479

admits no difference, it being confessed that neither is the Father like to himself, nor is the Son himself like to himself, but that the Son is like the Father, and in being in all things like the Father, being Son and not Father, from whom, the Father, perfect from perfect, before all thought and all reasonings and times and ages he was begotten from the Father † of likeness, as knows only the Father who impassibly begot him from himself, and the Son who has his being from him and to whom he himself will reveal, in the contemplation of him, worthily to afford us to understand his own Father. 16. And let not the name of the hypostases trouble anyone. For this reason the Easterners speak of hypostases, that they may make known the subsisting and existing properties of the persons. For if the Father is spirit, the Son also is spirit, and the Holy Spirit is spirit, but the Son is not conceived of as Father, and the Spirit subsists, which is not conceived of as Son, which is not the Spirit is not conceived of as Son, but the Holy Spirit also subsists., and the Holy Spirit is no longer either the Father or the Son, but the Holy Spirit given to the faithful from the Father through the Son, since the Holy Spirit reasonably subsists and exists, the Easterners call the properties, as we have said before, of the subsisting persons 'hypostases', not saying the three hypostases are three principles or three gods. For they anathematize anyone who says there are three gods. But neither do they say the Father and the Son are two gods; for they confess one divini3.289ty, containing all things through the Son in the Holy Spirit, and confessing one divinity and one kingdom and one principle, they nevertheless piously acknowledge the persons in the properties of the hypostases, understanding the Father as subsisting in the paternal authority, and confessing the Son not to be a part of the Father, but purely begotten from the Father, perfect from perfect, and subsisting, and the Holy Spirit, which the divine scripture names Paraclete, acknowledging him as subsisting from the Father through the Son; for as the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, teaches us the truth, which is the Son "for no one says, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit," so also the Son, who is truth, will teach us to know piously the true God, his own Father, as he says, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." Therefore, in the Holy Spirit we worthily conceive of the Son, and in the only-begotten Son we piously and worthily glorify the Father. And this is the seal of the faith, in which seal the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ commanded to be baptized, saying, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 17. For concerning the likeness of the Son to the Father in all things, it has been spoken of more extensively elsewhere, however, even now we will not hesitate to note briefly that the apostle, having called the Son the image of the invisible God and in this having taught that the Son is like the Father, has handed down elsewhere how we must understand the Son. For in the epistle to the Philippians he says, "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men," and in the one to the Romans, "For what the law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh," so that through the two testimonies from the two epistles we might be taught piously from the corporeal 3.290 the conception of 'like' even concerning the incorporeal Father and Son. For "taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men" shows that he took flesh from the virgin. Therefore the flesh, which the Son of God took, is the same as the flesh of men, but it is in the likeness of men, since he was not born from seed as men are, nor from the bed of a man; so in a like manner

479

οὐδεμίαν διαφορὰν προσίεται, ὁμολογουμένου τοῦ μήτε αὐτὸν ἑαυτῷ ὅμοιον εἶναι τὸν πατέρα μήτε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτὸν ἑαυτῷ εἶναι ὅμοιον, ἀλλὰ υἱὸν εἶναι ὅμοιον τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ἐν τῷ κατὰ πάντα ὅμοιον εἶναι τῷ πατρί, υἱὸν ὄντα καὶ οὐ πατέρα, ἐξ οὗ πατρός, τέλειος ἐκ τελείου, πρὸ πάσης ἐννοίας καὶ πάντων λογισμῶν καὶ χρόνων καὶ αἰώνων ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς † ὁμοιότητος ἐγεννήθη, ὡς οἶδε μόνος ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐξ αὑτοῦ αὐτὸν ἀπαθῶς γεννήσας καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὁ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸ εἶναι ἔχων καὶ ᾧ αὐτὸς ἀποκαλύψει ἐν τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν θεωρίᾳ ἀξίως ἡμῖν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα παρέχειν νοεῖν. 16. Καὶ μὴ ταρασσέτω τὸ τῶν ὑποστάσεων ὄνομά τινας. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ὑποστάσεις οἱ ἀνατολικοὶ λέγουσιν, ἵνα τὰς ἰδιότητας τῶν προσώπων ὑφεστώσας καὶ ὑπαρχούσας γνωρίσωσιν. εἰ γὰρ πνεῦμα ὁ πατήρ, πνεῦμα καὶ ὁ υἱός, πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, οὐ νοεῖται δὲ πατὴρ ὁ υἱός, ὑφέστηκε δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, ὃ οὐ νοεῖται υἱός, ὃ καὶ οὐκ ἔστι τὸ πνεῦμα οὐ νοεῖται υἱός, ὑφέστηκε δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον., καὶ οὐκέτι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον οὐδὲ ὁ πατὴρ οὐδὲ ὁ υἱός, ἀλλὰ πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐκ πατρὸς δι' υἱοῦ πιστοῖς διδόμενον, εἰκότως ὑφεστῶτος καὶ ὑπάρχοντος καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου, τὰς ἰδιότητας ὡς προειρήκαμεν προσώπων ὑφεστώτων ὑποστάσεις ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ ἀνατολικοί, οὐχὶ τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις τρεῖς ἀρχὰς ἢ τρεῖς θεοὺς λέγοντες. ἀναθεματίζουσι γὰρ εἴ τις λέγει τρεῖς θεούς. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν δύο θεοὺς λέγουσιν· ὁμολογοῦσι γὰρ μίαν εἶναι θεότη3.289 τα, ἐμπεριέχουσαν δι' υἱοῦ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ τὰ πάντα, ὁμολογοῦντες δὲ μίαν θεότητα καὶ μίαν βασιλείαν καὶ μίαν ἀρχὴν ὅμως τὰ πρόσωπα ἐν ταῖς ἰδιότησι τῶν ὑποστάσεων εὐσεβῶς γνωρίζουσι, τὸν πατέρα ἐν τῇ πατρικῇ αὐθεντίᾳ ὑφεστῶτα νοοῦντες καὶ τὸν υἱὸν οὐ μέρος ὄντα τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ καθαρῶς ἐκ πατρὸς τέλειον ἐκ τελείου γεγεννημένον καὶ ὑφεστῶτα ὁμολογοῦντες καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὃ ἡ θεία γραφὴ παράκλητον ὀνομάζει, ἐκ πατρὸς δι' υἱοῦ ὑφεστὼς γνωρίζοντες· ὡς γὰρ ὁ παράκλητος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, διδάσκει ἡμᾶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ υἱός «οὐδεὶς γὰρ λέγει κύριος Ἰησοῦς, εἰ μὴ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ», οὕτω καὶ ὁ υἱός, ὅς ἐστιν ἀλήθεια, τὸν ἀληθινὸν θεόν, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα, ἡμᾶς εὐσεβῶς εἰδέναι διδάξει, καθὼς λέγει «ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν πατέρα». οὐκοῦν ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ υἱὸν ἀξίως νοοῦμεν, ἐν υἱῷ δὲ μονογενεῖ πατέρα εὐσεβῶς καὶ ἀξίως δοξάζομεν. καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ σφραγὶς τῆς πίστεως, ἐν ᾗ σφραγῖδι βαπτισθῆναι προσέταξεν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ λέγων «πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος». 17. Περὶ γὰρ τῆς κατὰ πάντα τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὁμοιότητος πλατύτερον μὲν ἀλλαχοῦ εἴρηται, ὅμως δὲ καὶ νῦν ἐν βραχεῖ παρασημειώσασθαι οὐκ ὀκνήσομεν ὅτι ὁ ἀπόστολος, εἰκόνα τοῦ ἀοράτου θεοῦ τὸν υἱὸν εἰρηκὼς καὶ ἐν τούτῳ διδάξας ὅτι ὅμοιός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τῷ πατρί, ἀλλαχοῦ πῶς δεῖ νοεῖν τὸν υἱὸν παρέδωκεν. ἐν γὰρ τῇ πρὸς Φιλιππησίους ἐπιστολῇ φησιν «ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε, μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος», ἐν δὲ τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους «τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκός, ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ υἱὸν πέμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας κατέκρινε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκί», ὡς διὰ τῶν δύο μαρτυριῶν ἐκ τῶν δύο ἐπιστολῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ σωματικοῦ εὐσεβῶς καὶ 3.290 τὴν περὶ τοῦ ὁμοίου ἔννοιαν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀσωμάτου πατρός τε καὶ υἱοῦ διδαχθῆναι. τὸ μὲν γὰρ «μορφὴν δούλου λαβὼν καὶ ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος» δείκνυσιν ὅτι ἐκ τῆς παρθένου σάρκα ἀνέλαβεν. οὐκοῦν ἡ σάρξ, ἣν ἀνέλαβεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἡ αὐτὴ μέν ἐστι τῇ σαρκὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν ὁμοιώματι δὲ ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἐκ σπορᾶς ὡς ἄνθρωποι οὐδὲ ἐκ κοίτης ἀνδρὸς ἐγεννήθη· οὕτως κατὰ τὸν ὅμοιον τρόπον