1The greatest of their errors, then—the one that drags them down, as it were, to Solomon’s own pit of Hades—is the innovation they have made in the Symbol of the faith, proclaiming that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.But the Symbol of the faithful must be a Symbol free of every corruption.Not even the axe-bearers in Ezekiel would have spared those who were marked, had they not seen the sign upon them unfalsified.How, then, shall we meet this innovation?Simply and plainly, and altogether as befits the disciples of fishermen.
2If we had set up some other teacher, we could have used his own words to win over his disciples, and the champions of the opposing view along with them.But since those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word handed down to us this very One, who calls the Spirit the Spirit of truth and one who proceeds from the Father, — the argument is a simple one: either produce another teacher, one who speaks more clearly than the Word and more wisely than Wisdom, from whom you took this new doctrine and clung to it so extravagantly; or, having none, accept our one teacher, Christ himself, who teaches concerning the kindred Spirit from what source and in what manner he has his being, bearing witness to his own witness that he proceeds from the Father. And yet, on your own reasoning, if he also proceeds from the Son, what kept him from saying, “who proceeds from the Father and from me”?By speaking as you do, you show yourselves not following Christ, the evangelist of the poor—though you claim to bear his cross.
3But if some approved Father persuaded you of this, show us the Father, and that is enough for us.You will not be able to show him, however hard you labor; for either the approved Father did not say it, or the one who said it is not approved.And even granting you this, still what is rare should not be drawn into a paradigm—this too is a rule of ours.For where countless writers theologize about the Holy Spirit, and not one of them says any such thing except that he was manifested through the Son, and is from God through the Son, and there is found one, or perhaps a second, introducing the opposite view—to attach oneself to these rather than to those belongs to men full of the spirit of error.
1Summus igitur eorum error est, quodque in Salomonicum Inferni profundum incurrere facit, est innovatio in Symbolo fidei, quam ii fecerunt, enuntiantes, Spiritum sanctum ex Patre Filioque procedere: oportet enim fidelis Symbolum esse Symbolum omnis adulterationis immune: nam neque securiferi illi apud Ezechielem, signatis pepercissent, nisi in eis minime falsatum signum vidissent.Quomodo igitur innovationi isti occurremus?Et simpliciter et candide, et omnino ut piscatorum discipulos decet.
2Si enim magister alius propositus nobis esset, ex ejus dictis discipulos ipsius, et adversae sententiae patronos utique persuaderemus.Cum vero ii, qui ab initio oculati testes, et ministri fuere Verbi, tradidere nobis eum dixisse, Spiritum sanctum esse Spiritum veritatis, et ex Patre procedere, simplex, et absoluta haec est ratio: vel tu magistrum alium profer, qui Verbo clariora, et sapientia sapientiora doceat, a quo novum istud dogma, quod adeo mirifice amas, acceperis; vel alium non habens, amplectere unum magistrum nostrum Christum, docentem de cognato Spiritu, a quo et quomodo esse habeat, et attestantem testi suo, eum a Patre procedere.Et quidem si ex Filio etiam, ut vos contenditis, procedit, quid prohibuit, ne diceret: Qui ex Patre et ex me procedit?Sic quidem tu convinceris non sequi pauperum evangelizatorem Christum: etsi crucem ipsius tollere te dicas.
3Si vero ab aliquo ex probatis Patribus hoc edoctus es, ostende nobis Patrem et sufficit nobis; at ostendere non poteris, etiamsi multum, diuque fatigeris: si enim probatus est, non dixit; et si dixit, probatus non est.Deinde etsi hoc tibi daremus, attamen quod rarius est, non utique in argumentum trahendum: quod legi quoque vestrae consentaneum est.Si enim plurimi theologi de Spiritu sancto disserentes, nemo quid tale dicat, sed tantummodo per Filium apparuisse, et per Filium ex Deo esse, reperiatur vero unus, vel alter qui contrarium doceat, profecto non illis, sed istis adhaerere, res est illorum qui spiritu erroris pleni sunt.