On the Holy Spirit

OF OUR HOLY FATHER BASIL, ARCHBISHOP OF CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA, ON THE HOLY SPIRIT: TO AMPHILOCHIUS, BISHOP OF ICONIUM

CAPUT I. A Preface in which it is shown that investigations into the most minute parts of theology are necessary.

^A 1. I have praised your zeal for learning; and I am delighted beyond measure with that attention and vigilance that shines forth in that sentiment of yours, by which you judge that no expression—of all those that are uttered in every usage of speech concerning God—should be left without examination, O dear head, and to me the most precious of all, brother Amphilochius. For having rightly heard this admonition of the Lord, that "Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds" (Luc. xi, 10), you seem to me to be able, by your diligence in asking, to rouse even the most slothful to share their knowledge. ^B Moreover, I admire this in you all the more: that you do not propose questions for the sake of tempting, as most people do now, but in order to find out what the truth itself is. For there is an abundance of those who, with curious ears, catch at our words, and who

^A frame their questions like the snares of hunters or the ambushes of foes, concealing the craft and artifice of their intentions. They propose these problems, not that they may gain any benefit from them, but so that, if they do not find the answers to be in accordance with their own desires, they may appear to have a just cause for war.

2. But if ^B wisdom is imputed to the one who asks questions, 65 how much should we esteem the prudent listener, whom the prophet 66 has joined with the wonderful counselor? It is surely right that we should embrace him with every approval, and encourage his progress, putting our own hand to his study, and laboring with him in all things toward perfection. For not to listen to theological words in a superficial way, but to attempt to search out the meaning hidden in every word and in every syllable, is not the trait of those who are sluggish in piety, but of those who understand the goal of our calling: for it is set before us to become like God, so far as is possible for human nature. But likeness is not attained without knowledge, and knowledge is not attained without instruction. The beginning of instruction is speech, and the parts of speech are syllables and words. Thus, the examination of syllables ^C is by no means wide of the mark. Nor should such questions be considered worthy of being discarded just because they seem small to some; but because truth is hard to hunt down, it must be searched out by us from every side. For if, even as it is with the arts, the acquisition of piety grows by small additions, nothing should be despised by those who are being introduced to knowledge; just as one who slights the first elements as being small, will never reach the perfection of wisdom. "Yes" and "No" are only two syllables, ^D yet the best of all goods, truth, and the extreme limit of wickedness, lying, are often contained within these small words. And why do I say these things? Already it has been judged that even one who merely nods his head in agreement during the testimonies for Christ has fulfilled the entirety of piety 27. If these things are so, what is there among theological terms so small that, whether it is stated rightly or otherwise, it does not provide a great shift in either direction? For if not one iota or one serif shall pass away from the law, how can it be safe for us to pass over even the most minute things? These are indeed what you yourself have asked to be clarified by us, and are brief

^A in their utterance, and for that reason perhaps held in contempt, but in the power of what they signify they are great, according to the image of the mustard seed, which, being the most minute of garden seeds, when it is deemed worthy of the proper care, rises to a sufficient height, the power sown within it having been spread out. But if anyone laughs, seeing our examination of syllables—to use the words of the Psalm—as mere chatter, let him know that he is reaping the unfruitful harvest of his own laughter; but we, neither yielding to the reproaches of men nor being defeated by their disparagement, shall not abandon the inquiry. For I am so far from being ashamed of these things as if they were minor, that if I could attain even the least part of their worth, I would congratulate myself as having been deemed worthy of great things, and I would say that no small gain had accrued from this to the brother who is investigating ^B these things with us. Seeing therefore the great struggle in these minute words, in hope of the rewards I do not shrink from the labor: believing the discourse will be useful to me, and will bring a sufficiently great fruit to those who hear. Wherefore I shall now proceed to the explanation with the holy Spirit himself—for it must be said. And if you wish for me to be guided into the path of the argument, I shall turn back a little to the origin of this question.

3. Recently, while I was praying with the people and fulfilling the glorification to God ^C and Father in both ways, sometimes with the Son together with the holy Spirit, and at other times through the Son in the holy Spirit, some of those who were present found fault, saying that we were using expressions that were strange and new, and even contradictory to one another. You, however, looking primarily to their own benefit, or if they are altogether incurable, at least for the security of those who encounter them, have requested that some clear teaching be set forth concerning the power in these syllables. We must, therefore, briefly state, as far as possible, while providing a generally accepted foundation for the argument. ^D

CHAPTER II. Whence the heretics' observation of syllables arose.

4. The meticulousness of these men concerning syllables and terms is not, as some might think, a simple matter, nor one that contributes to a minor evil, but it possesses a deep and shadowed design against piety. For they strive to demonstrate that the utterance of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is dissimilar, as if they would easily obtain from this a proof of a variation in nature. For they have an ancient sophism, invented by Aetius, the leader of this heresy, who wrote somewhere in his letters that things which are dissimilar in nature are uttered dissimilarly, and conversely, that things which are uttered dissimilarly are dissimilar in nature. And to provide testimony for this statement, he dragged in the Apostle, who says: "One God and Father, from whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things" (1 Cor. VIII, 6). Therefore, he says, just as the words stand in relation to one another, so do the natures signified by them; but "through whom" is dissimilar to "from whom"; therefore, the Son is also dissimilar to the Father. ^A From this malady, then, the prating of these men about prepositions depends. Hence, to God the Father they assign "from whom" as if it were a certain choice inheritance; to the Son and God, they have assigned "through whom"; and to the Holy Spirit, "in whom"; and they say that this usage of syllables is never exchanged, so that, as I said, along with the difference in pronunciation, the difference in nature may also be revealed. But they have not escaped notice in their subtlety concerning these terms, in that they preserve the strength of their impious doctrine. For by "from whom," they wish to signify the Creator; by "through whom," the minister or the instrument; and by "in whom," they signify either time or place; ^B so that the Creator of all things might be understood as being no more honorable than an instrument, and that the Holy Spirit might appear to contribute nothing more to the things that exist than a contribution of place or time.

Chapter III. That the technical treatment of syllables arises from extra-scriptural philosophy.

^A5. Furthermore, they induce them into this error by observing the writers from without, who attributed the terms "from which" and "through which" to things separated by nature. For those men think that "from which" indicates the matter, whereas "through which" indicates the instrument or, in general, the ministry. But rather—for what prevents us from taking up their entire argument, and briefly refuting both what is disconnected from the truth and what is inconsistent among these men themselves?—those who have devoted their efforts to empty philosophy, explaining the nature of cause in many ways and dividing this into its own significations, say that some causes are primary, others are cooperating or co-causes, and others hold the position of those without which the result cannot be. ^B Indeed, they assign a specific pronunciation to each of these, so that the Creator is signified in one way and an instrument in another. For they think that "by whom" is appropriate to the Creator—for they say it is properly said that the stool was made *by* the carpenter—but that "through which" is appropriate to the instrument; for they say it was made *through* an axe, a drill, and the rest. Similarly, those men set "from which" as proper to matter; for from wood is the product. And "according to which" signifies the conception or the object lying before the artisan as a model. For either having pre-outlined the construction in his mind, he thus ^C brought his imagination to the work, or, looking to a model already set before him, he directs his operation in likeness to it. But they wish "on account of which" to pertain to the end; for the stool was made on account of the use of men. Finally, they indicate time or place by the words "in which." For when was it made? In such a time. And where? In such a place. And even if these things contribute nothing to the thing being made, still, nothing can be made without them. For those who are working have need of both place and time. Having learned and admired ^D these observations derived from empty disciplines and vain deception, these men transfer them even to the simple and artless teaching of the Spirit, to the diminution of God the Word and the setting aside of the Holy Spirit; for they have not hesitated to transfer to the Lord of all the term assigned by profane writers to inanimate instruments or to servile and utterly humble service—I speak of the expression "through which"—and these Christians are not ashamed to attribute the designation of a saw or a hammer to the Creator of the universe.

CHAPTER IV.

6. We confess the word of truth in these terms, yet we do not say that the liberty of the Spirit is in any way subject to the lowly and abject disciplines of those outside; rather, we say that, having regard for what is fitting in each instance, the expressions are appropriately and suitably adapted to the needs. For the phrase "from whom" does not entirely signify matter, as they suppose; but it is more customary for Scripture to apply this expression to the supreme Cause. For instance, in this passage: "One God, from whom are all things"; and again: "All things are from God." Nevertheless, the word of truth also frequently uses this term in reference to matter, as when it says: "You shall make the ark out of incorruptible timbers"; and, "You shall make the lampstand out of pure gold"; and, "The first man is of the earth, earthy"; and, "You are fashioned out of clay, even as I am." ^B But these men, in order to show, as we have said, that there is a difference of nature, have decreed that this term belongs to the Father alone. They took the principles of this observation from external writers, but they do not follow them accurately in all respects; rather, according to their prescription, they imposed the title of "instrument" upon the Son, and that of "place" upon the Spirit. For they say "in Spirit," and they say "through the Son," but to God they attributed the "from whom"—no longer following the aliens here, but passing over to what they call the apostolic uses, according to what has been said: "But of him you are in Christ Jesus"; and, "All things are from God." ^C What, then, is the conclusion of this technique? "Another nature is that of the cause, and another is that of the instrument, and another is that of the place; therefore the Son is alien by nature from the Father, since the instrument is also alien from the craftsman; and the Spirit is also alien, inasmuch as place or time is separated from the nature of the instruments or of those who use the instruments."

CHAPTER V.

7. As for those matters which are brought forward by these men, we shall demonstrate what we have proposed: that neither did the Father, having taken "from whom," cast "through whom" upon the Son, nor did the Son, in turn, cast the Holy Spirit—according to the decree of these men—into the communion of "from whom" or "through whom." ^D

^A It does not admit [the idea] that the new 50 distribution of these terms defines their inheritance. "One God 51 and Father, from whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." These are not the voices of one legislating, but of one distinguishing the Hypostases. For the Apostle spoke in this way, not to introduce a difference of nature, but to set forth a distinction between the Father and the Son without confusion. That these expressions are not opposed to one another, nor, as in battle, do they stand over against an enemy line and incite the natures to which they are applied to wage war against one another, is evident from the rest. The blessed Apostle gathered both into one and the same subject, saying: "For from him, and through him, and to him are all things." That he refers this to the Lord, any one would concede who slightly gives attention to the mind of the discourse. For when the Apostle had first set forth from the prophecy of Isaiah: "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 81 he added: "For from him, and through him, and to him are all things." That these things were said by the prophet concerning God the Word, the Creator of all creation, you may learn from the words that follow 53: "Who has measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth with his fist? Who set the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a scale? Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 82 For the word "who" here does not signify something that is altogether unattainable, but something rare, as in the case of: "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" 83 And: "Who is the man that desires life?" 84 And: "Who shall ascend into the mount of the Lord?" 85 Similarly, it is said in this place: "Who is it that has known the mind of the Lord, and has been a partaker of his counsel?" 86 For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things. 87 This is He who contains the earth, and has grasped it with his fist; who brought all things into order and adorned them; who both weighed the mountains equally, and prescribed bounds for the waters, and appointed to all things that are in the world their proper order: ^B who encompasses the whole heaven with a small part of his entire power, which the prophetic word has figuratively called a "span." Whence the Apostle appropriately added: ^C "From him, and through him, and to him are all things." From

^A him, in truth, the cause of the existence of those things which are, comes to be according to the will of God and the Father. Through him, the permanence and constitution of all things remain; for the Creator of all things measures out to each of those things which have been generated, even those things which are necessary for their own preservation. Wherefore, ^B truly, all things are turned back toward him, looking with an invincible and unquenchable desire and an ineffable affection toward the author and bestower of life, according to that which is written: "The eyes of all hope in thee"; and again: "All things await thee"; and: "Thou openest thy hand and fillest every living thing with blessing."

8. But if they shall object to this exposition of ours, what reasoning will deliver them from falling clearly into contradictions against themselves? For if they are not willing to grant that these three expressions—"from him," "through him," and "in him"—are said of the Lord, then it is absolutely necessary that they be attributed properly to God and the Father. And from this, their observation will manifestly collapse. For it is found that not only "from whom," but also "through whom," is applied to the Father. If this expression implies nothing base, why on earth do they set it apart for the Son as though it were of inferior dignity? But if it absolutely declares a ministry, let them answer us: of what ruler is the God of glory and Father of Christ a minister? ^C Those men, therefore, are thus overturned by themselves; but as for us, the firm position will be preserved on both sides. For whether the argument prevails that what we have recited was said of the Son, the element "from whom" will be found to befit the Son; or if one insists on referring the prophet's words to God, he will again grant that the expression "through whom" is appropriate to God, and both expressions will possess equal dignity, because they are assumed in an equal sense in relation to God. And thus, in one way as well as the other, they will appear to possess equal dignity to one another, being set down with regard to one and the same person. But let us return to the matter at hand.

9. The Apostle writing to the Ephesians says: "Speaking the truth in charity, we may grow up in him in all things, who is the head, Christ, ^D from whom the whole body is compacted and joined together through every joint of ministration, according to the operation in the measure of every single part, makes the increase of the body." And again, in the Epistle to the Colossians, it is said to those who did not have the knowledge of the Only-begotten: "He who holds the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, by joints and connections, is ministered and grown with an increase from God."

For that Christ is the head of the Church, we have learned elsewhere, the Apostle saying: "And He gave Him to be head over all things to the Church;" and, "And of His fulness have we all received." And the Lord Himself says: "He shall receive of mine, and shall announce it to you." And in sum, to one who reads diligently, various uses of ^A the term "from whom" [ἐξ οὗ] will appear. For the Lord also says: "I know that power has gone forth from me." Similarly, regarding the Spirit, we have observed in many places that "from whom" is used. For he who sows, he says, to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life eternal; and John: "Hereby we know that He is in us, of the Spirit which He has given us;" and the angel: "For that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit." And the Lord says: "That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." This, then, is of such a nature.

10. But we must now demonstrate that this expression, "through whom," is likewise applied in Scripture to the Father, and ^B to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Regarding the Son, it would indeed be superfluous to bring forward testimonies, both because it is well known and because this very thing is argued by our adversaries; but we shall demonstrate that this particle, "through whom," is also used of the Father. "God is faithful," he says, "through whom you were called into the communion of His Son;" and, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God;" and again: "So that you are no longer a slave, but a son, and an heir through God." Also this: "As Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father." And Isaiah: "Woe," he says, "to you who devise a deep counsel, and not through the Lord." But many testimonies of this ^C expression can also be brought forward for the Holy Spirit. "But to us," he says, "God has revealed [it] through the Spirit." And in another place: "Keep the good deposit through the Holy Spirit;" and again: "For to one, through the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom."

11. Moreover, we can say in a syllable that Scripture has also admitted its use regarding God and the Father, as in the Old Testament: "In God," he says, "we shall perform valor;" and, "In Thee is my song always;" and again: "In Thy name I will rejoice." And in Paul: "In God," he says, "who created all things;" and, "Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians ^D in God the Father;" and, "If by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey in the will of God, to come to—"

^A you;" and, "Thou gloriest, he says, in God." And there are others which it is not even easy to enumerate. But our intention is not to display a multitude of testimonies, but to prove that their observations are not correct. Since this particle is used with reference to the Lord and the Holy Spirit, I shall omit demonstrating that which is acknowledged as self-evident. This, however, must necessarily be said: that for a prudent auditor, the refutation of the objections which is drawn from the contrary is sufficient. For if the diversity of expression proves a diverse nature, as these men say, then let the identity of the words compel them, if only out of shame, to confess that there is no discrepancy in the essence.

12. The uses of these expressions do not only vary concerning God, but they are also frequently interchanged in their reciprocal significations, whenever one takes on the meaning of another. ^B For instance, "I have possessed a man through God," says Adam, meaning the same as "from God." And elsewhere: "Whatever Moses commanded Israel through the commandment of the Lord." And again: "Does not the interpretation of these things come through God?" Joseph, speaking with those who were in prison regarding their dreams, clearly and himself, instead of saying "from God," said "through God." And conversely, Paul uses the preposition "from whom" in place of "through whom," as when he says, "Made from a woman," instead of "through a woman." For he has clearly distinguished this for us elsewhere, saying that it is fitting for a woman to be born from a man, but for a man through a woman, in the places where he says, "For as the woman is from the man, even so is the man through the woman." ^C But yet, in this place, while at once demonstrating the difference of the usage, and at the same time and in passing correcting the error of certain persons who thought the body of the Lord was spiritual, in order to show that the God-bearing flesh was formed from the human mass, he preferred to use a more significant word (for these expressions, "through a woman," were liable to suggest a transitory generation; whereas "from a woman" abundantly declares the communion which the nature of the begotten has with the one who bore him); not that he contradicts himself, but in order to show that these words easily yield to one another. When, therefore, it has been defined of any persons that it is properly said "by whom," and the word "from whom" is also used of these same ones, by what reasoning does one separate these expressions from each other in order to slander piety?

CHAPTER VI.

13. But they cannot even flee to the excuse of ignorance, for they receive our words with such artifice and perversity; who indeed openly show indignation at us, because we fulfill the glorification of the Only-begotten together with the Father, and because we do not separate the Holy Spirit from the Son. Hence they call us innovators, architects of novelty, and coiners of words, and by what other most ignominious names do they not call us? Their reproaches I am so far from suffering with vexation that, were it not that their perdition causes us grief and ceaseless torment, I would almost say that I even feel gratitude toward them for their curses, as those who procure for me blessedness. For "Blessed are you," He says, "when they shall reproach you for my sake." But these are the matters for the sake of which they are indignant. "The Son," they say, "is not with the Father, but after the Father; whence it follows that glory is to be attributed to the Father through Him, but not with Him." For that expression, "with Him," declares equality, but "through Him" signifies ministry. Nor, they say, is the Holy Spirit to be placed with the Father and the Son, but under the Son and the Father, so that He is not placed together with them, but is subjected, and is not counted with them, but is subcounted. And by certain such verbal artifices they pervert the sincerity and simplicity of the faith. ^B Therefore, what pardon will they obtain under the pretext of ignorance, by whom, because of this curiosity of theirs, it is not even permitted to others to be ignorant?

14. But we, for our part, will first ask them this: how do they say the Son is after the Father? Is He more recent in time, or in order, or in dignity? But as for time, no one is so foolish as to say that the Creator of the ages is in any way posterior in time, when there is no interval that breaks the natural conjunction of the Son with the Father. Nor furthermore, by human reasoning can the Son be called more recent than the Father, not only because they are understood simultaneously according to relation, but also because those things are said to be posterior in time which are less distant from the present time; and again, those things are prior which are more distant from the present time. For example, those things which were done in the times of Noah are prior to those which are narrated concerning the subversion of Sodom, because those are ^C more distant from the present; and these are later than those, because they seem somehow to approach more closely to the present. Therefore...

to measure the existence of His life, which transcends all time and all ages, by distance from the present time—does this not surpass all madness, in addition to its impiety? For if, in the same way that things subject to generation and corruption are said to be prior to one another, one were to measure God the Father against the Son—the God who exists before the ages—and claim the Father is superior, then the superiority of the Father toward the heights would be ^A unobservable, in that the birth of the Lord surpasses neither thought nor any conception, as John nicely shut up the mind within defined boundaries by two words when he said: *In the beginning was the Word* (John 1, 1). For the word *was* is impossible for thoughts to pass beyond, and the *beginning* is impossible to transcend by imagination. For as far as you may run back in your mind toward the heights, you do not go beyond the *was*. And as far as you exert yourself to see what is beyond the Son, you will not be able to become superior to the beginning. It is therefore pious, according to this reasoning, to think of the Son as being with the Father.

15. But if, as in a lower place, they imagine that the Son subsists in relation to the Father, so that the Father sits on high, ^B and then the Son is pushed down into a lower place, let them confess this, and we shall be silent, for the absurdity of such a thing is self-evident in any open speech. For they do not remain consistent in their reasoning, those who do not grant that the Father reaches through all things, whereas the thought of those who are sound believes that God has filled all things; nor do they remember the prophet saying: *If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are present* (Ps. cxxxviii, 8), those who divide the "above" and "below" between the Father and the Son. But to be silent about the refutation of their ignorance—of those who assign "place" to incorporeal ^C things—what will excuse their impiety, by which they so shamelessly fight against and oppose the Scriptures? Such is the nature of that passage: *Sit at my right hand* (Ps. cix, 1), and, *He sat down at the right hand of the majesty of God* (Hebr. 1, 3). For "the right" does not signify a lower region (as their argument would have it), but a relation to that which is equal; for "right" is not taken corporally (for in that way there could also be something "left" in God), but the discourse, by these honorable words of sitting alongside, sets before our eyes the majesty and the honor of the Son. It remains, therefore, that by this term a lower degree of dignity—

^A is signified; for let them learn that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and that He is the image of the invisible God and the brightness of His glory; and that Him the Father, even God, has sealed, having impressed His whole self upon Him. Are these testimonies then, and all those in the whole of Scripture which are akin to these, to be called "humiliating" (83), or do they, like proclamations, herald the magnificence of the Only-Begotten and His equality of glory with the Father? Let them hear also the Lord Himself clearly showing His glory to be equal to the Father’s, when He says: *He who has seen Me has seen the Father*; and again: *When the Son shall come in the glory of the Father*; and: *That they may honor the Son even as they honor the Father*; and: *We beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-Begotten from the Father*; and: *The only-begotten God* (84), *who is in the bosom of the Father*. Taking no account of these things, they assign to the Son the place reserved for enemies. For the paternal bosom is a seat worthy of the Son, whereas the place of the footstool is for those ^B who are in need of subjection. We, therefore, being intent upon other matters, have touched upon these testimonies only in passing; but you, at your leisure, may gather the proofs and perceive the height of the glory and the eminence of the power in the Son. And yet, to a fair-minded hearer, even these are not small matters, unless one understands these words—"right hand" and "bosom"—carnally and abjectly, so as to circumscribe God in a place and to fashion a figure, a form, and a corporeal position, things which are far removed from the conception of a simple, infinite, and incorporeal Being; except that his low-minded thinking falls upon the Father just as it falls upon the Son. Wherefore, he does not cast down the dignity of the Son, but he adds the crime of blasphemy against God, whoever discourses ^C on such things. For whatever one dares to vomit forth against the Son, it is necessary that he transfer the same to the Father. For he who assigns an upper place to the Father for presiding, and says that the only-begotten Son sits in a lower place, will have all the corporeal consequences following upon his own fiction. But if these imaginations are those of men who are drunk with wine and delirious from frenzy, how can it be pious for those who have been taught by Him not to adore and glorify, together with the Father, Him who is joined to Him by nature, by glory, and by dignity—Him who does not honor the Son, not honor the Father (36)? What further shall we say? What just excuse ^D

shall we have at the fearful and common judgment seat of all creation, if, when the Lord clearly promised that He would come in the glory of the Father, and Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and Paul, inspired by the Spirit, bore witness to Christ that He is at the right hand of God; and when the Father says, "Sit at my right hand," and the Holy Spirit bears witness that He sat at the right hand of the Majesty of God; we should, for our part, cast down from the relationship of equality ^B the co-enthroned and co-equal One to a lower place? I think that by "standing" and "sitting" is indicated the fixity of nature and that which is in every way still; just as Baruch also, indicating the immovable and unchangeable nature of the dispensation of God, says: "You sit forever, and we perish forever." And by the "right hand" place is indicated the equality of dignity. How then would it not be a bold crime to deprive the Son of the fellowship of glorification, as if He deserved to be placed in a less honored station?

CHAPTER VII

16. But to say "with Him," they say, is altogether strange and unusual; but to say "through Him" is most familiar to the language of Scripture and worn by the usage of the brethren. What, then, do we say to these things? That happy are the ears which have not heard you, and happy the hearts—the many that ^C have been kept unhurt from your words. But to you who love Christ, I say that the Church knows both usages, and rejects neither of them as destructive of the other. For whenever we contemplate the greatness of the nature of the Only-begotten and the excellence of His dignity, we bear witness that His glory is "with the Father"; but whenever we consider the bounty of the goods He has provided for us, or our own leading and dedication to God, we confess that this grace is accomplished in us "through Him" and "in Him." Wherefore the one phrase, "with whom," is specific to those who give glory; the other, "through whom," is especially for those who give thanks. And that is also a lie, that the expression "with whom" is alienated from the usage of the pious. For as many as, on account of the stability of their character, have preferred the solemnity of antiquity to ^D novelties, and have preserved the tradition of the fathers without alteration, use this expression both in the country and in the cities. But those who are weary of accustomed things, and revolt against the old as if they were stale, these are the ones who accept innovations, just as in the matter of clothing...

those who are fond of outward show always prefer the elaborate to the common. You may see even now that the uncultivated ^A retain their ancient speech, while these skillful ones, practiced in verbal jousting, use words branded by the cautery of the new wisdom. Therefore, what our fathers used to say, we also say: that glory is common to the Father and the Son, and for this reason we offer doxology to the Father with the Son. Yet this is not enough for us, simply that it was handed down by the Fathers; for they too followed the intention of Scripture, taking their principles from the testimonies which we set before you from Scripture a little earlier. For the radiance is understood with the glory, the image with the archetype, and the Son is fully with the ^B Father, as neither the sequence of names, much less the nature of the things, admits of separation.

CHAPTER VIII.

17. Therefore, when the Apostle gives thanks to God through Jesus Christ, and again says that through Him he has received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith in all nations, or when he says that through Him we have access to this grace in which we stand and rejoice, he declares His benefits toward us—now as He is the One who transmits ^C the grace of good things from the Father to us, and now again as He brings us ourselves to the Father through Himself. For when he says, "Through whom we have received grace and apostleship," he signifies the bestowal of good things proceeding from Him; but when he says, "Through whom we have had access," he demonstrates our acceptance and reconciliation with God taking place through Christ. Does then the confession of the grace worked by Him toward us diminish His glory? Or is it not rather truer to say that the narration of His benefits is a fitting argument for glorification? For this reason ^D we have found that Scripture does not reveal the Lord to us by a single name, nor only by those that declare His divinity and greatness, but sometimes it uses terms that express His nature; for it knows how to call the Son by the name which is above every name, and to speak of Him as the true Son, and only-begotten God, and power of God, and wisdom, and Word. And again, because of the manifold nature of the grace toward us, which, according to His manifold wisdom, He provides to those in need out of the riches of His goodness, it designates Him with myriad other titles, at times calling Him shepherd,

^A at other times king, and again physician; and the same One [He calls] bridegroom, and way, and door, and fountain, and bread, and axe, and rock. For these things do not represent His nature, but, as I was saying, the manifold variety of His operation, which, out of the compassion He bears toward His own creation, He imparts to those in need, according to the specific nature of their requirement. For those who have fled 96 to His authority, and who have achieved a readiness to share through forbearance, He calls sheep, and confesses Himself to be the shepherd of such, who hearken to His voice and do not attend to strange doctrines. For "My sheep," He says, "hear My voice." ^B And He is called king of those who have already advanced higher and have need of legitimate governance ; and a door, to those whom He leads forth to noble deeds through the straightness of His precepts, and again brings safely to fold those who, through faith in Him, take refuge in the good of knowledge. Whence, "If anyone enters by Me, he shall enter and go out, and shall find pasture." And a rock, because of His being strong and unshakable and a fortress for the faithful, more robust than any bulwark. In these instances, the phrase "through Him" yields the most appropriate and clear usage, whenever He is spoken of as a door 99 and as a way. As, however, He is God and Son, He possesses glory together with the Father and being with the Father: ^C "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Wherefore we use both expressions, proclaiming by the one His proper dignity, and by the other His munificence toward us—making known the grace by which we are governed.

18. For through Him every aid to souls, and according to each kind of care, a distinct title has been devised. For when He presents to Himself the blameless soul, not having spot or wrinkle, as a pure virgin, He is addressed as bridegroom; but ^D when He receives it injured by the wicked blows of the devil, and heals it as it labors heavily under sins, He is called physician. Whether, therefore, the fact that He takes care of us in these ways—

tions our thoughts, or does it instead cause the opposite—that we should marvel at the immense power combined with the philanthropy of the Savior, in that He deigned to sympathize with our weaknesses and was able to descend to our frailty? ^A For neither heaven and earth, nor the vastness of the seas, nor the living things dwelling in the waters or on the land, nor plants, nor stars, nor air, nor the seasons, nor the manifold adornment of the universe, demonstrates the excellence of His power as much as the fact that God, the Incomprehensible, was able, through the flesh, to contend without harm with death, in order that by His own passion He might bestow impassibility upon us. Even if the Apostle says that "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us," he does not by such an expression suggest some menial service, but rather the help that is wrought within us by the power of His might. ^B For He Himself "bound the strong man and plundered his vessels"—that is, us, whom he had abused for every evil work—and made us vessels useful to the Master, "prepared for every good work" through the preparation of our own free will. In this way we have had access through Him to the Father, being "translated from the power of darkness into the share of the lot of the saints in the light." Let us not, therefore, think of the dispensation of the Son as a forced service born of servile humility, but as a voluntary care, proceeding from goodness and mercy, according to the will of God and the Father, acted out toward His own creature. For thus ^C shall we maintain piety, since in all things accomplished by Him we shall witness to His perfect power, and in no way shall we separate Him from the Father’s will. Just as when the Lord is called the "way," we are carried toward a more sublime understanding, and not to that which is taken in the commonplace sense. For by "way," we understand the progress which, by series and order through the works of justice and the illumination of knowledge, tends toward perfection, always "stretching forward to those things which are before," and extending ourselves to what remains, until we arrive at the blessed end, which is the knowledge of God, which the Lord grants through Himself to those who believe in Him. For the Lord is indeed a good way, unerring and without deviation, leading to the truly good, the Father. "For no one," He says, "comes to the Father except through me." Such, then, is our ascent to God through the Son.

19. It will be next in order to discourse upon the provision of good things from the Father to us through the same. For whenever all created nature, both this visible [creation] and that which is perceived by the mind, ^D stands in need of care...

to exist, ^A the Creator Word, the only-begotten God, distributes assistance in proportion to the need of each, providing gifts that are varied and of every kind on account of the diversity of those receiving the benefit, yet commensurate to each according to the necessity of the need. He illuminates those held fast in the darkness of ignorance: on this account He is called the true Light. He judges, ^B measuring out the recompense according to the merit of the deeds: on this account He is called a just judge. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. He raises from the fall those who have slipped from the height of life into sin: on this account He is the resurrection. He does all things by the contact of His power, and by the will of His goodness He acts. He shepherds, illuminates, nourishes, leads, heals, raises up. He brings into being things that do not exist, and holds together things that have been created. ^B Thus, the good things from God reach us through the Son, acting in individuals with greater speed than any word could express. For neither lightning, nor the passage of light through the air, is so swift, nor the rapid darts of the eyes, nor the movements of our own intellect; but each of these is surpassed by the speed of the divine operation, not to speak of the sluggish among the animals we know, nor of birds, nor winds, nor the motion of the heavenly spheres, but rather they fall short of the motion of our own mind. For what span of time would He require who bears all things by the word of His power, and works not corporally, nor does He need manual effort for the creation, but has created things through an unwavering will, having a nature that follows in obedience? As Judith says: "You thought and all things that You thought were present." ^C Yet, nevertheless, lest we ever be distracted by the magnitude of the things being brought to pass, so as to imagine that the Lord is without beginning, what does He who is Life Itself say? "I live because of the Father," and the power of God: "The Son can do nothing of Himself," and the self-sufficient Wisdom: "I have received a commandment as to what I should say and what I should speak." Through all these things He leads us to the knowledge of the Father, and, referring the wonder of what is brought to pass back to Him, [He does so] in order that through Himself we may know the Father. For the Father is not perceived through a difference in the works, ^D as if He were demonstrating some peculiar and separate operation (for "whatever He sees the Father doing, these things the Son also does in like manner"), but rather, from the glory brought to Him by the Only-Begotten, one reaps the wonder of the things being created, and in the greatness of the works one rejoices in the Creator Himself and is exalted by those who acknowledge Him as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Through whom are all things, and for whom are all things." Therefore the Lord says: [Everything]

⟩ ^A of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom are all things. For this reason the Lord says: "All things that are mine are thine," as the source of the created things is referred back to Him; "And thine are mine," as from Him the cause of creating belongs to Him, not as one who uses aids for the action, nor [as one who receives] the stewardship of each work bit by bit, to be entrusted with the service; for this indeed is servile, and altogether falling short of divine dignity. But rather, the Word, being full of the Father's goods, shining forth from the Father, does all things according to the likeness of the One who begat Him. For if in essence He differs in no respect, He will also differ in no respect in power. And if the power is equal, then surely the operation is also equal. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And thus all things were made through Him, and all things have been created through Him and unto Him, not fulfilling some organic or servile service, but creatively bringing to fulfillment the Father's will.

20. Therefore, when He says: "I have not spoken from myself," and again: "As the Father has said to me, so I speak," and, "The word which you hear is not mine, but His who sent me," and elsewhere: "As ^B the Father commanded me, so I do": He uses such expressions not because He is devoid of free will, nor because He is mindless, nor because He waits for a sign given from outside by agreement; but declaring His own will, which is joined and inseparably attached to the Father. Therefore, let us not understand the so-called "commandment" as an imperious word ^C declared through vocal organs, prescribing to the Son, as to a subject, what He ought to do; but let us understand it in a manner worthy of God as a communication of will, like the impression of some form in a mirror, flowing from the Father to the Son without time. For "the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things." So that all things that the Father has are the Son's, not accruing to Him little by little, but all present at once. For surely, among men, one who has learned a craft and possesses by long practice a firm and fixed habit of that art in his mind, can thereafter work of himself according to the principles of the science which he holds in his mind; ^D yet the Wisdom of God, the architect of all creation, who is always perfect, wise without a teacher, the power of God, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, would need a special commandment by which the mode and measure of the operations might be predefined for Him? You will perhaps also open a primary school in the vanity of your thoughts, and [make] indeed one...

sit in the place of a teacher, and the other stand by in the inexperience of a student; then, by small additions of instruction, learning wisdom and being advanced to perfection. But from this, if only you know how to observe the consequent logic in your reasoning, you will find the Son always learning, yet never able to reach completion, because the wisdom of the Father is infinite, and there is no limit to be seized of an infinite thing. Therefore, he who does not concede that the Son possesses all things from the beginning will never concede that He ^A will attain to perfection. But indeed, I am ashamed of this lowly thought, to which the sequence of the argument has led me. Let us, therefore, return again to the high points of the discourse ^B.

21. "He who has seen me, has seen the Father"—not the figure, nor the form, for the divine nature is pure from composition—but the goodness of the will, which, concurring with the essence, is considered similar and equal, or rather the same in the Father and in the Son. What then is the meaning of "He became obedient," and the text, "He delivered Him up for us all"? It signifies that the Son received this from the Father, that He should work for human beings according to His goodness. But you, hear also these words: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law"; and, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Attend also carefully to the words of the Lord, for when He instructs us about the Father, He knows how to use authoritative and lordly expressions, saying: "I will, be thou clean"; and, "Hold thy peace, be muzzled"; and, "But I say unto you"; and that, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee"; and other things of this sort; in order that through these we might know our Lord and Creator, but through those others, we might be taught the Father of our Lord and Creator. Thus the truth of the argument is shown from every side: that the creation by the Father through the Son ^C does not establish either that the creation of the Father is imperfect, or that the operation of the Son is feeble; but it declares the unity and conjunction of the will. Therefore, this word "through whom" carries a confession of the principal cause, and is not taken for the disparagement or criticism of the efficient cause.

Chapter IX. Proprieties and distinct notions concerning the Spirit, agreeing with the doctrine of the Scriptures.

^A 22. But let us now examine what kind of notions we have concerning the Spirit, both those gathered for us from the Scriptures regarding Him, and those we have received from the unwritten tradition of the Fathers. First of all, who, upon hearing the appellations of the Spirit, is not stirred in his soul and does not lift his thought up to the supreme nature? For He is called the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father; a right Spirit, a principal Spirit. "Holy Spirit" is His unique and peculiar appellation: which is, in truth, of all names the one that most declares a thing incorporeal and pure from all matter and incomposite. Wherefore also the Lord, when He was instructing the woman who thought that God ought to be worshipped in a place, that the incorporeal could not be comprehended, said, "God is a Spirit." It is not possible, therefore, for one who hears "Spirit" to impress upon his mind a nature circumscribed by place, or one subject to changes and alterations, or one entirely similar to the creature; but, advancing in thought to what is supreme, he must perforce conceive of an intelligent substance, infinite in power, ^B boundless in magnitude, not receiving the dimension of times or ages, bountifully imparting the good things it possesses. To Him all things turn that stand in need of sanctification: Him all things desire that live according to virtue, as if irrigated and aided by His illumination, that they may arrive at their own natural end. He who perfects the rest, Himself fails in nothing: He does not live by renewal, but supplies life; nor does He grow by additions, but is perfect from the start; He is established in Himself, and is nowhere absent. The source of sanctification, a mental light: offering to every rational power, for the investigation of truth, a kind of illumination from Himself. By nature inaccessible, but reachable on account of His kindness; filling all things indeed with His power, yet communicable only to those who are worthy, to whom He does not impart Himself in the same measure, but according to the proportion^C of their faith divides His energy. Simple in substance, manifold in powers: present as a whole to each person, and as a whole present everywhere. Impassibly divided, and taken part in as a whole: like the image of a sunbeam...

the benefit of which is present as if to one alone, and yet it illuminates land and sea, and is mingled with the air. So too the Holy Spirit, when He is present to each of those capable of receiving Him, as if to one alone, bestows grace sufficient and entire for all: grace ^A which those who partake of Him enjoy, not to the extent of His power, but to the extent of their own natural capacity.

23. Conjunction with the Spirit does not occur through proximity of place (for how could you approach the incorporeal corporeally?), but through withdrawal from those passions which, subsequently arising in the soul because of its friendship for the flesh, alienated it from fellowship with God. Therefore, if someone is purified from the shame that he contracted through vice, and returns to his natural beauty, and, as if to a royal image, restores through purity its ancient form, in this way alone is it possible to draw near to the Paraclete. And He, like the sun, having found a pure eye, will show you in Himself the image of the Invisible. In the blessed contemplation of this image, you shall see the ineffable beauty of the Archetype. Through Him is the ascent of hearts, the guiding hand for the infirm, the perfecting of those who are progressing. ^B This Spirit, shining upon those who are purified from every stain, makes them spiritual by the communion they have with Him. And just as bright and transparent bodies, when a ray of light falls upon them, become themselves exceedingly radiant and emit a further brilliance from themselves, so too souls that carry the Spirit, and are illumined by the Spirit, become themselves spiritual and send forth grace to others. Hence comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of mysteries, comprehension of hidden things, distributions of gifts, the heavenly citizenship, the choir with the angels, the joy that has no end, perseverance in God, the becoming like unto God, and, the most sublime thing that can ever be desired, becoming God. These, then, are our notions concerning the Holy Spirit—as we have been taught to think regarding His greatness and dignity and His operations by the very oracles of the Spirit—such that we have set forth a few things out of many. ^C But now we must proceed to the contentious, attempting to refute the objections that are cast against us from the knowledge falsely so called.

CHAPTER X

Against those who say that the Holy Spirit should not be joined with the Father and the Son.

24. It is not necessary, they say, to join the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, partly because He is foreign to the nature, and ^D because the grace of the Holy Spirit depends not on the infirmity of men, but on His own omnipotence.

^A To these men it is just to reply with the words of the Apostles: "We ought to obey God rather than men." For if the Lord clearly commanded the disciples in the delivery of saving baptism to baptize all nations "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," not disdaining fellowship with Him, but these men say that one ought not to join Him to the Father and the Son, how do they not openly oppose the commandment of God? For if they say that such a conjunction is not an indication of any communion or fellowship, let them say what it is appropriate to think it is; and what other more distinctive mode of fellowship do they have to offer? Yet if the Lord did not conjoin the Spirit to Himself and to the Father in baptism, let them not blame us, either, for conjoining them. For we neither think nor speak anything different. But if the Spirit is joined there to the Father and to the Son—and no one is so shameless as to say otherwise—then let them not bring charges against us even so, if we follow what is written.

25. ^B The preparation of the war against us is arrayed, and every mind is set against us, and the tongues of slanderers shoot darts here more vehemently than those who slew Christ once pelted Stephen with stones. But let them not escape notice, that while the war has us as its pretext, in truth the things being done look toward the Height. Therefore, they construct engines and ambushes against us, and exhort one another to bring aid, as each one has skill or strength. ^C But faith is what is being warred against, and the common goal for all the adversaries and enemies of sound doctrine is to shake the foundation of the faith in Christ by abolishing and leveling the Apostolic tradition to the ground. For this reason, like those seeming "honest debtors" of good faith, they clamor for proofs from the Scriptures, rejecting the unwritten testimony of the Fathers as of no value. But we shall not shrink from the truth, nor shall we betray its alliance out of cowardice. For if the Lord has delivered the conjunction of the Holy Spirit with the Father as a necessary and saving dogma, but it does not seem so to these men—who rather divide and tear apart and relegate the Spirit to a servile nature ^D—is it not true that their own blasphemy has more weight with them than the legislation of the Master?

^A therefore, let us cast aside all strife, and thus discuss among ourselves the matters at hand.

26. From whence are we Christians? By faith, anyone would say. But in what way are we saved? By being regenerated, it is clear, through the grace bestowed in baptism. For whence else? Then, having learned that this salvation is confirmed through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, shall we cast away the form of doctrine which we have received? That would indeed be worthy of many sighs, if we were to find ourselves now further removed from our salvation than when we believed; if those things which we received then, we now abjure. There is an equal loss, whether one departs this life without baptism, or receives baptism, while yet lacking one of those things which have been handed down. And whoever does not preserve the profession which we made during our first initiation—when, having been set free from idols, we came to the living God—and does not hold fast to it as an utterly safe protection through the whole of his life, renders himself a stranger to the promises of God, fighting against his own handi- ^B writing which he deposited at the time of the confession of the faith. For if baptism is to me the beginning of life, and the first day of days is that day of regeneration, it is clear that the voice uttered in the grace of adoption is the most precious of all. Shall I then abandon the tradition which leads me to the light, which bestowed upon me the knowledge of God, by which I was shown to be a child of God—I, who was formerly an enemy because of sin—being turned aside by the persuasive speeches of these men? But I pray for myself that I may depart to the Lord with this profession, and I exhort them also to keep the faith inviolate until the day of Christ, and to keep the Spirit inseparable from the Father and the Son, ^C observing the doctrine of baptism both in the profession of faith and in the realization of glory.

CHAPTER XI.

That those who deny the Spirit are transgressors.

27. To whom is there woe? To whom is there affliction? To whom is there hopelessness and darkness? To whom is there eternal condemnation? Is it not to the transgressors? Is it not to those who have denied the faith? But what is the proof of the denial? Is it not that they have invalidated their own professions? But what did they profess, or when? They professed to believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, at the time when, renouncing the devil and his angels, they uttered that saving voice. What name, therefore, worthy of these men, has been devised by the children of the light? Are they not called transgressors, since unto the things of salvation ^D

they have violated the covenants? ^A What then shall I say of the man who denies God? Or of him who denies Christ? What else but a transgressor? And for him who has denied the Spirit, what appellation would you have me impose? Is it not this very same, since he too has violated the covenants made with God? Therefore, since the confession of faith in Him brings with it the blessedness of piety, and since denial subjects one to the condemnation of godlessness, how is it not a fearful thing to reject these things now—not because one fears fire, or sword, or cross, or scourges, or the wheel, or racks, but because one has been led astray by the mere sophistries and seductions of those who are at war with the Spirit? ^B I testify to every man who confesses Christ and denies God, that Christ shall profit him nothing; and to him who invokes God but spurns the Son, that his faith is vain; and to him who turns away from the Spirit, that his faith in the Father and the Son will be in vain, for he cannot even possess it if the Spirit is not present with him. For he who does not believe in the Spirit does not believe in the Son; and he who has not believed in the Son does not believe in the Father. For no one can say that Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit; and, "No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known." ^C Such a person is also devoid of true worship. For it is impossible to worship the Son except in the Holy Spirit, just as it is impossible to invoke the Father except in the Spirit of adoption.

CHAPTER XII

Against those who say that baptism in the name of the Lord alone is sufficient.

28. Let no one be led into error by that of the Apostle, because he frequently omits the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit in the remembrance of those baptized; and let no one think for this reason that the invocation of those names is a matter of indifference. "As many of you," he says, "as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ"; and again, "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death." For the appellation of Christ is a profession of the whole: it declares indeed both God who anointed, ^D and the Son who was anointed, and the Spirit who is the anointing—even as we have learned from Peter in the Acts: "Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit." Likewise in Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me."

And the Psalmist [says]: "Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness ^A above Thy fellows." Yet it seems that the Apostle sometimes makes mention of the Spirit alone in baptism. For "All of us," he says, "in one body were baptized into one Spirit." To this also agrees: "But you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit," and: "He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit." But no one should on this account say that a baptism is perfect in which only the name of the Spirit has been invoked. For the tradition given in the life-giving grace must always remain inviolable. For He who delivered our life from corruption gave us the power of renewal—a power which has an ineffable cause hidden in mystery, but which brings great salvation to souls—so that to add or to subtract anything is clearly to fall away from eternal life. If, therefore, in baptism ^B the separation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son is dangerous to the one baptizing and useless to the one receiving, how could it be safe for us to tear the Spirit away from the Father and the Son? Faith and baptism are two modes of attaining salvation, related to each other and inseparable. For faith is perfected through baptism, and baptism is founded through faith; both are fulfilled by the same names. For as we believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, so also we are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Confession leads the way, introducing us to salvation; baptism follows, sealing our assent.

CHAPTER XIII

Why at the hands of Paul the angels were joined with the Father and the Son.

29. But, he says, if other things are enumerated along with the Father and the Son, they are not therefore necessarily glorified together with them. For the Apostle joined the angels in the testimony ^C to Timothy, saying: "I charge thee before God and Christ Jesus and His elect angels," whom we do not separate from the rest of creation, nor do we endure to enumerate them with the Father and the Son. As for me, even if this argument is worthy of no reply, as it contains such an obvious absurdity, I yet say this: that one might perhaps bring forward a fellow-servant as a witness before a gentle and mild judge, and especially one who, by his very leniency toward those being judged, demonstrates the indubitable and indisputable equity of his judgments. But for someone to become free from being a slave, and to be called a Son of God, and to be brought back from death to life, cannot be granted by any other than by Him who possesses the natural kinship, and [who delivers us] from the servitude...

^A of [the] state. For how shall he who is an alien make [us] kin to God? Or how shall he set [us] free, when he himself is subject to the yoke of servitude? Consequently, the mention of the Spirit and of the angels is not for identical [purposes]; but the Spirit is mentioned as the Author and Lord of life, whereas the angels are invoked as fellow-servants, helpers, and faithful witnesses of the truth. For it is the custom among the holy ones to deliver the commandments of God with witnesses; just as this same [Apostle] says to Timothy: "The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, these commit to faithful men." And now he calls the angels to witness, for he knows that the angels will be present with the Judge when He comes in the glory of the Father to judge the world in justice. For whoever, He says, shall confess Me before men, him will the Son of man also confess before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men, will be denied in the presence of the angels of God. And Paul says elsewhere: "In the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven ^B with [His] angels." For this reason he here and now calls the angels to witness, preparing for himself excellent proofs for that great tribunal.

30. And not only in this way, but all ^C who have been entrusted with any ministry of the word, never cease to bear witness, but call upon both heaven and earth, as if all things were now being accomplished within their ambit, and as if they would be present together with those being judged at the examination of the things done in this life. For, he says, "He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge His people." Whence Moses, about to deliver the divine words to the people, says: "I call heaven and earth to witness today against you." And again, when delivering the song: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words from my mouth." And Isaiah: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth." Jeremiah, moreover, recounts that heaven was even struck with a kind of stupor at hearing the unholy deeds of the people: "The heaven was amazed at this, and shuddered exceedingly, because my people have done two evil things." Therefore the Apostle, knowing that the angels were set over men as pedagogues or governors of their morals, ^D called them to witness. And Joshua, the son of Nun, even set up a stone as a witness of [his] words (and indeed, a hill, too, was once called a witness by Jacob): "For," he says, "the stone shall be among you today as a witness in the last days, when you have lied to [the] Lord God."

Perhaps he believed by the power of God the stones would emit a voice for the reproof of the transgressors; if not, at least that the conscience of each person would be utterly wounded by the energy of the reminder. In this way, then, those to whom the stewardship of souls was entrusted prepare witnesses, whoever they may be, so as to bring them forward later. But the Spirit is not joined to God for the need of the occasion, but by reason of the communion of nature; not drawn by us, but taken by the Lord.

CHAPTER XIV. Objection, that some were indeed baptized into Moses, and believed in him, and a reply to this, in which also [are] the matters concerning types.

^A Likewise, the narrative concerning the exodus of Israel is recorded as an indication of those who are saved through baptism. For the firstborn of the Israelites were saved, just as the bodies of those who are baptized are saved, since grace is granted to those who have been marked by the blood. For the blood of the sheep is a type of the blood of Christ; the firstborn, however, are a type of the first-created man, who, because he necessarily exists within us, being transmitted to the end through the series of succession, is the reason why "all die in Adam," and "death reigned" until the fulfillment of the Law and the coming of Christ. But the firstborn were preserved by God, so that the destroyer might not touch them, as a demonstration that we, who have been made alive in Christ, no longer die in Adam. The sea and the cloud, for the present, led to faith through astonishment; but for the future, they prefigured the coming grace as a type. "Who is wise, and will understand these things?" How the sea, as a figure of baptism, made a separation from Pharaoh, just as this bath [of baptism] does from the tyranny of the devil. The former killed the enemy within itself; here, too, the enmity which we had toward God dies. The people came out from the former unscathed; we, too, ascend from the waters as living from the dead, saved by the grace of Him who called us. The cloud, moreover, is a shadow of the gift of the Spirit, which cools the flame of the passions by the mortification of the members.

32. What then? Because they were baptized into Moses in a type, is the grace of baptism therefore small? ^C Truly, in this way, nothing else in our mysteries would be great, if we were to belittle the majesty in each one by comparing it with the preceding figures. For not even the love of God toward men would be something great and extraordinary, seeing that He "gave His only-begotten Son for our sins," since not even Abraham spared his own son; nor would the passion of the Lord be glorious, seeing that a ram instead of Isaac fulfilled the type of the sacrifice; nor would the descent into hell be terrible, seeing that Jonah, in three days and as many nights, previously fulfilled the type of death. He, therefore, who compares the truth with the shadow, and equates the things signified with their types, and attempts to disparage the entire evangelical dispensation through Moses and the sea, does the same thing regarding baptism. ^D For what remission of sins, what [the gift] of life...

the Spirit [was] there? What mortification of sin there? Those men did not die with Christ; therefore, neither were they raised with him. They did not wear the image of the heavenly one; they did not carry the mortification of Jesus in their body; they did not put off the old man, nor did they put on the new one, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. Why then do you compare baptisms, ^A of which the name alone is common, while the difference in the realities is as great as that between a dream and the truth, or between a shadow and images and those things which possess true substance?

33. But faith in Moses does not show that the Spirit is of minor worth; rather, according to their line of reasoning, it only belittles the confession toward the God of the universe that we make. For it says, "The people believed God, and Moses his servant." Thus, he was yoked to God, not to the Spirit; and he was a ^B type not of the Spirit, but of Christ. For he was then prefiguring, through himself, the mediator of God and men in the ministry of the Law. For Moses was not a type of the Spirit while interceding for the people before God. For the law was given, ordained through angels, in the hand of a mediator (that is, of Moses), according to the request of the people who said, "Speak you to us, and let not God speak to us." Wherefore, faith in him is referred to the Lord, the mediator ^C of God and of men, who said, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me." Is faith in the Lord, therefore, of small account because it was foreshadowed through Moses? Thus, not even if someone was baptized into Moses is the grace from the Spirit in baptism [therefore] small. Although, otherwise, I might say that it is the custom of Scripture to signify the Law by the name of Moses, as in the saying, "They have Moses and the prophets." Therefore, speaking of the legal baptism, he said, "They were baptized into Moses." ^D Why then do those who malign the truth by means of shadows and types attempt to make contemptible the boast of our hope and that rich gift of our God and Savior, who through regeneration renews our youth as the eagle's? It is, in truth, an indication of a totally childish mind and of a boy who truly has need of milk to be ignorant of that great mystery of our salvation: that just as we are accustomed to be introduced to the learning of disciplines, so in the exercise of piety, while we are being led to perfection, we are first instructed by things which are more easily perceived and whose knowledge is fitting for us.

For He who orders our affairs, just as though He were leading eyes nurtured in darkness by a gradual training toward the great light of truth, is sparing of our infirmity. In the depth of the riches of His wisdom and in the inscrutable judgments of His understanding ^A, He has shown us this gentle and fitting training, accustoming us first to behold the shadows of bodies and to look upon the sun in the water, so that we might not be blinded by immediately encountering the sight of the pure light. For in the same way, both the Law, having a shadow of good things to come, and that prefiguration ^B through the prophets, which is an enigma of the truth, have been devised as exercises for the eyes of the heart, so that through these things a transition might easily be made by us to the wisdom hidden in mystery. So much, then, for the figures. For it is not permitted to linger longer on this topic; otherwise, what has occurred by the way would become far greater than the principal argument.

CHAPTER XV.

Response to that which they subjoin, that we are baptized also into water; where also regarding baptism.

34. What, then, concerning these things? For they abound in many solutions. We are indeed baptized into water, but we do not therefore prefer water to the whole of creation, nor do we impart to it the honor of the Father and of the Son. ^C Those words of theirs are indeed such as would come from men moved by anger, who, because of the darkness poured upon their reason by passion, refrain from nothing that might serve to avenge the one by whom they have been offended. But we shall not even shrink from discussing these matters. For we shall either teach those who are ignorant, or we shall not give way to those who maliciously oppose us. But let us go back a little from above.

35. The dispensation of God and our Savior concerning man is a recall from the fall and a return to the familiarity of God from the alienation which occurred through disobedience ^D. For this cause, there was the coming of Christ in the flesh, the types of the evangelical conduct, the sufferings, the cross, the burial, the resurrection; so that the man who is being saved might regain that ancient adoption of sons through the imitation of Christ. Therefore, it is necessary for the perfection of life to imitate Christ, not only in the examples of gentleness, humility, and long-suffering which He manifested in His life, but also in His very death, as Paul says, being a follower of Christ: Conformed to His death,

if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. ^A How then do we come into the likeness of His death? By being buried with Him through baptism. What then is the manner of the burial, and what is the benefit from the imitation? First of all, it is necessary that the continuity of the former life be interrupted. But this no one can attain unless he is born again, according to the voice of the Lord; for regeneration, as the name itself declares, is the beginning of a second life. Therefore, before beginning the second, it is necessary to put an end to the preceding one. For just as with those who round the turning-post in a race, a certain standing still and pausing intervenes between the opposite directions; so also in the change of life it seemed necessary for death to intervene between the former and the later life, ^B both putting an end to what came before and providing a beginning for what follows. How then do we accomplish the descent into hell? By imitating the burial of Christ through baptism. For the bodies of those being baptized are, in a way, buried in the water. Baptism, therefore, symbolically signifies the putting away of the works of the flesh, according to the Apostle who says that you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, being buried with Him in baptism. And it is, as it were, a purgation of the soul from the stain contracted from carnal thinking, according to what is written: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. For this reason we are not washed after the manner of the Jews ^C for every defilement, but we know one saving baptism; since there is one death for the world, and one resurrection from the dead, of which baptism is the type. For this cause the Lord, who administers our life, established for us the covenant of baptism, containing within it a type of death and life: the water fulfilling the image of death, while the Spirit provides the earnest of life. So it has become clear to us from this, why water was joined to the Spirit. For because two ends are set before us in baptism—both to abolish the body of sin, so that it may no longer bring forth fruit unto death, and to live in the Spirit and have our fruit in sanctification—the water exhibits the image of death, receiving the body as in a sepulcher, ^D while the Spirit infuses the life-giving power, renewing our souls from the deadness of sin into the original life. This, then, is to be born again of water and the Spirit: since death is accomplished in the water, but the Spirit works our life. By three immersions, then, and an equal number of invocations, the great mystery of baptism is performed, so that both the figure of death may be expressed, and by the handing down of divine knowledge the souls of those baptized may be enlightened.

of those who are being baptized is illuminated. Therefore, if there is any grace in the water, it is not from the very nature of the water, but from the presence of the Spirit. For baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the ^A interrogation of a good conscience toward God. And so, preparing us for that life which is from the resurrection, the Lord sets forth the whole evangelical conversation; that we should not be irascible, that we should be tolerant of evils, and pure from the love of pleasure, that our character should be free from the pursuit of money, prescribing that those things which that age possesses according to nature, we, anticipating them, should accomplish by an act of our own will. If, therefore, someone defining the Gospel were to say it is a prefiguration of the life that is from the resurrection, he would not seem to me to deviate from what is fitting. Let us, therefore, return to the purpose.

36. Through the Holy Spirit there is given the restoration into paradise, the ascent into the kingdom of heaven, ^B the return into the adoption of sons: the confidence is given to call God one’s own Father, to become a partaker of the grace of Christ, to be called a child of light, to share in eternal glory, and, to say all in a word, to be in every fullness of blessing, both in this present age and in the future: of those good things laid up for us in promises, the enjoyment of which we await through faith—as if they were already present—beholding the grace as in a mirror. For if the earnest is such, what will that which is perfect be? And if the first fruits are so great, what will the fullness of the whole be? Furthermore, from that source it is recognized how great is the difference between that grace which proceeds from the Spirit and the baptism ^C which consists of water, because John indeed baptized in water for repentance, but our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. For, "I indeed," he says, "baptize you in water for repentance; but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire"; terming this baptism of fire the trial which shall take place at the judgment, as the Apostle says: "Each one’s work, whatever it is, the fire itself will test"; and again: "For the day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire." Now, there are some who, having undergone ^D death in contests for piety, in reality and not by mimicry having suffered for Christ, had no need of the symbols which are in the water for salvation, being baptized in their own blood. Nor do I say these things to despise the baptism of water, but so that the arguments of those who are exalted against the Spirit, and

are confusing what should not be mixed, and comparing what is incomparable. ^A

CHAPTER XVI.

37. Let us return to what was established from the beginning, namely, that the Holy Spirit is in all things inseparable and entirely undivided from the Father and the Son. Paul, writing to the Corinthians in the passage where he treats of the gift of tongues, says: "If all prophesy, and there comes in some ^B unbeliever or unlearned person, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, announcing that God is truly among you." If, then, from prophecy, which is produced according to the distribution of the gifts of the Spirit, God is recognized to be in the prophets, let these men consider what place they will assign to the Holy Spirit: whether it is more reasonable to join Him with God, or to thrust Him down to the order of creatures. Furthermore, those words of Peter to Sapphira, "Why is it that it has been agreed by you to tempt the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God," ^C show that the same sins are committed against the Holy Spirit and against God. And by this means, also, you will be able to learn that the Holy Spirit is united and inseparable in every operation from the Father and the Son. When God effects divisions of operations, and the Lord divisions of ministries, the Holy Spirit is present at the same time, distributing the gifts according to the dignity of each by His own authority. "For there are," he says, "divisions of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are divisions of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are divisions of operations, but the same God, who works all in all." But "all these," he says, "one and the same Spirit works, dividing to each one his own, as He wills." Yet, because the Apostle mentions the Spirit in the first place here, the Son in the second, and God and the Father in the third, one must not immediately imagine that the order is completely reversed. ^D For he took his starting point from our own relation to them; since, as we receive the gifts, we first encounter Him who distributes them; then we think of Him who sent Him; and lastly, we lead our contemplation up to the fountain and author of all good things.

38. You may learn even ^A from the things made from the beginning the communion of the Spirit with the Father and the Son. For the pure, intelligent, and supermundane powers are holy, and are so named, having obtained holiness from the grace infused by the Holy Spirit. Wherefore the manner of the creation of the heavenly powers has been passed over in silence; for he who wrote the history of the created world revealed to us only the Creator from sensible things. But you, possessing the ability to discern the invisible things from the visible, glorify the Creator in whom all things were created, whether visible or invisible, whether principalities, or powers, or virtues, or thrones, or dominions, ^B and if there are any other rational natures which cannot be named. In the creation of these, however, consider for me the primary cause of the things that come to pass, the Father; the creative cause, the Son; the perfecting cause, the Spirit; so that by the will of the Father the ministering spirits exist, by the operation of the Son they are brought into being, and by the presence of the Spirit they are perfected. The perfection of the angels is sanctification, and perseverance in this. And let no one think that I am positing three original hypostases, or asserting that the operation of the Son is imperfect. For the principle of the things that exist is one, acting through the Son and perfecting in the Spirit. And neither does the Father, who works all things in all, have an imperfect operation, nor does the Son have an unfinished creation, if it be not perfected by the Spirit. For in this way, neither would the Father be in need of the Son, creating by will alone, and yet He wills to create through the Son; nor would the Son stand in need of help, operating ^C according to the likeness of the Father, but the Son also wills to perfect through the Spirit: for "by the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the power of them by the Spirit of his mouth." Thus, neither is the Word a significant striking of the air, brought forth through the instruments of voice, nor is the Spirit of the mouth a vapor expelled from the respiratory parts; but the Word is He who was in the beginning with God, and was God; and the Spirit of the mouth of God is the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father. You understand, then, three: the Lord who commands, the Word who creates, and the Spirit who confirms. And what other confirmation could there be than perfection in holiness, the word "confirmation" signifying constancy, immutability, and ^D solidity in good? Sanctification, moreover, is not without the Spirit. For the heavenly powers are not holy by nature.

otherwise they would in no way differ from the Holy Spirit, but according to the proportion of their superiority over one another, they have the measure of sanctification from the Spirit. ^A For just as a cautery is not understood without fire, while the underlying matter is one thing and the fire another, so too in the case of the heavenly powers, their substance is, if you will, an airy spirit or immaterial fire, according to that which is written: *He makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire* (Ps. CI, 4); wherefore they are also in a place, and become visible, appearing to those who are worthy in the form of their own bodies. But sanctification, being outside their essence, brings them perfection through communion with the Spirit. They preserve their dignity by ^B persistence in the good, having indeed the power of free choice, yet never falling away from the presence of Him who is truly good; so that if you were to remove the Spirit by your reasoning, the choirs of angels would be dissolved, the orders of archangels would be abolished, and all things would be thrown into confusion; their life would be subject to no law, no order, no rule. For how would the angels say, *Glory to God in the highest* (Luc. II, 14), if they were not empowered by the Spirit? *For no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit* (I Cor. XII, 3), and no one speaking in the Spirit of God says that Jesus is anathema; which is what the wicked and opposing spirits ^C would say, whose fall confirms what we say: that the invisible powers are of their own will, equally turnable toward virtue and toward vice, and for this reason they have need of the Spirit’s assistance. I, for my part, maintain that Gabriel himself predicts future events in no other way than by the foreknowledge of the Spirit. For prophecy is one of the gifts from the division of the Spirit. And he who was commanded to declare the mysteries of the vision to the man of desires, whence did he receive wisdom to teach hidden things, if not through the Holy Spirit? Since the revelation of mysteries pertains peculiarly to the Spirit, according to that which is written: *God has revealed to us through the Spirit* (I Cor. II, 10). But how would the Thrones and Dominions, ^D and Principalities and Powers, lead their blessed life, if they did not always behold the face of the Father who is in heaven? And seeing is not without the Spirit. For just as in the night, if you take away the lamp from the house, the eyes are blind, the faculties are left inactive, and the value of things is not recognized, but because of ignorance, gold is trampled underfoot just as iron; so it is with the intellectual...

order, it is impossible for that pious and holy life to remain without the Spirit; no more truly than an army can remain in good order if its leader is absent, or a chorus in harmony, unless the chorus master tempers the harmony. ^A Who could say, the seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy," unless they were taught by the Spirit how often it is pious to utter this doxology? Whether, therefore, all His angels and all His powers praise God, it is done by the aid of the Spirit; or whether there stand by thousands of thousands of angels, and ten thousand times ten thousand ministers, they perform their duty without reproach in the power of the Spirit. Therefore, that entire supercelestial and ineffable harmony, both in the worship of God and in the consonant relationship of the ultramundane powers among themselves, could by no means be preserved, were the Spirit not presiding. Thus, then, in creation, to those things which do not arrive at perfection by progress, but are perfect from the very moment of their creation, the Holy Spirit is present; in this, that their substance might be perfected and completed, He brings to them His own grace.

39. Furthermore, with regard to the dispensations concerning man, which were enacted by the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ according to the goodness of God, who will deny that they have been fulfilled through the grace of the Spirit? Whether you wish to look at ancient matters: the blessings of the patriarchs, the help given through the Law, the figures, the prophecies, the brave deeds in wars, the miracles wrought through the saints; or those things which were dispensed concerning the Lord's coming in the flesh: they were performed through the Spirit. ^C For first, He was present to the very flesh of the Lord, having become the unction, and inseparably conjoined, just as it is written: *Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon him, this is my beloved Son*; and, *Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit*. Thenceforth, every action was performed while the Spirit was present. He was present when He was even tempted by the devil. *For Jesus was led*, he says, *by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted*. Then He was with Him indivisibly when He performed miracles. *For if I*, He says, *in the Spirit of God cast out demons*. Nor did He abandon Him when raised from the dead. For the Lord, ^D renewing man, and again restoring to him the grace which he had lost, which had been received from the breath of God, when He had breathed into the face of the disciples, what does He say? *Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose you shall retain, they are retained*. But now, is the order and governance of the Church not openly and without

contradiction accomplished through the Holy Spirit? For He Himself, it says, gave to the Church ^A first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then powers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, kinds of tongues. For this order has been arranged according to the distribution of the gifts from the Spirit.

40. For someone, if he calculates accurately, will find—even concerning the time of the awaited appearance of the Lord from heaven—that the Holy Spirit is not inconsequential, as some think; but that He will be present also on that day of His revelation, in which the blessed and only Potentate shall judge the world in righteousness. For who is so ignorant of the good things that God has prepared for ^B the worthy, as to be unaware that the crown of the righteous is the grace of the Spirit, which will be provided more abundantly then and more perfectly, distributed to each according to the proportion of their virtuous deeds of spiritual glory? For in the splendors of the saints there are "many mansions with the Father"—this means, differences of dignities. "For as one star differs from another in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead." Those, therefore, who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit "unto the day of redemption," and who have kept the first fruits of the Spirit—which they received—pure and intact, these are they who shall hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things." Similarly, those who have "grieved the Holy Spirit" by the wickedness ^C of their pursuits, or who have not made a profit from the portion given, shall have that which they received taken away, the grace being transferred to others; or, according to one of the evangelists, they shall even be "cut asunder" entirely; for the "cutting" must be understood as being an alienation from the Holy Spirit unto the end. For the body is not divided, so that one part is delivered over to punishment and the other is set free; for such a thing is mythical, and not worthy of a just judge, that when the whole has sinned, half should be condemned to punishment. Nor is the soul cut in two, since it has the affection for sinning through and through, and works evil together with the body. But the "cutting," ^D as I said, is the perpetual alienation of the soul from the Spirit. For now, even if He is not mixed with the unworthy, He yet appears to be present in some way to those who have once been baptized, awaiting that they might attain salvation through repentance; but then, the Spirit shall be cut off entirely from the soul that has profaned His grace; and therefore there is none in hell who confesses.

He is to be cut off. For this reason, there is no one in Hades who confesses, nor is there any in death who remembers God, when the aid of the Holy Spirit is no longer present. How, then, is it possible to conceive that the judgment takes place without the Holy Spirit, when the Word shows that He himself is also the prize of the righteous, when the perfect is provided in place of the earnest; and the first condemnation of sinners, when they are stripped even of what they seem to have? But the greatest proof of that connection which the Spirit has with the Father and the Son, is that He is said to have the same relation toward God as the spirit which is in us has toward each one of us. For who, he says, among men knows the things of a man, save the spirit which is in him? So also, no one knows the things of God, save the Spirit who is from God. And so much for this. ^B

CHAPTER XVII.

41. But as to what they say, and to what meaning they refer this word, it is not even easy to imagine. For it is known and evident to all that this term was imported to us from the wisdom of the world. But whether it has any proper reason pertinent to the matter now at hand, let us consider this. Those who are skilled in vain things say, therefore, that some names are common, and their signification embraces many things: while others are more proper, and others have a force more particular than others. For example, "essence" is a common name, which is predicated ^C equally of all things, whether inanimate or animate. "Animal," however, is more particular, which is predicated of fewer things than the former, but yet its contemplation extends more than the things which are subject to it. For in it the nature of both rational and irrational beings is embraced. Again, "man" is a more special name than "animal": likewise, "man" (vir) is a more special name than "human being" (homo), and more special than "man" is this or that man—for instance, Peter, or Paul, or John. Do they, therefore, understand this to be "subnumeration"—the division of a common thing into the things subject to it? But I would not believe them to have arrived at such a pitch of stupidity as to say that the God of all, like some commonality, intelligible only to reason, but subsisting in no hypostasis, is divided into the things subject to Him; and then to say that this subdivision is called subnumeration. This, surely, not even the insane would say. For besides their impiety, they also fashion a doctrine ^D contrary to their own intention. For the things being subdivided are of the same essence as those from which they have been divided. But we seem to be at a loss for words due to the excessive clarity of the absurdity, and not to have [words]...

with which to rebuke their folly; so much so that, on account of their madness, they seem to me to gain something. For just as you cannot strike a notable blow upon soft and yielding bodies, because they cannot offer resistance or push back, so you cannot strike those who are openly insane with a forceful and manly refutation. It remains, therefore, that we pass over their abominable impiety in silence. But neither the love of the brethren nor the wickedness of our adversaries allows me to remain silent.

42. What then, I ask, do you say? See how great is the arrogance in their language! We profess, they say, that "enumeration" (connumeration) is appropriate for those who are equal in honor, but "sub-enumeration" (subnumeration) is for those of inferior condition. And why, pray, do you say this? For I do not understand your absurd wisdom. Is it because gold is enumerated with gold, while lead is no longer worthy of enumeration, but because of the cheapness of its material will be sub-enumerated to gold? And do you attach such power to number, that it is able either to raise the value of cheap things or to cast down the dignity of precious things? Therefore, you will also sub-enumerate gold to precious stones, and among these yourselves, you will sub-enumerate the less bright and smaller ^B ones to the more elegant and larger ones. But what might they not say, those who have no time for anything else but to speak or hear something new? Henceforth, let those who teach impiety by a calculated and established method be listed along with the Stoics and Epicureans. For what manner of sub-enumeration of cheap things to precious things could possibly exist? How will a bronze obol be sub-enumerated to a gold stater? Because, they say, we do not say that two coins are possessed, but "one and one." Which, then, is sub-enumerated to which of these? For each is pronounced in the same way. If, therefore, ^C you count each by itself, you create equality of value by the same way of counting; but if you combine them, you again make one and the same dignity, enumerating both to each other. But if whatever you place in the second position in counting will have "sub-enumeration," it is in the power of the one counting to begin the enumeration from the bronze coin. But putting aside the refutation of their ignorance, let us turn the discourse to the things that contain the matter and the cause.

43. And do you say that the Son is sub-enumerated to the Father, ^D and the Spirit to the Son, or do you assign the sub-enumeration to the Spirit alone? For if you also sub-enumerate the Son, you are reviving the same doctrine of impiety again, and you will be shown to be rolling all the blasphemies against the Only-Begotten into this one word—the dissimilarity of essence, the lowering of dignity, a generation posterior in time, and, in short, all of them together; to contradict which is a longer task than is appropriate for the present purpose, especially

since the impiety has been refuted by us to the best of our ability in other places. But if they think that "subnumeration" applies to the Spirit alone, let them learn that the Spirit is pronounced in the same way with the Lord ^A as the Son is with the Father. For the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is delivered in like manner. Therefore, as the Son is related to the Father, so is the Spirit related to the Son, according to the order of words delivered in baptism. But if the Spirit is joined to the Son, and the Son to the Father, it is clear that the Spirit is also joined to the Father. What place, then, is there for saying that one is "counted with" and the other is "subnumbered," when the names are set forth in one and the same series? In short, what thing from among all kinds of things ever departs from its own nature while it is being numbered? Rather, do not things that are numbered continue to be what they were from the beginning, while number is applied by us as a sign by which the multitude of those things lying before us is declared? ^B For of bodies, some we number, others we measure, and others we weigh; and things whose nature is continuous we grasp by measure, while those that are discrete we subject to number, except for those which, on account of their fineness, also become measurable; while heavy things we distinguish by the inclination of the scales. Therefore, because we have devised signs for our own knowledge of quantity, we do not simultaneously change the nature of the things signified. Just as, therefore, we do not "sub-weigh" things we weigh against one another, even if one thing be gold and another tin, nor do we "sub-measure" things that are judged by measure; so too, we shall by no means "sub-number" things that are numbered. But if in other things there is nothing that admits "subnumeration," with what face do they say that subnumeration is appropriate for the Spirit? But these men, laboring under a pagan disease, think that things which are inferior in degree of dignity or in submission of nature and ^C substance, are those to which subnumeration is appropriate.

CHAPTER XVIII.

How we preserve the pious dogma of the monarchy in the profession of the three hypostases; here also is the refutation of those who say that the Spirit is subnumbered.

44. When the Lord delivered [the faith], He did not deliver it with number. For He did not say, "Into the first and second and third," nor, "Into one and two and three," but He bestowed through the holy names the knowledge of the faith which leads to salvation. Wherefore, that which saves us is faith. But number is a sign devised to declare how many things lie before us. But those who from every quarter heap up mischief for themselves use even the faculty of numbering against the faith; indeed, they who, of no

other things, are otherwise altered by the addition of number, are yet fearful of number regarding the divine nature, lest by it ^A they might exceed the measure of the honor owed to the Paraclete. But, O most wise men, let those things which are beyond our reach be truly above number; just as the ancient piety of the Hebrews inscribed with its own peculiar signs the ineffable name of God, and from this declared His preeminence over all things. But if it is necessary to number, let us not even in this corrupt the truth. For let either the ineffable be honored by silence, or the holy be numbered with piety. There is one God and Father, and one only-begotten Son, and one Holy Spirit. We proclaim each of the hypostases singularly; yet when it is necessary to number them together, we are not led by an untaught numbering to the conception of many gods.

^B 45. We do not number by way of addition, making an increase from one to a multitude, saying one and two and three, nor first and second and third. For: "I am the first God, and I am after these." But a second God we have never heard of even to this day; for while we worship God from God, we confess the property of the hypostases, and we remain in the monarchy, not scattering theology into a divided multitude, because there is one form, so to speak, to be contemplated in God the Father and God the Only-begotten, expressed in an immutable and absolutely similar deity. For the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son; since this One is such as that One, and that One such as this One; and in this is the unity. ^C So that, according to the individuality of the persons, they are one and one; but according to the commonality of the nature, the two are one. How then, if there is one and one, are there not two Gods? Because the king is mentioned and the image of the king, yet there are not two kings. For neither is authority split, nor is glory divided. ^D For just as our ruling authority and power is one, so also is the glorification which we offer one, and not many; because the honor of the image passes to the prototype. Therefore, what on the one hand is here an image by imitation, that on the other is there the Son by nature. And just as in those things made by art, the likeness is according to the form, so in the divine and incomposite nature, there is unity in the communion of the deity. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is one, and He also is proclaimed singularly, resting in the one Deity.

^A For being joined to the one Father through the one Son, and Himself completing in Himself the much-praised and blessed Trinity; His relationship to the Father and the Son is sufficiently shown by the fact that He is not ranked among the multitude of creatures, but is proclaimed singularly. For He is not one of many, but is one. For just as there is one Father, and one Son, so there is one Holy Spirit. He is removed from the created nature as far as it is fitting for that which is singular to be distant from things that are collective and have a multitude; but He is united to the Father and the Son as much as unity has communion with unity.

46. But not only is the communion of nature proved from this, but also from the fact that He is said to be from God; not as all things are from God, but as proceeding from God; not by generation, as the Son, but as the Spirit of His mouth. ^B Yet surely neither is the mouth a member, nor is the Spirit a dissoluble breath; but both the mouth is spoken of in a way worthy of God, and the Spirit is a living essence, the mistress of sanctification: the relationship ^C being indicated by this, while the mode of existence is kept ineffable. Moreover, He is also called the Spirit of Christ, as being appropriated to Him according to nature. ^D For this reason, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him." Whence He alone worthily glorifies the Lord. For He, He says, "shall glorify me," not as a creature, but as the Spirit of truth, clearly manifesting in Himself the truth; and as the Spirit of wisdom, revealing in His own greatness Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And as the Comforter, He characterizes in Himself the goodness of the Comforter who sent Him; and in His own dignity, He exhibits the majesty of Him from whom He proceeded. There is therefore one glory that is natural, like the light is the glory of the sun; and another that is external, which from free will is distinctly conferred upon the worthy. And this, too, is twofold. For, He says, "The Son glorifies the Father, and the servant his master." Of these, therefore, the servile one is offered by the creature, but the other, so to speak, the domestic one, is fulfilled by the Spirit. For just as He said concerning Himself: "I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which Thou hast given Me to do"; so also concerning the Comforter: "He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall announce it to you." And as the Son is glorified by the Father, who says: "And I have glorified it, and will glorify it again," so is the Spirit glorified by the

communion which He has with the Father and the Son, and by the testimony of the Only-Begotten, who says: "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto you, O men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven."

47. Since, by a sanctifying power, we gaze upon the beauty of the image of the invisible God, and through it are raised up to the superlative spectacle of the archetype, the Spirit of knowledge ^A is found inseparably present with it, providing to those who love to contemplate the truth the power of seeing the image; not displaying this demonstration from without, but leading them into the recognition within Himself. For just as no one knows the Father except the Son, so no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit. For it is not said, "Through the Spirit," but, "In the Spirit." And, "God is a Spirit," and, "Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth," ^B even as it is written: "In Thy light shall we see light," that is, in the illumination of the Spirit, the true Light, which lightens every man coming into the world. Thus, He shows within Himself the glory of the Only-Begotten, and offers within Himself the knowledge of God to true worshippers.

The way of the knowledge of God, therefore, is from the one Spirit, through the one Son, to the one Father. And conversely, natural goodness, natural holiness, and royal dignity pass from the Father, through the Only-Begotten, to the Spirit. ^C Thus, the hypostases are confessed, and the pious dogma of the monarchy does not fail. But let those who posit a sub-enumeration by saying "first, second, and third" recognize that they are introducing the polytheism of Greek error into the unblemished theology of the Christians. For the craft of sub-enumeration leads to nothing else than the confession of a first, second, and third God. But for us, the order prescribed by the Lord is sufficient, and he who confuses it will sin no less than the impiety of these men.

That the natural communion is in no way dissolved by the method of sub-enumeration, as these men erroneously suppose, has been sufficiently stated. ^D But let us grant to the obstinate and vainly wise, and let us concede that that which is in any way subsequent is expressed in such a way that it is sub-enumerated to it. Let us see, then, what follows from this argument. "The first man," he says, "is of the earth, earthly: the second man is the Lord from heaven"; and in another place, "The spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual." If, therefore, the second is sub-enumerated to the first, and that which is sub-enumerated is viler than that to which it is sub-enumerated; then, according to you, the spiritual is viler than the natural, and the celestial is viler than the earthly man.

CHAPTER XIX.

48. Be it so, they say, yet the glory due to the Spirit is not such that it should be elevated by us in doxologies. Whence, therefore, shall we obtain the proofs of the Spirit’s dignity—which surpasses all understanding—if the communion of the Father and the Son has been deemed by these men insufficient to testify to His worth? We are able, however, by looking toward the meanings signified by His names, and toward the greatness of His operations, and toward the benefits conferred upon us—or rather, upon the whole of creation—to perceive, according to the measure of our capacity, the sublimitad and incomprehensible power of that nature. He is called Spirit, as it is written, *God is a Spirit* 96; and, *The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord* 97. He is called holy, just as the Father is holy and the Son is holy. For while holiness is introduced into the creature from an external source, in the Spirit, holiness is the completion of [His] nature. Therefore, He is not sanctified, but He sanctifies. He is likewise called good, just as the Father is good, and as He who is born of the Good is good, to whom goodness is His very essence. He is called upright, as the Lord God is upright 98, in that He is by Himself Truth itself and Justice itself, having no turnings or inclinations toward one side or the other, on account of the immutability of His nature. He is named Paraclete, even as the Only-Begotten is: as He Himself says, *I will ask my Father, and He will give you another Paraclete* 99. In this way, the names are common to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who possesses these appellations from the fellowship of His nature. For whence else should He have them? Furthermore, He is called the principal Spirit, the Spirit of truth, and the Spirit of wisdom. *The divine Spirit that hath made me* 1; and, *He filled Beseleel*, he says, *with the divine Spirit of wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge* 2. Such names, therefore, are indeed excellent and great, yet, in so far as they pertain to glory, they do not possess any exaggeration.

49. And what are His operations? Ineffable, indeed, because of their greatness, and innumerable because of their multitude. For how can we understand those things which were before the ages? What were His operations before the intelligible creation? How great, moreover, are the benefits bestowed by Him upon the creature? And to these, what power is to be exercised in the ages to come? For He was, and He existed beforehand, and He was present together with the Father and the Son before the ages. Wherefore, even if you think of anything before the ages, you will find this [to be within the scope] of the Spirit...

^A of the formation, clearly, as it is understood as being fixed in a state that does not easily fall away from the good. For the intimacy with God, and the unchangeability toward evil, and the endurance in blessedness, [are] through the Spirit to the [heavenly] powers. The coming of Christ; and the Spirit precedes [him]. The presence in the flesh; and the Spirit is inseparable. The workings of powers, the gifts of healings, through the Holy Spirit. Demons were driven out in the Spirit of God. The Devil was rendered inoperative with the Spirit being present. The remission of sins [is] in the grace of the Spirit. For you were washed and you were sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. Intimacy with God [is] through ^B the Spirit. For God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.' The resurrection from the dead [is] by the working of the Spirit. 'For you will send forth your Spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth.' Whether one might take 'creation' as referring to the restoration of the dead, how is the working of the Spirit not great, who provides for us the life [that comes] from the resurrection, and adapts our souls to that spiritual life? Or if 'creation' be spoken of as the transformation into a better state of those who have fallen here through sin (for it is also used in this way according to the custom of Scripture, as when Paul says, 'If any one is in Christ, a new creation'), then the renewal ^C there, and the change from an earthly and passion-ridden life to a heavenly way of life, being brought about for us through the Spirit, leads our souls to the highest point of wonder. Concerning these things, should we fear lest we overstep in our dignity through the excesses of our honors; or the opposite, lest we lower our concept of Him to something humble, even if we think we are speaking the greatest things of Him that can be conceived by the human mind and uttered by human tongue? 'These things says the Holy Spirit,' just as 'These things says the Lord: Descend, and go with them, making no distinction, because I have sent them.' Are these the words of someone lowly and fearful? 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them.' Does a servant speak in this way? And Isaiah: 'The Lord hath sent me, and his Spirit'; and, 'The Spirit of the Lord ^D descended, and led them.' And do not again receive this 'leading' as a lowly ministry for me. For Scripture testifies that this work is also God's. 'Thou hast led,' it says, 'thy people like sheep'; and, 'Who leadest Joseph like a sheep'; and, 'He led them in hope, and not

they were afraid. So when you hear, 'When the Paraclete comes, He will remind you and lead you into all truth,' understand the leading as you have been taught; do not slander the thought.

^B 50. But, he says, 'He also intercedes for us.' If, therefore, as much as one who is a suppliant is inferior to the author of a benefit, by so much the Spirit is removed from God in dignity, have you not yet heard about the Only-Begotten, that he is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us? Do not, therefore, because the Spirit is in you—if indeed He is in you at all—and because He teaches and leads those of us who are blinded to the choosing of what is profitable, lose on that account the pious and holy opinion concerning Him. For it is the height of ingratitude to turn the kindness of a benefactor into an occasion for ingratitude. Do not, therefore, grieve the Holy Spirit. Hear what the first-fruits of the martyrs, Stephen, says, rebuking the disobedience and rebelliousness of the people: 'You,' he says, 'always resist the Holy Spirit.' And again Isaiah: 'They provoked the Holy Spirit, and He turned to be their enemy.' And elsewhere: 'The house of Jacob provoked the Spirit of the Lord.' Hear, I ask you, do not these things declare ^C supreme power? I leave it to the judgment of the readers, upon hearing these things, what sort of notions they ought to form: whether to think of Him as an instrument, and as an obedient subject, and as one sharing the same condition as the creature, and finally as a fellow-slave with us; or whether it is most serious even for this blasphemy just to reach the ears of the pious? Do you call the Spirit a slave? 'But,' he says, 'a slave does not know what his master is doing.' But the Spirit knows the things of God in the same way as the spirit of a man knows what is in him.

CAPUT XX.

51. Neither a slave, he says, nor a master, but free. O the terrible insensibility, O the miserable audacity of those who say these things! What more shall I lament? Their ignorance, or their blasphemy? They who disgrace the doctrines of theology with human examples, and attempt to adapt to the divine and ineffable nature the human custom through which the excellence of dignities differs; not considering that among men ^D there is no one who is a slave by nature. For either having been subjugated

they have been led under the yoke of slavery as in captivity, or through poverty they have been enslaved as the Egyptians were to Pharaoh, or, in accordance with a certain wise and secret dispensation, the baser sort among children have been sentenced by the voice of their parents to serve those who are wiser and better; which a just assessor of events might call not a condemnation, but a benefit. ^B For it is more profitable for him who, due to a lack of sense, does not have within himself the faculty that nature demands for ruling, to become the property of another, so that, being directed by the judgment of the one who governs, he may be like a chariot that has received a charioteer, or a ship that has a helmsman sitting at the tiller. For this reason Jacob is lord of Esau by the blessing of his father, so that the foolish man may be benefited even against his will by the wise, not having his own guardian intelligence. And Canaan as a serving boy ^B shall be to his brothers, since he was unlearned in virtue, having for his father the foolish Ham. Thus, then, it is with regard to slaves on earth; but those are free who have escaped poverty or war, or who have no need of the care of others. So that even if one is called master and the other a servant, yet all men are fellow-slaves both in the equality they share with one another and as the possessions of Him who made us.

But there, ^C what can you remove from servitude? For at the very moment they were created, servitude was created along with them. For they do not rule one another, because heavenly things are devoid of greed; but all things are subject to God, rendering both the fear owed to a master and the glory owed to a Creator. For a son honors his father, and a servant his master. And God requires one of these two from everyone. For if I am, he says, a Father, where is my glory? And if I am a Lord, where is my ^C fear? Otherwise, a life not subject to the oversight and inspection of the Lord would be the most miserable of all. Such are the apostate powers, which, because they have stiffened their necks against God Almighty, spurn servitude—not because they are of a different nature, but because they are unwilling to be subject to the Creator. Whom, then, do you call free? One without a king? One who has neither the power to rule another, nor accepts being ruled? But no such nature exists among created things, and to think this concerning the Spirit is open impiety. ^D Therefore, if He is created, He obviously serves together with all things; for He says, All things serve thee; but if He is above the creation, He is also a partaker of the kingdom.

CHAPTER XXI. Testimonies from the Scriptures that the Spirit is called Lord.

52. But why is there a need, while fighting ^A from humble facts, to prepare a victory in a shameful manner through the argument, when it is possible, by the juxtaposition of more august [texts], to demonstrate the excellence of His glory, against which it is impossible to gainsay? But if we should bring forward those things which Scripture has taught us, perhaps they will cry out with a great and vehement clamor, and the Pneumatomachi, having stopped their ears and taken up stones, or whatever else may happen to be at hand, having turned everything into a weapon against us, will rush upon us. Yet safety is not to be preferred by us to the truth. We find, then, in the Apostle: *May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ for the sake of the tribulations* (II Thess. iii, 5). Who is the Lord directing [them] into the love of God and the patience of Christ for the sake of the tribulations? Let those who reduce the Spirit to servitude answer us. For if the discourse were about God and the Father, it would certainly have been said: "May the Lord direct you into His own love"; or if about the Son, it would have added: "into His own patience." Let them seek, therefore, what other person there is whom it is fitting to honor with the title of Lord. ^B Closely related to this is also that which is placed elsewhere: *And may the Lord fill you and cause you to abound in love, toward one another and toward all, just as we also toward you, to the end that He may confirm your hearts blameless in sanctification, before God and our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints* (I Thess. iii, 12, 13). Which Lord does he pray [may], before God and our Father, at the coming of our Lord, confirm the hearts of the faithful Thessalonians, [rendered] blameless in holiness? Let them answer us, who rank the Holy Spirit with the ministering spirits, who are sent for service. But they have nothing to answer. Wherefore let them hear also another testimony, which evidently calls the Holy Spirit Lord. *The Lord, he says, is the Spirit* (II Cor. iii, 17); and again: *As from the Lord the Spirit* (II Cor. iii, 18). But that no opportunity of contradicting may be left behind, I will bring into the midst the very words of the Apostle: *For until this very day the same veil remains in the reading of the Old Testament, not ^C revealed, which is abolished in Christ. But when he shall have turned to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit* (II Cor. iii, 14, 16, 17). Why does he say this? Because he who sits by the naked understanding of the letter, and is occupied there with legal observations...

^A has his heart covered as if by a veil, by the Jewish interpretation of the letter; and he suffers this because he is ignorant that the bodily observance of the Law was abolished at the advent of Christ, with the types now having been translated into the truth. For lamps are idle at the presence of the sun; and the Law is at leisure, and the prophets ^B are silenced, once the truth has shone forth. However, he who has been able to peer into the depth of the legal sense, and having torn through the obscurity of the letter, as if it were a veil, to enter into the mysteries, he has imitated Moses, who, when speaking to God, removes the veil, himself also turning from the letter to the Spirit. So that the obscurity of the legal teachings corresponds to the veil on the face of Moses, and the turning to the Lord corresponds to the spiritual contemplation. Therefore, he who in the reading of the Law removes the ^C letter turns to the Lord (and the Lord is now called the Spirit), and becomes like Moses, having a face glorified by the apparition of God. For just as things placed near to flowery colors are themselves colored by the radiance flowing from them, so he who has clearly fixed his eyes upon the Spirit is in some way transformed by His glory, so as to become brighter, while he is illuminated in his heart by the truth proceeding from the Spirit, as if by a certain light. And this is to be transformed from the glory of the Spirit to one's own glory, not sparingly, nor faintly, but to the extent that it is fitting for one who is illuminated by the Spirit ^D to be illuminated. Do you not fear, O man, the Apostle saying: "You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you"? Could he ever have honored a servile dwelling with the title of temple? And what of him who calls Scripture "divinely inspired" because it was written by the breathing of the Holy Spirit; does he use insulting words that diminish the Spirit?

CHAPTER XXII. The confirmation of the natural communion of the Spirit, by the fact that He is equally incomprehensible with the Father and the Son.

33. It is not only from these things that He has the same appellations, and is a partner in the operations with the Father and the Son, that the excellence of His nature is made clear, but also from those things in which He is equally inaccessible to contemplation. For what the Lord says regarding the Father—that He is beyond human comprehension—and what He says regarding the Son, these same things the Lord says also regarding the Holy Spirit: "Righteous Father, even the world has not known you"; naming the world

^A not now the system of heaven and earth, but this transient life subject to myriad changes. And speaking about Himself, "Yet a little while," He says, "and the world no longer sees me, but you see me." Again, here He calls those who are bound to a material and carnal life, and who judge the truth only by their eyes, the "world," for they were no longer to see our Lord with the eyes of the heart, because they did not believe in the resurrection. He said these same things also regarding the Spirit: "The Spirit," He says, "of truth, which the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him, nor know Him: but you know Him, for He abides with you." For a carnal man, having a mind unexercised toward contemplation—or rather, bearing it entirely as if buried in the mire ^B by the disposition of the flesh—is unable to look up toward the spiritual light of truth. Wherefore the world—that is, the life enslaved to the passions of the flesh—like a weak eye unable to bear the light of a solar ray, does not receive the grace of the Spirit. But when the Lord had given this testimony to His disciples, that they were of a pure life because of His teaching, He granted also that they should now be fit for the speculation and contemplation of the Spirit. "For already," He says, "you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." Whence the world indeed cannot receive Him; for it does not see Him, but you know Him, for He abides with you. The same things says also Isaiah: "Who established the earth and the things in it, and gives ^C breath to the people upon it, and Spirit to those who walk upon it." For those who trample upon earthly things and have become above them, have been testified to as worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit. What then must He be thought to be, who is uncontainable by the world but viewable by the saints only because of the purity of the heart, or what honors are fitting to belong to Him?

CHAPTER XXIII.

That the glorification of the Spirit is the enumeration of those things which belong to Him.

54. The other powers are believed to be in a circumscribed place. For the angel who stood ^D by Cornelius was not at the same moment standing by Philip; nor did he who spoke to Zacharias from the altar fulfill his own station in heaven at the same time. But the Spirit is believed to be active at once in Habakkuk and in Daniel in Babylon.

^A and with Jeremiah at the cataract, and with Ezekiel at the Chobar. For the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world; and, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy face?" And the prophet: "Because I am with you, saith the Lord; and my Spirit remaineth in the midst of you." But he who is everywhere, and resides with God, what manner of nature ought we to believe him to be? Is it one that encompasses all things, or one straitened in particular places, such as we have shown the nature of the angels to be from the texts provided? But no one would say that. Therefore, shall we not highly exalt Him who is divine in his nature, incomprehensible in his greatness, powerful in his operations, and good in his benefits? Shall we not glorify Him beyond measure? ^B I, for my part, understand nothing else by "glory" than the enumeration of the wonderful things that belong to Him. Therefore, either these people will forbid us from making any mention at all of the good things we receive from Him, or else to have recounted absolutely everything that belongs to Him is to have fulfilled the highest glorification. For we cannot glorify even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and His only-begotten Son in any other way than by recounting His wonders according to our ability.

CHAPTER XXIV

Refutation of the absurdity of those who do not glorify the Spirit, from a comparison of those things which are glorified in creatures.

^C 55. "Deinde vero gloria and honor and peace are stored up in the promises for every one who does good." Further, there is a certain glory peculiar to the people of Israel; "whose," he says, "is the adoption, and the glory, and the service." And the singer of the Psalms mentions a certain glory of his own: "When my glory shall sing to thee," and again, "Arise, my glory." There is a certain glory of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars; and according to the Apostle, even the ministration of condemnation exists with glory. Since, therefore, there are so many things that possess glory, do you wish the Spirit alone out of all of them to be inglorious? And yet, he says, "the ministration of the Spirit is in glory." How, therefore, does it happen that He is unworthy ^D

^A of the glory that is owed to Him? Let it be granted, he says, that He is to be glorified, but not with the Father and the Son. And what reason is there to imagine for the Spirit a different place, having abandoned that which was assigned by the Lord, and to deprive Him of the communion in glory who is everywhere joined to the Divinity, in the profession of faith, in the baptism of redemption, in the operation of the virtues, in the indwelling of the saints, and in the gifts bestowed upon the obedient? For there is not any gift at all arriving to the creature without the Holy Spirit, since it is not possible to speak even a single word in the defenses for Christ unless assisted by the Spirit, just as we have learned in the Gospels from the Lord and Savior. But having overlooked all these things, and having forgotten the communion which He has in all things, to tear Him away from the Father and the Son—I do not know if anyone who is a partaker of the Holy Spirit will agree to that. In what order, therefore, shall we place Him? Among the creatures? But every creature is in ^B bondage; the Spirit, however, makes free. "For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And since there are many things which I could record here, showing why it is not fitting to number the Holy Spirit among created things, I shall now desist from speaking about these. For if I should begin to bring forward the proofs, both those which make for our side and those which dissolve the objections raised by the adversaries, according to the dignity of the argument, there would be need of many words, and we would weary our readers with the prolixity of the volume. Therefore, having reserved that for another special treatise, let us hold to the things proposed. ^C 56. Let us examine each point. By nature He is good, as the Father is good, and the Son is good. But the creature, through the choice of that which is good, is a partaker of goodness. The Spirit knows the depths of God; but the creature receives the revelation of the mysteries through the Spirit. He gives life together with God who gives life to all things, and together with the Son who gives life. "For He who raised Christ from the dead," He says, "will also give life to your mortal bodies ^D through His Spirit that dwells in you"; and

again: "My sheep hear my voice, and I give them eternal life." But the Spirit, he says, also gives life. And again: "But the Spirit," he says, "is life because of righteousness." And the Lord testifies that the Spirit is the one who gives life: "The flesh does not profit anything." How, then, by alienating the Spirit from the life-giving power, shall we join Him to nature, which itself stands in need of life? Who is so contentious, who is so devoid of the heavenly gift, and untasted of the good words of God, who is so bereft of eternal hopes as to rank the Spirit with creation, having detached Him from the Godhead? ^B

57. The Spirit, they say, is like a gift from God. But a gift is by no means honored with the same honors as the one who gave it. The Spirit is indeed a gift of God, but a gift of life. For "the law," he says, "of the Spirit of life has set us free." And a gift of power: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Is He therefore to be despised? Or has He not also given the Son to men? "He who," he says, "did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also freely give us all things with Him?" And elsewhere: "That we may know the things that have been freely given to us by God," speaking of the mystery of the incarnation. So how do those who say these things not surpass Jewish ingratitude, taking the excess of goodness as a pretext for blasphemy? ^C For they accuse the Spirit because He gives us the confidence to call God our Father. "For God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father,” so that His voice might become the own voice of those who have received Him.

CAPUT XXV.

That Scripture uses the syllable "in" for "with": where it is also proven that "and" is equivalent to "with."

58. Why, then, they say, does Scripture nowhere hand down the Spirit to be glorified with the Father and the Son, but carefully avoids saying "with the Spirit," and everywhere prefers to glorify "in Him," as if it judged this more fitting? But I would by no means say that this syllable "in" provides a less honorable sense; ^D rather, if it is soundly understood, it raises the mind to the greatest height, since we have observed that this is frequently used for "with." Such is that instance: "I will enter your house in burnt offerings," for "with burnt offerings." And "He brought them out in silver and gold," for "with silver and gold."

Item that, "You will not go out in our powers," for "with our powers," and myriads of such things. I would very gladly learn from this new wisdom, what doxology the Apostle fulfilled by the word "in," according to the pattern which these now bring forward as if from Scripture. For nowhere have I found it written: "To you, O Father, be honor and glory through your only-begotten Son in the Holy Spirit"—a formula which to these people is now more habitual ^B than, so to speak, breathing itself. For one can find each of these words separately, but they can nowhere show them joined together in this construction. Therefore, if they are making precise demands regarding the written texts, let them show whence they speak; if, however, they grant the use of established custom, let them not exclude us from it.

59. We, however, grasping the expressions used among the faithful, make use of both: believing that glory is paid to the Spirit equally through both, and that those who pervert the truth are silenced all the more by the preposition in question, which, having a sense similar to the Scriptures, is no longer so easily vulnerable ^C to our adversaries (and this is the very one now contradicted by them), inasmuch as it is used in place of the conjunction "and." For it is the same thing to say: "Paul and Silvanus and Timothy," and "Paul with Timothy and Silvanus." For the joining of the names is preserved in exactly the same way in either articulation. If, then, when the Lord has said "Father and Son and Holy Spirit," I were to say "Father and Son with the Holy Spirit," should I have said anything different as far as the power of the sentence is concerned? Furthermore, that names are connected by the conjunction "and" can be proved ^D by many testimonies. For "The grace," he says, "of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit"; and again, "I beseech you, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit." If, then, in place of "and," we should wish to use the preposition "with," what different thing shall we have done? I certainly do not see, unless someone, because of cold grammatical rules, prefers the conjunction as a copulative and as creating a greater union, while rejecting the preposition as though it did not possess the same power. But if we were called upon to give an account of these things, perhaps there would be no need for many words for us to respond.

^A Now, however, the argument with them is not about syllables, nor about the sound of this or that word, but about things that have a very great difference in their power and truth. For this reason, since the use of syllables is a matter of indifference, they attempt to include some and yet drive others out of the Church. For my part, even if the preposition has obvious usefulness at the very first hearing, I shall nevertheless provide the rationale according to which our fathers did not idly embrace the use of this preposition as well.

For besides the fact that it refutes the evil of Sabellius with as much strength as the conjunction, and in a way similar to it declares the property of the hypostases—as in, "I and the Father will come," and, "I and the Father are one"—it also holds an exceptional testimony of eternal communion and unbroken connection. ^B For he who said that the Son is with the Father expressed at once both the property of the hypostases and the inseparable fellowship. This is also something to be seen in human affairs, in which the conjunction indicates a common operation, while the preposition "with" also in a way signifies communion. For example: "Paul and Timothy sailed to Macedonia," or again, "Tychicus and Onesimus were sent to the Colossians." From these, we have learned that they did the same thing. But if we hear that they "sailed with" or were "sent with" one another, we are further taught that they completed the action together. In this way, this word, more than any other, destroys the error of Sabellius, and furthermore strikes at those who are impious in the directly opposite direction. I mean, of course, those who separate by temporal intervals the Son from the Father, and the Holy Spirit from the Son. ^C

60. Moreover, the syllable [“with”] differs in this respect most of all, in that the "with" indicates the mutual connection of those who are in communion with one another, such as those sailing together, or living together, or accomplishing anything at all in common; while the "in" denotes the relationship to that in which they happen to be working. For upon hearing of those "sailing in" or "dwelling in," we immediately think of the vessel or the house. Therefore, according to common usage, such is the difference between these syllables, and a greater one could be found by the studious. ^D For I do not have the leisure to examine the theory of syllables. Since, therefore, it has been demonstrated that "with" most significantly renders the concept of connection, let there be, if it pleases you, a truce concerning it, and cease your harsh and undeclared war against it. Yet, although it is so significant...

^A a word for signifying, if it should be someone’s desire to connect the names by the syllable in glorifications and to glorify, just as we have learned in the Gospels regarding baptism, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; let it be so done, and no one will gainsay it. On this condition, if it seems good, let us be in agreement among ourselves. But these men would sooner cast away their tongues than accept this word. This, therefore, is what excites against us an extremely sharp and irreconcilable war. "In the Holy Spirit," they say, "glory is to be returned to God, but not also to the Spirit"; and they cling most fiercely to this tiny word ^B as if it were a debasement of the Spirit. Regarding this, it will not be useless to speak even at greater length; and having heard this, I would be surprised if they do not denounce it as a traitor and a runaway—if I may use the word—that deserts to the glory of the Spirit.

CHAPTER XXVI. In how many ways «in» is said, in just as many ways is it understood regarding the Spirit.

61. To me, therefore, it seems, although the pronunciation of this syllable is simple and short, that many and various things are signified by it. For in as many ways as "in" is said, in just as many ways do we find it serving the conceptions concerning the Spirit. For form is said to be in matter, and potentiality in that which is capable of it, and a habit in him who is disposed according to it, ^C and many other things of this kind. So then, insofar as the Holy Spirit has the power of perfecting a rational creature, bringing its crowning point to completion, it holds the definition of form. For he who no longer lives according to the flesh, but is led by the Spirit of God, and is named a son of God, and has become conformed to the image of the Son of God, is called spiritual. And just as the faculty of sight exists in a healthy eye, so is the operation of the Spirit in a purified soul. For this reason, Paul also prays for the Ephesians, that they may have the eyes of their hearts enlightened in the Spirit of wisdom. And just as an art exists in him who has attained it, so the grace of the Spirit exists in him who has received it—always present, indeed, ^D but not perpetually operating. For an art exists in potentiality within the craftsman; but it exists in actuality then, when he operates according to it. In the same way, the Spirit is always present to the worthy, but operates as the need arises, whether in prophecies, or in healings, or in some other operations of miracles. Furthermore, just as in the body there is health, or heat, or in general, easily mutable affections; so also the Spirit is often in the soul, in those who, because of the instability of their mind, easily expel the grace they have received, and it does not remain—as was the case with Saul, and

the seventy elders of the sons of Israel, except for Eldad and Modad (for among these alone, of all of them, it appears that the Spirit remained). And in general, if anyone is similar to them in the disposition of their mind. And just as a word in the soul is sometimes as a thought in the heart, and sometimes as one uttered by the tongue, so also is the Holy Spirit: at one time when he bears witness to our spirit, and when he cries out in our hearts, "Abba, Father," and at another time when he speaks for us, according to what is said: "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."

And now, the Spirit is also understood as the whole in its parts, according to the distribution of gifts. For we are all members of one another, having different gifts according to the grace of God given to us. For this reason, "The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you." Rather, all things together satisfy the body of Christ in the unity of the Spirit; and they return to one another the necessary help from the gifts. For God set the members in the body, each one of them as he willed. Yet the members have the same care for one another, according to the spiritual communion of mutual affection that exists for them. Therefore, "Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it." And as parts are in a whole, so are we all individually in the Spirit, because all of us were baptized into one Spirit in one body.

^B 62. It will appear to be a strange thing to say, yet it is no less true, that the Spirit is also often called the place of those who are sanctified. And this manner of speaking will not appear to diminish the Spirit, but rather to glorify him. For Scripture frequently transfers names that are corporeal to spiritual understandings for the sake of clarity. We have observed, therefore, that even the Psalmist speaks of God: "Be to me a protecting God, and a fortified place, to save me." And concerning the Spirit, "Behold, a place," he says, "by me, and stand upon the rock." What else does he call the place but the vision in the Spirit, in which, when Moses was, he was able to see God clearly appearing to him? This is the place proper to true worship. "For take heed," he says, "not to offer your burnt offerings in any place, but in the place which the Lord your God shall choose." What, then, is the spiritual burnt offering? The sacrifice of praise. In what place ^D

^A offer we this, if not in the Holy Spirit? Where have we learned this? From the Lord Himself, who says: "True worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth." When Jacob saw this place, he said: "The Lord is in this place." Thus, the Spirit is truly the place of the saints. And the holy place is proper ^B to the Spirit, offering itself up for an indwelling with God, and is entitled His temple. For just as Paul speaks in Christ—"For before God," he says, "we speak in Christ"—and Christ in Paul, as he himself says: "Do you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me?"—so also he speaks the mysteries in the Spirit, and the Spirit again speaks in him.

63. In things created, therefore, being in them is spoken of the Spirit in many ways; but regarding the Father and the Son, it is more pious to say not that He is in them, but that He is with them. For the grace flowing from Him—while He dwells ^C in those who are worthy and exerts His own operations in them—is rightly said to be *in* those who are capable of it. But His subsistence, which was before the ages, and His unceasing duration, considered with the Son and the Father, requires terms of eternal conjunction. For "to exist with" is properly and truly said of those things that are inseparably present to one another. For we say that warmth is *in* iron when it has been made red-hot, but exists *with* the fire itself. Likewise, we say that health is *in* the body, but that life exists *with* the soul. Wherefore, where there is a proper, connatural, and inseparable ^D communion, this word "with" is more significant, as it suggests to the intellect the thought of inseparable conjunction. But where grace proceeding from Him is able to approach and again depart, it is aptly and truly said to be *in* them; even if His grace in those who have received it very often remains perpetual due to their perseverance in goodness.

Hence, as often as we understand the proper dignity of the Spirit, we contemplate Him with the Father and the Son; but when we consider the grace working in those who are His partakers, we say the Spirit is in us. And the glorification brought by us in the Spirit does not contain a profession of His dignity, but a confession of our own weakness, while we show that we are not sufficient of ourselves to offer glory, but that our sufficiency is in the Holy Spirit, in whom, being strengthened, we pay our thanks to our God for the benefits received; according to the measure of our purification from malice—since one is helped more or less than another by the aid of the Spirit—towards offering the sacrifices of praise to God. For in one way

^A we thus piously complete our thanksgiving in the Spirit. And yet this is not without heaviness, that one should testify to himself that “the Spirit of God is in me,” and that, having been made wise by His grace, I offer up glory. For this utterance is becoming to Paul: “And I think that I also have the Spirit of God;” and again: “Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us;” and concerning Daniel, that “the Holy Spirit of God was in him;” and so of any who are like them in virtue.

64. There is ^B a second way of understanding the matter, which is likewise not to be rejected: for just as the Father is seen in the Son, so the Son is seen in the Spirit. Therefore, the worship which is in the Spirit implies the operation of our mind as taking place in the light, as you may learn from what was said to the Samaritan woman. For when she, deceived by the custom of the region, thought that worship consisted in a place, our Lord, correcting her, said that it was necessary to worship in Spirit and in truth, meaning, of course, Himself to be the truth. Just as, then, we speak of worship in the Son as in the image of God the Father, so also in the Spirit, as in Himself manifesting the divinity of the Lord. Hence, in worship, the Holy Spirit is inseparable ^C from the Father and the Son. For if you are outside of Him, you will not worship at all; but if you are in Him, you will by no means separate Him from God, any more than you will separate the light from the things that are visible. For it is impossible to see the image of the invisible God except in the illumination of the Spirit. And it is impossible for one who looks steadily at the image to separate the light from the image. For the cause of seeing must necessarily be seen at the same time as the things seen. Thus, properly and consistently, through the illumination of the Spirit we behold the splendor of the glory of God; but through the Character we are raised up ^D to Him whose Character it is, and to the equal seal.

CHAPTER XXVII

65. For what reason, they say, when the syllable "in" is properly appropriate to the Spirit, and sufficient for us for the expression of every concept concerning Him, did you introduce this new syllable, saying "with the Spirit," and not "in the Holy Spirit," nor using other terms which are necessary and approved by the Churches? That this syllable "in" does not belong exclusively to the Holy Spirit, but is common to the Father and the Son, has been said in what precedes. But I think it has also been sufficiently demonstrated that "in" not only takes nothing away from the dignity of the Spirit, but even raises the thought to the highest summit of

^A their mental distortions, it brings back their thoughts. It remains to discuss the syllable "with," whence it began, what power it possesses, and how [(53)] it is in harmony with Scripture.

66. Apostolic Traditions Not Written Down

66. ^A Of the dogmas and preachings preserved in the Church, some we have from written instruction, while others we have received from the tradition of the Apostles handed down to us in a mystery; both of which have the same power for piety. And no one will contradict these; that is, no one who is even slightly [(54)] experienced in matters of ecclesiastical law. For if we were to try to reject such unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the Gospel in its vital points, or rather, we would reduce the proclamation to a mere name. For example, to mention the first and most common: who has taught us in writing that those who place their hope in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ must be signed with the sign of the cross? What written document has taught us to turn to the East during prayer? Which of the saints has left us in writing the words of invocation [(56)] during the manifestation of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of blessing? For we are not content with those things which the Apostle or the Gospel mentioned, but we also say other things, both beforehand and afterward, as having great importance for the mystery, which we have received from unwritten instruction. We bless also the water of baptism and the oil of anointing, and furthermore the one who is being baptized. From what written texts? Is it not from that silent and mystical tradition? And what more? What written word has taught the very anointing with oil? Where does the thrice-immersion of a person come from? All the other things pertaining to baptism, such as renouncing Satan and his angels, from what Scripture do we have them? Is it not from this unpublished and secret instruction, which our fathers ^C guarded in quiet and uncurious silence? For they had learned well that the reverence of the mysteries is [best preserved] by silence.

For how could it be reasonable to proclaim the instruction of those things which the uninitiated are not even permitted to behold, in written documents? What was the intention of the great Moses, that he did not make all the things of the temple accessible to everyone? Instead, he stationed the uninitiated outside the sacred boundaries; he allowed the forecourts to those who were more pure; he judged only the Levites worthy of the ministry of the Divine; he assigned the slaughter of sacrifices, the burnt offerings, and the rest of the priestly service to the priests; and he admitted only one person from among all the people into the inner sanctum, ^B and not even him at all times, but only on one day in the year, and at a set hour of that day, so that, being astonished by the strangeness and novelty, he might behold the Holy of Holies. He well knew, in his wisdom, that things which are frequently seen and are immediately accessible are held in contempt, whereas things which are secluded and rare are naturally connected with the highest admiration and study. In the very same way, the Apostles and Fathers who from the beginning established the rites of the Church, kept the reverence due to the mysteries in what is hidden and ineffable. For that which is brought out to the ears of the common crowd and the casual observer is entirely devoid ^C of the nature of a mystery. This is the reason for the unwritten tradition: that the knowledge of doctrines might not be neglected and become held in contempt by the many through familiarity. For a doctrine is one thing, and a public proclamation is another; for the former is kept in silence, while the proclamations are made public. Furthermore, obscurity is a form of silence, which Scripture employs, making the meaning of the doctrines difficult to understand for the benefit of the readers. For this reason, we all look toward the East during our prayers, but few of us know that we are seeking our ancient homeland, Paradise, which God planted in Eden.

^A We fulfill our prayers standing on the one day of the Sabbath, but not all of us know the reason. For we not only remind ourselves, by standing during our prayers on the day of the resurrection, that we have risen with Christ and ought to seek the things that are above, and that we have been granted grace, but also because this day seems in some way to be an image of the age to come. And so, while it is the beginning of days, it was not called "first" by Moses, but "one." For he says, "There was evening, and there was morning, one day," as if the same day turns round and round many times. And so, this one and the same day is also the eighth, showing forth, by itself, that one truly singular and valid eighth day, of which the Psalmist also made mention in the titles of certain Psalms; it signifies the state that will follow this time, that never-ending day, unknown to evening, without a successor, that unending and ageless age. ^B Necessarily, therefore, the Church teaches its own pupils to perform their prayers standing on this day, so that by the constant reminder of that never-ending life we may not neglect to prepare our provisions for that migration. Moreover, the entire period of fifty days is a reminder of the resurrection that we await in the other age. For that one, first day, multiplied seven times, completes the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost. For it begins from the first, and ends in the same, having evolved fifty times through the similar days that intervene. Wherefore it also imitates the age by its similarity, as if in a circular motion, beginning from the same points and ending at the same. On this day, the rites of the Church have taught us to prefer the erect posture of the body when praying, surely by this evident reminder as it were transporting our mind from present things to those which are future. ^C Furthermore, as often as we bend our knees and rise again, we show by our very action that we have fallen to earth on account of sin, and have been recalled to heaven by the loving-kindness of Him who created us.

67. The day—the unwritten ^D mysteries 68—will fail those who are being initiated, if the mysteries are explained by word of mouth, but to those who have been initiated they are accustomed to be indicated briefly and somewhat obscurely in sermons, with this formula: "The initiated know." For it would have been very inconvenient for those things to have been divulged which it was not permitted for catechumens to behold; nor was the danger light that the mysteries might be cheapened if the sanctity of the secret were violated. But nevertheless, while Basil denies that these institutions are written, he is not speaking about the books of ancient writers, nor about Liturgies consigned to writing, but about the Holy Scriptures. It is clear that the Pneumatomachians, while they reject the mode of glorifying, have used as a pretext for their sophistries this name alone: that it was not read in the Scriptures, "with the Holy Spirit." Hence Basil opposes to them the unwritten institutions; primarily the words of the invocation, which indeed he denies were written by any of the saints, because they are not even said to be in Basil, which are not...

known by name in the Scriptures. ^A I omit the rest: from what writings do we possess the profession of faith itself in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? For if, because by the tradition of baptism, according to the sequence of piety, we ought to believe in the same way as we are baptized, we deposit this profession in baptism, let them also grant us, according to the same sequence, to render the glory in a manner similar to the faith. But if they reject the method of glorification as something unwritten, let them bring forward for us proofs from the Scriptures for the profession of faith and for the other things we have enumerated. ^B Furthermore, since there are so many things that are not written down, and which have such great weight for the mystery of piety, will they not grant us a single little phrase that has come down to us from the fathers, which we have found remaining in the unrefined custom of the Churches—customs that are not perverse or corrupt—and which has no small reason behind it and provides no small contribution to the power of the mystery?

68. It shall be said, moreover, where they harmonize with one another and where they differ; not that they fight against each other by way of contradiction, but that each of them brings a particular understanding to piety. ^C For the preposition *in* declares those things which relate to us, while the preposition *with* expresses the communion of the Spirit with God. Therefore, we use both expressions—the one to manifest the dignity of the Spirit, the other to proclaim the grace which is in us. Thus, we offer glory to God both *in the Spirit* and *with the Spirit*, saying nothing of our own, but, as if from a rule of the Lord’s teaching, we transfer the expression to those things which are joined together and cohere with one another, and which have a necessary connection in the mysteries. ^D For we deemed it necessary that the one who was counted together in baptism should also be joined in the faith; and we have made the profession of faith a kind of beginning and mother of the glorification. But what is to be done? For now, let them teach us either not to baptize as we have received [the tradition], or not to believe as we have been baptized, or not to glorify as we have believed. For let someone demonstrate either that the sequence of these things toward one another is not necessary and inseparable, or that the innovation in these matters is not a destruction of the whole. But they do not cease crying out up and down...

^A that the glorification with the Holy Spirit lacks testimony and lacks Scripture, and other things of this kind. Yet it has been said that it makes no difference to the sense whether you say, "Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," or whether you say, "Glory to the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit." It is not right, therefore, for anyone to reject or expunge the syllable "and" which has proceeded from the mouth of the Lord; nor does anything prevent us from accepting another [expression] which carries the same meaning, the degree of difference or similarity of which to the former we have demonstrated in what follows. The Apostle confirms our argument for us, using either expression indifferently, speaking at one time thus: "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God"; and again, "When you are gathered, and my Spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus." He considered that it made no difference at all whether one used a conjunction or a preposition to join the names together.

CHAPTER XXVIII

69. Let us see, moreover, what defense we can devise for our fathers regarding such usage. For those who were our authorities for speaking in this way are involved in the charge even more than we are. Paul, therefore, writing to the Colossians, says: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision, He has quickened together with Christ." ^B Did God then grant the life that is with Christ to the whole people and the Church, but for the Holy Spirit there is no life with Christ? But if it is impious even to conceive of this in one's mind, is it not pious to render the confession in a joined manner, just as it is in nature? Furthermore, is it not the height of stupor to confess that the saints are with Christ (since Paul, for his part, while wandering away from the body, is present with the Lord, and when he had departed, he is already with Christ), yet not to attribute this much to the Spirit at least—as much as is in them—that He exists with Christ just as men do? Why, Paul even calls himself ^C a co-worker with God in the administration of the Gospel; but if we call the Holy Spirit, through whom the Gospel bears fruit in every creature under heaven, a co-worker, will they bring a charge of impiety against us for this as well? And as it seems, the life of those who have hoped in the Lord is hidden with Christ in God, and when Christ, our life, shall appear, then they also shall appear with Him in glory. But the Spirit of life Himself, who has freed us from the law of sin, is by no means with Christ, or ^D

^A in a life that is hidden and concealed with Him, nor in the manifestation of glory which we expect to be revealed among the saints? We are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ; but is the Spirit disinherited and excluded from the communion of God and His Christ? And the Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God; but do we not even credit the Spirit with that testimony of communion with God which we learned from the Lord? And the crown of folly is this: we, through faith in Christ which is in the Spirit, hope that we shall be resurrected with Him and will be seated with Him 79 in the heavenly places, when He transforms the body of our humiliation from the animal to the spiritual; yet to the Spirit do we grant neither a seat with Him, nor glory, nor any other of those things which we have from Him? Instead, for those things which we believe we are worthy to possess by the truthful ^B gift of the One who promised, do we refuse to concede any of them to the Holy Spirit, as if such things exceeded His dignity? And for you, it is indeed permitted according to your merit to be always with the Lord, and you expect, having been caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air, that you will always be with the Lord; yet do you now deny 80 that the Spirit is with Christ? For you treat the one who counts and includes the Spirit with the Father and the Son as an exile, as if he had committed an intolerable impiety.

^C 70. You are ashamed to add the remaining points: for you expect to be glorified with Christ (if, indeed, we suffer together so that we may also be glorified together 13), but you do not glorify the Spirit of holiness with Christ, as if He were not worthy of even the same honor as yourself 81. And you yourself hope to reign with Him, but the Spirit of grace you assault with insults, assigning Him the rank of a slave and a servant. And I say this, not so much to show that an equal amount of honor is owed to the Spirit in doxology, but that I might convict the folly of those who do not grant even this much, but who shun the communion ^D of the Spirit in glory with the Son and the Father as if it were an impiety. Who can pass over these things without groaning? For is it not manifest, so that even a child might understand, that current events are the preludes to the falling away of the faith which the Lord threatened 82? That which could not be gainsaid has become ambiguous. We believe in the Spirit, and we fight against our own confessions. We are baptized, and we fight again. We invoke Him as the Author of life, and we despise Him as a fellow servant. We received the Spirit with the Father and the Son, and we hold Him in contempt as if He were a part of the created order. But they, what will they pray, not knowing if they are even prompted to speak anything solemn concerning the Spirit 83?

^A that they reach the dignity [of the Holy Spirit], and they punish the speech that exceeds proportion. Whom it behooves to lament their own weakness, because we are not sufficient to render thanks in words for the benefits with which we are effectively favored. For it surpasses every intellect and refutes the nature of speech, since it does not reach even a tiny fraction of that dignity, according to the words of the book which is inscribed Wisdom: "Exalt him," it says, "as much as you can; for he surpasses even further; and when you exalt him, do not grow weary, for you will not reach [the end]." Or are the accounts to be rendered for such speeches terrible to you, who have heard from the truth-telling God that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable?

Chapter XXIX. Enumeration of illustrious men in the Church who used the expression "with" in their writings.

71. Truly, against what they say—that glorification “with” the Spirit lacks testimony and does not exist in the Scriptures—we say this: if nothing else is accepted without Scriptures, then let not this be accepted either; but if very many mysteries are accepted by us without writing, then together with the many others, we will accept this as well. And I think it is apostolic to adhere also to unwritten traditions. "I praise you," he says, "that you remember all things of mine, and just as I delivered to you, you hold the traditions." ^C And that: "Hold the traditions which you received, whether by word or by epistle," of which this current one is also part, which those who ordained it from the beginning, delivering it to those who followed, as usage always advanced together with time, rooted it in the Churches through long habit. Therefore, if, as in a tribunal, being destitute of proofs from scripture, we were to produce for you a multitude of witnesses, would we not obtain from you a verdict of acquittal? I certainly think so: "For at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand." ^D But if we also clearly show you the great length of time working in our favor, would we not seem to you to be saying plausible things, and that this suit cannot justly be brought against us? For ancient dogmas are in a way venerable, possessing because of their antiquity a certain respect, like a kind of gray hair. I will therefore enumerate for you the patrons and defenders of this expression (for time also is counted alongside what is kept silent); for it did not take its first beginning from us. How could it? We are truly of yesterday, as Job says, in comparison at least to such a duration of time, the contemporary of this habit. I myself, then, if it is necessary...

sed ^A to state my own, I preserve this expression as a kind of paternal inheritance, having received it from a man who spent a long time in the service of God, through whom I was also baptized and brought into the ministry of the Church. But when I consider within myself whether any of the ancient and blessed men used these expressions that are now contested, I find many who are trustworthy on account of their antiquity and adorned with a precision of knowledge not found in the men of our time; some of whom, by using a preposition, others by using a conjunction to join the discourse in the glorification, were considered to have done nothing different so far as relates to the correct understanding of piety.

^B Irenæus, and Clemens Romanus, and Dionysius the Roman, and Dionysius the Alexandrian—who even—a thing wonderful to hear—in his second letter addressed to his namesake, *On Accusation and Defense*, brought his discourse to a close in this manner. I shall transcribe for you the very words of the man. "To all these," he says, "we also conform, and having received a form and rule from the presbyters who lived before us, we give thanks in agreement with them; and thus, we now conclude writing to you. To God the Father and to the Son our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, be glory and power for ever and ever, amen." And no one could say that these things were rewritten. For he would not have insisted so strongly that he had received a form and rule, if he had said "in the Spirit," for the use of this expression is frequent. But that other was what stood in need of defense. Indeed, in the middle of his writing, he speaks thus against the Sabellians: "If, because they are three hypostases, they say they are divided, they are three even if they do not wish it, ^C or else they must utterly do away with the divine Trinity." And again: "For this reason, after the Unity, the Trinity is most divine." But also Clement, more simply, says: "God lives, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit." And Irenæus, who was close to the times of the apostles, let us hear how he makes mention of the Spirit, arguing against heresies. "Those," he says, "who are unbridled and are carried away into their own desires, having no ^D desire of the divine Spirit, the Apostle rightly calls carnal."

^A And in other places the same author says: "Lest, having become devoid of the divine Spirit, we ^B fail of the kingdom of heaven," the Apostle proclaims that the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. If, however, Eusebius the Palestinian is also deemed trustworthy to any due to his wide experience—one to whom we may give credence—we show from him as well the same expressions regarding the problems surrounding the plurality of wives among the ancients. For he speaks in this manner, rousing himself to the discourse: "Having invoked ^C the holy God of the prophets, the enlightener through our Saviour Jesus Christ, along with the Holy Spirit" (96).

73. Moreover, we find Origen in many of his expositions on the Psalms attributing glory to God along with the Holy Spirit—a man who, to be sure, does not hold entirely sound views regarding the Spirit in all things; yet in many places he too, being overcome by the power of custom, let slip pious utterances regarding the Spirit. For, in the sixth book, if I am not mistaken, of his Exegesis on the Gospel according to John, he clearly declares the Spirit to be adorable, writing word for word: "For the washing of water is a symbol of the cleansing of the soul, which is being washed clean of every defilement arising from wickedness (98); nevertheless, it also has in itself the beginning and fountain of the gifts for him who presents himself to the Godhead of the adorable Trinity through the power of the invocations." And again, in his commentaries in which he expounds the Epistle to the Romans, he says: "The sacred powers are ^D capable of the Godhead of the Only-begotten and the Holy Spirit." In this way, I believe, the power of tradition often compelled men to contradict even their own dogmas. Nor did such a form of glorification escape the historian Africanus. For it is evident that in the fifth book of his Epitome of Chronology, he too speaks in this manner: "For we who know the measure of those words, and are not ignorant of the grace of faith, give thanks to the Father, who has provided for us his own [people] the Saviour of all and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and majesty with the Holy Spirit for ever." Now, as regards others, it might perhaps be possible to doubt, or to believe they have been altered in such a way that the fraud can be detected only with difficulty, since the difference lies in a single syllable. But as for those passages which we have cited at greater length, they neither admit of such deceit, and possess testimony directly from the writings themselves. Furthermore, that which might otherwise perhaps be considered more humble than to be brought into the middle, but yet for one accused of innovation is very useful on account of its antiquity,

this too I shall add. It seemed good to our fathers not to receive the grace of the evening light in silence, but to give thanks as soon as it appeared. And who was the author of those words of the lamp-lighting thanksgiving ^A we cannot say; but the people utter the ancient voice, and never has it been thought impiety for those who say, "We praise Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit of God." And if anyone also knows the hymn of Athenogenes, which he left to those who were with him as a kind of amulet ^B, as he was already hastening toward his perfection through fire, he also knows the mind of the martyrs as to how they felt concerning the Spirit. And thus much for this.

74. But what place shall I assign to Gregory the Great and his utterances? Shall I not place him with the apostles and prophets? A man who lived by the same Spirit as they, who adhered to the footsteps of the saints throughout his whole life, and who achieved the exactness of the evangelical life through his entire existence. I for one say this: we would be doing injury to the truth if we did not count that soul among those who are joined ^C to God, who shone forth as a certain great and manifest lamp in the Church of God; who through the cooperation of the Spirit possessed a fearful power against demons; and who received such grace of speech for the obedience of faith among the nations, that having taken only seventeen Christians, he brought the whole population, both urban and rural, to God through knowledge ^D. He also turned the currents of rivers, commanding them in the great name of Christ; and he dried up a lake that was providing a cause of war to avaricious brothers. Furthermore, his predictions of future events were such that he was in no way inferior to the rest of the prophets. And, in short, it would be a long task to recount the miracles of the man, who by reason of the excellence of the gifts that were operating in him through the Spirit in all power and signs and wonders, was proclaimed a second Moses by the very enemies of the truth himself. Thus in every word and deed, there shone forth in him, as a certain light, the manifestation of heavenly power that was being accomplished through grace by his acts.

^A His great miracle is still today among the people of that region, and his memory is fixed in the churches, fresh and ever new, and dimmed by no lapse of time. Therefore, they have added no practice, no word, no mystical rite to the Church beyond what he left behind. And so, too, many of the things performed among them appear incomplete, because of the antiquity of their institution. For those who succeeded to the administration of the churches were unwilling to accept any of the things devised after him by way of addition. Thus, one of the institutions of Gregory is this very mode of glorification which is now being called into question—a practice kept in the Church according to his tradition. And it is not much trouble for one who has undertaken a short journey to receive certainty regarding these matters. That this faith was also held by our Firmilian, the books which he left behind testify. Furthermore, those who lived with him report that the admirable Meletius was of the same opinion. But what need is there to recall ancient things? Even now in the East, do not the pious distinguish those who think rightly by this one thing, as by a certain sign, judging their own from strangers by this expression? As I have heard from a certain man from Mesopotamia, a man skilled in the language and incorrupt in his judgment, it is not even possible for them to speak otherwise in their native tongue, even if they wished; but it is necessary for them, by the syllable "and," or rather by the expressions which have the same force as it, to offer the glorification according to the idiom proper to the language of that region. And we Cappadocians also speak thus according to the custom of our region, the Spirit having forethought ^B even then, at the division of tongues, for the usefulness of the expressions. What then of the entire West, from Illyricum almost to the boundaries of our world? Does it not uphold this expression? ^C 75. How then can I be an innovator and an architect of new terms, when I present entire nations, cities, and a custom more ancient than all human memory, and furthermore, men who are pillars of the Church, illustrious in all knowledge and the power of the Spirit, as leaders and patrons of this expression? On account of these things, this hostile line of battle has been stirred up against us, and every city, village, and all the uttermost ends of the earth are full of the voices of those slandering us. These things are indeed grievous and painful to the hearts of those who seek peace; but since there is a great reward for patience for the afflictions endured for the faith, ^D let the sword shine forth in addition to these things, let the axe be sharpened, let the fire burn more fiercely than that of the Babylonian, and let all the instruments of punishment be set in motion.

For my own part, I believe nothing is more terrifying than not to fear the threats which the Lord has leveled against those who blaspheme the ^B Spirit. Now, for the sensible sort of men, what has been said is a sufficient defense; for we receive a voice so dear and familiar to the saints, and one confirmed by such lengthy usage, since from the time the Gospel was announced until the present, it is shown to have been in use in the Churches; and, what is greatest of all, it is demonstrated to have a pious and religious meaning. But at that great tribunal, what defense shall we have prepared for ourselves? It is surely that which led us to the glory of the Spirit: first, the honor paid to Him by the Lord, in joining the Spirit to Himself and the Father in baptism; 23 next, the introduction of each of us through such a mystery to the knowledge of God; and above all, the fear of the threatened judgments, which restrains the mind from every unworthy and lowly notion. And what will our opponents say? What excuse for their blasphemy will they bring, having neither revered the honors paid by the Lord, nor feared His threats? These men are, of course, free to take counsel for themselves or even to change their minds. As for me, I would pray most of all that the good God might grant His own peace, which reigns in the hearts of all, so that these men who rage against us and combine fiercely to attack us may be calmed in the Spirit of gentleness and love. But if they are utterly ^C savage and remain untamable, may He at least grant us the patience to bear their actions. In any case, for those who have the sentence of death within themselves, it is not painful to suffer for the faith, but it is most intolerable not to have contended for it; since for athletes it is not so grievous to receive blows while struggling, as it is not even to be admitted into the stadium at all. Or perhaps this was the time for silence, according to the wise Solomon. 24 For what is the benefit in crying out against the wind, when a storm so violent possesses life, by which the mind of every one of those who have been initiated into the Word—like an eye in which some dust has settled—is filled with the error of false reasonings, and is confounded; and every ear is deafened by the heaviest and most unusual noises, and all things are tossed about by the whirlwind and are in danger of falling?

Chapter 30. Exposition of the present state of the Churches.

76. To what, then, shall we compare the present state of the Churches?

^A Indeed, it is like a naval battle, which certain men, accustomed to and skilled in naval warfare, driven by long-standing grievances and nursing a deep hatred for one another, have stirred up. Observe, then, in this image, a fleet attacking from both sides with dreadful force, and then, as their rage erupts into something irremediable, engaging in a desperate conflict. Imagine, if you will, the fleet being whirled about by a violent gust of wind, and a thick darkness from the clouds settling in, obscuring everything visible to such an extent that there is no longer any distinction between friends and enemies, because, due to the confusion, their military insignia are unrecognizable. Let us add for the sake of clarity to this image the sea swelling and being heaved up from the depths, and a torrential downpour breaking from the clouds, and ^B a terrifying surge rising from the high waves. Then, with the winds from every quarter clashing together, the entire fleet is battered, and of those who stand in the line of battle, some betray their own camps and desert in the very heat of the struggle; others are compelled both to thrust their vessels, driven by the winds, away and to counter-attack those who are assailing them, and to slaughter one another in the sedition which envy against those who are more excellent, and the desire for each to rule, has engendered. Think, in addition to this, of the whole sea being filled with a confused and indistinct sound, partly from the roaring of the winds, partly from the collision of the ships, partly from the surging of the boiling waves, and partly from the shouting of the combatants, who utter all kinds of cries due to their distress, so that the voice of neither the admiral nor the helmsman can be heard; but rather ^C there is a terrible disorder and confusion, with the magnitude of the evils, through despair of life, granting them complete license to sin. Add to this an incurable disease, an insane desire for glory, such that even as the ship is sinking to the bottom, the passengers do not cease their contention for the first place.

77. Pass now from the image to the very archetype of the evil. Did not the Arian schism of old at one time seem to be something separated into a faction hostile to the Church of God, standing alone by itself in the line of the enemy? But after they were marshaled against us through a long and cruel contention, and it reached an open conflict, then at last the war was divided into many parts in innumerable ways, so that, partly because of the common hostility and partly because of private suspicion, the hatred ^D became implacable for all. And this storm of the Churches, to what surge of the sea is it not [index: entries preserved]

^A more savage? In which every landmark of the Fathers has been moved, and every foundation, and if there were any bulwark of dogmas, it has been shaken. All things are being tossed and agitated, resting on a rotten base; and as we fall upon one another, we are overturned by one another. If the enemy does not strike first, the one standing by delivers the wound. If he falls after being struck, his fellow-soldier steps upon him. We have only so much fellowship with one another as we have for hating the enemy in common. But when the enemies have passed by, we immediately see one another as enemies. For these reasons, who could enumerate the multitude of shipwrecks? Those who are being sunk by the assault of the enemies, or those who perish by the secret treachery of their allies, or others by the inexperience of their leaders; where Churches ^B complete with their crews, as if driven against hidden rocks, have been destroyed by the guile of heretics; while others, enemies of the saving passion, having seized the helm, have suffered shipwreck regarding the faith. But as for the disturbances brought on by the rulers of this world, what gale or what tempest ^C is more terrible in overturning the peoples? A darkness, truly gloomy and dismal, covers the Churches, for the luminaries of the world, whom God had set to illumine the souls of the peoples, have been banished. And the excessive contention among them to prevail, while the fear of the destruction of the whole is already looming, takes away the sense of the evil. For the private enmity is greater than the common and public war, since the glory of overcoming adversaries is preferred to the common utility of all, for those to whom the passing pleasure of vainglory is more precious than the rewards stored up in the future. Therefore, all alike, in whatever way each one is able, turn their murderous hands against one another. A harsh cry of those who are rubbing against one another out of controversy, and an inarticulate shout, and an indistinct sound from the ceaseless tumults, has ^D now almost filled the entire Church, while they pervert the straight dogma of piety by excesses and deficiencies. For some are carried away to Judaism through the confusion of the persons, while others to Hellenism through the contrariety of the natures; so that neither the divinely inspired Scripture is sufficient to act as arbiter for them, nor are the apostolic traditions able to reconcile their mutual disagreements. The only limit of friendship is to speak to satisfy others' pleasure, and a sufficient cause for enmity is for one not to agree with their opinions. And the similarity of error is a thing stronger than any conspiracy for the fellowship of sedition. Every man is a theologian, even he who has his soul branded with countless stains. Hence there is a great abundance of those who join in faction for the innovators. Therefore, self-ordained

^A seekers of honor obtain the oversight of the Churches, having thrust aside the administration of the Holy Spirit. And since the evangelical institutions have already been utterly confounded by disorder, there is an unspeakable rush toward the positions of leadership, as each of those who labor under ambition struggles to force himself into a position of authority. A certain grievous anarchy, born of this love of rule, has invaded the peoples; whence the exhortations of those in charge are utterly useless and idle, while no one thinks that he ought to listen to another rather than to command others, owing to the pride conceived from ignorance.

78. For these reasons I judged silence to be more useful than speech, ^B as if the voice of a man could not be heard through such great tumults. For if the words of the Preacher are true, that “the words of the wise are heard in quiet” (Eccl. IX, 17), it would be far from appropriate to speak of these things in the present state of affairs. But I am also restrained by that prophetic saying: “The intelligent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time” (Amos V, 13). In which some now trip up those who stumble, others leap upon the fallen, and others applaud; but there is no one holding out a hand of compassion to the one who is tottering. And yet, according to the ancient law, not even he who passes by an enemy's beast of burden fallen under its load (Ezech. XXIII, 5) is free from reproach. But it does not happen likewise in these times. How could it? Since, with the charity of all having grown cold, the fellowship of brethren has been abolished, and the very name of concord is unknown; ^C brotherly admonitions have been abolished; nowhere is there a Christian heart, nowhere a tear of compassion. There is no one who takes in the one who is weak in faith, but such hatred has been kindled between tribesmen against one another, that each rejoices more in the falls of his neighbor than in his own good deeds. And just as in pestilential contagions even those who observe the regimen of life with the utmost care suffer from the same diseases as others, because, through association with those who are corrupted, they themselves are filled with the sickness, so also now we have all become like one another, having been led by the contention that has occupied our souls toward an emulation of evils. Hence, implacable and bitter examiners of those who err sit in judgment, while they are unjust and malevolent judges of what is done rightly; and the evil has taken root in us to such an extent, as it seems, that we have become more irrational than the brute beasts; for if those of the same kind herd together with one another, for us there is the most atrocious war against our own kin.

79. ^A Yet love, which does not seek its own things, has drawn us in a different direction, desiring to overcome every difficulty of times and circumstances. The children who were in Babylon also taught us, that even if there is no one to support piety, one must still perform privately what is our duty: they indeed from the midst of the fire sang hymns to God, not taking into account the multitude of those who were spurning the truth, but being sufficient for each other, being three. Wherefore, neither did the cloud of enemies cause us any hesitation, but fixing our hope on the assistance of the Spirit, we proclaimed the truth with all boldness. Otherwise, it would have been most miserable of all for those who revile the Spirit to be let loose so easily towards the pious 28 argument, while we, having such a protector and advocate, should not dare to deliver the doctrine which, from the tradition of the fathers, has been saved for us through a continuous series of memories. ^B Yet the fiery fervor of your unfeigned love, as well as the gravity and silence of your character, have still more incited our zeal; for these qualities gave assurance that what we were about to say would not be published to the common crowd—not because they are worthy of being hidden, but that pearls might not be cast before swine. And thus far as regards these matters. If, therefore, what has been said seems sufficient to you, let this be the end of our discourse on these points. But if it shall seem to be lacking, there is no envy [in us] if you, studiously attending to the inquiry, should add something to our knowledge through an interrogation free from contention. For the Lord will grant, either through us or through others, the completion of what is missing, ^C according to the knowledge which is supplied to those who are worthy of it by the Spirit.