Catechetical Lectures 11 part 9/12

And the martyrs, having the faces of their bodies of necessity toward the judges, but being thenceforth in power in paradise, despised the visible hardships.

And do you wish to know that the martyrs bear witness by the power of the Holy Spirit? The Savior says to the disciples:

"And when they bring you to the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, take no thought how or what you shall answer."

"For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

For it is impossible to bear witness concerning Christ, unless one bears witness through the Holy Spirit.

For if no one can say "Lord Jesus Christ" except by the Holy Spirit, can anyone then give his own life for Jesus' sake, except by the Holy Spirit? Great indeed and all-powerful in gifts and wonderful is the Holy Spirit.

Consider how many are now sitting here, how many souls we are who are present.

He works in each one suitably, and being present in the midst, He sees the disposition of each, and sees the reasoning and the conscience, and what we speak, and what we think, and what we believe.

What has been said is truly great, but still it is small.

For consider for me, having had your mind enlightened by Him, how many Christians there are in all this parish, and how many in all the province of Palestine.

And enlarge your mind from this province to the whole empire of the Romans.

And from this behold for me the whole world: the races of the Persians and the nations of the Indians, Goths and Sarmatians, Gauls and Spaniards and Moors, Libyans and Ethiopians, and the rest who are unnamed to us.

For many of the nations have not even come to our naming.

Behold for me the bishops of each nation, the presbyters, the deacons, the monks, the virgins, and the rest of the laity.

And behold the great Protector and Bestower of the gifts, how in all the world He gives to one chastity, to another perpetual virginity, to another almsgiving, to another voluntary poverty, to another the driving away of adverse spirits.

And just as the light, by one cast of its ray, illumines all things, so also the Holy Spirit enlightens those who have eyes.

For if anyone, being blind, is not counted worthy of the grace, let him not blame the Spirit, but his own unbelief.

You have seen His power, which is in all the world.

Stay no longer on earth; ascend now also to the things above.

Ascend for me in thought even to the first heaven, and behold for me there so many countless myriads of angels.

Mount up higher with your thoughts, if you can, and still higher.

Behold for me also archangels, behold for me also spirits; behold powers, behold principalities, behold authorities, behold thrones, behold dominions.

Of all these the Comforter is the Master appointed by God, and the Teacher, and the Sanctifier.

Of Him have need Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah among men; of Him have need Michael and Gabriel among the angels.

Nothing among created things is equal in honor to Him.

For the orders of the angels and all the hosts gathered together do not bear equality with the Holy Spirit.

The all-good power of the Comforter overshadows all these.

And some of them are sent forth for ministry, but He searches even the depths of God, as the apostle says:

"For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."

"For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knows no one but the Spirit of God."

This is He who proclaimed concerning Christ in the prophets.

This is He who worked in the apostles.

This is He who, until this day, seals souls in baptism.

And the Father gives to the Son, and the Son imparts to the Holy Spirit.

For it is Jesus Himself who says—not I:

"All things are delivered to Me by My Father."

And concerning the Holy Spirit He says:

"When He, the Spirit of truth, is come," and so on, "He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it."

The Father, through the Son, with the Holy Spirit, bestows all things.

The gifts of the Father are not one thing, those of the Son another, and those of the Holy Spirit another;

for there is one salvation, one power, one faith.

There is one God, the Father; one Lord, His only-begotten Son; one Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

And it is sufficient for us to know these things; be not over-curious about nature or subsistence.

For if it had been written, we would have spoken of it;

what is not written, let us not dare to say.

It is sufficient for us to know unto salvation that there is a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit.

This Spirit came down upon the seventy elders in the time of Moses.

But let not the length of the discourse, beloved, cause weariness to you.

And may He of whom this discourse treats grant power to each, both to us who speak and to you who hear.

This Spirit came down, as I said, upon the seventy elders in the time of Moses.

And I say these things to you, that I may now establish that He knows all things and works as He wills.

The seventy elders were chosen, and the Lord came down in a cloud and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the seventy men, the elders—not that the Spirit was divided, but that the grace was distributed according to the vessels and the capacity of those receiving.

But sixty-eight were present and prophesied, while Eldad and Modad were not present.

Therefore, that it might be shown that it was not Moses who bestowed the grace, but the Spirit who worked, Eldad and Modad, who had been called but had not yet come, prophesy.

Joshua the son of Nun, the successor of Moses, was amazed, and coming to Moses says:

"Have you heard that Eldad and Modad are prophesying? They were called and did not come."

"My lord Moses, forbid them."

"I cannot forbid them," he says, "for the grace is heavenly."

"And so far am I from forbidding them, that I myself too have it by grace."

"But I do not think that you have said this out of envy."

"Are you jealous for my sake, because they have prophesied, but you do not yet prophesy?"

"And would that all the Lord's people were prophets, when the Lord shall give His Spirit upon them!"—saying this too prophetically: "when the Lord shall give."

"But now He has not yet given; you therefore do not yet have it."

Did not Abraham, then, and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph have it? Did not those before this have it? But the "when the Lord shall give" clearly signifies that it should be upon all.

Now the grace is partial, but then the giving shall be abundant.

And he was hinting at what should come to pass at the Pentecost among us.

For He too came down among us.

But He came down before also upon many.

And Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom.

For Moses laid his hands upon him.

You see everywhere the same type in the Old and in the New.

In the time of Moses the Spirit was given through the laying on of hands.

And Peter also gives the Spirit through the laying on of hands.

And the grace is about to come upon you also, who are to be baptized.

For I do not anticipate the proper time.

This came also upon all the righteous and the prophets—I mean Enos, Enoch, Noah and the rest, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.

For that Joseph already had the Spirit of God within him, even Pharaoh perceived.

Concerning Moses and the wonders wrought in his day by the workings of the Spirit, you have often heard.

This too the most valiant Job possessed, and all the saints, even if we do not go through all their names.

This too, when sent in the construction of the tabernacle, filled with wisdom those skilled men around Bezalel.

By the power of this Spirit, as we have in the book of Judges, Othniel judged, Gideon was strengthened, Jephthah prevailed, Deborah the woman waged war, and Samson, while he still acted righteously and did not grieve the Spirit, wrought deeds beyond human power.

Concerning Samuel and David we have it plainly in the books of Kingdoms, how they themselves prophesied in the Holy Spirit and were chief among the prophets.

And Samuel was called the seer, while David plainly says: 'The Spirit of the Lord spoke in me.'

'And take not your Holy Spirit from me.'

'Your good Spirit shall lead me in the land.'

And as we have in the books of Chronicles, Azariah partook of the Holy Spirit in the reign of Asa the king, and Jahaziel in the reign of Jehoshaphat the king, and again another Azariah who was stoned.

'And you gave your good Spirit to instruct them.'

Concerning Elijah who was taken up and Elisha, those bearers of the Spirit and workers of wonders, it is evident even if we say nothing, that they were full of the Holy Spirit.

And if one were to go through all the books of the Twelve and of the rest of the prophets, he would find many testimonies concerning the Holy Spirit—Micah saying in the person of God:

'unless I fill with strength in the Spirit of the Lord';

and 'it shall come to pass afterward, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,' and so forth;

'for I am with you, says the Lord Almighty, and my Spirit abides in your midst';

'nevertheless receive my words and my statutes, all that I command by my Spirit to my servants the prophets.'

And Isaiah, the most loud-voiced, says other things:

'and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him'—showing that this Spirit is one and indivisible, but his workings are diverse.

'Jacob my servant,' and further on, 'I have put my Spirit upon him.'

'I will put my Spirit upon your seed.'

'And now the Lord Almighty has sent me and his Spirit.'

'This is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my Spirit which is upon you.'

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me,' and so forth.

And again in the words against the Jews:

'But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit.'

And: 'Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?' You have it also in Ezekiel (if by now you are not weary of hearing) what has already been said:

'And the Spirit fell upon me and said to me:'

The phrase 'fell upon me' is rightly to be understood as meaning tenderly—just as Jacob, finding Joseph, fell upon his neck; and as in the Gospels the loving father, seeing his son returned from his journey, was moved with compassion, and running, fell upon his neck and kissed him.

And again in Ezekiel:

'And he brought me into the land of the Chaldeans, to the captivity, in a vision by the Spirit of God.'

For the other things you heard earlier in the lectures on baptism:

'And I will sprinkle clean water upon you,' and so forth, 'and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you.'

'And I will put my Spirit within you.'

'And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and led me out by the Spirit of the Lord.'

This made wise the soul of Daniel, so that the young man became a judge of elders.

Susanna the chaste was condemned as a wanton.

For who could rescue her from the rulers? She was being led away to death.

She was now in the hands of the executioners.

But the Helper was present, the Paraclete, the Spirit who sanctifies all intelligent nature.

'Come here to me,' he says to Daniel; 'you, the young man, convict elders who are sick with the sins of youth.'

God stirred up the Holy Spirit upon the younger lad.

And to pass over it briefly, by the verdict of Daniel the chaste woman was saved.

We bring these things forward for the sake of testimony;

for it is not the time for exposition.

Even Nebuchadnezzar knew that the Holy Spirit was in Daniel.

Belshazzar, the chief of the enchanters: 'this I have known, that the holy Spirit of God is in you.'

He spoke one thing true and one thing false.

For that Daniel had the Holy Spirit was true, but he was not chief of the enchanters.

For he was no magician, but wise from the Holy Spirit.

And before this he had interpreted for him the vision of the image, which he who saw it did not himself know.

'Tell me,' he says, 'the vision which I who saw it do not know.'

Do you see the power of the Holy Spirit? What those who saw do not know, those who did not see understand and interpret.

And truly there were very many things from the Old Testament that we might

gather and recount more fully concerning the Holy Spirit;

but we must also spare the due measure of your hearing.

Wherefore, being content for the present with what comes from the Old Testament, we shall come again, God willing, in the next lecture to what remains from the New Testament.

Now may the God of peace, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, count you all worthy of the spiritual and heavenly gifts;

to whom be the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages.

Seventeenth Catechetical Lecture to the Candidates for Illumination, delivered extempore at Jerusalem;

on the remaining matters concerning the Holy Spirit.

And a reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians:

'For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom,' and so forth.

In the lecture before this one we set forth to the ears of your love, according to our ability, a small part of the testimonies concerning the Holy Spirit; and in the present one we shall again touch, as far as is possible, God willing, on those that remain from the New Testament—then restraining our eagerness because of the due measure of the hearing (for the discourse on the Holy Spirit is insatiable), but now again saying a small portion of what remains (for we confess even now with gratitude that our weakness is covered by the multitude of the things written), today too not employing human sophistries (for that is unprofitable), but only calling to mind the things from the divine Scriptures (for this is most safe, according to the blessed apostle Paul, who says:

'which things also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual'), and accomplishing something like travelers or seafarers, who, having one goal of a long journey, hasten on with eagerness, but because of human weakness are wont to put in at various cities or harbors.

Now the discourses concerning the Holy Spirit are divided, but he himself is indivisible, being one and the same.

For just as in the discourses concerning the Father our teaching was at one time about the divine monarchy, at another how he is called Father or Almighty, at another how he is the Creator of all things—and the dividing of the lectures did not entail any division of the faith (for one was and is the aim of godliness)—and just as in those concerning the only-begotten Son of God we taught at one time about his divinity, at another about his humanity, dividing the discourses concerning our Lord Jesus Christ into many, yet proclaiming the faith in him indivisible: so now too, the lectures concerning the Holy Spirit

being divided, we proclaim the faith in him indivisible.

For there is one and the same Spirit who divides the gifts severally to each as he wills, but himself alone is indivisible.

For the Paraclete is no other than the Holy Spirit, but he is one and the same, named diversely by these appellations—living and subsisting and speaking and working, and sanctifying all rational beings made by God through Christ, both angels and men.

But lest some out of ignorance should suppose, on account of the diverse names of the Holy Spirit, that these are different spirits and not one and the same which alone he is, for this reason the catholic Church, securing you beforehand, has handed down in the profession of the faith that you believe in one Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who spoke in the prophets, that you may know that the appellations are many, but the Holy Spirit is one only.

Concerning these appellations we shall now tell you a few out of many.

For he is called Spirit, according to what was just now read: 'for to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom';

and he is called Spirit of truth, as the Savior says: 'but when that one comes, the Spirit of truth';

and he is also called Paraclete, as he has said: 'for if I do not depart, the Paraclete will not come to you';

and that it is one and the same, named by the diverse appellations, is shown plainly from these:

that the Holy Spirit and the Paraclete are the same has been said—'and the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit';

and concerning the Paraclete and the Spirit of truth being the same, it is said: 'and I will give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth';

and again: 'but when the Paraclete comes whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth.'

He is also called Spirit of God, as it is written:

'and I saw the Spirit of God descending'; and again, 'for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.'

He is also called Spirit of the Father, as the Savior says:

'for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.'

'For this cause I bow my knees to the Father,' and further, 'that he may grant you to be strengthened through his Spirit.'

He is also called Spirit of the Lord, as Peter said:

'how is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?' He is also called Spirit of God and of Christ, as Paul writes:

'but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you';

'but if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.'

He is also called Spirit of the Son of God, as it is said:

'but because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son.'

He is also called Spirit of Christ, as it is written:

'searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating.'

'through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.'

And besides these you will again find other names of the Holy Spirit.

For he is called Spirit of holiness, as it is written;

he is also called Spirit of adoption, as Paul says:

'for you did not receive a spirit of slavery again unto fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry, Abba, Father.'

He is also called Spirit of revelation, as it is written:

'may he give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.'

He is also called Spirit of promise, as the same one says:

'in whom you also, having believed, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.'

He is also called Spirit of grace, as when again he says:

'and has insulted the Spirit of grace.'

And by many other such appellations he is named.

You heard plainly also in the lecture before this, that in the Psalms he is named at one time 'good,' at another 'governing'; and in Isaiah he was called the spirit of wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge and godliness and the fear of God.

From all these, both the things said before and those now, it is established that the appellations are diverse, but the Holy Spirit is one and the same—living and subsisting, and always present together with the Father and the Son; not spoken or breathed out from the mouth and lips of the Father or the Son, nor dispersed into the air, but personally subsisting, himself speaking and working and dispensing and sanctifying—the saving dispensation toward us, that which is from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, being plainly inseparable and harmonious and one, as we have also said before.

For I want you to remember those things just now spoken, and to know plainly that it is not one Spirit in the Law and Prophets and another in the Gospels and Apostles, but it is one and the same Holy Spirit who in both the Old and the New Testament spoke the divine Scriptures.

This Holy Spirit is the one who came upon the holy Virgin Mary.

For since Christ the only-begotten was the one being born, the power of the Most High overshadowed her, and the Holy Spirit, coming upon her, sanctified her, that she might be able to receive him through whom all things were made.

And I have no need of many words for you to learn that the birth was undefiled and pure;

it is Gabriel who says to her:

'I am a herald of the things to come, but not a fellow-worker.

For though I am an archangel, yet I know my station.

And the rejoicing I announce to you as good news, but the how of your bearing is not from my grace.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;

therefore also the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'

This Holy Spirit wrought in Elizabeth;

he knows—but he acknowledges also the married, if the marriage be according to the law.

'And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied.'

And the good handmaid says concerning her own Lord:

'and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?' For Elizabeth counted herself blessed.

Filled with this Holy Spirit, Zechariah also, the father of John, prophesied, telling both of how many good things the Only-begotten is the author, and that John was his forerunner through baptism.

Warned by this Holy Spirit, Simeon the righteous also—that he should not see death before he saw the Lord's Christ—receiving him into his arms in the temple, clearly testified the things concerning him.

And John also, filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, was for this cause sanctified, that he might baptize the Lord—not giving the Spirit, but proclaiming as good news the one who gives the Spirit:

'I baptize you with water unto repentance, but he who comes after me,' and so forth, 'he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'

But why with fire? Since the descent of the Holy Spirit came in fiery tongues.

Concerning which the Lord says rejoicing:

'I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I will, if it is already kindled?' This Holy Spirit came down when the Lord was being baptized, that the dignity of him who was baptized might not be hidden, as John says:

'but he who sent me to baptize with water, that one said to me:'

'upon whomever you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

But see what the Gospel says.

They were opened on account of the dignity of the one who descended.

'For behold,' it says, 'the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him'—evidently by a self-moved descent.

For it was necessary, as some have explained, that the first-fruits and primacy of the Holy Spirit given to the baptized should be furnished to the humanity of the Savior, who bestows such grace.

And he came down perhaps in the form of a dove, as some say, to indicate a figure of the pure and harmless and guileless one, who also assists in the prayers for the children to be begotten and for the forgiveness of sins, as was foretold enigmatically concerning Christ being thus visibly displayed.

For in the Songs concerning the bridegroom it calls out and says:

'your eyes are like doves beside the fullness of the waters.'

Of this the dove in Noah's time bore a figure in part, according to some.

For just as in his case, through wood and water salvation came to them, and the beginning of a new generation, and the dove returned to him toward evening, bearing an olive leaf: so, they say, the Holy Spirit also descended upon the true Noah, the author of the second generation, who gathers into one the wills of all kinds—of which the various conditions of the animals in the ark bore a figure—at whose coming the spiritual wolves feed together with lambs, in whose Church the calf and the bull and the lion graze together, as we see even to this day worldly rulers being led and taught by churchmen.

Therefore the spiritual dove descended, as some explain, at the time of the baptism, to show that this is he who through the wood of the cross saves those who believe, and who toward evening, through his death, was to bestow salvation.

And concerning these things perhaps they must be explained in another way also.

But now we must hear the words of the Savior himself concerning the Holy Spirit.

'Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of God.'

And that the grace is from the Father, he says:

'how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.'

And that God must be worshiped in spirit, he says:

'but the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.'

'For the Father seeks such to worship him.'

'God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.'

'But if I by the Spirit of God cast out the demons.'

'Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.'

'And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks a word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the age to come.'

'And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither beholds him nor knows him.'

'But you know him, for he abides with you and shall be in you.'

'These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.'

'But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.'

'But when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, that one will testify concerning me.'

'For if I do not depart, the Paraclete will not come to you.'

'But if I go, I will send him to you.'

'And when that one comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment.'

'I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.'

'But when that one comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all the truth.'

'For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and the things to come he will announce to you.'

'That one will glorify me, for he will receive of what is mine and announce it to you.'

'All things that the Father has are mine.'

'Therefore I said to you that he will receive of what is mine and announce it to you.'

I have now read to you the very words of the Only-begotten, that you may not give heed to human sayings.

He bestowed the fellowship of this Holy Spirit on the apostles;

and having said this he breathed on them, and says to them:

'if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain those of any, they are retained.'

This was a second in-breathing, since the first was darkened through willful sins.

That the thing written might be fulfilled:

'he came up breathing on your face, delivering you out of affliction.'

But 'he came up'—from where? From Hades.

For thus the Gospel related, that it was after the resurrection that he then breathed.

But he gives the grace now, yet he lavishes it still more abundantly.

'I am ready indeed to give even now, but the vessel does not yet have room.'

'For the present, then, receive the grace as much as you can hold, but expect even more.'

'But you, sit in the city of Jerusalem, until you are clothed with power from on high.'

'Now receive in part, then you shall wear it in full perfection.'

For he who receives often has the thing given in part, but he who is clothed is enveloped on every side by the robe.

'Do not fear,' he says, 'the weapons and darts of the devil;'

'for you shall wear the power of the Holy Spirit.'

But remember the things just now said, that the Spirit is not divided, but the grace through him.

Jesus then went up into the heavens and fulfilled the promise.