NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

In what manner in the confession of the three hypostases we preserve the pious dogma ofthe Monarchia. Wherein also is the refutation of them that allege that the Spirit issubnumerated.who sent Him, and in His own dignity manifests the majesty of Him from whom He proceeded.There is then on the one hand a natural glory, as light is the glory of the sun; andon the other a glory bestowed judicially and of free will ‘ab extra’ on them that are worthy.The latter is twofold. “A son,” it is said, “honoureth his father, and a servant his master.” 1100Of these two the one, the servile, is given by the creature; the other, which may be called theintimate, is fulfilled by the Spirit. For, as our Lord said of Himself, “I have glorified Theeon the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do;” 1101 so of the ParacleteHe says “He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” 1102And as the Son is glorified of the Father when He says “I have both glorified it and willglorify it 1103 again,” 1104 so is the Spirit glorified through His communion with both Fatherand Son, and through the testimony of the Only-begotten when He says “All manner of sinand blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shallnot be forgiven unto men.” 110547. And when, by means of the power that enlightens us, we fix our eyes on the beautyof the image of the invisible God, and through the image are led up to the supreme beautyof the spectacle of the archetype, then, I ween, is with us inseparably the Spirit of knowledge,xv. 26 might lead one to regard ὁθεν προῆλθεν as equivalent to παρὰ̀ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται. On the otherhand. St. Basil’s avoidance of direct citation of the verb ἐκπορεύεται, his close connexion of τοῦ ἀποστείλαντοςwith ὅθεν προῆλθεν, and the close of the verse in St. John’s gospel ἐκεῖνος μαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ, suggest thatthe μεγαλωσύνη in St. Basil’s mind may be the μεγαλωσύνη of the Son. At the same time, while the WesternChurch was in the main unanimous as to the double procession, this passage from St. Basil is not quoted as anexception to the general current of the teaching of the Greek Fathers, who, as Bp. Pearson expresses it, “stuckmore closely to the phrase and language of the Scriptures, saying that the spirit proceedeth from the Father.”(Pearson On the Creed, Art. viii. where videquotations) Vide also Thomasius, Christ. Dogm., i. 270, Namentlichauf letzere Bestimmung legten die griechischen Väter groszes Gewicht. Im Gegensatz gegen den macedonischenIrrtum, der den Geist für ein Geschüpf des Sohnes ansah, führte man die Subsistenz desselben ebenso auf den Vaterzuruck wie die des Sohnes. Man lehrte, , also, der heilige Geist geht vom Vater aus, der Vater ist die ἀρχή wie desSohnes so auch des Geistes; aber mit der dem herkömmlichen Zuge des Dogma entsprechenden Näherbestimmung:nicht ἀμέσως, sondern ἐμμέσως, interventu filii geht der Geist vom Vater aus, also “durch den Sohn vom Vater.”So die bedeutendsten Kirchenlehrer, während andere einfach bei der Formel stehen blieben; er gehe vom Vateraus.1100 Mal. i. 6.1101 John xvii. 4.1102 John xvi. 14.1103 Four mss. of the De S.S. read ἐδόξασά σε, a variation not appearing in mss. of the Gospel.1104 John xii. 28.1105 Matt. xii. 31.202