7

I am from the beginning, I do not have my beginning from Mary. For in the beginning was the Word; and, Before Abraham was, I am. Confess therefore an uncreated Son, co-unoriginate with the Father, lest you also give the Father a beginning of being a father. If you say the Son is co-unoriginate with the Father, how did the Father beget the Son? Willingly, or unwillingly? If we say, Willingly, they object: See, the will was before the Word; for before He willed, they say, the Son was not; but if we say, Unwillingly, they say: The Divine is tyrannized; and whatever is tyrannized is not God. But we say, that just as the sun has its rays and its light co-eternal, so the Father has the Son and the Holy Spirit; lest we should also say the Father is under a beginning. For if He is said to be under a beginning, before the Son began, the Father was not a father, according to your argument, and you will be forced to impiously place the Father under a beginning; but if not, I also put this question back to you: Did the Father become a father willingly, or unwillingly? If you say, Willingly, then see, before He willed, He was not Father; there was therefore a time when the Father was not a father; and He Himself therefore began to be a father; if you say, Unwillingly, He was tyrannized, but God is not tyrannized; for what is tyrannized is not God. Do you see into what great impiety you fall, if you do not confess the Son to be co-unoriginate and co-eternal and co-creator with the Father? And how can I say co-creator? For it is written, that All things were made through him 48.1094. Do you not hear the prophet saying concerning the Son, Out of the mouth of babes and infants you have perfected praise, and the rest; that I will see the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have founded? Do you not see the authority of Christ saying: My Father is working until now, and I am working; and, Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he wills; and, Young man, I say to you, arise; and to the unclean spirit, I command you, be silent, and come out of him; and, Take heart, child, your sins are forgiven you? For since they were saying, No one can forgive sins, except God alone, convicting them out of their own mouths, He says: You have said that it is for God alone to forgive sins; behold then, I forgive sins, and confess my divinity. But if you do not believe, from the strengthening of the body see and learn also the health of the soul. Then He says to him: Arise, take up your pallet, and go to your house; and again to another: Stretch out your hand; and to the sea: Be silent, be still; The girl, arise; Lazarus, come forth; I will, be cleansed; and all the rest, by which He shows His equality of honor with the Father; learning all these things, believe that He is consubstantial with the Father, and that the Spirit is also consubstantial. For if He proceeds from the Father, and receives from the Son, the Spirit is not foreign to the substance of God. Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Spirit of truth, Spirit, comforter, set beside. God is Spirit; And the Lord is the Spirit; just as also Peter to Ananias: Why is it that you have agreed to test the Holy Spirit? And declaring that He is God, he says: You have not lied to man, but to God. Do you see that the Spirit to whom he lied is God? And Paul says: You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. Clearly the Spirit dwelling in us is God; For in him we live, and move, and have our being; and, The second man is a life-giving Spirit; and elsewhere he says, The flesh profits nothing, it is the spirit that gives life.

δʹ. Dare not, therefore, utter anything against the consubstantial and all-powerful

Trinity. And again, No one knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him; so also the things of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God; no longer, which is in him, lest anyone think the Spirit composite.

For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. Yes, it searches, but does not comprehend; for it is not written that it comprehends.

How then does it search? As one who is curious? As a stranger? As one who is ignorant? For if indeed

7

ἀπ' ἀρχῆς εἰμι, οὐκ ἀπὸ Μαρίας ἔχω τὴν ἀρχήν. Ἐν ἀρχῇ γὰρ ἦν ὁ Λόγος· καὶ, Πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγώ εἰμι. Ὁμολόγει οὖν Υἱὸν ἄκτιστον, καὶ συνάναρχον Πατρὶ, ἵνα μὴ δῷς καὶ τῷ Πατρὶ ἀρχὴν τοῦ γενέσθαι πατήρ. Εἰ λέγεις συνάναρχον τῷ Πατρὶ τὸν Υἱὸν, πῶς ἐγέννησεν ὁ Πατὴρ τὸν Υἱόν; θέλων, ἢ μὴ θέλων; Ἐὰν εἴπωμεν, Θέλων, ἀντιλέγουσιν· Ἰδὲ ἦν τὸ θέλημα πρὸ τοῦ Λόγου· πρὶν γὰρ θελῆσαι, φησὶν, οὐκ ἦν ὁ Υἱός· ἐὰν δὲ εἴπωμεν, Μὴ θέλων, λέγουσι· Τυραννεῖται τὸ Θεῖον· πᾶν δὲ τὸ τυραννούμενον οὐ Θεός. Ἡμεῖς δὲ λέγομεν, ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ ἥλιος τὰς ἀκτῖνας καὶ τὸ φέγγος συναΐδια ἔχει, οὕτως ὁ Πατὴρ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· ἵνα μὴ εἴπωμεν καὶ τὸν Πατέρα ὑπὸ ἀρχήν. Εἰ γὰρ λέγεται ὑπὸ ἀρχὴν, πρὶν ἄρξασθαι τὸν Υἱὸν, οὐκ ἦν ὁ Πατὴρ πατὴρ, κατὰ τὸν σὸν λόγον, καὶ ἀναγκασθήσῃ τὸν Πατέρα ὑπ' ἀρχὴν ποιεῖν ἀσεβῶς· εἰ δὲ μή γε, ἀντεπάγω σοι κἀγώ· Θέλων ὁ Πατὴρ ἐγένετο πατὴρ, ἢ μὴ θέλων; Ἐὰν εἴπῃς, Θέλων, ἰδὲ οὖν, πρὶν θελῆσαι οὐκ ἦν Πατήρ· ἦν οὖν καιρὸς ὅτε οὐκ ἦν πατὴρ ὁ Πατήρ· καὶ αὐτὸς οὖν ἤρξατο τοῦ εἶναι πατήρ· ἐὰν εἴπῃς, Μὴ θέλων, τετυράννηται, Θεὸς δὲ οὐ τυραννεῖται· τὸ γὰρ τυραννούμενον οὐ Θεός. Ὁρᾷς εἰς πόσην ἐμπίπτεις ἀσέβειαν, ἐὰν μὴ ὁμολογήσῃς συνάναρχον καὶ συναΐδιον καὶ συνδημιουργὸν Πατρὸς τὸν Υἱόν; Καὶ πῶς εἴπω συνδημιουργόν; γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι Πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ 48.1094 ἐγένετο. Οὐκ ἀκούεις τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ὅτι Ὄψομαι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἔργα τῶν δακτύλων σου, σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας, ἃ σὺ ἐθεμελίωσας; Οὐχ ὁρᾷς τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν αὐθεντίαν λέγοντος· Ὁ Πατήρ μου ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται, κἀγὼ ἐργάζομαι· καὶ, Ὥσπερ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐγείρει τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ ζωοποιεῖ, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς οὓς θέλει ζωοποιεῖ· καὶ, Νεανίσκε, σοὶ λέγω, ἐγέρθητι· καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ, Ἐγώ σοι ἐπιτάσσω, φιμώθητι, καὶ ἔξελθε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ, Θάρσει, τέκνον, ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἔλεγον, Οὐδεὶς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας, εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ Θεὸς, ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν ἐλέγχων αὐτοὺς, φησίν· Ὑμεῖς εἴπατε, ὅτι Θεοῦ μόνου ἐστὶν ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας· ἰδοὺ οὖν ἀφίημι ἁμαρτίας, καὶ ὁμολογήσατέ μου τὴν θεότητα. Εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖτε, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ σώματος ῥώσεως βλέπετε καὶ μάθετε καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ὑγίειαν. Τότε λέγει αὐτῷ· Ἐγερθεὶς ἆρόν σου τὸν κράββατον, καὶ ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου· καὶ πάλιν ἄλλῳ· Ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρά σου· καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ· Σιώπα, πεφίμωσο· Ἡ παῖς, ἔγειραι· Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω· Θέλω, καθαρίσθητι· καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἅπαντα, δι' ὧν δηλοῖ τὸ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ὁμότιμον· ἅπερ ἅπαντα καταμανθάνων, πίστευε ὅτι ὁμοούσιός ἐστι τῷ Πατρὶ, ὁμοούσιον δὲ καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα. Εἰ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ λαμβάνει, οὐκ ἀλλότριον τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ Πνεῦμα. Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ, Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ, Πνεῦμα ἀληθείας, Πνεῦμα παράκλητον, ἀντιπαράθετον. Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός· Ὁ δὲ Κύριος τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστι· καθὼς καὶ ὁ Πέτρος πρὸς τὸν Ἀνανίαν· Τί ὅτι συνεφωνήθη ὑμῖν πειρᾶσαι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; Καὶ δηλῶν ὅτι Θεός ἐστι, φησίν· Οὐκ ἐψεύσω ἀνθρώπῳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι Θεὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα ᾧ ἐψεύσατο; Καὶ ὁ Παῦλος λέγει· Ὑμεῖς ναὸς Θεοῦ ἐστε, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν. ∆ηλονότι Θεός ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ οἰκοῦν ἐν ἡμῖν· Ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ζῶμεν, καὶ κινούμεθα, καὶ ἐσμέν· καὶ, Ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος εἰς Πνεῦμα ζωοποιοῦν· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει, Ἡ σὰρξ οὐκ ὠφελεῖ οὐδὲν, τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ ζωοποιοῦν.

δʹ. Μὴ τολμήσῃς οὖν φθέγξασθαί τι κατὰ τῆς ὁμοουσίου καὶ παντοδυνάμου

Τριάδος. Καὶ πάλιν, Οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ· οὕτω καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, εἰ μὴ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ· οὐκ ἔτι, τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ, ἵνα μή τις σύνθετον τὸ Πνεῦμα νομίσῃ. Τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα πάντα ἐρευνᾷ, καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ναὶ, ἐρευνᾷ μὲν, οὐ καταλαμβάνει δέ· οὐ γὰρ γέγραπται, ὅτι καταλαμβάνει. Πῶς οὖν ἐρευνᾷ; ὡς περίεργον; ὡς ἀλλότριον; ὡς ἀγνοοῦν; Εἰ γὰρ δὴ