But you will say, “When I think of the Father it is the Son (alone) that I have included as well in that term.” But tell me; when you have grasped the notion of the Son have you not admitted therein that of the Holy Spirit too? For how can you confess the Son except by the Holy Spirit? At what moment, then, is the Spirit in a state of separation from the Son, so that when the Father is being worshipped, the worship of the Spirit is not included along with that of the Son? And as regards their worship itself, what in the world do they reckon it to be? They bestow it, as some exquisite piece of honour, upon the God over all, and convey it over, sometimes, so as to reach the Only-begotten also; but the Holy Spirit they regard as unworthy of such a privilege. Now, in the common parlance of mankind, that self-prostration of inferiors upon the ground which they practise when they salute their betters is termed worship. Thus, it was by such a posture that the patriarch Jacob, in his self-humiliation, seems to have wished to show his inferiority when coming to meet his brother and to appease his wrath; for “he bowed himself to the ground,” says the Scripture, “three times”54    The LXX. has προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἑπτάκις, Gen. xxxiii. 3.; and Joseph’s brethren, as long as they knew him not, and he pretended before them that he knew them not, by reason of the exaltation of his rank reverenced his sovereignty with this worship; and even the great Abraham himself “bowed himself55    προσεκύνησε τῷ λαῷ τῆς γῆς, τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ Χετ, Gen. xxiii. 7.” “to the children of Heth,” a stranger amongst the natives of that land, showing, I opine, by that action, how far more powerful those natives were than sojourners. It is possible to speak of many such actions both in the ancient records, and from examples before our eyes in the world now56    τοῦ βίου. This is a late use of βίος..

Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖς ὅτι πατέρα ἐννοῶν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τῇ προσηγορίᾳ συμπεριέλαβον. τὸν δὲ υἱόν, εἰπέ μοι, τῇ διανοίᾳ λαβὼν ἆρ' οὐ συμπαρεδέξω καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; οὐκ ἂν ἀντείποις. πῶς γὰρ αὐτὸν ὁμολογήσεις, [εἰ] μὴ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ; πότε οὖν τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα χωρίζεται ὥστε τοῦ πατρὸς προσκυνουμένου μὴ συμπεριλαμβάνεσθαι μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος τὴν προσκύνησιν; αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν προσκύνησιν τί ποτε εἶναι λογίζονται, ἣν ὡς ἐξαίρετόν τι γέρας τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ χαριζόμενοι καὶ ἕως τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἔσθ' ὅτε τὴν τιμὴν ταύτην διαβιβάζοντες ἀπαξιοῦσι τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ τοιούτου γέρως; ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνη συνήθεια τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἔδαφος τῶν ὑποχειρίων ἐπίκλισιν, ἣν ἀσπαζόμενοι τοὺς δυνατωτέρους ἐπιτηδεύουσι, τοῦτο προσαγορεύει προσκύνησιν: καθὼς φαίνεται καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης Ἰακὼβ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τὴν ὀργὴν ἱλεούμενος τὸ καταδεέστερον ὑπὸ ταπεινοφροσύνης διὰ τοῦ τοιούτου σχήματος ἐν τῇ ὑπαντήσει πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι. Προσεκύνησε, γάρ φησιν, τρίτον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. καὶ οἱ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἀδελφοί, ἕως αὐτοί τε ἠγνόουν κἀκεῖνος τὴν ἄγνοιαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὑπεκρίνετο, διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τοῦ ἀξιώματος τῇ προσκυνήσει τὴν δυναστείαν ἐτίμησαν. προσκυνεῖ δὲ καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἀβραὰμ τοὺς Χετταίους, τοὺς ἐγχωρίους ὁ ἔπηλυς, δεικνύς, οἶμαι, δι' ὧν ἐποίει, ὅσον οἱ αὐτόχθονες τῶν παροικούντων ἐπικρατέστεροι. καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἐστὶν ἔκ τε τῶν ἀρχαίων διηγημάτων καὶ ἐκ τῶν παρόντων τοῦ βίου ὑποδειγμάτων.