Athanasius of Alexandria, Sermon against Latins

Sermo contra Latinos

without beginning, without cause, unbegotten, eternal and in the only-begotten Son, begotten ineffably, and impassibly and unutterably, before all ag

of the Father, so also the Spirit is given and sent from the Son, and is Itself one and not many, nor one out of many, but only Itself Spirit. For sin

and one which imparts goodness. But of the first generation of the Son, and of the first procession of the Spirit, the Father alone is the cause. But

Sermo contra Latinos

OF ATHANASIUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, FROM THE DISCOURSE AGAINST THE LATINS.

But not so those of Christ, but just as He, saying: “When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father;” from this alone shows the Father to be the projector of the Spirit; so also these, obeying the teacher, say that it proceeds from the Father alone. But if anyone shall say that nowhere is the Spirit said to be from the Father alone, let such a one hear that he who writes about this does not bear witness otherwise than according to the teaching of our most divine Fathers. For just as they say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, taking the cause from the Lord's own mouth, so also the successive orators and writers declare accordingly. However, not one of them says that it proceeds from the Son and through the Son, unless perhaps someone should speak of the other effusion, that is, the manifestation and sending of the gifts of the Spirit. For with respect to this, although the Holy Spirit is manifested from the Father for distribution, so also it is from the Son, as the rule of truth teaches. And since all, saying the same thing in harmony and as one according to the Lord's tradition, and nowhere does anyone appear to disagree, it is clear that the Spirit has its existence from the Father alone, if indeed such a proces 28.825 sion constitutes existence. For just as when all say the Son is the offspring of the Father, it is also understood that the Son is from the Father alone according to the pre-eternal generation; so also when all say the Spirit is the projection of the Father, it is also understood that the Spirit is from the Father alone, according to the pre-eternal projection; if the Son is alone from the Father alone, and the Holy Spirit is alone from the Father alone. But according to the later effusion, that is, the distribution and bestowal to the worthy, just as the Spirit is from the Father, so also it is through the Son and from the Son. Just as also the later birth of the Son, that is, his sojourn among us, we do not glorify as from the Father alone, but also from the Spirit. And let the voice of the archangel persuade you, speaking to Joseph the husband of Mary, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” But if you wish to learn that some of our great saints have also declared that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, take now for this as a witness the great sun of our Church, Cyril, or rather, of the whole world; for in his discourse On the Trinity he clearly presents it thus. The all-holy, he says, and revered Trinity, existing before all ages and forever, is unstained and eternal, incorporeal, incomprehensible, uncircumscribable, yet embracing all things, and holding all together, good, provident, creator of all things, visible and invisible, impassible, immutable, unchangeable, incomprehensible to the mind of men and angels and to created nature; consubstantial in itself, but incommunicable in essence with all creation; known only by itself, by no nature in this world or above this world; a monad in three hypostases, that is, persons, and a Trinity known in a monad of Godhead, that is, of one essence. Of this holy and revered monad, the three adorable hypostases are known and believed in: in the Father

Sermo contra Latinos

ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΟΥ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ∆ΡΕΙΑΣ, ΕΚ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΤΑ ΛΑΤΙΝΩΝ ΛΟΓΟΥ.

Ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος τό· «Ὅταν ἔλθῃ, λέγων, ὁ Παράκλητος ὃ ἐγὼ πέμψω ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται·» μόνον ἐντεῦθεν προβολέα τὸν Πατέρα τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀποδείκνυσιν· οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι τῷ διδασκάλῳ πειθόμενοι ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς μόνου τοῦτό φασιν ἐκπορεύεσθαι. Εἰ δέ τις ἐρεῖ, ὅτι οὐδαμοῦ τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐκ μόνου λέγεται τοῦ Πατρός· ἀκουέτω ὁ τοιοῦτος, ὅτιπερ ὁ περὶ τούτου γράφων οὐκ ἄλλως ἐπιμαρτύρεται ἢ κατὰ τὴν τῶν θειοτάτων Πατέρων ἡμῶν διδασκαλίαν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός φασιν ἐκπορεύεσθαι, τὴν αἰτίαν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυριακοῦ λαμβάνοντες στόματος· οὕτω καὶ οἱ καθεξῆς λογογράφοι καὶ συγγραφεῖς ἀκολούθως διαγορεύουσιν. Οὐ μέντοιγέ τις αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ διὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦτό φησιν ἐκπορεύεσθαι· εἰ μή πως ἐρεῖ τις τὴν ἄλλην πρόχυσιν, εἴτουν φανέρωσιν καὶ ἀποστο λὴν τῶν χαρισμάτων τοῦ Πνεύματος. Πρὸς ταύτην γὰρ, καίπερ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς φανεροῦται τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον πρὸς ἐπινέμησιν, οὕτω καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καθὼς ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας διδάσκει κανών. Κἀπειδήπερ ἅπαντας τὸ αὐτὸ λέγοντες συμφώνως καὶ ἓν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου παράδοσιν, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ φαίνεταί τις διαφωνῶν· εὔδηλον, ὅτι ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα ἔχει τὴν ὕπαρξιν· εἴπερ ἡ τοιαύτη ἐκπό 28.825 ρευσις καθέστηκεν ὕπαρξις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ πάντων λεγόντων, γέννημα Πατρὸς ὁ Υἱὸς, συνεπινοεῖται καὶ τὸ ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρὸς ὁ Υἱὸς κατὰ τὴν προαιώνιον γέννησιν· οὕτω καὶ πάντων λεγόντων τὸ Πνεῦμα πρόβλημα Πατρὸς, συνεπινοεῖται καὶ τὸ ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα, κατὰ τὴν προαιώνιον πρόβλησιν· εἰ μόνος ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρὸς ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ μόνον ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὑστέραν πρόχυσιν, εἴτουν ἐπινέμησιν καὶ χορηγίαν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἀξίους, ὥσπερ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα, οὕτω καὶ διὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Καθάπερ δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑστέραν γέννησιν τοῦ Υἱοῦ, εἴτουν ἐπιδημίαν τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς μόνον δοξάζομεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Καὶ πειθέτω σε ἡ τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου φωνὴ πρὸς Ἰωσὴφ λέγουσα τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας τὸ, «Μὴ φοβηθῇς παρα λαβεῖν Μαριὰμ τὴν γυναῖκά σου· τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ Πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου.» Εἰ δὲ βούλει μαθεῖν, ὅτι καί τινες ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων μεγάλων ἁγίων ἀπεφήναντο τὸ ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκπορεύεσθαι, ἤδη τὸν μέγαν τῆς ἡμετέρας Ἐκκλησίας ἥλιον Κύριλλον, ἢ μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν, τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς, πρὸς τοῦτο λάμβανε μάρτυρα· ἐν γὰρ τῷ Περὶ Τριάδος λόγῳ αὐτοῦ ὧδέ πως σαφῶς παριστᾷ. Ἡ παναγία, φησὶ, καὶ σεπτὴ Τριὰς, πρὸ πάντων αἰώνων καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ ὑπάρχουσα, ἄχραντός ἐστι καὶ ἀΐδιος, ἀσώματος, ἀκατάληπτος, ἀπερί ληπτος, περιληπτικὴ δὲ τῶν ἁπάντων, καὶ συγκρα τοῦσα τὸ πᾶν, ἀγαθὴ, προνοητικὴ, δημιουργὸς τῶν ἁπάντων, ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων, ἀπαθὴς, ἀναλλοίωτος, ἄτρεπτος, νῷ ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ τῇ κτιστῇ φύσει ἀκατάληπτος· ὁμοούσιος ἐν ἑαυτῇ, ἀκοινώνητος δὲ κατ' οὐσίαν πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει· γινωσκομένη μόνον ὑφ' ἑαυτῆς, ὑπ' οὐδεμιᾶς φύσεως τῆς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ καὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ κόσμον τοῦτον· μονὰς ἐν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσιν, εἴτουν προσώποις, καὶ Τριὰς ἐν μονάδι θεότητος, ἤτοι μιᾶς οὐσίας γινωσκομένη. Ταύτης τῆς ἁγίας καὶ σεπτῆς μονάδος, αἱ προσκυνηταὶ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις γινώσκονται καὶ πιστεύονται· ἐν Πατρὶ