13. Our opponents,
while they thus artfully and perversely encounter our argument, cannot
even have recourse to the plea of ignorance. It is obvious that
they are annoyed with us for completing the doxology to the Only
Begotten together with the Father, and for not separating the Holy
Spirit from the Son. On this account they style us innovators,
revolutionizers, phrase-coiners, and every other possible name of
insult. But so far am I from being irritated at their abuse,
that, were it not for the fact that their loss causes me
“heaviness and continual sorrow,” cf.
Rom. ix. 2. I could almost have said that I was
grateful to them for the blasphemy, as though they were agents for
providing me with blessing. For “blessed are ye,”
it is said, “when men shall revile you for my
sake.” Matt. v. 11. The grounds
of their indignation are these: The Son, according to them, is
not together with the Father, but after the Father. Hence it
follows that glory should be ascribed to the Father
“through him,” but not “with
him;” inasmuch as “with him” expresses
equality of dignity, while “through him” denotes
subordination. They further assert that the Spirit is not to
be ranked along with the Father and the Son, but under the Son and
the Father; not coordinated, but subordinated; not connumerated, but
subnumerated. ὑποτάσσω.
cf. 1 Cor.
xv. 27, and
inf. cf. chapter xvii. ὑποτεταγμένος
is applied to the Son in the Macrostich or Lengthy Creed,
brought by Eudoxius of Germanicia to Milan in 344. Vide
Soc. ii. 19.