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Sabbath; so that the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Do you see how far mission is from procession? As far as eternity is from time, and God from created things, and the one who is by nature master of creation from those who are by nature slaves.

He, therefore, who has been initiated by God and by the true theologians, when he hears that the Spirit is breathed, understands by the breathing that He is present and consubstantial with the one who breathes, but not that He is the breath itself, so as to have His existence necessarily from that from which the breath comes; and if sent, that He is made manifest; and if given, he also recognizes the conjunction of the one sent and the sender; and if received by us, he knows that as God, He is ungraspable, but His gifts are graspable by us; and if he hears that He is sent, given, breathed by the Son, he immediately understands this, along with the other things, that He proceeds from the Father, just as Gregory, great in theology, wisely deems we should understand: “For whatever things,” he says, “are spoken of more humbly concerning the Holy Spirit, such as being given, being sent, being divided, the grace, the gift, the breath, or anything else of the sort, must be referred to the first cause, so that the *from whom* may be shown,” (that is, the Father; for He is the first cause) and that we may not, he says, “admit three divided principles in a polytheistic manner,” which is what has happened to you, not being led back to the first cause through these expressions.

And you are not ashamed to clearly proclaim two principles, dogmatizing that the Spirit has His existence from the Father and the Son, while allowing a third to be inferred from what you say. For if because He is sent by the Son He also proceeds from Him, yet the Spirit also sends the Son, not only as man but also as God, as has been shown above, and the Son and the Spirit also send the Father, (p. 230) as the golden theologian John interpreted that prophetic utterance, “The Lord has sent me, and his Spirit,” behold, for you the Spirit is also a principle, and the Son is either begotten or proceeds from the Father and the Spirit.

For I omit to speak of the Father, although this too follows from the Latin innovation, revering the excessiveness of the hyperbole. And one might see that the other absurdities that follow do not fall short in their excess for the worse: for they are shown to be mutually destructive, if by mission we should understand procession or generation. For if these things are according to the mission, then each of them is not a mode of existence, even if they are pre-eternal; but if we should understand the mission to us according to the pre-eternal procession and generation, there will be some timeless and eternal mission to us, or some temporal existence of the Son and of the Spirit.

And the intelligent hearer must also take note of this, that Gregory, surnamed the Theologian, numbered “being sent” among the things spoken of more humbly concerning the Spirit; but “to proceed” is great and beyond great. “For if it is great for the Father to have His origin from nowhere, it is no less for the Spirit to proceed from such a Father.” Therefore, mission and procession are not the same thing. For mission manifests the purpose of the condescension towards us; but procession is the name for the Spirit's existence in Himself from the Father. And the one is that by which we have partaken of well-being; but the other presents the Holy Spirit as by nature conjoined in honor to the Father, differing from Him and the Son only in hypostasis.

But you, seeing the division resulting for you from your words because of your innovations and which already divides you from God (for what is next to, and far from or near to, division?) (p. 232) therefore, in order that you might again escape what you are constructing, a great distance

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Σάββατον˙ ὥστε Κύριός ἐστι τοῦ Σαββάτου ὁ Υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου». Ὁρᾷς πόσον ἀπέχει ἀποστολή ἐκπορεύσεως; Ὅσον χρόνων ἀϊδιότης καί κτισμάτων Θεός καί τῶν φύσει δούλων ὁ φύσει δεσπότης τῆς κτίσεως.

Ὁ τοίνυν παρά Θεοῦ καί τῶν ὡς ἀληθῶς θεολόγων μεμυημένος ἐμφυσώμενον μέν ἀκούων τό Πνεῦμα δι᾿ ἐμφυσήματος παρόν καί συμφυές ὄν τῷ ἐμφυσῶντι νοεῖ σημαινόμενον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ αὐτό ὑπάρχον ἐμφύσημα, ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἔχειν τήν ὕπαρξιν ἐξ οὗ τό ἐμφύσημα˙ ἄν δέ καί πεμπόμενον, φανερούμενον˙ ἄν δέ καί διδόμενον, καί τό συνημμένον ἐπιγινώσκει τοῦ πεμπομένου τε καί τοῦ πέμποντος˙ ἄν δέ παρ᾿ ἡμῶν λαμβανόμενον, οἶδε μέν ᾗ Θεόν, ἄληπτον, ληπτά δέ ἡμῖν τά παρ᾿ ἐκείνου χαρίσματα˙ ἄν δέ καί παρά τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀκούσῃ πεμπόμενον, διδόμενον, ἐμφυσώμενον, εὐθύς καί τοῦτο πρός τοῖς ἄλλοις συνίησιν, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται, καθά καί Γρηγόριος ἐκλαμβάνειν ἀξιοῖ σοφῶς ὁ ἐν θεολογίᾳ πολύς˙ «ὅσα γάρ», φησί, «περί τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ταπεινότερα λέγεται, τό δίδοσθαι, τό στέλλεσθαι, τό μερίζεσθαι, τό χάρισμα, τό δώρημα, τό ἐμφύσημα, εἴτε τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον, ἐπί τήν πρώτην αἰτίαν ἀνακτέον, ἵνα τό ἐξ οὗ δειχθῇ», (δηλαδή τοῦ Πατρός˙ αὐτός γάρ ἡ πρώτη αἰτία) καί μή τρεῖς, φησίν, ἀρχαί μεμερισμέναι πολυθέως παραδεχθῶσιν», ὅπερ αὐτός ἔπαθες, μή πρός τήν πρώτην αἰτίαν διά τούτων τῶν φωνῶν ἀναγόμενος.

Καί δύο μέν σαφῶς κηρύττων οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ ἀρχάς ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ τό Πνεῦμα δογματίζων ἔχειν τήν ὕπαρξιν, τήν δέ τρίτην ἀφ᾿ ὧν λέγεις διδούς συνάγεσθαι. Εἰ γάρ διά τό πέμπεσθαι παρά τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐκπορεύεται, πέμπει δέ καί τό Πνεῦμα τόν Υἱόν, οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπον μόνον ἀλλά καί ὡς Θεόν, καθάπερ ἀνωτέρω δέδεικται, ἀλλά καί τόν Πατέρα ὁ Υἱός τε καί τό Πνεῦμα, (σελ. 230) ὡς ὁ χρυσοῦς θεολόγος Ἰωάννης ἐξηγούμενος τό προφητικόν ἐκεῖνο, «Κύριος ἀπέσταλκέ με καί τό Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ», ἐξεδέξατο, ἰδού σοι καί τό Πνεῦμα ἀρχή, καί ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Πνεύματος ὁ Υἱός ἤ γεννᾶται ἤ ἐκπορεύεται.

Παρίημι γάρ τόν Πατέρα λέγειν, κἄν ἐκ τῆς λατινικῆς καινοφωνίας καί τοῦτ᾿ ἐκβαίνῃ, τό περιόν τῆς ὑπερβολῆς εὐλαβούμενος. Ἴδοι δ᾿ ἄν τις οὐδέ τ᾿ ἄλλα τῶν ἐκβαινόντων ἀτόπων τήν ἐπί τό χεῖρον ὑπερβολήν ἀπολείπονται˙ καί γάρ δι᾿ ἀλλήλων ἀναιρούμενα δείκνυται, εἰ διά τῆς ἀποστολῆς νοήσαιμεν τήν ἐκπόρευσιν ἤ τήν γέννησιν. Εἰ γάρ ταῦτα κατά τήν ἀποστολήν, ἑκάτερον λοιπόν τούτων οὐχ ὑπάρξεώς ἐστι τρόπος, κἄν προαιώνια ᾖ˙ εἰ δέ κατά τήν πρό αἰώνων ἐκπόρευσίν τε καί γέννησιν τήν πρός ἡμᾶς ἀποστολήν νοήσαιμεν, ἀποστολή τις πρός ἡμᾶς ἄχρονος καί ἀΐδιος ἤ χρονική τις ὕπαρξιν ἔσται τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί τοῦ Πνεύματος.

Ἐπιστῆσαι δέ καί τοῦτο χρή τόν συνετόν ἀκροατήν, ὡς ὁ τῆς θεολογίας ἐπώνυμος Γρηγόριος τοῖς περί τοῦ Πνεύματος ταπεινότερον λεγομένοις καί τό ἀποστέλλεσθαι συνηρίθμησε˙ τό δέ ἐκπορεύεσθαι μέγα καί ὑπέρ τό μέγα ἐστίν. «Εἰ γάρ μέγα τῷ Πατρί τό μηδαμόθεν ὁρμᾶσθαι, οὐκ ἔλαττον τῷ Πνεύματι τό ἐκ τοιούτου Πατρός ἐκπορεύεσθαι». Οὐκ ἄρα τἀυτόν ἀποστολή καί ἐκπόρευσις. Ἡ μέν γάρ ἀποστολή τῆς πρός ἡμᾶς συγκαταβάσεως ἐκφαίνει τήν πρόθεσιν˙ ἡ δέ ἐκπόρευσις τῆς καθ᾿ ἑαυτό παρά Πατρός ὑπάρξεως τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐστιν ὄνομα. Καί ἡ μέν ἔστι, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡμεῖς τοῦ εὖ εἶναι μετέσχομεν˙ ἡ δέ παρίστησι τό φύσει συνημμένον ὁμοτίμως πρός τόν Πατέρα, τό κατά μόνην ὑπόστασιν διαφέρον αὐτοῦ καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον.

Σύ δέ τό μεμερισμένον ἐκ τῶν λόγων σοι συμβαῖνον βλέπων διά τάς σάς καινοτομίας καί ἤδη σε μερίζον Θεοῦ (τί γάρ τό προσεχές καί πόρρω ἤ ἐγγύς μερισμοῦ); (σελ. 232) ἵν᾿ οὖν ὅ κατασκευάζεις αὖθις ἐκφύγῃς, πολύ τό μέσον