It may indeed be undignified to give any answer at all to the statements that are foolish we seem to be pointed that way by Solomon’s wise advice, “n

 What then is the charge they bring against us? They accuse us of profanity for entertaining lofty conceptions about the Holy Spirit. All that we, in f

 What then, shall be our way of arguing? We shall answer nothing new, nothing of our own invention, though they challenge us to it we shall fall back

 We can confirm our argument by material instances. Fire naturally imparts the sense of heat to those who touch it, with all its component parts one

 If, then, the Holy Spirit is truly, and not in name only, called Divine both by Scripture and by our Fathers, what ground is left for those who oppose

 For the plea will not avail them in their self-defence, that He is delivered by our Lord to His disciples third in order, and that therefore He is est

 Since, then, it has been affirmed, and truly affirmed, that the Spirit is of the Divine Essence, and since in that one word “Divine” every idea of gre

 But if all must shrink from that, as going even beyond the most revolting blasphemy, then a devout mind must accept the nobler names and conceptions o

 If such is the doctrine concerning Him when followed out , let the same inquiry be made concerning the Son and the Father as well. Do you not confess

 If, then, they agree that the Holy Spirit is perfect absolutely, and it has been admitted in addition that true reverence requires perfection in every

 In what sort of manner, then, can you honour the Deity? How can you heighten the Highest? How can you give glory to that which is above all glory? How

 The heavens proclaim the glory of God , and yet they are counted poor heralds of His worth because His Majesty is exalted, not as far as the heavens,

 What means, then, this lowering and this expanding of their soul, on the part of these men who are enthusiastic for the Father’s honour, and grant to

 “Yes,” replies one of them, “but we have been taught by Scripture that the Father is the Creator, and in the same way that it was ‘through the Son ’ t

 What shall we answer to this? That the thoughts of their hearts are so much idle talk, when they imagine that the Spirit was not always with the Fathe

 The view which is consistent with all reverence is as follows. We are not to think of the Father as ever parted from the Son, nor to look for the Son

 If, on the contrary, this Spirit has the impulse to work, but some overwhelming control hinders His design, they must tell us the wherefore of this hi

 This is the view we take, after the unprofessional way usual with us and we reject all these elaborate sophistries of our adversaries, believing and

 But with regard to service and worship, and the other things which they so nicely calculate about, and bring into prominence, we say this that the Ho

 But if there is any of them who rejects this statement, and this idea involved in the very name of Divinity, and says that which, to the destruction o

 These destroyers of the Spirit’s glory, who relegate Him to a subject world, must tell us of what thing that unction is the symbol. It not a symbol of

 Again, let us look at it in this way. Kingship is most assuredly shown in the rule over subjects. Now what is “subject” to this Kingly Being? The Word

 For notice the amount of absurdity involved in the other alternative all things that we can think of in the actual creation have, by virtue of all ha

 Then let us look to this too. In Holy Baptism, what is it that we secure thereby? Is it not a participation in a life no longer subject to death? I th

 So that if these despisers and impugners of their very own life conceive of the gift as a little one, and decree accordingly to slight the Being who i

 If, then, every height of man’s ability falls below the grandeur of the Spirit (for that is what the Word means in the metaphor of “footstool”), what

 On the contrary the Holy Spirit is, to begin with, because of qualities that are essentially holy, that which the Father, essentially Holy, is and su

 If such, then, is the greatness of the Spirit, and whatever is beautiful, whatever is good, coming from God as it does through the Son, is completed b

 But you will say, “When I think of the Father it is the Son (alone) that I have included as well in that term.” But tell me when you have grasped the

 Do they too, then, mean this by their worship? Well, is it anything but absurdity to think that it is wrong to honour the Holy Spirit with that with w

 [Translation lacking]

If such, then, is the greatness of the Spirit, and whatever is beautiful, whatever is good, coming from God as it does through the Son, is completed by the instrumentality of the Spirit that “worketh all in all,” why do they set themselves against their own life? Why do they alienate themselves from the hope belonging to “such as are to be saved”? Why do they sever themselves from their cleaving unto God? For how can any man cleave unto the Lord unless the Spirit operates within us that union of ourselves with Him? Why do they haggle with us about the amount of service and of worship? Why do they use that word “worship” in an ironical sense, derogatory to a Divine and entirely Independent Being, supposing that they desire their own salvation? We would say to them, “Your supplication is the advantage of you who ask, and not the honouring of Him Who grants it. Why, then, do you approach your Benefactor as if you had something to give? Or rather, why do you refuse to name as a benefactor at all Him Who gives you your blessings, and slight the Life-giver while clinging to Life? Why, seeking for His sanctification, do you misconceive of the Dispenser of the Grace of sanctification; and as to the giving of those blessings, why, not denying that He has the power, do you deem Him not worthy to be asked to give, and fail to take this into consideration, viz. how much greater a thing it is to give some blessing than to be asked to give it? The asking does not unmistakably witness to greatness in him who is asked; for it is possible that one who does not have the thing to give might be asked for it, for the asking depends only on the will of the asker. But one who actually bestows some blessing has thereby given undoubted evidence of a power residing in him. Why then, while testifying to the greater thing in Him,—I mean the power to bestow everything that is morally beautiful52    καλὸν.—do you deprive Him of the asking, as of something of importance; although his asking, as we have said, is often performed in the case of those who have nothing in their power, owing to the delusion of their devotees? For instance, the slaves of superstition ask the idols for the objects of their wishes; but the asking does not, in this instance of the idols, confer any glory; only people pay that attention to them owing to the deluded expectation that they will get some one of the things they ask for, and so they do not cease to ask. But you, persuaded as you are of what and how great things the Holy Spirit is the Giver, do you neglect the asking them from Him, taking refuge in the law which bids you ‘worship God and serve Him only53    Deut. vi. 13; x. 20.?’ Well, how will you worship Him only, tell me, when you have severed Him from His intimate union with His own Only-begotten and His own Spirit? This worship is simply Jewish.

Εἰ οὖν τοσαύτη τοῦ πνεύματος ἡ μεγαλωσύνη καὶ εἴ τι καλὸν καὶ εἴ τι ἀγαθὸν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἐν τῷ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν ἐνεργοῦντι πνεύματι τελειοῦται, τί ἐκπολεμοῦσιν ἑαυτοὺς τῇ ἰδίᾳ ζωῇ; τί ἀπαλλοτριοῦνται τῆς τῶν σῳζομένων ἐλπίδος; τί ἀποκόπτουσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν προσκολλήσεως; πῶς γάρ τις προσκολληθήσεται τῷ κυρίῳ μὴ τοῦ πνεύματος τὴν συνάφειαν ἡμῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐνεργοῦντος; τί ζυγομαχοῦσι πρὸς ἡμᾶς περὶ λατρείας καὶ προσκυνήσεως; τί κατειρωνεύονται διὰ τοῦ τῆς λατρείας ὀνόματος κατὰ τῆς θείας τε καὶ ἀπροσδεοῦς φύσεως ὥσπερ οὐχ ἑαυτοὺς εὐεργετοῦντες ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας αἰτήμασι, ἀλλὰ τιμήν τινα προσάγοντες, ἐὰν σωθῆναι θελήσωσι; σὸν κέρδος ἐστὶ τοῦ αἰτοῦντος ἡ δέησις, οὐχὶ τιμὴ τοῦ παρέχοντος. τί οὖν ὡς χαριζόμενος πρόσει τῷ εὐεργέτῃ, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ εὐεργέτην τὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν παρεκτικὸν ἀξιοῖς ὀνομάζειν; ἀλλὰ τοῦ ζῆν ἀντεχόμενος τὸν ζωοποιὸν ἀτιμάζεις καὶ τὸν ἁγιασμὸν ζητῶν παραλογίζῃ τὸν τὴν χάριν τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ διανέμοντα καὶ τὸ διδόναι τὰ ἀγαθὰ οὐκ ἀρνούμενος αὐτὸν ἔχειν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ αἰτεῖσθαι κρίνεις ἀνάξιον, οὐδὲ τοῦτο λογιζόμενος, ὅσῳ μεῖζόν ἐστι τὸ δοῦναί τι ἀγαθὸν τοῦ αἰτηθῆναι: τῷ μὲν γὰρ αἰτηθέντι, οὐ πάντως προσμαρτυρεῖ τὸ μεγαλεῖον ἡ αἴτησις: δυνατὸν γάρ ἐστιν αἰτηθῆναί τι καὶ τὸν μὴ ἔχοντα. ἐπὶ γὰρ τῇ προαιρέσει τοῦ αἰτοῦντός ἐστιν: ὁ δὲ παρασχών τι ἀγαθὸν ἀναμφίβολον τῆς προσούσης αὐτῷ δυνάμεως πεποίηται τὴν ἐπίδειξιν. τί οὖν τὸ μεῖζον αὐτῷ προσμαρτυρῶν_λέγω δὲ τὸ δύνασθαι δοῦναι πᾶν ὅ τι καλόν_ὡς μεγάλου τινὸς ἀποστερεῖς τῆς αἰτήσεως, καίτοι τοῦτο πολλάκις, καθὼς εἴρηται, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν οὐδενὸς κυρίων δι' ἀπάτης τοῦ προσιόντος γίνεται. αἰτοῦσι καὶ παρὰ τῶν εἰδώλων οἱ τῆς ματαιότητος δοῦλοι τὰ κατὰ γνώμην αὐτοῖς, ἀλλ' οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο δόξαν τινὰ προστίθησι τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἡ αἴτησις: κἀκεῖνοι δὲ δι' ἀπάτης αὐτοὺς παρέχοντες προσδοκίᾳ τοῦ μετασχεῖν τινος ὧν ἐλπίζουσιν αἰτοῦντες οὐ διαλείπουσιν. σὺ δὲ πεπεισμένος οἵων καὶ ὅσων παρεκτικόν ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ὑπερορᾷς τῆς αἰτήσεως καὶ καταφεύγεις ἐπὶ τὸν νόμον τὸν κελεύοντα κύριον τὸν θεὸν προσκυνεῖν καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύειν; πῶς οὖν αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις, εἰπέ μοι, ἀποσχίσας αὐτὸν τῆς πρὸς τὸν μονογενῆ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἑαυτοῦ συναφείας; ἀλλ' αὕτη Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἡ προσκύνησις.