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of God, that the Son is a beginning from the beginning, if he says this in a creative sense, besides (p. 404) not otherwise agreeing with our confession, he also casts the Holy Spirit out from the creative power, which is the same as to say, also from the divinity; for what is not creative is not God; but if in a theogonic sense, he clearly teaches that the Spirit is from the Father and from the Son.

Nevertheless, since he himself said this in his Discourses, I have decided not to be completely silent. But you, having inquired with fitting gentleness and frankness, or rather love of learning, learn and teach us through your letters both the opinion of the man and the purpose of what has been so written. We shall therefore know him, and with pleasure indeed; for what else might be expected by us from a man who, through a desire for strict piety, has left his homeland? Know precisely and be unpersuaded about this, that this is the mind of the Latins and in this lies almost all their strength, and against this one who is arrayed against them must contend, if he does not wish to exhaust his strength at inopportune times, and be found weaker at opportune ones. For when they do not make their syllogisms from what is confessed by us, nor use as principles the divinely-handed-down sayings and thoughts, we should offer little or no defense, since they are willfully malicious and conduct their dialectic for the sake of strife, not for the sake of truth, and especially because such arguments are nothing to us. For if a musician or a geometer, as such, should not engage in discussion with one entirely ungeometrical or unmusical, that is, one not versed in the principles of geometry or music, and if those mathematicians should not even answer if they make their inquiry about the principles themselves, much more so should we not answer, nor engage in discussion with one who reasons about the properties of God not from theological principles; for his argument is composed (p. 406) from falsehoods, from which truth is not at all derived, or rather, not in any way. For this very reason falsehood is advanced by them, so that they are compelled to bring down upon their own heads the opposite of theology, which is blasphemy. Therefore, we must refuse them as those who are sick with a willful ignorance. But, so that this opinion which seems strong to those who think in the Latin way may be proven exceedingly unsound, we have already demonstrated in many ways and at length in our former discourses On the Holy Spirit composed with him, and now we shall not hesitate for the sake of those who will encounter this letter. For we do not tolerate that an argument of the heterodox, recorded by us, should be set before the many unrefuted, but rather, taking it up and giving another beginning to the discourse, we shall make clear, to the best of our ability, the things concerning the most monarchical principle and we shall refute those who dogmatize two principles for the one Spirit, both that they dogmatize this and that they do not do so rightly.

The creative principle is one, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when we speak of things brought forth from non-being by God, both the goodness through which they received being, and the innate grace, whence each has suitably partaken of well-being, and the grace that came after, through which the fallen have returned to well-being, when we make our discourses about these and similar things, we say that the Son in the Holy Spirit is also a principle and source and cause, not another, far from it, but the same, as of the Father bringing forth and leading back and holding all things together well through Him in the Holy Spirit. And the Father, in addition to being the source of all things through the Son in the Holy Spirit, is also the source and principle of divinity, being uniquely the begetter of God. And this we know better than by demonstration through the

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Θεοῦ, ὅτι ὁ Υἱός ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀρχή ἐστιν, εἰ μέν κατά τό δημιουργικόν φησι, πρός τῷ καί (σελ. 404) ἄλλως μή συμβαίνειν τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ὁμολογίᾳ, καί τό Πνεῦα τό ἅγιον ἐκβάλλει τῆς δημιουργικῆς δυνάμεως, ταὐτό δέ εἰπεῖν καί τῆς θεότητος˙ τό γάρ μή δημιουργικόν, οὐδέ Θεός˙ εἰ δέ κατά τό θεογόνον, ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός καί ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ σαφῶς τό Πνεῦμα παραδίδωσιν.

Οὐ μή ἀλλά τοῦτο μέν αὐτός ἐν τοῖς Λόγοις εἰρηκώς, σιωπῆσαι τελέως οὐ διέγνων. Σύ δέ ἐρωτήσας μετά τῆς γιγνομένης ἐπιεικείας τε ὁμοῦ καί παρρησίας, μᾶλλον δέ φιλομαθείας, μάθε καί δίδαξον ἡμᾶς διά γραμμάτων τήν τε δόξαν τοῦ ἀνδρός καί τόν σκοπόν τῶν γεγραμμένων οὕτω. Τόν μέν οὖν εἰσόμεθα καί μέθ᾿ ἡδονῆς δήπου˙ τί γάρ ποτ᾿ ἄν ἄλλο προσδόκιμον ἡμῖν εἴη παρ᾿ ἀνδρός ἀκριβοῦς εὐσεβείας πόθῳ τήν ἐνεγκοῦσαν ἀπολιπόντος; Ἴσθι δ᾿ ἀκριβῶς καί ἀμετάπειστος ἴσθι περί τοῦτο, ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστι τό τῶν Λατίνων φρόνημα καί ἐν τούτῳ αὐτοῖς σχεδόν τό ἰσχυρόν καί πρός τοῦτο ἀντιπαράττεσθαι δεῖ τόν ἀντιτεταγμένων, εἰ μή βούλοιτο κενοῦν μέν ἐν τοῖς ἀκαίροις τήν ἴσχύν, ἥττων δ᾿ ἐν τοῖς καιρίοις εὑρίσκεσθαι. Ὅταν γάρ μή ἐκ τῶν ἡμῖν ἀνωμολογημένων ποιῶνται τούς συλλογισμούς, μηδέ ὡς ἀρχαῖς χρῶνται τοῖς θεοπαραδότοις ρήμασί τε καί νοήμασι, μικρόν ἤ οὐδέν ἡμᾶς ἀπολογεῖσθαι χρή, ὡς ἐθελοκακοῦσι καί πρός ἔριν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πρός ἀλήθειαν ποιουμένοις τήν διάλεξιν, καί μάλισθ᾿ ὅτι μηδέν οἱ τοιοῦτοι λόγοι ἡμᾶς. Εἰ γάρ τόν μουσικόν ἤ τόν γεωμέτρην ᾗ τοιοῦτον ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν οὐ προσδιαλεκτέον ἀγεωμετρήτῳ παντάπασιν ἤ ἀναρμόστῳ, μή ἐξημμένῳ δηλαδή τῶν τῆς γεωμετρίας ἤ τῆς μουσικῆς ἀρχῶν, κἄν περί αὐτῶν τῶν ἀρχῶν τήν ζήτησιν ποιῆσθον τούς μαθηματικούς ἐκείνους μηδέ ἀποκρίνασθαι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἀποκριτέον, οὐδέ διαλεκτέον τῷ περί Θεοῦ ἰδιοτήτων συλλογιζομένῳ μή ἀπό τῶν θεολογικῶν ἀρχῶν˙ ἐκ ψευδῶν γάρ αὐτῷ συντίθεται (σελ. 406) ὁ λόγος, ἐξ ὧν οὐ πάντως ἀληθές συνάγεται, μᾶλλον δέ οὐδόλως. ∆ι᾿ αὐτό γάρ αὐτοῖς καί προάγεται τό ψεῦδος, ὥστε τό ἐναντίον τῇ θεολογίᾳ κατά τῆς ἑαυτῶν φέρειν κεφαλῆς ἀνάγκη, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ βλασφημία. Ὡς οὖν τήν κατά διάθεσιν ἄγνοιαν νοσοῦντας παραιτεῖσθαι δεῖ. Ἀλλά γάρ ὅπως σαθρόν λίαν ἐξελέγχεται τό δοκοῦν τοῦτο τοῖς λατινικῶς φρονοῦσιν ἰσχυρόν, ἤδη μέν καί ἐν τοῖς πρῴην Περί τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος σύν αὐτῷ πεποιημένοις ἡμῖν λόγοις πολλαχοῦ καί διά πλειόνων ἀπεδείξαμεν καί νῦν δέ οὐκ ὀκνήσομεν διά τούς ἐντυγχάνειν μέλλοντας τουτωί τῷ γράμματι. Οὐδέ γάρ ἀνεχόμεθα κακοδόξων ἐπιχείρημα παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐγγεγραμμένον ἀνεξέλεκτον προκεῖσθαι τοῖς πολλοῖς, μᾶλλον δέ ἀναλαβόντες καί ἑτέραν δόντες ἀρχήν τῷ λόγῳ, τά τῆς μοναρχικωτάτης ἀρχῆς εἰς δύναμιν διατρανώσωμεν καί ἐπελέγξωμεν τούς τοῦ ἑνός Πνεύματος δύο δογματίζοντας ἀρχάς, ὅτι τε τοῦτο δογματίζουσι καί ὅτι οὐ καλῶς.

Ἡ δημιουργική ἀρχή μία ἐστίν, ὁ Πατήρ καί ὁ Υἱός καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Ὅταν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τά ἐκ τοῦ μή ὄντος προηγμένα λέγωμεν, τήν τε ἀγαθότητα, δι᾿ ἥν τό εἶναι ἔσχον, καί τήν ἐγγεγενημένην χάριν, ὅθεν ἕκαστον τοῦ εὖ εἶναι καταλλήλως μετεσχήκασι, καί τήν ἐπιγεγενημένην ὕστερον, δι᾿ ἥν πρός τό εὖ εἶναι τά διαπεπτωκότα ἐπανῆλθον, ὅταν ταῦτά τε καί περί τοιούτων ποιώμεθα τούς λόγους, ἀρχήν καί πηγήν καί αἴτιον καί τόν Υἱόν ἐν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματί φαμεν, οὐχ ἑτέραν, ἄπαγε, ἀλλά τήν αὐτήν, ὡς τοῦ Πατρός δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι καί προάγοντος καί ἐπανάγοντος καί συνέχοντος καλῶς τά πάντα. Ὁ δέ Πατήρ πρός τῷ πηγή τῶν πάντων εἶναι διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, καί πηγή καί ἀρχή ἐστι θεότητος, θεογόνος ὤν μονώτατος. Καί τοῦτ᾿ ἐσμέν εἰδότες κρεῖττον ἤ κατά ἀπόδειξιν διά τῶν