Chapter I.
1. Your desire for information, my right well-beloved and most deeply respected brother Amphilochius, I highly commend, and not less your industrious
2. If “To the fool on his asking for wisdom, wisdom shall be reckoned,” at how high a price shall we value “the wise hearer” who is quoted by the Prop
3. Lately when praying with the people, and using the full doxology to God the Father in both forms, at one time “ with the Son together with thr
Chapter II.
4. The petty exactitude of these men about syllables and words is not, as might be supposed, simple and straightforward nor is the mischief to which
Chapter III.
5. They have, however, been led into this error by their close study of heathen writers, who have respectively applied the terms “ of whom” and “ t
Chapter IV.
6. We acknowledge that the word of truth has in many places made use of these expressions yet we absolutely deny that the freedom of the Spirit is in
Chapter V.
7. After thus describing the outcome of our adversaries’ arguments, we shall now proceed to shew, as we have proposed, that the Father does not first
8. But if our adversaries oppose this our interpretation, what argument will save them from being caught in their own trap?
9. In his Epistle to the Ephesians the apostle says, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Chri
10. It must now be pointed out that the phrase “through whom” is admitted by Scripture in the case of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
11. In the same manner it may also be said of the word “in,” that Scripture admits its use in the case of God the Father. In the Old Testament it is s
12. And it is not only in the case of the theology that the use of the terms varies, but whenever one of the terms takes the meaning of the other we f
Chapter VI.
13. Our opponents, while they thus artfully and perversely encounter our argument, cannot even have recourse to the plea of ignorance. It is obvious t
14. Let us first ask them this question: In what sense do they say that the Son is “after the Father ” later in time, or in order, or in dignity? But
15. If they really conceive of a kind of degradation of the Son in relation to the Father, as though He were in a lower place, so that the Father sits
Chapter VII.
16. But their contention is that to use the phrase “with him” is altogether strange and unusual, while “through him” is at once most familiar in Holy
Chapter VIII.
17. When, then, the apostle “thanks God through Jesus Christ,” and again says that “through Him” we have “received grace and apostleship for obedience
18. For “through Him” comes every succour to our souls, and it is in accordance with each kind of care that an appropriate title has been devised. So
19. It will follow that we should next in order point out the character of the provision of blessings bestowed on us by the Father “through him.” Inas
20. When then He says, “I have not spoken of myself,” and again, “As the Father said unto me, so I speak,”
21. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father not the express image, nor yet the form, for the divine nature does not admit of combination but the
Chapter IX.
22. Let us now investigate what are our common conceptions concerning the Spirit, as well those which have been gathered by us from Holy Scripture con
23. Now the Spirit is not brought into intimate association with the soul by local approximation. How indeed could there be a corporeal approach to th
Chapter X.
24. But we must proceed to attack our opponents, in the endeavour to confute those “oppositions” advanced against us which are derived from “knowledge
25. But all the apparatus of war has been got ready against us every intellectual missile is aimed at us and now blasphemers’ tongues shoot and hit
26. Whence is it that we are Christians? Through our faith, would be the universal answer. And in what way are we saved? Plainly because we were regen
Chapter XI.
27. “Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow?” For whom is distress and darkness? For whom eternal doom? Is it not for the transgressors? For them that deny the
Chapter XII.
28. Let no one be misled by the fact of the apostle’s frequently omitting the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit when making mention of baptism
Chapter XIII.
29. It is, however, objected that other beings which are enumerated with the Father and the Son are certainly not always glorified together with them.
30. And not only Paul, but generally all those to whom is committed any ministry of the word, never cease from testifying, but call heaven and earth t
Chapter XIV.
31. But even if some are baptized unto the Spirit, it is not, it is urged, on this account right for the Spirit to be ranked with God. Some “were bapt
32. What then? Because they were typically baptized unto Moses, is the grace of baptism therefore small? Were it so, and if we were in each case to pr
33. But belief in Moses not only does not show our belief in the Spirit to be worthless, but, if we adopt our opponents’ line of argument, it rather w
Chapter XV.
34. What more? Verily, our opponents are well equipped with arguments. We are baptized, they urge, into water, and of course we shall not honour the w
35. The dispensation of our God and Saviour concerning man is a recall from the fall and a return from the alienation caused by disobedience to close
36. Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liber
Chapter XVI.
37. Let us then revert to the point raised from the outset, that in all things the Holy Spirit is inseparable and wholly incapable of being parted fro
38. Moreover, from the things created at the beginning may be learnt the fellowship of the Spirit with the Father and the Son. The pure, intelligent,
39. But when we speak of the dispensations made for man by our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who will gainsay their having been accomplished thr
40. Moreover by any one who carefully uses his reason it will be found that even at the moment of the expected appearance of the Lord from heaven the
Chapter XVII.
41. What, however, they call sub-numeration, and in what sense they use this word, cannot even be imagined without difficulty. It is well known that i
42. What is it that they maintain? Look at the terms of their imposture. “We assert that connumeration is appropriate to subjects of equal dignity, an
43. Do you maintain that the Son is numbered under the Father, and the Spirit under the Son, or do you confine your sub-numeration to the Spirit alone
Chapter XVIII.
44. In delivering the formula of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, our Lord did not connect the gift with number. He did not say “into First, S
45. For we do not count by way of addition, gradually making increase from unity to multitude, and saying one, two, and three,—nor yet first, second,
46. And it is not from this source alone that our proofs of the natural communion are derived, but from the fact that He is moreover said to be “of Go
47. And when, by means of the power that enlightens us, we fix our eyes on the beauty of the image of the invisible God, and through the image are led
Chapter XIX.
48. “Be it so,” it is rejoined, “but glory is by no means so absolutely due to the Spirit as to require His exaltation by us in doxologies.” Whence th
49. And His operations, what are they? For majesty ineffable, and for numbers innumerable. How shall we form a conception of what extends beyond the a
50. But, it is said that “He maketh intercession for us.” It follows then that, as the suppliant is inferior to the benefactor, so far is the Spirit i
Chapter XX.
51. He is not a slave, it is said not a master, but free. Oh the terrible insensibility, the pitiable audacity, of them that maintain this! Shall I r
Chapter XXI.
52. But why get an unfair victory for our argument by fighting over these undignified questions, when it is within our power to prove that the excelle
Chapter XXII.
53. Moreover the surpassing excellence of the nature of the Spirit is to be learned not only from His having the same title as the Father and the Son,
Chapter XXIII.
54. Now of the rest of the Powers each is believed to be in a circumscribed place. The angel who stood by Cornelius
Chapter XXIV.
55. Furthermore man is “crowned with glory and honour,” and “glory, honour and peace” are laid up by promise “to every man that worketh good.”
56. Let us then examine the points one by one. He is good by nature, in the same way as the Father is good, and the Son is good the creature on the o
57. Now it is urged that the Spirit is in us as a gift from God, and that the gift is not reverenced with the same honour as that which is attributed
Chapter XXV.
58. It is, however, asked by our opponents, how it is that Scripture nowhere describes the Spirit as glorified together with the Father and the Son, b
59. As we find both expressions in use among the faithful, we use both in the belief that full glory is equally given to the Spirit by both. The mout
60. As compared with “ in ,” there is this difference, that while “ with in with in and in in
Chapter XXVI.
61. Now, short and simple as this utterance is, it appears to me, as I consider it, that its meanings are many and various. For of the senses in which
62. It is an extraordinary statement, but it is none the less true, that the Spirit is frequently spoken of as the place of them that are being sanc
63. In relation to the originate, then, the Spirit is said to be in be in be with with in with in
64. Another sense may however be given to the phrase, that just as the Father is seen in the Son, so is the Son in the Spirit. The “worship in the Spi
Chapter XXVII.
65. The word “ in, ” say our opponents, “is exactly appropriate to the Spirit, and sufficient for every thought concerning Him. Why then, they ask,
66. Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church first one
67. Time will fail me if I attempt to recount the unwritten mysteries of the Church. Of the rest I say nothing but of the very confession of our fait
68. The force of both expressions has now been explained. I will proceed to state once more wherein they agree and wherein they differ from one anothe
Chapter XXVIII.
69. But let us see if we can bethink us of any defence of this usage of our fathers for they who first originated the expression are more open to bla
70. I am ashamed to add the rest. You expect to be glorified together with Christ (“if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified to
Chapter XXIX.
71. In answer to the objection that the doxology in the form “with the Spirit” has no written authority, we maintain that if there is no other instanc
72. There is the famous Irenæus, and Clement of Rome in with carnal
73. Origen, too, in many of his expositions of the Psalms, we find using the form of doxology “ with the Holy Ghost.” The opinions which he held con
74. But where shall I rank the great Gregory, and the words uttered by him? Shall we not place among Apostles and Prophets a man who walked by the sam
75. How then can I be an innovator and creator of new terms, when I adduce as originators and champions of the word whole nations, cities, custom goin
Chapter XXX.
76. To what then shall I liken our present condition? It may be compared, I think, to some naval battle which has arisen out of time old quarrels, and
77. Turn now I beg you from this figurative description to the unhappy reality. Did it not at one time appear that the Arian schism, after its separat
78. So, since no human voice is strong enough to be heard in such a disturbance, I reckon silence more profitable than speech, for if there is any tru
79. For all these reasons I ought to have kept silence, but I was drawn in the other direction by love, which “seeketh not her own,” and desires to ov
26. Whence is it that we are Christians? Through our faith, would be the universal answer. And in what way are we saved? Plainly
because we were regenerate through the grace given in our baptism. How else could we be? And after recognising that this salvation
is established through the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, shall we fling away “that form of doctrine”
10 which we received? Would it not rather be ground for great groaning if we are found now further off from our salvation “than
when we first believed,”
11 and deny now what we then received? Whether a man have departed this life without baptism, or have received a baptism lacking
in some of the requirements of the tradition, his loss is equal.
12 And whoever does not always and everywhere keep to and hold fast as a sure protection the confession which we recorded at
our first admission, when, being delivered “from the idols,” we came “to the living God,”
13 constitutes himself a “stranger” from the “promises”
14 of God, fighting against his own handwriting,
15 which he put on record when he professed the faith. For if to me my baptism was the beginning of life, and that day of regeneration
the first of days, it is plain that the utterance uttered in the grace of adoption was the most honourable of all. Can I then,
perverted by these men’s seductive words, abandon the tradition which guided me to the light, which bestowed on me the boon
of the knowledge of God, whereby I, so long a foe by reason of sin, was made a child of God? But, for myself, I pray that
with this confession I may depart hence to the Lord, and them I charge to preserve the faith secure until the day of Christ,
and to keep the Spirit undivided from the Father and the Son, preserving, both in the confession of faith and in the doxology,
the doctrine taught them at their baptism.
12 The question is whether the baptism has been solemnized, according to the divine
command, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. St. Cyprian
in his controversy with Stephen, Bp. of Rome, represented the sterner view that heretical
baptism was invalid. But, with some exceptions in the East, the position ultimately
prevailed that baptism with water, and in the prescribed words, by whomsoever administered,
was valid. So St. Augustine, “Si evangelicus verbis in nomine Patris et Filii et
Spiritus Sancti Marcion baptismum consecrabat, integrum erat Sacramentum, quamvis
ejus fides sub eisdem verbis aliud opinantis quam catholica veritas docet non esset
integra.” (Cont. Petil. de unico bapt. § 3.) So the VIII. Canon of Arles (314),
“De Afris, quod propria lege sua utuntur ut rebaptizent, placuit, ut, si ad ecclesiam
aliquis de hæresi venerit, interrogent eum symbolum; et si perviderint eum in Patre,
et Filio et Spiritu Sancto, esse baptizatum, manus ei tantum imponantur, ut accipiat
spiritum sanctum. Quod si interrogatus non responderit hanc Trinitatem, baptizetur.”
So the VII. Canon of Constantinople (381) by which the Eunomians who only baptized
with one immersion, and the Montanists, here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians,
who taught the doctrine of the Fatherhood of the Son, were counted as heathen. Vide
Bright’s notes on the Canons of the Councils, p. 106. Socrates, v. 24, describes
how the Eunomi-Eutychians baptized not in the name of the Trinity, but into the death
of Christ.
15 The word χειρόγραφον, more common in Latin than in Greek, is used generally for
a bond. cf. Juv. Sat. xvi. 41, “Debitor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos, vana
supervacui dicens chirographa ligni.” On the use of the word, vide Bp. Lightfoot
on Col. ii. 14. The names of the catechumens were registered, and the Renunciation
and Profession of Faith (Interrogationes et Responsa; ἐπερωτήσεις καἰ ἀποκρίσεις)
may have been signed.
[26] Χριστιανοὶ πόθεν ἡμεῖς; Διὰ τῆς πίστεως, πᾶς τις ἂν εἴποι. Σῳζόμεθα δὲ τίνα τρόπον; Ἀναγεννηθέντες δηλονότι διὰ τῆς ἐν
τῷ βαπτίσματι χάριτος. Πόθεν γὰρ ἄλλοθεν; Εἶτα τὴν σωτηρίαν ταύτην διὰ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος βεβαιουμένην γνωρίσαντες,
ὃν παρελάβομεν «τύπον διδαχῆς» προησόμεθα; Ἦ μεγάλων ἂν εἴη στεναγμῶν ἄξιον, εἴπερ εὑρισκόμεθα νῦν μακρυνόμενοι μᾶλλον ἀπὸ
τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν ἢ ὅτε ἐπιστεύσαμεν: εἴπερ ἃ τότε προσεδεξάμεθα, νῦν ἀπαρνούμεθα. Ἴση ἐστὶν ἡ ζημία, ἢ ἄμοιρόν τινα τοῦ βαπτίσματος
ἀπελθεῖν, ἢ ἕν τι τῶν ἐκ τῆς παραδόσεως ἐλλεῖπον δέξασθαι. Τήν τε ὁμολογίαν, ἣν ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης εἰσαγωγῆς κατεθέμεθα, ὅτε ῥυοθέντες
ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων προσήλθομεν Θεῷ ζῶντι, ὁ μὴ ἐπὶ παντὸς φυλάσσων καιροῦ, καὶ διὰ πάσης ἑαυτοῦ τῆς ζωῆς ὡς ἀσφαλοῦς φυλακτηρίου
περιεχόμενος, ξένον ἑαυτὸν καθίστησι τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῷ ἰδίῳ χειρογράφῳ μαχόμενος, ὃ ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν πίστιν ὁμολογίας
κατέθετο. Εἰ γὰρ ἀρχή μοι ζωῆς τὸ βάπτισμα, καὶ πρώτη ἡμερῶν ἐκείνη ἡ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας ἡμέρα, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ φωνὴ τιμιωτάτη
πασῶν ἡ ἐν τῇ χάριτι τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἐκφωνηθεῖσα. Τὴν οὖν εἰσάγουσάν με εἰς τὸ φῶς, τὴν γνῶσιν Θεοῦ μοι χαρισαμένην παράδοσιν,
δι' ἧς τέκνον ἀπεδείχθην Θεοῦ, ὁ τέως διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐχθρός, ταύτην προδῶ, ταῖς τούτων πιθανολογίαις παρατραπείς; Ἀλλὰ καὶ
ἐμαυτῷ συνεύχομαι μετὰ τῆς ὁμολογίας ταύτης ἀπελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν Κύριον, καὶ αὐτοῖς παραινῶ, ἄσυλον διατηρῆσαι τὴν πίστιν, εἰς
ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἀχώριστον ἀπὸ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ φυλάξαι τὸ Πνεῦμα, τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος διδασκαλίαν ἔν τε τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ
τῆς πίστεως διατηροῦντας καὶ ἐν τῇ τῆς δόξης ἀποπληρώσει.
