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sophists of empty words, which fall of themselves. And why do you die, O house of Israel, that I should lament you from the Scripture?

11. As for me, I reverence the titles of the Word, being so many, and so high and great, before which even demons have trembled; and I reverence the equal honour of the Spirit; and I fear the appointed threat for those who blaspheme against it. And blasphemy is not theology, but the alienating from the Godhead. And it must be observed here that the one blasphemed was the Lord; but the one who avenges, the Holy Spirit, is clearly Lord. I cannot bear to be un-enlightened after my enlightenment, by debasing any of the Three into which I was baptized, and to be truly buried in the water, not for regeneration, but perfected for death.

12. I dare to utter something, O Trinity; and pardon my madness; for the risk is for my soul. I too am an image of God, of the glory above, even though I am placed below. I am not persuaded to be saved by one of equal rank. If the Holy Spirit is not God, let him first be deified, and then deify me his equal. But now what is this deceit of grace, or rather, of those who give the grace, to believe into God, and to come up godless? to confess one thing, and to be taught another? what thefts and deceits of words, which through one question and confession, lead to another thing? Woe is me for my brightness, if after the font I have been blackened, if I see those who are not yet cleansed as brighter, if I am cheated by the false doctrine of the baptizer, if I seek a better Spirit, and do not find one! Give me a second font, and think ill of the first. Why do you begrudge me my perfect regeneration? Why do you make me, who am a temple of the Spirit as God, a dwelling place of a creature? Why do you honour one part of what is mine, and dishonour another, wrongly dividing the Godhead, so as to cut the gift for me, or rather, to cut me myself with the gift? Either honour the whole, O new theologian, 36.253 or dishonour the whole, so that, even if you are impious, you may at least be consistent with yourself, not judging unequally a nature of equal honour.

13. But the sum of my discourse is this: Glorify with the Cherubim, who join the three holies into one lordship, and reveal so much of the first essence as their wings open up to the diligent. Be enlightened with David, who says to the light: In your light we shall see light, that is, as it were, in the Spirit the Son; than which what could be more resplendent? Thunder with John, the son of thunder, sounding nothing low concerning God, nor from the earth, but high and sublime (knowing the Word who was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God, and was true God from the true Father, but not a good fellow-servant honoured only with the title of son; and the other Paraclete, that is, other than him who spoke; but the Word is of God); and when you read, I and the Father are one, behold the connection of the essence; but when, We will come to him, and make our abode with him, consider the distinction of the hypostases; but when, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, the three properties.

14. Be inspired with Luke, by conversing with the Acts of the Apostles. Why do you rank yourself with Ananias and Sapphira, the new embezzlers (if indeed the theft of what is one's own is new), and embezzling at that, not money, nor anything else of the cheap and small things, such as a tongue of gold, or a robe, or a double-drachma, as once a greedy soldier did, but stealing the very Godhead, and lying, not to man, but to God, as you have heard? What? Do you not even reverence the authority of the Spirit, who breathes on whom he wills, and when, and as much? He comes upon those with Cornelius before baptism, upon others after baptism through the apostles. So that from both sides, both from the fact that he visits masterfully, and not slavishly, and from the fact that he is sought for perfection, the Godhead of the Spirit is testified.

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σοφισταὶ κενῶν ῥη μάτων, αὐτοῦ πιπτόντων. Καὶ ἵνα τί ἀποθνήσκετε, οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ, ἵν' ἐκ τῆς Γραφῆς ὑμᾶς ὀδύρωμαι;

ΙΑʹ. Ὡς ἔγωγε αἰδοῦμαι μὲν τὰς τοῦ Λόγου προσ ηγορίας, τοσαύτας τε οὔσας, καὶ οὕτως ὑψηλὰς καὶ μεγάλας, ἃς καὶ δαίμονες ἐνετράπησαν· αἰδοῦ μαι δὲ τὴν ὁμοτιμίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος· φοβοῦμαι δὲ τὴν ὡρισμένην ἀπειλὴν τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸ βλασφημοῦσι. Βλασφημία δὲ, οὐχ ἡ θεολογία, τὸ δὲ ἀλλοτριοῦν τῆς θεότητος. Καὶ τηρητέον ἐνταῦθα, ὅτι τὸ μὲν βλασφη μούμενον, ὁ Κύριος ἦν· τὸ δὲ ἐκδικούμενον, τὸ Πνεῦ μα τὸ ἅγιον, δῆλον ὡς Κύριος. Οὐ φέρω ἀφώ τιστος εἶναι μετὰ τὸ φώτισμα, παραχαράσσων τι τῶν τριῶν, εἰς ἃ βεβάπτισμαι, καὶ ὄντως ἐντα φῆναι τῷ ὕδατι, οὐκ εἰς ἀναγέννησιν, ἀλλ' εἰς νέκρω σιν τελειούμενος.

ΙΒʹ. Τολμῶ τι φθέγξασθαι, ὦ Τριάς· καὶ συγγνώ μη τῇ ἀπονοίᾳ· περὶ ψυχῆς γὰρ ὁ κίνδυνος. Εἰκών εἰμι καὶ αὐτὸς Θεοῦ, τῆς ἄνω δόξης, εἰ καὶ κάτω τέθειμαι. Οὐ πείθομαι τῷ ὁμοτίμῳ σώζεσθαι. Εἰ μὴ Θεὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, θεωτήτω πρῶτον, καὶ οὕτω θεούτω με τὸν ὁμότιμον. Νῦν δὲ τίς ἡ ἀπάτη τῆς χάριτος, μᾶλλον δὲ, τῶν διδόντων τὴν χάριν, ὡς εἰς Θεὸν πιστεῦσαι, καὶ ἀνελθεῖν ἄθεον; ἄλλο καθ ομολογῆσαι, καὶ ἄλλο διδάσκεσθαι; οἵαι τῶν λόγων αἱ κλοπαὶ καὶ ἀπάται, δι' ἄλλης ἐρωτήσεως καὶ ὁμολογίας, εἰς ἄλλο φέρουσαι; Οἴμοι τῆς λαμπρότητος, εἰ μετὰ τὸν λουτρὸν μεμελάνωμαι, εἰ λαμπροτέρους ὁρῶ τοὺς οὔπω κεκαθαρμένους, εἰ τῇ τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ κακοδοξίᾳ κυβεύομαι, εἰ ζητῶ Πνεῦμα κρεῖττον, καὶ οὐχ εὑρίσκω! ∆ός μοι λου τρὸν δεύτερον, καὶ περὶ τοῦ πρώτου κακῶς ἐννόησον. Τί μοι φθονεῖς τῆς τελείας ἀναγεννήσεως; τί με ποιεῖς, ναὸν ὄντα τοῦ Πνεύματος ὡς Θεοῦ, κατοικη τήριον κτίσματος; τί τὸ μὲν τιμᾷς τῶν ἐμῶν, τὸ δὲ ἀτιμάζεις κακῶς θεότητι διαιτῶν, ἵν' ἐμοὶ τέ μῃς τὸ χάρισμα, μᾶλλον δὲ, αὐτὸν ἐμὲ τῷ χα ρίσματι; Ἢ τὸ πᾶν τίμησον, ὦ καινὲ θεολόγε, 36.253 ἢ τὸ πᾶν ἀτίμασον, ἵνα, κἂν ἀσεβῇς, ἀλλὰ σεαυτῷ γε ἀκόλουθος ᾖς, μὴ κρίνων ἀνίσως φύσιν ὁμότι μον.

ΙΓʹ. Κεφάλαιον δὲ τοῦ λόγου· Μετὰ τῶν χερου βὶμ δόξασον, συναγόντων τὰς τρεῖς ἁγιότητας εἰς μίαν κυριότητα, καὶ τοσοῦτον παραδεικνύντων τῆς πρώτης οὐσίας, ὅσον ὑπανοίγουσι τοῖς φιλοπόνοις αἱ πτέρυγες. Μετὰ ∆αβὶδ φωτίσθητι, πρὸς τὸ φῶς λέ γοντος· Ἐν τῷ φωτί σου ὀψόμεθα φῶς, οἷον ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι τὸν Υἱόν· οὗ τί ἂν γένοιτο τηλαυ γέστερον; Μετὰ Ἰωάννου βρόντησον, τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς βροντῆς, μηδὲν περὶ Θεοῦ ταπεινὸν ἠχῶν, μηδ' ἀπὸ γῆς, ἀλλ' ὑψηλὸν καὶ μετέωρον (τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ τε ὄντα, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὄντα, καὶ Θεὸν Λόγον, Θεὸν γινώσκων, καὶ Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐξ ἀληθινοῦ Πατρὸς, ἀλλ' οὐ σύνδουλον ἀγαθὸν, υἱοῦ προσηγορίᾳ μόνῃ τετιμημένον· καὶ τὸν ἄλλον Παράκλητον, δηλαδὴ ἄλλον τοῦ λέγοντος· Θεοῦ δὲ ὁ Λόγος)· καὶ ὅταν μὲν, Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν, ἀναγινώσκῃς, τὸ συναφὲς τῆς οὐσίας ἐνοπτριζόμενος· ὅταν δὲ, Πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα, καὶ μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιησόμεθα, τὸ διῃρημένον τῶν ὑποστάσεων λογιζόμενος· ὅταν δὲ, τὸ Πατρὸς, καὶ Υἱοῦ, καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ὄνομα, τὰς τρεῖς ἰδιότητας.

Ι∆ʹ. Μετὰ Λουκᾶ ἐμπνεύσθητι, ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀποστόλων προσομιλῶν. Τί μετὰ Ἀνανίου τάττῃ καὶ Σαπφείρας τῶν καινῶν νοσφιστῶν (εἴ γε καινὸν ὄντως ἡ τῶν ἰδίων κλοπὴ), καὶ ταῦτα νοσφιζόμενος, οὐκ ἀργύριον, οὐδ' ἄλλο τι τῶν εὐτελῶν καὶ μικρῶν, οἷον γλῶσσαν χρυσῆν, ἢ ψιλὴν, ἢ δίδραχμον, ὥς ποτε στρατιώτης ἄπληστος, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν κλέπτων θεότητα, καὶ ψευδόμενος, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ Θεὸν, ὅπερ ἤκουσας; Τί; Μηδὲ τὴν ἐξουσίαν αἰδῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐφ' οὓς θέλει, καὶ ἡνίκα, καὶ ὅσον πνέοντος; Ἐπιδημεῖ τοῖς περὶ Κορνήλιον πρὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος, ἄλλοις μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων. Ὥστε ἀμφοτέρωθεν, ἔκ τε ὧν ἐπιφοιτᾷ δεσποτικῶς, ἀλλ' οὐ δουλικῶς, καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἐπιζητεῖται πρὸς τὴν τελείωσιν, τὴν θεότητα μαρτυρεῖσθαι τοῦ Πνεύματος.