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united, until an excommunication of such a blasphemous heresy takes place and then matters against it will be decided. And from these who thus rebaptize by their own command, it has come to our ears that there is one presbyter in the country of the Lycians; and there are also others of whom each prays by himself and not with anyone at all, and others in collars against the rule of the church. Wherefore at the end of the whole discourse I said "maidens without number," those who are youthful for themselves according to their own notion, but not for the good, for perfecting the forms of wisdom, both of prudence and courage and moderation and justice; from which others, being youthful, turn themselves away toward the more tyrannical and what is foreign to the truth, so that there is no number of them. 14. But she, the one dove and holy virgin, confesses God the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, perfect Father, perfect Son, perfect Holy Spirit, the Trinity consubstantial, not the Trinity as a mixture, but the Son truly begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit not foreign to the Father and the Son, the Trinity always existing and never needing addition, and not having anything subordinate within itself, but being referred back to one unity and one principle of God the Father, and that all things were created out of this Trinity of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, not having existed at some time, nor co-existing with God, nor pre-existing, but having come into being out of non-existence from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And that this Father and Son and Holy Spirit deemed it worthy to appear in visions to His saints from of old, just as each was able to receive according to the gift given to him through the divinity, which was granted to each of those deemed worthy, in one way to see the Father, as each was able, in another way to hear his voice, as 3.515 was possible; as he said in the mouth of Isaiah "behold, my beloved servant will understand," this is the voice of the Father; and as Daniel saw "the ancient of days," this is a vision of the Father; and as again in the prophet "I have multiplied visions and by the hand of the prophets I was represented," this is the voice of the Son; and as in Ezekiel "and the spirit of God took me" and "cast me out into the plain," this is concerning the Holy Spirit. And it is possible to say many such things, of which, having recalled a few in part in passing in order to show the character of the church, we have set forth the two sayings, while there are countless and more than countless similar things to these contained in the divine scriptures of the Old and New Testament. And that the Lord himself formed the body for Adam and "breathed into him the breath of life," creating for him "a living soul," and that God himself gave the law to Moses, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, the one Godhead, and that the prophets were sent by the same Godhead, and that God himself is ours, being God of both Jews and Christians, calling to justification Jews who do not deny the coming of our Lord Jesus and saving all those who live according to his true faith and who do not deny the truth of the proclamation of his true and evangelical teaching. For he came, the only-begotten came; and so is our mother, the church, the calm harbor of peace, the gladness breathing the "fragrance" of the vine and bringing to us the "cluster of blessing" and the drink that ends toil for us each day, the blood of Christ, granting it unmixed, true. 15. That Christ was truly born of Mary the ever-virgin through the Holy Spirit, not from the seed of a man, but taking his body from the holy virgin herself, in truth and not in appearance, truly flesh, truly a body, with bones and nerves and all our parts, differing in nothing from us except only the glory of his holiness and divinity and of the vessel of sanctity and justice, and perfectly sinless in all things

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συνημμένους, ἕως ἂν ἀφορισμὸς γένηται τῆς τοιαύτης βλασφήμου αἱρέσεως καὶ τότε τὰ κατ' αὐτῆς ὁρισθήσεται. ἐκ τούτων δὲ τῶν οὕτως ἀναβαπτιζόντων ἀπ' ἰδίου κελεύσματος εἰς ἡμετέρας ἀκοὰς ἀφῖκται εἷς ὑπάρχων ἐν τῇ τῶν Λυκίων χώρᾳ πρεσβύτερος· εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι ὧν ἕκαστος καθ' ἑαυτὸν εὔχεται καὶ οὐ μετά τινος τὸ παράπαν, ἕτεροι δὲ ἐν κλοιοῖς παρὰ τὸν θεσμὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας. διόπερ ἐπὶ τέλει παντὸς τοῦ λόγου «νεάνιδας» ἔφην «μὴ ἐχούσας ἀριθμὸν» τάς γε κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἔννοιαν ἑαυταῖς νεανιζούσας, οὐ μὴν εἰς τὸ ἀγαθόν, εἰς τὸ τελειοῦν τῆς σοφίας τὰ εἴδη, φρονήσεώς τε καὶ ἀνδρείας καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ δικαιοσύνης· ἐξ ὧν ἄλλαι νεανίζουσαι ἐπὶ τὸ τυραννικώτερον καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀλλότριον ἑαυτὰς ἐκτρέπουσιν, ὥστε μὴ εἶναι ἀριθμὸν τούτων. 14. Αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ μία περιστερὰ καὶ ἁγία παρθένος θεὸν ὁμολογεῖ πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, πατέρα τέλειον, υἱὸν τέλειον, πνεῦμα ἅγιον τέλειον, ὁμοούσιον τὴν τριάδα, οὐ συναλοιφὴν τὴν τριάδα, ἀλλὰ τὸν υἱὸν ἐκ πατρὸς ἀληθινῶς γεγεννημένον καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα οὐκ ἀλλότριον πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ, οὖσαν δὲ ἀεὶ τὴν τριάδα καὶ μηδέποτε προσθήκης ἐπιδεομένην, μὴ ἔχουσαν δέ τι ἐν ἑαυτῇ ὑποβεβηκός, εἰς μίαν δὲ ἑνότητα καὶ μίαν ἀρχὴν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἀναγομένην, καὶ ἐκ ταύτης τῆς τριάδος πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος τὰ πάντα κεκτίσθαι, οὐκ ὄντα ποτέ, οὔτε συνόντα τῷ θεῷ, οὔτε προϋπάρξαντα, γενόμενα δὲ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἀπὸ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος. καὶ τοῦτον τὸν πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τοῖς αὐτοῦ ἁγίοις καὶ ἀπ' αἰῶνος καταξιώσαντα ἐν ὀπτασίαις φανῆναι, καθάπερ ἠδύνατο ἕκαστος χωρεῖν κατὰ τὸ χάρισμα αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς θεότητος δοθέν, ὅπερ ἐχαρίζετο ἑκάστῳ τῶν καταξιουμένων, πῆ μὲν πατέρα θεάσασθαι, καθὼς ἠδύνατο ἕκαστος, πῆ δὲ ἀκοῦσαι τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ, ὡς 3.515 ἐνεχώρει· ὡς ἐν στόματι τοῦ Ἠσαΐου ἔλεγεν «ἰδού, συνήσει ὁ παῖς μου ὁ ἀγαπητός», τοῦτο φωνὴ πατρός· καὶ ὡς ὁ ∆ανιὴλ εἶδε «τὸν παλαιὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν», τοῦτο ὀπτασία πατρός· ὡς δὲ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ πάλιν «ἐγὼ ὁράσεις ἐπλήθυνα καὶ ἐν χερσὶ προφητῶν ὡμοιώθην», τοῦτο φωνὴ υἱοῦ· ὡς δὲ ἐν Ἰεζεκιήλ «καὶ ἔλαβέ με πνεῦμα θεοῦ» καὶ «ἐξέβαλέ με εἰς τὸ πεδίον», τοῦτο περὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος. καὶ πολλὰ ἔστι τοιαῦτα λέγειν, ὧν ὀλίγων ἀπὸ μέρους ὑπομνησθέντες ἐν παραδρομῇ εἰς τὸ δεῖξαι τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὰ δύο ῥήματα παρεθέμεθα, μυρίων ὄντων καὶ ἐπέκεινα τῶν ὁμοίων τούτοις ἐν ταῖς θείαις γραφαῖς παλαιᾶς τε καὶ καινῆς διαθήκης ἐμφερομένων. καὶ ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἔπλασε τὸ σῶμα τῷ Ἀδὰμ καὶ «ἐνέπνευσεν αὐτῷ πνοὴν ζωῆς», κτίσας αὐτῷ «ψυχὴν ζῶσαν», καὶ ὅτι αὐτὸς δέδωκε τὸν νόμον τῷ Μωυσῇ ὁ θεός, πατὴρ καὶ υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἡ μία θεότης, καὶ ὅτι οἱ προφῆται ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς θεότητος ἀπεστάλησαν, καὶ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ὁ θεός, ὁ Ἰουδαίων τε καὶ Χριστιανῶν ὢν θεός, Ἰουδαίους τε καλέσας εἰς δικαίωσιν τοὺς μὴ ἀρνουμένους τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ παρουσίαν καὶ πάντας σῴζων τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἀληθινὴν αὐτοῦ πίστιν βιοῦντας καὶ μὴ ἀρνουμένους τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ κηρύγματος τῆς ἀληθινῆς καὶ εὐαγγελικῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας. ἦλθε γάρ, ἦλθεν ὁ μονογενής· καὶ οὕτως ἔχει ἡ μήτηρ ἡμῶν ἐκκλησία, ὁ λιμὴν ὁ εὔδιος τῆς εἰρήνης, ἡ εὐφρασία ἡ πνέουσα τὴν «κύπριν» τῆς ἀμπέλου καὶ «βότρυν» φέρουσα ἡμῖν «τῆς εὐλογίας» καὶ τὸ λυσίπονον ἡμῖν πόμα καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, αἷμα Χριστοῦ, χαριζομένη ἄκρατον, ἀληθές. 15. Ὅτι ἀληθινῶς ἐγεννήθη Χριστὸς ἀπὸ Μαρίας τῆς ἀειπαρθένου διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου, οὐκ ἀπὸ σπέρματος ἀνδρός, ἀλλ' ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου λαβὼν τὸ σῶμα, ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ οὐκ ἐν δοκήσει, σάρκα ἀληθινῶς, σῶμα ἀληθινῶς, σὺν ὀστέοις καὶ νεύροις καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἡμετέροις, μηδὲν ἀφ' ἡμῶν διηλλαγμένος ἢ μόνον τὸ ἔνδοξον τῆς αὐτοῦ ἁγιότητος καὶ θεότητος καὶ σκεύους ἁγιωσύνης καὶ δικαιοσύνης, καὶ ἀναμαρτήτως τὰ πάντα τελείως