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the sun, and the ray immediately from it, and through it, before some new thought intervenes, the light itself is also from the sun. Is the ray or the sun the cause? Gregory of Nyssa also strengthens my argument, saying 20but of that which is from a cause20, that is, of things caused, 20we again conceive another difference; for the one is immediately from the first, and the other is through that which is immediately from the first20." To whom they [said], "and do you not confess the Holy Spirit to be immediate to the Father, just as also the Son? And what hearing would accept such a thing, if the Son is immediate to the Father, but the Spirit is separated by some local interval, what absurdity! For if the Lord says 96 20I am in the Father and the Father is in me20, but then it is reasonable to say the same things also concerning the Spirit, if we wish to be orthodox, the Spirit is in the Father and the Father is in the Spirit, and again in the Son, and the Son in the Spirit. or are these things not so?" Bekkos says, "yes. To confess the Spirit to be immediate to the Father, because it is also without interval, since the light is also immediate to the sun (for I still hold to the image), is very reasonable, and I do not dispute it; but to conceive the Spirit as immediately from the Father the argument of the difference does not allow. For the one, he says, is 'immediately' [distinct] from 'through that which is immediate'; but you, by introducing local and indeed even temporal intervals, certainly arrive at an absurdity. For the begetting of the Son from the Father almost suggests to the mind some effluence and local interval. But his being positioned without interval and his being from him declares the Son, and does not take away his also being with him. Understand it thus for me in the case of the Spirit as well. Or rather, let the argument proceed on the basis of the image, so that we may speak more safely. We speak of a ray from the sun, we do not know of its being cut off from it. We speak of light through it from the sun, and we conceive the mediation, and we do not deny that the light is made immediate to the sun through the mediation of the ray. For this reason the saint also adds 20the mediation of the Son both preserves for him 97 the 'only-begotten', and does not exclude the Spirit from the relation to the Father20." When Bekkos had said these things, the [Patriarch] of Alexandria, right there from his chair, [said] to him thus, "We hold to the dogmas of the Church, which we have also received, but we were not taught to say these things. If therefore the Church held these things in a philosophical manner, they would not have necessarily escaped our notice. But since we are to hold the faith and the dogmas of the faith simply and without curious inquiry, with which, indeed, we were also brought up, why then do you insist on introducing into the Church of God [things] beyond what we have received to say? But for peace to be made, it is expedient to set aside these many things." And they [said], "But we are accused of heresy, my lord." And the [Patriarch] of Alexandria says, "yes; wanting to establish something unaccustomed, even if it were sound, would be considered heresy. This, I beseech you, must be let go, having become part of the common and manifest opinion, and of peace, which is indeed also expedient, and this while the holy emperor is mediating." And the Patriarch [said] immediately to them, "But you say that in these matters 'from' is equivalent to 'through', so that when the saint says 20and the other through that which is immediately from the first20 you say 'also from the first'. And what manner of ignorance has this not surpassed? Where indeed also the idle talk is greater and manifest. For if from that which is immediate, how from the first? And if from the first, 98 how from that which is immediate? See into what snares you fall, defiling theology." And those with Bekkos [said], "We confess our rashness, and we ask for forgiveness. For the impulse for us to say these things was not of itself from a vain desire, but there was a motivating cause. And this was the supposed resolution of the discord of the churches, so that with them using 'from' and us using 'through', and both applying it in the same place of theology, there was no other way to reconcile, unless we were to speak thus. Why then on this account should we be judged for complete transgression and for heresy, such that our ordination is invalidated, and the holy things are washed away, and the consecrating holy myron itself is invalidated and cast aside, because it has been consecrated by us? "Since, indeed," they say, "something has also been transgressed by you in your theologizing, as we shall show. Therefore on account of these things, having abandoned

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ἥλιος, καὶ ἡ ἀκτὶς προσεχῶς ἐξ αὐτοῦ, δι' αὐτῆς δέ, πρίν τι καινὸν παρεμπεσεῖν νόημα, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ φῶς ἐξ ἡλίου. ἆρ' ἡ ἀκτὶς ἢ ὁ ἥλιος αἴτιον; εὐθετεῖ μοι τὸν λόγον καὶ ὁ Νύσσης Γρηγόριος λέγων 20τοῦ δὲ ἐξ αἰτίας ὄν τος20, τουτέστι τῶν αἰτιατῶν, 20πάλιν ἄλλην διαφορὰν ἐννοοῦμεν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ προσεχῶς ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου, τὸ δὲ διὰ τοῦ προσεχῶς ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου20." πρὸς ὃν ἐκεῖνοι "καὶ οὐχ ὁμολογεῖς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον προσεχὲς τῷ πατρί, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸν υἱόν; καὶ ποία ἂν ἀκοὴ τὸ τοιοῦτον παρα δέξαιτο, εἰ ὁ μὲν υἱὸς προσέχεται τῷ πατρί, τὸ δὲ πνεύματος τοπικῇ τινὶ διεχείᾳ διίσταται, τῆς ἀτοπίας. εἰ γὰρ ὁ κύριος λέ 96 γει 20ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί20, ἀλλ' οὖν εὔλογον τὰ αὐτὰ λέγειν καὶ περὶ τοῦ πνεύματος, εἴπερ ὀρθοδοξεῖν βουλόμεθα, τὸ πνεῦμα ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι, καὶ αὖθις ἐν τῷ υἱῷ, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ἐν τῷ πνεύματι. ἢ οὐ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει;" Βέκκος "ναί" φησίν. "προσεχὲς μὲν ὁμολογεῖν τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ πνεῦμα, ὅτι καὶ ἀδιάστατον, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ φῶς προσεχὲς τῷ ἡλίῳ (ἔτι γὰρ ἔχομαι τῆς εἰκόνος), τῶν λίαν εἰκό των ἐστί, καὶ οὐ διαμάχομαι· προσεχῶς δ' ἐννοεῖν τὸ πνεῦμα ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ λόγος οὐ δίδωσι τῆς διαφορᾶς. τὸ μὲν γάρ, φησί, προσεχῶς τοῦ διὰ τοῦ προσεχῶς· ὑμεῖς δὲ τοπικὰς διαστάσεις ἢ μὴν καὶ χρονικὰς ἐμβάλλοντες συνάγετε πάντως τὸ ἄτοπον. τὸ γοῦν γεννᾶσθαι καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπορροήν τινα καὶ διέχειαν τοπικὴν σχεδὸν δίδωσιν ἐννοεῖν. ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀδιαστάτως προσκείμενον καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἐκείνου εἶναι δηλοῖ τὸν υἱόν, καὶ τὸ ἐκεί νῳ καὶ αὖθις εἶναι οὐκ ἀφαιρεῖται. οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πνεύματος νόει μοι. ἢ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῆς εἰκόνος ὁ λόγος γινέσθω, ὡς ἂν ἀσφαλέστερον λέγοιμεν. ἀκτῖνα λέγομεν ἐξ ἡλίου, ἀποτομὴν ἐξ ἐκείνου ταύτης οὐκ οἴδαμεν. φῶς λέγομεν δι' αὐτῆς ἐξ ἡλίου, καὶ τὴν μεσιτείαν ἐννοοῦμεν, καὶ τὸ προσεχίζεσθαι τὸ φῶς τῷ ἡλίῳ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἀκτῖνος μεσιτείαν οὐκ ἀπαρνούμεθα. διὰ τοῦ το καὶ ἐπιφέρει ὁ ἅγιος 20τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ μεσιτείας καὶ αὐ 97 τῷ τὸ μονογενὲς φυλαττούσης, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς σχέσεως μὴ ἀπειργούσης20." ταῦτ' εἰπόντος τοῦ Βέκκου, ὁ Ἀλεξανδρείας αὐτόθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ σκίμπο δος πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡς "ἡμεῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας κρατοῦμεν τὰ δόγματα, ἃ καὶ παρελάβομεν, ταῦτα δὲ λέγειν οὐκ ἐδιδάχθημεν. εἰ μὲν οὖν πλατικῶς ἐκράτει ταῦτα ἡ ἐκκλησία, οὐκ ἂν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐξ ἀνάγκης διέλαθεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἁπλῶς τὴν πίστιν καὶ ἀπεριέργως ἕξομεν καὶ τὰ τῆς πίστεως δόγματα, οἷς ἄρα καὶ συνανετράφη μεν, τί γοῦν ἰσχυρίζεσθε εἰσάγειν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ θεοῦ παρὸ παρε λάβομεν λέγειν; γενέσθαι δὲ τῆς εἰρήνης, τὰ πολλὰ ταῦτ' ἀφέν τας, ξυμφέρει." οἱ δὲ "ἀλλ' ἐγκαλούμεθα αἱρέσεως, δέσποτα." καὶ ὁ Ἀλεξανδρείας "ναί" φησι· τὸ συνιστᾶν θέλειν ἀσύνηθες, κἂν ἀσφαλὲς ἦν, αἵρεσις ἂν λογισθείη. ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐατέον, παρα καλῶ, τῆς κοινῆς δόξης γεγονότας καὶ φανερᾶς, καὶ τῆς εἰρή νης, ὃ δὴ καὶ ξυμφέρει, καὶ ταῦτα τοῦ ἁγίου βασιλέως μεσολα βοῦντος." καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης εὐθὺς πρὸς αὐτοὺς "ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς φατὲ ἰσοδυναμεῖν ἐπὶ τούτοις τῇ ἐκ τὴν διά, ὡς τοῦ ἁγίου λέ γοντος 20τὸ δὲ διὰ τοῦ προσεχῶς ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου20 ὑμᾶς λέγειν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου. ὃ δὴ καὶ ποῖον τρόπον ἀμαθίας οὐ παρελήλυθεν; ὅπου γε καὶ ἡ ἀδολεσχία μείζων καὶ προφανής. εἰ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ προσεχῶς, πῶς ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου; εἰ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ πρώ 98 του, πῶς ἐκ τοῦ προσεχῶς; ὁρᾶτε εἰς ποῖα ἀρκύστατα πίπτετε, τὴν θεολογίαν καταρρυπαίνοντες." καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν Βέκκον "ὁμολογοῦμεν τὸ παρατόλμημα, καὶ συγγνώμην αἰτοῦμεν. οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτόθεν ἡμῖν ἡ ὁρμὴ τοῦ ταῦτα λέγειν ἐκ ματαίας ὀρέξεως, ἀλλ' ἦν τὸ παροτρῦναν αἴτιον. τὸ δ' ἦν νομιζομένη τῆς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν διχονοίας διάλυσις, ὥστε ἐκείνων μὲν χρωμένων τῇ ἐκ ἡμῶν δὲ τῇ διά, προστιθέντων καὶ ἀμφοτέρων ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς θεολογίας τόπου, οὐκ ἄλλως ἔχειν συμβιβάζειν, εἰ μὴ οὕτω λέγοιμεν. τί δαὶ διὰ τοῦτο παραβασίας ἐξ ὁλοκλήρου καὶ ἐφ' αἱρέσει κριθείημεν, ὡς ἀθετεῖσθαι μὲν χειροτονίαν, καταπλύ νεσθαι δὲ τὰ ἅγια, καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ τελεστικὸν ἅγιον ἀθετεῖσθαι μύρον καὶ παραρρίπτεσθαι, ὅτι ἡμῖν τετέλεσται; ἐπεί τοί γε" φασὶ "καὶ ὑμῖν παραβέβασταί τι θεολογοῦσιν, ὡς δείξομεν. ἆρ' οὖν διὰ ταῦτα, ἀφέντες