De sancta trinitate DE SACROSANCTA TRINITATE LIBER

 All beings are either created or uncreated. If, then, they are created, they are also by all means changeable. For those things whose being began from

 is the Divine. And how is that which moves not also circumscribed by place? 77.1125 The Divine alone, therefore, is motionless, moving all things thro

 CHAPTER 5.

 the doctrines and of each heresy the useful part remains, from the Jewish conception, the unity of nature and from Hellenism, only the distinction i

 Whom saying to be before all ages, we show that His generation is without time and without beginning. For the Son of God was not brought from non-bein

 Man, it is clear, begets in a contrary way, being subject to generation and corruption and flux and multiplication, and being clothed in a body, and h

 And this too must be known, that the name of fatherhood and sonship and procession was not transferred from us to the blessed Godhead but on the cont

 but the mode of difference, not at all. At the same time are both the begetting of the Son from the Father, and the procession of the Holy Spirit. The

 likeness, but identity), and the one impulse of the motion. For there is one essence, one goodness, one power, one will, one energy, 77.1144 one autho

 the illumination of the ray is imparted to us, and this is what illuminates us, and is participated in by us. But the Son we call neither of the Spiri

 we accomplish most honorable things by our own hands. By right hand, His aid in favorable circumstances, from the fact that we too use the right han

 This Son and Word of God the Father, through whom the Father created all creation, as through his own wisdom and power (for he is the wisdom and power

 sinning is of the will, or it also comes upon us against our will from inattention. Rather, even inattention itself is a sin, or at least the beginnin

 He slept, He conversed, just as we do, but was in every way without sin. This is beyond us. For who among us could be found entirely blameless in thin

 wills in Christ and willing according to both wills, and working according to both energies, is one and the same God-man not divided into God specif

 Principal will, the willing, which is natural will, as has been shown. Will is also said of the thing willed which in humans is hypostatic, not the s

 CHAPTER 22.

 he was conversant with and, The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works and, Therefore your God has anointed you with the oil of gla

 Of these things said of Christ in a human manner, whether in words or in deeds, there are six modes. For some of them were done and said according to

 of the consummation of the age and such like things. For as God, He is with us. But the things befitting His humanity, as, They took hold of His feet

 identity, and their mutual indwelling. In this sense we can say of Christ: This our God was seen upon the earth, and dwelt among men and, This man is

All beings are either created or uncreated. If, then, they are created, they are also by all means changeable. For those things whose being began from change will by all means be subject to change, either by perishing or by being altered according to choice. But if they are uncreated, according to the principle of consequence, they are also by all means unchangeable. For those things whose being is opposite, their principle of being so is also opposite, that is, their properties. Who, then, will not agree that all beings are changeable, as many as are under our perception; but surely also that angels change, and are altered, and are moved and transformed in many ways? Intelligible beings, I mean angels and demons, and souls, change according to choice, both in their progress in the good and in their departure from the good, which is intensified and diminished; while the rest change according to generation and corruption, increase and decrease, and change in quality, and local motion? Since they are changeable, therefore, they are by all means also created. And being created, they were by all means 77.1124 fashioned by someone. But the Creator must be uncreated. For if He also was created, He was by all means created by someone, until we arrive at something uncreated. The Creator, therefore, being uncreated, is by all means also unchangeable. And what else could this be but God? And the very coherence, and preservation, and governance of creation teaches us that there is a God, who constituted this universe, and holds it together, and preserves it, and ever provides for it. For how could contrary natures, of fire, I say, and water, of air and earth, have come together with one another for the completion of one world, and remain indissoluble, unless some omnipotent power both brought them together and always keeps them indissoluble? What is it that ordered the heavenly and the earthly things, all that are in the air, and all that are in the water; or rather, the things before these, heaven and earth and air, and the nature of fire and water? Who mixed these things, and divided them? What is it that moved these things, and leads them in their unceasing and unimpeded course? Is it not their craftsman and the one who implanted a principle in all things according to which the universe is borne along and conducted? And who is their craftsman? Is it not the one who made these things, and brought them into being? for we will not grant such power to chance. For let it be that their coming into being was by chance, whose was it to order them? And let us grant this too, if you please, whose was it to preserve and guard them according to the principles by which they first subsisted? Clearly, of another besides chance. What else is this, if not God?

CHAPTER 3.

That God exists, then, is clear. But what He is in essence and nature, this is completely incomprehensible and unknowable. For that He is incorporeal is clear. For how can that which is infinite, and boundless, and without form, and intangible, and invisible, and simple, and uncompounded be a body? How unchangeable, if circumscribed and subject to passion? And how impassible, if composed of elements and resolved back into them again? For composition is the beginning of strife, and strife of division, and division of dissolution, and dissolution is utterly foreign to God. And how will it also be preserved that God passes through all things and fills all things, as Scripture says: 'Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.' For it is impossible for a body to pass through bodies without cutting and being cut and being interwoven and being placed in opposition; just as when liquids are mixed and blended. But if some speak of an immaterial body, like that called the fifth body by the wise men of the Greeks, which is impossible; it will by all means be moved, just like the heaven; for they say this is the fifth body. Who then is it that moves this? For everything that is moved is moved by another; and that other, who? And this goes on to infinity, until we arrive at something unmoved. For the first mover is unmoved; which

Πάντα τὰ ὄντα, ἢ κτιστά ἐστιν, ἢ ἄκτιστα. Εἰ μὲν οὖν κτιστὰ, πάντως καὶ τρεπτά. Ὧν γὰρ τὸ εἶναι ἀπὸ τροπῆς ἤρξατο, ταῦτα τῇ τροπῇ ὑποκείσεται πάντως, ἢ φθειρόμενα, ἢ κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἀλλοιούμενα. Εἰ δὲ ἄκτιστα, κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀκολουθίας λόγον πάντως καὶ ἄτρεπτα. Ὧν γὰρ τὸ εἶναι ἐναντίον, τούτων καὶ ὁ τοῦ πως εἶναι λόγος ἐναντίος, ἤγουν αἱ ἰδιότητες. Τίς οὖν οὐ συνθήσεται, πάντα τὰ ὄντα τρεπτὰ, ὅσα ὑπὸ τὴν ἡμετέραν αἴσθησιν· ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἀγγέλους τρέπεσθαι, καὶ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι, καὶ πολυτρόπως κινεῖσθαι καὶ μεταβάλλεσθαι; τὰ μὲν νοητὰ, ἀγγέλους φημὶ καὶ δαίμονας, καὶ ψυχὰς, κατὰ προαίρεσιν τήν τε ἐν τῷ καλῷ προκοπὴν, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦ ἀποφοίτησιν ἐπιτεινομένην τε καὶ ὑφιεμένην· τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ κατά τε γέννησιν καὶ φθορὰν, αὔξησίν τε καὶ μείωσιν, καὶ τὴν κατὰ ποιότητα μεταβολὴν, καὶ τὴν τοπικὴν κίνησιν; Τρεπτὰ τοίνυν ὄντα, πάντως καὶ κτιστά. Κτιστὰ δὲ ὄντα, πάντως 77.1124 ὑπό τινος ἐδημιουργήθησαν. ∆εῖ δὲ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ἄκτιστον εἶναι. Εἰ γὰρ κἀκεῖνος ἐκτίσθη, πάντως ὑπό τινος ἐκτίσθη, ἕως ἂν ἔλθωμεν εἴς τι ἄκτιστον. Ἄκτιστος οὖν ὢν ὁ ∆ημιουργὸς, πάντως καὶ ἄτρεπτός ἐστι. Τοῦτο δὲ τί ἂν ἄλλο εἴη ἢ Θεός; Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ τῆς κτίσεως συνοχὴ, καὶ συντήρησις, καὶ κυβέρνησις διδάσκει ἡμᾶς, ὅτι ἔστι Θεὸς, ὁ τόδε τὸ πᾶν συστησάμενος, καὶ συνέχων, καὶ συντηρῶν, καὶ ἀεὶ προνοούμενος. Πῶς γὰρ ἂν αἱ ἐναντίαι φύσεις, πυρὸς, λέγω, καὶ ὕδατος, ἀέρος καὶ γῆς, εἰς ἑνὸς κόσμου συμπλήρωσιν ἀλλήλοις συνεληλύθεισαν, καὶ ἀδιάλυτοι μένουσιν, εἰ μή τις παντοδύναμος δύναμις ταῦτα καὶ συνεβίβασε καὶ ἀεὶ τηρεῖ ἀδιάλυτα; Τί τὸ τάξαν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια, ὅσα δι' ἀέρος, καὶ ὅσα καθ' ὕδατος· μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ πρὸ τούτων, οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν καὶ ἀέρα, καὶ φύσιν πυρός τε καὶ ὕδατος; Τίς ταῦτα ἔμιξε, καὶ ἐμέρισε; Τί τὸ ταῦτα κινῆσαν, καὶ ἄγον τὴν ἄληκτον φορὰν καὶ ἀκώλυτον; Ἆρ' οὐχ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων καὶ ὁ λόγον ἐνθεὶς πᾶσι καθ' ὃν τὸ πᾶν φέρεταί τε καὶ διεξάγεται; Τίς δὲ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων; Ἆρ' οὐχ ὁ πεποιηκὼς ταῦτα, καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγών; οὐ γὰρ τῷ αὐτομάτῳ δώσομεν τοιαύτην δύναμιν. Ἔστω γὰρ τὸ γενέσθαι τοῦ αὐτομάτου, τίνος τὸ τάξαι; Καὶ τοῦτο, εἰ δοκεῖ, δῶμεν, τίνος τὸ τηρῆσαι καὶ φυλάξαι καθ' οὓς πρῶτον ὑπέστη λόγους; Ἑτέρου δηλαδὴ παρὰ τὸ αὐτόματον. Τοῦτο ἄλλο τί ἐστιν, εἰ μὴ Θεός;

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Γʹ.

Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἔστι Θεὸς, δῆλον. Τί δέ ἐστι κατ' οὐσίαν καὶ φύσιν, ἀκατάληπτον τοῦτο παντελῶς καὶ ἄγνωστον. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἀσώματον, δῆλον. Πῶς γὰρ σῶμα τὸ ἄπειρον, καὶ ἀόριστον, καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον, καὶ ἀναφὲς, καὶ ἀόρατον, καὶ ἁπλοῦν, καὶ ἀσύνθετον; Πῶς ἄτρεπτον, εἰ περίγραπτον καὶ παθητόν; Καὶ πῶς ἀπαθὲς τὸ ἐκ στοιχείων συγκείμενον, καὶ εἰς αὐτὰ πάλιν ἀναλυόμενον; Σύνθεσις γὰρ ἀρχὴ μάχης, μάχη δὲ διαστάσεως, διάστασις δὲ λύσεως, λύσις δὲ ἀλλότριον Θεοῦ παντελῶς. Πῶς δὲ καὶ σωθήσεται τὸ διὰ πάντων διήκειν, καὶ πληροῦν τὰ πάντα Θεὸν, ὥς φησιν ἡ Γραφή· Οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; λέγει Κύριος. Ἀδύνατον γὰρ σῶμα διὰ σωμάτων διήκειν μὴ τέμνον καὶ τεμνόμενον καὶ πλεκόμενον καὶ ἀντιπαρατιθέμενον· ὥσπερ ὅσα τῶν ὑγρῶν μίγνυται καὶ συγκιρνᾶται. Εἰ δὲ καί τινές φασιν ἄϋλον σῶμα ὡς τὸ παρὰ τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφοῖς πέμπτον σῶμα λεγόμενον, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον· κινούμενον ἔσται πάντως, ὥσπερ ὁ οὐρανός· τοῦτον γὰρ πέμπτον σῶμά φασι. Τίς οὖν ὁ τοῦτον κινῶν; Πᾶν γὰρ κινούμενον, ὑφ' ἑτέρου κινεῖται· κἀκεῖνο τίς; Καὶ τοῦτο ἐπ' ἄπειρον, ἕως ἂν καταντήσωμεν εἴς τι ἀκίνητον. Τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον κινοῦν, ἀκίνητον· ὅπερ