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is a property of the Father's hypostasis. Therefore, even if the Holy Spirit, which exists by procession from the Father through the Son, also had its being from him, it would not have been entirely pious to say that we do not say the Spirit has its being from the Son and that the property of procession belongs to the Father alone.

But since those who say these things are David the forefather of God, and Gregory the most brilliant luminary of Nyssa, and Damascene the God-bearer, by all necessity those who say the Son is a joint cause with the Father regarding the all-holy Spirit, and who grant it its existence from the Father through the Son and from the Son, are as far removed from piety as the afore-enumerated saints and those who theologize in harmony with them hold to it.

And it is most necessary to see this, that just as we, who have our genesis from the Father through the Son and from the Son, call upon and confess each one both together and separately as Father and maker, so also would each be called Father and Producer of the divine Spirit, both together and separately, if indeed the Spirit had its existence from the Father through the Son and from the Son. But all such things, by confusing the divine hypostases in many ways, clearly show that the Holy Spirit does not also have its existence from the Son.

And indeed, "all that the Father has belongs to the Son," according to Gregory the Theologian, "without the cause. What cause? That of creatures? By no means; for the Son is also the beginning and cause of these. Therefore, without the cause and beginning of the divinity understood in the Trinity; therefore, the Son has all things (p. 114) of the Father, without being himself also the beginning and cause of the divinity of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, therefore, proceeds from the Father alone, just as the Son is begotten from the Father alone, and pertains proximately and immediately to the Father according to existence, just as the Son does, even if through the Son it came to be the Spirit of the Father, as belonging to the one who proceeds and is Father.

And since the testimony of two men is true according to the word of the Lord, "and by two or three witnesses shall every word be established," we too, for the present, leaving aside the others for the sake of brevity, will present to you three witnesses, who clearly forbid your addition. And so let the first one come forth, who is also earlier in time, Basil the Great; for in the chapters Against Eunomius, he says, "God begets not as a man, but he truly begets; and what is begotten of him manifests a word not human, but it manifests a true word from himself; he sends forth the Spirit through the mouth, not such as is human, since God does not have a mouth bodily; but the Spirit is from him and not from another." Do you see that it is not from another, but from the one alone who also begets the Son? Therefore the Spirit is not from the Son, since the Son is also the Word, but has not been theologized here by the great one as the mouth of the Father. Who elsewhere, showing also that this Word proceeds from the same mouth, says, "for if you do not believe that the Spirit has come forth from the mouth of God, neither will you believe the Word." Do you see clearly that the Son is the Word, but not the mouth of the Father; from which mouth, according to Basil the Great, the Holy Spirit proceeds according to existence?

In the same way also his brother, who thinks like a brother, Gregory, in his discourse On the Knowledge of God, says, "And the Spirit is that which proceeds from the paternal hypostasis. For on this account David also spoke of the Spirit of the mouth, but not (116) the Word of the mouth, so that he might confirm that the property of procession belongs to the Father alone."

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ἰδιότης ἐστί τῆς τοῦ Πατρός ὑποστάσεως. Τοιγαροῦν εἰ καί τό ἐκπορευτῶς ὑπάρχον Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐκ Πατρός δι᾿ Υἱοῦ καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ τό εἶναι εἶχεν, οὐκ ἄν ἦν ὅλος εὐσεβοῦς εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τό εἶναι τό Πνεῦμα οὐ λέγομεν καί ὡς ἡ ἐκπορευτική ἰδιότης τῷ Πατρί μόνῳ πρόσεστιν.

Ἐπεί δέ οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες ∆αβίδ ἐστιν ὁ θεοπάτωρ καί Γρηγόριος ὁ Νυσσαέων φανότατος φωστήρ καί ∆αμασκηνός ὁ θεοφόρος, κατά πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην οἱ συναίτον τῷ Πατρί τόν Υἱόν λέγοντες ἐπί τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος καί ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τήν ὕπαρξιν αὐτῷ διδόντες, τοσοῦτον ἀπέχουσι τῆς εὐσεβείας, ὅσον ἀντέχονται ταύτης οἱ προαπηριθμημένοι τῶν ἁγίων καί οἱ τούτοις συνῳδά θεολογοῦντες.

Καί τοῦτο δέ συνορᾶν τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων, ὡς καθάπερ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός δι᾿ Υἱοῦ καί ἐξ Υἱοῦ τήν γένεσιν ἔχοντες ἡμεῖς, Πατέρα καί ποιητήν ὁμοῦ τε καί χωρίς ἑκάτερον ἐπικαλούμεθα καί ἀνομολογοῦμεν, οὕτω καί τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ὁμοῦ τε καί χωρίς ἑκάτερος Πατήρ ἄν ἐλέγετο καί προβολεύς, εἴπερ ἐκ Πατρός δι᾿ Υἱοῦ καί ἐξ Υἱοῦ τήν ὕπαρξιν τό Πνεῦμα εἶχεν. Ἀλλά τά τοιαῦτα πάντα πολυειδῶς συγχέοντα τάς θείας ὑποστάσεις παρίστησι σαφῶς, ὡς οὐχί καί ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τήν ὕπαρξιν ἔχει τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον.

Καί μέν δή, «πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατήρ, τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐστι», κατά τόν θεολόγον Γρηγόριον, «ἄνευ τῆς αἰτίας. Ποίας αἰτίας; Τῆς τῶν κτισμάτων; Ἄπαγε˙ τούτων γάρ ἀρχή καί αἴτιος καί ὁ Υἱός. Τοιγαροῦν ἄνευ τῆς αἰτίας καί ἀρχῆς τῆς ἐν Τριάδι νοουμένης θεότητος˙ πάντα οὖν ἔχει ὁ Υἱός τοῦ (σελ. 114) τοῦ Πατρός, ἄνευ τοῦ ἀρχή καί αἴτιος εἶναι καί αὐτός τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἐκ μόνου ἄρα τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, καθάπερ ὁ Υἱός ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρός γεννᾶται, καί προσεχῶς καί ἀμέσως τοῦ Πατρός ἔχεται καθ᾿ ὕπαρξιν, καθά καί ὁ Υἱός, εἰ καί διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ Πατρός εἶναι Πνεῦμα ἔσχεν, ὡς τοῦ ἐκπορεύοντος ὄντος καί Πατρός.

Ἐπεί δέ καί δύο ἀνθρώπων ἡ μαρτυρία ἀληθής ἐστι κατά τόν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον, «καί διά δύο ἤ τριῶν μαρτύρων σταθήσεται πᾶν ρῆμα», καί ἡμεῖς τό νῦν εἶναι τῶν ἄλλων ἀφέμενοι διά τό μῆκος τρεῖς παραστήσομέν σοι μάρτυρας, σαφῶς ἀπαγορεύοντάς σου τήν προσθήκην. Καί δή παρίτω πρῶτος ὁ καί τῷ χρόνῳ πρότερος Βασίλειος ὁ μέγας˙ ἐν γάρ τοῖς Κατ᾿ Εὐνομίου κεφαλαίοις, «γεννᾷ», φησίν, «ὁ Θεός οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος, γεννᾷ δέ ἀληθῶς˙ καί τό γεγεννημένον ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐκφαίνει λόγον οὐκ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐκφαίνει δέ λόγον ἀληθῆ ἐξ αὑτοῦ˙ ἐκπέμπει Πνεῦμα διά στόματος, οὐχ οἷον τό ἀνθρώπινον, ἐπεί μηδέ στόμα Θεοῦ σωματικῶς˙ ἐξ αὐτοῦ δέ τό Πνεῦμα καί οὐχ ἑτέρωθεν». Ὁρᾷς ὅτι οὐχ ἑτέρωθεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ μόνου τοῦ καί τόν Υἱόν γεννῶντος; Ὥστε οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τό Πνεῦμα, ἐπεί καί λόγος ὁ Υἱός, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ στόμα τοῦ Πατρός ἐνταῦθα τῷ μεγάλῳ τεθεολόγηται. Ὅς ἀλλαχοῦ δεικνύς καί τόν λόγον τοῦτον ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ προϊόντα στόματος, «εἰ γάρ τό Πνεῦμα μή πιστεύεις», φησίν, ἐκ στόματος Θεοῦ προεληλυθέναι, οὐδ᾿ ἄν τόν λόγον πιστεύσεις». Ὁρᾷς σαφῶς ὅτι Λόγος ὁ Υἱός, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ στόμα τοῦ Πατρός˙ ἐξ οὗ στόματος κατά τόν μέγαν Βασίλειον πρόεισι καθ᾿ ὕπαρξιν ὡς τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον;

Τόν αὐτόν δέ τρόπον καί ὁ ἀδελφός αὐτῷ καί ἀδελφά φρονῶν Γρηγόριος ἐν τῷ Περί θεογνωσίας λόγῳ, «Πνεῦμα δέ», φησί, «τό τῆς πατρικῆς ἐκπορευόμενον ὑποστάσεως. Τούτου γάρ ἕνεκα καί Πνεῦμα στόματος ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί καί τόν (116) λόγον στόματος ὁ ∆αβίδ εἴρηκεν, ἵνα τήν ἐκπορευτικήν ἰδιότητα τῷ Πατρί μόνῳ προσοῦσαν πιστώσηται».