Letters 1 part 5/32

But if it had given the definition of the essence, there would have been no mention of the things just said in the explanation of the nature.

For it would have been the very same account for Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, and for each of the other men mentioned there.

The principle of distinction, then, which you have come to know in our own case between essence and hypostasis, you will not err in transferring also to the divine doctrines.

However you conceive the being of the Father — whatever your notion may suppose it to be (for there is no fixed concept upon which the soul can rest, since it is convinced that it is beyond every concept) — this same thing you will also understand of the Son, and likewise of the Holy Spirit.

For the account of the uncreated and the incomprehensible is one and the same for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

For it is not that the one is more incomprehensible and uncreated, and the other less so.

...but that we have the distinction in this way: that which is commonly observed — I mean, for instance, 'the uncreated,' or 'that which is beyond all comprehension,' or anything else of this kind — we shall not include in the determination of what is particular; rather, we shall seek only for those things by which the concept of each is clearly and unmixedly marked off from what is contemplated along with it.

It seems to me, then, good to trace out the argument in this way.

Whatever good reaches us from the divine power, we say to be the working of the grace that works all things in all, as the Apostle says—

But all these things the one and the same Spirit works, apportioning to each one individually as he wills.

But when we inquire whether the supply of good things, taking its origin from the Holy Spirit alone, thus comes to those who are worthy, we are again guided by Scripture to believe that the only-begotten God is the source and cause of the supply of good things that are worked in us through the Spirit.

For we have been taught by the Holy Scripture that all things were made through him, and hold together in him.

When, then, we are raised up even to that conception, being led again by God-inspired guidance, we are taught that through that power all things are brought from non-being into being, yet not even that power itself is without beginning; but there is a certain power, unbegotten and without beginning, subsisting, which is the cause of the cause of all beings.

For from the Father is the Son, through whom are all things, with whom the Holy Spirit is always inseparably conceived together.

For it is not possible to come to a conception of the Son without first being illumined by the Spirit.

Since, then, the Holy Spirit, from whom all the supply of good things flows forth upon creation, is dependent upon the Son, with whom he is inseparably apprehended together, and has his being attached to the cause which is the Father, whence also he proceeds — this is the distinguishing mark of his hypostatic particularity: to be known after the Son and together with him, and to subsist from the Father.

But the Son, who makes known through himself and together with himself the Spirit who proceeds from the Father, having alone shone forth in a unique and only-begotten manner from the unbegotten light, has no communion, as regards his distinguishing marks, with the Father or with the Holy Spirit, but is known alone by the signs already mentioned.

But God who is over all has, as an exclusive mark of his own hypostasis, being the Father, and subsisting from no cause, alone; and by this sign in turn he himself is particularly recognized.

For this reason, we say that, within the commonality of the essence, the marks observed in the Trinity are incompatible and incommunicable with one another, by which the particularity of the Persons handed down in the faith is presented, each one being distinctly apprehended by his own marks — so that through the signs mentioned, the separateness of the hypostases may be discovered:

but that, with respect to the infinite, the incomprehensible, being uncreated, being encompassed by no place, and all such things, there is no variation in the life-giving nature (I mean in the case of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), but rather that a certain continuous and unbroken communion is to be observed in them.

And by whatever concepts one might comprehend the majesty of any one of those believed in in the Holy Trinity, by the same concepts one will approach without variation, beholding the glory in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit alike, the mind treading on no empty gap between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

But he who has conceived the Father has both conceived him in himself, and has together received the Son also in his understanding.

...he has formed within himself a faith blended together as one and the same.

And he who has named the Spirit alone has, in this very confession, also included him whose Spirit he is.

And since the Spirit is of Christ, and is from God, as Paul says—

just as one who takes hold of one end of a chain draws along the other end with it, so he who has drawn to himself the Spirit, as the prophet says, has through him drawn together with him both the Son and the Father. And if one truly receives the Son, one will have him from both sides, bringing along on one side his own Father, and on the other his own Spirit.

For neither can he who is always in the Father be cut off from the Father, nor can he who works all things in the Spirit ever be separated from his own Spirit.

Likewise, too, he who has received the Father has, by that very power, together received both the Son and the Spirit.

For it is not possible to conceive of a cutting or division in any way whatsoever, such that the Son should be conceived apart from the Father, or the Spirit be separated from the Son; but in these there is apprehended a certain ineffable and incomprehensible communion and distinction alike — the difference of the hypostases neither tearing apart the continuity of the nature, nor the commonality of the essence dissolving the particularity of the distinguishing marks.

Do not be surprised if we say that the same thing is both joined together and distinguished, and if we conceive, as it were in a riddle, a new and paradoxical distinction that is joined together, and a conjunction that is distinguished.

For if one does not listen to this account contentiously and with a view to abuse, it is possible to find such a thing even among sensible things.

And receive my account as an illustration and shadow of the truth, not as the very truth of the things themselves.

For it is not possible that what is observed in the illustrations should be applied in every respect to the things for the sake of which the use of illustrations is adopted.

From what source, then, do we say that what is both distinguished and yet of one nature may be reasoned out from what appears to us according to sensory perception? Have you ever beheld the brightness of the bow in the cloud in springtime — that bow, I mean, which common speech is accustomed to call the rainbow — which those skilled in such matters say forms whenever there is a certain moisture mingled with the air, the force of the winds squeezing into rain the moist and thick, cloud-like element already formed in the vapors?

And they say it forms in the following way:

Whenever the ray of the sun, running obliquely beneath the dense and overshadowing part of the cloud-mass, then fixes its own circle directly against some cloud, a kind of bending and return of the light upon itself occurs, the beam resolving back again from the moist and glistening surface.

For since it is the nature of fiery gleams, whenever they fall upon something smooth, to bend back again upon themselves, and since this circular shape, produced by the ray in the moist and smooth part of the air, necessarily takes the form of the solar circle, the air adjoining the cloud is also outlined by the reflected brightness according to the shape of that circle.

This brightness, then, is both continuous with itself and divided.

For being at once many-colored and many-formed, it blends into itself imperceptibly with the varied hues of its dye, secretly stealing from our sight the point of junction between the differently colored parts, so that the middle region — which both mingles and separates the diversity of the colors — cannot be recognized, whether between the blue-grey and the fiery-red, or between the fiery-red and the purple, or between that and the amber.

For the beams of all the colors, seen together at once, are both radiant and, by stealing away the marks of their mutual junction, escape all scrutiny, so that it is impossible to discover up to what point the fiery or emerald part of the brilliance extends, and from what point it ceases to be such as it is seen to be in the clear radiance.

...that the particularities of the hypostases, like some hue among those that appear in the rainbow, flash forth upon each of those believed in in the Holy Trinity, while as regards the particularity of the nature, no difference of one from another is conceived, but rather that within the commonality of the essence the distinguishing particularities shine forth upon each.

For there too, in the illustration, the single substance that radiated forth that many-colored brightness was one — that which was reflected by the ray of the sun — while the hue of what appeared was many-formed; the argument thereby instructing us, even through creation, not to be vainly affected by the arguments concerning doctrine, whenever, falling into what is hard to contemplate, we grow dizzy at giving our assent to the things being said.

For just as, in the case of things visible to the eyes, experience proved superior to the account of the cause, so also, in the case of doctrines that surpass understanding, faith is superior to the comprehension achieved through reasoning, teaching us both the separateness that is in hypostasis and the union that is in essence.

Since, then, reason has observed both something common and something particular in the Holy Trinity, the principle of commonality is referred to the essence, while the hypostasis is the sign of what is particular to each.

But perhaps someone supposes that the account given concerning hypostasis does not agree with the meaning of the Apostle's writing, in those places where he says concerning the Lord that—

'The brightness of his glory, and the express image of his hypostasis.'

For if we have defined hypostasis as being the concurrence of the properties belonging to each, and it is agreed that, as in the case of the Father there is something particularly observed by which he alone is recognized, so in the same manner the same is believed also concerning the Only-Begotten — how is it, then, that here Scripture attests the name 'hypostasis' to the Father alone, yet calls the Son the 'form' of the hypostasis, characterized not by his own properties but by those of the Father? For if hypostasis is the sign of the particularity of each one's existence, and it is agreed that the Father's own property is to be unbegotten, while the Son has been formed by the properties of the Father, then it no longer remains true that the unbegotten is said exclusively and solely of the Father, if indeed the existence of the Only-Begotten also is characterized by the particularity of the Father.

But we say this: that here the Apostle's statement serves a different purpose, with an eye to which he used these expressions, saying 'the brightness of glory' and 'the express image of the hypostasis' — which purpose, if one understands it precisely, one will find nothing at variance with what has been said by us, but rather that the argument is being carried on with reference to a certain particular conception.

For the Apostle's argument is not concerned with how the hypostases might be distinguished from one another by means of the marks that appear upon them, but with how the genuine, unextended, and joined character of the Son's relation to the Father might be understood.

He who is the glory of the Father — although the truth indeed stands thus — yet passing this over as something acknowledged, and teaching that we should not conceive one kind of glory in the case of the Father and another in the case of the Son, he defines the glory of the Only-Begotten as 'the brightness' of the very glory of the Father, thereby establishing, from the illustration drawn from light, that the Son is conceived together with the Father without any interval.

For just as the brightness is from the flame, yet the brightness is not later than the flame, but the flame shone forth and the light was radiated together at the same time, so he wishes the Son also to be conceived as from the Father, yet the Only-Begotten is not marked off from the Father's existence by any interval of extension, but that which is from him is always to be understood together with its cause.

In the same manner, then, as though further explaining the sense already given, he also speaks of 'the express image of the hypostasis,' leading us by bodily illustrations to the understanding of things invisible.

...of a body, the nature does not admit of separation, but the one is understood together with the other in conjunction — so also the Apostle thinks it necessary to speak likewise:

even though the doctrine of the faith teaches an unconfused and distinct difference of the hypostases, yet by the words spoken he also presents the immediate and, as it were, connatural closeness of the Only-Begotten to the Father — not as though the Only-Begotten did not exist in a hypostasis, but as though his union with the Father did not admit of any intermediate interval.

So that one who has gazed intently with the eyes of the soul upon the express image of the Only-Begotten also comes to a conception of the Father's hypostasis, the particularity observed in each not being interchanged or intermingled — so as to impress begetting upon the Father, or unbegottenness upon the Son — but in such a way that it is not possible, having separated the one from the other, to apprehend the remaining one by itself alone.

For it is not possible, having named 'the Son,' not also to come to a conception of 'the Father,' since this appellation, being relational, also signifies the Father together with it.

Since, then, he who has seen the Son sees the Father, as the Lord says in the Gospels, for this reason the Apostle says that the Only-Begotten is the express image of the Father's hypostasis.

And so that the meaning may be more fully understood, let us also take up other expressions of the Apostle, in which he calls him 'the image of the invisible God,' and again calls him the image of his goodness — not because the image differs from the archetype in respect of invisibility and goodness, but so that it may be shown that it is the same as the prototype, even though it is other.

For the very concept of 'image' would not be preserved, unless it possessed clarity and exactness in every respect.

Therefore, he who has understood the beauty of the image comes to a conception of the archetype.

And he who has taken hold in his understanding of the as-it-were 'form' of the Son has thereby formed within himself the express image of the paternal hypostasis, seeing the one through the other — not seeing the unbegottenness of the Father in the image (for then it would be altogether the same and not other), but beholding, in the begotten, the unbegotten beauty.

Just as one who has observed the reflected image of a form in a clear mirror gains a clear knowledge of the face that has been imaged, so also one who has known the Son has received in his heart, through the knowledge of the Son, the express image of the Father's hypostasis.

For all that belongs to the Father is beheld in the Son, and all that belongs to the Son belongs to the Father, since the whole Son abides in the Father, and again has the whole Father in himself.

So that the hypostasis of the Son becomes, as it were, the form and face by which the Father is known, and the hypostasis of the Father is recognized in the form of the Son, the particularity observed in each remaining for the clear distinction of the hypostases.

You are not announcing war — but let me add, from the comedy:

O herald of golden words! Go, then, show it in deeds, and hasten to us.

For you will come as a friend to a friend.

The common and continual preoccupation with public affairs seems in some way burdensome to those who treat it as a mere side-task, but those who share in this care are, as I persuade myself, reasonable, sensible, and altogether capable in every respect.

For we associate with one another not merely with that courtly pretense which I think you have experienced up until now — whereby men praise while hating with a hatred as great as they show not even toward their bitterest enemies — but with the frankness fitting between us; and even when we reprove and rebuke one another, as need requires, we love each other no less than the closest of companions.

...both to be diligent, and that those who are diligent should not be worn out with toil, but may sleep without fear, since even when I am awake, I keep watch, as is fitting, no more for my own sake than for the sake of all others as well.

Perhaps in saying these things I have chattered on at you and talked foolishly, having suffered a somewhat silly lapse (for I have praised myself, like Astydamas), but I have written this in order to persuade you — as befits a sensible man — that your presence will do us more good than it will take away from your time.

Hasten, then, as I said, making use of the public post.

And having spent time with us for as long as pleases you, you shall depart, escorted by whomever you wish that we send with you, as is fitting.

JULIAN TO BASIL. Displaying, even to this present day, the gentleness and love of mankind innate in me from childhood, I have brought under subjection all who dwell beneath the sun.

For behold, every race of barbarians, even to the bounds of the Ocean, has come bringing gifts to me.

But you yourself have set your mind above their power, claiming to be clothed in piety, yet having assumed shamelessness, proclaiming everywhere that I have become unworthy of the empire of the Romans.

Do you not know? I happen to be the descendant of the most mighty Constans; and although these things have been said of me, for your sake I do not even now abandon the disposition toward you which you and I shared together, when we were still young, in pursuing the finest studies.

And now, behold, with a serene mind I decree that a thousand pounds of gold be sent to me by you, since I am about to march forth to the Persian war, being still upon the highway.

So, having counted out and weighed the aforesaid gold, send it by a trusted man of your own household, sealed with your own ring, so that — even though late — matters may yet turn out the more favorably for you concerning what has been sent; for I am ready to ransack the whole city of Caesarea, to overthrow the buildings that have been raised up in it, and to set up in their place temples and altars throughout, and to persuade its inhabitants to yield to the emperor of the Romans and not to exalt themselves above him.

BASIL TO JULIAN. Small are the achievements of your present fortune, and paltry the excellence in which you yourself have excelled — not against us, but against yourself.

For I am seized with much trembling when I consider in my mind that you are clothed in the purple, and that your dishonored head is adorned with a crown — a thing which, apart from piety, renders the kingship not honorable, but dishonorable.

No one has ever beheld anyone more laughable than you: that, having returned and grown excessively puffed up — wicked demons who hate what is good having dragged you into this — you should not only think beyond all nature, but even exalt yourself against God, and attempt to insult the Church, the nursing mother of all, by sending a demand to me, the most insignificant of men, that a thousand hundredweight of pounds of gold be sent to you by us.

And the weight of the gold did not astonish my mind, great as it indeed is, but it made me weep bitterly over your swift destruction.

...nothing escaped you; but at present you have become undisciplined, having encamped yourself under such a mindset.

For you knew that in the past we were not afflicted with insatiable desire for money, and now, behold, at the present time you have demanded of us that a thousand pounds of gold be sent to you.

Be willing, then, most excellent one, to spare us, who possess only so much that, should we wish to eat, it would not even suffice for us.

For among us the craft of cooks lies idle, and their knife has no dealings with blood.

The best of our foods are the leaves of vegetables, together with a very small piece of bread and wine gone sour, so that our senses, not being dazzled by gluttony, may not conduct themselves in insatiable greed.

Lausus, your illustrious tribune, who has been appointed to you for the matters you are pursuing, reported to us that a certain woman came before your Serenity concerning the death of her child, who had been poisoned by sorcery, and that it has been judged by you that sorcerers should nowhere exist, and that those found should be put to death — but that only those live whose combat is against wild beasts.

And this judgment, rightly made by you, has struck me as strange.

For such a thing is full of absurdity: how you attempt to cure the most grievous and painful of wounds with such trifling remedies.

For having dared to insult God, you make provision for widows and orphans in vain.

For the one act is madness and perilous, the other belongs to a compassionate and reasonable man.

It is somewhat burdensome for us, being mere private citizens, to say this to an Emperor; but it will prove far more burdensome for you to say this to God.

For who could be found to mediate between God and men? — TO CHILON, HIS OWN DISCIPLE. I shall become for you the cause of a saving matter, O true brother, if you would gladly receive counsel from us as to what must be done — especially concerning those things about which you yourself asked us to advise you.

For to embark upon the solitary life has perhaps been ventured by many, but to bring it to a worthy completion has perhaps been achieved through labor by only a few.

And indeed, the end does not consist in the resolve alone, but the profit of one's labors lies in the end.

There is, then, no benefit for those who do not press on toward the goal of their purpose, but who bring the monastic life to a halt at its mere beginning;

indeed, they even render their own resolve a laughingstock, being charged by outsiders with cowardice and lack of resolve.

For the Lord also speaks concerning such persons:

'Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, whether he has enough to complete it — lest, when he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, \"This man began to build and was not able to finish\"?' Let the beginning, then, hold eagerly to its progress toward the completion of the work.

For indeed the most noble athlete Paul, wishing us not to be preoccupied with the good deeds already accomplished in the past, but to advance forward day by day, says:

'Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call.' For such is the whole life of men: not content with what has already been attained, but nourished not so much by what has already been reached as by what is yet to come.

For what benefit is it to a man that his stomach was satisfied yesterday, if today his natural hunger finds no proper relief of food? So likewise there is no profit to the soul from yesterday's good deed, if today's righteous action is neglected.

'For such as I find you,' He says, 'such will I judge you.'

Therefore the labor of the righteous man becomes vain, and the conduct even of the sinner becomes blameless, once a change has taken place — the one having turned from better to worse, the other having been changed from worse to better.

These things one may also hear Ezekiel proclaiming, as though speaking in the person of the Lord:

'...if a righteous man transgresses, I will not remember the righteous deeds that he has done, but he shall die in his sin.' And He says the same also concerning the sinner:

Let this, then, be known to you, brother: it is not the one who begins well who is perfect, but the one who lays down his course well who is approved before God.

Do not give sleep to your eyes, brother, nor slumber to your eyelids, that you may be delivered like a gazelle from snares, and like a bird from a trap. For observe that you are walking in the midst of snares, and treading upon a high wall, from which a fall brings no small danger to the one who falls.

Do not, then, immediately stretch yourself to the utmost extremity of ascetic discipline;

and above all, do not place confidence in yourself, lest through inexperience you fall from the height of your discipline.

For advancement made little by little is better.

Little by little, then, steal away from the pleasures of this life, effacing all your former habits, lest by stirring up all the pleasures at once together, you bring upon yourself a crowd of temptations.

And whenever you have decisively overcome one passion of pleasure, array yourself against the next, and thus, in due season, you will overcome all the pleasures.

For 'pleasure' is one name, but its realities are many.

Therefore, brother, be, first of all, patient in the face of every temptation.

And by what sort of temptations is the faithful man tested? By worldly losses, accusations, false charges, acts of disobedience, slanders, persecutions. By these and the like, the faithful man is tested.

Then also be tranquil, not rash in speech, not contentious, not quarrelsome, not vainglorious, not given to expounding everything, but a lover of the faith;

not much given to talk, but be always ready — yet not for the purpose of teaching.

Do not busy yourself with curious inquiry into the lives of worldly people, from which no benefit whatsoever accrues to you.

'...that my mouth may not speak of the deeds of men.'

For he who takes pleasure in speaking of the deeds of sinners readily awakens the passions of pleasure against himself.

Rather, occupy yourself diligently with the life of the righteous;

for thus you will find benefit for yourself.

Do not be an attention-seeker, going about from village to village or house to house, but flee these as snares of the soul.

But if someone, out of great reverence, urges you toward his own house for various reasons, let such a person learn to follow the faith of the centurion, who, when Jesus was hastening toward him for the sake of healing, declined, saying:

'Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.' And when Jesus said to him:

'Go; as you have believed, so let it be done for you.' And the servant was healed at that very hour.

Let this, then, be known to you, brother: it was not the presence of Christ, but the faith of the one who asked, that set the ailing man free.

So also now: while you pray in whatever place you may be, and the sick person believes that he will be helped by your prayers, everything will turn out for him according to his heart's desire.

But do not love your own kindred more than the Lord.

Do you wish to return again and live among them? But if you rebuild for the sake of your relatives the very things you tore down for Christ's sake, you make yourself a transgressor.

Do not, then, on account of an obligation to your relatives, withdraw from your appointed place;

For in withdrawing from your place, you will perhaps also withdraw from your manner of life.

Do not be fond of crowds, fond of a place, or fond of city life, but be a lover of solitude, always abiding within yourself without distraction, considering prayer and psalmody your task.

For all bread is nourishing, yet harmful to those who are ill.

So too, all Scripture is God-inspired and profitable, and there is nothing common/unclean in it, except that to the one who reckons it common, to him it is common.

Test all things, hold fast the good, abstain from every form of evil. For all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. Be, then, to all who meet you, in everything without offense, cheerful, brotherly, pleasant, humble-minded, not falling short of the aim of hospitality through costly foods, but being content with what is at hand; take nothing more from anyone beyond the daily need of the solitary life.

And above all, flee gold as a plotter against the soul and father of sin, and a servant of the devil.

Do not, under the pretext of ministering to the poor, make yourself liable to the charge of avarice.

But if someone brings you money for the sake of the poor, and you know of some who are in want, advise that very person who has the money to carry it to the brothers who are in need, lest the reception of the money defile your conscience.

Flee pleasures, pursue self-control; discipline the body with labors, and accustom the soul to trials.