bring us to you, offering thanks in the first place to God for the things that have befallen us; and praying, furthermore, that He may guide us in the future as well, being present with us everywhere, suggesting His own commandments to our mind, and instilling in us His divine fear, which shall be an excellent pedagogue. For we will not, even after departing, obey Him with that same liberty we had when with you. Pray that we may also receive some consolation from Him, when we are bereft of you; and that He may send forth a good leader, an angel to accompany us on our way. Ask also that, having turned us back, He may lead us to you again; for this alone will console us most of all. A While we are leaving the good and dear things with you and at your side, a harsh servitude will succeed us in place of this liberty. Id.
B
EPISTLE OF ORIGEN TO GREGORY
See among the Works of Origen, tom. XI, at the beginning of the following section. EDIT. PATR.THE WORKS OF ST. GREGORY THAUMATURGUS
PART II. — WRITINGS OF SOMEWHAT DOUBTFUL AUTHENTICITY
EXPOSITION OF THE FAITH OF THE GREAT GREGORY THAUMATURGUS
Which is called the Exposition of the Faith in Part. (Published in Latin by Gerard Vossius, *Works of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus*, Paris, 1622, in folio; published in Greek from a Vatican codex by Cardinal Mai, *Scriptorum veterum nova collectio*, vol. VII, p. 170.)ARGUMENT OF GERARD VOSSIUS
This exposition of the faith is different, and far-removed, from the former one which our great Gregory received by revelation. It is, however, called "in part" because it either delivers and expounds those things which are of the faith in a partial manner, or because the faith is explained in it part by part. Where, however, R. P. Franciscus Torrensis, a theologian of the Society of Jesus (the interpreter and scholiast of this *Exposition*), translated it into Latin not as a comprehensive but as a partial faith. Furthermore, this faith is not comprehensive but partial, according to him, because it is not a faith of all ecclesiastical dogmas, but of some, against the heretics who deny them.A Most hostile and alien to the apostolic confession are those who say that the Son is from non-existent things, and is an external principle, belonging to the Father from without; and those who think the same things concerning the Holy Spirit; those who say that the Son is made God by donation and grace, and that the Holy Spirit is sanctified; those who make the name of the Son common with the servants, and speak of him as the firstborn of creation, as if he were similarly made, not having existed, and as if he were the first to be created, and do not confess Him the Only-Begotten Son, who alone is Son to the Father, but who gave Himself to be numbered among mortals, and so is numbered as firstborn; those who describe the generation of the Son from the Father in human terms by a measured interval, and do not confess the age of the Begetter and the Begotten as without beginning; those who introduce three separate and alien B worships, whereas there is one and only one legitimate religion, which from the beginning we have received from the Law and the prophets, and which has been confirmed by the Lord and preached by the apostles. No less alien are those who do not confess the Trinity in truth as three Persons, but impiously imagine the threefold as a single unity by composition; and who think that the wisdom in God is such as the human wisdom in a man, by which a man is wise, and likewise interpret the Word as a word uttered by the mouth or conceived in the mind, without any hypostasis.
Ecclesiastical confession and a faith saving to the world is that regarding the incarnation of the Word, who indeed offered himself to the human flesh C which he assumed from Mary, remaining the same, and undergoing no divine mutation nor variation, but having been joined to the flesh according to human likeness, so that the flesh was united to the divinity, the divinity having taken away the passibility of the flesh in the fulfillment of the mystery. After the destruction of death, a perpetual impassibility and immutable immortality remained in the holy flesh, the human beauty, which was from the beginning, having been recovered in the power of the divinity, and flowing out to all men through the appropriation of faith.
If any, indeed, here too corrupt the sacred faith, D either by attributing human things to the divinity—such as progress, and passions, and subsequent glory—or by separating from the divinity the body which was progressing and suffering, as if in itself it had a separate existence, these also are outside the ecclesiastical and saving confession. No one, therefore, can know God unless he acknowledges the Son. For the Son is Wisdom, through whom all things were created; and created things manifest the Wisdom, and God is known in the Wisdom. But the Wisdom of God is not such as a man has, but is perfect, having proceeded from the perfect God, and remaining for ever; it is not like the thought of a man which passes away, nor a word which we speak and which is not. For this reason, it is not only Wisdom, but also God; nor only Word, but also Son. Whether, therefore, anyone understands God from creation, or is taught from the divine Scriptures, it is not without the Wisdom of the Son [cont. 1106B]
A that he is able to know or hear about Him. And he who rightly calls upon God, calls upon Him through the Son; and he who draws near in a fitting manner, comes through Christ. But it is impossible to approach the Son without the Spirit, for the Spirit is both the life and the holy formation of all things; and sending this forth through the Son, God makes the creature like unto Himself.
There is, therefore, one God the Father, one Word the Son, one Spirit the life, the sanctification of all things; and neither is there another God such as the Father, nor another Son such as the Word of God, nor another Spirit such as the life-giving and sanctifying One. But even if the saints are called gods, and sons, and spirits, they are neither filled by the Spirit, nor are they made like unto the Son and God. If, however, anyone says that the Son is God in such a way that He is filled with divinity, and not as begotten from divinity, he has denied the Word, he has denied the Wisdom, he has lost the knowledge concerning God, he has fallen into the worship of the creature, he has grasped the impiety of the Gentiles, and has turned back to this; he has imitated the unbelief of the Jews, who, since they supposed the Word of God to be a human son, did not believe Him to be God, nor did they confess Him to be the Son of God. It is, however, impious to think the Word of God as human, and that the works done through Him remain, while He himself does not remain. If, indeed, anyone says that Christ works all things by the command of the Word, he will make the Word of God idle, and will change the order of the Lord into servitude. For he to whom a command is given is a servant, and that which is created is in no way fit to create. For it will in no way cease to be equated with the creature, so that just as it was created by Him, so it too might create other things. B
Again, when someone says that the Holy Spirit is a sanctified work, he will no longer be able to understand all things as being sanctified in the Spirit; for He who has sanctified one thing, sanctifies also all things. He denies, therefore, the fountain of sanctification, the Holy Spirit, who deprives Him of the power to sanctify; and he will be prevented from numbering Him with the Father and the Son; and he rejects the holy baptism, and will no longer confess the holy and venerable Trinity. For either the whole Trinity must be understood in natural and true glory; or we are compelled to say unity and no longer Trinity; or we are compelled to not number created works with the Creator, nor creatures with the Lord of all, nor the sanctified with the Sanctifier; just as no created work is numbered with the Trinity, but baptism and invocation and worship are performed in the name of the holy Trinity. For if there are three glories, let there be three acts of worship among those who impiously worship creatures. If the nature which is worshipped is divided, let the worship be divided among them as well. But neither shall recent things be worshipped with the Eternal; for everything which has begun to have a beginning is recent, because He who is before the ages is great and immense. He, therefore, who alleges any beginning of time for the life of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, at the same time C D
A separates the Son and the Holy Spirit from the enumeration of the Father. For just as we confess one glory, so we must confess one substance, that is to say, the divinity, and one eternity of the Trinity.
ON THE PART OF THE FAITH
The beginning of our salvation is the incarnation of the Word. We believe, therefore, that while the divinity remained unchangeable, the incarnation of the Word took place for the renovation of humanity. For neither change, nor transposition, nor limitation occurred in the plan and will concerning the holy power of God; but remaining the same, it fulfilled the work of the incarnation for the salvation of the world. And the Word of God, while living among men on earth according to the humanity, likewise preserved His divine presence, filling all things, and was uniquely united to the flesh; and while the sufferings took place regarding the flesh, the power retained its own impassibility. He is impious, therefore, who reduces the passion to the divine power. For the Lord of glory appeared in human form, having accepted the economy on earth; who indeed by His works fulfilled the law for men, but by sufferings dissolved the sufferings, and by death took away death, and by the resurrection caused life to spring forth; whose glorious advent from heaven we await for the life and judgment of all, when there will be a resurrection of the dead, to render to everyone according to his merits.
A wicked endeavor do some meditate against the holy Trinity, by asserting that there are not three Persons, as if they were introducing a non-subsistent person. C Through this we avoid Sabellius, who says that the Father and the Son are the same; for he says that the Father is He who speaks, and the Son is the Word remaining in the Father and appearing at the time of the creation, and then, after the completion of all things, returning into God. He says the same also concerning the Holy Spirit. For we believe that three Persons are declared, having one divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for the one divinity, naturally attested in the Trinity, confirms the unity of nature. For it is the property of the Father, according to that: *One God the Father* [1 Cor. viii, 6]; the property of the Son, according to that: *The Word was God* [Joan. i, 1]; and the property of the Holy Spirit, and natural, is that He is the Spirit of God, as Paul says: *You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you* [1 Cor. iii, 16].
For the Person of each indicates that He is and subsists; but the divinity is the property of the Father; and whenever the divinity of the three is spoken of as one, it bears witness that the property of the Father is present in the Son and in the Holy Spirit; D so that if the divinity is spoken of as one in three Persons, both the Trinity is affirmed and the unity is not broken, and the natural unity of the Son and of the Holy Spirit with the Father is confessed. But if anyone says one Person,
A just as the divinity is one, they are not as two in one. For Paul cries out that there is one Father in regard to divinity, and speaks of one Lord in regard to authority, saying: *There is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him*. If, therefore, there is one God and one Lord, and there is one Person just as the divinity is of one, how is it to be believed that which is "of whom" and "by whom," as has been said before? But we, without separating authority from divinity, nor alienating one from the other, speak as the reality and the truth hold it. We call the Son God by the propriety of the Father, as His image and offspring; and we address the Father as Lord by the name of the one Lord, as He is the principle and begetter of Him.
The same is true concerning the Holy Spirit, who has unity with the Son, just as the Son has with the Father. Wherefore, let the hypostasis of the Father be recognized by the appellation of God; yet let the Son not be separated from this appellation, as one who is from God. Let the Person of the Son also be recognized by the appellation of Lord; yet let God not be separated from this, who is Lord as the Father of the Lord. Just as it is proper to the Son to exercise authority—He who created by Himself, and rules over created things—but in the Father this exists prior, as Father of the One who exercises authority; so we affirm the Trinity to be one God, not as B giving one from a composition of three. For everything that is a part of composition is imperfect and dependent; but we say that what the Father is by reason of principle and generation, this the Son is as the image and offspring of the Father. Wherefore, if anyone asks: "How is there one God, if the Son is God from God?" we shall answer that this is understood by reason of principle, in that the Father is the one principle. And if anyone asks them again: "How is there one Lord, if the Father is Lord?" we shall answer this again, that He is Lord in as much as He is the Father of the Lord; and this difficulty will no longer confront us.
C And again, if the impious say: "How would there not be three Gods and three Persons, if they have one divinity?" We shall say: Because God is the principle and Father of the Son; and the latter is the image and offspring of the Father, and not His brother. And the Holy Spirit likewise is the spirit of God, as it is written: *God is spirit*. And long before, it was declared by David the prophet: *By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the spirit of His mouth*. And in the beginning of the Creation it is written thus: *And the Spirit of God was hovering over the water*. And Paul, writing to the Romans, says: *But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit; if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you*. And again he says: *But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He who raised Christ from the dead shall quicken D also your mortal corpora—*
A bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you*. And again: *For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God; for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father*. And again: *I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit*. And again: *Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit*.
And again he says, writing to the same Romans: *I have written the more boldly to you in some sort, as putting you in mind because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, B being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God; for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit*. And again: *Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit*. And these things indeed are written in the Epistle to the Romans.
In the Epistle to the Corinthians he says again: *That my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of C power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God*. And again he says: *For as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God*. And again he says: *But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God*.
Dost thou see that everywhere in Scripture the Spirit is proclaimed, and nowhere is He called D a creature? But what will the impious say, since the Lord sends the disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? It cannot be contradicted that they possess communion and unity, according to which there are neither three godheads, nor three lordships, but, while the three Persons truly remain, the union of the three must be firmly confessed; for thus the sender and the sent are fittingly believed in. Just as the Father sent the Son, and the Son sends the Holy Spirit; yet one person would never send itself, for no one would say that the Father was incarnate. For the things which are contained in the confession of faith do not concur with the false opinions of the heretics. But it is necessary to follow the divine and apostolic dogmas
not so as to let our impossible notions offer violence to the dogmas of the divine faith.
If, however, they should say: "How three Persons, and how one divinity?" we shall say to them that there are three Persons—one of God the Father, one of the Lord the Son, and one of the Holy Spirit; A but one divinity, in that the Son is the image of God, the Father being one—that is, God from God. And the Spirit is likewise called the Spirit of God, and this naturally according to the very substance itself, not by participation of God. And there is one substance of the Trinity, which indeed is not the case among those things which have been made; for there is not one substance of God and of those things which have been made, since none of these is God in substance. Nay, neither is the Lord any of these in substance; but there is one God the Father, one Lord the Son, one Holy Spirit, and we speak of one divinity, and one lordship, and one holiness in the Trinity, B because the Father is the beginning of the Lord, having eternally begotten Him, and the Lord is the prototype of the Spirit. For thus also is the Father Lord, and the Son God, and it has been said concerning God that "God is spirit" (Joan. iv, 24).
We confess, therefore, one true God, one beginning, and one Son, true God from true God, having naturally the Father's divinity—that is, consubstantial with the Father; and one Holy Spirit, having by nature and in truth the power of sanctifying all things, that is, being deifiying from the substance of God. And those who call either the Son or the Holy Spirit a creature, we anathematize. All other things, however, we confess to have been made, and to be servants created by God through the Son, and sanctified in the Holy Spirit (5). Furthermore, we confess that the Son of God was made the son of man, who not by name but in truth assumed flesh from the Virgin Mary, and that He is perfect Son of God and the same son of man, C one person, and one adoration of the Word and of the flesh which He assumed. And we anathematize those who offer different adorations, one divine and one human, and who adore the man from Mary as though He were other than the God from God. For we know that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (Joan. i, 1). Him, made man for our salvation, we adore, not as one become equal to others in an equal body, but as the Lord who "took the form of a servant" (Philip. ii, 7). D We confess the passion of the Lord according to the flesh, the resurrection in the power of His divinity, the ascension into heaven, and His glorious advent: who is to come for the judgment of the living and the dead, and for the eternal life of the saints.
And because some have stirred up trouble among us, striving to overturn our faith in Christ our Lord, not confessing that God was incarnate, but that a man was conjoined to God: for this reason we issue a confession concerning the faith which we have spoken, rejecting the contrary [[...]]
A perfidy of those who say so. For God having been incarnate in human flesh, has his own operation pure, being a mind unconquered by the passions of the soul and flesh, and guiding the flesh and the motions of the flesh divinely and without sin. And not only was he unable to be held by death, but he even destroyed death; and he is the true God who, being without flesh, appeared in flesh, perfect in true and divine perfection. We do not say that there are two persons, nor even two natures, for we do not say that four are to be adored: God, and the Son of God, and man, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we also anathematize those who are impious in this way, who place a man in the divine doxology. For we say that the Word of God was made man for our salvation, so that we might receive the likeness of the heavenly one, and be deified according to the likeness of the true Son of God by nature, but according to the flesh the Son of man, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe, therefore, in one God, that is to say in one principle, the God of the Law and of the Gospel, just and good; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, that is to say the true image of the only true God; the creator of all things visible and invisible, the Son of God and only-begotten offspring, and the eternal Word, living and existing and acting, always being with the Father; and in one Holy Spirit B; and in the glorious coming of the Son of God who took flesh from the Virgin, who endured passions and death for our sake, and came to the resurrection on the third day, and was taken up into the heavens; and in his future glorious coming; and in one holy Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and life eternal.
We confess the Son and the Holy Spirit to be consubstantial with the Father; and that there is one substance of the Trinity, that is to say, one divinity naturally, while the Father remains unbegotten, but the Son is begotten of the Father by a true generation, not by a making from the will; and the Spirit is eternally sent forth from the substance of the Father through the Son, having the power to sanctify the whole creation. We confess also that the Word was incarnate and manifested in the operation of the flesh taken from the Virgin, not having acted in a man. But we consider as aliens those who communicate with those who reject the consubstantial as foreign to the Scriptures, and who say that something C from the Trinity is created and separate it from the one natural divinity, and we hold communion with no such persons. One is God the Father, the only divinity; and God is the Son, being the true image of the one and only divinity, according to the generation and nature which he has from the Father; one is the Lord the Son; and in like manner the Holy Spirit, who transmits the lordship of the Son into the creation being sanctified. The Son came into the world, having taken flesh from the Virgin, which he filled with the Holy Spirit for the sanctification of us all; and having surrendered the flesh to death, he destroyed death by his resurrection for D our resurrection; and he ascended into heaven, exalting and glorifying men in himself; and he will come a second time to restore to us eternal life.
A One Son before the incarnation and after the incarnation; the same person is man and God, both as one. And it is not the case that the God Word is one person and the man Jesus another, but the same pre-existing Son, being united to the flesh from Mary, became man, constituting himself a perfect, holy, and sinless man, and administering the work of the incarnation for the salutary renewal of humanity and of the whole world. God the Father, being a perfect person, has the perfect Word truly begotten from himself, not as a vocal word which we speak, nor as a son by adoption, as angels and men are called sons of God, but as Son by nature, God. And he also has the perfect Holy Spirit, poured forth from God through the Son upon those who are adopted as sons, living and life-giving, holy and sanctifying those who partake of him; not as a breath emitted by man and not subsisting of itself, but as living from God. Whence the Trinity is adorable, glorifiable, and honored, and venerable, with the Father being understood in the Son, insofar as the Son is from him; and the Son being glorified in the Father, insofar as he is from the Father, and being manifested in the Holy Spirit to those who are sanctified.
That the holy Trinity is venerable, not divided nor alienated, this Paul teaches us in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, saying thus: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all." And again in the same Epistle he declares, C saying: "He who confirms us with you in Christ, and who anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts." And even more clearly he writes in the same Epistle thus: "When Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart; but when they turn to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."
And again Paul says: "That what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now he who fashioned us for this very thing is God, who gave you the pledge of the Spirit." And again he says: "Commending ourselves as ministers of God in much endurance, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses," and the things that follow. Then he subjoins, saying: "In kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God." See how here also the holy Paul designated the Trinity, naming God, and the Word, and the Holy Spirit. And again he says: D "Do you not know that you are God's temple, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him." And again: "But you were washed, but you were sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit
A of our God." And again: "Or do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?" And this: "For I think I also have the Spirit of God."
And again, speaking of the children of Israel as having been baptized in the cloud and in the sea, he says: "And all drank the same spiritual drink; for they were drinking of a spiritual Rock following them; and the Rock was Christ." And again he says: "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says 'anathema to Jesus,' and no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, and the same Lord; and there are diversities of workings, and it is the same God who works all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom according to the same Spirit; to another, faith B by the same Spirit; to another, workings of powers; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these the one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each one individually as He wills. And just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ; for indeed in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body." And again he says: "For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with it."
You see that the Spirit is inseparable from the Divinity, and no one rightly thinking would suspect Him to be a creature. But in the Epistle to the Hebrews he writes again in this way: "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?" C And again in the same Epistle he says: "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years; therefore I was angry with this generation, and said: "They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways"; so I swore in My wrath: "They shall not enter into My rest."'" Let them hear here also Paul, nowise separating the Holy Spirit from the divinity of the Father and of the Son, but clearly signifying that the utterance of the Holy Spirit D is from the person of God and as if spoken by God, just as it is rendered in those things that were said
are. Therefore the holy Trinity is believed and worshiped as one God, according to these testimonies of the divine Scripture; although everywhere in the divine Scriptures there are numberless discourses available to us which prove the apostolic and ecclesiastical faith.
FRAGMENT OF THE EXPOSITION OF FAITH BY THE SAME
(From the book of Leontius of Jerusalem against the Monophysites, in Mai, A *Script. vet.*, vol. VII, p. 147.)To glorify two natures in the one Christ makes the holy Trinity a quaternity, he says; for he spoke thus: « And the true God who is without flesh is manifest in the flesh, perfect in true and divine perfection; we do not say to worship two natures, nor four, God and Son of God, and man, and holy Spirit. » First, the usage is greatly suspect and doubted, and this also: nonetheless he says not to speak of two persons in Christ, lest in confessing him God and in perfect divinity, but two of his persons, we present a quaternity of the divine persons, counting God the Father as one, and Son of God as one, and man as one, and holy Spirit as one; but he says not to know also two divine natures of his, but to confess him perfect God in one natural divine perfection, and not in two; for that he was unchangeably incarnate and possesses divinity without multiplication, he wishes to show: he himself says shortly before: « And of the passions concerning the flesh that occur, the power held its own impassibility; he is therefore unwise who leads the passion into the power; for the Lord of glory has appeared in human form, having assumed the human dispensation. »
FRAGMENT FROM THE SERMON OF ST. GREGORY THAUMATURGUS ON THE TRINITY
(MAI, *Spicil. Rom.*, vol. III, p. 696, from Arabic codex 101.)NOTICE.
I shall produce one fragment of the Thaumaturge from an Arabic codex, and soon others of the Fathers, through the interpreters Matthæus Sciuhanus and Franc. Mehasebo, Maronites; in which fragment of the Thaumaturge, if there are any things obscure or ambiguous, the author of the Arabic codex himself is chiefly to be blamed. Further, it will be useful to consider that blessed Basil, in epistle 210 to the Neocæsareans, speaks of a certain exposition of faith and a colloquy of the Thaumaturge with Ælianus concerning the Trinity, where many expressions were partly corrupted by scribes, and partly such that heretics thence greatly strengthened themselves, interpretatively misconstruing them and drawing them toward the depravity of their own dogma; although the holy Father had used a simple method suitable for his own time. Indeed, this is the perpetual custom of Monophysites in citing for themselves the authorities of orthodox Fathers, so that when they speak of the one Christ, and the one individual, hypostatically against Nestorius or his like-minded followers, these aforementioned heretics immediately wish it to be understood as one nature of Christ. In all the books of those men, there is nothing more customary than this error or fraud.Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neocæsarea in Pontus, next to the apostles, says these things in his sermon on the Trinity:
I see three essential things in all: substance, genus, name. We say man, servant, curator; man by reason of substance, servant by reason of genus or condition, curator by reason of C denomination. We also say Father, Son, and holy Spirit; yet these are not names which B might have come upon them later, but they are substances. But the denomination of man is not in reality a denomination, but the common substance of men, and it is the proper denomination of all men; names
are indeed Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; A these, I say, are names. But the divine Persons are indeed names; yet the names are Persons; and the Persons signify that which is and subsists, which is the essence of God. The name of nature also signifies subsistence, as if we should say "man." All the Personae are one nature, one essence, one will, and are called the holy Trinity, which are the names of subsistent things, one nature in three Persons, and one genus. The Person of the Son, however, is united—that is, one thing out of two—being at once divinity and humanity, which two constitute one. Nor, however, does the divinity receive any increase from this, but the Trinity remains as it was. Nor does anything new happen to the Persons, or their names, but they are eternal and timeless. Yet no one was able to know them before the Son, having become flesh, manifested them, saying: "Father, I have manifested thy name unto men; do thou also glorify me, that they may know me, thy Son." On the mountain, however, the Father cried out, saying: "This is my beloved Son." Likewise, He sent His holy Spirit over the Jordan. And thus it was demonstrated to us that the Trinity is co-eternal in equal honor. Furthermore, the generation of the Son from the Father is incomprehensible and ineffable; and because it is spiritual, it is impervious to scrutiny; for a spiritual thing can neither be understood by a corporeal thing nor tracked—for it is far removed from human nature. We men indeed know our own generation, as we do that of other things; yet a C spiritual thing is above the human condition, nor can it by any means be understood by human minds. A spiritual substance cannot perish nor be dissolved; ours, however, being easy to understand, perishes and is dissolved. For how can it happen that a man who is enclosed by six sides—east, west, north, south, abyss, and heaven—should understand a thing that is above the heavens, below the abysses, extends beyond the north and south, is present in every place, and fills every void? But if we were able to examine a spiritual substance, its excellence would be lost. Let us consider what happens in our own body, and let us further see whether it is permitted to us to know how thoughts are generated from the heart, words from the tongue, and the like. Now, if we do not in the least recognize these things which happen within us, how can it be B that we should understand the mystery of the uncreated Creator, which surpasses every mind? Certainly, if this mystery were accessible to man, the divine John would by no means have affirmed: "No man hath seen God at any time." Whom, therefore, no man has ever seen, to what is He to be considered similar, so that we might from that know His generation? And we indeed, without ambiguity, know that our soul dwells in us united to the body; but yet who has ever seen his own soul? Who has been able to perceive its conjunction with the body? We know this one thing, namely, that the soul is coupled to the body within us. Thus, therefore, we argue and believe that the Word was generated by the Father, without, however, possessing or knowing the explored reason of the thing. He is before every creature, eternal from the Eternal, like fountain from fountain, and light from light. Indeed, the term "word" pertains to those three kinds of words which are named in the Scriptures, and which are not substantial, namely, that which is by way of conception, that which is pronounced (prophorikon), and that which is articulated (arthrikon). That which is by way of conception is certainly not substantial. But the pronounced word is that voice which the prophets hear from God, or the prophetic discourse itself; and not even this is substantial. Finally, the articulated is human speech formed in the air, consisting of words, which likewise is not substantial. Nevertheless, the Word of God is substantial, endowed with an exalted and valid nature, and is eternal with Him, and inseparable from Him, nor will it perish, but will endure in eternal conjunction. This Word created heaven and earth, and in Him all things were made. This is the arm and power of God, never to be separated from the Father because of their indivisible nature, and lacking beginning with the Father Himself. This assumed our substance from the Virgin Mary; and in so far as it is spiritual, it is indivisibly equal to the Father; but in so far as it is corporeal, it is likewise equally—and inseparably—equal to us. And again, in so far as it is spiritual, it is equal to the holy Spirit inseparably and without end. Nor were there two, but the nature of the holy Trinity was one before the incarnation of the Word the Son; and the nature of the Trinity remained one even after the incarnation of the Son. But if anyone believes that an increase has come to the Trinity on account of the humanity assumed by the Word, he is a stranger to us, and D to the ministry of the catholic and apostolic Church. This is the whole, holy, apostolic faith of the holy God. Praise to the holy Trinity for ever and ever! Amen.
ST. GREGORY THAUMATURGUS TWELVE CHAPTERS ON THE FAITH In which both an anathema is set forth and an explanation is subjoined.
(Opera Gretseri, vol. XV, p. 434. Ratisbon 1741, folio, from a manuscript codex.)
A CAP. I. If anyone shall say that the body of Christ is uncreated, and shall not confess that it is the uncreated Word of God Himself who became incarnate from created humanity and was made man, as it is written, let him be anathema.
Explanation. By what reasoning can the body be said to be uncreated? For that which is uncreated is also void of passion, and cannot be wounded or touched. But Christ, rising from the dead, showed his disciples the prints of the nails and the wound inflicted by the spear, and offered his body to be handled, although he entered while the doors were shut, in order that he might display both the operation of his divinity and the truth of his body. (Even though he was God, he was truly recognized as man; and although he was truly man, he appeared as God from his very actions.)
B CAP. II. If anyone shall say that the flesh of Christ is consubstantial with the divinity, and shall not confess that Christ, existing in the form of God, is the eternal God, and that he emptied himself and took the form of a servant, as it is written, let him be anathema.
Explanation. How can the flesh, which was formed in time, be called consubstantial with the eternal divinity? For that is called consubstantial which is identical in nature and eternity without variation and change.
CAP. III. If anyone shall say that Christ C assumed a perfect man,
A and does not confess that, having assumed flesh from the Virgin, he became man, was born in Bethlehem, was reared in Nazareth, showed an advancement in age, and having numbered his years, was baptized in the Jordan and received this testimony from the Father: This is my beloved Son, hear him (Matt. 3:17), let him be anathema.
Explanation. How could anyone say that the Lord Christ assumed a perfect man, as if he were some prophet, when the Lord himself became man by the flesh assumed from the Virgin? Therefore it is written that the first man is of the earth, earthy (1 Cor. 15:47). But after he who was formed from the earth returned to the earth, the second man, having been made, ascended into the heavens. And he is called the first Adam and the last Adam (cf. 1 Cor. 15:45). And just as it is acknowledged that the second is from the first as regards the flesh—for which cause Christ is named man and Son of man—so it is plain and witnessed that the second is the Savior of the first, for whom also he descended from heaven. Since, indeed, the Word, having descended from heaven and become man, ascended into the heavens, for this reason the second Adam is also said to be from heaven.
CAP. IV.
If anyone says that Christ was born of the Virgin from the seed of a man, as all men are, and does not confess that he was incarnate and became man from the Holy Spirit and from Mary the holy Virgin, from the seed of David, as is written, let him be anathema. BExplanation. For how would anyone claim that Christ was born of the Virgin from the seed of a man, when the holy Gospel and the angel himself testify that Mary said: How shall this be, since I know not a man? Therefore he says: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore also the holy thing which is born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:34, 35). [For the holy Virgin had said: How shall this be, since I do not know a man?] And he says to Joseph: Do not fear to take Mary thy wife: for that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit. She shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:20, 21).
CAP. V.
If anyone says: The Son of God is one existing before the ages, and another is he who appeared in the last times, and does not confess that he who is before the ages is the same as he who appeared in the last times, as is written, let him be anathema. CExplanation. How could anyone claim that there is one Son of God before the ages, D
A and another in the last times, when the Lord himself says, "Before Abraham was, I am," and that "I came forth from the Father, and am come, and I go again to the Father"?
CAP. VI. If anyone says: There is one who suffered, and another who did not suffer; and does not confess that the same impassible and immutable Word of God suffered impassibly in his own flesh, as it is written, let him be anathema. Explanation. How could one say there is one who suffered and another who did not suffer, when the Lord himself affirms: "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be killed, and the third day rise again from the dead," and: "When you see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Father," and: "When the Son of man comes in the glory of his Father"?
CAP. VII. If anyone says that Christ is saved, and does not confess that he is the Savior of the world and the light of the world, as it is written, let him be anathema. Explanation. How could anyone assert that Christ is himself saved, when the Lord himself says: "I am the life," and: "I have come that they may have life," and: "He who believes in me shall not see death, but shall see eternal life"?
CAP. VIII. If anyone says that Christ is a perfect man separately, and God the Word separately, C and does not confess one and the same Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written, let him be anathema. Explanation. How could one say that Christ is a perfect man separately, and the divine Word separately, when the Lord himself says: "Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard from my Father?" For he did not give a man for us, but gave himself for us, the God Word having become man for our sake. Hence he also says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." But he spoke of the temple of his body.
CAP. IX. If anyone says that Christ is subject to mutation and alteration, and does not confess that he is D immutable in spirit, and incorruptible in the flesh, let him be anathema. Explanation. How could one assert that mutation or variation falls upon Christ, when the Lord himself says: "I am, and I do not change"? And again: "Neither was his soul left in hell, nor did his flesh see corruption"?
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CHAPTER X.
If anyone says that Christ assumed only a part of man, and does not confess that he was assimilated to us in all things, sin excepted, let him be anathema.Explanation.
How can anyone say that Christ assumed only a part of man, when the Lord himself says: "I lay down my soul (for my sheep) that I may take it again"; and: "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed"; and: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life"?CHAPTER XI.
If anyone says that the body of the Lord is inanimate and without mind, and does not confess that he is one and the same, a perfect man in all respects, let him be anathema.Explanation.
How could anyone assert that the body of Christ is devoid of soul or intellect? For agitation, and sorrow, and anguish are neither signs of a flesh lacking a soul, nor of a soul lacking an intellect, nor of immutable divinity, nor of a mere appearance, nor a defect of human weakness; but the Word willed to display in himself the specimen of our passions and infirmities, having assumed a passible nature, as it is written: "He himself bore our infirmities and carried our sorrows." For agitation, and sorrow, and anguish are ailments of the soul; but labor, and sleep, and the wounding of the body are infirmities of the flesh. CCHAPTER XII.
If anyone says that Christ appeared in the world only in opinion and semblance, and does not confess that he has come in the flesh, let him be anathema.Explanation.
How will anyone affirm that Christ appeared in the world only in semblance, having been born in Bethlehem, circumcised, and carried in the arms of Simeon, brought up by his parents until his twelfth year, obedient to them, baptized in the Jordan, fixed to the cross, and raised from the dead?Therefore, when it is said: "He was troubled in spirit," "He was sorrowful in soul," "He was wounded in body," he places before our eyes the affections of our constitution, so as to show that he was born as a man in the world, and lived among men, without sin. For he was born in Bethlehem according to the flesh, in a manner worthy of God, the heavenly angels acknowledging their Lord, and celebrating with the song and melody of hymns the God wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger, and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." He was nurtured in Nazareth. He sat in the midst of the doctors of God and struck them with astonishment by his wisdom, beyond the order and measure of his age, if you look to his body, as is evident from the Gospel. In
A Jordan he was baptized, not that he might receive any sanctification, but that he might bestow a participation in sanctification. In the desert he was tempted, not as one subject to temptation, but as one setting forth our temptations through the provocation of the tempter, that he might show the tempter to be vain. Therefore he says: "Take courage, I have overcome the world." He did not put forth his divine power, but showed his own flesh as a trophy over passion, death, and corruption; so that, through the same flesh by which sin had entered into the world, and by which sin death exercised dominion over all men, through that same flesh sin might be condemned in the flesh after its likeness, and the commander of sin, the tempter, might be overcome, and death might be destroyed, being cast down from its dominion, and corruption might be brought to naught in the burial of the body, and the first-fruits of the resurrection might be openly shown, and the beginning of righteousness might flourish in the world through faith, and the kingdom of heaven might be preached to men, and the communion of God with men might be entered into. B For this grace, let us glorify the Father who gave his only-begotten Son for the life of the world. Let us glorify the Holy Spirit, who works in us and quickens us, and provides the gifts necessary for entering into communion with God. Let us not examine the evangelical oracles with curious disputations, spreading abroad endless questions and fights about words, and making rough the smooth and most direct word of the faith, but rather let us apply ourselves to the task of fulfilling the duty of faith; let us love peace, let us prefer concord, let us guard unity, let us cultivate charity, through which God is pleased. C And just as it is not ours to know the times or the seasons which the Father has placed in his own power; but it behooves us to believe that there will be an end of this time, and an inception of the future age, and a revelation of judgment, and the coming of the Son of God, and a retribution of works, and an inheritance of the kingdom of heaven; so it is not ours to know how the Son of God was made man. For this mystery is great, as the Scripture testifies: "Who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth." But it must be believed that the Son of God was made man according to the D Scriptures, and was seen on earth, and conversed with men as the holy Letters teach, after the likeness, without sin, and that he died for us, and rose again from the dead, as it is written, and was taken up into the heavens, and sat at the right hand of the Father, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead, as the Scripture hands down; lest, while we contend among ourselves with words, some might blaspheme the doctrine of the faith, and that saying might come to pass: "Because of you my name is continually blasphemed among the gentiles."
DISPUTATION ON THE SOUL
OF OUR HOLY FATHER GREGORY, BISHOP OF NEOCAESAREA IN PONTUS, SURNAMED THE THAUMATURGUS, DISPUTATION ON THE SOUL BY HEADS ADDRESSED TO TATIAN
A You have commanded, most excellent Tatian, that I send you a discourse and disputation on the soul, drafted with efficacious arguments or demonstrations, and that in this matter I should use no testimonies from the Scriptures; a method of instruction which, although it is true, and for those who wish to think piously, is more certain and better suited for proving than any human reasoning, you desire that I act in this way, yet not so that you might satisfy yourself—who are indeed already so instructed that you hold fast to the divine Scriptures and traditions and constitutions, and allow yourself to be moved from your position by no human arguments—but rather to convince those who think otherwise, and who refuse to place faith in the divine Scriptures, but by a certain skill in discourse strive to circumvent and deceive men who are unaccustomed to such disputations. Induced by these reasons, I have not sought to evade this treatment as if deterred by some lack of skill, but, trusting in your benevolence toward me, I have more promptly complied with your command and will: for you know, in your kindness and friendship toward me, how to bring into the sight and light of men those things which you judge to be excellent, and how to ignore and conceal those things which seem to have been less correctly stated. Knowing this, therefore, I have boldly set myself to write. I shall use that method of discourse and order which those who profess such matters are accustomed to use, when investigating in a knowledgeable and skillful manner.
B And first of all, I shall set forth by what standard the soul
can naturally be understood; then, by what arguments it is shown to exist; subsequently, whether it happens to be a substance or an accident; after that, in accordance with these, whether it is a body or incorporeal; then, whether it is simple or composite; again, whether it is mortal or immortal; and lastly, whether it is rational or irrational. For these are the things most customarily inquired into in a discourse concerning the soul, as they are most proper to it and capable of characterizing its nature. For the confirmation of those things that are to be examined, we shall use as demonstrations those common notions by which assent is accustomed to be procured for matters being currently handled. For the sake of brevity and utility, we shall use only those reasonings that are most valid for demonstrating those things which are being investigated, so that, instructed by their clear and easily perceived notions and proofs, we may more readily engage our opponents. Hence, therefore, let the beginning of our discourse and disputation be drawn.
By what standard is the soul understood?
I. Whatever things exist are known either by sense or are comprehended by B intellect. Those things which fall under sense are sufficiently demonstrated by sense itself; for as soon as it is applied, it presents to us the image and appearance of the subject. But those things which are comprehended by intellect are perceived not by themselves, but through their own actions and effects. Therefore, since the soul cannot be known by itself, it may deservedly be known from its effects.
Whether the soul exists.
II. When our body is moved, it is moved either from without or from within. That it is not moved from without is clear from the fact that it is moved neither by pushing nor by pulling, unlike things that are inanimate. But when it is moved from within, it is not moved naturally as fire is. For fire, as long as it exists, never ceases from motion; but when the body has become a corpse, it ceases to move, even though it remains a body. Therefore, if it is neither moved from without, like inanimate things, nor naturally, like fire, it is manifest that it is moved by the soul, which also provides life to it. If, therefore, it is established D that life is provided to our body by the soul, the soul is likewise known from its own effects.
Whether the soul is a substance.
III. That the soul is a substance is shown in this way: First, because the definition of substance rightly applies to it, which is of this kind: Substance is that which, while remaining one and the same in number, is capable of receiving contraries. That the soul, without departing from its own nature, receives contraries in turn is, I believe, clear to all. For justice and injustice, courage and cowardice, temperance and intemperance are seen in it in turn, although they are contraries. Wherefore, since it is a property of substance that it is capable of receiving contraries in turn, and it is shown that the soul admits to this definition,
A the soul is therefore a substance. Moreover, since the body also is a substance, it is necessary that the soul too should be a substance; for it is impossible that what receives life should be a substance, while that which imparts life should be non-substantive. Unless, perhaps, someone should be so insane as to affirm that that which has no existence is the cause of that which exists; or, conversely, that that upon which existence depends, and without which it cannot be, is the cause of that in which it resides.
Whether the soul is incorporeal.
IV. That the soul is within our body has been shown above; we must, however, understand how it is in the body. For if it lies beside it as one stone lies beside another, it follows that the soul is a body, and that the whole body is not animated, since it would adhere only to a certain part. But if it is commingled or fused with the body, it would fall away from the proper definition of the soul and consist of many parts, and would not be simple. For whatever has many parts is divisible and dissoluble; B and that which is divisible is composite; and what is composite is divisible in three ways. Now, a body added to a body increases its bulk; but the soul, being in the body, does not increase its bulk, but rather imparts life. Therefore, the soul is not a body, but incorporeal.
Furthermore, if the soul were a body, it would be moved either from without or from within. Now, it is not moved from without: for it is not pushed or drawn, as inanimate things are; nor is it moved from within, as animate things are: for it is absurd to speak of a soul of a soul. Therefore, it will not be a body; it is, then, incorporeal.
And again, if the soul is a body, it possesses sensible qualities and is nourished; but it is not C nourished. And if it is nourished, it is not nourished corporeally as the body is, but incorporeally; for it is nourished by reason and the Word. It does not, therefore, possess sensible qualities; for neither is justice seen by the eyes, nor fortitude, nor any other thing of that kind; and yet these are the qualities of the soul. Therefore, it is not a body; it is, then, incorporeal.
Furthermore, since every corporeal substance is divided into animate and inanimate, let those who affirm that the soul is a body say whether they would have it called animate or inanimate.
Finally, if every body has color, quantity, and shape, and nothing of this kind is observed in the soul, therefore the soul is not a body.
Whether the soul is simple or composite.
V. From the considerations, therefore, by which the soul is shown to be incorporeal, it is also most especially demonstrated to be simple. D For if it is not a body, and every body is composite, and what is composed is made up of parts, then it would also be multi-particulate. But being incorporeal, it is simple, since it is also uncompounded and indivisible.
Whether our soul is immortal.
VI. It seems to me a logical consequence that what is
A simple, also is immortal. And in what manner that is, listen: Nothing of those things that exist is self-corrupting, for otherwise it would not have existed even from the beginning. For things that are corrupted are corrupted by their opposites; wherefore everything that is corrupted is dissoluble; and what is dissoluble is composite; and what is composite is multipartite; and what is composed of parts, it is manifest that it is composed of different parts; and what is different is not the same: therefore, because the soul is simple, and not composed of different parts, being uncompounded and indissoluble, for this reason it will be incorruptible and immortal.
Moreover, whatever is moved by an alien motion, not having the vital faculty from itself but from that which moves it, remains only as long as it is held together by the power operating within it; and when that which operates ceases, that which was moved by it must also cease. Therefore, since the soul is moved by itself, it never ceases to exist. For these things follow one another in such a way that what is moved by itself, always moves; what always moves, never fails; B what never fails, lacks an end; what is devoid of an end, is not corrupted; what is not corrupted, is immortal. Therefore, if the soul is moved by itself, as was demonstrated above, it will be, according to the reason already proposed, incorruptible and immortal.
Furthermore, whatever is not corrupted by its own proper evil cannot be corrupted; but evil is contrary to good, and therefore it has the power to corrupt it. For there is no other evil of the body than passion, disease, and death; just as, on the contrary, its virtue is beauty, life, health, and a firm constitution. If, therefore, the soul is not corrupted by its own evil, and the evil of the soul is cowardice, intemperance, envy, and the like, and yet all these do not take away from it the faculty of living and moving: the soul is therefore immortal.
That our soul is a participant of reason
VII. That our soul is a participant of reason can be shown by many arguments: first, from the fact that it has discovered the arts useful for our life. C For no one would say that they were discovered rashly or by some chance, since he could not demonstrate them to be idle nor useless to life. If, therefore, the arts contribute to the usefulness of life, and what is useful is also praiseworthy; and praiseworthy things are compared by reason; and the arts are the inventions of the soul: our soul is therefore a participant of reason.
Then, from the fact that our senses are not sufficient for apprehending things, it is also demonstrated that our soul is endowed with reason. For we are not able to arrive at the knowledge of existing things by the application of sense alone. But because we do not wish to remain merely in these [sensations], it is immediately evident from this, that when the senses are not assisted by reason, they are too weak to distinguish and discern things which, although equal in D shape and similar in color, are yet different in nature. If, therefore, the senses, being irrational, produce in us a false perception of existing things...