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Of the Dogmatic Theologians that, "all things that the Father has are also of his Spirit, except for unbegottenness," has shown that not only is the unbegotten identical with the uncaused, but also the uncaused is identical with the caused in God; for the caused coincides with the uncaused in God, and by caused I mean of the divinity of the Son and of the Spirit. Wishing, therefore, to say that the Spirit has all the things of the Father except for being uncaused and being a cause, (p. 260) that is, in begetting and processing, he said, except for unbegottenness alone, as this encompasses all things that are proper to the Father.

God, therefore, is unbegotten and uncaused; but God who is uncaused is the cause of divinity. But being thus a cause of an innate richness, lacking in nothing of Himself, He would be self-contrived, being a cause of one and only one, and thus making His richness a poverty for Himself. In addition to this, that which is in every way and altogether one is also incomplete; for which reason it became comprehensible to the Jews, who were incomplete in their knowledge of God. But neither, being a cause of a consubstantial dyad, begetting the one and putting forth the other by way of procession, would He be unbecomingly, so to speak, carried out further, and this, while circumscribing all infinity in Himself and in those from Him. In addition to these things, there is no other mode of innate existence; for which reason what is beyond these is not divinity, but a falling away from divinity; this, then, is also the polytheism of the atheistic Greeks.

But indeed, a monad having moved towards a dyad and not having advanced further, that is, God the Father, creator of all, towards the begetting and procession of the Son, the maker of all things and the one who perfects all things, neither is the Son through the Spirit (for he would be imperfect from the Father, if he were begotten through the Spirit who perfects) nor the Spirit through the Son; for besides being imperfect from the Father, and this while perfecting all things, it would also be one of the created things; for "all things were made through him," but the Spirit is known through the Son. And, to say it both prophetically and paternally, in Thy light, the Spirit, we shall see light, the Son; so that we may know not only that they exist from one principle, but also that they are unseparated from one another and inhere in one another and reveal (p. 262) one another and are shown forth through one another, but are not through one another or from one another or of one another; for one is 'that from which'.

And so the theologian, in saying that the Son has all things of the Father except for unbegottenness, has said that he has all things of the Cause, as he has also clearly specified elsewhere in his writings. And if the Son has all the things of the Father except for being a cause, that is, of divinity, and the Father is a cause not only by begetting the Son, but also by processing the Spirit, then the Son has all the things of the Father, except for begetting the Son and processing the Spirit; which things, being of the Father alone, testify to His unbegottenness. For which reason also the theologian Damascene, in his On the Holy Trinity, says, "Because of the Father," that is, because the Father is, the Son and the Spirit have all that they have, that is, because the Father has them, except for unbegottenness and generation and procession."

But if unbegottenness signifies that which is in every way and altogether cause in God, then generation will most necessarily signify that the begotten is in no way and in no manner a cause of divinity, just as procession signifies that which exists from the Father by way of procession. But if the Son is in no way and in no manner a cause of divinity, how could the Spirit be from him? Or how is the Father the first cause, and then the Son after him, as if the Holy Spirit proceeds from him as well, as the Latins think they must believe, being out of their minds, as I think, and misunderstanding the patristic sayings? For this theologian, who is rightly so called, does not say so, "but," he says, "the Son has all the things of the Father except for unbegottenness,"

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∆ογματικῶν ὅτι, «πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατήρ καί αὐτοῦ τοῦ Πνεύματος εἰσι, πλήν τῆς ἀγεννησίας», ἔδειξεν ὡς οὐ μόνον τό ἀγέννητον τῷ ἀναιτίῳ ταὐτόν, ἀλλά καί τό ἀναίτιον τῷ αἰτίῳ ταὐτόν ἐστιν ἐπί Θεοῦ˙ συντρέχει γάρ τῷ ἀναιτίῳ τό αἴτιον ἐπί Θεοῦ, αἴτιον δέ φημι θεότητος Υἱοῦ καί Πνεύματος. Θέλων οὖν εἰπεῖν ὅτι τό Πνεῦμα πάντα τά τοῦ Πατρός ἔχει πλήν τοῦ ἀναιτίου εἶναι καί τοῦ αἴτιον εἶναι, (σελ. 260) κατά τό γεννᾶν δηλαδή καί ἐκπορεύειν, χωρίς μόνης τῆς ἀγεννησίας εἶπεν, ὡς αὐτῆς πάντα συμπεριβαλλούσης, ὅσα τοῦ Πατρός ἐστιν ἴδια.

Θεός οὖν ἀγέννητος καί ἀναίτιος˙ Θεός δέ ἀναίτιος θεότητος αἴτιος. Οὕτω δέ ὤν αἴτιος ἐμφύτου πλούτου, ἑαυτοῦ κατά μηδέν ἀποδέοντος, αὐτεπίβουλος ἄν ἦν, ἑνός καί μόνου ὑπάρχων αἴτιος καί οὕτω πενίαν ἑαυτῷ τόν πλοῦτον ποιούμενος. Πρό δέ τούτῳ καί ἀτελές τό πάντῃ καί πάντως ἕν˙ διό καί χωρητόν τοῖς πρός θεογνωσίαν ἀτελέσιν Ἰουδαίοις ἐγένετο. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ ὁμοουσίου δυάδος ὑπάρχων αἴτιος καί τό μέν γεννῶν, τό δέ ἐκπορευτῶς προβαλλόμενος, ἀπειροκάλως, ἵν᾿ οὕτως εἴπω, ἐπί πλεῖον ἐξενεχθείη, καί ταῦτ᾿ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τε καί τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν ἀπειρίαν περιορίζων. Πρός δέ τούτοις οὐδέ τρόπος ἕτερος ἐμφύτου ὑπάρξεως˙ διό καί τό ὑπέρ ταῦτα οὐ θεότης, ἀλλά θεότητος ἔκπτωσις˙ ταῦτ᾿ ἄρα καί τῶν ἀθέων Ἑλλήνων ἡ πολυθεΐα ἐστίν.

Ἀλλά μήν μονάδος πρός δυάδα κεκινημένης καί περαιτέρω μή προηγμένης, δηλαδή παντουργοῦ Θεοῦ Πατρός πρός γέννησίν τε καί πρόοδον Υἱοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῶν πάντων καί τά πάντα τελεσιουργοῦντος, οὔθ᾿ ὁ Υἱός διά τοῦ Πνεύματος (ἀτελής γάρ ἦν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός, εἰ διά τοῦ τελεσιουργοῦντος ἐγεννᾶτο Πνεύματος) οὔτε τό Πνεῦμα δι᾿ Υἱοῦ˙ πρός γάρ τῷ ἀτελές εἶναι ἐκ Πατρός, καί ταῦτα τό πάντα τελειοῦν, καί τῶν δεδημιουργημένων ἦν ἄν ἕν˙ τά γάρ δι᾿ ἐκείνου γέγονε, δι᾿ Υἱοῦ δέ τό Πνεῦμα ἔγνωσται. Καί ἐν φωτί τῷ Πνεύματι φῶς ὁρῶμεν τόν Υἱόν προφητικῶς ὁμοῦ καί πατρικῶς εἰπεῖν˙ ὡς ἄν εἰδῶμεν μή μόνον ἐκ μιᾶς ὑπάρχοντα ἀρχῆς, ἀλλά καί ἀδιαστάτως ἔχοντα πρός ἄλληλα καί ἐνυπάρχοντα ἀλλήλοις καί ἄλληλα (σελ. 262) δεικνύντα καί δι᾿ ἀλλήλων προφαινόμενα, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ δι᾿ ἀλλήλων ἤ καί ἐξ ἀλλήλων ἤ ἀλλήλων ὄντα˙ ἕν γτάρ τό ἐξ οὗ.

Καί τοίνυν ὁ θεολογῶν πάντα ἔχειν πλήν τόν Υἱόν τά τοῦ Πατρός πλήν ἀγεννησίας πάντα ἔχειν αἰτίας εἴρηκεν, ὡς καί ἀλλαχοῦ τῶν συγγραμμάτων σαφῶς οὕτω προσδιώρισεν. Εἰ δέ πάντα ἔχει ὁ Υἱός τά τοῦ Πατρός πλήν τοῦ εἶναι αἴτιος, δηλαδή θεότητος, αἴτιος δέ ὁ Πατήρ οὐ γεννῶν μόνον τόν Υἱόν, ἀλλά καί τό Πνεῦμα ἐκπορεύων, πάντα ἔχει ὁ Υἱός τά τοῦ Πατρός, πλήν τοῦ τόν Υἱόν γεννᾶν τε καί τό Πνεῦμα ἐκπορεύειν˙ ἅ μόνου τοῦ Πατρός ὄντα τό ἀγέννητον αὐτῷ προσμαρτυρεῖ. ∆ιό καί ὁ ∆αμασκηνός θεολόγος ἐν τῷ Περί τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, «διά τόν Πατέρα», φησί, «τουτέστι διά τό εἶναι τόν Πατέρα, ἔχει ὁ Υἱός καί τό Πνεῦμα πάντα ἅ ἔχει, τουτέστι διά τό τόν Πατέρα ἔχειν αὐτά, πλήν τῆς ἀγεννησίας καί τῆς γεννήσεως καί τῆς ἐκπρορεύσεως».

Εἰ δέ ἡ ἀγεννησία τό πάντῃ τε καί πάντως αἴτιον ἐπί Θεοῦ δηλοῖ, ἡ γέννησις τό μηδαμῇ μηδαμῶς αἴτιον θεότητος εἶναι τό γεννητόν ἀναγκαιότατα δηλώσει, καθάπερ καί ἡ ἐκπόρευσις τό ἐκπορευτῶς ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ὑπάρχον. Εἰ δέ μή μηδαμῇ μηδαμῶς αἴτιος ὑπάρχει ὁ Υἱός θεότητος, πῶς ἄν εἴη ἐξ αὐτοῦ τό Πνεῦμα; Ἤ πῶς πρῶτον αἴτιον ὁ Πατήρ, εἶται ὁ Υἱός τούτῳ, ὡς καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκπορευομένου Πνεύματος, καθώς φρονεῖν δεῖν οἴονται Λατῖνοι, παραφρονοῦντες, ὡς ἐγᾦμαι, καί τάς πατρικάς παρανοοῦντες ρήσεις; Οὐ γάρ ὁ φερωνύμως θεολόγος οὗτος οὕτως, «ἀλλά πάντα», φησίν, «ἔχει ὁ Υἱός τά τοῦ Πατρός πλήν ἀγεννησίας»,