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of God the Father it is written, because while it is separated by nature from other spirits, it is joined to the Father and to his Son by reason of substance, Paul suggests, writing to the Corinthians in the first epistle: “and to another gifts of healing in the one Spirit;” and again: “but all these things the one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each one individually as it wills,” and again: “we were all made to drink of one Spirit;” and to the Ephesians: “that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father;” and again: “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit;” that is, to take great care not to separate it from the highest unity and self-complete substance. 5.29 But that it is also named `rhema`, they testify thus: Paul writing to the Ephesians: “taking up the full armor of God and the breastplate of righteousness and the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Of which sword Matthew also made mention, speaking from the person of Christ: “I came not to bring peace, but a sword;” not meaning a blade, but the ineffable wisdom of the Holy Spirit, which cuts hardened hearts beyond peace; and to the Hebrews: “for upholding all things by the word of his power.” 5.30 But by what word? David prophesied: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their powers;” and again Paul: “for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God;” And Peter: “because all flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass withered, and the flower fell, and its beauty perished; but the word of God remains forever;” in the manner he sings of the Son in the 118th: “Forever, O Lord, your word endures in heaven.” For he hands down many things most mystically concerning the highest and most divine hypostases.

6.ν Concerning all things, whatsoever are proper to the Godhead, being testified of the Holy Spirit, thus:

Therefore, then, they prophesy concerning the pure and ineffable nature of the

Holy Spirit as they do concerning God and Father who has dominion over all things, and of the Son who is beyond all things and Lord of all, because it is not of a different substance nor is it lesser in power and glory. And none of these things is found existing of itself in any created thing. For what it has, it has as a gift bestowed by the Trinity in one Godhead; and it is the nature of each thing to always be known from what it is, what it is and what it is not, whether it is by nature God, or a creature. For example: 6.1ν That it is not, as the heretics say, the first creature, but God. For the first creature is Satan. Creation has its being, not having existed from the beginning. And it was shown in Job which is its first work among rational beings; for it speaks of the devil, who by his conduct falsified his nature. But that the Holy Spirit, as “the breath of the Almighty,” is a creature or has a beginning at all, is nowhere written. For a creation would not have pre-existed the creative Spirit—and such a one worthless, ungrateful, and profane, appearing by its own will—and since Scripture neither says that the divine Spirit has a beginning, but praises it as “Spirit of God” and “from God” and “divine” and “holy”, nor distinguishes in the nature of the divine hypostases a first and a then, what dispute remains concerning their being in the one unbegotten Godhead and equality of honor? 6.2ν That it fills the world, and holds all things together. No created thing fills the world, or holds all things together, and is in all things; but also of the intellectual powers a limit

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θεοῦ πατρὸς γέγραπται, διὰ τὸ κεχωρίσθαι μὲν τῇ φύσει τῶν ἄλλων πνευμάτων, συνῆφθαι δὲ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς οὐσίας, Παῦλος ὑφηγεῖται γράφων πρὸς μὲν Κορινθίους ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ἐπιστολῇ· «ἄλλῳ δὲ χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ πνεύματι·» καὶ πάλιν· «πάντα δὲ ταῦτα ἐνεργεῖ τὸ ἓν καὶ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα, διαιροῦν ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστῳ, καθὼς βούλεται,» καὶ πάλιν· «πάντες ἓν πνεῦμα ἐποτίσθημεν·» πρὸς δὲ Ἐφεσίους· «ὅτι δι' αὐτοῦ ἔχομεν τὴν προσαγωγὴν οἱ ἀμφότεροι ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα·» καὶ πάλιν· «σπουδάζοντες τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος·» τουτέστιν· πολλὴν ποιεῖσθαι φυλακὴν τοῦ μὴ χωρίζειν αὐτὸ τῆς ἀνωτάτω ἑνάδος καὶ αὐτοτελοῦς οὐσίας. 5.29 ὅτι δὲ καὶ ῥῆμα ὠνόμασται, μαρτυροῦσιν οὑτωσί· Παῦλος γράφων πρὸς Ἐφεσίους μέν· «ἀναλαβόντες τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θώρακα τῆς δικαιοσύ νης καὶ τὸν θυρεὸν τῆς πίστεως καὶ τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σω τηρίου καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστιν ῥῆμα θεοῦ.» ἧς τινος μαχαίρας ἐμνημόνευσεν καὶ Ματθαῖος ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰπών· «οὐκ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην, ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν·» οὐ ξίφος λέγων, ἀλλὰ τὴν εἰρήνης ἐπέκεινα τμητικὴν τῶν πεπωρωμένων καρδιῶν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀκατάλεκτον σοφίαν· πρὸς δὲ Ἑβραίους· «φέρων γὰρ τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ.» 5.30 ποίῳ δὲ ῥήματι; προεφήτευσεν ∆αυίδ· «τῷ λόγῳ κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν·» καὶ πάλιν ὁ Παῦλος· «ἀδύνατον γὰρ τοὺς ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας γευσαμένους τε τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς ἐπουρανίου καὶ μετόχους γενηθέντας πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ καλὸν γευσαμένους θεοῦ ῥῆμα·» Πέτρος δέ· «διότι πᾶσα σὰρξ ὡς χόρτος καὶ πᾶσα δόξα αὐτῆς ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου· ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσεν καὶ ἡ εὐπρέπεια αὐτοῦ ἀπώλετο· τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ θεοῦ μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα·» ὃν τρόπον περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ψάλλει ἐν ριηʹ· «εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, κύριε, ὁ λόγος σου διαμένει ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ.» πολλὰ γὰρ περὶ τῶν ἀκροτάτων καὶ θειοτάτων ὑποστάσεων μυστικώτατα παραδίδωσιν.

6.ν Περὶ τοῦ πάντα, ὅσα ἴδια θεότητος, μαρτυρεῖσθαι περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος οὕτως·

Ἔπειτα οὖν χρησμῳδοῦσιν περὶ τῆς ἀκηράτου καὶ ἀφράστου φύσεως τοῦ

ἁγίου πνεύματος οἷα περὶ τοῦ ὅλων κατεξουσιάζοντος θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ πάντων ἐπέκεινα καὶ πάντων κυρίου υἱοῦ, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἑτεροουσίως ἔχειν μηδὲ δυνάμει καὶ δόξῃ ἐλαττόνως. καὶ οὐδὲν εὑρίσκεται τούτων ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ὑπάρχον οὐδενὶ κτιστῷ. ὅπερ γὰρ καὶ ἔχει, φιλοτιμηθὲν παρὰ τῆς ἐν μιᾷ θεότητι τριάδος ἔχει· καὶ πέφυκεν ἕκαστον ἀεὶ ἀφ' ὧν ἐστιν ἐπιγινώσκεσθαι, τί τέ ἐστιν, καὶ τί μή ἐστιν, εἴτε θεὸς ἔφυ, εἴτε κτίσμα. οἷον· 6.1ν ὅτι οὐ κατὰ αἱρετικοὺς πρῶτον κτίσμα ἐστίν. ἀλλὰ θεός· τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον κτίσμα ὁ σατανᾶς τυγχάνει. ἡ κτίσις τὸ εἶναι ἔχει, οὐκ οὖσα τὴν ἀρχήν. ἐδείχθη δὲ ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ καὶ ποῖον αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἐν λογικοῖς πρῶτον ποίημα· λέγει γὰρ τὸ ψευσάμενον τῷ τρόπῳ τὴν φύσιν διάβολον. τὸ δ' ἅγιον πνεῦμα ὡς «πνοὴ τοῦ παντοκράτορος» κτίσμα εἶναι ἢ ἀρχὴν ὅλως ἔχειν, οὐδαμῇ γέγραπται. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν προϋπῆρξεν τοῦ δημιουργικοῦ πνεύματος δημιούργημα, καὶ τοιοῦτο ἀδόκιμον, ἀχάριστον καὶ βέβηλον ἐξ οἰκείας γνώμης φανέν, γραφῆς δὲ μήτε λεγούσης εἶναι τοῦ θεϊκοῦ πνεύματος ἀρχήν, «πνεῦμα δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ» καὶ «ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ» καὶ «θεῖον» καὶ «ἅγιον» εὐφημούσης αὐτό, μήτε δὲ ἀφοριζούσης ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως τῶν θείων ὑποστάσεως τὸ πρώτιστα καὶ τὸ ἔπειτα, ποῖα περὶ τοῦ εἶναι αὐτὰς ἐν τῇ ἀγενήτῳ μιᾷ θεότητι καὶ ἰσοτιμίᾳ ὑπολείπεται ἀμφισβήτησις; 6.2ν ὅτι πληροῖ τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ συνέχει τὰ πάντα οὐδὲν κτιστὸν πληροῖ τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἢ συνέχει τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν τυγχάνει· ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν νοερῶν δυνάμεων πέρας