Letters to Serapion 3.1–4.6

You will perhaps wonder how it is that, when you asked me to abridge the letter written about the Holy Spirit and set it out briefly, you see me as though I had dropped that subject and were writing against those who are impious toward the Son of God and call him a creature. But you will not blame me, I know well, if you learn the reason; rather your piety will approve it, seeing that it is reasonable. For since, as the Lord himself said, “The Paraclete will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak; for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you”; and he breathed on the disciples and gave him to them from himself; and so the Father poured him out upon all flesh, as it is written—for this reason it is fitting that the Son of God should be spoken and written of first, so that from the knowledge concerning the Son we may be able to have rightly the knowledge concerning the Spirit too. For the very property that we have known the Son to have in relation to the Father, we shall find the Spirit to have in relation to the Son. And as the Son says, “All that the Father has is mine,” so we shall find all these things to be in the Spirit too, through the Son. And as the Father pointed out the Son, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” so the Spirit is the Son’s: “For he has sent forth,” says the apostle, “the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” And what is remarkable: as the Son says, “What is mine is the Father’s,” so the Holy Spirit, who is said to be the Son’s, is the Father’s. For the Son himself says: “When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me”; and Paul writes: “No one knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that dwells in him; so also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God who is in him. But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” And throughout the divine Scripture you will find that the Holy Spirit, who is said to be the Son’s, is said to be God’s; and this we wrote in what went before. If, then, the Son, because of his property in relation to the Father, and because he is the proper offspring of his essence, is not a creature but of the same essence as the Father, so neither would the Holy Spirit be a creature—and whoever says so is impious—because of his property in relation to the Son, and because it is from the Son that he is given to all, and what he has is the Son’s.

These things, then, are sufficient to persuade even the most contentious person no longer to call a creature the Spirit of God, who is in God and searches the depths of God, and is given from the Father through the Son; lest from these he be compelled to call the Son too a creature—the Word, the Wisdom, the Impress, the Radiance, whom whoever sees sees the Father—and then hear: “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either.” For such a person will soon say, like the fool, “There is no God.” Nevertheless, so that the refutation of the impious may be shown from more arguments, it is good to show, from the things by which the Son is shown not to be a creature, that the Spirit too is not a creature. The creatures are from nothing and have a beginning of being: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth,” and what is in them. But the Holy Spirit is, and is said to be, from God, as the apostle said. And if the Son, since he is not from nothing but from God, would rightly not be a creature, then necessarily neither is the Holy Spirit a creature, since he is confessed to be from God. For the creatures are from nothing …

And again, the Spirit is called, and is, anointing and seal. For John writes: “And the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you; but as his anointing,” his Spirit, “teaches you about all things”; and in the prophet Isaiah it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me”; and Paul writes: “In whom also, having believed, you were sealed”; and again: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” And the creatures are anointed and sealed in him. But if the creatures are anointed and sealed in him, the Spirit would not be a creature; for that which anoints is not like the things anointed. For this anointing is the breath of the Son, so that whoever has the Spirit says, “We are the aroma of Christ.” And the seal impresses the Son, so that the one who is sealed has the form of Christ, as the apostle says: “My little children, for whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” And if the Spirit is the fragrance and form of the Son, it is very plain that the Spirit would not be a creature; since the Son too, being in the form of the Father, is not a creature. For as whoever has seen the Son sees the Father, so whoever has the Holy Spirit has the Son, and having him is a temple of God, as Paul writes: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?”; and John says: “By this we know that we abide in God and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” And if the Son, being in the Father, in whom the Father also is, was confessed not to be a creature, then necessarily the Spirit too is not a creature; for the Son is in him, and he in the Son. Therefore whoever receives the Spirit is called a temple of God. Again, it is good to see this too: if the Son of God is Word, as the Father is one—“For there is one God, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ”—for this reason he is called and written only-begotten Son; but the creatures are many and various: angels, archangels, cherubim, principalities, authorities, and the rest, as has been said. If, then, because the Son is not one of the many but is one, as the Father is one, he is not a creature, then certainly the Spirit too (for we must take the knowledge of the Spirit from the Son) would not be a creature. For he is not one of the many, but he too is one. …

And the apostle knows this, saying: “All these are worked by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills”; and a little later: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, and were all made to drink of one Spirit.” And again, since we must take the knowledge of the Spirit from the Son, it would be fitting to bring the proofs from him too. The Son, then, is everywhere, being in the Father, and the Father being in him. For he rules and holds together all things, and it is written that “in him all things hold together,” whether visible or invisible, “and he is before all things.” But the creatures are in places divided off: sun and moon and the other luminaries in the firmament, angels in heaven, and men upon the earth. … but being in the Father, he is everywhere, and being outside all things, he is not a creature; consequently neither would the Spirit be a creature, since he is not in places divided off, but fills all things and is outside all things. For so it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord has filled the world.” And David sings: “Where shall I go from your Spirit?”—since he is not in a place, but outside all things, yet in the Son, as the Son is in the Father. For this reason he too is not a creature, as has been shown. And besides all these things, from the following the Arian heresy will be condemned still more, and again the knowledge concerning the Spirit will be gained from the Son. The Son, then, is Creator as the Father is: “For what I see the Father doing,” he says, “these things I also do.” All things, at any rate, “came to be through him, and without him not one thing came to be.” And if the Son, being Creator as the Father is, is not a creature, and if, because all things are created through him, he is not one of the things that are created, then plainly the Spirit too is not a creature, since it is written of him too in the hun…

This being so written, it is plain that the Spirit is not a creature, but is in the act of creating. For the Father creates all things through the Word in the Spirit, since where the Word is, there the Spirit is too; and the things created through the Word have their strength to be from the Spirit, from the Word. For so it is written in the thirty-second psalm: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their host.” Indeed, the Spirit is so indivisible from the Son that one cannot doubt it from what is said. For when the Word came to the prophet, the prophet spoke in the Spirit the things that came from the Word. So it is written in the Acts, when Peter says: “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand”; and in Zechariah, when the Word came to him, it is written: “But receive my words and my statutes, which I command by my Spirit to the prophets.” And a little later, accusing the people, … to hear my laws and the words which the Lord Almighty sent by his Spirit by the hands of the former prophets.” And when Christ spoke in Paul, as he himself said, “Do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?”, he had no less the Spirit supplying him with speech. For so he himself writes: “according to the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to me.” And again, with Christ speaking in him, he said: “Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.” For the Spirit is not outside the Word, but, being in the Word, is through him in God; so that the gifts are given in the Triad. For in their distribution, as he writes to the Corinthians, it is the same Spirit and the same Lord and … who gives all things.

Indeed, when praying for the Corinthians, he prayed in the Triad, saying: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” For in partaking of the Spirit we have the grace of the Word, and in him the love of the Father. And as the grace of the Triad is one, so the Triad is indivisible. One may see this also in the case of holy Mary herself. For the angel Gabriel, sent to announce the descent of the Word that was to take place upon her, said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” knowing that the Spirit was in the Word; and at once he added: “And the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” For “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And since the Spirit is in the Word, it would be plain that the Spirit was also in God through the Word. And so, when the Spirit comes to be in us, the Son will come, and the Father, and they will make their home in us. For the Triad is indivisible, and its Godhead is one; and there is one God over all and through all and in all. This is the faith of the catholic church; for the Lord founded and rooted it in the Triad, saying to the disciples: “Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” If the Spirit were a creature, he would not have ranked him with the Father, lest the Triad be unlike itself, with something foreign and alien ranked with it. For what did God lack, that he should take to himself something of alien essence and be glorified together with it? Far from it! It is not so. “I am full,” he himself said. That is why the Lord himself ranked the Spirit with the name of the Father, to show that the holy Triad is not composed of different things, that is, of creator and creature, but that its Godhead is one. Having learned this, Paul taught that the grace given in it is one, saying, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” And as there is one baptism, so there is one faith; for whoever believes in the Father knows the Son in the Father, and the Spirit not outside the Son; and for this reason he believes also in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, since the Godhead of the Triad is one, being known from the one Father.

This, then, is the character of the catholic faith. And those who speak ill of the Spirit and call him a creature, if they do not repent at what has been said, let them at least be ashamed and sink out of sight at what is about to be said. If there is a Triad, and faith is in a Triad, let them say whether it is always a Triad, or there was a time when it was not a Triad. If, then, the Triad is eternal, the Spirit is not a creature, since he coexists eternally with the Word and is in him. For of the creatures it is true that there was when they were not. But if he is a creature, and creatures are from nothing, then plainly there was a time when there was not a Triad but a Dyad. And what more impious thing could anyone say? They say that the Triad is constituted by change and advancement, and was a Dyad, and waited for a creature to come into being, so that it might be ranked with Father and Son and the Triad might come to be. Far be it that such a thing should ever even enter the mind of Christians! For as the Son, being eternal, is not a creature, so, the Triad being eternal, there is no creature in it; therefore the Spirit is not a creature. For as it always was, so it is now; and as it is now, so it always was; and it is the Triad, and in it Father and Son and Holy Spirit. And there is one God, the Father, who is over all and through all and in all, who is blessed forever. Amen. I, then, as you asked, have written down these things too briefly and sent them; but you, being wise, if anything is lacking in these too, please supply it; and read it to those of the household of faith, and refute those who are contentious in slander; perhaps, though late, they may repent and wash from their soul the malice that has arisen in them. For it is good for them, as it is written, to leap away and not to linger, lest, persisting, they hear what was said by the Lord: “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

Again, then, it is right that you be questioned in this way from your own premises. Since the prophets speak in the Spirit of God, and in Isaiah the Holy Spirit prophesies, as has been shown above, then the Spirit too is a Word of God, and there are two Words, the Spirit and the Son. For the prophets prophesied when the Word of God came to them. And besides, since all things came to be through the Word, and without him not one thing came to be, and “God by wisdom founded the earth,” and made all things in wisdom—and it is written, as was shown above, “You will send forth your Spirit, and they will be created”—then either the Spirit is the Word, or God made all things in two, in Wisdom and in the Spirit. And how does Paul say, “One God, from whom are all things, and one Lord, through whom are all things”? And again: since the Son is the image of the invisible Father, and the Spirit is the image of the Son (for it is written, “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”), then by this reasoning the Father is a grandfather. And since the Son came in the name of the Father, and “the Holy Spirit,” says the Son, “whom the Father will send in my name”—then in this way too the Father is a grandfather. What do you say to these things, you who say everything so readily? What do you reason with yourselves? Or, seeing yourselves at a loss, do you find fault with such questions? But first condemn yourselves (for it is you who are accustomed to ask such things), and obey the Scriptures, and, being at a loss for an answer, learn at last: the Spirit was not named Son in the Scriptures, but Holy Spirit and Spirit of God. And as the Spirit was not named Son, so neither is it written of the Son that he is the Holy Spirit. Does the faith, then, disagree with the truth because the Spirit was not named Son, nor is it said that the Spirit is the Son? Far from it! Rather, each of the things signified has its own knowledge. For the Son is the proper offspring of the essence and nature of the Father, and this is what that name signifies. And the Spirit, being called God’s and being in him, is not foreign to the nature of the Son, nor to the Godhead of the Father. For this reason there is one Godhead in the Triad, in Father and in Son and in the Spirit himself; and in the Triad itself there is one baptism and one faith. Indeed, when the Father sends the Spirit, the Son breathes and gives him to the disciples, since “all that the Father has is the Son’s.” And when the Word came to the prophets, they prophesied by the Spirit, as it is written and has been shown: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their host.”

Thus the Spirit is not a creature, but proper to the essence of the Word, proper also to God, and is said to be in him. For we must not hesitate to say the same things again. Even if the Holy Spirit was not named Son, yet he is not outside the Son; for he is called the Spirit of adoption; and since “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,” it is consistently said of the Spirit: “He is the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of power.” For partaking of the Spirit we have the Son, and having the Son we have the Spirit, crying in our hearts, “Abba, Father,” as Paul said. But if, because the Spirit is God’s, it is written also that he is in him—“For no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God who is in him”—and the Son too said, “I am in the Father, and the Father in me,” why is the same name not given to this one and to that, but the one is Son and the other Spirit? If anyone asks this, such a person would be mad, searching the unsearchable and disregarding the apostle, who says, “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” Besides, who will dare to rename what God has named? Let him rather apply himself to the things of creation, if he can. Let them say, since creation came to be at the same nod, why the one is the sun, and the other heaven and earth and sea and air. And if this is impossible for these fools (for each thing is of the kind in which it came to be), much more do the things that are above creation have an eternal permanence; and it is not otherwise than that the Father is Father, and not grandfather, and the Son is Son of God, and not father of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit, and not grandchild of the Father nor brother of the Son.

These things being shown in this way, one would be mad to ask, “Is the Spirit, then, also a Son?” Nor, because it is not written so, let anyone on that account remove him from the nature and property of God; but let him believe as it is written, and not say, “Why thus and not thus?”—lest, reasoning such things, he begin to practice saying, “Where then is God, and how does he exist?” and then hear: “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.” For the things handed down by faith have a knowledge that is free of prying. The disciples, at any rate, hearing “baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” did not pry into why the Son is second and the Spirit third, or why there is a Triad at all; but as they heard, so they believed; and they did not ask, as you do, “Is the Spirit, then, a Son?” Nor, when the Lord named the Spirit after the Son, did they ask, “Is the Father, then, a grandfather?” For they did not hear “into the name of a grandfather,” but “into the name of the Father”; and they preached this faith everywhere, reasoning rightly. For it was not possible to speak otherwise than as the Savior spoke, calling himself Son and the Spirit Holy Spirit; nor is it lawful to interchange them otherwise than as they are ranked, as with the Father. For as one may not speak of him otherwise than as Father, so it is impious to ask whether the Spirit is Son or the Son Spirit. For this reason Sabellius was judged alien to the church, since he dared to apply to the Father the name of the Son, and to the Son the name of the Father. Will anyone, then, after this, on hearing Son and Spirit, dare to say, “Is the Father then a grandfather, or the Spirit a Son?” Yes, the Eunomiuses and Eudoxiuses and Eusebiuses will dare. For having once played the part of the Arian heresy, they will not stop their tongue from impiety. For who handed these things down to them? Who taught them? No one from the divine Scriptures; but such madness has come forth from the abundance of their heart.

For if, because the Spirit is not a creature (for this has been shown), you ask, “Is the Spirit then a Son?”, it is time for you, having learned that the Son is not a creature (for through him originated things were created), to ask, “Is the Son then Father?” Or this: “Is the Spirit then the Son, and is the Son himself the Holy Spirit?” But reasoning such things, they will be outside the holy Triad and will be judged godless, changing the names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and transferring them as they wish, after the likeness of human generation, naming grandchildren and grandfathers, and fashioning for themselves the theogony of the Greeks. But this is not the faith of the church; rather, as the Savior said, it is into Father and Son and Holy Spirit: a Father who cannot be called grandfather, and a Son who cannot be called Father, and a Holy Spirit named in no other way than so. In this faith the names cannot be interchanged; but the Father is always Father, and the Son always Son, and the Holy Spirit always is, and is called, Holy Spirit. Among human beings it is not so, even if the Arians imagine such things. For as it is written, “God is not as man,” so one might say that men are not as God. For among men the father is not always father, nor the son always son. For the same man becomes father of a son, while he himself was born the son of another; and the son, being son of a father, becomes father of another. Abraham, at any rate, being son of Nahor, became father of Isaac; and Isaac, being son of Abraham, became father of Jacob. For each, being a part of his parent, is begotten as a son and himself becomes father of another. But in the Godhead it is not so, since God is not as man. The Father, at any rate, is not from a Father; therefore he does not beget one who will become father of another; nor is the Son a part of the Father; therefore he is not begotten so as to beget a son. Hence in the Godhead alone the Father, being properly and alone Father, is and was and always is; and the Son is properly and alone Son. And in their case it holds firm that the Father is always Father and the Son always Son, both in being and in being called; and the Holy Spirit is always Holy Spirit; and we have believed that he is God’s and is given from the Father through the Son. For in this way the holy Triad remains unalterable, known in one Godhead. So whoever asks, “Is the Spirit then a Son?” imagines that the name can be changed, and brings madness on himself. And whoever asks, “Is the Father then a grandfather?” devising a name for the Father, goes astray in his heart. To answer the shamelessness of the heretics further … [7] These things are enough to refute your foolish talk. Stop playing with the Godhead any longer. For it is the part of those who play to ask what is not written, and to say, “Is the Spirit then a Son, and the Father a grandfather?” Let the one in Caesarea and the one in Scythopolis laugh in this way. It is enough for you to believe that the Spirit is not a creature, but is the Spirit of God, and that in him the Triad is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. And one must neither give the name Father to the Son, nor may one say that the Spirit is the Son, nor that the Son is the Holy Spirit; but it is as has been said, and the Godhead in this Triad is one, and the faith is one, and the baptism given in it is one, and the initiation is one, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit to all the ages of ages. Amen.