論三位一體 第 1-1 章 第 11/12 段

Therefore God, in Ezekiel — showing that our spirit is renewed, while the Holy Spirit renews it, and is not simply 'spirit' but is properly his own — decrees the following:

'And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will give you;'

'and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my Spirit within you.' But they, disregarding these divine utterances, and finding themselves utterly destitute of just arguments, resort at last to outward sophistries, and attempt to twist what has been so plainly stated into one thing after another.

For they say, in these very words:

'Only he who created the dead can raise those who are dying.'

'For a painter could not repair the decaying work of a master-builder, nor could a hunter repair that of a shipwright, nor a runner that of a builder;'

'but rather it is a master-builder who repairs the work of a master-builder, and a shipwright who repairs the work of a shipwright.'

'But the Holy Spirit,' he says, 'neither raised the dead, nor created;'

'for,' he says, 'the nature of mankind was created once, in Adam;'

'and there is neither another creation besides that one, nor has it occurred many times.'

'But even Eve was created together with Adam according to the common principle of nature, and only afterward was formed separately.'

But we the orthodox, since it is above all the mark of divine power to create and to raise the dead, confess that the Holy Spirit, having done these things, is God:

'For by the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the breath of his mouth all their host'; and since, from the beginning, when all things were being created, the Spirit was present together with the Word and inseparably united with him in Godhead and in activity, therefore, when they are renewed, the Spirit is likewise present together with them, and is commemorated together with them.

For that very thing which these men themselves have said — namely, to renew — belongs to no other substance, that is, nature, except that of the one who created.

Concerning those who exist and yet conduct themselves as though they did not exist, but are now being created spiritually and in a more divine manner, David and Paul preach, as was said before, and as we shall find in many places.

For all time would fail me, were I to wish to mention every instance everywhere.

Were it not, then, that Scripture holds one view while they themselves hold another, they would, first of all, have at some point called to mind the divine writings mentioned in this book and in the one before it;

for what, hearing these things, would they say the one who uttered them was teaching? And secondly, they would have reasoned that, just as the Father, by his good pleasure, is a fellow-maker with the Son when the Son creates, so also is his Spirit;

and they would not have dragged the affairs of the blessed Trinity — unmixed with all things, and which also brought us into being — into an examination based on things unlike it: things that need one another's cooperation and require time, and that never readily and blamelessly fulfill in every respect the concept intended — namely, craftsmen of designs and of the repair of materials — thereby saying things they would never otherwise have said.

For what, or how great a thing, could we say concerning God the Father, who by a single act of will, through the Son the Word, brought all things into existence? Indeed, concerning him it has been proclaimed, according to the flesh, that he is of the seed of David and Abraham, and of the root of Jesse, as has just been said:

'for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit' — so that from this too it might be confessed that the sanctifying Spirit was a fellow-worker with the beneficent Creator.

'Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness'; since the guiding Spirit was with him, as God with God, as one who sustains all things and is present everywhere with him upon whom all things are established, and who is in all things and fills all things.

a creator, or one who raises the dead.

For all things came into being through the Son, without effort.

We say these things not denying that the Master was made flesh, without sin, from the nature of Adam — that is, from the Virgin, or from our own nature — but rather we also confirm this by saying that he was begotten of the Holy Spirit.

since, as has been said, even from the beginning the pre-eternal and pre-cosmic Spirit of God was present together with the maker of our nature, not as though he needed help, but with identity and equality of Godhead and of will, and as it were, light not cut off from light.

Either, then, agree, O Macedonius, with the saints, who do not call the divine Spirit a creature, but say that it proceeds from God, being by nature his own Spirit;

or, as you are accustomed to say, that it is by nature inferior to God yet superior to the angels, having obtained some intermediate nature and rank — in that case, show that they have proclaimed this as an oracle;

for their words are justly preferred by God over yours and those of Arius;

and not as the rule of art and sophistry allows, as though it were permitted to you, having grown bold, to let loose your own words against the divine Spirit;

whose divine nature you would not have been able to behold even in the slightest degree, even if you had as many and such eyes of the mind as Scripture attributes to the cherubim.

For who can grasp the invisible and incomprehensible Godhead? So either condemn your own impiety and, yielding to us, relinquish your claim to first place.

[...] that it sanctifies and justifies. But let us return again to our subject from the beginning: that it sanctifies and justifies, as we said before.

[...] that it bestows salvation — that it bestows salvation even upon those who have fallen away;

which belongs to the all-sovereign substance alone.

For it is impossible for a created thing to do anything without God.

not even so much as to open wide the bright circles of the eyelids. For the apostle said the following to the Philippians:

'For I know that this will turn out for my salvation, through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.' As it is celebrated concerning the Father in Hosea:

'and there is no savior besides me'; and concerning the Son, in Acts:

'and salvation is in no one else.'

'for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.' [...] that it frees from death and forgives sin — that it frees from death and forgives sin, since, bearing fruit from the paternal root of substance, it is immortal and merciful.

But it is not possible for a created being either to be sinless, or to accomplish any one of these things by its own resources.

For indeed none of the spirits, as was shown before, is without sin;

nor perhaps—to speak with a certain excess of statement—is that which is not even rational blameless.

For indeed the heaven itself and the sun, in comparison with the purity of God, are not blameless.

For even if the apostles are seen at some time to have done such a thing, they did not prevail by their own power, but by the power of him who said:

'In my name you will do greater things than these'; and by the power of the Spirit of the Father who spoke in them, as Paul teaches the Romans:

'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.' And the Master, too, in John's Gospel, restoring to us the Holy Spirit which we had lost through the ancient disobedience, breathed upon the faces of the disciples and said:

'If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven;'

'If you retain anyone's sins, they are retained.' Here the self-determining authority of the ever-memorable Spirit is so great that he himself, through himself, forgives sins, and in his name and by his power the apostles and all who believe in him grant remission of sins.

That it belongs to God alone to be propitious to sinners, the glorious sayings of God signify:

'For I,' he says, 'am he who blots out your sins'; and:

'Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow;'

'though they are like crimson, I will make them white as wool.' And the Savior, too, as the servant of God, said to the paralytic:

'Child, your sins are forgiven you;' and:

'...the sin of the world.' This shows that the Spirit works together with the Father and the Son:

and that Christ, by the power of the Spirit, worked signs and wonders and cast out demons—because of the inseparability of the Godhead—since the Spirit works together with the Father, who is in need of nothing and gives all things, and with his Son, and jointly supplies all things to all, deferring nothing until the morrow, inasmuch as he is a Spirit of one mind and one accord with the Father, possessing his being not as something acquired, and reigning together with him, having received as his portion that very deity from which he also came forth as one who co-subsists with it.

And that Christ, who has all authority and all power, together with the might of that same most venerable Spirit, worked the signs and wonders and cast out demons, as the expounders of the sacred mysteries have explained:

'Thus,' he says, 'says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray'; and shortly after he adds:

'For there shall be none to listen to them, unless I fill them with strength by the Spirit of the Lord, and with judgment and might.' He therefore said that the Lord works strength by the Spirit of the Lord, in order to show both the Trinity and the bond of its nature.

And by 'judgment' he hints at that judgment in which there is no longer any repentance, nor anyone to listen;

'For in Hades,' he says, 'who will give you thanks?' And 'I will fill with strength' means instead: 'I will bring about a great recompense, together with the divine Spirit.'

But Paul, the most approved of the apostles, writes to the Ephesians:

'For this reason I bow my knees before God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts.' And to the Romans:

'I have, then, confidence in Christ Jesus toward God.'

'For I will not dare to speak of anything which Christ has not accomplished through me, by word and deed, for the obedience of the Gentiles, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit.' Hypostases alike in nature are worthy of like honor:

Hence this saying, too, is similar to the one:

'Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.' Matthew, from the Savior's words:

'But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.' And how he also cooperates in illumination:

It is therefore impossible for beings to be one in harmony and in operation without their essence being one;

And for this reason the Master says at one time:

'The Father who dwells in me, he himself does the works'; and at another time, as has just been said:

'I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.' For this reason Paul also said:

'in the power of the Holy Spirit,' confessing that it was by the divine operation of the Trinity that the dead were raised—he himself raising Eutychus, and Peter, Tabitha.

[It is shown] that just as God the Father, so also the Holy Spirit gives oracles, being designated God and Master.

That just as God the Father, so also the Holy Spirit gives oracles, being signified as God and Master, as Luke relates:

'There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon;'

'and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel;'

'and the Holy Spirit was upon him; and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.'

'And he came in the Spirit into the temple.'

'And when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,'

'he himself received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said:'

'Now, Master, you release your servant in peace, according to your word;'

'for my eyes have seen your salvation.' The Holy Spirit, then, gave this oracle:

Simeon received the Christ into his arms in accordance with the oracle;

he blessed the one who had given the oracle, that is, he glorified the Holy Spirit, having seen the salvation that was the fulfillment of the oracle he had received;

and he called the one who had given him the oracle both God and Master.

And God the Father also gave oracular revelation, having appeared to Job:

gathering together things that contribute not to theology but rather to obscuring the truth, and not receiving with precision what befits the divine mystery, but fitting things to their own presupposition, and on this chief point bringing forward statements inadmissible with regard to the divine—repeating it up and down, as though it were a great and self-evident main point, that frigid and deceptive assertion, saying:

that, he says, from such testimonies the Holy Spirit is reduced to the nature of an angel, since angels too are found to have given oracles.

And thus, by their own absurd reasonings, they drag the correct meanings of the Scriptures into perversions.

'For it is written,' he says, 'in the Acts of the Apostles:'

'Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who feared God, well spoken of by the whole nation of the Jews, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to his house and to hear words from you.' You, then, if you had kept silent and sewn shut your mouths from slander, would have acted far more profitably.

But we, referring this point also to the more perfect purpose, providing good cheer to those who shall read it, and instilling in them a greater orthodox zeal, say that just as there is no communion of nature between a creature and the uncreated nature, so neither is there any communion of oracular function.

For the one merely announces, while another, not knowing what he says, might be moved by the Holy Spirit to speak it—and hence he too is given the name 'messenger';

but the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as he knows all the things of God, as Paul affirms, gives oracles in a divine manner, as does the Father, declaring whatever the Father and the Son also will, seeing it with the sleepless eyes of the Godhead—and not in a ministerial manner, like the attendant angel.

For the servant does not know what his master is doing; nor indeed can one of a different essence possess the same knowledge as one who is of another essence;

for to each nature there accompanies the knowledge and memory proper to it;

but even that which is known by a created nature at times slips away with time.

Whence also here, in the dispute over the argument, those thankless opponents have deliberately omitted the beginning of the passage.

'Now while Peter was pondering the matter, the Holy Spirit said to him:'

'Behold, three men are seeking you.'

'But rise and go with them, doubting nothing;'

'for I have sent them.'

'And Peter went down to the men and said:'

'What is the reason for which you have come?' And they said:

'Cornelius the centurion, a righteous man,' and so forth, as stated above.

So that, in the judgment of fair judges, here too the angel is shown to have learned the oracle from the Holy Spirit.

For an eminent mark of deity is to foretell without error;

and this is for the good of those who hear, that being made secure they may be saved.

Do you not then think that, by introducing such things, you are in some way begrudging creation, and finding fault, as it were, with him who, out of his generosity, adorned his own works with the very words spoken concerning him—since his grace, too, altogether accompanies such a thing?

For by this also he in no way disgraced himself; rather, he showed himself praiseworthy, and, as is his custom, made his works resplendent.

We, however — even though the very fact that the Holy Spirit bears such a title lends a certain divine solemnity to the whole subject, and although this alone, taken by itself, would suffice as testimony — have nevertheless adduced not only this but also a multitude of other lofty and indisputable proofs.

If you attend to these without hostility, you will certainly become more speechless than fish.

Paul, then, writing to the Ephesians, also refutes your sophistry most clearly, saying:

'To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given: to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery that has been hidden from the ages in God who created all things;'

'so that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.' Consider, then, how far removed the nature of angels is from knowing anything of the future by itself, and from giving oracles on its own authority;

...the church of God — which is what we ourselves are — learns his mighty works.

Toward persuasion on this very point, what he wrote to the Colossians can also contribute something, in this manner:

'this mystery, hidden before the ages and from the generations, which has now been made manifest to his saints. For before this,' he says, 'it was known to God alone.'

In addition to these, what has proved of benefit to all men — I mean concerning the ineffable dispensation — has also been declared by Peter in the following words, as was said before:

'into which,' he says, 'angels long to look.' But if they possessed some innate knowledge, they would not yearn even to peer into it; but since they do not have it, in a certain manner — like men — they fall into an excessive longing for those things which it is not given them to come to know.

For it is natural that things easily found are, on the other hand, disregarded, while rarer things are held in esteem.

And indeed this too occurs not according to their own private judgment, but by the common law of their nature — some of them, I say, not all, being subject to it.

'For if,' he says, 'God did not spare the angels who sinned,' what innate knowledge of the future, or what authority to give oracles as God does, can they possibly possess? But if these do not know of themselves, nor give oracles by their own authority — a matter self-evident even without any further demonstration — yet, because the mere word is predicated in common of both, you have proceeded to blame and accusation; you have acted rashly and without reflection, and have not even come to grips with the matter itself.

For neither, if certain others should perhaps call something 'father' because it bears that name and is good, is it fitting for us to assert the contrary.

Take note: did Scripture call the angel who spoke to the centurion 'the Holy One of holies,' or 'Savior'? For by employing this title in a veiled manner, Scripture, with much and truly divine emphasis, appears to be speaking about him, on account of the fact that, in the dispensation, it was the Word, as Son, who announced the Father's will.

For it did not name him outright, as it is accustomed to say elsewhere:

'Michael,' 'Gabriel,' or 'so-and-so.' What, then, out of all our words could anyone reasonably find fault with? What could he blame in the faith of the orthodox, which is in no way liable to correction? How is it not worthy of belief that the Holy Spirit gives oracles in a royal, that is, divine manner, while the angels do so in a ministering, that is, a serving manner? As, then, it is difficult, so he says, to hold the helm...

...for one who has no skill in navigation, so likewise it is difficult to teach for one who does not possess the grace of the divine Spirit — the grace which, together with the Father and the Son, works the salvation of men — nor has the knowledge to find the certainty hidden even in the riddles of the sacred sayings and the answer given by the understanding of faithful men; and difficult too for one whose every utterance is not free of a contentious, disputatious, and self-willed disposition.

I know clearly, O renowned angels of God who dwell in the heavenly light, that you, being blameless and perfect, were not offended at what was said by me, since it concerned those angels who are like you in nature but not in the praiseworthy quality of their will;

upon whom blame followed from the beginning, and who indeed appear to you to be especially untrustworthy in the struggle against the truth.

For my discourse concerns the divine Spirit, who illumines all things and lavishes upon creatures divine gifts equal to those of the Father and his Only-begotten — the Spirit who has also sanctified you, and who is glorified by you together with the Father and the Son through the thrice-holy hymn of praise.

Or rather, you have also nodded assent together with me, as I proclaimed that this Spirit is one and the same in substance with God, and is himself God;

and perhaps you would even wish that, through the abundance of your goodwill toward the venerable and consubstantial Trinity, my book might in this section hold festival for me — that the words spoken by many, and now by me, drawn from the sense of the Scriptures, might be your own words as well, and that silence should never be imposed upon them, and that all men might spend the leisure afforded them from worldly affairs upon such a subject as this.

You were appointed [chief] of the incorporeal hosts, and honored with, as it were, an intellectual girdle, and you exist as a certain fragrance of the all-holy and compassionate Trinity who rules over all;

but you, O holy Gabriel, were chosen, as one discreet and faithful, to minister to the mystery of the ineffable dispensation;

and each of the others, without even having asked, has been honored with a God-given gift such as others do not have, and such as we ourselves do not have;

but we too have been honored with such a gift as you yourselves do not have.

For God the Word did not become an angel for the sake of the angels who sinned, but became man for the sake of men who are in sin — unchangeably, unconfusedly, sinlessly, ineffably, as he knew and willed — being born of the Virgin, and, according to the flesh, of her and of all of us, while remaining what he was and is and shall be, one and the same.

'For there is one Holy One,' he says, 'one Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.' And thus, just as he ascended from earth to the heavens, he will come a second time, served by myriads upon myriads of glorious angelic ranks; and he will also judge, and will act according to his loving-kindness.

Therefore, after the churches, houses of prayer bearing your name have also been established for God, O well-pleasing pair of archangels — not only in the cities, but also privately in lanes, houses, and fields — adorned with gold and silver, or even ivory;

and men journey even to regions far from their own homeland, regions which have such houses of prayer set forth as, so to speak, seats of honor for achievements gained, not shrinking even from crossing the sea, however long it may be required, and from completing a journey of many successive days, at times an arduous one, in order that they might experience greater goodwill from you in intercession, and a share in the good things which God lavishes for the sake of their well-being.

For in his holy churches, and in the houses of prayer and the martyria, as in other heavens, he has set forth his unfailing good things;

and from the very things which this same King of kings and Lord of lords has given, and daily gives, to each one, from these he receives the unbloody sacrifice offered piously and reverently, and possesses all the honors bestowed by men.

And I think that, in matters against the heretics and in matters of theology, even the irrational animals — nay, the very stones themselves — would join their voice with ours out of sheer eagerness.

For what does love for God not accomplish? Or to what does the heart's true affection yield? Know — and let all this be said with God's help — that I have conducted myself thus together with you and with the saints from our own human nature who intercede for us, so that no one, up to this very day, has had occasion to bring, as it were, any lawsuit or slander against me on account of you, our intercessors, who hold honors among all according to your rank;

nor to summon me by name to any contest or judgment concerning this, even though there are found those who accuse me of things that are not so;

nor has anyone even attempted to convict me of having heard words spoken against God the Word and the Holy Spirit, and, perhaps out of reverence or fear of the speaker, of having nodded assent and praised what was not good;

or of having altogether neglected the matter at some time, and, through an unbecoming indolence, of having forsaken opposing it to the best of my ability.

Nay rather, on the contrary, many would say that I always came forward vigorous and gentle in such matters, whether to render an account or to receive one.

For I count it the greatest and eternal gain, both for myself and for those descended from me and for those who are with us, rightly to choose every toil, if need be, and every danger, for the sake of him who made us and saves us, and who has the power both to judge and to show loving-kindness — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Knowing, then, that you are the chosen worshipers of the all-holy Trinity, and intercessors for the human race, know that, after her — the cause and life-giver of all things — I have left nothing lacking toward you in the reverence owed to you, my advocates, before her who supplies me with thoughts and wise expressions, both pleasing to her and beneficial to us;

and to such a degree, moreover, as is fitting for those who, having ranked the created nature after the uncreated, duly and fittingly commemorate it;

you were not permitted to grant us more; and I pray that my resolve on this matter be kept unshaken, and that my prayer be accepted, the most good, self-complete, and undivided Trinity bringing it to endless fulfillment;

and that we may be counted worthy — with all our children, our whole household, all our kindred and all our friends (and the orthodox are friends to us), together with you and all the saints — to sing the thrice-holy hymn to her in the heavens for the unending ages of ages, and, by her grace, to obtain her endless and undivided kingdom, which has been promised and is believed by us.

[Heading:] That the Holy Spirit is about to judge all things together with Christ. But it is time to turn again to the subject we began, namely that, together with Christ, inasmuch as he is God and creator, the Holy Spirit is about to judge all things.

For to whom does it belong to judge, except to him who shares in divinity and kingship with him who made these things? As Isaiah indeed prophesies:

'A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall spring up from the root;'

'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.'

'He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to mere speech;'

'but he shall render judgment for the lowly, and reprove the proud, and deliver the lowly of the earth, and shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth, and by the spirit through his lips he shall destroy the ungodly.' By 'rod' and 'flower' from the root of Jesse he means him who sprang forth from it in the incarnation, and who by his own fragrance gave strength to the world beneath the sun — he upon whom we saw, in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit rest, and whom we await to behold as judge together with the Holy Spirit at the second coming.

For this is what is meant both by 'by the spirit through his lips he shall destroy the ungodly,' and by what is said elsewhere by the same prophet:

'by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.' And David, in Psalm 138, says:

'Where shall I go from your Spirit? And where shall I flee from your presence?' As for the phrase:

'Where shall I go' and 'where shall I flee' — it carries a broad significance;

for it signifies that the Holy Spirit is present everywhere, and that he is also a judge.

For it is truly a fearful thing, according to the Apostle, to fall into the hands of the living God, who says in Psalm 49:

'I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face.' And the prophecy of Micah, cited a little before, also contributes to this same point.

And what proof could anyone name stronger for this than the Savior himself, in John, speaking concerning the Holy Spirit:

'When he has come, that one will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment.' [Heading:] That Paul, by the power of the Spirit, blinded Elymas the magician. That, by the surpassing power of the Holy Spirit, Paul, in Cyprus, blinded by his word Elymas the magician, who was warring against the saints and corrupting the truth.

For Scripture, to show that the power belongs to the Spirit, speaks in these very words:

'Then Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to him:'

'Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun.' For truly it was not Paul himself — apart from the Spirit's all-effecting power — who, by a mere word, extinguished the sight of a man who was relying for deliverance on human trickery and trusting in demons.

[Heading:] That, by the power of the all-holy Spirit, the heavens were opened and were seen by the holy Stephen.

That, by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, the heavens, having been opened wide, were seen by him who bound upon himself a double crown, of apostleship and of martyrdom.