On the Holy Trinity, and of the Godhead of the Holy Spirit.

 All you who study medicine have, one may say, humanity for your profession: and I think that one who preferred your science to all the serious pursuit

 I may say that those who conceived this causeless hatred for us seemed to be acting very much on the principle of Æsop’s fable. For just as he makes h

 Well, what is their charge? There are two brought forward together in the accusation against us one, that we divide the Persons the other, that we d

 But our argument in reply to this is ready and clear. For any one who condemns those who say that the Godhead is one, must necessarily support either

 What, then, is our doctrine? The Lord, in delivering the saving Faith to those who become disciples of the word, joins with the Father and the Son the

 But they say that this appellation is indicative of nature, and that, as the nature of the Spirit is not common to the Father and the Son, for this re

 But the order of things which is above us, alike in the region of intelligence and in that of sense (if by what we know we may form conjectures about

 But I know not how these makers-up of all sorts of arguments bring the appellation of Godhead to be an indication of nature, as though they had not he

 But if any one were to call this appellation indicative of dignity, I cannot tell by what reasoning he drags the word to this significance. Since howe

But our argument in reply to this is ready and clear. For any one who condemns those who say that the Godhead is one, must necessarily support either those who say that there are more than one, or those who say that there is none. But the inspired teaching does not allow us to say that there are more than one, since, whenever it uses the term, it makes mention of the Godhead in the singular; as,—“In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead4    Col. ii. 9.”; and, elsewhere,—“The invisible things of Him from the foundation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead5    Rom. i. 20..” If, then, to extend the number of the Godhead to a multitude belongs to those only who suffer from the plague of polytheistic error, and on the other hand utterly to deny the Godhead would be the doctrine of atheists, what doctrine is that which accuses us for saying that the Godhead is one? But they reveal more clearly the aim of their argument. As regards the Father, they admit the fact that He is God6    Reading, with Oehler, τὸ θεὸν εἴναι., and that the Son likewise is honoured with the attribute of Godhead; but the Spirit, Who is reckoned with the Father and the Son, they cannot include in their conception of Godhead, but hold that the power of the Godhead, issuing from the Father to the Son, and there halting, separates the nature of the Spirit from the Divine glory. And so, as far as we may in a short space, we have to answer this opinion also.

Ἀλλ' ἕτοιμος ἡμῖν πρὸς τοῦτο καὶ σαφὴς ὁ λόγος. ὁ γὰρ καταγινώσκων τῶν μίαν λεγόντων θεότητα ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἢ τῷ πολλὰς λέγοντι ἢ τῷ μηδεμίαν συνθήσεται: οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατὸν ἕτερόν τι παρὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ἐπινοῆσαι. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πολλὰς λέγειν συγχωρεῖ ἡ τῆς γραφῆς διδασκαλία, εἴ που καὶ μέμνηται, μοναχῶς τῆς θεότητος μνημονεύουσα: Ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος, καὶ ἑτέρωθι Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται, ἥ τε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης. εἰ οὖν εἰς πλῆθος ἐκτείνειν τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν θεοτήτων μόνων τῶν τὴν πολύθεον πλάνην νενοσηκότων ἐστί, τὸ δὲ καθόλου ἀρνεῖσθαι τὴν θεότητα τῶν ἀθέων ἂν εἴη, τίς λόγος ἐστὶν ὁ διαβάλλων ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τῷ μίαν ὁμολογεῖν τὴν θεότητα; ἀλλ' ἐκκαλύπτουσι φανερώτερον τὸν τοῦ λόγου σκοπὸν ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ πατρὸς καταδέχεσθαι τὸ θεὸν εἶναι καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ὡσαύτως τιμᾶσθαι τῷ τῆς θεότητος ὀνόματι συντιθέμενοι, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ συναριθμούμενον μηκέτι καὶ τῇ τῆς θεότητος ἐννοίᾳ συμπεριλαμβάνεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς μέχρι τοῦ υἱοῦ ἱσταμένην τὴν τῆς θεότητος δύναμιν ἀποκρίνειν τῆς θεϊκῆς δόξης τὴν φύσιν τοῦ πνεύματος. οὐκοῦν ἀπολογητέον καὶ ἡμῖν, ὡς ἂν οἷοί τε ὦμεν, διὰ βραχέων καὶ πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ἔννοιαν.