Monologion: Chapter 57
MONOLOGION
But on the other hand, he cannot be called 'begotten' as properly as the Word, since the Word is most truly offspring and Son, whereas it is clear that the love is in no way Son or offspring. And so it can be said—indeed, it ought to be said—that only he whose Word exists is begetter and unbegotten, since he alone is Father and parent and in no way exists from another; that only the Word is begotten, since he alone is Son and offspring; and that only the love of both is neither begotten nor unbegotten,since he is neither Son nor offspring, nor is it the case that he in no way exists from another.
Chapter 57 That this love is uncreated and Creator just as the Father and the Son are, and yet he and they together are not three, but one uncreated and one
Creator; and that he can be called the Spirit of the Father and the Son Now this love is individually the supreme essence, just as the Father and the Son are; and yet the Father, the Son, and the love of both are together not several* but one supreme essence, who alone having been made by no one made all things through nothing other than himself. Therefore, it must be that just as the Father individually and the Son individually are uncreated and Creator, so also this love individually is uncreated and Creator, and yet all three together are not several, but one uncreated and one Creator. And so nothing makes or creates or begets the Father; the Father alone does not make but rather begets the Son; and the Father and the Son equally neither make nor beget, but somehow (if one can put it this way) breathe out56 their love. For although the supremely unchangeable essence does not breathe out in the way we do, nonetheless, it seems there may be no more appropriate expression for the way in which he sends forth his love—which proceeds from him ineffably, not by departing from him but by existing from him— than "breathing out."
Now if one can say this, then just as the Word of the supreme essence is his Son, so his love can be most fittingly called his Spirit.57 Granted, he is essentially a spirit just as the Father and Son are. But they are not thought of as the spirit of something, since the Father does not exist from another, and the Son is not born from the Father by a breathing-out, as it were. This love, by contrast, is regarded as the Spirit of both, since he wondrously proceeds from both
56 The Latin is spirant. In Trinitarian theology the Father is said to "beget" the Son; the Father and Son together are said to spirate the Holy Spirit.
57 That is, if one can say that he is "breathed out" (spiratur), he can appropriately be called the "Spirit" (Spiritus).