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Not multiplied in themselves: That one must not go beyond the divine Scripture when theologizing.

§ 3. And all that belongs to the transcendent: He is glorified by way of abstraction, beyond conception; for he is worshipped in a super-eminent way from those things not seen concerning him, such as immortal, as endless and invisible and without need, and all such things; for these too are common to the Trinity; but causative are all the things that have flowed from him to creation, as he is the cause of every good, as it is written, that "everything of his is good."

That of the Father: But the super-essential is common, as it is with the Father, so also with the Son and with the Holy Spirit. But concerning the distinct properties of the holy Trinity, such as the names, he says there is no interchange or communion at all; for the Father could not be piously called Son, nor the Son Father; the same is true of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus according to us: Note that the incarnation belongs to the God Logos alone. And he says it is complete, against Apollinarius, as being from a rational soul and our body; for this is what he means by saying "according to us," which is also against Eutyches; and against Nestorius, because he speaks of the unalterable existence of Jesus as God according to us; and because he calls the mysteries in his humanity essential: the hunger, the weariness, 14S_062 and the walking on water, and the entering to the disciples when the doors were shut, and the raising of the dead, and the passion itself, and all such things.

Essential mysteries: Note the word "essential" concerning the flesh; for he said this, casting out the docetic opinion.

§ 4. Initiates of the tradition. Initiates are called those initiated into sacred things. Hidden and unrevealable: He calls hidden unions the incomprehensible knowledge concerning the divine essence; what the very essence of the Holy Trinity is, no one will ever know.

The distinctions: He calls distinctions the adorable hypostatic existences, that is, of the Son, the ineffable radiance from the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, the inconceivable procession from the Father.

The beyond one principle: The unity beyond one principle signifies the indivisible and simple nature of the divine nature which is beyond all unity and simplicity among beings.

The unutterable. Unutterable because of the unnameable character of the essence, but many-voiced because it has its many voices in the variety of those who receive its benefits.

The all-conceivable: How God is both unknown and all-conceivable, and how in unknowing we acquire knowledge of him, must be stated; for God becomes known by unknowing. But do not take "unknowing" to be that which comes through ignorance; for that is the soul's darkness; nor that which knows that the unknown is unknown; for this too is a form of knowing. But he is known as knowable according to that unknowing by which, being simplified beyond thoughts, which being multiplied are scattered, and again are folded together, not being a monad. Whence, then, having transcended all thought concerning God, we become simple, unknowing 14S_064 henceforth and remaining without distinction because of our stand towards unity, and firmly standing in union, we do not know that we do not know, that is, not knowing some other thing, we as ignorant people are ignorant, being able to learn what we for a time are ignorant of, but being ignorant of those things which are piously unknown by all rational creation; for standing in this unknowing, we become a form of him who is before all things; having left behind all forms and thoughts, and being established in an aphasia better than any utterance, by not even knowing this, that we do not know. Then again returning from the silence in aphasia, and descending from silence to utterance, understanding that we did not know,

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Ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπλήθυντα: Ὅτι οὐ δεῖ παρεξιέναι τήν θείαν Γραφήν ἐν τῷ θεολογεῖν.

§ 3. Καί ὅσα τῆς ὑπεροχικῆς: Κατά ἀφαίρεσιν ὑπέρ ἔνοιαν δοξολογεῖται· ἐκ γάρ τῶν μή θεωρουμένων περί αὐτόν ὑπεραναβεβηκότως προσκυνεῖται, οἷον ὡς ἀθάνατος, ὡς ἀτελεύτητος καί ἀόρατος καί ἀνεδεής, καί ὅσα τοιαῦτα· κοινά γάρ τῆς Τριάδος καί ταῦτα· αἰτιολογικά δέ εἰσιν ὅσα ἐπί τήν κτίσιν ἔρρευσε παρ' αὐτοῦ, ἅτε αἰτίου παντός καλοῦ, ὡς γέγραπται, ὅτι «πᾶν ἐστι καλόν αὐτοῦ».

Τό τοῦ Πατρός: Κατά κοινοῦ δέ τό ὑπερούσιον, ὡς ἐπί τοῦ Πατρός, οὕτω καί ἐπί τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί ἐπί τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Ἐπί δέ τῶν διακεκριμένων τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, οἷον ὀνομάτων, οὐδεμίαν φησίν ὅλως εἶναι ἀντιστροφήν ἤ κοινωνίαν· ὁ γάρ Πατήρ οὐκ ἄν εὐσεβῶς κληθείη Υἱός, οὐδέ ὁ Υἱός Πατήρ· τό αὐτό καί ἐπί τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος.

Ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς Ἰησοῦ: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι μόνου τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ἐστίν ἡ ἐνανθρώπησις. Παντελῆ δέ αὐτήν φησι κατά Ἀπολλιναρίου, ὡς ἐκ ψυχῆς νοερᾶς καί ἡμετέρου σώματος· τοῦτο γάρ δηλοῖ τό εἰπεῖν αὐτόν «καθ' ἡμᾶς», ὅπερ ἐστί καί · κατά Εὐτυχοῦς· κατά Νεστορίου δέ, ὅτι φησί, τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τήν ἀναλλοίωτον ὡς Θεοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὕπαρξιν· καί ὅτι οὐσιώδη φησί τά ἐν τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι μυστήρια, τήν πεῖναν, τόν κόπον, 14S_062 καί τό ἐπί ὕδατος βαδίσαι, καί τό εἰσελθεῖν τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων πρός τούς μαθητάς, καί τό ἐγεῖραι τούς νεκρούς, καί αὐτό τό πάθος, καί ὅσα τοιαῦτα.

Οὐσιώδη μυστήρια: Σημείωσαι τό οὐσιώδη ἐπί τῆς σαρκώσεως· τοῦτο γάρ ἔφη, ἐκβάλλων τήν κατά φαντασίαν δόξαν.

§ 4. Παραδόσεως ἱερομύσται. Ἱερομύσται λέγονται οἱ τά ἱερά μεμυημένοι. Κρυφίας καί ἀνεκφοιτήτους: Κρυφίας ἑνώσεις φησί τάς περί τῆς θείας οὐσίας

ἀκαταλήπτους γνώσεις· τήν οὐσίαν αὐτήν τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, τί ἐστιν, οὐδείς γνώσεταί ποτε.

Τάς διακρίσεις: ∆ιακρίσεις φησί τάς ἐνυποστάτους προσκυνητάς ὑπάρξεις, τουτέστι, τοῦ μέν Υἱοῦ τόν ἐκ Πατρός ἀνέκφραστον ἀπαυγασμόν, τοῦ δέ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τήν ἐκ Πατρός ἀνεννόητον ἐκπόρευσιν.

Ἡ ὑπέρ ἑναρχίαν: Ἡ ὑπέρ ἑναρχίαν ἑνότης τό ὑπέρ πᾶσαν ἑνότητα καί ἁπλότητα ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀμερές τε καί ἁπλοῦν σημαίνει.

Τό ἄφθεγκτον. Ἄφθεγκτον διά τό ἀκατονόμαστον τῆς οὐσίας, πολύφωνον δέ, ὅτι τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῶν εὐεργετουμένων τό πολύφωνον ἔχει.

Τό παννόητον: Πῶς ἄγνωστος καί παννόητος ὁ Θεός, καί πῶς ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ τήν περί αὐτοῦ κτώμεθα γνῶσιν, ρητέον· ἀγνοίᾳ γάρ γίνεται γνωστός ὁ Θεός· ἄγνοιαν δέ, μή τήν διά τῆς ἀμαθίας λάβης· αὕτη γάρ σκότος ἐστί ψυχῆς· μήτε τήν γινώσκουσαν, ὅτι ἀγνοεῖται ὁ ἄγνωστος· εἶδος γάρ καί αὐτή γνωριστικόν· ἀλλά κατ' ἐκείνην τήν ἄγνοιαν γινώσκεται γνωστός, καθ' ἤν ἁπλωθέντες ὑπέρ τάς νοήσεις, αἵτινες πληθυνόμεναι σκεδάννυνται, καί αὖθις συμπτύσσονται, οὐκ οὖσαι ἑνάς. Ὅθεν οὖν πᾶσαν νόησιν περί Θεόν ὑπερβάντες, ἁπλοῖ γινόμεθα, ἀγνοοῦντες 14S_064 λοιπόν καί ἀδιάκριτοι μένοντες διά τήν πρός τήν ἑνότητα στάσιν, καί βεβαίως ἑστῶτες ἐν τῇ ἑνώσει, ἀγνοοῦμεν ὅτι ἀγνοοῦμεν, τουτέστιν οὐχ ἑτέρου τινός εἰδότες, ἡμεῖς ὡς ἀμαθεῖς ἀγνοοῦμεν, δυνάμενοι μαθεῖν ἅ τέως ἀγνοοῦμεν, ἀλλά τά παρά πάσης λογικῆς κτίσεως εὐσεβῶς ἀγνοούμενα ἀγνοοῦντες· ἐν ταύτῃ γάρ στάντες τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ, εἶδος γινόμεθα τοῦ πρό πάντων ὄντος· ἐάσαντες μέν πάντα τά εἴδη καί τάς νοήσεις, ἐν ἀφασίᾳ δέ κρείττονι πάσης φθέγξεως ἱδρυμένοι, τῷ μηδέ τοῦτο γινώσκειν, ὅτι ἀγνοοῦμεν· εἶτα πάλιν ὑποστρέψαντες ἐκ τῆς ἐν ἀφασίᾳ σιωπῆς, καί ἀπό τῆς σιγῆς εἰς φθέγξιν καταβαίνοντες, συνιέντες ὅτι ἠγνοοῦμεν,