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Wisdom-itself and the Foreknower of things to come would have said that it proceeds, who knew such things accurately and the doubt and disagreement concerning these, so that He might free us from many words and oppositions, but said He would send it to the disciples after His own ascension to the Father? For if He did not know sending to be one thing and procession another, He would not have varied the names, just as He did not on the matter of the Father nor on the name of the Son and the relation between them, that is, generation; but He preserves these and does not exchange them with equivalent words, as some might say. It is God who theologizes these things and about Himself, and how could I come to such a point of boldness and shamelessness as to theologize anything else besides these, being faint dust and earth dragged down to the mud, even if I was honored with the Spirit? Paul did not alter the saying, he who was caught up to the third heaven and from there into paradise and heard inexpressible things; no evangelist wrote down that the Paraclete also proceeds from the Son, and who is so bold in mind and unrestrained in words as to spew this from his mouth?

1.5 But if you again take the sending for the proof and dwell on the word and identify the names and say that to send is to proceed, listen again to the points of refutation. None of the names are directly the same; even if you bring forward words with many meanings, you will find in these a not insignificant difference; for those who first assigned names, looking to one and another meaning of the subject, applied the variety of names. And you would know these things well, having come to a teacher of grammarians who unfolds the syllables and uncovers the hidden meaning of the thought—and these things the man on the street would not recognize offhand—and you would see also that men of knowledge do not use random names for interpretation, if indeed they undertook to speak precisely, but those that are fitting and suitable and not dissonant. If, at least, in matters concerning us and mortals, the difference of names conceals much meaning and the man of knowledge has understood it and does not allow those who do not delve into technical terms to distort them, how much more so in the case of the nature beyond us, the super-essential essence, the cause of all beings, which is not known by anyone nor gives anything of itself for a small grasp of it, which transcends all [super-eminent] essence and power, from which every being both is and is made alive and is made good and endures, being held fast, constrained by the ineffable power of the being-making nature? At least how much on this ineffable essence is it necessary to observe the names, which the first author of their revelation established, and to say that the Spirit proceeds in the cases where he said it proceeds, and again is sent in the cases where he said it is sent. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has peered into the depths of the Spirit? Christ said the Spirit proceeds from the Father, and no one of those who have chosen to be pious would counterfeit the saying. He said again that he sends it, and so let the name remain. Or what is the reason to keep that one unaltered, but to apply this one to another? And yet the matter is not simple nor without danger, but even among the most exceedingly dangerous and providing much destruction.

1.6 Let us also examine the treatises and teachings of the God-bearers. That these too held such a conception about these things has been made clear from the following: for which of them was so bold as to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son? And yet they could have said it if they had understood any such thing, but they held to the sending and the giving and the bestowing, and in some places the sending forth. But sending forth is not understood by those well-versed in the scriptures to be the same as procession, since we say that the Son also is sent forth from the Father, but it is a certain common term needing some further definition for the

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ἐκπορεύειν αὐτὸ εἰρήκει ἡ αὐτοσοφία καὶ ὁ τῶν μελλόντων προγνώστης, ὃς ἀκριβῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐγίνωσκε καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀμφιβο λίαν καὶ τὴν διχόνοιαν, ὡς ἂν ἡμᾶς ἀπαλλάξειε πολλῶν ῥημάτων καὶ ἀντιθέσεων, ἀλλὰ πέμψειν αὐτὸ εἶπε τοῖς μαθηταῖς μετὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἀνάβασιν; εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἄλλο οἶδε τὴν πέμψιν καὶ ἕτερον τὴν ἐκπόρευσιν, οὐκ ἂν παρήλλαξε τὰ ὀνόματα, ὥσπερ οὐδ' ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρὸς οὐδ' ἐπὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τῆς μέσον αὐτῶν σχέσεως εἴτουν γεννήσεως· ἀλλὰ ταῦτα φυλάττει καὶ οὐκ ἰσοδυναμούσαις, ὡς ἄν τινες φαῖεν, ἐναλλάττει ταῖς λέξεσι. θεός ἐστιν ὁ ταῦτα θεολογῶν καὶ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ πῶς ἂν ἐγὼ ἐς τοσοῦτον ἔλθοιμι τόλμης καὶ ἀναιδείας ὡς ἄλλο τι παρὰ ταῦτα θεολογεῖν, κόνις ὢν ἀμυδρὰ καὶ χοῦς πρὸς γῆν ἰλυσπώμενος, κἂν ἐτιμήθην τῷ πνεύματι; Παῦλος οὐ παρα πεποίηκε τὸ ῥητόν, ὁ εἰς τρίτον ἀρθεὶς οὐρανὸν κἀκεῖθεν εἰς τὸν παράδεισον καὶ ἀκούσας ἀνέκφραστα· εὐαγγελιστὴς οὐδεὶς ἀπεγράψατο καὶ ἐκ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐκπορεύεσθαι τὸν παράκλητον, καὶ τίς οὕτω θρασὺς τὰς φρένας καὶ τοὺς λόγους ἀκάθεκτος, ὡς ἀπερυγγάνειν τοῦτο τοῦ στόματος;

1.5 Εἰ δὲ τὴν πέμψιν πάλιν λαμβάνεις εἰς τὴν ἀπόδειξιν καὶ ἐνσχολάζεις τῷ ῥήματι καὶ ταυτίζεις ὀνόματα καὶ πέμ πειν λέγεις τὸ ἐκπορεύεσθαι, ἄκουε πάλιν τῶν πρὸς ἀντίρ ρησιν. οὐδὲν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἄντικρυς ὡς ταὐτόν· κἂν αὐτὰ φέρῃς τὰ πολυώνυμα, εὑρήσεις ἐν τούτοις διαφορὰν οὐ σμικράν· πρὸς γὰρ ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην τοῦ ὑποκειμένου τὴν ἔννοιαν ἀπιδόντες οἱ πρώτως θέντες ὀνόματα τὸ ποι κίλον τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐπέθεντο. καὶ γνοίης ἂν ταῦτα καλῶς ἐς διδασκάλου ἀφιγμένος γραμματιστῶν τὰς συλλαβὰς ἀνα πτύσσοντος καὶ τὸ κεκρυμμένον τῆς διανοίας ἀνακαλύπτοντος -καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἂν ἐξ ὑπογυίου ὁ παρατυχὼν ἐπιγνώσαιτο- καὶ ἴδοις ἂν καὶ τοὺς ἐπιστήμονας οὐ τοῖς τυχοῦσι τῶν ὀνομάτων χρωμένους εἰς ἑρμηνείαν, εἴπερ κυριολεκτεῖν ἐπε βάλλοντο, ἀλλὰ τοῖς προσφυέσι καὶ καταλλήλοις καὶ μὴ ἀπᾴδουσιν. εἰ γοῦν ἐπὶ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ θνητῶν ἡ τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφορὰ πολλὴν ἐπικρύπτει τὴν ἔννοιαν καὶ ὁ ἐπιστήμων ἐπέγνωκε καὶ οὐκ ἐᾷ παραχαράττειν τοὺς μὴ λόγοις τοῖς τεχνικοῖς ἐμβαθύνοντας, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς φύσεως, τῆς ὑπερουσίου οὐσίας, τῆς πάντων αἰτίας τῶν ὄντων, τῆς μὴ παρά του γινωσκομένης μηδὲ τῶν κατ' αὐτήν τι διδούσης εἰς μικρὰν ἐκείνης κατάληψιν, τῆς ὑπεραιρομένης πάσης [ὑπερκειμένης] οὐσίας τε καὶ δυνά μεως, ἐξ ἧς ἅπαν ὂν καὶ ἔστι καὶ ζωοῦται καὶ ἀγαθύνεται καὶ διαμένει περικρατούμενον, ἀρρήτῳ δυνάμει τῆς ὀντο ποιοῦ συνεχόμενον φύσεως; πόσον γοῦν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρρήτου ταύτης οὐσίας χρεὼν παρατηρεῖν τὰ ὀνόματα, ἅπερ ὁ πρω τουργὸς τῆς τούτων ἀποκαλύψεως ἔθετο, καὶ λέγειν μὲν ἐκπορεύεσθαι τὸ πνεῦμα ἐφ' οἷς εἰρήκει τὸ ἐκπορεύεσθαι, καὶ πέμπεσθαι πάλιν ἐφ' οἷς τὸ πέμπεσθαι ἔλεξε. τίς γὰρ οἶδε νοῦν κυρίου; τίς εἰς τὰ βάθη παρέκυψε τὰ τοῦ πνεύ ματος; ἔφη Χριστὸς τὸ πνεῦμα παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεσ θαι, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις τῶν εὐσεβεῖν ᾑρημένων παραχαράξειε τὴν φωνήν. ἔφη πάλιν οὗτος ἐκπέμπειν αὐτό, καὶ μενέτω οὕτως τὸ ὄνομα. ἢ τίς ὁ λόγος ἐκεῖνο μὲν φυλάττειν ἀπαραποίητον, τοῦτο δὲ ἐπάγειν εἰς ἕτερον; καίτοι γε οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὄντος τοῦ πράγματος οὐδὲ τῶν ἀκινδύνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν λίαν ἐπικινδυνοτάτων καὶ πολὺν παρεχομένων τὸν ὄλεθρον.

1.6 Ἐπέλθωμεν καὶ τὰ τῶν θεοφόρων συντάγματα καὶ διδάγματα. ὅτι μὲν καὶ οὗτοι περὶ τούτων τοιαύτην ἔσχον τὴν ἔννοιαν, ἐκ τῶνδε δῆλον καθέστηκε· τίς γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀπεθρα σύνθη ἐκ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐρεῖν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκπορεύεσθαι; καὶ μὴν εἶχον εἰπεῖν εἰ τοιοῦτόν τι νενοήκασιν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν πέμψιν ἐνέμειναν καὶ τὴν δόσιν καὶ τὴν χορηγίαν, ἔστιν οὗ καὶ τὴν πρόεσιν. πρόεσις δὲ οὐ ταὐτὸν τοῖς ἐπηβόλοις τῶν λογίων τῇ ἐκπορεύσει γνωρίζεται, εἴ γε φαμὲν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν προΐεσθαι τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλ' ἔστι κοινή τις φωνὴ προσδιο ρισμοῦ τινος δεομένη πρὸς τὴν