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Translated by Bl. Jackson.
St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
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88 Pages
Page 45
39. But when we speak of the dispensations made for man by our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, [1055] who will gainsay their having been accomplished through the grace of the Spirit? Whether you wish to examine ancient evidence;--the blessings of the patriarchs, the succour given through the legislation, the types, the prophecies, the valorous feats in war, the signs wrought through just men;--or on the other hand the things done in the dispensation of the coming of our Lord in the flesh;--all is through the Spirit. In the first place He was made an unction, and being inseparably present was with the very flesh of the Lord, according to that which is written, "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is" [1056] "my beloved Son;" [1057] and "Jesus of Nazareth" whom "God anointed with the Holy Ghost." [1058] After this every operation was wrought with the co-operation of the Spirit. He was present when the Lord was being tempted by the devil; for, it is said, "Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted." [1059] He was inseparably with Him while working His wonderful works; [1060] for, it is said, "If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils." [1061] And He did not leave Him when He had risen from the dead; for when renewing man, and, by breathing on the face of the disciples, [1062] restoring the grace, that came of the inbreathing of God, which man had lost, what did the Lord say? "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever ye retain, they are retained." [1063] And is it not plain and incontestable that the ordering of the Church is effected through the Spirit? For He gave, it is said, "in the church, first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues," [1064] for this order is ordained in accordance with the division of the gifts that are of the Spirit. [1065]
[1055] Titus ii. 13, R.V. The A.V. favours the view, opposed to that of the Greek Fathers, that "the great God" means the Father. cf. Theodoret in this edition, pp. 319 and 321 and notes.
[1056] John i. 33.
[1057] Matt. iii. 17.
[1058] Acts x. 38.
[1059] Matt. iv. 1.
[1060] dunameis, rendered "wonderful works" in Matt. vii. 22; "mighty works" in Matt. xi. 20, Mark vi. 14, and Luke x. 13; and "miracles" in Acts ii. 22, xix. 11, and Gal. iii. 5.
[1061] Matt. xii. 28.
[1062] Gen. ii. 7, lxx. is enephusesen eis to prosopon autou. "eis to prosopon" is thence imported into John xx. 22. Mr. C.F.H. Johnston notes, "This addition...is found in the Prayer at the Little Entrance in the Liturgy of St. Mark. Didymus, in his treatise on the Holy Spirit, which we have only in St. Jerome's Latin Version, twice used insufflans in faciem corum," S:S:6, 33. The text is quoted in this form by Epiphanius Adv. Haer. lxxiv. 13, and by St. Aug. De Trin. iv. 20." To these instances may be added Athan. Ep. i. S: 8, and the versions of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Thebaic, known as the Sahidic, and the Memphitic, or Coptic, both ascribed to the 3rd century.
[1063] John xx. 22, 23.
[1064] 1 Cor. xii. 28.
[1065] cf. 1 Cor. xii. 11.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/basil/holy-spirit.asp?pg=45
