and it is understood that the Son is from the Father alone according to the ante-mundane generation; so too, while all say that the Spirit is the emission of the Father, it is understood that the Spirit is from the Father alone, according to the ante-mundane emission. If the Son is from the Father alone A, then the Holy Spirit is also from the Father alone.
But regarding the later profusion, that is, the dispensation and the gift given to those who are worthy, just as the Spirit is from the Father, so is He also through the Son and from the Son. Just as we hold that the later generation of the Son, namely His advent to us, is not from the Father alone, but also from the Holy Spirit. And let the voice of the archangel to Joseph, the husband of Mary, persuade you, saying: "Do not fear to take Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."
If you wish to learn that some of our great saints have also declared that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, take then the great sun of our Church, or rather, it is better to say, of the whole world, Cyril, as a witness to this matter; for in his work *On the Trinity*, he states it thus clearly B: "The most holy," he says, "and venerable Trinity, which is before all ages and is for ever, is incorrupt, eternal, incorporeal, incomprehensible, and circumscribed by nothing, but is that which encompasses all things and contains the universe: good, providential, the creator of all things, visible and invisible, impassible, unalterable, immutable, and incomprehensible to the minds of men and angels and to any created nature; consubstantial in itself, and incommunicable regarding its substance to any creature whatsoever; known only by itself, and by no nature that exists in this world or above this world: a monad in three subsistences, or persons, and a Trinity in the unity of the Godhead, or of one single essence known. Of this holy and venerable monad, three C adorable subsistences are known and believed in: in the Father who is without beginning, without cause, unbegotten, and sempiternal; in the Son, the Only-begotten, born ineffably, impassibly, and unspeakably before all ages, from the very substance of the Father, and therefore consubstantial and equal to the Father, except for the property of paternity, having the Father as the principle and cause in the manner of generation; and in the Holy and life-giving Spirit, who is worshipped, proceeding from the Father, that is, from the substance of the Father. He is not begotten as the Son is, lest there be two Sons in the Trinity; but proceeding, as has been said, from the Father alone, and from [His] mouth; yet He has manifested Himself through the Son, and has spoken in the holy prophets and apostles. Moreover, as I have said, He shares in the substance of the Father and the Son, and has consubstantiality with the Father and the Son. He D is also incommunicable, just as the Father and the Son are, to every creature, according to the principle of essence."
2. You see how the Holy Spirit is from the Father alone according to holy Cyril; or rather, according to all divine Scripture. And let no one [object] to me...
A with those frigid words or little reasonings, saying that the renowned Athanasius and Cyril, and besides them Gregory of Nyssa, are the causes of the addition. For Athanasius speaks thus: "The Spirit is from the Father," the opponents say, "and proceeds from the Word, who is from the Father." And the Nyssen, after he had said that the Son is proximately from the First, that is, from the Father, goes on to say: "The Spirit is through Him who is proximately from the First." And the most wise Cyril clearly said, he claims, that the Holy Spirit is from both, the Father and the Son. These are the problems of the fabricators of that rotten addition.
I, however, though unlearned, B "taking every thought captive into the obedience of Christ," explain those passages in this way. In that sense Athanasius says that the Spirit is from the Father, and proceeds from the Word who is from the Father, just as He is also from the co-eternal Father Himself; just as the Son is likewise sent, and is given by the Spirit to the faithful, just as He is also from the Father Himself. Take the testimony from the Word and Son Himself, saying: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me. He hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor." Therefore, the Holy Spirit anointed and sent the Son; but the Father is also sent by both, namely by the Son and the Spirit.
By what reason this is done, hear the Father speaking thus through the prophet Isaiah: "Hearken to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I call: I am God the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. My hand also hath founded the earth, and my Spirit hath established the heavens. I have given orders to all their host. And now the Lord hath sent me." C The Father, therefore, is He who says in this place: "He hath sent me." Do you see the equality of the three persons of the most high Godhead? When the Holy Spirit is sent by the two, He is sent as consubstantial with the Father and the Son. When, however, the Son is [sent/proceeds] from the Father, He is [sent] as consubstantial also with the Spirit. When, however, the Father is [spoken of as being] from the Son and the Spirit, it is as [being] consubstantial.
When the great Athanasius said, therefore, "the Spirit proceeding from the Father," he declared whence the Spirit has His subsistence, namely from the Father alone. When, however, he said again, "So is the Spirit from the Father, as He is from the Son who is from the Father;" he demonstrated the equality of the Father and the Son, that in this matter he might confound the most impious Arius, who says that the Son is a creature and not God: D as if he were addressing him with these words: "O most impious Arius, thus the Spirit who proceeds from the Father shines forth and is given to the faithful by the Son whom you blaspheme, according to His operation and gift, just as [He is given] from the very sempiternal Father Himself."
That this is the case, see, I pray, what that Father, who received his name from immortality, writes to the bishop Serapion. For he speaks the same things, and philosophizes about the same matters in these words: "Just as the Son is the only-begotten offspring of the Father, so also is the Spirit given by the Son,"
A and sent, and it too is one and not many, nor one out of many, but only the Spirit itself. For since the Son, the living Word, is one, there must be one perfect and full sanctifying and illuminating life, which is his operation and gift, which is said to proceed from the Father, because it shines forth from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father, and is sent and given. Just as the Son, he says, is the only-begotten offspring of the Father, so also the Spirit is the production of the same Father, one and not many, and clearly not having its existence from many. But as the Spirit is only one and a production, so also it is from only one, and from one—the Father. For since the Son, the living Word, is one, as from one Father, there must be one perfect and full sanctifying and illuminating life, which is the Holy Spirit, which works its own gift and divides to each one separately as he wills. Which gift is for this reason said to proceed from the Father, that is, to be poured out and to be sent, because it shines forth from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father, and is sent and given. Having first philosophized B about the pre-eternal procession of the Spirit obscurely, having proven it to be only a production, as from one progenitor, namely the Father, he demonstrates to us quite clearly in what follows its temporal outpouring as existing from both, Father and Son. And what the words signify there: 'So the Spirit is from the Father, as from the Word who is from the Father,' this is what it means here also: 'Which is said to proceed from the Father, because it shines forth from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father, and is sent and given.'"
3. In the same way, Gregory of Nyssa also says that the Spirit is through him who is specifically from the First; clearly conjunctly and together with the Son, and not following the Son in existence. But when he said that the Son is specifically from the First, do not think that the Spirit himself is not also specifically from the First. For just as the Son is specifically and most proximately from the First, that is, from the Father, so also the Spirit is specifically C from the First, according to his pre-eternal existence. But the Father is First, not in time, nor in order—heaven forbid!—but inasmuch as He is the cause of the Son and of the Spirit, just as He is also greater and without beginning, as without cause, as the root and fountain of those things which emanate from Him. For just as He alone is without beginning with respect to the Spirit and the Son, so also is He alone the cause of them. But the Spirit, with respect to the Father, is not without beginning, nor without cause, just as the Son himself is not with respect to His beginning in time. Not only the Spirit, but also the Son is without beginning, just as the Father. The Father is the first and only cause of the Son and of the Spirit. But do not search for a second, you who are orthodox, nor even a third; so that, by wickedly dividing the same and one substance, D you may be condemned as a heretic. The Father, then, is first, inasmuch as He is greater,
with a base intent, so that you may be condemned as a heretic. The Father, therefore, is first in that he is greater; he is greater in that he is without origin; and he is without origin in that he is the origin of the consubstantial hypostases. The Spirit, and the Son, are directly from the greater, that is, from the Father. For the Son is truly and properly from the Father, and so is the Spirit. It is not that the one is before and the other after; but the generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit shine forth together, and B the Spirit is sent and given through the Son, as the blessed Athanasius says, just as the Son is given through the Spirit, as it has been said. In the same way, the statement of the blessed Cyril, I mean that which says "from both," must be understood according to that same meaning: the Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, shines forth, is sent, and is given from both, from the Father and the Son. And after a few words: "I have learned of two generations regarding the Word, as I said above: one from the Father and beyond time, and one from the Virgin and in time. Likewise, I have been taught of two effusions regarding the Spirit: one which is causative and beyond time, and one which distributes grace. But of the first generation of the Son, and the first procession of the Spirit, the Father is the sole cause. But of the other generation which occurred in time, and of the other effusion by which gifts are distributed, not the Father alone, but the Son and the Holy Spirit are the cause. Therefore, the Spirit flows forth from both, from the Father and the Son, for the distribution: not according to existence, God forbid! Otherwise, two causes would be erroneously introduced, which would far excel that one who exists of the same nature and equal honor."
ADMONITION CONCERNING THE SYNTAGMA DOCTRINAE
This little work was brought to light a few years ago by that most illustrious man, Andreas Arnold of Nuremberg, in the year 1685. In his preface, he strives to attribute it to Athanasius with many arguments. "The *Syntagma Doctrinae* of St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria," he says, "intended for monks, clergy, and laity, is published from a very beautiful parchment manuscript of the Vossian collection, five or six hundred years old, which contains besides this the *Lausiac History* of Palladius along with several other older books. The words written by the hand of that illustrious man, 'It is not in the published works of Athanasius,' excited my desire to transcribe it. For I did not want to undervalue anything that belonged to such a great teacher of the Church, and which might redound to some profit of mine." Afterward, by letter, I informed the patron of my intention to publish Athanasius, to which he gave this response: "The *De Vita Monastica* of St. Athanasius is truly worthy to be published, and is far superior to that rule which Lupus collected from the works of Jerome. Since the ancients attribute this writing to Athanasius, I do not see well why you doubt the author. Windsor, 11 July, 1681." From which a great argument for both its truth and its dignity was born to me. I shall proceed in my undertaking, where I shall give thanks to such a great man for his services to me. For more than five months, his library, which far surpasses many others in rarity and utility, was not only open to me, but I was permitted to consult that oracle of learning every day. The ancients would endure the longest journeys for the sake of consulting an oracle even once; blessed were they with brief responses: who would doubt that he who lived in the temple of the Muses with Apollo was in a better position? At other times the Pythian voice looked toward something else; sometimes they eluded the lot of the oracle. Some would sleep in the temples so that by a dream they might see the shapes of things or hear a voice; for me, then, the most joyful days of my life shone forth, with all speech being true and clear. I ought to render the thanks you deserve, illustrious Vossius, and such as I can, I do render. For I could say nothing sufficiently magnificent about your virtue. Since you have deserved so much from me, kind reader, piety has commanded me to show myself grateful; now, to the *Syntagma*...