,

of hypostases, mystically signifying the mode of existence of the all-holy and unoriginate monad, since the all-venerable and adorable and all-praised trinity of hypostases is a monad in essence—for our God is a monad in a triad and a triad in a monad—but when it speaks of God in the plural to the impious, it refutes, I think, their blameworthy notion concerning the Godhead, of those who supposed the difference in the properties to be natural and not hypostatic, which clearly introduces the polytheistic error to those who hold such views concerning the Godhead.

But if we do not persuade even by saying this, since it is dear to the Spirit and beloved by those who love the Spirit not to contend, let us receive the Holy Scripture in harmony with one another, (14B_202> which introduces the all-holy Trinity in a monad sometimes as Creator, as in “Let us make man”—for the existence of beings is clearly the work of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit—and sometimes as receptive of those who have lived piously according to its laws, as provident for those who have received their genesis from it, as appearing to Abraham in a threefold manner and speaking in a singular manner, and sometimes as punitive, that is, judging those who have corrupted the laws of nature, and corrective of those who have transgressed the proper law of nature, as in “Come, let us go down and confuse their languages.” For the holy and consubstantial Trinity is not only the creator of beings, but also sustains them and distributes to each according to his worth, as being one God by nature, creator, provider, and judge of the things made by him. For it is common to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, just as to create, so also to judge and to wisely provide for the things that have been made.

SCHOLIA 1. To each, he says, according to his underlying opinion about God, God

appears. To those who through desire have passed beyond the material composition, and who possess the powers of the soul in equal measure with one another according to one and the same perpetual motion around God, he appears as Monad and Trinity, in order to show his own existence, and to mystically teach its mode. But to those whose desire is moved only around the material disposition, and who possess the powers of the soul unconnected to one another, he appears not as he is, but as they are, showing that they have taken hold of the material dyad with both hands, according to which the corporeal world is composed of matter and form.

2. He who says, he affirms, that the difference of the properties in God is natural, (14B_204> but not hypostatic, such a one is not godly, but a polytheist, asserting that the divine admits of enumeration by properties of substances, but not of hypostases.

29. CONCERNING “WHO THROUGH THE SPIRIT TOLD PAUL NOT TO

GO UP TO JERUSALEM." 29. QUESTION 29. What is the meaning of the passage in the Acts, “who through the Spirit were telling

Paul not to go up to Jerusalem”? Why did he disobey the Spirit and go up? Response. The holy prophet Isaiah in his prophecy says that seven spirits

rest upon the Savior who sprang from the root of Jesse, not knowing seven spirits of God and thus teaching others to accept them, but having called the energies of the one and the same Holy Spirit “spirits” because in every energy the active Holy Spirit is wholly and unfailingly present in a corresponding way; but the divine apostle calls the different energies of this one Holy Spirit “different gifts,” evidently being worked by one and the same Spirit. If, therefore,

ὑποστάσεων, μυστικῶς τὸν τῆς ὑπάρξεως σημαίνουσα τρόπον τῆς παναγίας καὶ ἀνάρχου μονάδος, ἐπειδὴ μονὰς κατ᾽ οὐσίαν ἐστὶν ἡ πάνσεπτος καὶ προσκυνητὴ καὶ πανεύφημος τριὰς τῶν ὑποστάσεων μονὰς γὰρ ἐν τριάδι καὶ ἐν μονάδι τριάς ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ἡνίκα δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς πληθυντικὸν περὶ Θεοῦ ποιεῖται τὸν λόγον, τὴν ψεκτὴν ἐκείνων, ὡς οἶμαι, διελέγχει περὶ θεότητος ἔννοιαν, φυσικὴν ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὑποστατικὴν εἶναι τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἰδιώμασιν ὑπειληφότων διαφοράν, ὅπερ σαφῶς τὴν πολύθεον εἰσηγεῖται πλάνην τοῖς οὕτως περὶ θεότητος ἔχουσιν.

Εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτο λέγοντες πείθομεν, ἐπειδὴ φίλον τῷ Πνεύματι καὶ τοῖς τὸ Πνεῦμα φιλοῦσιν ἀγαπητὸν τὸ μὴ μάχεσθαι, δεξώμεθα συμφώνως ἀλλήλοις τὴν ἁγίαν Γραφήν, τὴν (14Β_202> ἐν μονάδι παναγίαν Τριάδα ποτὲ μὲν ὡς δημιουργὸν εἰσηγουμένην, ὡς τὸ ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπονΠατρὸς γὰρ καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἔργον ὑπάρχει σαφῶς ἡ τῶν ὄντων ὑπόστασις, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς ἀποδεκτικὴν τῶν τοῖς αὐτῆς εὐσεβῶς νόμοις πολιτευσαμένων, ὡς προνοητικὴν τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς εἰληφότων τοῦ εἶναι τὴν γένεσιν, ὡς τῷ Ἀβραὰμ τριαδικῶς φαινομένην καὶ μοναδικῶς διαλεγομένην, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς τιμωρητικὴν ἤγουν κριτικὴν τῶν τοὺς νόμους παραφθειράντων τῆς φύσεως καὶ διορθωτικὴν τῶν παρασφαλέντων τοῦ καθήκοντος νόμου τῆς φύσεως, ὡς τὸ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν τὰς γλώσσας. Οὐ γὰρ δημιουργικὴ μόνον ὑπάρχει τῶν ὄντων ἡ ἁγία καὶ ὁμοούσιος Τριάς, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνεκτικὴ καὶ τῶν πρὸς ἀξίαν ἑκάστου διανεμητική, οἷα δὴ Θεὸς εἷς ὑπάρχουσα κατὰ φύσιν δημιουργὸς προνοητής τε καὶ κριτὴς τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πεποιημένων. Κοινὸν γὰρ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὥσπερ τὸ δημιουργεῖν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὸ κρίνειν καὶ τῶν πεποιημένων σοφῶς προνοεῖν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Ἑκάστῳ φησίν, κατά τήν ὑποκειμένην αὐτῷ περί Θεοῦ δόξαν ὁ Θεός

ἐμφανίζεται. Τοῖς μέν κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν τήν ὑλικήν περάσασι σύνθεσιν, καί τάς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς ἰσονομούσας ἀλλήλαις κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν περί Θεόν ἀεικινησίαν κεκτημένοις, ὡς μονάς ἐμφαίνεται καί Τριάς· ἵνα τήν οἰκείαν ὕπαρξιν παραδείξειεν, καί τόν αὐτῆς τρόπον μυστικῶς ἐκδιδάξειεν. Τοῖς δέ περί μόνην τήν ὑλικήν διάθεσιν ἔχουσι κινουμένην τήν ἔφεσιν, καί ἀλλήλαις ἀσυνδέτους τάς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις κεκτημένοις, οὐχ ὡς ἔστιν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς εἰσίν ἐμφανίζεται· δεικνύς ὅτι τῆς ὑλικῆς δυάδος ἀμφοῖν ἐπελάβοντο ταῖν χεροῖν, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ σωματικός ἐξ ὕλης καί εἴδους συνέστηκε κόσμος.

2. Ὁ φυσικήν εἶναι λέγων, φησίν, ἐπί Θεοῦ τήν τῶν ἰδιωμάτων, (14Β_204> ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑποστατικήν διαφοράν, οὐκ ἔνθεος ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἀλλά πολύθεος, οὐσιῶν ἰδιότησιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑποστάσεων ἐπιδέχεσθαι φάσκων τό θεῖον τήν ἐξαρίθμησιν.

ΚΘ (29). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "ΟΙΤΙΝΕΣ ∆ΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΟΣ ΕΛΕΓΟΝ ΤΩ ΠΑΥΛΩ ΜΗ

ΑΝΑΒΑΙΝΕΙΝ ΕΙΣ ΙΕΡΟΣΟΛΥΜΑ". 29. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΘ' Τί ἐστι τὸ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι κείμενον οἵτινες διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔλεγον τῷ

Παύλῳ μὴ ἀναβαίνειν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα; ∆ιὰ τί παρήκουσε τοῦ Πνεύματος καὶ ἀνέβη; Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ μὲν ἅγιος Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης ἐν τῇ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν προφητείᾳ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα

τῷ ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ ἀνατείλαντι Σωτῆρι λέγει ἐπαναπαύεσθαι, οὐχ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ Θεοῦ γινώσκων καὶ οὕτω τοὺς ἄλλους ἐκδέχεσθαι διδάσκων, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἐνεργείας τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος πνεύματα καλέσας διὰ τὸ πάσῃ ἐνεργείᾳ ὅλον ἀνελλιπῶς ὑπάρχειν ἀναλόγως τὸ ἐνεργοῦν ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τὰς διαφόρους ἐνεργείας αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἁγίου Πνεύματος χαρίσματα λέγει διάφορα, ὑφ᾽ ἑνὸς δηλονότι καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐνεργούμενα Πνεύματος. Εἰ τοίνυν