The holy catholic and apostolic Church, then, teaches the existence at once of a
Father: and of His Only-begotten Son, born of Him without time
and flux and passion, in a manner incomprehensible and perceived by the
God of the universe alone: just as we recognise the existence at
once of fire and the light which proceeds from it: for there is
not first fire and thereafter light, but they exist together. And
just as light is ever the product of fire, and ever is in it and at no
time is separate from it, so in like manner also the Son is begotten of
the Father and is never in any way Text, μηδ᾽
ὅλως. Variant in many codices is
μηδαμῶς, as in the
previous sentence. separate from
Him, but ever is in Him Greg. Naz.,
Orat. bk. i., Cont. Eun., p. 66; Cyril, Thes.,
assert. 5.. But whereas
the light which is produced from fire without separation, and abideth
ever in it, has no proper subsistence of its own distinct from that of
fire (for it is a natural quality of fire), the Only-begotten Son of
God, begotten of the Father without separation and difference and ever
abiding in Him, has a proper subsistence of its own distinct from that
of the Father.