What, then, is our doctrine? The Lord, in delivering the saving Faith to those who become disciples of the word, joins with the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit also; and we affirm that the union of that which has once been joined is continual; for it is not joined in one thing, and separated in others. But the power of the Spirit, being included with the Father and the Son in the life-giving power, by which our nature is transferred from the corruptible life to immortality, and in many other cases also, as in the conception of “Good,” and “Holy,” and “Eternal,” “Wise,” “Righteous,” “Chief,” “Mighty,” and in fact everywhere, has an inseparable association with them in all the attributes ascribed in a sense of special excellence. And so we consider that it is right to think that that which is joined to the Father and the Son in such sublime and exalted conceptions is not separated from them in any. For we do not know of any differences by way of superiority and inferiority in attributes which express our conceptions of the Divine nature, so that we should suppose it an act of piety (while allowing to the Spirit community in the inferior attributes) to judge Him unworthy of those more exalted. For all the Divine attributes, whether named or conceived, are of like rank one with another, in that they are not distinguishable in respect of the signification of their subject. For the appellation of “the Good” does not lead our minds to one subject, and that of “the Wise,” or “the Mighty,” or “the Righteous” to another, but the thing to which all the attributes point is one; and, if you speak of God, you signify the same Whom you understood by the other attributes. If then all the attributes ascribed to the Divine nature are of equal force as regards their designation of the subject, leading our minds to the same subject in various aspects, what reason is there that one, while allowing to the Spirit community with the Father and the Son in the other attributes, should exclude Him from the Godhead alone? It is absolutely necessary either to allow to Him community in this also, or not to admit His community in the others. For if He is worthy in the case of those attributes, He is surely not less worthy in this. But if He is “less,” according to their phrase7    Reading with Oehler εἰ δέ μικρότερον…ἐστὶν, ὥστε…κεχωρίσθαι. The Paris Edit. and the Benedictine S. Basil read εἰ δὲ μικρότερον…ἐστὶν, ἢ ὥστε…χωρῆσαι. “If, according to their phrase, He is too small to be capable of community,” &c. Oehler’s reading seems to fit better in the argument. If the new idea of “capacity” had been introduced at this point, we should expect some other phrase than μετέχειν ἄξιον at the end of the sentence., so that He is excluded from community with the Father and the Son in the attribute of Godhead, neither is He worthy to share in any other of the attributes which belong to God. For the attributes, when rightly understood and mutually compared by that notion which we contemplate in each case, will be found to imply nothing less than the appellation of “God.” And a proof of this is that many even of the inferior existences are called by this very name. Further, the Divine Scripture is not sparing in this use of the name even in the case of things incongruous, as when it names idols by the appellation of God. For it says, “Let the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth perish, and be cast down beneath the earth8    Cf. Jer. x. 11”; and, “all the gods of the heathen are devils9    Ps. xcvi. 5 (LXX.).”; and the witch in her incantations, when she brings up for Saul the spirits that he sought for, says that she “saw gods10    1 Sam. xxviii. 13..” And again Balaam, being an augur and a seer, and engaging in divination, and having obtained for himself the instruction of devils and magical augury, is said in Scripture to receive counsel from God11    Num. xxii.. One may show by collecting many instances of the same kind from the Divine Scripture, that this attribute has no supremacy over the other attributes which are proper to God, seeing that, as has been said, we find it predicated, in an equivocal sense, even of things incongruous; but we are nowhere taught in Scripture that the names of “the Holy,” “the Incorruptible,” “the Righteous,” “the Good,” are made common to things unworthy. If, then, they do not deny that the Holy Spirit has community with the Father and the Son in those attributes which, in their sense of special excellence, are piously predicated only of the Divine nature, what reason is there to pretend that He is excluded from community in this only, wherein it was shown that, by an equivocal use, even devils and idols share?

Τίς οὖν ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος; παραδιδοὺς ὁ κύριος τὴν σωτήριον πίστιν τοῖς μαθητευομένοις τῷ λόγῳ, τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ συνάπτει καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον: τὸ δὲ συνημμένον ἅπαξ διὰ πάντων φαμὲν τὴν συνάφειαν ἔχειν, οὐ γὰρ ἔν τινι συντεταγμένον ἐν ἑτέροις ἀποσχοινίζεται. ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ ζωοποιῷ δυνάμει, καθ' ἣν ἐκ τοῦ φθαρτοῦ βίου εἰς ἀθανασίαν ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν μετασκευάζεται, συμπαραληφθεῖσα ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος δύναμις πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς ἑτέροις, οἷον ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐννοίᾳ καὶ τὸ ἅγιόν τε καὶ ἀΐδιον, σοφόν, εὐθές, ἡγεμονικόν, δυνατὸν καὶ πανταχοῦ δηλονότι τὸ ἀχώριστον ἔχει ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ὑπειλημμένοις ὀνόμασιν. οὐκοῦν ἡγούμεθα καλῶς ἔχειν τὸ ἐν τοσαύταις ἐννοίαις ὑψηλαῖς τε καὶ θεοπρεπέσι συναπτόμενον πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ ἐν οὐδενὶ διακεκρίσθαι νομίζειν. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἴδαμεν ἔν τινι τῶν περὶ τὴν θείαν φύσιν ἐπινοουμένων ὀνομάτων τὴν κατὰ τὸ κρεῖττον καὶ χεῖρον διαφοράν, ὡς εὐαγὲς εἶναι οἴεσθαι τὴν ἐν τοῖς καταδεεστέροις τῶν ὀνομάτων κοινωνίαν συγχωροῦντας τῷ πνεύματι τῶν ὑπεραιρόντων κρίνειν ἀνάξιον. πάντα γὰρ τὰ θεοπρεπῆ ὀνόματά τε καὶ νοήματα ὁμοτίμως ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα τῷ μηδὲν περὶ τὴν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου διαφωνεῖν σημασίαν: οὐ γὰρ ἐπ' ἄλλο τι ὑποκείμενον χειραγωγεῖ τὴν διάνοιαν ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προσηγορία, ἐφ' ἕτερον δὲ ἡ τοῦ σοφοῦ καὶ τοῦ δυνατοῦ καὶ τοῦ δικαίου: ἀλλ' ὅσαπερ ἂν εἴπῃς ὀνόματα, ἓν διὰ πάντων ἐστὶ τὸ σημαινόμενον, κἂν θεὸν εἴπῃς, τὸν αὐτὸν ἐνεδείξω, ὃν διὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ὀνομάτων ἐνόησας. εἰ δὴ πάντα τὰ ὀνόματα [τὰ] τῇ θείᾳ φύσει ἐπιλεγόμενα ἰσοδυναμεῖ ἀλλήλοις κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου ἔνδειξιν, ἄλλα κατ' ἄλλην ἔμφασιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τὴν διάνοιαν ὁδηγοῦντα, τίς ὁ λόγος τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ὀνόμασι κοινωνίαν πρὸς πατέρα τε καὶ υἱὸν συγχωροῦντας τῷ πνεύματι μόνης ἀλλοτριοῦν αὐτὸ τῆς θεότητος; ἀνάγκη γὰρ πᾶσα ἢ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ διδόναι τὴν κοινωνίαν ἢ μηδὲ τὴν ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς συγχωρεῖν. εἰ γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνοις ἄξιον, οὐδὲ ἐν τούτῳ πάντως ἀνάξιον: εἰ δὲ μικρότερον κατὰ τὸν ἐκείνων λόγον ἐστὶν ἢ ὥστε τοῦ τῆς θεότητος ὀνόματος πρὸς πατέρα τε καὶ υἱὸν τὴν κοινωνίαν χωρῆσαι, οὐδὲ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν θεοπρεπῶν ὀνομάτων μετέχειν ἄξιον. θεωρούμενα γὰρ καὶ συγκρινόμενα πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ ὀνόματα διὰ τῆς ἐν ἑκάστοις θεωρουμένης ἐμφάσεως εὑρεθήσεται μηδὲν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προσηγορίας ἔλαττον ἔχοντα: τεκμήριον δέ, ὅτι τούτῳ μὲν τῷ ὀνόματι πολλὰ καὶ τῶν καταδεεστέρων ἐπονομάζεται, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ φείδεται ἡ θεία γραφὴ τῆς ὁμωνυμίας ταύτης οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀπεμφαινόντων πραγμάτων, ὅταν τὰ εἴδωλα τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ προσηγορίᾳ κατονομάζῃ. Θεοὶ γάρ, φησίν, οἳ οὐκ ἐποίησαν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, ἀρθήτωσαν καὶ ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς βληθήτωσαν: καὶ Πάντες, φησίν, οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια. καὶ ἡ ἐγγαστρίμυθος ἐν ταῖς μαντείαις αὐτῆς ψυχαγωγοῦσα πρὸς τὸν Σαοὺλ τὰς ἐπιζητουμένας ψυχάς, θεοὺς ἑωρακέναι φησίν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Βαλαὰμ οἰωνιστής τις ὢν καὶ μάντις καὶ διὰ χειρὸς τὰ μαντεῖα φέρων (καθώς φησιν ἡ γραφή) καὶ τὴν ἐκ δαιμόνων διδασκαλίαν διὰ τῆς οἰωνιστικῆς περιεργίας ἑαυτῷ κατορθώσας, παρὰ θεοῦ συμβουλεύεσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς γραφῆς ἱστορεῖται. καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἔστι συλλεξάμενον ἐκ τῶν θείων παραθέσθαι γραφῶν ὅτι τὸ ὄνομα τοῦτο οὐδὲν παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς θεοπρεπεῖς προσηγορίας πρωτεύει, ὅτι (καθὼς εἴρηται) καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀπεμφαινόντων ὁμωνύμως παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς λέγεται: τὸ δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου ὄνομα καὶ τοῦ ἀφθάρτου καὶ τοῦ εὐθέος καὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ οὐδαμοῦ κοινοποιούμενον πρὸς τὰ μὴ δέοντα παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς ἐδιδάχθημεν. οὐκοῦν εἰ ἐν τοῖς ἐξαιρέτως ἐπὶ μόνης τῆς θείας φύσεως εὐσεβῶς λεγομένοις ὀνόμασι κοινωνεῖν τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα οὐκ ἀντιλέγουσι, τίς ὁ λόγος μόνῳ τούτῳ κατασκευάζειν ἀκοινώνητον εἶναι, οὗ μετέχειν ἐδείχθη κατά τινα ὁμώνυμον χρῆσιν καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα;