115
Scripture; the all-holy Trinity in unity, at one time, introducing it as creator, as in: "Let us make man"; for the subsistence of beings is the work of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; at another time, as receptive of those who live piously by its laws; as provident for those who have received from it the origin of their being; as appearing to Abraham in a threefold manner, and speaking in a singular manner; at another time, as punitive, that is, judgmental of those who corrupt the laws of nature; as in: "Let us go down and confuse their tongues." For the holy and consubstantial Trinity is not only the creator of beings; but also that which holds them together, and distributes to each according to their worth; since being by nature one God, creator, provident, and judge of the things made by him; for it is common to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, just as to create, so also to judge, and to provide wisely for the things that have been made.
SCHOLIA. a. To each, he says, according to the opinion he holds about God, God
appears. To those who by desire have passed beyond the material composition, and who possess the powers of the soul in equal proportion to one another in one and the same perpetual motion around God, he appears as a monad and a Trinity; in order to show his own existence, and to teach mystically his mode of being. But to those whose desire is moved only around the material disposition, and who possess the powers of the soul unconnected to each other, he appears not as he is, but as they are; showing that of our dyad they have taken hold with both hands, by which the corporeal world is composed of matter and form.
b. He who says, he affirms, that the difference of the properties in God is natural, but not hypostatic, such a one is not a theist, but a polytheist, asserting that the Divine accepts enumeration by the properties of essences, but not of hypostases.
QUESTION 29.
What is the meaning of the passage in Acts: "Who through the Spirit told Paul not to go up to Jerusalem?" Why did he disobey the Spirit and go up?
Response. (365) The holy prophet Isaiah, in his prophecy, says that seven spirits
rest upon the Savior who arose from the root of Jesse; not knowing seven spirits of God, and thus teaching others to understand it so, but he called the energies of the one and the same Holy Spirit, spirits, because in every energy the acting Holy Spirit is wholly and without fail present in a proportionate way. And the divine Apostle calls the various energies of this one Holy Spirit different gifts; being worked, that is, by one and the same Spirit. If, therefore, according to the measure of faith in each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given, in the participation of such and such a gift; each of the faithful, that is, according to the proportion of his faith, and of the disposition underlying him in his soul, receives a commensurate energy of the Spirit, granting him the habit proper for the enactment of this or that commandment.
Therefore, just as one receives a word of wisdom, another a word of knowledge, another of faith, and another some other of the gifts of the Spirit enumerated by the great Apostle; so one is to receive through the Spirit the gift of perfect and immediate love for God, having nothing material, according to the proportion of
115
Γραφήν· τήν ἐν μονάδι παναγίαν Τριάδα, ποτέ μέν, ὡς δημιουργόν εἰσηγουμένην, ὡς τό· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον· Πατρός γάρ καί Υἱοῦ, καί ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἔργον ἐστίν ἡ τῶν ὄντων ὑπόστασις· ποτέ δέ, ὡς ἀποδεκτικήν τῶν τοῖς αὐτῆς εὐσεβῶς νόμοις πολιτευσαμένων· ὡς προνοητικήν τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῆς εἰληφότων τοῦ εἶναι τήν γένεσιν· ὡς τῷ Ἀβραάμ τριαδικῶς φαινομένην, καί μοναδικῶς διαλεγομένην· ποτέ δέ, ὡς τιμωρητικήν, ἤγουν κριτικήν τῶν τούς νόμους παραφθειρόντων τῆς φύσεως· ὡς τό· Καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν τάς γλώσσας. Οὐ γάρ δημιουργική μόνον ὑπάρχει τῶν ὄντων ἡ ἁγία καί ὁμοούσιος Τριάς· ἀλλά καί συνεκτική, καί πρός ἀξίαν ἑκάστου διανεμητική· οἷα δή Θεός εἷς ὑπάρχουσα κατά φύσιν δημιουργός, προνοητική τε καί κριτική τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ πεποιημένων· κοινόν γάρ Πατρός, καί Υἱοῦ, καί ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὥσπερ τό δημιουργεῖν, οὕτω δέ καί τό κρίνειν, καί τῶν πεποιημένων σοφῶς προνοεῖν.
ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Ἑκάστῳ φησί, 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 κεκτημένοι, οὐχ ὡς ἔστιν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς εἰσίν ἐμφανίζεται· δεικνύς ὅτι τῆς ἡμῶν δυάδος ἀμφοῖν ἐπελάβοντο ταῖν χεροῖν, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ σωματικός ἐξ ὕλης καί εἴδους συνέστηκε κόσμος.
β΄. Ὁ φυσικήν εἶναι λέγων, φησίν, ἐπί Θεοῦ τήν τῶν ἰδιωμάτων, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑποστατικήν διαφοράν, οὐκ ἔνθεος ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἀλλά πολύθεος, οὐσιῶν ἰδιότησιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑποστάσεων ἐπιδέχεσθαι φάσκων τό Θεῖον τήν ἐξαρίθμησιν.
ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΘ΄.
Τί ἐστι τό ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι κείμενον· "Οἵτινες διά τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔλεγον τῷ Παύλῳ, μή ἀναβαίνειν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα;" ∆ιά τί παρήκουσε τοῦ Πνεύματος καί ἀνέβη;
Ἀπόκρισις. (365) Ὁ μέν ἅγιος Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης, ἐν τῇ κατ᾿ αὐτόν προφητείᾳ ἑπτά πνεύματα τῷ
ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί ἀνατείλαντι Σωτῆρι λέγει ἐπαναπαύεσθαι· οὐχ ἑπτά πνεύματα Θεοῦ γινώσκων, καί οὕτω τούς ἄλλους ἐκδέχεσθαι διδάσκων, ἀλλά τάς ἐνεργείας τοῦ ἑνός καί τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, πνεύματα καλέσας, διά τό πάσῃ ἐνεργείᾳ ὅλον ἀνελλιπῶς ὑπάρχειν ἀναλόγως τό ἐνεργοῦν ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Ὁ δέ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος τάς διαφόρους ἐνεργείας αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἑνός ἁγίου Πνεύματος χαρίσματα λέγει διάφορα· ὑφ᾿ ἑνός δηλονότι καί τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐνεργούμενα Πνεύματος. Εἰ τοίνυν κατά τό μέτρον τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ πίστεως δίδοται ἡ φανέρωσις τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐν τῇ μετοχῇ τοῦ τοιοῦδε χαρίσματος· ἕκαστος τῶν πιστῶν δηλονότι κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως, καί τῆς ὑποκειμένης αὐτῷ κατά τήν ψυχήν διαθέσεως, συμμεμετρημένην δέχεται τοῦ Πνεύματος τήν ἐνέργειαν, χαριζομένην αὐτῷ τῆσδε ἤ τῆσδε τῆς ἐντολῆς τήν ἁρμόζουσαν πρός ἐνέργειαν ἕξιν.
Οὐκοῦν ὥσπερ ὁ μέν λαμβάνει λόγον σοφίας, ὁ δέ λόγον γνώσεως, ἕτερος δέ πίστεως, καί ἄλλος ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων τῷ μεγάλῳ Ἀποστόλῳ χαρισμάτων τοῦ Πνεύματος· οὕτως ὁ μέν δέχεσθαι διά τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρισμα τῆς τελείας καί ἀμέσου πρός Θεόν, καί μηδέν ἐχούσης ὑλικόν ἀγάπης, κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τῆς