Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 10
I have adequately demonstrated that we are not atheists, since we acknowledge one God — ungenerated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, and uncircumscribed — who is apprehended only by mind and reason and encompassed by light, beauty, spirit, and indescribable power, under whom all things came to be through his Word and are ordered and held together. We also recognize the Son of God. Let no one suppose it laughable that God has a Son. Our conception differs entirely from the poets who invent myths, portraying their gods as no better than human beings; we have not thought that way about the Father or the Son. Rather, the Son of God is the Father's Reason in idea and in energy, for through him and by him all things were made, the Father and the Son being one. Since the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son, united by the unity and power of the Spirit, the Son of God is the Mind and Reason of the Father. If the force of this reasoning compels you to ask what the Son desires, I will answer concisely: he is the Father's firstborn, not as one who came into existence (for God, as eternal Mind, possessed his Reason within himself from the beginning, being eternally rational), but as Idea and Energy that proceeded before all material things, when formless matter and useless earth lay subjected, the denser mingled with the lighter upon it. The prophetic Spirit concurs with this Reason, declaring, "The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works" (Proverbs 8:22). We also affirm that the Holy Spirit, who inspires prophetic utterance, is an efflux of God, flowing forth and returning like a ray of the sun. Who would not be perplexed to hear us called atheists when we confess God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, displaying both their power in unity and their distinction in order? Our theology does not rest on these points alone; we also teach a multitude of angels and ministers, whom the Creator and Maker of the world, God, distributed and ordered through his Word to govern the elements, the heavens, the world, all that is in it, and their harmonious arrangement.
Greek
Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄθεοι μὴ εἶναι, ἕνα τὸν ἀγένητον καὶ ἀΐδιον καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἀχώρητον, νῷ μόνῳ καὶ λόγῳ καταλαμβανόμενον, φωτὶ καὶ κάλλει καὶ πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ περιεχόμενον, ὑφ᾿ οὗ γεγένηται τὸ πᾶν διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου καὶ διακεκόσμηται καὶ συγκρατεῖται, θεὸν ἄγοντες, ἱκανῶς μοι δέδεικται. Νοοῦμεν γὰρ καὶ υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ. Καὶ μή μοι γελοῖόν τις νομίσῃ τὸ υἱὸν εἶναι τῷ θεῷ. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ποιηταὶ μυθοποιοῦσιν, οὐδὲν βελτίους τῶν ἀνθρώπων δεικνῦντες τοὺς θεούς, ἢ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἢ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ πεφρονήκαμεν. Ἀλλ᾿ ἔστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν ἰδέᾳ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ· πρὸς αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ πάντα ἐγένετο, ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ. Ὄντος δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐν πατρὶ καὶ πατρὸς ἐν υἱῷ, ἑνότητι καὶ δυνάμει πνεύματος, νοῦς καὶ λόγος τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. Εἰ δὲ δι᾿ ὑπερβολὴν συνέσεως σκοπεῖν ὑμῖν ἔπεισιν, ὁ παῖς τί βούλεται, ἐρῶ διὰ βραχέων πρῶτον γέννημα εἶναι τῷ πατρί, οὐχ ὡς γενόμενον (ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὁ θεός, νοῦς ἀΐδιος ὤν, εἶχεν αὐτὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν λόγον, ἀϊδίως λογικὸς ὤν), ἀλλ᾿ ὡς τῶν ὑλικῶν ξυμπάντων, ἀποίου φύσεως καὶ γῆς ἀχρείας ὑποκειμένων δίκην, μεμιγμένων τῶν παχυμερεστέρων πρὸς τὰ κουφότερα ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς, ἰδέα καὶ ἐνέργεια εἶναι προελθών. Συνᾴδει δὲ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα· Κύριος γάρ, φησίν, ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Καίτοι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἐνεργοῦν τοῖς ἐκφωνοῦσι προφητικῶς ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἀπόῤῥοιαν εἶναί φαμεν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀποῤῥέον καὶ ἐπαναφερόμενον ὡς ἀκτῖνα ἡλίου.Τίς οὖν οὐκ ἂν ἀπορήσαι, λέγοντας θεὸν πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν θεὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον, δεικνύντας αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ ἑνώσει δύναμιν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ τάξει διαίρεσιν, ἀκούσας ἀθέους καλουμένους; Καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸ θεολογικὸν ἡμῶν ἵσταται μέρος· ἀλλὰ καὶ πλῆθος ἀγγέλων καὶ λειτουργῶν φαμεν, οὓς ὁ ποιητὴς καὶ δημιουργὸς κόσμου θεὸς διὰ τοῦ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ λόγου διένειμε καὶ διέταξε περί τε τὰ στοιχεῖα εἶναι καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν τούτων εὐταξίαν.