Часть II. Правило веры

Faith is preserved in the Church 15. Faith in the Church is conveyed in short words, which contain the eternal, not yet accessible to the understanding of carnal people, as well as the temporary, past and future, perfect and destined to be perfect by eternal Divine providence for the salvation of people. So we believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are eternal and unchangeable, that is, one God, the eternal and consubstantial Trinity, God from “Who are all things, by whom are all things, and in whom are all things” (cf. Rom. 11:36) 55. 16. Nec eos audiamus, qui dicunt patrem tantummodo esse nec habere filium nec esse cum eo spiritum sanctum, sed ipsum patrem aliquando appellari filium, aliquando spiritum sanctum. nesciunt enim principium, ex quo sunt omnia, et imaginem eius, per quam formantur omnia, et sanctitatem eius, in qua ordinantur omnia. God is one in three Persons. Sabellius' fallacy 16. Let us not listen to those who say that only the Father exists, and He does not have a Son, and with Him there is no Holy Spirit, but that the Father Himself is sometimes called the Son, and sometimes the Holy Spirit 56. They know neither the Beginning, from Whom all things are, nor His Image (imaginem eius), by which all things are formed, nor His Holiness (sanctilatem eius), 57 in which all things are ordered. 17. Nec eos audiamus, qui indignantur et stomachantur, quia non tres deos colendos dicimus. nesciunt enim, quid sit una eadem que substantia, et phantasmatibus suis inluduntur, quia solent uidere corporaliter uel animalia tria uel quaecumque corpora tria locis suis esse separata, sic putant intellcgendam substantiam dei et multum errant, quoniam superbi sunt, et non possunt discere, quia nolunt credere. Unity of the Holy Trinity. Tritheism Fallacy 17. Let us not listen to those who are offended and irritated when we say that it is inadmissible to worship the three gods 58. Indeed, they do not know what a single, equal essence means; carried away by their imagination, they are accustomed to physically seeing in front of them three living beings or three bodies that are separately in their places. They believe that this is how the Divine essence should be thought of. But they are deeply mistaken, for they are proud; they cannot learn because they do not want to believe. 18. Nec eos aucliamus, qui patrem solum uerum deum et sempiternum esse dicunt. filium autem non de ipso genitum, sed ab ipso factum de nihilo, et fuisse tempus, quando non erat, sed lamen primum locum tenere in oinni creatura; et spiritum sanctum minoris maiestatis esse quam filium et ipsum factum esse post filium: et horum trium diuersas esse substantias, tamquam aurum et argentum et aeramentum. nesciunt enim, quid loquantur, et de his rebus, quas per oculos carneos uidere consueuerunt, uanas imagines ad disputationes suas transferunt, quia reuera magnum est mente conspicere generationem, quae non fit ex aliquo tempore, sed aeterna est, et ipsam caritatem et sanctitatem, qua generator et generatus ineffabiliter sibi copulantur. Magnum et difficile est haec mente conspicere, etiamsi pacata et tranquilla sit. non potest ergo fieri, ut illi haec uideant, qui lerrenas generationes nimis intuentur, et ad istas tenebras addunt adhuc fumum, quem sibi contentionibus et certaminibus cotidianis excitare non cessant, habentes animas carnis affectibus diffluentes tamquam ligna umore saginata, in quibus Ignis fumum solum uomit et habere flammas lucidas non potest, et hoc quidem de omnibus haereticis rectissime dici potest. Equality of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. The Arian Fallacy 18. Let us not listen to those who say that the Father is the one true and eternal God, but the Son was not born of Him, but was created by Him from nothing, and there was a time when He did not exist, although He occupies the first place in all creation: the Holy Spirit supposedly has less greatness than the Son, and He was created after the Son; and the essences of these Three differ from each other, like gold, silver and bronze 59. They do not know what they are saying, and they transfer vain images of those things that they are accustomed to seeing with carnal eyes into their reasoning. For it is truly a great thing to mentally contemplate a birth that does not take place in time, but eternally; and Love and Holiness itself, by which the One who gives birth and the Begotten are inexpressibly united. It is a great and difficult thing to contemplate this in the mind, even if it brings peace and tranquility. It is impossible to contemplate this for those who constantly see their physical birth before them, and to this darkness is added the children that constantly arise from daily disputes and quarrels. Their souls are filled with bodily lusts, like pieces of wood soaked in moisture, which do not burn in the fire with a clear flame, but only emit smoke. This can be said with complete justice about all heretics. 19. Credentes ergo incominutabilem trinitatem credamus etiam dispensationem temporalem pro salute generis humani. nec cos audiamus, qui filium dei iesum christum nihil esse aliud quam hominem dicunt, sed ita iustum, ut dignus sit appellari filius dei. et hos enim catholica disciplina misit foras, quia uanae gloriae cupiditate decepti contentiose disputare uoluerunt, antequam intellegerent, quid sit dei uirtus et dei sapiciitia et in principio uerbum, per quod facta sunt omnia, et quomodo uerbum caro factum est et habitauit in nobis. About the Creed used in the Hippo and Carthage Churches, see the study: Kelly J.N.D. Early Christian Creeds. Oxford, 19602. P.175–170. We are talking about the error of Sabellianism, named after the priest and theologian of the 3rd century Savell, excommunicated from church communion in the year 220 by Pope Callistus I. The teaching of Sabelli is one of the variants of modalism, according to which the Father, Son and Holy Spirit represent different “modes” - ways of revealing the one God in the history of the world and in the history of salvation. In Western Christian circles, this heresy was also called patripassianism, that is, a doctrine that speaks of the suffering of God the Father. Hippolytus of Rome, Tertulliap, Dionysius of Alexandria, and even the heretic Arius polemicized against modalism. “The Image of God the Father” (εἰκὼν ἀπαράλλακτος τοὐ Πατρός lat. imago (less commonly: forma) Dei Palris) as one of the main names of the Son is characteristic of the theology of St. Athanasius the Great (see his Contra Arianos, I 9; 1 20; In illud: Omnia Mihitradita, 5, etc.), from him he passed to Western theologians, in particular to St. Hilary of Pictavia (see his De Trinit, II. 1; VIII. 49; Tr. in Ps. 138. 15, etc.). “Holiness” (ἁγιοτησ ἁηιωσύνς, Latin sanctitas) as one of the hypostatic names of the Holy Spirit is characteristic of the Trinitarian theology of St. Basil the Great (see his De Spiritu St.19.48; Adv. Eun.,3.3.6; Ep.159.2.25). – Editor's note. Here we are most likely not talking about some unknown form of “Christian” veneration of the three gods - the heresy of “tritheism”, but about the tendency of simple uneducated people to simplify Christian dogmas to the point of error. These words of Augustine are directed against the Arians, who deny the fullness of the Divinity of the Son of God, and the so-called “Dukhoborts”. belittling the Divine dignity of the Holy Spirit. Augustine, like the great defenders of Orthodoxy in the East, emphasizes the eternal and spiritual birth of the Son of God, rejecting the false interpretation of the Arians, which often represents an interpretation of the basic Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity in a material sense.