3. But
of course this is not the real cause of our separation. It was
when they found that they would recommend themselves to
Euzoius cf.
note on p. 265. if they were
alienated from me, that they devised these pretences. The
object was to find some ground of recommendation with the
authorities for their attack upon me. Now they are beginning
to run down even the Nicene Creed, and nickname me
Homoousiast, because in
that creed the Only begotten Son is said to be homoousios with God the Father.
Not that one essence is divided into two kindred parts; God
forbid! This was not the meaning of that holy and God-beloved
synod; their meaning was that what the Father is in essence, such is
the Son. And thus they themselves have explained it to us, in
the phrase Light of Light. Now it is the Nicene Creed,
brought by themselves from the west, which they presented to the
Synod at Tyana, by which they were received. i.e.
after their return from Rome, and another Synod in Sicily, in
367. But they have an ingenious theory
as to changes of this kind; they use the words of the creed as
physicians use a remedy for the particular moment, and substitute
now one and now another to suit particular diseases. The
unsoundness of such a sophism it is rather for you to consider than
for me to prove. For “the Lord will give you
understanding”
2 Tim. ii. 7. to know what is
the right doctrine, and what the crooked and perverse. If
indeed we are to subscribe one creed to-day and another tomorrow,
and shift with the seasons, then is the declaration false of him who
said, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
Eph. iv. 5. But if it is true, then “Let
no man deceive you with [these] vain words.” They
falsely accuse me of introducing novelties about the Holy
Spirit. Ask what the novelty is. I confess what I have
received, that the Paraclete is ranked with Father and Son, and not
numbered with created beings. We have made profession of our
faith in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and we are baptized in the
name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Wherefore we never
separate the Spirit from conjunction συνάφεια.
cf. note on p. 16.
with the Father and the Son. For our mind, enlightened by the
Spirit, looks at the Son, and in Him, as in an image, beholds the
Father. And I do not invent names of myself, but call the Holy
Ghost Paraclete; nor do I consent to destroy His due glory.
These are truly my doctrines. If any one wishes to accuse me
for them, let him accuse me; let my persecutor persecute me.
Let him who believes in the slanders against me be ready for the
judgment. “The Lord is at hand.” “I am
careful for nothing.”
Phil. iv. 5 and 6.