On the Trinity 1-1 part 6/12

Observe again that his kingdom is unending and his divinity without beginning.

But on account of his ineffable becoming man, the text adds the words 'your God.'

Your kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages, and your dominion endures throughout every generation.

The Lord shall reign forever and ever.

As was said before, this concerns those who do not cry out as Nathanael did:

You are the Son of God, you are the king of the Christians.

And also the prophecy of Isaiah, which says:

I have seen the King, the Lord of Sabaoth, with my own eyes.

Paul indeed attributed this to the Spirit of God, but John, as has been said before, attributed it to the Only-begotten, on account of the community of divinity and of the one kingdom without succession.

For how is it even possible that the one should rule while the other remains idle, as among men, when the Father abides in the Son and the Son abides in the Father, and when the Spirit proceeds from the Father and abides with the Son in a godlike manner? Concerning the doxology of the Son of God himself.

Therefore consider also his glory, such as the saints again testify to—of whom, it says, the world was not worthy—teaching us who have been called sons on earth by grace, that we should glorify with equal glory the Only-begotten Son who is of the Father's own hypostasis, just as we glorify the Father himself, and should look to the glory which he had before the world existed, in the presence of the Father who does not begrudge his Beloved.

For the divine is free from envy and from every passion.

David, in Psalm 71, which he confessedly prophesied concerning Christ, says: 'His name shall be blessed forever;'

before the sun his name shall endure, and before the moon, unto generations of generations;

and in him all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed, and all nations shall call him blessed.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things, and blessed be the name of his glory forever, and unto the age of the age;

and let the whole earth be filled with his glory.

'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel'—he said this instead of saying:

For God is blessed by his works, that is, he is glorified;

but he himself blesses his own creatures, that is, he sanctifies them.

And it must be noted that he too is called 'God of Israel,' that is, 'God of the fathers,' just as his Father is likewise called.

And in Psalm 85, setting forth the all-sovereign and all-powerful nature of the Only-begotten, and how he ought to be glorified, he sings:

All the nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name, for you are great and do wondrous things;

The heavens declare the glory of God.

How so? By showing, through the majesty and beauty given to them, that the one who made them is unsurpassable and glorious—who is God the Word.

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

They are not even ashamed, then, of the testimony borne by inanimate things concerning the glory of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Lift up your gates, O rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in.

He commands the creation below to lift up its gates at his becoming man, and the creation above to do so at his ascension.

Praise the Lord, all you nations, and let all peoples praise him.

You shall see the King with glory.

Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place; and this vision was the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves.

Who exchanged the glory of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever;

'...forever'—who is this if not the Only-begotten? And who are those who have exchanged his glory? Those who say:

'Glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit'—people who glorify him as a creature, and not even as an eternal king.

So that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened.

And what is this God who was known yet not truly recognized by the heretics, the Jews, and the Greeks, if not God the Word who appeared in the flesh? And to the Corinthians also, in his first letter, showing that he is by nature the Lord of glory, he writes thus:

For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And elsewhere:

That at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father—instead of saying:

He himself exists in that very glory of the Father.

For we see Jesus, who was made a little lower, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death;

We see Jesus, who to some seems to have been made lower on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.

But he also calls him 'glory,' inasmuch as he is by nature the radiance of the Father's glory, in the words which he writes:

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,

He said 'God' with respect to the ineffable incarnation, but 'Father' with respect to the beginningless begetting.

We beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And again, in Mark, from the Savior himself:

'When the Son comes in the glory of his Father'—showing that his own glory is of equal honor with the glory of the Father;

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all his angels with him,

And again, John, establishing that he is in glory and that glory is owed to him by all, said:

Although Jesus had done so many signs, they did not believe in him, so that the word spoken through Isaiah might be fulfilled:

You will indeed hear, but never understand;

These things Isaiah said when he saw his glory, and spoke concerning him.

And Peter also, in his first epistle, says:

Insofar as you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, so that at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice, exulting.

as his divine power has granted to us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence — that is to say:

the glory of the Only-begotten — that of his nature, that of his wonders, that of his kingdom, and that of the doxology itself — is like and equal to the glory of the Father, from whom he was begotten naturally and without interval, and he has all things in himself as the Only-begotten, so that even in becoming flesh he underwent no change or diminution.

So too the three youths, set aflame not by the Babylonian flame but by longing for the Creator and Benefactor, and heeding not so much the furnace surrounding them as the gehenna prepared for the worshippers of creatures, prompted creation to glorify him who appeared with them in the furnace, concerning whom it is written, 'and the appearance of the fourth was like a son of God': 'Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord;'

sing hymns to him and exalt him above all forever.

And when, he says, the Lord-slayers were indignant at the children and the crowds because they glorified Jesus as God, saying:

'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' — he reminded them of the Scripture which says:

'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes you have prepared praise for yourself' — fitting this saying to himself and showing that the glory offered to him was not inappropriate.

And angels too, he says, spoke when he was born:

'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.'

Recapitulation Concerning Worship

We have seen him, then, glorified; we have seen him also worshiped.

Both of these are fitting and owed to God, and not to a creature, as the holy men subjoined below write:

'Come, let us worship and fall down before him, and weep before the Lord who made us, for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.' And in Psalm 21:

'All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him, for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he rules over the nations.'

What, then, will they say, those who assign the name separately — 'God' to the Father alone, and 'Lord' to the Son — when they hear here that the Lord is worshiped, and rules, and that the kingdom is his? And again in Psalm 9:

'And I will worship you, O Lord, my strength;'

'Let us worship at the place where his feet stood;'

Paul, writing from the Song of Deuteronomy:

'And when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says:'

'And let all the angels of God worship him.'

And the evangelist says that the magi said:

'We saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him;'

And again, he says, 'Behold, a leper came and worshiped him;'

And again, in Matthew, it says:

'Those in the boat worshiped him, saying:'

'Truly you are the Son of God' — and not, he says, as with us, who are called sons by an ungrudging gift.

'A certain ruler worshiped him.'

And after his resurrection, on the mountain, it says:

'The apostles, seeing him, worshiped him.'

Concerning Faith Toward God the Father

Just as, then, Scripture — seemingly speaking greater things about the Son than about the Father, and declaring him to be Almighty, and Maker of the ages, and Creator of all things, and true God, and one who has no God before him, and above all things, and great and God over all, one to whom no other can be compared, and seated at the right hand together with the Father, and being in his bosom, and himself being eternal life, and the true light, and Lord of all, and sole Master and Sovereign, whose peace has no bound but surpasses all understanding, and whose kingdom is without end, and declaring that salvation is in no other, and that the Father draws to the Son those who are worthy —

even so, the Father is considered inferior in nothing — God forbid! — nor is his Spirit.

In the same way, when Scripture speaks loftily concerning the Father, the Only-begotten ought not to be considered lesser or unlike him on that account, nor the Holy Spirit.

For none of the things mentioned belongs to any created power, but to the uncreated alone: to create substance, whether irrational or rational, out of things that are not; to give life; to forgive sins; to call creation his own; to know the Father on equal terms as he is known by him; to work equally with the Father; to be in the Father and to have the Father in himself equally; to be served by angels; and — surpassing even these — to be attested as the Only-begotten Son and God and Light from Light and eternal life and truth and Savior; to be present everywhere and to have all things established in himself; to bestow on all without envy the kingdom of heaven and the divine peace as being his own; and to grant to those who believe and call upon him security in unceasing salvation.

They do not believe in these hypostases, even though they say they believe;

and perhaps not even in the Father.

For they transgress the commandment of the Father, who charges:

'Hear, my people, and I will speak to you, O Israel, and I will testify to you, if you will hear me:'

'There shall be no strange god among you, nor shall you worship a foreign god' — that is to say:

one who did not exist at some point, or is of a different essence;

'And you shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve.' 'And you shall have no other gods besides me.' 'And cursed is everyone who has his hope in man' — that is, in a creature.

And this is what the Son says, in Matthew:

'No one can serve two masters' — that is, two natures or two sovereignties;

and in Paul, writing to the Romans:

'they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.'

And this is from Moses, who legislated:

'Whoever sacrifices to strange gods shall be stoned, except only to the Lord.'

And a 'new' and 'foreign' god is one who is not consubstantial with God the Father, and who at some point did not exist.

And those who say 'glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit' do not thereby glorify the Son or the Spirit of God.

For they send up the glory to one, through another, in another — or rather, to neither of the two at all.

And thereby they wound, on the one hand, the will of the Father, who says:

'My glory I will not give to another' — that is, I will not give it to one of a different nature — while [the Father] wishes the Son to be honored equally with himself; and on the other hand they also wound the teaching handed down by the Son — suffering things like those who call him Christ with their mouth, but strike him with their hands and cry out:

'Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is it that struck you?' — the same as those who also speak thus:

'We believe as Moses and the prophets believed' — while they crucified the very one who was prophesied.

Since, then, God the Father together with the Only-begotten God is disobeyed in this way, and faith in a creature is unprofitable, being able rather to harm than to save, let them consider for themselves whether the faith they hold is free of danger, seeing that they deny salvation;

for one must believe rightly in order to be saved;

for, they say, 'it is good to be saved,' but the rest is another matter.

And the children of Macedonius likewise do not preserve the glory of the Only-begotten any more than that of the Holy Spirit, calling him 'like in substance' to the Father and not 'consubstantial,' so that it is understood that he is of another, merely similar essence.

It remains, therefore, that the heretics must either change, in their forms of worship, the name of the Father — since in truth there is no Father among them — and likewise that of the Only-begotten Son, and also that of the Spirit of God, since this too does not exist among them (may the holy and venerable consubstantial Trinity, which is glorified by us, forgive us for saying so!) — and, before all else, change their own name, and no longer be called Christians or 'spiritual,' nor consider themselves to be sons of the same kind as their own fathers — or else not set the true Son and his Holy Spirit apart from the Godhead and glory of the Father.

For it is characteristic of the Jews to honor the Father alone, and of the Greeks to worship a multitude of demons, great and small, temporal, and of differing essence.

How One Must Understand the Theological Statements of Scripture

...to honor the Father — by these things they both grieve him and insult his Only-begotten Son and his Spirit.

And This, Concerning the Same Subject

The orthodox, then, must know that even concerning a small work of God — if one may venture to call any work of God 'small' — those who wish to give a full account of it have need of words, and of works before words, and of faith before both of these, and of much reverence and the utmost understanding, so that, being deemed worthy through these to know, they may recognize that even the small is not to be grasped by the intellect, but itself infinitely surpasses human undertakings — for if it is a work of God, even though it may seem small, it is great, as being God's;

'But how could one grasp great things by small labors?' — 'it is ignorant,' they say, 'even to wish this' — much more does the understanding concerning the ineffable God himself surpass even the perception of archangels, so that they should withdraw from perilous inquiries, leaving it to God alone to know these things, and say together with the apostle:

'I believed, therefore I spoke;'

and to understand the theological statements of Scripture in this way: that when they speak from one person, it is on account of the one nature and will;

and when from both persons, it is in order to show the distinct, individual subsistence of the holy and undefiled Trinity;

'I, the Lord, stretched out the heaven and established the earth.' And again:

'I am, and there is no other God besides me' — on account of the one Godhead and harmony, as has been said before.

Whenever it seems that the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, this is because it is included together with God, whose Spirit it indeed is.

Whenever the Master, having handed down the mystagogy [of baptism], says:

'Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' — on account of their equal honor, equal power, and consubstantiality, and the clear distinction of the persons.

Whenever what is here said concerning God and the Father is elsewhere recalled concerning the Only-begotten or the Holy Spirit, this is on account of the reasons stated before.

Whenever the Scriptures teach in various ways that both persons perform the same works with the same operation, this is on account of what has been said before.

Whenever, although each person is able to create and to make all things, God the Father was well pleased that all things should come to subsist through the Son, who is also God, and be sanctified through the Holy Spirit — this is on account of the one will of the Trinity, and so that it might be shown that all good things are supplied from it, and so that we might send up to it a common and equal thanksgiving and doxology.

Whenever the same names are used of the blessed Trinity — such as God, Lord, Holy, Righteous, Good, and the like — except that the Father is alone and always Father, and the true Son is also God, without beginning as Son and God, and the Holy Spirit is without beginning the one and same Spirit of God — this is on account of the communion of nature, kingdom, and all things.

But this applies to the Trinity alone.

Whenever they converse in secret, this is because the mystery of the faith is always kept guarded, revealed only to the faithful.

Whenever it is said that God the Father begets, the Son the Word is begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds, this is on account of understanding, in a manner befitting God, that they have come forth from the hypostasis of the Father without beginning and without passion, and not after the manner of creatures, and are united to him.

'The Father who sent me is greater than I' — and whatever else is reckoned to be lesser with regard to the Godhead — is said on account of his ineffable and voluntary dispensation on our behalf and for your sake.

For with respect to the Godhead, neither smallness nor absence from any place has any room.

Whenever the Son says, 'My Father has given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak,' and 'I have not spoken of myself' — but concerning the Holy Spirit:

[This shows] the harmony of the divine persons, and is because the teachings and gifts of the blessed Trinity are held in common and do not disagree, as those of men do.

Concerning the Holy Trinity being incomprehensible

Those who are eager to be a temple, even in some measure worthy of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the faithful, inasmuch as they have once had the unapproachable light shine upon them, give glory — as the Master ordained with equal honor in the mystagogy of baptism — to the self-existent God and Father, and to the beloved and only-begotten Son the Word who coexists with him, having come from him, and to the aforementioned Holy Spirit, who alone has proceeded from his hypostasis without beginning and without interval:

not disbelieving the consubstantiality of the Trinity, yet not inquiring into the manner and the difference between begetting and proceeding;

since this stands as something unknown, ineffable, and fearful even to contemplate, even for the heavenly ministering powers;

and how the Holy Trinity subsists together with itself without beginning, ever remaining in the same way and according to the same manner;

and how, being seated upon the eternal throne, it is able to look upon the depths, and, while remaining silent, to be heard, and to hear those who are silent;

and to know beforehand, before the deed is done, what is to come;

and by a word, and quicker than a word, and by mere willing alone, to bring all things forth;

and, even before anyone has considered a thing in his heart — provided only that he do so faithfully and righteously — immediately to grant the verdict upon his request;

and to fit a season for well-doing to all;

and to be slow to anger, yet ready for well-doing;

and to be provoked on account of our transgression, yet to remit the punishment on account of his own loving-kindness;

Furthermore, it is also incomprehensible concerning it how it has one will, and speaks and grants things in common with itself;

and how it regards not so much the soundness of bodies, but rather the contrite heart itself;

and indeed this too: how it exists invisible and ungraspable even to seraphic eyes, uncontained by word or place, in power indivisible, untouchable, without magnitude, needing no instruction, without breadth, without form;

all-surveying, all-hearing, and the hope of all;

by far brighter than heavenly light, and higher than every height to a degree impossible to express, and, by an infinite measure, more intelligent than every mind.

For how could the things of the Trinity fail to be incomprehensible to all, since it is itself the maker of all things, and above every intellectual — indeed also every intelligible — creation, beyond which there is absolutely nothing further, but rather all things are under it, and through it, and beneath its feet, as its works? For the Father first began by his good pleasure, the Only-begotten Son created, and the Spirit of God sanctified — and by his sanctification perfected, illumined, empowered, and gave life.

[the Spirit] existing whole in all things and in each thing, and being wholly participated in and contained by all through his goodness;

and not being divided, nor passing from place to place, nor being changed;

but always breathing upon all alike, and not in part, and preserving his own undefiled purity from bodies, divinely illumining all things, and everywhere multiplying sanctification, love, peace, wisdom,

joy, security, and every good thing, inasmuch as he has shone forth hypostatically from the paternal fount;

through whom, and on whose account, God the Father draws near to us — he with whom the Father is both in the heavens and yet abides with us;

Although each divine person is able, without need of anything, to accomplish all things perfectly, yet in order that the cooperative working and the unvarying sameness of their essence might be shown, together with the worship, glory, and thanksgiving that ought to be rendered by us, for this reason creation was completed jointly by the Holy Trinity;

Setting forth, accordingly, that creation has been ordered in a triadic manner, [the Psalmist] sings:

'by whom they were created'; and the Spirit — the personally subsisting Holy Spirit of God — by whom, having been sanctified, they were strengthened.

For he himself is the divine name, the almighty and preeminent dignity, mentioned and glorified together with the Father and the Son;

the sanctifying and life-giving one, the giver of heavenly light;

the guardian of each thing's abiding constancy;

the one who spoke within the prophets and apostles, and strengthened the martyrs to withstand tyrannical cruelty;

the one who renews and sets free as Lord, and makes us sons of God as the Spirit of adoption;

the one who by his illumination drives away hosts of demons, and puts the adversary to shame;

the one who opens wide for us the gates of the heavens, leads to the entrance of salvation, and makes us partakers of the angels' citizenship and hymnody;

the one who becomes for us a path leading to the heavenly God and Father himself;

the self-determining and most surpassingly serene manifestation;

the fruitful, boundless, and saving power;

the sizeless, incomparable, and revered person;

the undefiled, well-approved, and all-pure glory;

the divine grace that fills up what is lacking and heals what is weak;

the ineffable and eternal goodness;

the fountain of unfailing gifts, and the source from which every good mind advances;

the true manifestation of things to come and things unknown;

the saving seal and the divine anointing, the pledge of the eternal goods, by whom every creature, visible and invisible, rational and non-rational, is strengthened;

by whom comes to us divine regeneration, the forgiveness of iniquities, the covering of sins, and reconciliation with God;

and a crown for the righteous, and the reception of good things;

and a heavenly dwelling place, and unending life, and the eternal inheritance of the kingdom of God.

He who, through regeneration, partakes of communion with him obtains the aforementioned goods, and, according to the catholic epistles, becomes a partaker of the divine nature;

for he who has partaken of incorruptible and eternal illumination remains, with respect to the mind, ageless, in youthfulness and gentleness, and is made like unto him alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light.

For the sacred seers of the Old and New Testament know that the Holy Spirit belongs to that one supreme divine nature.

Concerning the Holy Spirit's being of God:

And concerning the heretical objection. First, that it is the Spirit of God and from God — although not after him [in time] — and alone knows the things of God, and comes upon all: they say the following.

Moses, in Genesis, speaking in the person of God:

'My Spirit shall not remain in these men forever, because they are flesh.'

Haggai likewise, from the divine voice:

'I am with you, and my Spirit stands in your midst.' Zechariah likewise:

Yet hear my words, and receive my ordinances, which I command by my Spirit to my servants the prophets. Isaiah, [speaking] from the Father to the Son:

'My spirit that is upon you, and the words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed' — calling by 'seed' the faithful, whom he also called to adoption.

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.' That this was fulfilled in the [divine] dispensation, Matthew has said as follows:

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying:

'Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased;'

'I will put my Spirit upon him.' And again, from the Father:

'For a spirit shall go forth from me.' And in Ezekiel the Most High Father calls our spirit 'your spirit,' but names the Holy Spirit as his own, inasmuch as it proceeds from him by nature:

'And I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my Spirit within you.' And in Joel:

'I will pour out from my Spirit upon all flesh.' And Paul wrote to Titus that these things had been fulfilled:

'When our saving grace appeared, not by works which we ourselves had done, but according to his great mercy he regenerated us through the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ.' But when did he pour it out? When Christ, breathing on them, said:

'Receive the Holy Spirit.' And it is rightly said 'poured out,' inasmuch as he is water proceeding from him consubstantially, and divine ointment, as we shall show in due course in the fitting places.

And likewise 'upon all flesh.' For these expressions befit the essence of the Holy Trinity, which is participated in as one shared reality, but not a created rational nature, which is not participated in [by others]:

For it is nowhere written, nor plausible to say:

'I will pour out from the archangel' — but rather 'from my Spirit,' and not even so in an unqualified manner, but:

And David also cries out imploring:

'Take not your Holy Spirit from me.' And again:

'Your good Spirit shall guide me in a level land.' And Matthew, [speaking] from the Son:

'It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaking in you,' that is:

It is not you, the created ones, [who speak], but the uncreated Spirit of God.

And Paul also writes to the Corinthians in the first epistle:

'Things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man,'

'which God has prepared for those who love him — but to us God has revealed them through his Spirit.'

'The Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.'

'For among men, who knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that is in him? So also no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God.'

'But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God,'

'that we may know the things freely given to us by God.' He called them the good things prepared by God, [meaning] that the Spirit revealed them as co-giver;

and 'his Spirit,' in contrast/opposition to our own [human] spirit.