Letter 197

To Gaïnas the General [Stratelates; a Gothic military commander, magister militum under the emperor Arcadius]. Every created thing has obtained its being through Word and Wisdom. But the God-Word, being Wisdom in His very essence, and being the Maker of all creation, both that which is apprehended by the intellect and that which falls under sense-perception, how could He be called a created thing?

Πᾶν κτίσμα διὰ λόγου καὶ σοφίας τοῦ εἶναι τετύχηκε. Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς Λόγος σοφία ὑπάρχων οὐσιώδης, δημιουργὸς τε ὢν πάσης τῆς τε νουμένης κτίσεως, καὶ τῆς ὑποπιπτούσης τῇ αἰσθήσει, πῶς ἂν λεχθείη κτίσμα;