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agreement of the divine hypostases and because the teachings and gifts of the blessed Trinity are common and not discordant like those of men.

Concerning the Holy Trinity being incomprehensible.

1.1 Those who strive to be a temple, even somewhat worthy of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the faithful, since they have once and for all the unapproachable light shining upon them, glorify, as the Lord ordained with equal honor in the mystery of baptism, both the unbegotten God and Father and His beloved and only-begotten Son, the Word, co-existing with Him from Him, and the aforementioned Holy Spirit, the only one proceeding from His hypostasis without beginning and without interval; 1.2 not disbelieving in the consubstantiality of the Trinity, but not seeking the manner and difference of the generation and the procession; since this has been established as unknown, ineffable, and fearful to ponder even for the heavenly ministering powers; and how the Holy Trinity co-exists with itself without beginning, being ever in the same state and in the same way; and how, seated on the eternal throne, it is able to look upon the abysses and, being silent, to be heard, and to hear those who are silent; 1.3 and to know the future before it is done; and by a word, and faster than a word, and by merely willing, to bring all things into being; and before one cries out in the heart, but only faithfully and justly, to grant immediately the verdict upon the request; and to be suited to all occasions for beneficence; and to be slow to anger, but ready for good deeds; and to be angry because of our transgression but to remit the punishment because of its own love for mankind; 1.4 Furthermore, it is incomprehensible of it also how it has one will, and speaks and gives what is common to itself; and visits not so much the well-being of bodies, but the contrite heart itself. 1.5 And indeed this too, how it exists unseen and uncomprehended by seraphic eyes, uncontainable by word and place, indivisible in power, intangible, without magnitude, unlearned, without breadth, without form; all-seeing, all-hearing, and the hope of all; far brighter than heavenly light, and higher than every height, as much as cannot be said, and more intelligible than every mind by an infinite degree. 1.6 For how could the things of the Trinity not be incomprehensible to all, when it is the creator of all and above all intellectual, and indeed also intelligible, creation, after which there is absolutely nothing beyond, but rather all things are under it, and through it, and under its feet as its works? For the Father, by his good pleasure, initiated; the only-begotten Son created; and the Spirit of God sanctified, and by its sanctification perfected, illuminated, strengthened, gave life; 1.7 being whole in all things and in each thing, and being partaken of and contained wholly by all things through goodness; and not being divided, nor passing from place to place or changing; but always breathing upon all things alike, and not in part, and preserving its own undefiled purity from bodies, and divinely illuminating all things and abounding everywhere in sanctification, love, peace, wisdom, joy, security, and every good, as having shone forth hypostatically from the paternal fount; 1.8 through whom and because of whom God the Father draws near to us, with whom He is both in the heavens and remains with us; while each divine hypostasis is able to do all things perfectly without need, yet in order that the joint action and unchangeableness of their essence and of the worship and glory and thanksgiving that ought to be offered by us might be shown, for this reason creation was fulfilled jointly by the Holy Trinity. 1.9 So then, showing that creation was ordered in a Trinitarian way, he psalms: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their powers." For he said "Lord" meaning God the Father, "word" meaning the only-begotten Son, through whom also

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συμφωνίαν τῶν θείων ὑποστάσεων καὶ διὰ τὸ κοινὰ εἶναι τῆς μακαρίας τριάδος τὰ διδάγματα καὶ χαρίσματα καὶ οὐ διαφωνοῦντα ὡς τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

Περὶ τοῦ τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα ἀκατάληπτον εἶναι.

1.1 Οἱ σπουδάζοντες εἶναι ναὸς κἂν ποσῶς ἄξιος τοῦ οἰκοῦντος ἐν τοῖς πιστοῖς ἁγίου πνεύματος, ὡς ἅπαξ ἔχοντες ἐλλάμπον αὐτοῖς τὸ ἀπρόσιτον φῶς, δοξάζουσιν, ὡς ὁ δεσπότης ἐν τῇ μυσταγωγίᾳ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐθέσπισεν ἰσοτίμως, τόν τε αὐτογενῆ θεὸν καὶ πατέρα καὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ συνυπάρχοντα αὐτῷ ἀγαπητὸν καὶ μονογενῆ υἱὸν λόγον καὶ τὸ μνημονευθὲν ἅγιον πνεῦμα τὸ μόνον ἐκ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ ἀνάρχως καὶ ἀδιαστάτως ἐκπορευθέν· 1.2 τῷ μὲν ὁμοουσίῳ τῆς τριάδος μὴ ἀπιστοῦντες, τρόπον δὲ καὶ διαφορὰν γεννήσεως καὶ ἐκ πορεύσεως οὐ ζητοῦντες· ἐπειδὴ καὶ ταῖς οὐρανίοις λειτουργικαῖς δυνάμεσιν ἄγνωστον, ἄφραστον καὶ φοβερὸν ἐνθυμήσει καθέστηκεν τοῦτο· καὶ τὸ πῶς ἑαυτῇ συνυφέστηκεν ἀνάρχως ἡ ἁγία τριὰς ἔχουσα ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως καὶ κατὰ ταὐτά· καὶ οἷά τε οὖσα ἐπὶ τοῦ αἰωνίου καθημένη θώκου ἐπιβλέπειν ἀβύσσους καὶ σιωπῶσα ἀκούεσθαι καὶ σιωπώντων ἀκούειν· 1.3 καὶ πρὸ τοῦ πρακτέου ἐπίστασθαι τὸ μέλλον· καὶ λόγῳ, καὶ θᾶττον λόγου καὶ μόνῳ τῷ θέλειν πάντα παραγαγεῖν· καὶ πρὶν διαθρήσῃ τις ἐν τῆς καρδίᾳ μόνον δὲ πιστῶς καὶ δικαίως, τὴν ψῆφον εὐθὺς τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ αἰτήσει παρέχειν· καὶ πᾶσι καιρὸν εἰς εὐεργεσίαν ἁρμόζεσθαι· καὶ βραδείαν μὲν εἶναι εἰς ὀργήν, εἰς εὐποιίαν δὲ ἕτοιμον· καὶ χαλεπαίνειν μὲν δι' ἡμετέραν πλημμέλειαν ἀφιέναι δὲ δι' οἰκεῖαν φιλανθρωπίαν τὴν τιμωρίαν· 1.4 ἔτι γε μὴν ἀκατάληπτον αὐτῆς ἐστιν καὶ τὸ πῶς ἓν ἔχει θέλημα, καὶ λαλεῖ καὶ παρέχει κοινὸν ἑαυτῆς· καὶ ἐπισκέπτεται οὐ μᾶλλον εὐεξίαν σωμάτων, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν συντετριμμένην καρδίαν. 1.5 καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ τοῦτο, πῶς ὑπάρχει ἀόρατος καὶ σεραφικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀπερίληπτος, λόγῳ καὶ τόπῳ ἀχώρητος, δυνάμει ἀμερής, ἀναφής, ἀμεγέθης, ἀμαθής, ἀπλατής, ἀνείδεος· παντεπίσκοπος, παντεπήκοος καὶ πάντων ἐλπίς· φωτὸς οὐρανίου ὑπὲρ τὸ πολὺ φωτεινοτέρα καὶ παντὸς ὕψους, ὅσον οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὑψηλοτέρα, καὶ παντὸς νοῦ ἀπείρῳ λόγῳ νοητικωτέρα. 1.6 πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἔμελλεν τὰ τῆς τριάδος πᾶσιν ἀκατάληπτα τυγχάνειν, ὅτε αὐτὴ πάντων ἐστὶ γενεσιουργὸς καὶ ἀνωτάτω πάσης νοερᾶς, ἔτι μὴν καὶ νοητῆς κτίσεως, μεθ' ἣν ἐπέκεινα παντελῶς οὐδέν, πάντα δὲ μᾶλλον ὑπ' αὐτῇ, καὶ δι' αὐτὴν καὶ ὑπὸ πόδας αὐτῆς ὡς ποιήματα; προκατήρξατο γὰρ εὐδοκήσας ὁ πατήρ, ἐδημιούργησεν δὲ ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός, ἡγίασεν δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῷ ἁγιασμῷ αὐτοῦ ἐτελείωσεν, ἐφώτισεν, ἐδυνάμωσεν, ἐζωοδότησεν· 1.7 ἐν πᾶσιν καὶ ἐν ἑκάστῳ ὅλον ὑπάρχον, καὶ ὑπὸ ὅλων ὅλον μετεχόμενον καὶ χωρούμενον δι' ἀγαθότητα· καὶ μὴ μεριζόμενον, μήτε μετερχόμενον ἢ μεταβαλλόμενον· ἀλλ' ἀεὶ πᾶσιν ἐπιπνέον ὁμοίως, καὶ οὐκ ἐν μέρει, καὶ φυλάττον τὴν οἰκείαν ἄχραντον ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων καθαρότητα, πάντα τε θείως καταλάμπον καὶ πανταχοῦ πληθύον ἁγιασμόν, ἀγάπην, εἰρήνην, σοφίαν. χαράν, ἀσφάλειαν καὶ πᾶν ἀγαθόν, ἅτε ἐκ τῆς πατρικῆς ἐνυποστάτως ἔκλαμψαν πηγῆς· 1.8 δι' οὗ καὶ δι' ὃ ἡμῖν πλησιάζει ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, μεθ' οὗ καὶ ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἐστιν καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν μένει· δυναμένης μὲν ἑκάστης θείας ὑποστάσεως ἀπροσδεῶς πάντα ποιῆσαι τελείως, ἵνα δὲ δειχθῇ τὸ συμπρακτικὸν καὶ ἀπαράλλακτον τῆς τε οὐσίας αὐτῶν τῆς τε προσκυνήσεως καὶ δόξης καὶ εὐχαριστίας τῆς ὀφειλούσης παρ' ἡμῶν γίνεσθαι, διὰ τοῦτο κοινῇ παρὰ τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος τῆς κτίσεως πληρωθείσης. 1.9 παριστῶν γοῦν τὸ τριαδικῶς διακεκοσμῆσθαι τὴν κτίσιν ψάλλει· «τῷ λόγῳ κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν.» εἶπεν γὰρ «κύριον» μὲν τὸν θεὸν πατέρα, «λόγον» δὲ τὸν μονογενῆ υἱόν, δι' οὗ καὶ