Messages to Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis

During his third exile (356-361), spent in the Egyptian desert, St. Athanasius the Great wrote four “Epistle to Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis.” They prove the consubstantiality of the Son of God and, mainly, the Holy Spirit. The reason for writing the messages was Serapion’s question about people “who retreated from the Arians because of their blasphemy against the Son of God... and claim that the Holy Spirit is not only a creature, but even one of the ministering spirits.” Saint Athanasius calls these heretics “tropics” because they sought to find metaphors and images (“tropes”), and not direct speech, in all those places of Holy Scripture in which the Orthodox saw the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. In the first letter (chapter 33) of St. Athanasius expounds in detail the Orthodox teaching about the Holy Spirit, revealing the essence of Doukhoborism as hidden Arianism. At Serapion’s request to more briefly outline the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, so that it would be more convenient to give advice to those who question the faith and reject errors, St. Athanasius responded with the second and third messages. The second epistle (9 chapters) briefly outlines the doctrine of the Divinity of the Word. Only by having correct knowledge about the Son can one acquire good knowledge about the Holy Spirit. The third message (7 chapters) briefly outlines the doctrine of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. Due to the fact that the second and third messages are so closely related in content, they are considered to be one message, which was subsequently separated by mistake. The fourth letter (chapter 23) gives an answer to new objections of heretics regarding the Holy Spirit, who ironically said: “If the Holy Spirit is not a creature, then does it not follow that He is the Son and there are two brothers - the Word and the Spirit”; or: “If the Spirit is acceptable from the Son and given by the Son, then does it not follow that the Father is the grandfather, and the Spirit is His grandson” (Episicle IV, ch. 1). Saint Athanasius expresses the desire that in the teaching about the mystery of the Holy Trinity, incomprehensible to the human mind, what is taught by the Holy Scriptures and the faith given to the Church will be unshakably preserved, without the admixture of human guesses and conclusions. Then he dwells in detail on the doctrine of sin against the Holy Spirit. The message “On the Death of Arius” (5 chapters, 359) was also addressed to Serapion. In the message of St. Athanasius tells about the death of Arius what he learned from the presbyter Macarius, who was in Constantinople during this event, and concludes that in the unfortunate fate of Arius there is no doubt that God’s judgment on heretical teaching was manifested, which should encourage the Arians to return to the true Church. *The title of the work in Greek is Ἐπιστολαὶ πρὸς Σεραπίωνα Θμουέως ἐπίσκοπον. *The title of the work in Latin is Epistulae IV ad Serapionem episcopem Thmuitanum. Against those who claim that the Holy Spirit is a creature Against those who claim that the Son is a creature About the Holy Spirit About the Holy Spirit About the death of Arius You might be interested in: