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an indescribable beauty, vehemently laying hold of the wounded soul, but impossible to declare in word according to its worth.

There are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the uncreated nature, the masterly dignity, the natural goodness. The Father: the beginning of all things, the cause of being for all that is, the root of the living. From whom came forth the fount of life, wisdom, power, the unchangeable image of the invisible God, the Son begotten of the Father, the living Word, being God, and being with God; being, not becoming; existing before the ages, not acquired later; Son, not a possession; maker, not a made thing; creator, 31.468 not a creature; being all that the Father is; Son, I said, and Father. Preserve for me these properties. Remaining, therefore, in being Son, he is all that the Father is, according to the voice of the Lord himself saying: All things that the Father has are mine. For in reality, all things that belong to the original form also belong to the image. For we beheld, says the evangelist, his glory, a glory as of an Only-begotten from the Father; that is, the dignity of the Son's paternal divinity not being from wonders given to him by gift and grace, but from having fellowship according to nature.

For to receive is common even to creation; but to have from nature is proper to the one who is begotten. As Son, therefore, he possesses by nature the things of the Father; as Only-begotten, he has them all in himself, having comprehended them, with nothing being portioned out to another. From this very title of Son, therefore, we are taught that he is a partaker of the nature; not created by a command, but having shone forth from the substance without interval, joined to the Father without time, equal in goodness, equal in power, partaker of the glory. And what is he, but a seal and an image, showing the whole Father in himself? And whatever things he says to you after this concerning the bodily frame, administering the salvation of men, which he showed us by appearing in the flesh, saying that he was sent, and could do nothing of himself, and had received a commandment, and such like things, let them not provide you with pretexts for belittling the divinity of the Only-begotten. For the condescension to your weakness ought not to become a diminution of the dignity of the powerful one; but understand the nature in a manner worthy of God, and accept the lowlier words according to the economy.

Concerning which things, if we should wish at present to narrate with precision, we would unawares bring in a very great and boundless multitude of words to the subject. But let us return to the matter at hand. That the mind which has been able to be purified from material passions, and to leave behind all intelligible creation, and, like a fish, to swim up from the depth to the surface above, having come to be in the pure part of creation, there will see the Holy Spirit, where the Son is, and where the Father is, it also having all things consubstantially according to nature: goodness, uprightness, sanctification, life. For your 31.469 Spirit, he says, is good; and again, an upright Spirit; and again, the Holy Spirit. And the Apostle: The law of the Spirit of life. None of these things are acquired by it, nor are they added later; but just as heating is inseparable from fire, and shining from light, so also to the Spirit are sanctifying, giving life, goodness, uprightness.

There, therefore, stands the Spirit, there, in the blessed nature, not numbered with a multitude, but contemplated in the Trinity; announced in a singular way, not included in the systems. For as there is one Father, and one Son, so also is there one Holy Spirit. But the ministering spirits in each order show us a number difficult to count. Do not, therefore, seek in creation that which is above creation; do not bring down the sanctifier with the sanctified. This fills angels, fills archangels, sanctifies powers, gives life to all things. This into all creation

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κάλλος ἀμήχανον, σφοδρῶς μὲν τῆς τετρω μένης ψυχῆς καθαπτόμενον, λόγῳ δὲ δηλωθῆναι πρὸς ἀξίαν ἀδύνατον.

Ἐκεῖ Πατὴρ καὶ Υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ἡ ἄκτιστος φύσις, τὸ δεσποτικὸν ἀξίωμα, ἡ φυσικὴ ἀγαθότης. Πατήρ· ἡ πάντων ἀρχὴ, ἡ αἰτία τοῦ εἶναι τοῖς οὖσιν, ἡ ῥίζα τῶν ζώντων. Ὅθεν προῆλθε ἡ πηγὴ τῆς ζωῆς, ἡ σοφία, ἡ δύναμις, ἡ εἰκὼν ἡ ἀπαράλλακτος τοῦ ἀοράτου Θεοῦ, ὁ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθεὶς Υἱὸς, ὁ ζῶν Λόγος, ὁ Θεὸς ὢν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὤν· ὢν, οὐχὶ προσγενόμενος· ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, οὐχὶ προσκτηθεὶς ὕστερον· Υἱὸς, οὐχὶ κτῆμα· ποιητὴς, οὐχὶ ποίημα· κτίστης, 31.468 οὐχὶ κτίσμα· πάντα ὢν ὅσα ἐστὶν ὁ Πατήρ· Υἱὸς, εἶπον, καὶ Πατήρ. Φύλασσέ μοι ταύτας τὰς ἰδιότητας. Μένων οὖν ἐν τῷ εἶναι Υἱὸς, πάντα ἐστὶν ὅσα ἐστὶν ὁ Πατὴρ, κατὰ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος· Πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατὴρ, ἐμά ἐστι. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ τῆς εἰκόνος ἐστὶ πάντα, ὅσα πρόσ εστι τῇ πρωτοτύπῳ μορφῇ. Ἐθεασάμεθα γὰρ, φησὶν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς, τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς Μονογενοῦς παρὰ Πατρός· τουτέστιν, οὐκ ἐκ δω ρεᾶς καὶ χάριτος δοθέντων αὐτῷ τῶν θαυμάτων, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν κοινωνίας ἔχοντος τοῦ Υἱοῦ τῆς πατρικῆς θεότητος τὸ ἀξίωμα.

Τὸ μὲν γὰρ λαβεῖν κοινὸν καὶ πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν· τὸ δὲ ἔχειν ἐκ φύσεως ἴδιον τοῦ γεννηθέντος. Ὡς μὲν οὖν Υἱὸς, φυσικῶς κέκτηται τὰ τοῦ Πατρός· ὡς δὲ Μονογενὴς, ὅλα ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῷ συλλαβὼν, οὐδενὸς καταμεριζομένου πρὸς ἕτερον. Ἐξ αὐτῆς τοίνυν τῆς Υἱοῦ προσηγορίας διδασκόμεθα, ὅτι τῆς φύσεώς ἐστι κοινωνός· οὐ προσ τάγματι κτισθεὶς, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας ἐκλάμψας ἀδιαστάτως, ἀχρόνως τῷ Πατρὶ συνημμένος, ἴσος ἐν ἀγαθότητι, ἴσος ἐν δυνάμει, κοινωνὸς τῆς δόξης. Καὶ τί γὰρ, ἀλλ' ἢ σφραγὶς καὶ εἰκὼν, ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ δεικνὺς τὸν Πατέρα; Ὅσα δέ σοι μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῆς σωματικῆς κατασκευῆς διαλέγεται, τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίαν οἰκονομῶν, ἣν διὰ σαρκὸς ἐπιφανεὶς ἡμῖν ἐπεδείξατο, ἀποστελλόμενον λέγων ἑαυτὸν, καὶ μηδὲν δυνάμενον ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖν, καὶ ἐντολὴν λαβόντα, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, μή σοι παρεχέτω ἀφορμὰς πρὸς τὸ κατασμικρύνειν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὴν θεότητα. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ πρὸς τὸ σὸν ἀσθενὲς συγκατά βασις ἐλάττωσις ὀφείλει γίνεσθαι τῆς ἀξίας τοῦ δυ νατοῦ· ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν φύσιν νόει θεοπρεπῶς, τὰ δὲ ταπεινότερα τῶν ῥημάτων δέχου οἰκονομικῶς.

Περὶ ὧν εἰ βουληθείημεν ἐν τῷ παρόντι πρὸς ἀκρίβειαν διηγεῖσθαι, λάθοιμεν ἂν ἑαυτοὺς πολύ τι καὶ ἀπέ ραντον πλῆθος λόγων ἐπεισάγοντες τῇ ὑποθέσει. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανίωμεν. Ὅτι διά νοια ἡ δυνηθεῖσα τῶν τε ὑλικῶν καθαρεῦσαι παθῶν, καὶ τὴν νοητὴν κτίσιν πᾶσαν καταλιπεῖν, καὶ οἷόν τις ἰχθὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ βυθοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω ἐπιφά νειαν ἀνανήξασθαι, ἐν τῷ καθαρῷ τῆς κτίσεως γενο μένη, ἐκεῖ ὄψεται τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὅπου Υἱὸς, καὶ ὅπου Πατὴρ, πάντα ἔχον καὶ αὐτὸ συνουσιω μένως κατὰ τὴν φύσιν, τὴν ἀγαθότητα, τὴν εὐ θύτητα, τὸν ἁγιασμὸν, τὴν ζωήν. Τὸ Πνεῦμα γάρ 31.469 σου, φησὶν, τὸ ἀγαθόν· καὶ πάλιν, Πνεῦμα εὐθές· καὶ πάλιν, Τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστο λος· Ὁ νόμος τοῦ Πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς. Τού των οὐδὲν ἐπίκτητον αὐτῷ, οὐδὲ ὕστερον ἐπιγενό μενον πρόσεστιν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀχώριστον τῷ πυρὶ τὸ θερμαίνειν, καὶ τῷ φωτὶ τὸ λάμπειν· οὕτω καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τὸ ἁγιάζειν, τὸ ζωοποιεῖν, ἡ ἀγαθότης, ἡ εὐθύτης.

Ἐκεῖ τοίνυν ἕστηκε τὸ Πνεῦμα, ἐκεῖ, ἐν τῇ μακαρίᾳ φύσει, οὐ μετὰ πλήθους ἀριθμούμενον, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ Τριάδι θεωρούμενον· μοναδικῶς ἐξαγγελλόμε νον, οὐκ ἐμπεριειλημμένον τοῖς συστήμασιν. Ὡς γὰρ Πατὴρ εἷς, καὶ Υἱὸς εἷς· οὕτως ἓν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Τὰ δὲ λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα καθ' ἕκαστον τάγμα πλῆθος ἡμῖν ὑποφαίνει δυσεξαρίθμητον. Μὴ τοίνυν ζήτει ἐν τῇ κτίσει τὸ ὑπὲρ τὴν κτίσιν· μὴ καταγάγῃς τὸ ἁγιάζον μετὰ τῶν ἁγιαζομένων. Τοῦτο πληροῖ ἀγγέλους, πληροῖ ἀρχαγγέλους, ἁγιάζει δυνά μεις, ζωοποιεῖ τὰ σύμπαντα. Τοῦτο εἰς πᾶσαν κτίσιν