Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 10
I have shown clearly enough that we are not atheists, since we worship one God who is ungenerated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, and uncircumscribed. He is grasped only by mind and reason, encompassed by light, beauty, spirit, and indescribable power. Under him all things have come into being through his Word, have been adorned, and are held together. We also acknowledge the Son of God. Let no one think it laughable that the Son belongs to God. We do not conceive of him as the poets mythologize, portraying gods no better than men. Nor have we thought about God the Father or about the Son in that way. Rather, the Son of God is the Word of the Father in idea and activity. Through him and because of him all things were made, the Father and the Son being one. With the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son, by the unity and power of the Spirit, the Son of God is the mind and Word of the Father. If, in an excess of scrutiny, you press to examine what the Child means, I will state briefly: he is the firstborn of the Father, not as having been made. God, being eternal mind, has possessed the Word within himself from the beginning, being eternally rational. Instead, the Word proceeded as idea and activity before the material substances, of a divine nature, with useless earth lying beneath, mixed with the thicker parts toward the thinner upon them. The prophetic Spirit agrees with the Word, for it says, "The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works" (Proverbs 8:22). And we affirm that the Holy Spirit, who works in those who speak prophetically, is an effluence of God, flowing out and returning like a ray of the sun. Who would not be perplexed to hear us call ourselves worshippers of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit — showing both their power in unity and their distinction in order — and yet be labeled atheists? Our theology does not rest on these points alone. We also confess 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 good order.
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.