St Gregory of Nyssa AGAINST EUNOMIUS, Third Part, Complete

Translated by W. Moore and H. A. Wilson

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This Part: 128 Pages

Page 29

And even as Jehoiakim was mutilated, so this man, having voluntarily deprived himself of the light of the truth, has become a prey to the Babylonian despot, never having learned, poor wretch, that the Gospel enjoins us to behold eternal life alike in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as the Word has thus spoken concerning the Father, that to know Him is life eternal [946] , and concerning the Son, that every one that believeth on Him hath eternal life [947] , and concerning the Holy Spirit, that to Him that hath received His grace it shall be a well of water springing up unto eternal life [948] . Accordingly every one that yearns for eternal life when he has found the Son,--I mean the true Son, and not the Son falsely so called--has found in Him in its entirety what he longed for, because He is life and hath life in Himself [949] . But this man, so subtle in mind, so keen-sighted of heart, does not by his extreme acuteness of vision discover life in the Son, but, having passed Him over and left Him behind as a hindrance in the way to that for which he searches he there seeks eternal life where he thinks the true Life not to be! What could we conceive more to be abhorred than this for profanity, or more melancholy as an occasion of lamentation? But that the charge of Sabellianism and Montanism should be repeatedly urged against our doctrines, is much the same as if one should lay to our charge the blasphemy of the Anomoeans. For if one were carefully to investigate the falsehood of these heresies, he would find that they have great similarity to the error of Eunomius. For each of them affects the Jew in his doctrine, admitting neither the Only-begotten God nor the Holy Spirit to share the Deity of the God Whom they call "Great," and "First." For Whom Sabellius calls God of the three names, Him does Eunomius term unbegotten: but neither contemplates the Godhead in the Trinity of Persons. Who then is really akin to Sabellius let the judgment of those who read our argument decide. Thus far for these matters.

[946] Cf. S. John xvii. 3

[947] Cf. S. John iii. 36

[948] Cf. S. John iv. 14

[949] Cf. S. John v. 26

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