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De sancta trinitate

CONCERNING THE HOLY AND CONSUBSTANTIAL TRINITY.

48.1087 1. Those who sharpen their tongues against the holy and consubstantial Trinity, and rage, and attempt to diminish the dignity of the only-begotten Son and of the Holy Spirit, are reproved by the Holy Spirit himself who spoke through the holy prophets, and by the Word who proclaimed his own incarnate presence, which for our sake came to be from the holy Virgin, ineffable and unchangeable, through his own worthy ones; and they will be most perfectly reproved on the day of his righteous judgment, when he comes again from heaven to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in those who have kept his faith unchanged. But they have dared, beloved, the children of the Arians, and possessed by the madness of the Macedonians, to speak of a great and a small God, and a created God, introducing Hellenism to us. For it is their way to worship a creature, and to magnify one of their gods, and to diminish another.

For if either the Son or the Spirit is in any way deficient, he is not God. For Paul, reproaching them in the epistle to the Romans, says: They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is God over all, blessed. But if they worship a creature, saying the Son and the Spirit are creatures, they are accursed according to Moses who says: Cursed is every one who worships a creature and a thing made. But we do not worship a creature, but an uncreated Trinity, unchangeable and immutable and consubstantial, having nothing extraneous, or servile, or that came into being through advancement, as though not existing before, but coming to be later. Consider for me the testimonies of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, and worship it rightly, lest you perish. And God said, it says: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness. Tell me then, with whom does God take counsel? With the angels, he says. But the angels do not have the image of God; but he speaks to the co-creator Son and the Holy Spirit. And that you may be persuaded this is true, hear the psalmist saying: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the spirit of his mouth all their host. And you are not ignorant that the Word is the Son. For John the theologian says: And the Word was God; and concerning the Spirit, God is Spirit. Therefore God the Father says to God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: Let us make man in our image. And he did not say, Mine and yours, nor Mine and thine. But the Scripture, signifying that there is one image of the holy Trinity, says: And God made 48.1088 man, in the image of God he made him.

As Paul also exclaims concerning the Son: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. And again elsewhere the Scripture: Come, and going down let us confound their tongues. By saying, Come, he calls those of equal honor. For if he had commanded angels, he would not have said, Come, but imperatively, Go. Behold for me the voice of the Father, calling the Son and Spirit. For if this were said to one only, he would have said, Come hither, and going down let us confound their tongues; but to say, Come, is the voice of one to two others of equal honor. Hear also the blessed Job clearly declaring the indivisible Trinity; for he says: As the Lord lives, who has thus judged me, and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul, and the divine Spirit which is in my nostrils. Having said Lord and Almighty and divine Spirit, the consubstantial Trinity

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De sancta trinitate

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΜΟΟΥΣΙΟΥ ΤΡΙΑ∆ΟΣ.

48.1087 αʹ. Οἱ κατὰ τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος τὰς γλώσσας ἀκονῶντες, καὶ

λυττῶντες, καὶ τὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἀξίωμα καθαιρεῖν ἐπιχειροῦντες, ἐλέγχονται μὲν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τοῦ λαλήσαντος διὰ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν, καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ κηρύξαντος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἔνσαρκον παρουσίαν, τὴν δι' ἡμᾶς ἐκ Παρθένου ἁγίας γενομένην, ἄφραστόν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον, διὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἀξίων· ἐλεγχθήσονται δὲ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τῆς δικαιοκρισίας αὐτοῦ τελειότατον, ὅταν πάλιν ἔρχηται ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐνδοξασθῆναι ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ, καὶ θαυμασθῆναι ἐν τοῖς φυλάξασιν ἄτρεπτον αὐτοῦ τὴν πίστιν. Ἐτόλμησαν δὲ, ἀγαπητοὶ, Ἀρειανῶν παῖδες, καὶ Μακεδονιανῶν μανίαν κατεχόμενοι, λέγειν Θεὸν μέγαν καὶ μικρὸν, καὶ κτιστὸν Θεὸν, Ἑλληνισμὸν παρεισφέροντες ἡμῖν. Ἐκείνων γάρ ἐστι κτίσματι προσκυνεῖν, καὶ τὸν μὲν τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν μεγαλύνειν, τὸν δὲ σμικρύνειν.

Εἰ γὰρ λείπεταί τι ἢ ὁ Υἱὸς, ἢ τὸ Πνεῦμα, οὐ Θεός. Παῦλος γὰρ μεμφόμενος αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολῇ, λέγει· Ἐσεβάσθησαν καὶ ἐλάτρευσαν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα, ὅς ἐστιν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητός. Εἰ δὲ κτίσματι προσκυνοῦσι, λέγοντες τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα κτίσμα, ἐπικατάρατοί εἰσι κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσῆν τὸν λέγοντα· Ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὁ προσκυνῶν κτίσματι καὶ ποιήματι. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐ κτίσματι προσκυνοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ Τριάδα ἄκτιστον, ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον καὶ ὁμοούσιον, μηδὲν ἐπείσακτον ἔχουσαν, ἢ δοῦλον, ἢ ἐκ προκοπῆς εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἐπανελθὸν, ὡς πρότερον μὲν οὐκ ὂν, ὕστερον δὲ ἐπιγενόμενον. Βλέπε γάρ μοι τὰς μαρτυρίας τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος, καὶ σέβου ταύτην ὀρθῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἀπόλῃ. Καὶ εἶπε, φησὶν, ὁ Θεός· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν. Εἰπέ μοι οὖν, μετὰ τίνος συμβουλεύεται ὁ Θεός; Μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων, φησίν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔχουσιν οἱ ἄγγελοι τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ Θεοῦ· λέγει δὲ πρὸς τὸν συνδημιουργὸν Υἱὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Καὶ ἵνα πεισθῇς τοῦτο ἀληθὲς εἶναι, ἄκουσον τοῦ ψαλμῳδοῦ λέγοντος· Τῷ λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν. Οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς δὲ τὸν Λόγον εἶναι τὸν Υἱόν. Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ θεολόγος Ἰωάννης· Καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος· καὶ περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος, Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός. Λέγει οὖν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν Υἱὸν, καὶ Θεὸν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐμὴν καὶ ὑμῶν, οὔτε Ἐμὴν καὶ σήν. Σημαίνουσα δὲ ἡ Γραφὴ μίαν εἰκόνα τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος εἶναι, λέγει· Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς 48.1088 τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν.

Καθὼς καὶ Παῦλος βοᾷ περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ· Ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως. Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ ἡ Γραφή· ∆εῦτε, καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν τὰς γλώσσας. Τῷ εἰπεῖν, ∆εῦτε, τοὺς ὁμοτίμους καλεῖ. Οὔτε γὰρ εἰ ἀγγέλοις ἐπέταξεν, εἶχεν εἰπεῖν, ∆εῦτε, ἀλλ' ἐπιτακτικῶς, Πορεύεσθε. Βλέπε δέ μοι Πατρὸς φωνὴν, Υἱὸν καὶ Πνεῦμα καλοῦσαν. Εἰ γὰρ πρὸς ἕνα μόνον τοῦτο ἐῤῥέθη, εἶχεν εἰπεῖν, ∆εῦρο, καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν αὐτῶν τὰς γλώσσας· τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν, ∆εῦτε, ἑνός ἐστι φωνὴ πρὸς δύο τινὰς ὁμοτίμους. Ἄκουε δὲ καὶ τοῦ μακαρίου Ἰὼβ σαφῶς δηλοῦντος τὴν ἀχώριστον Τριάδα· φησὶ γάρ· Ζῇ Κύριος, ὃς οὕτω με ἔκρινε, καὶ ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ὁ πικράνας μου τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ πνεῦμα θεῖον τὸ περιὸν ἐν ῥισί μου. Κύριον καὶ παντοκράτορα καὶ θεῖον Πνεῦμα εἰπὼν, τὴν ὁμοούσιον Τριάδα