SAINT ATHANASIUS BOOK ON THE TRINITY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. To those who profess that the Son of God is a creature, we shall provide no answer regarding the Holy Spirit. For just as they have dared to say that the Son, who was begotten impassibly from the substance of God, is a creature, so too do they say similar things about the Holy Spirit. However, to those who are about to repent, yet for the time being hold correct sentiments regarding the Son, we shall reply concerning the Holy Spirit. For it is to be hoped that those who have once begun to turn from irreligion to religion will continue to progress toward the perfection of gain. It is certainly from the divine Scriptures, and not from human reasonings, that this must be settled. We are therefore eager to provide a rationale of this kind. Tell us, you remarkable people, where have you read in an authoritative source that the Holy Spirit is a creature? We have heard, they say, John in the Gospel saying: "All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made." To which we say: If, therefore, you have heard A David in the one hundred and seventeenth psalm saying in the Holy Spirit to God: "For all things serve thee," will you therefore say that the Holy Spirit is also a servant? He is not a servant, but free, and he has liberated the creature, and has advanced it to God for the adoption as sons. Or have you not heard Paul writing to the Romans: "You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba, Father. The Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God." And again: "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death." But if the Holy Spirit is not a servant, as the Scriptures have proven, because all things serve Him—since all things were made through the Son, and without Him nothing was made—for he was one of those who heard the Savior saying: "For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you." As also Peter, writing, says: "Which now have been declared to you, by them that have preached the gospel to you, the Holy Spirit being sent down from heaven." Therefore, if the Holy Spirit is the one who says: "All things were made by the Son, and without him was nothing made," it would have behooved Him, had He been created, to say: "All things were made by him, and I was made by him, and without him was nothing made," just as is the custom of the Saints. Thus Paul certainly writes most observantly of himself and all the saints: "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom B are all things, and we by him." But since the Holy Spirit is not of the universe, but is the Spirit of the Trinity, He said that all things which are after the Trinity were created through the Son of God.
2. Moreover, the most blessed Paul is a witness to me in the Holy Spirit, in that he prophesied what was written in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Because in him the Son were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and in him, and he is before all things." He did not say: or the Holy Spirit. And the Psalmist David in the hundred and forty-seventh psalm, again in the Holy Spirit commanding every creature to praise the Lord, says: "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise ye him in the high places. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, O sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens: and let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord," etc. He deemed it unworthy to enumerate the Holy Spirit among these, and to say: Let the Holy Spirit praise Him; because He is of those who are to be praised, and not of those who praise, as we shall prove a little later in the Scriptures; and He is of those who give life, and not of those who are to be given life, since He is Life, as Paul says in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: "But our sufficiency is from God, who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth." And to the Romans: "And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, because of sin, but the spirit liveth, because of justification." And again: "And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Also the three holy martyrs, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, placed in the furnace of fire in the land of the Chaldeans, when God had miraculously turned the heat of the fire into a temperate coolness, exhorting every creature to praise God with them, begin thus: "Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. Bless the Lord, O ye heavens: sing a hymn to him, and exalt him above all for ever. Bless the Lord, O ye angels: sing a hymn to him, and exalt him above all for ever. Bless the Lord, O ye waters that are above the heavens: sing a hymn to him, and D
exalt him above all for ever. Bless the Lord, O all ye forces of the Lord: sing a hymn to him, and exalt him above all for ever. A Bless the Lord, O ye sun and moon: sing a hymn to him, and exalt him above all for ever. And in the subsequent passages, inciting themselves to this: Bless the Lord, O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael: praise and exalt him above all for ever. And exhorting all creation to bless the Lord with them, they do not say: "Let the Holy Spirit also bless the Lord"; but both the seraphim of Isaiah were seen standing and praising, and the cherubim of Ezekiel [(24)] beneath the glory of the God of Israel.
3. If therefore the saints faithfully, when they did not enumerate the Holy Spirit with those things which were made through the Son, professed him everywhere by the authority of the divine Scriptures with the Father and the Son: why do these men fear to detract from the Father and the Son, and audaciously enumerate [the Spirit] with the created universe? But Paul, they say, [writes] to the Churches of God: *Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ* 84: yet he does not say, "and from the Holy Spirit." And writing to the Thessalonians, he says: *And may God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you* 85. Not saying "and the Holy Spirit," he manifestly does not announce him with the Father and the Son, but with the created universe. For even the servant of God, Moses, says: *The Lord rained from the Lord from heaven sulfur and fire* 86: he does not mention the Holy Spirit. From whom also Paul, when he had learned, writes to Timothy about Onesiphorus: *May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord in that day* 87. Moreover, it is written in Exodus: *But the Lord said to Moses: How long will you not listen to my commandments, and consider my laws? The Lord did not give you this Sabbath day.* C *Therefore he gave you bread for two days* 88. And here, when he had made mention of the Father and the Son, he was silent concerning the Holy Spirit. Finally, the prophet Zechariah also says: *And the Lord said to the devil: May the Lord rebuke thee, O devil* 89. Where is the Holy Spirit even here, and in this man's [reckoning]? Yet who will not be moved by the instruction of the sacrament, as the Lord confesses: *This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ* 90, when he had said nothing about the Spirit? But Paul, when he had learned the sacrament of the faith, handed it on, writing thus: *To us however there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we in him: and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him* 91.
4. Therefore, wherever the divine Scriptures, mentioning the Father and the Son, do not also commemorate the Holy Spirit, to these we say: If therefore you hear Moses saying: *Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve* 92; or if you hear God in Isaiah saying: *I am God, and there is no savior beside me* 93; or if you hear him saying again: *Ye are my witnesses, if there be a God beside me* 94, then the Son is no longer God, according to you. And again: *I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God*. Furthermore: *Thou hast not known me, because I am the Lord God, and there is no other beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none other* 95. But if you also hear [the word] through Joel, saying: *And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God, and there is none other beside me* 96; and if, when you hear [these] and other such innumerable professions of the divine Scriptures, you did not previously agree that they were spoken concerning the Father and the Son, will you now say that they are contrary? Or are these not the words of the Scriptures, but do the divine Scriptures contend against themselves, according to you? Far be it! But even though the saints speak singularly with the mention of one name, that is, of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit, yet they know that in one name they are proclaiming the Trinity, which we shall prove presently. For just as these professions do not exclude the Son from the unity of the Father, but rather contain the Holy Spirit as enumerated with the Father and the Son, as we have shown in the holy Scriptures: so neither do the Scriptures, when they name the Father and the Son, enumerate the Spirit as a creature with the universe. Otherwise, just as you say and show that the Scriptures speak of the Father and the Son, thinking that the Holy Spirit is not enumerated with the Father and the Son, what will you do if you hear the Scriptures making mention of God and the Spirit? For the prophet Haggai says: *Therefore I am with you, saith the Lord almighty, and my Spirit abides in the midst of you* 97. Consider, therefore, where you place the Son: for behold, the Almighty and the Spirit are signified. Or if you hear Isaiah saying: *Woe, ye deserting children, thus saith the Lord: Ye took counsel, but not from me; and made a pact, but not through my Spirit, to add sin upon sin* 98. And again: *They met each other, and saw their faces, they passed by in number, and one of them perished. Another did not seek the other, because the Lord commanded them, and his Spirit gathered them* 99. Hearing these things, then, where do you seek the Son?
5. Or if you hear the prophet Zechariah saying: *Where are your fathers and the prophets? saith the Lord. Shall they live for ever? But yet, receive my words and my laws, which I command in my Spirit to my servants the prophets, who apprehended your fathers* 1. Or if you hear David saying to God: *Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy face?* 2 What will you think regarding the Son? Thus also the apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says: *Know you not that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?*
A You will surely admit, then, that the Father and the Spirit are counted together; but will you place the Son among those things that are through the Spirit? For Isaiah said: *Thus says the Lord: You have taken counsel, but not by me; and made covenants, but not by my Spirit.* By no means, then, nor let this, O religious men, ever enter your mind; but as you said that Paul wrote: *Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ*; and you think he made no mention of the Spirit; so hear him again writing to the Corinthians in the second Epistle: *The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.* And just as he said here, “charity of God,” so also to the Romans: *I beseech you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the charity of the Spirit, that you help me in your prayers for me to God.* And when Paul had asserted the communion of the Spirit with you, John says: *Our communion indeed is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.* But the apostle Paul says: *God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the communion of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.* In the first Epistle to the Corinthians also, it is necessary to hear Paul again preaching the Trinity; for he says: *Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who works all in all.* But when he had said that God works all in all, and had professed the gifts that are given through the Spirit, he added: *But all these things one and the same Spirit works, dividing to everyone according as he wills.* Teaching that the operation of God belongs to the Holy Spirit, did Paul cease from the Trinity? Did he subtract the Spirit from God and the Son? And just as he wrote to the Thessalonians: *May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly,* so also to the Corinthians in the first Epistle: *But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.* Do you consider that the Holy Spirit is everywhere in the Scriptures counted together with the Father and the Son?
6. The Son is clearly preaching himself and the Father and the Holy Spirit in the prophet Isaiah; for he says thus: *Hear me, Jacob, and Israel, whom I call: I am the first, and I am forever: my hand has founded the earth, my right hand has founded heaven; I will call them all, and they shall stand together, and they shall all be gathered, and they shall hear. Who has announced these things to you? Loving you, I have done your will in Babylon, that I may take away the seed of the Chaldeans. I have spoken, I have called, I brought him, and made his way prosperous. Draw near to me, and hear these things; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, when they were done, and now the Lord has sent me, and his Spirit.* And again: B *I am he who blots out all your iniquities, say you your iniquities, that you may be justified. Your fathers before you, and their princes acted wickedly against me, and the princes defiled my holy things: and I gave Jacob to destruction, and Israel, whom I chose, for I will give water in thirst, for they have traveled in dry ground: I will put my Spirit upon your seed, and my blessings upon your children.* And Isaiah himself, preaching the Trinity, says: *Behold the name of the Lord comes from far, burning with anger, with the glory of his lips, the word full of anger, and the anger of fury, as fire, and my Spirit as water drawing shall come even to the neck.* Hear also Zechariah preaching the Trinity; for he says: *Thus says the Lord Almighty: Judge just judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother; and the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor do not oppress by power, and let not everyone be mindful of the malice of his brother in your hearts. And they refused to turn, but gave their back at a loss, and made their ears heavy, that they might not hear my law, and my words, which the Lord Almighty sent in his Spirit, by the hands of the former prophets.* But the Angel of the Lord said to Zechariah: *This is the word of the Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not with great power, nor by force, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.*
7. Let us hear Micah also preaching the Trinity; and he himself says: *Thus shall the Lord say to the prophets, who seduce my people, and bite with their teeth, who preach peace upon him, and there is no peace given in their mouth, and they have stirred up war against him. Therefore night shall be to you from vision, and darkness to you shall be from divination: and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the dark day shall fall upon them, and they shall be confounded, because they see dreams, and the diviners shall be derided, and all these shall speak against them, because there is no one who will hear them, except me: in full power and in the Spirit of the Lord, with judgment and power, announcing to Jacob his iniquities, and to Israel his sins.* Hear, therefore, the saints fittingly preaching the Trinity, and never counting the Holy Spirit with the universe, which was made through the Son, but confessing him with the Father and the Son. But if that saying of the Savior, as they claim, moved them: *This D is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and whom you have sent Jesus Christ,* and not because he did not bear witness to the Holy Spirit, they will be satisfied when they hear him speaking also about the Spirit: *If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, nor knows him: but you shall know him, because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you.* Let them therefore note that the apostles indeed know both the Spirit and the Son.
A And the Father; but the world is miserable, because they have not known the Father, nor me. And again: The Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him. The Lord, however, significantly said that the Holy Spirit is another paraclete, since he himself is a paraclete, as John says in his Epistle: These things I have written to you, that you may not sin: but if we have sinned, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he is the propitiation for our sins: so that we might be taught the equality of the Spirit with the Son. Why, then, does the Lord not frighten them, who, delivering the sacrament of faith to the apostles, says: Going therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? Moreover, that great and blessed confession of faith, or rather the very faith of the saints, and the testament which we have established with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, when coming to the sacred laver of regeneration, we confessed thus: I believe in God the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son, and in the Holy Spirit. And although the Lord said: Believe in God, and believe in me, and did not say: Believe in the Holy Spirit; nevertheless, the apostles taught the Churches of the world to believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
8. Therefore, let them say: What is the salvation of those who believe in the Father and in the Son, and do not believe in the Holy Spirit? But far be it from anyone to say this! For neither do they believe in God B who do not believe in the Holy Spirit; inasmuch as Paul, having found certain disciples and asked if they had received the Holy Spirit upon believing, and they responding that they had not so much as heard whether there was a Holy Spirit, said: In whom then were you baptized? proving that those who are not baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit are not baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son either. Thus, clearly, we recognize the Holy Spirit as creator. Otherwise, if he were not creator, and we were created without him from the beginning, how is it that we are not regenerated in regeneration without him? Or if perchance the laver of regeneration restores us to that antiquity which had been before the transgression of Adam, or if our regeneration is of the lesser creature Adam: since you say that we were created without the Holy Spirit, how then was he assumed here without cause into our regeneration? Truly to say this is irreligious. Or is man greater and more cautious, as if he were created without him and had fallen, and therefore the Spirit was assumed in our regeneration for a more certain protection? But to even allow this into the mind of anyone is highly impious. Let them say, therefore, how the Spirit is assumed for our regeneration, if he did not create us from the beginning—if indeed he did not create; you will say, perhaps, so that he may sanctify those approaching the laver of regeneration. For the Holy Spirit is one who sanctifies the saints, yet he is not the Creator. For all things are created from God through the Son C and through the Father, according to Paul, who says: But to us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. For he said nothing here regarding the Holy Spirit. To whom we say: Was the creature created holy by the Son, or not holy? And indeed, it is illicit to say that it was created not holy by the Lord. But if the Son created it holy, now sanctifying it in the Spirit, the sanctification which is given to it through the Spirit would be superfluous, and very weak and vain; just as, when the sun at the middle course of the day illuminates the world which is under heaven, the splendor of a lamp is superfluous, weak, and vain. But since, they say, the creature did not deserve to be sanctified through the Son, God therefore introduced the ministry of the Spirit, that it might be sanctified through him. Therefore, it deserved to be created through the Son, but did not deserve to be sanctified? For what is greater, to be created, or to be sanctified? Weigh it, therefore, in the balance of your mind, seeing that even thus you might be able to consider that you yourselves even unwillingly confess the dignity of the Spirit. Therefore, the creature deserved to be created through the Son, but to be sanctified through the Spirit, because the Son created it not at all unworthy of his sanctification.
9. But, they say, it behooved the creature to be sanctified first, so that it might thus deserve to receive the sanctification of the Son and of the Father. To whom we say: Then do you say that the Son created [it] not holy? Far from it! For neither does the Spirit sanctify without the Son, nor the Son without the Spirit or the Father, just as you yourselves have said, and it is true what Paul writes to the Thessalonians: But may God himself, and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ sanctify you in perfection; and to the Corinthians indeed in the first Epistle: But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. Do you see the unity of sanctification, how the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies the creature? If, therefore, a holy creation was created, but without the Holy Spirit it is not sanctified, it is necessary for all to confess that the Holy Spirit is creator. Otherwise, if you do not wish to confess this, what indeed are you about to do, saying that the creation was not created holy, and then was sanctified through the Spirit? But you fear the stigma of irreligion; yet, while by all means confessing the holy condition of the creature, but not sanctified without the Spirit, you confess the Spirit also to be creator, if you know that the Word of God is his Son. Hear in Psalm xxxii the one saying: By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth; and teaching us that it is not without the Holy Spirit—whom the Word, from his own body, breathed into the face of the apostles, saying: Receive the Holy Spirit—that the creature was created; for the Word, being incorporeal, had no mouth, nor did his Father. Otherwise, if we were created from the beginning without the Holy Spirit, how through him...
A is the resurrection of the dead brought about? Paul, however, says to the Romans: "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you, he will give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." David, too, singing to God regarding the creature, says: "You take away their spirit, and they faint, and they return to their dust. You send forth your Spirit, and they are created, and you renew the face of the earth." It is incongrous that the creature should be created one way from the beginning, and another way at the end. Therefore, even if you are unwilling, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who is sent by God, is preached by the saints as Creator: "You will send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth." Thus, what the Father and the Son are said to have done in Scripture, the Holy Spirit will also be found to have done. For God says in Jeremiah that he led this Israel in the desert to my people, "and you did not say, 'Where is the Lord who brought us out of the land of Egypt, who led us in the desert?'" And Isaiah, who must be heard, also says that the Holy Spirit led Israel in the desert, saying: "He led them through the abyss, as a horse through the desert; and they did not labor, just as beasts in the field, the Spirit came down from the Lord and led them." The law of the Lord is also called the law of the Spirit.
10. And of each of the saints, it is also said in the XXXVI Psalm: "The law of his God is in his heart." Concerning himself, Paul says: "I became to those who are under the law, as though under the law—not that I am outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ—that I might win those who are without the law." And again he writes to the Romans: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death." So that the unity of the Trinity might be found in truth in the holy Scriptures: for what is of God, and of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, we shall find in them, so that when the Lord says to the Jews: "Render therefore what is Caesar’s to Caesar, and what is God’s to God," Paul also writes to the Philippians: "For all seek what is their own, not what is of Jesus Christ"; and to the Corinthians: "The natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him." And if indeed the men of God are our fathers, by the name of God; Christians truly are disciples, by the name of Christ; and spiritual ones are called by the name of the Holy Spirit. For the widow in Sarepta of Sidonia must be heard saying to Elijah the Tishbite: "What is between me and you, O man of God?" And again: "Now I know that you are a man of God." That woman, the Shunammite, says of Elisha to her husband: "Behold, a holy man of God passes by us." The Scripture of the Kingdoms also says: "And a man of God came from Judah and prophesied over the altar at Bethel." Moreover, the title of the eighty-ninth Psalm: "A Prayer of Moses the man of God." Luke however says in the Acts of the Apostles: "And it happened that for a whole year they gathered in the Church, and were called in the Church first as disciples, Christians." And Paul writes to the Corinthians: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren; you know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to dumb idols, however you were led: therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, 'Anathema to Jesus,' and no one can say the Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit." And again: "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned: but the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he might instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." And the Apostle has professed that the mind of Jesus Christ is substantially the Holy Spirit: "Who knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God?" Just as our own spirit knows our own things. B Indeed, Paul himself writes to the Corinthians: "But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God: but we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is from God." And again: "For I think that I also have the Spirit of God." Paul says he was called by God, writing to the Galatians: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles." And he says the Romans were called by Christ, writing: "Among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ." And the Holy Spirit said that Paul and Barnabas were called by Him, so that they might announce Christ to the C Gentiles. And it is clearly wonderful, when the Savior said to Paul in the temple: "Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles"; and Paul wrote to the Galatians: "Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead." Yet the Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas, approved, to preach Jesus Christ to the Gentiles; for Scripture says thus: "Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers, among whom were Barnabas, and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen also, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they served the Lord and fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away, and having been sent by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus." D And thus, the preaching to the Gentiles by Paul is set forth.
11. And truly, when the prophets speak as a person of the Father, as David says in the Psalms: "I have sworn once by my holy one: If I lie to David, his seed shall remain forever, and his throne as the sun before
A me." As Peter also says: "David, being a prophet, knew that God had sworn to him an oath, that of the fruit of his loins one should sit according to the flesh upon his throne." When, however, He speaks as a person of the Son, as Isaiah says: "Thus saith the Lord: Because of you my name is always blasphemed among the Gentiles; therefore my people shall know my name in that day, for I myself who was speaking am here." When, however, He speaks as a person of the Holy Spirit, as when the prophet Agabus says: "Thus saith the Holy Spirit: This man, whose this girdle is, the Jews shall bind in Jerusalem, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." But Paul writes to Timothy: "The Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons," etc. Indeed, there are times when the Father, and when the Son, and when the Holy Spirit speaks. Thus, the Father says by Himself concerning the Savior: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The Son, indeed, before He lived among men, spoke to each of the saints individually, and after He ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit also said to the disciples: "Separate for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." And indeed the prophet Ezekiel, crying out against the ancient people, says: "And you grieved me in all these things, saith the Lord." But Paul writes to the new people: "Do not grieve the Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." And David nonetheless says against the Jews: "And they provoked the Lord in the desert." Isaiah indeed says of the same: "But they acted contemptuously, and provoked His Holy Spirit." And writing to the Corinthians, Paul says: "Or do you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me?" And again: "A woman is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband has died, she is freed, she may marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord. But she will be more blessed if she remains thus, according to my judgment; for I think that I also have the Spirit of God." And to the Romans he says: "I speak the truth in Christ Jesus, I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit." And in Isaiah the Lord says: "I have begotten and exalted children, but they have despised me." In the Gospel, however: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, because the Lord is the Spirit." And again: "The Spirit blows where He wills, and you hear His voice, and you do not know from where He comes, and where He goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Does he therefore, by comparing these things to the beginning of the Gospel, diminish the dignity of the Holy Spirit? In the beginning, indeed, of the Gospel, John speaks concerning the Savior and those who have believed: "As many as received Him, He gave them power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, A nor of the will of man, but of God."
12. Explaining the generation of the faithful afterward, the Lord, instructing Nicodemus that those who believe in Him—that is, those who receive Him—must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, saying: "Do not marvel because I said, you must be born again. The Spirit blows where He wills, and you hear His voice, and you do not know from where He comes, and where He goes. So is everyone who is born of the Holy Spirit." And recalling earlier: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." If, therefore, those who are generated by heavenly regeneration, being regenerated by the Holy Spirit, are generated from God, why should we not believe something great and divine and worthy of the Trinity concerning the Spirit, as much as is within human possibility? What, indeed, shall we think when we hear Paul writing to the Corinthians concerning the Spirit: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a great price. Glorify and carry God in your bodies." Are such things said properly of any of the creatures, and would they write such things of the Spirit as of God if He were a creature? What, indeed, shall we do when we hear Peter saying to Ananias: "Why has Satan tempted your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, so that you might subtract from the price of the land? You have not lied to men, but to God." They will perhaps say: "Those who lie to the Spirit of God are like those who offer a contumely to a minister and dishonor the king." To whom we say: Therefore, those who lied to the apostle, did they not lie to God? Or those who receive the apostles, do they not receive God? As the Lord says to the apostles: "He who receives you, receives me; and he who receives me, receives Him who sent me." It behooved Peter, therefore, recalling: "Why has Satan tempted your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to the Holy Spirit, but to God," or to say: "Why has Satan tempted you to lie to us? You have not lied to men, but to God," so that the following reason might hold. Since God has handed down to His saints both to know and to profess [this], just as when a king was sought from the children of Israel, the great Samuel being C cast aside: and though he was grieving, God said to him: "They have not spurned you, but me." And Peter did not use those words; but when Ananias and Sapphira his wife thought to deceive men, Peter, one of those who was thought to be deceived, said: "Why has Satan tempted you to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God." So indeed, to Sapphira also, as she entered, he said immediately: "Why has it agreed between you to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" And the holy scriptures teach us that the faithful should live to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, just as Paul D
writes to the Romans: "For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that he lives, he lives to God." And again: "That those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again." And again, reprimanding the Galatians, he writes: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." And when Paul said: "To us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." And what is greater than all creation, that is the body of the Lord, is believed to be from the Holy Spirit, just as the evangelist Matthew handed down: "Now the birth of Christ was as follows: When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.'" And although the wisdom of Solomon, in the Proverbs, says of the body of the Savior: "Wisdom has built her house," and here confesses the only-begotten creator of his own body, yet the angel said that it is from the Holy Spirit, and thus every Christian, when he is instructed, believes. For Scripture does not disagree regarding the Trinity, teaching that one and the same operation of it occurs everywhere. Finally, Mary, who was to bear God, having heard Gabriel saying: "Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus," etc.; and when she asked: "How will this be, since I do not know a man?" she is immediately instructed by him saying: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God." If the power of the Highest is the Only-Begotten according to Paul, who says: "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God," but the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, and by these overshadowing [powers] the Lord's temple was created for Mary, who was to bear God—yet the angel said it was created by the Holy Spirit—are we not taught that there is one operation of the Trinity?
D 15. But all the faithful were said by the Lord to be from the Holy Spirit, professing to Nicodemus: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The Spirit blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Since, therefore, we have heard of one God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him, and we possess what is greater than all creation and more glorious, which is the body of the Lord, as well as all the saints, as being sanctified by the Spirit: why are we not directed by the Scriptures to know the same regarding the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? But if this seems grave or impious to the impious, then let them believe in the Holy Spirit just as they believe in the Father and the Son, and just as they are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son, let them be baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit. And just as they are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son, let them not fail to be baptized also in the name of the Holy Spirit. And let us see if they even believe in God or are baptized, who think in this way, or do not see in the holy Scriptures the unity of the Trinity. For the most blessed Paul wrote to the Ephesians: "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, having girded your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Behold the whole armor and the helmet of the Son: for He himself is the Savior, as the prophet Isaiah said: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of our God." But does the sword of the Holy Spirit cease from the Trinity? Does it not teach the Trinity? What then does anyone say about the Holy Spirit? When he hears the Scriptures proclaim such professions about Him, and the saints praying to the Lord: "O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath." And the Lord in the Psalm: "I will rebuke you, and set your sins before your face." And the Savior saying about the Holy Spirit: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." And just as in Isaiah we heard of the conversation of the Only-Begotten among men: "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked." We see Him, therefore, conversing among men, and we have beheld the Spirit of God, that is, the Holy Spirit, and the seven spirits being called to rest upon Him, but we expect to see [this] in His second coming. Thus, therefore, hearing about the Holy Spirit, we consider: for He Himself is the Son of God, who said: "And when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will bring to your remembrance all things," and: "He will convict this world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." For the Lord will not come in the flesh without the Holy Spirit, but establishing with His divinity the One who fills the universality of all things, while He is the anointing upon His own flesh. Thus, indeed, we have heard David singing, and say-
- A ing: Where shall I go from Thy Spirit, and where shall I flee from Thy face? Or does He not utter these professions as one looking upon the Spirit as judge? For every work of God, and of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, is peculiar to Him. Or have we not heard Him in the ninety-fourth Psalm saying concerning God: Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, during the day of temptation in the desert, where your fathers tempted me; and regarding Himself: They proved me and saw my works: for forty years I was near to this generation, and I said, they always err in their heart. And they did not know my ways, as I swore in my anger, if they shall enter into my rest?
14. But if they say that the Lord is not the Spirit, who says: Therefore I was angry with that generation, and everything mentioned before: let them hear Paul writing to the Hebrews about the things said in the ninety-fourth Psalm: Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, etc. Let them come to the prophet Isaiah, and hear him saying: Neither a messenger, nor an angel, but He Himself shall save them all the days of the age. But they acted stubbornly, and provoked the Holy Spirit, and He turned into an enemy to them. Let them also listen to Stephen, the first-fruits of the martyrs, rebuking the princes of the Jews for the benefits which God bestowed upon their fathers in the desert for forty years, and for the things which they did irreligiously by the making of the calf, and by worshipping idols, and for all these things which they wickedly plotted, and saying to them: Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did. Whom of the prophets did your fathers not persecute, and kill? Proclaiming concerning the coming of the Just One, of whom you are the betrayers and murderers, who received the law by the ordinance of angels. Who then would not admire the divinity of the Holy Spirit, when such things are said of Him? Who would not venerate the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, when he sees Him convicting this world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment; when he sees Him raising the dead and giving life, and doing what the Father and the Son do? In the Gospel it is written: As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He will. Paul says to the Romans: If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you: He who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies, through His Spirit that dwells in you. And in the psalm: You will take away their spirit, and they shall fail, and return to their dust. You will send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You will renew the face of the earth. B And who does not confess Him to be the Paraclete Creator, who is sent, and creates bodies dissolved from the age, and turned back to their own dust, and renews the face of the earth? According to this, which is written in the prophet Isaiah: But there shall be a new heaven, and a new earth: without whom neither the Father nor the Son works in creation, as we have shown before from these scriptures. And again Paul writes to the Romans: I have therefore confidence in Christ toward God, but I do not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, and in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit: that Christ performed signs and wonders through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But to the Ephesians: For this cause I bow my knees to the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named, that He may grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts.
15. And Paul, indeed, writes of these things separately regarding the Father and the Son, as we have frequently mentioned to the Thessalonians, saying: And may God Himself and our Father sanctify you wholly: he does not say "sanctify you" in the plural, but "sanctify" in the singular. But when he speaks to the Corinthians concerning the Son and the Spirit: But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. And concerning the Father and the Spirit: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man violates the temple of God, God will destroy him: for the temple of God is holy, which you are. C But David also says concerning the Father and the Spirit: Where shall I go from Thy Spirit? and from Thy face where shall I flee? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there: and he did not say "you," although he had spoken of the Spirit and the Father. For where God is, there also is the Son and the Spirit shown to be, and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit God is worshipped. For when the Samaritan woman still thought carnally about God, and supposed that God was worshipped in a place, and said: Lord, I perceive that You are a Prophet: our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where it is fitting to worship. But the Lord excluding that He is worshipped in a place, said: Woman, believe Me, that the hour will come, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father: but the hour will come, when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth: for the Father seeks such worshippers: it is fitting to adore God in Spirit and truth. But if in Spirit and truth, therefore God is adored in the Son: for the Son is the truth, who said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life, why should the Spirit not be worshipped by us with the Father? For
it is unacceptable that, while worshipping the corporal God, we do not adore Him in the Spirit and in the Son: otherwise, if one adores God in the Spirit, the Spirit is co-adored, since they hear in Christ that the Father is glorified in the Church; what [then] will they assert that they themselves are doing? For Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says: To Him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we ask or understand, to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever, amen. A And again Paul says: Because through Christ the Amen is spoken to the Father for glory; through us, glorifying the Father through the Son, and in the Son the Father, we are certainly glorifying [Him] along with the Son. For thus, worshipping God in the Spirit and in the Son—that is, worshipping through the Spirit and through the Son—we co-adore God the Son and the Spirit. Finally, Paul writes: That in the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father. But if they, who bow their knees in the name of Jesus Christ, glorify the Son with the Father, why will they who adore the Father and the Son in the Spirit not adore Him with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? If, therefore, we have heard Moses saying: You shall adore the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve, we know that the Son and the Spirit are proclaimed along with God.
16. And lest we appear to speak of things not written, the adoration of the heavenly hosts must be demonstrated to them, and, as we have learned in the holy Scriptures, perhaps having become imitators of them, they may thus learn to venerate and adore. Whom do they wish the seraphim to be praising, adoring, and glorifying in the vision that Isaiah saw in the temple; the Father, or the Son? For peradventure they will stop their ears if they hear, or the Holy Spirit? For Isaiah says: And it came to pass in the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne high and elevated, and the house was full of His majesty, and the seraphim stood round about Him, each had six wings, and each had six wings, and with two they covered His face, and with two they covered His feet, and with two they did fly, and they cried to one another, and said: Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth, all the earth is full of His glory. And the threshold was elevated from the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke, and I said: Woe is me, for I am struck with compunction: for because I am a man, and have unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips, I saw the King, the Lord of Sabaoth, with my eyes. And there was sent to me one from the seraphim, and he had in his hand a coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and touched my mouth and said to me: Behold it has touched thy lips, and he says: Behold it takes away thy iniquities, and shall cleanse thy sin. D And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who shall go to this people? And I said: Behold I, send me. And He said to me: Go to this people, and say to it: Hearing you shall hear, and not understand, and seeing you shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and they have shut their eyes, lest perhaps they might see with their eyes and believe, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. And I said: How long, O Lord? Let them bring forward whom they wish this to be: for they will perhaps say the Son. In the Gospel according to John it is written: And therefore they could not believe in Jesus, because Isaiah the prophet said: He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things, therefore, Isaiah said when he had seen His glory, and spoke of Him. And what will they do about Paul, who says that the Holy Spirit was seen by Isaiah in that glory, and spoke to him when He had sent him to say the things mentioned above to the people? For it is written thus in the Acts of the Apostles: But when the Jews were coming together to one another, they were dismissed, Paul saying one word: Well did the Holy Spirit speak to our fathers by the prophet Isaiah, saying: Go to this people, and say to it: Hearing you shall hear, and not understand, and seeing you shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and have shut their eyes, lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Behold, John says it is the Son, but Paul says it is the Holy Spirit, who was seen by Isaiah, sitting upon a throne high and elevated, who is adored, and praised, and glorified by the seraphim. But all the Churches of Christ from the east even unto the west fittingly profess that the Father is being praised by the seraphim in the account of their ministries. Let them, therefore, tell us, who deny veneration to the Holy Spirit, which of these speaks the truth, or who is mistaken? Is it John, or is it Paul? Or rather, all the Churches of Christ? Since indeed all the Churches profess that it is the Father who is adored by the seraphim, John [professes] the Son, but Paul the Holy Spirit. If, however, none of them is mistaken, but all speak the truth, it is manifestly proven that the name of the Father alone is spoken. Yet He possesses the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit according to the proclamation; or if the Spirit holds the Father and the Son, if they who adore thus are venerated, let them imitate the veneration of the heavenly beings, and not follow their own thoughts. Otherwise, what will they do when they hear the Savior saying to the disciples: Going therefore teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? Since Scripture has not named the Trinity, but the union in baptism. For it is written thus in the Acts of the Apostles.
A regarding those who believed in Samaria, and were baptized by Philip, they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
17. Regarding the men who were at Ephesus and were baptized by Paul: When they heard, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For Peter, addressing the Jews, says: "Repent," he says, "and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." When they heard and approved his words, they were baptized, and there were added on that day about three thousand souls. Have they become transgressors of the Savior's command? And did they baptize such a great multitude contrary to the tradition of the Savior? For it is not written that they baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, but only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they are not transgressors: far from it! For even if the name of the Son is spoken alone, it nevertheless holds the Father and the Spirit pronounced with it [or *in it*], as we shall prove in the Holy Scriptures. And so the Holy Spirit is also called Lord of Sabaoth, and is worshipped with the Father and with the Son by the Seraphim. For this reason they say these three times "Holy, Holy, Holy," so that they might proclaim the Trinity. Whence even Paul does not deny that the Spirit is called Lord, saying to the Corinthians: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And to the Romans he says: "For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me from the law of sin and death." How then did you dare to call the Holy Spirit a servant, who has liberated the creature? For if he says: "All things were made through him," show that the Holy Spirit was created. Certainly, that which is written in the 118th Psalm, "Because all things serve thee," shows that the Holy Spirit is a servant. But neither does that which is said, "All things were made through the Son," designate the Holy Spirit: for he himself is the one who spoke; nor does that which says, "All things serve thee," show him to be a servant. Otherwise, how should Paul be heard, saying: "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry, Abba, Father"? Thus, the Holy Spirit is shown to be neither a servant nor a creature. But you bring into disrepute, as being flesh and as being a servant, him who not only is not free, but bestows freedom upon the creature, just as we proved above. And again Paul writes: "There are divisions of gifts, but the same Spirit, dividing to each one as he wills." And Jesus says: "The Spirit blows where he wills." But he who does what he wills is not a servant, but is free. And what kind of death will those deserve who profess that the Lord of the heavenly host is a servant? For Lord of hosts is interpreted as Lord of Sabaoth, and he certainly would not bestow freedom upon the creature unless he were the Lord of creation: B by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you. Yet the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, even remaining in his own life and substance, since he himself is life. Otherwise, what are you going to do, hearing Solomon in the Song of Songs saying: "Thy name is oil poured out, therefore have the maidens loved thee"? Isaiah truly says: "And the Lord of Sabaoth will make for the nations: in this mountain they shall drink in joy, and they shall drink wine, they shall be anointed with ointment, they shall hand over all these things to the nations." Did not the prophet call the Holy Spirit, by whom we are anointed, an ointment? Whom David also calls the oil of gladness in Psalm 44, in the human life of the Savior: "Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Which Peter also taking up, says: "Jesus Christ, who is from Nazareth, God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power." Since the Holy Spirit is therefore called both oil and ointment, it is the name of God and of the Son, remaining in personal life and substance, since he is himself, as we said above, according to the prophet, "thy name is oil poured out." But it is manifest that the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly upon those who believed from the nations, as Paul writes: "And since we have anointing and a seal"; and again the same Paul writes in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: "Now he who confirms us with you in Christ, and who anointed us is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts"; and again to the Ephesians he says: "In whom you also believed, are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance"; the saints prepare us to understand greatly concerning the Holy Spirit. For David says: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup." And Moses writes: "There shall be no portion nor inheritance for the Levites in the land, the Lord himself is their portion." And Jeremiah cries out: "Because he who formed all things is the inheritance of this Jacob, the Lord is his name." 18. And he said that the Holy Spirit: "In whom," he says, "you believed, are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance," teaching that we are to inherit and not that we are to be inherited, considering the professions of the saints. For Isaiah says to those who did not have the Holy Spirit, and on that account were ignorant of the inheritance for the saints after the departure of this life, instructing them patiently and saying: "There is an inheritance for those who worship God, and you shall be righteous, says the Lord: You who thirst, go to the water." Calling the Holy Spirit water, as we shall show later: since he is the earnest of the inheritance of the saints: this Holy Spirit, even David, when he had the seal of the inheritance. But indeed those who do not believe the inherit-
inheritance A to be towards the saints, say that after the exit of this life they are miserable. But acting confidently regarding himself and those like him: "Many say: who shows us good things? The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is sealed upon us." By saying "sealing" he meant the seal which he professed to be the light of the Lord's countenance. Therefore, they should believe Paul who says that those who believe are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise; and [they should believe] this David, who had the same spirit of faith, when he sang: "I believed, therefore I have spoken." Let them know that he says the countenance of the Lord is also the seal, which he received, that is the Holy Spirit, so much so that knowing the Son of God to be the light of God, he sang to God in the thirty-fifth Psalm, saying: "In thy light we shall see light," that is, in thy Son we shall see the Holy Spirit. Likewise, Isaiah knows how to call Him who sanctifies not only light, but also fire, saying: "And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and it shall sanctify him with a burning fire." B And behold, in the light, which is fire, God sanctifies this Israel, and our God is a consuming fire, as Moses says: "Our God is a consuming fire." But Paul also says: "That the oblation of the Gentiles may be acceptable, being sanctified in the Holy Spirit." And not otherwise are the Gentiles, and otherwise Israel, sanctified by God, than by the Holy Spirit existing as light and fire. Furthermore, the wisdom of Solomon says in Proverbs: "The lamp of the Lord is the breath of men, which searches the inner chambers of the belly." And it is manifest that the Spirit searches all things, as Paul writes, and that from the beginning when Adam was formed, God breathed the Holy Spirit into his face, as Moses says: "And God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Nor is that which was breathed by the Lord a soul, according to the fables of the Jews; otherwise, how does God condemn to eternal fire that which was breathed by Him? But it is the life-giving Spirit, of whom Paul also says: "But the Spirit giveth life." And: "God breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Thus the Holy Spirit is the spirit of life, from whom some departing, being alive, have died, as Paul writes: "For she that liveth in pleasure is dead." Otherwise, how is Solomon to be heard, saying: "The lamp of the Lord is the breath of men, which searches the inner chambers of the belly," if you say that the light of God is the souls of men, unless you have confessed that the Holy Spirit is the light of God? But believe that the breath is the light of God, as Moses says: "God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life." And the Son of God says: "I am the life." But the wisdom of Solomon also says, introducing the Savior: "Behold, I will bring forth to you the profession of my aspiration": for thus it says in Proverbs: "Wisdom is sung in the outlet, but in the streets she acts confidently: in the gates of the mighty she takes her stand." C In the walls of the city also he says confidently: "How long will the prudent hold to that which is not foolish, and will they blush? But the imprudent, being covetous, were made impious and hated understanding, and became liable to reproofs. Behold, I will bring forth to you the profession of my aspiration, I will teach you my word." And Isaiah, preaching the promise of the Holy Spirit, says thus: "Thus saith the Lord, who made the heaven and fixed it, who established the earth, and the things that are in it: who giveth breath to the people that is upon it, and spirit to those who tread upon it." Tell me, who is the people that has received the breath? Do you also say here that the breath is the soul? Or will you concede that the people existed upon the earth without a soul? But it is not so, for the prophet, preaching the profession of the Holy Spirit, says these things. Finally, Luke wrote the complete profession upon the faithful who were there at that time: "And when the days of Pentecost were completed, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent Spirit being carried, filling the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they began to speak with different tongues, as the Holy Spirit was giving them to speak."
19. In a similar way, that great one said to his friends, when they were deprived of the Holy Spirit, and said nothing true, nor supposed that they were speaking before God: "Do you not speak before God?" And again: "To whom have you announced words? But whose is the breath that proceeds from you?" From which one, speaking great things, said: "It is the Spirit that intercedes for mortals, yet it is the breath of the omnipotence, which teaches me." But the omnipotent Son of God, of whom Zechariah says: "Therefore thus saith the Lord omnipotent. After the glory he hath sent me upon the nations." Therefore, with Solomon saying: "The lamp of the Lord is the breath of men"; and instructed by Moses: "The Lord breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul"; and truly hearing the Savior saying: "I am the life"; and Paul writing: "For the law of the spirit of life"; and again: "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts"; and seeing also the Only-begotten breathing into the face of the apostles and saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit," let us be taught that the breath D is the Spirit, and let us not think that he is either begotten or created by the Son, nor by any means believe that the Only-begotten Son is the Spirit, and that the Lord is the Word of the Son, but the Word, being begotten by God, remains in his own life and substance, since the Son of God is life. But the Spirit is not begotten by him for this reason, because he is not his Word. But to call the Spirit a creature, far be it! Nevertheless, that he is the breath of the Son of God, [we learn] from the holy Scrip-
Scriptures, and are taught that both the Spirit and the Son of God are a fountain, hearing the Son: "Because this people hath done two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewed them out broken cisterns, that can hold no water." A Living water is the Holy Spirit, as John taught, while the Savior was saying to the Samaritan woman: "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water"; and again: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." And in the middle of the temple he cries: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." And he interpreted it thus: "But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive." So also Isaiah says that the Lord said: "For I will give water in thirst to them that walked in the drought, and I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessings upon thy children; and it shall spring up as among the grass, as the willow along the flowing waters." Therefore, as the holy Scriptures plainly testify, we have recognized that the living water is the Holy Spirit.
The Lord said that he himself is the fountain of the Spirit thus: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water." So also David sings in the thirty-fifth Psalm, saying to the Lord: "For with thee is the fountain of life." Therefore, show me another fountain of life besides the Lord, which is with him: for he did not say, "thou art the fountain of life," but "with thee is the fountain of life." B There is, indeed, with God, and there is the Son, who is the existing fountain of the Spirit, of whom Paul writes to the Romans: "The Spirit of life because of righteousness." Thus he says that he is not alien, but proper to the Father. For when he had professed: "For with thee is the fountain of life," he added: "In thy light shall we see light," that is, in thy Son we shall see the Spirit. Moreover, the Spirit is also called by the name of the power of God, and is shown to be both power and wisdom. For we have heard the Savior in the Gospel promising to his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit, saying: "Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high." In the Acts of the Apostles, the same Lord says: "But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you." C We find that this also was fulfilled when the day of Pentecost was fully come. Either, then, confess that the Holy Spirit is the power of God, or, like Sabellius, proclaim that the Paraclete—since he is the power of God—is the same as the Son of God, and listen to Paul saying: "The Spirit of life because of righteousness."
We are instructed that the Son is again the fountain of the Spirit. Listen to one crying against the Jews: "Because they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord." Another says: "The Spirit of wisdom," knowing that the Holy Spirit is according to Isaiah indeed, who says: "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding." And according to Paul, who attributes [it]: "I cease not to give thanks to God for you, that he may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation." He said above that the Spirit is the fountain, saying thus: "Ye have forsaken the fountain of wisdom." That he here called the Spirit wisdom is manifest from the things he says. For when the people were in the land of the Chaldeans, and were living among the Chaldeans, he sought with tears for those who did not have the Holy Spirit, but indeed lived carnally in sin, but were dying to righteousness, and were deprived of the Holy Spirit, saying: "What is Israel? Why art thou in the land of thine enemies, and hast grown old in a strange land, art defiled with the dead, art counted with them that are in hell, thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom. D If thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou shouldst have dwelt in peace for ever." For let them consider the way which the children of Israel forsook, to be God, who says: "I am the way," and the fountain of life to be called in the prophet, which the Jews forsook, defiling themselves with the Babylonians, who were dead to righteousness; for they did not have with them the Paraclete Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who is life and makes alive: the living are dead.
20. And Paul writes of such: "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." And Solomon cries: "He that liveth in pleasure from his youth shall be a servant, but in the end he shall grieve in himself." For they who act in the pleasures of sin do not hear Paul writing: "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." But since they are children of sin, they are dead to righteousness. But they who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Well therefore did Moses observe so as to say: "And the Lord breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul." For they who do not have the Holy Spirit, the living are dead. Whence also to Israel, having forsaken the Lord, who is the life-giving fountain of life, he says: "Ye have forsaken the fountain of wisdom; if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou shouldst have dwelt in peace for ever." Hearing therefore the Lord saying: "I am the way," and being taught also from the holy Scriptures that God is the fountain of the Spirit, who says: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water," let us by no means think the Holy Spirit a creature, but that he is of the same
nature as the Father and the Son, as we again prove from the Scriptures, just as we taught above from the Prophet Isaiah. The great evangelist John writes in the Apocalypse, saying: "And he showed me a river of living water, bright as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing through the middle of the street." He spoke, however, of the heavenly Jerusalem, of which it is written in the Psalms: "The impetus of the river makes glad the city of God." But if they should say, "What then of the fact that it is written 'water'?" let them listen. By the throne of God and of the Lamb there is living water of life; and when some become capable of its waters, they are called rivers, and the Holy Spirit is said to be fulfilled in each one of them individually, just as the Son of God is said to be fulfilled in each, according to Paul who writes: "His fullness, who fills all in all." And indeed, when those who are filled with this living water are called rivers, it is as David says in the ninetieth Psalm: "The rivers have lifted up, O Lord, their voice, from the voice of many waters." But there is a time when the word of doctrine, and each operation of the Spirit, are called rivers, according to the Lord who says: "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Therefore he did not say, "Water has been filled," for the water of the Spirit is life, and the river of God was filled with waters. And the Lord says: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water." Therefore, with God and the Lamb, he is of the same throne, the life of life, that is, the Holy Spirit, just as John said along with Isaiah, and not a servant nor a minister, as you say.
If they still persist, saying the Holy Spirit is a creature, and bring forward what is written in the prophet Amos: "Prepare thyself, call upon thy God, O Israel, for I am he who confirms the thunder, and creates the spirit, and announces to men his Christ," let them hear that the Son of God did not say this concerning the Holy Spirit, but concerning the spirit of the wind that follows the thunder. For the thunder does not precede the Holy Spirit, but it precedes the spirit of the wind, which the Lord said he creates after the thunder. Even let them say if he created the thunder before the Holy Spirit. But if it is impious to say this, let those be utterly expelled who say that the Holy Spirit is a creature, since Scripture has not been silent even about the first creation which was created by the Son of God: for so says the one who speaks to Job: "But behold, the beasts with thee eat hay like oxen, and his vigor is in his loins, and his strength in the navel of his belly. He sets his tail like a cypress; his nerves are woven together like cables, his sides like sides of bronze, and his back," etc. This testimony of the handiwork of the Lord was made to mock the angels. Therefore the devil is D written to be the first creation made to be mocked by the angels, for thus it is written: "The beginning of the handiwork of the Lord, made to be mocked by the angels." We, however, have learned from the holy Scriptures that the Spirit is the *sensum Christi* (mind of Christ), just as Paul wrote: "But we have the mind of Christ," teaching spiritually with spiritual things. For the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot know, because he is judged spiritually; but the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." Therefore, this Holy Spirit, since he is the mind of the Lord, existing in the proper substance of life, as we have frequently learned, knows all things which are of God, just as our own spirit knows what is ours. B And Paul says: "But God has revealed to us through his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." For who among men knows what belongs to man, except the spirit of man that is in him? So also, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God: and we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things that have been freely given to us by God, which we also speak, not in the words of human wisdom; but taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, etc.
He also taught that this Holy Spirit is the finger of God, according to Matthew who says: "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." But according to Luke: "If, however, I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you; therefore I say to you that every blasphemy will be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven them. And whoever says a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever says it against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come." By this Holy Spirit, since he is the finger of God, the stone tablets were written, which were given to Moses, written by the finger of God, as Moses himself explained. Otherwise, if they say that the Holy Spirit is not the finger of God, they will profess that stone tablets are more glorious than the hearts of the saints, upon which the epistle of Christ is written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in stone tablets, but in fleshly tablets of the heart. We believe this Holy Spirit to be also the light of the countenance of God, according to David in the fourth Psalm, who says: "The light of thy countenance, O Lord, has been signed upon us." And in the thirty-fifth Psalm: "In thy light shall we see light." And according to Solomon writing in Proverbs: "The lamp of the Lord is the inspiration of men, who searches the inner parts of the belly." And Isaiah saying: "And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and shall sanctify him with a burning fire." The divine Scriptures have taught that this inspiration is of the Son of God, according to Solomon indeed saying: "The lamp of the Lord is the inspiration of men"; according to Moses: "And God breathed the breath of life, and man became a living soul," and just as Adam was subsequently created...