EPISTLE ONE

 1. Your sacred Kindness’s letter was delivered to me in the desert. Though the persecution directed against us was indeed bitter, and a great search m

 2. To the Arians indeed this way of thinking is not strange. Having once denied the Word of God, they naturally say the same evil things against his S

 3. Where then do you find excuse for such audacity, so that you do not fear that which was spoken by the Lord, ‘Whosoever shall blaspheme against the

 4. Tell us, then, is there any passage in the divine Scripture where the Holy Spirit is found simply referred to as ‘spirit’ without the addition of ‘

 5. But do you answer the question which has been put to you whether anywhere in the divine Scripture you have found the Holy Spirit called simply ‘spi

 6. But inquire also about the contents of the Gospels and the writings of the Apostles, and you will hear how there also, inasmuch as there is a great

 7. See how the Holy Spirit is denoted in all divine Scripture ! Did you, then, notice anything of this kind in the prophet? The ‘spirit’ of which the

 8. Read the sacred Scriptures, and you will find ‘spirit’ used of the meaning which is in the divine words, as Paul writes: ‘Who also made us sufficie

 9. ‘But’, say they, ‘since the text makes mention of Christ, to be consistent we must take the spirit it speaks of to be none other than the Holy Spir

 10. Accordingly, if created spirit bears this meaning, we can appropriately take the thunder which is established to be the sure word and unshakable l

 11. What is this mighty folly of theirs? Once again, where in the Scriptures have they found the Spirit referred to as an angel? I am obliged to repea

 12. Moses too knew that the angels are creatures and that the Holy Spirit is united with the Son and the Father. For when God said to him, ‘Depart, go

 13. ‘But granting this,’ they say, ‘why did the Apostle after Christ make mention not of the Holy Spirit but of the elect angels?’ In like manner we m

 14. What will they say if they hear also the Lord saying: ‘There was in a certain place a judge who feared not God and regarded not man’? Because, aft

 15. Such, it seems to me, is the meaning of the divine oracles and it refutes the evil which these irrational men speak against the Spirit. But they,

 16. We ought therefore, as I said before, to be silent on these matters and to disregard these people. But lest our silence should furnish an excuse f

 17. For this reason too, it is madness to call him a creature. If he were a creature, he would not be ranked with the Triad. For the whole Triad is on

 18. Let them presume to tell us, as they have a glib answer to everything, how the heavens were formed, and from what material, and what is their comp

 19. Since, therefore, such an attempt is futile madness, nay, more than madness !, let no one ask such questions any more, or else let him learn only

 20. But if there is such co-ordination and unity within the holy Triad, who can separate either the Son from the Father, or the Spirit from the Son or

 21. But if, in regard to order and nature, the Spirit bears the same relation to the Son as the Son to the Father, will not he who calls the Spirit a

 22. The creatures came from nothing, having a beginning from which they came into being. For, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth’

 23. He, therefore, who is not sanctified by another, nor a partaker of sanctification, but who is himself partaken, and in whom all the creatures are

 24. Further it is through the Spirit that we are all said to be partakers of God. For it says: ‘Know ye not that ye are a temple of God and that the S

 25. The Spirit, therefore, is distinct from the creatures, and is shown rather to be proper to the Son and not alien from God. As for that wise questi

 26. That the Spirit is above the creation, distinct in nature from things originated, and proper to the Godhead, can be seen from the following consid

 27. From what follows, also, we may see how the Holy Spirit is partaken and does not partake. (We must not mind repeating ourselves.) For, ‘It is impo

 28. But, beyond these sayings, let us look at the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave,

 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

 30. Such absurdities meet you if you say God is dyad. But if he is triad, as indeed he is and if the Triad has been shown to be indivisible and consi

 31. This consideration also shows that the activity of the Triad is one. The Apostle does not mean that the things which are given are given different

 32. The divine Scriptures, then, consistently show that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, but is proper to the Word and to the Godhead of the Father.

 33. Dwelling as I do in a desert place, yet, because of their effrontery who have turned away from the truth, I have not heeded those who will be glad

 EPISTLE TWO—THREE

 2. This opinion of the Arians is indeed mortal and corruptible. But the argument of truth, which even they ought to ponder, runs like this: If God is

 3. When these points are thus proved, he is impious who says that the Son is a creature. For he will be compelled also to give the name of creature to

 4. Again, all things originate were not and have come into being. For, ‘He made the earth as nothing’ and, ‘Who calleth the things that are not as th

 5. Since these things are true and are written in Scripture, who does not recognize that, inasmuch as the Son has no likeness to the creatures but has

 6. In this way too we can refute the impiety of those who say that the Word of God is a creature. Our faith is in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the

 7. But as they plead the passage in Proverbs, ‘The Lord created me, a beginning of his ways, for his works’, adding, ‘See, “He created” He is a creatu

 8. This character [of our faith] is from the Apostles through the Fathers. It remains that he who reads Scripture should examine and judge when it spe

 9. Then too there is that other saying, which is indeed well said, but by them ill understood—I mean: ‘Of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not ev

 Letter III. 1. Perhaps you will wonder why, when I was charged to abridge and briefly to explain the letter I had written concerning the Holy Spirit,

 2. These considerations are sufficient to dissuade anyone, be he never so contentious, from continuing to call the Spirit of God a creature, who is in

 3. Again, the Holy Spirit is called, and is, unction and seal. For John writes: ‘And as for you, the unction which ye received of him abideth in you,

 4. This the Apostle knows when he says: ‘All these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally, even as he will’ and a little

 5. As it is thus written, it is clear that the Spirit is not a creature, but takes part in the act of creation. The Father creates all things through

 6. Assuredly, when he prayed for the Corinthians, he prayed in the Triad, saying: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the comm

 7. In these terms the Catholic faith is expressed. But as for those who speak evil of the Spirit and call him a creature, if what we have said does no

 Epistle Four

 2. Who, when he hears these things, will still regard them as Christians, and not rather as pagans? For such things the pagans say against us in conve

 3. Once again, in the following way also, it is just for you to be questioned from the questions you ask. If the prophets speak in the Spirit of God,

 4. Thus the Spirit is not a creature but proper to the essence of the Word and proper to God in whom he is said to be. Once more, we must not shrink f

 5. These things being thus proved, he must be mad who asks, Is the Spirit also a son? But neither let any man, because this is not written, separate h

 6. For if you ask, Is the Spirit then a son?, since by our showing he is not a creature so must you ask, Is the Son then a father?, for you have

 7. These things are sufficient to refute your foolish speech. Mock no more at the Godhead. For it is the part of those who mock to ask the questions w

3. When these points are thus proved, he is impious who says that the Son is a creature. For he will be compelled also to give the name of creature to the Fountain which sends forth as its creature Wisdom, the Word, in whom are all the things of the Father.

Above all, from what follows can one observe how rotten is the heresy of the Arian madmen. Those to whom we are alike and whose identical nature we share, with these we are one in essence. For example, we men, because we are alike and share the same identical nature, are one in essence with each other. For it belongs to us all to be mortal, corruptible, capable of change, originated from nothing. So too are the angels among themselves, and all the rest in so far as they are one in nature with each other. Let these busybodies then examine whether the creatures have any likeness to the Son, or whether they can find in things originate the things that are in the Son, that they dare to call God’s Word a creature. But they will not find them there, these men who rush impetuously at everything and who go astray from true religion. Among the creatures none is almighty, and none is in subjection to another; for each belongs to God himself. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God’; and, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’; ‘The sea saw and fled’. All things are the servants of him who is their Maker, doing his word and obeying his decree. But the Son, like the Father, is Almighty; as we have shown from Scripture. Again, among the creatures there is none that is not by nature capable of change. Some of the angels ‘kept not their own rank’; and, ‘The stars are not pure in his sight’. The devil fell from heaven; Adam transgressed; and all things suffer alteration. So Paul reminds us from the hundred and first Psalm: ‘Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou continuest; and they shall all wax old as doth a garment; and as a mantle shalt thou roll them up . . . and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.’ And again he says: ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, yea and for ever !’

Τούτων δὲ οὕτω δεικνυμένων, ἀσεβής ἐστιν ὁ λέγων κτίσμα εἶναι τὸν Υἱόν. Ἀναγκασθήσεται γὰρ εἰπεῖν κτίσμα καὶ τὴν πηγὴν βρύουσαν, κτίσμα τὴν σοφίαν, τὸν Λόγον, ἐν ᾧ ἐστι πάντα τὰ τοῦ Πα τρός. Ἄλλως τε καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων ἄν τις ἴδοι τὸ σαθρὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως τῶν Ἀρειομανιτῶν. Ὧν ἐσμεν ὅμοιοι, καὶ τὴν ταυτότητα ἔχομεν τούτων, καὶ ὁμοούσιοί ἐσμεν· ἄνθρωποι γοῦν ὅμοιοι καὶ ταυτότητα ἔχοντες, ὁμοούσιοί ἐσμεν ἀλλήλων. Τὸ αὐτὸ γὰρ πᾶσι, τὸ θνητὸν, τὸ φθαρτὸν, τὸ τρεπτὸν, τὸ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων. Καὶ ἄγγελοι δὲ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα, ὡσαύτως ὁμοφυῆ ἐστιν ἀλλήλων. Οὐκοῦν ἐρευνάτωσαν οἱ περίεργοι, εἰ ἔστι τις ὁμοιότης πρὸς τὸν Υἱὸν τοῖς κτίσμασιν· ἢ τὰ ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ δύνανται εὑρεῖν ἐν τοῖς γενητοῖς, ἵνα καὶ κτίσμα τολμήσωσιν εἰπεῖν τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν εὕροιεν οἱ πάντα προπετεῖς καὶ πλανώμενοι περὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς κτίσμασιν οὐδέν ἐστι παντοκράτωρ, καὶ οὐδὲν παρὰ τοῦ ἑτέρου κρατεῖται. Ἕκαστον γὰρ αὐ τοῦ ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ. «Οἱ» μὲν γὰρ «οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦν ται δόξαν Θεοῦ· ἡ δὲ γῆ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς· ἡ θάλασσα εἶδε καὶ ἔφυγε.» Καὶ τὰ πάντα δοῦλα τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἐστὶ, ποιοῦντα τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὑπακούοντα τῷ προστάγματι αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς παντοκράτωρ ἐστὶν, ὡς ὁ Πατήρ· καὶ τοῦτο γέγραπται, καὶ δέδεικται. Πάλιν τε ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασιν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἄτρεπτον τῇ φύσει. Τῶν γὰρ ἀγγέλων τινὲς οὐκ ἐτήρησαν τὴν ἰδίαν τάξιν· καὶ «ἄστρα οὐ καθαρὰ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ·» καὶ ὁ μὲν διάβολος ἔπεσεν ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ· ὁ δὲ Ἀδὰμ παρέβη· καὶ πάντα ἀλλοιούμενά ἐστιν. Ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς ἄτρεπτός ἐστι καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος, ὡς ὁ Πατήρ. Καὶ τοῦτο ὁ Παῦ λος ὑπέμνησεν ἐκ τοῦ ἑκατοστοῦ καὶ πρώτου ψαλμοῦ λέγων· «Καὶ σὺ κατ' ἀρχὰς, Κύριε, τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας· καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου εἰσὶν οἱ οὐ ρανοί. Αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμενεῖς· καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται, καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἀλλάξεις αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται· σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσι.» Καὶ πάλιν λέγει· «Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς χθὲς καὶ σήμερον· ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.»