OF THE BLESSED HIERONYMUS: DIALOGUE ON THE HOLY TRINITY, A QUESTION OF A JEW TO A CHRISTIAN.
B HIERONYMI DIALOGUE ON THE HOLY TRINITY, BETWEEN A JEW AND A CHRISTIAN.
Jew. Since God says, "See, see that I am, and there is no God besides me," how do you believe in and worship the Father, whom we confess as God, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? For, like idolaters, since you teach that there are three gods, you do injury to the author of this Law, who says, "There is no God besides me."
Christian. God is a fearful and incomprehensible mystery; therefore, it is not right that we should use one and the same defense against everyone, but rather we ought to answer each questioner appropriately and becomingly. Therefore, to you, O Jew, and to those circumcised ones with you who worship the monarchy, we say this: Do you confess, O Jew, one God, the maker of heaven and earth?
Jew. Certainly.
Christian. And what kind of God is this whom you worship, whence is he, and where is he, and how does he sit or move, and how does he speak and live and see and touch, and how is his power comprehended?
Jew. God is absolutely incomprehensible, unviewable, and ineffable, and so are his wisdom, his power, his Word, and his Spirit. B
Christian. And how, O foolish man, do you demand of me to tell you how the generation of God takes place, and how God has a Son, and when and how he begat him, and how the Trinity is a Trinity? Tell me yourself, if you can, the location, breadth, and length of God, and I will tell you in turn when and how God begat. Tell me yourself what kind of Word God has, and how God speaks it, and I will tell you by what reason he begat the Son from his womb before the morning star. But if the Word and the Spirit and the place and the height and the depth and the throne and the time of God are incomprehensible, it is evident that his generation also cannot be expressed or explained in words. But to ask you again, O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, Jew: how is our word brought forth? And if you tell me this, I will ask you in turn
does God, according to your opinion, have bodily lips, a tongue, and a throat? So that, furthermore, he himself is also corporeal, and in a place, and visible, and circumscribed; and if these things are so, then he is also created; for everything that is corporeal and circumscribed is clearly also created. Tell me then, you bold man, who created and made God? A O your wretched and most foolish blindness! For when you are asked by me how the Word of God exists, or what the Spirit of God is, or where the place or the throne of God is, you say: "I am at a loss, because I do not know." And yet you exact and force me to say how the place and the Son of God exist. You are troubled and indignant because I say that God has a Son who is pre-eternal, most holy, uncreated, incomprehensible, most immaculate, all-wise, above the world, and supremely good. And how should I not be troubled, O shameless Jew, when you call yourself a son of God, saying that Israel is the firstborn son of God? You, the foolish and not wise, the ungrateful, the murmurer, the disobedient, the hateful to God, the dispersed of God, and the adversary of God, call yourself a son of God, and yet when I call the Son of God good, a benefactor, a Savior, and righteous, you are indignant, you complain, and you blaspheme, and you call me an idolater? Why do you grow hot, O senseless one, and why are you disturbed when you hear of the Son of God? You do not wish to confess one Son of God; and yet how does divine Scripture and David, or rather the Holy Spirit Himself, say: It is I who have said: You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High? If God allowed mere, corruptible, and mortal men to be called sons of God and gods, how can you—who believe yourself to be more righteous and more accurate than all others—not deign to confess one Son of God who is immaculate and most holy? B
Jew. It is not as you say, that the Son of God is pre-eternal and uncreated; thus God says that Israel is his son, nor does he say so of other men, about whom he said: "I said: You are gods and all of you sons of the Most High."
Christian. What kind of gods and sons of the Most High, then, does God call these men?
Jew. He calls certain men who are corruptible and mortal by the name of sons.
Christian. How much better is it, then, O foolish and blinded in heart, to confess that God has a Son who is incorruptible, immortal, holy, without sin, eternal, immutable, and impassible, than to call material, corruptible, changeable, and mortal men sons of God? C For to say that God has a Son who is incorruptible, immortal, and without sin is worthy of God, and it is an honor to God, rather than saying that Israel is the firstborn son of God—that foolish, sinful, lawless, and impious people. For this offers a handle for blasphemy against God from the side of the unbelieving Gentiles; for they can say: "How is it that he is the true God, if he is the Father of a foolish son?" D
Judaeus. If God has a Son, tell me how and when He begot him?
Christian. I cannot help but confess that God has a Son, since Holy Scripture, speaking openly from the person of God and the Father to the Son, says: *From the womb before the morning star I have begotten thee*; and the Son, in turn, says of Himself from the person of the Parent: *The Lord said to me: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee*. Nor can I help but confess that God has a Spirit, when God Himself says: *I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh*. Yet I will ask of you, Jew, and you answer me: What kind of spirit do you say God has? Is it of such a kind as that of a man, coming forth from the mouth and nostrils, breathed out and poured forth, which can be seen and separated? A
Judaeus. Far be that! But I mean a Spirit invisible, a Spirit holy, a Spirit divine, a Spirit true, a Spirit a leader, a Spirit inseparable from God.
Christian. And when did God make or bring forth this Spirit, or how and when did He cause it to exist?
Judaeus. The Spirit of God is uncreated, without beginning and incomprehensible, just as God Himself. B
Christian. Behold, you too are clearly convicted of adoring a duality—namely, God and the Spirit of God. Just as, therefore, you cannot explain whence or when or how the Spirit of God is with God, but only, taught by the holy Scriptures, confess and believe that God has a Spirit; so I, a Christian, without over-curious investigation, profess the Son and Word of God. But if you desire me to say when, or whence, and how God has a Son, tell me first when and whence and how God has a Spirit, and I will also explain to you how God begot the Son before every beginning. For just as you C do not call God and the Spirit of God two gods, so neither do I call the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit three gods—far from it! But just as the sun and its heat and the power of its rays proceeding from it are three names, yet there is one substance of the sun; and as the soul and the reason and the body of a man are not three men; and as the nail of the finger with the bone and flesh are not three fingers; and just as the root and branch and leaf of a tree are not three trees; and as the eye and the pupil and the light D of the eye do not make three eyes; and as the fountain and the river and the stream flowing from the river are not three waters; and as the arm, the wrist, and the palm are not three hands; and just as in the burning bush of Moses there was speech and flame and He who spoke; and just as in the furnace of the three children there was a hymn and flame and dew, yet it was one furnace; and just as in a coin there is the gold and the image and the inscription of the emperor, so in the all-holy Trinity the union is unconfused in the one essence and divinity of the three persons.
DIALOGUE ON THE HOLY TRINITY
A Jew. Even if I confess Christ to be God, I still do not dare to affirm him to be consubstantial with the Father.
Christian. If you altogether accept him in such a way as to confess him to be God, you will know accurately and without doubt that he himself illuminates you through the divine Scriptures and the prophets, that the Son is God, eternal, not by relation as are other men, but by nature, as light from light, and God from God. For neither are we saying that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are three men divided from one another, as are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; nor as three separated lamps, or three distinct columns; nor are the Father and the Son separated from each other as Michael and Gabriel are; nor did God beget the Son as Adam begat Abel, so that it proceeded and flowed forth, in a seminal and bodily manner—far from it! For it is not the case that as I am prior to my son and greater than him, so too the Father and God pre-exists the Son. But the Father is simultaneous with the Son, just as the light is simultaneous with the day. And just as the day, the sun, and the light are simultaneous, so the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are simultaneous. And do not say, “How are these things?” for these things are above the “how.” Do not say, “By what mode?” for the birth of God is above mode. Do not say, “By what reason?” for the Word is above reason. Do not seek, “At what time?” for the timeless One is above time. Do not say, “In what place?” for he is above place. Do not seek, “From what principle?” for the beginningless Beginning is above principle. Adore God, do not scrutinize God. Confess the Father, but do not search into the mystery of the divine nature. Believe in the Son, not attempting to grasp the mode of his beginningless generation with your hands. Hymn the Spirit, not being overly curious about the matter of his procession. For a mystery that is grasped no longer remains a mystery; and whatever is not a mystery is no longer a thing to be marveled at. The more, therefore, God is scrutinized, the more he is ignored and hidden; and the more he is pursued and searched out, the more he is not grasped and is not manifested; and the more he is felt, the less he is reached and found. All those who have scrutinized God have endeavored to grasp a shadow; and all those who have thought to learn of God have wanted to enclose winds in their bosom; and as many as count themselves to grasp the divinity are embracing a dream and a fantasy; and those who have seemed to themselves to have penetrated into the depths of God’s nature have fallen into heresies; and those who say they have reached God have not grasped even a drop from the whole abyss, but pursuing a shadow, they are far from the truth.
For this reason, faith is so called because everyone who believes does not scrutinize God, as the faithless do. And what do I say of God? Not even the works created by God are easily understood by men. For tell me, you who wish to scrutinize and learn the nature of God, where are the angels? And what kind are they? And when were they created? And from what do they consist? And why are they not seen? And what is their nature? And what is their form, and their voice, and their motion? I do not ask you only about the angels, but also about the heaven. Tell me, what is its nature, and its extension in breadth? And how
A much its height? But why do I speak of heavenly things? Let us come down then B to these earthly things, in which we live and move and are. Who has clearly known the peculiar constitution of his own soul, what it is, and how it accompanies the body, and what it is in form and species, where and whence it consists, and how it is separated from the body? Then again, concerning the body, one must inquire: how does it consist? how is it dissolved? how indeed is it resurrected? and in what manner is it gathered at the resurrection? and how or whence does it arrive, and how is it restored again into one with the soul? And not only is the constitution of man incomprehensible to us, but also that of animals, of birds, and of fishes. For tell me, you who search into divine things, how did the nature of irrational creatures come to be? How do these die if they do not possess a rational soul? What is it that is separated from them at the time of death? If you say to me, they did not possess a substantial soul, but blood: yet most animals die without any blood flowing out. How, again, can fish breathe in the waters? how does the nature of water not choke them as it does other animals? Whence is it that an irrational animal, if it has traveled along the way with a man who was created after the image of God, is found, upon returning, to know the way without error better than one who rejoices in reason? Whence, again, do birds and fishes and wild beasts, which have neither speech nor reason, nor intellect nor judgment, understand and leap over nets and snares and the traps of hunters?
And that you may henceforth recognize more fully your own lowliness and ignorance and wretchedness, I will ask you also this: Tell me, you who profess to know and curiously to search out the incomprehensible Creator and God, tell me first, what is the substance of a flea? And what is the substance of its soul? And what is its soul like? And how does it exist spontaneously without seed? And how, when it knows neither reason nor wisdom, does it see a man, and fearing death, flee? Whence does it know that it is subject to death? By what reasonings does it deliberate? Whence did it learn that man is an enemy to it? Where is its mnemonic intellect stored away? Who taught it to hide itself in the seams and folds of garments? And by what name ought we to call the flea, we who wish to be searchers of the Divinity? Shall we call it a quadruped? C But it is not a quadruped. A biped, then? It is not. Is it a reptile, then? It is not, but an animal. Therefore I exhort everyone who wishes to discourse on the nature of God, to explain to us, before God, the constitution and state and composition and origin of the tiniest flea, and its soul, sensation, and intellect; and when he has well and unerringly grasped this, and tells us what is the species and genus of the psychical substance of the flea, then we shall henceforth have faith in him, that he is also able to reach and explain the things of the incomprehensible God. And even if you, O foolish man, say to me that the soul of the flea—and of every irrational creature—is its blood,
I shall reply: How is it that we see, as I said before, many irrational creatures dying without the shedding of blood? Tell us, then, you who know God, what is that which issues from an animal at its death without blood? For man alone possesses a substantial soul. But if an animal has a soul, it would not differ from man; for even man, when deprived of his own blood, dies in the same way as a brute creature. Where, then, is the difference between man, who was made according to the image and likeness of God, and the irrational beast? I have shown, therefore, that both man and the flea die when they are deprived of their own blood. These things were not said by me here in vain, but because I wished to restrain you—and many others, O God-slaying Jew—from B searching into things concerning God that are incomprehensible, and to persuade and show you that not only the Creator, but even creation itself cannot be comprehended by men.
Jew. Where are we taught about the Trinity in the Old Testament? And where have we learned of it in the New?
Christian. In the Old [Testament], to be sure, in the first book of Moses; for in the description of the creation of the world, he says: "And God said, Let us make man after our image and likeness." It is evident that the Father spoke this to the Son and the Holy Spirit. And again: "And God said, Behold, Adam has become as one of us." The statement, "as one of us," certainly indicates two or three, in order to show, furthermore, by the words, "as one of us," the distinction of the three hypostases. And again, C the same lawgiver says: "And God created man; according to the image of God He created him," so as to show the oneness of the Godhead. For He did not say that gods created man, but the One God who is worshipped in the Trinity. When, therefore, you hear God saying, "Behold, Adam has become as one of us," think of it as a three-hypostasized utterance. But when, on the other hand, you hear that "in the image of God God created man," you acknowledge the one essence and Deity. Therefore, we are taught the mystery of the holy and consubstantial Trinity not only from this, but from many other places in divine Scripture, and we find especially clear and manifest testimonies concerning the Father and the Son. For the saying, "The Lord rained fire from the Lord upon Sodom and Gomorrah," what else does it present but the Father and the Son, and the Lord from the Lord—that is, born of the Father? And again, the saying in the one hundred and ninth Psalm, D "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand," clearly revealed to us the Father and the Son sitting at His right hand. And God does not sit as people sit on earthly thrones or seats, nor as men sit on the right or left side—God forbid! But just as the Word of God was born of God before the ages in a divine manner beyond reason, and just as He is incorporeal, without form, and uncircumscribed, so too must you understand for me the seat, and the throne, and the right hand of God. And that which stands written in Isaiah itself, clearly
thus also understand for me the seat, the throne, and the right hand of God. And that which is said by Isaiah concerning Him clearly teaches us the mystery of the Father and the Son. For he says A that "a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us" (Isa. IX, 6): clearly to the nations from God. "And his name shall be called, the Angel of Great Counsel, a wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the ruler, the prince of peace, the Father of the age to come." But David, by the name of God in three persons, hinted to us the holy Trinity as if for the grace of a blessing, saying: "Let God bless us, our God; let God bless us" (Psal. LXVI, 6). To Him be glory unto the ages. Amen.
BY THE SAME BLESSED HIERONYMUS: A TREATISE USEFUL TO EVERY CHRISTIAN
B
Question. Why are you a Christian? Answer. Because I believe in Christ the Son of God. Correction of the answer. You have answered ignorantly and inconsiderately; for I do not ask why you are called a Christian, but this very thing, for what cause you have become one. For if I had asked why you are called a Christian, you would have answered well: "Because I believe in Christ"; but I seek the cause for which you have become a Christian. And this question seems small and slight, but few are they who, when asked, answer fittingly. For if he who is asked says that "God willed that I be a Christian," he has not answered correctly. And if he says, "Because I willed to be a Christian," he does not speak well; but he would speak more correctly if he said: "Because God willed it, I for my part acquiesced to the will of God." Question. Did you become a Christian willingly and of your own accord, or unwillingly? Answer. If I say "willingly," I lie; and if I say "unwillingly," I do not speak the truth. For being an infant then, I neither resisted nor consented. Question. Come now, whence do you know that you were baptized at all? I would like to learn from you; for perhaps you were cast out by the way by your parents, who were secretly Gentiles, and in no way saw to it that you were baptized. For many such things have happened, and occur to this day. D Answer. I know it as it were by the effect, as Isaiah says:
A "For your fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb and brought forth the Spirit of salvation," signifying that we who have been enlightened through baptism have received the Holy Spirit. For God says again through the prophet concerning those who are being baptized: "I will dwell in them, and walk amongst them," and, "I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." All those who have received the divine Spirit within their womb in holy baptism are, deep within their own heart, through the stirrings, pricks, exultations, and operations—and, so to speak, the leapings—of His grace, fully assured in their own heart that they are baptized. For no unbaptized man on earth possesses such grace or effect, nor does he ever perceive it, even if he performs all the commandments and works of righteousness of God, unless they are those who, by water and the Spirit, have received it in the womb and keep it pure and undefiled. For just as a woman who is pregnant feels the movements B of the fetus within her, so also do they, from the joy, gladness, and exultation that arises in their hearts, know that the Spirit of God dwells in them, which they received in baptism. For concerning this grace of holy baptism, Christ said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you," and again, "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and I wish that it were already kindled."
Question. And does every man, simple or wise, know through this proof alone that he has been baptized, and not through any other way?
Answer. This is the true and unerring demonstration of the Christian; and listen to Paul, who complains to some and says, "Do you not recognize that Jesus Christ dwells in you? unless indeed you are disqualified." For, as I said, just as a woman who bears in the womb knows accurately that she has conceived, not from words, C but from the facts themselves and the movements of the fetus, so also the true Christian, not from the hearsay of parents who baptized him, nor by any other means, but from his own heart, ought to have the assurance that he has received holy baptism and has been made worthy of the Holy Spirit. For this reason the same Paul said to some, "Do not quench the Spirit," that is, do not drive Him away; and, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption"; and again, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery, but of freedom." Having lost this grace through adultery, David entreated God, saying: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and renew a right Spirit in my inward parts." You see that the D Holy Spirit dwells within the believer. For in as much as each one keeps the house of his own heart pure,
the human person is illuminated, and perceives the divine fire dwelling within him through tears, through joy, through exultation and consolation and gladness; and especially at the time of festivals and sacred synaxes and illuminations, as the Holy Spirit is present and his grace, which dwells in the soul of man, leaps for joy. From this the human person is fully assured that he is truly a Christian and has received holy baptism.
And do not let the prophets who slept with women, and who were situated in the midst of life and men and business, seem to you strange and burdensome, nor those things being said. For because they were involved in both men and affairs, they had this grace of the Holy Spirit; and not only men, but also women prophesied. For the Holy Spirit does not avoid B nor abominate the fellowship of honorable marriage. Hence, many of those who lead a common life experience effects of such grace of the Holy Spirit—I mean those who stand at the holy altar, and those who approach to receive the mysteries of Christ; for suddenly and instantaneously they are filled with tears and joy and gladness. From this the Christian is assured that he is receiving not mere bread and wine, but truly the body and blood of the Son of God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. For we never feel anything of the sort, or such grace and operation, or sweetness or compunction, when we eat and drink simple bread and wine at our own table, even if this bread were purer than that bread, and the wine were older and better than the wine that is brought forth and offered C at the altar.
These things contribute to recognizing whether one is a Christian; for there is nothing in our whole faith, and in the whole Church, and in the whole of Holy Scripture more necessary than this matter or similar to it. For from this the human person understands thoroughly that God is in him and with him; from this he knows that in truth there is no other faith on earth except only that of the Christians. For although the nations also have Scriptures and churches and sacrifices and teachers and books and a partial knowledge of God, and certain good actions and feast days and changes of garments and prayers and vigils and priests and very many other things; yet this grace and operation of the Holy Spirit, hidden in the heart of the Christian, no one on earth receives, D except only those who are rightly baptized in faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Concerning these riches of ours, the Lord says that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, that is to say, the Holy Spirit who is hidden within us on the day of divine baptism. Concerning this also Paul says: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels," that is to say, in our clay bodies; and again: "Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of God, and
"Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" These things have necessarily come before us, so that a Christian might know whence he received holy baptism and that he is a true Christian. For it is not entering into the church that is the sign of a true Christian; for many unworthy people enter together with us. Nor is arming oneself with the sign of the cross, nor partaking of the body of Christ, the sign of a true Christian; for perhaps some unbelievers and heretics partake, and they do all the things that we do. But, as I said before, the sign of the true Christian B, which God bestowed upon the Christian, He did not give from anywhere externally, nor in tables of stone, but in tables of fleshly hearts.
Therefore, let us search within ourselves, if we have the sign, and gift, and grace, and treasure, which God bestowed upon us in baptism. For the Gospels, and the prophets, and the teachers, and the apostles instruct us in the verbal faith of God from hearing; but God, not through verbal hearing, but through actions that dwell in the soul, teaches man what a Christian is. For this reason, Paul says that "Faith is from hearing," and, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Thus, behold, we have learned what the sign of the Christian is, which no other faith on earth possesses. But blessed are those who have received and possess this, and depart from this life with it; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Apud S. Joannem Damascenum, lib. III De Imagin., opp. tom. I, pag. 385.
HIERONYMUS THE PRESBYTER OF JERUSALEM
Question. Since your Scripture nowhere permits you to worship the cross, for what reason do you worship it? Tell us, Jews and Greeks, and all the nations who ask you this question.
Answer. For this reason, O foolish and shameless in heart, perhaps God allowed every nation that worships God to worship something on the earth, by all means, which is a work of man's hand, so that they might no longer be able to blame the Christians regarding the cross and the worship of icons. Just as, therefore, the Jew worshipped the ark of the covenant, and the two cherubim which were cast and of gold, and the two tablets which Moses carved, never having been permitted by God to worship or kiss these things: so we Christians do not worship the cross as God, but as showing the sincerity of our soul's disposition towards the One who was crucified. D