De sancta trinitate DE SACROSANCTA TRINITATE LIBER

 All beings are either created or uncreated. If, then, they are created, they are also by all means changeable. For those things whose being began from

 is the Divine. And how is that which moves not also circumscribed by place? 77.1125 The Divine alone, therefore, is motionless, moving all things thro

 CHAPTER 5.

 the doctrines and of each heresy the useful part remains, from the Jewish conception, the unity of nature and from Hellenism, only the distinction i

 Whom saying to be before all ages, we show that His generation is without time and without beginning. For the Son of God was not brought from non-bein

 Man, it is clear, begets in a contrary way, being subject to generation and corruption and flux and multiplication, and being clothed in a body, and h

 And this too must be known, that the name of fatherhood and sonship and procession was not transferred from us to the blessed Godhead but on the cont

 but the mode of difference, not at all. At the same time are both the begetting of the Son from the Father, and the procession of the Holy Spirit. The

 likeness, but identity), and the one impulse of the motion. For there is one essence, one goodness, one power, one will, one energy, 77.1144 one autho

 the illumination of the ray is imparted to us, and this is what illuminates us, and is participated in by us. But the Son we call neither of the Spiri

 we accomplish most honorable things by our own hands. By right hand, His aid in favorable circumstances, from the fact that we too use the right han

 This Son and Word of God the Father, through whom the Father created all creation, as through his own wisdom and power (for he is the wisdom and power

 sinning is of the will, or it also comes upon us against our will from inattention. Rather, even inattention itself is a sin, or at least the beginnin

 He slept, He conversed, just as we do, but was in every way without sin. This is beyond us. For who among us could be found entirely blameless in thin

 wills in Christ and willing according to both wills, and working according to both energies, is one and the same God-man not divided into God specif

 Principal will, the willing, which is natural will, as has been shown. Will is also said of the thing willed which in humans is hypostatic, not the s

 CHAPTER 22.

 he was conversant with and, The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works and, Therefore your God has anointed you with the oil of gla

 Of these things said of Christ in a human manner, whether in words or in deeds, there are six modes. For some of them were done and said according to

 of the consummation of the age and such like things. For as God, He is with us. But the things befitting His humanity, as, They took hold of His feet

 identity, and their mutual indwelling. In this sense we can say of Christ: This our God was seen upon the earth, and dwelt among men and, This man is

De sancta trinitate DE SACROSANCTA TRINITATE LIBER SANCTO CYRILLO ASCRIPTUS

CHAPTER 1.

Since it is of first and utmost necessity for us Christians to know piety, and to embrace it, and to live with it, and to depart from this present life with it; it is fitting for us to believe and confess and proclaim that there is one God, that is, one Godhead, a substance without beginning, without end, eternal and pre-eternal, unbegotten, uncreated, immutable, unchangeable, incomprehensible, inconceivable, uncircumscribed, simple, uncompounded, incorporeal, intangible, invisible, in three perfect hypostases, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Divine is therefore ineffable and incomprehensible. For no one knows the Father, except the Son; nor the Son, except the Father. And the Holy Spirit thus knows the things of God, as the spirit of a man knows the things within him. And after the first and blessed nature, no one has ever known God, except to whom He Himself has revealed it; not only of men, but not even of the supramundane powers. Nevertheless, God has not left us in complete ignorance. For the knowledge of God’s existence has been naturally implanted in all by Him. And creation itself, and its coherence and governance, proclaim the majesty of the divine nature. And first through the law and the prophets; and then also through His Only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, He has revealed the knowledge of Himself, as far as is possible for us. Therefore, we receive, know, and 77.1121 confess all things that have been handed down to us through the law and prophets and apostles, seeking nothing beyond these. For it is impossible to say anything about God, or even to conceive of anything, beyond what has been divinely spoken to us by the divine oracles of both the Old and New Testaments. That God exists, therefore, is not doubted by those who accept the Holy Scriptures, I mean both the Old and New Testament, nor by most of the Greeks. For as we have said, the knowledge of God’s existence has been naturally implanted in us. But since the wickedness of the Evil One has prevailed so much against the nature of men, as to lead some down into the most irrational and worst of all evils, the abyss of destruction, that is, to say there is no God (whose foolishness the prophet David revealed when he said: The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.) The disciples and apostles of the Lord, therefore, enlightened by the all-holy Spirit and working signs from God by His power and grace, with the net of miracles, drew them up alive from the depth of ignorance to the light of the knowledge of God. Likewise also the successors of their grace and dignity, the shepherds and teachers, having received the illuminating grace of the Spirit, by the power of miracles and by the word of grace, enlightened those in darkness and turned back those who had gone astray. But we who have received neither the gift of miracles nor of teaching (for we have made ourselves unworthy by our devotion to pleasures); come, let us discuss a few things concerning this, drawn from what has been given to us by the interpreters of grace, calling upon the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

CHAPTER 2.

De sancta trinitate DE SACROSANCTA TRINITATE LIBER SANCTO CYRILLO ASCRIPTUS

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Αʹ.

Ἐπειδὴ πρώτιστον ἡμῖν τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς καὶ πάντων ἀναγκαιότατον εἰδέναι τὴν εὐσέβειαν, καὶ ταύτην ἀσπάζεσθαι, καὶ ταύτῃ συζῇν, καὶ ζωῆς τῆς παρούσης συνεκδημεῖν· ἄξιόν ἐστι πιστεύειν καὶ ὁμολογεῖν καὶ κηρύττειν ἡμᾶς, ὅτι Θεὸς εἶς ἐστιν, ἤγουν μία Θεότης, οὐσία ἄναρχος, ἀτελεύτητος, αἰώνιός τε καὶ προαιώνιος, ἀγέννητος, ἄκτιστος, ἄτρεπτος, ἀναλλοίωτος, ἀκατάληπτος, ἀπερινόητος, ἀπερίγραπτος, ἁπλοῦς, ἀσύνθετος, ἀσώματος, ἀναφὴς, ἀόρατος, ἐν τρισὶ τελείαις ταῖς ὑποστάσεσι, τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι. Ἄῤῥητον οὖν τὸ Θεῖον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐπιγινώσκει τὸν Πατέρα, εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱός· οὐδὲ τὸν Υἱὸν, εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατήρ. Καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἅγιον οὔτως οἶδε τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς τὸ πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου οἶδε τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν πρώτην καὶ μακαρίαν φύσιν οὐδεὶς ἔγνω ποτὲ τὸν Θεὸν, εἰ μὴ ᾧ αὐτὸς ἀπεκάλυψεν· οὐκ ἀνθρώπων μόνον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων δυνάμεων. Οὐκ ἀφῆκε μέντοι ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς ἐν παντελεῖ ἀγνωσίᾳ. Πᾶσι γὰρ ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ εἶναι Θεὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ φυσικῶς ἐγκατέσπαρται. Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ κτίσις, καὶ ἡ ταύτης συνοχή τε καὶ κυβέρνησις, τὸ μεγαλεῖον τῆς θείας ἀνακηρύττει φύσεως. Καὶ διὰ νόμου μὲν καὶ προφητῶν πρότερον· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ Υἱοῦ, Κυρίου δὲ καὶ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἐφικτὸν ἡμῖν, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐφανέρωσε γνῶσιν. Πάντα τοίνυν τὰ παραδεδομένα ἡμῖν διά τε νόμου καὶ προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων δεχόμεθα καὶ γινώσκομεν καὶ 77.1121 ὁμολογοῦμεν, οὐδὲν περαιτέρω τούτων ἐπιζητοῦντες. Ἀδύνατον γὰρ παρὰ τὰ θειωδῶς ὑπὸ τῶν θείων λογίων τῆς τε Παλαιᾶς καὶ Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης ἡμῖν εἰρημένα εἰπεῖν τι περὶ Θεοῦ, ἢ ὅλως ἐννοῆσαι. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἔστι Θεὸς, τοῖς μὲν τὰς ἁγίας δεχομένοις Γραφὰς, τήν τε Παλαιὰν καὶ Καινὴν ∆ιαθήκην φημὶ, οὐκ ἀμφιβάλλεται, οὐδὲ τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων πλείστοις. Ὡς γὰρ ἔφημεν, ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ εἶναι Θεὸν φυσικῶς ἡμῖν ἐγκατέσπαρται. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσεν ἡ τοῦ Πονηροῦ κακία κατὰ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσεως, ὥστε καί τινας εἰς τὸ ἀλογώτατον, καὶ πάντων τῶν κακῶν κάκιστον καταγαγεῖν τῆς ἀπωλείας βάραθρον, τὸ λέγειν μὴ εἶναι Θεὸν (ὧν τὴν ἀφροσύνην ἐμφαίνων ὁ προφήτης ἔφη ∆αβίδ· Εἶπεν ἄφρων ἐν καρδίᾳ αὑτοῦ, οὐκ ἔστι Θεός.) Οἱ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Κυρίου μαθηταὶ καὶ ἀπόστολοι τῷ παναγίῳ φωτισθέντες Πνεύματι καὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ δυνάμει καὶ χάριτι τὰς θεοσημίας ἐργαζόμενοι, τῇ τῶν θαυμάτων σαγήνῃ πρὸς τὸ φῶς τῆς θεογνωσίας, ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς ἀγνωσίας αὐτοὺς ζωγροῦντες ἀνήγαγον. Ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ τούτων τῆς τε χάριτος καὶ τῆς ἀξίας διάδοχοι ποιμένες τε καὶ διδάσκαλοι τὴν φωτιστικὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριν δεξάμενοι, τῇ τε τῶν θαυμάτων δυνάμει, τῷ τε λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος τοὺς ἐσκοτισμένους ἐφώτιζον, καὶ τοὺς πεπλανημένους ἐπέστρεφον. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ μήτε τῶν θαυμάτων, μήτε τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας δεξάμενοι χάρισμα (ἀναξίους γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς τῇ πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς προσπαθείᾳ πεποιήκαμεν)· φέρε ὀλίγα παρὰ τῶν δεδομένων ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τῶν ὑποφητῶν τῆς χάριτος περὶ τούτου διαλεξώμεθα, τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐπικαλεσάμενοι.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Βʹ.