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Translated by Bl. Jackson.
St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
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88 Pages
Page 50
Chapter XVIII.
In what manner in the confession of the three hypostases we preserve the pious dogma of the Monarchia. Wherein also is the refutation of them that allege that the Spirit is subnumerated. [1085]
44. In delivering the formula of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, [1086] our Lord did not connect the gift with number. He did not say "into First, Second, and Third," [1087] nor yet "into one, two, and three, but He gave us the boon of the knowledge of the faith which leads to salvation, by means of holy names. So that what saves us is our faith. Number has been devised as a symbol indicative of the quantity of objects. But these men, who bring ruin on themselves from every possible source, have turned even the capacity for counting against the faith. Nothing else undergoes any change in consequence of the addition of number, and yet these men in the case of the divine nature pay reverence to number, lest they should exceed the limits of the honour due to the Paraclete. But, O wisest sirs, let the unapproachable be altogether above and beyond number, as the ancient reverence of the Hebrews wrote the unutterable name of God in peculiar characters, thus endeavouring to set forth its infinite excellence. Count, if you must; but you must not by counting do damage to the faith. Either let the ineffable be honoured by silence; or let holy things be counted consistently with true religion. There is one God and Father, one Only-begotten, and one Holy Ghost. We proclaim each of the hypostases singly; and, when count we must, we do not let an ignorant arithmetic carry us away to the idea of a plurality of Gods.
[1085] The term Monarchia first acquired importance in patristic literature in Justin's work De monarchia, against Polytheism. Of the lost letter of Irenaeus to the Roman Presbyter Florinus, who was deposed for heresy, presumably gnostic, the title, according to Eusebius (H.E. v. 20), was peri Monarchias, e peri tou me einai ton theon poieten kakon. Later it came to be used to express not the Divine unity as opposed to Polytheism or Oriental Dualism, but the Divine unity as opposed to Tritheism. Vide the words of Dionysius of Rome, as quoted by Athan. De Decretis, S: 26, "Next let me turn to those who cut in pieces, divide, and destroy that most sacred doctrine of the church of God, the divine Monarchy, making it, as it were, three powers and divided subsistences and three godheads." So St. Basil Cont. Eunom. ii. 'Arche men oun patros oudemia, arche de tou huiou ho pater. And in Ep. xxxviii. 'Alla tis esti dunamis agennetos kai anarchos hupheotosa hetis estin aitia tes hapanton ton onton aitias, ek gar tou patros ho hui& 232;s di' hou ta panta. And in Ep. cxxv. Ena gar oidamen agenneton kai mian ton panton archen, ton patera tou kuriou hemon 'Iesou Christou. On the doctrine and its exponents compare S: 72 of the De Sp. S. On the other hand "Monarchians" was a name connoting heresy when applied to those who pushed the doctrine of the Unity to an extreme, involving denial of a Trinity. Of these, among the more noteworthy were Paul of Samosata, bp. of Antioch, who was deposed in 269, a representative of thinkers who have been called dynamical monarchians, and Praxeas (supposed by some to be a nickname), who taught at Rome in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and of whom Tertullian, the originator of the term patripassians, as applied to Monarchians, wrote "Paracletum fugavit et patrem crucifixit." This heretical Monarchianism culminated in Sabellius, the "most original, ingenious, and profound of the Monarchians." Schaff. Hist. Chr. Church, i. 293. cf. Gisseler, i. p. 127, Harnack's Monarchianismus in Herzog's Real Encyclopaedie, Vol. x. Thomasius Dog. Gesch. i. p. 179, and Fialon Et. Hist. p. 241.
[1086] Matt. xxviii. 19.
[1087] Mr. C.F.H. Johnston quotes as instances of the application of the word "third" to the Holy Ghost; Justin Martyr (Apol. i. 13) "We honour the Spirit of prophecy in the third rank." Tertullian (In Prax. 8) "As the fruit from the tree is third from the root, and the rivulet from the river third from the source, and the flame from the ray third from the sun." Eunomius (Lib. Apol. S: 25) "observing the teaching of Saints, we have learned from them that the Holy Spirit is third in dignity and order, and so have believed him to be third in nature also." On the last St. Basil (Adv. Eunom. ii.) rejoins "Perhaps the word of piety allows Him to come in rank second to the Son...although He is inferior to the Son in rank and dignity (that we may make the utmost possible concession) it does not reasonably follow thence that he is of a different nature." On the word "perhaps" a dispute arose at the Council of Florence, the Latins denying its genuineness.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/basil/holy-spirit.asp?pg=50
