Oration XLI. On Pentecost.

 I.  Let us reason a little about the Festival, that we may keep it spiritually.  For different persons have different ways of keeping Festival but to

 II.  Wherefore we must keep the feast spiritually.  And this is the beginning of our discourse for we must speak, even if our speech do seem a little

 III.  As to the honour paid to Seven there are many testimonies, but we will be content with a few out of the many.  For instance, seven precious spir

 IV.  And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation.  I perceive als

 V.  We are keeping the feast of Pentecost and of the Coming of the Spirit, and the appointed time of the Promise, and the fulfilment of our hope.  And

 VI.  They who reduce the Holy Spirit to the rank of a creature are blasphemers and wicked servants, and worst of the wicked.  For it is the part of wi

 VII.  If, my friends, you will not acknowledge the Holy Spirit to be uncreated, nor yet eternal clearly such a state of mind is due to the contrary s

 VIII.  Confess, my friends, the Trinity to be of One Godhead or if you will, of One Nature and we will pray the Spirit to give you this word God.  H

 IX.  The Holy Ghost, then, always existed, and exists, and always will exist.  He neither had a beginning, nor will He have an end but He was everlas

 X.  Are you labouring to bring forth objections?  Well, so am I to get on with my discourse.  Honour the Day of the Spirit restrain your tongue if yo

 XI.  He wrought first in the heavenly and angelic powers, and such as are first after God and around God.  For from no other source flows their perfec

 XII.  And therefore He came after Christ, that a Comforter should not be lacking unto us but Another Comforter, that you might acknowledge His co-equ

 XIII.  This was proclaimed by the Prophets in such passages as the following:—The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and, There shall rest upon Him Seven

 XIV.  This Spirit shares with the Son in working both the Creation and the Resurrection, as you may be shewn by this Scripture By the Word of the Lor

 XV.  They spoke with strange tongues, and not those of their native land and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learnt it. 

 XVI.  But as the old Confusion of tongues was laudable, when men who were of one language in wickedness and impiety, even as some now venture to be, w

 XVII.  Next, since it was to inhabitants of Jerusalem, most devout Jews, Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, Egyptians, and Libyans, Cretans too, and Arab

 XVIII.  These questions have been examined before by the studious, and perhaps not without occasion and whatever else any one may contribute at the p

VIII.  Confess, my friends, the Trinity to be of One Godhead; or if you will, of One Nature; and we will pray the Spirit to give you this word God.  He will give it to you, I well know, inasmuch as He has already granted you the first portion and the second;39    i.e., inasmuch as He has granted you a right faith in the Consubstantiality and Unity of the Trinity, I am sure He will in time grant you the grace also to call Him by the Name of God. and especially if that about which we are contending is some spiritual cowardice, and not the devil’s objection.  Yet more clearly and concisely, let me say, do not you call us to account for our loftier word (for envy has nothing to do with this ascent), and we will not find fault with what you have been able to attain, until by another road you are brought up to the same resting place.  For we are not seeking victory, but to gain brethren, by whose separation from us we are torn.  This we concede to you in whom we do find something of vital truth, who are sound as to the Son.  We admire your life, but we do not altogether approve your doctrine.  Ye who have the things of the Spirit, receive Himself in addition, that ye may not only strive, but strive lawfully,40    2 Tim. ii. 5. which is the condition of your crown.  May this reward of your conversation be granted you, that you may confess the Spirit perfectly and proclaim with us, aye and before us, all that is His due.  Yes, and I will venture even more on your behalf; I will even utter the Apostle’s wish.  So much do I cling to you, and so much do I revere your array, and the colour of your continence, and those sacred assemblies, and the august Virginity, and purification, and the Psalmody that lasts all night41    The Constantinopolitan followers of Macedonius at the period were noted for their strict asceticism.  The attempt to revive the Night Office among the secular Clergy of the Diocese brought great odium on S. John Chrysostom a few years later. and your love of the poor, and of the brethren, and of strangers, that I could consent to be Anathema from Christ, and even to suffer something as one condemned, if only you might stand beside us, and we might glorify the Trinity together.  For of the others why should I speak, seeing they are clearly dead (and it is the part of Christ alone to raise them, Who quickeneth the dead by His own Power), and are unhappily separated in place as they are bound together by their doctrine; and who quarrel among themselves as much as a pair of squinting eyes in looking at the same object, and differ with one another, not in sight but in position—if indeed we may charge them only with squinting, and not with utter blindness.  And now that I have to some extent laid down your position, come, let us return again to the subject of the Spirit, and I think you will follow me now.

Ηʹ. Μιᾶς Θεότητος, ὦ οὗτοι, τὴν Τριάδα ὁμολογήσατε, εἰ δὲ βούλεσθε, μιᾶς φύσεως: καὶ τὴν Θεὸς φωνὴν παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὑμῖν αἰτήσομεν. Δώσει γὰρ, εὖ οἶδα, ὁ τὸ πρῶτον δοὺς, καὶ τὸ δεύτερον, καὶ μάλιστα, εἰ δειλία τις εἴη πνευματικὴ, καὶ μὴ ἔνστασις διαβολικὴ, τὸ μαχόμενον. Ἔτι σαφέστερον εἴπω καὶ συντομώτερον: Μήτε ὑμεῖς ἡμᾶς εὐθύνητε τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας φωνῆς (φθόνος γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀναβάσεως), οὔτε ἡμεῖς τὴν ἐφικτὴν τέως ὑμῖν ἐγκαλέσομεν, ἕως ἂν καὶ δι' ἄλλης ὁδοῦ πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ φέρησθε καταγώγιον. Οὐ γὰρ νικῆσαι ζητοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ προσλαβεῖν ἀδελφοὺς, ὧν τῷ χωρισμῷ σπαρασσόμεθα. Ταῦτα ὑμῖν, παρ' οἷς τι καὶ ζωτικὸν εὑρίσκομεν, τοῖς περὶ τὸν Υἱὸν ὑγιαίνουσιν: ὧν τὸν βίον θαυμάζοντες, οὐκ ἐπαινοῦμεν πάντη τὸν λόγον: οἱ τὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔχοντες, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα προσλάβετε, ἵνα μὴ ἀθλῆτε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ νομίμως, ἐξ οὗ καὶ ὁ στέφανος. Οὗτος ὑμῖν δοθείη τῆς πολιτείας μισθὸς, ὁμολογῆσαι τὸ Πνεῦμα τελείως, καὶ κηρύξαι σὺν ἡμῖν τε καὶ πρὸ ἡμῶν ὅσον ἄξιον. Τολμῶ τι καὶ μεῖζον ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, τὸ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου φθέγξασθαι. Τοσοῦτον ὑμῶν περιέχομαι, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὑμῶν αἰδοῦμαι τὴν εὔκοσμον ταύτην στολὴν, καὶ τὸ χρῶμα τῆς ἐγκρατείας, καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ ταῦτα συστήματα, καὶ τὴν σεμνὴν παρθενίαν καὶ κάθαρσιν, καὶ τὴν πάννυχον ψαλμῳδίαν, καὶ τὸ φιλόπτωχον, καὶ φιλάδελφον, καὶ φιλόξενον, ὥστε καὶ ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, καὶ παθεῖν τι, ὡς κατάκριτος, δέχομαι: μόνον εἰ σταίητε μεθ' ἡμῶν, καὶ κοινῇ τὴν Τριάδα δοξάσαιμεν. Περὶ γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων, τί χρὴ καὶ λέγειν, σαφῶς τεθνηκότων (οὓς Χριστοῦ μόνου ἐγεῖραι, τοῦ ζωοποιοῦντος τοὺς νεκροὺς κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν, οἳ κακῶς τῷ τόπῳ χωρίζονται, τῷ λόγῳ συνδεδεμένοι, καὶ τοσοῦτον πρὸς ἀλλήλους ζυγομαχοῦσιν, ὅσον ὀφθαλμοὶ διάστροφοι, τὸ ἓν βλέποντες, καὶ οὐ τῇ ὄψει, τῇ θέσει δὲ στασιάζοντες: εἴ γε καὶ διαστροφὴν αὐτοῖς ἐγκλητέον, ἀλλὰ μὴ τύφλωσιν; Ἐπεὶ δὲ μετρίως ἐθέμην τὰ πρὸς ὑμᾶς, φέρε, καὶ πρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα πάλιν ἐπανέλθωμεν: οἶμαι δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἤδη συνέψεσθε.