Interpretation of the divine and sacred Symbol of the Orthodox and immaculate Christian faith

Composition by St. Simeon of Thessalonica “Interpretation of the Divine and Sacred Symbol of the Orthodox and Our Immaculate Christian Faith” is a commentary on the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. Consistently analyzing each word and expression of the Symbol, the saint supports his interpretations with references to the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. The author explains the doctrine of One God in Three Persons, reveals the mysteries of the Incarnation, the atoning sacrifice, the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Second Coming of Christ, as well as the meaning of the Sacrament of Baptism, the Church and the expected Resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. The treatise refutes the errors of pagans, Jews, Arians, Apollinarians, Monophysites, Monothelites, etc. Particular attention is paid to criticism of the Filioque. In his argumentation, Saint Simeon relies on patristic testimonies and the Gospel teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit only from the Father. As for the most sacred Symbol of our true and only Christian faith, it is necessary and saving for every believer, more than anything else contained by us, to observe it inviolably, without damaging a single word or emphasis, to confess it with all his soul, and sometimes to give an account of his understanding, to the best of his ability. But those who have knowledge and have received the dignity of teachers must do this primarily before others and position their souls so that they feel the need for this. That is why we, although in reason and teaching are lower than all the least children of the Church, having been awarded the greatest (gifts) of the Church and called, by the grace of a man-loving God, to the rank of teaching and bishopric, we considered it just, for the benefit of those approaching the faith and demanding teaching, as well as those seduced by ungodly teaching or heretical thoughts, to confess in writing what we believe and what we hold soul, what we preach and what we teach in words, and for the image of our true and united piety, interpret, to the best of our ability, on the basis of the divine scriptures: so that the faithful will receive through this great joy and confirmation, and the unfaithful and those who think differently will receive reproof and reproach. May God grant us obedience to the Fathers and similar purity and firmness of confession. So, based on nothing else, but on the words of those Fathers, their confession is a sacred symbol, i.e. That is, the sign of faith, compiled by them in a decent presentation and proper words, we will observe and confess completely unchangeably with all our soul, in word and in deed, just as we preach it every day in church. And I call the symbol of faith the one that was compiled and, having been completed, approved (councils) - the first in Nicaea from 318 (Fathers), under the pious king Constantine, and the second - under the Christ-loving king Theodosius in the reigning city of Constantinople from 150 saints. Fathers. It was accepted by the five divine ecumenical councils that followed the first two, without changing it either by additions or subtractions, and they preserved for us the Christian doctrine intact. And he is the foundation of the Church, the confession of the pious, the sign of the true and Orthodox faith, and the pillar and mountain, solid and unshakable. The primordial enemy has long been armed against this confession and, just as in ancient times he tried to turn man away from the will of God, and now, rebelling against it among the atheists and many people of other faiths, he again intensifies to turn man away from false knowledge. But we must keep faith: because, although we are not completely clean from sin, we still have the hope of salvation through repentance and faith. Therefore, one must confess a good confession and explain its meaning as much as possible. But You, Trinity and Unity, our God, are the only one who always exists, eternal, supernatural, incomprehensible, the good and innocent Father, the only begotten Son and the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father, one power, one beginning of everything, who created everything from the non-existent and contains everything, enlightening and teaching rational beings! Grant us the power to interpret, as much as we can accommodate, your divine truth, according to your power and mercy. So, having sanctified ourselves and sealed ourselves with the invocation of the Trinity, let us begin the symbol of the confession itself. I believe in one God the Father, the Almighty. How wonderful is the theology of the Fathers! For the beginning is directly directed with abundant force against all the wicked. They put faith first - to signify the firmness of faith, and then - in one God the Father, the Almighty - because there is one God, and He is the Father, as the source of the Word and Spirit (coming) from Him, and the Almighty, since together with the Word and Spirit He is the Creator of all creatures. And since, according to the teaching set forth by Moses, which is the truest and most ancient, it only lacks the (fullness of) the divine Gospel, being gloomy and imperfect, God was represented as only one, i.e. that is, only the Father, and there was not a clear testimony about the Word and the Spirit, and it is written that heaven and earth, and everything that is in them, were created out of nothing by the Word and Spirit of God; and since many other people fell into error, and some, truly insane, said that there is no God, explaining everything by chance and fate; and others, having invented for themselves a multitude of gods and their powers, established the madness and wickedness of idolatry; others observed the foreshadowings, movements and course of the stars, imagined that this world was eternal and indestructible, and became worshipers of demons and creatures together: then the Church of Christ, following the teaching of the very Word of God, the only begotten Son, hypostatic and living Wisdom, corrects everything and, testifying to the truth, rejects with David those who do not confess God. For David says: “The fool says in his heart: there is no God” (Ps. 13:1). He also rejects, with the same David and Paul, the error of polytheism: because the first says: “All Gods are the tongue of demons” (Ps. 96:5); and Paul expresses himself this way: “having served the creature more than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25), having served as a god who does not exist by nature, “having said to be wise, foolish” (Rom. 1:22); and making up for the lack of the law, which vaguely taught about the Son and the Spirit, solemnly and fearing God proclaims: I believe in one God the Father, the Almighty. (She says I believe, to mean that the confession of God is proclaimed from the heart, according to the word of Paul: “For with the heart the truth is believed, but with the mouth it is confessed for salvation” (Rom. 10:10); and - in one God - to overthrow the atheists, both those who do not recognize God at all, and those who admit many gods. Then she says: the Father, the Almighty: the Father, for the sake of His only begotten Word and (coming) from Him The Spirit, which many even of those who professed God rejected, such as the Jews and others with them, thereby becoming complete atheists themselves. For if God is without the Word and the Spirit, then He is not perfect, and if not perfect, then He is not true; thus they too, as we said, become atheists. If in us, rational (beings), both Angels and people, there is a word and a spirit, then how can they not be in the God of all, and especially rational beings, to the extent of the strength that cognize Him? Look with amazement at this (line), which primarily expresses the wickedness of those who reject the Word and Spirit of God! With their own word, coming from them, they try to destroy (terribly!) the pre-beginning birth of the living and existing Word in the Father; and (thus) the created image, testifying to its Prototype and Creator, but not reflecting, foolishly rebels against Him: the creature rejects the Creator, the creature rejects God. And if (anyone) says that God has a non-hypostatic Word and Spirit, just like man, then he too falls into the strongest wickedness: because Divine Scripture testifies that the Word of God is alive and abides in heaven, that It is living wisdom, in which there is a living and rational Spirit, and the life-giving and living All-Holy Spirit of God. So, he who godlessly rejects the living Word of God and the Spirit falls into wickedness, not seeing that he himself, being a creature, even if he somewhat represents the Creator, however, what is in him has power as a shadow, and not as the truth; because God, as the Ever-Bearing One, has both the ever-present Word and the life-giving Holy Spirit, while Angel and man, since they appeared from nothing, were not always capable of change, and their Word is not hypostatic, but changeable. Therefore, one Father is true God, as the ever-present Father; but not our Father, since we appeared later, and in that case there would be a time from which He became the Father. If He is sometimes called our Father, it is by grace, because He created us, and not by nature; and if so, it means that He is not our complete Father: because we did not come from Him by nature, but from nothing. But since God is all-perfect: He is always the Father of the co-natural and living co-original Word and the life-giving Spirit. Okay, so the Church says: I believe in one God the Father; and he calls God Almighty because He contains everything: for everything is not done by chance or by nature, but by His providence, since He (God), deigning one thing and allowing another, in unspeakable ways of economy, manages (everything) and provides decently. He also calls God Almighty because everything is His and from Him through the Word and the Spirit: since He preserves everything and, wisely ruling, contains everything in His will. Therefore, the sacred symbol expresses at the same time that everything constitutes His creation - by calling Him Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible. The beginning of these words is borrowed from Moses, and the end from Paul; here all the inventions of atheism are overthrown together: the madness of those who accepted the eternal sky and before him admitted beginningless matter and some ideas in God is exposed, and the error of those who idolize the stars - and those who consider earthly objects and the earth itself, and other elements to be gods, or are mistaken about other creatures: because the symbol names one Creator of everything that exists - the sky and what is in the sky, the earth, and that which is what is on earth: all visible things, that is, air and what is in it, the sea and what is in it, fire and everything separately, but together also invisible Angels and demons, and human souls: since these invisible (creatures) are mostly known to us; Their symbol preaches God as the Creator, and in all truth and justice testifies that God is the creator of the invisible: because in fact it is so, and nothing happened without Him. These words are also put in order to enlighten us, so that we do not fall into error, as having a free soul, and do not think of ourselves as something higher than ourselves, to which many madmen have been subjected, seduced from (the path of) duty either by the cunning suggestions of demons, or by their own delusions: since it is pleasant for demons with insidious ideas to little by little catch and corrupt many; and then also, so that we do not regard angelic and heavenly powers as gods: because, although they are close to God, and are all filled with glory and divine light, for all that they are creatures and need illumination from God, and therefore, having accepted as much as they have received, they need even more and in no way will they receive perfection, not containing, as created things, everything that is characteristic of the uncreated: since this is limitless - but containing as much as they can, and always remaining limited; and finally, God, whom they glorify, is all-perfect only in the Trinity. There are many other invisible (beings) whose names, as we have been taught, will be revealed to us in the age to come; but all these invisible and together visible by the Creator are indicated by the Church of God, the Father of the living Word, unbegotten, guiltless, pre-begotten, infinite, eternal, the author of everything, always existing, one by nature good, and from Him pre-eternal and ineffable, immaterial, immaterial and passionless begotten, co-natural, only-begotten and indivisible His Word, the Only Begotten Son, true Light, living Wisdom, with which He created all things in the Holy Spirit. She theologizes about this Word, testifying as follows: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. She does not say this on her own, but relies, as on her teacher, on Paul, who says: “We have one God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, of whom are all things” (1 Cor. 8:6). Therefore, the Church brings together the names of deity and dominion into one: since she first said: I believe in one God the Father, naming not many, but one God, and, moreover, the Father - whose? - obviously, not us - creatures, since we came from God not by nature, but as creatures, but the Father of Lights, as the Brother of God writes, that is, the Word and the Spirit, from which the first is born from Him ahead of time, and the second proceeds. Therefore, calling the Father God, he names Him together with Scripture and Lord; just as, calling the Son Lord, he also calls Him God, as Scripture testifies; and just as the Father is God, and Lord, and Creator, so are the Son and the Holy Spirit; but the Father with the Word and the Spirit is one God and together the Lord of all, and the Creator of all creation. David also testifies to this, saying: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their strength” (Ps. 33:6); - and other things of this kind that divine Scripture says about the Son and Spirit. Therefore, just as it is impious and godless to say that there is no God, it is also insane to confess God, but to represent Him as not participating in the Word, His living wisdom, His hypostatic power, the true image and imprint (χαρακτηρος), His radiance, and the life-giving Spirit, His hypostatic power, sanctifying and life-giving everything: since, as St. Cyril, the fruitful by nature is immaterially located in God, co-present with Him immaterially; and the divine Dionysius says that the God-born abides in the Father, and, therefore, those who senselessly separate one from the other do not give Him (God) perfection. The creature also testifies, depicting as much as it can the Creator: firstly rational and then more coarsely sensible - through outflow, separation, feeling. So, if everything is directed towards producing fruits similar to themselves, and rational beings give birth from themselves in a more spiritual way to wisdom in the living spirit, and sensual beings, as has been said, sensually, and if everything is from God, then is God who created them less than these creatures? Therefore, the Father, being one, also has a Son inseparable from Himself, who is the only begotten of Him and is always His Son, born without flesh. Therefore the Church says well: Must repeat this word again. In one - it is said because there are not many, but one Son of God; and the Lord - both because He is Lord of all, and because He is co-natural (with the Father). And just as the Father is called Lord, since the Father is always God and is called God, so the Son is also called God and is God: “and God is the Word” (John 1:1), says the Gospel. And the beloved (the disciple says) about the Son: “This is the true God” (1 John 5:20); not so that there are two Gods - no, but so that there is one God the Father with the Son and the Spirit, inseparably abiding in Him and containing everything by one power and action, as is said. And the Church calls the only begotten Son of God Jesus Christ because the Word of God was truly incarnate from the Virgin and was named Jesus and proclaimed by Christ: since, having become man, He remained inseparable from the flesh. So she calls Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God because He is God and became man; and the only begotten because He alone came from one Father through birth, which, explaining, she says: Who was born of the Father before all ages. He is from no one else but the Father, and not from the mothers of goddesses, as among the atheists, and not from the wives of the atheists, as the demons suggested to those who were lost and accepted any false gods in rejection of the Only Begotten and denial of His economy: but from the ever-living and one God the Father, there is one Son. Not later, that is, He was born of the Father, so that no one would think that the Father was never the Father and therefore imperfect, or the Son was not ever the full Son and is also imperfect: but just as the Father is perfect, being always the Father, so the Son is perfect, being always the Son. That is why it is said: “before the age,” since He also “made the eyelids” (Heb. 1:2). But lest anyone think that He, being the Son and so called, was born through the action of passion, the Church says: For if the ray (comes) from the sun inseparably and dispassionately, as well as the brilliance from fire, and the inner word from our mind: then much more the God of the mind and the sun, God the Word (comes) from God the Father inseparably and dispassionately. Therefore St. the symbol calls Him Light from Light, and further: God is true from God is true. Because “in the beginning was the Word of God and... was with God, and... was God, and in the beginning was to God" (John 1:1-2), and has the same being and glory and power with the Father, and is inseparable from Him, and does not act by itself, but abides in the Father, and abides always and acts with Him, and does nothing (does nothing) without Him, but does everything that the Father desires; since the Father and the Son have one thing desire, they have one Divinity and one power: hence the words: Since (the Word) was not created like a creature, but was born as a perfect co-natural Word, and not only is He not a creature, but is the Creator of everything with the Father and the Spirit: since it is said: “He created all things by His Word” (Wis. 9:1), and also: “without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:3). And Paul says: “With this you made the eyelids” (Heb. 1:2). Then it was added in the symbol: consubstantial with the Father; and with this one expression all the blasphemy and impiety, not only of Arius, but of all the wicked, is overthrown. The Church posits these words, borrowing them from the Scriptures: since the Father is light and the Son is called light and the radiance of glory, and the true Son, that everything testifies to oneness: because light and light do not have a different nature, or the radiance of light, or the Father and the Son. So, if there is one God and precisely the Father, then, obviously, the Father is the Son of one essence and one: for He is the only begotten. Therefore, the Son is rightly called consubstantial and truly God. He is not from another entity. And how could He be the Son if He were from another hypostasis or essence? And if God is a perfect Father, and dispassionately gives birth from Himself - gives birth to this Word, His living Wisdom: then how is it that the Son is not consubstantial with the Father who gave birth? So, in truth, he is consubstantial. That's what the Fathers say. What follows: By Him, that is, as the Creator and the living Word: for if He (the Son) is co-natural with the Father and always in the Father, then, truly, everything (received being) through Him. Therefore, David says: “You have created all things with wisdom” (Psalm 103:24), and the Proverb: “God is the foundation of the earth with wisdom” (Prov. 3:19); and in the book of Wisdom Solomon again says, as in the previous place: “who created all things by your Word, and formed man by your wisdom” (Wisdom 9:1-2). In the same way, the Evangelist says: “all things came into being, and without him nothing came into being” (John 1:3); and Paul: “With this you made the eyelids” (Heb. 1:2). There are many other passages of divine Scripture in support of this. Thus, in the words examined lies the doctrine of the pre-eternal birth of the Word. Having correctly expounded this teaching, the Church then speaks of His economy and incarnation. But notice the true tradition and mystery of piety! For the Church confesses the pre-eternal birth of the Word without any external reason: because the Son is born from the Father by nature, and not for the sake of anything (external), which is why it is written: “in the beginning was the Word”, - also: “he was from the beginning” (John 1: 1, 3); and again: “Who is the radiance of glory and the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1:3). As for the incarnation of the Word, since it was subsequently, it had both time, having been accomplished in the last centuries, and an (external) goal - our salvation - the divine symbol also teaches about it, saying: For our sake man and for our salvation came down from heaven. Behold the wondrous mystery; however, it is not marvelous - for the boundless divine power. Such a great descent of God the Word, even before His union with the nature and soul of man, is beyond all reason; but that He could do such a thing is not surprising or impossible: for He is omnipotent. And He did not change in Divinity and did not undergo any dishonor, uniting with man, but sanctified man. And man in this visible world is a most venerable being, a verbal animal, having received a rational soul, having a mind to know, and a word to glorify God; he reveals in himself a reflection of divine perfection; for him the world also came into being, as everything proclaims this. So, if it is said that God dwells in heaven, that He abides in everything and fills everything: is it surprising if He took on the human body along with the soul, and lives in it, if He, the indescribable, inseparably has it in Himself as His own (body), as one of the Preachers of God said: “He made it (the body) a church for Himself and an indivisible dwelling place.” In fact, if it is said that God rests in the Saints, for it is written: “I will dwell in them and be like” (2 Cor. 6:16), - in holy people, corruptible and sinful by nature, but only purified by some virtues; and if the man-made and soulless (structures) of the lawful (faith) are called the beloved dwellings of God and the holy of holies, just as the church built under Solomon is called the holy house and church of the Lord: then much more the body of the Lord, created and fashioned in Him by the Divine Spirit except sin, a body which, deified in union with Him, itself sanctifies everything, serves Him a holy, animated and inseparable church. However, it is not for the sake of the greatness of heaven that it is said that God dwells in heaven: since heaven is a body, and God is incorporeal. But if God is above all and was before the existence of heaven and what is under heaven, then He existed from eternity. What is the meaning, therefore, of those who say: how God became incarnate, or how He abides with the body? For, even having appeared incarnate, He retains His immateriality and, inhabiting a body in a (certain) place, His Divinity embraces everything and is found above all, and through His all-holy body, which He accepted as a source, He sanctifies everything with the actions and gifts of His Divinity. And this is who the Angels could not look at before - for how would they look at the Highest of their nature? - Now they see Him in the divine body, communicate more closely with His immaterial and divine soul, and become partakers of His gifts. The same thing happened to us – people. Whom the Prophets previously desired to see and desired incessantly, so that they prayed for it and were consoled by this, so that they could see Him at least somewhat in dreams, or some kind of images, as they show - Moses praying and asking for this, also Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel and many other Prophets, who considered it a great thing to be rewarded with some vision of God through some kind of gloomy fortune-telling: (Oh, great love for mankind and extreme goodness!), so that we could have with us, see and enjoy His communication in the closest way, we were honored to know when He became a perfect man like us, being together and perfect God. But even if we see Him in the flesh, His Divinity is still invisible to us. This descent, amazing in other respects, is also such because we can see the Invisible One through the flesh. “God is nowhere to be seen” (John 1:18); but through the divine and all-holy body assumed by Him, we are now very close to Him, which is why “we have seen Him with our eyes” (1 John. 1:1), as the beloved disciple says, and we can be partakers of Him and partake of Him whenever we want. And truly we see Him: since He appeared on earth and spoke to people; then we hope again with our own eyes to see Him sitting on grief together with the flesh He assumed, to be one with Him and to partake of His glory, by His mercy, as He prayed for us to His Father (John 17). Affirming this, the divine symbol, after the pre-beginning birth of the Word, also speaks of His incarnation, which took place in recent times: For he came to raise up us, the fallen, and not the Angels. If some of the latter have fallen, then this fall is incurable for them: because they lie (in it) voluntarily, deliberately strive to do evil, and, moreover, serve as the perpetrators of evil for us. But the Angels, having received for themselves the greatest benefit from the dispensation of the Word about us, having found for themselves the path to the highest ascent in the love of God and unity with God, rejoice over our salvation; That’s why they perform their service to us with zeal and joy. We alone are completely saved and exalted; why (symbol) and says: Since we were lost, then salvation was also necessary for us, so that we, rejected and mortified, could again be raised to God, take into ourselves the life of God and through it be renewed and come to life; that is why Life descended to us, just as the Church preaches, saying: Not by a change of place, but by condescension: because He, as incorporeal, is not tied to a place and, as the Creator of everything, fills everything with Himself, as it is written. The descent means that He willed and was pleased, and also that He humbled Himself so much, became the Son of man in the flesh and lived in the world very meagerly and poorly. In truth, He accepted our entire nature, except for sin, just as in the beginning He formed this nature sinless and without the participation of a husband; since of old He created Adam from the earth. Incarnate, says the symbol, and not ghostly, as some wicked people say. For if (Christ) appeared ghostly, then the whole work of house-building is in vain, and there is no restoration of either our souls or our bodies; in that case, He would not have been conceived by the Virgin, would not have been born, would not have suffered for us, and would not have risen after death. If He was incarnated ghostly, then how would we come to life through Him, having accepted death for the first disobedience? But may those who think thus perish! Having become the sons of the primordial enemy of lies, they are raving about false and completely unprecedented ghosts. And the Word of God, being truth, makes everything true, and, just as He created heaven and earth out of nothing - and they really exist, or created man in the beginning - and he also really exists: like this, and creating man. It itself truly became incarnate, was truly conceived without seed by the Virgin and was completely truly born, while she remained a Virgin (for, just as before she was truly a Virgin, she also remained a Virgin); truly treated people and, being true God, appeared for us as true man, in one hypostasis and in two natures, cognizable, with all the natural properties of Divinity and humanity, doubly willing and acting, not contradicting Himself, but that which relates to His humanity, subjugating in Himself the Divinity; Therefore, everything that He did for us, He did truly and for salvation. And this especially shows His love for mankind, and constitutes His primary glory. For if “the heavens, like creation, tell the glory of God” (Ps. 18:2): then what glory to God, who became incarnate to save His own creation and gave His body to suffer for people, so that “by His stripes we” might be healed, as it is written (Is. 53:5)! Then the symbol says: And incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. The Father deigned and, together with His Word, created Him a body, and the Spirit assisted: for the Trinity has one action and one power. But the Word alone was incarnate, and not the Father or the Spirit; and this, as Athanasius the Great says, so that the Son would remain the Son and, just as the Son is, dispassionately (born) from the Father, so would he remain truly the Son, and having been born of the Virgin, truly abiding and being called the Son. The reason for the incarnation is the blood of the Virgin. For, just as in the beginning God could have created man from another substance, but He did not want to, and this is fair: because man, remaining unparticipated in this creation, could not live in it and have communication with it: so, while performing the re-creation of man, He wanted to take upon Himself no other substance, so that our fallen nature would not remain in its fall. And in fact, if He had taken flesh not from the blood of the Virgin, descended from Adam, then how would He have been related to people, or how would we have received sanctification from God, or how would we, having been killed, come to life if Life had not come to us? It is said: and incarnate of the Holy Spirit: because in the flesh He was born seedless and passionless, by the action of the Divine Spirit. Because from Her He truly became incarnate and was born, as Isaiah and other Prophets predicted, and took on a body similar and natural to us, and not alien. This is said to mean that He became a perfect man, immediately appeared in the womb as a true child, was naturally nourished, and was born a (perfect) child. He did not abolish nature, but corrected its properties, as Athanasius the Great says, growing, eating and sleeping, and obeying both the true Mother and the imaginary father. So, although there were supernatural properties in Him, at the same time He did not reject, as much as possible, what was impeccable by nature; and it was perfect in Him, both in body and in soul, which was in Him rational and verbal, autocratic and free. This is what the word incarnate means, directed against those blasphemers who say that the Lord did not take on a soul, and talk idle talk that instead of a soul, the Divinity is enough for Him - who foolishly considered His all-holy body soulless and thought that He did not obey the Father through the free autocracy of the soul, that the Word accepted and brought to the Father not a perfect man for a perfect fallen man, but an imperfect one, so that, according to the teaching of these the wicked, the most venerable part of our being remains completely unhealed. For if in man the most precious part is the soul, both rational and verbal, and through it we mainly committed disobedience, since the body was governed by it; and if the incarnate Word did not receive a rational soul along with the body, then we are again not healed, have not received incorruption, have not been completely renewed; It would be better to say that we were not sanctified by our body itself, if a soulless body was received from us. Therefore, idle talkers should run away in this way. And we, just as in the beginning we were created by the Word in two parts, having received a body together with a soul, so we were created in two parts by the same Word, who received the perfect man - body and soul together. Crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. This is the great mystery; and many fall into great bewilderment about him, even more than about how the Word, being God, took on flesh. This last, they say, was necessary in order to sanctify the nature by union, as has already been said, and arrange everything for its correction, as (the Lord) did: for He was born of a Woman, grew up gradually, walked on foot, purifying the proud (man) with his humility, and “had not, as it is written, where to bow his head” (Matthew 8:20). All this is in order to recreate the nature, as well as Indeed, He wonderfully corrected him with the works that he performed and with the words that he spoke. But to suffer like this, they say in greater bewilderment, and to endure such torment through the cross, is humiliating. However, these are truly the works of God; and it is not surprising to be perplexed about them: because the works of God are marvelous and “his ways are unsearchable” (Rom. 11:33). wisdom, “let not the cross of Christ be vain,” as it is written (1 Cor. 1:17). However, there are heavenly reasons for this, testifying to the truth of the supernatural acts of the incarnate and crucified God. The Greeks laugh madly at the cross, and the Jews blaspheme, like many other atheists (1 Cor. 1:23). But “let the transgressors be ashamed in vain” (Psalm 24:3)! In the cross of Christ, in His wounds and death, the greatness of His power and Divinity is especially revealed. Look what the Crucified One did! Did He not, by the cross, dispel all the delusion of the foolish Greeks? Haven't you driven out all godlessness? Who is now suffering from polytheism? Who gives Divine honor to soulless luminaries and beasts? Did He not discover the exuberance of the wisdom of the outer sages? Have you silenced the ravings of philosophers? For the fishermen, the Apostles of the Crucified One, convinced everyone to confess this same Crucified One to God. Where is the idolatry now? Where is the damned idol? Where is the oracle? Where are the slaughters of animals and people - unclean services to demons? Where in the world is there any other service to the devil and worship of him now? The Crucified One destroyed all this. One sight of the cross drives away demons, formerly considered gods by the Greeks. And this is what makes the power of the Crucified especially amazing, that He, who appeared in such poverty, clothed with such wretchedness of the flesh, appeared like us and subject to need, condemned to suffering on the cross and death, and just like the Crucified One, confessed and named by the disciples, had so much power that He attracted the world to Himself without a sword, without war, without the help of power, wealth and without other benefits with which people manage. He attracted not only his own family into his love, but the whole world. So Moses benefited people of the same kind as him, and, moreover, a small part of them: because Moses was a man and served only as an image of the Savior; and the law given to him was dark and imperfect, and could not even suit all the children of Jacob. And Christ, being the Son of God and the God of all, brought to Himself all nations and the entire human race, and every language and every tribe; and everyone (now) from his place and in his own language glorifies God and the Father, whom he did not know before, but whom he recognized through the only begotten Word, crucified in the flesh: for the all-holy body of the Word of God, inseparably and inextricably united with Him, completely divine and one sinless and holy, having been condemned by people to death, by the will of the Word itself that received it, was offered to the Father and became one pure a sacrifice for everyone. The Lord suffered voluntarily, and evil (people) revealed their properties, inflicting insults, wounds and death on Him, and the Savior himself endured this for our sake. That is why His blood was shed on the cross and sanctified the earth, the air, and all creation, like the all-holy blood of the body of the omnipresent Word. And here the man, having been washed, was transformed. Christ, who poured out blood and water from the wound, creates with water and gives life to those who flow to Him with the blood. The whole earth and every tongue now confesses the Lord. This is what the Great and Wonderful Creator did on the cross! He truly suffered in the flesh, remaining impassive, like the Word; truly, and not ghostly, as some wicked people say, he was crucified and scourged with scourging (because he had a true body), was bound with chains and, having ascended to the cross, stood on high, stretching out his hands, into which, as well as into His feet, nails were driven; He tasted the bitterness of his father and grieved: for, having appeared as a perfect man, just as he was a perfect God, He was subject to the blameless (properties) of man and endured even more, repaying the debt of all, as one of the God-loving (teachers) says. True, after suffering and death He was not separated by Divinity from His all-holy body and His deified soul: however, His soul was separated from the body; Thus He was killed by His body, pierced in the rib and drained of life; His soul descended into hell and, having destroyed it, abolished death, appearing as the liberator of souls imprisoned in hell, His entwined, covered with myrrh and buried body, which had not suffered corruption, He, like God, resurrected on the third day, when, according to prophecies, His divine soul was united with the body. This is the whole purpose of the sacrament performed for us - the revival of our nature, rebellion and communication with God: since we were not created for death and were not created in order to turn into oblivion, but in order to remain and exist, just as He who created us always exists, although we originated and were brought into being from nothing. Therefore, the Immortal, having perceived, raised up (people) who were mortal; having assumed a mortal body and immortalized it with his own Divinity, He made them completely immortal. And in fact, just as soon as the incarnate Word was resurrected in the body, we were resurrected through Him, and therefore, when mortal things, that is, corruption, are cast down everywhere in the world, we, the revived ones, will then be together with the living Christ. And in the resurrection of Christ the mystery of the Trinity is revealed: because His resurrection was of three days, as He himself predicted (Mk. 8:31; Matt. 16:21, 20:19) and then showed in practice, on the third day He rose and appeared, and taught us divine grace through a breath, and communicated to us (thus) these three greatest gifts in the three-day resurrection - the very resurrection for us, the manifestation and granting of peace, and the teaching to us of the grace of the Spirit. So it was fitting for the resurrection of the Savior to be three days old also because it marks the Trinity: since through the Trinity all good things (come) to us, as well as the very incarnation and resurrection of Christ. Although only “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), the Father was pleased and the Spirit contributed (to the incarnation). This happened in other sacraments, too, that the Father was pleased and the Spirit cooperated. But the resurrection was three days long also because through it a benefit was provided to the threefold world: the spiritual, that is, the Angels, the sensory, that is, the visible (creatures), and man, made up of these two (worlds), who, moreover, through the resurrection of the Savior received the knowledge of the Trinity. Thus, a person who has received the guarantees of incorruption in the resurrection of the Savior will change at the end (of the world) along with the visible world and inherit incorruptibility. And “the creation itself,” it is said, “will be freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). And rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. The Fathers proclaim to everyone that they say this not on their own, but on the basis of the Scriptures, and that this is witnessed by the Prophets and Apostles, some of whom announced the coming of Christ, His life, death and resurrection by deeds and others by writings. And here there is something great and amazing: for earthly nature has been elevated to a mountainous country; in fact, he who came down to us and abides in the Father, “He is also the one who ascended” (Eph. 4:10). He first appeared to us in the flesh and spoke on earth, then He lifted up what He received from us, placed it above all principality and heavenly power, and bestowed it upon the Father; Thus, being himself in the bosom of God, the Word and his body took into Himself, and, uniting with Himself in the most intimate way, imparted to it equal honor with Himself, as if inseparable, and made it His own body, so that Christ is one and the same hypostasis, although purely in natures, one only begotten Son, one Christ the Lord, cognizable in two natures and two natural actions and wants. Having put on a body, He does not stand with the Angels and does not serve the Father, but together with the Father and the Spirit accepts even greater worship, as the Son of God and incarnate; Through this, absolutely nothing is added to the Trinity: because the Incarnate is not another, but the same Word, which before the incarnation abided in the Father, abiding the same after the incarnation. And again the future will be judged with glory by the living and the dead. When He came, incarnate from the Virgin, He appeared in extreme poverty and humility, and not only to people, but even to the Angels was not known to everyone; this was the case even before His ascension into heaven, after He completed His economy: for then the heavenly powers, not knowing Him, said: “Who is this King of Glory” (Psalm 23:8)? When He comes again, He will appear with much glory, remaining the same clothed in flesh, but illuminating creation with the brilliance of the Divine: for then Angels will be present, people will be resurrected, demons will be cast down and sent into eternal fire, the wicked and sinners will be condemned forever, and the pious and righteous will be crowned forever. It is fair, therefore, that He will come with glory; as the Lord of glory, He both created and called everyone to be glorified by His glory; however, those who did not desire His glory and did not glorify Him, whether they be of angelic or human nature, will rightly be expelled upon condemnation. Because also (he will come with glory) that, having revealed his glory to his (chosen) ones, He will never hide it from them, but will be, as it is written, “God... in the assembly of gods”, illuminated by Him (Psalm 81:1). That is, to all people: since then there will be neither those who have died and continue to live as we live now, nor those who will be alive in souls, but dead in bodies. There will be no one who has not been resurrected by body: for everyone will be excited and then there will not be a person who has not died and not been resurrected. For if the Lord, who gave us the resurrection, took away death according to the flesh, how much more do we, who are subject to (the law of) death. And in truth it is this: all of us (descendants) of Adam, as (descending) from him, are mortal, and therefore we will die, but, as having received the resurrection from the Savior, we will be resurrected. Living and dead, it is said, because not only will those who died of old and from the beginning be resurrected, but also those living then, having died at the hour of resurrection, “soon, having been changed in the twinkling of an eye,” as the divine Paul says, “will rise” (1 Cor. 15:51). He will judge everyone as the one and true Judge, as the living Word of the Father, who created everything and knows everything, “judging by the thought and thought of the heart, passing... to the separation... of members and brains,” according to the word of Scripture (Heb. 4:12); as the one Lord of everything, knowing everything in everything and being able to reward everyone according to his intention, action and desire, which in particular, as we said above, testifies to Him as the true God, as the Son of God by nature. And in fact, He is the only Judge, as righteous, as true, as the judge of His servants, knowing everything about (these) slaves and being able to reward - as the Lord of all. His kingdom will have no end. At the present time, although He “condemned sin in His flesh” (Rom. 8:3), appearing as the only sinless man, although, after the crucifixion and resurrection, He became the Lord of death and bound the evil one with bonds, although He is a King, like God, however, truly, He reigns only over those who know and listen to Him, and over the unfaithful and those who think differently, and those who live lawlessly, He, although Their Creator and Provider does not reign (like the King who saves): since they do not want this autocratically and submit rather to the evil one, as well as over the devil himself, who is allowed to commit sin at his own will to test and tempt the good, while this corruptible and decaying world still stands. But when this Master descends from heaven, when the world is renewed, as it is written (2 Peter 3:13), and the beginning of the leader of evil will be finally bound: then sin will be destroyed, and He (the Master) will put all his enemies under his feet (Psalm 109:1), all the evil ones will be cast out together with the devil, and there will be one true Light, Christ, together with the Angels and Saints, according to the revelation of eternal life. Therefore (it is said): there will be no end to his kingdom, as Daniel says (Dan. 7:13-14), who saw Him, “the Son of man coming upon the clouds..., who came even to the Old Day,” his own Father, and who assumed, even according to humanity, all power, that is, authority over everything, (authority), which He, as the Word, is eternally with the Father; then everyone will confess Him as Lord, and “every knee will bow, ... and every tongue will confess,” according to the word of Paul, “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11) and then there will be no one who will resist (Him). The exposition of faith compiled in Nicaea by three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers, hitherto (only) preaching the Trinity, on its part) did not make any omission: for, firstly, it announced God and the Father, and after that the Son, born before the age and consubstantial with the Father; also explained His incarnation, which subsequently took place for our re-creation and was accomplished by the Holy Spirit from the All-Immaculate Virgin Mary; She also confessed the Holy Spirit, although, due to lack of need, she did not expound the teaching about Him in sufficient detail. Therefore, by that divine host of Fathers, the entire fullness of the Divinity was proclaimed; (it is shown) that our God is Trinity and one, that (there is) the Father without beginning, the Son of one essence, who became incarnate in the last days, as it is said, for our sake, and the Holy Spirit of God, that there is one Divinity and the power of three, that one God is these three, and there is no other God. However, he (the Nicene symbol) spoke more extensively about the Son: for there were no those who rejected the Spirit then, but only the most wicked Arius blasphemed against the Son. since Macedonius (subsequently) moved by the evil spirit declared himself against the Holy Spirit, then (controlled) by the Divine Spirit (the Fathers) overthrow him too; and the place of the struggle was the city of Constantine: therefore it is the country of the Spirit; struggling to this day for the Spirit, he endures all bitterness; he is the confessor of the Divine Spirit, the expeller of those who rebel against the Spirit, the patron and leader of those who receive and are able to give the Spirit. So at the second council, convened in this city, by the hierarchs who were there and moved by the Holy Spirit, the sacred symbol, set out (here) in greater detail regarding the Divine Spirit, is completed against the wicked Apollinaris and Macedonius, of whom the first blasphemously taught about the incarnation of the Word, and the second about the Holy Spirit. The Saints (Fathers) prophetically composed this (symbol), crushing and disgracing not only the heresies that were before them and with them, but also all the heresies that came after them; All the other most sacred councils accepted him as divine and submitted to him, not at all daring to add anything to it or subtract from it. Although even later, many temptations were introduced into the Church by heretics who appeared from time to time, and when these were dispelled by the Divine Spirit, the assembled Fathers of the Church sealed their truth with other definitions: but this definition, as the beginning of any definition, they kept inviolable to the word and commanded everyone to observe it in this way, without changing it with innovations; They anathematized those who dared to shake it: because those who set forth this symbol were not just anyone, but the successors of the successors of the apostles, who fought for Christ even to the point of blood and bore His plagues, crowned with the labors of confession and shining with divine gifts. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord. (This is said) because the Spirit is the Lord and completes (with Himself) the Trinity: for our Lord sent the disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19); Moreover, the Holy Spirit, as well as the Son, was announced by the Prophets. Since He is of one essence with the Father and the Son: for just as the Father is Lord and the Son is Lord, so it is written about the Spirit that He is Lord. There are not three Lords, but one Lord: because the three have one Divinity, and nature, and dominion, and power, and action, and will. “For in him we live, and we move, and we are” (Acts 17:28), having been created and receiving life from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit: since everything abides by one will, and will, and action of one Divinity in the Trinity. So from the Spirit (all) we have life and movement: since the Angels, living spirits, (come) from the Holy Spirit, who gives life to everything; and souls through Him (become) living spirits. Therefore, it is written that “God... breathed into the face of... Adam... the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7), by which Scripture testifies to the Spirit of God as life-giving. Because He is not from any other essence or hypostasis, just like the Son. But the Son (comes) from the Father through birth, which is why he is the only begotten, and the Holy Spirit through procession, in some other way and, moreover, equally ineffable: since the image and meaning of the birth of the Word is also ineffable, just as the nature of the Father is inexplicable. How to know God and the Father can only be through understanding by faith, although creation also testifies of Him, or as the Son and the Word can be received only by faith, although creation, confirmed and adorned with the Word, teaches about Him: in the same way, one must receive the Holy Spirit only by faith, although all creation proclaims His active and life-giving power. This is how the Fathers theologize, as God the Word has spoken; they do not allow themselves any insolence, or autocracy, or arrogance of thoughts; they do not invent things on their own, but say only what they learned in advance from the Teacher. The Word of the Father says: “The Spirit... does not come from Me..., but... from the Father” (John 15:26). And you, the innovator, dare to assimilate to Him what He does not say about Himself! And who could know better - you, or He, the beginningless procession of the Divine Spirit? But, of course, if you had an intact mind, you would know what the Word, co-originating with the Spirit, (born) from the beginningless Father, knew about the Spirit. It teaches more clearly and more truly than you. And you, not following the Savior, are His opponent, you say that the real Truth does not speak the truth, and you become a different interpreter of His words, introducing the news into opposition to the Fathers. For if they do not dare to say contrary to what He said, and, honoring His words, turned them into a definition; if their successors did not create another definition contrary to this: then look at what insolence you, man, have reached, speaking about the Incomprehensible that which He Himself did not reveal, and rejecting His mysteries and theologians. If you think to base your innovation on some sayings from the divine and paternal writings: then (know that) this is not at all: for they (the Fathers) did not say anything contrary to themselves and could not (could) confess one thing in the symbol in which they received baptism, and the priesthood, and the end of life, and say another in their writings. But their mind did not bend in relation to the symbol, which is the basis of piety; you (on the contrary) say one thing in front of another, and thus testify to your arrogance, and are a false witness against the Saints, defying the eternal limits set by your Fathers. For if they knew that (the symbol) distorts their concepts, then, of course, they would have included the truth in the definition, not wanting to be false witnesses. But if they kept the symbol that they handed over to us, and, by observing it, were saved and glorified by the Divine Spirit: then it is clear that everything written by them is in accordance with the presentation of the definition. And look how much evil you are doing: by your addition you are subverting the general definition of piety, the symbol of faith, the seal of patristic theology; you alienate yourself from agreement with the sacred councils, you appear to exalt yourself above many divine men, you attempt to destroy the theology of the Savior about the Spirit, you correct the spirit-bearing Fathers in what they interpreted and decreed, you overthrow the continuous teaching of theology from the Apostles to us and the ancient tradition of the faith; you dared to violate the peace of the Church, bequeathed to us by the Savior, you became the culprit of temptations and heresies for the churches; you rebel against the Spirit, which, according to your innovations and in your words, is less than the Son and the Father; you darken the mystery of the Trinity by introducing two principles into It; you put yourself as the only judge of everything, whereas the Fathers did not allow this: for they, in reasoning (subjects) of the divine, made decisions together; you think to have power over everything that belongs to the Savior alone. And Peter speaks of himself as a servant equal to Cornelius (Acts. 10:26), and argues with James and the other Apostles (chap. 15); Paul is also afraid that the gospel will change (Gal. 2:2); others did the same: for they learned from the Savior and kept (His word): “Whoever wills to be in you, let him be your servant” (Mark 10:43). The same is revealed in (the behavior of) the blessed bishops of Rome itself during the times of the councils: for they, humbled as true servants and disciples of Christ, did not rely on themselves in (deeds of) piety, but on the general judgment of the brethren; and they, together with others, sealed (the definitions), following the consent of the Church: because they knew the word of the Savior: “Where there are two or three congregations in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). But you, going against everything, you rebelled not only against the symbol, but also against baptism and other customs of the Church: for you perform baptism separately from confirmation and you give confirmation at the wrong time, so that many of those baptized die without anointing and without the sacrament of the Mysteries. This is not how Equal-to-the-Apostles Dionysius writes; not so: not on unleavened bread (commands) to perform sacred acts; not so, not with the oil of anointing, to consecrate bishops and priests, and not to consecrate a bishop to one bishop, but as the apostolic canon through Clement prescribes, as the Church, having received from above, preserves this to this day, and as its divinely appointed shepherds, and especially Dionysius and Maximus, testify to this together with the Church, the first to appear as the successor of the Apostles, who testified in the west and who wrote about the customs and sacraments of the Church - the latter, who appeared great in confessors and God-wise, who converted more in Rome, explaining and describing in particular the sacraments of the Church and sacred rites as they are performed in our country, and with amazement, extolling the book of the divine Dionysius. Doesn’t this also serve as the greatest accusation against you, who change the divine traditions (accepted) from the beginning? “Keep,” says the Apostle, “the traditions which you have learned either by word or by our message” (2 Thess. 2:15). He says this about faith and sacred traditions: “If anyone preaches the gospel to you more than he has already eaten, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9). Does this terrible word about innovations changing the faith and customs of the Church apply to you? The definitions of the holy councils, both the first and second, which set out the symbol, and the five that came after them, which followed the first and anathematized everyone who attempted to add anything to the symbol or subtract from it, are also (directed) against you. And you don’t blush at the same time, don’t you hide? Know then that the Trinity is eternal, and that one Father is the original Divinity, as Dionysius says, and that (He is) “Father of lights,” as the brother of God says (James 1:17). And the lights are the Son and the Spirit, coeternally (originating) from Him by nature. If the Spirit was co-originally in the Father and is from the Father, then He was united with the Son and was not separated from Him: because the Trinity is indivisible; and this means that the procession of His (Spirit) is without beginning. And the expressions: “He will receive from Mine” (John 16:14), “The Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9), “God has sent” (Gal. 4:6), “I will blow” (John 20:22), “I will breathe” (Gen. 2:7), pours out, overflows and the like (meaning something that has happened) subsequently for our sake: but the Spirit itself does not accept anything subsequently and is perfect from the beginning. These same gifts, temporarily communicated to us, are the gifts of the one Trinity, given from the Father through the Son in the Spirit, just as heaven and earth are confirmed by the Word of God and the Spirit - creative power: for there is one action in the Trinity. The Father alone is the author of the Word and the Spirit by nature; together with the Word and the Spirit, He is, according to creation, the guilt of creatures. Other gifts are communicated in a similar way, so that Isaiah speaks of the number of gifts of the Spirit (Isaiah 11:2), as does Paul (1 Cor. 12:8-12), who, moreover, speaks of Christ: “In Him lives all the fulfillment of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9), speaking here not only about the hypostasis of the Word, but also about those natural gifts of God, which, having from the Father, He gives together with Spirit. That is why the Spirit appeared to those descending on Him and remained on Him: this does not mean that He (the Spirit) Himself became incarnate, or dwelt hypostatically in this divine body, but that He placed all the gifts He had in this divine church, just like the Father, who was equally pleased with Him and called Him the beloved Son, as the Prophet says: “My beloved, the soul has been well pleased with Him.” mine: I will put my Spirit on Him” (Matt. 12:18; sn. Is. 42:1). So the Word is hypostatically united with the divine perception (body), but the Father and the Spirit do not hypostatically (abide) in Him: for one Word was made flesh. Therefore, if (it is said that) “in this is all the fulfillment of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9), and that the Spirit descended (on Him) and remained on Him, then (this means) that the Spirit remained in actions and gifts, assisting the Son. Therefore, He does not come from the Son by hypostasis. And what we receive is what we receive as a gift; for it is said: “And from His fulfillment we have all received and received grace” (John 1:16). There are many of us, and we receive different gifts. But the saints (Fathers) also offered an explanation for the following passages (of Scripture): “He will receive of Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14), that is, from My words and my wisdom. “And I breathed and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), - speaking of this only one gift to decide and knit. Those who “do not have the Spirit of Christ” (it is said - Rom. 8:9) because He dwells in Christ with gifts and body. “God sent forth the Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6): since the Spirit is in Him as one-natural, and abides inseparably from Him; it is also said (here) about the sending of gifts. This is what, according to you, the procession of the Spirit (and from the Son) is revealed! “I will send you from the Father” (John 15:26), says (Christ), showing here that (the Spirit) is from the Father and comes for us, both according to His and his own will, to impart to us grace and wisdom that surpasses understanding, to comprehend the Father, the Son and the Spirit himself, and to communicate (with Them) as much as possible, which happened when all the peoples in the world believed and partook of the grace of the Trinity. This is clear from baptism performed in the name of the Trinity, and from other sacred sacraments. So the Spirit is without beginning from the Father, like the Son; He is inseparable from the Father and from the Son, as co-natural, and from time to time He appears to the Angels and to us. But He has no origin from the Son, as the divine Damascene also writes: for the Father alone is the Author of (descending) from Him. In fact, if the Savior recognized that the Spirit has the cause of existence in Him, then He would not have been silent about this, being good “and to this... having come, that He may testify to the truth” (John 18:37). So the Spirit is from the Father, as the Word begotten of the Father said; since the Father is the only Author and Origin of the eternal, from Him (originating), the only begotten Son and the Spirit; but together with the Word and the Spirit for creatures, He is again the Lord and the creative cause of everything, who made everything out of nothing, that is, the Father with the Word and the Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit is never separated from the Son, but just as the Father exists without beginning, the Son and the Spirit also originate from Him by nature; passionless, incorporeal and perfect, is also the Source of the perfect. Therefore, if the Son and the Spirit, as it is said, by nature come from Him without origin, then They are inseparably (abide) and one in the other, and are known in one power, will and action; and, as the divine Maximus says, the Father is in the Son and the Spirit, the Son in the Father and the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit in the Father and the Son. The Fathers theologize well and wisely, following Christ... (The symbol says this), testifying that the Author is the Father. And those who are with the Father and the Son are worshiped and glorified, showing the unity of nature and the inseparability of the Spirit with the Father and the Son; and by theology in this way, they show even more clearly that the Spirit is from the Father. Shame on the innovators! For first the Fathers said: Who proceeds from the Father, without adding at all - and from the Son, and then - with the Father and the Son we are worshiped and glorified. It is obvious to everyone that the first teaches about the Spirit as having a cause in the Father, testifying that the Spirit is from the Father, like the Son. And the words: with the Father and the Son we are worshiped and glorified - show the inseparability of the Trinity and the unity (in It) of will and power. Therefore, let no one blaspheme or dare to say anything that the Word-God made man did not say when teaching about God; Let the innovator also not find pretexts for blasphemy in (the words): “I will send” (Jer. 25:9), “he will receive from Mine” (John 16:15) and the like. This belongs to the subsequent time and is said in relation to us. The spirit has been from everlasting; but we came into being, and were created, and were blessed subsequently, and, having received the Spirit, we received not the hypostasis of the Spirit, not the nature of the Divinity, but grace and gift, and even that in accordance with our strength and dignity (in the Church), so that one becomes a prophet of Christ, another an apostle, another a teacher, another speaks in different tongues, or performs healings. “To one (the Spirit) is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of understanding, to another prophecy, and to another spiritual discernment. But all this operates in one and the same Spirit, dividing power to each as he wills,” as Paul says (1 Cor. 12:8-12). However, the one who receives the Spirit receives only the gift, and not the nature of the Spirit; in the same way, the breath and the words: “receive the Holy Spirit” John 20:22) do not mean that the Spirit then came out: for He is without beginning; The Spirit is not taught to them hypostatically, but only the grace of the Spirit to bind and decide, as the following words teach: “Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them, and whose sins you hold, they will hold” (John 20:22-23). The same idea is concluded, as has been said, in other biblical and patristic sayings, which speak of the gifts of the Spirit that were subsequently communicated to us. Knowing and testifying to this, the Fathers laid it down in the Creed, which all who came after them unanimously accepted; and all, having accepted baptism in this confession of faith, received the priesthood in it, gave up their souls to God and were glorified by God with the powers of miracles and many other gifts. Therefore, let no one dare to reinterpret their God-speaking words and introduce something different from what they wrote, without understanding what they said and without understanding their purpose; but let each faithful stand unshakably in the unimpaired paternal confession of faith, which they all set forth together and observed together. And in this way may all disputes, divisions, and confusion be removed from us. And let the peace planted by Christ shine in the Churches. For on the heels of disputes comes discord, and from discord comes strife; But what evil will not come from fighting? But “it is not fitting for the servant of the Lord to be boiled” (2 Tim. 2:24). Therefore, if you want to keep yourself safe, then do not exceed the eternal limits set by your Fathers. Let us worship like the Father and the Son. This means that one service and (one) honor is given from the creature to the Trinity: since all creatures are creatures of the Trinity. The Spirit is known in the one power and glory of the Godhead with the Father and the Son; He provides for creatures and gives life to everything, and therefore He is glorified equally with the Father and the Word. Verbal Prophets. Into one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. He did not only appear in the Apostles in the last days, but was also in the Prophets, although He revealed himself in them gloomily. Of these also, not one spoke without the Spirit. Therefore Moses also had the Spirit; and seventy men received the Spirit; David also sought and had the Spirit; and the other Righteous Ones and Prophets (received) each to a certain extent from the gifts of the Spirit. In the creation of all (creatures) He also assisted the Father and the Word, as David testifies, saying: “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power” (Ps. 32:6); He was of old during the time of the law, dedicating Aaron, imparting the anointing and performing the sacred rites; The Spirit of God filled Bezalel too. The face of the Prophets, who foresaw and worked miracles by the Spirit of God, also shows. But the disciples of Christ the Savior received the Spirit in the clearest and most solemn way when the Spirit descended on them in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 2:3). And this shows even more that, although He most clearly appeared and was taught to the Apostles and through them to all the faithful, yet it was not His hypostasis that was taught: for how could the inpartial (appear) to be multipartial, and also the formless and immaterial, as if in matter and visible form? – But the gifts (of the Spirit) were taught, which were revealed more in the disciples of Christ than in the Prophets: because the first were sent not to one, but to all nations. And a completely decent (it was communicated to them) gift: since “the cup began..., it is said, to speak in different tongues... and to preach” (Acts 2:4). Therefore, through them, by the movement of the Spirit, the creation was renewed, having come to know the true God in the Trinity, and was united with God, having received the grace of the Spirit. Because they too are the heralds of Christ, moved by the Divine, as it is said, Spirit. This is why it is said: into one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. In one (it is said) because there is one God of law and grace, that the Church of Angels and men became one, “built on the foundation of the Apostle and the Prophet” (Eph. 2:20), and that “one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5) and one Christ, who gathered it together, “the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20) and its foundation. Holy, as sanctified by the Spirit and united with Christ through baptism and confirmation, priesthood, communion and other sacraments - immaculate and betrothed to Christ. Conciliar: because it is collected for Christ from all nations and is replete with true knowledge; since, moreover, pre-founded on the Prophets, built on the Apostles, adorned, confirmed and raised to perfection by the labors and blood of martyrs, hierarchs and ascetics, it contains in purity the knowledge of the Trinity and confesses, together with Peter, as the Son of God, the foretold Christ, one of the Trinity incarnate. Apostolic: since it was primarily collected, compiled and approved by the Apostles, who after Christ appeared as its founders and builders: for all together the Apostles gathered from all peoples and peoples the flock of the Lord of all and the great Shepherd. Therefore, the true Church is the collection of the pious in the whole world, just as the conciliar Church is the collection of Orthodox Christians who profess the faith. True, some local churches are called conciliar (catholic) according to the honor given to them by the Fathers. But they also acquired this (honor) for right-thinking, and not for false teaching: since the Savior himself called the stone not the rejection, but the confession of Peter: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), and (about confession) said that “on this rock he will build his Church” (Matt. 16:16). Thus, the conciliar Church is the right of those who confess Christ together with Peter and the other Apostles. Church (εκκλησιαν): because it is gathered from all nations, founded on the cornerstone - Christ, completely united with Him and observes His faith. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. This is the greatest of gifts! - because this is not a legal washing, not a sensual service, or sacrifices, which, even if they were often performed, could not purify those performed, as wordless ones offered for the verbal ones. In fact, until the truth - the sinless Christ - appeared and the living sacrifice of His body was lifted up on the cross, there was neither perfect cleansing nor renewal. But after this happened, as Christ was devoured for us and from His side we received blood and water, we are transformed by them, and by blood we live, and by water, united with the Spirit, immersed in it three times, we are cleansed through the invocation of the all-powerful Trinity and, immediately created, we become sons of light and children of God by grace, having put on His true Son, Christ our God: for with us is in the water He who was baptized for us sets up for us the image of his incorruptibility and holiness. Paul also proclaims this, saying: “If you have been baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). That is why Christ was baptized in order to put into the water the grace of the Spirit and the image of his shrine. Thus, everyone who is baptized with the water of the Spirit, through the invocation of the Trinity, receives the image of the purity, sinlessness and luminosity of Christ (appearing) in the flesh. So this is what baptism is: a person, invisibly putting on Christ, becomes completely sinless and filled with the Spirit, and if he maintains grace, he becomes a Prophet, Apostle and Angel, as one of those blessed said. And it is not surprising: if, adopted by grace, he becomes conformed to Christ, then much more can he become conformed to the Angels. This gift was given to us by Christ, the Word of God, who created us in the beginning and has now created us for the best. It is He who, dispassionately incarnated from the Virgin and dispassionately born, dispassionately gives birth to us spiritually from His side, gives us drink, nourishes and gives birth to life with the Spirit: since from the very time when from His side “water and blood flowed forth” (John 19:34), with water together with the Spirit He regenerates us, as it is said, and with blood He gives life. And without this, salvation is impossible. Therefore, many heretics, excited by demons, madly rebel together with the wicked especially against these sacred and saving sacraments of Christ, that is, against divine baptism and sacred communion, so that, without accepting them, they will be alienated from eternal life: for a terrible (uttered) definition, both against those who have not received baptism, and against those who do not receive life-giving communion: “unless someone is born,” it is said, “ water and the Spirit, cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (John 3:5); and again: “Unless you have eaten the flesh of the Son of man, nor have you drunk His blood, you have not life within you” (John 6:53). So there is one divine baptism: because there is one Lord, who betrayed him, who was once crucified for us, who once shed his blood and gave himself as a sacrifice for us to the Father. Paul also says: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). Therefore, besides this, there is no other baptism, nor is there any other remission by grace, nor regeneration, nor re-creation, nor any such redemption from sin. If the second baptism is spoken of, then it is an (action of) repentance and is achieved, moreover, through many labors: because to receive it one needs confession and humility, tears and contrition, feasible feats and deeds of mercy, and, moreover, unceasing prayers. There is another remission, achieved by confession and testimony of Christ: it is also obtained with difficulty and (only) at times possible. Therefore, there is only one baptism for the remission of sins. There is a lot about this and many people ask questions: because both the unfaithful and the faithful are perplexed about the resurrection. And this is completely unreasonable, especially among the perplexed faithful, after the Lord taught in words about the resurrection and in deed (testified) by rising from the dead: for He rose for us, so that we would be resurrected. Therefore, the perplexed one rejects the resurrection of Christ; but Christ has risen truly: this is evidenced by His faith, sown and rooted throughout the whole world. The dead will also be resurrected by the power of Christ, as many of the dead who had risen before have clearly testified in words, and as all nature proclaims this, sometimes by the shining and action of light, sometimes by the change of everything in parts, sometimes by the birth of people and animals, sometimes by the quality of fruits and seeds thrown into the ground, as Paul taught (1 Cor. 15:36-37). Moreover, it is certain that there will be an end to corruption: in fact, if the world is the creation of the Imperishable and everything in general is (the work of) the Ever-present, then corruption will someday cease, as Paul also testified, and creation will be renewed, as it is written, and the most venerable of all (creatures) - man, who is exclusively honored to receive a body that serves as an instrument of the verbal and living soul, and with him to act together with the soul, will then receive this (instrument) in order to appear a perfect being, either glorified or punished. Since it was especially because of this being that corruption appeared, then when there is a new heaven and a new earth, changed for the better, man will also be perfect, with soul and body changed for the better. Therefore, the Church, following its Teacher Jesus Christ, who said: “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 12:27), proclaims the resurrection of the dead, speaking in symbol: the tea of ​​the resurrection of the dead, that is, that ours, and not other bodies, will be united with our souls. She adds: And the life of the next century, amen. That life will be limitless and endless; and, just as life will be continuous, so everyone’s lot – glory or torment – ​​will be limitless and endless. However, many wicked people talk idle talk about this too, to their own detriment, daring to reject the eternity of future torment. Such insolence was instilled in them by the deceptions and cunning of the evil one so that, while waiting for the end of torment, they would not leave a single deed of malice undone: because if there is an end to torment, then every sin will one day be forgiven, and those who reject God, the wicked and the lawless will one day be glorified along with the pious and saints. What word (could be) more wicked than this? If there is an end to torment, then there will be an end to the kingdom, and, therefore, there is no righteousness with God: meanwhile, “the Lord is righteous and loves righteousness” (Psalm 10:7). Therefore, He also rightly says, speaking about the last part, that “these go into eternal torment” (Matthew 25:46), and not temporary; about the right hand: “the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46); and again about sinners: “their worm does not die and the fire does not go out” (Mark 9:44). And rightly so: since here we have time to make amends for our wrongdoings, while we have freedom of choice, and then there will be one time - separation and reward according to the merits of what everyone has chosen for themselves. Let no one possessed by sins, or any delusion, deceive himself with such (deceptions) for justification or pleasure; The torment of the unrepentant is eternal. This is why repentance is (open) until the last breath: in fact, if there was any benefit from it there, it would not have been given here at all. And what wonder would the Savior’s economy have done if there had been repentance or an end to torment? Do you see the madness of the wicked? But since God (appeared) among people, and we were given (from Him) the sacraments of God; since there are words (confession) that lead to suffering, and ascetics to blood, and finally repentance: then let it be confessed that was handed down to us from our Savior, from the Apostles and from the Fathers, who said: the tea of ​​the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century, that is, eternal. They added: amen, which constitutes the affirmation and seal of the entire sacred symbol, like a kind of key, blocking (the entrance) for outsiders and protecting the treasure of faith, as if in some most elegant treasury - the Church, so that no one would take anything from it or bring anything alien into it. Meanwhile, with heartfelt love, accepting the most divine, most sacred and in all things perfect sign of piety, the confession of the Fathers, the definition of the true faith, and confessing it with our souls, tongue and lips, let us preserve it to the end unharmed, pure and indestructible in everything, as a sacred pledge given by the God-bearing, God-glorified and God-moved Fathers - and through the prayers of the Saints who set forth and observed it, as well as their predecessors, from of whom they accepted the teaching of the symbol, and of all the Saints in general, through the intercession of the holy Angels and the ever-virgin Mother of the Savior and our God Jesus Christ, the only Most Holy and truly Mother of God, having brought from themselves to the Trinity, as a pure gift, this good confession - we will not only get rid of eternal torment, but together with Christ we will be rewarded with the eternal, divine Kingdom of Christ, glory and pleasure, eternally glorifying Christ himself, the only begotten Son of the living God, with His eternal Father and the Holy Spirit. 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