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the only-begotten is not contrary to the dignity of the Father, but befitting the dignity of the Father, as the holy apostle clearly testifies to me, saying in the Holy Spirit concerning the sons of Israel, “whose,” he says, “is the worship and the covenants, and whose are the fathers, from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen.” For this reason, the only-begotten is also to be worshiped, and the only-begotten is God, and the Holy Spirit is a divine spirit, and after the Holy Trinity there is no other God. But the Father Almighty and his only-begotten child Jesus Christ, befitting the dignity of the Father, and called Father of the age to come, and also befitting His Holy Spirit, the Trinity is always uncreatedly revealed and known, from which Trinity the cause for all created things exists, which is indicative of a pure and incomparable substance, Father in Son, Son in Father with the Holy Spirit, always having the eternal nature of its permanence in itself, from which Trinity the means of being saved is available to created things. 48. 31. If nothing of the invisible things pre-exists itself spermatically, but remains in an allotted nature, how does the unbegotten God, being free from allotment, now see his own substance as second in what is begotten, and now as first in what is unbegotten, according to the order of the first and second? Refutation. Aetius should have indicated to us and proposed his questions clearly, especially this reprehensible * phrase which has no kinship at all with the comparisons, nor can either of the things named by him be made equal to the other. For he has come bringing us the names of many invisi3.402ble things. For there are also spiritual invisible living creatures, I mean Seraphim and Cherubim, but also angels, being “spirits,” and certain others, in which it is truly fulfilled that nothing pre-exists spermatically in themselves. For one would not say that the invisible things are bodies. For they neither beget nor are they begotten; but they were clearly created according to the will of the ever-existing divinity, and each of the created things has been allotted the virtue which the Existing One distributed to it in the superabundance of His ungrudging love for mankind, and each has been apportioned what it has been allotted, and in this it remains. And God is free from every cause, having the all in Himself, not having the Son or his Holy Spirit after a time, procrastinatingly or with regret, but suitably, having a Son by always having a begotten Son, and this one only-begotten, always having the Father in Himself; He has also the Holy Spirit, being from the Father and receiving from the Son, always having it. For the abundance of the ever-existing divinity is neither for dishonor nor for an addition of glory. And since none of the created things has always existed, when did the Trinity see itself in a lesser abundance, and now see this, and now, as if in need, in an addition of substance, now seeing itself in a greater addition of glory or abundance after having created the created things? And from every side nothing will intrude of those who wish to bring forward and introduce human syllogistic suppositions against the truth *, the worthiness of God, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, surpassing every mind of angels and beyond, how much more so that of human nature; for the reasonings of men are timid, and their thoughts are corruptible, entangling themselves in syllogisms and disputes. As others, examining from their own reasonings according to some sophistical supposition, have reasoned about evil, whence it began, and others, whence the devil or why he came to be, and others, concerning the man who was going to sin, why God created him so, and he who made him such, why does he later blame him? so that, when they have refuted all their own reasonings, they may learn that they themselves are corruptible, and may render to him who is in the Father and Son and Holy Spirit *, that is, to the one Trinity, reverence and knowledge; and from him

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παρὰ τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀξίωμα ὁ μονογενής, συμπρέπων δὲ τῷ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀξιώματι, ὡς διαρρήδην μαρτυρεῖ μοι ὁ ἅγιος ἀπόστολος ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ φήσας περὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, «ὧν» φησιν «ἡ λατρεία καὶ αἱ διαθῆκαι καὶ ὧν οἱ πατέρες, ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν». διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ προσκυνητὸς ὁ μονογενὴς καὶ θεὸς ὁ μονογενὴς καὶ θεῖον πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα οὐκ ἔστιν ἕτερος θεός. ὁ δὲ πατὴρ παντοκράτωρ καὶ ὁ μονογενὴς αὐτοῦ παῖς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς συμπρέπων τῷ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀξιώματι, καὶ πατὴρ καλούμενος τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, συμπρέπων δὲ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ πνεύματι, ἀκτίστως ἀεὶ ἡ τριὰς φανερουμένη καὶ γινωσκομένη, ἐξ ἧς τριάδος τοῖς πᾶσι γεγονόσι τὸ αἴτιον ἔνεστιν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν οὐσίας ἀκραιφνοῦς καὶ ἀσυγκρίτου δηλωτικόν, πατὴρ ἐν υἱῷ, υἱὸς ἐν πατρὶ σὺν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, ἀεὶ τῆς διαμονῆς τὸ ἀΐδιον ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἐχούσης, ἐξ ἧς τριάδος τοῖς γεγονόσι τὸ διασῴζεσθαι πρόσεστιν. 48. ˉλˉα. Εἰ οὐδὲν τῶν ἀοράτων αὐτὸ ἑαυτοῦ σπερματικῶς προϋπάρχει, διαμένει δὲ ἐν φύσει ἀποκεκληρωμένῃ, πῶς ὁ ἀγέννητος θεός, ἐλεύθερος ἀποκληρώσεως ὑπάρχων, νῦν μὲν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ οὐσίαν δευτέραν ἐν γεννήματι ὁρᾷ, νῦν δὲ προτέραν ἐν ἀγεννήτῳ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πρώτου καὶ δευτέρου τάξιν; Ἀνατροπή. Ἔδει τὸν Ἀέτιον ἡμῖν προσημαίνειν καὶ σαφεῖς τὰς αὐτοῦ πεύσεις προβάλλειν, μάλιστα ταύτην ἥνπερ * λέξιν ἐπιλήψιμον καὶ μηδ' ὅλως ἔχουσαν συγγένειαν τῶν ὁμοιωμάτων, οὐδὲ θατέρου τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ὠνομασμένων θατέρῳ συνεξισοῦσθαι δυναμένου. πολλῶν γὰρ ἀορά3.402 των ἥκει φέρων ἡμῖν τὰς ὀνομασίας. ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ἀόρατα ζῷα τὰ πνευματικά, φημὶ δὲ Σεραφὶμ καὶ Χερουβίμ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄγγελοι, «πνεύματα» ὄντα, καὶ ἄλλα τινά, ἐν οἷς ἀληθῶς πληροῦται τὸ μήτε ὑπάρχειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς σπερματικῶς τι. οὔτε γὰρ σώματα φαίη ἄν τις τὰ ἀόρατα. καὶ γὰρ οὔτε γεννῶσιν οὔτε γεννῶνται· ἐκτίσθησαν δὲ κατὰ βούλημα τῆς οὔσης ἀεὶ θεότητος σαφῶς, καὶ λέλογχεν ἕκαστον τῶν κεκτισμένων ὅπερ ὁ ὢν αὐτῷ διένειμεν ἀρετῆς ἐν τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀφθόνου φιλανθρωπίας, καὶ ἀπεκληρώθη ἕκαστον ὅπερ κεκλήρωται, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ μένει. καὶ ἐλεύθερός ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς πάσης αἰτίας, ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχων τὸ πᾶν, οὐ μελλητικῶς, οὐδὲ μεταμεμελημένως τὸν υἱὸν μετὰ χρόνους ἔχων ἢ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ συμπρεπόντως τῷ ἀεὶ ἔχειν υἱὸν γεγεννημένον υἱὸν ἔχων καὶ τοῦτον μονογενῆ, ἀεὶ ἔχοντα πατέρα ἐν ἑαυτῷ· ἔχει καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἐκ πατρὸς ὂν καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ λαμβάνον, ἀεὶ ἔχων. Καὶ γὰρ οὔτε ἐπὶ ἀδοξίᾳ οὔτε ἐπὶ προσθήκῃ δόξης ἡ περιουσία τῆς θεότητος ἀεὶ οὔσης. μηδενὸς δὲ ἀεὶ ὄντος τῶν κεκτισμένων, πότε ἑώρα ἑαυτὴν ἡ τριὰς ἐν ἥσσονι περιουσίᾳ, καὶ νῦν μὲν τοῦτο ἑώρα, νῦν δὲ ἐν προσθέσει οὐσίας ὡς ἐνδεής, μετὰ τὸ κεκτικέναι τὰ κεκτισμένα ἐν περισσοτέρᾳ προσθήκῃ δόξης ἢ περιουσίας νῦν ἑαυτὴν ὁρῶσα; καὶ ἐκ πανταχόθεν οὐδὲν ἐνσκήψει τῶν βουλομένων κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας τὰς συλλογιστικὰς ἀνθρωπίνας ὑπονοίας παραφέρειν καὶ εἰς μέσον φέρειν *, ὑπερβαινούσης τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀξίας, πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος, πάντα νοῦν ἀγγέλων καὶ ἐπέκεινα, πόσῳ γε μᾶλλον ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ λογισμοὶ ἀνθρώπων δειλοί, φθαρταὶ δὲ αἱ τούτων διάνοιαι, εἰς συλλογισμοὺς καὶ συζητήσεις ἑαυτὰς περιπείρουσαι. ὡς ἄλλοι ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν συλλογισμῶν ἀνακρινόμενοι κατὰ σοφιστικήν τινα ὑπόνοιαν οἱ μὲν περὶ τοῦ κακοῦ ὅτι πόθεν ἤρξατο συνελογίσαντο, ἄλλοι δὲ ὅτι πόθεν ὁ διάβολος ἢ διὰ τί γέγονεν, ἕτεροι δὲ τὸν μέλλοντα ἁμαρτάνειν ἄνθρωπον, ὅτι διὰ τί θεὸς οὕτως αὐτὸν ἔκτισεν, ὁ δὲ τοιοῦτον αὐτὸν ἐργασάμενος διὰ τί ὕστερον αὐτὸν αἰτιᾶται; ἵν', ὅταν πάντας περικρούσαντες τοὺς ἑαυτῶν λογισμοὺς καταμάθωσιν ἑαυτοὺς φθαρτούς, ἀποδώσωσι τῷ ἐν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι *, τουτέστι τῇ μιᾷ τριάδι, τὸ σέβας καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν· παρ' αὐτοῦ δὲ