Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

Chapter XVIII.
In what manner in the confession of the three hypostases we preserve the pious dogma of the
Monarchia. Wherein also is the refutation of them that allege that the Spirit is subnumerated.
1085
44. In delivering the formula of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 1086 our Lord
did not connect the gift with number. He did not say “into First, Second, and Third,” 1087
nor yet “into one, two, and three, but He gave us the boon of the knowledge of the faith
1085 The term Μοναρχία first acquired importance in patristic literature in Justin’s work De monarchia,
against Polytheism. Of the lost letter of Irenæus to the Roman Presbyter Florinus, who was deposed for heresy,
presumably gnostic, the title, according to Eusebius (H.E. v. 20), was περὶ Μοναρχίας, ἢ περὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι τὸν
θεὸν ποιητὴν κακῶν. Later it came to be used to express not the Divine unity as opposed to Polytheism or
Oriental Dualism, but the Divine unity as opposed to Tritheism. Vide the words of Dionysius of Rome, as
quoted by Athan. De Decretis, § 26, “Next let me turn to those who cut in pieces, divide, and destroy that most
sacred doctrine of the church of God, the divine Monarchy, making it, as it were, three powers and divided
subsistences and three godheads.” So St. Basil Cont. Eunom. ii. ᾽Αρχὴ μὲν οὖν πατρὸς οὐδεμία, ἀρχὴ δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ
ὁ πατήρ. And in Ep. xxxviii. ᾽Αλλά τίς ἐστι δύναμις ἀγεννήτως καὶ ἀνάρχως ὑφεοτῶσα ἥτις ἐςτὶν αἰτία τῆς
ἁπάντων τῶν ὄντων αἰτίας, ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱ& 232·ς δι᾽ οὗ τὰ πάντα. And in Ep. cxxv. Ενα γὰρ οἴδαμεν
ἀγέννητον καὶ μίαν τῶν πάντων ἀρχὴν, τὸν πατέρα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ. On the doctrine and
its exponents compare § 72 of the De Sp. S. On the other hand “Monarchians” was a name connoting heresy
when applied to those who pushed the doctrine of the Unity to an extreme, involving denial of a Trinity. Of
these, among the more noteworthy were Paul of Samosata, bp. of Antioch, who was deposed in 269, a represent-
ative of thinkers who have been called dynamical monarchians, and Praxeas (supposed by some to be a nickname),
who taught at Rome in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and of whom Tertullian, the originator of the term patri-
passians, as applied to Monarchians, wrote “Paracletum fugavit et patrem crucifixit.” This heretical Monarchi-
anism culminated in Sabellius, the “most original, ingenious, and profound of the Monarchians.” Schaff. Hist.
Chr. Church, i. 293. cf. Gisseler, i. p. 127, Harnack’s Monarchianismus in Herzog’s Real Encyclopædie, Vol. x.
Thomasius Dog. Gesch. i. p. 179, and Fialon Et. Hist. p. 241.
1086 Matt. xxviii. 19.
In what manner in the confession of the three hypostases we preserve the…
1087 Mr. C.F.H. Johnston quotes as instances of the application of the word “third” to the Holy Ghost; Justin
Martyr (Apol. i. 13) “We honour the Spirit of prophecy in the third rank.” Tertullian (In Prax. 8) “As the fruit
from the tree is third from the root, and the rivulet from the river third from the source, and the flame from the
ray third from the sun.” Eunomius (Lib. Apol. § 25) “observing the teaching of Saints, we have learned from
them that the Holy Spirit is third in dignity and order, and so have believed him to be third in nature also.” On
the last St. Basil (Adv. Eunom. ii.) rejoins “Perhaps the word of piety allows Him to come in rank second to the
Son…although He is inferior to the Son in rank and dignity (that we may make the utmost possible concession)
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