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so that the three things occurred together: its assumption, existence, and deification by the Word, and thus the holy virgin is to be understood and called Theotokos, not only because of the nature of the Word, but also because of the deification of the human, whose conception and existence were simultaneously miraculously wrought: the conception of the Word, and the existence of the flesh in the Word Himself, through the God-bearer herself supernaturally providing for the Creator to be formed and for God and the Maker of all to become human, deifying what was assumed, while the union preserved the things united as they were united; I do not mean only the divine, but also the human aspect of Christ, that which is above us and according to us. For it was not that what was first according to us later became above us, but from its first existence it was always both, because from the very moment of conception it had its existence in the Word Himself. Therefore, it is human according to its own nature, but of God and divine supernaturally.” 84 “And we proclaim the holy virgin to be properly and truly Theotokos; for as He who was born of her is true God, so she who bore God incarnate of herself is a true Theotokos. But we say that God was born of her not as having received from her the eternal existence of the Godhead, but as having been unchangeably incarnated from her and become human and been born,” one Christ, one Son, one Lord, one hypostasis, the same one being God and man, not introducing another person into the Trinity. 85 “Hence also we define the addition to the Trisagion as blasphemous, as inserting a fourth person into the Trinity and positing in part the hypostatic power of God and in part the one crucified as being other than the Mighty One, or as glorifying the Holy Trinity as passible and crucifying the Father and the Holy Spirit with the Son” or as demonstrating the Holy and immortal Spirit to be passible. For this Trisagion hymn was of old mystically taught by the Holy Spirit through his ministering spirits, the Seraphim, to the God-seer Isaiah, mystically showing the three hypostases of the Godhead and the one lordship and nature. For Isaiah himself said he had seen God the Father, but John the Theologian said the Son was revealed to him, and Paul the divine apostle, the Holy Spirit. Hence the whole company of the holy fathers has understood this Trisagion hymn as referring to the Holy Trinity. “Thus Gregory the Theologian says: ‘So therefore the holy of holies, which is also veiled by the Seraphim and glorified with three hallowed praises, comes together into one lordship and godhead; a thing which has also been most beautifully and loftily contemplated by another before our time.’” 86 But from a certain divine revelation, the historical books relate that in the time of Proclus, president of Constantinople, when the people there were in a procession because of some divinely sent threat, a child was snatched from the people and was thus taught the hymn by a certain angelic instruction: ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us,’ and was commanded to sing it. And the swift outcome confirmed the revelation; for as soon as they sang, the wrath ceased. And we say this is the meaning of the hymn: ‘Holy God’ the Father, from whom the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God; ‘Holy Mighty’ the Son, the wisdom and power of the Father; ‘Holy Immortal’ the Holy Spirit; for ‘it is the Spirit that gives life,’ and ‘the law of the Spirit of life,’ and the God-inspired David: ‘My soul has thirsted for the mighty, the living God.’ But we say these things not limiting the Godhead to the Father alone, nor the power to the Son alone, nor the immortality to the Spirit alone, ‘but taking all the divine names for each of the hypostases simply and unitarily and imitating the divine apostle

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ὡς ὁμοῦ γενέσθαι τὰ τρία· τὴν πρόσλη ψιν, τὴν ὕπαρξιν καὶ τὴν θέωσιν αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, καὶ οὕτω νοεῖσθαι καὶ λέγεσθαι θεοτόκον τὴν ἁγίαν παρθένον, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ λόγου, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν θέωσιν τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου, ὧν ἅμα ἡ σύλληψις καὶ ἡ ὕπαρξις τεθαυματούργηται· ἡ μὲν σύλληψις τοῦ λόγου, τῆς δὲ σαρκὸς ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ λόγῳ ὕπαρξις, δι' αὐτῆς τῆς θεομήτορος ὑπερφυῶς χορηγούσης τὸ πλασθῆναι τῷ πλάστῃ καὶ τὸ ἀνθρωπισθῆναι τῷ θεῷ καὶ ποιητῇ τοῦ παντὸς θεοῦντι τὸ πρόσλημμα, σῳζούσης τῆς ἑνώσεως τὰ ἑνωθέντα τοιαῦτα, οἷα καὶ ἥνωται· οὐ τὸ θεῖον λέγω μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὸ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς. Οὔτε γὰρ γενόμενον πρότερον καθ' ἡμᾶς ὕστερον γέγονεν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ἐκ πρώτης ὑπάρξεως ἄμφω ὑπῆρχε διὰ τὸ ἐξ ἄκρας συλλήψεως ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ λόγῳ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἐσχηκέναι. Ἀνθρώπινον μὲν οὖν ἐστι κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν, θεοῦ δὲ καὶ θεῖον ὑπερφυῶς.» 84 «Τὴν δὲ ἁγίαν παρθένον κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς θεοτόκον κηρύττομεν· ὡς γὰρ θεὸς ἀληθὴς ὁ ἐξ αὐτῆς γεγεννημένος, οὕτω θεοτόκος ἀληθὴς ἡ θεὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς σεσαρκωμένον κυήσασα. Θεὸν δέ φαμεν ἐξ αὐτῆς γεγεννῆσθαι οὐχ ὡς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐσχηκότα τὴν ἀΐδιον τῆς θεότητος ὕπαρξιν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀτρέπτως σαρκωθέντα καὶ γενόμενον ἄνθρωπον καὶ γεννηθέντα», ἕνα Χριστόν, ἕνα υἱόν, ἕνα κύριον, μίαν ὑπόστασιν, τὸν αὐτὸν θεόν τε καὶ ἄνθρωπον, οὐχ ἕτερον ἐν τῇ τριάδι παρεισάγοντα πρόσωπον. 85 «Ἐντεῦθεν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ τρισαγίῳ προσθήκην βλάσφημον ὁριζόμεθα ὡς τέταρτον ἐν τῇ τριάδι παρεντιθεῖσαν πρόσωπον καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος τιθεῖσαν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἐνυπόστατον δύναμιν καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον ὡς ἄλλον ὄντα παρὰ τὸν ἰσχυρὸν ἢ παθητὴν τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα δοξάζουσαν καὶ συσταυροῦσαν τῷ υἱῷ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον» ἢ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καὶ ἀθάνατον παθητὸν ἀποδεικνύουσαν. Ὁ γὰρ τρισάγιος οὗτος ὕμνος πάλαι μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου διὰ τῶν λειτουργικῶν αὐτοῦ πνευμάτων τῶν σεραφὶμ τῷ θεόπτῃ Ἡσαΐᾳ μεμυσταγώγητο τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις τῆς θεότητος μυστικῶς ἐμφαί νοντος καὶ τὴν μίαν κυριότητα καὶ φύσιν. Αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ ὁ Ἡσαΐας τὸν θεὸν καὶ πατέρα ἔφη ἑωρακέναι, ὁ θεολόγος δὲ Ἰωάννης τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῷ ἔφη ἀποκεκαλύφθαι, Παῦλος δὲ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Ἐντεῦθεν ἅπας ὁ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἑσμὸς εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα τοῦτον τὸν τρισάγιον ἐξειλήφασιν ὕμνον. «Φησὶ γοῦν ὁ θεολόγος Γρηγόριος· «Οὕτω μὲν οὖν τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, ἃ καὶ τοῖς σεραφὶμ συγκαλύπτεται καὶ δοξάζεται τρισὶν ἁγιασμοῖς, εἰς μίαν συνιοῦσι κυριότητά τε καὶ θεότητα· ὃ καὶ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν πεφιλοσόφηται κάλλιστά τε καὶ ὑψηλότατα.»» 86 Ἔκ τινος δὲ θείας ἀποκαλύψεως, αἱ ἱστορικαὶ διαγορεύουσι βίβλοι ἐπὶ Πρόκλου, προέδρου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, λιτανεύοντος τοῦ αὐτόθι λαοῦ διά τινα θεήλατον ἀπειλὴν ἀφαρπαγῆναι τοῦ λαοῦ παιδίον καὶ τὸν ὕμνον οὕτω διδαχθῆναι ὑπ' ἀγγελικῆς τινος μυσταγωγίας· «Ἅγιος ὁ θεός, ἅγιος ἰσχυρός, ἅγιος ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς», καὶ κελευσθῆναι ᾄδειν. Ἐκύρωσε δὲ τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν ἡ σύντομος ἔκβασις· ἅμα γὰρ ᾖσαν, καὶ ἐκόπασεν ἡ ὀργή. Φαμὲν δὲ ταύτην εἶναι τοῦ ὕμνου τὴν δύναμιν· «Ἅγιος ὁ θεὸς» ὁ πατήρ, ἐξ οὗ θεὸς ὁ υἱὸς καὶ θεὸς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· «ἅγιος ἰσχυρὸς» ὁ υἱός, ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς σοφία καὶ δύναμις· «ἅγιος ἀθάνατος» τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· «τὸ πνεῦμα γάρ ἐστι τὸ ζωοποιοῦν,» καὶ «ὁ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς,» καὶ ὁ θεοπάτωρ ∆αυίδ· «Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν τὸν ζῶντα.» Ταῦτα δὲ λέγομεν οὐ μόνῳ τῷ πατρὶ περιορίζοντες τὴν θεότητα οὐδὲ μόνῳ τῷ υἱῷ τὴν δύναμιν ἢ τὴν ἀθανασίαν μόνῳ τῷ πνεύματι, «ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑκάστης τῶν ὑποστάσεων πάσας τὰς θεωνυμίας ἁπλῶς καὶ ἑνιαίως λαμβάνοντες καὶ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον ἐκμιμούμενοι