The Church Fathers and the Deity of the Holy Spirit by Joe Gallegos
Tertullian,Against Praxeas,9(A.D. 213),in ANF,III:603-604
"But if there is such co-ordination and unity within the holy Triad, who can separate either the Son from the Father, or the Spirit from the Son or from the Father himself? Who would be sp audacious as to say that the Triad is unlike itself and diverse in nature, or that the Son is in essence foreign from the Father, or the Spirit alien from the Son?...For as the Son, who is in the Father and the Father in him, is not a creature but pertains to the essence of the Father(for this you also profess to say); so also it is not lawful to rank with the creatures the Spirit who is in the Son, and the Son in him, nor to divide him from the Word and reduce the Triad to imperfection."
Athanasius,Letter to Serapion of Thmuis,1:20-21(A.D. 360),in in SHAP,113-114,119
"There is one true God...Trinity in unity;one God, Father,Son, and Holy Spirit...We call the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God."
Epiphanius,Well Anchored man,2,6(A.D. 374),in SW,226
"Wherefore, in the case of the Godhead, we confess one essence or substance so as not to give a variant definition of existence hut we confess a particular hypostasis, in order that our conception of Father, Son and Holy Spirit may be without confusion and clear. If we have no distinct perception of the separate characteristics, namely, fatherhood, sonship, and sanctification, but form our conception of God t from the general idea of existence, we cannot possibly give a sound account of our faith. We must, therefore, confess the faith by adding the particular to the common. The Godhead is common; the fatherhood particular. We must therefore combine the two and say, 'I believe in God the Father.' The like course must be pursued in the confession of the Son; we must combine the particular with the common and say 'I believe in God the Son,' so in the case of the Holy Ghost we must make our utterance conform to the appellation and say 'in God the Holy Ghost.' Hence it results that there is a satisfactory preservation of the unity by the confession of the one Godhead, while in the distinction of the individual properties regarded in each there is the confession of the peculiar properties of the Persons. On the other hand those who identify essence or substance and hypostasis are compelled to confess only three Persons, and, in their hesitation to speak of three hypostases, are convicted of failure to avoid the error of Sabellius, for even Sabellius himself, who in many places confuses the conception, yet, by asserting that the same hypostasis changed its form to meet the needs of the moment, does endeavour to distinguish persons."
Basil,To Amphilochius,Epistle 236:6(A.D. 376),in NPFN2,VIII:278
"Who, then, can dare to say that the Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and the Son, since through Him we attain to the image and likeness of God, and through Him, as the Apostle Peter says, are partakers of the divine nature?"
Ambrose,On the Holy Spirit,1:6,80(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,X:103
"And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who is proceeding from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who spoke through the prophets."
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (A.D. 381)
"Let us, however, see whether the prophet does not say that that earth is to be worshipped which the Lord Jesus took upon Him in assuming flesh. And so, by foot-stool is understood earth, but by the earth the Flesh of Christ, which we this day also adore in the mysteries, and which the apostles, as we said above, adored in the Lord Jesus; for Christ is not divided but is one; nor, when He is adored as the Son of God, is He denied to have been born of the Virgin. Since, then, the mystery of the Incarnation is to be adored, and the Incarnation is the work of the Spirit, as it is written, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and that Holy Thing Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God,"(2) without doubt the Holy Spirit also is to be adored, since He Who according to the flesh was born of the Holy Spirit is adored."
Ambrose,On the Holy Spirit,3:11,879(A.D. 381),in NPNF2,X:146
"And yet I certaintly believe ... in God the Holy Ghost."
Jerome,Against the Luciferians,12(A.D. 382),in NPNF2,VI:327
"The Holy Ghost, which proceedeth from the Father; Who, inasmuch as He proceedeth from That Source, is no Creature; and inasmuch as He is not Begotten is no Son; and inasmuch as He is between the Unbegotten and the Begotten is God... What then is Procession? Do you tell me what is the Unbegottenness of the Father, and I will explain to you the physiology of the Generation of the Son and the Procession of the Spirit, and we shall both of us be frenzy-stricken for prying into the mystery of God... What then, say they, is there lacking to the Spirit which prevents His being a Son, for if there were not something lacking He would be a Son? We assert that there is nothing lacking--for God has no deficiency. But the difference of manifestation, if I may so express myself, or rather of their mutual relations one to another, has caused the difference of their Names. For indeed it is not some deficiency in the Son which prevents His being Father (for Sonship is not a deficiency), and yet He is not Father. According to this line of argument there must be some deficiency in the Father, in respect of His not being Son. For the Father is not Son, and yet this is not due to either deficiency or subjection of Essence; but the very fact of being Unbegotten or Begotten, or Proceeding has given the name of Father to the First, of the Son to the Second, and of the Third, Him of Whom we are speaking, of the Holy Ghost that the distinction of the Three Persons may be preserved in the one nature and dignity of the Godhead. For neither is the Son Father, for the Father is One, but He is what the Father is; nor is the Spirit Son because He is of God, for the Only-begotten is One, but He is what the Son is. The Three are One in Godhead, and the One Three in properties; so that neither is the Unity a Sabellian one, nor does the Trinity countenance the present evil distinction. What then? Is the Spirit God? Most certainly. Well then, is He Consubstantial? Yes, if He is God."
Gregory of Nazianzen,5th Oration - On the Holy Spirit,9-10(A.D. 383),in NPFN2,VII:320-321
"For as the Son is bound to the Father, and, while deriving existence from Him, is not substantially after Him, so again the Holy Spirit is in touch with the Only-begotten, Who is conceived of as before the Spirit's subsistence only in the theoretical light of a cause. Extensions in time find no admittance in the Eternal Life; so that, when we have removed the thought of cause, the Holy Trinity in no single way exhibits discord with itself; and to It is glory due."
Gregory of Nyssa,Against Eunomius,1:42(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,V:100
" 'I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,' that is, Another like unto Me.' Let those be ashamed who have the disease of Sabellius, who hold not the fitting opinion concerning the Spirit. For the marvel of this discourse is this, that it hath stricken down contradictory heresies with the same blow. For by saying 'another,' He showeth the difference of Person, and by "Paraclete," the connection of Substance."
John Chrysostom,Homily on John,75(A.D. 391),in NPNF1,XIV:274
"We have said elsewhere that those things are predicated Specially in the Trinity as belonging severally to each person, which are predicated relatively the one to the other, as Father and Son, and the gift of both, the Holy Spirit; for the Father is not the Trinity, nor the Son the Trinity, nor the gift the Trinity: but what whenever each is singly spoken of in respect to themselves, then they are not spoken of as three in the plural number, but one, the Trinity itself, as the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; the Father good, the Son good, and the Holy Spirit good; and the Father omnipotent, the Son omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit omnipotent: yet neither three Gods, nor three goods, nor three omnipotents, but one God, good, omnipotent, the Trinity itself; and whatsoever else is said of them not relatively in respect to each other, but individually in respect to themselves. For they are thus spoken of according to l essence, since in them to be is the same as to be great, as to be good, as to be wise, and whatever else is said of each person individually therein, or of the Trinity itself, in respect to themselves. And that therefore they are called three persons, or three substances, not in order that any difference of essence may be understood, but that we may be able to answer by some one word, should any one ask what three, or what three things? And that there is so great an equality in that Trinity, that not only the Father is not greater than the Son, as regards divinity, but neither are the Father and Son together greater than the Holy Spirit; nor is each individual person, whichever it be of the three, less than the Trinity itself."
Augustine,On the Trinity,8 Pref(A.D. 416),in NPNF1,III:115
"We have said elsewhere that those things are predicated Specially in the Trinity as belonging severally to each person, which are predicated relatively the one to the other, as Father and Son, and the gift of both, the Holy Spirit; for the Father is not the Trinity, nor the Son the Trinity, nor the gift the Trinity: but what whenever each is singly spoken of in respect to themselves, then they are not spoken of as three in the plural number, but one, the Trinity itself, as the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; the Father good, the Son good, and the Holy Spirit good; and the Father omnipotent, the Son omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit omnipotent: yet neither three Gods, nor three goods, nor three omnipotents, but one God, good, omnipotent, the Trinity itself; and whatsoever else is said of them not relatively in respect to each other, but individually in respect to themselves. For they are thus spoken of according to l essence, since in them to be is the same as to be great, as to be good, as to be wise, and whatever else is said of each person individually therein, or of the Trinity itself, in respect to themselves. And that therefore they are called three persons, or three substances, not in order that any difference of essence may be understood, but that we may be able to answer by some one word, should any one ask what three, or what three things? And that there is so great an equality in that Trinity, that not only the Father is not greater than the Son, as regards divinity, but neither are the Father and Son together greater than the Holy Spirit; nor is each individual person, whichever it be of the three, less than the Trinity itself."
Augustine,On the Trinity,(A.D. 419),in NPNF1,III:
"And if the Spirit is called Image of the Son, then He is God and not something else."
Cyril of Alexandria,Treasury of the Holy Spirit,33(A.D. 425),in JUR,III:212
"There is a proper Person of the Father, a roper Person of the Son, and a proper Person of the Holy Spirit, each alike belonging to the Divine essence."
Theodore of Mopsuestia,Epistle 135(ante A.D. 428),in SW,256
"The Holy Spirit ... is of the same Godhead and essence as the Father and the Son, and is ever inseperable from the Father and the Son, as the Son is from the Father, and the Father from the Son."
Gelasius of Cyzicus,History of the Council of Nicea(A.D. 476),in SW,275-76
"The Father is the Source-Deity, whereas Jesus and the Spirit are, if one may so speak, Divine growths from the Divine parent-stock, and as it were the flowers and lights of an Essence beyond all essence."
Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita,The Divine Names(A.D. 500),in SW,277
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