Now if any one should ask for some interpretation, description and explanation of the divine essence, we are not going to deny that we are unlearned in this kind of wisdom, acknowledging only so much as this, that it is not possible that which is by nature infinite should be comprehended in any conception expressed by words. The fact that the divine greatness has no limit is proclaimed by prophecy, which declares expressly that of his splendor, his glory and his holiness, there is no end. If his surroundings have no limit, much more is he himself in his essence, whatever it may be, comprehended by no limitation in any way. If then interpretation by way of words and names implies by its meaning some sort of comprehension of the subject, and if, on the other hand, that which is unlimited cannot be comprehended, no one could reasonably blame us for ignorance, if we are not bold in respect of what none should venture on. For by what name can I describe the incomprehensible? By what speech can I declare the unspeakable? Accordingly, since the Deity is too excellent and lofty to be expressed in words, we have learned to honor in silence what transcends speech and thought. If he who thinks more highly than he ought to think^[1] tramples on this cautious speech of ours making a jest of our ignorance of things incomprehensible, and recognizes a difference of unlikeness in that which is without figure, or limit, or size or quantity (I mean in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) and brings forward to reproach our ignorance that phrase that is continually alleged by the disciples of deceit, ‘You worship you know not what,’^[2] if you know not the essence of that which you worship, we shall follow the advice of the prophet. We shall not fear the reproach of fools^[3] or be led by their reviling to talk boldly of things unspeakable. That unpracticed speaker Paul we make our teacher in the mysteries that transcend knowledge. He is so far from thinking that the divine nature is within the reach of human perception that he calls even the judgments of God unsearchable and his ways past finding out.^[4] He affirms that the things promised to them that love him, for their good deeds done in this life, are above comprehension so that it is not possible to behold them with the eye, or to receive them by hearing or to contain them in the heart.^[5]

Instead of speaking of him [God the Father] as ungenerated, it is permissible to call him the First Cause or Father of the Only-Begotten, or to speak of him as existing without cause, and many such expressions that lead to the same thought. In that case Eunomius^[1] confirms our doctrines by the very arguments in which he brings charges that we do not know any name indicative of the divine nature. We are taught the fact of its existence, while we assert that a name of such breath as to include the unspeakable and infinite nature either does not exist at all or at any rate is unknown to us. Let him then abandon his usual fictive language, and show us the names that signify the real meanings and then proceed further to divide the subject by the divergence of their names. But as long as the statement of the Scripture is correct that Abraham and Moses were not capable of the knowledge of the name, and that no one has seen God at any time,^[2] and that no one has seen him, nor can see,^[3] and that the light around him is unapproachable and there is no end of his greatness, so long can we say and believe these things. This is similar to an argument that promises any comprehension and expression of the infinite nature by means of the meaning of names to one who thinks that he can enclose the whole sea in his own hand! Just as the hollow of one’s hand is comparable to the entire depth of the sea, so is all the power of language comparable to that nature that is unspeakable and incomprehensible.

You cannot, then, heretic [Arian], build up a false doctrine on the basis of an analogy of human procreation.^[1] Nor can you gather the means for such a purpose from our discussion, for we cannot embrace the greatness of infinite godhead, of whose greatness there is no end,^[2] in our limited speech. If you should seek to give an account of a human’s birth, you must certainly point to a time. But the divine generation is above all things. It reaches far and wide, and it rises high above all thought and feeling. For it is written, No one comes to the Father, except by me.^[3] Whatever, therefore, you conceive concerning the Father—yes, even his eternity—you cannot conceive anything concerning him except with the Son’s aid nor can any understanding ascend to the Father except through the Son. This is my dearly beloved Son,^[4] the Father said. Is, please note, means that who he is, and what he is, is [true] forever. Hence David is also moved to say, O Lord, your Word abides forever in heaven,^[5] for what abides fails neither in time nor in eternity.

Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty? How magnificent his strength! How inscrutable his wisdom!^[1] Humankind is one of your creatures, Lord, and his instinct is to praise you. He bears about him the mark of death, the sign of his own sin, to remind him that you thwart the proud.^[2] But still, since he is a part of your creation, he wishes to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.

Grant me, Lord, to know and understand whether a person is first to pray to you for help or to praise you and whether he must know you before he can call you to his aid. If he does not know you, how can he pray to you? For he may call for some other help, mistaking it for yours.

Or are people to pray to you and learn to know you through their prayers? Only, how are they to call on the Lord until they have learned to believe in him? And how are they to believe in him without a preacher to listen to?^[3]

Those who look for the Lord will cry out in praise of him,^[4] because all who look for him shall find him, and when they find him they will praise him. I shall look for you, Lord, by praying to you, and as I pray I shall believe in you, because we have had preachers to tell us about you. It is my faith that calls to you, Lord, the faith that you gave me and made to live in me through the merits of your Son, who became man, and through the ministry of your preacher.

Whoever finds the healing of correction to be difficult should flee to the mercy of God for help and beg that the chains of evil habit be broken away from them, for the Lord lifts up all who collapse and raises up all who have been broken down. No, the prayer of a believer will not be empty, since our merciful God will accomplish the intentions of those who fear him.^[1] He will give what has been asked for, since he provided the inspiration to ask it. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, living and reigning with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

And the apostle [Paul] added, For of him, and through him and in him are all things.^[1] What does of him mean? It means that the nature of everything exists according to his will and that he is the creator of everything that has come into existence. What does through him mean? It means that the creation and preservation of all things is his gift. What does in him mean? It means that all things by a wonderful kind of longing and unspeakable love look on the author of their life and the giver of their abilities and functions according to that which is written: The eyes of all look to you, and You open your hand and fill every living creature with your good pleasure.

A person, then, who remains the same and yet babbles to himself about the change for the better he has undergone in baptism should attend to what Paul says: If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.^[1] For you are not what you have not become; whereas the gospel says of the regenerate that he gave all those who received him the power to become God’s children.^[2] Now the child born of someone certainly shares his parent’s nature. If, then, you have received God and become his child, let your way of life testify to the God within you; make it clear who your Father is! The marks by which we recognize God are the very ones by which a son of his must show his relation to him: he opens his hand and fills everything living with joy; he overlooks iniquity;^[3] he relents of his evil purpose;^[4] the Lord is kind to all and is not angry with us every day;^[5] God is straightforward, and there is no unright-eousness in him^[6]—and the similar sayings scattered through Scripture for our instruction. If you are like this, you have genuinely become a child of God. But if you persist in displaying the marks of evil, it is useless to babble to yourself about the birth from above. Prophecy will tell you, You are a son of humankind, not a son of the most High. You love vanity and seek lies. You fail to realize that the only way one is magnified is by becoming holy.

If there are any who are even in the catholic church and live evil lives, before they finish this life, let them hasten to give up the evil life, and let them not think that the catholic [Christian] name is enough for salvation, if they do not do the will of God. For our Savior says, not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.^[1] In the book of Psalms as well, it is written that the Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. Wherefore also in Proverbs each one of us is commanded both to fear the Lord and to depart from evil. There it is said, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body.^[2]

But we must look attentively at this—that not everyone who seems to pray before other people is proven to ask or to seek or to knock at the entrance of the heavenly kingdom in the sight of the searcher of hearts. The prophet would not have said, The Lord is near to all who call on him in truth, unless he recognized that there are some who call on the Lord, but not in truth. They do indeed call upon the Lord in truth who do not contradict in their lives what they say in their prayers. They call on the Lord in truth who, as they are about to offer their petitions, first busy themselves with carrying out his orders. Those who, as they are about to say to him in prayer, And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors,^[1] have fulfilled that mandate of his that says, And whenever you stand to pray, grant pardon if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father too, who is in heaven, may forgive you your sins.^[2] Hence about such persons the prophet appropriately adds, He will fulfill the will of those who fear him, and will hearken to their prayers and will save them. Accordingly, they call on the Lord in truth who are acknowledged to fear him. He listens to their prayers when they cry out [to him]; he grants their pious desires when they long for him; he raises them up to eternal salvation when they have passed from this life.

We have confessed that God the Word took not a body only but also a soul. Why then did the divine Evangelist omit in this place^[1] mention of the soul and mention the flesh only? Is it not clear that he mentioned the visible nature and intended to include the nature united to it? For the mention of the soul is understood of course in that of the flesh. For when we hear the prophet saying, Let all flesh bless his holy name, we do not understand the prophet to be exhorting bodies of flesh without souls but believe the whole to be summoned to give praise in the summoning of a part.