FROM BOOK I. CONCERNING THE ONE MOST HIGH, THE PARACLETE, THE MESSENGER, THE TEACHER, AND THE JUDGE. FRAGMENT I. The Son is both God, and the Most High, and life as the Father: he also does the same things, and in like manner, with the Father. But I marvel that, since from those names and works you measure, according to your pleasure, the merits of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, how you do not also consider those names and works by which the one natural loftiness of the Father and of the Son is shown. For when it is said: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (John 1:1); the name of the Son is known to be in no way less than the name of the Father; since, as the Father, so also the Son is not deprived of the name of God.
Likewise we know that the Father is called the Most High, but it is certain that the Son also is called by this name. For the angel Gabriel, speaking to Mary, is found to name the Father as the Most High, when he says: 'Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High' (Luke 1:31-32). But concerning the Son himself, blessed David, filled with divine inspiration, thus sang: 'Mother Sion shall say: A man is made in her, and the Most High himself hath founded her' (Ps. 86:5). And who would dare to deny the unity of works in the Father and the Son, when the Son himself shows the same works to be at once his own and the Father's? For he says: 'Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these same the Son doeth likewise' (John 5:19).
Where he shows that the offices of divine operation between the Father and the Son are neither in any way dissimilar, nor divided. For he who does the same things and in like manner, as he does not do other things, so he does not do them otherwise; and while whatsoever things the Father does, these same the Son does likewise; as there is nothing divided in the operation, so there is nothing diverse in the power. The one nature of the Father and the Son therefore agrees by the unity of work, and in the likeness of operation the one omnipotence of the Godhead shines forth. But if the Son were another God, he would not himself do the same things that the Father does; but if the Godhead of the Son were less, he would not have done in like manner the same things that the Father does:
but since the works of the Father and the Son are the same, done in like manner by the Father and the Son, undoubtedly the one nature of the Father and the Son is recognized. Hear yet further the natural unity of the Father and the Son, as much in names as in works. For the Son says: 'As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son also to have life in himself' (John 5:26). But this, that the Father gave life to the Son, is that he begot the Son to be life. For the Father gave the Son to have life in himself, but as the Father, by the right of generation, not by the gift of bounty. And see how he gave the Son to have life in himself, even as the Father surely has life in himself. Now the Father has life in himself, because he is naturally life:
and therefore he gave to the Son also to have life in himself, because he begot the Son naturally as life. Therefore blessed John does not cease to proclaim the Son to be life, saying of him: 'This is the true God, and life eternal' (1 John 5:20). In another place also, as he calls the Father life, so he calls the Son also life; for he says: 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life' (1 John 1:1). Now we know that the Word of the Father is the Son. When therefore the Son is called the Word of life, we see the Father proclaimed by the name of life. But the Word of life itself he names, in what follows, as life, saying:
'And the life was made manifest, and we have seen, and we bear witness, and we declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us' (1 John 1:2). Behold, the Father is called life, the Son is called life: because the Son is proclaimed both the Word of life, and life: and by this the unity of the name in the Father and the Son does not naturally differ; whence consequently the unity of works also agrees by natural majesty; the Son himself saying: 'For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, so the Son also quickeneth whom he will' (John 5:21). And in saying this, he shows both the unity and the perfect power of the paternal and of his own will. Here therefore is no will of one that is weak, no work of one that is unwilling. For the Son quickeneth whom he will;
But beyond all doubt the Son gives life to those whom the Father gives life; for whatsoever things the Father does, these the Son also does. Thus too the Son gives life to whom he wills, just as the Father gives life to whom he wills; for whatsoever things the Father does, the Son not only does the same, but does them also in like manner. In this unity of operation there is one natural will. For if the Son were said to do unwillingly those things which the Father does willingly, he would indeed do the same things, but not do them in like manner; yet Truth declares that he does both the same things and in like manner. Let there therefore be acknowledged a natural unity and an equality of majesty, where there can be no diversity either in work or in will.
Why then do you assert a diversity of nature and some sort of inequality between the Father and the Son from those names and works which you have adduced, yet refuse to acknowledge the equality of the Father and the Son from these names and works which I have recalled? FRAGMENT II. God the Father is also the Paraclete. You indeed said that God the Father, who is less than none and subject to none, lacks all that lowliness of works and names. First, then, learn that God the Father does not lack the work of the Paraclete, so that from this you may learn not to contend about the name. For if we find in the Father the work of this name, there will be no need for us to dispute anything about demonstrating the name. Para-
The Paraclete in the Latin tongue is called not only Advocate but also Comforter. Hear therefore what the Apostle says about God the Father, and from the true work of consolation acknowledge the truth of God the Comforter. For the Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, says thus: «Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who comforts us in all our tribulation» (2 Cor. 1:3). Which in the Greek stands thus: «Blessed be the God and Father who comforts us in all our affliction» (in the Bible: 'your'). Where, joining also the consolation of the Son to the consolation of the Father, a little later he says:
«For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ does our consolation abound» (ibid., 5). But lest you should think the consolation of the Father and of the Son to be diverse in us or divided, hear what the same blessed Apostle writes to the Thessalonians. For he says: «Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, who has loved us, and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and confirm you in every good work and word» (2 Thess. 2:16). But whereas here I have put «comfort», some Latin manuscripts have «exhort»;
but whether it be this or that, since both consolation and exhortation are called paraklesis among the Greeks, we have therefore put it thus in order to show one consolation or exhortation of both the Father and the Son. For among the Latins too both words differ indeed in sound, but agree in sense. Indeed every comforter does nothing else than exhort the soul of the one he comforts toward the hope of a better outcome. And so, although there may be an exhortation which seems not to need consolation, yet there is no consolation which does not need the language of exhortation. That passage, therefore, is contained in Greek in this speech: «But may our Lord himself...» (in the Bible: 'your'; 'good').
Attend diligently also to that passage in which the Apostle, writing to the Philippians, says: «If there be therefore any consolation in Christ» (Phil. 2:1); and you will find it thus placed: «If there be therefore any consolation (paraklesis) in Christ». The divine Scripture also has not been silent about the consolation of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the holy Church. For it is said in the book of the Acts of the Apostles: «Then indeed the Church throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, had peace; and was edified, walking in the fear of the Lord, and was filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit» (Acts 9:31). Which in Greek is contained thus: «... they were multiplied». How then is the Father denied to be a comforter, who comforts his own people?
For he it is, as was said above, «the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who comforts us in all our tribulation» (2 Cor. 1:3). Acknowledge therefore God the Father as our comforter in his work, and learn not to contend vainly about the name. But if you do not cease obstinately to deny it, you will deny to yourself the benefit of his consolation. Yet beware lest the one whom you deny to be comforter, you experience as avenger. FRAGMENT III. The offices of messenger, of teacher, and of judge are common to the Father and the Holy Spirit. «Subministration» differs from «ministry».
But I marvel how you would wish to restrict to the Son and the Holy Spirit the name of messenger, as though anyone shows himself lesser thereby, if in any work he announces his will to those who are ignorant of it. Although the name of messenger, who in Greek is called angel, can be found in the Son alone. For he is called «the Angel of great counsel» (Isa. 9:6). But as for the Holy Spirit, although you may find in him the work of announcement, yet I think you cannot find the Holy Spirit called an angel. The Son therefore was called the Angel of great counsel: which counsel, nevertheless, was not of the Father alone, but was the counsel of the Trinity. For the Son himself, just as he was called the Angel of great counsel, so also is called «wonderful, counsellor».
The Holy Spirit too is himself «the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might» (Isa. 11:2). The Angel of great counsel, therefore, is called the Son alone; but the work of announcement is alien neither from the Father nor from the Holy Spirit. For by God the Father the things which pertain to our salvation are shown to be announced. For what could be more salutary to the world than the coming of Christ the Saviour? Whom, nevertheless, the Father testifies that he himself announced among men: for he says through the prophet Amos: «For behold, I am he who establishes the thunder, and creates the Spirit, and announces his Christ among men» (Amos 4:13). This is understood of none other than the person of God the Father: whence Saint Luke the evangelist says that, when the Son of God had said:
«But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answering said, The Christ of God» (Luke 9:20). But lest anyone, hearing God saying: «For behold, I am he who establishes the thunder, and creates the Spirit», should on this account wish to assert that the Holy Spirit was created — the Spirit who is agreed to be the Creator of all things — let him attend to this, that if in this place anything were to be understood of the Holy Spirit, the thunder would surely not have been named first. But it is said: «Behold, I establish the thunder and create the Spirit»: but if anyone wished to take it according to the letter, there is nothing else that he should here understand to be placed under the name of «spirit» than the wind, which in the psalm too is called «the spirit of tempest» (Ps. 10:7 [11:6]):
especially because he set thunder first, which is wont to happen precisely when clouds are gathered by the blowing winds. Nevertheless, because a spiritual understanding is more fitting to this prophetic passage (chiefly because, when he had said: «Behold, I establish the thunder, and create the spirit», he immediately added, «and announcing his Christ among men»), let us here worthily understand the office of apostolic preaching to be prophesied. For he named that very preaching «thunder», concerning which blessed David too says: «The voice of your thunder in the wheel» (Ps. 76:19 [77:18]): that is, the voice of your preaching throughout the globe of the earth. For by the name of «wheel» he signified the globe: for a wheel too is a circle, whence little wheels are called «orbicles»;
and the track of a wheel is called an «orbit», that is, the path of the circle. God therefore established the thunder, in that he established the evangelical preaching; he created the spirit, in that he made spiritual preachers of the Gospel; and he announced his Christ among men, namely through the dispensation of the New Testament. Since, therefore, you see that the work of announcement befits the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, why is it that you seek to demonstrate a difference by names, when yet you find that the Son alone is called an angel? Moreover, in the person of the Holy Spirit no one can easily find this name.
If therefore you raise a question about the name, you have nothing to object against the Holy Spirit, so as to assert him lesser than the Son, since Holy Scripture is found rather to call the Son by the name of angel. But if you assert that the term «angel» is to be assigned to the Son not according to his divinity, but according to his flesh, then do not call the divinity of the Son diverse from the divinity of the Father, since you do not say that the term «angel» befits his divinity, but his flesh. But if — which is more fitting — you attend not to the name of the work, but to the work itself, the announcement is found common to the Trinity. Attend therefore to that discourse of the Lord and Saviour which he held to his disciples, when he promised them the coming of the Paraclete;
and understand this concerning him, for the purpose for which you know him to have come. For before his passion the Lord foretold to the disciples that the Paraclete Spirit would come to teach, in that place where he promised that this same Paraclete would be sent both by the Father and by the Son. For he says: «For the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things whatsoever I have said to you» (John 14:26). «He will teach you», he says, not «he will petition for you». Likewise in the same discourse: «But when the Paraclete has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness of me» (John 15:26); and again: «I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now».
«But when that Spirit of truth has come, he will teach you all truth» (John 16:12-13). Where, from the very likeness of the work, the communion of the deity has been shown. For the Father teaches us, the Lord saying: «It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard of the Father and has learned, comes to me» (Isa. 54:13; John 6:45). The Son also teaches, of whom it is written that «his disciples came to him, and opening his mouth he taught them» (Matt. 5:1-2). The Holy Spirit also teaches us, as we have shown above from the very words of the Son of God. Hence it is that blessed Paul too assigns the whole work of his preaching to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, saying:
«For who among men knows the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? So too the things of God no one has known, save the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are given us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom, but in the teaching of the Spirit» (1 Cor. 2:11-13). This teaching of the Holy Spirit blessed John too instils in us, signifying the Holy Spirit himself by the name of «anointing». For he says thus: «These things I write to you concerning those who seduce you. And let the anointing which you have received from him abide in you. And you have no need that anyone teach you;
but as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie» (1 John 2:26-27). Let these things be said by us, because you wished to object the name of Advocate to the Holy Spirit, on the ground that the Lord Jesus named him Paraclete; so that we might show for the sake of what work the Lord said the Paraclete would come. For since the teacher himself was departing bodily from the disciples, he was surely promising them a teacher: and see what kind of teacher, one who would bestow on them both knowledge and power. For concerning him he says to the disciples: «But sit in the city, until you be endued with power from on high» (Luke 24:49); and again he says: «You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you» (Acts 1:8).
Therefore the Spirit himself, coming, just as he bestowed knowledge, so also conferred firmness. For this reason it is written of the disciples: «And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness» (Acts 4:31). Call the teacher lesser, if any philosophy has conquered his teaching: call the teacher lesser, if the savagery of kings has overcome those made firm by him. But whether you can anywhere find the Holy Spirit called a minister (servant), I do not know. And lest you promise yourself any support for your assertion from that passage of the Apostle in which, writing to the Philippians, he says: «For I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through your prayer and the subministration of the Spirit of Jesus Christ» (Phil. 1:19)—
I think that you, a man who profess yourself skilled in Latinity, surely know that «to subminister» is not the same as «to minister». For in the one is shown the obedience of humility, but in the other the mark of abundance and of power. For by the one who ministers, obedient service is rendered; but by the one who subministers, aid is bestowed. For tell me, I pray, when the Apostle had said to men: «I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through your prayer» — in which prayer he was surely awaiting not their ministry, but their help, as he shows elsewhere, saying: «I beseech you therefore, brethren, through the love of the Spirit, that you help me in your prayers for me to God» (Rom. 15:30);
since therefore, as I said, blessed Paul was awaiting the prayer of the faithful as a help, what need was there for him to add, «and the subministration of the Spirit of Jesus Christ»? unless because he wished to show that the Holy Spirit bestows effect upon the prayer of the faithful, while he subministers aid to those for whom or on whose behalf prayer is made — doing this not by the obedient service of a servile condition, but by the command of divine power, which he has by nature one with the Father and the Son. That you may know this more manifestly, I will also bring forward for you in this place the truth of the Greek reading. For blessed Paul, writing to Timothy, among other things says: «Take Mark, and bring him with you: for he is useful to me for the ministry»: which in Greek stands thus:
«Take Mark and bring (in the Bible: 'lead') him with you, for he is useful to me for the ministry (diakonian)» (2 Tim. 4:11). You see indeed that here the ministry is called by the Apostle diakonia. But in that other passage he says: «Through your prayer and the subministration of the Spirit of Jesus Christ»; in Greek it is placed, «through your supplication and the supply (epichoregias) of the Spirit of Jesus Christ» (Phil. 1:19). Is it not manifest that diakonia is not the same as choregia? Hear also another, clearer proof from the Epistle of blessed Peter, whereby you may recognize that «administration», that is choregia, belongs not to the creature, but to the Creator;
and that from the name of «administration» you may understand, without any mist of doubt, that the Holy Spirit is nothing other than God. For blessed Peter says: «Be hospitable one to another without murmuring: as every man has received grace, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let it be as the words of God; if any man minister, let it be as of the power which God administers (supplies)». Which in Greek is thus: «... which God supplies (choregei)» (1 Pet. 4:9-11). From these passages, which are distinguished by Greek rather than by Latin speech, «ministry» is known to pertain to human operation, but «administration» or «subministration» to divine grace.
This, then, is to subminister to the Holy Spirit: it is to give sufficiency. For when God administers power, he gives sufficiency. That this sufficiency is not from ourselves but from God, the blessed Apostle teaches, saying: «Our sufficiency is from God, who has also made us fit ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit» (2 Cor. 3:5-6). And showing his own ministry, he took care also to demonstrate the subministration of the Holy Spirit, saying: «For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life» (ibid.). But it has seemed to you a matter for calling God the Father a judge, as though this were not also the case with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Or do you not know that it was said by the Apostle:
«I charge you before God, and Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his coming and his kingdom» (2 Tim. 4:1). But concerning the Holy Spirit, the Son himself says, that «he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment» (John 16:8). FROM BOOK II, ON THE OFFICES OF PETITIONING, GROANING, AND PRAYING IN CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. FRAGMENT IV. In Christ, the leader of natures, there is a single person. We, confessing Christ to be the Son of the living God (which the apostle Peter confessed of him, and by the grace of this confession deserved to be called blessed by the Saviour himself (Matt. 16:16-17)), believe him to be one and the same Son of God and of man;
and, most certainly acknowledging in him the natural truth of the paternal and maternal substance: as we do not divide in him either nature, so also we in no way separate them. This indeed is what the Catholic Church blames and condemns in the Nestorians; who err most of all in this, that on account of the twin substance of Christ they wish to double the person in him, so as to say that one belongs to the Son of God, but another to the Son of man: whereas one and the same is the Son of God and of man, from God the Father the Word who is God, and from the Virgin mother the Word made flesh, that is, God truly born a man: who, taking the form of a servant, in which he might become from his mother a true man, lost nothing in that form of God, in which with the Father he is by nature one God;
and when he emptied himself, he remained full of his own riches; and when he humbled himself, he did not cease to be what he was, always the Most High. Whence thus too he «became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross» (Phil. 2:8), in such a way that in the work of obedience he did not lose the rights of his own power. Accordingly, even when he died, he nonetheless did not cease to be true God and life eternal; and when with a humble heart he bore the ignominy of the cross, he remained the Lord of glory and of majesty. FRAGMENT V. How the Holy Spirit may groan or petition. According to the right rule, therefore, of the Catholic faith, that the Holy Spirit groans must not be understood in such a way:
since indeed groaning befits neither the divine nature, which the Holy Spirit possesses, nor even the angelic beatitude, which the holy angels are known to have by the gift of the Trinity. Whence it is rightly understood in that manner in which it is wont to be signified by way of the efficient cause producing what is effected — that is, he makes us groan, desire, and petition, namely while he inspires into our hearts the affection of groaning and petitioning. So then the Holy Spirit is said to groan, desire, and petition, just as God too is said to «know», by reason of his making one who knows. For it was said to Abraham: «Now I know that you fear God, and have not spared your beloved son for my sake» (Gen. 22:12).
Whence, because in God there abides by nature the immutable and eternal knowledge of all things, and it is impious to believe that the everlasting Godhead came to know anything in time; the rule of truth surely requires this, that when the divinity says it has come to know, it be understood that it makes one who knows. The blessed Apostle held the same mode of speech, writing to the Galatians and saying: «But then indeed, not knowing God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now, since you have come to know God, or rather have been known by God» (Gal. 4:8-9). Where it was certainly not false that the Apostle said they had come to know God, and yet he wished as it were to remove this by the following sentence:
but lest they should wish to assign that very knowledge not to the divine gift, but to themselves; the Apostle, following, in that mode of speech which we have mentioned, whereby through the efficient cause is shown what is effected, said that they had been «known by God»: showing that it was brought about by God that they should know God. Next, you cannot deny that the Apostle said: «And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying: Abba, Father» (ibid., 6). How then does that Spirit, who is not the Son, but nevertheless is the Spirit of truth, cry «Abba, Father», except surely in that manner in which he makes us cry? Which the blessed Apostle in another place evidently makes plain, saying: «For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of the adoption of sons, in whom we cry: Abba, Father» (Rom. 8:14-15). You perceive indeed that for the Spirit to cry «Abba, Father» is this: to make us cry. The Holy Spirit therefore is said to groan and to petition for this reason, because he makes us groan and petition. For just as the Apostle expounded more clearly and manifestly that which he had said of the Spirit, «crying: Abba, Father», by saying, «in whom we cry: Abba, Father»; so also that which he said of the Spirit petitioning he similarly expounded in another place, saying: «Praying at all times in the Spirit, and watching in him in all perseverance and supplication» (Eph. 6:18).
Behold how the Spirit petitions for us, while we pray in the Spirit: behold how he intercedes for us, while we watch in all perseverance and supplication in that same Spirit. For the Holy Spirit, through whom the charity of God is poured out in our hearts, makes us groan and petition for our iniquities. And he makes us groan, while he makes us grieve over our iniquity, petition pardon, desire righteousness. That desire and groaning he had received by the gift of the Holy Spirit, who said: «I roared with the groaning of my heart»; and, «Before you is all my desire, and my groaning is not hidden from you» (Ps. 37:9-10 [38:8-9]). FRAGMENT VI.