| Every part of the
city is filled with such talk: the alleys, the crossroads, the squares,
the avenues. It comes from those who sell clothes, money changers,
grocers. If you ask a money changer what the exchange rate is, he will
reply with a dissertation on the begotten and the unbegotten. If you
inquire about the quality and the price of bread, the baker will reply:
'The Father is greatest and the Son is subject to him.' When you ask at
the baths whether the water is ready, the manager will declare that the
Son came forth from nothing. I do not know what name to give to this evil,
whether frenzy or madness...Gregory
of Nyssa, On the Divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit, V. |