12. Moses too knew that the angels are creatures and that the Holy Spirit is united with the Son and the Father. For when God said to him, ‘Depart, go up hence, thou and thy people which thou hast led up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, saying, To your seed will I give it. And I will send my angel before thy face, and he will drive out the Canaan-ites’, he refused him, saying: ‘If thou goest not with us thyself, carry me not up hence.’ For he did not desire a creature to lead the people, lest they should learn to worship the creature beyond God who created all things. So, of cohrse, he refused the angel, and besought God himself to lead them. But after God had given him a promise, saying to him, ‘I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee beyond all men’, it is written in Isaiah: ‘He that raised up from the earth the shepherd of the sheep, where is he that put the Holy Spirit in the midst of them, that led up Moses by his right hand?’ And a little farther on he says: ‘The Spirit came down from the Lord and led them. So didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name.’ Who cannot from these things perceive the truth? When God promised to lead them, lo ! he promises no longer to send an angel, but the Spirit who is above the angels, and he leads the people. He shows that the Spirit does not belong to the creatures nor is he an angel, but is above the creation, united to the Godhead of the Father. For it was God himself who, through the Word, in the Spirit, led the people. Hence through all Scripture he says: ‘I brought you up out of the land of Egypt. You are witnesses if there was a strange God among you but me.’ The saints also say to God, ‘Thou leddest thy people like a flock’,* and, ‘He led them in hope, and they did not fear’. To him also they offer up the hymn which says: ‘To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endureth for ever.’ And the mighty Moses unceasingly declares: ‘The Lord your God who goeth before you.’ Thus the Spirit of God is neither angel nor creature, but belongs to his Godhead. For when the Spirit was with the people, God, through the Son in the Spirit, was with them.

Καὶ Μωσῆς γ' οὖν, γινώσκων τοὺς μὲν ἀγγέ λους κτίσματα, τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἡνωμένον τῷ Υἱῷ καὶ τῷ Πατρὶ, λέγοντος αὐτῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ· «Πο ρεύου, ἀνάβηθι ἐντεῦθεν σὺ καὶ ὁ λαός σου, οὓς ἐξήγαγες ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἣν ὤμοσα τῷ Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ τῷ Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ τῷ Ἰακὼβ λέγων· Τῷ σπέρματι ὑμῶν δώσω αὐτήν· καὶ συναποστελῶ πρὸ προσώπου σου τὸν ἄγγελόν μου, καὶ ἐκβαλεῖ τὸν Χαναναῖον·» παραιτεῖται λέγων· «Εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς συμπορεύῃ μεθ' ἡμῶν, μή με ἀναγάγῃς ἐντεῦθεν.» Οὐκ ἐβούλετο γὰρ κτίσμα προηγεῖσθαι τοῦ λαοῦ, ἵνα μὴ μάθωσι λατρεύειν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα τὰ πάντα Θεόν. Ἀμέλει, τὸν ἄγγελον παραιτησάμενος, παρεκάλει αὐτὸν τὸν Θεὸν καθηγεῖσθαι αὐ τῶν. Τοῦ δὲ Θεοῦ ἐπαγγειλαμένου καὶ εἰπόντος πρὸς αὐτόν· «Καὶ τοῦτόν σου τὸν λόγον, ὃν εἴρηκας, ποιήσω· εὕρηκας γὰρ χάριν ἐνώπιόν μου, καὶ οἶδά σε παρὰ πάντας·» γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ· «Ὁ ἀναβιβάσας ἐκ τῆς γῆς τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων· ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ θεὶς ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὁ ἀναγα γὼν τῇ δεξιᾷ Μωσῆν;» καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα φησί· «Κατέβη Πνεῦμα παρὰ Κυρίου καὶ ὡδήγησεν αὐτούς. Οὕτως ἤγαγες τὸν λαόν σου ποιήσας σεαυτῷ ὄνομα δόξης·» τίς ἐκ τούτων οὐ συνορᾷ τὴν ἀλήθειαν; Τοῦ γὰρ Θεοῦ ἐπαγγειλαμένου καθηγεῖσθαι, ἰδοὺ οὐκ ἔτι ἄγγελον ἐπαγγέλλεται πέμπειν, ἀλλὰ τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, ὅ ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἀγγέλους, καὶ αὐτὸ καθ ηγούμενόν ἐστι τοῦ λαοῦ. Καὶ δείκνυται, ὅτι οὐ τῶν κτισμάτων, οὐδὲ ἄγγελός ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα, ἀλλὰ ἄνω τῆς κτίσεώς ἐστιν, ἡνωμένον τῇ θεότητι τοῦ Πατρός. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τοῦ Λόγου ἐν Πνεύματι καθηγεῖτο τοῦ λαοῦ· ὅθεν καὶ διὰ πάσης τῆς Γραφῆς φησιν· «Ἐγὼ ἀνήγαγον ὑμᾶς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου· μάρτυρες ὑμεῖς ἐστε, εἰ Θεὸς ἦν ἀλλότριος ἐν ὑμῖν πλὴν ἐμοῦ.» Καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι δὲ προσφωνοῦσι τῷ Θεῷ· «Ὡδήγησας ὡς πρόβατα τὸν λαόν σου·» καὶ, «Ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, καὶ οὐκ ἐδειλίασαν.» Τούτῳ καὶ τὸν ὕμνον ἀνατιθέασι λέγοντες· «Τῷ διαγαγόντι τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ.» Ὁ δὲ μέγας Μωσῆς συνεχῶς διηγεῖται· «Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ προπορευόμενος πρὸ προσώπου ὑμῶν.» Τὸ ἄρα τοῦ Θεοῦ Πνεῦμα οὐκ ἂν εἴη ἄγγελος, οὐδὲ κτίσμα, ἀλλ' ἴδιον τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ. Τοῦ γὰρ Πνεύματος ὄντος ἐν τῷ λαῷ, ὁ Θεὸς δι' Υἱοῦ ἐν Πνεύματι ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς.