Some of the Greeks, then, wandered from the way and did not know Christ. They declared that evil has its own subsistence and exists by itself, and in doing so they err in two ways. Either they deprive the Creator of being the Maker of the things that exist—for He could not be Lord of what exists if, as they claim, evil has a subsistence and essence of its own—or, if they want Him to be Maker of all, they must necessarily grant that He is also Maker of evil, since according to them evil is among the things that exist.
But this would be absurd and impossible. Evil does not come from the good, nor is it in the good, nor does it come through the good. Otherwise the good would no longer be good, if its nature were mixed or if it became a cause of evil.
Those who belong to the heresies, having fallen away from the teaching of the Church and made shipwreck concerning the faith, likewise irrationally suppose that evil has a subsistence. Besides the true God, the Father of Christ, they fabricate for themselves another god—an unbegotten maker of evil, the source of wickedness, and also the creator of the created order. Such people can easily be refuted both from the Scriptures and from human reason itself, the very faculty from which they fashioned these notions in their madness.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in His own Gospels, confirms the words of Moses and says, “The Lord God is one”; and again, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.” If God is one, and He is Lord of heaven and earth, how could there be another god besides Him? Where could the god they speak of exist, when the one true God fills everything within the bounds of heaven and earth? How could there be another maker of things of which God Himself, the Father of Christ, is Lord, according to the Savior’s word?
Unless perhaps they say that, with the two in equal balance, the evil one can also become lord over what belongs to the good God. But if they say this, see into what impiety they fall. Where two have equal power, neither can be found superior or better. If each exists even when the other does not will it, then their power and their weakness are equal. Their power is equal because, simply by existing, each defeats the other’s will. Their weakness is equal because, though neither wills it, things turn out contrary to each one’s intention. The good one exists against the evil one’s will, and the evil one exists against the good one’s will.
Some of the Greeks, then, wandered from the way and did not know Christ. They declared that evil has its own subsistence and exists by itself, and in doing so they err in two ways. Either they deprive the Creator of being the Maker of the things that exist—for He could not be Lord of what exists if, as they claim, evil has a subsistence and essence of its own—or, if they want Him to be Maker of all, they must necessarily grant that He is also Maker of evil, since according to them evil is among the things that exist.
But this would be absurd and impossible. Evil does not come from the good, nor is it in the good, nor does it come through the good. Otherwise the good would no longer be good, if its nature were mixed or if it became a cause of evil.
Those who belong to the heresies, having fallen away from the teaching of the Church and made shipwreck concerning the faith, likewise irrationally suppose that evil has a subsistence. Besides the true God, the Father of Christ, they fabricate for themselves another god—an unbegotten maker of evil, the source of wickedness, and also the creator of the created order. Such people can easily be refuted both from the Scriptures and from human reason itself, the very faculty from which they fashioned these notions in their madness.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in His own Gospels, confirms the words of Moses and says, “The Lord God is one”; and again, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.” If God is one, and He is Lord of heaven and earth, how could there be another god besides Him? Where could the god they speak of exist, when the one true God fills everything within the bounds of heaven and earth? How could there be another maker of things of which God Himself, the Father of Christ, is Lord, according to the Savior’s word?
Unless perhaps they say that, with the two in equal balance, the evil one can also become lord over what belongs to the good God. But if they say this, see into what impiety they fall. Where two have equal power, neither can be found superior or better. If each exists even when the other does not will it, then their power and their weakness are equal. Their power is equal because, simply by existing, each defeats the other’s will. Their weakness is equal because, though neither wills it, things turn out contrary to each one’s intention. The good one exists against the evil one’s will, and the evil one exists against the good one’s will.