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Translated by Bl. Jackson.
St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
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88 Pages
Page 15
15. If they really conceive of a kind of degradation of the Son in relation to the Father, as though He were in a lower place, so that the Father sits above, and the Son is thrust off to the next seat below, let them confess what they mean. We shall have no more to say. A plain statement of the view will at once expose its absurdity. They who refuse to allow that the Father pervades all things do not so much as maintain the logical sequence of thought in their argument. The faith of the sound is that God fills all things; [793] but they who divide their up and down between the Father and the Son do not remember even the word of the Prophet: "If I climb up into heaven thou art there; if I go down to hell thou art there also." [794] Now, to omit all proof of the ignorance of those who predicate place of incorporeal things, what excuse can be found for their attack upon Scripture, shameless as their antagonism is, in the passages "Sit thou on my right hand" [795] and "Sat down on the right hand of the majesty of God"? [796] The expression "right hand" does not, as they contend, indicate the lower place, but equality of relation; it is not understood physically, in which case there might be something sinister about God, [797] but Scripture puts before us the magnificence of the dignity of the Son by the use of dignified language indicating the seat of honour. It is left then for our opponents to allege that this expression signifies inferiority of rank. Let them learn that "Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God," [798] and that "He is the image of the invisible God" [799] and "brightness of his glory," [800] and that "Him hath God the Father sealed," [801] by engraving Himself on Him. [802]
[793] Eph. iv. 10.
[794] Ps. cxxxix. 7, P.B.
[795] Ps. cx. 1.
[796] Heb. i. 3, with the variation of "of God" for "on high."
[797] I know of no better way of conveying the sense of the original skaios than by thus introducing the Latin sinister, which has the double meaning of left and ill-omened. It is to the credit of the unsuperstitious character of English speaking people that while the Greek skaios and aristeros, the Latin sinister and laevus, the French gauche, and the German link, all have the meaning of awkward and unlucky as well as simply on the left hand, the English left (though probably derived from lift=weak) has lost all connotation but the local one.
[798] 1 Cor. i. 24.
[799] Col. i. 15.
[800] Heb. i. 3.
[801] John vi. 27.
[802] The more obvious interpretation of esphragisen in John vi. 27, would be sealed with a mark of approval, as in the miracle just performed. cf. Bengel, "sigillo id quod genuinum est commendatur, et omne quod non genuinum est excluditur." But St. Basil explains "sealed" by "stamped with the image of His Person," an interpretation which Alfred rejects. St. Basil at the end of Chapter xxvi. of this work, calls our Lord the charakter kai isotupos sphragis, i.e., "express image and seal graven to the like" of the Father. St. Athanasius (Ep. i. ad Serap. xxiii.) writes, "The seal has the form of Christ the sealer, and in this the sealed participate, being formed according to it." cf. Gal. iv. 19, and 2 Pet. i. 4.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/basil/holy-spirit.asp?pg=15
