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to honor the Father, by these things they both grieve him and his only-begotten and insult the Spirit.

36.ν And this concerning the same thing.

36.1 Therefore, the orthodox must know that even concerning a small work of God—if one may dare to call any work of God small—for those who wish to comprehend there is need of words, and of works before words, and of faith before both of these, and of much reverence and the highest understanding, so that, having been deemed worthy to know through these things that even what is small is not comprehensible to the mind, but it too infinitely surpasses human attempts—for if it is a work of God, even if it seems small, it is great as being of God; "with small efforts how could one grasp great things? It is ignorant," they say, "even to wish for these things"—how much more, then, does the conception of the ineffable God himself surpass even the perception of archangels, so that they may withdraw from perilous inquiries, leaving the knowledge of them to God alone, and with the apostle say: "I believed, therefore I also spoke";

36.2 and to understand the theologies of the scriptures thus: that whenever they speak from one person, it is because of the one nature and will; whenever from both, it is to show the individual existence of the holy and immaculate Trinity;

36.3 for whenever Isaiah says: "I the Lord stretched out the heaven and established the earth" and again: "I am, and there is no other God besides me," it is because of the one divinity and harmony, as was said before;

36.4 whenever the Holy Spirit seems not to be mentioned, it is because he is included in God, whose Spirit he happens to be; whenever the Lord, having delivered the mystagogy, says: "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," it is because of the equal honor and equal power and consubstantiality and the distinction of the hypostases; whenever what has now been said concerning God the Father is recalled elsewhere concerning the Only-begotten or the Holy Spirit, it is for the aforesaid reasons;

36.5 whenever they teach that both hypostases perform the same works and the same energy in different ways, it is because of what was said before;

36.6 whenever, while each hypostasis is able to create and to do all things, God the Father was pleased that all things be brought into existence through the Son and God, and be sanctified through the Holy Spirit, it is because of the one will of the Trinity and to show that all good things are supplied from it and because we send up a common and equal thanksgiving and doxology to it;

36.7 whenever they use the same names for the blessed Trinity, such as "God," "Lord," "Holy," "Just," "Good" and suchlike,—except that "the Father" is alone and always "Father," and "the true Son and God" is without beginning "Son and God," and "the Holy Spirit" is without beginning one and the same "Spirit of God,"—it is because of the communion of nature and kingdom and all things; and this applies to it alone; whenever they speak in secret, it is because the mystery of the faith is always preserved, being revealed only to the faithful; whenever they say God the Father has begotten, and the Son the Word has been begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds, it is in order to understand in a divine manner that they have come forth from the hypostasis of the Father without beginning and without passion, and not similarly to created things, and are united.

36.8 whenever he says: "the Father who sent me is greater than I" and whatever is considered small with respect to his divinity, it is because of his ineffable and voluntary economy for us and on your behalf. For in the case of the divinity, neither smallness nor not being everywhere has any place.

36.9 whenever the Son says that "my Father has given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak, and I have not spoken on my own," and concerning the Holy Spirit: "he will not speak on his own" and whatever is of this sort, it is because of the

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τιμᾶν τὸν πατέρα, διὰ τούτων αὐτόν τε λυποῦσι καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ἐνυβρίζουσιν.

36.ν Καὶ τοῦτο περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ.

36.1 Τοὺς τοίνυν ὀρθοδόξους χρὴ εἰδέναι μέν, ὡς καὶ περὶ μικροῦ ἔργου τοῦ

θεοῦ-εἰ τολμήσαντα μικρὸν ἔργον ἔστι φάναι θεοῦ-τοῖς διαλαβεῖν ἐθέλουσι χρεία λόγων, καὶ ἔργων πρὸ τῶν λόγων, καὶ πίστεως πρὸ ἀμφοῖν τούτων, καὶ πολλῆς εὐλαβείας καὶ κατανοήσεως ἀκροτάτης, ἵνα διὰ ταῦτα γνῶναι ἀξιωθέντες, ὡς καὶ τὸ μικρὸν οὐχ ἁλώσιμον τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἀπείρως καὶ αὐτὸ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ὑπερφέρει ἐπιβολῶν-εἰ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ ἔργον, κἂν μικρὸν δοκῇ, μέγα ὡς θεοῦ· «μικροῖς δὲ τὰ μεγάλα πῶς ἕλοι τις ἂν πόνοισιν; ἀμαθές», φασίν, «καὶ τὸ βούλεσθαι τάδε»-, πολλῷ δὲ μᾶλλον ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀφράστου θεοῦ διάληψις ὑπερβαίνουσα καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων αἴσθησιν τῶν μὲν σφαλερῶν ζητήσεων ἀναχωρήσωσινʹ, γινώσκειν αὐτὰ μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ ἀφιέντες, σὺν τῷ ἀποστόλῳ δὲ εἴπωσιν· «ἐπίστευσα, διὸ καὶ ἐλάλησα»· 36.2 τὰς δὲ θεολογίας τῶν γραφῶν νοεῖν οὑτωσί, ὅτιπερ, ὅταν ἀπὸ ἑνὸς προσώπου λέγουσιν, διὰ τὴν μίαν φύσιν καὶ θέλησιν· ὅταν ἀπὸ ἀμφοῖν, διὰ τὸ δείκνυσθαι τὸ ἰδιοσύστατον τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἀκηράτου τριάδος· 36.3 ὅταν γὰρ Ἠσαΐας λέγῃ· «ἐγὼ κύριος ἐξέτεινα τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐστερέωσα τὴν γῆν» καὶ πάλιν· «ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλος θεὸς πλὴν ἐμοῦ», διὰ τὴν μίαν θεότητα καὶ συμφωνίαν, ὡς προείρηται· 36.4 ὅταν δόξῃ μὴ μνημονεύεσθαι τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, διὰ τὸ συμπεριέχεσθαι αὐτὸ τῷ θεῷ, οὗ πνεῦμα τυγχάνει ὄν· ὅταν τὴν μυσταγωγίαν παραδοὺς ὁ δεσπότης λέγῃ· «βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος», διὰ τὸ ἰσότιμον καὶ ἰσοσθενὲς καὶ ὁμοούσιον καὶ τὴν εὐκρινίαν τῶν ὑποστάσεων· ὅταν τὸ νῦν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς λεχθὲν ἑτέρωθι περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀπομέμνηται, διὰ τὰς προλεχθείσας αἰτίας· 36.5 ὅταν τὰ αὐτὰ ἔργα τὴν αὐτὴν ἐνέργειαν ἀμφοτέρας ποιεῖν τὰς ὑποστάσεις διαφόρως διδάσκωσιν, διὰ τὸ ὡς προείρηται· 36.6 ὅταν ἑκάστης ὑποστάσεως δυναμένης δημιουργῆσαι καὶ πάντα ποιῆσαι εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ διὰ μὲν τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ θεοῦ ὑποστῆναι πάντα, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἁγιασθῆναι, διὰ τὸ ἓν θέλημα τῆς τριάδος καὶ τὸ δείκνυσθαι ἐξ αὐτῆς χορηγεῖσθαι πάντα τὰ καλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ ἡμᾶς κοινὴν αὐτῇ καὶ ἴσην ἀναπέμπειν εὐχαριστίαν καὶ δοξολογίαν· 36.7 ὅταν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασι κέχρηνται ἐπὶ τῆς μακαρίας τριάδος, οἷον «θεὸς», «κύριος», «ἅγιος», «δίκαιος», «ἀγαθὸς» καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, -πλὴν ὅτι «ὁ πατήρ», μόνος καὶ ἀεὶ πατήρ», καὶ «ὁ ἀληθινὸς υἱὸς καὶ θεός», ἀνάρχως υἱὸς καὶ θεός», καὶ «τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα» ἀνάρχως ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ», -διὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως καὶ βασιλείας καὶ πάντων κοινωνίαν· τοῦτο δὲ ἐπὶ αὐτῆς μόνης· ὅταν ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ διαλέγωνται, διὰ τὸ ἀεὶ τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως φυλάττεσθαι μόνοις ἀποκαλυπτόμενον πιστοῖς· ὅταν λέγωσιν τὸν μὲν θεὸν πατέρα γεννήσαντα, τὸν δὲ υἱὸν λόγον γεννηθέντα, τὸ δὲ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐκπορευόμενον, διὰ τὸ θεϊκῶς νοεῖν ἐκ τῆς ὑποστάσεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀπαθῶς καὶ μὴ παραπλησίως τῶν κτισμάτων προεληλυθέναι τε καὶ ἡνῶσθαι. 36.8 ὅταν λέγῃ· «ὁ πέμψας με πατὴρ μείζων μού ἐστιν» καὶ ὅσα νενόμισται πρὸς θεότητα εἶναι μικρά, διὰ τὴν δι' ἡμᾶς καὶ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἄρρητον καὶ ἑκούσιον αὐτοῦ οἰκονομίαν. ἐπὶ γὰρ τῆς θεότητος οὔτε τὸ μικρὸν οὔτε τὸ μὴ εἶναι πανταχοῦ χώραν ἔχει. 36.9 ὅταν λέγῃ ὁ υἱὸς ὅτι «ὁ πατήρ μου ἐντολήν μοι δέδωκεν, τί εἴπω καὶ τί λαλήσω, καὶ ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐλάλησα», περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος· «ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ οὐ λαλήσει» καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, διὰ τὴν