17. For this reason too, it is madness to call him a creature. If he were a creature, he would not be ranked with the Triad. For the whole Triad is one God. It is enough to know that the Spirit is not a creature, nor is he numbered with the things that are made. For nothing foreign is mixed with the Triad; it is indivisible and consistent. These things are sufficient for the faithful. Thus far human knowledge goes. Here the cherubim spread the covering of their wings. He who seeks and would inquire into what lies beyond these things disobeys him who said: ‘Be not wise in many things, lest thou be confounded.’ For the things that have been handed down by faith ought not to be measured by human wisdom, but by the hearing of faith. What speech shall be able worthily to interpret the things that surpass originated nature? Or what hearing is able to understand things it is not lawful for men either to hear or to utter? For that is how Paul spoke of what he heard; but of God himself, ‘How are his ways past tracing out!’, and, ‘Who hath known the mind of the Lord and who hath been his counsellor?’ Abraham was not a busybody, nor did he question him who spoke, but believed and ‘it was counted to him for righteousness’. Thus Moses was called ‘a faithful servant’. But if the disciples of Arius, because wisdom will not enter their deceitful hearts, are not able intelligently to believe in the indivisible and holy Triad, let them not on that account pervert the truth as well, neither let them say that what they cannot understand cannot be true. They have put themselves in an absurd position. Because they cannot understand how the holy Triad is indivisible, the Arians make the Son one with the creation, and the Tropici, for their part, number the Spirit with the creatures. It would be better for them either to say nothing at all in their incomprehension, the Arians not ranking the Son with the creatures nor the Tropici the Spirit; or else to acknowledge what is written, and join the Son to the Father and not divide the Spirit from the Son—so that the Holy Triad may still be rightly characterized as indivisible and of one nature. Having learned these truths, they ought not to be so bold as to ask doubting, how these things could be; lest, even if he whom they question be at a loss for words, of their own accord they think out false notions for themselves. For all created beings, and especially we who are men, find it impossible to speak adequately concerning the things that are ineffable. All the more presumptuous, then, if, when we cannot speak, we devise for these subjects strange forms of expression other than those in the Scriptures. Above all is this present attempt madness, both on the part of him who asks and of him who so much as thinks of answering. For he who asked such questions even about originated things would not be regarded as of sound mind.

Οὐκοῦν καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο μανία τὸ λέγειν αὐτὸ κτίσμα. Εἰ γὰρ κτίσμα ἦν, οὐ συνετάσσετο τῇ Τριάδι. Ὅλη γὰρ εἷς Θεός ἐστι. Καὶ ἀρκεῖ γινώσκειν, ὅτι μὴ κτίσμα ἐστὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα, μηδὲ τοῖς ποιήμασι συναριθμεῖται· οὐ γὰρ ἀλλότριον ἐπιμίγνυται τῇ Τριάδι, ἀλλ' ἀδιαίρετός ἐστι καὶ ὁμοία ἑαυτῇ. Ἀρκεῖ ταῦτα τοῖς πιστοῖς· μέχρι τούτων ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἡ γνῶσις φθάνει· ἕως τούτων τὰ χερουβὶμ κα λύπτει ταῖς πτέρυξιν. Ὁ δὲ περιττὰ τούτων ζητῶν καὶ θέλων ἐρευνᾷν παρακούει τοῦ λέγοντος· «Μὴ σοφίζου περισσὰ, ἵνα μὴ ἐκπλαγῇς.» Τὰ γὰρ πίστει παραδοθέντα, ταῦτα οὐκ ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ σοφίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀκοῇ πίστεως διανοεῖσθαι πρέπει. Ποῖος γὰρ λόγος ἐπαξίως διερμηνεῦσαι δυνήσεται τὰ ὑπὲρ τὴν γενητὴν ὄντα φύσιν; Ἢ ποία τις ὅλως ἀκοὴ συνιέναι δύναται, ἃ μὴ ἔξεστιν ἀνθρώποις μήτε ἀκούειν, μήτε λαλεῖν; Περὶ μὲν οὖν ὧν ἤκουσεν ὁ Παῦλος, οὕτως εἴρηκε· περὶ δὲ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ· «Ὡς ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ! Τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου; Ἢ τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο;» Ὁ γοῦν Ἀβραὰμ οὔτε περιειργάσατο, οὐδὲ ἀνέκρινε τὸν λαλοῦντα, ἀλλ' «ἐπίστευσε, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην·» οὕτω Μωσῆς πιστὸς ἐκλήθη θερά πων· Εἰ δὲ οἱ τὰ Ἀρείου φρονοῦντες, ἐπεὶ εἰς τὴν κακότεχνον αὐτῶν ψυχὴν οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται σο φία, οὐ δύνανται νοεῖν οὐδὲ πιστεύειν περὶ τῆς ἀδιαι ρέτου καὶ ἁγίας Τριάδος, μὴ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν ἀλή θειαν παρεξηγείσθωσαν, μηδὲ ἅπερ αὐτοὶ μὴ δύνανται νοεῖν, ταῦτα λεγέτωσαν μηδὲ εἶναι δύνασθαι. Πρᾶγμα γὰρ πάσχουσιν ἀτοπώτατον· ὅτι, μὴ δυνά μενοι νοεῖν, πῶς ἀδιαίρετός ἐστιν ἡ ἁγία Τριὰς, ποιοῦσιν οἱ μὲν Ἀρειανοὶ ἓν τὸν Υἱὸν μετὰ τῆς κτίσεως· οἱ δὲ τροπικοὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῖς κτίσμασι συναριθμοῦσιν. Ἔδει δὲ αὐτοὺς ἢ καθόλου μὴ νοοῦντας σιωπᾷν, καὶ μὴ συντάσσειν, μήτε ἐκείνους τὸν Υἱὸν, μήτε τούτους τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῖς κτίσμα σιν· ἢ τὸ γεγραμμένον ἐπιγινώσκειν, καὶ τῷ Πατρὶ συνάπτειν τὸν Υἱὸν, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα μὴ διαιρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, ἵνα τὸ ἀδιαίρετον καὶ ὁμοφυὲς ἀληθῶς τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος διαμείνῃ. Ταῦτα μαθόντας αὐτοὺς ἔδει μὴ τολμᾷν, μηδ' ἀμφιβάλλοντας ἐρωτᾷν, πῶς ταῦτα γένοιτο, ἵνα, κἂν ὁ ἐρωτώμενος ἀπορῇ λέ γειν, μὴ ἐπινοῶσιν αὐτοὶ κακονοίας ἑαυτοῖς. Ἔστι μὲν γὰρ πᾶσι τοῖς γενητοῖς, μάλιστα δὲ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατον ἐπαξίως εἰπεῖν περὶ τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων. Τολμηρότερον δὲ πάλιν, μὴ δυναμένους λέγειν, ἐπινοεῖν ἐπὶ τούτων καινοτέρας λέξεις παρὰ τὰς τῶν Γραφῶν. Ἄλλως τε καὶ μανιώδης ἡ τοιαύτη ἐπιχείρησις τοῦ τε ἐρωτῶντος καὶ τοῦ κἂν ὅλως ἐνθυμουμένου ἀποκρίνασθαι. Οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν γενητῶν οὕτω τις ἐρωτῶν νομισθείη νοῦν ἔχειν ὀρθόν.