XI.  He wrought first in the heavenly and angelic powers, and such as are first after God and around God.  For from no other source flows their perfection and their brightness, and the difficulty or impossibility of moving them to sin, but from the Holy Ghost.  And next, in the Patriarchs and Prophets, of whom the former saw Visions of God, or knew Him, and the latter also foreknew the future, having their master part moulded by the Spirit, and being associated with events that were yet future as if present, for such is the power of the Spirit.  And next in the Disciples of Christ (for I omit to mention Christ Himself, in Whom He dwelt, not as energizing, but as accompanying His Equal), and that in three ways, as they were able to receive Him, and on three occasions; before Christ was glorified by the Passion, and after He was glorified by the Resurrection; and after His Ascension, or Restoration, or whatever we ought to call it, to Heaven.  Now the first of these manifests Him—the healing of the sick and casting out of evil spirits, which could not be apart from the Spirit; and so does that breathing upon them after the Resurrection, which was clearly a divine inspiration; and so too the present distribution of the fiery tongues, which we are now commemorating.  But the first manifested Him indistinctly, the second more expressly, this present one more perfectly, since He is no longer present only in energy, but as we may say, substantially, associating with us, and dwelling in us.  For it was fitting that as the Son had lived with us in bodily form—so the Spirit too should appear in bodily form; and that after Christ had returned to His own place, He should have come down to us—Coming because He is the Lord; Sent, because He is not a rival God.  For such words no less manifest the Unanimity than they mark the separate Individuality.

ΙΑʹ. Τοῦτο ἐνήργει, πρότερον μὲν ἐν ταῖς ἀγγελικαῖς καὶ οὐρανίοις δυνάμεσι, καὶ ὅσαι πρῶται μετὰ Θεὸν, καὶ περὶ Θεόν. Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλοθεν αὐταῖς ἡ τελείωσις καὶ ἡ ἔλλαμψις, καὶ τὸ πρὸς κακίαν δυσκίνητον, ἢ ἀκίνητον, ἢ παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Ἔπειτα ἐν τοῖς Πατράσι, καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, ὧν οἱ μὲν ἐφαντάσθησαν Θεὸν, ἢ ἔγνωσαν, οἱ δὲ καὶ τὸ μέλλον προέγνωσαν τυπούμενοι τῷ Πνεύματι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν, καὶ ὡς παροῦσι συνόντες τοῖς ἐσομένοις. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος δύναμις. Ἔπειτα ἐν τοῖς Χριστοῦ μαθηταῖς (ἐῶ γὰρ Χριστὸν εἰπεῖν, ᾧ παρῆν, οὐχ ὡς ἐνεργοῦν, ἀλλ' ὡς ὁμοτίμῳ συμπαρομαρτοῦν): καὶ τούτοις τρισσῶς, καθ' ὅσον οἷοί τε ἦσαν χωρεῖν, καὶ κατὰ καιροὺς τρεῖς: πρὶν δοξασθῆναι Χριστὸν τῷ Πάθει: μετὰ τὸ δοξασθῆναι τῇ Ἀναστάσει: μετὰ τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς Ἀνάβασιν, ἢ ἀποκατάστασιν, ἢ ὅ τι χρὴ λέγειν. Δηλοῖ δὲ ἡ πρώτη τῶν νόσων, καὶ ἡ τῶν πνευμάτων κάθαρσις, οὐκ ἄνευ Πνεύματος δηλαδὴ γενομένη: καὶ τὸ μετὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἐμφύσημα, σαφῶς ὂν ἔμπνευσις θειοτέρα: καὶ ὁ νῦν μερισμὸς τῶν πυρίνων γλωσσῶν, ὃ καὶ πανηγυρίζομεν. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον, ἀμυδρῶς: τὸ δὲ δεύτερον, ἐκτυπώτερον: τὸ δὲ νῦν, τελεώτερον, οὐκ ἔτι ἐνεργείᾳ παρὸν, ὡς πρότερον, οὐσιωδῶς δὲ, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, συγγινόμενόν τε καὶ συμπολιτευόμενον. Ἔπρεπε γὰρ, Υἱοῦ σωματικῶς ἡμῖν ὁμιλήσαντος, καὶ αὐτὸ φανῆναι σωματικῶς: καὶ Χριστοῦ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπανελθόντος, ἐκεῖνο πρὸς ἡμᾶς κατελθεῖν: ἐρχόμενον μὲν ὡς Κύριον, πεμπόμενον δὲ ὡς οὐκ ἀντίθεον. Αἱ γὰρ τοιαῦται φωναὶ οὐχ ἧττον τὴν ὁμόνοιαν δηλοῦσιν, ἢ φύσεις χωρίζουσιν.