29. Since then the Church has this foundation of faith, let these men tell us once again and let them make answer, Is God triad or dyad? If he is dyad, then you are welcome to count the Spirit with the creatures. In that case, however, the faith which you hold is not in one God, ‘Who is over all, and through all, and in all’. If you divide and alienate the Spirit from the Godhead, you have not that which is ‘in all’; and, if you think like this, the rite of initiation which you reckon to perform is not entirely into the Godhead. For with the Godhead there is mixed a creature; and, like the Arians and the heathen, you too confess creation to be divine together with God who made it through his own Word. If this is your attitude, what hope have you? Who will unite you to God, if you have not the Spirit of God, but the spirit which belongs to creation? How rash and careless on your part to reduce the Father and his Word to the level of creatures, and yet to set the creatures on a level with God ! For that is what you are doing when you imagine the Spirit as a creature and rank him with the Triad. What madness too on your part to impute injustice to God, in that not all angels nor all creatures, but one from among them, is numbered with God and his Word ! For if, as you say, the Spirit were at once an angel and a creature and ranked with the Triad, then it would be necessary not for one, but for all the angels that have been created to be ranked with the Godhead, and for there to be no longer a Triad but an unnumbered multitude therein. So that the initiation therein, which, to repeat, appears to be yours, is divided this way and that; and, by reason of its variegation, is without guarantee. Such are your rites and those of the Arians, who dispute about the Godhead and serve creatures before the God who created all things.

Οὐκοῦν τοῦτον ἐχούσης τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τὸν θεμέλιον τῆς πίστεως, εἰπάτωσαν πάλιν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖνοι καὶ ἀποκρινάσθωσαν· Τριάς ἐστιν, ἢ δυάς; Εἰ μὲν οὖν δυάς ἐστι, συναριθμείσθω παρ' ὑμῶν τοῖς κτίσμασι τὸ Πνεῦμα. Οὐκ ἔστι μὲν τὸ τοιοῦτον ὑμῶν φρόνημα εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν, τὸν «ἐπὶ πάντων,» καὶ «διὰ πάντων,» καὶ «ἐν πᾶσι.» Τὸ γὰρ, «ἐν πᾶσιν,» οὐκ ἔχετε, διαιροῦντες καὶ ἀποξενοῦντες ἀπὸ τῆς θεότητος τὸ Πνεῦμα· καὶ ἡ τελείωσις δὲ ὑμῶν, ἣν νομίζετε ποιεῖν, οὕτω φρονοῦντες, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁλόκλη ρος εἰς θεότητα γινομένη. Ἐπιμίγνυται γὰρ ταύτῃ κτίσμα· καὶ θεολογεῖτε καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὡς οἱ Ἀρειανοὶ καὶ Ἕλληνες, τὴν κτίσιν μετὰ τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτὴν Θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου Λόγου. Οὕτω δὲ δια κείμενοι, ποίας ἐλπίδος ἐστέ; Ἢ τίς ὑμᾶς συνάψει τῷ Θεῷ, μὴ ἔχοντας τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς κτίσεως; Ποία δὲ ὑμῶν τόλμα καὶ ἀπροσεξία, ὅτι τὸν Πατέρα καὶ τὸν τούτου Λόγον εἰς τὰ κτίσματα κατάγετε, καὶ πάλιν τὸ κτίσμα συνεξισοῦτε τῷ Θεῷ; Τοῦτο γὰρ ποιεῖτε φανταζόμενοι περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὡς κτίσματος, καὶ συντάσσοντες αὐτὸ εἰς Τριάδα. Τί δὲ καὶ τὸ μανιῶδες ὑμῶν, ὥστε φρονεῖν ἀδικίαν κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι μὴ πάντες ἄγγελοι, ἢ πάντα τὰ κτίσματα, ἀλλ' εἷς ἐκ τούτων συναριθμεῖται τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τῷ Λόγῳ αὐτοῦ; Ἔδει γὰρ καθ' ὑμᾶς, ἅπαξ ἀγγέλου καὶ κτίσματος ὄντος τοῦ Πνεύματος, καὶ συντασσομένου εἰς Τριάδα, μὴ ἕνα, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς κτισθέντας ἀγγέλους συντάσσεσθαι ταύτῃ· καὶ μηκέτι Τριάδα, ἀλλὰ πληθύντινα θεότητος ἀναρίθμητον εἶναι· ἵνα καὶ ἡ ἐν τούτῳ πάλιν δοκοῦσα τελείωσις ὑμῶν γίνεσθαι, διαιρουμένη ὧδε κἀκεῖσε, ἀβέβαιος τῇ ποικιλίᾳ γένηται. Τοιαῦτα γὰρ τὰ τέλη ὑμῶν τε καὶ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν λογιζομένων κατὰ τῆς θεότητος, καὶ τῇ κτίσει λατρευόν των παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα τὰ πάντα Θεόν.