Слово 33. О том, что Дух – Бог по природе, и [происходит] из сущности Отца, а чрез Сына подается твари

Sending as if on behalf of opponents If, they say, on the ground that the divine Scriptures say that the Spirit is from God, we agree that He is the Father's essence, and confess Him to be consubstantial with the superior nature [of God], then let everything else be in the same way, since the proclaimer of the truth [Paul] confesses that all things are from God 1462. What follows from this? We will have an infinite number of gods if the inherent origin of all (τὸ ἐξ οὗ) shows everyone to be consubstantial with the Father. Rebuttal to this. Those who wish to understand the divine Scriptures must be willing to believe. For if you do not believe, you cannot understand 1463, says a prophetic word somewhere. Since our opponents ignorantly offer this [speech] [as an argument], we have to take up something by which the harm resulting from their ignorant blasphemy will be reflected. Not in the same way, dear ones, we say that all things are from God, just like the Spirit. For the Spirit by nature abides in Him and is essentially, so to speak, embedded (ἐμπεπηγὸς) in Him, and inseparably comes from Him. And the works of activity and creation (Τὰ δὲ τῆς ἐνεργείας ἔργα καὶ ποιήματα) through the Son in the Spirit were created (γεγονότα), and in this sense are thought [to exist] from God. If you are not convinced by these words of ours and believe that the Spirit is in the same order with the created things (τοῖς πεποιημένοις), since it is said about Him that He is from God, as well as about those, then what prevents us from saying in response: “If everything is from God, as is the Spirit, and there is nothing exclusive in Him in comparison with the creatures, then why is not each of the created things - since it is said about it that it is from God - the message of God 1464 and the test of the depths of God 1465! Why does God not reveal through everything, but through the Spirit alone 1466!” So, when other creatures through the Spirit have revelation, and the Spirit Himself experiences the depths of God, as existing from Him and in Him by nature, just as the human [spirit] is in man, then, of course, it is obvious that God is the Spirit, in the proper sense of the word and by nature having the source of [Its] being (τὸ ἐξ οὗ) 1467 in God. And other creations - rather, not in the proper sense of the word, as having originated from the Creator and Creator. Evidence confirming what has been said Paul: “We receive the Spirit of God, that we may receive what is given to us by God” 1468. And again: “Who is the news from man, even in man, even the spirit of man living in him? Likewise, no one knows God’s message, but the Spirit of God living in Him” 1469. OTHER. “God has revealed to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit tests all things and the depths of God” 1470. OTHER. If the human spirit does not know from revelation from someone else what is in man, but, as by nature and in the proper sense of the word, being his [spirit], the message and experiences the depths of the heart, so in God and the Father is the Holy Spirit. So He will be of Divine nature, just as the spirit of man is human. OTHER. Paul writes to someone: “You are not in the flesh, but in spirit, because the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. If Christ is in you, the flesh is dead for sin's sake, but the spirit lives for righteousness' sake" 1471. Take from here also the correct concepts of the Holy Spirit, so that you may recognize the one who exists from the essence of the Savior and is not alien to the one and only Divinity. For [Paul], having revealed [to us] the Spirit of God Himself, immediately calls Him the Spirit of Christ, showing that all the distinctive properties of the Father are transferred to the Son born from Him by nature. And conversely, he immediately calls the Spirit Christ, saying: “If Christ is in you,” and showing Him not alien to the nature of the Word, but thus united - although He has an independent existence (ἔστιν ἰδιοσύστατον) - that He abides in the Son, and the Son in Him, due to the identity of essence. OTHER. We say that the Holy Spirit is from God, and we believe so. But those who show every readiness for blasphemy alone say that everything else arose from God, since Paul writes: “There is only one God the Father, of whom all things are worthless” 1472. After this, they think that they can refute the existence of the Spirit from the essence of the Father, since “from the Unworthy” 1473 is also attributed to creations, which is attached to the Spirit, showing Him to exist by nature from the essence (ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας φυσικῶς ὑπάρχον). But to this we can answer that the word “son” is applied to the Son in the proper sense, and at the same time it is applied to people in a non-proper sense. And in no way does what is applied to someone by assimilation and grace take away from the one who has [it] by nature. Likewise, “from Unfitness,” used in relation to creatures, does not reduce the high and Divine [dignity] of the Spirit to likeness to them and to the humility characteristic of them, but He is retained in the proper sense of the word “from Unfitness,” since He is from the essence of the Father. [This definition] also applies to them, since non-existents come into being from God. Through the Son, of course. And if the Spirit does not have any advantages over creatures for the reason that in relation to Him and others the expression “from the Unfit” is used, then let them tell us why, when the Father 1474 dwells in us, Christ dwells in us, but when someone else from among the creations - an angel, for example, or an archangel - speaks or acts in us, is it not said that Christ and God dwell in us? And where such a difference exists, how is it not necessary to confess the nature itself is different, so that some are creatures, and the Other is a creative [Spirit], existing by nature in the Father and in Himself, in turn bearing the Creator due to the identity of nature and the indistinguishability of essential qualities? OTHER. Paul writes to certain people, thinking very correctly and saying: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. We do not embrace the spirit of work into fear, but rather embrace the Spirit of sonhood, and in Him we cry: Abba Father" 1475. Consequently, if the Holy Spirit shows those in whom He dwells to be sons of God and makes them partakers of the divine nature 1476, so that from now on we, united with God who is above all 1477, boldly cry out: “Abba Father,” then He is not counted among slaves and not among creatures, but, most likely, by nature is endowed with the dignity of the Divine essence, existing in it, and by it, through the Son, being given to the saints, and therefore He is the one who idolizes and calls into sonship [God] those in whom He finds himself. OTHER. Again it is written: “The Spirit itself obeys our spirit, as we are the children of God” 1478. For as being from the essence of the one who gives Him to the saints, that is, Christ, and since we, when God’s Word dwells in us by the Spirit and dwells in us, we ascend to the dignity of sonship, having within ourselves the Son Himself, in whose image we are transformed by the communion of His Spirit, and, ascending to an equal image of boldness, we dare to say: “Abba, Father” 1479. Therefore, the Spirit is God, since He makes those who receive Him gods. OTHER. And again Paul writes to some people: “As we have put on the image of earth, let us also be clothed in the image of heaven,” 1480, calling the ancestor of the human race, Adam, earthly, in whose image we have put on, having descended in the likeness of Adam’s transgression into death and corruption; heavenly - our Lord Jesus Christ, having accepted whose image - the life-giving and holy Spirit indwelling us - we are transformed into the image of the living Word of God, again ascending to incorruption and being renewed for eternal life. For there is a Spirit who gives life 1481, according to the word of the Savior Himself. Consequently, just as he who has received the Son, since He is the most exact image of the Father, has the Father 1482, so, in the same way, he who has received the image of the Son, that is, the Spirit, through Him in every way has both the Son and the Father who is in Him. How then will the Holy Spirit be numbered among creation if He is the unchanging image of the Son of God? Surely they will not reach such madness as to dare to say that among created things the unchangeable image of the Creator can be seen, bearing within itself everything that is inherent in Him of Whose image it is? If the Spirit is called the image of the Son, then He is God, and nothing else. OTHER. It is written: “Let two or three prophets speak” 1483. Then [Paul] says: “Even if everyone prophesies, someone unfaithful or ignorant comes in, is convicted by everyone, and is tortured by everyone, and the secret of his heart is revealed: and so he falls on his face and worships God, proclaiming that truly God is with us 1484 » 1485. So, since those who receive the Holy Spirit prophesy, having God in themselves, and therefore serve as an object of wonder, how will He be a creation, and not, better said, a relative 1486 communion (μετάληψις σχετικὴ) of the highest [other entities] essence, naturally (φυσικῶς) spreading from the Father through the Son to those capable of receiving Him, just as heat from fire would spread in [a certain physical] body? OTHER. Again it is written: “For he speaks with tongues, he speaks not to man, but to God: no one hears, but to the Spirits 1487 he speaks mysteries” 1488. Look, here Paul clearly says that he who speaks in tongues converses with God (Θεῷ διαλέγεσθαι). Then, showing the Spirit as God, he immediately adds: “But the Spirit speaks mysteries.” How then will those who dare to classify the Spirit among creatures not be guilty of blasphemy? OTHER. And again Paul writes to the Corinthians: “For we are the church of a living God, as God said: for I will dwell in them and walk, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” 1489. And after that again: “And do not offend the Holy Spirit of God, Who is present on the day of deliverance” 1490. And again: “If anyone corrupts God’s church, God will corrupt this one: the church of God is holy, just as you are” 1491. Therefore, if, having received the Spirit, we are called both the church and the house of God, as having God within us living and walking, as it is written, then how could it not be that God is the Holy Spirit, even if some of our opponents did not want to [acknowledge this] for whom disobeying the divine Scripture is habitual and even pleasant? OTHER. Blessed Paul, who calls himself “a servant of Jesus Christ and is called an apostle,” says that he was chosen for the gospel of God 1492. Then, again pointing out the same thing, only in different words, he writes to someone about God, “And the servants also pleased us to be the New Testament, not by writing, but by the Spirit” 1493. So, if he, as a covenant of the Spirit, knows the gospel of God, for which he was chosen, then how can he not be God - the Holy Spirit? OTHER. Again it is written: “If the Spirit of Jesus who raised from the dead dwells in you, the raising of Christ from the dead will also give life to your dead body by His living Spirit in you” 1494. But if the Holy Spirit were truly a creature and a creature, according to the madness of the heterodox, then how could He possess all the powers of God? For I do not think that anyone will deviate so much from the right way of thinking as to dare even to say that the Divine essence uses certain instruments brought into existence from the outside for its action, which by nature extends from it to someone capable of it [i.e. e. action] perceive. But since the Son is by nature Life, and the Spirit given by Him gives life, it is necessary to confess Him [coming] from the essence of the Son and God and having all His power and action, just as evaporation rises from water and by its cooling effect testifies to the very nature of the [substance] emitting it. In Plato and Aristotle, “τὸ ἐξ οὗ” usually denotes matter, “that from which something [is made or consists],” but St. Kirill, as can be seen from the context, uses the preposition “έκ” here in a causal sense. “Ot” and “iz” convey the same Greek preposition “ἐκ”. The meaning here should be “Spirit”. The phrase is not grammatically consistent in the original. That is, “by grace,” “non-essential,” establishing a certain connection, relationship (σχέσις), and not essential unity or fusion; see the entry "σχετικός" in the Lampe dictionary. In the Slavic translation (as in others), the dative “Πνεύματι” is understood as instrumental and is translated in the instrumental case - “Spirit”, but St. Kirill, as can be seen from the context, interprets it differently. You might be interested in: