Chapter XXVII.
Of the origin of the word “with,” and what
force it has. Also concerning the unwritten laws of the
church.
65.
The
word
“
in,
” say our opponents, “is exactly
appropriate to the Spirit, and sufficient for every thought concerning
Him. Why then, they ask, have we introduced this new phrase,
saying, “
with
the Spirit” instead of
“
in
the Holy Spirit,” thus employing an expression
which is quite unnecessary, and sanctioned by no usage in the
churches? Now it has been asserted in the previous portion of
this treatise that the word “
in
” has not been
specially allotted to the Holy Spirit, but is common to the Father and
the Son. It has also been, in my opinion, sufficiently
demonstrated that, so far from detracting anything from the dignity of
the Spirit, it leads all, but those whose thoughts are wholly
perverted, to the sublimest height. It remains for me to trace
the origin of the word “
with
;” to explain what force
it has, and to shew that it is in harmony with Scripture.
66.
1268
Of the
beliefs and practices whether
generally accepted or publicly enjoined
which are preserved in the Church
1269
some we
possess derived from written teaching; others we have received
delivered to us “in a mystery”
1270
by
the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true
religion have the same force. And these no one will
gainsay;—no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in
the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject
such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the
importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the
Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public
definition a mere phrase and nothing more.
1271
For instance, to take the first and
most general example, who is thence who has taught us in writing to
sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing has taught us to turn to the
East at the prayer? Which of the saints has left us in writing
the words of the invocation at the displaying
1272
of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup
of blessing? For we are not, as is well known, content with
what the apostle or the Gospel has recorded, but both in preface and
conclusion we add other words as being of great importance to the
validity of the ministry, and these we derive from unwritten
teaching.
Moreover we bless the water of baptism
and the oil of the chrism, and besides this the catechumen who is
being baptized. On what written authority do we do this?
Is not our authority silent and mystical tradition? Nay, by
what written word is the anointing of oil
1273
itself taught? And whence comes the custom of baptizing
thrice?
1274
And as to
the other customs of baptism from what Scripture do we derive the
renunciation of Satan and his angels? Does not this come from
that unpublished and secret teaching which our fathers guarded in a
silence out of the reach of curious meddling and inquisitive
investigation? Well had they learnt the lesson that the awful
dignity of the mysteries is best preserved by silence. What
the uninitiated are not even allowed to look at was hardly likely to
be publicly paraded about in written documents. What was the
meaning of the mighty Moses in not making all the parts of the
tabernacle open to every one? The profane he stationed without
the sacred barriers; the first courts he conceded to the purer; the
Levites alone he judged worthy of being servants of the Deity;
sacrifices and burnt offerings and the rest of the priestly
functions he allotted to the priests; one chosen out of all he
admitted to the shrine, and even this one not always but on only one
day in the year, and of this one day a time was fixed for his entry
so that he might gaze on the Holy of Holies amazed at the
strangeness and novelty of the sight. Moses was wise enough to
know that contempt stretches to the trite and to the obvious, while
a keen interest is naturally associated with the unusual and the
unfamiliar. In the same manner the Apostles and Fathers who
laid down laws for the Church from the beginning thus guarded the
awful dignity of the mysteries in secrecy and silence, for what is
bruited abroad random among the common folk is no mystery at
all. This is the reason for our tradition of unwritten
precepts and practices, that the knowledge of our dogmas may not
become neglected and contemned by the multitude through
familiarity. “Dogma” and “Kerugma” are
two distinct things; the former is observed in silence; the latter
is proclaimed to all the world. One form of this silence is
the obscurity employed in Scripture, which makes the meaning of
“dogmas” difficult to be understood for the very
advantage of the reader: Thus we all look to the East
1275
at our prayers, but few of us know that
we are seeking our own old country,
1276
Paradise, which God planted in Eden in the East.
1277
We pray standing,
1278
on the first day of the week, but we do
not all know the reason. On the day of the resurrection (or
“standing again” Grk.
ἀνάστασις
)
we remind ourselves of the grace given to us by standing at prayer,
not only because we rose with Christ,
1279
and are bound to “seek those things which are
above,”
1280
but because the
day seems to us to be in some sense an image of the age which we
expect, wherefore, though it is the beginning of days, it is not
called by Moses
first
, but
one
.
1281
For he says “There was
evening, and there was morning, one day,” as though the same
day often recurred. Now “one” and
“eighth” are the same, in itself distinctly indicating
that really “one” and “eighth” of which the
Psalmist makes mention in certain titles of the Psalms, the state
which follows after this present time, the day which knows no waning
or eventide, and no successor, that age which endeth not or groweth
old.
1282
Of
necessity, then, the church teaches her own foster children to offer
their prayers on that day standing, to the end that through
continual reminder of the endless life we may not neglect to make
provision for our removal thither. Moreover all Pentecost is a
reminder of the resurrection expected in the age to come. For
that one and first day, if seven times multiplied by seven,
completes the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost; for, beginning at
the first, Pentecost ends with the same, making fifty revolutions
through the like intervening days. And so it is a likeness of
eternity, beginning as it does and ending, as in a circling course,
at the same point. On this day the rules of the church have
educated us to prefer the upright attitude of prayer, for by their
plain reminder they, as it were, make our mind to dwell no longer in
the present but in the future. Moreover every time we fall
upon our knees and rise
from off them we shew by the very deed that
by our sin we fell down to earth, and by the loving kindness of our
Creator were called back to heaven.
67. Time will fail me if I attempt to
recount the unwritten mysteries of the Church. Of the rest I say
nothing; but of the very confession of our faith in Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, what is the written source? If it be granted that, as
we are baptized, so also under the obligation to believe, we make our
confession in like terms as our baptism, in accordance with the
tradition of our baptism and in conformity with the principles of true
religion, let our opponents grant us too the right to be as consistent
in our ascription of glory as in our confession of faith. If they
deprecate our doxology on the ground that it lacks written authority,
let them give us the written evidence for the confession of our faith
and the other matters which we have enumerated. While the
unwritten traditions are so many, and their bearing on “the
mystery of godliness”
1283
is so important,
can they refuse to allow us a single word which has come down to us
from the Fathers;—which we found, derived from untutored custom,
abiding in unperverted churches;—a word for which the arguments
are strong, and which contributes in no small degree to the
completeness of the force of the mystery?
68. The force of both expressions has now
been explained. I will proceed to state once more wherein they
agree and wherein they differ from one another;—not that they are
opposed in mutual antagonism, but that each contributes its own meaning
to true religion. The preposition “
in
” states
the truth rather relatively to ourselves; while
“
with
” proclaims the fellowship of the Spirit with
God. Wherefore we use both words, by the one expressing the
dignity of the Spirit; by the other announcing the grace that is with
us. Thus we ascribe glory to God both “in” the
Spirit, and “with” the Spirit; and herein it is not our
word that we use, but we follow the teaching of the Lord as we might a
fixed rule, and transfer His word to things connected and closely
related, and of which the conjunction in the mysteries is
necessary. We have deemed ourselves under a necessary obligation
to combine in our confession of the faith Him who is numbered with Them
at Baptism, and we have treated the confession of the faith as the
origin and parent of the doxology. What, then, is to be
done? They must now instruct us either not to baptize as we have
received, or not to believe as we were baptized, or not to ascribe
glory as we have believed. Let any man prove if he can that the
relation of sequence in these acts is not necessary and unbroken; or
let any man deny if he can that innovation here must mean ruin
everywhere. Yet they never stop dinning in our ears that the
ascription of glory “
with
” the Holy Spirit is
unauthorized and unscriptural and the like. We have stated that
so far as the sense goes it is the same to say “glory be to the
Father and to the Son
and
to the Holy Ghost,” and
“glory be to the Father and to the Son
with
the Holy
Ghost.” It is impossible for any one to reject or cancel
the syllable “and,” which is derived from the very words of
our Lord, and there is nothing to hinder the acceptance of its
equivalent. What amount of difference and similarity there is
between the two we have already shewn. And our argument is
confirmed by the fact that the Apostle uses either word
indifferently,—saying at one time “in the name of the Lord
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God;”
1284
at
another “when ye are gathered together, and my Spirit, with the
power of our Lord Jesus,”
1285
with no
idea that it makes any difference to the connexion of the names
whether he use the conjunction or the
preposition.
1268
The
genuineness of this latter portion of the Treatise was objected to
by Erasmus on the ground that the style is unlike that of
Basil’s soberer writings. Bp. Jeremy Taylor follows
Erasmus (Vol. vi. ed. 1852, p. 427). It was vindicated by
Casaubon, who recalls St. John Damascene’s quotation of the
Thirty Chapters to Amphilochius
. Mr. C.F.H. Johnston
remarks, “The later discovery of the Syriac Paraphrases of
the whole book pushes back this argument to about one hundred
years from the date of St. Basil’s writing. The
peculiar care taken by St. Basil for the writing out of the
treatise, and for its safe arrival in Amphilochius’ hands,
and the value set upon it by the friends of both, make the forgery
of half the present book, and the substitution of it for the
original within that period, almost incredible.”
Section 66 is quoted as an authoritative statement on the right
use of Tradition “as a guide to the right understanding of
Holy Scripture, for the right ministration of the Sacraments, and
the preservation of sacred rights and ceremonies in the purity of
their original institution,” in Philaret’s
Longer
Catechism of the Eastern Church
.
St. Basil is, however, strong on the supremacy of
Holy Scripture, as in the passages quoted in Bp. H. Browne,
On the
xxxix Articles
: “Believe those things which are
written; the things which are not written seek not.”
(
Hom. xxix. adv. Calum. S. Trin.)
“It is a manifest
defection from the faith, and a proof of arrogance, either to reject
anything of what is written, or to introduce anything that is
not.” (
De Fide.
i.)
cf
.
also Letters CV. and CLIX. On the right use of Tradition
cf
. Hooker,
Ecc. Pol
. lxv. 2, “Lest,
therefore, the name of tradition should be offensive to any,
considering how far by some it hath been and is abused, we mean by
traditions ordinances made in the prime of Christian Religion,
established with that authority which Christ hath left to His Church
for matters indifferent, and in that consideration requisite to be
observed, till like authority see just and reasonable causes to alter
them. So that traditions ecclesiastical are not rudely and in
gross to be shaken off, because the inventors of them were
men.”
cf
. Tert.,
De Præsc
.
36, 20, 21, “
Constat omnem doctrinam quæ cum illis
ecclesiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fidei conspiret
veritati deputandam, id sine dubio tenentem quod ecclesiæ ab
apostolis, apostoli a Christo, Christus a Deo accepit
.”
Vide
Thomasius,
Christ. Dogm
. i.
105.
1269
“τῶς
ἐν τῇ
Εκκλησί& 139·
πεφυλαγμένων
δογμάτων
καὶ
κηρυγμάτων
.”
To give the apparent meaning of the original seems impossible
except by some such paraphrase as the above. In Scripture
δόγμα
, which occurs five
times (
Luke ii. 1, Acts xvi.
4, xvii. 7, Eph. ii. 15, and Col. ii. 14
), always has its proper sense
of decree or ordinances.
cf
. Bp. Lightfoot, on
Col.
ii. 14
, and his contention that the Greek Fathers generally have
mistaken the force of the passage in understanding
δόγματα
in both
Col. and Eph. to mean the doctrines and precepts of the
Gospel.
Κήρυγμα
occurs
eight times (
Matt. xii. 41, Luke xi. 32, Rom. xvi. 25, 1 Cor. i.
21, ii. 4, xv. 14, 2 Tim iv. 17, and Tit. i. 3
), always in the sense of preaching
or proclamation.
“The later Christian sense of
δόγμα
, meaning
doctrine
, came from its secondary classical use, where it was
applied to the authoritative and categorical ‘sentences’ of
the philosophers:
cf
. Just. Mart.,
Apol
. i.
7.
οἰ ἐν
῞Ελλησι τὰ
αὐτοῖς
ἀρεστὰ
δογματίσαντες
ἐκ παντὸς τῷ
ενὶ ὀνόματι
φιλοσοφίας
προσαγορεύοντα,
καίπερ τῶν
δογμάτων
ἐναντίων
ὄντων
.” [All the
sects in general among the Greeks are known by the common name of
philosophy, though their doctrines are different.] Cic.,
Acad
. ii. 19. ‘
De suis decretis quæ
philosophi vocant
δόγματα
.’…There
is an approach towards the ecclesiastical meaning in Ignat.,
Mag
. 13,
βεβαιωθῆσαι
ἐν τοῖς
δόγμασι τοῦ
κυρίου καὶ
τῶν
ἀποστόλων
.”
Bp. Lightfoot in
Col. ii. 14
. The “doctrines” of
heretics are also called
δόγματα
, as in
Basil,
Ep
.
CCLXI
. and Socr.,
E. H.
iii. 10.
cf
. Bp. Bull,
in Serm
. 2, “The dogmata or tenets of
the Sadducees.” In Orig.,
c. Cels
. iii. p. 135, Ed.
Spencer, 1658,
δόγμα
is used of the gospel or
teaching of our Lord.
The special point about St. Basil’s use of
δόγματα
is that he
uses the word of doctrines and practices privately and tacitly
sanctioned in the Church (like
ἀπόρρητα
, which is used
of the esoteric doctrine of the Pythagoreans, Plat.,
Phæd
.
62. B.), while he reserves
κηρύγματα
for what is now often understood by
δόγματα
,
i.e
. “
legitima synodo
decreta
.”
cf. Ep. LII
., where he speaks of
the great
κήρυγμα
of the
Fathers at Nicæa. In this he is supported by Eulogius,
Patriarch of Alexandria, 579–607, of whom Photius (
Cod
.
ccxxx. Migne Pat. Gr. ciii. p. 1027) writes, “In this
work,”
i.e
. Or. II. “he says that of the doctrines
(
διδαγμάτων
)
handed down in the church by the ministers of the word, some are
δόγματα
, and others
κηρύγματα
.
The distinction is that
δόγματα
are announced
with concealment and prudence, and are often designedly compassed with
obscurity, in order that holy things may not be exposed to profane
persons nor pearls cast before swine.
Κηρύγματα
, on the other hand, are announced without any
concealment.” So the Benedictine Editors speak of Origen
(
c. Cels
. i. 7) as replying to Celsus,
“
prædicationem Christianorum toti orbi notiorem
esse quam placita philosophorum: sed tamen fatetur, ut apud
philosophos, ita etiam apud Christianos nonulla esse veluti interiora,
quæ post exteriorem et propositam omnibus doctrinam
tradantur
.” Of
κηρύματα
they
note, “
Videntur hoc nomine designari leges ecclesiasticæ
et canonum decreta quæ promulgari in ecclesia mos erat, ut neminem
laterent
.” Mr. C.F.H. Johnston remarks:
“The
ὁμοούσιον
,
which many now-a-days would call the Nicene dogma (
τὰ τοῦ
ὁμοουσίου
δόγματα
, Soc.,
E.H.
iii. 10) because it was put forth in the Council of
Nicæa, was for that reason called not
δόγμα
, but
κήρυγμα
, by St.
Basil, who would have said that it became the
κήρυγμα
(definition) of that Council, because it had always been the
δόγμα
of the
Church.”
In extra theological philosophy a
dogma has all along meant a certainly expressed opinion whether
formally decreed or not. So Shaftesbury,
Misc. Ref
. ii. 2,
“He who is certain, or presumes to say he knows, is in that
particular whether he be mistaken or in the right a
dogmatist.”
cf
. Littré S.V. for a similar use
in French. In theology the modern Roman limitation of dogma to
decreed doctrine is illustrated by the statement of Abbé
Bérgier (
Dict. de Théol
.
Ed. 1844) of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.
“Or,
nous convenons que ce n’est pas un
dogme de foi
,” because, though a common opinion among
Romanists, it had not been so asserted at the Council of Trent.
Since the publication of Pius IX’s Edict of 1854 it has become,
to ultramontanists, a “dogma of faith.”
1270
1 Cor. ii. 7
. Whether there is or is not
here a conscious reference to St. Paul’s words, there seems
to be both in the text and in the passage cited an employment of
μυστήριον
in its proper sense of a secret revealed to the
initiated.
1271
i.e.
if
nothing were of weight but what was written, what need of any
authorisation at all? There is no need of
κήρυγμα
for a
δόγμα
expressly written in Scripture.
1272
ἐπὶ τῇ
ἀναδείξει
.
The Benedictine note is: “
Non respicit Basilius ad
ritum ostensionis Eucharistiæ, ut multi existimarunt, sed
potius ad verba Liturgiæ ipsi ascriptæ, cum petit
sacerdos, ut veniat Spiritus sanctus
ἁγιάσαι και
ἀναδεῖξαι
τὸν μὲν
ἄρτον
τοῦτον αὐτὸ
τὸ τίμιον
σῶμα τοῦ
κυρίου
.
Haec autem
verba
ἐπὶ τῇ
ἀναδειξει
,
sic reddit Erasmus,
cum ostenditur
. Vituperat
eum Ducæus; sicque ipse vertit,
cum conficitur,
atque
hanc interpretationem multis exemplis confirmat. Videtur
tamen nihil prorsus vitii habitura haec interpretatio,
Invocationis verba cum ostenditur panis Eucharistiæ,
id
est, cum panis non jam panis est, sed panis Eucharistiæ, sive
corpus Christi ostenditur; et in liturgia,
ut sanctificet et
ostendat hunc quidem panem, ipsum pretiosum corpus Domini.
Nam 1
0
Cur eam vocem reformidemus, qua Latini uti
non dubitant, ubi de Eucharistia loquuntur? Quale est illud
Cypriani in epistola 63 ad Cæcilium:
Vino Christi
sanguis ostenditur.
Sic etiam Tertullianus
I. Marc.
c. 14: Panem quo ipsum corpus suum repræsentat
2
0
Ut Græce,
ἀναδεῖξαι,
ἀποφαίνειν
,
ita etiam Latine
, ostendere,
corpus Christi
præsens in Eucharistia significatione quodam modo
exprimit. Hoc enim verbum non solum panem fieri corpus
Domini significat, sed etiam fidem nostram excitat, ut illud
corpus sub specie panis videndum, tegendum, adorandum ostendi
credamus. Quemadmodum Irenæus, cum ait lib. iv. cap.
33:
Accipiens panem suum corpus esse confitebatur, et
temperamentum calicis suum sanguinem conformavit,
non solum
mutationem panis et vini in corpus et sanguinem Christi exprimit,
sed ipsam etiam Christi asseverationem, quæ hanc nobis
mutationem persuadet: sic qui corpus Christi in Eucharistia
ostendi et repræsentari dicunt, non modo jejuno et exiliter
loqui non videntur, sed etiam acriores Christi præsentis
adorandi stimulos subjicere. Poterat ergo retineri
interpretatio Erasmi; sed quia viris eruditis displicuit, satius
visum est quid sentirem in hac nota
exponere
.”
This view of the meaning of
ἀναδείκνυσθαι
and
ἀνάδειξις
as being equivalent to
ποιεῖν
and
ποίησις
is borne
out and illustrated by Suicer, S.V. “
Ex his jam satis
liquere arbitror
ἀναδειξαι
apud Basilium id esse quod alii Græci patres dicunt
ποιεῖν
vel
ἀποφαίνειν
σῶμα
χριστοῦ
.”
It is somewhat curious to find Bellarmine
(
De Sacr. Euch
. iv. § 14) interpreting the prayer to God
εὐλογῆσαι
καὶ ἁγιάσαι
καὶ
ἀναδεῖξαι
to mean
“ostende
per effectum salutarem in mentibus nostris
istum panem salutificatum non esse panem vulgarem sed
cœlestem
.”
1273
For the
unction of catechumens
cf
.
Ap. Const
. vii. 22; of the
baptized, Tertullian,
De Bapt
. vii.; of the
confirmed,
id
. viii.; of the sick
vide
Plumptre on St.
James v. 14
, in
Cambridge Bible for
Schools
.
cf. Letter
clxxxviii.
1274
For
trine immersion an early authority is Tertullian,
c.
Praxeam
xxvi.
cf
. Greg. Nyss.,
De Bapt
.
ὕδατι
ἑαυτοὺς
ἐγκρύπτομεν
…καὶ
τρίτον τοῦτο
ποιήσαντες
.
Dict. Ch. Ant.
i. 161.
1275
cf
. my
note on Theodoret in this series, p. 112.
1276
Heb. xi. 14
, R.V.
1277
Gen. ii. 8
.
1278
The
earliest posture of prayer was standing, with the hands extended and
raised towards heaven, and with the face turned to the East.
cf
. early art, and specially the figures of
“oranti.” Their rich dress indicates less their
actual station in this life than the expected felicity of
Paradise.
Vide, Dict. Christ. Ant
. ii.
1684.
1279
“Stood
again with”—
συναναστάντες
.
1280
Col. iii. 1
.
1281
Gen. i. 5
. Heb. LXX. Vulg. R.V.
cf
. p. 64.
1282
Vide
Titles to Pss. vi. and xii. in A.V. “upon Sheminith,”
marg. “the eighth.” LXX
ὑπὲρ
τῆς
ὀγδόης
. Vulg.
pro
octava
. On various explanations of the Hebrew word
vide
Dict Bib. S. V. where Dr. Aldis Wright inclines to the
view that it is a tune or key, and that the Hebrews were not
acquainted with the octave.
1283
1 Tim. iii.
16
.
1284
1 Cor. vi.
11
.
1285
1 Cor. v. 4
.