Letter III.
1. Perhaps you will wonder why, when I was charged to abridge and briefly to explain the letter I had written concerning the Holy Spirit, you find me, as though I had laid aside my work on that subject, writing against those who are guilty of impiety toward the Son of God and who call him a creature. But you will not blame me, I know well, when you understand the cause. Indeed, when you see how reasonable it is, your Piety will welcome it. Our Lord himself said that the Paraclete ‘shall not speak from himself, but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak ... for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you’; and, ‘having breathed on them’, he gave the Spirit to the disciples out of himself, and in this way the Father poured him out ‘upon all flesh’,* as it is written. It is natural, therefore, that I should have spoken and written first concerning the Son, that from our knowledge of the Son we may be able to have true knowledge of the Spirit. For we shall find that the Spirit has to the Son the same proper relationship as we have known the Son to have to the Father. And as the Son says, ‘All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine’, so we shall find that through the Son all these things are in the Spirit also. And as the Father attested the Son, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’, so the Spirit belongs to the Son; for the Apostle says: ‘God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father.’ And, what is remarkable, as the Son said, ‘What is mine belongs to the Father’, so the Holy Spirit, which is said to belong to the Son, belongs to the Father. For the Son himself says: ‘When the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceeded from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.’ And Paul writes: ‘No man knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so the things of God none knoweth save the Spirit of God which is in him. But we received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God, that we might see the things that are freely given to us by God.’ And throughout divine Scripture you will find that the Holy Spirit, who is said to belong to the Son, is also said to belong to God. This I wrote in my previous letter. If therefore the Son, because of his proper relationship with the Father and because he is the proper offspring of his essence, is not a creature, but is one in essence with the Father: the Holy Spirit likewise, because of his proper relationship with the Son, through whom he is given to all men and whose is all that he has, cannot be a creature, and it is impious to call him so.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ ΣΕΡΑΠΙΩΝΑ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΟΣ. Ἴσως θαυμάσεις, πῶς ἐντειλάμενον τὴν περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος γραφεῖσαν ἐπιστολὴν ἐπιτεμεῖν, καὶ δι' ὀλίγων δηλῶσαι, ὁρᾷς ὥσπερ ἀφέντα με τὸν περὶ τούτου λόγον, καὶ γράφοντα κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβούντων εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ λεγόντων αὐτὸν κτίσμα· ἀλλ' οὐ μέμψῃ εὖ οἶδ' ὅτι, εἰ μά θοις τὸ αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποδέξεταί σου ἡ εὐλάβεια, ὁρῶσα τὸ εὔλογον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος εἶπεν· «Οὐ λαλήσει παρ' ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Παράκλη τος· ἀλλ' ὅσα ἀκούσει, λαλήσει· ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λή ψεται, καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν·» καὶ ἐμφυσήσας δέδωκεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦτο τοῖς μαθηταῖς, καὶ οὕτως ἐξέχεεν αὐτὸ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα κατὰ τὸ γε γραμμένον· διά τοι τοῦτο εἰκότως περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρῶτον εἴρηταί τε καὶ γέγραπται· ἵν' ἐκ τῆς περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ γνώσεως ἔχειν καὶ τὴν περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος γνῶσιν καλῶς δυνηθῶμεν· οἵαν γὰρ ἔγνωμεν ἰδιότητα τοῦ Υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, ταύτην ἔχειν τὸ Πνεῦμα πρὸς τὸν Υἱὸν εὑρήσομεν. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Υἱὸς λέγει, «Πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατὴρ ἐμά ἐστιν,» οὕτως ταῦτα πάντα διὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ εὑρήσομεν ὄντα καὶ ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι. Καὶ ὡς ὁ Πατὴρ ἔδειξε τὸν Υἱὸν λέγων, «Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα,» οὕτως τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα· «Ἐξ απέστειλε γὰρ,» φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, «τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν κράζον· Ἀββᾶ, ὁ Πατήρ.» Καὶ τὸ παράδοξον, ὥσπερ ὁ Υἱὸς λέγει, Τὰ ἐμὰ τοῦ Πατρός ἐστιν, οὕτως τοῦ Πατρός ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὅπερ τοῦ Υἱοῦ εἴρηται. Αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ ὁ Υἱὸς λέγει· «Ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ Παράκλητος, ὃν ἐγὼ πέμψω ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς, τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται, ἐκεῖνος μαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ·» ὁ δὲ Παῦλος γράφει· «Οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ κατοικοῦν ἐν αὐτῷ· οὕτω καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ κόσμου ἐλάβομεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵν' εἴδω μεν τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ χαρισθέντα ἡμῖν.» Καὶ ἐν πάσῃ δὲ τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ εὑρήσεις, ὅτι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον λεγόμενον τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τοῦτο λέγεται τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι· καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐγράψαμεν. Οὐκ οῦν εἰ ὁ Υἱὸς διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ἰδιότητα, καὶ διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοῦ τῆς οὐσίας ἴδιον γέννημα, οὐκ ἔστι κτίσμα, ἀλλ' ὁμοούσιος τοῦ Πατρός· οὕτως οὐκ ἂν εἴη οὐδὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον κτίσμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσεβὴς ὁ λέγων τοῦτο, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Υἱὸν ἰδιότητα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ δίδοται πᾶσι, καὶ ἃ ἔχει τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐστιν.