Chapter II.—Concerning the sitting at the right hand of the Father.

We hold, moreover, that Christ sits in the body at the right hand of God the Father, but we do not hold that the right hand of the Father is actual place. For how could He that is uncircumscribed have a right hand limited by place? Right hands and left hands belong to what is circumscribed. But we understand the right hand of the Father to be the glory and honour of the Godhead in which the Son of God, who existed as God before the ages, and is of like essence to the Father, and in the end became flesh, has a seat in the body, His flesh sharing in the glory. For He along with His flesh is adored with one adoration by all creation850    The Greek theologians, founding on the primary sense of the Greek term Πνεῦμα, and on certain passages of Scripture in which the word seemed to retain that sense more or less (especially Psalm xxxiii. 6. in the Vulgate rendering, verbo Dei cœli formati sunt: et spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum), spoke of the Holy Ghost as proceeding from the Father like the breath of His mouth in the utterance or emission of His Word. See ch. 15 of this Book, where we have the sentence, οὐδεμία γὰρ ὁρμὴ ἄνευ πνεύματος. Compare also such passages as these—Greg. Naz., Orat. i. 3: Cyril. Alex., Thes., assert. 34, De Trin. dial. 2, p. 425, and 7, pp. 634, 640; Basil, Contra Eunom., B.V., and De Spiritu Sancto, ch. 18; Greg. Scholar., Contra Latin., de process. Spiritus Sancti, i. 4, where we have the statement οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ὥσπερ ὁρμὴ καὶ κίνησις, ἐνδοτέρα τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς ἐκείνης οὐσίας, so the Holy Spirit is like an impulse and movement within that supernatural essence.    Athan. Jun., p. 45, ad Ant.; Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, ch. 6..

Περὶ τῆς ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ πατρὸς καθέδρας

Ἐκ δεξιῶν δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς κεκαθικέναι φαμὲν τὸν Χριστὸν σωματικῶς, οὐ τοπικὴν δὲ δεξιὰν τοῦ πατρὸς λέγομεν. Πῶς γὰρ ὁ ἀπερίγραπτος τοπικὴν σχοίη δεξιάν; Δεξιὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀριστερὰ τῶν περιγραφομένων εἰσί. Δεξιὰν δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς λέγομεν τὴν δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν τῆς θεότητος, ἐν ᾗ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς πρὸ αἰώνων ὑπάρχων, ὡς θεὸς καὶ τῷ πατρὶ ὁμοούσιος, ἐπ' ἐσχάτων σαρκωθεὶς καὶ σωματικῶς κάθηται συνδοξασθείσης τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ: προσκυνεῖται γὰρ μιᾷ προσκυνήσει μετὰ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως.