therefore did He beget Him Such as He is Himself. Thou doest wrong both to the Son, and
to the Father Himself, for whose honour thou wouldest do outrage to the Son. For in truth
for this reason dost thou say that the Son is not of the Same Substance, lest thou shouldest
do wrong to His Father. I will soon show thee, that thou doest wrong to both.” “How?” saith
he. “If I say to any man’s son, Thou art degenerate, thou art not like thy father; degenerate,
thou art not what thy father is. The son hears it, and is angry, and says, ‘Was I then born
degenerate?’ The father hears it, and is more angry still. And in his anger what says he?
‘Have I then begotten a degenerate son? If I then be one thing, and I have begotten another,
I have begotten a monster.’ What is it then, that whereas thou wishest to pay honour to the
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One by doing outrage to the Other, thou doest outrage to Both? Thou offendest the Son,
but thou wilt not propitiate the Father. When thou honourest the Father by outraging the
Son, thou offendest both the Son and the Father. From whom wilt thou fly? to whom wilt
thou fly? When the Father is angry with thee, dost thou fly to the Son? What doth He say
to thee? ‘To whom dost thou fly, to Me, whom thou hast made degenerate?’ When the Son
is offended, dost thou run to the Father? He too saith to thee; ‘To whom dost thou fly, to
Me who, thou hast said, have begotten a degenerate Son?’” Let this suffice for you; hold it
fast, commit it to memory, inscribe it in your faith. But that ye may understand it, pour out
your prayers to God, the Father and the Son, who are One.
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On the words of the Gospel, John x. 30, ‘I and the Father are one.’