Monologion: Prologue
MONOLOGION
Prologue SOME OF THE brethren have often eagerly entreated me to write down some of the things I have told them in our frequent discussions about how one ought to meditate on the divine essence, and about certain other things related to such a meditation, as a sort of pattern for meditating on these things.
Having more regard to their own wishes than to the ease of the task or my ability to perform it, they prescribed the following form for me in writing this meditation: absolutely nothing in it would be established by the authority of Scripture; rather, whatever the conclusion of each individual investigation might assert, the necessity of reason would concisely prove, and the clarity of truth would manifestly show, that it is the case, by means of a plain style, unsophisticated arguments, and straightforward disputation. They also insisted that I not disdain to answer even the simple and almost foolish objections that would occur to me.
Now for a long time I was reluctant to attempt this, and comparing myself to the task at hand, I tried many arguments to excuse myself. For the more they wanted what they had asked of me to be easy for them to use, the more difficult they made it for me actually to accomplish it. Finally, however, I was overcome by the modest persistence of their entreaties as well as the true worth of their eagerness, which was not to be slighted. Unwilling to do so because of the difficulty of the task and the weakness of my own talent, I set out to do as they had entreated me; but gladly, because of their charity, I accomplished it according to their directions, as far as I was able.
I was induced to do so in the hope that whatever I did would be known only to those who had required it, and that they would soon afterwards despise it as worthless and throw it away with contempt. For I know that I could not so much satisfy those who had entreated me as put an end to the entreaties that were hounding me. But somehow—I am not sure how—things did not turn out as I had hoped. Not only the brethren but also many others took the trouble to commend this writing to long remembrance, each copying it out in full for himself.
After frequently reconsidering it, I could not find that I had said anything in it that was inconsistent with the writings of the Catholic fathers,and especially
BASIC WRITINGS
with those of blessed Augustine. Therefore, if it should seem to anyone that I put forth anything in this work that either is too novel or diverges from the truth, I ask that he not immediately condemn me as someone who either introduces novelties or asserts falsehoods. Rather, let him first look carefully at the books of the aforesaid teacher Augustine on the Trinity and then judge my work according to them. For in saying that the supreme Trinity can be said to be three substances, I have followed the Greeks, who confess three substances in one person by the same faith by which we confess three persons in one substance. For they signify by 'substance' in God what we signify by 'person'.1
Now whatever I said there is put forth in the role of someone who, by thought alone, disputes and investigates within himself things that he had not previously realized, just as I knew that they whose request I was aiming to fulfill wanted me to do.
But I entreat and eagerly beseech anyone who wishes to copy this work that he take care to put this preface at the beginning of the book before the chapter titles. For I think it is very helpful for understanding the things he will read there if someone first knows with what intention and in what way they are discussed. I also think that anyone who first sees this preface will not be quick to judge if he finds something asserted contrary to his own opinion.
1 See the Glossary entry for substance* (sense 3).
Chapters 1: That there is something that is best and greatest and supreme among all existing things 2: On the same thing 3: That there is a certain nature through whom all existing things exist, and who exists through himself and is supreme among all existing things
4: On the same thing 5: That, just as he exists through himself and other things exist through him, so he exists from himself and other things exist from him
6: That he does not exist through the help of some other cause that brought him into existence, and yet neither does he exist through nothing or from nothing; and in what sense he can be understood to exist through himself and from himself 7: In what way all other things exist through him and from him
8: In what sense it is to be understood that he made everything from nothing 9: That with respect to the reason of their maker, the things that were made from nothing were not nothing before they were made
10: That this reason is an utterance of things, as a craftsman says within himself what he is going to make
11: That nonetheless there is much dissimilarity in this comparison 12: That the utterance of the supreme essence is the supreme essence
13: That, just as all things were made through the supreme essence, so also they remain in existence through him 14: That he exists in all things and through all things,and all things exist from him and through him and in him 15: What can or cannot be said of him substantially
16: That for him, to be just is the same as to be justice, and the same thing holds for those things that can be said of him in a similar way, and that none of these designates what sort of thing or how great he is, but rather what he is 17: That he is simple in such a way that all the things that can be said of his essence are one and the same thing in him, and none of them can be said substantially of him except with respect to what he is
18: That he exists without beginning and without end
BASIC WRITINGS
19: How nothing existed before him and nothing will exist after him 20: That he exists in every place and time
21: That he exists in no place or time 22: How he exists in every place and time and in no place or time
23: How he can be better understood as existing everywhere, rather than as existing in every place 24: How he can be better understood as existing always, rather than as existing at every time
25: That he cannot be changed by any accidents 26: In what sense he is to be called a substance, and that he is beyond every substance, and uniquely is whatever he is
27: That he is not included in a common classification of substances, and yet he is a substance and an individual spirit
28: That this spirit exists in an unqualified sense, and creatures do not exist at all compared to him 29: That his utterance is the very same thing as himself; and yet they are not two spirits but one 30: That this utterance does not consist of many words, but rather is one
Word 31: That this Word is not a likeness of created things but the truth of their essence, whereas created things are an imitation of that truth; and which natures are greater and more excellent than others
32: That the supreme spirit utters himself by his coeternal Word 33: That by one Word he utters both himself and what he made
34: How he can be seen to utter creation by his own Word 35: That whatever was made is life and truth in his Word and knowledge
36: In what an incomprehensible way he utters or knows the things he made 37: That whatever he is with respect to creation, his Word is also; nevertheless, the two of them together are not so in more than one way
38: That one cannot say what they are two of, and yet they must be two 39: That the Word exists from the supreme spirit by being born
40: That most truly he is the parent and the Word his offspring 41: That he most truly begets and the Word is begotten
42: That he is most truly begetter and Father, and the other is begotten and Son
MONOLOGION
43: A reconsideration of what is common to both and the distinguishing characteristics of each 44: How one is the essence of the other 45: That the Son can more appropriately be called the essence of the Father than the Father can be called the essence of the Son; and that similarly the Son is the power and wisdom of the Father, and so on 46: How some of the statements expressed in this way can also be understood in another way
47: That the Son is the understanding of understanding and the truth of truth, and so on for similar attributes 48: That 'memory' signifies the Father just as 'understanding' signifies the Son; and how the Son is the understanding or wisdom of memory, as well as the memory of the Father and the memory of memory
49: That the supreme spirit loves himself 50: That this love proceeds equally from the Father and the Son
51: That each loves himself and the other with an equal love 52: That this love is as great as the supreme spirit
53: That this love is the very same thing that the supreme spirit is, and yet together with the Father and the Son he is one spirit
54: That this love proceeds as a whole from the Father and as a whole from the Son, and yet he is only one love 55: That this love is not their son 56: That only the Father is begetter and unbegotten, only the Son is begotten, and only the love is neither begotten nor unbegotten
57: That this love is uncreated and Creator just as the Father and the Son are, and yet he and they together are not three,but one uncreated and one
Creator; and that he can be called the Spirit of the Father and the Son 58: That just as the Son is the essence or wisdom of the Father in the sense that he has the same essence or wisdom as the Father, so also the Spirit is the essence and wisdom (and similar things) of the Father and the Son
59: That the Father and the Son and their Spirit exist equally in one another 60: That none of them needs another in order to remember, understand, or love, since each individually is memory and understanding and love and whatever else is necessarily present in the supreme essence
61: That nevertheless there are not three but one Father, one Son, and one Spirit of both
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62: How it seems that many sons are born from them 63: How in him there is only one of one 64: That although this cannot be explained, it must nevertheless be believed
65: How a true conclusion has been reached regarding an ineffable thing 66: That through the rational mind one comes closest to knowing the supreme essence 67: That the mind itself is a mirror and image of him
68: That the rational creature was made for loving him 69: That a soul that always loves him will at some time truly live happily
70: That he gives himself as a reward to the one who loves him 71: That one who disdains him will be eternally miserable
72: That every human soul is immortal 73: That it is either always miserable or at some time truly happy
74: That no soul is unjustly deprived of the supreme good, and that it should strive after him with all its might 75: That one ought to hope for the supreme essence
76: That one ought to believe in him 77: That one ought to believe equally in the Father, the Son, and their Spirit, both in each individually and in all three together
78: What is a living and what a dead faith 79: What the supreme essence can in a certain sense be said to be three of 80: That he is Lord of all and rules all and is the only God