On the Trinity 1-1 part 2/12

For nothing created is able to give substance, or to confer immortality, or to make beings rational;

but from the substance of gold or silver or bronze or iron or wood or stone, already brought forth by God out of non-being, it might fashion something soulless and irrational—a statue, perhaps, or something else;

but to bring forth a substance that does not yet exist, or to bring to light an ensouled and rational one, happens to be the proper and exceptional prerogative of the one all-powerful and self-complete divine nature alone.

The Father made all things through him, as light does through its own radiance, and as mind does through word.

The phrase 'in him was life' further teaches that he himself, without beginning, is the life of the one and highest nature, and is the cause of all beings when they were not yet at all.

'I am the life, I am the light.'

He labors zealously to multiply testimonies to his beginninglessness by saying 'was' so many times, so that by the repetition of such a word he might either open the deaf ears of the heretics, or that no pretext at all might be left, in the coming universal and unswerving judgment, concerning the phrase 'there was when he was not.'

The phrase 'and the life was the light of men' likewise teaches the same things again.

This uncreated life is the constitution of the created nature of men.

The phrase 'and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it' does not tolerate the opinions of the heretics.

For it shows plainly and most sharply, not covertly, that whatever prior time, or untimely moment, or pre-eternal age anyone might suppose, he shines eternally as the inseparable radiance of God, and the darkness of non-existence never overtook him.

The title 'the Almighty' needs no interpretation at all.

For it shows that he has an undivided kingship with God the Father and his Holy Spirit, and that he is God over all.

The phrase 'he who is coming' signifies the Son, who is about to come a second time and to judge the living and the dead.

John the Baptist likewise, establishing that the title 'He who is' is spoken concerning the Son, declares to the Master:

'You are'—in place of saying 'that one who is'—whom I, while you were still in the womb of the Virgin, recognized as God, and I myself, being in the womb of the barren woman, worshiped through leaping; or are we to look for another? And in his first epistle, John, the friend and apostle of the Lord, writes:

'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and our hands have touched, concerning the word of life—and the life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you also may have fellowship with us.'

'And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.'

Attend once more to the multiplicity of the word 'was', and note that those who do not confess him to be Son by nature, co-beginningless with God, have no share of salvation in fellowship with the Father or the Only-begotten.

This fellowship, handed down in the mystagogy of illumination by the Master of all, is what Peter wrote of:

'that you may become partakers of the divine nature.'

For that which is a creature, and subject to time, is not a divine nature.

Remember also, in addition to this, that he spoke of our fellowship as being with the Father and with his Son on equal terms, and not 'through his Son.'

Amos also, prophesying, likewise names the Son Almighty, saying somewhere thus:

'He who builds his ascent into heaven and founds his promise upon the earth, who calls for the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of all the earth—the Lord, God Almighty is his name.'

Concerning this ascent David also sings:

'God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.'

For the Father neither descended nor ascended, as the Apostle explains, writing thus:

'Now this, "he ascended," what does it mean except that he first also descended? He who descended is the same one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things,' as one who, he says, has risen above all and surpasses all together with the Father who begot him, inasmuch as he is uncreated.

For he clearly had this in mind, as is evident from the fact that even the intellectual powers, since they are created and measured beings, exist in heaven but not above the heavens, nor do they fill all things.

Zephaniah likewise proclaims him Almighty, saying:

'This shall befall them in return for their insolence, because they reproached and magnified themselves against the Lord Almighty.'

'The Lord will appear against them, and the Lord will utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth, and every one from his own place shall worship him.'

Malachi, following on this, speaks in the person of the Master:

'For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name has been glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice.'

'For my name is great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty.'

For the mention both of his appearing and of his being glorified among the nations shows that the Son is signified, whose name the Jews, together with the worshipers of creatures, profane.

This very sequence itself intends him to be Almighty, inasmuch as, being the image and only-begotten of the Almighty, he owes it also in this respect to be understood as the image of the Almighty.

Paul also writes to the Hebrews:

'who, being the radiance of the Father's glory,' that is, co-beginningless and consubstantial with him;

For that things beyond comparison might somehow be illustrated by comparison, so that what is beyond mind might in some small measure be received into the mind, I will speak—comparing the great, the only truly great, with something small—thus: as soon as the sun exists, at once, from the sun's nature and from the whole disk, indivisibly and without interval and in equal measure, the whole light shines forth together with it, and works together with it, and together supplies warmth to those capable of sensation.

And the light, which is poured forth immediately and not later, and which proceeds together with, and subsists together with, the substance of that which sent it forth, displays in itself the whole quality of its source.

But if, to concede the point to them, there was a time when the radiance did not exist, where then is the hypostasis of the light that radiates it? For this would surely slip away together with that.

And indeed Daniel too, prophesying, said:

'And light was with him' — meaning, the Son was with the Father.

For this above all shows the incomparable greatness of the Godhead: that the Father begot, impassibly, one who is at once co-beginningless with him and co-beginning with him, and at the same time perfect and unaltered.

For to beget and to be begotten in a manner other than this is characteristic of a creature and not of the Creator, of the mutable and not of the immutable, of one under judgment and not of the Judge, of one that is made alive and not of one that gives life, of one under sin and not of God.

Since it admits no diminishment relative to any other, how is it not believed that he was begotten without beginning from the hypostasis of the Father, and not from an operation? For since time does not mark any distinction, there is no 'before' and 'after'; rather, he who is not subject to time is without beginning, and he who is without beginning is uncreated.

For just as there is no time that is uncreated, so also there is no creation without time; rather, it has time as its measure;

for time itself came into being together with it.

And fittingly, all things are measured by the Creator as being secondary to him, but he himself is measured by nothing, since he is without beginning and God by nature.

The same things are also observed to hold concerning the Holy Spirit.

For it is never written 'he proceeded' in the past tense, but 'he proceeds' in the present.

For how could life itself be given life, or the true light be illumined? The divine light and eternal life, then, always was, and the great God who cannot lie says of himself:

There was never a time when the Father did not have the radiance of glory and the imprint of his hypostasis and the image of goodness, and the power and wisdom and righteousness of God, which Paul testifies belong to this same Only-begotten; nor—what it would not be fitting to say—did he later acquire any of these.

But if he always had them, then the Only-begotten, who is these things, always existed.

For neither can he who is these things ever be conceived apart from God, nor can God ever be conceived apart from him who possesses these things.

And the Only-begotten possesses these things, not as a habit or an acquired aptitude, but substantially, as has already been said.

And if, even at the beginning of the world's creation, the first trees came into existence together with the fruits that were from them—and it is nothing strange, if the fruit sprang up together with the root—how then is it impossible that at the beginning the resourceful Father should not have become fruitful with his own Son, and that the radiance should immediately have shone forth together with the glory of his hypostasis? Just, then, as his lower begetting, that of the incarnation, is not to be compared with any other begetting—for it was from a virgin, without flux, without harm, which our nature does not have—so also the begetting above is beyond comprehension, exceeding measure and surpassing every other begetting.

And it is neither necessary to disbelieve, nor indeed is it safe for us to seek out or explain the manner, since we are unable even to say how a virgin gave birth while remaining a virgin, nor do we even understand our own birth.

For even if we understood our own birth, we would still not necessarily understand that of God, which is incomprehensible even to the heavenly powers.

Therefore the prophet, in astonishment, speaks concerning the birth below:

'And he is a man, and who shall know him?' — that is, instead of saying 'no one.'

'But who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth' — by 'generation' he means his begetting, by 'life' his existence, and by 'is taken away from the earth' he speaks in the most mystical manner of his being exalted immeasurably above the earth and surpassing all understanding.

For since he stands infinitely above every span of time, however much one may turn it over many times in the mind, and is incomparably superior to every quantity, inconceivable in essence, and altogether invisible from every side — himself encompassing himself and having nothing outside himself — even the multitude of angels yields to his so great incomprehensibility, and the whole assembly of the heavenly ranks cries out thus:

David, in Psalm 17, says:

'He made darkness his hiding place, and his tabernacle was round about him'; and the song of Habakkuk says:

'His majesty covered the heavens.' And Matthew says: 'No one,' he says, 'knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son.'

For that which is born within creation is begotten through the communion of one thing with another, and is not connatural with its begetter, nor does it come forth at once perfect and without undergoing anything;

but with respect to the Godhead, the opposite holds true.

For since creation is of such a kind, the Author of generation acts contrarily, and not in the same manner as his own creatures, but as only the blessed Trinity knows how these things are.

For he would not be incomprehensible, if he could be comprehended; nor a mystery, if he were known; nor divine, if he could be contained; nor the maker of all things, if he were from time; nor uncompounded and without parts, if he were comparable to bodies.

When we hear it said of the Father, 'From age to age you are,' and, 'His truth reaches even to the clouds,' we do not thereby set bounds to him, but believe in his eternity;

for age is not his coeval [i.e., even 'age' does not measure up to him]; in the same way we ought to think concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit also — for with regard to the one nature that prevails over all, to which these all-honored hypostases belong,

[Scripture] sings the very same things also concerning the Son:

'You are the same, and your years shall not fail.'

And if it is no small thing that it is written of the Father, 'he who exists before the ages,' neither is it small what was oracularly declared concerning his Son, that he is 'God before the ages.'

And it is clear that he is inconceivable, as will be shown not much later.

And just as the Father has immortality — or rather, he himself is immortality — so the Son is eternal life, and it is the very same thing.

And just as the Father is said to be 'one God,' so the Son is called 'Only-begotten,' 'God,' 'Word,' and 'one Lord Jesus Christ.'

And as James writes concerning him, 'There is one lawgiver and judge, who alone is able to save,' so also the Spirit, in what Paul wrote to the Corinthians and to the Ephesians, is praised as 'one and the same' and 'only' — and 'only,' so that by this very quasi-numerical term, if it may be so put, these blessed hypostases may be shown to bear the oneness, that is, the singularity, of the Father's Godhead.

And if it is true of the Father to say 'God and Lord,' it is no less true of his Son and of the Spirit.

For as we have mentioned in many places, the elder Testament, preserving equality of honor, has spoken thus:

'The Lord said to my Lord'; and 'the Lord rained down from the Lord'; and 'God made man according to the image of God'; and 'who is God besides the Lord, and who is God except our God?' And in the New Testament, John said what has already been mentioned.

And Thomas said, 'My Lord and my God'; and Paul said, 'Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom'; and again:

'Even as from the Lord the Spirit'; and, 'May the Lord grant to the household of Onesiphorus to find mercy from the Lord.'

'The divine Spirit made me,' and, 'the divine spirit that remains within my nostrils.'

And it is the same thing for Scripture to say 'divine' or 'God,' as Paul teaches, writing to the Romans:

'His eternal power and divinity'; and Acts says:

'We ought not to think that the divine is like gold or silver or stone, an engraving of art and human imagination.' And Peter, in his second epistle, says:

'That through these you may become partakers of the divine nature.'

And just as the Father is incomprehensible, so also the riches of Christ, according to Paul, are unsearchable.

'To me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.'

Moreover, of his greatness there is no end, nor of his understanding any number, according to David; nor of his peace any boundary, according to Isaiah. And, 'Your incorruptible spirit,' it says, 'is in all things'; and, 'The spirit of the Lord has filled the world.'

For no one could be found so dull-witted and slow of mind that he would not perceive, from these unfeigned and pure testimonies, the infinity of the Only-begotten and of the all-holy Spirit.

And of equal weight and identical wording, I say, are the things written by the Apostle concerning both hypostases — both what is said concerning the Father:

'The God who is over all, and through all, and in all'; and, 'The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.'

And what was written concerning the Son to the Romans:

'Who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen.'

In addition to this, there is also 'the fullness of him who fills all in all.'

Further, similar are the things declared concerning the Father:

'That God may be all in all'; and concerning his Son:

'Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all in all.'

'That every knee of those in heaven and on earth should bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is one Lord.'

But concerning the Spirit — according to what has recently been said of him, and inasmuch as it is owed to him that he be understood to be everything that the Father is, as being his Spirit, yet without being Father —

for in this too, as in all things, he images forth God, as [Scripture] declares: 'By this we know that he abides in us, from his Spirit which he has given us.'

And equal in force to what was sung concerning God the Father:

'You alone are the Most High over all the earth' — is what was oracularly declared concerning the Son in Psalm 86:

'This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself has founded her'; and concerning the Holy Spirit, in the Gospel:

'You shall receive power from on high, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.'

And just as the Father is great, among other things, because he knows the Son, so also the Son is great, both for this reason and because he knows the Father:

And likewise also the Holy Spirit.

'So also the things of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God.'

And identical to what Paul wrote to the Hebrews concerning the Father:

'For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things' — is what was oracularly declared concerning the Son:

'All things were made through him'; and concerning the Spirit:

'By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.'

The glorious hypostases, then, that are honored equally with God the Father, as having been allotted his unmixed and incomparable divine nature which is over all things — how could they be numbered, together with all things, under God, as though reckoned to be creatures? For just as it is impossible that the Father not be Father without beginning and truly — for he did not acquire this name in time, nor as an addition — so it is impossible that the Son, the Word, and his Spirit not be without beginning and by nature from his hypostasis.

For at the very moment of being Father — if it may be permitted to speak thus — without any interval, the one was begotten and the other proceeded.

Therefore he has not thereby been deprived of being Father of the Only-begotten, nor of having his Spirit proceeding from him.

And by virtue of being Father, he differs neither in time nor in essence from his Son and his Spirit.

For if he had begotten later [in time], he would have undergone change, or else alteration — a thing foreign to the Godhead — along with the consequence that God would be found at some point not being called, or not being, Father, as not yet having begotten.

And to the Hebrews too, the Apostle, in setting forth the beginninglessness and incomprehensibility of the begetting of the Son of God, writes concerning Melchizedek:

'Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God.'

He was made like [the Son] — inasmuch as he was not given a genealogy, as was customary to do for the tribes of Israel concerning those honored among them — because he was a type and a certain pattern of the Master, who above is without mother and without time, but below is without father and from time.

And yet Melchizedek, having become an illustrious priest, so that Abraham was blessed by him and gave him a tithe of the spoils, as the same Apostle says:

'Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham gave a tenth from all the spoils.'

And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes — that is, through the forefather Abraham.

'For,' it says, 'he was still in the loins of his father' — [namely Levi, the descendant of Abraham, from whom the paying of tithes to the Lord is conceived in a general sense] — 'when Melchizedek met him' — that is, met Abraham.

What, then, is the intent of their empty talk, and wherein lies its absurdity? Understand, then:

As many as wish to speak of a beginning also thereby confess an end; and by professing a coming-into-being, they also accept the mortality that arises from it;

and by supposing that he came to be out of nothing, or out of a nature unlike the divine essence, they declare him to be at once mortal and estranged from the co-divinity of the Father — a thing which, merely to say, let alone to hold as doctrine, is utterly full of impiety.

‘The Word was’ — is this really a strong point in their favor? ‘It is written also concerning creation,’ he says, ‘[the word] “was.”’

For it says: ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth, and the earth was invisible and unformed,’ and ‘there was a man of Ramathaim-zophim.’

But there is nothing in common between ‘In the beginning was’ and ‘In the beginning he made,’ nor between the Creator and the creature.

For ‘was,’ when said of creation, is spoken of and believed to refer only to time that flows and is likewise bounded.

For creation ‘was’ only after it came into being out of things that are not.

For he first said that God made it, and only then added ‘was,’ so that it might not be thought to have come into being of itself.

But when said of the divine Word, it signifies that which is above every beginning.

For it says: ‘In the beginning [the Word] was, and [the Word] was God’ — and ‘was in the beginning’ excludes coming into being out of things that are not.

They bear witness as follows to the fact that the Son is pre-eternal and the maker of the ages:

Paul, writing to the Hebrews, [says]:

‘God, having spoken of old to the fathers in many portions and many ways by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in [his] Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages.’

He himself, therefore, inherits what is his own, both as their maker and as true Son;

but he was appointed heir inasmuch as he became man.

And to the Corinthians, in the first epistle:

‘For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ’ — that is to say, it is impossible for any beginning to be conceived for the Son.

For in him and through him is every beginning.

And David, in Psalm 73, singing concerning the One without beginning:

‘But God, our king before the ages, has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.’

He is speaking of Golgotha, naming it the most central place, as it were the very center of [the world] under heaven.

In that place, by his divine foreknowledge the Son wrought salvation for us before the age, in the incarnation; but as an actual event, he wrought it when, out of goodness, the Impassible One suffered for us as he knew and willed, and, so to speak, went down even to the heart of the earth — just as Ezekiel also prophesies as follows:

‘This is Jerusalem: I have set her in the midst of the nations.’

‘For ever, O Lord, your word abides in heaven.’

And the Master himself, concerning himself, spoke thus, closing off, no doubt, every pretext for the heretics:

‘Amen, amen, I say to you, before the ages came into being, I am.’

Concerning his being established as the maker of all things, both incorporeal and corporeal, and not a mere servant or intermediary, while at the same time also without beginning — in addition to the testimonies already cited, David likewise sings in Psalm 113:

‘Our God is in heaven and on earth; he has done all that he willed.’

Who, then, could deny that he who acts of his own will, and who has all things converge together at his own bare nod, without any delay, belongs to the essence of the self-determining and all-determining Godhead? And in Psalm 101:

‘In the beginning you, O Lord, laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.’

‘They will perish, but you remain;’

‘and they will all grow old like a garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up, and they will be changed;’

‘but you are the same, and your years will not fail’ — that is to say, you exist without beginning and without end. And Paul likewise writes the same things to the Ephesians:

‘in God who created all things;’ and to the Colossians:

‘that in him all things were created, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;’

‘All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’

For over him who essentially images forth God, and who is before all things in Godhead, no one stands above him, and no one takes precedence over him in seniority — just as, over him who comes after all things, no one lies beneath him, and no one comes still later.

If he is before all things, alone from the Alone and in a manner uniquely his own, then he was ineffably begotten prior to every operation, and he is Son of the Father in very essence.

and [all things], in relation to him, having received every degree of difference.

Whoever, giving heed to the truth and being fully persuaded by the divine oracles, would declare him to be the maker of every created thing and the bearer of all creation, and would name him the image of God and Son — how, unless he were out of his mind, would he then go on to confess this very one to be a creature, or lesser than the God who bears all things, or as having anything prior to himself? Concerning his being called both God and Angel, the prophets bear witness — Malachi speaking thus:

‘The Lord, whom you seek, will come suddenly to his temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom you desire.’

‘Behold, he comes, and who will endure the day of his coming? Or who will stand when he appears?’ The beginning of this saying signifies the [divine] economy [of the incarnation], while what follows signifies his fearsome yet merciful second coming.

And Isaiah, crying out in the manner in which those who rejoice together with others are wont to announce good news to those who have not yet perceived what has come to pass:

‘A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and his name is called Angel of Great Counsel, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Ruler, Prince of Peace.’

This same divine Word, Jacob too calls Angel, when, journeying to Mesopotamia, he lay down to sleep and saw in a dream:

‘And behold, a ladder was set upon the earth, the top of which reached to heaven,’

‘and the angels of God were ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord was stationed above it, and he said:’

‘I am the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac;’

‘the land on which you are lying, I will give it to you and to your offspring;’

‘and I will be with you and will guard you in every way,’

‘wherever you go, and I will bring you back safely to your father's house.’

‘and your offspring will spread abroad to the south and the west and the north and the east.’

By the ladder was prefigured the cross, through which the faithful ascend to the heavenly tabernacles; and he who was stationed upon the ladder was God himself, the very one who willingly was nailed to the cross for our sake.

‘If the Lord God will be with me, and will keep me in the way in which I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and will bring me back safely to my father's house, then the Lord shall be my God;’

‘and this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be a house of God for me;’

‘and of all that you give me, I will surely give a tenth back to you.’

Then, after he had multiplied [his flocks] while with Laban, he saw again, in a vision, at the time the flocks were conceiving, the God who had earlier appeared to him; and he related it thus:

‘The angel of God said to me in a dream:’

‘Jacob, lift up your eyes and see the rams and the he-goats mounting the ewes and the she-goats;’

‘for I know all that Laban has been doing to you.’

‘I am the God who appeared to you in the place, on the way by which you came, where you set up a pillar for me and where you vowed a vow to me.’

And in Egypt too, this same Jacob asks for the blessing of this Angel, this great God, upon the sons of Joseph, saying:

‘The God in whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked well-pleasing, the God who has shepherded me from my youth until this day, the Angel who delivers me from all my troubles,’

Concerning those who say that the Father is incomparable and greater than the Son, and that image is one thing and God another, and that man too is written to be the image and glory of God;

and concerning the fact that it is testified that the Father in no respect differs from the Son.

They ascribe incomparability and greatness to the Father on account of his being unbegotten, but unlikeness to the Son on account of his having the property of being begotten — thereby again dragging down what pertains to the most ineffable Godhead to the level of the products of our own [created] nature, and supposing that things intelligible are made alike to the flowing currents of matter.

For the things beyond the heavens surpass all mind and all understanding altogether, whereas earthly and lowly things happen to come into being and pass away in time.

…he was begotten, co-existing and co-working with his own true Father, as light [co-exists] with the disk of the sun.

And he also has it testified from the Scriptures that he exists as God, Lord, Holy One, Creator, incorruptible, life, light, and everything that the Father is.

And on the strength of the many attributes he shares, he ought to be held as like and equal, far more than, on the strength of the one term [‘begotten’], he ought to be held as unlike.

But how have Adam and Eve, though not begotten and having had no father, come to be of the same nature as we who descend from them? Or by what comparison at all have they [the objectors] arrived at [the notion of] the ‘unlike,’ as they call it, or by what measure have they concluded upon the ‘greater’ and ‘superior’? For Scripture neither defines by nature the holy and beginningless, one and undivided Trinity, nor again does it mark out for it a ‘first’ and a ‘then’; and these two things are clear: that the greater is not in every case of a different essence, and that comparative terms in general are said of things of the same essence, and not of things of different essence.

Nor, then, could they even by mere assertion say anything apt, since [the same holds] not even concerning ‘incomparable’ and ‘greater.’

Not according to magnitude or any mass.

For God the Word is without magnitude and without extension, having withdrawn from all quantity, composition, and shape, even as also the Father and His Holy Spirit; and He Himself is contained by nothing, yet contains all things.