13. Our opponents, while they thus artfully and perversely encounter our argument, cannot even have recourse to the plea of ignorance. It is obvious that they are annoyed with us for completing the doxology to the Only Begotten together with the Father, and for not separating the Holy Spirit from the Son. On this account they style us innovators, revolutionizers, phrase-coiners, and every other possible name of insult. But so far am I from being irritated at their abuse, that, were it not for the fact that their loss causes me “heaviness and continual sorrow,”  1  cf. Rom. ix. 2. I could almost have said that I was grateful to them for the blasphemy, as though they were agents for providing me with blessing. For “blessed are ye,” it is said, “when men shall revile you for my sake.”  2  Matt. v. 11. The grounds of their indignation are these: The Son, according to them, is not together with the Father, but after the Father. Hence it follows that glory should be ascribed to the Father “  through him,” but not “  with him;” inasmuch as “  with him” expresses equality of dignity, while “  through him” denotes subordination. They further assert that the Spirit is not to be ranked along with the Father and the Son, but under the Son and the Father; not coordinated, but subordinated; not connumerated, but subnumerated.  3  ὑποτάσσω. cf. 1 Cor. xv. 27, and inf. cf. chapter xvii. ὑποτεταγμένος is applied to the Son in the Macrostich or Lengthy Creed, brought by Eudoxius of Germanicia to Milan in 344. Vide Soc. ii. 19.

With technical terminology of this kind they pervert the simplicity and artlessness of the faith, and thus by their ingenuity, suffering no one else to remain in ignorance, they cut off from themselves the plea that ignorance might demand.

[13] Καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀγνοίας συγγνώμην δυνατὸν αὐτοὺς καταφυγεῖν, οὕτω τεχνικῶς καὶ κακοήθως τὸν λόγον ὑπολαμβάνοντας. Οἵγε προδήλως ἡμῖν χαλεπαίνουσιν, ὅτι μετὰ Πατρὸς ἀποπληροῦμεν τῷ Μονογενεῖ τὴν δοξολογίαν, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα μὴ διιστῶμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Ὅθεν νεωτεροποιοὺς ἡμᾶς καὶ καινοτόμους καὶ ἐφευρετὰς ῥημάτων, καὶ τί γὰρ οὐχὶ τῶν ἐπονειδίστων ἀποκαλοῦσιν; Ὧν τοσοῦτον ἀπέχω δυσχεραίνειν ταῖς λοιδορίαις, ὥστε εἰ μὴ λύπην ἡμῖν ἐνεποίει καὶ ἀδιάλειπτον ὀδύνην ἡ κατ' αὐτοὺς ζημία, μικροῦ ἂν εἶπον καὶ χάριν αὐτοῖς τῆς βλασφημίας ἔχειν ὡς μακαρισμοῦ προξένοις. «Μακάριοι γάρ ἐστε, φησίν, ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν ὑμᾶς ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ.» Ἔστι δὲ ἐφ' οἷς ἀγανακτοῦσι ταῦτα. Οὐ μετὰ Πατρός, φασίν, Υἱός, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸν Πατέρα: διόπερ ἀκόλουθον, δι' αὐτοῦ τὴν δόξαν προσάγειν τῷ Πατρί, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ μετ' αὐτοῦ τὴν ἰσοτιμίαν δηλοῖ: τὸ δὲ δι' οὗ τὴν ὑπουργίαν παρίστησιν. Οὔτε μὴν σὺν τῷ Πατρί, φασί, καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ τὸ Πνεῦμα τακτέον, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ τὸν Πατέρα, οὐ συντεταγμένον, ἀλλ' ὑποτεταγμένον, οὐδὲ συναριθμούμενον, ἀλλ' ὑπαριθμούμενον. Καὶ τοιαύταις τισὶ τεχνολογίαις ῥημάτων τὸ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀκατάσκευον τῆς πίστεως διαστρέφουσιν. Ὥστε τίνος ἂν δι' ἀπειρίαν συγγνώμης τύχοιεν οἱ μηδὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπείρως ἔχειν ἐκ τῆς αὐτῶν φιλοπραγμοσύνης ἐπιτρέποντες;