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Since you have named yourself God, the one who truly is, this we call substance, we name it hypostasis. For that which is not, being without substance, is without hypostasis, and for this reason we boldly call you possessing substance, we say you are possessing hypostasis, whom no one has ever seen, the God in three hypostases, one beginning without beginning. But otherwise how would we dare to call you substance or to glorify three divided hypostases in you? And what sort of union could anyone conceive at all, if the Father is in you and you are in your Father and from him your Holy Spirit proceeds and you yourself, the Lord, are your Spirit, and the Spirit is called Lord and my God and your Father is also and is called Spirit? (258) But no one, either of angels or of men, has ever seen you, has not beheld these things, has not known the manner. How could one speak, how could one utter, how could one dare to speak of division or union or confusion or mixture or even blending, to call the one three, and how the three one? Therefore, Master, from what you have said, every faithful one of yours believes, from what you have taught, hymns your might, since all things concerning you are entirely incomprehensible, unknown and inexpressible to those created by you. For your existence is incomprehensible, because you are by nature uncreated, and you have begotten in like manner. And how could a created being understand the manner of your existence, or of the begetting of your Son, God and Word, or of the procession of your divine Spirit, so that he might know your union and perceive your distinction and precisely apprehend the form of your substance? No one has yet seen any of these things of which I have spoken. For it is not possible for another God to exist by nature, so that he would have the power to investigate your nature, substance, species and form, and hypostasis likewise, but you are yourself in yourself, you alone are God the Trinity, alone knowing yourself, your Son and the Spirit, and being known only by them as consubstantial. But others, just as those who, sitting inside a house, seeing well and perceiving clearly from afar, see the rays of the perceptible sun entering, but do not see the sun itself at all—so the light of your glory, so the splendors,

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ἐπεί αὑτόν ὠνόμασας Θεόν, τόν ὄντως ὄντα, τοῦτο οὐσίαν λέγομεν, ὑπόστασιν καλοῦμεν˙ τό γάρ μή ὄν ἀνούσιον ὄν ἀνυπόστατον πέλει, καί διά τοῦτο τολμηρῶς ἐνούσιον καλοῦμεν, ἐνυπόστατον λέγομεν, ὅν οὐδείς ποτε εἶδε, τόν τρισυπόστατον Θεόν, ἀρχήν ἄναρχον μίαν. Ἄλλως δέ πῶς τολμήσωμεν οὐσίαν σε καλέσαι ἤ ὑποστάσεις ἐπί σοῦ τρεῖς μεριστάς δοξάσαι; Ὁποίαν δέ καί ἕνωσιν ὅλως τίς ἐννοήσει, εἰ ὁ Πατήρ γάρ ἐν σοί καί σύν ἐν τῷ Πατρί σου καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ τό Ἅγιοιν προέρχεταί σου Πνεῦμα καί σύ αὐτός, ὁ Κύριος, τό Πνεῦμά σου ὑπάρχεις, τό δέ Πνεῦμα ὁ Κύριος κέκλησαι καί Θεός μου καί ὁ Πατήρ σου Πνεῦμα δέ καί ἔστι καί καλεῖται; (258) Οὐδείς δέ εἶδε σέ ποτέ ἀγγέλων ἤ ἀνθρώπων, οὐ ταῦτα ἐθεάσατο, οὐ τόν τρόπον ἐπέγνω. Πῶς εἴπῃ, πῶς δέ φθέγξοιτο, πῶς χωρισμόν τολμήσῃ ἤ ἕνωσιν ἤ σύγχυσιν ἤ μίξιν ἤ καί κρᾶσιν, τό ἕν δέ τρία προσειπεῖν, ἕν πῶς δέ τά τρία; ∆ιά τοῦτο οὖν, ∆έσποτα, ἐξ ὧν εἶπας πιστεύει, ἐξ ὧν ἐδίδαξας ὑμνεῖ πᾶς πιστός σου τό κράτος, ἐπεί πάντα τά κατά σέ ἀκατάληπτα πάντῃ, ἄγνωστα καί ἀνέκφορα τοῖς ὑπό σοῦ κτισθεῖσι. Καί γάρ ἀκατανόητος ἐστίν ἡ ὕπαρξίς σου, ὅτι πέφυκας ἄκτιστος, ἐγέννησας δ᾿ ὡσαύτως˙ καί πῶς κτιστός νοήσει σου τῆς ὑπάρξεως τρόπον ἤ τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ σοῦ Υἱοῦ, Θεοῦ καί Λόγου, εἴτε τῆς ἐκπορεύσεως Πνεύματός σου τοῦ Θείου, ἵνα καί ἕνωσίν σου γνῷ καί χωρισμόν κατίδοι καί ἀκριβῶς οὐσίας σου τό εἶδος καταμάθοι; Οὐδείς οὐδέπω εἶδέ σου τούτων τι, ὧνπερ εἶπον. Οὐ γάρ ἐνδέχεται Θεόν ἄλλον φύσει γενέσθαι, ἵνα φύσεως τῆς σῆς ἐρευνῆσαι ἰσχύσῃ οὐσίαν, εἶδος καί μορφήν, ὑπόστασιν ὡσαύτως, ἀλλ᾿ εἶ αὐτός ἐν σεαυτῷ, μόνος Τριάς Θεός εἶ, μόνος γινώσκων σευτόν, Υἱόν σου καί τό Πνεῦμα καί ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν ὡς συμφυῶν γινωσκόμενος μόνων. Οἱ δ᾿ ἄλλοι ὥσπερ αἰσθητοῦ ἡλίου τάς ἀκτῖνας καί οὗτοι καλῶς βλέποντες καί τηλαυγῶς ὁρῶντες ἔνδον οἴκου καθήμενοι εἰσιούσας ὁρῶσιν, ἐκεῖνοι δέ τόν ἥλιον ὅλως οὐ καθορῶσιν - οὕτω τῆς δόξης σου τό φῶς, οὕτω τάς λαμπηδόνας,