1

 2

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

 9

 10

 11

 12

 13

 14

 15

 16

 17

 18

 19

 20

 21

 22

 23

 24

 25

 26

 27

 28

 29

 30

 31

 32

 33

 34

 35

 36

 37

 38

 39

 40

 41

 42

 43

 44

 45

 46

 47

 48

 49

 50

 51

 52

 53

 54

 55

 56

 57

 58

 59

 60

 61

 62

 63

 64

 65

 66

 67

 68

 69

 70

 71

 72

 73

 74

 75

 76

 77

 78

 79

 80

 81

 82

 83

 84

 85

 86

 87

 88

 89

 90

 91

 92

 93

 94

 95

 96

 97

 98

 99

 100

 101

 102

 103

 104

 105

 106

 107

 108

 109

 110

 111

 112

 113

 114

 115

 116

 117

 118

 119

 120

 121

 122

 123

 124

 125

 126

 127

 128

 129

 130

 131

 132

 133

 134

 135

 136

 137

 138

 139

 140

 141

 142

 143

 144

 145

 146

 147

 148

 149

 150

 151

 152

 153

 154

 155

 156

 157

 158

 159

 160

 161

 162

 163

 164

 165

 166

 167

 168

 169

 170

 171

 172

 173

 174

 175

 176

 177

 178

 179

 180

 181

 182

 183

 184

 185

 186

 187

 188

 189

 190

 191

 192

 193

 194

 195

 196

 197

 198

 199

12

And this is tripartite, having mind and reason as its consequents; and thus from the things concerning itself it understands the things concerning God with a most wise and brilliant mind. For it is moved to understand by the Spirit that moves from above that indeed God and Father, who brought all things into being out of nothing by His own Word, and by the power of His Spirit holds it together and sustains it, begets the consubstantial Son timelessly and eternally, (32) in no way separated from Him, with whom also the divine Spirit proceeds, being consubstantial with the Son, from the consubstantial Father. Thus, thinking well of God and confessing at the same time, it shows itself to be in the image of its creator, bearing a soul that is rational and intelligent and immortal, created with a mind and reason that are consubstantial and hypostatic; if not, then it surely accuses itself of being mindless and irrational. For from where else and from what characteristics could it be in the image of its creator, if it falls short of the divine properties? But if someone attests these things to himself and rightly ascribes them to himself, but irrationally deprives his own Maker and God of the aforementioned things, so far as it is in his power, such a person is no different to me from the pagans; for I hesitate to say, from cattle or reptiles and wild beasts.

I for my part believe, therefore, that just as the soul did not pre-exist or does not pre-exist the mind, nor the mind the reason born from it, but they have their being from God at the same time, and the mind begets the reason and brings forth through it the will of the soul, so also neither the Father and God pre-existed the Son or the Spirit, but as the mind exists in the soul and has the reason with itself, in a similar way God the Father exists wholly in the Holy Spirit and has the God the Word, begotten, wholly in Himself; and just as it is impossible for reason or mind to be without a soul, so it is impossible for the Son with the Father to be spoken of without the Holy Spirit. For how could the living God ever exist without life? For the Holy Spirit is life and life-giving. Therefore, confess with me the Father not pre-existing His begetting, the Son not later begotten or made, the Holy Spirit proceeding, but co-eternal and consubstantial with Him, with the Son, with the Father; worship the whole Holy Spirit in the whole and only co-unoriginate Father, (33) and the whole Father in the whole and only co-eternal Son, and the whole Son in the whole and only Father and the Spirit, the one three-hypostatic and co-eternal and consubstantial, undivided and unconfused substance and nature, as one principle of all things and one God, the creator of the universe, since also in the whole mind that is in you—so that being initiated from the things concerning you into the things beyond you, you may not forget the image with which you were deemed worthy by Him—the whole reason is, and the spirit; in the two is the soul undividedly, unconfusedly. For this is the image and this we have been enriched with from above: to be made like God the Father and to bear the image of the one who begot and created us; for in this way, when reverencing a human being, we offer him a single honor, as one who has a mind and is animate and rational, not dividing or preferring one of these three, but as one having the three in himself undividedly and unconfusedly; and not as being three, but as one human being, we reverence and honor him because of the shared image of the creator.

Thus, understanding from the divine properties which you bear also the things concerning the God who gifted these to you, piously worship the holy and consubstantial and co-unoriginate Trinity as one God and see with what good things God has honored you, having created you in His image and glorified you with His own properties. We confess the Father with the Son and the Spirit, the Holy Trinity, to be of equal honor and consubstantial and of equal power, as one principle and authority and lordship; know that the mind in you, with the reason and the soul, is also of equal honor, and of the same honor, and consubstantial, as being of one substance and nature. For this is the honor and the being from God, that we who are begotten and made from Him might know and revere God as father and creator. Therefore, even if

12

αὕτη δέ τριμερής ἐστι, νοῦν καί λόγον τά συνεπόμενα ἔχουσα· καί οὕτως ἐκ τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτόν τά περί Θεοῦ νῷ σοφωτάτῳ καί λαμπροτάτῳ νοεῖ. Κινεῖται γάρ νοεῖν ἀπό τοῦ κινοῦντος ἄνωθεν Πνεύματος ὅτι δή ὁ Θεός καί Πατήρ, ὁ τό πᾷν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τῷ ἑαυτοῦ Λόγῳ ὑποστησάμενος καί δυνάμει τοῦ Πνεύματος αὐτοῦ συνέχων αὐτό καί διακρατῶν, γεννᾷ τόν ὁμοούσιον ἀχρόνως καί ἀϊδίως Υἱόν (32) μηδαμῶς ἐξ αὐτοῦ χωριζόμενον, μεθ᾿ οὗ καί τό θεῖον Πνεῦμα συνεκπορεύεται, ὁμούσιον ὄν τῷ Υἱῷ, ἐξ ὁμοουσίου Πατρός. Οὕτω δέ καλῶς περί Θεοῦ νοῶν καί ἅμα ὁμολογῶν, κατ᾿ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος ἑαυτόν ἀποδείκνυσι ψυχήν λογικήν τε καί νοεράν καί ἀθάνατον περιφέροντα, νῷ καί λόγῳ τοῖς ὁμοουσίοις καί ἐνυποστάτοις δεδημιουργημένην· εἰ δ᾿ οὖν, ἀλλ᾿ ἄνουν πάντως καί ἄλογον κατηγορεῖ ἑαυτόν. Πόθεν γάρ ἄν ἄλλοθεν καί ἐκ ποίων ἄρα τῶν χαρακτήρων κατ᾿ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος ἔσται, τῶν θείων ἐμπίπτων ἰδιωμάτων; Εἰ δέ ταῦτα μέν τις ἑαυτῷ προσμαρτυρεῖ καί ὀρθῶς ἐπιγράφεται, τόν δέ ποιητήν ἑαυτοῦ καί Θεόν ἀλόγως τῶν εἰρημένων ἀποστερεῖ τό γε ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτόν, οὐδέν μοι τῶν ἐθνικῶν διενήνοχε ὁ τοιοῦτος· ὀκνῶ γάρ εἰπεῖν κτηνῶν ἤ ἑρπετῶν καί θηρίων.

Ἔγωγε οὖν πιστεύω ὅτι, ὥσπερ οὐ προϋπέστη ἤ προϋφίσταται ἡ ψυχή τοῦ νοός ἤ ὁ νοῦς τοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννωμένου λόγου, ἀλλ᾿ ἅμα μέν ἔχουσι τό εἶναι ὑπό Θεοῦ, ὁ δέ νοῦς τόν λόγον ἀπογεννᾷ καί ἐξάγει δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τήν βούλησιν τῆς ψυχῆς, οὕτως οὐδέ ὁ Πατήρ καί Θεός, ἤ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, ἤ τοῦ Πνεύματος προϋπέστη, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὁ νοῦς ὑπάρχει ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τόν δέ λόγον ἔχει παρ᾿ ἑαυτῷ, τῷ ὁμοίῳ τρόπῳ ὁ Θεός καί Πατήρ ἐν ὅλῳ ὑπάρχει Πνεύματι τῷ Ἁγίῳ καί τόν Θεόν Λόγον γεγεννημένον ἔχει ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ· καί καθάπερ ἀδύνατον δίχα ψυχῆς λόγον ἤ νοῦν εἶναι, οὕτως ἀμήχανον Υἱόν σύν Πατρί ἄνευ Ἁγίου λέγεσθαι Πνεύματος. Πῶς γάρ τόν ζῶντα Θεόν δίχα ζωῆς ὑπάρξαι ποτέ; Ζωή γάρ καί ζωοποιόν τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον. Τοιγαροῦν ὁμολόγει μοι τόν Πατέρα οὐ προόντα γεννῶντα, τόν Υἱόν οὐχ ὕστερον γεννηθέντα ἤ γεγονότα, τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον ἐκπορευτόν μέν, συναΐδιον δέ καί ὁμοούσιον αὐτῷ σύν Υἱῷ τῷ Πατρί· προσκύνει ὅλον τό Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ἐν ὅλῳ καί μόνῳ τῷ συνανάρχῳ Πατρί, (33) καί ὅλον τόν Πατέρα ἐν ὅλῳ καί μόνῳ τῷ συναϊδίῳ Υἱῷ καί ὅλον τόν Υἱόν ἐν ὅλῳ καί μόνῳ τῷ Πατρί καί τῷ Πνεύματι, τήν μίαν τρισυπόστατον καί συναΐδιον καί ὁμοούσιον, ἀδιαίρετόν τε καί ἀσύγχυτον οὐσίαν καί φύσιν, ὡς μίαν τῶν ὅλων ἀρχήν καί ἕνα Θεόν τόν δημιουργόν τοῦ παντός, ἐπειδή καί ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ ἐνυπάρχοντί σοι νῷ, ἵν᾿ ἐκ τῶν κατά σέ τά ὑπέρ σέ μυσταγωγούμενος τῆς εἰκόνος μή ἐπιλάθῃ, ἧς πρός αὐτοῦ ἠξιώθης, ὅλος ὁ λόγος ἐστί καί τό πνεῦμα ἐν τοῖς δυσίν ἡ ψυχή ἀδιαιρέτως, ἀσυγχύτως. Τοῦτο γάρ ἡ εἰκών καί τοῦτο πεπλουτήκαμεν ἄνωθεν τό ἀφομοιωθῆναι Θεῷ τῷ Πατρί καί τήν εἰκόνα φέρειν τοῦ γεγεννηκότος καί κτίσαντος· ταύτῃ γάρ καί ἄνθρωπον προσκυνοῦντες μίαν αὐτῷ προσάγομεν τήν τιμήν, ὡς νοῦν ἔχοντι καί ἐμψύχῳ καί λογικῷ, οὐ διαιροῦντες ἤ προτιμῶντες τούτων ἕν τῶν τριῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἀδιαίρετα ἔχοντι τά τρία ἐν ἑαυτῷ καί ἀσύγχυτα· καί οὐχ ὡς τρία ὄντα, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἄνθρωπον ἕνα, προσκυνοῦμεν καί τιμῶμεν αὐτόν διά τήν κοινήν εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος.

Οὕτω μοι ἐκ τῶν θείων ἰδιωμάτων ὧν ἐπιφέρῃ νοῶν καί τά περί Θεοῦ τοῦ ταῦτά σοι δωρησαμένου, ὡς ἕνα Θεόν εὐσεβῶς τήν ἁγίαν καί ὁμοούσιον καί συνάναρχον προσκύνει Τριάδα καί ὅρα οἵοις σε τετίμηκεν ὁ Θεός ἀγαθοῖς, δημιουργήσας σε κατ᾿ εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ καί τοῖς αὐτοῦ συνδοξάσας σε ἰδιώμασιν. Ἰσότιμον ὁμολογοῦμεν καί ὁμοούσιον καί ὁμοδύναμον τόν Πατέρα σύν Υἱῷ καί τῷ Πνεύματι, τήν Ἁγίαν Τριάδα, ὡς μίαν ἀρχήν καί ἐξουσίαν καί κυριότητα· ἰσότιμον ἴσθι καί ὁμότιμον καί ὁμοούσιον τόν ἐν σοί νοῦν σύν τῷ λόγῳ καί τῇ ψυχῇ, ὡς μιᾶς ὄντα οὐσίας καί φύσεως. Τοῦτο γάρ ἡ τιμή καί τό εἶναι ἀπό Θεοῦ, ἵν᾿ ὡς πατέρα καί δημιουργόν οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννηθέντες καί γεγονότες γνωρίζωμεν καί σεβώμεθα τόν Θεόν. Τοίνυν καί εἰ