For if you say that the Spirit is spoken of after the Son, being enumerated, which seems to you the safer of arguments—though I would say it is no less fallacious than the others—they too will show you the Son, in some places, spoken of after the Spirit, that is, with the Holy Spirit enumerated before. But we, with the truth, will respond to both sides, saying: O men, things do not lie in the order of names.

For if this is so, what prevents, by the same logic of co-enumeration and pre-enumeration being interchanged in Holy Scripture, that at one time they beget and project, and at another time the same things are begotten and projected? For we do not, like you, call the Father the procatarctic, (p. 144) or the first cause of the Spirit, and the Son the second, even if the Father is called these things because he is the creative cause. And being so called from there, he is sometimes so named by theologians when they speak about the uncreated things, just as he is also called Father because of the Son. But sometimes we also name him thus when speaking about the things below; for we do not worship the Father as the first God, the Son as the second, and the Holy Spirit as the third, so that we always speak of the second after the first and the third after it, necessarily bringing things that are above order under order, as with all other things.

For John of the golden tongue, explaining what was said by Abraham to his servant, "put your hand under my thigh," proceeding in his homily says: "Let the Holy Spirit be proclaimed; let the Only-begotten be exalted; let the Father be glorified. Let no one think the dignity has been inverted, if we mention the Spirit first, then the Son, then the Father; or the Son first, then the Father. For God has no order, not as being without order, but as being above order. Nor does God have shape, not as being shapeless, but as being without shape."

Therefore, God is above order, not under order. But if there is an order in God because of the three hypostases of the Godhead, still it is not known to us, because it is above every kind of order. For we know the order in pronunciation, having been taught by the divinely-inspired Scripture, from which we are also piously taught that this order is interchanged. But the order that derives from natural sequence, and especially in the two persons, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we do not know at all. Wherefore Gregory the most theological in the second of his Orationes Pacis says, "Thus we think and thus we hold, that how these things stand in relation and order, we concede that the Trinity alone (p. 146) knows, and those purified to whom the Trinity might reveal it, either now or later."

But, they say, Basil the Great, as one purified by revelation, having learned this, said it in his work Against Eunomius. And that Gregory the Theologian concedes that this is known to those purified to whom the Trinity might reveal it. But if this is so, how is it that when Eunomius said he learned from the saints that the Holy Spirit is third in order and dignity, the divine Basil, being displeased and reacting to this not at all gently but very severely, said: "He says he learned 'from the saints'; but who are the saints and in which of their writings did they make this teaching, he cannot say"? It is clear that there were no saints who said this.

Then, since he inferred from the Holy Spirit's being third in order and dignity that he is also third in nature, although this does not follow from it, the great one, yielding and accepting it hypothetically, says, "even if the doctrine of piety perhaps teaches that the Holy Spirit is third in order and dignity—that we may concede it altogether—it is not necessary from this that he is also third in nature." Therefore, as one accepting it hypothetically, but not dogmatizing this himself, having it as debatable

Εἰ γάρ ὅτι μετά τόν Υἱόν λέγεται τό Πνεῦμα ὑπαριθμούμενον ἐρεῖς, ὅ σοι δοκεῖ τῶν ἐπιχειρημάτων ἀσφαλέστερον, ὡς ἔγωγ᾿ ἄν φαίην οὐχ ἧττον τῶν ἄλλων σφαλερόν, κἀκεῖνοί σοι τόν Υἱόν δείξουσιν, ἔστιν οὐ λεγόμενον μετά τό Πνεῦμα, προαριθμουμένου δηλαδή τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Ἀμφοτέροις δέ ἡμεῖς μετά τῆς ἀληθείας ἀντεροῦμεν λέγοντες, οὐκ ἐν τῇ τάξει τῶν ὀνομάτων, ὦ οὗτοι, κεῖνται τά πράγματα.

Εἰ γάρ τοῦτο, τί κωλύει κατά τόν αὐτόν λόγον τῆς συναριθμήσεώς τε καί προαριθμήσεως ἐπαλαττομένης παρά τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ, ποτέ μέν γεννᾶν τε καί προβάλλειν, ποτέ δέ τά αὐτά γεννᾶσθαί τε καί προβάλλεσθαι; Οὐδέ γάρ προκαταρκτικόν , (σελ. 144) οὐδέ πρῶτον αἴτιον ἐπί τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡς ὑμεῖς, τόν Πατέρα λέγομεν, δεύτερον δέ τόν Υἱόν, εἰ καί διά τό δημιουργικόν αἴτιον ταῦτα καλεῖται ὁ Πατήρ. Κἀκεῖθεν οὕτω κεκλημένος, ἔσθ᾿ ὅτε παρά τῶν θεολόγων οὕτως ὀνομάζεται καί περί τῶν ἀκτίστων τόν λόγον ποιουμένων, ὥσπερ καί Πατήρ διά τόν Υἱόν καλεῖται. Ἀλλ᾿ ἔσθ᾿ ὅτε καί περί τῶν κάτω ποιούμενοι τούς λόγους, οὕτω τοῦτον ὀνομάζομεν˙ οὐδέ γάρ πρῶτον μέν Θεόν τόν Πατέρα σέβομεν, δεύτερον δέ τόν Υἱόν, τρίτον δέ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, ἵν᾿ ἀεί τό δεύτερον μετά τό πρῶτον λέγωμεν καί μετ᾿ αὐτό τό τρίτον, ὑπό τάξιν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἄγοντες τά ὑπεράνω τάξεως, ὥσπερ καί τῶν ἄλλων πάντων.

Ὁ γάρ χρυσοῦς τήν γλῶτταν Ἰωάννης ἐξηγούμενος τό παρά τοῦ Ἀβραάμ πρός τόν οἰκεῖον οἰκέτην εἰρημένον, «θές τήν χεῖρά σου ὑπό τόν μηρόν μου», κατά τήν ὁμιλίαν προϊών φησι˙ «κηρυττέσθω Πνεῦμα ἅγιον˙ ὑψούσθω ὁ μονογενής˙ δοξαζέσθω ὁ Πατήρ. Μηδείς ἀνατετράφθαι τήν ἀξίαν νομιζέτω, εἰ Πνεύματος πρῶτον μνημονεύομεν, εἶτα Υἱοῦ, εἶτα Πατρός˙ ἤ Υἱοῦ πρῶτον, εἶτα Πατρός. Οὐ γάρ ἔχει τάξιν ὁ Θεός, οὐχ ὡς ἄτακτος, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὑπέρ τάξιν ὤν. Οὐδέ γάρ σχῆμα ἔχει ὁ Θεός, οὐχ ὡς ἀσχήμων, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἀσχημάτιστος».

Ὑπέρ τάξιν οὖν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑπό τάξιν ὁ Θεός. Εἰ δ᾿ ἔστι καί τάξις ἐπί τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τό τρισυπόστατον τῆς θεότητος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἐγνωσμένη διά τό ὑπέρ πᾶν εἶδος τάξεως εἶναι. Τήν μέν γάρ κατά τήν ἐκφώνησιν τάξιν ἴσμεν, διδαχθέντες παρά τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς, παρ᾿ ἧς καί ἐπαλλαττομένην ταύτην εὐσεβῶς διδασκόμεθα. Τήν δ᾿ ἐκ τῆς φυσικῆς ἀκολουθίας προσοῦσαν, καί μάλιστα τοῖς δυσί προσώποις, τῷ τε Υἱῷ καί τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, οὐδαμῶς ἴσμεν. ∆ιό Γρηγορίων ὁ θεολογικώτατος ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τῶν Εἰρηνικῶν φησιν, «οὕτω φρονοῦμεν καί οὕτως ἔχομεν, ὡς ὅπως μέν ἔχει ταῦτα σχέσεώς τε καί τάξεως, αὐτῇ μόνῃ τῇ Τριάδι (σελ. 146) συγχωρεῖν εἰδέναι καί οἷς ἄν ἡ Τριάς ἀποκαλύψῃ κεκαθαρμένοις, ἤ νῦν ἤ ὕστερον».

Ἀλλ᾿, ὁ μέγας, φασί, Βασίλειος, ὡς κεκαθαρμένος ἐξ ἀποκαλύψεως, τοῦτο μαθών εἶπεν ἐν τοῖς Κατ᾿ Εὐνομίου. Συγχωρεῖν δέ καί Γρηγόριον τόν θεολόγον εἰδέναι ταύτην, οἷς ἄν ἡ Τριάς ἀποκαλύψῃ κεκαθαρμένοις. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ τοῦτο, πῶς τοῦ Εὐνομίου μαθεῖν εἰπόντος ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων τρίτον τῇ τάξει καί τῷ ἀξιώματι τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, δυσχεράνας οὔμενουν ἠρέμα τούτῳ καί λίαν ἐπαχθῶς ἐνεγκών ὁ θεῖος Βασίλειος, «παρά τῶν ἁγίων», φησίν, εἶπε μεμαθηκέναι˙ τίνες δέ οἱ ἅγιοι καί ἐν ποίοις αὐτῶν λόγοις τήν διδασκαλίαν πεποίηνται εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἔχει»; ∆ῆλον ὡς οὐκ ὄντων τῶν εἰπόντων ἁγίων.

Εἶτα, ἐπειδήπερ ἐκεῖνος ἐκ τοῦ τρίτου εἶναι τῇ τάξει καί τῷ ἀξιώματι τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον τρίτον εἶναι καί τῇ φύσει συνήγαγε, καίτοι μηδέ παρά τοῦτο συναγόμενον, ἐνδούς ὁ μέγας καί καθ᾿ ὑπόθεσιν παραδεξάμενος, «εἰ καί τρίτον εἶναι», φησί, «τῇ τάξει καί τῷ ἀξιώματι τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἴσως παραδίδωσι λόγος, ἵνα καί ὅλως συγχωρήσωμεν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀνάγκη παρά τοῦτο τρίτον εἶναι αὐτό καί τῇ φύσει». Ὡς οὖν καθ᾿ ὑπόθεσιν παραδεξάμενος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τοῦτο δογματίζων αὐτός, ἀμφισβητικῶς ἔχοντα