Apology 24–28

So if the argument has shown that the will is activity, and the activity is not substance, and the Only-begotten came to exist by the will of the Father, it is necessary that the Son preserve likeness not to the substance but to the activity, which is also the will. Led on by these points, we must preserve the true account of the image. The blessed Paul himself explained it, saying: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, because in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible." For this reason he is the image. But all the things created in him, together with the firstborn, do not represent the unbegotten substance; for the substance is not according to these. But the image would bear the likeness of the activity through which the Son exists, in whom are all things, not of the substance, the activity which was in foreknowledge even before the constitution of the firstborn and of the things created in him. For who, knowing the Only-begotten himself and learning all the things that came into being through him, would not confess that the whole power of the Father is beheld in him? Looking to this, the most blessed Paul says not "through him" but "in him", while adding "firstborn", so that he, taken together with the things that came into being through him, might make the Father's activity known to all who are able to perceive these things. We call him image, then, not comparing an offspring to the unbegotten (for this is unfitting and impossible for all), but as only-begotten Son and firstborn of the Father, the title "Son" showing the substance, and the title "Father" the activity of the one who begot. And if anyone, contentiously holding to his own views, does not attend to what has been said, but forces the title "Father" to signify substance, let him give the Son also a share of the like word, to whom he has already given a share of the like substance; or rather let him give each of the two a share in both, to the Father the Son's title and to the Son the Father's; for likeness of substance compels those who hold this opinion about them to name them by the same titles.

Since this is enough for us concerning the Only-begotten, it would follow next to speak about the Paraclete, not following the unexamined opinions of the many, but keeping in all things the teaching of the saints, from whom we have learned that he is third in dignity and order, and so have believed him to be third also in nature. For dignities do not change places with natures, as among men rank changes through public life, nor is the order reversed in creation contrary to the substances; it fits the nature, so that what is first in order is not second in nature, nor does what is first by nature receive the second or third order. If, then, this is the best order of the creation of intelligible beings, the Holy Spirit, being third in order, would not be first in nature, which is what the God and Father is. For it would be foolish and superfluous for the same one to hold now the first place, now the third, and to be both the one worshiped and the one in whom he is worshiped, according to what the Lord says: "God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth." Nor is he the same as the Only-begotten; for he would not have been numbered after him as having his own hypostasis, since the Savior's word is enough even before these arguments, by which he said plainly that the one who would be sent was another, to remind and teach the apostles. Nor is he another in number beside God, yet unbegotten; for there is one and only unbegotten, from whom all things came into being. Nor is he other than the Son, yet an offspring; for there is one Only-begotten, our Lord, "through whom are all things", according to the Apostle. But he is third both in nature and in order, having come into being by the command of the Father and the activity of the Son, honored in the third place, as the first and greatest of all and the only such thing made by the Only-begotten; falling short of Godhead and creative power, but filled with sanctifying and teaching power. As for those who believe the Paraclete to be some activity of God, and then number him among the substances, to refute them now, as very foolish and far cut off from the truth, would need much leisure.

But so that we may not weary our hearers by the length of our words, gathering in brief the whole force of what has been said, we say that there is one and only true God of all things, unbegotten, without beginning, incomparable, superior to every cause, cause of being to all that exists; who did not establish the creation of beings out of communion with another, who is not carried above all as first in order or as better by comparison, but by an incomparable superiority of substance, power, and authority; who begot and made, before all things, the only-begotten God, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things came into being, the image and seal of his own power and activity; not compared in substance either with the one who begot him or with the Holy Spirit, who came into being through him. For he is less than the one, as a thing made, and greater than the other, as maker. That he was made, a trustworthy witness is Peter, to whom the Lord himself bore witness that he had his knowledge from God, saying, "Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him Lord and Christ"; and he who says in the person of the Lord, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways." That he made the Holy Spirit, witness is he who said, "One God, from whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things," and the blessed John, who declared, "All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." From these it would follow either to call the Spirit unbegotten, which is impious, or, if he came into being, that he came into being through him. For we confess that the Son alone was begotten by the Father, subject in substance and will; for he himself confesses that he lives because of the Father and does nothing of himself; and he is neither homoousios nor homoiousios, since the one signifies generation and division of the substance, the other equality.

The Father is not begotten, nor is the Son unbegotten; but what he is without end, this he is also truly called: offspring, an obedient Son, a most perfect minister, who served the whole creation and will of the Father, for the constitution and continuance of beings, for the giving of law to men, for the dispensation, and for all providence; using the Paraclete as servant for sanctification, for teaching, for the confirmation of the faithful; born in the last days of the holy Virgin, having lived in holiness under human laws, crucified, dead, risen on the third day, ascended into heaven, coming to judge the living and the dead with a just recompense of faith and works, and reigning to the ages; while in all things and always the superiority and monarchy of God are preserved, the Holy Spirit being subject to Christ together with all things, and the Son himself to the God and Father, according to the teaching of the blessed Paul, who says, "For when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all." All these things have been demonstrated by us clearly and more broadly elsewhere, and confessed now to you in brief. We pray that you who are present, and all who share the same mysteries with us, neither fearing men's blame, nor deceived by sophisms, nor led on by flattery, may cast your vote on what has been said according to true and just judgment, the better part plainly prevailing with all; and that, setting reason before those who trouble you, you may escape all the snares and nets devised by the devil against men, who has made it his study to make many flee, or to entice those who do not choose the profitable before the pleasant, or who reckon the present safer than what is to come. But if with some the worse should prevail (may God turn aside the trial of the saying!), many conspiring toward falsehood and standing apart from the truth, and holding safety and glory in the present of more account than what pleases God and profits all, we pray that at least those who follow may keep the faith unshaken and firm for the one who handed it down, awaiting the judgment seat of Christ our Savior, where pride and glory and falsehood are destroyed root and all, and those who are judged are stripped of all office, service, or flattery, and a multitude of helpers and wealth are powerless to sway, however highly esteemed among men. For a multitude of glorious men is not worth one pious poor man in pleading before the truth that tests, piety contending on our side with a just reward for those who now count even death gain for its sake, and Christ, who of old and now presides over the contest, giving the prizes of the contests: to those who have labored for the truth, true freedom and the kingdom of heaven; to those who have dishonored it through malice, inexorable punishments. Let both these things be said to you; and may the end turn out to the better part.

There is one God, unbegotten and without beginning, having no being before himself (for nothing can be before the unbegotten), nor with him (for the unbegotten is one and only God), nor in him (for he is simple and uncompounded). Being one, and being alone, and being always the same, he is God and creator and maker of all things: first and pre-eminently of the Only-begotten, and properly of those who came into being through him. For the Son alone, before all things and before all creation, he begot and created and made by his own power and activity, sharing nothing of his own hypostasis with the one begotten. For God is incorruptible, indivisible, and without parts; and the incorruptible does not share his own substance. Nor did he constitute another like himself; for he alone is unbegotten, and it is impossible to be begotten according to the unbegotten substance. So he did not make use of his own substance, but of his will alone; nor did he beget according to his own substance, but as he willed. And through him he made the Holy Spirit, first and greatest of all, by his own authority and command, but by the activity and power of the Son. After this he made all the rest, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, bodies and bodiless beings, through the Son. For there is "one God, from whom are all things," according to the Apostle, "and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." One God, then, unbegotten, uncreated, unmade; and one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, offspring of the unbegotten, not as one of the offspring; creature of the uncreated, not as one of the creatures; thing made of the unmade, not as one of the things made; as it has been said by the Holy Scripture: "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways; before the age he founded me; before all the hills he begets me." And one Holy Spirit, first and greatest of all the works of the Only-begotten, having come into being by the command of the Father, but by the activity and power of the Son.