The Anchored One
Ancoratus
Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310/320–403) was a Palestinian monk who became bishop of Salamis in Cyprus (367). Fierce enemy of heresy and friend of Jerome, he spent his long life cataloguing and confuting every false teaching he could find.
The Anchor of Faith (374) is his exposition of Trinitarian doctrine cast as a ship's anchor for believers tossed by Arianism: Father, Son, and Spirit confessed in unity, the church's faith set out creed by creed.
This volume holds Chapter II: the Spirit given to seekers, Peter's confession, and the Trinity in unity.
© 2026 SaneApps. This translation is free to share and adapt, even commercially, as long as you credit SaneApps. Draft translation, prepared with AI assistance and not yet independently reviewed. Verify against the original before citing. Translated from PG 43 (Petavius/Migne); tip densify Cap. II.
Cap. II: Spirit given to seekers; Peter's confession; Trinity in unity§1
1And I am struck with wonder at the economy of our Lord and God, who in the excess of his goodness was well pleased to give his Holy Spirit in all things to those who seek him in truth.
I did not judge your written requests, most beloved, or those of your companions, to be godless; rather I approved the movement as arising from the grace of God in you.
For in truth you know and are conscious, and you say things agreeing with the most blessed Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16); and they will clearly be blessed by the Lord himself, just as that holy man was blessed when he heard: “Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah” — that is, son of Jonah (for his father was called Jonah, and bar is interpreted from the Hebrew dialect as “son”) (Matthew 16:17).
And this was the life which the only-begotten Son gave to his own disciples, saying that they may have life in themselves: to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he sent (John 17:3). So when he said “the only true God,” he led us into monarchy, that we might no longer be enslaved under the elements of the world, that polytheism might no longer be in us, and that human thoughts might not be scattered into such fornication, but toward the unity of the only true God — for “the beginning of fornication is the invention of idols,” says the Scripture (Wisdom 14:12).
And “whom you sent, Jesus Christ” — what Jesus Christ? True God. And if Christ Jesus is God, as John says of him: “The Only-begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him” (John 1:18) — then the Father is one God and only true God, not according to the false gods whom some of the Greeks thought gods though they are not gods; but only true God, since the Only-begotten is only from the Only, and the Holy Spirit alone. For there is a Trinity in a monad, and one God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Greek · §1
Καὶ σφόδρα μὲν ἐκπλήττομαι θαυμαστῶς τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν οἰκονομίαν, ὃς εὐδόκησε τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητος ἐν ἅπασι δοῦναι τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ Πνεῦμα τοῖς αὐτὸν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ζητοῦσιν. Οὐκ ἀθέους γὰρ ὑμῶν καὶ τῶν καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς αἰτήσεις τὰς διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ἡγησάμην, ποθεινότατοι, ἀλλὰ τὴν κίνησιν ἐδοκίμασα ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτος ἐν ὑμῖν ὑπάρξασαν. Ἐπ᾽ ἀληθείας γὰρ, καὶ εἰδότες συνοίδατε, καὶ σύμφωνα λέγειν τῷ μακαριωτάτῳ Πέτρῳ, ὅτι Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος, σαφῶς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου μακαρισθήσονται, καθὼς καὶ ὁ ἅγιος ἐκεῖνος ἐμακαρίσθη ἀκούων· Μακάριος εἶ σὺ, Σίμων βὰρ Ἰωνᾶ, τουτέστιν, υἱὲ Ἰωνᾶ (ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Ἰωνᾶς ἐκαλεῖτο· τὸ δὲ βὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται ἐκ τῆς Ἑβραϊκῆς διαλέκτου, υἱός). Καὶ τοῦτο ἦν ἡ ζωή, ἣν ἔδωκεν ὁ μονογενὴς Υἱὸς τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς λέγων· Ἵνα ἔχωσι τὴν ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, τὸ γινώσκειν τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλεν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. Ἐν τῷ οὖν εἰπεῖν, Τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, εἰς μοναρχίαν ἡμᾶς ἤγαγεν· ἵνα μηκέτι ὑπὸ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου ὦμεν δεδουλωμένοι, ἵνα μὴ πολυθεΐα ἐν ἡμῖν ἔτι ᾖ, καὶ ἐπὶ πορνείαν τοιαύτην ἐπισκορπίζηται τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων νοήματα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ ἑνότητα τοῦ μόνου ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ· Πρώτη γὰρ πορνεία, ἐπίνοια εἰδώλων, φησὶν ἡ Γραφή. Καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τίνα; ἀληθινὸν Θεόν. Εἰ δὲ Θεὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὡς λέγει περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἰωάννης· Ὁ Μονογενὴς, ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρὸς, αὐτὸς ἐξηγήσατο· εἷς Θεὸς τοίνυν ὁ Πατήρ, καὶ μόνος ἀληθινὸς Θεός, καὶ οὐ κατὰ τοὺς ἐψευσμένους θεοὺς, οὓς ἐνόμισάν τινες τῶν Ἑλλήνων θεοὺς, οὐκ ὄντας θεούς· ἀλλὰ μόνος ἀληθινὸς Θεός, ἐπειδὴ μόνος ἐκ μόνου ὁ Μονογενής, καὶ μόνον τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Τριὰς γὰρ ἐν μονάδι, καὶ εἷς Θεός, Πατὴρ, Υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα.