Refutation of Proclus

1The only divine procession that could be called unoriginate and endless is the generation of the one and only Son from the one and only Father, and from the same Father the projection of the one and only Holy Spirit. In this procession the Father's single source, which is paternal and ruling, or rather pre-unoriginate, moved into the pair seen in the Son and the Spirit, and came to rest at the Trinity, as our Theologian Gregory says.

2This, then, is the only procession that is divine by nature, if indeed one should speak of nature at all in the case of things beyond nature and divine. Its beginning is the unoriginate Father, for it is from Him. Its middle is the Son, who shares that unoriginate beginning, for it is through Him. Its end, most super-perfect and endless, is the Holy Spirit, for it is in Him.

This procession is also set apart from the others. It does not make the things that come from it stand outside the origin at all. Rather, it keeps them from ever departing from that origin, because of the sameness of essence, even though they proceed as distinct persons. For this reason they have no need of the return according to desire.

But all the processions of beings besides this one are divided together with the beings themselves. None of these processions is unoriginate, because no being is unoriginate. Rather, all things have come into being from the Father through the Son and have been completed in the Spirit. Not every one of these processions is endless, nor is any of them endless in every respect.

For the eternal things remain after their production from there, and their procession according to essence has indeed been completed. No other things are produced in addition to those that were produced from the beginning.

3Those very things that were produced undergo change in their essence, and so they need another production in turn. But the procession according to illumination proceeds from there eternally and endlessly: to some as first-given, to others as second-given, and so on in order. The divine radiances are poured out for sharing, in proportion to the ranks, or rather the stations, of each being, down to the last things within them. In this way all things also return, drawn upward to the one origin, and the eternal and endless circle is preserved for them both in their processions and in their returns. But the procession of things subject to generation, corruption, and time has already been completed in its universal aspect.

4For in six days the whole sensible world was completed, and on the seventh day God rested from all His works. And no longer is any procession of another world still expected to be completed at all, at the consummation of the present age. In its particular aspect, however, it is still being worked, as was said by the Savior: "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17). Yet this too will certainly cease at the common consummation. Then there will be another procession, in which God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28), and all things will return to Him—the transformation of all things, and the change from corruption to incorruption.