one God, just as it does not follow, when we say: “the human being, his soul, and his speech are three human beings,” or when we say: “fire, its heat, and its light are three fires,” or when we say: “the sun, its light, and its radiance are three suns.”

It is therefore answered: This analogy is unsound for several reasons.

First: The heat and light inherent in the fire are not a fire born of fire, nor a substance issuing from a substance, nor are they equal to either fire or sun in essence. Likewise, a person’s speech is not a human being issuing from another human being, nor is it equal to the human being in essence. In the same way, the sun’s inherent light and the ray that inheres in it are neither a sun nor a self-subsisting substance. Yet you yourselves say: “a true God from a true God.” Indeed, in the Creed you declared:

“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages—Light from Light, true God from true God, of the same essence as His Father, equal to the Father in essence,”

and concerning the Holy Spirit you said: “He is a Lord who is glorified and worshipped.” Thus you have affirmed three lords.

Second: The term “light” with respect to the sun or to fire may denote the light that inheres within them, or it may denote the ray that falls upon the earth and the walls—something separate from them that does not inhere within them. The word “light” is used for both, and in either case it designates an attribute that subsists in something else, an accident. At times, however, the same word is used for the fire itself, or for the sun or the moon.