5. The Father doeth what He
will, and what He will doeth the Son. Do not imagine an Almighty
Father and a not Almighty Son: it is error, blot it out within you,
let it not cleave in your memory, let it not be drunk into your
faith, and if haply any of you shall have drunk it in, let him
vomit it up. Almighty is the Father, Almighty the Son. If Almighty
begat not Almighty, He begat not very Son. For what say we,
brethren, if the Father being greater begat a Son less than He?
What said I, begat? Man engenders, being greater, a son being less:
it is true: but that is because the one grows old, the other grows
up, and by very growing attains to the form of his father. The Son
of God, if He groweth not because neither can God wax old, was
begotten perfect. And being begotten perfect, if He groweth not,
and remained not less, He is equal. For that ye may know Almighty
begotten of Almighty, hear Him Who is Truth. That which of Itself
Truth saith, is true. What saith Truth? What saith the Son, Who is
Truth? “Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these also the Son
likewise doeth.”1771
The Son is
Almighty, in doing all
things that He willeth to do. For if the
Father doeth some things
which the Son doeth not, the Son said falsely, “Whatsoever things
the
Father doeth, these also the Son doeth likewise.” But because
the Son spake truly, believe it:
“Whatsoever things the
Father doeth, these also the Son doeth
likewise,” and ye have believed in the Son that He is
Almighty.
Which word although ye said not in the Creed, yet this is it that
ye expressed when ye believed in the Only Son, Himself
God. Hath
the
Father aught that the Son hath not? This Arian heretic
blasphemers say, not I. But what say I? If the
Father hath aught
that the Son hath not, the Son lieth in saying, “All things that
the
Father hath, are Mine.”
1772
Many and
innumerable are the
testimonies by which it is
proved that the Son is Very Son of
God
the
Father, and the
Father God hath His Very-begotten Son God, and
Father and Son is One God.
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