Sermo contra Latinos

Of Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria, from the Discourse against the Latins. But not so the followers of Christ; rather, just as that one says: “When He comes, saying, the Paraclete whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father,” he thereby demonstrates the Father alone as the Probolus of the Spirit. So also these, obeying the teacher, say that it proceeds from the Father alone. But if someone should say that the Spirit is nowhere said to be from the Father alone, let such a one hear that the writer on this matter testifies in no other way than according to the teaching of our most divine Fathers. For just as they say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, taking the cause from the Lord’s own mouth, so also the subsequent writers and authors accordingly declare. Yet not one of them says that it proceeds from the Son and through the Son, unless perhaps one speaks of the other outpouring, that is, the manifestation and sending of the gifts of the Spirit. For with regard to this, although the Holy Spirit is manifested from the Father for distribution, so also from the Son, as the rule of truth teaches. And since all, speaking the same thing, are in harmony and one according to the Lord’s tradition, and no one appears to disagree, it is evident that the Spirit has its existence from the Father alone, if indeed such a procession constitutes existence. For just as when all say that the Son is a generation of the Father, it is also understood that the Son is from the Father alone according to the pre-eternal generation.

Thus also, when all say that the Spirit is an emanation of the Father, it is co-conceived that the Spirit is from the Father alone, according to the pre-eternal emanation: if the Son is alone from the Father alone, then the Holy Spirit is also alone from the Father alone. But according to the later outpouring, that is, the distribution and supply to the worthy, just as the Spirit is from the Father, so also through the Son and from the Son. Just as we also glorify the later generation of the Son, that is, his visitation to us, not only from the Father but also from the Spirit. And let the voice of the archangel to Joseph, the husband of Mary, persuade you: "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for what is born in her is from the Holy Spirit." But if you wish to learn that some of our great saints have declared that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, take now the great sun of our Church, or rather of the whole world, Cyril, as a witness to this; for in his discourse On the Trinity he clearly presents it thus: The all-holy and venerable Trinity, he says, existing before all ages and forever, is pure and eternal, incorporeal, incomprehensible, uncontainable, yet containing all things and holding together the whole, good, providential, creator of all things visible and invisible, impassible, unchangeable, immutable, incomprehensible to the mind of men and angels and to created nature; consubstantial within itself, but in essence uncommunicable to all creation.

known only by itself, by no nature in this world or beyond this world: a monad in three hypostases, or persons, and a Trinity in a monad of divinity, that is, known as one essence. Of this holy and venerable monad, the three worshipful hypostases are known and believed: in the Father, who is without beginning, without cause, unbegotten, eternal; and in the only-begotten Son, born ineffably, impassibly, and indescribably before all ages from the essence itself of the Father, and therefore consubstantial and equal to the Father, without the fatherhood, but having the Father as beginning and cause in a generative manner; and in the Holy Spirit, life-giving and worshiped, proceeding from the Father, that is, from the essence of the Father. Not in a generative manner as the Son, so that there be not two Sons in the Trinity, but proceeding as has been said, from the Father alone, and from the mouth; having appeared through the Son, and having spoken in the holy prophets and apostles. Yet, as I said, existing from the essence itself of the Father and of the Son, and having consubstantiality with the Father and the Son. And it is also uncommunicable, just as the Father and the Son are, with respect to all creation according to the principle of essence. You see how the Holy Spirit is from the Father alone according to Saint Cyril, or rather according to all divine Scripture. And let no one say to me those cold words or arguments, that Athanasius and Cyril, the renowned, and also Gregory of Nyssa, were the cause of the addition. For Athanasius speaks thus:

The Spirit from the Father the opponents say, and from the Word, who is from the Father, proceeding; but Nyssa, having said that the Son is immediately from the first, that is, from the Father, says next: The Spirit through the one immediately from the first; and the most wise Cyril manifestly, he says, has spoken of the Holy Spirit from both Father and Son. These are the problems of the wonder-workers of the rotten addition. But I, "captivating every thought," though unlearned, "into the obedience of Christ," clarify these things in this way. Thus Athanasius says the Spirit is from the Father, and proceeding from the Word, who is from the Father, just as also from the coeternal Father himself, just as the Son is also sent forth and given by the Spirit to the faithful, as also from the Father himself; and take the testimony from the Word and Son himself, saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for which reason he anointed me. He sent me to proclaim good news to the poor." Therefore the Spirit both anointed the Son and sent him; but also the Father is sent from both Son and Spirit. How this is so, hear the Father himself speaking thus through the prophet Isaiah: "Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call: I am God first, I am also after these things; and besides me there is no god. I with my hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my Spirit made the heaven firm. I gave orders to all the stars. And now the Lord has sent me." Therefore the Father is here the one saying, "He has sent me." Do you see the equal honor of the three persons of the supreme divinity?

When the Holy Spirit is sent forth from both, as consubstantial it is sent forth from the Father and the Son. When the Son is from the Father, as consubstantial also with the Spirit. When the Father is from the Son and the Spirit, as consubstantial. So the great Athanasius, having said that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, indicated whence the Spirit has its existence, namely from the Father alone. But having said again that the Spirit is from the Father as from the Word who is from the Father, he indicated the equality of honor of the Father and the Son, thereby putting to shame the most godless Arius, who said that the Son is a creature and not God; as if saying to him: O most godless Arius, the Spirit proceeding from the Father shines forth and is given to the faithful by the Son whom you blaspheme, according to his energy and gift, just as also from the coeternal Father himself. That this is the case, see what he writes to Bishop Serapion, this Father worthy of the name of immortality. For saying the same things and philosophizing about the same matters, there also he speaks thus: Just as the Son is a monogenes offspring of the

Father, so also the Spirit is given and sent by the Son, and it itself is one and not many, nor one from many, but only itself Spirit. For since the Son, the living Word, is one, there must be one perfect and full sanctifying and illuminating life, being an energy and gift of him, which indeed is said to proceed from the Father, because it shines forth and is sent and given from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father. Just as the Son is a monogenes offspring, it is said, of the Father, so also the Spirit is one projection of the same Father and not many, nor having its existence from many, evidently. But as it is only itself Spirit and projection, so also it is from only one and from one Father. For since the Son, the living Word, is one, as from one Father, there must also be one perfect and full sanctifying and illuminating life, which was the Holy Spirit, which works its own gift and distributes to each individually, as it wills. Which gift indeed is for this reason said to proceed from the Father, that is, to be poured out and sent, because it shines forth and is sent and given from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father. Having first philosophized obscurely about the pre-eternal procession of the Spirit, having shown it only as a projection, as from one projector and Father, through the following he demonstrates to us very clearly also the temporal outpouring, as existing from both Father and Son. And just as there the phrase, "Thus the Spirit from the Father, as from the Word from the Father," so here also the phrase:

The Spirit is said to proceed from the Father, because it shines forth and is sent and given from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father. In the same manner, Gregory of Nyssa says that the Spirit is from the first through the proximate, that is, together and at once with the Son, and not after the Son, being posterior in existence. And when he says that the Son is proximately from the first, do not think that the Spirit is not also proximately from the first. For just as the Son is proximately and most closely from the first, that is, the Father, so also the Spirit is proximately from the first, according to its pre-eternal existence. The Father is first not in time, nor in order, far from it! but in that he is the cause of the Son and the Spirit, just as he is also greater and without beginning, as uncaused, as the root and source of those from him. For just as he alone is without beginning in relation to the Spirit and the Son, so also he alone is the cause of these; the Spirit in relation to the Father is not without beginning, nor uncaused, just as indeed the Son himself is according to temporal beginning. Not only the Spirit, but also the Son is without beginning, just as the Father is. The Father alone is the first cause of the Son and the Spirit. But do not seek a second, O orthodox one, nor a third; lest, by maliciously cutting and dividing the same and one essence, you be condemned as heterodox. Therefore the Father is first in that he is greater, and greater in that he is without beginning; without beginning in that he is the beginning of the consubstantial hypostases. The Spirit and the Son are proximately from the greater, that is, the Father. For the Son is properly and truly together, and the Spirit is from the Father.

Not that one is prior and the other posterior; but the generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit shine forth simultaneously, and the Spirit is sent and given through the Son, as the blessed Athanasius says, just as the Son is through the Spirit, as has been said. Likewise also the statement of the blessed Cyril, namely, "from both," is to be understood in this same sense: the Spirit that proceeds from the Father shines forth, is sent, and is given from both Father and Son. And a little later: I have learned of two generations of the Word, as I said above: one from the Father and beyond time, and one from the Virgin and within time. Likewise I have been initiated into two outpourings of the Spirit: one processional and beyond time, and one that is a bestowal of goodness. But of the first generation of the Son and the first procession of the Spirit, the Father alone is the cause. Of the other generation within time and the other outpouring that is bestowing, not only the Father is the cause, but also the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Spirit is from both, Father and Son, for the purpose of distribution; not as regards existence—far from it!—for then two causes would be introduced, differing greatly from the one that is connatural and of equal honor.