The Unity of the Trinity and the Vision of Isaiah
And the Savior alone mentions the divine Spirit according to John, saying: 'But when He comes, that Spirit of truth, He will guide you into all the truth' (John 16:13).
And the deeds likewise testify to this: 'And while Peter was deliberating concerning the word, the Holy Spirit said to him, Stand up, go down, and walk with them without any hesitation, because I have sent them' (Acts 10:19); and again: 'These things the Holy Spirit says: Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work, whom I have called' (Acts 13:2); and again the Holy Spirit said to Peter: 'Stand up, go' (Acts 10:33) to the house of Cornelius.
And again the apostolic deeds, being elegant, provide a demonstration by such a word; for they contain: 'Then Paul, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, said to him' (Acts 13:9), and also: 'For Peter, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, said to the people' (Acts 11:5).
Similarly, the equal-balance and equal-power of the all-divine hypostases is signified, and in the Word, the Lord God, through His most-praised voice having been foretold for the baptism, the equal-honor to Himself and to the Holy Spirit for keeping the relation toward the Father; through which the holy books sometimes first mention the Father and thus the Son or the Holy Spirit, and sometimes first remember the Son because of the indivisibility of nature and the indistinguishability of theology; as when Job declares the Trinity boldly: 'The Lord lives, who has thus judged me, and the Almighty, who has afflicted my soul; indeed, my breath is still remaining, but a divine spirit surrounds me in my nostrils' (Job 5:14). He says that He is the one making alive with a Holy Spirit and still breathing, making it so.
And as when Paul writes to the Thessalonians the second time: 'And our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God and Father will exhort your hearts' (1 Thess 3:11), and to the Galatians: 'Paul, an apostle, not from man nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father' (Gal 1:1), and to the Corinthians, as is previously stated: 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit' (2 Cor 13:13).
And the Savior says: 'We will come, I and the Father, and we will make a dwelling with Him alone' (John 14:21).
First they name the Holy Spirit, and then the Father or the Son, as when David sings: 'Where shall I go from your spirit, and from your face where shall I flee?' (Ps 139:7). And Job, showing his good conscience, says: 'A divine spirit made me, and the breath of the Almighty teaches me' (Job 32:8). And as Paul writes in the first epistle to the Corinthians: 'There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and diversities of operations, but the same God who works all in all' (1 Cor 12:4-6). Sometimes they speak homonymously concerning two hypostases, as when Zechariah says: 'The Lord said to the devil: The Lord will rebuke you, devil' (Zech 3:1). And it was shown more clearly through many examples.
Concerning what has now been said about the Father, sometimes it is said about the Son or about the Holy Spirit because the Trinity exists in one divinity. In one single divinity, the hierophants, knowing the glorious Trinity and its theology being common, sometimes speak about the Father, sometimes others about the Son or about the Holy Spirit, not opposing one another, but because we also know this very thing to be the opportune part of the right faith; and just as whatever hypostasis we remember from everything, we also received the other with faith, as inseparable.
But it is necessary for the truthful ones, who deny the truth of glory, to be truthful in teaching the simple and truly true, that is, the goodness of God. For they say it is not right for the impure to touch the pure; but those were pure and strangers to all false glory. And we shall find this immediately in the theophany which Isaiah saw. And why not first mention the whole of that place as it is?
So he says: 'I saw the Lord Sabaoth sitting upon a high and exalted throne, and the house was full of his glory. And seraphim were standing around him; six wings to the one and six wings to the one; with two wings they covered the faces, with two they covered the feet, and with two they were flying; and one was crying to another: Holy, holy' (Isa 6:1-3).
Greek
18.63 καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ δὲ παρ' Ἰωάννῃ μόνου μνημονεύει τοῦ θεϊκοῦ πνεύματος λέγων· «ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν ἀλήθειαν πᾶσαν». 18.64 καὶ αἱ πράξεις ὡσαύτως περὶ τούτου πιστοῦνται· «τοῦ δὲ Πέτρου διανοουμένου περὶ τοῦ ῥήματος εἶπεν αὐτῷ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· ἀναστὰς κατάβηθι καὶ πορεύου σὺν αὐτοῖς μηδὲν διακρινόμενος, διότι ἐγὼ ἀπέσταλκα αὐτούς», καὶ πάλιν· «τάδε λέγει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· ἀφορίσατέ μοι τὸν Παῦλον καὶ τὸν Βαρνά βαν εἰς τὸ ἔργον, ὁ προσκέκλημαι αὐτούς». καὶ πάλιν Πέτρῳ εἶπεν τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα· «ἀναστὰς πορεύθητι» εἰς τὸν οἶκον Κορνηλίου. 18.65 καὶ αὖθις κομψευόμεναι αἱ ἀποστολικαὶ πράξεις διατριβὴν παρέχουσιν τῷ τοιῷδε λόγῳ· περιέχουσιν γάρ· «τότε ὁ Παῦλος πλησθεὶς πνεύματος ἁγίου εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν», καὶ ἔτι· «ὁ γὰρ Πέτρος πλησθεὶς πνεύματος ἁγίου εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν λαόν». 18.66 Σημαίνεται δὲ ὁμοίως τὸ ἰσόρροπον καὶ ἰσοδύναμον τῶν παντίμων ὑποστάσεων καὶ ἐν τῷ τὸν δεσπότην θεὸν λόγον διὰ τῆς προλεχθείσης αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ βάπτισμα πανυμνήτου φωνῆς τὴν ἰσοτιμίαν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα φυλάξαι· 18.67 δι' ἣν αἱ ἱεραὶ βίβλοι ποτὲ μὲν πρώτου μέμνηνται τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ οὕτω τοῦ υἱοῦ ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, ποτὲ δὲ πρώτου ἐπιμέμνηνται τοῦ υἱοῦ διὰ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἀμέριστον καὶ τῆς θεολογίας τὸ ἀδιάφορον, 18.68 ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ Ἰὼβ τρανῶς τὴν τριάδα δηλῶν· 18.68 «ζῇ κύριος, ὃς οὕτω με κέκρικεν, καὶ ὁ παντοκράτωρ ὁ πικράνας μου τὴν ψυχήν· ἦ μὴν ἔτι τῆς πνοῆς μου ἐνούσης, πνεῦμα δὲ θεῖον τὸ περιόν μοι ἐν ῥισίν». τὸ ζωοποιοῦν με ἅγιον πνεῦμά φησιν καὶ ἀναπνέειν ἔτι ποιοῦν. 18.69 καὶ ὡς ἡνίκα Παῦλος Θεσσαλονικεῦσι τὸ δεύτερον γράφει· «αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς καὶ ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ παρακαλέσει ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας», καὶ Γαλάταις· «Παῦλος ἀπόστολος οὐκ ἀπ' ἀνθρώπου οὐδὲ δι' ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλὰ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ πατρός», καὶ Κορινθίοις, ὡς προείρηται· «ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος». 18.70 καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ δέ φησιν· «ἐλευσόμεθα ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ 21 ποιήσομεν». 18.71 Ποτὲ δὲ πρῶτον τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ὀνομάζουσιν, μετέπειτα δὲ τὸν πατέρα ἢ τὸν υἱόν, ὡς ὅταν ∆αυῒδ ψάλλῃ· «ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός σου, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου ποῦ φύγω;» 18.72 καὶ ὁ Ἰὼβ τὸ εὔγνωμον δεικνὺς φάσκει· «πνεῦμα θεῖον τὸ ποιῆσάν με, πνοὴ δὲ παντοκράτορος ἡ διδάσκουσά με». 18.73 καὶ ὣς Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ἐπιστολῇ Κορινθίοις γράφει· «διαιρέσεις δὲ χαρισμάτων εἰσίν, τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα· καὶ διαιρέσεις διακονι ῶν εἰσιν, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς κύριος· καὶ διαιρέσεις ἐνεργημάτων εἰσίν, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς θεὸς ὁ ἐνεργῶν τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν». 18.74 Ποτὲ δὲ περὶ δύο ὑποστάσεων διαλέγονται ὁμωνύμως, ὡς ὅτε Ζαχαρίας λέγει· «εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς τὸν διάβολον· ἐπιτιμήσει κύριος ἐν σοί, διάβολε». 18.75 Καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἐδείχθη διὰ πλειόνων. 19.ν Περὶ τοῦ τὸ νῦν λεχθὲν περὶ τοῦ πατρός, ἄλλοτε περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ εἰρῆσθαι ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος διὰ τὸ ἐν μιᾷ θεότητι τὴν τριάδα ὑπάρχειν. 19.1 Ἐν μιᾷ τοιγαροῦν θεότητι οἱ ἱεροφάνται τὴν ἔνδοξον τριάδα ἐπιστάμενοι καὶ τὴν θεολογίαν αὐτῆς ἐπίκοινον οὖσαν, ὅπερ νῦν εἰρήκασι περὶ τοῦ πατρός, ἄλλοτε ἄλλοι περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος διαγορεύουσιν, οὐκ ἐναντιούμενοι ἑαυτοῖς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ καὶ ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι τοῦτό τε αὐτὸ τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως τὸ καίριον· καὶ ὡς, οἵας δ' ἂν ὑποστάσεως ἐπιμνησθῶμεν ἐκ παντός, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τῇ πίστει συνανελάβομεν, ἅτε ἀχώριστον. 19.2 ἀψευδεῖν δὲ ἀνάγκη τοὺς ἀψευδεῖς ὑποφήτας θεοῦ καὶ δόξης ἀρνουμένης τὴν ἀλήθειαν καθαροὺς τοὺς τὴν ἁπλῆν καὶ ὄντως ἀλήθειαν, τουτέστιν τὴν ἀγαθότητα, τοῦ θεοῦ διδάσκοντας. 19.3 μὴ καθαροῖς γὰρ καθαρῶν ἐφάπτεσθαι μὴ οὐχὶ θεμιτόν φασιν· οἱ δὲ ἦσαν καθαροὶ καὶ πάσης ψευδοδοξίας ἀλλότριοι. 19.4 Εὑρήσομεν δὲ τοῦτο εὐθὺς εἰς τὴν θεοπτίαν, ἣν ἐθεάσατο Ἠσαΐας. τί δὲ μὴ πρῶτον ὅλου ἐκείνου ὡς ἔχει μνημονεύσω τοῦ χωρίου; 19.5 λέγει οὖν· «εἶδον τὸν κύριον Σαβαὼθ καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου, καὶ πλήρης ὁ οἶκος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. καὶ σεραφὶμ εἱστήκει σαν κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ· ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνὶ καὶ ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνί· καὶ ταῖς μὲν δυσὶ πτέρυξι κατεκάλυπτον τὰ πρόσωπα, ταῖς δὲ δυσὶ τοὺς πόδας, ταῖς δὲ δυσὶν ἐπέταντο· καὶ ἔκραζον ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον· ἅγιος ἅγιος
About this text
Didymus the Blind defends the full divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit against those who rank them.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.