Trinitarian Confusions

En habes in brevi alium esse Patrum, alium Filium, alium Spiritum sanctum: alium et alium in persona, non aliud et aliud in natura; et idcirco 'Ego,' inquit, 'et Pater unum sumus' 'Unum', ad naturam referre nos docet, 'Sumus' ad personas. Similiter et illud: 'Tres sunt,' inquit, 'qui testimonium dicunt in caelo, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus, et hi tres unum sunt. Audiat Sabellius 'sumus', audiat 'tres', et credat esse tres personas, et non sacrilego corde blasphemet, dicendo ipsum sibi esse Patrem, ipsum sibi Filium, ipsum sibi Spiritum sanctum: tanquam modo quodam seipsum gignat, aut modo quodam a seipso ipse procedat; cum hoc etiam in naturis creatis minime invenire possit, ut aliquid seipsum gignere valeat. Audiat scilicet et Arius, 'Unum' et non differentis Filium dicat esse naturae, cum natura diversa unum dici nequeat. Filius itaque clamat, Ego et Pater unum sumus; et: 'Qui me videt, videt et Patrem. Et Apostolus de eo: 'Qui cum in forma Dei' inquit, 'esset, non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo; et : 'Propterea,' inquit in Evangelio, ' quaerebant Judaei Jesum interficere, quia non solum solvebat sabbatum, sed et Patrem suum dicebat Deum, aequalem se faciens Deo'. Et Arius blasphemo spiritu contradicit: Non sunt unum, non sunt aequales, quia ipse Filius de se dicit: 'Pater major me est'; et missum sese saepenumero a Patre testatur. O infelix error pestiferaque doctrina, ignorans dispensationem hominis ob salutem generis humani temporaliter factam! Rogo, secundum quid major est Pater Filio? secundum substantiam, an secundum potentiam, an secundum bonitatem, an secundum incorporalitatem, an secundum aeternitatem? Si innascibilis Dei Patris Unigenitus Deus imago est, perfectae atque absolutae in eo substantiae veritas inest, per quam efficitur esse eum imaginem veritatis. Potens est Pater, sed si infirmus est Filius, imago jam non est potentis. Bonus est Pater, sed si in diversi generis divinitate Filius est, boni imaginem mali natura non reddet. Incorporeus Pater est, sed si Filius secundum spiritum circumscriptus est corpore, jam incorporei non est forma corporeus. Aeternus est Pater, sed si Filius non est coaeternus, temporaliter Patri nomen paternitatis accessit; et jam non omnia per Verbum facta sunt, quia reperitur tempus ante Verbum anterius, quando Pater fuerit sine Filio. Sed  imaginem Dei Patris Verbum, et omnia per ipsum facta Scriptura evidenter declarat. An forte ad hoc impiae professionis suae sensum propagat, ut Spiritum sanctum bonum quidem, sed Filium meliorem, et Patrem optimum esse credat, aut Spiritum sanctum potentem, sed Filium potentiorem, et Patrem potentissimum, sensu sacrilgeo astruat; aut sanctum Spiritum justum, sed Filium justiorem, et Patrem justissimum blasphemando edoceat? Ergo non tenetur sub unius Dei professione, sed ethnicorum more plurimorum deorum cultui mancipatur, dum Deum Patrem majorem, Filiumque minorem, et Spiritum sanctum plusquam minorem praesumptione temeraria suspicatur. Deum majorem, et Deum minorem habeat error eorum Israel esse nolunt, nec obduratis auribus audiunt: ' Audi, Israel, Dominus Deus tuus Deus unus est; et illud: Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et illi soli servies. Fulgentius Ruspensis, Ad Felicem Notarium, De Trinitate, Caput IV

Have then, in brief, that the Father is one thing and the Son another and the Holy Spirit another, differing in person but not in nature, and therefore He said, ' I and the Father we are one;' 1 'One' we teach as referring to the nature and 'we are' to the persons. Similarly it is said, ' Three there are who give witness in heaven, The Father, the Word and the Spirit, and these three are one.' 2 Let Sabellius hear 'we are', let him hear 'three', and let him think there are three persons, and let him not blaspheme with sacrilegious heart saying that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are the same thing, as if He somehow generates Himself, or proceeds from Himself, when this something capable of generating itself he cannot find in created nature. And let Arius hear 'One,' and let him not speak of the Son as having a different nature when the One is not able to have a diverse nature. For the Son cries out, 'I and the Father, we are one' and ' He who sees me sees the Father.' 3 And the Apostle says, 'He who was in the form of God did not wish to seize on equality with God' 4 and it says in the Gospel, ' Because of this the Jews sought to kill Jesus because not only did he not keep the Sabbath, but he even called God his Father, making himself equal with God.' 5 Arius with blasphemous spirit contradicts this, saying 'They are not one, they are not equal, because the Son said concerning himself, 'The Father is greater than me.' 6 and that He was sent from the Father He gives numerous testimony. O wretched error and pestilential teaching! Let me ask how is the Father greater than the Son? According to substance, or according to power, or according to goodness, or according to incorporality, or according to eternity? If the Only Begotten God of God the Father is the unborn image, the truth inheres in Him of perfect and absolute substance, for by that He is made to be a true image. Powerful is the Father, but if the Son is weak he is not now an image of power. Good is the Father, but if the Son is in another class of divinity, a flawed nature is not an image of the good. Incorporeal is the Father but if the Son according to the Spirit is circumscribed in body, the corporeal is no form of the incorporeal. Eternal is the Father, but if the Son is not coeternal, the name of Father is a temporal paternity, and now it is that not everything was made though the Word because there is a time before the Word, when the Father was without the Son, But the Word is the image of God the Father and everything through Him was made, Scripture plainly declares, 7 Or perhaps in this sense the impious profession is made: that it is thought that the Holy Spirit is good, but the Son is better and the Father the best, or that the Holy Spirit is powerful but the Son is more powerful and the Father most powerful, should one wish to add to the sacrilegious meaning. Or would it not be blasphemous to teach that the Holy Spirit is righteous but the Son more righteous, and the Father most righteous? For thus one does not hold to the profession of One God, but one gives oneself up to the religion of many gods in the manner of the pagans, when with presumptuous temerity he puts forth that God the Father is greater and the Son less, and the Holy Spirit least of all. This greater God and lesser God is the error of those who are unwilling to be of Israel, nor with obdurate ears do they hear, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God.' 8 and ' The Lord your God you shall adore, and Him alone shall you serve.' 9 Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, On The Trinity, To the Notary Felix, Chap 4. 1 Jn 10.30 2 1Jn 5 3 Jn 14.9 4 Philip 2.6 5 Jn 5.18 6 Jn 14.28 7 Jn 1.3 8 Deut 6.4 9 Deut 6.13