474 ADMONITION.
Joannes Vegelinus of Augsburg published in 1611 at Augsburg, with some Cyrillian and Damascene fragments, the little work which I subjoin, *On the Holy Trinity*, inscribed under the name of John of Damascus, with Greek and Latin annotations added. I have found the beginning of this work attributed in like manner to our Damascene in the manuscript codices Reg. 2909 and Colb. 6044, with the title *On the Holy Trinity*, which I have deemed should be placed before the whole work; because it is primarily about this mystery, although he has inserted a few things here and there concerning the incarnation. There is no doubt in my mind that the genuine author of this work is John of Damascus, or at least that it was excerpted from his genuine books. I have changed Vegelin's translation in a few places, and I have judged that his notes should be published along with it.
OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS JOHN OF DAMASCUS ON THE HOLY TRINITY
A 1. Concerning the Holy Trinity, the consubstantial and life-giving, [one] must confess one nature, one will, one operation, one power and authority and lordship, because there is also one Godhead, [and] three hypostases, that is, three persons, with the propriety of each person being preserved. But in the dispensation of the Incarnation of one of the Holy Trinity, that is, of our Lord Jesus Christ, [one must confess] two natures, [that] of the Godhead and of the humanity, two wills likewise and operations, [and] one hypostasis, that is, one person, because He is one and the same, He who before the ages was begotten without flux and incorporeally, and in the last times was conceived inexpressibly and undefiledly from the holy ever-virgin Mary the Theotokos; the same is B both wholly man and God, known in one hypostasis, impassible in His Godhead, and passible in His assumed nature; who preserved sound after [His] birth, namely, the seals of virginity, that is, the
A marks of virginity. Question: For what reason did the Son become man, and not the Father, nor the Spirit? And what did He accomplish by becoming man? Answer: The Father is Father, and not Son. The Son is Son, and not Father. The Holy Spirit is Spirit, and not Father, nor Son. For a property cannot be changed; for how would it be a property if it were changed or transformed? For this reason the Son of God also becomes Son of man, having been incarnate from the holy Virgin, and did not depart from His filial property. Now the Son of God became man, so that on behalf of that for which He made man, He might again grant him immortality and eternal life for the enjoyment of eternal goods. Amen: be it, be it.
2. The Father and the Son are not two without origin, but are most closely conjoined B without any middle. Mixing produces corruption, and [things] are so mixed, like water and wine. Union is, when a certain conjunction occurs, such that one is not diminished, nor the other corrupted, but remains in that which it is; as the soul and the body. Thus also Christ, God the Word perfect, and man perfect, is united, but not confused. One God, the Father of the living Word, of subsistence-possessing wisdom and power and eternal character, perfect begetter of the perfect, Father of the only-begotten Son, and one Lord, alone from the alone, God from God, character and image of the divinity, active Word, wisdom which contains the whole structure of things, and power that created all creation: true Son of the true Father, invisible of the invisible, and incorruptible of the incorruptible, and immortal of the immortal, and eternal of the eternal. And one Holy Spirit, having its existence from God, and having appeared through the Son, namely to men. Perfection of the Son and life, cause of the living, holy spring, holiness, bestower of sanctification, in whom is manifested God the Father, who is over all and in all; and God the Son, who is through all; a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and kingship, not divided, nor alienated. Neither therefore is anything created, or a servant in the Trinity, nor anything brought in, as C if it were formerly not existing, and later entering in. For He was not unable both to pass through the door, and not to damage its seals. Even if I speak of three hypostases, I say there is one principle; for the Father is the principle of the Son and of the Spirit, not according to time, but according to cause. Therefore neither, D according to cause. This is: Although I say three hypostases, yet I proclaim there is one principle. For the Father is the principle of the Son and Spirit, not by reason of time, but of cause. Which he [says]. Nevertheless, the Son Himself is also a principle, not only of creatures, but also with respect to the Holy Spirit. Whence Cyril, book VIII on John, chap. XXIV, upon the words: "The principle, who even speak to you," writes: That the Son of God Himself is also called a principle, the present place of the Gospel most clearly testifies: yet do not on that account contend that there are two principles, the Father and the Son, but a unique principle, just as both the Father is God, and the Son is God; yet not two gods, but one is God.
A For neither did the Son ever fail the Father, nor the Spirit the Son; but the same Trinity is always immutable and unalterable. For thus we believe the blessed, life-giving, and indivisible holy Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, one image; three characters, one impression; three hypostases, one deity; three properties, one essence; three energies, one grace; three existences, one equality; three forms of knowledge, one glory; three names, one confession; three confessions, one faith. God is an eternal and invariable substance, which created existing things. God is the supreme and inaccessible light, which can neither be comprehended by the mind nor explained in speech.
3. Question. In how many ways is God [spoken of]? Answer. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit; B the blessed nature, the goodness free from envy; the beauty beloved by all who have partaken of reason and deeply desired; the beginning of beings, the fountain of life, the inaccessible wisdom, the immutable nature, the life free from molestation, the conversation unknown to sorrows, concerning which there is no alteration, which change does not touch, the gushing fountain, the abundant grace, the exhaustless treasure.
4. We confess our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word of the Father, light from light, true God from true God, C to have been incarnate and to have become man from the Holy Spirit and from the holy, glorious Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary. We confess the same to be perfect God and perfect man, one and the same Son, both before the incarnation and after the incarnation: of the same essence as the Father according to his deity, and in all things like unto us, and of the same essence as us according to his humanity, becoming man without sin; begotten of the Father before the ages according to his deity, but in the last days the same [begotten] for us and for our salvation from the holy D Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, one and the same Son recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division. For two natures came together with one another throughout an indivisible, unconfused, and unchanged union. For the flesh is flesh and is not deity, even if it has become the flesh of God; in like manner also the Word is God and is not flesh, even if he made the flesh one through the economy. We say, therefore, that there are two natures, but one Christ and Son and Lord, the Word of God who became man and took on flesh. For he did not
diminish his own glory A, the Lord, by taking on flesh. For before he took on flesh and humbled himself, only the angels knew him; but after he humbled himself, the whole nature of men came to know him. You see how humiliation did not work a diminution, but rather caused his glory to shine forth more. If, however, any of the inquisitive asks whether the Godhead was on the cross or was not, he makes it such that it is not in everything, and circumscribed in one place; but we say that God is uncircumscribed and incomprehensible.
5. Question. Whence is the word *Theos* (God) etymologized? Answer. From *theō*, which is to compose and make, as he is the maker of all and the cause of the composition of all things; or from *theō*, which is to run, forGod is present everywhere. Or *Theos*, from *theasthai* (to behold); for God beheld all things before they came to be. *Kyrios* (Lord) is from *kyros*, which signifies authority. Question. What is union? Answer. That which consists according to hypostasis, and is a thing existing B out of diverse natures. Question. Is the divine nature communicative, or is it receptive? Answer. Communicative. Question. What is synaloepha? Answer. Confusion. Question. By what names is the Father honored, and for what reason is he called Father? Answer. One Father, the holy God, and Almighty, without beginning, eternal, immortal, unlooked-upon, inexplicable, unending, without successor, unmoved, unsearchable, who is not corrupted by gifts. He is called Father because he preserves all things. Question. By what names is the Son honored, and in what respect is he called Son? Answer. One Son, the holy Word, ineffable offspring, unutterable Word, invisible mind, light of life, sun of righteousness, shepherd, door, way, lamb. He is called Son because he is from the Father. Question. By what names is the Holy Spirit honored, and in what respect is he called Spirit? Answer. One Holy Spirit, lordly, life-giving, philanthropic, consubstantial, existent, hypostatic, firm, swift, untroubled, sanctifying power, consubstantial with the Father C and Son. For it is the breath of the upper powers of God; it is called *Pneuma* (Spirit) because it is inclined to lean and blow wherever it wills. Question. What is Jesus Christ? Answer. The Lord who became man without sin. Question. What is Christ? Answer. A symbol of the Godhead and of ensouled flesh, an immutable union. D
C But Christ is so called because he used flesh like ours. Question. What is "holy"? Answer. The one who makes holy and is made holy. Question. What is "the Word"? Answer. The Word is substantial, always present with the Spirit. Question. In what hypostasis do you worship the Son of God? Answer. In the hypostasis of the Word of God, one incarnate nature and one being worshiped, one adoration; for from two having come together, the person being worshiped is one. There are two essences, two energies, two wills, two powers of self-determination; and in five ways the hypostasis exists: hypostasis, and person, and character, and property, and individual.
ADMONITION
I do not think it worth the effort to prove to many people that the letter to Jordan, the Archimandrite, *On the Trisagion Hymn*, which has already appeared in multiple editions, was written by John of Damascus; since no one among the critics has attempted to snatch it from him thus far, but rather they themselves assert that the marks of facts, times, sentiments, and locutions, which are met with everywhere in it, are most certain. The author discusses that hymn, which is most celebrated among the Orientals, "Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy on us" (*Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, ἅγιος ἰσχυρός, ἅγιος ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς*); and having brought forward not a few authorities of the doctors of the Church, he contends that any chant in which God is addressed as thrice holy—whether it be the Seraphic one, taken from the sixth chapter of Isaiah, or the ecclesiastical one—must be understood as referring to the whole Trinity, and not to the Son or Christ alone. Wherefore you would find no other monument in which the reasons are more clearly explained for which the addition by which Peter the Fuller, tyrant of the Church of Antioch, had compromised this sacred ode—having inserted the phrase "who wast crucified for us" (*ὁ σταυρωθεὶς δἰ ἡμᾶς*)—was so hateful to Catholics.
They would argue that this Trisagion is not older than Proclus of Constantinople if the letters to the Fuller, which are marked with the names of Pope Felix III, Acacius, Quintianus, Justinus, and other bishops, were only known to be genuine. For it is reported in the same way that under Theodosius the Younger and Proclus, Bishop of Constantinople, when the Byzantine citizens were holding supplications to God in the city suburbs on account of an earthquake, a boy was snatched up into the air and learned that song from the angels, which the people then sang. But those letters seemed adulterated to the renowned Valesius and others, because although the most learned man Antonius Pagius, following William Cave, attempts to refute this at the year 483 of Baronius, yet at the year 478 he had admitted that both letters to the Fuller, as well as another to Zeno, which bear the name of Felix, ought rather to be ascribed to Simplicius: because Felix, long before he had learned that the Fuller had burst into the See of Antioch for the third time, had deprived Acacius of communion and of the episcopal rank; who, nevertheless, in these letters is commended as the legitimate and most God-beloved (*θεοφιλέστατος*) pastor and patriarch of the royal city. Indeed, in the year 484, the anathema was pronounced against Acacius, and in the following year, 485, Peter, after casting out Calendion the Catholic, recovered the See of Antioch. But in the letter which is said to be of Bishop Quintianus, it is reported that not Simplicius, but Felix wrote letters to Peter. "With many bishops warning you," he says...