5. They have already inserted these
expressions in their own writings. They sent them first to the
man of God, Meletius, Meletius of
Antioch. bishop, and after
receiving from him a suitable reply, like mothers of monsters, ashamed
of their natural deformities, these men themselves brought forth and
bring up their disgusting offspring in appropriate darkness. They
made an attempt too by letter on my dear friend Anthimus, bishop of
Tyana, Tyana,
at the north of Mount Taurus, is the city which gave a distinctive
name to Apollonius the Thaumaturge. That Basil should speak in
kindly and complimentary terms of Anthimus is remarkable, for from
few contemporaries did he suffer more. It was the quarrel in
which Anthimus attacked and plundered a train of Basil’s
sumpter mules, and Gregory of Nazianzus fought stoutly for his
friend, that led to Basil’s erecting Sasima into a bishopric,
as a kind of buffer see against his rival metropolitan. (Greg.
Naz., Or. xliii. 356, Ep. xxxi. and
Carm. i. 8.) See Prolegomena. on the ground
that Gregory had said in his exposition of the faith The ἔκθεσις τῆς
πίστεως of
Gregory Thaumaturgus. cf. Ep. cciv. and
the De Sp. Scto. § 74. On the genuineness of the
ἔκθεσις, vide
D. C. Biog. i. 733. cf.
Dorner’s Christologie i. 737. It
is given at length in the Life of Greg. Thaumat. by Gregory
of Nyssa, and is found in the Latin Psalter, written in gold,
which Charlemagne gave to Adrian I. Bp. Bull’s
translation is as follows:
“There is one God, Father of Him
who is the living Word, subsisting Wisdom and Power and Eternal
Impress, Perfect begotten of the Perfect, Father of the only begotten
Son. There is one Lord, Alone of the Alone, God of God, Impress
and Image of the Godhead, the operative Word; Wisdom comprehensive of
the system of the universe, and Power productive of the whole creation;
true Son of true Father, Invisible of Invisible and Incorruptible of
Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal, and Eternal of Eternal.
And there is one Holy Ghost, who hath His being of God, who hath
appeared through the Son, Image of the Son, Perfect of the Perfect;
Life, the cause of all them that live; Holy Fountain, Holiness, the
Bestower of Sanctification, in whom is manifested God the Father, who
is over all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all. A
Perfect Trinity, not divided nor alien in glory and eternity and
dominion.” that Father and Son are in thought two,
but in hypostasis one. The Ben.
note refused to believe that so Sabellian an expression can have
been used by Gregory. Basil’s explanation is that it was
used in controversy with a heathen on another subject, loosely and
not dogmatically. The words are said not to be found in any
extant document attributed to Gregory, whether genuine or
doubtful. But they may be matched in some of the expressions
of Athanasius. cf. p. 195. Ath., Tom. ad
Af. § 4 and Hom. in Terem. viii.
96. The men
who congratulate themselves on the subtilty of their
intelligence could not perceive that this is said not in reference
to dogmatic opinion, but in controversy with Ælian. And
in this dispute there are not a few copyists’ blunders, as,
please God, I shall shew in the case of the actual expressions
used. But in his endeavour to convince the heathen, he
deemed it needless to be nice about the words he employed; he
judged it wiser sometimes to make concessions to the character of
the subject who was being persuaded, so as not to run counter to
the opportunity given him. This explains how it is that you
may find there many expressions which now give great support to
the heretics, as for instance “creature” κτίσμα. and “thing made” ποίημα. and the like. But those who
ignorantly criticise these writings refer to the question of the
Godhead much that is said in reference to the conjunction with
man; as is the case with this passage which they are hawking
about. For it is indispensable to have clear understanding
that, as he who fails to confess the community of the essence or
substance falls into polytheism, so he who refuses to grant the
distinction of the hypostases is carried away into Judaism.
For we must keep our mind stayed, so to say, on certain underlying
subject matter, and, by forming a clear impression of its
distinguishing lines, so arrive at the end desired. For
suppose we do not bethink us of the Fatherhood, nor bear in mind
Him of whom this distinctive quality is marked off, how can we
take in the idea of God the Father? For merely to enumerate
the differences of Persons προσώπων. is
insufficient; we must confess each Person πρόσωπον. to have a natural existence in real
hypostasis. Now Sabellius did not even deprecate the
formation of the persons without hypostasis, saying as he did that
the same God, being one in matter, τῷ
ὑποκειμένῳ. was metamorphosed as the need of the
moment required, and spoken of now as Father, now as Son, and now
as Holy Ghost. The inventors of this unnamed heresy are
renewing the old long extinguished error; those, I mean, who are
repudiating the hypostases, and denying the name of the Son of
God. They must give over uttering iniquity against
God,
Ps. lxxv. 5, LXX. or they will
have to wail with them that deny the Christ.