Didymus the Blind, On the Trinity

apostles that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit." For the statement: "But they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus," and their later receiving the Spirit, shows that they were not just lacking the divine knowledge of the Spirit; but that also with the Son and the Spirit, the Father and God is present, and is remembered, and works together, even if sometimes He is not specifically named; or just as, on the other hand, even if the Son or the Spirit is passed over in word, but not in faith, He is present, and is remembered, and saves together with God the Father. And again: "And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard from Me; For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit, not many days from now;" and again from Peter concerning those baptized in Caesarea: "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning; and I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said: 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" Therefore, those who are baptized in the bare name of the Holy Spirit, and not as in the name of God and the Spirit of God, being by nature His Spirit, 39.680 being washed as with mere water, have a fruitless hope. For when we descend into the font, by the good pleasure of God the Father we are stripped, by the grace of His Spirit, of our sins, putting off the old man, and by His royal power we are reborn and sealed; and when we ascend, we put on Christ the Savior, an incorruptible garment of equal honor with the Holy Spirit who regenerated and sealed us, "For as many of you," he says, "as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ;" and we receive back the written image and likeness of God, which we received through the divine inbreathing, and lost through sin and are found again, such as we were in the case of the first-formed man, sinless and with free will; for this is what the image and likeness signify; so that Paul's Scripture concerning those who are baptized is fitting: "That 39.681 you might become according to the image of Him who created you;" and, "As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." And he persuades concerning this, the same one writing again, to the Romans: "Whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren;" and to the Ephesians: "And when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places." Who, or when, did He grant these things? The Father, after we were renewed by His Holy Spirit. For in the way we were first created by the blessed Trinity according to, "Let us make man;" so in the second way we are saved by it; that we might likewise glorify the Trinity. But without being regenerated by baptism by the Spirit of God, and sealed with sanctification, and becoming His temple, no one has obtained heavenly good things, even if in the rest of their life they were found blameless. But even those who happened to bear witness before baptism, having been washed in their own blood, were thus made alive by the Holy Spirit of God. Wherefore a sacred speaker, both exhorting and testifying, cries out: "Come to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed" For the true light and cause of sensible light, and the glory shining everywhere is the revered Spirit, of whom he also sings again: "For your commandments are a light upon the earth." Concerning this also in the 28th

ἀπόστολοι, ὅτι δέδεκται ἡ Σαμάρεια τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην· οἵτινες καταβάντες προσηύξαντο περὶ αὐτῶν, ὅπως ἂν λάβωσιν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Οὐδέ πω γὰρ ἦν ἐπ' οὐδενὶ αὐτῶν ἐπιπεπτωκὸς, μόνον δὲ βεβαπτισμένοι ὑπῆρχον εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. Τότε ἐπετίθεσαν τὰς χεῖρας ἐπ' αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐλάμβανον Πνεῦμα ἅγιον." Τὸ γὰρ ἔχειν· "Μόνον δὲ βεβαπτισμένοι ὑπῆρχον εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ," καὶ τὸ μετέπειτα λαμβάνειν τὸ Πνεῦμα, δηλοῖ, ὡς μόνον οὐχὶ ἔλειπεν αὐτοῖς ἡ περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος θεογνωσία· ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ σὺν τῷ Υἱῷ καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι συμπάρεστιν, καὶ συμμνημονεύεται, καὶ συνευεργετεῖ ὁ Πατὴρ καὶ Θεὸς, κἄν ποτε ἰδικῶς μὴ ὀνομασθῇ· ἢ ὡς δ' αὖ πάλιν, κἂν σιωπηθείη τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ μὴ τῇ πίστει, ὁ Υἱὸς, ἢ τὸ Πνεῦμα, συμπάρεστιν, καὶ συμμνημονεύεται, καὶ συνσώζει ἅμα τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί. Καὶ πάλιν· "Καὶ συναυλιζομένοις παρήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς, ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων μὴ χωρίζεσθαι· ἀλλὰ περιμένειν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἣν ἠκούσατέ μου· Ὅτι Ἰωάννης μὲν ἐβάπτισεν ὕδατι, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ βαπτισθήσεσθε, οὐ μετὰ πολλὰς ταύτας ἡμέρας·" καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Πέτρου περὶ τῶν ἐν Καισαρείᾳ βαπτισθέντων· "Ἐν δὲ τῷ ἄρξασθαί με λαλεῖν, ἐπέπεσεν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐπ' αὐτοὺς, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ἐν ἀρχῇ· ἐμνήσθην δὲ τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦ Κυρίου, ὡς ἔλεγεν· Ἰωάννης μὲν ἐβάπτισεν ὕδατι, ὑμεῖς δὲ βαπτισθήσεσθε ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ." Οἱ οὖν ἐν ψιλῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἐν ὀνόματι Θεοῦ καὶ Πνεύματος Θεοῦ, φύσει ὄντος Πνεύματος αὐτοῦ, βαπτι 39.680 ζόμενοι, ὡς ὕδατι ψιλῷ λουόμενοι, ἀνόνητον ἔχουσι τὴν ἐλπίδα. Καταδύοντες μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῇ κολυμβήθρᾳ, εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς γυμνούμεθα, τῇ χάριτι τοῦ Πνεύματος αὐτοῦ, τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, ἀποτιθέμενοι τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τῇ βασιλικῇ αὐτοῦ δυνάμει ἀναγεννώμεθα καὶ σφραγιζόμεθα· ἀνιόντες δὲ ἐνδυόμεθά τε τὸν Σωτῆρα Χριστὸν, στολὴν ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἰσότιμον τοῦ ἀναγεννήσαντος καὶ σφραγίσαντος ἡμᾶς ἁγίου Πνεύματος, "Ὅσοι γὰρ," φησὶν, "εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε·" καὶ τὴν γεγραμμένην εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπολαμβάνομεν, ἣν ἐδεξάμεθα διὰ τοῦ θεϊκοῦ ἐμφυσήματος, καὶ ἀπωλέσαμεν διὰ τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος καὶ αὖθις εὑρισκόμεθα, οἷοί περ ἐπὶ τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου ἐγενήθημεν, ἀναμάρτητοι καὶ αὐτεξούσιοι· ταῦτα γὰρ σημαίνει ἡ εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωσις· ὡς ἁρμόζειν τὴν Παύλου περὶ τῶν βαπτιζομένων Γραφήν· "Ὅπως 39.681 γένησθε κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος ὑμᾶς·" καὶ, "Καθὼς ἐφορέσαμεν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, φορέσομεν καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου." Ἀναπείσει δὲ περὶ τούτου, καὶ αὖθις γράφων ὁ αὐτὸς, Ῥωμαίοις μέν· "Οὒς προέγνω καὶ προώρισε συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πρωτότοκον ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς·" Ἐφεσίοις δέ· "Καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν, συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ συνήγειρε καὶ συνεκάθισεν ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις." Τίς, ἢ πότε ταῦτα παρέσχεν; Ὁ Πατὴρ, μετὰ τοῦ ἀνακαινισθῆναι ἡμᾶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος αὐτοῦ. Ὃν τρόπον γὰρ τὸ πρῶτον ὑπὸ τῆς μακαρίας Τριάδος ἐκτίσθημεν κατὰ τὸ, "Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον·" οὕτως τὸ δεύτερον ὑπ' αὐτῆς σωζόμεθα· ἵν' ὁμοίως τὴν Τριάδα δοξάζωμεν. ∆ίχα δὲ τοῦ ἀναγεννηθῆναι βαπτίσματι ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ σφραγισθῆναι τῷ ἁγιασμῷ, καὶ ναὸς αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι, οὐδεὶς τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἔτυχεν ἀγαθῶν, κἂν τὸν ἄλλον βίον ἄμεμπτος εὑρέθη. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πρὸ βαπτίσματος μαρτυρῆσαι ἐπιτυχόντες, τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀπολουσάμενοι αἵματι, οὕτως ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐζωοποιήθησαν. ∆ιὸ προτρέπων ὁμοῦ καὶ μαρτυρόμενος ἱερολόγος ἀνὴρ βοᾷ· "Προσέλθετε πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ φωτίσθητε, καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα ὑμῶν οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ" Φῶς γὰρ τὸ ἀληθινὸν καὶ αἴτιον τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ φωτὸς, καὶ δόξα ἐκλάμπουσα πανταχοῦ ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ σεπτὸν, ᾗ καὶ αὖθις ψάλλει· "∆ιότι φῶς τὰ προστάγματά σου ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς." Περὶ τούτου καὶ ἐν τῷ κηʹ