Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 10
I have sufficiently shown that we are not atheists, because we acknowledge one God who is ungenerated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, and uncircumscribed, whom mind and word alone grasp, and who is encompassed by light, beauty, spirit, and indescribable power; under him all things have been made through his word and are adorned and held together. We also conceive of the Son of God. Let no one think it absurd that the Son belongs to God. We have not thought about God the Father or about the Son as poets mythologize, showing the gods to be no better than men. Rather, the Son of God is the Word of the Father in idea and activity; for through him and on account of him all things were made, the Father and the Son being one. The Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son, by unity and power of spirit; thus the Son of God is the mind and Word of the Father. If it pleases you to consider with heightened understanding what the Child intends, I will say briefly that he is the Father's firstborn, not as having been made (for God, being eternal mind, had the Word in himself from the beginning, being eternally rational), but as idea and activity proceeded, the material things having been placed underneath like a mixture of the heavier with the lighter. 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). We also say that the Holy Spirit, which energizes those who speak prophetically, is an effluence of God, flowing out and returning like a ray of the sun. Who then would not be at a loss, hearing us call God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, showing both the power of their unity and the distinction of their order, while we are called atheists? Our theology does not rest on these things alone; we also affirm a multitude of angels and ministers, whom the Creator and Maker of the world, God, distributed and ordered through his Word concerning the elements, the heavens, the world, the things 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.