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you beget in your theologies. But we have both seen in those who write by the Spirit the mysteries of God, and we believe and preach that they are in one another, passing through one another unmingled, and that each relates not more to itself than to the others. If each relates to itself without distance and immediately—for how could it not?—how will it relate to the others mediately? But when we seek the cause of that ineffable and suprarational relation to one another, and of the surpassing co-naturality, and of the incomprehensible and inexpressible perichoresis, we find and preach again the Father Himself, knowing Him as union, Him as bond, Him as both Father and Producer and container of both the Begotten and the Proceeding; and thus we posit Him as their stable principle.

From whichever of them, I mean the Son and the Spirit, we see the other Comforter manifested to us economically, through this one we are at once led back to the first and only principle; for when the Son sends or gives the Spirit, whence has He this, if not from the first and only principle? Therefore He so sends and gives, as having it subsisting from the Father, but not as Himself co-processing and co-subsisting it; and by sending and giving, He shows us this very thing: that it is mine, but from the Father, not from me.

The great in theology and truly great Athanasius, having understood this, or rather having been enlightened, and having conveyed the light to us in his discourse, in one of his letters *To Serapion*: “Since the Son, the living Word, is one,” he says, “there must be one and full sanctifying and illuminating life, which is His energy and gift; which indeed is said to proceed from the Father, because it shines forth and is sent from the Word who is from the Father. “For God so (p. 234) loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son,” and the Son sends the Spirit.” For this is the very same thing that was said a little above by Gregory, surnamed the Theologian, that whatever is said more humbly concerning the divine Spirit—the grace, the gift, and anything else of the sort—must be referred back to the first cause, that its origin may be shown. For when the great one here spoke more humbly of the Holy Spirit as a gift and energy of the Word, and showed that his discourse was not about the existence nor about the hypostasis of the Spirit (for an energy is effected rather than effects, but the Holy Spirit is a provider and bestower of His own gifts), having therefore clearly indicated that he is not speaking of the pre-eternal procession, he added that “it shines forth and is sent from the Word who is from the Father.”

What then, by its shining forth and being sent from the Word, do we understand that it proceeds from Him? “Away with it,” he says, “you cast very far from the mark; but we understand and say that it proceeds from the Father, since it is given and sent by the Son.” For the Son, having the Holy Spirit co-existing from there before the ages, now also sends and gives it to us. And since the giving is an illumination (and the initiated know this, as many as have seen and experienced the brightness of God, as many as have seen the glory of the Lord “as of the only-begotten from the Father,” as many as were illumined by the light of the divinity on the mountain, and in addition to these, those who have securely believed in these things), since therefore the giving is an illumination, instead of its being given and sent by the Son, he said it shines forth and is sent from the Son. And this he shows even more clearly from the structure of the argument: “For God the Father,” he says, “gave the Son for us; and the Son, the Spirit.”

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ἐντίκτεις ταῖς θεολογίαις ταῖς σαῖς. Ἡμεῖς δέ καί ἑωράκαμεν ἐν τοῖς Πνεύματι γράφουσι Θεοῦ μυστήρια καί πιστεύομεν καί κηρύττομεν ἐν ἀλλήλοις τε ὄντα δι᾿ ἀλλήλων ἀμιγῶς χωροῦντα καί οὐ μᾶλλον πρός ἑαυτό ἕκαστον ἤ πρός ἄλληλα ἔχοντα. Εἰ δέ πρός ἑαυτό ἕκαστον ἔχει ἀδιαστάτως τε καί ἀμέσως - πῶς γάρ οὔ; πῶς ἐμμέσως ἕξει πρός ἄλληλα; Ὅταν δέ τήν αἰτίαν ζητῶμεν τῆς ἀρρήτου ἐκείνης καί ὑπέρ πάντα νοῦν πρός ἄλληλα σχέσεως καί τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης συμφυΐας καί τῆς ἀπερινοήτου τε καί ἀφθέγκτου περιχωρήσεως, αὐτόν αὖθις εὑρίσκομεν καί κηρύττομεν τόν Πατέρα, αὐτόν ἕνωσιν, αὐτόν σύνδεσμον, αὐτόν καί Πατέρα καί προβολέα καί συνοχέα γινώσκοντες τοῦ γεννήματός τε καί τοῦ προβλήματος˙ καί οὕτω μένον καί ἀρχήν αὐτῶν ἐκεῖνον τιθέμεθα.

Παρ᾿ ὅτου δ᾿ ἄν αὐτῶν, Υἱοῦ λέγω καί Πνεύματος, οἰκονομικῶς ἡμῖν ἴδωμεν τόν ἕτερον παράκλητον φανερούμενον, αὐτίκα διά τούτου πρός τήν πρώτην καί μόνην ἀρχήν ἀναγόμεθα˙ πέμπων γάρ ἤ διδούς τό Πνεῦμα ὁ Υἱός, πόθεν τοῦτ᾿ἔχει, ὅτι μή παρά τῆς πρώτης καί μόνης ἀρχῆς; Οὐκοῦν οὕτω πέμπει τε καί δίδωσιν, ὡς ἔχων ὑφιστάμενον ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ αὐτός συνεκπορεύων καί συνυφιστῶν˙ καί πέμπων καί διδούς, τοῦτ᾿ αὐτό δείκνυσιν ἡμῖν, ὡς ἐμοῦ μέν ἔστιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός, οὐκ ἐξ ἐμοῦ.

Τοῦτο δέ καί ὁ πολύς ἐν θεολογίᾳ καί ὄντως μέγας Ἀθανάσιος ἐννοήσας, μᾶλλον δέ φωτισθείς, καί ἡμῖν τῷ λόγῳ διαπορθμεύσας τό φῶς, ἐν μιᾷ τῶν Πρός Σεραπίωνα ἐπιστολῶν˙ «ἑνός ὄντος», φησί, «τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τοῦ ζῶντος Λόγου, μίαν εἶναι δεῖ καί πλήρη τήν ἁγιαστικήν καί φωτιστικήν ζωήν, οὖσαν ἐνέργειαν καί δωρεάν αὐτοῦ˙ ἥτις γε ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός λέγεται ἐκπορεύεσθαι, ἐπειδή παρά τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ ἐκ Πατρός ἐκλάμπει καί ἀποστέλλεται. "Οὕτω (σελ. 234) γάρ ὁ Θεός ἠγάπησε τόν κόσμον, ὥστε τόν Υἱόν αὐτοῦ τόν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν", ὁ δέ Υἱός τό Πνεῦμα ἀποστέλλει». Τοῦτο γάρ αὐτό ἐστιν ἐκεῖνο, τό παρά τοῦ τῆς θεολογίας ἐπωνύμου Γρηγορίου μικρόν καί ἀνωτέρω εἰρημένον, ὡς ὅ τι ἄν περί τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ταπεινότερον λέγηται, τό χάρισμα, τό δώρημα, καί εἴ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον, ἐπί τήν πρώτην αἰτίαν ἀνακτέον, ἵνα τό ἐξ οὗ δειχθῇ. Εἰπών γάρ ὁ μέγας ἐνταυθοῖ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ταπεινότερον δωρεάν καί ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Λόγου, καί δείξας ὡς οὐχί περί τῆς ὑπάρξεως οὐδέ περί τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτῷ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὁ Λόγος (ἡ γάρ ἐνέργεια ἐνεργεῖται μᾶλλον ἤ ἐνεργεῖ, τό δέ Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον παρεκτικόν καί μεταδοτικόν ὑπάρχει τῶν αὐτοῦ δωρεῶν) σαφῶς οὖν ἐμφήνας ὡς οὐχί περί τῆς προαιωνίου λέγει ἐκπορεύσεως, ἐπήγαγεν, ὅτι «παρά τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκλάμπει καί ἀποστέλλεται».

Τί δή, διά τοῦ ἐκλάμπειν καί ἀποστέλλεσθαι παρά τοῦ Λόγου νοοῦμεν ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐκπορεύεται; Ἄπαγε, φησίν, ὡς πορρωτάτω βάλλεις τοῦ σκοποῦ˙ ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται νοοῦμεν καί λέγομεν, ἐπεί παρά τοῦ Υἱοῦ δίδοταί τε καί ἀποστέλλεται. Ἔχων γάρ ἐκεῖθεν πρό αἰώνων συνυφεστώς ὁ Υἱός τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, νῦν πρός ἡμᾶς καί ἀποστέλλει καί δίδωσιν. Ἐπεί δέ ἡ δόσις ἔλλαμψις (καί τοῦτ᾿ ἴσασιν οἱ μεμυημένοι, ὅσοι λαμπρότητα Θεοῦ καί εἶδον καί ἔπαθον, ὅσοι τήν δόξαν τοῦ Κυρίου εἶδον «ὡς μονογενοῦς παρά Πατρός», ὅσοι τῷ φωτί τῆς θεότητος ἐπί τοῦ ὄρους περιηυγάσθησαν, πρός δέ τούτοις καί οἱ τούτοις ἀσφαλῶς πιστεύσαντες) ἐπεί οὖν ἡ δόσις ἔλλαμψις, ἀντί τοῦ παρά τοῦ Υἱοῦ δίδοσθαί τε καί ἀποστέλλεσθαι, παρά τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐκλάμπειν ἔφη καί ἀποστέλλεσθαι. Καί τοῦτ᾿ ἔτι σαφέστερον δείκνυσιν ἐκ τῆς κατασκευῆς τοῦ λόγου˙ «ὁ μέν γάρ Θεός καί Πατήρ», φησί, «τόν Υἱόν ἔδωκεν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν˙ ὁ δέ Υἱός, τό Πνεῦμα».