And then there are in Africa and Byzacania those who philosophize like these disobedients, the so-called Donatians (ἀπὸ Δωνάτου τινὸς Δωνατιανοί). And they, because they do not enter into communion with those who have fallen away during the persecution, will be refuted by the same thing as the Novatians (Ναυατιανοί), or the so-called Cathars (Καθαροί), who walk with them under an alien yoke. Therefore, we did not need to have any more to do with them, but we placed them together with others like them. But in their evil philosophies about faith they will be refuted in the same way as Arius, who philosophizes in the same way as they with him, is refuted by the words of truth. Having passed over this heresy as well, let us pass on to those that follow it in order, trampling on them in the Lord as terrible creeping things.

Against the Angelics, the Fortieth and Sixtieth Heresies

1. We have heard of the heresy of the angels (Ἀγγελικῶν αἵρεσιν), and only the sound of their name has come down to us, but we do not quite clearly know what kind of heresy it is, perhaps because it was formed for a time, and afterwards ceased and was finally destroyed. And for what reason she had this name, we do not know. For either because some assert that the world was brought into being by angels, but I cannot say whether the same heresy which asserts this is called by this name, or because it had this name, because these heretics boast that they are in the order of angels and lead a most excellent way of life, but I do not assert this either; or they received this name from some place, for there is a certain locality of Angelica (Ἀγγελινή) lying on the other side of the country of Mesopotamia.

2. But, listener, if you are mindful, you will not reach the point of censure in suspicions. We have promised to declare some heresies their roots and content, or any of the things that are done by belonging to them, and to mention others only by name. And how much the power of God helped and gave before this heresy, of all those which we have set forth, not a single one has been left unexplained, with the exception of this one. Or perhaps the concept of it is not quite clear to our knowledge because it was exalted by arrogance for a short time and subsequently ceased. Having hastily mentioned only her name, and having treated her name as with a premature child, let us pass this place in order to rush to the consideration of other heresies, asking the Lord of all to reveal himself to us and, having shown to our little minds the details of what happens to heretics, to let us understand everything exactly, so that we may direct ourselves and our neighbors to avoid what is worthless and to acquire for ourselves from God constancy in goodness and true truth.

Against the Apostolics, the Forty-First and Sixty-First Heresies

1. After these heretics, others called themselves apostolics (Ἀποστολικοὺς ὠνόμασαν), and also want to be apotactics (Ἀποτακτικούς). They observe non-acquisitiveness. And these are also fragments of the teachings of the Tatians, the Encratites, the Tatians, and the Cathars, who do not properly accept marriage. But their sacraments are also changed. They boast of their lack of acquisitiveness, while in vain they tear apart the holy Church of God and harm it by their self-willed service, having departed from God's love for mankind. For they no longer have acceptance for any of the fallen. And also about marriage and other things they philosophize in a similar way to those mentioned above. But the Cathars use only the generally accepted Scriptures, and these, while in all respects alienating the rule of ecclesia, are for the most part based on the so-called Acts of Andrew and Thomas.

2–8. […]

On the Sabellians, the forty-second, and according to the general order, the sixty-second heresy

1. A certain Sabellius rebelled not very long ago; This is the new heretic, from whom the so-called Sabellians are descended. And he taught very closely to the Noaetians, except for a few things. This doctrine is held by many in Mesopotamia and within the borders of Rome, carried away by some kind of madness.

Sabellius, with the Sabellians descended from him, teaches that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, so that these are three names of one hypostasis, or as body, soul, and spirit in man. And the Father, so to speak, is the body, and the soul can be called the Son, and as in man is spirit, so in the Godhead is the Holy Spirit. Or as in the sun, although it is essentially one, there are three actions, i.e. to illuminate, and to warm, and even the most rounded appearance. And that which warms, or warmth and heat, is the Spirit, the enlightener is the Son, and the very form of all being is the Father. In due time the Son was sent as a ray, and He did everything in the world that pertains to the Gospel economy and the salvation of people, and then He ascended again into heaven, like a ray emitted by the sun and returned again to the sun. But the Holy Spirit is sent once for the whole world and then separately on each of those who are worthy of it; Such a one, by spiritual strength and closeness, so to speak, he enlivens and inflames, warms and makes warm. This is what the Sabellians teach.

2. They use all the writings of the Old and New Testaments, but they use only some sayings, which they themselves choose, according to their own invention of their damaged minds and foolishness. First of all, they use the words and sayings that God said to Moses, namely: "Hear Israel, the Lord your God is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Do not create for yourself other gods. Let there be no new gods for thee (Exodus 20:2-3) (Psalm 80:10), for I am the first God and I am after them (Isaiah 41:4), except Me there is none else (44:6). And everything that is like this, according to their own understanding, is adduced in confirmation of the same. Also from the Gospel are quoted the words: I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me, and we are two one (John 14:11; 10:30).

And all their error and the force of their error they received from certain false writings, especially from the so-called Egyptian Gospel, which some have given to it. For in this Gospel many similar things are set forth as if stealthily, mysteriously; it speaks on behalf of the Saviour, as if He Himself explains to the disciples that one and the same Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. And when they meet with one of the most simple-minded or inexperienced, who do not have a clear knowledge of the Divine Scriptures, they are confused for the first time by such words: what shall we say, dear ones? Do we have one God or three gods? When a God-fearing person, but imperfectly versed in the truth, hears this, immediately, confused in his mind, agrees with their error and turns out to be denying God, denying the existence of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

3. In all this, the age-old enemy of men acts by his suggestions, in order to deceive and seduce the majority of people from the path of truth: one in this way, the other in another. For in the holy Church of God it is clearly confessed and unanimously recognized that indeed God is one and there is no other. We do not teach polytheism, but we preach one-man rule. In preaching one-man rule, we do not fall into error, but confess the Trinity – the One in the Trinity and the Trinity in the One, and the one Divinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For the Son did not begat Himself, and the Father did not change so that from the Father He could be the Son, and the Holy Spirit never called Himself Christ, but the Spirit of Christ, given through Christ, proceeding from the Father and receiving from the Son. The Father has personal existence, the Son has personal existence, the Holy Spirit has personal existence, but the Trinity is not a mixture, as Sabellius thought, and does not change in its eternity and glory, as the superstitious Arius taught, but the Trinity has always been a Trinity, and never does the Trinity receive an addition being one Godhead, one dominion, being one glory. It is, however, numbered as the Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is not numbered in such a way that three names are called one, but the names are truly perfect, perfect and hypostases, and there is no change in them. The Father is always the Father, and there was no time when the Father was not the Father, He is always the perfect Father, having a personal existence; and the Son is always perfect, always having personal existence, truly begotten of the Father without beginning, pre-eternity, and ineffable, — not a brother of the Father, not having received a beginning of being, and never ceasing to exist, but always, as the true Son, existing with the Father, begotten of the Father before the time, equal to Him, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, uncreated. But He is not the Father Himself, and the Father is not the Son Himself. But if the Father is God, then both the Son and the Holy Spirit are God.

4. For the Spirit is always with the Father and the Son; He is not a brother of the Father, not begotten, not created, not a brother of the Son, not a grandson of the Father, He proceeds from the Father and receives from the Son; not another being with the Father and the Son, but one and the same being, one and the same Godhead, from the Father and the Son [ [222]], with the Father and the Son, always having personal existence, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Father, for it is said: "The Spirit of the Father speaketh in you" (Matt. 10:20); and again: "My Spirit will dwell in your midst" (Hagg. 2:6). He is the third in name, but equal in Divinity, indistinguishable from the Father and the Son, the union of the Trinity, the sealing of confession. For the Son says: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30), did not say: "I am one", but the words: "I am one", but the words: "I and the Father" mean that the Father has a personal being and the Son has a personal being, said: "Two", and did not say: one. And again: "I am one," and did not say: "I am one." In the same way he said: "Go ye baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19), and in the middle ones the conjunctions are placed with the syllables te, te and te. Matthew denounces Sabellius, who brings confusion of persons, for he designates truly the Father, truly the Son, truly the Holy Spirit. And when the Trinity is placed in one order and called by one name (in the name), then by this he exposes Arius, who invented in the Trinity some gradualness, or changeability, or difference, for although the Father is proclaimed in the teaching greater than the Son, nevertheless worthily grants glory to the Son. For who should glorify his Father if not the true Son? And again, wishing to show equality, so that some would not fall into error, considering Him as the Son, the lesser, He says thus: "He who does not honor the Son, as he honors the Father, has no life in himself" (John 5:23); and again: "All that the Father has, is mine" (John 16:15). What is the meaning of the words: "If I have the Father," if not that as the Father is God, so I am God; The Father is life, and I am life, the Father is eternal, and I am eternal: Everything that the Father has is my essence.