On the Trinity 7
Latin text: PL 13 (Latin text: Migne, PL 13 (1845), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev), University of Leipzig, CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 7
7PL 13:76c–80b
I. Universas quas de Patre et Filio scripseras quaestiones, prout Dei gratia praestitit, arbitror absolutas: si tamen hoc apud te verum est, tua religiosa prudentia judicabit: quamvis fatear et coarctatione temporis, et rei festinatione, et ipso arido angusti mei sermonis eloquio, summas earum me potius tetigisse quam plenitudinem prosecutum; quia non ut librum, sicut praedixi, scribere coeperam, sed ut quasi cujusdam abbreviationis de fide quaedam taxatio signaretur; ne ad hoc me tua mira benevolentia provocatum infidelem crederes, si tacerem. Sed nunc de sancto Spiritu, etsi breviter, confitendum est: ne si non aliquid de eo specialiter dixerimus, credamur similiter blasphemare, sicuti et illi qui dicunt illum esse creaturam. Horum tamen miramur insaniam, quod impie sentiant de eo quem sanctum Spiritum confitentur. Si enim Spiritus sanctus est, quomodo creatura est? non enim sic sanctus est, ut caeteri, qui ad sancti vocabulum fide et Deo placita conversatione atque ipsius sancti Spiritus signatione venerunt: sed ipse naturaliter semper sanctus est ita, ut alios sanctificet, non tamen ut ipse, quasi ita qui ante non habuerit, extrinsecus acceperit sanctitatem. Hoc nomen sancti ita possidet Spiritus, ut possidet Pater et Filius: possidet autem, non ipse aut Pater exsistens aut Filius, sed Spiritus Dei. Si autem Spiritus Dei dicitur, non ut angelus Dei, neque ut homo Dei, quorum natura a divina substantia inaestimabiliter discreta est: sed sic est Spiritus Dei, ut sit ejusdem substantiae cum Patre et Filio: quia et una sanctitas est Patris et Filii el Spiritus sancti: quandoquidem idem Spiritus sanctus usque adeo vere et naturaliter sanctus est, ut hoc ei naturaliter et verum sit vocabulum. Intende enim ad verba Salvatoris dicentis: Euntes ergo nunc, docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Sicut enim verum vocabulum est Patris, et verum vocabulum Filii est; Ita verum est vocabulum Spiritus sancti. Et quomodo verum vocabulum Patris dicatur, Scire poterimus, si animadvertamus quomodo verus Deus dicatur. II. Multi dicuntur dii, sed non sunt vere dii; et taceo nunc de satana ac daemoniis eorumque similibus, qui usurpatione impia dii vocantur. Dicti sunt quidem et homines dii secundum hoc testimonium: Ego dixi: dii estis, et filii Excelsi omnes: sed quam non vere sint dii, subsequentia manifestant, quae ita se habent: Vos autem sicut homines moriemini, et sicut unus de principibus cadetis Si ergo ubi quilibet sancti, dii vocantur; hoc illis pie et cum justitia viventibus ex Dei gratia provenit, maxime cum in eis Spiritus sanctus inhabitet; de quo quidem vocabulo excidunt, si non ambulare in viis Domini perseverent: nemo ergo de creaturis verus est Deus, quia nemo naturaliter Deus est. Solus autem Deus naturaliter verus Deus est, hoc ipsum exsistens sine initio et fine. Per hanc nunc veri Dei intelligentiam intelligamus et verum vocabulum patris. Apud homines exinde pater quis dicitur, ex quo genuit filium: Sed licet ex se genuerit filium, tamen non proprie verus est pater, cui accessit hoc vocabulum, et hoc ipsum a Deo praestitum: qui quidem et tam diu pater dicitur, quam diu ejus vivit filius. Sicut enim nato ex se filio vocabulum patris adeptus est, ita et morte filii vocabulum patris amittit. Deus autem solus proprie verus est Pater, qui sine initio et fine Pater est. Non enim aliquando coepit esse quod Pater est; sed semper Pater est, semper habens Filium ex se genitum; sicut et semper verus est Deus, sine initio et fine perseverans. Ergo sicut vocabulum veri Dei solus obtinet, qui sine initio et fine solus Pater vocatur; ita intelligamus et verum vocabulum Filii Dei. Apud homines enim qui filius est; coepit esse quod filius est, et morte patris amittit hoc vocabulum. Frequenter autem et de filii vocabulo transit in vocabulum patris, cum genuerit filium: non est ergo proprium et verum vocabulum filii in creatura, qui et esse coepit filius, et potest hoc vocabulum non habere vel patris occasu, vel cum idem ipse transfertur in vocabulum patris, etiam ante quam conditio mortis obveniat. Solus autem Filius Dei verus est filius, exsistens hoc sine initio, sine fine, semper habens Patrem, et numquam ipse, ut est unigenitus, generatis accipit vocabulum patris. Unde et proprium et verum vocabulum filii in solo Filio Dei est, habens hoc naturaliter, sicut et naturaliter verus Deus est. Si ergo cognovimus quomodo proprium et verum vocabulum patris est, et quomodo proprium et verum vocabulum filii est; sequitur, ut intelligamus ita, quomodo proprium et verum vocabulum est Spiritus sancti. III. Scilicet cum hoc ipsum est naturaliter Spiritus sanctus, sine initio, sine fine; numquam enim ex aequa nominis auctoritate cum Patris et Filii veris vocabulis sancti Spiritus vocabulum jungeretur; si non et sancti Spiritus proprium verumque vocabulum probaretur. Si ergo hoc ei proprium et verum et naturaliter, sine initio et fine vocabulum est; non est igitur creatura Spiritus sanctus, qui ita proprium et verum vocabulum sancti Spiritus habet, sicut nulla potest habere creatura. Sed et cum praecipit Dominus, ut gentes in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti baptizentur; apertissimum est Spiritum sanctum non esse creaturam, vel ex ipsa societate quae illi una cum Patre et Filio est; vel quod numquam praeciperet Dominus, ut in creaturae nomine aliquis baptizaretur: multum enim divinae potentiae derogaretur, si cum confessione divini nominis par quoque creaturae confessio poneretur. Et bene, quod unum nomen posuit dicens: In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti; ut una principalis auctoritas crederetur indivisibilis et perfectae Trinitatis. Quomodo enim Spiritus sanctus a principali auctoritate discretus esse credatur, quando de ipso scriptum legimus in quinquagesimo Psalmo: Et spiritu principali confirma me? Ergo et per hoc ostenditur, quod una est principalitas Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti: siquidem et in omni conditione Patri et Filio consors invenitur. Accipe inierim vel unum testimonium: Verbo Domini coeli firmati sunt, et Spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum. Et per hoc ergo ostenditur Spiritum sanctum non esse creaturam; siquidem et ipse cum Patre et Filio conditor approbatur. Dicam plene et Deum, et Dominum Spiritum sanctum, doctus a majoribus ecclesiasticis viris, qui et ipsi testimonia Scripturarum divinarum prius a vieris apostolis eruditi, suis posteris tradiderunt. Exsequerer et ego singula illa quaeque testimonia, nisi apud animam fidelem de his quoque quae supra breviter intimata sunt, sancti Spiritus divinitas eluceret: maxime quia et nunc mihi non tam disputatio de Spiritu sancto proposita est, quam ut de divino ejus nomine pia confessio signaretur. Hoc tamen ad compendium probandae divinitatis ejus subdam, quod etiam per hoc ipsum Deus probatur Spiritus sanctus, per quod ostenditur nou esse creatura. Omne enim quod est, aut divinitas est. aut creatura: sed Spiritus sanctus hoc ipsum exsistens, sine initio et fine, non est creatura: ergo Spiritus sanctus res est divinitatis, quia incorruptibilis et indemutabilis et sempiternus Spiritus Dei. Una est ergo divinitas Patris et Filii el Spiritus sancti, sicut et una sanctitas ejusdem perfectae et inseparabilis Trinitatis. IV. Sed hic finem faciamus: in quantum enim quis intentior ad sacras Scripturas de fide loqui voluerit, in tantum non deerit quod loquatur. Hoc autem non ambigo, quod si quis forte eloquens haec ipsa legerit, delinquentiam incompti sermonis inveniet; non tamen, si fidelis est, piae confessionis errorem, quam quidem in nobis ex Dei gratia praestitam cupimus usque ad mortem, auxilio ejus qui praestitit, vindicare sine labe communionis haereticorum atque praevaricatorum, quia et Deo teste metuimus eorum damnationis participes inveniri. Viderit si quis putat se de eorum societate reum non posse fieri, habens conscientiae propriae fiduciam, quia fidem integram vindicat ita, ut numquam ipse ejus fidei praevaricator exstiterit: tamen ego in causa Dei cautius timere compellor; siquidem et de ipsis cautum legimus: Haereticum hominem post unam correptionem devita, sciens quoniam perversus est hujusmodi, et peccat, et est a semetipso damnatus. Sed et de poena praevaricatorum legimus, dicente Esaia: Et veniet omnis caro in conspectu meo adorare in Hierusalem, dicit Dominus Deus. Et procedent sancti, et videbunt membra hominum qui praevaricati sunt in me. Vermis eorum non morietur, et ignis eorum non exstinguetur: et erunt in visione omni carni. Sed et Apostolus ait: Nolite jugum ducere cum infidelibus; quia et alibi idem Apostolus post descriptionem malorum: Non solum, inquit, qui faciunt ea, sed etiam qui consentiunt facientibus ea. Et multa alia sunt testimonia divina, quibus supradictorum consortium prohibetur. Sed ego haec ipsa, licet breviter, intimavi, ne nos de vana superstitione credat aliquis nolle communicare cum talibus, quos perspicit per divinam sententiam reprobari. Divinitas te incolumem ac beatam in fide sui nominis etiam in regno coelorum praestet cum tuis omnibus affectibus inveniri.
I. All the questions you had written about the Father and the Son I consider answered, as far as the grace of God has granted; whether this is true in your view, your religious prudence will judge—although I admit that, through the constraint of time, the haste of the matter, and the very dry style of my narrow speech, I have touched on their headings rather than pursued them fully; for, as I said before, I had not begun to write a book, but to mark out a kind of outline of the faith, as a sort of abridgement, so that you would not think me unfaithful if, challenged by your wonderful kindness, I kept silent. But now something must be confessed about the Holy Spirit, even if briefly, lest, if we say nothing specifically about him, we be believed to blaspheme in the same way as those who say he is a creature. We wonder, though, at their madness, that they think impiously of him whom they confess as the Holy Spirit. For if he is the Holy Spirit, how is he a creature? For he is not holy as others are, who have come to the name of saints by faith and a way of life pleasing to God and by the sealing of the Holy Spirit himself; but he himself is always holy by nature, so as to sanctify others—not as though, not having it before, he received holiness from outside. The Spirit possesses this name "holy" as the Father and the Son possess it; he possesses it, not being himself either the Father or the Son, but the Spirit of God. And if he is called the Spirit of God, it is not as an angel of God or as a man of God, whose nature is inestimably distinct from the divine substance; but he is the Spirit of God in such a way as to be of the same substance with the Father and the Son, because the holiness of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is one; since the same Holy Spirit is so truly and naturally holy that this name is his by nature and truly. For attend to the words of the Saviour, saying: "Go, therefore, now and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." For as the name of the Father is true and the name of the Son is true, so the name of the Holy Spirit is true. And how the name of the Father is said to be true we shall be able to know if we notice how the true God is so called.
II. Many are called gods, but they are not truly gods; and I say nothing now of Satan and the demons and their like, who by impious usurpation are called gods. Men too have been called gods, according to this testimony: "I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High"; but how they are not truly gods what follows makes plain, which runs thus: "But you will die like men, and fall like one of the princes." If, then, wherever any saints are called gods, this comes to them by the grace of God, as they live piously and justly, especially since the Holy Spirit dwells in them—a name from which they fall if they do not persevere in walking in the ways of the Lord—then no creature is true God, because none is God by nature. But God alone is by nature true God, existing as this very thing without beginning and end. Through this understanding of true God let us now understand also the true name of Father. Among men someone is called father from the time he begets a son; but although he has begotten a son from himself, he is not properly a true father, since this name came to him, and was itself granted by God; and he is called father only as long as his son lives. For as he obtained the name of father when a son was born of him, so by the death of the son he loses the name of father. But God alone is properly true Father, who is Father without beginning and end. For he did not at some time begin to be what the Father is; but he is always Father, always having the Son begotten of himself, as he is also always true God, continuing without beginning and end. Therefore, as he alone holds the name of true God who alone is called Father without beginning and end, so let us understand also the true name of Son of God. Among men, he who is a son began to be what a son is, and by his father's death loses this name. And often he passes from the name of son to that of father, when he begets a son: so the name of son is not proper and true in a creature, who began to be a son and can cease to have this name, either by the death of his father or when he himself is transferred to the name of father, even before the condition of death befalls him. But the Son of God alone is a true son, existing as this without beginning, without end, always having the Father, and never himself, since he is only-begotten, receiving the name of father by begetting. Hence the proper and true name of son is in the Son of God alone, who has this by nature, as he is also by nature true God. If, then, we have learned how the name of father is proper and true, and how the name of son is proper and true, it follows that we should understand likewise how the name of the Holy Spirit is proper and true.
III. Namely, since the Holy Spirit is this very thing by nature, without beginning, without end: for the name of the Holy Spirit would never be joined with equal authority of name to the true names of the Father and the Son unless the name of the Holy Spirit too were proved proper and true. If, then, this name is proper and true and natural to him, without beginning and end, then the Holy Spirit is not a creature, who has the proper and true name of Holy Spirit in a way that no creature can have it. And when the Lord commands that the nations be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, it is most plain that the Holy Spirit is not a creature—either from the very fellowship he has as one with the Father and the Son, or because the Lord would never command that anyone be baptized in the name of a creature: for much would be taken from the divine power if an equal confession of a creature were set beside the confession of the divine name. And it is well that he set down one name, saying, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," so that one sovereign authority of the indivisible and perfect Trinity might be believed. For how could the Holy Spirit be believed to be separate from the sovereign authority, when we read written of him in the fiftieth psalm: "And strengthen me with your sovereign Spirit"? By this too, then, it is shown that the sovereignty of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, since in all creation too he is found a partner with the Father and the Son. Take meanwhile even one testimony: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power." By this too, then, it is shown that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, since he too is proved to be creator with the Father and the Son. I will say fully that the Holy Spirit is both God and Lord, as I have been taught by the elder men of the church, who themselves, taught first the testimonies of the divine Scriptures by the true apostles, handed them on to their successors. I would go through each of those testimonies myself, were it not that to a faithful soul the divinity of the Holy Spirit shines out even from what has been briefly indicated above—especially since my present task is not so much a disputation about the Holy Spirit as to mark a pious confession of his divine name. This, however, I will add as a short proof of his divinity: that the Holy Spirit is proved God by the very thing by which he is shown not to be a creature. For everything that is, is either divinity or creature; but the Holy Spirit, existing as this very thing without beginning and end, is not a creature: therefore the Holy Spirit belongs to divinity, because he is the incorruptible, unchangeable, and everlasting Spirit of God. One, then, is the divinity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as one is the holiness of the same perfect and inseparable Trinity.
IV. But let us make an end here: for the more intently anyone wishes to speak about the faith with attention to the sacred Scriptures, the more he will not lack things to say. But I do not doubt that if some eloquent person reads these things, he will find the faults of unpolished speech—but not, if he is faithful, any error of pious confession; which, granted to us by the grace of God, we desire to maintain until death, with the help of him who granted it, without the stain of communion with heretics and prevaricators, because, God is witness, we fear to be found sharers in their condemnation. Someone may think that he cannot become guilty by fellowship with them, trusting in his own conscience because he maintains the faith whole and has never himself been a prevaricator of the faith; but I, in the cause of God, am compelled to fear more cautiously, since we read a warning about them: "Avoid a heretical man after one admonition, knowing that such a one is perverted and sins, being condemned by himself." And we read of the punishment of prevaricators too, Isaiah saying: "And all flesh will come before me to worship in Jerusalem, says the Lord God; and the saints will go out and see the limbs of the men who have transgressed against me; their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be a spectacle to all flesh." And the apostle says: "Do not be yoked with unbelievers"; and elsewhere the same apostle, after describing evils: "Not only those who do them, but also those who consent to those who do them." And there are many other divine testimonies by which fellowship with the persons mentioned above is forbidden. But I have indicated these, though briefly, so that no one may think that we refuse to communicate, out of empty superstition, with such as he sees to be rejected by divine sentence. May the Godhead grant that you, safe and blessed in the faith of his name, be found also in the kingdom of heaven together with all who are dear to you.
Matt 28:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 82:6 (81:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 82:7 (81:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 51:12 (50:14 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 33:6 (32:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Titus 3:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Titus 3:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 66:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 66:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 6:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 1:32 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Faustinus briefly confesses the Holy Spirit as truly holy, of the same substance with the Father and the Son, not a creature, and explains his refusal of communion with heretics and those who compromised the faith.
- Matt 28:19; Ps 82:6–7 (LXX/Vulg. 81:6–7); Ps 51:12 (LXX/Vulg. 50:14, "the fiftieth psalm"); Ps 33:6 (LXX/Vulg. 32:6); Titus 3:10–11; Isa 66:23–24; 2 Cor 6:14; Rom 1:32. The "prevaricators" are, in the Luciferian view Faustinus held, bishops who had compromised with Arianism (as at Ariminum, 359) and those who received them back into communion; his refusal of their communion is translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (footnote numeral removed; letter misread; letters misread; letters transposed): prodentia → prudentia; non ul angelus → non ut angelus; Spiritus sancit → Spiritus sancti; non vere sim dii → non vere sint dii; flue Patet est → fine Pater est; Ane solos → fine solus; amittit boc vocabulum → amittit hoc vocabulum; vocabulum/ion → vocabulum non; Solus aulem → Solus autem; Spiritus sanctas, sine → Spiritus sanctus, sine; tine vocabulum → fine vocabulum; cum Parte et Filio → cum Patre et Filio; Dominiis → Dominus; indivisibilia et → indivisibilis et; Spiritus sanctos a → Spiritus sanctus a; Ergo et per boc → Ergo et per hoc; Et per boc ergo → Et per hoc ergo; Spiritus saucti → Spiritus sancti; r; 1 ne → r; ne; m: 2 qu → m: qu; us 3 a → us a ; r, 1 in → r, in.
Topics: Trinity, Baptism, Heresy, The Holy Spirit
Cite (SBL): Faustinus, Trin. 7 (PL 13:76c–80b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/faustinus-de-trinitate/7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/faustinus-de-trinitate/7
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-faustinus-de-trinitate-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne PL 13; no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the original.