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| Concerning the Trisagium (“the Thrice Holy”).
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Chapter
X.—Concerning the Trisagium (“the Thrice
Holy”).
This being so2040
| 2040 Dam., Epist. ad
Jord. Archim. | , we declare
that the addition which the vain-minded Peter the Fuller made to the
Trisagium or “Thrice Holy” Hymn is blasphemous2041
| 2041 Text, βλάσφημον.
Variant, βλασφημίαν. | ; for it introduces a fourth person into
the Trinity, giving a separate place to the Son of God, Who is the
truly subsisting power of the Father, and a separate place to Him Who
was crucified as though He were different from the “Mighty
One,” or as though the Holy Trinity was considered passible, and
the Father and the Holy Spirit suffered on the Cross along with the
Son. Have done with this blasphemous2042
| 2042 Text, βλάσφημον.
Variant, βλασφημίαν. |
and nonsensical interpolation! For we hold the words “Holy
God” to refer to the Father, without limiting the title of
divinity to Him alone, but acknowledging also as God the Son and the
Holy Spirit: and the words “Holy and Mighty” we ascribe
to the Son, without stripping the Father and the Holy Spirit of
might: and the words “Holy and Immortal” we attribute
to the Holy Spirit, without depriving the Father and the Son of
immortality. For, indeed, we apply all the divine names simply
and unconditionally to each of the subsistences in imitation of the
divine Apostle’s words. But to us there is but one God,
the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him: and one Lord
Jesus Christ by Whom are all things, and we by Him2043
2044
| 2044 These words
which refer to the Holy Spirit are absent in R. 2930 and in 1 Cor.
viii., but are present in other Codices and in Basil, De Spirit.
Sancto, and in Greg. Nazianz., Orat. 39, and further in the
Damascene himself in Parallel, and elsewhere, and could not be
omitted here. | .
And, nevertheless, we follow Gregory the
Theologian2045
when he says,
“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all
things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and one
Holy Spirit, in Whom are all things:” for the words
“of Whom” and “through Whom” and “in
Whom” do not divide the natures (for neither the prepositions nor
the order of the names could ever be changed), but they characterise
the properties of one unconfused nature. And this becomes clear
from the fact that they are once more gathered into one, if only one
reads with care these words of the same Apostle, Of Him and through
Him and in Him are all things: to Him be the glory for ever and
ever. Amen2046
.
For that the “Trisagium” refers not to
the Son alone2047
, but to the
Holy Trinity, the divine and saintly Athanasius and Basil and Gregory,
and all the band of the divinely-inspired Fathers bear witness:
because, as a matter of fact, by the threefold holiness the Holy
Seraphim suggest to us the three subsistences of the superessential
Godhead. But by the one Lordship they denote the one essence and
dominion of the supremely-divine Trinity. Gregory the Theologian
of a truth says2048
| 2048 Orat. 42. at
the beginning. | , “Thus,
then, the Holy of Holies, which is completely veiled by the Seraphim,
and is glorified with three consecrations, meet together in one
lordship and one divinity.” This was the most beautiful and
sublime philosophy of still another of our predecessors.
Ecclesiastical historians2049
| 2049 Epist. ad Petrum
Fullonem; Theoph., Ad Arn. 5930. | ,
then, say that once when the people of Constantinople were offering
prayers to God to avert a threatened calamity2050
| 2050 See Niceph.
Call., Hist. xviii. 51. | ,
during Proclus’ tenure of the office of Archbishop, it happened
that a boy was snatched up from among the people, and was taught by
angelic teachers the “Thrice Holy” Hymn, “Thou Holy
God, Holy and Mighty One, Holy and Immortal One, have mercy upon
us:” and when once more he was restored to earth, he told
what he had learned, and all the people sang the Hymn, and so the
threatened calamity was averted. And in the fourth holy and great
Œcumenical Council, I mean the one at Chalcedon, we are told that
it was in this form that the Hymn was sung; for the minutes of this
holy assembly so record it2051
| 2051 Conc. Chal.,
Act. 1, at the end. | . It is,
therefore, a matter for laughter and ridicule that this “Thrice
Holy” Hymn, taught us by the angels, and confirmed by the
averting of calamity2052
| 2052 In Cod. S.
Hil. is written above the line ἢ θεηλάτου
ὀργῆς
παύσει, which explains the
author’s meaning. | , ratified and
established by so great an assembly of the holy Fathers, and sung first
by the Seraphim as a declaration of the three subsistences of the
Godhead, should be mangled and forsooth emended to suit the view of the
stupid Fuller as though he were higher than the Seraphim. But oh!
the arrogance! not to say folly! But we say it thus, though
demons should rend us in pieces, “Do Thou, Holy God, Holy and
Mighty One, Holy and Immortal One, have mercy upon
us.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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