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to the Only-Begotten and to the Holy Spirit, not even in respect of worship. For some things are created out of nothing and are not to be worshiped, but the Trinity exists forever: the Father a perfect Father, and the Son a perfect Son begotten from the Father, and the Holy Spirit a perfect Spirit proceeding from the Father and receiving from the Son. And all things in the divine Scripture and in the holy faith are luminous to us, and nothing is crooked or contrary or obscure. 46. 29. If in the substance of the offspring the unbegotten hypostasis is manifested as cause, having immutability in respect of every cause, it is an incomparable self-substance, not manifesting its inaccessibility from without, but being itself incomparable and inaccessible, since it is also unbegotten. Refutation. Aetius often proceeds against the same things, as I myself have often said, bringing us only to weariness and nothing more. Therefore, in the present case we are forced to add to our weariness and repeat the same things to the same people, since it seemed so to him. For if the unbegotten who begets is manifested in the substance of the offspring, the begetter will not differ at all in dignity from the begotten in the act of begetting. 3.400 For he begot from himself substantially, spirit from spirit and not body from body. Therefore, the begetter is incomparably manifested as fitting with the begotten, and the begotten with the one who begot. For the divine needs no addition, so that it might sometimes be called Father, and sometimes not; nor will the Son be found * from the connection above to have at some point not existed, but to exist now. Therefore God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are self-substance, and not of another substance. For he is neither a fellow brother nor an after-product, but * with the name of Father inexpressibly fitting the Son who is of one substance, and with his Holy Spirit fitting the Father and the Son, proceeding from him and through him and receiving of his things. Therefore, the inaccessibility in the Father and Son and Holy Spirit is towards all things that are subordinate beings and created by the Trinity itself; but the Trinity is not inaccessible to itself; for it is uncreated and unbegotten and incomparable. Therefore, nothing can be made equal to the Father, nor is anything that has come to be from nothing and has not been begotten worshipped together with him. For to none of the things that have come to be did he ever say, “Sit at my right hand,” nor indeed has the Only-Begotten said of anyone that “he who has seen me has seen the Father” and “I am in the Father, and the Father in me” and “no one knows the Father except the Son, and the Son except the Father, and he to whom he may reveal him.” And he reveals through the Holy Spirit, who knows and teaches and proclaims in the world the things of the Son, “searching even the depths of God.” For this reason he says, “he who does not honor the Son as he honors the Father, the wrath of God abides on him”; and he did not say, “he who does not honor angels as he honors the Father,” nor again did he say, “he who does not honor the Son also,” but the Son as the Father, likewise that “it will not be forgiven for him who blasphemes against the Spirit, neither here nor in the age to come,” in order to signify the inaccessibility and incomparability of the Trinity in the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. 47. 30. If the Almighty transcends every nature, he transcends it because of being unbegotten, which is the cause of permanence for begotten things. But if being unbegotten is not indicative of substance, whence would the nature of begotten things have its preservation? 3.401 Refutation. It is fitting to say and to confess and thus to hold that the Almighty transcends every nature, from whom the Only-Begotten, the God Logos, and his Holy Spirit inexpressibly proceeded to us. And for this reason we surely do not speak of God as a creature, lest we be made fools. But we glorify the Trinity which surpasses every nature, Son with Father and his Holy Spirit, because it is unbegotten and uncreated. For since the Only-Begotten and the Holy Spirit are not of another nature, but God from God, and Light from Light, together with the Father Almighty, the Only-Begotten himself will also be called Almighty, as divine Scripture clearly holds. For he is not different

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μονογενεῖ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι μήτε κατὰ τὸ σέβας. τὰ μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων κεκτισμένα καὶ οὐ προσκυνητά, ἡ δὲ τριὰς ἀεί ἐστιν, ὁ πατὴρ πατὴρ τέλειος καὶ ὁ υἱὸς υἱὸς τέλειος ἐκ πατρὸς γεννηθεὶς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τέλειον ἐκ πατρὸς προελθὸν καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ λαμβάνον. καὶ πάντα ἡμῖν φωτεινὰ τὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς καὶ τὰ τῆς ἁγίας πίστεως, καὶ οὐδὲν σκολιὸν ἢ ἐναντίον ἢ στραγγαλιῶδες. 46. ˉκˉθ. Εἰ τῇ τοῦ γεννήματος οὐσίᾳ συνεμφαίνεται ὡς αἰτία ἡ ἀγέννητος ὑπόστασις, κατὰ πάσης αἰτίας τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον ἔχουσα, αὐτοουσία ἐστὶν ἀσύγκριτος, οὐκ ἔξωθεν συνεμφαίνουσα τὸ ἀπρόσιτον, αὐτὴ δὲ ὑπάρχουσα ἀσύγκριτος καὶ ἀπρόσιτος, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἀγέννητος. Ἀνατροπή. Πολλάκις κατὰ τῶν αὐτῶν Ἀέτιος φέρεται, ὥσπερ καὶ αὐτὸς πολλάκις ἔφην, εἰς κάματον μόνον ἡμᾶς φέρων καὶ οὐδὲν περισσότερον. διὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἀνάγκην ἔσχομεν τῷ καμάτῳ προσθεῖναι καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς αὐτοῖς δευτερολογεῖν, ἐπειδήπερ καὶ αὐτῷ οὕτως ἔδοξεν. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῇ τοῦ γεννήματος οὐσίᾳ συνεμφαίνεται ἡ ἀγέννητος γεννήσασα, οὐδὲν διοίσει τῷ ἀξιώματι ἐπὶ τῷ γεννᾶν ὁ γεννήτωρ τοῦ γεγεννημένου. 3.400 ἐξ αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἐγέννησεν οὐσιωδῶς πνεῦμα ἐκ πνεύματος καὶ οὐ σῶμα ἐκ σώματος. διὸ ἀσυγκρίτως συνεμφαίνεται συμπρέπων ὁ γεννήτωρ τῷ γεγεννημένῳ καὶ ὁ γεγεννημένος τῷ γεγεννηκότι. οὔτε γὰρ προσθήκης δεῖται τὸ θεῖον, ἵνα ποτὲ πατὴρ κληθείη, ποτὲ δὲ οὔ, οὔτε ὁ υἱὸς εὑρεθήσεται * ἐκ τοῦ ἄνωθεν συνδέσμου ποτὲ μὴ ὤν, ἄρτι δὲ ὤν. διὸ αὐτοουσία ἐστὶν ὁ θεὸς πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, καὶ οὐχ ἑτεροουσία. οὔτε γάρ ἐστι συνάδελφος οὔτε ἐστὶν ἐπιγένητος, ἀλλὰ * ἀνεκδιηγήτως συμπρέποντος τοῦ πατὴρ ὀνόματος ὁμοουσίῳ ὄντι τῷ υἱῷ καὶ συμπρέποντος τῷ πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ τοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ λαμβάνοντος, τοῦ ἁγίου αὐτοῦ πνεύματος. διὸ τὸ ἀπρόσιτόν ἐστιν ἐν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι πρὸς ἅπαντα, ὅσα ἐστὶν ὑποβεβηκότα ὄντα καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς τριάδος κτισθέντα· ἡ δὲ τριὰς πρὸς ἑαυτὴν οὐκ ἀπρόσιτος· ἔστι γὰρ ἄκτιστος καὶ ἀγέννητος καὶ ἀσύγκριτος. διὸ οὐ δύναται οὐδὲν ἐξισοῦσθαι πατρί, οὐ συμπροσκυνεῖται αὐτῷ τι τῶν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γεγονότων καὶ οὐχὶ γεγεννημένων. οὐδενὶ γὰρ τῶν γεγονότων εἶπε ποτὲ «κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου», οὐδὲ μὴν ὁ μονογενὴς περί τινος εἴρηκεν ὅτι «ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν πατέρα» καὶ «ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί» καὶ «οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ, καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν ἀποκαλύψῃ». ἀποκαλύπτει δὲ διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου, τοῦ γινώσκοντος καὶ διδάσκοντος καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοντος ἐν κόσμῳ τὰ υἱοῦ, «ἐρευνῶντός τε καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ». διὰ τοῦτο γάρ φησιν «ὁ μὴ τιμῶν τὸν υἱὸν καθὼς τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα, ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ μένει ἐπ' αὐτόν»· καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν «ὁ μὴ τιμῶν ἀγγέλους ὡς τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα», οὐδὲ πάλιν εἶπεν «ὁ μὴ καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τιμῶν», ἀλλὰ τὸν υἱὸν ὡς τὸν πατέρα, ὡσαύτως ὅτι «οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται τῷ εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα βλασφημοῦντι, οὔτε ᾧδε οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι», ἵνα σημάνῃ τῆς τριάδος τὸ ἀπρόσιτον καὶ ἀσύγκριτον ἐν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι. 47. ˉλ. Εἰ ὑπεράγει πάσης φύσεως ὁ παντοκράτωρ, διὰ τὸ ἀγέννητον ὑπεράγει, ὅπερ ἐστὶν αἴτιον τοῖς γεννητοῖς διαμονῆς. εἰ δὲ μή ἐστιν οὐσίας δηλωτικὸν τὸ ἀγέννητον, πόθεν ἂν ἡ τῶν γεννητῶν φύσις ἕξει τὸ διασῴζεσθαι; 3.401 Ἀνατροπή. Πρέπει λέγειν καὶ ὁμολογεῖν καὶ οὕτως κατέχειν, ὅτι πάσης φύσεως ὑπερέχει ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ἐξ οὗπερ ἡμῖν ὁ μονογενὴς ἀνεκδιηγήτως προῆλθεν ὁ θεὸς λόγος καὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀσφαλῶς οὐ κτίσιν θεολογοῦμεν, ἵνα μὴ μωρανθῶμεν. τὴν δὲ ὑπερβαίνουσαν πᾶσαν φύσιν τριάδα δοξολογοῦμεν, υἱὸν σὺν πατρὶ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα, διότι ἀγέννητον καὶ ἄκτιστον. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὔτε ἄλλης φύσεως ὁ μονογενὴς καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἀλλὰ θεὸς ἐκ θεοῦ, καὶ φῶς ἐκ φωτός, σὺν τῷ παντοκράτορι πατρὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ μονογενὴς παντοκράτωρ ἀκούσει, ὡς καὶ σαφῶς ἔχει ἡ θεία γραφή. οὐ γὰρ ἀλλοῖός ἐστι