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it is, and “he does not speak on his own, but whatever he hears from the Father,” just as I also spoke nothing from myself”; but since the Father is mine and “all that the Father has is mine,” “he takes from what is mine and will declare it”; for both the wealth and the gifts are common to us.
He was sent, therefore, from the Father and the Son temporally and to certain ones and for a cause; but from the Father alone He proceeds timelessly and causelessly, having only Him as the cause of Himself, the only unbegotten Father, the one who makes all things from non-being through only the common goodness of Himself and of them, who has the Son begotten from the beginning and the Holy Spirit proceeding.
Have you, who are in opposition, understood, and has a light of knowledge shone upon you from the word of truth? Or rather, have you yourself begun to part your eyelids and to see into the light, if not completely, at least dimly perceiving the piercing and not dim radiance, so as to feel and to see that “will give” and “will send,” so often said, He has nowhere said without a cause, nor without the person of the receiver for whom He is also sent, but the one who is both God and theologian has always rendered it conjoined with causes, whereas He posited “proceeding” absolutely, without any cause whatsoever? For the co-eternal sending forth, which is without cause, He attributed to the Father alone, but the one that is in time and always joined with its cause, being common, He revealed for Himself and for the Father, (p. 214) so that, understanding this, you may no longer blaspheme against the procession by thinking and saying the mission is the same, or by conjecturing the one from the other, and for this reason saying that the divine Spirit has its hypostasis from the Father and from the Son. For just as God is causeless, so also is the existence of God causeless, having as its cause Him from whom it exists causelessly, but not existing from Him for a cause. And just as the existence of God is causeless, so that which has happened for a cause is common both to the causeless one Himself and to the causeless ones who exist from Him. But what is common to them is not proper to a divine hypostasis. Therefore, to be sent belongs both to the Son and to the Spirit, just as to send belongs to the three; for it is for a cause. But to proceed or even to cause to proceed does not also belong to the Son; for it is not for a cause. Therefore, when you hear that the Holy Spirit is sent from the Son or through the Son or from both to certain ones, understand this for me as the procession that is in time and for a cause, but not that unrelated, and beyond cause, and pre-eternal one from the Father.
What then? Are we now persuading you and has the light become clear to you, or shall we yet wait, stringing together the proofs and fanning away the darkness of your ignorance? How great and deep is this that you have, overshadowing the pupils of your mind, if even now you have not yet seen into the truth, and yet “I will give” is the same as “I will send.” For since neither is that which is sent transferred locally, nor is the sender Himself separated from the one sent (for both the sender and that which is sent through Him—and if you wish, also from Him—are always both together and everywhere; for our piety does not depend on syllables); since, therefore, the sender and the sent are not divided by place, nor are they contained by place, does not the sender therefore give? The Lord Himself, enlightening us, has said this, now “which the Father will give,” and now again, “which the Father will send,” using the words for both meanings. But also concerning Himself, it is written now that He was sent by the Father, and now that He was given, (p. 216) as if on these matters sending and giving were the same.
But indeed, how shall “the one who is everywhere and fills all things” and passes through all things come and be given? That is, by being manifested and activating the energy of the graces.
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ἐστί, καί «οὐκ ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ λαλεῖ, ἀλλ᾿ ὅσα ἀν ἀκούῃ παρά τοῦ Πατρός», ὥσπερ κἀγώ οὐδέν ἐλάλησα ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ»˙ ἐπεί δέ ὁ Πατήρ ἐμός καί «πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ Πατήρ ἐμά», «ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λαμβάνει καί ἀναγγέλλει»˙ κοινά γάρ ἡμῖν καί ὁ πλοῦτος καί τά δόματα.
Ἐπέμφθη τοίνυν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ χρονικῶς καί πρός τινας καί δι᾿ αἰτίαν˙ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ δέ μόνου τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται ἀχρόνως καί ἀναιτίως, αὐτόν μόνον ἔχον αἰτίαν ἑαυτοῦ, τόν μόνον ἀγέννητον Πατέρα, τόν ποιοῦντα τά πάντα ἐκ μή ὄντων διά μόνην τήν κοινήν ἑαυτοῦ τε κἀκείνων ἀγαθότητα, τόν δ᾿ Υἱόν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔχοντα γεγεννημένον καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἐκπορευόμενον.
Ἆρα νοῦν ἔλαβες ὁ δι᾿ ἐναντίας καί φῶς γνώσεως ἐπέλαμψέ σοι παρά τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγου; Μᾶλλον δέ σύ γε αὐτός ἆρα διαίρειν ἤρξω τά βλέφαρα καί διαβλέπειν πρός τό φῶς, εἰ καί μή τελέως, ἀλλ᾿ ἀμυδρῶς γοῦν ἀντιλαμβανόμενος τῆς διαπρυσίου καί μή ἀμυδρᾶς αὐγῆς, ὥστε ψηλαφῆσαι καί ἰδεῖν ὅτι τό «δώσει» τε καί τό «πέμψει» τοσαυτάκις εἰρημένον οὐδαμοῦ χωρίς αἰτίας εἴρηκεν, οὐδ᾿ ἄνευ προσώπου τοῦ λαμβάνοντος δι᾿ ὅν καί πέμπεται, ἀλλ᾿ ἀεί συνεζευγμένον ταῖς αἰτίαις ἀποδέδωκεν ὁ μόνος καί Θεός καί θεολόγος, τό δέ ἐκπορευόμενον ἀπολύτως ἔθηκε ψωρίς ἡστινοοῦν αἰτίας; Τήν μέν γάρ συνδιαιωνίζουσαν καί χωρίς αἰτίας οὖσαν ἔκπεμψιν μόνῳ τῷ Πατρί προσένειμε, τήν δ᾿ ὑπό χρόνον οὖσαν καί ἀεί μετά τῆς αἰτίας συνημμένην κοινήν οὖσαν, ἐξεκάλυψεν ἑαυτῷ καί τῷ Πατρί, (σελ. 214) ὡς ἄν τοῦτο συνιδών, μηκέτι βλασφημῇς τῇ ἐκπορεύσει φρονῶν καί λέγων τήν ἀποστολήν ταὐτόν ἤ ἐκ ταύτης ἐκείνην στοχαζόμενος καί διά τοῦτο λέγων ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός καί ἐξ Υἱοῦ τό θεῖον Πνεῦμα τήν ὑπόστασιν ἔχειν. Ὥσπερ γάρ Θεός ἀναίτιος, οὕτω καί Θεοῦ ὕπαρξις ἀναίτιος, αὐτόν αἰτίαν ἔχων τόν ἐξ οὗ ὑπάρχει ἀναιτίως, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχων δι᾿ αἰτίαν. Ὥσπερ δέ Θεός Θεοῦ ὕπαρξις ἀναίτιος, οὕτω τό δι᾿ αἰτίαν γεγονός κοινόν αὐτῷ τε τῷ ἀναιτίῳ καί τοῖς ἀναιτίοις ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχουσιν. Ὁ δ᾿ αὐτοῖς κοινόν, θείας ὑποστάσεως οὐκ ἴδιον. ∆ιό τό μέν ἀποστέλλεσθαι καί τῷ Υἱῷ καί τῷ Πνεύματι ὑπάρχει, ὥσπερ καί τό ἀποστέλλειν τοῖς τρισί˙ δι᾿ αἰτίαν γάρ. Τό δέ ἐκπορεύεσθαι ἤ καί ἐκπορεύειν οὐχί καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ˙ καί γάρ οὐ δι᾿ αἰτίαν. Ὅταν οὖν ἀκούσῃς ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἤ καί δι᾿ Υἱοῦ ἤ καί ἐξ ἀμφοῖν πρός τινας πεμπόμενον τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, τήν ὑπό χρόνον καί δι᾿ αἰτίαν ἐπί νοῦν λάμβανέ μοι πρόοδον, ἀλλά μή τήν ἐκ Πατρός ἄσχετον ἐκείνην καί ὑπέρ αἰτίαν καί προαιώνιον.
Τί οὖν; Ἤδη πείθομεν καί διετρανώθη σοι τό φῶς, ἤ ἔτι προσμενοῦμεν συνείροντες τάς ἀποδείξεις καί διαρριπίζοντες τό τῆς σῆς ἀγνοίας σκότος; Ὥς πολύ τοῦτο καί βαθύ τά τῆς σῆς ἐπηλυγάζον διανοίας κόρας ἔχεις, εἰ μηδέ νῦν πρός τήν ἀλήθειαν διέβλεψάς πω, καίτοι τό «δώσω» ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ «πέμψω». Ἐπεί γάρ μήτε τό πεμπόμενον τοπικῶς μετάγεται μήτ᾿ αὐτός ὁ πέμπων διΐσταται τοῦ πεμπομένου (καί γάρ ἀεί τε ἅμα καί ἁπανταχοῦ καί ὁ πέμπων καί τό δι᾿ αὐτοῦ πεμπόμενον, εἰ δέ βούλει καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ˙ οὐ γάρ ἐπί τῶν συλλαβῶν ἡμῖν ἡ εὐσέβεια)˙ ἐπεί τοίνυν οὐ διαιρεῖται τόπῳ, οὐδέ τόπῳ περιλαμβάνεται τό πέμπον καί τό πεμπόμενον, οὐκ ἄρα δίδωσιν ὁ πέμπων; Τοῦτο καί αὐτός ὁ Κύριος ἡμᾶς φωτίζων νῦν μέν εἴρηκεν, «ὅ δώσει ὁ Πατήρ», νῦν δ᾿ αὖθις, «ὅ πέμψει ὁ Πατήρ», ἐπί τῆς ἀμφοτέροις διανοίας χρησάμενος. Ἀλλά καί αὐτός, νῦν μέν ὅτι ἐπέμφη παρά τοῦ Πατρός, νῦν δ᾿ ὅτι ἐδόθη, (σελ. 216) ἀναγέγραπται, ὡς ταῦτοῦ ὄντος ἐπί τούτων τοῦ πέμπειν τε καί τοῦ διδόναι.
Ἀλλά μήν «ὁ πανταχοῦ ὤν καί τά πάντα πληρῶν» καί διά πάντων χωρῶν πῶς ἥξει καί δοθήσεται; ∆ηλαδή φανερούμενος καί ἐνεργῶν τήν τῶν χαρίτων ἐνέργειαν.