her, Son, and
Spirit form a [Greek: trias] ("triad")[752] to which nothing may be
compared; they are equal in dignity and honour, and the substance they
possess is one. If the following is not one of Rufinus' corrections,
Origen said[753]: "Nihil in trinitate maius minusve dicendum est cum
unius divinitatis fons verbo ac ratione sua teneat universa"[754]
("nothing in the Trinity is to be called greater or less, since the
fountain of one divinity holds all his parts by word and reason"). But,
as in Origen's sense the union of these only exists because the Father
alone is the "source of deity" ([Greek: pege tes theotetos]) and
principle of the other two hypostases, the Trinity is in truth no
homogeneous one, but one which, in accordance with a "subtle emanation
idea", has degrees within it. This Trinity, which in the strict sense
remains a Trinity of revelation, except that revelation belongs to the
essence of God, is with Origen the real secret of the faith, the mystery
beyond all mysteries. To deny it shows a Jewish, carnal feeling or at
least the greatest narrowness of conception.

The idea of createdness was already more closely associated with the
Holy Ghost than with the Logos. He is in a still clearer fashion than
the Son himself the transition to the series of ideas and spirits that
having been created by the Son, are in truth the unfolding of his
fulness. They form the next stage after the Holy Spirit. In assuming the
existence of such beings as were required by his philosophical system,
Origen appealed to the Biblical doctrine of angels, which he says is
expressly acknowledged in the Church.[755] With Clement even the
association of the Son and Holy Ghost with the great angelic spirits is
as yet not altogether avoided, at least in his expressions.[756] Origen
was more cautious in this respect.[757] The world of spirits appears to
him as a series of well-arranged, graded energies, as the representative
of created reason. Its characteristic is growth, that is, progress
([Greek: prokope]).[758] Growth is conditioned by freedom: "_omnis
creatura rationabilis laudis et culpae capax: laudis, si secundum
rationem, quam in se habet, ad meliora proficiat, culpae, si rationem
recti declinet_"[759] ("every rational creature is capable of meriting
praise or blame--praise, if it advance to better things according to the
reason it possesses in itself, blame, if it avoid the right course"). As
unchangeableness and permanence a