The Holy Spirit in the ancient church

THE HOLY IN

SPIRIT THE ANCIENT CHURCH

A STUDY OF CHRISTIAN TEACHING IN THE AGE OF THE FATHERS

BY

HENRY BARCLAY SWETE,

D.D.,

D.Litt.

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE HON. CANON OF ELY HON. CHAPLAIN TO THE KING :

TO TTvev/ia Kol

MACMILLAN AND ST.

Jj

vv/KJiri

CO.,

LIMITED

MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1912 S

TO THE MEMORY OF

ERNEST STEWART ROBERTS, MASTER OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS

(1903

— 1912)

M.A.

PREFACE *

""HIS book

I

A-

is

a sequel to a Study of primitive Christian

teaching upon the

three years ago.

Like

Holy its

Spirit

which was published

predecessor,

it

is

not a formal

contribution to the History of Doctrine, and does not claim

Some

the attention of professed students of theology.

attempt was made to supply the needs of students

two early books, On

in

my

Early History of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (1873), and On the History of the Doctrine of the Procession (1876). Both are now out of print, but the

their substance is accessible in

which

may be

found

an

in the third

article

(HOLY Ghost)

volume of the Dictionary

of Christian Biography (1882); and to that refer those

who

article

I

must

more exact treatment of book can offer. have had in view chiefly those

desire a fuller or

certain aspects of the subject than this

In the present Study

I

readers of The Holy Spirit in

tlie

New

Testament who

may

wish to pursue the subject into post-apostolic times, but for various reasons are unable to examine the original docu-

ments

book

for themselves. I

have read again

With all

the view of preparing for this

the more important Greek and

Latin patristic authorities of the

first

five centuries,

and

a few which belong to the sixth, seventh, and eighth, and

have sought to form

my

impressions afresh.

For the

Preface

viii

translations

I

am

fied instances.

rendering, or a

myself responsible, except

have purposely adopted a somewhat

I

free

and occasionally I have preferred a paraphrase to a more exact reproduction of the original

the footnotes, however, give the latter

;

cases, so that readers

who may wish

My

friend the

me

book

at

Dean

in all

to verify or to push

always be able to do

their enquiries further will

done

when they

and references are added

are of special importance,

so.

of Lichfield (Dr H. E. Savage) has

the great kindness of reading the proofs of this

an early stage of

its

passage through the press,

and verifying a large proportion of the

To

references.

his

of corrigenda he has added from time to time valuable

suggestions, most of which

once more

also

few speci-

summary

words

lists

in a

to place

I

have gladly accepted.

on record

my

desire

I

indebtedness to the

unfailing attention of the officers of the University Press.

Nearly forty years have passed since the Press printed first

book upon

this subject,

been permitted to efficient

me

and

I

am

thankful that

to entrust to the

hands that which

same

it

Cambridge,

has

careful

and

in all probability will

be

my

H. B.

S.

last.

St Peter's Day, 1912.

my

CONTENTS PAGE FOREVlfORD

.

3

Part

I.

Part

II.

Part

III.

II

163 .

Appendix of Additional Notes Indices

s.

a. c.

359 .

.

.

.

411 421

ecTiN...TTNeYMik NoepoN, AfioN,

eyKfNHTON, Tp&NON, AMOAyNTON, ol-i,

(jJKtiAYTON,

AMeplMNON,

eyeprsTiKON,

TTANTOAyNAMON,

MONopeNec, TToAyMepec, AenroN, Ca.(t>eC,

ATT^MANTON,

4)iAANepconoN, TTANeTTfCKOTTON,

tKd,fd,dON,

BeBAiON, Kdkl

Ali

ACcjjaiAec,

TTANTCON

XWpOyN nNeyM&TOiN NOeptON K&eAptON AeTTTOTATWN.

Wisdom of Solomon.

FOREWORD. When

the student of early Christian literature

New Testament to the post-canonical he becomes aware of a loss of both literary and spiritual power. There is no immediate change in the form of the writings the earliest remains of the sub-apostolic age consist of letters addressed to churches or individuals after the model of the Apostolic Epistles. But the note of authority which is heard in the Epistles of St Peter, St Paul, and St John has no place in those of Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch^ and there is little evidence in the latter of the originality or the inspiration by which the leaders of the first generation were distinguished. The spiritual giants of the Apostolic age are succeeded by men of lower stature and poorer capacity. Nor does the fresh power of the first century altogether return to the Church in the passes from the writers,

;

;

years that follow.

A

higher literary standard

is

the third is adorned the fourth and fifth Origen by the great name of centuries can boast of an Athanasius, a Basil, a Gregory Nazianzen, a Chrysostom, an Augustine. But none of these classical authors of Christian

reached in the second century

;

;

^

Cf. Ign.

Rom. 4 ov\ us

eKeivot airo*

the Spirit belonged to the oldest tradition of the

Church ^ Yet it

is

neither of the Spirit's

own

JDivine

writers

chiefly

hearts of believers nor of His

of sub-apostolic

the

first

He

thinks habitually

work

of the

Holy

in

the

life

that

speaks.

Spirit as the

and especially of the Old Testament, from which most of his arguments are " Let us do that which is written, for the drawn, Holy Spirit saith...^" "The Holy Spirit spake of Him," i.e., of Christ, in Isa. liii.' "You have looked closely into the Scriptures, which are true, and were given by the Holy Spirit" (ras Sia tov irvevfjiaTos of Scripture,

Inspirer

11.

2 irXj/pijs Trveu/AttTOs ayt'ou eKT^trts eiri jrarras eyevero.

"

xlvi. 5

^

Iviii.

2

f.

ei'

t.'ij

TTViVfm xaptTos to eKxvOiv

yap o 6eos Koi ^y 6

itvtv/m TO ayiov, ^ tc '

De

'

xiii.

Trto-ris

Kol

-q

eXms

spiritu sancto xxix. § 72. I.

«

xvi.

2.

€(f>

ly'/xas.

Ku'ptos *Iiyo-ovs

Th.

^

Philad.

°

Philad. praef.

ain/ji T

vfuv iKKexy/j-evov airo Tov irXouo-tou

xix. 2, 7. vii.

rjjs irijy^s

vficis.

3, xi. 9, xxi. 8.

'

xi.

II.

*

iv.

1 1,

xxi. 9.

'

See Add. Note A.

Did. vii. I, 3 ^airTL€i,

yvdJjiAijs

:

orat. theol.

iii.

2 fi.ovo.pyy>. Be,

irpocrwirov . . .aX.\ ijv v(Tna% o/iOTifJiia tnivurTrjcn

avfJLTTVOM kol TavTorrji Kiviforecos.

Tert. adv.

Prax.

nos vero

semper

nunc magis, ut inomnis veritatis... sanctificatorem fidei eorum qui credunt in patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum. The Holy Spirit in the Church is a vicaria vis {praesc. 13) the Paraclete is the vicarius domini {de virg. vel. i) as the Lord was the 'vicarius patris' (adv. Marc. iii. 6). ^

2

structiores per Paracletum,

;

et

deductorem

'

et

scilicet

'

Monarchians and Anti-monarchians

105

mystery of the economy may nevertheless be preserved, which arranges the Unity in a Trinity\

and Holy

setting in their order three, Father, Son, Spirit

—three, however, not in condition

tion, not in

substance but in

mode

but in rela-

of existence, and

not in power but in special characteristics; or rather,

of one substance, one condition, and one power,

inasmuch as it is one God from whom these relations and 'modes and special characteristics are reckoned in the name of Father Son and Holy Spirit^"

Even

in this

passage Tertullian,

it is

evident, has

He

greatly the advantage of Hippolytus.

treads

he sees what respects the persons of the Son and the Spirit are distinct from the person of the Father, and wherein the three persons must be one and he indicates the way in which, distinctions not-

firmly where Hippolytus picks his way; clearly in

;

withstanding,

unity

may remain

second of these points

is

unbroken.

The

laboured further on in the

where he adopts the bold course of borrowing a term from Valentinian Gnosticism. Valentinus spoke of his aeons as 'prolations' {irpo/SoXai), and thought of them as separate existences, parted from the author of their being, and

same

'

treatise,

I follow here,

almost word for word, Prof. Bethune-Baker's Early History of Christian Doctrine,

rendering {Introduction to the p. 140). ^

Tert.

l.c.

tres

autem non

statu sed gradu,

nee substantia

sed forma, nee potestate sed specie, unius autem substantias et iinius status et unius potestatis quia unus deus, ex quo et gradus isti et

formae et speeies in nomine patris et

deputantur.

filii

et spiritus saneti

Part

i.

vi.

The Holy Spirit

io6 Part

I. vi.

Church

in the ancient

even ignorant of him whereas the Father the Son and the Spirit are inseparably one. But subject to this all-important distinction, the word may be used ;

a Catholic sense; the truth has

in

as

its Trpofiohij,

heresy claims to have, and the true TrpojSohj guards the Unity.

The Son was

yet not separated from

put forth by the Father

Him, as the branch

is

put

from the fountain head, the sun's rays from the sun, without being parted from their several sources. In each case the thing produced is a second object, and where there is a forth from the root, the river

we can speak of two, or where there is a "The Spirit is third from God and of three.

second, third,

the Son, as the fruit from the shrub

is

third from the

and the stream from the river

is

third from the

root,

fountain head, and the apex of the ray

is

third from

Yet none of them is parted from the source from which it derives its properties. In like manner a Trinity which proceeds from the Father by closely connected relations is not in conflict with the 'Monarchy,' while it guards the condition on which

the sun.

the

economy depends\"

adds

:

I

n a later chapter Tertullian

" Christ says that the Paraclete shall receive

Him, even as He Himself received of the Father. Such a linking together of the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Paraclete, results in three who of

'

Tert. adv.

Prax. 8

tertius

enim

est spiritus

sicut tertius a radice fructus ex frutice, et tertius

a

Deo

et filio,

a fonte rivus ex

soli apex ex radio... ita trinitas per consertos connexos gradus a patre decurrens et monarchiae nihil obstrepit oiKovojuias statum protegit.

flumine et tertius a

et

et

Monarchians and Anti-monarchians

The

cohere together, one from the other.

107

three are

Part

i. vi.

one thing, but not one person, as Christ said, I and the Father are one {Iv ecr/Aev),' referring not to a numerical but a substantial unity \" Thus "the HolySpirit, the gift of the Father poured forth by the ascended Christ, is a third name of Godhead, and a third relation of the Divine Majesty, the preacher of the one Monarchy, and, to him who accepts the words of the New Prophecy, the interpreter of the Economy and guide into all the truth which, as the mystery of the Catholic faith teaches, is to be found in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit^" If we do not owe this, the fullest ante-Nicene statement of the Holy Spirit's relation to the Father and the Son, to Montanistic inspiration, as Tertullian seems to imply, it is probably due to the influence of Montanism upon its most distinguished Western '

representative.

How

far TertuUian's position is in

advance of Western Christian thought in general may be gathered by comparing it with that of another third century writer who has left us a treatise on the Trinity. Novatian's tract was written while he was in

still

communion with the Church', and

an exposition of the of the

Holy

Spirit

Roman

Creed.

is

undeveloped.

still

permits himself to write,

"The

have received from Christ had ^

Ibid. 25 ita

efiScit

its

doctrine

Thus he

Paraclete would not

He

patris in filio et

qui tres

not been inferior filii

in paracleto tres

unum

sunt

Novatian,

in fact TrLtty.

non unus

unitatem non ad numeri singularitatem. ^ See Harnack, Chron. ii. p. Adv. Prax. 30. 399.

...ad substantiae ^

connexus

cohaerentes alteram ex altero.

But

it is

The Holy Spirit

io8 Parti.

vi.

in the ancient

Church

man, He would Paraclete, and the from His teaching have received not the Paraclete from Him\" Even in the chapter to Christ... had Christ been only

which deals directly with the third part of the Creed, there is no express recognition of the Godhead of On the office and work of the Holy the Spirit.

Novatian is excellent. "Both logical order and the authority of the Creed warn us that our belief in the Son must be followed by belief in the Holy Spirit.... The Spirit" promised "in the Gospel is not a new spirit, nor even newly given.... One and the same Spirit dwelt in the Prophets and Yet both the measure and the in the Apostles"." manner of His operations are different; given under the Old Testament to individuals and on occasions, under the New He has come to be with the Church Spirit

distributed

for ever;

to the

Prophets in sparing

He

was poured out on the Apostles in the Within the Church the Holy fulness of His grace. supplies.

Spirit is the teacher of truth, the bestower of spiritual gifts

;

He

it is

who is the who inhabits

in Baptism,

who

gives

man second

all

birth

title-deed of our eternal in-

the bodies of Christians and and who brings them to the resurrection unto eternal life by uniting them with No passage in anteHis own Divine eternity^ heritance,

sanctifies their souls,

^ Nov. de trin. i6 (24) quoniam nee Paracletus a Christo acciperet nisi minor Christo esset...si homo tantummodo Christus,

a Paracleto Christus acciperet non a Christo Paracletus. ^

Ibid. 29.

'

Ibid,

cum

Spiritus sancti divina aeternitate sociati.

Monarchians and Anti-monarchians

109

more rich in the New Testament doctrine of the work of the Spirit, and if Novatian does not expressly call the Spirit God, he certainly ascribes to Him offices and properties which no creature can exercise. But speculation has no interest for his plain and somewhat narrow mind, Nicene

which

literature

is

is

concerned only with matters of

faith that

life; and in the upon our subject his

are necessary for the guidance of history of Christian thought treatise

is

chiefly

important as representing

attitude of a conservative

Roman churchman

middle of the third century.

the

in the

Part

i. vi.

:

VII.

THE CHURCH OF NORTH Parti.

The

vii.

Ads of Martyrs.

AFRICA.

Christian literature of North Africa, like

South Gaul, begins with Acts of Martyrs. Of the Acts of Perpetua mention has already been made in the chapters on Montanism. The Acts of the Scillitan martyrs are earlier the martyrdom belongs to the year i8o, and the simplest Latin It form of the Acts may well be contemporary. contains but one reference to the Holy Spirit " thus all the martyrs were crowned together, and now they reign with Father, Son and Holy Spirit These words, which bear incifor ever and ever." that of

;

dental witness to the simple trinitarian faith of the

African Church in the second century, have been

abandoned by the later Latin recension and by the Greek version of the Acts in favour of forms more in accordance with current orthodoxy^ TertuUian.

TertulHan has already come before us as Montanist and anti-Monarchian. Here we shall limit ourselves to his pre-Montanistic ^

See

J.

A. Robinson, Texts

and

and Studies,

non-controversial*. i.

2,

pp. 109

If.

For\

cum patre etfilio et spiritu sancto'"} nobis ad dominum nostrum I. C, cui

"the exquisite phrase 'regnant

we

get "intercedunt pro

honor

et gloria

version,

u

cum

\

patre et spiritu sancto,"

Trpiirei ttSo-o

Sd|a

TiiJ.'q

koL

and

Trpoo-KVi/ijcris

in the

criii'

Greek

t

/ikv yfJieLS

ets

re Ttjv rpidBa rijv ixovaSa TrXarvvop.ev (a

Sabellian word) aSiaiperov, koI

rpidSa rrdXiv a/ieioiTov

rr)v

fiovd^a CTvyKe^aXaiov/ne^a (the verb

ets

r^v

used by Dionysius of Rome).

The Church of Alexandria

And

persons.

139

besides this difference in the use of

Parti.vm.

terms the Alexandrian Bishop was constitutionally further from the Sabellian position than the

Roman,

and nearer to that which ultimately hardened into Arianism. Yet that Dionysius of Alexandria had no sympathy with low views of the Person of Christ is clear from his subsequent attitude towards Paul of Samosata^ and that he was ready to give Divine honour to the Holy Spirit appears from the doxology " to God the with which his Apology concluded Father and the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, be glory and might for ever and '

;

:

ever^"

There

is

little

that bears

upon our subject in His sense of work appears in his

the other fragments of Dionysius. the importance of the Spirit's

condemnation of Novatian for having "completely banished the Holy Spirit from hearts where there was some hope that He might still linger, or to which He might have returned'," This is not the place to speak of Dionysius as a Biblical critic. But an interesting light is thrown on his view of the inspiration of the Gospels, if a comment on certain differences between Mark xiv. 36 and Luke xxii. 42, attributed to him in some MSS.^ may be "The Holy Spirit," he is made taken as genuine. H. E.

^

Eus.

^

Cf. Basil, de spiritu sancto, c.

'

Eus. IT. E.

27.

vii.

vii.

29 § 72. 8 to T£ irvA^a to ayiov i^ avTwv

rov

ovTi.

See Dr Felloe's note, p. 56. Cod. Ven. 494, and Cod. Vat. 161 1.

^

Trapa/tietvai

y Koi liravikOiiv

tt/dos

d

/cat

rts t]V

au'rois vravTeXus (^uyaSeu-

cXttis

•

The Holy Spirit

140

to say, "distributed

Parti.viii.

in the ancient

among

Church

the Evangelists, puts

the utterances of each a complete record of our Saviour's disposition"^; i.e., each of the Gospels, according to the measure of the Spirit

together from

bestowed on its author, makes its own contribution towards the sum of our knowledge of the Lord's

human

character.

who

Theognostus,

Theognostus. _

appears to have succeeded

Dionysius^ in the headship of the School when the latter became Bishop of Alexandria, was the author

scope of

of a book of Outlines (uiroruirwcrets), the

which seems to have corresponded with that of Origen's work on First Principles. The third section dealt with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and under this head, according to Photius, into whose hands the book had come, Theognostus endeavoured to

shew

that the Spirit has personal subsistence; but other respects he " wrote as wildly as Origen

in

does in the

De

Perhaps

Principiis^.''

be taken to mean lations about the genesis of the

this

must

that he revived Origen's specu-

'^

Feltoe, p.

KaTo.ve.[U]B\v

T'i\v

Spirit.

Photius

234 to oSv trvevji.a TO a-ytoj' €is tous ei5a-yyeA.tOTas vaaav tov o-cor^pos tji^wv 8ia.6f(nv e/c r^s ekcio'tou :

(jiuivrjs a-vvTiOiqa-iv.

The

attributions of the catenae are always

open

to question unless the citations can

has an Alexandrian ring, and

See however Feltoe, "

Cf.

p.

229

Harnack, Chron.

ff.

67

ii.

Dogma he makes Theognostus °

Phot, biblioth. cod. 106

SeiKvveiv airo7r€ipea-T(oT(0's

Spirit,

then,

creation, but after the (jTveviJiaTLKa ''° /lerot tov viov koX (Tvv

TO €K Tou °

dxpov

dis-

aStaoraTois

t)(ei

tj;v

/caToi

auTU

w

is

to

eivai,

vw6iAoNei KOY TTpocTi9eNAi

KATiv

ynd TOY

Ai'

hm(I)n h

Ai'

fNticei.

erepcoN tcon AeinoNxcoN

THN eTTIXOpHrOYMeNHN TOTc

^-ffoY

T^i

AlfoiC

AyTOy

ttngymatoc. Basil.

PART

III.

SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH. I.

II.

The Godhead of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit's relation to the Father AND the Son, and His function in the Life of God.

III.

IV.

V. VI.

VII. VIII.

IX.

The The The The

personal life of the

Spirit.

work of the Spirit in Creation. work of the Spirit in Inspiration. work of the Spirit in the Incarnation AND THE Incarnate Son. The Mission of the Paraclete. The work of the Spirit in the Sacraments. The work of the Spirit in the Sanctification of life.

I.

THE GODHEAD OF THE The

post- Apostolic

Church followed Apostolic

precedent in associating the

Father and the Son.

SPIRIT.

From

Holy

Spirit with the

the end of the second

century Christian writers began to speak of a Trinity trinitasf

(t/skxs,

;

early baptismal creeds professed

Holy Spirit, and early and hymns glorified the Spirit with the Father and the Son^ It was seen that the faith in

Father, Son, and

doxologies

belonged to the sphere of the Divine,

Spirit

in so

He could be the object of faith and adoration. no early creed or hymn called Him God, and

far that

Yet

no Christian writer before the third century, with one partial

exception^ sought to investigate the relation

of the Spirit to the Father

derstood that

He

is

and the Son,

It

was un-

third in the order of the Trinity,

some undefined way subordinate to the Son, who is second S" outside the Catholic Church there and

in

were those ^

who spoke

Pp. 47, io6.

»Cf.

p. 42ff.

of

Him '

as the Minister of

P. 151

^P.

37.

ff.;

cf.

231

ff.

Fart iii.

i.

The Holy Spirit in

360 Part III.

i.

the

Some

Son\

the ancient

Church

the second century-

writers of

manifest a tendency to confuse the Spirit with the

Son^ and on the whole His place in the Divine Life was so little emphasized that Catholic Christians were attacked by the earlier Monarchians as ditheists, and not as tritheists". The Montanist Tertullian is the

first

nomen

a Trinity of Divine

to recognize explicitly

Persons* in which the

and

divinitatis^,

Holy to

Spirit

is

endeavour to

the relation of the Persons to each

terms of a

was

the tertium

scientific theology.

set

forth

other in the

Tertullian, however,

advance of his age, and his attempt does not appear to have found favour either with Monarchians or with Catholics. Monarchianism replied by formulating the doctrine of an economic trinity^ in which in

the Persons (Trpdo-wTra) are represented as merely successive manifestations of Deity. On the Catholic side Origen, while accepting the traditional teaching

more than one question about which shewed how much remained to be determined'. Does the Third Person as well as the Second bear to the First the relation of Son ? of the Church, raised the

Has

Holy

the

Spirit

Holy

Spirit

God

creatures of

that

this

He

sistence through the Son,

made ? The second of 'Pp-4i, P- 99-

'

Tert. adv.

'

P. 127

by

whom

=

"

ff.

with the

His subthings were

all

these questions received opposite

54-

'

common

in

also received

Prax.

30.

°

Pp. 28f., 33, 38f. P. 103 ff. P. 99

fif.

The Godhead of answers in

next

the

the Spirit

century.

361

Arianism, in

its

extreme recoil from Sabellianism, transformed the Persons of

Trinity into

the

three

similar essences (oucriai dvojiouoi

iir'

infinitely aireipov).

dis-

This

was enunciated by Arius at the outset, but Holy Spirit to the Son was not pressed on the Arian side, nor was it explicitly repudiated by the Church either at Nicaea or for more than a quarter of a century after the Nicene Council'. The Arian party meanwhile was content to dwell in its many confessions of faith on the work of the Paraclete, abstaining from any reference to His nature and Person I When in 359 the mask was thrown off by the Egyptian Semiarians, Athanasius was ready with a refutation of their position that the Holy Spirit is a 'creature' and 'one of the

doctrine

the inferiority of the

ministering

spirits'.'

the controversy

In the decade that followed

became general, and

champions and West. which had always been fresh

of the Catholic belief arose both in East

The Godhead

of the Spirit,

in the

implicit

teaching of the Church, was

now

and defended by a proarguments drawn from Scripture and the teaching of the Church, as well as on more

asserted in formal terms, fusion of earlier

general grounds.

Yet in dealing with the Person of the Holy on which Holy Scripture had spoken less explicitly than on the Person of the Son, the Church Spirit,

proceeded with the greatest caution. ^

P. 164

'

Pp. 171

'

ff.

f.,

214^

No

Pp. i66ff., 286.

attempt

Partiii.i.

The Holy Spirit in the ancient Church

362 Part III.

i.

was made at Constantinople to define the Godhead of the Third Person in terms analogous to those adopted by the Nicene fathers in reference to the No document proceeding from the Council Son. declared the Spirit to be 'very God,' or 'of one sub-

The

stance with the Father^'

Neither

demanded a

and

different,

the

New

Testament

circumstances were procedure.

different

nor the

primitive

Church had called the Holy Spirit God; even in the Church of the fourth century there were not a few devout men, of whom Cyril of Jerusalem is the most obvious representative, who hesitated to go beyond what was written^ while 'conservatives,' such as Eusebius of Caesarea, pressed the subordinationism suggested by Origen's theory of the Spirit's genesis^ Hence the creed which afterwards passed as Constantinopolitan,

and does

in fact express the attitude

of the Second Council, affirms only that the Holy is the Lord, and Giver of Life, and with the Father and the Son is to be worshipped and glorified. This was in effect to affirm His consubstantiality

Spirit

with the Father and the Son, as both sides clearly

saw; but

it

gave the enemy no occasion

the Church of imposing on believers terms

to accuse

unknown

to Scripture or to primitive tradition \

The

local synods,

on the other hand, and the

great Catholic theologians of the time, neither need-

ed nor practised any such reserve '

P. 165

'P. "

°.

The

ff.

=

p. 205

i97ff-

*

P. i86f.

Cf., e.g., pp.

178

ff.,

23s, 243 &c.

f.

primary

The Godhead of purpose of to refute

.

men

the Spirit

363

such as Gregory of Nazianzus was

heresy rather than to define truth, but

inci-

up an edifice of exact doctrine which remained as the permanent possession of the Church. The chief features in their teaching on the Person of the Holy Spirit may be collected dentally they built

here.

All agree, as against Sabellianism, that the Spirit is

not a

mere phase

in the

Divine self-manifestation,

but a timeless interior relation in

expressed by the Cappadocians, a existence (r/aoTros v7rdp^eo) 253. 281

f.

Traph.

to in

rov Trarpos

Trveufia.

:

ck

finds

to ek toC fleoC

Athanasius;

see

Hort,

its

The

Two

;

The Spirit's relation ^

[Sr]iJiiovpyLK(i)i)

God

from

Father and the Son

God

the Spirit of

;

in the

the being of

to the

369

alone proceeds

sense of deriving His being from

Gbd

(oucrttuScSs).

The Son and common that both

the

Spirit

are

have this in and essentially

then

eternally

Both Persons have their Source in,% is the one Source of Godhead Neither Person is in{dpxyj or atTLov, principiumy. ferior or posterior to the Other as they eternally coexist, so they simultaneously come forth from God'. From these premises it would seem to follow that the eternal procession of the Spirit must be, like the eternal generation of the Son, from the Father alone and this view was strongly held by some of the Greek theologians long before the separation of East and West*. But the great majority of those who dealt with the question saw that the mediating position of the Son in the order of the Divine Life involved His "from God."

the

Father,

who

;

intervention in the procession of the Spirit.

ground the Divine Essence

On

this

conceived as passing

is

Second Person into the Third, Second derives His being immediately from the First, the Third proceeds mediately, eternally through, the

so that while the

through the Second^.

Scriptural authority for this

f, where the which is the Son's, and the Son to have all that the Father has words which are taken to refer not only to Divine prerogatives, but to the Divine Life itself. Greek

found

St John xvi. 14

doctrine

is

Spirit

said to receive of that

is

in

—

'

P. 222.

'

Cf. (e.g.-)p. 25 7

S. A.. C.

^

Pp., 252, 330. f.

,

^

P. 222.

=

Pp. 25 If.,

2,84.

24

'

I'art

^—

'

370 Part III.

The Holy Spirit

in the ancient

Church

writers of the fourth century are content to say that

ii

Holy

the

Spirit

at other times,

from the Father and

proceeds

receives from the Son'

others, or the

;

speak of

Him

Father through the Son^

same

writers

as proceeding from the

or they use less guarded

;

make the Son a secondary The Latins before Augustine

.language, which seems to

source of the Spirit'.

generally follow the Greeks, without investigating the

meaning of

their formulas^

Augustine, perceiving

the obscurity in which the question was involved", gave it his attentioa for many years, and ultimately embodied his conclusions in a form of words which established itself in Western theology and even in Western translations of the Oecumenical Creed. The Father and the Son are (he taught) the common Source of the Holy Spirit He proceeds from Both. But He proceeds from Both as one Source, and by one spiration. Procession from the Father involves procession from the Son, since the Father and the Son are one in substance together with the eternal ;

;

life

of the Father's Essence, the

the

power

to

Son

comnmnicate that Essence

Thus guarded, Augustine's

Spirit".

receives also to the

doctrine

Holy is

not

exposed to the charge of involving two principles of Divine Life, a supposition which he explicitly rejects'^ and it does not differ seriously from the '

;

Greek theory of the transmission of the Divine '

P. 216.

"

Pp. 224f., 227

2 f.,

''

Cf. pp. 298, 302,

»

P. 323ff.

Pp. 235, 282.

266.

304 «

f.,

320, 322.

P. 328

ff.

'

P. 324.

The Spirit's relation

to the

Father and the Son

Essence through the Son\

But while

Western mind, which regarded

to the

the

pleting

doctrine of

a

it

2,Tt

appealed

it

as

com-

consubstantial Trinity,

viewed it with growing mistrust, which became active hostility when it was discovered that the Filioque had been added to the Latin Creed. Thus to this day Augustine's view rests only on Western authority, and cannot be regarded as an the East

of the Catholic

integral part

The

faith.

doctrine

upon which the whole ancient Church was agreed is that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the

Son^

It is

impossible not to regret that the

an addition to the Constantinopolitan creed was judged to be necessary, did not add per filium rather than et filio, and make this change in concert with the Greek East. Latin Church,

The

if

third place assigned to the

the words of Baptism,

and

in

all

Holy

Spirit in

the creeds and

documents of the ancient Church', corresponds with the order of the Divine Self-revelation in human history. But the Church, with her keen interest Theology, usually interpreted the place of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity as answering to the

in

order in which the Divine

life

flows in

its

ceaseless

course from the Source in the Father to the other

Persons of the Godhead. held that the

Son mediates

As we have in the life

was of God*, and seen,

it

Essence passes through the Son In regard to His derivation therefore

that the Father's to the Spirit.

'

^

P. 279

'

Pp. 12, IS, 37, 151

*

Pp. 235, 249

f.

Part III.

Cf. pp. 282, 284.

ff.

fr.

24

2

ii.

The Holy Spirit in ihe ancient Church

l"]! Part III.

ii.

the Spirit

is

third, as the

Son

is

second, from the

Cause or Source of all Divine subsistence and power. But from another point of view it is the Holy Spirit

who

mediates.

He

In derivation

is third,

but

His functional relations to the Trinity He is intermediate between the Father and the Son\ He is the Bond of the Trinity^, the harmony which unites Father and Son'; the fellowship, the common in

almost the very Godhead of the Two, the

life,

The Father

loves

returns the Father's love; the

Love

ness and mutual love of Both.

the Son, the

Son

holi-

is a Third Person, who makes them one. It His function to unify and to preserve the Unity

of Both is

Or to use another analogy, He is as the man co-exists with the understanding memory. As the three constitute one man, and the so the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One God. Each of these elements in man contributes its own unbroken. will,

which

in

quota to the perfection of our

life

;

and so

in the

mystery of the Divine Life Each Person fulfils His own proper function, the Spirit exercising the function of the will, which in God is perfect Love*.

But

God

all

such attempts to realize the inner

are carefully guarded against

approach to

idle

life

of

Every or irreverent curiosity is, condemned abuse.

by the great Catholic w^riters of the fourth and fifth centuries if they venture to illustrate by analogy or otherwise to explain the interior relations and functions of the Divine Trinity, they do so reluctantly, with no other purpose than to counteract heresies which left no sacred mystery unexplored. ;

'

P. 282f.

2

p_ 22Q_

»

P. 326.

'

P. 331.

III.

THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THE From

SPIRIT.

time to time the question was forced upon

the Church,

'

Is the

Holy

Spirit a living Person, or

merely an operative principle ? He is an entity, and an entity '

is

'

Origen answers not an energy,

Gregory, it have a capacity for energy'.' on the eve of the Second Council, notes that there were some who still held the Spirit to be a mere

though

God

and he points out between the alternatives ^ Both Arians and Catholics taught that the Third Person possesses an Essential life those who took Him for an energy were probably a small minority of persons who either were infected with Sabellian views, or sought to escape from the controversy of the hour by denying that the Holy Spirit was an entity of any kind, created or Divine. Such a

energy^

the

activity of

;

the necessity of choosing

;

P. 133-

'

P- 241.

]

Or. theol.

v.

iravTuii vtroBiTiov triv OL Trepi

is

ravra

6 to -rj

iri/eC/Aa

rmv ev

Seivot,

TO aytov

t)

tSiV

to Se trvp-^e^ffKOi.

contrasted with ovaca.

KaO iavTO vcju&njKOTUiv

eripio Biwpovixh/utv • 278 i8ioTpoj7(Br, 250 n. iSiafeiK,

205 n.

KmvoTopelv,

247

KOivoropos,

238

n.,

n.

1

I05

n.

f.

235

n.,

irpocrayopevetrBai,

28

348 n.

251 n.

Trpofj^rjTiKos, TrpofjiTiTKois,

38

n.,

42

6811., 7311.

86

236

266

Trpox^ltrBai,

n.

I4 n.

irdp^, TTVfvpa,

cro0ta,

47

o-ufuyia,

/iera,

39

n.

n.

(TOiiTrpoeXijXufloTiBS,

n.

(Tvpirpoa-KvveicrBai,

103 n., o-uv, 153 n., 231 n. avvatSios, 281 (nipxlxovia,

povapxia, 95 popds, 196 n., 226 n.