EPISTLE ONE

 1. Your sacred Kindness’s letter was delivered to me in the desert. Though the persecution directed against us was indeed bitter, and a great search m

 2. To the Arians indeed this way of thinking is not strange. Having once denied the Word of God, they naturally say the same evil things against his S

 3. Where then do you find excuse for such audacity, so that you do not fear that which was spoken by the Lord, ‘Whosoever shall blaspheme against the

 4. Tell us, then, is there any passage in the divine Scripture where the Holy Spirit is found simply referred to as ‘spirit’ without the addition of ‘

 5. But do you answer the question which has been put to you whether anywhere in the divine Scripture you have found the Holy Spirit called simply ‘spi

 6. But inquire also about the contents of the Gospels and the writings of the Apostles, and you will hear how there also, inasmuch as there is a great

 7. See how the Holy Spirit is denoted in all divine Scripture ! Did you, then, notice anything of this kind in the prophet? The ‘spirit’ of which the

 8. Read the sacred Scriptures, and you will find ‘spirit’ used of the meaning which is in the divine words, as Paul writes: ‘Who also made us sufficie

 9. ‘But’, say they, ‘since the text makes mention of Christ, to be consistent we must take the spirit it speaks of to be none other than the Holy Spir

 10. Accordingly, if created spirit bears this meaning, we can appropriately take the thunder which is established to be the sure word and unshakable l

 11. What is this mighty folly of theirs? Once again, where in the Scriptures have they found the Spirit referred to as an angel? I am obliged to repea

 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

 13. ‘But granting this,’ they say, ‘why did the Apostle after Christ make mention not of the Holy Spirit but of the elect angels?’ In like manner we m

 14. What will they say if they hear also the Lord saying: ‘There was in a certain place a judge who feared not God and regarded not man’? Because, aft

 15. Such, it seems to me, is the meaning of the divine oracles and it refutes the evil which these irrational men speak against the Spirit. But they,

 16. We ought therefore, as I said before, to be silent on these matters and to disregard these people. But lest our silence should furnish an excuse f

 17. For this reason too, it is madness to call him a creature. If he were a creature, he would not be ranked with the Triad. For the whole Triad is on

 18. Let them presume to tell us, as they have a glib answer to everything, how the heavens were formed, and from what material, and what is their comp

 19. Since, therefore, such an attempt is futile madness, nay, more than madness !, let no one ask such questions any more, or else let him learn only

 20. But if there is such co-ordination and unity within the holy Triad, who can separate either the Son from the Father, or the Spirit from the Son or

 21. But if, in regard to order and nature, the Spirit bears the same relation to the Son as the Son to the Father, will not he who calls the Spirit a

 22. The creatures came from nothing, having a beginning from which they came into being. For, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth’

 23. He, therefore, who is not sanctified by another, nor a partaker of sanctification, but who is himself partaken, and in whom all the creatures are

 24. Further it is through the Spirit that we are all said to be partakers of God. For it says: ‘Know ye not that ye are a temple of God and that the S

 25. The Spirit, therefore, is distinct from the creatures, and is shown rather to be proper to the Son and not alien from God. As for that wise questi

 26. That the Spirit is above the creation, distinct in nature from things originated, and proper to the Godhead, can be seen from the following consid

 27. From what follows, also, we may see how the Holy Spirit is partaken and does not partake. (We must not mind repeating ourselves.) For, ‘It is impo

 28. But, beyond these sayings, let us look at the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave,

 29. Since then the Church has this foundation of faith, let these men tell us once again and let them make answer, Is God triad or dyad? If he is dyad

 30. Such absurdities meet you if you say God is dyad. But if he is triad, as indeed he is and if the Triad has been shown to be indivisible and consi

 31. This consideration also shows that the activity of the Triad is one. The Apostle does not mean that the things which are given are given different

 32. The divine Scriptures, then, consistently show that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, but is proper to the Word and to the Godhead of the Father.

 33. Dwelling as I do in a desert place, yet, because of their effrontery who have turned away from the truth, I have not heeded those who will be glad

 EPISTLE TWO—THREE

 2. This opinion of the Arians is indeed mortal and corruptible. But the argument of truth, which even they ought to ponder, runs like this: If God is

 3. When these points are thus proved, he is impious who says that the Son is a creature. For he will be compelled also to give the name of creature to

 4. Again, all things originate were not and have come into being. For, ‘He made the earth as nothing’ and, ‘Who calleth the things that are not as th

 5. Since these things are true and are written in Scripture, who does not recognize that, inasmuch as the Son has no likeness to the creatures but has

 6. In this way too we can refute the impiety of those who say that the Word of God is a creature. Our faith is in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the

 7. But as they plead the passage in Proverbs, ‘The Lord created me, a beginning of his ways, for his works’, adding, ‘See, “He created” He is a creatu

 8. This character [of our faith] is from the Apostles through the Fathers. It remains that he who reads Scripture should examine and judge when it spe

 9. Then too there is that other saying, which is indeed well said, but by them ill understood—I mean: ‘Of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not ev

 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,

 2. These considerations are sufficient to dissuade anyone, be he never so contentious, from continuing to call the Spirit of God a creature, who is in

 3. Again, the Holy Spirit is called, and is, unction and seal. For John writes: ‘And as for you, the unction which ye received of him abideth in you,

 4. This the Apostle knows when he says: ‘All these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally, even as he will’ and a little

 5. As it is thus written, it is clear that the Spirit is not a creature, but takes part in the act of creation. The Father creates all things through

 6. Assuredly, when he prayed for the Corinthians, he prayed in the Triad, saying: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the comm

 7. In these terms the Catholic faith is expressed. But as for those who speak evil of the Spirit and call him a creature, if what we have said does no

 Epistle Four

 2. Who, when he hears these things, will still regard them as Christians, and not rather as pagans? For such things the pagans say against us in conve

 3. Once again, in the following way also, it is just for you to be questioned from the questions you ask. If the prophets speak in the Spirit of God,

 4. Thus the Spirit is not a creature but proper to the essence of the Word and proper to God in whom he is said to be. Once more, we must not shrink f

 5. These things being thus proved, he must be mad who asks, Is the Spirit also a son? But neither let any man, because this is not written, separate h

 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

 7. These things are sufficient to refute your foolish speech. Mock no more at the Godhead. For it is the part of those who mock to ask the questions w

26. That the Spirit is above the creation, distinct in nature from things originated, and proper to the Godhead, can be seen from the following consideration also. The Holy Spirit is incapable of change and alteration. For it says, ‘The Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit and will start away from thoughts that are without understanding.’ And Peter says: ‘In the incorruptibility of the meek and quiet Spirit.’ Again, in Wisdom: ‘Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.’ And if ‘none knoweth the things of God save the Spirit of God which is in him’, and, as James said, in God ‘there is no variation nor shadow that is cast by turning’— the Holy Spirit, being in God, must be incapable of change, variation, and corruption. But the nature of things originated and of things created is capable of change, inasmuch as it is outside the essence of God, and came into existence from that which is not. For it says: ‘Every man is a liar,’ and, ‘All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ ‘And angels which kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgement of the great day.’ In Job: ‘If he putteth no trust in his holy angels ... and against his angels he imputeth evil . . . and the stars are not pure in his sight.’ Paul writes: ‘Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?’ We have heard too that the devil, who was ‘between the cherubim’, and was ‘the seal of the likeness’, fell ‘as lightning from heaven’. But if, while creatures are by nature capable of change, and such things are written about angels, the Spirit is the same and unalterable; if he shares the immutability of the Son, with him abiding ever unchangeable—what likeness can there be between the unchangeable and the things that change? It will be clear that he is not a creature, nor does he belong in essence to the angels, for they are changeable, but he is the image of the Word and pertains to the Father.

Again, the Spirit of the Lord fills the universe. Thus David sings: ‘Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?’ Again, in Wisdom it is written: ‘Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.’ But things originated are all in places apportioned to them: sun, moon, and stars in the firmament, clouds in the air. For men he has ‘set the bounds of the peoples’. The angels are ‘sent forth’ for ministries. ‘And the angels came to stand before the face of the Lord,’ as it is written in Job. And Jacob the patriarch dreamed: ‘And behold! a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and the angels of God ascended and descended upon it.’ But if the Spirit fills all things, and in the Word is present in the midst of all things; and if the angels, being his inferiors, are circumscribed, and where they are sent forth, there are they present: it is not to be doubted that the Spirit does not belong to things originated, nor is he an angel at all, as you say, but by nature is above the angels.

Ὅτι δὲ ἄνω τῆς κτίσεώς ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα, καὶ ἄλλο μὲν παρὰ τὴν τῶν γενητῶν φύσιν, ἴδιον δὲ τῆς θεότητος, ἔξεστι καὶ ἐκ τούτου πάλιν συνιδεῖν. Ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτόν ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· «Ἅγιον, γάρ φησι, Πνεῦμα παιδείας φεύξεται δόλον, καὶ ἀπαναστήσεται ἀπὸ λογισμῶν ἀσυνέτων.» Καὶ ὁ μὲν Πέτρος φησίν· «Ἐν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ τοῦ πραέος καὶ ἡσυχίου Πνεύματος·» καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῇ Σοφίᾳ· «Τὸ γὰρ ἄφθαρτόν σου Πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἐν πᾶσι·» καὶ εἰ «οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰ μὴ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ·» οὐκ ἔστι δὲ παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Ἰάκωβος, «παραλλαγὴ ἢ τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα·» ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ὂν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, εἰκότως ἂν εἴη ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀπαράλλακτον καὶ ἄφθαρτον. Ἡ δὲ τῶν γενητῶν καὶ τῶν κτιστῶν φύσις ἐστὶ τρεπτὴ, ἅτε δὴ ἔξωθεν οὖσα τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐσίας, καὶ ἐξ οὐκ ὄν των ὑποστᾶσα· «πᾶς» μὲν γὰρ «ἄνθρωπος,» φησὶ, «ψεύστης.» Καὶ, «πάντες ἥμαρτον, καὶ ὑστεροῦν ται τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἀγγέλους δὲ τοὺς μὴ τηρήσαντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὴν, ἀλλ' ἀπολιπόντας τὸ ἴδιον οἰκητήριον, εἰς κρίσιν μεγάλης ἡμέρας δεσμοῖς ἀϊδίοις ὑπὸ ζόφον τετήρηκεν.» Ἐν δὲ τῷ Ἰώβ· «Εἰ κατὰ ἁγίων ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ οὐ πιστεύει, κατὰ δὲ ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ σκολιόν τι ἐπενόησεν· ἄστρα δὲ οὐ καθαρὰ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ·» ὁ δὲ Παῦλος γράφει· «Οὐκ οἴδατε, ὅτι ἀγγέλους κρινοῦμεν, μήτιγε βιωτικά;» Ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἠκούσαμεν, ὅτι ὁ διάβολος, ἐν μέ σῳ τῶν χερουβὶμ ὢν, καὶ ἀποσφράγισμα ὁμοιώσεως γενόμενος, ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὡς ἀστραπή. Εἰ δὲ τὰ μὲν κτίσματα τοιαύτην ἔχει φύσιν, καὶ γέγραπται περὶ ἀγγέλων τοιαῦτα· τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα τὸ αὐτό ἐστι καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀτρεψίας, ἐστὶ, μένον ἀεὶ σὺν αὐτῷ ἄτρεπτον· ποία ὁμοιότης τῷ ἀτρέπτῳ πρὸς τὰ τρεπόμενα; ∆ῆλον γὰρ ἂν εἴη, ὡς οὔτε κτίσμα ἐστὶν, οὔτε ὅλως τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων οὐσίας ἐστὶ, διὰ τὸ ἐκείνους εἶναι τρεπτούς· ἀλλ' εἰκὼν τοῦ Λόγου, καὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἴδιόν ἐστι. Πάλιν τε τὸ μὲν Πνεῦμα Κυρίου πεπλήρωκε τὴν οἰκουμένην. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ ∆αβὶδ ψάλλει· «Ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματός σου;» Καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῇ Σοφίᾳ γέγραπται· «Τὸ γὰρ ἄφθαρτόν σου Πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἐν πᾶσι.» Τὰ δὲ γενητὰ πάντα ἐν μεμερισμέ νοις τόποις εἰσὶν, ἥλιος μὲν, καὶ σελήνη, καὶ ἀστέ ρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι, νεφέλαι δὲ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι· καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἔστησεν ὅρια ἐθνῶν· οἵ τε ἄγγελοι ἀποστέλλονται εἰς διακονίας· «Καὶ ἦλθον οἱ ἄγγελοι παραστῆναι ἐνώπιον τοῦ Κυρίου,» ὡς ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ γέ γραπται· καὶ, «ἐνυπνιάσθη δὲ Ἰακὼβ ὁ πατριάρχης· καὶ, ἰδοὺ κλίμαξ ἐστηριγμένη ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἧς ἡ κεφαλὴ ἀφικνεῖτο εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνέβαινον καὶ κατέβαινον ἐπ' αὐτῆς.» Εἰ δὲ τὸ μὲν Πνεῦμα πάντα πληροῖ, καὶ ἐν τῷ Λόγῳ πάρεστιν ἐν μέσῳ πάντων, οἱ δὲ ἄγγελοι ἐλαττοῦνται τούτῳ, καὶ ἔνθα ἀποστέλλονται, ἐκεῖ πάρεισιν· οὐκ ἀμφίβολον οὖν, ὅτι οὔτε τῶν γενητῶν, οὔτε ὅλως ἄγγελός ἐστιν, ὡς ὑμεῖς λέγετε, τὸ Πνεῦμα, ἀλλ' ἄνω τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων φύσεώς ἐστιν.