what has been said by them concerning the Holy Spirit. For Porphyry says, setting forth the opinion of Plato, that the divine substance proceeded as far as three hypostases, and that the highest god is the Good, and after him and second is the creator, and third is the soul of the world; for the divinity proceeded as far as the soul. Behold, in these things he clearly maintains that the divine substance proceeded as far as three hypostases; for there is one God of all, but the knowledge about him is broadened, as it were, into a holy and consubstantial Trinity, I mean into Father and Son and Holy Spirit, which Plato also calls the soul of the world; and the Spirit gives life, and proceeds from the living Father through the Son, and in him we live and move and have our being. For our Lord Jesus Christ speaks truly: The Spirit is what gives life. And again the same Porphyry concerning Plato: Wherefore, hinting at these things in secret, he says: All things are about the king, and for his sake are all things, and he is the cause of all good things, and the second is about the second things, and the third is about the third things. For as all things are about the three gods, but now firstly about the king of all, and secondly about the god from him, and thirdly about the one from this one. 1.48 And he has shown, making clear both the hypostasis from each other, beginning from the king, and the subordination and recession of those after the first, by saying firstly and secondly and thirdly, and that all things are from one and are saved through him. Therefore he has contemplated not at all soundly, but on a par with those who have thought the things of Arius, he divides and makes to subsist, and introduces the hypostases as subordinate to one another, and thinks that the holy and consubstantial Trinity are three gods dividedly. Nevertheless he has not been wholly ignorant of the truth, and I think that he would have spoken and thought soundly, and would have brought forth to all others the perfect part of the doctrine concerning God, if he had not perhaps feared the indictment of Anytus and Meletus and the hemlock of Socrates. And Hermes also says in the third discourse of those To Asclepius: For it is not possible to impart such mysteries to the uninitiated; but listen with the mind. There was only one intelligible light before the intelligible light and it is forever, a luminous mind of mind; and there was nothing other than its unity; being always in itself, it always contains all things by its own mind and light and spirit. And after other things he says: Apart from this, there is no god, no angel, no demon, no other substance; for he is Lord and Father and God of all, and source and life and power and light and mind and spirit, and all things are in him and under him. 1.49 For he says the Son is Mind from Mind, as I suppose, and as Light from Light; and he also makes mention of the Spirit, as containing all things; and he says that neither angel, nor demon, nor indeed any other nature or substance lies outside the divine preeminence or authority, but he determines that all things are under it and exist through it. And again the same man in the same third discourse of those To Asclepius, as if someone were asking about the divine Spirit, says thus: If there were not some providence of the Lord of all for me to reveal this account, not even such a desire would now possess you to inquire about this; but now hear the rest of the account: All things need this Spirit of which I have often spoken before; bearing all things, it gives life to and nourishes all things according to their worth, and it is dependent on the holy source, being ever a fertile helper to spirits and life for all things, being one. He knows it, therefore, both as existing in its own subsistence, and as giving life to and nourishing all things, and as being dependent on the holy source of God the Father. For it proceeds from him by nature, and through the Son it is supplied to creation. 1.50 Having therefore investigated as much as possible the books among them, we have made the opinion of each most clear, so that those who encounter them might know
περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος παρ' αὐτῶν εἰρημένα. Πορφύριος γάρ φησι, Πλάτωνος ἐκτιθέμενος δόξαν, ἄχρι τριῶν ὑποστάσεων τὴν τοῦ θείου προελθεῖν οὐσίαν, εἶναι δὲ τὸν μὲν ἀνωτάτω θεὸν τἀγαθόν, μετ' αὐτὸν δὲ καὶ δεύτερον τὸν δημιουργόν, τρίτον δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ψυχήν· ἄχρι γὰρ ψυχῆς τὴν θειότητα προελθεῖν. Ἰδοὺ δὴ σαφῶς ἐν τούτοις ἄχρι τριῶν ὑποστάσεων τὴν τοῦ θείου προελθεῖν οὐσίαν ἰσχυρίζεται· εἷς μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός, κατευρύνεται δὲ ὥσπερ ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ γνῶσις εἰς ἁγίαν τε καὶ ὁμοούσιον Τριάδα, εἴς τε Πατέρα φημὶ καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ὃ καὶ ψυχὴν τοῦ κόσμου φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων· ζωοποιεῖ δὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα, καὶ πρόεισιν ἐκ ζῶντος Πατρὸς δι' Υἱοῦ, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν. Ἀληθεύει γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· Τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ ζωοποιοῦν. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς Πορφύριος περὶ Πλάτωνος· ∆ιὸ ἐν ἀπορρήτοις περὶ τούτων αἰνιττόμενός φησι· Περὶ τὸν βασιλέα πάντα ἐστί, καὶ ἐκείνου ἕνεκα πάντα, καὶ ἐκεῖνο αἴτιον πάντων καλῶν, δεύτερον δὲ περὶ τὰ δεύτερα, καὶ τρίτον περὶ τὰ τρίτα. Ὡς γὰρ πάντων μὲν περὶ τοὺς τρεῖς ὄντων θεούς, ἀλλ' ἤδη πρώτως μὲν περὶ τὸν πάντων βασιλέα, δευτέρως δὲ περὶ τὸν ἀπ' ἐκείνου θεόν, καὶ τρίτως περὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τούτου. 1.48 ∆εδήλωκε δὲ ἐμφαίνων καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀλλήλων ὑπόστασιν, ἀρχομένην ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ τὴν ὑπόβασιν καὶ ὕφεσιν τῶν μετὰ τὸν πρῶτον, διὰ τοῦ πρώτως καὶ δευτέρως καὶ τρίτως εἰπεῖν, καὶ ὅτι ἐξ ἑνὸς τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ σῴζεται. Τεθεώρηκε μὲν οὖν οὐχ ὑγιῶς εἰσάπαν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τὰ Ἀρείου πεφρονηκόσιν ἐν ἴσῳ, διαιρεῖ καὶ ὑφίστησιν, ὑποκαθημένας τε ἀλλήλαις τὰς ὑποστάσεις εἰσφέρει, καὶ τρεῖς οἴεται θεοὺς εἶναι διῃρημένως τὴν ἁγίαν καὶ ὁμοούσιον Τριάδα. Πλὴν οὐκ ἠγνόηκεν ὁλοτρόπως τὸ ἀληθές, οἶμαι δὲ ὅτι κἂν ὑγιῶς ἔφη τε καὶ πεφρόνηκεν, ἐξήνεγκε δὲ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ δόξης τὸ ἀρτίως ἔχον, εἰ μὴ τάχα που τὴν Ἀνύτου καὶ Μελήτου γραφὴν ἐδεδίει καὶ τὸ Σωκράτους κώνειον. Λέγει δὲ καὶ Ἑρμῆς ἐν λόγῳ τρίτῳ τῶν Πρὸς Ἀσκληπιόν· Οὐ γὰρ ἐφικτόν ἐστιν εἰς ἀμυήτους τοιαῦτα μυστήρια παρέχεσθαι· ἀλλὰ τῷ νοῒ ἀκούσατε. Ἓν μόνον ἦν φῶς νοερὸν πρὸ φωτὸς νοεροῦ καὶ ἔστιν ἀεί, νοῦς νοὸς φωτεινός· καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἦν ἢ ἡ τούτου ἑνότης· ἀεὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὤν, ἀεὶ τῷ ἑαυτοῦ νοῒ καὶ φωτὶ καὶ πνεύματι πάντα περιέχει. Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερά φησι· Ἐκτὸς τούτου, οὐ θεός, οὐκ ἄγγελος, οὐ δαίμων, οὐκ οὐσία τις ἄλλη· πάντων γάρ ἐστι Κύριος καὶ Πατὴρ καὶ Θεὸς καὶ πηγὴ καὶ ζωὴ καὶ δύναμις καὶ φῶς καὶ νοῦς καὶ πνεῦμα, καὶ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ὑπ' αὐτόν ἐστι. 1.49 Νοῦν μὲν γὰρ ἐκ νοῦ, καθάπερ ἐγᾦμαι, φησὶ τὸν Υἱόν, καὶ ὡς φῶς ἐκ φωτός· μέμνηται δὲ καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡς πάντα περιέχοντος· οὔτε δὲ ἄγγελον, οὔτε δαίμονα, οὔτε μὴν ἑτέραν τινὰ φύσιν ἢ οὐσίαν ἔξω κεῖσθαί φησι τῆς θείας ὑπεροχῆς ἤγουν ἐξουσίας, ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτῇ τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' αὐτὴν εἶναι διορίζεται. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ λόγῳ τρίτῳ τῶν Πρὸς Ἀσκληπιόν, ὡς ἐρομένου τινὸς περὶ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος, φησὶν οὕτως· Εἰ μὴ πρόνοιά τις ἦν τοῦ πάντων Κυρίου ὥστε με τὸν λόγον τοῦτον ἀποκαλύψαι, οὐδὲ ὑμᾶς νῦν ἔρως τοιοῦτος κατεῖχεν ἵνα περὶ τούτου ζητήσητε· νῦν δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀκούετε· Τούτου τοῦ Πνεύματος οὗ πολλάκις προεῖπον πάντα χρῄζει· τὰ πάντα βαστάζον, κατ' ἀξίαν τὰ πάντα ζωοποιεῖ καὶ τρέφει, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁγίας πηγῆς ἐξήρτηται, ἐπίκουρον πνεύμασι καὶ ζωῆς ἅπασιν ἀεὶ ὑπάρχον γόνιμον, ἓν ὄν. Οἶδεν οὖν αὐτὸ καὶ ὑπάρχον ἰδιοσυστάτως, καὶ τὰ πάντα ζωοποιοῦν καὶ τρέφον, καὶ ὡς ἐξ ἁγίας πηγῆς ἠρτημένον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός. Πρόεισι γὰρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατὰ φύσιν, καὶ δι' Υἱοῦ χορηγεῖται τῇ κτίσει. 1.50 Πολυπραγμονήσαντες τοίνυν ὡς ἔνι τὰ παρ' ἐκείνοις βιβλία, διαφανεστάτην πεποιήμεθα τὴν ἑκάστου δόξαν, ὡς ἂν εἰδεῖεν οἱ ἐντευξόμενοι