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transferring them to God, so as to be able to say: Lord, before you is all my desire; and, I have not desired the day of man. For it is necessary to become a man of the desires of the Spirit. Thus for us even the dragon who bears the greatest part of his strength upon his navel and his loins would be destroyed, his power concerning these things having been put to death. But do not be amazed if upon our uncomely parts, I bestow more abundant honor, by word putting these things to death and making them sober, and standing against matter. Let us give all the members upon the earth to God, let us consecrate all. Not the lobe of the liver, nor the kidneys with the fat, nor a part of the body, nor this or that. For why must the other parts be dishonored by us? But let us offer up our whole 36.417 selves; let us become rational whole burnt offerings, perfect sacrifices; let us not make a priestly offering of the arm only, nor of the breast only (for this is a small thing); but giving our whole selves, let us receive our whole selves in return; since this is to receive purely, to be given to God, and to minister our own salvation.

41. Above all, and before all, guard for me the good deposit, by which I live and conduct my life, which I would take as my companion in departure, with which I bear all painful things, and spit upon all pleasant things, the confession into the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. This I entrust to you today; in this I will baptize you with and lead you up with. This I give you as a partner and protector for your whole life, the one Godhead and power found uniquely in the three, and comprehending the three distinctly; neither unequal in substances or natures, nor increasing or decreasing by additions and subtractions, from all sides equal, from all sides the same, as the one beauty and greatness of heaven; an infinite conjunction of three infinites, each one considered God in himself, as Father and Son, as Son and the Holy Spirit, the individuality of each being preserved. The three considered together are God, the former because of the consubstantiality, the latter because of the monarchy. I do not manage to think of the One, and I am illumined by the three; I do not manage to distinguish the three, and I am brought back to the One. When I imagine one of the three, I think this to be the whole, and my sight is filled, and the greater part has escaped me. I am not able to grasp the greatness of this, so that I might give the greater part to what is left. When I combine the three in contemplation, I see one torch, not able to divide or measure the united light.

42. Do you fear generation, lest God suffer anything, He who does not suffer? I fear creation, lest I lose God through insolence and unjust division, either cutting the Son from the Father, or the substance of the Spirit from the Son. For the strange thing is, that not only is creation introduced to God by those who wrongly weigh the Godhead, but also creation itself in turn is divided against itself. 36.420 Just as the Son is ranked below the Father among the lowly and things set below, so in turn the dignity of the Spirit is ranked below the Son; so that both God and creation are insulted by this new theology. Nothing of the Trinity, O you people, is servile, nor created, nor brought in from outside, I have heard one of the wise men say. If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ, says the divine apostle. If I still worshipped a creature, or was baptized into a creature, I would not be deified, nor would I be transformed into the first birth. What shall I say to those who worship Astarte, or Chemosh the abomination of the Sidonians, or the type of the star, God being little above these to idolaters, except a creature and a thing made; myself, either not worshipping the two into whom I was baptized together, or worshipping fellow servants? For they are fellow servants, even if a little more honored; since even among fellow servants there is some difference and preference.

43. I want to say the Father is greater, from whom is also being equal for the equals, and being itself. For this will be granted by all. And I fear the principle, lest I make him the principle of inferiors, and dishonor him through the preference; for it is not a glory to the one from whom

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πρὸς Θεὸν μεταφέροντες, ὥστε δύνασθαι λέγειν· Κύριε, ἐναντίον σου πᾶσα ἡ ἐπιθυμία μου· καὶ, Ἡμέραν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἐπ εθύμησα. ∆εῖ γὰρ γενέσθαι ἄνδρα ἐπιθυμιῶν τῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος. Οὕτως ἂν ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς ἰσχύος ἐπὶ τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ καὶ τῆς ὀσφύος φέρων δράκων καταλυθείη, τῆς περὶ ταῦτα δυναστείας αὐτῷ νεκρωθείσης. Μὴ θαυμάσῃς δὲ, εἰ καὶ τοῖς ἀσχήμοσιν ἡμῶν, τιμὴν περισσοτέραν τίθημι, λόγῳ νεκρῶν ταῦτα καὶ σωφρονίζων, καὶ κατὰ τῆς ὕλης ἱστάμενος. Πάντα δῶμεν Θεῷ τὰ μέλη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πάντα καθιερώσωμεν. Μὴ λοβὸν ἥπατος, μηδὲ νεφροὺς μετὰ τῆς πιμελῆς, μηδὲ τὸ μέρος τοῦ σώματος, μηδὲ τὸ καὶ τό. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ τὰ ἄλλα ἡμῖν ἀτιμαστέα; Ὅλους δὲ 36.417 ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀνενέγκωμεν· γενώμεθα ὁλοκαυτώματα λογικὰ, θύματα τέλεια· μηδὲ τὸν βραχίονα μόνον, μηδὲ τὸ στηθύνιον μόνον, ἀφαίρεμα ἱερατικὸν ποιώμεθα (μικρὸν γὰρ τοῦτο)· ἀλλ' ὅλους δι δόντες ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς, ὅλους ἀντιλαμβάνωμεν· ἐπειδὴ τοῦτό ἐστι λαβεῖν καθαρῶς, τὸ τῷ Θεῷ δοθῆναι, καὶ ἱερουργῆσαι τὴν ἡμῶν αὐτῶν σωτηρίαν.

ΜΑʹ. Ἐπὶ πᾶσι, καὶ πρὸ πάντων, φύλασσέ μοι τὴν καλὴν παρακαταθήκην, ᾗ ζῶ καὶ πολιτεύομαι, ἣν καὶ συνέκδημον λάβοιμι, μεθ' ἧς καὶ ἀλγεινὰ πάντα φέρω, καὶ τερπνὸν ἅπαν διαπτύω, τὴν εἰς Πατέρα, καὶ Υἱὸν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ὁμολογίαν. Ταύτην πιστεύω σοι σήμερον· ταύτῃ καὶ συμβαπτίσω καὶ συνανάξω σε. Ταύτην δίδωμι παντὸς τοῦ βίου κοινωνὸν καὶ προστάτιν, τὴν μίαν θεότητά τε καὶ δύναμιν ἐν τοῖς τρισὶν εὑρισκομένην ἑνικῶς, καὶ τὰ τρία συλλαμβάνουσαν μεριστῶς· οὔτε ἀν ώμαλον οὐσίαις ἢ φύσεσιν, οὔτε αὐξομένην, ἢ μειουμένην ὑπερβολαῖς καὶ ὑφέσεσι, πάντοθεν ἴσην, τὴν αὐτὴν πάντοθεν, ὡς ἓν οὐρανοῦ κάλλος καὶ μέγε θος· τριῶν ἀπείρων ἄπειρον συμφυΐαν, Θεὸν ἕκαστον καθ' ἑαυτὸ θεωρούμενον, ὡς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν, ὡς Υἱὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, φυλασσομένης ἑκάστῳ τῆς ἰδιότητος. Θεὸν τὰ τρία σὺν ἀλλήλοις νοούμενα, ἐκεῖνο διὰ τὴν ὁμοουσιότητα, τοῦτο διὰ τὴν μοναρ χίαν. Οὐ φθάνω τὸ ἓν νοῆσαι, καὶ τοῖς τρισὶ περι λάμπομαι· οὐ φθάνω τὰ τρία διελεῖν, καὶ εἰς τὸ ἓν ἀναφέρομαι. Ὅταν ἕν τι τῶν τριῶν φαντασθῶ, τοῦτο νομίζω τὸ πᾶν, καὶ τὴν ὄψιν πεπλήρωμαι, καὶ τὸ πλεῖον διέφυγεν. Οὐκ ἔχω τὸ μέγεθος τούτου καταλαβεῖν, ἵνα δῶ τὸ πλεῖον τῷ λειπομένῳ. Ὅταν τὰ τρία συνέλω τῇ θεωρίᾳ, μίαν ὁρῶ λαμ πάδα, οὐκ ἔχων διελεῖν ἢ μετρῆσαι τὸ φῶς ἑνιζόμενον.

ΜΒʹ. Φοβῇ σὺ γέννησιν, ἵνα μή τι πάθῃ Θεὸς, ὁ μὴ πάσχων; Ἐγὼ φοβοῦμαι τὴν κτίσιν, ἵνα μὴ Θεὸν ἀπολέσω διὰ τῆς ὕβρεως, καὶ τῆς ἀδίκου κατατομῆς, ἢ τὸν Υἱὸν τέμνων ἀπὸ τοῦ Πα τρὸς, ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Πνεύμα τος. Τὸ γὰρ παράδοξον, ὅτι μὴ κτίσις ἐπάγεται μόνον Θεῷ παρὰ τοῖς κακῶς θεότητα ταλαντεύου σιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴ πάλιν ἡ κτίσις εἰς ἑαυτὴν τέμνε 36.420 ται. Ὥσπερ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑποστέλλεται ὁ Υἱὸς τοῖς ταπεινοῖς καὶ κάτω κειμένοις, οὕτως ὑποστελ λομένης πάλιν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τῆς ἀξίας τοῦ Πνεύματος· ὡς ἂν καὶ Θεὸς, καὶ κτίσις ὑβρίζηται τῇ καινῇ ταύτῃ θεολογίᾳ. Οὐδὲν τῆς Τριάδος, ὦ οὗτοι, δοῦλον, οὐδὲ κτιστὸν, οὐδὲ ἐπείσακτον, ἤκουσα τῶν σοφῶν τινος λέγοντος. Εἰ ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον, Χριστοῦ δοῦλος οὐκ ἂν ἤμην, φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος. Εἰ ἔτι κτίσματι προσεκύνουν, ἢ εἰς κτίσμα ἐβαπτιζόμην, οὐκ ἂν ἐθεούμην, οὐδὲ τὴν πρώτην μετεποιούμην γέννησιν. Τί φήσω πρὸς τοὺς τὴν Ἀστάρτην προσκυνοῦντας, ἢ τὸ Χαμὼς βδέλυγμα Σιδωνίων, ἢ τοῦ ἄστρου τὸν τύπον, τοῦ μικρὸν ὑπὲρ ταῦτα Θεοῦ τοῖς εἰδωλολά τραις, πλὴν κτίσματος καὶ ποιήματος· αὐτὸς, ἢ μὴ προσκυνῶν τὰ δύο, εἰς ἃ συμβεβάπτισμαι, ἢ προσκυ νῶν τὰ ὁμόδουλα; Ὁμόδουλα γὰρ, καὶ εἰ μι κρὸν τιμιώτερα· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν ὁμοδούλοις ἐστί τις δια φορὰ καὶ προτίμησις.

ΜΓʹ. Θέλω τὸν Πατέρα μείζω εἰπεῖν, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ ἴσοις εἶναι, τοῖς ἴσοις ἐστὶ, καὶ τὸ εἶναι. Τοῦτο γὰρ παρὰ πάντων δοθήσεται. Καὶ δέδοικα τὴν ἀρχὴν, μὴ ἐλαττόνων ἀρχὴν ποιήσω, καὶ καθυβρίσω διὰ τῆς προτιμήσεως· οὐ γὰρ δόξα τῷ ἐξ