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In what way do they reason? By bulk? Or by time? Or by height? Or by age? Or by worth? Which of these is in God, that they should think this? For the divine is not subject to time, that the one timelessly begotten of the Father should be thought inferior; nor does the divine partake of progress, that the Son, having progressed, should not reach the greatness of the Father. For if the Son of God is called Son of God by progress, then many were equal to him, and for this reason he progressed, being called greater in dignity, but lesser than the one who was before him in dignity. But Scripture says, “Who will be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?” since all are called so improperly, but this one alone is Son by nature, and not by grace, since “he found every way of knowledge and no one will be made equal to him.” But what do they say? In height the Father surpasses the Son. In what part, then, is the divine placed? Or is it circumscribed by place? so that by its description the greater might be indicated. * “For God is spirit.” And their invented strange talk fails on all sides. And having passed over this, let us go to their next sayings, O beloved. 54. For they say that the one who sends is not like the one who is sent, but the one who sends is different in power and the one who is sent is different, because the one sends, and the other is sent. And if the thought of the truth were according to them, the whole foundation of knowledge would no longer be referred to one unity of truth and power and divinity. For with two meeting or two sending, the Son was no longer a Son, but a brother, being with a fellow brother, no longer of a Father; but either by mixture or by adoption, or he was sending himself, or the two were sending together or arriving, they would have signified two divinities and not one unity. Here, therefore, the one who sent and the one who is sent, in order to show that there is one source of all good things, that is, the Father, and in succession from the source, not heteronymously, but according to the name of the Son and of the Word, being one source from a source, the Son having come forth, being always with the Father, having been begotten * “for with you is the source of life”; and to show also about the Holy Spirit, he adds, “in your light we shall see light,” to show that the Father is light and that the Son is the light of the Father and the Holy Spirit is light, and a source from a source, from the Father and the Only-begotten, the Holy Spirit; “For rivers of water springing up into eternal life will flow from his belly”; “But he said this concerning the Holy Spirit,” says the Gospel. And again he speaks, showing his disciples about his consubstantiality with his Father, saying: “If anyone opens to me, I and my Father will come in and make our home with him.” And he no longer said, “I will be sent by my Father;” but “I and the Father will make our home with him,” as the Son knocking and the Father entering with him, as being always and never leaving, the Father from the Son and the Son from his own Father. Wherefore also in another place he says, “I am the way and through me they will enter to the Father.” And lest some should think him lesser than the Father because one enters to the Father through him, he says, “No one will come to me, unless my heavenly Father draws him.” The Father therefore brings to the Son and the Son brings to the Father, and brings in the Holy Spirit. For the Trinity is always in one unity of divinity, three perfect, one divinity. And their argument has fallen. 55. And again they ask, for what reason then did Christ say to his disciples, “I am going to my Father and your Father and my God and your God?” If then he confesses him to be his God, how will he still be equal to him or genuinely begotten by him? that they may show that in all things they have ignorance of God and are in no way “illuminated by the light of the gospel.” For someone having groped and

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ποῖον τρόπον οὗτοι λογίζονται; κατὰ ὄγκον; ἀλλὰ κατὰ χρόνον; ἀλλὰ κατὰ ὕψωμα; ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἡλικίαν; ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἀξίαν; τί τούτων ἐστὶν ἐν θεῷ, ἵνα τοῦτο διανοηθῶσιν; οὔτε γὰρ χρόνῳ ὑποπίπτει τὸ θεῖον, ἵνα ὑποδεέστερος νοηθῇ ὁ ἀχρόνως ἐκ πατρὸς γεγεννημένος· οὔτε προκοπῆς ἔχεται τὸ θεῖον, ἵνα ὁ μὲν υἱὸς προκόψας μὴ φθάσῃ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς μεγαλειότητα. εἰ γὰρ κατὰ προκοπὴν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς θεοῦ καλεῖται, ἄρα πολλοὶ ἦσαν ἴσοι αὐτῷ, καὶ τούτου ἕνεκεν αὐτὸς προέκοψε μείζων μὲν τῷ ἀξιώματι κληθείς, ἐλάττων δὲ τοῦ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀξιώματι ὄντος. ἀλλὰ φησὶν ἡ γραφή «τίς ὁμοιωθήσεται τῷ κυρίῳ ἐν υἱοῖς θεοῦ;» ὡς τῶν πάντων καταχρηστικῶς λεγομένων, τούτου δὲ μόνου ὄντος υἱοῦ κατὰ φύσιν, καὶ οὐ κατὰ χάριν, ἐπειδήπερ «ἐφεῦρε πᾶσαν ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ ἐξισωθήσεται». ἀλλὰ τί φασιν; ἐν ὑψώματι ὑπερέχει ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ υἱοῦ. ἐν ποίῳ τοίνυν μέρει τάττεται τὸ θεῖον; ἢ τοπικῶς περιορίζεται; ἵνα τῇ περιγραφῇ τὸ μεῖζον σημανθῇ. * «πνεῦμα γὰρ ὁ θεός». καὶ ἐκ πανταχόθεν διαπίπτει ἡ αὐτῶν ἐπινενοημένη ξενολογία. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ παρελθόντες ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς αὐτῶν λέξεις ἴωμεν, ὦ ἀγαπητοί. 54. Φασὶ γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀποστέλλων ὅμοιος τῷ ἀποστελλομένῳ, ἀλλὰ ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀποστέλλων τῇ δυνάμει καὶ ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀποστελλό3.201 μενος, ὅτι ὁ μὲν πέμπει, ὁ δὲ πέμπεται. καὶ εἰ κατ' αὐτοὺς ἦν ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας διάνοια, οὐκέτι ἐπὶ μίαν ἑνότητα ἀληθείας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ θεότητος ἀνεφέρετο ἡ πᾶσα τῆς γνώσεως ὑπόθεσις. δύο γὰρ ἀπαντώντων ἢ δύο πεμπόντων οὐκέτι υἱὸς ὁ υἱὸς ἦν, ἀλλ' ἀδελφός, συναδέλφου συνόντος, οὐκέτι πατρός· ἀλλὰ ἢ κατὰ συναλοιφὴν ἢ κατὰ υἱοθεσίαν, ἢ αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἦν ἀποστέλλων, ἢ οἱ δύο ἅμα ἀποστέλλοντες ἢ παραγινόμενοι, δύο θεότητας ἐσήμαναν καὶ οὐχὶ μίαν ἑνότητα. ἐνταῦθα οὖν ὁ ἀποστείλας καὶ ὁ ἀποστελλόμενος, ἵνα δείξῃ τῶν πάντων ἀγαθῶν μίαν εἶναι τὴν πηγήν, τουτέστι τὸν πατέρα, καθεξῆς δὲ τῆς πηγῆς οὐχ ἑτερωνύμως, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ ὄνομα καὶ τοῦ λόγου ὢν μία πηγὴ ἐκ πηγῆς, ὁ υἱὸς προελθὼν, ἀεὶ ὢν παρὰ τῷ πατρί, γεγεννημένος * «ὅτι παρὰ σοὶ πηγὴ ζωῆς»· καὶ ἵνα δείξῃ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, ἐπιφέρει «ἐν τῷ φωτί σου ὀψόμεθα φῶς», ἵνα δείξῃ φῶς τὸν πατέρα καὶ φῶς τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν καὶ φῶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ πηγὴν ἐκ πηγῆς, ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· «ποταμοὶ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον»· «ἔλεγε δὲ τοῦτο περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος», φησὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον. καὶ πάλιν φησί, δεικνύων τοῖς αὐτοῦ μαθηταῖς περὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ὁμοουσιότητος, λέγων· «ἐάν τις ἀνοίξῃ μοι, εἰσελθὼν ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιήσομεν». καὶ οὐκέτι εἶπεν ἀποσταλήσομαι ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου· ἀλλ' «ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ μονὴν ποιήσομεν παρ' αὐτῷ», ὡς κρούοντος τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς σὺν αὐτῷ εἰσερχομένου, ὡς ἀεὶ εἶναι καὶ μηδέποτε διαλιπεῖν πατέρα ἀπὸ υἱοῦ καὶ υἱὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου πατρός. διὸ καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ τόπῳ λέγει «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ δι' ἐμοῦ εἰσελεύσονται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα». καὶ ἵνα μή τινες ἥσσονα αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα νομίσωσι διὰ τὸ δι' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰσιέναι, φησίν, «οὐδεὶς ἐλεύσεται πρός με, ἐὰν μὴ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ἑλκύσῃ αὐτόν». ὁ πατὴρ οὖν φέρει πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ὁ υἱὸς φέρει πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, εἰσφέρει δὲ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. ἀεὶ γὰρ πάντοτε ἡ τριὰς ἐν μιᾷ ἑνότητι θεότητος, τρία τέλεια, μία θεότης. καὶ διέπεσεν ὁ τούτων λόγος. 55. Πάλιν δὲ φάσκουσι, τίνι τοίνυν τῷ λόγῳ εἴρηκεν ὁ Χριστὸς τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς ὅτι «ἀπέρχομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν 3.202 καὶ θεόν μου καὶ θεὸν ὑμῶν;» εἰ τοίνυν θεὸν αὐτοῦ ὁμολογεῖ, πῶς ἔτι ἔσται ἴσος αὐτῷ ἢ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γνησίως γεγεννημένος; ἵνα δείξωσιν ἐν πᾶσιν ἀγνωσίαν θεοῦ αὐτοὺς ἔχειν καὶ ἐν μηδενὶ εἶναι «φωτισμῷ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου κατηυγασμένους». ψηλαφήσας γάρ τις καὶ