Neither the Father is in a place, nor is the Son held in any enclosure or acknowledged circumscribed boundary; but the Father is unbounded, and the Son is unbounded. Whatever you conceive, and wherever you go in your spirit, you will find it filled with God; everywhere you will find the subsistence of the Son co-extending with him everywhere. “And the Word was with God.” Marvel at the precision of each phrase. He did not say, “The Word was in God,” but “with God,” so that he might present the distinctive character of the person. He did not say, “In God,” so that he might not give an occasion for the confusion of the persons. For that blasphemy is also wicked—the blasphemy of those who attempt to mix everything together and say that Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one subject, and that differing names are attached to the one reality. Wicked is the impiety, and no less to be fled than those who blaspheme that the Son of God is unlike in essence to God the Father. “And the Word was with God.” Then, having used the term “Word” to present the passionlessness of the generation, he quickly also consoled us for the harm that comes to us from the word “Word.” And as if snatching him away from the slander of the blasphemers, he says, “What is the Word? The Word was God.” Do not devise for me distinctions among words, and do not attach any blasphemy from your own cunning to the teaching of the Spirit. You have the declaration; submit to the Lord. “The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Again he recapitulates in a few words all his theology, which the evangelist handed down to us concerning the only Son. Who is “this one”? This one, the Word who is God. For since he has articulated for you the thought about him, as if imprinting on your soul through the teaching the things that were unknown, and making the Word Christ dwell in your heart, he says, “This one.” Which “this one”? Do not look outside, searching around with the demonstrative word for the one being pointed out to you; but enter into the hidden places of your own soul, and recognize the one you were taught is God, the one who was in the beginning, the one who came forth as Word, the one who was with God. Recognize him, and be astonished, and worship your own Master, the one established in you through the teaching. Know that this one was in the beginning—that is, always with God his own Father. Preserve for me these few phrases, as if sealing them as a signet upon your memories. They will be an unbreakable little wall against the assaults of those who plot against you; they are a saving safeguard for the souls of those who put them forward. If someone comes to you and says, “He was begotten when he was not; for if he was, how was he begotten?”—turn away the blasphemy against the glory of the only Son as you would the voice of demons. But you yourself return and come to the phrases of the Gospels: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1–2). Say the fourth “was,” and you will abolish their “he was not.” Let these foundations of the faith remain unshaken. On them we will build, God granting, what remains as well. For it is not possible to discuss everything with you all at once, lest by the excess of the word we make useless for you what has been gathered with labor. For the mind that grows weak when it tries to grasp everything at once suffers something like a stomach that, because of an excess of satiety, cannot bring what has been sent into it to digestion. I pray, then, that you may be sweetened by the taste and benefited by the digestion. I myself stand ready for you for the service of what remains, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Greek
Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ παρ' ἡμῖν τὰ γεννῶντα χρόνῳ γεννᾷ, καὶ ἐμπαθῶς γεννᾷ, διὰ τοῦτο προλαβὼν, Λόγον εἶπε, προδιορθούμενος τὰς ἀπρεπεῖς ὑπολήψεις, ἵνα σου τὴν ψυχὴν ἄτρωτον διασώσηται. Καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Πάλιν τὸ, Ἦν, διὰ τοὺς βλασφημοῦντας, ὅτι οὐκ ἦν. Ποῦ ἦν ὁ Λόγος; Οὐκ ἐν τόπῳ· οὐ γὰρ περιέχεται τόπῳ τὰ ἀπερίγραπτα. Ἀλλὰ ποῦ ἦν; Πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Οὔτε ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν τόπῳ, οὔτε ὁ Υἱὸς ἐν περιοχῇ τινι καὶ περιγραφῇ ὁμολογουμένῃ κατειλημμένος· ἀλλ' ἄπει ρος μὲν ὁ Πατὴρ, ἄπειρος δὲ ὁ Υἱός. Πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν νοήσῃς, καὶ ὅπουπερ ἂν πορευθῇς τῷ πνεύματί σου, τοῦ Θεοῦ εὑρήσεις πεπληρωμένον· πανταχοῦ συμ παρεκτεινομένην εὑρήσεις τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὴν ὑπόστασιν. Καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Θαύμασον τὴν ἀκρίβειαν ἑκάστης φωνῆς· οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ἦν ὁ Λόγος· ἀλλὰ, Πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· ἵνα τὸ ἰδιάζον τῆς ὑποστάσεως παραστήσῃ. Οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, ἵνα μὴ πρόφασιν δῷ τῇ συγχύσει τῆς ὑποστάσεως. Πονηρὰ γὰρ κἀκείνη ἡ βλασφημία τῶν φύρειν τὰ πάντα ἐπιχειρούντων, καὶ ἓν τὸ ὑποκείμενον λεγόντων, Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, προσηγορίας δὲ διαφερούσας τῷ ἑνὶ πράγματι ἐπιφημίζεσθαι. Πονηρὰ ἡ ἀσέβεια, καὶ φευκτὴ οὐχ ἧττον τῶν ἀνόμοιον εἶναι κατ' οὐσίαν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ βλασφημούντων. Καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Εἶτα συγχρησάμενος τῇ τοῦ Λόγου φωνῇ πρὸς τὴν παράστασιν τῆς κατὰ τὴν γέννησιν ἀπαθείας, ταχὺ καὶ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Λόγου βλάβος ἐγγινόμενον ἡμῖν παρεμυθήσατο. Καὶ οἷον ἀφαρπάζων αὐτὸν τῆς συκοφαντίας τῶν βλασφημούντων, Τί, φησὶν, ἐστὶν ὁ Λόγος; Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Μή μοι τεχνολόγει διαφοράς τινας λόγων, μηδὲ ἐκ τῆς σῆς κακοτεχνίας προστρίψῃς τινὰ βλασφημίαν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἔχεις τὴν ἀπόφασιν· ὑποτάγηθι τῷ Κυρίῳ. Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος· οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Πάλιν ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται ἐν ὀλίγοις ῥήμασι πᾶσαν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν θεολογίαν, ἣν περὶ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἡμῖν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς παρέδωκεν. Οὗτος τίς; Οὗτος, ὁ Λόγος ὁ Θεός. Ἐπειδὴ γάρ σοι διήρθρωσε τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἔννοιαν, οἷον ἐντυπώσας σου τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τῆς διδασκαλίας τὰ ἀγνοούμενα, καὶ ἐνοικίσας τὸν Λόγον Χριστὸν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, Οὗτός φησι. Ποῖος οὗτος; Μὴ ἔξω διαβλέψῃ, διὰ τῆς δεικτικῆς φωνῆς τὸν ὑποδεικνύμενόν σοι περισκοπῶν, ἀλλ' εἴσελθε εἰς τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς σεαυτοῦ ψυχῆς, καὶ ὃν ἐδιδάχθης Θεὸν τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα, τὸν ὡς Λόγον προελθόντα, τὸν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὄντα, τοῦτον γνωρίσας καὶ καταπλαγεὶς, καὶ προσκυνήσας τὸν σεαυτοῦ Δεσπότην, τόν σοι διὰ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἐνιδρυθέντα, γνώριζε, ὅτι οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ· τουτέστιν, ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Πατέρα. Ταύτας μοι τὰς ὀλίγας φωνὰς διασώσατε, ὥσπερ σφραγῖδα ταῖς μνήμαις ὑμῶν ἐνσημηνάμενοι. Αὗται ἀῤῥαγέστατον ἔσονται τειχίον πρὸς τὰς τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων καταδρομάς· αὗται φυλακτήριόν εἰσι τῶν ψυχῶν σωτήριον τοῖς προβαλλομένοις αὐτάς. Ἄν τίς σοι προσελθὼν λέγοι· Οὐκ ὢν, ἐγεννήθη· εἰ γὰρ ἦν, πῶς ἐγεννήθη; ὡς δαιμόνων φωνὴν ἀποτρέπου τὴν κατὰ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Μονογενοῦς βλασφημίαν. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἐπανελθὼν ἧκε πρὸς τὰς τῶν Εὐαγγελίων φωνάς· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Τέταρτον εἰπὲ τὸ, Ἦν, καὶ καταργήσεις αὐτῶν τὸ, Οὐκ ἦν. Οὗτοι ἄσειστοι μενέτωσαν οἱ θεμέλιοι τῆς πίστεως. Τούτοις ἐποικοδομήσομεν, Θεοῦ διδόντος, καὶ τὰ λειπόμενα. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατὸν περὶ πάντων ὑμῖν εἰς ἅπαξ διαλεχθῆναι, μήποτε τῇ ἀμετρίᾳ τοῦ λόγου ἄχρηστα ποιήσωμεν ὑμῖν τὰ φιλοπόνως συνειλεγμένα. Ἀτονοῦσα γὰρ ἡ διάνοια πάντων ὁμοῦ περιδράξασθαι, ὅμοιον πάσχει γαστρὶ τῇ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ κόρου εἰς πέψιν ἀγαγεῖν τὰ παραπεμφθέντα μὴ δυναμένῃ. Εὔχομαι οὖν ὑμᾶς γλυκανθῆναι μὲν τῇ γεύσει, ὠφεληθῆναι δὲ τῇ ἀναδόσει. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἕστηκα ὑμῖν ἕτοιμος πρὸς τὴν διακονίαν τῶν λειπομένων, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.