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 impossible’, it says, ‘for those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good Word of God. . . .’ The angels and the other creatures partake of the Spirit himself; hence they can fall away from him whom they partake. But the Spirit is always the same; he does not belong to those who partake, but all things partake of him. But if he is always the same and always partaken; and if the creatures partake of him—the Holy Spirit can neither be an angel nor a creature of any kind, but proper to the Word. And being given by the Word, he is partaken by the creatures. For they would have to say that the Son is a creature, of whom we are all made partakers in the Spirit.

Again, the Holy Spirit is one, but the creatures are many. For the angels are ‘thousand thousand’ and ‘ten thousand times ten thousand’, and there are many lights and thrones and lordships and heavens and cherubim and seraphim and many archangels. In a word, creatures are not one but, taking all together, many and diverse. But if the Holy Spirit is one, and the creatures many and angels many—what likeness can there be between the Spirit and things originate? It is obvious that the Spirit does not belong to the many nor is he an angel. But because he is one, and, still more, because he is proper to the Word who is one, he is proper to God who is one, and one in essence with him.

These sayings concerning the Holy Spirit, by themselves alone, show that in nature and essence he has nothing in common with or proper to creatures, but is distinct from things originate, proper to, and not alien from, the Godhead and essence of the Son; in virtue of which essence and nature he is of the Holy Triad, and puts their stupidity to shame.

Πάλιν γὰρ καὶ ἐκ τούτων ἄν τις ἴδοι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὡς μεθεκτόν ἐστι καὶ οὐ μετέχον (τὰ αὐτὰ γὰρ λέγειν οὐκ ὀκνητέον). «Ἀδύνατον γὰρ,» φησὶ, «τοὺς ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας, γευσαμένους τε τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς ἐπουρανίου, καὶ μετόχους Πνεύματος ἁγίου γενομένους, καὶ καλὸν γευσαμένους Θεοῦ ῥῆμα,» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Οἱ δὲ ἄγγελοι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα κτίσματα μετέχοντά ἐστιν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Πνεύματος· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ταῦτα μὲν καὶ ἐκπίπτειν οὗ μετέσχον δύναται· τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα ἀεὶ τὸ αὐτό ἐστιν· οὐ γὰρ τῶν μετεχόντων ἐστὶν, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα μετέχει. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ἀεὶ τὸ αὐτό ἐστι καὶ μεθεκτὸν, τὰ δὲ κτίσματα μετέχοντά ἐστιν αὐτοῦ· οὐκ ἂν εἴη τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον οὔτε ἄγγελος, οὔτε ὅλως κτίσμα, ἀλλ' ἴδιον τοῦ Λόγου, παρ' οὗ διδόμενον μετέχεται παρὰ τῶν κτισμάτων· ἐπεὶ ὥρα λέγειν αὐτοὺς καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν κτίσμα, οὗ πάντες ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι μέτοχοι γεγόναμεν. Καὶ πά λιν ἕν ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· τὰ δὲ κτίσματα πολλά. Ἄγγελοι μὲν γὰρ χίλιαι χιλιάδες καὶ μύριαι μυριάδες· φωστῆρες δὲ πολλοὶ, καὶ θρόνοι, καὶ κυριότητες, καὶ οὐρανοὶ, καὶ χερουβὶμ, καὶ σεραφὶμ, καὶ ἀρχάγγελοι πολλοί· καὶ ἁπλῶς οὐκ ἔστι τὰ κτίσματα ἓν, ἀλλὰ πάντα πολλὰ καὶ διάφορα. Εἰ δὲ τὸ μὲν Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἕν ἐστι, τὰ δὲ κτίσματα πολλὰ, καὶ ἄγγελοι πολλοί· ποία ὁμοιότης τῷ Πνεύματι πρὸς τὰ γενητά; Καὶ οὐκ ἄδηλον, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι τῶν πολλῶν τὸ Πνεῦμα, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἄγγελος, ἀλλ' ἓν ὂν, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ Λόγου ἑνὸς ὄντος ἴδιον, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἑνὸς ὄντος ἴδιον καὶ ὁμοούσιόν ἐστι. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ μόνα καθ' ἑαυτὰ λεγόμενα περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος δείκνυσιν αὐτὸ μηδὲν κοινὸν μηδὲ ἴδιον ἔχειν τι τῇ φύσει καὶ τῇ οὐσίᾳ πρὸς τὰ κτίσματα, ἀλλ' ἄλλο μὲν εἶναι τῶν γενητῶν, ἴδιον δὲ καὶ οὐ ξέ νον τῆς τοῦ Υἱοῦ οὐσίας καὶ θεότητος, δι' ἣν καὶ τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ὂν, καταισχύνει τὴν ἐκείνων ἀναισθη σίαν.