Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Fragment from the Discourse. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
On the
Trinity.
————————————
Fragment from the Discourse.376
376
Mai, Spicil. Rom., vol. iii. p. 696, from the Arabic
Codex, 101. |
Gregory Thaumaturgus,
Bishop of Neo-Cæsareia in Pontus,377
377 The
Arabic Codex reads falsely, Cæsareæ Cappadociæ. | near successor of the apostles, in his
discourse on the Trinity, speaks thus:—
I see in all three essentials—substance,
genus, name. We speak of man, servant, curator
(curatorem),—man, by reason of substance; servant, by
reason of genus or condition; curator, by reason of denomination.
We speak also of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: these, however,
are not names which have only supervened at some after period, but they
are subsistences. Again, the denomination of man is not in
actual fact a denomination, but a substance common to men, and is the
denomination proper to all men. Moreover, names are such as
these,—Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob: these, I say, are
names. But the Divine Persons are names indeed: and the
names are still the persons; and the persons then signify that which is
and subsists,—which is the essence of God. The name also of
the nature signifies subsistence;378
378 Or,
the name signifies the subsistence of the nature—Nomen quoque
naturæ significat subsistentiam. | as if we should speak of the
man. All (the persons) are one nature, one essence, one
will, and are called the Holy Trinity; and these also are names
subsistent, one nature in three persons, and one genus. But the
person of the Son is composite in its oneness (unita est), being
one made up of two, that is, of divinity and humanity together, which
two constitute one. Yet the divinity does not consequently
receive any increment, but the Trinity remains as it was. Nor
does anything new befall the persons even or the names, but these are
eternal and without time. No one, however, was sufficient to know
these until the Son being made flesh manifested them, saying:
“Father, I have manifested Thy name to men; glorify Thou me also,
that they may know me as Thy Son.”379 And on the mount the Father spake,
and said, “This is my beloved Son.”380 And the same sent His Holy Spirit
at the Jordan. And thus it was declared to us that there is an
Eternal Trinity in equal honour. Besides, the generation of the
Son by the Father is incomprehensible and ineffable; and because it is
spiritual, its investigation becomes impracticable: for a
spiritual object can neither be understood nor traced by a corporeal
object, for that is far removed from human nature. We men know
indeed the generation proper to us, as also that of other objects; but
a spiritual matter is above human condition, neither can it in any
manner be understood by the minds of men. Spiritual substance can
neither perish nor be dissolved; ours, however, as is easy to
understand, perishes and is dissolved. How, indeed, could it be
possible for man, who is limited on six sides—by east, west,
south, north, deep, and sky—understand a matter which is above
the skies, which is beneath the deeps, which stretches beyond the north
and south, and which is present in every place, and fills all
vacuity? But if, indeed, we are able to scrutinize spiritual
substance, its excellence truly would be undone. Let us consider
what is done in our body; and, furthermore, let us see whether it is in
our power to ascertain in what manner thoughts are born of the heart,
and words of the tongue, and the like. Now, if we can by no means
apprehend things that are done in ourselves, how could it ever be that
we should understand the mystery of the uncreated Creator, which goes
beyond every mind? Assuredly, if this mystery were one that could
be penetrated by man, the inspired John would by no means have affirmed
this: “No man hath seen God at any time.”381 He then, whom no man hath seen at
any time,—whom can we reckon Him to resemble, so that thereby we
should understand His generation? And we, indeed, without
ambiguity apprehend that our soul dwells in us in union with the body;
but still, who has ever seen his own soul? who has been able to discern
its conjunction with his body? This one thing is all we know certainly, that
there is a soul within us conjoined with the body. Thus, then, we
reason and believe that the Word is begotten by the Father, albeit we
neither possess nor know the clear rationale of the fact.
The Word Himself is before every creature—eternal from the
Eternal, like spring from spring, and light from light. The
vocable Word, indeed, belongs to those three genera of words
which are named in Scripture, and which are not
substantial,—namely, the word conceived,382 the word uttered,383 and the word
articulated.384 The
word conceived, certainly, is not substantial. The word
uttered, again, is that voice which the prophets hear from God,
or the prophetic speech itself; and even this is not substantial.
And, lastly, the word articulated is the speech of man formed
forth in air (aëre efformatus), composed of terms, which
also is not substantial.385
385
On these terms, consult the Greek Fathers in Petavius, de
Trin., book vi. [See Elucidation below.] | But the Word of God is
substantial, endowed with an exalted and enduring nature, and is
eternal with Himself, and is inseparable from Him, and can never fall
away, but shall remain in an everlasting union. This Word created
heaven and earth, and in Him were all things made. He is the arm
and the power of God, never to be separated from the Father, in virtue
of an indivisible nature, and, together with the Father, He is without
beginning. This Word took our substance of the Virgin Mary; and
in so far as He is spiritual indeed, He is indivisibly equal with the
Father; but in so far as He is corporeal, He is in like manner
inseparably equal with us. And, again, in so far as He is
spiritual, He supplies in the same equality (æquiparat) the
Holy Spirit, inseparably and without limit. Neither were there
two natures, but only one nature of the Holy Trinity before the
incarnation of the Word, the Son; and the nature of the Trinity
remained one also after the incarnation of the Son. But if any
one, moreover, believes that any increment has been given to the
Trinity by reason of the assumption of humanity by the Word, he is an
alien from us, and from the ministry of the Catholic and Apostolic
Church. This is the perfect, holy, Apostolic faith of the holy
God. Praise to the Holy Trinity for ever through the ages of the
ages. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|