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whatsoever and is good; for in those in whom you will dwell, they possess essentially in themselves all that is good".
Therefore, it is not as if we are dividing the indivisible nature of the total unity that we offer the hymn to three gods and not to one, but as venerating the Son and the Spirit in the Father, and the Spirit and the Father in the Son, and the Father and the Son in the Spirit; which we also glorify as one nature of one tri-hypostatic divinity, consubstantial, co-powerful, self-powerful, all-powerful, self-willing, co-eternal, co-unoriginate, super-essential, unconfused and undivided. For we do not think one and another and another of a different and a different nature, dividing the indivisible unity and divinity, inclining unwisely toward degenerate alienations, but we have known these as one God, divided without division in the hypostases and united without confusion (43) in the unity of the one substance, being wholly united in the hypostases and wholly threefold in the super-essential unity; the same being three in persons and one in the unity of substance, or nature, as one should say.
For so also the only-begotten Son of the Father himself made clear to all of us his own sameness in honor, in substance, and on the throne, together with the consubstantial Father and Spirit, by saying thus: "I and the Father are one." And again elsewhere concerning the Spirit, declaring that it is unalterably from that substance, he says thus: "The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father." For just as from an eye, that is, a spring of water, the water of the river proceeds, so from God the Father, God the Spirit proceeds, which is why he also says: "God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." If, therefore, the Father is spirit, then the Son born of him is clearly also spirit; and indicating this Paul said: "Now the Lord is the Spirit." For even if he took on flesh, he deified it and made it spiritual. The Holy Spirit is Spirit, because it proceeds from the Father and is given through the Son to us who are unworthy, not as being sent or distributed unwillingly, but as through one of the Trinity, the Son himself, fulfilling the things that seem good to the Father as its own will. For the Holy Trinity is indivisible in nature, in substance, and in will, but in the hypostases it is personally named Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these being one God, and its name is Trinity, which is above every name that is named and word and utterance, and surpasses the comprehension 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 and say the same things in the same way again, since delighting in such things always brings pleasure to one who knows how to delight in such things in a manner befitting God, and the divine word sanctifies his soul's senses. "God," it says, "is Spirit," 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 said, indicating this, "one"), of equal power, sharing the same throne, of the same nature, consubstantial. These things are said to be one spirit for this reason: that you might not suppose any inequality of superiority or inferiority in the three persons of the Trinity, nor indeed any separation at all in them in any way; for they are 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 initiated well into the things concerning God, do not seek out anything further with meddlesome curiosity, but having received these things by faith alone, stand firm up to this point, being fully assured and confessing that the things beyond this are in every way incomprehensible.
And that you may 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, in each of the hypostases
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ὁτιοῦν καί ἔστιν ἀγαθόν· ἐν οἷς γάρ ἐγκατοικήσεις, ἔχουσιν οὐσιωδῶς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τό πᾶν ἀγαθόν".
Τοιγαροῦν καί οὐχ ὡς διαιροῦντες τό ἄτμητον τῆς ὁλικῆς ἑνάδος, τρισί θεοῖς καί οὐχ ἑνί τόν ὕμνον προσφέρομεν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἐν τῷ Πατρί τόν Υἱόν καί τό Πνεῦμα, ἐν δέ τῷ Υἱῷ τό Πνεῦμα καί τόν Πατέρα, ἐν δέ τῷ Πνεύματι τόν Πατέρα προσκυνοῦντες καί τόν Υἱόν· ἅ καί μίαν φύσιν δοξάζομεν μιᾶς τρισυποτάτου θεότητος, ὁμοούσιον, ὁμοδύναμον, αὐτοδύναμον, παντοδύναμον, αὐτοθέλητον, συναΐδιον, συνάναρχον, ὑπερούσιον, ἀσύγχυτόν τε καί ἀδιαίρετον. Οὐ γάρ ἄλλο καί ἄλλο καί ἄλλο ἑτέρας καί ἑτέρας φύσεως, τήν μή τεμνομένην ἑνάδα τε καί θεότητα διαιροῦντες, φρονοῦμεν, εἰς ἐκφύλους ἀλλοτριότητας ἀσυνέτως ἐκκλίνοντες, ἀλλ᾿ ἕνα ταῦτα Θεόν ἀδιαιρέτως ταῖς ὑποστάσεσι διαιρούμενον καί ἀσυγχύτως (43) τῇ ἑνότητι τῆς μιᾶς οὐσίας ἑνούμενον ἔγνωμεν, ὅλον ἐν ταῖς ὑποστάσεσιν ἑνιζόμενον καί ὅλον ἐν τῇ 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