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We cease, therefore, to seek concerning the unknown. But again, God is all-intelligible, being understood from His bounteous providences, what He is, and from His creations; from the former, that He is Savior, from the latter, that He is Creator. And He calls existence "position," as from the very existence which is of all things. And the philosophers also call "position" the forms imposed on matter, and "subtraction" when the qualities are removed from the forms, for example, the heavy of earth, the wet of water. Therefore God, who also transforms these things, is the position and subtraction of all things; position of all things, as having posited and made all things and prepared them to be established; for in Him all things consist; and He is the subtraction of all things, as also reshaping and refashioning the very position of beings and their creation, and removing from the things posited that which is according to nature; for if it is acknowledged that things are in generation, they are in every way also subject to decay; but He, by the richness of His goodness, has removed even the corruptible from some, such as angels and souls, and from others He transfers the corruptible to incorruption and the mortal to immortality, as our bodies in the resurrection; it is clear that He, being these things 14S_066 for us, He is also beyond position and subtraction, being the foundation and root of all things, not locally, but according to cause; nor is He subtraction, of those things which He Himself has; for He Himself has immortality itself. For He has the immortal and the incomprehensible and the unknown and such things, not as not being the opposite, but according to a certain property ineffable and inconceivable to all; for He is set apart from all things, as removed from beings, and understood or comprehended by none of those in creation, as having seized Himself through infinity; for there is no limit of Him. But note the being in one another, according to a certain abiding and establishment, of the divine hypostases, as in: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me"; thus also the Apostle speaks concerning the Holy Spirit.

Just as lights of lamps: The whole mind of the father has this manner. He gave an example concerning the Holy Trinity, as of three lamps, he says, or candles lit in some temple or house, distinguished in their hypostases, that is, separated from one another; for each is individually one lamp and another lamp, but in the light they have a united and inseparable communion of nature and of energy; and no one is able in the house in its air to distinguish and say which is the light of this lamp, and which of the other. Having said these things, he proceeds then from the Trinitarian to the discourse of the economy and the glorious procession of God the Word from the Father according to His own voice which declares, that, "I came forth from my Father, and I go to my Father," he clarifies as he says: But, if someone should take one of the torches out of the room, 14S_068 all its own light will also come out with it, drawing with it none of the brilliance of the other lights, nor leaving its own to the others. For the Son, having come from the Father and sojourned in the world, neither gathered the Father and the Spirit with Himself, nor indeed, having gone forth from His own, did He leave them to those, but made His departure undivided from His own abiding.

Where indeed also the super-essential: The unions of bodies, both those considered elementally and those mixed in some other way, have variation in their powers and qualities, and the union of these produces something other than the nature of the simple things; likewise also psychic powers have the heterogeneous according to their different motion; and indeed also the unities of the angels towards the divine illuminations have that which is partial and analogous to their own orders, but the divinity in the Holy Trinity and whatever pertains to it, being interrupted by none of the aforesaid things nor differing from itself, is rightly glorified as being beyond these unions.

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ἀφιστάμεθα λοιπόν τοῦ περί ἀγνώστου ζητεῖν. Παννόητος δέ πάλιν ὁ Θεός, ἐκ τῶν φιλοδώρων προνοιῶν νοούμενος, ὅ,τι ἐστί, καί ἐκ τῶν δημιουργημάτων· ἐκ τῶν μέν, ὅτι σωτήρ ἐστιν, ἐκ τῶν δέ, ὅτι δημιουργός. Καί θέσιν μέν τήν ὕπαρξίν φησιν, ὡς ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς πάντων οὔσης ὑπάρξεως. Λέγουσι δέ καί οἱ φιλόσοφοι 'θέσιν' τά ἐπιτιθέμενα εἴδη τῇ ὕλη, 'ἀφαίρεσιν' δέ, ὅταν αἱ ποιότητες ἀφαιρεθῶσι τῶν εἰδῶν, οἷον γῆς τό βαρύ, ὕδατος τό ὑγρόν. Ὁ οὖν Θεός, ὁ καί ταῦτα μετασχηματίζων, ἡ πάντων θέσις καί ἀφαίρεσίς ἐστι· θέσις μέν πάντων, ὡς τά πάντα θείς καί ποιήσας καί ἱδρῦσθαι παρασκευάζων· ἐν αὐτῷ γάρ τά ἅπαντα συνέστηκεν· ἀφαίρεσις δέ πάντων ἐστίν, ὡς καί τήν θέσιν αὐτήν τῶν ὄντων καί τήν ποίησιν μεταρρυθμίζων καί μετασκευάζων καί ἀφαιρῶν ἐκ τῶν τεθειμένων τά κατά φύσιν· εἰ γάρ ὁμολογεῖται τά ἐν γενέσει, πάντως καί φθείρεσθαι· αὐτός δέ πλούτῳ ἀγαθότητος τῶν μέν ἀνεῖλε καί τό φθαρτόν, ὡς ἀγγέλων καί ψυχῶν, τῶν δέ τό φθαρτόν εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν καί τό θνητόν εἰς ἀθανασίαν μετάγει, ὡς τά σώματα ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει· δῆλον ὡς αὐτός ταῦτα 14S_066 ἡμῖν ὑπάρχων, αὐτός καί ὑπέρ θέσιν ἐστί καί ἀφαίρεσιν, καί θεμέλιος καί ρίζα πάντων ὤν, οὐ τοπικῶς, ἀλλά κατά τό αἴτιον· οὔτε ἀφαίρεσις αὐτός ὤν, ὧν αὐτός ἔχει· αὐτό γάρ ἀθάνατον αὐτός ἔχει. Τό γάρ ἀθάνατον καί ἀκατάληπτον καί ἄγνωστον καί ὅσα τοιαῦτα ἔχει, οὐχ ὡς μή ὤν τό ἐναντίον, ἀλλά κατά ἰδιότητά τινα πᾶσιν ἄρρητον καί ἀνεπινόητον· ἐξῄρηται γάρ τῶν ἁπάντων, ὡς ἀφῃρημένος τῶν ὄντων, καί ὑπ' οὐδενός νοούμενος τῶν ἐν δημιουργίᾳ ἤ καταλαμβανόμενος, ὡς αὐτός ἑαυτόν ἁρπάσας διά τῆς ἀπειρίας· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ πέρας. Σημείωσαι δέ τό ἐν ἀλλήλαις εἶναι, κατά τινα μονήν καί ἵδρυσιν τάς θείας ὑποστάσεις, ὡς τό· «Ἐγώ ἐν τῷ Πατρί, καί ὁ Πατήρ ἐν ἐμοί»· οὕτω καί περί τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγει.

Καθάπερ φῶτα λαμπτήρων: Ὅλος ὁ νοῦς τοῦ πατρός τοῦτον ἔχει τόν τρόπον. Παράδειγμα εἶπεν ἐπί τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, ὥσπερ τριῶν τινων λύχνων, φησίν, ἤ κηρῶν ἡμμένων ἔν τινι ναῷ ἤ οἴκῳ, ταῖς μέν ὑποστάσεσι διακεκριμένων, ἤγουν κεχωρισμένων ἀλλήλων· ἄλλος γάρ καί ἄλλος λύχνος ἐστίν ἰδικῶς ὁ καθείς, τῷ δέ φωτί ἡνωμένην ἔχουσι καί ἀχώριστον τήν κοινωνίαν τῆς φύσεως καί τῆς ἐνεργείας· καί οὐδείς δύναται ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι αὐτοῦ διακρῖναι καί εἰπεῖν, ποῖον μέν ἐστι φῶς τοῦδε τοῦ λύχνου, ποῖον δέ τοῦ ἑτέρου. Ταῦτα εἰπών, μετέρχεται λοιπόν ἐκ τοῦ τριαδικοῦ εἰς τόν τῆς οἰκονομίας λόγον καί τήν ἔνδοξον ἔξοδον τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τήν ἐκ Πατρός κατά τήν αὐτοῦ φωνήν τήν φάσκουσαν, ὅτι, «ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός μου ἐγώ ἐξῆλθον, καί πρός τόν Πατέρα μου ὑπάγω», σαφηνίζει καθά φησιν· Ἀλλ', εἰ καί τόν ἕνα τις τῶν πυρσῶν ὑπεξάγοι τοῦ δωματίου, 14S_068 συνεξελεύσεται καί τό οἰκεῖον ἅπαν φῶς, οὐδέν τῆς τῶν ἑτέρων φώτων ἐν ἑαυτῷ συνεπισπώμενον λαμπηδόνος, ἤ τό ἑαυτοῦ τοῖς ἑτέροις καταλεῖπον. Ἐλθών γάρ ὁ Υἱός ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός καί ἐπιδημήσας ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ οὐδέ τόν Πατέρα καί τό Πνεῦμα συνήγαγεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὐδέ μήν τῶν οἰκείων ἐξελθών ἐκείνοις κατέλιπεν, ἀλλ' ἀδιαίρετον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μονῆς ἐποιήσατο τήν ἔξοδον.

Ὅπου γε καί τήν ὑπερούσιον: Αἱ τῶν σωμάτων ἑνώσεις, τῶν τε στοιχειωδῶς θεωρουμένων καί τῶν ἄλλως πως μιγνυμένων, δυνάμεσι καί ποιότησι τό παρηλλαγμένον ἔχουσι, καί ἕτερόν τι παρά τήν τῶν ἁπλῶν φύσιν ἡ τούτων ἕνωσις ἀποτελεῖ· ὡσαύτως καί ψυχικαί δυνάμεις τό ἑτεροειδές κατά τήν κίνησιν διάφορον ἔχουσι· καί μήν καί αἱ τῶν ἀγγέλων πρός τάς θείας ἐλλάμψεις ἑνότητες τό ἀνά μέρος καί ἀνάλογον ταῖς οἰκείαις τάξεσιν ἔχουσιν, ἡ δέ ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ Τριάδι θεότης καί ὅσα ταύτης, οὐδενί τῶν εἰρημένων διακοπτομένη ἤ ἑαυτῆς διαφέρουσα, εἰκότως ὑπέρ ταύτας τάς ἑνώσεις εἶναι δοξάζεται.