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discussion and administration of nature, nevertheless, from the sequence of the argument, one might more reasonably agree that through the things known to us the power of the Spirit is active also upon those, than that it is alienated from the economy in the things that are higher. For he who says that puts forward a bare and unadorned blasphemy, supporting the absurdity with no reasoning. But he who agrees that the things above us are also administered by the power of the Spirit with the Father and the Son insists on these things, relying on the clear evidence in his own life. Therefore, the identity of operation in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit clearly shows the unchangeableness of the nature. So that, even if the name of divinity signifies nature, the community of substance establishes that this title properly applies also to the Holy Spirit. 189.8 But I do not know how those who fabricate everything apply the title of divinity to the indication of nature, as if they have not heard from Scripture that a nature is not created by appointment. But Moses was appointed god of the Egyptians, as the one who spoke the oracle said to him, "I have made you a god to Pharaoh." Therefore, the title indicates a certain authority, either of oversight or of operation. But the divine nature, in all the names conceived of it, remains, as it is, unsignified, as is our argument. For having learned of Benefactor and Judge, Good and Just and all other such things, we have been taught differences of operations; but we are no more able to know the nature of the one operating through the understanding of the operations. For when someone gives an account of each of these names and of the nature itself to which the names belong, he will not give the same account of both. And of things of which the account is different, the nature is also different. Therefore, the substance, for which no revealing account has yet been found, is one thing, and the meaning of the names concerning it, named from some operation or dignity, is another. We find, then, from the community of names that there is no difference in operations; but we apprehend no clear proof of variation in nature, since, as has been said, the identity of operations signifies the community of nature. Whether, therefore, divinity is a name of operation, just as we say there is one operation of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, so we also say there is one divinity; or whether, according to the opinions of the many, the name of divinity is indicative of nature, because we find no variation in the nature, we not unreasonably define the Holy Trinity as one divinity.

190.t TO AMPHILOCHIUS BISHOP OF ICONIUM

190.1 Worthily of your own diligence and zeal, of which I am always a praiser,

you were concerned for the affairs of the Church of the Isaurians. That it was, therefore, more profitable for all for the care to be divided among more bishops, I think is obvious even to the man on the street. For this did not escape your understanding, but as it is you have both noted it well and made it known to us. But since it is not easy to find worthy men, lest, while we desire to have trustworthiness from the multitude and to have the Church of God more accurately administered by a greater number, we might unwittingly, through the unworthiness of those called, bring the word into contempt and create a practice of indifference among the peoples? For you yourself know that whatever sort the leaders may be, such, for the most part, do the characters of those who are led tend to become. So perhaps it is better to put forward one approved man, if this is indeed easy, as president of the city and to entrust to his risk the administration of each matter, only if he is some servant of God, a workman who need not be ashamed, looking not to his own interests, but to those of the many, that they might be saved; who, if he knows himself to be too small for

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φύσεως διάλεξίς τε καὶ διοίκησις, ὅμως ἐκ τῆς ἀκολουθίας εὐλογώτερον ἄν τις σύνθοιτο διὰ τῶν ἡμῖν γνωρίμων ἐνεργὸν εἶναι καὶ ἐπ' ἐκείνων τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος δύναμιν, ἢ ἀπεξενῶσθαι τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὑπερκειμένοις οἰκονομίας. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖνο λέγων ψιλὴν καὶ ἀκατάσκευον τὴν βλασφημίαν προβάλλεται οὐδενὶ λογισμῷ κατασκευάζων τὴν ἀτοπίαν. Ὁ δὲ συντιθέ μενος καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς μετὰ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ Πνεύματος οἰκονομεῖσθαι ἐναργεῖ τεκμηρίῳ τῷ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ζωὴν ἐπερειδόμενος περὶ τούτων διισχυρίζεται. Οὐκοῦν ἡ τῆς ἐνεργείας ταὐτότης ἐπὶ Πατρός τε καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου δείκνυσι σαφῶς τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἀπαράλλακτον. Ὥστε, κἂν φύσιν σημαίνῃ τὸ τῆς θεότητος ὄνομα, κυρίως καὶ τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι τὴν προσηγορίαν ἐφαρμόζεσθαι ταύτην ἡ τῆς οὐσίας κοινότης συντίθεται. 189.8 Ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδα ὅπως ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἔνδειξιν τὴν προσηγορίαν τῆς θεότητος φέρουσιν οἱ πάντα κατασ κευάζοντες, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀκηκοότες παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς ὅτι χειροτονητὴ φύσις οὐ γίνεται. Μωσῆς δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐχειροτονήθη θεός, οὕτω πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰπόντος τοῦ χρημα τίζοντος ὅτι «Θεόν σε δέδωκα τῷ Φαραώ». Οὐκοῦν ἐξουσίας τινὸς εἴτε ἐποπτικῆς εἴτε ἐνεργητικῆς ἔνδειξιν ἡ προσηγορία φέρει. Ἡ δὲ θεία φύσις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπι νοουμένοις ὀνόμασι, καθό ἐστι, μένει ἀσήμαντος, ὡς ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος. Εὐεργέτην γὰρ καὶ κριτήν, ἀγαθόν τε καὶ δίκαιον καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοιαῦτα μαθόντες ἐνεργειῶν διαφορὰς ἐδιδάχθημεν· τοῦ δὲ ἐνεργοῦντος τὴν φύσιν οὐδὲν μᾶλλον διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐνεργειῶν κατανοήσεως ἐπιγνῶναι δυνάμεθα. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀποδιδῷ τις λόγον ἑκάστου τε τούτων τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως περὶ ἣν τὰ ὀνόματα, οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀμφοτέρων ἀποδώσει λόγον. Ὧν δὲ ὁ λόγος ἕτερος, τούτων καὶ ἡ φύσις διάφορος. Οὐκοῦν ἄλλο μέν τι ἐστὶν ἡ οὐσία ἧς οὔπω λόγος μηνυτὴς ἐξευρέθη, ἑτέρα δὲ τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν ὀνομάτων ἡ σημασία ἐξ ἐνεργείας τινὸς ἢ ἀξίας ὀνομαζομένων. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐν ταῖς ἐνεργείαις μηδεμίαν εἶναι διαφορὰν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων κοινωνίας εὑρίσκομεν· τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν παραλλαγῆς οὐδεμίαν καταλαμβάνομεν ἐναργῆ τὴν ἀπόδειξιν, καθὼς εἴρηται, τῆς τῶν ἐνεργειῶν ταὐτότητος τὸ κοινὸν τῆς φύσεως ὑποσημαινούσης. Εἴτε οὖν ἐνεργείας ὄνομα ἡ θεότης, ὡς μίαν ἐνέργειαν Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου, οὕτω μίαν φαμὲν εἶναι καὶ τὴν θεότητα· εἴτε, κατὰ τὰς τῶν πολλῶν δόξας, φύσεως ἐνδεικτικόν ἐστι τὸ τῆς θεότητος ὄνομα, διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν εὑρίσκειν ἐν τῇ φύσει παραλλαγήν, οὐκ ἀπεικότως μιᾶς θεότητος τὴν Ἁγίαν Τριάδα διοριζόμεθα.

190.τ ΑΜΦΙΛΟΧΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΙΚΟΝΙΟΥ 190.1 Ἀξίως τῆς σεαυτοῦ ἐμμελείας καὶ σπουδῆς, ἧς ἀεὶ ἐπαινέτης εἰμὶ ἐγώ,

ἐμερίμνησας τὰ περὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας Ἰσαύρων. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν τῷ παντὶ λυσιτελέστερον ἦν εἰς πλείονας ἐπισκόπους καταδιαιρεθῆναι τὴν μέριμναν αὐτόθεν εἶναι δῆλον καὶ τῷ τυχόντι νομίζω. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὴν σὴν σύνεσιν τοῦτο ἔλαθεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἔχει καὶ ἐπεσημήνω καλῶς καὶ ἐγνώρισας ἡμῖν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐκ εὔκολον εὑρεῖν ἄνδρας ἀξίους, μήπου, ἕως βουλόμεθα τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους ἀξιόπιστον ἔχειν καὶ ὑπὸ πλειόνων ἀκρι βέστερον ποιεῖν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκονομεῖσθαι, λάθωμεν διὰ τὸ τῶν καλουμένων ἀδόκιμον εἰς εὐτέλειαν τὸν λόγον καταβαλόντες ἀδιαφορίας μελέτην τοῖς λαοῖς ἐμποιεῖν; Οἶδας γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὅτι ὁποῖοι δ' ἂν ὦσιν οἱ προεστῶτες, τοιαῦτα, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, καὶ τὰ ἤθη τῶν ἀρχομένων γίνεσθαι εἴωθεν. Ὥστε τάχα βέλτιον ἕνα τινὰ δόκιμον, εἴπερ καὶ τοῦτο ῥᾴδιον, προβαλέσθαι τῆς πόλεως προστάτην καὶ ἐπιτρέψαι τῷ ἐκείνου κινδύνῳ οἰκονο μεῖσθαι τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον, μόνον ἐὰν ᾖ τις δοῦλος Θεοῦ, ἐργάτης ἀνεπαίσχυντος, μὴ σκοπῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῶν πολλῶν, ἵνα σωθῶσιν· ὅς, ἐὰν εἰδῇ ἑαυτὸν μικρότερον πρὸς