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 Holy Spirit hath no forgiveness, neither in this present age nor in the age to come’? The Arians, having misunderstood the incarnate presence of the Word and the things which were said in consequence thereof, took from them an excuse for their heresy and were condemned as enemies of God and as speaking things which are in truth idle and earthly. But whence were you deceived? From whom did you hear such error? In what way did you fall into it? ‘We read’, they say, ‘in the prophet Amos, where God says: “I am he that establisheth thunder and createth spirit and declareth unto men his Christ, that maketh dawn and mist, that ascendeth unto the high places of the earth. The Lord God omnipotent is his name”. Hence we believed the Arians when they said that the Holy Spirit is a creature.’ So you read the passage in Amos. But that which is spoken in Proverbs, ‘The Lord created me as a beginning of his ways for his works’—did you not read that? Or did you read it? You explain this passage in accordance with the truth, so that you do not call the Word a creature. But the passage in the prophet you do not explain. Simply hearing the word ‘spirit’, you supposed that the Holy Spirit is called a creature. Although in Proverbs it is clearly Wisdom who says ‘created’, yet you do well enough. You explain the text so as not to put the Artificer Wisdom among the creatures. But the text in the prophet gives no indication of the Holy Spirit; it only speaks of spirit. Why then, although there is in Scripture a great difference in the use of the word ‘spirit’, and although the text can properly be interpreted in an orthodox sense, do you—either out of love of contention or because you have been poisoned by the Arian serpent’s sting—suppose that it is the Holy Spirit who is referred to in Amos? Only that you may not forget to regard him as a creature !

Πόθεν τοίνυν ὑμῖν, ὦ οὗτοι, τῆς τοσαύτης τόλμης ἡ πρόφασις, ὥστε μὴ φοβηθῆναι τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰρημένον· «Ὃς δ' ἂν βλασφημήσῃ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, οὐκ ἔχει ἄφεσιν οὔτε ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι;» Οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἀρειανοὶ, καίτοι τὴν ἔνσαρκον παρουσίαν τοῦ Λόγου καὶ τὰ δι' αὐτὴν εἰρημένα μὴ νοήσαντες, ὅμως ἐξ αὐτῶν πρόφασιν λαβόντες εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν αἵρεσιν, καὶ οὕτως ἠλέγχθησαν θεομάχοι καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀπὸ γῆς κενολογοῦντες. Ὑμεῖς δὲ πόθεν ἠπατήθητε; παρὰ τίνων ἀκούσαντες, ἢ τίς ὁ τρόπος τῆς τοιαύτης ὑμῶν πλάνης; Ἀνέγνωμεν, φασὶν, ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ Ἀμὼς, λέγοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, «Ὅτι Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ στερεῶν βροντὴν, καὶ κτίζων πνεῦμα, καὶ ἀπαγγέλλων εἰς ἀν θρώπους τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτοῦ· ποιῶν ὄρθρον καὶ ὁμίχλην, καὶ ἐπιβαίνων ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ τῆς γῆς, Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ ὄνομα αὐτῷ.» Καὶ ἔν θεν ἐπείσθημεν τοῖς Ἀρειανοῖς λέγουσι κτίσμα εἶναι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Εἶτα τὸ μὲν παρὰ τῷ Ἀμὼς ἀνέγνωτε· τὸ δὲ ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις λεγόμενον, «Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ,» οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε, ἢ ἀνέγνωτε; Καὶ τοῦτο μὲν, ὡς ἔχει ἀληθείας, ἑρμηνεύετε, ἵνα μὴ εἴπητε κτίσμα τὸν Λόγον· τὸ δὲ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ οὐχ ἑρμηνεύετε, ἀλλὰ ἁπλῶς ἀκούοντες «πνεῦμα,» ἐνομίσατε λέγεσθαι κτίσμα τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον; Καίτοι ἐν μὲν ταῖς Παροιμίαις φανερῶς ἡ Σοφία λέγουσά ἐστι τὸ, «ἔκτισέ με·» καὶ ὅμως καλῶς γε ποιοῦντες, ἑρ μηνεύετε τὸ ῥητὸν, ἵνα μὴ τὴν δημιουργὸν Σοφίαν ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασι συναριθμῆτε. Τὸ δὲ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ ῥητὸν οὐκ ἔχει γνώρισμα περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς εἴρηται περὶ πνεύματος. Πῶς οὖν, καίτοι πλείστης οὔσης διαφορᾶς ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς περὶ πνευμάτων, καὶ δυναμένου τοῦ ῥητοῦ τὴν ἰδίαν διάνοιαν ἔχειν ὀρθὴν, ὑμεῖς, ὡς φιλονεικοῦντες ἢ ὡς ὑπὸ δήγματος τοῦ Ἀρειανοῦ ὄφεως βλαβέντες, τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον εἰρῆσθαι παρὰ τοῦ Ἀμὼς νομίζετε, ἵνα μόνον τοῦ φρονεῖν κτίσμα μὴ ἐπι λάθησθε;