← §1 Read continuously §3 → Orations against the Arians · §2 · Eustathius of Antioch
The Arians' selective quotation
Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.
Eustathius is describing how the Arians quote only part of a scriptural passage about Christ, saying he committed sin while omitting the words that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
The strange mid-chorus members of Arius's troupe say that Christ committed sin. But the words that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5:19 ) they neither hold in memory nor speak with the instruments of the tongue.
Greek Orationes contra Arianos (fragmenta) ΟΙ ΛΟΓΟΙ ΚΑΤΑ ΑΡΕΙΑΝΩΝ 54 Ἀλλ' οἱ παράδοξοι τῆς Ἀρείου θυμέλης μεσόχοροι τὸ μὲν ἁμαρτίαν πεποιηκέναι τὸν Χριστὸν φράζουσι· 55 Τὸ δὲ ὅτι Θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ, οὔτε ἐν μνήμῃ φέρουσιν οὔτε τοῖς τῆς γλώττης ὀργάνοις
Report a mistake in this passage
About this text Orations against the Arians attributed to Eustathius of Antioch.
Eustathius of Antioch (fl. c. 320–337) wrote this treatise against the Arians, followers of the presbyter Arius. He had been bishop of Beroea before becoming bishop of Antioch, and he was one of the most prominent opponents of Arianism at the Council of Nicaea. The surviving fragments come from a larger work in eight books, written to refute Arian claims about Christ.
The occasion is a dispute over how to read Scripture. Eustathius accuses the Arians of quoting dishonestly: they say that Christ committed sin, but they suppress the words that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. He calls them false accusers and says they are mutilating the biblical passage. A reader will meet Arius himself only as the named source of the movement, while the Arians appear as quoted or paraphrased opponents whose words Eustathius reports and argues against.
The argument turns on two pairs of terms. Eustathius insists that created and begotten are mutually exclusive: if Christ is created, he is not begotten, and if begotten, not created, since both cannot apply to the same nature. He then reasons that whatever has a beginning also admits an end, and whatever admits an end is capable of corruption, implying that a created Christ would be corruptible. Readers should know that the scriptural allusion is to 2 Corinthians 5:19, and that the terms created and begotten carry the technical sense of made versus begotten as rendered here.
This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.
Report a mistake
← §1 Read continuously §3 →