CONSUB STANTIA THE SON. 322 Dionysius rescued from the charge of Arianizing. ON THE ledge to have been written by Dionysius. The truth is: the books on Job are stuffed full of Arian ravings; and LITY OF therefore it suited the purpose of Sandius, an Arian, that they should be regarded as the genuine production of Origen; on the contrary the epistle against Paul of Samosata which bears the name of Dionysius, excellently establishes the consubstantiality of the Son: and therefore, rightly or wrongly, it must by all means be rejected as spurious. Here is an honest and trustworthy historiana! [414] Thus have we at last (if I mistake not) given abundant proof, that this very great man, Dionysius of Alexandria, did in no wise favour the blasphemy which Arius subsequently maintained, but that he was both in sentiment and in expression entirely catholic concerning the Son of God, and, further, concerning the Holy Trinity. I now pass on to other doctors of the Church. ON THE OPINION AND FAITH OF THE VERY CELEBRATED GREGORY 1. ST. THEODORE, alike the scholar and the glory of Origen, called afterwards by the name of Gregory, and surnamed "the Great," and "the Wonder-worker," (Thaumaturgus,) on account of his stupendous and celebrated deeds,-for he wrought many and very great miracles, and converted nations [416] to the faith of Christ, not by words only, but much more by deeds-was bishop of Neocæsarea, and contemporary with the Dionysii of Rome and Alexandria, but survived Dionysius of Alexandria; for Dionysius died before the last council This epistle has been suspected by many on the ground that the fathers of Antioch in their synodal epistle (in Eusebius vii. 30.) expressly declare, that Dionysius addressed his letter to the Church at Antioch in general, and did not even deign to give a salutation to Paul. Cave.-BOWYER. [This is the argument of Basnage and Tillemont, but it has been most fully refuted by the editor of the works of Dionysius, in his preface, p. lvi.-B.] d [This epistle of Dionysius against Paul of Samosata is exceedingly well defended in the preface to the works of Dionysius, p. xxii. &c.—B.] The Confession of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. 323 CHAP. XI. §12. XII. §1. ὑφεστώσης. 4 assembled at Antioch against Paul of Samosata: whereas BOOK II. Gregorye, as is clear from Eusebius, was present at that council. He has handed down to posterity a most accurate GREGORY and complete Confession of faith, respecting the most holy THAUMAT. Trinity of one substance, expressed in the following words; "There is one God, Father of [Him who is] the living Word, subsisting Wisdom1 and Power and [His] eternal Impress2; σοφίας perfect Begetter of the Perfect; Father of the Only-begotten 2 χαρακτήρ, Son. [There is] one Lord, Alone of the Alone, God of Heb. i. 3. God; Impress and Image of the Godhead, the operative 3 χαρακτὴρ. Word; Wisdom, comprehensive of the system of the uni. * εἰκὼν. verse, 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 Gods, and who hath appeared (that is 5 ὕπαρξιν. to mankind) 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 b. There is therefore nothing created, or servile in the Trinity; nor any thing superinduced, as though previously not-existent, and introduced afterwards. Never therefore was the Son wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but there is ever the same Trinity unchangeable and unalterable." • He died in the same year, namely, A.D. 265. Cave.-BoWYER. f Hist. Eccl. vii. 28; compare c. 30. 5 εἷς Θεὸς, Πατὴρ λόγου ζῶντος, σου φίας ὑφεστώσης, καὶ δυνάμεως, καὶ χαρακτῆρος ἀϊδίου· τέλειος τελείου γεννήτωρ Πατὴρ υἱοῦ μονογενοῦς. εἷς Κύριος, μόνος ἐκ μόνου, Θεὸς ἐκ Θεοῦ· χαρακτήρ καὶ εἰκὼν τῆς θεότητος, λόγος ἐνεργός· σοφία τῆς τῶν ὅλων συστάσεως περιεκτικὴ, καὶ δύναμις τῆς ὅλης κτίσεως ποιητική· υἱὸς ἀληθινὸς ἀληθινοῦ Πατρὸς, ἀόρατος ἀοράτου, καὶ ἄφθαρτος ἀφθάρτου, καὶ ἀθάνατος ἀθανάτου, καὶ ἀΐδιος ἀϊδίου. καὶ ἓν πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἐκ Θεοῦ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχον, καὶ δι' υἱοῦ πεφηνός, δηλαδὴ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, εἰκὼν τοῦ υἱοῦ, τελείου τελεία· ζωὴ, ζώντων αἰτία· πηγὴ ἁγία, ἁγιότης, ἁγιασμοῦ χορηγός· ἐν ᾧ φανεροῦται Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων καὶ ἐν πᾶσι, καὶ Θεὸς ὁ υἱὸς, ὁ διὰ πάν h [Here the Creed ends: the remaining words are Gregory Nyssen's.-Β. This is not the case: see the notes in Gallandii Bibl. Patr., t. iii. p. 386, where St. Gregory Nazianzen's references to this Creed will also be found.] ON THE CONSTE STANTIA TEI SON. 152 324 Eridence of the genuineness of this Confession ; 2. This Confession of faith was delivered, it is said, to Gregory by revelation from heaven, when, being wholly intent LITY OF UPOL discharging his pastoral charge in the best way, he was one night considering the mode of preaching the pure faith to his people, and revolving in his mind the various questions which were then in controversy respecting the Holy Trinity. And certainly no one ought to think it incredible that such an event should have happened to a man, whose whole life (416) was illustrious from revelations and miracles, as all ecclesiastical writers who have mentioned him-and there is scarcely one who has not-unanimously attest. But however that may be, it is certain that this formula of catholic confession respecting the most Holy Trinity did really proceed from Gregory. For it is attributed to him not only by Ruffinus', but also by his namesake, Gregory of Nyssa, who had a thorough and accurate knowledge of what the admirable man did and wrote, and who also composed his life. Moreover this excellent man narrates the matter in such a way, that scarcely any sensible person can doubt about it. I mean that, being about to recite the Confession, he premises the following words; "By which Confession) the people of that city 1 μUSTRY- (Neocæsarea are to this day initiated [in the faith'], having it was their continued unaffected by all heretical pravity.” So certain, baptismal you see, was it that this Confession of faith proceeded from Creed. Gregory Thaumaturgus, that all the people of the city of Neocæsarea, of which he was the bishop and the immortal glory, embraced it as the undoubtedly genuine work of Gregory, and had been used to be instructed by means of it, from so far back as their fathers could remember down to the age of Nyssen; and hence it came to pass that, when the whole world became Arian, the Church of Neocæsarea kept itself untainted by heretical pravity. Again, after having recited the Confession, Nyssen subjoins these wordsTM: "And whoever wishes to be convinced on this point, let him hear the Church in which he used to preach the Word, among whom the very handwriting of that blessed hand is preserved even at the present rom its careful preservation by the Church of Neocæsarea. 325 1 § 2. day." He appeals to the very autograph of Thaumaturgus, BOOK II. which was religiously kept by the Neocæsareans down to his CHAP. XII. own day. I know not, certainly, that any thing more can GREGORY be required for the confirmation of a tradition of this nature. THAUMat. Gregory Nyssen's testimony, however, is explicitly supported, [419] as it seems to me, by his brother Basil the Great, who, in his seventy-fifth epistle to the people of Neocæsarea, testifies, that he had learnt from his grandmother, in his tender age, the very words of Gregory Thaumaturgus, by which he had been instructed aright respecting the faith in the most Holy Trinity. His words are these": "What can be a more manifest demonstration of our faith, than this, that we, having been brought up under the nurture1 of a woman of blessed 1 Títoŋ. memory2, who came forth from you—I mean the illustrious 2 μarapią. Macrina;—by whom we were taught the words of the most blessed Gregory, whatsoever, having been preserved to her by the tradition of memory3, she both herself kept treasured up, 3 åkoλovand used to mould and fashion us, whilst we were yet infants, θίᾳ μνήin the doctrines of religion?" Here, I say, it seems to me, that the Confession of Thaumaturgus is certainly referred to; for Basil expressly testifies that he had, in his infancy, learned of his grandmother Macrina, a native of Neocæsarea, the form1 a úñоTÚof faith touching the most Holy Trinity, (for of that he is there treating,) as it had been delivered in so many words by Gregory. Reader, observe: Nyssen relates that the people of Neocæsarea used to be instructed by means of the Confession of Thaumaturgus, from so far back as their fathers could remember down to his own age; whilst Basil says that he had learned, in his tender age, (that is, before the council of Nice,) from his grandmother, (whilst he, that is, with his parents, was living with her at Neocæsarea in Pontus,) the right faith 3 4 μης. πωσιν. [420] CONSUB STANTIA LITY OF THE SON. 1 τύπον τινὰ μυστι κὸν. 153 326 Confirmed by other external and internal considerations. ON THE respecting the most Holy Trinity, expressed in so many words of Gregory. Who would not suppose, that they both are speaking of the same Confession of faith? Further, also, the same Basil, in his book on the Holy Spirit, chap. 29, testifies that so great was the reputation of this Gregory amongst the people of Neocæsarea down to his own times, that they would admit in their Church nothing, whether in doctrine or rite, but what they had received by tradition from that their great founder. The words of Basil are these P: "Great is the admiration of this man (Gregory) still, even at this day, amongst the people of the country, and the remembrance of him is established in the Churches-fresh, and ever recent, not obscured by any lapse of time. They have not, therefore, added to their Church any practice, or word, or any sacred form1 beyond what he left to them." If the Church of Neocæsarea refused to admit any word beyond what was left to them by Gregory, certainly much less would they have admitted any Creed or Confession of faith, which they had not received from him. And yet it is most certain, that in the time of Basil, the Confession of faith of which we are speaking, was received in that Church, and that too as having been delivered by [421] Gregory. To these facts may be added, that this Confession is delivered, as without doubt the genuine work of Thaumaturgus, by the whole of the fathers who were assembled at the fifth œcumenical synod. Lastly, the Confession itself 'redolet. quite bears the character of the age of Gregory Thaumaturgus; in that it is manifestly opposed to the heresies, which were especially disturbing the Church of Christ at that period. Two heresies were particularly prevalent at that time, as is clear from the epistle of Dionysius of Rome, found in Athanasius, which we have already mentioned; one, that of Sabellius, which laid down that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost differed in name only, not in hypo3 STOOTά- stasis (person;) the other as it were diametrically opposed to the Sabellian, that, I mean of those, who divided the most Holy Trinity into three hypostases, separate, foreign to, and mutually alien from each other, and who further affirmed, σει. Ρ τούτου μέγα ἔτι καὶ νῦν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις τὸ θαῦμα, καὶ νεαρὰ καὶ ἀεὶ πρόσφατος ἡ μνήμη ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἐνίδρυται, οὐδενὶ χρόνῳ ἀμαυρουμένη· οὐκοῦν οὐ πρᾶξίν τινα,οὐ λόγον,οὐ τύπον τινὰ μυστικὸν, παρ' ὃν ἐκεῖνος κατέλιπε, τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Tроσéonкаv.-Вasil. Oper, tom. ii. p. 360. edit. Paris. 1638. [vol. iii. p. 63.] |