Homilia de spiritu sancto

Of our Father among the Saints Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a Homily concerning the Holy Spirit. The one being baptized is baptized into a Trinity, is baptized into Father and Son and Holy Spirit; not into principles, nor into powers, nor into the subsequent things among creatures. Let it therefore be clear to him, that the Trinity is above creation; and let him not attempt to bring down any part of the Trinity into creation. Let him also remember the Lord, who breathed the Holy Spirit, and showed through the breathing that the Spirit is of the divine essence, and not of the created nature. Let him also consider the apostolic exposition concerning the Trinity, in which we see one energy of Father and Son and Holy Spirit; as neither the Son nor the Spirit is created and made in nature. That God does not need his own creation in order to perform his own energy. And the Apostle says: "There are distributions of gifts, and the same Spirit. And there are distributions of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are distributions of operations, and the same God, who energizes all things in all." Therefore, what God energizes, these the Spirit energizes. "The one and the same Spirit," he says, "energizes all things, distributing to each as it wills." Let him not bring the Spirit down into servitude, hearing that it energizes all things of God as it wills. And again: "The Lord is the Spirit.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” For if it does not say that divinity dwells in us through the dwelling of the Spirit, John saying, “In this we know that it is in us, from the Spirit which he gave us,” it will destroy all hope. For if God is not in us, we will attain neither life nor eternal goods. And Paul says again: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” and again: “Your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, which you have from God.” And creation needs revelation to know the things of God; but the Spirit reveals. “To us,” he says, “God revealed through his Spirit.” And as for us, it searches, because we make the search in it: “The Spirit,” he says, “searches even the depths of God”; but by itself it knows, just as our spirit does. “For who among men knows the things of man,” he says, “except the spirit in him? So also no one has known the things of God except the Spirit of God.” And God gives life; for Paul says: “I command in the presence of God who gives life to all things”; but Christ gives life, who says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I give them eternal life.” And we are made alive through the Spirit, as Paul says: “He who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit dwelling in you.” Therefore, life is given by God through Christ in the Spirit. And for this reason, since every action of the Son is manifested through the Spirit, the Spirit is called Lord by the name of the Lord.

and Christ to that of Christ, as we were just saying: “But the Lord is the Spirit.” And it has also been said, “You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God is in you. But if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that one is not his.” Then it adds: “But if Christ is in you,” instead of saying, as would be consistent, “But if the Spirit is in you.” Nor is there any divine utterance teaching that the Spirit is a creature. For the phrase, “All things were made through him,” refers to the multitude of creatures. But the Spirit is not among the multitude, but together with the dyad completes the Trinity, and is alienated from creation, and surpasses it by far, since it sanctifies creation and gives it life, and is the anointing upon us, and already also in the very flesh of the Lord. Surely our Lord Jesus Christ is not sanctified through a creature, as Peter says: “Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and power.” Nor is he empowered through a creature; but he says: “In the Spirit of God I cast out demons.” Nor is he led by a creature; for it is written that “he was led in the Spirit into the wilderness.” The ancient prophets proclaimed an oracle of God: “Thus says the Lord”; but the new prophets say: “Thus says the Holy Spirit”; and the apostles: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” Therefore also the Apostle, showing that he utters divine words, sometimes says: “Do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?” and sometimes: “I think I have the Spirit of God.” And the old Scripture is full of the doxology of the Spirit.

By the word of the Lord,” says the Psalmist, “the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth, all their power.” And in the book of Job it is written: “A divine Spirit is that which made me.” Just as it is impossible to suppose another Word besides the Son, by whom the heavens were made (for they would no longer have been made through the Lord, if they had been made through another word), so too it is impossible to suppose another Spirit, which together with the Word makes firm the powers of the heavens. When we hear “Spirit of the mouth,” we do not understand it in a human way, but as is fitting for God, just as we do with the Word. For the Word is not a fleeting utterance, but as the Psalmist says: “For eternity, Lord, your Word abides in heaven.” Nor is the Spirit some diffused breath, but something stable and enduring. “For where shall I go from your Spirit?” says David, it being manifestly present, having filled all things, and established in divine dignity. For what he said concerning the Spirit, he also says concerning the face of God, and concerning his right hand, declaring next: “And from your face, where shall I flee? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I descend to Hades, you are present; if I take my wings at dawn and encamp at the ends of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, and your right hand will hold me.” And the voice of God, concerning himself and the Spirit, says this: “I am among you,” says the Lord, “and my Spirit stands in your midst.” Therefore the Spirit is not alien to the glory of God, having been ineffably manifested from the ineffable mouth.

neither is God himself without Spirit, but the Spirit of God, and with God, sent forth from God, and supplied through the Son; as it is said from the Father’s person: “My Spirit, which is upon you”; and it is said by the Lord, that “I will send you a Paraclete,” whom he also calls “the Spirit of truth.” One Father, then, one Son, and one Spirit must be confessed according to the divine tradition, and not two fathers, nor two sons; for this reason the Spirit is not Son, nor is so called. For we do not receive something from the Spirit as we receive the Spirit from the Son, but we receive it approaching us and sanctifying us: a communion of divinity, a participation in sonship, a pledge of the eternal inheritance, and a firstfruits of the future goods. And let no one busy himself beyond the said sacred names; nor force to place the appellation of Son upon the Spirit, nor generation; but let him be content with the appellation and likeness according to the Spirit. Since by the grace of the good God, through the memory of the words of the only-begotten Son of the living God, and of his holy evangelists and apostles and prophets, who have sufficiently clarified for us the discourse concerning baptism according to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been taught that the one in the

Baptism by fire is a refutation of all evil, and a reception of righteousness according to Christ, instilling hatred of evil and desire for virtue; and through faith we were cleansed from all sin by the blood of Christ, and having been baptized in water into the death of the Lord, we deposited a written confession: that we have been dead to sin and the world, and brought to life in righteousness, and thus having been baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit, we were born from above; and having been born and baptized in the name of the Son, we put on Christ; and having put on the new man, created according to God, we were baptized in the name of the Father and were called children of God. It is therefore necessary for us to be nourished with the food of eternal life, which the same only-begotten Son of the living God again delivered to us, saying: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God." And how this comes about, he taught by saying: "My food is to do the will of the Father who sent me;" and again: "Amen, amen, I say to you." For confirmation of what follows and assurance for the hearers, having set this forth a second time, he says that "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will give him rest on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him." And a little later it is written: "Many, then, hearing the word of his disciples, said: 'This word is hard. Who can hear it?' But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were murmuring about this, said to them: 'Does this scandalize you? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh avails nothing. My words are spirit and they are life. But there are some among you who do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the believers and who would betray him. And he said: 'For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it has been given to him from my Father.'" And near the end: "Then Jesus, taking bread and giving thanks, broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said: 'Take, eat; this is my body broken for you; do this in remembrance of me.' And taking a cup, giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying: 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the New Covenant, shed for many for the remission of sins.'" And the Apostle: "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord.

What then are these words, and what is the benefit from them? That, eating and drinking, we might always remember the one who died and rose for us, and thus be taught necessarily to keep that apostolic commandment given to us, which says: "For the love of Christ holds us together, having judged this, that if one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, so that the living no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died and rose for them." For the one who eats and drinks, evidently for the indelible memory of the obedience unto death of the Master and Creator, who became for me what was formed. But it is not simply commanded to eat, but we are bidden to discern such a body of the Lord; that is, having put aside the defilement of flesh and spirit, and having prepared a vessel for the spiritual ointment, thus to approach the pure sacrifice, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom are glory and power now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.