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to provide to him, but from the one, the Father, according to proximate theology, glorifying God as being one person, the cause of His effects, not the Son alone, but also the Holy Spirit, but not one cause as saying the two persons of the one are of the same essence, for in this way (p. 92) the causes become many, as it happens in our case, and God is no longer one, just as we are not all one man, even if we are of the same essence?
Are you therefore persuaded in these matters by God and by those who theologize according to God, or do you still seek to hear through thunder, like those who after the many divine signs of Jesus sought to see a sign from heaven? Hear, then, the thunder also, of John, the most theological of the Lord's disciples, who says: "we have seen his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the father." What then, shall we not say the only-begotten is from the Father alone, because "alone" is not added? But the Lord himself also, speaking to the Jews, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came forth from God and am here," and again, "not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father," why did he not add "alone," saying 'I came forth from the Father alone,' or "he who is from the Father alone," if not because it is understood by necessity?
Since it has been said so many times concerning the Son that He is from the Father and nowhere is "alone" added, you yourself everywhere understand this implicitly and you are not displeased with those who everywhere understand it implicitly. Rather, indeed, you would be especially displeased with those who do not understand this and would accuse them as impious or even ungodly. But when you hear that the Holy Spirit is from the Father, then what has happened to you that you do not understand what is necessarily implied, but have even turned aside to the opposite opinion, so that the very charge you would have justly brought against those who think wrongly concerning the Son, you yourself have unjustly suffered regarding the Spirit, from no occasion at all that could have given rise to this impiety?
For not only because the Spirit is said to be from the Father, (p. 94) as God the Word before the ages is from the Father, is it understood of necessity that He proceeds from the Father alone, but also because according to the wise martyr of the truth, Justin, "as the Son is from the Father, so also is the Holy Spirit from the Father, except for the mode of existence; for the one shone forth from light by way of generation, but the other, though it is also light from light, came forth not by way of generation, but by way of procession." If the Son is immediately from the Father, the Spirit is also immediately from the Father; and if the Son is not also from the Spirit, the Spirit is not also from the Son; and if the Son is from the Father alone, the Spirit is also from the Father alone. For since the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, as the Son is begotten from the Father, and that which proceeds as the Son is begotten from the Father proceeds from the Father alone, therefore the Holy Spirit comes forth from God the Father alone by way of procession.
These things, therefore, are both said and exist in a like manner, each both together and separately, providing to us a causal proof of the truth by their being in a like manner, and an evidential one by their being said in a like manner. For it is not that because the Son and the Spirit are together from eternity, we will therefore not know the things of the Spirit from the Son, but because the things of the Son are more known to us, from these more known things we will also demonstrate the Spirit. Besides, it is not simply from the Son, but from the fact that the Spirit is from the Father as the Son is, that it has been demonstrated that He exists from the Father alone.
And indeed according to the divine Paul the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit and mind of Christ, just as Basil the Great in his works Against Eunomius concerning the Spirit
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αὐτῷ παρέχειν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ ἑνός, τοῦ Πατρός, κατά τό προσεχές θεολογεῖν, οὐ τόν Υἱόν μόνον, ἀλλά καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἕν πρόσωπον τό αἴτιον τῶν αὐτοῦ αἰτιατῶν εἶναι δοξάζων τόν Θεόν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ἕν αἴτιον ὡς τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας τά δύο πρόσωπα λέγων τοῦ ἑνός, οὕτω γάρ (σελ. 92) πολλά γίνεται τά αἴτια, ὡς ἐφ᾿ ἡμῶν συμβαίνει, καί οὐκέτι Θεός εἷς, ὥσπερ οὐδ᾿ ἡμεῖς εἷς οἱ πάντες ἄνθρωπος, εἰ καί τῆς αὐτῆς ἐσμεν οὐσίας;
Ἆρ᾿ οὖν πείθῃ κατά ταῦτα Θεῷ καί τοῖς κατά Θεόν θεολογοῦσιν ἤ ζητεῖς ἔτι καί διά βροντῆς ἀκηκοέναι κατά τούς μετά τάς πολλάς Ἰησοῦ θεοσημίας σημεῖον ζητοῦντας ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανῶν ἰδεῖν; Ἄκουε δή καί τῆς βροντῆς, Ἰωάννου καί θεολογικωτάτου τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου μαθητῶν, ὅς φησιν˙ «εἴδομεν τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρά τοῦ πατρός». Τί οὖν, οὐκ ἐροῦμεν τόν μονογενῆ παρά μόνου τοῦ Πατρός, ἐπεί μή πρόσκειται τοῦ «μόνου»; Ἀλλά καί ὁ Κύριος αὐτός πρός Ἰουδαίους λέγων, «εἰ ὁ Θεός πατήρ ὑμῶν ἦν, ἠγαπᾶτε ἄν ἐμέ, ἐγώ γάρ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον καί ἥκων», καί πάλιν, «οὐχ ὅτι τις ἑώρακε τόν πατέρα, εἰ μή ὁ ὤν παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὗτος ἑώρακε τόν πατέρα», πῶς οὐ προσέθηκε τό «μόνου» λέγων 'ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός μόνου ἐξῆλθον', ἤ "ὁ ὤν παρά μόνου τοῦ Πατρός", οὐχ ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης συννοούμενον;
Τοσαυτάκις οὖν εἰρημένου περί τοῦ Υἱοῦ ὅτι παρά τοῦ Πατρός καί μηδαμοῦ τοῦ «μόνου» προσκειμένου, αὐτός τε πανταχοῦ συνυπακούεις τοῦτο καί τοῖς πανταχοῦ συνυπακούουσιν οὐ δυσχεραίνεις. Μᾶλλον μέν οὖν καί τοῖς μή συννοοῦσι τοῦτο ἐς τά μάλιστα δυσχερανεῖς καί ὡς δυσεβέσιν ἤ καί ἀσεβέσιν ἐγκαλέσεις. Περί δέ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἀκούων, εἶτα τί παθών, οὐ συννοεῖς τό ἐξ ἀνάγκης συνυπακουόμενον, ἀλλά καί εἰς τήν ἐναντίαν ἐξετράπης δόξαν, ὅ ἄν ἐνεκάλεσας δικαίως τοῖς περί τοῦ Υἱοῦ κακῶς νοοῦσι, τοῦτ᾿ αὐτός ἀδίκως πεπονθώς ἐπί τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐκ μηδεμιᾶς ὅλως τό δυσσεβές προεξενούσης ἀφορμῆς;
Οὐ γάρ μόνον ὅτι λέγεται παρά τοῦ Πατρός τό Πνεῦμα, (σελ. 94) ὡς ὁ Θεός Λόγος πρό αἰώνων παρά τοῦ Πατρός, ἐξ ἀνάγκης παρά μόνου τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορευόμενον νοεῖται, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί καί κατά τόν σοφόν μάρτυρα τῆς ἀληθείας Ἰουστῖνον, «ὡς ὁ Υἱός ἐστιν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός, οὕτω καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός, πλήν τοῦ τρόπου τῆς ὑπάρξεως˙ ὁ μέν γάρ γεννητῶς ἐκ φωτός ἐξέλαμψε, τό δέ, φῶς μέν ἐκ φωτός καί αὐτό, οὐ μήν γεννητῶς, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκπορευτῶς προῆλθεν». Εἰ ὁ Υἱός ἀμέσως ἐκ Πατρός, καί τό Πνεῦμα ἐκ Πατρός ἀμέσως˙ καί εἰ ὁ Υἱός οὐχί καί ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος, καί τό Πνεῦμα οὐχί καί ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ˙ καί εἰ ὁ Υἱός ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρός, καί τό Πνεῦμα ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρός. Ἐπεί γάρ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἐκπορευτόν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός, ὡς ὁ Υἱός γεννητός ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός, τό δέ ὡς ὁ Υἱός γεννητός ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορευτόν, ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορευτόν, τό Πνεῦμα ἄρα τό ἅγιον ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρός μόνου ἐκπορευτῶς προερχόμενος.
Ταῦτα ἄρα καί ὁμοίως λέγεταί τε καί ἔστιν, ὁμοῦ τε καί χωρίς ἑκάτερον, διά μέν τοῦ ὁμοίως εἶναι τήν ἀπόδειξιν ἡμῖν τῆς ἀληθείας αἰτιώδη παρεχόμενα, διά δέ τοῦ ὁμοίως λέγεσθαι τεκμηριώδη˙ οὐ γάρ ὅτι ἅμα ἐξ ἀϊδίου ὁ Υἱός τε καί τό Πνεῦμα, διά τοῦτο οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τά τοῦ Πνεύματος γνωρίσομεν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι γνωριμώτερα ἡμῖν ἐστι τά τοῦ Υἱοῦ, ἐκ τῶν γνωριμωτέρων τούτων καί τό Πνεῦμα ἀποδείξομεν. Ἄλλως τε οὐδέ ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ εἶναι ὡς ὁ Υἱός τό Πνεῦμα ἐκ Πατρός, ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρός ὑπάρχον ἀποδέδεικται.
Καί μήν κατά τόν θεῖον Παῦλον Πνεῦμα καί νοῦς λέγεται Χριστοῦ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, καθάπερ ὁ Μέγας Βασίλειος ἐν τοῖς πρός Εὐνομιανοῦς περί τοῦ Πνεύματός