While, however, we strenuously avoid all concurrence with absurd notions in our thoughts of God, we allow ourselves in the use of many diverse appellations in regard to Him, adapting them to our point of view. For whereas no suitable word has been found to express the Divine nature, we address God by many names, each by some distinctive touch adding something fresh to our notions respecting Him,—thus seeking by variety of nomenclature to gain some glimmerings for the comprehension of what we seek. For when we question and examine ourselves as to what God is, we express our conclusions variously, as that He is that which presides over the system and working of the things that are, that His existence is without cause, while to all else He is the Cause of being; that He is that which has no generation or beginning, no corruption, no turning backward, no diminution of supremacy; that He is that in which evil finds no place, and from which no good is absent.

φεύγοντες δὲ παντὶ τρόπῳ τῶν ἀτόπων τινὶ νοημάτων ἐν ταῖς περὶ θεοῦ δόξαις συνενεχθῆναι πολλαῖς καὶ ποικίλαις ἐπωνυμίαις ἐπ' αὐτοῦ κεχρήμεθα, κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐπινοιῶν διαφορὰν τὰς προσηγορίας ἁρμόζοντες. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἓν οὐδὲν ὄνομα περιληπτικὸν τῆς θείας ἐξεύρηται φύσεως κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου προσφυῶς τεταγμένον, διὰ τοῦτο πολλοῖς ὀνόμασι, ἑκάστου κατὰ διαφόρους ἐπιβολὰς ἰδιάζουσάν τινα περὶ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔννοιαν ποιουμένου, τὸ θεῖον προσαγορεύομεν, ἐκ τῆς πολυειδοῦς καὶ ποικίλης κατ' αὐτοῦ σημασίας ἐναύσματά τινα πρὸς τὴν κατανόησιν τοῦ ζητουμένου θηρεύοντες. ἐρωτῶντες γὰρ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς καὶ διεξετάζοντες τί τὸ θεῖόν ἐστι, διαφόρως ἀποφαινόμεθα οἷον τὸ ὑπερκείμενον τῆς τῶν ὄντων συστάσεώς τε καὶ διοικήσεως, ὃ οὐκ ἐξ αἰτίας τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχει, τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς πᾶσιν αἴτιον τοῦ εἶναι καθέστηκεν, περὶ ὃ γέννησις καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ φθορὰ καὶ τέλος οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον τροπὴ οὔτε τοῦ κρείττονος ὕφεσις, ὡς μήτε τὸ κακὸν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ χώραν ἔχειν μήτε τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀπεῖναι.