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this death. “Death is in this pot.” 6 But if someone should say—a thing I have heard many people say—why, when we say “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,” do we often add “to the one crucified by His will and risen from the dead” or some other similar thing, but when we say the Trisagion, we do not add “who was crucified for us,” we will say to him that the customs and traditions of the church should prevail. For, it says, “Do not move the ancient landmarks which your fathers have set.” And “everything distinguished by antiquity is venerable,” the great Basil declared. Therefore, it is a custom for the church, handed down from above, for “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit” to be said in the manner of a scriptural text. Therefore, just as when we say a scriptural text, for example from a psalm or an ode, we often add a troparion melody that does not adhere to the meaning of the text, so too, when we say “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit” in the manner of a text, we add a troparion suitable to the Son alone that does not adhere to the meaning or syntax of “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.” For “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit” is said in the dative case, but the melody is often in the genitive, or accusative, or nominative, or vocative. And from this it is clear that the melody does not adhere to the meaning of “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.” But when we say only “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,” not in the manner of a text, we in no way add the cross or any of the things that define the hypostasis of the Father alone, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit. “Holy God” is the Father, “Holy Mighty” is the Son who was incarnate and crucified in the flesh and rose again, “Holy Immortal” is the Holy Spirit. Having spoken of the hypostases and wishing to show that the three hypostases are one God, I join them together and say: “Have mercy on us,” just as God says when giving the law to Moses: “The Lord, God, is one Lord,” and the Seraphim “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth.” God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, but one God, said the God-bearing Fathers; and Holy the Father and Holy the Son and Holy the Holy Spirit, but one Holy in three; and Lord and Lord and Lord, but one Lord. But “God and God and God” the Father, or “God and God and God” the Son, or “God and God and God” the Holy Spirit, or “Holy, Holy, Holy,” or “Lord, Lord, Lord,” applied to one of the hypostases—none of our approved fathers has ever declared. For just as it is impossible to call the Trinity one hypostasis, so it is not pious to call any one of the hypostases a trinity. So too in the time of the thrice-blessed Proclus, they sang the Trisagion hymn, “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us,” by divine revelation, when they say the child was snatched up from the midst of the crowd making the litany and was initiated into the hymn while in the air by some angelic power, and the cessation of the plague became a testimony to the divinity of the hymn. And so also the most divine company of the six hundred and thirty, possessed by the divine Spirit, sang. And what is this new and empty teaching that now confuses and disorderly disturbs the people of God? 7 But someone might say again, perhaps: Why, when we say “hypostasis and hypostasis and hypostasis” do we say “three hypostases,” but when we say “God and God and God” we do not say “three gods”? To which we will answer that the particular are not made common, but the common, even if shared by each of the particulars, are shared unitarily and commonly, and while each hypostasis is regarded individually, there is not one common hypostasis of them. But the Godhead and the holiness and the lordship, even if shared by each of the hypostases, is one and common to the three hypostases. For there is not one Godhead of the Father and another of the Son and another of the Holy Spirit, nor holiness or lordship, but one and the same
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θάνατον τοῦτον. «Θάνατος ἐν τούτῳ τῷ λέβητι.» 6 Εἰ δέ τις ἐρεῖ· Ὃ πολλῶν λεγόντων ἀκήκοα, ὅτι τίνος ἕνεκα «δόξα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι» λέγοντες ἐπιλέγομεν πολλάκις «τῷ σταυρωθέντι βουλήσει καὶ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάντι» ἤ τι τοιουτότροπον ἕτερον, τὸ δὲ τρισάγιον λέγοντες μὴ ἐπενέγκωμεν τὸ «ὁ σταυρωθεὶς δι' ἡμᾶς», φήσομεν πρὸς αὐτόν, ὅτι τὰ ἔθη καὶ αἱ παραδόσεις τῆς ἐκκλησίας κρατείτωσαν. «Μὴ μέταιρε» γάρ, φησίν, «ὅρια αἰώνια, ἃ ἔθεντο οἱ πατέρες σου.» Καὶ «πᾶν τὸ ἀρχαιότητι διαφέρον αἰδέσιμον,» ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος ἀπεφήνατο. Τῇ οὖν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἔθος ἐστὶν ἄνωθεν παραδεδομένον εἰς ῥητοῦ τάξιν λέγεσθαι τὸ «δόξα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι». Ὥσπερ οὖν ῥητὸν λέγοντες ψαλμοῦ τυχὸν ἢ ᾠδῆς ἐπιλέγομεν πολλάκις τροπάριν μελῴδημα μὴ τῆς τοῦ ῥητοῦ διανοίας ἐχόμενον, οὕτως, ὅταν ἐν ῥητοῦ τάξει εἰς τὸ «δόξα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι» λέγωμεν, ἐπιλέγομεν τροπάριν ἁρμόζον τῷ υἱῷ μόνῳ μὴ ἐχόμενον τῆς διανοίας ἢ τῆς συντάξεως τοῦ «δόξα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι». Καὶ γὰρ τὸ μὲν «δόξα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι» πρὸς δοτικὴν εἴρηται, τὸ δὲ μελῴδημα πολλάκις πρὸς γενικὴν ἢ αἰτιατικὴν ἢ εὐθεῖαν ἢ κλητικήν. Κἀντεῦθεν δῆλον, ὡς οὐ τῆς ἐννοίας ἔχεται τὸ μελῴδημα τοῦ «δόξα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι». Ὅτε δὲ μόνον τὸ «δόξα πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι» οὐχ ὡς ἐν ῥητοῦ τάξει φαμέν, οὐδαμῶς τὸν σταυρὸν ἤ τι τῶν ἀφοριστικῶν τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς μόνης ἢ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ὑποστάσεως ἐπιλέγομεν. «Ἅγιος ὁ θεὸς» ὁ πατήρ, «ἅγιος ἰσχυρὸς» ὁ υἱὸς ὁ σαρκωθεὶς καὶ σταυρωθεὶς σαρκὶ καὶ ἀναστάς, «ἅγιος ἀθάνατος» τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Τὰς ὑποστάσεις εἰπὼν καὶ ἕνα θεὸν εἶναι τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις δεῖξαι βουλόμενος συνάπτω καὶ λέγω· «Ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς», ὥς φησιν ὁ θεὸς νομοθετῶν τῷ Μωσῇ· «Κύριος, ὁ θεός, κύριος εἷς ἐστι», καὶ τὰ σεραφὶμ «ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος, κύριος σαβαώθ». Θεὸς ὁ πατήρ, θεὸς ὁ υἱός, θεὸς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἀλλ' εἷς θεός, ἔφησαν οἱ θεηγόροι πατέρες, καὶ ἅγιος ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ἅγιος ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ἅγιον τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἀλλ' εἷς τὰ τρία ἅγιος, καὶ κύριος καὶ κύριος καὶ κύριος, ἀλλ' εἷς κύριος. Θεὸς δὲ καὶ θεὸς καὶ θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ ἢ θεὸς καὶ θεὸς καὶ θεὸς ὁ υἱὸς ἢ θεὸς καὶ θεὸς καὶ θεὸς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἢ ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος ἢ κύριος, κύριος, κύριος, ἐπὶ μιᾶς τῶν ὑποστάσεων οὐδείς πω τῶν ἐγκρίτων πατέρων ἡμῶν διηγόρευσεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὴν τριάδα ἀδύνατον λέγειν μίαν ὑπόστασιν, οὕτως οὐδεμίαν τῶν ὑποστάσεων τριάδα λέγειν ὅσιον. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ Πρόκλου τοῦ τρισμάκαρος ἐξ ἀποκαλύψεως θείας τὸν τρισάγιον ὕμνησαν ὕμνον «ἅγιος ὁ θεός, ἅγιος ἰσχυρός, ἅγιος ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς», ὅτε τὸ παιδίον ἐκ μέσης τῆς πληθύος τῶν λιτανευόντων ἡρπάχθαι φασὶ καὶ μεμυῆσθαι τὸν ὕμνον ἐν ἀέρι γενόμενον ἔκ τινος ἀγγελικῆς δυνάμεως καὶ μαρτυρίαν τῆς τοῦ ὕμνου θειότητος γεγενῆσθαι τῆς ἐπαγωγῆς τὴν λώφησιν. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ θείῳ βεβακχευμένος πνεύματι τῶν ἑξακοσίων τριάκοντα θειότατος θίασος ὕμνησε. Καὶ τίς ἡ καινὴ καὶ κενὴ διδαχὴ αὕτη ἡ νῦν κυκῶσα τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λεὼν καὶ ἀτάκτως διαταράττουσα; 7 Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ τις αὖθις τυχόν· ∆ιὰ τί ὑπόστασιν καὶ ὑπόστασιν καὶ ὑπόστασιν λέγοντες τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις φαμέν, θεὸν δὲ καὶ θεὸν καὶ θεὸν λέγοντες οὐ τρεῖς θεοὺς λέγομεν; Πρὸς ὅπερ ἀποκρινούμεθα, ὅτι τὰ μερικὰ οὐ κοινοποιοῦνται, τὰ δὲ κοινά, εἰ καὶ ὑφ' ἑκάστου τῶν μερικῶν μετέχεται, ἀλλ' ἑνιαίως καὶ κοινῶς, καὶ ἑκάστη μὲν ὑπόστασις ἰδιαζόντως θεωρεῖται, οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ αὐτῶν κοινὴ μία ὑπόστασις. Ἡ δὲ θεότης καὶ ὁ ἁγιασμὸς καὶ ἡ κυριότης, εἰ καὶ ὑφ' ἑκάστης τῶν ὑποστάσεων μετέχεται, ἀλλὰ κοινὴ τῶν τριῶν ἐστιν ὑποστάσεων μία τυγχάνουσα. Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλη θεότης πατρὸς καὶ ἄλλη υἱοῦ καὶ ἄλλη ἁγίου πνεύματος οὐδὲ ἁγιασμὸς ἢ κυριότης, ἀλλὰ μία καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ