Letter 138: Those who fail conspicuously at what is universally acknowledged to be right have no authority to pronounce on...

To Kytherios the Sabellian. On the text, "I and the Father are one." It is not possible, as you have written, to see the light hidden in Scripture through the means you have indicated; rather, you are blinded by the brilliance that flashes forth from it. For to say that there is a single hypostasis of Father and Son appearing in Scripture is a sign of great madness, or rather of being thunderstruck. For if you attend carefully to the precision of what has been written, you will find the unerring truth of the mystery. "I and the Father are one" — it says; not, "I and the Father am one.

ΡΛΗ΄. – ΚΥΘΗΡΙΩ ΣΑΒΕΛΛΙΑΝΩ. Εἰς τὸ, « Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἓν ἐσμεν. Οὐκ ἔστιν, ὡς ἔγραψας, ἰδεῖν τὸ ἐν (33) Γραφῇ κρυπτόμενον φῶς, δι' ὧν ἐδήλωσας, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τυς φλώττεις πρὸς τὴν αἴγλην τὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀστράπτους σαν. Τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν μίαν εἶναι φαινομένην ἐν αὐτῇ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ τὴν ὑπόστασιν, μεγάλης εἶναι νοίας, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐμβροντησίας. Εἰ γὰρ πρόσχης ἀκριβῶς τῇ · ἀσφαλείᾳ τῶν γεγραμμένων, εὑρήσεις τὸ ἀπλανὲς τοῦ μυστηρίου. « Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατήρ, ἔν ἐσμεν, » εἴρηται· οὐκ, Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατήρ ὧν είμι, Τὸ τοίνυν ἐν τῆς μιᾶς οὐσίας δηλωτικόν· τὸ ἐσμὲν, τῶν δύο ὑποστάσεων σημαντικόν, ΡΝΕ΄. – ΚΟΜΙΤΙ Τὸ ὠφελεῖν ἀμείνους.