83. But when I at last turn to speak on the third
point, I pray you to let there be no conflict of suspicions where there
is peace at heart. Do not think I would advance anything hurtful
to the progress of unity. For it is absurd to fear cavil about a
word when the fact expressed by the word presents no difficulty.
Who objects to the fact that the Council of Nicæa adopted the word
ὁμοούσιον́̈ He who does so, must
necessarily like its rejection by the Arians. The Arians
rejected the word, that God the Son might not be asserted to be
born of the substance of God the Father, but formed out of
nothing, like the creatures. This is no new thing that I
speak of. The perfidy of the Arians is to be found in many
of their letters and is its own witness. If the godlessness
of the negation then gave a godly meaning to the assertion, I ask
why we should now criticise a word which was then rightly adopted
because it was wrongly denied? If it was rightly adopted,
why after supporting the right should that which extinguished the
wrong be called to account? Having been used as the
instrument of evil it came to be the instrument of good Impiare seis
used by Plautus, Rud. 1, 3, 8, in the sense of
ἀσεβεῖν. The sentence
probably refers to the misuse of the word by Paul of Samosata..