Книга 5. О Духе Святом

Since the general properties of the creature cannot be attributed to the Holy Spirit, and those characteristic of the Spirit cannot be attributed to the creature; then from this the conclusion is drawn that the Spirit is not a creature. Since what the Father and the Son have in common, the Spirit also has in common with Them, and since the same distinctive properties that are assigned to God the Father and the Son in Scripture are also assigned to the Holy Spirit; then from this the conclusion is drawn that the Spirit and the Father are one Divinity. Because what belongs to the one Father, as God, and not as the Father, and what belongs to the Son, as God, and not as the Son, belongs to the one Spirit, and not together with the creature, so that names and actions, not communicated to the creature, are common to the one Trinity; then from this the conclusion is drawn that the Trinity is consubstantial. That the Holy Spirit is not a creature Everything that is created admits of revolution and change, according to the word of the prophet, who says to God: “Who created the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into a clear morning, and makes the day dark as night?” (Am. 5, 8). But the Spirit does not allow in itself either revolution or transformation. Therefore, the Spirit is not a creature. Since creation is divided into two kinds - bodies and incorporeal beings, then the upheavals that happen to creation are also divided. And bodies allow a revolution in essence: thus, this “perishable” world, according to Scripture, will change “into incorruptibility”; and our “mortal” bodies will “put on” “immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53) or, not yet decayed, will decay. But incorporeal and rational beings allow a revolution either in action or in will, according to what was said: “he did not spare the angels who sinned” (2 Pet. 2:4). Therefore, if the created allows a revolution in itself, something different in essence, and another in the will, but the Holy Spirit does not allow a revolution or change in Himself either in essence or in action, then it follows that the Spirit is not a creature. Every creature that is sanctified is holy. But the Holy Spirit is not something that is sanctified, but something that sanctifies. Therefore He is not a creature. Nothing created is sacred in its essence. For what is essentially holy has no need for external holiness. Therefore, everything created has a need for external shrine when it becomes worthy to attract shrine to itself. But the Spirit has no need for shrines, because it is holy in essence. Therefore He is not a creature. Every creature serves the Creator, according to the word of the prophet, who says to God: “everything serves You” (Ps. 118:91). But the official cannot give another freedom and filial status, which it itself does not have in its essence. But the Spirit gives freedom and sonship, for the Spirit cries in our hearts: “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son” (Gal. 4:6). Therefore He is not a creature. Not a single creature is so communicable to a rational soul that it can essentially inhabit it. The Holy Spirit dwells in her, according to the word said: we are “the church of God,” “and the Spirit of God lives in you” (1 Cor. 3:16). Therefore, the Spirit is not a creature. Every rational creature can accept both virtue and vice. But the Spirit does not accept anything into itself. Therefore He is not a creature. And how many people prove the same action of the shrine and the blessed Trinity! That the Spirit is the Creator “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the works of His hands” (Ps. 18:1). And in another place: “and the heavens are the work of Your hands” (Ps. 101:26). And what kind of incorporeal hands the incorporeal God could have that created the firmament and the heavens is explained by the prophet himself, saying: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were created, and by the spirit of His mouth all their hosts” (Ps. 32:6). But just as with God the Word is not spoken by the mouth, but living, independent, all-effective, so with God the Spirit is not an overflowing breath, not scattered air, but a sanctifying power, self-existent, original, independent. “Your hands worked on me and formed me all around” (Job 10:8). And this saying has the same meaning as the previous passage. For Job says: “The Spirit of God created me” (Job 33:4). And in explanation of the other hand, Solomon says: “God of the fathers and Lord of mercy, who created all things by Thy word and formed man by Thy wisdom” (Wisdom 9:1-2). Christ is “God’s power and God’s wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:24); in allegorical language this is the Creative hand. But Scripture ascribes the structure of our entire nature to the action of the Spirit, and calls the Spirit the renewer of creation into incorruption, “if you take away their spirit, they die and return to their dust; If you send forth Your spirit, they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 103:29-30). Of course, God does not send Himself, but by His message He calls the descent to His work, and not the movement from place to place. “The Spirit of the Lord fills the universe and, as he who embraces everything, knows every word” (Wis. 1:7). And the angel says to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you... therefore what is born” of the Spirit is holy (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:20). What is from another is from him either through creation, for example: “one God the Father, from whom are all things” (1 Cor. 8:6), or through birth, according to what is said: “I came from God” (John 16:27); and again: “from the womb before the morning star... Your birth” (Ps. 109:3). This does not mean that God has a womb, but since true and not false offspring are usually born from the womb of parents, God called Himself at birth having a womb, to the shame of the wicked, so that they, although they thought about their own nature, would know that the Son is the true fruit of the Father as coming from His womb. So, what is from another, is from him either through creation, or through birth, or by nature, just as our action comes from us or the sun’s radiance comes from the sun. Therefore, if the premium body of Christ is from the Holy Spirit, it cannot be His birth, because “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn. 3:6), and if it is again from the Spirit not as His action, because in a simple and incorporeal nature action in relation to essence is subject to the same law, then it remains to conclude that the body of Christ is from the Spirit, as His creation. But that finger of God (see Ex. 8:19), which in Egypt transformed the finger into animals, thereby pointing to the original creation of animals, was the Comforter, the Spirit of truth. For, according to the testimony of the three evangelists, the Lord said to the Jews: “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then of course the Kingdom of God has come to you” (Matthew 12:28), and Luke says that He said: “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then of course the Kingdom of God has come to you” (Luke 11:20). Therefore, just as the signs that happened in Egypt through Moses and were performed by the finger of God, so the wondrous signs of God Himself were accomplished by the action of the Spirit. But both in the miracles of Moses, and in the miracles of the Lord, the Spirit is called the finger of God, not because He has the same small power with God as the finger of the body. But since one of the gifts distributed by the Spirit is the gift of miracles and healings, then one gift, and not all the gifts of the Spirit, is called the finger by Scripture. “To one is given the word of wisdom by the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to others gifts of healings by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another divers tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. Yet all these things are done by one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as He pleases” (1 Cor. 12:8-11). Another would say that all these and other gifts of the Spirit constitute, as it were, His body, and one of the gifts is a finger. But do not neglect to use the following in the saying. The same apostle who said: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things... as He pleases, also said of God: and there are diversities of actions, but one and the same God, who works all things in all” (1 Cor. 12:6). But if “God does all... these things as He pleases, all... all these things are produced by one and the same Spirit, dividing them individually to each as He pleases,” then how is the otherness of essence possible, where the identity of action is recognized? For with different essences, according to the words of the most wicked Eunomius, the actions must also be different. Testifying to the same authority and power, the Savior said: “The Spirit breathes where it will” (John 3:8). It is characteristic of God to forgive sins, as He himself speaks about this: “I am the one who blots out your sins” (Isa.43, 25); and again: “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; but if they are like scarlet, I will make them white” (Isa. 1:18). D when God, God's Youth, Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic, saying: “Son, your sins are forgiven you”: then it seemed to the Jews, who did not recognize Him as God, that He was speaking blasphemy, and they said: “This one is blaspheming” (Matthew 9:3); It is not possible for anyone to forgive sins except God alone (Mark 2:5.7). The Lord, blowing on the holy Apostles, said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Forgive their sins, they will be forgiven” (John 20:22.23). Therefore, if no one can forgive sins, since this does not belong to anyone except God alone, and the Holy Spirit forgives sins through the Apostles; then the Holy Spirit is God, and has the same activity with the Father and the Son. “Teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), that is, he commands the pagans who have believed and been taught to be baptized in the name of the Trinity. And Peter said to the Jews, who agreed to the death of Christ and repented of it: let each of you, brethren, repent of your sin and evil way, and be “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,” and be saved (Acts 2:38): because the Son can “by the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5) produce the same thing that the Father and the Spirit produce. The Lord commanded the Apostles to “wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard: for Joain baptized unto repentance, but you ought to be baptized in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4.5). Therefore, if the Holy Spirit can produce in the Apostles the same thing that the name of the Father and the Son produces in those who believed among the Gentiles, and the name of the Lord Jesus in the repentant Jews (for no one will say that the Apostles of the less believing Gentiles received the grace of baptism, because they received grace in the Holy Spirit); then why does the Spirit, having the same action with the Father and the Son, not have the same essence with Them? That there is one and the same authority of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit “Go to Damascus, and there everything will be told to you” (Acts 22:10), “for he is My chosen vessel” (Acts 9:15), the Lord said from heaven to Paul when he appointed him as a preacher of the Gospel of the universe. Ananias said to Paul entering Damascus: “Brother Saul! see...the God of our fathers has chosen you"; and so that they would not consider this to be said about Christ, he added: “so that you might know His will and see His righteous One” - Jesus (Acts 22:14). Yes, and Paul himself, giving the scriptures about his title and election, said: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an Apostle”; and then he named something else besides the title: “chosen” (Greek - set apart) to the gospel of God (Rom. 1:1). And that the Spirit separated him, we learn this from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, for it is said: to the fasting and praying apostles, “The Holy Spirit said: Set apart Barnabas and Saul for me for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). If the God of the Fathers pre-elected, and the Son called, the Lord chooses him, and the Spirit separates him according to the authority of His nature, then why is there an otherness of essence in the Trinity, in which the identity of action is found? “My words came from God,” says Solomon. But Paul makes his own from Christ, for he said: “Are you looking for proof that Christ speaks in me?” (2 Cor. 13:3). But nevertheless, the Spirit also speaks in the apostles, for it is said that the apostles spoke “as the Spirit gave them utterances” (Acts 2:4). And the Savior also said to them: “It is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you” (Matthew 10:20). But the Spirit also speaks in the prophets, for Moses said: “Oh, that all the Lord’s people would be prophets, that the Lord would send His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29). Yes, and the new prophet of the New Testament, Agabus, cried out, saying: “Thus says the Holy Spirit” (Acts 21:11), while the prophets of the Old Testament usually cried out: “Thus says the Lord God.” And Paul, putting together this spoken from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, said: “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim. 3:16). And if the Spirit says in the apostles and prophets: “All Scripture is inspired by God,” then ask the wicked: why is the Holy Spirit not God, when His Scripture is inspired by God? That neither vision nor prophecy comes from the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit separately The Prophet Isaiah said: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted... The Seraphim stood around Him; each of them has six wings” (Isa. 6:1–2). And soon after this he says: “And He said: Go and tell this people: You will hear with your ears and will not understand, and with your eyes you will see and will not see. For the heart of this people has become hardened" (9:10). How much can be concluded from the very order and connection of the prophetic writings, who was seen by the prophet and told him that He is the Father above all. But the son of thunder, who prophesied wondrous things and spoke more terrible than thunder, who tends to say: “It was not,” but “the Word was” (John 1:1), he said that the one seen by the prophet and who spoke to him was the Son. For in his own writing he says: “Therefore the Jews could not believe in Jesus, because, as Isaiah also said, this people have blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and convert, so that I might heal them. Isaiah said this when he saw His glory” (John 12:39–41). And Paul explained that this was a vision and prophecy of the Spirit, saying: “Well, the Holy Spirit said to our fathers through the prophet Isaiah: ... you will hear with your ears and will not understand, and with your eyes you will see and will not see. For the heart of these people has become hardened" (Acts 28:25-27). The Prophet introduces the face of the Father in whom the Jews believed, the Evangelist introduces the face of the Son, Paul introduces the face of the Spirit, yet they all agree to call the One Seen the one Lord of Hosts. They share the word about the Hypostasis, but their thinking about the one God remains inseparable. That those created in the image of God are partakers of the Creator, and precisely through the Spirit And if they understood this, and heeded it well, those who, to their own detriment, contrive against themselves; then they would not alienate the Spirit from the Divine, so as not to separate themselves from the Divinity, not to place the world away from God, and not to alienate God from His own creation. For everything created by God and, by its created nature, far removed from the glory of the Creator would be in a pitiful state if the Divinity were not involved. But such a concept of God is not worthy of God, as if He allows creatures to be naked and, as it were, deprived of Himself. On the contrary, the creature is not so pitiful, and God is not so powerless as not to impart holy communion to the creatures. That is why in the beginning He wanted to create man in His own image. Of course, the created image, having been transferred from the prototype, received a similarity in substance, and retained a distinctive feature, imprinted by the thought and hand of the Artist. So the painter, the stonemason, the creator of a gold or copper statue takes a substance, looks at the prototype, takes the outline of what is visible, and imprints it in the substance. And if it is not possible for people to bring substances into the likeness of images until these substances take into themselves those mental ideas: then how can a creature reach the point of becoming like God without accepting God’s image into itself (χαρακτεροσ)? God's image is not the same as man's; but He is alive, and, being a true image, is created, so that everything that He participates in becomes God’s image. The image of God is Christ, “who is,” as it is said, “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15); the image of the Son is the Spirit, and those who partake of the Spirit become conformed to sons, according to what is written: “whom He foreknew, and commanded to be conformed to the image of His Son, as if He were the firstborn of many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). That the Holy Spirit is neither God's acquisition nor a creature Therefore, how will the Spirit, according to the word of the Apostle, “submit to your spirit” that “you are the son of God” (Rom. 8:10), if He Himself is alien to the glory of the Son? How will he cry within you: “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6), if He is not really communicated from the Son? He is not the acquisition of the Son, taught by the Son, like the breath of man or the breath of the wind, as those who separate the Spirit from the Divinity usually say, but the eternal Spirit of God and the Son, abiding and cognizable in God's glory. For your breath is not Christ, and the blow of the wind is not the Lord. And it is not the unclean spirit (for others dared to say this too), but the Holy Spirit who is called Christ and Lord; because, as we recently mentioned, the Apostle says: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His; “If Christ dwells in you” (Rom. 8:9.10), thereby meaning that the dwelling of the Spirit is the dwelling of Christ; and also says: “The Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). Why is the Spirit of the Lord Lord? And therefore He is not an acquisition or a creature, but the image of the Lord, as stated above. That the Spirit is the true and natural image of God and the Lord The Spirit is the true image, and not in the image of God, as we are. Therefore, he who creates in the image is not himself created and the anointing is not anointed. And the Spirit is the anointing in us, as John says (see 1 John 2:20). And what did I say: “in us”? - even in the Lord Himself according to the flesh. It is said: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38). Therefore He is Christ because of the Spirit and because of the anointing in the Spirit. Of course, not through one who is alien to the Divinity, and the anointing of the Lord, and the name Christ, and Christians named after Christ. For someone else would rightly mourn this if the very name of our salvation originates from creation and is produced from creation, and if through a slave we have sonship. Creation does not sanctify creation, but everything is sanctified by the One Holy One, Who says of Himself: “I consecrate Myself” (John 17:19). He sanctifies through the Spirit, as shown above. Therefore, the Spirit is not a creature, but the image of God’s Holiness and the source of holiness for everyone. We are called “through the sanctification of the Spirit,” as the apostle teaches (2 Thess. 2:13). He renews us and creates us again in the images of God; By the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit we are adopted as sons of God. The creature that partakes of the Spirit is new again, while deprived of the Spirit it has become old. Man again became the image of God, having lost the divine likeness in himself, becoming like “the animals that perish” (Ps. 48:13), becoming like the dumb to the point of death, for it is said: “as they die, so do these die” (Eccl. 3:19). But now, as is related, “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11). That the Spirit is God’s nature, ultimately accomplishing God’s works Who will separate Him from the Creator of God and the Son, Who renews creation, transforms corruption into incorruption, and makes us a new creation that abides forever? How does one who is himself outside the Divine save God’s creation, making it earthly and incorruptible? Who else did God need to restore His creation, which had fallen into disarray? May the wicked teaching be silenced, which calls the decayed and corrupted creation the work of God, and ascribes the creation that is no longer decayed and incorruptible to renewal through creation! Let not the creature be glorified more than the Creator. But she is glorified more than the Creator if through creation the creatures already destroyed by death and corruption, which God brought into being through the Son, become immortal and incorruptible. But the Divine Spirit always finally accomplishes everything that comes from God through the Son, both in the new creation, about which it is said: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), and in that which was of old in the beginning; why is it said: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their power” (Psalm 32:6). Living is the Word by whom the heavens were created; It is the same God - the Word about whom John cries: “all things were by Him, and without Him they were nothing” (John 1:3). That the Spirit is life is shown, according to what is written (John 6:63), by the life-giving power of the Spirit; life is the Spirit, the Perfecter of the heavenly Powers, the same One who is glorified with the Father and the Son. For God does not create by uttering utterances, although the words of God are humanly called uttered utterances; and it is not by the outpouring of exhaled air that the heavens are adorned. For the Spirit, together with the living Word acting in creation, is the living power and nature of the divine, ineffable, manifested from ineffable lips, inexpressibly communicated to man through a breath, and in the bodily form that the Lord taught, again restored by Him through a breath (John 20:22). For the original renewal and the present renewal and assistance had to be consistent with each other. Therefore, he sealed, blowing, as not another with the One who breathed life in the beginning (Gen. 2:7), but the same one through whom God gives the breath, then together with the soul, and now into the soul. Thus God creates not by the movement of bodily hands, but by the action of the living Word and the communication of the life-giving Spirit. And if in the beginning everything was created by the Spirit, and is again renewed by the Spirit: then one and the same action of God through the Son by the Spirit is clearly revealed, and the Trinity does not allow separation in itself, but, according to the true teaching of Paul, “divisions of gifts are, and the same is the Spirit: and divisions of ministries are, and the same is the Lord: and divisions of actions are, and one is God, who works all in all” ( 1 Cor. 12, 4–6.). And having enumerated all the divine actions, the Apostle says: “all these things operate in one and the same Spirit, dividing power to each as he wills” (- 11.). Since the Spirit is glorified with God, this proves that He is not a product, but of God’s nature Of course, the creature has no power over God’s creatures and no influence over them; on the contrary, there is a different way of acting for the Creator, and another for the creatures. “The angels see the face of the Heavenly Father,” as the Savior says (Matthew 18:10), and this is their great glory and bliss. But they are the works of God, according to what was said: “Thou shalt make His angels spirits, and make His servants scorching fire” (Heb. 1:7). God creates them themselves, and not through them, but sanctifies them and acts in them, as in holy men; and they, like people, proclaim the works of God. That is why we do not glorify Angels, like men, on an equal basis with God; for we attribute the benefits provided through them not to them themselves, but to God acting in them. The Spirit is glorified with the Father and the Son, because through Him God’s action is completed, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with you all,” says Paul (2 Cor. 13:13). And the main thing in our salvation, and the perfect tradition of the Divine, for the sanctification of those baptized - to baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Trinity is glorified for the same Divine deeds, it serves as proof of the one Divinity that neither the Father creates without the Son, nor the Son without the Spirit. About the fact that what relationship the Son has to the Father, the same has the Spirit to the Son That is why the Son is the Word of God, and the Spirit is the verb of the Son. For it is said: “Bearing all things with His power” (Heb. 1:3). And since the Spirit is the verb of the Son, therefore it is also the verb of God. It is said: “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:7). The Word of God is a living and active verb. But do not stoop to human likenesses, but everywhere have a higher concept of God, presented to you as a model of the word, taking it only as proof of a single action; because your mind also works on everything with the help of words. Why is the Spirit not the Son of the Son? Not because He is not from God through the Son; but so that the Trinity is not considered an infinite multitude, stopping at the idea that She has sons from sons, as happens with people. But you say: if the Son is the image of God, and the Spirit is the image of the Son: and if the Son is the Word of God, and the Spirit is the verb of the Son: then why is the Spirit not called the son of the Son? - And you took this as the strongest basis for your wickedness. For you command us to understand Him either as a Son or as a creature. And since he is not called Son; That’s why you blasphemely call Him a creature, Who is the author of creation, sanctifies and adores creation, is glorified in the name of the Lord and God, and finally performs God’s actions. So, since He seems to you unworthy of the name of the Son, as alien to the Son and Father; Then consider how He will make those He sanctifies sons? If you are the son of God through the Spirit; then why cannot the Spirit have sonship? If you are God through the Spirit; then why is the Spirit alien to the Divine? Of course, you will ask again: why did He not accept the name of the Son? You don’t want to delve into what is said, and you demand a reason for the unsaid, like the Sadducee, who does not accept the resurrection, but is curious about the image of the resurrection, and rejects what is said for the sake of what is not said. And if we remain silent, not wanting to be inquisitive about the things of God, you will think that you have despised the glory of the Spirit of God, because He is not given the name of son, as if it is impossible to demand an answer from you for the same. For if you confess that through the Spirit thousands are made sons by appropriation; then why is the Spirit not called a son even by appropriation, in any case being more perfect than those who through Him are made sons by grace? And therefore, shouldn’t He all the more be humiliated for the sake of a name? But we will answer this, to the best of our ability, for ourselves; because for you it is enough for us to remain silent, since you yourself are obliged to answer the same question. Therefore, we say that to say about the son from the Son would mean that people who heard about this would be led to think about the multitude in the Trinity of the Divinity. For it would be easy to conclude that just as a son was born from the Son, so from this last another can be born, and from another still another, and so on, until the multitude. Therefore, the Apostle clearly preached that the Spirit is from God, saying: “by receiving the Spirit who is from God” (1 Cor. 2:12). And that the Spirit appeared through the Son, this the Apostle made clear, calling Him the Spirit of the Son, as well as the Spirit of God, and calling Him the mind of Christ, as well as the Spirit of God, like the spirit in man. But he was careful not to call Him the son of the Son. Just as there is one God the Father, ever abiding Father, who is eternally what He is, and one Son, begotten by eternal birth, without beginning being with the Father, the Son of the true God, who is everlastingly what He is, God the Word and Lord: so there is one Holy Spirit, truly the Holy Spirit, according to what is written, glorified with the Father and the Son, Who in the prophet David is also called the “Spirit of the mouth.” (Psalm 32:6), of whom we know that He is the finger of God, we know from the Lord, who said in the Gospel; “If only through the finger of God I will cast out demons” (Luke 11:20). This is what has been said, and it has been said beautifully, as much as is necessary for those who, without inquisitiveness, believe in God and the Word and the Spirit, the one Deity, the only one venerable. And in no way should plurality be introduced, but let each one in the Trinity be known as one being: one Father, one Son, one Holy Spirit. About the fact that the Spirit, as is obvious, even without the name Son, is from God, and about how the likenesses taken from man must be adapted to the Divinity, without rejecting them We gain no little knowledge that the Spirit is from God when we hear that He is the Spirit of His mouth; on the contrary, this name sufficiently reveals His existence from God. For both the Son and birth are not something proper to the Divinity, but appropriated through likeness to man; and similar to this is the name “Spirit”. Therefore, Divine Scripture used this name about the Spirit of God, meaning that He is otherwise from God; because, as was said above, this should not have been explained by the same similarity. And you, like the infidels, oppose God’s teaching, hastening to blasphemy. And since the origin of the Spirit from God is not called birth; then therefore you deny the procession of the Spirit from the mouth of God. And since he is not called the Son; Therefore, you do not believe that He is the Spirit of the mouth of God, but you consider it the work of God’s hands, not paying attention to the likenesses taken from man, you subvert the divine dogmas in relation to these likenesses set forth, when you should listen to God’s words with fear, and with piety accept everything that is said, and not invent words for piety. God does not give birth like a man, but truly gives birth; He manifests birth from Himself - the Word, not a human word, but reveals this Word truly from Himself. He brings out the Spirit with his lips, not in a human way, because the lips of God are not bodily; but the Spirit is from Him, and not from elsewhere. God does not create with bodily hands; but He creates, not producing creatures from Himself, but by His activity bringing them into being, just as a person doing something with his hands does not produce his work from himself. Do not limit the word of God by calling the Spirit the work of the Son; do not ask about the Son, why he is not called spirit, and about the Spirit, why he is not called son; Do not slanderfully call either the Son or the Spirit a creature. The Son of God is the holy fruit of the Holy One, the eternal fruit of the Eternal, the Giver of the Holy Spirit in the fulfillment and formation of creation. Whoever takes away the Son takes away the beginning of the creation of all things: for the beginning of the independence of everything is God’s Word, by whom “all things were.” Whoever takes away the Spirit cuts off the final completion of what is being created; for by the sending and communication of the Spirit the receiving principle of being is brought into being. What comes from God does not proceed in time, although God produces creatures in time. There is always the Word; It was before, as depicted by Moses speaking as if humanly (Gen. 1, 3.), so that it could be explained in a humanlike way how the creation received existence through Him. There is always the Spirit; He was before, as Moses represents Him as being breathed in and communicated (Gen. 2:7), depicting in a bodily way how life was accomplished through Him. That if someone does not recognize that the Spirit is from God, then he does not recognize that the Word is from God But you cut off the symbols of the relationship with God, and the interpretation of Divine unity, that is, the Word, the Spirit; You admit one thing, which means a nature outside of God and far removed from Him, namely, the action of the hand and the work of deeds. For if you do not believe that the Spirit proceeded from the mouth of God, then you cannot believe that the Word is from God; because David, glorifying the Word and the Spirit together, said that “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their power” (Psalm 32:6). And Moses, depicting the deeds that came into being through the Word, showed their quickening by the Spirit in the creation of man in the image (Gen. 2:7). Therefore, how can the inseparable, the Word of God, and the Spirit be separated from God through the Son? If you do not believe in the Spirit, then you do not believe in the Word. Listen to Paul, who says that our transformation according to God is accomplished in the Spirit: “But we, all of us beholding with revealed face the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord (in) the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). So creation is in the image through the Word and in the Spirit. But you say: God creates the Spirit, and creates through the Son. And it seems to you that in the words: “all things were” (John 1:3), the Spirit is also included. Is this why the Trinity has become a two for you? For, if the Spirit is along with everyone, then how is it with the Father and the Son? If the Spirit is not with the Father and the Son; then how will the Trinity be the Trinity? And why will baptism, sanctifying the whole world, take place on Trinity Sunday? But you say that the Spirit is numbered along with water, as one of the creatures, just as water is a creature, for the Lord says: “unless one is born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). And this is still not enough. You place God's Spirit on a par with Gehenna; because John says: “He you baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). After this, what great measure of dishonesty remains, if you give the Holy Spirit the dignity of water, because water is sanctified by the descent of the Spirit! For you have decided to equate that which is sanctified with the Sanctifier, and you do not tremble at Him who, by the same action and according to the same glory, is numbered with God the Son, arbitrarily cutting apart the one action and the same glory. But since it uses water for cleansing, you therefore conclude that the Spirit is worthy of equal honor with water. And although you call the medical art, which uses substances, not equal to substances, but dominant over substances, you reduce the Spirit of God, Who uses water to cleanse sinful defilements, to the disgrace and baseness of water - water, which is provided for the ordinary use of the wicked - water, which cleanses all bodily impurity. And if you were to point out that the Spirit is placed together with fire; then what would you not dare to come up with? I marvel at your recklessness, if you are truly not afraid of fire. Christ baptizes with the Spirit those worthy of the holy thing, and sends those unworthy into the fire, and betrays those who are strangers to goodness to evil. Therefore, both good and evil seem to you to be related to each other, created together and in mutual communication. And although we point to the same actions of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; you don’t see unity; and when the Spirit is preached separately, that He is in the glory of God, you do not understand the Divine glory in him. Meanwhile, the Apostles say: “Thus saith the Holy Spirit” (Acts 21:11), just as the prophets said: “This saith the Lord” (Isaiah 37:6), and the temptation of the Spirit is called the temptation of the Lord, when Peter says to those tempting: “Because you agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord” (Acts 5:9), and again: “Thou hast not lied to man, but to God” (Acts. 5.4). If the Apostles say: “It pleased the Holy Spirit and us” (Acts 15:28), they say, not placing themselves alongside the authority of the Spirit, but subordinating themselves to the Spirit, as they were then instructed by Him; then they express by this that they seem to have one knowledge, one thought and one power with the Spirit. And you are striving to bring down the Spirit among the creatures. This means the same as if, hearing that “people believed in God, and in Moses His saint” (Ex. 14:3), you began to assert that God is compared to Moses. But the difference between the Master and the slave is obvious, to which the writer, pointing out, said: “To Moses, His saint.” For they believe in God as the Lord and as the one who sent Moses; They believe in Moses as a sent servant. So I “desired” the Spirit, the legalization given to the Church by authority, and the Apostles “desired” the decree that was officially proclaimed by them. But the Spirit is not a slave; for it is said: “The Lord is the Spirit: and with the Spirit of the Lord, there is freedom” (3 Cor. 3:17). And Israel, admonished with fear, is enslaved to the decrees of the Spirit, and the Christian church, sanctified by love, is given birth to sons. Therefore, Paul says: “For we have not received the spirit of work or fear: but having received the Spirit of sonhood, for Him we cry: Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). Of course, he who has not accepted what is servile becomes a son from a slave, and it is not through communion with what is servile that he receives the boldness to call God Father, and it is not through servitude that “all” of God “acts as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11). If the Spirit were a slave and a creature, then the hymnist would not have said that the presence of the Spirit extends everywhere, and would not have called Him the face and hand of God, saying: “I will go from Your Spirit! and I flee from Thy presence! If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, there you are: if I take up my wings early, and dwell in the last seas, and there Your hand will guide me, and Your right hand will hold me” (Psalm 139:7-10). For you fill everything with the Spirit, according to what is written: “For the Spirit of the Lord fills the world,” says Solomon (Wis. 1:7). Therefore, and also because the Spirit is known in seven actions, which Isaiah enumerated (Isa. 11:2), Zechariah called the Spirit of the Lord seven eyes, saying: “This is the eye of the Lord, which looks upon the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:20). And what is said: “I fill the heavens and the earth, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23, 24), means its filling with God’s Spirit, just as God says through Zechariah: “I am with you, and My Spirit is present in the midst of you” (Hag. 2:5. 6). But even before that many other similar things were said to prove that the Spirit fills creation. Therefore, who does not recognize the Divine glory of the Spirit, hearing the words: “Where will I go from Your Spirit?” (Psalm 138:7), and also: “I fill the heavens and the earth, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24)? I see here the unified and so-called universal presence of God and the Spirit in everything; and you, being unable to say that in all such places the uncreated Spirit is not understood, you assert that here God himself is called spirit. But God does not personally live in creation; and no one can confuse God and the Spirit of God, clearly hearing what the Apostle writes about what lives in us: “For God has revealed to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit tests all things, even the depths of God. Who is the message from man who is in man, like the spirit of man living in him? Likewise, no one knows God’s message, but the Spirit of God. We do not receive the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we may know that which is given to us by God” (1 Cor. 2:10-12). So, if no one can say that in these words God is called the Spirit of God (although we see that the Spirit is so united with God’s glory, as the spirit of man is with man); then do not try to assert that the Spirit of God is the same as God. He says: “My Spirit which is in you” (Isaiah 59:21), and does not mean God, but the Spirit from God. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for the sake of My anointing” (Isaiah 61:1): The prophet called the Spirit of the Anointing the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit of God is one; and let no one say that there is more than one, although the Lord calls God spirit (John 4:24). By the name of spirit you mean the Father; because He is incorporeal. For as the Spirit is God, according to what has been said: “You are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you” (1 Cor. 3:16); so God is spirit, and the Trinity by nature is undivided and inseparable, so that the names are not divided. Therefore, while God is one, the Son by the Father's nature and by the Father's name is also God; and while the Son is one Lord, the Father is also the Lord, called by the name of the image, as His Prototype and Parent; and likewise the Spirit is the Lord’s, having this name from the Lord, Who communicates the Spirit, and the Lord by the name of the image is the Spirit, just as God by the same name is called the Spirit. Therefore, of course, one should not make either three Gods, or three Lords, or three Spirits; on the contrary, in the communion of names one must recognize the unity of the Trinity. However, by excommunicating and separating the Spirit from the Father and the Son, you reach such recklessness that you assert that eternal life is proclaimed in the Father and the Son without the Spirit; because the Lord says: “This is the eternal life, that they may know the one true God, whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3). Therefore, if it seems to you that the Spirit is excluded by these words, baptize without the Spirit with the baptism of life. And if in the Spirit you inherit life; then why do you dream of eternal life without the Spirit? It is said: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). Therefore, how will you live forever if you are not Christ’s? But you will not be Christ's if you do not have the Spirit of Christ. You say: why didn’t you add: “That they may know thee the one true God, and whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ,” and the Holy Spirit? Not with the intention, O wise ones, to separate the Spirit from the Two, but on the contrary, wanting to unite and show that the Spirit is inseparable in the Father and the Son. For even Paul, when he says: “If you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27), he does not teach in the least that holy things are given without the Father, but in the Son you also indicate the Father; and when he says: “For he hath revealed God unto us by his Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:10), you do not exclude the Son, Who says: “Neither knoweth the Father but the Son, and whomsoever the Son revealeth” (Matthew 11:27). If, without naming the Father, by the name of the Son you point to the Parent, and without naming the Son, by the name of the Father you point to the Begotten: then, in a similar way, here the Spirit is not named, but is implied in the name of the One who gives and communicates Him. Really, when the Apostles say: “Thus says the Holy Spirit” (Acts 21:11), we conclude from this that the Spirit alone gives us laws and predicts the future, and not from the Father through the Son do they receive the principle and law and prophecy? II when the Holy Child is said to be born “of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20); Let us not conclude that the Spirit without the Word acted in the formation of the Child in the womb, whereas John says that “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), and the Word is attributed to the incarnation. On the contrary, it is clear from everything that the Spirit is in the Word, and the Word is in the Spirit, because unity in the Divine is not broken. For in the adoption of three names the Trinity is considered and indicated, and the expression through one name makes it clear the unity of the Trinity; as for example in the words: “from Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things” (Rom. 11:36), the distinctive properties of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are reduced into a single name. For there is one God, from whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things; one also is the Holy Spirit, in whom all things are, as it is said: “You are in the flesh, but in spirit, because the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Rom. 8:9). Why is it that what is said: “in God we live and move and are” (Acts 17:28) clearly expresses the distinctive property of the Spirit in God. The creature is maintained, lives and exists, of course, not by the creature, which itself needs support by the power of the Creator; Of course, God is not glorified by the action of the creature when it is said about Himself that “in Him we live and move and are”; but indeed the Divine Spirit sustains everything that is from God and through the Son into being. Therefore, those who partake of Him are granted continuation of existence. And in Him we live again, who previously, through separation from Him, became corrupt. But although many things can be said that reveal that God is in creation and creation in God, and together pointing to the Spirit; however, let us be content with what has been said, which can serve as a model for more, and we will prove to those who are mistaken that their wickedness against the Spirit is wickedness against God, if only they would try to know that the glory of the Spirit is the glory of God. About the fact that identity is not known from likeness, but from God’s nature - unity But they say: “the human spirit is also mentioned, for example: “take away their spirit, and they will disappear” (Psalm 103:29); and about the Spirit of God - for example: “My Spirit may not dwell in these men” (Gen. 6:3); and about the windy spirit - for example: “His spirit breathes, and the waters flow out” (Psalm 147:7); and another will find many other places.” He who piously guesses God's thought will interpret it more correctly, answering the objection of his opponents: if someone decides to conclude identity from the similarity, then what should he do when many “beings” are mentioned and named, but this name belongs to the one Lord and true God, who speaks of Himself: “I am this” (Ex. 3:14), and when it speaks of many fathers, gods, parents, wise, strong, creators; Do these names by nature always belong to God alone? And unborn is also called what has not yet been born, but is about to be born or happen, for example: the resurrection of the dead, which has not yet come true, unborn, but it will happen; or an iron ring, which will be made over time, unbornly, contained in the nature of iron, or when fire from water, or from stone, or from some other substance in a similar way is made by the same fire. We also imagine that which did not exist anywhere and in any way as unborn, unfulfilled. Whoever says: this has not been realized destroys the independence and existence of the essence. Unrealized and unfulfilled mean a nature that has not received being and does not exist at all. But whoever says: this has been realized and has taken place means the essence that has come into being. But whoever says that God is unborn, or uses the word “unborn” with a term, introducing the name “God,” or adding the same name after the word “unborn,” does not deny either the essence of God or the existence of God, but says that this essence is unborn; Nor does it express that the essence of God is uncreated. On the contrary, without denying the existence of God, it does not show through this what the essence of God is. I’m not talking about quality or quantity, which in their vain talk they promise to show; By the name of the word: unborn, does it also show what form of being the essence of God has? And what form of being something has, and that very thing that is in being and what it is, and what it is, is all the more unknown, as it is unsearchable for all created nature. For if “His destiny is deep in abundance,” as the prophet says (Psalm 35:7), “and His ways are unsearchable,” and therefore “untested” (Rom. 11:33), according to the apostolic word: then how much more is He unsearchable, whose judgments and ways are such! And it is not surprising if such is God Himself, when such is God’s. For if, according to Scripture, “what God has prepared for those who love Him, eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not sighed” (1 Cor. 2:9); then wouldn’t it be even more so for everyone who believes in God piously and without inquisitiveness to say that the nature of God himself, who prepared all this, is even more indescribable? Many things are also called words; but one is the eternal Word of God, about which it is preached in the Gospel that He is God, and that “all things were created by this” (John 1:1.3). Many are called in the Scriptures sons of God, according to what is said: “sons begotten and raised up” (Isa.1:2); and again: “My firstborn son Israel” (Ex. 4:22); However, through appropriation and through some distinctive sign, those begotten by the true God are appropriated sons, and not true ones. For every thing is taken from nature and reality. If He, who by nature is essentially begotten of God, is not the Son, as they say, which does not recognize consubstantiality; then where will the sons of appropriation find a place for themselves? But ignorant people, due to their wickedness, apply to God what is said in a human form, and what the Scriptures have spoken “in many parts and in many ways,” then accepting in a one-sided way, they are subject to fall; because they do not tolerate good guidance. For “the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them: but the wicked” will stumble in the upright (Hosea 14:10). And to our surprise, the same thing from which those who are sound in the faith benefit harms “those who are sick because of contentions and contentions” of the idle, as the Apostle said (1Ti.6, 4)! And that it is malicious and with inquisitiveness, especially with unbelief, to propose questions about God is mental illness, everyone knows this. For if they do not believe the all-holy God Himself in what He Himself says about Himself; then will they listen to His prophets and apostles, who in the divine Scriptures speak about Him and about those who trust in Him? For “it is fitting for him who comes to God to believe, just as he is” (Heb. 11:6); and not be curious with disbelief about what He is, much less what He is not. For what He is, He was, and is, and will always be, and He gives existence to everyone, as God who exists by nature. What don’t you believe, man? Do you not believe that God has his own Son, and want to know how God begot the Son? But if you ask about God: how? then, of course, you will want to ask together: where, that is, in what place? and when, that is, at what time? And if it is inappropriate to propose such questions about God; then it would not be more appropriate not to believe. Perhaps you are not ashamed to remain in unbelief: for you propose questions in order to find not faith, but unbelief. This is true, according to what is written: “wisdom will not descend into an evil-doing soul” (Wis. Sol. 1:4). “And Abraham believed in God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness: and he was called friend of God” (James 2:23). Blessed Abraham is called a friend of God, and indeed a friend is a friend by faith, a friend by obedience to God; and you are an enemy through unbelief and disobedience before God. “Faith is Abraham of God”; believed like Abraham, and not disbelieved like you. Therefore, he is a friend and you are enemies. “The Lord will defeat those who lie to Him,” according to what is written (Psalm 80:26); because the Son of God by nature is called begotten by appropriation and grace; The Creator is called a creature, the Creator is a creature, always existing in the Father, who once did not exist, the Son from the Existing God, who came from those who do not exist. Not only do they lie against God and the Son, fighting against God and fighting against Christ, but they do not cease to fight against the Spirit, not agreeing to call the Spirit of God Lord, stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart (Acts 7:51), opposing the divine Scriptures. Why do you resist this good faith and saving confession: God, Word, Spirit, Father, Son and Spirit? The Son is not alien, and the Spirit is not alien to God and the Son; They are not separated by places, not encompassed by centuries, not measurable by distance. There was never either the Father without the Son, or the Son without the Spirit: but always the same Trinity, immutable and unchangeable. The Son is not the Father, but the Father is the parent of the Son, as mind is the father of the word, as strength is the father of the strong, as the wise one who gives birth to wisdom, as a hypostasis who gives birth to his own image. The Son is always the Son, as the ever-present image of God; as the natural image of God is the Son. But the Spirit is also called the image of the Son and the finger of God, and the Spirit of God, and the verb, and the spirit of the mouth, the good, right and sovereign Spirit, the Spirit of power (Acts 10.38), Lord and God, like the Word, the Spirit of God is also called. For if the Spirit, together with God and the Word, confirms the powers of heaven (Psalm 32:6); then why is He alien? Those who received Him are the “church of God” (1 Cor. 3:16); It is also called the spirit of the mouth of God; indicated by the guilt of creation together with the Word; He “does everything,” like God, “as He wills,” as the Apostle says (1 Cor. 12:11); He is the “Spirit of sonhood” (Rom. 8:15), the author of “freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17); “Where He wills,” the Divinity breathes (John 3:8); The Lord of all clearly calls him the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17); He descended from heaven on the Lord in the form of a dove (Matthew 3:16); He powerfully sanctifies the flesh of the Lord (Luke 1:35); He “fills the world” (Wis. Sol. 1:7); He is inherent in everything, like God, and is always inseparably with God; He knows everything of God, just as the spirit that is in us, that is, the human spirit living in us, knows ours. For this is what it says: “No one knows the message of God, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). And the Savior also says: “no one knows who the Son is but the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wills to reveal” (Luke 10:22, Matt. 11:27). The last passage of Scripture is like the first, and the first is like the last; for it is said: “God has revealed it to us by His Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:10). So look, then the Father reveals the Son, then the Son - the Father, then the Spirit equally - the Son and the Father. Therefore, the whole Divinity is revealed to you, and is called, now in the Father, now in the Son and the Spirit. And the Apostle clearly solves the prophetic question for you; he does not allow the Divinity to be taken as one Person, on the basis of sayings apparently meaning this. For even though he clearly preaches everywhere that the face of the Son is creative, he nevertheless attributes all creation to the face of the Father, because doesn’t he himself say: “There is one God the Father, of Whom are all things, and we are with Him: and there is one Lord Jesus Christ, by Him are all things, and we by Him” (1 Cor. 8:6)? II, just as he clearly said here: one and one, and testified that all things are brought into being by the Son, in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 1-1:36) he named the One, and added that not only “from That,” but also “by Him” all things are brought into being. Therefore, the duality revealed in the duality, or the triplicity in the Trinity, equally, both the apostle himself and the prophets will clearly testify that, preaching the Unity, they do not deny the duality, and even more so the Trinity; but, knowing the unity of the Divine, three Persons preach in one person. And at the beginning, at the creation of the world, we see that God is talking with the Son and the Spirit, as Moses represented Him in human form talking and saying: “Let us make man in Our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26); For to whom does he say, “Let us create,” if not to the Word and the Only Begotten Son, by whom, but by the word of the Evangelist, “all things were made” (John 1:3), and to the Spirit, about whom it is written: “The Spirit of God created me” (Job 33:4)? But if he does not speak clearly about whom and with whom he is talking; however, it is obvious that he does not mean Himself alone when he says: “Behold, Adam was one of Us” (Gen. 3:22), and also: “Come and let us go down and confuse their languages” (Gen. 11:7), so that you also understand Those whom God counts with Himself. For no one will dare to recognize the Angels as equal in honor to the Creator and Master, and it is impossible to imagine one Person in God when it is said: “as one of Us,” and: “Come, and let us come together.” But it is also clear what is said about the destruction of Sodom, namely: “The Lord will rain bogey and fire from the Lord from heaven” (Gen. 19:24). And like this, the prophets speak from the person of God. It is said: “You have destroyed, just as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah” (Amos.4:11). And in another place, revealing His love for mankind, God says: “I will save them in the Lord God” (Hosea 1:7); and this does not differ from the apostolic saying, which says: “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day” (2 Tim. 1:18). What can you say about Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel’s wisdom? Does it really seem to you that he poorly and not clearly depicted the Hypostasis and the life of truth when he said: “the whole earth calls for the truth, and heaven blesses it, and all things shake and tremble” (2 Ezra 4:36)? What truth is this if not God’s Word and the Son, “Who is all things?” For He says: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). But there is no truth except that which is born from the True One naturally and eternally by Him; therefore Zerubbabel adds, saying: “Blessed is the God of truth” (2 Ezra 4:40), that is, the Father of Truth-Christ. Christ is the truth; His every breath honors and trembles. And therefore, that the Word is living, and a perfect person, and so is the Spirit, this is sufficiently taught by what has been said now. But many other human images are attributed to God; and we do not conclude that God is a man, for example, from what we hear about the face, eyes, ears, hands and feet. The prophet does not want to say about God in a sensual concept that He sits “in heaven as on a throne” and that He tramples “the earth as the footstool of His feet” (Isaiah 66:1), but in the sense that the earth is subject to Divine power. And also, if you hear about God’s womb, do not be confused, imagining something physical, but, understanding something spiritual, name something perfect, and it is in this saying that the most generative power of God is clearly revealed to you. Thus, hearing more about the hands of God, clearly recognize God’s creative power; hearing about ears, conclude that God hears; hearing about the eyes, understand God's discernment; Hearing about wings, recognize God’s protective power. And in the same way, everything else, taken in itself, retains its own most correct concept of God, especially for true believers. Therefore, names are used by people to recognize and distinguish between essences or things, and what enters into thinking with essences. Therefore, do not consider it strange that a womb is attributed to God, because it is not strange to attribute to Him a hand, and everything else that was previously counted. And therefore, do not let the birth attributed to God seem strange to you and to everyone who hears. And if anyone is afraid of suffering in the giving birth God, then in the creating God he should also be afraid of movement, fatigue, the use of substances and the need for tools. For all this happens to people who create something. If this is not in God; then there is no suffering in birth. For it is impossible for a dispassionate nature to be subjected to suffering. Why should anyone “fear fear, where there is no fear” (Psalm 13:5)? God does not suffer, giving birth from Himself by nature. Let this not happen! He does not get tired of creating something out of nothing, or everything. Let this not happen! We don’t dare even talk about it! If you avoid one, you will avoid everything. And if you avoid everything equally, then even one. If one thing is human; that's all. And if everything is not humane; this and neither. For if God tirelessly creates everything out of nothing by His will; then this is not incredible for us. But let it be even more probable for everyone that God, from Himself by God’s nature, divinely, dispassionately, gave birth to God the Son, true, equal in honor, equal in glory, co-thronal, advisor and co-worker, consubstantial, and not alien to the Father and God and not alien to His one Divinity. Otherwise, the Son is not worthy of worship, for it is written: “Thou shalt not worship a strange god” (Psalm 80:10), and we are commanded not to accept any new God. Therefore, do not talk about the increase of what is honored, do not say that the ancients were silent about the Son, but He is revealed to us, if only you confess the Son as the creative Word. For the fathers knew the word, worshiped God’s Word, and with the Word the Spirit. Do not separate Him from the One who says: “I am God” is one, “and is there no Me” (Isa.45:5), so as not to be forced to speak blasphemously about the Son, that He is not God. Do not separate Him from the One who says: “I spread out the heavens alone” (Isa.41:24), lest you cease to call the Son Creator, because He who spread out the heavens is not separated from the glory of the one God. Therefore, in the Son recognize the Father, in the Father glorify the Son. Do not divide the indivisible, do not cut the uncut. For, even if you wanted, the Divinity is not dissected, and although heretics are dissolved, the Trinity will not be dissolved; on the contrary, it remains as it is, although it does not appear to be such to others. For the Holy Trinity is a twisted rope, and is venerable in one and eternal glory, everywhere has the same one Divinity, inseparable, uncut, indivisible, fulfills everything, contains everything, abides in everything, builds everything, rules everything, sanctifies everything, gives life. This divine, most wonderful interweaving is not torn apart, according to what is written: “A rope that is torn apart will not be torn apart” (Eccl. 4:12). In this sense, blessed Paul, writing to the faithful, said in one place: “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 when everything is worked by God through Jesus Christ in the Spirit, I see the action of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit inseparable. That is why all saints are churches of God and the Son and the Holy Spirit; in them lives one Divinity, one Dominion and one Holiness of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, through the one shrine of baptism. A response to those who say that it is written about the Son and Father many times, but about the Spirit only in baptism And if the Father says: “In the last days I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17); what shall we say about the Son? For it is not written here about Him. If the prophet says: “There the kites will gather one to another; none of these will fail to come, and one will not be replaced by another. For His very mouth commanded, and His very spirit will gather them” (Isaiah 34,15, 16), then where is the Son? If he says: “spirit and every breath that I created” (Isa.57:16); where is the son? If David says: “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 50:13); where is the son? If he says: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 50:12), where is the Son? If he also says: “Let Your good Spirit lead me into the land of righteousness” (Psalm 142:10); where is the son? If he says: “And strengthen me with the sovereign Spirit” (Ps. 50:14); where is the son? If Job says: “The Spirit of God created me” (Job.33, 4); where is the son? If the same Job says: “the spirit is in man and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding” (Job 32:8); where is the son? If David says: “You send forth Your spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 103:30); where is the son? If he says: “Where will I go from Your Spirit, and where will I flee from Your presence” (Ps. 139:7); where is the son? If it is said: “Woe to the disobedient sons, says the Lord, who take counsel, but without Me, and make covenants, but not according to My Spirit” (Isa.30:1); where is the son? And if it is said: “And a branch shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his root; and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety; and he will be filled with the fear of the Lord” (Is.11:1-3); How can I excommunicate the Spirit? And if he says: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach liberation to the captives and the opening of prison to the prisoners” (Isa.61.1); How can I excommunicate the Spirit? And how much more, with some effort, can be found in the Old Testament Scripture and in the New Testament about the Spirit, Son and Father! “Rejoice, O Blessed One! The Lord is with You; ...and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son” (Luke 1:28–31). And since Mary said: “How will this be when I don’t know my husband?” - the angel tells her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:34-35). And the same angel also says to Joseph: “Do not be afraid to accept Mary your wife, for what is born in Her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). And the evangelist, interpreting the words of the prophet, says: “that what is written may be fulfilled: “Behold My Servant, whom I have chosen, My Beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased.” I will put My spirit on Him” (Matthew 12:17-18; Isaiah 42:1). And in the Gospel it is written: “The Spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). In a similar way, the Gospel says: “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then of course the kingdom of God has come to you” (Matthew 12:28). And it is also written: “all sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven to men” (Matthew 12:31). And during baptism, the Holy Spirit descended and remained on Him (see John 1:32). The angels descended and “served Him” (Matthew 4:11). From this you must understand that the angels, when they descend, serve to demonstrate slavery, and the Spirit, “abiding on Him” (John 1:32), so that when you hear about abiding, you understand the freedom of His nature. But it is written: “The Father who abides in Me, He does the works” (John 14:10). And it is also written: “Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert. There for forty days He was tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1-2). And again: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; on whomever you leave it, it will remain on him” (John 20:22–23). And again: “I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go; for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; and if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7), “the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26). If they say: the Spirit does not speak from Himself, but “He will speak whatever He hears” (John 16:13), we answer this that the Son does not speak from Himself, but says: “The Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what to say and what to say” (John 12:49). For everything that the Spirit speaks and everything that the Son speaks are the words of God, and therefore all “Scripture is inspired by God and profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16), being spoken by the Spirit. And this truly proves that the Spirit is not a creature; because every rational creature sometimes speaks from itself, and sometimes from God, for example, when Paul says: “I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give counsel as one who has received mercy from the Lord to be faithful to Him... But to those who have entered into marriage I command not I, but the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:25;10). And the prophet: “You will be righteous, Lord, if I go to court with You; and yet... why is the path of the wicked prosperous?” (Jer.12, 1). And again: “Woe is to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me!..” (Jer. 15:10). Sometimes he says: “Thus the Lord said to me” (Jer. 13:1). And Moses sometimes says: “I am not a man of speech” (Ex. 4:10); and sometimes he says: “Thus says the Lord: Let My people go, so that they may serve Me” (Ex. 8:1). But not so the Spirit; Sometimes He does not speak “from Himself,” but sometimes from God, for this is characteristic of the creature. On the contrary, all the words of the Spirit, as well as the words of the Son, are the words of God. Therefore, the Son does not say “of Himself,” for He says: “The Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what to say and what to say” (John 12:49), not because he learns from the Father (this would mean simplicity and ignorance), but because everything that the Father says, he says through the Son in the Spirit. And it is also written: “Who among men knows what is in a man, except the spirit of man that lives in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” And again: “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11). If they say that the one who tests does not know, that is why he tests, we will answer this that God “pierces the heart and tests the inward parts” (see Jer. 17:10) and through the prophets says: “I will search Jerusalem with a lamp” (Zeph. 1:12). And it is also written: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you, which you have from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19). And again: “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 do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Rom. 8:9). And it is also written: “And such were some of you; 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: “I do not dare to say anything that Christ did not do through me, in the subjugation of the Gentiles by faith, in word and in deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God” (Rom. 15:18-19). And at the beginning of his letters, Saint Paul mentions the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, writing like this: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, chosen for the gospel of God, which God first promised through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and was revealed to be the Son of God with power, according to the holiness spirit” (Rom. 1, 1–4). And again: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor. 13:13). And again: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; ...and the actions are different, but God is the same; producing all things in all" (1 Cor. 12:4-6). And Job says: “As God lives, who has deprived me of judgment, and the Almighty, who has grieved my soul, while my breath is still in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils” (Job 27:2-3); and David says: “Send Your light and Your truth” (Ps. 42:3), calling the light of the Spirit and the Truth - the Son. And in another place: “Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and grant us Thy salvation!” (Ps.84:8). Let every soul seeking knowledge of the divine be comforted if it has such an eye that it can seek this and see it invisible to the senses, and if, seeking this, it can, according to Scripture, dwell with the One He Seeks. For it is written: “If you urgently ask, then turn and come” (Is. 21:12). It comes when it seeks with faith. For although it happens that one does not find one, one does not move away from dwelling in faith and the One sought, but speaks with blessed David: “Your knowledge is marvelous to me—high, I cannot comprehend it!” (Ps.138:6); and with the father of the one who was possessed in the new moon: “I believe, Lord! help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24 and Matthew 17:15). And so, for this purpose, let us seek in faith the knowledge of the nature of the Holy Spirit, seeking knowledge from Himself who is sought. For the Spirit is what we seek, and He Himself gives knowledge of Himself. And how much we know about Him from the Divine Scriptures. He is the One who created the saints, and He also gives divine life to those who seek God from Him. But it is necessary that He be more honorable than those who receive Him, because those who receive Him become saints when He descends on them, and perish when He leaves them. The spirit is always there; He is the source of eternal life. But as for the method of giving and how the Spirit is in everyone and in each individual, let this be considered by a mind that is worthy of such consideration and has freed itself from heretical seduction and from wives who enchant others. Yes, he begins in a silent state. And let not only the body surrounding him and bodily excitement be silent, but also everything around him, the sky, the earth, the sea and all the different creatures on them. And let him imagine that everything is filled with the Spirit, that the Spirit is being introduced into them from everywhere, as if flowing in, pouring in, penetrating and shining through. For the Spirit “of the Lord fills the universe and, as all-inclusive, knows every word” (Wis. 1:7). It shines forth in all the worthy. For just as the rays of the sun make a cloud light and brilliant, producing a golden appearance in it, so the Holy Spirit, having entered into the body of a person, gave it life, bestowed immortality, bestowed a shrine, so He erected it when it fell. And man, who until then was earth and ashes, after the Spirit entered into him, received the dignity of a prophet, an apostle, an angel of God. But it will be more visible and clearer what the powers and nature of the Spirit are if we consider how He contains the saints and all rational nature and how He governs them according to His will. For He gave Himself to the whole multitude of the heavenly Powers and to the whole multitude of the righteous. And among the righteous, great and small, angels and archangels, every indivisible thing is sanctified by Him. And although the indivisible are different and just as bodies are one here and another there, so other forces have a medium separating them from each other; however, the Spirit is indivisible, and not a part of It, dissolved with each indivisible, produces divine life in it, but everything lives entirely by His power; The Spirit is present everywhere, resembling God who sends Him both in being and in the fact that it abides everywhere and in everyone equally. And Gabriel preaching the gospel to Mary, and someone else preaching the gospel in another place to one of the saints, and every prophet prophesying, and Paul preaching the gospel in Rome, and James in Jerusalem, and Mark in Alexandria, were filled with the Spirit, and no distance prevented the same grace from working in them at the same time. And through this each of the saints is god, for it was said to them from God: “I said: you are gods and sons. the Most High - all of you" (Ps. 81:6); and: “God of gods,” obviously the saints, “The Lord spoke” (Ps. 49:1); and: “The God of gods, that is, saints, will appear in Zion” (Ps. 83:8). It is necessary for Him who is in the gods because they are gods to be the Divine Spirit and the Spirit from God. For just as in flammable substances the cause from which they are flammable must be combustible, and just as in saints the cause from which they are holy must be holy, so in gods the wine from which they are gods must be God. Since the acquisition of the Spirit is to such an extent good and divine, then, having already believed in Him, do not be afraid to seek Christ, the Giver of the Spirit. For “no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). And the life that the Spirit gives to another indivisible is not separated from Him, but just as the warmth of fire abides in it and is communicated by it to water or something similar, so the Spirit has life in Itself and His partakers live divinely, having acquired divine and heavenly life. For in Himself He contains everything immortal, every mind of every angel, every soul, and because of His goodness does not seek change or passing, because He has everything in Himself. But he does not seek increment, like the most perfect. Therefore, with Him everything is perfect: “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness” (Gal. 5:22), wisdom, understanding, counsel, security, godliness, knowledge, holiness, redemption, faith, acts of power, gifts of healing, and all the like. The Spirit has nothing acquired in Himself, but has everything eternally, as the Spirit of God, as having appeared from God, having Him as its culprit and its source from which it flows. But He Himself is the source of the benefits calculated above. That which flows from God abides in the being of God, and the goods flowing from Him are His actions. God poured out this Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ—poured it out, not created it; bestowed, but did not produce; reported, not created. In contrast, I use identical expressions, because you must have firm support for yourself everywhere. Whoever learns by this Spirit, what he says to the satisfaction of those who question him, is called taught by God from the prophet, who said: and they will all be “taught of the Lord” (Is. 54:13). So, this Spirit of God dwells abundantly in the rational soul, if it does not want to negligencely depart from itself. And the soul, approaching Him and becoming one with Him, hears: “he who is united with the Lord is one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17). Glory to him. Amen! You might be interested in: