- ANF06. Fathers of the Third Century: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius, and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

V.

Again, when one speaks of the Holy Spirit as an object made holy,²⁸³

²⁸³ ἡγιασμένον ποίημα.
he will no longer be able to apprehend all things as being sanctified in (the) Spirit. For he who has sanctified one, sanctifies all things. That man, consequently, belies the fountain of sanctification, the Holy Spirit, who denudes Him of the power of sanctifying, and he will thus be precluded from numbering Him with the Father and the Son; he makes nought, too, of the holy (ordinance of) baptism, and will no more be able to acknowledge the holy and august Trinity.²⁸⁴

²⁸⁴ Trias. [See vol. ii. p. 101.]
For either we must apprehend the perfect Trinity²⁸⁵

²⁸⁵ Trias. [See vol. ii. p. 101.]
in its natural and genuine glory, or we shall be under the necessity of speaking no more of a Trinity, but only of a Unity;²⁸⁶

²⁸⁶ Monas.
or else, not numbering²⁸⁷

²⁸⁷ συναριθμεῖν.
created objects with the Creator, nor the creatures with the Lord of all, we must also not number what is sanctified with what sanctifies; even as no object that is made can be numbered with the Trinity, but in the name of the Holy Trinity baptism and invocation and worship are administered. For if there are three several glories, there must also be three several forms of cultus with those who impiously worship the creature; for if there is a distinction in the nature of the objects worshipped, there ought to be also with these men a distinction in the nature of the worship offered. What is recent²⁸⁸

²⁸⁸ τὰ πρόσφατα.
surely is not to be worshipped along with what is eternal; for the recent comprehends all that has had a beginning, while mighty and measureless is He who is before the ages. He, therefore, who supposes some beginning of times in the life of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, therewith also cuts off any possibility of numbering the Son and the Spirit with the Father. For as we acknowledge the glory to be one, so ought we also to acknowledge the substance in the Godhead to be one, and one also the eternity of the Trinity.
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