{"slug":"tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1","title":"De Divinitate Spiritus Sancti [Fragmenta]","title_source":"De Divinitate Spiritus Sancti [Fragmenta]","author":"Avitus Viennensis Episcopus","genre":"treatise","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T05:59:24Z","cost_usd":0.001522},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1","work_id":"tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-pl","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp965/tmp965/tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":2,"english_words":424,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":1505,"commentary_units":12,"commentary_kinds":5,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":3,"work_notes":5,"external_links":0,"timeline":6},"summary":{"work":"tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1","abstract":"De Divinitate Spiritus Sancti [Fragmenta] is a fragmentary Latin treatise by Avitus of Vienne (c. 450–518), written during his episcopate (c. 490–518) amid post-Chalcedonian theological disputes. The work argues for the divinity of the Holy Spirit, likely against Arian views, and affirms the double procession from Father and Son. Surviving only in fragments, its manuscript tradition is sparse, with no complete copy known. Modern recovery depends on early modern editions, notably the Patrologia Latina. The fragmentary state prevents full reconstruction of its argument, and doctrinal conclusions remain tentative.","historical_context":"Avitus of Vienne served as bishop of Vienne in the Burgundian kingdom from around 490 to 518. The Burgundian king Gundobad (c. 480–516) was an Arian Christian, and Avitus wrote several works to counter Arian theology, including this treatise on the Holy Spirit. The work dates uncertainly within Avitus's episcopate, a period marked by the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon (451) and ongoing debates about the nature of the Holy Spirit, especially the Filioque controversy. The text survives only in fragments, likely from a longer treatise, and was not widely cited in medieval scholasticism. Its transmission depends on early modern printed editions of Avitus's collected works, with no critical apparatus for the fragmentary tradition. The edition used is from the Patrologia Latina (OGL-PL), which reprints earlier editions.","significance":"The fragments are significant for documenting early medieval Latin theology on the Holy Spirit, particularly the double procession from Father and Son, which later became a key point in the Filioque controversy between Eastern and Western Christianity. They also illustrate Avitus's role in anti-Arian polemic within the Burgundian kingdom, offering rare insight into theological debates at a post-Roman court.","timeline":[{"date":"c. 450–518","event":"Life of Avitus of Vienne"},{"date":"c. 490–518","event":"Avitus serves as bishop of Vienne; likely period of composition for De Divinitate Spiritus Sancti"},{"date":"c. 480–516","event":"Reign of Gundobad, Arian king of the Burgundians, against whom Avitus wrote"},{"date":"451","event":"Council of Chalcedon; post-Chalcedonian controversies shape theological context"},{"date":"16th–17th c.","event":"Early modern editions of Avitus's works, including these fragments, are printed"},{"date":"19th c.","event":"Patrologia Latina edition reprints earlier editions of the fragments"}],"relations":[{"work":"De Spiritu Sancto (by Avitus of Vienne?)","relation":"Possibly part of the same lost treatise or related work; fragments may overlap","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Contra Arianos (by Avitus of Vienne)","relation":"Another anti-Arian work by Avitus, similar theological context","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"De Trinitate (by Hilary of Poitiers)","relation":"Earlier Latin treatise on the Trinity, influencing later Latin pneumatology","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Filioque controversy","relation":"The double procession affirmed here becomes a key point in later East-West debates","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[],"cautions":["The work survives only in fragments; no complete copy is known.","The date of composition is uncertain; it is placed within Avitus's episcopate (c. 490–518) but cannot be narrowed further.","The manuscript tradition is sparse, and modern editions rely on early modern prints without critical apparatus.","Doctrinal conclusions drawn from the fragments must remain tentative due to their fragmentary state."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.000472,"generated":"2026-11-15T05:59:24Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin Patrologia Latina","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp965/tmp965/tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"tmp965.tmp965.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":2,"translated":2,"commentary_passages":2,"commentary_units":12,"english_words":424,"source_letters":1499,"commentary_kinds":5},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The text survives only in fragments, likely from a longer treatise on the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The manuscript tradition is sparse, with no complete copy known.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Avitus of Vienne (c. 450–518) wrote during the post-Chalcedonian controversies. The work's date is uncertain but likely falls within his episcopate (c. 490–518).","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The fragments were not widely cited in medieval scholasticism. Their modern recovery depends on early modern editions of Avitus's collected works.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The fragmentary state prevents reconstruction of the original argument. Any doctrinal conclusions drawn from these excerpts must remain tentative.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The edition used is from the Patrologia Latina (OGL-PL), which reprints earlier printed editions. No critical apparatus is provided for the fragmentary transmission.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: treatise in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 2 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":2},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"FRAGMENTA LIBRI DE DIVINITATE SPIRITUS SANCTI.\n\nSanctus Avitus in illo libro quem de Divinitate Spi- I ritus sancti contra Gundobadum Arianum regem scripsit, processionem Spiritus sancti a Patre et Filio ita declaral.\n\nDe divinitate Spiritus sancti, quem nec factum legimus, nec genitum, nec creatum, Deus est, Deus qui operatur omnia in omnibus. Et eodem loco: Omnia aulem hæc operatur unus atque idem Spiritus, dividens singulis prout vult (I Cor. XII, 11). Et Petrus in AcUbus apostolorum: Quid convenit, inquit, inter vos mentiri Spiritui sancto (Act. v, 5)? Et post: Non es mentitus hominibus, sed Deo (Ibid., 4). Item alio loco: Nescitis quia templum Dei estis, et Spiritus Dei habitat in vobis (I Cor. III, 16)? Et alibi: Si quis Spiritum Dei non habet, hic non est ejus Rom. VIII, 9). Nos vero Spiritum sanctum dicimus a Filio et Patre procedere.","english":"Fragments of the Book On the Divinity of the Holy Spirit.\n\nSaint Avitus, in that book which he wrote on the Divinity of the Holy Spirit against Gundobad, the Arian king, declares the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son as follows.\n\nConcerning the divinity of the Holy Spirit, whom we read is neither made, nor begotten, nor created, He is God, God who works all things in all. And in the same place: Now all these things one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each as He wills (1 Cor. 12:11). And Peter in the Acts of the Apostles: What is fitting, he says, for you to lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:5)? And later: You have not lied to men, but to God (Ibid., 4). Likewise in another place: Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Cor. 3:16)? And elsewhere: If anyone does not have the Spirit of God, he is not of Him (Rom. 8:9). We, however, say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son and the Father.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"Gundobadum Arianum regem","severity":"info","text":"Gundobad was king of the Burgundians (c. 480–516) and a patron of Arian Christianity. Avitus wrote this treatise to refute his Arian views on the Holy Spirit.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"I Cor. XII, 11","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'I Cor. XII, 11' corresponds to 1 Corinthians 12:11 in the Vulgate, which speaks of the Spirit distributing gifts. The verse numbering follows the Vulgate tradition.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Act. v, 5","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'Act. v, 5' refers to Acts 5:5, where Peter rebukes Ananias for lying to the Holy Spirit. The following verse (Acts 5:4) is also cited.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"I Cor. III, 16","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'I Cor. III, 16' corresponds to 1 Corinthians 3:16 in the Vulgate, which speaks of the body as a temple of God and the Spirit dwelling within.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Rom. VIII, 9","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'Rom. VIII, 9' corresponds to Romans 8:9 in the Vulgate, which states that those without the Spirit of God are not of Him.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"processionem Spiritus sancti a Patre et Filio","severity":"info","text":"Avitus affirms the double procession of the Holy Spirit from Father and Son, a key point in the Filioque controversy. This aligns with later Latin theology against Arian subordinationism.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin text is fragmentary; the original context of the scriptural citations is lost. The phrase 'eodem loco' may refer to a lost portion of Avitus's work."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"IDEM AVITUS IN EODEM LIBRO.\n\nIpse certe per se Dominus, Spiritum, inquit, veritatis qui a Patre procedit (Joan. xv, 26). Enim vero non dicendo processit, sed procedit, non tempus procedentis docuit, sed præterito futuroque submoto, sub inicrminabilis æternitate præsentiae virtutem processionis ostendit; ut sicut est proprium Spiritui sancto a Patre Filioque procedere, istud catholica fides, etiamsi renuentibus non persuaserit, in sune tamen disciplinæ regula non excedit.\n\nITEM AVITUS.\n\nSpirituin sanctum æque Patris et Filii esse confiteor, eumque a Patre vel Filio similiter niti: quod mecum prolata quoque Apostoli sententia videtur approbasse. Nam legimus: Paraclitus, quem mittet Pater in nomine meo (Joan. XIV, 26). Et alio loco: Quem ego mittam vobis a Patre (J oan. xv, 26). Nec tamen ut nuper habita collocutione tractavimus, scinditur una personarum discretione Divinitas. Quia si Spiritus, ut acquiescitis, a Patrc Filioque vel init. titur vel procedit, non potest missus mittensque misceri, et ea quo procedit procedensque confundi.","english":"The same Avitus in the same book.\n\nHe Himself indeed through Himself, the Lord, says, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26). For indeed by not saying \"proceeded\" but \"proceeds,\" he taught not the time of the one proceeding, but with the past and future removed, he showed the power of the procession under the unending eternity of presence; so that, just as it is proper for the Holy Spirit to proceed from the Father and the Son, this Catholic faith, even if it does not persuade those who refuse, still does not exceed the rule of its discipline.\n\nLikewise Avitus.\n\nI confess the Holy Spirit to be equally of the Father and the Son, and that he proceeds similarly from the Father or the Son: which the Apostle's cited opinion also seems to have approved with me. For we read: The Paraclete, whom the Father will send in my name (John 14:26). And in another place: Whom I will send to you from the Father (John 15:26). And yet, as we have discussed in a recent conversation, the Divinity is not divided by the distinction of one person. Because if the Spirit, as you concede, either originates or proceeds from the Father and the Son, the one sent and the one sending cannot be mixed, nor can that from which it proceeds and that which proceeds be confused.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"IDEM AVITUS IN EODEM LIBRO","severity":"info","text":"This heading marks a new excerpt from the same treatise, indicating the fragmentary nature of the transmission.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Spiritum, inquit, veritatis qui a Patre procedit (Joan. xv, 26)","severity":"info","text":"Avitus cites John 15:26, using the present tense 'procedit' to argue for the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"procedit","severity":"info","text":"Avitus emphasizes the present tense 'procedit' (proceeds) over the past 'processit' to assert the timeless nature of the Spirit's procession from the Father.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Gundobad","severity":"info","text":"The treatise was written against the Arian king Gundobad, reflecting the theological conflict between Catholic and Arian positions in 5th-6th century Burgundy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Paraclitus, quem mittet Pater in nomine meo (Joan. XIV, 26)","severity":"info","text":"Avitus cites John 14:26, where Jesus speaks of the Paraclete sent by the Father, to support the joint agency of Father and Son in the Spirit's mission.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"catholica fides","severity":"info","text":"Avitus appeals to 'catholica fides' as the standard of orthodoxy, positioning his argument within the broader Latin tradition against Arianism.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin text is fragmentary; the phrase 'in sune tamen disciplinæ regula' may be corrupt, possibly intended as 'in suae tamen disciplinae regula' (within the rule of its own discipline).","The reference to 'nuper habita collocutione' (a recent conversation) is unclear; it may refer to a lost dialogue or debate with Arian opponents."],"confidence":"medium","notes":[]}]}