It may indeed be undignified to give any answer at all to the statements that are foolish we seem to be pointed that way by Solomon’s wise advice, “n

 What then is the charge they bring against us? They accuse us of profanity for entertaining lofty conceptions about the Holy Spirit. All that we, in f

 What then, shall be our way of arguing? We shall answer nothing new, nothing of our own invention, though they challenge us to it we shall fall back

 We can confirm our argument by material instances. Fire naturally imparts the sense of heat to those who touch it, with all its component parts one

 If, then, the Holy Spirit is truly, and not in name only, called Divine both by Scripture and by our Fathers, what ground is left for those who oppose

 For the plea will not avail them in their self-defence, that He is delivered by our Lord to His disciples third in order, and that therefore He is est

 Since, then, it has been affirmed, and truly affirmed, that the Spirit is of the Divine Essence, and since in that one word “Divine” every idea of gre

 But if all must shrink from that, as going even beyond the most revolting blasphemy, then a devout mind must accept the nobler names and conceptions o

 If such is the doctrine concerning Him when followed out , let the same inquiry be made concerning the Son and the Father as well. Do you not confess

 If, then, they agree that the Holy Spirit is perfect absolutely, and it has been admitted in addition that true reverence requires perfection in every

 In what sort of manner, then, can you honour the Deity? How can you heighten the Highest? How can you give glory to that which is above all glory? How

 The heavens proclaim the glory of God , and yet they are counted poor heralds of His worth because His Majesty is exalted, not as far as the heavens,

 What means, then, this lowering and this expanding of their soul, on the part of these men who are enthusiastic for the Father’s honour, and grant to

 “Yes,” replies one of them, “but we have been taught by Scripture that the Father is the Creator, and in the same way that it was ‘through the Son ’ t

 What shall we answer to this? That the thoughts of their hearts are so much idle talk, when they imagine that the Spirit was not always with the Fathe

 The view which is consistent with all reverence is as follows. We are not to think of the Father as ever parted from the Son, nor to look for the Son

 If, on the contrary, this Spirit has the impulse to work, but some overwhelming control hinders His design, they must tell us the wherefore of this hi

 This is the view we take, after the unprofessional way usual with us and we reject all these elaborate sophistries of our adversaries, believing and

 But with regard to service and worship, and the other things which they so nicely calculate about, and bring into prominence, we say this that the Ho

 But if there is any of them who rejects this statement, and this idea involved in the very name of Divinity, and says that which, to the destruction o

 These destroyers of the Spirit’s glory, who relegate Him to a subject world, must tell us of what thing that unction is the symbol. It not a symbol of

 Again, let us look at it in this way. Kingship is most assuredly shown in the rule over subjects. Now what is “subject” to this Kingly Being? The Word

 For notice the amount of absurdity involved in the other alternative all things that we can think of in the actual creation have, by virtue of all ha

 Then let us look to this too. In Holy Baptism, what is it that we secure thereby? Is it not a participation in a life no longer subject to death? I th

 So that if these despisers and impugners of their very own life conceive of the gift as a little one, and decree accordingly to slight the Being who i

 If, then, every height of man’s ability falls below the grandeur of the Spirit (for that is what the Word means in the metaphor of “footstool”), what

 On the contrary the Holy Spirit is, to begin with, because of qualities that are essentially holy, that which the Father, essentially Holy, is and su

 If such, then, is the greatness of the Spirit, and whatever is beautiful, whatever is good, coming from God as it does through the Son, is completed b

 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

 Do they too, then, mean this by their worship? Well, is it anything but absurdity to think that it is wrong to honour the Holy Spirit with that with w

 [Translation lacking]

But if there is any of them who rejects this statement, and this idea involved in the very name of Divinity, and says that which, to the destruction of the Spirit’s greatness, is in circulation amongst the many, namely, that He belongs, not to making, but to made, beings, that it is right to regard Him not as of a Divine, but as of a created nature, we answer to a proposition such as this, that we do not understand how we can count those who make it amongst the number of Christians at all. For just as it would not be possible to style the unformed embryo a human being, but only a potential one, assuming that it is completed so as to come forth to human birth, while as long as it is in this unformed state, it is something other than a human being; so our reason cannot recognize as a Christian one who has failed to receive, with regard to the entire mystery, the genuine form of our religion28    τὴν ἀληθῆ μόρφωσιν τῆς εὐσεβείας. We can hear Jews believing in God, and our God too: even our Lord reminds29    ἐντίθεται: συντίθεται, “concedes to,” would perhaps be better. them in the Gospel that they recognize no other God than the Father of the Only-begotten, “of Whom ye say that he is your God.” Are we, then, to call the Jews Christians because they too agree to worship the God Whom we adore? I am aware, too, that the Manichees go about vaunting the name of Christ. Because they hold revered the Name to which we bow the knee, shall we therefore number them amongst Christians? So, too, he who both believes in the Father and receives the Son, but sets aside the Majesty of the Spirit, has “denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel,” and belies the name of Christ which he bears. The Apostle bids the man of God to be “perfect30    2 Cor. xiii. 11. Cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 20..” Now, to take only the general man, perfection must consist in completeness in every aspect of human nature, in having reason, capability of thought and knowledge, a share of animal life, an upright bearing, risibility, broadness of nail; and if any one were to term some individual a man, and yet were unable to produce evidence in his case of the foregoing signs of human nature, his terming him so would be a valueless honour. Thus, too, the Christian is marked by his Belief in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in this consists the form of him who is fashioned31    Cf. 2 Tim. i. 13 (ὑποτύπωσιν); Rom. ii. 20 (μόρφωσιν); vi. 17 (τύπον), all referring to truth as contained in a formula. Cf. also Gal. iv. 19. in accordance with the mystery of the truth. But if his form is arranged otherwise, I will not recognize the existence of anything whence the form is absent; there is a blurring out of the mark, and a loss of the essential form, and an alteration of the characteristic signs of our complete humanity, when the Holy Spirit is not included in the Belief. For indeed the word of Ecclesiastes says true; your heretic is no living man, but “bones,” he says32    Reading καθὼς ἐκεῖνος φησὶν., “in the womb of her that is with child33    Eccles. xi. 5 (LXX.). οὐκ ἔστι γινωσκων τίς ἡ ὁδὸς τοῦ πνεύματος, ὡς ὀστᾶ ἐν γαστρὶ κυοφορούσης”; for how can one who does not think of the unction along with the Anointed be said to believe in the Anointed? “Him,” says (Peter), “did God anoint with the Holy Spirit34    Acts x. 38. Cf. iv. 27..”

Εἰ δέ τις ἀθετοίη τὴν φωνὴν ταύτην καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν τὴν τῷ ὀνόματι τῆς θειότητος συνεμφαινομένην, λέγοι δὲ τὸ παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν ἐπὶ καθαιρέσεως τῆς τοῦ πνεύματος μεγαλωσύνης περιφερόμενον, ὅτι οὐχὶ τῶν ποιούντων, ἀλλὰ τῶν ποιηθέντων ἐστὶ καὶ οὐχὶ τῆς θείας, ἀλλὰ τῆς κτιστῆς φύσεως εἶναι προσήκει νομίζειν, τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἀποκρινούμεθα: ὅτι τοὺς οὕτως ἔχοντας ἐν Χριστιανοῖς ἀριθμεῖν οὐκ ἐμάθομεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἄν τις προσείποι τὸ ἀτελεσφόρητον ἔμβρυον, ἀλλὰ δυνάμενον εἴπερ ἐτελεσφορήθη εἰς ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν προελθεῖν, ἕως δ' ἂν ἐν τῷ ἀτελεῖ ᾖ, ἄλλο τί ἐστι καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος: οὕτως τὸν μὴ δι' ὅλου τοῦ μυστηρίου τὴν ἀληθῆ μόρφωσιν τῆς εὐσεβείας δεξάμενον Χριστιανὸν οὐκ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος. ἔστι γὰρ καὶ Ἰουδαίων ἀκούειν θεὸν ὁμολογούντων καὶ θεὸν τὸν ἡμέτερον. συντίθεται αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ καὶ ὁ κύριος, ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλον νομίζουσι θεὸν ἢ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ μονογενοῦς, Ὃν ὑμεῖς, φησίν, λέγετε ὅτι θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐστιν. ἆρ' οὖν Χριστιανοὺς ὀνομαστέον τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, ὅτι τὸν παρ' ἡμῶν προσκυνούμενον καὶ αὐτοὶ σέβειν ὁμολογοῦσιν; οἶδα καὶ Μανιχαίους τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ περιφέροντας. τί οὖν; ἐπειδὴ σεβάσμιον παρὰ τούτοις τὸ παρ' ἡμῶν προσκυνούμενον ὄνομα, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐν Χριστιανοῖς ἀριθμήσομεν; οὕτως καὶ ὁ τὸν πατέρα μὲν ὁμολογῶν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν παραδεχόμενος, ἀθετῶν δὲ τὴν μεγαλωσύνην τοῦ πνεύματος, ἤρνηται τὴν πίστιν καί ἐστιν ἀπίστου χείρων καὶ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας τοῦ Χριστιανοῦ καταψεύδεται. ἄρτιον εἶναι κελεύει τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον ὁ ἀπόστολος. ἄρτιον δ' ἂν εἴη ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ κοινοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ παντὶ λόγῳ συμπεπληρωμένον τῆς φύσεως: λογικὸν [τε] γὰρ εἶναι χρή, νοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικόν, ζωῆς μετέχον, ὄρθιον τῷ σχήματι, γελαστικόν, πλατυώνυχον: εἰ δὲ ὀνομάζοι μέν τις ἄνθρωπον, τὰ δὲ εἰρημένα σημεῖα τῆς φύσεως μὴ ἔχοι ἐπὶ τούτου παρέχεσθαι, μάτην ἐτίμησε τῷ προσρήματι. οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστιανὸς τῇ εἰς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα πίστει χαρακτηρίζεται: αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μορφὴ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἀληθείας μεμορφωμένου. εἰ δὲ ἑτέρως ἡ μορφὴ διακειμένη τύχῃ, οὐχ ἐπιγνώσομαι τοῦ ἀμόρφου τὴν φύσιν: σύγχυσίς ἐστι τοῦ χαρακτῆρος καὶ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν μορφῆς ἀλλοτρίωσις καὶ παραλλαγὴ τῶν γνωριστικῶν σημείων τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, ὅταν μὴ συμπαραληφθῇ τῇ πίστει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. ἀληθεύει γὰρ τοῦ Ἐκκλησιαστοῦ ὁ λόγος: ὅτι οὗτος οὐχὶ ζῶν ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ Ὀστᾶ, καθὼς ἐκεῖνος φησίν, ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ τῆς κυοφορούσης. πῶς γὰρ ὁμολογήσει Χριστὸν ὁ μὴ συνεπινοῶν τῷ χρισθέντι τὸ χρίσμα; Τοῦτον ἔχρισε, φησίν, ὁ θεὸς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ.