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in a super-essential monad made three; one must say the same is three in persons and one in the unity of essence or nature.

For thus also the only-begotten Son of the Father Himself made clear to all of us His being in all things of equal honor and of one essence and enthroned together with the consubstantial Father and Spirit, saying thus: "I and the Father are one." And again elsewhere, concerning the Spirit, declaring that it is unchangeably from that essence, he says thus: "The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father." For as a river of water proceeds from an eye, that is, a spring of water, so the Spirit proceeds as God from God the Father, wherefore he also says: "God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." If, then, the Father is spirit, the Son begotten of him is also evidently spirit; and Paul, declaring this, said: "But the Lord is the Spirit." For even if he took on flesh, yet by deifying it he made it spiritual. The Holy Spirit is Spirit, because it proceeds from the Father and is given through the Son to us, the unworthy, not as being sent or distributed unwillingly, but as fulfilling through one of the Trinity, the Son himself, the things pleasing to the Father as its own will. For the Holy Trinity is undivided in nature and in essence and in will, but in hypostases it is named personally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, being one God in these, and its name is Trinity, who, being above every name that is named and word and utterance, is also beyond and falls outside the grasp of all thought, being nothing.

But understand from this how the holy Scripture says the three are one. (44) For it is good to take up the same things again in the same words and to speak, since to delight in such things always produces pleasure for the one who knows how to delight piously in such things, and the divine word sanctifies the senses of his soul. "God is Spirit," he says, and this is also the Son, as has been said. If, therefore, "God is spirit" and "the Lord is the spirit" and the Lord is called spirit by the divine Scripture, God is one spirit known in three persons or hypostases (as the Son declared this, saying "one"), co-equal in power, enthroned together, of the same kind, of one essence. These things are said thus, one spirit, for this reason: that you might not suppose any inequality of pre-eminence or subordination in the three persons of the Trinity, nor indeed any separation at all in them in any way whatsoever; for they were not said for this reason, but so that you might be taught the persons, that is, the hypostases themselves, by the names alone. Having learned these things thus and having been thus well initiated into the mysteries concerning God, do not inquire further, being overly curious, but having received these things by faith alone, stand at this point, being fully assured and confessing that the things beyond this are in every way incomprehensible.

But that you may also know the properties of the divine nature, how God and the things concerning God and the things from God and the things in God are all one light, worshiped in each of the hypostases and seen in all of his properties and gifts, we will also initiate you into these mysteries thus. "God is light" and light infinite and incomprehensible; for the things concerning him are light, being both united and divided in the persons indivisibly; and so that I may speak to you of the indivisible things dividing them one by one: the Father is light, the Son is light, the Holy Spirit is light; these are one simple, (45) uncompounded, timeless, co-eternal, co-equal in honor and co-equal in glory light. In addition to these, all the things from him are light, as being bestowed upon us from light: life is light, immortality is light, the fount of life is light, the living water is light, love, peace, truth, the door of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven itself is light; the bridal chamber is light, the inner room, paradise, the delight of paradise, the land of the meek, the crowns of life, the very garments of the saints are light; Christ Jesus, the savior and king of all, is light; the bread of his immaculate flesh is light, the cup

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ὑπερουσίῳ ἑνάδι τρισσούμενον· τόν αὐτόν τρία τοῖς προσώποις καί ἕν τῇ ἑνότητι τῆς οὐσίας εἴτε φύσεως χρή λέγειν.

Οὕτω γάρ καί ὁ μονογενής αὐτός Υἱός τοῦ Πατρός τό κατά πάντα ὁμότιμον καί ὁμοούσιον καί ὁμόθρονον ἑαυτοῦ μεθ᾿ ἅμα τῶν ὁμοουσίων Πατρός καί Πνεύματος πᾶσιν ἡμῖν διετράνωσεν οὕτως εἰπών· "Ἐγώ καί ὁ Πατήρ ἕν ἐσμεν". Καί πάλιν ἑτέρωθι περί τοῦ Πνεύματος, τό ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας ἐκείνης ἀπαραλλάκτως εἶναι δηλῶν, οὕτω φησί· "Τό Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὅ παρά τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται". Ὡς γάρ ἐξ ὀφθαλμοῦ, ἤτοι πηγῆς ὕδατος, ὕδωρ ὁ ποταμός ἐκπορεύεται, οὕτως ἐκ Θεοῦ τοῦ Πατρός Θεός ἐκπορεύεται τό Πνεῦμα, διό καί φησι· "Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός καί τούς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν ἐν πνεύματι καί ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν". Εἰ οὖν ὁ Πατήρ πνεῦμά ἐστι, καί ὁ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννηθείς Υἱός πνεῦμα δηλονότι ἐστί· καί τοῦτο δηλῶν ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγε· "Τό δέ πνεῦμα ὁ Κύριος ἐστιν". Εἰ γάρ καί σάρκα ἀνέλαβεν, ἀλλά καί ταύτην θεώσας πνευματικήν ἀπειργάσατο. Πνεῦμα τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται καί διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ δίδοται τοῖς ἀναξίοις ἡμῖν, οὐχ ὡς μή θέλον πεμπόμενον ἤ διανεμόμενον, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς δι᾿ ἑνός τῆς Τριάδος, αὐτοῦ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τά τῷ Πατρί δοκοῦντα ὡς οἰκεῖα θελήματα ἐκπληροῦν. Τῇ γάρ φύσει καί τῇ οὐσίᾳ καί τῇ θελήσει ἀμέριστος ἡ Ἁγία Τριάς, ταῖς δέ ὑποστάσεσι προσωπικῶς ὀνομάζεται Πατήρ, Υἱός καί Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, εἷς ὤν ταῦτα Θεός, ὄνομα δέ αὐτοῦ Τριάς, ὅς ὑπεράνω παντός ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου καί λόγου καί ῥήματος ὤν ὑπέρκειται καί πάσης διανοίας κατάληψιν ὑπερεκπίπτει, μηδέν ὤν.

Ἀλλά σύνες ἐντεῦθεν πῶς ἕν τά τρία ἡ ἁγία λέγει Γραφή. (44) Καλόν γάρ πάλιν τά αὐτά ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀναλαβεῖν καί εἰπεῖν, ἐπειδή καί τό ἐντρυφᾶν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἀεί ἡδονήν ἐμποιεῖ τῷ τά τοιαῦτα θεοπρεπῶς εἰδότι τρυφᾶν καί τάς ψυχικάς αἰσθήσεις αὐτοῦ ὁ λόγος θεῖος καθαγιάζει. "Πνεῦμα" φησίν "ὁ Θεός", τοῦτο δέ καί ὁ Υἱός, ὥσπερ εἴρηται. Εἰ οὖν "ὁ Θεός πνεῦμά ἐστι" καί τό "πνεῦμα ὁ Κύριος" καί ὁ Κύριος πνεῦμα παρά τῆς θείας καλεῖται Γραφῆς, ἕν πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἐν τρισί προσώποις εἴτ᾿ οὖν ὑποστάσεσι γνωριζόμενον ὁ Θεός ( καθώς ἔφη τοῦτο παραδηλῶν ὁ Υἱός "ἕν"), ἰσοδύναμον, ὁμόθρονον, ὁμοφυές, ὁμοούσιον. Ταῦτα διά τοῦτο οὕτως εἴρηται πνεῦμα ἕν, ἵνα μηδεμίαν ἀνισότητα ὑπεροχῆς ἤ ὑφέσεως ὑπολάβῃς ἐν τοῖς τρισί τῆς Τριάδος προσώποις, μήτε μήν ὅλως καθ᾿ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον ἐν αὐτοῖς χωρισμόν· οὐ γάρ διά τοῦτο, ἀλλ᾿ ὅπως διά μόνων τῶν ὀνομάτων τά πρόσωπα, αὐτάς δή τάς ὑποστάσεις, ἐκδιδαχθῇς, εἴρηνται. Οὕτω ταῦτα μαθών καί οὕτω καλῶς τά περί Θεοῦ μυσταγωγηθείς, μηδέν περαιτέρω πολυπραγμονῶν ἐκζητήσῃς, πίστει δέ μόνῃ ταῦτα παραδεξάμενος μέχρι τούτου στῆθι, ἀκατάληπτα πάντῃ τά ὑπέρ ταῦτα καί πληροφορούμενος καί ὁμολογῶν.

Ἵνα δέ εἰδῆς καί τά τῆς θείας φύσεως ἴδια, πῶς ὁ Θεός καί τά περί Θεόν καί τά ἀπό Θεοῦ καί τά ἐν τῷ Θεῷ πάντα ἕν φῶς ἐστιν, ἐν ἑκάστῃ τῶν ὑποστάσεων προσκυνούμενον καί ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἰδιώμασιν αὐτοῦ καί χαρίσμασι καθορώμενον, καί οὕτω σε ταῦτα μυσταγωγήσομεν. "Ὁ Θεός φῶς ἐστί" καί φῶς ἄπειρόν τε καί ἀκατάληπτον· τά γάρ περί αὐτόν φῶς εἰσιν ἑνούμενά τε καί διαιρούμενα τοῖς προσώποις ἀδιαιρέτως καί ἵνα καθ᾿ ἕν σοι τά ἀδιαίρεται διαιρῶν εἴπω ὁ Πατήρ φῶς ἐστιν, ὁ Υἱός φῶς ἐστι, τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον φῶς· ἕν ταῦτα φῶς ἁπλοῦν, (45) ἀσύνθετον, ἄχρονον, συναΐδιον, ὁμότιμον καί ὁμόδοξον. Πρός τούτοις καί τά ἐξ αὐτοῦ πάντα φῶς εἰσιν ὡς ἐκ φωτός ἡμῖν χορηγούμενα· ἡ ζωή φῶς, ἡ ἀθανασία φῶς, ἡ πηγή τῆς ζωῆς φῶς, τό ὕδωρ τό ζῶν φῶς, ἡ ἀγάπη, ἡ εἰρήνη, ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἡ θύρα τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, αὐτή φῶς ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν· ὁ νυμφών φῶς, ἡ παστάς, ὁ παράδεισος, ἡ τοῦ παραδείσου τρυφή, ἡ γῆ τῶν πραέων, οἱ στέφανοι τῆς ζωῆς, αὐτά τά τῶν ἁγίων ἐνδύματα φῶς· ὁ Χριστός ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ὁ σωτήρ καί βασιλεύς τοῦ παντός, φῶς· ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ἀχράντου σαρκός αὐτοῦ φῶς, τό ποτήριον