Oration XXXIX. Oration on the Holy Lights.

 I.  Again My Jesus, and again a mystery not deceitful nor disorderly, nor belonging to Greek error or drunkenness (for so I call their solemnities, a

 II.  Therefore listen to the Voice of God, which sounds so exceeding clearly to me, who am both disciple and master of these mysteries, as would to Go

 III.  Is there any such among the shadowy purifications of the Law, aiding as it did with temporary sprinklings, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling

 IV.  We are not concerned in these mysteries with birth of Zeus and thefts of the Cretan Tyrant (though the Greeks may be displeased at such a title f

 V.  And where will you place the butchery of Pelops, which feasted hungry gods, that bitter and inhuman hospitality?  Where the horrible and dark spec

 VI.  I pass over the honours they pay to reptiles, and their worship of vile things, each of which has its peculiar cultus and festival, and all share

 VII.  Well, let these things be the amusement of the children of the Greeks and of the demons to whom their folly is due, who turn aside the honour of

 VIII.  But since to us grace has been given to flee from superstitious error and to be joined to the truth and to serve the living and true God, and t

 IX.  Wherefore we must purify ourselves first, and then approach this converse with the Pure unless we would have the same experience as Israel, who

 X.  For the same Word is on the one hand terrible through its nature to those who are unworthy, and on the other through its loving kindness can be re

 XI.  And now, having purified the theatre by what has been said, let us discourse a little about the Festival, and join in celebrating this Feast with

 XII.  For to us there is but One God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and One Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things and One Holy Ghost, in Wh

 XIII.  Since then these things are so, or rather since This is so and His Adoration ought not to be rendered only by Beings above, but there ought to

 XIV.  At His birth we duly kept Festival, both I, the leader of the Feast, and you, and all that is in the world and above the world.  With the Star w

 XV.  But John baptizes, Jesus comes to Him …perhaps to sanctify the Baptist himself, but certainly to bury the whole of the old Adam in the water and

 XVI.  But further—Jesus goeth up out of the water…for with Himself He carries up the world…and sees the heaven opened which Adam had shut against hims

 XVII.  Now, since our Festival is of Baptism, and we must endure a little hardness with Him Who for our sake took form, and was baptized, and was cruc

 XVIII.  I, however, for I confess myself to be a man,—that is to say, an animal shifty and of a changeable nature,—both eagerly receive this Baptism,

 XIX.  But these sins were not after Baptism, you will say.  Where is your proof?  Either prove it—or refrain from condemning and if there be any doub

 XX.  But let us venerate to-day the Baptism of Christ and let us keep the feast well, not in pampering the belly, but rejoicing in spirit.  And how s

XII.  For to us there is but One God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and One Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things; and One Holy Ghost, in Whom are all things;45    2 Cor. viii. 6. yet these words, of, by, in, whom, do not denote a difference of nature (for if this were the case, the three prepositions, or the order of the three names would never be altered), but they characterize the personalities of a nature which is one and unconfused.  And this is proved by the fact that They are again collected into one, if you will read—not carelessly—this other passage of the same Apostle, “Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things; to Him be glory forever, Amen.”46    Rom. xi. 36.  The Father is Father, and is Unoriginate, for He is of no one; the Son is Son, and is not unoriginate, for He is of the Father.  But if you take the word Origin in a temporal sense, He too is Unoriginate, for He is the Maker of Time, and is not subject to Time.  The Holy Ghost is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed, but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by Generation but by Procession (since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness47    The Coining is simply of the adverbial form; the Substantive is found in earlier writings.  S. Gregory himself uses it Orat. Theol. V.  He uses other words also, as ἔκπεμψις, πρόοδος, and the verbs προέρχεσθαι, προϊέναι.   As to the question of the Double Procession (Filioque) see Introd. to Orat. Theol. V.  Dr. Swete (Doctr. of H. S. p. 118) says, “It is instructive to notice how at this period the two great Sees of Rome and Constantinople seem to have agreed in abstaining from a minuter definition of the Procession.  Both in East and West the relations of the Spirit to the Son were being examined by individual theologians; but S. Gregory and S. Damasus appear to have alike refrained from entering upon a question which did not touch the essentials of the Faith.”  He adds in a note “This is the more remarkable because Damasus was of Spanish origin.”); for neither did the Father cease to be Unbegotten because of His begetting something, nor the Son to be begotten because He is of the Unbegotten (how could that be?), nor is the Spirit changed into Father or Son because He proceeds, or because He is God—though the ungodly do not believe it.  For Personality is unchangeable; else how could Personality remain, if it were changeable, and could be removed from one to another?  But they who make “Unbegotten” and “Begotten” natures of equivocal gods would perhaps make Adam and Seth differ in nature, since the former was not born of flesh (for he was created), but the latter was born of Adam and Eve.  There is then One God in Three, and These Three are One, as we have said.

ΙΒʹ. Ἡμῖν δὲ, εἰς Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ εἷς Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἓν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα: τοῦ ἐξ οὗ, καὶ δι' οὗ, καὶ ἐν ᾧ, μὴ φύσεις τεμνόντων (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν μετέπιπτον αἱ προθέσεις, ἢ αἱ τάξεις τῶν ὀνομάτων), ἀλλὰ χαρακτηριζόντων μιᾶς καὶ ἀσυχύτου φύσεως ἰδιότητας. Καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον, ἐξ ὧν εἰς ἒν συνάγονται πάλιν, εἴ τῳ μὴ παρέργως ἐκεῖνο ἀναγινώσκεται παρὰ τῷ αὐτῷ ἀποστόλῳ, τὸ, Ἐξ αὐτοῦ, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα: αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν. Πατὴρ ὁ πατὴρ, καὶ ἄναρχος: οὐ γὰρ ἔκ τινος. Υἱὸς ὁ υἱὸς, καὶ οὐκ ἄναρχος: ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γάρ. Εἰ δὲ τὴν ἀπὸ χρόνου λαμβάνοις ἀρχὴν, καὶ ἄναρχος: ποιητὴς γὰρ χρόνων, οὐχ ὑπὸ χρόνον. Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἀληθῶς τὸ πνεῦμα, προϊὸν μὲν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς, οὐχ ὑϊκῶς δὲ, οὐδὲ γὰρ γεννητῶς, ἀλλ' ἐκπορευτῶς: εἰ δεῖ τι καὶ καινοτομῆσαι περὶ τὰ ὀνόματα σαφηνείας ἕνεκεν. Οὔτε τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκστάντος τῆς ἀγεννησίας, διότι γεγέννηκεν: οὔτε τοῦ Υἱοῦ τῆς γεννήσεως, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου. Πῶς γάρ; οὔτε τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἢ εἰς Πατέρα μεταπίπτοντος, ἢ εἰς Υἱὸν, ὅτι ἐκπεπόρευται, καὶ ὅτι Θεὸς, κἂν μὴ δοκῇ τοῖς ἀθέοις: ἡ γὰρ ἰδιότης ἀκίνητος. Ἢ πῶς ἂν ἰδιότης μένοι, κινουμένη καὶ μεταπίπτουσα; Οἱ δὲ τὴν ἀγεννησίαν, καὶ τὴν γέννησιν φύσεις Θεῶν ὁμωνύμων τιθέμενοι, τάχα ἂν καὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ, καὶ τὸν Σὴθ ὅτι ὁ μὲν οὐκ ἀπὸ σαρκός: πλάσμα γάρ: ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ τῆς Εὔας) ἀλλήλων κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἀλλοτριώσουσιν. Εἷς οὖν Θεὸς ἐν τρισὶ, καὶ τὰ τρία ἓν, ὥσπερ ἔφαμεν.