But if the Son is said to be sent by the Father because the one is the Father, and the other the Son, this in no way prevents us from believing the Son to be equal, of one substance, and co-eternal with the Father, and yet to have been sent as Son by the Father. This is not because one is greater and the other lesser; but because the one is Father, the other Son; the one begetter, the other begotten; the one is the source of the One sent; the other is from the One who sends. For the Son is from the Father, not the Father from the Son. We can now understand in this way that the Son is not only said to have been sent because “the Word was made flesh,” but was sent so that the Word might become flesh, and carry out in His bodily presence what had been written; that is, He is understood as sent not only as the man the Word became, but the Word too was sent to become man; because He was not sent because of any inequality of power, or substance, or anything in Him unequal to the Father; but because the Son is from the Father, not the Father from the Son; for the Son is the Word of the Father, who is also called His wisdom. Why be surprised, then, that He is sent, not because He is unequal to the Father, but because He is “a pure emanation (manatio) issuing from the glory of the Almighty God”?⁠a There, what issues and that from which it issues are of one and the same substance. For it does not issue as water issues from an opening in earth or stone, but as light issues from light. What else do the words, “For she is the brightness of the everlasting light,” mean but that she is light from everlasting light? For what is the brightness of light, except light itself? She is therefore co-eternal with the light from which this light comes. But it is preferable to say, “the brightness of light,” rather than the light of light; so that what issues will not be thought darker than that from which it issues. For when one hears of the brightness of light as being light itself, it is easier to believe that the source shines through its radiance than that the radiance shines less. But because there was no need to warn people against thinking that the light which begot the other was lesser (for no heretic ever dared say this, nor should we believe anyone will dare to do so), Scripture addresses the other thought, that the issuing light might seem darker than its source; and it has removed this suspicion by saying, “It is the brightness of that light,” namely, of eternal light, and so shows it to be equal. If it were lesser, then it would be its darkness, not its brightness; but if it were greater, then it could not issue from it, for it could not surpass that from which it comes. Therefore, because it issues from it, it is not greater than it is; and because it is not its darkness, but its brightness, it is not lesser than it: therefore it is equal. Nor should it trouble us that it is called a pure emanation issuing from the glory of the Almighty God, as though it were not itself almighty, but an emanation from the Almighty; for soon after it is said of it, “And being but one, she can do all things.” Who is almighty except the One who can do all things? It is sent, therefore, by Him from whom it issues; for this is how the one who loved and desired her seeks her. “Send her,” he says, “out of Your holy heavens, and from the throne of Your greatness, that, being present, she may work with me;” that is, may teach me to work [heartily] so that I may not work [irksomely]. For her works are virtues. But she is sent in one way to be with humanity; she has been sent in another way to become human herself. For, “entering into holy souls, she makes them friends of God and prophets;” so she also fills the holy angels, and does everything appropriate to such services through them. But when the fullness of time had come, she was sent, not to fill angels, nor to be an angel, except insofar as she announced the counsel of the Father, which was her own also; nor to be with or in human beings, for this too took place before, both in the fathers and in the prophets; but so that the Word Himself would become flesh, that is, become human. This future mystery, once revealed, would also bring salvation to those wise and holy people who, before He was born of the Virgin, were born of women; and, once accomplished and made known, it brings salvation to all who believe, hope, and love. For this is “the great mystery of godliness, which was revealed in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.” Therefore the Word of God is sent by the One whose Word He is; He is sent by the One from whom He was begotten (genitum). The One who begot sends; the One begotten is sent. He is sent to each person when that person understands and perceives Him, as far as He can be understood and perceived, according to the rational soul’s capacity, either advancing toward God, or already perfect in God. The Son, therefore, is not properly said to have been sent because He is begotten of the Father; but either because the Word made flesh appeared to the world, as He says, “I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world;” or because He is perceived in time by each person’s mind, according to the saying, “Send her, that, being present with me, she may work with me.” What is born (natum) from eternity is therefore eternal, “for it is the brightness of the everlasting light;” but what is sent in time is what each person understands. But when the Son of God was revealed in the flesh, He was sent into this world in the fullness of time, made of a woman. “Since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom” (since “the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it”), it “pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe,” so that the Word would become flesh and live among us. But when He comes forth in time and is perceived by each person’s mind, He is said indeed to be sent, but not into this world; for He does not appear to the senses, that is, He does not present Himself to bodily senses. For we ourselves, too, are not in this world, insofar as our minds grasp what is eternal as far as they can; and the spirits of all the righteous are not in this world, even of those who are still living in the flesh, insofar as they discern divine things. But the Father is not said to be sent, when someone understands Him in time, for there is no one from whom He has His being or from whom He proceeds; since Wisdom says, “I came out of the mouth of the Most High,” and it is said of the Holy Spirit, “He proceeds from the Father,” but the Father is from no one. As, therefore, the Father begot, the Son is begotten; so the Father sent, the Son was sent. Just as the One who begot and the One begotten are one, so the One who sent and the One sent are one, since the Father and the Son are one. So also the Holy Spirit is one with them, since these three are one. For the Son, being born means being from the Father; being sent means being known to be from the Father. For the Holy Spirit, being God’s gift means proceeding from the Father; being sent means being known to proceed from the Father. Nor can we say that the Holy Spirit does not also proceed from the Son, for the same Spirit is not without reason said to be the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. Nor do I see what else He intended to indicate when He breathed on the face of the disciples, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” For that bodily breathing, coming from the body and felt through physical touch, was not the substance of the Holy Spirit, but a declaration through an appropriate sign, that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son. Even the most deluded madman would not say that He gave one Spirit when He breathed on them, and sent another after His ascension. For the Spirit of God is one, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, the Holy Spirit, who works all in all. But that He was given twice was certainly a meaningful arrangement, which we will discuss in its place, as far as the Lord enables us. The Lord’s words —“Whom I will send to you from the Father,” — therefore show the Spirit to be both of the Father and of the Son; for when He said, “Whom the Father will send,” He added also, “in my name.” Yet He did not say, Whom the Father will send from me, as He said, “Whom I will send to you from the Father,”— thus showing that the Father is the beginning (principium) of the whole divinity, or deity, if that is the better expression. He, therefore, who proceeds from the Father and from the Son, is referred back to the One from whom the Son was born (natus). And the evangelist’s words, “For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified;” how should we understand them, unless the special giving or sending of the Holy Spirit after the glorification of Christ would be unlike any earlier giving? There had been a giving before, but not one like this. For if the Holy Spirit was not given before, with what were the prophets who spoke filled? Scripture plainly says and shows in many places that they spoke by the Holy Spirit. It is also said of John the Baptist, “And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.” And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, so as to say these things about him. And Mary, too, was filled with the Holy Spirit, so as to foretell these things about the Lord, whom she was bearing in her womb. And Simeon and Anna were filled with the Holy Spirit, so as to recognize the greatness of the little child Christ. How, then, was “the Spirit not yet given, since Jesus was not yet glorified,” unless because that giving, or granting, or mission of the Holy Spirit was to have a distinctive character in its very coming, unlike anything before? We read nowhere that people spoke in languages they did not know through the Holy Spirit coming upon them; as happened then, when His coming needed to be made clear through visible signs, to show that the whole world, and all nations with their different languages would believe in Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit, to fulfill what is sung in the Psalm, “There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard; their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Humanity was therefore united, and in some sense mingled, with the Word of God, so as to be One Person, when the fullness of time had come, and the Son of God, made of a woman, was sent into this world, so that He might also be the Son of man for the sake of humanity. Angelic nature could prefigure and announce this person beforehand, but could not take this personhood to itself and become that person.