Против хулителей, утверждающих, что Дух Святый есть тварь

1) The Scripture of your sacred love was given to me in the desert. A cruel persecution has been raised against us, the search for those seeking my death is intensified, but “the Father of mercies and the God of all joy” (2 Cor. 1:3) comforted me with your writing. Remembering your love and the love of all those sincerely devoted to me, I then imagined that they were with me. And therefore I was very happy, holding your letter in my hands. But, after reading what was written, I was again sick in spirit that there are people who once and forever planned to go against the truth. And you yourself, beloved and truly most desired, write with sorrow that some, although they retreated from the Arians for their blasphemy against the Son of God, nevertheless think wrongly about the Holy Spirit, and claim that the Holy Spirit is not only a creature, but even one of the ministering spirits, and is only different in degree from the Angels. But this is only a feigned disagreement with the Arians, but a real contradiction of the pious faith. Just as the Arians, denying the Son, deny the Father, so these, blaspheming the Holy Spirit, blaspheme the Son. Both of them divided among themselves the lot of opposition to the truth, and for their wrong-mindedness, some about the Word, and others about the Spirit, are guilty of the same blasphemy against the Holy Trinity. So, seeing this, I pondered with myself for a long time, and was grieved in spirit that the devil had again found an opportunity to scoff at the imitators of his madness. And although I was supposed to remain silent at the present time, nevertheless, convinced by your reverence, motivated by the other-mindedness and satanic insolence of these heretics, I am writing this message, as if my strength is barely sufficient, I am writing briefly, so that you, in what you have written, have a reason for yourself, according to your characteristic prudence, you yourself will add what is missing, and thus the denunciation of the evil heresy will become complete. 2) So, this opinion is not alien to the Arians; Once someone decides to deny God’s Word, it is natural for them to utter such blasphemy against the Spirit. Therefore, there is no need to say anything new to refute the Arians; What was said against them before is enough. But one must speak with those who err in the doctrine of the Spirit, having examined the matter in some reverse order, as they themselves would call it. And others will marvel at their foolishness, how they, not agreeing to recognize the creation of the Son of God, and thinking about this justly, can even hear patiently when the Spirit of the Son is called a creature? If, due to the unity of the Word with the Father, they do not agree to call the Son one of the created, but (which is right) recognize Him as the Creator of creatures; then why is the Holy Spirit, who also has the unity with the Son that the Son has with the Father, called a creature? Why did they not realize that just as, without separating the Son from the Father, they preserve the unity of God, so, by separating the Spirit from the Word, they no longer preserve the one Divinity in the Trinity, cutting Him apart, mixing into Him an alien and foreign nature, making Him equal with creatures? This again shows that the Trinity is no longer one, but a composite of two, and, moreover, (due to the non-existence of the Spirit, which the heretics imagine) different natures. What kind of theology is this, composed of the Creator and the creature? Or is the Divinity no longer threefold, but dual, and moreover there is a creature? Or, if It is the Trinity (which it really is), then why is the Spirit of the Trinity put on a par with the creatures lower than the Trinity? This again means to divide and disintegrate the Trinity. And therefore, those who are unwise about the Holy Spirit do not rightly think about the Son. And if we rightly philosophized about the Word, then we would philosophize sensibly about the Spirit, “Who proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26), and which belongs to the Son, is given from Him to the disciples and to all who believe in Him. Erroring in the doctrine of the Spirit, heretics do not have sound faith in the Father. For “those who resist the Spirit,” as the great martyr Stephen called them (Acts 7:51), deny the Son; “But those who deny the Son do not have the Father” (1 John 2:23). 3) So, where did you find the pretext for such insolence that you were not afraid of what the Lord said: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will have no remission, either in this age or in the next” (Mark 3:29; Matt. 12:32)? The Arians, not understanding the coming of the Word in the flesh and what was said about the Word regarding this coming, nevertheless turned this into a pretext for their heresy, and for this they were recognized as fighters against God, as truly “vain talkers from the earth” (Is. 8:19). But how have you been deceived? Who did you listen to this from? Or how did they get to such a misconception? They say: we read that in the Prophet Amos God says: “Behold, I establish the thunder and create the spirit, 1 and proclaim His Christ among men, make morning and darkness, and ascend on the high earth: the Lord God Almighty is His name” (Am. 4:13) And this convinced us to agree with the Arians, who say that the Holy Spirit is a creature. – So you read from Amos; but have you or have you not read what was said in Proverbs: The Lord made Me the beginning of His ways for His works” (Prov. 8:22)? And if you interpret the last saying in accordance with the truth, without naming the Word to the creature; then why don’t you interpret what was said by the Prophet in the same way, and, having heard one name: “spirit,” do you think that the Holy Spirit is called a creature? Although in Proverbs Wisdom clearly speaks of Herself: “she created Me”; however, you interpret this saying (which is very good) in such a way that you do not classify Creative Wisdom among creatures. In the prophetic saying there is no direct reference to the Holy Spirit, but simply speaks about the spirit. Why, although in the Scriptures the word “spirit” is used in very different meanings, and a prophetic saying can be given its own correct meaning, do you, as stubborn people or as bitten by the serpent of Arianism, think that Amos speaks of the Holy Spirit, just so as not to give up the idea that He is a creature? 4) Tell me, will you find anywhere in the Divine Scripture that the Holy Spirit is called simply spirit, or without an addition, that He is either God’s, or the Father’s, or Mine, or Christ and the Son Himself, or: from Me, that is, from God, or so that with the word Spirit there would not be a member and it would be said simply πνεῦμα, and not τὸ πνεῦμα, or so that it would not have this very name: the Holy Spirit, or the Comforter, or the Spirit of Truth, that is, the Son, who says: “I am... the Truth” (John 14:6); and you, hearing simply the word: spirit (πνεῦμα), could mean the Holy Spirit? From this rule we must exclude cases when it is again mentioned about those who have already received the Spirit, who, having first learned what the Holy Spirit is, subsequently, with one (as if only as a repetition and reminder) name of the word “Spirit”, know Whom we are talking about. But even in this case, the word spirit (πνεῦμα) is mostly used with a member, and without a member, or without the above-mentioned addition, it cannot at all mean the Holy Spirit. So, for example, Paul writes to the Galatians: “This is one thing I want to take away from you: is it from the works of the law of the Spirit (τὸ Πνεῦμα) received, or from the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:2). What kind of Spirit did they receive if not the Holy Spirit, given to believers and to those regenerated by the washing of rebirth? And writing to the Thessalonians: “Do not quench the Spirit (τὸ Πνεῦμα)” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), the Apostle said this to those who knew what kind of Spirit they had received, so that through negligence they would not quench the grace of the Spirit that had been extinguished in them. And if in the Gospels about the Savior, according to humanity for the sake of the flesh He took upon Himself, the Evangelists say: “Jesus, full of the Spirit... return from the Jordan” (Luke 4:1); and: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Matthew 4:1): then these sayings have the same meaning. For Luke previously said: “When all the people were baptized, and I was baptized and praying to Jesus, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:21, 22); and from this it was clear that the word “Spirit” means the Holy Spirit. And thus, whoever has the Holy Spirit, in the speech about those, if it is said simply: Spirit, without any addition to this, it means, without a doubt, the Holy Spirit, especially if the word “spirit” has a member. 5) Answer the question put to you: have you found anywhere in the divine Scripture that the Holy Spirit is called simply a spirit, without the addition mentioned above, and without observing the rule we mentioned? But you cannot answer this; because you will not find it in the Scripture. On the contrary, in the book of Genesis it is written: “and the Spirit of God was carried on the top of the waters” (Gen. 1:2); and a little lower: “My Spirit shall not abide in these men... for they are flesh” (Gen. 6:3). And in the book of Numbers, Moses says to Joshua: “Are you jealous of me for food? and who will give... to the Lord's people... prophets, when the Lord gives His Spirit upon them? (Num. 11:29). And in the book of Judges it is said about Othniel: “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and judged Israel” (Judges 3:10); and again: “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah” (Judges 11:29); about Sampson it is said: “When he was a man, and the Lord blessed him: and the Spirit of the Lord began to walk with him” (Judges 13:24, 25), and: “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him” (Judges 15:14). And David sings: “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from Me” (Ps. 50:13), and in the one hundred and forty-second psalm: “Your good Spirit will guide me to the right land. For Thy name's sake, O Lord, live for me" (Ps. 142:10, 11). In Isaiah it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for the sake of My anointing” (Isaiah 61:1); and before it was said: “Woe, the child who has apostatized, this says the Lord: make counsel not by Me, and covenants not by My Spirit, add sins to sins” (Isa. 30:1); and again: “Hear this, from the first you did not stop saying: when I was, there I was, and now the Lord ... sent me and His Spirit” (Is. 48:16); a little lower he says: “And this is a covenant to them from Me, saying the Lord: My Spirit is in you” (Is. 59:21); and after this the Prophet adds: “Not an intercessor, a lower angel, but the Lord himself saved them, loved them dearly and spared them: he himself delivered them and accepted them and exalted them all the days of the world. But she did not submit and angered His Holy Spirit, and turned to enmity” (Isa. 63:9, 10). Ezekiel says this: “And the Spirit took me and brought me captive into the land of Chaldeans in a vision by the Spirit of God” (Ezekiel 11:24). Daniel says: “God raised up a young man by the Holy Spirit, whose name was Daniel: and he cried with a great voice, “I am clean from this blood” (Dan. 13:45, 46). Micah says: “the house of Jacob is the wrath of the Spirit of the Lord” (Micah 2:7). And through Joel God says: “And it shall come to pass, and I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28). And this was also the word of God through Zechariah: “Besides, you accept My words and My laws, as I commanded in My soul through My servant the Prophet” (Zechariah 1:6); and a little lower, when the Prophet complained about the people, God said: “And I made my heart disobedient, not to obey My law and the words which the Lord Almighty sent by His Spirit by His hand to the former Prophets” (Zechariah 7:12). And we collected these few passages and brought them from the Old Testament. 6) Ask about what is in the Gospels and what the Apostles wrote, and you will hear that even there the word “spirit” has many different meanings; The Holy Spirit is primarily called not just spirit, but with the addition we have said. Thus, as noted above, when the Lord was baptized according to humanity, because of the flesh He carried on Him, it is said that the Holy Spirit descended on Him. And giving this Spirit to the disciples, the Lord said: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). And he taught them: “Comforter... the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things” (John 14:26). And a little lower he said about the Spirit: “When... the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He testifies of Me” (John 15:26); and again: “You... will not be the ones who speak, but the Spirit of your Father will speak to you” (Matthew 10:20); and a little lower: “If I through the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God will come upon you” (Matthew 12:28). And all our theology and mystical teaching, with which He united us with Himself, and through Himself with the Father, filling us with the Spirit, the Lord commanded the disciples: “As he walked... teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). And uttering to them the promise to send the Spirit, “commanded... not to depart from Jerusalem” (Acts 1:4); after a few days, “when the days of Pentecost passed away, everything... together. And suddenly there was a sound from heaven, like a storm of breath, and it filled the whole house, where it was seated: and the nations appeared to them, divided like fire, and they sat on one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit had given them to speak” (Acts 2:1-4). After this, “by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles the Holy Spirit was given” to those born again (Acts 8:18, 2:18). And a certain Agabus prophesied by the Spirit, saying: “Thus says the Holy Spirit” (Acts 21:11). And Paul says: “In him make the Holy Spirit bishops, to shepherd the Church ... of God, whom he acquired with His blood” (Acts 20:28). And after the baptism of the eunuch, the Spirit of the Lord captured Philip. And Peter wrote: “Accepting the end of faith... salvation for souls: the Prophets sought and tested this salvation, who prophesied about your grace, testing to see in what or at what time the Spirit of Christ appeared in them, first testifying about Christ’s passions, and about the glories even to this day” (1 Pet. 1: 9-11). John in his Epistle said: “We understand this, because we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit to eat” (1 John 4:13). Paul writes to the Romans: “But you are not in the flesh, but in Dus, because the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. If Christ is in you, the flesh is dead because of sin, but the spirit lives because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the Risen Jesus... lives in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your dead body, through His living Spirit in you” (Rom. 8:9-11); and to the Corinthians: “For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Who knows... what is in a person, exactly the spirit of a person living in him? Likewise, no one knows God’s message, but the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we know that which is given to us by God” (1 Cor. 2:10–12); and a little lower: “Do you not know that you are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16)? And again: “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11); and again: “But all this operates in one and the same Spirit, dividing power to each as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11); and again: “But the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). Look, as he writes to the Galatians: “yea... the blessing of Abraham may be in Christ Jesus, that we may receive the promise of the Spirit by faith” (Gal. 3:14); and again: “Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father. The same now bears a servant, but a son: if he be a son and heir of God... by Christ” (Gal. 4:6, 7). He said this to the Ephesians: “Do not offend the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you are marked on the day of deliverance” (Eph. 4:30); and again: “to be diligent in guarding the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). And he boldly writes to the Philippians: “What! In every way, whether through guilt or through the truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice, but I also rejoice: for this will come to pass for my salvation through your prayer and the giving of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my hope and hope, for I have been ashamed of nothing” (Phil. 1:18–20); and again: “For we are the circumcision, who through the Spirit serve God, and glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:3). And he testifies to the Thessalonians: “From the same token, he who sweeps away does not sweep away man, but God, who gave His Holy Spirit in you” (1 Thessalonians 4:8). To the Hebrews he writes like this: “I show it to the Holy Spirit, that the way was not revealed to the saints, even before the tabernacle that had the standing” (Heb. 9:8); and again: “How much do you think that the worst one will be worthy of torment, having trampled upon the Son of God, and having taken the blood of the covenant defilement, by it he was sanctified, and rebuked the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:29). And again: “If the blood of a goat and a heifer and the ashes of a young man sprinkling the defilement sanctifies the purity of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, which He offered to Himself without blemish to God through the eternal Spirit, cleanse our conscience from dead works” (Heb. 9:13, 14)? And to the Thessalonians he writes: “And then the wicked one will appear, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the Spirit of His mouth, and will bring to nothing by the manifestation of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). 7) These are the signs by which the Holy Spirit is designated in every divine Scripture. What similar things did you see in the Prophet? The word “spirit” now used by the Prophet does not even have a member in front of it, so that you could have an excuse for yourself in this. On the contrary, without any basis, you dared to come up with the opposite conclusion and assert that the “spirit” that is said to be created is the Holy Spirit, although you could have learned from philologists the difference in meaning of the word “spirit”. For it is also said about the human spirit, as David sings: “I mocked my heart at night, and my spirit was afflicted” (Ps. 77:7). And Baruch in prayer says: “The soul in distress and the spirit in pain cry out to You” (Bar. 3:1). And in the song of the three youths it is said: “Bless the Lord, O souls and souls of the righteous” (Dan. 3:86). And the Apostle writes: “The Spirit itself obeys our spirit, for we are children of God. And also children and heirs” (Rom. 8:16, 17); and again: “No one knows... what is in a man, but the spirit of man living in him” (1 Cor. 2:11). And in the Epistle to the Thessalonians he prayerfully says: “May your spirit and soul be perfect and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). And the book of Genesis also speaks about windy spirits: “And God brought a spirit upon the earth, and the waters ceased” (Gen. 8:1). And about Jonah it is said: “And the Lord stirred up spirit on the sea, and there was a great storm in the sea, and your ship was wrecked” (Jon. 1:4). And in the one hundred and sixth psalm it is written: “Speech, and a hundred spirits are stormy, and the waves thereof rise up” (Ps. 106:25); and in the one hundred and forty-eighth psalm: “Praise the Lord from the earth, the serpent and all the deeps: fire, hail, snow, hunger, a stormy spirit, who does His word” (Ps. 149:7, 8). And in Ezekiel’s lamentation on Sor it is said: “I will kill you in my heart, I will bring you your joysticks in many waters; I will crush you in the spirit of the south” (Ezekiel 27:26). 8) Reading the Holy Scriptures, you will find that the meaning contained in the most divine words is called spirit, as Paul writes: And in Ezekiel’s lamentation at Sor it is said: “And the ministers pleased us to make the New Testament, not by writing, but by the Spirit: for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6), For, as the very saying is written pismenami, so the meaning of the saying is called spirit. So “the law is spiritual,” so that, as Paul said again, “we should work... not in old age, but in renewal of the spirit” (Rom. 7:14, 6). And he said with thanksgiving: “Nevertheless, I myself work with my mind the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin... For there is no condemnation that is now in Christ Jesus... for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin” (Rom. 7:25, 8:1, 2). And Philip, wanting to turn the man from the letter to the spirit, said: “Do you understand what you have read” (Acts 8:30)? And about Caleb in the book of Numbers it is testified that he had such a spirit, as God says: “But my servant Caleb, because the spirit was in him, and following Me, I will bring him into the land, walked there in the dark” (Num. 14:24); Caleb spoke with a different mind than the other spies, and for this he was pleased with God. God exhorted His people to have such a heart, saying through Ezekiel: “Create for yourself a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezek. 18:31). So, since so many different meanings of the word “spirit” are shown, it would be better for you, when you hear about the created spirit, to understand this about one of the spirits spoken before this, for example, about the spirit about which it is written in Isaiah: “Aram took counsel with Ephraim, and his soul and the soul of his people were terrified, like a tree in an oak grove with the spirit (ὑπὸ πνεύματος) wavers” (Isa. 7:2). Such was the spirit raised up by the Lord on the sea for Jonah’s sake. For thunder is followed by the breath of the winds, as was the case during the rain under Ahab, according to what is written: “And it came to here and to here, and the heavens were darkened with clouds and spirit” (1 Kings 18:45). 9) But they say: since this saying mentions Christ; then, in accordance with this, the named spirit must be imagined as nothing other than the Holy Spirit. – You have well noted that the Holy Spirit should be named together with Christ. But where did you learn to separate and alienate the nature of the Spirit from the Son, because you say about Christ that He is not a creature, but you call the Holy Spirit a creature? It is incongruous to name and glorify together something that is dissimilar by nature. For what kind of fellowship and what similarity does the creature have with the Creator? It remains to be numbered and joined to the Son and you, as those who received being by Him. Therefore, what was written by the Prophet, according to what was said, was enough to understand about the windy spirit. But, since you present as a pretext the mention of Christ made in this saying; then it is necessary to examine exactly what the Prophet said in order to find a more characteristic concept of the spirit, which is said to be creative. So, what does it mean to “proclaim your Christ among men?” Isn’t it the same as for Christ to become a man? It seems that these words are equivalent to the following: “Behold, the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14), as well as other places of Scripture about Christ’s coming. When the appearance of the Word in the flesh is announced, then what kind of created spirit should we understand, other than the created and renewed human spirit? For this is what God promised, saying through Ezekiel: “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and will give you an heart of flesh, and will put My Spirit in you” (Ezek. 36:26). But when this was fulfilled, was it not then that the Lord who came renewed everything with grace? This saying also shows the difference in meaning of the word “spirit”. And our spirit is that which is renewed; God says about the Holy Spirit that He is not just a Spirit, but His Spirit, and that through Him our spirit is renewed, just as the Psalmist says in the one hundred and third psalm: “Quiet their spirit, and they will disappear and return to their dust: follow Your Spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 103:29, 30). If we are renewed by the Spirit of God, then it is not the Holy Spirit, but our spirit that is now said to be created. And if, on the basis that everything is brought into being by the Word, you reason well that the Son is not a creature; then is it not blasphemy to call the creature the Spirit, by whom the Father, through the Word, brings everything to perfection and renews it? And if, because of what was written simply that the spirit is created, they imagined that it was the Holy Spirit; then we must finally be convinced that the spirit being created is not the Holy Spirit, but our spirit, renewed by Him. David also prayed about this, singing the psalm: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb” (Ps. 50:12). It says here that it creates; He created it first, as Zechariah says: “stretch out the heavens and found the earth and create the spirit of man in it” (Zechariah 12:1). For the same spirit, which was previously created by God, and which fell, He recreated, Himself being in creation, when “the Word became flesh ... and both,” as the Apostle says, “created ... into one new man” (John 1:14; Eph. 2:15), “created according to God in righteousness and ... the excellence of the truth” (Eph. 4:24). And the Apostle did not say this in the sense that any other person was created than the one created in the beginning in the image of God; on the contrary, he advised to perceive the mind created and renewed in Christ. This is also expressed in Ezekiel when he says: “make for yourself a new heart and a new spirit... and die in all, the house of Israel?.. Because I do not want death... dying, says Adonai the Lord” (Ezek. 18:31, 32). 10) So, since the created spirit has such a meaning, then by the affirmed thunder it is appropriate to understand the true word and the unshakable law of the spirit. For the Lord, wanting James and John to become servants of him, named them Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder. Why, John really calls out from heaven: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word” (John 1:1). For before the Law had “the shadow of... good things to come” (Heb. 10:1); and when Christ was announced to people, and, having come to them, He said: “I am, say” (John 4:26); “Then,” says Paul, “His voice shook the earth, as He promised before: with one more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. And even if they are still one, says the dissolution of those who are shaken... let them remain, even as they are immovable. Moreover, the kingdom is unshakably accepting, and the imams have grace, with which we serve God pleasingly” (Heb. 12:26–28). But the same kingdom, which the Apostle calls unshakable, David praises as established: “The Lord reigned, clothed with beauty: the Lord clothed himself with strength and girded himself: for he established the world, which cannot move” (Ps. 92:1). So, what was said by the Prophet means the Savior’s coming, in which we are renewed, and the law of the spirit remains unshakable. But these truly “converse” 2, having formed with the Arians, and with them taking part in blasphemy against the Divine, so that, as they call the creation of the Son, so they call the creature of the Spirit, they dared, as they themselves say, to invent reverse conclusions for themselves and reinterpret the Apostolic saying. And when the Apostle beautifully wrote to Timothy: “I will testify before God, and... Jesus Christ, and the elect angels... that you may preserve this without hypocrisy, having done nothing out of deviation” (1 Tim. 5:21); then they say: “since he named God and Christ, and then Angels, it is necessary to number the Spirit among the Angels, and assume that the Spirit is of the same rank with them, and only higher than the other Angels.” Firstly, this is an invention of Valentin’s wickedness, and the heretics cannot hide the fact that they are repeating his words. For Valentine said: “When the Comforter is sent, the angels who are his peers are sent with Him.” And moreover, while relegating the Spirit to the rank of angels, they did not notice that they place the Angels on a par with the Trinity. For if the Angels, according to them, follow the Father and the Son; it is clear that the Angels also belong to the Trinity, and not “the essence of the service souls, sent to serve” (Heb. 1:14), and they are not sanctified, but rather they themselves sanctify others. 11) Therefore, what is their folly? Where was it found again in the Scriptures that the Spirit was called an Angel? I need to repeat what was said before. The Comforter is called the “Spirit of Sonship” (Rom. 8:15), also called the “Spirit of Holiness” (2 Thess. 2:13), the “Spirit of God” (Rom. 15:19) and the “Spirit of Christ”; but nowhere is it called either an Angel, or an Archangel, or the spirit of service, which are the essence of Angels. On the contrary, Gabriel serves Him, as well as the Son, saying to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You” (Luke 1:35). Since the Scriptures do not call the Spirit an Angel, will there be any justification for such unreasonable insolence? Valentine himself, who sowed such a bad idea in them, does not confuse the names: “Comforter” and “Angels,” although he has so much recklessness that he recognizes the Spirit as modern and contemporaneous with the Angels. “But,” they say, “the Prophet Zechariah says: “This is what the angel said in me” (Zech. 4:1). From this it is clear that the word Angel means Prophet of the Spirit speaking in him.” “But they wouldn’t have said this if they had read it carefully.” For Zechariah himself, having seen the candlestick in a vision, says: “And the angel answered and spoke in me and said... Do you not understand what these things are? And reh: no, Lord. And he answered and said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not in great power, nor in strength, but in my soul,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:5, 6). So it is clear that the Angel speaking to the Prophet was not the Holy Spirit. But just as the speaker is an Angel, so the Spirit is the Spirit of God Almighty; He is served by an Angel, He is inseparable from the Divine, He belongs to the Word. If they rely on the Apostolic saying, because after Christ the chosen Angels are named; then let them say which of all the Angels joins the Trinity. For all Angels are not one. Or which of them descended on the Jordan in the form of a dove? For “thousands of thousands... and these they serve” (Dan. 7:10). Or why, when the heavens opened, not one of the chosen Angels descended, but the Holy Spirit? Or why did the Lord himself, talking with his disciples about the end of the age, definitely say: “The Son of man will come after His angels” (Matthew 13:41)? And before this it was said: “Angels... serve Him” (Matthew 4:11); and He Himself also says: “Angels will come forth” (Matthew 13:49). Giving the disciples the Spirit, “the verb: receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), and sending them out, he said: “Going... teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). He did not join an Angel to the Divinity, nor a creature united us with Himself and with the Father, but with the Holy Spirit, at the promise of Whom He did not say: I will send an Angel, but: “The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26), “receives” from the Son (John 16:14) and is given. 12) And Moses, knowing that Angels are creatures, and the Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son, when God says to him: “Go ahead, get up from here, you and your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt to the land by which you swore to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, saying: To your seed I will give: and I will send My angel before them in a purchase. yours, and he will destroy the Canaanite” (Ex. 33:1, 2), - he denies, saying: “Unless You yourself go with us, do not bring me out from here” (Ex. 33:15). Moses did not want the people to be led by a creature, which would make the Jews learn to serve the creature more than God, who created all things. And indeed, refusing to have an Angel as their leader, he begged that God himself should lead them. And since God promised him and said: “I will do this word of yours that you have spoken: for you have found grace before Me, and I know you above all” (Ex. 33:17); then in Isaiah it is written: “Who raised up from the earth a shepherd of the sheep... where is he who put the Holy Spirit in them? He who was raised up by the right hand of Moses" (Is. 63:11, 12) and a little lower: "the Spirit came from the Lord and taught them: thus did you lead your people, making for you a glorious name" (Is. 63:14). Who will not see the truth from this? since God promises to lead the people, he does not promise to send an Angel, but His Spirit, who is higher than the Angels, and He leads the people. And this shows that the Spirit is not one of the creatures, and not an Angel, but is higher than the creature, and is one with the Father’s Divinity. For God himself, through the Word in the Spirit, led the people, which is why he says everywhere in Scripture: “I brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Lev. 11:45; 1 Sam. 10:18); “You are a witness, if there is any God in you except Me” (Isaiah 44:8). And the saints proclaim to God: “Thou hast taught Thy people like sheep” (Ps. 76:21); “The Lord led me to trust and not to fear” (Ps. 77:53). And they sing a song to Him, saying: “To him who led His people in the wilderness, for His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 136:16). The great Moses often repeats: “The Lord your God will go before you” (Deut. 1:30, 33). Therefore, the Spirit of God is neither an Angel nor a creature, but belongs to the Divine. When the Spirit was with the people, then God was with them in the Spirit through the Son. 13) “But let us suppose that this is so,” say the heretics; “Why did the Apostle name after Christ not the Holy Spirit, but the chosen Angels”? - But another will ask the heretics about the same thing: why did Paul name not Archangels, not Cherubim, not Seraphim, not Dominions, not Thrones, and nothing else, but only chosen Angels? Is it really true that since he did not name it that way, the Angels are Archangels, or are they the only Angels, and there are no Seraphim, no Cherubim, no Archangels, no Dominions, no Thrones, no Principalities, or anything else? But this means that it is necessary for the Apostle to write one way and not another, and at the same time not to know the Divine Scriptures, and therefore to sin in the truth. For it is written in Isaiah: “Come to me and hear this, from the first you did not hide the words: when I was, I was there, and now the Lord ... sent me and His Spirit” (Is. 48:16); and in Haggai: “And now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong, O Jesus, son of Jehozedek, the great priest, and let all the people of the earth be strong, saith the Lord... and do: I am with you, saith the Lord Almighty... and my Spirit shall be present in your midst” (Hag. 2:4, 5). Both Prophets made mention of one Lord and Spirit. Therefore, what will they say to this? If, on the basis that Paul, having mentioned Christ, was silent about the Spirit, but mentioned the elect Angels, they classify the Spirit with the Angels; then, having read these prophetic sayings, it remains to draw a more daring conclusion about what is silent. For if they say that the Lord is the Son, what will they conclude about the Father? And if they say that he calls the Father Lord, what will they conclude about the Son? It’s scary to even think about the blasphemy that follows from this according to their words. For they must conclude either that the silent one does not exist, or that it is among the creatures. 14) What will they say if they hear the Lord, Who says: “There was a certain judge in a certain city, not fearing God and not putting to shame man” (Luke 18:2)? Is it possible that since he named man after God, this man, whom the unjust judge did not put to shame, is the Son? Or, since he named man after God, is the Son third after man, and the Holy Spirit fourth? And if they hear that the Apostle in the same Epistle also says: “I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and the Lord Jesus Christ who bore witness to the good confession under Pontius Pilate: that you keep the commandment undefiled and without shame” (1 Tim. 6:13, 14); then, since he has now kept silent about the Angels and the Spirit, will they really doubt that there is a Spirit and there are Angels? Of course they will doubt it, because they have become accustomed to such blasphemies against the Spirit. And if they hear what the Scripture says in the book of Exodus: “the people feared the Lord... and believed in God and in Moses His saint” (Ex. 14:31); then will they really rank Moses with God and, after God, will they imagine not the Son, but only Moses? And if they hear that Patriarch Jacob, blessing Joseph, says: “God, who nourished me from childhood even to this day, the angel who delivers me from all evils, bless these children” (Gen. 48:15, 16); then, since Jacob named the Angel after God, is the Angel higher than the Son, or is the Son counted among the Angels? Of course, they will understand this way, having a corrupt heart. But this is not the Apostolic Faith, and a Christian will not tolerate this. For the holy and blessed Trinity is inseparable, and is one with Itself. When the Father is called, both His Word and the Spirit are inherent in Him. And if the Son is called; then the Father is in the Son, and the Spirit is not outside the Word. For grace alone is supplied from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. And there is one Godhead, “one God... who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:6). So Paul, having said: “I will testify... before God and... Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 4:1), knew that the Spirit is inseparable from the Son, but He is also in Christ, as the Son is in the Father. It was not without reason that he added the chosen Angels; since the testimony was made to the disciple, the disciple, knowing that what is spoken by God is spoken through Christ in the Spirit, and the Angels serve us, overseeing the deeds of everyone, had to comply with the admonitions of the teacher; because there are witnesses to what was said, watching over him. Or, perhaps, the Apostle is testified by the Angels who see the face of the Father who is in heaven for the sake of the little ones in the Church, so that the disciple, knowing who the trustees of the people are, does not neglect the Apostolic admonitions. 15) This, in my opinion, is the meaning of Divine words, denouncing the blasphemy of the Spirit by foolish heretics. But they, as you write, in constant stubbornness against the truth, not from the Scriptures (because they find nothing in the Scriptures), but from the abundance of their hearts they vomit, and also say: “if the Spirit is not a creature and not one of the Angels, but proceeds from the Father; then doesn’t it follow that He is also the Son, that the Spirit and the Word are two brothers? And if He is a brother to the Word; then how is the Word the only begotten, or why are they not equal, but One is named after the Father, and the other after the Son? And if He is from the Father; then why is it not said that the Spirit was born, or that He is the Son, but is simply called the Holy Spirit? And if the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son; then doesn’t it follow that the Father is the grandfather of the Spirit? This is how these unworthy people mock, indulging in inquisitiveness and wanting to explore the depths of God, which no one knows except the Spirit of God who blasphemes them. One should not even deign to answer them, but according to the Apostolic commandment, after the admonition given above, one should renounce them as heretics (Tit. 3:10); or perhaps offer them questions worthy of what they ask, and demand from them the same answer as they themselves demand from us. Therefore, let them answer: is the Father from the Father, and is another begotten with Him, and are these brothers descended from one, and what is their name, and who is their Father and grandfather, and who are the ancestors of the latter? They will say: “No, the Father is not from the Father.” Let them explain: how is He the Father, not being Himself from the Father? Or how could he have a Son without first being born a Son? I know the question is wicked. But it is fair to mock those who mock so that even from such an incongruity of an impious question they can feel their own folly. These questions have no place; Let this not happen! And it is indecent to ask about the Divine in this way; because God is not the same as man, so that anyone should dare to ask about God in a human way. 16) Therefore, as I already said, one should remain silent about this and not go into such discussions. But, so that our silence does not serve as a reason for them to be shameless, let them hear that, just as we cannot call Father Father, so we cannot call Brother Son. The Father, according to what was written before, had no other God; there is no other Son, because the Son is the only begotten. Therefore, the one and only Father is the Father of the one and only Son; and in the one Godhead there has always been and is the Father and the Son. For among people, if someone is called father, then he was the son of another; and if someone is called a son, he has become the father of another; why, people do not preserve the name of the father or son in the proper sense. Abraham, being the son of Terah, was the father of Isaac; and Isaac, being the son of Abraham, became the father of Jacob. Such is human nature; people are parts in relation to each other. Each person who is born has a part of the father in him, which is why he himself becomes the father of another. But not so in the Godhead; God, not like man, has an indivisible nature; therefore, without being dedicated, He gives birth to the Son, so that He too becomes the father of another, because He Himself is not from the Father. And the Son is not a part of the Father, why he does not give birth, as He Himself was born, but is entirely the image and radiance of the all-whole Father. In the one Godhead, the Father is properly Father, and the Son is properly Son; and moreover, the Father is always the Father, and the Son is always the Son. Just as the Father was never the Son, so the Son will never be the Father. Just as the Father, being one, will never cease to be the Father, so the Son, being one, will never cease to be the Son. Therefore, it is completely crazy to think and call the Son brother, but give the Father the name of his grandfather. In the Scriptures the Spirit is not called a son, lest they consider Him a brother, and the Son is not called a son, lest the Father be considered a grandfather; on the contrary, the Son is called the Son of the Father, and the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Father. And thus, there is one Divinity of the Holy Trinity, and one faith. 17) And therefore, it is crazy to assert that the Spirit is a creature. If He were a creature, He would not be joined to the Trinity; because the whole Trinity is one God. And it is enough to know that the Spirit is not a creature and is not counted among the creatures; because nothing alien is mixed into the Trinity; on the contrary, She is inseparable and similar to herself. This is enough for believers. To this extent knowledge extends among people; here is the limit of what Cherubim cover with krills. And whoever strives and wants to explore more than this, he resists the one who said: “Do not become too wise, lest you become astonished” (Eccl. 7:17). What is committed to faith is appropriate to comprehend not with human wisdom, but with the ear of faith. For what word can adequately explain that which is higher than created nature? Or, what kind of hearing can even accept that “they are neither a man nor a man who can hear or speak”? This is how Paul even expressed himself about what he heard (2 Cor. 12:4); about God himself he said: “His ways are unsearchable. Who understands the mind of the Lord, or who is His adviser?” (Rom. 11:33, 34)? Abraham did not indulge in inquisitiveness, did not offer questions to the Speaker, but “faith... and it was imputed to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3; Gen. 15:6). For this reason, Moses was called a faithful servant (Heb. 3:5). If those who philosophize in the Arian way, since wisdom does not enter their evil soul, cannot comprehend with their minds and faith the teachings about the indivisible and holy Trinity; then let them not reinterpret the truth itself for the sake of this, and what they themselves cannot understand, let them not say that this is impossible. Heretics fall into great inconsistency, not being able to understand why the Holy Trinity is indivisible; The Arians place the Son at one with the creation, and these reverses also classify the Spirit among the creatures. But they had to, either, not understanding at all, remain silent, and for some the Son, and for others the Spirit, not to join the creatures, or to recognize what is written, and to unite the Son with the Father, and not to separate the Spirit from the Son, so that the indivisibility and true unity of the Holy Trinity would be preserved. Having learned this, they should not be impudent and not ask doubtfully, as happens, so that if the person being asked finds it difficult to answer, this would not turn into a reason for evil for them. For it is impossible for any created being, and especially for us people, to say anything worthy about the ineffable. Even more impudent, which we are not able to express, is to invent new sayings other than those used in Scripture. Moreover, such an enterprise is insane both in the one who asks and in the one who plans to answer. For even the one who proposes such questions about created things cannot be considered to have common sense. 18) Or let these, who reason freely about everything, dare to answer how the sky was composed, what substance it is made of, what its mixture is, or how the sun and each of the stars were composed? What is surprising if their recklessness is exposed by something that is higher than them, when the nature of the trees growing here, the composition of the waters, and the formation and structure of animals are not easily recognizable to them? Of course, they will not explain this, when Solomon, who most of all participated in wisdom, seeing that it was impossible for man to find this, said: “Every age has given in their hearts, lest man discover the creation that God created from the beginning and even to the end” (Eccl. 3:11). Is it possible that, since they cannot find this out, they admit that it does not exist? Of course, they admit this, having a corrupt mind. And therefore, another will rightly say to them: why do you, senseless and daring in everything, do not cease to indulge in inquisitiveness about the Holy Trinity, and do not believe more than “as it is”, having as your teacher the Apostle, who says: first of all, “to believe... is proper... God as He is, and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6)? He did not say as it is, but only “as it is.” But if this does not shame them, then let them say: how the Father is, so that in this way they will know how His Word is also. But they will say to this: “It is incongruous to ask this about the Father.” Therefore, let them hear that it is incongruous to ask about His Word in this way. 19) So, since such an enterprise is both unnecessary and full of complete madness; then let no one propose such questions, but study only what is said in the Scriptures, because those presented there in explanation of this comparison are sufficient and satisfactory. Thus, the Father is called the source and light. For it is said: “I left the fountain of water alive” (Jer. 2:13), and in Baruch: “What is there for Israel? Why are you in the land of the enemy?.. have you abandoned the source of wisdom” (Bar. 3:10, 12). And, according to John’s word, “God is our light” (1 John 1:5). The Son, in relation to the source, is called a river: “The river of God is filled with waters” (Ps. 64:10), and in relation to the light, radiance, as Paul says: “Who is the radiance of glory and the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1:3). And since the Father is light, and the Son is His radiance (it is especially lazy for us to repeatedly repeat the same thing about this); then in the Son we can see the Spirit by whom we are enlightened. For it is said: “Yes... He will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Him, the enlightened mind of the heart” (Eph. 1:17, 18). When we are enlightened by the Spirit, then Christ enlightens us with Him. For it is said: “This is the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). And also, since the Father is the source, and the Son is called the river, then we are said to drink the Spirit. For it is written: “We are all one who have drunk on the Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). Filled with the Spirit, we drink Christ. “I drink from the spiritual stone that follows: the stone is Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). And again, since Christ is the true Son; then we, having received the Spirit, are made sons. “You have not received,” it is said, “the spirit of work to be afraid, but have received the Spirit of sonhood” (Rom. 8:15). And those who are made sons by the Spirit, as is obvious, in Christ we are called children of God; because “the little ones received Him, and gave them the province to become children of God” (John 1:12). Then, since the Father, as Paul says, is “the only wise one” (1 Tim. 1:17); then the Son is His wisdom: for “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). since the Son is wisdom; then we, having received the Spirit of wisdom, have the Son in us, and through Him we become wise. Thus, in the one hundred and forty-fifth psalm it is written: “The Lord decides the chained: the Lord makes wise the blind” (Ps. 146:7, 8). And since the Spirit is given to us, for the Savior said: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), then God himself is in us. So John wrote: “If we love one another, God abides in us... We understand this, because we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit to eat” (1 John 4:12, 13). And since God is in us, then the Son is also in us, as the Son himself says: “I and the Father will come and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Then, since the Son is life; for he says: “I am... life” (John 14:6); then it is said of us that we are quickened by the Spirit. For it is said: “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your dead body through His living Spirit in you” (Rom. 8:11). And since we are quickened by the Spirit; it is said that Christ himself lives in us. For it is said: “I have been crucified with Christ; no one lives, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:19, 20). And again, how the Son called the Father doing the works that He did; for he says: “The Father abides in Me, it is He who does the works: believe Me, for I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise, for these works have faith in Me” (John 14:10, 11): so Paul, if he did something by the power of the Spirit, then he called it the works of Christ. “For I dare not say anything that Christ did not do to me, in the obedience of tongues, in word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:18, 19). 20) With such a union and with such unity in the Holy Trinity, who will separate either the Son from the Father, or the Spirit from the Son, and from the Father himself? Or who is so bold as to call the Trinity dissimilar and alien in relation to itself, or the Son alien to the Father, or the Spirit alien to the Son? But some of the interrogators will also ask: “How is this possible? Why, when the Spirit is in us, is it said that the Son is in us; and when the Son is in us, is it said that the Father is in us? Or why, where the entire Trinity is, there She is signified as One? Or why, when there is One in us, is it said that there is Trinity in us? Let the questioner first separate the radiance from the light, or wisdom from wisdom; or let him say: how is this possible? If he is not able to say this, then how much more so do those who are mad have the audacity to propose such questions about God, because, according to what has been said, the doctrine of the Divine is taught not through mental arguments, but through faith and reverently pious thoughts. If Paul preached about the saving cross “not in the wisdom of words” (1 Cor. 1:17), “but in the manifestation of the Spirit and power” (1 Cor. 2:4), and in paradise he heard “unspeakable verbs, which a man should not speak” (2 Cor. 12:4); then can anyone reason about the Holy Trinity itself? However, such bewilderment can be helped first by faith, and then by the above-mentioned analogies, namely: image, radiance, source, river, hypostasis, mark (χαρακτὴρ). For just as the Son abides in His own image—in the Spirit—so the Father also abides in the Son. And the Divine Scripture, eliminating the impossibility of interpreting in words and even comprehending in thought, gives us such comparisons so that, due to the unbelief of the daring, we can say simply and say safely, present in the most permissible way and believe that the only sanctification is accomplished from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. For as the Son is the only begotten; so the Spirit, given and sent by the Son, is one. Not many are sent by Spirits; and the Spirit sent is not one of many, but one. for there is one Son, one living Word; then it is necessary that His perfect, complete, sanctifying and enlightening, living effectiveness be one, one Gift, which is said to come from the Father; because He shines forth, is sent and is taught by the Word, and we confess the Word to have come from the Father. And indeed, as the Son is sent by the Father; for it is said: “Thus... God loved the world, as He also sent His only begotten Son” (John 3:16): thus the Son sends the Spirit; for he says: “If I go, I will send the Comforter...” (John 16:7). And how the Son glorifies the Father, saying: “Father... I have glorified You” (John 17:1, 4); This is how the Spirit glorifies the Son, for it is said: “He will glorify Me” (John 16:14). As the Son says: “I have heard these things from the Father, these things I say in the world” (John 8:26): so the Spirit “receives” from the Son; for it is said: “He will receive from Mine and tell you” (John 16:14). How the Son came in the name of the Father; This is what the Son says about the Spirit: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name” (John 14:26). 21) since the Spirit with the Son has the same power and nature as the Son and the Father; then he who calls the Spirit a creature, will not necessarily have the same thought about the Son? For if the Spirit of the Son is a creature; then heretics should assert that the Word of the Father is a creature. The Arians thought so, and fell into Caiathino Judaism. If those who assert similar things about the Spirit do not appropriate to themselves the Aryan way of thinking; then let them avoid the sayings of Aryan, and not be ungodly in the teaching about the Spirit. Just as the Son, who is in the Father and in whom the Father, is not a creature, but is of the Father’s essence (and you say about yourself that you affirm the same thing), so it is not permissible to classify the Spirit, who is in the Son and in whom the Son is among the creatures and separate from the Word, and represent the Trinity as imperfect. Therefore, as for the sayings of the Prophet and Apostle, the meaning of which was distorted by these inverses, and thereby deceived themselves; then these sayings sufficiently expose the ignorant blasphemy of these heretics. Let us finally consider, one after another, other sayings in the Divine Scriptures about the Holy Spirit, and like skilled traders we will judge whether the Spirit has anything proper to creatures, or whether He is the property of God, why should we call the Spirit or the creature, or other from the creatures, proper to the Divinity in the Trinity and One in this Divinity? In this case, the heretics will be ashamed, perhaps, having learned how much the blasphemous words they have invented disagree with the divine word. 22) Creatures came from nothing, having a beginning of being; for “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and everything that is in them” (Gen. 1:1; Ps. 146:6). About the Holy Spirit it is said that He is from God. For it is said: no one “knows... what is in a man, but rather the spirit of man living in him? Likewise, no one knows God’s message, but the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God” (1 Cor. 2:11, 12). What, according to these words, is the affinity of the Spirit with creatures? There were no creatures; God is He, and from Him is the Spirit. But what is from God 3 is not from nothing, it is not a creation; otherwise, according to them, He from Whom the Spirit must be recognized by the creature. Who will tolerate such fools, who also say in their hearts: “There is no God” (Ps. 13:1)? If, just as no one knows the things that are in man, so no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit who is in God; then is it not blasphemous to assert that the Spirit who exists in God, testing the depths of God, is a creature? He who affirms this will learn from this to also affirm that the spirit of man is outside man himself, and the Word existing in God is a creature. And yet, there is a Spirit, and it is called the Spirit of holiness and renewal. For Paul writes: “the begotten Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, from the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:4). And He also says: “But you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). And writing to Titus, he said: “When the grace and love of God our Savior appeared, not by the works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of renewal and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which was poured out on us richly by Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might be heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Tit. 3:4–7). And creatures are sanctified and renewed: “Thou shalt follow Thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 103:30). And Paul says: “For it is impossible for them to be enlightened by one thing, and to have tasted the heavenly gift, and to be partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 6:4). 23) Therefore, He who is not sanctified by another is not a partaker of what is holy, but makes Himself partakers, and by Whom all creatures are sanctified, can He be one of all and the property of His partakers? Those who affirm this must be told that the Son, by whom all things were brought into being, is one of all. The Spirit is called life-giving; for it is said: “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your dead body through His living Spirit in you” (Rom. 8:11). As the Lord is the source of life and, according to Petrov’s saying, “the author of life” (Acts 3:15); So the Lord himself said: “The water that I will give him, there will be in it a fountain of water flowing into an eternal belly” (John 4:14). “This is the speech about Dus, whom those who believe in Him want to receive” (John 7:39). Creatures, as it is said, are quickened by the Spirit. And He who is not a partaker of life, but Himself makes partakers and gives life to creatures, does He have any affinity with created things? Or, in general, can he belong to the creatures who are quickened in Him by the Word? The spirit is called anointing and is a seal. For John writes: “And you have received the anointing of Him, and it abides in you, and you do not demand, but whoever teaches you: but because it is the anointing itself, His Spirit, that teaches you in all things” (1 John 2:27). The Prophet Isaiah wrote: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for the sake of My anointing” (Is. 61:1). And Paul says: “In Him, and having believed, he was marked... on the day of redemption” (Eph. 1:13, 4:30). But creatures are sealed with this Spirit, anointed and taught about everything. If the Spirit is an anointing and a seal, if the Word anoints and seals everything with Him; then what similarity and property do anointing and seal have with those who are anointed and sealed? Consequently, in this respect, the Spirit is not among everyone. For the seal is not of those who are sealed, and the anointing is not of those who are anointed. On the contrary, the Spirit belongs to the anointing and sealing Word; because the anointing has the fragrance and inspiration of the One who anoints, and those who are anointed, having received Him, say: “I am the fragrance of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15). The seal has the image of the sealing Christ, and those sealed become partakers of this image, themselves being transformed according to it, as the Apostle says: “My children, in the image of whom I am sick, until Christ is imagined in you” (Gal. 4:19). And we, sealed in this way, rightly become “partakers of the Divine nature,” as Peter said (2 Pet. 1:4). Thus, all creation is made partaker of the Word in the Spirit. 24) And for the sake of the Spirit we are all called partakers of God. For it is said: “Do you not know that you are the church of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone corrupts the church of God, God will corrupt him: for the church of God is holy, just as you are” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17). And if the Holy Spirit were a creature, then it would be impossible for us to partake of God; but we would be combined with creation and would become alien to the Divine nature, as if we were not involved in it in the least. Now, when we are called partakers of Christ and partakers of God, this proves that the anointing in us and the seal from nature are not of created things, but of the Son himself, who by the Spirit who is in Him unites us with the Father. For, as stated above, teaching this, John wrote: “By this we understand that we abide in God, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit to eat” (1 John 4:13). If, through the communion of the Spirit, we become partakers of the Divine nature; then he is mad who claims that the Spirit is of the nature of creation, and not of God. Even those in whom the Spirit abides are adored by the Spirit. And if the Spirit creates gods, then there is no doubt that His nature is the nature of God. In the one hundred and third psalm, as we said above, it is said even more clearly in refutation of this heresy: “Silence their spirit, and they will disappear, and return to their dust: having followed the Spirit, they will be created, and renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 103:29, 30). And Paul writes to Titus: “through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus Christ poured out on us richly” (Titus 3:5). If the Father creates and renews all things by the Word in the Holy Spirit; then what similarity or affinity does the Creator have with creatures? Or in general, how can there be a creature in Whom everything is created? For such blasphemy is followed by another blasphemy against the Son: whoever claims that the Spirit is a creature should also say that he is a creature and the Word, by whom all things are based. The Spirit is, and is called, the image of the Son. “For whom He foreknew, and appointed them to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). Therefore, just as soon as heretics confess that the Son is not a creature; There cannot be a creature and the image of the Son. For whatever the image is, such must be the one whose image it is. Therefore, it is justly and decently confessed that the Word, as the image of the Father, is not a creature. But whoever counts the Spirit among the creatures will, of course, also count the Son among them, by his blasphemy against the image of the Son, blaspheming the Son and the Father. 25) So, the Spirit is different from creatures, and it has been proven that He belongs most of all to the Son and is not alien to God. And this is their wise question: if the Spirit is from God, why is He not called the Son? Just as above he already turned out to be reckless and daring, so now he turns out to be exactly the same. For, although in the Scriptures the Spirit is not called the Son, but the Spirit of God; however, it is said that He, as the Apostle wrote, is in God himself and from God himself (1 Cor. 2:11, 12). If the Son, as being from the Father, belongs to the Father's essence; then the Spirit, who, as they say, is from the Father, must be essentially the Son’s own. And indeed, since the Lord is the Son, the Spirit himself is called the Spirit of sonhood. And again, since the Son is wisdom and truth; then it is also written about the Spirit that He is the Spirit of wisdom (Isa. 11:2) and truth (John 15:26). And just as the Son is the power of God and the Lord of glory; so the Spirit is called the Spirit of power and the Spirit of glory. Each of these names is used in Scripture. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Even if they had understood, they had not crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8); and in other Epistles: “do not accept... fear the spirit of work, but receive the Spirit of sonhood” (Rom. 8:15); and again: “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6). And Peter wrote: “If you are reproached in the name of Christ, you are blessed because of glory and power, and the Spirit of God rests on you” (1 Pet. 4:14); The Lord said that the Spirit is the “Spirit of truth” and the “Comforter” (John 14:17, 16). This proves that in Him the Trinity is complete. Therefore, in the Spirit, the Word grants glory to the creation, adoring and making sons, bringing it to the Father. And He who combines creation with the Word cannot himself be one of the creatures. And He who makes the creation son cannot be alien to the Son. Otherwise, it will be necessary to look for another Spirit, in which the Spirit would be combined with the Word. But this is inappropriate. So, the Spirit is not among created beings, but He belongs to the Father’s nature. In Him the Word also adores created beings. And in Whom the creation receives deification, He cannot be outside the Father’s Divinity. 26) It can also be seen from the following that the Spirit is higher than creation, and that, as different as He is from the nature of created beings, He belongs to the Divinity. The Holy Spirit is immutable and unchangeable. For it is said: “The Holy Spirit of punishment will flee from deceit and will be taken away from foolish thoughts” (Wis. 1:5). And Peter says: “in the uncorruption of the meek and silent Spirit” (1 Pet. 3:4). And in the book of Wisdom it is said: “For Thy incorruptible Spirit is in all” (Wis. 12:1). And if “no one is the message of God, but the Spirit of God” who is in God (1 Cor. 2:11); and with God, as James said, “there is no change or change” (James 1:17); then the Holy Spirit, existing in God, is undoubtedly immutable, unchangeable, incorruptible. The nature of beings brought into being and created is perverse, as existing outside of God’s essence and made up of nothing. For it is said: “every man is a lie” (Ps. 116:2); and: “all... have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “The angels did not keep their rulership, but left their own habitation, and were kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6). And in the book of Job it is said: “If you do not believe in the Holy Angels, you will carefully consider what you see in His Angels” (Job 4:18); “But the stars are unclean before Him” (Job 25:5). And Paul writes: “Do you not know that imams judge angels, and not according to the points of this life?” (1 Cor. 6:3). We even heard that the devil, being among the Cherubim, and being an imprint of the likeness, fell from heaven like lightning. If this is the nature of creatures, and this is what is written about the Angels; The Spirit is always one and the same, unchangeable, has the immutability of the Son, and alone is always immutable with Him; then what similarity does the Immutable have with perverse creatures. It is clear that the Spirit is not a creature; and He is not at all of an angelic essence, because Angels are perverse. And the Spirit is the image of the Word and is proper to the Father. And again, the Spirit of the Lord fills the universe; for thus saith David: “Where shall I go from Thy Spirit?” (Ps. 139:7). Also in the book of Wisdom it is written: “For Thy incorruptible Spirit is in all” (Wis. 12:1). All created beings remain in their assigned places: the sun, moon and stars in the firmament, clouds in the air; and people “set boundaries of tongues” (Deut. 32:8), and Angels are sent to serve, as it is written in the book of Job: “And... the Angels came... to present themselves before the Lord” (Job 1:6). “And the patriarch Jacob saw a dream, and behold, a ladder was established on the earth, its head reaching to heaven, and the angels of God descended and ascended on it” (Gen. 28:12). And if the Spirit fills everything and is present among all in the Word, the Angels are diminished in this and are present only where they are sent; then there is no doubt that the Spirit is not one of the created; He is not an Angel, as you claim, but above the angelic nature. 27) And also the fact that the Holy Spirit makes partakers, and not Himself a partaker (it is not lazy for us to repeat the same thing), can be seen from the following. It is said: “It is impossible for those who are enlightened by one and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have been partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God,” and so on. (Heb. 6:4, 5). Angels and other creatures are partakers of the Spirit itself; and therefore, they may be deprived of what they were involved in. But the Spirit is always the same. He is not among those who partake, but everyone partakes of Him. And if He is always one and the same and makes Him partakers, His creatures are partakers; then the Holy Spirit is not an Angel and not a creature at all, but is proper to the Word, and creatures partake of the Spirit given by the Word. Otherwise, all that remains for the heretics is to say that the creation is also the Son, of whom we have all become partakers in the Spirit. And again, the Holy Spirit is one; and there are many creatures. There are thousands of thousands of angels and darkness. Many luminaries; many Thrones, Dominions, Heavens, Cherubim, Seraphim, Archangels. And in one word: creatures are not one thing, but there are many of them, and they are different. If the Holy Spirit is one, and there are many creatures, and there are many angels; then what similarity does the Spirit have with created beings? And it is self-evident that the Spirit is not one of many, and not even an Angel, but is consubstantial, or better yet, is proper to the consubstantial Word, is proper and consubstantial to the consubstantial God. So these alone, taken by themselves, predicates about the Holy Spirit show that He by nature and essence has nothing in common with creatures and is not His own, but is different from created beings, He is His own, and not alien, to the essence and Divinity of the Son, and by the same Divinity is inseparable from the Holy Trinity, which is what shames the insensitivity of these heretics. 28) However, beyond this, let us look at the very original tradition, at the teaching and faith of the universal Church - the faith that the Lord betrayed, the Apostles preached, and the Fathers observed. For the Church is based on it, and whoever falls away from it cannot be or even be called a Christian. So, there is a Holy and perfect Trinity, cognizable in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, having nothing alien or given from the outside, not composed of the Creator and the creature, but wholly Creating and Creating. She is similar to Herself, inseparable by nature, and Her action is one. For the Father creates all things by the Word in the Holy Spirit. This is how the unity of the Holy Trinity is maintained. This is how it is preached in the Church: “there is one God... who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:6), “above all” as the Father, the beginning and source, “through all” - in the Word, “in all” - in the Holy Spirit. The Trinity, not only by name and manner of expression, but in truth and essence itself, is the Trinity. For as the Father he is; So He is God above all - His Word, and the Holy Spirit is not alien to existence, but truly exists and abides. And the universal Church does not subtract anything from this wisdom, so as not to fall into the teaching of the present-day Jews, imitating Caiaphas, and into the teaching of Sabelli, and does not invent anything more, so as not to fall into pagan polytheism. And to certify that this is the faith of the Church, let them know that the Lord, sending the Apostles, commanded to lay this very foundation of the Church, saying: “Going... teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19); This is what the coming Apostles taught, this is their preaching throughout the entire celestial Church. 29) since the Church has such a foundation of faith, let the heretics also say and give us the answer: is God trinitarian or dual? If it is dual, then let the Spirit be numbered among the creatures. But your wisdom is no longer about one God, “Who is above all and through all and in all”; separating and alienating the Spirit from the Divine, you do not have what exists “in all.” And your secret teaching, which, in your opinion, you are doing with such wisdom, is not accomplished entirely in the Divine; because you add creation to the Divinity. And you, like Arians and pagans, introduce creation into your theology together with God, Who created it with His Word. And after this, what is your hope? Or who unites you with God, when you do not have the Spirit of God himself, but the spirit of the creature? What is your insolence and inattention: - You reduce the Father and His Word to creatures, and again equate the creature with God! For you do this very thing, imagining the Spirit as a creature and placing Him in the Trinity. And what does this madness of yours mean - to conceive such a lie against God, as if not all Angels, or not all creatures, but one of them is numbered among God and His Word? How soon the Spirit is an Angel and a creature and is included in the Trinity; then, in your opinion, not just one Angel, but all created Angels should be numbered among the Trinity. You should no longer have a Trinity, but an innumerable multitude in the Divinity, so that in this again the imaginary mystery you perform, divided both here and there, would become unstable in diversity. For such are the mysteries among you and among the Arians, who reason wickedly about the Divinity, and serve the creation rather than God who created all things. 30) Such inconsistencies befall you due to the duality allowed. And if God is trinitarian (which is true), it has been proven that He is an inseparable and not dissimilar Trinity; then it is necessary that the holiness of the Trinity be one, and Its one eternity, and its immutable nature. For, since the faith in the Trinity handed down to us is one, and it unites us with God, and whoever takes away anything from the Trinity, and is baptized in one name of the Father, or in one name of the Son, or in the Father and Son without the Spirit, does not accept anything, but those who are baptized, and whoever imagines himself teaching baptism, remain vain and uninitiated; because the mystery is carried out in the name of the Trinity: so whoever separates the Son from the Father, or reduces the Spirit to creatures, has neither the Son nor the Father, but is godless, worse than an infidel, and rather everything but a Christian. As there is one baptism taught in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and one faith in the Trinity, as the Apostle said (Eph. 4:5); so the Holy Trinity, identical with Itself and abiding in unity, has nothing created in Itself. Such is the indivisible unity of the Trinity, such is the united faith in It. If this is not so, according to your invention, the opposite is true; but you dream that the Holy Spirit is a creature; then you no longer have one faith, and not one baptism, but two: one in the Father and the Son, and the other in the Angel, who is the creature. And you no longer have anything reliable and true. For what kind of communication do the created and the Creator have? Or, what kind of unity do the creatures of the earth have and the Word that created them? Knowing this, blessed Paul does not, like you, divide the Trinity, but, teaching its unity, wrote to the Corinthians about spiritual gifts, and all is headed by one God the Father, saying: “The divisions of gifts are, and the same is the Spirit; and the divisions of ministries are, and the same is the Lord; and the divisions of actions are, and the same is God, who works all in all” (1 Cor. 12:4-6). For what the Spirit shares with each one is given from the Father by the Word; because everything that belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son. Therefore, what is given by the Son in the Spirit is a gift from the Father. And when the Spirit is in us, then the Word giving the Spirit is in us, and in the Word is the Father. And thus, the spoken word is fulfilled: “I and the Father will come and make an abode with him” (John 14:23). For where there is light, there is radiance; and where there is radiance, there is its effectiveness and luminous grace. And teaching this also, Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his second Epistle, saying: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God... and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:13). For the grace and gift given in the Trinity is given from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit; because, just as the grace bestowed by the Son is from the Father, so there cannot be a fellowship of giving in us, except in the Holy Spirit. Having received Him, we have the love of the Father, and the grace of the Son, and the communion of the Spirit himself. 31) Thus, and this proves the united effectiveness of the Trinity. For the Apostle does not mean that the gifts of each Person are different and separate, but that what is given is given in the Trinity, yet this is from one God. Therefore, if someone is not a creature, but is united with the Son, as the Son is united with the Father, is glorified with the Father and the Son and is known by God together with the Word, and brings into effect everything that the Father does through the Son, someone will call Him a creature; Does not his wicked teaching extend directly to the Son himself? For nothing comes into being or is accomplished except through the Son in the Spirit. This is also sung in the Psalms: “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth was all their power” (Ps. 32:6). And in the one hundred and forty-seventh psalm it is said: “His Word is exhausted, and I am consumed: His Spirit breathes, and the waters flow out” (Ps. 147:7). Yes, and we were justified, as the Apostle said, “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). For the Spirit is not separate from the Son. And indeed, when the Lord says: “We will come,” I and the Father, the Spirit also comes, dwelling in us not otherwise, but in the same way as the Son also dwells; about which Paul writes to the Ephesians: “that according to the riches of His glory he may grant you, that you may be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell” (Eph. 3:16, 17). When the Son is in us, then the Father is also in us; because the Son says: “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:11). Therefore, since the Word abides in the Prophets, they prophesy in the Holy Spirit himself. When the Scripture says: and the Word of the Lord came to this Prophet, then it is shown by the fact that he prophesies in the Holy Spirit. For in Zechariah it is written: “Ye both receive My words and My laws, because I commanded it in My soul through My servant the Prophet” (Zechariah 1:6); and a little lower, complaining about the people, God said: “And I have made my heart disobedient, not to obey My law and the words which the Lord Almighty sent by His Spirit by His hand to His former prophets” (Zech. 7:12). And Peter in Acts said: “Men and brethren, it is fitting that the Scriptures should die... as the Holy Spirit spoke” (Acts 1:16). And the Apostles unanimously exclaimed like this: “Sovereign... who created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, even with the Holy Spirit the mouth of our father David thy servant spoke” (Acts 4:24, 25). And Paul, being in Rome, boldly said to the Jews who came to him: “The Holy Spirit spoke well to your fathers by Isaiah the Prophet” (Acts. 28:25); and to Timothy he wrote: “The Spirit speaks clearly, that in the last times some will depart from sound faith, giving heed to spiritual flatterers” (1 Tim. 4:1). Therefore, when it is said that the Spirit abides in someone, then it goes without saying that the Word, which gives the Spirit, is also in him. And after the fulfillment of the prophecy: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28), Paul said: “by the giving of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” in me (Phil. 1:19), and to the Corinthians he wrote: “Are you tempted by Christ speaking in me” (2 Cor. 13:3). If Christ spoke in him, then it is clear that the Spirit of Christ spoke in Him. For, according to what was said in the Acts, when Christ spoke in it, he also said: “And now, behold, I am bound by the Spirit to come to Jerusalem, even though I do not know what is going to happen in it, even as the Holy Spirit bears witness to me throughout all the cities, saying that bonds and tribulation await me” (Acts 20:22, 23). Therefore, if the Saints say: “This saith the Lord” (Jer. 13:1); then they speak only in the Holy Spirit, and speaking in the Spirit, they speak in Christ. If Agabus said in Acts: “Thus says the Holy Spirit” (Acts. 21:11), then it was not otherwise than because of the word that came to him that the Spirit gave the power to speak in the Spirit and testify to what awaited Paul in Jerusalem. And indeed, when the Spirit again testified to Paul, then Christ himself spoke in him, so that the testimony that came from the Spirit was Christ’s. So, when the Word descended on the Holy Virgin Mary, then the Spirit also descended, and the Word in the Spirit formed and fashioned a body for Himself, desiring to unite with Himself and bring creation to the Father, and in this “to reconcile all things, pacifying both the heavenly and the earthly” (Col. 1:20). 32) So, according to the divine Scriptures, it is testified that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, but is proper to the Word and the Father’s Divinity. For in this way, the teaching of the saints is reduced to the teaching of the Holy indivisible Trinity. And this is the united faith of the universal Church. The unreasonable fabrication of these “contrarians” is at odds with the Scriptures, but is consistent with the unreasonableness of the Arians; and it is natural for them to be so hypocritical in order to seduce the simple-minded. But thank the Lord that, as you write, they did not hide, covering themselves with this hypocritical contradiction of the Arians. For they too have become hated, because they call the Spirit alone, and not the Word together, a creature; and are condemned by everyone as truly fighting the Spirit and soon becoming dead again, because they are deprived and do not have the Spirit in themselves. According to the word of the blessed Apostle, they, as spiritual people, could not receive, “even the Spirit of God, without spiritual desire” (1 Cor. 2:14). But those who are wise in accordance with the truth “contend everything,” while they themselves “strive not one thing” (1 Cor. 2:15), having in Himself the Lord, Who in the Spirit gives them a revelation about Himself and about His Father. 33) And I, living in the desert, and not caring that they would laugh at weakness and insufficiency in presenting arguments, wrote this briefly, due to the shamelessness of those who deviated from the truth, and I send it to your reverence, earnestly asking that you, reading this, correct one thing, and excuse what was said weakly. For I set forth this in accordance with the Apostolic Faith handed down to us from the Fathers, without inventing anything from the outside, but what I learned, I wrote down, in accordance with the Holy Scriptures; because this also agrees with the passages of the Holy Scriptures cited above as evidence, and was not invented from outside, but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught the Samaritan woman in His word, and through her, us, about the perfection, inseparable and one Divinity of the Holy Trinity. The Truth itself testifies, saying to the Samaritan woman: “Women, they have faith in Me, for the hour is coming... and now it is that true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth: for the Father seeks such as those who worship Him: the Spirit [is] God: and whoever worships Him is worthy to be worshiped in Spirit and Truth” (John 4:21, 23, 24). And from this it is clear that since the Truth is the Son himself, as He himself says: “I am... truth" (John 14:6), and the Prophet David prayed for Him, saying: "Send Your Light and Your Truth" (Ps. 42:3); then true worshipers worship the Father, but they worship Him in the Spirit and in Truth, that is, confessing the Son and the Spirit in Him, because the Spirit is not separated from the Son, just as the Son is not separated from the Father. The Truth itself testifies, saying: “I will send you... the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26), “Whom the world cannot receive” (John 14:17), that is, those who deny that the Spirit is from the Father in the Son cannot accept. Therefore, in imitation of true worshipers, one must approach the Truth and confess It. If even after this they do not want to learn and cannot understand, then let them at least stop blaspheming and not divide the Trinity, so that they themselves will not be separated from life; Let the Holy Spirit not be numbered among the creatures, so that, just as the Pharisees of that time attributed what the Spirit did to Beelzebub, so these too, having dared to be equally insolent, both here and subsequently, would not suffer merciless punishment with them. According to the Slavic translation: "wind": Τροπικοί: the Doukhobors are so called because they invented some opposite conclusions in their interpretations. Subsequently, these heretics became known as Macedonians. That is: from the being of God. You might be interested in: