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he sent forth the gift of the Holy Spirit into all the earth, covering us with his own wings. As is, therefore, the activity of the Son of God, such also is the form of the living creatures; and as is the form of the living creatures, such also is the character of the Gospel; for the living creatures are four-formed, and the Gospel and the activity of the Lord are four-formed. And for this reason four universal covenants were given to humanity: one after the flood, to Noah, by the bow; a second to Abraham, by the sign of circumcision; a third, that of the legislation, through Moses; a fourth, that of the Gospel, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And since this is so, all are vain and ignorant, and moreover audacious, who set aside the form of the Gospel and introduce either more or fewer aspects of the Gospels than have been mentioned, some in order to seem to have discovered more than the truth, others in order to set aside the dispensations of Christ. 12 Effecting the replacement of the apostles from the things spoken by David. 13 Therefore God, having promised through the prophet to send his Spirit upon humanity, this is He who sent it, and He is proclaimed by Peter as God who has fulfilled his own promise. 14 The apostles did not proclaim another God, nor one Christ who suffered and rose again, and another who raised him and remained impassible, but one and the same God the savior and Christ Jesus who was raised from the dead; and they preached faith in him to those who did not believe in the Son of God, and from the prophets they were convincing them that the Christ whom God promised to send, he sent Jesus, whom they crucified and God raised. 15 Peter with John preached the clear message to them, proclaiming the good news that the promise which God made to the fathers was fulfilled through Jesus, but not proclaiming another God, but bringing to the knowledge of Israel the Son of God who had become man and suffered, and preaching in Jesus the resurrection of the dead, and signifying that whatever the prophets proclaimed concerning the passion of Christ, these things God fulfilled. 16 Thus the apostles did not change God, but proclaimed to the people that Christ was Jesus the crucified, whom God who sent the prophets, being himself God, raised and gave salvation in him to men. 17 These are the 17 voices of the Church from which every church has had its beginning; these are the voices of the metropolis of the citizens of the new covenant; these are the voices of the apostles, these are the voices of the Lord's disciples, of the truly perfect, who after the Lord's ascension were perfected by the Spirit, and were calling upon the God who made heaven and earth and the sea, who was preached through the prophets, and his Servant, whom God anointed, knowing no other. For Valentinus was not there then, nor Marcion, nor the other destroyers of themselves and of those who are persuaded by them. Therefore God the Maker of all things also heard them; "for," it says, "the place where they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness to everyone who was willing to believe." 18 Peter seeing the revelation in which the heavenly voice said to him: "What God has cleansed, you must not call common," this means that God, who through the law distinguished between clean and unclean, has cleansed the Gentiles through the blood of his Servant, whom also Cornelius revered. 19 Clearly signifying that the God whom Cornelius previously feared, in whom he was instructed through the law and the prophets, on whose account also he gave alms, this one is truly God. But he lacked the knowledge of the Son. 20 That this is Jesus and that the scripture was fulfilled in him, as the eunuch himself, being persuaded and immediately asking to be baptized, said: "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God." And he was sent to the regions of Ethiopia, to preach this which he himself had believed, one God, the one through the

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δωρεὰν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἰς πᾶσαν ἐξέπεμψε τὴν γῆν, σκεπάζων ἡμᾶς ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ πτέρυξιν. Ὁποία οὖν ἡ πραγματεία τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοιαύτη καὶ τῶν ζῴων ἡ μορφή· καὶ ὁποία ἡ τῶν ζῴων μορφή, τοιοῦτος καὶ ὁ χαρακτὴρ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου· τετράμορφα γὰρ τὰ ζῷα, τετράμορφον καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον καὶ ἡ πραγματεία τοῦ Κυρίου. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τέσσαρες ἐδόθησαν καθολικαὶ διαθῆκαι τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι· μία μὲν μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν τῷ Νῶε, ἐπὶ τοῦ τόξου· δευτέρα δὲ τῷ Ἀβραάμ, ἐπὶ τοῦ σημείου τῆς περιτομῆς· τρίτη δὲ ἡ τῆς νομοθεσίας διὰ Μωϋσέως· τετάρτη δὲ ἡ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων, μάταιοι πάντες καὶ ἀμαθεῖς προσέτι δὲ καὶ τολμηροὶ οἱ ἀθετοῦντες τὴν ἰδέαν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου καὶ εἴτε πλείονα εἴτε ἐλάττονα τῶν εἰρημένων παρεισφέροντες εὐαγγελίων πρόσωπα, οἱ μὲν ἵνα πλείονα δόξωσι τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξευρηκέναι, οἱ δὲ ἵνα τὰς οἰκονομίας Χριστοῦ ἀθετήσωσιν. 12 Τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐκ τῶν ὑπὸ ∆αυὶδ εἰρημένων ποιούμενος. 13 Ὁ οὖν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ἐπαγγειλάμενος Θεὸς πέμψειν τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα, οὗτος καὶ ἔπεμψε, καὶ Θεὸς ὑπὸ Πέτρου καταγγέλλεται τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπαγγελίαν πεπληρωκώς. 14 Οὐκ ἄλλον Θεὸν κατήγγελλον οἱ ἀπόστολοι, οὐδὲ ἄλλον μὲν παθόντα καὶ ἐγερθέντα Χριστόν, ἄλλον δὲ τὸν ἀναστήσαντα καὶ ἀπαθῆ διαμεμενηκότα, ἀλλ' ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν Θεὸν σωτῆρα καὶ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντα· καὶ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν ἐκήρυσσον τοῖς μὴ πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τῶν προφητῶν συνεβίβαζον αὐτοὺς ὅτι ὃν ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ Θεὸς πέμψειν Χριστὸν ἔπεμψε τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν αὐτοὶ ἐσταύρωσαν καὶ Θεὸς ἤγειρεν. 15 Φανερὸν τὸ κήρυγμα ὁ Πέτρος σὺν Ἰωάννῃ ἐκήρυσσεν αὐτοῖς, τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν ἣν ἐποιήσατο ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς πατράσι δι' Ἰησοῦ πεπληρῶσθαι εὐαγγελιζόμενος, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἄλλον Θεὸν καταγγέλλων, ἀλλὰ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπον γεγονότα καὶ παθόντα εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἄγων τῷ Ἰσραήλ, καὶ ἐν Ἰησοῦ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν κηρύσσων, καὶ σημαίνων ὅτι ὅσα οἱ προφῆται κατήγγειλαν περὶ τοῦ πάθους τοῦ Χριστοῦ ταῦτα ἐπλήρωσεν ὁ Θεός. 16 Οὕτως οἱ ἀπόστολοι οὐ τὸν Θεὸν ἤλλασσον, ἀλλὰ τὸν Χριστὸν κατήγγελλον τῷ λαῷ εἶναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, ὃν ὁ Θεὸς ὁ τοὺς προφήτας πέμψας, αὐτὸς Θεὸς ὤν, ἤγειρε καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐν αὐτῷ ἔδωκε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. 17 Αὗται 17 φωναὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐξ ἧς πᾶσα ἔσχηκεν ἐκκλησία τὴν ἀρχήν· αὗται φωναὶ τῆς μητροπόλεως τῶν τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης πολιτῶν· αὗται φωναὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων, αὗται φωναὶ τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ Κυρίου, τῶν ἀληθῶς τελείων, μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ Κυρίου διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τελειωθέντων, καὶ ἐπικαλουμένων τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ποιήσαντα τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν, τὸν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν κεκηρυγμένον, καὶ τὸν τούτου Παῖδα, ὃν ἔχρισεν ὁ Θεός, καὶ ἄλλον οὐκ εἰδότων. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν τότε Οὐαλεντῖνος ἐκεῖ, οὐδὲ Μαρκίων, οὐδ' οἱ λοιποὶ ἑαυτῶν τε καὶ τῶν πειθομένων αὐτοῖς καταστροφεῖς. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐπήκουσεν αὐτῶν ὁ Ποιητὴς τῶν ἁπάντων Θεός· «ἐσαλεύθη» γάρ, φησίν, «ὁ τόπος ἐν ᾧ ἦσαν συνηγμένοι, καὶ ἐπλήσθησαν ἅπαντες τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καὶ ἐλάλουν τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ μετὰ παρρησίας παντὶ τῷ θέλοντι πιστεύειν.» 18 Τοῦ Πέτρου τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν ἰδόντος ἐν ᾗ ἡ οὐράνιος εἶπεν αὐτῷ φωνή· «Ἃ ὁ Θεὸς ἐκαθάρισε, σὺ μὴ κοίνου», τοῦθ' ὅτι διὰ τοῦ νόμου μεταξὺ καθαρῶν καὶ ἀκαθάρτων διαστείλας ὁ Θεός, οὗτος κεκαθάρικε τὰ ἔθνη διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Παιδὸς αὐτοῦ, ὃν καὶ ὁ Κορνήλιος ἐσέβετο. 19 Τρανῶς σημαίνων ὅτι ὃν πρότερον Θεὸν ἐφοβεῖτο ὁ Κορνήλιος, ὃν διὰ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν κατηχεῖτο, δι' ὃν καὶ τὰς ἐλεημοσύνας ἐποίει, οὗτος ἐπ' ἀληθείας ἐστὶ Θεός. Ἔλειπε δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ τοῦ Υἱοῦ γνῶσις. 20 Τοῦτον εἶναι Ἰησοῦν καὶ πεπληρῶσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν γραφήν, ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ εὐνοῦχος πεισθεὶς καὶ παραυτίκα ἀξιῶν βαπτισθῆναι ἔλεγε· «Πιστεύω τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι Ἰησοῦν.» Ὃς καὶ ἐπέμφθη εἰς τὰ κλίματα τῆς Αἰθιοπίας, κηρύξων τοῦθ' ὅπερ αὐτὸς ἐπίστευσε, Θεὸν μὲν ἕνα, τὸν διὰ τῶν