45. For we do not count by way of addition, gradually making increase from unity to multitude, and saying one, two, and three,—nor yet first, second, and third. For “I,” God, “am the first, and I am the last.”  4  Is. xliv. 6. And hitherto we have never, even at the present time, heard of a second God. Worshipping as we do God of God, we both confess the distinction of the Persons, and at the same time abide by the Monarchy. We do not fritter away the theology  5  According to patristic usage θεολογία proper is concerned with all that relates to the Divine and Eternal nature of our Lord. cf. Bp. Lightfoot. Ap Fathers, Part II. vol. ii. p. 75. in a divided plurality, because one Form, so to say, united  6  ἑνιζομένην. Var. lectiones are ἐνιζομένην, “seated in,” and ἐνεικονιζομένην, “imaged in.” in the invariableness of the Godhead, is beheld in God the Father, and in God the Only begotten. For the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son; since such as is the latter, such is the former, and such as is the former, such is the latter; and herein is the Unity. So that according to the distinction of Persons, both are one and one, and according to the community of Nature, one. How, then, if one and one, are there not two Gods? Because we speak of a king, and of the king’s image, and not of two kings. The majesty is not cloven in two, nor the glory divided. The sovereignty and authority over us is one, and so the doxology ascribed by us is not plural but one;  7  cf. the embolismus, or intercalated prayer in the Liturgy of St. James, as cited by Mr. C.F.H. Johnston. “For of thee is the kingdom and the power and the glory, of Father, of Son, and of Holy Ghost, now and ever.” because the honour paid to the image passes on to the prototype. Now what in the one case the image is by reason of imitation, that in the other case the Son is by nature; and as in works of art the likeness is dependent on the form, so in the case of the divine and uncompounded nature the union consists in the communion of the Godhead.  8  On the right use of the illustration of εἰκών, cf. Basil Ep. xxxviii., and Bp. Lightfoot’s note on Col. i. 15. cf. also John i. 18 and xiv. 9, 10. One, moreover, is the Holy Spirit, and we speak of Him singly, conjoined as He is to the one Father through the one Son, and through Himself completing the adorable and blessed Trinity. Of Him the intimate relationship to the Father and the Son is sufficiently declared by the fact of His not being ranked in the plurality of the creation, but being spoken of singly; for he is not one of many, but One. For as there is one Father and one Son, so is there one Holy Ghost. He is consequently as far removed from created Nature as reason requires the singular to be removed from compound and plural bodies; and He is in such wise united to the Father and to the Son as unit has affinity with unit.

[45] Οὐ γὰρ κατὰ σύνθεσιν ἀριθμοῦμεν, ἀφ' ἑνὸς εἰς πλῆθος ποιούμενοι τὴν παραύξησιν, ἓν καὶ δύο καὶ τρία λέγοντες, οὐδὲ πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον. «Ἐγὼ γὰρ Θεὸς πρῶτος, καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα.» Δεύτερον δὲ Θεὸν οὐδέπω καὶ τήμερον ἀκηκόαμεν: Θεὸν γὰρ ἐκ Θεοῦ προσκυνοῦντες, καὶ τὸ ἰδιάζον τῶν ὑποστάσεων ὁμολογοῦμεν, καὶ μένομεν ἐπὶ τῆς μοναρχίας, εἰς πλῆθος ἀπεσχισμένον τὴν θεολογίαν μὴ σκεδαννύντες: διὰ τὸ μίαν ἐν Θεῷ Πατρὶ καὶ Θεῷ Μονογενεῖ τὴν οἱονεὶ μορφὴν θεωρεῖσθαι, τῷ ἀπαραλλάκτῳ τῆς θεότητος ἐνεικονιζομένην. Υἱὸς γὰρ ἐν τῷ Πατρί, καὶ Πατὴρ ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ: ἐπειδὴ καὶ οὗτος τοιοῦτος, οἷος ἐκεῖνος, κἀκεῖνος οἱόσπερ οὗτος: καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὸ ἕν. Ὥστε κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἰδιότητα τῶν προσώπων, εἷς καὶ εἷς: κατὰ δὲ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς φύσεως, ἓν οἱ ἀμφότεροι. Πῶς οὖν, εἴπερ εἷς καὶ εἷς, οὐχὶ δύο θεοί; Ὅτι βασιλεὺς λέγεται καὶ ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκών, καὶ οὐ δύο βασιλεῖς. Οὔτε γὰρ τὸ κράτος σχίζεται, οὔτε ἡ δόξα διαμερίζεται. Ὡς γὰρ ἡ κρατοῦσα ἡμῶν ἀρχὴ καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία μία, οὕτω καὶ ἡ παρ' ἡμῶν δοξολογία μία, καὶ οὐ πολλαί: διότι ἡ τῆς εἰκόνος τιμὴ ἐπὶ τὸ πρωτότυπον διαβαίνει. Ὃ οὖν ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα μιμητικῶς ἡ εἰκών, τοῦτο ἐκεῖ φυσικῶς ὁ Υἱός. Καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν τεχνικῶν κατὰ τὴν μορφὴν ἡ ὁμοίωσις, οὕτως ἐπὶ τῆς θείας καὶ ἀσυνθέτου φύσεως, ἐν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῆς θεότητός ἐστιν ἡ ἕνωσις. Ἓν δὲ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, καὶ αὐτὸ μοναδικῶς ἐξαγγελλόμενον, δι' ἑνὸς Υἱοῦ τῷ ἑνὶ Πατρὶ συναπτόμενον, καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ συμπληροῦν τὴν πολυύμνητον καὶ μακαρίαν Τριάδα: οὗ τὴν πρὸς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν οἰκείωσιν ἱκανῶς ἐμφαίνει τὸ μὴ ἐν τῷ πλήθει τῆς κτίσεως τετάχθαι, ἀλλὰ μοναχῶς ἐκφωνεῖσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ ἓν τῶν πολλῶν ἐστιν: ἀλλ' ἕν ἐστιν. Ὡς γὰρ εἷς Πατὴρ καὶ εἷς Υἱός, οὕτω καὶ ἓν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Τῆς μὲν οὖν κτιστῆς φύσεως τοσοῦτον ἀποκεχώρηκεν, ὅσον εἰκὸς τὸ μοναδικὸν τῶν συστηματικῶν καὶ πληθυσμὸν ἐχόντων. Πατρὶ δὲ καὶ Υἱῷ κατὰ τοσοῦτον ἥνωται, καθόσον ἔχει μονὰς πρὸς μονάδα τὴν οἰκειότητα.