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but when I say, you were illumined by one light, and by three; by three, according to the properties, that is hypostases, if anyone likes to call them, or persons; for we will not quibble about the names, as long as the syllables lead to the same thought; but by one, according to the principle of substance, or Godhead." Such a great existing harmony of the divine doctrines our God-speaking Fathers Gregory and Basil presented, expressly saying the same thing: nature with substance, as what is common and universal; and person with hypostasis, as what is particular and individual; 0549 in no way confounding the meaning of what is said, through their interchange and confusion with each other. For, having been energized by one and the same Spirit, they have handed down to the peoples the right confession of faith. And in harmony with these you will find all those who, by the grace of the Spirit, were entrusted with the rudders of the Church, who have upheld the right word of the pious faith, and have in no way departed from this understanding at all.
A MORE PHYSICAL CONSTRUCTION, SHOWING THAT NOTHING AMONG BEINGS IS THE SAME AS ANOTHER
IS... A more physical construction, showing that nothing among beings is the same as another in substance and hypostasis; but things that are the same in substance are different in their hypostases; and things that are the same in hypostasis, are entirely different in substance.
If substance and nature are the same, and person and hypostasis are the same, it is clear
that things of the same nature and same substance with each other are in every way of a different hypostasis from each other. For in both, I mean in nature and in hypostasis, nothing among beings is the same as another. Because things (15Β_288> united to one another in one and the same nature, that is substance, which is to say, things that are of the same substance and nature, could never be united in one and the same hypostasis, or person; that is, it will not be able to have one person and one hypostasis; and things united in one and the same hypostasis, or person, could never be joined together in one and the same substance, or nature; that is, they could never appear to be of one and the same substance and nature. But things united in one and the same nature, that is substance; that is, things that are of one and the same substance and nature, are distinguished from each other by their hypostases, or persons, as is the case with angels and men, and all created things considered in species and genus. For an angel is distinguished from an angel, and a man from a man, and an ox from an ox, and a dog from a dog, according to hypostasis, but not according to nature and substance. And my discourse will dare to say the greater thing, that not even in the first, beginningless, and creative Cause of beings do we consider nature and hypostasis to be the same as each other; if indeed we know one substance and nature of Godhead, existing in three hypostases differing from each other in their properties; and three hypostases in one and the same substance and nature of the Godhead. For a Monad in a Triad, and a Triad in a Monad, is what is worshiped by us; Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, one God; neither the Son being the Father, but what the Father is; nor the Spirit being the Son, but what the Son is; for all that the Father is, except unbegottenness, is the Son (for He is begotten), and all that the Son is, except His being begotten, is the Holy Spirit (for He proceeds). Unbegottenness and being begotten and 0552 procession do not cut the one nature and power of the ineffable Godhead into three unequal or equal substances and natures; but they characterize the persons in which, or which, the one Godhead is, that is, the substance and nature; that is, the hypostases; and things united in one and the same hypostasis, or person, (15Β_290> that is, being of one hypostasis, and of one
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δέ ὅτ᾿ ἄν εἴπω, ἑνί φωτί περιαστράφθητε, καί τρισί· τρισί μέν, κατά τάς ἰδιότητας, ἤγουν ὑποστάσεις, εἴ τινι φίλον καλεῖν, εἴτε πρόσωπα· οὐδέν γάρ περί τῶν ὀνομάτων ζυγομαχήσομεν, ἕως ἄν πρός τήν αὐτήν ἔννοιαν αἱ συλλαβαί φέρωσιν· ἑνί δέ, κατά τόν τῆς οὐσίας λόγον ἤγουν θεότητος." Τοσαύτην μέν οἱ θεηγόροι Πατέρες ἡμῶν Γρηγόριος καί Βασίλειος ὑπάρχουσαν τῶν θείων δογμάτων τήν συμφωνίαν παρέστησαν, ταυτόν διαῤῥήδην εἰπόντες· τῇ μέν οὐσίᾳ τήν φύσιν, ὡς κοινόν καί καθόλου· τῇ δέ ὑποστάσει τό πρόσωπον, ὡς ἰδικόν τε καί μερικόν· 0549 μηδαμῶς συμφύραντες τῶν λεγομένων τήν ἔννοιαν, διά τῆς τούτων εἰς ἀλλήλας περιτροπῆς καί συγχύσεως. Ὑφ᾿ ἑνός γάρ καί τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνεργηθέντες, τήν ὀρθήν τῆς πίστεως τοῖς λαοῖς παραδεδώκασιν ὁμολογίαν. Τούτοις δέ συμφώνως εὐρήσεις, καί πάντας τούς κατά τήν χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος πιστευθέντας τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τούς οἴακας, τόν ὀρθόν τῆς εὐσεβοῦς πίστεως πρεσβεύσαντας λόγον, καί μηδέν ταύτης τῆς ἐννοίας παντελῶς ἐκτραπέντας.
ΚΑΤΑΣΚΕΥΗ ΦΥΣΙΚΩΤΕΡΑ, ΠΑΡΙΣΤΩΣΑ ΩΣ ΟΥ∆ΕΝ ΤΩΝ ΟΝΤΩΝ· ΕΤΕΡΩ ΤΑΥΤΟΝ
ΕΣΤΙ ... Κατασκευή φυσικωτέρα, παριστῶσα ὡς οὐδέν τῶν ὄντων· ἑτέρῳ ταὐτόν ἐστι
κατ᾿ οὐσίαν καί ὑπόστασιν· ἀλλά τά μέν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ταὐτά ταῖς ὑποστάσεσιν ἕτερα· τά δέ ταὐτά καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, πάντως κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἕτερα.
Εἰ δέ ταὐτόν μέν οὐσία καί φύσις· ταὐτόν δέ πρόσωπον καί ὑπόστασις, δῆλον
ὡς τά ἀλλήλοις ὁμοφυῇ καί ὁμούσια, πάντως ἀλλήλοις ἑτεροϋπόστατα. Κατ᾿ ἄμφω γάρ, φημί δή τήν φύσιν καί τήν ὑπόστασιν, οὐδέν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐστιν ἑτέρῳ ταὐτόν. ∆ιότι τά (15Β_288> κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ἀλλήλοις ἡνωμένα φύσιν, ἤγουν οὐσίαν, τουτέστι τά τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ὄντα καί φύσεως κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ὑπόστασιν ἤγουν πρόσωπον, οὐκ ἄν ἑνωθείη ποτ᾿ ἄν· τουτέστιν ἕν πρόσωπον ἔχειν οὐ δυνήσεται καί μίαν ὑπόστασιν· καί τά κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ὑπόστασιν ἤγουν πρόσωπον ἡνωμένα, κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν οὐσίαν, ἤγουν φύσιν οὐκ ἄν συναφθείη ποτ᾿ ἄν· τουτέστι μιᾶς καί τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ὄντα καί φύσεως, οὐκ ἄν γενόμενα φανείη ποτ᾿ ἄν. Ἀλλά τά κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ἡνωμένα φύσιν, ἤγουν οὐσίαν· τουτέστι τά μιᾶς καί τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ὄντα καί φύσεως, ἀλλήλων διακέκριται ταῖς ὑποστάσεσιν, ἤγουν προσώποις, ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀγγέλων ἔχει καί ἀνθρώπων, καί πάντων τῶν ἐν εἴδει καί γένει θεωρουμένων κτισμάτων. Ἄγγελος γάρ ἀγγέλου, καί ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπου, καί βοῦς βοός, καί κύων κυνός διακέκριται κατά τήν ὑπόστασιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά τήν φύσιν καί τήν οὐσίαν. Τολμήσει δέ τό μεῖζον ὁ λόγος εἰπεῖν, ὡς οὐδ᾿ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῆς τῆς πρώτης ἀνάρχου τε καί ποιητικῆς τῶν ὄντων αἰτίας θεωροῦμεν ταὐτόν ἀλλήλαις τήν φύσιν καί τήν ὑπόστασιν· εἴπερ μίαν οὐσίαν καί φύσιν θεότητος οἴδαμεν, ἐν τρισίν ὑπάρχουσαν ὑποστάσεσι διαφερούσαις ἀλλήλων ταῖς ἰδιότησι· καί τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις ἐν μιᾷ καί τῇ αὐτῇ οὐσίᾳ τε καί φύσει τῆς θεότητος. Μονάς γάρ ἐν Τριάδι, καί ἐν μονάδι Τριάς, ἐστίν ἡμῖν προσκυνούμενον· Πατήρ, καί Υἱός, καί Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, εἷς Θεός· οὔτε τοῦ Υἱοῦ ὄντος Πατρός, ἀλλ᾿ ὅπερ ὁ Πατήρ· οὔτε τοῦ Πνεύματος ὄντος Υἱοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ὅπερ ὁ Υἱός· πάντα γάρ ὅσα ὁ Πατήρ, πλήν ἀγεννησίας, ἐστίν ὁ Υἱός (γεννητός γάρ), καί πάντα ὅσα ὁ Υἱός, πλήν τῆς γεννήσεως, ἐστί τό Πνεῦμα ἅγιον (ἐκπορευτόν γάρ). Τῆς ἀγεννησίας καί τῆς γεννήσεως καί τῆς 0552 ἐκπορεύσεως, οὐ τεμνουσῶν εἰς τρεῖς ἀνίσους ἤ ἴσας οὐσίας τε καί φύσεις τήν μίαν φύσιν καί δύναμιν τῆς ἀφράστου θεότητος· ἀλλά τά ἐν οἷς, ἤ ἅπερ ἡ μία θεότης ἐστίν, ἤγουν οὐσία καί φύσις, χαρακτηριζουσῶν πρόσωπα· τουτέστιν, ὑποστάσεις· καί τά κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ὑπόστασιν, ἤγουν πρόσωπον ἡνωμένα, (15Β_290> τουτέστι μιᾶς ὑποστάσεως ὄντα, καί ἑνός