205
of the Godhead, so that I may so name it, both a movement and a will, and the identity of substance." And in the Valedictory Oration again: "We believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; consubstantial and of one glory, in whom baptism also has its perfection; you know, o initiated one, which is a denial of atheism and a confession of Godhead; and so we are perfected, acknowledging the one in substance, and in the indivisibility of worship; and the three in hypostases, or rather persons." And indeed in his Oration on the Holy Lights the same man says these things, "When I say God, be ye illumined by one light, and by three; three, that is, according to their properties, or rather hypostases, or if anyone prefers to call them, persons; for we will not quarrel about the names, so long as the syllables lead to the same thought; but one, according to the principle of substance or rather Godhead." Such then our God-speaking Fathers Gregory and Basil have demonstrated the existing harmony of the divine doctrines, expressly saying the same thing: by substance, nature, as common and universal; and by hypostasis, person, as particular and individual; (549) in no way confusing the meaning of what is said, through their interchange and commingling with one another. For being energized by one and the same Spirit, they have handed down to the peoples the right confession of faith. In agreement with these you will find all those entrusted with the helms of the Church by the grace of the Spirit, who have maintained the right doctrine of the pious faith, and have in no way departed from this understanding.
A more physical argument, demonstrating that none of existing things is identical to another in substance and hypostasis; but those things that are identical in substance are different in their hypostases; and those that are identical in hypostasis, are in every way different in substance.
If, then, 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 different hypostasis from each other. For according to both, I mean both nature and hypostasis, nothing among existing things is identical to another. Because things united to each other in one and the same nature, or substance, that is, being 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, being of one and the same substance and nature, they could never appear to have become. But things united in one and the same nature, or substance; that is, things being of one and the same substance and nature, are distinguished from one another 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 from an angel, and a man from a man, and an ox from an ox, and a dog from a dog is distinguished according to hypostasis, but not according to nature and substance. But my argument will dare to say the greater thing, that not even in the first, unoriginate and creative cause of beings do we consider nature and hypostasis to be identical to one another; since we know one substance and nature of Godhead, existing in three hypostases differing from one another 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 worshipped by us; Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, one God; the Son not 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 for unbegottenness,
205
τῆς θεότητος, ἵνα οὔτως ὀνομάσω, κίνημά τε καί βούλημα, καί τήν τῆς οὐσίας ταυτότητα." Καί ἐν τῷ Συντακτηρίῳ λόγῳ πάλιν· "Πιστεύομεν εἰς Πατέρα, καί Υἱόν, καί ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· ὁμοούσιά τε καί ὁμόδοξα, ἐν οἷς καί τό βάπτισμα τήν τελείωσιν ἔχει· οἶδας, ὁ μυηθείς, ἄρνησις ὅν ἀθεΐας καί ὁμολογία θεότητος· καί οὕτω καταρτιζόμεθα, τό μέν ἕν τῇ οὐσίᾳ γνωρίζοντες, καί τῷ ἀμερίστῳ τῆς προσκυνήσεως· τά δέ τρία, ταῖς ὑποστάσεσιν, ἤγουν προσώποις." Καί μέντοι κἀν τῷ εἰς τά φῶτα λόγῳ ταῦτά φησιν ὁ αὐτός, "Θεοῦ 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· (549) 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.
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 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,