69

COUNTER-INSCRIPTIONS

TO THE INSCRIPTIONS OF BEKKOS IN FAVOR OF THE LATINS (p. 344)

First Inscription

Various scriptural citations collected to prove that the Holy Spirit is also from the Son, after which others are laid down to prove that the Spirit is through the Son from the Father. And because some prove this to be "from the Son" and others "through the Son", to demonstrate the equivalence of "through" and "from", immediately following, other scriptural citations are laid down, by which the equivalence of these prepositions is demonstrated.

First Counter-inscription

When in theology "from" and "through" are equivalent to each other, they do not represent division nor difference in the Holy Trinity, but the union and the identity, which is according to nature and consensus of will. For from this it is shown that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one and the same nature and power and energy and will, but the one who has recorded here the sayings of the saints and so entitled them wrongly and impiously attempts to show the difference of the divine hypostases through the equivalence of such prepositions, and that from the two hypostases and from each of these differently the one of the three adorable hypostases, that is, the Holy Spirit, has its existence. It is therefore clear that the sayings of the saints are pious and correct, but they are interpreted (p. 346) by the one who collected and recorded them here wrongly and impiously.

That such a "through" demonstrates union and identity in all things, that is when it is equivalent to "from", the divine Maximus clearly shows, concerning some who said the Spirit is through the Son, writing to Marinus, "they showed that they do not make the Son a cause, for they know the one cause of the Son and of the Spirit to be the Father, of the one by generation and of the other by procession, but so that they might declare that He proceeds through Him and thereby show the affinity and identity of the essence." It is therefore clear from this that this Bekkos impiously interprets such sayings; for he attempts to infer from these not the affinity and identity, which is according to nature, but the difference of the hypostases, not even being persuaded by the great Basil; for he too says in the eighth chapter of To Amphilochius: "that the Father creates through the Son neither establishes the creation of the Father as imperfect, nor signifies the energy of the Son as weak, but represents the unity of the will."

Therefore, one who says that the Spirit proceeds through the Son and from the Son according to the bestowal correctly represents the consensus of will of the Father and the Son. For by the good pleasure of the Father and the Son, and with its own consent, the Holy Spirit is bestowed upon the worthy. But these latin-minded ones, inferring from madness that the Spirit has its existence through the Son and from the Son, a work of good pleasure and will and a creature from

69

ΑΝΤΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΑΙ

ΕΙΣ ΤΑΣ ΠΑΡΑ ΤΟΥ ΒΕΚΚΟΥ ΥΠΕΡ ΛΑΤΙΝΩΝ ΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΑΣ (σελ. 344)

Ἐπιγραφή πρώτη

Χρήσεις γραφικαί διάφοροι συλλεγεῖσαι εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ εἶναι τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον καί ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, μεθ᾿ ἅς ἕτεραι καταστρωννύονται εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ εἶναι τό Πνεῦμα διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός. Καί ἐπειδή αἱ μέν ἐκ τοῦ Υἰοῦ αἱ δέ διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀποδεικνύουσιν εἶναι τοῦτο, εἰς παράστασιν τοῦ ἰσοδυνάμου τῆς "διά" καί τῆς "ἐκ", ἀκολούθως παρευθύς, ἕτεραι γραφικαί χρήσεις καταστρωννύονται, δι᾿ ὥν τό τῶν προθέσεων τούτων ἰσοδύναμον ἀποδείκνυται.

Ἀντεπιγραφή πρώτη

Ὅταν ἐπί τῆς θεολογίας ἰσοδυναμῶσιν ἀλλήλαις ἡ "ἐκ" καί ἡ "διά", οὐ τήν διαίρεσιν οὐδέ τήν διαφοράν παριστῶσι τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, ἀλλά τήν ἕνωσιν καί τήν ἀπαραλλαξίαν, ἥτις ἐστί κατά τήν φύσιν καί τήν ὁμοβουλίαν. ∆είκνυται γάρ ἐντεῦθεν μιᾶς καί τῆς αὐτῆς εἶναι φύσεως καί δυνάμεως καί ἐνεργείας καί θελήσεως ὁ Πατήρ καί ὁ Υἱός καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, ὁ δ᾿ ἐνταῦθα καταγράψας τά τῶν ἁγίων ρητά καί οὕτως ἐπιγράψας τήν διαφοράν κακῶς καί δυσσεβῶς τῶν θείων ὑποστάσεων ἐπιχειρεῖ δεικνῦναι διά τοῦ τῶν τοιούτων προθέσεων ἰσοδυνάμου καί ὅτι ἐκ τῶν δύο ὑποστάσεων καί παρ᾿ἑκατέρας τούτων διαφόρως ἔχει τήν ὕπαρξιν ἡ μία τῶν τριῶν προσκυνητῶν ὑποστάσεων, τουτέστι τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Φανερόν οὖν ὡς αἱ μέν τῶν ἁγίων ρήσεις ἔχουσιν εὐσεβῶς τε καί καλῶς, ἐκλαμβάνονται δέ (σε. 346) παρά τοῦ συνειλοχότος καί καταγράψαντος ἐνταῦθα ταύτας κακῶς τε καί δυσσεβῶς.

Ὅτι δέ τήν ἕνωσιν καί τήν ἀπαράλλακτον ἐν πᾶσιν ἡ τοιαύτη δείκνυσι "διά", ὅταν δηλονότι ἰσοδυναμῇ τῇ "ἐκ", ὁ θεῖος Μάξιμος παρίστησι σαφῶς, περί τινων εἰπόντων διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ τό Πνεῦμα, γράφων πρός Μαρῖνον, «οὐκ αἰτίαν τόν Υἱόν ποιοῦντας σφᾶς αὐτούς ἀπέδειξαν, μίαν γάρ ἴσασι τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί τοῦ Πνεύματος τόν Πατέρα αἰτίαν, τοῦ μέν κατά τήν γέννησιν τοῦ δέ κατά τήν ἐκπόρευσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα τό δι᾿ αὐτοῦ προϊέναι δηλώσωσι καί ταύτῃ τό συναφές τῆς οὐσίας καί ἀπαράλλακτον παραστήσωσι». Σαφές οὖν ἐντεῦθεν ὡς ὁ Βέκκος οὗτος δυσσεβῶς ἐκλαμβάνει τάς τοιαύτας ρήσεις˙ οὐ γάρ τό συναφές καί ἀπαράλλακτον, ὅ ἐστι κατά τήν φύσιν, ἀλλά τό διαφέρον τῶν ὑποστάσεων ἐκ τούτων ἐπιχειρεῖ συνάγειν, οὐδέ τῷ μεγάλῳ Βασιλείῳ πειθόμενος˙ καί οὗτος γάρ ἐν ὀγδόῳ τῶν Πρός Ἀμφιλόχιον κεφαλαίῳ φησί˙ «τό διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ δημιουργεῖν τόν Πατέρα, οὔτε ἀτελῆ τοῦ Πατρός τήν δημιουργίαν συνίστησιν, οὔτε ἄτονον τοῦ Υἱοῦ παραδηλοῖ τήν ἐνέργειαν, ἀλλά τό ἡνωμένον τοῦ θελήματος παρίστησιν».

Ὁ γοῦν λέγων διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τό Πνεῦμα προϊέναι κατά τήν χορηγίαν τήν ὁμοβουλίαν τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ παρίστησι καλῶς. Εὐδοκίᾳ γάρ τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί αὐτό συνευδοκοῦν τοῖς ἀξίοις χορηγεῖται τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Οἱ δέ λατινόφρονες οὗτοι συνάγοντες ἐκ παρανοίας διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τήν ὕπαρξιν τό Πνεῦμα ἔχειν εὐδοκίας καί θελήσεως ἔργον καί κτίσμα ἐξ