Table of Contents

DOGMATIC PANOPLY BY THE EMPEROR ALEXIOS KOMNENOS, CONTAINING IN SUMMARY THE WRITINGS OF THE BLESSED AND GOD-BEARING FATHERS, ARRANGED IN ORDER AND CAREFUL HARMONY BY EUTHYMIOS, A MONK OF THE ZIGABENOS FAMILY

^A For the overturning and destruction of the most ungodly dogmas and doctrines of the godless heresiarchs, who have raged senselessly against their holy theology.

Consecrated to the most pious, most exalted, and God-crowned master and ruler of all Ungro-Wallachia, Lord Lord Ioannes Konstantinos Bassaraba Voivode Brancoveanu.

To his most illustrious and wisest son, Lord Lord Stefan Voivode Brancoveanu.

By the most holy and most learned Metropolitan of Dristra, Lord Lord Athanasios, at whose expense it has now been printed for the first time.

By the most holy, most learned, and God-chosen Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia, Lord Lord Anthimos, from Iberia.

Under the care and correction of Metrophanes, hieromonk, of Gregoras from Dodona.

In the most holy Metropolis of Targoviste, in Ungro-Wallachia, in the year from the nativity of God one thousand seven hundred and ten, in the month of May.

To the most illustrious, most pious, and most serene master and ruler of all Ungro-Wallachia, Lord Lord Ioannes Konstantinos Bassaraba Voivode Brancoveanu.

Glory of rulers, divine pride of the pious, Konstantinos, sovereign of the Moesians, guardian of the laws, Who could ever approach your virtues? Through which, clearly, every good has come to light. May God guard you, forget not the years, May He establish for you cities like Thochu.

ANTONIOS, teacher of the school in Constantinople and logothete of the Great Church.

* * *

From the Prolegomena of Chr. Frid. Matthaei to Euthymios on the Gospels.

Christian Friedrich Matthaei has surveyed the Moscow codices of the *Dogmatic Panoply* in his Preface to Euthymios’ *Commentaries on the Gospels*, and has added certain supplements. We here append this survey; however, we will restore the supplements to their proper place, indicating the source. Regarding codex I, or the tenth of the synodal press, parchment, 11th century, in-folio. The codex begins with the verses "This book of the most powerful lord," up to "may it go forth fearlessly." These verses are read in the Targoviste edition, pp. 7–8 (col. 18), and are there attributed to Euthymios. But here in the codex, in the margin, it is read by the first hand "of Pamphilus," about whom more below. After these is read "Program of the book... clad." See the edition, p. 8. These verses in the codex are attributed to Euthymios the monk. Subsequently, as in the printed edition, it is read "As it pleased..."

After these, in codex fol. 3 and 4, the Index of the book is read, which I have rendered here.

The first of the two books of the *Dogmatic Panoply*.

Eleven titles of the first book: Prologue against the Epicureans; further against the same; that is, against the same; against other Greeks; further against the same; further against the same; further against the same.

First title: Syllogistic proof that God is one, and that He also has a consubstantial Word.

^A

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND NOBLE LORD STEPHAN VODĂ BRÂNCOVEANU

Thinking to provide a solution to the many heavy debts I owe by dedicating this book to you, I have applied myself to the enterprise with eagerness. For I shall render proof of the love I owe to the brethren through this very task, fulfilling it well with the resources I have in hand, since I am quite unable to attain to [a repayment] of the debt itself — and the Spirit likewise, which are the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Title 2. On the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; a theology at once distinguished and united.

Title 3. On God in general, or on Deity. It is clear that by saying "God," or "Deity," or "the Divine," simply and without distinction, one indicates the three hypostases of the one Deity by this one common name.

Title 4. On the fact that the divine nature is incomprehensible.

Title 5. On the names of God.

Title 6. On the divine creation.

Title 7. On the divine incarnation.

Title 8. Against the Hebrews.

Title 9. Against Simon of Samaria, against Marcion the Pontic, and the Persian Magus, and the Manichaeans.

Title 10. Against the Sabellians.

Title 11. Against the Arians and Eunomians.

After this index are read verses by an anonymous author, which, because they are not read in the published edition, I have transcribed here:

Long ago, a king of the wise, composing words Of the revealers of the old and new mysteries, Made firm and rendered steady those who were shaken, Stopped the mouths of the gangs of babblers, Of those who are truly under the inspiration of Beliar, Offering words from the God-written books, And concluding the safety of the dogmas. And now a pious king, not writing [himself]— Or rather, not needing to write, But himself holding in the casket of his heart The accurate words of the wise spokesmen of God, As he does with all other good things, in abundance He keeps them in the tablets of his soul and the depths of his mind, And brings them forth daily to those who are with him, And through these, both those far away and those near, He initiates into the right way of thinking and speaking. He revealed one lip to those of one kin, Setting every alien dogma as far away as possible, And the opinion that had crept in from those of alien upbringing. That man, whom the writing shows to you, And this one, whom you learn of from my words, The Palaeologan Andronikos, ^B the master himself, Whose knowledge is incomparable in matters of action, Whose tongue is marvelous in matters of speech, Whom the kindness of his ways adorns, Whom virtues decorate more than a crown, Who, to sum up, I would call a hearth of good things, And a seemly dwelling-place of graces. But may He who is the giver and guardian of all good things Keep him for long ages, And keep safe his beloved offspring, Michael, the prop of the scepter, The beauty of the entire sovereignty, Truly the brilliant hope of the Romans, Whose glory is his father, as Solomon writes, Whose glory is the Father, who is rich in every good. And when He transfers these from life, May he obtain the lot of the kingdom of heaven, And be numbered with the multitude of the saints.

After these [fol. 5, p. 2], there are exhibited in the codex painted images of various Fathers on a gold background with the inscription of Pamphilus, whose name is read in the margin. These and the remaining inscriptions, of which I shall speak shortly, are written in cinnabar and square letters. The images of the saints follow in order: standing at the far left is Damascenus, after whom stand immediately Maximus, Chrysostomus, Cyrillus, Gregorius Theologus, Gregorius Nyssenus, Basilius, Athanasius, and at the far right in the margin is Dionysius, who is as it were the leader, and next to Emperor Alexius, who is painted on the following page.

The epigram is as follows (the speech refers to the emperor):

May wealth of wise counsel be yours, Great thanks to you, O crown-wearer before God, For you have gathered our words here; May you be gathered there, saved with all your kin.

After these [fol. 6, p. 1], there is an image of Christ and Alexius Comnenus with this title:

You sowed, O venerable Fathers, And I collected your labors, Beseeching at once to possess your light, So that I might be harvested into the heavenly mansions.

Fol. 6, p. 2, shows Alexius standing before Christ seated on a throne. This is the inscription:

Many emperors have acted with power, But you have surpassed all in deed and word. My all-powerful right hand strengthens you, Extend, O King, living eternally.

After these [fol. 7], the preface is read. "And all the achievements" (up to "we may perfect our own"), where the first title begins. See the published edition, page 9. ^C

Indeed, the things that are read thereafter in the codex, and which agree with the published edition, I have passed over in silence, having noted only those in which there is a difference between the codex and the Greek edition.

Fol. 7, page 1, col. b of the edition, between "and the Lord is the Spirit" on the Holy Trinity, the codex adds two places, which are missing even in the codex of the same library numbered 15b, about which I spoke just now.

The first place is that of Athanasius, which I have placed here. It has an index: "Again, concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the theology of the great Athanasius, at once distinguished and united, and that what the divine Scriptures say concerning the Father, they say the same also concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit, showing the one Deity in the three."

"What the Father said, he fulfills all, he signified."

The passage exists below (col. 49) in the region of the interpretation. ^D

PANOPLIA DOGMATICA

^A of the power to contribute to those ends which I happen to desire. For it has not escaped me that I am persistently required to show love towards members of the same race—a debt which alone knows no end, inasmuch as it is returned all the more as it is owed, and makes those who labor for it blessed. But I shall also have performed an old vow of mine to God, which time will resolve in this labor, by which I shall be bestowing upon your brilliance—most brilliant and most God-fearing Lord Stephen Branković, son in the Spirit, longed-for by our humility—a gift, as I persuade myself, most highly pleasing. For what else could I offer to your God-loving disposition, or rather, what could be more agreeable and at the same time more appropriate to your pious purpose? To whom else could I better dedicate my prayer to God, and make manifest my love towards the brethren, than by bringing to light this, and making common to all, a most useful book—the *Dogmatic Panoply*—being both that, and very aptly named, fighting as it does against the heretical and anti-divine battle array?

For this is its subject matter, as it itself proclaims from its very beginning, the promise setting forth the preciousness of the book. It was produced long ago in the times of the Emperor Alexios Komnenos, by a certain monk, Euthymios Zigabenos by name, by command of the one then holding the reins of the Roman Empire, I mean the aforementioned Lord Alexios—a man known in the time of that era for his virtue and the other brilliance of his character, but also one who was no less adorned by secular learning, not unpracticed in rhetoric. And as for theology, insofar as it is occupied with the dogmas of piety, he had scrutinized it thoroughly, and delighted in the struggles for piety—of which, having desisted from bringing forth more witnesses, we judged it sufficient to bring forward for the credibility of the account the Emperor Alexios’s most beloved daughter, I mean Anna Komnene, who in her own historical memoir bears witness to this man, heaping upon him no small praises, and for the Emperor himself, who had obviously accepted the labor, declaring that he had even commanded the book to be named, just as it is, *Dogmatic Panoply*.

For it sets up in this work, and, with God consenting, breaks the stubborn battle against the phalanx of the heretics, and defeats them nobly with the full armor of the words, which that Father of holy memory—having gathered most excellently from all the God-bearing Fathers of the Eastern Church, and having woven it with much labor and the Spirit—forged for the soldiers of piety, anointing and arming them through this against the opponents of the faith, promising that the divine hand would be a fellow-worker and fellow-combatant for those warring for God, and encouraging them to take heart for the struggle, having undergone so much for the sake of piety. Yet it had remained hidden for a time, and lying in obscurity, the value of this most useful and altogether beautiful treatise was left unappreciated, I know not how, as the treasure of the Church was neglected and overlooked, and threatened with the ultimate corruption, which, if someone had not anticipated by snatching it from the ravages of the All-Devourer, would have recovered the Panoply—the best for the children of Christians—which was nearly becoming extinct.

On account of which, moved by what I had previously said, I exerted the greatest possible effort so that this most beneficial labor might be published in print, distributed gratuitously to those nurtured in orthodoxy for their safety and for the turning aside of the rot from the heresies, and as a memorial of my own humility, and that the full armor of the teaching of the holy Fathers of our Church might be provided to the common body of the Church, so that to those choosing to stand against the heterodox there might be an ease for the fulfillment of their intent, as if from some holy treasury they might bring forth antidotes against all heretical babbling, and be ready to use them for defense. For not like the shield fashioned by the mythical Hephaestus for Achilles does the book at hand provide, but a heaven-forged panoply against every heretical malice, and it shows the one who soldiers with it against the anti-divine absurdities to be invincible.

*From the Prolegomena of Chr. Frid. Matthaei to Euthymios on the Gospels, in Franciscus Zinus, with whom it can now be read in Latin.*

*Title XIX.* Against those who are ignorant, saying that the Son and God is ignorant of the day and hour of the universal consummation, as inferior to the Father. By Basil the Great. On the knowledge of all, and so forth, see in the text at Title XIX.

By Gregory the Theologian, from the second discourse on the Son. "The tenth is for them the ignorance..." and "except for the first nature." See at the same title.

By Saint Cyril. "For if all things that are to come..." and "the knowledge of things that are to come." See ibid.

*Title XX.* Against Origen. "Incorporeal before the transgression..." and "therefore also in this the things concerning him are set down." See in the text at Title XX.

^A Such then, and so great a treasure of piety, to whom could I more justly dedicate, most radiant and illustrious Lord Stephen Brancovan, noble offspring of a noble father, and true impress of his virtue and goodness, than to your own Radiance? For you have considered all worldly brilliance—that which flows from the God-crowned power of your most radiant and serene father, the Lord Ioannes Constantinus Basaraba, Voivode and Ruler of all Ungrovlachia, and which is poured forth in abundance—as a small and weak thing in comparison to the highest praise joined to the true Word; and thinking it more appropriate for those of low birth to boast of foreign goods, and for those who lack their own owing to a poverty of character to flee toward the virtue and radiance of the Fathers (as though toward a bastard and artificial blush), you have so exercised and adorned yourself with every form of virtue and every kind of learning—and, to sum it up, with all those things by which a true human being is naturally shaped and adorned—that you stand as some living statue of virtue, a breathing image of all that is good. ^B And for this reason, while your body is encompassed by the borders of Mysia, the glory of your virtue and nobility rings out even beneath the sun, and echoes with the praises of your most wise Radiance.

You, in such an abundance of external things and such a flow of affairs, have not allowed yourself to be dragged away into those things toward which wealth is naturally accustomed to pull and corrupt, but with a noble and vigorous spirit, taking your stand entirely above the violence exerted by it, you have committed yourself to reflection, and have accurately and intelligently discerned what it is that knows how to adorn a man. Therefore, having from your youth submitted yourself to liberal education, you have drawn from it a twofold source for your own soul, being well engaged in both contemplation and action. ^C And so you are commended in the assembly of the wise—with whom you love to spend the most of your days and nights, as is a most brilliant sign of your kinship with philosophy, when every wise man judges that one should rejoice with one's peers—and you yourself increase the list of those renowned in the virtue of action, taking for yourself, as it were, the second place, yet competing with those who hold the first, so that you are confident that before long, you will leave everyone behind in the glory of your achievements, if indeed the things that have already occurred are the most secure proofs of things to come.

But let others whose task it is weave praises for those who are skilled in flattering; I, however, for my part, deeply admire and marvel at your Excellency, and I cannot bear to pass by in silence, but will not cease to proclaim it with wonder as much as I have the power, even beyond the earth. ^D For how could I justly escape the charge of forgetfulness or envy, if—being convinced, as I am, that I ought not to keep quiet or withhold from publishing, and thereby deprive the grateful of the benefit that would accrue from this, since praises are wont to become an inflaming spark for the improvement of good works—I were to remain silent? If the things of others contribute the need for a spark, how would my account not kindle a beacon of virtue in them—a virtue that exists in you in an eminent degree? This, I believe, no one is ignorant of, unless someone might be unloving of what is noble and indifferent. For who could fail to be aware of the warm and fervent zeal you possess for piety, and with what great and burning eagerness you fight for and defend the true and ancestral dogmas, being a soldier to Christ in this most excellent warfare, and warring for Orthodoxy with such great and steadfast endurance, which, according to the unfailing promise of the Savior, shall never be overpowered by the gates of Hades, but rather, the more it is attacked, the more it flourishes, and in its humility is made brilliant and blossoms forth?

For these reasons, I too, bringing to you—the fervent zealot and champion of the dogmas of the Truth—this Dogmatic Panoply, offer this dedication, so that, being armed with the grace of the Spirit, you may contend more robustly from this point on against those who speak against the Truth, bearing the divine voice like a trumpet of the Churches—I mean the blessed Paul—above every sword and two-edged blade, and through it putting to flight the enemies of the pious word, and setting up brilliant trophies against them. The rewards you shall carry away from these are not flowing and low-lying, nor is this glory fading and perishing, but those which are neither attainable by the eyes of men to behold, nor containable by hearing, and which surpass the power of all speech: the kingdom of heaven and eternal blessedness, which is laid up for the chosen before all ages.

Not only for these reasons did I judge it fitting that the gift be sent to your Excellency, but also because you are endeared to it above all others, being a royal heirloom. For it is agreed that for you, not only do the things of your lineage flow from royal springs—descending on your mother's side from the illustrious Cantacuzenes—but you also preserve most brilliantly the testimonies of royal nobility in your own deeds, and the similarity of your actions proclaims your kinship with them. You have the model at home and from your own hearth, as it were, being mentored by a living archetype, your glorious and most radiant father, remaining day and night at the source from which you are enabled to draw abundantly, and, like the industrious bees, to gather for yourself the fragrant and ever-blooming flowers of virtue as if from an immortal meadow. For which reason you are justly doubly indebted to his most radiant Serenity, in addition to the fact that your own good standing also proceeds from his Highness. Whose virtues, indeed, are renowned among us to the very ends of the earth, with the best of good order and justice adorning the most high and most radiant throne, upon which he has long since been established by the providence of God at the fitting time, when the instability of the times demanded someone terrible in administration, who might set forth the inborn inner goodness through many-sided paths, providing for each according to his need, and teaching the people under his hand the things pleasing to God by his own example. But what speech would suffice for me, what pen would serve to enumerate—if I were to use only a portion of the many excellent qualities with which your father is adorned—the good things of which he has not only made Mysia—which, before him, was all but devoid of culture—a dwelling-place of the Muses and a renowned residence for wise men and, in truth, a gymnasium for every virtue, but has also become a father to the whole world, in many ways...

acting upon the Christ-bearing flock, by the good deeds poured out abundantly and without measure to all, but also through the printing press, which was established under his God-glorified sovereignty, by which countless holy books have been, as it were, recalled to life and restored, and provided to those who bear the name of Christ by his God-guarded Excellency—under whom, as if led by the choir-leader of piety, the remaining flock of virtues dances in chorus, and from which point virtue, honored by Him in every way, grows by the cubits of the Word, flourishes according to imperial rank, and proceeds toward increase, as if engraved on immortal stelae, handing down its praises to generations of generations. You, therefore, Most Illustrious Stephen, have grown as an outpouring of that fountain; being the great-natured fruit of such a tree, you demonstrate it through imitation, and your kinship is not false, exactly portraying in yourself the entire virtue of your progenitor, with whom I pray that you may be safeguarded by the Life-giving and Blessed Trinity for long ages, along with the happiness that attends you, progressing in the pursuits that are according to God, being at all times cheerful, and untainted by anything unwelcome. Amen.

ATHANASIUS OF DRISTRA. The most fervent supplicant of your Excellency.

To the most illustrious and most glorious lord, Lord Stephen Voivode Brâncoveanu. Come to my aid, ye Muses present from Helicon, to weave praises for the deep and renowned old age of Stephen, for the sake of virtue and piety. With beautiful threads of words, weave praise for the best son of Wisdom, to whom may God grant life, and over and above these things, an ageless kingdom. ANTONIUS the aforementioned.

Of the same. To the most holy and most venerable Metropolitan of Dristra, Lord Athanasius. The divine High Priest of Dristra has armed himself with the panoply of holy spiritual armor. He keeps the destructive wolves away from the fold of Christ, and brings this renowned book to the light—the labor of Zigabenus—through his own unsparing expenses. Behold, O shepherds, the piety with wonder.

To the same. A sun shining in its courses upon the ends of the whole earth, he exists for all those on earth in place of a soul. The rays of your virtues, having dazzled the eyes of the faithful, have profited more than those who came before. The least among the diligent, CHOURMOUZIOS.

Another from the same, as if from the book. I am called the Panoply, and rightly so, a provider of arms sharper than a sword, with which the spirit takes up splendid trophies and victories worthy of the name against all heresies. The monk Zigabenus is my father, who precisely plumbed the depths of the writings. But until now I was lying in darkness, unknown, dug up from the hidden depths of the earth like gold, until the High Priest of Dristra, Athanasius, produced me at his own expense for the sake of utility. Pray, therefore, all of you who possess a deep old age, that he may subsequently attain the realm of the heavenly ones.

Another to the most illustrious Stephen Voivode Brâncoveanu, and to the most holy Athanasius of Dristra. It is fitting to be armed with the weapons of the one who knows those weapons, so that he may hold virtue shining brightly for the world. But for you, the bright crown of the Bassarabs, and this glory, these are the weapons that are fitting against the assaults of heretics. With these the artisan Zigabenus was fashioned entirely, and the Shepherd of Dristra sharpened them via the press; and the name of this book became identical with immortality, which he wove for it immeasurably through his virtues. The least among the Hierodeacons, IOANNIKIOS the Hatzis.

Another on the book. Bend your bow now strongly, and cast your arrows into the heart of the adversaries. For you have obtained such a spirit, that it might shine upon you, your father indeed, this one of the Zigabenus clan, a bright light bearing the name of Euthymius.

Another to the most illustrious Lord Stephen Voivode Brâncoveanu, and to the most holy Metropolitan of Dristra, Lord Athanasius. Stephen Brâncoveanu, scion of a most glorious root, and the joyful child of a good father, receive this crown, a perpetual gift for your head, serving as a bright sign of your noble character, being placed by your high priest and supplicant, the Exarch of Dristra, Athanasius, whose name the press raised up at great expense, this book for the sake of the pious. The least among the diligent, GEORGIOS Chatzigou of Larissa.

Iambic verses to the Emperor Alexios Komnenos, and to the book of Euthymius the monk, the Zigabenus. This book of the most powerful sovereign is an armory of divine dogmas, bearing a complete armor and panoply: unbreakable, unshakable, adamantine. For the sharpened arrows of the Powerful One, which the generals of the Word fix in the hearts of the enemies of the sovereign,

Herein are all things gathered together, By the organization of the wise Prometheus, Alexius, king of the land of the Ausonians, Mind-of-God, Ruler, most pious of men, Whom the providence of the man-loving Word In the exhaustion of difficult times, And of these manifold necessities, Brought as a great stroke of fortune to the Romans, A resourceful, perfected general, An excellent, chosen leader, And before the power, a fortification, and after the power, A bulwark, a source of strength for the sovereignty, Whose achievements are many and strange, And whose trophies against enemies are numberless. But the seal of all, and a propitious crown, Is the Dogmatic Panoply, The firmness of the Orthodox faith. For the collection of divinely-inspired words Is a bright mark of a pious king, Who, wishing to join battle with the adversaries, And to engage them in a rational combat, Having in these—against them—been well armored, Let him set forth fearlessly in these mechanical arms. By the same. The program of this book of dogmas Is the preoccupation and sweet labor of Alexius, Of New Rome, reigning piously, And radiating a bright light of virtues. A public-spirited treatise, power of the faith, A pillar triumphing over spurious words. A concise gathering of Orthodoxy, A refutation shaming and disgracing Those who are apostates from the true faith. A divine storehouse of instruments for battles, Which overthrow the walls of doctrines ^A hated by God and leading the people astray, A fountain through which flow divine teachings, A stream that is truly, in itself, of venerable dogmas, Wholly flooding and dragging down The profane heresies of the heterodox. A terrible quiver of arrows that slay doctrines, A net of syllogisms, and a sling, To those of God [it is] light, but fire to the aliens. A trumpet striking terror into the adversaries, A Panoply shielding those who have need [of it], A complete set of armor slaughtering those who drive away God. But O Trinity, three-shining, and Triad again, One light radiating from the Godhead, Guard the Sun of the Palaces, ^B The artificer of such great strength. Then this moon of the empire, A fair helper joined [to him] by God, And the longed-for Morning Star of the Purple, The finest blossom, our new Master, Granting peaceful consensus in life, And a long, and pain-free, existence, And a life brought to an end in ease, Saving them household and kin, crowning them on high, Clad in incorruptible radiance. By the same. As the reigning crown-bearer was pleased, As he ordered in writing, as he showed me, I hastened to construct the Panoply. ^C These things, then, having learned, O judges of the book, Rejoice, and cast with your praises The sharp-witted and great king. For to him, and to him alone, be all the thanks. For if it is fitting to speak the truth, The affair is ingenious; let envy fall.

PROLOGUE WITH ENCOMIUM FOR KING ALEXIUS COMNENUS ON THE DOGMATIC PANOPLY

^D Euthymius’ labor and lone hermit’s work, Zigabenus’ Panoply of dogmas, Fashioned for Alexius of the Comnenian line, Faithful King, for the battle against the faithless.

And indeed, all the achievements of our most great and God-governed king Alexius are conspicuous and brilliant and worthy of admiration: the scientific ordinances of political affairs, the skillful handlings and graspings of military strategies, [his] good counsels, the suggestions of his mind, and the inventions of machines, in no way inferior a great many times to those of Archimedes and Palamedes; the well-considered answers, and the sharpness of mind full of sense toward the legates of the great nations; and all the rest, to speak briefly, from which

the emperor, ^A fortified and defended on all sides, is known and recognized as being able to rule the state, to extricate himself from difficulties, and to adapt himself usefully and learnedly to circumstances and situations. But this purpose and counsel of his is above all to be praised and celebrated, that he took care to collect the decrees of the orthodox faith. Nor, although he was constantly distracted by so many worldly troubles, countless tasks, and most serious occupations, did he think this part should be neglected by him, as it was by many previous emperors, for whom it was enough—as it is for most private men of that or the present time—to possess only the elementary and brief confession of faith, which is also called the sacred Symbol. But he, having learned and perceived by ^B experience that pestilent and impious opinions had once again crept into many parts of the Roman Empire, and perhaps on account of the long and protracted dominance of the enemy, that the tares of heretical doctrine—which is useful for nothing but to be burned—had been sown and spread among the good wheat, and that they were being irrigated by the murky streams of sermons from their own teachers so that they might flourish and grow; moved in his soul, and inflamed by their remarkable audacity and madness, he judged that he must confront such an evil and apply a remedy. Therefore, when any time remained for him from public business, most serious duties of the state, and cares, he spent it all in accurately reading through the volumes of the divine Scriptures, ^C and he discussed them with those distinguished men with whom the palace is always wont to be filled; he honored especially the approved sermons, for which his soul burned with a certain immense love. From which it happened that, sharpening his tongue by the custom of such discourses, just as iron is tempered by cold water, and being whetted by the friction of such words, he was fashioned into a two-edged sword for the cutting down of blasphemous opinions and doctrines, and as an axe “hewing the rock,” to use the words of Scripture, he escaped the rough, hard, and utterly senseless stubbornness of the God-opposing men. This I can attest, for I observed and noted the matter when it chanced that I was twice present while he was debating. For some who encountered him, he struck and cast down at close quarters with these arms. ^D Others, however, he sought to lead back to health and the best fruit by capturing and enticing them with the sweetness of his speech, and by mixing much patience and gentleness into his words. And so that those who reign after him might be led to imitate him, he thought it very wisely best to provide a written preparation of dogmatic arms—both for them and for all his subjects—and spiritual siege engines, and logical machines, just as those who have composed the so-called "Tactics," not usurping the work of the high priests, but rousing even them by his own example, and indeed providing an alliance.

^A For it is necessary that, when he who holds the authority to speak concerning the faith is inappropriately silent, and the Word is in danger of being grasped, not only the most pious emperor—who even grants authority to the dogmas of the high priests through his own inclination and discernment—but also a simply faithful man, who knows how and is able to speak, should defend and protect the truth when it is imperiled, unless, perhaps, someone ought to be accused of a crime for killing some savage and deadly beast, for the reason that, not being a native, he has nevertheless removed from the midst a common plague and liberated the inhabitants and natives from its destruction and danger. Therefore, having selected the dogmas of the blessed Fathers and champions of the true faith through the wise and most experienced men of the present time, and having gathered them together, he entrusted to me the composition of these, and commanded me to impose upon them an order, and a well-considered harmony, and a rational arrangement. And since it was not possible to shrink back, now that the Word and God [Himself] lead the composition of the accounts, through whom the hands are also taught for battle and the fingers, in writing, successfully wage the war against the heresies: we must straightway proceed to the undertaking, and we must construct, or rather, draw up in battle array, a "Panoply" for those wishing to fight for piety and to clash with its enemies, having an adamantine defense, but a most timely and, in sum, an unconquerable and truly heaven-forged power. ^B For there is a necessity, when he who holds the authority [to speak concerning the faith is—as I said—inappropriately silent,] even if he should call them to battle and rouse the spiritual soldiers, to unfold this [Panoply] and, according to the forms of the wars, to shield ourselves with the weapons stored within. For these are manifold, and abundant, and sufficient for every kind of war. And since, as Gregory the Theologian says, every argument is twofold—the one establishing its own position, the other overturning the opponent’s—we too, having first set forth our own position, shall thus attempt to overturn that of our opponents; and yet both are performed through the all-wise Fathers, as has been said, who have labored before us on behalf of the Word, and who, like an inheritance, have left to us their own arguments, and the various entanglements from these against the adversaries, and the methods of their heroic deeds. ^C The malign heresies will be set forth in a certain order according to the times, as if by a pruning of evils, having the refutations following after them, and those who on each occasion excelled in running against them through their own counter-arguments and striking them down. The older ones, therefore, as having long since rotted away and being entirely corrupted, we have passed over, but the more notable ones—and those whose coals, even if the flame has been extinguished, still annoy the Church—these we have set up as targets to be struck and shot down with arrows. And if any of those in between and near at hand have crept in as offshoots or suckers of these, we have taken care that these also, because of the downfall of those previously set forth, should be cast down along with them. ^D This book shall be called the *Dogmatic Panoply*, or *Armory of Dogmas*, so that when the time of fighting arrives, and it is necessary for the spiritual defenders to be armed, it being opened, they may be equipped with weapons appropriate to the war of the hour. For this [book] will abundantly provide various kinds of missiles and weapons for waging and finishing all wars. [alt-version omitted]

^A From whence, then, must we begin our proposed work and study? From whence other than where the great Gregory, in his Theology, begins when he speaks of God: "There are three opinions concerning God: anarchy, polyarchy, and monarchy." The first two were played with by the children of the Greeks, and let them be played with; for that which is anarchic is disordered, and that which is polyarchic is seditious, and thus anarchic, and thus disordered. For both lead to the same confusion, and confusion leads to dissolution; for disorder is a training for dissolution. To us, however, monarchy is what is honored; but by monarchy I do not mean that which is bounded by a single person, and so forth.

It remains, then, that we should briefly and concisely speak against the godless Epicureans, and against the other Greeks who favor polyarchy, and against the godless Greeks, and having exposed and refuted the contrary error of these and those in a cursory manner, we shall thus proceed to our own matters. For as for the Greeks, some have given the sun, others the moon, others the multitude of the stars, and others the heavens themselves, along with these, the power to govern the whole, according to the quality or quantity of their motion; others have looked to the elements—earth, water, air, fire—because of their utility, without which it is impossible for human life to subsist; and others have worshipped whatever they happened to see among visible things, having set up as gods those which they perceived to be the most beautiful.

Concerning Epicurus, and in how many ways the atom is understood.

Against the Epicureans, from the discourse of the great Gregory the Theologian on theology.

^A all things have come into being or subsist, if God did not both create and preserve them all? And just as, if someone were to look at the beauty and arrangement of a most perfectly crafted lyre, or listen to its harmony, he would at once grasp in his mind the craftsman and player of that lyre, and be drawn to him, even if he happened never to have seen him with his eyes; so, too, to us the creator is manifest—the one who preserves and reveals the things that have been made, even if he is not encompassed by the mind. And he is truly senseless who does not voluntarily advance even to this point, and follow along with natural proofs.

Against the same, from the same discourse.

^B But the Word, having received us as we are, longing for God, and not tolerating that the world should be without a leader and governor, then applying itself to the things that are seen, and encountering the beginning, did not stop even at these. For it was not reasonable to grant the leadership to things that are equal in honor according to our senses, and through them to be led to that which is above them, and through whom they all have their being. For who is it that ordered the heavenly and earthly things, all those in the air and all those in the water, or rather, the things prior to these: heaven and earth, and air, and the nature of water? Who mixed these things and divided them? What is the communion of these toward one another, and their mutual growth and breathing together? For I praise the one who said this, even if he is an outsider. What is it that has moved these things, and leads them in their unceasing and unimpeded course? Is it not the craftsman of these things, who implanted a principle in all of them, according to which the whole is carried and conducted? Who, then, is the craftsman of these things? Is it not the one who made these things, and brought them into being? For surely, we must not grant such power to chance. ^C For let us concede even that their coming-to-be is of chance; whose work is it to order them? And this, if it pleases, let us grant. Whose work is it to sustain and preserve them, after the first principles were established? Is it that of someone else or of chance? It is clearly of someone other than chance. And what could this possibly be, if not God?

From the book of Gregory of Nyssa, the bishop, which is entitled On the Knowledge of God, against the same.

^D If all things that are in the world consist of the mixture of simple elements—I speak of earth, and water, and air, and fire—or of what Epicurus calls the indivisible corpuscles, then that which is generated will be found to be incomparably superior and more precious than the ungenerated, and the thing made more excellent than the maker, to as great a degree as man is more distinct than those simple elements and the aforementioned atoms. Besides, how could things which are by nature contrary to one another come together without detriment to the completion of a single world? Or how could they have come together and agreed with one another without counsel and reason? Or how could they have implanted reason in man, being themselves entirely devoid of it, since they are—in respect of mind and...

^A stature—many times inferior to the elephant, yet man commands the elephant by reason, with which he has been bountifully endowed by his Creator? ^B Indeed, how can it be said that orderly things have come into being from things that are carried along by chance and at random

Against the remaining Greeks, from the oration of Saint Gregory the Theologian on the Holy Lights.

For it was not only a grave thing that those who were created to live uprightly, to seek the praise and glory of their Creator, and to imitate God as far as is possible, became a repository for all the vices that inwardly consume and corrupt the inner man; but also that they forged gods for themselves who favored and assisted their vices, so that sinning would not only be permitted with impunity, but even seem praiseworthy and divine, being done by the example of their own gods.

Against the same, from the same oration.

^C As if, if they had to fall away from piety entirely and retreat from the true worship of God, they had to be led to idols and the works of art and the handiwork of men. For what more severe judgment could those who have understanding have possibly invoked against them—if they were wise—than that they should worship and adore such gods, that they might, as Paul says, receive the recompense which was due for their error, in the things they worship, not so much honoring them as bringing disgrace upon themselves by their worship? They are to be despised for their error, but even more to be scorned for the filth and shame of those whom they revere and worship, so that they appear more senseless than the images themselves, and are as much more demented as their deities are baser and more abject.

Against the same, from the oration on Theology.

They thought that gods should be worshipped with blood, and burnt offerings, and sometimes even by disgraceful deeds, and madness, and human sacrifices. For such was the worship that it was fitting for such gods to receive.

Against the same, from the oration on the Holy Lights.

^D These are the inventions of dark demons, the figments of an insane and wretched mind, confirmed by time and cloaked in myths. For what they worship as true, they hide as though it were a fiction. Yet it would have been more equitable, if these things were true, not to call them myths; but if they were fictitious, not to marvel at them. Nor should they so rashly hold contradictory opinions about the same matter—behaving not like men conversing with wise people who worship God with reason, and who despise and disdain these artificial and sordid fabrications of theirs, but rather as if they were playing with children in the marketplace. But since we have refuted what is alien, come, let us establish and confirm our own.

INDEX OF THE BOOK ENTITLED DOGMATIC PANOPLY

Titulus I. — A syllogistic demonstration that God is one, and that he has a Word of the same nature as himself, and likewise a Spirit—which are the Son and the Holy Spirit—from the Catechetical Discourse of the prelate Gregory of Nyssa. ^A

Titulus II. — Regarding the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a theology at once distinct and united.

Titulus III. — Regarding God or the Divinity in general. Whoever speaks of God, or the Divinity, or the divine Power simply and indeterminately, indicates by the common appellation of these the three hypostases, or persons, of the one divinity. ^B

Titulus IV. — That the divine nature cannot be comprehended.

Titulus V. — Regarding the divine appellation.

Titulus VI. — Regarding the divine creation.

Titulus VII. — Regarding the divine humanation.

Titulus VIII. — Against the Hebrews, from the book, as it is reputed, of Nyssen, entitled On the Knowledge of God.

Titulus IX. — Against Simon the Samaritan, and Marcion the Pontian, and the Persian Manes, and the Manichaeans.

Titulus X. — Against Sabellius, from Saint Cyril.

Titulus XI. — Against the Arians, by the great Athanasius. ^C

Titulus XII. — Against the assailants of the Holy Spirit.

Titulus XIII. — By Photius the patriarch, against the Latins, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, and not also from the Son.

Titulus XIV. — Against Apollinarius.

Titulus XV. — Against the Nestorians.

Titulus XVI. — Against the Monophysites, whose arch-heretic is Eutyches the archimandrite.

Titulus XVII. — Against the Aphthartodocetae.

Titulus XVIII. — Against those who say, "The God Word suffered impassibly." ^D

DOGMATIC PANOPLY. – TIT. I.

^A Title XIX. — Against the Agnoetae, who say that the Son, being lesser than the Father, is ignorant of the day and hour of the consummation of the world. Title XX. — Against Origen. Title XXI. — Against Sergius, Pyrrhus, and Paul, patriarchs of Constantinople, who taught that there is one will and energy in Christ; who are also called Monothelites. Title XXII. — Against the Iconoclasts. Title XXIII. — Against the Armenians. Title XXIV. — Against those who are called Paulicians. Title XXV. — Concerning the Cross, concerning holy baptism, and concerning the transmutation of the Lord's body and blood. Title XXVI. — Against the Massalians. Title XXVII. — Against the Bogomils. ^B Title XXVIII. — Against the Saracens. Appendix. — From the epistle of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, to Michael, Prince of Bulgaria, concerning the seven ecumenical councils.

OF EUTHYMIUS ZIGABENUS, MONK DOGMATIC PANOPLY OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH.

^C TITLE I. A syllogistic reasoning, by which it is demonstrated that God is one, and that the Word is of the same nature, and likewise the Spirit, namely the Son and the Holy Spirit. From the catechetical oration of Gregory of Nyssa.

When a dispute is instituted with any of those who favor the opinions of the Greeks, it is convenient that at the beginning of the dispute he be asked whether he confesses that God exists, or denies it. If he denies it, he will be compelled by the reason and wisdom that flourish in the governance of the world to confess that a certain power is indicated which presides over all things. But if he does not doubt that He exists, but nevertheless thinks that there are many gods, we shall proceed with him as follows: whether he considers the deity to be perfect or imperfect, and therefore, as is right, attributing perfection to the divine nature, we shall ask again whether he says it is perfect in all those respects which are perceived in divinity, so that it does not consist of opposites, and of the perfect and the imperfect.

^Abuente divinæ naturæ, rursum rogabimus, num a omnibus illis rationibus, quæ in divinitate cernuntur, perfectum dicat, ne ex contrariis, perfectoque et imperfecto constet. Quo item concesso, non erit difficile adversarii animum deorum multitudine distractum adducere, ut divinitatem unam esse fateatur. Nam si perfectum omnibus partibus dabit, multaque eodem pacto perfecta dicet, necesse erit, ut in iis quæ nulla ratione discrepabunt, sed eadem prorsus videbuntur, aut proprium aliquid ostendatur, aut si proprii nihil apparuerit, nullam animus differentiam poterit cogitare. Etenim si nec ea re discrimen comprehendetur, quod majora minora-ve sint, quoniam perfectionis ratio non admittit, ut minor sit: nec quod deteriora sint, aut præstantiora, quia divinitas non cadit in id quod deterius appellari potest: nec quod antiquiora recentiora-ve sint, quandoquidem id quod semper non est, ab eo quod numen ac Deum esse mens concipit, abest: cum una eademque sit divinitatis ratio, nullaque in ea vere proprietas reperiatur, necessarium est, ut qui opinionis errore multos sibi deos fingebat, unam divinitatem esse fateatur. Nam si bonum, et justum, et sapiens, et potens, et incorruptum, et æternum, et reliquæ omnes piæ notiones ita congregentur, ut omnis omnino tollatur differentia, his omnibus in uno eodemque conclusis, necessario aufertur deorum multitudo.

First Title

Verum quia religionis veritas quamdam personarum ^C differentiam perspicit in unitate naturæ, ne dum Græcos impugnamus, in Judæorum labamur errorem, non alienum est, ut eam quoque artificiosa quadam distinctione confutemus et refellemus. Nec ii quidem, qui a nostra religione abhorrent, numen rationis expers constituunt, hoc autem nobis concessum satis est ad id quod volumus comprobandum. Qui enim Deum non esse rationis expertem confitetur, is eum habere rationem concedit. Atqui eodem nomine dicitur etiam humana ratio. Quare si quis ad rationis nostræ similitudinem Dei rationem cogitabit, mox ad notionem sublimiorum perducetur. Necesse enim est, ut eodem modo ratio seu oratio congruat naturæ, quo reliqua item omnia conveniunt. Nam licet in homine vita, et potentia, et sapientia cernatur, non tamen ob nominum similitudinem eamdem in Deo vitam, aut potentiam, aut sapientiam dices, sed pro humili naturæ nostræ conditione demittentur et extenuabuntur harum vocum significationes. Etenim quoniam mortalis et imbecilla est natura nostra, idcirco et vita brevis est, et potentia infirma, et ratio sive oratio incerta. At quidquid de supremæ illius naturæ magnitudine dicitur, id magnum eique congruum est. Proinde cum Dei ratio, sive oratio verbum-ve dicimus, id non intelligimus tale, ut, quemadmodum in nobis ^D

^Abuitiae, sed ad nihilum tendat. Rather, as our nature, since it is mortal, possesses also a mortal word, so the immortal and ever-subsisting nature possesses an immortal and everlasting Word. Yet if it is conceded from these points that the Word of God always subsists, it is necessary to confess that it subsists in life. For it is not reasonable to conceive of it as lifeless, like stones. But if it is, being intelligent and incorporeal, it certainly lives. If it is separated from life, it does not exist in subsistence at all. But it has been shown to be impious to argue that the Word of God is without subsistence; therefore, it has been shown in consequence that this Word is to be viewed as within life. ^B And since the nature of the Word is believed to be simple, and shows in itself neither duality nor composition, no one could imagine the Word to be merely a participant in life. For such a thought would not be free from composition, seeing that it would constitute one thing in another. Therefore, the simplicity of the Word being conceded, it is necessary to confess that it is not a participant in life, but is life itself. But if the Word lives, and is, therefore, life itself, it surely possesses the faculty of intent and will. For there is nothing among things that live that is devoid of this faculty. Furthermore, one must consider that its intent and will are capable of being realized. For if anyone does not grant that which is possible, he will never find that which is impossible. But when we think about God, we remove from Him whatever is impossible; for nothing dissonant falls into the divine nature. Moreover, it is necessary to confess that the power of the Word is as great as the intent of its will, lest any mixture of opposites and coincidence be viewed in that which is simple, and lest that which is impossible and that which is possible appear in the same intent, since it has the power to effect one thing and not another. However, since all things can be accomplished by the intent of the Word, it is moved to effect nothing ^C that is evil. For the motion of the divine nature is alien to evil. But whatever is good, that it also wills; and what it wills, it is also fully able to do. And what it can do, it does not leave unperformed, but whatever good things it proposes to itself, these it brings to completion. Now the world and all the parts of the world, which are seen to be fashioned wisely and with skill, are good. Therefore, they are the works of the living and subsisting Word, since it is the Word of God; and they are the works of the intent of Him who proposes and deliberates, since it lives, and has the power to lead to the end whatever it has proposed and decreed, yet decrees nothing but what is good and wise, or whatever else is declared by some better term. Therefore, because we have shown the world to be good, and have indicated that the world is the work of the Word—which, being good, first decrees and then has the power to bring to pass what has been decreed—it is evident that this Word is distinct from Him whose Word it is. For in a certain way this also is one of those things that are spoken of in relation to another, since necessarily, upon hearing "Word," one must also understand the Parent of the Word. For there would be no Word, unless it were the Word of someone. Since, therefore, you distinguish by the relative meaning of the ^D hearing the mind, both the Word itself and that from which it is, then no longer would it be a danger to us...

- ^A buting—if the hearers distinguish in their thought both the Word himself and Him from whom the Word is—the mystery will no longer be in danger for us, nor, while we refute the opinions of the Greeks, shall we appear to agree with those who subscribe to Jewish views. For just as we say that in our own case as well, the word proceeds from the mind—being neither absolutely the same as the mind, nor yet entirely different (for in that it proceeds from it, it is something other than it is; yet in that it makes the mind manifest and explicable, it is not thought of as something other than it, but as one by nature, differing only in subject)—so also the Word of God, in that He subsists by Himself, is distinguished from Him from whom He has His subsistence; but in that He manifests in Himself these things which are seen in God, He is the same by nature as He who is found through those very characteristics. For whether one might posit goodness, or power, or wisdom, or eternal existence, or immunity from evil, death, and corruption, or perfection in all things, or any other such symbol ^B by which the Father is comprehended, he will find the Word, who subsists from Him, by the same symbols.

Concerning the Holy Spirit

Just as we learned to ascend from the things concerning us to that supreme nature, so in the same way we shall be led to an understanding concerning the Spirit, by observing in our own nature certain shadows and images of that ineffable power. And yet, the spirit in us is derived from ^C something external, namely, from the air, which is necessarily drawn in and exhaled for the constitution of the body, and which, when a word is uttered, becomes a voice declaring the power of the word within itself. But in the divine nature, although it is considered pious to think of the Spirit of God—just as the Word of God is also esteemed, given that the Word of God is considered in no way inferior to our word—if, when the Word is considered with the Spirit, the former were believed to be without the Spirit; yet it is not right to think it an element foreign to God, flowing in from without, nor that a ^D God-befitting spirit is thus formed within Him. But just as when we hear of the Word of God, we have not imagined the Word to be a thing devoid of substance, nor something produced by learning, nor something brought about through a voice, nor something dissolved after being uttered, nor suffering anything else of the sort that we see happening to our own word, but rather as subsisting essentially, as voluntary and active, and thus all-powerful; so too, having learned of the Spirit of God, who accompanies the Word and reveals His activity, we do not conceive of Him as a mere breath of air. For the majesty of the divine power would be cast down toward humility if the Spirit in Him were imagined according to the likeness of our own; rather, we conceive of Him as an essential power, subsisting by Himself in a distinct person, which can neither be separated from God in whom He is, nor from the Word of God whom He accompanies, nor melted away into non-existence.

Wherefore, he who diligently contemplates the profound mystery ^A gathers in the secret of his soul a certain moderate doctrine of divine knowledge, yet he cannot express with his tongue this unutterable depth of the mystery: namely, how the same thing is both numerable and yet admits of no enumeration; how it is perceived as divided, and yet understood simultaneously; how it is distinct in persons, and yet not divided in nature. For the Spirit is one person, the Word is another, and he whose the Word and the Spirit are is another still. But when you have thought upon their distinction, the unity of nature admits of no division, lest either the power of the sovereignty and empire be shattered and cut into diverse divinities, or the Jewish opinion be confirmed; but rather, the truth walking in the middle between both opinions removes both heresies, while taking from each what is useful. For it refutes the doctrine of the Jews by the acceptance of the Word and the belief in the Spirit, and it deletes the errors of the Greeks by establishing the unity of nature, by which the fabrication of many is destroyed and abolished. Conversely, it admits in the light of the Jewish opinion the unity of nature, and from the opinion of the Greeks the distinction of persons alone. And thus it cures both diseases of impiety. For, as it were, the number of the Trinity is the medicine for those who err concerning the One, and the principle of unity is the remedy for those who distract [the Godhead] into many. ^B

The syllogistic demonstration of Damascenus regarding the same matters, that God exists.

Whatever is, either is created or is not created. And if it is created, it was altogether created by another; but if it is not created, it would be that which created the things that are created; for the supreme Creator must be uncreated. And what else would this be but God? Who, therefore, will not confess that all things, except God, which are comprehended either by reason or by sense, are created? And if they are created, they are also mutable. For those things whose existence began from change are altogether subject to change, either being corrupted, as are things contained in the world, or being changed by choice, as are angels and souls, both in the progression toward good and in the movement toward evil. Since, however, God is altogether uncreated and immutable, ^C for those whose essence is different, the principle of their essence is also contrary. Furthermore, not only do the things which we see created declare their Creator, but also their order, harmony, and preservation. For how would the contrary natures of the elements have come together for the perfection of one world unless someone had reconciled them, joined them, and held them together? Or how would they preserve the order prescribed to them from the beginning unless there were someone who was their ruler and moderator? ^D

The same one's syllogistic reasoning demonstrating that God is one

The same one's syllogistic reasoning declaring the Word and the Son to be

The same one's syllogistic reasoning proving the Holy Spirit to be

The same one's most admirable reasoning by examples, demonstrating the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit

down to us. In the same way, the Son and the Holy Spirit descend to us without separation from the Father or from each other, working our salvation. And just as in those examples the radiance accompanying the ray is imparted to us through that ray, so too the Holy Spirit, accompanying the Son, is communicated to those who are worthy through Him, in the dispensation of the gifts. For, He says, "He breathed upon them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit." ^A And just as in those examples light is said to be both of the sun and of the ray, so too in this case the Spirit is said to be both of the Father and of the Son, that is, of Christ.

TITLE II.

That the Father is the fountainhead of the Godhead, and the Son and the Spirit are, if one may so speak, divinely-born shoots of the generative Godhead, resembling blossoms, and lights surpassing essence, is what we have received from the holy oracles; but how these things are, is impossible either to say or to conceive.

From the first chapter of the work on the Divine Names.

Wherefore, in almost every theological treatise, we see the Godhead sacredly celebrated as both Monad and Henad: as Monad, because of the simplicity and unity of the essence that surpasses all nature, out of which, as if by a unifying power, we are united, and our divisible differences, being combined in a manner above the world, are gathered into a God-like ^C monad and a God-imitating union; but as Trinity, because of the three-personed manifestation of the super-essential fecundity, "from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth exists and is named."

From the thirteenth chapter of the work on the Perfect and the One.

And the Godhead, which is celebrated as Monad and as Trinity, is not a monad or a trinity known either to us or to any other of existing things. But in order that we may truly celebrate Its super-united and God-generating nature by means of the Trinitarian and unified term—whether monad, or trinity, or number, or unity, or fecundity, or any other thing known among existing beings—none of these can disclose the hiddenness of the super-essential Godhead, which is above all and super-essentially above all; nor does It have any name, nor any discourse, but It is exalted in the inaccessible. ^D

From the third chapter of the work on Mystical Theology.

In the book which we have inscribed "Theological Institutions," we have declared the principal points of affirmative theology: how the divine and good nature is said to be one; how it is trinitarian; what is the notion of the Father, and what of the Son, according to it; and what the Holy Spirit signifies.

^A For what reason do the intimate lights of goodness spring forth from the incorporeal and indivisible Good, and how do they remain inseparable in their co-eternal springing both in Him, and in themselves, and in their mutual indwelling, so that they never depart from it?

From the chapter concerning the united and distinct theology.

^B In the divine union, or that nature which transcends essence, that which is joined to the primary Trinitarian existence and is common to it is the essence-surpassing existence, the God-surpassing godhead, the goodness surpassing goodness, the unity surpassing the first-principle, the ineffable, that which is declared by many voices, the ignorance which is everywhere understood, the position of all things, the negation of all things, the excellence surpassing every position and negation, and—if it is permitted to say so—the mutual indwelling and seat of the governing persons, united beyond measure and in no part confused, even as the lights of lamps—to use examples exposed to the senses and appropriate to us—when they are in one house, and the whole is in the whole; and they have a precise distinction, though specifically subsisting from one another, united by the distinction and, by the union, again distinct. And so we see, when many lamps are in a house, all the lights united into one certain light, exhibiting one indivisible radiance. ^C Nor could anyone, I suppose, separate the light of this one lamp from the others out of the air that contains all the lights, and view one apart from the other, when the whole is inserted into the whole without mixture. But if one were to remove one lamp from the midst of the room, it will go out taking all its own light with it, drawing nothing along with it from the other lights, nor leaving anything of its own to the others. For there was there, as I said, a perfect conjunction of the whole with the whole, entirely without mixture, and by no part confused. And these things are thus, even though the light is in a body, and in air, and depends upon matter—namely, fire. ^D Yet we say that that union which is higher than essence transcends not only the unions that occur in a body, but those also which are brought about in souls, and even these which are effected in minds—which that whole divine and super-celestial light, through the whole, possesses more than mundanely and most sincerely, by a certain communion of that unity which excels all and imparts itself to each according to their capacity. But there is a distinction in the supreme theology, not only as I was just saying—because in the divine unity itself each of the governing persons preserves its own pure and unmixed property—but also because those things which are in that divine and essence-surpassing generation do not convert into one another. For the Father alone is the fountain of the essence-surpassing divinity; the Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father. Therefore, the sacred hymns piously and holily preserve their own to each of the divine persons.

From the same chapter. "There is none good but one, that is God." That and elsewhere