Contra Maximinum Arianum Libellus

Bishop Cerealis’s Little Book Against Maximinus the Arian. Introduction. When Cerealis, bishop of Castellum of the holy catholic faith, came to Carthage, and because he is nearer to those cities which, by God’s wrath, have fallen, his arrival struck the royal ears. And when those to whom the task had been entrusted asked him whether the things which rumor had spread were true, and he was relating them in order, Maximinus, bishop of the Ariomanites, came up and said to Bishop Cerealis: “Do you see what your sins have done? Therefore God has abandoned you.” Cerealis: “Why has He abandoned us, and not rather you, who slaughter souls under the Christian name with your pen, and do not hold the true faith?” Maximinus: “If you hold the true faith, I will set before you questions concerning your faith, so that if you have the true faith, I wish that for refuting one proposition you should bring forward two or three testimonies.” Cerealis: “I will bring forward not two or three, but many testimonies.” Maximinus: “First, I lead: that the Son is equal to the Father. On the unity: that God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God. How the Father sent the Son. How the Father glorifies the Son. That the Son is omnipotent. Why the Son said: ‘The Father is greater than I.’ Or why it is said: that the Father handed over the Son. On the free power of the Son. Against what they say: ‘The one who generates is the author, they see a beginning for the Father,’ etc. Against what they say: that the Father commanded the Son to make creation. That the Holy Spirit is God. That the Holy Spirit is creator.

Because the Holy Spirit is life-giving. Because He also is of His own power and will and omnipotent. On the Trinity or unity. Because the Son is invisible. Against what they say: that the Son is from the Father, and that all things were made by the Holy Spirit. Against what they say: why the Father is named first, then the Son. Against what they say: that the Father subjected all things to Him. Here begins the little book. Chapter One. Cerealis. That the Son is equal to the Father, the apostle Paul teaches thus, saying: Think this in yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus, who, since He was in the form of God, did not consider it a usurpation to be equal to God (Phil. 2). He who is in the form of God the Father cannot be lesser; He who did not seize what He did not have, because He was always in the form of the Father. In the Gospel, John says: For this reason the Jews wanted to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called His Father God, making Himself equal to God (John 5). Likewise the Lord Himself said: He who sees me sees also the Father. Likewise in the Gospel: I and the Father are one. Here He said "one" for equality, because those who are one are equal. But He said "are" because the Son is another. Yet the Father and the Son are one. For God is not divided, since the Son Himself says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.

Because the Father and the Son are not only one with the addition of the Holy Spirit, as is demonstrated below; but "one" pertains to the fellowship of both the Father and the Son, while "one" pertains to the Lord alone, because there are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Likewise, the Lord Himself in the Gospel: "Everything that the Father has is mine." Likewise, the Son Himself in the Gospel says to the Father: "All that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine." And again: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father." Likewise, in the Gospel: "He who hates me hates my Father." Likewise, in the Epistle of John: "He who denies the Son does not have the Father; but he who confesses the Son has both the Son and the Father." Likewise, in the first book of Solomon: "He is the splendor of eternal light, and the spotless mirror of the majesty of God, and the image of His goodness" (Wisdom 7). This is said about the Son. Likewise, in the Gospel: "Just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself." But what He says, "gave," is understood as "begot." Or if the Father later gave life to the Son already begotten, then the begotten Son was without life. And how does He Himself say in the Gospel: "I am the way, the truth, and the life"? Likewise, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Apostle says this about the Son: "Who, being," he says, "the splendor of glory, and the form of His substance, also bearing all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1). Therefore, the splendor of glory and the form of His substance holds the splendor, that is, the truth? But the form of God is called the equality of God.

The Apostle Paul also says of the Son in the letter to the Colossians: "In him," he says, "dwells every fullness of the Godhead bodily." If every fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, how then is the Son lesser? Chapter II. That the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God is taught thus. The Lord himself says in the Law: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God." And the Apostle says: "There is no God but one." Likewise he says: "One God, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4). Likewise the Apostle James says: "You believe that God is one; you do well; even the demons believe and tremble" (James 2). The demons tremble at this faith, which they refused to believe to be true. The Lord himself says: "I am God, and there is no other besides me." Likewise in Psalm 27: "What God is there besides the Lord, or what God is there besides our God?" And they themselves confess that the Son is also God. Let them show me how He is one, unless it is because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one.

Chapter III. How the Father sent the Son is taught thus: The sending of the Son is the incarnation of the Son; the Apostle Paul testifies as to who was sent, whether the Son of God or the Son of man, saying: "God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Gal. IV). Therefore, he who was born of a woman is the one who was sent, and he was also under the law, as he said; for God established the law. Likewise, the same Apostle says of Christ: "He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant" (Phil. II). When He emptied Himself, then He sent Himself; for the Son Himself says: "I came to seek and to save what was lost." Here He does not say, "I was sent," but "I came." For the Holy Spirit also sent Him, as it is written, with Him teaching, in the prophet Isaiah: "And now," He says, "the Lord sent me, and His Spirit" (Isa. XLVIII). Likewise, the Son Himself says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me, He sent me to evangelize the poor," etc. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is greater than the Son, if the one who sends is greater, because the Holy Spirit sent the Son of God. God is certainly everywhere, for He says: "I fill heaven and earth"; and elsewhere He says: "Heaven is my seat, but earth is the footstool of my feet." How then is the Son sent? Or how does the Father send, if in heaven and on earth God is one and everywhere? Likewise, we read that not only are equals sent by equals, but also greater ones are sent by lesser ones.

...as an angel was sent by Tobias, and Christ was sent by Pilate to Herod. Did the angel humble himself because he went where he was sent by Tobias? Or did Christ humble himself, who was sent by Pilate to Herod? Do you wish to know that the Son is everywhere and there is no place where he may be sent? Hear what the Son himself says: No one ascends into heaven except he who descended from heaven; the Son of man, who is in heaven. For he did not say, who was in heaven, but who is in heaven, and yet he was speaking on earth; but on earth he was then both man and God. For if God were not on earth, how would the angels have ministered to him, as it is written: And the devil departed, and the angels came, and they ministered to him (John 17). Chapter IV. How the Father glorifies the Son is taught thus. For the Son also glorifies the Father, as it is written in the Gospel, with the Son himself saying to the Father: I have glorified you on earth. Again the Son himself says: Father, glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you. And the Holy Spirit himself glorifies the Son, because it is written: He himself will glorify me, because he will receive from me, and will announce to you. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son, the Holy Spirit is never greater than the Son. And the Son himself says in the psalm: The sacrifice of praise will honor me. Therefore the sacrifice of praise is understood as the holocaust of the passion; thus in the passion the man is glorified, for God is always glorious.

Do you wish to know that the Son was not only always glorious, but also was and is the God of glory? The apostle Paul says of the Jews: For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Now, therefore, he who could die could also be glorified—only a man. For hear what the Son himself says, how he sanctifies himself: "In truth," he says, "I sanctify myself." Chapter 5. That the Son is omnipotent is taught thus. In Solomon it is read: "Your omnipotent word, O Lord, leaping from your royal thrones, has sprung forth into the midst of the land of destruction" (Wisdom 18:15? [likely Wisdom 18:15, but text uncertain]). Therefore he is also king who holds royal thrones. Likewise in the Apocalypse: "Thus says the Son of God, who is and who was omnipotent God." In the Gospel: "Everything that the Father does, this the Son likewise does" (John 5). Likewise in the Gospel: "As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to whom he wills." In Isaiah the Son says: "Behold, I will send my hand upon you, and those who have plundered you will be plundered, and you will know that I am the omnipotent Lord, and he who sent me is the omnipotent Lord.

The prophet Jeremiah says: "Great is He, and has no end; high and immense is this God of ours, and there is no other." And to make it clear that this is said of Christ, it follows: "Afterwards He was seen on earth, and He dwelt among men." Likewise the Apostle: "But we," he says, "preach Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Likewise he himself, when speaking of the Jews: "Whose fathers," he says, "and from whom Christ according to the flesh, who is above all God, blessed forever. Amen." Chapter VI. Why the Son said: "The Father is greater than I," or why it is said that the Father handed over His Son, is taught. It is written in the Psalm, the Son speaking to the Father: "From my mother's womb you are my God" (Ps. 21). Therefore from the womb of His mother, God the Father is His God, and thus the Father is greater. Likewise the Son Himself says in the Psalm: "O Lord, I am your servant, I am your servant and the son of your handmaid" (Ps. 115), that is, of Mary. He Himself is the servant, and hence the Father is greater. Likewise: "God, my God, look upon me: why have you forsaken me" (Ps. 21)? And again: "Save me from the mouth of the lion." These things pertain to the human condition; for He Himself also says: "I have the power to lay down my soul, and I have the power to take it up again; no one takes it from me, but I lay it down from myself, and I take it up again" (John 20). In the Psalm: "I slept and took sleep, and I rose again, because the Lord sustained me.

And the Apostle, because He Himself gave Himself, says: "Who loved me," he says, "and gave Himself for me." Likewise the same Apostle: "Who loved," he says, "His own Church, and gave Himself for her, cleansing her with the washing of water and the word." Likewise in the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians: "Just as Christ," he says, "loved us and gave Himself for us." Likewise in the Psalm He Himself says: "To do Your will, my God, I willed." He says in the Psalm: "My God," as He said above: "From the womb of my mother, You are my God." And yet afterwards it follows, when He said: "To do Your will, my God," He added, "He willed"; because He willed, He did: for He is the one of whom it is said: "Everything that He willed, He did." He Himself willed to be born, He Himself willed to die, He Himself willed to suffer everything, and to hunger, and to thirst, and to be weary, and yet according to the human nature. For do you wish to know what the Son of God is like? Isaiah says: "The eternal God, who made the eternal things of the earth, did not labor nor hunger," etc.; he speaks of the Son, of whom it is said: "All things were made through Him." For God could suffer nothing evil, nor any toil, of whom it is said in Psalm 20: "Evil things shall not come to you, and the scourge shall not approach your tabernacle.

CHAPTER VII. Concerning the free power of the Son, it is taught thus. In the Gospel He says: "Father, I will that where I am, these also be with me" (John 17). He did not say, "I ask." He did not say in the Gospel to the leper, "I ask," but "I will," to be cleansed (Matthew 8). Likewise in the Gospel, when Peter asked that he might walk upon the water, Jesus said: "Come." He did not entreat, but said, "Come." Likewise to the Canaanite woman He said: "I was not sent except to the sheep that have perished of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15). The woman was a Gentile; yet because He willed, He granted the benefit and healed her daughter, to whom He had said He was not sent. For Christ was destined not for the Gentiles, but for the Jews; then He said: "Woman, your faith is great; let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour. To whom He had said He was not sent, why did He grant the benefit? Therefore you see that He did what He willed, not what another commanded. Likewise in the Psalm it says concerning Christ: "All things whatsoever the Lord willed, He did in heaven, and on earth, in the sea and in all the deeps." It does not say, "whatsoever He asked.

CHAPTER VIII. Against what is said: "The one who generates is greater, the one who is generated is lesser." These things are known by times, but in Christ there are no times, through whom all things were made. For He who is known to have been generated before times is not from time eternal, just as we read that Adam was generated by no one, and yet he and his son were both equal and alike, because both were men. Greater and lesser come about by times, because one grows old and another grows. But with God there were never times. For times themselves were made through the Son, and nothing in God is temporal. Therefore, take away times, and show me greater and lesser. How the Son is lesser not only than His Father, but also than the angels, the Apostle Paul says of Him in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Now," he says, "we have seen Jesus made a little less than the angels." Why? It follows: "Because of the passion of death" (Heb. 2). CHAPTER IX.

Against what they say: "The author is the one who generates," they give a beginning. The Father has no authority where there is no will. For the Father begot not by willing nor by not willing, but by nature. For if He begot by willing, then the will itself of the Father is the Son, as we read. Because He Himself is the Word and the Power and the Wisdom; He Himself is also the Will of the Father. If at some time the Son was not, then at some time the Father was not, for the Father could not be if He did not have the Son. But just as the Father is eternal, so also the Son is eternal, of whom it is written: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God, this was in the beginning with God (John 1). He is not grasped by time, He has no beginning, nor is He enclosed by ages. And in the Psalm the Son says to the Father: I am always with you. For if the Son was always with the Father, how is the Father the author, who never existed before? Likewise it is said of Him: Before the mountains were made, and the earth was formed, and the orb of the earth, from age to age you are. If therefore the Son is the Will of the Father, let it be told to me how the Father is the author, without whom the Son never was, because the Father could not be without will? What is called Father is called on account of the Son; and He is called God from God. But because the Son said, and what is called Son is called on account of the Father. For I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, they are not separated, but therefore He is one God. But if the Son is lesser than the Father, why did He say: The Father is in me?

The lesser can never contain the greater. Chapter X. Against what they say, that the Father commanded the Son to make creation, a response is given. Since indeed the Father Himself also made, for it is written: "Let us make man in our image and likeness" (Gen. i). Where it is shown that they worked equally, so that one God would be ministered. The Scripture continues: "And God made man in his image and likeness." It did not say "the gods made," although it had said "let us make man"; but it said: "God made man in his image and likeness." Likewise, if the Father did not make creation, how then does the Son say: "My Father works even now, and I work"? Likewise, if the Father did not make creation, how then do the apostles say to the Father: "You are, Lord, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them, who through the mouth of your holy servant David said: 'Why did the nations roar, and the peoples swell with vain things? The kings of the earth stood by, and the princes assembled together against the Lord, and against his Christ' (Ps. ii). For they assembled in truth in that city against your holy servant Jesus Christ, whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate with the nations, and all Israel, and they did as your hand and your counsel had predetermined" (Acts iv). Therefore they were speaking about Christ to the Father, who said: "You are, Lord, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them.

Read in the Acts of the Apostles, and you will find that this statement is made about the Son to the Father. Chapter XI. That the Holy Spirit is God is taught as follows. Peter said to the one who had withheld part of the price of the field: "What is it that has filled your heart, Satan, to lie to the Holy Spirit?" And shortly afterward he added: "You have not lied to men, but to God" (Acts 5). Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles it is written, when Pelius was thinking and hesitating about the vision, the Holy Spirit says: "Behold, men are seeking you; arise, and go down, and go with them without any doubt, because I sent them to you." And Peter, coming to Cornelius, said: "Truly I know that God is not an acceptor of persons" (Acts 10). To the Gentile, sent by the Holy Spirit, because the Gospel was not yet being preached to the Gentiles, but only to the Jews. Likewise in the Gospel: "But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan." Is not God the one who fills God? Therefore God was in Christ, with whom he was filled when he returned from the Jordan. Likewise the Apostle: "Do you not know that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?" He continued: "Therefore glorify God in your body." Likewise in Solomon: "The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world." Likewise the prophet Isaiah: "And the Lord said to me: Go, say to this people, 'The ear will hear, and you will not understand,'" etc. The one whom Isaiah calls God, the Apostle calls the Holy Spirit.

If God is spirit, how is the Holy Spirit not God? If the Holy Spirit is not God, how does the Apostle Paul say: "Now there are divisions of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are divisions of operations, but one God, who works all in all, who distributes his own to each as he wills" (1 Cor. 12)? He is the Holy Spirit, of whom the prophet Isaiah says: "The Spirit, I say, of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, and of fear of the Lord." Chapter XII. That the Holy Spirit is also creator is taught as follows. In Job we read: "It is the divine Spirit that made me." In the Psalm: "Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created" (Ps. 103). In the Gospel: "Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." To whom it had been said: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" (Matt. 1). In the Psalm: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power" (Ps. 32). If in the womb of the virgin the Holy Spirit made the Son of God, what was lacking to God that he did not create? In the Gospel: "If anyone is not reborn from water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." For it is greater to regenerate than to create: behold, the Holy Spirit regenerates, when we are reborn in baptism through him.

CHAPTER XIII. That the Spirit is a life-giver is taught thus. The Apostle says: The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3). Likewise in the Gospel: It is the Spirit that gives life, but the flesh avails nothing (John 6). In Ezekiel, to the dry bones of the sons of Israel it is commanded and said, through the prophet: I will place my Spirit in you; and you will live. Likewise the Apostle says: But if His Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you, it will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you (Rom. 8:11). Therefore, mortal bodies are given life by the Holy Spirit. CHAPTER XIV. That the Holy Spirit is also of His own power and will, and is omnipotent, is taught thus. The Apostle says: To one is given a manifestation of the Spirit for utility, to another is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, to another the gift of healings in one Spirit, to another operations of cures, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues; but all these things one and the same Spirit works, distributing His own to each as He wills (1 Cor. 12).

Behold what one and the same Spirit works as it wills, not what is commanded of it. The Lord Himself says in the Gospel: The Spirit blows where it wills (John 3). In the Acts of the Apostles, the Spirit commands Philip to join himself to the eunuch of Queen Candace. Likewise the Spirit says: Separate Barnabas and Paul for me in the holy work to which I have called them. Behold, the Holy Spirit separates the apostle and calls. Likewise concerning the apostles: They intended to go into Bithynia, and the Holy Spirit did not permit them. Behold, it commands the apostles. Likewise in Solomon it says: The Holy Spirit is Wisdom to me, that is, in Christ. The Holy Spirit is unique, manifold, subtle, immovable, untainted, certain, secure, loving the good, all-powerful, all-knowing, and that which comprehends all intelligible spirits, pure, subtle. Behold what the Holy Spirit is like. Likewise in the Gospel: And Jesus returned into Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Christ walks in the power of the Spirit. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles we read: That the apostles spoke according to the utterance given them. The Spirit gave the apostles how they spoke. Likewise the Apostle Paul shows what the Holy Spirit bestows, saying: Now the fruits of the Spirit are charity, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, continence (1 John 4). And we read in the Apostle John: That God is charity. If God is charity, what is the Holy Spirit, whose very charity it is?

Thus you have above: Because the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love (1 John 4). CHAPTER XV. On the Trinity and the Divinity of the Word. If the Trinity does not exist, why was it said: Go, baptize all nations, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? If the unity does not exist, why was it said in one name, and not in names? If the Trinity does not exist, why does the Lord say: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? If the unity does not exist, why does he say "God" three times, and not call them "Gods" equally? If the Trinity does not exist, why do the Seraphim in Isaiah say in praise: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts (Isaiah 6)? Where they show both the Trinity and the unity, because they say "Lord" and not "lords." If the Trinity does not exist, why does the Apostle say: From him, and through him, and in him are all things? Or if the Trinity or the unity does not exist, why does it follow: to him, glory, and not to them, glory, if there are more gods? But if some wish to take this as referring to the Father, then let them not slander the Son, since just as the Father, so through the Son all things were made. Therefore God is not numbered, not increased, not in need, because he is not diminished. If the Son is indeed God, he does not admit these things in himself, for he himself says to the tempting devil: You shall not tempt the Lord your God (Matthew 4). And the apostle Thomas says, when he touched the places of his wounds: My Lord and my God. For the Trinity is inseparable. For he has not spoken where he is not.

of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are everywhere together, and are not separated by places, because God is not corporeal, nor is God numbered, because He is not subject to numbers. Therefore our God is one. For although there is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, no Christian can speak of three Gods, because the divine nature in no way differs from itself. Number indeed suffices for order; equality does not lose it, for one follows the first, and another is attached to the third. But since no degrees can arise from equals that can be subordinated, as they are numbered, there will be one, because it has no second. For the second holds the rank of a lesser, and the lesser makes another, the other indicates a later, the later signifies an unequal. Remove the distance, and you will have nothing to number. The prophet says: "There is no number to His wisdom." If His wisdom is not numbered, how is the Son numbered, who is the Wisdom of the Father, as the Apostle says? Why is the Son called second after the Father, since wisdom is not numbered, because it is the wisdom of the Father?

CHAPTER XVI That the Son is invisible is taught thus: No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him. In the Apostle it is written concerning Christ: "This invisible firstborn of all creation." Again: "Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the first; but I have obtained mercy for this reason, that Christ Jesus might first show in me all patience in the formation of those who will believe in Him for eternal life: but to the immortal, invisible king of the ages, to God alone, honor and glory forever and ever." Therefore the Son, who came to save sinners, is invisible. If the Son is seen, the Father is also seen, since it is written: "He who sees me sees also the Father." CHAPTER XVII Against what they say: that all things exist from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Hear that you will find it said that not only from the Father, but also from the Son and the Holy Spirit, all things were made. The Apostle says this of the Son in Ephesians: "But doing the truth in love, let us increase in Him through all things, of which Christ is the head, from whom the whole body is joined and compacted." Behold, from the Son. Hear also from the Holy Spirit: "If anyone has not been reborn from water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And again in the Gospel it is read: "Thus is everyone who is born from the Spirit.

CHAPTER XVIII. Against what they say: "Because the Father bears witness to the Son." Christ Himself says in the Gospel: "I am the one who bears witness concerning myself." Therefore He Himself testifies concerning Himself. The Prophets bore witness to the Son; are the Prophets greater than the Son? The Apostles bore witness to the Son; are the Apostles greater than the Son of God? But since I have shown that He Himself bore witness concerning Himself, there will be nothing for the adversaries to reply: "I am," says the Son, "who testify concerning myself." CHAPTER XIX. Against what they say: "Why is the Father named first, then the Son?" Hear that the Son is also named first by the Father. The Apostle says to the Galatians: "Not by men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father." Likewise to the Thessalonians he himself says: "But our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave eternal consolation," etc. Behold, the Son is named first. Hear also that the Holy Spirit is named in the first place. The Apostle says: "One body and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling, one God, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all." Behold, he named the Spirit first, and the Father afterwards. But I say, is it because we read in Leviticus, in its proper place, under one sentence, Jacob named first, Isaac second, Abraham third?

Therefore it must be said that Jacob was better than Isaac, or Isaac greater than his father Abraham, just as it is written: "And I, the God of Jacob, say this, and of the testament of Isaac, and of the testament of Abraham." To unprejudiced men, why does a ranking impose prejudice upon God, if by chance the Father is ranked before the Son, or the Son before the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit ranked before the Father? CHAPTER XX. Against what they say: "The Father subjected all things to Him." The Apostle says to the Corinthians concerning the Son: "He must," he says, "reign until He places all His enemies under His feet" (1 Cor. 15). And to the Philippians: "Whence also we await our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, who will transform the body of our humility, conforming it to the body of His glory according to the operation, so that He may be able to subject all things to Himself" (Phil. 1). Likewise the Apostle says that the Son will deliver the kingdom to God His Father; for it is written concerning Christ: "When He has delivered the kingdom to God and Father." Therefore is the Son greater than the Father, because He Himself will deliver the kingdom to His Father? These are the things which I have been able to recall and excerpt for the time being; many things, however, have been omitted due to the hindrance of speed, which the reader will be able to find. Let the reader hold only this: that the Lord God is in no way subject to number, in no way separated; for what is least is not God: but what is God, the Son and the Holy Spirit, each is perfect [professed].

This, however, is the true perfection, which no comparison of another thing subjects, nor does anything remain that could be added. God is spirit, not flesh; He is intellect, not a mass; He is inner light, not surrounding matter. Therefore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not divided, because there is no matter that could be cut; and yet the Father is Father, the Son is Son, the Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit; and they are everywhere not without each other: because He is one who can be understood, but cannot be separated. They are not conglomerated, because they are not like airy bodies; they are not divided, because they are not without each other. This is the true Catholic faith, which Christ taught and handed down, the apostles taught, and all the holy patriarchs and prophets faithfully proclaimed. To your propositions, with the help of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I have responded from the New and Old Testament; now, however, for the Catholic faith, which is everywhere, I have set forth other testimonies to which you must respond. In the book of Wisdom: because just as God is wisdom, which is the Son of God, so also the Holy Spirit knows the counsels of the Father. In the same book: because the Son, through whom all things are made, is omnipotent. In the same book: because the Holy Spirit is also called Son, who is called the power of God. In the same book it is said of the Holy Spirit, who is incorruptible.

In the same book: he says that Christ is visible according to the form of the humility He assumed, but according to the form of His divinity He is not visible, but pronounces Him invisible. For what is seen is the man; what is not seen is acknowledged as God. In the same book it is said that the Son of God is from the substance of the Father. In the Song of Songs, where he says Christ is the King, when the Church speaks to him. In Ecclesiasticus: that the magnitude of God is innumerable. From this it is taught that those who separate the Trinity and believe it is to be worshipped in degrees and numbers are blasphemers. In Psalm 117, similarly concerning Wisdom, which is the Son of God, and likewise the Holy Spirit knows the counsels of the Father: "But who knows your counsel, unless you give Wisdom and send the Spirit from the highest?" In the same book, that the Son is omnipotent, through whom all things were made: "For," he says, "your omnipotent hand was not impossible, which created all things and the orb of the earth from formless matter." In the same book: that the Holy Spirit is also the Son: "scattered through the Holy Spirit of your power, they suffered persecution from their own deeds." In the same book concerning the Holy Spirit, that He is incorruptible: "For your Spirit is incorruptible in all things." In the same book, where he says that Christ is visible according to the form of the humility He assumed, but according to the form of His divinity He is not visible, but pronounces Him invisible, saying: "Seeing Him whom they once denied, they acknowledged Him as true God.

In the same book: that the Son of God is of the substance of the Father: For which things you fed your people with the food of angels, and you furnished them with prepared bread from heaven without labor, having in itself every delight and the sweetness of every flavor; for you were showing your substance and sweetness which you have in the Son. In the Gospel according to John: that the Holy Spirit is invisible: The Spirit of rarity, whom the world cannot receive, because the world does not see him, nor know him: but you know him, because he will remain with you, and will be in you. In the Song of Songs he says that Christ is King; when he speaks to the Church: The king led me into his chamber, let us exult and rejoice in you. Likewise we will make for you likenesses of gold with distinctions of silver, until the king is in his resting place. In Ecclesiasticus: that the magnitude of the Trinity is innumerable. Whence it is taught how blasphemous are those against the Trinity of God who, separating by degrees and numbers, think to persuade what they desire: and who has investigated the command of his magnitude, or who has numbered his magnitude? In Psalm 146, similarly concerning Wisdom, which is the Son of God, it is said: because his wisdom has no number: Our Lord is great, and his power is great, and his wisdom has no number. With these propositions Maximinus the Arian, having nothing of value to answer, kept putting it off from day to day.

Cerealis, however, said to him who had entered, to whom the task had been assigned: "To the questions proposed by him, with God's help, I have responded; why does he not respond to my propositions?" Therefore, the aforementioned Maximinus, to whom the task had been assigned, when the assembly met, remained silent. And he said to Cerealis: "Go to your own church, because the assembly convened by me, Maximinus, refused to respond; from this it is understood that he was unable, where he was silent, and he refused to respond to your propositions. Now God hears between you.