Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit 1 part 4/5

Thus too is understood the saying, “I and the Father are one”; since the things in this One are not other than the things in the Son;

but the things that are in the Father, these same things are in the Son.

And the things you see in the Father, since you see them in the Son, the saying is rightly understood, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” And these things being thus demonstrated, he is impious who says that the Son is a creature.

For he will be compelled to call the gushing fountain a creature, and Wisdom and the Word a creature — the Word in whom are all the things of the Father.

Moreover, from the following too one may see the rottenness of the heresy of the Ariomaniacs.

Those things to which we are alike and with which we share identity of nature, with these we are also of one essence (consubstantial);

men, then, being alike and sharing identity of nature, are consubstantial with one another.

And angels too in relation to one another, and all other things likewise, are of the same nature with one another.

Let the over-curious therefore search whether there is any likeness in created things to the Son;

or whether they can find in things made the things that are in the Son, so that they may dare to call the Word of God a creature also.

But they will not find it, those who are altogether rash and astray concerning godliness.

For among created things nothing is almighty, and nothing is held in being by another.

For each of them belongs to God.

For “the heavens declare the glory of God”;

and “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof”;

“the sea saw it and fled.” And all things are servants of their Maker, doing His word and obeying His command.

But the Son is almighty, as the Father is;

and this has been both written and demonstrated.

Again, among created things nothing is unchangeable by nature.

For some of the angels did not keep their own estate;

and “the stars are not pure in His sight”; and the devil fell from heaven;

and all things are subject to alteration.

But the Son is unchangeable and unalterable, as the Father is.

And this Paul recalled from the hundred-and-first psalm, saying:

“And You, Lord, in the beginning founded the earth;

and the heavens are the works of Your hands.

They shall perish, but You remain;

and they all shall wax old as a garment, and as a vesture You shall fold them up, and they shall be changed;

but You are the same, and Your years shall not fail.” And again he says:

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today,

and forever.” And again, all things that have come to be once were not, and have come to be.

For He made the earth as nothing;

and “He calls the things that are not as though they were”; and they are works and creatures;

for this very reason they have a beginning of coming into being.

For “in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth, and all that is in them”;

“My hand made all these things.” But the Son is, and is the God who is over all, as the Father is;

and this too has thus been demonstrated;

and He is not made, but the maker;

and not created, but creating and doing the works of the Father.

And “all things were made through Him;

and without Him was not anything made that was made”;

and as the Apostle taught regarding the psalm, “He in the beginning founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of His hands.”

And again, none of the created things is God by nature;

but each of the things that have come to be, what it has indeed become, that also it was called;

the one heaven, another earth;

and some the luminaries, others the stars;

and others sea, and depths, and four-footed beasts;

and before these, angels and archangels, cherubim, seraphim, and powers, principalities, authorities, dominions, paradise;

and thus each one continues as it is.

And if some were even called gods, yet not by nature, but by participation in the Son.

For thus He Himself said:

“You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High; but you, as men, shall die.” Such a one was he who heard:

“You are a man, and not God.” But the Son is true God, as the Father is.

For in Him is the Father, and the Father is in the Son;

and John wrote, as has been shown:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;

a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” And the prophet Isaiah cries out:

“Egypt has labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians;

and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to you, and shall follow after you bound with fetters, and shall worship you, because God is in you.

For You are the God of Israel, and we did not know it.” Who, then, is the God in whom God is, except the Son who says:

[having no] kinship [with the creatures, He would otherwise have been] consubstantial with them;

thus, being alien in essence to created things, but the proper Word of the Father, He not being other than that One;

since all the things of the Father are also His own, He would fittingly be consubstantial with the Father.

For thus also the Fathers, having understood it, confessed at the Council of Nicaea that the Son is consubstantial and of the essence of the Father.

For they perceived well that a created essence could never say:

“All things that the Father has are Mine.” For having a beginning of coming to be, it does not possess the “is” and the “was” eternally.

And for this reason, since the Son has these things, and all the aforesaid things of the Father are the Son's, it follows of necessity that the essence of the Son is not created, but consubstantial with the Father.

Moreover, on this account too it could not be a created essence, being receptive of the things proper to God.

And the things proper to Him are those by which God is known, such as the almighty, the “that which is,” the unalterable, and the other aforesaid attributes, lest God Himself, according to those fools, should appear consubstantial with the creatures, possessing the very things that creatures too can have.

And in this way too one might refute the impiety of those who say that the Word of God is a creature.

Our faith is in Father and Son and Holy Spirit, the Son Himself saying to the apostles:

“Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And He said it thus, so that from what we know, from these we might understand also concerning the aforesaid matters.

As, then, we would not call fathers makers, but begetters, and no one would call us creatures of our fathers, but sons by nature, and consubstantial with our fathers;

so, if God is Father, He is altogether the Father of a Son who is by nature and consubstantial.

Abraham, then, did not create Isaac, but begot him;

but Bezalel and Eliab did not beget, but made all the works that were in the tabernacle.

And the shipwright and the builder do not beget what they make, but each works — the one the vessel, the other the house.

Isaac, however, does not make, but begets by nature, Jacob consubstantial with him;

and Jacob likewise begot Judah and his brothers.

As, then, one would be mad who said the house was consubstantial with the builder, and the vessel with the shipwright, so fittingly might one say that every son is consubstantial with his own father.

If, therefore, there is a Father and a Son, the Son must of necessity be a Son by nature and in truth.

And this is to be consubstantial with the Father, as has been shown from many things.

Indeed, concerning the works it is said:

“He spoke, and they came to be;

He commanded, and they were created.” But concerning the Son:

and He saw the Son bedewing the furnace;

but concerning the works he says, “Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,” and he enumerated each of the creatures;

but the Son he did not number among these, knowing that He is not a work, but that through Him the works came to be, and that He is praised and exalted in the Father.

As, then, through Him God is revealed to those who know Him, so through Him the blessing, the hymn, the glory, and the might are confessed to the Father, through Him and in Him, that such a confession may also be acceptable, as the Scriptures say.

From many things, then, and from these, it has been and is shown that he is impious who says the Word of God is a creature.

But since they make a pretext of what is written in the Proverbs, “The Lord created me as the beginning of His ways for His works,” and add among themselves:

“Behold, He created, and He is a creature”;

it is necessary from this also to show how greatly they err, not knowing the aim of the divine Scripture.

If, then, He is Son, let Him not be called a creature;

but if He is a creature, let Him not be called Son.

And since the consummation holds not in a creator and a creature, but in Father and Son, it is necessary that the Lord be called not a creature, but Son.

But the heretics understand badly what has been well said.

For if they understood and knew the character of Christianity, they would not have said the Lord of glory is a creature, nor would they have stumbled at what is well written.

Those men, then, neither knew nor understood; therefore, as it is written, they walk on in darkness; yet it is necessary for us to speak, that those men may in this too be shown to be foolish, and that we may not omit the refutation of their impiety, in the hope that perhaps they themselves may repent.

The character, then, of the faith in Christ is this: that the Son of God, being God the Word (for “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God”), being the Wisdom and Power of the Father (for “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God”), this same One, at the consummation of the ages, became man for our salvation.

For John himself, having said, “In the beginning was the Word,” a little later said:

“and the Word became flesh” — which is equivalent to saying, He became man.

And the Lord said concerning Himself:

“Why do you seek to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth?” And Paul, having learned from Him, said:

“There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” And having become man and administered the things of men, and having put to rout and abolished death which was against us, He now sits at the right hand of the Father, being in Him, and the Father being in Him, as He always was and is throughout.

This, then, is the character handed down from the apostles through the Fathers;

and it remains, therefore, when one reads the Scripture, to test and discern when it speaks concerning the divinity of the Word, and when concerning His human attributes;

lest, conceiving one thing for another, we go astray, as the Arians have suffered.

As, then, knowing Him to be the Word, we know that “all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made”; and, “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established”; and, “He sends His Word, and heals all things”; and knowing Him to be Wisdom, we know that “God by wisdom founded the earth,” and “the Father made all things in wisdom”;

and knowing Him to be God, we have believed that He is the Christ;

“a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;

therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.” And in Isaiah He says concerning Himself:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me.” And Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”; thus, knowing Him to have become man, we do not deny the things said of Him in a human way, such as to hunger, to thirst, to be struck, to weep, to sleep, and at last to undergo upon the cross the death on our behalf;

for all these things are written concerning Him.

Thus too the word “He created,” as fitting to men, the Scripture did not hide, but spoke it.

For we men were created and made.

But as, hearing “He hungered, He slept, He was struck,” we do not deny His divinity;

so, hearing the word “He created,” it would be consistent to remember that, being God, He was created as man.

For it is proper to men to be created, just as also the aforesaid things, to hunger, and the like.

For there is again that other saying, well said but ill understood by them;

I mean the saying, “Concerning that day or that hour no one knows, neither the angels, nor the Son” — it has a good meaning.

For those men suppose, from His saying “nor the Son,” that being ignorant He shows that He is a creature.

But just as, in saying “He created me,” He spoke in a human way;

so, in saying “nor the Son,” He spoke in a human way.

And the cause of His having spoken thus has its reasonableness.

For since He became man, as it is written, and it is proper to men to be ignorant, just as also to hunger and the rest (for they do not know unless they hear and learn), for this reason He also displays the ignorance of men, as having become man;

truly He has a human body;

and then, that having the ignorance of men in the body, having redeemed and cleansed it from all things, He might present to the Father the manhood perfect and holy.

What further pretext will the Arians find? What else will they devise to murmur? They were condemned as not knowing the saying, “The Lord created me for His works.” And they were shown not to understand the saying, “Concerning that day no one knows, neither the angels, nor the Son.” For just as, in saying “He created,” He signifies the human — that He became man and was created;

so, in saying, “I and the Father are one,” and, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” and, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,” He signifies the eternity and the consubstantiality with the Father;

so, in saying, “No one knows, neither the Son,” He again speaks as man;

for it is proper to men to be ignorant.

But in saying, “No one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father,” much more does He know the created things.

Now the disciples in the Gospel according to John said to the Lord:

“Now we know that You know all things.” It is clear, then, that there is nothing of which He is ignorant, being the Word through whom all things came to be.

And since that day too is among all things, it will assuredly come to be through Him, even though the Arians burst asunder ten thousand times by their own ignorance.

Perhaps you will wonder how, when you charged me to abridge the letter written concerning the Holy Spirit and to set it forth in few words, you see me as it were leaving aside the discourse about this and writing against those who are impious toward the Son of God and call Him a creature;

but I am well assured you will not find fault, if you learn the reason; rather your piety will approve, seeing the reasonableness of it.

For since, as the Lord Himself said:

“The Comforter will not speak from Himself;

but whatever He hears, He will speak;

for He will take of Mine, and will declare it to you”; and He breathed and gave this from Himself to the disciples, and thus the Father poured it out upon all flesh according to what is written;

for this reason it was fittingly said and written first concerning the Son of God;

so that from the knowledge concerning the Son we might rightly be able to have also the knowledge concerning the Spirit;

for whatever propriety of relation we have come to know of the Son toward the Father, the same we shall find the Spirit to have toward the Son.

And just as the Son says, “All that the Father has is Mine,” so we shall find all these things, through the Son, to be also in the Spirit.

And as the Father showed forth the Son, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” so the Spirit is the Son's;

for “God has sent forth,” says the Apostle, “the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying:

Abba, Father.” And the marvel is this: just as the Son says, “The things that are Mine are the Father's,” so the Holy Spirit, which is said to be the Son's, is the Father's.

For the Son Himself says:

“When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me.” And Paul writes:

“No one knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which dwells in him;

so also the things of God no one knows except the Spirit of God which is in Him.

And we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things freely given us by God.” And in all the divine Scripture you will find that the Holy Spirit, said to be the Son's, this same is said to be God's;

and this we have written in the foregoing.

but is consubstantial with the Father;

so neither could the Holy Spirit be a creature, but he too is impious who says this, because of its propriety of relation to the Son, and because from Him it is given to all, and the things which it has are the Son's.

These things, then, are sufficient to persuade anyone whatsoever, however contentious, no longer to call a creature of God that which is in God, and searches the depths of God, and is given from the Father through the Son;

lest from these things he be compelled also to call the Son a creature — the Word, the Wisdom, the Image, the Radiance, beholding whom one beholds the Father — and then go on to hear:

“He who denies the Son does not have the Father either.” For such a one will little by little say, like the fool:

“There is no God.” Nevertheless, in order that the refutation against the impious may be shown forth good from yet more proofs, from those very things by which the Son is shown not to be a creature, from these let us show also that the Spirit is not a creature.

The creatures are from things that were not, and have a beginning of being;

for “in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth, and the things in them.”

But the Holy Spirit is from God, and is so called, as the Apostle said.

And if the Son, since He is not from things that were not, but from God, fittingly could not be a creature, it follows of necessity that neither is the Holy Spirit a creature;

since it has been confessed to be from God.

For the creatures are from things that were not.

And again, the Spirit is called, and is, anointing and seal;

for John writes:

“And the anointing which you received from Him abides in you;

and you have no need that anyone teach you, but as His anointing, His Spirit, teaches you concerning all things.” And in the prophet Isaiah it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me.” And Paul also writes:

“In whom also, having believed, you were sealed”; and again:

“Grieve not the Holy Spirit, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.” Now the creatures are anointed and sealed in Him;

but if the creatures are anointed and sealed in Him, the Spirit could not be a creature;

for that which anoints is not like the things anointed.

For this anointing is the breath of the Son;

so that he who has the Spirit may say:

“We are the fragrance of Christ.” And the seal stamps the image of the Son, so that he who is sealed has the form of Christ, the Apostle saying:

“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” But if the Spirit is the fragrance and form of the Son, it is evident that the Spirit could not be a creature;

since the Son also, being in the form of the Father, is not a creature.

For just as he who has seen the Son sees the Father, so he who has the Holy Spirit has the Son, and having Him, he is a temple of God, Paul writing:

“Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” And John says:

“By this we know that we abide in God, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” And if the Son, being in the Father, in whom is also the Father, has been confessed not to be a creature, it is altogether necessary that neither is the Spirit a creature;

for in Him is the Son, and He is in the Son.

And again from this too it is good to perceive: if the Son of God is the Word, as there is one Father.

For there is one God, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ; wherefore He is also called and written only-begotten Son;

but the creatures are many and diverse — angels, archangels, cherubim, principalities, authorities, and the rest, as has been said.

And if, because the Son is not of the many, but is one, as the Father is one, and is not a creature, then assuredly the Spirit also (for from the Son one must take also the knowledge concerning the Spirit) could not be a creature.

For it is not of the many, but it too is one.

And this the Apostle knows, saying:

“All these things one and the same Spirit works, dividing to each one individually as He wills”; and a little later:

“By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, and were all made to drink of one Spirit.” And again, since from the Son one must take the knowledge concerning the Spirit, it would be fitting to bring forward the proofs also from Him.

the Son is, for He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him.

For He upholds and holds together all things, and it is written that “in Him all things consist, whether visible or invisible, and He is before all things.” But the creatures are in divided places;

sun and moon and the other luminaries in the firmament, angels in heaven, and men on the earth.

But if the Son, not being in divided places, but being in the Father, is everywhere, and being outside all things, is not a creature, it consequently follows that neither is the Spirit a creature, not being in divided places, but filling all things and being outside all things.

“Where shall I go from Your Spirit?” — as though it were not in a place, but outside all things, and in the Son, just as the Son also is in the Father.

And besides all these, still more from this will the Arian heresy be condemned, and again from the Son the knowledge concerning the Spirit will be recognized.

The Son, then, is Creator as the Father is;

for “what I see the Father doing,” He says, “these I also do.”

Indeed, “all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made.” And if, being Creator as the Father is, the Son is not a creature;

and if, because through Him all things are created, He is not among the things created;

evidently neither is the Spirit a creature;

since concerning it too it is written in the hundred-and-third psalm:

“You will take away their spirit, and they will fail, and to their dust they will return;

You will send forth Your Spirit, and they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth.” And this being thus written, it is clear that the Spirit is not a creature, but is engaged in creating;

for the Father, through the Word, in the Spirit, creates all things, since where the Word is, there also is the Spirit;

and the things created through the Word have, from the Spirit through the Word, the strength of their being.

For thus it is written in the thirty-second psalm:

“By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their power.” Indeed, the Spirit is thus inseparable from the Son, so as to leave no doubt from what is said.

For when the Word came to the prophet, the prophet spoke in the Spirit the things from the Word.

Thus it is also written: in the Acts, where Peter says:

“Brethren, the Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold”; and in Zechariah, when the Word came to him, it is written:

“But receive My words and My ordinances, all that I command in My Spirit to the prophets.” And a little later, reproaching the people, He said:

“They made their heart disobedient, that they might not hear the laws and the words which the Lord Almighty sent forth in His Spirit by the hand of the former prophets.” And when Christ spoke in Paul, as he himself said:

“Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?” — none the less the Spirit was there, supplying him with the ability to speak.

“According to the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ unto me.” And again, when Christ spoke in him, he said:

“Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.” For the Spirit is not outside the Word, but, being in the Word, through Him is in God;

so that the gifts are given in the Trinity.

For in the distribution of these, as he writes to the Corinthians, it is the same Spirit, and the same Lord, and the same God who works all things in all.

For the Father Himself, through the Word, in the Spirit, works and gives all things.

Indeed, in praying for the Corinthians, he prayed in the Trinity, saying:

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” For partaking of the Spirit, we have the grace of the Word, and in Him the love of the Father.

And as the grace of the Trinity is one, so the Trinity is indivisible.

One may also see this in the case of the holy Mary herself.

For the angel Gabriel, sent to announce the descent of the Word that was to be upon her, said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” knowing that the Spirit was in the Word;

and “the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

For “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And the Spirit being in the Word, it would be clear that the Spirit also was in God through the Word.

And thus, too, when the Spirit comes to be in us, the Son will come, and the Father, and they will make their abode in us.

For the Trinity is indivisible, and its deity is one;

and there is one God over all, and through all, and in all.

This is the faith of the catholic Church;

for in the Trinity the Lord founded and rooted it, saying to the disciples:

“Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” But if the Spirit were a creature, He would not have ranked it with the Father;

lest the Trinity be unlike itself, with something strange and alien being ranked with it.

For what was lacking to God, that He should take to Himself a being of alien essence, and be glorified together with it? God forbid!

so that He might show that the holy Trinity does not consist of different things, that is, of creator and creature;

but its deity is one.

Having learned this, Paul taught that the grace given in it is one, saying:

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” And as there is one baptism, so also there is one faith;

for he who believes in the Father knows the Son in the Father, and the Spirit, not outside the Son;

and for this reason he believes also in the Son and in the Holy Spirit;

since the deity of the Trinity is one, known from the one Father.

This, then, is the character of the catholic faith.

But those who blaspheme against the Spirit, and call it a creature, if they do not repent from what has been said, let them at least, ashamed by what is yet to be said, sink down in shame.

If there is a Trinity, and the faith is in a Trinity, let them say whether it is always a Trinity, or whether there was a time when it was not a Trinity.

If, then, the Trinity is eternal, the Spirit is not a creature, being eternally together with the Word and in Him.

For the creatures were when they were not.

But if it is a creature, and the creatures are from things that were not, it is clear that there was a time when there was not a Trinity, but a Dyad.

And what could one say more impious than this? They say that the Trinity comes into being by change and progress, and that it was a Dyad, but awaited the genesis of a creature, that together with Father and Son it might be ranked and become a Trinity.

God forbid that such a thing should ever even enter the mind of Christians!

For as the Son, being always, is not a creature, so, the Trinity being always, there is nothing in it that is a creature;

wherefore the Spirit is not a creature.

For as it always was, so it is also now;

and as it is now, so it always was, and the Trinity is, and in it Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit.

And there is one God the Father, who is over all, and through all, and in all, who is blessed forever.

I, then, as you indicated, having written down these things too in few words, have sent them;

but you, as one of understanding, if anything is lacking even in these, be willing to fill it up;