35. In the exposition of this creed, concise but
complete definitions have been employed. For in condemning those
who said that the Son sprang from things non-existent, it attributed to
Him a source which had no beginning but continues perpetually.
And lest this source from which He drew His permanent birth should be
understood to be any other substance than that of God, it also declares
to be blasphemers those who said that the Son was born of some other
substance and not of God. And so since He does not draw His
subsistence from nothing, or spring from any other source than God, it
cannot be doubted that He was born with those qualities which are
God’s; since the Only-begotten essence of the Son is generated
neither from things which are non-existent nor from any other substance
than the birthless and eternal substance of the Father. But the
creed also rejects intervals of times or ages: on the assumption
that He who does not differ in nature cannot be separable by time.