6. For if you ask, "Is the Spirit then a son?", since by our showing he is not a creature; so must you ask, "Is the Son then a father?", for you have learned that he is not a creature inasmuch as through him things originate were created. Or it may run thus: "Is the Spirit then the Son and the Son himself the Holy Spirit?" But if this be their opinion, they will be cut off from the holy Triad and will be judged to be godless, inasmuch as they change the names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, transposing them at will on the analogy of human generation, calling them grandchildren and grandfathers, and remaking for themselves the genealogies of the gods of the pagans. This is not the faith of the Church; but, as the Saviour said, it is into Father, Son and Holy Spirit— Father who cannot be called grandfather, Son who cannot be called father, and Holy Spirit who is named by no other name than this. Of this faith it is not permissible to interchange the terms. The Father is always Father, and the Son always Son, and the Holy Spirit is and is called always Holy Spirit. In human relations it is not so, despite the Arians’ delusions. As it is written, ‘God is not as man’, so we might say, Men are not as God. For in the case of men the father is not always a father nor the son always a son. The same man becomes father of a son, who was himself another’s son; and the son, being his father’s son, becomes another’s father. Abraham, for example, being son of Nahor, became father of Isaac; and Isaac, being son of Abraham, became father of Jacob. Each, being a part of his sire, is begotten a son, and becomes himself another’s father. But with the Godhead it is not so; for, ‘God is not as man’. Thus the Father is not from a father; wherefore he begets not one who should become another’s father. Nor is the Son a part of the Father; wherefore he is not a thing begotten to beget a son. Hence in the Godhead alone the Father is and was and always is, because he is Father in the strict sense, and Only Father. The Son is Son in the strict sense, and Only Son. And of them it holds good that the Father is and is called always Father, and the Son, Son; and the Holy Spirit is always Holy Spirit, whom we have believed to be of God and to be given from the Father through the Son. Thus the holy Triad remains incapable of alteration, and is known in one Godhead. Wherefore he who asks, Is the Spirit then a son?, as though the name could be altered, is deluded and infects himself with madness. And he who asks, Is the Father then a grandfather?, by inventing a new name for the Father, errs in his heart. It is not safe to make any further answer to the effrontery of the heretics, for that is to oppose the Apostle’s injunction. It is good rather to give the counsel he commanded.

Εἰ γὰρ, ἐπεὶ μὴ κτίσμα ἐστὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα (τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδείχθη), ἐρωτᾶτε, Υἱὸς οὖν ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα; ὥρα, μαθόντας ὑμᾶς, ὅτι μὴ κτίσμα ἐστὶν ὁ Υἱὸς (διὰ τούτου γὰρ τὰ γενητὰ ἐκτίσθη), ἐρωτᾷν, Πατὴρ οὖν ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός; Ἢ καὶ οὕτως· Τὸ Πνεῦμα οὖν ἐστιν ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς αὐτός ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; Τοιαῦτα δὲ λογιζόμενοι, ἔξω μὲν τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ἔσονται, ἄθεοι δὲ κριθήσονται, ἀλλάσσοντες τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· μεταφέροντές τε αὐτὸ, ὡς θέλουσιν, ἐν ὁμοιώματι γενέσεως ἀνθρωπίνης, ἔκγονα καὶ πάππους ὀνομάζοντες, καὶ τὴν Ἑλλήνων θεογονίαν ἑαυτοῖς ἀναπλασσόμενοι. Οὐκ ἔστι δὲ αὕτη τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡ πίστις, ἀλλ' ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Σωτὴρ, εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· Πατέρα μέντοι, οὐ δυνάμενον λέγεσθαι πάππον, καὶ Υἱὸν οὐ δυνάμενον λέγεσθαι Πατέρα, καὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ οὕτως ὀνομαζόμενον. Ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς πίστεως οὐκ ἔστιν ἐναλλὰξ εἰπεῖν· ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ὁ Πατὴρ Πατήρ ἐστι, καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς ἀεὶ Υἱὸς, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἀεὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιόν ἐστι καὶ λέγεται. Ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, οὐκ ἔστιν οὕτως, κἂν οἱ Ἀρειανοὶ τοιαῦτα φαντάζωνται. Ὡς γὰρ γέγραπται, «Οὐχ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ Θεός,» οὕτως ἄν τις εἴποι, οὐχ ὡς Θεὸς οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Ἐπὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ πατὴρ ἀεὶ πατὴρ, οὐδὲ ὁ υἱὸς ἀεὶ υἱός. Ὁ γὰρ αὐτὸς πατὴρ μὲν υἱοῦ γίνεται, αὐτὸς δὲ ἑτέρου γέγονεν υἱὸς, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς πατρὸς ὢν υἱὸς, ἄλλου γίνεται πατήρ. Ἀβραὰμ γοῦν υἱὸς ὢν τοῦ Ναχὼρ, πατὴρ γέγονε τοῦ Ἰσαάκ· καὶ Ἰσαὰκ δὲ υἱὸς ὢν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ, πατὴρ γέγονε τοῦ Ἰακώβ. Ἕκαστος γὰρ,μέρος ὢν τοῦ γονέως, γεννᾶται μὲν υἱὸς, γίνεται δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἑτέρου πατήρ. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς θεότητος οὐχ οὕτως, ἐπεὶ μὴ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ Θεός. Ὁ γοῦν Πατὴρ οὐκ ἐκ Πατρός ἐστι· διὸ οὐδὲ γεννᾷ τὸν γενησόμενον ἑτέρου Πατέρα· οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱὸς μέρος ἐστὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς, διὸ οὐδὲ γέννημά ἐστιν εἰς τὸ γεννᾷν Υἱόν. Ὅθεν ἐπὶ τῆς θεότητος μόνης ὁ Πατὴρ κυρίως καὶ μόνος Πατὴρ ὢν, ἔστι καὶ ἦν καὶ ἀεί ἐστι. Καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς κυ ρίως, καὶ μόνος Υἱός ἐστι. Καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων ἕστηκε τὸ, ὁ Πατὴρ ἀεὶ Πατὴρ, καὶ τὸ, Υἱὸς ἀεὶ Υἱὸς, εἶναί τε καὶ λέγεσθαι· καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἅγιον ἀεὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιόν ἐστι· καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς δι' Υἱοῦ δίδοσθαι πεπιστεύκαμεν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἡ ἁγία Τριὰς ἀναλλοίωτος διαμένει, ἐν μιᾷ θεότητι γινωσκομένη. Οὐκοῦν ὁ ἐρωτῶν, Υἱὸς οὖν ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα; ὡς δυναμένου τοῦ ὀνόματος ἀλ λάσσεσθαι, φαντάζεται, καὶ μανίαν ἑαυτῷ περιποιεῖ ται. Καὶ ὁ ἐρωτῶν δὲ, πάππος οὖν ἐστιν ὁ Πατὴρ, ἐπινοῶν ὄνομα τῷ Πατρὶ, πλανᾶται τῇ καρδίᾳ. Ἀπο κρίνασθαι μὲν οὖν ἔτι πρὸς τὴν ἀναίδειαν τῶν αἱρε τικῶν οὐκ ἀσφαλές· μάχεσθαι γάρ ἐστι τῇ ἀποστολικῇ παραινέσει· συμβουλεύειν δὲ μᾶλλον, ὡς παρήγγειλεν αὐτὸς, καλόν.