Against Jewish and Anomoian denials of the Son's co-creative dignity
Basil is closing his exposition of Genesis 1:26, refuting the Jewish evasion that God addressed angels, and the Anomoian denial that the Son shares the Father's image.
For they say he is speaking to the angels who stand beside him: 'Let us make man.' The fabrication is Jewish, the myth-making born of their ease in argument. So that they may not accept the one, they introduce countless persons. And rejecting the Son, they attach the dignity of counsel to servants, and make our fellow slaves lords of our creation. A man who is being perfected is raised up to the dignity of angels. But what created thing can be equal to its creator? Consider also what follows: 'According to our image.' What do you say to this? Is there one image of God and of angels? For of the Son and the Father there is every necessity that the form be the same—the form being understood, of course, in a way befitting God, not in bodily shape, but in the distinctive character of the Godhead. Hear also, you who are from the new mutilation, you who promote Judaism under the pretense of Christianity. To whom does he say, 'According to our image'? To whom else but the radiance of his glory and the exact impress of his substance, who is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15)? To his own living image, then, to the one who said, 'I and the Father are one' (John 10:30), and 'Whoever has seen me has seen the Father' (John 14:9)—to this one he says, 'Let us make man according to our image' (Genesis 1:26). Where there is one image, where is the dissimilarity? 'And God made the man' (Genesis 1:27). He did not say, 'They made.' Here he fled from the plurality of persons. Through those words he instructs the Jew, and through these he shuts out Hellenism, and he safely ran back up to the monad, so that you may understand the Son with the Father, and may escape the danger of polytheism. 'In the image of God he made him' (Genesis 1:27). Again he introduced the person of the co-worker. For he did not say, 'In his own image,' but, 'In the image of God.' In what respect, then, man has that which is according to the image of God, and how he receives a share of that which is according to the likeness, will be said in what follows, God granting it. But for now let this much be said: if there is one image, where did you get the idea to commit unbearable impiety, saying that the Son is unlike the Father? O the ingratitude! The likeness you received, this you do not share with your benefactor? And you think that the things granted to you by grace remain yours by right, but you do not permit the Son to have the likeness to the one who begot him that is his by nature? But the evening now commands us to silence, having long ago sent the sun toward its setting. Here, then, let us also put the word to rest, content with what has been said. For now we have touched upon the matter only enough to awaken your zeal for the word; but we will give a more complete examination of the things before us in what follows, with the cooperation of the Spirit. Go in joy, O Christ-loving church, adorning your august tables with the memory of what has been said instead of every costly dish and varied seasoning. Let the one who says the Son is unlike be put to shame; let the Jew be confounded; let the pious rejoice in the doctrines of the truth; let the Lord be glorified, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.
Greek
Τοῖς ἀγγέλοις γὰρ λέγει τοῖς παρεστῶσιν αὐτῷ, Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον. Ἰουδαϊκὸν τὸ πλάσμα, τῆς ἐκεῖθεν εὐκολίας τὸ μυθολόγημα· ἵνα τὸν ἕνα μὴ παραδέξωνται, μυρίους εἰσάγουσι. Καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν ἀθετοῦντες, οἰκέταις τὸ τῆς συμβουλίας ἀξίωμα περιάπτουσι· καὶ τοὺς ὁμοδούλους ἡμῶν κυρίους ποιοῦσι τῆς ἡμετέρας δημιουργίας. Τελειούμενος ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀξίαν ἀνάγεται. Ποῖον δὲ δημιούργημα ἴσον δύναται εἶναι τῷ κτίσαντι; Σκόπει δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς, Κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν. Τί λέγεις πρὸς τοῦτο; Μὴ καὶ εἰκὼν μία Θεοῦ καὶ ἀγγέλων; Υἱοῦ μὲν γὰρ καὶ Πατρὸς πᾶσα ἀνάγκη τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι μορφήν· θεοπρεπῶς δηλονότι τῆς μορφῆς νοουμένης, οὐκ ἐν σχήματι σωματικῷ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ ἰδιώματι τῆς θεότητος. Ἄκουε καὶ σὺ ὁ ἐκ τῆς νέας κατατομῆς, ὁ τὸν Ἰουδαϊσμὸν πρεσβεύων ἐν Χριστιανισμοῦ προσποιήσει. Τίνι λέγει, Κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν; Τίνι ἄλλῳ γε, ἢ τῷ ἀπαυγάσματι τῆς δόξης, καὶ χαρακτῆρι τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου; Τῇ ἰδίᾳ τοίνυν εἰκόνι τῇ ζώσῃ, τῇ εἰπούσῃ, Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν, καὶ Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ, ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα· ταύτῃ λέγει, Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν. Ὅπου μία εἰκὼν, ποῦ τὸ ἀνόμοιον; Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Οὐχὶ, ἐποίησαν. Ἔφυγεν ἐνταῦθα τὸν πληθυσμὸν τῶν προσώπων. Δι' ἐκείνων μὲν τὸν Ἰουδαῖον παιδεύων, διὰ τούτων δὲ τὸν Ἑλληνισμὸν ἀποκλείων, ἀσφαλῶς ἀνέδραμεν ἐπὶ τὴν μονάδα, ἵνα καὶ Υἱὸν νοῇς μετὰ Πατρὸς, καὶ τῆς πολυθεΐας ἐκφύγῃς τὸ ἐπικίνδυνον. Ἐν εἰκόνι Θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν. Πάλιν τοῦ συνεργοῦ τὸ πρόσωπον παρεισήγαγεν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, ἐν εἰκόνι ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλ', Ἐν εἰκόνι Θεοῦ. Ἐν τίνι μὲν οὖν ἔχει τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ πῶς μεραλαμβάνει τοῦ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν, ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς, Θεοῦ διδόντος, εἰρήσεται. Νῦν δὲ τοσοῦτον λεγέσθω, ὅτι εἰ μία εἰκὼν, πόθεν σοι ἐπῆλθεν ἀφόρητα δυσσεβεῖν, ἀνόμοιον λέγοντι τὸν Υἱὸν τῷ Πατρί; Ὢ τῆς ἀχαριστίας· ἧς μετέλαβες ὁμοιότητος, ταύτης οὐ μεταδίδως τῷ εὐεργέτῃ; καὶ σαυτῷ μὲν κύρια μένειν τὰ ἐκ τῆς χάριτος παρασχεθέντα νομίζεις, τῷ δὲ Υἱῷ τὴν ἐκ φύσεως ὁμοιότητα πρὸς τὸν γεννήσαντα ἔχειν οὐκ ἐπιτρέπεις; Ἀλλὰ σιωπὴν γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐπιτάσσει λοιπὸν ἡ ἑσπέρα πάλαι πρὸς δυσμὰς τὸν ἥλιον παραπέμψασα. Ἐνταῦθα δὴ οὖν τὸν λόγον καὶ ἡμεῖς κατευνάσωμεν, ἀρκεσθέντες τοῖς εἰρημένοις. Νῦν μὲν οὖν ὅσον διεγεῖραι ὑμῶν τὸν ζῆλον τοῦ λόγου παρηψάμεθα· τὴν δὲ τελειοτέραν περὶ τῶν προκειμένων ἐξέτασιν ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς ἀποδώσομεν, τῇ συνεργίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἄπιτέ μοι χαίροντες, ἡ φιλόχριστος ἐκκλησία, ἀντὶ παντὸς ὄψου πολυτελοῦς καὶ τῶν ποικίλων καρυκευμάτων τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν εἰρημένων τὰς σεμνὰς ὑμῶν κατακοσμοῦντες τραπέζας. Καταισχυνέσθω ὁ ἀνόμοιος, ἐντρεπέσθω ὁ Ἰουδαῖος, ἀγαλλέσθω τοῖς δόγμασι τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ εὐσεβὴς, δοξαζέσθω ὁ Κύριος, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.