Глава II. О Боге, троичном в лицах

§ 16. The teaching of the Church about the Holy Trinity and the composition of this teaching The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the Most Holy. The Trinity is set out with special separateness in the Afanasiev symbol and reads like this: “This Catholic faith is: that there is one God in the Trinity, and we honor the Trinity in Unity, below the merging Hypostasis, below the dividing being. There is another Hypostasis of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is one Divinity, equal in glory, co-essential with majesty. Like the Father, like the Son, like the Holy Spirit... Thus: God the Father, God the Son, God and the Holy Spirit: neither are three gods, but one God... The Father is neither created nor created from anyone, nor begotten below. The Son is from the Father Himself, not created nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is not created from the Father, not created, lower born, but proceeding... And in this Trinity there is nothing first or last: nothing more or less: but the three Hypostases are whole, co-essential and equal.” This teaching contains three provisions: one general and two particular, directly following from the general and revealing it. The general situation is that in one God there are essentially three Persons or Hypostases: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. First: as one in essence, the three Persons in God are equal and consubstantial; and the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but not three gods, but one God. Second: as, however, there are three Persons, They are different from each other according to their personal properties; The Father is not begotten of anyone, the Son is begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Track. dogma of the Most Holy The Trinity, presented separately, contains the following three dogmas: 1) the dogma of the trinity of Persons in God, with the unity of being; 2) the dogma of the equality and consubstantiality of Divine Persons; 3) the dogma of the distinction of Divine Persons according to Their personal properties. I. About the Trinity of persons in God, with the unity of being § 17. The meaning of church teaching about this dogma 1. When the Orthodox Church teaches us that God is one in essence (οὐσία, substantia): it expresses that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have one, inseparable nature or nature (φύσις, natura), one, indivisible Divinity, one, inseparable Divine properties and perfections. When, on the other hand, it teaches that God is threefold in Persons (πρόσωπον, persona): it expresses that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, with the unity and inseparability of their being, are in God three independent indivisible or hypostases (ὑπόστασις), having their own special, personal properties, by which they differ from each other. “In the Holy Trinity,” wrote St. Basil the Great, “some things are general, and others are special: the general is attributed to the being, and Hypostasis means the peculiarity of each Person.” “First,” says St. Gregory the Theologian, - means the nature of the Divine (τὴν φύσιν τῆς θεότητος) and the latter means the personal properties of the Three (τὰς τῶν τρίον ἰδιότητας). The fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council wrote in exactly the same spirit in their epistle to the Western bishops: “our faith, according to baptism, teaches us to believe in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, i.e. into one Divinity, and power and being (οὐσία) of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, indivisible greatness and co-eternal kingdom in three perfect Hypostases, or in three perfect Persons.” 2. When St. The Church commands us not to merge the Hypostases in God: this protects us from the error of the heretics who merged the Hypostases 2 and inspires us to recognize the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit not as just three names, or images, or manifestations of one and the same God, not for His three also properties, or powers, or actions, as the heretics imagined, but as three independent Persons of the Divine; since each of them - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, possessing the Divine mind and other Divine properties, has its own special, personal property - “for there is a Hypostasis of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.” When, on the other hand, St. The Church commands us not to separate the beings in God: this protects us from the delusion of heretics who divided this being 3 and teaches us that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one by nature, and so on. are not three Gods, but exist inseparably one in the other, and, differing among themselves only in personal properties, have the identity of mind, will and all other Divine properties - and not at all in the same way as three indivisibles of any class of beings exist among creatures, although they have the same nature, but are completely separate from each other. § 18. Indications of the sacrament of the Holy Trinity in the Old Testament The truth of the trinity of Persons in God, with the unity of the being, is clearly revealed in the New Testament: but there were some indications of it in the Old. These instructions can be divided into three classes. 1. Some express only that in one God there is not one, but several persons. These include the words of God: a) before the creation of man - and God said: Let us create man in Our image and likeness (Gen. 1:26); b) before the expulsion of the fallen ancestors from paradise, and God said: behold, Adam was one of Us, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:22); c) before the confusion of tongues and the scattering of people in the pandemonium - and the Lord said: Go, and let us go down there and confound their tongues, so that they may not hear the voice of their neighbor (Gen. 11:6-7). 2. Other places in the Old Testament point specifically to the trinity of Persons in one God. So– a) Holy the writer of everyday life, depicting the appearance of God to Abraham at the oak of Mamre, says: God (Jehovah) appeared to him at the oak of Mamre..., further: looking (Abraham) with his eyes, he saw, and behold, men standing over him, and immediately after that, and seeing them come to meet Him from the doors of his canopy: and he bowed down to the ground, and said: Lord, if he has found grace is before You, do not diminish Your servant (Gen. 18:1–3). Thus Abraham meets three, but worships the One... Having seen the three, he understood the mystery of the Trinity, and having worshiped as if the One, he confessed the one God in three Persons. b) The prophet Isaiah, having been worthy to see the Lord in all His glory, testifies that the Seraphim standing around His throne cried out to each other: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts (Isa. 6:3). Here, both the trinity of Persons in God is expressed through the threefold - Holy, Holy, Holy, and the unity of the being in words - the Lord of hosts. 3. Finally, the third places of V.Z. speak separately about the personality and deity of each of the Persons of the Most Holy. The Trinity, mentioning their very names, for example: a) about the personality and divinity of the Father and the Son, the Lord spoke to Me: My Son ecu You, I have given birth to You today (Ps. 2:7), or, the Lord spoke to my Lord: sit at My right hand (Ps. 109:1), from the womb before the star I gave birth to Thee (Ps. 109:3); b) about the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit, as well as the two first Persons - and now, - Isaiah cries, - the Lord the Lord has sent me, and His Spirit (Is. 48:16); and the Spirit of God (the Spirit of Jehovah), the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of vision and piety will rest upon Him (i.e., the Messiah, who is the Son): The Spirit of the fear of God will fill Him (Isa. 11:2-3). § 19. Evidence of the New Testament: a) about the trinity of Persons in God and together about the unity of Their being Incomparably clearer and more numerous testimonies about the sacrament of St. Trinity is contained in the New Testament, and some express the idea of ​​both the trinity of Persons in God and, together, the unity of Their being; others show primarily the reality and separateness of the Divine Persons; still others – predominantly or even exclusively the unity of Their being. Places of the first kind include: 1. The Savior’s commandment to the Apostles before sending them out for worldwide preaching - go and teach all languages, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Here, obviously, three are named and distinguished: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and Their single name is assumed 4. These words, without any doubt, should be understood as follows: a) as the Savior Himself understood them, and His Apostles could understand them. But the Savior had previously repeatedly expressed to the Apostles that by the name of the Father He means God the Father, who sent Him into the world (John 6:38–40; 7:16, 18, 28 and others) and is One who testifies of Him (John 5:32); by the name of the Son he means Himself, whom, indeed, the Apostles had already confessed to be the Son of God, who came from God (Matthew 16:16; John 16:30); finally, by the name of the Spirit he means another Comforter, whom He had already promised to send down to them from the Father instead of Himself (John 14:16; 15:26). Track. and in the present case, since the Savior did not consider it necessary to add a new explanation of the said words, He himself understood, and the Apostles could understand, under the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, not anyone else, but the three Divine Persons. In the same way, even before and many times before the Apostles, as before all his listeners, the Savior used the expression: in the name, or: about the name, or: in the name, in figures of speech similar to the present one, and always used it to signify dignity, strength, glory, authority, for example, I came in the name of My Father (John. 5:43); the works that I do in the name of My Father testify of Me (John 10:25); In My name demons will be given birth (Mark 16:17); where there are two or more gathered in My name (Matthew 18:20). Track. and in the present case, having commanded the Apostles to baptize people not in names, but in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Savior thereby signified the single and indivisible dignity of the three Divine Persons, the single power, strength, glory, and so on. one and indivisible being. b) how she later understood the said words, following St. The Apostles, and the entire Church of Christ. But from its very beginning, the Church constantly performed baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as three Divine Persons, and denounced heretics who attempted to perform baptism either in the name of the Father alone, considering the Son and the Holy Spirit to be inferior to Him or only by His powers and properties, or in the name of the Father and the Son and even the Son alone, humiliating the Holy Spirit before Them. In the same way, the expression used by the Savior: in the name - was constantly understood as meaning a single dignity, a single Divinity and essence of all three Divine Persons: “our faith,” wrote the fathers of the second Ecumenical Council, “according to baptism, teaches us to believe in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, i.e. into one Deity, and power, and being of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” 2. Words of St. John the Theologian - there are three who testify in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one (1 John 5:7). In this place, the trinity of Persons in God and the unity of being are expressed even more clearly than in the previous one. Trinity of Persons: for the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit are called three witnesses; track. they are different from each other; track. The Word and the Spirit, presented as witnesses on a par with the Father, are not only two of His properties, or powers, or actions, but are the same Persons as the Father. Unity of being: for if the Word and the Holy Spirit did not have the same Divine nature and essence with the Father, but had a lower, created nature, then there would be an infinite distance between Them and the Father, and it would no longer be possible to say that these three are one. § 20. b) About the actual personality of the three Divine Persons Of the passages of the New Testament that testify primarily to the actual personality of the Divine Persons, some show the personality and separateness of all three Persons together, while others, in particular, depict either the personality of the Son or the personality of the Holy Spirit. I. All three Persons of the Godhead are presented together as real Persons and separate from one another: 1. In the Gospel story about the Epiphany - Jesus, having been baptized, rose up from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and in the sight of the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold a voice from heaven said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:16–17). Here they obviously differ in how the Persons are - the Father, who testifies from heaven about the Son; The Son, baptized by John in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descending on the Son in bodily form, like a dove. 2. In the promise of the Savior to the Apostles about sending down the Holy Spirit on them - and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever, and a little later: But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things, and will remember to you all the things that I have told you (John 14:16, 26). Here all three Persons of the Most Holy One are distinguished even more clearly. Trinity as Persons: the Son, Who speaks of Himself - I beseech...; Father - I will pray to the Father; The Holy Spirit, who is called another Comforter, next. different from the Son; will be sent by the Father, next. different from the Father; and he will be sent to replace the Son for the Apostles and teach them everything, next. there is the same Person as the Son. 3. In the words of St. Apostle Paul to the Corinthians - 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 (2 Cor. 13:13). Here St. wishes. The Apostle of spiritual benefits to believers both from the Son or Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, just as from the Father, and, moreover, from each of them he desires special benefits; track. The Son and the Holy Spirit are the same Persons as the Father - all are equal and all are different from each other. II. In particular, Holy Scripture depicts: 1. The personality of the Father, when he ascribes to Him a) knowledge - no one knows the Son except the Father (Matthew 11:27); b) will - I do not seek My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me (John 5:30); c) activity - My Father is still doing (John 5:17, 19) and when he says in detail - that the Father sent the Son into the world (John 6:39) and then the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), that the Father loves the Son (John 3:35) and the world (John 3:16), reveals the truth to people (Matthew 16:17), will give good things to those who ask Him ( Matthew 7:11), forgives sins (Matthew 6:14), saves (John 12:27), glorifies (John 17:5), etc. 2. The personality of the Son, when the Son, as the Father, acquires: a) knowledge - as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father (John 10:15); b) the will - the Father, which He gave to Me, I will, that even though I am, they also will be with Me (John 17:24); c) activity - My Father is still doing and I am doing (John 5:17, 36), and when he speaks in detail - that the Son came into the world and became incarnate for our salvation (John 1:14), and after His ascension into heaven He sent down to earth from the Father another Comforter, the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; 16:7), that the Son loves the Father and the world (John. 14:31; 10:11), gave revelation to people (John 1:18), bestows blessings on those who ask (John 14:13), forgives sins (Mark 2:9–10), etc. 3. The personality of the Holy Spirit, when He, as the Father and the Son, ascribes a) knowledge - who is the message from man, even in man? exactly the spirit of a person living in him; Likewise, no one knows God’s message, but the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11); b) will - it pleased the Holy Spirit and us to lay upon you no greater burdens (Acts 15:28); c) activity - the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the benefit...; all this acts one and the same Spirit, dividing power to everyone as he wants (1 Cor. 12:7, 11), and when he speaks in detail - that He testifies of the Son and glorifies Him (John 15:26; 16:14), regenerates people (John 3:5-8), instructs them in all truth (John 14:26), announces the future (John 16:13), provides shepherds (Acts 20:28), etc. § 21. c) On the unity and inseparability of the essence of the three Divine Persons The most remarkable passages of Holy Scripture, which primarily or even exclusively testify to the unity and inseparability of the essence of the three Divine Persons, are the following: 1. An explanation in the New Testament of the vision of the Prophet Isaiah, which he described in the sixth chapter of his book. The prophet narrates that he was once worthy to see the Lord (Jehovah) of hosts, sitting on the throne, high and exalted in all His glory (Isa. 6:1-4), and that then the Lord said to him - go, and speak to this people: you will hear by hearing, and will not understand, and by seeing, you will see, and will not see: for the heart of these people is clothed (Isa. 6:9, 10). Here, obviously, is God the Father, who was primarily known in the Old Testament and was called Jehovah and Hosts. But St. John the Evangelist, pointing to this place, notes that Isaiah saw the glory of the Son of God and the verb about Him (John 12:40, 41), and St. Paul testifies that the command of Isaiah is to go and say..., spoken by the Holy Spirit (Acts 28:25–27). How could it happen that, seeing the Father, the Prophet saw the Son, and, hearing the Father, heard the Holy Spirit, if not under the only condition that these three, although different as Persons, are one in essence (1 John 5:7), that they all have one indivisible deity, indivisible greatness and glory, indivisible action. 2. The words of the Savior - I and the Father are one (John 10:30). What is said here about the unity of the Son of God with the Father in essence and Divinity is clear from the composition of the speech. When the Jews heard these words of the Savior, they took up a stone and beat Him, saying, “We do not stone you against a good deed, but about blasphemy: for You are this man, creating God for Yourself,” and the Lord not only did not lead them out of this thought and explain His words in any other way, on the contrary, He began to assert that He did not utter any blasphemy, saying, “I am the Son of God,” and pointing to He added his works, which he did in the name of the Father, so that you may understand and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him (John 10:31–38). Similar passages pointing to the oneness of the Son with the Father are: John. 5:19; 14:9; 16:15; 17:10. 3. The words of the Apostle about the Holy Spirit - God revealed to us by His Spirit: For the Spirit tests all things, even the depths of God. Who knows from man, even in man? exactly the spirit of man living in him; In the same way, no one knows God’s message, but the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God (1 Cor. 2:10–12). What is remarkable here is a) that the Holy Spirit acquires the most perfect knowledge of God: but the Savior assimilated this trait only to the Father and to Himself, and pointed to it as a sign of His Divinity and equality with the Father (Matthew 11:27); track. the same must be concluded regarding the Holy Spirit; b) The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit Who is from God, next. not to eat from nothing, not to be a creature, on the contrary, of one nature with God; c) The Holy Spirit appears in exactly the same relation to God as the human spirit to man, i.e. It seems to dwell in God and form one thing with Him, just as our spirit dwells in us and forms, together with the body, one single person. § 22. Belief of the ancient Church in the Sacrament of the Holy Trinity Following such a clear teaching of Holy Scripture and together guided by the Holy. According to tradition, the Church of Christ from its very beginning constantly believed in the sacrament of the Most Holy. Trinity in exactly the same way as he still believes. Indisputable proof of this is: 1. Social models of faith, or symbols, used even before the Council of Nicea in different churches, according to legend from the saints themselves. Apostles. Thus, in the symbol set forth in the Apostolic Constitutions and used primarily in the East during the sacrament of baptism, we read: “I believe and am baptized into the one unborn, the only true God Almighty, Father Christ..., and into the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, the firstborn of all creation before the ages by His good pleasure (εὐδοκίᾳ) Father, begotten, uncreated...; I am also baptized into the Holy Spirit, i.e. Comforter, who acted in all from the beginning of the world of Saints, and then was sent down to the Apostles from the Father, according to the promise of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." 2. Some sacred rites and customs of the primal Church. We mean a) the sacred act of baptism, which she constantly performed, according to the commandment of the Savior, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and, based on the apostolic tradition, not otherwise than through the threefold immersion of the baptized person in water, in order to even more clearly testify to both her and the baptized faith in the three equally honorable Hypostases of the one God; b) small doxology, used at first mainly in two forms - “glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit” or “glory to the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit” and sometimes “glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”; c) finally, the thanksgiving of the lamp, or evensong, from which St. Basil the Great cites the words: “we praise the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit of God” to demonstrate the faith of the ancient Christians in the equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son. 3. Those sentences that the primal Church pronounced against persons who allowed themselves to somehow distort the dogma of the Most Holy. Trinity. It is known that as soon as such persons appeared and began to spread their false teaching, the voice of all believers and especially pastors rebelled against them, as against innovators and heretics - and the Church immediately excommunicated them from the society of the Orthodox. This is what she did with Praxeus, Noetius, Savelius and Paul of Samosata, who dared to deny the trinity of persons in God, and even earlier with the Ebionites and Cerinthians, who rejected the deity and the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. 4. Testimony of St. fathers and teachers of the Church who lived in the first three centuries. For example a) St. Clement of Rome: “Have we not one God, and one Christ, and one Spirit of grace poured out on us?...”; b) St. Theophilus of Antioch: “the three days that were before the creation of the heavenly bodies are images of the Trinity - God, and His Word, and His Wisdom (the Holy Spirit)”; c) Tertullian: “The Trinity of one Divinity – Father and Son and Holy Spirit”; d) St. Methodius of Patara: “there is one kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as one being (οὐσία) and one dominion (κυριότης); that is why we worship with a single worship the one Trihypostatic Deity, beginningless, uncreated, infinite and eternal”; d) St. Hippolyta: “otherwise we cannot recognize one God, unless we truly believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” f) Dionysius of Alexandria: “if they claim that the Hypostases, as soon as there are three of them, are separate; then there really are three of them, even if the heretics didn’t want it; otherwise let them completely destroy the concept of the Divine Trinity.” II. On the equality and consubstantiality of Divine Persons § 23. The meaning of church teaching about this dogma Dogma of the equality and consubstantiality of the Divine Persons of St. The Church expresses it in the following words: “God the Father, God the Son, God and the Holy Spirit, not three gods, but one God.” He calls each of Them separately God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: because each of them is an independent Person and possessing all Divine perfections. But he says that all of them, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are not three gods, but one God: because They possess Divine perfections inseparably; because They have one being, one Divinity, one will, one strength, power, greatness, glory; because the difference between Them, as three Persons, is not based on the difference in Divine properties, which are inseparable among all Three, but only on the difference in personal properties, by virtue of which the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and the Spirit is the Spirit, and what constitutes the actual deity is the same for all of them. Explaining this, St. Gregory the Theologian says: “The Divinity is the Three Infinite, an infinite co-naturalness, where each, intelligible in Himself, is God, as the Father and the Son, the Son and the Holy Spirit, with the preservation of a personal property in each, and the Three, intelligible together, are also God; the first because of consubstantiality, the last because of unity of command.” And in another place: “in the Divinity there is one, but those to whom the Divinity belongs are three in number. Each is one God, if you call one. And again, there is one God without beginning, from whom is the wealth of the Divinity, when the word mentions the Three...” No one ever doubted the Divinity of the first Person of the Holy Trinity, even among the heretics themselves, who rejected the Divinity of the other two Persons. And this is very natural: because a person cannot recognize anyone as God without first completely abandoning sound reason (Ps. 13:1), and at the same time because the Divinity of the Father is depicted with such clarity in Holy Scripture that there is not the slightest reason for any bewilderment or hesitation. Christ the Savior Himself calls His Father a) God - God so loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16); b) the one and true God - this is the eternal life, that they may know you the one true God, and whom Jesus Christ sent (John 17:3); c) Lord of heaven and earth - I confess Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for He hid this from the wise and prudent, and revealed it to babes (Matthew 11:25). The Holy Apostles also very often called the Father a) God, beginning almost every letter to Christians with the words - grace to you and peace from God the Father (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2, etc.), and instructing them with one accord and with one mouth to glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 15:6); b) one God - we have one God the Father, of whom everything is worthless (1 Cor. 8:6); c) Blessed by God - blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of generous gifts and the God of all joy (2 Cor. 1:3). § 25. The divinity of the Son and His consubstantiality with the Father I. The Divinity of the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation, is depicted no less clearly in Holy Scripture, as well as His being one in essence with the Father. The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, learns in the Holy Scriptures everything that can befit the true God, such as: 1. Divine names. It calls Him a) God - in the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word. This one from time immemorial was unto God.... And the Word became flesh (John 1:1, 2, 14); b) God incarnate - great is the mystery of piety: God appeared in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16); c) Lord God - pay attention to yourself and to all the flock, in whom the Holy Spirit has appointed bishops, to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God, which we have acquired with His blood (Acts 20:28); d) the true God - we know that the Son of God came and gave us light and understanding, that we might know the true God, and that we might be in His true Son Jesus Christ: this is the true God and the eternal life (1 John 5:20); e) the great God - the saving grace of God has appeared to all mankind: Having punished us, so that, having rejected ungodliness and worldly lusts, we will live chastely and righteously and piously in this present world: Waiting for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ (Tit. 2:11-13); f) Blessed by God - their (the Jews) sonship and glory, and covenants and legislation, and ministry and promises: theirs are the fathers, and from them is Christ according to the flesh, who is God blessed above all forever, amen (Rom. 9:4, 5). 2. Divine nature. This includes mainly the sayings of St. Apostle Paul: Great is the mystery of godliness: God appeared in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16); for in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fulfillment of the physical Divinity (Col. 2:9). 3. Perfect equality with God the Father: My Father works hitherto, and I work (John 5:17). Whatever He creates, the Son also creates in the same way (- 19). Just as the Father raises the dead and lives, so the Son also lives what he wants (-21). Just as the Father had life in Himself, so the Sons also had life in Himself (- 26). 4. Consubstantial with God the Father. This is revealed from the words of the Savior: I and the Father are one (John 10:30); seeing Me in the form of the Father..., I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 14:9, 11); if they knew me quickly, and they knew my Father quickly (John 8:19, 14:7), and all of mine is your essence, and yours is mine (John 17:10); All that the Father has is Mine (1 John 16:15). 5. Divine properties, which are a) eternity - and now you, Father, glorify Me with you with the glory that I had with you, before the world was not (John 17:5); I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last (Apoc. 1:11); b) originality - just as the Father had life in Himself, so the Son also had life in Himself (John 5:26); c) omnipresent - no one ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven (John 3:13); d) omniscience - Jesus Himself, without committing them to His faith, knew everything Himself: And as He did not demand, but who testifies about men: He Himself knew what was in men (John 2:24 and 25); in Him are all the hidden treasures of wisdom and understanding (Col. 2:3); e) omnipotence - just as the Father raises the dead and lives, so the Son also lives what he wants (John 5:21); f) glory - even if they had understood, they had not crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8; demolished. James 2:1). 6. Divine actions and power over everything that exists. The Son of God is called: a) the Creator of the world - all things were, and without Him nothing came into being (John 1:3); By Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, whether they are dominions, whether they were principalities, whether they were powers: by Him all things were created and about Him (Col. 1:16, 17); b) Provider - He is before all, and all things are found in Him (Col. 1:17); bearing all things with the word of His power (Heb. 1:3); c) Lord of all, King of kings and Lord of lords - the word of the messenger of the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all (Acts 10:36); and to have on his robe and on his side his name written: King of the king and Lord of the Lord (Apoc. 19:16). 7. Divine veneration and worship from rational creatures: let everyone honor the Son as they honor the Father, and whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (John 5:23); that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth: And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10, 11). II. Evidence of the belief of the ancient Church in the deity of the Son of God is: 1. Symbols, or confessions of faith, used in the Church before the Council of Nicaea. Thus, in the confession of faith placed in the Apostolic Constitutions, Jesus Christ is called “the Only Begotten Son of God, the firstborn of all creation, before the ages, begotten not created by the good pleasure of the Father”; in the symbol of the Church of Jerusalem - “The Only Begotten Son of God, who was born of the Father before all ages, by the true God, to Whom all things were”, in the symbol of the Church of Caesarea - “By the Word of God, by God from God..., born before all ages from the Father.” 2. Confessions of faith compiled at councils, or on behalf of a council of shepherds before the fourth century. This is the confession of the shepherds of the Church of Alexandria, set out by them in a letter to Paul of Samosata, who rejected the Divinity of the Savior - “We confess,” they wrote among other things, “the Image of God, His Word and Wisdom as the Son of God and true God, one eternal Person and one hypostasis. He is the invisible God made visible; for God, who appeared in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16), being born of a woman, is the same who was born of God the Father from the womb before the star (Ps. 109:3) ... He is Lord by nature and the Word of the Father, through whom the Father created all things, and is called holy. fathers of one essence with the Father... For they (the Holy Fathers) taught us about Him as God.” This is the same Confession of the Council of Antioch (269), set out in a letter to the same heretic - “whoever denies that the Son of God was God before the creation of the world, and says that to recognize the Son of God as God means to admit two gods, we consider him alien to the church canon, and in this all the Catholic churches agree with us... And all the inspired Scriptures represent the Son of God as God.” 3. The excommunication by the Church of heretics who rejected the deity of the Son of God or Jesus Christ from the society of the Orthodox, and namely, the excommunication of Cerinthos, Ebion, Theodotus, Carpocrates, Paul of Samosata and finally Apius, with all their followers. On these occasions the Church's own belief in the deity of the Son of God was expressed in the most clear and solemn manner. 4. Sayings of private pastors and teachers of the ancient Church, for example: a) St. Clement of Rome - “brothers, you must think of Christ Jesus as of God, as of the Judge of the living and the dead”; b) St. Ignatius the God-Bearer - "I glorify Christ Jesus - my God (τὸν θεόν), who has made you so wise: for I have learned that you... are filled with faith in our Lord, truly descended from the tribe of David according to the flesh, the Son of God according to divinity (θεότητα)"; c) St. Irenaeus - "all the Prophets and The Apostles and the Spirit Himself call Him in the proper sense God, and Lord, and the eternal King, and the Only Begotten, and the Word incarnate.” 5. Reviews of some pagans and Jews. Pliny the Younger wrote to Emperor Trajan that Christians have the custom, as soon as daylight comes, to gather together and sing a song of praise to Christ as God. Celsus mocked the Christian belief that God Himself came into the world to redeem people, that God was born and crucified, and said that from the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation it follows that God has changed. The Jew Tryphon, in the famous work of Justin the Martyr, recognizes it as incredible and impossible (ἄπιστον καὶ ἀδύνατον), contrary to Christian teaching, for God to become man. § 26. The Divinity of the Holy Spirit and His consubstantiality with the Father and the Son 1. The deity of the third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and His consubstantiality with the Father and the Son is proven from Holy Scripture in the same way as the deity of the Son. Holy Scripture attributes to the Holy Spirit: 1. Divine names. So: a) St. The Apostle Peter, denouncing Ananias, said, “Ananias, why Satan filled your heart, lied to the Holy Spirit... he lied not to man, but to God (Acts 5:3, 4); b) St. The Apostle Paul calls believers the church of God - don’t you know that this is the church of God (θεοῦ), and the Spirit of God lives in you (1 Cor. 3:16); and a little later he calls them the temple of the Holy Spirit - or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit living in you, which comes from God (1 Cor. 6:19). 2. Divine nature and consubstantial with the Father and the Son - 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). “In the words: Who proceeds from the Father, the Savior testified that the Father is the source of the Holy Spirit, and did not say: he will come or will happen, but: he comes, in order to show that Their nature is one and the same, that Their being is inseparable and inseparable, and that the Persons are united with each other. For what happens cannot be separated from that from which it comes.” St. Apostle Paul wrote - you are in the flesh, but in spirit, because the Spirit of God lives 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 (Rom. 8:9, 10). Here the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ, no doubt, due to the unity of Their being, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers seems to be the indwelling of Christ Himself in them, of course, for the same reason. 3. Equality with the Father and the Son. This is evident: a) from the commandment about baptism - go and teach all languages, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), where the Holy Spirit is supplied completely on an equal basis with the Father and the Son; b) from the words of St. Apostle - 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, and further - the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the benefit... all this acts one and the same Spirit, dividing the power to each as he wills (1 Cor. 12: 4-7 and 11), where the action of the Holy Spirit is supplied completely along with the action of the Lord Jesus and God the Father; c) from the combination of various passages of Scripture that mention all three Divine Persons, but in a different order, so that sometimes the name of the Father is in the first place, in the second is the Son, in the third is the Spirit (Matthew 28:19), sometimes in the first is the name of the Father, in the second is the Holy Spirit, in the third is the Son (1 Pet. 1:2), sometimes in the first is the Son, in the second is the Father, in the third is the Holy. Spirit (2 Cor. 13:13), sometimes, finally, in the first name the Holy Spirit, in the second - the Son, in the third - the Father (1 Cor. 12:4–6), which further demonstrates the equality of all of them in dignity. 4. Divine properties, for example: a) Omniscience - when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth... and He will tell you what is to come (John 16:13); The Spirit tests all things, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10). b) Omnipresence. The idea of ​​this property of the Holy Spirit is clearly expressed where it is said that He dwells and acts, at the same time, in the souls of all Christian believers scattered across the face of the earth - the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom. 8:9, 11, 14, 16, 26, 27), - in Him you also are created into a habitation of God by the Spirit (Eph. 2:22). c) Omnipotence. It is revealed primarily from the independent, sovereign distribution by the Holy Spirit of miraculous or extraordinary gifts to believers - the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for their benefit. To one is given the word of wisdom by the Spirit, to another the word of understanding, about the same Dus: To another faith, by the same Spirit: To another the gifts of healing, about the same Dus: To another the actions of power, to another prophecy, to another spiritual reasoning, to another the generation of tongues, to another the telling of tongues. All this operates in one and the same Spirit, dividing power to each as he wills (1 Cor. 12:7-11). d) Infinite greatness. We can conclude about him from the words of the Savior - Amen I say to you, for all the sins of the son of man will be forgiven, and all blasphemies, even if they are blasphemed: And whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have remission, but will be guilty of eternal judgment (Mark 3:28, 29). 5. Divine actions, such as: a) Creation and primarily in the kingdom of grace, or the rebirth of souls - the Spirit of God, who created me, and the breath of the Almighty who taught me (Job 33:4, Psalm 32:6). Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God... unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). b) Providence and also primarily in the kingdom of grace, or the government of Christ’s Church. Thou shalt follow Thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and renew the face of the earth (Ps. 103:30). Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in whom the Holy Spirit has made you bishops, to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God, who has acquired it with His blood (Acts 20:28). This, in particular, includes places that assimilate to the Holy Spirit the justification and sanctification of people, adoption to God the Father, distribution of spiritual gifts to them, and assistance to them in all good deeds. c) Divine worship. For: a) we all undertake to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), etc. We undertake to confess and glorify both the Father and the Son, and so also the Holy Spirit; b) we all make up the temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in each of us (1 Cor. 6:19); track. must serve Him as the Lord of the church, as God. 2. We have already partially seen the teaching of the ancient Church, the custodian of the Apostolic tradition, about the equality and consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son from the evidence that was cited as proof of its belief in the trinity of Persons in one God. And precisely: a) from her ancient symbols, where she taught her children to believe equally in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, sometimes noting about the latter that He is the Comforter, who acted in all from the beginning of the world of saints, who spoke in the Prophets, and then was sent down to the Apostles from the Father, according to the promise of the Lord Jesus; b) from her ancient small doxology, which always ascended equally to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit or with the Holy Spirit; c) from the ancient vespers song, which was also always sung in honor of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit of God; d) from the sacred rite of the sacrament of baptism, which from the very beginning was performed only through the threefold immersion of the baptized person, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now let us cite a few more paternal testimonies that are closely related to the teaching we are presenting about the Holy Spirit. So: St. Clement of Rome calls Him the “holy and right Spirit, proceeding from the Father”; track. distinct from the Father and consubstantial with Him. Tertullian says, “Because the Spirit of God is God, and the Word of God is God, because they are from God.” St. Dionysius of Alexandria - “he who utters blasphemy against the good Holy Spirit will not go unpunished: for the Spirit is God.” St. Gregory the Wonderworker - “one Holy Spirit proceeding from God, revealed through the Son... The Trinity is perfect, with glory and eternity and kingdom, indivisible and inseparable. Why is there in the Trinity neither created, nor auxiliary, nor incidental, which would not have existed before, and which would have entered after. Neither the Father was ever without the Son, nor the Son without the Spirit; but the Trinity is immutable, unchangeable and always the same.” St. Methodius of Patara - “we believe that in the Son, by the good will of will (Eph. 1:5), who became man for our sake, according to the inseparable divinity, the Father dwells with the Spirit, consubstantial with Him.” “Neither the Father will ever cease to be the Father, nor the Son the Son, nor the Holy Spirit from what He is in Hypostasis, so that not a single Person of the Trinity can lose either eternity, or communion (with other Persons), or the kingdom.” III. On the Difference of Divine Persons by Their Personal Properties § 27. The teaching of the Church on this dogma The Orthodox Church teaches about the distinction of Divine Persons according to Their personal properties as follows: “In one Divinity there are three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: the Father, who before the ages begets the Son from His being and produces the Holy Spirit; The Son, born of the Father before the ages and consubstantial with Him; The Holy Spirit, proceeding from eternity from the Father, consubstantial with the Father and the Son” (Orthodox Confession, part 1, answer to question 9). “So, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the unborn, the begotten and the proceeding, distinguish Persons in the Divinity, and not a being that is inseparable in itself” (ibid., answer to question 12). And in another place: “the difference between the Persons of the Holy Trinity is that God the Father is not born and does not come from another Person, the Son of God is eternally born from the Father, the Holy Spirit is eternally emanating from the Father” (Space Catech. on Part 1). § 28. Personal property of God the Father The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the personal property of God the Father has the most solid foundations in Holy Scripture. These include: a) the words of the Savior: just as the Father had life in Himself, so He also gave the Son life to have in Himself (John 5:26), from which it is clear that the Father did not receive being from anyone, was not created from anyone, was not born and does not come from anyone; b) all those places where He is called the Father in relation to the Son, of which there are countless numbers, for example: no one knows the Son except the Father; no one knows the Father except the Son, and whatever the Son wills to reveal (Matthew 11:27); let everyone honor the Son as they honor the Father, and whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (John 5:23); or where it is said that He gives birth to a Son: The Lord spoke to Me: My Son ecu You, I have given birth to You today (Ps. 2:7); from the womb before the star I gave birth to Thee (Ps. 109:3); c) finally, places that represent the Father as the beginning in relation to the Holy 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); We do not receive the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God (1 Cor. 2:12). Note From here: a) it becomes clear why the Father usually takes first place in the order of Divine Persons (Matthew 28:19) and is called the first Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity; b) it is also clear that in God there is only one beginning of the Divinity - the Father; for the Son and the Holy Spirit receive their existence from Him alone; c) it is clear, finally, that the Father serves as a kind of connection and unity for the Persons of the Holy Trinity, who, although one in essence, are separate as Persons; for the Son and the Holy Spirit, having received the beginning from Him, are raised to Him alone as their Author. § 29. Personal property of God the Son The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the personal property of God the Son has the same solid foundations in Holy Scripture. For He is very often called here: a) the Son of God the Father, for example: the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself does... just as the Father raises the dead and lives, so the Son also lives what He wills (John 5:20, 21); b) the Only Begotten Son: God so loved the world, as He gave His only Son to eat, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16, 18), and, moreover, c) one who abides in the very bosom of the Father: God is not seen anywhere: the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, is the confessor ( John 1:18); d) The true Son: we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us light and understanding, that we may know the true God, and that we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ (1 John 5:20); e) His own Son: He did not spare His own (ἴδιον) Son, but He gave Him up for us all: for how else does He not give us all things (Rom. 8:32) It would be unnecessary to prove that both in these and in all other places of Scripture the Lord Jesus is called the Son of God in the true sense, and not in some figurative one, when we already know that the Holy One. books attribute to Him both the Divine nature and Divine properties and consubstantiality with the Father and the Spirit. Note We must remember, a) that the birth of the Son of God is an eternal birth, and so on. never began, never ended. That is why God the Father Himself says to the Son in one place: before the morning star I begat Thee (Ps. 109:3), i.e. gave birth before all ages without beginning, and in another: Today I gave birth to Thee (Ps. 2:7), i.e. I gave birth only now, or I give birth forever. In the same way, we must remember b) that the Son was born from the Father, but was not separated from Him, or what is the same, was born and is being born inseparably (ἀδιαστάτως). That is why it is called being in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18), abiding in the Father (John 10:38). § 30. Personal property of God the Holy Spirit I. The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the personal property of the Holy Spirit is borrowed directly from the words of the Savior to the Apostles: when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father (τὸ Πνεύμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορέυεται), He testifies of Me (John 15:26). Here the expression: who comes from the Father means the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit, and not a temporary embassy into the world. This - 1. It is revealed from the purpose for which the given words are spoken. The entire conversation (John 14–16) in which they are engaged was directed by the Savior primarily to comfort His disciples in their approaching separation from Him. For this purpose, He spoke to the disciples with a promise to send down to them, instead of Himself, the Holy Spirit, and first calls the one promised to them the Comforter, Who will abide with them forever (John 14:16), then - the Spirit of truth, Who will teach them everything and remember to them everything they have heard from their Divine Teacher (John 14:26), and then adds that this future Comforter, this Spirit of truth is not any creature, but comes from the Father, i.e. has eternal existence from God and a trace. is the Face of God (John 15:26). This addition is absolutely necessary for the purpose; without him the consolation of the Apostles could not be complete; for now only they could be convinced that their future Mentor, as the Person of God, was really able to replace for them the One with whom they were facing separation, and Whom they recognized as the true Son of God, who came from God (Matthew 16:16, John 16:30). It is all the more necessary because before, although the Savior often spoke to the Apostles about the Holy Spirit, he never once explained to them who the Holy Spirit was and what His personal dignity was. 2. Obvious from the very combination and arrangement of the given words. If we agree that the expression: Who proceeds from the Father does not mean the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit, but only a temporary embassy into the world; in this case, first of all, we must allow a strange identity in the speech of the Savior. It will need to be read like this: “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who is sent from the Father, He will testify about Me.” And secondly, it will become incomprehensible why the verb proceeds is put in the present tense, when we are talking about the future embassy of the Holy Spirit, and when the Savior had already designated this same embassy more than once in the future tense, testifying about the Father: He will give you another Comforter (John 14:16), or: Whom the Father will send in My name (- 26), and about Himself: Whom I will send to you from the Father (15:26). Meanwhile, taking it for granted that the passage in question speaks of the eternal procession of St. Spirit, we do not find any identity in the speech of the Savior, nor anything incomprehensible in the verb proceeds: on the contrary, this verb should stand in the present tense in order to somewhat approximately designate the eternal, i.e. the imperishable and unchanging procession of the Holy Spirit, just as the Savior used a verb in the present tense to signify His eternity, saying: before even Abraham was not, I am (John 8:58). 3. Finally, it is indisputably confirmed by the voice of all Christian antiquity, which constantly saw in the words of the Savior: And from the Father comes the thought of the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit. It is enough to remember here that in such a precise sign these words were understood not only by the most famous teachers of the Church - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom and others, but also by the entire Ecumenical Council (the second), which included these words in the very symbol of faith. II. The Church has contained the same teaching about the personal property of God the Holy Spirit from its very beginning. This is visible - 1. From ancient symbols. So: a) in the symbol of St. Gregory the Wonderworker, used since his time in the Church of Neocaesarea for the public instruction of the people in the faith, we read: “and there is one Holy Spirit, who has his being (emanating) from God and who appeared through the Son, i.e. people"; b) in the symbol used in the Church, according to the testimony of St. Epiphany, from the time of the first ecumenical council until the year 373 for the announcement of those preparing for the sacrament of baptism, says: “we believe... and in the Holy Spirit, the life-giving Lord, who proceeds from the Father, worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Son.” 2. From the teaching of the Ecumenical Councils. So: a) at the first ecumenical Council, Leontius, Bishop of Caesarea, on behalf of all those present, addressed the following words to a certain philosopher who asked for admonition: “accept the one Divinity of the Father, who inexpressibly gave birth to the Son, and the Son born of Him, and the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father Himself (ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Πατρὸς) and one’s own Son (ἰδίου δε ὄντος τοῦ Ὑιοῦ)”; b) at the Second Ecumenical Council, the fathers included in the symbol of faith, among other things, the words: “Who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified”; c) the fathers of the fourth ecumenical council in their dogmatic letter to the emperor Marcian wrote among other things: “the champions of the faith at the Council of Constantinople with the weapon of truth overthrew the attempts of the heretics, proving that, according to the teaching of faith, the Holy Spirit is Lord and God, and that He comes from the Father.” 3. From the teachings of the ancient fathers and teachers of the Church. For example: a) St. Basil the Great: “just as the creative Word established heaven, so the Spirit, Who is from God, Who proceeds from the Father, brought from Himself all the powers that are in Him”; b) St. Gregory the Theologian: “The Spirit is truly the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father, but not as the Son (οὐχ’ ὑιοκῶς), because it does not happen begotten (γεννητῶς), but originally (ἐκπορευτῶς), if for clarity it is necessary to use new word": c) St. John Chrysostom: “the followers of Macedon did not want to believe that the Holy Spirit, ineffably proceeding from the Father, is God”; d) St. Ephraim the Syrian: “The Holy Spirit is not born, but comes from the essence (ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας) of the Father”; d) St. John of Damascus: “Son from the Father, by birth; The Holy Spirit, although also from the Father, is not by birth, but by procession. And although we are taught that there is a difference between birth and procession; but we don’t know what the image of this difference is. Only together from the Father is the birth of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, everything that the Son and the Spirit have, they have from the Father.” These were: in the first century - Simon the Magus, in the second - Praxeus, in the third - Noetius, Savelius and Paul of Samosata, in the fourth - Marcellus of Ancyra and others. These heretics are generally known under the name Antitrinitarians. These were: Philoppon (c. 540) with his followers and some scholastics: Roscelin, Peter Abelard and others. These are generally known under the name Trebozhnikov. For in the Greek text: βαπτίζοντες αὐτὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, before each of them there is a member (τοῦ), indicating a special subject, and all of them, as different, are combined with a connecting particle (καὶ). Their very name, although three different ones, is placed in the singular and also with a member (εἰς τὸ ὄνομα). You might be interested in: