8 (141). An Apology to the Caesareans for His Withdrawal, and a Defense of the Faith
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8. An Apology to the Caesareans for His Withdrawal, and a Defense of the Faith 1 I have frequently wondered at your affection toward us, and your marks of deference to our insignificance, petty and weak as we are, and possessed, probably, of so few lovable qualities. For, you encourage us with your words, mentioning our friendship and our fatherland as though trying, by an appeal to my patriotism, to induce a fugitive to return to you once more. I indeed admit that I have become a fugitive, nor would I deny it; but now, since you desire, you may learn the cause.
First of all, then, bewildered at the time by the unforeseen event/ as men are who are suddenly terrified by unexpected confusions, I could not control my reason, but I fled the The <Iuthenticitv of this letter has heen questioned at various times.
J. Schafer. Basilills des Grossen Bezukllngen zum Abendlande (Munster. i. W. 1909) -I. considers it unauthentic; M. Bessieres. 'La Tradition de la Correspondence de St. Basile: Journal Of Theological Studies 23
(1922) 3-14. since he finds it among the letters in only one manuscript (l'arisinus 1020 S) • does not consider it as belonging to the tradition of the letters. Moreover. Robert Melcher in an article entitled 'Der 8
Brief des hI. Basilius. ein Werk des Evagrius Pontikus' (Miinsterische Beitrage zur Theologie, Heft I. 1923) shows very convincingly that the letter does not belong to St. Basil but. most probably. to Evagrius. and that its date is toward the end of the fourth century. This and several letters of St. Basil, in great measure. determined the orthodox
Greek terminology of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. The most important terms as defined by St. Basil are: anomoios, dissimilis: unlike. ousia, substantia (although the Latin rendering is etymologically the same as hypostasis): substance. homooiliios, consubstantialis: consubstantial. homoioiliios, similis quoad substantiam: of similar substance. harnois, similis: like. hypostasis, persona: person.
2 An unforeseen event which dismayed St. Basil was the action of Dianius of Caesarea in subscribing to the Creed of Ariminum. St.
Basil immediately broke off all relations with him and hastened to St. Gregory of Nazianzus for support.
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situation afar off, and have spent a considerable time away from you. Moreover, a longing came upon me for the divine teaching and its inherent philosophy. How would I be able,
I said, to overcome the evil dwelling within me? Who could be to me a Laban, freeing me from Esau and guiding me to the heavenly philosophy? But, since with God's grace we have attained our object in proportion to our power, and have found a chosen instrument3 and a deep reservoir-I mean, of course, Gregory, the mouthpiece of Christ-grant us a little time; just a little, I entreat. We ask this, not because we desire a sojourn in the cities,4 for we are aware that the Evil Spirit deceives men by such means, but because we judge that association with holy men is in the highest degree helpful. For, by discussing the divine teachings and by hearing them more frequently expounded, we form a habit of contemplation which is not easily lost. This is truly our present position.
But you, holy and dearest of all friends to me, be on your guard against the shepherds of the Philistines, lest someone subtly obstruct your wells and defile the clear knowledge of your faith. Their object is always this: not through divine
Scriptures to instruct the more guileless souls, but through false wisdom to obscure the truth. For, he who is introducing into our faith 'un begotten' and 'begotten,' and declaring that He who has always existed at one time did not exist,S and that He, who by nature and from all eternity was Father, was made a father, and that the Holy Spirit is not eternal, is he not clearly a Philistine? Is he not one who bewitches the sheep of our patriarch, that they may not drink from the pure water which springs up unto life everlasting,6 but may
3 Cf. Acts 9.15.
4 The city in which St. Basil stayed was probably Nazianzus, the home of his friend Gregory, or more exactly the suburb Carbala or Caprales (modern Gelvere), where Gregory's estate was situated.
!> The Arian formula is: 'There was a time when he was not.'
6 Cf. John 4.14.
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draw down upon themselves the saying of the Prophet: T 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water'? For, they should confess that the Father is
God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, as the divine Word teaches, and as they who have pondered it more deeply have taught.
To those who insolently charge us with the doctrine of three gods, let this be said: that we confess one God, not in number, but in nature. Now, everything which is said to be one in number is not one in reality and simple in nature.
But, God is universally confessed to be simple and uncompounded. Therefore, God is not one in number. What I mean is this. We say that the universe is one in number, but not one in nature, nor is it something simple. For we divide it into the elements out of which it was formed, into fire, water, air, and earth.s Again, man is called one in number. For we frequently say man. But he is not something simple, since he is formed of body and soul. We likewise say the angel is one in number, but not one in nature or simple, for we consider the person of the angel as composed of substance with sanctity. Therefore, if everything which is one in number is not one in nature, and what is one in nature and simple is not one in number, and we say that God is one in nature, how do they bring into our idea, number, which we banish entirely from that blessed and spiritual nature? For, number pertains to quantity, and qnantity is added as an attribute of corporeal nature. Doubtless, then, number is an attribute of corporeal nature. Further, we have believed that our Lord is the Creator of bodies. Therefore, also, all number indicates those things which are assigned to have a material and cir7 Jer. 2.13 (almost verbatim from the Septuagint) .
8 Cf. Aristotle, Met. 1.3 for the elements of the Greek philosophers.
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cumscribed nature, but 'aloneness' and 'oneness' are indicative of the simple and uncircumscribed substance. Accordingly, he who confesses the Son of God or the Holy Spirit as number or creature unconsciously introduces a material and circumscribed nature. And by a circumscribed nature I mean one not only encompassed by space, but also included in the foreknowledge of Him who is to lead it from non-existence into existence, and consequently one capable of comprehension by the understanding. Now, everything holy which has its nature circumscribed and its holiness acquired is not unsusceptible to evil. But the Son and the Holy Spirit are the fountains of holiness from which every rational creature in proportion to its virtue is made holy.
Yet we, according to the true doctrine, do not say that the Son is either like 9 or unlike10 the Father. Each of these expressions is equally impossible, since 'likeness' and 'unlikeness' are used in speaking of qualities, and the Divinity is not restricted by quality.ll However, admitting the identity of nature, we also accept the identity of substance, and we reject compositeness, since He who in substance is God and Father has begotten Him who in substance is God and Son.
From this fact identity in substance is proved. For, He who in substance is God is consubstantial with Him who is God in substance.
But, when man also is callqi god, as in the words: 'I have said, you are gods,'12 and when the Evil Spirit is called
9 So declared at Seleucia and Ariminum.
10 Cf. St. Basil, On the Holy Spirit, where he deals at length with the heretic Aetius' sophism that things naturally unlike are expressed in unlike terms, and, conversely, that things expressed in unlike terms are naturally unlike.
11 By reason of the simplicity of His nature, God's attributes and His nature are one and the same. The attributes of God are not really, but only virtually, distinct from one another and from His nature.
12 Ps. 81.6.
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god, as in the saying: 'The gods of the gentiles are devils,'13 well, the first are so called because of grace, but the latter are so called falsely. And God alone is God in substance.
Moreover, whenever I say 'alone' I affirm that the substance of God is holy and uncreated. The word 'alone' is also used in reference to a particular man as well as to human nature in general. It is used for a particular man, as, let us say, for Paul, where it is written that 'he alone was caught up into the third heaven, and heard secret words, that man may not repeat';14 and for human nature in general,15 as when David says: 'Man's days are as grass.'16 For in this case he does not mean some particular man, but human nature in general. Now, every man is short-lived and mortal.
And so we consider that the following statements were made concerning the divine nature: 'Who alone has immortality,'17 and 'To the only wise God,'18 and, 'No one is good but God only,'19-for the word 'one' [heisJ there signifies the same thing as 'only' [monos J-and 'who alone spreadeth out the heavens,'2o and again, 'Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only,'21 and 'There is no other God besides me.'22 Now, 'one' and 'alone' are used in the Scripture when referring to God, not in distinction from the Son or the Holy Spirit, but in contrast to those who, although they
13 Ps. 95.5.
I4 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.4: 'That he was caught up into paradise and heard secret words that man may not repeat: The first part of St. BasiI"s quota. tion differs markedly from our version of the New Testament. He adds 'alone' and substitutes 'into the third heaven' for 'into paradise:
15 I.e., by metonymy.
16 Ps. 102.15.
17 Tim. 6.16.
18 Rom. 16.27.
19 Luke 18.19.
20 Job 9.8.
21 Cf. Deut. 6.13. St. Basil has substituted proskuneseis (adore) for phobethesei (fear), as found in the Septuagint version.
22 Dellt. 32.39.
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are not gods, are falsely so called. The following are examples:
'The Lord alone was their leader, and there was no strange god with them,'23 and 'The children of Israel put away
Baalim and Astaroth, and served the Lord only,'24 and again, the words of Paul: 25 'For indeed there are many gods, and many lords, yet for us there is only one God, the Father from whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.'26
But, we ask here how it was that, when he had said, 'one God,' he was not satisfied with the words-for we have said that 'alone' and 'one' used in regard to God refer to the nature-but that he added also 'Father' and made mention of Christ. Well, I suspect that Paul, the chosen instrument, did not think that it was sufficiently explicit in this place to proclaim only the Son God and the Holy Spirit God, which indeed was made clear by the expression 'one God,' unless he should also, by adding 'the Father,' signify Him from whom are all things; and by mentioning 'the Lord,' indicate the 'Word' through whom are all things; and again, by bringing in 'Jesus Christ,' recall the Incarnation, renew in thought the Passion, and present anew the Resurrection. For, the words 'Jesus Christ' place such thoughts as these before our minds. Therefore, before His Passion, the Lord sought not to be made known as. Jesus Christ, and 'He strictly charged his disciples to tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ' ;27 for it was His intention, after the fulfillment of His mission, and after His resurrection from the dead and ascenSIOn
2!J Deut. 32.12 (Septuagint).
24 1 Kings 7.4 (almost verbatim from the Septuagint) .
25 Cf. 1 Cor. 8.5-6. St. Basil quotes accurately. with apparently purposeful omission of irrelevant material.
26 In this passage St. Basil has been defending his contention that 'one' cannot be predicated of God.
27 Matt. 16.20.
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into heaven, to pennit them to announce that He was Jesus the Christ. Similar in meaning are these passages, also: 'That they may know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ';~S and 'You believe in God, believe also in me.'~9 Consequently, the Holy Spirit is everywhere safeguarding our judgment, lest in attaining one truth we fall away from another, and being intent on theology we disregard the divine dispensation,:;') and in thus' falling short we engender impiety within our souls.
But, as our opponents seize upon the words of the Sacred Scripture, twist them to fit their own views, and then cite them for us in order t6 take away the glory of the Onlybegotten, let us likewise scrutinize them and lay open their meaning as far as we are able. Let us first propose these words: 'I live because of the Father,'31 since this is one of the darts launched against heaven by those using it sacrilegiously. In this place the expression, as I believe, does not refer to His life before time32-for nothing which has life because of something else can be self-existent; just as nothing that is heated by something else can be heat itself; and our
Christ and God has said: 'I am the life.'33 But the life which He lived because of the Father is this life which He has had in the flesh and here in time. Now, of His own will He began to live the life of man; and He did not say: 'I lived because of the Father,' but: 'I live because of the Father,' clearly indicating the present time. And it is possible to say the 'life'
28 John 17.3.
29 John 14.1.
30 The distinction here made is between theologid., (theology) or what pertains to the divinity and eternity of Christ. and oikonomia (divine dispensation) or whatever belongs to the Incarnation and all that resulted therefrom.
31 John 6.58.
32 I.e .. before the creation of the world.
33 cr. John 11.25.
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which Christ lives, He having in Himself the Word of God.
That this is the meaning we shall see from the following.
'And he who eats me,'H He says, 'he also shall live because of me.' Now, we eat His flesh and we drink His blood, being made sharers, through the Incarnation and through His corporeal life, of the Word and His wisdom. For, He spoke of His whole mystical sojourn as His flesh and His blood, and He revealed His doctrine composed of the principles relating to the real, :15 the natural, and the theological, through which doctrines the soul is nourished and is, in the meantime, prepared for the contemplation of realities. And this is probably the meaning of the expression.
And again, consider the words: 'My Father is greater than 1.':16 Those most ungrateful creatures, the offspring of the Evil One, make use of this saying, also. Yet, I am convinced that by this expression the Son of God is proved to be consubstantial with the Father, since I know that comparisons hold good only in the case of things of the same nature. For, we say that an angel is greater than another angel, and a man is more just than another man, and a bird is swifter than another bird. If, therefore, comparisons are made of objects of the same species, and the Father, by comparison, is said to be greater than the Son, the Son is consubstantial with the Father. But, there is also another thought contained in this saying. Nay, what wonder is it, if He confessed that the Father was greater than He Himself, since, being the Word and having been made flesh,s7 He seemed less than the angels in glory and less than man in appearance. For, 'Thou hast made him,' it is said, 'a little
34 Cf. John 6.58.
35 Praktik6s probably means 'real' as opposed to 'speculative' or 'logical.'
St. Basil uses pragrna frequently to denote 'reality:
36 Cf. John 14.28.
37 Cf. John 1.14.
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less than the angels' ;38 and again, 'him who was made a little lower than the angels'; 39 and, 'We have seen him, and there was no sightliness nor beauty, but his appearance was the most abject of all men.'40 And He endured all these things because of His great love for His creatures, that He might rescue the lost sheep and, having saved it, bring it back; that He might lead back in sound health to his own fatherland him who had gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho and thus fallen among robbers. 41
And will the heretic indeed make the manger a subject of reproach to Him, the manger in which, while a helpless infant, He was nurtured by the Word? And will he taunt
Him for His poverty, because He, the son of a carpenter, was not provided with a cradle? For this further reason the Son is less than the Father, because for your sake He died in order that He might free you from death and cause you to share in the heavenly life. So it would be if one would censure a physician because, in bending over the bed of pain in order to treat the patient, some of the foul odor should cling to him.
For your sake, also, He does not know the hour or the day of judgment; yet nothing is unknown to true Wisdom, for through It42 are all things made. Moreover, among men no one is ever ignorant of what he has made. But He so provides because of your weakness, lest sinners, by reason of the brief time allotted them, fall into despair, believing that no time is left for repentance; and again, lest those fighting a long battle against the opposing force, because of its protracted duration, should desert their posts. Therefore, He
38 Ps. 8.6.
39 Heb. 2.9.
40 Cf. Isa. 53.2.3.
41 Cf. Luke 10.30.
12 Cf. John 1.3.
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provides for both by assuming ignorance; for the latter, indeed, He cuts short the time because of the glorious contest; for the other, He metes times for repentance because of his sins. Yet, in the Gospels, He numbered himself with the ignorant because, as I said, of the weakness of the many. In the Acts of the Apostles, as if separately addressing the perfect, and making an exception of Himself, He says: 'It is not for you to know the times or dates, which the Father has fixed by his own authority.'43 Let these things in a rather rough way suffice for our original design. I now must scrutinize more deeply the meaning of the expression, and I must knock at the door of the understanding, to see if in some way I may be able to arouse the Master of the house who gives spiritual bread to those who ask for it, since they to whom we wish to give a feast are friends and brothers.
The holy disciples of our Saviour, having reached the highest degree of contemplation possible for men, and having been purified by the Word, 44 seek the end, desiring to know the ultimate beatitude, and this our Lord declared neither
His angels nor He knew. For, by 'day' He meant the complete and accurate perception of the designs of God, and by 'hour' the contemplation of the 'oneness' and 'aloneness.'
The knowledge of these He assigned to the Father alone. I surmise, therefore, that God is said to know concerning Himself that which is, and not to know that which is not. In fact, God is said to know justice and wisdom, being Himself
Justice and Wisdom; but to be ignorant of injustice and wickedness for the God who created us is not injustice or wickedness. If, therefore, God is said to know concerning
Himself that which is, and not to know that which is not, 43 Acts 1.7.
44 Cf. John 15.3.
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and if our Lord is not, according to the purpose of the Incarnation and to empirical knowledge,46 the ultimate end desired, then our Saviour does not know, as it seems, the end and final beatitude. But not even the angels know this,
He saysj46 that is, not even the contemplation which is in them nor the principles of their services are the ultimate end desired. For, their knowledge is dim in comparison with that which the beatific vision gives. 47
Only the Father, He says, knows, since He Himself is the end and final beatitude. For, when we learn to know
God no longer in a mirror, nor through an alien medium, but we approach Him as the Only and the One, then we also shall know the final beatitude. For, it is said that the kingdom of Christ is all our material knowledge, but that of God the Father, the immaterial and, as one might say, the contemplation of the Divinity Itself. But, our Lord is also the end itself and final beatitude, according to the design of the Lord. For, what does He say in the Gospel?48 'And I will raise him up on the last day' j meaning by the word
'raising up' the change from material knowledge to immaterial contemplation, and using the 'last day' to signify this knowledge, beyond which there is no other. For, then our mind is arisen and awakened to blessed heights whenever it contemplates the 'oneness' and 'aloneness' of the Word.
But our dulled intellect is bound up with earthy material and mixed with clay, and so is unable to be intent on pure contemplation. It apprehends the activities of the Creator
45 By pachuteran (denser). St. Basil seems to mean acquired or empiri. cal knowledge; d. beginning of second paragraph below. Cf. Isa. 6.10;
Matt. 111.15; Acts 28.27.
46 Cf. Mark 111.112.
47 Cf. edition of Garnier.Maran. ad loco 48 John 6.40.
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only by being led through the beauties49 akin to its own body, and meanwhile it learns to know these things from their effects, so that, strengthened little by little, it may at some time be able to approach the unveiled Divinity Itself. It is with this meaning, I think, that the following words were spoken: 'My Father is greater than 1,'50 and 'That is not mine to give you, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.'5l For, this is also the meaning of Christ handing over the kingdom to God and the Father,62 since He is the first-fruits53 and not the end according, as I have said, to the empirical knowledge, which looks to us and not to the Son Himself. That these things are so is evident from His reply in the Acts of the Apostles, when the disciples asked a second time: 'Wilt thou at thi~ time restore the kingdom to Israel?'54 and He answered: 'It is not for you to know the times and dates which the Father has fixed by his own authority.'55 That is, the knowledge concerning such a kingdom is not for thos~ still imprisoned in flesh and blood.
In fact, the Father has fixed the acquiring of this knowledge by His own authority; by 'authority' He implies those under His power, and by 'His own' He implies those whom ignorance of things below does not hold back from Him.
But do not think, I beg you, that the times and dates are those of the senses; they are certain differences of knowl49 St. Basil speaks in a similar way of 'the beauties of the earth' in Letter 6, and, in his commentary on Isaias, the Church is spoken of as 'adorned with ornaments which become it: C£., also, Gregory of :-.; azianzus, Letter 107.
50 John 14.28.
51 Matt. 20.23.
52 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.24.
53 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.20,23.
54 Acts 1.6.
55 Cf. Acts 1.7.
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edge due to the mental sun.56 For, it is needful that that prayer of our Master be brought to fulfillment, since Jesus is the One offering the prayer: 'Grant to them, that they may be one in us, even as thou, Father, and I are one.'51
Since, then, God is one, if He is in each individual, all are one; and number ceases to exist, because of the presence of 'oneness.'
And this meaning I arrived at in my second attempt. If anyone should interpret it better or should with reverence revise our efforts, let him both interpret and revise, and the Lord will reward him for us. For, no envy abides in us, because we did not undertake the examination of these words through rivalry or vanity, but for the benefit of our brothers, lest the earthen vessels68 holding the treasure of God should seem to be led astray by these stony-hearted and uncircumcised men who have armed themselves with a foolish wisdom.
Again, according to the words of the wise Solomon in the Proverbs,59 He was created. 'For the Lord,' he says, 'created me.' And He is called 'the beginning of the evangelical ways' which lead us to the kingdom of heaven, since He is not a creature in substance, but was made the 'way' in the divine dispensation. For, 'being made' and 'being created' have the same meaning. In fact, as He was made a way, so also was
He made a door, a shepherd, a messenger, a sheep, and, in turn, a high priest and apostle,60 different names being given according to the different conceptions. Again, what would the heretic say concerning the unsubjected God and One who was made sin61 for our sakes? For, it is written: 'And 56 I.e., the days and hours of inner experience marked by a timekeeper within us.
57 Cf. John 17.20-22.
58 Cf. 2 Cor. 4.6-7.
59 Provo 8.22 (Septuagint).
60 Cf. Heb. 3.1.
61 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.21.
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when all things are made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be made subject to him who subjected all things to him.'62 Do you not fear, 0 man, the God who is called unsubjected? For He makes your subjection His own, and, because of your struggle against virtue, He calls Himself unsubjected. Thus, He even said at one time that He
Himself was the One persecuted; for He says: 63 'Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?' when Saul was hastening to Damascus, desiring to put in bonds the disciples of Christ.
Again, He calls Himself naked, if anyone of His brethren is naked. 'I was naked,' He says, 'and you covered me.'64
And still again, when another was in prison, He said that He Himself was the One imprisoned. For He Himself took up our infirmities and bore the burden of our ills.65 And one of our infirmities is insubordination, and this He bore. Therefore, even the adversities which happen to us the Lord makes
His own, taking upon Himself our sufferings because of His fellowship with us.
But the enemies of God, for the undoing of those who listen to them, even seize upon this text: 'The Son can do nothing of himself.'66 Yet, to me, this saying also proclaims emphatically that the Son is of identical nature with the Father. For, if it is possible for every rational creature to do anything of itself, having in its own power the decision for better or for worse, and the Son is not able to do anything of Himself, then the Son is not a creature. And, if He is not a creature, He is consubstantial with the Father. Again, no creature is able to do everything it wishes. But, the Son did all things whatsoever He wished, both in heaven and upon 62 I Cor. 15.28.
65 Acts 9.4.
64 Cf. Matt. 25.!l6.
65 Cf. Isa. 55.4; also. Matt. 8.17.
66 John 5.19.
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earth. Therefore, the Son is not a creature. Again, all creatures are either made up of contrary inclinations or are capable of them.67 But, the Son is Justice itself and immaterial.
Therefore, the Son is not a creature. And if He is not a creature, He is consubstantial with the Father. And this examination of the passage proposed, being made to the best of our ability, is sufficient for us.
Let us now direct our words against those who are opposed to the Holy Spirit, and let us bring low all their haughtiness of spirit which 'exalts itself against the knowledge of God.'68
You say that the Holy Spirit is a creature. But, every creature is subject to its creator. 'For all things,' it is said, 'serve thee.'69
If He is subject, He also has a holiness that is acquired. But, everything which has its holiness acquired is capable of evil.
The Holy Spirit, however, being holy in substance, is called the 'fount of sanctification.'70 Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not a creature. If He is not a creature, He is consubstantial with God. But, how will you call Him subject, tell me, who frees you through baptism from servitude? 'For the law,' St.
Paul says, 'of the Spirit of life has delivered me from the law of sin.'71 Moreover, you will never dare to say that His substance is liable to change, as compared with the nature of the adverse Power who, as a flash of lightning, fell from the heavens72 and was banished from true life, because the holiness he had was acquired, and change followed upon his evil design. For that very reason, also, having fallen from 'oneness' and having thrown away the angelic dignity, he
67 St. Basil doubtless has in mind the famous passage of St. Paul, Rom.
7.15.25.
68 2 Cor. 10.5.
69 Ps. 119.91.
70 Cf. Rom. 104.
71 Cf. Rom. 8.2.
72 Cf. Luke 10.\8.
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was called from his character 'Devil,>73 since he had lost his previous state of bliss, and this adverse power had been fastened upon him.
If, then, the heretic calls the Holy Spirit a creature, he represents His nature as limited. How, therefore, will the sayings stand: 'The spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world,'74 and 'Whither shall I go from thy spirit?'75 But, as it seems, he does not even confess Him as simple in nature, for he calls Him one in number. And whatever is one in number, as I said, is not simple. But, if the Holy Spirit is not simple, He is composed of substance and sanctity, and as such is composite. And who is so foolish as to say that the Holy Spirit is composite, and not simple and-according to the meaning of 'simplicity'-consubstantial with the Father and the Son?
But, if we must go on with our discussion and make a deeper study, let us, from this point, contemplate especially the divine power of the Holy Spirit. We find three creations mentioned in the Scripture; the first, the eduction from nonexistence into existence; the second, the change from worse to better; and the third, the resurrection of the dead. In these you will find the Holy Spirit co-operating with the Father and the Son. Take, for instance, the calling into existence of the heavens. And what does David say? 'Bv the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth.'76 Now, man is created a second time through baptism, 'for if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.'77 And what does the Saviour
73 Diabolos alone is used in the Bible several times with the meaning of 'slanderer: but ho diabolos is applied always to 'the Slanderer' as the prince of devils and the author of evil.
74 Wisd. 1.7.
75 Ps. 138.7.
76 Ps. 32.6.
77 2 Cor. 5.17.
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say to the disciples? 'Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.'78 You see here, also, the Holy Spirit present with the Father and the Son. But, what would you say concerning the resurrection of the dead, when we shall have departed and returned into our dust, 'for we are dust and unto dust we shall return'?79 'And He will send forth the Holy Spirit, and He will create us, and He shall renew the face of the earth.'80 For, what St. Paul spoke of as the resurrection David called renewal.
Let us hear again from him who was snatched up to the third heaven. What does he say? 'That you are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in yoU.'81 But, every temple is a temple of God. If, then, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is God. We also speak of the temple of Solomon, but meaning his who built it. Even if we are in this sense the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is God, for 'He who created all things is God.'82 But, if it means the temple is His who is worshipped and who dwells in us, let us confess that He is God. 'For the Lord thy God shalt thou worship, and him only shalt thou serve.'83 And if they avoid the use of the word 'God,' let them learn what this name signifies.
Without doubt He is named 'God' [T heos] because of His having established [tetheikenai] all things, or of His seeing
[theasthai] all things. 84 If, therefore, He is called God because of His having established or of His seeing all things, and if the Holy Spirit knows all the things which are of 78 Cf. Matt. 28.19.
79 Cf. Gen. 3.19.
80 Cf. Ps. 103.30.
81 Cf. I Cor. 6.19.
82 Heb. 3.4.
83 Matt. 4.10.
84 A false etymology, of course; theos IS properly connected with thuD (1 sacrifice) .
SAINT BASIL
God,85 just as the spirit in us knows the things pertaining to us, then the Holy Spirit is God.
Again, if 'the sword of the spirit is the word of God,'86 the Holy Spirit is God. For, the sword is His whose Word it is called. And if He is also called the right hand of the Father
(for, 'the right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength,'87 and 'Thy right hand, 0 Lord, hath slain the enemy' ;88 but the Holy Spirit is the finger of God, according to the text: 'If I cast out devils by the finger of God,'R9 which in another
Gospel is written: 'If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God'90), then the Holy Spirit is of the same nature as the Father and the Son.
Concerning, then, the adorable and holy Trinity, let this much suffice for the present. In fact, it is not now possible to go more into detail concerning it. But you, having received from our Lowliness91 the seeds, produce full ears in season, because, as you know, we also demand interest from such things. But, I trust in God that, because of the purity of your lives, you will bear fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. For, 'Blessed,' He says, 'are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.'92 And consider, brethren, that the kingdom of heaven is nothing else than the true contemplation of the realities, which the Holy Scriptures also call beatitude. 'For the kingdom of heaven is within yoU.'93 And as regards the inner man, it consists of nothing but contemplation. The kingdom of heaven, then, must be contemplation.
85 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.10·11.
86 Cf. Eph. 6.17.
87 Ps. 117.16.
88 Cf. Exod. 15.6.
89 Luke 1120.
90 Matt. 12.28.
91 Tapeini'iseos-a Byzantine title used hy SL Basil in speaking of himself.
92 Matt. 5.8.
93 Cf. Luke 17.21.
LETTERS
For, of these things of which we now behold the shadows, as in a mirror, later, when we have been freed from this earthy body and have put on an incorruptible and immortal one, we shall see distinctly the archetypes. But, we shall see them provided we guide our lives toward that which is right and take thought for the right faith, for without these things no one will see the Lord. 'For wisdom will not enter,' it is said, 'into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.'94 And let no one find fault with me, saying: 'You ignorant of everyday matters, philosophize to us about incorporeal and entirely immaterial substance.' I think that it is absurd to allow the senses to be filled without hindrance with their own material food, and to let the mind alone be excluded from its proper activity. For, as the senses apply themselves to sensible objects, so the mind applies itself to mental perceptions.
And at the same time we must also say this, that God who created us made the natural sense faculties independent of instruction. For, no one teaches how to perceive the sight of colors or figures, nor the hearing of noises and sounds, nor the smell of fragrant and foul odors, nor the taste of flavors and savors, nor the touch of objects soft and hard, hot and cold. Nor would anyone teach the mind how to grasp mental perceptions. Just as the senses, if they should suffer somewhat, need only additional care to enable them to fulfill easily their proper function, so also the mind, being united with the flesh and filled with the phantasies arising therefrom, needs faith and upright conduct of life, which 'make its feet like the feet of harts and set it upon high places.'95 And this very recommendation the wise Solomon
94 Wisd. 1.4.
95 Cf. Ps. 17.34.